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grigori77 · 8 months

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Critical Role, Campaign 3 Episode 74

"Sweet Sam"? What is ... wait, what the bright blue FUCK is this? "Sweet Sam will FINISH HER!!! In court ..." Bloody hell ... oh gods not the teeth, please not the teeth ... and that's just destroying EVERYBODY ... dear gods Sam WHY?!!!

A human shark ... a Riegel shark ... what a horrible image ...

Awwwwww ... Bells Hells plushies! Liam: "Mine's size accurate!" XD Yeah ...

"Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match ..."

Oof ... TWO DAYS through this terrain? Ouch ...

Considering chancing teleportation? Okay ... boy it sure would be handy if THEY HAD A SPYGLASS ...

Fearne suggesting turning herself into one of those giant toads and carry them all in her mouth ... hmmmm ...

Yeah ... sounds like magic is probably OUT ...

Chetney: "I was trying to be enthusiastic." Laudna (laughing): "I can't tell with your crotchety tone."

Imogen Temult, walking bug-zapper ... XD

Turns out Fearne mostly just survives day by day by pure dumb luck ... O.O

Delilah back in Laudna's head becomes an excuse for Marisha swapping out Feats ... hmmmm ...

Translations ... creepy, somewhat haunting ones ... oof ... this can't be a good sign ...

Iffodola? Okay ...

Ah ... so it's the Oxnard of Exandria ...

Healthy volcanic jungle makes for vibrant environs ... "two layer fog"? Weird ...

Aaaaah ... Survival rolls ... 17 ... Nice ... and 24 Perception for Orym ... but of course ...

To the Beaten Path ... yeah, probably smart ... oh, trust the Changebringer? Guided Grace? Okay ... vibe check, then ... heads? Go that way then ...

Oh, a full-blown RAINFOREST ... okay then ...

Ah ... they're being followed? Big ass boars? No ... what the fuck was THAT thing? Hmmmm ...

Pass Without A Trace? But that would slow them down ... save it, we don't KNOW we're in danger ...

Roll a D6? Oh great ... what did you DO, Travis?

A river? Hmmm ... is it a problem, or ... what exactly IS going on with Chetney right now?

Stick check! Ooof ... okay, probably NOT a good idea ... oh yeah, that's right they DO have TWO Immovable Rods now ...

Chetney literally turns himself into a fishing gnome ... LOL

Ooh, a FISH!!! Nice ... is it a mutation? Seems not ...

Ashton wants Pate to do something? Interesting ... he wants him to BE BAIT?!!! Oh come on ...

Awwww ... wow, Pate's having an existential crisis right now and Laudna wants him go be tackle ... oh wow, this is gonna be interesting ... splash! Hmmm ... he's actually ENJOYING not being eaten "alive" bt piranhas ...

Wow ... is Laudna really about to do a tightrope walk right now? "Naruto RUN!!!" 7 ... oh boy ... and she's IN THE RIVER!!! That is a SHIT SHOT, Letters! Hmmm ...

Telekinetic Pull? Save your girlfriend, Imogen!

Ashton just jumps in to rescue her instead ... andhe REALLY didn't think this through, did he? Oh boy ... swim, barbarian! Swim!

Seedling to the rescue now? Oh, okay ... 21 for Dexterity? Of course he does ... meanwhile Ashton's now Raging ...

And now there's something coming out of the river after them now ... oh shit what the fuck is THIS?!!!

Some kind of freaky demon hippo? Oh for eff's sake ...

Stonky's Ring! Nice save, Fearne!

Crap ... here it comes ... and it's got YOUNG with it! Charming ...

FCG casts Speak With Animals ... "FUCK OFFFFFF!!!" Oh, that's a very unpleasant and cranky beast.

That was ... interesting ...

Oh, now Fearne is leading them? Hmmm ... is this really a good thing? Stop eating poop, Fearne ...

Matt: "Nothing is free." Yeah, clearly they're gonna pay for this somehow later ...

Night is coming ... time to find shelter ...

Fearne trying to remember how she made their little shelter last time ... oh, here we go ...

Nice cosy weird nature hovel ...

Baked fish? Hmmm ... FCG's faking it ... Imogen: "Why are you making it gross?" FCG: "Well I can just wipe it off."

Night falls and it's getting cold ...

Fish jerky, essentially ... charming ... and now his internals stink of fish ... "My hot holes are all fishy now."

Wow Sam Riegel has just made a joke that has LITERALLY made Matt Mercer WALK OUT ...

Crap ... WHY is Matt rolling?

Laudna is taking 9 points of Necrotic damage? From WHAT?!!!

Marisha: "Even though I'm a Hollow One?" Sam: "Oh, he didn't remember that."

Wait ... now LIAM is taking 3 points too?

What creepy ass fresh hell is THIS?!!!

Freaky little shadow imps? Oh that can't be good ...

Shadow Cant ... hmmmm ... oh shit, they understand that shit? That's not good ...

Oh, they want BODY heat ... great ...

Chill Touch? Okay ... 27 for an Attack Roll ... oh, she went up a level ... whoa, THREE Eldritch Blasts now, when she wants to? That should be fun ...

Okay, yes, kill the little fuckers ...

FCG calls on the Changebringer to Turn Undead ... oh yeah, that did it, looks like ...

Crap ... there's more outside? Oh, they're backing off? Hmmm ... HAVE THEY been scared off for good, or ...?

FCG suggests someone be a sacrificial lamb for the rest while they sleep ... hmmmm ...

Trying to concoct some deterrents, then ...

First watch for Laudna and FCG ... no real danger, at least ...

Next to Fearne and Imogen ... Imogen: "They're sad and cute ... I feel sorry for 'em."

Daybreak seems to have seen them off, at least ...

Now Chetney's sounding like he's writing a book ...

Another day's travel and they MIGHT make it to their destination ...

Orym is now riding on Fearne's shoulders as she leads the way. :3

I'm with all if you, what IS going on with Chetney right now?

Oh, he's being romantic? Hmmm ... she puts the flower in her hair. Cue cracks about potential brain parasites ... Ashton: "It's gonna be YOUR fault when she turns on us later."

The base of the mountain ... and there's a weird lake there ... hmmm ...

Weird ground ahead ... a trap? Hmmmm ... oh yeah, that's DEFINITELY suspicious ...

Laudna's sending Pate ... oh, the poor little bugger, not again ...

Grim Psychometry again! Okay ...

Good point, CAN THEY bypass it?

Imogen chucks a big stone in ... yup, there us DEFINITELY a trap here ... shit, it's like a big two level deadfall ... nasty ..

"Fish Cut Bass" ... oof ...

Ashley rolls a 30 on Survival ... wow ... Matt has to reveal EVERYTHING now ...

A shitload of traps, clearly ... apparently it's a reminder of Nana Mori ... O.O ... okay ...

Sam: "Matthew, is a tree an object or a creature?" Matt (with a particularly unsettling grin): "Depends on which tree." Okay then ...

Enquiring if any of this feels familiar to Ashton ...

FCG casts Find the Path using Ashton as the focus in order go find the Tree ... and it tanks. FCG: "You ruined my spell!"

Somebody's coming ...

Oh, so they have bows, and they are NOT friendly, looks like ... standoff ... hmmm ...

So, who are they? She speaks Common. Um ... yeah ... and now it's time for a break ...

Wow ... so what did they say to get THAT response out of him before we came back?

Orym very carefully shows them his satchel with the thing inside ... oh, so THIS is familiar ... Temu? Who's Temu, then?

Okay, this might be all right after all ...

Oh, they know who Jirana is, at least ... that's a good sign.

Ashton has to make a Persuasion Check with advantage ... 9? Oof ...

Oh, so they're allowed to go on at least, but without any help. Oh, they can return the rest of their stuff? Okay, that might make things easier ...

Oh, so that's it? Okay then ...

Laudna: "They seemed very done with us, thanks to Ashton." Hey, now ...

Imogen goes flying up looking for the Tree ... goes back down to fetch Orym to help her look ... much better Perception ... okay, here we go ...

Just flying about for a bit ... oh, so it's like z big fucking SINKHOLE ... yeah, looks like THAT'S a good bet for the location ... back down to the others, then.

Fearne leads the final trek ... to the hole. Cue nany cracks about moist and dark holes ... Matt: "I hate all of this." XD

Aha ... yep, looks like THIS is indeed the way to go ...

So it's a big, long, dark drop ... oh no, there's something down there, but not exactly anything they can really make out ...

The Shadow Realm? Seriously?

Testing the depth ... Laudna has to make a strength check ... Nat20? Holy crap ... wow, so that really IS deep ...

AGAIN considering sending Pate ... I'm with Imogen, they're getting really mean to him. Give the poor freaky bone rat a break, guys!

Wow ... it seems like Imogen's genuinely bonding with Pate now ...

They're genuinely considering just jumping in ...

Little carved Chetneys ... yeah, that's not weird at all ...

Asking the Changebringer if this is safe ... looks like it is ... okay ...

So YES on prepping Featherfall just in case ...

Oh, they're jumping ... yikes!

Something below ... DO IT NOW!!! AAAAAAHHH!!! Laudna casts Featherfall, Imogen flies, Fearne transforms into a shoebill ...

Leaves. Endless jet black leaves ... oh, it's the top of a massive tree. Okay then ...

Touchdown. Very roughly ...

I would feel very safe betting this is Evontravir, then ...

Ashton (to Chetney): "Don't chisel the tree."

Fearne flies down with Imogen carrying Laudna ... and they both get hit in the face by a branch on the way down, each taking THREE POINTS OF SLASHING DAMAGE?!!! Ouch ...

Just weird clutters of various objects scattered around the roots at the base ... weird ...

It is REALLY cold down here ...

Ah yes, the knotty prospect of getting the others down too ... hmmmm ...

Chetney's already climbing down, but the rest are staying put until told otherwise ... oh no, here comes Ashton too ...

Everybody starts singing "Somewhere Out There" from An American Tail ... XD

FCG's descent is ... chunky, but at least Orym makes it fairly smoothly ...

Oh, so these things are like OFFERINGS ... and from all over Exandria, too ...

Grim Psychometry on some random little carved wooden egg bear ... from a veteran soldier, left as a kind of sacrifice ... interesting ...

Detect Thoughts on the Tree ... and it's CONSCIOUS in a really ancient way ...

FCG casts Eagle's Splendour on Ashton as he goes to commune with the Tree ... and he cuts his hand snd presses it to the bark ...

Oh ... well THAT woke it up ... and now the Tree is MOVING ... snd now it has EYES for fuck's sake ... oh boy, that's actually a FACE ...

And now it's talking ...

Ashton: "I seek what is owed to me." Oh ... okay then ...

"As it was fated ..." Oh shit ... so this is all about Ashton's father ...

The Necropolis of Toramunda? A Shard of Kamort? What the fuck?

ASHTON was his destiny? But he couldn't see it because he was blinded by his own ambition? Whoa ...

So ... Ashton is offering Evontravir ... a toke from his pipe? O.O

Ashton: "Be a small man for a minute, you big fuck." LOL

Wow, they're actually doing it ...

Hundreds of people, running and caught, brought to the tree, and vanishing ... what the hell does that even mean?

Evontravir: "There are no nobodies that come this far to find me."

The strength of the Empress ... to restore the might of the Emperor? Okay then ...

It knows about the Solstice and everything it means ... whoa ... " I am the gate, and the boundary." Okay ...

Imogen: "How do we stop Predathos?"

They have to choose the fate of the gods?

Evontravir: "What do you believe in? What is right for this world?"

A shared vision ... a glow of endless red? Oh yeah, that has to be Predathos ...

Yeah, Matt is laying it on THICK with some seriously beautiful poetic metaphor ...

Ah, the Bloody Bridge, and the Moon ... "This is the path you have chosen." Ah ... yeah ...

Oh yeah, good point, Chet ... CAN Evontravir help them get where they need to be?

Damn it, what was THAT? Oh hello ... is that a portal in the tree? Oh! Yes, go, go NOW!!!

They all pile through ... freezing cold, snow ... the edge of a mountain range, mist in the distance ...

Okay, so they're still in the Shattered Teeth ... and now there's a sky whale floating by ... big cavern close by ...

And that's it for tonight ... meanwhile everybody's brains are EXPLODING wondering WHAT THE FUCK is really going on with Ashton ... yeah, same ...

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matrixxsystem · 3 days

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Luck Runs Out Part 4

Leo pulled back the curtain to Donnie's lab with April following behind him and was immediately met with Casey's uh, interesting, music playlist. It was no wonder him and Donnie got along so well, they both liked the kind of mechanical dubstep Donnie always played when he was working on something. Casey was sitting at Donnie's work bench with a pair of goggles on as small sparks flew. He was doing something with the tech inside the mask it seemed.. Leo gave April a look like he wasn't sure if he should bug him or try and wait till he was done.

"Hey guys. What's up?" Casey called from his seat, causing both April and Leo to look a bit surprised. He turned the music off and lifted the goggles off his head, swiveling in the chair to see them with an awkward smile. "Okay-" Leo started as he took a step forward, "How in the would did you hear us over that?? You were across the room with loud ass music and you were fiddling with your mask thing-"

"I think you forget I grew up in a bunker during the apocalypse Leo-"

"....Fair 'nough- Anyway, we're all going out to get lunch and I'm dragging you with us cause we need more humans to make it look less weird"

"Less weird..? Please tell me you aren't going into town for lunch.. I don't- I mean I just- Y'know-? I'm the last guy you want in your group to make you look normal-" Leo rolled his eyes and threw his arm over Casey's shoulder, "Yes we're going into the city, and you are coming cause we can all use some fresh air. And me and Usagi kinda have this idea.. We want to use the cloaking pins Donnie made and we know my brothers have been kinda weird about using them.. And since you haven't disappeared yet like in those Back from the Future movies we can only assume you're just, here now.. So you have to learn how to be a human in the 2020s"

"Well, I guess" Casey sighed a little, "I mean Donnie feels pretty bad about sending you alone and then.. You kinda snapped in the government facility and... y'know, killed two people, and wont talk to them about it- And you lost your arm and almost died, like, I helped stich you up after the.. Invasion, and I mean I've seen blood before but that.. It was just a lot for everyone."

"But I feel bad too-! Like it sucks and I get that, I really do, I'm literally forced to look at my mistakes in the mirror everyday- But those pins don't represent what happened to me and I mean.. If anything, shouldn't the pins represent that I made it out alive, and that we did it? I guess.. I dunno... I just don't want them to feel stuck in the lair like we failed when we didn't. Donnie wanted to go to school and he still hasn't even applied to places around here! Mikey was looking at art schools. It's just.. It's not fair." Casey gave Leos hand a sympathetic pat and pulled away, starting to clean up his space, "I get it, I really do.. It's hard watching the people you care about struggle, or hold themselves back because they don't want to hurt you. Sensei was like that a lot when I was young, I think cause I was really little he kind of, held back when he was around me for some reason, I think he didn't wanna scare me or he thought I was fragile or something? I don't really remember the reason, and I guess it doesn't really matter now.. But the only real things that fixed it between us was time and communication."

"...I don't like how smart you are sometimes haha, but yeah I'm sure part of it is my fault too, maybe that's something we can talk about before we leave, cause I'm sure by now they're onto my plan-" Casey nodded, setting his mask aside, "Yeah, that might be good, I am kind of excited to try some more food from around here, even if that means having to deal with people I guess.. Where are we going again?"

_____

"So.. Where are we going exactly?" Donnie asked, tilting his head at Usagi. "It's a surprise, but you will need your cloaking pins." The air was suddenly a lot more tense when he mentioned the pins, Mikey hesitantly glanced down to the pouch on his hip where his pin was kept. "I uh... Well uh..." Usagi went over at sat on Leos beanbag chair, "It was Leo's idea" He said with a little shrug, "He said he felt bad you guys never use the pins you all worked so hard to get. So we were gonna go have lunch in the city, our treat."

"..He does?" Raph asked, giving his brothers a little glance before sitting in his own beanbag chair, "What... Did he say exactly?" Usagi sat up more and thought for a moment, "Just that, since his little accident and the near invasion where he got hurt again, it feels like you guys tip toe around the pins and he feels bad that you feel like you can't use them, he mentioned that Mikey was looking at studios for various hobbies and Donnie was looking at colleges, even that you Raph might've wanted to get out of the house too but that no ones really done it. And it makes him feel a little sad, since he uses his pin to hang out with me and it doesn't bother him so much." Raph sighed a little, "I-I mean... Yeah we've looked around- Of course it'd be nice to y'know, go do stuff and make friends outside of the hidden city.. But it's dangerous, even if.. I just mean like... Oh- Have you ever seen the Spider-Man movies? Peter Parker is the main character and he has these powers to stop bad things and bad people, so he starts wearing a mask and fighting crime. But because he's always off saving the day he never has time for a normal life, his family, his girlfriend, his school, his job.. He's always ditching without an excuse and messing up his normal life because he's trying to do the right thing and protect everyone.. We can't have both normal lives and ninja lives. We know that.."

"Did this Peter Parker also have three brothers and a sister and one of their siblings partners able to support him?"

"Well no.. He was always kind of alone, that's part of what made it so hard. He did have a friend helping him eventually and like being on the computer for him while he was out so the friend could hack stuff and find things for him. But besides that one person no one else knew"

"-Till the second Spider-Man Miles came into the story! Then they fought together for a while!" Mikey chimed in. Raph nodded. "Right. But even then Miles was always avoiding his family and making them worry and Peter didn't have much family left after his uncle was killed-" Mikey pouted a little, "I mean yeah I guess, but in the newest installment Miles finally comes clean to his family after this big battle with the other spider people who disagree with him and they all accept him and he gets the girl and his friends who understand him! It's not about pretending to be normal, it's about finding people who accept you for you! And there's no weirder place than New York, I mean April is a human raised by humans, and she's super chill and is even dating a mutant, there's no way she's the only one" Usagi nodded a little, "All things take time, but just as April understands you, others can too. This is merely a step towards that, you all deserve lives outside of this, and no matter what happens, or where you go, you'll always be family and you'll always be there for each other. You can worry about being Spider-Man when the time comes, but today it's just lunch. And I think a big tough guy like you can handle that without too much overthinking right? If anything, do it for Leo. He's been putting a lot of thought into asking you all to wear the pins more often. He wants to see you all being happy and doing the things you talked about wanting to do before all this happened.."

"I know you're right but.. Raph just has a bad feeling- I don't want to stop anyone or myself from doing stuff, and I don't want them to feel bad either. I just, I can't stop seeing it when I think about the pins." Usagi reached over gently patting his shoulder, "Well, lets face it together then. Okay? I've known you for what, three years now? There's nothing that you, or this family, can't do. What do you see?" Raph let out a small defeated sigh and rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah.. I've heard that before.. But you're right. I can't over think things that haven't even happened yet." He paused for a moment giving another glance to his brothers before talking again, "When you brought Leo home. His arm had been torn apart, there was so much blood and.." He paused again, thinking back to Usagi stepping into the room with Leo in his arms, tear streaks staining Leos face that was masked with blood.. His arm broken to nothing and bleeding out the whole way into the medbay. There was bits of.. someone, stuck in his teeth and he couldn't stop throwing up till Donnie gave him a sedative.. Usagi gave him another sympathetic pat on his shoulder, Breaking Raph out of his thoughts, "It was hard." Usagi spoke quietly, "I understand, really. I know we don't always see eye to eye but Leo is... He's my everything. I have never cared for someone so deeply, he makes me want to be more than I am, and makes me feel so.. Seen. I wanna protect him with everything I have as long as he'll have me, probably as much as you do. And seeing him there in that hallway, bloody and weak.. And all scared and beaten up. It was jarring to see, and I can only imagine how you felt when I brought him back and you had to clean him up. And even now, two years later, it's hard not to get a little panicked when he insists he can go off alone somewhere. But the one thing I've learned about Leo is that he's so much more capable than anyone realizes, and sometimes even when you're unsure you just have to trust him, even when he doesn't have a plan, or doesn't know if he can win, even when he gets caught. You just have to trust him."

"I do-" Raph said as he stood up, "And.. I don't hate you or nothin' y'know, I could never. You're a good guy, and I know Leo would've been in real trouble without you around to help him out with all the stuff he had goin' on. And we're real lucky he has you. " He paused a little and took his pin out, "Alright, I think we've had enough mushy stuff for the week, let's go have lunch"

-_-_-_-

Leo, April and Casey walked into the room a moment later, seeing Usagi help fasten Mikey's pin on his hoodie. Casey gently pushed past the two to get a good look at how they all looked. "Oh wow, you guys look so.."

"Different?" Raph asked, tilting his head with a little smile. "I'm really not used to having hair-" Leo said as he put his pin on, "No no, I mean you look.. Like you. Its not bad, its just so weird to see you guys as human." Leo nodded a little, "Yeah I didn't think Donnie's hair would be in locs- It suits him though, less day to day maintenance and all." Donnie rolled his eyes and pointed back to Leo, "And you having those long bleached dead end dreads certainly fits your aesthetic dear brother." Leo rolled his eyes and decided just this once he'd let Donnie's comments slide, they didn't have time to wrestle right now. "You're just jealous I'm the hotter twin~" He said with a little laugh, "Are we all ready then?"

Everyone nodded and followed Leo and Usagi outside, everyone looked a bit nervous, which was to be expected. No one wanted to get caught, or mess up on any first impressions on their first group outing topside since they all almost died. Usagi took Leo's hand with a little smile, "We aren't going far. Just up the block, figured a pizza place might suit you guys"

"Pizza?!" Mikey repeated, pushing past April and Donnie to look at Usagi with stars in his eyes, "Ohmigosh you read my mind!!" Usagi chuckled a little as they walked, "Well you have said before how much you all love pizza, and I think a place with options might be good for Casey who doesn't have a lot of experience with the food of our time." Casey nodded a little, "Heheh.. Yeah, we didn't have very much there, and definitely not this kind of variety. I recently got to try something called ramen though- It was amazing!! Michelangelo was always a pretty good cook, even when we didn't have much he always found a way to make it enjoyable, or at the least, easy to get down." Raph tilted his head a little, wondering what kind of food they had in the future. He knew it was hard for stuff to grow, but was it really that bad? "No wonder you're so thin," Raph said with a little chuckle, Donnie raised his hand to pull the attention towards himself, "We should have a night where we all make our favorite foods and share them. I'm kind of interested now to try some of the food Casey was subject to- I mean, grew up with." April and Mikey both nodded, "Yes yes yes! I wanna try the pasta April's mom always makes for holidays! It sounds sooooo gooooood!!" Usagi slowed down for a second turning to Donnie, "Everyone's favorite..?" He asked in a quiet but serious tone. Leo stopped too, looking between the two. "Because, I wouldn't want to be invited to something like that only to make you all uncomfortable. Or well, most of you at least." Donnie hesitated for a moment but then nodded, "It's been about three years, I'm sure well be fine- And I mean, even if we don't eat it I know Leo and Casey will." Casey nodded, "I'm all for it" He said with a little shrug, "I don't know how well you're gonna like my cooking though-"

"What's the main stuff you guys had to eat?" Mikey asked, ready with his phone to look up what sort of meals they could've made with whatever ingredients they had available. "Well.. When we had the mass greenhouse in the abandoned buildings we had a lot of vegetables, mostly tomato's, potatoes, and carrots I think. So we had a lot of soups, things that were easy to take with us in any container and could be had hot or cold. That kinda stuff. Oh but, we did have these crunchy like, candied flowers that Draxx always brought when he came to visit. But he never let just anyone eat them, it was special, he brought them when someone died, or when someone was born. But on a normal day we had cold soup left overs and Autolyse, which is kinda like bread?"

"I'm sorry, auto what?" April asked, more confused than ever. Donnie raised a finger, "It's flower and water, it's the most basic and bland version of bread, commonly made when people are lacking supplies. But as a side to other foods or when packed with things like protein it can be a pretty good survival food." Casey nodded, "I wouldn't call it my favorite food but if you really wanna know what food was like that's a pretty good start."

"So we're really gonna do Donnie's idea?" Leo asked, "Cause I mean, I'm all for it I just.." Raph gently patted Leo's back as a reassuring gesture, "I'm down, how bad could it be? Look Leo, I know you've been trying really hard lately to keep your side of things out of the house in trying not to freak us out and we've been really weird about all this but we're all grown ups here, I think it'd be good to do something fun like this. I mean Usagi's like family now, and I wanna get to know that side of him." Leo blushed a little as he looked back to Usagi, then smiled more and nodded, "Heh, since when did you get mature huh- Fair enough. Think tomorrow would be too soon? The new JJ movie is hitting the internet and Donnie said he could put it up on the projector for us to watch, might be a good activity to warrant having so much food."

"That's a great idea, I don't know how easily it'll be to get pops out of his chair though.."

"Eh, we can burn that bridge when we come to it."

"...Uh, Leo? Don't you mean.. Cross that bridge when we get to it?"

"Hm? Oh- No, no I did not."

"...I-"

"Oh look-" Usagi chimed in, pointing across the street to a fairly decent looking restaurant. "We're here." And now look, when I say decent, I really just mean decent by New York's standards, which in this case really just means there's no bugs in or on the food, there's still people inside who haven't choked or ran out screaming, and all of their lights work. You can't really ask for a better place in this of corner of the town when you're looking for cheap food and a table of 7.to just be ready when you walk in. LRO Part 1 Part 5

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unpleasantsimms · 2 years

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Nightshade Academy

Welcome to Nightshade Academy, a boarding school for spellcasters and supernatural types to learn and engage with their burgeoning powers in a safe and controlled environment. This year’s class is a little unusual, but it has some of the most promising minds this academy has ever seen. For today’s lesson, love is in the air, and the bright minds of Nightshade Academy must navigate their strong emotions while also having access to strange and untamed magics. They will question who is beauty, and who is the beast, and what perfection truly means.

Rating: T for Teen Word Count: 9760

A long form fanfic of my magic high series, in which several characters across the Sims canon attend school together. It is mostly silliness, and the wonky nature of the Sims timeline means things can be a little weird, but just go with it. As a Halloween treat, I’m putting up the first episode in what will hopefully become a series, if I get off my behind and write it. Sit back, relax, and enjoy

I. Eye of the Beholder

Bella brushed her hair in the full length mirror in her room, admiring herself from multiple angles. She’d tucked the shirt of her uniform into her skirt, accentuating her curves, and she extended her neck this way and that to give herself the most length. Satisfied, she picked up a tub of her signature lipstick, a dark and luscious red, and she applied it to her curved lips. There. Perfection achieved.

“You really had to move that thing in here?” Lilith said from her bed, where she was pulling on tennis shoes.

Bella flipped her hair so she couldn’t see her roommate. “I didn’t think it’d bother you that much. You know how the bathrooms are in the morning.”

“I don’t,” she drawled and grabbed her books from the nightstand.

“Well it’s important.” Bella picked at the green pendant she wore around her neck and tucked it beneath her collar. “Today’s the day. I need to look perfect.”

“Oh,” Lilith said with a roll of her red eyes. “So that’s happening.”

Lilith stood from the bed, and as she passed behind Bella, no reflection appeared in the mirror. Bella suppressed a shiver. Rooming with a vampire hadn’t been her first choice, but she was new to this whole magic thing. She wasn’t going to be the first to blink. If Bella were unkind, she might compare her roommate to a stick bug, long limbed and almost blended in enough with normal people to avoid sticking out, if it weren’t for her glowing eyes and the sharp teeth that protruded from her gums. But the worst thing about Lilith, the actual worst thing, was how all knowing she seemed to be. She had the answer to every test, she dressed people down with just a glance, and all the gossip made its way back to her. If she were stupid, Bella might have liked her. No one wants to spend time with a smart predator.

“You know.” Lilith paused as she placed her hand on the doorknob. Even though she didn’t reflect in the mirror, Bella could feel her eyes on her. “I thought you were really clever when I first met you.”

Bella glanced back over her shoulder. A compliment from Lilith was rare. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “But seeing you gussy yourself up to bag the likes of Mortimer Goth makes me realize you’re just another vapid girl.”

“And here I was thinking you had some human left in you,” Bella snapped back. “Guess we’re both wrong.”

Lilith stared at her, red eyes wide. Her mouth drew open, extending her long fangs, and then she shook her head.

“If you can bear to stop looking at yourself for one second,” she said, “you might actually be on time to class.”

Bella’s lip curled. “You don’t have to wait for me.”

“I won’t,” she said and threw open the door, before letting it slam behind her. Bella breathed out.

Well, she’d already faced down a vampire today. How much scarier could asking out a boy be?

The morning halls of the school were busy as people ran through the dorm hallways to the communal bath, or hurriedly worked on last minute homework in the rounded commons. Bella glided through the usual panic and stood in front of the door down the hall from hers. Adjusting her hair one more time, she stood a little straighter, and gave a gentle knock. She smiled as the door pulled back, and let it drop when she realized who’d answered it.

“He’s not here,” Michael said. “You’re gonna have to try your luck some other time.”

Bella stuck out her tongue at him. “I was just saying good morning. Can’t a sister ensure her brother is making it to class on time?”

He huffed out a laugh and walked back to his own mirror. He’d been applying pomade to his hair, and he worked to slick it back. Bella leaned against the threshold and let out a long breath.

“You’re not really subtle, Bebe,” Michael said.

“Good, I’m not trying to be.” She glanced around the room. Her brother’s spot was on the far side, piled with magazines and cologne bottles, but the bed by the door was completely unmade, with papers and pens left out in a last minute attempt to finish their weekend assignments. A crocheted Grim plush stuck out from under the bed, kicked aside by loafers. A bottle of hair gel had tipped over on the dresser and was currently making a mess in the to drawer, unable to close thanks to the haphazardly folded shirts that were forced in. The whole room stank of boy.

“Today’s the day, Michael,” Bella announced as he gathered his books. “Today Mortimer is mine.”

“You say that like it’s such a struggle,” he said. “I’ve never seen another girl even look at him. He’ll be thankful if you ask him out.”

“The how is important,” she said. “I can’t just throw myself at him wantonly. I wanted him to want me, and not just because I’m a pretty girl.”

“Okay, well.” He shut the door behind him, and they started towards the main foyer of the school. “He’s a dumb boy without a girlfriend. It’s not really going to matter if you prove your worth to him or not.”

The pair headed down the hallways, past the student room, full of chess tables and tall bookshelves, and into the main hall. Teachers directed students up the stairs and reminded them of when class was starting.

“I don’t want a boy to go out with me just because I’m a nice pair of legs,” Bella muttered.

Michael laughed and pointed to her stockings. “Then why are you wearing those?”

“Not every boy is like you, Caramellino!” she laughed. “You’re speedrunning the entire female population of the school.”

“Aren’t we supposed to be making connections?” he asked with a grin.

“Connections, dummy.” She jumped past him on the stairs and so she could knock his forehead. “Not ex-girlfriends.”

“Can’t I do both?”

The clock struck the top of the hours, eight rings resounding through the stone halls. Students rushed to their classrooms, and Bella hurried to the top of the stairs. Sage Dyers waited there, her long green locks falling behind her like silken snakes. Scales touched the white skin of her eyes, leaving an odd sheen of green. She smirked as she saw the Bachelor siblings trailing behind.

“No, now,” she said in a low voice that made Bella’s spine shiver. “We wouldn’t want to be late for our potions lesson.”

“I was just corralling my brother,” Bella promised.

“Good,” she said. “Sage Hughes won’t tolerate tardiness.”

Bella grabbed her brother’s arm and dragged him down the halls of the school. For all its majesty, the school was a cozy place, with classrooms nestled into their own corners. They passed the open doorway of the debate classroom, and saw the final students hurry into the herbalism class, which boasted a wide metal cauldron and a room overflowing with plants, and from the staircase up to the music room, an unsteady melody of piano notes clunked down. Bella took a hard left, pulling her brother into the potions classroom with her, and she hurried to her seat.

It was another day at Nightshade Academy.

⬨⬧⬨

The Realm of Magic had never truly been separate from simkind. For generations, magical families have lived with one foot in the world, finding passages and pathways to lead them to a place of pure fantasy. Magic was not just relegated to bloodlines either. Any sim wanting to gain that knowledge could do so. It was in recent years that the thought of formal education and recruitment of occult types brought about the prestigious institution of the Nightshade Academy. The sages took a direct approach to the thought, choosing to take a direct hand in the tutelage of future generations. Their guidance ensured every graduating class experienced prestige and good fortune. This year was no different. This year’s class was so full of promise. The magical and unmagical world might be changed forever.

L had read the brochure. She’d been given the spiel. She’d nodded along as Sage Dyer explained to her all these things. But L was from the old ways, the very old ways, and she’d never set foot outside the Magic Realm before. She’d never wanted to. What was out there for her?

It was in talking with her sisters that L had considered the man variables and decided there was something she wanted. Knowledge? That could be found anywhere. Prowess? Could be learned from her family, from the other spellcasters. But power? Getting close to the sages, being taught alongside prestigious names, earning her place, that was everything.

It was supposed to be an adventure. The young girl steps through the portal to a new realm. She just wished it wasn’t so boring. Glimmerbrook, nestled in the mountains and secluded among the trees, was a crossroads of all kinds, attracting magical and non-magical sims alike. It should be a nexus of weird! L expected to wake up every day face to face with occult types of new breeds, and instead she sat in the same boring classroom, with the same boring students, learning the same boring lessons, taught by the same boring adults who were only teaching them to be more boring. L’s fingers itched to do more.

The potions classroom, at least, was without desks. Chairs arranged around a large cauldron fired by magical crystals. The students sat as they usually did. Lilith Vatore and Bella Bachelor sat directly up front, spines straights, hands in their laps, as they watched their professor work with rapt attention. L usually liked to sit near them for the show, and today she took the row behind them, draped lazily on her chair as her boot tapped against the floor. Simeon Silversweater took up residence beside her. He hunched forward, notebook on his knee, as he carefully took dictation of everything the teacher said. Michael Bachelor and Mortimer Goth were the other constant residents of the back row, watching with bored expressions. L’s eyes slid to Morgyn Ember, her roomie and possibly the most interesting person at school. They were smart, scary smart, but not the teacher’s pet the ladies were. They fiddled with the edge of their skirt, but their shining eyes were focused on the cauldron ahead. They didn’t miss anything. The only other person in Class 3 was Caleb Vatore, who sat beside his sister. He shared the disinterest of the other lads, but wasn’t quite as laissez-faire about it. He reminded L too often of a frightened bird, or maybe a small shaking dog tucked behind the rottweiler that was his sister.

Keisha Hughes stood in front of them, hands outstretched as the ladle turned the cauldron’s waters. She was entirely in white, from her hair to her face to her pointy boots. Like the other professors, she wore something of a uniform as well, a long robe cinched with a crescent moon. Her eyes sparkled as the water heated, reflecting the colors of the crystals below.

“Potion making is really quite simple,” she said. “It’s the right ingredients, at the right temperature, in the right formation. But what it really needs is a dash of magic.”

She flicked her fingers, and sparkles rained down in the water. The bubbling cauldron shifted to a bright green.

“Who can tell me the most important aspect of potion making?” she asked.

Both Lilith and Bella’s hands shot straight up. L would’ve laughed if it wasn’t so terribly predictable.

“Miss Bachelor,” Sage Hughes said. “Enlighten us.”

Bella lifted up her chin. “They require the correct components.”

Sage Hughes tsked. “I’m afraid not. Miss Vatore?”

“You’ve already said it’s the magic itself,” Lilith said. “It takes an apple from a mere snack to something that fills you up entirely.”

“Wrong again,” she said. “The most important part of potion making, of all magic, is experimentation. Magic is a living thing. We’ve managed to harvest it, to wield it, but we only have so much control. It reacts, understands, and changes things. Even we sages don’t know everything about magic. It’s possible we never will. But what separates good spellcasters from great ones is the drive to see something new.”

L sat up. Finally, someone was speaking her language. Anyone could read a book, go through the motions, memorize the words and the ingredients. What she wanted to know was what happened next.

“Now,” Sage Hughes continued. “I’ll need a volunteer.”

Two hands went up again, and L sighed. Without a word, she stood from her seat and marched to the front of the class. Sage Hughes smiled and stretched out a hand to her side.

“Welcome to the front, Miss Faba,” the sage said. “Are you familiar with potion making?”

L nodded. “I’ve made a few before.”

“Good, good.” She snapped her fingers again. From the bookshelves behind her, a tome lifted up and drifted into her hand. “There are easy basics to understand. Miss Vatore already mentioned the Potion of Plentiful Needs, everyone’s favorite. The potion of Nimble Mind is very useful to me. Do you have a favorite?”

“I use a nausea potion on my sisters all the time,” L boasted. “It’s easy enough to slip into a drink.”

Sage Hughes threw her head back and laughed. “A girl after my own heart! I’m sure your sisters loved that.”

“It solved a few arguments,” L said.

She shook her herald and held out the tome. The leather cover was burned with symbols, and engraved with the words “Good Fortune”. The edges of the pages shone with gold.

“I believe you all have a quiz today in Ethren’s class,” she said. “Do you feel prepared for it?”

Honestly, L hadn’t bothered to study. Sage Reyes was exacting, and his classes were dull and focused on the practicalities of magic. She fell asleep reading about it.

“Well,” Sage Hughes said. “Maybe this will help. Mister Goth, what are the two ingredients of a Potion of Good Fortune?”

Mortimer sat straighter in his seat, and he rubbed his right eye. His uniform had a slovenly appearance that shrugged down his shoulders, and the mess of hair he stuck straight up probably hadn’t been washed in days. Dark circles hung under his eyes permanently. He carried the distinguished features of his family in a way that made his young face look like a jigsaw, but one day he might grow into them.

“Uh,” he said, and nothing more.

L watched Bella pass a look over her shoulder. Realizing he didn’t have the answer, she whipped her head around and said, “It’s valerian root and turquoise.”

“Good, Miss Bachelor,” Sage Hughes said. “But you’re not the person I asked. What aspect of valerian do you think help in Good Fortune?”

It was Silversweater who raised his hand this time. Sage Hughes gestured to him.

“Valerian’s used in herbal remedies to help with sleep,” he said in a low, lazy voice. It was accented softly. L hadn’t quite gotten a read on him yet, not since he kept his head down and focused on his work. But he certainly knew a lot. “It’s a sedative.”

“Very good,” Sage Hughes said. “Combined with turquoise, which is used in protection, this brew will calm your anxiety, and allow you to get through the day unscathed. Now, Miss Faba, why not make a batch for the class?”

In the end, it wasn’t just L making the thing. Sage Hughes got everyone involved, even the sleeping Mortimer, handing her ingredients, reading pages from the tome, and offering feedback. L mixed it herself, watching the staff roll through the golden waves of the boiling pot. L focused all her mind and magic on the staff, infusing it as it rolled through. It should be easy, she told herself. It’s a simple spell. And then they can get through Sage Reyes’ dull class, onto the next dull class, tracking moon patterns and learning the taxonomy of plants, and this was all so boring! This should be magic! It should be thrilling, and exciting, and it should burn from her fingertips and fill her chest with light, and if you don’t have the exact right ingredients under the exact phase of the moon, then who cares? That was the joy! This would be another by-the-book potion with nothing exciting about it, and it would–

L jumped back as the cauldron began to shake, and the bubbling overflowed. The liquid turned into a dull gray-green. It threatened to boil over, smoke rising in black plums. L dropped the staff, and it clattered to the floor. All at once, it erupted. Like a pan of hot oil it spat out, causing everyone to duck for cover. The classroom was filled with smoke. No one waited around. The door flew open, and they staggered into the hall, coughing and covering their faces. Sage Hughes clenched her hand, and the fire beneath the cauldron went out. L jumped when she placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Another important lesson,” the sage said. “You can do everything right, and it’ll still go wrong. That’s not a bad thing.”

“It seems pretty bad!” Lilith snapped.

Sage Hughes shook her head with a smile. “Perfect is the enemy of good. Remember that. Now, that gives you all fifteen extra minutes to study for Ethren’s class. Why don’t you head downstairs while I sort out this mess.”

Begrudgingly, the students stumbled away from the class. L remained a moment longer as Sage Hughes waved a hand. The windows in the room shuddered open, and the new breeze sucked the smoke outside.

“You’ve got to keep a handle on your own mind,” the Sage said. “You’ll influence your own powers, and not in the best of ways.”

L puffed up her chest. “I wanted to see something new.”

“Not a bad instinct.” Sage Hughes glanced at her over her shoulder. “You’ll let me know what you find, will you?”

L blinked, and then she nodded her head. Without another word, she snatched up the tome from where it’d fallen to the ground and hurried to the staircase. All the while she grinned.

Finally, it was time to get into some mischief.

⬨⬧⬨

Bella adjusted her hair for the fourth time. She’d taken up the upstairs bathroom while the rest of the school had gone to lunch. Lipstick reapplied, uniform adjusted, she looked as fresh as she had that morning. Good. The majority of students would be in the dining hall or spread out by the fountain outside. Mortimer usually spent his lunch hour in the commons room. She intended to descend the stairs like one of her romance novels, and then she’d ask him to walk with her, where she’d admit to the butterflies that fluttered in her stomach every time she looked at him. It’d mostly be true, too.

Michael had been partially right. Mortimer Goth didn’t spire the sort of swooning poetic pining of some of the other boys in school. Even Caleb, who like his sister was stick thin and gawky, at least had the benefit of being a vampire and therefore mysterious. In society, the Goth name went far, but in Glimmerbrook they were barely among the top magical families. She’d spent her time in the library going down the family trees and bloodlines. The Goths were an uneven stretch of odd branches and disconnected family members, of which one thing was sure. They were sitting on a pile of riches and enough clout to open nearly any door. It was the exact kind of family Bella dreamed of marrying into since she was a young girl reading Jane Eyre. Curled up in her family’s trailer, listening to the rain patter against the metal roof, and imagining instead that she was in some gothic castle reading by candlelight as a storm crashed around her, possibly haunted by some dark spirit or mad woman.

When Bella and Michael’s parents had enrolled them in Nightshade Academy, there’d been a lot of talk of opportunity. They would meet new people, powerful people. They would learn how to make dreams come true. Any chance they had to better their family and their name, they should take it. Bella’s mom had extolled to her the virtues of her beauty since she was eight years old. It was a constant reminder in the back of her mind, especially when she was talking to Mortimer. Eventually, the other girls would realize how rich Mortimer was. Better to stake her claim now, before anyone else could take this opportunity away.

Bella pushed open the door to the bathroom and started towards the stairs, until she heard what sounded like glass breaking in one of the classrooms. She paused. There was definitely someone in the potions room. Maybe one of the professors, but they were usually downstairs keeping an eye on the students. Bella crept forward and peeked through the door before shoving it open.

“What’re you doing?” she shouted.

L dropped the bottle she’d been holding, and it smashed against the floor. The cauldron in the center of the room billowed with smoke and bubbled with the aroma of a bright and earthy tea. A tome was floating in front of her, and she snatched the ladle out of the air, pointing threateningly at Bella.

“Why aren’t you at lunch?” she asked.

“Why aren’t you?” Bella entered the room, and the door swung shut behind her. “You’re going to be in so much trouble. We’re not supposed to be in the classrooms alone.”

“Mind your own business,” L snapped.

“What are you even working on?” Bella walked towards the cauldron. “Is it the good luck potion again?”

“Maybe.” L huffed out a breath and rolled her eyes. “Okay, well, I was thinking about how you could probably tailor the potion to work for specific things. Like our test today, if we could focus it on academic success, or money making, or–”

“Or love.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, I guess.”

“What ingredients would you need for that?” Bella wondered aloud. “If you wanted to make it more specific.”

“My eldest sister used to make love potions.” L let the ladle go and walked to the display case. “They share some ingredients with the good luck potion. Maybe it’d be the simplest one to work out. Let’s see, amethyst, dragon fruit, salmon eyes–oh, here we go! Frog hearts!”

Bella grimaced at the jar overstuffed with small purple mounds of muscle. “That’s what goes into a love potion?”

“A thing of beauty, isn’t it?” L opened the jar. “What do you need luck in love for anyway? You look like that.”

Bella brushed back her hair. “Boys who think you’re just something pretty aren’t the same boys that love you. I don’t want Mortimer to just think I’m pretty.”

“Oh, Mortimer.” She glanced back over the tome. “He isn’t the brightest bloom in the garden.”

“He doesn’t have to be,” Bella said. “But you know how he writes poetry? He never lets anyone read it. And sometimes when he’s staring off into space, I just want to go with him, you know?”

L shrugged. “I guess, if you’re into that. Come over here.”

Bella cautiously stepped forward. “Why?”

“Two witches are better than one.” Holding the jar above her in one hand, she held onto Bella with the other. “Sage Hughes seems to think magic has everything to do with intent. Think about the positive outcome. Imagine what’ll happen if this works.”

Bella glanced at her sideways, and then she took a breath and closed her eyes. She and Mortimer would take a walk through the forest along the river, and next to the sparkling waters she would tell him what she meant to say all along. He’d like her, he had to like her. Mortimer couldn’t be the kind of person that just cared about looks. He wanted something deeper than that. Bella wanted something deeper than that.

She opened her eyes just in time to see L dump the entire jar of frog hearts into the brew. Bella shouted, and she yanked her arm away, spilling half of them onto the floor. Oh, watcher, oh no, it was so gross!

“What did you do that for?” she and L shouted at the same time.

“You can’t just dump the whole jar!” Bella snapped.

“We want it to work!” L shouted back. “And look!”

Both of their eyes drew to the cauldron, which had turned a fluorescent shade of magenta. It bubbled brighter and taller. Bella staggered back from the boiling brew. Steam poured off it, filling the classroom, and L fumbled towards the windows to try to yank them open, but the room was so full of fog that the sunlight was barely making its way through the glass panes. Bella’s heels staggered on a frog heart, and she slipped backwards. In a desperate attempt to stay upright, she grappled wildly and grabbed onto the edge of the cauldron as she rolled back. The contents rolled forward, and she braced herself for the pain of boiling hot liquid, but she was washed in something else. Like steam from a hot pot, it poured over her, breathing into her nose, into her mouth, into her skin. Her whole body felt tight and stiff, and she couldn’t see as she felt L’s hand against her back. They staggered towards the door and burst through it. L didn’t stop outside the hallway. She dragged Bella back into the bathroom and dropped her on the tiled floor. Bella coughed and wheezed and hugged her knees as the spell passed. She was finally able to open her eyes, tears streaming down her cheek. L was staring at her, a hand covering her mouth.

“What?” Bella croaked out. “What happened?”

L didn’t say anything at all, and Bella gripped the edge of the sink to lift herself to her feet. She brushed her hands through her hair and stopped. Black stringy tendrils sat limply over her fingers. Raising her hands up, she stared at the gnarled, pockmarked skin and ugly unkempt nails. Her eyes went to the mirror, and an ugly green hag stared back with crooked teeth and unnatural cheeks. Bella opened her mouth, hands rising to her face, and in the mirror the hag did the same. It was her. The creature was her.

Bella screamed.

Instantly L slapped a hand over her mouth. Bella bit down on her palm, causing her to shout, and she whirled on her, green finger pointing in accusation.

“You did this!” she shouted. “You did this to me!”

“No I didn’t!” Le shouted defensively. “At least I didn’t mean to! I was trying to make the potion work!”

“You thought it’d be funny!” Bella turned back to the mirror, gripping her dark hair in her hands. “You thought it’d be so cute and mean if you turned me into some kind of monster! You and Lilith could laugh about it all day!”

“Why would Lilith and I laugh about anything together?” L sucked in a breath and tried to put on a calming smile. “You did say you didn’t want Mortimer to like you just for your looks.”

“I didn’t mean I wanted this!” Bella howled. “I can’t see him now! I can’t see anybody! He’ll never like me if all he thinks about is this.”

L raised a hand to pat her, and then thought better of it. “Well, Bella, that may not be the worst thing.”

Her head shot up, sending a death glare her way. L took a step back.

“Get Sage Hughes,” she said. “Get the school nurse. Get me a veil so I can escape into the woods!”

“No, no, no!” L said. “I’ve already made one mess today, Bella, and now this? Look, physical spells never last long. They’re not made to. This should be so simple to reverse!”

“L!”

“Bella!” She squeezed her hands together. “At least let me try! If I can fix you up before the end of the lunch period–”

“And what am I supposed to do?” Bella shouted.

“Just stay here,” L said. “Just for a little while. I’m going to take care of this.”

Bella breathed heavy through her nose, hands pressed against the side of her face. Okay. Okay. “Okay. Do that. And if you can’t, find Sage Hughes, but I’m not leaving this bathroom, okay? I can’t be seen like this. I can’t let Mortimer see me. Okay?”

“Okay,” L said. “Stay put. I’m going to fix this, Bella.”

Her eyes narrowed, heat building under her skin. “You better.”

L pressed a finger to her lips and poked her head out of the bathroom. The coast was clear, and she slipped away. Bella stood in the center of the tiled floor, hugging her arms to her chest. She glanced at the mirror again and quickly turned away. It was too horrible to look at. Mortimer was probably still in the commons, so close and so far. If he saw her, that was the end of it. No boy could love her like this.

And all she could do was wait.

⬨⬧⬨

L hurried down the front hall stairs and stopped outside the commons to quickly adjust her uniform. Sage Reyes was in the doorway, keeping an eye on the students. A tall, well dressed man, and swooned over by half the population of the school, he was the most intimidating of their professors. Perfection and precision were required by him. L wasn’t doing well in his classes.

“Not getting into trouble, Miss Faba,” he said in his low tone.

She grinned up at him. “I was just looking for a book.”

He waved her past, and she hurried to the bookshelves that lined the walls. At lunch, students splayed out in chairs, and the chess table was occupied by Simeon and Morgyn. She brushed past them to scan the shelves and groaned when they came up empty.

“What’s got you in a fuss?” Morgyn said as they moved their queen.

“Go stuff your mushrooms,” L said. “I need a book.”

Simeon blocked their move with a bishop. “Is it that Materials for Spells and Their Uses book?”

L glanced at him. “Yes. How did you know?”

“You were reading it last time you were in here.” His pawn struck, taking out Morgyn’s knight. “I thought it was clever, breaking things down into their components. It’s any wonder you get top marks in our potions class.”

“I don’t have time to be flattered,” she said. “Do you know where it’s at?”

Morgyn leaned back in their chair. “I saw the handsome Master Reyes taking some materials. They’re probably in his office.”

“Fiddlesticks,” she murmured, glancing behind her. Quickly she turned back around, like the sage could sense her guilt.

“Oh, L,” Morgyn said with a pout. “What trouble have you gotten into today?”

She shot them a scowl. Since their first day rooming together, L and Morgyn had gotten along fantastically. They’d been destined to become best friends. Morgyn spent their days pushing the limits of magic just as L fantasized about doing, and they both had discarded the pants of their uniforms and opted for the skirt. Morgyn wanted to transcend, they’d explained in quiet tones. They were the first person to speak in a way L wanted to hear. It was an instant connection, a bond unlike any other, which made them really very annoying.

“It’s no trouble,” L said quickly. “I just wanted to take a second shot at that potion.”

“And you failed,” Simeone said.

She pressed a hand to her chest. “Wow, no. Thank you for the confidence boost. I would say it worked a little too well.”

“It’s not raining gold or test grades.” Morgyn put their chin in their hand. “What have you done?”

She looked back again to where Sage Reyes stood and dropped her voice. “I wanted to help out Miss Bachelor with her boy troubles. Really, I was being nice.”

Morgyn narrowed their eyes. “What did you do?”

“See,” she said, “Bella insisted that she didn’t want to be known for her beauty. Now, I doubt she will.”

They both stared at her. L tried not to look guilty.

“You made her ugly,” Simeon said.

“No,” she said and pressed her hands to her face. “I made her hideous! And I told her I’d fix it but I don’t know how! I thought the book would give me a clue as to how I broke it in the first place.”

Morgyn put a hand over their mouth to cover up their laughter, not that it was doing much good. They bent forward, shoulders shaking.

“You turned,” they gasped, “the beauty queen into a beast! Oh, this is delicious. I need to see.”

“She’ll die,” L said. “Or kill me, or worse, one of the professors will find out. We’re not supposed to be mixing potions in our off hours.”

“It will cause some trouble for you,” Simeon said.

“We should see the patient,” Morgyn insisted. “To help her. How else can we reverse the effect?”

“We?” She shook her head. “I don’t need co-conspirators.”

“But you do need help.” Simeon shrugged his shoulders. “We may as well try.”

L chewed on her bottom lip. It was true. Simeon had a head for potions knowledge, and Morgyn was twice as crazy as she was. If anyone could figure out how to undo this without getting a teacher involved, she may as well start there.

“We’d have to sneak into the potions room to do anything,” she said, “and I’ve already blown up the class twice today.”

“We’re spellcasters,” Morgyn said. “There’s cauldrons tucked away everywhere. I bet Reyes has one in his office, along with that book.”

“Okay,” L said. “Easy.”

Simeon picked up his knight and let it swing between his fingers. “Easy to break into the office of the Sage of Practical Magic?”

“It’s a reference book,” Morgyn drawled. “It’s not as if he’s locked it away in some vault. We go right now, he won’t even know.”

“See.” L held out a hand. “Easy. Let’s go, right now.”

They stood from their seat. “Thank goodness. I thought things were going to stay boring around here.”

“I don’t mind boring,” Simeon sighed as he followed behind. “Though I am curious to see what components you used.”

“I’m sure Miss Bachelor doesn’t mind being a guinea pig.” L put a finger to her lips as they walked to the archway. “And not a word to anyone.”

“I swear.” Morgan crossed their finger over their chest. “No one is going to know.”

“You know us,” Simeon said. “The epitome of subtlety.”

“Easy,” L repeated. “This whole thing is going to be easy.”

⬨⬧⬨

Bella sat on the seat of the toilet, rocking back and forth. Oh, this was no good. L wasn’t back yet! And all she could do was hide in the upstairs toilets and pray she’d come back for her. She ran her fingers through her hair and grimaced as she saw the gnarled bony green limbs. Ugh, ugh, ugh! How was she too dry and too moist at the same time? Her skin felt slick, like it didn’t fit her right, and then in some places it was too tight to the bone. Her hair came down in stringy clumps. Well, she wanted to be a witch. All she needed now was a cape and a black cat and she’d be adorning everyone’s porches come Halloween.

The door to the bathroom swung open, and Bella sat straight up until she heard the second pair of shoes. Oh no, oh no, oh no. Her stall was closed, but people didn’t need to know she was in here at all. Too many questions. She picked up her feet and hugged her knees to her chest. Great. Come to school to rub elbows with the most powerful witches in the land, end up in the toilet. Michael was going to have a laugh at her.

“I really don’t want to spend any more time in the dining hall,” the sharp clear voice of Lilith Vatore rang out against the porcelain. “It’s so disgusting.”

“It’s really not that bad.” The second voice was softer, clearly that of her brother Caleb. “I think you just don’t like people.”

“What gave it away?” Lilith droned.

Bella sucked in a breath. Fantastic. The only thing worse than Mortimer seeing her like this was Lilith of all people. She’d never live it down.

“It’d be alright if they weren’t so stupid,” Lilith continued. “I told you about Bella this morning.”

“Yeah.” She could hear Caleb roll his eyes. “You told me.”

Bella pressed her face to the stall and tried to peer through the crack. Lilith brushed her straight shiny hair back as Caleb stood against the sink, arms crossed. His own soft brown hair was messily styled without real indication he knew what he was doing. If either Vatore siblings had any style to speak of, Bella had never seen it firsthand.

“I just don’t get it,” Lilith said. “Aren’t we in a new generation of women? Why do they waste their life on men?”

“Maybe some men are worth it.” Caleb examined his nails, painted pink, purple, and blue.

“You would say that,” she cooed. “I just didn’t expect Bella to get so dizzy for a lad. If she wants to marry rich that badly, she won’t have a problem.”

Bella sucked in a breath and swallowed it down. Not that it was any surprise what Lilith thought of her. Her best and worst quality was her bluntness. But honestly! Like Bella was some gold digger with nothing to offer the world.

“You’re so cynical of love, Lilith,” Caleb sighed.

“You could stand to be that way.”

Lilith finished adjusting her hair and turned. Bella swore her dark eyes flashed through the crack in the stall, and she slapped a hand over her mouth, sitting back. Ugh, her skin smelled disgusting! She swallowed down the urge to gag.

“If you’re going to spy,” Lilith said loudly, “you could at least be quiet about it.”

Her sneakers approached the stall, and Bella bust out, “Don’t come in here!”

Lilith paused. One foot turned back towards her brother, and then three gentle knocks sounded on the stall door.

“Bella?” she called sweetly. “Is that you?”

“Yes!” she snapped. “And it’s very rude to talk to me right now!”

“Your feet aren’t on the ground.” Lilith pulled on the stall, which thankfully didn’t open. “Is Mortimer really that intimidating for you?”

“Lilith, leave her alone,” Caleb said.

“Oh, no.” Her voice filled with glee. “Did he reject you? You must be devastated. Are you crying?”

“He didn’t reject me,” Bella said. “I want some privacy in the bathroom please!”

“Lilith.” Her brother’s footsteps got closer. “Now you’re just being cruel.”

“As a good roommate, I need to check on you.” Lilith’s fingers reached over top the stall. “I just want to see if you’re crying–ah!”

Lilith pulled herself up, and as soon as her eyes met Bella’s, she let out a shout and dropped to the floor. Bella covered her face in embarrassment. Caleb tried to help his sister, who crawled away from the door.

“What happened to you!” Lilith shouted.

Bella squeezed her eyes shut. “I told you! I want to be alone!”

“You look like a monster!”

“I know!”

“What did you do?!”

Anger overtook Bella, and she pushed open the stall door, standing in front of both Vatore siblings. Lilith was prone back on the ground with Caleb kneeling over her, and they both stared up at her with wide eyes.

“I didn’t do anything!” Bella shouted. “Everything would be going perfect if it weren’t for people like you and L! All I wanted to do was talk to a boy, but noooo. I have to be punished for showing an interest in Mortimer. Go ahead and laugh, Lilith! I’m sorry I dared to have a crush on someone!”

Bella caught sight of herself in the mirror, shoulders raised, chin low, looking like an old rotted witch. She screamed and dropped to the floor, shielding her face with her arms. This was not how today was supposed to go.

A hand pressed against her shoulder, and she peeked up to see Caleb standing over her. The soft look on his face was almost enough to send her over the edge. Now she was getting pity. What else could go wrong?”

“Did you say L did this to you?” he asked.

“It was an accident,” she sighed. “I think. She’s supposed to be finding a cure hopefully before–”

A dull chime rang out through the school. First bell. Ten minutes to get to next classes.

“Lunch is over,” Bella said, defeated. “At this point, I should just go face the firing squad.”

“Looking like that?” Lilith said. “You’ll just drip your way to class then.”

“It’s not like I have a choice! Everyone’s going to see how hideous I am.”

Lilith sat up and smoothed out her skirt. “You’re not hideous, Bella.”

Bella glared up at her. “Really.”

“I mean you are, currently.” She waved a hand in her direction. “And teenage boys are notoriously stupid, so I wouldn’t go swinging your bat in Mortimer’s direction right now–”

Caleb rolled his eyes. “Point, Lilith.”

“Right, right.” She held up her hands. “All I’m saying is, at most, this will be a funny anecdote in a few weeks. People might remember the time you looked like this as a lark, but when they think of you, they’re going to think of how smart and funny you are first.”

Bella held her breath, and when nothing else came, she said, “Usually your compliments come with a scathing critique at the end.”

Lilith shrugged. “I’m done.’

“Wow,” she said. “That was surprisingly sincere.”

“She’ll get there, given the chance.” Caleb patted her shoulder. “You know, one of us could go get one of the professors without you having to do a shame walk.”

Bella hung her head. “I didn’t want anyone to see me like this.”

“Too late for that now,” Lilith said. “I saw Sage Hughes out in the hall.”

“Yeah,” she said. “That’s probably smart.”

Lilith stood. “Let me go. You’ll be back to your usual beautiful self in a tick.”

“Thank you,” Bella said.

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t get too–”

They all froze as the door started to open. Lilith moved first. In a blink, she slammed herself against the door and slapped the lock, shouting out, “Occupied!”

“It’s a stalled bathroom,” a voice shouted from the other side, and Bella froze. That was her brother. And if Michael was around…

“Come on, Lilith,” a second voice said. “Open it up.”

“Oh,” Caleb said quietly next to Bella. “Isn’t that…?”

“Yeah,” Bella breathed out. “That’s Mortimer.”

⬨⬧⬨

“You know,” Morgyn said as they waltzed around the dark wood office, “I thought breaking into Sage Reyes quarters would be a little more interesting.”

L flipped through the large reference book titled Materials for Spells and Their Uses. Large illustrations took up one side of the page as scrawled text filled the other. Simeon looked over the personal collection of materials that were stacked in the sage’s office. Like everything about the school, it was grandiose. Lots of dark wood decorated with warm gold accents, and piles and piles of books stacked together. A radio was set up over the mantle of a fireplace, and the windows looked out into the mountains behind them. Sage Reyes did indeed have his own cauldron, which currently bubbled as L retraced her steps.

“You mixed it with a love potion?” Simeon said, leaning over the pot. “No wonder you got such nasty results.”

“It made sense at the time,” she muttered. “How long does it need to cook for?”

“Oh now we’re following instructions.” Morgyn dropped into Sage Reyes’ seat and spun around. “You think it’s a cushy job, being a sage?”

“No,” L and Simeon said together. L turned, holding the tome out in front of her. “Maybe I did it backwards.”

“Love spells are notoriously finicky,” Simeon said. “And you’re not going to fix her with one.”

“I know that.” She waved a hand at Morgyn. “Can you grab me the valerian root?”

They huffed and stood up from the chair. “Valerian root, valerian root. What does that look like again?”

“Here.” Simeone handed them a corked bottle with what looked like pink budded wildflowers. “The spell’s going to be confused, L. It needs to be detangled.”

“And it will be.” She moved the ladle as Morgyn dropped the root into the cauldron. A plume of pink smoke burst up with a sigh. “The way I figure it, we can displace the spell with another spell.”

Morgyn dropped the bottle on the desk. “Nope. Not at all. This isn’t a fairy tale, L. True love’s first kiss isn’t going to save the day.”

“It could help it along a little.” She yanked three empty bottles off the shelf and quickly magicked the contents of the cauldron into them. “Look, I can’t help Bella, we all know that by now. But if we guide the spell towards its completion, it’ll pass on its own.”

“Or it’ll make things much worse,” Simeon said.

“I guess we won’t know until we try,” she said.

L held up one of the vials to catch the ephemeral light that hung from the ceiling. Pink liquid reflected like stain glass against her skin. Then, she heard from outside: voices.

“I wish Keisha would keep a better hold on the students,” Sage Reyes deep voice carried as the doorknob rattled. All three of them stood perfectly still. “That’s the second time today the potions classroom had to be cleared.”

“You know how kids are,” came the voice of Sage Dyer. “They can be–hey!”

The trio stared at their professors, who stared right back. L felt her heartbeat in her chest. She did the only thing she could think to do, which was launch the first vial across the room. It landed at the feet of their professors and immediately a large plume of pink smoke erupted up. They both stumbled back, and L shouted, “Run for it!”

She didn’t wait to see if her conspirators followed her order. Bolting forward, she slid past the two sages and burst into the hallway. Morgyn was just behind her, one hand clutched to their skirt to keep it from flying up. Simeon moved slowest, but thanks to the confusion of the smoke, he was able to barrel past the two sages. Students stared at them as they raced past the herbalism room, and the potions class where Sage Hughes had her hands on her hips. She shouted something at L, but she didn’t stop until she saw the doors of the bathroom. Her boots slid across the tiled floor. Out of breath, hair flying every which way, she gave a wild eyed gaze to the two students standing in front of the door. Michael and Mortimer. Just the two idiots she wanted to see.

“You!” she shouted and pointed a finger at Mortimer, who jumped in surprise. “I have a job for you.”

Morgyn crashed straight into her, followed by Simeon, who managed to grab them both by the sleeve to keep them from completely falling over. Wobbling upright, L produced a second potion and held it out to Mortimer.

“Oh hell no,” Michael said.

“Shut it, pretty boy,” L snapped. “Consider me, for this brief moment, a fairy godmother. Mortimer, you’re our hero. Are you ready to rescue the lady fair?”

Mortimer’s mouth opened and closed. After a few stuttering sounds, he said, “What?”

“I’m vetoing this,” Simeon said.

“Seconded,” Morgyn gasped. They clutched a hand to their chest as they tried to catch their breath. “L, this is a bad idea. You’re only going to make things worse.”

“L!” came the sharp, sudden voice of Sage Hughes. She marched forward, and the three delinquents jumped back. “You and I are having a talk!”

“Nope,” L said and tossed the second vial. This landed a few feet from her, but it was enough to draw back the crowd of nosy students and give the sage second thoughts. Now with a clock ticking down, L turned, final potion in hand, holding it out desperately to Mortimer.

“We’re on Beauty and the Beast rules, Mort,” she said. “And this time you get to play the beauty.”

“Do not take anything she gives you,” Michael said.

L grabbed onto Mortimer’s hands, holding the vial in his palms, and she stared into his eyes. He lurched back, thudding against the bathroom door.

“Don’t think, Morty,” she said. “You’re at the tallest tower, you’ve defeated the dragon, you’ve raced to the top of the stairs, and she’s waiting for you to throw open that door, and save the day with a kiss. You can do it. Throw caution to the wind, embrace destiny.”

A muffled conversation was happening behind the door. L dragged the potion flask up and yanked the cork free.

“Your princess waits,” she said.

The potion bottle was nearly to his lips when the door pulled back, and Mortimer fell like a log. Everyone shouted as the vial fell from his hands and crashed to the floor, sending up a rising tower of pink smoke. Michael and L staggered back, but it hit face first against Lilith, who coughed and wheezed as she accidentally breathed in the concoction. L's eyes went wide.

“What is–” Lilith waved a hand in front of her face, eyes squeezed shut. “L, what are you doing?”

“I was trying to help,” she said.

“Yeah,” Caleb said, standing over the prone Mortimer. “It’s really obvious.”

“Do you feel anything?” L asked.

Lilith turned away from the crowd. “What did you just poison me with?”

“It’s, well–”

“Class 3!” boomed Sage Reyes. He and the other sages marched forward. “I need to see all of you in my office!”

“Seems we have the entire class right here,” Sage Dyers said. She rubbed her eyes, streaming pink tears from them. “Except one.”

“No,” called a small voice. “I’m here.”

The door to the stall opened, and there was Bella, face still slimy and green and wart covered, her normally shiny black hair in dark clumps around her face. The way her eyes drooped and her mouth bubbled, she was almost unrecognizable. Michael and Mortimer stared in open shock. Lilith opened her eyes and looked straight at Bella. L sucked in a breath.

“If your fairy tale plan was stupid before,” Morgyn muttered, “it’s definitely screwed now.”

“Shut it.” L raised a hand in their face. “Maybe this is exactly what they need.”

Caleb helped Mortimer to his feet, and Lilith stood between them. She stretched out a hand to Bella, who hesitantly took it. Their fingers interlocked, and Lilith stared down at the green hand she held, turning it over like an archeologist finding a pot shard. She blinked some more, her red eyes starting to water pink.

“Bella,” she said and looked up into her eyes. “I take back everything I said. You really are hideous.”

L breathed out. Welp. That was that.

“Alright, alright,” Sage Hughes said, ushering the other students away. “Let’s get to class. Marks off for tardiness.”

“Come here, darling,” Sage Dyers said, stretching out her long, black tipped fingers to Bella. “We’ll get you fixed up.”

“We didn’t even do anything,” Michael complained.

Sage Hughes put a hand on L’s shoulder. “You and I are going to have a little talk after all this. You can tell me why you attacked your teachers with the weakest love potion I’ve ever seen.”

“Ever?” L said. “That seems like a low bar.”

“And you’ve limboed right under it, kid.” She snapped her fingers at the rest of them. “Let’s get moving. There’s going to be a lot of detention notes going around.”

The whole class groaned. L felt a need to defend herself.

“I was only trying to help,” she said.

Bella shot her a withering glare beneath her brows. “L, maybe in the future, you should stop trying.”

“Wait, okay,” Mortimer said. “So that’s Bella.”

“I’m sure Miss Faba can enlighten us all about what happened,” Sage Reyes said. “In detention. My office, now.”

L looked up at him and let out all her breath. Sometimes, you just can’t fight fate.

⬨⬧⬨

Bella sat outside in the courtyard, relaxing on the large fountain. Yesterday’s adventure had come and gone, and while the class would be scrubbing potion stained tiles for the next three weeks, at least she was herself again. Lilith had rolled her eyes as Bella checked herself obsessively in the mirror, ensuring every flaw was gone. Bella had let her. Whatever brief camaraderie they’d shared, it was gone now. Things were truly back to normal.

She should be reading her astronomy book, but she’d let her mind wander instead. A cool autumn breeze ran through the trees. The mountains nestled around all of Glimmerbrook, making the whole world feel small and isolated. It was nice right now. After everyone had seen her at her worst, she didn’t mind being alone.

But around here, no one was alone for very long.

“Hey,” Mortimer said as he approached the fountain. Bella hadn’t even noticed him coming, hadn’t had time to fix her hair, or adjust her top, or ensure her long legs were in focus. He’d caught her in a moment where she was completely off in her own world. She supposed it was fair. He so often was.

“Hey,” she said and folded her book. “Did you come out here to study too?”

He held up his own textbook. “It’s one of the only classes I like around here. How are you doing today?”

“Do you mean am I a grotesque monstrosity unfit for human society?” She closed her eyes to the breeze as it ruffled her hair. “I’m feeling normal.”

“That’s cool.”

He shrugged his shoulders, and Bella peeked an eye open to look at him. No, Mortimer wasn’t anyone’s teenage heartthrob. He looked like he’d never done laundry a day in his life, and his greasy hair was stuck straight up in an attempt at some fashionably punk. But there was a softness to the eyes, and in the curve of his lip. There was something gentle about him. Bella hadn’t known much gentleness in her short time. Something about him was comforting, and she could easily imagine sinking into his arms as he explained the universe to her.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

He blinked. “What for?”

“It’s L’s fault, really,” she said, “but I did sort of help her make a mess, and now we all have detention for weeks. I should’ve dealt with it. I just didn’t want anyone to see me like that.”

Mortimer climbed onto the fountain, sitting up on top of the edge and letting his feet dangle down into the seat. “Why not?” he asked.

Bella huffed out a laugh. “Why not? I was disgusting. I looked disgusting.”

“You certainly weren’t as appealing as you are now,” he said. His gaze was up, staring at the tower of the school with a distant expression. “People are so quick to judge based on appearances though. I think it makes a monster so interesting. Having some creature drag itself up from the depths, and everyone throws spears and rocks, but in the end most monsters just want to be home. They’re antagonized. They want to feel safe, just like anybody else. Laughing at someone just because they don’t look ‘normal’ is so messed up. Who gets to decide what’s normal anyway?”

Bella gazed up at him. A small smile pulled at her lips. “I guess that makes sense.”

“Have you read Frankenstein?” he asked. Bella shook her head. “Most people only know the movie version, and it’s pretty good, but the book is incredible. The creature is giant, with oily skin and hair, and everyone fears him just because of his appearance, but he’s well read, and learned, and everything he does to get his father’s attention just ends in more cruelty. He’s one of my favorite literary characters.”

“I always liked Bride of Frankenstein,” Bella said.

“I guess that’d be more your kind of monster,” he said, sliding down to sit beside her. “She’s beautiful, but it hides the creature underneath.”

“You think I’m a creature?” Bella asked.

He smiled. “No. I think everyone feels like a creature sometimes. We all feel the slings and arrows of the world. Sometimes it feels good to see something they call hideous fight back. I always thought you’d be the type to fight back.”

Bella sat a little straighter. “You thought that, huh?”

He nodded. The two sat in silence for a moment, neither quite sure what to say next. The breeze rustled the treetops again, and then the upstairs window hinged open, and L leaned out the side.

“You’re supposed to be helping us in the potions room!” she shouted down.

Bella looked up, hoping her sharp gaze could cut L from this distance. She saw Michael appear in the window and sweep her away with his broom. L threw up her hands and marched off. Bella almost laughed when her brother tossed a thumbs up her way and quickly latched the window closed. She shook her head and turned back to Mortimer.

“I guess we should go,” he said.

“Oh, they can wait,” she said. “Besides, we’re studying, aren’t we? Have you read Jane Eyre?”

“Once,” he said. “I’m more of a Turn of the Screw fan.”

The wind whistled up, climbing high into the mountains. The orange autumn trees rustled and swayed. Students occupied the dorms while in an upstairs room, class three scrubbed away, the sages watching on. Eventually, Bella and Mortimer would be roused from their spot and forced to join the others. The excitement of the day before had finally died down, and maybe they could survive the next few weeks of detention. For now, it was another day at Nightshade Academy.

#magic high #ts4 #ts4 fanfic #bella goth #mortimer goth #michael bachelor #l faba #morgyn ember #simeon silversweater #caleb vatore #lilith vatore #tess dyer #ethren reyes #keisha hughes #glimmerbrook #ts4 realm of magic #ts4 vampires

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decadentladypirate · 9 months

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Hottakes

(TW: Self Harm, Isolation, relationships)

I didn't see the Barbie movie yet because I got spoiled heavily to the point I know everything about the movie just because everybody else is chronically online. Other than the overwhelming amount of "mandatory make everything about woke versus based discourse" social media force-feeds me since 2014 (and the frequent mental breakdowns that came with it); I am happy. I like how random men are pissed off because of Barbie because they think everything that belongs to pop culture and fandom is supposed to be made for them but they get mad. CONGRATULATIONS. You felt something. When I see man marketed demographic things like the original Star Wars and Game of Thrones. I just don't get it, the prequels and Berserk was more interesting. And getting kicked out of society and social media for it is painful. Just because a severely unhealthy man with glasses a told them to like a thing or else they will get shunned by society or made to become a janitor for some tech company for wearing a pleather sports jacket and liking sports that one time. OR some bullshit like. I've had self harmed in the past over that because I don't like being told I am going to be in a horrible situation for *GASP* like the pleasing sensation of a rubber ball hitting a wooden floor or failing to keep up with Homestuck. Pro-geek propaganda was ablest during my childhood because I have a disability and mental illness and I didn't understand anything but I was forced to follow along. Yet got looked down on for not keeping up with the Joneses. Am I allowed on Tumblr to question that? Like we've seen the plethora of "oh you don't like Bionicle or Rick and Morty I'm kicking you out of the house, thot" memes plastered over the net they and thought it wouldn't bite back at them. Well it did, big time, and it got press coverage because journalists think tweets are newsworthy enough. Now I have a fear of hating a popular thing because of a fear of isolation so I am forced to miss out on everything.

But if I do like a manly thing that I understand then all the women who wanted to be my friend bullies me because they think I am a traitor. I am shunned by society again. Like WHAT GIVES? Just because I am a little bit tired of hearing about Taylor Swift's failed relationships and care more about other music during the mid 2010s on doesn't mean I hate entire demographics. Correlation isn't causation, I just want to do math and draw. I just wish she did more relatable things like show off a really cool collection, say her opinions on random shows she likes, tweet about her favorite webcomics, or show off a random bug she saw. Unfortunately the music business and Hollywood doesn't let artists have any signs of a well rounded personality and that is probably why I am so similar to weird Barbie. Considering the Swifties have the ability to sway economies and politics, I can see these are now precautions and Taylor is a very smart lady who calculates her moves like queen regnant in charge of empires.

But no, they have to promote a popstar's breakup over a devastating natural disaster, or human rights violation that should have gotten more press coverage. Also I self harmed because r/notlikeothergirls exists as a bullying tactic. Like come on, saying that you aren't a fan of a popstar doesn't mean you hate her, and drawing female led webcomics isn't anti-women or being too political.

I hate people, they're so petty. There are bigger things people should get upset over. I like the rerecorded versions more than the originals because I now like her "screw you Dr. Luke" phase and I finally can feel why early TS was awesome. I still want to see Barbie movie.

#Barbie #Breakup #taylor swift #breakup #rick and morty #bionicle #feminism #men

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huraiyra · 11 months

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HI! TELL ME ABOUT QUARTZ I BEG YOU!

IM IN LOVE WITH YOU NO ONE'S EVER WANTED TO HEAR AB MY OCs *CRACKS MY KNUCKLES*

... Im so sorry I have autism and can't shut the fuck up when I write (essay incoming)

so Quartz is my babygirl and my favourite OC. fun fact he was originally a straight love interest in a CYOA story I was writing on gotoquiz.com in like 2012. how our stories grow with us

Quartz is an emo scene adult (30) with black and white hair that falls over his eyes and he has the all the lip and eyebrow and ear piercings and striped shirts under band t-shirts thing going on.

his edgy boi angsty backstory is that his mom was my worst nightmare ending for myself (forced to get married and have children and hating all of them forever and trying and failing to be a good mom and eventually just falling apart) and so his childhood sucked due to a mixture of neglect, abuse, and having to take care of himself and failing. he had a bestest friend named Hollis, and a little brother named Jade who was the light of his life, until he gets killed in a hit and run bc mom couldn't be bothered to pick him up after extracurriculars. this is Quartz's villain origin story so he ends up stealing his mom's shit and leaving home at age 16 to go off himself or die or whatever the fuck but then he gets possessed by a dude (Edward) who thinks he is pretty cool :)c Edward helps Quartzie murder the guy who killed his brother. Edward is also a 700 year old freak and jackass who ruins his life more by egging him on to steal shit, do whatever he wants (namely whatever drugs he can get his hands on), fight people who bug him, knife himself but not die, and also possessing and unpossessing him and leaving his body half immortal and half mortal (checkered, like his hair).

he goes to check in on his mom one day and finds her dead on the couch (either killed herself or wasted away, unclear) which understandably ruins his life (again) (x4)

after a good decade of alternative highs of possession and lows of freezing on the ground on Canadian winter nights, Edward decides to bring Quartz to a home for other similarly possessed people (my childhood dream of living in a house with a bunch of friends à la Teen Titans) who all love him to bits despite him being broken, moody, violent and dirty. they don't really see him like that, even though that's all he thinks he is. they see a guy who never got to be a kid whose actually really adorable and decent and has cool interests (see: his backpack full of drawings Hollis gave him, stolen metal and rock CDs, comics, tokens from his brother, his 8 pocket knives, etc), who gets excited about new things, who tries to clean up after himself and treat people with respect, and who might shove you but apologizes immediately afterwards.

theres a trans man who takes a lot of naps and gives really good hugs, a magician who accidentally became his mom friend, a strange famous bald girl who likes being as much of a bum as possible, a genius bubbly girl who decides everyone is her bestie, and a genuine and hopeful but miserable man (Dominique) who was just recently possesed and lost his fiance on the way to his uni grad.

Quartz is a deeply scarred human being by this point and wouldn't mind if they ALL blew up and died, and spends a long time running off and ditching them and having some weird toxic friendship with miserable man.

Dominique is weirdly drawn to him even though he's Magna Cum Laude and well-off and never known pain, but he loves how underneath all the jagged edges this guy is genuine and not mean and the way he talks ab things he likes makes him like it too. Quartz is weirdly drawn to what he sees as a melodramatic priviledged bitch who is really smart and cute and sweet and handsome and kind and adorable and nice to me and nice to everyone and I want him to smile forever FUCK.

Dominique uses the magic power he gained from the possession to heal his suffering just a little (through a mind link). Quartz becomes somewhat addicted to this until Edward convinces him it's fake and bullshit and doesn't matter and on the other hand Dominique's benevolent possessor is like are you fucking kidding me your Summa Cum Laude fiance just died and you're mosying it up with this freak and EDWARD??? (theyve always hated Edward) (but never did anything about it to keep the peace) you should be ashamed of yourself

it takes Quartz a LOT of help including having a home and food and peace, having tv and junk food and homemade food, having people who like him and dont hurt him, just being unpossessed and trying to detox and thinking and thinking and thinking and also a chance meeting with the suicide spirit of his best friend Hollis (not chance) (they were looking for him) to make him realise that even if everything in the world sucks and he sucks and pain is eternal, there's no way out of existence and becoming a suicide spirit will just result in endless cycles of rumination and torture and no way out. LIVING on the other hand? it guarantees always another chance for small joy and if there is any source of joy in the world including friendship, he should embrace it. there's no way out so you might as well try to ease your own suffering and enjoy the good. because there IS good

(ps. I spent 5 years writing the scene where he decides he doesn't want to kill himself, because I was going through the same shit, and it finally came to be when I stopped being actively suicidal. unfortunately unlike him I'm still miserable. hey whats my other name besides Sumi again...)

so he tells Edward to fuck off, has a big fight and Edward leaves for good, and then tells Dominique's possessor to fuck off, and it works and they are humbled and apologize and agree to stop being nosy and resume their promise to being kid to Dominique (and by extension, Quartz) forever again.

Dominique and Quartz end up able to talk and get to know each other and Dominique nurtures him and Quartz teaches him to loosen up and they end up little soulmates in that house and get married!!! everyone else is super supportive and love their two new additions, a smart genuine hopeful and loving man who studies a lot like Genius Bubbly, and a jaded but good man who needs a lot of help but is learning to live again

currently my beloved Quartz is taking antidepressants and going to therapy (it's working for him) and spending each day with a friend or reading (my love never finished high school) and chilling with his husband.

ummmmm tl;dr Quartz. I love him and cannot shut the fuck about him. I'm sorry. thanks for reading (or not reading)

#my ocs #pipe down moppet #tw suicide #THANKS FOR ASKING ANON I LOVE YOU..... I KNOW THERES A WAY TO TALK WITHOUT INFODUMPING I JUST HAVENT LEARNED IT.....#SORRY IF YOU WERE EXPECTING SOMETHING SHORT AND SWEET I GAVE YOU EVERYTHING #plz do nt steal and all that. he is truly the love of my life I love quartz he is everything to me #the metal part is all condensed into this metal song i LOVED as a kid and it still slaps it's radical hysteria by born #and iirc the iconic lyric is SUCK MY DICK OR DEATH and Quartz headbanged to that while Dominique was like WHATS WRONG WITH YOU (LOVINGLY)

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flylikeanarend · 2 years

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November 7

Indra

Indra woke up, sweating, heartbeat racing, she quickly scanned the room, and it was okay, no changes detected. She was used to high-risk missions, but this was extremely dangerous, she had never done anything this hard, intruding into the systems of Alice. She took her phone and ordered pancakes with extra sprinkles and Nutella. They were code words for mission aborted, and in need of herbs, like now. The message arrived in the food truck, Patrick saw it and checked one of the shelves. Out of Nutella, so he had to go buy some.

He typed into his organizer app, “gone 30 Min buying extra Nutella“. Alice promoted food-trucks in the center, of town, it added diversity to menu and gave many people a chance to take a break from what they were doing and think about their life. Patrick got out of his food truck and walked as fast as he could without running, to Idra’s place, it was not far from the food truck, which was the communication hub of the resistance.

He was secretly in love with Indra, he admired her, but he did not dear to say anything, she was blood Samurai, and gosh, he did not know if it was possible to have a relationship with her, he was from a different tribe. He arrived and entered quickly, he sprinted up the stairs, and knocked on her door. “There you are, that took long enough“, she said, “I…“, never mind Indra said, sorry“, it’s the heat of the blood“, can’t help it. I’m forced to scramble with an entity, not compatible…“, so it hurts every fiber in my body“. Indra looked at Patrick’s face, she could see how her words affected him, it’s like he felt her pain.

I’m gonna be okay, Patrick, do not worry, we need to do this. Everything changed for the resistance since they found that artefact in the desert. It took time before they figured out what it was, and it’s not like they could freely research it, it basically travelled the world, smuggled from one resistance cell to another. No one could figure it out, until one day, a person from the blood Samurai tribe touched it, and immediately ended up in the systems of Alice.

They had suspected that the artefact was alien technology for communication purposes, that was obvious, but the metal was unknown and the signs as well, the only thing that was recognizable was A.L.I.C.E, Alien Language Interface Centralized Entity. Few knew enough details about Alice, to pinpoint exactly when the problems had started, and what Alice stood for in the beginning. The problems had started, when they connected humans with chips directly to Alice, they had managed the direct interface, so some very smart people figured, that the Alien Artifact must be some highly advanced phone of some kind. Made to interact with machines through your mind, without needing the chip implant. They had been worried, about the Aliens, who left the artifact, what if they show and we end up having even bigger problems, but they took the risk, and so far no Aliens had showed up, wanting their phone back.

Several blood Samurai had experimented with entering the server, and analyzing how it affected Alice, and how to move around on her servers and code. Indra was one of the best, she managed to really bug Alice, to confuse her, by touching her code. Indra was not too fond of technology and had to learn fast, to be able to get in and out Alice without damaging herself. The scrambling, was not meant to be executed with an entity not having blood running through her veins.

Patrick took the herbs out, and give them to Indra, “thanks“, she said, staring at him. She noticed her blood temperature went down a little when she looked at him, he had so much love written all over his face, and she knew that he did not know she noticed that. She ate them and a cool breeze entered her whole body, removing all the weird left-over Alice vibrations. This feels so good, she said, you should try these herbs, it’s like having a orgasm in my veins. Patrick’s face flushed red instantly, and he looked at the floor. Come ‘on she said, do not be shy, I know you like me. The words had just flapped out of her mouth, she still had little control of her words, right after this scramble. Patrick looked at her and said, I know you are out of control right now, so I will just forget what you said, when you come back to your senses, I do not want to take advantage of you like this. He admired Indra, she was so outspoken, even when she was not recovering from a scramble, she had something so fearless when it came to emotions. He dared to sneak around the surveillance robots, be one of the chief operators of the resistance cell, in the center of the city, but… talking about his emotions was just something he never learned. Indra felt safe with Patrick, she nested herself in the sofa and said to him: “you should go now, take the Nutella and get back, I’ll be fine. Come back later and I’ll tell you all about the scramble. The others will be coming too, and I’ll report then to everyone. I think I found something inside Alice, an entrance to something, I do not know what is behind it, but I noticed she is keeping it hidden and she tries everything to protect it. It feels like a door, like in a human, when they protect parts of their memories from their own mind. I’ll try again, to get through it. “

Patrick got up, tugged her in, and said, rest well Indra. She was so beautiful and so strong. He had heard the rumors about Jade and his disastrous relationship with his ex, also a blood Samurai. It had impressed him, Jade could not handle the emotional outburst, the burning anger. But maybe the love was not strong enough. Blood Samurai always dated other blood Samurai, they were few exceptions, like Wu. But Wu was highly skilled, and he and Diane had known each other since forever. He was not a Samurai at all, just a normal ex-cop.

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animeyanderelover · 3 years

Text

I suppose I’ll do it for now.

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, possessiveness, obsessiveness, manipulation, gaslighting, mentions of kidnapping

Taken away from home (A Continuation)

"How long exactly do you wish to keep this silly fight of yours up? I was hoping that we could enjoy our reunion as a family, but you appear like you want to make this needlessly hard for the both of you."

Even with your face laying on the ground, arms twisted behind your back with his own hand whilst the other one was pressing with a power far beyond what you were used, you could make out the all so slightly growing irritation in his voice. It filled you with a weird satisfaction to know that even this man, who possessed composure and patience like an ocean did water, had a limit.

You could have possibly argued if it was smart testing his patience like this yet you had abandoned any sort of careful thinking the moment this...this bastard here had dared to fulfill his promise, instead you had fought and rebelled against him nonstop these past few days. As much as you had hated your demonic side before, the power it granted you had caused you to hope that you'd be able to free yourself and rush back to your family.

Not even once you had considered two things though. The first was that you had never fully understood the own extent of your powers, you had never gotten in contact with other creatures with which you could have meassured and compared your strength with nor had you ever put value into using and training with your superhuman abilities.

The second thing, even if you would have ever done differently with the first problem of yours, was yet still that Sebastian was a demon from pure blood, his strength had the clear upper hand, he had centuries more experience than you, maybe even more, and was smart, easily countering your rash and aggressive attacks which he could easily predict and return.

He had most likely not even used the full potential of his powers yet, he held back because he felt the need to protect you and as much as it put a scratch on your own pride, you knew that he didn't even deem it to be necessary to use all of his strength. You lacked severely against his talent, a halfblood who was on top of that inexperienced and not able to do much more than plainly throwing attacks at him.

Turning your eyes with a bitter taste in your heart to the ground, you went limb under him, signing that you were giving up for now.

“So we’re finally putting a stop to this useless rebellion, are we? Now to be quite honest, I don’t mind training you a bit so you learn to use your powers better. Though I doubt you could possibly beat another demon or supernatural creature with this half-blood of yours. But that’s why I am here after all, I’ll protect my little lovely sibling.”

He was glowing with a smug and teasing feeling around him as he was putting one hand on his chest, looking down at you with exaggerated fondness in his eyes.

How fun it was, to clarify the gap in power between you two like this once again and hearing the low growl coming from your throat. Yet your eyes were mirroring every single emotion inside of you, the magenta orbs giving him a deeper look into what was going through your head. There he was able to see it swimming, the admit that was roughly and begrudgingly entering your mind that in comparison to the actual demon or other otherworldly being you wouldn’t be much more than a bug harder to get rid of than the usual human.

In Sebastian’s eyes you were nothing more than a baby, even if you had already left the time of diapers and crawling on the ground behind you. But you couldn’t possibly compete with him, naïvely unaware of what might come for you in the future. It wasn’t even needed to mention that you had to train your demon form as well, he had come to notice early that your eyes and teeth turned whenever you got agitated or felt a strong and negative emotion.

Even he didn’t know fully how much demon traits you had exactly inherited, he had never met a hybrid before so as much as he hated to admit it, even he was meeting his limits with his knowledge here. He could only really predict from what he knew from demon and human biology. Hybrids were rarer than rare, but that really only made you more special in his eyes.

What a joyous surprise you were in his life, even with your temporary hatred and grudge against him. But what did you know? You would know in due time that humans could be far more ugly than a demon could be.

#yandere black butler #yandere kuroshitsuji #yandere sebastian #yandere sebastian michaelis #platonic yandere

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pandas-pandemonium · 3 years

Text

Yandere! Sentient! Twst - Player considers deleting the game due to glitches (Dorm Leaders)

A/N: Thought I'd combine these three asks since they're all quite similar in nature.

"[Name], I really think you should just delete that game off your phone."

The sternness in your partner's voice stunned you. They had mentioned the game acting strange at times, but this was the first time they had confronted you on this issue. Confused, you spoke up.

"Is this about the weird glitches again, [S/O]?" you asked.

"Yes, this is about those weird glitches. I swear, this isn't some simple bug or anything. This is another thing entirely. A game character doesn't curse at you just for opening the app. Shouldn't it be some welcome line or something?"

You frowned.

"I've never heard anything like that..." you said.

They sighed and shook their head. "It only happens when I open the app when you ask me to help you login."

You felt a chill run down your back.

"There's...no way, right?" you said, as you slowly unlocked your phone, immediately clicking on the application. You had to see it for your own, even though deep down you knew [s/o] was right. The game had been acting strange. Comments that were way too specific, the occasional glitching when you switched out a character for another.

With wary eyes you glanced at the opening screen; one more check, one more log in and if anything weird happens again, you will have to delete it. Sentimentality and story progress be damned. You could always watch videos on YouTube anyway.

Riddle

Livid. Riddle would be absolutely livid to hear the suggestion of you deleting the game.

"How DARE they! How insolent! They think know so much better, now do they?!"

Storming around, Riddle would be figuring out how to "chop off" your significant other's head. He won't have it!

He's put up with the fact that you're in a relationship because he convinced himself it wouldn't last long, but now this is the last straw.

"They're trying to cut me off from [Name]! For that, they WILL pay!"

But first, he has to make sure things run smoothly.

You won't delete the game if nothing odd happens...

With that, [s/o] will just look like a liar. How awful!

Once Riddle's calmed down, he will start creating a plan to cut your s/o out of your life, forever.

"I simply will not tolerate a rule breaker, and it so happens, Rule #444 states that "the heads of liars must be chopped off by midnight". That's really too bad, isn't it, [s/o's name]?"

Leona

What's this? You're actually listening to your partner and now you want to delete the game?

He would love to see you try

Sure, he could sit back and pretend that the game is all fine and dandy so that you'll think your partner was lying and being petty, but that's boring, even if it is the easier way

You forget, he's the dorm leader of Savannaclaw; known for his drive to do what it takes to get his way

Don't you remember his plan from Chapter 2?

How offensive. [s/o name] is definitely taking way too much of your time if you managed to forget his role in the story

"You want to delete the app, do you? Then try it, herbivore. I'm sure you love what I've done to your phone."

Leona is smart, dangerously so. Whoever knew Savannaclaw's dorm leader was so well-versed with game code?

Azul

What?! You're going to delete the game?!

Panic surges through Azul as he combs through various alternate plans; it's okay, he's considered this possibility before

All he needs to do is craft a perfect plan to keep you from deleting the application, and to get that pesky human away from you!

It should be simple enough, but his fear clouds his judgment

Right, right! He has to address the immediate concern; that you were going to delete if you sensed something amiss again in the app

That's simple enough.

As long as he plays by the rules and keeps to the "character" the game developers originally intended, he'll be able to delay you, just by a few days

With a practiced smile, and lines that fit perfectly to script, he laughs to himself quietly;

Yes, you seem to be confused for nothing is out of place!

He may have to keep up this constricting act for now, but his plan has to be perfect if he's going to capture you.

Kalim

Oh, the poor boy

He's panicking! His mind is all over the place the moment he heard your words!

Thankfully Jamil is there to set him straight

"Act normal" Jamil instructed him.

Easier said than done, especially when it comes to someone as jumpy and excitable as Kalim

Kalim tries not to laugh a little too loudly or make remarks that shouldn't be in his lines, but it's so hard!

He wants to yell out, "You can't! You can't leave me!"

But his fear of you realizing that the game is no longer working as it should overpowers his desire to call out to you

It's so hard...

Maybe tomorrow he can tell you how he feels! You're sure to have calmed down by then!

Vil

Really now?

You were going to delete the game all because someone told you to? You're willing to sacrifice all that hard work raising his everyone's cards and throw them all away?

Preposterous!

He will not let even your finger touch the uninstall button! Ever.

Gaining sentience was a dream come true!

He too, had been working behind the scenes to find ways to bring you into this world.

Your lover? You mean that useless potato scrap that thinks they know better?

They mean nothing to Vil. After all, surely you would choose a queen over some peasant?

Idia

Strangely enough, he's not too worried.

Seriously, gaining Fourth Wall breaking sentience was like something out of an anime or a game!

This is his realm! You can't possibly do anything to it when he's tampered so much with the game code!

Try it!

You'll find your game uninstallable and registered as a default application for your phone!

Idia feels a little too proud of himself for forseeing this possibility. He's never been so prepared in his life!

"Hihihi, it's all in place! So what if the game continues glitching? You can't do anything about it! Hihihi, who would have thought even some shut-in nobody freak like me can do cool things!"

But right- he almost forgot about your partner...

How annoying. Game code he can deal with, but some irl person? No way...

"Ahh, what a pain... I need to hurry up with the program...then maybe you can leave that dumb normie behind..."

Malleus

You want to delete the game because it's acting weird, you say?

Malleus is disappointed; he was hoping he could enjoy your presence and watching you go about your daily life for a little longer.

It's alright though, he just has to speed things up a bit!

He could care less about you deleting the game;

With Lilia's help, he's found a way to creep in to your phone and has since been existing as an undetectable character within several other applications.

A little longer and he's completely certain his magic will be able to transport into your world.

How exciting!

When he does, he hopes you will celebrate with him as well.

If you won't invite him to your world... well, he'll just have to invite himself, wouldn't he?

#yandere twisted wonderland #yandere headcanons #yandere riddle #yandere leona #yandere azul #yandere kalim #yandere vil #yandere idia #yandere malleus #yandere sentient twst #yandere twst

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sir-sunny · 2 years

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(Green) ur headcanons got me thinking about Gonta running somewhere chanting 'BUGS BUGS BUGS BUGS' while Nagito is being carried under his arm also chanting 'bugs bugs bugs bugs' but softer lol

Alright here are some thoughts/headcanons I've had about Nagito!! Ones that I haven't talked about much here at least girughrtg

-Sometimes I think about,,,the fact that it's implied that Nekomaru and Kazuichi didn't bring him any food while he was tied up?? Like I know he's a weird little rat man and kinda scary but he's still a human who's susceptible to hunger and Mahiru and Hajime seem to be the only people who realise that. Did he feel sick because of how long he went without eating?? Do you think he was used to it because he already looked like he only ate one meal a day? Also Hajime I know you're tsundere but I don't think telling Nagito to eat the food you brought in while his hands were tied behind his back was the smartest move

-I really love the fact that he's a character who doesn't express his emotions that much but somehow is always smiling. Usually in anime-esque things, the emotionless character has a very neutral expression like Kyoko did, but you don't usually get ones who's default face is a smile. It makes me wonder if that's Nagito's natural face or if he does it on purpose to hide what he's really feeling

-This one is very recent because I only saw it this morning but apparently there's an interaction between him and Kokichi in the development plan mode and literally all it is is the two of them trying to out-wit the other and I think that's so funny. Like, we know both characters are smart but we only really see Kokichi trying to out-wit people. With Nagito, you can never really tell if he's trying or if he's just being cryptic by accident unless it's Chapter 5, but with Kokichi he's all "alright fucker you think you can outsmart me well joke's on you I have over 150 IQ and a million yen all you have are a pair of clown shoes"

(IK development plan isn't canon I just think the interaction is funny lol)

-I'm being completely self indulgent here but the drawing of him on the laptop during Chapter 5,,,the one where he's smirking,,,it does something to me man, and idk what it is but good lord it's Something hfiughg

-Honestly I don't know what would be funnier; Nagito being protective over the Warriors of Hope despite all the shit they put him through or Nagito pretending to be nice to the Warriors of Hope but secretly wishing he could punt every last one of them into orbit

-Still thinking about Chisa adopting Nagito,,,her presenting him adoption papers and being all "if you don't want to go through with it, I understand. this is your decision to make" and him being so conflicted because he's wanted someone in his life who actually likes him for so long but he also realises that with that comes the risk of them being more susceptible to his bad luck and he doesn't want another person to die because of him- he just,,,leans against Chisa and drops the paper unsure of what to do and tbh the one thing about this that makes me obsessed is Chisa choosing to do this because she knows the risks of being Nagito's mother and doesn't care because she wants to protect him that much

-Lowkey obsessed with the fact that his robot arm makes noises when he moves it in the anime and now I'm imagining him also being obsessed with it. Just twisting his hand around and hearing it go wrrrrr and weeeeee and him giggling to himself (bonus: he can rotate his hand 360 degrees and he thinks its the funniest shit)

-Do you think it's a wildly known thing in the Danganverse that Nagito is attractive? Or is it only Genocide Jack who thinks that? I've always thought he was meant to look kinda sick and withered but now I'm wondering if Nagito was the resident pretty boy in the Ultimate Department

-The Soup Episode was really weird and we all now it but what the fuck did it mean when Nagito was h*rny and the FIRST THING he thinks of is hope like has this gone beyond coping from trauma, is the concept of hope an actual k*nk that Nagito has I need ANSWERS KODAKA WHAT IS THIS MAN'S DEAL

-(This one might be a little dark so just a heads up, nothing explicit) that being said,,,it makes sense why Nagito would use the concept of hope as a coping mechanism for the shit that's happened to him but I gotta wonder,,,why his reactions to it are almost always sexual,,,obviously I know its just because he's Weird and the creators want us to know he's Weird but I like overanalysing stuff and it makes me think about what might have happened to him in the past,,,I wanna give him a hug

-You know what I rarely see anyone talk about? Nagito's handwriting. I think I once read a submission on danganronpaheadcanons that talked about the handwriting on his letter and how that might correlate with his dementia, as one of the symptoms of the type that he has is poor mobility. I wonder if sometimes Nagito feels bad that he can't write as nice as some of the others because of his illness, or if he doesn't actually care that much. ALSO do you think his mobility would be better after getting the robot hand?? I just thought of that holy shit

I'm gonna stop there because this ask is long as hell and I'm not gonna clog your askbox up too much fuerhgiuerg

man,, dude,, bro,, ok ive thought abt nagito being tied up too (more than id like to admit hgrhg) but what if being tied up unlocked some kind of memory from being servant, when theyd tie him up and kick him. ykno not a full memory, maybe some vague deja vu like hmmmmm

YO SAME the art of him on the laptop hrvgg (i redraw that a while ago for that one nagito edit ansjdhdg)

like 😳😳😳

aksjdhdh, personally i think nagito may have a little grudge against the warriors of hope like, he'd never be mean to them cuz their just kids, but if he sees on of them trip, he might give it a second or two before he helps them up 🤷

MAN YOU ARE KILLING WITH CHISA ADOPTING NAGITO DUUUUDDDEEE ,,,dude,, he cant comprehend why she'd want him in her life,,, but she's so genuine and sincere that he cant even doubt herrrr,,,,

oooooooo i think kaz or hajime (whoever canonically made the hand for him) would put his mobility into consideration,, or what if he personally asked them for help with that,,,,, maybe ,,,, or maybe it could be an upgrade later on

#ajahhshdhdudyd im sorry this took so long to answer #i know i say this all the time hrghrjgjgg #but thank u for talking abt nagito 😌#i always have a lot to say abt him #green anon #dr #nagito #sunny speaks

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thick-chameleon · 3 years

Text

Their thoughts on your coven_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Owl house characters and their feelings about what track/coven your in.

Enjoy!

___________________________________________

Luz:

Abomination Track:

.Very cool 10/10, she would love watching you create miniature abominations "abomination baby's" as she calls them.

.For a while she wanted to learn abomination creation to spend time with you, but she quickly learned how hard it is to get rid of abomination goo from clothes and hair.

.She also likes helping you experiment with new abominations, creating abominations made from food or slime is always a great way to spend time together while studying at the same time.

Bard Track:

. absolutely adores your songs, she loves your talent for picking up an instrument.

.She shows you some music from her realm and gets you into some absolutely funky music, and the weirder the better. You both laugh and sing randomly together on most dates, becoming one of her favorite things to do.

.You one day step up your game to a new level and come to the owl house one night to serenade her, and she's absolutely smitten. She loves anything you play, no matter how graceful or loud you get. She totally begs you and Eda for some small lessons.

Beast keeping Track:

You scare her sometimes. Not terrifying her, but your ability to make any creature do as you say has lead to some impressively chaotic moments. From the time you let loose a cage full of ratworms free at the night market to when you somehow convinced a queen fire bee to aid your help in getting rid of a few coven guards.

.She loves all of the tiny and adorable creatures you find while out on walks. It's like you just know they're there existing, you'll impress her with all the strange knowledge of the weird creatures on the boiling isles.

.You'll randomly come across a random animal and emidately know what it is and how to care for it, find a common cave viper? New child to raise! Giant moose bear? Say no more, you'll have it on its back letting Luz pet it's tummy.

Construction Track:

.She doesn't have any strong feelings really, it's cool that you can build stuff and all but she doesn't really find it too flashy.

.She does like how easily you can lift her up though, she could never complain about that. And you can make really cool ginger bread houses which she loves to help decorate.

.She tries her best to help your poor hands, getting lotions to help your hard working hands at the end of the day. She doesn't mind how rough they are, she just likes to make you smile.

Healing Track:

.Thank titan she has you in her life. As much as you nag her about how reckless she is or how many times you have to save her from her own injury's she does appreciate it.

.Any scrape or injury she gets she comes to you, to be honest she'll use a paper cut as an excuse to see you sometimes. You don't mind of course.

.She tries to help you when she can, helping you with practice by letting you practice on her. You also teach her a few tips and tricks you've learned.

Illusion Track:

.She likes your pizzazz and performance. She's always liked the showmanship of illusions and misdirection. Even if you spooky her sometimes by popping up out of nowhere. One of her favorite things to do is to watch you preform illusions, it totally blows her mind how much you can do.

.You like to prank her on occasion, which has started some minor prank wars. Nothing has ever gotten out of hand but let's just say you both agreed to end the war by teaming up and pulling a prank on boscha. Which had gotten you both nearly killed by her, but you both still look at it foundly.

Oracle Track:

.Every date you go on usually has you reading a fortune or reading tea leaves. She sees you as wise and all knowing, so cool and smart. She loves to listen to your rants about star charts and tarot reading, even if she can't understand all of it quite yet.

.You like to tell her of how you had predicted the two of you would meet one day, though you never expected her to be human. You still surprise her with your strong intuition, she's learned to trust your intuition over the time you've been dating. It's gotten you both out of some pretty bad situations before, just cause of your gut feeling.

.You've also predicted miniscule things too, sometimes just knowing something will happen. She likes it when you tell her that she'll find something cool or that she'll meet someone who wants to bring her harm. Your so cool and she loves all of your strange practices.

Potions Track:

.She finds it cute how focused you get while making potions. She loves watching you do your homework cause it means she gets to watch and possibly help you.

.You don't let her do anything too dangerous, you mainly let her stir and mix together the simple ingredients. It's almost like cooking but with more chemicals and possible burns or injuries.

.You look super cute in your gloves and eye gear, making potions while humming a little tune. You realized how nice it was to hang around Luz while you made potions, her cheerful personality making a positive environment for both of you to work in.

.And when you aren't making potions you both like to bake something together, you of course let her lick the spoon after. But to be honest your cooking isn't as good as your ability to create elixirs. So something usually goes wrong. But that's half of the fun so she doesn't mind.

Plant Track:

.She likes it, you send her little flowers you've grown. Plus your house looks like a green house on the inside which she also thinks is very cool.

. She'll listen to your tiny explanation of what plants to avoid on the boiling isles, turns out there's a ton of people eating plants around.

.Tons of nature walks and fun hikes that end up turning into shenanigans. Anytime you visit the market you always find a new plant baby to take home, so she always has a gift idea. The only thing she could really complain about is your love for mandrakes, an endangered plant on the boiling isles. Titan help her if you see one cause she knows your going to do everything you can to take it home with you. Not that she minds, but the way they scream when you pull them out of the ground is absolutely ear destroying.

___________________________________________

Willow:

Abomination Track:

.As much as she hated the class she did meet you there. She really doesn't have any hate towards it she just was never comfortable in the class, but she's glad she went or else the two of you would have never met.

.She can't really help you with homework but she'll be your moral support and cheer you on as you make your abominations. She sometimes adds flower petals into the goo, just to make them a little bit nicer.

.You were the only one on the abomination class to recognize she didn't choose to be in abomination class, you let her rant about her difficulties and Amity. She started to get a crush on you after you promised to help her with her abomination work. And the both of you have still been together even after she switched to Plant Track.

Bard Track:

.She loves it, your voice is so smooth and makes her legs weak anytime you play her song. She loves to humm the songs you play when your not around and is there for any of your performances. Plus when you finish one of your performances she throws flowers that she grew to you.

.She actually has a pretty good singing voice, not to brag. So you both plan on entering some bard competitions at some point, with the two of you combined, you would totally rock any of the competition.

Beast Track:

.She can't lie, its a but hard to like your track. She doesn't hate it, but the creatures you work with smell awful. It doesn't keep her from loving you, but it definitely leads her to casually getting you some sort of perfume or spray to mask the beast scent.

.Don't get her wrong, she loves nature and adorable creatures. But when you've been hanging around a giant beast that has never had a bath it can be pretty disorienting. But still she loves your nurturing and caring aspect for animals.

.She gets along well with the creatures in your care, one of her favorite moments with you was when you rode on the back of a griffin together around the isles. It was like something out of a novel, absolutely enchanting.

.She really only wants to help take care of a creature if it's small and easy for her to handle, she's not very good with giant cerberus or bugs. But she won't hesitate if she feels like she can.

Construction Track:

.A buff S/O? Yes please. She absolutely adores how strong you are, your ability to create beautiful structures and architecture is amazing. She loves every plant shelf and mini greenhouse you've built her. Not to mention it's a major confidence boost how easily you can lift her up and carry her around when she's tired, it never fails to make her laugh.

.She believes you're the most creative person she's met, you have a special touch to creation that she really likes. She can't really do much to help besides hand you tools, but what she really likes to do is help paint your projects.

Healing Track:

.She really doesn't get hurt often, minus some scrapes and scratches from working with certain plants. So really she sees no big deal or anything really life changing with your track. It nice and all but it is true how much time it takes out of your day performing healing spells and making remedies.

.She knows it also pretty stressful, dealing with sick people all day with barely any breaks is rough. So she makes it as relaxing as possible for you, lavender to relieve headaches and stress, eucalyptus to release tension, and sage to lift your mood after your harder days. She wants to be there for you in anyway possible.

Illusion Track:

.She doesn't care for it. She already gets enough of Gus's shenanigans so it will take her some time to warm up to it completely. she likes a few of your more personal illusions but when you meet Gus it's going to be an interesting day for sure. Though she will admit she finds your tiny illusions cute and oddly endearing. Especially when you send her a message by a mini version of you.

. You're no longer trusted in fun houses or carnivals in general, after scaring her a couple of times in the mirror maze. You did make it up to her so she forgives you.

.She watches outside her window every night waiting to see a sparkling message in the sky created by you wishing her good night. Its very sweet and endearing reading your personal message displayed in the night sky for only the two of you to understand. She likes the little doodles you add in of flowers, meant for her obviously.

Oracle Track:

.Very nice and relaxing. Making tea together so you can read both of your tea leaves is fun, especially when it's leaves she's grown from her garden. You like to read her palm and tell her what all the little lines mean.

.She likes to visit your family owned store located in the market, you work for your family every now and then so she likes to visit and catch up with the rest of your family. She'll bring flowers to brighten up the place and spend some time with you while you work for a bit as long as it's not busy.

Potions Track:

.She's pretty hesitant at first, Boscha is in potion track and so was Eda and Lilith. Point is she's met some very interesting people from potion track. So just give her some extra time to warm up to you.

.When she can feel safe enough around you, she finds out how different you are to Boscha, you even stood up to her when she found out the two of you started dating. Once you move past the initial block of Boscha she really starts to warm up to Potion Track.

.When she finds out you can make potions for plant fertilizer it does pique her interest. Sure she could just buy some, but if you make it than it's special.

Plant Track:

. You're the first person she's introduced to on her switch to Plant Track, and emidately she has a crush. You both have a great skill with plants of course your preference of plants is very different compared to her's but that doesn't matter. It a great match for her really. You both plan on building a greenhouse attached to your house in the future, full of lush and exotic plants to raise and propagate.

.You two really just click together, anything to do with plants you can practically read each others mind, when gardening together you won't have to say anything in order fer her to know which spay or watering can you need. It's a good rhythm you two get going.

. Together you've won a couple of first and second place awards for floral arrangement competitions and plan to win more.

.You have a really good bond with carnivorous plants she finds cute, you both have a great time looking around at all the plants together at the market. Finding new plants to add to your future greenhouse.

___________________________________________Gus:

Abomination Track:

.You can be pretty intimidating at first. The first time he met you was when he had accidentally bumped into you and he felt a giant abomination hand slam him into the nearby wall. You apologized profusely right after you realized what had happened. He was pretty disoriented after getting slammed into a wall, you were so worried you had just caused him a possible concussion you took him to the nurses office and stayed with him until you were sure he was going to be okay.

.After that he wasn't sure what to do, you acted on impulse but it still hurt pretty bad. He wasn't upset or scared he was actually pretty impressed. The only other person he knew who could do abomination magic like that was Amity. So he decided to confront you at lunch and give you a second chance.

.You were surprised to see him and once again you apologized, promising to make it up to him somehow. He sat down at your table and tried to get to know you better, and the rest was history. You were actually pretty fun to be around when you weren't accidentally slamming into a wall, but now he knows not to startle you.

.He still finds your abominations to be extremely impressive and unique, the way you make giant limbs out of goo is slightly terrifying but cool at the same time.

Bard Track:

.He probably won't really care if you're just a run of the mill bard, but say you're into something with more of a kick like rock or metal and you'll have him at every concert and practice section he can get to.

.Luz might of shown you what a radio is, and you would be completely entranced by rock and punk music, determined to be the first bard to preform music like that. The first time he heard you play it was so surreal, he felt his heart pulse to the beat and his body want to flip out. It was crazy, and even more crazy when he heard you sing. It blew his mind, hed never heard music like yours before and he had a taste for it ever since.

.He's extremely supportive and cheers you on like nobody else. Even when you practice he will usually bring out his flags to motivate you. .

He's the master of flashy magic, he can create illusions of fog and fireworks for any of your performances. He really likes to help you with getting peoples attention, cause you deserve it. So he makes some really cool special effects, anything from confetti to glowing lights. He's totally your hype man and gets you confident enough to show off your music.

Beast Track:

.He doesn't care. Animals are cool and all, he's just never gotten overly excited about them. You have tried introducing him to a few creatures, but they just kind of do their own thing. He hasn't had a pet before and isn't looking for one now so he'll let you handle all of that and chill in the back for a bit.

.You have saved him from a few house spiders before, which he's grateful for. Your his savior when it comes to bugs.

Construction Track

.This string bean makes a great match for someone like you who could possibly chuck him in the air. He knows nothing about architecture or buildings, but you both have fun messing around and making some pretty strange things out of rocks and stone. Random pillars and statues can be found in the forests of the boiling isles from your dates.

.On dates you'll find a quiet spot and build small monuments like little statues of you and Gus together, he'll use an illusion or two for you to use as a model. When it snows you make elaborate snow forts and have extreme snowball fights, creating walls of ice and Gus turns invisible making it an interesting battle.

Oracle Track:

.He thinks is neat, just expect for him to ask you random questions on what his day will be like or what will happen later. You oftentimes have to explain you don't know everything the future holds, just that you can get premonitions and visions of important events leading to the future.

.He still asks tho no matter how many times you explain it. He doesn't understand a thing about astrology or house signs but he likes hearing you do your best to explain it to him.

.The biggest question he ever asked was on a very intimate date, he wanted to know how long your relationship would last. As much of a huge question it was, You already knew the answer. But you obliged him and preformed a reading for him, revealing enough to give him the answer by showing bits of your future you had learned while still keeping his a surprise for the most part. Getting married, living together, staying by each others side. It was all clearly there, and he was estatic. Knowing that you would be together for the rest of each others lives was one of the best feelings he had ever felt.

Potions Track:

.Not bad, he knows that there's a potion for pretty much anything so that cool. He occasionally asks you to make a potion or two for an illusion but other than that there's not a ton to do. He likes being your "Taste tester" of sorts. Trying your non lethal potions and reviewing them. His favorite potion you've made is one that gives him strange features like animal parts, duck bills, griffin wings, bull horns. It's fun to see what he gets every time, and never fails to make you laugh.

Plant Track:

.Plants are cool but he doesn't have anything to add.

Illusion Track:

.Not bad at all. You two would make one heck of a team, with both of you being illusionist you could do so much together. You would help his hype for sure, the two of you would be great performers.

.Sending each other little messages via illusions, distracting each other in class, grand displays of affection, and a ton of support from each other makes you two a great match. Any spell you two cast you usually cast together in perfect unison and is extremely convincing how life like the illusions can be.

. When you two dance its always an amazing display, both of you casting illusions as you danced to the music with dazzling lights and special effects. It makes quite the show that you both love and enjoy.

___________________________________________

If you guys enjoy this I'll make more with the other characters ngl I got lazy on a few but I hope you still enjoyed it. As you can probably tell abomination and bard are my fav coven tracks.

#the owl house #fanfic #reader insert #Luz x reader #willow x reader #gus x reader #toh #toh x reader

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artobotsrollout · 3 years

Text

Transformers: Harbingers

The Pirate Scream AU

Before I talk about it you guys are the best thank you for indulging me and my AU from this post xjdjd. ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

@badlydrawntransformers @cosmic0de @warrioroffandoms @measlyfurball13 And a bonus thank you to those encouraging me in the tags as well ❤️

I plan to do art for it as well as accompanying written bits and maybe even an animatic but till then have some general info under the cut.

Also there is transformers: Prime spoilers below so open at your own risk.

TRANSFORMERS: HARBINGERS

So this AU comes from the same place many AUs heavily involving TfP Starscream come from: the unfulfilled potential in our boy Scream. Now deeper discussion of that is not gonna be in this post. It'd be a whole essay.

It also comes from just how salty I was that the Team's kindness never really benefitted them much and they kept getting slapped for it. And OP really wanted to win over a con and Starscream kept wanting a partner. ALSO ALSO Optimus was portrayed as keeping his emotions in check and then never really gets a message that it's okay to be emotional so... I'm doing that here.

And the Starscream Pirate AU was born...

Aka Transformers: Harbingers (maybe idk if it's catchy enough djjsw)

Why Harbingers? ''It's just a SHIP Starscream chills in for awhile in the show' ' I hear you say. WELL HANG ON!! I got two very good reasons!! .

First off: Starscream, with the help of some Cybertronians who he wins over one way or another (Ill get to that), help him essentially use the remains of the Harbinger to put together their own functional ship. It's smaller than the Nemesis and will take some pirate ship inspiration. While it is a hardy beast it's a bit jury rigged.

Second of all:

Imagine being a fictional character living in a ship with a name that basically means 'Foreshadowed bringer of change' and then going back to Megatron and his bullshit. I'm gonna grab this and run all the way with it. Highway to Hell just came on my Spotify so... That may be an omen.

---------

NOW LISTEN

I feel like Starscream and Optimus could really have had such an interesting dynamic but we never really got to see that in TfP and I feel cheated. Also both could have mutually benefitted a great deal.

So what do I do? I shove them together to be sorta begrudging Co-Captains. As a result there's a lot of shenanigans to be had!

How this happens OP has some run ins with cons and, through a way I'm still deciding, has the opportunity to extend a hand to Starscream. Starscream, being kindness starved, doesn't entirely know what to do about Optimus being nice to him one whole time with no sarcasm or ulterior motive and sorta starts trying to get his attention.

Starscream and his crew are a bit of their own team at this point. MEANING sort of new LOGOS!

I'm yoinking the crossed out Decepticon logo from the Dark Energon Starscream and Dark Energon Knockout toys cause I mean... It's right there and also kinda like a skull and crossbones. It fits too well guys.

Starscream essentially manages to win over the autobots enough so they can sorta make a mutually beneficial, if strained, alliance to aid their aligned goal: killing Megatron and revitalizing cyberton. This is aided by some slight changes to the plot of course. It's also a benefit, much to Ratchet's delight, since they finally get some cybertronian tech to work with.

And so they gotta work together to take Megatron out and there's much bonding moments esp later when the autobot base is destroyed. Starscream extends his hand to them and offers them a more permanent position onboard. (rubbing in how unfortunate their situation is and how this is such a big favour but he's paying Optimus back.)

And insert team dynamic stuff!! Like cons teaming up with Bots, Starscream and Optimus trying to stick with it leading their own teams but keep accidently backseat-leadering one another. I will write some other ex-con and bot dynamics cause there's a lot of chaos to be had.

Optimus doesn't open up to his crew for morale sake and masks his emotions well, and Starscream is... well Starscream is Starscream so he masks what he truly feels a lot and doesn't share a lot of personal stuff besides complaints with his team either. So there's a lot of tension.... That is until Starscream has had it at just how good a poker face Prime has.

Because he's absolutely paranoid got a harmless curiosity about Optimus's ulterior motives and wants potential dirty secrets he can use as blackmail to have power over the Prime, he essentially puts cybertronian booze (but kid friendly version of course fbejek) in Optimus's energon heavily expecting him to spill the beans when heavily drunk. What he doesn't expect is that Optimus is just... LIKE THAT to his core. He's smart but very sad and guilty. And maybe a bit weepy and exhausted cause this man has not shown an emotion for eons now. /s. Starscream doesn't know wtf to do but swayed by how earnest Optimus is he sorta softens up and does open up. Might have helped that he took a swig of the tainted energon to get on his level though. But it also helps that neither is the others subordinate so they don't need to maintain their image as badly with the Co-captain as they do their team.

The ex cons sorta accidently absorb some of the autobot's morals over time. The cons help the autobots have some fun. There's a lot of stuff learned both ways. Also the cons realize how cool humans can be and after a lot of argument and forced time spent with the kids, they want to protect earth too.

Starscream, helps Optimus open up a bit more and allow himself to be emotional. He also shows him how to be a little selfish. Optimus in turn helps him with self confidence and making friends. Both help each other with the shit Megatron put em both through and overall boost one another up. (This also does change the start of the war a bit but I'll get to that in another post.)

Miko tries to fight all of the cons at first but quickly changes her tune cause "BOOYAH PIRATE CONS!!"

Other bits about this AU:

Starscream will eventually get a slight design change. It'll be less scrappy and look more confident and put together. It'll be minor

Because they are on a flying ship but have less energon than the Nemesis, everyone gets equipped with mods for flight. There is a jetpack upgrade one can get or Knockout can straight up help change their alt mode surgically.

I'm working up a list of who gets what flight mod but... Ya'll should know that Wheeljack dares Knockout to make him into a flying car. Largely cause I just got the image of Wheeljack flying above vehicons and just turning into a car and dropping on them. That and driving up the side of the Nemesis and confusing the fuck out of Megatron. Out of all the characters you know that would be a Wheeljack thing.

Arcee and Knockout grieve together.

Knockout loves bugging the hell out of Ratchet. It's extra fun for him cause Ratchet often can't do shit about it since they both need the room and tools.

Knockout and Wheeljack become an insufferable duo with the nicknames they have for everyone.

Wheeljack won't leave Starscream alone and keeps coming up with worse and worse nicknames like he did with Ratchet.

Starscream and Ratchet become complaining buddies.

STARSCREAM'S SEEKER SQUAD REJOINS. Well some of them. Skywarp, Thundercracker and maybe other peeps.

Miko manages to befriend Skywarp and Bulkhead now has to watch both Miko AND Skywarp. Wheeljack refuses to help Bulkhead round them up.

Raf hits it off with Thundercracker.

Knockout: "FINALLY a team with fragging MANNERS!"

Instead of Beeftimus Prime from the forge, Optimus actually gets access to a third alt mode and.. Idk something else primely. So he actually gets wings.

Starscream and the other fliers are greatly amused because Optimus, as great as he is at his poker face most of the time, hasn't yet figured out how to not emote with the pair of wings he gets from the forge. Thundercracker is the one who eventually informs him while the rest of the crew are booing loudly in the background.

I actually do have designs of TFP Skywarp, Thundercracker, and Ironhide in the works.

Fowler and Starscream have insult battles. Oddly both grow a weird almost fondness for these verbal sparring sessions

They frequently raid the Nemesis

Miko keeps talking in a pirate voice. Smokescreen has joined her.

AND A LOT OF OTHER STUFF I'LL GET INTO WITH MORE DETAIL AND ART. I'll also talk more in depth about some of these things that isn't a ramble like this post is. xnwjskw.

Feel free to ask about anything you're curious about.

#My aus #Autothots content #Transformers: Prime Au #Tfp au #Transformers: Harbingers #Harbingers AU

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themadauthorshatter · 2 years

Text

...I'm bored. It's been a while and I just feel like I need to pick this back up

REWRITE OF THE NINJAGO SEASON 1 EPISODE 2 REWRITE!!!!!

We begin this episode with Cole as he tosses and turns in his bed, stuck in a dream/vision ofnthe Hypnobri as they move toward a wooded area, Slitheraa carrying Lloyd on his back as younger Hypnobri try to follow and be close to their savior.

He's also having dreams relating back to his 'character profile,' when his mother died and his father was insanely upset with him. The only difference now is that when climbing the mountain, he instead hangs for a moment before letting go and falling.

That's when he's awoken by Zane, who literally pounces onto him and covers his mouth, which scares the crap out of Cole.

Zane stares at him for a moment, looking very dead-eyed, before reaching forward and picking a small bug off of Cole, maybe a fly that landed on him and fell asleep, and leaves to let the insect go.

This strange behavior only intesifies as Zane acts like a pure nut in training, meditating when he should be fighting, being more brutal and efficient when he fights the ninja, and even going as far as to freeze the ground and continue training on the roof.

We get the same 'Zane is the problem child' schtick as before, but this time Cole actually tries to defend Zane as he's always been a little cooky. Maybe he's just in a mood. And he's usually weird, so how is this any different?

Jay asks what kind of mood spurs someone to stay up all night and keep everyone up, but Wu tells them to have a but of patience with Zane because he's their brother and all brothers have their differences.

The ninja understand that. What they don't understand is why Zane sometimes sleeps UNDER his bed and lies as still as possible, why he NEVER talks, why he will somehow sneak into and guard the bathroom while the ninja, EXCEPT FOR NYA, are bathing, why he avoids Nya in general, why he can be found curled up in the fridge, and why he just isn't human. Granted, they like him, he's smart and a really good guy, but it's the weird stuff they have a hard time processing.

For that Wu has no answer, other than it's just Zane being Zane.

We also get a hint that Zane is overhearing this conversation and is saddened by it.

No time to dwell because the mail arrives for the ninja, letters for Kai and Jay and a package for Cole, which they are all actually grateful to recieve. Even Wu gets a letter, one he stashes away to read later. (Hmmmm?)

The only one to not get a piece of mail is Zane who can only watch as all he gets is a wave from the mailman before he leaves.

While Jay contemplates building a rig to help the mailman, and while Zane goes to leave for a minute, Kai asks why Zane hasn't really gotten anything as he, like the others, is something of a celebrity and would make his family proud.

Zane, very bluntly, reveals he's never had a family or a home, something that actually hurts the ninja to learn because they never realized it.

Wu catches Zane as he leaves and tells him the monastery is his home , that they are his family, and, for what it's worth, he makes them proud.

Zane only nods in a way to say 'thank you,' and continues leaving, though Cole races to catch up with him and ask if he's feeling okay.

Zane only grabs Cole and races back outside and toward where the dragons are, asking if HE is alright as he actually kept Zane up last night; Cole rarely, if ever, has nightmares that bad, but he can tell this isn't a normal nightmare because Cole's off center and isn't very focused.

Cole brushes it off and feeds a rreat he ordered to Rocky, his dragon, but Zane persists, saying he knows Cole isn't well and only wants to help.

He doesn't get more out because he triggers a seizure in himself, something that frightens Cole as he lays Zane on his side and waits for it to ride out so he can get Zane inside.

The scene is watched over by Skales, who is sharing this finding with a comrade of his accomplishment of having one of the ninja under his control.

His comrade cautions him, as Slitheraa could find out and whip Skales for technically goong against orders, but Skales reveals that he is not afraid, as he actually deliberately chose the Earth Ninja because he is the strongest, so he's confident that Slitheraa couldn't do anything to hurt him.

Speaking of which, the Hypnobri general finds the two slackers and tells them off before ordering they get back to work on the tree fortress, something that's been in the making for a few weeks now.

While the comrade immediately moves, Skales asks why they're even bothering as snakes don't belong in trees as their savior is a delusional little boy.

Slitheraa scolds Skales because Lloyd was the one foretold to save them from the tomb, which he did, so Skales and the rest of the tribe owe him their lives. And NO ONE expects snakes in trees, which is why being above ground is perfect.

He also stops talking for a moment as the wind blows, letting it hit his face as he takes a deep breath of the fresh air. Wothout looking at him, he asks Skales how long it's been since he's taken a moment to let it all sink in, that they're not underground and starving. The fact that it's happening is a miracle, so that should be enough to motivate Skales to work harder.

Skales begrudgingly takes the words and storms away, catching Lloyd as he learns a game the younger snakes play and glaring at him.

We fade from Skales back to Cole as he fights a migraine, and as Kai expresses glee at Zane cooking tonight. Jay, although hurt, agrees because Zane is a good chef.

Cole also agrees, though he also stares off as he does so, something that catches Jay's attention as he offers Cole an energy drink.

Cole politely declines and admits that he just needs a little bit of sleep.

This also catches Wu's attention as he remembers the fact that Cole got hypnotized and could use some help.

No time for that because Zane comes out with dinner and a forced smile. When asked he somewhat reveals that the pheasant he found reminds him of a falcon he keeps seeing and keeps thinking he actually cooked up the hawk, which is upsetting him a little bit.

Kai coughs that Zane's being weird again, but Jay does a bit of damage control and asks if Zane has ever studied birds, because certain ones have really interesting meanings.

Zane has no comment and instead helps himself to dinner, telling everyone, mainly the ninja, that he tried to do something a little more exotic tonight and hopes they don't think it's weird because he thought about them the entire time he was preparing the meal.

Nya nonverbally asks what the boys did, glaring at Kai, something Wu does as well, but none of the ninja have an answer, because the jab hurts them more than it should.

When they take too long to respond, Zane asks Wu had anymore visions, which he hasn't in a while, though he has been keeping an eye and ear out for his nephew.

Now having his own guilt trip, Zane excuses himself to clean the kitchen, as he isn’t very hungry right now.

Zane leaves, Nya asks the boys what happened for realsies, and we see Zane going outside the monastery so that he can take care of any scraps he has to throw out.

Whilst outside, Zane stares up at the night sky as he rethinks letting Lloyd run off and be allied with the Serpentine, seeing the emotional turmoil it gives Wu, and gives us the audience a slight nonverbal clue that he's actually jealous of everyone because they have a family, but remembers Wu's words on them being his family and kinda drops it.

He also does it when a falcon patches on a branch and stares at him. Zane stares back, intrigued as the falcon stirs some familiar emotions in him.

He tilts his head and the falcon mirrors him. He throws his arms up and the falcon raises its wings. He jumps and the falcon jumps as well before taking off and flying in a circle until Zane leaves the monastery and follows it, something the ninja don't notice as Wu explains that he really did find Zane in a village one day and he actually met Zane before that. He doesn’t give them anymore details beyond that because he doesn't feel comfortable with exposing Zane like that without his permission.

Jay asks if he's seen any missing posters with Zane on them and Wu reveals that he hasn't, and that when he found Zane, the people lookong after him didn't even know his name, as he'd never spoken to them.

It adds to the ninjas' guilt a little bit, but we cut to Zane as he parkours after the falcon and finds the tree fortress the Serpentine have built. It's a very impressive structure, but Zane spots Slitheraa with Lloyd, the two sitting outside and letting their feet hang over the edge, though Slitheraa just lets his tail hang because... He's a snake.

In fear for Lloyd, Zane ninjas over to get closer to the two of them to get some intel.

The general and child are just hanging out and talking, Slitheraa pointing out constellations in the sky that he was taught, like all the ones he learned, so the Serpentine versions of Scorpio, the big and little dippers, and Orion, and explains the stories behind each of them. Lloyd is amazed by this andnpiints out a few constellations he learned about, i.e. the actual big and little dippers and the North Star, which Slitheraa calls the Master Star because of how bright it burns and that he was actually born under that star, which made him the immediate general of the tribe, and because he was just the closest to the last general.

That information amazes Lloyd because he's only known rulers who keep their choice of heirs solely to their family, like their sons and daughters. That's something Slitheraa is confused by because in the tribes, the title of General goes to whoever is the strongest, not who is born first and the kin of be current leader; if you want power, you have to earn it, not have it given to you.

Lloyd, although he's still slightly confused by all this information, somewhat gets it and admits that he learned a lot in his time at the boarding school, but this wasn't one of them. He'd learned that the Serpentine were bloodthirsty and vicious, but he never thought they were so human, or JUST like everyone else.

Slitheraa chalks it up to fear, as humans tend to shy away from what scares and confuses them. In his opinion, Lloyd is the first human to be so open minded about the Serpentine and not be constantly afraid of them or trying to kill them.

Lloyd gets bashful and Slitheraa asks a personal question: Why was Lloyd wandering in the cold, anyway? How did he find the tomb they were in? And why is he alone? Doesn't HE have parents, or a father at least?

And what the hell is a boarding school??

Lloyd, after a moment of silence, admits he was actually looking for the ninja because they offered to let him stay with them. They were nice to him, the only people to be that for him, and he was just sick of being treated poorly. He found the tomb instead and now REALLY doesn't want to go with them. Slitheraa is aghast and asks why not, as they helped him and are trying to protect him. Lloyd reveals that his uncke is with them and he could get really mad at Lloyd, and that's something Lloyd cannot face; he's the son of Lord Garmadon, he basically leads an army of snakes, and is partially responsible for an attack on a village, so he's not keen on facing his uncle at the moment.

Slitheraa is quiet for a moment before resting a hand on Lloyd's head, telling him that even with his place as the tribe's savior, he isn't safe, as the Serpentine aren't keen on humans. He's safe with the Hypnobri tribe, yes because Slitheraa says he is, but if he encountered the other tribes, it would be a different story. Main message is for Lloyd to be careful and hold onto the bravery he had so that he can one day face and reunite with his uncle.

Lloyd, even though he's nervous, thanks Slitheraa, somewhat leaning until he's resting against the general's side.

And that's something that hits Zane in the soft spot and gets Skales a little mad as he glares at Lloyd, something Zane sees and is on alter with.

BACK at the monastery, Cole has a fitful sleep, late into the night, but Zane wakes him up, saying he found Lloyd and that Lloyd is in danger.

Jay and Kai are also awoken, asking what Zane is saying and why he's saying it so early.

Zane doesn't explain, other than telling them to get up and get dressed and hurry the hell up because it's important.

Everyone gets up and leaves, racing for the woods and following Zane to the tree fortress.

The boys are amazed by the structure, but ask how Zane found it. He reveals that he followed a falcon that mimicked him. When the ninja get confused, Zane nudges Cole as nonverbally tells him to take the reigns so they can take down the fortress and get Lloyd to the monastery, though the plan turns to ONLY getting Lloyd to the monastery because the snakes have been underground for a long time and aren't bothering anyone while they're in the woods.

It's a chance they take and they move in to retrieve Lloyd.

While they scower, Skales spots Cole and activates his trump card, luring the Earth ninja over to him and lulling him into following his commands.

While that happens, Jay and Kai find Lloyd and ask of he could please come with them because Wu is worried sick and he's in danger here.

Lloyd refuses, as he's more afraid of Wu than anyone else at the moment, but Jay promises that while Wu has his moments, he's not scary. He's just an old man and old people are just a little much sometimes because time, I guess.

Just as Lloyd begins to consider it, Kai, who's been keeping watch on the roof, is joined by a glass-eyed Cole, who stares at Kai before grabbing him by the neck, picking him up, and throwing him off the roof, Kai only hanging on when he catches a vine.

Cole sees this happen and cuts the vine, Kai only managing to not fall to his death when he has to jump on to the tree fortress and get spotted by the Serpentine.

HELL BREAKS LOOSE. The fight we get from the original occurs, though this time Slitheraa is more protective of Lloyd as we see him fight Zane, doing so in a very passive, maneuver-y way that leaves Zane dizzy and lets him and Lloyd escape, though Lloyd does apologize to Zane.

The while the rest of the Serpentine escape, fleeing back to the tomb, Skales leaves Cole to cut down the rest of the fortress so that he and the ninja can die with it.

Cole actually does cut down more vines on the tree fortress and corners the ninja on the last vine, ready to cut it and them down.

Thank goodness Wu and Nya come to the rescue on Kai's dragon, Wu playing the sacred flute and permanently clearing away the hypnosis on Cole in time for the last vine to give and for the team to fly to the unguarded monastery, which they return to and find that it is on fire, a message from the Serpentine that actually enjoyed not being underground.

Everything in the monastery is basically gone. The training equipment, the rooms, everyone's belongings, even some records Wu was keeping. All of it is GONE.

And who do the ninja blame? Zane, who had to DEMAND that they run off to see what the stupid falcon showed him.

Zane asks if they preferred it if he tried to bring Lloyd to the monastery alone and Kai snaps that it would be better than what's happened right now. That actually brings up the question of why he DIDN'T try getting Lloyd when he was alone and Zane answers back that Lloyd was so afraid and didn't want the village to be attacked, which leads to everyone discovering he basically let Lloyd go.

The revalation deeply wounds Wu and gets the ninja ever angrier, Jay asking what Zane was thinking and why he let THIS happen, but Zane tells them that they need to be thinking ahead right now as Lloyd is still in danger.

Cole, fed up, punches Zane in the face hard enough to knock him to the ground, shouting at him that they've lost everything because of him and he didn't even think to tell them that he found Lloyd. There are more hurtful words, but it ultimately leads to Cole saying Zane shouldn't have been found by Wu, which gets the sensei angry enough to judo throw Cole to the ground and tell him to knock it off, as he isn't innocent in all of this either.

No time to elaborate because Zane has another seizure, one that's worse than the one earlier in the episode and that leads to Nya having to hold him as it goes through its course. While this happens, Zane actually tries to get out that he didn’t mean to, saying this even when he's out of his seizure.

Wu all but demands the boys to apologize to their brother as he chose Zane for a reason and will never return to sender, but the ninja don't get a chance because Zane races of and lied away on Shard, something that spat guilts the boys.

Back in the tomb, Slitheraa is FUMING at Skales for hypnotizing one of the ninja and almost getting them all killed. Skales counters that he did nothing and the ninja are just crazy, so it's not his fault. And it's delusional to have snakes in trees because they'll be back in the tomb if the humans would have found them.

There's more back and forth, but that ends with Skales challenging Slitheraa to be General with a slither pit.

Lloyd's confused, but Slitheraa gives the basic run-down as he gets ready and gives Lloyd the map of the other tribes, in case the worst happens. Lloyd begs him not to accept the challenge, but Slitheraa tells him that to turn down a challenge for a Slither pit is a sign of weakness, which he cannot show.

The fight is more vicious than the original, with Skales being more forceful and kicking at Slitheraa, who is limited with his tail and age, and woth the fact he simply has respect for Skales and doesn't want him badly hurt.

The fight ends with Skales beating Slitheraa and becoming the new general, ordering Lloyd to leave and to only return if he doesn't value his life.

With his map and with the sorrowful farewells of some of the Hypnobri, Lloyd leaves and looks for one of the other tribes.

Backnwith the ninja, they're all crowded near a fire and eating some mud newt, because it's better than nothing, and we actually see Jay not eating because he doesn't feel good, emotionally. He misses Zane and feels terrible.

Kai agrees and Wu tells them both that he feels the same way they do. He's a little disappointed and infuriatiled at Zane, but he still loves his pupil and hopes he's doing okay, at least; goodness knows he's screwed if he has another seizure while he's on his own.

Jay, emotional from the lack of caffeine and because of the events, somewhat cries that right now he just wants Zane back, which Cole and Kai also agree with.

There's a sharp, high squeaky noise, like the sound of a fly, and Jay cries harder, asking if nature can give him his friend back and not give him flies.

Good thing he asks, because, TV perspective, the camera would pan up on the boulder they're all against and reveal Zane as he crouches above them, blowing into a reed and smiling like a child because he got them all.

Zane is spotted, and he comes down, and the ninja hug him and apologize for everything, though Zane apologizes too for not being honest when ge should have been.

Water under the bridge now that he's back.

And Zane reveals that he has to cut the reunion short because he followed the falcon again, after flying around aimlessly, and found the Bounty, explaining he feels a connection to the falcon, like he's seen and known it from somewhere, but it didn't trigger any of his seizures, so there's something curious.

The team is in awe of they're new home and are in more awe to learn that Zane made dinner again, more to make up so they aren't mad at him, something realized when Zane steps in front of them, gives a bow, and asks if he can still be a member of their team and family.

Jay, too overwhelmed, lunges at Zane and cries for him to just come home and stay home, even promising that he'll never call Zane weird again.

Zane accepts and stays back with Wu as the team race toward the Bounty, excited to explore.

Wu rests a hand on his shoulder and thanks Zane for coming back and that he swear they will find his family and get his memories back.

Zane is appreciative, though politely declines as he's happy with the family he has.

The words warm Wu and the two join the rest of the team, the episode ending with Wu joking that they should hurry before the boys eat everything, Zane spotting the falcon on the mast of the Bounty, and Lloyd finding the burnt down monastery, heartbroken and shell-shocked.

#ninjago #pg 13 #'long post'#ninjago zane #ninjago nya #ninjago lloyd #ninjago jay #ninjago kai #ninjago cole #this was a long time coming #sorry it took forever

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