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wolf-pearl · 3 years

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@aimeelouart I have finally finished writing the summary of that SSC au I mentioned on ao3.

This AU is based on the First's theories about Cloud. Basically, what if they were right with their assumptions?

Zack is an early SOLDIER prototype and legendary 1st Class who got disappeared pre the Trio's time. His existence was completely erased. Zack was enhanced using only mako, no jenova cells. When the jenova cell infused mako treatment was found to result in greater enhancement than mako treatment alone, Zack was viewed as obsolete.

Made obsolete by new j-cell SOLDIERS, combined with Hojo wanting to make way for Sephiroth to rise through the ranks, and fear that Zack's sway over the SOLDIERs would lead to mass insubordination in the event that Zack objected to ShinRa's immoral agendas became reasons for Zack to be disappeared and handed over to the science department. Zack was handed over to the science department by his own men, the betrayal resulting in his scorn for the SOLDIER program.

Cloud was created to be a SOLDIER killer. President ShinRa, after seeing that there really wasn't any way to stop the SOLDIERs if they decided to turn against the company, orders Hojo to create some form of failsafe in the event that any SOLDIER turned against ShinRa. Cloud has been conditioned from day one to see SOLDIERs as highly dangerous combatants that will kill him if he can't neutralize them fast enough, and eliminating them is the job expected of him by Hojo and ShinRa.

Zack was brought in at first to be Cloud's first real SOLDIER to kill. Problem was, Cloud was TINY at the time, and thus can't win that fight. Zack refuses to harm Cloud, because, you know, he's a literal child. So what was intended to be a fight to the death devolves into Zack giving Cloud pointers on his foot work and sword technique. Hojo sees the value in keeping Zack around to teach Cloud, as who's better to teach the boy how to fight SOLIDERs than an actual SOLDIER? On top of that, it has the added bonus of further instilling a distrust of SOLDIERS into Cloud. And so Hojo decides to keep Zack around for Cloud to practice fighting and to teach Cloud. (Don't be fooled, Hojo still absolutely plans on having Cloud kill Zack. He simply has moved that back as a potential final test before announcing Cloud as ready for deployment.)

Cloud's actual name given to him by Hojo is Cumulonimbus. Upon hearing that, Zack declared that that was a terrible name for a kid, and started calling the boy Cloud instead. Cloud reacted poorly to the firsts calling him Cloud because that is Zack's name for him. Zack is the only person Cloud truly trusts, so the name Zack gave him is only for people he trusts.

Cloud leveled his materia himself. They wanted him to have a full arsenal to take down rogue SOLDIERS. So, he's been using them since the moment he could. The fusion blade also belongs to Cloud. They put him through tests to see what all of his limit breaks are, and then designed the fusion sword to complement his final limit break, omnislash.

Cloud was kept in the lab in Nibelheim. This meant that he was always in relative close proximity to Jenova. As such, Cloud has been subjected to Jenova's mind fuckery for his entire life. When Jenova first started reaching out to Cloud's mind it was simply to figure out what he was. Then she made Cloud's life hell. Cloud had to learn quickly how to block her out. This is why Cloud knows all the tricks to blocking out the crazy alien. This also means that Cloud has been getting visions of the future for most of his life.

Cloud wasn't meant to ever be in view of the public, or interact with civilians at all. The only people he was planned to interact with were his handlers and the SOLDIERS he was sent to eliminate. As such, there was no need to condition him to behave, hold his tongue, or be a poster boy like Sephiroth. The only behavior that mattered was following direct orders and returning to his handlers once his objective is complete.

Cloud recognizes the Buster sword because it used to be Zack's sword. It wasn't taken away from Zack when he was first brought in as they had intended to throw him into combat. After that he was allowed to keep it in order to further Cloud's lessons with him. Cloud knows how to tend to the Buster sword so expertly because he did so relatively often back in the labs. The scientists learned to use promises of extra time with Zack as an incentive for Cloud, and much of those bonus times were spent talking with Zack as they cared for the sword. Eventually the buster sword gets taken away from Zack as punishment for "bad behavior" - probably an escape attempt or attempting to interfere with one of the inhumane tests Cloud is put through. Zack assumes that it was melted down after being taken away. In reality, the Buster sword is given to Angeal. One of the last SOLDERS who served under, remembers, and still holds loyalty to Zack was the one who delivered the Blade to Angeal. The SOLDIER tells Angeal that the Buster Sword belonged to an honorable man who had no one to pass it onto, and that Angeal's dedication to dreams and honor reminded the SOLDIER of that man. Angeal was never told the name of the blade's original wielder.

Ribbon belonged to Zack. He had hid it from the scientists. Zack first gave it to Cloud after a nasty round of experiments involving status conditions. He had somehow braided it into Cloud’s hair. He gave it to Cloud permanently after the boy had clung to it like a security blanket. Knowing that the Ribbon was probably the first object that Cloud ever used as a security blanket, Zack vows that once they escape he will get Cloud an actual plushie. With ribbons of its own.

During a time when Hojo is back in midgar, Zack breaks out of his cell, snags Cloud, and makes a break for it. They end up being forced to barricade themselves into a chamber that has a bunch of coffins. They find Vincent who takes one look at Cloud and decides that his sins can wait, there is a child right here who needs his help and he can help. Vincent and Zack tear through the scientists that are on site and scavenge what travel essentials they can from the lab along with the equipment that was made for Cloud, before making their escape with Cloud.

Somehow Cloud gets separated from Zack and Vincent, and decides to set out to destroy Jenova and burn the mansion to the ground. At this point Hojo is aware that something has gone wrong, and so Genesis is sent to Nibelheim, ostensibly to check an energy disturbance in the area. In reality he's been sent to retrieve Cloud, but he isn't told that.

The outfit the Firsts find Cloud in is part of Zack’s old uniform. Cloud was pretty much only given hospital gowns and scrubs to wear by the scientists. When Zack and Cloud escaped Cloud’s clothes - which were nothing more than a hospital gown and scrub pants - got completely ruined. Zack wrapped Cloud up in his own outfit because while Zack was able to find extra clothes that fit himself in the lab, there wasn’t any kid clothes in the lab. Cloud ends up in Zack’s sleeveless turtleneck and pants, but Zack keeps the pieces that wouldn’t do Cloud any good for himself. This does mean that the outfit Cloud is wearing at the start is a little different than in ssc. Zack is smart enough to know that putting his massive steel toed boots on a small child is not going to do Cloud any good. So when Genesis finds Cloud the boy is not in a complete comically oversized ensemble with that skirt thing, the single shirtless sleeve, belts and all. Instead Gen finds a small bare foot child wearing a quarter turtleneck that's falling off his shoulders, a pair of already baggy pants that look like ufo pants on the kid, and a sword harness with an absolutely obnoxiously big sword. (Gen has a freak out when he sees Cloud standing in knee high snow without any footwear, because seriously how long has this kid been wandering around in below freezing temperatures barefoot, he could lose his toes.)

How did Cloud even get separated from Zack and Vincent, and how did he make his way back to Nibelheim from wherever they had fled to? Simple: don't ask me questions I don't have an explanation for yet.

Zack and Vincent are desperately trying to find Cloud. The First Class trio don't realize that they are being hunted down by two very protective, skilled, and enhanced individuals who are hell bent on getting Cloud back.

Because this AU removes (most of) the time travel aspects, Cloud’s reasons for being afraid of Sephiroth are different. One cause of Cloud’s fear of Sephiroth is that Cloud has been having nightmares and visions of the future for basically as long as he can remember. On top of this, Cloud also has been conditioned to think that the greatest threat he might ever have to fight is Sephiroth, as he’s the top SOLDIER. Hojo drove this point home by forcing Cloud to fight simulations of Sephiroth, and would punish Cloud if he failed to beat it. Hojo also constantly forced Cloud through intense experiments and enhancements to “bring his capabilities up to be equivalent to Sephiroth”, inadvertently causing Cloud to associate any mention of Sephiroth and/or Sephiroth’s continued improvement with being subjected to another barrage of experiments. However, Cloud probably won't be as afraid of Sephiroth in this AU as he is in SSC. Yes Cloud would still be afraid of Sephiroth, and yes Cloud would still be more afraid of Seph than he is of Genesis or Angeal. However without the time travel aspect from the original fic, Cloud just won’t have enough reason to be as afraid of Sephiroth as he is in ssc. In this AU Cloud’s more afraid of what Sephiroth represents (the visions of the future, the ultimate threat Cloud may have to face, and further experimentation) than he is of Sephiroth as a person.

Sephiroth could earn Cloud's trust through showing Cloud that Hojo had hurt him too. Sephiroth understands what it means to be hurt by Hojo.

You still want time travel elements? Well you’re in luck because I have three options for that.

1) Cloud time traveled version 1: In the first time line, he escaped with Zack, but Zack ultimately got killed. Cloud takes Zack’s outfit to remember him by, and stays out of the reach of ShinRa, builds a life for himself as a mercenary. At some point during the years during mercenary work Cloud stumbles upon the Buster sword on a cliff in the midgar wastes. As Angeal had no protegee, he had neither a student to order to cut him down or anyone to pass the Buster sword onto. Angeal died while leaning against the flat of the blade that he had struck into the earth in an attempt to keep himself propped up. Cloud recognizes the Buster sword and takes it with him. He doesn’t learn how the Buster got on the cliff after it was taken from Zack. Cloud spends his years as a mercenary drifting to wherever his jobs take him, and for the most part ignoring the events that shake ShinRa such as the Nibelheim incident and the mass defections. He stays far away from anything to do with ShinRa up until he takes a job from AVALANCHE. From there Cloud follows an altered version of cannon events. When Cloud time traveled, he got sent back to when he was a kid in the labs with Zack, the only things he brought back from the future are his rare summon materia as well as his Master Materia, those really being the main equipment he got after the labs. This would mean Cloud being small doesn’t necessarily have to be because of Jenova.

2) Cloud time traveled version 2: Zack escapes with Cloud pre crisis core, but ultimately gets apprehended by Sephiroth, who was sent to recapture “escaped experiments”. Sephiroth kills Zack, and Cloud is returned to Hojo (this gives an alternate reason behind Cloud calling Sephiroth “murderer” in chapter 3). Cloud continues to be experimented on and is sent on his first mission during the events of crisis core to go after the SOLDIERs who defected with Genesis. Cloud is eventually sent after and successfully takes down Genesis and Angeal. Cloud doesn’t recognize them after time traveling at first due to how advanced their degradation was when he fought them on top of his memories of that time in his life being unclear. Cloud does recognize that the sword Angeal has is the Buster sword and takes it with him. All Sephiroth learns about the deaths of his friends is that they were taken down by “a classified project designed for this exact type of scenario”. When the Nibelheim incident occurs, Sephiroth was sent with a random SOLDIER first. Cloud was sent to investigate to see if the accompanying first went rogue after the team sent to Nibelheim fails to report in and ShinRa hears of a disturbance in the area. Cloud arrives to find the village burning and the unnamed First (along with everyone else) killed by Sephiroth. Following orders to eliminate any rogue SOLDEIRs along with recognizing Sephiroth as the person who killed Zack, Cloud kills the silver General. Hojo is furious when he arrives, demanding why Cloud would kill Sephiroth, to which Cloud retorts that he followed his orders as given to him by ShinRa and the Professor himself. His orders were to eliminate any rogue SOLDEIRs, and Sephiroth had gone rogue. Hojo takes offence to this, and as punishment he tries to experiment Cloud into oblivion for 4 years. Hojo leaves Cloud in a mako tank after the creations of the Sephiroth clones, and he reasons once Sephiroth returns there will be no more need for Cloud. Cloud escapes, equipping himself with his gear from his time as ShinRa’s SOLDIER killer but opts to wear Zack’s outfit that was kept in the lab’s storage after his death. Cloud makes his way to midgar where he joins up with AVALANCHE, and from there the story follows along an altered version of the cannon events. As a side note, I’m not entirely sure how this one would work out with the time line and character ages, so this one may require some fudging of the characters ages to make sense? Idk, I really don’t understand the timeline of FF7. I think that using Cloud’s canon age would make him 14 maybe 15 when he takes down Genesis and Angeal. Considering that Hojo sent Sephiroth to Wutai at around the same age, it could work.

3) Zack is the time traveler. In the original timeline, Zack doesn’t manage to escape the labs and ends up dying before Cloud gets to see. Zack ends up following Cloud around as a ghost and is powerless to do anything as Cloud struggles through his time as ShinRa’s SOLDIER killer, and then dealing with the events of meteor fall, geostigma, etc. the Planet ultimately cant recover, so it Sends Zack back in time to prevent the disasters from ever happening. Zack is sent back to early on in his time with Cloud in the Labs. Zack makes a point of reiterating how dangerous Sephiroth is to Cloud, and this time succeeds in escaping the labs with Cloud by enlisting Vincent’s help (Zack learned of Vincent through waiting over Cloud as a ghost). While Zack was sent back in time to save the planet, He acknowledges to himself that his real motivation behind doing this isn’t to be a hero, he just wants to take care of his Cloudy. Zack absolutely freaks out when he gets separated from Cloud. He’s on a warpath to get his adoptive son back. When Zack catches up to the three Firsts Cloud’s probably going to have to talk Zack down from outright eviscerating them for daring to touch Cloud.

#this thing is over 2700 words long oh god #aimeelouart #saving subject c #ssc #long post

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tibby · 3 years

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definitive ranking of all of the trr gang’s parents:

godfrey: sucks for a lot of reasons but he committed the worst crime imaginable: being from england. 0/10.

king kyle maclachlan: yeah yeah his name is constantine but looking like kyle maclachlan is his only redeeming quality so. lame, royal, didn’t care about his kids, slutshamed mc, died the cringe and fail death of being crushed by falling rubble. 0.5/10.

regina: is this old bat still alive? genuine question. 1/10.

lorelai lee: fuck you for how you treat(ed) hana. 1.5/10.

mc’s mystery parents: either dead or just don’t care that their daughter moved to a foreign country, got married, had several attempts made on her life, had a kid, became a duchess and possibly a queen, had a movie made about her, and obtained several fancy hats. if it’s the latter then they have the potential to be the funniest characters of all time but if it’s the former that’s just boring. 2/10.

barthelemy beaumont: as a person with morals and a bertrand stannie, i give him a 0/10. however, as a lover of chaos and comedy, i have to give credit where credit is due and award a full 10/10. he committed regicide, pretended to be in a coma for two decades so he could do evil schemes instead of raising his kids, bankrupted his family on said schemes and then claimed it was because he kept trying miracle cures, decided to come back onto the scene by crashing his son’s rehearsal dinner and announcing that he was cured, blackmailed and kidnapped various royals so he could obtain custody of mc’s child, and his weakness is crows. say what you will about the guy but he’s committed to the bit. overall i think that’s like, a 2.5 or something.

emmeline ebrim: was fun until it turned out she was part of the evil cult and therefore everything she did in the past few books made her fake as hell. still a milf though. 3/10.

lionel nevrakis: shitty dad and can’t even do a successful coup, but i respect the feminism of taking his wife’s name. also i really like his scar. 3.5/10.

milf adelaide: objectively too high in this ranking given that she gave madeleine about fifty complexes and betrayed you several times, but she was the first milf in the series and she’ll always have a special place in my heart for that. nothing like an older woman who just wants to party. 3.8/10.

camellia nevrakis: shitty mother but sexy as hell and hated king kyle maclachlan. credit where credit is due. 4/10.

xinghai lee: the whole “unconditionally supporting his wife” thing would be nice if it was for anything other than allowing her to mistreat hana. 4.2/10.

landon ebrim: absolutely useless in every situation and kind of two faced but he doesn’t seem to be actively evil. mostly he’s just dumber than a sack of bricks. a solid 5/10.

annabelle beaumont: dead and hasn’t appeared in any flashback scenes so it’s hard to know, but maxwell used to be a mama’s boy which is good enough for me. 5.5/10.

bianca walker: much like her daughter, she’s really fucking boring, but she seems nice enough and apparently makes good coffee. also i know that she had “”fallen out of favour”” and it was their choice to stay in cordonia but ditching her children in a foreign country not long after their dad died is kind of a low blow. however it’s also pretty funny. 6/10.

hakim theron: loses points for being friends with king kyle maclachlan for years and not supporting ezekiel’s vet dreams, but overall a nice man who cares about his kids. also one of the few parents in this series who hasn’t tried to ruin mc’s life. 7/10.

drake’s dead dad: all the flashback scenes suggest that jackson was a cool guy, even if i don’t support his choice in career. bonus points for his untimely death kicking off the comedy of errors that is drake’s life. nice ass, sorry you died protecting nobility. 8/10.

queen eleanor: we only get her in flashbacks but she has yet to disappoint. cared for her son but also his ragtag group of besties, something her cringefail husband couldn’t do. will be heartbroken if we find out that she was up to evil shenanigans in the royal finale. kind of shitty that it took a bunch of idiots stumbling onto things for someone to solve her murder but cordonia isn’t known for being competent. the secret daughter thing was kind of wild and i sort of hope we never get any context for it. hope she found a better spouse in the afterlife. 9/10.

joelle theron: loves her children equally, loyal to mc and everyone in the cordonian crew, doesn’t appear to be part of any secret groups and didn’t play a role in any fail coups, cares more about art than she does boring royal stuff, total milf. would hang up one of her paintings on my wall. 10/10.

#playchoices

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anothertastelesstetrahedron · 3 years

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Descole headcanons maybe 👀

Did someone say Descole? 👀 I’m just gonna put the whole thing under the read more cut, since this ended up being a very long post - and I mean looooooong - like almost 3000 words long. Major spoilers for most of the games - mainly the Descole Trilogy (looking at you AL), but there’s also one UF one.

Des has terrible handwriting. I just think it would be funny if that's the one thing he cannot change about himself while impersonating someone else. He can manage faking signatures, but free writing as someone else? He has to try very, very hard to get that (nearly) right. Tbh for most of his roles that’s also hardly a problem, so he doesn’t bother.

He dehydrated/had a heat stroke at least once while in full costume. There must be a reason why Raymond tries so hard to make sure the AL gang takes water bottles, sunscreen and so on with them. Des has no self-preservation instinct (unless having Raymond around counts as Des taking care of himself?) He also probably almost died in Monte d’Or due to the heat.

Des beat up those guys who hurt Layton in UF. Listen, no one is allowed to hurt his bro except for him.

The first thing Des did after AL was visit Umid - after getting the much needed medical treatment. Because I absolutely love their interactions he promised to do so. It would be funny for him to show up in full costume as well.

Des eventually got used to Kietz (because the cat is now living with Raymond and Des. You cannot change my mind about that) At first he hated Kietz. Des is basically the old cat in the Bostonius that now has to get used to the new one lol

I know it was just the writers having no idea about Des’ backstory in LS but I still can’t stop thinking about how Hershel felt that Descole (in full costume) was familiar. So what if young Hershel Bronev actually liked to dress up in a costume similar to the Descole one? And that had left an impression on young Theo...

I also still cannot get over the fact that Des knows how to make Layton the perfect tea. Well, he had Raymond make it, but still. How does he know what kind Layton likes? Theory one: Layton’s taste hasn't changed from when they were kids. Theory two: He stalked observed Layton’s tea-drinking activities. Maybe he even posed as a waiter sometimes to find Layton’s favourite tea.

Des had kept track of how Layton was doing for a long time. He also was very close to introducing himself a couple of times. Obviously he never did. One reason why he decided against it was certainly to keep Layton away from everything. Des had given him the chance to live a peaceful life, so he obviously didn’t want to risk that. But that’s not all to it. Though Des hated himself for even feeling that, he was a bit jealous. It’s not that he regretted his decision from back then, but he still couldn’t help feeling that way. Plus, Hersh was a reminder of his past life. So while Des had his family that was another reason why he didn't approach - though in the beginning, he had actually thought even more about talking to Layton. However, Des had really tried to let go of his revenge and thus also his past - so Layton couldn't be a part of Sycamore's life. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he also couldn't help but think about their father whenever he looked at Hersh. He knows that’s not fair, but it’s what it is. The same way he thinks about Bronev whenever he sees his own eyes in the mirror. After his family’s death and after he became Descole he stopped approaching Hersh altogether and kept his distance. Not only because, again, he wanted to keep Layton out of all of this - even more so than before, because Des had already lost his family again, so losing Hersh was not an option (I write even though Des tried to kill Hersh himself hjasdjd)-, but also because he was afraid of how disappointed Layton would be were he to find out about all the things Descole had done. Des feared that he’d hate him.

Relating to one point in the previous point, Des absolutely hates mirrors. His reflection is bearable while being dressed as Descole, but he still avoids them like the plague. Even more so as AL Desmond. He also absolutely hates it when someone compliments his eyes - the thing he hates the most about his appearance.

Relating to that, I know Des’ glasses are just for show, but what if they are optical glasses nevertheless? Like, he cannot stand seeing clearly (especially since he ran into Bronev a couple of times and he absolutely doesn’t want to see that guy’s face). Maybe it’s also to help him distance himself even further from the others - especially Layton(?).

Des only possesses one photo of his family. It had been in his wallet when they died. I am just gonna assume Targent blew up his house, leaving Des with almost nothing. As much as he wishes to have the photo with him at all times, it's far too dangerous to do so while being Descole. Maybe Raymond keeps it safe? Or Des just keeps it in Desmond’s office? Maybe that was one of the things he actually liked while being Desmond again, at least he actually could carry the photo around this time.

Des lies a lot (obviously) - also to himself. (This is also me just trying to make his writing make more sense, since it often seemed to me he was written by 4+ people who didn't tell each other what they’ve written). I am thinking of that one bonus scene in MM where Des acts all empathetic towards Randall. “Just the thought of those poor parents, desperately looking for their own child.” That line does sound a lot like something Des himself knows too well… And then, one moment later, after Randall has left, Des just admits to himself that he’s just using Randall. (srsly writers??) I’m not saying that’s not right, because he’s certainly using him - no point in sugar-coating that - but he’s also very much trying to distance himself from Randall and his issues and reminding himself to focus on his goals and to not get distracted. Because Des does care. And I also think that he could have achieved his goal without Randall, but when he had learnt that Layton lost his best friend, Des tried everything in his power to get him back.

What is Des’ “true self”?

That is the one question I’m thinking about the most. It’s probably gonna get a bit complicated now… Let’s see if I can make my own words make sense (I really tried haha). For clarity's sake I’m gonna use three different names now: First, we have Des - the name I’m gonna use for the “true(est)” version of him - whoever that really is. Then we have Desmond - the AL Desmond Des “played” during AL. And, finally, there is Descole which is of course the Descole “role”.

Des has some serious identity issues - because of course he does. Descole started as a role (Des is even literally wearing a non-practical costume) that served a specific purpose. Des initially “created” Descole to have an outlet for all his rage and despair - and to get back at Targent without revealing himself. And I imagine some characteristics of Descole are things Des added, because he wanted Descole to appear a certain way different from how Des presented himself outside the costume. No one was to find who was behind the mask after all, so Descole had to act differently. Descole’s arrogance comes to mind, like that one just strikes me as not (fully) being Des himself. Des pretty much hates himself and blames himself for a lot of things. But Descole is also much more than a simple role. He’s very much a part of Des himself - it’s Des' own anger and his own feelings Descole is based on after all. Over the years, the lines between Des and Descole got more blurry. And now Des pretty much cannot tell the difference anymore between the things that make him him and the things he had just put into the Descole persona. So while Descole was initially based on parts of Des himself, over time Des truly lost himself in Descole who had become its own thing as well. Think method acting gone completely wrong - or right?

In a similar yet also opposite way, (AL) Desmond is also a role Des played during the game. Des said that he had just assumed Desmond’s identity again to get close to Layton and use him (which I don’t believe is 100% true, because I am convinced that a part of Des wanted to be saved. And also longed to see his brother again - and wanted Layton to like him), but it does make me think that Des mostly runs around as Descole. Obviously Des had kept the Desmond persona alive enough for Desmond to be regarded as a world-famous archeologist. But then again, it clearly doesn’t matter in the PL-universe if people don’t do their jobs.

I still do not know how much of Desmond is the “true” Desmond. Even if Des based Desmond on how he used to be with his family, there’s still the question how close Des actually comes to that. Memories can be deceiving and I doubt Des remembers exactly how he used to be. So maybe Desmond’s speaking style, his mannerism could be an act instead of that being Des’ true (past) self. Or which I like better, it’s a confusing mix between “lie” and “truth”. Some things are exaggerated (people tend to romanticize the past, so even with his family Des(mond) might not have been as nice as he presents himself to be as AL Desmond). Some aspects are more or less really Des(mond) and some other things are just stuff Des added to the Desmond role - consciously or not.

Let’s take this thought even further. When Des tried to leave his revenge behind and concentrate on his family, was that Des(mond) really his true(est) self? Or did Des play a role during that time as well (at least partly)? Des cannot let go. That has been shown throughout the games. So while he had tried to put Targent behind him, he might not have been able to do that completely. Thus he buried some things deep inside him and concentrated on “playing” Desmond Sycamore. Who might be the person he wished to be(?).

Long story short, I think that maybe AL Desmond is an idealised version of the Desmond Des used to be. Des acted like how he used to be while his family was still alive - or as much as possible, since he absolutely cannot let go of the pain completely. So his AL Desmond appearance could also be how he had looked like back then. I honestly do not even know if AL Desmond is the “true face” under the mask. Or if Desmond is also kind of like a “costume”. His appearance could be inaccurate as to how present Des really looks like. Descole’s character model also makes no sense. Like the hair that is sometimes visible doesn’t really look like Desmond’s most of the time after all. So is Descole wearing another wig? Is Desmond? I kind of like the idea that Des met Layton with his true appearance, so I’m on the fence here. Maybe he’s not wearing a wig, but extensions?I very much like the idea of Des appearing with his true face though… So I am kind of reluctant to have Desmond look too different from Des. Plus, Layton could have noticed if Desmond was in fact wearing a wig and that might have made Layton suspicious. But maybe Des dyed his hair a bit, and/or is wearing extensions? Maybe he actually already has grey hair, who knows. I certainly don’t.

However, I also believe that Desmond is far less of a role than Des probably thinks/admits. Over the course of the game, he might have lost himself in the Desmond role in a similar way to how he has lost himself in Descole.

Des' time as AL Desmond changed him for sure. And he does act differently as Descole after he changed into the costume than in the previous games. (I’m gonna make a whole separate post about how the German version uses different forms of politeness - and Des does speak rather … strange/different after his revelation than in other games… Again, I know that that’s just the writers being the writers, but where is the fun in that?)

Present day Des has probably no idea who his true self is anymore… Him “playing” Desmond further complicated things. Which parts did he make up, which parts are truly him? I don’t think there’s an easy answer to that… But that also makes Des so fascinating to me. I also really wonder what name he prefers after AL…

As much as I like the idea that Des himself came up with the plan to approach Layton as Desmond, I also very much like the idea that it had been Raymond instead who had suggested it. Raymond probably has to listen to a lot of Des’ angry rants. And after hearing another one about Layton seeing through one of Des’ disguises, Raymond came up with the idea to just go as himself next time. Partly also because Raymond knows Des better than anyone else and he knows how much Des longs to see his brother again - even if Des himself doesn’t admit that.

Des has acquired quite a lot of scars over the years… He does fall down a lot, so it’s bound to happen. He was probably wearing a fair bit of makeup in AL to hide some of them - in addition to his visible lack of sleep. Speaking of, I don’t think Des slept all that much during AL. He probably has nightmares that wake him up screaming. No way he could (or would want to) explain that to the others. Maybe that’s what he has been doing while he was not with the gang. He was taking a much needed nap… Or ...

… or he goes into the one room in the Bostonius that’s completely sound-proof (because that surely exists) and just screams (and cries) for a bit. In full Descole costume. He cannot bear being Desmond and being around the others at all times. He needs to have an outlet for his emotions.

Des really tried to retain his (emotional) distance from everyone in AL. I noticed that in the beginning he hardly ever said anything while I was clicking everything (and I hope believe that I’ve really clicked everything for potential Des dialogue). But he says more over time. It also takes a long time for him to talk about his family. So maybe that’s him slowly warming up to the others. Des was also probably still figuring out how to be Desmond (again). In a way, I think Desmond was one of his easiest yet also his most challenging role he ever had to “play”. No one is more familiar to him and yet also a total stranger. Plus, he had to be extra careful not to reveal too much. Can’t have been easy (which is why he needed to go scream for a bit sometimes).

He feels immensely guilty about caring for Aurora. He was especially reluctant to get closer to her, but he also just couldn't help caring for her. Because she reminded him of his daughter. He just feels very conflicted as he got more and more attached to her, not only because he knew he would eventually betray her, but he felt like in caring for Aurora he was betraying his daughter in a way… This guilt could apply to Flora as well when he eventually meets her.

One day after AL he found the Popoño he had bought for Aurora. He keeps it close ever since.

His revenge is achieved after AL, so there should be no reason for Descole to continue existing. But I don’t think Des will be able to let go of Descole right away. The AL ending shows that anyway. I feel him putting the mask back on in his last scene makes sense for him. He still cannot bring himself to leave Descole behind and he also very much still cannot bear to see his father’s eyes whenever he looks in a mirror. It would have been too sudden for him to just put all the pain behind him. Des’ revenge was basically also the one thing that defined his whole life. And Descole has been a part of his life for a long time as well - the pain and anger that led to Des creating Descole have been inside Des long before his family got killed. I can’t imagine it easy to just let go of all of that. Des is truly lost at the end of AL. He has lost his purpose, the one thing that made him go on. And he needs to figure out who he is himself. Even more so after his whole posing as Desmond again. I like to think that Des will be able to let go of Descole eventually, but that will be a slow process and not something that’s gonna happen overnight. Instead he’ll probably put on the costume fewer and fewer times until, eventually, Descole just disappears. Maybe he’ll stop when he runs out of costumes lol. No matter what, it’s gonna be a long road for Des to be able to heal… (And he should totally go get back to Layton and apologise to Layton and to a loooooot of other people and then they both go to therapy)

#well that descoleated quickly I guess...#finally answered after a long time - sorry for the wait #thank you so so much for the ask - I obviously love rambling about my dear Des <3 #I really hope this makes sense #I struggled a lot with certain parts (especially that super long Who is Des anyway? part)#headcanons aka me rambling on and on about Des <3 #I have a LOT of thoughts about him #jean descole #professor layton #professor layton spoilers #azran legacy spoilers #Descole breaks tumblr #tastelesstetrahedronthings

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hyliangrace-a · 4 years

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oh, i ended up spending so much time on this, but - it’s done ! it’s far from perfect but i’m pretty satisfied that there’s a visual guide to my idea of hyrule, post-seven years war. & now, god help you all, i’m gonna talk about it lmao. click here if you want to see a full-sized version of the map, but i’m also gonna put it under the cut in this post with the original map for comparison, & go on for a bit about how hyrule has, in my interpretation, changed under zelda’s rule.

( this gets long. like, really long. like, over 4,500 words long. read at your own risk. i’d say i’m sorry, but i’m really not. & fuck drawing water features forever. )

first thing’s first - the map !

( apologies for the giant watermark underneath it all but i’ve had my shit stolen before & i’m not enthused at the idea of having it happen again. clicking it open in a new tab should make it bigger if the link above doesn’t work. )

so, it’s slightly bigger than the original map which is featured in the game, haha. here’s a comparison of the two, actually, with my map over the top of the original so you can see what’s been changed or added & where. i’ll talk about what got added & why in a bit, i want to speak just about the actual map, first.

i did my best to keep the main locations of hyrule as specified in the game in the same place, & i think did an okay job, tbh ! my biggest nitpick was just how many dang cliffs & rockfaces there are on the original map. i know they serve a purpose in-game, which is completely fair, but they limited worldbuilding a little by making the map so small, so i took some liberties. not with every cliff, of course - i kept some in the southwest to keep the border between gerudo valley & hyrule field intact, & kept the ridge the river runs through - partly for the sake of continuity, & partly because i’ve always loved the fact that falling into the river in the valley washes you down to the lake. expanding them into a new area was fun, too, because at least then they go somewhere, rather than just locking you in to a certain place.

my main point of contention, to be honest, was the giant rockface in south hyrule field. again, i understand why it was there, but, come on ! so i ended up just doing away with it all, letting it lead a path to two new areas i’d like to work into zelda’s canon. the map just fades out in certain places, too, particularly the gerudo desert, so i ended up expanding that a little more & having it lead into the cliffs above lake hylia - the river already runs from the valley to the lake, so why not have more of the desert lead into the mainland ? the mountains, too, got their range expanded, because they just seem so ... small, in canon, when they aren’t being used specifically as dungeon locations. i’d say the only place on the map i didn’t expand in some way is that little gap between zora’s domain & the kokiri forest - the forest is so hemmed in & the domain is literally inside a mountain, hidden behind a waterfall, so i was happy to just let that be empty space. if you manage to climb over the cliffs surrounding the domain, or break through the treetops in the forest, you get a view of the ocean, & that’s that !

it was fun to look at the maps of the games that came chronologically before this one & see how the position of things in hyrule change, but i’m kind of glad that there was only the three before ocarina of time, because the mountains alone move across the map at their leisure, good god. there was a bit of freedom in it, too, because in zelda’s canon timeline, the gods are going to flood hyrule anyway, so i could make whatever changes i wanted because it’s all gonna end up underwater & unseen in the end - plus, it meant i could add in more mountains to take up empty space on the map, because the hylians have to flee somewhere to escape the flood, & i don’t think the peak of death mountain could hold them all. most of the new locations were inspired by the minish cap, more than any other, so i’m going to start at the top of the map & move down to talk about them.

i always loved royal valley & the royal crypt in the minish cap, to be honest. it was spooky & cute, & i’m surprised it, or a concept like it, hasn’t made much of a comeback in later zelda games. the royal family’s tomb being in kakariko village never bothered me much as a kid ( other than the fact their headstone gets utterly destroyed & you get assaulted by what we can only assume are the zombies of previous hylian rulers ??? & then it’s just left open for anyone to stumble in & possibly loot slash get murdered by said zombies ??? actually, y’know what, this bothers me a lot more as an adult, what the fuck - ) but kakariko was a village founded by the sheikah, originally for the sheikah, so i did always find it a little strange that at some point, a ruler of hyrule went ❛ that’s cool, you do you, but make space for us in your graveyard. ❜ i know the history between the hylian royal family & the sheikah is implied to be murky ( thank you, shadow temple ) but that’s a meta for another day, so i’m not gonna go into too much detail, but it’s still something that sticks out as strange to me. call it the sheikah continuing to guard the royal family in death or whatever, but, hm. weird. anyway !

the point is, after the seven years war ends, zelda decides that what originally belonged to the sheikah should be given back to the sheikah. kakariko village was opened up to non-sheikah by impa prior to the rise of ganondorf, & that’s her perogative & not something zelda would ever dream of interfering with, but that applies to the living, & those who die within the village deserve to be buried in the same place. it takes time to get around to the rebuilding of hyrule castle & its’ town, but when it’s time to plan for it, zelda chooses to utilize the abandoned valley which lies behind the castle as the new home for the royal crypt, but not solely for that ! she establishes & sponsors a university on behalf of the royal family, with special consideration going to the preservation of hylian history ( a lot was lost in the hyrulean civil war prior to her birth, nevermind the seven year war following that so quickly, & we can see in other zelda games, such as twilight princess & breath of the wild, historical preservation within hyrule is ... terrible, to say the least. of course, it will all be washed away when the goddesses flood hyrule, but fuck, at least she tries. ) the university also covers a range of other subjects, but history is the one zelda takes an active interest in, & she spends a lot of time with scholars who specialize in it. the royal crypt lies at the very back of the valley, the university being closer to the castle, & then ... watch this space ! i’m likely to add more things to areas around the map in the future.

hyrule castle & hyrule castle town i’ve left in the same spots, pretty much - i imagine the castle is rebuilt to be something like the one we see at the bottom of the ocean in wind waker, but i intend to put my own spin on that, too. zelda wouldn’t be focused too much on getting a castle up agaiin ( i’ve mentioned in a thread before that two years post-ganondorf, she is still sheltering at impa’s house in kakariko village, as rebuilding for the civilians is her main priority, & whilst i haven’t figured out exactly how long that lasts for, it’s a safe bet to say a good few years ) & she definitely wouldn’t want to be living anywhere especially y’know, grandiose & opulent, if her people were still struggling day to day. the castle town bounces back better than ever, expanding a little more to the left over time, but that’s a gradual thing. no real change except a distinct lack of redeads, which is always a bonus !

death mountain & its immediate surroundings, i was happy to leave as they are - it’s marginally wonky in place compared to the original map but it’s not a severe drift from canon, so lets just pretend it sits a little more to the left, shhh. it’s a volcano built into a mountain with a network of caves both inside & adjacent to it, plus a place of worship built into the heart of it, & you can’t really go wrong with that, so i focused on all that empty space beyond them left on the map. minish cap came in clutch again, because by fuck, did they have a mountain range, so i ended up dipping in to it for the names of this one. the gorons are clustered at the forefront of the mountain because everything beyond their city has been mined to the absolute death by those who came before for its resources, & abandoned by the same in turn, but they still send patrols to make sure it’s fine.

there’s a story of how, before the gorons settled into the mountain, a man of great strength climbed the mountain alone to make his home within it - he faced eruptions from a then-hostile death mountain, fought off the creatures who called the range home & weren’t fond of sharing, & forged on to what was said to be the edge of hyrule itself. it wasn’t, not quite, but it was far enough away from the central provinces of the kingdom that the mountains became capped with snow, contrasting the temperate mountains to the west. the story goes that the adventurer decided to call the furthest reaches of the mountain home, & singlehandedly carved out what would become the beginning of the mines, in order to gather materials for his forge. it’s been disputed whether said man was hylian or goron, as the biggoron family claim lineage from him, but the mountains he once inhabited are named for him now, & are one of the places zelda hid whilst on the run & masquerading as sheik - despite the extreme temperatures playing havoc with her & nearly killing her, it’s one of the harder to reach spots in hyrule, so it provided a measure of safety that other places could not. melari’s hold lies in the northeast, but the cold spot on the mountain travels further south than would be expected, resulting in a cold spot - the ice cavern - to the north of zora’s domain.

real quick, fuck zora’s domain. there was no way to make the water feature coming from here look decent, or properly portray the types of cliffs it’s surrounded by, so please don’t judge it too harshly. at the end of ocarina of time, zora’s domain is still said to be frozen, but recovering from the curse ganondorf placed on it, which, great ! i’m gonna say, i could be completely off here in how it works, but i wanted to change things up a little, so if i am, i don’t mind that much. i like a bit of artistic license. also, if we can have literal fish people, a genderless species made of rock, children who don’t grow up in a magical forest which horrifically warps those who don’t belong, & a giant fucking overworld field where the skeletons of what look like fucking children come out to fight you at night ? i’m okay with this reckoning being off a little.

so, eventually, zora’s domain unfreezes. i personally imagine, as ganondorf’s power ebbed from hyrule, that the process started slow, until one day, it wasn’t. it’s said that zora’s fountain is the source of all water in hyrule, with the domain lying under the mountain it rests on top of, & a few secret passageways here & there, which is fine, usually - the fountain never froze, just the domain beneath it. that becomes a problem, though, when the magical freeze put in place by ganondorf wears off, & the excess water from the melt ends up flooding the domain. not a problem from those who live within it, with the zora being essentially amphibian in nature, but when that excess water begins seeping out into the fountain, through cracks in the mountain, through the entrance granted to those affiliated with the royal family ? that all goes over the fountain, down the sleepless waterfall, through the river, & that river completely bursts its banks. the water level of the river rises significantly, washing away much of the path previously taken by those who wished to go to the domain on foot, causing minor flooding in hyrule field as it travels downstream, & resulting in the waters of lake hylia rising when the overflow reaches it, hence the lake being larger in my version of the map. the rebuilding of a path to zora’s domain ends up becoming one of the earliest projects zelda undertakes as queen but it’s a bit of a logistical nightmare for a while, considering that, with princess ruto ascended as a sage, zora’s domain is now in a succession crisis. does it have much bearing on zelda’s life ? not especially, but i thought it was a nice bit of worldbuilding, so here it is.

kokiri forest, the lost woods, & everything within doesn’t change much. with the dark magic vanquished from the forest, & the great deku sprout able to thrive, the forest continues to grow, & overgrow. it’s still dangerous to outsiders to go within, still dangerous for anyone to enter the lost woods without a fairy companion to guide them & save them from a grim fate, but the children of the forest do grow somewhat braver about stepping out from their home to see the rest of hyrule. it never lasts long - not all of the kokiri are as brave as link was, after all, & hyrule is so vast compared to what they’re used to - but it sparks their curiosity & their desire to explore hyrule which eventually trickles down to the wandering koroks.

the area to the south / southwest of the kokiri forest is entirely my invention. as i said, in-game, it’s just cliffs to hem you in & prevent you from breaking the boundaries of the world, but there’s none of that in roleplaying, so i just … did away with them entirely. part of this is lake hylia not being as hemmed in by these walls as it is in-game, opening up into a new river & streams which travel through the south & southeast. crossing this river leads to three paths - take middle path, & you may find yourself in what’s known as the rito village. now, i’ll say here, i know that the rito don’t technically appear in hyrule until after the great flood, when the zoras somehow sprout wings, but nintendo’s strange decisions don’t change the fact that there are many wonderful people in the zelda rpc who play rito characters with crossover verses that let them interact with those who play characters in other parts of the timeline. in order to better facilitate interactions with these roleplayers, i decided fuck it, rito village in ocarina of time. canon can be easily bent. if, however, i’m writing with someone who wants to adhere to strict canon, then it’s just other hylians who live within the village, & rito is just the name chosen for the village, with no connection to the as-of-yet-unevolved race, just a nice little coincidence. regardless of who lives in it, though, the village & its name are fixed here in a southern woodland, with the village nestled amongst the hills within.

cross the bridge to the south & take the third branch in the path, you’ll find yourself inside the bremen woods. i honestly haven’t got much to say about the bremen woods here, but it’s not because i don’t have ideas for it - i have another headcanon brewing concerning myths, fables & fairy tales within hyrule, because … i am just that type of nerd. about eighty percent of my blogs before this one involved fairy tale characters in some way. it is, as the kids say, extremely my shit, & i’d like to tie the bremen woods into that, so i’m going to save what i have to say for that headcanon, but don’t worry. it’ll probably be a lot smaller than this one. ( thank god, i hear you say. i know, i know. i’m still not sorry. )

cross the bridge, then, & take the first branch in the path, & you better have a sword with you. the castor wilds are a lawless place, which is fitting for the corner of the world where the last remnants of ganondorf’s forces lie. any that weren’t killed during the restoration of the kingdom were beaten back to the edge of the world, & it’s not a friendly place. the last of the monsters shelter in a run-down settlement known as dragmire’s hold, the last place where those who sympathize with the king of evil can speak freely, & it’s murder to get to. the entrance to the wilds is a marshy swamp, thanks to the run-off of lake hylia, but if you manage to get through the mire, the land begins to dry out until you reach the hold, where the earth struggles to bear fruit & it seems the grass refuses to grow. it is, in a few words, fucking grim, & as a result, the go-to place for banishments within the kingdom. zelda isn’t a fan of harsh punishments, but she’s no fool, not anymore, & she won’t abide those who plot to throw the kingdom back into chaos, be it in service of ganondorf, or their own selfish natures. it’s rare that anyone actually finds themselves wandering the castor wilds, unless they actively choose to adventure there, but it is a very good threat, considering its reputation as the land where the devils live.

jumping across the map entirely, we come to the cliffs of coroa to the left of lake hylia. another spot on the map which is notorious for being hard to reach, the cliffs are an inviting challenge to those who want to boast of their climbing skills & durability. if getting up the cliffs doesn’t kill you ( & there is a very real possibility that it will, especially if you fall, ‘cause this water ain’t soft ) the journey down might do it instead, & that’s if you survive your trip at the top. there has been rumours of a great treasure hidden away in the cliffs for years, though the debate on what it might be was pretty intense, if you got into it. for a time, some thought the legendary blade rested within the cliffs, & only those who could brave the rockface would be able to lay a hand on it; others argued that it contained more mundane, but still desirable, treasures, such as a great haul from a band of thieves, left behind when they were hunted down by the crown, growing only more valuable by the minute. some, with sense, said that the only thing atop the cliffs was certain doom for the morons who tried to make their way up them. the truth ? there’s nothing up there. sometimes, cliffs are just cliffs, & those who try to scale the ones facing lake hylia truly are fools. the gerudo people, however, had the right idea of how to get to them.

again, another aspect of canon i was happy to leave as it was. the gerudo desert is a vast, harsh swathe of land, continuously assailed by sandstorms, bordered to the north by what is called ❛ the great sand sea ❜ & to the south by the haunted wasteland, & it’s not hyperbole. spirit guides appear to those who seek the temple of the goddess of the sand, but very few have ever made it through the wasteland if they enter in pursuit of something else. one of the few who did was the gerudo heroine, ashai. a well respected warrior amongst them, ashai was the younger sister to the exalted rishika, the chief of the gerudo at the time, & one of the first to vow to conquer the wasteland & see what lay beyond the storm. though her sister cautioned against it, as tales of people becoming lost in the wasteland were not uncommon, ashai was a headstrong young woman, & she could not be swayed. she took with her a party of twelve, & in time, three returned to tell their story. ashai had forged a path through the ever-shifting sands & left it well enough marked that her companions were able to find their way back. it’s said that some succumbed to madness during the journey, tormented by the ghosts of the wasteland, whilst others fell ill whilst they traveled, choking on the sand which gathered in their lungs. seven of them made it through the wasteland to the valley which lay beyond, but ashai had grown sick during the crossing, & knew she would not make it back. instead, she spent the time she had left exploring the valley, & found a way through it to the peak of the cliffs of coroa. the legend says that is there she died, watching the sun rise atop the cliffs, speaking only of her sister, & her companions laid her to rest within the valley, which her sister then named in honour of her. whilst the gerudo are happy to let those who have proven themselves attempt the journey to the desert colossus, no outsiders are permitted to walk the valley of ashai, where a shrine was built for its namesake - it is considered sacred to them, & the journey to pay respects to ashai is now part of the trial given to those who wish to become chief of the gerudo, should the bloodline of the previous chief die.

that covers just about all the main areas & landmarks of hyrule, i think, so to move on to the last thing, the various settlements, villages, hamlets you see across the map. hyrule is a big place. yes, quite a few of the races are localized to certain areas, & yes, it’s entirely plausible the hyrulean civil war could have decimated the population, with the seven years war exacerbating that problem, but hyrule field just looked so … empty, once everything else was finished. so, rather than stick to a number of locales i can count on one hand, i threw a few more settlements across the map to try & make hyrule feel more like a real kingdom. not to breath of the wild’s extent, of course, but just something a little more than what was given. all those who survived the fall of hyrule castle town apparently fled to become refugees in kakariko village, which was opened to all by impa, which is fair, but i imagine as the world returned to something close to normality, & families started growing again, the village would quickly find itself overwhelmed. as queen, zelda would make it a priority to make sure none of her subjects go homeless - she knows all too well that struggle - & so she would begin a program to make sure there was enough villages or townships for every one of her subjects. those who volunteered would be given a set amount of money & plots of land across hyrule to build a home, which zelda would then personally visit to inspect, to make sure her people were thriving.

there’s little to say in detail about them all as of right now, as i’m still fleshing them out, but i have a few basic ideas. most of the settlements were named after the first to attach themselves to the project, but the names have the potential to evolve over time. they certainly won’t retain the hamlet / settlement status, that’s for sure. the offer wasn’t restricted to hylians, either - any other race in the land was free to join, though only a small number of gerudo accepted it, the others preferring to stay in their homes & travel as they need. ciela’s settlement was the one spearheaded by the gerudo who accepted zelda’s offer, hence its proximity to the valley. a lot of young men volunteered to go to this settlement, but zelda was happy to let ciela make her own call, & many were knocked back - only those with what ciela deemed viable skills were allowed in, & still, it’s very much a female dominated settlement, but it is thriving under her leadership, & blossoms into a successful village as time goes on. lon lon ranch is, well, lon lon ranch. with funding from the crown, talon was able to take on more staff & expand it at his leisure, but it is one of the very few places in hyrule which has stayed constant over time, & he was quite content to keep it that way, & zelda content with his decision.

to the south of lon lon ranch lies damia village, the largest of all the settlements from its inception. led by a fearless young man who gave his name to the village, it is a hub of activity which could rival hyrule castle town. with damia came many like-minded people, all eager to forge their own path in the world & prove themselves as he had, as he had been part of the group which volunteered to help beat back the remnants of ganondorf’s forces. many of the families within damia village are the families of soldiers who work at the castle & it has gained a reputation for being a village full of strong, capable, trustworthy people. arborwood, which lies further to the south in a more rural location, is an outlier in that the one who volunteered to lead in this settlement didn’t wish to put their name to it - they didn’t want glory, just a place to call home where they could finally live in peace. arborwood is an agriculturally focused village, filled with farmers & those who possess green thumbs. a lot of trade is done between arborwood & all the other villages - everyone in hyrule became proficient at growing & hunting their own food in the past thirty years, as was necessary to survive, but it’s nice to have a place to get food from which specializes in high quality meat & crops. why hunt rabbits, when arborwood can provide venison ?

last but not least, lynna’s hamlet, which settled at lake hylia at the request of the owner of the lakeside laboratory. as he was getting on in years, he wished to find someone to continue his work, & so specifically requested that any like-minded hylians settle close to the lake so that he could impart his wisdom & let them take over. he got quite a few more people volunteering than he bargained for, be they scientifically inclined, interested in cataloguing the history of lake hylia, or just desirous of a change in scenery. the smallest of the new settlements, lynna’s hamlet never truly flourished the way others did, but the buildings were never empty - as time went on & people began to move elsewhere, it became a popular spot for those who traveled the land to rest at when they came to the lake, with a very successful inn eventually being run by the lakeside, its doors open to any who wished to visit.

it’s not a lot of worldbuilding when it all comes down to it, compared to other things, but this is something that i’ve wanted to do for a long time. as i’ve mentioned in the section regarding the bremen woods, more headcanons are likely to follow regarding places on the map & how they change & evolve as time passes during zelda’s rule, but for now, there’s this ! something which makes hyrule feel less empty than what it was before, whilst still respecting canon, somewhat which was the goal all along. if you’ve made it this far, holy shit, go outside & feel the sun on your face. it’s been eighty-four years - but i can’t thank you enough for reading ! at least next time, the headcanon won’t be so long. i hope.

#⌜ ❛ ʏᴏᴜ ʙʀɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʜɪsᴛᴏʀʏ & ʏᴏᴜ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ɪᴛ ɪɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴏᴡɴ ᴛᴇʀᴍs. ❜ ⌟ ✦ ( headcanon. )#( eight. eight pages & 4700-odd words of rambling in google docs #i can't believe i spent so much time on this oh my GOD #but it's done !! it's one am & i'm going to bed but i have to get this out into the world before i go #tomorrow i swear i'll get more actual roleplaying done but for now have ... eight fucking pages of THIS i guess #if this is incoherent please let me know good god )

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fandomele · 5 years

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abuse Emma received at the hands of people who weren’t her enemies anymore/at the moment, nor high on dark magic/other mind-controlling forces

because after years I can at least vent a bit.

(Added a correction at the end)

Emma was victim of: -implied physical and emotional abuse in many foster homes even just in terms of negligence (the whole thing about how people foster kids just for the money they get, the way she talked about it ,seeing the all too aggressive mr. Raskind in the orphanage where she and Pinocchio landed first and where her first family sent her back)

-statutory rape** (correction at the end) & being framed for a crime she didn’t commit: regardless of the fact that this 16-17 homeless orphans who had just run away once again from a home because her last foster mother tried to push her in front of a car to prove to her that she had magic did steal food and such to survive, she had no part in the much bigger crime Neal committed stealing the watches. He, a much older man, had sex with her, promised her a new home, chose to run away because he didn’t want to be a part of how she’d fulfill her savior destiny since it meant meeting his abusive father again, and agreed that the best way to deal with it (aka make sure Emma wouldn’t find him) would be to make her take the fall for his crime and end up in prison. A great plan. (if ignoring someone’s pain and wishes and laughing it off while completely refusing to believe in someone else was considered abuse and not just being a toxic presence, that would be here too)

-at the very least emotional and verbal abuse from Regina, her step-grandmother, AFTER she stopped being the enemy, so after s2. It’s different when two are meant to be enemies, but once she was supposed to be part of her life, and Emma gave Regina a bit more power in how she(Regina)’d be able to affect her, the constant insults, lack of faith, blame for everything bad that happened to her (comes to mind how Regina reacted to Marian not being dead, even though Robin might and did still choose her, and even though Emma had basically saved a victim and now Regina was supposedly on the path of redemption and should be happy to have one less murder on her shoulders), as well as physical when Regina used the dagger to make Dark One Emma answer her questions, absolutely not necessary to do since Emma did open with Killian later. But Regina also showed and said to enjoy having that kind of power on Emma.

-attempted murder among other things? Gold, after supposedly joining the good guys for 4-5 times, Henry’s grandfather, tried to kill Emma, and Killian, and threats were made as well, while also were implied some pretty insulting things: like when he spoke to Milah and made it look as if Emma was jumping from her son to her ex like that, no mention of how young Emma had been with Neal or what else happened in there.

-at the very least manipulation, as a kid, by her friend Lily, which got her kicked her out of another house. I refused to write best friend since they barely knew each other one day and the show likes to exaggerate Emma’s relationships with others to justify her forgiving everything.

bonus because he was an enemy but she didn’t know:

-rape by deception/manipulation/violence at the hands of her fiance: Walsh knowing damn well who she was, that she had had her memories changed, and pretended to be a human being in love with her, dating her, asking her to marry him, all to keep her busy and away from Zelena’s plans. He then tried to kill her when she found out. It was all a gross criminal plan.

And what happened to them?

-Walsh: became a running joke for an episode or two. Unclear if he survived. Nobody took it seriously. -Gold: became part of the family, all forgotten, shows up for dinners and birthdays, Emma and Killian are supposed to be okay with that because? he’s her son’s grandfather I guess? -Regina is basically crowned queen of everything, more part of the family than ever, received more attention from Emma’s mother than Emma, never really had to pay for anything she did, Emma had to crawl to be forgiven for saving Marian -Neal is framed a hero EVEN IN THE WISHWORLD AU where she wasn’t supposed to meet him (an excuse to have Henry born so his attempt to murder Regina could wake her?), and kept being mentioned as a hero after his death. Her own little brother is named after him without consulting Emma. Apparently everybody just loved him because his reason to do what he did was.. just that good. -Lily is... a friend apparently, thankfully there wasn’t too much interaction there, so Emma didn’t have to be super nice to her for weeks too. -Her foster families can’t really pay for anything. But given that she had to be sent to this world because Regina intended to kill her, it’s all part of how Emma never really attacked Regina over it, never really got to yell at her and have Regina genuinely apologize for it. Bonus: When she’s the Dark One, and her actions have actually been tamer than any other Dark One’s and than the Evil Queen because she clearly wasn’t out for blood, and her sentiments were twisted by the darkness but she still held back on being cruel to her family the way she could have been, everyone united against her once they found out the truth about Killian, and Henry was the loudest about how she was worse than Regina and Gold because they were... trying to redeem themselves. Plus he barely tried to get through her, certainly less than he did with Regina when she refused to talk to him because upset about Robin. Her parents were busy in Camelot with Regina and knights, and only Killian was really there for her, Regina’s presence actively pushed her into using magic and losing control, and no one tries to understand what Dark Emma has done, why, and to comfort her.

** as @romanartemis pointed out, the age of consent is 16 in Oregon so while the show contradicts itself when it comes to Emma’s age and we don’t know the specifics, there is no evidence that Neal committed statutory rape. What he did in that area was legal.

#emma swan #anti regina mills #anti neal cassidy #anti swan queen #anti swanfire #anti gold #anti ouat #ele post

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comicsnsuch · 4 years

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Tales from the Dark Multiverse

Hi! Thanks for finding this tumblr. The plan is to share and write about comic books, comic book art, other things that interest me and such, thus the name of the tumblr. Maybe you share some of the same interests, or maybe you’ll discover something new.

I’m going to try to post as frequently as possible, but that frequency will vary depending on what real life is like week to week. On slow weeks, there will be more stuff, on busy weeks less. You get it. Hopefully if you check in now and then you’ll find some new content.

I work (worked?) in a comic book shop, but as I have been recently reminded, due to the COVID-19/Coronavirus epidemic, I am non-essential. Thanks State Government! Always good to have a self esteem boost!

Anyway… I love comic books, reading them, talking about them, (thinking about) making them and so on. Always have, always will. I wanted to have an outlet for sharing that while I can’t be in the shop doing it face to face with customers and random strangers.

I’ll be writing short reviews for what I’ve been reading, new stuff, old stuff, posting pics, etc.

Feel free to comment, but please keep it friendly. Assholery will not be tolerated.

To start with I just finished reading all of DC Comics Tales of the Dark Multiverse one shots.

I made this in MS Paint!

These started coming out in 2019 and the last one was released in early 2020. The idea behind each is Tempus Fuginaut, a sort of Watcher type character for the DCU (who I think debuted, or at least I fist remember seeing in the Sideways ongoing, a Dark Nights Metal spin off) observing the multiverse and introducing a story that takes an important moment in DC history and asks “what would have happened if things had gone differently?” DC’s version of What If? in a nutshell.

That’s Tempus Fuginauts big ol’ head in case you were wondering

As the “Dark” in Tales of the Dark Multiverse might imply, these are not happy stories.

The first one shot that was released was Tales of the Dark Multiverse Batman Knightfall by Scott Snyder and Kyle Higgens with art by Javi Fernandez.

This was probably my least favorite of the five issues. Since the “No Justice” mini series event I’m over Scott Snyder. I feel he has so many ideas rattling around in his head that he begins one story, gets too excited about the next one and leaves you underwhelmed with the current arc but dying to read the next. (That being said I of course checked out Batman Last Knight on Earth, having read his and Capullo’s entire New 52 Batman run I didn’t want to miss their “final” word on Batman, but have not read his just wrapped run on Justice League which I hear was quite good).

I read this one right when it was released a few months ago, so my memory of it might not be the best.

This one centers around the Knightfall event where Bane breaks Batman’s back and Jean Paul Valley/Azrael takes on the role of Batman. In this reality Bruce never recovers and Jean Paul remains Batman becoming Saint Batman, a Bats Azrael mash up. Javi Fernandez does a great job on the art and Snyder loves chopping people up.

Gross.

Definitely worth the read if you’re interested in it or are a fan of Batman or just the Knightfall era. If you grab this series in collected format it’s not so bad that I recommend skipping it, just not my favorite from this batch of books.

Next up is Tales of the Dark Multiverse Death of Superman by Jeff Loveness with art by Brad Walker and Andrew Hennessey. I really enjoyed this one, it was a good quick read and had a nice arc to it. One of the better issues from this series if you’re asking me.

Right after Superman dies defeating Doomsday in the Death of Superman story arc, the rest of the Justice League shows up, literally as the blood is drying.Ten seconds too late. Lois Lane blames Supes’ death on the heroes for not being there to aid him.

She makes her way to the Fortress of Solitude and thanks to the Eradicator gets herself all the powers of Superman. She then goes about dishing out justice, with extreme prejudice, to the villains the heroes normally let the revolving doors of the DC justice system handle. This involves a couple of great scenes with Batman and Lex Luthor. Loveness nails the dialogue and the character arc he puts Lois on is great to read.

Walker and Hennesey do it again!

There’s more to this story than I’ve put here, but I don’t want to say too much and ruin your enjoyment of it if/when you read it.

Special shout out to the art team of Brad Walker and Andrew Hennessey. I feel like they don’t get enough love. They killed it on the Demon Hell is Earth mini, and from what I can tell are crushing it on Detective Comics. Dudes can draw. Spread the word!

Then we move onto Tales of the Dark Multiverse Blackest Night by Tim Seeley and Kyle Hotz.

This one was a bit wordy, but a lot of fun! I would put this one in the middle of the pack.

Seeley brings together an interesting bunch of characters including Sinestro, Dove, Lobo and the New Gods! The plot is a little complex, but basically after the Color Corps lose the battle against Nekron in Blackest Night, Sinestro is looking for a way to undo the damage done and becomes a pawn in Scott Free’s plot to do the same.

Give Seeley a Lobo book or a Hawk and Dove book, or a Mister Miracle book!. He gives each character a unique voice which makes their joint travels through the plot that much more fun to read.

Kyle Hotz’s art in this issue reminds of a 90’s Image Comic in the best possible way. Lots of detail and cool poses. I also see a lot of Bernie Wrightson in there with Hotz’s heavy use of black and the sinewy musculature of the characters. The book is worth the price of admission to see his renditions of Dove and Mister Miracle.

kewl!

I’m glad to see Hotz working more or just seeing more of Hotz’s work. I don’t know if he fell out of the industry after drawing the original The Hood mini for Marvel with Brian K. Vaughan, working with Eric “The Goon” Powell on Billy the Kid’s Old Timey Odditys, doing art on Carnage Mind Bomb and more I’m sure ( I just can’t remember it all), or I just wasn’t paying attention to what he was working on. If it’s the later, shame on me, if it’s the former, welcome back Mr. Hotz, you’re crushing it and I look forward to seeing more from you. Check out more Kyle Hotz work by following him on Instagram @kylehotzcomics.

Let’s not neglect the oft overlooked inkers! I’m not sure who inked what, but on a guess, Dexter Vines and Walden Wong brought a smooth, cleanness to the proceedings with lots of nicely tapered lines. Again just guessing here, because I don’t know for sure, but Danny Miki used a finer line bringing a scratchy-ness the others didn’t but also amazing detail and clarity on some of the portraiture in the later half of the book.

Who’s next? Why it’s Tales of the Dark Multiverse Infinite Crisis!

This one may have been my favorite. When the original Infinite Crisis series came out it was a period where, due to personal lack of enjoyment, I wasn’t reading much of DC’s output, but I did read the Countdown to Infinite Crisis one shot this issue takes as it’s jumping off point. After having read this issue, it makes me want to go back and read Infinite Crisis. I would say that’s the sign of a good issue.

In this alternate reality Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, kills Maxwell Lord instead of vice versa, making himself the head of Checkmate. He then goes about trying to prevent the coming crisis. It’s kind of a tale about absolute power corrupting absolutely, it’s also an underdog tale about getting in over your head.

Sorry if these images aren’t the best, I’m new at this!

James Tynion IV does a great job catching you up on any old DC continuity plot points you may have forgotten or never knew about in the first place.If you’re reading Tynion’s current run on Batman, or his work on Detective Comics and Justice League Dark, you know he can handle a complex plot like this and does a great job condensing it all down to a single issue. Aaron Lopresti and Matt Ryan handle the art and they do a great job. Always happy to see Lopresti’s name on a book I want to read.

Bonus points: You can never have too many Ted Kord, Blue Beetle comics, especially when Booster Gold pops up, even if only momentarily.

If this series leaves you wanting more Blue and Gold action may I direct you to Booster Gold (2nd series) #32 thru about 38ish for some quality comics.

Final one, Tales from the Dark Multiverse the Judas Contract!

I’m not as old as my writing may imply so I had to read the Judas Contract in collected format about 20 years after it was originally released and after having seen it on many a fanzine’s (Wizard) best of list. When I finally got to read it I wasn’t super familiar with the Titans of the era and already knew the big twist in the story, so it just washed over me without any great effect. None of the shock that someone who was reading it fresh in the 80’s might have experienced.

I ended up liking this twisted take on the Judas Contract much more than when I read the original. “Sacrilege!” I know, I know, but like I said there was no surprise when I first read it, while this one zigged instead of zagging multiple times and kept upping the ante in scale.

Kyle Higgins and Matt Groom do a great job reinventing a classic that I’m sure many people had high expectations for. This was a fun faced paced tale. I enjoyed the hero moments Dick Grayson and Wally West were given. Like the Knightfall one shot Higgins co-wrote with Snyder there’s no shortage of dismemberment and disfiguration, which is neither a plus or minus in this situation, just thought it was worth noting.

Tom Raney handles the art chores here and he does a fine job. Some of the figures seem a little squat, and their heads are too big in certain panels. Could I do better? No, so who am I to say anything? I just noticed it, here and there, it took me out of the flow of the story every now and then. That’s all. Big fan of his work on Stormwatch and Outsiders with Judd Winick. I also hear he’s super nice, so if you’re ever at a convention where Tom Raney is, seek him out!

They seem squat, right?

It’s worth mentioning these books are all done in DC’s prestige format and are extra long at about 48 pages each. All covers are by the fantastic Lee Weeks. A nice way to spend the afternoon.

There’s the first post. A little longer than I thought it would be. If you made it this far, I hope it was clear and you understood what I was saying and I hope you liked it and want to return for more.

Until next time!

#batman #justiceleague #teentitans #titans #greenlantern #superman #darkmultiverse #whatif #dccomics #dcu #dcuniverse #comics #comicbooks #review #comicsnsuch #spiderman #avengers

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daggerfall · 5 years

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Tethra’maan

Tethra’maan is the daughter of the Hero of Kvatch (posting Sheogorath mantling) and Martin Septim (somehow post becoming the Avatar of Akatosh), making her a demiprince of Sheogorath as well as of Akatosh. Demiprince lore is pretty lacking, but simply put, they’re beings with a daedric parent and one not daedric parent (however the term demiprince has been applied to a being with an aedric parent, namely Kyne, but mostly is used for daedric ones).

She grew up in the Shivering Isles, raised by her mother, Haskill, and several other people around New Sheoth. Most people called her Tethra, Teth if they’re close, though Sheo calls her “marbles” or “nugget” sometimes. Her mother told her all kinds of stories of her time as a mortal in Cyrodiil during the Oblivion Crisis, like about the Dark Brotherhood, the Thieves Guild, about Martin, all that. She was an impatient child growing up, always wanting to do more and not be treated like a child. As she got older, she took on some of Haskill’s responsibilities around the Isles, mostly working as an intermediary for the Mazken and the Aureal as well as a soldier in either of their ranks during attacks. She values the natural and necessary balance of life, but also enjoys the raw chaos of change for the sake of fun. She also mentored under Peryite for a time, using the knowledge she learned to better manage the Isles, even though her mother thought Peryite was a fuddy-duddy stick in the mud.

Her “madness” manifests in her callus disregard for life, her self-centrism, and her desire to get exactly what she wants exactly when she wants it. She never had anyone tell her no growing up (besides maybe her mother on occasion), and rarely had to face any form of consequences, so she rarely filters herself or puts the needs of others over her own desires (so long as she knows it doesn’t make a major difference in the overall world). Her powers include a form of all-sight, creation and conjuration of items and objects, boundless creativity, and just being an incredibly powerful mage and solider.

After several decades of knowing each other, Teth proposed to Sanguine that he should allow her to monitor the Myriad Realms of Revelry for misuse of the pocket realms beyond their intended purposes, or for uses beyond Sanguine’s sphere of influence, as Sanguine himself had very little control over the individual realms. He agreed. (the two of them also became FWB around that time)

How she became the Last Dragonborn was that one day, she started to feel this strange ‘tugging’ sensation every few hours that escalated into her being in excruciating pain and nearly losing consciousness. Sheogorath had to break it to her that somehow she was being summoned to Mundus, which confused the both of them because her identity and existence was a closely guarded secret, so no one should even know that she existed, much less know how to summon her. Recognizing that the only way to stop this was to allow herself to be summoned, Teth said her goodbyes and planned to slaughter whoever was summoning her before quickly returning home.

Turned out it was just some idiot conjurers who thought “well we can’t summon a daedric prince, so let’s go for some random demiprince”. She kills all but one, demanding his hands instead so he can never practice magic again. But then since she doesn’t know how to get home, she treks to the nearest daedric shrine to ask for help from some daedric prince (nearly all of them are her aunts and uncles). It ends up being Sanguine (”This is a weird booty call but okay Teth.” “Put mom on, you bitch.”)

... To which Sheogorath has to tell her that she can’t return home because she accidentally fulfilled the first part of the Prophecy of the Dragonborn, since she is the first Dragonborn to appear in Mundus since the Snow Tower fell. Also that she’s a Dragonborn, since her father is Martin Septim, who is now kind of Akatosh. Also that Sheogorath kept this a secret all of Teth’s life.

Now Alduin is days from appearing in Skyrim, Aka!Martin just found out he has a kid, and Teth, who has never spent a day in Mundus, has to learn how to be/act like a mortal now that she’s severely restricted in her powers.

Unsurprisingly, Teth is mad. Really mad.

Bonus stuff!

Her eye color was supposed to reflect the mania/dementia split

She’s just slightly taller than a male Altmer despite having an Imperial appearance

The scar under her eye came from an invader’s blade during an attack on the Isles for which she was leading the defense. Sheogorath had some particularly cruel and unusual punishments for those responsible.

Pansexual Aromantic

Vegetarian but never gives the same reason why

Absolutely loves Barbas. Loves giving him pets and calling him a good boy

She starts her journey by very badly feigning total ignorance about how anything and everything works because she fears coming across as Too Knowledgeable, but she also doesn’t really know Tamriel world history regarding the 200 years since she and/or her mom were on Tamriel. So she sounds like an idiot asking what a daedra is, but also does’t know about the White-Gold Concordat.

Eventually she just gives up and accepts her fate as being some weird-ass cryptid wandering Tamriel. Surprisingly, people are far less suspicious of her then than they were when she first arrived.

Intimidates way too often because she doesn’t know how to deal with people telling her no (having grown up the literal child of a god)

Doesn’t understand what’s wrong with calling a child a little bitch and challenging them to a legit duel.

Always carrying around 50 pounds of cheese

Hates Mehrunes Dagon and Molag Bal. Is at least tolerant of all the other daedric princes

Has filled Coldharbour with cheese several times.

She meets her dad for the first time while “praying” to Akatosh at a shrine. He tells her how much her loves her and how he’s so sorry that all of this is happening because of him (being the dragonborn parent). They also meet after she defeats Alduin and he tells her how proud he is of her, and that he also was hoping to be able to speak with her mother again at some point.

Sheogorath gives Teth a random “blessing” everyday during her journey. Most of the time, it’s a curse.

Teth takes being Dragonborn most serious out of any of my OCs. She actively trains her voice, and uses it all the time both in combat as well as ‘worship’ to Kyne. She also sees it as her connection to her father, who she wants to make proud.

Inigo also features in her story! He’s a major driving factor in Teth understanding mortals and mortality better, especially when she realizes that she is actively working to avoid disappointing or upsetting him (like with her being in the Dark Brotherhood). He’s also basically one of the main reasons she decides to return to Mundus after she fulfills the Prophecy and no longer HAS to be there.

Savos Aren’s death was probably the first major thing to get Teth to understand the permanence of death for mortals, having grown up without forming strong attachments to any of the mortal residents of the Isles and only really seeing death of daedra (who basically always returned. Seeing people care enough about her as Dragonborn Teth rather than Demiprince Tethra’maan to die for her? Really throws her off her groove

Doesn’t like the adopted kids calling her mama, but will give them a warm home and other caring adults to live with.

Kinda insecure about being so young compared to all the other daedra, or even some other people in Skyrim like Serana or Neloth.

Sheogorath gave Teth a necklace right before she was summoned. The necklace was a gift given to the HoK by Martin during the Oblivion Crisis as a birthday present.

#dragonborn tethra'maan #intro post #long post

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yaachtynoboat711 · 5 years

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At First Glance Ch. 4: The Commencement 👩🏽‍🎓

A/N: It’s finally here! The end of At First Glance has arrived and I have to say, I’m a bit emotional about ending my first series 😭. Thank you guys for supporting At First Glance these past few months. I have another series in development and then hopefully I’ll actually think about the wedding series. But for now, enjoy our fave couple in this series finale!

Word Count: ~3.2k

Warning(s): Black Excellence, Black Love, Smut (FINALLY!)

Saturday, December 7, 2013. 11:06 a.m.

Woolsey Hall, Yale University

At just 23, Yaa was the youngest recipient of a doctorate in African Studies. She was also a joint PhD-JD student that became the valedictorian of both classes (she earned her JD in May), which as you imagine, is almost unheard of, ESPECIALLY at a prestigious institution such as Yale.

Of all the people proud of her accomplishments, Winston was undoubtedly the happiest. She was the smartest person he’d ever met by a long shot. Not only was she smart as hell, but she was also gorgeous and had enough personality for seven people. Bonus points for Winston. As a fellow Yale grad, Winston enjoyed the return to New Haven. Amid all the celebration, Yaa and her family were meeting Winston’s mom and sister today. Whew chile, the celebrations. Winston and his family found Yaa’s family, Tanisha, Kimya, and Daveon (AKA the Yalemigos, or the Migos) all sitting in the same area.

“Mr. Duke great to see you again.”, Mustapha said hugging Winston.

“Likewise, sir! Great to be seen. Get to see my little lady graduate.”, he laughed. His laugh turned into a full smile as the reality of his girlfriend’s accomplishments set in. He looked down at the program and chuckled as Yaa’s name led the list of her 16 other cohorts. My little genius.

The fanfare startled Winston out of his thoughts. The guests looked down to watch the faculty and graduates proceed into Woolsey’s main seating. Proud friends and family cheered, hollered, and whistles as they saw their respective graduate. Winston scanned the incoming crowd for his short scholar, but to no avail. What took Winston 3 minutes took the Migos only 0.2 seconds to spot their 4th companion.

“HOODIE WHOOOOOOOO!”, the friends yelled as they spotted their best friend. Yaa’s neck snapped in the direction she heard the squad call. Can’t take niggas anywhere. She shook her head and examined the friends and family in attendance. Everyone stood up and took pictures and acknowledging their graduate. Winston saw his girlfriend and stared in amazement before he mouthed “Love you” to her. She mouthed “Love you, too” to him before taking her seat.

Yaa walked in with all confidence in her stride. She was glowing and there was nothing better that could happen today than this present moment. Her tam sat on top of her curly locs. Her round tortoise shell frames added an intellectual and sophisticated touch to her look. Her signature bright red lips seldom separated as her white smile remained plastered on her face. She bore her gold valedictorian medal below her blue hood along with her blue and gold ΣΓΡ and black Class of 2013 Kente stoles. The Black graduates wore black leather gloves on their right hands in solidarity and in reverence to their ancestors. Except for being around Winston, she’d never looked happier.

The ceremony went as any other large commencement: the speaker, the President and Provost gave words of encouragement to all the graduates on their future endeavors. Each college presented their graduates with their Yale degree. Finally, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences conferred degrees. Ironically, the Africana and African-American Studies Department elected to go last due the small number of graduates. When the department was announced, Yaa’s family prepared to get up. They shared mutual expressions of joy and bliss as “Doctor Khalida Yaa Denae Abdullah, Magna Cum Laude.”, echoed throughout Woolsey Hall. She raised her right fist high in the air as she walked across the stage. She hugged her advisor and committee chair before receiving her degree. She walked off the stage doing a quick praise break. The least she could do.

The grads recessed out of Woolsey and immediately searched for their parties and took pictures. Yaa was in the middle of her search when she felt two sturdy taps on her shoulder. It was him. “Hey, Doc.”, he greeted. Yaa scoffed as her billion dollar smile grew from a smirk. She playfully rolled her eyes and shook her head before reaching up for a kiss. “Hey, Duke. A girl can get used to hearing ‘Doc’. ”, she hummed into his lips. He finally broke the kiss and handed her a bouquet of her favorite roses: white, yellow, and pink. She gasped at the sight. “Baby! They’re beautiful.”, she squealed. She jumped right back into his embrace. “More where that came from, Denae.”, he whispered.

He never called her Denae, nor did his voice ever get that deep whenever he talked to her. She shot him a look before kissing him once more and walking towards the Migos, who were all Snapchatting and gassing her up.

“BEST FRIEND DONE GOT A WHOLE FOURTH DEGREE, Y’ALL!”, Daveon yelled. Yaa’s shoulders shook as she laughed at her foolish ass friends.

“Yaaaaaasssss ma’am! You better be Black Excellence. C’mon, Lil’ Angela!”, Kimya called.

“Bitch, I’m just tryna see the outfit. The people deserve to see what you’re wearing.”, Tanisha bluntly stated. The other two egged Yaa on to unzip the massive black gown. The only thing everyone could see were her black velvet smoking loafers. She unzipped the gown, unveiling a black pencil skirt and a white shirt with “PheD the Hell Up” written in blue. She would always get the laugh in somewhere.

She insisted that the family take pictures at her rental house because it was still December in New Haven, Connecticut. Chatter, laughter, and faint sounds of Black Christmas music filled the house as both families meshed as one. Carrie and Momma Cora held conversation most of the afternoon; Cindy and Khadijah exchanged medical stories; and Mustapha and Rainey discussed everything under the sun with Avery, Jahlil, and Winston. All four of the Migos were upstairs taking naps to prepare for dinner. Yaa especially deserved that nap. She hadn’t a decent amount of sleep since returning from Thanksgiving in Louisiana.

“Where’s Khalida? I think it’s time we all split.”, Khadijah asked Winston.

“She’s up there with her friends taking a nap. Gal deserves it. That means we need to leave and take naps of our own before dinner tonight.”, Carrie replied. “Winston, you staying here or something?”

“Yes ma’am. I might as well join the Snooze Crew upstairs.”, he said walking towards the front door. He finally went upstairs to Yaa’s room where he was greeted to a room full of snoring. Yaa’s petite figure was curled up in the middle of the messy bed. Her locs were scattered across her silk pillows and her Breakfast at Tiffany‘s eye mask covered her eyes. Her mouth was open as she snored loudly.She was dead to the world. Winston chuckled to himself as he watched his beautiful scholar catch up on Z’s. He sat on the unoccupied side of the bed and watched her sleep. He cleared her face of her wild locs and stopped when she stirred. Eventually, she unmasked herself and gasped when she saw Winston.

“Shit! Don’t scare me like th... was I snoring? Oh fuck, how long have you been watching me?”, she asked. He shook his head before kissing her forehead.

“Yes, you were snoring. Don’t worry about that. I still love you. I’ve been here long enough.”, Winston admitted.

“Well, since you love me so much, let’s try to find brunch. I’ll wake up the crew.”, she announced as she crawled out of bed, “That way, we won’t be as hungry going to this bougie ass Mediterranean spot my folks selected for tonight’s dinner.”

He rolled his eyes, “You better be glad you graduated today, Pumpkin.”

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

Olea Restaurant, New Haven, Connecticut, 8:15 p.m.

The graduation dinner was running smoothly. The private dining area was tastefully accented with gifts and Yaa’s graduation pictures. Nearly twenty minutes after the family arrived, Yaa and Tanisha walked in side by side. Everyone stood and applauded the woman of the hour. Winston stared in awe at Yaa who, as always, strutted into the room with such grace and power.

Khalida chose the more adult outfit option for dinner. She wore her locs in a low bun and kept her glasses, tam, hood, stoles, and medal on. Her royal blue dress fit snug. Though Khalida often wore form-fitting dresses, none were as form-fitting as this one. Her rather well-endowed chest and wide hips were brought to the forefront; her fupa was somewhat concealed by the side peplum panels. The nude pumps she wore were accented by her anklets. Truly a work of art.

“My goodness, sweetheart. This dress is absolutely divine on you.”, Khadijah commented as she examined her first born’s outfit.

“Ibby, you look refreshed. That nap did you some good,I see ”, Mustapha teased.

“Thanks, Umi and Baba.”, Yaa said. “Thank all of y’all for coming and supporting the kid. I can’t believe this is all happening. I’m like...finished! Yale really gave me a doctorate.” The realization of her journey’s culmination brought tears of joy to the “hard-nosed” Yaa. She finally sat the far end of the table next to Winston.

“Pumpkin, you look divine.”, Winston whispered in Yaa’s ear during their hug and kiss. He twirled her around to get a better look of her outfit. She’s going to be the death of me.

“Why, thank you. Gotta show school spirit, y’know.”, Yaa joked. Winston pushed his girlfriend’s chair up to the table.

“I’d like to make a toast...”, Winston stood and began, “...to the woman of the hour, Doctor Abdullah. I know we’ve been in each other’s lives for not even two months, but watching you work and grind towards your goals has given me the initiative to better myself not only as an up and coming actor, but as a person. Khalida, you give me more reasons to be the luckiest man alive and today is the pinnacle. I love you so so much, Khalida, you have no idea. So here’s to our Khalida and her many successes now and forever. Ase.”

The table echoed scattered “Asé’s” and “aww’s” as they clinked their glasses. Yaa cheesed to keep tears forming as she looked into Winston’s eyes as he sat down. “I love you more,Winston.”, she declared as she kissed him. He placed his hand at the hem of her dress and rubbed her thigh. She cut her eyes to his hands and then directly to him; he replied with a smirk. Buzz buzz. Yaa wasn’t the only one who peeped Winston’s unusual behavior.

———————

Winston walked into the bathroom to see Yaa freedom her locs from its bun. He enjoyed seeing her hair down. She noticed him in the mirror studying her.

“May I help you,sir?”, Yaa questioned. Winston walked behind her and nuzzled her neck.

"I love you." he said, wrapping his arms around her.

"What has gotten into you, today? You haven't kept your hands off me all day." she said, giggling.

"I just want to show you that I love you. I think I may have just realized how much I want you." he said. She looked at him, taken aback.

"Want me? You are just now figuring that out?" ,she said, pulling away from him and crossing her arms over her chest.

"That's not what I mean." he said, in a low gruff voice. Yaa jumped slightly as she felt his hands grip her ample waist and pull her into him. As if it were instinct, she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Seeing you in that dress...having you this close to me."

She closed the last bit of space between her, biting her lip as he craned in. "You are the most gorgeous woman I've ever seen. You're smart, accomplished, hilarious. You are phenomenal. But there is a part of each other we haven't experienced.” He picked her up and sat her on the vanity. “And if it's okay with you, Denae, I'm tired of waiting."

She began unbuttoning his shirt. “I thought you’d never ask, baby.”, she whispered. Their lips met and the intoxicating kiss consumed them. Like a drug, their favorite drug. The slow tongue war continued as Yaa finally took Winston’s shirt off. Nothing was breaking this kiss. His hand traveled up her leg.

“Move your arm, baby.”, Yaa said between kisses. He looked at her with hooded eyes and chuckled deeply.

“That’s not my arm,love.”, he replied sensually. She stopped, mouth agape. She cut her eyes between his erect third arm resting against her inner thigh and the cocky smile and lip bite plastered on his face. This nigga finna split me open.

His hand continued its journey to her inner thighs, where he got down to nibble and kiss them with such intent and passion. He picked her up and traveled to the bed. While on the journey, Yaa bumped her head in the doorway of the bathroom. She giggled as he placed her gently on the bed. “Oh my God, Pumpkin, are you okay?! Do you need ice? Please say something.”, Winston rambled nervously. He swiftly placed her on the bed and turned on the lights to examine her head. She finally opened her mouth and laughed...hard. It could’ve been from the bump or just the fact that she was a bona fide clown. Her laugh turned into an all out cackle, prompting Winston to laugh with her.

“I’m fine, love.”, she began saying in between cackles and breaths, “I just bumped my head.If I pass out, just take me to the hospital. No questions.” The passive tone she used made it difficult for Winston to decide if she was joking or being dead serious. Either way, he appreciated how she broke the thick tension between them. The perfect icebreaker. They finally got themselves together and turned off the lights.

“I hate for such a nice dress to come off, but I wanna see what masterpiece is underneath.”, he commented. Lord, that voice. He lifted the dress over her head, where he was met with her ample cleavage being confined by a red lace bra. She freed herself of her bra and he began caressing her breasts.

“I’ve been trying to get to these since we met.”, he commented. She laughed.

“I know. You looked at them like they were water in the desert.”, she answered laughing. As if on cue, he took one in his mouth, swirling his tongue around her nipple and sucking on it. His tongue traveled up to her sweet spot on her neck. Chills. Her sweet moans served as motivation for his assault of her neck.

Satisfied, he came down and began slowly peppering wet kisses on her feet and leveling up to the inside of her thighs. Shit, spot #2. He looked up to see his girlfriend’s face consumed with pleasure. She bit her lip as she looked down at him with hooded eyes. She cursed under her breath with every kiss he placed. Finally, he kissed her opening, eliciting a back arch and a drawn out “Shiiit!” from Yaa. His mouth became friends with her opening as he sucked on her bud and his tongue explore. He added two fingers as he latched onto her clit. He began pumping his fingers inside of her with a moderate pace. He alternated his sucking with kissing and licking,prompting more hushed cursing from his lover. She was unraveling. He stopped but kept his fingers inside of her. “Fuck you for teasing me like this.”, she moaned. He chuckled. She’s a mess.

“I want you around me, Denae.”, he commented as his fingers brushed up against her opening and examining her nectar. He slid his body between her legs and slid his member inside of her. Her head flew back as his girthy member went deeper inside her tight opening. He noticed her twitch as he lowered himself into her.

“Are you ok,Denae?”, he said examining her face.

“I’m not used to you yet. I’m just tight. I’ll be fine.”, she reassured. Carrie and Khalida ain’t raise no bitch. They both moaned as they began grinding in sync.

“Shit, you fit around me like a glove.”, he moaned, his voice saturated with lust. She kissed him in response.

Winston peppered wet,sloppy kisses on her neck as he rolled his hips, hitting her g-spot deep with every stroke. His pace was slow but unyielding. Her sweet moans and gasps mingled with his low grunts and occasional higher moans. The room was clouded in lust. Besides the sounds of wet skin slapping, moans, and pants, Maxwell’s “Whenever Wherever Whatever” played softly in the background.

Now straddling his lap, Yaa found herself holding back tears as her sexual appetite was being satisfied to her liking. She balanced herself with one hand rested on Winston’s bare chest and the other on the bed. She bounced on his dick as he held on tightly to her love handles. He watched with hooded lust-filled eyes as his girlfriend’s breasts bounced freely against her pace. Her bounce slowly devolved to a twerk and then a gyration as she neared her peak. She was sending him into a tizzy as she clenched tightly onto his dick. If they weren’t already in love, this moment would be when they’d fall in love. Their moans echoed in response as feedback for the other. They were both coming undone. Their rhythm became disonant as they neared the end. Winston sat up and sloppily kissed his girlfriend’s neck. Her breath hitched as they stared into each other’s eyes, both pairs stinging with tears.

“Winston,baby, you feel so good.”, Khalida uttered between her teeth and tears. Her tears and desperate moans served as Winston’s motivation to cum.

“Cum for me, baby.”, he whispered into her ear. He released a low growl; that did it for the both of them. She roared into his shoulder as the sensation of their simultaneous release overwhelmed her core. She collapsed from the sensation.

————————

Yaa and Winston found themselves physically exhausted from their lovemaking. They laid in bed in silence, reflecting on what just occurred. She laid her head on his chest as he tried detangling her locs with his fingers. He gently kissed her locs. “That was...wow. That was uh.”, Winston attempted to strike up conversation.

“Intense? I think that’s the word you’re looking for: intense.”, Yaa suggested. She looked into his eyes and kissed him.

“Yeah, intense. Literally the word I was looking for. My mind is going 25 miles a second. I can’t believe we finally did it.”

“Yours too?! This is...wild.”

“How?”

“Everything we do together feels so organic. I’m really not one to openly be a sap, but you’re so right for me. Being around you makes sense and what we just did is a feeling I’ll never get over...ever.” She interlocked her small fingers into his larger ones and kissed his knuckles. He chuckled as his free trailed between the valley of her breasts.

“I guess your cousin Daniel was right…”, Winston said lifting her chin up to meet his eyes.

“The fuck is he right about?”, she shot up staring him dead in the face. He kissed her lips.

“...I guess I am responsible for making a hard G soft.”, he flinched in anticipation of whatever assault was coming as consequence of his statement. One tickle and pillow fight later, the two found themselves out of breath once more.

“You know, Chris, to be a health nut, you in worse shape than me.”, she giggled.

“Oh, shut up and go to bed.”

OH THIS THE TAG LIST TAG LIST!

@muse-of-mbaku @kumkaniudaku @eriknutinthispoosy @whoramilaje @mbakusthrone @mbakuwife @great-neckpectations @inlovewithmakeupcomicsanimelove @jackburtonsays @randomwordprompts @bartierbakarimobisson @wakandan-flowerz @blackpantherreblogs @babygirlofwakanda @eerythingisshaka @washyourlinens @wakandas-vibranium @dramaqueenamby @destinio1 @sonofnjobu @teheeboo @sarahboseman @iamrheaspeaks @texasbama @chaneajoyyy @lovelynervouschaos @cay-cah @coonflix @katasstrophey @mareethequeen @jozigrrl @jellybean531 @yofavcocoa @storibambino @maya-leche @blackgirloneshots @royallyprincesslilly @niquelafleur @certifiednatural @supersizemeplz

#atfirstglance #destinedtobeduke #dukeandthedoctor #winston duke imagine #winston duke x oc

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jcmorgenstern · 5 years

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Rambly not-review of QOAAD

Lol so tumblr is on fire and so am I so here’s Some Thoughts on QOAAD, mostly about the not-crispy boy, not as annoying and bitter as I usually am:

Bottom line: CC did right by me, y’all. Whether or not she did right by everyone else I can’t really say, but half of the time reading this book I felt she was catering to me personally, and y’all know how esoteric ‘catering to me personally’ is. There is some Wild Fuckening Shit in this book, and I for the most part loved it. A lot of my old gripes still apply, but tbh? for a kid’s book CC has really delivered some absolute gems and as critical as I often am, I really enjoyed reading this book.

Spoilers for the entire TDA trilogy, especially QOAAD, below.

Okay so for those of y’all who have read the book: let’s just get that whole thing out of the way. Yes she did in fact write three chapters of an AU where Sebastian won, is shacking up with a deeply unhappy Jace, and yes, I did in fact die irl. Like honestly I understand that’s problematic, and that the whole situation was about as fucked up as it gets, but honestly? I don’t give a shit. I was Thriving and even though I had to read Seb’s dumb ass dying again it was totally worth it 10/10.

Also Ash? Dark Jace? Biggest nut.

Basically, my criteria for liking the book were: (1) Ash can’t be a carbon-copy of Sebastian (2) Kieran doesn’t die and gets with Mark/Cristina (3) Diana and Gwyn stay together and (4) Kit and Ty keep being adorable. Bonus points were for (1) Dru and Ash interaction (2) more Dru content in general (3) Aline and Helen (4) that hint of Sebastian content she kept teasing that I never believed would actually materialize and (5) Julian and Emma breaking up so I never had to read another word about their “true love” at age 16 ever again (I’m a bitter asshole).

I honestly expected to get pretty much none of these and I was shocked to get everything except (5) from the list and so much more. So without further ado:

The whole Thule thing was a lot, tbh, starting with Maryse’s execution (I won’t lie, when Sebastian says “I killed my mother for Jace, and now he can return the favor” my dumb ass did in fact squeal out loud in a public bookstore) and ending with Sebastian’s really, really, really bad parenting skills. As a side note, the show must have had an advance copy of the book, because you may recognize the song little Jace sings with Izzy in....whatever episode they go into Jace’s head as the song Maryse sings before she dies. As far as I recall, that hasn’t been mentioned before (as well as the Malachi Configuration) so clearly the show got confused with the book release date. I’m sure that made CC very happy.

Like honestly Thule!Seb is just COHF!Seb taken up to 11, which is honestly a terrifying and hilarious thought, complete with a still-kicking designer clothes fetish and an inability to dream up a setting that isn’t a club. Sebastian’s designer suit fetish never really made much sense to me in terms of his personality--it always seems to remind me that I am, in essence, reading The Draco Trilogy with the names changed. But there are a lot of little details that recall COLS, which is always a plus for me, but also seem to indicate that he’s never really progressed or ‘matured’ beyond that. The return to the club setting as a callback to club in COLS, dressing Jace like a paper doll. While Thule itself is an imaginative setting, Sebastian’s presentation and behavior hasn’t changed at all, which shows that ultimately CC’s view of him is one of being completely static and inhuman.

I always really hated that, but here it works--it gives the impression that even though he’s won and destroyed the world, he’s living in the past, attempting to recreate COLS best he can. That mind-controlling Jace, going for a romantic murder or two with him, and chatting with Clary about how much she hates him is the happiest he’s been, the closest thing to family he can conceive of. I think one of the most fucked up parts of COLS, and one of my favorites, is that the Magic House is a darkly genteel reflection of the warped view of family Valentine has, that Sebastian has symbolically completed.

Valentine’s wardrobe full of clothes he’s bought for Jocelyn for “when she returns,” all with the tags still on, is possibly the most chilling part of the entire book. He views his family--Jocelyn, Jace, Clary, as a thing to accomplish, to control, to collect and arrange in a seemly manner. He truly seems to think, or at least want to believe, that after he’s destroyed the entire downworld and the entire shadowworld government that they can all go play happy families. That his family would want to play happy families with him, or even be anywhere near him. It’s both terrifyingly cruel and self-aware and completely naïve, that he believes he can make his family love him, or at least pretend.

It’s that same mindset that Sebastian inherits--“I will bend him to my will and teach my sister to love me” pretty much sums it up, although he manages to be a bit more petulant about it. Although he seems to emphatically reject Valentine, he’s become Valentine, inherited his sword, his ring, his creepy shrine-to-Jocelyn house and his mindset and view of family. The same entitlement and sense of ownership Valentine displays to Jocelyn (and in a different way, Jace), Sebastian shows to Clary (and again, to Jace).

Valentine never saw his “vision” through, but Sebastian symbolically completes his father’s vision of their family, not as a son but by becoming his father, and Clary her mother. CC emphasizes and repeats this over and over, how Clary looks like her mother and Sebastian like his father, exactly like his father. Sister Magdalena even comments on it (“Why, you look just like your parents,” when Clary expects her to comment on their difference or wonder why Clary is in the company of a murderer). One can suppose that given his feelings towards Valentine and how he always resented Valentine’s lack of approval towards him, Sebastian craves “love” more than anything--or at least, his conception of love, which we all can agree is pretty fucked up. The completion of the “family” is thus probably what Sebastian sees as fulfilling, that control and coercion is as close to love and belonging as he can understand, or that he’s experienced.

There’s a very interesting sense in which in creating the Endarkened and going on a path of world destruction, Sebastian himself loses all sense of self or free will. It always bothered me that Lilith’s blood is used to abnegate free will in the Endarkened when Lilith herself is often interpreted as a symbol of free will (and feminism--that’s a rant for another day). But there is very much a sense that the Battle of Burren is Sebastian’s moral event horizon, that in trying to rape Clary or force all free will out of her and others he cements himself as ultimately irredeemable. I’ve often complained that his motivation for destroying the world is...well, non-existent, but in a sense it reflects an erosion of person-hood, that he is less a person in himself with his own self-directed wants and goals than a shadow or echo of Valentine embracing senseless (demonic?) destruction.

I know I’m going completely off the deep end, but I recently studied Milton and although it seems pretty clear that CC is more a Virgilian than a Miltonist (tbh I really don’t think she’s read Paradise Lost because if she had, she wouldn’t stop quoting it), Milton’s conception of Lucifer is really a prototype here. One reading of Satan in PL is that the personified Sin and Death (his “offspring” so to speak) are really just solipsistic echoes of himself and his hubris, and I think there’s a very interesting sense in which Sebastian could be read in a similar way to Valentine. In many respects, to me, Jonathan represents a sum of Valentine’s greatest sins--bigotry, hatred, cruelty, pride, and really bad use of the experimental method.

I get the impression that CC struggled with Seb’s characterization in COHF, and in large part that’s because he has no character, no motivation beyond destruction and a certain rapaciousness towards Clary. As I’ve derisively said before, wanting to fuck your sister is not a sound core personality motivation for a character. The way he’s written in the books, there’s not a lot of poignancy in his character, and although people do seem to feel sympathy for “green eyed Jonathan” (uwu), he doesn’t really exist any more than Sebastian does. Although CC claims through Clary that Sebastian wants to destroy the world to make it something that can love him, what she misses is that Sebastian in COHF is not really a character but an Endarkened version of himself--a shadow. He doesn’t seem to be much of anything.

Thule is the result of that hollow destruction, an Endarkened shadow of canon, and for that reason it completes COHF in that we truly see what CC means when she says there wasn’t enough good in him left for him to live--what I think she could also mean is that there isn’t enough of Jonathan left, or there never was. Valentine aborts his development (in...many ways: stay tuned for reports from the frontlines of developmental psychopathology, which I am taking) and what’s left is a solipsistic reflection or echo not of Jonathan’s demonic parentage but of his human father. And there’s something understatedly tragic about that cycle coming to a close with Ash, with Sebastian behaving the same way towards his son as his father did to him--with callousness and a desire to exploit. CC explicitly calls this possessive, which is of course a callback to how he treats Clary, but I think he’s more reflecting the father role he inherited from Valentine.

And Ash closes that cycle by killing Sebastian--just as, I would argue, that Sebastian in some sense wanted to kill Valentine. More and more I’ve been leaning towards a reading (and I hope with absolutely no confidence that the show leans towards this reading as well) where Sebastian’s obsession with Clary is at least partly due to the fact that she has done the thing that would symbolically complete him--kill Valentine. Sebastian hasn’t killed Valentine, literally or symbolically, and the cycle repeats; in this way, Ash as a Morgenstern takes more after Clary than he does his father.

Is this edgy, pseudo-academic, piss-poor, completely incoherent bullshit? Absolutely. The point is, god is dead and if I want to compare Paradise Lost, one of the eminent works of the English canon to a YA series based on fanfiction I can. Also, Thule may suck but Sebastian did canonically destroy the world financial system so is he really that bad? (Yes).

#i love a crispy boy #this is seb meta at it's best: rambly incoherent and complete and utter unsupported bullshit #just how we like it here at seb-verlacs!!#anyway uhh #qoaad spoilers #queen of air and darkness spoilers

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sunflowerstrays · 6 years

Text

you make me laugh // mark tuan

anon requested this: Can I request a scenario where YN is got7s mark gf, and the member tease her because she is from England and has a British accent. If possible can you make YN like famous too, maybe like the lead singer of a British band, idk but yeah

mark tuan x reader.

words: 2k.

genre: fluff, crack.

---

Mark and you had been dating for two years now, but had known each other for the majority of your lives

And two say you two were inseparable was an odd phrase because you definitely spent most of your time apart from each other

but when you were together you were joined at the hip, refusing to spend time apart

and because of this you spent a lot of time with the other got7 members

who all loved you to death because you definitely brought the best out of Mark

but your adorable British accent also humoured them to their death beds

the worst case that has ever happened with your voice was when you had all gone out for a meal to celebrate the success of got7′s new album

and you had tried to reply to a savage comment from Yugyeom about your new music style

but your voice had cracked as you had turned slightly shrill and this meant that the British accent messed up all the Korean pronunciations

and you’d never seen seven boys laugh quite so much in your life

to the point that even Jaebum, who could often keep a stone facade and remain stoic in these situations couldn’t control himself and was red in the face

you had just hidden your face in Mark’s arm as he patted your thigh and laughed hard with his friends

that incident aside

the boys mostly loved your accent

they thought it was absolutely adorable and wouldn’t change it for the world

even if it meant that when they arrived in England they would do their best to butcher the accent

just like they were doing now as the met you at the airport

because you were the lead singer of the British band, The Sun

and were kicking off of a week of stadium performances tomorrow night

and somehow this lined up perfect with some of the boys holiday time, so they had decided to come and visit you on some of your tour nights

and experience “British culture, the very best of it” ~ Youngjae, 2018

little did they know that British culture mostly consisted of rain, awkward smiles with strangers on the subway and an unhealthy amount of tea

yet as you stood at the arrival entrance for international flights you were beginning to think this whole plan was shambolic

because Jackson was pointing out a million things to Yugyeom and Youngjae, speaking the English name for it, but doing so in the worst accent possible

and you could here the old couple beside you muttering about how annoying today’s youth were

“y/n!”

Mark practically leapt from the other side of the room to your side, embracing you in the biggest hug and swallowing you in the smells of air-planes

you were too happy to see him to care that he was messing up your hair you had made such an effort on today

and hugged him back so tightly, wishing that in another universe, the two of you would have all the time in the world to spend together

because it had been almost two months since the two of you had last seen each other in person and you weren’t sure how long the next length of time would be

but for now you were just happy to see him back

following Mark was Jinyoung and Bambam, both of them screaming hello at you from the place were Mark had taken off

running at you at the speed of light before barrelling into you with the biggest hug

the couple beside you just anxiously shuffled backwards as they saw how big the group were, giving you the dirtiest looks

“British culture,” you introduced to the boys in Korean, making the three of them laugh hysterically

Youngjae and Jaebum appeared next, testing their English skills by making as much conversation in their adorably broken English as possible

which involved something along the lines of “Mark very excited to see you” and “how is this accent?”

you couldn’t help but tear at up how adorable Youngjae’s accent was, it was clear he was trying his best

then the three evil kids showed up, hugging you tightly and literally carrying you through the airport until Mark sulked that he wanted to hold your hand, and they dropped you before staring around at them

“so much British!” Youngjae had squealed as you walked past an over priced souvenir store that was drowning in cheesy British souvenirs

Mark had just rolled his eyes as the boys all wandered inside, asking you how to say a multitude of different things

ranging from bus to telephone box to Big Ben

and everytime you said something they would start giggling because of the accent, before trying to say it themselves

and you best believe Jackson and Bambam were having the time of their lives

eventually Mark and you manoeuvred the boys out of the store and towards the mini-bus you had had to order because the seven boys were a large number as it was, and with them came countless amounts of luggage

you sat in the aisle seat with Mark at the window as you drove through London to the hotel the eight of you were staying at with the rest of your group

who were all fairly excited to meet the boys

despite none of them knowing a word of Korean

the boys were trying to read as many signs as possible as you drove past, giggling to themselves like the children they were

but Mark and you were lost in your own little world

catching up on two months of not seeing each other by somehow cuddling in the cramped mini-bus and sharing inside jokes

or blushing deeply when ever one of the boys would call you two out for sharing a kiss

eventually the bus arrived at the hotel and this meant that the boys were all super hyped for a day touring London

the seven of them, as usual, were dressed to impress

meaning that amongst the young in their track suits and the professionals in their suits, they stuck out like a sore thumb with their heavily influenced fashion sense

but you didn’t really mind because hanging out with got7 was destined to make you stand out anyway

the underground was quite the interesting experience

with you holding both Mark and Youngjae’s hand at the same time, whilst Mark kept his eyes on Bambam and Yugyeom who were sat at the window waving at the strangers on the platform

and you almost left Jackson on a train into the heart of the city

but you showed them the classic tourist spots

and took them to your favourite small restaurant in the city where you had taken Mark the first time he came home with you

the whole time you were attached to Mark

and no matter how much Youngjae would tug you to look at the big bridges dotted along the Thames, Mark refused to let go

not that you were complaining because time spent with Mark was the most important thing in the world to you

eventually the day came to a close and you were heading back to the hotel

the six younger boys were deciding to find somewhere to eat after you giving them a long list of recommendations all day

but Mark and you opted for your hotel room and room service instead

once the two of you got there it involved changing into lazy clothes and cuddling on the bed

looking out of the open hotel window and just watching the world go by

and chatting about nothing

with the occasional make out sessions here and there

and honestly it was the best thing

because it made the endless months apart worth waiting out

because then these stolen moments in time were even more special to you

the second day of the trip was spent travelling around the city still, but you had to leave the boys early to go and practise for your show tonight

you were so terrified for performing not only because it was a stadium tour

but it was the first time you were performing in front of Mark live and the thought of disappointing him was what urged you to push harder

the girl group you were in weren’t the initially thought pop group that had been assumed of you when you had started

but rather you wrote all of your songs yourselves, and produced them, chose the music video design and created the dances

and had a much more chill and laid back vibe to your music

which is why Mark had loved your group even more because it was totally his style of music

and your voice sent shivers down his spine every time he heard it

tonight the boys were sitting VIP for you, but in a separate sections to save the risk of any fans spotting them

you could just see the seven of them chatting from the side of the stage before you were going to perform

and this made you even more terrified than you thought possible

but here you were and there was no sending them back to Korea now

the tour kicked off amazingly well

and somehow you managed to get through the first half of the show without messing up any lyrics or choreography, and none of your members had started their usual rants which was a huge bonus

during the half time break fans were given a chance to grab drinks and such whilst you changed backstage

but before you could run back on stage Mark had tackled you in a huge hug and was kissing your cheeks with watery eyes

“I love my talented queen of a girlfriend”

“Mark stop you’ll make me cry on stage”

eventually the security guards had to lead Mark back to where he was supposed to be sitting because you had like thirty seconds to run back on stage

the second half of the concert as well was incredible

and the group finished on a high note with fans cheering for you incessantly

and to say that the concert went well would be an understatement

Mark and the boys somehow snuck backstage to meet you and were wrestling verbally with the security guards to let them stay

and you just rolled your eyes and asked if they could stay

so they were all cramped into your dressing room whilst you had your makeup removed, chatting excitedly about the performance

and whilst you had to go next door to change they were still heard through thick walls

and when you were finally released into the night Mark refused to leave your side all night

even more so than usual

keeping you on his lap in the hotel room and kissing your head softly as you were falling asleep, knowing that you’d now have a whole week of this tiredness

not that you minded because you would do anything for Mark

and his wild band members

even if they were nuisances most of the time and dedicated all their spare moments to mocking you for your accent and girl group performances

---

oof idk if this is what you really wanted butttt it felt better to write it as a bullet list bc i could write a lot more if you know what i mean. however i hope you enjoy and i realise that i write so much for mark that it looks like he’s my actual bias rather than my biggest bias wrecker :)))))

requests are open <3

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thisiswhatwereupagainst · 7 years

Text

NON-MUTANTS ON X-TEAMS

Something I've run into a lot while RPing in the X-Men fandom is the idea that anyone who is not a mutant, and ESPECIALLY if they are a baseline human, is an unwelcome oddity at the Xavier's school. However, nothing could be further from the truth. From the beginning of the series to the current cast, there have always been non-mutant cast members ranging from androids to aliens to plain ol' regular humans, and they've never had a problem being accepted by the X-Men. Thus, I decided to make a list of them all.

I kept it strictly to non-mutants who served with the X-Men or among their affiliates (New Mutants, X-Force, etc.) but there have also been non-mutants who served on villainous mutant squads too, such as the mutate Lorelei with the Brotherhood and Donald Pierce with the Hellfire Club.

This is probably not even a COMPLETE list; I'm sure there are many more non-mutants among the X-Men and their affiliates!

Calvin Rankin/The Mimic - Calvin is a not a mutant but a mutate, having gained powers due to an accidental mixup of chemicals from an experiment his father was doing. As a result, he can take on the superpowers of anyone near him, as well as any skills or knowledge that they have. Kind of like Rogue, but without the drawbacks. He first used his powers to attack and bedevil the X-men for sheer spit back in the 1960s when it was just the O5, but in recent times he has changed his ways and was allowed to join the X-Men when he asked. Rogue even says she thinks he'll be a wonderful teacher!

Juggernaut/Cain Marko - Comic book Juggernaut is NOT a mutant, he gained his powers from the magical Gem of Cyttorak. He is also the step-brother of Charles Xavier, and you can guess from the name "Cain" what kind of relationship they have. Since his first appearance in 1965, he's been a villain. But in the 2000s, he joined the X-Men team. Not everyone liked him, and it turned out to be a ruse on his part, but he was allowed to become a member. And any problem anyone had with him was not due to not being a mutant, but on having TRIED TO KILL THEM SO MANY TIMES and being a general abrasive jerk.

Moira MacTaggert: If you're imagining a sexy young American CIA agent, stop it right now. I'm talking about comics Moira. Comics Moira is around Charle's age, very Scottish, and she is actually DOCTOR MacTaggert, a world-renowned leading geneticist whose area of specialty is mutants. She's badass, she's smart, she calls Charles out on his shit when no one else does, she has dark issues of her own, and she goes after a kelpie with a giant gun. She's a longtime ally of the X-Men and friend to mutantkind, she lives at the mansion and forms a relationship with each team member of the time, and even forms/leads her own team of X-Men on Muir Island (the site of her research center) when it appears the original team has been killed. Moira debuts at an early point in the comics, and is an important player in numerous stories for years to come up until her death at the hands of Mystique, but not before she discovered the cure to the Legacy Virus, saving the lives of countless mutants. If you remember no one else on this list, remember Moira MacTaggert.

Amanda Sefton - Many fans know that Nightcrawler was not raised by Mystique, but they don't know much about the family that did raise him. Well, that would be Margali Szardos, his foster mother. She had two biological children as well, Stefan and Jimaine. They were humans, but also practitioners of magic. When Nightcrawler left to join the X-men, Jimaine secretly followed him, using magic to disguise herself with the identity of "Amanda Sefton" under which she became Kurt's girlfriend. Yeah. His sister became his girlfriend while using a magic disguise. I'm serious. No, it's not treated as gross. After she reveals herself, she helps the X-Men on several adventures, using her magic powers to aid them against the Hellfire Club, Mystique’s Brotherhood and the aliens known as Dire Wraiths.

Madelyne Pryor- I know, you're all going "but she's Jean Grey's clone, that makes her a mutant!" Well, the X-Men didn't know that, and neither did she. She was with the X-Men for six years as a normal powerless human before anyone knew she was Jean's clone...before the writers knew, actually, as that was NOT their original plan. She was actually just supposed to be a human woman with an uncanny resemblance to Jean but no connection to her. The Gobyln Queen/clone thing got decided waaay later down the line. And even if it had been intended from the start, the CHARACTERS still regarded her as an ordinary human, since she had no powers until the Goblyn Queen thing, and yet she was a contributing member of the team, and proved herself a very valuable one.

Longshot - Longshot is an alien hailing from Mojoworld. He is one of many slaves created by genetic engineers in the employ of Mojoworld's masters, but he was one of the ones given free will by the head geneticist in hopes they would rebel, which they did. They also underwent a mystical ritual to give them good luck powers. However, their rebellion failed, and Longshot's memory was erased. Mojo then sent him to Earth, where he joined the X-Men and has been a regular member of their crew since the 1980s. He is often involved romantically with Dazzler.

Tom Corsi and Sharon Friedlander - Tom and Sharon were both humans who worked at the Xavier's School as staff. Sharon was the nurse and Tom was the PE teacher. Also, this was during the New Mutants era, when Magneto was the headmaster, so even he was a-okay with having them there. He was also outraged when Empath, an evil young mutant, did something horrible to them. Tom was also faculty at the school during Generation X, alongside their 'main' teachers Banshee and Emma Frost (Sharon had sadly been killed by then) When Generation X disbanded, Tom left once more as he had when the New Mutants had done the same, but he later returned when the Xavier's School student body grew once more. When M-day resulted in most of said students losing their powers, Tom was out of a job once more, and his current whereabouts are unknown. Oh, yeah, and they were originally white people but due to an incident with a demonic bear, they were magically transformed into Native Americans. Because comic books.

Stevie Hunter - Stevie Hunter is a human who was Kitty's ballet teacher. Through a series of adventures, she found out about Kitty's real identity as Shadowcat, and the X-Men in general. She not only kept their secret, but became their ally, trying to do what she could to help them whenever she found herself caught in the crossfire of their frequent battles. Xavier offered her a part-time job teaching ballet to the New Mutants, and she accepted. As with Tom and Sharon, Magneto had absolutely no problem with her when he took over the school. In fact, at one point, she chides him for being too hard on the kids for giving her trouble! Even after the New Mutants were no more, Stevie was still a welcome guest at the school, such as when she joined in the Thanksgiving dinner there Uncanny X-Men #308 and the wedding of Jean and Scott in X-Men (second series) #30.

Warlock - Warlock is an alien from the cybernetic race known as the Technarchy. Warlock, unlike others of his race, possesses a distinctive degree of compassion, and as a result was dubbed a mutant in spirit. He was a member of the New Mutants for almost the entire course of the group's existence, and has featured in many X-men stories since.

Bird Brain - Bird Brain is an Ani-Mate, an animal/human hybrid creatures created by a mad scientist known as the Ani-mator. Bird Brain escaped the island where the Ani-Mator created and tormented the Ani-Mates, and befriended the New Mutants. The New Mutants went with him back to the island to help the other Ani-Mates, which sadly resulted in the death of Doug Ramsey. After the Ani-Mator is no more, Bird Brain remains on the island with his fellow Ani-Mates to teach them how to live a better life from the lessons he learned with the New Mutants.

Gosamyr - Gosamyr is yet another alien, and another non-mutant taken in by the New Mutants. She first tried to manipulate them into rescuing her family, but after her family died, she stayed with the New Mutants and began trying to change her manipulative nature for the better. Realizing that her powers were beyond her control and she would cause trouble and manipulation even if she didn't need to, she chose to go in search of a rumored planet of mystics said to be able to help her people control their nature. She has still not returned or been heard from since.

Ship - Ship is, well, a ship. The Ship is specifically an AI created a millennia ago by the beings known as Celestials. It came into the possession of Apocalypse, which he used as his headquarters. When X-Factor defeated Apocalypse, he left Ship behind, and X-Factor decided to adopt Ship as their own new base. Ship revealed its AI to them and became something like their butler, even assisting in taking down the booby traps that Apocalpyse had left. Ship would also later house the New Mutants and the X-termintors. It would at one point be reduced to an orb inside Cable's chest, because comic books, and acted as an adviser to Cable while helping to keep his TO virus infection under control.

Ariel - Ariel is an alien and while she initially joined up with the villainous Vanisher and his Fallen Angels when she first came to Earth, she later aligned with the good guys and resided with the X-Men on the mutant community of Utopia, where she used her teleporting powers to help them. While teleportation is an ability that all members of her species posses, Ariel also has an addition power of being able to supernaturally persuade and sweet-talk others. She claims that this bonus power runs in her family, which sort of makes her a genetic mutant too...just, not a human one.

Shatterstar - Like Longshot, he hails from the Mojoverse and is of the same genetically engineered slave race. In fact, he is the son of Longshot and Dazzler, raised in the future, because comic books. While on a mission to Earth to find the X-Men for aid, he instead found X-Force. At first he battled them, but after talking, they aided him in the slave rebellion and promised to help him defeat Mojo one day. From that point on Shatterstar has been a member of X-Force, and formed a relationship with his mutant teammate Rictor, making them one of the first same-sex couples in the X-comics.

Adam-X - Adam X, or Adam the X-treme, or Adam Neramani, is a half-human half-Shi'ar who also has the ability to make blood explode. Yeah, he's the 90s incarnate. He was originally intended by Fabian Niceiza to be the half-brother of Cyclops and Havok, but that never actually came to pass on the page, though many readers guessed it. In any case, this bad boy worked with X-Force during the 90s, and while his appearences have been sporadic since, he's also worked with the X-Men themselves in recent times as well.

Gaia - Though Gaia is sometimes called a mutant by others, it's actually not totally sure what Gaia really actually is. Generation X found her in another dimension. She looks totally human, but so does Ariel, so she could be an alien, or she could be a super-powered human, mutant or mutate or something else, who is just from another dimension. It's unsure. What is sure is that she was one of Generation X for awhile, but left them to go do her own thing and explore life on Earth. She has not been seen since. But consider her powers are pretty major, she's probably ok. Not only was she telepathic, empathic, and telekinetic, but she could reshape matter as she pleased, even creating objects out of nothing, such as a big fancy futuristic house for herself. Regardless of her odd origins and indistinct species one thing is for sure: Gaia was one of the team for the short time she was on it. No one ever cared one bit that she might not exactly be a mutant per se, or even mentioned it at all. She was one of Generation X, and that's what mattered.

Davis "Slipstream" Cameron - Davis was not a mutant, but his sister Heather "Lifeguard" Cameron was, and when she joined the X-Men, he came with her, and no one objected at all. Later, he would become a mutant himself; during a crisis in which Heather was in danger, Sage explained to him that while he was not a mutant, he carried latent mutant genes, so his children or grandchildren would probably be mutants, but not him. However, due to her own powers, she could activate these genes, enabling him to help the X-Men save his sister. Davis agreed to it, and gained the ability to teleport. Davis left the team when his sister underwent a physical transformation that revealed she was half-alien in addition to a mutant; despite having had no problem with his sister's mutation, her new alien-hybrid form horrified him. It is unknown if Davis too is part alien, or if he is in fact only her half-brother and thus fully human.

Annie Ghazikhanian - Annie succeeded the late Sharon as the human nurse at a mutant school. She had a mutant son, Carter, but she also had some anti-mutant prejudices which she was working through. Nonetheless, she developed a friendship with Northstar, and got on well with most of the X-Men. The only person she actually had a problem with was Lorna, and this was due to them both being in love with Alex...and the then-unstable Lorna attacking her with scalpels. However, she eventually left the school with her son due to her understandable fear of the supervillain attacks that plagued it, specifically after one resulted in the death of another student that her son was friends with.

Hepzibah - Hepzibah is an alien who has long been a member of the space adventurer crew known as the Starjammers, who have teamed up with the X-Men on many occasions. She eventually joined them, and served through many X-Men adventures such as World War Hulk, where she answered the Stepford Cuckoo's call for help when the Hulk attacked Professor X, and Messiah Complex in which she joined X-Force. When the X-Men make their new base Utopia, she is seen there, despite it being a "mutant sanctuary". Currently, however, she is back in outer space again.

Danger - So it turns out that the Danger room is alive and sentient, and then it turns into a vaguely female-looking android thing called Danger, and tried to kill the X-Men, but then joined them. Yeah. So that's a thing that happened. She has since been a member of X-Club and X-Factor as well as the X-Men, and has an interest in rehabilitating villains such as Empath, Sebastian Shaw and Donald Pierce.

Karima Shapandar/Omega Sentinel - What's a more archetypal foe of mutantkind then than the Sentinel? And yet, the X-Men have even welcomed one of them into their ranks. Karima was an ordinary human police officers who was transformed into an Omega Prime Sentinel against her will by Bastion. A Prime Sentinel is a human with cybernetic nanotech implants which, upon activation, transforms them into armored beings with powerful weapons systems...programmed, of course, to kill mutants. Though Karima tried to fight her programming, she was no match for it alone. It was not until she encountered Magneto and Xavier on Genosha that she was freed. Together, the two men combined their powers to restore her human consciousness and free will, rather than destroying her. She remained in Genosha to rehabilitate and adjust to the changes of her body, and used her powers to help mutants. Eventually, she joined the X-Men. Even Magneto of all people shows her great kindness; there's a scene of him reading to her from a Kipling book during her recovery! And yeah, Kipling was hella racist against Indians so maybe not the best choice to read to a woman who is Indian, but MAGNETO is being KIND to a HUMAN who is also a SENTINEL ok, it's amazing, and it's proof of how well-accepted she is among the X-Men and their lot. Eventually during the course of her adventures with the X-Men, her Sentinel aspects are rendered inert by a villain, making her virtually human again. She chose to continue to serve with the X-men and was a welcome member of their team. However, she later leaves the X-Men to take a job with the mutant superheroes Sabra and Gabriel Shepherd, saying she feels she'd be a better fit there and she wants to pursue a case they're working on.

Dr. Kavita Rao - Creator of the famous "cure" for mutation, Dr. Kavita Rao is an ordinary human as well as a brilliant geneticist. Though she saw mutation as a disease, she was motivated by good intentions rather than hateful ones, having seen so many mutants suffer or hurt others because of their powers, and believed that she was helping them. Considering that hundreds of mutants signed up for her cure, known as Hope, perhaps she even had a point in some cases....such as that of Tildie, one of her patients, a little girl whose uncontrollable powers had killed her own parents. regardless, Wolverine destroyed her work. Despite the hostile feelings of many X-Men towards Kavita's beliefs, and the fact she had allied with the alien villain known as Ord, she was recruited by the X-Men for their science squad known as the X-Club. This gave her a home and a job, as she had become a pariah in the scientific community due to her alliance with Ord becoming known, and, after M-day, out of work as someone who studied mutants, since there were virtually none left. She has since done her best to help the X-Men and mutantkind.

Broo - Of all the extraterrestrial species that the X-men have ever encountered, there is none more horrifying and loathsome than the evil creatures called the Brood. And yet, when the X-Men discovered a young and tiny specimen among them that, unlike the others, had the capacity to feel compassion, they welcomed him with open arms. Rejected by his own people, the little alien now known as "Broo" has found a home in the Xavier's School. Though he was teased in the beginning by some obnoxious classmates, the staff has always supported him, and he has made great friends among the other students. He's rather like the Warlock of his generation!

Fantomex and E.V.A: Fantomex was created by the Weapon Plus program, the same people who made Wolverine, to serve as a super-sentinel against Earth's mutant population. Weapon Plus created a population of technorganic organisms whose living tissue was fused with Sentinel nanotechnology at the cellular level. His mother, a member of this race, became pregnant when she was fertilized with nanomachines, resulting in the birth of Fantomex. So basically he's a sort of human sentinel but not in a cyborg way like Karima is. It's weird, Grant Morrison wrote it. Anyway, he escaped, and after a lot of contact with the X-Men, he ends up among them, living on Utopia and helping them in their missions. He then becomes a member of Uncanny X-Force, a secret team organized by Cyclops without the knowledge of other X-Men in order to carry out missions that they would never do, such as the assassination of Apocalypse while he was incarnated in a child form. Though Fantomex carried the mission out, he also cloned the child, resulting in Evan Sabahnur/Genesis. When Cable created his new X-Force team after this, Fantomex was a member, and he is a member of the most recent X-Men team in All New All Different led by Magneto. As for EVA, she's a sentient spaceship that is his external nervous system. I told you, Grant Morrison wrote it.

Deadpool - Believe it or not, this fan-favorite is not a mutant! He's a mutate, meaning someone who wasn't born with their powers. For instance, Captain America and Spider-Man are mutates. In Deadpool's case, while his backstory varies a lot, the general history is that he was given his healing factor artifically by Dr. Emrys Killebrew of the Weapon X/Weapon Plus program. However, since Deadpool was suffering from cancer, this made his cancerous cells as immortal as his healthy cells, hence his horrendous appearance. He was a member of the same X-Force team as Fantomex. He's also claimed to be a member of the X-Men, but I'm not sure if he actually was or not.

Deathlok Prime (Unit L17): A cybernetic soldier from an alternate future who joins X-Force and teaches at the Jean Grey School. He has Wolverine-like claws made of energy, carries an alternate version of Captain America's shield, and can predict numerous versions of the future.

I didn't count Lifeguard because she joined the X-Men as a mutant, it wasn't until later she discovered and manifested her half-Shi'ar side. So as far as they and she knew when they let her on, she was a mutant, and my point with this list was that the X-Men welcome non-mutants as much as they do their own kind. That's the same reason I didn't count Jubilee; she was a mutant on the team for a long, long time before she became a human-then-vampire, so it's a different dynamic.

I didn't count Valerie "Val" Cooper (the human in charge of X-Factor) because despite the "X" in the name, X-Factor was a government team, not affiliated with the X-Men and/or Xavier in any way. But you should check her out! You should also check out Yukio, a badass human lady who is a close friend and ally to Wolverine and Storm. She's not on this list because, while she's helped them, she's never actually been a member of the X-Men or a teacher at the school or anything like that. But she's super duper awesome!

But yeah, that's our list---mutates, aliens, Sentinels, and plain ol' baseline humans, there's a place for them all with the X-Men!

#xmen #x men #x-men

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