#even if his default nature is distrusting.

[mxdotpng]

best part abt having an ff14 oc is creating side content for ur wol's character development, completely unrelated to the msq going on

#.text #lately ive been thinking about how the 'traitor' nonsense in stormblood never gets addressed. #like how the garleans found rhalgr's reach and zenos can just waltz in. #so i used that to finally FINALLY fit in something ive been trying to put into the story for YEARS #upon walking into rhalgr's reach for the first time. the undercover traitor. a scientist who works for garlemald. like instantly #recognizes adaline. because he was one of the scientists who helped create her - and one of the ones eventually punished for her escape. #so he took it upon himself to complete his assigned task And bring their wayward expiriment back. #originally in one of addie's very very first drafts. when i first played the game. and when she was like still a human and not #some sort of fleshy robot clone thing. lol #she had a brother named beau. i think im going to bring him back as sir scientist here #he gets caught for recognizing her and thinks quickly. he could use this. so he pretends to be her long lost brother #(a lie) who has been searching for her ever since she disappeared (the truth). and since addie doesnt have any memories #nor does she even know she was Created rather than born. not yet. its not like she can say hes lying. #even if she knows something is wrong... #need this. so a) there are Seeds there for his 'i was created' event and b) so he finally has a reason and an ending to her sudden #'who was i' thoughts. like lately shes been wondering what his life was like Before the amnesia. and this is like #a very sudden and very convenient thing for her to happen. so shes suspicious. and honestly is a little too willing to let it happen #even if his default nature is distrusting. #but it also gives an easy out for trying to figure out When the twins find out addie is a weapon. bc i was never sure where to put that #but here is good. here is good #im literally a genius. smartest writer ever. ok maybe not but also yes #adaline rozovy

[iheartuwu]

₊˚ ♡ random relationship hc’s ◞ leon s. kennedy

fem!reader, fluff, angst, established relationship, implied age gap for like one or two hc’s, wrote these in an id leon brainrot fueled spur lmfao so mostly for an older leon ig !? would love to expand on some of these in a fic, wc 0.6k ╮

gift giving is definitely one of his strongest love languages, however he’s not one for grand gestures or overtly romantic gifts. his gifts are practical, thoughtful, consistent reminders that he’s always thinking of you because he’s never been good with words. he prefers to not be present when you receive them and he’s SO deliberately discreet about it too. subtly replacing your skincare or fav products that are running out with brand new ones, delving into his mental notes of what you’re running low on when he’s at a shop. scheduling food or flower deliveries for when he’s away on a mission or work related tasks. any praise would probably make his skin crawl because he just can’t handle it

terms of endearment feel unnatural to him and rarely fall past his lips unless you seem to react positively to them. i don’t see him as someone who’s that experienced in committed long term relationships ( or relationships in general ) due to the nature of his work and lifestyle. he defaults to ‘babe’ until he learns which terms you prefer / dislike

leon would never accept your offers or attempts to pay for a thing ( i swear by this ). this doesn’t come from a place of arrogance or urge to fulfill some ‘traditionally’ masculine role. his disposable income is plentiful, and he’s happy to pay when the opportunity arises, he honestly doesn’t even think about it and merely hands over his credit card. receiving gifts can often be hard for him but he’ll never purposely display his discomfort or refuse

extremely dry texter and doesn’t really use his phone despite being tech savvy, all of his texts end with periods. rarely ever uses emojis ( his personal favs are 👍👎 and the occasional ❤️ ). typically one word responses. doesn’t understand half of the abbreviations you use. send him a keyboard smash and he’ll think you’re having a stroke. prefers to call you instead

always the driver ( he insists on it ). always has the seat warmer on for you. if you do drive he becomes a backseat driver which can be mildly frustrating. comments on your song choices when you play music in his car but would never tell you to stop no matter how grating it is on his ears and simply endures. sometimes opts for his motorcycle over his car solely because he gets to be held onto by you. would literally never let you even fathom the idea of driving his motorcycle

frequent date nights at borderline obnoxiously ritzy restaurants to compensate for his time spent away from you due to his job. also bc this man cannot cook. does not let you know in advance. he simply says “we have a reservation tonight” like an hour before which often results in you scrambling to get ready

he struggles with sharing his ( darker ) emotions, accompanied by a habit of opting to brush your concerns off. vulnerability is a foreign language to him. he’s scarily good at pretending he is fine, but you manage to see glimpses of his deteriorating wellbeing in his body language. the heavy sighs upon waking up, his slight recoil from your touch, his posture stiffening after you ask him what’s on his mind. this doesn’t come from a place of distrust in any way, he truly just doesn’t want to ‘burden’ you and convinces himself that his struggles aren’t important in the grand scheme of things. he also knows the source of his stress and trauma is for the most part confidential and he tells himself he’s doing it for your own safety and protection. when he does open up by his own volition, he keeps it brief, spares most of the details, his composure rarely falters and he’s itching to move on from the subject. you’ve never seen him cry :(

#leon kennedy x reader #leon s kennedy x reader #leon kennedy x you #leon kennedy x y/n #leon kennedy headcanons #leon kennedy drabble #leon kennedy #resident evil x reader #i could go on and on about him fr

[lionheartedmusings]

finally got around to putting this into words so here is my submission to the q!bad newsletter titled "q!bad is a good person but a bad human".

arcs like the one q!bad is on are naturally polarising and bring out a lot of strong emotions from views which is amazing, but i think a lot of people are missing the forest for the trees here -- more specifically, who we saw q!bad be for almost six months every day (who we still see him be now).

q!bad is a fundamentally good person by all accounts -- yes, he's a mischievous gremlin, but he's insurmountably generous, selfless in the way he gives without ever expecting anything in return, is dependable at every single turn. even in his lowest moments, he didn't turn his back on that dependability to his own detriment -- he prioritised everyone above himself, not just the eggs but also the other islanders.

q!bad is also... kind. not nice, i actually wouldn't call him nice per se, but he's kind, and loving, and gentle if you know how to read his actions -- just because his lovingness is at times odd to read, it doesn't mean it isn't there.

now, everything i've pointed out so far is not only factually true but also just a spot on indication of what makes a good person, right? well... yes, and no.

by human standards he's not a good person. he lies, cheats, is deceitful and cunning at every turn, is a gaslighter and a manipulator, and his moral compass ends when his emotional attachment does -- he won't hesitate to put his friends through tests and trials that he knows hurt them just to reach a goal, even if it's an ultimate "greater good" type goal.

luckily for q!bad, the man isn't fucking human and so the lense through which we see his character need to be adjusted not only to accommodate his life experience (as we would any character) but also the fact that he's just... not human, he can play pretend and he certainly has spent enough time around humans, but nature vs nurture only goes so far and he was a grown ass adult when he sunk atlantis.

it's honestly just painfully obvious that for better or for worse, q!bad doesn't function like humans do, and i think the best indicator of that is how he views interpersonal relationships, connections, love and trust.

for us, love and trust are intrinsically connected and ultimately need to be present for us to form attachments -- if we don't trust someone, we might get along with them at a superficial level but we won't engage further, right? q!bad sees those two as fundamentally separate parts of relationships -- you cannot argue he doesn't love his friends, or all the eggs, but does he trust everyone? no. because q!bad is very much capable of loving you without trusting you, because his default is distrust. while most of us start a connection with existing trust that can then be broken, he starts them with no trust that needs to be earned.

he doesn't see what's wrong about his friendship with q!foolish, he doesn't see the issue with having been sightseeing at the salem witch trials, pompeii is "the reason he doesn't do beach vacations" and not... yeno, a massive historical tragedy. for q!bad, all of these things are normal because he's a millennia old demon who fundamentally lacks the grasp on some pretty basic human concepts despite his time here (i.e. his whole conversation with q!baghera about lines and mortality).

my point being, q!bad is not a good human, he never claimed to be (on the contrary) and his recent actions show that very well...

... but he *is* a fundamentally good person, without question.

as long as you view the cubito through the lense of our own morality, you'll be depriving yourself of some pretty awesome insights into his character and also just not giving him a fair shake!

he's a terror! he's wiped out civilizations! he's eaten people! he is terrifying and bloody and dark! he's also just a little guy who makes care packages and watches kids and won't turn away anyone in need! all of this is him and for a fair analysis you need to consider the entirety of him for better and for worse!

#qsmp #q!badboyhalo #qsmp analysis #long post

[gravity-barbie]

The Sparrows with a sibling they think doesn't have powers HCs

A/N: So sorry for the wait! And the lack of Christopher, I tried but I really suck at writing for him and I think it'd take another 3 months if I kept trying. Also fair warning this is on the angsty side.

Request

Masterlist

Marcus Hargreeves

-Both as a child and an adult Marcus barely acknowledges you exist, his life revolves around the sparrow academy which you've always existed just on the outskirts of

-As your sibling he does feel a loyalty to you though, he lets you stay at the academy and use Reginalds funds as much as the others so long as you don't cause any trouble

-Of course you're completely excluded from the sparrow academy, despite your siblings vast fame most people don't even know you exist and Marcus won't ever let you join any of the families 'buisness' talks

-So while he's not mean or malicious there is a lot of disrespect and neglect there that builds resentment inside of you

-He's as shocked as you are to learn you have powers (very strong ones at that) but he's quick to collect himself, trying to reason you into letting him integrate you into the sparrow academy and follow his lead like your siblings

-Marcus is good with people, he says exactly what you want to hear, first easing your fears about your new powers and then more importantly giving you a glimpse of the belonging and connection you've always been denied in an attempt to get you to fall in line

-However it's likely too little too late

-Marcus does care about you and he wants to resolve things peacefully, however if you prove to be a threat to the sparrow academy he's completely willing to make an enemy out of you

Ben Hargreeves

-Ben's always looked down on you and unlike Marcus he won't hesitate to verbalise that

-Despite that and generally not thinking you're worth his time he doesn't actually dislike you though, he sort of appreciates your gentler personality, not that he often let's that show

-You're the only sibling he doesn't have to compete with which may make him underestimate you but it also makes you the only person in the world he'll even slightly lower his guard around

-Which, play your cards right, could lead to a tentative friendship between you two, however friend or otherwise Ben is really no good for your self-esteem

-He feels personally betrayed to learn you have powers as crazy as that sounds, jumping to conclusions and assuming the worst of you

-His default is distrusting people so he feels like an idiot for ever not seeing you as a threat and it doesn't help that part of him is still loyal to Reginald so it's easy for him to believe the lies the old man tells about you

-Beneath his anger and confusion though, if Ben cares about you even a little bit that isn't going to change

Fei Hargreeves

-It would seem you're totally irrelevant to her, she barely acknowledges your existence as a child, and as an adult that's only slightly better

-Plus she's kind of a loner so since she's not forced to be around you like she is the others and she likes to spend her free time by herself it's only natural you hardly see each other, let alone talk

-However she actually knows you better than you realise, she's a careful and observant person and like your siblings you're not immune to her spying from time to time

-Because of her perceptiveness she's actually the first to suspect that there's something weird going on with you though she keeps that hunch to herself

-She's probably the most calm and reasonable about learning you have powers and tries to talk some sense into your more reactive siblings

-She encourages them to give you time and space to let this bombshell sink in before they get involved because that's what she would want in your position

-She herself doesn't bother you, not interacting with you any more than usual unless you initiate, she does however have a bird watching you at all times

Alphonso Hargreeves

-Alphonso can be a real dick to you sometimes, but unlike the others it's not because he feels some kind of sense of superiority over you, it's more out of jealousy

-He resents the fact that you don't have the same pressure on you or the same heavy workload and essentially feels like you got off easy compared to him and the others

-He doesn't tend to go out of his way to antagonize you or anything but for someone that's usually pretty easygoing his pointed coldness towards you stands out

-He's definitely blindsided to learn you have powers and it takes him a while to wrap his head around, but he is actually more willing to get your side of the story than some of your siblings

-He still doesn't really get where your pain is coming from because he'd switch childhoods with you in a heartbeat but now that he realises you are genuinely hurting he's a lot more open to understanding

-Ultimately despite being more sympathetic towards you than ever before Alphonso will still go along with however the other sparrows decide to deal with you, for better or for worse

Sloane Hargreeves

-Sloane is the nicest to you by far, partially because that's just who she is, but also because you're both different enough from your other siblings that you form an unspoken alliance

-However as kids you never got the chance to get too close as Reginald noticed your bond and kept separating you

-So while you're glad you can finally be friendly as adults you're still not as close as you could of been, you do try to catch up but the years of forced seperation has created a wall between you

-So has your apparent lack of powers, because though it's absolutely not her intention Sloane can be so patronizing and insensitive about your status as the ordinary one

-As shocked as she is to learn you have powers she's quick to look on the bright side and tries to encourage you to as well, though on the flipside she does also feel terrible to realise the depth of how manipulated and isolated you were

-She's an absolute blessing when it comes to helping you understand and control your power, as a literal genius with experience handling her own superpowers and the kindest person you know she's the best mentor you could hope for, things would of been so much worse without her

-She's firmly on your side throughout this whole ordeal, constantly vouching for you and prioritising what you need no matter what the others say or do

Jayme Hargreeves

-Obviously Jayme never gives you the time of day, but really it's not like she's more apathetic about you than she is about anything else in her life

-Honestly she even likes you more than numbers one to three because at least you never try to tell her what to do, so she's not totally against your company

-Actually she's kind of a very typical sister, you're not friends and she has no problem snarking you but you're family and she'll have your back if you need it

-Even though she had no idea about your powers she isn't all that surprised to learn the truth about you, mostly because she knows this is the exact kind of bullshit Reginald would do and she always thought him keeping you around was a bit suspicious

-She's calm but reasonably cautious when it comes to dealing with the new-you since she has to admit that that is one intense power you have

-Personally she has a hard time seeing you as a threat but like Alphonso she's not going to stick her neck out for you if the sparrow academy decides to do things the hard way

#the sparrow academy #tua x reader #tua x you #sparrow!reader #marcus hargreeves x reader #sparrow ben x reader #sparrow!ben x reader #fei hargreeves x reader #alphonso hargreeves x reader #sloane hargreeves x reader #jayme hargreeves x reader

[yanderes-galore]

Aaaa can we get romantic yandere headcannons for either dagur or snotlout ( either or your choise)) with a modern/time traveler darling. Aaaa if not just ignore this!!!!

I decided to just give you a little something of both because I like them :)

Yandere! Dagur + Snotlout with Modern! Darling

Seperate Reactions

Pairing: Romantic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Implied attempted brainwashing, Manipulation, Protective behavior, Violence/Attempted murder, Implied forced affection, Kidnapping mention, Clingy behavior, Brief blood mention, Forced relationship, Isolation.

Dagur

When it comes to Dagur I think it depends on how you meet.

Did you meet him when he was still a Dragon Killer or did you meet him when he was allied with the Dragon Riders?

That simply changes how he meets and treats you at first.

If he's still a Dragon Killer he'll take you prisoner and essentially interrogate you for all you know.

Which is where he learns you aren't from his world.

Then there's if he met you when allied with the Dragon Riders, where he'll be nicer and interrogate you less to know about your origin.

Either way Dagur can still be erratic and unpredictable.

His nature is being unstable and he'd come off as overbearing relatively quick.

Dagur as a yandere in general can come off strong and hard to deal with.

For the most part, no matter how he met you, he wants to know more when you say you aren't from here.

He doesn't understand... what do you mean by that?

Despite Dagur being the insane and sadistic viking he is, he displays a certain curiosity towards you and your story.

At first he thinks it'll be important intel that he can use.

No... it's not really anything to do with the Dragon Riders/Killers... but he does learn something he can use to his advantage.

You're from another world and have no idea how this world works.

Something he can use to his advantage.

You see, you'll need someone to teach you how this world works.

Aren't you lucky to have him be your help? You aren't.

Dagur can be helpful when he wants to be.

Most of the time he's thinking of ways to cement you into listening to him.

Dagur probably falls for your naive nature.

You're so easy to manipulate and lie to.

It's so adorable... he just thinks you're so innocent.

Which is why you need him to help you!

Dagur would be protective of you while learning more about how your own world works.

Dagur is capable of defending you, although many don't dare touch you because of how unhinged Dagur is in general.

Dragon Rider or Killer, Dagur us a force no one really wants to mess with.

Due to how unhinged he is by default I feel he would be a fast yandere.

He makes his care for you known through overly excited babbles about you and always intently listens to stories you tell from your world.

Dagur comes off as physically affectionate even if he hasn't told you his feelings yet.

It's part of what makes him hard to deal with along with his violence.

Dagur jumps to violence quickly since he knows how cruel other vikings are.

If you ever found a way to get home to your more modern world, Dagur protests.

He's hesitant to even have dragons near you.

Dagur doesn't even need a weapon if he's enraged to defend you.

He'll corner who he thinks is going to harm you and bash them with his fists if he has to.

Yet those same bloody fists always handle you with such care.

If he hasn't bombarded you with his feelings yet, he springs them onto you now.

You have to stay!

You can't just leave him here!

He loves you!

There's no changing his mind when he decides he has to keep you with him.

This is your home now... he won't let you leave...

He'll just have to keep you cozy with him in a prison cell until you realize you love him as much as he loves you!

Snotlout

Snotlout would distrust you at first.

He doesn't know where you came from and isn't sure if he can trust your story for awhile.

Safe to say even when you tell him the truth, Snotlout takes awhile to be yandere.

Even if he does think you look like... his type....

Snotlout would have to be around you long enough to fully trust you aren't lying.

Only then would you be able to grow a friendship with him... and he starts developing feelings.

Snotlout is similar to Dagur but less unhinged and violent.

He leans more into his ego and wishes to be praised more than anything like violence.

In fact he's kind of a coward.

Once he trusts you he'll try to find ways to impress you.

Snotlout has always been one to yearn for approval from anyone.

When he believes your story he realizes this may be his only chance to impress someone... maybe even date someone!

He listens to the stories you tell but then proceeds to tell even grander stories to impress you.

He tells you of training and riding dragons, he also makes stuff up to make him sound cooler.

The smile on your face is worth it in the end.

Snotlout tries everything to impress and help you.

Sure, Hiccup could show you around Berk, but Snotlout would prefer it if he did it himself!

Snotlout is protective but tends to pick his fights.

He isn't going to beat everyone up for looking at you, although he will be immensely jealous.

Snotlout would have verbal arguments most of the time with others for your attention.

He clings to you and admires you, hoping you'll do the same for him.

He'd only physically fight someone if he felt it was needed.

Like maybe he can secretly take them out away from your view....

Other times if he wants to protect you he'll ask Hookfang for help.

Snotlout is another yandere who loves physical affection.

Praise gives him goosebumps but physical affection?

Heaven.

Snotlout is persistent even if you don't accept his feelings.

He's convinced you two are for each other!

Why else were you brought to his world?

If you found a way to go home, Snotlout plans behind your back.

You want to leave... he can't let that happen.

Snotlout knows manipulating you into a trap is wrong.

But it's that or lose you for good.

He'll just tell Hiccup he sent you home...

Meanwhile, he actually used Hookfang to take you to a remote island where only he knows where to find you.

Now it'll just be you and him...

You can never leave him, he'll make this world your home now.

#yandere how to train your dragon #yandere httyd #yandere dagur #yandere dagur the deranged #yandere snotlout

[mulberryasher]

[Fanservant] Cuauhtémoc

I hope you guys like my first servant oc and also if you do comment below. Also, like and share this post with other media (Reddit, Twitter, instagram, Pixiv and etc.) for my support and can continue to post more like this post. You can also spread and be creative with this servant oc. Thank you. :)

Cuauhtémoc

Japanese Name: (クアウテモック)

Class: Saber

AKA: Cuauhtemotzín, Guatémuz, Last Aztec Emperor, Ruler of Tlatelolco, cuauhtlatoani, Hero of Unyielding Jade, Guatémuz the Valor, Cuauhtémoc the water sun

PROFILE

Default:

Cuauhtémoc, who fought the Spanish to the best of her ability, is considered a hero who defended her homeland from these conquerors, a symbol of valor. As she continued to protect her homeland, time came slowly like a fading sun; she wanted to save her people and homeland, but the Spanish executed her at the end of her life.

In historical records, Cuauhtémoc is a male, but she disguises herself as a male.

Bond 1:

Height/Weight: 154cm, 42kg

Origin: Historical Fact,

Region: Aztec civilization, Mexico

Alignment: Lawful-Good

Gender: Female

After pretending to be a man, she doesn't know how to react to affection.

Bond 2:

An Aztec Emperor who wants to bring peace and see her people's smiling faces when she becomes the emperor after the latest Aztec emperor in Tenochtitlan. It is known more as Mexico-Tenochtitlan during her time. She is a lovely and calm person who sincerely wants to change Mexico-Tenochtitlan for her people before Hernán Cortés, the conquistador who would later destroy the Aztec empire. She has an elegant, beautiful lady aura, and even when she talks to others, she is cheerful and exciting even though she has knowledge of the modern from the throne of heroes.

Bond 3:

After the death of the latest Emperor, Cuauhtémoc decided to protect her people and land. She opposed Montezuma's plan to allow them into Tenochtitlan and fought fiercely against them when she replaced Montezuma. Her unfailing distrust and hatred of the Spanish helped her rise to the position of Tlatoani upon the death of Cuitlahuac. There were no records of her fighting the war, but her extraordinary leadership and selfless defense of her homeland were. In her childhood, she witnessed the bloody battles of Aztec warfare since the Aztecs waged war to reap tribute and take captives for religious sacrifices. They were also given to Aztec society so victorious Aztec warriors could receive high honors. She wants to bring peace without violence and create a homeland of smiles.

Since Cuauhtemoc was not recorded in history until her reign as emperor, her date of birth is unknown. As the oldest legitimate daughter of Emperor Ahuitzotl, she probably attended the last New Fire ceremony to mark the start of a new 52-year cycle. In 1515, she was named ruler of Tlatelolco, with the title cuauhtlatoani, meaning "eagle ruler," after concealing herself as a male to enter the boy school and military service. She works hard to reach her position of rulership since Cuauhtemoc pretends to be a male of high birth and a warrior who has captured enemies for sacrifice because she prefers death to be their hands. She even earns a name known as Guatemuz from the Spanish conquistadors.

Bond 4:

Mana Burst (Water): EX She was blessed by the goddess of water and given the divine water that rivaled the fifth Sun of his power—the discharge of magical energy in liquid form. Having her Noble Phantasm concealed, her magic energy nature is established as water by the divine aura that emanates from it. Divine water increases its rank.

The embodiment of Mexico-Tenochtitlan: EX She is an emperor who wants to protect her homeland and wants to change Mexico-Tenochtitlan to bring peace. Her leadership path and unyielding will are refusing to surrender and wishing to save Mexico-Tenochtitlan.

Blessing of the Fifth Sun: B Even though tortured and captured, she refused to surrender, and some sources said, "Our Sun has gone from our vision and will remain in Mictian, the place where the spirits repose." She believes that Huitzilopochtli will guide Mexico-Tenochtitlan and the people who will survive, and one day, someone will bring her homeland peace to the people's future.

Bond 5:

『Inner World Chālchihuitl Blade』

Rank: A++

NP Type: Anti-Fortress

Sword of Jade

A weapon not forged by man nor divine was forged within the Inner Sea of the Planet. A Noble Phantasm that can rival Holy Sword Excalibur. A sword that is forged by the world from stores of many unknown weaponry that have yet to be discovered from the current time.

『The Fifth Sun Storm 』

Rank: A+

Type: Anti-Unit / Anti-Army Noble Phantasm

Range: 0-10

Maximum Targets: 1-20 people

This Noble Phantasm unleashes five slashes at once. This ability's fearsome power combines the five Suns of the Aztec gods into one Sun to become a rainstorm of blood that can rival Huitzilopochtli, who was honored above all in Tenochtitlan as the patron god of the Aztecs. While it is an Anti-Unit technique, it is so powerful that the surrounding area gets caught in the blast. (Naturally, its strength lessens when used as an Anti-Army technique.)

“Soy la uno como el sol, blessed by the given divine of the inner sea jade…May this sun become water, may the water become the blood of my people's death, SANGRE DEL QUINTO SOL CHALCHIUHTLICUE!”

Identity:

Known to the Spanish conquistadors as Guatemuz, he was the last Mexica tlahtoani of Mexico-Tenochtitlan. He assumed power in 1520, one year before Hernán Cortés and his troops captured Tenochtitlan. Cuauhtémoc, son of Ahuízotl and cousin of Moctezuma Xocoyotzin and Tecuichpo, when she reached nubility. He took power in Tenochtitlan after the conquistadors had already left, but famine, smallpox, and a lack of potable water had devastated the city. Cuauhtémoc arrived at this moment after having been tlakatekohtli (chief of arms) of the resistance to the conquistadors since the death of Moctezuma before the call by the Spanish "Sad Night," he has been identified as a military leader of the Mexicas.

Driven by his foresight and belief in the Mexicas' resilience, Cuauhtémoc orchestrated the reorganization of the Mexica army, the reconstruction of the city, and its fortification in preparation for the inevitable conflict with the Spaniards. He tactfully dispatched ambassadors to neighboring towns, seeking alliances and reducing their contributions, displaying his astute leadership.

After eighty days of warfare against the Spanish, Cuauhtémoc called for reinforcements from the countryside to help defend Tenochtitlán. The surviving Tenochcas sought refuge in Tlatelolco, where even women participated in the battle. Only Tlatelolcas remained loyal, and even women took part in the battle. As he and his family fled Tenochtitlán by crossing Lake Texcoco, Cuauhtémoc was captured on August 13, 1521.

Tragically, when confronted by the conqueror, Cuauhtémoc, pointing to the dagger on his belt, requested to be slain with it. Unable to defend his city and vassals, he chose to meet his end at the hands of the invader. This act, viewed as a sacrifice to the gods, was a poignant testament to the depth of his loyalty and the anguish of his defeat. According to duplicate Spanish accounts, Cortés declined the offer and treated his adversary with magnanimity. The brave warrior defended the capital, he claimed. Even an enemy in a Spaniard's eyes is worthy of respect. The end of his life can't help but feel a deep sympathy and sorrow for Cuauhtémoc's tragic fate.

Cuauhtémoc's death was not of interest to Cortés at that time. As a subsidiary of Emperor Carlos V and Cortés, he preferred to use his dignity before the Mexicas as Tlatoani. As part of the city's cleaning and restoration work, which occurred in the months following the conquest, Cuauh émoc took advantage of his initiative and power to secure the Mexica's cooperation. However, due to what the Spanish perceived as 'greedy Spanish stewardship and distrust of the Spaniards,' the last Mexica tlatoani was tortured and killed by Cortés.

Relationship:

Artotria Pendragon: “Altria…Wait, King of Knights. It is an honor to meet an ideal king. Ufufu, this is exciting. I hope she and I can have lunch together and get along as friends.

EMIYA (Archer), MORARSEU (Caster)(OC): "The red archer and the black caster both end up with the same fate but for different reasons. I could be their big sister and help them out! Also, I CAN HELP COOKING DINNER!"

Huitzilopochtli (Saber) (OC): "HUITZILOPOCHTI! I am your biggest fan, and I pray you can guide my people after the Spanish conquistadores. Sorry, this is out of character. It is just a big honor to meet our Sun of Mexico-Tenochtitlan. I am a bit surprised that you are different from what I hear.?? So you were summoned with a human male vessel. Still, it is a great honor to meet you. I mess up again!"

Tezcatlipoca: "...The black Sun, I don't like him. He is very selfish, and I hope he doesn't start a war because just because if he got into a fight with his other siblings. It will be another destructive battle."

Kukulkan: "The evil serpent, be careful, Master! Wait, what? She is not evil but a good serpent? Is she the sixth Sun, then? Sun of a lostbelt? Then, sorry for my attitude. If she is a lostbelt version, she differs from the Pan-human history. Maybe that's why my Noble Phantasm is acting up because of the merge with another God…. It's nothing, Master."

Quetzalcoatl: "ehh, Quetalcoatl? The Feathered Serpent. I thought you were a male god, but it seems you were summoned with the female vessel."

Tenochtitlan: "An embodiment of the city of Tenochtitlan before known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan. Our people indeed love our homelands. Am glad I meet you, Meztliapan. Then, let's be friends; I hope we can get along very well, and I can also help you introduce other servants!"

Gilgamesh (Archer): "Gilgamesh? Is he known as the King of Heroes? Why does he look at my Macuahuitl? He seems very mad and confused."

Yamato Takeru: "Takeru-san is a good person. We have some common interests, like blessing by divine water and sharing our favorite foods. I LOVE RICE BALL AND RAMAN! Takeru-san shares lovely, delicious food with me."

Castoria: "It's Altria-kun. She is a fun and energetic person. She is teaching me what magecraft is. She is fun to spend time with, and when it comes to food, I share my favorite food."

Uesugi Kenshin: "Kenshin is playful when we sparring. We play along well, but she seems to have lost something of herself. Even though I have the god-like power of my blade that rivals Huitzilopochtli's power, I want to help her in any way I can, not just to sympathize with her. But as a friend."

Something you Like: "My homeland, family and the people of Mexico-Tenochtitlan. I love food! My favorite is tamales of salsa verde con queso and Enchiladas Rojas with lettuce and cheese. It's yummy when I think about it. Sorry for my attitude, Master."

Something you Hate: "What do I hate? I hate Spanish, especially Hernán Cortés. My people and the latest Emperor were just too nice. The Spaniards' greed ruined my people and homeland."

About the Holy Grail: "The Holy Grail that can grant wishes, it is good but is not something I don't want. I accept my past and my actions. I want to see someone who one day brings peace to the people of my homeland."

#fgo #fate grand order #fgo oc #trashy oc #fgo fanservant #fate fanservant #fate #fanart #oc #oc art #ocs #fanservant #fate series #servant oc #Cuauhtémoc #Aztec #Aztecs #mexico #original character #my art

[sassysadisticsarcasms]

DP Head canon/Prompt #1

In the show, ghosts are portrayed as beings made out of a substance colloquially known as ‘ectoplasm’. With the rumble-tumble half-assed science we’re given in the actually show, this is left relatively unexplored. We know, colloquially, that that ghosts have certain ‘cores’ that are essentially center of their being and have some determination factor in the abilities presented per ghost.

Not a bad foundation, so of course I had to add something to it.

What if, in typical circumstances, ghosts can take several years to fully form. Take Vlad for instance, it is referenced multiple times in the show that he took a decade to finally roll over into the halfa life. For a moment consider enzymes. Enzymes, as catalysts, work by lowering the activation energy needed for a reaction in certain circumstances. 

Living people would act as the substrate (what the enzyme catalyzes for the non-science peeps), and ectoplasm would act as the enzyme. The less ectoplasm, the less likely, weaker, and slower a ghost is to form. The more ectoplasm, the more likely, stronger, and faster a ghost is to form. 

Of course, this is ignoring the cause of death and emotions during the occurrence of said death, but hey, I’ll save that for a different head canon. 

Basically, the thought I had was that when death occurs and all the right circumstances have been met, that is when a ghost core forms. The core will default into a state of intangibility and invisibility, and follow the unseen ley lines of liminal space back to the Ghost Zone. Form there, the core would spend years just kind of vibing, absorbing the ambient ectoplasm of the zone until it reaches some predetermined threshold.

(Halfa’s, since there liminal, rely on the ambient ectoplasm of liminal space during their formation)

Thus Danny’s formation would be kind of confusing for everyone. I have this idea in mind that most ghosts would view the zone as some sort of mother goddess or unfathomable being deserving of the utmost respect. 

Like it’s standard practice to appreciate the realm for basically treating ghost cores like the first born child of new parents who have gone to all the parenting classes and read all the ‘how to not kill your child in the first ten years’ books. Heck, even Pariah had lines he didn’t cross when it came to disrespecting the zone.

Compared to Danny who basically had so much ectoplasm blasted at him in such a short period of time he instantly became a ghost. 

(Think less of the panicked, loving care of a new parent, and more so one of those ‘I just thought I was fat till this baby slipped out of me.)

Consider Phantom to just be a really, really premature baby ghost. 

I think this would be a really fun way to explain why Danny has such trouble with his ghost powers at first. Like how a lot of premature babies have trouble with lung development, his core had a harder time stabilizing and meeting the threshold for how much ectoplasm he needed. 

I think this could also explain why Danny has a lack of knowledge in most things ghost related. While all the other ghosts where safe in the zone being spoon fed knowledge by an eldritch goddess, Danny just kind of existed and was then expected to adapt to violence being his only interaction with other ghosts. 

I just feel like this would set up such great interactions with other DP characters. 

Like maybe one day Ember floats up to Phantom and is like, “Hey babypop! You coming to the Summer Solstice Festival in the zone tomorrow? I’m playing.”

And Danny just looks up from where he’d just punted Skulker into the ground with distrustful eyes and stiff posture. He’s just kind of confused by the random invitation and more than a little wary. If this festival is anything like Ember’s last festival, well... he wasn’t sure he wanted to attend. Naturally, Danny’s curiosity would take over and he’d question Ember with a stupid one liner.

Ember, of course, would be like ‘oh haha, what’s the SSF you’re so funny’ and then she’d realize Danny wasn’t kidding. Obviously, she would be shocked because Ember’s was fairly sure ghosts new about the festival whether they wanted to or not.

“Jeez, Babypop, you really are a baby.”

“Am not! I’m nearly fifteen!”

“Not what I meant, dipstick. When did you become a ghost?”

“Almost a year now, why?”

“She means when did your core form, welp.”

“A year ago. What do you want?”

It is then that both Skulker and Ember realize they’ve been fighting a literal fetus. 

#ghost zone #Danny Phantom #dp prompt #dp headcanons #baby phantom #ghost cores #danny fenton #ember #skulker #danny is fetus by ghost standards #sentient ghost zone

[peetapiepita]

Katniss Everdeen and her complex links to cats

Never thought I’d write an entire essay on Katniss and cats, but here we are.

I got this idea from the fact that the male lead of my other favorite series His Dark Materials, Will Parry, has a cat Daemon. (It basically means his soul takes on the form of a cat and I think it might be the same case with Katniss.) He was compared to and linked to cats throughout the story. The same goes for Katniss and she has such a cat-like personality when you think about it.

I also got inspired by a stray cat who suddenly scratched me lightly when I was playing with it. It was getting along with me so well, but scratched me with absolutely no warning and got back to being friendly and purring in an instant. That reminded me of Katniss.

We all know how Katniss hates cats and cat-like creatures, specifically Buttercup and the lynx who was following her around the woods. They both had complex relationships with her as well. Buttercup had a reason to distrust her, yet they were the only ones who could really feel the loss of Prim the same way, so Katniss found comfort in Buttercup at the end of Mockingjay. The lynx was trusting Katniss for no reason and she was conflicted about it because she’s protective in nature and she hated she had to hurt it, but she did it for survival anyway.

This is true of Katniss’ relationship with herself in a way. She tries not to argue for herself ever and lists all her imperfections constantly.

Of course, her relationships with cat-like creatures is not the only thing linking her to cats. She has a very cat-like personality, especially when she interacts with Peeta.

People familiar with cats would tell you that with most cats, even when they act like they don’t give a shit about you and even avoid you, they actually take notice of the humans around them and when you’re kind to them, they’re drawn to you by default. They may try to act indifferent, but it shows.

It’s exactly how Katniss is in her relationship with Peeta. She tries so hard to convince herself that she isn’t drawn to him and doesn’t need him. But when she’s at her most vulnerable, she trusts him and wants him around.

For instance, when she hurts her ankle in Catching Fire, she trusts Peeta to understand what happened and leans on him for support. He in turn delivers a brilliant performance for the peacekeeper and understands that Katniss was hurt while the others are oblivious, even her family. When she’s under the influence of sleep syrup and at her most vulnerable, she’s finally willing to admit she wants Peeta to stay and hold her, even when moments earlier, she was like, I choose the rebellion and Gale. And when they’re on the train to the Quarter Quell, she finally lets herself get loose and initiates an intimate hug. She doesn’t want to let go and is annoyed when they’re interrupted. She’s practically purring when touched by Peeta because she feels safe with him. That’s so cat-like.

These are so cat behaviour to me. It also makes sense that I see a lot writers giving Katniss lines like “I’m not good with words, I work better with actions.” Yes, she’s like that and that’s very cat-like. And with cat-like people, when they get attached to someone, they don’t let go. This is also part of why Will reminded me of Katniss. He literally goes through a bunch of worlds in search of Lyra after losing her. Katniss is like that with Peeta. When she loses him, she’s inconsolable. She’d do anything to get him back.

Last but not the least, Katniss’ name is also very similar to “cat”. I’ve seen quite a few people’s head canons with other character nicknaming her “Kat”. Once you make the connection, you can’t unsee it.

#Will and Katniss have A LOT more in common actually #Peeta and Lyra also have a lot in common #that's probably why these two ships both have me in a chokehold #I'll post about the other things in the future #hunger games #the hunger games #thg #everlark #peeta mallark #katniss everdeen #his dark materials #hdm #will parry #thg meta

[slxsherwriter]

Not so Quiet Town

Fandom: Old 37/Bill Moseley characters

Pairing: Darryl x female reader

Word Count: 2,614

Warnings: Mentions of murder

A/N: I rewrote this twice and am still unsure of the ending. Basically, I wanted to play on the duality of Darryl's character. I think there was a genuine attempt at a date with the mother before realizing what exactly it was he thought he was seeing. So, why not? Is soft his default? No, I don't believe so, but I think he is capable and even more so given the circumstances I threw in here. Hopefully, you enjoy!

Watching the elderly woman struggle to get the groceries into the car, you noticed that no one else was giving two shits, stepping up to help. Well, that just wouldn't do. You tossed the two bags that you were carrying into your truck before jogging over to where her car was. It was clear that she had some difficulty moving, given her age probably some arthritis at the minimum.

"Can I help you get those into the car, ma'am?" She startled a bit, which made you happy that you had kept a respectful distance between you still. There were plenty of people that would take offence to the offer of help, especially around here, a small town were most were used to providing for themselves. If she said no, you would back off.

"That is very kind of you dear. If You don't mind." You offered her a smile, still waiting to step forward, not wanting to crowd her.

"Not at all." When she stepped back, that was your cue to move forward. Carefully, you began to load the car. There was more than you expected but you knew better than to question. You had no idea of her situation. Nor did you have any right to inquire. Just as you got the last bag into the car, an angry sounding voice called out.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" It was your turn to be startled, almost stumbling back from the car before you caught your balance. The look on the face of the man approaching the car matched the anger in his voice. Immediately, your hands shot up in an innocent gesture. Admittedly, that was more the reaction that you had been expecting.

"I was just…" Before you could finish your explanation, you were cut off by the woman that you had just helped.

"Calm down, Darryl. This nice young lady was just helping me get the groceries in the car while you finished up. She's been nothing but polite and helpful." As she spoke and reassured the man that everything was okay, some tension leaked from his frame. He still looked distrusting, but he wasn't about to physically approach anymore. A fact that you were thankful for. A fight in the grocery store parking lot was the last thing that was needed. No good deed went unpunished.

"I didn't mean any harm. I saw that she was having a hard time getting the bags in the car and thought I would offer my help. Didn't do anything until she gave me the okay."

"Go on and get in the car, Mom." Ah, okay that explained the man's protective nature. You stepped back further, offering a soft smile.

"Thank you very much, dear."

"You're welcome." She shifted around the car slowly to be able to get in. It left the two of you in a slightly awkward silence. "I'll just get going…"

"Thank you," he sighed out. It caught you off guard. Being thanked was not what you expected. Giving a small shake of your head, you were quick to assure him.

"It was really no big deal. No one else was stepping up to help, and it looked like your eggs were about to hit the floor."

"You're new around here, aren't you." That wasn't the first time that you had heard that this week alone.

"It's that obvious, is it?" You held out your hand for the man, giving your name since you already had the advantage of knowing his.

" Well, thank you again. I'm sure we will see you around."

***********

While the town itself was decently large, most of it was more rural, so the population wasn't all that big. That resulted in you running into both Darryl and Martha a few times over the next few weeks as you settled in. Each time, a friendly conversation was struck. Darryl became increasingly more relaxed at each interaction, even going so far as giving you a friendly and welcoming smile the last few interactions. 

There were some whispers around town, but you hardly paid attention to them. If every person was judged by their past, well, everyone would be screwed. What mattered was how he acted now, mainly how he acted with you. 

The brash and aggressive personality was certainly there, though not as upfront as it had been in that first meeting. He loosened up further as you spent time helping out his mother, who had taken a shine to you. Mainly through some volunteer work that you were doing at the church. Martha had recognized you and instantly seemed to latch onto you. Not that you minded. She was kind. A woman of faith where you had lost yours. She didn't judge and simply was happy for some companionship and help outside of her family. 

Of course, you weren't quite aware of the way that she watched you interact with her son or the way that a bit of happiness sparked in her when she was present for those meetings. 

It had gotten to the point that Darryl trusted you enough to pick her up from the salvage yard, where they also lived. It had become almost routine. You would pick Martha up on Sunday mornings for her church service and then a little afternoon lunch and outing. Sunday mornings turned into another three outings throughout the weekend. Always scheduled and never random but that worked for you. 

Darryl had taken to greeting you at the entrance to the yard, the two of you chatting about this, and that, nothing specifically as Martha made her way down. You enjoyed the time with the older woman, but you had to admit that you began to really look forward to the chats between the two of you. It really came as no surprise when he finally asked you out for a coffee.

Coffee turned into dinners, dinners into late night drives with stargazing. Random talks turned a little more serious. Neither of you talked about the past, focused only on the future. There was a soft side to the man that you were privileged to see. A side that you found yourself liking more and more. It was easy, and he seemed to appreciate that you didn't expect anything of him besides some respect and time to enjoy one another.

**********************************

Two months had passed, and things couldn't have been looking better for you. There was an easy routine that allowed for the stability that you had been seeking. Volunteer work, spending time helping Martha, dates with Darryl, and working in the small home that you had purchased kept you plenty busy. In a good way.

It was comfortable enough that you didn't recognize the signs of being followed. For the past week, something had seemed off, but it was nothing that pulled too hard at the front of your mind. You simply brushed the feeling off as a result of the recurring nightmare that had played you for the week, which had led to a distinct lack of sleep. Anything else seemed silly and never entered your conscious thoughts. Darryl had noticed something, making a comment on it during your date two nights ago. You had promised him it was simply from you not sleeping well, not wanting to go into detail on what the nightmare was about.

Maybe you should have. Maybe offloading would have helped ease some of the tension and help stop the nightmare. That would have let you sleep better, which in turn may have let you spot the car that had been following you to the salvage yard. Just as you pulled up to the entrance, lights flashed behind you.

"You've got to be kidding me." A cop really decided to pull you over? You hadn't been speeding, and you knew for certain that nothing was wrong with the truck. Scrubbing a hand down your face, you looked behind you and frowned. It was an unmarked car. Now that was unusual, and you could feel the hairs on the back of your neck standing. Something was wrong. That was an instinct you had learned to trust a long time ago. Still, you remained in your car and as relaxed as possible. There were no cameras at the front of the yard. Which meant that Darryl or Jon Roy would have no idea what was going on.

With the window already down, you were getting ready to ask what was wrong, but you were never given the chance. A large hand reached through the window, grabbing the back of your neck and slamming your head forward. Pain blossomed outward from your nose, and your ears were ringing almost immediately. The action stunned you long enough for the man to pull you from the car, one arm wrapped around your torso before cold metal was pressed to your temple. Your head was clearing enough for you to realize that. You could feel the blood leaking down from your busted nose. That was going to be a bitch come tomorrow.

"This is how this is going to go. You are going to get this gate open, and then we are going to find the two degenerates that run this place. The ones that killed my daughter." Killed his daughter? What the hell was this man going on about? You didn't have any choice besides to play along. You just hoped that Darryl or Jon Roy would be around, see what was happening and get help. "Anything I don't like, I put a bullet in your brain. Do you understand?" 

'I understand." Your mind was racing to figure out how you could get out of the situation. If he hadn't gotten the jump on you, you may have been in a better position. Reaching into your pocket carefully, you produced the key that Martha had given you. You shuffled forward, the man still pressed against your back. As long ashedidn't check your hip…

Getting in was easy. But there still hadn't been an opportunity that presented itself for you to try and get away or gain an upper hand.

"Come on out you sick fucks! I know you are here. You wanna take away something of mine, then I'm gonna take away something of yours." The gun was pressed harder against your head Enough so, you were forced to tilt to accommodate the pressure with gritted teeth. As your eyes jumped around, you didn't spot either of the boys.

"Woah, woah, woah. What's going on here?" That was Darryl. After a second, his form appeared from around a nearly junked car. His hands were in the air, though that anger that you didn't often see anymore, was so clearly present.

"Don't play dumb, asshole. You may have others fooled, but I'm not. Once a twisted fucker, always one. That record of yours was easy to pull up. And all the missing people along this stretch of road? I don't know how anyone didn't put it together sooner. You and that deformed brother of yours are behind it all."

"Listen, I don't know what you think you know, but you got it all wrong. I haven't been in trouble since I got out…"

"I tracked her phone here! I know she was here. The last place that she ever came. " Darryl was doing a good job of distracting the man. It was now a question where Jon Roy was. Something that the man was acutely aware of, unfortunately. "Where is your brother?" 

"I'm not his keeper. How the hell should I know where he is?" You subtly tried to shift your lower half away from the man. Creating a little space would give you the chance to throw a blow or slip from his grasp. Either would work right now.

"Bullshit. He doesn't show himself in the next fifteen seconds, I'm shooting her now. Then I'll shoot you." With the underlying hint of something in his voice, that unhinged nature, you actually believed that he would do that. So, there was no time to waste. 

"You know, if you were coming here, guns blazing, I would have thought that you would have had a slightly better plan than this. Really it's a shit attempt at trying to get what you want. Two on one, the odds weren't ever in your favor." The man behind you let out a cry. There was little time to react before your balance was thrown forward, though his grip didn't exactly leave you. Cursing, you tried to twist out of the hold as the man swung around. The loud crack of gunfire echoed out. Ithad been aimed at Jon Roy, who wasn't hit and tried taking another whack at the man. The momentum was something that you tried to take advantage of, toring to continue the motion through. Managing, you broke free, but stumbled in the process.The gun was aimed at you this time. it was only that continued motion of the stumble that the shot missed your chest and caught your arm.

"Fuck!" It sent you to the ground. The sound of rushing footsteps came, likely signalling that Darryl had moved forward. He still had the gun though, which put the brothers at a disadvantage. Rolling to your back, your good hand patted your side in a near frantic motion. Don't panic. It was the only thing running through your head. Finding the handle of your own gun, the action was all but muscle memory, practiced ease before the trigger was pulled.

Both Jon Roy and Darryl jumped back as the man's body hit the ground.

"Son of a bitch!" With a heaving breath, your head hit the ground. Between the throbbing, pulsing pain the gunshot wound in your arm and the slightly less sharp pain in your face, You couldn't be bothered by the reactions. 

"Is he dead?" You would need to get the bullet out of your shoulder. Hopefully, the two would be able to help you with that.

"Don't think there is a doubt about that." There was a moment of silence. Then Darryl was standing over you. There was that hard look still on his face. He went to open his mouth but you cut him off.

"Good. Now, can you help me up and help me get this damn bullet out of my shoulder?" This could turn into a proper nightmare. If what the man said was true though, maybe there was another path to travel. After another second, an almost disbelieving laugh came from him.

"You serious?"

"Darryl, I have a bullet in my damn arm. Yes, I'm serious. I can dig it out but I will need some help." He knelt down, an arm going underneath your shoulders to help you getup into a seated position.

"You just shut someone dead and you're more concerned with that?" Distrusting. That was what his tone was. Something you hadn't heard in the past two months. 

"It's not the first person that I've shot and killed. Frankly, the bullet is my first priority. The second will be figuring that shit out so nothing comes back on you and your family." His arm tightened around your shoulder but it wasn't from anger or distrust. That was far more the comforting touch that you had come to expect.

"Let's get you up on your feet. Jon Roy's got him." There was confirmation. Clutching your arm, you got to your feet with his help. "So, not the first person you've killed?" Was that a hint of pride in his voice? Seemed that quiet wasn't quite what you were going to have in this small town. At least not anymore.

***********************

Tag list: @run-rabbitt-run || @jackalopes-eat-bacon

#horror writing #slasher writing #bill moseley #slasher x reader #old 37 #bill moseley characters #darryl x reader #darryl old 37

[cyanide-latte]

Just curious, what would your ocs think of Finn? 🤔

Aaahhh, I had fun pondering this one!

I think the easiest and quickest answer for any of them would be that Wei Renqiao is probably curious about Finn. He's both clashed with the Octotrio before and also gotten along with them so he tends to be neutral on them as a whole, and I think a lot of that neutrality would extend to Finn at first. If they had more chances to interact one-on-one, WRQ would probably take an interest in learning more about Finn's hobbies or any particular needs he has, if he's willing to share. He probably wouldn't pry, just attempt to let Finn know at some point that if he is ever interested in meeting in the middle and talking, the offer is open. (Plus he would relate on the matter of one's appearance tending to unsettle others. Even if WRQ wasn't 6'5" and built like a tank, amber eyes with black scelrae and pronounced fang-like canine teeth tend to make people shrink away. Sucks when your natural appearance wins you fear, so he'd be pretty sympathetic if he ever learned that Finn experiences a similar struggle.)

Copper's an interesting one. The kid's pretty skittish and guarded initially, especially around the Octotrio when he learns they're curious and trying to figure out more about him. Upon finding out the whole "descended from a legendary pirate" thing, it becomes a little more clear where the innate interest stems from, and Copper's intelligent enough to realize that if he's going to fulfill a destiny as a pirate himself, he'd be wise to foster relationships with merfolk. I think he'd probably be more willing to interact with Finn at first, since he doesn't seem overbearing the way the others can be, though if Finn's tendency to unnerve people holds true, this will probably get weird. Copper has, after years of being an abused hostage most of his life, developed the worst possible response to fear. The more and more terrified he gets, the blanker his expression goes and he has an overpowering impulse to see if he can successfully taunt whatever is frightening him and make the situation infinitely worse. He doesn't always give into that impulse but it's always there, and it would probably lead to a misunderstanding until/unless Finn has enough interactions with Copper that he just gets used to Finn being that way by default.

Gotta admit I'm equally curious to pick your brain in the future about what Finn might make of Chrysanthos, but I can tell you Chrys would find Finn amusing and intriguing. Beneath that, he tends to have more of a soft spot for Octavinelle students than he likes to admit since it was his dorm, and that leads to an inclination to want to seek them out. This would apply to Finn as well, particularly because Chrys has a natural gift for being able to read people and pinpoint the things that are weighing them down. And if he gets a read on any of Finn's particular trauma and difficulties, he would absolutely say something to him about it in an attempt to offer some kind of help or at least an option for Finn to unload on him not that that's likely to win him anything other than distrust or annoyance, and Chrys is well aware of that.

#this was fun! I'll have to do some more thinking on it too! #also i need you to know Finn continues to intrigue me he's a quality skrunkle #TWST OCs #mutual's OCs #Finn Clearcove #my OCs #Wei Renqiao #Copper Benoit #Chrysanthos Shroud #oc interaction #answered asks #thehollowwriter #Cyanide speaks

[peantbutter-honeycombs]

The Eradith Siblings

Born in the elven city of Syngorn to the Herald of the New Age, Kesstryn Eradith, the Eradith children were putatively raised amongst the cream of elven society. As a young child Talric was always trying to make a good impression on his mother, but they hardly acknowledged his interests and/or achievements due to a general disinterest in him. Regardless, he persisted hoping to gain his mother’s attention.

When he was five, his mother, reoriented his genes, fundamentally refitting his genetics to further her own “studies.” Thusly, his agreeable nature was stripped and replaced with an insecure, opportunistic, and distrustful disposition. Alas, on his sister, Fia’s, second birthday, their mother reformed her body, irrevocably marring Fia’s drafted path in life. In one fell breach of kinship, Fia’s childhood was poached, replaced with endless days of ridicule and exclusion.

In the days following her transfiguration, her brother, Talric implemented a plot that delivered them from the abuses of their mother. On account of this, the two spent the ensuing years, growing up in isolation. After a year or so foraging, they were taken under the wings of half-elven twins, Vax’ildan and Vex’halia Vessar.

Talric Eradith

Talric is a pragmatic and efficacious interbred elven child. He approaches almost all matters with a rigid survivalist attitude that distinctly belies his age. A rather guarded individual, he presents a tendency towards extremely inconsistent social behavior and has a hard time trusting others. Talric has admitted that as much as he craves a meaningful relationship with other humanoids they feel they cannot rely on others to meet their physical or emotional needs. They have trouble believing that any individual, primarily adults, will love and support them as they are. Thus, he’s adopted the isolating defensive mechanism that is social withdrawal. Pushing people away has become his default. Intriguingly, the little boy exhibits an unparalleled self-possessed peace of mind when performing duties in open air environments, especially those involving the exercise of tree climbing.

Considering the mannerisms of other children, Talric is comparatively cautious and calculating, reserving his warmer, gentler moments for his beloved younger sister, Fía. Given that his mother, someone he trusted to unequivocally love and accept him, didn't, his apprehension in social settings is understandable. Vulnerability, more often than not, has rewarded him with nothing but pain. Still, it is unclear to what extent his asocial personality and behavior are genuine. Much of his detached behavior is viewed as a façade for his desperate yet haunting desire for affection; at least from those in his party. He has shown he can be fairly loving and understanding. However, these moments are far and few between and the few performed for anyone other than his sister are even less common.

Deviating from his reclusive bearing, Talric is quite clever and astute; or a “scheming little shit” as numerous individuals throughout the campaign have called him. Aided by an amazingly calculative mind, Talric has shown himself on multiple occasions to be capable of developing and managing intricate traps to injure and incapacitate adversaries. This is perhaps best illustrated in "Best Laid Plans..."(1x50) as he was able to use the variables from the information gathered by his investigation to predict paths that would lead to certain outcomes. This insight allowed him to devise a whole array of booby traps that effectively removed two-fifths of the members of the Herd of Storms from combat. Though he predominantly crafts his traps to be nonlethal, this rather merciful control can be overturned.

Fiannim Eradith

Fiannim is a sentimental, fairly quiet, rapt individual, who like many others her age is also curious minded and venturesome. Nevertheless, having grown up in nearly complete isolation, she is exceptionally wary in unfamiliar settings. Curiously, even with everything she’s highly cognizant of other individuals’ emotional states, good and bad: tied with her innate benevolence, she has an intense desire to help those in need (even to her detriment). Still, as a relatively passive individual she has a tendency to depend on others, namely her older brother, to take the lead in overwhelming social settings. On the whole Fia is a generally sweet, innocent, and diffident little girl. Moreover, according to her older brother, she’s also the most compassionate and merciful person you’ll ever meet.

She is played as a mainly silent character, choosing to use physical language such as pointing and nodding instead of traditional speech. Considering the nature of her childhood, her mousy, subdued behaviors are quite understandable, especially and specifically in unfamiliar social settings. She is shown to be extremely anxious in social situations, which often lead her to “shut down.” While it has been confirmed she can verbally communicate, she is somatically unable to speak around certain people or in certain settings. Her vocalizations are instead expressed in the form of noises reminiscent of bird calls. For all that, there are a select few who she feels comfortable verbally communicating with; namely her brother, the twins, Scanlan and Keyleth.

Despite her insecurities, Fiannim attempts to make sure that others have the things they need to feel safe, secure, and loved regardless of their alignment. Quite the opposite of her brother, she is well known for her warm and disarming presence. On several occasions throughout the campaign she’s seen putting the emotional contentment of others well before her own. Given the fact that she spent the better part of her childhood with few opportunities to interact with others, her inclination to approach both allies and adversaries alike, in a genuinely respectful manner is quite remarkable. Her non-discriminatory mindset and capacity for empathy has graciously equipped her with a demeanor that prompts friendship and trust from most of the individuals she meets, noticeably in the cases of Lady Allura and J’mon Sa Ord.

Art by @oliviajoytaylor

#dungeons and dragons #d&d #dnd oc #dnd art #dnd siblings #rouge ranger multiclass #druid cleric ranger multiclass #baby rogue #baby druid #dnd hybrids #d&d oc #character sheet #oc reference sheet #dnd 5e #critical role #critical role c1 #critical role campaign 1 #vox machina #the legend of vox machina #critical role oc #vaxleth #vaxleth babies #found family #adopted kids

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

hi hello im back after rereading glaze defects for like the twentieth time at like one am and just!!!! just. this line really struck me: “Stick was a huge dick. He did what was expected for someone who found a kid with no family and superpowers, and he took advantage.”

something abt matt thinking this is expected. not just that if someone knew abt his powers they would exploit him and use him but that it’s something to be expected. from anyone. not that stick was uniquely abusive and terrible but that anyone would do it. i!!!!!! hhhhhhhrn i continue to be So Insane abt this character study apologies for coming here to scream abt it so often. ANYWAY anyway merry christmas if you celebrate that and I hope the end of the year is kind <333

So, you actually pinpointed one of the things that I think is a core trait of Matt Murdock, and one of the biggest distinctions between him and Foggy.

Whenever I'm writing characters in the same story, I always pick a few like, baseline perspectives that are different and filter their world through that. I'm not even gonna take credit for this, because I'm so convinced that it's fundamental to the characters of Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson that it's all already there.

I think the difference is this:

For Foggy, people are good until proven otherwise, and for Matt, the opposite is true.

And I want to be clear—this isn’t about naïveté, or about trust issues. This is the most base, default world approach as you can get.

It’s like this: 

Foggy's a good person who grows up in a family of good people. They don’t have a lot, but they have each other. The Nelson clan is a big, and they’re people who take care of other people. So, Foggy probably grows up watching his parents give people breaks when they can’t afford full price in the store. He grows up with siblings cousins who probably cover for him when he’s in trouble, who lend him money when he needs it, and who grow up to be the kind of people that he can call up to give free repairs to Karen Page when her apartment is broken into. 

There’s a lot of little moments in life where you can pick to help people, usually at some kind of cost to yourself. Foggy is the kind of person who says “Yes,” to helping those people time and time again. He grew up surrounded by examples of people who did the same. 

Of course, he’s met plenty of people who don’t help people out. But those moments aren’t the expectations. It’s just a day where you ran into one of the assholes of the world. Having people who hurt you, who take advantage of you, who just suck--it’s exceptionalized, in that sense. It’s not rare, but it’s out of the natural order. And they prove it to you that they’re the assholes of the world, so he can take them out of the default pool and into the asshole pool. 

And, again, that’s not to say he’s naive. He’s not. It’s just the mindset at the first meeting. All things being equal, the first time Foggy mets you, he assumes you’re human, and that human beings are people who give each other a hand when needed. Distrust is a learned phenomenon. You have to give Foggy a reason to not trust you. 

Matt, meanwhile, is shown to already be afraid of making rent while he’s growing up. He has no expectation of being given a break. We don’t know the details of what happened after his accident, but we know that his Dad is still worried enough about money that he literally dies putting away money to send Matt to college, so they absolutely got fucked on any settlement. And then, growing up, he gets a front line scene to a bunch of uncomfortable, private moments where people are not their best selves. Matt lives in a world where people don’t give each other breaks. He has people who do, of course--but they’re the exceptionalized ones to him. I think Matt grew up in the kind of world where people had to look out for their own interests, which were never your own. All things being equal, the first time Matt mets you, he assumes you’re human, and that human beings, at the end of the day, look out for their own interests. You have to give Matt reasons to trust you. 

And that’s not to say that Matt thinks people are inherently bad or he’s less kind than Foggy. I think canon shows again and again that, out of the two of them, Foggy considers Matt the soft-hearted one out of the two of them. 

There’s that scene, right? Season 1, Matt and Foggy are walking home having just started their practice, and Foggy’s talking about how he thought it’d be different from bailing out guys who get drunk and burn down their own house, and Matt’s talking about how his wife just left him, right? And later, Foggy’s talking to the guys in the hospital who are about to knife each other, about how not even his soft-hearted partner would take their case. 

If Foggy had to pick a rule of thumb of the universe, he’d say that people generally do good things but sometimes have fuck ups, and he wants to help them in those moments. Everyone has those moments that they regret, right? The bad choices. For Foggy, those are out of the ordinary. The little blips in people’s lives. 

For Matt, I think that’s how people are, and sometimes it’s interrupted with good choices. And he wants to help them anyway. Matt Murdock has incredible anger, but he’s also got an unimaginable amount of kindness to him. He wants to help people, and I think at the same time he does not trust them an inch to not hurt him.

He’s the billion dollar payout, is the thing. Like, I am so convinced that government agencies would kill for Matt Murdock’s power set. You could pour in thousands of hours of manpower and millions of dollars into an espionage operation, and it’s less effective than having Matt Murdock sit on a park bench outside of the Capitol building. That’s not even taking into account his fighting ability.

Matt’s in the uncomfortable position where people have a huge incentive to fuck him over, and not a lot of cost at doing so. All it costs is hurting him, and he’s someone with no resources, no family, no one to miss him--no consequences. And we know from Stick that it wasn’t exactly hard when someone tried to actualize it. Like, you have people in his life, normal people, people who are poor and middle class and rich, and he’s someone who could be a pretty spectacular golden ticket if they figure out the right person to make the payout. And he’s the problem child. The troubled orphan, always fighting, always in trouble, never with a place to stay. Disabled, poor, drain on the fucking system. It’d be so much easier for people to sort of allow themselves to do this bad thing, justify it to themselves as not that bad, and take the big bag of cash and walk away. No one’s looking, because no one’s looking out for Matt. 

Again, this isn’t about whether Matt and Foggy think people are inherently bad, or whether one of them is kind--it’s just the default they start from. Foggy’s waiting for people to give him a reason not to trust from. Matt’s waiting for a reason to trust them--and the bar is just as high as the stakes. They’re several paradigm shifts away from each other, and I think that’s one of the reasons why their love for each other is so radical, and why they clash so much at times. 

I think that’s one of the reasons as to why Foggy was so betrayed by Matt, not telling him all those years. It’s not that he doesn’t understand the importance of not sharing this around--he’d get that the stakes are high, it takes some pretty understandable caution. But Foggy’s known Matt for years, and he’s secure enough in the kind of relationship they had to know that he hasn’t given Matt a reason to distrust him. Matt, meanwhile, just gave him a reason to distrust him. 

Anyway, I think it’s interesting, anyway. The idea that Foggy walks up to people and like, finds them generally trustworthy until they do something two-faced, and Matt probably needs to find a really fuckin’ good reason to start trusting them. It’s one of those really basic ways of viewing the world that people probably don’t consider as something they may be at odds with others about. 

And Foggy’s started to realize it, in glaze defects. Like, there’s this bit about him talking about how horrifying it is that matt grew up waiting for a windowless van to take him away--like, he’s just now realizing that that’s how matt’s always lived. He looks at the world, and he expects people to hurt him, and he doesn’t even particularly hold that fact against them. 

#glaze defects #pottery shards verse #daredevil #matt murdock #foggy nelson

[communistchilchuck]

lonnie for the character ask thing :)

always. always.

Sexuality Headcanon: i bounce back and forth between whether i think lonnie wouldn’t label his sexuality or whether the act of labeling his sexuality (+ gender for that matter) would be something that feels good for him, but i’d say what either describes it best or IS it is bi. im also fond of aromantic lonnie and both at the same time.

Gender Headcanon: transfem + genderfluid (i tend to use she/he interchangeably for her). and i read it into her narrative too. the way that she always felt a disconnect from her peers that tied into her apologizing to her parents that they weren’t able to bring up the “all-american boy” and the way that her parents emphasize that she’s different from other boys, how the anarky costume has a mask that reflects the faces of the people that look into it back outward + how i feel that through giving so much of her life to being anarky she’d get used to being this entity that’s referred to by terms other than just he and him and man and boy etc. until she unmasks and it defaults back. i think after a while there’d be a disconnect and it wouldn’t really hit until after red robin when she has to deal with just Being Lonnie (and Moneyspider) for longer than she’s ever had to after taking up her mission. and i think that gender fluidity of anarky, despite if she sticks with the identity or not, would be something she decides to embrace for herself as a person. i’ll stop there. but basically its real.

A ship I have with said character: i’ve already been over timlonnie on my tim post so i’ll make my stance clear right here, right now: i like stephlonnie but in my own “their characterizations align with how they were pre-flashpoint and rebirth never happened” way. i think the base concept of lonnie falling for steph is soooo cute and having it be her of all other gothamites would be very fitting. i think he and steph could also bond over quite a lot from the way they approach vigilantism to their complicated relationship with the bats and the joker paternity debacle vs. having the cluemaster as a chromosome donor.

A BROTP I have with said character: lonnie does not have many friends and that is a purposeful thing. i already mentioned tim on my tim post so instead of saying he + mia dearden, which is entirely made up in my own mind but nonetheless has me in a chokehold, i’ll say he and oliver queen, which is one of my favorite out of the… 3 big dynamics he has with other vigilantes. oliver is the one older person who, despite distrusting him at first, came to approach lonnie’s way of doing things with an open mind and actually teamed up with her twice. partnering with lonnie reminded ollie of the ideals he holds dear and of his younger self in a way that prompted good introspection. i think having someone like ollie around, who is an experienced leftist vigilante willing to see things her way while also providing a bit of natural guidance and even potentially a community would be good for lonnie… and i forever mourn the team-up comic that was proposed but never got made. hard traveling heroes 2 forever.

A NOTP I have with said character: ummmm. rebirth stephlonnie? born of horrid characterization. there are not many people he’s interacted with enough to ship him with. i guess i’ve seen people ship he and bruce in the far dark corners of earlier bat fandom which should go without saying but fucking sucks ❤️

A random headcanon: aside from her 12-year-old self’s job as a paperboy, she likes biking. being active in general too but she should probably slow down because there is no way 9+ hours of exercise a day is healthy

General Opinion over said character: my favorite comic book character and i can’t see that changing soon. lonnie means the absolute world to me and more. getting a little personal, i’ve met some of my best friends through liking and talking about anarky, and for that i’m forever thankful. digging into the history behind his creation and his use in the bat narrative revealed just how much passion was put into him as a character which makes him even better and more meaningful to me even if he went in a direction i wasn’t the biggest fan of. despite less than 100 appearances, she’s a complex character with some of my favorite comics under her belt and an unforgettable debut appearance. what she means when put up against bruce and the potential that held is something i never tire of discussing. i wish every single day that dc would stop marketing her as a batman villain. i think she should’ve been disabled and had what happened to her during Red Robin centered around her because i think it would’ve been an excellent way to both give her more prominence and develop her along more after such a period of being so isolated + putting her whole identity into her mission. i never get bored of reading through her comics over again, it makes me genuinely so happy to do so. machin nation forever and im serious.

#neon-zoologist #ask game

[pixiemage]

Domino Effect - Part 3

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(For the first time since the time loop began, Martyn contemplates leaving Ren's side. He learns some interesting things by being on a different side of the war.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The conversation with Jimmy was quickly forgotten as Martyn set about laying out the seeds for the path he wanted this run to take. The Hobbits were still worth allying with, at least for the next few runs, and if nothing came of it he would shift gears.

The end remained the same, and so he began again.

Martyn wasted eight or nine runs attempting to gain loyalty from the outliers on the server, from Etho and Tango and Impulse and Joel. They had joined him before in other timelines (individually, of course), but pulling them to his side without having first gained other allies turned out to be an impossibility. They were too flighty and independent at the start of the server to see the need for loyalties, and by the time it became prevalent to have allies they found themselves gravitating right back to their default teams from the original timeline. Tango with the Crastle folks, Etho with Dogwarts, Impulse a spy, and Joel loyal to no one but himself. It seemed that only when Martyn pushed for a complete upheaval of alliances did the indecisive choose other sides.

Then came one of Martyn’s most painful decisions. He had been toying with it for twenty or thirty runs by now but had never been bold enough to try. In every run, in every timeline, in every iteration of this game, Martyn had remained by Ren’s side. He had been the Red King’s loyal Hand, his first knight, his trusted second-in-command. Ren had been a constant, even when his dialogue began to sound less natural and more scripted with each run, even when Martyn was forced to chop off Ren’s head again and again and again and again and again.

It was after the seventy-eight beheading that Martyn actually consider changing his loyalties, partially to see if he had a chance of winning with someone else, but partially because it was becoming agonizing to sever his partner’s head from his shoulders time and time again. It was becoming painful, too, to watch Ren die again and again despite his best efforts. He needed distance. He needed to breathe. He needed to try something else.

Run number eighty-three found him siding with Bdubs and Cleo right at the start. It was strange to see the kidnapping of Pizza from the other side, and it was almost amusing to watch Ren spill the gossip to Bdubs and Etho and himself when he wasn’t supposed to know that Ren would do so. It was also interesting to see that, without Martyn’s wariness of Etho that he had held from the beginning, Ren and Etho became allies much sooner in the timeline. Etho beheaded Ren instead of him but seemed to jokingly refuse to play into Ren’s whole kingdom dynamic he had built up.

(The whole thing was painful to think about. So Martyn chose to ignore it.)

It was strange being on a completely different side of the war. Somehow starting afresh like this felt much more like the game Third Life had once been, had once felt like to Martyn before he had been forced to relive it dozens upon dozens of times. The conversations weren’t so stale, the battles were flipped on their head thanks to him being on the opposite side, and the decisions Martyn had to make were far less robotic and felt more like actual decision-making when the decisions he had to make were ones he’d never needed to before.

He also learned many things about Team Crastle and their story this way. He was there when Impulse first offered to play spy, was there when Cleo expressed her distrust of Impulse and called their team the “Secret Girlfriend”. Martyn laughed along with Bdubs at the nickname and patted Cleo’s shoulder consolingly, already knowing that Impulse would remain loyal to them in the end no matter how strongly Cleo held misgivings about their newfound “ally”.

He learned that, no matter what he did, Bdubs would always lose his first life by falling from the top of the Crastle. Whether Martyn was there or not, whether there was water below or not, whether Bdubs killed the phantoms or not, he would always fall…and he would always die.

Perhaps, he supposed, he had been right to assume that he wouldn’t be able to change Bdubs’ first death even if he tried. Perhaps, he supposed, he had been right in assuming some points on the timeline were absolute.

Martyn also learned that the alliance between Team Crastle and the Sand People wasn’t one that had come easily. Apparently the Crastle folk - or more specifically Bdubs - had been fiercely against Grian and Scar from the beginning, something which Martyn had always been vaguely aware of but had never witnessed firsthand. After watching Bdubs lose his second life to a trap of Grian’s design, Martyn could certainly understand why.

Then Bdubs fell ill as he always did, and Cleo went to apologize to Joel for burning his roof, and a fire set the walls of Hobbiton ablaze, and though Martyn wasn’t there for all of it he began to understand how Cleo had flipped her loyalties so quickly in little more than a few days. From the side of the Red Army, things had been so much more straightforward that week. They had sought out enemies and defended their own, and though Joel being a turncoat took them slightly by surprise and they had almost been blown up by the trap atop Monopoly Mountain, it had still been a victorious turn of events overall. From this side, watching everyone scramble to cement alliances and figure out who their real friends were, it was so much more chaotic and unpredictable.

Martyn wasn’t there when Cleo first met with Scott and Jimmy that week, having opted to stay back and keep an eye on Bdubs for that afternoon. He heard her tell of their burning wall and their investigation and her visit to Dogwarts over dinner that night, and he tried to ignore the pang in his chest at the mention of his old home.

He missed Ren, but he missed his Ren, missed when he had no idea what his friend would do next rather than being able to predict seventy percent of what the man might say or do.

(If he did this right, he could have his friend back, he was sure. He could have them all back.)

Though he missed the beginnings of the Hobbits’ investigation, he was there when Scar approached the Crastle with the offer of an alliance, and Martyn watched on with narrowed, thoughtful eyes from the drawbridge as Tango approached as well. He couldn’t remember when Tango had joined Cleo and Bdubs, but he knew it had to be soon. He hadn’t been there himself, after all, so he didn’t have immediate knowledge to work with, and he didn’t factor in the timeline in which he and Ren had drawn the Crastle folks to their side. Too many differing variables would have guaranteed inaccuracy compared to this timeline.

In the end, Martyn left most of the conversing and debating and allegiance-swearing to Cleo for the first run or two, opting to watch from the sidelines as she joined forces with Jimmy and Scott on an official basis and even accepted a tentative alliance with the Sand People. He watched, and he listened, and he learned.

Something about that phrasing felt odd in his head, but he didn’t have the presence of mind to question it with so much else going on.

It was so surreal experiencing Third Life from this perspective that he almost forgot that the first “battle” in the desert was coming up. He didn’t even realize what day it was until Etho’s death at Scar’s hands lit up his communicator, making him abandon Bdubs’ bedside in favor of equipping his armor and shooting out a message to Cleo.

<InTheLittleWood> where are you? <ZombieCleo> just past the drawbridge <ZombieCleo> was farming trees but I can see Jimmy and Scott over at Joel’s <ZombieCleo> wanna go hunt down some gossip? <InTheLittleWood> gladly

It was the first time Martyn was seeing Ren in person since starting this run, and Martyn wasn’t sure how to feel about it. For the first time since Third Life had begun they were on opposing sides. It felt foreign. It felt wrong. Martyn was standing on the roof of Joel’s house with Cleo and the Hobbits while Ren stood on the ground surrounded by the Red Army. The look Ren was pinning them with was one of grinning animosity, one of a wolf staring down its prey. Martyn had seen that look in battle before, but never directed at him.

After so many years of fighting with Ren, standing against him was making him feel like an imposter in this game.

(And it was a game, he had to remind himself, just a game, because beneath the red ferocity of Ren’s stare Martyn would sometimes catch glimpses of his mask slipping, of the role he was playing falling away as he laughed at a joke or fumbled over an improvised line. They were fighting, but they were having fun, and Martyn had to remember that…even if it had stopped being much of a game to him long, long ago.)

If Martyn thought opposing Ren and Dogwarts at Joel’s was difficult to swallow, the confrontation in the desert was even worse. They weren’t fighting this time but Martyn knew the explosion on Monopoly Mountain was coming and he didn’t know how his lack of involvement would change things as he fled the desert at Cleo’s side.

His history as the King’s Hand begged him to warn them.

His loyalty to Cleo in this run convinced him not to.

The oddest thing about the situation, he realized briefly, was that the voices were simultaneously noisier and more muffled than usual as he and Cleo run through the trees with Jimmy and Scott and Grian in tow. The five of them stuck together and made a haphazard path toward Dogwarts, talk of bobby traps and destruction filling the air on whispers, and all the while quiet words only Martyn could hear cut through it all. He couldn’t make out what they were saying exactly, he only knew they were displeased about…something. Something about this situation was making them unhappy, and it wasn’t the fact that he was on Team Crastle this time around because otherwise they would have said something sooner.

He told himself he would puzzle over it when they got back home safely.

By the time they were home, Bdubs was half-aware and working his way through the food Martyn had left for him, his complexion not quite as sickly and his eyes a little less glazed. He looked exhausted and miserable but less so than he had all week, and Martyn knew he would be back on his feet within a few days.

And then Cleo fell from the roof at Joel’s, and Cleo lost her first life, and Cleo returned with a fury toward the Red Army that cemented their opposition to Dogwarts far more than anything else had thus far, and Martyn forced himself to ignore the displeased chattering of the voices so he could learn what he could about the new timeline he had forged. If he was going to change anything, his attention couldn’t be divided.

Much like the first time Skizz attempted to take on the Crastle alone when he was red, when Cleo went tearing after Ren on her last life Martyn was too slow to stop her. She died the same way she had in the original timeline, ablaze with red rage and recklessness and actual flames, dying at Skizzle’s hands and leaving Martyn to drag Bdubs away to the Crastle for safety. They couldn’t fight the Red Army with just the two of them.

(He couldn’t have fought Ren then even if he wanted to.)

Then when the final battle of Dogwarts came around, Martyn couldn’t help the way he naturally fell back on his habits from the Red Army. He called out “Eyes!” to warn the others of intruders, something only Impulse seemed to recognize from his time as a spy in their ranks, something Tango caught onto quickly enough if only because of how well he knew Impulse. Martyn was so distracted by the annoying and annoyed whispering at the back of his head that hadn’t really left since the joining of the Crastle and the Hobbits and the Sand People, so very distracted that he didn’t see Ren’s axe swinging his way until it was almost too late to block the blow with his pizza-adorned shield. Martyn’s eyes widened and his grip on his sword tensed. He knew he had to fight back, knew he was on his last life, knew Ren could very well take him down there and then - but he couldn’t bring himself to do much more than block and defend as the Red King landed blow after blow against the splintering wood.

He couldn’t bring himself to hurt his once-friend in return. Not this time.

When the Red Winter axe struck Martyn down, his last thought was - strangely - that something behind Ren’s eyes looked shocked and saddened as he fell. It was there for a fraction of a fraction of a second before it vanished, replaced by the red fire of a fighter in an instant, but the expression lingered in Martyn’s mind even as the darkness and the voices swallowed him once again.

He had to have been seeing things, right? His homesick mind had been playing tricks on him in his last moments. It must have been.

“Change is in order. Our will be done.”

On Martyn’s eighty-fourth run, he took what he had learned from the first Team Crastle attempt to try and change things for the better. He shifted alliances, kept Impulse closer, brought Tango in sooner and used him as a second spy like he had sort of intended to be in the previous run. Impulse played spy for Dogwarts. Tango played spy for the Sand People, something that hadn’t been considered the first time around.

Bdubs fell from the tower and Cleo fell from Joel’s roof.

(Much like Bdubs’ first death, it seemed as though Cleo’s first fall was as absolute as her partner’s. The two founders of the Crastle, both doomed to fall from the heavens when they fell to yellow, one step closer to red. It was poetic, in a way, even if Martyn wished he could change it.)

In some runs, Martyn hung closer to Cleo’s side when she went red and managed to dissuade her from her solo attack against the Red Army. She slipped from his grasp a few times, the red rage taking hold quicker than he anticipated, but more often than not Martyn was starting to learn that having Bdubs closer allowed them both to drag her away from the opposing team before she could pass the point of no return. When she managed to survive, she was a great help in the final battle of Dogwarts.

And after that first Crastle run, never again did Martyn allow himself to get close enough to Ren for them to ever engage in combat. Sometimes Martyn would die before him, and sometimes Scar or Grian or Cleo would manage to take down Ren, but never again did they have to lose their lives to each others’ blades. If nothing else stayed consistent, Martyn would be damned if he didn’t ensure that did.

“Change is in order. Our will be done.”

Of course, as all other attempts so far had gone, eventually Martyn came to the inevitable conclusion that something about the Crastle angle wasn’t working. He shifted gears again after a dozen or so tries, his eyes turning to the Hobbits instead. Jimmy may not have been a strong fighter but Scott was, and out of anyone on the server the alliances the Hobbits formed over the course of the game tended to be stronger than most. He fell into the same pattern of watching a first run and learning as he went, then starting a second attempt with that knowledge in mind. It took him two tries before he was able to prevent Jimmy’s second death during the bombing of Dogwarts, and once he did it the first time he never failed to do it again. For the first few runs where Martyn allowed the timeline to flow fairly close to its original turn of events it meant that Jimmy didn’t lose his last life in the battle of the sand bunker, and it meant that Scott wasn’t made a widow quite so soon.

That was the other thing about orchestrating Hobbit runs, Martyn found: basing with Scott and Jimmy meant he was a witness to all their couply behavior, which he spent about a third of his time teasing them for. He had gotten a glimpse of it during prior runs where he had encouraged Ren to bring the Hobbits in as allies, but living with them both was vastly different. It was a bit adorable, a bit of a bright spot amidst the chaos of the war going on around them, and by the time he had spent three or four months on their team stretched out across multiple runs, he began to understand why Scott’s fighting had become so much more terrifying and passion-fueled in the latter days of Third Life after Jimmy was gone.

(He ignored the fact that he had probably come close to understanding it in a past run, the first time Ren had died while Martyn was on yellow and his only thought had been revenge for his fallen king.)

The first time Ren came to the Hobbits as the Red King - with Skizzle by his side instead of Etho or Martyn - the day he came to forge an alliance, Martyn didn’t say a word. He let Scott and Jimmy guide the conversation, let Jimmy burn the red banner, and when all was said and done and Ren left them with a warning in that unidentifiable accent of the Red King, Martyn listened to the husbands bicker while he smiled to himself and reminisced about how strange it was - again - to be on the other side of these situations.

And then Scar and Grian arrived the next day, offering an alliance of their own, and Martyn was surprised by how muted the voices in his head were when expressing their bitter annoyance. He had realized a run or two back with the Crastle folks that whatever the voices kept complaining about had something to do with the Sand People, though he still had yet to figure out exactly what that something was. But it was strange, he mused, that they seemed so quiet now. He glanced sideways toward Jimmy, who was eagerly exchanging gifts with Grian while Scar marveled over the potions Scott had given them. Jimmy’s proximity had quieted the voices before, hadn’t it? He remembered it vaguely, the memories fuzzy, but he knew it had happened. And by now he had spent what equated to months with the man. Perhaps it was a compounding effect. He guessed he might as well enjoy the quiet while he was on this path, for however long he would follow it.

It might help, he later realized, if they didn’t interact with Scar and Grian at all. Not the plot, necessarily - he wasn’t sure what would help him get to the end of this Groundhog Day bullshit and he’d already made a hundred attempts by now - but it would help quiet the voices if he didn’t side with the “Desert Hippies” as Ren often called them. Perhaps it was about time he attempted a shift of allegiances anyway, right? It was worth a shot, and it would stave off some of Martyn’s boredom if nothing else. Perhaps, the next time the members of Renchanting came to call, he’d convince Jimmy to play nice and do some bartering instead of turning them away so soon.

As with every iteration of the game, changing one thing often altered others. The butterfly effect, the first domino, the dropped pebble making waves. Much like how Ren’s second in command was Skizz this time around (the circumstances of which Martyn still didn’t know), when Martyn suggested to Scott and Jimmy that they should side with Dogwarts over the Desert Duo, he knew other alliances would shift. In this case, it meant Etho and Big B found themselves on different teams, with Etho aiding the Crastle instead of attacking them and Big B teaming up with Grian since they were Day One members of the Blue Sword Boys.

Martyn couldn’t fault him for that. After all, he had used the BSB himself in a prior run to join forces with three-fourths of the Evo members on the server, hadn’t he?

With the Hobbits and the Red King on the same side, Martyn found himself avoiding Ren more than he probably should have. It wasn’t Ren’s fault either. It was simply that Martyn had been away from him for so long and their history was now so vast - at least for Martyn - that he hadn’t a clue how to behave around him anymore. If they had begun on the same side, at least Martyn would have known where they stood from past experience and played off of that. But in this instance, things were so different and the circumstances had changed so drastically that Martyn wasn’t sure how to even approach the other player.

There came a night on the seventh Hobbit run that Martyn found himself sitting atop the wall of Dogwarts, staring up at the star-strewn sky and wishing, not for the first time, that the strange voices would just tell him what they wanted from him instead of making him guess and guess and guess and fail and fail. He had lived lifetimes trapped between these borders, trapped within this loop, and he sometimes wished that when he lost his last life he’d just lose it for good. He didn’t really, he’d much rather live, but if this was all life would be for him until the end of time? Well, hell, he’d rather that time would just end. He was on his red life right now as it stood. It would be far too easy to just jump from the wall…for all the good it would do. Even if he had the guts to do it, he’d just be dropped right back at the start again, with Ren and the phantoms and the bloody flooded cave.

The creak of a ladder alerted Martyn to a presence behind him, and he glanced over his shoulder to see a far-too-familiar bloodied crown rising toward him from the wheat fields below. He swallowed and sighed and looked out over the forest as the King of Dogwarts took a seat at his side.

“Hey boss,” Martyn forced out a quip, not really caring that the old nickname wasn’t quite as literal in this run as it would have been in another. Ren was still his king, and he was sure the nickname would be accepted without question.

“Evening Martyn,” Ren returned, and from the way he spoke Martyn could tell he was smiling. “It’s a bit late to be up here alone.”

“Mmm, probably,” Martyn shrugged. He tilted his head back to stare up at the stars again. “S’ppose you’re a bit of a hypocrite for sayin’ that though, hey?”

“Probably.” Ren mimicked him with an audible grin, though when he sighed Martyn could hear that his smile had fallen. “Actually, I was looking for you.”

Oh.

“Oh,” he said eloquently. He swallowed. “Uh - any particular reason, my lord?”

“Yes, actually. There’s uh - there’s somethin’ that’s been bothering me.”

“...alright?”

This was new. This wasn’t a conversation Martyn had ever had before, and the instinctual flow of dialogue didn’t come as it usually did for the more scripted moments of the game. He was alone in this, having to pick his own words, and for the first time in a long time Martyn was actually wishing the voices would just tell him what to say.

“Did I do something wrong, man?”

“What?” Martyn’s focus snapped over to Ren with a frown, only to see the red-eyed king looking almost pathetic with how hurt he looked and with the way his ears were pinned back against his head. “What d’you mean?”

“We’re supposed to be allies, but you’ve been ignoring me since you got here,” Ren told him. “I mean I get that we don’t know each other but Jimmy says you’re a pretty friendly guy, so I’m just - confused.”

Shit. Martyn groaned and dragged his hands down his face, letting out a heavy sigh.

“It’s - no, mate, it’s nothing you did,” he muttered, now feeling a bit shit for forcing so much distance between himself and Ren even if it was a little painful to look at him sometimes. “You just - remind me of someone, I guess.”

“...oh. Sorry, I had no idea.”

Martyn snorted into his hands then let them drop, tossing Ren an exhausted and world-weary smile.

“Nah, you didn’t know,” he muttered. “I just miss him is all. Sorry for being an ass about it.”

“No, no!” Ren insisted. “No need to apologize. I get it.” There was a silence for a moment, but Martyn could feel the prickle of eyes on him as he stared out over the forest again. He knew Ren too well at this point. If he stayed quiet and waited long enough then– “Who is it?”

Bingo.

Martyn was silent for a few seconds, trying to think of a simple answer without saying “It’s the version of you I used to know. I’ve lived through a hundred timelines and seen a hundred similar versions of you but you’re not the same Ren. I miss him. I miss everyone.” So instead, he chewed his lip before responding with few words.

“He’s…something like a brother to me. Family.”

Because that was true enough, wasn’t it? Ren had become something like family to him, much like Jimmy was, much like Grian was, much like half of the people on this server were. They were family, and it was killing him to watch them die over and over again with no resolution. Without the memories Martyn carried over from run to run, they might see it as a game, still joking between battles and bringing up plans for builds on other servers and brushing past conflicts under the rug when given the measly gift of a clock for the entertainment value…but he couldn’t pretend to see it like that anymore. It wasn’t a game to him. It was torture. It was an unsolvable puzzle, unending torment, unresolvable conflict. It was–

“We’ve been playing Third Life for a while, huh?” Ren mused, knocking Martyn from his thoughts. Martyn huffed out a humorless laugh. Ren didn’t know the half of it.

“That’s putting it lightly,” he said, his tone dry.

“Well hey–” Ren clapped a friendly hand on his shoulder, grinning at him over his shades. “–when we win this thing, we can all go home! I’m sure you’ll see him again soon. We’ve just gotta beat those Desert Hippies into the ground an’ then we’ll be home free!”

…beat them into the ground, huh?

Perhaps Martyn had been going about this the wrong way. Perhaps it wasn’t about joining a team that already existed. Perhaps it was about forming one of his own, with members strong enough to win this thing if they were all on the same side. Perhaps that was his next move.

With a determined sharpness back in his eyes, Martyn cast a grin and a wink in Ren’s direction.

“S’ppose you might be right on that, boss man.”

Then he kicked away from the wall and jumped, ignoring Ren’s cry of alarm as he plummeted toward the ground. This time, when he lost his final life, it was of his own doing. He had a plan.

“Change is in order. Our will be done.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

[A/N: Martyn's been at this for a long, long time, hasn't he? I also liked the angle that Bdubs being missing during that one week of 3L could be equated to him literally being sick that week on the server, so he couldn't participate. I thought about having him leave, but it makes more sense if nobody CAN leave until the game is over. Everyone's trapped, Martyn included, and he has to fight to free them all. Granted, the original intent was that everyone probably agreed to stick around for a few weeks of gameplay just to keep things fair, seeing as it's Grian's game, but I also like the idea that they couldn't have left even if they tried. I wonder what Grian would think if he realized that...?]

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#3rd Life SMP #3rd Life Fanfic #Trafficblr #Traffic Life SMP #3LSMP #martyn inthelittlewood #inthelittlewood #watcher lore #listener lore #renchanting duo #evo smp #Pixiemage Writes #Domino Effect #Time Loops

[little-forget-me-not]

Speaking of ocs, I wanted to mention it was interesting that in the noday reunion fight/talk, Day was so unlike his usual self, very paranoid and distrustful, seemed a bit withdrawn even. Goes to show how much stress he's under lol

YEAH I was kinda weirded out by that. But I think it made sense. I'm glad you picked up on the withdrawn part actually! I imagine him being a lot more subdued and he's still outwardly cheery and friendly but…anyone who knows him would see that his smile never reached his eyes and his friendliness was hollow (like a default setting). Inside he's hurting, angry, confused, guilty and deeply disillusioned because his mom had always been like a paragon of "goodness" to him. He saw her like an angel. To have that…ripped away in an instant really shook his world. I mean he even left her to go on this trip-thing. Despite her pleading for him not to leave. And he hasn't really kept in contact with her. It's all very unlike Day. Didn't help that he had no one to talk to about this so it kinda festered in him, and the more he introverted, the more those feelings of distrust and wariness grew. ..and then his ex showed up. Which was kinda like the last straw (over the first last straw)

I was thinking about the power of names. It's such a powerful acknowlegement of a person. And what they choose to identify themself as…is so..telling somehow. I was just thinking about how Day…we always call him Day. But his actual name is "Daymond" (like if you really think about it, it's so weird xD) and he does respond to it but usually in official/formal settings. But even then he doesn't fully relate to it. He prefers Day because it's more casual, it's lighter, friendlier and happier. Also cuz that's what Aeriel called him by, mostly.

Made me wonder about an AU where he doesn't choose that. Like what would've happened to him to make him feel so differently enough he never thinks about keeping that nickname? Interesting stuff. Do you have any thoughts on stuff like this? If he didn't have his mom growing up and was not allowed to explore his sensitive, social and carefree side. Like in an AU where his developmental years pushed to be more closed off, serious, distrustful and cynical..he would probably just go by Daymond.. Granted I am also thinking of like a polar opposite of his upbringing which was full of nurture so it's a little extreme. But I could see that. A Day that learns that emotions are shameful. He'd definitely rely a lot more on his Ti I think. Kinda resentful and wounded with fake smiles and platitudes..but not knowing who he is and not liking it. His relationships would he hollow because he can't really trust or be vulnerable. Ok this went beyond a name and I just came up with an AU him lol

Tomodachi Life him was more faded. He was also trans in that one which gave him depression because he didn't know how and why he was feeling the way he was and had no one he could turn to or trust… Also little socialisation and was isolated. Which apparently turns him into smth like a ghost since he spends too much time in his head.

Nolan kind of the same tho….. like his base is pretty the same…he just either gets more angry/violent vs calmer/chill…the duality of nolan is pretty simple lmfao.

Nolan's core personality is just quite steady. Even when he has growth and maturity he doesn't change that much. Less affected by external influence vs Day.

It's basically Fi vs Fe. Nolan by nature has a more defined sense of self. Even with the best nurture, Day took a long time to understand who he was separate from everyone too…only mid-20s.

#nolan info #day info #bet yall didnt think you'd be seeing these old names huh #fi vs fe

[blondie-inky-esaldir]

My Wardens, their Class and Love interests

Aerin Mahariel, a Dalish elf Aerin tends to be dense. He can be mistaken to lack tact, but it's just mostly him missing social cues since he's a Dalish and not used to civilization. He prefers to deescalate a situation instead of making it worse. But when push comes to shove, he doesn't mind getting dirty. Like Alistair, he doesn't really like to lead. But he doesn't mind going first on the path to check for ambush or traps, if the need arises. He and Leliana are both good at that, so they've gotten closer when working together to protect the others from those kinds of threats. Aerin's the type to do self-reflections a lot, which also makes him overthink more often than not. Although it may mostly due to his instincts, and his gut feeling had saved them more often than not as well when they were traveling. Plus, it also makes him a good strategist when they were all in combat mode against the different enemies trying to kill them on a daily basis. Class: Warrior (Two-handed swords, but also an archer expert) Love interest: Leliana

Kyno Tabris, a City elf While Aerin lacks tact because of unawareness to social cues, Kyno more often than not intends the tactless remarks. Having been fed up with how his kind were treated in the Alienage by humans gave him a sharp tongue and since he could somewhat get away with it now, being a Grey Warden, he didn't have to be too careful with his words. The only one who can rein him over had been Soris, then later Kytes. Despite his default hostility, Kyno can be very friendly and sometimes that friendliness can be mistaken as him being a flirt. However, he's never been keen into having intimate relations with another. Even when he was to be married, his heart hadn't been into it no matter how beautiful his would've-been bride was. Even before that, he wasn't short of people who vied for his attention. As fierce a fighter he was, he was also caring to those he considered family and very good friends of his. Despite not wanting to marry, he had the makings of being a nurturing family man. This is shown because, while he was younger than Aerin and Kytes, he looked out for them whenever they were in a city or village, making sure they wouldn't be taken advantage of. He almost attacked a human who mistook Kytes for an Elven slave, too. Still, no one could get his attention to make him actually want a family of his own. That is, not until he met Zevran. Class: Rogue (Dual weapon wielder) Love interest: Zevran

Kytes Surana, a Magi elf Kytes is only almost as clueless as Aerin is when it comes to blending into civilization. Still, he did live in the circle, with the large percentage of those living with him being humans. Not to mention his missing best friend was a human, so he did know how to interact with humans to a certain extent, considering his timid nature. Since the notion of "Magic exists to serve man and never rule over him." had been drilled into his head since he was young, it made him want to help as many people as he could in this journey. It took Morrigan to make him realize that 'Magic' shouldn't be translated to 'Mages.' That he shouldn't be a slave to doing good deeds. Still, Kytes was still mostly helpful, and this just taught him that he could say 'no' when he didn't want to do something, and he wasn't required to say 'Yes.' like a good servant all the time. That had been his mistake when helping Jowan, after all. Though his tendency to be overly helpful made Kyno a tad overprotective and the city elf had to make sure that he wouldn't be taken advantage of. He took a liking to Alistair because even when the man would've been a Templar in his past life, he didn't treat him with distrust as a default. Plus, he found his jokes amusing. Being him though, he hadn't realized what kind of attraction he had for the Junior warden until Leliana teased him about it once. Class: Mage (Arcane warrior/Spirit healer) Love interest: Alistair

Ryna Cousland, a Human noble While she was the youngest, she was born to lead. Fergus would often say that she should be next in line as Teyrn instead of him with how adept she was in leading. Ryna takes initiative more often than not, but doesn't discourage others from voicing their opinions. She takes them into consideration before making a final call. She was closed friends with a lot of men in her life, like Ser Gilmore, she was never attracted to one. While she thinks Alistair should man up every now and then, she doesn't come down on him so hard for it. That said, she doesn't oppose Morrigan giving the man grief for it either. She wouldn't let anyone else outside their group talk that way about him though. She would every single one of their honor whether or not they minded the slight on them or not. Ryna would go feral every time her elven Warden companions were mistaken as her or Alistair's servants. One of the times Alistair doesn't make light of things with jokes and supported her fully with threatening anyone who would look down on Aerin and the other elves. Class: Warrior (Sword & Shield) Love interest: Morrigan

#Dragon Age: Origins #Male Mahariel #Male Tabris #Male Surana #Female Cousland