#fanfic fanatic problems

[vitanithepure]

Gale's romance

To absolutely nobody's surprise I am back with my thoughts about Gale and I am honestly surprised how many of you still follow me and interact with what I have to say, love you all so much 😭

Again, a freaking long one (over 1200 words, I wrote fanfics shorter than this...), but I need to get it all out of my system to properly function. Of course spoilers for Gale's story and a bit of the main storyline.

First of all - his introduction. Not less of a jump-scare, but somehow this one seemed to fit him better? He doesn't come out of the portal and begin judging our capabilities, instead we help him out, and if anything - I felt an instant level of sympathy for the wizard falling face first on the ground straight out of an unstable portal.

His bashful "I'm usually better at this."? It just served to even out the field and I love it. I was literally sitting there grinning at the screen and thinking "oh, how the mighty have fallen" :D

We still get all the talks known from EA (apart from the failed spell one? Did anyone manage to trigger it? Did they remove it?), so I won't be going over them again, because there is still a lot of new stuff to go through. Although they seem to fire up differently and it makes Gale seem a lot more considerate. Sure, at first he still hides the exact reasons and I still think it's understandable. In my playthrough he brought up his orb problem on the road, in front of the others with us claiming we need to know about it. 

He even leaves us the decision if we want him to stay or not, but we cherish this man in this house, so I have no idea what goes down if and how he leaves. Not really interested in learning that, too.

Him showing us the Weave was as wonderful as it used to, didn't notice any changes here, then again - why change something that just…works? And now, in hindsight, I cannot help but see how it sets the tone for the whole relationship with him, be it romantic or otherwise. He shows you this part of him he loves, tries to show because even he, with all his eloquence, cannot find the right words to express what magic means to him.

I feel as if he was not expecting much from it, judging by the mumbling, adorable mess we made of him just imagining a walk, hand in hand. As we learn later (much later, but I think it's important to mention it here) he never considered being this close to anyone after the orb fiasco. Not because he still loves Mystra but rather he realizes how much of a risk it brings. He himself calls himself a "menace" and that, for me, speaks volumes about his character. 

Ok, now onto the new parts, previously unavailable in the EA. 

I mentioned my reaction after the first talk with Elminster in another post, but I'll say it again: fuck Mystra. 

I was worried that there might not be a way to rid Gale of this cursed orb, I was bracing for the possibility that there might not be a happily-ever-after here. Because he seemed set on going along with Mystra's wishes, and I felt bad for standing between the man and his honest faith. Misguided, not fanatical, just honest faith.

I was thinking "yeah, this will probably happen at the end of the game, we'll cross that bridge when we get there". BUT… one moment we are fighting Kethric Thorm and the next Gale is ready to sacrifice himself. "Wait, it's too soon, it can't end like this, WHAT THE HELL is going on?" 

"Fun" fact? Gale can really do it from what I saw and it just… ends the game right there and then. I am not ever going to even consider that a viable option, for anyone. It just makes me sick thinking about it in hindsight.

So yeah, no, sorry Mystra, we are not going along with your stupid plan. It really feels like he went along with it in a shell shock state through the whole act II of the story and it made me feel so bad for him. Gale felt like a complete shadow of himself since his first talk with Elminster.

Can you look me in the eye and with a straight face tell me a man ready to die makes a whole fucking illusionary world for just the two of you, shows you his home, his safe place, tells you he loves you and gives you his all? Yeah, yeah, you can tell me "he doesn't want to regret anything", but that's the point! He already regrets so much, and that means he is not ready to become vapor!

So, in the style of Meredith Grey, we go all in with "choose me" and…wow, does he ever. It was like a switch went off, Gale instantly is back to his old self, already having a plan to make it all work. A terrible idea, worthy of the 10 wisdom stat, mind you, but an idea still.

Of course in the meantime we get another visit from Elminster, who drops a few - actually good! - words of wisdom Gale's way and says Mystra wants to talk. Of-fucking-course she wants to, her pet refused to die and she can't fathom why.

I know the talk can go differently depending on what you suggest him to say, I don't know if we can skip the talk altogether and what are the consequences of that, but on my first playthrough I actually encouraged him to seek forgiveness and the talk went… fucking awful if you ask me. Is there a honest to god good way to do this talk? 

Hated it when Mystra went all "oh yes, now that you are alive I'm not taking care of your orb until I send you on yet another suicide run, but don't worry - I believe in you, 'kay-thanks-bye!"

I guess this is faith for you - everything becomes a trial for it.

Moving on! The first big romance scene for act III of the story left me in emotional shambles.

In this moment Gale knows he wants to do *everything* and *anything* for us. He wants to gain power for us, to give us everything we deserve because if he gave Mystra his all he won't be holding back for us. And when we say we don't want it… you can see how absolutely devastated he is - up until he hears what we are really telling him.

"You are already everything I need you to be."

God, the animation here was so amazing, you can practically see the moment realization strikes him. He can live without Mystra, he can live without power, but he can't live without you. That he matters to someone, not for what he can do, but just… for him. And he was never loved that way, he himself says that, much to the dismay of my bleeding heart.

And that is that! Our story with Gale ends here, without a bang, but that is good. Gale is no longer the man he used to be, his ambitions now centered around a happy life with us. And I'm all giddy and teary-eyed for him. 

Mind you, the ending felt…rushed? But perhaps that's just me not ready to say goodbye after all this? The game ending is a dash of adrenaline and I felt like there was just not enough time to unwind after. Guess I need to headcanon the rest ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Either way, if you managed to stay to this point - a big thank you for reading!

#gale of waterdeep #bg3 #baldur's gate 3

[phoebecoleanddamonelenafan]

Tomarry fanfics worth reading (Part 2)

Wizarding Britain's Finest by duplicity

Summary:

Who was Voldemort with his lieutenants, his beloved followers? Who was the man that so many willingly called Lord?

Harry had witnessed Voldemort's madness and cruelty. He had yet to witness the inspiration behind such loyal, fanatical devotion.

Soon, however, he would.

Before they convinced you life is war by EclipseWing

Summary:

Harry's got the Imperius Curse tripping off his tongue and Tom's suddenly acutely aware of other people's emotions.

[that mutant reincarnation au nobody asked for but I wrote anyway]

Hauntingly by ObsidianPen

Summary:

Harry is put under a sleeping draught. A story of obsession.

You have to me a member on A03 to read this one.

Heir Apparent by MonsieurClavier

Summary:

When a Voldemort in his thirties encounters a time-travelling, seventeen-year-old Harry Potter, he makes a dangerous—and hilarious—assumption. He assumes that Harry is his son. And his son, of course, deserves the very best.

A confused Harry plays along for the sake of self-preservation, but living with his “father” is proving to be intolerable in more ways than one.

Keep Your Enemies Closer by Riddletobien

Summary:

Voldemort conquers wizarding Britain in Harry's sixth year, starting with a surprise attack on Hogwarts. Harry is allowed to live and his previous training with Snape merely... continues. Realization comes when Voldemort saves his life, of all things. Harry struggles to deal with friends and enemies alike, his strange influence over Dark Marks and Tom Riddle inside his head. He gets a chance at influence, but should he take it?

I Have Seen Your Heart by Arliene

Summary: The arrival of his nemesis is the least of Harry Potter's problems. Now that the war is over, he finds himself drifting away from all that held him together in the past, trying to find a new purpose in his life. Being framed for murder forces Harry to be on the run and this time the only company he takes with him is Tom Riddle. The young Dark Lord faces a future he did not expect, meets an oddity who killed everything he strived to be. And yet he finds himself obsessed with his murderer, a determined man searching for answers and reaching for the sky once more. Harry Potter's purpose and Tom Riddle's destiny, seemingly entwined. They say change is overrated. But choice is everything.

This one ends on a bit of a cliffhanger but is still worth reading. 

Stars, Hide Your Fires by Audair, Ophidias (Audair)

Summary :

In the winding streets of Knockturn Alley, an intricate dance of mutual obsession unravels between twenty-three-year-old Tom Riddle and a time-travelling Harry Potter. 

You have to be a member on A03 to read this one.

These Violent Delights by Ghidorahs_child 

Summary:

Harry never thought he’d survive Voldemort, and four years after the end of the Second Wizarding War he finds himself looking for something that will give him a new purpose.

Not sure himself of what he truly wants, on his birthday he jokingly tells Ron and Hermione he wishes for one last adventure for old times’ sake, before finally moving on and settling down.

Little did he know that he would not only get his wish, but also so much more than he bargained for. 

#tomarry #tomarry fanfiction #fanfic recs #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter #fanfiction recs

[sl-vega]

✧xingqiu's victims friends✧

THIS SERIES IS CANCELLED: announcement about its cancellation

THE SERIES REVAMP IS HERE

✧xingqiu✧-a creative writing major with a minor in literature, second born son of the CEO of Feiyun Corp. discovered his love and reading and writing at a young age. when he was 10 he wrote a fanfic as a joke but to his surprise it went viral. he forgot the account's password so he never got around to deleting it. comes off as an absolute gentleman, but he's actually a bit of a gremlin.

"me? putting chili powder into chongyun's food? what baseless accusations are these-okay fine, i did, but how else is he supposed to survive living with xiangling?-"

✧xiangling✧-attends a culinary school nearby teyvat university. she does the cooking but not cleaning for all her roommates. she has a pet dog named guoba, and her father owns a famous restaurant. she's known for her weird sounding recipes, but they actually taste really good (except for the slime smoothies, that's an acquired taste)

"so we have jueyun chilis, fowl meat, now we just need some some slime secretations!"

✧chongyun✧-mythological studies major with a minor in theology. he went through a ghost hunting phase when he was younger, which turned into an interest in mythology and folklore as he got older. he met xingqiu in elementary school and they've been friends ever since (even though xingqiu constanly tries to sneak him spicy food)

"i know for a fact that xingqiu put jueyun chilis in that"

✧yanfei✧-a student at a law school nearby xiangling's culinary school. she's great at winning arguments/debates, and already has tons of internship offers from many different law firms. she has tons of rules/laws memorized just in case, and can apply them to any situation

"Ah, this weather's got me in the mood for reciting some laws. Let's see... "Commercial Law of Liyue," Chapter 27, Section 6, Article 3 stipulates that— Wait, what was it...? Oh my goodness, I've completely forgotten! What is wrong with me today...?"

✧hu tao✧-forensics science major, and her family owns a funeral parlor (frequently advertises it, telling people that she can hook them up with a free coffin). a bit eccentric, but she means well. she's also a horror and true crime fanatic (criminal minds, forensic files etc.)

"YOU! YES YOU! what if i told you, that if you plan with wangsheng funeral parlor today you can get a discount on your future coffin!"

✧gaming✧-dance major, and a part time uber driver and the designated driver for every outing with his friends. he's the type of driver that talks a ton to his passenger, but he'll shut up if needed. most of his passengers mispronounce his name upon pick up, and he's very used to jokes about his name.

"hi i'll be your driver for today-hm? yes, my name is actually gaming"

additional notes:

-everyone is in their sophmore (second year) of university (19-20)

-everyone in xingqiu's friend group lives off campus together

-yanfei doesn't attend teyvat university, she is in her second year of law school at oratrice mecanique d'analyse cardinale

-xiangling attends a culinary school nearby oratrice and teyvat university

-xingqiu's a wattpad author. fight me

✧Going off Script✧

synopsis:

Xingqiu's next major project requires him to write a romantic short story, the only problem is that he has zero romantic experience. meanwhile, you just found out that your boyfriend cheated on you, and you need to show him that you're 100% over him, the only problem is that there's no way you can get an actual boyfriend that quickly. clearly, the solution to both of your issues is to fake date each other. all you need to do is stick to the script

spoiler alert: you go off script and end up falling for him

masterlist

(CLOSED) taglist: @freyao7

#xingqiu x reader #xingqiu #chongyun #xiangling #yanfei #hu tao #gaming #gaming genshin #university au #smau #enhypen smau #university smau #genshin smau #genshin au #genshin impact #fanfiction #fanfic #romance

[another-sonic-blog]

The Fanfictioner Ch.8: Story

The Fanfictioner Ch.8: Story

.

.

.

"It's me! Hello! I am the problem it's I!

At coffee time everybody agrees!

I look directly at the moon but never in the mirror, it most be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero!"

"NEW RISING POP-STAR TYLER SWEET IS TAKING OVER THE WORLD WITH HER NEW ALBUM!"

Shadow is eating his daily coffee beans as he softly sings his favorite song. He is not one to listen to gossip news but he just had to whenever Tyler Sweet drops a new album. He just hopes she succeeds in the music charts. Shadow has secretly been following him since she started uploading her songs on MusicCloud and he is glad she has finally had her breakthrough.

"Shadow."

The actor recognizes Omega's robotic voice as he enters the kitchen.

"Hey Omega, did you sleep well?" Shadow asks as he looks inside one of his kitchen cabinets. There he finds car oil. For Omega of course. Omega doesn't need sleep. However, Tails took the liberty to program a 'sleep' software on the robot. And he seems to have enjoyed it."

"Yes. I am 'rested."

After a few seconds, Omega makes a pause and Shadow looks at him.

"I have two notices," Omega says. "Rouge says she will come to visit soon."

"Alright, gonna have to break a leg so she doesn't force me to go shopping with her," Shadow puts a few coffee beans in his mouth and chews them. "What is the other news?"

"... Your ShadAmy Comic has gotten over 100k reads on Weebtun"

.

.

.

Shadow's phone has not stopped ringing with notifications. Comments, likes, and shares. He had spent many days drawing that comic and even thought his art was not good enough to get praised.

As much as he wants to get excited, he knows he can't. Especially when he is a famous actor and he can't risk being exposed as a crazy fanfic fanatic in real life.

He quietly rubs and puts pressure on the middle of his palm to alleviate his anxiety. Shadow was definitely not expecting that many people to read his comic and somehow that's making him sweat.

"Shadow!"

Shadow snaps and completely forget that he is on set.

"Your lines? We don't have all day."

But Shadow stays quiet. Looking side to side, confused.

"Nevermind. Let's all take five. Shadow, either learn your lines or improvise!"

He sighs heavily and goes to his black chair. Next time there is a table with coffee beans as snacks. But right now he is not interested in that. Shadow sits and pulls out his phone. He should be studying his lines but he knows them already. He needs a different kind of support.

TheFanfictioner#0619: "I am starting to think I suck at my job."

Shadow texts his online best friend and eats some of the coffee beans. He had muted his notifications from Weebtun but he can't help and constantly check the app. The reads are growing and so is his anxiety.

ARoseWithoutTorns#0923: "You have a job? I thought you were too busy being a fanfic fanatic to have one."

TheFanfictioner#0619: "If that was my job, I wouldn't complain. But sadly, I entertain people for a living and I hate people most of the time."

From afar he sees Sonic Team gathering together and talking. While they are distracted Shadow looks around him and next to his chair finds his backpack. He usually brings things with him, a charger, laptop, sketchbook and pencils so he doesn't have to go back to his dressing room.

ARoseWithoutTorns#0923: "Do you hate me?"

TheFanfictioner#0619: "I tolerate you. Consider yourself lucky."

Shadow takes out his sketchbook and a pencil he looks at Amy from afar and starts sketching her. It might be strange but he needs to have as many references as possible. He can probably get pictures of her online but nothing is better than having the real person in front of you.

His phone rings, and he responds.

ARoseWithoutTorns#0923: "Oh, I am happy I am not on your naughty list."

TheFanfictioner#0619: "Only because you write my favorite fanfic."

He goes back to sketching and looks at Amy who has picked up her phone and is typing.

Not even a second passes and Shadow's phone rings.

ARoseWithoutTorns#0923: "Fair. But tell me what is bothering you?"

TheFanfictioner#0619: "The fan-comic I did for you fic ... It's getting too many reads and I was not expecting that. It's giving me anxiety for some reason."

He puts his phone aside on the table and sketches Amy again who is on her phone again. Typing.

Then his phone rings again.

ARoseWithoutTorns#0923: "You know, if it's too much to handle, you can always delete it. I won't mind."

TheFanfictioner#0619: "I don't know. I do enjoy the nice comments and it's motivating me to draw more but I am not used to so much attention."

The actor is able to draw Amy's eyes. She is moving a bit too much, smiling and giggling with Sonic and her friends. Then she takes out her phone again and types.

And then his phone rings again.

Interesting. But whatever.

ARoseWithoutTorns#0923: "You said you were an entertainer? Are you not used to people giving you attention?"

And before he could respond, the director speaks up.

"Alright change of plans! We are recording the last scene of the last episode for this season."

Amy Rose feels shivers run down her spine because she knows what that means. Heck, she was the one who wrote the ending for this season. Still, she is not mentally prepared to do this. But the time has come and she can't run away.

They were recording in the forest and they need to hurry up before sunset.

"Let's just record the kiss as the sun goes down and let's call it a day," Mr. Johnson says and he picks up a camera. He is going to be the one to record the kiss.

Shadow and Amy get on the scene and Shadow places Amy against a tree trunk. Just like in the script.

"Now Shadow, I need emotion," Mr. Johnson starts to record and gets extremely close to their faces. "Remember your character desires Amy but secretly feels that he has some genuine feelings for her. To prove that, you need to kiss her ... Slowly. First-"

"Please, just keep quiet and let me do my job," Shadow interrupts him and at that, the director just sighs and nods.

"Ok .. Lights, camera ... Action!"

As Shadow gets into character, Amy's knees go weak. She looks him in the eyes. Vermillion and beautiful. He caresses her cheeks and pulls a string of her hair on the back of her ear.

Shadow slowly closes his eyes and gets closer and closer to her and

Amy pushes him away.

Completely red and shaking, she looks at everyone in the room. Flabbergasted and speechless. Except for Sonic who is smiling.

She doesn't know what to say. Should she apologize to Shadow who is looking at her in disbelief? At everyone for wasting their time and money?

She could only look at the director.

"Please just give me two days to prepare!"

.

.

.

Continue reading on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23815324/chapters/116371165

Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/story/229947691-the-fanfictioner

#shadamy #shadow and amy #shadow x amy #shadowxamy #shadow the hedgehog #Amy Rose #Amy the hedgehog #shadamy fanfiction #shadamy fanfic #shadamy fanart #sonic the hedgehog #sonic fanfiction #sonic fanfic

[thetoaddaddy]

A funny little thing about fandom and fandom spaces. Especially if you are new to these spaces:

I got a friend who is fairly new to fandom spaces. She sends me screenshots sometimes of people in her fandom like being dramatic about shit and I’m not really phased by it cuz I’ve been in fandom spaces since I was like 12.

I gotta school her and tell her all these fandom lores. Like the fact Lord of the Rings had a gay fanfiction cult that scammed people out of money with promising amazing meet ups and were lack lustre, including flying out jed brophy and having his partner having to sob confess to him that she didn’t have enough money to fly them back home and they met Sean Astin several times for charity events and even got him to make the proposal between the cult leader and his main victim/“partner”.

Or that one time in the Hamilton fandom with that one white chick who pretended to be a woman of colour who had aids via sex trafficking but was in fact a white girl with a normal middle class upbringing. All to validate her fanfic about the aids crisis in the 80s with an age gap ship. Which she had no reason to do, like girl made a problem about nothing. And used this marginalized voice she crafted to scam money from people with sickbaiting. But the story then got watered down to the girl who exposed her did so cuz of a rival Hamilton mermaid cannibal crack ship… and then the call out poster then doxxed the scammer after promising not to. Honestly, what a damn mess that was.

The mass shipping wars between harry/ginny traditionalists vs the unhinged proshippers on the other side who shipped anything and everything(which is whatever i’m more proship at the end of the day its just fictional characters and they’re tagged properly, if you interact with it that’s on you). They fr had turf wars and an exchange of harassment(not to mention mrs scribe and her socks). Hello Draco’s Leather Pants I see you. Or the Snape Wives who astral projected sex with Snape via their husbands.

That bible self insert fanfiction writer who went to hell and back to try and claim they wrote my immortal. But he was bad at covering his trail, claimed this multiple times, tried to (shocker) get money and fame from this.

The sonic fandom in its god damn hayday was on a whole different level of insane. The ocs the edits the tracing. In general most spaces were toxic.

Clown meat fandom.

Or when Naruto fans harassed and sent death threats relentlessly to kishi for not making their ships canon at the end of the Naruto manga. We’ve seen things. We have lived through scammers, freaks, and extremists. There always will be in fandom.

I think whining about people who take their favourite character too seriously is not really looking at the full picture of what raving fans will do. Especially in young fandoms. Fanatic people have and always will act the fuck up. They’re the loudest of their fandom usually. But they don’t define their community as a whole. Just let them be. Nothing you can say will change them. They gotta go through the ravenous phases of fandom themselves. Then they become fandom elders like I… Like most of us are. We like what we like. We get friends from it. We make new headcanons and expand upon the blanks the canon materials left out. The ravenous do this too but they tend to have a sort of tunnel vision.

Regardless I don’t think antagonizing them is the right call. Fandom will always fandom. I think it’s just the natural life cycle of the fandom space. We’re all cringe. Ain’t none of us better than anyone else.

#🌺 ooc #idk #welcome to my ted talk #fandom #fandom spaces #fandom culture #im drunk i got to thinkin

[cosmicjoke]

Hi, I read your post about shipping and you just said everything that I have been wanting to say. Well , I admit to be an eruri shipper, But for my personal interests about these two very well written characters and the special relationship they share. It doesn't have to be romantic and thier lives don't have to revolve around each other. I won't go out my way insinuating Levi was all about Erwin and shit. That is totally disregarding his character.

I read eruri fics on ao3 everyday and I want to say most of them misinterpret both thier characters for sake of their "yaoi" fantasy. I am sick of it. I won't say don't ship who you want. I am an eruri shipper too but doing this is totally childish.

I think Levi was the one person Erwin trusted with his whole life and he was last and only person who ever understood who he was and saw him as a human. In a way Erwin's own va( Ono daisuke) saying Levi was the last holder of Erwin's remaining humanity. And Erwin being a commander who Levi trusted implicitly. Humanity needed Erwin but now that Erwin doesn't have the drive anymore he wouldn't be able to be the same commander, as you said. Levi saved him from living life of a devil, floch wanted and gave him salvation from the dream that was borne of his guilt and childish curiosity which turned him this cold but coldness was needed for his commandership.

Thier relationship is very well written even more so, in my opinion , Canon ship, I like the complexity and intricacies of thier relationship romantic or platonic. But those toxic shipper demoting thier characters to just revolve around each other and forgetting thier true motives is infuriating.

Levi's priority was and is always HUMANITY,FIRST AND FOREMOST.

Erwin was slave to his dream, Levi freed him of it and Erwin was grateful to have someone take this burden of this guilt and dream away and giving him some clarity and epiphany. Erwin knew Levi would never let humanity down, so hence letting him make his final choice.

Erwin provided Levi a way to serve humanity in survey corps, thier relationship is fascinating. But your point is valid and true to it's meaning. THANK YOU.

Hi there, and thank you so much, I really appreciate it.

I don't have any problem whatsoever with shipping Levi and Erwin, and in fact, the vast majority of fanfic I read is eruri, which is why it's so funny to me that I keep getting attacked over being "biased" against the ship, lol. I'm not at all, I'm just able to separate it from actual canon. Something I don't think should be hard to do.

Indeed, Levi and Erwin have one of the bets and most complex relationships IN canon, far more complex and, imo, meaningful than if they were simply a romantic couple, which is also why I don't understand this fanatical need by some shippers to make it into some cliched romance.

For sure, Erwin trusted Levi above everyone else, and in the end, that trust was rewarded, because Levi saw through to Erwin's heart, in a way I think even Erwin himself couldn't see. Levi trusted in Erwin for a reason too. He saw a goodness in Erwin that Erwin was blind to. So when Erwin doubted his own worth as a leader, and was beginning to question if he'd committed some horrific wrong because his personal motivation underpinned his commandership, Levi reaffirmed his belief in him and gave him a chance at redemption. Indeed, Levi gave Erwin his humanity back, when it was on the verge of being lost, and in the end, by choosing as he did to let Erwin die, he allowed Erwin to keep his humanity and to die worthy of his title.

That's way more powerful and meaningful than some silly, formulaic love story where Levi betrays everyone and everything for his love of one man, lol. I don't even know why people are into that concept, or into the concept of Levi being so rapturously enamored with Erwin, that nothing else matters to him but pleasing him or doing his bidding.

Levi chose to follow Erwin because he believed in Erwin as a leader with a far reaching vision, and as someone who could lead humanity to victory over the titans, and was pure in his intentions to fight for humanity. He saw him as admirably devoted to that duty, and believed in him for that devotion.

Anyway, thank you again for reaching out!

#Levi Ackerman #Erwin Smith

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Here be Monsters - A Bangel and Buffy & Faith and Angel & Faith Fanfic

Summary: When Faith tells Buffy she's been assaulted by a supernatural being--someone that Faith at first believes is an Incubus--and Giles then sends Buffy and Angel on a quest to destroy the Rugarus in town, it puts them on the path of a mystery that no one could have expected. Slight mystery. Canon compliant. Post-Helpless. Bangel. Buffy and Faith. Angel and Faith. Slight Fuffy.

For @bisexualblckcanary

Here be Monsters

Angel’s PoV

Angel didn't know what he was doing helping the Scoobies carve stakes, exactly. He wasn't a people person: that was a fact. And ever since he had lost his soul and terrorized the Scooby Gang, he knew they hated him: something he couldn't blame them for that at all. He hated himself.

So why hadn't he made one of his usual quick exits, like always, when he found that Buffy wasn't in the library yet, to save everyone the awkwardness here?

"…and anyway, I'm really starting to wonder if maybe we should start looking into buying stakes on Ebay, so we don't have to do this," Willow was rambling, in trying to fill the otherwise strange silence, Angel thought. Bless her. "Surely it would be more cost effective, like if we need to make stakes and research at the same time or something. But hey: this is just a crazy idea this wacky girl has had. Don't listen to m-"

"I think it's a good idea," Angel cut off her self-loathing thoughts, though he may have partially been lying here. He wasn't entirely sure he felt this way. Though maybe Willow had a point. And Lord knew the sweet girl could use some confidence. "I mean, you can find about anything on the Internet these days… or so I've heard. And if anyone thinks it's weird you guys are buying a lot of stakes, they'll probably just think you're vampire movie fanatics."

Angel threw the last bit in, figuring that Harris would be longing to say something about the FBI--or someone--thinking their actions were strange (as if they'd ever even look into them. Actually, they'd surely think the Watcher's Council, who Giles would get to flip the bill for this if they did do it, were gardeners), so he'd thrown that in there before Xander could say anything. He didn’t want to give the boy any more reason to speak, after all.

"Thanks, Angel!" Willow beamed.

"No, problem," Angel allowed, giving her a small smile.

"Yeah," Xander moaned, sarcasm clearly in every inch of his words. "Thanks, angel eyes." Well, it seemed Xander had talked, and—as always—was annoyed with him. Oh, well. It couldn't have been helped, Angel supposed. The boy just loved to run his mouth, didn’t he?

Out of the corner of his eye, Angel saw that Giles was also irritated, maybe in thinking that Angel would warm Willow up to him again, only to turn evil again and then try to murder her once more.

Resisting the urge to sigh—since his soul wasn't going anywhere any time soon, if he could help it—Angel reminded himself that these reactions were only natural.

It was just when he was thinking of leaving after all, when his pile of fifteen stakes were complete, that Buffy arrived on the scene.

And just like that, Angel had to remind himself he was a fool to doubt that his soul might not be going anywhere: Buffy was far too tempting: she wore a sparkly, yellow tank top, black dance pants, and orange flip-flops.

And while lately Buffy seemed to be wearing her hair up all the time—almost to contrast with Faith, who always seemed to have her locks loose—at the moment she seemed to have found a compromise: at the top of her head she had part of her tresses in a bun, while the rest of it hung down in curls.

As always, she was Angel’s stolen sun. And also, temptation incarnate. As she walked over to him, Angel spied chandelier earrings in his girl's ears that were somewhere between her shirt and shoe color. Tangerine?

"Angel," Buffy whispered breathlessly the moment she saw him.

And he, keeping up their game, smirked at her and said, "Buffy."

Giles cleared his throat then, tearing the former lovers apart from each other—to Angel's relief and chagrin—and Buffy seemed to remember where she was and what she was doing, as she jumped atop their favored library table and began working on a stake herself. "Sorry I'm late for patrol, guys. There was this whole thing with Faith. Would you believe that there was actually a guy she didn't want to sleep with, but somehow, he still manipulated her in to doing so? Anyway, she thought he was an Incubus, so I was being Research Girl for her. But an Incubus hasn’t shown up in Sunnydale in more than a thousand years, so… Now Faith is even more upset. I tried to convince her to come patrol with us tonight, that we'd be there for her, but she said no…"

A pen could have dropped in that moment and everyone would have heard it. That whole thing was rough. At lest the way that Buffy had described it, It didn't exactly sound like rape to Angel—and if it was, he would find down this man who had done this to the second Slayer and kill him. He and the demon, of course, were tempted to do so, anyway—but who could say for sure? And Angel winced, knowing that Liam and Angelus had used similar tactics with girls in the past, and he once again despised himself.

He also knew that part of the reason Faith wasn't here was because of him… the new Slayer had lost some of her trust in Buffy when she'd learned his girlfriend had lied to protect him, or so Buffy had told him.

"That's- that's horrible. Poor Faith!" Willow exclaimed. "Is there anything we can do?" And even though Angel knew that Willow had her problems with Faith, he knew that right now she would give the girl the shirt off her back to make her feel better if she could.

"You know how Faith is with emotions, Will. I imagine anything we say might make it worse. But if I think of anything, I'll let you know. Thanks.

"But right now, I definitely want to kill something. Giles, please give me something to kill!"

"I second that," Xander said, with a certain fury on his face, looking as though he were mere seconds away from punching the table or all the stakes they'd just worked on.

"Oh, umm, yes," Giles said, fixing his glasses—though Angel also noted the concern (as well as calculating) look in the Watcher's eyes. "Buffy, how do you feel about fighting Rugurus?"

"As long as I can hit them, I'm there."

And as the answer to that seemed to be a resounding “yes” for the most part, it looked like they had their itinerary for the night.

…

 "Do you have any ideas on how I can help Faith, Angel?" his Slayer asked him, as the two of them went out patrolling looking for said Rugurus.

In the end, not everyone had ended up going with the duo, since there was a chance Rugurus might not be a group that Buffy "could kill" as much as she might have liked—for the most part, one turned into a Ruguru when they were bitten by one, similar to how a vampire or werewolf were created. But where they differed, was while the bite would give the newly bitten an unbelievable craving for raw meat—to tempt them to sink their teeth into human flesh: their real desire—if they could resist that urge, they wouldn't fully turn. So there was a chance that some (or all) they would meet tonight could might only be in the process of transformation, and could return to normal if they refrained from their craving.

A.K.A. some they faced tonight might be innocent... And with tempers flaring after what they'd learned about Faith, Giles had decided not to send everyone on the warpath, just his Slayer and reluctantly Angel, since theoretically he should be able to sniff out a Ruguru and a half-turned.

"I wish I could give you better advice than giving her presents to distract her right now," Angel said, wincing, thinking of how often since he'd regained the soul, he'd sometimes used distraction as his own means of coping. Often with alcohol. "But… Oz had band practice tonight, right? And Faith likes music. What are the chances that Oz would be kind enough to write Faith her own song now?"

"I think that that's mainly a romantic thing he does for Willow—when he's not just trying to come up with songs for the band to hopefully make moola with someday--but I don't know, Angel, maybe," Buffy replied hopefully.

Really, Angel had known that. He'd been grasping at straws with his statement, and he knew it well… but what could he say? He wanted to help the other Slayer in some way. Whether it was because he still felt guilt over what happened with Kendra, or because he hated that Buffy had somewhat lost her friend because of him, he wasn't sure.

But before he could think it over much more, they were upon the nest. "Buffy," the vampire whispered in his Slayer's ear, not wanting to give their prey a head's up by his voice carrying. "Ruguru at twelve o'clock."

And they were, indeed, Ruguru they needed to be hunting, because they were currently tearing two girls apart. The one girl, unfortunately, was already dead. And while the other wasn't far behind her, Angel could still detect a faint heartbeat within her.

"Buffy… the blonde is still alive. If we can get her out of their clutches, one of us can run her to the hospital."

It was seeming like the best option here would be to split up, of course, even though Angel was loath to leave Buffy fighting Rugurus by herself for the first time, he thought he could make it to the hospital faster than she could…

There was a cave behind these three where un-turned could have been located, and Angel knew it wouldn't be fair if Buffy came across them and fought them, if they truly were un-turned and she thought they fully were. But what was the best choice here?

"Take her to the hospital then, Angel! I can handle a few monsters, who are just a bit hungrier than vampires!"

And if to demonstrate her point, Buffy had already charged into battle and had driven her stake along one of the Ruguru's arms, almost separating the lower part of said arm from the upper with her movement (the Ruguru howled out in pain with her action). Angel knew if she made said motion again, she probably would manage to do just that, and then that one wouldn't be much of a fighter at that point, at least…

He still hated to leave her like this, for a few reasons—one of them of course being that his demon was tempted to drink this already bleeding girl instead of seeing her to safety, but he knew he could fight that urge—but he wasn't really seeing any other options here.

Without any more preamble, Angel lifted this other blonde into his arms and wished his own golden goddess good luck—a scene that was somehow better and worse than the first time he'd said that to her. Then, he disappeared into the night.

…

Truth be told, Angel hated hospitals almost as much as Buffy did. He despised the illnesses that he could smell in the patients, and the hopelessness that he could detect in their family and friends.

He, perhaps, even moreso despised some of the games he'd played at hospitals before he'd gained his soul: letting some of his victims think they'd escaped him as they ended up at one, only for him to drag them away from their only hope…

He also recalled how just last year, he'd been responsible for Buffy, Willow, and Gile coming here. So, yes: if he never saw another hospital, it would be too soon. So he was glad that his business with the girl—Saya Baker, it turned out—didn't take long, and it seemed she would be okay.

Angel was just about to leave the building and see how Buffy had fared with the Rugurus, when he noticed Faith of all people in his peripheral vision.

Angel quite honestly couldn't believe that Faith was at the hospital. She didn't look injured enough to need any medical assistance that her Slayer healing wouldn't take care of (and Angel thought that if that insipid Watcher Wesley [who was sick right now] got word that Faith had come here for the doctors to look at some of her scrapes—if that was why she was here—he wouldn't be too happy about it… which was just ridiculous). He also didn't smell anything deeper in her, like cancer, thankfully. Hmm… could she be here because she had friends or family who were ill?

Truthfully, Angel really didn't know what to do with the other Slayer. And while his heart went out to her for what she was going through, according to Buffy, Angel knew that anything he said or did would just prove to set her off: he was her enemy. And furthermore, the one who was responsible for her decision to leave the Scoobies. Yes, it might have been best if he still decided to risk it all and talk to her, even with all of that. But despite everything Buffy had said and thought she had realized on Christmas, Angel of course knew he was a far cry from a good person.

So he'd decided to try and sneak past her, and hope that her Slayer senses hadn’t developed enough for her to sense him, when he noticed that his first assessment of her has been wrong as he sped past the girl: it looked like a rather strong creature had clawed her arm. And knowing that Faith wasn't the type to take that laying down—or at all—Angel had to stop and ask, "Faith, what happened to you?"

The new Slayer seemed to wake up from a trance, and with a vengeance, at Angel's line of questioning. And he felt that if they hadn't been in a hospital with people all around them, Faith would have thrown herself at him to stake him then and there. "I don't need your nose in my business, Angelus!"

Angel may have been crazy—actually, he knew that he was—but he was starting to put some things together here that he really didn't like. And he truly didn’t want to bring it up: he knew it would go over about as well as his telling Buffy that their dating could get out of hand had… But knowing that all that it took for evil to prosper was for good men to do nothing, he couldn't just leave it alone. He wouldn't.

Speaking softly and gently, the way he might have to a wounded animal—and maybe, just maybe, unintentionally the way he had when he'd attempted to thrall people in the past (which wouldn't work on a Slayer, since he’d never been great at thralling, so it was just so great that that was his voice for this)—Angel found himself pointing at Faith's arm. "I know you're not that reckless, Faith. I'm also aware that no one, in bed, can force a Slayer to do something they don't want to do…"

Faith was looking at him with eyes that said she positively wanted to dust him, and Angel thought she just might, but like a fool he swallowed and pressed on, anyway. "Has some abuser sweet-talked you into thinking he's not an abuser, and that… well, the things he's doing to you aren't abuse? Are you here hoping to talk to someone, because you know deep down that you’ve gotten in too deep?"

Angel was willing to bet the farm that whoever it was who had hurt Faith wasn't human, to be able to injure a Slayer the way they clearly had Faith here--maybe the demon had some type of compulsion, which could have explained a lot; if it was a vampire with thrall, it would be only too ironic. Though it was the slightest bit possible that they were human. However, that would make it all the worse. Because the amount of force they would have had to purposely put into their touch to be able to harm a Slayer… Angel didn't want to think about it.

At once, Faith exploded on Angel--pulling on his ear the way a mother might their misbehaving child. And with her strength—and his lack of it, since returning from Hell—he knew she was likely to pull it off. He thought she probably wanted to.

In the back of his mind—while Angel fought the urge to scream, as he already saw a few flecks of blood falling to the linoleum floor--he was somehow reminded of Buffy's one motion she’d done earlier tonight with the Rugaru…

"Nothing happened to me, Deputy Do-Right! Now how about you do me a favor and keep your inane observations about me to yourself, before I have to remind B that she was crazy to think that she couldn't make it through life without you? Capisce?"

"Hey, you two! Take it outside!"

"I'm leaving," Angel assured the nurse, pulling away from Faith with all of his strength. But not before the Slayer older than Buffy gave him a loo that clearly said, "you've picked the wrong battle," but what exactly she was trying to tell him with that, he wasn’t sure.

…

Visiting Buffy's house in the evenings was pure Hell now. In a sense, Angel supposed it always had been like that… being in close quarters with Buffy—especially in her bedroom, with her scent closing in all around him—made the man in him rise up and want to take her (it also made the demon go crazy for her blood, but he was thankfully good at forcing that back… even if it would be delicious Slayer blood).

Before her seventeenth birthday, her stuffed animals had seemed to look at him accusingly when he felt this way (her mother's thundering heartbeat just a floor below also reminded him that he was wrong to feel what he did for someone so young and full of life like Buffy). But that was nothing compared with now: when he knew he could never once lose control and act on his desires, or it would mean the cruelest vampire the world had ever seen back in action once more.

So, yes: being with Buffy in her room now was Hell—and Angel knew a thing or two about Hell—but sometimes he just couldn't avoid it.

Like right now: when he wanted to make certain that she was alright after her fight with the Rugurus—and apologize that he had had to leave her—and tell her some of his suspicions about Faith.

Thus he climbed up her tree and quietly slept into her window, perhaps expecting to find her sleeping, relaxing, doing her homework, or maybe even exercising… he hadn't expected to find a tired looking Buffy lying in bed—wearing a lovely pair of navy-blue pajamas, he might add—reading one of his favorite books: The Phantom of the Opera.

Her name was out of his mouth in question before he could stop it (wondering if he should go, because he didn't want to disturb her). "Buffy?"

"Oh, Angel!" she started, clapping a hand over her heart.

"Way to go, Buffy," the blonde Slayer admonished herself in a whisper then, with a shake of her head. "Wake up Mom, why don't you?" But then, with her attention back on Angel—a place he always wanted to be, even though he knew it shouldn't be there these days—Buffy got out of her bed and crept over to where Angel was still standing beside her window. "What are you doing here, Angel?" And the moment she was beside him, her left hand was instantly seeking out his own hand to hold. Angel couldn't help marveling at how natural it all felt.

"I just wanted to make sure that you were alright after I left you tonight," Angel wanted to add that leaving her was the last thing he’d wanted to do when she was still hurt by Giles' betrayal of her during her recent Cruciamentum—even if she was over it—and of course there was his becoming her enemy a year ago to think about… but knowing that saying either thing would just hurt Buffy more, Angel left his thought where it was and pulled Buffy into the safety of his arms, kissing the top of her head.

"Yep. Buffy is of the good and still the Little Engine that could. It was Buffy two, Rugurus zero. I kind of don't get why you and Giles were wigging about them earlier. They were no big. But knowing that my Watcher and my Angel care about me is certainly a treat I'll take any day. Mmm," Buffy voiced the last thing right as she stood up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his exposed collarbone. And Angel would be lying if he said he wasn't affected. But he tried to keep his mind on business.

"It was more because we know you don't want to accidentally hurt an innocent, Buffy… And speaking of innocents… I ran across Faith while I was at the hospital… And, well, I think you were definitely right in saying more of her innocence has been stolen from her recently."

Buffy looked at Angel with concern in her eyes then. And as she disentangled herself from him, he saw her gently put her book back down on her bedside table before she sat down on her bed, in order to better regard him. "Tell me everything," Buffy said tiredly.

And Angel did, hating that he had to make Buffy's impossible load even more thus. But was there anything else for it? Especially since Buffy might be one of the few who might be able to help the dark Slayer. And Angel knew how his girl longed to aid anyone that she could.

"Buffy… I saw Faith at the hospital, and she was really hurt. And you know how hard it is to harm a Slayer. And sure, she could have gotten the injury during patrol, but she hasn't been patrolling lately, has she?

"I think this ties in with what you were telling me earlier. And I think that Faith has fallen into an abusive relationship. But even then, it would be hard to bring physical harm to a Slayer. But abusers can be manipulative." And how Angel loathed his own manipulative past as Angelus. If he could go back and stop himself from being sired, so it would never happen—or keep himself from even being born—he would. "This manipulator also is not human, I’d guess."

Buffy nodded. And though it was simple action, the storm going on in her eyes was anything but. Angel was starting to see this from her more and more lately since her Cruciamentum, and he wondered if the tasks she had already had to face were too much for her to bear. It was unfair what the fates expected any one Slayer face, which was why he would lighten her load as much as he possibly could.

"Right…" Buffy muttered, running a hand under her chin, "because no Joe Schmoe could hope to leave marks on a Slayer…"

"Buffy-”

"Angel, did you happen to catch the scent of the culprit when you were around Faith?" Buffy questioned, completely catching Angel off-guard and interrupting the train of thought he’d had. He honestly hadn't thought that she would think to ask him that. Not because she forgot the abilities of the vampire, of course, but because he knew that thinking about what he could and couldn't smell from her had to make her uncomfortable.

"No, Buffy," Angel said, sitting beside her on her bed now—a risk, to be sure, but he hoped that the subject matter would keep both of their heads in the game. "Either I was too wrapped up in rescuing Saya,” ‘and not killing her,’ he thought but didn’t say. “Or the culprit could be a warlock who is masking their scent."

"Okay. Then we'll see if Will or Giles can do a locator spell on this person tomorrow. Either that, or I guess I'll be Research Girl again." Buffy sounded satisfied with her plan, and Angel found he couldn't blame her for that. It was, after all, a rather sound one.

He also knew that this should have been the end of their conversation here, and one of them really ought to have been finding an excuse for him to go, while they were still treading water… but that wasn't happening.

Instead, Angel crossed over and picked up Buffy's "Phantom of the Opera" book and gave it a once-over. He was relieved to see that she had the David Coward translation, even though he wasn't a fan of this cover for the novel.

"Interesting choice for a light read," Angel couldn't help remarking, a slight smile lighting up his face. "Where are you at in it?"

"'Poor, unhappy Erik,'" Buffy answered, her eyes having taken on a tragic look. And Angel knew why, of course. That was certainly one of the saddest parts of the story.

"You've gotten really far into the novel, then! That's great, Buffy! In a college interview, you might get asked about recent books that you've read, and this would be a good one to list. So, do you think Erik is redeemable?"

Only after the words had left Angel's mouth did he regret them. He'd honestly meant what he'd said: that this could be a great stepping stone for Buffy's future, and a part of him had wanted to help with that.

And, maybe, just maybe he'd been excited at the possibility of talking great literature with the love of his life.

But now he saw his mistake, of course. Because Buffy would say that Erik was irredeemable in the story: there was no way she couldn't. And he had done so much worse than the Opera Ghost. So what did that say about them? Why, something that Angel had known all along.

"I think, Angel, he wasn't irredeemable. He did regret his actions and let Christine go in the end. Though I do think that she should have ended up with Raoul. If things had been somewhat different with Erik, then maybe… but Erik frightened Christine and he started their relationship out with a lie." And Buffy looked Angel deeply in the eyes then, letting him know that that's what the difference was—Angel thought –since she, after all, had never been afraid of him and he'd never outright lied to her.

"I also agree with the author,” Buffy continued on, “that if people had just been nice to Erik, he wouldn't have become what he did. Instead, they could have benefited from his genius. But they weren't nice… I may have accidentally skipped ahead and read the part where Leroux said all of that," Buffy laughed.

Now it was Angel's turn to chortle. "More like: you jumped to the last pages early on, because you wanted to know the ending, right?"

Buffy rolled her eyes, no doubt for the fact that he thought that she would still do something so childish. But Angel noted that she didn't, however, deny the claim.

The vampire was about to say more: maybe something about how he loved Buffy’s heart and that she should never change, but then she yawned.

"I'm keeping you awake. You should get some sleep."

"No!" Buffy protested, grabbing onto Angel's arm the moment he got up from the bed that he’d only recently rejoined her on. "I'm awake. I'm Wakey-McFlakey. I could get up and do jumping jacks right now. I could-"

"Buffy." Angel gave his girl a look, before setting her favored book at the moment back on the table where she'd had it.

"…I guess I could probably appreciate this one night where I'm in bed early, yeah."

"That's what I thought. I'll see you tomorrow night." And Angel dropped a kiss to the crown of her head again, trying not to breathe in her sweet vanilla scent before he headed back towards her window.

“Angel?” Buffy asked, just as Angel’s knees were on the window frame.

“Yes?” he asked, curious about what Buffy could possibly have to say to him now when he could already tell that she was half-asleep. He wondered if she would be coherent. He was somewhat amused to find out.

“Don’t forget that you’re also the Raoul of the story.”

Angel did a double-take at that. He might have said more to Buffy’s kind words, but she was already asleep.

Raoul, huh? He wanted to believe he was Christine’s hero—though she herself was the hero of the story—and her great love, but he wasn’t sure he could. Though it was still a nice thought.

Smiling once more, Angel jumped first into his favorite tree and then leapt down from it. Then, it was back to the mansion for the rest of the night and day.

…

Angel had a feeling of déjà vu walking into the library to greet the Scoobies the next evening, and most importantly Buffy.

He supposed he shouldn't have, since tonight was starting off somewhat differently than the previous night—after all, he was here after Buffy, like he usually was—so perhaps what he was feeling was a sense of things returning to normal. Their normal, anyway.

And yet… Angel found he almost preferred making it to the library before Buffy did. Not because he much valued the time with any of her friends (except for perhaps Willow. And maybe Oz a little bit, even though they were both too laconic to speak to each other), but because he knew he was spending every second with Buffy that he could when he beat her here (for instance, if she was caught up with that Principal Snyder who seemed to abuse her, keeping her from the library so that she got here after him). But if he arrived late, he might have missed some precious moment of her time that he could have been a part of, if he'd been but a moment sooner, but would now never get back.

Angel was just about to try and explain some of these thoughts to Buffy, who was looking at him with a raised eyebrow, but he was interrupted from doing so by Cordelia's loud complaint of, "Giles, I'm not putting were-pumas into the file! The odds of Miss Slays-a-Lot facing them again has to be googolplex-in-one, compared to the trillion-in -one chance she had when she faced them the first time!"

Angel blinked. "You faced were-pumas, Buffy?" He wondered where he'd been during this scenario. Had it been the time Giles had sent him away to deal with one of his favorite cousins (read: one of the last followers of the Master) in Florida?

"It was at the same time that I had to deal with the Muses here in Sunnydale," Buffy explained, waving away his concern. "No big."

Except at the time, it had been a big deal. Angel hadn't been there for it—as that had been his trip to Florida, he knew now—but he remembered well how Buffy had fallen into his arms with relief the moment he returned to Sunnydale, and the tales she had told him. The fact she could laugh about it all now said so much about his Buffy's strength. How he loved her.

"So, about those were-pumas," Oz continued the inane comment Cordelia had made as she worked to recreate the Slayer database that Willow and Giles had once made, but had since been destroyed. "Do we think one of them could be what hurt Faith?"

"I just said-" Cordelia started, appalled, continuing to tap on the computer keyboard one key at a time, as she sat behind everyone else who was at the library table now. "Oh, whatever. You losers never listen to me, anyway. Fine. Think it's were-pumas, even when the chances of that are-"

"I doubt it," Angel cut in, breaking up this fight before it could really start, since he knew that both camps were probably completely off base. "I would have smelt it on her. I think-"

"Yeah, because we all know how reliable your nose is, Dead Boy—and how gross it not is to talk about that—and that we can trust you."

"Xander!" Giles admonished the boy, honestly surprising Angel. He knew what it must have cost the Watcher, of all people, to defend him. "Angel has come to our aid numerous- numerous times now, every time that he has his soul. So I will advise you not to take such a harsh tone with him. And as it is, his abilities are very much of aid to us when it comes to finding out what's going on with Faith."

"Thank you, Giles," Angel said earnestly, looking the older man directly in the eye for a moment, so he would hopefully know how much stock he was putting into the words "Xander does have one point, however. If it's a warlock, he could be messing with my sense of smell."

"Are we thinkin' it's a human who hurt Faith, then?" Willow ventured nervously, a crestfallen look on her face. And it didn't take a genius to figure out why. She'd figured out just as he and Buffy had how near impossible it would be for a human to hurt a Slayer, and that they'd really have to try to do it.

"I doubt it, Will," Buffy promised her friend, reaching across the table to where she sat beside Oz and patting her hand once. "They'd really have to be cooking with oil to manage that. And there's no law saying only we mere mortals get to play with magic, right? …Even though there should. Because a demon doing so, even when they're already overpowered, is just not fair."

What Buffy didn't say, of course, was a Slayer could also be a witch. Not that anyone suspected that Buffy had harmed Faith or that she was a witch, of course (nor should they), Angel knew. Or that Faith was a witch who had done this to herself. But Angel did know for a fact that there had been at least one Slayer witch… or one who had been suspected of being a witch, at least. He supposed the question was whether or not the Watcher's Journals did…

"So what you're all really saying here, is you have no clue what's going on with Faith and you're wasting time distracting me with your pointless theories. Gee! Why am I not surprised?" Cordelia piped up, while looking at one of the Watcher's Journals herself now.

"I hate to admit it… but Cordy may have a point here, Buff. I know we all ruled out talking to Faith. But you’re her Sister Slayer. That has to get you some street cred, right, and maybe get you in the door. Do you think you could try it?" Xander asked sympathetically, laying a gentle hand on Buffy's shoulder now.

And though Angel knew this was done in friendship—it was—and surely was what was needed to get them all where they needed to be now, he couldn't help a moment of jealousy, as he once again remembered that Xander could see Buffy in sunlight and he couldn't… and that Xander could go all the places he couldn't with Buffy. Thankfully, the jealousy passed quickly.

Buffy buried her face in her hands for just a moment, seeming helpless—and how it pained Angel to see it—but she was at once herself again. "Yeah. I can try shooting the breeze with Faith. I mean, what's the worst that can happen?"

Angel hated that the smile she painted on her face now for everyone to see, and how it broke at the last moment.

And he promised himself that no matter what, that somehow, he would be there for Buffy when she confronted her fellow Slayer… whether she knew it or not.

…

Buffy's PoV

Buffy wasn't exactly thrilled about the idea of trying to meet with Faith. She knew she should have been: she should have been chomping at the bit to be there for her sister-in-arms, the way that Buffy often times wished that her friends could constantly be there for her. And she did feel that way. Truly.

…But it was just so hard with Faith. There had been a strange tension between them ever since Faith had found out that Buffy had lied to her about Angel—something that had never gone away.

But even before that, things hadn't always been easy between them. Buffy could never get over the sense that Faith was trying to steal what was hers—ridiculous, she knew—and she had to wonder if there would ever be a feeling of ease between them.

But Faith deserved someone in her corner. Especially now. So Buffy was putting on her big girl panties and doing what needed to be done… but the moment she walked into Faith's apartment—seeing her deal a killing blow to a Ruguru herself, with tears streaming down her face—Buffy wondered if she'd made the right choice.

"…Faith?" Buffy choked out her companion's name.

Faith whirled on Buffy then. And if Buffy had actually caught it (and she wasn't entirely sure she had), she thought that Faith might have looked some sort of mix of embarrassed and traumatized before settling on angry.

Scrubbing at her eyes, seemingly to stop her tears, Faith snapped, "Well, I guess you figured it out now, huh? Figures."

"Figured… what out?" Buffy echoed back, feeling at a complete loss. She thought she was getting pretty good at figuring out mysteries, but what Faith was talking about was completely beyond her. They slayed Rugurus, as they did all kinds of Hell beasties. And it was traumatizing that they were once human, yes, like a lot of their job was, but Buffy couldn't fathom why Faith was getting so bent out of shape over this.

…Wait a second. Wasn't that the girl that Buffy had had Angel take to the hospital? Had she been bitten without either of them knowing it, after all… and had then fed and fully turned? Was it possible that Angel couldn't smell half-turned Rugurus to have known she'd been bitten?

"That I lied to you, of course, Pollyanna. And was never assaulted. And man, do I just love that I had to get to a place where I would lie about something like that when I hate liars," Faith snarled, with a faraway look in her eyes. Was she remembering what had happened before and what had caused her to lie?

"Faith… I don't understand," Buffy admitted, feeling very small and vulnerable, as she crossed her arms over her chest now. But she already didn't like where this was going. It, after all, could only end in heartache for Faith.

Faith sighed. And that, at least, made Buffy feel somewhat better, because it was closer to the sadness she should have been feeling here, in having lost someone she cared about, if Buffy was guessing things correctly. Faith trying to hide it in being livid couldn't possibly be a good thing.

"I don't know why I'm going to tell you this now, B. Me not wanting to tell you before is the whole reason I probably fell into this mess. But I didn't want to be compared to you and Angel—and your shipwreck of a story—and I knew that's what everyone would say-"

Faith was clearly getting going off the deep end again. And she backed away from Buffy—to try and get a handle on her temper, the blonde Slayer guessed—before she continued with, "It all started when I stole a car. A real great choice, I know. But I was capable of doing that, but somehow not smart enough to know how to put gas into the clunker. That's how I met Saya. She saw me struggling and helped me out.

"We talked a little bit then—and she liked me right away and wanted to hang sometime—but I wasn't that trusting. Knowing she used that gas station to get groceries, I decided to go out of my way to another one to get my goods. But one day, wouldn't you know it? She happened to be there. Shopping for a nice card for her sister's birthday, or some shit.

“At that point—even though I'm really no romantic, B, I'm thinkin' maybe there's something to this. So, we go out. And then we go out a few times. We watch the ‘Clue’ movie at my crappy apartment, ‘Fight Club’… and the whole time, Saya doesn't even pressure me for sex. It's kind of nice. I should have known it was too good to last, because she-"

"She got bitten by a Ruguru," Buffy figured out. Of course. And she had come to Faith, probably freaking out (maybe Faith had even told Saya she was the Slayer so she knew she could confide in her). The two of them would have been convinced they could make it work, as long as Saya didn't feed. But even a semi-Ruguru must have had some strength, which explained the marks Buffy had seen on Faith's shoulders.

And when Buffy had asked her about them, Faith had said she'd been assaulted because, in so many ways, she didn't want to be told her and Saya's story was like Buffy and Angel's. Would Faith have been afraid she'd have to face the fact they were doomed if she told the Scoobies the truth, the way everyone seemed to think she and Angel were? Did Faith think she might have told Giles on her if she knew the truth, and then he might have pressured her to slay Saya even if she hadn't gone full Ruguru?

The night Angel had seen Faith in the hospital… had Faith been seeing about getting a psychologist for Saya, in hoping that would help her fight her urges and the change?

In the end, despite their best efforts, it seemed Saya had given in and fed and now Faith had been forced to slay someone she'd started to love.

"Faith, I'm so so-"

"Save it and get out, Buffy. I don't want your pity!"

Of course Faith would see it as pity, Buffy thought—tears starting to sting her eyes now—when she still had Angel.

"At least let me help you bury he-"

"I said leave! This is something I have to do, and me alone. And I swear to God, Buffy, if you get in my way. I will kill you."

"Faith," Buffy started, walking towards Faith because she knew her sister Slayer couldn't mean that. She just couldn't.

But suddenly Angel was there, standing behind the threshold of Faith’s room, and imploring of Buffy the same thing that Faith was.

“Buffy, let Faith have her wish. We can check on her later, when she’s feeling better.” That was the last thing Buffy wanted to do now. She knew that Faith needed her; Faith was raising up her castle walls even higher to protect herself. Pretty soon, no one would be able to reach her within them. Not even Faith herself.

But there was a certain urgency in Angel’s tone that Buffy didn’t understand, but trusted all the same. So, despite herself, Buffy joined Angel outside the small apartment and let him begin leading her away.

“Faith, if you need anything-” Buffy begged, but Faith was already cutting her off with, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. You’ll ever be the perfect little girl scout and help me out. I can handle this, like I handle everything. Including your Boy Toy, if you don’t get out of here, Buffy!”

Buffy hated to admit it, but Faith threatening Angel was the last straw. Threatening her was one thing, but alluding to making an attempt on Angel—when he was still weak from Hell—terrified her. Buffy didn’t know if Angel would at all survive a fight with the other Slayer, if Faith really put her mind to it. And in her grief, Buffy thought that Faith might actually attack him, if she thought that it was unfair that Buffy got to keep the one that she loved and she didn’t.

“Okay, we’re leaving.” And with that, Buffy led Angel out into the night, almost wishing that she’d never come to Faith’s to be confronted with this tragedy in the first place. For so many reasons did she wish this.

She felt numb now—not unlike how Faith herself was now, which Buffy hated—and she didn’t know how long she’d been walking, or even where she was going, until Angel grabbed her hand to halt her. “Want to go to the park?” he asked with a shrug, far too innocently for someone who had surely witnessed everything that she just had. She should have known that he’d been spying with her.

And really, Buffy was glad Angel had been watching out for her in this situation, because she didn’t need to get into a fight with Faith (something he had saved her from)—and she knew she’d been getting close to that with Faith’s temper—but part of Buffy couldn’t help feeling that it made everything worse, because now instead of there being even more bad blood between her and Faith (something she wanted to believe she could have handled), it was now between all three of them. And so someone else had even moreseo joined the “Let’s Hate Angel” club.

“I want to kill something, Angel!” Buffy argued, finally noticing that her popping hot anger had subconsciously led her to Restfield Cemetery where she could get some action.

Buffy pulled out Mr. Pointy from her pocket, and was about to run towards the vampire that she thought she could feel pinging on her radar aways away, but Angel had wrapped his arms around her waist to stop her before she could move an inch.

“No, Buffy,” he whispered into her ear. And if she shivered at all, it was because of the chilly night air, not because she felt any of the things for Angel that she wasn’t supposed to. Not at all. “Your anger is making you see red, so you going after vamps tonight would just be asking for trouble.”

Buffy wanted to argue that she’d used this to aid her in slaying vampires and other nasties many a time, thank you very much, but deep down she knew that Angel was right. She was too distracted to do any serious damage.

Slumping in his arms irritably, because she felt a bit like a kid being told they couldn’t have dessert until they ate their veggies (and whoa. Since when had she enjoyed slaying so much?), Buffy relented with, “Fine. The park, you said?”

Angel nodded without a word, but he did take Buffy’s hand into his own. She’d appreciate that little wonder, at least. Then, as if they’d been walking hand-in-hand together their whole lives—if only they could, Buffy thought with a broken heart—he began leading her towards their intended destination.

Idly, Buffy wondered why he didn’t suggest going back to the mansion for this discussion they were inevitably going to have, but Buffy supposed he must have had something up his sleeve.

Before much time had seemed to pass it all (Sunnydale really was too small. Didn’t it know she needed any excuse she could get to be with Angel? Especially right now?), the two had reached Hammersmith Park.

Angel untangled his hand from Buffy’s, which was definitely a disappointment, but only to hop on the first swing that he saw before him and begin swinging: something that was so bizarre and hilarious to Buffy, that she could almost forgive not being in his arms any longer. Almost.

He indicated with a head motion that Buffy should take the swing next to him; and who was Buffy to deny this strange whim of Angel’s?

Once the two of them had swung together for a few minutes, and Buffy had amused herself by trying to catch Angel’s hand a few times while they did so, they both came to a stop and finally began discussing the Heavy.

“It was my fault, Buffy. I should have known that—Saya, was it?—had been bitten. Twice, it sounds like. I’d never faced Rugurus before, but I’d read about them a lot and I assumed I knew everything there was to know. But I should have guessed that those half-turned would be different… that maybe they wouldn’t have a smell to them. If I had, I could have pieced this all together. Maybe I could have stopped her from changing and Faith could have avoided this whole awful story. You sent me to take care of Saya that night, and I should have done a better job at it.”

Right in front of them, a mother was tying a balloon onto one child’s hand while handing another one of her children a snow cone. It was a cute sight. Buffy figured that this had to be the reason that Angel had wanted to go somewhere, rather than just going to the mansion: so that they would hopefully see people out and about and remember there was still good in the world, even if right now it didn’t seem like it.

“It’s not fair to blame yourself like that, Angel. I mean, who would have ever guessed that. Everything else has a scent, like full-fledged Rugurus. So who would have thought those first bitten wouldn’t? Life just sucks.”

Angel had nothing to say to that, as he seemed to suddenly find his shoes very interesting, and Buffy hoped that he had taken her words to heart and believed her. But knowing him, he had found a new thing to forever beat himself up about.

“What are we going to do about Faith?” Buffy finally asked the dreaded question, tightly grabbing the chains of her swing and—for whatever reason—refusing not to look at Angel right now. Was it because she thought that Faith’s story ending so badly was further proof that she and Angel were destined to forever be Romeo and Juliet themselves? “Should we tell the others that we found out what was going on with he-”

“I wouldn’t,” Angel answered right away, with what almost sounded like a scoff to Buffy. “At least not right now. She won’t thank you if you do. Maybe later… If you tell anyone, I’d tell Giles and try to get him to talk to her. Though I don’t have much love for the Watchers’ Council—and you certainly wouldn’t know it from anyone else but Giles—they’re somewhat trained in psychology. Maybe, once she’s healed a little, he could talk to Faith. But for now, I think the best thing to do is to try and let this whole thing blow over…”

There was something in Angel’s tone at the end there that hinted to Buffy that there was more than what he was telling her—she wondered if it had to do with his past—but she had the feeling he wouldn’t tell her if she asked. And she really didn’t feel like digging up more skeletons tonight, so she let it go. For the moment.

“You think everyone will be satisfied that I couldn’t crack Faith, and to just leave the ‘mystery’ unsolved?”

“On the Hellmouth? Yes, unfortunately.” Again, it seemed like there was more Angel wanted to say here, but whatever it was, it seemed his lips were sealed for the night.

Later, when Buffy was feeling more on her game and like her punning self, she’d really have to do something about that.

Buffy had suffered a few losses since becoming the Slayer, but until tonight, she’d never found one where she’d have to be quiet about something. She wasn’t a fan of it. At all. And if Faith wasn’t so unreasonable, she knew she wouldn’t be taking to such a thing, and rather be charging in like a bull in a china cabinet.

“Well, I hate this,” Buffy tried to laugh, attempting to get closer to her usual self. But it might have sounded more like a cry. She wasn’t sure.

“Ditto,” Angel agreed, seeming to try for a strained smile himself, as it appeared that he was in complete accordance with her.

“Angel… do you have anything to make this night better?” Buffy wailed, swinging closer to him so that their legs brushed. She knew that she was begging and probably sounded like a child—even after Angel had gone to the trouble of bringing her to the park here, in order to improve things a little bit—but right now, she just didn’t care.

Buffy’s favorite vampire didn’t seem to have an answer for a long time. Buffy was even about to mention that maybe he should give up on trying to think of anything to improve this night and just walk her home, but finally he seemed to have come up with something and he offered her a small smile. “Well, in the musical adaptation of Phantom of the Opera, Christine comes back while the Phantom is alive to give him back his ring. It sort of serves as an extended goodbye for them. And in some versions, depending on the actress, she might kiss his hand.”

Huh. In the novel, there was something similar to that: Erik had asked Christine to come back and bury him when he eventually died, and she did. And she buried him with said ring. Truthfully, Buffy liked Christine being kind enough to return in both endings, but maybe she did prefer this musical one. Perhaps she’d have to check this musical out sometime.

“That is a nice little epilogue. Thanks, Angel,” And Buffy blushed, despite herself, before she kissed her boyfriend on the cheek, for she knew too well what he’d been trying to get at with his explanation, after all.

Maybe there was a bit of hope for those who loved monsters, after all.

Author's Note: Rugarus were a monster from the TV show “Supernatural” that I used here.

I tried not to use any references to the Buffy novels for this fic, and I succeeded for the most part except for in two places: The first is that Buffy does fight the muses in the book “Power of Persuasion” and Angel is gone until the end of the book, for he was a mission Giles gave him (and Buffy is very much relieved to see him at the end, resting her head on his shoulder). Though we don’t know what that mission was. I made one up here.

The other is that in the novels, Willow and Giles do create a Slayer database to try and better figure out stuff that Buffy might face on the Hellmouth: A.K.A. they give it all of the stuff Buffy’s faced, and they hope it’ll spit out data for them, like, “It is likely that Buffy will face X on this date.” At one point, Cordelia ends up working on it, after her dad gets caught cheating on his taxes (because Willow is too busy to at the moment) and Giles offers to pay her to, which is why she does it (though I forget if this is before or after the database is destroyed—yes, it gets destroyed—like if she’s adding to a working one or trying to rebuild it). I have Cordelia working on it in this story, as it’s a good reason for her to be there after she and Xander have broken up and she’s left the Scoobies. Yep.

#bangel #buffy and faith #angel and faith #buffy summers #angel #faith lehane #fanfiction #fanfic #fic #season 3 #series 3 #season 3/series 3 #canon #canon compliant #mystery #slight mystery #angst #romance #fluff #friendship #set after helpless #missing moment #kind of #filling in the blanks #btvs #buffy #buffy the vampire slayer #mine #my work #shanna writes

[rissi-chan]

Patreon Launch!

Hey, fellow fanatics!

I decided to finally take the plunge and launch a Patreon for my art (fanart and original) and writing (fanfic and original). Both becaue it will motivate me to draw and write more often, and because of my current life situation (which will be explained as best I can under the cut, for those that care to read).

There will be NSFW content in certain pledges, so MDNI with the subscription levels that include that stuff!

Fanart will mostly be BG3 as that is my most recent and current hyperfixation, but other fandoms I am likely to produce content from include:

Dungeons and Dragons, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Touchstarved

AND potentially the occasional/rare otome/dating sim fandoms, Fire Emblem, and various anime and/or manga.

Along with original content and characters that live in my head rent free!

I will also most likely periodically do commissions—but I will have to set up a pricing breakdown/separate web page for that, probably.

Here is the link to my freshly launched page!:

Now, the life ramble that explains my current situation:

So, life is hard.

I've been lucky. I don't pay rent (I still live with my mother). I only have to help pay for groceries on occasion. I have a job (barely, but we'll get into that) with probably the most freedom/flexibility on could possibly imagine. I have free time—loads.

So what's the problem?

The job I mentioned is hard to really call a job. I'm all but officially unemployed. My parents (when my dad was still alive) bought the local newspaper that my mom has worked at for nearly as long as I've been alive. We live in a small, SMALL town. The run of each weekly issue is maybe in the 2,000-4,000 range. We make most of our money selling ads (which is gross, but the newspaper industry is failing in general, and we are a just a local, rural print and many choose other, more advanced forms of advertisement which reach a broader audience). We've been in the red for the past 2 years, my mother often skipping her own pay check to ensure that she can pay the 2 other elderly employees that are on staff. I make less than $400 a month. Much less.

That's the price you pay for freedom. Little pay, LOTS of time. The reverse is also true, which is something I'm sure a vast majority of people can relate to.

Capitalism is so much fun, isn't it?

Those that are out of college and live with a parent may also be able to relate to what comes next.

The relationship between my mother and I has always had its strained moments, to put it mildly. We are very different people. We have different life experiences, we cope with stress differently. There is a running joke on social media that living with your parents after college/as an adult has the financial advantages, but at the cost of your mental health—and that is very much the reality of our situation.

My biggest insecurity in recent years—since the sudden passing of my father in 2018—has been the feeling of being a burden.

I've never been a healthy person. We always joke that I got all the sickly genetics and my brother got all the cosmic bad luck. I'm autistic. I have anxiety and depression. I have an autoimmune disease. I inherited the genetic heart condition that killed my father. I had a blood clot 2 years ago. I no longer have health insurance. None of this is uncommon, certainly. But I avoid healthcare entirely unless it's an absolute necessity (like the blood clot).

I limit my eating, so we don't have to buy groceries as often.

But my mother has always had a temper, especially when she's stressed. And with the business so up-in-the-air and the constant worry of having to close our doors and find new jobs in a VERY small town + in a society with very limited options, spam job listings, and bogus opportunities, she is almost ALWAYS stressed these days.

She takes it out on me. I'm the only one here.

My feelings of being a burden are all but confirmed for me in those moments. She knows just what to say to hurt me most (whether she realizes it or not, she uses my insecurities against me), and my mental and emotional health worsen, as does the relationship between my mother and I.

I play games or draw or write to feel happy. To have some reprieve from reality.

But "it doesn't make money" and therefore it's a waste of time.

And that brings me to where I am now.

I may make next-to-nothing by launching a Patreon, but it will still be more than the next-to-nothing I make now as well as the LITERAL nothing I will be making if the business is forced to close.

I continue to job hunt on a daily basis, mostly for remote work given my middle-of-nowhere location (if anyone knows of any legit positions I could look into PLEASE let me know—send me a PM, reply to this post, anything). But this will both motivate me to keep doing the things that make me happy and also provide a tiny bit of support to our financial situation.

I have also been in a long distance relationship going on 9 years now. Long distance as in nearly 9,000 miles and an entire ocean away. I try to visit every year, but obviously during Covid that was not an option (totally and completely understandable), and with our finances so precarious, it gets more and more difficult to see my now (as of my visit last year) fiance.

If I can manage to get the money together, we plan to elope during my visit this year. But our future is undeniably going to be difficult without money. Moving isn't cheap. Immigrating isn't easy.

But that's all on the back-burner for now, while we address the more immediate concerns.

I am motivated to do what I can to make ANY extra money while looking for a legitimate job to provide a more stable situation.

Any support—a reblog, a share, a pledge/subscription, a job listing suggestion, ANYTHING will be MASSIVELY appreciated.

I know life is difficult for pretty much everyone on the planet right now. If we could all help each other easily, we would. But I understand that that's not an easy ask for most people at this point in time. I hate having to resort to monetizing my passions, and asking people for support (not pressuring, but even asking is hard in the current state of the world).

But I see few other options.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading my rant and please reblog/share <3

#send help #help #please help #life #my life #patreon #launch #art #my art #my artwork #fanfiction #fanfic #fanfics #fic writing #writers on tumblr #writerscommunity #writers and poets #creative writing #my writing #digital art #artwork #original characters #original art #original character #original charater art #original writing #original story #writing #artists on tumblr #female writers

[sunnyelfs]

Now that I know how it ended, I'm going to pretend the series ended on season two. 

Am I glad for the Wilmon endgame? Of course I am. Am I happy with the whole season three? Uh-uh. 

For the entire first five episodes, I felt like the writers were trying to create a lot of drama that was unnecessary while dumping really important stuff. After having video and dr*gs thing looming over the characters for two seasons, we got a resolution to those problems in what, ten minutes in the first episode? And after that, we're supposed to worry about the school closing? Ah, okay.

Once again, I'll agree with everyone who's already said it before me: this season has really messed up Wille and Simon's relationship. And while it's written logically, I still have a strong feeling that it was just for the sake of drama, just to keep us in suspense, to keep us wondering if they'll get over it. And that's just too damn bad. 

And the last episode in particular cranked that problem to the max (for me). Most of the episode was devoted to how they're trying to come to terms with the breakup. Thanks, I had a whole season two to know they weren't going to make it, they're in love and will never be fully over each other, can we move on?

Wille's reconciliation with his parents is wonderful, but it felt so strained, like, wow, one fight was enough for them to realize their mistakes. One conversation after that was enough for him to be allowed to leave? No, I believe he can leave his role (he shouldn't have been so active in it until after high school anyway) and live a relatively non-public life, but it seems so quick and easy.

The only thing that really felt like something earned after the long journey was Wilhelm's "reconciliation" with August. I didn't think I needed it, but this season made me look forward to something like that.

No, I believe that Wille and Simon will get through whatever it is, I believe they will be together, get married, have their three tiny dogs and be happy. I knew that before season three came out. My problem with this season is that all the drama for the sake of drama feels like it stole a lot of priceless time from the plot. Oh no, Erik might not have been the nicest person! Ah, bygones, he's a great brother after all. (Yes, this storyline was important to Wille, but I'm sure it could have been shown much better). School might close and our heroes won't be able to be around each other! Oh, you know, that hasn't been decided definitely yet. Anyways, they were willing to date long distance. Simon getting physically threatened by fanatics? Surely it won't get any worse when Wilhelm's abdication is announced and these nutjobs connect the dots and blame Simon. Our heroes have obvious communication problems and their difference in backgrounds does become an issue sometimes? Oopsie, we'll turn a blind eye to that now. And it feels like that from almost every storyline this season. A lot of new problems going unresolved.

Honestly, I've read fanfics that continued their story way better than season three did. And this is just sad. Still, happy Wilmon endgame everyone! 

#young royals #young royals season 3 #young royals spoilers

[yanderefairyangel]

4 Hounds deep dive part 3 : Griss, the fanatic

Oh boi, how the heck did Engage managed to make it to a T rating with this thing over here like.... how ?! 

So of course SPOILERS AHEAD and no, whatever postive things I might say about this maniac, I don’t like him nor do I justify any of the things he has done but if I have to be critical, I’ll have to put my biais aside... that is if I have anything postive to say about this creep oh God...

I have no idea if FE ever had a “masochist” stereotype up until now, but if that wasn’t the case then congrats : Engage open a new tradition. So basically, like Gregory, Griss had parents who treated him horribly and ended up abandoning him/solding him to the Fell dragon chruch

I politely refrain from assuming they had a 1:1 childhood since the brilliant aspect of the Winds isn’t that they are” The Hounds but good” but actually different people who just happen to look the same and I think that if they work so well, it’s precisely because of the Hounds regardless, the begining is the same except that the violent ritual that scarred Gregory to death... gave Griss addiction to pain and fanatiscm. And you know what ... I never expected to have to write this much about a maso degenarate that managed to pass through the Treehouse innuendos detector in what is essentially a game whose story is mean to appeal to 12 year old teenage boy who believes in the power of friendship but here I go.....

1 - About Masochism because I know people actually have no idea about the original term

Basically this word was formed from Leopold von Sacher-Masoch to describe someone who in general finds pleasure in pain, and i stress, in general. The reason why it exist are incredibly ridiculous : they basically coined this word after that man’s name because he liked to write his own spicy fanfic with his female OC being girlboss and being the dominated one.... God, will one day humanity cease to surprise me ?

Anyway one thing really important about Griss is that his masochism isn’t the most common and well know one... it’s religious masochism

The difference is that it’s more or less similar to moral masochism, where the individual is having incounsious guilt and beacuse of this seeks to be victimized but really not of pleasure but for punishement sake... ok, so basically we have a new layer to add to Rafal’s psychological problem, but regardless the one thing peculiar about Griss relationship to this is that he takes it to a whole other level where it becomes the seek of appeasement that drives him, since the pleasure he seeks is a spiritual one as pointed out by Mauvier “ he considered his own pain to be spiritual - an offering to the Fell dragon”

In short, Griss’s masochism is a form of * drumrolls* ascetism

2 - Ascetism (because I am sure the kids reading this have no idea what it means)

By ascestism we usually are talking about discpline of the body and the mind to tend to perfection. In religious case, those are pratice of spiritually purfication. The one that Griss is actually addicted to his mortification, a religious Christian practice that consist into making yourself go through physical suffering to elevate your spirit. This includes whipping in case you sin in order to obtain forgivness or stuff like that to prouve your faith and devotion. And yes it can becomes addictive because of THAT very criteria since we got historical record of excessives tendencies for many ended up seeking an extreme suffering in spite of their bodies to punish themself and repent for their sins. I dont want to say anything dumb, but if I recall Louis LePieux was one famous case of self- whipping but you might as well check that yourself at any rate let’s get back to the main topic. Griss’s additicion to pain is actually an act of devotion, he suffers for the sake of Sombron... to prouve his love for Sombron... yes, i will, obviously be forced to talk ONCE AGAIN about Sombron’s kids because of this. And to draw some parallel with Gregory because i might as well do it (God the more I dive into the story the worse Sombron gets)

In the JPN version for instance, Mauvier is more explicit on Griss mutilating himself to offer blood for Lord Sombron yikes

3- Griss ascestism being a way of coping 

If Griss had a childhood like that of Gregory with violent parents that sold him to the followers of Sombron you can bet this itself is pretty traumatizing already. However when a child ends up in a violent environnement he can have two outcome : either you refuse to indulge into it, either you become yourself an abuser. 

In Gregory’s case he was in the same position as Alear and Veyle, trying to be a “good child” with a good nature and kind hearted heart that never got his parents to love him and could not bear the toxic environnement within Sombron’s sect so he left

I mean according to Mauvier it was so wild Griss was unable to speak to anyone until Zephia came along

In Griss’s case, he is like Marni and how Rafal ended up (almost) becoming (except Rafal was possesed so even this is... you know what, Rafal really deserves his own post). His acceptance of pain was a way of coping with the abuse he received... and boi, did he embraced it... wow, he though if he offered enough suffering, it would satisfy Sombron and since he worships him, it’s a religious effort in his faith that he most defintely embraced... So rather than lamenting, he takes pride and pleasure in it as if this experience was elevating him spiritually. It must have been easier for Griss to do so considering that the pain receptors shares their space into the human brain with the pleasure one and yes, it’s precisely the reason why you can’t stop scratching yourself even on places that hurts. But yeah, bascially Griss’s coping is through a weird sort of fanastism masochism form of ascestism that did he ended up interiorizing it and honestly... it’s basically well fitting with the abuser/abusing theme in Engage

4 - Griss masochism being representative of the endless circle of abused victims becoming abuser themselves

Abusers or bully are often people who faced themselves abuse and are unable to suffer that only would go through that kind of abuse, finding it unfair. I remember a one shot by Mihara Mitsukazu (whose title I can’t remember) about an abused young girl growing up feeling envious of the love she gave her own child and ending up abusing her too simply because she didn’t wanted her to be happy when she couldn’t.... 

Now imagine this but in even more messed up and ... you have Griss

Because of all the points I mentionned above, you know why he takes pleasure in pain but just as how Griss is a rare case of actual masochism, he also happens to be a rare case of actual sadist since he also takes pleasure in seeing people suffering but not to please them, but to make them really suffer... look I know it makes no sense but how can I help it that he is that messed up ? But yeah, basically years of abuse and cruelty with the followers of the Fell dragon turned him into a devout of pain and I let you imagine the terrible effect this has on a child’s mind. I mean Griss is just one of the possible reaction to abuse, you also have being emotionally broken (Alear) or scared of any form of pain (Gregory) or ... whatever state Rafal is in because i don’t even know how to name it...  but he clearly would not be able to change the way he is in any case, nor want to anyway. Regardless, it’s obvious it’s because of his childhood he himself ended up walking down into the path of abusers even if then it’s a bit complicated because he doesn’t partake into the abuse of Marni and Veyle by Zephia but he defintely is an accomplice. 

If I had to keep up with what I said about Zephia being influenced by Sombron, I think it’s a perfect example : When Sombron abused his kids, Zephia never took parts in the abuse herself, but she still collected the dead body and let the things happens. Well here same thing, Griss didn’t stabbed Marni himself but hum...

He is kind of smiling... Ok nuance here, cause Zephia herself found it sad that all of Sombron’s kid were destined to die and shown some empathy, here however, both Zephia and Griss are smiling and ehhhh wow, this scene was way more messed up than I thought...

I wouldn’t say Griss is upset but he still thinks that Marni died in vain, which is something Mauvier will never forgive of both Zephia and Griss

After all Griss still considered the Hounds family and here we go, the moment where you realize he really his messed up, but more than you though

5 - Griss and family, because of course all villains have the same motivations in this game

If you recall, Griss in his introduction was the first one to sort of mock the idea of the Hounds being a family, he said “ Hah! You tell yourself that. She’s a dragon, and the rest of us are humans. Family, she call us...” and coming from the one guy who will, as he agonize says he did really consider the Hounds a family

After all, he does call Marni’s death “a waste” and thinks she has been killed for nothing”. And when he fight against Mauvier he asks “You come to take revenge ? Or were you hoping the Hounds would you take you back ? We were a family, Mauvier. That makes us like brothers.” 

It seems obvious here that Griss wasn’t particulary enthusisast nor sad at Marni’s death and Mauvier leaving but he still thinks that if Zephia wasn’t such a coward (my words not his) the Hounds could still have had a chance to stay together. 

However I should clarify that there is only one person to whom Griss feels really like family and it’s.. you guessed it, Zephia.

If you recall Mauvier said everyone avoided Griss because of his... “devotion” let’s say, everyone except... Zephia, on the contrary this “devotion” caught her attention which is something considering she had eyes for no one but Sombron... nay actually that explains it, but since Zephia was the only person for him and he was very lonely..you know the rest

Much like how Zephia wanted to be seen by Sombron and was blind to what she already had, Griss wanted to be seen by Zephia but he wasn’t blind, just so loyal that he would never leave her hence his reaction when she asks him about joining Alear’s party

The key word here is “abandon” which is 1) Zephia’s worst fear and at the same time what she kept experiencing 2) what Griss’s parent did too him years ago. Zephia being the dearest person to Griss (his words, not mine) he would not be able to do that... that’s where you can actually see there is a limit to Griss’s pleasure to hurts others 

Look at how he reacts when Alear fights him :

Alear : Why are you doing all of this ? Is Zephia making you ?

Griss : What kind of question is that ?! I’m here because I wanna be Ok ?

Alear : I see

Griss : Hah! How sweet ! Worried about little old Griss ! That’s an insult to me and Zephia ! I won’t forgive that ever. Ever. EVER! I’m gonna hurt you every which way, and then kill you once and for all !

Griss is being much more polite here compared to the JPN version... basically Alear is asking him because all of the people in Zephia’s surrounding were either possessed (Veyle) either were coerced in some way or manipulated in some way since Marni stayed because of Zephia feeding her of praise and Mauvier stayed because of Veyle... Griss is the only member of the 4 Hounds who stayed with Zephia out of own volition and for Zephia in herself, so Alear questioning his loyalty toward Zephia pissed him so much he saw it as an insult towards the both of them and repeat 3 times “I wont forgive you” and put him in a state you never saw him during the entire game. He didn’t like Alear questioning his love for Zephia.

So when Griss ask Zephia why she turns her back only now, he isn’t saying he wished she had done things differently, but that he would have follower her even if she did it. That’s putting more responsabilty on Zephia’s delusion on one side, but if he did love her this much, shouldn’t he have tried to open her eyes earlier ? Regardless, the one person he definitely saw as family was her, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the real reason why he ended up being so devoted in her cause was because, upon seeing how they were both so devoted to Lord Sombron, he ended up having her as a second deity... so Griss was actually polytheist ? Eh I must not lose track right now. 

But yeah, it’s obvious that Griss really felt family towards Zephia alone since she was the only person for him and the only one he ever saw, repeating the Sombron/Zephia schema which itself is repeating the Sombron/0Emblem schema except Griss and Zephia’s relationship doesn’t end as tragically because Zephia is actually able to open her eyes, even if it’s too late and that she was able to return Griss’s feelings

Even in death Griss ends up following Zephia; without her, Griss is literaly nothing. He has no convictions besides her, no motivations other than her, had Zephia joined Alear, he would have followed but not for Alear, but for Zephia, Zephia and Zephia only... man, we got another yandere

Once again, Griss’s motivation are lead by his familial love for Zephia, which also are reason to explain why he became a religious masochist, but that doesn’t make him sympathetic in the least... he still is a freaking degenerate even abuse or not, and note that just as it was the case for Zephia, only when he died do you learn of his circumstances but seeing Gregory’s reaction, it’s pretty obvious that he doesn’t feel a single shread of sympathy for his analogue, heck Veyle herself strays up tell him that even though she can’t hate him, she can’t forgive him either and just as it was too late for Zephia to makes things right, it goes for Griss, not to mention that her support with Gregory shows how Veyle is scared of Griss... I honestly wonder how upon hearing it I am supposed to feel pity knowing that it just shows how Griss was a victim that ended up becoming an abuser and frankly props to anyone who though of showing this by making him sadomasochist

#tw mentions of abuse #and of sm #fire emblem #fire emblem engage #fe engage #fire emblem emotional damage #four hounds #griss fe #griss fire emblem

[saemi-the-dreamer]

For the Headcanons meme

Bowser Junior: ♥ and ☯

Trucy Wright: ☆ , ♦ and ♒ And the Same thing for Klavier Gavin =)

Severus Snape: ☆ (i know it will be hard ^^" because this "poor" man have not been happy for years), ☮, ♒ and ★

You can ask me as much that you want too =)

Thanks for the ask <3

Bowser Junior

♥ - family headcanon

Junior didn't ask his father who his "real mother" was after the events of Super Mario Sunshine. Partly because a part of him had clung so much to the idea of Peach being his mom that he wasn't ready to let go of it completely yet, even if he acknowledge the truth. But also because he was happy with his father, and had never really felt lonely with him, Kamek, the Koopalings and even Dad's henchmen; it's like a big family and he loves it dearly.

☯ - likes/dislikes headcanon

Funnily, Junior likes to eat vegetables, contrary (and to the shock) of his Dad! But since he loves them best with spicy, hot sauce/flavour, Bowser kinda shruggs it off quickly.

Like most kids of his age, he doesn't like getting send to bed early, even when he's getting sleepy. He wants to spend more time with Papa and help him in his plans or play with him longer.

Trucy Wright

☆ - happy headcanon

The fact that every night, no matter how late he came back home, Phoenix would take the time to check on her and kiss her forehead before going to bed himself. Trucy felt so loved and overwhelmed by this simple gesture.

♦ - quirks/hobbies headcanon

Trucy is very good at crafting in general, she loves to knit - as we see how she did Phoenix's beanie - and sew. For a long time, she made her dolls' dresses/clothes herself instead of buying more, both to save money but also because she loves doing them. She made her magician attire herself.

Biking, especially after riding a bike with her new Dad, she wanted to be able to follow him and the two often joke that they might do a country race together.

♒ - cooking/food headcanon

As I wrote in one of my fanfic, Trucy is a very good cook! Since Phoenix and her are on a quite low budget, the two found recipes for dishes that wouldn't cost too much. She's the champion for various curry dishes.

Klavier Gavin

☆ - happy headcanon

When he and Kristoph still lived with their parents, they didn't go much to the cinema. But after moving in with their aunt Exilia, he could go see his very first superhero movie in theatre with his brother. Both the hero and music were a huge inspiration for him.

♦ - quirks/hobbies headcanon

Klavier's favourite sport is natation. He just loves swimming, ever since he was a kid.

He reads quite a lot in his spare time, both to clear his mind and to find inspiration.

Baking! See below ^^

♒ - cooking/food headcanon

Klavier cooks well, but his area is more pastries! He started mostly because he knew Kristoph had a sweet tooth and wanted to make him happy, then he realised he actually loved baking. Klavier makes the best pancakes, he needs to threaten to charge people otherwise he'd get called everyday/exploited by the Wright Agency.

Severus Snape

☆ - happy headcanon

Some of his (mostly Slytherin) students found out when his birthday was and for years, he found some little gifts (more or less expensive depending on the students) with cards sent to his office, thanking him.

☮ - friendship headcanon

There were 2 classmates in Slytherin (not blood supremacists or Voldy-fanatics) that he got along well enough. The three could have become friends if it had not been for their personnal problems coming into the way.

Years later, he crossed path with the husband of one of them with his daughter, and the latter told Severus that his wife regretted not actually befriending him and that, were she still alive, she would have liked to reach out to him. This kinda lifted his spirit up a bit.

♒ - cooking/food headcanon

Severus is very good at cooking, but he doesn't always take the time to do so. Either because he's too busy, or because he doesn't take care of himself that well.

★ - sad headcanon

(oh dear) Despite everything, Snape really loved Dumbledore as a somewhat father-figure, and he knew Dumbledore loved him too (not romantically ofc), but the Headmaster prioritze "the greater good" before anything else.

#ask #answer #my headcanons #super mario bros #bowser junior #ace attorney #trucy wright #klavier gavin #harry potter #severus snape

[awesomex7]

Ten First Lines Game

Rules: Share the first line of ten of your most recent fanfics and then tag ten people. Don’t have ten? Not to worry, just share what you have.

Was tagged by @ben-the-hyena for this little challenge so here I go. XD As for who to tag I have no clue since I don't know any major fic writers here on Tumblr besides Luon and their fics are comics. So I guess @luonnonvalinnat ? Sorry for tagging you, I had to tag someone. ^^'

Edit: I just remembered @xandriagreat worked on fics too, so here is a tag to you. XD

Also I realized more than ten of my recent fics are Bad Guys fics. It's the movie that stuck with me the most when it comes to silly fun and heartwarming fic ideas. ^_^

Caring [fan fiction of a comic]

"Snake… If you buy anymore, you'll turn into a push-pop."

And then Snake became a push-pop. From this line alone you wouldn't think this was different than my other fics. Up until Cathy finally shows up. That's when things truly start. ^^

2. The Bad Guys in Night of the Underlords 

"Wolf, do we really have to? We wore enough ridiculous things in a lifetime already."

Had to include the second sentence since The Bad Guys are basically known for their wacky fashion choices at this point.

3. The Bad Guys in One Good Deed Too Many

“It’s been one hour and twenty-five minutes since little Jimmy fell down the well."

Longest sentence out of all of them. XD

4. The Bad Guys in The Breaking Good

"Shaaaark…" 

I enjoyed Shark and Snake's push-pop rivalry, had to make a fic dedicated to this duo. XD

5. The Snuggle Guys

“Here we are!”

The start of a fic filled with silly fluff and a redemption arc no one expects that I am sure at least half of the fanbase doesn't agree with. 

6. The Bad Guys in The Detention Guys 

"Thank goodness Diane!"

Their mentor and the one who gets them out of their messes. X'D

7. The Bad Guys in Little Problems

“Okay gang… Our first big heroic heist as good guys!”

Yes, because your first "heroic heist" didn't go wrong.

8. The Bad Guys in Recovery

“To think all you have to do is to act like cute animals rather than scary animals.” 

How the Bad Guys get everyone to like them. XD

9. The Bad Guys in Good Tonight

“Tonight is the night.”

A fun filled night with all the Bad Guys.

10. The Bad Guys in Girl's Trip

“EEEE! so cute~”

The fic in a nutshell. Just Webs and Diane being cute and silly. XD Gave Diane a quirk that she is a bug fanatic, which I never brought up again. ^^'

My writing for the most part improved since the tenth fic. My latest one is like the magnus opus of all the Bad Guys fics I wrote.

#the bad guys #Ten First Lines Game #the bad guys fanfiction #fanfics

[karigarihakase]

Drive Head and Earth Granner were not flops in Japan

Let me start with a small disclaimer. I’m not writing this because I’m a big Tomica fan and I don’t like seeing their anime slandered. I’m also a big Spider Riders fan and have no problem telling you that it was a flop of epic proportions. I’m also not writing this to slander Shinkalion. I think it’s a great show.

This seems to be an ongoing misconception, mainly outside of Japan though I’ve seen some Japanese fans too that assume this (and usually get shot down right away because this is just not true).

I should start by addressing the elephant in the room, which is Shinkalion, as it’s often the context for this discussion coming up in the first place. Shinkalion was a smash success in Japan. It was the perfect storm. Trains are huge, so a series devoted to them, packed with accurate train facts and detail, was going to be big. The work was targeted at young children, but attracted an audience of older railfans as well. The series had a ton of popular seiyuu, so it attracted older otaku who watch for seiyuu. The series had Google as a sponsor, so it had big money behind it from the getgo. It had collabs with hugely popular properties, including Vocaloid, Evangelion and Godzilla. So yes, it attracted fans of Vocaloid, Evangelion and Godzilla who weren’t going to watch it for any of the other reasons listed above. So yeah, there’s no denying Shinkalion was a big success in Japan. But there’s no denying Frozen was a big success in the west (and Japan, and all over the place.) An argument that Drive Head and Earth Granner weren’t successful because they never reached Shinkalion’s level of popularity is like saying Tangled or Big Hero 6 were flops because they weren’t as big as Frozen. (And to be honest, I’m not in Disney fandom. Maybe there are people that argue that? But if there are, they’re idiots.)

Let’s start by talking about the origin of Drive Head a bit, because it’s rather important for explaining what happened. Drive Head was the first TV anime made to promote the Tomica brand of die-cast cars. It was neither the first Tomica anime, nor their first TV series. But it still was something of an experiment, given the brand has existed since 1970. Drive Head was billed as a co-production between OLM (a.k.a. the Pokemon studio) and XEBEC. But as anyone who takes the time to look through the credits can tell you, OLM had very little actual involvement in it. And XEBEC was on its last days. Drive Head had a dismally low budget, with constant off-model animation and two recap episodes, which is another reason that western anime fans were not impressed. Ignoring the fact that the series was aimed at children in Japan as a vehicle to sell toys, not sakuga fanatics.

And the reason that the creators just didn’t care? Well, besides the fact that it was experimental in ways, and that it was just made to sell toys to pre-schoolers? Because Drive Head was merely designed as a placeholder for Shinkalion while it was in production. Takara Tomy wanted Shinkalion to be big. Drive Head was a throwaway. Even the toys themselves were just retools from the Hyper Series line in the first wave.

But Drive Head was a big surprise to the Takara Tomy execs. Because it was big with its target audience. Now, the target audience of Drive Head is not on social media. They’re not the type pouring out fanart on Pixiv. Probably, they can’t even draw (some of the fan-submitted art on Drive Head News Channel, the live-action variety show it spawned proves this.) They’re pre-schoolers! That being said, Drive Head does have aspects that can appeal to adults (as long as they care about more than sakuga). Yeah, I did write that essay and a million fanfics about the villain/heroine romance straight out of Megamind that probably wasn’t written with the target audience in mind. Drive Head did somehow manage to trend on Twitter whenever new episodes aired. Heck, the series character designer posts fanart on Twitter that often treads NSFW territory and has an audience for it. But, Takara Tomy also doesn’t care about that audience, nor should they. They care about selling toys to kids.

Now, the first wave of Drive Head toys went out of print pretty quickly, when the robots were replaced in-universe by their mid-season upgrades. And the price of Sonic Interceptor, the main character’s first mech spiked up right away. There was still a demand for it. This probably should’ve been the first sign the toyline was doing well. Takara did take notice, and this placeholder show that was originally only planned for 37 episodes (an unusual amount when most kids shows run for 4+ cour) was expanded to have a sequel web series and movie. It has been officially stated from the staff that the series was planned to end at episode 37, and changes did have to be made to expand the plot. It must have been early enough in its run for this to be decided. However, given that the web series was primarily recap episodes (and even the entirely new ones were short episodes) and the movie was about an hour long and didn’t have significantly higher production values than the TV series, they clearly still rushed to get these made. The success of Drive Head was said to be unexpected. Even with the movie, they were still surprised. They had planned for two interactive Drive Gear linked screenings (the Drive Gear being a toy that made certain sounds in response to the show itself). Drive Gears were available for loan at these showings. Not only were these showings sold out so quickly that they set up a few more, but many kids brought their own Drive Gear from home, not needing to borrow one. The movie itself was also shown only in limited theaters, which led to enough complaints that they were forced to expand locations (and it still wasn’t enough). Though the movie wasn’t a box-office topping success and it’s actual revenue remains unknown barring in Korea where it seemed to indeed be a flop, it still proved popular with (once again) its target audience. Two theatres even kept playing it for a couple months after all the rest stopped.

Drive Head has continued to be rebroadcast on satellite networks and various streaming services. It is -still- popular with its target audience. You get posts on Twitter like, ‘my kid loves Drive Head and is asking for the toys, but they’re $200 on Amazon. Help!’ There’s still that much demand for these toys.

Unfortunately for these kids and parents, Drive Head hasn’t seen a single re-issue on the toys since its end, and has barely been acknowledged by Takara Tomy at all. There are a number of reasons for this. One is Shinkalion itself. The show that Drive Head was designed as a placeholder for and that Takara Tomy expected to be successful was so successful that it ended up running for longer than planned as well. It held onto the timeslot on TBS where Drive Head once aired until it was prematurely cancelled itself thanks to TBS wanting that timeslot to promote the ill-fated 2020 Olympics. So while there was talk from reliable sources about a Drive Head season 2 happening, it never got its chance to happen. The next reason is TBS itself. They screwed over all their anime programming, barring late-night fare, and it wasn’t until Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury came out in 2022 that they would even consider daytime anime again. So all of Takara Tomy’s properties jumped ship to TV Tokyo. And Drive Head, unlike Shinkalion, is so intrinsically tied to TBS that the likeness of their headquarters and even some of their staff members are featured in the anime. Though, given that real-Sasagawa no longer works for TBS, and has expressed interest in reprising her role one day, it could be feasible to get her on board if a TV Tokyo sequel ever happened. But for a time, there would definitely be some messy legal hoops involved, and there still could be for all I know. Thirdly, XEBEC. While Drive Head could be given to another studio easily enough (perhaps Studio Mother?), XEBEC is no longer of this world. A sequel under a new studio could lead to a radical staff change which might help or harm it. That and well… time’s passed. The time Shinkalion had the timeslot, Covid screwing with anime production after that… Despite new kids discovering the show through streaming platforms, the original target audience is older now and has moved on. It’s the kind of show that could get a nostalgia sequel 10 years from now but for a direct sequel at this point, that ship has sailed, for better or for worse. Even when Shinkalion got its long-awaited sequel, it was mainly focused on new characters and mecha, with the old cast reduced to cameos. And Takara has been releasing toylines with similar gimmicks and aesthetic, such as the currently-running Jobraver. So for that reason, the coveted re-issue of the Drive Head toys is basically doomed.

But now, Earth Granner. The special anime released to commemorate Tomica’s 50th anniversary. I mentioned above that the Tomica brand was born in 1970, so you do the math. You should see right away why that was an unfortunate year for a big 50th anniversary celebration.

When Earth Granner’s toys first hit the shelves, late April 2020, the biggest of the lockdowns were happening worldwide. While Japan’s lockdowns were not as long lasting or extreme as some countries (barring its extreme embargo on foreign tourism), they did happen, and toy stores were certainly deemed nonessential and were shut down for a brief period. So while yes, you could order the toys online on Amazon or the like, right from the get-go Takara Tomy lost their chance to have kids see the big cool $50 robot toy in the store and beg their parents for one. When it was revealed in a first-quarter sales report that the Earth Granner toys sold less than expected, there was almost gloating from a certain section of Shinkalion fans (-not- the target audience of either show) who were not happy that a new Tomica anime debuted before Shinkalion’s season 2 did. Despite the fact that new Shinkalion toys were still being produced and the brand was still very much alive even without a currently airing anime. This clearly ignoring the global crisis which was quite likely to blame for this new line to not have stellar sales from day one. And note that these low sales were quite temporary. Come December, Earth Granner was -the- hottest toyline for young boys. According to lists of the top Christmas toys, it was outselling both Rider and Sentai. That does not seem like a flop to me.

Earth Granner actually appeared to be a quite ambitious project from Takara. They’d learned from the success Drive Head had and planned all sorts of things for it. This included having tokusatsu-style costumes designed in real life of the two main heroes, who would allegedly appear at events and perform stage shows. But again, this was 2020. There was never one stage show. The costumes were only used for a few special events late into the anime’s run where they had drive-in advance showings of new episodes and Raiga and Kuga would be around to greet the kids though their car windows, assumedly. It’s unknown if there were ever plans to make suits for the remaining three Granners, or exactly what would’ve become of the franchise if it had the chance to be what Takara Tomy clearly wanted from it. But Earth Granner simply ended after its year run without even getting a movie like Drive Head and Shinkalion did, and it’s gimmicky extra-packed Blu-Ray box was canceled, having done poorly on the crowdfunding. Clearly, the show was again not a huge hit with adult fans, perhaps even less-so than Drive Head in Japan which did get a BD release. But the toys were still a top seller that year, despite the circumstances they had to deal with.

Again, Takara Tomy barely acknowledges the franchise anymore, and the toys are out of print. However, it also seems that Takara Tomy is going in a direction of less new anime, given their toys themselves prove to be more successful than the probable cost of the shows that promote them. With Tomica’s current Jobraver line, it’s clearly doing well enough that it’s survived for over a year. Its anime is merely sporadically-released all-CG-animated episodes on Youtube. The other currently airing Takara Tomy works include Go! Go! Vehicle Zoo (2-minute long episodes that air sporadically, and cross-promoting three toylines at once, including Tomica), Bouken Tairiku Ania Kingdom (10-minute episodes, and entirely done in stop-motion), a rebroadcast of Punirines (an all-CG 10-minute-episode anime from last year), Duel Masters (which has been running near-endlessly since 2002), and Beyblade (another long-running franchise which only recently made its return to TV after being relegated to streaming only for a while). Shinkalion may be a special exception due to its massive crossover appeal, but even that has no anime currently, rumors of an upcoming new series aside.

Tldr; Drive Head and Earth Granner did great with their target audience despite being screwed over by outside circumstances. You just don’t hear about them because you don’t chat with too many 4-year-olds in Japan.

#drive head #earth granner #takara tomy #shinkalion #tomica #god this mobile app seems to be destroying my formatting but I’ll have to try and fix that later

[kingofangst]

Season 1 Teen Wolf character opinions on Seraph (My OC)

*Seraph posing as an interviewer and inhibiting his scent for supernatural purposes*

Okay, let us start with the process, shall we? What are your thoughts on Beacon Hills High's enigmatic ice king?

Scott: I don't think he's an icy person by default. He looks closed off, but he seems cool. Very intelligent though

Allison: Lydia says he's her rival? But I'm pretty sure there's more to him than looks

Stiles: Entitled, conceited, rich guy with his dark academia and bourgeoisie attitude. Literally, who names their child Seraph?

Seraph: *Lowkey bombastic side eye*

Lydia: My academic rival, though I respect his tenacity and intelligence

Seraph: *Secretly smirking*

Jackson: Why are you so interested? Asshole and an entitled tool who thinks Hondas are better than Porsche😑

Seraph: (Internally) They are, lacrosse fanatic

Isaac (in my fanfic he is in season 1): Ex-loyal friend and confidant. Until he thought he was better than me😒

Seraph: (Internally sighs with melancholy)

Danny: I have no problems with him. He's an enigma and I think people should respect his choices

Mr. Harris: One of my favorite students. In fact, him and Jackson are the top two.

Seraph: (Internally) Careful Harris, you start a war amongst your students. Then again why would you care?

Coach Finstock: If I could only teach one student for the next 4 years, it'd be Seraph

Seraph: (Internally) That’s horrific👀

Melissa: He doesn't look like an icy teenager to me. More like academically ambitious

Sheriff Stilinski: Hard to say he's an enigmatic ice king or whatever you called him when his father is Beacon Hills best politician. He seems nice

This concludes the interview of what is said about Seraph Kingfisher. Thank you all for your participation.

Jackson: What? Now you are going to tell him what we said about him?

Seraph the Interviewer: No that is confidential and I won't share it to anyone. *Internally* Because I already heard, moron.

And that's all folks! As for why the Hales and the Argents weren't in this is because Seraph has yet to meet them. But stay tuned for chapter 4 of TWOAE, I will be posting it Saturday.

#teen wolf #teen wolf fanfiction #teen wolf oc #interactive play #scott mcall #allison argent #stiles stilinski #lydia martin #jackson whittemore #isaac lahey #danny mahealani #adrian harris #bobby finstock #melissa mccall #noah stilinski #ah yes of course #seraph being an icy king #and an enigma #the wings of an enigmatic series #teen wolf canon au

[maximumcatpress]

I don't write fanfics. Before anyone gets the wrong idea about that intentionally provocative statement, let me explain.

Fanfic is absolutely valid, real writing. In fact, some of the craft and creativity that goes into fanfic far exceeds the average trade paperback available at your local bookstore. In some ways, I really wish I could write fanfic.

The problem is that I really don't have any inspiration for it. There's nothing I'm a big enough fan of to want to expand the story of or create a whole AU around. I had a friend once tell me that I was an "uncategorizable nerd." At first, I was a little hurt by this, but upon further reflection, I realized what he meant.

Sure, I have my fandoms. I'm a Trekkie from way back. I got really into The Expanse. I'm a casual Star Wars fan at best. I did some time as a Whovian as well. I'm a massive space and sci-fi person, despite my writing mysteries. The problem, in this guy's mind, was that I wasn't truly fanatical or passionate about any of them; I have a wide range of casual-to-medium interests. As such, I wasn't a good fit for his "nerd culture" podcast. Ah, well.

So, for you fanfic writers out there, do your thing. Do it amazingly. Most importantly, do it for you. Feed your soul with it.

#writeblr #indie author #writers on tumblr #fanfic

[iamfarfromvibingrightnow]

Saw you love talking ships. Into any GMW fanfictions?

MY FIRST ASK!

It may seem odd but this is a big deal for me so thank you :D

Yes I adore talking ships. I see you're a rilaya enjoyer and I feel the need to express that they were basically canon (I'm also a zay x farkle fanatic which I know may seem odd but I have no shame)

my experience with both gmw and fanfic is that I'll go through phases where I fall into a DEEP obsession with each which lasts about a month. The problem is that both these phases never seem to happen at the same time so I never did get into the world of gmw fanfic. HOWEVER now that I have discovered you I feel my obsession returning at the same time that I am currently in my fanfic phase, so if you have recs it would be much appreciated!