#i got fiero help

[lilacthebooklover]

We Made a Quiz >:]

Which Elena Of Avalor Character Are You? (buzzfeed.com)

Find out. Tell us (@charismabee and I). We must know.

Have fun! <3

#elena of avalor #mateo de alva #gabriel nunez #dona paloma #naomi turner #esteban flores #buzzfeed quiz #carla delgado #victor delgado #francisco flores #luisa elena of avalor #soup family #soup family elena of avalor #beer jaquin #fiero elena of avalor #fiero #i got fiero help

[cero-sleep]

God's Favorite AU - Combustion

Pt. 1 Pt. 2

Word count: 1864

Thanks to @enigmaticcattic @eyenaku @chaoticxrobotic @little-sw33tie for the help and inspiration!

Your eyes opened suddenly as you stood up in a panic.

The comforting light of the domain rushing to meet you.

Warmth enveloped you as you took deep breaths. 

You needed to focus.

But as you tried to calm yourself you heard a familiar voice, one you hadn't heard in a long time.

"Back so soon, Fiero?"

You turned around, expecting to find yourself alone, as you usually were, but instead… There stood a beautiful figure.

Her face resembled a skull just like la Muerte's, but he was covered in vibrant orange flowers.

Cempasúchils… You realized, the flower of the dead.

He wore a long green and orange dress with a shawl and hood.

She was the embodiment of life.

"Do you know who I am, mi pequeña mariposa?"

Her voice was soothing, it was soft like the most precious of silks.

It almost made you forget the urgency in your mind.

You took a moment to think. "Are you… Are you God?" You asked hopefully, tentatively.

He laughed. It was a soft, content, sort of laughter however, not mocking in the slightest.

"I would have thought you would know by now that there isn't only one god, Fiero."

"I…" You were slightly embarrassed, it wasn't always you were in the presence of someone like her.

"It's okay." She smiled reassuringly. "Now it's time for you to awaken."

Despite how calm you felt, there was still a sense of imperativeness as you shouted. "Wait!" 

"What is it, cariño?" She asked sweetly, appearing concerned.

"I… I need your help." You began, voice cracking, something that was alien to you until now.

"Do you know the god…" You took a moment as all the memories from mere moments ago came back to you. "La Muerte?"

"Ofcourse I know them" Came his answer, relief washing over you. 

"I need your help." You repeated. "There must be some kind of mistake, they are trying to kill two people that are very important to me." You explained with urgency.

"There must be something you can-" But you were interrupted by that sweetly delicate laughter. 

"Oh, mi dulce canario, that's no mistake."

He said as she took you by the chin, caressing your face.

"I sent la Muerte after your little friends."

Your eyes went wide in shock.

"...What?"

"You see, it was fun to watch you fall in love with those silly mortals, to see what you would do, how they would change you, but it just got boring after a while." He said dismissively with the wave of a hand.

"I don't expect you to understand, mi pequeño ruiseñor. Now you should go back…"

"No!" You screamed in protest.

"...No?" You didn't miss how her eyes narrowed at that as she took a step towards you.

"You don't understand the position you are in, pequeña alimaña."

"I made you and frankly, I'm starting to get bored of you."

You felt how the air changed around you, how it became stiff, constricting you.

"Bored?" You asked in disbelief. "Is my life a game to you?" 

"Your life?" She laughed. "The moment you died it stopped being yours, sweetheart."

You felt the flames in you rise in anger, but this was no time to lose control, you needed to find a way to stop la Muerte and fast.

So you took a deep breath.

What did you know about this god… So far it seemed he did things for her own amusement.

So maybe…

"What if…" You tried. "What if we played a game?"

"A game?" She asked curiously.

Bingo.

"Yes, a game." You started. "On one condition."

"I get to pick what game we will be playing."

He seemed to consider it for a bit.

"Alright, I'll entertain you."

"If you win I will call off la Muerte, leaving your little friends safely out of their grasp."

"But what if you lose?"

"If I lose… I will let la Muerte finish their job, and…"

He arched an eyebrow in interest.

"I'll become the plaything you make me out to be, surrendering myself to your every whim."

A satisfied expression crossed her face.

"I accept your terms, mi calaverita."

"Just say the words and we'll begin."

You thought for a bit. You needed to pick a game where the odds were in your favor… And you thought you had the perfect one. 

"We will bet…" You took a sharp breath. "On whether Illusion and CC will trust me after what la Muerte did."

A grin spread on the god's face.

"Ah… A game of chance."

That's what you wanted her to think, but you knew… After what had happened there was no way they would trust you. 

You just needed to bet on it…

"Go ahead, mi pequeño jilguerillo, what will you bet on?"

You tried to bury your worry deep inside you. You would win this…

"I will bet their lives and the freedom I have left that they won't trust me after what happened."

The god nodded. "Very well then, but if they trust you… It will be my win." She said with a grin.

You couldn't help but feel unnerved, but you had this… 

"Now, close your eyes and go back to your body."

You obeyed.

Willingly submerging yourself in darkness.

That's when you woke up in your now healed body.

You tried to move and with a sigh of relief found you were in control.

You were no longer in the apartment and the knife was nowhere to be found.

When you looked at your surroundings however your stomach fell.

There they were… Your beloveds.

La Muerte had been stalking them.

It seemed they had taken to laying low, hiding in an advantage point for them if a fight were to break out again.

You had to approach them, but as you looked at them you felt sadness creep its way into you.

"Tic toc, love, your time is running out." You heard the god call to you.

Alright… It didn't matter if you had lost their trust, as long as they were safe…

So one step after another you slowly came out of where you were hiding, revealing your presence to them.

Their expressions were of alarm at seeing you, stances ready to attack.

You were unarmed, but that didn't make you any less dangerous.

You were gonna win this for sure…

"Stay back!" CC shouted, vines creeping their way behind them in a defensive manner, as Illusion readied their gun once more.

But you didn't heed their warning, instead choosing to step a little closer, expression set in a taunting grin.

Vines and bullets came towards you in a storm, but you dodged them easily, drawing closer and closer to the pair.

It was a dance of certain death. 

Or at least… That's what it appeared to be on the outside.

Soon you were mere inches from them, dodging all of their attempts to harm you.

Until a vine pierced your side in a bloody motion, sending you back a few feet.

You coughed, blood splattering on the floor.

It wasn't fatal, but it would prevent you from moving much.

The duo had you cornered.

"Ah, it seems the two of you aren't as worthless as I thought." You said in a mocking tone.

"Cut the crap." Said CC. "What do you want from us?"

"What do I want from you?" You laughed. 

"Oh, mi dulce belladonna," You said, a crazed expression on your face. "I just want to have some fun."

But as you attempted to take a step forward something seemed to click on Illusion's mind.

They were staring at you intently as they told CC to wait and approached oh so slowly.

"Fiero…? Is that you?" 

What…? 

You were confused, but you wouldn't show it. 

So instead, you laughed. 

"Can't you even recognize your lover now, bufón?"

You stared at them in anticipation as they exchanged glances, lowering their fighting stances just slightly.

"Prove it's really you then." Came CC's voice once again.

Why would I need to…?

"I don't think that will be necessary." You said with a smirk.

But they didn't budge. 

"Prove. It."

"Can't you even trust your beloved now?"

After what happened… I really don't expect you to. You thought.

But the silence appeared to stretch on forever as they seemed to consider your words, and then…

"Despite you acting like your old self, the way you behave and the fact you haven't even tried to harm us once is a much clearer sign than you think." Came Illusion's voice, strong and confident in their words.

"So… I trust you, Fiero."

Your eyes went wide as you turned to look at CC, as long as one of them didn't…

But to your dismay CC dropped their stance completely calling back the vine that held you in place. "I… agree. I trust you."

You took a step back in shock.

"No!" You shouted. "How can you trust me after what I did to you!?" 

"We know you didn't have a choice, Fiero" 

"No no no!" You couldn't have possibly-

But then you heard it. 

The god's laughter, she had won… It was over…

"No…"

Suddenly your eyes rolled back as you fell to your knees. 

"Fiero!" You heard them shout as they ran towards you but you were gone.

-

You were greeted by that familiar white light once again, but not even that could comfort you now.

You were devastated, how could you have lost… 

You had been so sure of the outcome…

But instead… Instead you had doomed them…

"Welcome back." greeted the god.

Her voice had a cheery tone to it and he looked far too pleased with her win.

You averted your gaze.

"You won… You were right…"

Silence.

But as you looked at him again you found she seemed… dissatisfied?

You furrowed a brow.

She had won, so why.

"I know you had no chance of winning this, mi pequeño ruiseñor." She said. "But I honestly expected you to put up more of a fight."

"No chance…?"

"You have grown soft, Fiero. And that's no fun."

"What do you mean I had no chance to win? After what la muerte did-"

"You died, remember? You didn't see everything that transpired, love. But I did."

Your eyes widened slightly.

"You… You cheated…"

"No, mi corazón. I simply made use of what I knew."

You couldn't believe you hadn't even considered such an important detail, this was a god you were facing after all, and an unknown one at that.

"So I guess you will send me back to get rid of them now…" You said somberly, expression downcast.

She hummed softly.

"I could do that, yes. It's my right afterall."

"But…"

That got your attention.

"Even if this game of your's was enterataining while it lasted, it was far too short for my liking."

"What are you implying…?" You asked confused.

"I mean that, as long as you keep making things this fun, I will let them live."

You held your breath.

"You mean that…?"

"Yes, love. But on one condition." She said with a smile.

"Don't disappoint me." 

And with that everything went black.

#god's favorite au #my writing

[thelampisaflashlight]

Just Some Guy pt. 2: Hate

[Guy meets Mountain. It goes about as well as can be expected. Part two of this fic. Poll at the end to determine who teaches Guy a lesson after this.] Below the cut.

It's weird, Guy thinks, how peaceful the abbey is.

The monastery is never so calm and quiet, there's always something to be done, people to see to, problems to solve and then fret about when nothing can be done to fix them entirely.

He feels... decidedly useless here.

His orders are just to pass the time, and stay out of people's way.

Even Cardinal Fiero seems less uptight staying in this place, but, then again, he'd always envied the funding this branch of the church received.

"They house the ghouls who are part of the Ghost project, so of course most of the donations find their way here. It's favoritism plain and simple." he'd told Guy one evening after dinner, "If you had a lick of talent in you, I would have sent you here in a heartbeat, but instead I had to find another use for you."

"At the very least you could sing, but you've even gone and managed to screw that up as well."

Guy tries to imagine it, living here at the abbey instead of being hidden away in the monastery... but he really has no frame of reference for such things.

What would his life have been like if his fingers weren't so clumsy?

If his mother had stuck around long enough to pass on her knowledge, her gift, to him instead of leaving him to his fa- Cardinal Fiero...

Not father, never father.

They're not so close that he can say such a thing... and the only way he'd call him anything like Papa would be if the cardinal got his wish and the rest of the bloodline dropped dead.

He prays to the lord below that such a thing never comes to pass.

May a thousand and one bastard sons keep the title out of his hands.

"Are you alright?" Vespera worried voice snaps Guy from his thoughts, "You've been looking a little pale since we left the greenhouse... I already told you, Mountain really isn't upset you broke one of his flower pots, it was an accident."

Ah, right.

Guy sits up straight, regaining his bearings on reality as he recalls the events of his morning so far.

Vespera had been excited to show him around the abbey, to introduce him to her friends, or rather one "friend" in particular.

He isn't sure what her relationship with the tall earth ghoul is, but even someone like him, who has spent the entirety of his life thus far amongst celibate -yes, indeed, such people exist among the clergy- men, he knows whatever the two have going on goes beyond what he'd consider friends.

They, he and Vespera, don't talk about those kinds of things.

She's too much like a sister to him, and with how often he trailed after and pestered Vespera in his younger years, the older woman surely felt a similar familial bond.

Or, at least, he would certainly hope so considering the first words out of her mouth about him to Mountain were to introduce him as her "precious brother".

And, ah, how the older ghoul had looked at him then.

So... so strangely kind and... and hopeful.

It made him mad.

Guy has never had the best handle on his emotions, and though his tongue has been in disuse for some time now, he could still taste the acidic bitterness of jealousy burning inside of his mouth when Mountain and him were alone in the greenhouse.

Vespera had left them for a moment, having to attend to her duties elsewhere, but promising to return as soon as possible, treating it like a chance for the two ghouls to bond.

But Guy...

He doesn't often break things out of anger.

He knows better.

But he couldn't help it, not when Mountain started telling him about Vespera's life at the abbey.

Not when he quietly offered to put in a word for him with the ministry to get him transferred, implying that he knew.

That he knew how Guy was being treated back home.

That he'd been told in some compacity of the pain he had endured, when the only person who could have told him was-

It really had been an accident.

"Are you alright??"

Fuck, Mountain had sounded so genuinely worried for him.

"Let me see your hands-"

His touch was...

"Oh, thank goodness..."

...Excruciating.

Vespera leans into his field of view, brow pinched, "Guy?"

It's no wonder so many people have abandoned him over the years.

"Oh, sweetheart, what am I going to do with you?"

He's so pathetic he can't even handle the idea that someone... that more than one person... might actually see how broken he is.

.

.

.

"You should try going for a walk, a bit of fresh air before bed can do wonders." Mountain tells him later that afternoon, having decided not to give up on him over one broken flower pot, "I could come with you, if you'd like?"

...he should have broken two.

Guy merely shakes his head, doesn't meet the older ghoul's gaze.

"Alright." he concedes, "But if you're not back before dark, I'll come find you, if you get lost, look for the steeple, you can see it no matter where you go on the property."

Right.

"...Are you really sure you want to go by yourself?"

Guy nods and walks away before Mountain can continue talking to him.

Hopefully giving him the cold shoulder will make him stop trying to be so... so...

"Be careful out there!" Mountain calls after him.

Guy covers his ears as he rounds the corner, seething.

He's not a child!

Mountain should just stop-

"Stop pretending you give a damn, you're just trying to get on my good side because you're fucking my sister!" He hisses internally, "I hate you! I hate you! I hate-"

...Why does he hate him?

Why is he acting like this?

Guy places a hand on his chest, he can feel his heart pounding.

It makes him feel sick.

And what makes him feel sicker is the fact that Mountain was absolutely right.

As he trudges along, each step fueled by an anger he cannot seem to quell with positive thoughts alone -like leaving, like going home- he starts to feel better.

The air around the abbey really is... calming.

The sun has long since dipped past the trees, but there's still enough light that Guy feels safe enough to continue wandering, circling around the large lake Vespera had pointed out to him earlier during their tour.

It was much bigger up close, and hauntingly deep.

Living in a humble monastery, he'd not even had the luxury of a pool or a pond to swim in in his youth, and as a result he'd never learned how to swim, so as dark and beautiful as the waters looked, he found himself less enticed by it and more... frightened.

Growing up, he'd never put much thought to what scared him beyond, well... upsetting the cardinal or the dark, but the latter fear he'd grown out of.

So this.

This fear pooling in his belly was a new one.

As he stands paralyzed on the shore, already his mind is working against him, his vivid imagination conjuring up different scenarios in which he falls in and drowns.

He gets so lost in his thoughts he barely notices the sky growing darker around him.

He shakes his head and has to force himself to move.

"Let me go." he tells himself, "C'mon, please..."

It's a terrible thing, being held hostage by your own body.

Mountain is waiting for him when he returns, looking very much like he was about to step out and come find him, if the lantern in his hands is any indication.

Vespera is beside him, already opening her mouth to scold him for worrying her so much, but she stops as soon as he reaches for her.

His hands tremble.

"...Did it happen again?"

.

.

.

Guy isn't sure what to call it, when he slips away.

Vespera has thrown a few words out there before, none that he remembers, all he really knows is that sometimes he has a hard time... pulling away.

He can feel it, the inability to move, settling into his bones sometimes, and he has to fight it to keep from stagnating.

Other times, it only comes on after he's already been sitting for too long.

He has to force himself to stand, to move at all.

Sometimes he wonders if he's even inside of his body when it happens, if he's not somewhere out in space...

Mountain tries to talk to him about it, probably having heard from Vespera that last night wasn't a unique experience, and Guy he... he...

"I know..." Vespera says forlornly, looking at the mess Guy has made of one of the flower beds, at his hands caked in mud, "...I shouldn't have told him about that, but this is..."

Stop.

"...I really liked those tulips..." she sniffles, "...they took so long to grow..."

STOP.

"...Why are you acting like this?"

STOP.

"It's alright, I can... I can replant them." Mountain assures her, "It's..."

Guy can hear the ghoul trying to justify his actions, to placate Vespera and give him the benefit of the doubt even though he doesn't deserve it.

He did this out of anger.

Out of spite.

Out of... unjust hate and stupidity.

He did it because...

Because...

...Why did he do this?

#lamp writes #shitghosting #nameless ghouls #mountain ghoul #ghost band #the band ghost #ghost bc #ghost band fanfic #ghost band oc #nameless ghoul oc #Guy needs to chill #and maybe go to therapy #sister of sin oc

[katatty]

It’s been a hot minute, but I want to catch up on posting the Fiero Legacy! Last time:

Scarlet has yet to pick a major, she’s too busy trying to learn anything and everything! Still intense when it comes to music, she recently maxed out her cretivity skill. She’s gone on a couple of dates with an old friend, Nora, but is keeping her options open for now.

Hallie is focused on playing the field and really exploiting college for as much romantic oppotunity as she can! Old teenage flames, cute jock boys, college professors, she’s dating them all. While I forgot to actually document it, her major is political science! She and Starla thought about joining a sorority, but didn’t really click with the Annya-Fruhm-Var girls.

Jayden majored in psychology and went steady with childhood sweetheart Starla Yu. She seems like she might have a teensy bit of a wandering eye, though! He’s finding university pretty rough, but practicing meditation is helping his mental health. He’s also got a genie lamp tucked away which could help him out of some sticky situations..

...and the Fiero siblings moved out of the dorms & into a new home, pictured!

#Shellcastle Sands #The Fiero Legacy #Scarlett Fiero #Hallie Fiero #Jayden Fiero

[certifiedwerewolf]

I never posted the chapter where I introduced Lucy in TGOJW so here's the scene where she was introduced. She's so fun. I love her.

It had, of course, been just a regular ass cabin, a little dusty from unuse but otherwise normal as hell.

It’s not normal as hell now. There are sigils on the wall, recognizable warding, and a summoning circle on the floor. Half guttered out candles sit around it. And in the middle of the circle, a tween girl lies unconscious.

Dean is at her side in an instant, patting her cheek and sighing in relief when she opens her eyes.

“Hey, are you okay? What happened?”

“What do you want?” she demands.

“You’re unconscious in a summoning circle,” Dean points out. “I was trying to help you.”

“I wasn’t unconscious. I was communing.”

“With…?”

“Ugh.” She stands up, and begins clearing away the candles. Now that he’s not panicked, Dean can see that there’s no actual summoning ingredients. Okay, well, maybe she’s just got hold of some partial accounts and tried them out. Still, the symbols are a little too good, they should probably find out where she got them and, ideally, burn it.

Unless it’s a website. Can’t burn those. Maybe they can get Charlie to, though.

“So,” the girl says once she has all of her candles tucked into her hands. She looks up at them with a demented smile, the kind that a kid wearing black lipstick and black combat boots and a spiked collar with her camp shirt and khaki shorts might practice in the mirror. “What do you know about Satan?”

“Satan,” Dean says. “Satan. Like from the Bible?”

She nods. Dean looks helplessly to his brothers. They know lots about Satan.

“I know he’s the world’s worst roommate,” Sam says drily. Dean snorts.

“And he has daddy issues coming out of, like, every orifice.”

“He is an entire mountain of dicks,” Adam deadpans.

They all look over to John. He raises an eyebrow.

“Don’t look at me, I never met the guy.”

The girl stares up at them. “Who are you guys?”

“Ghost hunters,” Dean says. Beside him, Sam holds up one of the cameras they’ve brought along for verisimilitude. “We were told this cabin was unoccupied.”

“It is. That’s why I’m here. It’s a nice quiet place where no one will bother me while I commune with the forces of darkness.”

“The forces of darkness.”

“Yeah.”

“And those forces would be…?”

“Oh. You know. Hell.”

“Can you be more specific?” Sam asks. “Like a specific force from hell?” He glances at Dean. “Can you give us a name?”

She squints up at him, a squint that bizarrely reminds Dean of Crowley, and says, slowly, “No, no names. Just… general forces. Demons. Devils. Souls of the damned. That sort of thing.”

As one, all four men let out a collective breath. It sounds like this girl isn’t in contact with anyone from Hell after all, just in possession of a partial summoning spell.

“So where’d you learn to do that?” Dean asks, squatting down to get a better look at her summoning circle. “The communing, I mean.”

“Read it in a book.”

“Your parents know you’re reading books on communing with Hell?”

“My parents are dead,” she sniffs haughtily, in a tone that says yeah, dead parents, you feel bad yet? He only just doesn’t roll his eyes.

“Well, you shouldn’t mess around with stuff like that,” Dean tells her. “You could piss off the wrong people. And trust me, the Queen of Hell is a personal friend of mine, and you do not want to get on her bad side.”

Being twelve, she doesn’t feel the need to resist rolling her eyes.

“The Queen of Hell is a personal friend of yours? Yeah, right.”

“She is!” Dean grins. He loves these kinds of conversations, where the things he’s saying are taken for bullshit. “And her son is my roommate!”

“Okay, now I know you’re lying,” she says. She squints at him again. “You’re making fun of me, aren’t you?”

“I would never!”

She doesn’t look like she particularly believes him, so he makes a heart-crossing motion. “I’m Dean, by the way.”

She squints at him. “Lucy,” she says slowly.

“Lucy.”

“Fiero.”

“Lucy Fiero,” he repeats. “Well, okay, Lucy. What can you tell me about Cabin #13?”

#i love her so much #she's SO twelve

[antaeusx]

Tale 33

Memo: Sgt Fiero

In your absence I investigated some strange goings on at the Jager farm. The old man has been unpredictable and violent the past year. He’s the immigrant that they say took part in Nazi death camps. I hardly knew him, but he had a dark look about him.

The family was desperate, so they had a priest perform an exorcism, and it seemed to help. Strange thing is, the priest left late that night. His car was found abandoned-no body, lots of blood.

Meanwhile, we get reports of animal remains, indicating a large predator. As you know, the biggest predator we got here are a few skinny foxes.

And now I get this photo from somebody. Now you tell me what you see chasing that deer. Someone either thinks it’s still Halloween in November, or we’re dealing with… I don’t know what.

Oh yeah. Mrs. Jager told me the old man took on a strange look just before the exorcism kicked in, like something fighting to stay inside him. Scared the hell out of her. And then the bedroom window shattered for no reason. She fainted dead away.

Going home early tonight. Lock your doors.

Lt. Christian

[ofviolentdeath]

30 Days of Drabbles::Day Seven

Character(s)::Fulton and Marissa Word Count::995 Trigger Warnings::Mentions of murder and gore

                                                                     ~*~

Fulton's luck when it came to dating had always been a little on the terrible side, but he had to wonder how much of it was his personal taste when he had Marissa running interference nearly any time he got close to someone. It felt like the ones that might be good for him were too terrified of her to continue seeing him or, worse, she'd compare them to the few awful people he had dated and just kill them. If not for the fact that she was almost always entangled in some woman or another, he would have thought she was obsessed with him like Kai was Fiero.

So he knew when Steve didn't answer his calls or texts that his twin was involved in some manner or another. They had been fighting recently, a fact that Mar had found out when Fulton had come home with a bruise on his arm from being grabbed too roughly. He had brushed it off, told her it was fine, too close to a full moon and that it had been an accident. It had been, really. He knew better than to push a shifter, especially a younger shifter, that close to a full moon, they all did, but he had done it anyway.

He tried calling once more when he clocked out, frustrated and worried when the call went straight to voicemail. His next call was to his sister, hoping that, for once, he was wrong.

"I was wondering when you were going to call me. I'm honestly a little hurt it took boy toy's phone dying," she cooed when she picked up and he swore when he heard the mock pout in her tone.

"What did you do, Marissa?"

"Oh, you'll see when you get here. Better hurry though. Don't want to still be here when the cops show up. Ta, ta, see you soon."

The line went dead before he had a chance to say anything else and he tossed the phone into the passenger seat before starting the truck and peeling out of the parking lot. He didn't think his boyfriend was still alive, but he had to hope, even a little, that he wasn't too late.

It was a small miracle he hadn't gotten pulled over before reaching Steve's and he didn't bother to knock, not with his sister's words still ringing in his ears. Nothing she had said could have prepared him for what he was walking into.

The room was washed in red, chaotic splashes across the floor, the walls, and the furniture. The autumn sun filtered through the window made the red almost shimmer where it had puddled and it took Fulton several minutes to comprehend what he was seeing.

He wished that his brain hadn't caught up because once he knew what he was looking at, he couldn't unsee it. The room began to spin and he couldn't help but feel like someone had turned the heat up as high as it could go.

"Jesus Christ," he whimpered as he stumbled backward, trying to escape the carnage laid out before him.

"Yeah, I think I outdid myself," Marissa said, suddenly right behind him, pride in her voice as she looked at the mess she had made.

"JESUS CHRIST, MARISSA!" Fulton yelped, flinching away from her when she touched his shoulder, eyes wide and horrified when he turned to face her. "What did you do?"

"He hurt you. I corrected him. Grandpa has some very interesting books at the shop, you should really check them out sometime. Shame there wasn't any bit big enough to use after this, but, I mean, he did sort of...explode. Like a watermelon."

The utter nonchalance only made things worse and he could only stare in utter horror as she picked at the skin around her nails.

"He didn't hurt me, Mar," he finally protested, sounding weak as he swallowed back the bile rising in the back of his throat. He needed to get out of there before he puked or passed out and both were becoming increasingly more likely the longer he had to be around the smell of blood and death.

"He bruised you."

"He grabbed my arm a little too tight the day before a full moon, Mar, that's not the same goddamn thing!"

Fulton didn't wait for her to argue before he pushed past her and out the door, only making it as far as his truck before he was sitting down heavily and resting his face between his knees. The fresh air and light breeze helped, but not enough. Not when he could still taste blood at the back of his throat or see the room in fresh detail when he closed his eyes. This was too far and he didn't care anymore. He had never asked for their mom and dad to intervene before, but he had officially reached his limit. She had never made him walk into something like this before and he knew he was going to have nightmares for weeks from this.

"You'll thank me for this one you realize I did you a favor," Marissa sighed when she joined him outside, fingers gentle as they combed through his hair.

He slapped her hand away, stomach heaving at the mere thought of her hands touching him after what she had done. "Don't fucking touch me, Mar. Just, fucking don't touch me. Don't talk to me. Fuck all the way off," he ground out as he pulled himself to his feet and opened the door of his truck. "Don't fucking come near me right now. I don't want to be near you after what you just did."

The girl merely shrugged and grinned, not bothered because she knew he would forgive her eventually. It wasn't like she didn't have all the time in the world to wait for him to decide he could be around her again, so giving him a little space wouldn't break her.

#drabble #30 days of drabbles #day seven #marissa:drabble #fulton:drabble #tw: murder mention #tw: gore mention

[tc-doherty]

Find the Word Tag 1/3

I was tagged by @thanatostouch forever ago! Sorry it's taken me so long to get to!

Sit - The Huntress of Anihwen

“Can it be learned?” Siani looked at the book in her hand. It may come down to the spoken word being her only defense, but she didn’t know if she could do it. And she didn’t have the supplies to sit around learning poetry.

“Most probably,” Gwyneira said. “Tanwen did not bother, but then, she’s a witch in her own right. I should think she has other ways of protecting herself.”

Siani stared doubtfully at the lizard. Gods and fairies were one thing, everyone knew they existed. It was possible to see their effects on the mortal world all the time. But true magic? Witches? Those she wasn’t so sure about.

“Like with a cauldron and a black cat and warts and all?” She asked. Gwyneira laughed.

“Not like that! No, Tanwen is, by the humans servants, quite lovely. In fact, when Kynan chose her I do remember some rumors circulating around that he had not been listening to his…head…when he picked her. Those died down, eventually. She does her job well.”

“When she does it,” Siani said. Gwyneira nodded.

“Her heart is a lot weaker than her power. Still, she is better to have in her position than Wynne. I hope you find her.”

Run - Hoofbeats

Near midmorning, however, she was pulled up short by the sight of lady Tirzha making her way purposely towards the stable.

Even in a crowd Tirzha stood out, being more elaborately decked than she had been the other day – though this time she wore trousers instead of a dress. Maroon trousers beaded in tiny flecks of crystal that glittered in the light. Her tunic and the long vest she wore over it were both just as flashy — the tunic of white run through with thread-of-gold, the vest in brilliant pink.Her headscarf and veil were white lace, also beaded. She still wore a bejeweled headband, dozens of bangles – gold this time, and layered necklaces of gold and pearl.

Kadife sighed. Her day would've been so much better if Tirzha had not appeared. But there were no customers right that moment not being helped, no tasks to busy herself with, so she had no choice but to walk forward and meet Tirzha at the gate.

"I didn't really think you would come."

Lady Tirzha smile that arrogant smile again. "I always keep my engagements. But you are the expert here. Where should we begin?"

Place - Laero

He met her eyes. “I want to see you smile again, and hear you laugh. I miss my little coveche. I miss you, Kradhi.” He paused for a moment, but when she didn’t respond he kept talking. “I miss you, so I would have you leave this place. I want you to find a place, a god, and a people that will take you as you are.”

“Leave? Leave?” Kradhi stared at him in shock. Even in her darkest moments she had not considered leaving. For a Laero to leave the Norforest was…it was wrong, unthinkable, and completely against the wishes of Laer. “I can’t leave! Who will look after Geri? Who will mentor your child? Who will…who will protect our people and raise us up for Laer’s favor? I cannot leave.” Her voice grew heavier as she talked, until it was as full of tears as the clouds ahead were of snow. She fought against them. The chercov did not cry.

Vasil clucked his tongue and put his arm back around her shoulder. “Mother will look after Geri, as Laera should look after Laera. And our child…” he paused. “I wasn’t going to ask you, Kradhi. I don’t think there’s enough of you left to be a mentor.”

“Vasil…I wanted to do that. I wanted that! I-”

“I know, but Tali and I don’t. Her cousin Fiero has agreed to be our mentor.”

Kradhi stood up and stalked away from him. “Of all people, Vasil, I did not expect you to disrespect me so.”

“Kradhi, listen more closely to what I’m telling you, please!”

Hear - The Deadlands

Marghe could hear the outraged sensibility in her voice. Maybe she was nothing but a city girl after all. "Got a problem with that?"

"No, of course not."

It was a lie, and they both knew it. Marghe shrugged. It didn't matter what this overdressed chit thought of her, just that the girl got to Red Oaks.

"These horses…," said Genevieve, "they're from the forest?"

She pronounced it with a capital 'F'. Marghe rolled her eyes. "They're just horses, they're not going to eat you. If tamers bother you, you ought to have considered that before agreeing to cross the Meren."

"I thought the forest…" Genevieve's voice trailed off at the end and she didn't finish her sentence.

"City folk," Marghe muttered under her breath. "No sense at all." She turned around and met the singer's eyes. "You can't see the forest from Red Oaks, but no matter where you are, it's part of life in the Deadlands. The animals you'll see are from it, the medicines you'll take are from it, and there's at least a dozen tamers alive and working right now. You'll see us, too. Get over it, or get off my horse."

Tagging @asher-orion-writes @stories-by-rie @moonlitinks @did-i-do-this-write

I always struggle coming up with words for these so I would like you to pick 5 words that have to do with the weather. For example sun/ny, rain/y, windy, cold, warm, cloudy... Pick 5 words like that and share them!

#writeblr #find the word tag #TC's Writing

[the-firebird69]

Luxury RV Pricing/Shopping April 2024!

These guys are pumping out a bunch of these and for their own people then so they have a place to stay where they go places that are remote usually they have someone take it there and they have them transported back they do make a nice coach. It is the kind of stuff that these guys like and they have this and it is important to note it's a big problem that you are separate and on everything and you're still kind of are and Mimi you rebels as horrible it seems like you're going to come together a little on a concept that you need and we like it too and our son said do you get the idea of the banshee and the nightmare and the fiero and they're going ahead with it and her son is wondering if Sherry's name comes from the Ferrari shorter fiero and her son named it and her daughter helped and she's saying I don't think so but me and Ronald were an item and you didn't know it and he used to see me looking at you and find out I knew who you were so I tried to get you in the car of mine is a fiero and he wanted to ride in it cuz I know that you designed it he wouldn't leave me alone about it one day I tried to pull up on you and you get out of there I mean it too you saw me pulling the car up and you moved off so I get that. People are trying to do stuff to and you have to avoid it. I remember what he said well that looks pretty good and I could hear him and I drove away and I felt better now we don't like him jumping and skittish angry and no sign of satiate the max and ask for our cause and we are going to do some work and we have found Matt bases that decides and we are going to do the job but for real this is amazing I can't wait for the new one it's going to be as nice and yeah his style is the nightmare Pontiac and that's like the Pantera and she likes the ones that I do but I like the small ones too so we're going to go ahead with this

Sherry

Well I was going to get the small one and now I can't my wife wants one and yeah that's good

Savage

I'm going to get a small one they're going to beat her in a race and we're going to go through with this talk about this for too long and we need to Stone have design meetings and more and I got to set up meetings. So what he says is we should meet at a convention center and raceway and get it over with we've been meeting about it tons of times we don't need to stepped up meeting you need to see what the code is and you have a preliminary meeting at this place you go to the raceway and you drive the older cars in the new prototypes around they have newer ones that these guys didn't design with us and you drive the regular cars around it I'm serious he likes the stuff and you start talks on a higher level cuz the low level inside doing anything

Oppress

We looked at the idea and they didn't skittish and scared off but he's right we've had so many damn meetings and they just want to sit around so have this meeting and see if they want to do anything with this company they were talking about shares in the company and we'll talk about running the plants and things like that he's right we should get just get it over with and call it a damn day so we're going to do it and we have new prototypes that they came up with and there's several for each and he says we should prove it the hard way and brace them and he says I don't think that's right but we probably will and rent a raceway and a convention center and I don't sit down and talk to them we don't want any of this baby s*** of puking on each other and barfing it's going to go a different way if it doesn't go this way cuz we've had too many talks and our mother and father are sick of it they don't want to hear anymore they want to hear it's getting done and really these guys have had forever to talk about it

Thor Freya

You know he's right that's gone like a million renditions over and over round and rounds we're talking with the same dumb s*** and we're all getting kind of tired of it so I'm going to sit down and talk about how to run it you know he's right we're kind of enemies and we're having a hard time with it the company it will run our areas of the company it's not going to be a happy-go-lucky meeting we will enjoy the car he says and that's kind of what he was thinking but more his son and daughter and they're right he thinks do we want the car and we went to atmosphere and we'll have the code they were competition and we will keep it that way he says there's a way to do that at the top and you call it different different divisions I'd be the Northeast division and Mac would be the probably but Southwest this is yeah and so we are considering that and you know it makes sense and by division we would have different problems and different cars I mean they do the same car but we would have more of one car and more of another and we might have like a different version that we make more of and it's true someone can only continue in this vein it's a good thing to talk but we're talking now and this is a great idea and he says he needs us all to do it or he starts it in one idiot starts attacking it anyways but really we get the idea that we have to be aligned regarding the subject matter of the true parallel not about day-to-day stuff and we're getting this we'd be independent and we're going to go ahead and put that through

Ben Arnold

We each have this day we have in mind for this meeting but we should do it pretty soon New York is kind of a neutral territory Miami is not and we should do it there and he was right this is a great idea you set up different divisions and we might be able to do it with other companies it's a rough rough day

Mac daddy

We think they need to be separated yes it was going to have to have that happen

Macs

This idea might work and we like it and it's a disaster if we don't and it might help them in the long run and if it doesn't we have to move on if I'd really this will keep that going and it'll keep each of these groups of them they think and it will and it works for Chevy and it works for Ford and it will work for Dodge and Chrysler and we will own it and we'll set up different divisions we're going to go ahead with this idea they seem to like it so we're going to try and pass it around and have a few meetings and talk about it

Thor Freya

I think this is our idea and you can't remember exactly what happened it says it was silent and he thinks he came from Ben Arnold who was saying I want my own company to go and do it my way and so he finally figured it out we were saying something else he says it's kind of like this if you don't get this going we're screwed when you each have your own area okay so he said you can't have a separate company and we would be heading up and managing getting the different divisions what they need so yeah we worked on it together and that's how you say it that's true he's been alone for a long time he's heading up a huge machine and he said that people come to me who want to do it and it's me he's talking about and I get that and we do work together he has work together with us before and we had fun and we got work done and these guys kind of crapped it out but this stuff they're going to help with so we are moving out and he wants the guys at the meeting to start thinking a little proactively and we're going to have a big meeting Pontiac meeting and he wants to have BG race Sherry with a new fiero racing version cuz they'll be a reason version and he says I want to know this and maybe you can get them to help build it and they said yeah and it wouldn't be the old ones but it might not be the exact new one but there still up for it and same idea Sherry's kind of in the middle of ish not holy but the BG is that's kind of what would be the racers and we have racing teams and my father and mother they're both in the same team jackets is Sherry and BG are on the same team if they were to do it they'd have the racing jackets and they want the racing jackets for the fiero and people say it no way and it's going to be fun and actually Mike goodhue used to race the stock car for firebird he says I only have room for one jacket cuz I live in a small apartment and his laughing saying this is great but it's not as bad as that stupid camper and things are changing so we have to hold on but that would be a great idea and people are thinking about it this division stuff is starting to work already and you could have a different racing divisions no he says you'd have one team a compiled of people in the middle and it makes it possible and it would not detract from the race and people would have to figure out you know make sure they're doing stuff right but we would have to have a neutral place and New York is not a racing area so it's probably the South that's kind of a mix we're going ahead with this this is awesome

Savage opress

We will get you the racing jacket and we can get the team going first and it's awesome they want to do it and they think they can beat everybody and we think they're going to do very well and Sherry already knows how to drive very fast this is going to be interesting we love it I don't think there's anything that's more fun than this but really we got to get going and we'll set up the divisions how we think it should be it's not really hard they are divided by areas and VGA has his own kids and everything all in the same group that's a pretty big area and Justin is in the upper Midwest no his area is like New York so he would be up there and he used to raise stock cars and that's going to be back so he says well maybe a jacket there cuz Mike is a jerk even though it's the same team if they can play in the same team that's not the middle people and then so he started laughing and said yeah it's going to work out like that things are moving along now

Thor Freya

Olympus

#Youtube

[hrfranklin]

Post Mortem - School Run Racer

Hi,

It's time to break down my final prototype!

What aspects of the readings helped inspire your design process?

During the development of SRR, I talked about how lecture content and my readings influenced my design process, so I'll try to sum that up here.

SRR was the first prototype of mine to get progressively harder, as the first was simply one level, and the second was one repeatable level that if anything, got easier due to the upgrading mechanic. The inspiration behind designing my game with progressive difficulty in mind was both a) the fact that I hadn't done it yet, and b) it is discussed in Game Design Workshop. I talk about this in more depth in Development Post 2 for SRR, but the jist of it is that due to the intended demographic for my game being a younger audience, I decided on scaling the difficulty with time, so that your progress is directly linked to how good you are (how well you know the mechanics and how fast your reflexes are), rather than allowing the game designer/developer/me to make it too hard or easy, say by speeding it up too quickly, or something like that. My solution, as above, was to progressively speed up the speed in which you are traveling in a manner similar to Jetpack Joyride.

To quote Game Design Workshop: "for a game to continue to offer fiero... the difficulty must increase to match player skill". This is absolutely one of the most notable things I've learnt from the book. Therefore, it materialised in the mechanic I've already discussed, where speed is proportional to progress, or, how good you are at the game.

Another area of my readings that I discussed in another post was lives. In one of my development posts, I stated that I didn't implement lives because I've already done it in a previous prototype, and I didn't have time. I don't think I would have benefitted from implementing this feature, but maybe I would have if I had more time. Although, I did have a realisation during development, which was that Game Design Workshop discusses opponents and obstacles as objects in a game, and I noticed that the opponents are the obstacles. This was certainly a positive because it showed that certain things are becoming natural to me regarding game development, in that I didn't need to write out "Obstacles: cars" for that to be a part of the game.

Finally, the last thing in this game that wasn't in any of my others (although, it was advertised in my sell-sheet for Asteroid Escape) was power-ups, which I took from Game Design Workshop, which lists power-ups as a resource. Again, I partly wanted to implement power-ups because I hadn't done it before, I felt it really suited the game and reading that speed increases were a classic type of power-up in the book clicked something in my head. I enjoyed implementing these and I'm looking forward to using that knowledge in my final assignment, where my group and I will be improving Asteroid Escape.

What’s one thing you’d change about how you developed the prototype?

This prototype was hamstrung by the previous prototype taking far too much time, and me being ill and burnt out, which isn't something that I could necessarily change, but I suppose it's worth considering that this does happen. People get sick, projects take longer than expected.

That's sort of a cheaty answer, so I suppose I'd try to implement basic versions of all the features I'd wanted and proposed in the Elevator Pitch at a much earlier point and tried to get the functionality down first. Looking back on my previous prototypes, I think that I'd like to have done that for Asteroid Escape too, simply because it would allow other developers to pick the game up easily and see what the overall game flow and feel is. In short, I think I'd rather have several implemented buggyy features than having a few features working really well early on but lacking the overall feel.

What’s one thing you’d change about the design of the prototype?

Firstly, I hate the art style, partly because I'm sick of the game and partly because it doesn't match at all. I really struggled to find art assets that worked and fitted together, be it 2D car sprites or a background that fitted what the story (if you can call it a story) was showing.

I'm not sure what else to say about what else I'd like to change, as I covered a fair amount in the previous section.

Overall

Overall, I'm certainly disappointed by this prototype, because it's not a fair reflection of my skills as a game designer or developer. I think this is down to two main reasons. Firstly, as I've discussed already, progress was hampered from the beginning, due to illness and delays on the previous prototype. Secondly, I really really really enjoyed Asteroid Escape. I had a lot of fun developing that (that's why I'm continuing to do so for my next assignment), and it's the prototype where I think the game design, implementation, art style, game loop, etc. was the best. I think I nailed it. That's why I spent so long on it I think, I wasn't ready to say goodbye after the 2 weeks we had allocated for that prototype. So, I think this prototype has disappointed me because it didn't live up to the previous one in terms of me demonstrating my game design and development skills, or in how exciting the game is. Despite these shortcomings, I did learn things from this prototype and my readings/learnings during this time, but it's time to say bye to SRR and time to focus on my next assignment, about which some posts will shortly follow.

This has been a long post, so thank you for sticking with me if you made it this far, and apologies to the member of staff who's had to read my ramblings...

#postmortem

[cero-sleep]

God's Favorite AU - Combustion

Pt. 1

Word count: 668

Cw: Body horror

Thanks to @enigmaticcattic @chaoticxrobotic @eyenaku @little-sw33tie for the help and inspiration!

It all happened so fast.

As Fiero lunged at them with the knife once again, CC maneuvered a vine and then… then there was blood.

Fiero gasped, eyes wide as they coughed blood, crimson everywhere.

They watched as their eyes slowly lost their light, going from their lively green to a lifeless dull color, the vine had clearly pierced their heart.

Laughter resonated in the space however as they took a step towards them. Vine still in their body, before it went up in flames, as green and bright as fluorite, leaving a bloody, burnt hole in its place.

The two of them watched in horror as Illusion readied their gun, but they hesitated.

That's when Fiero went forward in a quick almost inhuman motion. 

Their movements were just wrong.

They were smiling but their head was just hanging from their body, limbs limp, except for the hand that held their weapon… almost like a broken marionette.

CC shouted at them to shoot as they sent more vines their way. 

Fiero didn't even attempt to dodge them, however, letting them pierce their flesh more and more in bloody succession.

With each strike they got closer and their body more mangled.

But they kept laughing.

CC shouted at Illusion again, snapping them out of their own mind.

Those eyes… Was this truly their Fiero they were facing?

Against their own broken heart, they shot at them, point blank on the head.

It lurched backwards with the blow, blood spraying out from the other side.

Splattering the wall and floor, painting it a rich burgundy color.

Their head stayed limp, hanging in a manner that made it clear they were dead.

Before it went forward with a sudden movement.

Something wasn't right.

They had to get out of there and fast.

CC sent more vines their way, piercing their neck and limbs, breaking bones and burnt flesh.

It was a horrible sight to witness.

They'd have to get to the door, but they'd have to pass through Fiero first.

The vines ignited in that green inferno once again.

Something they weren't sure they were even capable of.

The smell of burnt flesh permeated the air as Fiero emerged from the flames once again.

They were broken, something definitely inhuman.

They shouldn't be able to move, and yet…

They took another step forward, head twisting to one side with a sickening crack.

Blood dripped down their forehead as they spoke in a mangled, twisted voice that sent shivers down their spines. 

"I don't need the two of you anymore… So how about we have some fun?" 

It hurt, it really hurt.

After they had given them their trust.

They had thought they were getting better, together.

But something was still amiss.

It was Fiero's voice, but those eyes… those movements…

As CC cried at them to snap out of it, Illusion took a step forward.

"You are not Fiero, are you?" They asked with a voice as cold as ice. "What have you done to them?"

Laughter.

"Oh, you foolish clown, can't you even recognize the one you stole from me?"

"Who… what are you?" Demanded CC.

But Fiero… no, the thing in front of them only laughed and took another step towards them.

"Stop!" CC commanded, more vines rising from behind them. 

They might not hurt it, but they would buy them some time.

Another step and the vines launched forward piercing the already marred body.

One of them began snaking its way to its hand, constricting it with such force that it forced it to drop the knife with a loud clank.

They were filled with questions, but as they saw a green spark start CC shouted at Illusion to run, grabbing them by the hand and getting out of there.

As the body was freed by the fire it slowly stumbled towards the door, one hand in the frame as la Muerte watched the two of them make a turn towards an alleyway. 

They chuckled, this wasn't over…

#my writing #god's favorite au

[noellawrites]

Meet The Parents - Badger x reader

summary: you bring your boyfriend Badger to dinner with your parents, and he doesn’t make a great first impression.

You sat in your car, waiting anxiously for Badger to exit the house he shared with Skinny Pete. It was a sunny spring day, and you were about to take Badger to meet your parents, who had just come to town for an extended visit.

“Jesus, what’s taking him so long?” you muttered under your breath, deciding to exit the car and check on him.

You walked up to the doorway, bending down to grab the spare key from under a small flower pot. The flower was long-dead from the desert weather, but it still held its purpose.

“Badger? Where are you, babe?” you called through the house. You knew he was here, his Pontiac Fiero was parked out front.

As you walked into his bedroom, you realized he was sitting next to his bed, almost curled up into a ball.

“Brandon, honey, what’s wrong?” you whispered, taking a seat on the hardwood floor next to him.

“I-I can’t meet your parents, (y/n),” he said, looking up at you with tear-streaked eyes and a worried expression.

“Why not? We’ve been planning this for weeks!” you questioned.

“I’m just this stupid meth head who doesn’t deserve you. I can’t meet your parents, i’m just gonna let them down. Your parents are like, upstanding citizens and shit! You deserve so much better than me,” Badger rasped, words catching in his throat.

“Don’t say that, babe! You’re my other half, you get me like nobody else does and there’s no one who makes me laugh nearly as much as you do! I love spending time with you and doing stupid shit, I couldn’t imagine sharing my life with anyone else,” you told him honestly.

“You’re like, the missing piece to my pie! I couldn’t do this shit without you, you’re my everything,” Badger said, pulling you into a loving kiss.

“Here, let’s get you into a nice button down and some jeans,” you offered as you pulled away from the kiss.

-

You gave Badger a reassuring hand-squeeze as you made your way into Cocina Azul. You immediately spotted your parents seated in a booth and walked towards them, pulling Badger’s reluctant hand.

“Hey, sweetie! How are you?” your mother cooed as you gave her a hug.

“I’m great! Mom, dad, this is my boyfriend Brandon!” you said, introducing them then hugging your father.

“Hey, uh, nice to meet you guys! You can call me Badger,” he laughed nervously, shaking hands with both your parents.

You sat down in the booth, across from your parents and next to Badger.

“So, uh, Badger, do you attend UNM as well?” your father asked, raising a weathered eyebrow.

“Nah, I’m actually on probation right now—“ you hit his arm under the table signaling him to shut up. He definitely wasn’t supposed to tell your parents that.

“—b-but I’ve got this job uh, helping my friend cook.”

That was the best excuse he could come up with? You pinched him again, causing him to wince.

“What do you cook, Badger?” your mother asked, curiously.

“We mostly cook, like, uh, dinners and shit. I mean, stuff. And we give them to people.”

You wanted to crawl under the table and die. Like, seriously die. There was no way you could ever recover from this.

“Well this has been nice, but we have to get going. Badger is going to help his friend make dinners,” you said, smiling tightly.

You slipped out of the booth, tugging Badger along with you.

“What the hell was that?” you hissed as the two of you made your way out to your car.

“Hey, I was just being honest!” Badger explained.

“I told you to do anything but tell them the truth! Jesus, at least you didn’t tell them you were manufacturing meth. Let’s get out of here,” you sighed.

#breaking bad x reader #breaking bad imagine #breaking bad badger x reader #breaking bad badger imagine #badger breaking bad

[thestarfishface]

I haven’t posted much beside webcomic stuff here in a while, so I present to you: A bunch of NPCs from the D&D game I’ve been running!

I DM-ed a one-shot for buddies back in June, which eventually spiraled into a full campaign. I’ve gotten into the habit of drawing NPCs as they’re introduced, because they’re my brain children and I like them. 

Gonna put some personality/character info under the cut for anyone curious!

Celine de Rose: Was rescued from Ghost Jail by the party, dresses very nicely and seems SUSPICIOUS 

Ellie Greene: Alchemist and Artificer! Was also in Ghost Jail, was also saved by the party from a slime trying to eat her in Ghost Jail.

Fiero Hardt: Renowned fighter and the pride of the Surf & Turf Adventurer’s Guild (the same one the party belongs to). Died a little but he’s ok now. Definitely not Guy Fieri.

Joe the Town Guard: a random NPC I made up on the spot when the players kept asking him about his backstory. He has a wife and 2 kids who all have Jo- names, and I didn’t realize I accidentally did a JoJo reference until the next day. Now all town guards are canonically named Joe, unless they aren’t. 

Donovan and Granny Cici: a mother-son duo of shopkeepers who run a magic item/weapons shop called The Dragon’s Hoarde.  Cici is a retired adventurer who collects magic items but now they have too many so they opened a shop!! I adore them. They also have vague Russian accents because it’s 1 of 3 voices I can do.

Reginald: The party's first adopted NPC! A farmhand-turned-wizard apprentice to Fenethir, a sheepy friend who was polymorphed and was stuck as a sheep for a hile until the party helped change him back. 

Phinaeus and Nia: 2 mages from the Silverlight Grand Magus Library. Wizardy pals!

Zephyr: Tiefling shapeshifter and "master of ceremonies" at Wizard Hut (a place my players made up after a string of bizarre worldbuilding conversations during games). A fabulous asshole, and also my favorite.

Nemo: The founder of WH, and his familiar Mittens

Blaise: Tiny drow teen 

Enta: HOT, Blaise's bodyguard and owner of a large hammer.

Fenethir: Mentioned before, but the party finally managed to de-sheepify him and now he’s tall

And then lastly is more Donovan bc I didn’t like my first drawing of him, and also he’s hot and my favorite.

The party just got to a new city and will be meeting a TON of new NPCs, and I’m excited to draw them~ 

#dnd #dungeons and dragons #character design #sketch #d&d #npc

[caitlynlynch]

I read Sirocco, the second book in the series about international bounty hunters Finnegan and Fiero, and liked it so much I decided to pick up this one. It goes back to the beginning of their partnership, showing how they met as antagonists, decided they were approaching the same problem from different directions, and chose to work together to resolve problems which weren’t being dealt with by conventional methods. Three years on from the beginning of their partnership, they are far more than comfortable with each other, they exhibit absolutely complete and unshakeable mutual trust in each other.

For some reason I keep picturing Finnegan as Jeremy Renner, and I think it’s because the pair definitely have a Hawkeye and Black Widow vibe; the soldier and the spy/assassin (although Finnegan’s a former cop rather than soldier). The trust they have in each other without the relationship being in any way romantic is the same, though. And Katalin Fiero Dahar is definitely a Black Widow, a chameleon able to fit in anywhere, perfectly happy to use her beauty and femininity as a weapon just as lethal as her guns.

As I noted in reviewing Sirocco, Finnegan and Fiero have fascinating friends; mercenary McTavish appears here with a few of his crew to help out, as does the corrupt money launderer Ways and Means and, my favourite side character, Sally Blue, the hacker and surveillance expert whose crew are happy to help out in return for being allowed to steal anything not nailed down at the end of the job. (I really want a whole series about Sally, please and thank you).

This is a really good action-adventure series with a pair of truly fascinating protagonists, that avoids falling into the trap of overly-sexing up what they do. It’s got so much potential; it’s the kind of thing that would make really excellent TV (please do cast Jeremy Renner as Finnegan… I’m begging you!) Five stars for a fantastic read.

St. Nicholas Salvage and Wrecking is available now.

#5 star review #action adventure #suspense thriller #fantastic read #seriously I absolutely loved it

[aion-rsa]

F9 Ending Is a Game Changer

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This article contains F9 spoilers.

Family. It’s the mantra by which Vin Diesel’s Dom Toretto has lived his life for nine movies, and it’s long been the handy slogan for the Fast and Furious franchise, too. But perhaps fittingly for an installment which sees director Justin Lin step back behind the camera, the theme of one’s chosen family has never been more pronounced.

What it means to be in Dom’s “mi familia” is central to F9. After all, this is the film where we learn Dom and his dear sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) have another sibling who they never speak of: John Cena’s morally ambiguous Jakob. As becomes clear over the course of the film, Brian might’ve been the brother Dom chose, but that was only after choosing to disown his actual little brother. But it’s kind of a funny story about the past: it can come roaring back at you like a Mustang flying beneath a military jet.

Hence when the F9 ending comes around, all those inner conflicts come bubbling to the surface. Indeed, the actual narrative stakes of the finale are almost an afterthought.

How Family Wins

The basic mechanics of the ending are fairly simple. Jakob and his oily business partner, poor little rich boy Otto (Thue Ersted Rasmussen), have successfully stolen access to Ares, a digital weapon operated from a satellite that gives its owners control over every operating system in the world. Or as Ludacris’ Tej points out, “Ares is the God War; if Jakob gets his hands on this, he’ll be the God of Damn Near Everything.” Once its upload is complete, Jakob and Otto will more or less be able to hold the whole world hostage.

The actual folks who save the day, then, are really Tej and Roman (Tyrese Gibson) who ride a rocket-powered Pontiac Fiero into space. By driving the car straight through the satellite, they prevent Otto from gaining control of the whole world’s digital space. But back on earth, he’s already cut Jakob out at this point, making a new deal with his brief prisoner Cipher (Charlize Theron). Which on a certain level you have to respect since she burned Otto harder than a thousand mean tweets with that “You’re Yoda” line.

By teaming with Cipher, the silver spoon prick sets Jakob up to die. Instead Dom’s little brother forms a new alliance with his long lost siblings, and together they bring down Otto’s truck and Cipher’s drone-controlled plane.

Why Dom Is Furious

More important than the plot mechanics of space travel and digital MacGuffins, however, is the relationship between Dom and Jakob. Established with total straight faced sincerity in the opening credits, Dom and Jakob’s backstory rewrites the very first The Fast and the Furious movie where we were told Dom went to prison for beating near to death the man responsible for his father’s racing crash. As we now discover through flashback, that was a lie that Dom only wishes was the truth. While the man who got wrenched might have helped cause their father to crash, Papa was set up to lose the race due to Jakob sabotaging the vehicle.

This is the dirty secret which caused Dom to banish Jakob from his sight after he got out of prison, and it is why Jakob remade himself into… well, John Cena. He wanted to be his own man and a greater alpha than his big brother could ever dream of becoming. Dom Toretto, the ultimate paterfamilias, pushed his actual flesh and blood away and has been attempting to replace him ever since.

It’s an interesting retcon which gives Toretto’s “Family” a little more depth and also sets Cena up to be a franchise mainstay, presumably replacing the unmentionable Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), whose offscreen beef with certain co-stars makes a return unlikely. Because, of course, Jakob really didn’t try to kill his father; it was Dom’s misunderstanding because their Dad asked Jakob to help him throw the race. And through the compassionate influence of Mia, Jakob discovers he really still wants to be Dom’s little bro.

It’s a nice sentiment, although it plays an interesting contrast to another major subplot in F9. Much of the film is rightly about bringing justice to Han (Sung Kang), who died in Fast & Furious 6/Tokyo Drift (the timeline is complicated). Yet his murderer was forgiven and accepted as a member of the family in The Fate of the Furious.

The Han of It All

In F9 it’s revealed that Han faked his death to protect a young orphan named Elle (Anna Sawai) in Tokyo. Nonetheless, the man Dom thought killed another surrogate brother was invited to the family barbecue in the last movie. Jakob did not kill anyone in Dom’s new family… but he did try to hurt Elle, whose blood held the Ares access codes. He certainly kidnapped her and threatened an extended member of the family. It’s also unclear if Jakob played a role in shooting down the plane Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) was on before the movie started, but he did work with Cipher at the time—the woman who also killed the mother of Dom’s child.

We of course don’t know if Mr. Nobody is alive or dead, but he was a close enough associate to Dom’s kin that they wanted to investigate his disappearance and save him if they could. In other words, Jakob is only a few degrees removed from Jason Statham’s villainous Shaw who was so quickly forgiven. But then, I suppose that’s why we never learn Mr. Nobody’s fate; nor is Jakob quite yet at the stage of being at the family cookout. That can come later, as there are at least two more mainline Fast and Furious movies in the works.

In the meantime, the film closes on Dom once again at the grill. Trej and Roman have returned from space after spending weeks on the International Space Station. It’s left ambiguous how there was enough food or oxygen for their unplanned visit, and how this wasn’t a global incident. (Also would international governments see them as heroes for stopping a terrorist like Cipher? And if so, would that not be a front page story around the world?) Whatever, they’re back from orbit and are now chilling in East LA with Dom.

And as food is put on the table, everyone waits for the one person whose chair remains empty. While the movie has the good grace not to CGI Paul Walker’s face into another scene, the unseen driver running late to the dinner is of course Brian. At least in this universe, the reunion is whole.

… And if you stay for the post-credits Han may yet truly bury the hatchet with the family’s most controversial member: Jason Statham. But that’s another story for another time.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

[aurorasilverthorne]

Total Misunderstanding Part #3

______________

Disclaimer: Elena of Avalor and all its characters belong to Disney.

Note: Llorona belongs to me. If you use her in fanart or fanfiction, please remember to give me proper credit as her creator. Thank you.

______________

"Chief Zephyr might let you stay on Mooncliff Mountain with us until you figure out where you want to go," Cruz suggested as they ate lunch and discussed what Llorona could do and also where she might go now that she'd run away from the palace.

Llorona finished her food and crumpled up the plate before tossing it in a nearby trash bin. She'd considered going to Hortensia Paloma. The magister of the trading guild had always been nice to the princess even on the days she hadn't purchased anything at her emporium.

Doña Paloma didn't like her parents either so she likely wouldn't tell them Llorona was there. However, if her mother or father happened to show up and find out she was hiding at the emporium, they'd probably punish her for being outside the palace, and she didn't want Paloma to get in trouble for helping her.

Llorona didn't know what the penalty was for aiding runaway royals, but given how strict her mother was, she figured the reprimand would probably be a harsh one. Neither of her parents were known to show much leniency whenever it came to upholding Avaloran law.

She didn't want to risk the jaquins getting hurt either though. Her mother hated animals, but she especially despised the flying jaguars who liked to sing and cause mischief which didn't bode well with her mother who preferred everything to be tidy and quiet. Her mother would incinerate them all with her Vadisima spell if she caught Llorona going anywhere near them. Just being around Cruz put the jaquin cub's life in danger. Llorona had told him that, but he refused to leave her side until she found a safe place to stay.

"What are you going to do?" Cruz asked once she'd said no to his offer to live at the cliffs with him and the rest of the jaquin clan.

"I'll figure out something," she told him. "I just...need time to think. Let's go look around some more."

Cruz nodded. "Okay!"

Llorona stood and dusted herself off before turning towards the vendor stalls only to bump into a man's leg. She tried to apologize, but the man grabbed onto her arm and attempted to drag her out of the market. Llorona started struggling, kicking and crying out for help, but the people in the market probably assumed the man was her father or some relative and she was throwing a tantrum. Cruz knew better, however, and leapt forward sinking both his teeth and claws into the man's lower arm.

The man cried out and let go of Llorona's arm. The jaquin cub and the princess tried to run away while the man was busy clutching at his injured arm and spewing profanities, but another even larger man got in their way as they were trying to leave.

"Get the niña," the first man ordered. "I don't give a damn what happens to the jaquin!"

"I've got her," the second replied reaching towards Llorona.

"Contali!"

All at once both men were thrown backward into the nearest wall. Llorona stood wide eyed as a man in dark blue robes appeared beside her pointing a tamborita at the two men.

"I've always detested adults who bully children," he said pausing to adjust the double headed serpent clasp on his cloak.

The man was so tall Llorona had to crain her neck just to see his face which was long with rather large green eyes and an extended goatee that matched his salt and pepper hair. He aimed his tamborita at the two men as they began pushing themselve up off the ground.

"Ecatuul!"

Llorona watched as the two men were swept up into the tornado the strange wizard conjured. She heard the two shouting and saw their arms and legs flailing as it carried them off to Maru only knew where.

The princess and the jaquin cub uttered a simultaneous "Wow..."

The wizard was putting his tamborita away when they approached him.

"That was amazing," Cruz exclaimed.

The wizard ignored Cruz and focused on Llorona. "A young child such as yourself should not be traipsing around here unattended. Where are your parents, girl, and why aren't they with you?"

His stern tone had Llorona taking a apprehensive step back. "Mamá and Papá don't want me. I was an accident. That's why I'm here. To find somewhere else to live."

The wizard frowned. "I see. What's your name, girl?"

Llorona eyed him warily. "Who wants to know?"

He seemed surprised by her question, or perhaps he was amused. Either way he gave a dramatic gesture and said, "I am, Fiero, the most feared and powerful malvago in all of Avalor. And you are?"

Llorona motioned to Cruz then to herself. "He's Cruz and I'm Ro."

Fiero quirked an eyebrow. "Ro? Am I to assume that's short for something else?"

"No. It's just Ro."

"Well, 'Just Ro', you and your furry friend need to be more careful. Even a nice kingdom like Avalor has its dangers-as you just learned. Keep to the main streets if you're looking for food or work and stay out of trouble, elsewise you'll fall in with the wrong crowd and end up stuck somewhere you don't want to be doing things you won't like. Understand?"

Llorona nodded. "Si, señor."

Fiero gave a stiff nod. "Good. Now if you don't mind, I'll be on my way."

The malvago wasn't a fool. He knew who the girl was. Only one woman in Avalor had eyes such a dark, vivid shade of emerald green.

It seemed Shuriki had found a man insane enough to sire her child. Fiero couldn't help wondering who she'd chosen and whether or not the poor, unfortunate lunatic had even survived the conception. The sorceress didn't seem all that affectionate or merciful, so it wasn't surprising in the least that she hadn't turned out to be an attentive mother.

Fiero pretended not to notice that the child and jaquin cub were following him while he took a long stroll through the market. A malvago's life was rather lonely-albeit fulfilling, so a bit of company now and then was appreciated even if that company was a little girl and her pet trailing after him at what they perceived to be a safe distance.

Fiero didn't mind keeping an eye on the two youngsters if only to make certain nobody else tried to bother them. He wasn't usually one to involve himself in the affairs of other people, but when it came to a child's well-being, well...even a malvago could have a heart from time to time.

#eoa #disney #elenaofavalor #shuriki #elena of avalor #chancellor esteban #esteban flores #fanfiction #EoA #original character #fiero #cruz