#isn't it a victory to survive?? isn't that enough??????

[sunderwight]

TSCTIR-inspired SVSSS AU.

Shen Yuan was just a regular (ehhh kind of) nerd when the invasions began, monsters and dungeons started showing up, and people started "awakening" as RPG-style superheroes with special abilities, enhanced strength/speed/etc, and ranked classifications.

Shen Yuan's older brother awakens as S-classes. His younger sister awakens as an S-class. Shen Yuan?

F-class.

Of course, chronically ill Shen Yuan told himself he wasn't really expecting any different. But there have been people who have awakened as higher classes despite their own lifelong health problems or disabilities, and in many cases awakening cured them, and so he'd hoped...

Well. It doesn't matter what he'd hoped.

The worst part isn't even that he's not some badass dungeon-delver himself (even though he is wildly curious about all the strange monsters and beasts and demons that have been turning up), the worst part is that his siblings have all but left him in the dust. They aren't just busy, he can tell that they've increasingly been avoiding him, until virtually the only time they speak to him is when they catch him trying to go into a dungeon again and then yell at him about it.

(Of course, his siblings have been increasingly aware of the danger SY is in whenever he's in proximity to them, but no one ever accused the Shen family of having strong communication skills...)

Nonetheless, if there is some possible way for Shen Yuan to increase his rank, he won't find it staying at home. And there are too many mysteries to investigate to just keep himself out of it, even if that would be more sensible. So, Shen Yuan arranges to be on various low-level dungeon teams. Often among the more questionable, misguided ones being attempted by the newly-awakened or by people who are just desperate to try and get some kind of windfall. Dungeons are dangerous, but a lucky item drop can still make someone more money in a minute than they could otherwise earn in a year. It's through these jobs that Shen Yuan meets fellow F-class Shang Qinghua, whose motives for entering the dungeons are definitely more financial than academic.

This is also how Shen Yuan ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time, in a dungeon that has suddenly gone from low-level to a high-level boss, fleeing for his life. Just when it seems like he's about to become mincemeat, his older brother (Shen Jiu) shows up and takes on the dungeon boss. But it's too much for a lone S-class, even one as determined and vicious as SJ, and Shen Yuan can only watch in horror as his brother is killed by the terrifyingly powerful and weirdly beautiful Heavenly Demon Boss.

But the reason SY survived the initial assault, when no one else did, is thanks to his hidden ability. Which temporarily grants him the powers of anyone he has a bond with who has just died, x2. Previously, he had his bacon saved by Shang Qinghua's traumatic death, and when Shen Jiu dies, SY gains enough power to actually take down this mysterious Heavenly Demon boss.

It's a hollow victory. His brother is dead. His friend is dead. Even the boss monster seems inexplicably tragic to him somehow.

And why did SJ show up anyway? Between his siblings, Shen Yuan thought that his brother had grown the most distant from him, that he even hated him now! Why couldn't he have just... stayed away...?

Despite the traumatic horror of these events, killing the boss monster grants Shen Yuan a boon. It isn't a "raise people from the dead" boon, but it does permit time travel! In fact it seems kind of emphatic on that point, like something has gone really horribly wrong with reality and the world is struggling to hold itself together now somehow. Though that could also just be because Shen Yuan's world is struggling to hold itself together...?

Regardless, this new entity called "the system" refuses to let Shen Yuan go back to a point in time before he awakened, or before the dungeons appeared. But he can go back to a point before his brother died, which is definitely good enough. Accept, accept! Who has time to read the terms & conditions? Whatever it is he'll deal with it! Just send him as far back in time as he can go!

As such, Shen Yuan's memories are sent back five years in time. Along with him go a bunch of weird new unlocked abilities, and the system menu, which demands he fulfill certain tasks and complete certain quests as a stipulation of the time travel boon. Succeed, and he gets more rewards to help him keep himself and his loved ones alive. Fail, and he'll be rebooted back to the bad ending, except to the moment before the Heavenly Demon boss died but without any of his power boosts.

So maybe Shen Yuan should have read the fine print.

Though, even if he had, he still would have made the same choice.

Back five years in the past, he's got some thinking to do. Five years is a decent chunk of time. His siblings have both awoken, and begun distancing themselves from him, but their positions are still pretty different. Shen Jiu and his childhood friend Yue Qi had a falling-out over something (they wouldn't say what) at this point in time. Shen Jiu signed on with the Qiu Collective, one of the initial rich adventuring guilds that hired people to go into dungeons. But the Qiu Collective was corrupt even by the standards of a lot of dungeon-oriented corporations, and though Shen Yuan was never made privy to the details, he knew they mistreated Shen Jiu badly and that there were a lot of investigations. The collective ultimately went under when their office was destroyed by a rogue rampaging monster, after an undiscovered dungeon opened nearby. Dungeons that open but aren't found are especially dangerous, as the threat levels will steadily increase without anyone to clear them out, until the result is a dungeon break -- monsters escaping the dungeon and emerging in the normal world, causing havoc and Godzilla-style rampages.

According to the official reports, that was what caused the destruction of the Qiu Collective's head office and the death of their CEO.

Yue Qi, on the other hand, joined the Cang Qiong guild, which had fared a little better over the five year span. Yue Qi eventually even took over the guild, and after the Qiu Collective went under, Shen Jiu made up with him enough to join him there. Shen Yuan had hoped they would reconcile and maybe even answer some of his calls, but things remained strained between all of them even afterwards.

Shen Ying, his little sister, was sheltered and trained by their older brother until she was old enough to join Cang Qiong as well, but despite being S-rank, her youth and inexperience kept her more on the sidelines. Shen Yuan had thought they might bond over being kept out of the loop, but his last conversation with his sister had made it clear that as far as she was concerned, he was still world's away from her level.

(Read: Shen Ying told him he should keep away from dangerous things, was clumsy about it, and unwittingly fed some of Shen Yuan's worst insecurities.)

On top of that, though, was another consideration:

Luo Binghe.

Among the guilds that could rival Cang Qiong five years hence, the biggest one was Demon Path. Luo Binghe would start out as a member of Cang Qiong guild, recruited shortly after awakening. Shen Yuan had thought he was pretty cool, actually, but there was some bad blood between Luo Binghe and Shen Jiu, and it got bad enough that when Luo Binghe made his solo break he got Shen Jiu embroiled in some kind of legal investigation (something about the wrongful death of another guild member) on his way out. Demon Realm and Cang Qiong remained thoroughly at odds afterwards, and things only got worse when Demon Realm surpassed Cang Qiong's count of S-rank members, and conducted a successful merger with Huan Hua guild. That is, until Luo Binghe just mysteriously vanished altogether from the public eye.

Though Luo Binghe of course wasn't the dungeon boss that actually killed Shen Jiu, he had certainly been trying to destroy him before Shen Yuan reset the timeline.

But going five years back in time... Luo Binghe had been a prodigy, the youngest to become a guild leader. Five years hence, he'd be around twenty years old.

Which means that right now, thanks to the rewind, he is fourteen or fifteen years old and hasn't even awakened yet.

It would be possible to take him out of the equation altogether.

Then, there's Liu Qingge. An S-rank who died in a dungeon under suspicious circumstances, which provided the crux of the investigation into Shen Jiu. He and Shen Jiu had also never gotten along, although once again no one had confided the details to him. Shen Yuan refused to believe that his brother had actually murdered Liu Qingge, though. If Shen Jiu was going to murder someone he'd be a lot less obvious about it.

But it would probably be better if Liu Qingge didn't die at all.

Lastly, there's the matter of Shang Qinghua.

According to Shen Yuan's mental math, Shang Qinghua won't have awoken his abilities yet either. Five years into the future, extensive research and several regrettable moves on the part of various governments and guilds would reveal that even though it was supposedly impossible to increase someone's rank after awakening, how a person awoke their abilities could have a great deal of impact on their rank.

Shang Qinghua was a textbook example of a bad awakening. His skills were mostly oriented towards stealth and item drop bonuses, but his awakening had been violent, prompted by a shady center that promised people an avenue to adventure and riches only to use mortal terror to trigger the awakening process. Being in extreme danger would work fine for those with combat skills, but wasn't so good for everyone else. A lot of people had their awakening stunted by such early methods, which were not only a bad way to go about it but also traumatic to boot.

Shen Yuan has a suspicion that someone like Shang Qinghua would actually be incredibly valuable for stealth missions and item farming, if only he'd awoken at full potential. Instead, he'd struggled to make anything of his abilities due to his lack of durability or access to the kind of high-level items that would compensate for it.

Gathering all this foresight, Shen Yuan sets about altering the future to protect his siblings.

Step one: find Luo Binghe.

Shen Yuan's initial thought was to just kind of, nudge Luo Binghe towards something different from Cang Qiong altogether. Maybe if he started out with Huan Hua guild, he could contain all his trouble there. But when he finds him, Binghe is in a bad situation. The kid's living in foster care with abusive caretakers, his adoptive mother has recently died, and he's waiting tables and picking up trash instead of going to school. His clothes are threadbare, he's too skinny, and he looks like he's been beaten.

Between a rocky introduction and an attack from a Moon Python Rhinoceros thanks to a nearby dungeon break, Shen Yuan manages to convince Luo Binghe to hire him as his agent (fee = 0% of all Binghe's dungeon earnings plus 0% from contracts), and determinedly takes over. The System seems to wildly approve of it.

Creepy. And suspicious.

But Binghe is actually a total sweetheart, as it happens, to the point where Shen Yuan can't imagine what inspired the enmity between him and Shen Jiu. This kid truly is a diamond in the rough. He just needed a little help and some actual guidance, that's all!

With Binghe on the road to a less antagonistic fate, the next most chronologically urgent item on the list is Shang Qinghua. Shen Yuan has a new ability that lets him awaken people to their full potential, and his chosen guinea pig is his own formerly deceased bro. Somehow, awakening Shang Qinghua's abilities ends up involving a near-miss with rescuing him from debt collectors, and running into (and rescuing) the S-class Mobei Jun, who had joined Demon Realm as Luo Binghe's subordinate back in the original timeline.

It's actually quite fortuitous, though, because Shang Qinghua's treasure-hunter and stealth abilities are best suited to him being accompanied by a high-ranking hunter who can pick up the physical slack. Shen Yuan had been thinking that at least awakening Shang Qinghua as a D-rank would make him durable enough to handle some dungeons without turning to sketchy organizations for back-up, but with Mobei Jun, the ice prince can ferry the man right to the most valuable loot!

Shen Yuan's on a roll!

He discovers that some of his new abilities have utility as beast-taming skills, and tackles several dungeons successfully with the help of Luo Binghe, Shang Qinghua, and Mobei Jun. They even manage to rescue A-class Sha Hualing from a sticky situation, and Shen Yuan learns that his abilities can, in fact, help other awakened level up their own rank (previously believed impossible). With enough of his influence, Sha Hualing could become S-rank one day.

But of course, it can't be too easy.

When Shen Yuan moves to intervene with the dungeon break that wiped out the Qiu Collective, and seemed to start all the controversies against his brother, he instead finds that there is no dungeon at all. Yet, clearly some kind of attack on the building is underway.

He finds out why when he comes across his brother in a fugue state, murdering his way through his own guild.

Turns out, most S-ranks creep people out. Most average people can barely tolerate being around them even before they awaken. But afterwards? Their oppressive auras and sheer strength tend to trigger everyone's flight-or-fight reflex. Shen Yuan never noticed, because he's grown up surrounded by S-ranks his whole life. Even upon watching Shen Jiu kill the Qiu members, Shen Yuan's chief source of upset is that they were apparently treating his brother so badly that they inspired a murder spree from someone ordinarily much more calculating and clever than that.

Apparently, Shen Yuan should have been taking the opportunity to move against them a lot sooner, rather than just mitigating the whole supposed dungeon-break disaster and then investigating after. His own fault. He thought that keeping his distance would help his siblings, but clearly, letting them hoard their secrets and do whatever they think is best isn't the way to go either.

Does he even know what's really happening with his sister? Or to Yue Qi over at Cang Qiong? At this point in time, his friend had stopped contacting him altogether for several months in a row. When he came back, he was definitely more subdued and even more distant than he had been before. And that's the same guild that Shen Jiu and Shen Ying will eventually join as well, presumably with its own skeletons packed into the closet.

Shen Yuan's going to have to adjust a lot of his plans, it seems.

But first -- he's got a murder spree to help cover up, and an older brother to take home and, uh. Calm down. Or something?

Damn. Maybe Shen Jiu did kill Liu Qingge on purpose. He's going to have to thoroughly figure that situation out too, if he wants to handle it right...

#svsss #bingqiu #scum villain's self saving system #scum villain #long post #the system: your assignment is to bond with as many s-rank people as possible #shen yuan: I don't have time for that I'm too busy bonding with all these people who happen to be s-rank

[pathsofoak]

I like how I outline, I go over things so many times before I actually get to writing I keep finding little holes I can fill up

#I've had a lot of trouble pin pointing how I can make sure Newt and Brenda's responses to being told they'll survive the Flare #but will still be sick in big but less destructive ways for the rest of their lives #complement each other well enough since they share these chapters where they find out #For Newt his big moment is pretty clear #he has already figure out he wants to live #all he has to do is to be willing to risk a little (temporary) pain and risk to hang on to it because now life is worth that to him #but Brenda's arc has been focused on her awareness that she's losing the ability to do certain things alone #Newt's progression of the Flare went fast and he could only get better from there #but Brenda has been gradually getting worse for a year and a half at this point #she's scared she'll need help and support for every little thing now and she has trouble seeing her life as something good that way #so being told that she'll live a full life but in the exact way she already feared to spend the last of her time before is #quite bittersweet and an empty victory to her #WCKD tells her that research will help them 'fix it' in time. All she has to do is let them do what's necessary #the problem is that WCKD plans to infect her with the Flare #at first that was just that #but I've been thinking about it and I've shifted the way Brenda still fights that in the end #at first it's just plain she wants to live. The idea that it could 'cure' her symptoms isn't there #but now I've added that element #she doesn't choose to live #she actively chooses not to risk her life and go through an unimaginable amount of pain for a CHANCE that WCKD might succeed #meaning that knowing she has all these friends around her who will really have her back for whatever whenever #suddenly aren't reminders of her 'weaknesses' anymore #they're the foundation for her accepting her new disabilities #Brenda's arc is kind of a personal one btw #only I lacked the support system during this and didn't exactly go through the 'doing something with help isn't lesser' arc #until I didn't need it anymore #and it kind of felt like a bandaid given by the time the wound's not bleeding anymore... #but anyway #I've got some big plans for this fic

[that-gay-jedi]

The thing is that everyone everyone EVERYONE posting about Hector of Troy understands the two poles of his conflict (the household and the battlefield) but so so sooo many posts file off the nuances of where he actually falls between them.

It's not entirely inaccurate to say Hector is a family-oriented character who fights because everyone he loves and everything he knows will be destroyed if he doesn't. But it IS a simplification.

When Andromache confronts him on the way to the gates, she doesn't ask him not to go out to fight; they both acknowledge the absolute necessity of doing so. But she asks him to fight defensively, to stick close to the walls and to focus on not allowing the invading army to breach vulnerable areas therein.

And he denies her request.

He has to fight aggressively and with the intent to win glory, he tells her, because he cannot bear to show his face in Troy if he does anything else. Even knowing that at this point his death would almost certainly cost Troy the war, destroying everything he holds dear including Andromache herself, he can't bring himself to preserve his life if it means falling short of the standards of Bronze Age masculine virtue.

This would have been totally consistent with the way the internet reads him IF she had asked him to stay home and hide under the bed or something. There's a reason he's as much if not more a foil to Paris as to Achilles. But that's not what Andromache asked him to do.

Given the choice between fighting ONLY to defend Troy or fighting to achieve honour and victory in the defense of Troy, he chose the latter.

The tragedy of Hector isn't solely that he's a father and husband who is forced to be a warrior. It's that he's juuust enough of a family man to want to be one, but... not enough to risk being branded a coward for it.

At least, not until it was too late.

He wanted his wife to have a husband and his child to have a living father, he really did. He outran fleet-footed Achilles three times around the walls of Troy in what I can only imagine must have been as much a feat of desperation as of athleticism. To keep ahead of someone on foot, over that distance, wearing armor, sounds frankly painful- I say this as someone who used to love running.

If the gods hadn't decieved him into thinking he had help against Achilles, would he have run until he collapsed? Until some archer on the walls managed to either take down Achilles or at least force enough distance between them that Hector could escape? Would anyone have shamed him for it? Having faced the shame of cowardice and survived, would he have fought differently in the next battle, more defensively?

He died before we could find out.

#dont be afraid correct me if im wrong i will genuinely appreciate it #i have only lay knowledge & am acutely aware academic knowledge is a whole different animal #hector of troy #the iliad #andromache #trojan war

[lancrewizzard]

On one level, I get why people want Rincewind to finally do magic, especially in fanfic. The man's been through absolute hell multiple times, insulted, dismissed, underestimated, and generally used as the universe's chew toy. It only makes sense to want him to achieve his dreams.

But I can't emphasise enough how important it is, thematically and character-wise, for Rincewind to be inherently incapable of doing magic. In a way, he's the inverse of a wizard, in that it would be more accurate to say that magic uses him. One of the eight great spells used him as a portable spell book, he was a sort of grounding rod for excess magic in Sourcery, and he's a tool of the gods, which themselves need the magic weakened reality in order to exist on the Disc.

Rincewind's stories aren't about overcoming one's weaknesses or finding hidden strength. He's not a hero, he's just someone who happened to be there. Rincewind's stories are of survival, and it's important that that's all they're about. At their heart, these are books about a man who isn't that strong or smart or brave or good or special in any way, but he still survives situations that no one should ever have to face and helps others along the way.

Giving Rincewind magic makes him Special TM, and that stops him being special as a character. Discworld is full of inspirational heroes who chose to do the right thing, and so became important from their choices. Rincewind means more to me as a character, because when you're fighting physical and mental illness, surviving is often the only victory that matters.

#Rincewind is Important #I'm having thoughts and feelings and barely putting them into words #this discworld ramble brought to you by me wanting to write a little fic and my brain not cooperating #i'm having a time and rincey is my special little guy #and seeing people not understand his uselessness being part of what makes him such a special little guy makes me sad

[psychotrenny]

I really do think this is the end for Israel. The beginning of the end at least. They're essentially a relic of an earlier time, a time when, through a complex confluence of factors, the military power of Europe was so far beyond the rest of the world that it could openly keep the world in shackles. The Imperial powers of Europe could do as they wished and respond to any resistance with overwhelming violence that, no matter how costly in money or lives or how many years it took, would eventually force open resistance to come to a (temporary) end. You saw exceptions of course, such as Ethiopia's successful repulsion of Italian invaders in the 1890s (although even that victory is somewhat undercut but Italy's more successful invasion about 40 years later), but in the majority of cases even the most brave and intelligent of resistance fighters would see themselves worn down and defeated. Just off the top of my head you have figures like Samori Toure, Omar al-Mukhtar, Samuel Maharero; all inflicted numerous defeats on their European Imperialist enemies but in the end couldn't overcome the sheer force that was arrayed against them.

Of course such supremacy was never absolute even at it's apex, and this height was so very short lived. Resistance never fully stopped; outbursts of violence were frequent and various forms of passive resistance like migration, tax evasion and industrial slowdown were ubiquitous. Resistance movements learned from past failures, acquired the weapons of modern war and soon proved a credible threat to the Imperialist forces that by the middle of the 20th century had exhausted themselves through in-fighting. Whether evicted through direct violence or choosing to leave under the inevitable threat of it, the European powers largely ended their direct domination over the colonised world. That's not to say Imperialism was over, far from it, but it mostly took on subtler forms; more soft power with only the occasional resort to hard. Imperial domination is now more than ever exerted through various local proxies and the broader forces that keep them in check as direct subjugation just isn't especially viable.

In the parts of the world without substantial settler populations this withdrawal was accomplished smoothly enough; most of the Europeans present either left without a fuss or found some sort of niche under the new order of things. But the liberation of colonies with large settler populations was a longer and bloodier process; just compare the French withdrawal from Indochina to that from Algeria or the fate of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). A large number of Europeans were heavily entrenched in these colonies and had both their material wealth and sense of pride tied to the maintenance of white supremacy. Many politicians back in Europe were less willing to abandon such settler colonies, while with or without support from back home the colonists engaged in their own bloody wars of oppression against indigenous people.

But in the end they all fell. Algeria, Rhodesia, Angola, South Africa, the list goes on. Even as these places continue to suffer under the yoke of less direct Imperialism they can take pride knowing that the scourge of direct setter subjugation was defeated. Exploiting people is one thing; there are many ways you can accomplish this without the exploited truly catching on. But the sort of violence it takes to brazenly steal control of a people's land, settle yourself on it while keeping the original inhabitants as second class citizens is going to engender the fiercest resistance no matter what. The only remotely stable settler colonies are those where the indigenous peoples were already decimated by disease before being subjected to centuries of genocidal policies, reducing their current population to a small minority of the nation. And even then the survives continue to resist fiercely. In places where the settlers remained the minority there was simply no chance of such regimes surviving for long.

Israel as a state is among the last of its kind, and I see no reason why it shouldn't meet the fate of all other such colonies. The way I see it the end of Israel is inevitable. The only question is just how much bloodshed and suffering it'll take. The struggle has been ongoing for so very long. I truly hope that we're seeing the final stages of it, but I suppose only time can tell. All I know for sure is that from from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free

#stella speaks

[woahjo]

i've been thinking a lot about a jjk hunger games au... gonna add content warnings just in case

cw: mentions of sex work, implications of noncon/trafficking, references to gore, canon typical violence and discussions for hunger games stuff

if satoru were a victor in the hunger games, he'd be a capitol darling. he'd be so adored and so admired. he's so handsome, so charismatic, that even some folks in one and two find him completely captivating.

he's a career from district four, who won his games with all the savvy of someone who was born to do it. when he volunteered, there was very little doubt that he was the most promising tribute. strong and surly. 18 years old with a long, lithe body and smile that screamed winner.

so of course he had sponsors and allies. of course he was highly sought after by the other careers. his district partner, a pretty person with a quiet and stoic disposition, was simultaneously proud of him and deeply threatened. they'd trained in the same class and she knew what he was capable of. no one remembers her name anymore, they just remember that he hadn't killed her. he'd spared her from what he could until someone else took her from this world.

it seemed that after she passed, satoru flipped a switch. that was it. the games would end and he'd come out on top.

after his victory, satoru had all the wealth he could need. no family anymore, hardly any friends save for the other victors, but money and wealth beyond what he'd ever imagined. it was dazzling even for him and his district was better off than most. career districts tend to be.

he disconnects from the world, lets snow sell his body and keeps playing the game. that's all there is left to do. to just keep playing. fame isn't all he thought it would be and satoru realizes now that he was too naive in volunteering. he dreamed of a kind of glory that doesn't exist and with every passing year, he grows more and more bitter internally of the kids after him who make the same mistakes.

then, three years after his games, an 18 year old from district 7 miraculously wins. you're an underdog, an unexpected victor from an outlying district with little to no chance of winning. but you did.

satoru meets you on your victory tour, when the fear of the arena hasn't fully worn off, and he's struck by the quiet stoicism you have within you. you're sweet, but with a bitter edge, given to you by your district and the unlucky hand dealt to you. he finds himself a bit in awe.

he thinks you hate him at first. satoru gets the impression that you hate him so much that you can hardly stomach being around him. it isn't until he pulls you to the side and warns you about what comes next, that you start to humanize him. that defensive glint wavers for a moment, leaving nothing but a pretty person with an unlucky lot in life. he's not sure why he warns you, but he does. he feels some sort of kinship with you. you've endured something similar, felt the same fear he felt, and you don't revel in it. instead, you quietly chew up the hand dealt to you and spit it out, something he never thought he could do.

satoru, a victor from district four with nothing left in this world, is awestruck by the idea that he can love someone this much. suddenly, it's not just about playing their game, it's about winning it. just surviving isn't enough anymore. with you in the equation, he needs to thrive.

#gojo x reader #satoru gojo x reader #jjk x reader #cal.writing #im posting some drafts from my old blog onto here #but this has been rattling around in my brain #char.gojo #tw.trafficking #tw.implied noncon

[ataraxiaspainting]

Cupid.

Yan Chrollo x F Reader.

Synopsis: No matter how much soap is used up, even when the bars are all dissolved in the bathwater and the bottles are empty, you know that from now on all you will be is dirty. You will never be clean again. Never.

Warnings: Yandere themes, heavily implied non-con, past violence, manipulation, and kidnapping.

Word Count: 1k.

Ten Songs Like This Piece:

Memoir #02 [06.12.09] by Maria Pseftoga (feat. May Roosevelt)

I Can’t Handle Change by Roar

A Burning Hill by Mitski

No Surprises by Radiohead

A Pearl by Mitski

Liquid Smooth by Mitski

Six Forty Seven by Instupendo

I Love You Like An Alcoholic by The Taxpayers

Bumblebees Are Out by Jack Stauber’s Micropop

Bathtub by The Front Bottoms

"Now the time has come. I put two bullets in my gun. One for me, and one for you. Oh darling, it will be so beautiful." – Misery (1990)

*~*~*~*

The steam rising feels so thick it nearly suffocates you. That does not stop you from burying yourself further into the water, up to your nose and nearly filling up your ears. No, if anything, the steam makes you want to drown in it so much more. You contemplate putting your entire head under, screaming into the water until no bubbles rise to the surface.

But the demon wearing pale human skin would stop you before your escape attempt is successful. That is what he always does, after all.

Your white wool towel and his gray one is placed on the same rack, on your side. On one of the hooks behind the door are your pajamas, the color of strawberry taffy, and small buttercups on both the top and lower parts of the set. There are twenty-two on the shirt and nineteen on the pants. You know this because you have counted them many, many times before, the first-time being weeks if not months ago, when you thought the worst thing Chrollo could do to you is slap you or ignore you if you ever hit him. If you ever succeeded in that department, with his lightning-fast reflexes. You can only remember being that fortunate enough maybe… a maximum of four times, you think, before you stopped, after your initial fears of him killing you were brushed off, and after your survival instincts adapted to fit this particular situation. 

Rebelling by fighting him is not going to help. You know that it is something ingrained in every human, getting physical in the face of a threat, whether it be a real one or not. However, upon your initial confinement in this place, your primal instinct also urged you to escape. You constantly remind yourself that this is impossible due to the numerous locks on the door and Chrollo's ability to summon a seemingly omnipotent book out of thin air. You are unable to flee, thus your survival instinct must adjust to an alternative strategy. Nevertheless, it fails to do so, prompting you to ultimately confront different adversaries altogether; Chrollo's caresses, presents, and offerings of quality time.

But now seeing where that got you now, you regret not attempting to jump out of his car and run for the hills, not caring if he was behind you or not.

“...” You are silent as you push back further and further until the crown of your head feels the porcelain wall. “...”

Chrollo, in turn at your silence, simply puts some water into his cupped hand, letting his thumb play around in it for a little while before releasing it back from whence it came. “Now, what did we learn today? You don’t plan to be silent the rest of the night, do you dearest?”

You're uncertain about your plans, but one thing you do know is that drowning him in the bathtub is not one of them. Despite your desire to do so, you acknowledge that you wouldn't come out victorious. Presently, you feel apprehensive about what lies ahead. If this isn't the absolute depths to which Chrollo would sink, then what could be?

“...” Your mind wanders at a languid pace, not in a slithering manner, but rather with a slow crawl. It looms menacingly, poised to devour you entirely, leaving you voiceless. To prevent its dreadful consumption, you divert your attention to the objects surrounding you, to anything but the one who holds you captive.

“...If you don’t want to chat now, that is fine,” This time, Chrollo scoops water into his palms and gently pours it over his hair. “You can always do so when we get out.”

The water is still clear, so clear that you can still see the bottom of the bathtub. The salts he put were lavender scented, you think, because something floral is in the steam and the small bits of water that make their way into your nostrils and mouth. There is lemon balm, peppermint, and rose petals floating about too, but one or two of them have clung to your body like seaweed you would accidentally walk near when you went into the ocean’s tides, causing you to squirm to get them off. Chrollo most likely finds this amusing, because he does not think much else of you, does he?

“...” There are seventy-three tiles in all on the bathroom floor that are in plain view, not counting the ones underneath the rugs, the bathtub, cleaning supplies, shelving, and the toilet. “...”

You could recount them again instead of putting water over your head too. “Do you want to do anything related to aftercare aside from this?”

“...” Rather than uttering a word, you choose to count the uncovered tiles on the bathroom floor. “...”

The occurrence can be summed up by a single word: dissociation. To shield you, your mind disentangled the emotional pains from the physical ones, rendering you void of sensation, numb. This was done to prevent you from comprehending the true nature of what transpired, what just happened, when his patience snapped and he tied you to the bed by the wrists, ripping and ripping until–

“...”

You and the devil are side by side. 

“There is no need to repeat what happened today, correct? Then everything will go back to normal. Just hope for your well-being that you remember this.” 

“...I will. I will.” The sound of your voice brings a smile to his face, and he cups a handful of water in his palms.

The liquid flows down from your hair, mimicking a gentle rainfall, only to rebound and retreat to its origin. This rhythmic cycle persists, until unexpectedly, your body surrenders to a state of tranquility, defying the will of your mind. Your head tilts backward, and for a fleeting moment, you feel weightless, as if hovering above the water's surface.

Your mind will now be cleansed of the undesirable side of Chrollo, hopefully ensuring that you never have to witness it again.

#author aya #yandere #yandere x reader #hxh #phantom troupe #yandere hunter x hunter #yandere hxh #chrollo hunter x hunter #chrollo lucilfer #chrollo x reader #yandere chrollo #yandere chrollo x reader #yandere chrollo lucilfer

[radiance1]

Random Danny Phantom au.

The world ended, nukes launching to every corner of the world.

If the nukes didn't kill them, then the aftermath sure did.

An actual, honest to god supervillain wanted the end of the world, and they did it even when they got taken along too.

Vlad, Danny and Dani survived due to their Halfa biology, with Dani leaving for the ghost zone after everything went down.

Danny is overcome by grief, and anger with no place to direct it.

Same goes for Vlad.

And they already didn't like each other, so just one minor thing set them off on each other.

Due to Danny's victory over Pariah Dark, and Vlad helping him with the suit and pushing Pariah back into the coffin, they each became king of the Ghost Zone.

More like half-king since they both share the position but eH.

Danny got the Crown of Fire, which because of his ice core turned into the Crown of Frost.

Meanwhile Vlad got the Ring of Rage, and became much quicker to anger than he was before.

Surprisingly enough, Danny was the one who landed the first hit.

The opposing nature of their cores, fire and ice, wasn't at all helping the planet when they both went all out, especially with the added power boosts.

They fought on the wasteland planet for a few years, then moved to space. To which something of surprise happened, Danny, with his ice core and the Crown of Frost connected to the moon, meanwhile Vlad, with his Ring of Rage, connected to the motherfucking sun.

Why is this important?

Well, because even though humanity was basically wiped out, the faith left behind on things they worshipped was still around.

So Danny and Vlad both got even more boosts of power from the lingering faiths left behind on the sun and moon. Basically becoming gods.

Not that Danny or Vlad cares, for Danny he just wants the earth back to how it was, and his family by extension. For Vlad, even though he has all of this power now, Madeline isn't here anymore, nor is Vladco and everything else he worked for.

So they just, continue fighting.

The Sun vs the Moon.

They held nothing back, using every inch of power in their cores and the power gained from lingering faith of the sun and moon and caused devastation if they were still on earth.

They fought for years and years. Until one day they just, stopped.

Be it because of how much power they used up, or they just felt emotionally exhausted, perhaps both. Danny just stayed on the Moon while Vlad just kinda, drifted, around the sun.

During this time, Clockwork saw this as the best time to yoink them over to the ghost zone, and properly appoint them as Kings of the Infinite Realms.

Of course they had to have the clothes to match, and with them having a connection to the sun and moon certain ghosts had a motif to go off of.

Danny was gifted a white robe that glowed a soft light, with the edges seeming to turn into frosty mist and the area around him is extremely cold.

Vlad was gifted a golden robe that glowed intensely, the entire thing seemed to be made of fire and the area around him extremely hot.

Opposites and stuff I guess.

No other ghost really wanted to fight them and take the Ghost King title, it's honestly far more trouble than it was worth and they didn't want the responsibilities.

So Danny and Vlad had to put aside their differences and rule together properly for each and every ghost in the zone.

Safe to say, neither of them were thrilled to be working with the other. (With Danny not thrilled to be working at all.)

Which is pretty in character with them being polar opposites.

During their off time, much to some ghost's chagrin, they typically leave outside of the zone to their respective domains, the moon and sun. Both of them feel a sense of comfort when near them.

Surprisingly after their battle and working together, Vlad feels calmer around Danny because of his overall aura, whereas Danny feels the never ending chill he experiences lighten up whenever he's near Vlad.

So they're on some sort of truce right now.

Everything is going fine, the zone finally stabilized with the extended presence of both its kings, the Ghost Zone now has some sense of law and order, and everything is just better over all than under Pariah Dark's absence and rule.

Until Danny gets summoned to some far off dimension, still in the appearance of a teenager because he never aged (neither did Vlad) and is absolutely stunned to see living, breathing humans.

It's been far, far too long since he's seen humans.

So there he is, still in his king robes (Which basically become his regular clothing), sitting in a magical summoning circle with cultists all around him preaching to him about he's going to enslave the world and how they off themselves up to be his servants.

Stunned beyond compare seeing people, and then out of the blue more people come out and beat up the cultists, with the last one begging for him to help them and then being knocked out.

A stray thought entered his mind, and he doesn't even care about the other people anymore. So he steps out of the circle, ignoring the others surprise, their battle ready stances, and their attempts at talking with him and just exits the building and flying out of the planet's atmosphere.

He then turned to look at the planet, and he started crying.

It was breath taking to see the earth living again, especially when from the moon all he ever saw was the wasteland that was once his.

Some random dude came up out of the atmosphere with him, with a determined expression on his face before that melted away into surprise and concern. Who then just floated there alongside him.

Meanwhile, over in the DP outer space:

Vlad is not at all amused when he felt the sudden void of the moon. So he went to check it out, seeing the moon deity gone from his place. Usually when they go to the Infinite Realms they are still aware of the others presence.

But now Vlad doesn't feel him at all.

So Vlad goes to find Clockwork, who should surely know if his opposite decided to go back in time.

Clockwork says he doesn't know where Danny is, but he does know he was summoned to another dimension. Vlad questions how Clockwork doesn't know where Danny is since he's the literal Master of Time.

Clockwork says that he oversees all the events and timelines in this dimension, the one where Danny was summoned to however? Noooot so much.

So now Vlad feels he has to look for his counterpart and is increasingly angry that he has to do so, but then Clockwork nudged him along to go and find him.

So now Vlad has to look for the wayward moon deity; while said deity is now talking with a bunch of actual people and is not at all hiding his wonder and amazement at seeing and talking to living people again.

(Clockwork when he knows exactly where, how, and why Danny got summoned, but isn't telling Vlad a single thing other than "You have to go find him." and acting as if he couldn't just pop into the timestream and ask the Linear Men if they've seen an immortal teenage moon deity in any timelines.)

#dp x dc #dp x dc crossover #Vlad became a sun Deity and has the Ring of Rage #While Danny became a moon deity and got the Crown of Fire turned Frost #Danny is completely and utterly stunned to see a living earth again #Vlad probably will too when he finally finds the DC dimension #The JL when they find out that Danny is only Half king of the Infinite Realms and that there's another one #Who's probably not taking his random disappearance well.

[ganymede-hh]

After moving out of his parents' house, despite their concerns- Eric had refused to take any university courses. Finding out that streaming games could earn him enough money to survive, he had gotten used to spending his days playing competitive multiplayer games. Often times, he was too lazy to even pull on a pair of pants- just gaming away bottomless.

As one might expect from a 20-something man, Eric wasn't necessarily the nicest person, and his new lifestyle was bringing out the worst in him. In each game, he'd yell and cuss at his teammates the moment he noticed their shortcomings. He'd regularly make little children cry with his excessive insults, gaining a sick enjoyment each time he made someone rage-quit. Though this day, it would be different.

It was another day of gaming for Eric, when he noticed something strange in the voice channel. It was the sound of a much older man, clearly over the age of 60- asking for backup through the channel. A smirk arose in Eric's face as he realized what a golden opportunity this was. With a loud laugh, he begun insulting the poor old guy. "Hey grandpa, shouldn't you be more concerned with finding a grave to crawl into instead of this game?" He laughed, adding insult to injury "There's no place for old farts here". The older man didn't seem to respond, and soon left the match- leaving Eric to revel in his victory.

Soon though, a wave of restlessness hit the redhead. Yawning, Eric soon laid down- deciding a small nap couldn't hurt. Closing his eyes, the young man drifted off to sleep but things felt... different as he awoke. Firstly... everything was blurry, and this was not the position Eric had fallen asleep in. He was now laying on his back, with his face towards the ceiling. Strangely, he felt heavier- and his head felt a breeze up above. Slowly pushing himself up while rubbing his eyes, Eric muttered "What the hell..." but an unfamiliar voice came out, something raspier and deeper. As he continued rubbing away at his eyes, a pair of glasses fell onto his face- previously on his forehead. Though, what they revealed was perhaps more terrifying than Eric could imagine.

There, in the mirror in front of him was a nude, old man- with a ridiculously obese body. Watching as the old man moved in the mirror with his every move, Eric let out a scream as he begun to realize the extent of his situation. He felt his bald head, previously lush with beautiful ginger hair. Felt his massive, soft belly and embarrassing moobs. He even got a look at the downsized equipment he now had, tiny and from the seems of it... unable to get hard due to his old age. As Eric began to cry, struggling to understand what happened- suddenly he heard a notification from... right under him. Rolling over to grab the phone which smelled like an old man's arse, Eric clicked on the notification to see an image. And image that was all too familiar

"You were right, kid. This game isn't for old farts- I've been doing so much better at it in your body. Hope you have fun finding a grave to crawl into in my 87 year old body hahah!"

That caption had broke Eric, 87 years old!? In the blink of an eye, over 60 years of his life were stolen alongside his perfect body. As he tried to text and call his own number- he soon found out that the new Eric had blocked his number and with no way to do anything to reverse the swap, Eric could only cry and pray this was all a dream.

As weeks passed, Eric was disgusted with his new life more and more. Moving was hard, and doing anything was hard - and the only thing that never seemed to get hard was his penis. Now stuck in the life of this single, obese old man named Herald- Eric never accepted this body as his own. Around three years after the swap, poor Eric passed away due to complications with his morbid obesity while Herald continued to enjoy a young and care-free life long after the swap.

#male body swap #identity theft #male weight gain #young to old #bad ending

[stickyspeckledlight]

Boop! 🐾

(L didn't get this out yesterday but I was also a smidge busy balduring my gates and stockpiling knock off thin mints)

Unfortunately I do not have enough thoughts to write a drabble, but yan!aventurine would totally boop you.

The worst part is that you have no one to blame but yourself. On one particular night, when you weren't quite pushed to your limit but where your thoughts certainly did verge on the homicidal, an idea crosses your mind that, you believe to be utter genius in the moment: if you cannot overpower him or outwit him, then you certainly can use your meager mental faculties to bamboozle the fucker.

It's ingenious, you're certain! A touch that is not provocative, not aggressive, but OH so...powerful. A primordial innocence primed with mischief and tomfoolery. An action of such utter stupidity that no one in their right mind could even begin to react to.

He has been attempting to goad you into playing one of his games for the past five centuries (and no, you affirm that your sense of time is quite in order), and from having performed this song and dance innumerous times, it is about now when he says or does something to make you give in, and then entraps you in his hold before you can escape.

It is you who takes the initiative.

A demented grin full of malice and desperation spreads on your face as you ready your finger, and rush over to him, and

Boop! right on his nose.

And it works. He is too stunned; either by the stupidity of the situation, or that you've initiated contact. But you do not fret over the reason. You seize the opportunity and slip into the bathroom, locking it and securing it with a chair you grabbed for good measure. In the throes of your victory, no rational thought crosses your mind.

But all actions have consequences, and this very true fact catches up to you. Aventurine has not come banging on the door or mocking you as you thought he would. You have not heard from him at all. This is a good thing, but it makes you nervous---compounded by the fact you cannot stay in the bathroom forever.

Sure, you could theoretically survive here for three weeks, as the only thing you'd be lacking was food. You had a toilet, and a shower and bath to decompress in, even! And if you wanted to lay down? You could merely set up a haven of comfort with the millions of towels Aventurine keeps in his gargantuan bathroom. It was a great place to bunker in for sure!

.......but do you really want to starve? Like, do you really, really, really want to put yourself through that over him? You do hate him and want to see him suffer, but your mother and every self-help book ever says that you should love yourself! And unfortunately and fortunately for you, you do love yourself enough to not want to go through it. But, you can at least be strategic about it. Nabbing supplies in the night? No, Aventurine has proven himself capable of operating without a wink of sleep for good knows how long. The key to this operation is to leave when he's left! Ahahaha! Good job, you! You really are a bonafide genius! Nous ought to send you an invitation to the ranks of the Society!

(you're aware that he could just bust down your door without issue, but you'll take reprieve when you can get it, you know?)

So, you wait, and keep on waiting even after you hear the entrance close. You will not take any risks, and you wait for what you think is a good hour or three. And then, you emerge.

You are swift and precise, making a beeline towards the kitchen to stock up, and just as you are about to open the cabinet to nab a box of succulent bioengineered cheese crackers---

"Boop!" a gentle pressure mounts on your nose.

There really isn't any winning with this guy, you think. After this nasty surprise, he "revokes your bathroom privileges," mounting it with a lock and essentially requiring his permission with the key card he gives you for it.

And worst of all, your concept of utter genius comes to haunt you in your every waking moment. Coming home from a long day of work? Boop! Threatening your family and friends? Boop! Playing Animal Walking? Boop! Throwing you into a bare room handcrafted for sensory deprivation? Boop! Post nut clarity? Boop!

You then see the one glaring folly in your initial thought process: why did you ever assume Aventurine to be in the right mind in any way or any situation?!

#lol i wonder if i can even post this to ao3 #eh maybe i can adpat it into an actual drabble but also this is so inherently tied to tumblr that it's tough #it's fine i wrote this in like twenty minutes or something as a breather from actual fic writing lmao #no what do you mean i have to read three chapters before next class that's stupid #yandere #yandere aventurine #yandere hsr #honkai star rail #aventurine hsr #reader takes home a massive L #well then again they aren't home but aventurine would also then beg to differ #yandere aventurine x reader

[kanansdume]

Luthen literally says "oppression breeds rebellion." He says it outright. He's fully aware of the ultimate consequence of what he's doing. That's literally the entire reason Mon is so upset with him and seemingly stops working with him much after Aldhani is because he's USING the success on Aldhani as a way to intentionally piss off the Empire enough to get them to tighten the noose on the galaxy and cause people to suffer enough that they fight back. Which is going to get people killed, it's getting those prisoners extended sentences and random citizens harsher punishments. And Luthen knows this. He's added it into his calculations and decided their losses are worth the possibility that something like what happens on Narkina 5 and on Ferrix MIGHT happen.

Luthen is COUNTING on people eventually, ultimately, rising up. He's not surprised by what happens on Ferrix, he's not outwitted by Maarva Andor in a hologram.

Maarva is inspired by Aldhani. She says it pretty blatantly, she chooses rebellion BECAUSE she sees it can succeed, because she refuses to just look the other way at the oppression on Ferrix. She says it in her own speech, too, that she and the rest of the people on Ferrix just kept hoping if they kept their heads down and didn't cause a big fuss that it would go away and it DIDN'T, it just stayed longer and got worse. Maarva calls it sleeping. Luthen calls it not recognizing the noose around their necks because it's tightening so slowly that no one notices.

But either way, what happens on Ferrix is precisely what Luthen is hoping will happen as a result of his choices. I don't think he ever assumed he'd be lucky enough to see it happen, though. And he doesn't KNOW Maarva was inspired into rebellion because of Aldhani. So he's not anticipating it when he arrives on Ferrix, and he's shocked when it happens, but not because he doesn't think regular people can rebel, or because this old dead lady accomplished what he could not, but because he wasn't expecting to see the fruits of his labor finally blossom here in this moment.

And just because this is what Luthen's been aiming for doesn't necessarily make this a victory for him. The guy has an entire speech about how he knows he's going to be condemned for what he's done and will do in the future, he's doomed to use the tactics and weapons of his enemy. People are dying on Ferrix. People die in this riot, a LOT of them die. And there isn't even a guarantee that they win here, that they kick the Empire out of Ferrix. We have no idea if they manage to do so or not because the storyline leaves before we can be told. It's entirely possible this rebellion is quelled for now, and it may even cause the Empire to crack down HARDER on those who survive, but the spark has been lit now and Ferrix is fighting back. It's horrifying, it's devastating, and Luthen knows that, has understood the reality of this from the beginning. It's not some big glorious fight for Luthen, it's battlefield triage where he's swapping the lives of 30 good men for one impeccably placed spy.

Luthen isn't outwitted, and he's not surprised at the ability of regular people to rebel. This is his plan at work, whether he realizes just how much of an impact he had on Maarva or not.

#andor #andor show #andor series #sw andor #star wars andor #luthen rael #maarva andor #andor spoilers

[deus-and-the-machina]

I miss...giorno giovanna.

im thinking a lot about his complex role as a healer. his stand isn't meant to heal, he essentially brute forces it, which fits for the kind of person he is vs Josuke. furthermore, giorno is very self sacrificing in a very literal sense. he loses multiple body parts over the course of part 5 and just has to remake them. there's a ship of Theseus paradox here though I dont think THAT much of him was remade.

after the white album fight, mista tells him that their victory will be all of them surviving together as giorno once again tries to sacrifice himself. he takes this to heart, but soon afterwards its proven that this cannot always happen. His healing isn't enough. he can only give Bruno a little more time. and his reaction when bruno tells him this says everything.

Keeping everyone alive is his role, and he spends the early days of the part being given shit for being a newcomer, so having a solidified sense of usefulness only to have it swiped away so quickly when his stand cannot save his comrades is rough.

golden experience requiem is interesting in this context because its main purpose is protecting him from any and all harm. giorno has again, spent the entire part going through jojo typical levels of body horror, gore, etc, with the added benefit that he can remake limbs and chunks of flesh so they can do a lot worse to the part 5 cast and have them live. so in one sense, GER is a reward of sorts. he endured all that and his reward is never getting hurt again.

But at the same time, it's cruel irony that even with one of the most powerful stands in the world, its capabilities are on protecting him and no other. im sure that his enhanced capabilities make it easier of course, but the idea that he could still be too late will forever remain. whug.

#he was my icon for a hot minute in the past I remember #sorry I suddenly got hit with a rapid wave of remembering a past hyper fixation. giorno my beloved idc that people say hes boring think #about his actions and his powers please please please. and hes only my second favorite jojo lol #I also think an interesting aspect of him is how he DIDNT ever show a desire to be the boss in any way. he said 'gangstar' which is. vague #and just seems to be in the vein of 'responsible gangster helping their neighborhood' like his childhood hero but at every turn the #assumption is bruno being the leader and every time the idea of bruno leaving comes up giorno is greatly distressed. he actively plays #support hes the one lifting bruno up being THE main guy is not necessarily his desire but he has to be. it's his birthright. it was always #going to happen this way #jojo's bizarre adventure #giorno giovanna #jjba #vento aureo

[sugahyeon]

After Tallulah angst, welcome to Étoiles angst

Since he arrived, he has always been perceived as a strong player and as a tryharder. People knew him for his constant quest for new dungeons and his love for the grind.

And through most of this, Étoiles was alone. He was strong, yes, but not because he wanted to protect the others, just for his own personal fun.

But now?

Now Étoiles isn't in the same situation.

Now Étoiles wants to protect the friends he made along the way and who quickly became his family. He wants to protect the eggs, that he feels very close to. He wants to protect Pomme, as the world would have to walk over his dead body before he'd let anything happen to her.

Most importantly, Étoiles became a symbol.

If he used to be praised for his strengh, he is now the incarnation of hope.

Étoiles is the only person on the island to have fought the Code on his own and survived to tell the tale. He is the only one to have killed it multiple times, no matter how strong it got. He is the only one to have won over two Codes at once.

He is the only one posessing the unique shield strong enough to protect everyone from the Code's sword.

Étoiles winning is the proof that the islanders aren't powerless: they have a chance at victory and he is the living proof of this.

But this fight?

This fight, Étoiles knows he can't win.

There's no making it out alive this time. He's sure of it. And it's not that big of a deal after all, is it? What's a lost fight after such a glorious streak of victories?

But it means something.

Étoiles losing this fight means the death of the incarnation of hope.

Étoiles losing this fight means that no matter what they could do, the islanders are powerless and doomed to fail.

Étoiles losing the fight means that he failed as a protector. That Pomme will be the next person to go in the arena, on her own. That no one is safe anymore.

And he knows all of that.

That's why he talked to Forever. Because maybe, just maybe, he could convince the Federation to let him wear his strongest gear. Because maybe, just maybe, this could give him just one tiny chance at surviving.

Because maybe, just maybe, Étoiles is scared, for the first time of his life, to go head first in this battle.

#and he didn't even had time to prepare #because he prefered making his friends happy rather than making sure he'd be able to survive #he legit put his friends' happiness before his own life #i'm going insane about a blood-thirsty french masked cucumber #qsmp #qsmp liveblog #qsmp liveblogging #qsmp spoilers #qsmp etoiles #tw death

[stealingpotatoes]

Skywalkers apart au! It's so precious that Anakin gets to be a dad, a rebellion general Dad but he gets to be there for at least one of them and Padme survives and gets to be a mom and maybe someday they get to meet and it's so good.

Also the concept of General Skywalker of the Rebellion feels like it has so much potential cause he was such a big figure in the Clone Wars, he was the Hero, the General, he could probably get the various splinter rebel cells (they were very divided in the early Rebellion) to follow him by sheer reputation and charisma. Imagine Anakin being at Hoth, like the attack is going along the usual Imperial imminent victory and suddenly an AT-AT has been thrown clear across the landscape and an announcement sounds out "General Skywalker has entered the field" cue Rebel Counterattack due to morale boost and Imperial Panic.

What happened to the 501st here? Did he go to the Venator's crash site where Ahsoka was during Order 66 what did he think when he saw all the dead folks?

Fun thought, Starkiller being the apprentice in this AU, means that Sidious has probably been comparing him to Anakin (in part because he's bitter he didn't fall, in other part cause it's great for fueling the darkside) for years so the first time they face off he's gonna be full of spiteful hatred (all going according to plan) before Starkiller gets styled on by the Skywalker, cause Anakin isn't crippled by the suit and that means he's still massively powerful in the force and skilled in the blade (Vader was too, but less than a whole Anakin), I could see Anakin pulling a Lightside version of the Rogue One Hallway scene against Stormtroopers (or even inquisitors).

Rebel General Anakin Skywalker would be an Imperial Boogeyman.

Leia would probably appreciate it for a while but also she'd get a bit annoyed about her dad's reputation and "Legend" and the fact that she's probably got that entire thing to measure up to, making her more reckless or foolhardy. That's a big shadow to live under.

Padme on the other hand is probably in a very different situation reputation wise, she was the senator for the new Emperor's home planet, she's the old queen of naboo from the Trade Federation attack, she's a founding member of one of the oldest discrete rebellion cells but that still leaves some stigma. She's probably so very worried about Imperial surveilance on her or Luke or the rest of her family, and it doesn't help that the Inquistorious has probably been sniffing around for a while.

ok this is a veeeeery long ask so i'm gonna have a veeeery long answer which is gonna go under this readmore:

YES!! yes absolutely! tbh i decided a while back he never gets an official promotion to general, everyone just calls him General Skywalker for so long that it sticks loll. BUT YEAH I mean working with a Jedi is rare and awe-inspiring enough for any rebellion cell but working with the hero with no fear??? half the rebels are wondering if they can interrupt this mission to ask for his autograph

its extra funny bc for the first few years of the empire he's lowkey depressed and like agh i failed the order republic AND my family i'm a terrible horrible no good jedi who nearly turned to the dark side and while he's having this spiral there's some rebel standing next to him pointing and pogging

and yeah he's SO useful in big battles like that!! he's half a legend, half a ghost story, given most ppl think he died in the Purge but here he is, enacting justice on the empire!! tho he does struggle on quieter missions (which happen a lot more at first bc gotta hide from the empire) that you cant just blaze into. its a difficult shift to go from clone wars general skywalker to rebel general skywalker

yeah 501st same as canon ): but OHHH MY GOD yes thats SUCH A PERFECT IDEA, Anakin going with Rex and Ahsoka to the site and mourning them all (and probably going into another depression spiral lbr)

youre so right lollll obvs leia loves the one up she has in an argument of "well my dad's general skywalker, beat that" but as u say she absolutely wants to live up to that (+ is a very independent/stubborn person and would like Leia Skywalker, not just "General Skywalker's daughter" lol)

AND YEAH ABSOLUTELY Padmé and Anakin's roles in this au are both so interesting (is that egotistical to say) bc they're these upside down versions of their clone wars roles, both very loud people forced to quieten down and be Discreet about how they go abt helping ppl. Padmé is really struggling hiding so much (luke's force sensitivity, her rebel activities, all relations to anakin) and trying to protect Luke while helping the Rebellion WHILE trying not to seem suspicious. a lot on her plate -- only made worse by palpatine keeping a close-ish eye on her, and she can't tell why (is it bc of luke? the rebellion? anakin? or is it just his old favouritism or patriotism being VERY inconvenient??)

on the inquisitors, obvs you don't see a lot of them on coruscant -- but padmé's SO scared abt ppl (MAINLY SIDIOUS WHO, YA KNOW, TRIED TO TURN LUKE'S DAD SITH) finding out abt him and she hates that she's making him repress this part of himself but what choice does she have???

#long post #skywalkers apart au #love au talk!!! thank u for so much of it!! #thanks for the ask!

[cotl-flower-crown]

What will happen to the bishops in this AU? Will they simply get arrested? Or will they die horrific and ironic/poetic deaths?

P.S: Either way, please go easy on my boy Leshy please!

The police in the city they live in is so corrupted, that the bishops could just pay the police chief to be let go. It's also the matter of the sheer size of their gangs, if they wished so, they could just wipe the police department and serve justice on their own terms. So no, getting them arrested is not enough.

Forcing the Bishops to quit isn't great either, since who's to say that they won't just strike back under the pretence that they are gone?

Nari made mistakes before which he was never forgiven for, so the Bishops don't get to have their second chance either.

When Narinder came back from prison, he realised that his siblings wanted him gone, erased from their lives, their legacy. After everything they've been through they decided to abandon him and remove him from history. They moved on. It was like he never existed to begin with. And he wanted to do the same thing to them.

I don't know the details of most of the Bishop's deaths, but I do know that they all die from Lambert's hand in some way. For Leshy it's in self defense, Heket dies in a freak accident, Kal is straight up mercilessly shot with a gun (because Lambert feels no sympathy for him) and Shamura... I dunno. Still figuring those out.

I do have a rough idea on how Leshy dies, so I'm gonna write it down below. [cw: vore???? (Leshy eating the enemy), death scene, showing off the body like a decoration]

Leshy does this thing to the smaller enemies where he burrows himself underground and then attacks the target from bellow, either biting them or swallowing them whole. Usually it ends with them being stabbed to death with the razor sharp teeth placed down his throat. He doesn't do that often though, because he becomes vulnerable, from eating too much at once.

Leshy is killed after he attacks Lambert from below the ground and swallows him. Lambert managed to survive with the help of a bullet proof vest that he found in the warehouse that they were in at the time. Lambert, panicking and not being able to breathe or see and being pushed down to Leshy's stomach, he remembers about his emergency gun and shoots Leshy from the inside. Injured Leshy wails for a little bit, trying to throw up Lambert, until he finally falls to the ground. And Narinder saw it happen. Possibly because he expected Leshy to devour Lambert so he could take that chance to strike Leshy himself. He didn't expect that Lambert would do that before him.

After a moment of shock he notices that Lambert is still alive inside trying to get out, so he approaches the corpse of Leshy and pulls Lambert out, whom gasps for air and throws up.

After that Narinder makes an announcement to everyone in the building that their leader is dead and they will be spared if they surrender. Having no other choice they either surrender, run away or die trying. Heket and Kal soon enough arrive and they see that Leshy's corpse is hanged in front of the warehouse on a hook, face down. Narinder stands above and the siblings greet each other. They make a deal: Heket and Kallamar will retreat their forces for now if Narinder gives Leshy back to them. He agrees and cuts down the rope that was tied to Leshy's hook. He falls down and their siblings take the body. They leave. The battle was victorious to the Red Crowns and people cheer. Narinder approaches Lambert and gives him Leshy's monocle saying "You can have it. Good job".

#cw gruesome stuff #cult of the lamb #cotl #cotl au #cult of the lamb au #cotl gang au #cotl narinder #cult of the lamb narinder #au lore

[starlightshadowsworld]

Jason but after Annabeth and Percy fall into Tartarus, he changes.

He stands taller, his eyes wide and alert at all times.

Any free time Jason has, he's training. Only stopping to eat which he does alone.

He stops spending time with the others.

Jason can only think of how he failed Percy and Annabeth.

He broke the rules afterall.

And now they might be gone.

Jason buries the true parts of himself, because they are unnecessary.

The parts he deems aren't useful, they never have been.

They don't need Jason Grace.

They need the son of Jupiter, they need the one who toppled Krios's throne and defeated him.

They need the slayer of the trojan sea monster, the child of Rome trained by Lupa herself.

They need the weapon, the soilder to get them to victory.

Just as he did in the Battle of Mount Othrys.

As he will now.

To complete the task given by Percy, which very well could have been his last words.

And it would all be Jason's fault.

Because he just had to get close.

He just had to make friends and make bonds, like everyone who got close to him didn't die or leave.

Jason was cursed like that.

And it cost him everything.

He refused to let anyone down again.

He refused to let everyone down again.

So Jason watched everyone grow closer and himself grow colder.

While his heart wept silently in his chest.

He had broke the rules.

He had let himself show weakness, show that he cared, that he loved, that he was soft and pathetic.

If he was back in the Wolf House, Lupa would have ripped him to shreds.

No one loved him and stayed.

No one loved him and was left unscathed.

Jason wasn't made to be loved. It was better this way.

To storm or fire, he would just be the storm.

Promises were something he was good at keeping, even if no one else kept theirs to him.

Lupa always said dying in battle was honourable, and out of them all if someone had to die it should be him.

They all had things to live for, people to live and love.

They all had homes to go back to, while he had none and never would.

Jason didn't know anyone who would mourn him, he was forgettable like that.

Maybe they would, Thalia would shed a tear, Reyna might nod her head to acknowledge his passing but that was enough.

No one cared to search for him, no one cared for him in life he didn't think his death would mean much.

At least if he saved the others, his life might mean something.

Jason denied ever thinking he deserved anything after this.

Lupa would kill him now should she cross paths with him, and Jason knew it would be the right thing.

But for now he had purpose.

Jason would lead them, he would honour his promise to Percy.

He couldn't afford any weakness.

It was the Wolf House all over again accept he was much older now, but his only target his only goal was the same.

Survive.

Little did Jason know the rest of his friends were all watching him concerned.

Because this isn't the Jason they know.

They needed Jason Grace.

But no one had ever needed Jason Grace, no one had wanted him.

Not even his own mother.

That Jason couldnt fathom a world where that could be true.

They'd get him back, they had to.

#jason grace #heroes of olympus #percy jackson #annabeth chase #Angst