#it's like looking at a supervillain about to monologue

[bibibbon]

MHA CH 421 rambles

Ok so this was a chapter ok. Iam personally not a fan of what happend here but you do you.

I hated AFO's little monologue. introspection thingy and to be honest sukuna does it better. Look Iam critical of both jjk and MHA as they fail in their own aspects on certain things but dam I couldn't care less for AFO and his monologue I seriously couldn't. Yoichi as already dead and if AFO's goal was to be a supervillain from a comic and to reunite with yoichi then why not just idk get the doctor to do it for him or just die to reunite with AFO 🤷‍♀️. His whole thing about tragedy making people stronger or him not feeling anything didn't even hit well because his development sucks and him coming back feels repetitive anyway

Sero getting to respond to the things about tragedy felt so underwhelming I didn't like it. Sero throughout the whole and entire series lacked any screentime and development for him to be getting a big moment that should be given to another character feels like a horrible move. We seriously don't know of anything that has affected sero aka hurt him directly in the manga (aka something just him) so it all feels underwhelming and disappointing. Unironically, I feel like sero should of been one of those characters who left the story or just stayed as a minor character because hori is trying to develop and give him importance way too late into the story.

Where is inko?!?!?! So we see everyone heck we see the civilians, gran Torino, Kota and Eri all comment and hope for izuku to do something but inko his own mother isn't present. Now this probably means something bad is happening or will happen to inko but if nothing happens and she isn't present then dam classic neglectful inko strikes again ig or if they make it a gag that she fainted out of stress i will just hate it even more

I hate that this is something out of the endgame and if hori was trying to be like gege by making everyone join it felt rubbish. Iam not a fan and I mean it I HATE the whole everyone joining in to fight AFO together type thing and I just do. To me it's Izuku's time to shine and people take down villains and do their jobs in other areas at this point everyone is doing more damage to AFO than Izuku who hasn't even landed a hit on izuku. Also why is it that character like Todorokis who have had their big moments here?!?!? It seems like this is a fight where hori is trying to make everyone have a moment before Izuku lands the final hit which doesn't sit right with me. Like there are characters here who have already had their moments like jirou, camie, yuuga, asui, mina and way more but they're here to ... Assist in the fight have another big moment and make AFO more of a potato character then a proper scary villain

present mic is back which I love. One of the good things is that present mic is alive, it's good to have confirmation of that

Even though I think erasers writing is heavily flawed at least someone is holding Izuku. At least izuku is getting something , some comfort out here at least someone is holding him but dam this seems like a disservice all of this seems like a disservice to izuku. Like I wonder do the civilians feel guilty does anyone feel sad or guilty for having this 16 year old child fight something way bigger than him in the name of peace and other peoples safety?

I think the whole thing with Izuku getting that guy's shirt is rubbish and underwhelming. It just doesn't sit right with me, that guy's shirt would of probably been dirty as hell considering it's the only thing we have seen him wearing. Like @mikeellee told me it would of been more impactful if the shirt was given to izuku and that guy had a healing quirk or helped izuku more directly. Now I get that this is supposed to make the guy more likable and show that he ahs developed which we can see and dam hori can actually give some decent development when he wants to but it all falls flat and doesn't do much for me. Also I have seen someone say that izuku wearing this shirt and it covering his upper half is showing how he is losing his ability to be a hero and dam that breaks me.

I can't with the Izuku running to the battlefield and the parallels kill me (we haven't really developed/moved on from chapter one considering the story just loops around itself). Izuku running towards danger quirkless thinking that it's his job because people who were supposed to help and protect him failed. Izuku now quirkless with only the tiny and fading embers of OFA thinning trying to defeat OFA with the damage of kudos quirk still effecting him. All of this to protect others to help them something he never got during the past. This fight will probably parallel all might but all of this happening and I feel nothing all of it falls flat and I feel bad for izuku that's it.

It was a chapter and considering how I hated previous writing decisions I was also gonna hate on the developed/expanded writing decisions either way

#mha critical #bnha critical #mha #hori is a bad writer #horikoshi critical #izuku deserves better #bhna critical #bnha #mha 421 #bnha 421

[regonold]

Danny just sort of gives off this vibe that something is wrong or he's up to something now most places this would turn you away from potential jobs

Gotham tho danny is being offered jobs on the street heck people are asking him if he has any jobs the people here are just so kind!

Meanwhile with the bats they know he's up to something he talks cryptically in the phone goons are talking about how he's an amazing boss (as good as redhood!) And he's been seen applying for jobs what is he up to

#dpxdc #dp x dc #dc x dp #dcxdp #dp x dc prompt #dp x dc crossover #Danny's vibes are weird #it's like looking at a supervillain about to monologue #really hes just fresh out of college needing a job #but in Gotham that's nothing new

[sim0nril3y]

Push and Pull - Part 2

Pairing: Simon 'Ghost' Riley x Civilian!Reader Scenario: Simon just can't seem to get you off his mind following the abrupt end to 'Push and Pull' Note: Set in 2014 Warnings: No mask Simon (It's my personal headcanon in his regular life he probably wouldn't wear it), mild angst, reconnection, joking about kidnapping a dog, Simon being his usual guarded self, canon-typical swearing

It had been a long couple weeks since your last interaction with Simon. In your head you understood that you were being a little sensitive that he hadn’t wanted something more with you, but there was another part of you that couldn’t help but feel used… You wondered, if he hadn’t wanted anything more serious then why had he strung you along so romantically? If he wanted sex and intimacy then why be so adverse to it in the beginning? Why not just sleep with you that first night and keep all emotions out of it?

“So, what happened to that bloke you were seeing?” Your friends voice broke through your fuzzy mind. It was a moving out party for one of her colleagues that was heading North. It wasn’t like you had even wanted to be here anyway, but she had convinced you it would be a good time with a bunch of booze – that promise was enough to get you into a nice dress and off your sofa watching re-runs of ‘Come Dine with Me’. “You seemed really into him…”

Yeah, you had been really into him, but… it clearly wasn’t meant to be. “Yeah. I think we were just both looking for different things.” You really didn’t need to spell it out for her to understand. An almost sympathetic look pulled across her face before she clinked her beer bottle against your own. “His loss, babe. I’ll go get us another couple of drinks.”

It was part hurt and part relief that there had been no communication within the past couple of weeks. He really hadn’t meant to make you feel like he was just using you, but maybe this way you might be able to move on and find someone that would be able to give you more than he was able to. Simon really hadn’t the thought of you being with someone else. He hated thinking about you teasing and laughing with them. He hated thinking about you on your knees for them. He hated thinking about your mind being consumed by them. It was for the best. Deep down he knew that he wasn’t built for love or affection. No, everything around him was death and destruction and he’d be damned if he was going to inflict that on you too.

As he sat watching the football highlights his eyes caught a glimmer of something beneath the coffee table. Leaning down he plucked up the small piece of jewellery in his hands and inspected it. He recognised this ring, it belonged to you. Just put it back. Fuckin’ throw it out. It’s junk jewellery. Even with his cruel inner monologue trying to warn him off Simon still rang your number. It rang and rang and rang. For a moment he thought that maybe you weren’t going to answer.

“H-hold on-” Your voice came down the line. There was mixture of music and voice down the speakers that told Simon you were out at the moment. Of course, you were… “Hello?” You asked as you finally got to place that gave you a little bit of peace. “I have something that belongs to you…”

There was a beat of silence before you muttered back. “You sound like a supervillain.” You should have been angry with him, but there was humour that laced your voice. “Do you have my dog or something?” Simon begrudged himself as he laughed lowly before responding. “Bloody hell, you really must think I’m a monster if you think I’ve kidnapped your dog…” It was just so easy to have this banter with you, like no time had passed at all, or there hadn’t been any hurt between you.

“Well, I’ll be a little concerned because I don’t actually have a dog…” You responded with a small laugh and he groaned as he covered his face with his hand. “Why would you be worried that I’d kidnap your dog if you don’t have one?” Trying to figure out your brain was like trying to solve a very intricate puzzle, but the moment your laughter lilted down the line Simon found himself smiling. He’d missed it. He’d missed you. “It’s actually a ring I found… it doesn’t seem my style so it must belong to you.” He mentioned observing the small band in his fingers.

For a moment you were quiet before stating. “It might belong to one of the other girls you’ve brought back to your flat…” There was jealousy linger there, along with hurt that hurt his heart. “I don’t bring other girls back to my flat.” Only you, he wanted to add but the words never formed in his mouth. “Do you think… can I bring it to you?” He questioned with a crease forming in his brow. There was a part of you that had wanted to deny him, but… another part… a more needy and affection part spoke first and louder. “I’m at a party… but sure. I’ll send you the address.” He could hear the way that you attempted to be nonchalant but there was there affection there.

It didn’t take long for Simon to leave once she sent him the address and honestly it wasn’t hard to find the house as he drove down the road. Each other house was quiet, curtains closed and dead to the world, but the one he pulled up outside of was lively, music pumping from inside and people filtering in and out. By the brick fence his eyes spotted you, lingered there looking at your phone as if you were trying to keep yourself busy, or at least look as if you were for when he arrived.

Climbing from his car he approached and you glanced up. “That didn’t take long…” You noted and then looked him up and down. “So, do you have my ring, or…” “Bollocks. I left it in the car…” He cursed softly. “Do you wanna come get it?” He asked and you eyed him suspiciously before wandering over and climbing into the passenger seat. Just like you imagined his car was just as organised as his house, there wasn’t an item out of place and it smelt like fresh pine. He climbed into the driver’s seat beside you and collected the ring from the centre console and placed it into your open hand.

“Thanks…” You hummed quietly twirling it around your fingers before sliding it on, the whole time keeping your eyes trained on it. “I think I owe you an apology…” Simon began and you looked at him. “Don’t be silly. We were just having fun, right?” He saw the way your smile pulled into a fake smile, trying to act easy-going but he saw through it right away. “Listen, I still don’t think I have a good answer for your question… what were we doing? Fuck knows, all I knew was that… that you…” He looked direction at you, intense eyes setting you completely still. “You have pushed me and challenged me and fucking terrified me more than anyone has for…” He really had to think. “Forever.”

“I’ve never known anyone like you.” He mentioned rubbing his face softly. “Is that a bad thing?” You asked then a look of concern set on your face. “No… No, it isn’t… I’m just… trying to figure out how to deal with all this.” He frowned. “This isn’t easy for me and I know that me being like this doesn’t make it easy for you either…”

A frown set on your face, twirling your ring again slowly before looking at him. “I told you from the beginning at your pace…” Then looking at him. “I just wanted something… just a little something to try and tell me I was on the right path… or that I hadn’t ruined everything…” Reaching across Simon took your hand, squeezing it so gently. “You didn’t ruin anything.” Then bringing your hand to his mouth to kiss your knuckles sweetly. “I wanna take you out again… if you’ll let me…”

There was a beat of silence between you both then and Simon wondered for a moment if maybe you’d decline. “Okay…” You said, softly and sweetly before tilting your head up to meet his gaze. “Okay.” He responded with a small smile finding his lips. “I won’t fuck this up.” “You won’t.” You agreed softly as he brought your hand up to press a kiss to his knuckles.

Masterlist | Ask | 03-09-2023

#simon riley x oc #simon riley x reader #ghost x reader #ghost x oc #simon ghost riley #simon ghost x reader #simon riley #simon riley x you #ghost cod #ghost mw2 #simon riley imagine #simon riley cod #simon riley smut #simon riley x y/n #ghost #ghost smut #ghost angst #ghost x y/n #ghost x you

[cemoras27-but-writing-this-time]

Danny's Evil Jaunt. It's Evil He Swears. Ignore the Charity pt. 1

Hi! its me again. I saw this prompt thing on @im-totally-not-an-alien-2 and it had me in a choke hold and held me hostage until I wrote it. Its where Danny becomes a supervillain using his machines instead of his ghost powers! Have Fun!

AO3: Here

EDIT: the text color should be fixed now I think let me know if it isn’t

“Hello Daniel,” Clockwork greeted Danny as he entered the Clocktower with wringing hands. The young halfa had been incredibly stressed ever since Dan, hiding any perceived negative emotion in his attempts of the best timeline. An appreciated thought and effort, however more harmful than the boy anticipated. Perhaps he should listen more to that sister of his a bit more.

“Heey Clocky, um I just-”

“You're worried about Dan.”

“Yeah. I was. I just- just want to make sure that things are still looking good y’know!” Danny said, arms flaring out to his sides dramatically. “I’ve been behaving! I haven’t lashed out at anything. Haven’t even pranked Dash or his friends!”

“Daniel,” Clockwork turned from the timeline he was observing.

“What’d I do?” Danny’s eyes filled with palpable panic.

“Nothing. However, suppressing your emotions will do nothing but cause harm to those around you and yourself. Come.” The shifting ghost laid a hand upon Danny’s thin shoulder, and led them to a small table that Danny wasn’t entirely sure was there moments before. There was a small tea set he noticed as the baby Clockwork set Danny in the comfy chair. “However, I think I may have a solution. A way for you to ‘lash out’ as much as your core can handle.” Danny’s eyes glisten in interest; similar to those stars he adores so much. “I will take you to a different realm, similar to your home, and you may concoct as much havoc as you wish. I will pause the time in your home so that you may continue your life as you want. All I ask is that you truly allow yourself to let your emotions run their course, else I worry for the future.” 

“What? Like a rage room? Like the ones that they give you a bat and let you go ham? That sounds cool…” 

“I suppose that is a fair comparison. I won’t allow any consequences to come  to you either. It is supposed to be therapeutic after all. All you must do is let me know and I will give you access to the realm.” Clockwork grinned, blue hands -now old- creaking around the teacup that he filled at some point. 

“You sure nothing  bad will happen? What if I-”

“Nothing of the sort will happen. If you need guidance I and others will be happy to lend you a hand. Though now that I have you here, how are your lessons with Wulf going? Have you successfully made a portal?” Danny perks.

“They're going good! I actually made one to come here. I like how Wulf teaches,” the half-ghost chimes, an airy quality unknowingly weaving its way into his voice. His Espernato is getting better the Keeper of Time notes, enough for it to slip into regular conversation. How nice.

They talk for a while after that.

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

Danny stares at the small hole in reality, an adult Clockwork stands beside him and takes the first steps forwards.

“Beyond this portal is the realm where you may do as you wish. You may take as long as you like, and the consequences will not apply to you. Again all I wish is for this to be therapeutic. Your sister gave you quite the monologue, didn't she?” The old time piece drones, stepping to the side to allow access to the portal and gestures for Danny to step through. 

On the other side is an open field. The grass is yellowing in the lowering temperatures as the familiar autumn chill flows through them. Clockwork emerges from behind him. 

“We are close to a rather large city, Star City I believe, home to several heroes. You can open portals consistently now yes?”

“Yeah! Thanks again Clocky, this- this means a lot y’know” Danny stammers. 

“Of course Daniel. I am here to guide. Please let me know how you find your visit.” 

“Are you ever gonna call me Danny?” He only gets a small smile before Clockwork floats back into the portal - it closes- and he is left alone.

Danny turns and takes a deep breath in, and starts to think as he heads towards ‘Star City’. What should he even do? He thinks hard before coming to the conclusion that, if he became evil by holding in his emotions, then why couldn’t he just be evil while feeling. Why not let his anger and disappointment and sadness run amok? After all, there are no consequences here! But he doesn’t want to be Phantom, as much as he loves being Phantom, he's so tired of the consent ghost attacks and being shot at by ecto-guns. 

The halfa takes a small break and sits by the dirt road he had been following, maybe it was time for Danny Fenton to do something. He was a Fenton! His parents built a portal to Hell in their basement using household Items, sure he wasn’t as book smart as Jazz or a techie like Tuck, but he could whip up something he's sure!

With newborn vigor Danny sets off again while drawing up his plans. 

A world where he could do anything he wants. The world is a big place. He wonders if Dani would want to visit.

Tag list: I saw that some people wanted to be tagged if anyone wrote something

@amuseofminds @roseinbloom02 @starkcravingmad @little-pondhead

sorry victoria-has-no-secret I can't seem to tag you correctly

#dp x dc #sorry if its formated weird i will try to fix it #also im not good at tagging so if it is wrong please tell me #propted #I cant change the color of text back to normal on desktop im sorry #Cem's writing

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

I had a dumb idea that I wanted to ask, how would Ken and Barbie react to a new Ken who's supposed to be a superhero (K man or something) thing is there's no criminals or supervillains in barbie land to fight so for most of the time their either crouching over buildings overdramatically monologuing their thoughts/past or hiding in their not so secret base

The "overdramatic monologue" is giving ATSV!Ben Riley hsahggs

.........

Ken

You're a new Ken doll who was meant to be a superhero (and you were an instant hit with the kids back in the Real World).

But Beach!Ken thought you were just another rival trying to compete for Stereo!Barbie's attention, especially when you have such a cool costume and look badass 24/7.

So he's got his eye on you.

Yet you don't really have a Barbie and you're certainly not trying to get anybody else's Barbie.

You're just Ken-Man (or Super Ken, K-Man, or whatever Mattel decided to call your alias), the lone savior, protector, and guardian of Barbieland.

Except..there's not really much for you to save, protect, or guard in the first place.

Barbieland's more or less a utopia. There's no supervillains or an archnemesis for you to fight, nor is there any crime.

So when Ken's standing alone on the beach one night, he spots you crouching on the ledge of one of the buildings, and he can see you looking around.

He goes closer for curiosity's sake (and to distract himself bc he's bummed out he couldn't stay at Barbie's dreamhouse), and hears you monologuing.

"Just another windy night in Barbieland..it's cool, refreshing, and calming. It's like my conscience in a way. It's at peace knowing that I've kept this city safe once again. I hope every Barbie, Ken, and everydoll in-between sleeps soundly-"

"What are you doing up there, Ken?"

When you see Beach!Ken staring up at you, you jump down and land (to which he jumps back, surprised you didn't break a leg), thrilled that some doll finally approached you.

"Ah! You caught me monologuing."

"Mono...what?" He blinks, dumbfounded.

"Just spilling my thoughts, dear citizen. Nothing to worry about." You smile brightly behind your mask, although you see that he looks annoyed. "What troubles you on this quiet night, Ken?"

"Oh nothing. I'm just mad that Ken kept trying to show off and dance with Barbie at her party tonight. He did backflips in front of her! It's not fair, why can't I do that??"

"Ohhh you mean this?" You perform a single backflip, but he glares at you, ready to snap.

"I wanna know how to do that. Teach me."

"Wait...didn't you injure yourself when you tried to go surfing earlier today?"

"...you saw that?"

"Of course. I see everything from my not-so-secret base."

"....AND you have a house?!!!" He screams, causing you to take a step back.

But you quickly realize he's just insecure and thinks he pales in comparison to the other Kens when trying to impress his Barbie.

And you having a cooler job than "Beach" certainly doesn't help matters...

You're a compassionate hero, though, looking to see past his initial hostility and offer to train him on doing backflips, front flips, etc.

He gets cocky and it...doesn't go so well as he slips on a rock and faceplants onto the pavement (luckily he doesn't break anything this time).

Instead you take him to your not-so-secret base to train in a safe environment, and he gets better with practice.

He's very jealous of all the cool tech you have (including a security robot who's similar to Closet from Life in the Dreamhouse, except not hostile at all) and you gotta refrain him from touching anything.

Once he realizes you're not trying to impress his Barbie, he becomes buddies with you--though you treat him more like a sidekick.

Barbie

"Hello, Barbie!"

"Oh hi, Ken!"

She's seen you around Barbieland a lot, especially in the late hours of the night.

You're one of the coolest Kens she's seen, although she's surprised there wasn't some superheroine Barbie already around (or maybe there was...she doesn't know for sure, but it doesn't matter).

While she doesn't fully understand your monologues regarding your past (whether it's about being responsible with your "powers" or whatever origin story Mattel decided to cook up for your character), she finds your words admirable, your deeds heroic, and your personality charming.

When she's on the beach or taking an evening drive, she'll often look for you on the rooftops and wave.

You always wave back, of course.

But immediately lose your train of thought if you were monologuing at the time.

That's okay though, bc you had an oath to keep Barbieland crime-free (and not waving back to a Barbie was something only a criminal scumbag would do).

Even though this place lacks criminal activity and supervillains, you do often help citizens with mundane troubles.

Some call upon your aid and you're there instantly.

Plus, you have a "super sense" that alerts you to imminent danger, allowing you to arrive just in time.

For instance, when Barbie falls from her dreamhouse instead of floating down, you suddenly swooped in to save her before she could hit the ground.

"Are you okay, Barbie??" You worry, having never seen her fall before.

It's not the first time you've ever seen a doll fall, however.

"I-I....yeah, Ken! I'm fine! I'm great!!" She's embarrassed that you saw her at such an "imperfect" moment, stumbling out of your arms. "Thanks for saving me."

"Of course, it's my job to protect all of you." You smile.

Although after she leaves in her car, you frown a bit, worried that she's in more trouble than she's willing to admit..

Maybe you oughta report to Weird Barbie.

#clanask #anonymous #barbie x reader #barbie movie x reader #ken x reader #male reader #doll reader #superhero reader #headcanons #platonic

[the-journal-in-law]

Are We Not Enemies?

@saltydumplings

"You left me!" the villain accused, eyes narrowed and lined with the faintest hint of tears as they jabbed a finger towards their nemesis.

The hero's expression, however, remained bewildered. "I went on holiday..."

"You didn't tell me!" the villain snapped.

"I was gone for a week--"

"I thought you were dead! I thought Supervillain had killed you so I hunted them down and I killed them to get revenge for you!"

The hero's mouth fell open wordlessly, eyes going wide. "Y-You did what?"

"What? Was I supposed to just let your killer go?"

The hero spluttered. "That's what I expected, yes!"

The villain went quiet at that, tilting their head down so the hero couldn't see what they were feeling. Hoarsely, they repeated, "I thought you were dead..."

"Are you - are you crying?" the hero said incredulously.

"Shut up!" The villain wiped their eyes on their sleeve. "I wouldn't have had to do it if you hadn't disappeared on me!"

The hero was speechless. Then, in a confused voice, they said, "Did I miss something? Are we friends? Heck, lovers?"

The villain fixed a blank look on them. "Excuse me?"

"It's just...the way you're reacting is more like a concerned wife than a murderous maniac." The hero gestured helplessly.

Really, all they did was respond to an emergency call right after getting off the plane. And - surprise, surprise - the first villain they had to fight after their holiday was the one the hero was often called to apprehend.

What did surprise them was when the villain suddenly stopped their monologue upon catching sight of the hero. Then, the villain had teleported them to an abandoned warehouse where they proceeded to rant about taking a break off work without telling them.

"I'm really sorry if I did miss something. You know, my friend calls me an oblivious idiot on good days, and with you being - well, a villain - I never considered you would want to date me?" The hero's voice went high. "Not that you being a villain means I don't want to date you. Just that I kinda wasn't expecting it? N-not that I think you want to date me. We can be friends! If you're open to it. It might be a bit weird, what with us being on opposing sides, but I'm sure we can--"

"Hero," the villain interrupted. "Breathe."

The hero gasped in a huge breath. With a weak smile, they said, "S-sorry. I tend to ramble a lot."

"I know," the villain said. "It's not like you haven't kept an entire conversation going during our fights - by yourself while fighting. This is a pretty late apology."

"I do that?" the hero wondered, then shook their head. "Nevermind! Can we go back to the fact that you killed Supervillain?"

The villain crossed their arms. "I figured it was past time for someone to topple their throne."

"Wait, no," the hero said. "You're not getting away that easily. You said and I quote, that you killed Supervillain to get revenge for me."

"Did you seriously say 'and I quote?'"

"Answer my question."

The villain stared consideringly at the hero, and it almost seemed as if they were going to comply. "I don't remember you asking a question."

"Did you get soft?" the hero pushed. "Did I melt your cold heart and now you have warm, fuzzy--"

"No!" the villain yelled. "As if I would get feelings for you."

"Wow, harsh," the hero replied, a little hurt. "Is me being a hero turning you off that much?"

"It's not about you being a hero," the villain hissed. "I couldn't care less about that. It's about your little holiday jaunt forcing me to take over a criminal empire!"

The hero gaped. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I killed Supervillain!" the villain shouted. "That means every one of their supporters and whoever else who wanted their position is going after me now."

"I-I'm sorry?" the hero stuttered, not sure if they were actually to blame but knowing better than to voice that out loud. "Do you...do you want to go on a date?" they blurted.

The villain raised a brow. "A date."

The hero winced. "Yes, a date. For compensation?"

The silence stretched long enough for the hero to nearly take back the offer.

"A date," the villain repeated, this time a little manic. "Yeah, why not? A date with a hero..."

"Is that a 'yes?'"

"Yes," the villain said, finally allowing themselves a small smile.

#prompt fill #heroes and villains #hero x villain

[bunniesandbeheadings]

Napoleon II should’ve gone off and become a supervillain, avenging what he perceives to be wrongs against his father with the Bride from Kill Bill fighting the crazy 88 level violence. Daenarys on her dragons destroying a show and kings landing level violence. Darth Vader rolling up to younglings level violence.

Not because, like, vengeance is cool it is or even that napoleon I, of all people, should be avenged…

But because look at that damn aesthetic! That is a supervillain aesthetic! We were robbed when he died of tuberculosis instead of going in to monologue at length about power or sing a Disney villain song.

We were…robbed…

#napoleon ii #duke of Reichstadt

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: Syndrome

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

In one of the earliest episodes of Psycho Analysis, I discussed the villain of Incredibles II, Evelyn Deavor. Evelyn is just a genuinely awful twist villain for not only being completely obvious, but for having a nonsensical and impersonal motive that makes her look like a vindictive idiot. And while there is so much wrong with her, things I detailed in that review (though probably not quite as well as I would now after doing this for a few years), there is one big issue that holds her back, one that no villain in her shoes could avoid: She’s standing in the shadow of a chubby ginger nerd with a Heat Miser hairdo.

Syndrome (real name Buddy Pine) is really something else when it comes to Pixar villains. While not the first to be genuinely, irredeemably evil—Hopper was already right there—he had a lot of things that the grasshopper lacked. For one, we get to see Syndrome’s backstory and how he ended up becoming the way that he is. But more importantly, Syndrome just has a much more stylish presentation that elevates him to being what I consider Pixar’s very best villain.

Motivation/Goals: Over the course of his many, many evil monologues, Syndrome paints a pretty vivid picture of why he is the way he is. It begins with his initial monologue to Bob, where he recounts the faithful night Bob cruelly rejected him and told him to fly home. Only… there’s one teensy little detail missing from the recap. A very French detail.

Yes, Buddy’s memory proves to be extremely self-serving, as he ignores Bob was at the time dealing with the terrorist and “World’s Greatest Punny Supervillain Name” winner Bomb Voyage to paint himself as a poor, innocent victim of a dismissive and cruel super. Note also how his posture in his version has him with arms wide open as Bob cruelly looks down upon him. All of this goes to show that his big desire for revenge, a core aspect of his motivation, is just completely fabricated by his warped, evil mind. I think he really was just looking for an excuse to go on a killing spree and Bob telling him to stop endangering his own life inadvertently created the world’s first super-school shooter.

Syndrome later elaborates on his evil scheme, because simple revenge isn’t all he’s about (it’s just really nice he gets to take it, that’s all). In another monologue, he details how his murderous robot was meticulously created so that he could fabricate the perfect deadly enemy for him to beat in a staged fight, thus turning himself into a beloved superhero and winning the public’s adoration and respect. With every other hero dead by his hands, he could now soak in all the attention he wanted, and then when he’s old he’d sell off all his tech creating a world where everyone is super (meaning, in his words, that “no one will be”). Syndrome’s initial scheme is very ego-driven and narcissistic, which honestly makes it perfect for a campy supervillain like him.

Of course, he ends up having one more plan when everything else goes awry: Steal Jack-Jack and raise him as his own. This is actually a nice recycling of his cameo from a deleted opening scene for the movie, where he was actually an old enemy who tried to kidnap Violet as a child and who ends up dying in a horrible explosion for trying to fuck with Bob and Helen’s kid (seems they liked that fate for him, because they kept that too). It’s pretty demented as far as a backup plan goes, but it certainly fits him.

Performance: Beloved Kevin Smith collaborator, former Scientologist, and Dave Seville actor Jason Lee is genuinely the perfect sort of guy to voice a villain who comes off as incredibly comedic, but he also gets to show off some really good range when it’s time for Buddy to drop the laughably evil schtick and dip into being a smug, sinister supervillain. All in all, he gives us the exact sort of Silver Age supervillain hamminess to keep you engaged even as he dips deeper and deeper into horrifyingly evil actions.

Final Fate: You’d think that after nearly dying from a bomb getting caught on it as a child, Syndrome would ditch the cape. You’d think that, being a former hero worshiper who absolutely had to know that Edna Mode was the hero designer, he’d be aware of her stance on capes in costume design and would ditch the cape. But no, Syndrome apparently really wanted that classic hero look, and as all truly stylish men must do, he paid the price for looking good. The price in this case is being sucked into a jet turbine where he was shredded into a fine paste before whatever was left violently exploded in a massive fireball, but hey, that's what you get for ignoring Edna's fashion advice.

Best Scene: I think his introductory scene when he fully reveals himself to Bob is, ahem, incredible, especially on repeat viewings. From the chilling moment where he makes Bob aware of his true identity to his warped self-victimizing recap of Bob rejecting him to getting caught monologuing and then tossing Bob away by accident, it takes the nerdy little fanboy from the opening and recontextualizes him as a laughably evil mad scientist who is at the same time an extremely disturbed murderer with a horrifyingly personal vendetta.

Best Quote: Syndrome has some of the best quotes in the movie this side of Edna, and he drops a good 50% of the film’s most iconic and quotable lines. But the one bit of dialogue that sticks out to me personally is the one he drops during his big (re)entrance into the film, where he makes Bob realize who he is by simply saying, “After all… I am your biggest fan.” It’s so simple and bone-chilling and really sets the mood of the film going forward.

Final Thoughts & Score: Syndrome is just really an amalgamation of everything great you could have in a villain in this particular type of movie.

On the superhero movie side, he’s obviously taking a lot of inspiration from envy-driven tech geniuses like Lex Luthor and Dr. Doom. He has a personal grudge against the hero, and is determined to use his technological prowess to outdo them and show the world he’s better than the supermen. Of course, Syndrome takes it to an entirely unhinged level by being an unrepentant serial killer, but he’s very much still in the spirit of those aforementioned supervillains. Much like them, and as previously mentioned, his version of the events that led to his rebirth as a villain are very skewed to paint him more as a victim, with his take being how he was unfairly treated by his idols rather than as some obnoxious nuisance who could have been severely hurt or killed and whose bumbling led to a disastrous chain of events. It seems very much in the same vein as the stories where Doom blames Reed for however badly his face is scarred, or Lex blaming Superman for making him bald. Syndrome just takes these classic comic book tropes and mashes them together into one fantastic package. Now if only he somehow involved super-intelligent gorillas in his plans...

Now let’s look at the James Bond side, because everything from the score to the island lair to the evil henchmen are pure Bond villain territory. Syndrome has Bond Villain Stupidity down to an art form; even when he points out being “caught monologuing,” he still does it multiple times where he otherwise has the titular family dead to rights. He had ample opportunity to kill them several times, only to end up with egg on his face because the heroes managed to use his time gloating to form a real plan of escape. And then there’s his death which, again, is caused because he felt like gloating instead of just fucking leaving. He even has a sexy henchwoman who betrays him for the incredibly sexy Chad of a hero, though Bob doesn’t need her pussy when he has it galore at home. Syndrome wouldn’t feel too out of place going up against Jimmy B, if I’m being honest; nothing Syndrome does is any sillier than Moonraker.

I think what’s truly impressive is just how they managed to balance Syndrome being utterly vile and absolutely hilarious, which is no easy task and can lead to a villain being insufferable rather than entertaining. Syndrome has some great jokes, great body language, and the voice of Jason Lee, a voice that exudes comedic energy in every syllable; he also nonchalantly orders children to be murdered, gambles his henchwoman’s life just to call Bob’s bluff, tries to kidnap a baby, and is basically what would happen if H. H. Holmes had robots. It’s such an amazing combination of traits and it all gels together into one of the best and most fun superhero movie villains ever crafted.

Yeah, that’s right. He’s one of the best superhero movie villains. This man easily clears most of Marvel and DC’s movie villains, and deserves every single point of that 10.5/10 I’m giving him. He’s Pixar’s best villain, and exactly the sort of fun, campy, yet ultimately deadly and threatening bad guy that all superhero movies deserve. Literally no part of The Incredibles is lacking, so why should the villain be any different, right? If only the sequel could have kept up even half the energy… Maybe if they’d given Evelyn Snow Miser’s hair, she’d have been a better villain.

#Psycho Analysis #Syndrome #Jason Lee #Pixar #The Incredibles

[alittledoseofchaos]

Part Of A Work In Progress

Marinette burrowed into a soft blanket as the news played on a very large TV. She lazily turned up the volume as the video switched to be infront of a semi-demolished building. A woman in a purple pantsuit waved her arms to get the attention of someone. Soon, Ironman landed infront of the cameraman.

"Mr. Stark! You just saved tons of people from a burning building, how do you do it?"

"Like he does everything, with narcissism." Tim muttered from Marinette's left. She blinked at him. A round of hums in agreement came from all Waynes and Wayne-adjacents in the room. She watched in a mixture of amusement and fascination as the comments slowly escalated.

At one point Jason put his book down and joined the people on the couch in mocking the hero. Marinette knew for a fact that Cass hadn't been holding a "Ironman's a JERK" sign at the beginning of this, but she was now. Steph was burning a shirt with the Ironman symbol. Damian was standing on the back of the couch, monologuing about how he was a disgrace. Tim was standing on an armchair, how he got there she didn't know, and was somehow agreeing with Damian while insulting him? Duke was chanting 'burn the hierarchy' as if that was something perfectly normal. Marinette is pretty sure Babs was recording this; most likely for blackmail. If it wasn't for the mischievous smiles on their faces, and their night-time activities, Marinette would be worried she was living with supervillains.

"Mr. Stark, people are saying that you are living proof that superheroes could reveal their identities without danger to their loved ones, do you agree with this take?"

A suffocating silence filled the room as all those present fixated on the screen. Marinette swore none of them were breathing.

"That is completely false. People I care about have been put in danger, and that's with all the tech and money possible."

Marinette watched as they all did a double take. She could practically see them all rebooting. Not long after they shook off their shock and continued on.

Jason returned to his book. Damian climbed off the couch and used a cup of water to put out the growing flames. Tim pulled off his jacket and mopped up the excess water. Cass folded up the sign and slipped it between the couch cushions. Dick, who had been watching this all unfold, shook his head fondly. Steph gathered the popcorn that was spilled in the anarchy. Duke went back to writing in his handheld notepad.

At this point Marinette's eyes were comically large, and she couldn't fight the laughter that came bubbling out of her. Everyone's eyes whipped to Marinette, almost as if they forgot she was there; except Cass because she's Cass. Nobody did anything until Dick started laughing too. Noise filled the room, but this time because of laughter and jokes rather than criticisms.

That was how Bruce found them later, all except Damian laughing. When asked what was going on, they all just fell silent and exited through different entry points. Bruce blinked. Looking around the now empty room, he decided that he was better off not knowing the cause of the newest burn mark on the coffee table.

#maribat marinette dupain cheng #maribat #mlb x dc #dcu x mlb #maribat damian wayne #maribat tim drake #DC × Marvel #Marvel × DC × MLB #iron man #maribat bruce wayne #Mlb × Marvel #The only reason Dick didn't join was cause he didn't think disrespecting other heroes would be a good idea #marvelous miracles (please disregard the ghosts)

[choiceofgames]

New game! Top Villain: Total Domination by Brandon Greer

New game! "Top Villain: Total Domination" by Brandon Greer is now available on Steam, iOS and Android. It's 33% off until August 24.

Today, smash your heroic nemesis! Tomorrow, build a doomsday device to take over the world! But, wait, are your henchpeople going on strike?!

Top Villain: Total Domination is a 228,000-word interactive comedy supervillain novel by Brandon Greer. It’s entirely text-based, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

You are the world's most villainous supervillain, heck-bent on conquering the world. Carrying on your parents' villainous legacy, you have built your ideal secret lair and filled it with (mostly) loyal and competent henchpeople. You have honed all kinds of villainous skills, and thanks to your musical-theater training, you know how to make a dramatic entrance and construct the perfect evil monologue. You regularly rob banks and travel by jet pack–when you're not teleporting, that is–and you are hatching the absolute perfect plan to take over the world. Life is good. (Or evil. Which is good.) With your powers, smarts, and good looks, what can possibly stand in your way?

But there is a thorn in your side. A valiant yellow-clad thorn, with rippling muscles and chiseled jaw: the interplanetary hero Matchless Man. You may have defeated him in the past, but you know that heroes never give up. How will you bring this horrible hero down: will you turn him into a villain like you, negate his powers, or just fight him? And what will you do about his equally horrible and equally heroic friends? (Ugh! Why do heroes always have friends?) Then there’s the intrepid reporter that your henchpeople caught snooping on your secret lair: will you suborn them with your seductive wiles, or will you become the scoop of a lifetime? On top of that, the supervillain organization Multitude of Murderous Malcontents seems to have all of these silly rules about world domination, and they're conducting a surprise inspection! And, yes, your henchpeople are definitely going on strike.

Oh, also, your mom keeps calling.

Can't a villain just build a giant world-destroying doomsday weapon in peace? • Play as male, female, or nonbinary; gay, straight, bi, pan, or asexual • Choose your powers: ice, fire, or telepathy. Or just be so villainously awesome that you don't need any powers! • When your henchpeople go on strike, resolve it with charm, or fear • Attend Villain-Con and meet (or exploit) your biggest fan. • Customize your lair with gadgets and fabulous decor! • Disrupt the formation of a heroic league of heroes: turn them against each other, or just destroy their headquarters! • Defeat your arch-nemesis! And also your regular nemesis! You have a lot of nemesises. Nemeses. • Deal with your daddy issues. And mommy issues. You've got almost as many issues as you have nemeses. • Romance your chief hench-sidekick, an intrepid reporter, or your heroic nemesis.

This is your chance to stoop to new lows! Mwahahahaha!

#choiceofgames #choice of games #interactive fiction

[regonold]

Danny just sort of gives off this vibe that something is wrong or he's up to something now most places this would turn you away from potential jobs

Gotham tho danny is being offered jobs on the street heck people are asking him if he has any jobs the people here are just so kind!

Meanwhile with the bats they know he's up to something he talks cryptically in the phone goons are talking about how he's an amazing boss (as good as redhood!) And he's been seen applying for jobs what is he up to

#dpxdc #dp x dc #dc x dp #dcxdp #dp x dc prompt #dp x dc crossover #Danny's vibes are weird #it's like looking at a supervillain about to monologue #really hes just fresh out of college needing a job #but in Gotham that's nothing new

[gamesception]

Sception Reads Cass Cain #25

Batgirl (2000) #10 Words: Kelley Puckett Pictures: Scott & Campanella

With a new status quo established, the book takes a break from serialized business and goes back to stand alone episodic stories for a bit, like as with issue #2 from way back when. And as with issue #2, the focus is on "street level" stories emphasizing the humanity of the characters involved, the sort of smaller stories that would get lost in the over-the-top action and larger-than-life supervillains of typical superhero comics.

I don't have too much to say about this story specifically. It's kind of a sad bit about a guy named Kenny with extreme inferiority issues and a mean violent streak who gets fired from a job he didn't think he deserved in the first place, doesn't think he will ever find anything else, and decides to take out the new boss who let him go in a murder suicide.

Despite Cass's attempted intervention he succeeds at the murder part, but fails at the suicide part when it turns out he's metahuman and literally bullet proof. His whole life convinced of and consumed by his own inadequacy only to find out too late just how special he really was.

Like with Mr. Merc in issue one, Kenny's not a good guy, not a good person. But the story takes pains to humanize him. It invites you to empathize with him. Sort of a 'bad people are still people' motif that runs through a lot of Cass's early stories and ties into her relationship with her father, but also to her own feelings of guilt and inadequacy. The issue never directly draws a connection between Kenny and Cass, but there's a really strong parallel there even so, too strong for me to believe it's just a coincidence.

Cass also has a job that she loves, that she commits everything to, but that she doesn't feel she actually deserves. She's also sure at any moment her boss might realize just how unsuited she really is and fire her, bringing down her entire life around her, shutting her off from the only future she can see for herself. What would Cass do then? Would she give up? Would she lash out, like Kenny did? It's not even hypothetical, we just got out of an arc where Cass lost her job and essentially committed herself to suicide-by-Shiva to get it back.

So if there's that much in common between Cass and Kenny, then has Cass also been unwittingly denying herself a bigger life and a better future this entire time, just like Kenny had? One she hasn't been able to see because she's been to focused on keeping a job and a life that deep down she doesn't even believe she deserves? And if so, will she realize in time to do something about it, or like Kenny will it be too late?

....

Ok, so I guess I had more to say about this particular story than I thought.

Other than that, I think it's also worth taking a look at how the storytelling style has changed now that Cass can talk - or more to the point how it hasn't. Even though Cass can talk now, even through she does have an internal monologue expressed in words, we don't actually see it in this issue. There are narration blocks, but they're entirely from Kenny's perspective. Cass has word bubbles when she talks to Babs, but when she's on her own she's as silent as she ever was, and her emotional state and though processes are conveyed through the art, through her poses and expressions, just like before.

Like in this bit where she tries to knock Kenny out and he just no-sells it with an 'ow', and she looks at her fist in confusion before winding up to hit him /extra/ hard, her cape wrapping around her in the pose to convey just how much extra force she's packing into the second hit.

I also like how Cass and Babs start and end the book with Babs trying to get Cass to ease off on training and try to engage on some normal life activities, and both times Cass passes in favor of more training. The first time, you get the feeling that she's training so much for the joy of having her abilities back, and there is a random fight against some street toughs where you get the sense that she's kind of playing with them...

(I love how the belt of big boxy pouches acts like a skirt to add an extra feeling of motion and specificity to the silhouette)

But then at the end when Cass is doubling down on training you can tell it's because she failed, that she feels she should have saved that woman, that she could have if she were better.

...

So anyway, it's nice to see that even though Cass is talking now, the core artistic concepts that were basically the reason she was mute in the first place - to get her stories away away from the reliance on narration, to let the artwork do more of the heavy lifting in both narrative and characterization - that's all still here. At least with her current creative team. At least for now.

#Cassandra Cain #Batgirl #Sception reads Cassandra Cain

[lokfeedsthegays]

WUKO WEEK 2024!!! :D!!!!!

Prompt: ANGST + AU

yes this is my miraculous au I’m cringe but I’m free

[CW: violence & implied homophobia]

-

It was personal. That was the first thing Mako thought upon seeing him.

The unfortunate consequences of their situation weren’t secret. Fighting people- usually innocent people, having their minds warped and twisted into near-cartoonish villainy- it was never pleasant. But if he didn’t think too much about it and got it done, it didn’t weigh on him too heavily. And they at least didn’t have the memory intact of him and his friends beating the shit out of them.

Naturally, it was harder to digest if it was someone he knew personally. Even more so someone he liked. Maybe more than liked, but he didn’t have the emotional capacity to process that at the moment.

They were taking a high perch on a building, trying to survey the threat. The threat, this time, being a friend of theirs’. Or what was left of him. How much truth was in akuma victims’ monologues and threats was an ongoing debate- and one Mako didn’t like. He tried not to care. He knew it wasn’t them, so that was all that mattered.

And it was easier to separate the slow-striding figure on the street below from the jovial, theatrical person he knew in his civilian life.

Long, ornate robes flowed on the asphalt, green and gold, his entire body ornamented with at least times the usual amount of jewelry that Wu normally wore, which was saying something. Mako could practically hear the clinking from where he was. His hands, normally soft and gentle, seemed to have gold growing out of them from the knuckles, coalescing and twisting together into hooked claws. Really, gold seemed to have replaced his veins, with branches of it swimming through his skin, which was grayed and pale and sickly-looking. Inhuman.

He had a crown. A pointed, heavy-looking, so ornate it was hard to process crown. And his eyes were like pearls- white and empty.

He scanned the abandoned street, pausing for a moment before continuing on his way. Every step was methodical, almost robotic, and regal to the point of sheer pretension. The only sign of emotion was the seconds of a grimace when he found no-one. Did he want people to be there? To watch him, maybe?

Where the last of his robe left, gold made the trail, making a signature of his presence wherever he went. And it let Mako know that they shouldn’t just go in and kick him. Not if they wanted to be solid gold in less than a second.

Whatever his new name was (Mako didn’t care, he’d still call him Wu), Mako was sure it wouldn’t be the best idea to just jump down and say hi.

“So then what do we do?” Korra huffed after he voiced this out loud, partially to him and partially to herself. Her blue, cat-like eyes narrowed in sheer concentration. She took her metal staff and sat it across her knees, hunching over into a relaxed position.

“There has to be some kind of weak spot. None of the villains are impervious. We just have to find out where it is. I suggest we keep observing- maybe we can find his object and…fish it out or something.”

”He’s covered in jewelry and ornamentation,” Asami piped up, her red cape folding as she leaned back. Her red, spotted outfit complimented Korra’s black suit as they slumped against each other. “We have to figure out which is the one holding the butterfly, but…I don’t know how to do that.”

“We could ask him,” Bolin provided, and Mako resisted a mean glare. Bolin blinked back at him through his green visor.

“No, Bolin, we’re not going down to the supervillain and asking him what his weakness is.”

“Well if we can’t think of anything else, why not?” Bolin said. “Besides, we can’t predict how they are. He might actually tell us. Wu’s a nice guy.”

”So are most of the people who get turned into villains,” Asami reasoned. “It doesn’t mean he’ll be nice now. He’s not in control; we have to be smart about this.”

“It seems like he’s looking for civilians,” Mako said, placing his fingers around his chin. “If we walk up to him like this, no doubt he’ll attack. But maybe one of us could go up undisguised. See if he’ll be calmer. But that’s a backup plan…I’d rather none of us get put in the path of danger.”

”Seems like a good plan to me,” Korra interjected, lowering herself and creeping closer to the edge, trying to get a better look at him. “We can’t just sit up here and watch him.”

”Well…yes we can,” Mako said slowly.

”And what if someone goes up to him and gets in trouble? We’ll just see what he does?”

”Well, no, but I-“

We don’t have time to waste watching him. We gotta do something, and now, before he does anything bad.”

”Well then what do you suggest?” Mako responded, his temper mounting.

”I suggest your first plan. I bet he’d say at least something with you down there. He likes you.”

”When he’s sane he does! I don’t know how he’ll-“

”C’mon, just go. We’ll be here to intervene if he does anything.”

”And get yourselves turned into statues? I’d rather not.”

”You don’t know that!”

Well we also don’t know-!”

”Just GO!” Korra cried, seeming as if she was one word away from smashing her head into the roof. “You’ll be fine. You’re smart and he’s got a big fat crush on you.”

”He does not-“

”Detransform, dude.”

Mako did as he was told, but not without a sour expression the entire time. Magical energy flowed off of him, leaving him vulnerable, and he promptly made his way down the building’s stairs, hurrying through and out the side door, dipping into the alleyway. He slid along the wall until he could peek around the corner, getting a closer look at Wu.

Safe to say, he grew a bit. Maybe there were some kind of insane platforms under that robe, but he was easily taller than Mako now, making him (unfortunately) more imposing. His now-gold plastered hands were curled into almost fists, and his face was locked in a grimace, making him look perpetually agitated.

He scanned the street again with his blank eyes, and Mako ducked out of view, making sure to tell his heartrate to slow the fuck down. Once he got that under control, he composed himself, checked to make sure his Miraculous was intact, then stepped out into the open.

Wu’s gaze immediately locked onto him within the second, piercing and almost wild. Mako suppressed a flinch, and decided to feign innocent surprise, his arms coming up in surrender. He let the moment sit, then squinted.

“…Wu?” he tried, covering the reach as slow recognition.

He prayed Korra was right, and that he wasn’t about to get swiftly and completely incapacitated.

Wu’s eyes narrowed before they widened, and even though his posture barely changed, he somehow seemed a little more relaxed. “Mako,” he breathed. “Finally. I was starting to think people were avoiding me.”

”What happened?” Mako asked, not daring to take a step closer.

“Oh, this?” Wu said, looking down at himself. As if Mako could be talking about anything else. ”A recent development. Does it look nice?”

Wu twisted a bit, showing off the intricate patterns of his robe.

”It’s…a lot,” Mako answered truthfully. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but your usual outfits are a little…tamer.”

Wu chuckled, and Mako took that for the leeway he hoped it was.

”But I mean- what happened to you? To make this happen…”

“Oh, nothing too bad, really,” Wu said, which was clearly a lie. “Just..family issues, mostly. Nothing revolutionary! But I suppose those issues are gone now.” He flexed his hooked fingers, the gold sparking in the sunlight. “Now I’m staking my claim, as it were.”

”What…happened to your family..?”

”My aunt? Hm. Well, she was being my aunt. That’s all. But the problem is solved, and she’s to be made an example of in my new domain.” Wu motioned out around them, and Mako’s expression sank.

“Wu, listen to me,” Mako said, his heart skipping a beat as he tried his luck, “there are people who can help you. You don’t want this, trust me. Are you hearing me?”

Wu smiled and strode closer, and Mako was frozen as Wu stopped right in front of him. Mako had to crane his neck to look up at him, which was absurd, and it only added to the heavy feeling in Mako’s chest.

”I love how you care,” Wu sighed, “but I’m alright. This is a new beginning for me! You’re my friend- you should be happy for me. You should join me on my coronation stroll. You can be made a high member in my court.”

Mako winced, his nose curling. “Wu, people are scared of you right now. You’re not yourself- just- let me help.”

“Mako! Chivalrous as ever, but trust me, everything is fine. Come with me- you’ll be safe, I promise.”

Wu reached out, his warped hand grasping Mako’s wrist. Mako tensed, preparing himself for the worst, but he quickly realized that nothing was happening. So it seemed Wu could control it- which could be beneficial if he played his cards right. Mako scanned his friend for any signs of a telltale object, but nothing stood out.

“But I don’t-“, Mako started to protest, but was cut off when Wu began his stride again, dragging him along the street. He tried to quell his panic, wanting anything but his friends to leap down there hastily. He could handle this- he just needed a bit more time.

”Now, I think we should find a decent point to declare this city’s new ruler. We can go to City Hall- a public assembly should be easy enough to gather with my talents. I’ll probably have to freeze the president, but, you know, necessities.”

“Wu-“

”Oh, and that name. I mean, it was nice while I had it, but that’s not who I am anymore. Someone at your station would call me ‘your highness’ but an exception can be made for you.”

”Wu- spirits- you don’t want to turn the president to gold! Just listen to me-“

The pressure on Mako’s wrist increased, and Wu’s smile dropped in an instant. “You know I love you, but you know you’re not exactly in a position to make requests. I’ll be happy to listen later, but right now I’m trying to do my job.”

“Please! Just- tell me where your object is- we can get you back to normal,” Mako pleaded, brushing off the disbelief at himself for using Bolin’s tactic. “This isn’t going to end well for anyone if you keep going. I know you know that!”

“Mako!” Wu shouted, his tone harshening into something unfamiliar. Mako jolted when he realized his feet were stuck to the ground. He looked down to see reflective gold rooting him to the spot. “You must stop arguing with me. Go with me, or stay here as a statue. Your choice, but that’s as far as my lenience will go.”

Mako clenched his jaw, his eyes darting around the robes, trying to find something significant. Anything significant at all. Transforming wouldn’t get him out of this mess- he had to be smart.

“Wait- I’ll go with you. I will, I’m sorry.” Uttering it made Mako want to hurl, but he needed more information. He hoped his friends could hear him.

”Hmmm. That’s what I thought,” Wu hummed, and the creeping gold quickly receded, letting Mako shake his feet out. “Not to worry. You’ve done a fine job protecting me in the past. It’s high time I return the favor.”

Wu began his stride again, and Mako had to hurry to keep up. He usually walked with a pseudo-haughty demeanor, but this was a full-on parade of privilege. This new Wu had no problem lifting his chin as high as he could without looking ridiculous, and all of his jewelry sparkled as he walked. That, coupled with his sterner than usual expression, remarkably gave off an air that was intimidating.

”So you…want to turn the president to gold?” Mako prompted.

”Yes. How else are people going to know that they have a new ruler?”

There were several leaps in logic there, but Mako would be remiss to point that out.

“My aunt claimed I was in no state to assume a position of power. She’s one to talk, though. She’s hardly the best queen ever. But no matter! She’s taken care of, and I’m proving that I am perfectly capable of commanding authority.” Wu chuckled contently at himself, then he looked down at Mako, his expression falling into a glare. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

Mako swallowed. “Yes- yeah- I agree- yeah.”

As they continued on, Mako couldn’t help but let his gaze drift to the rooftops, a prickling feeling on his neck. And there were certainly people there, but not his friends looking out for him. Instead, it was the force, peering down with equipment and weapons, getting clear looks at them with binoculars.

He wasn’t surprised. The force tended to intervene on many akuma incidents, and now that there was a “hostage” involved, they’d definitely be a little more hands-on. But he didn’t like the risks it posed. Mostly the chance that Wu would get mad and lash out.

Mako wished Korra had let him think through their plan a little longer.

Most likely Wu had already noticed the police. Mako just had to make sure a fight didn’t break out. Hopefully Lin had enough patience to keep her men where it was safe.

“Wu-“

Wu harshly cleared his throat.

Mako stifled any potentially insulting noise. “Your…Highness, um, you’re not planning on hurting anyone, are you? I mean, you need people to rule, after all. Right?”

”Of course I will do my best, Mako, but people must also learn to respect me. If they get in my way, I must silence their protests. It’s only natural.”

No, it wasn’t natural. Especially coming out of Wu’s mouth. Mako at least had to admit to himself that it was one of the things he admired most about Wu. He was pragmatic. He was the last person to make things happen by force, but trying to remind him of that seemed fruitless.

“What happened? When you were transformed…were you arguing with your aunt?”

”Mmh. Not arguing so much as being berated by her. Nothing new, but I’d had a particularly unpleasant day, and she was more grating than usual. The cow kept going on and on about my responsibilities and lack of ability. I suppose I just…had enough of it. Next thing I knew, I had these powers. And she shut up very quickly.” Wu’s hand twitched, and Mako looked at the fingers that bore at least a dozen rings on the gold surface.

Squinting at them, he scanned each of the rings until one pricked a memory at the back of his mind. It was a smoothie date…outing. One of many. Mako remembered the excited grasp of Wu’s hand- he’d grabbed one of Mako’s fingers and dragged his arm up and down. He had that ring on- the duller one, with a dark green gem.

That didn’t definitively mean that it was the object with the butterfly in it, but it was a solid contender.

Luckily, the police didn’t bother them all the way to City Hall. Less luckily, there was a higher concentration of people deeper into the city, and they were less able to flee the scene when a clear supervillain showed up.

The mass of people gave a wide berth to the regal figure strolling through them, forming a sort of natural pathway in the way he was headed. Mako kept his head ducked, partially out of embarrassment, but he didn’t want to instigate too much with the crowd. One wrong move, and everyone in the square could be frozen solid.

As they made their way through, people scrambled to get out of the area. However, branching gold wormed its way through the earth, slithering out to the edges of the square and mounting on itself, forming swift walls. People screamed and tried to haul over as it was rising, but it was too tall too quickly, and they all promptly became caged in.

Mako couldn’t do much but stare in horror, regretting his decisions.

“Now that that’s settled!” Wu said satisfactorily, clasping his hands together, which clinked. He then turned to the stairway of the town hall making his way up. Mako tried to duck into the crowd to lose attention so he could transform, but Wu went ahead and grabbed his wrist, bringing him up with him.

Walking through a crowd and being intimidating was not a crime. But entrapment most certainly was, and now, unfortunately, the police had a blatant excuse to dive in.

Helicopter sounds finally made their way over the clamor of the screaming crowd, and Mako looked up to see a few amassing, and ropes streaming down to release the troops. This, Mako realized, was not the police force at all, but Raiko’s recently commissioned force: the AEF. Akuma Extermination Faction- which was about as friendly as it sounded.

Lin had made the smart play in laying low and getting a read on the situation. But Mako should’ve known to not trust Raiko to do the same.

He also couldn’t trust Raiko to concoct an effective program either, because the moments their boots hit the ground and their guns were pointed, gold shot at them through the concrete, swiftly encasing their boots, then crawling up until all that was left was a screaming statue.

It took a second, but the troops got smart enough to not land, and instead hovered, dangling from their aircrafts, weapons still pointed.

“Release the hostages, or immediate action will be taken,” a stern voice declared from a speaker.

Wu’s brow creased. “Better idea: Raiko! Get out here or your citizens will be nothing more than decorations! We have business to discuss.”

Mako tried a small attempt in wrenching his arm free, but Wu held on tight, and Mako couldn’t hope to brute strength his way out of it when his friend had powers and he didn’t. He’d have to have a discussion with Korra about their planning skills when this whole mess was over. If it was ever going to be over. Mako didn’t like how seemingly everything was suddenly going wrong.

“Stand down- people could get hurt here. Raiko’s forces aren’t coordinated enough!” Mako threw out. He didn’t know what else to do- not yet, anyway.

”Standing down is weakness,” Wu declared, his nose and lip curling. His grip tightened and Mako grunted in pain. Then, louder, “Standing down is out of the question! I’d hurry, if I were you. The odds aren’t in your favor.”

”Well they’re not in your’s, either!”

Mako looked up as his friends, led by Korra, descended onto the top of the steps, nearly crashing down on them. However, Wu ducked out of the way and found himself on the midway point of the stairs. Mako, having been pulled back with him, was now dangling from Wu’s grip, hanging just over the lower stairs, his hand getting redder.

Korra spun her staff, letting it fall behind her in an intimidation position, her suit’s ears flat against her head. “Let him and the rest of these people go. Then we can get right down to brass tacks.”

She held up her hand, brandishing her ring. “This is what you want, right? These were part of the deal?”

Wu stared unblinkingly at the jewelry.

“Well then come and get them. If you win, then who’s to stop you?”

Wu sat in complete stillness and silence for a moment, practically a statue himself. Then, finally, he slumped a little, but a tight smile worked its way onto his face. “No, I don’t think so. I have a proposal of my own.”

Wu dragged Mako forward, showing him off to his friends. Mako tried to tug free, but to no avail. “Give me your jewelry. The longer you take, the more people get frozen. Starting with him.”

Wu shoved him onto his knees, and Mako was immediately locked there, gold replacing his jeans. “Hey! No!” he grunted, his eyes instinctively and desperately searching for a solution.

”Stand down! Last warning!” the speaker-voice called from behind.

”NO! Let him go!” Bolin shouted, lifting his shield. “Right now!”

Gold encased his legs- became his legs. Mako began to feel the imminent panic of not being able to breathe. He uselessly struggled against his constraints, trying to calm his heart rate. “Wu! Please! Listen to me-!”

”That is not my NAME!” he screamed, his hands curling. He lifted his arms, the grand sleeves of his robe billowing out. “Clearly I’m not bluffing! You may stand down now or face the consequences!”

Asami’s yo-yo began spinning into a blur. “I guess we’re doing this the hard way,” she breathed, eyes narrowing in concentration.

”Open fire!”

”Mako!”

”WU-!”

Mako didn’t have the chance to see it all play out. In the moment just before his friends leapt forward to fight, everything went black, and his body went numb.

——

When he came to, it wasn’t from a rescue.

Instead, when he collapsed, his limbs finally free, it was pretty easy to realize that- besides Wu- he was the only one unfrozen in the entire square.

The gold wall had extended upwards, curling in and forming a mass of finger-like spikes, curving inwards in an incomplete sphere. People littered the ground, suspended in various displays of screams and desperation.

His friends were locked in almost picturesque poses. Bolin was on the ground, curling behind his shield. Asami was next to him, her yo-yo outstretched, the winding string made mesmerizingly still. And between them, completing the huddle, was Korra, on one knee and one hand stretched into the sky. Around her hand, black energy of an impending Cataclysm was aloft, not having been able to be put to use.

Mako grunted, trying to suppress his horror. He shifted, his joints popping, and he was able to see Wu- not too far away from him, sitting on the steps. His straight posture and air of authority was gone, replaced with sullenness. He was hunched over, his hands supporting his head.

Mako took a shaky breath. “What are you doing?” he managed to rasp out.

”Oh, just, coming up with a plan. I have to unfreeze them at some point to get their Miraculous. I just want to be prepared,” he sighed.

“And you unfroze me…why?”

”For company. Surely you knew my suspending you forever was a bluff.”

”…Not…really..”

”Well,” Wu started, standing up, “now you know. Welcome to my council.”

Mako looked around, his mouth pinched into a thin line. “Not much of a kingdom, is it?”

”It will be better,” Wu responded quickly.

”Will it?” Mako tilted his head to look up at Wu from his curled position. His back ached when he tried to sit up. ”It’s the ring, isn’t it?”

Wu folded his hands over each other, resting them on his chest.

Mako adjusted with a grunt, turning to sit on the step. When he realized one arm was shaking, he twisted so Wu couldn’t see. “You know whatever your aunt says…doesn’t matter, right?”

”I know that,” Wu snapped, that unnatural aggression surfacing again. “It’s in the past. We shouldn’t discuss it.”

”We should,” Mako insisted, against his better judgment. “I can tell you’re fighting it- or else we wouldn't be having this conversation.”

”We won’t be soon if you keep pushing it.”

”I’m not scared of you, Wu. I could never be scared of you.”

”Excuse me?” Wu’s expression curled, scrunching into something sour and foreign to his face.

”Even if that butterfly’s pushing you to, you don’t want to. Hurt me, I mean. So I’m not scared of you, and I know I can talk you out of this.” Mako knew he was talking out of his ass, but he didn’t have much more than confidence at the moment.

“Watch your tone with me,” he hissed, leaning in and over. “I am not the pathetic boy you knew. I am a king, and you will treat me like such.”

”That’s what you think you are?” Mako huffed. “Pathetic? That’s not at all what you are, Wu.”

”Not anymore.”

“You weren’t before…this either. Wu, you are one of the most creative, caring people I know. If…if your aunt hated that, that’s her problem- not yours.”

”I know that!” Wu said shortly, waving him off, his large sleeve trailing behind the motion. “I don’t wish to talk about this anymore. Quiet, before I force you to be.”

”Let me help you.”

”No. I’m keeping you. My power- with you by my side- that will prove everything she has ever said about me to be foolish. I’m not letting it go just because you said so.”

“With me? What makes me so important?”

Wu’s face tightened, clearly holding in a stream of confession. “You’re not. I just happen to like having you around.”

“I don’t think that’s true.” Mako slowly stood, his mind slowly starting to click the pieces given to him together- like second nature. “I think you were antagonized by your aunt your whole life. I think…although I don’t know particularly why, this time pushed you over the edge. And that’s what the butterfly prayed on. It made that moral outrage you had ugly.”

Mako hobbled over to Wu, his joints still stiff. “But it’s not ugly. Hell, Wu, it’s one of the best things about you. You care, dude. A lot. Don’t let some thing take that away from you.”

Wu’s face relaxed from the enraged mask of insult, to something much more neutral and unreadable.

“Fine,” he hummed. “If you’re so desperate for the waste of space that I was, I can let you make a play for him. But if you lose, you stay with me. Forever, just like this.”

At least it was something. Mako swallowed. “Fine.”

”Very well, then.” Wu held out his glittering hand. “Take the right ring. And you can have him back.”

Mako tentatively stepped forward, his brow furrowed. He shifted his weight between his legs, eyeing the green-gem ring.

Wu would think it was a simple answer. Mako was observant. He knew what he has seen before, and he’d take that to its logical conclusion.

But what did it mean to Wu? His friend had always worn a strong variety of jewelry, each on his person simply for the fact that it was pretty. But he never talked about them like they meant something.

Except for one piece- one he wore only once, and simply because he had to. It was for a political event. One that a foreign prince, who’s tenure in Republic City hinged on his education, would be obligated to go to.

A brooch his aunt had forced him to wear to look presentable.

And there it was, on his robe. Mako forced himself to not look directly at it, and instead feigned scanning the rings. Even if Wu wanted out, the butterfly wasn’t going to let him. If Mako simply pointed at or grabbed the brooch, Wu would fight back and stop him in an instant.

Mako took a deep breath and slid the green-gem ring off of Wu’s finger.

Wu let out a low, pitying note. “I’m afraid that’s the wrong one, Mako.”

“I’m sorry this happened.”

”Excuse me?”

”I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve to be targeted for all this. Not just your aunt, but so many people. It’s unfair.”

”For…this…?”

”For who you are. You- underneath all this…gold- you’re incredibly compassionate, innovative and empathetic. Everyone who tells you otherwise is lying.

”Sweet, but meaningless now.”

”I don’t think so.” In a swift motion, Mako snatched the brooch, ripping the opulent fabric of the robe. Wu screamed, lunging forward in rage. But his surprise made him too slow, and Mako whipped around, throwing the brooch away from the stairs.

It landed against Korra’s hand, right into the Cataclysm.

The brooch dissolved into black dust, and an aura of dark energy surrounded Wu, releasing him. He fell from his tall perch, and Mako caught him- the real him.

Wu opened his eyes. Green. “Mako?” he breathed wistfully. He tilted his head. “Where am I? Am I dead?”

Mako rolled his eyes, sighing fondly.

#wukoweek2024 #wuko week #tlok miraculous au #lok miraculous au #wuko #mako #prince wu #king wu #lok #tlok #mako lok #lok mako #wuko lok #lok wu #wu lok #wu tlok #korra #asami sato #bolin #lok fic #tlok fanfic

[elvensorceress]

The Heart of a Man by @elvensorceress

gifs by my dearest, most beloved ❤️ @daisyssousa ❤️

buck/eddie | rated: T | read on AO3

This is my little Halloween-esque series of s4 but make it paranormal, mythological, Orpheus & Eurydice. 🌹 With lots of pining and magical epic love that transcends all else.

dedicated to my darling, @leothil 🤗❤️

~ snippet preview below the cut ~

The man Buck finds beside him isn’t company.

He looks clearly young today but the bartender doesn’t card him. Just brings him a martini and says nothing. He removes his suit jacket and the sleeves of his silk dress shirt are rolled neatly to his elbows, exposing black ink tattoo sleeves of a repeating geometric pattern. The air around him smells like iron and steel. Maybe with a hint of fossil fuel oil. “I thought you and I should have a talk.”

Buck doesn’t know why his presence makes the air thin or why he can’t taste his beer anymore. His mouth is dry, cotton, sand, and tastes of blood. “A talk?”

The man nods and extends a hand in greeting. “My name is Haden.”

Warily, Buck accepts the handshake, surprised that it feels, well, normal. Nothing out of the ordinary. As if he’s just another person. Who the hell knows, maybe he is. “Buck,” he offers in return though something tells him this man already knows his name. And more about him than he’d like. “So, what are we talking about?”

Haden takes a drink and focuses elsewhere. “Love is a funny thing. Don’t you think?”

No, most people don’t really associate Buck with much thinking. What would that have to do with anything? Let alone strange dreams, weird visions, incongruous sensory experiences. “What do you mean?”

Haden rubs his thumb against the inside of his fourth left hand finger where there’s a thick gold wedding band quite the opposite of his usual silver accents. “It takes over us like nothing else. It consumes, possesses. It’s associated with happiness and joy and yet it brings more pain than the worst physical torture imaginable.”

“That’s dark. And depressing.” Buck glances around the bar in hopes that someone else might’ve overheard and been able to share in his disturbed reaction. “Why are we talking about this?”

His voice is smooth, unadulterated, deep as cavernous underground. Earth that swallows and divides. “Stories will tell you that I’m the antagonist. The one keeping you from what you need and the thing you desire. But I have no control over life and death. I don’t decide the choices people make. I don’t determine any outcome here.”

A gradual, creeping spiral winds its way into Buck’s stomach. A slow, unnerving tightening that might squeeze the life out of him and everything else. “Okay. Any chance we could be a little more direct and a little less monologuing supervillain?”

Haden almost laughs. It’s something like a laugh. Or a weird, stifled huff close to amusement. “It’s not easy being separated from your partner. I understand your need to fight. I fought and I didn’t exactly win. My wife is… away. We’re apart half of the year.” He looks at Buck but it doesn’t seem menacing? He sounds more lost than anything else. “I can’t change what will happen. I don’t blame you for fighting. I’ve let people come to you with warnings.”

Buck waves a hand between them, at the words he’s been given. “You know, this is still not very informative?” His own words are too tremulous, but there’s too much bile churning in his stomach. “And also very creepy?”

“You know. You just don’t want to know. You’ve forgotten some things completely. But I know you feel it. The clock ticking down. The timer running out.”

What he hears are drums, pounding in his skull like that stupid hangover. And sirens over explosions and fire.

Haden reaches toward him, grips his shoulder, and stares into him with swirling black eyes.

There’s a loud, deafening crack of a gunshot.

And Buck flinches, jolts as if it’s present in the bar, in this moment.

But there’s nothing. No one notices or says anything.

There aren’t any people here.

The bar is empty.

Buck is empty.

Haden lets go of him and wears sorrow like a familiar cloak. “I know you’ll fight. I know you’ll ask me, beg me to change it. But you’re the only one who can.”

Buck’s hands are shaking. There’s blood everywhere. It’s not there, but it’s there. There’s so much of it. It’s farm water and collapsed soil and clawing with bare hands in the vain hope he might reach the underground. “How? How would I change it? I—” He couldn’t do anything. He was helpless. He watched it happen and screamed because his heart and soul had been ripped in half. But he couldn’t rescue. He couldn’t reach. 

He couldn’t save him.

(read on AO3)

#buddie #jenwyn fic #911 #911 fic #buddie fic #fic: the heart of a man #buddieedit #911edit

[miaclemeverett]

Mourning Technoblade: Fans Grieve a Minecraft Star They Never Met

The expert gamer built a following of millions of mostly young players on YouTube, without revealing his name or face.

Late last month, more than 10.4 million subscribers to a YouTube channel received a notification that usually brought good news: Technoblade, an expert Minecraft player, had posted a new video.

For fans, each new video held the promise of Technoblade’s warm humor, whether he was winning a tournament or going on an inexplicable quest to produce more potatoes than anyone else in a Minecraft minigame.

But when fans clicked play on this latest video, called “so long nerds,” it was immediately obvious something was wrong. Instead of showing Minecraft gameplay, a man identifying himself as Technoblade’s father appeared. He announced that his son, whose first name was Alex, had died after being diagnosed with cancer.

The video has been viewed more than 72.9 million times since it was published on June 30 as the fans who used to look forward to Technoblade’s notifications try to process the death of someone they have known only through a screen.

Social media is flooded with fan art, tributes and links to grief resources. Memorials have been erected within Minecraft, including a digital book that had been signed by more than 377,000 people.

The grief has ricocheted offline, including into the home of Noelle, 13, and her sister Ilana, 11, who had recently told their aunt to name her baby Technoblade.

In a video call from their home near Toronto, Noelle said she learned that Alex had died on her last day of school.

“I was just a mess,” she said. “I was just sitting in my room crying. I didn’t know what to do.”

Ilana, who dressed up as Technoblade’s avatar, a pig in a crown, for Halloween, said, “I don’t like to bring up the topic when I am just sitting with others.”

They both started watching Alex’s videos in late 2020. They liked his lighthearted banter with other Minecraft players and how he would monologue about the absurdity of routine parts of life, like using, and losing, a box to carry soap to a communal shower in college.

Coping With Grief and Loss

Living through the loss of a loved one is a universal experience. But the ways in which we experience and deal with the pain can largely differ.

What Experts Say: Psychotherapists say that grief is not a problem to be solved, but a process to be lived through, in whatever form it may take.

How to Help: Experiencing a sudden loss can be particularly traumatic. Here are some ways to offer your support to someone grieving.

A New Diagnosis: Prolonged grief disorder, a new entry in the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic manual, applies to those who continue to struggle long after a loss.

The Biology of Grief: Grief isn’t only a psychological experience. It can affect the body too, but much about the effects remains a mystery.

Alex spoke over screen recordings of himself playing Minecraft, the immensely popular video game developed by Mojang Studios in which players can create their own world piece by piece and compete against others online. The game developer was later bought by Microsoft.

The guided gameplay had garnered such a following that the company made a tribute to Technoblade on its launch page after he died. Mojang Studios said Technoblade “became synonymous with a source of good” in an emailed statement.

Among Technoblade’s most beloved game adventures was his whimsical quest to make more potatoes than anyone else in Minecraft, a feat first documented in The Great Potato War video, which had 35.8 million views.

In the video, Alex makes several references to Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War,” as he tries to topple the top potato producer at the time, a player who uses the moniker im_a_squid_kid. After Technoblade sees that his competition has created a rendering of the Mona Lisa in his Minecraft lair, he declares that im_a_squid_kid is not just “a potato madman, but a potato supervillain.”

Shielding an offline identity

In Alex’s videos, he talked about going to college (and dropping out to play Minecraft full time) and made occasional references to his family, but there was a clear boundary between Alex, the son and brother, and Technoblade. His family has sought to maintain that privacy since his death and declined to be interviewed.

Alex announced that he had been diagnosed with cancer in an August 2021 video threaded with jokes in which he also mentioned that he was 22 at the time. He did not specify what type of cancer he had, but his followers assumed that he had sarcoma, a rare form of cancer that is found in bone and soft tissues, because he created a fund-raiser for the Sarcoma Foundation of America on his YouTube page. He had raised more than $500,000 for the organization before the “so long nerds” video was published.

The foundation, which created a special donation page for Technoblade, said that an estimated 17,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed with sarcoma in 2022, and more than 7,200 people will die from the disease.

After Alex died, his fans encouraged eligible people to donate blood to help cancer patients.

Riley, a 21-year-old in Connecticut, routinely donates blood in honor of a friend who died of sarcoma, and she made her most recent donation in Technoblade’s honor. She said his death was all the more difficult because of her earlier loss. “I was bawling like a baby for a couple hours,” she said. (Riley spoke on the condition that her last name not be used because she has faced online harassment.)

She has played Minecraft for about 10 years, but she did not discover Technoblade until the early days of the pandemic when she was working grueling shifts at a grocery store. “There was not a lot of joy in my life being an essential worker,” she said.

She liked Technoblade’s humor and introduced his videos to some of her co-workers, who were reminded of his famous potato war at work. “We were stocking potatoes one night and we just started laughing,” she said.

Technoblade inspired Riley to start broadcasting videos of herself playing video games, or streaming, under the name Notable_Crayon. It has been a great way to unwind, she said, but it has also shown her why someone as popular as Technoblade would protect his offline identity.

Occasionally people will figure out Riley’s full name and send her “creepy” messages, she said. She also has a friend who was the victim of swatting, false reports of crimes in progress intended to draw armed police to the victim’s home. Her friend was not hurt, but others have been harmed, with one man killed by the police and another dying of a heart attack.

In the “so long nerds” video, Alex’s father read a letter that he said his son wrote about eight hours before he died. In the letter, Alex acknowledged the consequences of sharing personal information online and revealed that he and a sibling had successfully convinced online fans that his first name was Dave by using the name in a 2016 video, which was later deleted.

Alex said the prank resulted in “thousands of creepy online dudes trying to get overly personal, going, ‘Oh hey, Dave, how’s it going?’”

Navigating the loss of an online friend

For some fans, the mystery of Alex’s identity has added a confusing layer to the muddle of grief.

Richard England, a vicar at Crofton Parish on the south coast of Britain, said that his teenagers were both devastated by Alex’s death and that they had a few conversations about how not knowing Technoblade’s offline identity affected their grieving.

“Through this new online, offline world we have, many of them will feel like they will know Technoblade and other members of those online communities better than they know kids in their own school,” Mr. England, 47, said. “They will have spent just as much time with them.”

In Canada, Noelle and Ilana’s mother, Janice, admitted she was skeptical at first about the idea that you could have fun watching videos of someone else playing video games. But she said the girls had educated her about the Minecraft world and its personalities, which she now appreciates.

Janice, 52, was well suited to handle her children’s grief about Technoblade because she said she previously worked with children in grief as a child life specialist, a role that helps children and families cope with stress they experience because of health problems, hospitalization and bereavement.

She said that adults tend to want to protect children from uncomfortable feelings, but that it was important to give them space to express, or not express, how they were feeling about Technoblade.

“If we help our children through grief when they experience it,” she said, “then they will be better able to cope with it when they are older and have other situations in their lives that would cause them to be grieving.”

In the video call with her daughters, Janice said her sister in Maryland had called after Technoblade died, because her son was also a big fan. The boy had decided to raise money for the sarcoma foundation, Janice said, prompting Ilana to turn toward her mother and ask: “Is there a way I can help him with that?”

#technoblade #posting this because i thought this was so well done and i know the paywall might stop people from being able to read it <3 #Youtube

[chaotic-orphan]

June of Doom, day Twenty-three:

How many fingers am I holding up: poison // rash // double cross

General warning: this is a little dark so please heed the warnings

CW: betrayal, double cross, poison, heavy emotional Whump, death, forced submission, supervillain whumper, lady Whump, emotional whump, knife mentioned, death (explicit), blood, team whump, plans going wrong, cruel whumper, intimate Whumpers, multiple whumpers, venom, immobilisation, multiple whumpees, unable to move, loss of trust

*~*~*~*~*

Leader stared at Villain with her arms folded across her chest, an eyebrow cocked at Hero as he explained the reason for Villain being there.

“So you see…” said Hero, wringing his hands together in front him, “without Villain, we wouldn’t’ve made so much headway on the case so quickly.”

“You’re telling me you told this arsehole everything about the case?” Medic demanded hotly, stepping towards the pair across from them, but Leader shot a hand out, wrapping it around their arm. Medic looked down at Leader’s hand, then stepped back again.

Hero looked ashamed. No, Hero looked like some lost puppy getting scolded, but Leader didn’t force a smile onto her face trying to put him at ease. He made his bed, now he has to lie in it.

“This was classified information, Hero,” said Leader, eyes drifting to the Villain leaning against the wall beside him. Villain looked so out of place in the Heroes base. Too dark, too brooding, too sad.

“I know,” said Hero, apologetically. “But Villain knows Supervillain so I thought—“

“You thought you’d get all of us in trouble and let us be vulnerable to attack—“ Leader said, and Hero shook his head, protesting no but Leader continued all the same as if there was no interruption. “—from the first source who said they’d help you? That’s naive, Hero. Even for you.”

Hero stepped forward, pleading, “Villain hates Supervillain, okay? They don’t want to work under them but they have to because if they don’t Supervillain will go after everyone they care about!”

“Which now includes you,” said Charming, piping up for the first time since Hero arrived with Villain in tow. Charming was sitting against the table, hands in their trouser pockets, casual and cool.

Hero’s eyes went from Leader’s to Charming’s then back again, and they let out a resigned sigh. “Yes… look, Villain’s risking their neck for even helping me this far. And more importantly—“

“I’m in Supervillain’s inner circle,” said Villain, pushing off the wall and standing tall, taller than Hero, expression neutral. “I know what they’re planning, and I know it’s going down in three days. Do you want to keep arguing about my involvement or do you want to save the city?”

A silence fell following Villain’s monologue. A silence broken by Charming who shrugged, glancing back at Leader.

“I trust Hero,” said Charming, glancing back at Villain. “I trust his judgement.”

Medic scoffed, throwing their hands up, “you can’t be serious!”

Charming’s eyes went to Leader’s in reply, waiting to see who’s side she’d take. Leader just looked at Villain, tilted her head to the side and asked: “why do you want to stop Supervillain? If you’re in his inner circle, surely he trusts you.”

Villain let out a humourless chuckle, saying, “Supervillain doesn’t trust anyone. I’m just double crossing him before he has the chance to do it to me.”

Leader let out a huff of breath through her nose, then turned to the map table of the city. “Tell us everything you know, Villain.”

The rest of the team joined Leader at the map table, Medic letting out a huff before begrudgingly joining beside Charming at the opposite side. Villain pointed to the docks, warehouse thirty six.

“Supervillain said he’s importing Viper Venom on the 11.30 ship from Eastport.”

“There’s Vipers in Eastport?” Charming asked, raising their eyebrows across the table at Villain who shook their head.

“Not actual Viper Venom, it’s—“

“A paralytic drug,” said Leader.

Villain nodded. “Exactly.”

“How do you know about it Leader?” Hero asked.

Leader worried her bottom lip between her teeth and said absently, “Detective told me about it. It’s been popping up in a lot of recent heists. Guards and Officers alike paralysed with this drug while they’re robbed blind. I didn’t know Supervillain was connected to all this though.”

“He is,” said Villain, “I’m sure of it. He was real smug when he was telling us too, gloating about how long he kept us in the dark.”

“But if Supervillain gets his hands on more Viper Venom, then what’s to stop him from taking control of the city?” Medic asked.

The questioned lingered stale in the air, hanging heavy for a moment before Hero said, “nothing.”

“I’ll call detective. Have them make sure the docks aren’t being patrolled that night, we want to catch Supervillain in the act or this isn’t going to work,” said Leader, eyes snapping to Villain’s. “Will you be there to get the shipment?”

“Yes, a couple of us will be… including Supervillain.”

“Good. I need you to put on the show of your life.”

Villain nodded. “I can do that.”

“Good. Charming and I will be the first ones in to make the arrest with Medic and Hero coming around the back. I’ll tell detective to keep their men out of the docks that night so there will be no further casualties. Supervillain won’t get away this time, alright?”

A chorus of Yes ma’am, and Leader smiled. Finally. Finally they had the drop on Supervillain. It felt… intoxicating. Just the thought of putting that maniac behind bars.

*~*~*~*~*

The shipment was in the warehouse. Supervillain, Villain and another of Supervillain’s generals were inside. Leader had ordered Villain to take out the other general when they ran in and Villain agreed much to Hero’s protest.

So when Leader and Charming rounded the corner, Leader screaming for Supervillain to put his hands up, Villain attacked. They went straight for the Other Villain’s wrist which was reaching down to draw their gun from it’s holster.

Villain snapped their wrist back and flipped Other Villain over their shoulder, twisting their wrist harshly until there was a crack then the cry of agony. Villain picked Other Villain’s gun up from the ground, clicking the magazine free and thumbing out every bullet. They kept eye contact with Supervillain the entire time bullets pinged to the concrete floor.

Other Villain tried to attack again, pawing uselessly at Villain’s leg. Villain shook them off, then dropped their knee to Other Villain’s chest and pistol whipped them across the temple. Other Villain went silent, and Villain got to their feet, coming to stand beside Leader.

“Betrayed by my favourite pet,” said Supervillain with a grim smile. “I do love a double-cross. I suppose I should be proud that I at least taught you to be ruthless.”

“I’m not yours anymore,” said Villain, keeping their tone neutral. Supervillain’s eyes went to Leader’s then back to Villain’s.

“No. It seems you’re someone else’s dog now.”

Leader stepped forward, hands raised threateningly towards Supervillain. A glove of blue fire engulfed her arms, ready to let loose in an instant.

“On your knees,” Leader hissed. Supervillain obeyed, much to Leader’s surprise.

It must have showed on her face because he put his hands out in front of him with that same coy smile. “I’m not ready to die, Leader, and I won’t give you a reason to kill me. You heroes have rules, no?”

Leader lowered her hands, fire still burning around her fists. She nodded to Charming, who said: “with pleasure,” and cuffed Supervillain with power dampeners. The simple white cuffs glowed a faint blue around Supervillain’s wrist to show they were activated.

Only then did Leader call, “it’s clear,” to Hero and Medic who followed them in from across the warehouse. Hero’s eyes were on Villain who just smiled at them.

Leader didn’t notice because they were walking towards the new crate in the lot, grabbing a crowbar that was strewn on the ground and prying the wooden crate open. Charming was beside her and they both peered down to see… an empty crate.

“No,” Leader said, their heart dropping as she ran to the other crate. Hero and Villain went to the open crate and looked down.

“Wait, what?” Hero asked. Villain turned back to Supervillain who was grinning on their knees a little away from the group. They hadn’t moved. Another creak and a groan from wood being forced open and a snap and a clang and Leader said: “no. No. No! Where is it?!”

“Where’s what?” Supervillain asked. That smug little shit. Villain had crossed the distance and grabbed them by the collar of their shirt, shaking them.

“Where’s the viper venom?!” Villain demanded. Supervillain’s eyes shined cruelly up at Villain.

He tilted his head as he said, “you really thought I didn’t know about your little mutiny, Villain? I’m impressed you had the balls to go through with it, but I’m sure I can forgive you. Given time. Your hero friend on the other hand… well…”

“Leader?” Hero asked and Villain turned around again to face the group. Leader’s hands were shaking, her fire sputtering and coughing before being snuffed out with a hiss, as if water was poured on her.

“What?” Leader asked, breathless before she fell to her knees and stiffened unnaturally. Paralysed. Villain’s eyes went to the crowbar and yelled to Hero in warning: “the crowbar! Don’t touch it. It could have been poisoned.”

“I didn’t poison the crowbar,” said Supervillain a smile in his voice. Villain felt their hands shaking next and they looked up in horror to see Hero fighting gravity but being forced to their knees, their legs buckling beneath them.

Villain stepped forward, trying to reach them and fell to one knee with a grunt. They pushed up on their hands and knees, reaching out to Hero before their limbs failed them too and they fell to the ground, their hand still reaching for Hero.

“I did,” said Charming and Villain’s blood ran cold. They tried to move their arms. Their legs, anything, but they couldn’t… couldn’t… their body was shaking with the effort to fight. Fight! “Not just the crowbar. The crates too. Had to be thorough.”

“Charming?!” Leader cried, her voice shaking in disbelief.

Villain felt hands on them and suddenly they were righted, no longed kissing the concrete and placed against a crate. They saw Leader was righted as well.

“Don’t want you all to miss the show,” said Charming with his handsome smile. Charming walked over to Supervillain and undid the power dampeners around his wrists freeing him while the team watched in horror as Charming helped Supervillain to his feet.

Villain saw Medic poke their head around a crate beside Leader, eyes widening but keeping their face neutral. Leader seemed to realise as well, while Hero drew Charming’s attention to him.

“You… you’re the viper? But… but… how?! You have the gift of persuasion not poison. Why? You’re part of us. You’re part of the good guys, you—“

Charming just chuckled. “I have the powers of a snake, Hero. Charming, beautiful and deadly. I just kept my other gift a secret from you all.”

“This whole time you were the Viper,” said Leader, breathless. “There is no venom is there? It’s just you. Your power. You’re Supervillain’s mole.”

“So quick on the uptake, Leader,” Supervillain praised, shows clacking through the warehouse as he approached Leader and crouched down in front of her. He grabbed a lock of stray hair and put it behind her ear while she sat there, useless and unable to stop him. “You were a worthy adversary I must say. Turning my general against me.”

“Looks like you did the same,” Leader spat.

Supervillain let out a dark chuckle. “I guess we both had the same idea. The only difference is that I would never underestimate you… but no matter. You’ll all learn soon enough to trouble of crossing me.”

That’s when Medic pounced. They ran out, going for Supervillain. One touch. That’s all they needed. One touch to render Supervillain useless and free everyone.

A spray of blood hit Leader’s face and they gasped, trying to turn their head away but they couldn’t. Their head stayed staring at Medic as they reached up to their throat, clawing at the deep open gash. Gasping on nothing and choking on their own blood.

“MEDIC!” Hero howled, a shrill gut wrenching sound as Medic fell to their knees beside Charming who held Leader’s dagger in his hand. Soaked in blood. Medic’s blood. Leader wanted to reach out, to hug them, to hold them, but they couldn’t and Medic watched with wide eyes begging for Leader to help them.

I can heal from nearly anything, Medic had told her when they joined the team.

Nearly everything? Leader asked. Medic nodded.

Anything immediate or a quick death, I don’t think my powers could kick in in time. But pretty much anything else.

Leader pleaded for them to be wrong at that moment. They could still do it. They could still survive this. Charming grabbed Medic’s chin, tilting their head up and drove their dagger to the hilt through Medic’s eye. There was a hideous popping sound, followed by another splatter of blood as Charming drew the dagger back viciously and let Medic drop to the concrete as if they had never shared a meal together.

“Heal from that,” said Charming darkly and Leader’s entire world froze. Medic’s body hit the concrete with a lifeless thud, blood pooling from their body and reaching Leader’s fingers. Their hands covered with the sticky substance of Medic’s blood.

“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” Hero wailed. “I’M GOING TO STRIP THE FLESH FROM YOUR BONES!”

Charming ignored Hero and turned to look down at Leader who’s eyes were still trained on Medic’s lifeless form, willing them to get up. To move. To save it was a bad prank and to… to…

Tears poured thick over Leader’s cheeks, sniffing back snots and forcing her body to move. To hold Medic. To do something! Something!

Charming crouched down too beside Leader, taking her chin in his hand and forcing her to look at him. Except it wasn’t Charming. This evil, emotionless thing wasn’t charming. It was the Viper. Supervillain’s second in command that stared through familiar eyes at Leader and mercilessly wiped the dagger on Leader’s shirt.

“I’m going to kill you,” Leader whispered, no. Leader promised. Vowed. Her body shaking, trembling and cold and still unmoving. Not a single nerve listening to her brain’s commands. “I’m going to kill you,” she said again, her lip trembling.

Charming grinned and said, “no. You won’t. You won’t get the chance, but I’ll let you try. You’re coming back with us anyways, can’t risk you running to you little detective and spilling the beans.”

Charming stood them, dropping Leader’s chin. Supervillain was the one who touched her next without her permission, his index and middle finger going to Leader’s wrist holding her pulse point gently.

She felt her brain go foggy, her mind muddling. Thoughts rolling and turning over each other into one big messy blur.

Before she lost consciousness she saw Charming standing a little away from her with a smile, his hand raised, asking: “hey leader,” Charming said, voice too far away, the world swirling in Leader’s eyes. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

Then the darkness swallowed her and Leader passed out in the hands of her enemies.

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