She demanded, she insisted, she hissed, fought, clawed for what she wanted, refused to admit that there were things she needed. She would show no vulnerability to him, admit no weakness even if pushed to the brink of death.
And so he assumed weakness where she showed none, presumed need where she refused to admit. If she didn't look in the direction of water, he forced her to drink. If she turned away from food, he insisted she eat.
If she kept that pert little nose in the air while snow drifted all around them...
...he built her a fire.
And when he wrung more of her past from her, demanding more, pushing her into vicious arguments, showing her all that he'd dragged out of records long since buried... He presumed the need for revenge where she admitted none.
Standing on the cliff in order to catch the mouth-watering smell of roasting flesh, Renaux smiled down at the squealing, shrieking, wriggling bundle he'd lashed to the lance.
And she did not turn to look, not even when the screams reached a ringing pitch.
...she only leaned into his body and let him support her weight, leaned her cheek into his caressing hand and smiled.
Ask: adventure time: yandere au: if their loved ones are in danger or captured, how would bonnibel bubblegum, Marceline, Phoebe (flame princess) and Huntress wizard would act to save their loved ones?
BB: Go Mad Sciencist on them.
Marceline: Unleash the might of the Creature of Darkness
I feel like designing OC Endbringers, and I might as well share them.
So. How do Endbringers get made? I believe Eidolon's shard mixes concepts on his mind at the time with religious imagery he's familiar with and a powerset provided by Eden shards. This means that the "backstory" requires a specific time and that we know David's thoughts from this time period. On a more Doyalist level, I would also like to keep each one unique, narratively useful, and thematically relevant to Worm.
What if Scion killed an Endbringer immediately after Kevin said to? So like. The Echidna fight happens on June 20th, with Scion burrowing into the Earth and lasering Behemoth on the same day. Then Eidolon attends the June 21st Cauldron meeting from his flashback, and while here somebody adds on "By the way, it turns out Scion just randomly killed an Endbringer yesterday. What the fuck, right? Why did he do that? Should we tell people it happened?" The things on his mind from the fight, from the revelations, and from the meeting would be the building blocks for Behemoth's replacements (I'm giving him two for the record, no idea if that's always the result of one dying but I'll operate as if it were for the purposes of this post).
His own powers are weakening (this seems to be on his mind constantly)
He isn't strong enough to fight Scion (ditto this)
His Echidna duplicate seemed to be at full strength (this appears to have been on his mind ever since it happened)
The scrutiny caused by his clone's revelations (immediate relevance)
Shame for the things he's done (immediate relevance) (assume all unspecified bullet points are also immediate relevance)
The case-53s probably made him think about his role in abducting people, giving them powers, locking them up and/or wiping their memories and releasing them
Echidna's powers
The powers he employed against Echidna: Dessication, gravity manipulation, weird homing electric things, some sort of thinker power speculated to include precognitive danger sense and also knowledge of where to attack without harming civilians, sepia timeslow bubble, unknown power that explodes Alexandria clones
Queen 18.8 featured two Texas Wards named Young Buck and either Strapping Lad or Intrepid dying in front of him. I assume watching children you knew die of a knife to the stomach and immolation (respectively) leaves an impact for at least a couple of days.
The portal to Gimel
Echidna trying to bargain for her targets. (Imagine an Endbringer that does that. Communicates what person or thing its targeting and allows the defending capes to hunt down and sacrifice them "for the greater good". An EB that can be stopped easily harms their collective air of implacability, but also many people would do really fucked up things if they thought it would save a whole city.)
Missile strikes
Therapists
Cauldron's silencing of heroes who would leak information related to them
Being replaced
A lot of pieces to work with there... I would invite you to stop for a second and try coming up with your own Endbringers using this list before reading mine. Reblog with your ideas, even! The world needs more Endbringers (I mean, it really doesn't. But this fandom does).
Endbringer 1 is based on Worm's running idea that giving people powers hastens societal collapse. It takes the 'forcibly giving people powers' idea from what Eidolon helped do to the case-53s and mixes in an offensive power that mixes scrutiny with the shard that Hero, Citrine, and probably Softball got powers from.
Imagine an Endbringer who gives an entire city Codex's power (She was the Ambassador who shot invisible rays that permanently lower their targets intelligence for a temporary boost to her own). Imagine an Endbringer who makes 7,000 Heartbreakers. Or Svetas. Or Kings or Scrubs or Nice Guys or Tritaniums or Burnscars. Distributing a teleportation power that lets somebody chestburster their way out of any person they've ever met sounds horrible, but how much worse is it if the attack its happening on is when this fucker is attacking The Birdcage? What about giving a physically altering power to everybody that shows up to fight it, ruining their secret identities? What about making all the mundanes merge into Case-70s the next time they touch a parahuman?
An Endbringer who causes more problems in the long run is straying a bit close to The Simurgh's schtick, which isn't helped by her on-page attack involving flooding a city with parahumans and providing people with powers. The big difference is how this one fights at the time. Remember Citrine's line in Imago 21.4: 'I can use my power to cancel out the filters that keep someone's powers in their control. I can also remove the filters that keep their power from affecting them.' This Endbringer takes that horror game trope where something has a roving or flashing light, and if you end up in it there's just a cutscene of you dying with no recourse. Batman: Arkham Asylum is the first that comes to my mind, but it shows up in everything from Dishonored to WarioWare. In this case, its roving spotlights that appear to be emitted by the Endbringer's eyes (because being scrutinized by hostiles was on Eidolon's mind). Of course, the Endbringer doesn't actually need its eyes any more than the others do, and is capable of creating these beams anywhere if it wanted to stop going easy.
Now we move on to its appearance, which is a bit tricky. See, the first three used Christian imagery and the latter three used ideas from other beliefs. This could just be a weird coincidence, or it could be suggesting that at some point between The Simurgh and Khonsu David broadened his understand of faiths outside his own. I'm inclined to go with the latter, but that leaves the question of whether its happened at the point my Endbringers are created. I'm going to say it did, just for the sake of giving myself more options. Also, I would like to take this moment to point out that there is no obvious (at least to me) connection between what imagery an Endbringer is given and what their powers or M.O. are.
This Endbringer needs to have some longevity, which means its thick. It needs to be able to use its offensive power effectively: That means lots of eyes, and either being mobile/flexible enough to turn its head anywhere easily or that its eyes are all over its body. Ideally (for the Endbringer) its body should have the ability to do a lot of damage, since its powers can only directly affect people. My idea is a giant tree stump with eyes opening and closing all along the creases in its "bark", and roots that function as both flailing tendrils and as spidery legs. Against all reason I easily found a webpage that lists bible verses with tree stumps in them: the only ones with any distinct imagery are Daniel 4:15 and 4:23, which talk about having 'a band of iron and bronze around it'. This seems to mean circles of it on the ground, but making it be more like stump-bracelets makes for a good visual and obfuscates the inspiration a bit. Sadly the only named tree stump is Jesse (I'm not kidding, Isaiah 11:1 calls one that), which is an abysmal name for an Endbringer, so I had to look further. 'Irminsul' sounds Endbringer-y and was the name of a type of sacred pillar in Germanic Paganism. According to wikipedia, the oldest known description of an Irminsul referred to it as a tree trunk erected in open air. That works.
Endbringer 2: This one is inspired by the mystery aspect of Worm/Ward. It harms anybody who tries to spread information on it, even when dormant, and was naturally the result of Contessa(?) talking about offing whistleblowers in the June 21st Cauldron meeting.
On the subject of how information-spreaders die, we have several options. They could spontaneously combust (like that one Ward), but that's getting in Behemoth's way. Same for being electrocuted. They could suddenly have a knife in the stomach, but that doesn't feel like a Worm power to me and is a bit too on the nose. Likewise for using the missile strike as inspiration. They could be crushed by gravity or dessicated by heat, either of those two would feel suitably different from existing Endbringers but still like an Endbringer power. Annoyingly, I don't believe we ever saw one of these effects provided by an Eden shard besides Eidolon's, which would have made for a good selection method. (I flipped a coin, this is a gravity Endbringer now)
So I suppose that's also how it fights capes directly. Gravity manipulation is somewhat versatile, allowing for Eidolon's crushing effect, Topsy's ability to launch people skyward, even temporary black hole generation to round things out.
This feels like a very fast-acting Endbringer to me, one that shows up, crushes/elevates/black holes the area, and then leaves again (As opposed to other Endbringers, which show up further away from their targets and approach). It operates using the guerrilla strike method that all Endbringers (except Tohu Bohu) canonically adopted after New Delhi. And anybody who tries to report what happened is suddenly squeezed into a quarter-sized ball. Authorities can't warn people its going to show up, nobody can turn on the sirens, even trying to mobilize the heroes who signed up to fight Endbringers without getting crushed is playing with fire. Only figuratively playing with fire though - the coin didn't land on tails.
Its not a tank, so a smaller, nimble form is fine. Its not attacking directly, so it won't need a body that allows it to do so effectively. Its power is not connected to any body part. With no real guidelines as to what form it should take, I'm going to fall back on which religious symbol is the most religious: That's right, this Endbringer is a giant cross. Not really, that would be too silly. Its instead based on the largest religious structure in the world, which the internet tells me is Angkor Wat (its a Cambodian temple/city built in tribute to a Hindu goddess). Apparently it has five central pillars and a moat, and is covered in devatas. That's pretty easy to eldrich-up: Five arms and legs evenly spaced around a torso (the five central pillars), and instead of a head give it the appearance of faces trying to escape from all over its body (the devatas). Have it be blue because moats are blue. (I know technically water is reflective rather than blue, but shards don't care. They'd know that humans associate water with blue and go "Okay, sure. Whatever.")
That leaves the name. I get nothing for five-armed, too much for blue, and looking for religious figures assosciated with secrets only turned up Raziel from Jewish mysticism. Sure, let's go with that. I have been working on this post for four hours now.
In conclusion, my Endbringers are:
Irminsul, a giant tree stump covered in eyes that project rays that are an insta-kill (or worse) on parahumans, and ruins the world by distributing harmful powers. This is a good Endbringer.
Raziel, a five-armed, five-legged, blue torso with faces poking out of it that hit-and-runs with gravity powers that cannot be talked about without dying. I am unsatisfied with this Endbringer.
Writers: post (approximately) six sentences from something you’re working on. If you aren’t ready to do that, add six sentences to your WIP.
Readers: challenge yourselves to leave a six sentence comment or give a writer a six sentence prompt. (or a total of six sentences for the day)
Fans and creators alike: reblog a fandom post and add some love in the tags. Aim for 6 posts - or 6 tags. Whatever you can manage!
hihi I got tagged in this like eons ago by @authoralexharvey and i'm only just now getting caught up in tags so enjoy!
I’ll have to die to learn my fate, and so far that isn’t happening. Why is that?
A burning sensation engulfs the left side of my face. My cheek feels like it is boiling, the skin pulling itself taut and straining as pain racks my body. The sensation built itself up, adding layer upon layer of pain until I was screaming and thrashing.
Why is my face burning?
That’s right…
imma tag @writingpotato07 @sam-glade and @autumnalwalker this time!
Despite leaving at the same time with his younger brothers, Mammon was the first to burst through the front doors. He didn’t even have time to breathe when the air was taken out of his lungs by an ear-piercing scream. He felt his bones rattled as he ran toward the source of the drilling shrieks that filled the Lamentation halls. He finally reached Lucifer’s hallway to see the stairway to the attic iced over with jagged icicles but the screams drew him to Lucifer’s destroyed door.
The entire room was bathed in a blue hue as the fireplace burned brightly the unnatural color. However, what caught Mammon’s attention was the dark shrieking figure on the ground engulfed in the cerulean blaze. Time seemed to have slowed down as he watched Lucifer roughly toss his youngest brother aside and shoved his hand in the fire, pulling out the burning object from the fireplace’s maw. Another second barely passed before Lucifer took off his coat and attempted to suffocate the inflamed item. Mammon, following his elder brother’s lead, ripped the thick covers off the bed and tried to put out the burning Marley who continued to howl ghastly.
He wrapped her tightly in his embrace, feeling her struggle through the cloth. As he exhaled, a heavy fog came out, his skin felt chapped as the intense cold coming from below him. He shivered harshly, looking for any sign of progress but the flame threatened to spark up once again. It wasn’t until Lucifer had finally managed to put out his fire that Mammon’s flame gave up the fight. The screams died out and were replaced with crying and whimpering as Mammon got off and wrapped her tightly in the thick covers.
“C’mon, fuzzball. I gotcha, I gotcha.” Mammon whispered as he lifted her slowly off the ground in his arms.
Marley responded with sharp gasps and groans despite how gentle Mammon was being. She couldn’t bring herself to speak, instead, she offered more tears as she was cradled. Mammon looked down at her and cursed underneath his breath while shaking his head back and forth. Before he could even ask about what happened, the sounds of his brothers arriving filled his head. He quickly moved outside the room to greet the worried siblings.
“What the hell happened here?” Satan asked as he stared at the shattered ice by the attic.
“I don’t know but Belphie’s here.” Mammon quickly answered.
Beel stepped forward with his gaze wide in disbelief.
“Belphie’s here? He’s supposed to be in the human realm.”
“Well, he ain’t, he’s in the room with Lucifer when Marley...”
Levi forced himself to the front of the group, he panted heavily as he looked upon the bundle in Mammon’s arms.
“What happened to her?” He demanded.
“...”
“What happened!?”
Mammon remained silent, thinking about what to say. However, his brothers began to fill in the blanks themselves.
“Belphie didn’t, did he?” Asmo asked quietly with his hand to his mouth.
“Why did you assume Belphie did it?!!” Beel snapped.
“Beel, calm down, I’m just thinking out loud.” Asmo defended.
“Well, stop thinking like that! Belphie wouldn’t do this!”
“And Lucifer would?” Satan questioned while holding his chin.
“What was that!?”
“Think about it, what reason would Lucifer set her on fire?”
“What reason would Belphie!?” Beel growled, baring his fangs in anger.
“Beel, you need to calm down. We are just speculating here.” Satan claimed coldly as his eyes glowed green.
The group went around in circles, getting more and more upset and angry with each word being said. Each bearing their fangs with raised voices that drowned out Marley’s wails, leaving Mammon and her on the sidelines. Finally having enough, Mammon took a deep breath.
“I’m tired of hearing y’all bitchin’! Take care of Marley and I’ll handle Belphie and Lucifer!”
“But Belphie-”
“He ain’t the one cryin’ in my arms right now! So for fuck’s sake, will someone take her from me!?”
For once, Mammon had managed to silence his younger brothers who began to focus on the covered-up Marley. Levi took in a deep breath before carefully taking her from Mammon’s arms. With every adjustment he made, Marley sharply gasped before returning to sobbing. He wanted to hold her closer but he feared he would just make things worse. His first step away was wobbly but he found his footing as he slowly walked past his brothers. Beel, snapping out of it, tried to offer a hand only to get a cold glare from passing brother. Satan sighed heavily and gently patted Beel’s shoulder before walking after the third eldest. Beel hung his head low before looking back shyly at Mammon. Seeing the anguish in his face, Mammon gave a small smile with a quiet sigh.
“Don’t worry, big buy. I’ll let y’all know as soon as I get the details.”
Beel paused for a moment before Asmo placed his hand on his arm, giving him a gentle smile as well. Beel gave an understanding nod before slowly walking away. Asmo followed close behind, placing his hand on Beel’s broad back. Once the hallway was cleared, Mammon ran his hand through his hair as he returned to the room where Belphie and Lucifer remained silent and still. Lucifer slowly rose to his feet while grabbing his coat off the floor along with the smoldering pelt.
Carefully, he wrapped the burnt fur in his coat and held it closely before looking at Belphie who was slumped against the wall he was thrown to. He rested his arms on his knees while his once burning eyes were now dulling in the absence of fire. Mammon sighed heavily before going into his back pocket and pulling out his smoke case. In a smooth motion, he took out a cigarette, lit it, and took a long draw. Sighing again, the smoke left his mouth and filled the room with its strong odor.
As if he has a choice. All he can do is kneel in front of them, head bowed, wrists taped together in silver so they look like he’s going to pray. Of course, Nicky stopped such a ritual a long time ago, enough so that it feels weird for his palms to lay this flat against each other. He knows that this death will not be permanent. None of them are. But it is not one that he cares to go through, let alone attempt to heal from. Burns have always been tricky. Slow.
“Uccidi il puttano,” the one in charge says, standing back with a cigarette between her lips. It is her lighter that will do this, and her hand that shoved him down to his knees on the gravel lot. Joe is still out beside him from a shot to the face. It will take too long for him to come back. The others will be even longer. “Mi annoio del suo pianto.”
“I am not crying, signora,” he corrects.
“No? What is this, then?”
She comes closer, intending to brush her fingers through the wet trail on his cheeks, but her proximity allows him to headbut her. Joe would be proud. It gives him time to stand up and subdue a couple of the assholes trying to kill them, but he is sloppy with restraints and gasoline covering his body. He is too aware of its scent and how easy it would be to light him on fire right now. He would be defenseless to a single spark.
Of course, he is a liability when he moves like this, so no one dares light him up. The most they can do is try and subdue him once more, which proves to be more difficult when he is not kneeling over Joe’s body, trying to coax him awake with soft words and gentle touches. Nicky fights for as long as he can. Buying time, mostly. But eventually, someone lands a shot to his leg that has him dropping, and the woman grabs him by the hair to keep him down. He looks up at her in refusal to submit.
“Corroto bambino,” she whispers, almost fondly. “È per il tuo bene.”
He spits at her.
She shakes her head in disgust and flicks on her lighter, bringing it so close to his face that he can feel the gas getting warm. Another millimeter and he will burn. His eyes flick to Joe, who has just begun to twitch on the ground. There won’t be time. Joe will kill this woman, but not before Nicky burns, and perhaps not without getting hurt as well. There is only one way to give him that opportunity, and it is to accept her killing.
When he dares to try and stand once more, the flame hits his gasoline-soaked skin, and it consumes him. Burns are familiar, but not like this- it is overwhelming, painful, destructive. All he can do is feel it, even as instinct has him moving in a desperate attempt to put it out. It’s already too late. His head is swimming as the temperature inside his skull climbs too high. The pain slowly begins to dull as his nerves die. It will be merciful to pass away.
“Nicolo! Nicolo, ascoltami!”
That is Joe’s voice, but Nicky cannot do anything about it. He dies, and when his cheek hits the gravel of the lot, he succumbs to the kind release of death.
Reblog if you enjoyed! | Ko-fi | Translations available under #emtranslate
Fire and burns aren't one of my triggers per say but those combined with the overwhelming sense of desperation, shock, and terror in 169 esp since some of my parental abuse involved fire and near burns as well as having actually seen and heard a neighbor's apartment blaze until the windows shatter altogether just made me feel Martin's discomfort x5 aside from the statement itself, still kinda sick numb tbh
Jude Perry got what she technically deserved but the cost in exchange and what it means for Jon and Martin together and as people deeply worries me, and tbh at the end I feel like she wasn't lying when she told Jon about himself
