#anyways. Yeah. egg arg....

[xxswagcorexx]

grabs u by the shoulder. hey. hey u. have you've ever wanted to learn about a mcrp arc with themes about violence and the death of innocence, scary arcane experiments, political murder, and interdimensional travel where u meet alternative versions of urself?

well if any of that sounds awesome to you, BOY DO I JUST HAVE THE THING FOR YOU!!! midmysticx's egg arg in lifesteal season 4 has all of that!!! it had to be cut off short because of meta reasons, but with what was released so far, it was. So Cool .

now i HIGHLY recommend checking this out for yourself (a curated playlist that i made can be found here! it's pretty short but. imo the themes of it carry it in SUCH an interesting way), but if you don't have the time/want more. propaganda reasons why you should watch it, there's more under the cut!

(mild cw though for the "having a voice in your head through magic items/powers" trope! it plays a very small part in the story, but i'd figure i'd give a heads up just in case 👍)

ok so like. this arg happens in the canon of lifesteal season 4 (lifesteal seasons fully reset like hc seasons) and the main "progatanist" of this arg is c!midmysticx/c!mid, and most of the "lore" is told in the format of vhs tapes

that being said, c!mid is a little confusing in the way that s4!mid is implied to be a different character that c!mid from other seasons

i say that bc s4!mid made an "application video" for lifesteal, citing about how shes excited to join (even tho cc!mid has been a part of ls since s2)

also. very interestingly, mid excludes herself from the s4 start in a replay shot (even tho cc!mid was present during the s4 launch)

and interesting enough, s4!mid seems a bit. naive in the application video? like she mentions she's "good at editing" as one of her attributes on why she should be added to the server and mentions. nothing about the violence of the server (other than introducing the mechanics of the server which is LITERALLY about killing people to gain hearts and losing hearts when you get killed)

halfway through her application video, though (after a few months passed according to the date on the bottom of each video) she sounds very. bitter

the video changes to be all in black and white and she starts asking: "why? why do you all kill and ruin friendships and betray? all for hearts?!"--a MUCH different demeanor than what she had when she started. bitter and resentful, almost, compared with the excitement she showed earlier in her "application", and it ends with her announcing she stole the dragon egg and she's made 4 trials for people to look for it

anyways, moving onto the first tape that takes place ~around 2 months before the shift in demeanor, s4!mid starts to record video tapes about experiments she's doing with the dragon egg, eventually combining a heart with the dragon egg and opens up a portal

she doesnt know what on Earth it is so. shes testing it out right. like any person with safety concerns would

and well uh.

she puts a pig through and it fucking died

so . Erm! not a good start

anyways she eventually feels a voice/urge calling her to go through the portal even though she knows its risky, but she's been having such bad headaches that she goes through the portal anyways, ditching her plans to figure out how to control the power of the egg before going through it

and uh. heres where things get confusing again because this is where. the interdimensional stuff comes in

she arrives in an unknown location right. and. jumpscare . it ends up being a manor (and i'm just gonna call this mid "murder mystery!mid" bc the manor is the same one in one of her other videos, a halloween special where mid + co do a whodunit)

and basically, s4!mid witnesses a mayor election (which is a big part of murder mystery!mid's story), and after s4!mid explores for a little, s4!mid and murder mystery!mid eventually . make eye contact

and um. you see. s4!mid accidently eavesdrops (im assuming so? there's a tape of that and its been established that s4!mid films all of them herself) on murder mystery!mid's plan to kill the mayor and Uh. s4!mid. ends up also witnessing murder mystery!mid's murder as well

s4!mid gets chased and has to go back to the portal to escape, but the issue is. the portal doesnt bring her back to lifesteal. it brings her to eclipse smp

AND FUCKING BRINGS HER TO ECLIPSE!MID'S GRAVE

she eventually sees someone crying over eclipse!mid's grave before going away into the woods before hearing a sound and running away

that's where the arg (unfortunately) had to be cut off but like. Still. the part that makes me constantly rotate this arg in my head is the fact mid literally saw her own death. the different versions of her. her witnessing a version of her that was Willing to commit murder. the whole change in demeanor in the application video in such a short time .

anyways, if i had to homebrew an "ending" to this arg, i think mid would have traced back and started to Learn more about the other versions of herself, and eventually had a character arc where she just. witnesses all of this destruction and pain and suffering

and just. Realizes how much of that there can be and realizes how much stuff like that effects lifesteal and how. pointless it is in the end.

and eventually, in a last ditch effort to have everyone work together again and despite all she's been through, makes the egg arg

also on a meta level it would make sense i think (since a lot of the actual arg puzzles involved trust and working together and trusting your teammates)

and on the topic of the egg arg meta, it fucking worked. the lifestealers did work together and put trust in each other even when threatened with death to solve the arg.

it did bring lifesteal together. even just for a little bit

and i am just. man thats fucking cool!!!!!!

not to mention just. the cool character study stuff you can do on c!mid. the thought of seeing yourself throughout all of this. realizing about how these things can effect you in different ways. witnessing your own death TWICE. and by the time to come up because of it, you're a changed person on a fundamental level. and in the end, looking at the thing that caused all of this, and throwing it out there in a last ditch effort to make things right again. in the worst scenario. even though you're bitter and angry now. you try anyways.

that concept is so. cool to me . i wish more people talked about it but yk. this is me throwing my hat into the ring

egg arg my beloved fr <3

[loathemetc]

Deltarune Theory: What is "Canon" anyway?

Let's just rip the band-aid off.

The Sweepstakes pages "aren't canon," But what does that actually mean? Does none of it actually matter?

Well uh, yeah.

First of all, most of the stuff on the site is just teases for the events of future chapters. Not keys to the story, just stuff we're gonna be seeing later. This is pretty obvious with stuff like the Weather Duo, Shadowmen, Tenna whatever. Stuff like the gumball machine might be vague, but it'll make sense when we get there, and new players won't have to have had looked at a gumball machine a few years ago to know what's going on.

That leaves us with the Noelle blogs, which are actual stories. How can those events not matter?

Well simply put, they're all mostly just stuff we've already seen?

Noelle receives a bad deal from Spamton. We went through that in Chapter 2.

Noelle receives a mysterious egg. That's happened to us in both chapters now.

Noelle finds a door that wasn't there before, and disappears soon after. Undertale, Waterfall, Gaster.

Susie is a bully and there's something wrong with Kris. Yeah, we knew that.

They're parallels to the game's events, interspersed with teases for future content. Like maybe we will go through a big maze at some point. Noelle can't remember the egg's name, which was followed up with the Valentine who can't remember their name, and that's not gonna be key info we needed from the ARG because obviously when we inevitably meet the guy who can't remember his name, he's not gonna know his name.

That's why I can't believe that Noelle's game created FRIEND. He might have interfaced with it like Spamton did, but Toby wouldn't just give us an entire character's backstory in an ARG that doesn't matter to the plot. It's teasing him as a character, but Cat Petterz is just a framing device, and probably won't actually be that important. It is totally telling us that FRIEND is a cat though check out my other theory bla bla bla.

The events don't matter too much, it's the things we can gleam about the characters from them. We're not gonna see an Ice-E's Pizza buried in the graveyard secret boss because the ARG said so, the story is meant to tell us about the kind of relationship Noelle and Dess had, that Dess would be there for her sister and entertain her childlike perspective on the world.

Noelle's new blog entry about a cave game and secret cats is certainly a tease for things to come in some regard, but it's not going to happen in Cat Petterz. It's going to happen in Deltarune.

[hwsforeignrelations]

Life Update (Good!)

Good evening my beautiful, fabulous friends!

I realize I haven't been active much. Although I've been medium motivated to write and art (been frequenting figure drawing classes in Oakland. The 510 Firehouse- highly recommend!) there's been so little time between work and moving preparations. MOVING!

It's been exactly a year since I took a gap year following freshman year in DC, and in about three weeks I'm heading back! I was recently scammed out of $1600 and a secure identity in my rental search AND the company I work for has no DC availability (even though i spoke with the manager and she said yes arg)- we soldier on! As of now, we've got no accommodations, no job, and no internship

But i have a one way ticket and by GOD i am getting on that plane.

Sigh-

Ahem. anyways. so between applications, meeting with potential roommates and landlords, securing an epic fall course schedule, planning a 3500 mile move, getting my license (behind-the-wheel test on Tuesday- wish me luck!), working through some very intense trauma-related revelations while trying to stay sane, working 13 hour days, and saying goodbye to friends, family, and co-workers I've been very busy

I'm so behind on usuk fanfics on ao3 its driving me crazy TT

With my gap year almost at an end, I could not be more grateful for the ability to take a step back from school to reassess my mental approach and gain some much need experience (we do the SEX, we WORK, we DRIVE, we make $$, it's all good stuff). I think the best thing I've learned over the last year is the amount of initial effort you've gotta input into just about everything to get anything worthwhile. There's been so must rejection when I've poured my heart out. That type of rejection is absolutely devastating, but learning to not put all your eggs into one basket and the usual outcome that something does work out is an unbeatable high. Like FUCK YEAH. I DID THAT SHIT.

I've gotten much more comfortable being uncomfortable.

I thought I was when I entered my freshman year, but instead I used the unconscious coping mechanisms learned as a kid dealing with an alcoholic parent. In the face of prolonged discomfort, I self isolated, slacked on school work to engage in solitary activities like hiking and art and writing and jogging, and only managed to get work done by bullying myself into anxiety and hate-induced all-nighters every two weeks. I didn't join clubs, didn't make friends, and felt miserable.

A part of me is terrified I'll repeat the same mistakes, but I really don't think so. I hope I don't. If nothing else, I have a new perspectives of what's to gain by putting myself out there, socially. There's so much to gain and i can see that now. I knew the consequences of not, but this year revealed the outcome of.

Anyways. TLDR I am extremely busy, but I'm catsitting two very sweet babies right now, and hope everyone is doing exceptionally.

Love,

HWSForeignRelations

[bsidethetrees]

Laxus spying on Mirajane’s ‘date’ not knowing its Elfman AU. REQUEST

Obligatory similar posts: Busted and Commitment 

They weren’t exclusive.

That was something that Laxus made very clear to Mirajane every single time that it like it was very clear that they very much so were.

The problem wasn’t that Laxus wanted to be with other women. He didn’t. He wanted to be with Mirajane. And only Mirajane. He was only with Mirajane and had been for month at that point. And she’d more than hinted at the idea that she felt as if they should officially become, well, official.

That was where the problem laid, however.

See, Laxus didn’t…do that. Commit. It scared him. Deeply. How could it not? He was a mage. A wizard. In a guild. Relationships didn’t last long when you started putting labels on them. Rules. Regulations.

And why even do that?

Huh?

If he and Mirajane seemed to be on the same page anyways?

“Can’t,” she told him one morning when, as she got ready for work over at his place, Mirajane informed him that she couldn’t meet him for lunch.

“Why not? Working through lunch again?” He grumbled some, around the breakfast that she woke up early just to make him. “Gramps works you too hard.”

“I’m taking my lunch.”

“Then how come you can’t meet me?” Then he made a face. “Some of that stupid sister stuff?”

“Sister stuff?”

“You know, how you and Lisanna do stuff together.”

“You mean spending time with my sister? Is that what you’re acting so disgruntled about?”

Absolutely.

“And no,” Mira told him simply. “I’m not.”

“Then what are you doing? Mira? Huh?”

She just smiled at him sweetly as, finished rushing around to get ready, she came to press a kiss to his cheek and head out to start her day.

Before this though, against his ear, she whispered hotly, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

And fuck.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

His eggs tasted sour and he couldn’t fall back asleep after that. His mind felt muddled when he went out to train and, with the Thunder Legion out on a job, he had no one to vent to. At all.

So he spent the morning walking about the city, trying to work this out, think about this, figure it out, because there was no way that Mirajane was dating someone else? Was she? Huh? He’d just gotten back, the week before, from a long job, and was she seeing someone else? While he was gone? Because if she was, oh, if she was, he was gonna fucking, well, he was, he would…

“You,” Lisanna snickered into her palm when he approached the bar that day, her behind it, filling in as she always did, when her sister was out, “look horrible.”

“Horrible is so mean,” Kinana giggled as she passed too. “But really, Laxus, um, are you alright?”

No.

Absolutely fucking not.

He wouldn’t be alright until he wrung the neck of whoever it was that Mirajane was seeing behind his back.

Well…

Not behind his back, exactly.

He felt like she was fucking lording it over him, after that morning! Being all coy and shit. Who did she think she was? Huh? Someone who could be coy and shit? Well she wasn’t! And he wasn’t the kind to put up with people who were coy and shit and people shouldn’t be coy and what did coy mean anyways, because now he wasn’t even so certain that he was using it correctly and…and…and…

“Uh, actually, Laxus, you don’t look well.” Lisanna lost some of her jovial tone then as he the man looked like he was about to pop a blood vessle. A vain was purdruding, at least, from his forehead. “Why don’t you sit down and-”

“Where,” he asked darkly, “is your sister?”

“On break. Now sit-”‘“But where, Lisanna?”

“She was gonna go eat lunch at that place that, uh, Lucy? What’s it called?”

“Please,” the blonde requested further down the bar where she was trying very hard not to look at the slayer, less she draw his ire, “don’t drag me into all this.”

“No, you know the place.”

“I know whatever makes Laxus stop glaring at me like that.”

“The one where they have that tea?”

“Uh, I’m gonna need more specifics, Lisanna. Please. Or make him just stop glaring at me.”

“There’s ice cubes, in the soda there, you know?”

“Lisanna-”

“And lemon. Oh and they have straws-”

“Make him stop staring at me!”

“Arg!” Laxus was done playing their games. “I’ll find her myself.”

“Suit yourself.” Lisanna could only shrug as he stalked off. “I feel like I gave you some really strong hints.”

See? This is why he didn’t like sisters. Or at least Mira’s. She was the worst.

The worst.

It was about then, as he stomped out of the hall, that Laxus felt like a complete dunce because he could just track Mira’s scent and yeah, that whole thing with Lisanna was worthless. Per usual.

He found her, anyways, eating out on a patio cafe, but alone. At a table. All by herself. How she should be.

Laxus felt so dumb and deflated and man, he really needed to talk to someone, probably, about all this. Not, like, a professional. Just the Thunder Legion. So they could assuage all his fears over his reaction being irrational and tell him how great and wonderful his lack of appropriate anger responses were.

Yes.

“What are we doing?”

Laxus just shrugged some, standing there, back pressed against a building as he peered over the side. “Spying on Mir- What are you doing, Elfman?”

The man was standing there beside him now, peering around the corner as well. When Laxus took to glaring at the man though, he only glared right back.

“What do you mean what am I doing? I see you, one of the S-Class wizards, sneaking around, I think something’s about to go down! So don’t yell at me, alright? Men don’t yell at other men!”

“You’re yellin’ at me, Elfboy!”

“I told you not to call me that in public!”

They had a glaring match going on then, but breaking it first, Laxus freaked when he saw a guy walk passed that could possibly be heading over to having lunch with his…whatever Mira was.

His.

His.

Elfman took a breath then as he too might have issues, just a tad, with bouts of uncontrollable anger. It came along with being a man, he told his sisters frequently when they patched him up after a fight though, no, they’d insist.

Just a man in the Fairy Tail guild.

“Spyin’ on Mirajane, huh?” Elfman shrugged some. He was prone to similar things with Evergreen, after all. “What exactly are you so worried about her doing?”

“I think she might be meeting a man. For lunch.”

“Oh, hell yeah, she is.”

“What do you mean? She is meeting a man?”

“The manliest of men!”

Laxus eyes widened. Then darkened as his blood boiled. “Ichiya.”

It made sense. Dating her rival Erza’s…whatever the man was to her. Yes. Sounded like something Mira would do, just to fuck with the swordswoman’s head.

“W-What?” Elfman frowned. “No. Me!”

“You’re dating Ichiya?” Laxus looked him up and down before shrugging. “Whatever floats your boat, I guess, man, but you should really stop stringing Ever along. Unless…are the three of ya-”

“I’m not dating Ichiya.”

‘Then who the fuck is dating Ichiya?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then why did you bring him up?”

“I didn’t bring him up, you brought him up!”

“I did not! You said the person dating Mira was-”

“A real man!” Elfman flexed for show. It was lost on Laxus as he was glaring at a guy that walked passed them, mean mugging him so he knew, because oh, they had to know, all of them.

Mira was his.

“Wait, what?” Frowning once more, Laxus looked to the muscular man again. “Are you…saying that you and Mira… Ah, man, you can’t be serious. Elfman that’s…”

“A man can’t meet his sister for a lunch date now?”

“I mean…no? I don’t… Mira!”

Done with his hiding, now Laxus had questions. Serious questions. And concerns. As he marched over there then, to the patio, the woman frowned some at the sight of him and even more as Elfman came rushing over as well.

“You’re late, Elf,” she told her brother as Laxus just glared at her. “And you’re being rude, Laxus. I told you that I couldn’t meet you for-”

“Are you fucking you brother?”

“Excuse me?”

“Oh.” Elfman exhaled. “See, I was worried, Laxus, that you thought that there was something wrong with going out to eat with your sister, see? But now I know you’re just kinda slow, huh?”

“Who you callin’ slow, Elfboy?”

“Elfman! I’m a man!”

“And I am not sleeping with my brother and really wish that you never even put that- Laxus, what’s wrong with you?”

A lot of things.

Clearly.

Slowly, he took the seat across from her at the table while Elfman had to do some deep breathing while also apologizing to the next table over as they stared at the trio with round eyes. Mira’s eyes, however, were only on the slayer before her.

“I just,” he told her after a few deep breaths of her own, “really don’t want you dating other people.”

“Meeting my brother for lunch isn’t dating someone else, Laxus. Are you sure you’re okay?”

No.

No, he wasn’t.

“I think he just gets hung up on it, sis. That word. Date.” Elfman took a chair between the two of them once he was done raging and apologizing. “Hey, is this that place with the tea? And the ice in the soda? Mira?”

“What? Elfman-”

“I don’t got a problem with it. Chump.” Laxus glared at Elfman then. “D-Date. I can say it. See? Date. So shut the fuck up.”

“Behave,” Mira sighed and ugh, her break was almost over. “Laxus.”

“You got a complex. Not a very manly one either. With relationship terms?” Elfman merely shrugged as he raised his hand, to flag down a waitress. “Ever has one too.”

“Shut up. What do you know?”

“Laxus,” Mira sighed as she reached up to rub at her head. She didn’t didn’t have a headache though. No. But watching the vessel in his throb was giving her sympathy pains. “I’m not seeing other people. Okay? I mean, I am trying to have lunch with my brother right now, which you’re ruining, but-”

“No, he’s alright.” Elfman nodded his head approvingly at the man. “He’s really grown on me. We argue, sure, but what’s a good friendship without some yellin’!”

“We’re not,” Laxus told him simply, “friends.”

“And you’re not supposed to be here,” Mira insisted as Elfman paid the man no mind. Most of his friends, after all, denied their friendship. “We can talk back at your place. Tonight. Alright?”

“What’s there to talk about?” Elfman was just not going to let things die. Looking to Laxus once more as, finally, a waitress called over that she’d be with him in a second, the muscular man told the other, “My sister ain’t seein’ other people. You ain’t neither. So you’re exclusive. Me and Evergreen figured that out, together, when we were trying to figure out what we were.”

The slayer was boring holes in the other man then. “You and Evergreen discuss me and Mira?”

“Do you guys not talk about the two of us?” He deflated some, just at the thought. “Not even once?”

“We’re usually busy with other things,” Mira offered weakly and gross. He did not want to know about that.

“Well, stop talking about us.” Laxus bounced up again with a glare. “Elfboy. You hear me? And Mira, don’t date other people. Fine. Alright? I wont’ either. Okay? Are you happy now?”

“You’re literally the only one yelling.”

“And I don’t like your siblings. Either of them.”

“Well, that’s kind of a deal breaker, so-”

“I’ll see you,” he insisted to her, “back at my place. Tonight.”

“Whatever, Laxus.”

She glared after him while Elfman just gave something of a wave after the man.

“I’m really glad, you know,” he admitted to his sister after the guy had stalked off, “that you’re dating him.”

Mirajane, blinking, just sighed some as she shook his head. “I think I am too.”

[newrageinc]

So I’m not very good at interacting with... men??? I think??

I’m definitely overreacting.

I think.

No. Positive I am... but in hindsight...

I had gone to the cafe this morning because I had skipped dinner last night and I was starving. I needed to get down to it because I was sleep loopy all day yesterday because I stayed up until 4:30 AM reading a fic I found (that was great worth it worth it worth it). Anyway, being sleep loopy caused me to do some... not so great work. I needed to clean up.

I had gone and grabbed one of the ready made breakfast tacos they have under a heat lamp so I could scurry back to my desk and this guy stops me. I may have still been half sleep loopy because I only remember that he was taller than I am and had on glasses. Oh and he was wearing a button up. 

“Hi! Sorry. I’m new here, just a question.” He pointed at one of the tacos under the heat lamp. “I know this is bacon,” he pointed to the one next to it, “this is sausage,” then he pointed to the last “and this is...” 

“Potato.” I nodded at him already shifting my feet so I could high tail it out of there.

“Thanks. Is it just mixed with egg and cheese-”

“Just egg.” I had to wonder if he could read my tone or not because he pressed on.

“Oh and there’s cheese...” He shifted his body over to where there was some cheese and salsa in ice. “Right here.”  I nodded.

“Yeah it’s just egg, you can add.” Am I a robot? He glanced at my plate (I had grabbed two tacos). 

“Oh two.” Then he grabbed a second. 

“They’re not filled very well.” He had started pressing his and had opened his mouth and was in the middle of saying: “They seem pretty filled to me.” When I just went ahead and walked away. 

I have to wonder his impression of me. I’m not unkind... In fact. Someone cussed me out for fifteen minutes the other day (not because I was rude but because of what I was asking for) and threw a compliment in there towards the end about my nice voice (he also told me off for using complicated words???).

 I’m just... not good at interacting? Was he just trying to figure out our cafeteria? Or was he striking up a conversation because he thought I was cute? There was a long line and other people there... Or he could’ve asked one of the ladies that works at the cafe one had just come up from the back.

Now here I am twelve hours later regretting my quick brush off and hope that I can at least make amends one day and let him know I’m friendly. ARG. Maybe I can bribe my supervisor in letting me be one of the presenters to the new hire classes for what we do in our department.