#but i sit down and try to write and i

[mecharose]

not which you find more fun, but whichever comes easier to you!

[trombonechurchill]

Thirsty Thursday

Tagged by @setmeatopthepyre and @chimneyz thank you~

😏been awhile since I've had anything to share but I've been struck down by yet another new WIP, shocker. a 5+1 of Bartender!Buck trying to guess the favourite drink of his new favourite, totally normal, very human patron, Tommy...

"Fine. I'm fine," he says tightly. It's not exactly convincing. "Alliums," he adds, unhelpfully, clearing his throat and gripping the sink tighter when Buck only tilts his head in confusion. "Allergic to alliums. Like onions or-" "Garlic- Oh shit, Tommy I'm sorry, there was garlic salt in the rim- I had no idea." Tommy raises a hand and Buck falls quiet, shocked as his mouth seems to close on its own. Tommy's breaths are still coming in rabid gasps, a shudder passing over him that finally manages to kick Buck's brain back into gear. It's been a minute since his last first-aid course but he'd feel better if he could at least check Tommy over, the urge to get his hands on him almost overwhelming, like Tommy might simply disappear into the ugly bathroom tile if Buck can't rest his hands on him. "Hey, you sure you're okay?" Tommy flinches when Buck's palm settles lightly on his back and he's struck by the lack of body heat. There's a sheen of sweat over Tommy's skin and he blinks thickly as he turns to regard Buck, seemingly confused how he could have gotten next to him. Buck frowns, reaching out to rest the back of his hand on Tommy's clammy forehead. "You're kinda freaking me out, man." "Sorry," Tommy says thickly, swaying into the contact and shutting his eyes. Buck swears he can feel the weight of it, the sudden lack of Tommy's eyes on his, like someone slowly turning the dial on the old radio in his Jeep, static fuzz creeping in if he looks too long. He let's the hand drop, suddenly not sure how long he'd been holding it to Tommy's flushed skin, laments the loss of contact immediately. He's been serving Tommy for months now but it's telling that he's never seen him drunk. Tommy's a social drinker, though he rarely talks to the other bar patrons when Buck's busy. It's part of why Buck likes Tommy as a customer so much, never had to cut him off, never had to haul Tommy bodily outside when they hit closing time. Now though, Tommy swaying in and out of Buck's space like a stormy sea, eyes hazy as he leans awkwardly, still breathing hard. Maybe Buck does really need to call someone- "Sorry, I'm really sorry," Tommy rasps again, finally loses his valiant battle with gravity as he presses his face into Buck's throat, full weight of him solid along Buck's chest as his arms come up to cradle him automatically. "Hey, no you're good, I've uh- I've seen way worse in a bar bathroom are you kidding?" Buck stutters at the cold press of Tommy's nose under his jaw, feels the flutter of breath on his skin as Tommy inhales deeply. Feels his blood burn hot at the idea that Tommy might be smelling him.

np tagging @emphasisonthehomo, @ambernotember, @frogsinflannel, @dark-alice-lilith, @sunnywithachanceofbi, @disaster-j, @3min17sec, @mustlovetommy, @nzchance, @gothwizardmagic, @insecuregodcomplex, @bangpop91, @powersuitup @vamphours, and @o0anapher0o if you guys have anything to share <3

[library-ghoulette]

With You Always

Pairing: Copia (Frater Imperator) x gn!reader (lightly implied, that forehead kiss can be platonic if you want it to be)

Rating: Gen

Tags: Second person POV, hurt/comfort, fluff and angst

Words: 931

Summary: Papa V Perpetua's ascension and catchy new single raise difficult feelings for Copia. Luckily you're there, and you know all the right things to say to assuage his insecurities.

A/N: I wrote this because I have been both listening to "Satanized" on a loop and feeling the need to comfort my comfort character all day long.

You can also read this and all of my other fics on ao3!

Blasphemy! Heresy! Save me! From the bottom of my heart, I know—

"You're doing it again."

"Hm?" You look up, confused, from the invoices you've been filing. "Doing what again?"

Copia is seated at his desk, staring at his computer, brow furrowed and a sour expression lining his face. He doesn't look up at you when he answers.

"Singing."

"Oh." Your cheeks color with embarrassment. The new song has been stuck in your head since it premiered last night—to much fanfare for the new Papa—but you hadn't realized that at some point you had actually begun singing along under your breath. "Sorry, Pa— Frater. I'll keep it down."

He gives a little hmph in reply, and you return to your filing. The office—it used to be Sister's office, but you're just about used to the larger space being Copia's now, used to the new uniform, used to most of the changes even if your tongue still stumbles on the new title from time to time—fills with the soft sounds of papers shuffing into folders and the clicking of Copia's mouse. It's relaxing… Well, kind of. Just when you think to yourself that his clicking is starting to sound a bit aggressive, you hear him swear at the computer with a level of vitriol that frankly seems a bit much to throw at a humble spreadsheet.

"Everything okay?" you ask timidly.

"Of course everything is okay. Why would it not be okay?" Copia replies, voice tight in that way it gets when things are decidedly less than okay.

"You've just seemed a bit on edge today? Since the premiere?"

He gives you a brief look over his shoulder before quickly looking away. "I'm fine."

"You know, if you want to talk about—"

"I don't."

"Okay." You shrug, slide the file cabinet drawer closed with a satisfying thud, and open the drawer for the next range of letters. Continue transforming chaos to order, one form at a time. You've known Copia long enough and worked with him closely enough not only to clock his tells, but to know that he will break in three, two, one—

As though on cue, he sighs heavily and pushes back from the desk,rolling his chair around to face you.

"It's not even that good, this song, you know? 'Satanized'? 'Urges to burst'? What the fuck is that?"

"It is awfully catchy," you venture.

Copia snorts, incredulous. "Catchy? You know what song is catchy? 'Rats' is catchy. Now that's a lead single. I was nominated for a Grammy with that one, you know."

"I know."

"And 'Call Me Little Sunshine'!" Copia continues, triumphant. "Another Grammy nomination! And I could have won, too, if…"

But he trails off, and in the heavy silence following that if, you hear what is left. If there had been a third album cycle. If he was still Papa. If he'd had just a little more time…

Copia abruptly turns to gaze out the window, jaw set, his eyes glistening. You know that he's not really seeing the early spring day on the other side of the stained glass.

After a moment, he asks, "They seemed happy, didn't they?"

"Who?"

"My— the ghouls. In that video, they seemed happy." He swallows hard. "With him."

This isn't about Grammys, you know, or tours, or albums, or movies, or any amount of success that can be measured in accolades or dollar signs.

You close the space between you, coming to stand at Copia's side, close enough to reach out and thumb away the tear tracing its bitter path down his cheek.

"They're not going to forget you," you say softly. "You know that, right?"

"They already have."

"No, listen to me." You apply gentle pressure, turning his dear, sad, stubborn face up so that he has no choice but to look at you. You repeat, more forcefully this time, "They are not going to forget you. Not the ghouls. Not anybody. I mean, how could they?"

And now it's your turn to blink back the tears prickling your eyes.

"How could anyone forget everything that you've given to this Ministry? Yes, the songs, the tours, the movie. But it's more than that. You've touched millions of hearts, given countless people joy and comfort and a sense of belonging."

"But— but I'm not Papa, anymore."

You shake your head. "It doesn't matter. The entire Ministry, everything we're doing here? It could end tomorrow, and you would still be with all of those people forever. Your songs, your words, memories of nights filled with music and magic, all of that love… Nothing can undo that. Not time or distance or different outfits or some new guy in a shiny mask."

Copia chuckles in spite of himself, the laugh causing more tears to fall. But these he quickly wipes away, and takes your hand in his. "Such a stupid mask."

It's a pretty cool fucking mask, but wisely, you keep this thought to yourself, instead reassuring him, "There are plenty of people who still consider you their Papa."

For the first time all day—honestly, for the first time in longer than that—some of the tension melts out of Copia, his shoulders dropping out of their anxious hunch. He runs his thumb over your knuckles and asks, almost shyly, "And what about you?"

"Me? You even have to ask?" You bend down and press a kiss to his forehead, feeling the worried creases there smooth a little, as though your kiss is a balm to his very soul. "You'll always be my Papa."

[gods-favorite-autistic]

I’m so glad that I get to see the Van and Maxwell dynamic I wrote last week being realized like she is the sister he deservesssss

[iamfuckingsorry]

Managed to get another friend into murderbot, which means it's re-read time again...

This time the thing that hits the hardest is mb constantly questioning itself when it wants to protect whatever nice friendly humans it encounters. Like so often it instinctively does whatever is needed to protect a human, then it goes "ugh why do I even want to do this, these are not my clients and this is not my job anymore, I should just focus on finding the data I wanna find here", then in the vast majority of cases it sticks with the humans anyway. It's great. It's mostly in the first few books, since later on it gets back to its own or ART's humans which clearly it would genuinely die for with no regrets or hesitation - but it happens a decent amount in those first few books, when it genuinely should feel no sense of responsibility but it kinda still does. It's like a constant battle of "is that just my conditioning and decades of terrifying punishment if any humans get hurt, or is it so deeply embedded in my code it's an essential part of who I am as a person, or is that just me choosing to act on my own free will because they're nice and they don't deserve to die," but also it's so extremely casual and in true murderbot fashion treated as just an irritating thing to deal with or (preferably) ignore until it's possible to go back to watching media, it's great.

Wells is so good at exploring that line, I just love the books so much.

[scrawnyghstts]

do any of you ever lay awake at night thinking about how Kremy gifted Gideon a comb even though, obviously, lizardfolk don't have any hair.

because that means that Kremy went out of his way to get Gid this gift. A comb isn't just something an alligator would have or just collect somewhere to have it for later, Kremy likely never needed or thought of having anything of the sort.

But Kremy noticed how roughed up Gideon was, how he didn't have anything on him to take care of himself and Kremy came up with the idea and then spent time and possibly money (or he just swiped it but still) to find a nice comb just for Gideon and then gave it to him.

Nikkie described it so beautifully that it was the first time someone saw Gideom as his own man and that also makes my heart ache so much. But I just can't stop thinking about how freaking Kremy Lecroux, went out of his way, to get a thing he likely never even thought of getting, just to give it to his partner (in crime). Like yeah sure we can talk about how Kremy wouldn't want to travel with someone unkept but I don't think it's that. He'd get Gideom a bath and a haircut or something at an inn and done, issue solved. But no, Kremy specifically wanted to get a thing for Gideon, he wanted him to have something that's just for him, something to help him get his sense of self back, his looks and help him find his confidence.

It was thoughtful gift from Kremy who probably is the last person to do thoughtful gifts to just some people. But he made that gesture for Gideon.

like do you ever just lay there and think about all that and how they both must have felt almost an instant bond forming between them, doesn't matter if it's platonic or romantic, like do you just-- yeah.

[giohexora]

i can not be fucking normal about him by the way

[blackholesun321]

Guys while hallucinating on my new meds, I came to the realization that Mihawk was out on the open seas as swordsman since he was a teenager maybe even younger…. Did he ever finish a normal education?

Scratch that did he even have a normal education? Does he know math? Can my guy tell me the quadratic formula? Like I think we all forget as individuals how much school taught us yes the school system is broken blah blah but guys we understand germ theory and how birds fly and chemistry and biology that people just 60 years ago wouldn’t have known and would have killed to know, like I’m sure he can write and I’m pretty sure he can read but does he know how the moon pulls the tide? Did he know the earth wasn’t flat until he saw a globe for the first time?

Have we as individuals been bamboozled by the stoic gothic refinement of luxury that Mihawk projects we completely overlooked they fact the guy probably doesn’t know salt is a rock? Like wanna bet he saw how cool the over the top refined gay goth was and just like tailored that too his vibe but he’s never actually read a classic in his life?

What I’m trying to get at is Shanks who grew up around some of the smartest people in the world who spoke multiple languages, one was a doctor and you know Rayliegh who definitely doubled as a quartermaster might have a higher education then Mihawk.

Like I think it would be funny if Shanks was the guy who read books on Philosophy and artistic historical movements throughout the world (cough to impress Mihawk cough) and Mihawk doesn’t know how fish breathe underwater and has never read anything higher the a YA novel. (Which are awesome books but talk about reading a book by its cover! Lol… I’ll see myself out.)

[made-my-peace-with-all-the-bad]

And what if I said Paul with glasses that no one knows about because he wears contacts all the time but he wears his glasses at night and Darrel who stays over for the first time and sees him wearing them and is so down bad and in love and thinks it’s the cutest thing ever???

[madaqueue]

happy friday my loves!!!!!!!! today is the last day of my vacation (sobs) BUT it means i will hopefully have more time to write over the next few days before classes start again :3 AND!!!!!!!!!!!! i think i’m FINALLY starting to get the hsr combat !!!!!!!! i hope you all have a FAAAAABULOUS day!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and a wonderful weekend ahead!!!!!!!!!!! MWAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mylove-thresher]

there might be a spider somewhere and that’s enough for me to be paranoid

[thatneoncrisis]

disability as a deterrant aside, it is Really interesting to me how many people who want to get into writing just. do not want to read. at that point you have to ask yourself do you actually want to write, or do you just have a story in your head you want to get out, because there are multiple different mediums for that. you could do black out poetry honestly

[n7punk]

i want the mass effect fans to know i am trying to fix the crucible but jesus christ. jesus christ. they're giving me building blocks and i need lincoln logs

[stealingpotatoes]

just watched mando s3 it’s great that we TOTALLY had a whole season about din coming to grips with being mand’alor & life without grogu and about dueteragonist bo-katan coming to realise she was only trying to lead mand’alor bc of her sister not bc she thought she was the best leader. and the whole season centred around the theme of accepting who you really are even if you’re certain you’re something else and was about how heroes and leaders can come from anywhere, they don’t have to come from a special bloodline (a sorta thesis against the skywalker saga) and about the uniting power of grief and oppression. isn’t it great we had that instead of a season with no plot��

isn’t it great that there were no mando cameos in tbobf and mando season 3 started with him on a bounty, cringefailing at using the darksaber and stabbing himself but he did the job and got paid in a nubian starfighter (he wanted a razor crest but he’s injured so he doesnt argue much) which he then used to find his covert on the canyon planet. then he revealed to the armorer and paz that he had the darksaber which after some time leads to paz duelling din for the saber (without telling the others bc they dont know din has it) and din wins but its revealed he took his helmet off. he’s made apostate IN FRONT OF EVERYONE (EVERYONE!!) with only one IMPOSSIBLE chance of redemption (nobody can go to mandalore anymore!!) and has to leave and now has nothing — no child, no clan. so he does the only thing he can think to and goes to a green planet we’ve never seen before. he lands safely but still injured from his fight with Paz and not fully healed from the original injury he passes out. and the episode ends with a kid running over and telling another kid to call master skywalker

and sure episode 2 was the fanservice episode but its disney! we have to expect a marketable plushie cameo episode — except of course that didn’t mean it wasn’t plot relevant! din wakes up and we realise he’s at luke’s jedi academy and this is great n stuff we finally get to see luke in his prime teaching a whole bunch of students! and we get to see grogu happy and having fun with his kind (which makes din happy but miss his own covert). luke notices din has a saber himself (despite it being well-hidden — luke can sense it) and din admits he can’t use it and that he doesnt think it even belongs to him while luke shows him saber forms (but pretends its for his own training and not din’s bc din refuses to learn). they have a discussion and din reveals he came here bc he got kicked out and has no way to redeem himself bc there are no mines left and even then the planet’s poisonous. luke spouts some jedi stuff asking din if he’s certain and says blind certainty is the enemies of hope and progress or whatever (setting up the larger theme of identity certainty in the season). luke also points out that if they imps r there then they have to have some way of getting around the environment they caused. inspired and knowing grogu is safe here, din is ready to go redeem himself on mandalore. he says he’ll come to see grogu again and luke makes it clear that while attachments can’t get in front of duty, din is always welcome here <3 

episode 3 of course had din go to the ruins of mandalore to redeem himself, inspired by luke’s words about certainty he goes to the ruins of sundari, where he knows there was once living waters (the other option is the one surviving and imperial-controlled city, but he’s not that dumb). also bc the imps only hang around the cities so that must be where it's survivable. there’s some imperials about the edge of the city (not many) and he does have to subtly fight them but he gets spotted. he wins but he’s panicking bc during the fight his breathing system got hit but then he notices a plant growing. and he realises he’s not dying — the air isn’t poisonous anymore or whatever! so he turns off his failing life support and goes to the city. he explores the city and finds many remnants of mandalorian culture there in the small parts that survived. ash-covered murals, mostly-burnt toys, something that could have once been a palace. he finds a memorial to a duchess satine kryze and thinks huh like bo katan? (because of course the show wouldn’t ignore bo’s motivations) anyway after some slow but meaningful exploring (its quietness eerie, unlike the quietness of the previous stealth section) he manages to make his way below the city. he finds the mines, reads the inscription and then goes in. except of course its no longer shallow and he falls and he falls and he realises well fuck he’s gonna die. his life support got hit earlier and he doesnt have his jetpack he’s going to sink. but then in the darkness, a great looming eye opens and before din knows it, SOMETHING is throwing him out that sinking water. it had to have been a freak current right? he was hallucinating. surely a MYTHOSAUR didn’t just save him… those are all dead, only to return with a new age of mandalore! he shakes his head, ignores it, and collects the water with something new to bring to his people

episode 4 reintroduced us to old fan favourite bo katan in her depression girl era bc din shows up to her empty palace ready to help her take back mandalore… only to find her in a depression pit and— oh my god is she drunk??! she drops that her ppl left her bc she didn’t have the darksaber and din’s looking at the depression pit like. right. bc of the darksaber. he briefly tries to convince her to fight him for it but she’s like no you’ll throw the fight it won’t be true comba— oh no! explosion nearby bc looks like din wasn’t as careful as he thought and the imperials followed him to bo’s place so both of them have to fucking skeet outta there and bo’s home’s destroyed so din’s like hey come on let’s go to my people we can take back mandalore with them or smthn. so they head back to the covert, din reveals he’s no longer apostate and that mandalore isnt cursed it’s breathable + you can successfully walk on the surface now. this is however interrupted by a beast showing up and trying to kill some ppl. it almost kills paz’s son but din kills the beast first in his starfighter. anyway back to the conversation (now within the cave) and din’s trying to convince his clan that they can take back mandalore (with bo as leader) but none of them want to follow her or risk what few numbers they have left. dejected, din and bo make to leave again, but paz follows them out and is like ?? din you literally have the darksaber why didn’t you use it to get at least SOME of them to follow you and din’s like i don’t want people to follow me bc of a legend, if they follow me it has to be bc they want to and paz and bo r internally like wow damn. anyway paz then says he’ll always fight w din if needed bc he saved his son but if he wants the people to follow him they should try get some of the other clans to help so it looks less dangerous. so bo and din leave on their quest. also throughout this episode, we’re introduced to some random civilian in the reintegration program. its implied they worked with gideon and that they’re preparing for something, but we don’t get much more than that. 

episode 5 is the bo episode, this is where we explore her character, have her arc, and ya know really cover her motivations (bc disney would NEVER make it so her motivation is invisible unless you’d seen two other tv shows). din and bo head to where her clan is. they just want to see the clan but they end up being dragged into a b-plot about helping the local pacifist duchess (& duke). din tries to say no but bo-katan says smthn abt diplomacy. this quest initially doesn’t seem plot relevant but throughout bo opens up about her own pacifist duchess sister and she comes to realise how much of this quest has been about trying to live up to satine and not bc she thinks herself the best mand’alor. the thing she said abt diplomacy earlier, she reveals, is just a quote from her sister. anyway they’re finally able to go to bo’s old clan and she, now reinvigorated in accepting and knowing who she is and what she wants (no longer depression girl) challenges axe for leadership of the clan. she wins and in a speech is like we’re gonna retake unpoisonous mandalore by uniting the clans!! most agree but theyre like HOW are we supposed to convince the other clans? and it descends into insane yelling UNTIL a low hum and a black-white light falls over the group. silence falls. everyone looks on. high above his head, din is holding the darksaber (proudly!!) and he’s like we’ll unite them with this. but axe has to constantly be chatting shit and getting up from the floor where he got his ass whipped he’s like really???? you wanna follow him???? he doesn’t even have any mandalorian blood in him!!! and bo makes a great speech about blood doesn’t make a good leader what makes a good leader is knowing when to use your power. and then she’s like he is my mand’alor amen and kneels before him. everyone else follows and din awkwardly stands there still not fully accepting his role 

episode 6 was the great prep episode. we start with din and bo helping and getting a new tribe on their side and heading back to Concordia we realise they’ve got this HUGEEEE war camp of mandalorians!! there are so many clans with them now (except one, which din is really missing)!!!!! this episode mostly focuses on mandalorian culture and them training/ planning and din and bo trying to keep the clans from biting each other’s heads off. but this is interrupted when a small group of imperials try to pre-attack them (like they did w bo’s palace) but the mandos all manage to fight back and take them down, which then leads to a whole speech from din and bo about how mandalorians are all fighting but theyre united now in their grief and with this they can fight the empire. the b-plot of the episode comes back to that random civilian from episode 4 and whoomp turns out their plan was to BREAK MOFF GIDEON OUT OF JAIL!! shitttt!!!! oh no!! he’s back now, that’s gonna make their very decent plan to take back mandalore harder but they dont knowww (irony!)

episodes 7 and 8 were the battle of mandalore, woo! it had to be two episodes because it’s a taking whole occupied planet and not a single base, a pretty damn difficult task that definitely can’t be done by two single clans in like 40 minutes! there’s all those mini tiny bases scattered throughout the planet on the ruins (like din encountered in episode 3) AND more importantly there’s the one domed city that the imperials kept alive as their main base — which means they have to be careful, bc they can’t do any sort of aerial assault or great deal of damage to the imperials without also destroying the one surviving place for them to live. so the plan is smaller strike teams to go the bases plopped around the planet as a distraction and to stop reinforcements to the city while the main force surround the city and take it. the first city team (with din and bo) has to open up all the ports and stuff to allow the HUGE armies to get in. unfortunately this is in the main imp base in the centre of the city so they have to get there. (they’d prefer 2 strike teams but they can only spare 1) MOST of the mini-bases r meanwhile being successfully captured. the strike team gets to the centre to de-activate the port shielding n stuff and GASP! IT’S GIDEON!! FROM JAIL!! and he’s surrounded by fucking MANDO STORMTROOPERS and IN BESKAR ARMOUR oh no!! ambush!! he knew they’d have to go here to allow a full-scale assault! the small strike team at sundari also gets captured bc there were some mandotroopers there (they increased security post episode 3). episode 7 ends on a cliffhanger bc all seems lost and the strike team’s surrounded 

episode 8 starts straight off the cliffhanger and oh no they’re all gonna die gasp WHEN BAM fighting noises elsewhere, everyone’s confused, when paz’s voice crackles over din’s comm like hey bro! BC DIN’S CLAN FINALLY SHOWED UP TO HELP AND THEY WERE ABLE TO MAKE THAT SECOND STRIKE TEAM and in the confusion din & bo’s team take out the mandotroopers, gideon gets away. din and paz and the armorer come face to face and paz calls him mand’alor or smthn bc he’s also accepted it and they’re like woo let’s go now we can fight fr!! din heads to help lead the battle ig but bo’s like nah i have to end gideon for what he did to our planet. and din’s like well he’s wearing beskar armour so you’ll need this and gives her his beskar spear WHICH IS SYMBOLIC BC he’s finally giving up his other weapon and is going to solely use the darksaber!! he’s accepted who he is and is going to lead their ppl!! so yeah instead of having din fight gideon, who he already beat once, bo fights him and its incredibly cathartic. at sundari that strike team who got captured is also not looking great but MYTHOSAUR EX MACHINA COMES AND FUCKS UP THE IMPERIALS THERE (its returned!!). so big battle and gideon’s down and the darksaber DOESN’T get destroyed yay! afterwards they all vibe and they go to the forge and the armorer relights it and they proclaim din mand’alor fr and he accepts it and throne. sure he's still a BIT uneasy (mand'alor the reluctant anyone?) but he's not saying NOO now loll. yayyy!! AND THEN final scene is din returns to the jedi academy like hii thanks for ur advice u were right being blindly certain abt stuff is meh and leaves no room for hope. uh could i show grogu mandalore i promise i’ll bring him right back and it ends on din showing grogu the planet finally bc thats cute and fanservice

anyway isn’t it great this is exactly what happened, it’s all canon and definitely not the stealingpotatoes sequels canon continuity rewrite! 

[randomwriteronline]

"Hey," Lamush called out to the brick maker. The stranger turned to him, listening intently. "Are you a reincarnation of Mata Nui?"

Droopy eyes blinked, and the strange face tilted lightly.

"No, I do not think so," he replied to the Koniri.

"Alright, sorry to have bothered you."

"It was no trouble at all."

He watched, amused, as the Agori walked back to the small group of sheepish Matoran masons huddled just around the corner to relay the news, smiling to himself when they mumbled embarrassedly to one another; then he went back to the bricks, and discovered his hands were completely limp from the wrist downwards and flaring up something terrifying.

"Oh dear," he murmured, a little concerned but mostly somewhat peeved, and went to look for help.

-

"Excuse me," Kavne managed to whisper after almost five minutes of jittering in place completely overwhelmed by wrecking anxiety. He tried not to crumble into dust the second kind eyes turned to him, waiting for him to go on, and somehow mustered the strength to ask with the quietest breath he could: "Are you... The Great Spirit?"

The strange being helping him keep watch on the herd smiled sweetly: "I am afraid not," he said, sounding as though he was honestly sorry about that.

Kavne immediately tried to melt into the ground.

"Please, do not feel embarrassed," his companion reassured him with a gentle laugh in his voice, "It was a fair question."

The Fa-Matoran whined something incomprehensible in response, hands still covering his mask to hide away from the whole world - especially from the owner of the gentle, worn, warm palm caressing his back in a comforting manner.

-

Ixoma furrowed his expression hard as he stared.

The object of his attention sat down heavily, exhaling a shuddering breath as a painful sensation not too dissimilar from frostbite corroded the exact spots in which his legs met his hips.

"You're awfully weak for a being your size," the Ba-Matoran commented as he took up a few of the scrolls and tablets that the other definitely was not going to be able to put back in their rightful place for a while.

The stranger hummed: "Perhaps my size is the problem in and of itself," he mused, words still a bit pained: "My body has a history of fighting me, either way."

The shorter being tapped his foot against the ground.

"Are you Mata Nui?" he asked. Bluntness had always got him pretty far, so he saw no reason to run circles around the matter.

His interlocutor looked into his eyes: "As in, the Great Spirit?"

"Of course."

"No, I do not believe I am."

Oh well. It had been worth a try.

-

"You know, ever since I've heard of all that stuff you do around the city, the odd jobs and all - I've been wondering, are you an emissary of the Great Spirit?"

The stranger tilted his head in surprise: "I never considered such a thing," he admitted, seeming just as intrigued by the possibility.

Eykivik turned away from him to gently tap the left side of the rolling stairs she was perched on, and the other gently pushed it in that direction to let the Av-Matoran check on the large constellation slates other astrologers had just installed.

"Perhaps I have indeed been assigned a mission by the Great Spirit - although I do not know what that might be."

"Helping us, maybe," the Matoran proposed.

"I would rather believe I do that out of my own will."

"What's the difference?"

"I suppose there is none, in the grand scheme of things. But I hope I am the one who compels myself to be of help to those in need, and that I do not have to be compelled by Destiny in my stead."

She made a long, curious sound. Her sand green mask turned back to him, regarding him with curiosity.

"You're pretty well versed in Matoric theology," she noted.

He smiled, droopy eyes seeming proud: "Thank you," he replied, "It is a rather intriguing subject to study."

-

Kongu barely held himself back from sinking his hands into the dusty shoulders: "You can NOT keep doing this," he forced himself to say with at least the vaguest air of calm about himself, like he was not about to blow roughly three brain circuits all at once.

Mata Nui, laying down in his bed in the spitting image of politeness, smiled innocently.

"Stop that."

"I am only resting."

"You slygrin. Slygrinners plotscheme secretpranking surprises and leave crackbranched bogwalkers in their wake."

Mata Nui smiled a little wider.

"STOP that."

"Even ignoring the constant strain you're putting your very frail body through which in turn makes it break down all the time," Jaller began.

"Which we should not ignore," Nuparu interrupted him.

"-Which we should't ignore, that's true, but for the purposes of remaining focused on just one topic we will have to - do you remember why we agreed not to yell out for the whole planet to hear that you are, in fact, the actual living breathing Mata Nui, in the flesh and pistons?"

"And sand." his interlocutor added.

"And sand?"

"I do. I have been acting accordingly."

"You just told us you've had four separate occasions in which someone asked you if you're the Great Spirit," Hahli reminded him. "I don't think that's a good sign on how hidden you're keeping your actual identity."

"I can assure you I am not being recognized," he replied: "The only advantage to come of my lack of interaction with you is that my appearance, voice, and general quirks by which I could be recognized are not common knowledge."

"How come this keeps happening, then?"

He leaned his head back, with a tired motion: "I enjoy making myself useful... Perhaps this brings them to make educated guesses."

Jaller rubbed his temples to keep his composure, feeling a very unpleasant deja-vù sort of sensation that threatened to make him break out into a headache in much the same way Potori skin broke out in hives when exposed too long to the sun without any fleece to cover it: "The problem remains that if they keep making educated guesses, they will find out eventually."

"They will not."

"How are you so sure?" Nuparu glared.

"I know how to answer discreetly."

"So your master plan is to lie to their faces and hope you can keep it going as long as possible?"

"I do not lie."

Nuparu squinted, doubtful. Kongu crouched on his knees with a loud groan. Hahli banged her head against a wall a few times. Jaller gave up and simply laid on the ground.

Mata Nui seemed to be having fun.

Noticing he was more or less the only one not currently thinking of strangling their god at least a little bit, Hewkii clicked his tongue: "What do you mean by that, exactly?"

"I answer truthfully, if at times in a somewhat misleading manner."

That sounds familiar, they all thought.

In a very annoying way.

"Any examples?" the Stone Toa encouraged him.

"Firstly, of course, I am not a reincarnation of myself - not in the metempsichotic sense of the word, at least, nor do I think it quite applies in the physical sense, either." and he gestured vaguely at himself, as if to indicate the entirety of his latest, essentially hand-made form: "I would not call any of my previous bodies 'mine' as in 'intriscally intertwined with my self'."

Kongu grunted a short hum: "Fair enough."

"In a similar manner, I do not believe I am the Great Spirit."

"That's just a lie," Hahli interrupted him.

"It is not."

"Yes it is."

"I assure you otherwise."

"You are the Great Spirit," Jaller argued, voice muffled as he did not raise his head from the ground. "Your name literally translates to Great Spirit. What you're doing is called lying."

"My name literally translates to Big Face," Mata Nui cheerfully corrected him: "It comes from an insular language spoken in a region more or less on the other side of the planet, and depending on the placement of the accents and the length of the vowels it can also be translated with many other words such as Big Flint, Big Screen, Big Sedge or Big Spell."

All five looked at him befuddled.

"Wait, seriously?" asked Nuparu at last.

"Yes!"

"Why is it Great Spirit for us, then?"

"The Matoran language derived from what words were available to you in the coding," the other mused: "I suppose my name must have been amongst them, and it was assigned meaning according to the culture that was developing alongside your conscience."

That made enough sense, considering what they'd learned of themselves. It still didn't help much on the matter at hand, which was that, according to Matoran custom, Mata Nui was still inequivocably the Great Spirit, and claiming not to be was a bold faced lie - especially considering that there wasn't exactly an alternative option, neither in deity (the Great Beings were on thin fucking ice at best) nor in alternative candidate.

That very thought struck Kongu, who tilted his head and began, very slowly: "Alright. Answer me this, then. If you're not the Great Spirit... Then who in Karzhani do you suppose it would be?"

"The actual Great Spirit."

Jaller groaned very loudly and massaged his temples, still laying flat on the ground.

His aerial deputy pointed at him: "Seconded."

"Thirded." Hahli added in a similarly disgruntled tone.

Hewkii, last deputy still standing, once again figured it was up to him to make sure the possibility of one of his siblings caving in and calling their former god a bitch directly to his face - which he was rather sure said former god wouldn't have even objected to - was anything other than extremely likely, and defused the situation by asking: "Is it a religion thing?"

Mata Nui nodded: "More or less. I assume there is an ineffable Great Spirit which houses the universe within itself, much vaster than I ever was; I would not dare to compare myself to it."

The Mahri had to admit that it made perfect sense, and it made his statement not exactly a lie; so, they silently agreed to let it slide.

Nuparu actually turned thoughtful for a moment: "Would that imply that, much like our previous cosmos, this universe is also contained in some kind of robot so big that we don't even think it could exist, and that we are its cogs?"

"That is perfectly plausible, yes," Mata Nui considered. "Though considering the size it should be according to my journeys, we would be much smaller from its perspective than you were compared to my former body - somewhere closer to grains of sand in a perfume bottle, lost somewhere in a castle with a large number of rooms."

"Oh, that'd be fun," the Onu-Toa commented casually.

"Alright, but what are you going to do if someone asks if you're Mata Nui?" Hahli interrupted them. "You can't lie about that."

"In truth it has already happened once, and I did inquire if it was meant as a synonym for the Great Spirit, which it was; ergo, I could reply that I do not believe I am."

"What if they asked for your name, specifically?" she insisted.

"There are quite a few ways to swivel out of an answer in such a case."

"And if they were just really blunt about it? Asking directly, is your name Mata Nui?"

"Then I would say yes," he answered simply. "No necessary relation."

Jaller groaned even louder.

Mata Nui leaned back, very amused: "I am but a strange traveler from a foreign land, with a strange name in a foreign language, not alike to any other being either biomechanical or organic, with an ancient air about my person and the sort of frail body that often denotes an advanced age. Is it so unlikely, that I would happen to be named in such an unusual way?"

The leader of the Toa Mahri rolled over and treated him to an angry, begrudgingly impressed glare.

"You're far too good at this," he grumbled.

The other beamed with pride: "Thank you! I like this sort of riddles."

A sudden silly idea blinked to life in Hewkii's head as he watched them - something that made great sense and also threatened to drive him slightly insane: "Quick question, did you choose the Turaga because they're really good at zigzagging around the truth?" he asked. "You know... Like you?"

At that Mata Nui's face fell into a neutral expression.

He blinked slowly, appearing surprised; he then tilted his head, gazed blankly into the wall, pondered the question, and at last regaled the Po-Toa with a sweet, gentle, wide smile.

"That is something between me and them," he replied enygmatically: "Perhaps you might find denial or confirmation in their words."

"We're never going to know."

"Probably."

[eridanusco]

College barista Megumi thoughts (cont.)

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You knew it was him before grabbing the mouse—how could you not have? Black hair you'd stared at from afar every morning before convincing yourself to walk inside, thinking, Today's the day I give him my number—only to find yourself staring at the nametag he seemed to have refused to personalize, unlike the rest of the staff there, a plain "Fushiguro" written in silver Sharpie on a black background. The same nametag you'd memorized by the tenth visit. You couldn't help the way your cheeks warmed as you still managed to hesitate before giving the order you'd spoken a thousand times.

When you saw him enter the class and sit in the empty seat beside you, you thought, Maybe this is fate. And so, you grabbed the mouse, handing it back to him with a hesitant smile, your mouth opening as you finally prepared to introduce yourself after weeks of being too shy to look him in the eye when the professor called everyone's attention to the front.