#it needs to be specific to your circumstances

[cthulhusstepmom]

The question becomes: how many times have they used Wealwell as an anchor point and why?

Watching Wealwell anchor himself as a leverage point up above for Maxwell as he jumps down the hole like, "Oh, this is why his brother always says he's solid."

[mona-risms]

HII!! it's 🪷 Anon, I saw ur reply to my request and it's totally fine! If it's still possible could I request a demon that was made by gwi-ma specifically but hates him just as much as huntrix does. So reader(either fem or nb) helps defeat gwi-ma and live happily ever after with the girls(platonic if that's ok)

-🪷 Anon

◆ MAIN COURSE: HUNTR/X and Gwi-Ma's demon!gn!Reader

◆ TYPE: SFW, platonic

◆ ALLERGEN WARNINGS: None I think???

◆ NOTES: YAYAYAYAY THANK YOU FOR UNDERSTANDING 🫶🫶🫶

Gwi-Ma would probably be severely Picky when it comes to ever using his power for anything. So in this case, you were probably created as some sort of failsafe/watcher/whatever the fuck for Jinu and his plan with the Saja Boys. You ARE made by him after all, made w his very essence. Why would you Ever fail him or go rogue, right? Lol

Hence, you observe. Not HUNTR/X, not at first. You observe humans first; all the way from how they move to how they speak and even how they breathe, and then you adapt. Using whatever demon magic tomfoolery there is, you manage to get yourself into their personal staff team, probably thanks to some poor guy's soul that you ate tf up so you could gain whatever skills they had that'd qualify. Yk, like Kirby

You get close to Bobby, their manager. And as a result, you also get close the HUNTR/X trio, or at least as close as you can manage for a short amount of time obvi. You learn their likes, dislikes, how they are professionally and how they are personally. And as you do so, you even start to learn about Yourself—things you like, dislike, preferences, how you respond to certain things—even though you're not supposed to be anything else but an observing demon in disguise that serves Gwi-Ma. But the more you 'observe' aka spend time with them, the more you begin to question what the need is to terrorise and kill humans, especially this specific lot

Zoey shows you her turtle collection and the notebooks of ideas and pure vibrant creativity. Mira teaches you some of their choreo just for the fun of it, if you wanted to learn, and takes you shopping to the cutest punk fashion stores (girlie the plug frfr), and Rumi would want to go out to EAT EAT EAT and bask in the very rare quiet w you, maybe even involving her lightly strumming or fingerpicking her guitar. These girls are so unbelievably welcoming w you and Bobby is so happy asw. I think Bobby gets really happy when he sees his staff and his girls getting along :((( he's like a silly dad or an uncle

But wait. You weren't just sent to observe HUNTR/X though, were you? While yes he can see and hear what his demons can anyway, you were sent to watch the Saja Boys and make sure they're not being fucking incompetent. And yet when Jinu sees you ohhhh man

You feel his presence before you hear him—a discordant chime in the winds, like an old rusted bell.. or a weathered bipa.

"You're getting a bit too comfortable with them, don't you think?"

You scoffed and crossed your arms, pointedly looking at the horizon, "Like you're one to talk. How's seducing Rumi going for you?"

"As planned, obviously," Jinu walks over to stand beside you. "And you? Any developments in your.. friendship approach?"

"Yes, actually. Though it's not like I report to you—I report about you too, don't forget that."

"Right, right. My mistake." He leaned on the metal bar as he watched you quietly, though as he spoke your attention is mildly stolen by a certain blue tiger-demon lightly headbutting your hand, with the magpie fluttering to stand on the railing. "I shouldn't overstep, right? Might make him angrier if I even dared to suggest that his precious servant is deviating."

You felt yourself stiffening at Jinu's words, though your hand went to scritch the tiger's head anyway, "No, Jinu. We shouldn't—we wouldn't want to make him angry over false accusations, would we?"

You see his eyes narrow at the corner of your eye—he caught on to the sudden mirrored circumstances, of course, he wasn't slow in the least. He pushes himself away from the railing and places his hands in his pockets, "Guess not. ..Just be careful of where your loyalties lie."

And he teleports away before you could respond.

"Asshole."

When the Saja Boys start their plan, that's when you start fully going down the descent of an existential crisis. Every time they/random demons attack, even when HUNTR/X doesn't know it, you're there. You're there to watch and observe, to see if everything's going to plan or it's all going to shit. But you can't interfere, not without Gwi-Ma's permission—just watch and consume souls. But as you're watching it's like. What the fuck. What the hell. Why is this necessary dude

It's the train scene when it all comes ahead and very much apart, where you're inside the train and very much aware of what's going on, and you hear Gwi-Ma in your head, pleased at how the trio is falling fucking apart bc of Rumi's secret

You heard singing from inside the train, singing that went on as perfect as usual.. until Rumi.

You heard hesitation. You heard the shame. And the worst part of it?

You could feel Gwi-Ma within you watching, anticipating.

...

One moment you were inside the train, the next?

You were right in front of the ogre, with Rumi pushed away from your proximity. Your hands, once human, had changed its form to the claws Gwi-Ma blessed—no, cursed—you with as you held back the giant club with a demonic growl. You bore your teeth, and your patterns blazed as bright as your eyes; the colour couldn't belong to anyone else by the one who made you.

Even the hulking demon had to take pause at the sight of you, at the sheer presence of Gwi-Ma on your person, and the trio could actually see something like genuine fear in its eyes.

"You..."

You could hear Rumi's shattered confidence in her voice, and you dare not look back in case you see the three of them look at you as anything but a monster. You don't know if you could take it, take feeling like you were wrong.

So instead, you barked out, the demonic cadence layering on top of your voice—a voice he even doctored to make you more trustworthy, "DON'T JUST STAND THERE! THE PASSENGERS!"

And you push against the ogre before forcing a teleport to the demon realm on the both of you, the scream leaving your lips gutteral and inhuman.

Gwi-Ma is worse than unimpressed. Furious, actually! Congratulations, you pissed off a Demon King! And you still see the souls drawn right into his fire, which would've looked beautiful, if it weren't for the implications of the sight—they couldn't kill of the demons on time. His mark on Rumi's breaking down their entire dynamic and Rumi herself, and the amount of people he's killed and consumed was staggering

His fire's looming at you, fed and absolutely enraged at how his own fucking creation went AGAINST him. He was lenient with his treatment on you, biding his time and leaving you to do your thing because he was expecting you to act upon his will perfectly, NOT grow attached to the people he wanted GONE. Jinu is one thing—someone self-serving, even if the look he casts on you at the top of the shrine with his pets looks like it belongs to someone who's anything but self-serving—but you were made of his very self. His essence. And if you weren't going to make yourself useful? He'll unmake you as easily as he made you

Skip to the near end, when the Saja Boys perform Your Idol and everyone's brainwashed into sacrificing themselves to Gwi-Ma before Rumi interrupts it all. By now, you're probably most likely fused back into Gwi-Ma, seeing as how you're useless sentient when you're not going to serve him. But the remaining consciousness of you can hear Rumi sing.. then Zoey, and then Mira. And Jinu not only hears them too, but he feels that lingering something from within Gwi-Ma himself

When he sacrifices himself, he gives half of his soul to Rumi. The other half? To the person who never got the chance to have a soul of their own—you. Because at least he knows you can put your loyalties on the trio where he couldn't. You're the one who grew much closer to the three of them, it's only right

Deapite your body still originally designed by Gwi-Ma, you've made it your own. With your sentience and with Jinu's soul, you successfully help HUNTR/X and you get to witness the new iridescent Honmoon that only they could make—it's so much more beautiful than the streaking soul retrieval you saw just before your 'death'

You disappeared after that day. For a little while, anyway.

Your sustenance came in the form of mostly people who weren't going to be missed, namely criminals, or people who much preferred death to whatever fate they had—an ugly thing, but half of you still lived because of Gwi-Ma's essence, even if Jinu's soul had minimised the need to feed enough that you can sustain yourself temporarily via human foods.

But eventually you were found anyway. You were leaning on the railing that Jinu had contronted you at, his friends sticking close to you, when you hear three sets of footsteps from behind you.

"Ahh, guess I've been found," you turned around to look at them, your expression softer than it's ever been this whole time—you felt much more free, and judging from the way the trio had stuck to each other stronger than ever, judging from the way Rumi had opted for a simple short-sleeved shirt that showed her markings, iridescent as the new Honmoon? You figured they felt free too.

You raised your hands slowly in surrender, though you made no other move, "If you're here to kill me off, I-- oomph!"

You don't even manage to finish your sentence before you feel Zoey immediately on you, practically glomping with you with her short frame, and you feel your shoulder getting wet. You look back up at the other two, and even they're making their way over with teary looks and quivering lips before immediately joining in the pile.

"Are you-- what-- why are you three crying? I--" Your eyes start to sting, and your arms hesitantly wrap around the three of them, as if scared that one wrong move could make this moment dissipate. "Why--"

A large sniffle from Zoey as she buried her face even deeper into your neck, "We looked EVERYWHERE for you! After we sealed the demon realm away, we-- we couldn't find you and-- and--"

"We thought you got sealed off too," Mira piped in, her voice noticeably much raspier and thicker than usual, "but we looked everywhere. Even had Bobby use whatever contacts he had 'cuz he was looking for you too."

"You're not.. mad? You're not gonna kill me?"

You feel claws digging into you—Rumi's, still uncontrolled, you realise—at the question, "No. Are we mad? Sure, for not telling us and disappearing at the worst time possible, but I know what it's like to-- to hide. We just.. missed our friend."

Friend.

Because that's what you are. Not a demon, not Gwi-Ma's creation. A friend.

You felt yourself crumple in the pile, and the others followed suit as all four of you end up crying on the ground. The only spectators are the magpie and the tiger.

[tprings-hair]

what happened on tarsus iv?

this is my attempt at creating a definitive list of information on what kirk experienced on tarsus iv for fic writers and other fans who want to know wtf is up with kirk's backstory.

(I have a longer, more general post on tos kirk's backstory here.)

"Kodos the Executioner, summary. Governor of Tarsus Four twenty Earth years ago. Invoked martial law. Slaughtered fifty percent of population Earth colony, that planet. Burned body found when Earth forces arrived. No positive identification. Case closed."

let's start with this quote from spock, detailing the information he found on their ship's computer.

first of all: at its core, this episode is tos's take on the nazis who escaped capture. adolf eichmann was only found in 1960, and would certainly have been in the public memory as a high profile nazi who managed to make a new life under an assumed name. he was not the only one to have escaped capture, and I don't think I need to explain which conspiracy theory the circumstances of kodos's faked death call to mind.

this episode was an exploration of what form cruelty and authoritarianism might take in star trek's universe, with a huge amount of influence from shakespeare's work. the two together make up this central dilemma: is it kodos? might kirk be condemning an innocent man? if it is kodos, does kirk have the right to act as judge, jury, and executioner? is it possible for someone who carried out terrible acts to live a new life somewhere else, and not have the violence follow?

SPOCK: According to our library banks, it started on the Earth colony of Tarsus IV, when the food supply was attacked by an exotic fungus and largely destroyed. There were over eight thousand colonists and virtually no food. And that was when Governor Kodos seized full power and declared emergency martial law.

MCCOY: I've heard of it.

SPOCK: You may not have heard it all. Kodos began to separate the colonists. Some would live, be rationed whatever food was left. The remainder would be immediately put to death. Apparently he had his own theories of eugenics.

MCCOY: Unfortunately, he wasn't the first.

SPOCK: Perhaps not. But he was certainly among the most ruthless, to decide arbitrarily who would survive and who would not, using his own personal standards, and then to implement his decision without mercy. Children watching their parents die. Whole families destroyed. Over four thousand people. They died quickly, without pain, but they died. Relief arrived, but too late to prevent the executions. And Kodos? There never was a positive identification of his body.

the thing is, this introduces a number of inconsistencies. it could easily be chalked up to confusion between multiple drafts of the script, but if you want to look deeper and see where the information comes from, you'll notice the two survivors have very different stories than the official starfleet record.

specifically, spock says that they died quickly and painlessly, and though he is sure that karidian is kodos, he does not seem to treat him as a legitimate threat to anyone's safety. we don't know if kodos ever directly killed anyone, or if he only gave the orders. but kirk and leighton seem to agree on the violence: leighton refers to his own injury as "the bloody thing (kodos) did", and kirk recalls kodos "blasting" others out of existence. it's possible kirk was saying it to confuse kodos, so kodos might say "that's not how it happened" and give himself away. it's also possible that leighton sustained his injury at a different time than the massacre. it seems likeliest to me in any case that the information on the ship's computer is not the entire truth.

which also means you can headcanon whatever you want and nobody can tell you definitively that you're wrong. be free with your tarsus iv headcanons.

exploring the tarsus iv lore (or lack of it) has led me to this sort of consensus in the fandom that kirk was looking after a group of children. I think it's a very cool way of exploring how central it is to his character that he has to be in control, protecting people, and fighting back, and I've read and enjoyed some absolutely fantastic fics with that premise. even william shatner seems to agree. in his novel collision course (which gives kirk and spock a sort of alternate first meeting as teenagers and gives some great insights into how shatner viewed kirk's backstory), kirk ().

the ship's computer specifies the number of survivors later in the episode as nine, and lists them as

Kirk, J., Leighton, T., Moulton, E., Riley, K., Eames, D.

before kirk cuts it off. once leighton dies, the last two surviving are kirk and riley.

the novelization by james blish names a couple more characters, and in order of age: Leighton, T., Molson, E., Kirk, J., Wiegand, R., Eames, S., and Daiken, R., which was what they called the role of kevin riley initially. he is specified as being five years old at the time, and kirk is not a child or teen but a midshipman.

and collision course names still more characters. edith zaglada, an eight year old girl who kirk saw killed. donny, tay, and billy are named as other survivors. this novel doesn't get into kodos's motivations or kirk's circumstances, but it gives us two new characters, griffyn and matthew, who are teenagers employed by kodos as bounty hunters for escapees of the initial massacre. starfleet arrives just as edith is shot and griffyn is trying to convince matthew to shoot kirk. we don't really know if kirk knew any of the other survivors, but he mentions edith's name specifically a few times as a death that affected him a lot. it's heartbreaking to watch city on the edge of forever with that in mind. I also can't find a source for anyone calling him JT, but collision course does call him jimmy during the flashback chapters.

crucially, the novel isn't technically canon. so you can have your gang of children led by JT, or you can have jimmy stick with a couple of people, or you could do something totally your own. none of these are wrong! do whatever your heart desires.

if you want some practical details, there's a great post here by @spirk-trek and pt 1, pt 2, and pt 3 of a great post by @pywren. I may make my own tarsus iv headcanon post if anyone is interested, and if I do I'll link it here.

[alllgator-blood]

I need to ask, because of it I CAN'T SLEEP AT NIGHT.

How do you make, not only long comics, but also VERY FAST. Like- I read one part that has 2/3 like pictures and then next day are again 2 or 3 and I'm like grabing my head and just screaming HOW??? (Also these comics are very yummy and I feel like getting stabbed after each one but in a good way cuz I like being stabbed (Kallamar got a bit too relatable in that one comic 💔))

THAT'S REALLY IMPRESSIVE AND ALSO SHOCKING FOR ME. Like- what is your secret??? 🤨🤨🤨

HAHAHA OH GOD I DID NOT THINK I WAS VERY FAST BUT- I'll try to do a list of tips I thought of off the top of my head, in case any of these help you or anyone else??? I try to not gatekeep anything I do because I think the world needs more comics honestly, so I tend to ramble a lot when giving advice.

click the read more to unleash many paragraphs of tips:

Okay these tips aren't 100% about being fast but also being efficient/keeping a good pace, I hope that's okay!

1: Originally the first tip was "draw every day even if only a little bit, so you don't lose steam" but I'm sure everyone has said that at some point. So I'll just say I Pavlov myself into drawing better by having little "rituals". Liiike...the only time I have energy drinks is when I draw. Or the only time I light candles is when I draw. I have specific songs I put on when I START drawing to get me into the Zone. I find that when certain circumstances are met, it helps the time fly by 'cause I stay focused enough to keep a steady pace. After a while of doing those things when you start drawing for the day, it tricks the brain into going "oh shit, we're drawing now? aight bet" and then you just. Go

2: SETTING DEADLINES FOR SURE HELPS. It's definitely nice hearing from people that there's no Real Pressure on me when I post comics...for free...of characters I have no obligation to draw...just for the enjoyment of doing it. BUT I work best when I have a fire lit under my ass, so I set deadlines like "I need to post this on saturday/sunday at noon so the algorithm will actually let people read this comic". I usually slip those into a description so it's a very casual announcement and I feel okay with postponing it if necessary, rather than making a text post like "NEW COMIC SATURDAY!!1" and then feeling terrible if I can't finish it in time. Lmao

3: I just fuckin GO when I make a draft. Like for this new comic I'm working on, I just sat down and started drawing like the world was gonna end; there's a lot of panels with very off model characters/wonky anatomy because I just wanted to sketch enough for future me to get the idea. I try not to look back on my progress for any reason besides continuity, because then I see how long the comic's getting and I sweat bullets. Literally so many comics have been ditched because I got spooked thinking about how hard it'd be to finish them. So if you just shut your brain off and don't think about the technicalities of it, just keeping mind the story you want to tell- it's SO much easier to complete. Breaking comics into parts is ABSOLUTELY necessary for completion :')

4: Maybe the most important piece of advice I learned from a published comic artist, is that people are gonna look at your comic panels for an average of like 10-20 seconds and will move on to the next. You don't wanna spend hours on a single panel that basically only exists to convey a tiny bit of the plot. So I like to draw just *enough* to convey the general environment/mood, but not feel obliged to put in a million little extra details. I really hate doing backgrounds but my art, to me, feels incomplete without them. So I'll add like PART of a room or a general Nature area just to say hey, this takes place in the temple/outside/whatever! As long as your story is engaging and the pacing is comfortable, I don't think people will mind (or notice) if you take shortcuts.

5: I listen to specific things to help maintain a good speed while not being distracting or understimulating. During the sketch stage, I usually have something slow/instrumental going so I can focus on the little movie that plays in my head and draw what I feel like a scene would look like. It also helps not distract me from what they're saying. For tasks like lining/coming up with color schemes/reworking dialogue, I have something more stimulating playing but not like distracting, so a video essay I've already watched or fast music I already heard a lot of times. THEN for the absolute fucking slog that is the coloring stage, I blast shitty breakcore or put on an actually interesting video so I can zone out while I click my mouse ten billion times to fill in all the colors >:)

Basically, comics are funny to me because it's like a frantic fucking race to the finish line before your motivation completely abandons you. There's been a few comics where I was ABSOLUTELY sick of even looking at them, I think it was specifically "in little ways, everything stays" where the comic itself is sweet and inoffensive but OMFG. I WAS SO TIRED OF DRAWING GRASS AND REWORKING DIALOGUE. KALLAMAR AND LESHY JUST HUG IT OUT ALREADY SO I CAN STOP DRAWING.

This post probably reads like "I HATE COMICS!! I HALF ASS THEM TO GET THROUGH!!" but I really do love making them and it's kinda the only thing I like doing nowadays, so the other aspect of why I get them done fast comparatively is just that it's what I spend all my free time doing. Some comics take weeks of me working on them daily to finish them, because working on them is my main coping skill rn so it always feels worth doing. I know it can't last forever so I try to just get as many stories as I can out before my circumstances change! Maybe don't be motivated by fear of the future though. Just do these because it's fun and people love reading your comics :') I KNOW I DO

In any case- here are the lines for the beginning of the new comic, I KNOW you love the funny squid so here's mine as a kid flexing on narinder for being able to summon his crown weapon:

[journey-of-daydreams]

Your New Life [Rewrite & Reader] [Platonic]

You can't ever tell what Rewrite is thinking. Whether there's hidden meanings underlying their words, or if they truly mean what they say... You don't know. But you know it's getting worse. This is intended to introduce the concept of this depiction of Rewrite.

Type: Headcanons/Oneshots Genre: Mostly Horror (A Little Fluff but it's Scary) Content Warnings: Psychological Abuse Stage: Early/Mid/Late 1 Ring (With a preview of 3 Ring)

    * Ever since you got stuck in this place, your life has been nothing but chaos. Sonic, as it calls itself, demands your full attention, never allowing you a moment of peace. You're not sure why it took a liking to you... Or if it even did. Maybe this is the way it normally acts, or maybe you're imagining things.

In the middle of a sparsely forested area, you sit alongside Miles, Ekiduna, and Sonic. The sun shines down on you gently, birds are chirping, and a soft breeze cools you and rustles the leaves around you.

It would be peaceful in any other circumstance. But knowing you're trapped here, at the whims of the figure standing in front of you, you're nervous.

Miles is trying to keep himself occupied by building a small structure out of leaves and twigs. He's clearly on edge as well, his eyes constantly sparing glances up at Sonic.

Ekiduna, meanwhile, is pacing around, agitated. He had tried to leave earlier—hoping to search for a way out, no doubt—but Sonic picked him up by his collar like a cat and plopped him back into the immediate area, citing that they're having "quality bonding time" right now and he "can't just abandon his friends"... Right.

You turn your attention to Sonic, and notice him watching you. You give him a thin, polite smile and immediately avert your eyes.

You don't like it when he puts his attention on you. It's like he's expecting something from you, and you can never tell what. Maybe he wants you to do something, or maybe he's looking for a specific reaction.

You watch Miles, observing him as he's become intensely focused on carefully and oh so gently sliding a stick into place. His structure is resembling a house at this point. You're honestly surprised Sonic hasn't destroyed it by now, with how much he loves to torment him.

It takes you a second to notice that, out of the corner of your eye, Sonic is... still watching you. You focus your gaze on him, and he doesn't look away. A feeling of unease washes over you.

He's been staring at you.

"W-What?"

"Nothing!" He innocently says, lightly raising his shoulders, almost as if shrugging. It's only then that he looks away and puts his attention on Miles, who freezes the instance Sonic's eyes are on him.

...Oooookay.

    * But at some point, they start getting more... Direct. And it becomes even harder to dismiss their behavior as "nothing".

"Isn't it beautiful?" Sonic dreamily asks, staring out into the distance of Green Hills.

"Yeah..." You immediately agree as your gaze follows their own. Green Hills was bright and colorful, with its neon striped grass, and orange cliffs. But the cloudless skies always stood out to you. "I just don't like-" You begin, but;

"But I like you." They interject, immediately stopping your train of thought.

You look at them in surprise and confusion. They haven't said anything like that before. Their expression hasn't changed from their usual, empty smile. You can't get a read on them. Were they offended? Was that a joke? Were they messing with you?

...They're staring at you now, motionless, awaiting a response. Their unchanging, cheerful gaze is starting to unnerve you. What the hell were they trying to do?

You get the feeling you need to think carefully about your next words.

...

"...Thank you." You say cautiously, yet deliberately.

Their head tilts, their ear twitches, and they give you a thumbs up. That answer must have pleased them... probably.

    * It's difficult to tell if it's genuine. Rewrite has shown they enjoy toying with others; Both physically and mentally. Why wouldn't this be another game of theirs?

You hate this game. Hate it, hate it, hate it.

Sonic chose a game he'd have the advantage in; Tag.

"But! But! You get my generosity! You have a 60 second head start! Run, and once time runs out, I will find you."

The explanation of the rules sounded more like a promise.

You had the idea to try to hide. So, you're wandering through the area of Green Hills that's the most densely populated with cliffs. You hoped they provide cover and protection from his field of view.

You're walking along a cliff wall when you hear you hear a faint squealing sound. The sound of Sonic running.

And it's getting louder. He's getting closer.

Even though you don't see him yet, you feel the need to pick up the pace. Find better cover.

For a brief moment, the squealing stops... And starts again. Was he changing direction? Actively chasing someone?

You swivel your ears around, trying to figure out where the sound is coming from... But the sound bounces off the cliff faces, or is maybe obscured by them? It's like the sound is coming from everywhere. You can't tell where he is.

You make it to the corner of a cliff, and the buzzing of his running stops again. You slowly peek around, and...

It's Sonic. His head snaps in your direction.

Shit.

You quickly duck back and make a break for it. You hear Sonic start chasing after you too.

Just keep running.

You run into an area with dense cliffs, hoping to lose him and find a forked path. Your heart is pounding. You're giving it your all.

Brown, checkered cliffs fly past you with a blur on both sides. Your eyes dart from side to side, trying to find another path. And ahead of you, emerges from the fog:

A dead end.

Your heart drops. You slide to a halt.

Shit. Shit.

You turn around and your eyes urgently scanning around, trying to find another escape route. But the only one you see is the way you came.

Sonic emerges from the fog, and your gaze locks onto him. He stops several feet away from you, slipping into his idle finger-wagging animation.

He stares at you, and just stands there. Waiting.

He knows he's already won. You know he's already won.

You stare at him for what feels like an eternity, awaiting your fate.

...Yet, he doesn't move closer. Doesn't say anything. His silence is alarming, and you don't dare take your eyes off him.

"A... Are you going to tag me?" You question, voice shaking.

"Are you going to tag me?" He mockingly mimics your inflection, but his robotic voice is unable to match your fearful tone.

You squint at him, your panicked brain struggling to grasp the underlying meaning of his words, but at least knowing he's being pretty smug right now.

For a brief moment, you risk averting your eyes to look around one more time for another escape route. Yet again, you see nothing, but the very path Sonic is standing in.

You fix your gaze back onto him. He still hasn't moved any closer. The game is at a standstill.

...Ah.

He's toying with you. If you want the game to end, you have to be the one to accept your fate and approach him.

Asshole.

    * Yet, there are periods of calm; Periods with the faintest hint of sincerity. Ones that make you wonder, if deep down, there's truth to it.

In the dead of night, crickets chirp electronically around you. A campfire sits in front of you, emitting a faint glow; but notably, no warmth to protect against the chill in the air.

Miles sleeps next to you, a soft breathing noise emitting from him. Nearby, Ekiduna was resting behind a tree, silent and not moving... Possibly asleep, but you can't be sure with him. Sonic lays not far from you and Miles, laying back with his arms resting behind his head to prop it up. His eyes were closed, giving the impression he was asleep, but his smile remained plastered on his face. It was unusual to see him still, let alone sleeping. Though you wondered if he even had to sleep.

You watch him closely to see if he was actually sleeping, listening and watching closely for any signs of breathing, or anything.

One of his eyes suddenly open to look directly at you and a chill runs down your spine.

"Hello, friend." Sonic greets you in a hushed whisper you've never heard from him before. You're surprised he even had the ability to speak quietly. "Need something?"

"Um- No," You stutter, feeling awkward as though you were caught doing something wrong. "Sorry."

He mimes a laugh but nothing comes out, like a voice file that failed to load. He springs into a sitting position, his limbs wobbling from the movement.

"If you're bored, we could go for a walk!" He offers, tone still hushed yet cheerful at the same time.

"...A walk?" You repeat cautiously, not fully believing it's just a walk.

"Yes." He states with a small nod. You expect him to offer further explanation, but he doesn't.

"That's it?"

"We could play a game too!" He adds with a glitchy tilt of his head.

"No, no, a walk is fine." You politely decline with a forced smile, remembering the last "game" he made you play... 

"Perfect!" He sang, catching you off-guard, and it hits you that he took your wording as agreement. He springs up from his sitting position jankily and unnaturally and starts trotting away.

"Wait, I-" You object, but he ignores you and is already walking away.

You're pretty sure he'd be angry if you didn't go with him. As terrified as you are to be left alone with him, you can't risk getting on his bad side.

Against the anxiety in your core telling you not to, you follow him.

---

You're lead to an open clearing near Green Hills, just outside the forest. There's a few plants nearby, the one catching your attention the most is a sunflower. Crickets are chirping all around you, and you hear the faint rustling of leaves the wind.

Sonic stands with his head pointed to the sky, watching the stars. Your gaze follows.

Dozens, maybe hundreds of stars dot the sky. You can't deny it's pretty... Though, after a second, you realize they're all the same white color. Another reminder that the world is digital.

Still. The peace settles in. It's... quiet. You realize Sonic hasn't said a word this entire time, which is frankly strange, since he doesn't usually stay quiet for long.

You observe him as he stares up at the sky for several seconds. You can't help but wonder what he's thinking, to be this quiet.

He averts his attention from the stars, and looks at you.

"This is boring. You have bad taste." He states, referring to the fact you chose this over the game suggestion.

The abrupt change of tone throws you off. You can't help but smile bemusedly at him. "You're the one who suggested it!" You respond without thinking, immediately regretting your argumentative tone.

"You chose it," Sonic closes his eyes and shakes his head, hands on his hips. "Over my game! And now you're arguing with me! Unbelievable." He pauses. His eyes open to stare through you, shooting an icy cold fear through you... His pupils have changed. They're human.

"I should punish you."

Your eyes widen. Your heart drops. You have to salvage this. "Wait- I'm sorry, I-I didn't think-" You stutter out, but you're interrupted with low-pitched giggles emitting from him that don't match his voice. His whole demeanor lightens back up.

"I'm joking, silly! You should see the look on your face!" He exclaims joyously, laughing as if it's the funniest joke he's ever told.

The tension only slightly leaves you're body, now replaced with an uncertain unease.

He's... not angry?

He stops laughing, his expression going back to his usual empty smile... And, then, without a word, he starts walking back to the camp and gives you a friendly pat on the head as he passes by.

...What the hell.

You watch him as he leaves, heart still thumping in your chest from the encounter.

Sure enough, you're completely unharmed.

    * No matter what the truth really is, you're trapped here, at the mercy of their whims. If you want to survive, you must play along. Even though you don't understand. Even though you have no idea where your complicity will lead.

They're floating in the sky with their arms crossed, gazing out into the distance. You stare up at them with shock and uncertainty. Their quills are sharper, their whole demeanor is... Different. More confident. The instability and distorted appearance they had before is gone.

They gained their third ring, you notice. You can guess where they got it from. The last survivor, besides you, is gone.

You're honestly, truly alone with them now.

As the dread settles into your very soul, you hear them speaking in an unusually soft voice. Not to you, you don't think.

「ついに……初めて、心の平和を…見つけたような気がします。」

Their tone of voice is more varied, more human than it's ever been. You don't understand what they're saying, and it scares you a little. Just what are they thinking? They sound calm, at least...

They abruptly turn towards you, their movement distorted and unnatural. And suddenly, in a pixelated flash, they appear directly in front of you. You jump, expecting them to attack.

Instead, they gingerly take hold of both of your hands into theirs, their eyes piercing into you.

"I'm so happy to finally see you, friend."

[bananonbinary]

also just to continue my "fuck dave ramsey" posting, his most famous idea is the "debt snowball." first off, this assumes you like. actually have the spare income to pay off tens of thousands of dollars in debt in like half a year, so lets just ignore how stupid that is.

but the idea is, you list all of your debts from smallest to largest, and pay off the smallest one first. then you take the minimum payments you were making towards that one, combine it with the next smallest one, and pay THAT one off, until you've paid off everything.

we're also ignoring that this presumes you won't be getting any MORE debt, so like. just don't have any medical issues or broken appliances or car crashes or whatever i guess.

but the thing that gets me. that REALLY pisses me off here.

is that ITS NOT EVEN GOOD ADVICE????

like, sure, it sounds nice. it looks clean on paper. and it feels pretty good to say "i've paid off six different credit cards!" but it's focusing on the completely wrong thing. you SHOULD be paying attention to *which debt has the highest interest rate.* it doesn't mean shit if you pay off your $200 debt but your fastest-growing debt has accrued $300 more in the meantime.

i haven't even gone to accounting school yet but like basic math says if you want to save money in the long run, you should try and find ways to actually shrink the TOTAL amount of debt, not just the NUMBER of debts you have.

[dafpork]

nobody is allowed to be embarrassed about Dafpork. nobody. live your truth. WE ARE GONNA DRAW DAFPORK ART AND WRITE DAFPORK FICS AND TALK ABOUT DAFPORK LIKE THE BEACONS OF STRENGTH THAT WE ARE. SHAME HAS NO PLACE HERE. Daffy is shameless and so should you be

[mermmarie]

Making an oc x canon ship for a niche fandom is nothing new to me, but what's frustrating about it is finding artist I can commission to draw said ship...

It feels bad to subject people to my cringe but damn it!!

Why do I have to be the sole provider of content for it?! 😭

[dennisboobs]

most annoying thing about being me is that i cannot engage with like. any fanon shit about dennis because i'm constantly on some advanced derangement and the stuff i thought two years ago when i was first getting comfy in the fandom is still the way everyone else looks at dennis but i'm like. yes but its Worse than this. you're like a quarter of the way there. this isn't the interesting bit, this is a symptom of it, keep going.

[prismkat]

They should invent a squid game character who won’t die in season 3

[fadewalking]

"Solas is a dom"

"Solas is a sub"

You guys are all wrong and worse? Unimaginative.

Solas is vers, projecting dom with sub fantasies but he isn't just going to let you have it. Are you kidding? What is this weenie hut jr?

He is Pride. He wants a power struggle. He wants you to win it from him. And he isn't going to throw the game, or take it easy on you. Furniture is breaking. Hair is being pulled.

If you want to fulfill his subbiest daydreams with your pleasing side benefits and indomitable focus you are going to have to earn it, because Maker knows he is going to try to see it dominated.

[unnonexistence]

discovering Where The Math Is in something confusing is always such an immense relief

[ofcowardiceandkings]

the heirarchy of good habits for feeding yourself when you have brainfuck doesnt need to be all at once at all and in fact is probably best not to do it that way

start by making sure youre getting enough calories at regular intervals to fuel your body

then move forward to making sure youre getting enough fruit n vegetables in whatever form you can

then you can start to worry about nitty gritty things like salt intake or cutting out some sugars or saturated fats or more protein or whatever you need to do for your health

its WAY more important to be getting all the right stuff first than be cutting things out with nowhere to go

[ancientgoldboundspirit]

Anonymous asked: Recommend romantic candidates: Ryou

Recommend romantic candidates for my muses and see their reaction!

"I don't think I'd need him to fall for me in order for him to bend to my will once more. It's practically his destiny."

[cat-skull]

it's so weird how unschooling is just now becoming like a more widely known thing that ppl are talking about because my familys been on that shit since like 2009