#just patch 2.1 things

[aggravateddurian]

The absolute SHOCK on Val's face and the sound loud enough that Wilson could probably hear it over the sound of gunfire from the other side of the megabuilding.

[stormofdefiance]

I wanted to share some wee thoughts about Ratio’s E6 art & why I believe it is a symbolic parallel to Michelangelo’s David. This speaks to both Ratio’s humanist beliefs and possible future plot points.

Ratio’s E6 is Vincit Omnia Veritas or Truth Conquers All. I’ve heard it claimed (although I have no idea if it’s explicitly stated anywhere?) that the character’s E6 art represents them at their innermost core, an honest and deeply vulnerable shard of themselves. Evoking David here is an interesting choice; the biblical figure who, using nothing but a stone and sling, took down the tyrannical Goliath. The parallel is perhaps as simple as this: Ratio views himself - and by extension the truth - as the underdog, someone never accepted into the Genius society, forever to be kept from Nous and THEIR gaze, but nonetheless will, in the end, prove himself the final victor. Truth will topple the seemingly unconquerable, whatever that might be.

But I also think Michelangelo’s David is a specifically interesting parallel to draw on from a historical perspective. Ratio is pretty much the textbook definition of a renaissance man - he is a philosopher, a scholar, interested in medicine and science and the vast array of human achievement. He speaks in Latin (the language of education during the renaissance in Europe that allowed the transmission of information without having to rely on translation) while heavily styling himself on Ancient Greek symbols and drawing from Greek philosophy (often seen at the time as more ‘sophisticated’ and interested in ‘wisdom’ than the contemporary ‘militaristic’ Romans).

Michelangelo’s David was the first colossal marble statue to be carved since antiquity, and it came to be a symbol of the renaissance itself. This is interesting to me for Ratio and what I believe are his humanist beliefs. Humanism was an ideal that propagated during the renaissance that championed the belief that man had beauty, dignity and worth that deserved as much respect and adoration as any deity. Keep in mind this philosophy was emerging following the Middle Ages and at a time where religious institutions across Europe held exorbitant and sometimes absolute power. David as a statue is an ode to the sublime beauty of the human body, completely unashamed and uninhibited in his gigantic nakedness (Doctor! You’re huge!) retaliating against the idea that prominent idea at the time that man’s body is inherently sinful. The humanists sought to recenter humanity, and David became a symbol of man’s independence against the seemingly unconquerable might of the Church.

Consider how Ratio centres humanity in his Simulated Universe project, how he values every life, how interested he is in constant self-improvement. How this symbol - of not just the renaissance but of the re-centring of humanity itself - becomes an echo of an effigy fixed in the centre of his soul.

Ratio has never - as far as I’m aware? - stated or hinted at any desire to overthrow the Aeons or even disparage or rubbish them, but it is clear to me that he believes in the strength man can draw on despite them, through sheer force of intelligence and clever planning and fiercely independent thought, the weak can ultimately overcome, or at least stand shoulder to shoulder with, the strong. Perhaps this will become a more pertinent plot point in the future - who knows? - but this was fun to chew through nonetheless 🫶

[wriothesleybear]

A True Angel Amongst Us

~warnings: Some angst but ends with fluff, insecure Sunday, slight story spoilers, fem!reader, 1.9k words.

~a/n: I've been wanting to write for Sunday for a while now and the first thing I write has angst ;-; I've been having trouble coming up with ideas for him, but after the 2.1 patch, I've wanted to write fluff for him and about his insecure side because I feel like he sort of has one deep down. Angel just needs some love.

Sunday has been tenser than usual lately. The stress from the loss of his dear sister, the struggle of finding her murderer, and the stress from the possibility of a traitor being amongst The Family and the pressure from his master being the main cause of his tension. He puts on a mask and pretends that everything is fine to ensure that The Family's image isn't tarnished, but behind closed doors is different. When he's alone, he just stares off into space, lost deep in the sea of his endless thoughts. Even with you, his dear wife, he puts on a mask sometimes. He doesn't want to worry you and show you the strong leader that he is, who is capable of overcoming any obstacles and who will deliver righteousness when the day comes.

But no matter how much he tries to hide his weaknesses, you can see beyond his mask. You notice in the way his shoulders are always tense, his hands in fists, the frown that lingers on his face when he thinks you aren't looking, and the way he's less talkative during your limited time together. You hate seeing your husband this way, knowing he's bottling everything up inside. It's only a matter of time until it all bubbles up and he eventually snaps.

You decide to visit him in his dreamscape mansion office. You hadn't seen him all day due to him being busy with work. You weren't even able to see him off this morning as his side of the bed was already empty and made up. Knocking on his door, he tells you to come in. "What brings you here my dear?" He says with his masked emotions. Your eyes survey his office, noticing how it's a bit messier than usual even for Sunday's standards. He usually has everything in perfect shape given his ocd. Nothing was ever out of place for him unless something was wrong, further proving your suspicions. He notices how your eyes survey his office, the look of concern on your face is apparent. "I wanted to check in on you, my love. I wanted to make sure you were doing okay." You offer him a gentle, kind smile. "Of course I'm doing well. Why wouldn't I be? As head of The Family, it is my duty to be competent to fulfill my role." He gives you a smile, but it's not a real one. It's one of those fake smiles he puts on for show when out in the public eye.

"Sunday. I know something's bothering you. Please, just talk to me." His smile falters, his fake smile fading as he contemplates your words. You had been worried about him ever since the death of his sister. As the caring wife you are, you've been by his side, making sure that he was doing alright. Bless your soul, but with all the questions and pity stares, he couldn't help but get disgruntled. He knows you meant well, but his insecurity couldn't help but get the better of him. He thought you saw him as weak. I mean, he couldn't protect his dear sister for god's sake. It's his duty to protect those he cares about and he failed. He surveys your face while lost in his thoughts. His train of thought is broken by your calls of his name. He plasters on his fake smile.

"Dear, there's no need to worry about me. Or do you truly believe I'm just that weak?" You're taken aback from his accusation. You gather your courage and try to shut down his allegation. "Of course I don't. You're the strongest person I know, Sunday. It's just.. I can tell you're undergoing a lot of stress lately given the loss of your sister and work. I want to help you." By now his fake smile has fallen completely, replaced with a emotionless look. Turning away from you, his back faces you, making you unable to see the pain on his facial features. "I'm fine. You should leave, dear.." You could hear the coldness in his tone. The emptiness in his words sending slight shivers down your spine. You try to protest and get him to open up to you, but he cuts you off. "Don't let me tell you twice." He says in a strict voice, void of emotion. You hesitate but respect his wishes. You turn to leave without another word said. He doesn't even notice the breath he was holding until the door shut behind you.

~

Later that night, you lay wide awake in bed. Thoughts of your earlier event with Sunday replay in your head. After you left Sunday's office, you thought everything would be okay by dinnertime, but he never showed. You tried not to take it to heart too much, taking in consideration what he's going through right now, but when it got to midnight and he still hadn't arrived home, you began to feel worse. You've known Sunday for years. You knew how he was raised to become the perfect leader to represent The Family. He was a strong leader who believed in righteousness, in helping those in need, and caring for the people of Penacony. You know he's the kindest and most compassionate person with many strengths, but you also knew that he had many insecurities. He was scared that others would see him as weak and he was worried that everything he worked so hard for would be taken from him. Getting tired of wallowing in your thoughts, you finally decide to find him and try to get him to talk to you one way or another.

Arriving to his office once again, you knock on the door and patiently wait for an answer. "Sunday? It's me. Can I come in?" No answer. Maybe he was shunning you, but you weren't one to back down and walk away. You weren't going to give up on your husband. "Sunday. I'm coming in." Grabbing the door knob, you push the door open and are welcomed to a dark office. The only faint light coming from the windows in his office. Even with the limited lighting, you were able to see that Sunday's office was a bigger mess than earlier. Papers and books were thrown about the floor, the miniature display of Penacony in ruins. Worried, you continue to scan the room until your eyes land on the man slumped over his desk. Walking over to him, you observe his appearance. His clothes are in disarray, coat thrown recklessly on the chair, his wings and hair disheveled. "Sunday.." You hesitate for a second before resting a hand on his head. He tenses from your touch, causing you to withdrawal your hand. "Darling? What happened?" You ask in the most gentlest voice you could muster while trying not to push him too hard to talk. He doesn't reply to you. He keeps his head down on his desk, not willing to move an inch.

You quietly sigh. "Sunday. I understand if you don't like me pestering you with worries and questions. I'm your wife and I care about you. I'm only trying to be there to support you. I am here to support you. For anything. I'm here." Silence. You didn't expect him to reply but you wanted him to hear you out. "I'll give you your space, but just know, I'm here for you with open arms when and if you need to talk." You turn to walk away but suddenly, you're stopped in your tracks by a hand grabbing your wrist. Turning your head back, you see that Sunday is finally looking at you. You can see the pain in his eyes and by how his hand slightly shakes. Without saying anything, you turn your body to fully face him and open your arms wide, silently welcoming him into your arms.

He doesn't waste another second and wraps his arms around your waist, burying his head into your chest. Wrapping your arms around him, you feel his body slightly shaking as you hold him close. "It's okay Sunday. You don't need to hide from me. I won't judge you. Please, don't push me away. I'm here for you." You gently whisper as you stroke his hair. He doesn't speak, all that's heard is his deep, shaky breaths as he tries to control his emotions. It's taking all his willpower to not breakdown crying right there.

"Can you look at me darling?" He's hesitant, but eventually pulls his head away from your body without releasing his hold around your waist. He looks up at you. You notice the painful expression that graces his beautiful features. His golden eyes water as he tries to prevent the tears from falling. He hates showing weakness let alone looking weak in front of you. You cup his cheeks as you search his eyes, giving him a gentle smile. "It's okay to show weakness sometimes, my love. You're the strongest person I know and nothing will change the way I feel about you. I will always see you as the strongest, most caring leader and husband."

Without realizing, tears have begun to fall from Sunday's eyes as he listens to your reassuring words. Your thumbs move to wipe his tears. "I'm...I'm sorry...for pushing you away." He quietly says, his voice slightly cracking. "There's no reason to apologize, Sunday. I know you didn't mean to. I don't blame you." He feels guilty and embarrassed as he tries to move away so you don't see him cry, but you stop him. "It's okay to cry my love. Let it out if it'll help you feel better." He can feel the love through your words and the look you give him, causing more tears to fall. All you do is give him a comforting smile and continue to rub his wet cheeks as he lets his emotions out. You lean down and press a kiss to his left cheek. He gasps, surprised by your sudden action. You switch to his other cheek and continue to kiss his tears away. You leave one final kiss on his forehead and pull his face into your chest. "We can stay like this for as long as you want my angel." He buries his head further into you, wrapping his arms around your waist as you comfort him.

You can feel his body relaxing as he continues to bask in your comforting hold. "Thank you, my love. You are the true angel amongst us." You giggle and continue to hold him close for as long as he needs, occasionally giving him words of comfort and gently stroking his hair and back. You'll wait as long as it takes until he's ready to talk to you, but he understands now that he has you to catch him when he falls and he'll never push you away again.

[writingsully]

Feelings for a friend, part 2.2

Part 1 | Part 2.1

Pairing: Lo'ak x female human reader

Summary: Lo'ak has finished his iknimaya and has to choose a mate. You aren't too happy with his choice and things escalate between you, resulting in a lot of confessions.

Word count: 6,7k

Warnings: mentions of injuries, swearing, alcohol, reader getting a bit drunk

A/N: Helloooo 🤌🫴, this is the second half of part 2. I know it's very long. I got a little carried away, oops. I am working on a third part, which will be a little more ✨spicy✨ Enjoy!

You stayed in the hut with Lo’ak for what felt like hours but were actually minutes. Mo’at had finished patching him up and left a couple of minutes ago. Now you were sitting here alone with him, you still had a tight grasp on his hand on which you were drawing circles with your thumb. His hand was huge compared to yours; your hand barely fit around his little finger. To pass the time, you were counting the freckles on his hand. 7, 8, 9, 10- A groan got your attention and you quickly stopped counting. Looking at Lo’ak, you noticed the sound came from him. His ears were twitching, and he started moving his tail.

Your voice was barely above a whisper, but the twitching of his ears, signalled that he heard you. ‘Lo’ak?’ The boy stirred and you squeezed his hand a little, letting him know he was not alone. You looked at his face as soon as he opened his big, yellow eyes, your heartbeat getting faster by the second. He was alive!

A small smile crept on your face when your friend squeezed your hand. He swallowed hard before he spoke, and his voice sounded rasp. ‘I’m sorry…’.

You shook your head. ‘Don’t apologise- ‘

‘No, I’m sorry. I failed you. I failed all of you.’ His ears were pinned back now, and he let go of your hand. Tears welled up in your eyes. It hurt you that he thought of himself as a failure, that he wanted to live up to his father so badly that he put his life at risk. You wanted to be strong for him to put him at ease, but your voice broke.

‘Don’t say that. You didn’t fail me or anyone else. We are only glad you’re still alive.’ Lo’ak looked away when you spoke and pushed himself up into a seated position.

His face cringed as he hissed and grabbed his throbbing shoulder, ‘tsahev (crap)!’ You reacted quickly, laying him back down as gentle as you could.

‘Wait here, I’m going to get Mo’at.’ You made sure he was comfortable before sprinting out of the tsahik’s tent. You ran through the village as fast as you could, searching for Mo’at, Neytiri, Kiri or anyone else that could help. ‘I need Tsahik!’ you called out, but you couldn’t find anyone. You wondered where they could be until you remembered where Spider went. He had told you Jake and Neytiri had a fight, which meant they were probably in their kelku.

You ran as fast as your legs could carry you and you only came to a halt when you finally reached the Sully’s tent. You saw Spider, Neteyam, Tuk and Kiri crouched down, looking under the tent. Your heart felt as if it was beating out of your chest, and you tried to calm down your breathing. You needed someone quickly because you were afraid Lo’ak would lose consciousness again. At the same time, you were afraid he would sneak out if he remained conscious to do his iknimaya again. 

Tuk was the first to notice you and you spoke before you gave the others time to get up. ‘I need your parents. Lo’ak just woke up.’

‘He’s awake?’ the little girl’s eyes lightened up and a big smile formed on her face. She took hold of Neteyam’s arm excitedly as soon as he got up. ‘Lo’aks awake!’ she said excitedly to which her brother’s eyes grew wide. He opened his mouth to speak, but you interrupted him before he even had the chance.

‘Where are your parents? Where is Mo’at?’

He pointed to the tent. ‘My parents are in there. I will go to Lo’ak.’ And with that, he left. You saw the others getting up too, but before they had time to speak, you left. You quickly walked in the tent and saw Neytiri standing in front of Jake, whose back was facing the entrance. Neytiri’s face was scrunched up in frustration. ‘This is part of our culture; you can’t take this away from us!’

‘He almost lost his life out there! This can’t go on any longer.’ Jakes voice was filled with sadness and anger, and you could see his tail lashing back and forth.

You cleared your throat as you took a couple of steps into the kelku. Neytiri’s gaze shifted from her mate to you and her expression shifted from irritated to surprised. Jake turned around and you noticed he had a little more difficulty hiding his anger for his ears were still pointed backwards and his lips formed a thin line. You didn’t waste any time for you weren’t very comfortable interrupting the olo’eyktan, especially when he was arguing with his wife. ‘Lo’ak woke up.’ You felt a little awkward, so your eyes shifted from the two na’vi in front of you to the ground.

Jake nodded slightly. ‘Thank you, y/n. We will be there soon.’

You nodded in response and made your way of their kelku quickly. It was an understatement to say you were uncomfortable in there when they just had a fight. Something about Neytiri’s fierceness and Jake’s authority made you nervous.

Commotion came out of the tsahik’s tent, and you weren’t surprised when you opened the flap to step inside. Neteyam and Lo’ak were standing in front of each other closely as if they were asserting dominance. Their tails were wagging in frustration, and you could see their chests rise and fall quickly from their heavy breathing. Did they just fight?

You stepped into the tent, not wanting whatever this was to escalate. ‘What is going on in here?’

After a short silence, Neteyam pointed at you without tearing his eyes off his younger brother. ‘Go on, then. Tell her. Tell her how you want to risk your life!’

Lo’ak sighed as he pinned his ears down. He turned to face you and his eyes immediately went to yours. They were full of determination and his pupils were larger than normally. His eyebrows were knitted, and his mouth was pressed shut. You knew what that look meant. This look meant he wanted to do something he shouldn’t, and you knew exactly what that something was. ‘Oh, no,’ you said as you crossed your arms in front of your chest. ‘You’re not going back.’

‘Yes, I am and you’re not going to stop me.’ Lo’ak started walking toward the entrance of the tent and even though you knew you were no match for him, you blocked his way by stepping in front of the entrance, glaring up at him.

Your best friend sighed again and looked you up and down. You crossed your arms again and raised your eyebrows, challenging him. Lo’ak was stubborn, but so were you. You weren’t afraid to challenge him, and he knew it. On the other hand, you knew he would always be gentle with you, even when you were getting on his nerves. The worst he would do was lift you up and put you down somewhere else. ‘Get out of my way, y/n.’

‘No, Lo’ak. You’re injured; you need to rest. You’re not strong enough to do your iknimaya again.’ You didn’t get out of his way and waited for him to make a move. You were burning holes into his eyes and as he was standing there, staring at you, it felt as if Neteyam didn’t exist anymore. The world didn’t exist anymore. All you could think of was Lo’ak and how beautiful he looked when he was so determined. Persistence was a trait you looked for in a partner, and this just so happened to be one of Lo’aks strongest traits.  You could feel a familiar sensation in your belly, like butterflies, and you couldn’t control the small smile that crept on your face. Lo’aks serious look vanished a little as it got replaced by a smile too. Hope found its way into your mind; maybe he would finally stop being so stubborn and let his body rest.

Neteyam’s voice brought you out of your trance and you quickly looked at the ground, feeling flustered for zoning out like this in his presence. ‘Ma tsmukan, listen to your girlfriend. You’re injured.’ He accidentally took hold of his brothers’ injured shoulder while trying to pull him back to his hammock which got him a sharp hiss in return. If it weren’t for Lo’aks actions, your face would be completely red for Neteyam called you Lo’aks girlfriend. Oh, how you wish that were true. Instead, you tried to grab the boy who pushed his older brother away from him.

‘Lo’ak, please,’ you begged as you grabbed his non-injured arm. He pulled his arm out of your grip harshly and bolted for his brother, pushing him again. Neteyam almost lost his balance as he took a couple of steps back, before throwing his arms around his brother’s neck, head locking him. Lo’ak struggled, elbowing and clawing at his brother.

‘Stop it, you skxwang!’ the oldest of the two said through gritted teeth as he tried to keep his brother in place. What he didn’t realise was that Lo’ak was fuelled with adrenaline which gave him an advantage as he elbowed Neteyam in his side. As soon as he got out of his brother’s grip, he punched him on the nose. Neteyam hissed at Lo’ak in return and threw the second punch, aiming for his face as well.

You didn’t want to stand there and do nothing, but you couldn’t just watch them hurt each other. Where was the rest of your family? You figured Spider, Kiri and Tuk would have been here by now. You glanced through the entrance of the hut quickly, but you didn’t see anyone nearby. This meant you had to put the fire out, but how? You were no match for their strength. You balled your fists in frustration, nails digging half-moons in your palms as you watched punches being thrown and blood flying through the air. You did not want to get through their fight at all, so you did the only thing you could think of at that moment; you yelled at them to stop.

‘Stop it, you guys! You’re hurting each other!’ You knew those words meant nothing at that moment, but it was worth trying. You were sure the two na’vi didn’t even hear you, but you tried yelling again. As expected, this didn’t work either. Lo’ak was now on laying on the ground and Neteyam was bent over him, his fist raised to throw another punch at his face. Without thinking, you ran to the duo and put your hands on Neteyam’s fist. ‘Don’t, Neteyam, please don’t!’

Neteyam’s fist trembled in your hands out of adrenaline and after a couple of breaths, he lowered his fist and got back up. You held his hand for a little longer until you were sure he wouldn’t explode again. ‘Maybe it’s better you failed your iknimaya,’ he started. ‘You’re still a child. No wonder dad’s disappointed in you.’

Your eyes widened. You have never heard Neteyam saying something disrespectful about anyone, let alone his brother. You could hear shifting beside you, and from that moment, everything happened in slow motion. Lo’ak got up from his position on the floor as his fist made contact with his brother’s jaw. He didn’t give Neteyam time to think as he punched his cheekbone, and next the underside of his jaw. You could see the blood running down from Neteyam’s mouth as he scrunched his face in pain. He grabbed Lo’ak’s shoulders and kneed him in the stomach.

Without thinking, you stepped in between them. The weight of the mistake you just made only occurred to you when you saw Lo’aks hands reach for you. He took hold of your upper arms and threw you away from him. The first thing that you felt was your head when it met a wooden pillar that was holding up the tent. The second thing you felt was your left shoulder as you fell on top of it in a weird position, your body folded awkwardly in a little corner of the tent. From your position, you could see the two brothers looking at you, shock was plastered on both of their faces, but you didn’t process it. All you could think about was the throbbing at the back of your head. You could already feel a bump forming there.

You placed your right hand on the woven mat and tried to push yourself up. You screamed out in pain as a jolt of pain went up your left shoulder. You quickly laid down again and closed your eyes as the headache worsened. You reached your right hand to your head again to hopefully soothe the pain and you winced as you touched the bump that had already formed there.

Suddenly, two shadows lurked above you and big hands took hold of your shoulder to turn you around so that you could lay on your back. You screamed out again as you were turned on your back. It felt as if a hot knife stabbed your shoulder over and over again, causing hot tears to run down your cheeks. You tried to look at the two people who were bent over you, but the tears blurred your view, and the pain was so intense that you couldn’t focus on the voices around you.

More voices were coming from beside you and you tried to blink away your tears quickly, wanting to see who were there. You looked to your left and you saw Jake and Neytiri first. They were standing in front of their two sons, who were looking down in shame. The person who was crouched down at your side, was Kiri. She was rubbing a thick, green paste on your shoulder. You opened your mouth to talk to her, but Jake’s voice rang through the silent hut, gaining you attention immediately.

‘What’s gotten into you, boy?’

Lo’aks voice was uncertain, and it cracked as he spoke. ‘D-dad... I am sorry... so sorry.’ Was he crying? You turned your head a little more to catch a glimpse of your friend, but another jolt of pain shot through your head. You closed your eyes as you winced.

The olo’eyktan scoffed. ‘You’re sorry? Is that all you have to say after you nearly killed her?’ Your stomach twisted at those words. Lo’ak threw you across the tent. Hard. You got injured because of him. You thought he would never hurt you. You made a promise when you were little, and you had always believed him. You had always trusted him. Today he broke that promise by throwing you to the other side of the tent. Anger and sadness flowed through your body, and you tried to get up again only to be stopped by Kiri.

She placed her hand on your non-injured shoulder and laid you back down gently. ‘Mawey (calm down), ma y/n.’ She signalled Mo’at to crouch down next to her, blocking your view of the three Sully men.

‘Your shoulder is dislocated,’ Mo’at said. ‘I can help you, but you have to sit up straight.’

Your eyes grew wide, and you only started feeling the immense pain and tingling in your shoulder when you looked at it. Your shoulder was starting to turn purple, and you could see it being deformed. ‘Oh, Eywa,’ you groaned as Mo’at helped you sit up straight.

‘I want you to take a deep breath, ma y/n,’ she said as she took hold of your wrist and straightened your arm. You nodded and did what you were told. After you exhaled, Mo’at pulled at your wrist, popping your shoulder back in place. A burning sensation went from that shoulder through your arm and you cursed as you screamed out in pain.

‘Mawey, my child. It is done,’ Mo’at said as she bandaged your arm in place. ‘You need to rest now.’

Hot tears flooded down your cheeks as you nodded. Kiri gave you some herbs that would help against your pain as she helped you get up from the floor. ‘I will take you to the lab,’ she said as she hooked her arm under yours and guided you to the entrance of the tshaik’s tent. Before you left, you turned around to thank Mo’at for helping you. ‘Irayo (thank you),’ you said and Mo’at nodded in return.

As you left the tent, you could hear Lo’ak yelling after you. ‘I am sorry, y/n! I didn’t mean to hurt you.’ You sighed as you ignored him and started your walk to the lab.

You slept terribly that night. Your arm was still in a sling and because of that, you couldn’t get into a comfortable position. Aside from the pain, your thoughts of Lo’ak kept you up as well. You kept replaying the scene where he threw you across the tent over and over in your head. Your best friend, the boy you also fell in love with, had hurt you. Not to mention he almost died during his iknimaya.

Lying awake for hours, you finally started to drift off into a slumber, the clock on your bedside table reading six am. The sun had already started to come up and rays of sunshine came through your curtains.

Your sleep was interrupted quickly by a knock on your door. You decided to ignore it in hopes of whoever was knocking, would go away. Unfortunately, they didn’t go away as the knocking increased, and the door opened while they called your name. ‘Y/n, wake up.’

You groaned as you recognised Spider’s voice. ‘You have to get out of bed, come on!’

You lifted your head off your pillow and looked at the clock with half-lidded eyes. 06:15. Did you really sleep for fifteen minutes? Not being in the mood for a hyperactive Spider right now, you rested your head back on your pillow and closed your eyes again. ‘Go away, Spider.’

The boy grabbed your blanket and pulled it off you, revealing you in a grey oversized t-shirt you stole from Norm’s avatar. ‘I don’t think you want to miss this,’ he said as he opened your curtains, letting rays of sunshine illuminate your room before he went through your closet, grabbing a tewng (loincloth) and a top for you to wear.

You sat up grumpily, reaching up your hand to comb through your messy hair. ‘What’s so important that you had do disrupt my sleep?’

‘Lo’ak is doing his iknimaya again,’ Spider said as he laid your clothes on your bed. You were surprised to see that your top matched your tewng; they were both a beautiful shade of light pink. You normally didn’t allow Spider to choose your outfit because he never looked at matching colours. He just grabbed the first thing within his reach.

‘Wait, he’s doing what?’ you just realised what he said, and you got out of bed quickly, which you immediately regretted when you felt a throbbing in your head. You groaned as you put a hand on your head.

Spider looked at you compassionately and put his hands on your arms, gently sitting you back down on your bed. ‘Norm gave me some painkillers for you. You should take them before you head to the village.’

You nodded as the boy rummaged through the pouch that was attached to his hips before handing you the painkillers. ‘I will wait for you,’ he said as he walked to your bedroom door. He had barely put his hand on the handle before he turned back around. ‘Do you need help getting dressed? You know… because of your shoulder.’

You smiled slightly as you shook your head. Spider was like a brother to you, but you wouldn’t feel very comfortable with him helping you get dressed. Judging from his look, he wasn’t very comfortable with it either, since he had a slight blush on his cheeks, and he was looking at the floor. ‘No, thank you, ma tsmukan.’

After Spider left, you tried to get dressed. Putting on your loincloth was no problem, but your top was a little more difficult. Luckily, the top was just a bundle of ropes and vines that slipped over your head easily and didn’t have to be tied up.

You weren’t very excited to see Lo’ak today; you were still mad at him for hurting you. He was your best friend however, so you did want to wish him goodbye as he went for his iknimaya again. The walk toward the village was quiet, for neither you nor Spider had anything to say. For you it was because you were tired and feeling too many emotions at once. For Spider it was because he was nervous Lo’ak would be injured again.

When you reached the village, you could see the Sully siblings standing together as Lo’ak got ready for his rite of passage. Spider greeted them and you could hear them talking, but your mind was only focussed on your best friend who, as soon as he laid his eyes on you, looked you up and down, his eyes lingering longer on your injured shoulder. You raised your eyebrows at him and opened your mouth to snap at him when Kiri’s voice caught your attention. ‘How did you sleep? Are you still in pain?’

You turned to her and saw that she was crouched down to your height while Tuk was watching over her shoulder intently. You sighed as you shook your head. ‘I couldn’t sleep at all last night. My shoulder hurts and I couldn’t get comfortable because of this stupid sling.’

Kiri examined your shoulder carefully and you followed her gaze. Your skin was not just purple anymore; it had also turned a bit green. ‘I will harvest some paywll (dapophet) for you today. It will help with the healing,’ Kiri said.

You didn’t have time to thank her as Jake’s voice caught everyone’s attention. ‘It is time,’ he put a hand on his youngest son’s shoulder as he guided him towards a group of na’vi that were waiting for him. Everyone cheered for Lo’ak and wished him good luck, and even though you were mad at him, you felt sad that you didn’t get the chance to talk to him before he left. You could see him turn around and you made contact with his beautiful, yellow eyes. You mouthed a ‘good luck’, before he was turned around again and walked out of the village.

You didn’t feel like talking to anyone that day, so you went back to the lab and tried to get some sleep again. However, after lying in bed for two hours, sleep still didn’t come, so you decided to watch some movies to kill the time. Not even halfway into the movie you picked, you got up and paced around your bedroom. Even though you didn’t like it, your mind kept going back to Lo’ak. You were worried about him; what if he got thrown of that cliff again?

Throughout the day, you kept the same routine: watch a movie for about thirty minutes, pace and think about your best friend, try to watch a movie again, pace again, trying to clean your room, pacing again, etc, etc.

It was now getting dark, and you were laying on your bed, watching a movie again. You were so tired from overthinking and doing nothing all day, that you had started to drift off into sleep. You had just become comfortable when Spider busted through the door. You yelped as your eyes flew open and you immediately got up from your comfortable position.

‘Why do you always wake me up when I’m finally falling asleep?’ you asked as you put your hand on your chest, trying to calm down your racing heart.

‘Because Lo’ak is back,’ he said with a big smile on his face.

‘Is he alright?’ you asked hesitantly. Last time he returned, he nearly died. You wanted to make sure that you could celebrate.

Spider laughed at you and shook his head. ‘Yes, you skxwang. He is alright.’

You released a breath you didn’t realise you were holding. He was alright. He was alive! ‘Thank you, great Mother,’ you whispered under your breath.

‘So…,’ Spider started, raising his eyebrows. ‘Are you coming to the party?’ you knitted your brows at the thought of celebrating tonight. You were still mad at him, and you didn’t feel like celebrating at all.

‘I don’t know,’ you said softly. ‘I am really mad at him.’ 

‘Because he threw you?’

‘Yes, he hurt me! He promised me he would never hurt me,’ you pouted.

Spider sighed as he took a step toward you. ‘You know he feels really bad about it, right? He won’t stop telling me how sorry he is. He acted in the heat of the moment. And you kind of got in between two fighting na’vi, which isn’t very smart either,’ he looked down, mumbling the last part, knowing he was right but afraid you would be mad at him too.

You knew you shouldn’t have stepped in between the two brothers, but you weren’t thinking. You didn’t want them to hurt each other any further. On the other hand, Lo’ak probably wasn’t thinking either, which is probably why he threw you. You sighed. Maybe you should apologize to him. But on the other hand, he did hurt you bad. ‘But he hurt me,’ you said after a couple of seconds. ‘He broke his promise.’ You wanted to stay mad at him, but you couldn’t. Not today. Not when he finally finished his iknimaya, one of the most important events of his life.

‘But he is still your friend, y/n. Even if you stay for only ten minutes, it will mean a lot to him.’

You nodded, knowing Spider was right. You were going to the party, and you would congratulate Lo’ak on his achievement. Then you would go home and hopefully get some sleep.

Music could be heard as you neared the village. The sound of drums and bongos filled your ears, and you could see a large crowd of na’vi dancing to the music. The atmosphere was bright and festive, a sharp contrast to how you were feeling. You tried to make your way through the crowd without hurting your arm, while looking for your best friend. Because everyone was so much taller than you, you had to crane your neck to look at their faces. By doing so, you didn’t pay attention to where you were going, resulting in you bumping into a muscled back.

‘Oh, I’m sorry!’ you said as they turned around. You recognised them immediately: Rawm. Rawm was one of the best warriors of the clan, he often went on patrol with Neteyam. You looked up at him as his muscular frame towered over you, making you feel even smaller than you normally did.

‘You’re y/n, right? Lo’aks little girlfriend,’ he said with a grin. Rawm was a great warrior, and he knew it, which is why he was always so full of himself.

You sighed as you heard his friends laugh. You just realised they had come to stand around the two of you and it made you feel very uncomfortable. ‘He is not my boyfriend,’ you said through gritted teeth.

‘I guess not. You wouldn’t want to be mated to someone who treats you like la’ang (pile of stinking, rotting animal matter),’ he said, looking at your injured shoulder.

‘It was an accident!’ you were already annoyed because you didn’t want to be here, and the fact that you didn’t like Rawm very much didn’t help either. You had to bite your lip to hold back another snarl and you balled your hands, your fingernails digging half-moons into your palms.

Rawm noticed your attitude and he raised his hands in surrender. ‘Right, it was an accident, I’m sorry.’ You looked at the ground and sighed, not wanting to talk to him anymore. You just wanted to talk to Lo’ak and head back home. ‘Why don’t you have a drink with us?’ Rawm asked as he shoved a bowl in your hand, making some of the liquid spill over your hand.

You weren’t a fan of the fermented fruit the na’vi drank on special occasions like these. It tastes very sweet, but it has a bitter underlying taste to it. It was much stronger than the alcohol humans drink, your tiny body couldn’t even handle one portion. You drank it only once and woke up with a hangover the next day, while your friends were doing just fine.

You attemped to give Rawm the bowl back, but he pushed it toward you again. ‘I don’t drink,’ you stated as you tried to push it back.

The warrior hissed at you, still not taking the bowl. ‘You should drink some, maybe it would cheer you up. You are always so grumpy.’ You rolled your eyes at his comment and put the bowl to your lips. You weren’t planning on drinking tonight, but you wanted to get to Lo’ak as fast as possible. If drinking this meant Rawm would leave you alone and you could go to Lo’ak, you would chug it as fast as you could.

Rawm and his friends cheered you on as you took big gulps of the sweet but bitter liquid. You were over halfway through when you pushed the drink away from your lips, knowing you would feel nauseous if you had any more. You slammed the bowl into Rawm’s chest, making the liquid spill over his abdomen and tewng. ‘Here, I drank your stupid drink, are you happy now?!’

You could hear him hissing and shouting at you as you quickly walked away from him. You knew you’d better not pick a fight with the best warrior of the clan, but this night, you couldn’t care less. All you thought about was finding Lo’ak and apologizing to him and to finally have him in your arms again.  

As you made your way through the crowd, the effects of the drink started to kick in. You were starting to feel a bit dizzy, and everything felt like a blur. After a couple of minutes, you’ve searched through the whole crowd, but you couldn’t find your friend. There was only one place left for you to look, and that was his kelku. The closer you got to his kelku, the more muffled the music got, something that your head greatly appreciated, and when you finally reached the entrance, you heard voices coming from inside. You couldn’t make out what they were saying but you recognized Lo’aks voice immediately.

A smile formed on your face when you heard his voice and you stepped into the opening of his kelku. ‘Hey, Lo’ak, congratulations on your iknimaya. I wanted to- ‘you stopped dead in your tracks as your heart sank at the sight in front of you. Your smile faded immediately when you saw Lo’ak standing in the middle of the tent with his hands on another girl’s waist whilst he was kissing her.

Both na’vi stopped their kissing immediately when they heard your voice, and you could see shock forming on both of their faces. ‘Y/n-’ your best friend started as he moved toward you, but you put your hand up, stopping him quickly.

‘How dare you, Lo’ak? I have been looking for you all night long! There is a party going on for you and all you do is this?!’ you threw your hands in the air, signalling at the scene in front of you.

‘Y/n…,’ Lo’ak started to walk toward you again and tears welled up in your eyes. Nothing had hurt you more than seeing the love of your life kissing another girl. You were expecting him to be talking to his father, or celebrating with his siblings, but not… this. Your friend tried to grab your hands, but you pulled them away quickly. ‘Please, let me explain,’ he pleaded, ears clinging to his head in frustration.

‘No,’ you said as you felt a tear run down your cheek. ‘I don’t want to hear anything from you,’ you said, and with that, you left. You ran away from his kelku and through the crowd, pushing aside anyone who was standing in your way. You could hear Lo’ak calling your name behind you when you entered the quiet forest, but you chose to ignore him. The alcohol combined with the bioluminescence from everything around you made you dizzy, making it hard for you to orientate yourself. You ran as fast as your legs could carry you and it felt as if your heart was beating out of your chest. Your ears were ringing, but you could still hear that beautiful but annoying voice behind you.

You didn’t want to talk to Lo’ak. Not after you saw him kissing another girl. You knew you wouldn’t be able to mate with him, but it still hurt. You weren’t expecting him to find someone so quickly because he never talked about another girl. For you it felt like he had only eyes for you, and you thought other girls didn’t exist for him. You thought the moments you two spent together were special. You thought he sometimes even flirted with you. Oh, how delusional you were. Turns out he had feelings for another girl all along.

You were so lost in your thoughts that you didn’t hear the footsteps catching up to you. You were suddenly grabbed by your arm and pulled back, making you stop running and bump into a blue, muscled chest. Lo’aks chest. ‘Stop running away from me,’ he said harshly.

You took a couple of steps back, as far as the na’vi allowed you to while holding your arm in his iron grip. You were mere inches away from him and looking up to his face, you immediately locked eyes with him. His gaze was strong, and you felt your cheeks turn hot. Suddenly you couldn’t stop thinking about his hand that left a tingling sensation on your arm. The hand that had been on another girl’s waist just minutes before, you reminded yourself. His hand felt dirty now and you yanked your arm back as hard as you could, but ironically, it didn’t move an inch. Lo’aks grip of you tightened, but it didn’t hurt you, he made sure of that now.

‘Let me go!’ you snarled at him.

‘Not until you tell me what’s going on. Why are you running away from me?’ his voice turned a little softer when he asked you that. His gaze was still fierce, but you noticed worry started to appear.

‘Because you are such a prick, Lo’ak!’ you shouted as you tried to yank your arm again, but still, to no avail. Lo’ak didn’t tighten his hold this time, but he didn’t loosen it either. Instead, he pulled you a little closer. Not so close that your bodies were touching, but you could feel the heat coming off his body. The sensation made goosebumps run down your spine and your cheeks heat up again.

‘Oh yeah? Why?’ he asked as he narrowed his eyes, still looking intently into yours.

You didn’t mean to tell him everything, but your emotions combined with the alcohol in your blood made it hard to think properly, especially with his body this close to yours. ‘Because you were with another girl! I wanted to apologise to you for being so reckless when you fought with Neteyam, because it was not your fault. I shouldn't have stepped in between you two. It is my fault that I am hurt, not yours. I wanted to apologise so we could celebrate your victory together, like we were supposed to do. But instead, you decided your time was better spend kissing some other girl!’ Tears welled up in your eyes, but you tried to blink them back. No way you were going to cry in front of him.

‘I’m sorry I kissed her then! Why does it bother you so much?’ As soon as those words left his mouth, you couldn’t stop the tears from flowing down your cheeks. You looked down as you swallowed down a sob. You would have to tell him the truth. This was the moment you would ruin your friendship forever. Every moment spent with Lo’ak would just be a memory now. You bit your lip as you tried to find the courage to tell him how you truly felt. You looked up at him and took a shaky breath. His fierce eyes pierced into yours and you noticed something else in his gaze. Was it anger? Grief? Or was he nervous? You really couldn’t tell as your vision blurred from the tears in your eyes.

‘Because…’ you took another shaky breath, dread pooling into your stomach. ‘Because I love you, you skxwang.’

Lo’aks eyes widened, and he dropped down to his knees while still towering over you. He was silent, way too silent for your liking. You tried to read his face; it was plastered in shock. You didn’t know if it was a good sign or not. Your heartbeat started to quicken, and you didn’t dare look at him anymore, so you looked down at the ground. You messed up. For good.

‘I-I’m sorry,’ was all you could stammer. ‘I don’t know why I said that. You probably think I’m weird, because why would I fall for my best friend who isn’t even human. You don’t even like me. And I know I ruined our friendship- ‘you were cut off by his lips slamming onto yours. You stood still like that for a couple of seconds, registering the fact that he was kissing you. You snapped out of it quickly as his hand that was holding your arm, glided down to your hand, engulfing your tiny hand into his much larger one. You raised your heels do deepen the kiss, wishing your other arm wouldn’t be in a sling so you could throw your arm around his neck. You silently thanked the newest technology for making it possible for you to breath Pandoran air without a mask. Without a simple injection, you would never be able to kiss Lo’ak.

It was Lo’ak who finally broke the kiss. You both looked at each other, catching your breath from the long kiss. You looked at him with flushed cheeks. You didn’t know what to say. It was him who spoke first.

‘I love you too, y/n,’ his voice was barely above a whisper, and he squeezed your hand slightly. ‘I have loved you for as long as I can remember.’

A smile crept on your face while hearing this. So he had been flirting with you! But why was he kissing someone just minutes before?

‘But why did you kiss her?’ you asked.

Lo’ak sighed and bowed his head in shame. ‘I was afraid you wouldn’t have feelings for me. When I hurt you yesterday, I was sure I fucked up. I thought things between us would never be the same again, so I looked for another woman. I knew Vineya had feelings for me, and she is a great hunter, so I wanted to give it a chance. To forget you.’ He paused for a second before lifting his head again and looking into your eyes. His eyes were filled with hurt and shame, and it pained you to see him like this. ‘But I could never forget you, I am so sorry,’ he said.

You responded to him with a hug, resting your chin on his shoulder while standing on your tippy toes. ‘You are forgiven,’ you whispered. ‘I am sorry too. For putting myself in danger and for calling you a prick.’

The boy chuckled. ‘It’s okay. I deserved it.’

You shook your head and released him from your embrace. ‘No, you don’t deserve it, Lo’ak. You are a good man.’

He smiled at that and thanked you before grabbing your face in both of his hands and leaning down to kiss you again. You felt a blush creep on your cheeks as you returned the kiss.

Lo’ak broke the kiss and rested his forehead against yours, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. ‘Oel ngati kameie,’ he said.

Your stomach was filled with butterflies when you responded with a big smile. ‘Oel ngati kameie.’

[abbysimsfun]

Sims In Bloom: Heather & Conrad Gordon's Wedding Album (and A POLL!)

*If the wedding date is confusing because it's spring in game and it's 2025 not 2059, Heather and Conrad's wedding date is essentially just mashing up our timeline and their timeline for the sake of making a pic collage, and to commemorate that I promised things would be blissful again for them by Valentine's Day!

I also promised a poll! Since Heather didn't throw a bouquet to the two unmarried couples on the guestlist, the question is, who would have caught it and, per tradition, will be the next to get engaged?

Sound off with your opinions, I love to hear them with polls! And for the record Bella is also single, but she doesn't count. She can't marry Grim since this save started before Life & Death patched and I don't want to make Grim playable and possibly glitch everything. For storyline she's not interested in marriage to the Grim Reaper, anyway - just companionship and commitment.

Celebrations continue tomorrow with a wedding reception and talk about mysteries like time travel and medallions in jungle museums. ->

<- Previous Chapter | Gen 2 Start | Gen 2.1 Summary

Gen 1 Start | Gen 1 Summary

WCIF Poses: Heavily relied on Wedding Poses by @starrysimsie and @lemontrait, Siblings poses by @katverse, the Ultimate Family Portrait pack by @simmireen, Big Family poses by @traveling-sims. Also BommieSims' Childrens Day and llewella7's Big Groups Wedding Posepack, neither of which I can find online anymore.

The photos were placed on a free template in Canva. I tried to get Neal to pose properly and he refused so many times, I went with the outtake where he's giving a fist pump because at least he's excited. 😄

[myfictionaldreams]

Duke, Duchess and Knights // Mafia!Stucky x Fem!Reader

Summary: You get so lost in the fantasy dream that when it turns into a nightmare, you're not sure what reality is when you wake up screaming.

Requested by: @proseraphine - im sorry it's not exactly what you requested but I hope you like it regardless!

Tags: polyamory, angst, fluff, nightmares, panick attack, crying, mentions of murder, fantasy au, comfort

Words: 2.1 k

my masterlist 📚 AO3 Link

There’s a mixture of muffled, panicked voices as you drift between sleep and reality.

“Doll, wake up! You’re just dreaming; listen to me, you need to wake up!”. The voice shouting for you to wake up sounded recognisable, but something more high-pitched was covering the sound of the voice you wanted to drift further towards. Someone was screaming, terrifyingly loud and shrill, and it took a couple of breaths to realise that it was you who sounded so frightened and fearful.

Upon this realisation, the unconscious world you’d been trapped in disappeared as you came back to full consciousness, attempting to sit bolt upright but found that you were being held up already. With the seconds it took for your eyes to dart around at your surroundings, you became aware of a few things.

One that Bucky was currently sitting in the middle of the bed with you between his legs, your head resting back against his shoulders and back against his chest as he wrapped his strong arms around your body to keep you in position. Two, that Steve was kneeling in front of you, his eyes so fearfully large and face drained of any colour as he reached to cup your face.

Everything felt incredibly disorienting; the room was spinning, and dark patches were edging around your eyesight. Not only that, but you were in uncomfortable pain, specifically in the centre of your chest and throat, presumably from the screaming you’d been doing for god-knows how long. There also seemed to be an unsettling amount of fluids coating your face and body, and only then did you realise that you were also crying hysterically.

“Baby, look at me. I need you to listen to me and take a deep breath, " Steve instructs, panic coating every word he speaks, only adding to your fear that something is incredibly wrong.

You try, though. Try to open your mouth to take a breath, but it felt like someone was wrapping their hands around your lungs so that you couldn’t draw a breath. The lack of air added to your disorientation and dizziness, feeling like you were trapped in your own body.

The hands around your face tightened to bring your attention back to Steve as he rolled his shoulders and attempted to relax his facial features to look as calm as possible. “Keep looking at me, Sweetheart. Now, I want you to try again and take a deep breath, slowly, like this” he then proceeds to take a deep, slow breath through his nose and out of his mouth.

You try and copy but still find it a struggle to open your lungs as your body seems to be still trapped within the state of fear caused by your nightmare. A chaste kiss to the side of your head captures your attention as a different voice begins to talk from behind, “It’s okay. I’ve got you, Mama. Breath in nice and slow and out through your mouth”, Bucky repeats Steve instructions as he continued to hold you. Only then did you realise that he was forcing his chest to move up and down to mimic the slow breathing, giving you something to ground yourself to and copy the movements yourself.

The next breath that you take is shaky but enough to fill your lungs that you can release a desperate sob.

“That’s good, really good. But I need you to do it a few more times for me. That’s it, breathe in again and out slowly, " Steve instructs, giving you a soft smile that would have melted your heart in any other circumstance.

Each breath had the tightness easing in your chest as you began to relax into Bucky’s hold until you could breathe without the fear of becoming trapped by a panic attack. However, as your breathing eased, this gave you the energy to pathetically sob and weep, reaching to grip both Steve and Bucky’s arms, needing to feel their warmth and touch.

“Shhh, it’s ok, we’re here. We aren’t going anywhere. You’re safe, Baby girl”, Steve spoke delicately, his voice audible over a whisper as he made you feel safe in the room with him and Bucky.

“I- I- Thought- It felt so real-” you choke on the words tumbling out. Everything was so intense and overwhelming that even though you knew you weren’t in any danger, the hysterics continued. Bucky rocked his body gently to try to calm you down as Steve’s thumbs attempted to catch the endless flow of tears, but eventually, his hands were soaked, and he used the corner of the blanket on the bed to dry your face.

“Try to relax for us. Whatever you dreamt about wasn’t real; none of it was true. You’re safe with me and Steve, and you always will be”, Bucky reassures as he pulls your body closer to his so you are in a tight cocoon of his arms around your waist.

Steve inches forward as well, pressing his bare chest against your face and arms around the back of Bucky’s so that you are in a boyfriend's sandwich. The warmth surrounded every part of you, like they were human radiators, calming you down to the centre of your being. The hysterical sobs quieted enough that you were now only sniffling with hiccups, attempting to manage your emotions adequately to lean into them further.

Your eyes were sore and slightly swollen, and your throat was burning from the screaming and crying. It had been such a long time since a nightmare had rocked you to the very core like this; however, usually, it was due to something from your past, not the fantasy journey your unconscious mind seemed to take you to.

“It’s so stupid”, you admit after a couple of silent minutes, nuzzling your aching face into the shoulder of Steve, savouring further his warmth and muscles that flexed at the action.

Steve leans back slightly but only to kiss your temple carefully, “What’s stupid?” he asks.

“My dream or, I guess, my nightmare. Whatever it was, it was so stupid to overreact the way I have, but it just felt so real”.

Bucky shifted the arms around your waist so his metal fingers interlocked with your smaller hand, cradling it and drawing circles in your palm with his thumb. “Doll, whatever your nightmare was about, it’s not stupid, especially to have frightened you this much. You know we’ll always be here for you, whether you want to tell us what happened or not. But, from my personal experiences with nightmares, it might feel better to talk to someone”.

You sigh, knowing he was right and you’d had to do this exact sort of care with him on multiple occasions when he had nightmares from his past as an assassin. Taking a steading breath and letting the air out slowly through your mouth, you tilted your upper body to look up and between your two boyfriends to begin explaining your dream.

“You both…died. I mean- we all died in the nightmare, but I had to watch you both die first” As you remembered the horror of seeing the light leave Steve and Bucky’s eyes, a tear escaped yours, landing on Bucky’s arm. “I only woke up from the nightmare because I died in the dream and could hear you both shouting. I thought it was some sort of weird afterlife that I’d fallen into”.

Steve dips his face lower to meet yours, his nose nudging the very tip of yours, drawing a smile to your lips at the soft touch. “That’s not stupid at all. It was all just a dream; we’re very much still alive. Don’t worry about that, Sweetheart”.

Sighing, you close your eyes for a moment, not because of the sadness quickly easing away from your tense limbs but because you remembered the rest of your dream. Each of your cheeks warmed in embarrassment as you avoided looking either of them in the eye. “It’s not the death that was the stupid part; it was just the part that scared me the most. I was quite enjoying the rest of the dream before all of the death, but you’re going to think it’s silly2.

Steve and Bucky share a confused look between themselves. “Anything you tell us won’t be silly or stupid. You’ve seen what Stevie here draws in his spare time.  Can’t be more silly than monkeys riding on unicycles.” Bucky tries to cheer you up, and it works as you giggle against his chest as Steve gives his boyfriend a deadpan head tilt.

As you look between the blonde and brunette Mafia men, you already know you will regret telling them. “Promise me that you won’t laugh at me”.

“Baby, there’s no way I’m laughing at anything you say, especially after just watching you nearly have a panic attack”, Steve concludes as Bucky nods with his words.

Trying to breathe away the tension in your body, you begin to tell them the intricate details of your dream that consequently shifted to your worst nightmare. It was a land you’d never heard of before, thick with orange-shaded trees as Autumn drew in. You were in a ridiculously lavish dress. Steve sat beside you in his golden attire as the carriage rocked with the uneven path.

You were the Duchess of the land whilst Steve was the Duke. The two of you were targets for many dark forces, which was where Bucky came into the dream, saving you both on your travels as attackers went for the carriage. Thankfully, Bucky, a local knight, had saved the two of you, and eventually, as the dream spilt through snippets of a relationship, the duo became a trio. It was all whimsical and light-hearted as it seemed to parallel your life with both of them, but it was in this fantasy universe.

The dream, however, started to darken into a nightmare as the three of you were captured by the forces who had been seeking to find you and Steve. “I don’t know, it was like some sort of fantasy novel in my head, and it was all so peaceful, but then everything changed so quickly. I had to watch you both be killed by Bucky’s own sword, which then was shoved into my chest just before I woke up”.

As you recalled their fictional deaths, you visibly shook as fear began to spark through your body once more. Steve moved first, kissing your cheek a few times to help keep that anxiety away, “Well, it was all just a dream, nothing to be frightened of, Sweetheart. And that wasn’t stupid or stilly, was it, Bucky?” Steve asks his boyfriend with a glare.

You look up, confused by the negative look from Steve, only to find Bucky holding in a laugh as he nods but then cracks, releasing a light-hearted laugh. You release the hold on his hand but only so you can swat at his shoulder, even more embarrassed than before as you look towards the wall, away from them both.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, it’s just - what kind of an idiot gets killed by his own sword?” Bucky asks, laughing and causing you to sway on the bed as his chest vibrates with his chuckles.

Despite the embarrassment, you couldn’t help the smile teasing your lips, “You told me you wouldn’t laugh!”

“I’m sorry; I promise I’ll stop laughing; just give me time to process this all”. Taking a deep breath, Bucky attempts to compose himself, but as soon as you both catch eye contact again, the three of you laugh at the entire situation.

“At least we know Bucky’s a dumbass in this world and your dreams”, Steve casually mentions as he kisses beneath your jaw.

“Hey! At least I had a sword; your lazy ass still needed saving, even in her dreams. What does that say about you?” Bucky counters, making you laugh even harder and cling to both men.

“For two of the most powerful people in Brooklyn, you really are just a couple of goofballs”, you say whilst lovingly cupping both of their faces, kissing each of them in turn. “Thank you for helping me through my panic attack”.

“You’re most welcome, your royal duchess. Your noble knight will always be here to protect you”, Bucky joked in an emphasised lower tone that only caused you to laugh harder.

Steve rolls his eyes, but you can see his attempts at trying to hide his smile as he looks between Bucky and you. “I do think we need to stop watching Game of Thrones before bed”.

[fisshbones]

Sunday’s little bird 🪶

A/n: first and probably only attempt at yandere, blurb, likely ooc, not proofread, tbh i hate how fhis came out, written before I finished 2.1 or started 2.2 Gn! Reader

(set in an already established relationship)

Cw: yandere, kidnapping, toxic relationship, manipulation, lowkey naive reader, drugs, birds, hinted animal death.

Sunday had a pretty little pet bird that he named after you. The bird’s feathers are the same color as your hair. The bird is treated like royalty. A big beautiful white cage, for when it’s misbehaving or sleeping. But if you ask for the bird’s name he’d just say some random name. He fears he’ll weird you out knowing that he named an animal after you.

Somewhere down the road Sunday starts to wonder about the possibility of keeping you in the cage instead of the bird. After all if you were caged you would be safe. He couldn’t stand the thought of losing you, not after he lost his sister too. Locking you up just seems like the safest option. Would you forgive him for locking you up? He hopes you will because it’s his only option..

He starts having you come over and help him take care of his little birdy-you. It’s his tactic on helping you acclimate to your future home. You’ve been to his home many times, the only thing that’s different is taking care of his little bird. While you’re getting acclimated with your future roommate, Sunday is out making arrangements for people to ‘attack’ you. He knows you won’t willingly stay caged, so he needs to scare you. Every time you’ve gone out for the last few weeks you’ve been threatened, attacked, or robbed. Without fail Sunday is always there to comfort you, like the sweet loving boyfriend that he is.

After a particularly bad attack he brought you home and patched you up. He gave you some pain killers and helped you to bed so you’d feel better in the morning. The following day you would awake to a chain around your ankle, locked in the big beautiful white cage, with your feathery roommate in your food dish. After you’re done eating your breakfast, he’ll help you bathe and get you dressed in some pretty white clothes. You will forever be Sunday’s pretty little dove now.

As always likes, comments, & reblogs are appreciated <3 Also please send in inspo :((

Song that i listen to while writing this -> Bernadette (post romanian storm) iamx

[jabberwockprince]

how can I put into words just how mad I am at Kimberly/Anjo Nala's writing, like. no wonder people boil her down to sad depressed baby uwu cringe girlfailure, because all of 2.2 insists on telling you that she's all of that, but then they show you completely different things, the disconnect is insane

this is just me rambling abt r99, I love this game dearly, all my anger comes from a place of I Cant Get This Game Out Of My Head

if you haven't read 2.0 and 2.1, you're going to miss literally the way she:

Happily toys with her targets, taunting Matilda and Joe while they're on the verge of death

Kills Hollick in cold blood while having fun

Is cunning enough to find ways around the orders she gets from that Disciple because of the language barrier / distract Vertin & Argus enough with crocodile tears to cast a teleport skill and get away

in Tristes Tropiques, you're told that she saves Vertin to repay her kindness--you're not given context for this within the Main Story, and this "kindness" is just. letting her leave. this doesn't warrant the attachment Kimberly gets to Vertin in this chapter at all, she has a more meaningful convos with WHITE RUM and LOPERA than VERTIN

2.2 attempts to justify her actions by reminding you that she is a victim of people who use her as a toy and a slave, but it fails to take responsibility for the way THIS patch and ALL PREVIOUS ONES demonstrate that she's still a succubus, a creature whose moral compass is based on the binary of "if I don't like you, then I can kill you. but I won't hurt the people I like because I like them. easy"

again, she kills Hollick so casually, she leaves Joe mortally wounded in front of an injured Matilda and doesn't give a SINGLE fuck about it because she's hungry and was following orders

it's so BORING to see her being reduced to "sad sopping wet cat" by the fandom, but of course this happens, because that's all you get if you only consume the main story at face value, which does not bring up the REST OF HER CHARACTER AS WE'VE SEEN HER

2.2 expects me to believe Kimberly's debt to Vertin was so great that it justifies her attachment to Vertin thru the entire patch, it fails to remind you how this attachment was born because It's Quite Literally A Nothingburger. and you can think of this as "Kimberly has never been shown an OUNCE of respect and dignity in her life, so she will latch onto the FIRST person to do the BARE MINIMUM even if its unreasonable"--but that nameless Manus lady from her own character trailer tells her not to return to the toy because she sees how painful it is for Kimberly, and then Kimberly just goes MONSTER FORM to sleep at the foot of the bed. BUT BY THE END OF THE TRAILER, EVERYONE IN THIS MANUS GROUP EXCEPT MS GRACE HAS BEEN KILLED

and this doesn't work etiher, because we then learn that Kimberly has had a fulfilling and loving life in the heartfelt home, that she found people who cared about her. and we know how guarded she is, every fucking time something happens or someone unfamiliar shows up, Kimberly is SO READY to pull her claws out

I talked about this with some friends earlier and they're so fucking right, it FEELS like they're exclusively focusing on the good aspects of Kimberly that would make you empathize with her and PURPOSEFULLY ignoring the rest of the nuance in her character JUST because they can't allow a Limited 6* to be morally complex or, god forbid, do Horrible Things with a smile on her face. which sounds insane because we have characters like Tuesday, but out of all three limiteds we have, you can see they only took a risk with Lucy, who is also in my opinion the most well-rounded, interesting and cohesive character out of them (not counting 2.5's Liang bc I haven't finished that patch yet teehee)

there's so much emphasis on her sister on all promotional content, but then they also fail to deliver ANYTHING satisfactory on the writing bc everything related to Mata Hari is condensed to one line of "I don't want to be like my sister" and then the Paths of the Past tidbits. there are SO MANY THINGS but none of them work together to form a cohesive, solid patch its INSANE. Lopera is underused, Kimberly is all over the place, Zeno / Igor's motivations were weakly explained and there was zero set up for it other than the vague shit you get in 2.1 , Sotheby is abandoned one quarter into the story as soon as the Duncan / Karson thing is "resolved" and like, this also happened to Lilya in 2.1 but Lilya at least did a handful of things other than to exist so that we can get a sad moment of Sotheby recognizing Mr Karson in Duncan

like. this patch is so undercooked and so dependant on so much extra information you have to learn from events that are NOT going to come back IN MONTHS? which is wild, because the apeiron-vienna-vereinsamt arc is RIGHT there, they do it PERFECTLY there????? what the fuck HAPPENED to 2.2 SPECIFICALLY THAT MADE IT. LIKE THIS?

[ihaveforgortoomany]

Heres a CN spoiler filled suitcase speculation (even less concrete since we don't have translated anecdotes and MAJOR SPOILERS for 1.9 onwards!)

(Random bit: what the hell is with Constantine's shoes? I just remembered someone posting about it, wdym shes got a belt hooking the under side of her heels? Why? I wanna see someone (Vertin) just trip her up, for funnises)

Alright - Isolde and Tuesday after being screened by the Foundation become residents of the suitcase with loads of restrictions, even more for Tuesday with the information about the motel. It was likely deemed keeping them there was the best decision, as in its now the Timekeeper's problem to deal with the murder lesbians.

Kakania as seen with the post-journey art is likely following/ accompanying Marcus as her assistant (or something like that, all we can say deffo is that Kakania will actively avoid Isolde, like that one Wilderness interaction oh god thats so sad).

Lucy joins the suitcase after being demoted (or holiday idk), makes modifications to her appearance as more human-like (her insight 2 design).

(Again with the post-journey art, everyone is on holiday except Vertin lol)

Can't say much on Argus so far, need their anecdote but likely after discovering whatever the truth was with Kayla.

Joe, Pioneer, Mercuria AND Sputnik likely join later after the events of 2.0,2.1,2.2 since Vertin is in Brazil and Matilda's journey was just before Vertin reached Texas. Similar thing with Barbara unless we see her in 2.2.

Still no idea on Eternity, but likely she joins the suitcase wayyyy later since we know Matilda is a frequent visitor (cough. victim) of the suitcase and had not met Eternity until 2.0. Already confirmed she joined at least some point after Marcus with their comic.

Its actually very convenient to pair up Lilya and Vertin to travel long distances, the only downside being if Red-38 suffers damages then they are on foot.

For the 2.2 gang, Anjo likely under goes the process of testing and watching similar to Isolde, Tuesday and Jessica (if anything shes probably the nicest and safest person to be stuck in a room out of the lot, unless shes under orders to kill you or somethin). It will be interesting when she joins since we now can confirm she met Matilda and Joe, how Joe and Anjo might interact after 2.0 and Argus after 2.1.

Mr Duncan and White Rum I would say the same deal, join after a while. Mr Duncan is the most interesting since its confirmed he is human and with the Umbrella from 1.9 he will be the second human Vertin saves if a Storm comes to Brazil (I have a feeling it might tbh, either this patch or next). Potentially the first human to survive the Storm in the suitcase with the Umbrella maybe?

We now know the suitcase can change format so maybe big big lore implications here once we get the ability to change the lobby (wild guess if Bessmert Martha Urd is the original owner of the suitcase maybe teaches Vertin how to? Or she just meets someone who knows about it?)

[felonytaxevasion]

Arc 2 Damages

Catching up on my horribly behind Pact Annotations 😔

2.1

“Blake,” Rose said. “It’s fine. It’s done, you’re in charge, I’m the backup. You want me to keep the criticisms to the most vital points? Fine. You want me to do the research and supplement what you’re doing, fine. You win.” “I don’t want to win. I want us to be on the same page.” “The same page? You got the power, I got… this. How do you have a partnership if things are this unequal? Let’s face it. Look at what happened to Molly. Grandmother is willing to use us as expendable assets. I’m nothing more than a piece in a greater puzzle. I’ll serve my role, and the road ends there. I’m the most expendable one of us.”

I severely SEVERELY doubt this Rose. Like I don't want to invalidate your feelings here but I feel like if you were a normal vestige you would also be named Blake and not y'know. Rose 2. Like presumably she got to root around for whatever reality she wanted so she not only picked girl Blake but she picked girl Blake who is named after herself.

Like Ivy is not named Rose. Presumably it was not your parents first choice. Though actually I do wonder about that. Was there a rule in reality proper about not naming your kids after Rose Sr. That feels like a really obvious appeal tactic I'm surprised none of them went for it.

“I don’t deny that they’re fucked up. But grandmother lived. She hit the ripe old age of eighty-five, and I doubt you do that while messing with stuff like this if you’re dumb. Besides, dumb people aren’t the type to spend the kind of power it takes to make a sapient being, only to throw it away like you’re talking about.”

Yes exaaactly

She shook her head. “No. Nothing. The early ones… I sort of skipped past the earliest diaries, because a child’s writing is hard to read in big doses. Some stuff on the relationships between the different groups here. But if you’re looking for tips on where to focus our studies, we may have to look a bit further.”

Very curious if the pages Rose read were the pages we got in the last interlude. I feel like the knowledge of why she didn't induct her children is valuable data to have. So if Rose knows it and isn't sharing that's suspicious. But also she might just not know. There's no way of knowing if the interlude is what she read. Deceptive and wiley Mr Wildbow

Cheap side-mirrors were about four dollars for a pair, round mirrors about six inches across. I checked that I could see Rose inside and grabbed twenty. I think she might have actually smiled, when I glimpsed her.

:)

His mother was forty and looked ten years older, by the condition of her skin and hair, her arms full with a bundle of shirts with superheroes on them.

WHICH SUPERHEROS??? A NOBLE BUG CONTROLLING GIRL WITH BIG WET EYES PERHAPS???

“Fine,” I said. “Let me give the basket to the cashier-” “Don’t be an asshole,” Callan said. “Go put it all back on the shelves and racks.”

This is so fucking funny. According to Blake and Rose Callan is a horrible asshole who conspires to ruin the lives of those around him for his own gain. But he draws the fucking line at being rude to service workers.

Three of the ribbons stood out from the rest. Too straight, too narrow. They were like spears that had penetrated Callan, Aunt Irene and Christoff and plunged into me. Forced connections between us. Too direct to be natural. Someone had aimed them at me.

The other funny possibility is that the DuChamps specific brand of fuckery said "bother Blake as much as possible while helping the average citizens of Jacobs Bell"

The girl smiled, giving me a look. Confident, brash, if I remembered right from the vision. Her brother kept his eyes straight forward, watching the ground for slick patches and lumps of snow he might stumble on. He was burdened down with bags of stuff, while she strutted.

Very interested to see how their relationship ends up paralleling or contrasting Blake and Rose's

Also I'm trying so hard to picture them as normal humans but at some point my brain decided to see them as the green haired Betty spaghetti villains from DreamWorks Trolls. It's making it very hard to take them serious

She would be the Briar Girl. No other name. A recent addition to the local population, as of six years ago. She apparently lived full-time in the woods and marshes behind Hillsglade House. Grandmother’s suspicion? She had contracted with a familiar too powerful for her to handle, creating something that was less a partnership than a practitioner dominated by the spirit. The bear-thing would be the familiar, the stick her implement.

She's very Rachel adjacent in a way

Maggie Holt, the girl with the checkered scarf. She was a teenager, making her slightly younger than the Briar Girl, and her eyebrows made her look perpetually angry, helped by a swift, graceless manner of walking.

Too an extent it really feels like Wildbow is taking maximum advantage that his reader base is coming from worm and hoping/expecting a new group of unruly young adults forming a found family via rebelling against authority like the Undersiders. Like at this point in the story it's so easy to imagine Laird as the sort of Armsmaster equivalent and Blake Rose Johannes Maggie and Briar unionizing to take him down. It's a clever misdirection and a compelling argument for reading the Wildbow Chronicles in order of writing

2.2

Vestige? “Of Rose?” the North End Sorcerer asked, his eyebrows raised. “Yes,” Padraic spoke out loud, at the same Laird said, “I don’t think so.”

I also have lots of questions about how much of Rosie is Blake and how much is Rose Sr

That being said. I don't think Padraic is the best judge of these things.

“Well,” he said. “Let’s get this out of the way. Who’s interested in taking the deal?” Wait. What? “Not seeing any raised hands,” Laird said. “It’ll be good if we get this out of the way, before it gets messy.”

You know maybe it was unfair to Laird to compare him to Victoria Dallon. He seems like he actually uses his brain to strategize sometimes.

“My rose has done what she aimed to,” Padraic said. “You’ve offended two of us, Aimon Behaim. Johannes and me both.” “I’m not Aimon, my name is Laird,” Laird said. Padraic looked a touch annoyed at being corrected. “Aimon, Laird, Lame Airhard, no matter. You’ve wounded me, ignoring me in this critical moment. I have far more to lose than you, don’t I? An immortal lifespan, against, what, thirty more of your years? Twenty of your wife’s? Sixty two of one daughter’s, fifty one of another, one of a son’s life? Add them together for your family as they are now and you have, what?”

If I were in Pact I would 100% die to some Padraic related shenanigan. He's so cool and funny. I like that he's kind of an ally to Blake and Rose by complete accident just on the grounds of being incredibly inconvenient for everyone else around him.

Also he seems to like Rose Sr lots so I'm excited to learn the history there. I hope they kissed. Not in a shipping way just in a I think the concept of an incredibly dangerous Diablerist and an exiled Fairie Prince having a terrible awful fling with no redeeming qualities has lots of comedic potential

Johannes and Maggie. North End Sorcerer and the girl with the checkered scarf. And, I had to note, a small contingent of goblins. The dog walked alongside Johannes, through slush and snow, the long hair not getting wet or dirty. Johannes wore a white coat, and it was pristine.

In a better world they could have been a fun sequel to Aisha and Alec. Which I say not to imply these characters are actually similar to Aisha and Alec. Just that they could have been a fun kind of different spin on that character archetype/friendship dynamic

2.4

“Being more honest means you stock up more goodwill with the universe and any others you meet. Borderline dishonesty is useful, lying by omission is better yet, and unvarnished honesty is better still. I can’t quite interpret it, but perhaps you were joking? Sarcasm?”

Nooo don't take away his sarcasm it's one of his most charming traits

“A vestige is fragile. Defy the natural order, and the vestige suffers.” “And a damaged vestige drains energy,” I said, glancing at Rose.

👁️👁️

2.5

“You’re wrong,” she said. “The things they conjure up are there. They’re fabricated, and it’s this affinity for things that have been crafted that helps the Faerie avoid being touched so easily by fabricated things. With glamour, the Faerie might create an image of a flower. It’s an image. But as they put power into it, it gains substance. As people see it and recognize it, they feed power into it. Plant that flower in a garden, leave it be, and it will grow as any flower might. It becomes a part of the garden, and the garden adapts. It adapts to the viewers, becoming what they want and expect to see. A two way street. Given opportunity, it becomes as much of a part of things as if it was always there.”

In my friend groups discord we have a custom emoji called So In The Chronicles that is deployed when one of us wants to go on a long spiel about something related to World of Darkness or Chronicles of Darkness

"Anyway imagine that right here. I'm not gonna get into it but just know I'm thinking it. Also I really wanna try and bait my Chronicles friend into reading Pact As your partner Rose already said, they’re weak against the unrefined, against crude things. That includes attitudes."

OH BLAKE YOULL BE SO GOOD AT THIS

“Yes,” she said. “Ornias. He once placed stars in the firmament, but he now calls them down to earth. Say his name seven times.” “Perfect. Ornias,” I said. “Jesus penis fuck, Blake, no,” Rose said.

LMAO

I was just grabbing this passage because they keep bringing up Ornias later and I wanted to note what's said about him but now I also want to keep a record of Rose saying Jesus Penis Fuck

Also idk if Wildbow would even want to get into it but how exactly does religion work here. Like if belief gives power and names call forces would a genuine devout Christian be protected by invoking Jesus or God? Many such questions

“Stupid, fucking, impractical sword!”  I hit the weapon instead.  As she leaped back, she couldn’t  move it out of the doorframe.  One downward swing, and the pipe struck the blade. It broke in four different places along the length.

I think I understand the glamour stuff really well but I wish I didn't because now I'm thinking about how easy it would be to reverse engineer a magical girl into Pact world. Like you get a young practitioner raised on precure in here, give her a fairy familiar and put a focus on glamour and transformation and you could get a precure duo practitioner and familiar. They could even have a fancy glitter wand as their impliment

“-nament,” I finished. “Ornament.” No fucking way was I ever saying that name a seventh time.

Does he just have to say it once from now on or does the count eventually get set back to zero. Cause idk about Blake but I would definitely at some point make the mistake of saying it when recounting this incident to someone else later and summoning the guy

“I think I see why she might have picked you,” Ms. Lewis said. “Blake was picked, then?” Rose asked. “It’s not just him being the second heir?” “I already said too much. Take your prize, Blake.”

👁️👁️

I really need to stop using the eyes they're not saying anything really but like what can I say to this. What does this MEAN lewis

“Mom! Fine! Stop- stop and listen, don’t call it a favor, then. Call it a repayment of the favor you owe me for taking Jo to her six-in-the-damn-morning dance lessons for the last half a year.”

You know I have to say there's a certain point at which feminity** in fiction just becomes so boring. Like speaking as Femme Lesbian. Like Padraic and the other fairies are a really fun feminine in the sense that they're pretty Fairie Royalty who like to dress in pretty clothes and flirt. But they're also horrible drunks who could kill and probably wouldn't do it in a clean way. There would be blood and stuff

The DuChamps seemed fun at first, being an all girl line of practitioners, but then you give them the least messy practice, they all take fairies as familiars, and now they also do Ballet and get grossed out at Blake's Spit and Blood. Also I don't think being white and blond is a feminine thing but it's another contributing factor in making them turbo boring to me

**also obligatory I am a non binary femme lesbian using short hand gendered phrases to express abstract personal concepts of gender please don't take this as a "Tumblr user felonytaxevasion thinks feminity is composed of dressing nice and hating spit and also that men can't be fairies or do ballet" or anything like that please I will kill myself

2.6

Gonna start speed running some commentary I don't think I have much to say about the rest of this arc

I'm very sad about Lewis saying Blake is going to die soon but I'm also not convinced he won't beat the odds so I don't have much to say on that

I turned to look. A girl in a checkered scarf, sitting on the stairs by the front door. “Maggie,” Rose said.

MAGGIE I LOVE YOU MAGGIE

The little dagger had a funny blade, wavy. It looked more decorative than useful. “What is it?” I asked. “Kriss-style athame. It’s used a lot in Wicca, but that’s more because this one guy was a blade aficionado. I like it more for its roots as a sacrificial blade.” “You do much sacrificing?” Rose asked. “Nah. But I like the old stuff, the mysteries, the biblical stories about God as a deity of sacrifice and blood. It resonated with me.”

On the topic of gender this is a really fun Maggie gender moment. The next chapter talks about implements and how swords and weaponry are representative of Masculinity to others. And Maggie uses a knife, small sword, but the blade is curved simultaneously disrupting the """"phallic""""" imagery and also interrupting a knifes traditional purpose of slashing and stabbing.

But then also also she chose the knife specifically for its historical roots in violence but specifically organized violence used as a means to an end (sacrifice). Incredible but if character building I think especially in combination with how she's tied to Molly

Not much to say on Gathered Pages as of This Moment

2.7

“This is exhausting,” Rose said. “Watching every word you say, watching every word others say…”

Hey world building question if a practitioner declared "I'm about to lie now" would they be able to then lie without being forswarn for doing so. What if you lie and then follow it with "what I just said was untrue" does lying and admitting it count for anything

If you can't lie even while declaring you're about to lie then "I'm about to lie" is an automatic out because if you don't lie after then you've lied right then

If I forget something and lie on accident but to the best of my knowledge do they still get me?

I think I would either be a great practitioner or explode myself on day 1 no in between

“That’s her stuff, there?” Maggie asked. I had to raise myself up off the couch a bit to see where she was pointing. The duffel bag and pile of clothes was still on the floor just beneath the arm of the couch. I collapsed back onto the cushions. “Yep.” “Didn’t really know her that well. Saw her a few times. She didn’t show at the council meetings until the last month, and I don’t think she was game. Took her longer than it took you guys to realize you can go out and maybe not die.”

Not to be that annoying guy that makes everything about shipping but what if they had a doomed Yuri moment. I know Maggie killed her. That's a pro not a con

Speaking of

“Maggie Holt is the one who orchestrated the attack on your cousin, Molly Walker. She had command of several goblins and ordered them to strike her and leave her alive. She did it at our behest, in exchange for small favors, gifts of power and offers of knowledge.”

Highlighting to myself the "leave her alive portion" that could mean the goblins didn't listen. That Molly simply bled out after the goblins left, or that someone else did the killing blow. Interesting phrasing and I wish literally anyone asked for more details

“Doesn’t count, or we’d be lying every passing second. Blake, she wasn’t even a person to me. They talked her up, big bad diabolist who didn’t know what she was doing. I only really talked to her after I ordered the attack, saw how she wasn’t doing anything except defending herself, and I realized what I’d done. I tried to call it off, but it doesn’t work that way.”

How long was the attack??? Multiple days?? Just one night???? Many a question left unanswered about Molly Walker

Okayyy cutting off liveblogging here I have a lot of feelings about Maggie backstory but not a ton of thoughts phrased into sentences about it

Also I have like five more chapters to finish annotations for oops. I might run through three pretty quick I have a lot more to say about 4 and 5

[the-blossica-fan]

Busy today, woah, what even is living

Either way, I was playing 2.2 and to be honest, it's not as bad as I expected. I must have lowered my standards after everyone else had their fair share of insulting it, but to me, it felt like home. I'm not Brazilian however, so that's not what I'm going to talk about.

I want to ramble a little bit about an Nala Hari, Anjo Nala, or better known as Ms. Kimberly. I'm not good at talking about representation or anything, but I kinda wanna talk about 2.0-2.1-2.2

Anjo Nala's character is a difficult one to catch. Back in 2.0, we viewed her as irredeemably evil, a demon that stood in the way of our loved characters, killed a fellow friend and almost killed a fan favorite. Back then, she was pure evil to us.

In 2.1, we view her as weak. She lives trembling, talking about eating, food and hunger, she looks weaker and doesn't possess even the slightest of threat to us, like a completely different character. This naturally surprises us, but then, she turns, and we view her again as evil.

In 2.2, she is redeemed, but we don't really know how or why. She simply tags along, saved Vertin's life and we even learn more about her as we go. Now, that's a thing to talk about after I finish her story. What I mean to say is:

She's been in three patches, is her build up properly made?

Not really.

In 2.0, she's an antagonist. For my taste, a boring one as well. We didn't know much of her back then, but the fact that we didn't fight the building threat but a new one didn't sit me right. I thought her appearance was sudden, but I could push past that.

In 2.1, I was glad to see her again, but without being such a boring antagonist and a more compelling, interesting character. I loved her appearance here, playing with that soft face of hers, the way she spoke and how genuine words and falsity could be hardly discerned in her words. To me, this paper suited her much more, I knew she wasn't that evil anyway.

My problem with her lies on her introduction trailer. Anjo Nala's trailer, Code Name: Kimberly.

For those who haven't played 2.0 and 2.1, the shocking reveal that Anjo Nala is Ms Kimberly is nothing. They didn't have that confusion or mixed feelings from her appearance at the beginning, they just see Anjo, they never met Kimberly.

Her introduction trailer is a mess too. If you didn't know who she was before, then her trailer is slightly confused. Are you supposed to know her? If you saw the 2.1 trailer, you certainly know her, but you don't know her introduction, and her character relies heavily on 2.0 and 2.1 to be endearing.

Without knowing 2.0, how would you know why she appeared? Without knowing 2.1, how would you know why Vertin and Anjo know each other?

2.0 may not be that important, but 2.1 is. Only if we played through that event we know why we're in Sao Paulo. We met Barbara on Tuesday's Motel, she told us about Urd's last connection in Sao Paulo, and we went to Sao Paulo. From 1.9 back in the island to 2.2 in Sao Paulo, there is a missing piece in between filled by 2.1, but 2.1 is an event that isn't obligatory to play.

Those who didn't play it have a big gap between the two.

My problem isn't really with the representation, I'm not Brazilian and it stuck close to my own home so I don't have many problems with it. My problem also doesn't rely on the messy story, I can eat that. My problem relies on the fact that it's not a smooth sailing like chapter 5.

We know from chapter 4 to chapter 5 why we went to the island. We need to find Urd, and we need to know about the mysterious island written in a report, and our first encounter is a flashback on how we got to the island. That connects the dots.

In chapter 8, however, we just appear. There is no introductory scene on why we're here, nor a ride to Sao Paulo, nor are we saying goodbye to Barbara. Nothing. We appear in Sao Paulo and that's it.

And I may be a little picky, this problem doesn't affect me, I'm no new player, but it bothers me a little. There is nothing connecting chapter 7 to chapter 8, just event 2.1, you can't make an event be the knot connecting two entirely different stories if it's not going to be permanent.

I love love LOVE the idea of the main story directly affecting the events like 2.0, but I don't like the idea of events directly affecting the main story. They should be separated unless there is a way to connect them, or else, you create gaps in the main story.

[oh-my-may]

I'm still alive omg!

Lots of irl things happening atm, BUT I managed to play through Penacony 2.2 (stretched over 3 days, no less)

Woah. Just ... woah. So much happening, so many characters interacting, so much lore, IT WAS GOING ON FOREVER but I loved it nonetheless. Of course they had to make the finale of Penacony long and epic.

FIRST OF ALL I KNEW IT! I TOLD Y'ALL!!! Literally in my post about 2.1 I talked about how Misha definitely has some close connection to Mikhail/the Watchmaker. I suspected him to be a child of his or something but the actual thing was close enough, I guess. My sweet boy. I love him. Mikhail being a Nameless was so cool. I'm really glad we're finally getting more lore and info about Akivili and previous Nameless, but I feel this was only the beginning.

I'm still madly in love with Sunday and Acheron. Robin is such a cutie too. I'm not gonna pull for her because I need my savings for Mr. Boothill and then Jade but I'll try and pull for her on a rerun. Sway to My Beat in Cosmos is such a banger. Caught myself constantly singing "riiise into my wooorld" (ofc much worse than the one and only lol)

On the topic of Boothill... my god. Love him. The way they can't make him swear so they just make him say??? Whatever??? Whose idea was that 💀 mother loving instead of mother fucking?? What the fork?? Wubbaboo?? I would die for this man. He looks so hot too. Again I have to say that HSR never misses with male character design. THEY'RE ALL SO PRETTY.

On the topic of pretty men... SUNDAY. My little radicalized bird man. I cackled when Sparkle called him chicken boy. She's just a hater, love her for that. Serious question... is he straight up dead now? I have only played the main quest so far so in case it'a mentioned somewhere in game don't spoil me but if it's not... tell me will I get to see him as a playable character... pls...

The whole thing with Ena the Order was so interesting to see. The fact that they made Order so similar to Harmony... AEON LORE. Love it. Resurrecting an Aeon is possible, you say? Kind of? The way they make Sunday'a motives understandable... he's just a boy

So I had the feeling that facing the boss Dominicus was a bit too easy the first time around. Wdym he has only one phase. I should have known there was more to it. Nevertheless loved to see IL and Jing Yuan cameo. They slayed (literally)

But then the eerie feeling I got when Black Swan talked to us on the Express... the way she makes us question everything that happened... GENIUS. I did kind of get flashbacks to Sumeru act II. The line between dream and reality, who is dreaming, what happens outside of the dream, the repetition of events... not critiquing or hating, but the concepts were just similar to me and I liked it :) Penacony just put a different twist to it.

The final fight was still very cool. The several toughness bars to break is really interesting, and the fact that you get a shield value the more bars you break. Also the Astral Ecpress literally crashing into Sunday??? I barely realized what I had just watched ghe first time around. Idk why, but the concept is hilarious to me. And the question remains... is Sunday dead now??? What about Robin?? Are they both dead??

Aventurine isn't dead either?? What about the present that Sparkle gave out to several people? What was it and what did it do? Is there smth I don't remember about that rn? Did I miss it? Also if Robin didn't actually die, how come we saw her body? If she just got transported to Dreamflux Reef, then there wouldn't have been a body, right? ALSO is Firefly dead too? She didn't make an appearance throughout the second part after we see her leave and she talked abput the way that the script said she would die 3 times in Penacony... I'm so eternally confused. It's part of the reason I think there's still gonna be more in the next patch... They're not gonna give us playable Firefly without at least a Story Quest for her, right? And Jade, too? She had one appearance in a throwback during the story, the Trailblazer hasn't interacted with her in person yet so the IPC probably hasn't finished their business with Penacony yet?

And since I mentioned Trailblazer... HARMONY MC??? LOOKS SO GOOD? LOVE THE MOVES?? THE HAT? The Significance of it had me 😭😭 my MC obsession ks back y'all. He looks so good. Caelus ily. The silly little dance with Clockie 😭 Can't wait to build him, I heard Harmony MC is really good.

I also briefly have to mention my girl Acheron. So they've literally just casually confirmed that she's Raiden Mai? I actually don't know what Bosenmori means or it's significance BUT RAIDEN MEI. And her whole flashback with Tiernan... I had my suspicions about his identity but the reveal was interesting, anyway. I've got the feeling this is not the last we've seen of Acheron. I never played HI3rd far enough to fully understand Raiden Mei's story, but I'm really intrigued with the whole thing. How come her and Welt exist in noth universes, how did they end up in HSR and what's their motive?

One thing I'm also still hung up on is the Annihilation Gang... no more mention of them? We don't get any real eyplanation as to why Acheron killed Duke Inferno? No little animation of the scene? I'm guessing it's gonna play a role later? The reason they talked about it is probably to tell us that Acheron was dangerous but like... idk what to think of it. No question the other members of the Gang are gonna appear later and maybe then we'll get more background? But if they don't play a large role in Penacony, why introduce them to the players prior to it in such a grand way?

Anyway, I judt have lots of questions still but no doubt the game is gonna answer them when the time is right... I had a really good time playing the quest, went through a whole lot of emotions during it, fell in love with even mlre characters... the new maps are GIGANTIC and look so cool and let me just say rhe music was so so epic too. Can't wait for the OST for this to get released.

I also wanna mention here (outside of discusaions about the story) is that having a fully leveled Acheron with pretty decent relics paired with a tank Aventurine feels like playing the game on easy mode. Nothing can penetrate a fully def stacked Aventurine, and Acheron's damage is straight up insane. Gonna take a while before I get tired of using them. They helped me clear basically all Stage V of every SU World I hadn't done yet... legends.

Now we wait for Boothill... The grip that Hunt characters have on me is unbelievable. Meta wise I know I should invest in Harmony characters... Ruan Mei or Robin but... HAVE YOU SEEN BOOTHILL? HAVE YOU???

Alright, that's it for now. Really excited to dive into exploration and events and quests of the new maps. Might post a little about it.. or maybe not. I still have to tell you about my thoughts on the Arlecchino quest and Remuria exploration, I began a post about that and never got around to finishing it.

As always, have some cool screenshots from the story!

[mdhwrites]

Even When Aventurine is Good, He's Awkward

So I've gone on record for saying that in 2.0, Aventurine was... Bad. REALLY bad. Whoever was writing him missed the mark by a just astounding level. I like Aventurine now thanks to 2.1 but... 2.1 is also an interesting study for the fact that anyone who despises him afterwards is probably going to do it for one of two reasons:

1: He took up a fuckton of time while ending up with little to actually do with the overall story.

2: Yeah, I get it, you love your OC. Can you not try to hammer that into my skull until it's flat like a pancake?

Let's start in order. First we just have to recognize that 2.1 has nothing to do with the story of The Order rising to power. It is between patch content. Flatly. It has nothing to do with this story and mostly serves to prop up future stories, like Topaz's visit to Belobog. This at least applies to everything that happens with Aventurine because... Well, literally none of it comes back until 2.2's post credits scene and him dying is resolved OFF SCREEN. We never get info from him or take a step forward along our path to figuring everything out.

That, bluntly, from a storytelling perspective, SUCKS. It sucks harder when Penacony was a VERY slow planet. A lot of speechifying happens in it. It took me over ten hours I think to get through 2.1 because it's just SO. MUCH. TALKING. I literally had to take a break in the middle of it because it was all becoming a monotonous drone, not helped by a lot of the dialogue lacking much character. I damn near cried when Boothill spoke because I was like, "OH MY GOD! A PERSONALITY!" Because everyone else is being so serious and so to the point that it's just very flat and to spend a lot of that flatness on a story that doesn't serve a point here is REAL BAD.

It'd be like if the students we befriended in 2.6 had no pizzazz to them or we didn't interact with them but they still took up 70% of the patch instead of the 30% they do. It'd be hell. But... That honestly doesn't compare to the second problem.

If you felt manipulated by Aventurine's journey of the self... You should? It uses TWO different, very blunt tricks for showing the tragic side of a character. Neither is bad but either one could get you called out for not having nuance, let alone depending on the length of the sequence. Aventurine's chat with both himself and his younger self are not short and they're not really all that interesting. We do get to see into how little he values himself and how he is quite likely suicidal but not much else. It's just look at the sad boy as he trudges along to get to the place he could have in five minutes. It's the sort of thing that makes more sense for a companion quest or maybe a larger scale event. Like, I dunno...

The Wardance or Fyxestroll Garden, the two best events in Star Rail. Both are just telling a character story at the end of the day but the acceptance of that, and the fact that it's not taking away from a story already happening, puts you in a better mindset. Better yet, both only use the trick of diving into the mind. They don't feel insecure enough to also include a small, cute, child version of the character just to make it hit harder.

It IS well written enough and compelling enough with Aventurine that it works... But if these two problems did break it for you, you're not wrong. Penacony is LOADED with stuff that feels bad in the moment and then comes together in the end. Sparkle is the ultimate version of that with finding out how she knew all she did but Aventurine is still a version of it. Of things that from a strict writing perspective are NOT GOOD. They come together... But if you can't forgive what came before, I can't with Sparkle, it doesn't matter how good the climax it is.

It's a gamble, which I guess makes sense for Aventurine. It was not the complete win he's used to though.

Edit: This is again kind of a hindsight thing but also works in 2.1: Aventurine DOES fit the thematics of Penacony. What makes a life worth living, the pain of life, the strong's role when it comes to the weak and downtrodden, etc. like that. It helps make all of this easier to swallow but that's only if you're looking at the big picture thematics which routes back into the issues talked about above.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[razorblade180]

Sounds like you had fun this patch. What are your thoughts on it? Also, did you do the boss fight pre or post nerf? I did it day 1 and I barely made it out with my King Yuan. Those dice were not kind to Tingyun.

I didn’t even know there was a nerf. I have no clue if I did it pre or post nerf. All I know is genuinely do not know how I would’ve beaten it if I didn’t have Acheron and Gepard. I don’t have Argenti, Misha, Jing Yuan, Kafka, or Jingliu. I fundamentally do not have the characters to match that bosses weakness AND win the dice game reliably.

It felt like another Yanqing situation where you’re given Serval and most likely have a Sampo, but if you didn’t luck out with Welt, pull for Dan Heng IL or Loucha, then you’re forced to struggle.

Other than that, the patch is good. I was one of those people who didn’t have an opinion and the Loufu but halfway through this quest I thought, “man, the Loufu wishes it was half this interesting.” I didn’t mean to binge 2.1 it just happened because every moment that wasn’t the Trailblazer’s pov was super interesting. Aventurine has me hooked and all the characters said really interesting things.

The one real negative I have isn’t the game’s fault but the community’s. I won’t spoil it on here but the big twist near the end would’ve been interesting if I didn’t see a certain theory and discussion wasn’t everywhere for a month. I never even looked into it but it became such an echo chamber of a thought that 15 minutes into the quest I went “God damnit, are they right?” So I was basically waiting for the shoe to drop instead of being surprised.

[luchia13]

So I finished Honkai Star Rail patch 2.1 and boy oh boy okay I'm going to just pause for a bit I'm just going to grind for things and take some deep breaths for the next 48 hours or more because I have not felt like that with a boss fight since Shadowbringers in FFXIV except it is WORSE and why did they go that fucking hard with............everything. you didn't have to do that. why did you do that.

What the fuck.

this game is free. it's about a space train with a talking bunny conductor.

[crossroadsdimension]

For the ask game, 5 and 15.

5. What work of yours got more feedback than you expected

Honestly? A Warrior Returned. Writing FFXIV fics is incredibly popular in the fandom, so I didn't expect more than a handful of comments overall -- because people develop tastes and interests in their fics and might have decided from my tags that I'm not worth their time. On top of that, I'm crossing over with a mobile gacha game that died back in 2020, so there's no new official content to maintain that particular fandom. And yet, here I am, grabbing Wol by the back of his armor and throwing him into new situations for funsies.

And I've got at least one regular commenter every chapter on the fic, and one regular asker here on Tumblr every week. It's more than I honestly could've hoped for, and it makes me wonder if it's making any headway into the hibernating fandom somehow. I definitely don't know.

(I almost thought "Distant Cousins," but I started posting that pretty soon after the Trigun Stampede season went up, and considering the constant popularity of FFVII...well, getting a lot of comments every week is pretty much a staple for that corner of the internet at this point. I'm still glad to see ANY number of comments, don't get me wrong! It's just that I've come to expect more overall every week for that one in comparison to my other works.)

15. What WIP are you taking into the next year with you?

I currently have 3 WIPs that I'm working through -- and two of them haven't seen the light of the internet yet. XD

Distant Cousins is still very much a work-in-progress, considering the overall length of FFVII and the changes I'm making to it. I'm not done writing the "Rebirth" portion of the plot yet, and will no doubt need to go back to referencing the original game if I want to finish this fic in a decent amount of time. At least I hit chapter 61 earlier this week! I'm maintaining my lead on my readers!

The other two fics that I'm working on -- the sequels to A Warrior Returned and Chronicles of a Young Adventurer -- won't be going up until a good bit of the way into 2025. They both take place in the "MSQ patch quests" of ARR (that is, 2.1-2.5, as a lead-up to Heavensward, the next big part of Final Fantasy XIV's story). So it's just a matter of refreshing my memory for those events and getting everything written out. Chronicles' sequel is much further along, so I can focus on Wol and edit things as needed in the other one as I go.