#megalodonwrites

[i-am-megalodonna]

I made a mind map because for some reason it made more sense to me than writing my PAL hcs out in paragraphs. Central ideas highlighted with dotted lines

[i-am-megalodonna]

i hope you know that your grian design is one of my favorites to ever be conceived

He was one of my favorites to make tbh. I really really like birds.

Some fun facts because I'm using this as an excuse to ramble now ⤵️

His wings are where a human's arms would be, and his arms are set forward and low on his body. Do not ask me how his muscles are organized, I haven't crossed that bridge yet. His arms are also pretty small (relatively recent addition).

His front four incisors are shaped like a beak.

Pamprodactyl hands

Mayyyybe part demon (very VERY diluted, though).

Probably missing some organs because birds do that.

Always needs help preening his back because he can't reach.

Goes through an annual molting cycle that's basically a two-month long period where he mostly keeps to himself and forsakes clothes (he doesn't really NEED to wear them anyway, he just likes to).

Uses rocket-assisted flight sometimes because his body isn't exactly the most efficiently built for flying. He also prefers to get a running or dropping start as opposed to taking off from the ground.

[i-am-megalodonna]

i have a lot of militsioner fic scraps but this one is probably my favorite. specil treat for Tumblr because idk when I'll have something ao3-worthy (transcript in alt text)

[i-am-megalodonna]

I made. Flowchart. Because I am very professional

[i-am-megalodonna]

Okay remember when I talked about that au randomly? The King Candy one? Art is pretty hard so lemme just write this out real quick.

So basically there's this assumption that King Candy wouldn't respawn because he's actually Turbo and you don't respawn outside your game blah blah blah. But because I'm a random person on the internet I can say whatever I want, and I'm saying that it's a bit more complicated than that. See, Turbo may not originally be from Sugar Rush, but he's been messing around with the code of the game for a good while. And before I continue I should mention that I'm complying with the theory/concept that King Candy was an actual character in the game that was unused and left unfinished, but left in the game (like the unfinished bonus level). I didn't come up with that idea, but I don't remember who did. If I find them I'll edit this post. ANYWAY, the point is that in meddling with all of this, Turbo has essentially fused himself with native code, meaning that if he died he actually would respawn.

The actual problem comes with the Cybug part. 100% not native code, obviously. Which presents an issue for the game. It wants to respawn King Candy, but there's all this weird code it doesn't really know what to do with. So in the end it does respawn him. But wrong.

His code is still intact, but it's now fused with all this malignant junk the game doesn't know how to handle. Which means that he ends up being a glitch for entirely different reasons to Vanellope. Like Vanellope, though, his glitching tends to worsen with heightened stress.

Most of the time he still looks like King Candy, occasionally shifting into Turbo in more benign glitches. However, if things get particularly strained he starts glitching into his candybug form, first just in portions and then into full bug mode when things come to a head. Which would be pretty epic (who doesn't want claws and wings), if full bug mode didn't also come with full bug instincts. When in bug forme™ he easily loses himself and becomes an uncontrollably destructive force of nature until incapacitated. Or until things calm down enough for him to wrestle back control of his own body. Even when he doesn't look buggy, that side of him still rears it's head at random and inopportune times. He's developed a strong distaste for all those fun flashy signs he used to love.

He's happy to be alive and all, but everything kind of sucks. He has no power, no allies, no home. I don't have much in the way of story for this au figured out, but his main goal is to get into the code room and fix everything. For now, though, he's probably hiding out in the forest trying to figure out how in the world he could pull that off.

[i-am-megalodonna]

Collector's Curse AU - The Beginning

Okay idea idea idea.  On how this whole dumb au starts.

Starting at the very beginning; the Collector is betrayed by Belos before Luz even gets to the demon realm.  Possibly several years before.  The exact amount of time isn’t all that important.  Belos decides that the Collector has given him all they can, and keeping them around any longer would be nothing but a distraction.  Rather than just tossing them off a bridge, though, Belos gives the Collector’s disc to a certain golden guard and instructs him to bury it far away from the castle.

Flash forward, enter Luz.  She’s walking through the woods one day when she stumbles upon (or rather, trips over) the Collector’s disc sticking partially out of the ground, having been exposed by weather.  You can take a wild guess what happens next.

Remember when I said that Luz finds the Collector shortly after she enrolls at Hexside?  I’m rolling that decision back.  She finds the Collector somewhere between learning the light glyph and learning the ice glyph.

The Collector tells Luz that they used to be “friends” with the emperor, before he stabbed them in the back and left them to rot.  If she lets them out of their prison, they’ll tell her anything she wants to know - about the emperor, about magic, anything.

Of course, he doesn’t plan on holding up that deal.  The second she gets him out he’s going to kick Belos’ ass, but she doesn’t need to know that.

At this point in the story Luz doesn’t fully trust Belos, but she isn’t all let’s overthrow the government just yet.  Barring that particular bargaining chip, the Collector offers her to teach her new magic; an offer that Luz refuses.  Being a witch isn’t just something she wants to do for kicks or bragging rights.  It’s very important to her that she proves she has the wits and the strength to do it on her own.  She doesn’t want anybody carrying her or giving her all the answers.

That being said, she’s still down for freeing him.  As far as she’s concerned, he’s an innocent creature trapped in a horrible situation.  Helping him out is just the right thing to do, he doesn't owe her anything for it.

This kindness comes back later.

Onto the whole getting the Collector out part.  As far as we know, the only way to free the Collector is with titan’s blood, be it still inside a titan or not.  However, this is a magical world where crazy stuff happens and I’m exercising my right to make shit up.  So there is an alternate solution, one they hadn’t tried out until this moment.  That being possession.

Well, it’s more of a theory gained from their extensive magic knowledge.  Using said know-how, they figure that they can rig up a ritual to trade their prison for a body.  Not their body, unfortunately, but anything is better than where they are now.  They never tried it on Philip because 1) very theoretical, and 2) Philip was their friend.  They had no reason to want to possess their friend.  However, as is very evident at the start, the Collector is no longer nearly as trusting as they used to be.  Philip left a pretty big dent on them.  It’s also why they want their payment of freedom up front before they give Luz anything - they learned their lesson from last time.

They tell Luz the instructions and the components needed, and the two hang out for a few days while she gets prepared.

In hindsight, getting a human of all creatures to attempt a very complex and experimental spell maybe wasn’t the brightest idea they’d ever had.  Trying to use a human of all creatures as a vessel wasn’t a very bright idea to begin with.

Needless to say, the spell goes wrong.  It was doomed from the start, really.  Instead of having complete control over Luz’s body as he’d hoped, he effectively trades one prison for another, and you probably know the rest.

[i-am-megalodonna]

Collector's Curse AU - Liar Revealed

I'm typing all of this out on my phone because I don't have a computer anymore.  Pray for me.

Anyway.  After rotating this issue in my brain for a few weeks, I’ve decided how I want to reveal the Collector to the other characters.  Remember when I talked about all that mindscape stuff?  That’s the plan now.

I don't have an exact time in mind, but let's just say somewhere in season 2a.  In my journal I wrote somewhere between Yesterday's Lie and Elsewhere and Elsewhen.  I don't remember why I wanted that specific range but yeah sure.

The exact situation I have in mind: during an unspecified event someone is suddenly under threat of falling debris.  Who it is doesn't really matter, but it's someone who cannot immediately defend themselves against falling debris.  So really anyone except Willow and Amity.  In an act of reckless desperation, Luz throws herself in front of them and the Collector uses their power to neutralize the threat.  However this happens, it's enough of a strain to put them out of commission.

For a while people around Luz have been noticing odd behaviors and occurrences, and this one is the final nail in the coffin. They had a good view of the entire thing, and they saw Luz use magic - powerful magic - without the help of glyphs.  There's no denying now that something's going on.  So why does she keep trying to do exactly that?

They get to worrying that Luz is being manipulated somehow.  Luz isn't always the most open about her struggles, but it's getting a little ridiculous at this point.  What if something, some force they can't see, is keeping her quiet somehow?  They're in the Boiling Isles, it's not like it's a huge reach.  So, after considerable consideration, they hatch a plan to go right to the source - Luz's mindscape.  If something is wrong, they'll surely find it there.

As far as who actually enters the mindscape, Amity and Gus are a definite, and Willow is a maybe.  If Willow goes in then we have her and Amity working together, and I'm not sure how that would affect their arc.  Also, either Eda or Lilith goes in with the kids.  As long as they have two adults on the premises, there's no reason to not have a chaperone.  I can see benefits to either one being on either end, so that's still up in the air.

They take the walkie talkie to have a constant line of communication on both ends.  The spells are prepared beforehand, and the second Luz falls asleep it's go time.

I've already described what happens when they enter Luz's mindscape.  In short, everything looks fine and normal until they find the inner Luz, who's looking a little jacked.  Just like the outer Luz, the inner Luz is evasive, but eventually relents, realizing there's no way out.  The group is led to the split between the two mindscapes and told that beyond the split is where they'll find what they're looking for.  She refuses to elaborate any further, citing that they chose to enter the mindscape, so they can figure it out themselves.

As a final note, the inner Luz tells them that Luz will be mad at them for doing this, but that she understands why.

With only the inner Luz's cryptic descriptions to guide them, they make their way into the strange new mindscape.  There they meet the inner Collector.  He is significantly less friendly.

Unbeknownst to them, all their running and hiding actually does them a huge disservice.  Not knowing their identities, the Collector reacts to them as unfamiliar intruders (plus, if they're in his mind that means they initially invaded Luz's).  Which is to say, he quickly becomes hostile.  He only realizes the identities of the intruders at the very last second, and at that point they're leaving and it's far too late to rectify his mistake.

Luz wakes up the second they get out of there.  As the inner Luz says, she is very displeased.  She knows her friends were worried but what the heck guys you can't just waltz on into someone's head.

They apologize and don't blame Luz for being upset.  They didn't need the inner Luz to know she would be.

But now that they've seen first hand what's really in there, there's no longer any way out for Luz.  She needs to come clean.  So come clean she does.

[i-am-megalodonna]

Collector's Curse AU - King's Tide

The finale ripped my heart and ate it so I fit it into my au.  Here’s how it goes.

Luz tells everyone that the Collector is the only one who can stop the draining spell.  Unfortunately, the Collector is still trapped inside her so to stop the spell they’re going to have to work together, which would be a level of power output they’ve never attempted before.  Not even the Collector is sure they can do it, and that’s just staying alive after the fact.  There’s no way to do it safely.  This action will have consequences.

Seeing that Luz and the Collector are an unreliable plan at best, the CATS hatch their own.

The full plan is that Luz is gonna go save Amity and then start working to stop the draining spell when the time comes.  During that, the CATS are going to go through with the Eda plan because, while not safe either, it is more reliable (and hopefully takes some of the crushing responsibility off of Luz’s shoulders).  Couldn’t hurt to have two plots going at once.

At the end of Clouds on the Horizon, Luz learns that the CATS might be in danger, so she tricks Kiki into taking her to Belos.  It’s certainly not ideal to try to stop the draining spell at the head, but her friends could be in danger and they aren’t going to stand for that.  Also, they both really want to personally tear Belos a new one, so why not kill two birds with one stone.  They’ll figure out the details as they go.

Unfortunately, the draining spell kicks into action basically as soon as they get there, so emperor extermination has to wait.  They get right to stopping the spell but Belos interrupts them before they can do anything.  Cue final confrontation.

The final fight with Belos is particularly frustrating because they really want to go ape on this guy, but they know that’s not a privilege they have right now.  They can’t afford to burn themselves out, so Luz still has to hold her own with glyph magic in order to conserve energy.

Even though she knows he can’t stop the spell, Luz still sigils Belos.  The action was driven by both minds, with the intention of causing Belos pain and potentially killing him in the process.  Either Belos watches in agony as they destroy everything he’s been working towards, or he dies in agony doing just that.

Admittedly, such an action was more Collector-motivated.  No matter how much Belos sucks, Luz may not be ready to straight up murder someone.  The Collector is.  They want this man dead.

In any case, that line of thought backfires hardcore because it sends Belos into goop mode, which makes their job significantly harder than it was before.  Thankfully the hexsquad shows up just in time to distract Belos while Luz and the Collector do their thing.

Long story short, while the two can’t magic the moon away with a flick, they do manage to disrupt the spell enough for it to fail, after which they immediately windows force shut down.  In the process of doing this they thoroughly decimate the structures of the skull, and everything starts falling apart around them.

Luz is saved before the balcony crumbles, but that exit is then blocked by rubble and also Belos, who is unfortunately still alive.  Overpowered and without any escape routes, their only other option is to dash through the portal before the skull collapses entirely.

Needless to say, whatever happens in the third season is a lot lower stakes than it is in canon.  The draining spell was stopped and the Demon Realm is still intact.  On the other hand though, Belos is probably still alive (though they can hold out hope that the fall from the bridge finished him off), their friend is in a coma, and they don’t know how to get home.  So it’s not exactly happy either.

Camila is obviously terrified to see her daughter passed out and horribly scarred.  And like, how do the others even begin to explain how all that happened?  They barely understand it themselves.

But hey, King is there now.  And he’s pretty cool.

[i-am-megalodonna]

Collector's Curse AU - Random Things

The two thinking vs. the two telepathically communicating are two different processes.  Otherwise the Collector wouldn’t be able to obscure things.  Strong emotions, however, carry over no matter what, so they can't hide those.

The Collector is incapable of interacting with physical objects, but when they touch Luz she can kind of feel it.  She can also feel when they pull on the string connecting them.

Over time the Collector’s presence starts to leave a physical mark on Luz (particularly following power bursts) in the form of streaks of white hair and freckles.  Like how the owlbeast whitened Eda’s hair, but faster because the Collector is a much more powerful being.

Their presence has inadvertently gotten Luz out of funks because if they have to stay in the same spot for more than a few hours they will combust.  Gotta keep your spirit enriched.  (They learn to make an exception for sleep time after Luz repeatedly threatens them with elixir.  No more waking her up in the middle of the night to go on walks.)

[i-am-megalodonna]

Collector's Curse AU

I heard some interest so here it is folks, the Collector's Curse au textpost, copypasted fresh from my google doc. Well, part of it. Approximately two pages, to be exact. This is what I consider the main, need-to-know stuff before I get into anything else. Enjoy.

(Sidenote: As I say on the first point, not everything is figured out yet. When I do fill those plot holes I might make other posts, or I might just edit this one. Haven't decided yet. We'll see what happens.)

The beginning and the end cannot be fully developed just because there’s still so much we don’t know.  Until we know that stuff, there’s gonna be some blank spots.  After rewatching Eclipse Lake, however, we do know that the Collector likely isn’t involved with the portal, as we see Belos trying and failing to make a portal key and power the portal by other means.  Things he wouldn’t be doing if the spell or the Collector were planned to power it.  So the spell (and the Collector with it) and the portal are two different plots.  So that opens up the possibility of Belos throwing the Collector overboard the second he’s got everything figured out with the spell.  However, I could still be getting it wrong.  Like I said, nothing is confirmed so nothing can be finalized yet.  Just considered.

So while we wait on all that, let’s get right into the meat (aka the stuff that can be more finalized because it relies very little on the canon story).

The au is called the Collector’s Curse AU because the Collector, however Luz finds him, functions a lot like Eda’s curse.  Rather than possessing Luz as he would’ve preferred, he’s trapped in Luz’s mind.

In order to keep this au intact and keep the Collector from just taking full control and going on a rampage (be that in the form of some Classic CollectorLuz ChaosTM or barging right on into the Emperor’s throne room and killing him with their bare hands), the Collector needs to be nerfed, hardcore.  Which is how we get to the situation at hand.  As it turns out, Luz is not an ideal host, and these are not ideal conditions.  Shocker.  The Collector is an immensely powerful being, and is wholly incompatible with Luz’s body.  Especially without the rituals and preparations that would usually go into a proper possession.  Simply put, it’s like trying to run Resident Evil 5 on an Altair computer.  The software doesn’t exactly fit the hardware.

Point being, they need to be careful.

The two can talk in Luz’s head and the Collector can take form outside of it, but only Luz can see or hear him. They're basically a ghost, except now the pool of people they can interact with is even smaller than before.  With immense effort they can make their powers tangible, but they can only do so in short bursts and it’s incredibly taxing for both parties.  It also runs the risk of causing Luz physical harm, and harm to her is harm to him.  Either way, Luz is knocked out and the Collector goes completely silent, sometimes for several days.  After getting used to his voice, Luz can’t help but find it unnerving whenever that happens.

Because the situation functions similar to Eda’s curse, the elixirs actually help.  “Help” being a pretty loose term.  They taste terrible and Luz always feels sick after drinking them, but they shut the Collector up right quick, which he finds very unpleasant.  It only took a few elixirs to convince him to not be too insufferable.

The two are connected by a string, each end tied around one of their wrists. The string both symbolically represents their connection, and literally acts as a leash preventing the Collector from leaving a certain radius around Luz. The string is not affected by walls or other objects, and extends about three Luz's in length before pulling taut.

As cruel and chaotic as the Collector usually is, they have pretty good motivations for going along with this whole… thing.  First of all, survival.  If destroying the disc didn’t set him free, destroying this human he’s stuck in probably wouldn’t help either.  That and it would hurt.  He hasn’t felt pain in a long time, and he’s reminded quite quickly just how much it sucks.  So it stands to reason that if Luz dies, they die with her, and like most living things are, they’re very adverse to dying.  Secondly, while this situation is far from ideal, it does have potential.  Even if they were freed, it would likely be into the same shadow ghost form they were in before.  They haven’t had anything remotely close to a physical body in forever; now they at least have some influence over one.  It’s technically an improvement.  For the time being, he needs someone to be his hands.  He can make this work.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention (though you probably inferred it from the first bullet point), the Collector wants Belos dead.  Belos and them used to be buddies, you see, before that jerk went and sealed them away after they’d “fulfilled their purpose” or whatever.  So hey look at that we have a common enemy don’t exorcise me or whatever please.

The Collector has no power over Luz, so he needs to make appeals to her to get her to not tell everyone, because if she did they’d probably try to expel him in some way.  He doesn’t know how, but he’s not into taking those kinds of risks.  So he keeps everything nice and vague to make it as palatable as possible to his unwilling host, and offers her **insider info** about Belos, the goings on inside the castle, the Day of Unity, etc.  How much that changes the game depends on where in the timeline it happens.

Surprisingly, this works, although it helps that Luz is just a good person who believes that the Collector is just some random spirit or demon that’s now stuck with her.  This sucks for them just as much as it does for her, she tells herself, there’s no need to make it harder than it needs to be.

The problem with the information is that Luz has no way of knowing if what her brain roommate says is true, so the responsibility still falls on Luz to find that out.  A lot of the stuff she does to prove Belos is evil still happens, just with different context.

Bonus points if Luz refuses to believe some of it and tries to prove him wrong, only to do the exact opposite.  Emotional damage.

Bonus bonus points if when they go into the Emperor’s mind they see the Collector being cruel and sadistic and learn just how much he helped with Belos’ whole thing.  Emotional damage.

As stated above, the Collector kept his dealings with Belos very vague.  They told her about the draining spell, but conveniently left out that they were the one who told him how to do it.  Whoops.

I should say now that part of this au is a pseudo redemption arc because I’m a sucker for powerful beings being redeemed by learning how to see the beauty in small things they never bothered to look at or experience before.  I watched Peridot’s redemption arc and it changed my DNA.  Anyway, the Collector certainly isn’t making an effort to redeem himself to anyone in particular, Luz doesn’t know who they are, but there is a noticeable change in attitude overtime.  By the time Luz learns of their true nature they’ve become genuinely quite attached to the human, against all better judgment, so it’s really not a good look.

Okay that's all for now. Posts relating to this au in the future will definitely be shorter because it'll either be me exploring how certain events would play out or spouting random fun facts. See you then. :))

[i-am-megalodonna]

Collector's Curse AU - finally back babey

Soooo season 3 amirite???? Haa

This is just gonna be me rambling about possibilities. Most of them are pretty solid but I like to keep things flexible just in case

Anyway. First things first, major differences from canon. This is kind of a review of things I've discussed earlier. The gang escapes through the portal door to escape the collapsing skull. The main difference is that we're +1 King and -1 Belos. Also Luz is passed the fuck out.

The gang initially hesitates, obviously. They're in a strange land they have no experience with or even knowledge of outside of what Luz has told them, and their only possible guide is in a coma. What I decided on after the finale is that they remember Luz telling them that she found the portal pretty much in her backyard, so they know her house has to be close. With that in mind they venture out, and as they pass her house they see Camilla through the window and recognize her. Bing bang boom, goal spotted, reunion successful.

Naturally Camilla is horribly alarmed to see a bunch of unfamiliar children and a weird skull dog thing huddled around her unconscious and very worse for wear daughter, but she lets them in and starts trying to get everything sorted. The group tries to explain things to her as best they can, but they don't say too much about the Collector situation because they all agree that Luz has to be the one to explain that. They only recently learned about it, and they know far from all the context. The last thing they want to do right now is misrepresent something and make things even worse.

The only one who can kind of elaborate on things is King, because he's the only one who's actually talked to them. So at the very least he can, with certainty, vouch for their character and the fact that they and Luz are very close.

He draws a picture for them. It doesn't really clarify anything.

Luz is out for a few days, which definitely doesn't help with the adjustment process. My current idea is that the Collector actually wakes up first, which gives him and King some actual alone time to just.. talk. About everything, really.

Eventually Luz wakes up and they all end up having a bit of a midnight feast because they're overjoyed to see her and she is very malnourished.

From there things get blurry ig. Which makes sense, it is a timeskip and all.

The Collector still can't help much with the portal. In their words, "if I knew how to travel between dimensions I would've done it forever ago."

If King wants to go out they could illusion him to look like a kid or a dog. Probably kid because he's mostly bipedal.

Luz's scars would be one of the harder things to deal with. In the past they just faded away, but this time she done fucked herself up but good. She could excuse the hair as being dyed (or she could just dye it to look normal again, like she did in the past), but the residual scars on her arms aren't so easily explained away with cosmetics (and wearing cosmetics on your hands and arms every day sounds very unpleasant and messy). For the time being she'd probably take to wearing long sleeves and gloves and use the excuse that it's fall and her skin gets really dry in the cold or something.

The Collector would have her constantly explaining everything under the sun. Learning about an unfamiliar demon realm was one thing, learning about a whole new dimension is another thing entirely.

Whether or not the Collector's powers work in the human realm is. A question? I guess? I've seen a lot of people theorize that they wouldn't, but I don't remember seeing any evidence that would support that theory. For now I'll just say that it doesn't matter because he and Luz are taking a hard break from magic for a while.

I'll have to go back and look at notes but depending on what's already been said Luz's secret might be compounded with the Collector's own. The others don't know that Luz helped Philip get to the Collector, or that the Collector was a key helper in Philip's plan. The two barely got through those revelations intact, they don't even want to THINK about how the others would react.

And idk how they'd react either. TBD.

Philip is a pickle. On one hand, I've established that he's still in the demon realm, which works out pretty well for him. He's still got shit to do there, all the better that he doesn't have to waste precious time getting back. It does make the plot a bit more difficult tho. Two options.

1) Philly does manage to get through the portal in some form and everything happens basically the same.

2) Have Philip not be there and deal with the ripple effect. I like this one better. Less of a cop out. Also because of the added tension of basically leaving off on a cliffhanger, which was kind of the whole point. The Hexsquad doesn't have the Collector to worry about, but the fate of Belos is unknown to them.

And thinking about it, it doesn't change the core plot ALL that much. They found the scroll outside of Belos' influence, and both groups could've found the blood itself without his influence. Belos not being there doesn't change a TON, it just takes away a key drama point, which I could probably supplement with another liar revealed type moment with Luz, Hunter, and the Collector. Not easy per se, but definitely doable.

Flapjack's also still alive, yippee. :))

Okay that's all I have for now. That was a lot. Like always, if y'all have any ideas or suggestions or thoughts or anything feel free to send them my way, it's super helpful and I love reading and responding to them.

[i-am-megalodonna]

I can't say I wrote this with the intention of coping but considering double life just ended I think we could all use some fluff to help recover from all that. Also there's never a bad time to post rancher duo.

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Nights on the ranch were cold.

Solidarity figured this could’ve been for a number of reasons. The main two being that 1) cold was a quality somewhat inherent to nighttime, and 2) their base was situated between a snowy biome and a massive canyon with a wide river at the bottom, all of which added up to one hell of a wind chill factor. During the day the sun warmed the air enough to be delightfully pleasant, but at night they didn’t have any such protection. It was kind of annoying, if he was being honest. Though not really an issue. It wasn’t like cold nights were unusual anywhere on the Overworld. Even the desert got chilly nights, for reasons concerning the clouds and heat dynamics and other things Solidarity didn’t care enough to remember. In any case, it wasn’t nearly as much an issue for him as it was an issue for the person he happened to be soulbound to.

Tango was fairly adapted to Overworld conditions. Good, considering he’d lived in it his whole life. But the reality was that no amount of getting used to it would change the fact that he was part magma cube and his high body temperature really wasn’t conducive to anything relating to chill or cold. If Solidarity felt fine, Tango was wrapped up in his thick vest and shirt. When he was cold, Tango was almost always shivering.

During the first few nights, they were a little unsure about sharing a bed. They were both affectionate people, and they were soulmates for heaven’s sake, but it took a little while for it to click. They weren’t sure what the other might be comfortable with - frankly they were still figuring out what they were comfortable with. But it didn’t take long for Solidarity to realize that having a living hot water bottle in close proximity at night was something too good to not take advantage of. Not that he was really taking advantage of anyone - Tango was just as on board with the arrangement as he was. Sleeping next to each other turned to sleeping shoulder to shoulder, which quickly turned to cuddling. However they went to sleep on any given night, they inevitably wound up wrapped in each other’s arms. When the wood and stone failed to keep the night chill at bay and the sounds of monsters outside slipped through the cracks, Tango was there like a heated cocoon, a physical sense of security, and Solidarity knew that the feeling was mutual. Maybe not the heated part, but Tango had told him that he was significantly warmer than their surroundings, which helped. It wasn’t something Solidarity did intentionally, but he took pride in it nonetheless.

No matter what happened during the day, Solidarity knew that he could count on coming home to the ranch. To the cows and chickens, and to Tango. He could count on Tango’s warm embrace and even the sounds of his body, which were alien but shockingly soothing. At night Solidarity could press his ear to Tango’s chest and hear a constant hum of movement that calmed every racing thought. And few things made him happier than knowing that Tango could rely on him in the same way. His heart swelled with fondness as his mind drifted off to sleep.

[i-am-megalodonna]

So I haven't talked about the Collector's Curse AU in a hot second, because stuff happened and by stuff I mean I got into other things, but I kinda want to come back to it and in any case I wanted to make this:

Because wading through everything in the au tag can get a bit tiresome, I thought I'd make a document compiling all of the important stuff. Granted, it is still fairly long, but I talk a lot so that'll happen.

Most of it is ripped straight from Tumblr, but I did edit some of the asks for the sake of functionality. I also turned on commenting permissions because why not. Needless to say, this document will be added to when more stuff comes out.

[i-am-megalodonna]

Alright the next logical step feels like sharing the list of superpowers and stuff for my au so here's what I have so far.

Enhancement: An unnatural ability that's controlled by the bearer and/or cannot be attributed to their natural physiology.

Mutation: Any uncontrolled change to human physiology. Abilities gained by a mutation, such as heightened hearing or agility, are not considered enhancements.

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Dream: Mutated. A blend of my canon Dream design and human. His mutations grant him very high speed, agility, and dexterity.

Sapnap: Enhanced. Creates and manipulates fire. At times his body gets so hot that just touching him can cause serious burns.

George: Mutated/Enhanced. Mushrooms grow all over his body. At his will, they release spores that can put people to sleep. The effectiveness depends on the concentration of spores in the air. If needed, ie if he doesn't have time to wait for the spores to set in, he can release a puff of spores from his mouth that will put someone to sleep where they stand. The spores also cause rapid mushroom growth in any square inch that will support them over the next few days after exposure.

Tubbo: Enhanced. Has a sort of super constitution. Not impervious to anything, but it takes a lot to injure him.

Karl: Mutated and Enhanced. Creates portals that can transport him anywhere within two miles. Overuse of his portals within a short period of time leaves him disoriented and confused. His body is weirdly oversaturated, and his eyes are unnaturally colored with swirls in place of pupils. It's unclear if his mutations were caused by exposure to his own portals, or just something that naturally developed as he grew up.

Wilbur: Enhanced. Uses music to compress the air around him. These small compressions can be used as projectiles, platforms, and shields. The size seems to cap at about three feet in diameter.

Bad: Enhanced. Manipulates darkness itself. Can create weapons (usually knives), shields, and a few extra hands to help around the house. The strength of his powers depends on the strength of the shadows around him. Least powerful on overcast days, when light is dispersed and shadows are dim and fuzzy.

Skeppy: Enhanced. Forms a diamond-like material on his skin to create sharp natural armor.

Tommy: Mutated. Has racoon features - ears, tail, claws, and some fur. Has heightened hearing, sight, and smell, as well as heightened dexterity.

Ranboo: Enhanced. Can teleport anywhere within a mile.

Quackity: Enhanced. Shapeshifter. Can mimic others or create his own forms. Can't mimic voices, and can only shift into humanoid forms.

Niki: Enhanced. Creates and controls smoke. The smoke she makes has a slightly sweet scent, like fresh bread, but it's still just as dangerous as natural smoke.

Puffy: Mutated. Part sheep, which gives her heightened hearing and smell (but worse eyesight, made up for with glasses).

[i-am-megalodonna]

Hermitcraft HCs - Wings and stuff

I have a personal laptop now which means it's way easier for me to type out longer posts which means I'm going to by sharing more headcanons and stories. So here's some stuff about wings and preening.

As far as feathered people go, the preening of wings is a pretty important thing, and there are certain conditions for who is generally allowed to participate.

Across the board, winged folk don’t let anyone they don’t trust touch their wings.  Which isn’t even a wing thing, that’s just normal.  You don’t normally let people you don’t know or trust touch you.  And wings are a particularly important and sensitive area.  If someone is letting you touch their wings, it means they trust you.  If they’re letting you partake in preening, that’s a further level of intimacy (it’s important to note that, unlike full birds, this doesn’t have an inherently romantic or sexual connotation).

The feathers on their back are, perhaps surprisingly, open to more people when it comes to preening.  This is because those are the feathers that most avians can’t reach. Even if they can be reached, it's very uncomfortable to attempt preening them by oneself.  If preening needs to be done it needs to be done, and they can’t always afford to be picky with who helps them out.

Feathers further out are a different story, as avians can usually manage those just fine on their own and don’t need help.  If they ask someone else to preen them, or to join in on the activity, then it means that they desire a level of physical closeness with that person.  This can include family, close friends, and romantic partners.  Regardless of the context, it’s a sign of trust and fondness.

At this point all of the hermits are comfortable enough with each other that the winged hermits will to allow anyone to touch their wings or assist with preening.  They all know this, but being given the task still feels very special.

[i-am-megalodonna]

These Boots Were Made for Walking

I had nothing to do in class so I vomited out four hundred and sixty-eight words onto paper. Bon appetite Addison Spamton enjoyers.

Summary: Walking in heels is just walking but spicy and not fun.

[AN: All cyber darkners have serial numbers and only some choose names for themselves, most just go by the first few digits of their code. XJ is the name I'm using for one of the blue Addisons that Spamton was particularly close to.]

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Spamton had always had trouble keeping up with the other Addisons. Not just in metaphorical terms, but in literal ones; his legs were very short and he needed to take twice as many steps to keep pace with his larger coworkers. Most of the time he insisted he could manage it, but every once in a while, when the day had been particularly long, he caved and allowed himself to be carried. They knew it was a matter of dignity, so they didn't tease him about it. Well, they teased him a little. In their defense, it was from a place of love.

In any case, they couldn't help but notice that their friend had been a bit shakier on his feet as of late. It was unsurprising given his sudden wardrobe change, which happened to include a pair of knee-high boots with his equivalent of two-inch heels. It wasn't a massive change in height, but for someone who'd never worn heels in his existence, it was clearly taking its toll on him. XJ was walking with him to join the others at their usual rendezvous point when he heard a yelp from behind him and stopped in his tracks.

"Are you okay?" He saw Spamton standing a few steps behind him, bent over and rubbing his ankle. At the comment he stood up straight.

"Yes, perfectly fine! Just, uh, lost my footing for a second there." He started walking again, only to jolt as soon as he put pressure on the leg.

"You twisted your ankle," XJ stated matter-of-factly.

"Only a little."

"You can barely walk."

"I can walk just fine!" He started to walk yet again before XJ swiftly picked him up by the armpits and held him close in one practiced motion, ignoring the protests.

"Sometimes I think that you think I'm stupid."

And sometimes I think that you think I'm helpless!"

"Spamton. Your ankle is twisted. You're going to make it worse." He paused. "Also, I'm not letting you down, so, unless you kick me in the face or something, you are kind of helpless."

Spamton went quiet. XJ trusted that he wasn't actually going to kick him in the face, but one look at the smaller man's irate expression and he knew he was strongly considering it. Deciding it wasn't worth it waiting for an answer, he started back up on the path they'd been walking.

They made it about a block when XJ spoke up again. "Are you sure the heels are necessary?"

"It's for the aesthetic. Sacrifices must be made."

"Sacrifices, as in your ankles."

"I'm just not used to them yet, I'll get better."

"You know, I can just get you a pair of boots that doesn't have heels."

"No, the heels are crucial."

XJ let out a sigh of resignation. "If you say so."