#this is who the no lifers are hating! okay...

[captainodonoghue]

✨LUKE NEWTON WEEK✨ Talkback Tuesday

[wosospacegirl]

teen!Barca player teaching the Spanish players tik tok slang would be so funny 😂😂

Lost in the Slangverse - barça! teen reader

Summary: Y/n pranks Alexia and Olga by speaking only in Gen Z slang and TikTok memes.

Warnings: Chronic online behaviour and TikTok brainrot.

Word count: 2.1k

notes: sorry but I changed it a bit to include Olga

..

“I don't understand why I should do that,” Y/n whispered to Vicky and Jana. “Why don't you do it?”

The three girls were standing in a circle in the corner of the changing room. Training had just ended, and they were all sweaty and gross.

It didn't help y/n's already grumpy mood when Jana pulled her arm out of nowhere when she was getting ready to get in the shower.

Jana had said it was something urgent, and Vicky, who was by her side, had nodded along.

Y/n’s eyes almost got stuck in her skull when Vicky said they wanted Y/n to make a TikTok video with Alexia using gen slang that Alexia most definitely didn't know.

The girls now were arguing but kept their voices low, so the senior girls wouldn’t overhear them behind the lockers.

“Because you're the good kid! An angel! The apple of Alexia’s eyes’’ Vicky said, smiling enthusiastically.

“Me? The apple of Alexia’s eyes?” Y/n asked, confusion on her face as she pointed to herself. “She made me run 2 kilometres last night as a punishment because I talked back to Olga.”

“Well… maybe not the good kid then,” Jana said. “But the best kid between us three, nonetheless.”

“Yeah,” Vicky agreed with Jana. “ if Jana or I do it, they'll know something’s up.”

“Exactly! Plus, you're closer to Alexia, so you can say stuff without it looking suspicious!” Jana added. “You’ll make more content.”

“I'll look suspicious either way,” Y/n said, narrowing her eyes “I don't even stay on my phone that much, they'll notice that.”

“You realise you are a shame for every teenager out there, right?” Jana asked deadpan. “What are you going to say next, that you and Olga knit on Friday nights?”

Y/n blushed because…yes. They did that. She lifted a finger, ready to defend herself, but Vicky interrupted her, disappointment on her face.

“Just..stop being boring for once in your life? Please?” Vicky said. 

Vicky gave Y/n her best puppy eyes.

“Come on, Y/n, we are for lifers, right?” Jana stood next to Vicky with, the same big, puppy eyes.

“Ugh…fine, wherever,” Y/n said, crossing her arms. “I’ll do it, but you're helping me with my homework next week–and the next.“

“Deal!” they both said, grinning, victory on their faces.

“And you are the ones picking up the balls after training,” Y/n added. “I hate doing that…Pina always kicks them far away on purpose.” 

“Alright by us,” the girls agree, almost in a singing tone. 

“And I won't help Cat out of its costume for a month! It will be all you two.”

“O-okay?” Vicky and Jane said, less enthusiastic. 

Now they were wondering how much this TikTok really cost.

“Y/n!” Alexia called from the other side of the room.

“I have to go,” Y/n whispered, but before she could leave their hiding spot, Alexia bumped into her.

 “Oh, there you are,’ Alexia said with a smile" "Let's go ho—wait, you didn’t shower yet?”

Alexia looked at Y/n as if she came back from the sty, when-in truth–she was just a little sweaty. 

Y/n looked up and tried to act casual, leaning on her elbow in one of the lockers. It belonged to Aitana…she hated when people got close to her locker.

“Hm, no I didn't,” Y/n looked around trying to find an excuse. “We were way  too busy talking about–”

“School,” Y/n finally said. Good, a safe choice.

“Football,” Vicky chimed in. Also good, and very convincing. 

“You!” Jana blurted out. Horrible, terrible choice.

The two of them shot Jana an annoyed look, rolling their eyes.

‘What, Jana?’ Vicky mouthed, trying to turn her body from Alexia so she couldn't read her lips. ‘Talking about Alexia?’

‘Tonta,” [stupid] Y/n mouthed back, rolling her eyes, before turning to Alexia, who was still looking confused.

“Sorry, Ale, we were really busy here…socialising,” Y/n said. “I’ll shower when we get home.”

“Mm, okay,” Alexia said, still puzzled. “Grab your stuff. We’re picking up Olga on the way home.”

..

As Alexia and Y/n made their way through Barcelona’s car park, Y/n was happily skipping, heading to the passenger’s seat in Alexia's car.

“Nope, kid,” Alexia said, pushing Y/n’s backpack toward her. “We’re picking up Olga. She’s going in the passenger seat.”

Y/n rolled her eyes. “Seriously?”

“Yep,” Alexia said, pointing to the back seat. “You go there.”

It was a perfect opportunity. 

Y/n took her phone very stealthily and pressed record, keeping it close to her body so Alexia wouldn't see it. 

“Simp.”

“What?” Alexia asked, turning her head to Y/n. “What’s that?”

“What’s what?” Y/n asked, pretending she didn’t know what Alexia was talking about.

“What you just called me.”

“Oh, simp? It means you're a lost puppy when it comes to Olga.”

Alexia blushed. “Hey, I’m not like that.”

“Beta energy,” Y/n added, rolling her eyes.

“Beta? Are you speaking in code?”

“Nah, just speaking facts.” Y/n shrugged. “Are you gonna drive or leave Olga waiting?”

Alexia looked at Y/n weirdly but got in the car and began driving. Y/n’s phone was still in her hand, ready to film the next part of her–or well–Jana and Vicky’s prank.

Olga was working in a modelling event today, but she was already waiting for them when Alexia parked the car in front of the studio.

“Hi, girls,” Olga said, getting in and kissing Alexia on the lips. “How was your day?”

“It was good,” Alexia said, putting her hand on Olga’s tight. “We did some strength training, speed…all of that”

“Yeah, no cap, it was the worst.” Y/n chimed in while looking out the window and humming to the song playing. One direction. Oldie but goldie.

“No cap?” Olga asked, turning to Y/n, a frown on her face,

“Yeah,” Y/n said, adjusting her earbud. “No cap, training was like…brutal.”

“Okay, sure… but why is it ‘no cap’?”

..

When they got home, Y/n went straight to her room, dropping her training bag by the bed before heading to the shower.

After she was done, a notification popped up on her phone from a group chat with Jana and Vicky.

Vicky: hi, how’s it going?

Jana: hi?? @Y/n??

Y/n: Everything’s going according to plan.

Jana: Great! :D send me all the recordings later, and I’ll make a TikTok out of it.

Y/n: 👍

Vicky: why do u always text like a dad, bro.

Y/n closed the chat and went downstairs, sitting at the table in front of Alexia.

“What restaurant are we going today?” Y/n whispered

“I’m not sure yet,” Alexia whispered back, glancing around suspiciously. “It’ll depend on Olga’s mood.”

“I don't know why we insist on letting her cook!” Y/n said, rolling her eyes.

Alexia kicked her under the table. “Be nice!”

Before Y/n could argue, Olga emerged from the kitchen with... something.

She carried a big tray of what looked like ground beef, except the colour was all wrong—like it had spent way too much time in the oven. And the smell... Y/n could swear Olga had chopped up three entire onions and just thrown them in for fun.

Olga served Alexia and Y/n, putting a whole lot of food on their plate. Y/n stared at the plate in front of her. She poked it with her fork as she, very carefully, put her phone on the table and pressed play.

“Olga, you really got no rizz in the kitchen, huh?”

“Excuse me?”

“I mean, you’re burning everything, so yeah, no rizz,” Y/n said disappointed. It was another day that they had to eat Olga’s bad food and then go out to eat in order not to starve.

“What? But it’s not that bad!” Olga said, staring at her own…creation. “It’s original.”

“It tastes bad,” Y/n murmured under her breath.

Olga ignored Y/n and turned to her girlfriend, who looked just as scared of the food as Y/n.

“Alexia, do you think I have no rizz?” Olga asked Alexia, giving her puppy eyes.

"Olguita, I’m not even sure what ‘rizz’ means," Alexia admitted, looking confused.

“Me neither,” Olga said. “But if it’s something good, then you think I have it?”

“Oh yeah, definitely.”

“Okay, that’s gross,” Y/n interrupted, grabbing up her phone. “Get a room.”

..

As per usual. The Putellas and the honorary Putella–Y/n– ended up in a restaurant. It was a Chinese one this time, the same one they had gone the last time Olga was responsible for cooking.

Y/n presser record while the waitress came to take their order. She was pretty but way older than Y/n.

“That’s my type, I fear,” Y/n said, as soon as the waitress went to another table.

Both Alexia and Olga looked at her confused.

“Your type?” Alexia asked. “What’s your type?”

Y/n pointed with her chin to the waitress.

“What? She’s your type?” Olga asked, turning from the waitress to Y/n. “So, you have a thing for��waitresses?

“I mean, you’ve seen the way she’s serving us... It’s giving heart eyes.” Y/n said casually.

“Heart eyes? What does that even mean?”” Olga asked. “Why have you been talking weird all day?”

Y/n just shrugged and pretended to play on her phone, but what she was really doing was getting the angle of the filming right to show Alexia’s face.

“Is this a joke? I’m lost...” Alexia said, turning to Olga. “Isn’t the waitress like, fifteen years older than her?”

“Well,” Y/n chimed in. “It’s just like that Kelly Clarkson cover, you know?”  

Y/n knew full well they had no clue what the hell she was talking about.

Alexia opened her mouth, closed it, and then turned to Olga like she was asking for help. Olga just shook her head, utterly lost.

“I feel like it's getting harder and harder to talk to you,” Olga said, clearly stressed. “I should probably buy a book about raising teens.”

“You're not my mom,” Y/n said in a singing voice, looking at the dessert section on the menu.

That petit gateau looked so good.

“Alexia will read it too,” Olga said, more to herself.

“I'll read what?” Alexia asked, looking up.

Y/n pretended she didn't see Alexia's phone playing a Barcelona match live on YouTube. 

Olga hated when Alexia watched football when they were out.

“A book about teen development,” Olga said. “This child is losing herself.”

“Yep, brain rot,” Y/n agreed.

“What?!” Olga asked, completely worried. “What is rotting?!”

Y/n ignored Olga and looked At Alexia.

“Can I please have the petit gateau, Ale?” Y/n asked with a pout.

“Ask Olga,” Alexia said, “You can if she lets you.”

Y/n rolled her eyes. 

“See, beta behaviour,” she murmured.

"Olguita, can I please—"

"No, Y/n."

"Damn."

In the end, Y/n earned her petit gateau after telling Olga she had alpha energy. Alexia didn’t like it, but the compliment made Olga happy enough to agree to dessert.

"Alpha energy? Olga?" Alexia scoffed. "She just told you no."

Y/n took a victorious bite of her petit gateau. "Yeah, and then I got what I wanted."

..

Unfortunately, for Y/n, that little prank she pulled got twisted around after a couple of days.

After a long training session, Alexia and Y/n came back home, and once again, Y/n didn’t take a shower at the training centre. Instead, she was procrastinating, lying on the sofa while watching Criminal Minds.

“Y/n, seriously,” Alexia said, putting her hands on her hips. “For the love of God, go take a shower.”

“I’m not that dirty,” Y/n said “It’s fine, I’ll go after this episode is over.”

“You smell like a sweaty gym sock,” Olga chimed in from behind her, wrinkling her nose.

“Okay, wow, thanks for the support,” Y/n said sarcastically, glaring at Olga. “

I’m just saying. The truth hurts. No cap.” Olga just shrugged, looking far too pleased with herself.

“Did you just say ‘no cap’?” Y/n raised an eyebrow, unable to hide her amusement.

Olga grinned. “Yeah, you heard me.”

“Oh no, where did you learn it?” Y/n said, turning to Alexia for backup. “Did Jana teach it to her?

“I don’t know,” Alexia shrugged."But what I do know is that you’re taking a shower now, bet.”

“Okay…” Y/n narrowed her eyes and turned the TV off. “I’m just going because you two are acting weird.

As Y/n walked toward the stairs Alexia called after her. “Please take a really long shower. We need some peace and quiet around here.”

Y/n ignored Alexia.

Tomorrow, she’d wake up to Alexia saying “no cap” in an interview. She could feel it.

..

Please don't forget to like, reblog and leave feedback!!! plss <3

more of barça! teen reader here

[aquaquadrant]

from eden, part IX (act I)

Word count: 11,504 Warnings: Blood/injury, violence, death, animal death, temporary dismemberment, dissociation, self-deprecating thoughts (not really, Jimmy’s just a listener and doesn’t know it), strong language, fictional racism/xenophobia, panic attacks Summary: The Double Lifers have successfully thwarted the invasion by Hels Tek, but not unscathed. Now that Tango’s been outed as Bravo’s doppelgänger, the remaining threads are starting to unravel, and Jimmy suddenly finds himself fighting to save Tango from his own inner demons. Can their love survive the fallout?

A/N: This took a ridiculously long time to write and got way longer than I’d originally intended so uhhh happy belated holidays? There’s a lot in this one that I’m excited to show y’all so I really hope u enjoy it, pls reblog/comment if u do, it means a lot.

Also this chapter has been split into two parts bc Tumblr is a hoe with a paragraph limit, link to the second half at the end. And as always, this is part of a series, so the previous chapters can be found on my au directory here. - Aqua

~*~

from eden, part IX (act I) - no tired sighs, no rolling eyes, no irony

~*~

Somewhere in Double Life, a player kneels in a bloody wheat field.

Jimmy’s senses are flooded with iron. He’s regenerated enough health that his nose isn’t actively bleeding anymore, but he’s sure it’s still all over his face. As he finally pulls away from Tango, he realizes he’s smeared plenty of it on Tango’s shoulder. The blood on Tango’s chin and claws hasn’t fully dried yet, either. And through his slightly parted mouth, Jimmy can see it’s stained his teeth.

(Did you see what he did back there?)

(He was like an animal.)

(How long do you think he’s been keeping that in?)

Jimmy pushes the thoughts away. Focus on the here and now.

To be fair, though, the ‘here and now’ is a horrible place. The ranch is burning behind them. His eyes are burning from the tears and the smoke in the air. His throat feels tight and scratchy. He’s physically and emotionally exhausted, the weight of it dragging him down, sinking into the trampled soil beneath him. The singed edges of his wings are still stinging, but it’s an easily forgotten pain among everything else.

Jimmy hates crying. Especially in public. Really, nothing makes him feel more useless and pathetic than crying. But he has to admit, he’s at least a little calmer and more clear-headed. Now that he’s cried himself out, his awareness is gradually returning to the conversation going on around him.

“What in’a world was that about?!” Bdubs cries out, sounding absolutely flabbergasted.

“Yeah, who were those guys, anyway?” Etho asks, knitting his brows together. “How’d they get here?”

Joel makes a distressed noise. “They shouldn’t be able to open a portal here, this is a private world!”

“I know, I know, okay,” Grian gripes, “I’m workin’ on it. Hang on-”

“And what was all that nonsense about doggelpangers?” Scar pauses. “Uh, dop- doppabang-”

“Doppelgängers?” Cleo calls over wryly.

Scar hangs his head. “Dang it. Yes, that.”

“I dunno, but what if they come back?” Joel asks nervously. “What should we do?”

Isn’t that the question?

Jimmy takes quick stock of his surroundings. Grian is standing a little way’s off from Jimmy’s huddle, head bent down as he furiously scrolls through his communicator, the screen reflecting in his tinted glasses. Scar is hovering next to Grian, peering keenly over his shoulder, his bow held limply at his side. Both of them look a little roughed up from the battle, but alright for the time being.

Etho, still crouched at the spot where Bravo died, is searching through the dropped items. Joel is pacing in front of the broken portal frame and casting anxious glances at it, one hand gripping his sword while the other rakes through his hair, antennae twitching with agitation. There are a few scrapes and gashes between them- mostly superficial and likely to heal on their own.

Pearl’s wolf pack has been considerably thinned out- something Jimmy notes with a pang of guilt- but there’s still plenty of them milling about the place. With blood-matted fur and tucked tails, it’s clear they took a beating. Pearl herself must’ve gone, from the way they sniff and look around aimlessly, giving plaintive yips and whines. Scott is conspicuously absent as well, another hint as to the bonded pair’s fate. Jimmy’s sure they’ll be along soon.

Bigb and Ren are also nowhere to be seen- likely more casualties of the battle. Ren makes for a rather large target when in wolf mode; he probably drew a lot of enemy fire. And of course, Bigb would’ve gone with him. Box is quite a way from the ranch, Jimmy recalls, so it’ll take them a few minutes to get back.

Martyn is busy mining up the rest of the portal frame, seeming none the worse for wear. Cleo sits a couple yards away, one leg stretched out in front of her. The other one has been chopped clean off at the knee, and is clenched in their hand- but wait, it does that sometimes, Jimmy reminds himself before he can panic. The detached limb isn’t even bleeding, and she’s already pulling some string from her inventory to stitch it back on, seeming more inconvenienced than anything else.

Bdubs, across the field, looks no more beat-up than he always does. He’s fussing over his horse, snatching up stray bits of wheat to heal as it struggles to get its legs under it. Impulse’s horse, devoid of rider, has wandered off towards the barn- perhaps hearing the other horses inside. Impulse himself is crouched beside Jimmy and Tango, his golden eyes intently studying the collar that’s been locked around Tango’s neck.

Tango is still completely silent. He doesn’t move or give any indication that he’s at all mentally present, just kneeling idly in the dirt, expression blank, eyes distant. Nothing but static through their soul bond. He doesn’t seem to be seriously injured- most of the blood stains aren’t his. That realization isn’t as relieving as Jimmy wants it to be.

Grian clears his throat. “Right. First thing’s first, are we all still here?” he asks, scanning his communicator. “No one went through the portal?”

“Nah, all good,” Martyn calls over his shoulder as the final obsidian block pops onto the ground.

Etho has his communicator pulled up too. “Yeah, uh, just looks like Scott and Pearl got killed,” he reports. “Ren and Bigb, too. I’ll shoot ‘em a message, see if they’re alright.”

“Right, okay.” Grian chews his lip, wings ruffling. “And all the other fellas are gone?”

Etho nods. “Yep.”

“Okay-”

“G,” Scar cuts in, tugging on Grian’s sleeve, “you gotta respawn before that injury sets in.”

Grian shrugs him off. Only now does Jimmy realize he’s holding one of his wings closer to his body than the others, the one that took an arrow during the fight. “Gimme a second-”

”Um, guys?” Martyn says suddenly, pointing at the ranch. “Fire tick is on, yeah?”

Grian looks up at that, sucking in a breath through his teeth. “Hoo boy. Yeah, we need’ta get a ditch around the ranch, okay, or else the whole forest’ll go.” He casts a sidelong look at Jimmy, expression apologetic. “Tim, do you mind…?”

Jimmy shakes his head. “No,” he says hoarsely, “no, no, by all means. Whatever you need to… oh gosh, it’s all gonna go. It’s gone, isn’t it? It’s-” His voice breaks, and he quickly looks away, fresh tears welling in his eyes.

It wasn’t much, the ranch.

Only two floors- three counting the basement- and a bit tight on space. It wasn’t the most impressive build, not by a long shot. Certainly not when compared to the other builds on this world. It was something that would’ve taken two actually competent builders nothing more than a dedicated afternoon to put together. Plainly decorated, and comprised mostly of wood and stone variants. Nothing that’s particularly hard to obtain. And in all honesty, it was just a starter base; they were going to outgrow it sooner or later, anyways.

But it was theirs. 

It was the scorch marks in the wood from Tango’s blaze rods, in the moments where his emotions got away from him. It was the rocking chair where Jimmy liked to do his embroidery, when he needed to unwind after a busy day. It was the auto-sorting storage room that Tango spent weeks fine-tuning. It was the small but cozy living room that Jimmy decorated with potted flowers. It was the kitchen that always smelled faintly of charcoal, and the wool rug in the foyer that came from their own sheep, and the bedroom that they shared with an east-facing window to let them watch the sunrise together, on the rare days when Tango was awake early enough to see it.

The ranch is burning, and there’s nothing Jimmy can do about it.

(Great. Gonna start crying again, are you?)

(What exactly is that going to accomplish?)

(Man up! Don’t be so pathetic.)

A gentle hand on Jimmy’s shoulder makes him look up. Martyn is there, sympathy glimmering in his eye. “We’ll save what we can,” he promises.

Jimmy manages a grateful smile, blinking away his tears. “Thanks.”

Martyn nods before straightening back up. “Etho, Joel, you got water buckets on ya?”

“Oh, yeah.” Etho puts his communicator away as he and Joel start toward the ranch, buckets in hand. “Yeah, here, let’s make an infinite source..”

“Right. I’ll get the ditch started, then,” Cleo chimes in, rising to their feet now that both legs are once again intact.

Grian makes an appreciative noise, still tapping away at his communicator. “Okay, so that’s done-”

“Grian,” Scar says again, more insistently. “You gotta-”

“Hang on!” Grian huffs. He looks up to meet Jimmy’s gaze. “Okay, so uh, I can’t ban them… but what I’m gonna do is lock the world down,” he explains, taking a few steps over. “No one goes in or out… not even through a backdoor portal. This is just a temporary solution, but it should do the trick for now.”

Relief washes over Jimmy. “Thank you,” he murmurs.

(Good thing Grian is here to clean up your mess, huh?)

“Hey, guys?” Impulse speaks up, making Jimmy startle. “Um, Tango… he’s not lookin’ so good.”

That’s putting it kindly. Jimmy’s heart tightens. “Right. We should prob’ly get him inside, um…” He trails off as he instinctively looks at the ranch, which is on fire.

Right.

Impulse gives him a comforting look. “C’mon, you guys can crash at our place.” He rises to his feet, calling out, “Bdubs, would you bring the horses over?”

“Yeah, gimme a sec,” Bdubs shouts back. He’s finally gotten his horse standing again, glancing around for Impulse’s. “C’mere, stupid- hey! No, don’t wander off…”

“You finished, Grian?” Scar asks impatiently, notching an arrow.

“Okay, okay, hang on…” Grian presses a couple more buttons before putting his communicator away. “There, it’s done. Now, I’m gonna do some diggin’ and see what I can find out about this. But, um…” His gaze sweeps over Tango, expression pinched. “As soon as Tango is up for it… we all need to have a serious chat, okay?”

The wording immediately puts Jimmy off. He can feel his feathers bristling, his wings flaring out almost unconsciously to block Tango from view. “Wh- hey, this wasn’t his fault!” he protests.

Grian holds his hands up. “Ey, I know, I know,” he says lightly. His lower wings sweep out and flatten into a sort of fan as he crouches; an appeasing gesture. “None of us think that, okay? But clearly those guys came here for him, so we need’ta figure out why and how if we’re gonna figure out how to stop it from happenin’ again. Alright?”

Jimmy takes a breath, letting his feathers smooth over again. “Right. You’re right, sorry,” he mumbles.

(Wow, so defensive.)

(Like you could protect him, anyways.)

(Have you no faith in your own friends?)

Grian glances at Impulse. “You got them, Impulse?”

“Yeah, don’t worry,” Impulse assures him.

Scar draws back his bow. “Any day now, Grian…”

“Okay.” Grian turns around with an exasperated sigh. “Alright, Scar-”

He disappears in a puff of respawn smoke. Scar immediately follows him, his bow clattering to the ground amidst the shower of other items.

Impulse exhales in what might’ve been a laugh, if he didn’t sound so tired. He turns to Jimmy. “Can you stand?” he asks, holding out his hand.

(Look, they all think you’re weak, too!)

Jimmy feels himself flush. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he says, his tone short. Ignoring Impulse’s hand, he struggles to his feet unaided, wings flapping about to help keep his balance.

And then he feels incredibly silly about it. These are his friends, for goodness sakes.

“Thanks,” Jimmy adds, to soften it. “But Tango, I dunno if he… I mean, normally I’d carry him, but right now, I think- I think I’d drop him,” he confesses. Already, the effort of just standing on his own is starting to fatigue him.

Impulse just nods, a knowing look in his eye. “Yeah, no problem.” Slowly, he crouches down next to Tango again. “Hey, Tango, buddy?” he calls softly. “Can you hear me? It’s Impulse. I’m gonna pick you up now, if that’s okay?”

Tango doesn’t respond. Carefully, Impulse gathers Tango into his arms in a cradle hold- which Tango doesn’t react to besides curling in on himself a little more. His breathing quickens for a few seconds before he settles down again.

“Sorry,” Impulse whispers.

Jimmy swallows. He’s never known Tango to be so quiet, so still. It’s incredibly disturbing to see. And gosh, he knows Tango’s pale, but right now he looks about as white as quartz.

The events of this afternoon were a lot for anyone to handle. Jimmy’s still only working with bits and pieces, of course. He knows that Tango originally came from a terrible world called Hels, escaped from that creepy scientist guy Dr. Atlas, and has been hiding out on Hermitcraft ever since. So it’s not surprising that Tango got a nasty shock when his past suddenly came knocking at his door- literally, in Bravo’s case.

But Jimmy also knows that Tango is quite tough. He’s not the type to shut down in the face of hardship- in fact, he’ll often go the opposite direction, with manic bursts of frantic energy. So for a reaction this extreme… either that collar they put on him is having a more drastic effect than Jimmy realized, or there’s something more to the story he isn’t aware of.

Before the collar dampened their soul bond, the fear Jimmy felt from Tango had been damn near overwhelming. What could those Hels players have done to him to elicit such a strong reaction? Jimmy dreads to think of it.

The sound of hoofbeats pulls Jimmy out of his musings.

“Here I am!” Bdubs announces loudly, leading a horse by each hand. “Got the hawsies all ready t’go- oh, hey, waugh- what happened to him?” he gasps, his horrified gaze falling on Tango, wide eyes going even wider. “Wha’ th- is he okay?!”

Impulse gives him a tired smile. “Bdubs, I know we’re outside right now, but indoor voice, please? I’ll explain later.”

“Oh, okay!” Bdubs immediately drops into a stage whisper, ducking his head sheepishly. “Right, right, right, right, right, sorry.” He eyes Tango nervously for another moment. “Jeeze, they really… okay, okay, okay, right. Let’s go.”

With an appreciative look, Impulse moves beside one of the horses. Shifting his hold on Tango, he hikes one foot up into the stirrup and swings onto the horse’s back, forked tail lashing through the air.

Bdubs follows suit, climbing onto his own horse before glancing down at Jimmy. “Uh- you wanna ride wi’ me, Jimmy?” he asks, still whispering.

“That’d be great, thanks,” Jimmy says gratefully. Just the thought of walking or flying to their base makes him feel like all his bones have turned to slime.

His own attempt to get on the horse doesn’t go anywhere near as smoothly. With someone else already in the saddle, it’s a clumsy maneuver, his flailing wings more of a hindrance than anything. In the end, Bdubs grabs the back of Jimmy’s shirt and helps haul him up. That only makes Jimmy feel worse. Bdubs is so much smaller than him, how did he manage that?

“Okay…” Bdubs glances over his shoulder as Jimmy gets settled. “You alright back there?”

“Yep, yep, I’m good,” Jimmy says quickly. He clears his throat. “Can we- can we get goin’?” He’s anxious to leave this depressing scene behind and get Tango someplace calmer.

Bdubs nods. “Okay. Uh- hang on tight, and you’d better keep those wings folded or else you- you’ll be blown right off’a this thing!” He turns to Impulse. “We go now!”

“Alright, let’s go.” Impulse urges his horse forward, and Bdubs swiftly follows.

The horses gallop away from the ranch.

Jimmy does as he’s told, leaning forward to put his arms around Bdubs’s shoulders and tucking his wings tightly against his back. The jostling of the horse’s stride isn’t kind to his aching muscles and bones, but he’s not about to complain. Right now he feels completely out of sorts- like a stranger in his own skin.

As exhausted as his body is, his mind is absolutely racing. He can’t stop thinking about what Bravo said, that Tango was to blame for his being in Hels. And Tango hadn’t really denied it.

From what Jimmy can recall from today’s chaotic events, Tango used to be in Hels, and then a portal appeared. He went through it to Hermitcraft, and somehow, that got Bravo sent to Hels. That seems to be the conclusion they’ve come to. And Tango didn’t know about it at first, but he’s known about it for a couple years at this point, and said nothing.

(How selfish of him.)

But it wasn’t Tango’s fault! He didn’t intentionally send Bravo there, and he only kept his knowledge secret because he was afraid he’d get sent back himself if he revealed the truth. That’s… really upsetting. If Tango didn’t trust the Hermits enough to tell them, after spending nearly a decade getting to know them, it’s no wonder he didn’t tell Jimmy.

Has Tango spent this whole time feeling like a fugitive in his own home?

And what is Hels, really? What kind of world doesn’t allow portal travel in and out? The way they’d spoken about it, it almost seemed like a prison. But created by who? And why?

What exactly is a Hels player? What does a ‘doppelgänger’ entail, exactly? Because if Tango is supposed to be an evil version of Bravo, Jimmy is clearly missing something, ‘cause he doesn’t buy that for a second.

Do all players have a Hels counterpart? Does Jimmy? Oh, now there’s a disturbing thought. Is there another Jimmy running around in a prison world somewhere, locked away from the rest of the universe?

Now that he’s aware of the possibility, he isn’t sure this is something he can just forget about.

But he knows his questions will have to wait. Tango is hardly in the condition to be discussing any of this- getting him recovered from his shock is Jimmy’s first priority. He’s about to ask how far away they are when two figures appear in the distance.

It’s Scott and Pearl, on the way back from their respawns. Pearl is preoccupied, intensely scanning her communicator as she walks. But Scott spots them immediately, nudging Pearl with his elbow and lifting a hand to wave them over.

Impulse glances over his shoulder at Bdubs and Jimmy. “Guess we’d better go see what they want,” he says as he steers his horse towards the pair, Bdubs following suit.

Pearl looks up at their approach. Her respawn must’ve taken care of any injuries she sustained from the battle, because she seems like her usual red-eyed self. But there’s an unmistakable air of anxiety about her- one that Scott seems to share, based on his terse expression.

“Impulse!” Pearl shouts, as soon as she’s within proximity hearing range. “You seen Tilly ‘round?”

Impulse eases his horse to a stop. “Oh, uh- she’s the one with the dyed collar, right?” he asks, knitting his brows together. “Yeah, yeah I’m pretty sure she was back at the wheat field.” 

Pearl exhales heavily. “Oh, thank goodness. I- I lost so many dogs, I wasn’t sure…” She puts her communicator away, looking them up and down. “So uh, is everyone alright? Are… you guys alright?” she asks uncertainly, quirking a brow.

“We’re fine,” Impulse assures her easily. He jerks his head back in the direction they came from. “The others are dealing with the ranch right now, it’s uh… it’s a pretty big fire, I’m sure they’d appreciate some help.”

Pearl follows his gaze, eyes widening at the plume of smoke still visible above the trees. “Oh gosh, yeah, we’d better get goin’, then.”

“You alright, Timmy?” Scott speaks up suddenly. 

“Huh?” Jimmy startles at being addressed. “Oh, yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Mmm.” Scott doesn’t look convinced, his sharp eyes studying Jimmy’s face before flicking over to Tango. “Is Tango alright? Where’d tha’ thing on his neck come from?”

Jimmy’s heart jolts. “Um…” He isn’t sure how much he should be sharing with the others, while Tango’s incapacitated like this.

Luckily for him, Impulse cuts in. “Don’t worry,” he says gently, “we’ve got it covered. You guys go check in with the others, okay?”

It’s not a very subtle hint, but Scott allows it. “Alriiiight,” he drawls, holding his hands up. “Just remember you’ve got help if y’want it.”

“I appreciate it,” Impulse hums, but Jimmy catches the flash of relief in his eyes as he turns his horse away.

“Yeah, ‘preciate ya!” Bdubs echoes as they ride off.

They ride in silence for a few moments, until they’re out of proximity range, before Impulse clears his throat. “I just think Tango would appreciate some privacy right now,” he explains quietly. “You know everyone else- they’d all want to help and see if he’s okay, but a big group would probably freak him out.”

“Ah.” Jimmy nods. “Good thinkin’.”

(Gee, Impulse is really taking charge, huh?)

(You’re basically useless.)

(He would’ve been a way better soulmate for Tango than you.)

The thoughts make Jimmy flinch. He hasn’t often felt insecure in his relationship with Tango, despite having known him for a much shorter time than the Hermits. But right now, his general lack of knowledge and experience in how best to help Tango has become glaringly obvious.

Thankfully, before he can spend any more time feeling sorry for himself, Impulse and Bdubs’s house finally comes into view.

They’ve added another floor since Jimmy was last here. Floor-to-ceiling windows made of light gray panes curl around one side of the building, continuing with the sleek mid-century modern design. The front yard has received some landscaping as well; a wide, circular path that frames a small cluster of custom trees and shrubbery before leading to the dark oak door, framed by neat flower beds on either side.

As they come up on the house, Impulse and Bdubs turn their horses along a branch of path that veers off from the main circle, taking them towards a small structure built against the house’s side. Made only out of diorite wall posts and a flat, deepslate tiled roof, it creates sort of an overhang, divided into two compartments with warped stem fence posts. Its purpose quickly becomes obvious as Bdubs hops off his horse and pulls a lead from his inventory, leashing his horse to one of the posts.

Jimmy swings his leg around to slide off the horse, dropping onto the ground with an ungraceful grunt. In the stall beside them, Impulse has carefully dismounted from his own steed, still cradling Tango in his arms.

The longer Jimmy looks, the more his chest aches with longing. So he looks away.

“Alright, let’s get inside.” Impulse’s voice is soft. He turns back towards the front of the house. “This way.”

Bdubs finishes hitching the other horse to its post. “Right behind ya!” he chirps. He pats Jimmy on the arm as he passes- an encouraging, or perhaps comforting, gesture.

Either way, Jimmy appreciates it. He knows Bdubs tends to diffuse tense situations with humor, or by maintaining an energetic demeanor. It might be mistaken as inconsiderate, in some situations, but he seems to know where the line is. Genuinely, Jimmy thinks he’d feel worse if Bdubs was suddenly walking on eggshells around him.

Pity is a suitor that won’t take a hint, no matter how many times Jimmy turns it away.

He follows Impulse and Bdubs around the front of the house. Bdubs has already scrambled ahead to open the door for Impulse, whose arms are, of course, full of Tango. He ushers Jimmy in after them with a wide sweep of his arm.

They’ve moved their bedroom upstairs at some point, it seems. The main floor is now a dedicated living space with a modest kitchen in the back, overlooked by a loft from the second floor. An L-shaped lounge made of quartz stairs is built into the conversation pit occupying the center of the room, surrounding a small fireplace. The glass panes encasing it go all the way up to the ceiling, but the sight of fire makes Jimmy flinch anyways- which he immediately kicks himself for.

(Jeeze, man, get a grip! What if Tango saw that?)

If Impulse and Bdubs noticed, they don’t comment on it. Impulse silently leads the way up a spiral quartz slab staircase, which opens up into the loft. Bdubs’s interior work is clearly showing here, with cozy seating nestled beside a custom bookshelf-console unit. Straight ahead past the loft is a short hallway with a couple doors on either side.

Impulse stops at the first one on the right. “We got a spare room here,” he says, nodding his head at the door.

“Not finished yet!” Bdubs adds hastily, though still making an effort to keep his voice low. “Or uh, heugh- furnished. I’m gonna- I was gonna do the interior, I swear.”

Somehow, the fact that Bdubs is concerned Jimmy will judge his lackluster interior decoration- despite everything else going on right now- makes Jimmy crack a smile. “Well, beggars can’t be choosers, ey?” he jokes.

“Oh, very freaking funny!” Bdubs huffs, but he’s grinning, too. He opens the door for them, and Jimmy lets Impulse carry Tango inside before following.

The room is, as expected, fairly bare bones. Quartz walls and a dark oak floor carry over the mid-century modern theme from the exterior, but there’s no furniture other than a double-wide cyan bed against the wall. A couple of haphazardly-placed torches on the walls provide the room’s only lighting.

“No windows yet, either,” Bdubs mutters, clicking his tongue as his critical gaze sweeps over the room. “I need ta- I- I still gotta figure out how to place ‘em, with the exterior wall and stuff.”

“It’s alright,” Jimmy assures him. Windows would make him feel a bit too exposed right now, if he’s being honest.

Impulse carefully sets Tango down on the bed. “Okay, Tango, here we are.” He straightens up, running a hand through his hair as he exhales heavily.

Bdubs crosses quickly-but-quietly over to Impulse, wrapping him in a hug. “You okay, sweetie?” he asks softly.

Impulse smiles down at him. “Yeah, yeah, I’m good. Don’t worry.”

“Okay.” Bdubs goes up on his toes to kiss Impulse’s cheek- and even so, he barely makes it. “I’m gonna go check on our boys, then, and see if the others need help with th- with the uh, the ranch. D’you- is there anything you want me to tell ‘em?”

“Yeah,” Impulse says thoughtfully, “maybe just let them know that we’d like to give Tango and Jimmy some privacy right now? We’ll let them know if we need anything, and we’ll chat more once everything’s calmed down.”

“Right, okay.” Bdubs glances at Jimmy. “That- is that good? For you?”

Jimmy is taken aback by the amount of consideration he’s being given. “Oh yeah, that’d be great, thanks.”

“Alright.” Bdubs casts one final look at Tango, trying but failing to hide his worry from those big eyes of his. “Alright, I- I’ll be back in a little.” 

He slips out the door, leaving them alone.

Before an awkward silence can descend, Impulse clears his throat. “So uh, looks like someone got you pretty good,” he says, gesturing to his face.

“Huh?” Confused, Jimmy brings a hand to his face- only to jerk away as his fingers brush against his nose. Now that he’s actually paying attention, there’s a dull ache of pain radiating down the bridge of his nose, and underneath the still-sticky blood, he can feel a prominent bump where there wasn’t one before.

“Oh, right,” he murmurs. “Forgot about that.”

“Yeah, looks broken,” Impulse says sympathetically. “Need a respawn?”

Jimmy pauses. It’s difficult to tell when an injury will result in lasting damage- no one’s really cracked that particular scientific riddle yet. But generally, it’s understood that the sooner the respawn, the better the outcome. That’s why things like creeper explosions hardly ever leave a mark, since the death is usually instant.

More so, superficial wounds tend to be less likely to scar than deeper, more structural wounds. A simple gash will almost always go away after respawning- if it hasn’t already healed on its own- but things like broken bones can linger in the form of scars, joint deformities, and chronic pain. If he’s being smart, he really should get a quick respawn in, just to be sure.

But they’re on the Double Life world, and right now, his life isn’t just his own.

Jimmy looks Tango over. None of his wounds are serious enough to warrant a respawn, he only got a little scuffed up in the initial attack. In his current state, it’d probably do more harm than good.

“No,” Jimmy decides, “I… I can’t do that to him, not right now. He’s disoriented as it is.” He shrugs a shoulder. “Besides, I think it’s just the cartilage. Either it’ll heal on my next respawn, or it won’t, and it’ll just match the rest of my face.”

Impulse doesn’t laugh at the self-deprecating joke, simply offering a sad smile. “Alright. I’ll see if Martyn can bring some healing potions by once they finish up at the ranch, I’m pretty sure he’s got a brewing set-up.”

Jimmy’s throat tightens. “Right, thanks…” He smoothes a hand over the bed’s cover, setting his spawn anyways, before he eases himself onto the mattress. “Tango…?” he ventures. “Are you alright? Can you hear me?”

Tango has yet to move at all from where Impulse deposited him, back against the wall with his knees tucked to his chest, arms limp at his sides. He doesn’t acknowledge Jimmy at all- which isn’t anything malicious on his part, of course, but god does it hurt.

Taking a deep breath, Jimmy tries again. “Hey, Tango? It’s me, it’s Jimmy.” He puts a gentle hand on Tango’s shoulder, watching him all the while for any sign that he’ll startle or panic. “It’s over, you’re safe now. Are- are you hurt anywhere? Do you need anythin’?”

Still nothing. Somewhere behind Jimmy, Impulse makes a noncommittal noise. “Jimmy, buddy, I don’t think that’s gonna work right now…”

Jimmy ignores him. “Please, Tango,” he pleads, feeling his eyes sting, “can you just…” Idly, he lifts his other hand to wipe some of the blood off Tango’s chin. “Can you look at me?”

Unexpectedly, that gets Tango’s attention. He lifts his face almost robotically to look at Jimmy, eyes and expression still devastatingly blank.

The sudden movement startles Jimmy, his hand jerking back. And as it does, Tango lets his head drop back down.

An image flashes in Jimmy’s mind; Atlas, the doctor with the blood red gloves, grabbing Tango by the chin and tilting his head up.

(Oh, that’s messed up.)

(You’ve really done it, now.)

(Brilliant, just brilliant.)

Jimmy’s stomach turns. He scrambles back, away from Tango, his heart starting to pound. “Sorry,” he whispers, even though Tango gives no indication that he’s hearing it. “I’m sorry, I didn’t…”

A hand lands on his shoulder, making him jump. Impulse gives him an understanding look. “I… think he just needs some time to come out of it,” he says quietly. “Y’know, alone. When he shuts down like this, there’s really nothing to do but wait.”

Jimmy finds his voice again. “Wait, you’ve seen it before?” he asks, creasing his brows together.

Impulse winces. “A couple times, yeah.”

“Oh.” Jimmy swallows, glancing back at Tango. “I dunno, I- I don’t wanna just leave him like this…”

“We can stay right outside,” Impulse says reassuringly, folding his arms. “It’s just… when he gets like this, I’m not sure he’s fully processing what’s going on. It’s like a defense mechanism. So he’s not gonna come out of it until he feels safe, and um… well…”

It’s not hard to catch his meaning. Jimmy bristles. “What, are you- are you sayin’ he doesn’t feel safe with me?” he snaps, which is so unfair because Impulse has been so helpful and so kind and he’s actually sort of right, but Jimmy can’t help it.

Impulse holds his gaze. “Not if he doesn’t recognize you.”

That sobers Jimmy a little, his wings sagging. “Oh. Oh, yeah, good point. You’re right.” Ducking his head, he swings his legs off the side of the bed and rises to his feet. “I guess he’ll be okay in here,” he relents. “But um, can we- would you mind if we put out the lights? It’s just…”

“Tango feels safer in the dark,” Impulse finishes, realization dawning in his eyes. “Good call.”

“Yeah.” Jimmy fidgets with his hands as Impulse collects the torches.

(Wow, he really knows Tango, huh?)

(Thank god someone knows what to do.)

(What exactly are you even here for?)

With the room now sufficiently darkened, Impulse holds the door open for Jimmy. Jimmy gives Tango a final look-over, his blank face now lit by the dim glow of his dampened blaze rods.

“We’ll be right outside if you need us, Tango,” Jimmy says in parting.

Tango remains silent as Impulse closes the door behind them.

As soon as they’re back in the hallway, all of Jimmy’s fatigue seems to hit him at once. He sways where he stands, shoulder bumping against the wall- the dull pain is easily ignored in favor of the black spots dancing across his vision. He squeezes his eyes shut, biting back a groan.

Fortunately, Impulse is there to steady him. “Woah, easy there.” He quickly guides Jimmy over to the loft to sit down. “Just breathe, okay?”

Jimmy takes a few slow, deep breaths- in through the nose, out through the mouth. When he opens his eyes again, the room is no longer spinning around him, so that’s a plus.

“Here,” Impulse presses something into Jimmy’s hand, “you must’ve worked up some hunger.”

It’s a golden carrot. “Thanks,” Jimmy murmurs, immediately starting to nibble on it. He probably does have food on him, somewhere in his inventory- cooked steak, most likely- but the extra saturation helps.

Seemingly satisfied that Jimmy isn’t going to pass out, Impulse sits down in the chair next to him. “How you feelin’?”

“Better, thanks,” Jimmy murmurs, shifting to fold his wings a bit more comfortably. He feels awkward and just… so out of place here. And Impulse is a nice guy, sure, but it’s a little embarrassing to have to be taken care of like a child. If it weren’t for Tango’s sake, he probably wouldn’t have accepted Impulse’s offer of help in the first place.

“Good.” Impulse looks him up and down, brows pinching together. “Jeeze, they really did a number on you. I’m sorry we weren’t there sooner, chat was chaos and we thought they’d be at spawn ‘til we saw your SOS.”

That comforts Jimmy a little. At least he managed to do something right. “It’s alright, not your fault,” he assures Impulse. “I mean, if you guys hadn’t come when you did…”

“Yeah.” Impulse nods solemnly. “That, uh… would’ve been pretty bad.”

Jimmy studies Impulse for a moment. Now that they have a second, there’s a question that’s been nagging at him. “So…” he starts, “how much did you hear, of what Bravo said?”

“Eh, bits and pieces.” Impulse shrugs. “Something about Tango being an evil doppelgänger from Hels.”

He says it so casually, like he’s talking about the weather. Jimmy’s stomach cinches. “Impulse…” he says carefully. “Did you… did you know?”

“What?” Impulse looks at him in surprise. “Oh, that Tango was from Hels? No. No, I never knew anything about before he came to Hermitcraft. But you know, I always kinda knew there was something… not great in his past. I mean, there were signs. I just figured he’d come from an anarchy server or something.” He knits his brows together. “I guess you… never saw what he was like, when he was still new, huh?”

Jimmy frowns. “Wha’d’you mean?”

Impulse makes a noncommittal noise. “It’s not my place to get into all that. But let’s just say… he’s come a long way since then. So um, looking back, it kinda makes sense.”

“So then…” Jimmy hesitates. “D’you believe what Bravo was saying? About what Hels are like?”

Impulse actually laughs- though not unkindly. “Oh, no, not by a long shot,” he assures Jimmy. “Don’t worry about that. I mean, there are players who think non-humans are bad, right? Like, there are still public servers out there that’ll ban Cleo soon as she joins, just for being a zombie.” He shrugs a shoulder, his forked tail idly flicking through the air. “Or me, for being a demon.”

“Oh.” Jimmy blinks, feeling stupid. “Right. It’s… so easy to forget, sometimes, that some folks still feel that way.”

Impulse tilts his head. “Well, not when you have to live it,” he says lightly.

“Oh. Oh!” Jimmy smacks his forehead. “No, no, right, of course,” he adds hastily, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it’s easy for you specifically to forget. Just, in general, I guess. ‘Cause most players don’t have that problem with avians- I mean, sometimes they think some of our traits are weird, sure, but uh- but it’s not the same thing, cause we aren’t hostile mob hybrids. Obviously. And- and none of my friends feel that way, either, so I just…” He trails off, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m sorry, I’m not makin’ a lotta sense.”

Impulse gives him a gracious smile. “It’s okay, I know what you mean.” He leans back in his chair, his eyes thoughtful. “I’ve gotten so used to Hermitcraft, sometimes it catches me by surprise when I travel to public servers and people act scared, or… distrustful of me. And that’s without even seeing me in ‘full demon’ mode. So uh, even though I don’t know anything about this Hels world, I don’t believe that just being from there would automatically make someone evil. I know Tango better than that.”

Jimmy’s throat tightens. “Right…”

Now it’s Impulse’s turn to give him a sideways look. “... you don’t believe what Bravo said, do you?” he asks, voice low.

“What?” Jimmy blanches. Despite himself, he feels his wings puff up with indignation. “Gosh no, no, that’s- not in a million years, mate, it’s utter nonsense!”

“Alright, alright, sorry,” Impulse chuckles, holding his hands up. “I didn’t think you would. But you know, I just had to make sure.”

“Yeah.” Jimmy sighs, letting his feathers smooth down again. “You’re a good friend, Impulse,” he says, glancing away. “Seems like you know what to do, here. He’s gonna need that.”

“He’s gonna need you.” 

That makes Jimmy look up. “What?” 

Impulse’s expression softens. “I’ve known Tango a while, now, and even though there’s been plenty of fun and good times over the years… this is the first time I’ve seen him truly content. Like, he just seems at peace in a way I’ve never seen before. You do more for him than you’ll ever know- probably ‘cause he’s too scared to tell you.” There’s a knowing glint in his golden eyes. “Emotional vulnerability, uh, isn’t exactly his strong suit.”

A bittersweet smile tugs at Jimmy’s mouth. “Yeah, I’ve noticed.”

Impulse claps him on the shoulder. “We’re gonna figure it out, okay? You guys aren’t alone in this.”

Warmth blooms in Jimmy’s chest. “Thank you, Impulse,” he says softly, “I appreciate it.”

“No problem.” Impulse returns his smile before sitting back in his chair. “Now, how about you get some rest?”

Jimmy’s heart jolts. “Wh- no, wait,” he protests, “I’m not gonna leave-”

“You can stay right here!” Impulse assures him easily. “Just close your eyes and rest a bit. I’ll keep an eye out, and wake you up as soon as Tango comes to, okay? But right now, frankly, you look exhausted. And I’m sure you’ll wanna be well-rested for whenever Tango’s ready to talk about stuff.”

“Ah…” Chewing his lip, Jimmy glances over at the door to the spare room- mere steps away.

Since he forewent a respawn, he has to admit some shut-eye would be quite welcome at the moment. The immediate danger has passed. And right now, there’s nothing he can do to help Tango but give him some time. Might as well spend that time resting.

“I… suppose you’re right,” he relents finally. “But you gotta promise you’ll wake me if anythin’ happens, alright?”

Impulse nods. “I promise.”

“Right, then.” Jimmy settles into his chair, folding his arms across his chest. He fights back a yawn. “Thanks again. I- I mean it though… any little thing…”

“I know, I know.” Impulse waves him off. “Don’t worry.”

“Famous last words,” Jimmy quips, closing his eyes.

Impulse huffs a laugh but says nothing else.

Silence settles over the room, filled only by Impulse’s steady breathing and the rhythmic tap-tap-tap of him typing away on his communicator. He’s probably updating the others on the situation, so Jimmy can rest easy. He’s considerate like that.

Jimmy would’ve thought it’d be hard to fall asleep. This chair isn’t exactly built for it, and as lovely as Impulse and Bdubs’s home is, it’s not the ranch.

The loss is still fresh. He already knows it’s gonna hit him even harder in the coming days. But for right now, the post-adrenaline exhaustion is finally sinking in, and before he knows it, he’s drifted off into the inky blackness.

~*~

A gentle hand on Jimmy’s shoulder startles him awake.

“Jimmy,” Impulse whispers, his golden eyes glowing in the darkness, “wake up.”

It must’ve been quite a deep, dreamless sleep, because while it seems to Jimmy that he only just closed his eyes, he can clearly see through the window that it’s been at least several hours. The sun has long since set; a half moon is rising in the night sky. That’s alright with Jimmy- he was afraid he’d have nightmares.

Rubbing his eyes, Jimmy squints at Impulse. “What’s goin’ on? Everythin’ okay?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Impulse scratches the back of his head. “I uh, I just heard a thud in Tango’s room so I went to check on him and- he’s fine, don’t worry!” he adds quickly, as Jimmy bolts upright. “He’s fine, he’s up, but he still seems kinda disoriented? Like, he’s conscious, but when I tried to go in… I guess I look a bit too intimidating,” he taps one of the curved horns poking out from his hair, “‘cause he growled at me.”

“Growled?” Jimmy repeats, raising his eyebrows.

(Well, that’s promising.)

(Round two!)

(Here we go…)

“Yeah.” Impulse gives a sad smile. “So um, I think you should go try and talk to him, if you’re up for it.”

“Oh.” Jimmy blinks. “Oh, right, of course.” He rises to his feet, shaking off residual soreness from his awkward sleeping position.

Impulse pulls a lantern from his inventory and holds it out to Jimmy. “Give a shout if you need anything.”

Jimmy takes the lantern. “Right, thanks.” Steeling himself, he creeps over to the spare room, knocking lightly on the door- which is slightly ajar. “Tango…?” he calls softly, poking his head into the room. “You okay?”

The bed is empty, covers strewn in disarray. Tango is crouched in the corner farthest from the door, his back pressed against the wall. Hunched over and breathing hard, he stares at Jimmy, his blood-stained face lit by the faint glow of his blaze rods. His pupils are dilated again, lips curled back to show his teeth. There’s no recognition in his expression at all.

(You cannot sleep, there are monsters nearby.)

Jimmy swallows. His heart starts to pound. “Tango,” he starts tentatively, holding the lantern up so his face is clearly illuminated as he steps forward, “it’s okay, I’m not gonna hurt you.”

Tango makes a blaze noise deep in his throat; a haunting, hollow sort of growl. It’s unmistakably a warning.

Jimmy hesitates, wings shuffling uncertainly. How to get through to him? General reassurances don’t seem to be working. He needs to remind Tango of where he is, to convince him that he’s safe- in a way that only Jimmy would know.

He takes a breath. “Hey, rancher.”

Tango falls silent. Surprise flickers across his features, mouth parting, gaze sharpening. For a moment he just stares, motionless. Then he squints.

“... Jimmy?”

Oh, Jimmy could cry. “Yes, there we go!” he says encouragingly. “It’s me, it’s Jimmy. You okay, Tango?”

Tango’s breath hitches. He takes a single, careful step forward- then he halfs runs, half stumbles towards Jimmy.

Jimmy rushes to meet him, catching Tango before he falls. “Oh jeeze, okay…” Setting the lantern down on the bed, he lowers them to the floor, shifting so he can wrap Tango in his arms. “It’s alright, it’s alright…”

“Jimmy, thank god.” Tango clings to him just as tightly, face buried in Jimmy’s shirt. His claws dig into Jimmy’s skin just shy of being painful. “I- I woke up,” he gasps, “and the quartz- I thought I was…” He pulls away enough to scan Jimmy’s face, eyes wide and frightened. “Where are we? What- how long has it been?”

Jimmy knits his brows together. “Uh- we’re at Impulse and Bdubs’s place, and it’s been… several hours, I think? Half a day?”

“God.” A shudder runs through Tango. “That- that really happened, didn’t it?” He starts to breathe faster, his voice straining into that faint upper pitch that Jimmy’s come to associate with panic. “Oh god, I- I- I don’t- hhh, I c- can’t…”

“Hey, hey, breathe,” Jimmy soothes, rubbing circles on Tango’s back. “I’m here, you’re safe. It’s over. Just breathe.”

They stay like that for a while, Tango curled against Jimmy as he rides out the worst of it. He shakes violently, eyes squeezed shut, breath hitching as he tries to get control of it again. Jimmy’s heart aches for him- he wishes there was something more he could do to help.

But he knows from experience that just being here is enough.

It’s not terribly infrequent for Tango to have nightmares. Sometimes he simply startles awake at night, apologizes for waking Jimmy up, and goes back to sleep. If Jimmy asks about it the next morning, he brushes it off as nothing; just silly nonsense nightmares, the kind that are terrifying at the time but seem utterly ridiculous in the light of day. Nothing more than that.

And all this time, Jimmy believed him.

(What a fool.)

Jimmy’s only ever seen a couple nightmares cause a reaction as severe as this. The shaking, the shortness of breath, the panic. What helped in the past was simply holding Tango- offering a few reassurances, but mostly silent comfort. And of course, Tango never wanted to talk about those nightmares, and Jimmy didn’t want to push too hard. He’d figured that Tango would talk to him about it when he was ready.

(Fool me once, shame on you…)

Gradually, Tango calms down. His tremors cease, and his breathing starts to grow deeper. He’s still holding onto Jimmy, but it’s less desperate, now. More familiar. Jimmy curls his wings around them, as if providing another barrier, another layer of security.

After Tango’s been still and quiet for a few moments, Jimmy softly breaks the silence. “How much d’you remember?”

Tango takes a shaky breath. “All of it,” he whispers. “E- everything, I was- it was like I- I was watching everything happen to someone else, like I was outside my body…” He looks up to meet Jimmy’s gaze, eyes brimming with tears. “Jimmy, I- I’m so sorry.”

“What?” Jimmy frowns. “Tango, what on earth are you apologizing for?”

Abruptly, Tango pulls away. “I burned you,” he grits out.

“No, you-” Jimmy almost grabs him by the arm, but then thinks better of it. “That wasn’t your fault.”

Tango stares at him incredulously. “Wha’ th- what do you mean? Of course it was!” He rakes his claws through his hair. “I- I lost control, I set the ranch on fire, and you got burned.”

“That’s not the same thing,” Jimmy argues. “You didn’t do it on purpose, you were just defending yourself.”

“Doesn’t matter!” Tango throws his hands up. “If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have gotten burned, true or false?”

(True!)

(He’s got a point…)

(Why are you arguing this?)

Jimmy doesn’t answer. “Look,” he says instead, “honestly, it’s not a big deal. I’m fine!”

“Well, you don’t look fine!” Tango says bluntly. Distress flashes across his face as he looks Jimmy up and down. “Your poor wings- and oh, your face! What, did- we didn’t respawn?”

Jimmy ducks his head. “I didn’t wanna put you through that,” he explains, wincing.

He can actually see the guilt in Tango’s eyes intensify. “Ohhh no,” he breathes, dismayed. “You- why did you…” Shaking his head, he fixes Jimmy with a firm look. “Okay, you- you need to respawn, now.”

“It’s not important,” Jimmy replies, just as stubbornly. He holds a hand out, beseeching. “Tango, please, I- I’ve been worried outta my mind about you. So much happened- ”

“I’m fine,” Tango says shortly.

“No, you’re not,” Jimmy insists, working hard not to raise his voice. “I mean, honestly, I- I don’t even know what that thing ‘round your neck is doin’!”

Tango shuts his mouth with a sharp click and glances away. 

That sobers Jimmy instantly. Tentatively, he scooches a bit closer to Tango. His eyes trace the collar- it’s so deceptively simple, so innocuous at first glance. Just a ring of smooth, flat iron. But clearly, there’s a lot more going on; a single red light above the keyhole hints at a mechanism hidden within.

“Do you… know what it is?” Jimmy ventures, giving Tango a searching look.

Tango’s jaw tightens. “It’s wither rose.”

Jimmy blinks, taken aback. “What? But… we aren’t withering, we aren’t takin’ damage-”

“It’s not…” Tango makes a noncommittal noise, waving a hand in an aborted gesture. “They’ve modified it, somehow, I dunno. It- it’s not the full effect. All it’s doin’ is dampening my fire.”

“And our soulbond,” Jimmy realizes, his stomach sinking. “After he put it on you, I- I couldn’t feel your emotions anymore. It’s just… numb.”

Tango’s face is grim. “That’s what wither rose does,” he says lowly.

The certainty in his voice is… somewhat concerning. Sure, any player who’s been ‘round the block will have learned what it feels like to be withered, at some point or another. But due to the tedious and somewhat risky nature of obtaining the roses by way of a wither farm, most players don’t regularly encounter them. And as far as aesthetics are concerned, they aren’t the most appealing flower, so when they are farmed, they’re mostly used for mass-producing black dye or as the killing method in a mob farm. Not as decor or landscaping, where a player might actually touch the rose and be subjected to the wither effect.

Personally, Jimmy can’t remember the last time he touched a wither rose, as a player who doesn’t make a habit of farming withers or even taking on the boss fight. But the tone of Tango’s voice right now is the tone of someone who is horribly familiar with the sensation.

“Tango…?” Jimmy prompts quietly. “Is there… somethin’ I should know?”

Tango swallows. He’s avoiding Jimmy’s eyes. “I… I don’t wanna talk about it,” he whispers hoarsely. “Not right now?”

It’s almost a plea, and Jimmy’s heart tightens. “Okay. That’s okay,” he says gently, forcing down his disappointment; this isn’t about him. He rises to his feet, holding out his hand to Tango. “Here, come on, let’s… let’s get up on the bed, alright? It’s late, you need some proper rest.”

Tango hesitates, though he accepts Jimmy’s offered hand to help him up. “You need to respawn…”

“It can wait,” Jimmy says easily. He tries for a grin. “Honestly, I- I already knew I wasn’t exactly easy on the eyes, but I didn’t think it was that bad…”

“No,” Tango says quickly, “no, you’re not-” He makes a frustrated noise. “Your wings.”

Jimmy softens. “They’re just feathers. They’ll grow back.”

Sure, it might take a while if his follicles have been badly damaged, and his wings won’t be a pretty sight once all the burned feathers fall out. But most of his flight feathers are still intact, so in terms of places to get burned, it could’ve been much worse.

Tango huffs a breath, clearly still upset with himself. But he doesn’t protest further as Jimmy eases onto the bed, gently pulling Tango with him. After collecting the lantern so the room is properly dark again, Jimmy nestles under the covers, sweeping a wing out to lightly gather Tango beside him.

Tango settles against him, and it’s then that Jimmy realizes he isn’t as warm as he used to be.

He’s not cold, not by any means. But Tango has always run a bit hotter than the average player- a blaze hybrid trait that Jimmy’s quite fond of. It was the whole reason they first shared a bed, back in the early days of the world, and inadvertently plunged their relationship into new, terrifying depths. If it wasn’t for that moment, they likely would’ve danced around the issue for far longer, and been robbed of many precious days of happiness together. So even on warm nights, Jimmy will still cuddle up beside Tango. Even if he has to kick all the blankets off.

But with the collar dampening Tango’s fire, he’s been robbed of that, as well.

Jimmy swallows the lump in his throat and puts an arm around Tango, who curls into his side, head resting on his shoulder. Having Tango so close is immediately comforting. God, to think of how close he came to losing this, to never holding Tango again… 

It’s scary. It’s incredibly scary. There are few things in the universe that can really, truly cause lasting harm to a player. Injuries can heal upon respawn, death isn’t permanent- except for worlds where it is, then they just respawn on a different world and start again. But if those Hels people had succeeded in taking Tango through that hacked portal, into some isolated prison world that Jimmy has no way of finding… he’s afraid that would’ve destroyed him.

Jimmy turns his head to press a kiss onto Tango’s forehead, right between the dimmed blaze rods hovering around his temples. “Goodnight.”

“Night,” Tango whispers back.

The room grows silent. Jimmy stares up at the dark ceiling. His earlier tiredness has up and left him, his mind racing, plagued by thoughts of what might’ve been. It’s all he can do to reassure himself that it’s over, that Tango’s safe and still here with him.

That for once, he was lucky.

(For how long, though?)

He isn’t trying to stay awake. And he isn’t pretending to be asleep, either, just laying quietly with his thoughts. But at some point Tango must think he’s nodded off, because only then does he start to cry.

It’s a quiet sound. Just the sharp inhale and exhale of breath. Jimmy might not have even known he was crying if it wasn’t for the way his shoulders shake, and the sudden dampness seeping into Jimmy’s shirt. 

It takes all of Jimmy’s willpower not to console Tango, to hold him tighter and offer hushed reassurances. There’s a reason Tango waited until he thought Jimmy was asleep- he’s very much the kind of person who prefers to show emotion on his own terms. If he knew Jimmy was awake to witness this, he’d completely shut down again. And he needs this.

So Jimmy pushes down his own emotions and does nothing as his soulmate cries, trying not to move or start crying himself as the guilt for being so useless eats him alive.

(Sweet dreams…)

~*~

Morning comes, eventually.

At least, as far as Jimmy can tell by his internal clock. The room he wakes up to is still fairly dark- just a slim beam of light coming in from the hallway through the cracked door. Impulse must’ve done that to better keep an ear out for them overnight. Thoughtful guy. Tango is sleeping deeply next to Jimmy, and the sight is quite comforting.

It seems they’ve kept with their usual sleeping habits, even without a sunrise to greet them.

Carefully, without jostling Tango, Jimmy pulls up his inventory to grab his communicator. He can’t recall hearing it go off, but he wants to make sure there isn’t anything that urgently requires his attention. He’s surprised, however, to find a potion of healing; Impulse must’ve slipped it to him while he was sleeping.

A smile tugs at Jimmy’s lips. He’s long since regenerated his health, but the potion ought to help with his lingering injury. He downs the potion quickly, grimacing at the cloyingly sweet note of melon. It doesn’t take long for a cooling sensation to settle over his broken nose. When he gently probes at it, he can feel it’s still a little crooked, but at least the pain is gone.

Putting the empty bottle away, Jimmy digs out his communicator, squinting against the blue light. No one’s used chat lately or sent him any whispers- it seems they’re taking the request for privacy quite seriously. But there is the backlog from yesterday waiting for him. It takes him a minute just to scroll back to where it all began.

Bravo joined the game.

<Grian> ey??

AtlasSyn joined the game.

Tyrannicide joined the game.

Phantonym joined the game.

<Grian> EYY????

Helfyre_004 joined the game.

<PearlescentMoon> Ummm?

<Renthedog> What the heck??

CRIMETIME joined the game.

t3rr0r_b1te joined the game.

EbonyHelmentia joined the game.

baddomen666 joined the game.

<InTheLittleWood> WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?!?

staluggmite joined the game.

PwrPlayz joined the game.

<PearlescentMoon> Hello??

XxSLAYERxX joined the game.

Vexed2theMax joined the game.

ApexGamer98 joined the game.

<Smajor1995> wait how is this happening

<PearlescentMoon> Raid?? D:

SheHelsSeaHels joined the game.

ne’er_do_hels joined the game.

<Grian> i don;t know??

Jaffu joined the game.

<Grian> theres no one at spawn???

<Etho> woah!

<SolidarityGaming> SOS RSNCH

<Smajor1995> oh no

<Renthedog> What??

<Smallishbeans> rsnch lol

<GoodTimeWithScar> G come pick me up

Tyrannicide was slain by Tango.

staluggmite was slain by Tango.

Phantonym was slain by Tango.

<InTheLittleWood> Wait WHAT?!?!?!?!?!

<Smallishbeans> NO WAY

<BdoubleO100> OHHHHHHH

<Grian> EVERYONE TO RANCH

<ZombieCleo> what is happening???

staluggmite joined the game.

Tyrannicide joined the game.

<Smajor1995> omw cleo

Phantonym joined the game.

<impulseSV> Etho, Joel, our place?

<Renthedog> BigB where you at??

<bigbst4tz2> coming

SheHelsSeaHels was shot by GoodTimeWithScar using [hOtgUy]

EbonyHelmentia was shot by Smajor1995.

XxSLAYERxX was slain by impulseSV.

CRIMETIME was slain by Wolf.

t3rr0r_b1t3 was slain by Renthedog.

Jaffu was doomed to fall by ZombieCleo.

SheHelsSeaHels joined the game.

ne’er_do_hels was shot by GoodTimeWithScar using [hOtgUy]

Tyrannicide was slain by Renthedog.

XxSLAYERxX joined the game.

EbonyHelmentia joined the game.

CRIMETIME joined the game.

Phantonym was slain by Etho.

t3rr0r_b1t3 joined the game.

ne’er_do_hels joined the game.

XxSLAYERxX was slain by Wolf.

Jaffu joined the game.

Helfyre_004 was slain by Renthedog.

Vexed2theMax was slain by bigbst4tz2.

Tyrannicide joined the game.

XxSLAYERxX joined the game.

Jaffu was slain by Renthedog.

SheHelsSeaHels was slain by Wolf.

bigbst4tz2 was shot by AtlasSyn.

Renthedog died.

Phantonym joined the game.

baddomen666 was slain by Wolf.

SheHelsSeaHels joined the game.

Jaffu joined the game.

PwrPlayz was slain by InTheLittleWood.

Helfyre_004 joined the game.

Vexed2theMax joined the game.

staluggmite was slain by Smallishbeans.

Helfyre_004 was shot by Smajor1995.

EbonyHelmentia was slain by Wolf.

PwrPlayz joined the game.

ApexGamer98 was slain by PearlescentMoon.

baddomen666 joined the game.

PwrPlayz was slain by Wolf.

Jaffu was slain by Wolf.

baddomen666 was shot by Smajor1995.

EbonyHelmentia joined the game.

Vexed2theMax was slain by InTheLittleWood.

PearlescentMoon was shot by AtlasSyn.

Smajor1995 died.

Helfyre_004 joined the game.

ApexGamer98 joined the game.

SheHelsSeaHels was slain by Wolf.

ne’er_do_hels was slain by Wolf.

baddomen666 joined the game.

Vexed2theMax joined the game.

Helfyre_004 was slain by Wolf.

baddomen666 was slain by impulseSV.

CRIMETIME was slain by Smallishbeans.

Phantonym was slain by Wolf.

Vexed2theMax was slain by Wolf.

t3rr0r_b1t3 was slain by Wolf.

ApexGamer98 was slain by BdoubleO100.

Tyrannicide was slain by Wolf.

EbonyHelmentia was slain by Wolf.

AtlasSyn left the game.

XxSLAYERxX was slain by Wolf.

Bravo was shot by GoodTimeWithScar using [hOtgUy]

Grian was shot by GoodTimeWithScar using [hOtgUy]

GoodTimeWithScar died.

Jimmy doesn’t know how long he spends looking at chat, reading it over and over again as he tries to make sense of it. All those Hels players came here with the express purpose of kidnapping Tango. But why? Dr. Atlas had said something about ‘getting back to work’ and a farm design, but what does that even mean? 

Speaking of that doctor fella, he seems to have been the only one to get kills on the Double Lifers- the rest of them must’ve been preoccupied with Pearl’s wolves. Gosh, to think what her chat must look like…

But that’s something worth noting. Atlas didn’t waste his time with wolves, he went for Pearl and Bigb. He must’ve realized the wolves were Pearl’s and targeted her because of it. And the fact he went for Bigb instead of Ren, who was racking up the most kills... that means he was able to put together that they were soulbound, and he used that to get rid of the threat more easily.

Out of these Hels players, Atlas is clearly the one to watch out for.

Well, him and Bravo, of course. Though Bravo technically isn’t a Hels, if Jimmy’s understood it properly. But he’s certainly just as cruel and bloodthirsty as those other guys were, and he’s got it out for Tango the most. Jimmy can’t recall the last time he saw such hate in a player’s eyes, for any reason. And this is the guy claiming he should’ve been Jimmy’s soulmate? Unbelievable.

As if Jimmy would ever go for such a dense, hateful, entitled piece of-

“Honey,” Tango says suddenly, sitting up on his elbows, “you okay?”

Jimmy jolts in surprise; he must’ve been looking quite cross with his communicator. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” he assures Tango softly, offering an apologetic smile. “Sorry if I woke you.”

It’s difficult to make out details in the scarce light from the hallway, but Tango looks much improved from yesterday. Even underneath the dried blood, the warmth has returned to his skin, replacing that sickly, pale pallor. His red eyes are sharp and alert- that’s a huge relief, as well.

“No, no, you’re good!” Tango says brightly. He leans over to press a kiss to Jimmy’s cheek. “Sleep alright?”

His tone throws Jimmy for a moment. Someone’s feeling better. Blinking, Jimmy puts his comm away. “I did, yeah,” he answers uncertainly. “You?”

“Yep!” Tango smiles at him; it seems a bit forced. “I uh- I’m all rest-ificated and ready to start the day. So, what I- well, I- I guess our first order of business, we should go take a look at the ranch, right, see what the damage is? Then we can do some resource gathering and start rebuilding, so we aren’t crashing at Impulse and Bdubs’s place forever.”

Jimmy pauses for a moment to process the words. “Umm… are you sure?” he asks tentatively. “I mean, we can go look at it if you want, but uh, are you- we should really focus on getting that collar off you first, don’t you think?”

Tango shrugs. He isn’t quite meeting Jimmy’s eyes. “Doesn’t bother me. Besides, we don’t have the key.”

Jimmy knits his brows together. “So what, we just... let it alone? Move on?”

Tango huffs a laugh- it sounds a bit faint. “Yeah, yeah exactly.” 

(What an abrupt change of character!)

(Lying again, it seems…)

(How suspicious.)

Okay, this is definitely strange behavior. Considering everything that happened yesterday, Jimmy would’ve expected Tango to still be physically and emotionally wrecked. But instead, he seems rather keen to just move on, like everything’s normal- 

Ah. Of course. Jimmy doesn’t know why he’s surprised.

“Tango...” he starts, “I don’t think-”

“Good morning!” Impulse hums as he pokes his head through the cracked door. “How we doin’, guys?”

Curse his timing. Tango, of course, immediately takes advantage of the distraction.

“Oh, hey Impy!” he says cheerfully. “Hey uh, sorry about earlier. You know, I uh, I was a little confused, and uh… you know...” He pulls a face; overdramatized. He’s trying to make light of it.

Impulse seems to share the same realization as Jimmy. “Hey, it’s alright,” he says easily, though he keeps his tone in a lower register- more serious. Not feeding into the fake energy. “No hard feelings. Here, I brought some food.”

Tango takes the offered food without even a second of hesitation; a stack of golden carrots. “Of course. Thank you, thank you.” He quickly starts crunching on one, conveniently busying himself so he doesn’t have to say anything else.

Oh well, at least he’s eating. Jimmy gives Impulse a tired smile. “Hey, Impulse. Thanks again for lettin’ us crash here.”

Impulse returns his smile. “Yeah, of course, no problem. So um, I’ve just got a bit of an update for you guys.” He sits down at the end of the bed, expression sobering. “The ranch situation is under control, they managed to get the fire out before it spread to anything else nearby. So your pastures, barns, and fields are safe. All your animals, too.”

It’s easy enough to pick up on what he’s left out. “But the ranch itself is gone, isn’t it?” Jimmy says quietly.

Impulse nods. “I’m sorry. Most of what’s left is just the stone. I think the basement is pretty intact, too, but everything else…”

“Yep.” Tango, finished with his carrot, shrugs a shoulder. “Yeah, I figured. That’s what we get for building with wood, even though I’m super flammable and stuff.”

Jimmy gives him a sympathetic look. “It’ll be okay-”

“So,” Tango interrupts, avoiding Jimmy’s gaze as he gives Impulse an intent look, “uh- anything else?”

(Ouch! Testy…)

Impulse rubs the back of his neck. “Uh, yeah. Grian wants to know if you guys are up for a chat. Nothing bad,” he adds quickly, “he’s just trying to figure out a solution and we’re just a little in the dark about everything. You can stick to the basics; if there’s something you aren’t comfortable telling us, that’s fine-”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Tango assures him. Despite his grin, there’s a hard edge to his voice. “Let’s do it. Call everyone up, we’ll have a nice chat at spawn or something. Let’s- let’s get goin’.”

Impulse pauses. “Well, if you want, we can have just Grian come over...”

Tango huffs. “No, why- let’s just get everyone on the same page, okay? Get it all over with at once.” He spreads his hands. “No point in delaying, or- or having to explain the same thing over and over again, right? I mean, everyone’s stuck here ‘til Grian lifts the lockdown, I- I’m sure they’ll wanna know why.”

Jimmy exchanges a look with Impulse. “I… I suppose,” he says hesitantly. “But are you sure you’re-”

“Yeah,” Tango says, “yeah, it’s fine.” 

Impulse purses his lips, clearly fighting not to let his frustration show. 

The sentiment is one that Jimmy shares. It’s obvious Tango is trying to downplay everything- and if that’s his way of coping, fine. But it really throws a wrench into the works when moving forward requires actually addressing what happened, and having an in-depth conversation about it. And this doesn’t bode well for long-term; they can’t just pretend everything’s normal, no matter how much Tango might wish it. 

“Okay, I’ll let him know.” Impulse rises to his feet. “The bathroom’s at the end of the hallway if you guys wanted to wash up.”

Tango actually makes a face at that, dropping the facade for a moment. He really doesn’t like water. “Wash up..?”

Impulse winces. “You’re um. Still covered in dried blood.”

(I was wondering when he’d realize that…)

Tango blinks. “Oh. Oh, right, of course.” Absently, he reaches a hand up to scratch at his chin. “I should probably wash that off, yeah. I mean, everyone knows I’m a vicious monster but I don’t have to look it, right?” he laughs.

Jimmy’s heart tightens. “Hey, Tango…”

“No,” Impulse protests, “that’s not-”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Tango says shortly. “Thanks, Impulse.”

“Alright.” Impulse lets the matter drop, turning to leave. “Come downstairs when you’re ready.”

As soon as Impulse is gone, Jimmy turns to Tango. “Hey, so-”

But Tango has already hopped out of bed and crossed to the door, calling, “Hang on, be right back!” over his shoulder.

Down the hall, Jimmy hears the bathroom door open and close. He sighs.

This is gonna be a fun conversation.

~*~

CONTINUED IN PART IX, ACT II

[squaredbean]

more of my fake life series teams because apparently some people did want to hear about them

The Fairy Mound (Lizzie, Ren, Bdubs, Pearl, Mumbo)

Ren and Lizzie meet on a hill in a dark oak forest and begin to reminisce about the Fairy Fort as Bdubs and Pearl are being nosey and eavesdropping. Upon hearing Ren refer to Lizzie as his Queen, Bdubs demands that Ren and Lizzie duel to see who the superior monarch is. They refuse (Ren out of loyalty and Lizzie out of disgust at Bdubs’ lack of manners) and Pearl says that they should hold a democratic election instead. Bdubs struggles with the moral conundrum of choosing between two very good friends of his and votes for Mumbo, who just happens to be passing by. The others all switch their votes to Mumbo for the bit. Everyone is okay with this, except Mumbo, who starts having war flashbacks and feels strangely compelled to build a robot. They all switch their skins to Mumbo for Mayor shirts and Bdubs spends most of the season regretting his decisions.

The Arsonists (Joel, Scar, Cleo, Tango)

They hang out in session one and someone else mentions that they are all prone to arson (Grian, Martyn, or Scott probably makes this comment) so one of them makes a flint and steel and starts fucking around with it as a bit. This leads to all of them making them and setting half the server ablaze almost every session. It then forms an unbreakable bond between them and it becomes a sin for any of them to not carry a flint and steel on them. The Fairy Mound forest is a pile of ashes by session three at the latest. They are not nearly as hated as they should be, but they are still generally disliked for their destructive nature especially by the Fairy Mounders. Tango ironically yet unsurprisingly burns to death. Probably in a fire that he started.

Gem And Her Favourite Dad (Tango and Impulse can suck it. Yes, this is all part of the team name. Even that last bit.) (Gem, Skizz)

Gem seeks out Skizz to try and learn kindness. Skizz agrees to mentor her but only if she teaches him how to be ruthless. Skizz is referred to as a pushover multiple times and Gem earns the nickname “German Shepherd”, though surprisingly Skizz is the only one who doesn’t call her this. Skizz actually makes it pretty far with Gem’s help, but lets his undying loyalty win in the end by sacrificing himself for Gem. She wins the season, vowing to erect a statue in Skizz’s memory as per his own request earlier in the season.

Team Daredevil (Grian, Martyn, Etho, Impulse, BigB)

In an attempt to prove his competence Martyn goes full sweat and starts really heavily gearing up day one. Etho naturally immediately hops on board because he is Mr. Nether Day One and Etho very much vibes with that. BigB Grian and Impulse pass by as they are planning this and B dares Grian to go with them and naturally Martyn escalates until everyone is daring each other to do the most dangerous things possible. Soon the dare is to not take any damage, then to kill ten wither skeletons, then to successfully raid a bastion (all during session one). In the later sessions they each prepare a list of dares for each other. They do not explicitly tell any of the other lifers about the bit but the only one who refuses to admit that there’s anything going on at ALL is BigB.

Flower Husbands 2.0 (Scott, Jimmy)

By the end of session one they are the only two who don’t have teammates. There’s a moment where they both realise this after being left alone together as every other alliance goes off to build a base or collect resources, and it’s very heavy and emotional and it ends with Scott handing Jimmy a poppy. Jimmy accepts it but refuses to team up with him officially and they go their separate ways. Over the next few sessions Scott continually collects poppies and is generally angsty and sad etc. etc. and becomes the server mercenary. He’s pretty good at it until he’s asked to kill Jimmy, to which he refuses. People complain about this since they are not officially aligned and eventually word gets to Jimmy about it. Feeling guilty he brings Scott a pufferfish and a handful of poppies, and asks for a partnership of sorts between them. Scott accepts, under the condition that if Jimmy gets the opportunity to kill Scott in a way that will benefit him, he should take it. The situation never arises but Scott constantly reminds him of it, to the point where Jimmy eventually declares that he wouldn’t actually do it if it happened and that they were, in fact, allies. Scott is the first out in the season. The psychological impact on Jimmy is tremendous.

did I end this post with flower husbands angst? whoops silly me :) they can’t all be goofy ig

[xinnamonbun]

Got Nostalgic

So I decided to look at some old Inanimate Insanity humanizations I did a couple years back. I'm pretty sure I did these RIGHT when season 3 released. Good times-

(Looks)

...

AAAAAAAAÆ-

Below will be humanizations of: Soap, Bow, Paintbrush, Blueberry, Goo, Cabby, Test Tube, Cherries, Taco, Apple, Fan, Lightbulb, Suitcase, Balloon, Lifering, Microphone, Marshmallow, Nickel, and Yin-Yang

⚠️ WARNING OLD ART ⚠️

Off to a great start...the soap hair tie is almost cute...almost. (also I'd like to mention that I only knew like three types of shoes so you're going to be seeing these once or twice)

It's... Okay. This is one of the better ones we're going to see. Why does she have ballerina shoes???

I was really really bad at drawing guys and was much better at drawing girls (not that that was very good either). Paintbrush being an entirely different thing made me nervous that I was going to make them too masculine or too feminine. I remember being SO proud of myself... And like this one isn't terrible... But why are they wearing ice skates- (they're not supposed to be ice skates but that is NOT lined up)

Not terrible. I think that this still gives Blueberry vibes it's mainly the shoes that are bugging me. But other than that it's not BAD.

I remember one of my cousins called him Caillou, I sobbed... I hate that they were right- I MADE HIM BALD

Did not know how to draw a wheelchairs (still don't but I hope I could do better than THIS) THIS DOESN'T LOOK LIKE CABBY. END OF STORY. I also don't want to talk about the dress- it's bad

I guess I don't hate this one. I don't love it either. This one is pretty much just "I could believe that's test tube" BUT THERE'S NO SPICE

I had this headcannon that one of the cherries was trans which is why they never spoke because they were self-conscious of their voice. Not the worst head Cannon but I just can't see it anymore. These outfits also just suck. And the return of the ice skates-

This is season 1 Taco specifically and the idea was upon show to hide the hands while having her fancy spy outfit underneath. With the little that you can see of the spy outfit it sucks. The top doesn't look super bad I guess. I also gave her little fangs that I decided to make gray for some reason so they blended into her skin.

I remember this one was my absolute FAVORITE like I thought this was peak character design. It's not that good but at the very least it's definitely the most okay one here... Except for the fact that APPLE'S KNEES ARE LIKE 5/8 DOWN HER LEG- WHO BROKE YOUR LEG?!? Also are those green jeans? Also return of the ice skates.

RONALD MCDONALD!!! IVE FOUND YOUR COUSIN- in case it wasn't clear (it isn't) this is Fan... Excuse me while I bash my head into the wall- WHAT IS THIS ABOMINATION?!? AND ON TOP OF THAT WE HAVE ANOTHER CASE OF ICE SKATES- I swear if I see one more ice skate I'm going to lose it-

This is...kinda adorable??? The hair doesn't fit though. I still like the socks.

This one isn't THAT bad, it's just...the nose. The idea of her having a backpack to carry stuff is still cute. And-... Are those. Ice. Skates. (Inhale) AAAAAAAAÆ---

Burn it with fire. I didn't even like this one when I first drew it! I always had plans of redrawing it but I never did. In case you need clarification this is Balloon... In my slight justification for why he's wearing... that. I was originally going to give all of the returning season 3 contestants vacation clothes because they thought they were going on a vacation but I didn't really do this with any of the others so it just looks out of place and ugly.

I saw an ad around the time I drew this that showed a child missing their upper lip. I thought that that would be an interesting design choice for Lifering to to represent the hole in his face. I was correct that it's interesting. It being a good design choice before this art style is a different topic- still like the earring I gave him though.

I hate those fingers. They're so small. I hate it. I remember this was my favorite outfit, and now I don't like it that much. But I guess it's not THAT bad. It's still kinda bad.

This is Marshmallow. I needed to lead with that otherwise you wouldn't know who this is. This is straight up isn't marshmallow. That is some random girl that should not be trusted with hair dye.

This one is just...okay. at least compared to the other ones on this list. It's not the worst. It's DEFINITELY not the best. His hair is... Something. Also the return of the ice skates

This one is honestly just funny to me now. Yin just looks done (I feel you buddy) I really played around with a vitiligo (the reason why they have both pale and dark skin; look it up) and I do like the concept I had of this I just don't think I have the skills at the time to properly pull it off.

Wait...is that it? IM FREEEEEEE-

Bonus: (this was made before season 3 and I only found this because it was one of the reference images for my Bow humanization shown above)

You know what I said about Balloon? I take it back. Burn THIS with fire.

Ok NOW I'm free.

(for the record I give you full permission to bash me in the replies, in fact I encourage it. I'm planning on making redo's of these humanizations with my (hopefully better) art skills. So pointing out things that you didn't like in the previous designs or things that you think would be nice to add are greatly appreciated feedback)

[columbiastapshoes]

hello twin peaks fandom. i just finished the og 2 seasons and for the later half of season 2 i put live reactions in my notes app. here are the highlights <3 (lmk if u want the full version it’s so much longer)

‼️spoiler warning‼️ ALSO if you read me saying ‘evil cooper’ i am talking about windom earle. i did not know there would be a literal evil cooper. at the end of the reactions ‘evil cooper #2’ is referring to cooper’s doppelgänger <3 also also!! the double return means it’s a new collection of notes that i wrote down in the same moment if that makes sense? i wanted to do screenshots instead of the actual text but alas i can only upload ten </3

- "psychological evaluation" he already has an autism diagnosis leave bro alone

- ok hang on. if josie dies and harry couldn't protect her. then. parallels with caroline dying and cooper couldn't protect her. Hm :3 (update! david lynch the man that you are.)

- "what is the greatest gift one human being can give to another?" and bobby and i make the same 🤨 face

- weasel. right. yes. i am following this conversation

- sksksksksk save the weasels

- sorry

- im really sorry

- this is the worst possible person to be helping rn. unfortunately he is incredibly smart.

- earle is dale if he used his autism for evil

- i certainly hate you james fwiw!!

- you guys have started over again like 30473938 times stop it

- "please come home with me" "actually you should go" GUYS

- done with y'all where are the queers

- cooper appears from a bush and goes "you never loved her anywayyyyy"

- christ this is rough where are my boys

- MY BOYS??? oh no it's you :/

- haha you're not gonna tell him right

- ohhhh dear :3

- im going to kms :3

- hello bri ish man would you like a bo'ol of wo'uh

- chess? great! sheriff to fbi agent. they kiss. they both win

- "have someone keep an eye on him" CUDDLE WIFH HIM COWARD HE CLEARLY NEEDS YOU. YOU ARE THE FIRST AND ONLY PERSON TO CALM HIM DOWN AND ALLOW HIM TO CRY INSTEAD OF YELL. WHAT THENFUCK DALE COOPER DO U REALIZE HOW MUCH HE LOVES U. sigh

- I DONT CARE ABOUT THE FUCKING WEASELS THIS IS SO FUCKING. RGH

- no way they have roblox dress to impress in twin peaks

- OH NO HE EVIL WHITTLES HES LIFERALLY RVIL COOPER

- i wanna kiss this sad sad man very desperately

- break it with a hammer ??? dumdum

- WOWEEBOB !! !!

- "not all men" ur right pete martell would never

- my boys have not been together as much and it's making me STBERE THEY ARE WITH A HOMOSEXUAL ARM AROUND THE SHOULDER

- oh there's a bomb! ok!

- HARRY HAS A GRANDPA SWEATERRRRR I LOVE HIMMM

- they touched hands they wanna make out sooooo bad

- the bomb can wait you guys are in love

- cooper so preeeeetttyyyyyy :333

- andy i love you very dearly

- i love how harry is so gentle and kind and patient with lucy and then he's like ANDY SHUT THE FUCK UP

- girls night (cooper interrogating audrey donna and shelly)

- wow thats comforting if i was told this i would burst into tears or flames

- i love it when cooper is in front of a whiteboard

- "for instance?" i KNEW thats how u would approach dirty talk u fancy motherfucker

- THEY ARE NOT MAKING EYE CONTACT IN AN IMPORTANT CONVERSATION. AUTISM.

- why is bro goth what happened

- evil cooper you need to either do normal foundation or all white WHY ARE HIS TEETH BLAAACK

- bro is NOT siouxsie 😭😭😭

- yeah no shit. is this. news. i knew this before u fbi fuckers did

- URETHRA! ☝️

- you could KISS him? okay evil cooper..

- finished my brownie. crave death

- who is bro talking to

- oh leo hi leo

- it hasn't panned to leo yet i think he's like dead and they'll reveal it in a sec

- oh nom worse than dead ow ow ow ow

- OW OW OW OW OWWWWIEEEEEE

- WHERE DID HE FIND THE TARANTULAS

- dw leo i can take them home. they are my friends

- giggling a lil. about. cooper.

- BY HEAVENS oh my god

- i'm still giggling about cooper but it has turned from "i want him" giggling to "BY HEAVENS!!" giggling

- ok sorry what's the issue i got distracted

- sorry had to rewind two more times BY HEAVENS is taking me out

- i always said this show needed a dance sequence (i never said that)

- jeez u guys suck not u lucy ur eating

- I ALWAYS SAID TWIN PEAKS NEEDED A KICKLINE AND TOP HATS (i never said that)

- closeup on harry's face pls don't i need GRAND THEFT AUTO.

- sorry pete just said grand theft auto.

- can my cats stop beefing i have a show to watch

- WHERE ARE HER DRAPE RUNNERS!!!!

- you don't fucking say things got out of hand Michael.

- most useless side plot i do not care

- CAN MY CATS STOP BEEEEFINGGG

- HOLY SHIT ITS EVIL COOPER TO ME AND EVIL COOPER LITERALLY!!!!!

- how is he not crying and screaming in a fetal position that would be my plan

- why is evil cooper #2 kinda.

- why do i lowkey want evil cooper #2

- TBIS FUCKING KID WITH THE FLASHLIGHT

- bobs camera angle looks like a ring doorbell

thank you!

[oscconfessions]

I am back again.

And I fucking hope OJ lets Balloon into the Hotel after Season 3, 'cuz if I don't, I'm drinking a whole jug of orange juice in protest.

Anyways-

Though the writing of the season may be bad...

I think the Season 3 debuters are great. Considering we may never see them again after III19 (if they don't get invited to the Hotel and, thus, are never in Season 2), I just want to say that all the III debutants are nice in their own way.

Blueberry was a nice two-off villain who hid himself under a downer, blue personality.

Lifering is a nice guy who only wants fun and to save others' lives.

Tea Kettle is a motherly figure who would protect her teammates from harm.

Cabby is both physically and mentally disabled, and I really liked her arc about trying to apologize to others when she didn't need to. (I will say, I hated how it was revealed that her files help with her Short Term Memory Loss)

Clover is comic relief with a side of ADHD and she's just so innocent, outside of the one episode where she thought "OH, MY LUCK IS A CURSE" yet she goes back to innocent bean.

Goo is the definition of awkwardness, and I love that.

Bot's arc was okay, though it may feel gross that Fan and Test Tube made a robotic replica of a dead person, Bot's arc about being separate from what they were made to be was really uplifting.

The Floor was comic relief and yet became one of the most important parts of the show, being MePhone4's assistant from Episode 12 onwards, and that to me is genius.

Candle is just... UUUUUUGH- where do I start, her arc in Episode 11 was cool, her Inner Flame is cool, she is just... girlboss, I hope she's saved.

Silver Spoon is my favorite in all the characters in II for one reason: he's written in such a way that he's both comic relief and a serious part of the plot at the same time, his character balances it really well, and I just love him for that, hope he apologizes to Candle in III19 and maybe confess his crush.

.

[tubbytarchia]

fucking FINALLY a person who acknowledges how toxic Scott can be!!!

god this is going to be controversial but i feel like all this fandom gives a shit about is watcher bullshit and random lore coincidences but what I care about is character analyses. but then when people do character analyses it's so surface level like urghhhh. it's okay because obviously you dont have to be as insane about life series lore as me you can just enjoy it as a fun minecraft series but still man. im still on my "c!joel has a cluster b personality disorder" shit but it will go unheard

AHSDJSDH I'm glad if people feel comfortable coming into my inbox with takes like this lol. Please speak your heart, I'm totally here for it

I don't ever want people to feel ashamed or discouraged for how they view the series, if they like a ship a certain way or they like to write about the watchers, who am I to take that way from them, go wild!! But as far as my personal opinion goes, yeah, I agree lol. To me watchers become vastly less interesting as soon as they stop being peculiar concepts and are turned more into identifiable beings with intricate backstories and motives, if not the Lifers themselves etc. Some people will write pages of watcher lore but as soon as anything "problematic" is assigned to a Lifer, it's suddenly "thinking too deep into it". But of course that's not everyone and I just don't indulge in watcher lore much, I don't want to intrude or ever force any way of thinking about the series. Just as long as people remain open-minded and don't take someone's remotely negative thoughts as cut-and-dry "hate" and then defend their own as if it's a matter of aimed personal offense. People who do just enjoy the series as a bunch of CCs just having fun and such shouldn't feel the need to defend that when no one's even going after them for that

Edit: As pointed out by wildcatcargo in the comments, because I failed to acknowledge this - using watchers also to explain away characters' disagreeable actions rather than finding reason within the character themselves, because if their wrongs are assigned to an otherworldly entity, it holds less gravity and detaches them from their faults

ANYWAY yes character analyses all the way. I don't think I'm very good at them but... I do like them above all else. And in kind, I don't want people like you to feel discouraged to speak your mind because of some of the fandom's tendency to disregard it

If I may, I think you should go indulge with @mcybree's blog who has fantastic analyses regarding Scott specifically

[fizbyuu]

something that really irritates me in the life fandom is that people think they have to like everything, and if they don't, then it's the fault of the creators. You're allowed to not like shit, just don't start being an arsehole to the people who made it or the people who enjoy it, shrug.

"I didn't like the wild cards that much really" - cool! that's your opinion

"the wildcards were bad and I'm disappointed in Grian" hang on.

the life series is something the lifers do for fun. they have fun doing it ! just be respectful. don't go commenting mean shit, ESPECIALLY about teams, oh my god? Y'all's negative comments have literally made some people stay away from each other and that's not okay man. If you don't like a teamup watch someone else, or don't watch at all.

also, keep your hate out the main tags good god. I don't want to scroll the life series tag to see how much everyone hates something. it's boring.

[hittmeandtellmeyouremine]

ᵎ!ᵎcel's rulesᵎ!ᵎ ﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

ᵎ!ᵎ safe space - my blog is not a place for you to be hateful whatsoever. if you're a trumpie, homophobe, transphobe, sexist, racist, zionist, ablelist, pro-lifer or any of the -ist or -phobes that can't let other people live their lives peacefully, you're not welcome here. i am directly tied to almost every single one of those communities and do not play around with that. don't even try it, i will block you (or worse, rory will see and rip you a new one. don't risk that).

ᵎ!ᵎ boundaries - you guys can ask whatever questions you want and i'll most likely answer them but don't expect me to tell you super personal things. respect my privacy please. if you want to know stuff about me it's all under the '𝗰𝗲𝗹!' tag. you guys can inbox me with personal stuff (girl talk, ask for advice, etc.) if you want. i'm the oldest daughter, i really don't mind.

ᵎ!ᵎ minors - no minors allowed!!! i can say this a million times but i was 14 once and lying about my age too so i know some of you won't be 18+. i honestly can't check every single one of you who interacts with me's age but i do ask that you keep the interaction to a minimum if you are underage (this includes ageless blogs too). if you see a post say 'mdni', follow that please.

ᵎ!ᵎ judging - yes, some of my mutuals (and i) write taboo stuff. yes, i'll probably repost it. no, you don't have to read it. no, it's not okay for you to send hate over. it's fiction, it's not real. it doesn't mean that we agree with that stuff irl. you guys would be shocked at some of the stuff i write but can't even fathom doing irl, don't jump to conclusions. if you don't like it, scroll or block.

ᵎ!ᵎ requests - if you're requesting something, please please please be patient with me. i'm a uni student, i have things going on. you'll probably see me bitch about it too so, prepare for that. ↴

ⓘ i'm still learning what i will and won't write with you guys. i've been pretty lucky with the requests i've gotten so far but if there's one i don't think i can do and i say that, please respect that. there have even been occasions where i've gotten a request that i think one of my mooties would better execute so i might even send you over to them.

⊘ don't send a bunch of writers the same request. for one, we'll probably figure it out before we even write it for you. second, it can cause issues, especially if we don't interact with each other. save us the drama.

ⓘ like i said, i have things going on. pay attention to my pinned post to see whether or not my requests are open. once they get to 10+, they'll be closed. more than that will literally send me into an anxiety attack.

⊘ don't ask me to write anything that has to do with bodily fluids, race play, necrophilia, etc. the list will probably be added to as i figure things out. don't be afraid to ask me but also don't be upset if i tell you no. i'll always try to find someone who does write that stuff and send you over that way!

ⓘ i don't only write for rafe, even if he's the majority of my writing. it's just because he's the easiest to write for. y'all i am a fangirl, chances are i probably like who you're thinking of too. i try to stray from writing anything sexual about real people for the time being but again, you can ask!

⊘ all of my readers are imagined to be a woc because i myself am a woc. you'll probably see small descriptions and things that hint at that in my writing. if that's not you, skip over it. do not bitch to me about it because you will be blocked.

ⓘ if you see 'lottie do not read' that's my equivalent of 'dead dove, do not eat'. that means it's taboo content. i've had someone ask about this before so just to give you guys a heads up.

ᵎ!ᵎ blogs - i have three different blogs for different things. if i follow you, it will show up from this blog, even if it's for one of the other blogs. this is my main (and first) one. just keep this in mind!

[blackoutbugza]

hey beetles!

introduction

🪲🐌🐛🐞

☆……………….

hey there! my name’s blackoutbugza. 

“what do i call you?”

you can call me by my username, or you can call me by my nicknames: bugza, bob, and cam. :)

“who is your target audience?”

my blog is mostly ages 13+ for explicit language, in-character art which may involve sensitive content such as blood, knives, scissors, cuts, scars, suicide, sexual innuendo, injuries, or even death. this sounds like an ad for medicine. of course, i will have warnings on my posts if any of these apply to them. 

(note: 13+ DOES NOT mean 18+. please keep this in mind, im still a minor too.)

“what fandoms are you in?”

in order from most to least currently hyperfixated:

sanders sides

bfdi/osc community

bee and puppycat

omori

boisvert

south park

spooky month

five nights at freddy’s

scott pilgrim

hilda

stanley parable

^i’m more than happy to talk about any of these fandoms if you’re interested!

“do you support multishippers?”

yes! i find no harm in shipping someone with more than one person (if they’re not anyone from real life). in fact, i’m a multishipper myself!

“do you take art requests?”

you betcha! any day, any time. but i do have some rules however for what i can and cannot draw for you:

i’m totally okay with ship art. as long as it’s not anything involving p*dophelia, inc*st, r*cism, some kind of f*tish, or anything else falling under that umbrella.

following that “ship art” thing, poly ships are just as valid too. follow the the rules as rule 1 please.

although i may post this art from time to time on my own, i will not do any personal OCs or AUs. i love them very much and you have interesting characters, but this is basically the equivalent to asking, “can you draw me?”

i can draw theories as long as they’re not harmful ones, and as long as they at least make sense.

i won’t take requests for any fandom outside of the list i have above. (however of course, let’s if you wanted a sanders sides art request and you asked for emile picani or remy sleep, that would be fine since sanders sides, the sleep shorts, and cartoon therapy are all in the same universe.)

“who’s on your DNI list?”

p*dophiles, inc*sts, pro-lifers, anyone who will go out of their way to hate on furries or alterhumans (or claims they are the same), harmful f*tish artists/enjoyers, NSFW artists/enjoyers, r*cists, misogynists and misandrists, ableists, homophobes, transphobes, or anyone pro-israel. ^anyone who interacts with me who’s on this list WILL be unfollowed/blocked, and will not receive any sort of contact from me.

“what if i have a question you don’t answer in this introduction post?”

my “send art requests!” button also works as an answering service for any further questions you may have.

“what sanders sides ships will you and will you not do art requests for?”

(not in order from favorites)

will:

logicality

prinxiety

dukeceit

moceit

analogical

loceit

intrulogical

intruloceit

logicaliceit

remile

royality

anxceit

intruality

logince

karrot kings

literally anything else as long as it’s not in the wont list

won’t:

romrem

LAMP

GET TO KNOW ME!!!

———————————————

what’s your favorite color(s)?”

peach, ivory, mango orange, and taupe :)

“why do you only talk in lowercase?”

because i can

“dogs or cats?”

snails

“what’s your favorite holiday?”

i like my birthday!

“are you dating someone?”

nope ;_;

“what’s your favorite object show(s)?”

hfjone, happy star’s gtos, xfohv/the subscriber count, tdos, and the nightly manor

“who’s your favorite sanders sides character(s)?”

logan and c!joan (it may seem like it’s remus but he’s just the funnest to draw)

“why do you take so long to answer art requests?”

i’m lazy (and dried of motivation)

“what’s your favorite pattycake style?”

peppermint patty

“what’s your favorite pokémon?”

mimikyu (basic autism stuff ik)

“oh! do you have autism?”

yep

“what’s your favorite breakfast food?”

bacon

“how do you color your art?”

i make 3 layers. top layer is for outline, bottom layer is for the coloring, and the middle layer is for potential shading or watermarks i may want to remove.

“why did you make a tumblr acc?”

i wanted to post my art on a platform where sanders sides is fairly known and the fandom is stable.

“what’s your favorite book series?”

i don’t like reading :/ if i had to choose one it would probably be the fazbear frights books

“favorite musical artist(s)?”

jack stauber, madilyn mei, tally hall, thomas sanders (if he counts-)

“friends you wanna tag?”

@thegoldenduckie

@not-sure-what-im-feeling

@logan-the-artist

@simply-a-moth

@literallyblanc

@oatmeal-stans-the-trash-rat

@darksides-dutchess

@starshard17

@theelectricalcity

(anyone who wants to be added/removed just message me & i’ll do it)

i think that’s all. you know the drill.

drink water, eat a snack, take a shower, brush those teeth, and love yourself so much you can shatter the multiverse with just how much you can say “i love me” and mean it. (that would be funny if that actually happened be the one to do it pls)

seriously though. love you.

🪲🐌🐛🐞

☆………………..…………………

[papirouge]

there are some okay pro-life men on this website and elsewhere but a lot of them are just. ew. doesn't help that they are reblogged everywhere on pro-life tumblr

also not a huge fan of how the abortion conversation is dominated primarily by evangelicals in America, I am also religious but I've become more centrist/left-leaning in recent years and get tired of how abortion arguments are still full of slut shaming, and few seem to even realize that a sizable portion of women seeking abortions are married mothers already, so it's not like these are all just party girls who don't want a kid around to spoil their fun. many of these evangelical people also want women to stop working entirely outside of the home so they do not feel the need to address broader social issues that push women to abort and that gets incredibly tiresome (and if you sympathize with post-abortive women to any extent you get called a pro-choicer basically lmao)

sorry to vent but this has just been bugging me a lot lately. also: hope you're doing well! how did your move go?

Yeah, the mischaracterization of abortive women is HUGE on some pro life space. I always hated how some acted like abortive women aborted out of some perverted lust for death. Like, sure there are those crazy pro abortion activists joking about "loving abortion" but I'm confident they are a just a loud minority. That's why I'm personally against legal penalty for abortive women if abortion gets banned. Because I think most abortive women are victims of a flawed social & economic system, shitty partners, flawed sexual education....

That's also why I think the pro life fight tends to be more left aligned because you cannot address the issue of abortion without acknowledging this is mostly an ECONOMIC problem. You can't be pro life and than get mad at the idea of a universal healthcare & social welfare, at least for moms and families. You can't be pro life and then get mad at big families struggling, daring to ask for some help.

I'm one of the people who think that people who are not financially stable should avoid getting pregnant, and having multiple babies while broke is pretty irresponsible, but putting it in their face is pointless and lowkey evil. I think people forget how RICH our countries are and that helping families in need doesn't impact our taxes as much are lending BILLIONS to banks or private corporations (through fiscality hoops) which I hardly see conservatives pro lifers display as much energy to bitch about like they do with poor big families on welfare.

[ellieellieoxenfree]

So you can't complain no one's playing the choose violence ask game with you! I choose 6, 7, 16 and 22. You can pick a fandom for each, obviously. 🤣

6. which ship fans are the most annoying?

usually every major/main ship in a fandom. i like a main pairing maybe 5% of the time because i’m usually relegated to side character and secondary pairing hell. doesn’t matter if the ship is canon or headcanon, there is an extreme likelihood that i will hate it. i get lucky occasionally (a business proposal and kiseki scored on both main and secondary pairings) but it’s rare. i hated just about every main pairing in MCU fandom (god my sins are vast) and i hated 99% of flash ships — fuck westallen until i die, fuck harrisco — in favor of ghost ships and decades-spanning headcanons.

i also hate when people get snide about exclusively shipping queer ships. ‘oh all hetero ships are annoying, oh the straights aren’t okay’ maybe take five minutes to actually seek out well-written work rather than dismissing it all immediately. as a bi woman in a relationship with a cis guy, i do fucking take it personally when people harp about queer supremacy like a ton of gays aren’t their own special brand of dumpster fire. there’s plenty of well-done m/f media out there and there’s plenty of absolutely garbage-ass m/m or f/f ships and stories. none of it’s inherently good or inherently bad based on the genders of the partners involved.

and because i know you’re baiting me, yes, KP fans were the most annoying motherfuckers on the planet bc they would be deliberately obtuse about their own pairing’s flaws in order to tear down everyone else’s. the number of times i wanted to shout PHYSICIAN, HEAL THYSELF at people who looked at a narcissistic rapist and his kidnapped indentured servant as a model of a healthy relationship is beyond all measure. i don’t care if you ship the assholes, just stop acting like they were in any way, shape, or form a pair of functional adults. god knows those of us on the VP side weren’t exactly rocking the best moral high ground, but at least a lot of us acknowledged they were freak nasty disasters with the social skills of genie the feral child. the toxicity is the point! don’t sanitize it.

oh, and fuck people who think that harassing actors because the actor had the audacity to have a real-life relationship with someone who wasn’t their costar is acceptable behavior. i’m pretty live and let live about rpf until you start causing real-life consequences for people because you can’t let go of your delusions.

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

man, doug renetti from minx is a great example of this. i don’t hate the character in the show. he’s great (he’s fucking awful), he’s compelling, he’s a fucking dirtbag trainwreck and i love watching him. fandom is entirely incapable of discussing literally ANYTHING ELSE about the show in favor of beating off to jake johnson in his greasiest form. i tend to get itchy when people ignore 99% of the show just to spam the tag with the one mediocre uggo they crank their hog to.

i don’t hate him and hopefully never will because he’s perfect, but i also tend to get itchy when people ignore basically all of kiseki and just focus on ai di. like, i love him, too! character of all time! louis deserves a golden bell for that performance! but k4 as a whole deserves that golden bell and just because chen yi and zong yi and ze rui aren’t overtly flashy murder kittens doesn’t mean they’re not fascinating and compelling characters. it’s irrational, but it irritated me as a kiseki lifer to watch people sort of tourist-cruise through and coo over ai di for a week or two before forgetting the show entirely. SO MUCH garbage BL out there and 99% of this site slept on actual good BL. (on the other hand, do i want more people in the fandom? jesus, no. i’ll keep the rent-lowering 21-gun salute going hourly if i have to.)

generally, though, a character is doomed for me the second they become a tumblr fave. if i see a character’s face five times in one day they’re likely to hit my hate list. my tolerance for overexposure is almost none.

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

‘baby’ as a pet name, a/b/o (which makes me fucking puke — i cannot abide that it’s mainstream now), VP petplay, and an overreliance/need to make things porny. i’m no prude; i read it, i write it, and it’s not like i’m above seeking it out. but as someone who struggles with writing it, i wish it felt less necessary/expected to include. i also feel like a lot of shows use extra sex scenes to compensate for lazy/shitty writing, so rather than complement a narrative, it feels like it’s carrying the narrative instead. i like a good fuck scene as much as the next person, but when your simulated boning feels like a time-filler and not something that’s moving the story forward, you’re losing me fast.

i find a lot of enemies-to-lovers pretty poorly handled. not opposed to it, but a lot of people don’t do it well. i loathe miscommunication tropes. there can be exceptions if the characterization and context is strong enough, but it takes a skilled writer to pull that off. despise love triangles. i’m picky about AUs. i CANNOT STAND ‘love interest is rude because they secretly like their future partner.’ nothing will get me to throw the book across the room faster than an arrogant asshole who looks down their nose at their partner. i did not have a mr darcy phase at any point in my life. mr darcy and his ilk can eat paint chips. even watching a man get humbled by love is not enough to save that one for me. i read too much early/mid-2000s manga (this is a hot gimmick callout) to be able to deal with that shit anymore.

as a general rule, i am the cheese standing alone. i am unlikely to agree with a lot of the big/popular headcanons bc i’m contrary and i don’t like going along with the dictate of a handful of BNFs who handed the word down like they were giving the ten commandments to moses. the problem is that i have been in so many fandoms of various sizes over so many years that i have seen some of the worst human beings alive ruin the space for smaller/less popular voices. (and that’s a cassie claire callout. you were a cunt then and you’re a cunt now and even when you were ripping off every property you could get your grimy hands on, your writing was still unreadable OOC garbage.) so i tend to disregard whatever fandom is into in favor of being into my own weird little niche shit.

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

already answered :V

[nobodiesunshine]

about me!!! 🍉🍉

hello!! my name is clover and this is my abt me post :3

i am 17!! my pronouns are they/them and i am a nonbinary femme lesbian!!! i would love mutuals to interact and talk with!! (unfortunately i am very socially awkward and social anxiety is big for me so if you think i just don't like you it's not true!! just need to interact with me first please😭😭)

my main marauders ships are:

jegulus

dorlily

pandalily

rosekiller

my kins are :

james potter

luna lovegood

regulus black

🍂💿🦦📸💐🔮🌊🎀🐇🧿🍀📚💫🌻🌙🎨🎭🐞

likes

marauders!! this is a marauders fan blog aswell as my personal blog! i am not the most active, and the things below may occasionally be posted but it's mainly just gonna be marauders :D

mcyt (LDshadowlady, theorionsound, grian, + more!!)

arctic monkeys, the neighbourhood, taylor swift, cage the elephant, blackpink, queen, the smiths, the cure, pierce the veil, david bowie (duh), wallows, chappell roan, conan gray, lots of indie music and midwest emo, also im starting to get into eco goth so if anyone has any good reccomendations they are so welcome!!

astrology!!

witchcraft!! i have altars for aphrodite & apollo!!

minecraft!!!

hair styling, i'm on track to become a hair stylist!!

roblox!! i love horrific housing, flee the facility, dress to impress, blocks n props, and specter!! (if any moots wanna play i would be SOOOO down!!)

books i like include : the hunger games, heartstopper!!, aggtm, rw&rb, series of unfortunate events, the land of stories, and miss peregrines home for peculiar children!!

tv shows i like include : tvd, b99, new girl, mlp, bridgerton, heartstopper, and first kill

movies : my girl, tangled, 10 things i hate about you, coraline, anything and everything by tim burton, all of the mlp equestria girl movies, shrek, and hocus pocus!

foods : butter chicken, hot chocolate, chocolate in general, poptarts (all flavours but strawberry), asparagus, potatoes, kiwi, limes & lemons, timtams and chilli and lime chips!

dislikes

bullies!! if u don't like any of the above, just don't interact.

foods : capsicum, seafood, most meats (i think i may be a vegetarian??) coffee, plain salted chips, coca cola/any soft drink + more i can't remember rn

heights, spiders, snakes, ovens, balls, teenage boys 😒😒, pro lifers, and shitty father figures 😒😒

i do not like snape!! snape enjoyers dni pls

that's pretty much it for what i don't like, excluding the obvious, racists, homophobes, transphobes, anyone who discriminates against anyone for having a certain religion/because their religion "won't let them be kind", pdf files (fuck off and 💀), proshippers, and anyone who stands against Palestine (also fuck off, you suck).

i stand with Palestine 🇵🇸!! i think it's absolutely horrible whats going on over there for them and unfortunately as a broke 16/yr old theres not much i can do but Palestine is going through an on going genocide and that's not okay!! anyone who thinks i$re4l is in the right needs to exit this post, close tumblr, walk outside your house and walk into oncoming traffic 💗

that's all for now, byebye!!! :D

antis of jegulus, taylor swift, or blackpink GO AWAY!! you guys are toxic and i would like to live in PEACE!!

[isa-ghost]

if you do get finished with qsmp, where will you go?

Nowhere! :) I've always been multi-fandom here, it's just that my dominant hyperfixation prevails over the other posts! And that dominant fixation is currently and would still be mcyt.

I'm a ride or die Crow, Phil is always going to be my main, followed by Sneeg (though he's mcyt adjacent, I respect he doesn't want to be labeled as mcyt). I watch Tommy, Tubbo, I'm trying to make a habit of tuning into Fit, I still adore the ccs I've met through QSMP and I'd try to tune into them too.

And I'm a Hermit/Lifer enjoyer!

In short, there is still SO much mcyt to love, that I do love. If you're only here for QSMP, that's okay! I'm never gonna hate it, even if I'm unhappy or a bit bitter about how things have deteriorated. I'll still interact with art, and the better times of the server. And god, I will never shut up about my fic and other ideas I have floating in my brain, so long as people are interested in them. If I fully moved on it's not like I'd pretend I was never here and never liked it, I wouldn't suddenly go 0 content on my blog about it.

And I love the mutuals and friends I've made through it. :) I'd hate for moving on to create rifts between us, even if we're those kinds of mutuals who don't talk, we just nod at each other when we see ourselves on our dashes.

Hypothetically speaking, if i did just suddenly move on from mcyt 110%, I'd more than likely become Critical Role/Dim 20/D&D centric. But I'd still talk about the good times from mcyt, especially things related to Phil. It wouldn't be erased from my blog no matter how far I moved on. :]

[consumeronionbulletin]

See You in My 19th Life (2023)

I unabashedly love this show. The actors, the characters, the way it was shot, the convoluted dramatic plot that seems to bend back on itself, it all works for me. But you have to keep in mind that this is not a romcom: it's a weepy dramedy with big romantic feels.

What worked

This cast is so great. Beautiful people acting out big feelings while telling a good story. The cinematography was excellent, restrained when it needed to be and leaning hard into the fantasy to tell the story in other places. The plot didn't always make logic sense, but the writing was very good at getting across the feelings it wants you to feel.

What Didn't Work

Some of the musical cues bothered me, especially when it tried to play up this big mystery about Kang Min-gi. (Was he a bad guy? Yes. Did he deserve his own sinister background music when he came on screen? No.) Also, there were a few logic breaks that I feel like would have been ironed out if they'd had 16 episodes instead of 12. Finally, I'm not an expert, but people who have read the webtoon it was based on were disappointed with some of the departures from the original story. None of this bothered me, because it had so many high moments.

The Performances

Shin Hye-sun as (19th lifer) Ban Ji-eum. I would die for this character. I would love to see her play a short season of the Korean version of Doctor Who, because she would nail that role. It wasn't just the moments of a beautiful person looking sad about drama, she played the comic parts well, she played the angry parts well, she was downright weird at times in a way that was unsettling, and that totally worked for this character. I now have to go back and see everything this actor has been in before now.

Ahn Bo-hyun as (sad rich boi) Moon Seo-ha. This actor was also really good. He had to play it straight and stoic through much of the series, and that could come across as wooden in some scenes, but then they would let him loose in a scene and it was amazing to watch. His chemistry with Shin Hye-sun was so good, as well.

Ha Yoon-kyung as (spring sunshine) Yoon Cho-won. I loved her in Extraordinary Attorney Woo, and this is even better. Her best role yet. The second lead couple in this was (somewhat) less emotional, and that made the slow burn more enjoyable in some ways. But I really loved the scenes with Cho-won and Ji-eum. Just as much fun to watch as the romantic scenes.

Ahn Dong-goo as (the driver) Ha Do-yoon. Somehow, this guy had to be more stoic than Ahn Bo-hyun's character, which made the moments when the emotions leaked out of him even more electric. I wish we'd had a few more episodes to get some happy romantic moments towards the end of the series, but he was still great to watch on screen and did an excellent job.

Cha Chung-hwa as (the niece) Kim Ae-kyung. She was good in Hometown Cha x 3, but I would riot if something bad happened to her character in this drama. Did I riot? Watch and find out!

Lee Si-woo as (the little brother) Ha Do-jin. A delightful character played really well by Lee Si-woo. It was always a fun scene when he showed up.

Lee Chae-min as (one weird guy) Kang Min-gi. I always felt unsettled when this guy was in a scene. In case you had doubts about the guy, he had creepy music following him around the entire series, but the actor didn't really need it.

Kang Myung-joo as (the sad mother) Jo Yoo-seon. I really loved her performances even though they were usually the saddest scenes. She had so few lines, and managed to do alot with them.

Bae Hae-sun as (evil stepmom) Jang Yeon-ok. I especially disliked her. The actor did a great job of playing a shameless, entitled backstabber. Nice to see her get a bigger role (liked her in It's okay to not be okay), even if it is as someone not very nice.

Baek Seung-cheol as (all time bad dad) Ban Hak-su. I hated this character so much, which shows the actor did a great job.

Moon Dong-hyuk as (bad brother) Ban Dong-woo. I loathed and pitied this character, overall another good performance.

Kim Si-a as (the 18th lifer) Yoon Joo-won. She did a very good job in some tough scenes. I'm always amazed at how good some of these young actors are.

Park So-yi as (the young 19th lifer) Ban Ji-eum. Very good in the episodes she showed up. Was fun seeing her onscreen opposite Ahn Bo-hyun.

Lee Han-na as (mystery girl) Han-na. They should have done more with this character or figured out how to do without her completely. They just didn't have the episode time to do her justice. Overall, an okay actor that was completely overshadowed by the other actors.

Seo-ha's Family. I'm usually indifferent to chaebol corporate nonsense, but the actors did an excellent job of making you feel like part of the family. A terrible family, that treated Seo-ha terribly. The uncle (played by Lee Hae-young) was a standout, but they were all good in their own way, including the step-brother.

The past lives. I really enjoyed the different past lives. They didn't always have alot of lines, but they still made you feel something as you got little snapshots of harrowing moments in their lives.

The bad rich boy society guys. Honorable mention. I didn't always know their names, but every scene where they mistreated Ha Do-yoon's character was still infuriating, and that was on the actors as much as the writing.

TL;DR

This show is something special. I highly recommend it if you have any kind of interest in the premise. I will definitely be rewatching it.