#until you get to the concept of aging and timeline..

[sscardinal7]

Adding nuance in Navy and Orchid

Me and a friend had a nerd voyage about Navy and Orchid, and Paw brought up their cameo in AVA11 - Victim, in which I never previously considered—and it generally got me thinking about their relationship in compliment of the Newgrounds Tragedy. It had me contemplating about what if, rather the Newgrounds Tragedy was responsible for their substantial regression. What went wrong? I really would have never even begun to compose my thoughts if it weren't for him, so all credits!

Navy and Orchid's relationship is especially interesting to me as they were written and programmed to persist as these ideal, beautifully in love couple who attend towards their child. It's on the thumbnail of their uploaded file after all. All 3 of them in the frame! Protective and adoring arms wrapped around Purple.

Now, the timeline of this is a bit rough.

Purple in the thumbnail appears as though he's rather young. I can safely conclude that he is roughly around the same height as the first combat sequence in his presented backstory in AVM29 - Note Block Universe. The thumbnail provides some context that their story was perhaps on-going.

Navy being written as this character who gives strict but positive practices on combat towards Purple. Giving encourages. Orchid being a kind, lighthearted and comforting supporter toward this, nothing more and nothing less.

Nothing more because their creator was not given a chance to, that is.

The destruction of their file in the 2011 tragedy forced a sudden halt. An acute awareness that the couple's intervention with each other was nothing but automated; synthetic, leaving a sour taste as one would when your entire reality and purpose is completely shattered. There could be no interference towards their line of written story and code, forcing them to stick with their present (or what is known to them as the present)

No updates, no progression, no development, no further growth. Really, just nothing. Just an uncompleted story that forces the two to endure and carry on where they had been abandoned at. It's not like they have any other choice, just as the thousands of animations beside them.

As mentioned, Navy was loving, but designed with strict authority and boundaries towards training.

Navy's intentions and reasoning towards the sparring is unknown, making me beg the question; does he even know? Was his creator given the time to?

This confusion can host some hostility, oh undoubtedly.

Following with these characteristics in oppose to how he handles the aftermath of the tragedy, Navy engages in being impatient, inconsistent, irrational, eager, pestering, forceful, and downright abusive from the power imbalance in reflex to the instability of not having some designated context or rather purpose. Security.

Orchid, being the timid bystander. Providing comfort and sanctity to Purple every once in a while from a far too rough sparring. She's kind, neutral, observant, and naturally empathetic. But the entire interference leaves this bitter taste as she's nothing more than this role.

And honestly, that is heartbreaking for Orchid, and downright sad. Discomfort of aiding in your child's physical and mental development due to the dreadful profound ability of your unfair positioning does not correlate to not standing up for them at all. She has her priorities of not interfering unless certain that he is being empowered. She does not appreciate power imbalances—and this shows as she rather progresses from present comfort towards near audibility unless firm - and this is where I believe her fatal flaw comes in. Ignorance until positive.

And this shows in Purple, it shows a lot.

She does try her best, yes. She's still very loving, she still really loves Purple. She loves Navy. it's in her code after all. But her noticeable absence speaks volumes that she was attempting to distance herself.

But I find the reasoning to be much more due to Navy than Purple, if I'm being honest.

Navy and Orchid's relationship is surely strange. So in love in contrast to their narrative, then stranded to a rough prevention of their chronology. It doesn't defeat the purpose that they still, very much love each other. But the revulsion that it was nothing but a hoax will leave a agonizing dread in the atmosphere.

But after all, they have nothing else to stick to. Be optimistic with what you're left with, make best out of the worst. They can continue where their unfinished log was unfortunately Interrupted. And it goes as unwell as you would expect.

Hell, Navy's reaction towards these issues definitely encourages a hatred in Orchid and prompt towards distance. She was obviously discouraged from him and his impulses way early on, but the conflict rises when her son is the most vulnerable victim of it, and she does not like this.

Orchid and Navy are a loving bunch but two very different individuals. It wasn't too long until Orchid's comforting, soothing nature began to grow anxious and clash with Navy's raw approaches, outbursts and harsh eagerness. The worst part is that this isn't even Navy's fault.

And this shows. You would think once Navy leaves—she could rest. She could feel secure. She is loose from this lined attire that kept her glued to these strict set bounds; she's ridden of worries, and,

And this is where she proves you wrong. She is guilt-ridden, she's upset. She's left paralyzed, numb, in shock, detached. But why?—Why would she feel this way? Isn't she relieved of the split from the first ever obligated context she was programmed to be with?

Oh.

Ohh,

Ohhh, my poor girl.

And it's such a complexity of being doomed by the (unfinished) narrative. And it's rather the contrasting spectrum of it: the burning hatred of the figure you were made to love vs the boundless affection of how at the end of the day—you were still made to love them. The horrors is inescapable, no matter how much you try to run away from it.

[unexpectederawhilesubmitting]

WARNING: DOCTOR WHO SPOILERS EXPLAINING REGENERATION SHENANIGANS

-------------------

okay so I was kind of not on board with the concept of bi-regeneration, mainly because of how it seemed like all of the Sad and the Trauma that the Doctor had undergone got kind of handwaved away? i'm all for ncuti's Doctor being sort of a fresh start/jumping on point for new viewers, but i didn't get how that could work if like, literally 40 minutes ago he was David Tennant being a sad wet puppy dog of a man

however, after rewatching it, i've realized what i think happened there, and it goes all the way back to something introduced with the 4th doctor's regeneration that was never explained: the Watcher

^this spooky guy

so, for those that don't know (or haven't seen every episode of a show that is over half a century old), the Fourth Doctor regenerates at the end of a story called Logopolis (he falls off a satellite dish, but that's not important right now). all throughout the episode, this weird figure, The Watcher, stands off in the distance, and even intervenes slightly by saving the Fourth Doctor's companion. there's not much given in the way of an explanation until the Fourth Doctor regenerates, saying "it's the end. but the moment has been prepared for..."

the watcher walks up, and gets absorbed in a super rad 1980's digital effect (never change doctor who), while his companion just gives us the not-super-helpful-for-lore statement "He was the Doctor all the time!"

then, in a crossfade, the Doctor goes from Four to weird-powder-man to Five

canonically, the Watcher is explained as a future version of the doctor that comes about in sort of a weird overlapping thing with the doctor's timeline, it's very wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey.

-------------------------

SO what does this have to do with biregeneration and satisfying character arcs/moving on from trauma?

Well, remember, Fifteen said this, about Time Lords doing rehab out of order:

so, here's the thing: Fifteen is the Doctor AFTER Fourteen (duh, I know?) But to be clear...Fourteen lives out an entire lifetime with Donna and family, gets to a ripe old age, and then, when his lifetime of healing is over, he gets yeeted back through his own timestream just to zoot himself out of David Tennant's chest.

Remember, his first words to Fourteen (after popping out of his chest) are "So good to see you! So good!", not the RTD classic "what?". He greets himself like he's almost expecting this, he then says "does anyone want to tell me what the hell is going on here?" which only makes sense if he's coming from a different point in his own timestream (remember, when two doctors interact, memory gets really weird, 10 and the War Doctor don't remember the events of Day of the Doctor until they live through them as 11).

SO TO BE CLEAR: Ncuti Gatwa is playing the Doctor AFTER he has spent years healing from his traumas. His Doctor is fine because Fourteen takes the time to rest and work on himself.

tl;dr: I didn't like biregeneration at first because I thought it looked like this:

In actuality, it looks more like this:

[luiluvr]

let it grow — luigi mangione

dad!luigi i love u forever :( based off this request! spent a lot of time listening to let it grow, cause the Lorax soundtrack goes hard, also this is to the person who wanted boy dad luigi!! <3

WARNINGS: none! no uses of y/n, & i didn't give the kids a name this time — leaving it to ur imagination! slightly proof read

SUMMARY: after taking a wind-down shower, you hear murmurs from the kid's bedroom, Luigi is reading them his (and their) favorite bedtime story: The Lorax.

WC: 1k

The Lorax. Always The Lorax. 

Luigi’s all-time favorite as a child, he was so giddy when you both finally had children of your own – he made sure he had the book on hand at all times. Even when they were babies that didn’t fathom what was happening; he’d read to them. Again and again, honestly you get sick of hearing the same story all the time. It’s meaningful to him, which is respectable, for it being a children’s book it reflects the real world plenty.

Most kids wanted to read other books by now, but your two sons never complained once when they asked Luigi to read to them. When he pulled out The Lorax, they’d be so excited. They just loved hearing him read, he had this aura. He would express the characters so well, exclaim and imitate sounds; so the kids preferred him reading over you. You read to them every so often when Luigi wasn't readily available, but besides then, he was theirs for bedtime stories.

For the night you left Luigi to get the kids tucked in to bed while you showered, you needed that fifteen-minutes of peace and quiet, he never turned down the opportunity to do something with the kids while benefiting you in the process.

You managed to wash off, get your hair dried so it wasn’t uncomfortable to sleep at night. Luigi didn’t seem too invested in doing a lot tonight, so you figured he wouldn’t. Until you went out into your room and heard some murmuring down the hallway. You raise an eyebrow and slowly walk towards the noise, mid-cleaning your ears.

“That was long, long ago. But each day since that day I've sat here and worried and worried away. Through the years, while my buildings have fallen apart, I've worried about it with all of my heart.” Luigi’s voice echoes softly as you peer into the door, smirking softly as he uses his best Once-ler voice.

“But now,” he says softly, “Now that you're here, the word of the Lorax seems perfectly clear. UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.” The two boys with thick curls on their small heads, similar to Luigi’s – look at him. Listening intently. Despite hearing this story a hundred times before, it was as if they were still taking it in for the first time – all over again. They were curled on either side of him, watching the pages. 

His gaze shifts to the boys, and he smiles, not quite finished reading but wanting to interact. “So, what does that mean exactly?” 

“If somebody doesn’t care, then nothing’s gonna get better?” For kids their age, they caught onto things well. Or it’s the fact Luigi has explained every waking detail of this book even though they 100% didn’t understand the worldly concepts connected to the writings.

“That’s right, so suppose something’s not right in your life, you have to care a lot about it to actually fix it. You can say ‘yeah, I want to be better about this,’ but never do anything. It can also mean about different timeline movements that changed our world today. Like racial equality, or women’s rights. If no one ever actually cared enough to change those things, do you think the world would be how it is?”

“No.” The youngest says. He’s only three-years-old so his vocabulary was still a work in progress. 

“I don’t think so dad.” The older boy murmurs from his bed.

“You’re right,” he began, until your older boy interrupted. “Dad, do you think when Dr. Seuss was  writing that he was thinking about the world we live in rather than the one he created?” His voice was pitchy, and he stumbled on a few words, but for a five-year-old it was rather impressive – even to you.

Luigi smiled at that, he was so proud his boy was learning, soon the youngest would pick up on it too, he was just too little right now. He only liked the drawings – a very simple boy. “Absolutely, kiddo. If I could prove any theory I’ve ever had, it would be this book, right here,” he gestures at the small hard-back cover he’s had since he was a child. “Is based on our reality.” 

It always fascinated you how Luigi had such a way with the two little ones. “So… Catch!’ Calls the Once-ler. He let something fall. ‘It’s a Truffula seed. The last one of all! You're in charge of the last of the Truffula Seeds. And Truffula Trees are what everyone needs. Plant a new Truffula. Treat it with care. Give it clean water. And feed it fresh air. Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack. Then the Lorax and all of his friends may come back.’

“They let it grow!!” Your oldest giggles. He really liked the book, but Luigi recently introduced them to the animated film, and he adored the music the most.

“They let it grow indeed.” He smiles.

Luigi flipped through the final two pages, gently shut the book and gazed over his sons. They gave him cheesy grins as he sat the book on a small shelf by the bedside, your oldest scurried back to his bed across the room, while the youngest admired his father – and for a moment his eyes flicker to you.

You winked at him before Luigi gave them both goodnight kisses. In unison their youthful voices, “Night daddy!” 

“Goodnight you two, get lots of sleep. I love you.”

“Love you too!” 

“Wuv you!”

Luigi chuckled, and turned off their lamp, leaving only the illumination from a small dinosaur night light you bought when your first was born. You waited outside, causing Luigi to jump slightly when he shut the door. “You’re always lurking around, y’know that?”

You chuckle, “yes, how cruel of me… Those kids are going to be able to repeat that book word for word one day.”

“Yeah, well. It teaches them a really important lesson.”

“Does it?”

“Very much so, my love.”

“And what’s that?" You grin, holding his arm as you both walk to your room.

"That I was the only one willing to read to them."

[sibillascribbles08]

Big Ol' Rottmnt Fic Rec List

Hi, I've needed to do this for a while, so here's a big bundle of fic recs from me !

I've broken it down between one shots, chaptered fics, and series. I'll try to mention what the character focus is along with a brief summary and some personal thoughts. If you need more details I encourage you to check the fics summary and tags for yourself! I will only include an author's tumblr account if it's easy for me to find haha

One Shots

Mama's Boy - ashtreelane: Technically two chapters but it feels like a one shot. Casey Jr. angst, involving him finding out that maybe you can fix kraang infections and that he failed to save his mother. I love when people really pile the grief on Junior after all the fighting is over and the fic does it so well.

Forget-Me-Nots - GibbousLunation (AKA @klunkcat ): Hi, oh my god??? Leo and Mikey centric angst, in which saving Leo from the prison dimension has an insane ripple effect. Mikey dying? Nah he's going to start getting erased from every timeline and Leo slowly watches it happen (and refuses to do nothing about it). I utterly adore how this fic handles this concept. You see almost all of it from Leo's POV, noticing the little changes but writing them off as memory failures, because of how subtle some of it is.

Fight or Flight - pickledcarrotsandradish: Leo centric, post movie, Leo keeps waiting for his family to start lecturing him about all the dumb stuff he did during the invasion, and they aren't, so it's getting to him. A very neat narrative about how self loathing can warp our perception of how others see us. A++++

The Friend Zone Sounds Pretty Good, Actually - Cryptvokeeper: Eating this, eating this. You probably already know I love aroace Leo and this fic is an INCREDIBLE exploration of that. Even as just an ace person it hit SO many notes where I was just like "Oh god... I've been there buddy". And as a bonus the dynamic between Leo and Yuichi is v sweet. Love this a lot I've read it like five times.

Pink in The Night - unnamedmystery: Incredible April/Sunita fic. Like seriously this author wrote April's crush so well I think I was starting to fall in love with Sunita. Just incredibly cute all the way through, and great April writing, adore it.

《 until then, matriarch 》 - chiangyorange: HI OH MY GOD A nice chunky oneshot about Karai, about her being a leader, and it's phenomenal. It hits and hits and does not miss, really going in depth about her emotions involving her father turning into something wicked and having to destroy him, and how it ruins all of her good memories.

The Kindness of Collision - SpoonerizedSwiftness (AKA @splickedylit ): Hi I still remember the fic and the art suddenly showing up in the tag and then I was thinking about it for the next like five weeks aslkdjf A very interesting idea that when the turtles reach the age they were in the doomed timeline before things got reset, all the memories of their other life more or less hit them like a train. All of them have to comb through that information and it's a wonderful and emotional ride.

Chaptered Fics

Hamartia - Punable (in progress): Hi this is one of my all time favorite rise fics, mainly because in a way, it helped me come to terms with my chronic pain. It's Donnie centric and smack full of angst in all the best ways. Shorthand summary, an explosion in Donnie's lab almost takes him out (or kind of DOES take him out) and the recovery is not only long and agonizing, it may only go so far, and Donnie doesn't cope well with that.

Kick It Up a Notch - Brokenpitchpipe (completed): Hi this is my other all time fav rise fic. Donnie centric separated AU in which Donnie is raised by Draxum. My love for it stems a lot from the characterization of Donnie though, and even Draxum in this case. Not to mention that in a lot of cases it matches the vibes of the show. And in spite of all the humor, there's a few really gut wrenching moments. 10/10 will re-read.

Lightning in Our Fingertips Today - DaFlangsLairde (AKA @daflangstlairde-art) (completed): Leo and Donnie centric, mostly angst, with body swapping between the twins which results in Donnie finding out that Leo's ninpo hurts him. Love love love the character writing in this, and also how the swap is written.

Under Pressure - ParvumAutomaton (completed): Not sure this is a single character focused fic, but basically April goes cave diving and is out for a while, and the turtles get worried and go looking for her. This might be personal bias but as someone who gets really into caving stories, this fic hits the spot for so many reasons. A really great emotional ride, and if you wanna see April go through it then I super recommend it.

Nothing Haunts Us (like the things we don't say) - mad_and_thick_as_theives (completed): A lot of great fics by this author btw, but this one personally stood out to me. It starts of silly and light only to sweep in with the emotional weight. Turtles are all cursed with a truth spell, basically, but I think my favorite bit is who gets out of it first (and why). V sweet.

Creation of a Philospher's Stone - IgnisCanis (completed): Whoooo boy, if you want some Draxum centric character exploration this is a great one. It really fleshes him out as a morally grey character and also does a fantastic job at writing Mikey when he finds out.

The Ol Switcheroo - radishhqueen (AKA @radishhqueen) (completed): Haha not going to lie I have a few by this author (so I'll only tag them once) but MAN. Hands down my favorite take on future leo coming to the past, and maybe I'm biased because I like when those fics actually explore Junior's character in the process buuuuut I love it. Junior's already struggling to adapt himself to the present, and after getting caught up in a foot clan spell which summons his sensei to the present too it really doesn't get any easier.

Vigilantism for Fun and Profit - radishhqueen (completed): The Cassandra Jones fic ever. Zero contest. If you're uncertain about writing Cassandra because she had so little development in the show I encourage you to read this for inspiration (I know it inspired me a lot). It does such a great deep dive into her character post show and a bit of the movie too. Honestly anytime radishh has a Cassandra fic I am clicking.

Tried to Grow Up Good - Sroloc_Elbisivni (AKA @sroloc--elbisivni )(completed): The Casey Jr. fic ever. CRAZY in love with this post movie take on him. It's messy, it's fun, it's so so real and you get a good chunk of Casey Sr. in here too. Adore it.

Hold On (Or Three Times Donatello's Soft Shell Almost Killed Him, and One Time it Saved His Life) - dunk_on_em (AKA @spockazilla )(completed): If you ever want a bit of angst involving Donnie's shell this is my go to. Every chapter has an emotional swing, even the positive ones. And shows something most people might see as a disadvantage as a good thing, actually.

Atlas, My Brother - swampcryptid (AKA @the-name-is-rizzotherat)(in progress): Get your Raph angst, specifically involving him always shielding his siblings, this time via a curse. My guy is already going through it and I think it'll get worse if a solution isn't found.

I've Got You Under My Skin - Cass_Phoenix (in progress): More Raph angst, and some Donnie, a truly chilling exploration of the possible consequences to connecting with the kraang. This fic constantly has me on the edge of my seat, and constantly stressing for Raph.

What We Leave Behind (How We Start Anew) - iam57311 (AKA @iam-57311)(in progress): Any Baronjitsu fans here? An alternate take on canon in which Draxum and Splinter co-parent the kids since they're first born (made?) Hilariously while I love the Baronjitsu content in here, I think some of my favorite parts are actually with the sisters, Big Mama, and Draxum's sister who is so so cool I love her.

Proof of Redemption - iam57311 (complete): Another one of theirs! A short and sweet lil close to canon fic about Draxum steadily gaining the trust and affection of the Hamatos, with each chapter focused on a different character. I love how they're all paced out from each other, really hits how some are much slower than others to trust Draxum hehe.

No Crime* Only Brooches - OllieTheScribe (AKA @olliethescribe) (in progress): Well I have to get THE HypnoWarren fic in here. Such a fun take on these characters, I love love love the backstory they built up for Warren too, plus the dynamic between these two and the turtles after (eventually) become friends haha.

Minor Interference - bambiraptorx (AKA @bambiraptorx) (in progress): What can I say? This fic is delightful. Between the hilarity of the turtles going with Draxum just to mess with him, the lore additions for yokai and the Hidden City, HoH Donnie, and their slowly building dynamic, always eager for a new chapter with this one.

Series

A Butterfly with a Mechanical Wing - Amethyst_Goldenwind (AKA @amethystgoldenwind ): Donnie centric series about being a non-verbal autistic. I'm always fond of non-verbal/mute explorations of characters, and so far I really like how, because his family has grown up with it, all of it is very normal for them. The various forms of communication are delightful. Excited to see further entries.

Analogous Hues - alwerakoo (AKA @alwerakoo): It's a separated AU with similar titling themes as my own, needed to check it out. The titles are just about all they have in common though! This AU focuses a lot on the turtles (Raph and Leo with Splinter and Donnie and Mikey with Draxum). I love how this explores not only the dynamics of the two groups and how different they are, but also the dynamics between each of the siblings, also how some magic sibling connections can influence that. Not to mention the different home life in more ways than one. If you're into separated AUs that really dig into the turtles dynamics try this one out !

[izuchuumi]

Safe - Caleb X.

pairing: caleb x f!reader

words: 5.1k

synopsis: caleb believed the concept of safety and security was a myth until he met a little girl with bright eyes and a sweet smile who shared her apple slices with him

warning: half canon-compliant half made up shit, mild blood and gore (children being experimented on by EVER and reader's chest being cut open while conscious), children being experimented on but not much is explicitly described, non-sexual partial nudity of children (caleb and reader), a little bit of suicidal ideation, lots of angst

notes: this is sort of a mix between the current timeline and fallen cosmos au! this was tons of fun writing and i hope you enjoy :D

Caleb still remembers the day Josephine greeted him at the shelter. She strolled in, a wide, motherly smile on her face, but Caleb knew better. He had subtly shifted himself so that he was standing in front of the sleeping girl, hiding her from Josephine’s view. Josephine looked over, and her smile widened by a fraction at the sight of him.

She approached slowly, her palms up, as if reaching out to a wild animal ready to strike. Caleb felt just like one. He’d never forget how cold and cruel Josephine’s gaze was as she poked and prodded at him without an ounce of sympathy. Although the older woman was far sweeter to the little girl by his side, he would never forgive Josephine for the atrocities she had committed against her.

He was never allowed out of his room aside from when they experimented on him or for meals, but he always found a way to escape. He needed to be there for her, even if a glass pane was in the way. He always watched with wide eyes and angry tears as they cut and yanked the girl apart until her heart stopped beating. Her screams haunted—still haunt him to this day.

Caleb shivered. Despite only being 10, he feels the weight of the world constantly crashing down on him. If it weren’t for the little girl napping behind him, his best friend, he doesn’t know if he’d even still be alive. Before they had met, Caleb had succumbed to his fate of endless torture he endured every day. He had lost his will and drive despite not even reaching double digits in age. Every night, Caleb silently prayed that he wouldn’t wake up the next day.

He had been aimlessly trudging back to his room after lunch when a weight bumped into him, almost toppling him over. Caleb huffed, looking down to see what he had collided with. To his surprise, it was another kid, a couple of years younger than him, it seemed. He had grown used to seeing other children around, but never being in close proximity to any of them. They had set him apart, locked him away in his own special room, away from everyone else. He was something special, powerful, and useful, they had told him.

The little girl had grasped onto the rags they gave him as clothes to avoid her fall. He tried to pry her tiny fingers off but paused when she stared up at him with bright eyes. Caleb blinked, and the girl blinked back. He tilted his head curiously, and her head shifted as well, mimicking his. Caleb opened his mouth to say something, but the girl was dragged off by one of the staff members before he could get a sound out.

He stared as they hauled her down the hall. Though she did not actively put up a fight, Caleb could see the spark of ferocity in her eyes. When he returned to his room, he stood in front of the mirror. Dull, purple eyes stared back at him. His mind wandered to the girl. He had never seen as bright and dazzling as her eyes before.

The second time they met was during lunch a few days later. He had been poking at the plain, tasteless “nutritional” mush that was provided for every meal with his spoon. The sound of a tray clanking on the table caused him to look up. Across from him was the same little girl, the one with the bright eyes, whom he had crashed into the other day, clambering onto the seat too big for her. When she settled in her seat, she gave him a wide smile. Caleb raised a brow and studied her. They told him to always submit without question, but with the rare smile around this place, he couldn’t help the questions that swam in his mind.

“Who are you?” he asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

The girl raised her right arm and wordlessly pointed at the band on her wrist. It read A-01. She looked at him expectantly. He copied her movement and pointed at his own wristband, X-02. He didn’t know if she could read yet, but she seemed to understand.

His gaze drifted down to her tray. Alongside the lump mandated nutritional mush everyone was served for lunch, two slices of apples sat bright and red next to it. Caleb’s eyes widened. Nobody ever got anything other than the mandated meal. The girl must have noticed Caleb’s stare because when he looked back at her, she held up one of the slices towards him.

Caleb felt something in him flutter, but not in the usual way his anxiety made him flustered. It was something lighter—warmer. For a split second, Caleb wondered how this simple act of kindness could make him feel so safe for once in his short, insignificant life. He cautiously plucked it out of her waiting hand and was rewarded with another smile of hers. This time, he couldn’t help but return a shy one of his own.

He saw her every day at meal time after that. He had come to the conclusion that she must be special, like him, which allowed them to interact. Though the little girl never spoke, she’d find ways to non-verbally respond to his many questions. Even though Caleb was the only one speaking, the two grew close in a short amount of time. He had even begun affectionately dubbing her as “pipsqueak”.

“It’s because you’re so tiny,” Caleb laughed.

She pouted and rolled her eyes. You’re older than me, of course, you’re bigger than me.

Caleb wrapped her in a tight hug despite the awkward positioning of them being on opposite ends of the table. She nuzzled her head into his chin. Although that was part of the reason, he didn’t want to drag the mood down with his true thoughts. Caleb hated how demeaning it was to be referred to as letters and numbers, as a specimen, less than, and unworthy of a name. He refused to call her by the label EVER had tagged her with, he wouldn’t stoop to their level and refer to his friend—he smiled at the thought, his first friend—as such.

Caleb never saw her outside of meal time, but whenever he was called in to be experimented on, his mind would drift back to her bright eyes and the apple slices she so kindly shared with him. It anchored him, almost letting him forget the pain he endured. Caleb began looking forward to waking up the next day again.

Caleb was shaken out of his newfound reverie the day she had died for the very first time. He was being escorted by a staff member to the torture chamber, as he had deemed it, when he spotted the girl being escorted back from it. He knew every kid at this wretched place underwent some form of experimentation. No kid went about without at least a new scar every day.

He clenched his fist, digging his nails into the meat of his palm. The girl had her head down, silently shuffling next to her chaperone. Caleb figured since they never intervened when they interacted at lunch, they wouldn’t mind him doing so now. He strayed a few steps ahead of his own chaperone to comfort the girl. It was never easy coming out of that despicable room. He wanted to wrap her up in his arms and make her feel safe like how he feels whenever he’s in her presence. However, to his horror, when she looked up at him, that spark he had grown to love and admire had vanished from her eyes.

She stared up at him blankly, as if she didn’t recognize him at all. The girl’s chaperone glared down at him, but he refused to take his eyes off the girl. Something was wrong, very wrong. They had been getting along for the past couple of weeks now, he knew she could pick him out from the crowd as he could her. However, her current gaze said otherwise.

Caleb lunged for the adult next to her, nails clawing at skin. He hadn’t been able to cause much harm before he was being tugged away, roaring. He spared a glance at the girl who watched everything happen with an eerie, dead stare.

“What did you do to her?!” Caleb demanded, struggling against the hold on him.

“None of your business, brat,” the woman he had attacked spat.

Caleb fumed. A hand had been placed almost gently on his shoulder, and Caleb looked up. He shivered at the icy glare of his own chaperone. He couldn’t move a muscle as their stare pinned him to the floor.

“He should know, shouldn’t he?” Caleb shrank a little at the condescending tone, “They are…friends, after all.”

The woman chuffed, “Right. Friends. Well, if you really want to know, she finally hit her breaking point and died. She doesn’t even remember anything, which works in our favor. Just as planned.”

Caleb’s head reared up in shock, “Died? As planned?”

His chaperone shoved his head down, “I’ll indulge you this time, but you should stop asking questions if you know what’s good for you. This little girl has something spectacular in her. It shouldn’t be possible to revive her so easily after a death like that, but here she is, seemingly even stronger than before. More experiments will have to be done to be sure, but we’ve only just begun anyway.”

As if they could predict his next moves, Caleb felt a pinch in his arm, and though he tried to resist, the anesthetic set in quickly. As his eyes closed, his gaze stayed steady on the girl’s retreating form. I have to keep her safe, he thought to himself as he fell into a dreamless sleep.

It was an endless, heart-wrenching cycle. It continued week after week, which led to months, and eventually, Caleb stopped keeping track. Every time he reintroduced himself to her, she’d forget him the very next day. His hatred for EVER grew with each memory wipe, but he always put on a brave smile for her.

He heard the murmurs about how her evol kept getting stronger with each death. Caleb wasn’t sure what her powers entailed, but he couldn’t care less when her mind drifted further and further away, leaving her a pliant doll for them to play with. He seethed at their disregard for her well-being.

Caleb began plotting. He had snuck out of his room successfully plenty of times before, but he was fueled with purpose this time. He didn’t care what sort of punishment he would receive if caught; He had to see for himself what they were doing to her. What wicked methods had they been using to torture her—to take her away from him?

He snuck into the experimentation room with ease, which unsettled him. It felt too easy. He had practically waltzed right in. He pushed his wariness to the side and made his way to the giant window that separated him from her.

Nausea hit him immediately, and Caleb felt his knees growing weak at the morbid sight in front of him. He leaned against the window to support his weight as he watched them. Caleb stared, frozen in horror, as they swapped to a new set of equipment. The girl lay strapped onto the table, tears streaming down her dull cheeks, eyes nearly rolled all the way back. He knew the feeling all too well. He hoped she had fallen unconscious, never wishing that she’d experience the point where all the began blending together.

As if the girl didn’t already have her chest carved open, her heart beating weakly in the open air, the woman who seemed to be the lead surgeon—if he could even call her that—picked up the scalpel from her set of tools. He wanted to pound at the window and scream at them. Hadn’t they cut her open enough, stolen enough of her blood? He knew that the only reason she wasn’t making any noise was because she had already screamed herself hoarse.

Caleb wished he could barge in and stop them, but he knew it would only throw a wrench in his plans. They’d simply knock him out and throw him back into his room, and give him an even more difficult time the next time he was on that table. With his evol locked away by his wristband, there was nothing much he could do. He was only a child.

Caleb’s angry gaze flew across the room, taking each face into memory so he knew which ones he wouldn’t spare if he were given the chance. He froze when his eyes connected with the leader of the operation. Caleb shivered under her piercing stare. She looked at him as if he were nothing more than a bug underneath her shoe, perhaps even less than. She held his gaze for only a moment before focusing back onto her task.

“Let us begin,” her voice rang out clear with authority. 

Without wasting another second, she began cutting into the girl’s flesh with practiced ease. As soon as the blade touched her skin and the girl’s ragged screams hit Caleb’s ears, he ran. He couldn’t watch or listen anymore. It was all too much. He locked himself away the rest of the day and refused to go out for dinner. He needed to think, to find a way out immediately.

Caleb was surprised he hadn’t been called in for a few days, but he couldn’t feel any solace from it when he knew they were torturing her instead. He couldn’t wait around any longer and stormed out in search of the girl. Luckily, he caught her as she was about to be escorted in. He clawed at the staff members around him, flailing like a wild animal. He managed to free the little girl from their grasp and stood bravely in front of her, separating her from their tormentors.

One of the staff members reached out to yank him away, but he bit down hard on the hand. With a pained shriek, the staff forcefully pried open Caleb’s jaw to remove their hand. Caleb snarled, and he felt the girl fist the back of his shirt. Even though she was afraid, he felt glad that she was feeling something, rather than the deadness he had witnessed before.

Caleb nearly cried out of relief when they’d pulled him into the room instead of her. It’d mean they’d given her a break. He had long vowed to take on as much pain and suffering as needed in order to relieve her of hers.

As he lay on the table, nude, save for his underwear,  and strapped down, he closed his eyes and tried to calm himself down. Thinking of her sweet smiles and warm hugs always worked. Just as he’d begun to calm, a familiar icy voice calling his name sent his heartbeat skyrocketing with anxiety.

Caleb snapped his eyes open. Though he had only heard that voice once, he could recognize it anywhere. It was her, the one who had cut open his only safe haven in this hell without an ounce of humanity. The one who had eyed him down as if he were nothing but a piece of lint on the ground as he watched them poke and prod at the girl’s dying heart. He was going to be sick.

“Get the fuck away from me!” Caleb thrashed against the bindings on his wrists and ankles.

The woman gave no reaction, which fueled Caleb’s rage even more. How dare she commit these inhumane atrocities and act like nothing has happened? She knew he had witnessed everything. It was almost as if she had left the room open for him to walk into that day, as if she had wanted him to witness it all.

Caleb clenched his fists and snarled. The woman merely gave him a brief smile before turning to set up her station. This must be his punishment for finally feeling an ounce of safety in this godforsaken place.

“You’re incredibly smart for someone your age,” she said as she stuck electrodes onto his forehead, “You should know there is no escape by now.”

Caleb simply glared at her, and as soon as she had finished setting up, the tests began. Caleb had been injected with more mystery substances than he even knew could exist, and his body and evol were pushed to the limits. Everything hurt; he was exhausted and miserable. It didn’t stop for an entire week with little breaks, but he was grateful. He was grateful that he was the one on that table being tormented instead of his kind and caring friend. Caleb refused to cry on that table despite his every nerve being set on fire..

When they finally tossed him back into his room, Caleb wasn’t sure if he was even still alive. He waited for them to leave before he would even attempt to push himself off the floor, but they didn’t. He heard more footsteps coming his way, and they halted before one of them used their boot to roll him onto his back. In his pain-inflicted haze, he swore he saw an angel descend upon him in the form of his best friend.

“A-01 wanted to see you. Refused to eat and starved herself until we let her,” the man who had rolled him over sneered, “Can’t have our best subjects killing themselves without our supervision, unfortunately.”

Caleb let out a weak scoff as his door closed and the escorts left. He felt a small hand gently rest on his shoulder, and he used the last of his strength to sit up and lean against his bed on the floor. Finally, he allowed himself to cry.

He could feel the girl fretting near him but he couldn’t stop the sobs. He cried even harder when she wrapped her arms around his weak body and gave a light squeeze. Amongst his own wails, he heard her murmur, causing him to cease his tears.

“Don’t cry,” her voice came out as quiet as a whisper, a little croaky from lack of use.

For the first time in months, Caleb no longer had a proper concept of time, he laughed—a real laugh. Seemingly startled by his change of emotions, the girl backed up a little and blinked at him with wide eyes. Caleb settled and gently took her hand in his.

“That’s the first time you’ve said something,” he beamed, the warmth of her hand traveling up his own and spreading into his heart.

The girl looked away shyly and nodded, “Safe. With you.”

Caleb felt the tears well up in his eyes but quickly wiped them away before she could worry anymore. He pulled her back into his embrace, kissing the crown of her head. The two held tight, not wanting to let go just yet.

“You make me feel safe, too,” Caleb whispered.

It’s subtle at first, the shaking and rumbling. Having been worn out from the extensive experimenting and testing, Caleb slept heavier than usual. However, the whimpering next to him snapped him awake immediately. He gathered the girl in his arms and held her tight while assessing the situation around him.

The entire sky was red, and the shaking got stronger. There was an ominous, dark pit looming above the building. He immediately knew this was their chance to escape, and if not now, they would be dead from the rubble of the current building anyway. Without a second thought, he helped the girl up and ran with her hand in his.

“Pips, hold onto my hand tight, okay?” Caleb spared a glance behind him to check on the girl he was practically dragging with him.

She nodded frantically and squeezed his hand. Caleb wasn’t at his full strength, but he pushed on. The building had already started collapsing, and Caleb held onto the girl tightly as he guided them away from the falling debris.

It’s only when they halted at a crumbled wall did Caleb realize that their wristbands had fallen off. Perhaps during the chaos, with the building actively collapsing, the systems that controlled the wristbands crashed and set them free. Caleb watched as the wall crumbled three floors down onto the road.

He turned to the girl and said with a gentle voice, “We’re gonna jump, okay? All the doors are blocked, and this is the only way out.”

As predicted, the girl shook her head, backing away from the hole. Tears streamed down her face. As much as it pained Caleb to force her to do something she didn’t want to, he knew he had to. It was their only chance.

“We can use our evols now, see?” Caleb showed her his free wrist, “I can get us down safely, but you have to jump with me. I promise I’ll keep you safe.”

Despite his own pounding heart, he had to make sure hers wasn’t. His eyes flew to the loosening debris above their heads. He pulled her a little closer.

“Just hold on tight,” he begged.

The girl trembled and cried, but looked at him with determination and whimpered, “Promise?”

“Promise,” Caleb nodded.

Hand in hand, the two children leapt from the third floor just as the ceiling above them collapsed. The girl screamed in terror, and Caleb immediately put his evol to use. If he hadn’t been so drained from the previous week, he probably could have controlled it better, but he was able to soften their fall.

Caleb quickly tugged the girl into his embrace as they shot closer and closer to the ground. He used his body to shield hers as they landed and rolled across the ground. With a pained groan, he sat up, inspecting the girl.

With no visible new injuries, Caleb pulled her back into his arms as she sobbed. He sniffled a little as well as he ran a hand soothingly up and down her back. He cooed at her in hopes of easing her wails.

“You’re okay now, Pips. I’ve got you,” he hushed, rocking a little.

The girl’s cries eased into sniveling, “Caleb…safe.”

“Caleb?” He asked, pointing to himself.

The girl nodded, wiping her own tears away

“Caleb,” she pointed at him and then pointed at herself, “Pips.”

Caleb nearly burst into tears then and there. His lips stretched into the widest smile he’s ever smiled. In return, the girl finally smiled back.

“That’s right, Caleb will keep you safe,” he hugged her, teary-eyed.

Caleb was elated. He finally had a name of his own, dubbed by his very own Pips. With renewed vigor, Caleb stood and dusted himself off, and set off for safety hand in hand with his only friend.

The shelter was safe enough. Truthfully, Caleb wasn’t sure if any place would ever be safe enough for his Pips, but for now, the shelter that had mercifully taken them in should do.

Throughout the months there, Caleb had learned many things. The first was that he had the deepspace tunnel that appeared in the sky for their escape. He later found that people had dubbed it the Chronorift Catastrophe. Despite eavesdropping hearing about how many have lost so much from the disaster, he couldn’t help but be immensely grateful towards it. Without it, he wasn’t sure he’d be standing there at all.

Caleb also learned that though they had escaped EVER’s building, the feeling of safety was fleeting. He was constantly wary of the eyes around him, wondering what two lonely children were doing by themselves with no adult supervision at the shelter. Especially since the girl didn’t speak—she only spoke to him, but even then, she did not speak much—he was worried people would view her as disrespectful and harm her. He kept the girl close to him at all times. Only in the dead of night, when even all the adults were asleep, could Caleb feel at ease.

Curled up under the blankets in the same bed as his best friend was the only source of comfort he had. As he listened to her soft breaths as she slept, only then was he able to calm the storm in his mind. Only when she clutched at his shirt, murmuring in her sleep, was he able to stop the constant warnings his brain would throw at him.

Eventually, Caleb learned to live with “safe enough”. He had come to terms with the fact that nothing would be up to his standard of security, but he was content. As long as he had his Pipsqueak, he would be alright. That was until Josephine walked past the shelter doors.

“Get away from us,” Caleb growls, hackles raised.

The girl stirs behind him and slowly stands up and tugs at his shirt, curious as to what is going on. The older woman simply watches with a placating smile on her face. It creeps Caleb out how easily she can make herself seem docile despite her cold and uncaring eyes. Nothing can wipe the memories of her cruelty from his mind.

Caleb keeps the younger girl behind him as the older woman pulls out a couple of papers from her bag to show him. As he reads and processes the words on the papers, he can feel every ounce of hope draining from his body. She officially has custody over them, and Caleb is once again reminded that he is merely a child and there is nothing he can do.

“My name is Josephine, and you’ll both be staying with me from now on,” she smiles at them.

Josephine gently takes one of their hands in each of her own and quietly leads them out of the shelter. Caleb is numb, Josephine’s soft tittering falling deaf on his ears. He even lets her strap him safely into her car without a fight.

Caleb has never wished to learn her name or to see his greatest tormentor show up in front of him. Yet here he is.

Most of the drive is silent, and it’s only when Josephine finally speaks again does Caleb snap out of his thoughts.

“You’re a smart kid. You should know there is no escape by now,” she smiles at him through the rear-view mirror. 

Caleb feels sick. There truly is no escape.

The first few nights at their new “home”, Josephine had been just so kind enough to let them share a room. Caleb wonders if she’d somehow gained some humanity during their time apart. However, the thought is quickly dispelled when Josephine insists that the girl learn to be more independent from Caleb and sleep in her own room.

After spending months sharing a bed with the girl, Caleb finds it difficult to split from her at night. Even just the thought of her being one room apart has him feeling queasy and anxious. He can’t protect her properly if he’s not right next to her. He puts on a brave face and departs from her with a goodnight kiss on the head, not wanting to scare her. He’s just glad the girl doesn’t remember Josephine and that she has settled in nicely so far. He falls asleep with great difficulty.

Caleb stirs in his sleep. He’d always been a light sleeper, if he slept at all, due to the constant state of hypervigilance he was in while at EVER. His eyes remain closed, but his ears tune in on the rustling seemingly coming from downstairs. He slowly opens his eyes and squints at the clock by his bedside. It is 2 in the morning.

The boy tosses the blankets off his body and sits up. Josephine should be asleep or tinkering away with something, he tries not to dwell on what torture devices she could possibly be working on in her own room. Caleb swings his feet off the bed, toes curling slightly at the coolness of the floor. Rubbing his eyes, he makes his way out of his room and towards the room next to his.

He is surprised to see the door wide open already. Caleb peeks in and sure enough, the bed is empty. He panics quietly, worrying over the girl he had come to this new “home” with. Caleb’s head whips towards Josephine’s door down the hall. The lights are still on, casting a soft glow through the cracks of the door. He only sees one shadow, which he recognizes as Josephine’s, and lets out a sigh of relief. His Pips isn’t in the room with that monster.

Caleb makes his way downstairs as quietly as possible and ventures around in the dark. He spots a familiar head of tangled, bed-mussed hair. He lets out a breath of relief he didn’t even know he was holding. He makes his way over while making some noise so as not to startle her. She turns around at the sound of his footsteps and beams.

“What are you doing down here, Pips? Can’t sleep?” Caleb whispers.

The girl shakes her head, “Caleb…heard you tossing and turning. Just wanted to get you a cup of water.”

She brings out her hand from behind her back and reveals the empty cup she’s holding. Caleb simply chuckles affectionately before taking the cup from her and filling it up himself. He drinks a little before offering the girl the cup, which she drinks from thankfully.

“Thank you for thinking of me. Let’s go back to bed now, yeah?” Caleb sets the now-empty cup in the sink.

He takes her hand and starts to head towards the stairs, but is met with resistance. He looks back, and the girl is tugging at his hand. He gives her a concerned look, and the girl looks away, seemingly not knowing what to say. Caleb ushers her towards the couch instead.

They sit for a while and eventually lie across the couch, cuddling close. Caleb gently strokes her head as she presses close against him. They remain in comfortable silence for a while.

“Caleb,” the girl whispers, and he pauses his patting.

“Yeah?” He mumbles back, wrapping his arms around her instead.

“Caleb, you always keep me safe,” she nuzzles into his chest, “I will keep you safe too.”

At her quiet, sleepy words, Caleb holds her a little bit tighter. He feels her breath slowing down, and he gives her a kiss on the head. He closes his eyes with a content smile. As he dozes off, Caleb thinks to himself that he might just be able to feel safe after all.

thank you for reading this! i haven't really seriously written anything in a while, but hopefully this was still a fun read!

banner by @dollywons divider by @kodaswrld

[harmonyrae]

Sylus Spoilers & Theories🐦‍⬛

So I have only gone through Sylus's chapters in the main story update, but I have a lot of thoughts and I need to get them out so I can process the rest of the story. So...

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD (and heavy theorizing)🥀

First off, if the timeline of Love & Deepspace confuses you I want you to think of only one thing:

It's okay not to understand the timeline and be confused. The writing team have woven a delicate ball of lore and given us the chance to decipher it. Right or wrong, they're probably enjoying our attempts to figure it out. So, theorize we shall.

Anyways. My current thoughts on Sylus lore is this:

The FIRST time they were together is Dragon Sylus & Sorceress MC. Why? Because the concept of him being a fiend, an other-worldly being who EATS souls is far too big to ignore. And it explains how they are soul-bonded.

I think Sylus & MC were on a different planet entirely for the gladiator stuff. Philos and Earth have been the primary planets mentioned, but they don't originate there. There were "rooms" assigned to Lemuria & Backtrackers & Zayne's divinity stuff. Obviously, Caleb & MC grew up together there. Where was Sylus's "room"? There's no "Tartarus" or "Fiend" study rooms.

Another reason a different planet is likely - child MC literally jokes with child Sylus about "throwing him into Tartarus" (underworld/hell). Like it's a place or a fable for them.

Also, there's no shot all these hints at Hades are gonna be left alone. Pomegranates, the mythical name for hell's hell, devil association - like it's happening.

Sylus willingly gave himself to EVER and had the Aether Core put in his eye. That would connect his choices in his Catch 22 story. Maybe that is how he saved her from the chamber originally, he was already inside the facility - as a patient.

OR: The Aether Core isn't a thing, it's just a part of their genetic makeup. Like did MC really get a protocore lodged in her? That's a cover story, how did I not get that until now... So, because of Sylus having the same energy, he could get close to EVER.

MC would match Sylus's age if she hadn't been fucked with in those experiments... Sylus seems to age slowly (like Xavier) and MC is probably the same, but she kept getting "reset." When Sylus arrived and she was a child he was probably surprised.

Next Myth Theory: Gladiators & Space Pirates. Yes, I think we will see a combo. We see child Sylus & MC grow up together as gladiators, their escape & then their exploration of the galaxy as they search for their own little safe haven. You know, while being hunted by their handlers probably. I think this time around MC is gonna die, which is how she get separated from him and ends up reincarnating on earth. He searches for her (racks up an intergalactic bounty), finds her, waits for her.

HOW IT CONNECTS TO OTHER LIS: Walk with me. I think her soul can become fragmented. Versions of herself exist that are not soul-bound to Sylus. Therefore you can "choose" your Li without worrying another will swoop in. However, for main story purposes, the writers had to pick one of the Lis to facilitate the bombshell of her very existence. Picking Sylus explains 2 things: his lack of content & his seemingly unlimited power. And it allows Sylus to teach MC how to handle her extraordinary power since he also contains his own. Each Li has a purpose in the main story and this appears to be Sylus'.

So those are my current theories. I am SO curious to see how the main story will effect Sylus's cards. Will lore be dropped more casually? Will she be afraid of her power openly with him? Will we get a card where he is training her to control her power? Will she remember Dragon Sylus at some point? Since it's only clear she remembers the gladiator stuff for now.

Will MC slowly start remembering things for all the Lis and just "oh yeah btw I remember this"? All I know, the next time main story MC sees Caleb she better say "Do you remember Dimitri?" and he just loses his fuckin mind...

Share your theories with me. THIS IS ONLY FOR SYLUS THEORIES - I will probably make a separate one for Zayne.

[chrystal-ink]

Shadow X Fem reader

Your past , My present, Our future Part 2 (Final)

(Part 1) (epilogue)

Description: after meeting your future child your mind is reeling, little do you know that there is another one watching from the shadows, and she isn’t alone.

Warnings: none cute Dadow fluff ahead

Note: so I know this story is going to leave a lot of questions to be answered don’t worry they will be in due time however I don’t mind answering them now so let me know, I will be posting the epilogue later this week hopefully which may or may not clear some things up.

The ebony hedgehog stood atop the tower her amber eyes scanning the area below.

She watched as her father spoke to her namesake below. something twisted in her heart, a feeling she couldn't quite place, not pain but not quite pride either. she watched as she spoke holding a surprising level of dignity and grace for her age. no wonder her father spoke so highly about her.

"OH MY GOSH!" a voice that unmistakably belonged to her mother called out distracting her from her thoughts.

a soft giggle escaped her lips even displaced in time she still found a way to bring her back to earth. "Thanks mom" she whispered.

"Maria! I need your help." a familiar voice behind her spoke making her jump.

"Gah! Silver what the hell, warn me! I could have attacked you just now!"

"Sorry, I'm just busy right now trying to keep time anomalies from happening"

"Yah I can see that." her eyes darting to her little now littler sister in Silver's hands,

"Hey! You look just like my sister RiRi" Nova said her voice full of excitement.

Maria smiled at the nickname her sister lovingly gave her, only she was allowed to call her that. "Yah, I get that a lot."

Her gaze returned to Silver "So How does it feel to be the older twin now?" She teased

"Please don't make this weird." Silver groaned

"I'm sorry, make this weird? Silver, You're holding your twin sister at age four in a timeless white void well before either of our conception. meanwhile you live in the past part-time, are on a first name basis with both our parent's, and you're dating a cat from another dimension, name one normal thing about any of this?"

"Hey! me and Blaze are just friends."

"That's not what she said." Maria pointed to Nova who was growing antsier by the second.

"What does she know anyway?"

"It's literally her jo-"

"Hey! Put me down!" Nova demanded waving her arms and kicking at the ivory hedgehog.

"Sorry Nova." Silver put her down on the floor between them.

"Now, what's this about you needing my help?"

"I need you to watch her for me, just until Sonic defeats the time eater and then we'll all go home."

"babysitting, really? How come you get all the cool missions?"

"Because, I'm not recognizable in the past , and you are."

"Yah, and how much longer do you have that excuse?"

"That doesn't matter right now. neither of you can be seen, unless you want to throw off the timeline"

Maria sighed her arguments once again being defeated. "What do you need to do anyway? get your butt kicked by Dad again?"

"No, by Sonic this time."

"Fine" she huffed "But you're doing my dishes for a week."

"What! seriously the future hangs in the balance right now and you're trying to wager chores."

"Hey, some people would ask for more, I personally think it's a generous offer."

"Maria stop pulling your brother’s leg, I'll watch her" the familiar voice of their father interrupted their spat.

"Papa!" Nova cried out excitedly running into his arms.

Shadow laughed as he picked the little hedgehog up and spun her around "Hello little one you've had quite the adveture today haven't you?"

the little girl beamed "just like you papa?"

"you could say that."

"can I come with you to work now!"

He smiled at her "I'll talk about it with your mother.” Shadow turned to his two other children “are you two alright?”

“Yah, I’ve been hiding here mostly, just watching” Maria responded

“I’m okay mostly busy trying to keep the timeline safe”

“Good, keep it up do you need any help”

“I’ve got it mostly covered so far you are the only ones from the future that could threaten the timeline well you guys and mom but she should be with past you right now”

“She’s not she went behind that wall over there after you left.” Maria corrected

Shadow nodded “Okay I’ll go check on her”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea with her? Nova's not exactly one for keeping secrets, especially as a child.”

"That's true I caught her just before she spilled the beans about Maria"

"Hey I didn't spill anything!"

"No, Nova it's an expression" Silver sounded exasperated.

"A what?"

Silver sighed "Never mind"

"She'll be fine, with all the running around she's been doing I'm sure she's due for a nap"

"But I'm not tired"

"Oh, you're not?" Shadow replied.

"Nope" the little hedgehog yawned betraying her own words

"Okay, well then sit still while I talk to these two okay little one."

She nodded in agreement laying her head on her father's chest

"Papa?"

"Yes dear?"

"How come mama's quills aren't white?"

The air grew thick as the three looked at each other unsure of what to say. at her age it was never explained, she couldn't have possibly understood. what those scientists did to you, and why. No, that was a story for another day.

It was so long before her birth she hadn't known her mother any other way. even for Silver it was strange to see you before it happened despite that being his only safety for not being discovered yet.

"She's trying something new today, don't you like it?" Shadow finally answered.

"I think mama looks pretty"

"Yah, she always looks pretty."

Nova smiled at him before closing her eyes beginning to nod off.

"Silver keep doing whatever you need to do to keep the timeline in check okay?”

“Yes sir”

“Do you need a boost? Before you go?” Maria asked.

“I should be okay for now maybe after I fight Sonic”

“Okay, you know where I am” Maria gave her brother a hug

“Stay safe son” Shadow hugged Silver making sure not to disturb the little one who was being to lightly snore

“Thanks Dad” and with that silver took off heading off into the void.

Maria and Shadow were silent for a moment watching as Silver disappeared from sight.

“Hey Dad.”

“Yah”

“Just how far in the future are you from?” Maria couldn’t help glancing at the young girl from the past.

“Far enough to know what you want to ask.” Shadow placed his hand on his daughter’s shoulder “You’ll find your own way I promise.”

“Well that’s awfully cryptic.”

“You know how important the timeline is, knowing what happens could put your future at risk”

“I know, it’s just, why can’t I fight yet? I know everything there is to know, and there’s so much good I want to do why won’t you let me? I mean silver is out there fighting with you and he’s four years younger than me why can’t I?

“I’m sorry Maria but that conversation can only happen when you’re ready, and I’m afraid you’re not there yet.”

“When will I be then?”

“Soon, I promise.”

She huffed unsatisfied with the answer but understanding that she couldn’t pry for more. “You probably have to go check on mom now don’t you?”

“She can wait a few more minutes if you need.”

“Nah she seemed pretty freaked, it was kinda funny not gonna lie”

Shadow smiled at his young daughter admiring how much she was like you.

“Alright stay hidden and please, try not to create any explosions”

“Dad, please, look who you’re talking to”

Shadow sighed “just keep the damage to a minimum”

“You got it” Maria smiled before giving her dad a hug. “Love you”

“You too kiddo”

And just as quickly as he appeared her father vanished into the white void taking her sister with him. Maria returned to her place watching the action happening once again.

“Oh man, Pepper is never going to believe this”

❤️

You leaned against the wall your mind going a million miles a second with no stop in sight.

You were beginning to feel nauseous at the concoction of emotions swirling through you.

You were mortified at the scene that just took place scolding yourself for running into a situation before properly assessing it, at the same time you were still coming down from the sadness of your boyfriend not knowing your identity, not to mention the child you were apparently going to have showing up.

You had nothing against children, in fact you wanted children of your own someday, but you and Shadow hadn't even talked about it yet. the panic of her arrival had come with the side affect of an overwhelming wave of affection. after all your future with Shadow had all been conformed.

You loved him and wanted this future with him, but it was all happening so fast you couldn't catch your breath, literally you were beginning to hyperventilate.

You needed to calm down so you closed your eyes sat down and focused on your breathing unaware that you were being watched

❤️

As Shadow approached you he couldn’t help but think about the early stages of your relationship. He remembered the way you looked at him, the ways you broke down his walls like no one else could, the ways you would comfort him as he woke from a nightmare.

He looked at you and felt a comfort in knowing not much had changed in all these years however, he was reminded just how much other things changed as well.

Right now you were untouched, not knowing what the future would bring, you looked younger, of course you did this was before.

Four years and three months before to be exact.

If perfection could be achieved it no doubt would look like you. Seeing you like this once again made him smile. still, guilt lingered in the back of his mind.

Images of the past flashed through his mind. The worst year of his life, six months of searching only to find you too late, and six more months trying to undo the damage. Your quills were supposed to turn white with age now they would never change at all.

You claimed you didn’t mind that the outcome was a “best case scenario”. Still he knew that you had something taken from you. Something that he had wanted for you, something he knew you could never get back not for a long time at least.

You were still perfect of course, just in a different way. Despite the challenges you pulled through healing in ways he never thought possible. You moved past it, you remained in love with him and gave him children he owed you the world and more.

Little Nova cooed in his arms yet another reminder of why you were just so remarkabl

Shadow stood next to you as you sat on the floor working through your breathing technique, not wanting to startle you he spoke gently.

“Hey”

You looked up at the familiar voice it was defiantly Shadow, but he seemed more familiar with you. he hadn't aged, of course he didn't but he had an air about him that seemed more mature like he's learned more from the word than the last you saw him, and on top of that he was holding the little hoglet Silver had whisked away moments ago.

"umm hey, so sorry but I'm really confused right now a lot is happening and I'm not entirely sure what."

"It's okay Y/N I understand"

"Okay so before I start I just want to make sure, You know me right?"

Shadow smiled at you "Yes my love"

You heaved a sigh of relief "Okay good, so first off how are you dear"

"I'm doing fine, I'm here to check on you"

"Okay good, Second wow I'm just- I don't really know what to say right now. It's just a lot. I mean we have a kid? That's - wow."

"Are you disappointed?"

"What? Of course not! it's just, I don't know, Kids have always been this possibility to me, you know, they're just hypothetical things. I mean we haven't really talked about it, I don't know you're opinions on them are so there was a chance I wouldn't have them, but now, it's real and obviously you know we have one.”

“I was little worried at first, having something so small, but I also knew I wanted a family especially one with you.”

“Am I any good at it, the whole parenting thing?”

“You’re the best at it”

The tension you in your shoulder released as you released a breath you didn’t realize you were holding. You looked up at Shadow a warm feeling spread through your heart seeing how he gently held your sleeping child in his arms.

“Should we be talking while she’s asleep”

“Oh, She’s fine she sleeps through anything. One time you were making dinner during her nap and all the pots and pans crashed out of the cabinets she didn’t even move”

“Oh that’s good”

“Yah, she’ll give you a run for your money when she’s awake though”

You giggled “you know, that’s a good look on you, you look happy.”

“I am” the two of you smiled at one another “do you want to hold her?”

“Is that allowed? I mean would that mess up the timeline at all? I don’t want Silver to be mad or anything.”

Shadow held back a snicker, you had no idea “don’t worry about Silver trust me, he won’t bother you”

“Oh, okay then.”

Shadow gently placed the little girl in your arms your heart swelling as she curled up against your chest a she called out a tiny “mama?” Instinctively you rubbed her back lulling her back to sleep surprising yourself in the process.

Getting a closer look at her you wondered how you didn’t immediately clock her as yours the two of you shared many features but the ones you found your favorite were the ones Shadow gave her. Her grey markings, the way her quills curled up she even snored like him.

“She’s so cute, how do I function?”

“Trust me you take a lot of pictures.”

“I don’t doubt that.”

Shadow sat down next to you. As you turned to smile at him he noticed, after all these years you still smiled at him the same way you. All the trauma all the changes those people forced you through they couldn’t change the simple fact that you loved him, no matter what happened or how much time had passed you would always love him.

The two of you talked behind the wall passing the time as you waited for the action to be over.

“Shouldn’t you be helping yourself with your dad?” You asked at one point

“Trust me, this is much more important”

After a couple hours you noticed something, Nova’s foot was slowly becoming transparent panic flooded through you as you tried to stop it realizing you were beginning to disappear too.

“Don’t worry, this is just how you go home you’ll be okay I promise.”

“Okay and how about her?”

“She’ll wake up in the same place she disappeared she’ll be safe”

You nodded “any advice for the future?”

He took your face in his hands taking memorizing your features one last time. “ Just remember that I’ll always love you no matter what”

“I love you too”

Shadow leaned in and kissed you this wasn’t his last kiss with you, not by a mile but it still felt like a goodbye. You were taken so suddenly and by the time he saw you again the damage had been done. He knew he couldn’t warn you about it, but he could use this kiss as an apology, as reassurance that everything would turn out okay.

As you faded from his view he smiled, knowing that despite what happened the two of you had a bright future ahead.

❤️

You woke up in a lush green field your picnic basket neatly laid next to you, the path ahead clear. Checking the time on your phone you noticed that no time had passed since you entered the void, even so you were still late for your picnic date.

Grabbing your basket you rushed off to your usual meeting place knowing you had one hell of an excuse.

“Hey, sorry I’m late.”

“That’s alright, I’m still setting up.”

“The blanket? Love, all you have to do is lay it on the floor.”

“I know I was just making sure I had a good vantage point in case anything comes to attack us.”

“Aw love, I appreciate your vigilance but I sincerely doubt someone is going to attack us in a wide open field in the middle of the day.”

“You never know when someone is going to strike I just want to be prepared.”

You kissed him between his ears handing him his sandwich “never change darling”

You sat beside him taking your lunch out as well.

“So Nova’s pretty cute isn’t she”

Shadow froze looking at you in shock.

“When did you-”

“Just now. So you knew this whole time?!”

“Yes”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Please, like you would have believed me.”

“I might have”

Shadow gave you one of his looks that showed complete doubt.

“Oh you” you jumped on him pushing him to the ground your lips colliding as Shadow wrapped his hand around your waist. You giggled against his lips continuing as the two of you parted continuing your picnic on the beautiful spring afternoon steps away from your first meeting.

❤️

Three years prior

Shadow sat beneath the tree watching the festivities below. He had no idea why he let Rouge convince him to come. They were all the same full of people making pointless small talk about nothing.

Sure there were people he tolerated but they were always busy talking to the ones he couldn’t stand.

Shadow skulked checking the time waiting for the hour mark when Rouge said it was an acceptable time to leave. Only five minutes left and they couldn’t come soon enough.

“Excuse me, is it alright if I sit here?” A sweet voice called out.

Looking up he saw a familiar figure, he tried looking for you after the time eater incident to no avail, years passed and he didn’t have the time to search, the world needed saving and he was the only competent enough to do it properly.

“I suppose” he responded

“Thank you, don’t get me wrong I love parties but they get way too loud.”

Shadow scoffed “Yah that’s Sonic for you, always has to throw the biggest parties.”

You giggled “Yah, he’s sweet and all but he definitely needs to come with a warning sign.”

Shadow found himself laughing at your comment.

“How come I’ve never seen you before?”

“I just moved here Amy invited me, quite a colorful cast of characters around here.”

“Yah, almost too colorful”

You giggled at his comment bringing a warmth to his face he was unfamiliar with.

“I’m Y/N, and you are?”

“Shadow, Shadow the Hedgehog.”

“Nice to meet you Shadow”

[buddierecs]

soulmates buddie fic

this list has different rated fics, so please look at the rating make sure to kudos/comment on these amazing works :)

your fingerprints smeared on my heart (lead me back to you) by: letmetellyouaboutmyfeels "in 1880, evan buckley of the arriviste set is sent out west to oversee his family's railroad and recover from a broken heart - and meets eddie diaz, cowboy. when fate tears them apart, they make a promise: find each other again. In 2018, buck walks into his fire station in los angeles - and meets eddie diaz, new recruit." word count: 88k rating: explicit important tags: reincarnation, gilded age, cowboys, timelines, heavy angst objects in the mirror by: sevensoulmates 'the voice had always been around, eddie remembers it, like a stream of consciousness that babbled incoherently to the point where eddie just tuned it out. but then the voice started speaking directly to him..." word count: 139k rating: explicit important tags: telepathic bond, pre-canon, slow burn, eventual smut, angst freezing from the inside out by: 7ate9 "a soulmate was a definitive thing. and a freezing soul only meant one thing: your soulmate doesn’t want you. and without their love, without their acceptance, you’ll die. at first, buck didn’t realize why he was so cold. but it was true; because of this dumb lawsuit, eddie rejected him. buck would die. buck was dying. he was nothing to anyone. he’d fade away, freezing from the inside out, ice in his veins, in his soul. and no one would even care." word count: 16k rating: teen and up important tags: grief/mourning, post-lawsuit (s3), angst, hurt!evan buckley, emotional hurt/comfort, abandonment bark like you want it by: colonoscopys "the first time eddie diaz hears his soulmate’s voice, he hears him say damn, that’s a nice ass." word count: 7k rating: general audience important tags: crack treated seriously, different first meeting, buddie are captains stitch my soul by: r_holland "eddie diaz has never really put much stock into the concept of "fate". but after his marriage falls apart, he swears that he's not going to go against the universe again. he's going to find his soulmate. he's going to find evan. but then he meets buck, and all of his careful plans start coming apart at the seams." word count: 30k rating: mature important tags: idiots in love, miscommunication, getting together, pining say you were made to be mine by: elvensorceress "it's valentine's day 2018, and eddie saves a man from choking to death in the middle of a restaurant. it's only after the man is rushed away by paramedics that eddie realizes his hands are green. the man he saved is his soulmate. and he doesn't even know his name let alone how to find him." word count: 11k rating: teen and up important tags: different first meeting au, soulmate-identifying marks, mutual pining catch your breath by: dlanadhz "buck has been a firefighter long enough to know what it means when someone is throwing up flower petals. it means heartache and physical pain. it means almost certain death. he knows, of course. he just never thought it would happen to him." word count: 21k rating: teen and up important tags: hanahaki disease, supernatural illnesses, pining, angst, hurt!evan buckley fate, the universe, and something else by: writesmart "eddie's soulmate won't stop getting hurt and leaving marks across his body. buck's terrified of meeting his soulmate and seeing disappointment in their eyes. the two are love struck idiots who revolve around each other until they finally collide." word count: 13k rating: teen and up important tags: soulmate identifying marks, angst, self-worth issues, hurt/comfort in cicatrices amor by: annide "from the moment you are born, your existence is linked to your soulmate’s. every time you get a cut, a scrape, a bruise, it appears on their body, fading away after a few minutes. scars are shared forever, a lasting mark linking two people together. buck and eddie are soulmates, but are they ready for what it means?" word count: 26k rating: teen and up important tags: slow burn, mutual pining, hurt/comfort

[poolverine-holiday-big-bang]

Poolverine Holiday Big Bang Sign Ups

Hello friends, the interest in this has been off the charts, which makes me unbelievably happy! The fact people are interested in an event I want to run literally is such a good feeling. So, allow me to open sign-ups officially! Keep in mind, this will be my first time running an event, so if you have questions or concerns, message this blog or my main blog. Click the title of this post to sign-up now!

Current Stage: Sign-ups open~

The (tentative) timeline:

Sign-ups begin: June 13th Sign-ups close: July 18th Fic ideas submitted by: August 1st Claims begin: August 5th Claims close: August 20th Teams decided: August 25th Check-ins: September 15th, October 13th, November 10th Posting date range: November 21st through December 31st All pieces should be posted before the start of 2026~!

FAQ, rules, and other info below the cut! It got long, but it should have all the answers you need. If anything isn't answered, once again, message me on this account or on any other social media!

People on this blog are: Noa (event runner): @ufohoaxes Rowan (event helper): @k1ng-r0wan Zai (event helper): @jabberpool Garnish (event helper): @that-final-garnish

FAQ

Q: What is a big bang? A: A big bang is a collaborative event between artists and writers! Wristers submit a fic idea and then artists get the chance to pick ideas they want to work on. See the rules for more specifics on how that works.

Q: Who can partake in this event? A: Anyone! Beginner artists or newbie writers to veteran creators who've done this before. Any and all talents are welcome to join, the more the merrier!

Q: How do I join? A: Once sign-ups officially close, I will reach out to everyone who filled out the form personally with a link to the Discord server created specifically for this event. Be sure you've allowed messages from people who don't follow you when that time comes so you don't miss the invite~!

Q: What happens after I join the server? A: You'll be assigned accordingly, as either a writer, artist, or beta. You'll be free to chat amongst each other in the server until pairings are created! Once you have your partner, you're free to work on your piece. You'll have your own channel in the server to communicate, that only you and your partner will have access to. Please do not discuss your pieces outside of the server!

Q: Is NSFW stuff allowed? A: Yes! You have the choice to draw NSFW pieces or write NSFW fics, there will be a question about if you're 18+ when the sign-ups do open. All ages are allowed, but everyone will be sorted accordingly when we get to that point. If you're worried something you might write might not be allowed, just send me a message!

Q: Can I be both an artist and a writer? A: Truthfully, I wouldn't mind if you were both! But it will depend on the answers in the sign-up form for me to determine this.

Q: What's the theme? A: Of course! The theme! The theme is holidays. Any holiday, any celebration, even the most obscure ones. National donut day? Sure! Talk like a pirate day? Absolutely. Put Barbie in a blender day? If that's what you choose, so be it! Just make it's a concept you're happy with.

Rules

1.) First and foremost, no AI allowed. None. Zip. Zilch. Zero. If you're caught using AI, you will be banned from the event.

2.) Writers have a 5,000 word minimum. Please include the holiday you chose in the fic idea submission! You can go above that, that's just the very least amount of words. If this doesn't work for you, or if your fic is 4,620 words, send me a message and we'll work it out! I'm here to help you out, so don't be afraid to message me on any social media!

3.) Artists have a one fully finished art piece minimum. If you're willing to do more than one piece, you might be tasked with more. Just fill out the form accordingly.

4.) Poolverine is the main focus here, however, Spideypoolverine, Cablepoolverine, etc are allowed! As long as Poolverine is in there somewhere, it's totally good to go!

5.) You will be asked to include tags when your fic submission is, well, submitted! If you're worried something might not be okay to write about (such as a specific kink or theme), the most likely answer is yes. I will let you know if what you submit to write crosses a line, but I sincerely doubt that will happen. Just message me if you're concerned.

6.) For claims, how it will work is artists will be given all the summaries of the fic submissions, they will pick their top 5, and from there, it will be randomized which one you get. This way, it's not first come first serve, and it's fair to people in other timezones.

7.) Platonic works are okay as well, it doesn't have to be romantic if you don't want it to be! Just be sure to have fun.

Miscellaneous Stuff!

This is my first time running an event, and if this goes well, I'm open to running more events. I will listen to all concerns, questions, and comments intently. Please feel free to reach out to me on ANY social media, they're all listed on shinycelebi.carrd.co, I will answer everything accordingly. This event is run with fun as the main goal, and any feelings I have towards things have ZERO impact or influence on how I will run it. Thank you for your interest, and thank you for allowing me to do this

Noa ˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗

[coffins-and-marbles]

do u have any hilson hcs :)

hello! i honestly didnt have any off the top of my head but i imagined these up in a jiffy! i hope you enjoy :))

House sings to Wilson A Lot, I imagine him singing Hugh Lauries music like 'Let Them Talk' which is insanely hilson coded

I saw this somewhere else but I love the hc that they're wayyyy too sexually adventurous for men of their age and like good for them but they end up with stupid injuries every other week and obviously terrorise each other about this endlessly

I subscribe to the idea that they got together via drunken sex and a helluva sexuality crisis from Wilson after which they moved into Houses place because Wilson flat out refused to decorate another home and House hates change

timeline? doesnt exist, this is a concept that floats around my head and occasionally bumps into the canon source material!!!

They hold hands pretty often! House usually does it to get out of taking case files because hey he's got no arms left! I like the idea of them holding on to one another drunk and Wilson getting all flustered since PDA is soooo unprofessional and what if a patient sees us but House likes it

They eat GOOD. Canonically they're both brilliant cooks and they spend weekends trying new recipes and being all sappy and silly then insulting each other about it incessantly

When they first get together House regularly brings his team into Wilsons office for the first week just to look at him during ddxes and making inappropriate comments until Wilson puts a stern end to it (not before a week of House finding increasingly more stupid ways to sneak into his office)

House still does that flirty power dynamic stuff with Cuddy, he just does it with Wilson too now!

Office sex.

They don't carpool because that would mean House being on time for once which. no

Sometimes they both take Vicodin together and just get high together because romance and i saw it in a fic once and i love it

theyre kinkyyyyyyy

they both really enjoy jazz and go to see live music a lot together

okay that's all for now! im sure there's more somewhere in the depths of my mind but its night now :0 thank you for the ask i had a lot of fun, even if this feels a little rushed!

[felassan]

Mark Darrah YouTube video: 'BioWare's 30th Anniversary. What I Remember from 3 Decades'

Video description:

BioWare turned 30 on February 1st. Can i remember something from every year they existed? Can I do it in less then 3 hours?

[source]

Mark Darrah recently released this YouTube video in which he goes through thirty years of BioWare, it's definitely worth a watch.

Some notes and quotes from the video under the cut. In places it goes into the behind-the-scenes of DA4 development.

In 2005 and 2006, Mark Darrah was working on Jade Empire 2, which would ultimately become Revolver. In the early days JE2 was seen as a direct sequel to JE. About halfway through the year there was a pivot to moving it into a modern setting. Originally it was 'Jade Modern', set in a modern world that existed if you had taken the secret ending of JE and agreed with the Emperor. But over time it shifted to be a different setting that had nothing to do with JE

Mark: "I guess if you really wanted to try you could make the argument that because Sonic Chronicles shipped in 2008 and DA:O didn't ship until 2009, that actually DA:O actually shipped using the Sonic Chronicles dialogue system"

Mark: "At the end of 2009, I think it was the last day we were working before the Christmas break, that's the time when the leadership of the DA franchise had the meeting where we decided that we were going to make DA2, that we were going to essentially jump on the grenade that was being placed in front of BioWare and try to fill the revenue gap that was left by SW:TOR [slipping]"

"2010 is also when we are trying to make DA2, in a really fast rush. We started working on it before DA:O - Awakening had even shipped. What's happened is that SW:TOR has slipped again and EA is basically telling BioWare to make up the revenue. So we are trying to create a product in a very restricted timeline in order to do what EA wants, which is to fill a revenue gap [in that fiscal year]"

"2013 is when the PAX presentation for DA:I happened. [...] It carries some controversy because the game definitely shifted from there to the game that shipped 14 months later. There are things that are represented there that imply a more army-controlling, grand military strategy kind of game that ultimately proved to not be the game that DA:I was supposed to be. But at that point in time those elements still existed in nascent form, or were trying to exist at the very list, so they exist in that demo as well"

DA:I was a very tiring project

After DA:I shipped some of the team went onto Anthem, some went onto ME:A, and some stayed on and made DA:I DLC

DA:I DLC was mostly made in 2015. Leadership on it was largely given to more junior leaders to help them grow and potentially move them into more senior positions

The senior leadership of DA:I spent most of 2015 laying very early frameworks and concepts for what would become DA4 Joplin. The idea was to take a technology that they knew and try to fix their processes and tools pipeline to allow development in this pipeline to go more smoothly

In 2016, all of the people who were on DA:I DLC moved onto ME:A or Anthem. 2016 is the point when most of Mark's time was spent fighting for resources to get them onto Joplin

^ "Periodically EA pushes for franchises to be bigger. They want billion dollar franchises, or they only wanna make the best six games or the best twelve games. In 2016 I built a plan to ship Dragon Ages. The idea was to make Joplin on a relatively regular timeline. At this point in time I believe Anthem is still supposed to ship in 2018 so probably Joplin was supposed to ship in 2019, maybe 2020. But the idea was, ship Joplin, and then we would do two fast-follow sequels, each taking 18 months, and then we would retool after that happened. Did it get Dragon Age to be a billion dollar franchise? It required a little bit of creative accounting to make that work, but it got closer than you would think. The idea was to have minimal DLC or even an expansion pack, and then quickly move onto the sequel. So the idea of increasing the revenue stream was simply to have games come out faster, which I think is not a terrible idea, but this is also the height of infatuation with the concept of live service games"

"In 2016 as ME:A is trying to ship, they are looking for more resources including leadership, and this is when I led a bunch of people that are still on Joplin onto ME:A. The Dragon Age Finaling Team is that group of people. And I'll say that if you see an acronym and it includes 'The Dragon Age Team' in any way you can probably assume that acronym was intentional. Dragon Age Finaling Team is 'daft', and yes it was basically us sort've passively aggressively rebelling against this resource draw"

"ME:A ships in 2017 and what's supposed to happen is that most of the people who were working on ME:A from Edmonton are gonna move onto Anthem, and the people who were working on ME:A in Montreal are supposed to form a large part of the team for DA. But that's not what happens. The team in Montreal ends up getting moved over to the actual leadership in Montreal. There's a point in 2017 when I tried to force Joplin through one of the production gates, to basically make the argument that it actually deserves to be much bigger. It doesn't work and it probably wouldn't have worked anyway"

2017 also marks when Joplin pivots to become Morrison

2017 is also when Mark moved from DA leadership to Anthem leadership. "Theoretically DA and Anthem simultaneously, but I think even in the earliest moments it was obvious that's not what was going to happen"

2017 was a very busy year at BioWare, a lot of things happened and a lot of changes occurred within it

In 2018 Mark was 110% focused on shipping Anthem. "The DA team was trying to do what it can with its very restricted resources with its pivot to being a live service. This is also when it releases the Dread Wolf trailer at the VGAs. That trailer exists in large part to just anchor the title in the public consciousness because there isn't really any massive development happening on the franchise at this time"

When Anthem went to PAX, this was right after a security incident with one of EA's sports franchises. As a result, EA was very concerned about security, so the Anthem team at PAX had a security presence provided by the Pinkertons (private security company), protecting the Anthem people at PAX

In 2019 Anthem shipped. Some of its resources remained to support it in live service and the remainder moved over to DA4. Mark went back onto DA after being away for 16 months and found that things had moved on and that it was a very different landscape. "Coming back from Anthem to a very different DA is pretty hard for me because the game has shifted underneath. My natural instinct is to move forward with whatever we currently have, but in this case because the landscape has mutated so heavily, it takes me quite a long time to find my footing again"

In 2020, for DA4, "We are starting to get some traction, the game is starting to look like something", but then "in March of 2020, COVID hit. Everyone goes home, that is definitely highly disruptive to the development of DA."

In December 2020 “I resign from BioWare, but I actually remain on at BioWare until February 2021"

In late 2022 Mark played a build of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. "It's not called that yet but this is when I start to be involved in the franchise again"

“By 2023 in April I am working with BioWare publicly again, helping them finish DA:TV, and I do that through 2023 and 2024"

"So it's 2025 now and things are changing at BioWare. I hope that BioWare still has a lot of strong years ahead of it. I hope that we willcontinue to see great games come out of their doors. I guess we will see what the future brings. I hope that everyone whose job was lost finds a new place to work, and hopefully it's an even better place, hopefully the situation you find yourself in in the future is better than the one that you come from. Some people are moving around within the EA organization. Some people unfortunately have lost their jobs completely. This is going to be a tough time for a bunch of people and I hope that everyone can show empathy and compassion to people whose lives have been disrupted."

[source]

[ninjagobythenumbers]

Season 18 Timeline Update

Nothing too exciting this season because, according to Ras, who would never lie about anything, there's only been a few weeks between season 17 and 18. I would have put a month between ToS and Chaos anyway, just based on the vibes, but it's nice of Ras to give confirmation. Everytime a character references an actual length of time, a spreadsheet gains its wings. It's also nice of the writers to withhold from another year long time-skip. Nice to Kai specifically, as his 30th birthday grows ever closer. Here's the full chart.

In personal news, I did find a good way to make the age chart legible.

It's a simple trick I like to call, "letting old man Zane's data go out of range." I toyed with having the y-axis start at 10, because the kids aren't really doing anything until they hit that age, but I think it's funny to see that they're toddlers in season 1. It's also getting to a point where I get confused between the x and y axis because there's been so many seasons. Oh, I also added Frak. He's here on probation. If he doesn't have a consistent presence over the next few seasons, I'll strike him. The rest of the Ninja have tenure, so they can dip as much as they want. If you're wondering why PIXAL or Riyu aren't included, they are on other charts, but I just have no conception of their ages, so they remain absent from this one. Here's the full data and a chart that lets Zane hang around.

To see a clearer version of this data, along with my other charts you can go to this link. I'll be posting the bechdel and plotline updates soon. Let me know if you have any suggestions!

[spatial-jump]

Spoilers for all episodes of the Umbrella Academy Season 4 and profanity below.

What the actual fuck was that finale?? Was I watching the same thing directors looked at and went, “Yeah, this is cool!”

Those last two episodes were a total shit show. An absolutely horrendous finale to a wonderful TV show.

The first thing I am so fucking pissed about is how they’ve written Five in this season. They ruined him. They tore apart the aloof apocalypse-obsessed arsehole who loves his family, destroyed it, spat on it, and then danced on the grave before crushing it under an anvil.

In no fucking timeline whatsoever would Five and Lila be a thing. I understand where some people would come from to defend it — that yes, they were both isolated for seven years and could only find company in each other, distorting their relationship as they sought comfort which mistakenly and incorrectly transpired into ‘love’. No, it’s messed up. It’s so fucking messed up and creates unnecessary drama that the writers probably wanted since they were undeniably lacking in the finale. When I first saw the camera angles and shots they were getting prior to Year Five in the subway, I was naïvely thinking, “Surely not. Please don’t tell me this is where I think it’s going.” And lo and behold, I was right. And I’ve never hated to be right so much in my entire life.

Lila (WHO HAS THREE ADORABLE CHILDREN WITH DIEGO, BY THE WAY) has known Five for absolutely ages — since he was in the body of a thirteen-year-old child. Mentally, he’s however many decades older. Regarding the actors, Aidan and Ritu, themselves, there is a fifteen-year gap between them. But my point is, Five is not a home-wrecker. Five is the type of character who would not deliberately fuck around with his brother’s wife because he absolutely adores his family. It’s not in the nature that has been presented to us, and goes completely against his values — and for what? To serve exclusively as a shitty love triangle so that Diego and Five would fight in the finale and break up the family even more at the most crucial point for them?

Five is your textbook example of a pragmatist. He knows how to prioritise, and would certainly not decide that the time to fight Diego was when two of their siblings were badly injured and another had merged to bring about the Cleanse — a.k.a. end of the world, again.

I am so, so disappointed with this, especially as Five is the character I’ve had the strongest attachment to, ever. I think I’ve managed to disconnect S4 him from the first three (that fucking greasy rat’s nest hair of his has finally been given a beneficial purpose), but I’m still sick to my stomach.

Anyway, next thing: the episodes. I know we were told in advance about how there were only going to be six episodes, and we knew they had a lot to fit in to make it work.

It didn’t. It was executed very poorly. I understand some fans didn’t like the unnecessary subplots and fillers from the previous seasons, but S4 was a bit too rushed? I mean, they found and drank the marigold within the first episode. And floundered around at the end, not even bothering to stop the Cleanse until it had been aired on TV. I get they might’ve wanted to make the show more fast-paced, but it could’ve been handled differently. They didn’t have to do a ‘Stranger ThingsTM’ and make four goddamn films for a Part One. They just needed to properly iron out everything, and that didn’t happen, which is a massive shame.

The finale itself (not the erasing their identities, but from the moment Ben is shot) deserves some YouTuber to pick it apart with a four hour video until it’s dust. It was badly structured. Normally, you see a rather pleasant — not exactly linear, but in the concept we’re progressing positively — pattern as the episodes and plots build up to the finale. We see the family find out about an apocalypse, they fight and break off individually, then they slowly pair up, eventually coming together to save the world. This was not like that.

Instead, you had one sibling fucking around in a subway with his physically much older and mentally much younger sister-in-law, another that was hopelessly obsessed with a girl he just met (but no hate for him — no one exactly told him that being closer to Jennifer was just harming them both and the world), one germaphobe who, despite not taking drugs or drinking, is off looting money wherever he can find it and deciding that was the moment to pay off his debts??, three others doing fuck knows, and then the last one who actually gives a shit, teamed up with his hideous father, and tried to prevent him from killing Ben as long as possible because he knows what it’s like to end the world, and is therefore the only one who did anything useful. God, that was a long sentence, so I’m sorry for those of you who struggle with it.

The finale was not your Umbrella Academy finale. Once everyone had (I say this in the lightest way) been ‘brought together’, they had no bloody idea what to do. In the meantime, they’d disbanded about three times within the thirty minutes of screening because of petty fights and the drama I’ve already discussed. Five leaving them at the most essential moment (due to Lila and Diego, blah, blah, blah) was an error in his character. This old man has survived through apocalypses, the one who tries to round everyone up despite everything he has seen. Even with his doubts in the S3 finale, he was still there — and his doubts were shared enough that they created a majority. In this S4 finale, there was no majority. It was just Five, and Five alone. There were gaping holes and shredded pieces of the beautifully developed characters the show had done so well in portraying. They did this with Allison during that scene in S3, where they took her villain arc too far. There are so many flaws in this, and there is definitely many people out there who can communicate it better and more concisely, but here is my two pennies anyway.

I have a lot more thoughts, but I’m currently bone-tired. I might post another rant if I remember anything else — but don’t be too surprised if it’s Five x Lila related.

I am thankful and appreciative that the Umbrella Academy was one of the lucky shows that saw its way to the very end, but I think all of us are entitled to a little disappointment at its quality and execution as it was brought to a close.

[ratwithhands]

I made another concept in the span of 5 minutes while on the bus.

Anyways Oracle AU Submas (Oraclemas?).

Ingo and Emmet have the ability to divine the future, with one issue. Ingo can see the timeline of fate, Emmet can see the events to unfold, and neither can see what the other does. Ingo doesn't know whether what is to come is good or bad, and Emmet can only see events out of order.

They are able to bypass this by holding hands and using full concentration (aka co-divination) to see the full future, however they usually just use their individual visions and piece them together. Co-divination is reserved for either actual fortune-telling services or to investigate a vision either one feels may be concerning.

anyways other fun notes:

Ingo's ability to know when things happen but not what they are make him patient and paranoid. There have been instances where he predicts an event and prepares for danger, then when it actually arrives it turns out to be something perfectly fine (eg. a surprise birthday party)

Emmet's knowledge of future events stresses him out, he gets wrinkles and creases much faster than Ingo, and essentially ages earlier

The twins often used these abilities to aid them in battle growing up, which later led to them pursuing the skill further until they developed their own sense for battle

Besides working as Subway Bosses, they sometimes operate as fortune tellers for those who request their help

They have seen a whole scope of different events, good and bad, and are generally used to talking about any kind of scenario. Some people interpret their lack of reactions to mean that they don't care about the future, but that is not the case

There are anomalies in their visions, certain periods or events don't make any sense to them and they can't make them out clearly

Anyways this is just a little shitpost concept but I mean hey you guys can let me know what you think. Hope you guys enjoy the art and see you later.

also bonus doodle (this is not how it happens but still):

(Emmet sometimes curses his bloodline for having this ability)

[thewertsearch]

AG: Tavros, you give confidence a 8ad name. I gave you all the chances in the world to earn it, to earn REAL confidence, and you failed.

Pictured: Vriska giving Tavros 'a chance to earn real confidence'.

AG: You couldn't even do the one little thing I asked you to! The one thing that would have made you man up once and for all.

'Man up' is a funny idiom for a troll to use. We've occasionally seen trolls fall into human gender stereotypes, but it's quite rare, and always sticks out like a sore thumb.

There's an interesting conversation to be had about troll genders. With a reproductive cycle so different to ours, their gender framework will inevitably be different as well. Yes, there are male and female trolls - but what do male and female actually mean to a troll?

On Earth, your assigned gender carries cultural baggage which simply wouldn't exist on Alternia. Assigned gender plays no role in reproduction, nor does it influence household division of labor, since trolls don't have households.

Gender aside, do trolls have a concept of masculine and feminine? Beyond a few stray idioms, the only evidence I can find is their clothing styles. We haven't seen any male trolls rocking a skirt - not yet, at least.

tl;dr: 'Man up' is a cultural can of worms. I think that was probably unintentional, though, and I think we're supposed to interpret that line as if a human spoke it. Vriska's calling Tavros a wimp, which is business as usual.

AG: So instead you flew away and cried, and decided to sleep away your sorrow for the rest of the adventure.

Tavros already alluded to this incident during his conversation with Jade. I guessed that Vriska would be involved, but that was a bit of a no-brainer.

Vriska's trying to frame Tavros as pathetic, but it sounds like he actually put his foot down, flat-out refusing to participate in whatever she had planned. Much like the FLARP incident, this sounds like a victory for Tavros, even if she's convinced him otherwise.

AG: Do you have any idea how sick that made me? Everything a8out you makes me sick.

He rejects your advice. He rejects your advances. His lusus cared for him. He was allowed to be kind, and accepts kindness from others. He doesn't care about winning, but he never lets you win. No matter how much you torment him, he refuses to get any stronger, which means your mindset might be wrong.

'Sick' would be an understatement.

AG: Your plan to control her lusus really wasn't a 8ad idea! AG: And using your a8ility to "save her life" (lol) was a pretty good way to test how effective your powers are across sessions. [...] AG: Practicing your a8ilities is important, so when it comes down to using them for something that really matters, you know you're ready for prime time. AG: I know this first hand. AG: I got lots and lots and LOTS of practice with your little guinea pig friend. ::::D

So that's why Jade was constantly napping? That can't have been good for her brain.

AG: The catch is it's not going to work! [...] AG: You couldn't sic the guardian on Noir even if you were inclined. Not even if I were to MAKE you inclined! :::;)

Like I said before, it's really Vriska who can control First Guardians.

AG: 8ecause you are dealing with a pro here. I already thought of that. AG: I thought of everything! AG: The guardian is not going to attack the agents who engineered him in the first place. AG: Or who I should say were "encouraged" (lol) to engineer him.

Why the fuck would you do this?

When Vriska prototyped Bec, she explained that the event was mandated by the Alpha Timeline, so she didn't make anything worse by causing it. I don't agree with her argument, but I do understand her logic.

This is different. Up until now, there has been no evidence that Bec can't harm Agents. Vriska had no prophecy to fulfil, and no reason to believe that this was required to preserve the timeline. Yes, now we know it's baked into the timeline, but only because Vriska wanted it.

Having Bec help with Jack was a really good idea, and removing the option to do so helps no one. Where's the benefit?

AT: wHY WOULD YOU DO THAT, AG: Tavros, at this point it should 8e o8vious. AG: I am the unseen hand 8ehind every major event in their session, and to some extent, their whole lives. AG: At least those events not happening 8y the volition of their own natural incompetence! AG: Don't you think this is how it should 8e? Shouldn't the greatest player leave her fingerprints on every step of the rise to power of her ultim8 nemesis?

I know Vriska likes to feel in control, but this is ridiculous.

Inserting yourself into Alpha loops is one thing, but nerfing Bec when you don't have to is straight-up sabotage. Couldn't she just stick to micromanaging John's outfits?

AG: I have every angle covered already. The human session is on full Serket lockdown. Any effort you make to disrupt my plans will 8e laugha8le, just like everything you have ever done in your life. AG: The only thing left to do now is prepare to kill Jack myself, and save everyone's ungrateful asses.

Oh my god, I think I've cracked it.

Vriska thinks she's the only one with the right to kill Jack.

She describes him as her ultimate nemesis, which reeks of main character syndrome. Bec isn't important enough to kill Jack, so she eliminated him as an option. It has to be her, the most powerful Player, who's gained all the levels, because that is how these things are done.

It's not just ego, either - there's a deeper motivation at play. If Vriska doesn't beat Jack, she doesn't win - and if she doesn't win, then what was all that abuse were all those challenges for? What was the point?

In Vriska's head, Jack needs to be her nemesis. She needs to be destined to kill him - because if she is, then everything she went through was justified. She'll have secured her position as the most powerful Player of all, and she'll never have to be jealous of anyone again - least of all that wimp with his sweet little fairy lusus. They're all weak, and she's strong.

If she doesn't kill Jack, she's a loser.

And losers may as well be dead.

[creatingblackcharacters]

I'm a non-Black artist who's slowly developing a character-centered slice of life type story set in an alternate solarpunk timeline/future. One of my characters is Black and develops genetically predisposed type 1 diabetes, entirely irregardless of their diet & activity, and one of the main plots of the story is how they and their friends accommodate the character and prepare for a stem cell transplant to treat their diabetes. An important thing to note is that this setting's society is very radical: anti-bigotry, free healthcare, free basic groceries, free housing, accessible walkability, etc. So the character just has to deal with a year of immunosuppressants and frequent care while their friends stay on video calls with them every day so they don't feel lonely, after which life is right back on track.

The problem is that I had no idea there was such a significant statistic of Black Americans affected by diabetes until just recently. So I fear I could be perpetrating a stereotype if I follow through with this character concept in spite of the specific setting this story takes place in. Would it still be okay to write about their diabetes as long as I go as carefully and informatively as I can? Or would it be safer to scrap the concept altogether?

Oh yeah, diabetes is a big one, particularly type 2! Specially in middle aged to older Black folks, along with stuff like heart disease and high blood pressure (whole conversation to be had about the types of illnesses we tend to have and why- nothing is free of context!!!)

Anyway, yes you'll be fine. People have diabetes. And you said this is a world where they have access to treatment, so why wouldn't they get it lol.