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braveclementine · 4 months

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Damon x reader pt. 2

Warnings: technical torture, death

Copyright: I do not own any TVD/TO/Legacies characters, nor any places in New Orleans or Mystic Falls that may be mentioned.

I headed through the library, staring around in awe. I loved reading, it was one of my favorite pastimes and the Salvatore library and the Mikelson libraries were often frequented by my presence. Both the Mikelson compounds in Mystic Falls and New Orleans. Marcel and Alaric both also had good collections of books. Along with the founding families of Mystic Falls.

"This is. . ." I was spinning in circles, taking in every aisle of books I could see. The room extended in both directions farther than I could see and was filled with people. Except, because of the size, it seemed almost empty.

The ceiling was low, chandeliers hanging from the ceiling with bright lighting. The floor was made of polished oak wood which complimented the Spruce bookshelves.

The books were organized by genre, signs nailed onto the ends of each bookcase stating the genre of the section. The rows seemed to go back rather far, sometimes even turning corners and becoming a maze of books for genres.

With Damon's help, the mystical creatures section was found and it was also found that all of the people were in this section, or at the tables in the middle of the library studying.

Damon and I gathered up several different books of various topics before we decided to move somewhere more private.

Roaming the library, I found that there was a set of double doors at the end of the right side of the room. But when I tried to open them, I found they were locked. However, I could hear the quiet murmurs of people talking behind the doors, accompanied by the occasional laugh.

"Come on, let's find someplace to settle down." Damon mentioned, his arms laden with eight books. I hurried behind him as fast as my legs could carry me, burdened with at least five books.

We found a private, quiet corner not far from the strange double doors in the Ancient Roman section. It was in a maze like corner and completely secluded.

We sat down next to each other. I fold my legs underneath me while he stretched his legs out so his feet were pressed up against the opposite bookcase. He lounged lazily with his book while I studied my studiously, my head bent over the open book in my lap.

The book I was reading was strangely familiar in characteristics, almost identical to what I had learned about Vampires, Werewolves, and Witches in my time with the Originals and the Salvatore's.

It mentioned vervain and wooden stakes. It mentioned full moons and curses. It even mentioned daylight rings and magical devices that could stake out vampires. It made me nervous reading it and I nudged Damon.

"Dae?"

He quickly spun his head. I only called him that when I was truly scared. I hadn't meant to call him that because it didn't seem like a really bad thing, but it had slipped.

"What's wrong Y/N?"

I showed him the book. "Look how descriptive this is. There's no way that the person who wrote this wasn't either a vampire, werewolf, or witch, or knew of them!"

"But what's so scary about that?" Damon asked. "If humans don't believe in this stuff, it would be smart for a vampire, werewolf, or witch to write a book on it. They'd make a lot of money. Heck, I could write about the adventures that we've been on and it would be put down as fiction!"

I breathed in deeply and smiled at him, relaxing my shoulders, "Yeah, yeah, you're right. I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm freaking out over this."

Damon put an arm around my shoulder and I nearly stopped breathing but quickly forced my attention back to the book. I decided to move onto another book, as I knew everything that the book I was reading had to offer. It would be better if I saw the other variants of the Vampire books so that I could be prepared on the questions depending on which type they asked.

"Y/N, look at this." Damon said with a snort. I shifted my attention to the book Damon was reading, "These vampires sparkle. Like fairies."

I laughed lightly. "Twilight vampires aren't real Damon."

"Neither are real vampires." Damon teased.

Someone must be nearby.

I chuckled, "Fair enough."

I tilted my head upwards and then found that Damon's face was inches from mine.

My breath was knocked out of me at the sight of him and I felt like freaking Bella looking at Edward except. . . this was more real. More pure.

A few strands of his hair were pressed to his forehead, his mouth curved upwards into that sexy smirk. His eyes were icy blue, penetrating into my soul. He had just the faintest start of a beard, probably from not shaving this morning. I could smell his John Varvatos cologne, which was an almost woodsy smell, not overpowering enough to be overwhelming, just enough to be delightful.

And his lips, where my E/C eyes were looking. Though he was smirking, his lips were parted just slightly, his top lip was thin, but his bottom lip was full and pink and kissable. Fuck, everything about him was kissable.

His head dipped downwards and I closed my eyes. I could feel his breath on my own lips, quivering in anticipation. His arm tightened around my shoulder, almost bringing me closer. There was so much hesitation, tension, and anticipation, and then I felt him pull back.

"Y/N." He groaned, "I'm not good for you. I'm a killer, a monster, a vampire. I'm dangerous, either by myself or by bringing dangers to me. If I. . . I can't lead you on. I can't make you think that I can be with you when it's just going to endanger you anyways."

"Damon. . ." I murmured, reaching for his hand. He let me take it, tracing the lines of his palm. Every person had a W or a V traced into their hands from palm lines. The W was for Werewolf and the V was for Vampire. It didn't necessarily mean that they would turn into one or the other, as most people went about their lives without even knowing such things existed. But it was just for what would be better for someone.

I was unique. On my right palm, I had a V and on my left palm, I had a W. A hybrid. Of course, not that it meant anything. I would never actually be a hybrid as I was not a werewolf. But that was besides the point.

Before I could say anything else, one of the assistant managers came around the corner of the library and I dropped Damon's hand, resting my left hand on the open book instead, looking up.

"Ah, Y/N Y/L/N, there you are. Come on, I have the rest of the others gathering. You should come alone."

He was flanked by two guards- he never went anywhere without them- and I quickly got up, leaving the books and Damon behind. We'd talk later.

I followed Mr. Laritate from the bookshelves. "Where are we going?" I asked.

"The other side of the library." Mr. Laritate answered and I followed him to the double doors I had been checking out earlier. "I'll see you soon."

I stepped through the doors and they slammed closed behind me.

I sighed, moving away from the doors.

This room was smaller, though it was still a library. However, unlike the other library, there was nothing extravagant or polished about this library.

There were cheap wooden chairs and tables scattered throughout the room in different shapes of square, rectangular, circular, and even a few that were triangular.

The bookshelves were rather cheap looking, some of the shelves crooked like they hadn't been fitted in properly. The floor was made of stone. There wasn't even a rug thrown over it.

This room seemed more crowded than the other, probably because of the smaller size of it- both sides of the room were rather close- and because there seemed to be quite a few people here.

I walked up to one of the bookcases to pull off a book and found that I couldn't. I frowned and got a better look at the bookshelves.

The books were fake. They were just painted wood- not even painted well up close- and glued to the cheap shelves. What in the world?

Was this an escape room kind of game? That didn't make sense at all and a strange fear lit up in side of me.

I took another look around the room, this time focused on the people, willing myself to recognize someone.

They all seemed rather buddy buddy with each other and it wasn't until I finally saw a few familiar faces- not necessarily friendly as I had beaten them last round- that I realized who these people were.

They were the losers of the past rounds.

But. . . they were dropped off at the islands and the planes shipped them home. . .

Well apparently not.

I also noticed that the large, heavy wooden doors were the only escape route. There wasn't a single window or door in the entire library. Not even a skylight or a trapdoor.

As the time continued to pass, my anxiety grew. The others didn't seem to mind, chatting easily with the others, either standing, sitting on the edges of tables, sitting on the floor by the bookcases, or lounging lazily in the wooden chairs.

"Do you know what's supposed to be going on?" I muttered to one young man- who I had no idea who he was.

He shrugged, "We were in the losers chambers for a few days. Now we're here. I figure it's a sort of redemption game."

Was it? If it was- why was I here then?

That was when the loud noise started.

It was horrendous, making everyone in the room drop to their knees, covering their ears with their hands.

I was one of them, squatting down, my elbows resting beside my thighs as I squeezed my hands tightly over my ears.

"DAMON!" I shouted as loudly as I dared, wondering if he could hear any of this or if he was covering his ears too.

The loud noise stopped and I looked up along with everyone else.

Protruding from the ceiling were large, funnel like structures. I started to edge my way towards the wooden doors. "Damon, I need you. I'm scared, please Dae." I begged under my breath, knowing he'd be able to hear me.

That was when it started to rain.

At first, everyone looked around puzzled as the rain splashed onto the stone floor, the clothes, the hair, and the furniture. And then the screaming started.

It was acid rain.

Everyone was trying to work together, pushing tables together so that they could all dive underneath, crawling into each others laps as everyone pushed for the middle.

Meanwhile, I ran for the door. I screamed in pain as the drops hit my skin, pulling a bobby pin from my hair because I knew the door would be locked.

"DAMON!" I screamed. I wasn't the only one screaming for people. Others were screaming for loved ones, for friends, for mothers, for fathers, for some ridiculous names that I was sure were meant for pets. "DAMON PLEASE!"

I wasn't very good at picking locks, especially with a fucking bobby pin. I stuck it into the lock, jiggling it around frantically as acid rain dropped down my cheeks, sizzing my hair, and burning my clothes away.

I was a mess and I knew it. I shrieked, falling to my knees as one of the rain drops fell into my eyes. I screamed in pain, squeezing my eyes shut, jiggling the bobby pin frantically, more and more. The lock was starting to melt and finally, finally, I slammed my shoulder against the door and the doors cracked open.

Everyone started to stream from the room, carrying chairs and tables over their heads, screaming for the others to get off the yacht.

The people who had been studying for the test looked up, trying to figure out what was going on.

I ignored everyone, stumbling back to where I had left Damon. I prayed he wasn't there because if he was, he had either ignored me, hadn't heard me, or he was hurt.

Unfortunately, it was the latter. His wrists were tied to the bookcases with vervain, a stake plunged into his stomach.

"Y/N." He replied weakly.

I yanked the stake out of his stomach, hissing as the burned hands came in contact with the wood. Crying in pain, which just cause more pain because of my burned cheeks and eye, I undid the vervain ropes before collapsing in pain and tears.

"Y/N? Y/N?" Damon asked frantically, his healing process slower than normal from the vervain. "What happened? Y/N! Speak to me!"

"Acid rain." I coughed out. "Please Damon."

Damon bit into his wrist roughly, practically forcing his blood down my throat.

I sucked at it eagerly, not necessarily because I relished the taste, but because of the relief it brought. The pain from my eye faded, the bloody wounds fading from my legs, arms, and face. My hair stopped smelling like it was burning and the hair follicles healed.

As I tried catching my breath from all the horror, Damon's hand found a place on the back of my head, smashing his lips to mine feverishly.

It was better than I had thought it would be. His lips were soft, yet firm and hard against my own which simply melted against his force. I could taste blood, smoke, bourbon, and something sweet- maybe from the pancakes.

His hand gripped my hair hard, forcing me against him- not that I minded. His other hand snaked around my waist, pressing me into him. I felt my terror and fear slipping away and I wrapped my arms around his neck, kissing back with full force.

I pulled away from air, our foreheads resting together as I breathed in deeply. "I thought you said you weren't going to play with my feelings."

"I couldn't stop myself. Hearing you scream for me and I was unable to get there. Knowing that you could've died and I would've been stuck here, tied down with fucking vervain and a bloody piece of wood. I've never been scared like that before. I love you Y/N. I love you so fucking much and it's not fair to you."

"Don't stay away from me anymore." I murmured. "I don't care. I love you Damon."

"I know. But we have to talk about this later. I'm getting you out of here now."

We got to our feet and Damon wrapped an arm around my waist, leading me through the bookcases quickly until we got out of the maze, heading for the door.

The library was a mess now, chairs overturned, books flung everywhere. It was still raining in the acid room and I wondered if anyone was dead in there.

"Damon. . . what if we could help someone in there?" I asked as he pulled me towards the exit to the library.

"If it means I'm putting you in danger, I can't." Damon replied forcefully. "I won't."

I felt my heart wrench, "Please Damon."

Damon hesitated, looking between the exit and the acid doors.

I was in his arms within seconds and he zoomed back to the acid doors, looking inside. There were a few bodies laying on the ground, unmoving and the blood leaking out of them suggested that they were completely dead. Anyone alive- even injured- had escaped.

I let out a sob and Damon hugged me to his chest. "Let's go Y/N. Come on."

He sprinted to the door, opening it up, and coming short, pushing me behind him as he came face to face with Mr. Laritate and his two guards. It only now hit me that his guards had stayed behind when he'd walked me to the acid room.

Damon bared his teeth.

"Ah, I see you two are up and kicking." Mr. Laritate said with a bit of a smile. "And completely healed Y/N Y/L/N, what a pleasant, but unsurprising outcome."

"You knew?" I whisper asked, clutching the back of Damon's shirt. I didn't want him to get hurt. "The game show was just a hoax?"

"Not for those who are lower on the totem pole. The workers on the boat and other staff. But me and the creators of the games are really looking for someone- or rather- something else. Vampires to be most specific."

I clutched the back of Damon's shirt harder.

"So letters are sent out all the time to cities like New Orleans and other cities that might have supernatural population. We usually get quite a few Vampires from New Orleans, and we've even got a witch working with us. But Mystic Falls was mentioned and so we sent a few letters out, looking for the right house. And now you two are here. Two very fine vampires."

"You're wrong." Damon growled, a protective arm thrown in front of me. "I'm the only Vampire here."

Mr. Laritate tilted his head to the side, his bald head shining in the fluorescent lights, his glasses perched on the end of his nose. "Well. . . not for long."

I felt hands catch around my throat and I let out a choked gasp. Damon spun, fearful eyes meeting mine as there was a pain in my neck, a cracking sound, and everything went black.

⬅️➡️

#Braveclementineworks #Braveclementineshortstory #BraveclementineNovels #Damon Salvatore #xreader #Vampire #Damon Salvatore x reader #Game show #yacht #death #torture #acid rain #Protective!Damon #Protective!DamonSalvatore

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thoughtfulpaperback · 7 months

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You know, I've been scrolling through the tags, and I've seen some posts arguing either that Colin never loved Marina or that he did love her and anyone who thinks other ways is being being misogynistic or racist.

And I will say that I agree that we can't overlook the mysogynoir I also think that many people are missing the big picture here: that Colin hasn't been in love at all based on the shows definition of love.

Okay like here me out before everyone jumps down my throat.

I will concede that love is complex. It comes in many forms. While I have never experiences puppy love I don't want to devalue the experience of others who have.

What I am trying to say is that based on how the show defines love in each of its stories. He just hasn't been mature enough to be in love.

Violet tells Daphne that the best match/choice is your best friend. Though each story takes on a different troupe (fake relationship and enemies to lovers) the heart of it is the same. Love is wanting someone who is your friend. Someone who you know well and can share parts of yourself that you don't share with anyone else. Someone who challenges you to grow and you you are willing to be open minded for. Someone you want to stick with even when life is tough. Passion and all that is part of yeah but essentially that is the gist from the main show and Queen Charlotte.

While I personally do think Colin has affection for both Marina and Pen and he knows and liked the idea of love, but He just isn't mature enough to love anyone in that way yet.

He could never have been Marina's best friend not because of the lies but because he hadnt really tried to be. He never seem to actually get to know her. He liked dancing with her and spending time with her but, and forgive me if I'm wrong since it has been a while since I watched it last but Colin didn't seem to ask her her much past the superficial or the rescue attempts.

He had the whole willingness to stick it out with her. And he definitely had the feelings. I don't think its fair to downplay that Colin felt genuine care and infatuation. Maybe it was based on a fantasy more than the reality, but those are still valid feelings.

I do think Colin definitely could have grown to love Marina because if they had gotten married they would have eventually grown to be each other's friends since he cared for her and would be more than eilling to make it work, but that also would depend on whether Marina ever let down her guard and stopped playing the part of wanting to be with him for security reasons (Which I don't think is a crime worth all the hate it gets her).

By the same token, he isn't in love with pen. Again there is genuine care. And Pen for sure loves him. He is one of her best friends, she would do anything for him. She wants to protect him and she sees him in a way no one else does.

Obviously while Colin also matches some of that, he isn't there yet. He cares for Pen, he sees a part of her that no one else does, and he's her friend. But he doesn't actually see all of her yet. And I'm not just taking about the LW thing. But everything that goes with it. She isn't a damsel that needs rescuing or a puppy to coddle. She is capable witty and talented.

He definitely sees some of it, but not enough.

Now again if we are going to talk about the complexities of love and validation of experiences.

Then yes Colin loved Marina and he loves Penelope. Just like Anthony loved Sienna and loves Kate.

Love isn't just one thing or another, and it isn't always equally reciprocated.

But I feel that in the context of the shows idea and presentation of love, Colin has not loved anyone truly and probably won't love Pen right away either because he just hasn't matured enough yet to get it.

I don't think this is a particularly new or insightful thought but hadn't seen yet while i was scrolling.

Also yall who are out here waiting for Marina to die....what the heck. I am someone who likes Phillip x Eloise's story, though I think a lot of that would have to be revamped for the show Eloise if they were going to do it.

I honestly would think that they will move on to Benedict before Eloise. That aside I'm not like out here counting down the moments and anticipating the death of a character...

Jeez. Yall out here posting crap that makes me like not want to admit I liked eloise's book.

But

Liking Phillipe x Eloise is not equal to wanting Marina dead ASAP.

I feel like I shouldn't have to say that but apparently it needs to be said.

That's pretty disgusting, y'all, especially knowing how poorly Ruby Barker has been treated.

Now I know you can feel away about a character and not an actor, but I don't think giving the trolls validation is a good thing.

#brigerton #polin #marina thompson #penelope featherington #colin bridgerton

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noahspaperairplane · 4 months

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welcome to the pinned post. heck yeah

ABOUT ME:

my name's noah. i'm the world's most awkward flip. i'm pretty awesome i think. i post.

mainly will post about tdi (gen 1) but i like other things too. we don't talk about the warrior cats fixation. i have the gifted kid burnout autism flavor and this is how i cope. ish.

ASK RULES:

i appreciate everything im sent. i’m also quite busy so i may close the askbox at times. you can dm though!

> DOODLE REQUESTS: closed

> HC/PROMPT REQUESTS: open

[CURRENT # OF PENDING ASKS]: 3

(you are allowed to just ask for conversations btw. we can talk. im friendly i promise)

i know im mainly seen as a noahposter, which i don’t mind, but i like other characters too. feel free to ask about anyone from gen 1 and ridonculous race ^_^

KEEP IT CLEAN PLEASE ! this is an agere blog. for any violent or risqué asks please direct that to my main blog

send stuff abt team chris pls

OTHER:

i am physically and mentally a miner (under the age of 18 and player of that one block game) regression age range is 1-5, may be lower depending on the situation. nonverbal or never shuts the heck up flip the coin

(i don’t post here when regressed for my own safety, but still, SFW INTERACTIONS/ACCOUNTS ONLY)

no dni but if i don’t like you i’ll ignore/block depending on the situation

my main blog is @.b——-a——1337. i follow and send asks from there. (i send asks anon) (PREFERABLY SEND NON AGERE ART REQUESTS, ESP SHIPPING THERE PLEASE)

otherwise enjoy your stay, maybe.

tagging sys+ team chris au info under read more

tagging system for my original posts (this post will be tagged for easy navigation)

noah's doodles (art tag)

noah's rambles (general posting/talking)

noah's headcanons (headcanons/character posting)

noah's bookshelf (if i ever do post writing or extended prompts)

noah’s mailbox (text only asks, no art)

(i will be making a reblog tag at some point when i feel like organizing again)

posts will be tagged by fandom, ex. total drama agere

the au:

currently have a team chris/wt agere au/concept thing going on, so i will post about that. nothing too intricate, just a few doodles and prompts. you can send asks relating to this too btw🙏 be as specific as you want

basic rundown::

they live together. their neighbors are the other wt teams. ale, duncan, noah regressors/flips. tyler owen izzy cgs. chaos! the cookie jar is in misery

tag:: team chris is reallyx4 agere au

#noah's doodles #noah’s rambles #noah's headcanons #noah's bookshelf #noah’s mailbox #team chris is reallyx4 agere au #total drama agere #tdi agere

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comicaurora · 2 years

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Is there any respectful way to ask a writer/artist/creative person if something they made was inspired by something else without discounting their originality? Like if I was asking a writer if they interacted with or were inspired by the writing from some other show/game/book is there a set of caveats that I could include to make sure I'm not just saying "Wow cool book, it's just like this show I watched" and therefore make it sound like I think there was no original idea behind their work? Or is it always going to seem like that? I guess on some level it depends on the person I'm asking but I'd appreciate your thoughts anyway.

That's a good question! I obviously can't speak for everyone, but I personally don't have a problem with this question, because I don't think it's a bad thing to acknowledge your creative influences. Every artist I know is inspired by a mix of lived reality and the works of other people - creative originality is like 10% brand new concept, 90% execution.

yeah yeah the night sky we've all seen it

Anyway, I find this question fun and exciting, because either the answer is a simple "no I've never seen/read/heard that" or "oh yea, let's use this media as an analytical lens to see how it could've influenced me!" Sometimes even I didn't realize or remember that a story I liked might've poked through mine in fun ways.

That said, I don't have any hangups about being original. I'm a fan of the "simple meal well made" approach to entertainment. Heck, I pattern-recognize tropes for a living, it'd be weird if I cared about telling the world's first completely original story with absolutely no influences. Lots of writers are very open about their influences - mythological, shakespearian, biblical, folkloric. Some authorial influences are so widespread they become tropes or genres themself - Tolkienesque fantasy, Aasimov's three laws of robotics, Le Guin's truename magic system. I think it's perfectly reasonable to spot a pattern and want to know if it's a real connection.

Asking might also be more polite than assuming. There's a lot of stories out there, and a writer might not like hearing secondhand that everyone's comparing their work to something they've never heard of because it has three tropes and a character silhouette in common. Then again, it varies from creator to creator.

I think I'm coming down on the "if you're curious, ask" side of things. Worst comes to worst you might very briefly irritate them. There are far worse crimes.

#asks #writing stuff #art stuff

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catsafarithewriter · 1 year

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A/N: Another day, another couple of scenes for the bedlam au. I'm on a roll!

PART 4

Haru has encountered enough strangeness in her time with the Bureau that she knows better – she hopes – than to straight up trust a stranger with a vested interest in her... even if he does share Baron's face. (Button eyes aside.)

She has an agreement with herself that if her Baron (well, okay not her Baron, but also not not her Baron; this was much easier before there were two of them and one had put a literal and metaphorical wall between them) opens the Sanctuary to her this time, she'll shelve any foolish thoughts of the Other Baron, and tell her Baron all about the bizarre encounter.

If not... well, she supposes this is a case now, a mystery to be unravelled; it's not her fault if the Bureau won't let her apply as a client.

It's just as well she has plenty of experience in tackling cases.

She waits at the Sanctuary wall for a good half hour before even looking at the Other Sanctuary's beckoning door.

Just in case.

He doesn't open the Sanctuary to her, but the Other Baron does and, casting a look which is one part disappointment and one part stubbornness at the unyielding wall, Haru steps into the Other Sanctuary. The Other Baron is quick to greet her – although that's mostly because he's already in the courtyard.

"Miss Haru!" he calls delightedly. "You returned!" He strides over to her with the kind of speed which usually precedes an embrace, but falters before he reaches her. She thinks she can see the exact moment he remembers she isn't his Haru. He bows, sweeping his hat from his head in a move which looks to hide the fleeting grief. "You come at the best of times. We were about to embark on a case, and you're more than welcome to join."

"We?" Haru echoes.

"Myself, and the rest of the Bureau, naturally."

As if on cue, an Other Muta and Other Toto emerge from the Bureau, bickering unusually good-naturedly. (In other words, without throwing either insults or plant pots.) They freeze when they see her – only for a heartbeat, and then Haru is swept up into a hug composing of feather and fur.

"It's good to see you two too," she laughs, muffled into the embrace.

"When Baron said you'd appeared, we didn't believe it," Other Toto says.

"Yeah, we thought he'd finally gone off the deep end," Other Muta snorts. "But look at you! All alive and breathing and... whatever the hell is going on with your eyes."

Haru laughs, and the palpable joy in both her friends – even as strange as they are – makes her tear up.

"Oh heck, they're leaking."

Haru giggles, and dabs ineffectively at her eyes. "They do that sometimes. It's fine." Through the tears, she blinks up at the two of them, noting their own button eyes, and amends her previous assumption that it was just a Baron thing. The brown spot is on Muta's other ear, and Toto seems to be a magpie in this world, but she knows them still. There are some things even parallel worlds can't seem to change.

"So, are you coming?" the Other Baron calls.

Haru breaks away from the embrace, still blinking away loose tears to focus on him. "It depends. What's the case?"

"Oh, just the usual fare – a client wants us to recover some priceless heirloom from the clutches of someone dastardly."

"Will there be adventure?" Haru asks.

"Most assuredly."

"Peril?"

"Most probably."

"Running?"

The Other Baron grins. "Always."

Haru grins right back. "Count me in."

After that, she doesn't mean to keep coming back to the Other Sanctuary, but... well, she does enjoy a good Bureau case. And it's not as if her local Sanctuary is being obliging. She doesn't realise just how much she's missed this chaos until she's fleeing for her life, hand intertwined with Baron's, or puzzling their way through a trapped labyrinth, or desperately trying to shush Other Muta and Other Toto's bickering on a stealth mission.

She doesn't even need to change her commute; as far as Hiromi is aware, Haru is still doing her volunteer work and – well, that's true enough. Little has changed, except for her 'coworkers'' buttoned eyes, and Haru has seen stranger.

And all through it, there is the Other Baron, with his tea and his dramatics and his distinct lack of a wall between them. And if he does occasionally look on her with a faraway gaze, a half-smile rising to cover the grief – if she does sometimes remind him of his Haru in a way which visibly breaks his heart – he is good enough to never extend those expectations, those hopes, onto her.

(She had once asked if her presence was more painful than was worth it, if it would be kinder if she didn't return, but he had shaken his head and assured her that one Haru leaving his life for good was bad enough; he didn't want to lose another.)

So, she doesn't mean to keep coming back, but somewhere along the way, she stops waiting for the first Sanctuary to open for her.

#the cat returns #bedlam au #cat writes #things i should be doing: editing other work #things i am doing: this #feels good to write for this fandom again tho #even if this is written by the seat of my pants

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redjaybird · 5 months

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JAY’S RP PLOTTING CHEAT-SHEET

Want new-and-exciting plots for your character? Long to reach out to more of your followers, but don’t know where to start? Fear not! Fill out this form and give your RP partners both present and future all the of juicy jumping off points they need to help you get your characters acquainted.Be sure to tag the players whose characters YOU want more cues to interact with, and repost, don’t reblog! Feel free to add or remove sections as you see fit. Template here.

Mun name(s): Yams Mun pronouns: She/her/they/them, but also don't mind whatever OOC Contact: DMs or D.isco (mutuals/people I vibe with only ask for my d.isco)

Who the heck are my muses anyway:

He's a little shit that causes problems and pisses people off for the heck of it. A bit of an edgelord (is that an understatement?), rude, vulgar, and extremely tough to crack if you want him in friendlier stages. Good luck. He's not going to make it easy for you.

Points of interest:

He has various verses, some things may change depending on what verse things are in. Details in his design are important and have stories behind them. In his main verses, he has extra strengthened abilities and a little extra chaotic surprise, sometimes. He has a lot of anger issues and is really shit at dealing with other emotions, often turning them into anger, too, because he doesn't know how else to handle things. He likes to think of himself as a villain, but really he's more like an anti-hero. And he's got a whole revenge case he's trying to deal out. He's got some emotional issues that he refuses to talk about, and others he will just spill because he likes to talk about himself. And he's got trust issues.

What they’ve been up to recently:

Well, this varies for people and verses. Things won't be following the same paths for everyone he interacts with. In in his main f.c5 verse, he somehow got himself in a position where he's gotta help protect the Seeds, because of the relationship he ended up in with Jacob. Everything in the B.L verses kinda got put on hold, but these days its after his Arena fell. A vampire verse, in the f.c5 land, has been distressing him. Bloody City (original) verse is getting more developments lately (yeehaw). Depends on what version you wanna deal with, really.

Where to find them:

In general modern times, usually Chicago. In the borderlands, usually Pandora. In F.C3, on Rook Islands, hanging with the pirates. In F.C5, Hope County, usually in Jacob's region. Frontier, the pirate is in Montreal in the company of Mr. Grant and Mr. Pond.

Current plans:

Plans? What are plans? We'll have to see what unfolds. Anything could happen.

Desired interactions:

Enemies to awkward found family member, enemies/rivals, slow burns of any kind of relationship (because its almost always a slow burn with him), helping him learn to cook maybe? (his whole fear of stoves and fire issue man), dad bird dad bird dad bird dad bird (has an accidentally adopted daughter in some verses btw), etc.

Offered interactions:

Uh, do you like problematic little shits? Do you like conflict? Stories are boring without conflict, after all. And it makes the good times so much more worth it, you know? If you for some reason want him to work with you, however, the price is gonna be a little different. Because he doesn't care about money.

Current open post/s:

Keep an eye out for random IC posts, they happen a lot, and are generally open to anyone if they don't have a tag. (I don't always tag ic posts but I do always tag any trigger warnings when I think they need it.) Some will have specific verse tags, sometimes, just so you know where things will be focused on but yeah, generally most things are open unless someone specifically gets @'d on.

Anything else?:

[I'm not super great at writing, and am especially bad at describing things in words, but Jay will make up for a lot in dialogue because he loves talking. Interactions can inspire art, lots of drawing going on here. Also things never stop developing. I've been running this character for 12+ years now and I'm still developing him.]

Tagging: whoev's wants to do this thing go for it, i tried

#jay info #blog info #ooc #long post

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beevean · 1 year

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I think Frontiers has such low replay value for a few reasons:

While you can traverse the islands non-linearly, there is legit just very little that rewards your curiosity. There's no cool hidden items that you can find if you search for them, at most a few pretty places you probably would have gone to anyway if you want to complete the map for 100% each. So once you've gone and fully completed each map, you've basically seen it all already.

The game can be rather rail-roading: on Chaos Island, for example, there's a few smaller islands you can basically only ever go through in the same one or two ways. Picking the wrong way will bring you to a place where you don't need to go to anymore. Good luck if you can't find the correct paths, though, because it is very difficult to make out just where the heck rails and the like lead you.

Talking about the items: there's like... five, six of them total to be found on the map? You've got the attack and defence fruits, the Koco, the memory tokens, Experience Points, rings... and that is basically the gist of it, even if I feel like I'm forgetting stuff (which is not a good sign at all, since that means it is forgettable). It gets very boring very quickly to have those be the only things you ever find. To bring back BotW, if you went out of your way to go explore the game usually rewards you with a strong weapon or useful item... because it's got hundreds of weapons and items you can collect. Not just a mere six or so on the islands, who eventually become moot anyway if you've fully upgraded Sonic and his skill tree.

The world is just empty. There's legit nobody interesting to talk to, other than perhaps Sage and Sonic's friends, who disappear afterwards from those spots. And furthermore, they have the problem that you can go through their developments completely unhingedly depending on where you find them, so you can easily have Sonic and Sage chat cordially on the final island and then go back to the first and have her be blunt and rude instead. I would have liked a 'good ending' where Sonic helped his friends and Sage through taking the time to talk to them fully on each island before going to the next and a 'bad ending' where he did not do that, but alas...

So yeah, overall the replay value is low because once you've put in some effort on your first run, there is nothing that rewards you for doing more. Everything you get is the same constantly, and if you went and 100% completed the maps and talked to everyone the first time, there's just nothing new to be found on new playthroughs.

Btw I should add that the game has such poor replayability to me that I haven't even picked it up despite the various updates throughout the year already, so maybe things have become better and I just haven't noticed them yet. Maybe😅

As always, huge W for ShTH, King of Replay Value ❤️

I'm starting to think that it's not my issue if I can't watch a playthrough of the game without getting bored lol. But more seriously, it's a shame, because Sonic games have usually high replay value, through their level design with multiple routes or the ranking system, or exceptional cases like Advance 3's gimmick.

Sage was really wasted. Her interactions with Sonic are 99% "you will die" "how?" "go fuck yourself I'm not telling you", until we're supposed to care about her and her NANANANANANA. A sidequest where you have to make the effort to befriend Sage? Teach her what a loving relationship is, making her realize that Eggman doesn't actually care about her like she hoped to? And maybe unlocking her as help during the final boss? It would have been something new and interesting! oh well.

(also yeah I read that part about Khaos Island. It doesn't sound fun. Why rail road part of your open world like that?)

#sonic the hedgehog

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blackvelvetofnight · 1 year

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anyone want to hear my insane but well thought out interpretation of Skinamarink?yes okay sweet

okay there is two layers of subtext you need here. 1. the director got his start making short videos of nightmares that people would submit on youtube (they're actually really cool, they're called bitesized nightmares)

and 2. there is a short film called Heck that he released as a proof of concept that has a similar plot and Skinamarink is kind of a spiritual successor.

Okay so Heck kind of follows the same story beats, kid wakes up, discovers their stuck in their house, mom has disappeared, watches cartoons and does kid stuff to occupy themselves, etc.

Except the major exception is that they are alone. Completely. No sibling, not even an entity. Their mom does reappear at one point a long ways in but she doesn't move, (like at all) she's like a flat image (she also has no mouth)

so for all intents and purposes the child is entirely alone. Now another thing to note is that the passage of time is measured in 'sleeps'

a lot of people interpret this as the child's way of keeping track of time since it's always dark in the house. BUT with his past work being literal nightmares I interpret this being dreaming. the child is having a reoccurring nightmare and this is the amount of times between sleeps when they return to this dream.

The film ends with the tally of 18694 sleeps

so if it was a reoccurring nightmare (assuming that it was happening semi regularly) that would be roughly 50 or 60 years, even more if they were having other dreams between. Now something else to note is at the end the child sounds.. different. almost like an adult trying to speak like a child. They say 'mommy... I think we're in hell'

Now we're going to get into some Junji Ito shit, cause I think the person dreaming IS aging and probably having a pretty normal life. HOWEVER their dream counterpart isnt, they're still a child experiencing this ongoing dream and it's become this pocket dimension for them. whenever the waking person returns to the nightmare their child self wakes up in there again. If this is the only reality they're experiencing then yeah.. 'I think we're in hell'

ALRIGHT with all of that, now we can get to Skinamarink (I'm so sorry but it needs the lore) So in Skinamarink there is an entity. It's left ambiguous in the film how it gets in the house but it's already there by the time the movie opens, we know this cause Kevin is playing with it in the hallway at the beginning, saying 'do you want to play hide and seek?'

Now all the shenanigans go down, the doors all start disappearing and all that, chair on the ceiling, can't have shit around here. But in Heck there are doors, they just dont open. Things in the home remain relatively the same. So the entity is making a deliberate decision to remove all exits, and slowly removes all objects of comfort and perceived escape. EXCEPT. THE TV. It leaves the tv, even leaving on the same kind of cartoons from Heck.

Now my big reveal, I think the entity in Skinamarink is the dream version of the child in Heck. I think being trapped in the nightmare for 50+ years (honestly who even knows how long by the time Skinamarink occurs) CHANGED them and made them.. something else. And I think the tv, specifically the cartoons was their escape. Literally. It is the conduit that the entity moves through and their source of power since their power is entirely based on 'cartoon logic'.

It removes their parents and even seeks to make the children afraid of them (the famous look under the bed scene) cause it wants to remove all the dreaming childs ties to the waking world so they become dependent on it and trust it and dont want to leave.

The child/entity was trapped alone so they seek out children to play with. To have a companion, a friend. But the children never want to stay, they want their mom and dad and they want to leave. Then the jig is up. So it toys with them cruelly until it gets bored and moves on to another house.

I think the end is the entity approaching a new child. 'What's your name?'

'Go to sleep'

Go to sleep so I can capture you.

#ok that was so long #skinamarink

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adversitybloomed · 1 year

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SHIPPING INFO // ANSWER THE FOLLOWING FOR YOUR MUSE(S) SO PEOPLE KNOW HOW SHIPPING WORKS ON YOUR BLOG.

WHAT IS YOUR OTP FOR YOUR CHARACTER(S) ?

so i have two exclusive ships and part of the reason is they are my top OPT which they also know ━━ @battleguqin 's Lan Sizhui is one of my top OTP right now, considering we the mun's legit talk every single day. we write together every single day ( discord is our friend when we can't do tumblr ) && our muses really enjoy each other.

another one of my OTP is is @caracarnn 's Rand Al'Thor whom i adore. We get to talk as often as we can OOC wise && when we get to write a lot of the time it is both here but mostly on discord as well, which helps us a great deal.

HOW LARGE DOES THE AGE GAP HAVE TO BE TO MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE ?

it really depends. if its underage stuff, i struggle with it only because i dont mind writing puppy love, but i do not want them to go full out just yet. but considering most ships i have are immortal / power based ━━ it makes it harder to say. for me its not about that, its more about how our muses feel about each other && what we the muns feel comfortable plotting && writing. does this make sense ?

HOW FAR DO STEAMY MOMENTS HAVE TO GO BEFORE THEY ARE CONSIDERED NSFW ?

Anything that means clothing is off is considered nsfw && will be tagged as such.

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WHEN SHIPPING ?

HIGHLY. i have had really bad experiences with Mulan. like bro the stories i can tell you... i have had put rules up in place in order to protect not just myself but also Mulan from that happening again. I am a chemistry based shipper. so if our muses have it ? fantastic, lets ship. if only one does, let's do the one sided thing. but if there is no chemistry it is hard to have a ship.

WHO ARE OTHER CHARACTERS YOU SHIP YOUR CHARACTER WITH ?

i answered the three big ships above. but i also have a ship going with Merlin Nuallian, which is with @fatheredlegend && @calcifydamage 's Caleb Malphas.

DOES ONE HAVE TO ASK TO SHIP WITH YOU ?

Yes. If you have a ship you want to explore with me, ask. but also be prepared for the answer of "Lets wait and see". not because I do nto want to ship, but because I have been burned badly before && Mulan is picky.

ARE YOU SHIP OBSESSED OR SHIP MORE-OR-LESS ?

I love shipping. legit love it. love all the aspects, the good && the bad. i won't lie, i will spam you with plots, i will spam with asks && images that remind you of our muses. but i also respect peoples time && will not hound for a reply && if my partner has other ships going ?? i want to read them && love on those too.

ARE YOU MULTISHIP ?

Yes. Let us spread the love !

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SHIP IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM ?

erm. my mulan really does not fall into any fandom, so imma skip. just look at my above answer.

FINALLY, HOW DOES ONE SHIP WITH YOU ?

please just come talk to me ooc wise. let me vibe check with you. let me write with you && see how our muses get along. if we both feel something ? heck yeah let's ship. but please also understand, shipping is not my first priority. Mulan legit looks for friendships first && if she falls ? its legit news to her because she thinks she's getting sick >_<

but yeah, open communication is key to me. just come talk about it.

#🌸 𝐁𝐄𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐒 ✧ ooc #🌸 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐀 ✧ psa

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etinceelle · 1 year

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Honestly, my ideal Penny is one who's mostly or entirely mechanical, loves being mostly or entirely mechanical, but is able to refuel using food somehow.

Just, getting rid of the mechanical body feels like taking away Blake's cat ears, an important part of the character's identity is just GONE all of a sudden.

Plus, Penny being entirely mechanical was the one thing stopping the Atlas Arc from being disgustingly ableist. (I'm just going to say there's a reason I put more focus on how Ironwood treats other people's bodies versus him exercising his own bodily autonomy when I want him to raise red flags in my fics.)

Heck, my ideal Winter is a paralytic who relies on mobility aids to get around. (Here's how Cyborg!Winter can still win!)

There's a reason I'm hoping that reviving Penny would cost Winter the Maiden Powers. We need more positive disabled rep in canon.

I see what you mean, but in that case they shouldn't have made her human at all then. I completely agree about the fact that her robotic functions and abilities are amazing and make her really strong and unique, like when she gave precise directions to go in the military base, or when she detected Cinder's warmth in Amity so she was able to tell the difference with all the clones. But what I think would be cruel is to make her human (and she was surprised/shocked, but not displeased by it), and put her back in a robotic body. What's the point of making her human and open so much doors and possibilities for her to explore every aspect of humanity, if it's for closing it right away and putting her back into a body we already know ? We had several volumes when she was there to discover her android abilities, and even if she's always full of surprises, I think making her human kinda makes it impossible (to me) for her to go back into a robotic body. It's like a step forward for her to really live her life, and it would feel weird for me if she was just in a metallic body once again. But I can understand why people would prefer a robot Penny, and I would be completely ok with it IF she didn't have that human body from Ambrosius at the end of Volume 8. But putting her back into a robotic body really feels like gaining the ability to smell, to touch, to feel the world in a empirical way, only to shut it down immediately and keep her to what she was before. Narratively it wouldn't really make sense to me :'] And even if robot Penny was incredible during V8, I think human Penny still has a lot to discover ! I mean there's this whole empirical aspect of course (what would I do to see her eat food or drink for the first time--). But she also doesn't have any Semblance, during the short time she was human she didn't get the time to discover it. Depending on what it is, it could be something really interesting to discover, just like Jaune unlocked his Semblance !

As for Winter, I like how she was helped by some exoskeleton at the beginning of Volume 8, it was nice to see her struggling for a bit after what Cinder did to her at the end of V7. I like Winter as the Winter Maiden tho, it makes sense for her and she seems more confident in that position than Penny was, because Penny never wanted these powers and Winter finally learned to accept them and embrace them to help her do her best. I wouldn't be mad if the Maiden powers could just disappear too someday, I don't want Penny to be the Maiden back, it's either Winter stays the Maiden, or the powers finally disappear because idk, who knows what could happen at the end of RWBY, the two Brothers and the Blacksmith could definitely be involved. But yeah I thought that if Ozma and Salem finally stop their war and decide to rest, then the magic they gave to people (as Ozma gave magic to the Maidens) would disappear as well.

#rwby #rwby discussion #discussion #theory #rwby theory #penny #penny polendina #penny revival #penny 3.0 #robot #android #human #maiden #winter maiden #winter #winter schnee #cinder #cinder fall

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t4tbedehopmar · 1 year

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heck yeah am i ready for another essay 🎉🎉 i probably wont be able to read it until im done w school but i will be excited hehehehe

OK THEN i'll so it now so u can see it as soon as school ends! also why the hell are u going to school isn't it still summer. fuck the people who are making u go to school like what the hell is wrong w them ANYWAYS prepare urself for a um. pretty long essay ^^;

OK THEN let's start w the basics as always! :D hop like marnie is one of the three rivals protagonist has in swsh but unlike marnie he's the main rival! u probably know abt main rivals in pokemon games yes u do 👍👍 and if u don't. it's just the rival that is more important. ofc there's only been main rivals since like. xy i think? bc earlier there was only like one rival or maybe two. i think it was in uno a actually ANYWAYS i'm just boring u rn so i'll move on fkhdjdk SO as i said hop is protagonist's main rival and BOOM his brother is the champion of the region. yup just like that. he's called leon btw but this ain't abt him 😒😒 AHEM SO hop and protagonist too live in the first town in the game called postwick! they're literally the only people who live there. which is pretty funny considering there's literally another village like. 20 meters away but wtv pokemon can do wtv they want dkhfjd i just realized that if i tell u EVERYTHING abt hop this won't be an essay but a research work so i'll try and stay brief in the least important parts! OK SO protagonist's seeing a match between leon and his rival aka dragon type gym leader raihan and he comes over saying leon's gonna arrive soon so u both go out BUT just outside protagonist's house there's this fence that leads to a very creepy forest called slumbering weald and oh no! a wooloo (aka sheep pokemon) is using tackle against it! obviously it's bound to open at some point BUT that comes later 👍👍 SO leon arrives gives protagonist and hop a starter and that's when hop brings up the gym challenge! u see unlike other regions in galar u need someone important from the league to recommend u so u can participate in the gym challenge and Yes obviously leon's gonna recommend u BUT NOT YET!!!!!!! after that it's made clear that hop rlly wants to defeat leon and become the new champion but um. if u have basic pokemon knowledge u know that protagonist ALWAYS becomes the champion. and in this game specifically all the rivals want to be champions so the protagonist rlly does shatter their dreams ^^; but we don't talk abt that HAHA OK u have ur first battle w hop and just after that the wooloo opens the fence and enters the slumbering weald! and protagonist and hop don't think abt the risk of going in there bc they're heroic and stupid sighs. so they enter and there's a lot of fog and OH MY GOD IS THAT THE LEGENDARY DOG FROM THE COVER OF THE GAME yes it is! depending on the game u've chosen either zacian or zamazenta appear BUT in their normal forms w/o the sword and shield respectively! the fog gets horrible and protagonist and hop faint and oh no it's the end! but no bc leon exists and he saves them AND the wooloo 🙄🙄 ok i might have a bit of hatred towards leon BUT THIS AIN'T ABT HIM ANYWAYS protagonist gets a pokedex, fights hop and they get the recommendation from leon and so u leave the village to go to the opening ceremony in motostoke! u arrive there and reach the fire type gym to get ur league number and participate in the gym challenge and um. w-well. remember how i said this was the time when protagonist met marnie? but u didn't have to talk to her right then if u didn't want to? well u see i also said that's when protagonist meets me/bede and this time it is mandatory to interact. kind of. i don't think that was interacting ANYWAYS let's just say me and hop don't rlly get along very well during the gym challenge ^^; i'll have to talk abt The Thing later....... BUT THAT'S LATER OK? OK THAT'S SETTLED THEN ANYWAYS protagonist goes to the opening ceremony and then battles hop and he gives the protagonist.......

ta-da! his beautiful league card <3 i mean srsly isn't he the most beautiful guy ever And i think i'll shut up now bc i'm not gay COUGHS so protagonist does the gym challenge like normal, hop goes his own way and just like that ur already back in motostoke bc NO the fire type gym isn't the first gym but the third for. reasons. both of them win and now they're both on their way to hammerlocke to continue w the challenge BUT. but. what a powerful word am i right? just by saying it yk smth's gonna happen. and smth DOES happen. um. well i uhhhhhh how do i put this. maybe if i just don't say it hahahaha 😁😁 OH BUT I HAVE TO THIS IS A PART OF HOP'S LORE AFTER ALL....... OK FINE ibedeappearoutofnowherestartinsultinghopwehaveabattlehelosesisayhesdraggingleonsnamethruthemudandthenleave PHEW OK that was easier than i thought <- almost started crying while typing it SO UM yeah the thing changes hop completely and it's all my fault :') dies WE IGNORE THAT EPISODE OF MY LIFE AND THE GYM CHALLENGE BC IT WAS HORRIBLE OK THANK U anyways after The Incident hop becomes more doubtful abt how good he is in pokemon battles and in general he's less cheery and all :c i actually haven't explained abt his personality yet so this is the perfect time! so like every other main rival he's a happy and mostly hyperactive individual who's also impatient! he also loves leon bc he's his hero and all that :] wldn't u say he's the most adorable ever Dies anyways and after all this i've told u well yeah he's sadder it's all super sad and i swear that part of the game is super depressing and everytime i replay the game i start crying BUT we're here to learn abt hop and not abt bee crying over hop during the gym challenge DO BACK TO THE THING from there his pokemon team changes constantly and he even stops having wooloo (aka the pokemon he's had since he was like five) in his team to see if he gets better in pokemon battles :') he's not even bad in battles but his rival is the future champion of the region and he just fought against a future fairy type gym leader so uh. yeah kfhdjdj ANYWAYS he's down for a bit BUT THEN after protagonist defeat the rock or ice type gym leader (depending on the game) he's happy again and everyone's happy too and i cry bc he's just so dkfjksjdkskd :') i lvoe him I MEAN nothing hahahaha ahem so after all that protagonist defeats some more gym leaders and eventually reaches the last city in the game in which the semifinals are taking place! BUT BEFORE THEY START there's this dialogue w hop.......

screenshots from my very own switch bc i'm insane. u see i haven't said it but a bit after The Incident i go batshit and decide to destroy this mural in a village. there's an explanation i swear i'm not insane fkhfjdj back then i worked for the chairman and he wanted to collect wishing stars and what is that u may wonder! well to stay short they make dynamaxing possible! but the chairman is using them for..... smth else. that i'll explain later SO since wishing stars are in caves i decide that it's a great idea to fucking destroy a mural! it actually pays off bc there's some important statues beneath it BUT the chairman doesn't like it and BOOM ur no longer in the gym challenge koha basically ur dad just expelled u 👍👍 but that's for another time fuck rose ANYWAYS as u can see he doesn't even hate me. WHAT IS WRONG W HIM i hate him (i'm in love w him) ANYWAYS protagonists defeats him and just like that breaks hop's dreams :') so basically the only character his age that doesn't hurt him at some point is marnie! way to go my girl ur the best 🫶🫶 but yeah some stuff after that happen and when protagonist goes to fight leon the chairman goes BAM and he wakes up this alien pokemon w all the wishing starts he's collected and everything goes a bit insane BUT during the story (i haven't mentioned it bc this wld end up being too long altho this is already horribly long but too late now fkdhjdjs) protagonist and hop learn abt the story abt galar and oh! there's this two heroes w zacian and zamazenta! and so they both go back to the slumbering weald get the rusted sword and shield to see if they can summon them and so they go to hammerlocke where the chairman is defeat him and then go fight the alien pokemon aka eternatus bc leon fainted while trying to catch it w a pokeball. who tf tries to catch such a powerful pokemon w a POKEBALL. but anyways zacian and zamazenta appear but they look cooler thanks to the rusted sword and shield and they defeat eternatus and three days pass protagonist defeats leon and becomes the champion OK so after that everything goes back to normal but now hop feels like he's a burden to everyone bc everyone's become super cool things and all that but at the end of the post game he catches zacian or zamazenta depending on the game and becomes the assistant professor!! so after all this u get that he's very cheery yet insecure. which is strangely like me. but that's NEVER happening ok? ok NOW random facts. i think i've given u all the possible random facts EXCEPT for the league number one! his league number can be read as hiyaku in japanese which means jump and well. that makes a lot of sense fkdhjfjs OH ALSO

THE CUTIE 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰 TYE MOST BEAUTIFUL EVER 💕💘💝💞♥️💘❣️💘♥️💘💝💕💘💖💖💘💝💘♥️💞💗💘💗💗💞❣️💘♥️💘💝💘💕💖💘💖💕💘💝💘💕💖💘💝💞💝💘💕💕💘💝💝💞💕💘💝💕💘💝

SO and let's finish this like an essay ahem in light of the above it's blatantly obvious that i'm not very sane abt hop hope this helps 👍👍 some things rlly didn't make sense so if u want an essay abt me/bede or abt the galar story pls tell me and i'll go insane just for u again <3 now if u'll excuse me i need a break flops over and dies

#asks #elie !#........this is too long right...? oh damn.#if someone actually reads this i'll cry i swear i will

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heyclickadee · 1 year

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Aaaaaaaannnd it looks like my inevitable biennial Darkwing Duck phase just hit. Apologies in advance. I am probably going to be annoying.

So! Darkly Dawns the Duck:

1. Who do I have to kill to get the original opening scene back in with the rest of the episode? Like. That little action sequence is a perfect way to introduce the character and the show. Almost everything you need to know is right there. Darkwing is a mildly bumbling adrenaline junkie who’s just barely good enough at his “job” to get things done. Also, it’s a cartoon; the violence is made up and the injuries don’t matter. Unless they do.

2. Almost everything you need to know. The rest of everything you need to is in the very next scene where Darkwing is hamming it up, handing glossies to a cop, and lamenting the fact that he spent all afternoon ironing is cape now that there’s nary a reporter in sight.

3. Darkwing narrates his life and monologues to himself. He’s such a tool. I love it.

4. Listen, I’m aware that Tad Stones is very much a Silver Age comics guy, and that this cartoon is completely uninterested in explaining how, exactly, Darkwing pays for, you know, all his very expensive equipment (besides moonlighting as a freelance SHUSH agent from time to time), because it’s just not that kind of show, but I’m interested. (Honestly, the more ridiculous the explanation, the better.)

5. How long did it take Darkwing to put together everything for the breakfast routine? I mean, it’s not as though he has a life outside of being Darkwing, so I guess he’d have time. But still.

6. I always forget Tim Curry is in this. Taurus Bulba is slightly less funny and unhinged than you’re typical Darkwing villain, but he’s honestly half of what makes this intro episode work. He’s a little more serious, so the stakes feel a little higher.

7. Aaaaand Darkwing’s still monologuing to himself. As he does.

8. The fourth wall is paper thin.

9. “Clever of me to use my spine to break my fall.” — Tech Badbatch, probably.

10. More (less?) seriously, last time I hit the inevitable biennial Darkwing Duck phase, I kept trying to find a Darkwing Duck podcast to listen to, and I kept getting frustrated, because the hosts kept talking about this show the same way they would about, say, Batman: The Animated Series or Young Justice. Yes, they’re all animated, yes, they’re all about superheroes, and yes, they all stretch physical reality to some extent, but Darkwing Duck exists in an entirely different genre than the other two. Heck, it’s even in a slightly different genre than the original DuckTales series.

It’s a cartoon—a cartoon grounded by an emotional center in the relationship between Gosalyn and Darkwing—but a cartoon along the lines of the old Looney Tunes shorts nonetheless. Like. No, Darkwing doesn’t have secret superpowers. He gets anvils dumped on his head until he gets over himself every episode because it’s funny. The laws of physics as well as any danger of real physical harm coming to the characters is dependent entirely on the emotional needs of the scene at hand, and the emotional needs of the scene at hand tend to be rooted in comedy. Same goes for continuity. I may or may not be a hypocrite about this at times.

11. So I just hit the part where Darkwing and Launchpad meet and good lord, Darkwing really is a jerk and Launchpad really is a golden retriever.

12. I love how Bulba just casually mentions that his henchmen murdered Gosalyn’s grandpa.

13. Speaking of Gosalyn….

14. Man, I love Gosalyn. I love that she’s kind of a “problem”, that she tends to act out, that she’s a handful, and that she’s clearly upset by having been told that she’s a problem by the adults in her life (by the ones at the orphanage, anyway). She’s an outgoing but clearly lonely kid, and one of the very few kids from any shows from this era that actually feels like a kid.

15. Okay, yeah, I know I just went on a rant about cartoons, but adult me panics every time I watch the part where Gos realizes that Hammerhead is there to kidnap her.

16. Just an observation, but Darkwing is way more…I don’t know, personable with Gosalyn once they get back to his hideout than he was with Launchpad in that earlier scene. He’s still self aggrandizing and sarcastic, but he’s not nearly as caustic. (For now.) I’m honestly not sure he knows how to talk to other adults in a “normal” way when he’s doing the Darkwing thing, which is more or less all the time.

17. Aaaaand I’m reading too much into it now. Back to the funny.

18. I paused and now I can’t breathe

Look at this idiot.

19. I love that Taurus Bulba just happens to have an airship shaped like his face. In prison. Just because.

20. Photos taken moments before disaster

21. “You should have seatbelts, too!” Blink twice if the S&P department is making you say that, Gos.

22. That said, it is actually really sweet that Darkwing does end up taking the helmet Gos found when he rides off a few scenes later. (

23. Little girl blue 🥹

24. Okay but WHY did Dr. Waddlemeyer make a Simon Says the control panel for his levitation ray?

25. Man, Darkwing is such an insecure jackass.

26. Listen to the kid, my dude.

27. See? That’s what you get! (Darkwing really deserves the dressing down Bulba gives him in this scene. Also: Does he make funny accordion noises when he gets squished like that?)

28. Why do I get the feeling that if this episode came out today and was a Star War that people would be complaining about how hard it was for Bulba’s hitmen to catch a ten year old?

29. Honestly, I love how they thread the needle of Gosalyn being perfectly capable of handling herself and yet still being a kid who may eventually need help if the problem gets too big.

30. Oh, the jail scene. I’m still annoyed that the most unhinged part of Darkwing’s monologue is missing (the episodes on the DVDs and streaming and elsewhere that I’ve found are the ones that ran in syndication. And, for Darkly Dawns the Duck, that means it was cut in two and chopped up to fit in the syndication time slot, so there are a few scenes missing. The ones I miss most are the opening and part of the jail monologue), but what’s left is still probably the most honest thing Darkwing says about himself the whole show. There’s something about him that’s just. Deeply maladjusted. And it’s great. I love it. 10/10, no notes.

31. Nope, got serious again. Time for Launchpad to bring the funny.

32. Launchpad made a damn stealth plane shaped like Darkwing’s head. Just because.

33. Ah yes, the tried and true Darkwing method of combat: throwing yourself bodily at the enemy and shouting nonsense.

34. I always somehow forget that Bulba just decides he’s gonna murder a kid for kicks. He’s got the code by that point, he doesn’t need her anymore, and he doesn’t need to twist Darkwing’s arm to get anything. He’s just gonna kill Gosalyn. It’s just child murder time. And it feels like Gosalyn’s in danger because, again, the rules of physics apply depending on the emotional needs of the scene.

35. “Mom was right. I should have been a dental hygienist.” That is such a random line and I kind of love it.

36. Sorry to being this back around the The Bad Batch because, again, this show is a completely different genre of animated show, but Gosalyn’s little, “He couldn’t be…,” when she sees the ramrod destroy the top of that skyscraper and take Bulba and Darkwing with it reminded my of the fact that when a child protagonist in a show for children says something like that about a semi or fully parental figure thought to be dead, they’re almost always right. No, I will not let this go. This hiatus is so long.

37. This orphanage director really is just. The worst. “Oh, sorry you won’t through a traumatic life changing experience kid, don’t understand why you’re too upset to talk to anyone today. Your loss I guess.” Like seriously.

38. Yes! The pink shirt and the sweater vest.

39. Darkwing is so aggressively dweeby. 10/10, no notes. Again.

40. I mean, okay, his name’s Drake Mallard, sure, and that’s how he’s introducing himself to the orphanage director here, but. Like. I like both versions, but OG Darkwing is Darwing first, and Drake Mallard second. DT17 Darkwing is Drake Mallard first, and Darkwing second. If that makes sense.

41. Okay, so, I understand that OG Darkwing and Launchpad are sort of the Kirk and Spock of the Disney Afternoon, but I don’t really ship them. I just don’t get the vibe (again, from the OG versions—DT17 versions have a different vibe). That said, I do kind of love the idea that there’s nothing going on between them but that everyone who knows both of them just assumes that they’re a gay couple raising their daughter, and they both know it and are fine with people thinking that.

42. This isn’t how adoption works but it’s okay it’s a cartoon and it’s very sweet.

#darkwing duck #I’m sorry #give it a month and it’ll be out of my system #I’m not going to watch every episode #or do this for every episode I watch #but. uh. there will be more #don’t worry the bad batch isn’t going anywhere #I just briefly have too many thoughts about the silly cape duck show

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androidcharles · 2 years

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And we're back! I'm gonna try to update every Wednesday (or every other Wednesday depending) but in the meantime, under the readmore is Chapter 2! Enjoy!

Chapter Directory First (also Previous) | Next ->

A week had passed since Charles had been kidnapped by the N.E.R.Ds. The case they were working had everything to do with them, considering that they were now out in the open. Despite the fact that they were expected to work together (as that’s what they did super well), Henry and Ellie were the only ones really doing anything about the case, searching the city for any clues as to where the new hideout for the N.E.R.Ds was.

Charles, meanwhile, had taken it upon himself to keep an eye on the Toppat girl who was behind the strings of robberies. So far, it had been quiet on her front, but Charles was keeping an eye on the locations that had been hit thanks to Henry and Ellie’s book keeping.

“It seems like those nerds have found a new hiding spot,” Ellie said, pouring over a map of Stickburg while Henry played with some string, “We’re having a hell of a time locating them though. What about you Charles?”

“I don’t know, maybe she knows we’re onto her…” Charles said. He didn’t know if Ellie or Henry knew the Toppat was an android as well. Maybe they already knew but that was very unlikely. Still, it was almost upsetting that she was hiding out again. But it’s as Wendell said; Toppats were always a bit slippery.

“Well, it’s alright. She’s been slipping away from the authorities too. We’ve been running ourselves ragged trying to find these guys though. We’ve managed to arrest one or two, but the general said ‘Deja vu’ whenever we capture them because they didn’t have much to go on,” Ellie said.

“Kinda like the Toppats…” Charles muttered.

YEAH, YOU GUYS WERE HAVING A TIME PINNING THEM DOWN BEFORE YOU GOT MY HELP, Henry signed very smugly as Charles puffed his cheeks out at him.

“You act like you did ALL the work. I helped you, you know. If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have been able to get those documents!” Charles said. Henry shrugged as he went back to work on the string.

“Maybe there’s a connection… do you think the N.E.R.Ds are working with whatever remaining Toppats are out there? Some had to get away!”

“Not too many. Other than our mystery girl, most of the Toppats that got away were low ranking goons among the bunch. Not enough to really inspire or kick start a new frontier, according to the general,” Charles said, “Heck, I’m going against protocol looking after this girl for you guys.”

“What?! Charles if you’re gonna get in trouble, than me or Henry-”

“No, no, it’s fine! I could use the practice on the field. I might have to start somewhere considering you know… I’m not very good at fighting and all...” Charles said.

“Well that’s true. We just don’t want you to get in trouble,” Ellie said.

“Pfft, please. I’ve been in trouble before for doing things I wasn’t supposed to. Most of the time I got a slap on the wrist. Other times well… mopping the complex is very hard when Rupert keeps nagging you about how I convince him to do dumb things,” Charles said. Henry let out a small ‘hmph’ as Ellie gave Charles a sort concerned look.

“I just don’t want you to push it. One day you’re gonna get in a situation where not even General Galeforce can really back you up. Your safety net can fray at any time you know…”

“I’ll be fine!” Charles said, “Besides, you guys wouldn’t have asked me to keep an eye on her if it wasn’t important. I just have to not use government equipment when doing it.”

“Aren’t you technically government equipment?”

“I’m my own person Ellie, geez… they can’t pull that whole ‘you’re a piece of equipment’ bullshit on me. If I quit, they can’t exactly take out my weapons or erase my memories of the time I spent there… well they can erase all the top secret information that I have on me right now, including the launch codes…”

“THE WHAT!?” Henry and Ellie shouted. Charles pursed his lips as he pressed his fingers together.

“You didn’t hear that.”

“Fine,” Ellie said, “What are you gonna do?”

“Well, for the past few weeks, our Toppat has been going in a pattern around town. She might hit either this store or this store next,” Charles said, “At least, that’s what Henry said.”

“Well, Henry used to be a thief, but if it were me, I would throw them off, and hit a more secluded location away from the pattern,” Ellie said.

MAYBE SHE’S DOING IT TO GET ATTENTION. TRY TO KEEP THE TOPPAT CLAN A THREAT WITHOUT IT REALLY BEING ONE, Henry said.

“I have to agree with Henry here. I mean, if I wanted to plan a comeback if I was part of a criminal syndicate, I would probably try to get as much attention as possible…” Charles said. The three were silent as Henry suddenly came to a realization.

CHARLES… WHERE ARE REG… THE TOPPAT LEADER AND HIS RIGHT HAND MAN LOCKED UP?

“Very secure prison. Not even the Wall can compare. They’d have to get assistance from some top tier prison breakers in order get out. Even than, security is air tight…” Charles said.

“Henry you’re being paranoid… but than again, she’s kind of like you. She always seems to have the right thing at the right time. You don’t think…”

IN ALL HONESTY, IT WOULDN’T BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR OTHER PEOPLE LIKE ME TO EXIST. BUT I HIGHLY DOUBT SHE’S ANYTHING LIKE ME. IT COULD BE POSSIBLE THAT SHE’S JUST CRAZY PREPARED…

“So you think that this girl is eventually going to try to find out where these guys are being held and break them out? I don’t know… why wouldn’t she have done that a long time ago? Why wait?” Charles asked.

“Maybe to keep the government off her heels?” Ellie said.

“But than why the robberies? She’s not exactly hiding her face. Even from far away, you can kinda tell what she looks like,” Charles said, “Ugh, either my processors are out of date or this isn’t making any sense!”

“The latter, more likely.” Ellie set down her coffee cup and scanned the map, “So why don’t you stake out the location you had in mind for her next robbery. Me and Henry will continue to work the N.E.R.D case.”

“What? I’ve been staking out pretty much every night for the past few days. Are you sure you guys don’t need my help?” Charles asked.

“We’ll manage Charlie. Just stay out of trouble,” Ellie said, “And don’t hesitate to call us if you need our help.”

“Got it.”

- - - - -

For the fourth night in a row, Charles was sitting in an alleyway, trying to keep a low profile as he watched the street carefully for any signs of strange activity. He had gotten used to this at this point, but he wondered how so many people could keep it up without getting completely bored. He checked his internal clock, groaning that it had only been an hour since he started. Maybe he should bail and take Ellie’s advice; look into an out of the way jewelry store.

“HELP! THIEF! STOP HER!”

“SHE’S GETTING AWAY! SOMEONE CALL THE POLICE!”

That’s my cue!

Charles jumped out of the alleyway, practically sprinting down the sidewalk as he followed the sound of the ruckus before he suddenly flinched at the huge explosion. He gasped as from the smoke emerged the girl, carrying a sack presumably full of stolen jewelry as she suddenly leapt fifty feet into the air before running across the rooftop.

“Damn, she’s good…” Charles muttered as he turned his arm into a grappling hook, pulling himself up to the top of the building and pursuing her. He leapt from building to building, trying to keep focused on her (mostly due to the fact that she was giving off a wi-fi signal) and keep himself from plunging to his death below.

He came to a screeching halt as he suddenly came to a gap he couldn’t quite jump over. He growled as he grabbed the ledge of the building, cursing his dad and the general for not allowing him to have any flight capabilities. Where was she?

“You’re tracking me…”

Charles gasped as he turned around to see the girl, her eyes filled with curiosity as she walked towards him, bag still in hand. She tossed it to the side as Charles tried to look intimidating, crouching down into a fighting stance as she charged at him. He was quick to dodge as he grabbed her leg and tried to trip her up, but she was faster, immediately turning her hand into a laser cannon and firing at him. Quickly dodging, he flipped back, trying not to look nervous as he turned his hand into a laser sword in an attempt to be intimidating.

“Really, Unit CC? You’re gonna do that?” Amelia said as she turned her own hand into the same thing.

“Unit… how did you know my old name?!” Charles shouted as she charged at him.

“You don’t remember me? A little thing called Project SAI!?” she shouted as she slashed at him. He dodged the attacks as he swung back, his swings impacting her own sword as he gritted his teeth.

“Why would I remember you? I barely remember the first year of my life!” Charles shouted. She gasped as she jumped back, a sort of shocked look on her face.

“You… you don’t remember me?” she said softly.

“AM I SUPPOSED TO!?” Charles shouted, “Either way you’re a Toppat, so I’m going to take you down and arrest you, right here and right now!” Charles’ hand turned into a laser blaster as the girl gasped before she charged at Charles, knocking him down off of the building, his blast going flying into the sky as he panicked.

He turned his hand into a grappling hook and hooked onto the nearest building, swinging around as he scanned the rooftops for the girl, before going back to his usual tracking methods. Suddenly, a chat box popped up on his UI, aggravating him a little.

“NOT NOW!” Charles muttered, trying to close it, before a message popped up.

GlitterToppatGirl: You aren’t going to get anywhere trying to track me. If you attack me, I’m just going to attack you. No matter how much it hurts.

xXBold_Action_ManXx: Why do you care? Charles typed in response, And how did you know my old name?

GlitterToppatGirl: How come you don’t remember me? Did the government erase your memories?

xXBold_Action_ManXx: No, they didn’t. I was found without my memories.

GlitterToppatGirl: How do you know that? You can’t trust them you know.

xXBold_Action_ManXx: I trust them. Whether you like it or not. And I’m gonna find you again whether you like it or not!

“We’ll see about that…” Before Charles could even say anything, Amelia was right behind him. He didn’t have a chance to attack her before she shot him in both of his legs, causing him to cry out as he fell to the ground, shaking as she looked at him with her cold blue eyes.

“I’m sorry Unit CC…” she whispered before running off once again.

“No… god damn it… my self reparation… C’mon, c’mon…” Charles muttered as INSUFFICIENT MATTER flashed on his screen.

These picky things I swear, Charles thought to himself as activated his cell phone, calling Ellie.

“Charles? What’s going on, what happened?” Ellie said.

“My legs… the girl blasted them. She’s an android just like me!” Charles shouted.

“What!? How come you didn’t tell us!?”

“I… I just found out too!” Charles lied, “Anyway, I need your help. You need to get to Donavan Street and bring me something to eat OK? Any matter will do!”

“We’re on our way!” Ellie hung up as Charles pressed his head against the ground, whimpering a bit, not only at the pain but at the fact that he let the Toppat get away. Why did this feel so familiar?

Meanwhile, from the top of the building, Amelia watched as Charles lay on the ground, feeling a bit guilty about leaving him there.

“Why the hell does this have to be so complicated? Why did he, of all androids, have to saved by the government?”

- - - - -

Charles lay back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling as he mindlessly watched a Newtube video to get his mind off of things. He heard a knock at the door and turned his head.

“Hello?”

“Hey.” Charles perked up as he saw his friend Henry walk in, all smiles, but his eyes full of concern.

ARE YOU FEELING ALRIGHT NOW? LEGS IN PAIN?

“Not anymore,” Charles said, “They just sustained a bit of damage, but it was mostly minor. I hate to say this, but I don’t think she was trying to hurt me. I think she was just trying to prevent me from chasing her.”

THAT’S GOOD. I DON’T WANT YOU TO GET HURT. YOU’RE VERY IMPORTANT TO ME.

“Red flag alert…” Charles muttered, half jokingly as Henry walked towards him, sitting next to him and rubbing his back. Charles hugged him tightly, smiling as Henry giggled.

FOR AN ANDROID, YOU’RE QUITE WARM.

“I… well, you know. Processing and all that,” Charles said, “My self replicating nanites also serve as a coolant though, so I’ll never overheat, hehe…”

KINDA LIKE BLOOD… ARE YOU REALLY ALRIGHT?

“I’m fine Henry. Don’t worry,” Charles said softly, “I’ve been in worse pickles. One time, half of my face came off of my… well face, and man was it hard to explain that to Konrad and Calvin. They thought I was like… a Terminator or something.”

I WOULDN’T BE SHOCKED.

“This is the part where I’d quote the movie but… I’ve never watched the movie,” Charles admitted.

GUESS I KNOW WHAT WE’RE DOING FOR MOVIE NIGHT, Henry signed hopefully. Charles smiled as Henry relaxed against his shoulder, giving Charles a warm fuzzy feeling as he sighed, trying to figure out what to say next.

“Henry, I’m sorry that I didn’t catch the girl. I was kind of hoping I could catch her because she’s so dangerous, you know. I mean, a Toppat that’s equipped like that, what if she tries to break the leaders out of prison?”

I THOUGHT YOU SAID THAT PLACE WAS SECURE.

“It is! For the most part, but the question is; is it Henry proof?” Charles said smugly. The two giggled as Henry shrugged.

WHO KNOWS? I’M JUST GLAD YOU GUYS MANAGED TO CAPTURE ME. I KNOW I TRIED TO BE A BIG SHOW OFF EARLIER TODAY, BUT IF IT WASN’T FOR YOU, WE WOULDN’T HAVE TAKEN THE TOPPAT CLAN DOWN THE FIRST TIME. I CAN ALWAYS COUNT ON YOU BRO.

“Ditto. But according to the soldiers, it’s almost like you wanted to be captured… why was that?” Henry shrugged as he waved his hands, smiling sheepishly at him as he stood up, getting ready to go bed for the night.

JUST GO AHEAD AND HEAD INTO SLEEP MODE OR… HOWEVER YOU WANNA CALL IT. I’LL SEE YOU TOMORROW.

“Mhm! See ya tomorrow Henry. Have a good night,” Charles said softly. Suddenly he thought of something and as Henry approached the door, he looked up.

“H-hey, Henry?” Charles asked. He wanted to ask why Henry was always so overprotective of him, why he always seemed to be the most concerned whenever he was hurt or in danger.

“What’s up?” Henry said softly. Charles sighed as he shook his head.

“Nevermind, it wasn’t important,” Charles said, “Good night.” Henry waved as he headed out the door, closing it behind him as Charles laid back on his bed, trying to think of anything besides what happened today. What did that girl mean by him not remembering her? Was there something to what she said. His processors spun out of wack as a couple of error messages appeared on his UI, aggravating him a little.

“Shut up,” Charles muttered, laying down on the bed and putting himself into sleep mode. Maybe his dreams would make a little more sense.

But in a way, they didn’t make sense.

Here he was, back in a place he didn’t recognize, in a dark room sitting down, not being able to move. And a cold steely gaze looking his way as he shook in place, trying to make sense of what was going on as his head started to pound. It was funny, he didn’t usually experience the phenomenon known as the headache in the waking world, but here, it was always so clear. Especially when the graphics that were holding his dream together kept glitching.

“Hello… who are you?” Charles said softly as the eyes suddenly moved, causing him to reach his hand out. He felt a sharp pain in his arm as he did this, cringing a bit as he finally stood up, shaking and shivering as he started to head towards the edge of the dark room.

It was hard to tell where the room ended and where it began, but for the longest time, it felt like he was swimming in an inky blackness, with the occasional sharp twitch from his RAM not quite cooperating with him.

“Shut up, shut up, shut up…” Charles muttered as he saw the error messages popping up in his peripheral vision. Finally, he bumped into a wall, groaning as he rubbed against the walls, finding a sort of turn wheel. He strained himself as he turned it, until it finally let out a small hiss, the pressure causing a door to open. He squinted against the new light, pushing the door open as he found himself in a grain field.

The world around him seemed distorted somehow. Fake, but not exactly real. He could feel the grain against the palms of his hands, but for some reason, it felt like the wheat was going right through him at the same time. A horrible pain shot up in the back of his head as he continued forward, trying to keep his mind off of what was happening as he saw a small town in the distance.

As he walked closer and closer towards it, he began to feel sort of funny. The world around him was glitching more and more as he headed up the stairs towards the windmill, feeling like he shouldn’t do this, like something would go wrong. He finally reached the top of the stairs, error messages alike flickering in his vision as he saw the silhouette of… someone…

Their body wasn’t quite right. It looked like someone he should recognize but at the same time, he didn’t know who it was. He wanted to know who it was, but at the same time he couldn’t quite figure it out. The figure glitched as it reached out towards him, as if trying to speak to him.

“Who are yoAUUAAAUGH!” Charles cried out, suddenly falling to the ground as he clutched his head. He tried to look up, but the world around him was slowly falling apart.

He couldn’t move.

ERROR! FILES MISSING OR CORRUPTED!

Shut up…

ERROR! FILES MISSING OR CORRUPTED!

SHUT UP….

ERROR! FILES MISSING OR CORRUPTED!

“SHUT UP!!” Charles screamed, suddenly rocketing up from his bed. He shook in place, taking deep breaths as his processors worked overtime trying to keep him calm as the error messages flickered away. This wasn’t the first time he had this nightmare, but it had been a while since he’d had it.

The last time he had it was after he had helped Henry infiltrate the airship. It was strange, because back than, he couldn’t think of anything that really prompted said nightmare. Maybe it was something he had done or someone he had talked to. Either way, he let out a small sigh as he sat up in bed properly, wondering if maybe it was connected to something. A bad decision, something that could go wrong, maybe even his own paranoia?

And now he was hearing things, he thought to himself as he heard a soft tapping. It sounding like someone tapping against glass actually… coming from behind him. He turned and saw the Toppat girl, looking at him through the window as he felt a small pressure in his abdomen. He remembered Ellie telling him that’s the equivalent of having a stomach ache. Suddenly a chat message popped up on his UI.

GlitterToppatGirl: Can we talk?

xXBold_Action_ManXx: No, good night. He tried to hide under the covers as another message popped up on the chat log.

GlitterToppatGirl: Please?

Charles groaned as he pulled himself out of the covers, looking at the girl, who had a sort of soft look in her eyes, nothing compared to the cold stare she had given him earlier. He sighed, feeling as it he had no choice. Slipping on his slippers and making sure that Henry and Ellie weren’t awake, he carefully opened his door and closed it quietly behind him. He grabbed a key for the apartment as he opened it quietly, closing it behind him before locking it.

He scanned the area, looking for the girl before he got another ping in his chat log.

GlitterToppatGirl: Up here.

She was right.

He headed down the stairs before pulling out his grappling hook, shooting it up towards the roof and finally ascending, feeling the cold evening air rushing around him as as he scaled the building, panicking a bit as he slipped. He looked down to see his slipper had only fallen off of his foot. He let out a small sigh, finally climbing onto the roof and saw her, staring at him intently.

Her bright blue eyes shone in the low light of the moon as she walked towards him, almost nervous.

“Hello,” she said.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t tell Henry and Ellie about you right now,” Charles said firmly.

“I just wanna talk,” she said, “Please, don’t do anything drastic.”

“I have to. You’re a Toppat,” Charles said, “So give me one good reason, right now…”

“Please, just listen to me,” she said, “I’m sorry that I blasted your legs. I had to get away from you because I wasn’t ready…”

“READY TO WHAT, GET ARRESTED?!” Charles shouted.

“Please, keep your voice down!” she shouted back.

“I can be as loud as I want to be! Just give me one good reason why I shouldn’t have you arrested!”

“BECAUSE I KNOW YOU!”

Charles gasped as he saw the desperation in her eyes, almost pleading as he suddenly backed off, feeling strange. Wait, he shouldn’t feel bad for her. She’s a Toppat, but still, at the same time, he felt like he shouldn’t let her down.

“I’m sorry, OK, I’m sorry that this had to happen this way! But the fact that you don’t even remember me or anything, it’s just scaring me! I don’t know what to tell you, but you really should remember me. They erased your memories, didn’t they?”

“The government? N-no, not at all. In fact, I’m not sure what would make you come to that conclusion. My memories were gone before I was even found by the government. The only thing I remember is a cold dark room with bright blue eyes watching me…” Charles shivered, trying not to think of his nightmare.

“So you remember that… what was the first thing you remember when you first woke up?” she asked.

“I remember, General Galeforce… back than he wasn’t a general, he was just a captain. He… he wanted to liberate me. To have me repaired because they thought I would be useful,” Charles said softly, “And than I went to sleep for another month… and when I woke up, I was fully repaired and completely operational. What about you?”

“So they saved you… I can’t believe they saved you. I wish I had known… oh god…” she sighed as she put her hands in her face, trying to process what was happening as Charles tipped her head to the side.

“Um… I hate to ask, but who are you? I really need to know,” Charles said.

“So you can have me arrested?” she said coldly.

“N-no… so I can at least know what to call you,” Charles said.

“You can call me Amelia. Just Amelia for now,” she said, “I’m sorry that I freaked out at you earlier. I just can’t understand why you don’t remember me or Project SAI.”

“Project SAI does sound familiar,” Charles said, “I remember my dad talked about it, but other than that-” ERROR “-drawing a blank.”

“So you only know about Project SAI through word of mouth. Well I lived every moment of Project SAI, from when I was first booted up to it’s downfall at the hands of the government. Including the eradication of any androids associated with the project.”

“Is that why you became a Toppat? Because you can’t trust the government?” Charles said softly.

“Why would I? I was pretty sure they would have had me dismantled as well. And for about six years I had convinced myself that you were dead too. I’m happy that you’re alive… even if you don’t remember me,” Amelia said.

“Uh, that’s good, so now I have questions about that. How do you know me?” Charles asked.

“We used to be close. We were inseparable, according to the other androids. To the other androids, however, you were considered defective, due to some kind of strange malfunction. One day, you were tasked with something that you couldn’t easily do so they declared you defective officially and had you carted away to be… used for spare parts…” Amelia looked up at Charles as if she had just realized something as he tipped his head to the side.

“You… they erased your memories. Why would they do that? It’s not like… why would they…” Amelia felt like she was trying to put together the pieces of a twisted puzzle.

“OK, I hate to interrupt your freak out, but I gotta head back inside, because I don’t know how quiet I was when leaving and my friends are going to assume I’m missing. Again,” Charles said.

“Wait, we have to keep meeting up, right? We can still talk to each other?” Amelia said.

“What? No we can’t! We’re not on the same side and besides, even if I could, it would still be wrong!” Charles shouted.

“Please, I have to talk to you again, even if we’re not on the same side, I just have to!” Amelia said.

“There’s too much for this… we can’t exactly justify this kind of thing…” Charles said. But my heart says otherwise. I mean I don’t have a heart, but at the same time, it’s all in the mind, right?

It can’t hurt to meet with her again. Especially if we don’t exchange any sensitive information, it should be OK right?

“Alright, here’s the deal. We’ll meet again. Twice every month or so. But the rules are we can’t say anything about our respective jobs. We keep everything locked up tight. We ask about our days, we talk about movies we’ve seen, et cetera, et cetera. That’s it. If I promise not to pump you for information, you have to do the same for me as well. I’m not gonna tell you anything and you won’t say anything to me,” Charles said.

“And this stays between us?” Amelia said.

“As long as we can. I mean, the odds of us getting caught are pretty high, but in all honesty, I’m willing to take the risk,” Charles said.

“Alright than. Maybe I’ll see you in a few weeks than…” Amelia waved goodbye as she ran across the roof before jumping on top of a nearby building, running off into the night. Charles sighed, wondering just what he had gotten himself into.

Maybe it’ll work out. And maybe if I do get caught, it won’t be so bad. After all, I’m not going to be exchanging any sensitive information. It’ll all work out in the end, right?

- - - - -

Amelia stepped into her own apartment, looking around before letting out a small sigh. She started to take off her formal clothes, quickly changing into something more comfortable before she sat down on the couch, looking up at the ceiling.

“Rough day?” Amelia looked up and saw Burt hovering over her, fiddling with his cane as she nodded her head.

Burt was the only Toppat they had managed to get out of the Wall so far. While Amelia would have prefered Sven or Carol or heck, even Red Crimson, Burt being here was still refreshing. Especially considering his own knowledge in technology and computers, being the former head of communications for the Toppat Clan. She was happy to work with him too, considering how close they were before the entire Clan was arrested.

“Did you find a seller for the jewels?” Amelia asked.

“Hmm, nothing yet. It’s only been an hour. We’ll get some bids soon though,” Burt said, “And than we can keep paying rent, giving those sweet dollars to those techno geeks-”

“-And of course, ensuring a budget for ourselves in the event we can actually get the rest of the clan out of the Wall. And than we can rescue my dad and the Right Hand Man…” Amelia said.

“Yep, but I wouldn’t count on it happening in a week. It’ll probably be another month or two before we have an actual concrete plan. Wendell himself said so,” Burt said.

“They promised they wouldn’t hurt the… government dog anymore. So I have less to worry about now…” Amelia paused as she said this, wondering if that was completely true.

“That’s the look of someone who made a promise that they’re not sure they can keep. What happened?” Burt asked.

“You know I snuck out?”

“Why do you think I’m awake?”

“Mmm… I’d rather not say right now. Just know that it’s not for our benefit.”

“Hmm.” Burt sat down next to her, letting out a small sigh.

“It’s at times like this I bet you miss your dad though. He’d probably offer some fatherly advice of some sort,” Burt said, putting his arm around her shoulder.

He’d probably tell me I’m making a big mistake. Say that I’m taking a huge risk. Maybe even get onto me for not pumping information out of him… Amelia thought to herself.

“Dad wouldn’t have really… approved of what I did, to be honest…” Amelia said.

“Aw, don’t say that. You’ll always be his little princess, no matter how old you get and how many bank heists you manage yourself,” Burt said.

“Yeah… I’m his little princess…” Amelia said, “I’m gonna turn in for the night.”

“For real this time?” Amelia smirked as Burt’s eyebrow shot up.

“For real this time.”

Meanwhile, across town, Charles had managed to sneak back to his room before he felt something tap his shoulder. He turned around to see Ellie looking at him with a sort of agitated look on her face, a slipper in her hand. His slipper.

“Lose something?” Ellie said softly as Charles snatched the shoe out of her hand.

“Don’t touch my stuff,” Charles muttered, “I’m not in the mood right now.”

“Can’t help if it was outside, you know, where you definitely don’t sleep. Just what are you up to?”

“Nothing. Nothing important anyway. It’s fine, I just had to… take a walk,” Charles said.

“With one slipper?” Ellie asked.

“I had to get the full sensory experience of having one shoe off. Just… GET OFF MY BACK ALREADY!” Charles shouted, before slamming the door in Ellie’s face. It didn’t really help that Ellie was practically cursing at him as he leaned against the door, trying to think about what to do next.

“It’s OK, Charles… you’re doing the right thing…” He pulled his head up to his knees, hugging his legs as he did.

At least I hope I am...

#the henry stickmin collection #henry stickmin #charles calvin #ellie rose #amelia copperbottom #burt curtis #fanfiction #fanfic #katie's stick drawings #the narrators stories

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