#( Got a starter out finally. Sorry it's a bit basic. )

[shynenotshane]

Open starter: @aurorabaystarter

Where: Local coffee shop

Helping to keep the Aurora Bay Times going wasn't always easy, as it sometimes left Shyne completely drained and just wanted to sleep it off or have a drink. It had late nights for him, but he'd never want to change that. He rather enjoyed the job and sometimes helped get stories as it came to it, but really he was just a helpful illustrator.

To get the day going, he needed caffeine so he was going to get a much needed drink, but being lost on his phone he bumped into someone. Blue eyes widen and Shyne was quickly apologizing. "Forgive me, let me buy you a new drink at least. I'm sorry, just a mix of work and being sleep deprived."

[disneyprincemuke]

5 times * mv1

there are five times max almost caught himself saying he loves you, and then there's the time that he finally let you know

pairings: max verstappen x horner's niece!reader

warnings: i... don't know?

notes: yes, i'm making a comeback because i've gotten back into the mood of writing (i'm single) and because f1 has got me screaming, crying and throwing up. also, this took me 3 days to write, and i have grown attached. lmk if you guys want the counterpart (basically the same concept, but it's from your eyes???)

one.

"fucking," max cuts himself off, grabbing the closest thing to him. lucky for him, and his team, it's just his racing gloves, "bitch!"

it's just so infuriating to be so close to that podium. he crashed with 5 laps left of the race. his left rear decided to fail him stupidly near the end, after he'd poured his heart and soul to get on that podium. but here he is, moping in his driver's room.

after constantly being in the scrutiny of the public, especially with the way he handled losing, he'd resided here immediately. there's a bubbling anger rising up from him. he's so infuriated.

until a soft knock lands on his door. snapping him out of his thoughts, he knew what he wanted this time. "please leave me alone."

"okay. but christian just wants to know if you're alright." your voice sounds small. he could barely hear you with the door in the way.

he takes a deep breath, then walks over to the door. it reveals you with a hesitant smile on your face.

but he's always had a soft spot for you. all of the anger he'd been feeling merely 5 seconds ago dissipated. "oh. you're not in my room at the circuit often."

"i know. i'm sorry to intrude." you look down at the ground, your often confident self absolutely nowhere to be seen. "christian sent me to check in on you. i'll leave you alone, but i can't go back without an answer."

for starters, you're not a stranger to the signature max verstappen temper. but never has he directed it at you once. it's surely raised the eyebrows of christian horner the first time it happened when you joined the team.

one second he was all over the garage, only rude words coming out of his mouth. the next, he was silently raging as he sat on the tire of his car while you discussed dinner plans with your uncle.

"please, don't worry about it." he takes a step back, gesturing for you to enter the room. you do just that, although a bit hesitant. and he doesn't blame you for that. "come in."

there's a moment of silence between you two. for a moment, the engines from the cars outside start to die down, and the frequency of the fireworks is slowing down, and there are more footsteps in the gravel that surround the trailer.

"i'm okay." he leans on the massage table in the middle of the room. he still hasn't changed out of his race suit. his helmet, balaclava and gloves are all thrown in different directions of the room. they had all been victims of his uncontrollable rage.

it's apparent that he's not even close to being okay. he just has to bank on the fact that you don't probe with more questions.

"it's okay if you're not," you answer in a gentle tone. a soft audible sigh passes your lips as you sit on the couch in the opposite side of the small room. "it's just you and me. i'm not part of your racing team."

his eyes do the speaking again. the heaving of his chest is enough to tell you that he's actually contemplating it. without another moment's hesitation, he starts to go at it. all of the emotions he's been feeling lately, the frustration from just being 5 laps shy of being on that podium.

he's just ranting, throwing his hands in the air while he paces all over the room. he makes a mental note to find a way to make it up to you after this - you're just sitting there patiently, nodding your head empathetically while he talks.

it’s as if you knew and understood all that he’s talking about.

"it's just unfair! i did everything right this time!" he exclaims, hands clenched up into a fist. "i should have been up there! i deserved to be on that podium!"

there's one more thing that bothers him. you. whatever he feels for you. the way his heart races whenever you're around, or the way he's always thinking of the way you fix his hair for marketing promotion material - he can't get you out of his mind. for years, now.

he'd met you when he was 18, fresh into red bull racing as christian's new prodigy. he had only seen you a total of 15 times within the span of 3 and a half years. the transition from crumbs of your presence to full-out spending the whole racing season with you was more than his heart could handle.

now that he's gotten to know you better, the 22-year-old is almost convinced that he might actually have feelings for you. "and-"

he looks up from the ground, flinching back slightly when you're staring directly into his eyes from across the room. your eyes dart down to his hands and it's only then he notices how his hands are clenched into fists next to him.

he almost slipped up about his feelings for you. good thing he caught himself at the last second. his chest heaves as he looks at you, shoulders tensed up and eyebrows furrowed.

you raise an eyebrow, slowly nodding. you make a gesture with your hand to encourage him to continue saying whatever is on his mind. "and?"

"and," i have feelings for you, "it's just so unfair."

he feels his body melt at your stare. his shoulders slump, his breathing starts to regulate and his hands slowly unravel from a fist. it's just so unfair that he's so hopelessly smitten with his principal's niece.

"i know." you push yourself off the couch and walk over to him. stopping just a few steps from him, he looks at you sigh. "i'm sorry that it happened to you, max."

then a small grin slowly stretches his lips. the race is over - there is absolutely nothing he can do to change the result. he shrugs, "it's just racing."

"you can still feel angry about it," you grin, "it's just me."

max shakes his head with a soft chuckle. "i know. it's okay; i'm okay."

you drop your head slightly. max knows you don't buy his lie. of course, he's still angry about what happened. but there is still some truth to what he said - he got unlucky today with the car.

you take a deep breath. he's caught completely by surprise when your arms spread out, taking a step forward and engulfing him in the warmest hug.

he catches a whiff of all your scents - your shampoo, your perfume, and creepily enough, the soap you use for your clothes. and he completely basks in your embrace, his arms wrapping themselves around your smaller frame. his neck rests on your shoulder, silently straining his back just to take you in.

"i know you're not," you whisper. you lean your head into his as you rub circles on his clothed back. "i'm here for you, okay?"

and he wants to say it to you. he gets an inkling, after you just spent the better part of 20 minutes letting him scream about his feelings, that this is bigger than himself.

"i," he trails off, arms tightening around you. he closes his eyes, repeatedly reminding himself that he's not willing to risk it. he releases the breath he's been holding. "thank you."

two.

max can barely keep himself upright in the seat. he's clutching onto his balaclava, eyes following the light shone into his eyes as per the doctor's request.

he had a bad crash with lewis during the race that sent him flying into the walls. he blacked out for a couple of seconds, and he's been in pain since they escorted him to the medical centre.

there's a soft knock on the door, before he hears the creak followed by footsteps. "i'll be back with results, okay?" the doctor straightens up before walking away from him. he acknowledges the presence of someone new, then proceeded to walk out of the room.

the relief max immediately felt when he sees you standing shyly by the door, hands clasped together.

"are you okay?" you ask softly, slowly making your way over to him. "i came as soon as i heard what happened to you. that was horrible, what happened to you."

he tilts his head at you, ignoring the strain in his neck and the pounding in his head. "as soon as you heard?"

you chuckle, glancing down at the floor in what could only be described as embarrassment. "i was in the bathroom taking a piss when geri ran in yelling for me," you admit.

your eyes roam his body, your eyes matching the empathetic stares of everyone he has looked at since he was helped out of that stupid car. he hates it. he hates being on the receiving end of those stares, but it was strangely comforting coming from you.

"are you alright? do you have any more injuries?" you ask. you look at him, hands hovering above his hand that rests on his knee. max gives you a small nod of consent.

"it's just a concussion, from what i can feel," max admits. though, it hurts everywhere. when you crash into a wall at that speed and black out, it's definitely going to hurt everywhere that it can.

he's watching you intently. you're lifting his sleeves to scan for bruises and moving about the neckline of his race suit to look for any injuries. there's a tingling sensation that you leave behind as your fingers graze over his now exposed skin.

"i'm okay."

"i don't buy that at all," you scoff. you reach over for the empty plastic chair and pull it to his side. you take a seat. "i'm glad you're okay. i was really worried something bad had happened."

he smiles. the way you care for him never fails to make his stomach churn and his heart start to race. "it could've been worse. i'm glad it's just a concussion i've got."

you turn your head to look at him. god, he wishes he can just take you in for an embrace and reassure you that he's perfectly fine. because he is. it's just some body aches - nothing he hasn't had to go through before as an athlete.

"i'm sorry about the race." you take his towel into your hands and fold it up. you gently tap on his face, wiping away the sweat that had formed on his face. "let me know if you need anything, okay? water, ice... food..."

"i will handle," he grins, his gaze following your hands' movements. "thank you, though."

you don't say anything. you just smile at him as you put the towel back down on his knee. you rest your hand just above the damp material and tilt your head at him. "how do you feel, though?"

"g-"

"about the points," you cut him off. "it's a close fight for the driver's championship. how do you feel about that?"

he shrugs, pouting his lips out. you widen your eyes at him as you anticipate the next thing coming from his mouth. "it's just racing. i'll come back next weekend."

you roll your eyes and lean back into the chair. both of your eyes are on the tv, watching the broadcast of the race together. "i believe in you. there's still a long season ahead of you."

he moves his eyes to look at you. not his head fully - he doesn't need you catching him stare at you. your unconditional support for him just made him want to jump for joy.

thought, sometimes he does wonder if you're only doing it because you work for the team. but other times you're just so believable that he thinks it's him as a person you're rooting for.

and god, he wants it to him so bad.

"it feels like forever - this pain," he admits. without thinking, his hand instinctively reaches forward. he puts his hand above yours. he squeezes your hand.

he sees you shake your head. you manoeuvre your hand. now your palms are touching. he could have sworn it was the concussion making him see and feel things when you intertwine your fingers.

if he were to be honest with you, he feels like this could the lowest point of the season for him. that rear failure earlier on felt minuscule compared to this crash. deep down inside, there's a fear that there's no coming back from this.

you squeeze his hand, slightly tighter than he had done to you just a few seconds prior. "i wish i could make it better. i'm sorry, max."

your voice wavers as you speak to him. and it kills him that you’re so worried for him. he does have a healthy support system, as much as the public wants to make it out that he’s too cold for that.

max wants to reassure you, just as you'd done with him. but he doesn't even know how to do that. your presence now, while he's still slightly out of it from the crash, is enough to put him at ease.

he sighs, squeezing your hand once more. it's at the tip of his tongue. if he could just convince himself to say it to you.

yet, he settles with, "you're the best."

three.

max leans back into the wall, arms folded over his chest. the strobing lights, the music bouncing off the walls, and a plethora of bodies surround him.

next to him, sebastian is deep in conversation with daniel. a conversation that he had tuned out of a few minutes ago. when he found you on the dance floor, terrorising alex and lily with your dance moves.

if you asked him, he would've told you that you're a natural at many things. dancing, unfortunately, is not one of them.

his silent pining comes to a halt when he meets lily's gaze from across the room. a knowing smile on the girl's face, he feels his cheeks heat up when she drags alex down to whisper something in his ear while pointing at max accusingly. alex turns his head in max's direction and his body shakes with a laugh.

great. they've caught on.

alex nods and raises his eyebrows at max teasingly. alex glances at you, shocked to find out that you've managed to shimmy your way 5 metres down the dance floor to now terrorise george and carmen.

max smiles to him, watching alex bend over backwards to get your attention. it's proven a challenge when you sandwich yourself between them.

when alex manages to finally get your attention, you just smile at him. you hand him the empty glass in your hand and grab carmen's hands. it's a wonderful sight - alex struggling to get your attention. but when he did, max swears his heart skips a beat.

because you lean into alex, listening to what he says into your ear. alex points in his direction and your face lights up when your eyes meets his.

you stride across the room and push yourself through the crowd. before he knew it, you're staring up at him with a toothy grin and wide eyes.

from the corner of his eyes, he notices sebastian and daniel have stopped their conversation. across the room, lily and carmen have flagged their boyfriends down. all eyes are on the two of you.

"what are you doing here all by yourself? you should be out on the dance floor celebrating!" you shout over the music, tiptoeing slightly to meet max's height. "you just won a race!"

"i'm good here, thanks!" max laughs, moreso at your state. your cheeks are puffed up and your lips are swollen. even your voice sounds damaged from all the screaming you've done. "enjoy your evening, please! don't worry about me!"

you shake your head in urgency. "no! you have to celebrate!"

he continues to look down at you, genuinely considering if he should let your persuasion tactics work on him tonight. who is he kidding; he can never say no to you.

"okay, but i'm driving us back to the hotel. so no drinks for me." before he could finish his sentence, you've managed to yank him off the wall. your hand has a firm grip around his wrist as you guide him through the crowd towards the bar counter.

"we'll get a cab!" you stop right at the bar and turn around to look at him. "you won the race today! aren't you excited? are you not at least a little bit prideful that you're leading the driver's championship again?"

max supposes you have a point. he should be excited. here he is in his 6th year in formula 1, being so close to clinching the world champion title for the first time in his life. it's just one night, right?

he can't possibly let you be more excited for his achievements than himself. that's just not right. did he not believe in himself?

he watches you prop yourself up on the bar stool, carefully telling the bartender your order. max's hands hover over your body, just in case you'd fall.

once again, you have managed to make his heart race by putting so much emphasis on his achievements. he's made his way onto the podium several times now that it seems almost mundane for him to end up there.

he wants the next big thing; he wants the world championship title. but why exactly is he waiting a whole few months just to celebrate again?

"come on, max! let loose a little. you don't have to wait for the season to be over to celebrate," you answer genuinely. for a moment there, max almost thinks you're sober. "if you don't want to celebrate your small wins, at least let me do it for you?"

he huffs. you're a lot more convincing when you pretend to be sober, after having downed a couple glasses of cocktails.

you tilt the unscrewed bottle of beer towards him, a freshly mixed glass of cocktail in your other. "congrats on winning the race today, max. i'm so proud of you."

max takes the bottle out of your hands. he willingly taps the neck of the bottle onto the rim of your glass. "cheers," he grins, watching you excitedly sipping away on your mojito.

if he could guess, you’re 6 glasses in. you’re definitely going to regret it in the morning.

you swiftly intertwine your fingers with his and start to pull him towards the dance floor. "let's go celebrate!"

you stop abruptly, your cocktail almost spilling all over your dress as he plants his feet into the ground. you squeeze his hand and look up at him shyly with your chests almost touching. even in the sea of people in the club, you managed to make it feel so intimate.

just you and him.

can he really excuse the words threatening to slip out of his mouth with half the bottle of beer in his system? can he just say it without you remembering it the next day?

but you beat him to saying something. "i'm so proud of you, max."

he smiles, letting a small breath out. he squeezes your hand. "thank you. you're the best."

four.

it's upsetting, really, not having you in the paddock all weekend. what you'd thought to be a simple itchy throat from all the sweets you've consumed had turned into a covid scare. you're isolated in the hotel, albeit having tested negative, already better.

the team couldn't risk getting either driver contracting a sickness. especially not max, a clear contender for the title this year.

max has not seen you since tuesday. the photos of him on the red bull racing social media platforms are just not as good when it's not you taking them. nobody else on the marketing team ever tells him his hair is a mess. neither do you - you always just reach in to fix his hair for him.

max huffs, adjusting his shirt as he stood in front of your hotel room. the small bouquet of flowers suffocate in the grip of his hands. a plastic hangs on his fingers.

the lock clicks. the door is slowly pulled open. there you are, in all your glory. your hair is up in a ponytail, you're in your pyjamas with juice in your hand. your eyes widen. "max! what are you doing here?"

with flowers in his hands, there's really only so many excuses he can make up. he tilts his head and his eyes narrow down. he's searching his brain for an excuse - something that doesn't scream the fact that he is hopelessly in love with you. "um..."

he stays in the hallway of the hotel, and you stay inside with your hand still on the door handle.

when he had gotten off the race track, alex had celebrated with him. at some point, max expected someone to bring it up. it just shocked him that it had taken this long.

alex gave him a firm pat on the back as they strolled the paddock after media commitments. and the question finally came up. "so are you ever going to ask (y/n) out?"

the question should not have even shocked him in the first place. he had been sitting around waiting for someone to ask him this. nevertheless, he was still dumbfounded by the question.

he started explaining - how he can never get around to asking you out. you're christian's beloved niece. first of the next generation. christian even introduced you as the daughter he had to raise before he ever thought about having kids of his own.

and alex gave him the weirdest stare. because everyone on the paddock could easily tell max had feelings for you. he didn't do much to hide it either. it'd apparently been so bad that even toto wolff sneaks around the paddock with questions if there's been progress.

and so, here he is, standing in front of your hotel room after having won his home race. when he managed to escape his pr manager, he took a shower and immediately bought flowers, some food and came straight to you.

he missed you all week.

"max?"

his answer comes out in a ramble. if you hadn't spent so much time with him, you probably wouldn't have understood. but in your week of absence, the driver doted on you with video messages, voice messages and pictures. endless updates with the grid, the drama, the placements.

anything to make it feel like you were still there with him.

"can i take you out on a date?"

his heart races. beads of sweat form on his forehead. the hallway, that had once felt so icy suddenly became so warm.

"what?" your jaw drops, eyebrows are raised in shock. the silence is deafening.

is this some kind of sick prank alex is pulling on him?

immediately, max goes into defensive mode. "i mean, it's okay if you don't! i just thought if i don't shoot my shot now, then i'll never know. i won't take it personally!" he lifts up the plastic filled with tupperwares of food. "i even brought you supper!"

you scoff with a laugh bubbling up from your stomach. you leap up from your spot, throwing yourself onto max. you lift your feet off the ground. his available arm wraps around your waist to stabilise you. his other arm, already busy with gifts for you, darts out to hold the door ajar.

and what does this mean, exactly? max verstappen has never been one to take these things for an answer. he needs is in black and white - in the clearest of clarifications.

"yes, of course!" you squeal into his shoulder. okay, now he can celebrate. it had taken you a solid 10 seconds in a tight embrace before you decided that the hotel's hallways were too exposing for your liking.

finally, he lets you guide him into the hotel room. he can't stop the wide grin forming on his face either. by the looks of it, neither can you.

"right. these are for you," max finally says, holding out the bouquet of flowers to you. "and i'm sorry i'm late. i could have gotten here earlier if it weren't for alex and lando fighting me over what flowers to get you."

your eyebrow raises, willingly receiving the flowers. "you were in cahoots with those two?"

"and george," max shrugs simply, scrunching up his nose. "but he was easier to deal with than those two."

you smile, if it's possible to get even bigger than what's already there, as your fingers lightly graze over the petals of the flowers. max simply stands back while he watches you admire the brightly coloured bouquet.

he's confident about one thing that night: what kind of flowers to get you. so when lando and alex were fighting him over which flowers to get you, they were simply debating over the roses.

but he is in the netherlands. what else could have been the right choice of flowers but the tulips? and he's in an expensive sport, after all. it would be so uncharacteristic of him to undermine the way he felt for you.

long story short, he got the most gigantic bouquet filled with striped tulips. he spent 150 euros. that's not even near the amount he knows he feels for you.

if you asked him for the world, he'd simply exhaust every single resource he has to give it to you.

"thank you so much," you coo, finally looking up at him. you lean in, pressing a firm kiss to his cheek. and he will absolutely spend the rest of his night thinking of this exact moment.

this is quite possibly the furthest he's gone with you. and he almost slips up again. he should've just said it, but he's just not quite sure he should. it's just going to scare you off.

"oh! and, congrats on the race win today," you cheer before pressing your lips against his cheek again.

max grins. he doesn’t know why he put it past you. you’ve made it clear you’re going to be his biggest fan. “oh, you watched the race?”

you’re gently laying the bouquet on top of the table in the corner of your room. “of course. it was a brilliant race. i'm so proud of you."

he just squeezes your shoulder. "thank you. you're the best."

five.

in his dark hotel room, the tv illuminates your face as your eyes lock on the movie you've chosen. it's the only way max can see your face. he'd love to be able to pay attention to this movie, but how could be when you're all tangled up with him.

"are you scared?" you suddenly mutter. your first words in almost 20 minutes, almost making him question if you're making conversation because you're falling asleep.

"what?" he's genuinely dumbfounded with the question. he glances at the tv, curious if he had dozed off long enough for you to choose another movie. but no. it's still mamma mia playing. "we're watching a musical."

max watches your body heave up, then down. "for tomorrow."

he tenses up. he's been trying his hardest not to think about it at all, actually. since he'd finished up his evening with media commitments, he just went straight to you in the garage office. he packed his bags and took you out to dinner.

he's secured pole position for tomorrow. he didn't want to think of anything else right now.

he doesn't want that stress passed on to you.

max hums, suddenly feeling an interest in the musical. it's meryl streep singing abba, after all. how can he not be any more interested? he shrugs. "okay, i guess."

he avoids your eyes. all eyes and remaining attention of the evening is on the actress belting out a song. and it's rudely interrupted when you pause it.

you stumble around, propping yourself up to your elbow to give him a stern look. "okay?" sometimes max forgets you're now his girlfriend. he forgets that he doesn't have to put up a front to shield you from his real emotions. "what do you mean 'okay'?"

he sighs. he turns his head back to face you, almost flinching at the glare you're giving him. he clears his throat as he pushes himself up against the arm of the couch. he sits cross-legged and you mirror his posture. he shrugs again. "i can't overthink it now. i just have to do my best tomorrow."

you throw your hands up in the air, scoffing. "what?"

max is at a loss for words. what response, exactly, did you expect out of him? "what?" he says back, hands also thrown up into the air. from the amount of time you've spent around him on the race track, he expected you to know his mindset when stepping into a race.

he can't overthink it before he even gets on the track. in fact, there is no room for that at all.

you resign to the other end of the couch and fold your arms over your chest. you even pull your feet back, not wanting to be in the range of his touch.

"(y/n), i don't know what you want me to say, darling," max responds gently. he's slightly annoyed, yes, but he doesn't want that to triumph your relationship. "you know the clear mind i need to get into a race. if i overthink, that's when it's over for me."

you roll your eyes. "no. it's just you and me. there is absolutely no way you have no opinions about the race tomorrow. not even a single thought? seriously, max?" you tear your eyes from him. "i'm not christian."

max sighs. he scooches over to you on the over end of the couch. though you squeeze yourself further into the armrest away from him.

he huffs, wrapping his arms around you. he pulls you in and presses a kiss to the top of your head. "of course, i have a thought in my head about the race. but if i let it get to me, darling, it can cost me the championship."

you hum, but there's a hint of annoyance. though, you give in. because you drop your head back on his shoulder and pout. "okay, fine. race your heart out, max. i just know you've got this."

he gives you a slight squeeze. a weaker one compared to others. honestly? he's terrified of screwing up tomorrow. he just wants that title so bad. all his life, he's worked for it.

he's simply afraid to let christian down. more importantly, he's afraid to let you down. though his handful of mental breaks about being so close to the final race of the season, you'd reassure him that you'll always be proud of him no matter what.

it's just not enough for him.

the movie starts to play again. you coddle up into his lap and he rests his cheeks on your head. i love you.

thank you, you're the best.

max has not been able to get the ringing out of his head since he crossed the checkered flag. he has not been able to think straight since then.

he just won his first world championship title. he's on his knees, his head resting on the tire. all 58 laps, all he could think of is how is he going to win? how will the season play out?

he finally lifts his head, dropping himself back to sit on the track of the abu dhabi track. he groans loudly, almost into a scream, as he unclips his helmet. he yanks it off his head, then his balaclava almost immediately.

he is feeling so many things.

then across the barrier, he sees you. eyes filled with tears, hair pulled back into a ponytail, in your very own red bull racing uniform. his stare down with you doesn't last long. christian is quick to yank you away.

and he spends the next 5 minutes scanning the crowd for you. sure, he wants to celebrate with the people that made it possible for him to even be there in the first place. but there is you.

"max!" your voice makes him whirl around. a sigh of relief slumps his shoulder. it's you.

his face lights up at the sight of you. just a minute ago, he felt so drained. he barely found it in himself to walk to his team for cheers. yet here he is jogging towards you.

"world champion, max verstappen!" you scream. you leap off the ground, legs quickly wrapping around his waist.

his arms wrap around your torso, just holding you close to his body. "i'm so proud of you," you cry into his already wet neck. you wrap your arms around his shoulders tighter. "i fucking told you."

he doesn't even know what to think. his mind is in a jumble of thoughts. it's undeniable that you had pushed him to his best this season. just having you there, reassuring him every single weekend. even when he crashed, even when he'd retired out of a race.

your legs slowly drop back down to the ground, and he finally gets a good look at your face. for some reason, you're just as sweaty as he is. the ponytail on your head is falling apart and the makeup running down your face almost makes him laugh.

then the excitement obviously hits you again. because you give him a firm and strong pat on his shoulder. "you proved them all wrong, max! you're a world champion!"

his chin is held high and his chest is puffed out. you'd never doubted him. it almost brings him to his knees how much support you had for him.

max is so full of emotion. the race, the title; you. you jump in your spot and clap, nose scrunching up in delight. "i told you this was your season! i knew it all along!"

and he just blurts it out. "(y/n), i love you."

you don't even hesitate. it's like you'd been waiting around to say it too. "i'm so fucking proud of you. i love you."

[ppenguinpperson]

in wawa and waugh (ao3)

Stardust looks at you with a pleading eye, the rest of their face buried in their cloak. Their utterly exhausted body slumps onto the ground. You're sure you must have misheard them, but then they repeat themselves, the exact same noise from before. Before you can stop yourself, you repeat it back at them.

“Wa…wa?” You squint. It's not the same sound, though it's very similar. “Am I saying that right? Waugh?”

Your Stardust has been visiting you less and less as of late. They’ve been too busy trying to learn more about Wish Craft, following up on every possible lead, no matter how weak. It’s more than you ever did.

Not that you care, obviously.

It doesn’t matter why you’re trapped in this loop. Be it the will of the Universe, the Change God or a secret third thing, you’re here. Forever. That’s what it all comes down to in the end. Still, you can’t help but get your hopes up every now and then. You should know better than that by now. None of these leads will amount to anything. You know this.

Still. Learning about all these useless things – Time Craft, Wish Craft, the King and Stardust’s family – it passes the time. There’s not much to keep you entertained here. Usually, you just nap and watch the clouds pass by. Stars, if it’s night. It’s not exactly entertainment, but it’s what you have. It does leave you awfully bored though.

That’s why Stardust should really be more considerate and just visit you already!! Really, it’s no wonder that Wish Craft is taking up so much of their time. If they just visited you and let you help them, they’d have figured it all out already. Once they do, you can brainstorm more ways to break the loops together. None of them will work, but it’s the thought that counts, right?

You almost miss it, too busy whining, but suddenly, you hear voices.

“Hi Isa, I need to do the Favor Tree thing.”

!!!!!!!

Is it true?? The Universe listened to your pleas?? Stardust will finally take your advice and move on from Wish Craft??? You can already hear their begging so clearly:

“Loop, I’m so deeply sorry I abandoned you for so long! I’ve come to repent my sins and will spend the rest of this loop with you. Please, find it in your heart to forgive me!”

Then, you’d press a finger to your chin and pretend to think. You’d say, “Hmm… I’m not too convinced that you really are sorry, Stardust! How about you prove it to me?” Stardust is always so eager to please, so surely, they’ll ‘prove it’. Would they try and give you one of those gross flowers again, maybe? You might even accept it just this once. Isn’t that nice of you?

… no, more like pathetic. You don’t want that flower!! Ew!!! Blegh!!!! Yucky!!!! And what was that about spending a whole loop with them?? Stop it already!! Look, they’re coming over!!! They can’t suspect a thing, got it?? Act normal!!

Right as Stardust sits down, you say your usual greeting. “How can I help you on this new loop, Stardust?” You pray that they don’t notice the more than usual cheer in your voice.

… wait. That’s not right. It’s ‘wonderful new loop’, isn’t it? Did you already mess up?? Well, that’s just great! You can’t even greet him properly. Stars above, what kind of guide are you?

Fortunately, he doesn’t seem to notice either of your mistakes. He seems to be too busy moping. There’s a heavy bag under his eye. Now that you think about it, he did sound a bit out if it when talking to the Fighter – not that you can verify this because he isn’t talking to you. What’s the use of visiting you if he’s just going to stare at the ground the whole time he’s here?

“Stardust, don’t you know it’s rude to ignore someone when they ask you a question? My, must I teach you even basics like these?” Your voice has taken on a teasing tone now. He’s bound to respond eventually if you poke fun at him like this, even if he’ll be upset. “I’ll still help you of course, but I mean, just- Wow! Okay! Let’s get to it!”

“For starters, look someone in the eyes when they’re talking to you. Not at the ground. They might think you’re being a bit mean if you don’t! On that note, you should greet someone when starting a conversation. A simple ‘hi’ or ‘hello’ would do. Ah, no need to thank me for this, by the way! It’s what I’m here for. Helpful Loop, here to help with the loops! And social etiquette now, too, I suppose.”

… no reaction? Still? Really, what’s up with Stardust today? You didn’t miss anything big, did you? No, you wouldn’t. So there’s no need to worry. It’s probably just another mopey visit – you just have to comfort them a bit and then they’ll be good to go back on their way. Where would they be without you?

You raise your hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay. Now would be my turn to be ‘sorry’. You’re ‘sorry’ when you say something mean. Then, the person you’re apologising to would say ‘I forgive you’. Do you want to try it out?”

Finally, Stardust does something. They let out a sigh. It sounds like they were holding it in for a long time. You don’t expect them to actually speak, so it’s an understatement to say you’re surprised when they do. Even more so at the fact that you don't hear them. Or, surely, you misheard, because what they said – what you think they said – was absolute and utter nonsense.

It was a wordless jumble of noises. Not a groan or anything like that, but just noises. Or, a noise? You're not sure. That is if you heard them right, and you're sure you didn't.

“I'm sorry, Stardust~ Can you repeat that?”

They look at you with a pleading eye, the rest of their face buried in their cloak. Their utterly exhausted body slumps onto the ground. It must have muffled what they said. But then they repeat themselves, the exact same noise from before. Before you can stop yourself, you repeat it back at them.

“Wa…wa?” You squint. It's not the same sound, though it's very similar. “Am I saying that right? Waugh?”

Once more, your Stardust repeats it, as if encouraging you. It's like they're a wind up doll that only knows how to make this sound. In your surprise, you drop your facade.

“That's- pfft, Stardust!” You snort, “Wagh? Really?? How childish can you get?? I mean, wa-oogh??”

Anyone else would have missed it, but you don't. He cracks a small smile. Then, he makes the noise again, enunciating the part that you're getting wrong. It seems that the student has become the teacher, if only for this loop.

You struggle to replicate the exact noise that he's making, though you get closer each time. You're not sure how long you spend like this, so he doesn't either. Luckily, time's the least of your worries. At some point, you find yourself mirroring him in the way he's sitting, too – on the ground, leaning against your earlier seat. Though, by that point, he was already fully laying on the ground. You'd chide him that he was dirtying his darkless cloak, but you're busy with more important matters.

Again, not that you care!! This is just de-stressing your Stardust. You much prefer it to talking about sappy, yucky feelings. Stars, if he made noises like these every time he came here instead of talking, that'd be perfect.

Anyway, really, this is just a method of comforting him. It's not for your enjoyment, that's certain. You're only doing this so that can let his pent up stress out in a safe, dagger-less manner. That's all there is to it.

Even so, you can't help but wonder how long he'll leave you for this time. Will he visit you the next loop to apologise for his silliness? Or will he avoid you for as long as possible out of shame? It could go either way, really, but you did just teach him about manners, so you hope it's the former.

Just to be sure that your teaching paid off, of course. No other reason.

[defnotbee]

█▓▒░𝗖𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲!░▒▓█

← previous chapter next chapter →

After overthinking Belle's messages for the whole night, you came over to the 'Random Play' to return tape you rented. And also to do what you were asked to... or more like forced...

Upon entering you immidietly gained attention of two owners and the lovely bangboo behind the counter! But upon seeing you, Belle immidietly fleed without another word, leaving Wise just as confused as you.

Y/N▹"Well uh... I came to return the tape?"

W▹"Yeah of course. If you need anything more, let me know."

He said while taking the 'Oh~ Sweetie' videotape from you and putting it under counter for now as he bangboo was saving changes in the system.

Meanwhile you were standing there awkwardly and thinking how you should even ask a boy you know for barely few days out for a coffee! Which made him ask you what HE had in mind...

W▹"So... I know Belle got your number sneakily last night and... first of all I'm sorry for that. But secondly... did she said anything... I dunno.. weird?"

Y/N▹"Uh- No, not anything too weird I guess..."

W▹"If you say so..."

But you kept thinking about that one question of her... maybe this was actually the right opportunity to bring it and not make it weird?

Y/N▹"Actually she may've said some... interesting stuff?"

W▹"Oh?"

He hummed but said no more, not wanting to force you into saying anything you possibly may not want to reveal.

Y/N▹"She said something about you finding it awkward to ask me out so-"

W▹"Oh god- Please ignore that... I- I'm not awkward I swear.."

But you didn't hear him decline he wanted to ask you out... and that's what fueled your self confidence! So seeing as you could always leave this shop in a hurry... youdecided to just go for it.

Y/N▹"Did you perhaps want to go for a coffee?"

W▹"Well- Sure... But right now I'm a bit busy..."

B▹"I can take over the shop!! You two go!"

Suddenly Belle appeared from who knows where... but it seemed to shatter whatever Wise could use for an excuse... not that he wanted to avoid you, he was just... maybe he WAS awkward after all...

W▹"Alright then... Thanks Belle... Let's go. I know a shop nearby, maybe you even already know it."

He left the counter and came over to front door, opening it and waiting for you to go through first, and of course you did~

The walk to the cafe so nearby was a little bit awkward... not quiet, but the topics he chose were kind of basic conversation starters like 'what you think of the weather' and so. But.. he was trying! And that's what conts, no?

Eventually, when the two of you found a nice spot to sit at and ordered your coffee from the kind bot running it, his face turned more genuine.

W▹"Thank you for actually coming with me. I know we barely know each other..."

Y/N▹"Yeah but... I treat it as a way to get to know each other! Y'know?"

W▹"That's good~ Guess I really should start the 'get to know' conversation then!"

You could see his mood immidietly lightning up at your words and his confidence slightly rising.

W▹"What do you like, Y/N?"

This may seem like a basic starter but... he said it with such a charming smile and interest in his eyes that you didn't see it as that at all!!

Y/N▹"I like to write! Oh, and I also like video games~"

W▹"Heh~ Well... did I help you finish your project in the end?"

Y/N▹"Yeah, actually. I'm on my last chapter and will probably release the final project by the end of next month~"

W▹"That's good to hear. What's the title? I'll make sure to be on the lookout for it."

You were surprised to actually find someone with who the time felt like nothing. That with the blink of an eye it was suddenly dark outside.

He cared a lot about each of your words... maybe it was hard for him to make up a conversation at first, but he was definitely amazing listener~ So even when your time together was ending...

Y/N▹"Hey, Welt, why won't we repeat it one day, hm?"

W▹"With pleasure. When are you free?"

Y/N▹"Hm... how about in 3 days?"

W▹"Sounds perfect for me. I can show you to arcade, it's nice there, I swear."

You chuckled gently at his reassuring, even tho both of you knew you'll DEFINITELY enjoy playing at arcade! Especially with company like him~

Y/N▹"Of course! See you then?"

W▹"Yes... see you."

He waved back to you, as you got up from your seat to return home. Hopefully it wouldn't get too dark before you get there...

-' , ᴛᴀɢʟɪꜱᴛ: @milkuu333 @hikari-michiko

I'M SO SORRY FOR IT BEING SO LATE!! I'm on break from school now tho so I promise next one will appear faster <33 + this is most likely gonna be the longest chapter in this series so yk...

[a-roguish-gambit]

((X-MEN 97 SPOILERS AHEAD FOR ANYONE BEHIND))

-------

So, this is hypothetically speaking, if Gambit gets brought back next season, especially if we go the Deathbit route first...

Am I evil if I want his second shot at life to be fuel for some real Romy angst?

Like, Rogue's all set to be a couple now that she has him back. But Remy is being distant and keeps brushing her off. When they finally talk it out, he admits the whole love triangle with Magneto kind of made him question what he is to her, and if it's even worth it to pursue her after all that. He doesn't hate or resent her or anything, but he's unsure how exactly he feels about her and wants to just be teammates for now. (Bear in mind, his final memory of Rogue was her seemingly choosing Magneto over him. Gonna be hard to shake that image.)

Sad as this is, Remy's off behavior doesn't stop here. For starters, he hasn't called himself Gambit since he got brought back.

He's also a lot less coordinated with his cards. He can barely shuffle them.

He's not as flirty or snarky anymore. In fact, he hardly talks to anyone anymore.

Lastly, he isn't cooking like he used to. When he does, it's just instant or frozen food. He doesn't even bother with seasoning or add-ons.

It takes the others to realize all this because it's not immediately apparent, since Remy hasn't exactly been drawing attention to himself. (Which in and of itself should be a red flag.)

Basically, Remy is not okay mentally. Dying and being brought back rattled him, and he has no idea how to deal with it aside from coasting along like nothing's wrong.

This could be a gateway for him to reconnect with Rogue when she gets him to finally admit to himself that he's not okay and needs help. (And maybe this could lead to him getting a cat as emotional support.)

I dunno, just been thinking of angsty ideas today. 😅 Is this too evil?

Sorry this took so long to get to. Nah this ain't evil at all. There is definitely stuff that needs to be addressed between them, cuz there was some unhealthy stuff going on there with that whole love triangle thing. Not putting blame on anyone but clearly Gambit had some serious heartbreak from that considering the first thing he does after pseudo breaking up with Rogue is intentionally die in a heroic sacrifice....

Like, he weighed the odds of dying there and did not care if he did or not. At the very least his self worth was at a very low point.

Unless him coming back is going to immediately come with Rogue apologizing for everything and assuring him of her feelings for him dude it's probably going to have some depression. I mean he's still probably going to have some depression for whatever he does as death bit probably going to feel really unworthy of her, and personally.i would like to see them talk stuff out and heal. Both of them. Because rogue was a victim of magneto first. They both need to heal together.

[katyawriteswhump]

364 days later (Steddie holiday drabble)

Written for @steddieholidaydrabbles, day 30/31 prompt, New Year's Eve/Resolutions I AM SO SAD IT IS NEARLY OVER!!!!

When Steve is hurt on New Year’s Eve, he discovers there’s only one person he can truly go home to.

WC: 918 Rating: T CW: off-screen/pre-fic violence including domestic violence. Tags: hurt/comfort, fluff. Established steddie.

Also part of my steve whump fic series (mainly steddie) on ao3

***

“I hadn’t a clue where else to go,” says Steve, an odd tremor in his voice. 

Steve hadn’t knocked, hadn’t announced his arrival. Eddie simply opened the trailer door and found him. God knows how long he’s been standing at the bottom of the steps, cradling one arm in the other. It’s dark, but it’s screamingly obvious something’s wrong. Steve’s hair is kinda ruffled for starters. 

“I mean, yeah, we have a date later,” Steve rambles, “being New Years Eve and all that crap, and… uh…”

Holy shit! Eddie jumps down to him, freaking out big-time. Blood smears one side of Steve’s face, his lip is bruised, and his harsh breaths cloud the icy air. Eddie wants to hug him tight; instead, he briefly clams up, super-terrified. He’s never seen anybody so robust appear so… brittle.

Gently, he cups the uninjured side of Steve’s face, curves an arm around him. “What the hell happened?”

“I did it, man. Finally. My dad… I, um…”

“Your dad did this?”

“He wishes,” Steve says, snarky.

Eddie seriously can’t fathom whether he’s lying: “Who else, man?”

“Got jumped leaving work, and I… I…” Steve’s wretched laugh crumbles into an even more wretched whimper. Eddie catches him, as his knees buckle.

“Okay, big guy, I gotcha.”

He bundles him inside, sits him on the couch. Steve stares spacily, hugs his arm, rocks himself. 

Momentarily, Eddie literally flaps. Then he grabs a chilled beer from the fridge, douses a clean cloth in water. He coaxes Steve into holding the can against his swollen wrist, while Eddie dabs the blood from his face.

“Gonna sting,” warns Eddie. Steve hisses. “Sorry, Stevie.”

“It’s fine. Christ, I’m okay.”

“Not buying that BS today. Not sorry.”

Eddie frowns, concentrating hard. The cut, fortunately, has clotted already. He binds Steve’s wrist with a make-shift bandage. Steve mutters about getting kicked a LOT, when he was curled on the ground, shielding his face. Eddie feels sick, soothingly shushes Steve’s gasps of pain. Possibly as much to comfort himself as Steve. “Look, we should get you to the Med—"

“No way. I’ll fix… Listen, I finally did it,” repeats Steve, as his eyes flutter closed.

“Yeah? Did what exactly, Babe?”

 “Carried out my New Year’s resolution.”

***

Steve barely recalls how he got here.

He’d driven around aimlessly. His wrist hurt so bad that he goddamn cried, too far gone to give a shit. He couldn’t think; he was drowning, sucked deep into thick, suffocating waters. Some crazy inner compass drew him to the one place he could pull for the surface.

He found himself outside Eddie’s trailer. Standing there stupidly, hurting and shivering. Not even yelling to be let in. Now, he’s inside and getting warm with Eddie, who asks again what happened.

Crap, does Steve even know?

He honestly couldn’t ID his attackers. Sorta knew why he was attacked, being guilty of so much these days—hanging with geeks, being a king that lost his crown, not to mention his boyfriend being Eddie ‘spawn-of-satan’ Munson.

Then his Dad.

The look he’d given Steve, when Steve arrived home bruised and bloodied. 

“He didn’t need to say it,” says Steve, head resting on Eddie’s shoulder. “It was written all over his smug-ass face. You deserve this.”

He’d yelled his butt off about Steve making trouble. Shoved Steve around a bit, knowing he was in no shape to fight back.

“I told him to stick it. Left with basically nothing. Okay, the car, though that technically belongs to him, and… Shit, where am I gonna go?”

His tardy reality check hits like a baseball bat to the gut. Huddled against Eddie, he’s shaking, breaths hitching, hating himself for it. Eddie wraps his other arm across Steve and holds him. 

Simply holds him.

And yeah, he calms a little.

“Seriously, don’t sweat it,” says Eddie. “You can stay here till you’ve figured stuff out. Forever, if you need.”

Steve glances up, swipes angrily across his damp cheekbone. “Uh, earth to Eddie? Wayne?”

“He’ll cuss under his breath. And love the heck out of you. Already does. What’s one more overgrown brat?”

“C’mon, he’ll—"

“Look, I’m genuinely blown away. It’s New Year’s Eve and you’ve already nailed your resolution.”

Steve buries his face again, and… Woah! He’s laughing. Eddie’s kickass painkillers are working, or… Screw it, life never sucks so bad when he’s with Eddie. 

“Leaving home was last year’s resolution,” he mumbles toward Eddie’s armpit.

“Oh.” Eddie plants a soft kiss on Steve’s hair. 

“Yeeeeah. I’m only, like, 364 days late.”

***

Eddie’s still freaking that he should get Steve better help. However, Steve is a dead weight against him, knee curled in Eddie’s lap, and refuses to budge from the circle of Eddie’s arms.

New Year ticks by, lost in a gentle, lingering kiss. Eddie ghosts his thumb, featherlight, down the uninjured side of Steve’s face. Steve scrunches his good hand tightly in Eddie’s hair, deepening the kiss more passionately than—given Steve’s bruises—Eddie dares.

“Happy New Year, Babe,” whispers Eddie, when they break apart. A sneaky smile plays on Steve’s lips. “What?”

“I hit a winning streak,” says Steve, “I’ve smashed this year’s resolution already.”

“Huh?”

“Do I really have to spell it out, dipshit?”

Fixing deep in Steve’s eyes, Eddie’s grin spreads slowly. Dammit, this was going down as the worst and best New Year ever, and sure as heck the most shamefully sappy:

Oh, I get it. Falling in love.

“Back at ya,” he says, and tumbles forward into another kiss.

[djgamek1ng]

Magic The Gathering x Final Fantasy - Spoiler Season Part 20 (14/05/2025 - Everything Except Jecht and Vincent)

I only got one post in that didn't need to be 2 parts and now we're immediately back to a 2 part post... goddammit >..> Anyway, let's get started with Cloudbound rat Moogle. Okay fine, I won't do that bit the whole time :v

This is the first starter deck card where I have to rewrite my entire thoughts. In a vacuum, I thought this card was pretty decent, but after seeing the other land type cycling cards... oof. Even with my bias against moogles... This is a 5 mana 2/3. That is genuinely awful for stats to mana ratio. Sure, it gives a +1/+1 counter on a creature, but that's still bad, you're looking at a total of 3/4 entering the battlefield for 5 mana. Sure, it is a flyer, but it still isn't good enough. Unironically, the best part about this card is that you can cycle it away for any Plains typed card. Sorry, but unless you're using this in a Moogle deck, at which point your options are going to be quite limited, this is bad enough that you'd just want a basic Plains in your deck instead. Even compared to the other land type cycling cards in Malboro and Balamb T-rexaur (not covered that one, we'll get to it when talking about the 20th of May cards), this sucks.

Now for the art. Credit to Andrea Radeck. Link to her BlueSky. That sure is a moogle flying in the Sea of Clouds. Looks... fine, still a bit uncanny, but whatever. Really wish this was more vibrant, but that's a complaint I have with FF14 in general, so not too surprising to see it here too.

Let's go to the next card, Coeurl!

2 mana 2/2 is solid. Plus it has an ability to keep something tapped, just at the cost of tapping itself and 2 mana, which isn't nothing. If you can get Vigilance on this thing, you can be very mean with how you do your attacks with this thing. Attacking, but tapping something down on instant speed on reaction to you attacking. Honestly solid. Kind of confused that a Coeurl isn't Green, but I'm not gonna ask about that too much.

Now for the art. Credit to Miho Midorikawa. Link to their Twitter. That's a pretty dope looking Coeurl. Good, powerful stance to show you it means business. Very nice!

Now we go to Fate of the Sun-Cryst!

This set's equivalent to Luminous Rebuke or something, but it is more flexible. 3 mana to destroy a tapped creature or 5 mana to target any nonland permanent. Will definitely be a potential replacement for some spot removal in some decks due to its flexibility. White makes perfect sense for this, since it is an object the gods of Ivalice used to control mankind by giving shards to the people they trust.

Now for the art. Credit to Erikas Perl. Link to his ArtStation. Ashe... I think? standing in front of the Sun-Cryst, which is glowing very bright. Pretty cool artwork, love how our attention is drawn to the middle due to the light, while still having details everywhere. Great!

Next up... another moogle card. Well, sort of. This one is kind of cool though. Moogle's Valor!

So 5 mana for an instant that does: For each creature you control, create a 1/2 white Moogle creature token with lifelink. Then creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn. So this is a pretty slick protection piece and a potential wincon card even. If you already have a pretty big board state, you essentially double the amount of creatures on your board, with half of them being the moogle creature tokens and can potentially swing out and win the game off of that. Only thing that stops that is a counterspell or like a Farewell, where everything gets exiled instead of destroyed. Also, it is 5 mana, which is a lot of mana to keep open for a protection spell. It's good, just not flawless.

For commander, run it as a protection piece. For 60 card formats, don't bother, god can't hear you in turn 3 kill hell.

Now for the art. Credit to Kotakan. Link to their Twitter. Those are definitely 3 of the 10 moogles guarding Terra in the mines of Narshe. Honestly, looks good. The moogles do seem a bit smooth, but that does emulate the artstyle that FF6 had for moogles, even when drawn, so fair enough!

As for the alternative art:

Credit to YOSHIYA. Link to their Twitter. These are 4 of the 10 moogles. Yup, nothing much to say. I do love the art for this, this looks like it could've been promotional art or concept art for FF6 in some form.

Next up, Sahagin!

Not much to say here. Sahagins being merfolk makes sense and them being most caster heavy is also logical. Pretty good flavor win. Blue also because sea creature and let's just not pretend it is any deeper than that. Aside from that, cheap creature that gets bigger (and temporarily evasive) as you cast noncreature spells with 4 or more mana spent. Neat, but ultimately, a good amount of hoops to jump through for an okay creature. Best in mana spent matters type decks.

Now for the art. Credit to Nino Is. Link to their ArtStation. That's a Sahagin. Looks good.

Next we have Retrieve the Esper!

Simple, easy. Basically a 4 mana 3/3 that you can cast one more time for a 6 mana 5/5, but then in sorcery form instead of straight creature spell form. This alongside a lot of the effects on the common and uncommon cards in this half of the deck most likely means that UB is going to be noncreature spells as its limited archetype (probably not the case anymore, between Ultimecia, Time Sorceress and Locke Cole, seems like UB is graveyard shenanigans and this card is actually built for WU, which is artifact tempo). Nothing much to say here other than "solid." If you are running this with any kind of token doubling, this definitely becomes "great" instead.

Now for the art. Credit to Jake Murray. Link to their website. That sure is some magitek knights going after an esper. Gets the point across fully.

Next up: Dreams of Laguna!

Cantrip effect for 2 mana (or 4 for the Flashback cost). Will see use in spellslinging decks. Also some deck filtering, so might even see some use in just general Blue decks, but it's not insane by any stretch.

Now for the art. Credit goes to Solan. Link to their ArtStation. A nice recreation of the scene where Kiros and Ward are pushing Laguna to eventually meet the woman that would become Rinoa's mother, Julia. Very very nice!

Let's talk about Quistis Trepe next!

Blue for a Blue Mage. I see what you guys did there. Also, it fits Quistis pretty well.

Anyway, 3 mana for a 2/2 is below rate. A shame. Her ability is that when she enters, you may cast target instant or sorcery card from a graveyard, and mana of any type can be spent to cast that spell. If that spell would be put into a graveyard, exile it instead. So some stealing of people's instants and sorceries to use for your own gain. Pretty slick and fitting for a Blue Mage. Use her with blink effects to repeatedly get this working, especially since you're not gonna be super interested to use her as a combatant.

Good in commander blink decks in the 99, might be okay as the commander of such a deck. Don't bother with this card in 60 card decks, unless it is tech to steal an instant or sorcery from your opponent's graveyard that can turn the tide, then it is a sideboard piece.

Now for the art. Credit to Touge369. Link to their Twitter (they don’t post much art). That sure is Quistis firing off a spell. Neato.

Up next... Leviathan leviathan (breathless). Summon: Leviathan!

6 mana for a 6/6 is perfectly on rate. Ward 2 also makes it a bit protected, though not hugely so. Its abilities are:

Lore counter 1: Return each creature isn't a Kraken, Leviathan, Merfolk, Octopus or Serpent to its owner's hand. Well then, this is sea creature typal huh. Bouncing every non sea creature. Pretty good first ability, could be enough to win a game on its own.

Lore counter 2 & 3: Until end of turn, whenever a Kraken, Leviathan, Merfolk, Octopus or Serpent attacks, draw a card. Well then, in sea creature typal, you will be drawing a ton of cards when both of these trigger... assuming your sea creatures didn't get removed as a response to the first lore counter.

This summon sure is "sea creature typal: the card." You won't be using this in any other deck than those decks. Nothing much else to say. It is powerful, but only in those decks.

Now for the art. Credit to Otumami. Link to their Twitter. That is Leviathan. I do like the colors used and the water being tossed around. Cool!

As for the alternative art:

Credit to KOTA NAKATSUBO. Link to their Instagram. That is Leviathan in a more classic Japanese style. Dope.

Next up, Shinra Reinforcments!

Good enough stats, interesting ETB effect. I don't entirely get where they got mill and life gain from for Shinra soldiers, but this will probably see some use in mill based decks and decks that wants to gain pretty big numbers of life per thing that gains life instead of small incremental life gain decks.

Now for the art. Credit to AIRI YOSHIHISA. I couldn't find a link, so please let me know, I would like to properly credit them :( Those sure are some Shinra goons. They are looking pretty neat!

Now onto Undercity Dire Rat!

Black rat creature that wants to die to give you a treasure token. Honestly, my only problem is that it is a 2/2. That is... some decent stats for no real reason. This thing wants to die pretty quick, maybe take out one thing with it. If it was like a 2/1 or even a 3/1, I'd just be like fair, but this can genuinely tank some chumps... that feels off and weird, but not a bad creature to be honest.

Now onto the art. Credits to Leonardo Santanna. Link to his ArtStation. A giant rat coming to bite Vaan's face off, hell yeah. I do really like the colors used on this art, properly bright in the places it needs to be, dark in the places that matter not as much.

Let's talk about Sephiroth's Intervention.

Holy crap, a card with Sephiroth on it that is a common?! (God I was so right.) Aside from that, good removal effect. Potentially a bit expensive, but the life gain also makes it have a niche over other removal effects in life gain decks, so a bit of a trade off. Solid either way though, 2 life can sometimes be the difference between living and dying.

Before I get to the art... let's talk about the one artwork I didn't discuss from the very first trailer. I mention it at the end of this post:

I'm now convinced that the art that was shown in that very first trailer has been scrapped, especially since, like you can see, a different artist is credited for this card. So, unless there is another card that shows Sephiroth plunging down with his sword like this that shows that original art, I do believe this is the art that replaces it. I'm still not gonna point the finger and say that this confirms that the original art was AI, but it is noticeable to me that Wangjie Li, the artist of that original art, hasn't had any card revealed for the set so far, which is interesting... since we're like 70% through all reveals. I'll keep it at that.

Now let's actually talk about the art. Credit to Joshua Raphael. Link to his ArtStation. Wow, this is incredible! The lighting is incredible, the feathers surrounding him ominous and Sephiroth with his long ass katana ridiculous. Amazing!

Let's talk about Al Bhed Salvagers next!

Let's just start with the flavor: Al Bhed being Black makes sense, since they are a marginalized group that because of the attempted genocide for not following the oppressive religion are now more than willing to use whatever they need to do to strike back. However, I still would've made them just Dimir, since they are all inventors and machina experts.

That said, don't entirely get why they have a drain and life gain effect, but it makes perfect sense that it is triggered by a creature or artifact dying, including the creature itself. Not bad though, Blood Artist effects are always pretty solid and extending to artifacts is also quite nice and flavorful!

Now for the art. Credit to Masateru Ikeda. Link to their Twitter. Now those are some Al Bhed fighters... Yup, don't got nothing more to say.

Let's talk about Shambling Cie'th!

We don't have the statline for this thing, but for 3 mana, I'd expect a 3/3, 3/4, 4/3 or something (I did mention 3/3, so go me!) The statline being unknown does make me a bit more hesitant on trying to answer how good this card is. It's pretty solid. If nothing else, it will see play in reanimation decks that have a good amount of noncreature spells, since it is cheap to bring beck from your graveyard.

Also, Cie'th being Black makes complete sense. They are l'Cie who failed their Focus (or didn't complete it on time for the brand to overtake them) and transformed into these things. They are the result of being turned into something horrific, which is usually Black aligned.

Now for the art. Credit to Nottsuo. Link to their pixiv. This is delightful frightening and unnerving. I love it, since the Cie'th are exactly meant to be like this, they are supposed to be weird and uncomfortable to look at. Fantastic!

Up next: Evil Reawakened!

Let's go, my boy Exdeath! :D You better be in this fucking set Exdeath, I SWEAR TO GOD. Anyway, solid reanimation spell that gives two +1/+1 counters on the creature you bring back out of your graveyard. Also makes me think that one of the Black limited archetypes will have to do with +1/+1 counters, potentially either BG (or Golgari) or WB (or Orzhov). Sure would be a shame if those are the two limited archetypes we have 0 info on via having seen their signpost uncommons as of the time of writing (24th of May 2025). SURE WOULD BE A SHAME. The only thing is that I don't agree with Exdeath being reanimation focused, since you know... he wants to bring everything to the void and all that.

Anyway, now for the art. Credit to Nino Is. Link to their ArtStation. Now that is how a real villain greets those pesky heroes! >:D God, Exdeath always looks like an absolute boss and this art is no different, I love it. Also really love all the roots around him. This is fantastic, absolutely peak.

Let's go to the Item Shopkeep next!

FF3 item shop merchant. Good buffing piece for an equipped creature to give them menace. 2 mana as well for a 2/2. Just solid. Couldn't tell you why this card is Red, but whatever. You will run this in Equipment decks if you need some more consistency for evasion.

Now for the art. Credit to IWAO. Link to their pixiv. Yup, that sure is an item merchant. Honestly, she does look lovely and so does the item shop. Really cool art!

Next up, Warrior's Sword!

It's alright. 4 mana for a 4/3 Hero Warrior is nice, but no extra effects means that this is just kind of limited in what it is and the equip cost for 5 mana to give something +3/+2 is alright really bad. This is by far the least interesting of these equipments we'll see, but it isn't bad it is awful. You just won't use this outside of a Limited format or unless you are maybe doing something with the party mechanic. If you want to use it, you need to cheat the equip cost. Even then, there are much better Equipments out there.

Now for the art. Credit to Andrea Tentori Montalto. Link to his ArtStation. Is... is that a lady FF1 Warrior? Huh. That's actually super dope. The sword is just alright looking, but I kind of love the lady warrior. It also makes me kind of laugh, since I now can only imagine that Warrior of Light at some point transitioned in his life :p

Up next, Freya Crescent!

Freya from FF9, let's gooooo! Definitely would've personally gone for Boros for her, but mono Red is also fine. She herself is not bad honestly. I like the flavor of only having flying on your own turn to simulate the Dragoon's iconic Jump ability. She is also cheap as hell. 1 mana only. That also brings with it a 1/1 statline, but she is also an equipment ramp piece. I won't say she will be a staple in equipment decks that have Red in them, but she can work in the 99 or as your commander. The very cheap mana cost and relatively low threat from the get go means can possibly cast her 3 times in a game with those times being relatively spread out. As the commander itself, eh.

This might see some attempting in 60 card formats? 1 mana for a mana dork for Equipment isn't bad to get Equipment to be more usable in 60 card formats, but I don't think it will make full blown Equipment decks worth using.

Now for the art. Credit to Nereida. Link to her ArtStation. That sure is Freya. I think the artstyle is actually a good fit for her, so good job on that.

Let's go meet grandpa with Summon: Esper Ramuh!

Ramuh in Red is interesting, since he is usually pretty calm and reserved, mostly testing if someone is worthy. I would've expected Green or Blue from him, but I suppose lightning = Red in MTG a lot of the time, so whatever.

4 mana for a 3/3 is below rate, but I suppose it isn't as bad for a summon. His abilities are:

Lore counter 1: This creature deals damage equal to the number of noncreature, nonland cards in your graveyard to target creature an opponent controls. So you definitely want this in a spellslinger deck due to this ability. Decent bit of damage based removal if you can fill your graveyard with instants, sorceries, artifacts and enchantments.

Lore counters 2 & 3: Wizards you control get +1/+0 until end of turn. So a buff for Wizards typal. Neato.

Yeah, not much to say about how good this card is. It is mostly there for the Rakdos limited archetype of Wizards typal and burn and in those type of decks, even outside of limited, it will work out. In 60 card formats, this probably stands no chance.

Now for the art. Credit to Justyna Dura. Link to her ArtStation. That sure is Ramuh casting red lightning. Neato. It does go into purple, which isn't uncommonly used in the FF franchise, so I suppose that's fair.

As for the alternative art:

Credit to KAORU HAGIYA. Link to their pixiv. That sure is Ramuh casting red lightning in a more classic Japanese style. Neato. Looks nice though.

Next up: Samurai's Katana!

This on the other hand is very solid. The initial cast is pretty good if you ask me: 3 mana for a 3/3 Samurai Hero with Trample and Haste? That's very solid. It does get worse when you have to re-equip it, since 5 mana is steep, but it can give a new creature Haste to immediately be able to act. Plus if you can cheat the equipping cost somehow, this gets so much better.

Now for the art. Credit to Smirtouille. Link to his BlueSky. That sure is a male Au Ra with a samurai katana and its sheathe doing Hissatsu: Senei. Looks neat, though maybe a bit over done on the special effects. That isn't necessarily inaccurate to FF14 though, so... mission accomplished?

Let's get explode-y with Self-Destruct next!

2 mana for an instant that says target creature you control deals X damage to any other target and X damage to itself, where X is its power. Almost entirely better Fling, since your creature can actually survive this. Also, Jumbo Cactuar + this on attack. Have fun explaining that someone is taking 10.000 damage directly to the face. Aside from that, you could use this with innately indestructible creatures, creatures you've given indestructible or with creatures that have a higher toughness than power to use as either creature, planeswalker or player removal.

Now for the art. Credit to Liiga Smilshkalne. Link to her ArtStation. That sure is Gilgamesh exploding himself to kill Necrophobe. Surprisingly, Gilgamesh survives this encounter, since we know he is now realm hopping via the Interdimensional Rift. Anyway, cool art, it really shows how violent that Self-Destruct was.

We now get to our one Green card of the post and... man, they had to hurt me like this. Galuf's Final Act.

2 mana for an instant that says: Until end of turn, target creature gets +1/+0 and gains "When this creature dies, put a number of +1/+1 counter equal to its power on up to one target creature." Neat way to ensure the power of a creature isn't getting lost from your board if it is to die. Also good with Summons, since they will sacrifice themselves, but you can give their power to another, hopefully more permanent creature.

Now for the art. Credit to Nijihayashi. Link to their pixiv. GALUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUF! This is such an awesome moment in the game and it is captured perfectly. Now if only I had a Galuf creature card I could use this with... nevermind the fact we know he isn't getting one, just due to following the numbers :( Fantastic art!

Next up, our only multicolored card of the post: Choco, Seeker of Paradise!

I got nothing for color identity, we don't really get a grasp of the personality of Choco. I guess Green/Blue makes sense, since Choco changes feathers based on the type of terrain that he can traverse. I got nothing for White.

Anyway, 4 mana for a 3/5 is perfectly on rate, good job. His abilities are:

Whenever one or more Birds you control attack, look at that many cards from the top of your library. You may put one of them into your hand. Then put any number of land cards among them onto the battlefield tapped and the rest into your graveyard. So, if you have a super wide board of birds, this can be turbo ramp. Let's say you have 8 Birds attack, you look at the top 8, you put one of those cards into your hand and you will put like 2-3 lands on to the battlefield tapped. That's actually kind of insane.

Whenever a land you control enters, Choco gets +1/+0 until end of turn. So that first ability goes even stupider with this. Let's say in the aforementioned example, you get 3 land cards into play, Choco has just freely become a 6/5 until end of turn, not assuming you put a land card into play before that point.

Holy. Choco will be a threat. Landfall and Birds typal will be ways he can slot in, with him being extra great as a Birds typal commander. For 60 card formats, no shot, since he doesn't do anything turn one and ideally wants a wide board state to really take advantage of the first ability.

Now for the art. Credit to Miho Midorikawa. Link to their Twitter. Neato, Choco in the foreground showing off how cool and cuddly he looks, Zidane cheering him on and the forest is so nice. I'm sure I'm not forgetting to mention anything else in this art :) Very nice, though a bit more washed out compared to what I'd expect for FF9.

Last and probably least, let's very quickly talk about the first of 10 dual colored Towns: Rabanstre, Royal City.

Nothing too much to say. I'm guessing they chose this as Boros for the fact that the Resistance rose up against the shitty hand they were dealt after the city got invaded and taken over? Aside from that, I got nothing.

Now for the art. Credit to Shahab Alizadeh. Link to their Instagram. What a beautiful rendition of Rabanstre, holy crap! Absolutely gorgeous.

And that's it for this part! Next part will just be Jecht and Vincent, since they are both flip cards that have 3 versions each, so that's 12 images and they could fit inside this post. That will come out very soon! Thanks for reading and take care o/

[anonymousbeefriendfanfics]

Could I please get a HC for Felix from Last legacy for an MC who when they first woke up there had unnaturally colored hair (blue if I'm being self-indulgent or basic F/C if non descriptive.)

How Felix would react to MC's hair color fading and maybe him helping them dye it again.

Of course! Sorry it's a little short, but I hope you enjoy this - it feels so very good to write again, and I hadn't realized how much I missed Felix!

Fandom: Last Legacy

Character(s): Felix

Warnings: None

For starters, I'm going to take a slightly unique angle on this and assume that hair color changing is not that unusual in Astraea. Sure, one could argue that Rime's strawberry pink hair is as natural as his antlers, but what about Anisa? Her mother's hair appears to be solid, yet she's got those lovely streaks in her hair. So it's possible, however... I'm going to say that it isn't dye, but magic.

Imagine salons employing mages who can color your hair instantly, along with other feats, such as causing it to grow out instantly when you've tired of a short haircut. Or salons with a host of magical potions in stock that can be applied to your hair similarly to our dye and instantly causes the color to change! I imagine this is a bit more expensive than just getting a haircut, though, which might be a good way to explain the lack of such vibrant colors in Astraea - most people cannot afford it, or maybe can't access any salons with such options. Or mayhaps it's simply more common than we were led to believe!

For funsies, I'm going to say that Felix's hair is naturally a much duller shade of brown, but during his early teenage years he experimented with spells and potions to color it a bright purple to scandalize Escell, but it didn't quite work, so now it's just... got this purpleish hue to it.

It might So when you turn up with colored hair, it's the least of anyone's concerns. Forget your hair, they want to know where you came from, how you ended up here, and how to get you home!

But the thing about magically colored hair is that it doesn't quite suffer the same phases as our dye. It's either fully permanent, if one could pay enough or find a talented enough mage, or it simply fades away like magic and leaves your natural color behind. But this... this is different. The color fades, and your roots begin to show through as your hair grows out, and no one's ever seen anything quite like it before.

Once Felix finally notices, oblivious little dork that he is, his first instinct is that something is wrong - he skips straight over the possibility that you might be sick, as Sage would surely suggest, and instantly fears corruption. If magic is the thing that colors hair, then surely it must be the cause of strangely un-coloring hair as well. Think of it as an allergic reaction, of sorts; right as you start learning how to perform magic and becoming more and more proficient with it, your vibrant hair seems to wither and become dull.

It's Felix, so... he probably doesn't bring it up immediately. Instead, this loveable idiot decides to fix the problem himself, and tries dissuading you from using magic. The sudden 180 from encouraging you to study the heaviest tomes and practice until you're utterly exhausted to trying to talk you out of doing those exact things is... concerning, to say the least, and you're not that easily convinced.

One way or another, it comes out, whether it's you confronting him, Felix spilling his concerns on his own, or some knightly intervention from Anisa. You explain that your hair is dyed, and Felix freezes, assuming you meant, you know... died. Hopefully you'll explain the difference to him before he launches into a tangent of apologies.

Once he understands, however, he's on a quest to renew your hair for you. He either attempts it himself - which, as mentioned, might not have the best outcome - or he takes you to the best salon in Porrima to have your hair professionally done by a proper mage who can ensure the color will never fade again, unless of course you want a different color.

Writing Masterlist 🐝 Requests Open!  Tag List 🐝

[nemo-in-wonderland]

What would Arena do if Mephistopheles got him aelf kidnappet by an Anyssal demon lord? And how scaried would Asmodeus be, of her rage?

Morning, Nonnie!!

thank you so much for your ask, please, do feel free to partake in some cake and a bit of coffee!

SO.

ONTO YOUR ASK.

Well, for a starter, if Mephistopheles were to find himself kidnapped, Aranea would immediately know that there would be something wrong on Mephistopheles' side (unless some kind of forces were to interrupt the Patron/Warlock bond that they share or unless he himself is the one impeding her to know, because HE KNOWS how she would react).

First thing my girl would do is to focus all her energies into finding out who is the the fucker who had actually the gull and gumption to try this sort of trick, because you can rest assured that after she lost Halim in her youth, she is not going to risk and have someone take her husband away from YET AGAIN.

She knows that Mephisto is a powerful Archdevil, and she knows that most of the time he would be more than capable to just get out of trouble by himself.

But even Gods can be tricked (as Greek Mythology has taught us), so she is not taking any chances and she would immediately try to locate him first and foremost.

Now, differently from what happened with Halim, she would not resort to just set everything on fire, partially because she knows that she is playing with forces stronger than herself - whose whole power derives from Mephisto's- and partially because, as much as that would be her first reaction, she needs to play smart.

But I think that, in general, as cool headed as Aranea would try to be, as calm as she would try to be, her rage would be IMMENSE and hard to contain. It fuels her entire being and it's ever present, an endless lava pool made of wrath and fury that's always boiling just beneath the surface and only awaits a small crack in the surface to find its way out. (again, Mephisto has one heck of a temper, but you can bet that Aranea has one to rival his bursts of anger. Needless to say, their fights are rather explosive, in Mephistar -but so it's the reconciliatory love making that follows suit -ok and now I am digressing lololol).

So, one of her moves would be to actually try and keep that rage at ease, and locate and call upon herself as many Patrons among the ones that benefits from Mephisto's powers as she can find, along with as many powerful members of the Cult of Mephisto, and gather them together so to have enough man power to distract the one that had dared to do this trick to her while she tries to find her way to Mephisto and free him and take him back with her (and, if things were to go south, they could be used as cannon fodder, and provide Mephisto with new souls from the contracts he created with those Warlocks, giving him more power, so it's a win-win situation for her -sorry, Aranea is ruthless and when it comes to her love, her soulmate, her everything, her Mephistopheles, doubly so. I mean what can be expected from someone that consort with Mephisto?

But make no mistake, regardless of how she will try and reach Mephisto, the one that has taken him will end up dead.

And if it happens to be Lord Devil in Baator, then she will gladly make sure that they meet their final death.

As for Asmodeus, I do not think that he is particularly concerned about Aranea's powers doing any harms to him. She is just mortal, and he is basically a God, so he truly has nothing to fear from her in that sense.

But one thing that absolutely unnerves him (and kinda make him wish HE had been the one to answer to Aranea's call back when she evoked a Patron) is Aranea's absolute devotion and loyalty to Mephistopheles, her fierce willingness to protect him even if he truly doesn't need to be protected and her apparent lack of fear (mixture of courage and self-destructive tendency of not caring about what happens to her- something that drives Mephisto absolutely crazy with anxiety -there, Aranea, you see? You broke the Lord of Cania! You gave the Mephisto anxiety!) in the face of dangers that are much bigger than herself).

She is a wild card, and you cannot know what she will end up doing, and this, coupled with the fact that she is more than likely complotting with Mephistopheles to overthrow Asmodeus, absolute unnerves Asmodeus.

Thank you so much for the ask, and sorry for the long babbling <3

I had fun thinking of Mephistea! Truly thank you for sending this to me! <3

--Nemo

[amoneki-ramblings]

this is a pass to do a couple things:

finish the manga!!! u can do it so u can follow all the other blogs without getting blindsided by a spoiler

do the ship ask thingy for amoneki :]

Gahh I'm trying !! I'm so busy with school and life stuff so it's hard to squeeze in time to read but I'm trying! I'm getting through volumes very slowly but hey, I'll get there ! Just. Well. There's 16 volumes so. Okay it might take a bit orz

For now I'll just be in my little fandom limbo corner I suppose orz, as for the ask thingy:

when I started shipping it if I did: Several months ago, probably a few months short of a year? It's a bit complicated, Basically I decided to rewatch the anime (because my original exposure to tg was. the anime :') ) and vaguely remembered that I really liked Amon (honestly the encounter at Kanou's Lab/Cochlea was one of the scenes I remembered the most), and after rewatching and seeing Amon and Kaneki's interactions they piqued my interest again. Then I got into the manga and. Yeah that interest turned into insanity and now i'm here

my thoughts: Well I have a 119-slide 15K+-word google slideshow for starters. But I'm taking that to my grave so I guess I gotta condense that somehow. On one hand I feel like everything needs to be said about these two to the point that there's too much to talk about but also nothing needs to be said at the same time. They parallel each other in just about every way possible, it's impossible to ignore the ways that they foil each other. They also have had irreversible effects on the others' character. Kaneki finds resolve in Amon's words ('the world is wrong'), and turns to them at pivotal moments (when he leaves Anteiku, Kaneki's own mantra is also basically a derivative of Amon's, wishing to take out the "bad/wrong" things in the world, and he basically takes them to his grave, "The world is wrong", Amon's own words, being his opening to his final dialogue in the last chapter of the original series)

Similarily Amon is just haunted by Kaneki. Like. In general. He thinks about him constantly (even under more mundane circumstances, in the novels he gets reminded of Kaneki just by staring out a window because it reminded him of the Aogiri raid. lmao). Kaneki is basically the catalyst to his character development, and Amon is constantly bothered by his presence/existence, and even comes to recognize how they always encounter each other at important moments. Amon is so haunted by This Guy (creature) it's both a little funny but also makes me very insane. He's basically being a failure of a ghoul investigator, and it's even more ironic, given his hatred of himself for being raised by and potentially caring about a ghoul (also he's catholic, something something religious guilt), yet he seems to have a lot of faith in Kaneki, even to a faulty degree (I'd daresay it's almost to the point where he puts Kaneki on a bit of a pedestal/idolizes him to an extent. I have a whole other ramble about Just that on the self-rb'ed half of this post. Like I'm sorry but Amon definitely fell hard for this guy I'll die on this hill and I'm going to poke fun at him endlessly for it, he could've done so much better, he starts off the manga hating ghouls with a passion and his mentor's disdain for ghouls runs ten times as deep but nope now he's chasing after the dangerous somewhat unhinged (/affectionate) half kakuja guy and it's not even to fight/kill him like okay, sure.) They have affected each other in irreversible ways. They reflect each other so much even if they don't know it. They just want to sit down and have a conversation. They didn't get to. And instead They Killed Each Other (okay not really but it was very close and they absolutely could, not that they want that) ((It's also partially Kaneki's fault for losing control of himself and he feels awful for that (sidenote but any scenario with Centineki and Amon make me lose my mind))). They're also married by first-encounter marriage bite, apparently. I think we should talk about that more that's kinda?? Donato approves btw

What makes me happy about them: Everything that makes me miserable about them makes me simultaneously happy about them because I am an Angst Guy but honestly just how much they clearly respect each other. While they're not allowed to understand each other because of their circumstances they still very much Want to. They recognize that they probably share a lot of views and could really have a meaningful conversation with each other, and it really shows, even if they're fighting. Amon again has a surprising amount of trust in Kaneki (not assuming he's fighting for Aogiri when he saw him during the ward 11 battle, having faith in Kaneki as a person even if he just saw him potentially killing his superior and being presented with the possibility that maybe he was just being fooled all along, when he's nearly dying at Kaneki's own hands but says he won't die because that would make Kaneki a murderer, having faith still that he hasn't turned into one). They recognize that they're equals (well technically they're not, obviously Kaneki is much stronger objectively, being a ghoul, and a kakuja at that), but they treat each other as equals and that's what really matters. I just think it's a very neat dynamic and their roundabout way of caring about each other despite their positions makes me happy :)

What makes me sad about them: I was gonna put images but then I quickly realized that I'd basically be pasting almost all of chapter 133-134 just uh. The fact that Kaneki really lost control of himself and the parallel with him biting Amon's shoulder escalates to him cutting off his entire fucking arm, the way that Amon's first thought in regards to that is simply that Kaneki is strong, how he doesn't reprimand him for it whatsoever (also Amon's blow pretty much takes out the entire area of where Kaneki's kakuhou should be, which is a detail I find Extremely Interesting and I think it should genuinely be talked about more). This fucking line that happened literally the panel before all of that despite their mutual wishes for the other to simply Not Die:

Amoneki divorce. Absolutely life ruining :thumbsup:

(Also just. Again Amon Please. This guy bit your shoulder (probably gave Amon rabies honestly) and almost ate one of your colleagues; when he loses control of himself for the second time you just tell him to take a break, and now he's cut off your whole damn arm and you're Still not complaining and are instead praising him by calling him strong. I just. Yeah that's Not Normal. It's kind of impressive, really /derogatory)

Oh yeah also the fight at Kanou's lab also kills me and takes over my brain constantly but I wouldn't classify that as making me sad I would classify that as making me lose my mind, laugh hysterically and start climbing up and clawing at the walls (like Centineki, actually)

things done in fanfic that annoys me: Maybe I'm just extremely picky but I feel like people tend to fumble Amon's characterization a lot. It's kind of a fine line, and Amon has a lot of conflicting feelings as is, so I get it, but I'm especially bothered when Amon is written as way too harsh. When he's first introduced he has a strong hatred for ghouls, and it's not like that just goes away, but when he's written as especially harsh or even cruel towards Kaneki, especially if it's just because for him being a ghoul it feels like it kind of defeats the point, as Kaneki is supposed to be the reason why Amon starts changing his mind. When Amon sees him for the second time he doesn't think about fighting him at all, even that early on he decides he wants to talk instead, 'cause He's Different. I don't see this kind of characterization too often but I don't really vibe with it at all when I do (Also this is definitely just a me-thing but I wish there was more angst in the tag. Which is ironic considering these guys are surprisingly normal most of the time and have so much potential to be actually Happy but uh *vague hand gestures*, hurt-comfort would also be a decent compromise)

things I look for in fanfic: I love pre-:re fics that explore the complicated-ness of their dynamic. I'm really fond of fics where they kind of dance around each other in a sense, they won't just straight up completely directly interact because that's Still a bit dangerous but they see each other in passing, maybe Kaneki watches over Amon sometimes, etc. Also you probably saw this coming a mile away but yeah religious references mean instant bonus points from me. I could go into some (too much) detail but. uh. stares down at my feet look I'm normal I swear

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:  Saying Amonhaise is definitely cheating but I'm not really invested in any other Amon ships. I'm not particularly against any I'm just neutral. As for Kaneki, like I mentioned in a previous post, I see potential with Etoken, and it's pretty hard to go wrong with Hidekane, though neither drive me to insanity like these two do at the moment

My happily ever after for them: Let them finally officiate their marriage ghsfdljbhf

who is the big spoon/little spoon: Well that's pretty easy huh. Kaneki small spoon he is a Little Guy just let him feel comfortable and secure y'know? Kaneki is probably someone who runs very cold and Amon is very warm so it works out :) If he's super tired he very carefully (and cautiously) wraps his kagune around Amon he will now be Trapped there until Kaneki wants to get out of bed (good luck)

what is their favorite non-sexual activity: Well I would say that Kaneki loves cooking for Amon probably. He makes food at home and tries to make new sweets following recipe books. It's a bit of a mess because y'know, he's a ghoul, and at first Amon tries to hide that, unfortunately, his previous experience with cooking does Not, in fact, hide the fact that he cannot taste or smell human food, but eventually Kaneki is able to get a hang of it (with Amon's help) and it's very nice :) That's what I would say but. well. Amon is Also a Ghoul now so that doesn't really work :')

[writteninlunarlight-years]

Hello again!! I would like to request another matchup, but this time it’s for an Original Character of mine for Hazbin Hotel. If that’s alright.

Name: Summer Hellfire

Pronouns: She/Her

Sexuality: Pansexual (Loves everybody!)

:ENFP-J

Age: 28

Appearance: She’s 5’11” and a Doe looking demon. She has antlers like Alastor, but instead of black they’re a white, cream color. She prefers to wear suits, like Charlie, but they’re more baby blue or a light color like that; she also likes to wear skirts as well. Her style is formal but cute. She has a black nose with a round maw. Her eyes are a lovely shade of emerald green. Her fur is soft and caramel color. While she has fur she also has shoulder-blade length hair that’s a natural beautiful wave. She also has three freckles on each of her cheeks.

Personality: Oooh, boy. For starters she’s absolute definition of sunshine and optimism. Living in hell but she’s the epitome of happiness. She’s a very caring woman and always think demons should be given the benefit of the doubt. She matches Charlie and her optimism. She as well believes that there’s some good inside everyone. She loves all but hesitant at letting people getting to know her at a deeper level (I’ll get to that in a sec). But, when you make her mad, upset or insult her friends, or harm someone she cares about, man, all Hell will break loose. She will show you what she’s really capable of. She might seem like all cupcakes and rainbows, but when you get on her bad side you better prey for Luci. She can get a bit emotional at times, and worries that she’s annoys everyone by coming off too strong or too overly friendly.

Likes: Has a very large sweet tooth and loves anything sugary. What people find a bit surprising is that she loves soury sweets the most. She loves spending time with her friends. She LOVES animals!!! She appreciates going out for a few parties but she tends to be a bit of a light weight. She for sure agrees with Alastor that you’re never fully dressed without a smile. Watching the sunset and exploring the other rings.

Dislikes: Liars. Just unnecessarily rude and disrespectful people. Being an optimist, she doesn’t care for debby-downers.

Background of her character:

Summer Hellfire was born in the Wrath Ring, shockingly. But never likes to talk about her childhood as she grew up in an orphanage. Her parents never died, no, they never cared for her or loved her; they sold her away to the orphanage, leaving her behind. That’s her greatest fear: To be unwanted, unloved. That’s why she gives everyone she meets a smile or a compliment, no matter where they’re from. She moved from one home to another, over and over, but no one wanted to keep her, making her fear grow and grow. When she was too old for the orphanage, aging out, she wandered Hell with no purpose. She aimlessly wandered around the ring of gluttony, hoping to get rid of her sorrows with sweet treats. That’s when she met Bee. The Deadly Sin took her in and she basically became her big sister, finally giving her a place to belong. The moment Summer caught wind of Charlie’s Hotel, she immediately took this opportunity to give demons something her parents never did, a chance. Summer still goes to Bee’s parties when she can and as well as keeps contact with Ozz. That’s how she met Fizz and the rest of the gang and Stolas.

Yeah, is that too much background? This just turned into a character organizer, my bad, I got a bit carried away with writing the character. Sorry, but hopefully this is enough to go off of for the matchup.

~~~~~ MATCHUPS ~~~~~

HAZBIN HOTEL OC!

Vox

~~~~~ HEADCANONS ~~~~~

Vox heard of you long before you appeared by Alastors side that day he challenged him.

You were well known by every overlord as you were a hell-born close to ring leaders and the daughter of hell for crying out loud.

When the name Summer Hellfire is whispered through the overlord meetings, he just had to get a look at you. Of course, that damn deer demon had to be right there too.

Not only did you witness him get severely beaten by Alastor, but he also had to hear your giggles broadcasted on the radio for all to hear when Alastor said his peace.

Vox chose the Vees purely out of political control, sex sells, fashion sells, and no one has the attention span to stop him. It was perfect, but here, you and Miss Sunshine Princess were taking away his revenue.

He couldn't tell if the feelings he had for you were from hate or lust. So he did what he did best: hacking into your life.

Through those months of observing from the sidelines, he learned so much about you. He honestly felt horrible the more he learned because he felt like he was robbing you of the opportunity to tell him yourself.

Vox also felt really alone, which is why he surrounded himself with social media in life and death. That way, he never had to be truly alone.

The day Alastor found out what he was up to and informed you was when Vox fell head over heels for you.

You were so elegant and beautiful, half-transformed, walking into his building and asking him if he wanted to 'dance with the devil.'

Instead, he humbly apologized and expressed his desire to get to know you. Though you were hesitant to forgive him, you did let him live unscathed.

From then on, Vox made it a point to meet you in person, even if Alastor was there with you. He was going to prove to you that he was far superior to the deer demon.

You were a big influence on him, and the other Vees weren't too keen on it. Without a big TV man, how would their media sell?

When they came after you, honestly, it was surprising that before Charlie or Alastor could come to your rescue, Vox was already taking punches for you.

Of course, you are a big girl and can handle yourself soon, sending the two other Vees on their way.

After witnessing the kindness Vox had hidden deep within him, you allowed him one date to wow you, or you were out.

Oh boy did he deliver, he may be ostrizied from the porn avenue and fashion streets but he had so many other places in hell to wow you with.

Luckily, giving this odd TV man a chance allowed you to find someone who not only cared about your views and story but also was willing to be redeemed.

~~~~~ BLURB ~~~~~

Vox was watching you on the big screen in his office. You were so beautiful and honestly a little too kind. He didn't mind; he thought it was a unique quality for you. Something about your kindness and pizzazz differed from that of the princess of hell. He had been carefully observing you and the others in the hotel for a few months now, making sure to avoid Alastor at all costs due to the Radio Demons' need to interfere. He was a decent man. He never watched you or any of your friends when you were indecent or when there were severe private matters at hand. However, he was mostly always looking at you when group meetings were held, or he was aimlessly scrolling.

It was getting harder and harder to hide his growing affection for you from the Vees's they always had to be around nagging, "Wathcing that Summer chick isn't finding out how to beat Alastor," "Are you forgetting the mission here? It to be the most powerful?" or even, "We only need us three no one else why are you so interested in her?". He honestly didn't know why other than you were just different, a warm light in a dark shit hole. That's when he noticed the distortions on the screen.....fffuck. Before he knew it, every TV was shut down, and static blared through the room. Alastor caught him.

Vox was trying to figure out how to control the damage. I mean, come on, you obviously were gonna hate him. You had to. That's when he heard the front door of his tower get busted open. Rushing out to the foyer, he saw you at the end of the stairs, half-transformed and honestly gorgeous. You looked ethereal and waaaaay too damn powerful for any of the people here to take on. "DO YOU WANT TO DANCE WITH THE DEVIL TV MAN?" He was taken aback by your straightforwardness before he realized you were just pissed, not actually asking that of him. He sank down to his knees and began to spew out apologies left and right about why he did what he did. Thank god the other Vees were out, and he could delete any possible media footage of this before it got out. You took pity on him for some reason, but from that moment on, he swore he would show you that he was the best for you.

~~~~~ EXTRA ~~~~~

( You and Vox were out on your first date; he was still scared and beaten from his fight but swore he was okay. Well, till it started raining)

Summer: Vox, the weather looks like it's getting bad. Why don't we head back?

Vox: Oh, a little water won't hurt me, dear. I'll be fine.

Summer: You still haven't healed fully yet. I don't think this is a good idea.

Vox: No, you told me about one date, so I will knock your socks off. I want this to work. I promised.

Summer: Vox literal sparks are shooting out of you when water touches the crack on your head. Let's head back and let you heal a little more. I'll give you another date.

Vox: (does the pointy finger thing) Promise?

[roserysttrpggarden]

A review of the 2025 Forgotten realm UA Subclasses

Hi there~! It's been a while, sorry about that, i'm. Never the less, I wanted to give a quick review of the latest subclasses coming to 5e, curtosy of the new Forgotten Realms Subclass UA that was released just today. In this write-up, I plan on giving my thoughts on each of the subclasses, what I like, dislike, all of that jazz. With that out of the way, let's start with the first of the new subclasses.

College of The Moon Bard

The first new subclass in this document is the College of The Moon Bard, which can best be described as what would happen if a druid and bard had a baby, you sing of primal tales and use them to bolster your allies, thematically it's nothing groundbreaking, but it's fine enough.

Both 3rd-level features are already, getting druidic (The useless little shit) a druid cantrip and a skill proficiency is neat, Moonshae tales is decent, I like both Tale of life and Tale of gloam, not so much with tale of mirth cause I swear at least 3 bard subclasses have a "Subtract a roll equal to your bardic inspiration die" feature now. I don't know why it takes a whole action to activate since the creation bard got a similarish feature at the same level just by using bardic inspiration without needing to use an action first, but the feature overall is okay. Blessing of the Moonwells seems decent enough, being able to grant 2d4 temp hit points when someone fails its save against moonbeam is a good enough upgrade (At least the Moon bard gets moonbeam, unlike a certain sorcerer subclass). And Bolstered folktales is alright, it acts similar to the swords bard capstone letting you roll a d6 for tale of life and gloam rather than spending a inspiration die, and it lets you teleport up to 30 feet with tale of mirth, decent effects all around, not a bad final feature.

Overall thoughts on the subclass. It's meh

Knowledge Domain Cleric

Our next subclass isn't new in the context of 5e, but rather a revised version of the knowledge domain subclass from the 2014 PHB (Though this version is basically a new subclass). I hate that people are gonna have to buy the subclass all over again, but there's not much I can do bout that. Let's get onto reviewing the subclass.

For starters, the subclass gets way more domain spells than any other getting a total of 15 spells (Essentially 3 per level), granted, a lot of the spells gained are more out-of combat utility spells but still, I guess it fits the knowledge aspect but damn. As if that weren't enough, their mind magic feature allows them to expend a use of channel divinity to cast one of their domain spells without components, which means you can get free castings of command, dispel magic, arcane eye, banishment, confusion, and synaptic static, which is really good. To round off 3rd-level you also gain proficiency in one artisan tool and expertise in your choice of Arcana, History, Nature, or Religion, those checks might not come up super often but I am not gonna complain about getting two skills to expertise on a cleric. Moving on from the roller coaster of 3rd-level features, unfettered mind is a pretty good, telepathically communicating to a Wisdom mod number of creatures is nice, and being able to use your Wisdom score as the result of an Intelligence check is pretty situational but still appreciated. Divine foreknowledge is also really good, advantage on all d20 tests for 1 hour as a bonus action, that can also be used again by expending a level 6+ spell slot is nice, thematically the abilities kind of weak and miss some of the cool thematic elements of the previous version, but I will concede that the new version is way stronger combat wise.

Overall thoughts, yeah this subclass got a glow-up compared to its 2014 counterpart, and it largely keeps a lot of the thematic elements present on the old version. It might border on being a bit too strong? But for what it is, it's a good revision, Next subclass.

Purple Dragon Knight Fighter

Similar to our previous subclass, the purple dragon knight isn't new in the context of 5e, this one originating from the ever-infamous Sword Coast Adventurers Guide (Scag for short). The subclass was intented to turn your fighter into a commander type, rallying your allies as they fought alongside you. But the subclass was hampered because all of its features relied on your existing fighter features. Like the Knowledge domain before, this subclass is basically something entirely new, it's now the fighter version of Drakewarden for lack of better words, you get a dragon companion that fights alongside you and you can later mount, it's interesting enough, hopefully it'll be better than the original (Spoilers, it is).

Knightly envoy is fine, a free language and ritual spell is neat, the purple dragon companion itself is pretty decent, interestingly enough it acts during your turn, rather than after like the beast masters pet or the summon spells (which makes it work better as a mount) the dragon also has a gravity breath weapon that can push people, which is not bad Dragon rider is nice cause it not only lets you actually ride your dragon companion, but also improves its breath attack, and causes it to regain hit points and a use of gravity whenever you use second wind. Rallying surge is really cool, allowing three allies to either move without provoking opportunity attacks or make an attack as part of action surge is phenomenal, amethyst pinnacle is largely decent, but I wish the tandem attacks were part of the base feature or came at much earlier levels, cause forgoing your own attacks to have your dragon attack is so cool! I just wish it didn't come online near the end of your characters career. Unfortunately this subclass ends out not with a bang, but with a wet fart, while you and your dragon gaining resistance to force and psychic damage is cool, it sucks that the capstone is so, nothing.

Final thoughts on the subclass, it's definitely a marked improvement over the original. But I kind of miss the battlefield commander idea it had going on, which is only present in two of the subclass features. Besides that nitpick I think this version of PDK is good, a dragon rider fighter is always cool. Funnily enough this subclass arguably does a better job at being a dragon rider than than the drakewarden did, but maybe that's discussion to have later. Next subclass.

Oath of The Noble Genies Paladin

We now take a break from the revised subclasses and move on to an entirely new one for the paladin, this subclass is based around revering the elemental planes and wielding the power of the D&D genies. The thematic is rather unique, but it does feel funny to have a genie paladin in 2024 before reprinting the genie warlock. But enough dilly-dallying, lets get to reviewing it.

The oath spells all around are pretty good, with the obvious highlight of you getting the ever broken Conjure Minor Elementals, it's also neat you get the Elementalism cantrip as a bonus. Elemental smite is rather expensive, requiring both a use of divine smite and a channel divinity, but the effects are pretty good (Especially Marids Surge). Aura of Elemental protection is really good, resistance for yourself and all allies within your Aura of Protection is already nice, but being able to swap the resistance at the start of each turn is what really sells me on this feature. Elemental Rebuke is strong but boring, halving damage taken and possibly dealing 4d10 + charisma modifier to an attacker is good, it's unironically better than some of ranger capstones that do a similar effect. The capstone is really fucking good-potentially bordering on overpowered, being able to use your reaction to turn any failed d20 test into a success is massive, even more-so cause you can keep doing this for up to 10 minutes, and like the other 2024 paladin capstones, you can use this ability again if you spend a 5th-level slot, I don't think I can underestimate how strong this feature is.

Final thoughts for the genie paladin. This subclass is really good, the genie theming is really interesting and its features are consistently strong, the biggest gripe I have with the subclass might be noble scion just due to how strong it is, but otherwise, I love it. Next subclass.

Winter Walker Ranger

Moving from one half caster to another, we arrive at the Winter Walker ranger, which is a subclass about braving frigid tundras and taking on those that'd dwell within such regions. I love what this subclass is doing right off the bat, more elemental subclasses are always nice, and a tundra explorer ranger is a sick as hell idea, now how does it translate?

The spell list is alright, a lot of ice spells for obvious reasons, Pass without Trace is really good, I don't really get why is has Remove Curse besides curses being mentioned once at the very end of the subclass description, but I guess I'm not complaining, Frigid Follower is also nice, resistance to a fairly common damage type, on top of additional cold damage on weapon attacks (which ignores resistance) is always welcome. Hunters Rime hurts me, gives me psychic damage as one might say, the effects are nice, 1d10 + ranger level temp hit points is nice and an enemy being unable to disengage is nice, but it's tied to the infamous hunter mark spell, I might go more in depth about it later down the line but for a TLDR. Hunters mark requiring concentration in my opinion leads to either the ranger always using hunters mark, but missing out on the more powerful high-level ranger spells, or the ranger not using hunters mark, but then missing out on class features (Including you 20th-level capstone). Moving on from that, fortifying soul is kind of neat, being able to help your allies regain hit points between rests + granting them advantage against being frightened is cool, Chilling Retribution sounds nice, but (this might have changed with the new monster manual) at 11th-level more and more things are getting immunity to the frightened condition, so while the fail effect is strong, you might not get it off that often. Frozen Haunt pains me, being able to move through walls, gain immunity to cold damage and deal 2d4 cold damage at the start of each turns is good, and the flavor idea of turning into this ghost of winter but man, why is it tied to hunters mark??? Even flavor wise, how does you casting hunters mark transform you into a ghost.

Final thoughts on the subclass, As a whole, I love what the subclass wants to do. I love the theme, a lot of what it wants to present is cool, and hell, I think this subclass handles hunters mark usage better than the Beast master or hunter did, but it just sucks that two of the abilities rely on the use of that spell since you never have a way to cast it without concentration, I think if the capstone wasn't tied to hunters mark i'd be fine but man, it just sucks. With that rather bitter end to the subclass, maybe the next one can boost our spirits, which is.

Scion of The Three Rogue

The next subclass is the "Scion of The Three Rogue" which-as the name suggests, is for rogues that pledge alligence itself to the Dead Three: Bane, the god of tyranny. Bhaal, the god of murder and violence. And Myrkul, a god of death. As if the rogue couldn't get any edgier, but will this edge translate into dead enemies?

Bloodthirst is situational, but rather thematic, dealing additional damage to bloodied creatures is neat, good fight closer, the second part of the ability is also cool-being able to teleport and make a melee attack when someone dies, but I almost wish it was unlimited use, realistically, how often are you gonna get the effect to occur? The ability also becomes useless if you're fighting a solo boss, it's not even a bad effect, I just don't imagine it coming up enough to warrant a limited number of uses per day. You also align yourself with one of the dead three, which get you a cantrip + a damage resistance, it's nothing too big, but still neat to have. Strike Fear kind of sucks for it's level. All it does is give you a new cunning strike option to spend one die to attempt to frighten someone, at base I don't mind this but the fact that- due to the rouge subclass structure, it means you have to wait 6 levels to this feature, and that sucks. if it had another option in addition to the frighten it'd be nice but as it stand, yeah this isn't great. Thankfully Aura of Malevolence is better, dealing int modifier damage to creatures within 10 feet of you at the start of each turn is pretty good all things considered, it also ignores resistance too, so being aligned to Bhaal won't cripple your character (The aura deals poison damage if you're aligned with him, since the damage type is the same one you gain resistance too from Dread Allegiance). Dread Incarnate is a mixed bag all things considered, the advantage on attacks against frighted creatures probably won't come up that much at 17th-level, but treating any 1's or 2's as 3's when you roll damage for sneak attack is really nice, it basically means that, at minimum, your sneak attack will deal 27 damage (assuming you roll really low) at the level you gain this ability, and combine it with the Bloodthirst damage boost means you'll be really good at ending fights quickly, decent stuff all around.

Overall thoughts on the subclass. This is weakest subclass in this document (in my eyes). There's some good abilities here, but most of what this subclass offers feels rather niche. Also, while I haven't brought it up until now since all of these subclasses are very explicitly meant to be tied to the forgotten realms setting, I feel like this subclass is gonna be the toughest to translate to other campaign settings cause the subclass doesn't really have a strong theme beyond being tied to the dead 3, the only other theme I can think of is "Agent of evil god or "Make things deader" which, is already done by the Assassin and Phantom. While the scion of the dead three might have been dead on arrival, maybe the next subclass will do better.

Spellfire Sorcery Sorcerer

The next subclass is the Spellfire sorcery sorcerer (Try saying that three times fast) It's basically a more magicy sorcerer, with you gaining your powers directly from the weave (The forgotten realms source of magic) and using it to blow shit up and heal people. Thematically it sort of reminds me of the old phoenix sorcery subclass from the Unearthed Arcana, but how does it fair?

The spells provided are decent, it's an nice mix of blasting and restorative spells, Cure wounds, Lesser and Greater Restoration, Dispel Magic and Aura of Vitality are nice, the only real stinker on the spell list is Flame Strike, but I guess it fits? (For the record no, you don't get Fireball with this spell list), Spellfire burst is nothing too special, but still neat, an extra 1d6 damage or some temp hit points whenever you spend sorcery points is always welcome. Absorb Spells is really cool, having counterspell auto prepared and being able to regain sorcery points when someone fails its save against counterspell is cool, though I wonder why they didn't make it work with dispel magic since it's also on the spell list? Honed Spellfire is a decent enough increase to Spellfire burst, and lastly, Crown of Spellfire is a pretty good transformation capstone, getting evasion to magical effects is always nice and hey! Wotc finally remembered hit dice were a thing! Overall, not a bad capstone.

Final thoughts on the subclass. I like it, the mix of blasting and healing is interesting, I like how the subclass interacts with sorcery points, I love the thematic of absorb spell, and features overall are pretty decent. Not much more to say about it, it's just a really good subclass. Now we shall move onto our final subclass of today, which is.

Bladesinger Wizard

And the last of the subclasses within this document is a reprint of the Bladesinger wizard from Scag-and later reprinted within Tashas cauldron of everything, for those unaware, the Bladesinger is the Gish subclass of wizard (meaning a spell and sword type of character).

Compared to its Tashas counterpart (And the other revised subclasses in this document) nothing big changed about the Bladesinger, you lost the ability to use light armor, but can now use Intelligence when making attacks with melee weapons, and you can use them as a spellcasting focus. And Song of victory was changed to function like the 2014 Eldritch Knight version of war magic (You can make a weapon attack as a bonus action if you used an action to cast a spell) If my thoughts are correct and you could attack action, make an attack with your weapon -> cast a cantrip- > make a weapon attack as a bonus action then I'd gladly call this a buff, but if that isn't the case then this feature is okay.

Final Thoughts on the subclass, it's still the same old Bladesinger basically, some things got changed, I dunno if not being able to use light armor is that big of a deal due to Bladesongs existing boost to AC + spells like shield being a thing, the buffs are nice but I doubt they'll make anyone go "Omg the Bladesinger is OP now!" I'm scared to see how the new Bladesinger preforms with 2024 conjure minor elementals.

Final Thoughts

To close out this write up, I like most of the subclasses offered here. Granted, none of them make me want to jump out of my seat and beg my DM to let me try them, but they're all baseline decent, I generally like these subclasses more than the ones added with the 2024 PHB. Is there room for improvement? Absolutely! But for a rought 1st-draft of these subclasses, the team did an alright job with them. But what are your thoughts on these new subclasses? Let me know in the

With that, that's all I have to say in this post.Take care, and go make some D&D content.

[thatkippycat]

Life Updates

Alright alright alright, so I have some stuff I wanna talk about. I keep forgetting I have a personal blog seperate from my writing blog, so I'm gonna start using it in earnest now, even though most people who follow me probably doesn't know this exists.

Where to start man. For starters, I officially graduated from highschool! I'm free, I've got free time now that I can spend writing and being on here. I don't usually talk about my personal life here, but you know what, fuck it.

My graduation party is in like, a week, and since it's June 1st I decided that I'd come out finally then. I'm a bit scared, but my mom seems to be supportive enough considering she basically knows already.

And on top of that, I'm beginning my planning to get out of this country I call home. Again, I don't talk about it much, but I live in the southern USA as a queer person. Sooo, what with the election this year, I'm planning to leave when I can. Still not sure where yet, but the front runner is Australia.

Most importantly though, I'm gonna get back into my writing. I haven't had like, any free time for tumblr for a while, but now I do! I'm actually kind of excited to get back into the swing of things, to write more, to finally get through my requests, even try and interact with some of the cool people on this site!

Sorry, that was kinda cheesy, but I am excited. I don't have much else to say, though. So I'll cut it here. Have a good day y'all!

[jakowskis]

sloppy gay ramble about why i ship owento lets go

(this was meant to be a server ramble but it got too big for discord so here’s a ginormous messily formatted semi stream-of-consciousness type essay on why i ship owen x ianto and what’s compelling about it to me. starts out kinda babbly n then i got serious abt it n then i got babbly again so sorry for the tone switch fhsdjkfd. i do not know if this is cohesive, let alone persuasive, i'm not trying to sell you the ship so much as im yapping incoherently about the Themes n Motifs that drive me mad. but yeah. also this is purely based on the first two seasons of the show, nothing else. im not normal about these guys btw im Deranged. anyway here.)

for starters, background. i must explain what first roped me into this pairing. the answer? season 1 episode 12. singlehandedly. and then i felt Haunted for a while, and then i read some fic and something clicked in my head and it's been my torchwood otp since. im very consistently an enemies/rivals to lovers enjoyer so at first i was just like 'heh nice i love toxic yaoi' but then they decided not to leave me alone. and a lot of it's bc of the Themes 🫵 do not underestimate my ability to overthink and overcomplicate a barely-there relationship whose connotations are entirely subtextual

see, owen and ianto are mirrors in like ten ways, and where they're not mirrors, they’re foils. on the mirror end, their backstories are jarringly similar (abusive parental figure; rebellious phase as a youth (punk vs goth); losing their fiancée/serious girlfriend as a young adult to an alien threat). their relationships with jack are adjacent (emotionally unavailable authority figure they look to for approval; owen as jack's second in command versus ianto as his right hand man). most interestingly, imo, is their personalities. at their core, theyre not entirely different. owen in his backstory? he's a lot like ianto. faithful, loyal, quiet, gentle. they're not markedly different in who they are deep down, they just have extremely different coping mechanisms that make them look like opposites. ianto dissociates + turns things inward - owen self-destructs AND lashes out. owen's like a ianto that hardened and got mean - ianto's like an owen who still values being quiet and dutiful and not making trouble. (basically, history + personality-wise they’re mirrors, coping mechanism + temperament-wise, they’re foils. two sides of the same coinnnnn)

they both recognize this, although possibly not consciously - and it bothers them. ianto dislikes + feels threatened by / wary of owen's impulsivity and aggression (partly bc he fears he himself is like that deep down, and he isnt willing to access that part of himself. we see a handful of times that ianto does in fact have repressed anger and its SCARY. and i wouldnt doubt hes intimidated by that part of himself, given his control issues. esp considering his plot in adam, if you wanna read it that way). meanwhile owen dislikes ianto for what he perceives as subservience + weakness (partly bc those are things he sees in himself and HATES. a lot of owen's character is his struggles w his own nature + feeling a need to compensate for perceived deficiencies). and they also look down on each other for these qualities, and, i think, bolster themselves a little bit by comparing themselves to the other. we know owen does this (“it’s like you finally won.” “i didn’t know we were in competition.”), but considering ianto’s preoccupation with competency, i don’t doubt he also feels a little bit better about himself when owen fucks things up by acting rashly.

so ianto's like a version of owen that he tried to bury entirely and move on from when katie died, and owen's reminiscent of what ianto's afraid he's capable of becoming. and they both project these things onto each other - owen more outwardly, in the way he feels the need to attack ianto in both of their significant one-on-one scenes. in ianto we see it more as avoidance + slight disgust. in their lighter scenes ('lets all have sex', and the tin tin discussion) we see owen trying to be companionable (...can u call the sleeper scene that fhsdjkf) and ianto having none of it. funny enough, i think owen likes ianto more than ianto likes owen, at least by s2. liking aside, though, ianto does care for him. but another thing i like abt owento is owen's a litttttle bit fixated on ianto for some reason (i think it could be interpreted ten different ways, but him repeatedly bringing up ianto & jack's relationship is wiiiild to me) - n then ianto doesn't think abt owen much at all, he's just sort of there. it's fucking funny. i like a darker take on owento, as u can probs tell, but also they can be hilarious if you want them to be. two guys who can't stand each other and should kiss about it is always good. but yeah, as they exist in canon, as of s2, they're just sort of... comfortably colleagues, albeit maybe still a bit combative.

but i’m eternally caught up in what episode 12 teased me with. (and i knowww ep12 was specific desperate circumstances, that's not their norm, but what's presented when they're both at that point is soo compelling to me. i like characters at their worst.) see, episode 12 is when we really see that half-mirrors half-foils thing come to a head. owen’s spiraling because he just lost diane. he feels weak, he feels powerless. he’s essentially doing what ianto did in episode 4, putting love first, and you can tell owen was kind of disgusted with + felt betrayed by ianto in that ep, so he’s also being a hypocrite and breaking his own standards for how a torchwood agent ought to act. (not to mention i think owen deeply resents his own emotionality, but that’s another topic.) and during that spiral, ofc, he gets mean and frantic, in typical owen fashion. then we have ianto. despite the threat of losing jack, ianto does his best to stay level headed and focus on what their job is, rather than personal feelings - something owen usually values.

so there’s this moment where their traits are both blurring a bit, where roles are being swapped but without straying from the heart of each character, where the mirrors are RLLY reflecting each other (infinity mirror? on and on and on...). owen’s simultaneously being self-destructive and rash, but also vulnerable and love-lorn, which is something he looks down on ianto for in regards to lisa and then jack (and his verbal attack on ianto is majorly projection, too. ‘part time shag’ is especially notable when 1) him and gwen’s affair literally broke off last episode. owen was HER part time shag, and 2) him and diane were meant to be casual too and owen caught feelings - same as ianto with jack. major projection lawl. and we see owen do this multiple times, it’s a trait of his. another notable instance is him telling tosh “you want someone as broken and screwed up as you”, lmao).

and ianto’s being pushed to his limit, too; he’s trying to hold firm and stick to his values about the rules, but it’s the most hardened and merciless we ever see him. when you’re carefully watching, there’s a Brutality in him in a few key moments when he’s pointing that gun at owen and it’s SO critical to my understanding of + enjoyment of the character. i just find ianto’s inner darkness reallyyy compelling haha. my other fav ianto moment is “pray they survive” in meat. there’s something SCARY to him that the show doesn’t often bring out, and it’s what i find most intriguing about him. (both moments are also some of my fav bits of acting from gareth, too. i also think burn’s a much better scene partner for him than barrowman, there’s just something about the way they play off each other in ep12, man. i am… not always impressed by gareth’s acting, but in those scenes i think he’s brilliant.) 

so ep12 introduces the things that my concept of owento heavily revolves around - and then you expand upon it. see, the ship is almost entirely hypothetical. what they Could be - what they have the potential to be. that’s not everyone's thing, especially in a fandom with canon gay relationships, but i loveee it, and i love that there’s tons of freedom in it. it’s also fun as hell + very stimulating as a fanfic writer. other writers have done a lot too, there’s been many fantastic interpretations over the years - there’s a fair amount of rlly rlly good owento fic, particularly by one author back in 2007 who wrote t o n s of amazing stuff + rlly established a great dynamic that most other people have kind of followed (including me). my favorite take on owento (and, imo, the best, and the most plausible, one) is that they hooked up between s1 n s2, while jack was gone. i think its brilliant, i think there's a LOT of rlly insane connotations there + in a show like tw its not far-fetched, like i could see it happening. it's an extension of things we see in canon - for starters, when they’re desperate, they end up in bed with another member of the team. and then the way owen’s always in jack's shadow… gwen wanted jack from the start but she turned to owen instead bc he was there. the idea of that happening again, with a ianto who wants jack but can't have him… owen's consistent trend of being someone's mistake, of being someone’s second choice. his consistent tendency to be there when someone hits rock bottom to offer them a sexual reprieve. because he’s always down there himself, and misery loves company. he doesn’t like being alone in it. (torchwood and its persistent loneliness, btw.) and then there’s the recurrent theme of the power struggle between jack and owen - owen often wants to get one over on jack, which occasionally entails trying to covet the things jack has/wants… rubbing his grubby little hands all over jack’s toys. or maybe that’s just the only way he knows how to establish some claim over torchwood - sleeping with half the members. why not add another? why not give jack the finger a third time? i love drama 🕺

and on ianto’s end… for starters, owen’s a lot like jack in certain ways. a lot of it seems to be a front he puts on (and i wont get into the intriguing implications of owen choosing to or perhaps subconsciously emulating jack in certain respects when he started fresh at torchwood) - if ianto’s kind of like owen was, jack’s kind of like what he’s trying to be, he just doesn’t pull it off as well. not quite as good at being superficially charming. pulls it off in his own way, though. point is, despite the fact that canon implies ianto has zero interest in owen, some of the things he’s intrigued by with jack are in fact present in owen. the inaccessibility, the compensatory arrogance, the brooding, the intensity. this is arguably further present in gwen’s attraction to the both of them. there’s some surface level similarities that canon even seems to reflect on a few times (esp in s2). additionally, i don’t tend to think owen was in charge while jack was gone (i think he stepped back and let gwen do it, but maybe took charge during field missions, as implied by kkbb), but it’s an interesting angle in some owento fics, ianto gravitating towards whoever’s the boss. more than that, though, after losing lisa AND jack, he’d probably end up looking for someone else to preoccupy himself with, against his better judgement. a trait owen and him have in common, it just manifests in different ways. (and, finally, i think he'd also be compelled by the differences between jack and owen. owen's a complicated guy, but i think ianto understands him well enough. there's not really a mystery, he doesn't have to guess with him. owen straight-forward and a bit of an open book, and i think ianto might find that a relief.)

the other thing that compels me, and that i think would compel ianto, is that, oddly enough, owen's someone ianto ends up having power over pretty easily (although not without a fight). this is a sharp contrast to jack, where jack's always the dominating force (i dont mean that perversely, i mean, like, he's all-consuming), and ianto's always kind of at his mercy. a really interesting part of episode 12 is that neither of them, owen or ianto, really win, and yet they both score a victory over the other in different ways, too. owen successfully opens the rift; but ianto prevents him from doing so for quite a while, and does in fact shoot him over it. owen may have succeeded, but ianto established physical dominance by putting a bullet in him. which, cough. that in itself. and not to get additionally horny with it cuz thats not what this is about, but there’s this other really interesting bit in the episode that haunts me, as well: when ianto tells owen to go home, owen sneers at him and refuses, and then ianto stares him down - and owen caves. he’s still sneering, but he caves without fuss. that right there… is the crux of what i find so enthralling. owen, for all his rebelliousness + pride, does briefly bend to ianto’s will. but he does it in such an almost back-handed way, he twists it, almost like ‘you forced my hand, happy now?’ even though… ianto didn’t try hard in that moment to coerce him. owen gave in on his own free will, but had to feel like he’d been made to, and tried to twist it to take some of the ‘satisfaction’ away from ianto (even though it’s not about winning and losing to ianto, at least consciously)… the mind games u guys!!!

and on the flip side, the way ianto was able to come out on top (NO EUPHEMISM INTENDED I PROMMYYYY) simply by standing firm. not raising his voice, not being physically aggressive. he stood there and looked at him. thats insaneeeee. and that's a moment of control for him that he doesn't get in his onscreen relationship with jack, or in his career at torchwood. and we see it for just one moment the only time owen & ianto interact in an substantial way. there's so many crazyyy things that could come out of those two falling into something messy, and i think it's really interesting that the power dynamic that's implied by canon puts ianto in a position of power we don't get to see him in in his canon relationship with jack. i want to see more of a ianto who's not just an accessory to jack, who stands on his own two feet, and that ep is honestly the only time in all twenty-six s1 and s2 eps where that happens. he's not only owen's equal in that ep, he fights for control and manages to command things. that? is a ianto i'm endlessly intrigued by. and then there's the fact that this is all right after owen's gay little fight club episode, where we learn that owen's a guy who lovessss mixing homoeroticism with violence. not only that, the power plays and mind games mark and owen play with each other in ep 11 - ep 12 is a direct continuation of that, between ianto and owen. and thats SOOO sexy to me fhdsfjkds.

so we have something angry and visceral and raw - which isn't everyone's cup of tea but its my LIFEBLOOD. they bring out the worst in each other, the aspects of themselves that they dislike. and personally? im always compelled by ships that have that dynamic - but then they both get a bit Addicted to it. i LOVE the thematic theme of surrendering to the worst parts of yourself, and of being drawn in by the ugly parts of someone else. and i think there’d be smth rlly interesting in the form of them each realizing the other’s their mirror, as well. something almost self-punishing, potentially. lil bit psychosexual. i like the thought of owen recognizing that ianto’s more than meets the eye, recognizing that he’s got a sadism to him - i think he could be compelled to draw that out, because that’s already something we see with owen (most explicitly during the whole gwen affair). owen’s someone who wants to find someone as fucked up and lost as he is. we see this with gwen and diane - and we can deduce that's what drew him to suzie. but it should also be noted those relationships were all with women - in the show, as previously mentioned above, owen’s attraction to men is always associated with aggression, with violence. a lot to be said about that, and i have a wip essay on owen’s sexuality in my drafts, but the point is owen’s queerness exists in anger and in power struggles with other men - which makes it obvious to me, given how they're presented in ep12, that him and ianto’s relationship could very, very easily trip over the line into being something More. owen’s turned on by aggression, he’s canonically attracted to ianto - i really dont think it’d take much for him to make a move. particularly if jack were gone. and i could very easily see him ending up looking at ianto and thinking ‘hm. there's something fucked up about him. i bet i can make him worse’. 

and ianto… see, this is where it gets fun, and also where my personal interpretation deviates from most owento writers, because a lot of people write this pairing as very brutal; the ianto in owento fics is usually much harsher than any ianto i’ve seen elsewhere. it’s rarely ooc, bc we see that ianto in the show, just not often, and it’s one of his most interesting forms n i’m fond of him. that being said - i’m personally intrigued by the idea of ianto figuring owen out and realizing that aggression and casual sex isn’t what he really wants after all. owen’s soft, deep down, and there’s a need to be understood and cared for. that’s… kind of ianto’s specialty. and there’s an angle of power there, too. maintaining control in a way that simply being rough could never sufficiently achieve. because i dont tend to ship enemies-to-lovers in a way where the characters aren’t being self-serving and conniving. i like when two characters are exploiting each other and fucking themselves up in the process. that’s my shit. i especially like when it eventually becomes something that almost looks like a really bastardized version of love. all in all i think they just have the potential to bring some crazyyyy shit out of each other

um. theres a lot more i could say but this is already really long and i ran out of steam. basically i think they should have hatesex but then get obsessed with each other and wage psychological warfare on each other👍

[talesfromasnarkylisa]

Lacey: Chapter 22

James: August 28, 2023

First day back in Yale. 253 days until it would be over for good.

Now, my ideal scenario would be to try and get a Master’s degree in something. But realistically, there’d be no way for me to afford Yale any longer. With my Photoshop job being that of a mere contractor and my online reputation getting slowly but surely stained, my money just wouldn’t be enough. If I got lucky, maybe I’d just go to SCSU or some other low-end university to get the Master’s. But an Ivy League? No fucking way.

In other news, talking to Lacey in the evening was…something, to say the least. She did tell me she wasn’t going back to post-secondary (yes, she refused to say if it was a university or apprenticeship) until September. Lucky for her - and good for me since it frees up her time to DM me. 

But good God, I could tell something was up with her once we actually got into a call together. For starters, she sounded completely exhausted. It was like someone had physically knocked her out the day before and drugged her in her sleep. I asked her if she was okay - because I actually was slightly concerned about her well-being.

Lacey first insisted she was fine. But I guess she had little clue what “fine” really was. This hesitance being utterly useless to my long-term goals of sabotaging her, I decided to press her on the issue. After a little nudging, she decided to take it to DMs.

Lacey Hannah (08/28/23, 8:32 PM): Do you ever feel like people don’t take you as seriously as they should? And it’s not like you’ve done anything to personally piss them off?

Of course I did, I thought to myself. My parents are literally several miles away happy that their son is gone from them because he would sometimes try to talk to their negligent heads every few months before when he fucking needed them.

I was slightly sympathetic to Lacey, so I decided to open up a little. In vague terms, of course. I left out anything about my home life and just talked about whatever has happened online publicly that had been resolved in my favor. 

She seemed to have trusted me a little more after that. That’s when I finally remembered why hating her was good.

Lacey Hannah (08/28/23, 8:36 PM): Damn, I’m so sorry all of that has happened to you. If it makes you feel better, you’re not the only one that’s been through this kind of shit. Would you mind if I told you a little about myself?

Seriously? I rolled my eyes. Not even a single specific thing about my situation, just vague niceties? And now she wants to talk about herself?

I wanted her to trust me, so I told her to go ahead. We had a surprisingly cathartic conversation afterwards. At least, on my end. I wasn’t entirely sure how she felt and that didn’t matter to me emotionally one bit.

Lacey Hannah (08/28/23, 8:42 PM): I hate to admit it, but it’s been a rough few weeks at a few formalized online publications I’m in lately. I get ignored all the time by certain admins and still have people getting onto me and only me for the shit that happened with Oscar Winters. Just yesterday, some guy (not anyone in your circles, I don’t think) I know from music writing berated me for almost an hour because I was asking a basic question about the average response time for something unrelated to him. 

Archer J (08/28/23, 8:44 PM): Yeah, that definitely sucks. I haven’t had to deal with anyone bugging me about the Oscar stuff after what happened almost two weeks ago. It’s not great that you do. You know, all of this does kind of remind me of a situation I had some time ago.

Lacey Hannah (08/28/23, 8:45 PM): What happened then?

Archer J (08/28/23, 8:48 PM): Half a year ago, I was about as notable as I am today. Which is to say, I did pretty well numbers wise. But some people thought I was one of the most awful personalities to grace this side of the Internet. Even my current friends.

Lacey Hannah (08/28/23, 8:49 PM): The Code Javelin chat’s been dealt with though, right?

Archer J (08/28/23, 8:52 PM): It has, and I’m friends with Artsy Carolina and D. Noir again. Most of the other people in there don’t hate me either now. But believe me, it was goddamn isolating to have people I trusted secretly turn on me for a while because of pent up resentment I had no clue about. Even if…I did kind of deserve it.

Lacey Hannah (08/28/23, 8:54 PM): Well, I’m sure you didn’t deserve everything.

Archer J (08/28/23, 8:56 PM): Of course I didn’t. At least 60 percent of it was just Carol’s boyfriend at the time being jealous of my success. And, well, a bunch of people ganged up with him.

Lacey Hannah (08/28/23, 8:57 PM): That must have sucked. Do you find taking a break from the Internet and hanging out with friends IRL helps when it comes to being overwhelmed online?

I froze for a moment. It was here when I realized that I had hardly talked to Darian or Inez in a week. I hadn’t even responded to any of Inez’s venting messages. Yet..for some reason, I had little guilt about it. Even amidst the increasing number of hate comments I got every day.  If anything, I probably regretted not responding to Inez the most (which wasn’t saying much). My mission to take down Lacey was consuming me - and I didn’t mind it.

For once, I found one of Lacey’s questions truly hard to answer. But I had to come up with something. After all, this heart-to-heart would be just what I’d need to ensure she’d trust me on what I was about to tell her regarding Writer’s Delight. 

So, like always, I lied to her once again. However, I did sprinkle in some truth this time around.

Archer J (08/28/23, 9:01 PM): It really does - now and back then. I wouldn’t be the man I am today if it wasn’t for living in the real world and my offline friends. Even if they aren’t that close, I still have had lots of different people to hang out with in real life over the years.

Lacey Hannah (08/28/23, 9:03 PM): You’re really lucky to have a lot of friends that support you through it all. I…only have two. Been that way since middle school; I only had one back in elementary.

Archer J (08/28/23, 9:04 PM): I’m sure you’re capable of being a great friend.

Lacey Hannah (08/28/23, 9:06 PM): I appreciate that you think that. But I am honestly not so sure. Can I tell you something?

Archer J (08/28/23, 9:07 PM): We’ve both been saying a ton of stuff tonight. I don’t think you could do any harm.

What I learned afterwards was honestly pretty shocking.

(Wattpad version: https://www.wattpad.com/1513108536-lacey-chapter-22)

[talessculpted]

@mutatiio || closed starter

"Professor Xavier is gone."

Despite being the team member —if not the human being— with the most amount of metal in his body, Logan spoke up bluntly, interrupting Magneto's little monologue about the X-Men finally seeing what was best for the mutants.

"Some crazy, armored bastard took 'im and we lost track of them on what's basically one giant metal box inside another, inside another, and so on," Logan kept going. "We're not 'ere to chat, we need your help."

— ☀️ —

Charles' head pounds. The darkness slowly dissipates from his view as he straightens himself, his first instinct is to try and reach for his wheels to move. Move, his mind screams. MOVE.

His hands are strapped down to the armrests of the chair that, now he realizes, isn't his chair. But an old, rusty model that has definitely seen better days. Where is his chair? A look at his surroundings only reveals metal. On the walls, every object— only the floor, solid concrete, is not made of metal.

The place is oddly familiar. But Charles cannot put his finger down on WHEN he's been here before.

Charles can't feel anyone else. For once in his life, the world is utterly QUIET. Leaves him wondering if he might be dead.

"Finally, you rejoin the world of the living," a chuckling voice reaches him from behind. "I was starting to think I gave you a bit too much of the doctor's special mix, don't have time to wait at your bedside while you take a coma nap."

Before Charles can turn, the man who brought him here moves around him, standing in front of him and crouching until he's below Charles' eye level. He's wearing a helmet, a heavy metal thing, the mere sight of it fills Charles with dread. Again, he cannot put his finger down on why. But he knows who this man is.

"Carter," Charles finally finds his voice. "Why are we here?"

Even if he can't read his mind, there is a tension on Carter's jaw that speaks of clenched teeth, of barely contained anger. Charles knows he needs to watch his words, say the right thing at the right time, or things might get ugly and he doesn't have the resources or range of motion to defend himself from one of Carter's episodes. He's supposed to be at the asylum. Then again, Carter hated that place.

Carter's hand went up to Charles' hair, pushing it back to reveal the receding hairline he's been hell-bent on hiding.

"Your hair's falling off too, huh?" Carter said, touching his own scalp, where multiple bald spots were visible. "I'm starting to think that's got something to do with what the doctor did to us."

"Carter, why are we here?"

Once again, his question gets ignored. Carter ruffles Charles' hair, stands up and moves behind him, starts pushing the chair into one long metal hall after another. The restraints around his wrists refuse to budge and so Charles tries to dig out the filling of the cushioned arm rest, empty it out, make more room for his arm so that he might be able to slip out of at least one restraint. It's a torturously slow process. In the meantime, he keeps trying to get Carter to talk to him.

"I didn't see you at your father's funeral, but I'm guessing you found me there," Charles starts over. "I'm truly sorry for your loss. He was a good man–"

The chair stops abruptly. Had Charles not been strapped to it, he would have fallen forward. Carter grabs his head, making him tilt it backwards until their eyes meet. "My father sold me out to the fucking devil," Carter said through gritted teeth. "Just like yours did to you."

The forcefulness of Carter's hold, paired with his words and this place, makes a long buried memory flash before Charles' eyes: cold metal halls, painful injections, and a man, Doctor Milbury. Disjointed fragments that didn't mean much on their own, but which manage to paint a horrifying picture when put together. The way it makes Charles pale pleases Carter, who finally lets go of Charles' head and once again starts pushing him forward.

"You never visited me at the hospital," Carter rounds a corner. "Can't blame you, I wouldn't like to visit that place, either— reminds me of here, with cushioned walls instead of metal. You might have benefitted from the therapists though," there's a chuckle to Carter's voice. Not mocking, just overwhelmingly bitter— bordering on hateful. "One of them taught me about compartmentalizing, a defense mechanism where thoughts and feelings that conflict with each other are isolated–"

"I know what compartmentalizing means," Charles interrupts, uncharacteristically defensive. "Get to the point."

"Always to the point," Carter sighed. "Well, I guess we've lost enough time with your overly long nap." once again, the wheelchair stops. Carter doesn't stand in front of him, Charles doesn't want to look at him anyway. "My therapist compared compartmentalizing trauma to how, when you're asleep, you're not aware of what's happening around you. I've been watching you, old friend, and you're asleep— a sleepwalker, if it's not too insensitive to call you ryat. You live your life UNAWARE of what's surrounded you your whole life."

For a brief moment, too brief for Charles to make use of it, Carter's mind is laid bare for him, no longer concealed behind the helmet. But it is only long enough for Charles to unravel the hatred that Carter feels: at his father, at Charles himself, at the nurses who'd keep him sedated, at some man Carter only thinks about as Sinister; before the helmet is placed upon Charles' head, like a cork on a bottle, blocking the only outlet of the psychic waves that exit his head at all times, leaving them to bounce onto the helmet and back into his skull. Every muscle in Charles' body LOCKS, his teeth gritting against each other, eyes wide. Carter stands before him now, makes a —fruitless— attempt at wiping off the blood that begins dripping from Charles' nose.

"Time to wake up, Charlie."