#(everyone else is alive and well out there somewhere. or at least Alive. i haven't asked them all how they're doing.)

[anonymouspuzzler]

ghosts

[thebunniesgrim]

Fizz and Blitzo’s Beef doesn’t make any since 

To me

(idk why it says my replies are restricted if you cant reply go ahead and just tag your comments or something I am not sure how to turn it off my reply settings say anyone can reply supes sorry)

In my opinion  

What do you think?

(This isn't really flaw of the ep it's more just... I guess a me thing? I think?)

Is it just me or does Fizz and Blitzo’s Beef build up not have the effect it thinks its does? What I mean is before Oops biltzo and Fizz obviously had some beef with each other because of what Blizto says to robot Fizz, what Fizz says to Blizto in Ozzie's and also when they see each other in Oops for the first half.  

For Fizz it makes some since, but Blizto doesn’t make any what’s so ever because they haven't seen each other since the accident because Biltzo couldn’t visit him, right? Right. So how can this hate be mutual? They were on good terms before the accident as Blizto was going to tell Fizz he liked him but chickened out and it looked like he was mad at Fizz, but he wasn’t.  

Why on earth did Blizto not like him(Fizz)? He calls Fizz an over rated sell out jester. You would think someone who was so overwhelmed by guilt of getting his best friend and crush obliterated on accident that he cried when apologizing. wouldn’t have said something so mean about him. Also why is blizto jealous of Fizz if he left bad about the accident wouldn’t seeing Fizz alive and becoming successful make him feel better like “oh awesome I didn’t ruin his life or anything” You can say its jealousy on Blitzos part, but you literally almost killed him so you can only be mad so much (in my opinion) and he is clearly happy for fizz and his accomplishments  

And if blizto was pretending to hate Fizz because he assumed Fizz hated him and wanted to just go along with it instead of facing the problem. Well, that goes against everything else we’ve seen blizto do! You're telling me he can sneak into Stolas’ castle, the rehab hospital, find Barbie (even when she doesn’t want to found), and will disregard the boundaries of Moxxie to get what he wants but he couldn’t find or sneak into Fizz’s hospital or somewhere he worked to apologize? Sure right, this is Stolas not finding Octavia even though she had the book with her and stolas could've located the book to find her all over again  

also why is blizto so surprised when Fizz tells him he didn’t ruin his life with how well-known and marketed Fizz is obviously you didn’t ruin his life.  

Fizz says Blizto’s love life is bad. How does he know that? If the last time they’ve seen each other was on Fizz’s birthday then how in the world does he know that? all of Bliztos known romantic relationships to us the audience is Verosika and Stolas. Unless verosika told Fizzarolli about their relationship how does he know that? “Some nerve you have to comment on a relationship. Last time I checked your love life is pile of shit” last time you checked? Babes, you haven't seen him in 15 years! How did you check? last time you “checked” anything you needed up an amputee  

Other eps make it seem like Blizto and Fizz had some big falling out, but they didn’t. So how does all this 

“I make more money than you do being a cheap ass robo rip off of an overrated sell out jester” 

“Hey, everyone, this guys a total disgrace” 

“Some nerve you have to comment on a relationship. Last time I checked your love life is pile of shit” 

“I have my own life without you in it” 

“Twice is already way too much” 

“Well at least I'm still actually working for my shit and not getting everything handed to me like some pampered attention whore!”  

“My horns were always bigger than yours” 

Come form not seeing someone for 15 years? 

For Fizz? sure it makes since homeboy blew you up but for blizto to have such a guilty reaction and burst into tear proclaiming about how sorry he was doesn’t make any since. They were so salty towards each other than they haven’t seen each other in 15 years and not having a big fight before they were separated doesn’t make any sense to me. It would be one thing if Blizto was pretending to forget the accident, or keep denying that he started the fire, but he just admits it, and this is obviously something that eats up at him and that he regrets.  

Why does blizto have so much animosity towards Fizz?  Given what all other episodes and the beginning of Oops makes it seem like Fizz and Blizto had some big falling out and maybe had some type of romantic thing going on and know more knowledge about each other than Oops shows us, but there’s nothing!  

thoughts?  

Am I watching the show wrong lol?

[rubykgrant]

Okay so I know you brought up an AU with freelancers alive before, like all of them even Niner and the triplets and Florida and Connie, but here's what just interested me: how is Maine with everyone? Reds, Blues,, Freelancers, Locus, etc.

I had a whole post with some different Freelancer thoughts, so I'll copy-past the Maine bits from there, and also add a few more-

-Other people keep taking the “Grifshot” and hiding it somewhere Maine can find find it, and he ALWAYS gives it back to Grif... who is like a timid little bunny rabbit in that situation

-Maine will also just stand around and watch Tucker do stuff. Tucker feels like this is some kind of INTIMIDATION act, but Maine literally just thinks Tucker is cool

-Doc and Maine hung out together for several days before even discussing stuff about O’Malley and the Meta... nobody is entirely sure what was said (which is fine if they want to keep it private), and this seems to have resulted in Doc having absolutely NO fear of Maine (even when other people still get intimidated), and Maine has all these inside-jokes with O’Malley

-Sarge called dibs on Maine, South, and York. He truly feels like they are integral to some kind of grand scheme that makes no sense to anybody else. Maine is fine with it, he likes the Reds. South immediately jumps on the SUCK IT BLUES band-wagon (because guess which side her bro got absorbed into). York hams it up, like woe is me, I am on the opposing side of a feud from my dear friends, knowing full well this does not matter

-When Maine seems to be getting especially “isolated”, it’s actually Locus who knows how to gently approach him and pull the guy into a different train of thought (both having once felt like they were “just weapons”, and learning how to be people again). Maine returns the favor, but with a different method; when Locus is in a self-destructive and depressed mood, Maine will just pick him up, then go pick up somebody else, like Wash or Caboose or whoever might be right for the moment, and they have a Friendship Adventure (which usually involves watching cartoons)

-Church and Maine have this silent shared feeling that... doesn't really have a name. Or at least, not one single name. What Maine went through being the Meta, the Fragments all coming together but still feeling that they were "missing" something... and Church, who forgot he was the Alpha AI, and for a long time, never had the chance to be with everybody he cared about, all together... Church has his Fragments again, and they can also still visit with Maine, but none of them will ever be the Meta again, and it still feels like somebody is lost; there is a lot of regret, but also a sad sort of comfort in knowing they can still live. On a happier note, Church and Maine like to cook together~

-Carolina and Wash are in a similar situation of seeing shared pain in each other's eyes; "I tried to kill you" and "I didn't understand you" playing in the back of their heads when they look at each other. What finally helps them get through it is almost pretending like they are just "regular people" meeting for the first time, learning how to share interests and parts of their lives they haven't been able to experience in a while (Carolina spends time watching movies with him, while Wash will enjoy outside/nature activities with him)

-Caboose intuitively understands what Maine is thinking about/trying to say even when he feels like he can't communicate (Maine has learned how to sign, and has a keypad as well, but sometimes it is difficult to just express thoughts into words at all). Maine wishes he could return the favor, but it is much more difficult to understand Caboose... that doesn't mean he doesn't appreciate the effort~

-Donut and Maine are obnoxious together, they do this good cop/bad cop thing when they want the others to participate in re-decorating the living area (for some reason, Maine is the "good cop", but also the "strong silent type" who just backs up all of Donut's weird demands)

-Kai is happily surprised that Maine is so impressed with how flexible she is, so she teaches him all kinds of crazy stretching techniques (it helps with a lot of his muscle-knots and old injuries)

[unknown-lifeform]

Feel free to skip this if you're not familiar with the movies, but in honor of Halloween, a ffvii/Alien crossover: What would Genesis do, Cloud thought distantly, slotted in the fire materia, and stepped towards the Alien queen and her prey. "Get away from him, you bitch!"

@soawen ooh spooky themed! I haven't rewatched Alien in way too long but I think I remember enough to write up a little something. Some warning about general horror stuff for the fic ahead

-----

Cloud swallowed down his grunts of pain as he walked. His ankle protested with every step he took. Not broken, no way he would be able to keep going otherwise, but it was going to swell up twice the size soon enough.

If he lived long enough to see that bruise, well that'd be a real miracle. The only way would be to grab an escape ship. But Cloud had been forced to run in the opposite direction to avoid being killed. Besides that, he couldn't in his right mind leave this place and abandon whoever else may be left alive.

He had to lean against a wall, grimacing. It hurt. What was he even walking for? From what he knew, everyone else here was dead, and Cloud couldn't outrun the facehuggers forever.

Maybe he should keep going until he found a gun, at least. If he was going to die that'd hurt less, and give the aliens one less chance to reproduce.

The next step almost had his ankle buckle. What had made Cloud ever decide to sign up for this? Being one of the first settlers on a new planet paid good, but no amount of money was worth dying this way. No glory to be had, not when Cloud was just part of base security. Sure, he got to run away from all the mistakes he had made and all the people he had disappointed, and what a great fucking fresh start he had had.

Slowly, he peeked around a corner. No monsters. There was a corpse, tough.

Cloud limped to it. Not someone he knew personally, at the very least. He didn't think he could take seeing more friends burst open.

The blood was starting to dry out. Cloud hoped that meant the alien baby had long since ran off already, and that it wasn't hiding around somewhere. Not that there were lots of places to hide here.

Cloud dropped down to his knees, trying to look anywhere but inside the gaping hole in this poor bastard's chest. Quickly, he patted down the corpse. Please have a gun, please have a gun-

Something hard under the sleeve. Cloud pushed it up, and found a Materia vambrace.

Now that was a find. Not everyone here could afford to have Materia. Few planets produced it aside from Earth, making it extremely valuable. Cloud had gotten a little training from Genesis, but he didn't have his own.

Fuck, Genesis. Where was he? Cloud hadn't seen him among the bodies. Hopefully he was still kicking somewhere, or had found a way out. He could be a pain in the ass, but a good guy in the end. Right after getting here Cloud had been put under Genesis's supervision, and his training might be the only reason Cloud was still alive.

It figured that if someone could get out of here alive it'd be Genesis, or someone else on his level. Sure as hell not a shmuck like Cloud.

He quickly secured the vambrace on his own arm. There was one enhancement equipped, but nothing really useful. He searched the corpse's pockets.

A screech. Cloud's head whipped around. He couldn't see it, but it had to be nearby. Fuck. His fingers closed around a round, smooth object. Struggling not to whimper, Cloud pocketed the Materia and got back to his feet.

As fast as he could, he walked down the hallway, trying to get away from the noises. Hopefully he hadn't been spotted. These things were good, if one of them was stalking Cloud it wouldn't let him hear it. Unless it was drawing Cloud into an ambush. But it only took a single alien to kill some scrawny little human, no need for pack hunting.

He turned a corner. A second. More corpses, that Cloud refused to look at too closely. The pale body of a chestbuster, that someone must have managed to kill when it was still in its vulnerable early moments. One yellow, sizzling stain on the wall, that Cloud tried to avoid.

Another corner, and Cloud almost screamed. It was fucking big. The aliens he had seen so far weren't this large. For a moment, Cloud accepted that this was it.

Except. It wasn't moving. The thing laid on the ground, head turned Cloud's way, but completely still. More of those stains were around its body. Dead.

So someone else was alive, and armed. Or at least they had been recently. That gave Cloud a little hope that not everyone was lost.

Carefully, he stepped closer to the dead alien. When they had first realized the breach, before everything had gone to shit, someone had said that they had heard of something like this before. Horrible parasitic aliens, that was. They said from what little was known they likely acted like ants, with one big queen and lots of smaller workers.

Now... was this a queen? It was bigger than the others, Cloud was sure, but not by a lot. Not many differences aside from the size. Maybe it was a normal alien, just slightly bigger.

Cloud jumped when he heard the sound of a gunshot. There was someone else. Forgetting all about the pain, he almost ran towards the noise. This way should be towards the storage rooms, which was still far from the escape ships, but two people had better chances of running than one.

More gunshots. A low hiss, barely audible, but that still sent shivers down Cloud's back. Screams of anger.

Wait. He knew that voice. It was Zack. Also security, but in a different team than Cloud, his supervisor was Angeal. Zack was a good guy, he knew what he was doing.

At the last moment, before entering the room Zack and the alien was in, Cloud stopped to carefully peek in instead of bursting inside. His blood froze over.

That had to be the queen. It was huge. Way, way bigger than all the rest. And so fucking ugly, massive head, multiple reaching arms. It had Zack in a corner, and he was shooting at her, but the bullets just ricocheted off its exoskeleton.

Cloud felt about to faint just seeing it.

Zack's gun clicked. He swore, but no more bullets came out. The queen made a noise that could not be further from human, but still felt like laughter.

"Fuck you!" Zack shouted, a last helpless attempt at standing strong.

Cloud's hand slipped into his pocket. The Materia was there, ever so slightly warm against his finger. Fire. Good offensive power, it could help Cloud run.

The queen stepped closer to Zack, slowly, apparently toying with its food.

Was there literally anyone else left alive here, but Cloud and Zack?

What would Genesis do, Cloud thought distantly. Shaking, he slotted in the Fire Materia, and stepped towards the Alien queen and its prey. "Get away from him, you bitch!"

The monster turned towards him. A mouth that could easily bite his head off opened to let out a growl.

"Run!" Zack shouted. As if Cloud could, in the state he was in. As if it would be any use now that this thing had spotted him.

"I said get away," Cloud shouted, fighting the shake in his voice that had joined the one in his legs.

The queen stepped towards him, snapping her jaws.

Now Cloud, he was good enough with Materia. Genesis taught it well. Fire was one of his favorites, too. Despite the terror, it was easy for Cloud to lit the first spark, and then let it blaze into a wave of flames.

This time the queen didn't brush it off like it did with the bullets. A terrified screech came from it, and it jumped back, trying to put some distance between itself and the heat. Fire, huh. Of all things, something as basic as fire scared these things off.

Cloud kept it going. Lighting the fire up turned draining fast, but he didn't let up. He kept the flames going and was rewarded with the screams turning from fear to what might be pain.

But a spell couldn't be held up forever. Eventually the fire fizzled out, and Cloud was blind for a moment at the sudden lack of light.

The queen was stumbling. Not dead yet, not even after being submerged in enough fire to char most other living things. The exoskeleton looked damaged, but it stood.

"In the back!" Zack shouted. He made a dash towards the door, using the interruption to escape. "There's fuel in the back!"

Storage room. Cloud had aimed his fire at the queen, closer to him, but he could see the containers lined by the far wall. Between him and those, what he hadn't noticed so far: the eggs. So many of them.

Cloud lit the flames a second time, aiming for the eggs. The queen screamed, turning to its quickly cooking brood. It looked torn for a moment, as if not knowing whether to protect them or attack Cloud.

The tongues of fire reached past the eggs, and to the fuel.

Zack and Cloud were blown backwards by the explosion. Cloud's face burnt.

"Come on," Zack said, grabbing Cloud by the arm. "We gotta run."

"My leg," Cloud gasped.

"I'll help, just run!"

Struggling, Cloud managed to stand, one arm around Zack's shoulders. His ears rang. He could barely make out the crackle of fire and the pained shots of the queen.

They had barely managed to reach the next hallway before a second boom shook the air, and the heat behind them increased. There had to be multiple containers there. Some Cloud had lit up, and some had managed to resist the fire for a couple minutes.

In theory, all fuel was stored in high-safety, fireproof containers, so that even if one lit up the others might be able to resist. Clearly someone had lied about that. Not that Cloud would complain about it now.

"Is there anyone else left?" Zack asked.

"Not that I know of."

"Fuck. Alright, we gotta head towards the escape ships, other people might be down there."

Cloud hissed, his ankle about to give out for good. "There's plenty of those there."

"They might be confused if the queen is killed," Zack said, and then laughed. "Shit, man, you're a blessing. I was about done there."

Despite the pain, Cloud managed to grin. Shit, he had done that. Set the bitch right on fire and all. He couldn't believe it. And they still had the Materia, they could take on more of these things with it until they found more weapons.

Maybe he was going to come out alive of this.

[cathey-winchester-666]

I READ CHAPTER 23 OF LFLS BY @eternalglitch (again) AND MY BRAIN IS GOING A MILLION MILES AN HOUR AND I HAVE A THEORY THAT I HAVEN'T SEEN ANYONE ELSE POST ABOUT YET AND IDK WHY PEOPLE AREN'T TALKING ABOUT IT.

FIRST OF ALL, THE ANGST IS BEAUTIFUL ANOTHER PAINFULLY CRAFTED MASTERPIECE I LOVE IT SO MUCH THANK YOU FOR SHARING WITH THE CLASS WE ALL LOVE (and loathe a little, but we’re kinda also to blame for indulging in the pain lmao) YOUR WORK.

I just want you to know it’s got my brain worms tossing and turning in their little graves. I am seriously considering properly analysing your fic (threat).

Now on to the theory (below the cut to avoid spoilers) :)

WHAT THE HELL ARE THE NOTIFICATIONS THAT DONNIE KEEPS GETTING????

Well, here’s my theory: Muninn and Huginn (I refuse to believe he’s dead)….

Just think about it for a second. With the whole scuffle that was going down, Muninn had time to escape, or at least find a place to hide and carry Huginn off with him to (or drag or whatever).

There’s no way that Muninn would return to Draxum after the betrayal and the showing of Draxum’s true colours and all that juicy angsty stuff. And the pair have also canonically not had a previous master (at least none that they’ve stuck with for a substantial length of time) that they would go to in a crisis. And he wouldn’t return to the Gargoyle Sanctum thingamabob we saw them come from in the series. So that leaves only one conclusion: Muninn is somewhere out there fending for himself and a very injured Huginn.

My theory is that Donnie’s little notifications are of Muninn resurfacing for supplies - we’ve seen how often the boys have to change bandages for wounds in LFLS, so the logical implementations are that he has to buy a fair amount of bandages for his buddy. Whilst he would have to buy bandages for Huginn, there’s also the additional requirement of food - it doesn’t matter how small they are, the little guys still have to eat - and Muninn is only small and canonically not very strong, which means he can’t carry heavy loads of shopping. Also, without the income (if he even got any) from Draxum and/or the ability to rely on the yokai for a constant supply of food, much like a dog it’s owner (not derogatory, that’s just how they’re represented in the series) that means Muninn had to risk leaving Huginn often to steal food and supplies. Seventeen times in a week may seem a bit excessive, but when you’re building an infirmary from scratch and consider how tiny Muninn’s little arms are, it really isn’t that crazy.

NOW, ON TO WHY DONNIE HASNT SAID/DONE ANYTHING ABOUT THIS YET

This bit’s a little bit flimsy and I’m not too sure how to answer it, but I’m doing my best to fill the 7ft plot-holes in my theory. I believe it is due to a possible combination of three things: (1) He’s worried about how injured his family is and he doesn’t think they can handle another fight; (2) He’s not sure how Leo will react to seeing the Gargoyle pair again (this is the big one); (3) Donnie may not completely trust them yet (HEAR ME OUT!!) and he hasn’t turned off the notifications bc he feels guilty for not doing anything, but he still wants to know that they’re there and alive (also, if Draxum suddenly appears, Don will know about it).

(I also have a theory that Don is going to try and save them himself, but that's a very shaky one because of the trauma of Leo going alone and what that all entailed that glitch has been exploring throughout the fic. He probs has several trackers planted on the whole family by now. I’d honestly be more surprised if he didn’t.)

But I digress. On to theory one: The family is 100% injured and not at all ready for a fight. April is out of commission, Raph's hands are fried (but I feel that he would insist on joining a fight anyway), and we all not Leo's kinda down in the dumps. Plus, everyone is emotionally and mentally destroyed. They are not up for any kind of fight. And Donnie doesn't exactly strike me as the kind of person who intentionally puts his family in more danger than is necessary, especially in this current situation.

Number two: He's not sure how Leo will react to seeing the sidekicks present for the worst trauma he's ever (and hopefully will ever) experience in his lifetime. The pair were there during just about everything that happened to him - including the Battle Nexus, when Draxum wasn't present - and Leo would undoubtedly have made strong links in his mind between the gargoyles and the trauma he experienced. One can pretty confidently assume that having the pair around whilst he is trying to recover and whilst the fear of Draxum's return is still very heavy in the air, is going to cause problems for both Leo and the rest of the family, even if they know that the gargoyles willingly chose to help at the risk of their own lives. And if a dumdum such as myself can make those links, then there's no way that Donnie hasn't made them as well. For the sake of his family (especially Leo), Donnie is choosing to do nothing for the ex-henchgoyles. BUT, with each passing day and as more of the notifications continue, Donnie's guilt may start to eat him up inside and he's likely to just react without thinking (he's very emotionally tense and high-strung, so he's not thinking like his usual, logical self) and try to rescue them. I could go so much further into depth about the repercussions of what the gargoyles being in the lair might do to the fam, especially Leo, but I'm trying to keep this relatively short, lemme know if you wanna know more and I'll theory dump on you :)

Third and final: Donnie doesn't completely trust them. Let's be honest, Donnie's never really struck me as the overly trusting type and this whole situation would have only amplified it and made his trust issues a thousand times worse. This one is probably my flimsiest reasoning and it likely just added on to the others.

Either way, whether I'm right or not, I know glitch won't leave us hanging with that forever. They're a good writer and they don't seem to me to be the kind of author that leaves loose ends just hanging around. Cliffhangers, absolutely without a doubt they leave us hanging off of. But not loose ends (especially with how hard they were hinting at the notifications during the last chapter, it MUST be something important and I am absolutely BURSTING to find out what it is :)

(I'm looking back over and you can tell which one my favourite theory is LOL)

[monty-glasses-roxy]

Okay so Castaway AU is a Jurassic Bark (Roxy x Chica x Monty polyship) AU where it has a similar setup to Sims 2 Castaway in that everyone was on a boat and a freak storm separates everyone onto three different islands. Basically, all of the animatronics from SB, Vanessa, Gregory and Cassie spread out over three islands, though this is subject to change in that, it'd be a lot to cover. Anyway.

This would take place in a universe where they're all furry people, with Vanessa being a rabbit, lioness, or a cat, Gregory as a cat and Cassie as either some kind of spaniel dog, or a mutt of some kind, or possibly a coyote or something I dunno haven't got that far.

Almost everyone was on the boat to celebrate Freddy's birthday. Roxy was there because Bonnie was nervous hanging out with the bear he has feelings for on his own and begged her for almost a solid month to come with. He now owes her several meals, video games and fuck knows what else but she's here and that's what he wanted. They're adopted siblings in this btw as they are in most things I do like this. Gregory is Vanessa's adopted kid so when Freddy invited her and DJ, naturally, their kids were invited too. Cassie was invited because Gregory went behind Vanessa's back and asked Freddy if he could invite his bestie and this bear has never said no to a child in his life. Everyone else? There for Freddy.

The focus would be on the first group, Chica, Monty, Poppet (a Mini Music Man), Roxy and Cassie. Chica wakes up on a beach all alone. She panics, and starts to search for someone, anyone else. The boat is washed up, upside down on jagged rocks nearby, but she doesn't think to check it, her brain scrambled and assuming that the others must have washed up somewhere like she did. She searches the beach up and down, before entering the gloomy looking forest. She finds some food and gets jumpscared by the local wildlife a bit before running into Monty.

They're so excited to see each other. They'd met on the boat and hit it off instantly, talking about this and that for at least a few hours before the storm hit. As it turns out, Monty had been swimming around the island searching the beaches for anyone else while she'd been in the forest and he hadn't seen anyone. He thought he was gonna be on his own this whole time, he's so relieved he's not! He explains that the island is fairly small and the two of them return to searching for the others.

They come up empty handed, but have a much better idea of the layout of the island now so that's nice. They head back to Chica's beach where the boat is, and start gathering up everything they can before night hits. They find all sorts of things washed up on the beach from the boat, along with driftwood and seashells that are helping lift the mood. The tide is out when they hear a noise coming from the boat they were gonna check in the morning.

Poppet is standing on top of the boat, whistling his little heart out to them. The two rush over and figure that someone else is still in the boat and Poppet had managed to get out to find help. Poor lil guy is beat up from his efforts and is frantically trying to show them where this person is... and after some serious struggling to get Chica into the boat, it's discovered that it's Roxanne, who neither of them really know all too well outside of Bonnie. Turns out, she was below deck the entire party and that's why Chica didn't even know she was there, and she's been baking alive in the underside of this boat in direct sunlight all day so yeah with her thick coat of fur? She's melted.

They're heavily relying on the boat not exploding with the lights on to get Roxy out since it's dark out. When they finally get her out, she's taken down to the beach, given one of the hammocks that Monty and Chica built earlier, a coconut or something to drink from and some fruit to eat. She's just glad to be out of that fucking deathtrap they call a boat that she didn't even want to be on and she's stuck here with fucking heat exhaustion from. Instead of being mad about that though, naturally, she's way more concerned about her brother, who she'll eventually return to making threats about murdering if the storm didn't already.

Come morning, Chica and Monty go and search the boat for supplies and anything they might be able to use, while Poppet keeps the fire going and Roxy... sleeps because fuck mornings. When she wakes up, she goes off exploring, searching for any sign of Bonnie or Poppet's siblings she can possibly find. She finds a ledge over the ocean that she can distantly see another island from and wonders if maybe the others wound up over there... and also a small storage container on the beach nearby. She heads down onto the sand to investigate and after discovering it's not completely on dry land, rather than walk through the shallows to it, she makes a lasso out of vine or whatever else she's got nearby and spends like... thirty minutes trying to loop it around the box and then drag it out of the water.

Curiously, Roxy opens the container and falls the kid she remembers seeing Gregory playing with a few times. Roxy has no idea what to do, and struggles to wake her up before rushing her back to the others. Roxy put her in her hammock, gives her coconut water, fruit and Poppet lends her his brother's plush bumblebee he found on the boat. It takes a few days of cold, damp leaves on her head and under her arms to cool her down, and a lot of water before she makes her recovery. Almost instantly, she takes a shine to Roxy, who's wandering around the island most of the day, and howling at the top of her lungs in the hopes her brother can hear her.

As Roxy's attention is dragged back to those that are still here though, she tries not to get too close to Cassie... and fails miserably. The kid was on the boat on her own for goodness sake! There's no need to worry about her dad surviving but she's still hoping and waiting for him to find her. She sits on that rocky ledge with Roxy, watching the horizon for her dad on a boat to take her home while Roxy howls for Bonnie to still be alive. She tries to howl with her and is almost immediately, unknowingly to both of them, taken under Roxy's wing as she helps her howl louder and clearer than she was before.

There's a lot they can do here but I've been writing this for ages so imma leave it and go do something else for a bit lmao see ya

[weepylucifer]

i try to keep it light n breezy on here, but i think i need to write some shit down somewhere. so here is a dreary little tale

so in august of last year, i had covid. it felt like a two-week-long flu, but then it was over. a year ago FUCKING PRECISELY, the Problems started. i went to multiple doctors, but no one paid me any attention, and i was told not to make a fuss, everyone was having post-covid these days, and it'd all go away by itself. further, in a breathtaking display of shittiness, my dad told me to stop being selfish and burden my mother (who, after all, has actual problems!) and himself with my shit. so i gave up. i tried to go on with my life as if nothing had happened, to get a job and finish college, and hoped that the Problems would indeed go away by themselves.

since then i have sat by and watched my body get weaker and weaker and it scared the shit out of me, but there was literally no one who would listen to me or believe me. i lost what little endurance i started out with until i couldn't make the 10-minute walk to the grocery store without almost passing out. i did faint in the grocery store, actually, and i just went home and told no one bc they would have just told me it was my fault, that if i exercised, or kept a proper sleep schedule, or what the fuck ever, i would be in the bloom of my health. for a year now, randomly, my heartbeat goes weird. i started getting dizzy spells out of nowhere with no apparent cause. i live alone. i was frightened all of the time of the day i'd just not manage to take care of myself anymore. i was convinced that if i asked my friends or boyfriend for help, they'd believe i was lying too. i had no idea what was going on with my body. post-covid can, it looks like right now, manifest any fucking symptom ever, which means it could also be anything else.

because the dizziness was getting so dire i barely dared to leave the house anymore, i decided to try seeing my gp again. this time they discovered i'm so fucking anemic it's like a dracula stole half my blood away. after i was Urged to go to the hospital, i arrived at an ER bursting with people and naturally presumed i'd have to hang around for a couple hours, but after i showed them my blood test results i was absolutely Rushed into observation. i got an iron transfusion and am on several new meds as of last week.

today there was an article in the paper (yeah, my parents still subscribe to the local paper) on the one dude in this area who treats post-covid. it lists every symptom that i have. it also says that apparently somehow covid fucks with whatever it is that makes red blood vessels. this could have been explained to me a year ago. it wasn't. i had to let it get exceedingly bad to be deemed worthy of help. that doctor doesn't even have a solution yet. just "eat beets, take walks, and exercise a bit but not too much". i still took the article and put it in my journal bc it's the first thing i've seen in a year that has validated me.

so here i am. my health is in the toilet. i am an absolute twitching anxious mess. even if everything goes perfectly with the new meds (which it rarely does for anyone, does it) it may take weeks or even months until i get to just feel normal again. i still get dizzy every day. sometimes i have a hard time focusing on reading or writing. i can't work. i can't do anything strenuous for fear of passing out. i'm staying with my parents because i'm not sure, if i went back to my apartment, if i could manage to keep myself alive. i haven't seen my boyfriend in weeks. there are friends i'm not meeting, ladies i'm not going on dates with, parties and other events that i'm missing. every time i have to text someone saying i'm not well enough to go out quite yet, i'm afraid they'll get tired of my shit and stop contacting me. my life is basically on hold until further notice.

and there are still people who have been hit way worse by post-covid than me. i am at least not bedridden, and i still have my sense of smell and taste, and it seems like my symptoms can be improved. i'm not saying this to self-flagellate, i'm saying it because it's ludicrous how callously the whole disease gets treated. people want covid as a whole out of sight and out of mind so that we can all be such productive little cogs in the capitalist machine and act like the pandemic is over. tons of people are still catching it. others will never be the same from the aftereffects of it, and there straight up is no cure for that. like what is fucking wrong with us as a world that we consider that acceptable collateral damage. for what, even? just so that we can continue avoiding taking stock of the current episteme that Does Not fucking work for most of us in the first place? just so that somewhere, for the gratification of someone, line go up? why was it so important for us, a year or so ago, to reestablish this figment of normalcy when, again, what was normal was already not working out?

[the-rat-dad-au-fan-story]

Rat Dad AU - Chapter 3 - The return of the feline - (Part 4)

(Warning:English isn't my first language)

(Everyone looks at the wall with the entrace and from behind the speakers from the left self comes out… a half moon animatronic?) Chuck, Helen, Jasper, Munch and Pasqually: MOON! (Then Chuck looks at Sun.) Chuck:… Oh boy… this will be complicated… The Moon: Don't worry there Chucky me and the Daycare Attendant have meet and I decided that I should be called The Moon for now onwards. Gregory: Very creative… The Moon: Well kid I'm just a prop animatronic. I'm not suppost to be very interesting. Gregory: … What a prop animatronic? Chuck: Prop animatronics are background characters that don't do a lot… They usually just are brankground singers. Gregory: They just do that? Kinda boring. The Moon: We prop animatronics give life to the stage! We make those stages fell alive! King: Was this guy always like this? Jasper: Yep… He was always this snippy. The Moon: I heard that! Chuck: Wait if you here… Does that me- The Moon: That Building is here? Yep, apparently he is in Party Room 1 according to your lion friend. Jasper: Wait… You were here? King: I was activated yesterday because the enginners decided to brig me here to test the normal stages. Sun: And after that I came here and meet him and your Moon and Building friends. King: Today I was just hanging out in my stage until the lights went out and that's when I started to hear noises outside so I went to look and I saw you guys in trouble. Munch: So that's how you found us. King: Yeap… anyway let's see your friend. (The squad goes to Party Room 1, meanwhile The Moon goes back to sleep.) King: Everyone. Welcome to Party Room 1 or City Hollywood. (The room was smaller that the last one and there wasn't any tables in this room yet, but there were still a lot of boxes. The room had a small stage on the middle of the back wall with the blue curtains open and it had a neon sign saying "The King" in the wall of the stage. There was also a bigger one fourth of a cylindrical stage with the red curtains open and on the stage there were a lot of boxes with the word "Music instruments" written on all of them. The walls of the room were decorated with silhouettes of city buildings with the lights on and had a night sky. To the left side of the room next to King's stage there was a big box that was design to look like the city buildings silhouettes on the wall. And out of that box came out a new animatronic this one looking like a building.) Building: Guys! Is so nice to see you again! Helen: Is also nice to see you again Building. Building: Oh! Hi Sun! You came to show those guys our new area? Sun: Yeah! Building: That so nice… Who's the kid? Chuck: Well… it's a long story but- Helen: Chuck can I explain this time? You been explaining to everyone at this point. You should problaby give it a rest for some time. Chuck: …Yeah… you problably right… You can explain this time. Helen: Thanks. Ok Building so this is what been happening this night until now-

(Helen starts to explain the events of the night. Chuck is just happy to see King return and that everyone from the modern era of CEC is here… well almost… they haven't seen the singing flowers yet… Maybe they are in the main room of the new Pizza Time Theater and they haven't seen them yet… Chuck then leaves the room alone to explore the main area. He looks around the room but nothing…) Chuck: They not here… Maybe they somewhere else… Yeah problably… This place theme doesn't fit with them very well… At least I hope… (Chuck then looks at the empty portrait on the back wall. He looks at the portrait for some time remebering the past… until he notice something under the portrait… a sign with his name on it.) Chuck: So… this is my portrait… just like my old one. (Chuck then looks at his right and looks at the other portraits signs. First there was Munch, then Pasqually over the kitchen door (Nice), then Jasper, and then the next portrait didn't have a sign yet…) Chuck: I wonder… who can that belong to… (Chuck then sees in the corner of his eye a sign on top one of the tables.) Chuck: Maybe I will find out now. (Chuck then picks the sign.) Chuck: So that portrait is going to belong to Ha- (Then Chuck eyes fully open of shock.)

[fatummortem]

It's interesting how the show the differences between worlds or whatever you wish to call it.

I've seen a few mentions of the multiverse accidentally looking for some tips on minigames. but it just always makes me think of nature vs nurture.

Hurricane-

The final boss fight seems to have left the other world, about 3 sectors of the other worlds Midgard destroyed. Basically all the building we were jumping on came from those sectors. It seems like the main one we play in isn't handicapper in such a way.

the team also all seem to be put into a coma from the experience? Kinda leads me to wonder if it was something they missed or if it's just the fact that Cloud isn't there.

Cloud-

Ends up staying in a coma with Zack alive. He hasn't turned into one of those Robes... well yet?? I think he does considering the trailer shows him as one but I've been trying to avoid those spoilers for now.

The Cloud you mostly play as seems to dream about being there & hears Zack from within the other Cloud's resting place. It's kinda odd until you realize the camera angle is just from Cloud's perceptive.

Zack-

He's the same bashfully energetic dude he's always been but I think he's changed a lot without Cloud & Aerith. Or i should say he's changed with both of them in comas?

He goes off to save her, tries to bring down her helicopter but has to get help from Red. Or at least Red ends up helping out & takes out the pilots. Right after that Zack takes out the one with Tifa &/or Barret within? He of course thanks Red before he ollies out with Aerith & just Aerith. Leaving everyone else to Shinra troopers.

Which I suppose I'd narrow my focus too with depression depending. Zack narrows it down to friends or a small circle, ignoring most people around him while focusing on tasks. Even the kids close to Aerith (except for Marlene), which just seems odd to me. He also seems uninterested in doing anything merc related. Though I have a feeling that if he popped up around the time Cloud had in the other world, things would have gone differently.

It feels like... well I could be wrong. That Zack was pulled from the main world, or the one we mainly play in, right before his death or killing shot & dropped into the other world during the current time after the fight with the whispers.

Avalanche-

I think they all die without Cloud? There's a dramatic X over all but one of their faces in the game but no actual execution's were talked about. So they're either in coma or just died in helicopter crashes? And Shinra is just 'welp no news is better'?

Biggs-

Enter the dude trying to be the main leader & kinda tries to give Zack a focus or well both of them a focus within a dying world. I have a feeling everything from before the whisper fight went down the same or close to it? I donno if that means Cloud randomly vanishes in the middle of the fight and becomes mako poisoned with Zack.

But Biggs seems to be from the main world? Talks about Cloud being a badass. He also mentions he was dying but he was pulled somewhere else like Zack to wake up alive. I haven't finished the game so I could be absolutely wrong.

Anyway he's trying to organize something to help the planet while everyone else is dead & people who want to fight is slim picking.

I kinda like the alterations, totally hate the world but it's a creative way to show differences within a different world. I mean... my reactions wasn't as bad as the second time I ran into Roche. I ended up yelling at him.

[okayish-omens]

I'm having a fucking breakdown

I'm fully an adult now and have been for some time, but fuck i haven't even figured it out yet. I'm still stumbling along trying to make the best of it

I have it all one moment, then it's all gone the next. I feel organized and on top of it one moment then U fall down the next. I know everything one moment then I know nothing at all the next. I'm energized and ready to go one moment then completely exhausted the next. I'm clear on my goals one moment then i'm at the end of my rope the next.

What will it take for me to get just a breather here? Do i have to hurt myself? I'm already under 24/7 scrutiny by myself, but i can still use my body if i need to let it go. Do i really have a mental block keeping me from taking charge or am i just being a lazy asshole? Do people around me really despise me or is that just in my head? How much of my mental state is real and how much is a self-inflicted fantasy?

I've tried asking for help from friends and psychiatrists and they all tell me to "just get over it" but i don't know how. I feel like i have fallen into a pit and instead of reaching out, everyone's just standing around complaining why i haven't "just climbed out" yet.

I'm sorry i don't live up to your standards. Hell yeah i'm frustrated about it and i hate it somewhere, but honestly i think it's time for me to move on and find a better place for myself. I wish i knew how to cure or even kill what's keeping me from making progress and longterm plans but there wouldn't be any more of me left if i did. For some sick reason i ended up with this fucked-up brain. I'm sorry i have mental issues. I'm sorry i keep forgetting. I'm sorry i don't live up to your standards. I'm sorry i'm overthinking at least three different things at any point of the day or night, i'm sorry i can't dedicate my life to you i'm sorry i'm fucked up i'm sorry my head is telling me i'm the most godawful waste of space every fucking minute i'm sorry my constant mental selfharm is keeping me from doing what you want me to do but i'm sorry i can't do what you actually want me to do because i want to live. But it's best if i leave now and not inflict any more damage or negativity around me. I'm sorry i'm a fucking misfit in a sea of grey mice. I'm trying to fit in but it's making me stand out even more. I'm not sorry i'm fucking pissed off about all the fucking backtalk because that shit should be said to my face so i can hear it. Fuck this toxic culture permeating the walls and our screens. Fuck this harboured grudge situation. Fuck two-faced interpersonal behaviour. Fuck setting double standards that seem to disadvantage me while everyone else is completely unaffected. Fuck this bias.

Fuck dreams, right? Fuck standing out, fuck giving room to people fuck open and honest environments fuck encouraging people fuck positivity just fuck all of it i guess

I'm almost at the end of my rope at the end of the cliff and you're torn between pulling me back and telling me to run to the horizon. No not almost. I am there. And i'm afraid to look back and see that the person holding the rope is also holding scissors.

I'm partly the happiest person alive but i've been completely torn down and left to dust at the same time. I've had too many impressions today, this week, month, year. I just want to go to sleep and wake up and be fine more than a lot of things really, trust me.

But i can't get there alone. I need to be guided and dragged there. There's no more power left in me for this, i've given my all. I'm running on fumes and you're telling me to run faster well i can't. If i knew why, i'd have been cured a long time ago but i'm not.

You don't accept me. Not really. You don't accept mental issues. Not really. You don't think i'm valuable. Not really. You don't see what's going on inside. Not really. After being shot three times in the chest, i'm hesitant to get back up and face the barrel again. So i'm sorry. For all of it, i fucking guess. Or not. I don't care.

[solradguy]

(Well, like I was trying to say, someone else will probably do Sol...but in the event that doesn't happen here's your designated Sol request card to be used for emergencies)

Thank you for the bonus Sol request card hahah

🔥 Overall opinion of them:

*gestures at my entire blog* He's alright

🔥 Gender/sexuality headcanons:

There is no way this dude isn't bi. You can't name a character after Freddie Mercury and give him a THREE TIMES RECURRING* character theme named directly after a Queen song and then say he's straight. There's absolutely no way.

*Keep Yourself Alive and then the II and III versions

🔥 Favorite moment in canon:

God there are so many... That scene from Xrd where Sol gets blasted on Ky's whiskey, goes to the room Ram and Sin are in, gives a motivational speech, and then 6P's the window lives in my heart forever though

🔥 Favorite moment in a fanwork:

I actually have an answer for this one. I have a doujinshi called Magic In Your Eyes by Rima Setsura and it has this Sol panel in it. It's hilariously OOC but I have a cropped transparent version I use as a reaction image sometimes:

🔥 Favorite line, in canon or otherwise:

When you have the Japanese voices on in Strive and Goldlewis gets Sol with a full Skyfish, Sol goes "tchtchtchtchtch" really fast and it's funny.

Ok I didn't know Sol's system voice in Xrd gave him dialog for the character select screen too (afaik the other voices don't) and they're hilarious:

🔥 Characters I love seeing them interact with:

Anyone who gets him to not be a dickhead for five minutes. So Jack-O' uhhh sometimes Sin... Axl for like.... two lines in Xrd. Um. Dizzy, kinda...

🔥 Last thing before sleeping headcanons:

Moving the mostly-empty beer can away from the edge of the base of the couch so he doesn't accidentally knock it over when he wakes up later.

🔥 Sleeping habits headcanons:

I drew this before, actually. Before he gets that house at the end of Strive, I imagined he mostly lived out of that small shack described at the end of the Begin novel. It didn't sound like it was very big so I don't think it would have enough space for a real bed and Sol would sleep on this gross shitty couch shoved off into the corner:

Sol's had eyebags in his design pretty consistently throughout the art for GG too. He definitely is not getting the minimum 8 hours a night

🔥 First thing after waking up headcanons:

Grumbling and deciding if he really wants to get out of bed or not, then ultimately getting up anyway because everyone has to go take that morning piss eventually. Sol's hygiene is something I've thought about a lot but haven't been able to quite figure out. He definitely puts a lot of effort into his outfits, getting them custom made AND wearing clean white pants, but then his hair sticks together in solid, stiff, clumps like it's kinda greasy?? I think he might be one of those people who maybe at least washes their face daily and does laundry often but is too lazy to take a real shower every day

🔥 Favorite locations headcanon:

It's sort of implied through his character specific maps in the early GG games that he might be from New York/New York City and in Begin he has a whole daily habit of going out and laying in the grass under a tree every day. But also in the later GG games he has some big desert themes. I think he likes being alone in nature, though if you asked him about where his favorite place to be was he'd give some tough guy answer like "at a bar" or something like that, but in his heart he's imagining a state park in rural New York up in Appalachia somewhere quiet and green.

[stilldancewithyou]

I’ve just spent a couple hours in your tsitp tag and wow I agree with so many of your takes! I haven’t really been keeping up with tags so I’m not sure if this is not discussed but the one thing that made me firmly dismiss jere in the show is the firework scene. not only bc it was selfish but bc it would’ve physically harmed belly and Conrad. Like if he’s so good and loves her so much why would he even risk that? To me that was so 🤢 what is your take on the scene?

okay I have a lot of thoughts on the firework scene. I don't think anyone has asked about it yet so I'm pretty sure I haven't really discussed it yet. I agree with you 100% and I hadn't even thought about what you said about it being dangerous- I was so stuck on him being incredibly selfish and inconsiderate. I don't know why Jeremiah, who supposedly loves her, would risk possibly seriously hurting Belly (or Conrad either for that matter).

I've seen people saying that Jeremiah wasn't selfish in that scene, that basically it wasn't that bad because he was hurt and jealous. And anyone saying that is so wrong! Yes, he's allowed to feel hurt, upset, and jealous. No one would fault him for that. He should have just walked away and been sad about it somewhere else alone or something. But the second he lit the firework, was when it became an issue. He chose to be immature and selfish and put people he loves in danger. And there's no excuse for that. Say what you will about Conrad, but he never put anyone in harm's away- he does everything he can to keep everyone safe.

So yeah, this was definitely a moment that didn't sit well with me. I was actually surprised at how much people defended him especially the fireworks thing. It was definitely something that turned me off him and I really did try to be neutral and love both brothers when I watched the show (I knew I was always going to be team Conrad, but I wanted to love Jeremiah too). I wanted to like him and be able to seriously consider him but I just couldn't. It made me mad that he would interrupt them, knowing that Belly has been waiting her whole life for that moment with Conrad; the fact that Jeremiah could see how happy they both were and still chose to light the firework instead of walking away. To do something so reckless and dangerous just because you're jealous is the definition of selfish. He wasn't thinking about Belly in that moment, he was only thinking of himself. And then you could tell he didn't even feel the least bit bad about it after the fact, even when he saw how happy Conrad was and how giddy Belly was (and he saw how happy they were and the way they looked at each other when Conrad stopped at the dance practice to see her). When he and Conrad were fighting over the coffee the next morning and Jeremiah made a remark about how Conrad looked happy and Conrad said "I'm happy to be alive after you almost killed me" and you could see how angry Jeremiah still was...I was like bro chill. The fact that he saw how happy they were and continued trying to ruin it just wasn't a good look for him. Considering how Belly reacted when the boys were trying to embarrass Cam and when they pulled up to the drive-in while she was out with Cam, I think it's safe to say she would have been really angry and upset with Jeremiah if she knew what he did. And then he acted like he was just this innocent little puppy dog for the whole rest of the show.

I appreciate the creative choice and cinematography of the scene and I know it was showcasing Jeremiah's jealousy and showing the game-changing turning point for Jere that made him decide to get serious about Belly and make a move. But it definitely confirmed my choice of Conrad.

The firework scene also is one of the ones that left me wondering with the most questions after the end of the season. I'm dying to know what Conrad and Belly know. Do they know Jere was out there shooting off fireworks? Do they know he shot the firework at them? Did Belly realize Jeremiah was out there? Was there a conversation between the brothers about the firework that night? It's confirmed that Conrad at least knows Jeremiah was out there lighting fireworks, so I feel like he knows Jeremiah interrupted them just from the vibes of the conversation about Conrad being happy and him saying he was happy to be alive, and Jere saying he already told him he didn't know they were out there. I hope there's a deleted scene of the convo between Conrad and Jeremiah about Jere almost hitting them with the firework. I can only imagine how funny it was.

[keikakudori]

I'm not sure if you answered this before, but how do you think Aizen discovered the truth about the original sin and the soul king? Genuine Question. 🙋🏻‍♀️ xoxo

random asks | always accepting

out. hm ---- that's actually a really good question, anon-san. i haven't gotten any questions about it before and to be quite honest, i think that it ties into how aizen discovered his heritage. now, i've hinted at it and outright said it but aizen's heritage is blood royal. he is a direct son of rei-o and it's --- not something that he really cares about. having noble blood doesn't mean jack if you're bleeding it and noble blood or otherwise -- everyone bleeds red. you get to find that you don't care that much about having such an esteemed heritage either when you know that your supposed blue or purple blood doesn't count for much when you can bleed as easily as anyone else. but for aizen, with how i write him, he got to learn about his heritage and very probably this original sin via dreams. we see that dreams can affect shinigami (me gesturing loudly at toshiro and hyorinmaru) in terms of calling to them and arguably a lot of shinigami likely go through such things when they're learning the way their asauchi forms into their zanpakutou. with how individualized zanpakutou are, i think it boils down far more to that the commonality comes in how they develop. like -- i don't have a very clear grasp on how aizen discovered this and he has not told me much about it either, but i do know that dreams were involved. pernida shows that, despite having been separated from rei-o, it ( he??? ) still has memory of being part of the soul king or at least there's that very strong implication in there? whatever the case, we do see for a fact that the pieces of rei-o are, in a sense, tied to the original soul king - indirectly, but they still are. maybe because he was alive (dead?) for so long? like, kubo, please tell us more when the anime airs i am beG G IN G YOU FOR MORE INFORMATION HERE--- but of course, dreams are not confirmation and aizen? aizen is a curious and inquisitive person and with the advantage of his kanzen saimin, i don't think he had any issues of getting into the daireishokairo. that was where he discovered the research of the hogyoku and how to create an artificial key of the rei-o so i rather imagine that information such as learning the original sin would not have been unfeasible through the archives. i mean, we clearly know that aizen has learned about it thanks to CFYOW which means that aizen has read about it somewhere and i think that, though extensive information isn't presented about them, the daireishokairo archives contain all of the history of soul society. that's often how military archives work. you disseminate only the information that you want people to know. look at the catholic church -- that was how they controlled so much for so long as well, thanks to the fact that many people couldn't read. aizen's absolute bitterness and disgust with the hypocrisy of the seiteitei stems from this time. this bitterness and disillusionment over how indifferent the soul king was with the whole of soul society and with how the seireitei is run didn't happen overnight but they did take years to seep into him. so yeah -- getting to discover his own heritage ( and even he doesn't know if that was rei-o reaching out to him or if it was just something that happened or if he just was left to go through that in the years after he had finally become a proper shinigami; he is aware of how absolutely insane it sounds and as a result is so reticent to speak of it that he's sketched in only some details for gin, which says a lot of how much he's concerned about how it sounds ) was what led him to it. and, of course, it's what made him tell hisagi of what he should look for, after the blood war. there is massive hypocrisy within the seireitei and the central 46 truly needs to be reformed -- but i think that learning part of the original sin of the noble houses was what helped to inspire aizen into the moves he made. a system so broken and damaged should absolutely be cleaned and repaired. burn it all down and build on the ashes, i say.

[cowboymantis]

Let's talk about Kazuto Arase

Yakuza / Yakuza Kiwami , Yakuza 3 side content spoilers. Later on Yakuza LaD too, but I'll give a warning before that especially since a lot of people haven't played that yet.

So I have a lot of thoughts about Yakuza on my mind and just want to scream into the void about it somewhere to write 'em all down somewhere! I'm starting with... Arase.

Yeah, I know, a mostly very hated character (personality and battle-wise) that has so little screen time on top of it all too, is the first thing I'll be talking about.

Hear me out, I actually really love this character and only really started to appreciate him after I went for the Yakuza 3 platinum trophy... I've replayed this game so many times, I didn't mind it when I played through it first but seeing all the hate it has gotten, I went to replay it just in case and with that replayed it again and again because I just somehow loved it so much-

And you know, one part of Yakuza 3, also completion related so there was no way I could've missed it, were the Hitman missions. In general, after playing through all the main games I started to come back to a lot of characters I didn't like or minded the first time playing that are now some of my favourites (other examples are Tamashiro or Lau Ka Long, hell even Katsuragi)!

To come back to Arase, let's start with, well, the start: Yakuza / Yakuza Kiwami.

Introduced already in the very first Yakuza game, Arase is just there for a brief moment in the game, yet has a heavy impact on the game's story and Kiryu. It starts with Arase's oath brother Shinji being shot by Arases subordinate, Mochizuki, at least it looks like it. Shinji came here to rescue Reina, whose corpse then gets dragged on the roof of the Dragon Palace by Arase, Sergeant of the Nishikiyama Family. Now that's a pretty... heavy and sadistic first image for a character introduction, and honestly, his strong personality like that seemed also to be the reason he wasn't exactly loved by other members of the Family.

His battle theme in the first Yakuza game is called "Turning Point" which also puts more emphasis on how important this scene is, Kiryu breaking down, his scream when he sees Reina's body... It's really a turning point in the story.

In Kiwami, his new theme "Virtical Point" is also used as the intro song (or at least, the intro song "Vertical Point" is similar and shortened). Which also once again shows the importance of this piece.

Of course, he's not the most important character in the story, but it's still interesting to see how much there is around him other than his rather short appearance.

Then, his fighting style. Yeah, most hate this too and also the fact that starting from there, other bosses also sometimes use his moveset or a similar one. Like, take Jiro or Jo Amon or Andre Richardson... Basically just the usual dual wielding guns while being an athlete on crack - layout. It is actually not that bad, it's even less bad when you've got the right equipment but I have to admit I didn't really have that much good equipment when I first played all the games and basically just rushed through them because I just couldn't stop!

Arase's goal here of course was also to beat Kiryu but well, just like every other character ever, he couldn't do it and got beat instead.

And that's the end of that... The end of his part in the story and also the end of his part in the Nishikiyama Family, because he got disowned right after his failure.

Which is so... hmm... It makes me think. Many others have tried to take Kiryu down, too. And I mean, Arase was normally a very successful assassin, right? Yet this one failed attempt, at which everyone else too failed, got him disowned? Seems to me like they didn't like him and gave him an impossible task to have a reason to throw him out, huh?

And with that wonderful transition, let's get into his appearance in Yakuza 3.

You get introduced to the concept of the Honest Living Association, in short the HLA pretty much after Kashiwagis death. An association, founded by Kashiwagi to help Yakuza / former Yakuza who weren't meant for this life or just wanted out but just couldn't do in it on their own. For some, all they knew was the criminal life, so having a thing like this is especially helpful. Although, I'm kinda sad this was never a thing anymore after Yakuza 3. The whole concept of it was very cool.

Kiryu gets asked by Ibuki to help the HLA because there is an organisation of hitmen, also known as The Reapers (or The Avengers on PS3) whose goal was a different one than the HLA's, it was to kill Yakuza. The Reapers consisted of former criminals, mainly Yakuza, who were wronged by their superiours and expelled, disowned, you name it. Basically what happened to Arase.

Apprehending those hitmen is a totally optional part of the game and I have to admit, I didn't finish it my first time playing. Which is such a shame because it goes by so fast too when you play it after finishing the game! And the individual stories are all so interesting too, I've really enjoyed this side content and also replayed those missions already. You don't really expect someone like Arase to be behind all of it when it turns out to be him who is the founder and the leader of it all. I was already taken aback by Shinzaki being the lieutenant, or part of it at all. I often stopped by to listen to his guitar playing and talked to him, often asking myself is there's anything else up with him.

And once this one hitman contract came in and guitar playing was mentioned, I was just thinking "It can't be him...?", god, this whole side storyline just was so good. And here people come and say Yakuza 3 was a bad game.

The whole build-up to then reveal Arase was just so cool, honestly. It made me start to look more into his character after this confrontation. The fight was really cool too, just having to fight Shinzaki so many times wasn't really necessary, but Arase seems to like to fight alongside others, so fair enough.

And his theme "End Point" is also just so good. It's more similar to Turning Point than Virtical Point was. The name is also again fitting, since this is the end for The Reapers and Arases power.

It is made clear here that Arase has a strong hatred against the Yakuza and especially holds a strong grudge against Kiryu. He sees Kiryu as the reason he got wronged and had to leave the Yakuza behind, while also seeming to be very aware of the fact that the others there probably didn't like him at all.

He's so angry at him, he holds this whole speech and talks about revenge while Kiryu tries to talk some sense into him, eventually Ibuki also joins and tries to reason with Arase too. Telling him how that's what Kashiwagi wanted, even for Arase to find a new, honest life.

Arase is too strongly lead on by his grudges, so even though it seems like he might be thinking about turning his life around, he decided to not let them help him. Then he goes on about how he will definetly return to take revenge on Kiryu... Well. That's the end of that.

It becomes clear that Arases stubborn way of thinking is kind of childish. Not taking responsibility for any of his actions, thinking that his vile personality and actions are in fact the reason he got disowned. Failing to beat Kiryu was just the final puzzle piece to have a solid reason to throw him out. He's clearly unstable, doesn't think twice before shooting someone, he could turn on anyone and wouldn't be sorry for it. Just, he doesn't seem to really think about what he does.

I guess he probably thinks he's strong enough, he doesn't need to be careful. Also fitting for that is his fighting style in Dead Souls, how when he gets low on HP, he pretty much fends for himself, disregarding orders and just charging head first with full strength.

His Dead Souls appearance is also interesting. Okay, we all know, this game isn't canon, it's a spin-off and just doesn't fit in to the story. But it is interesting how he teams up with Kiryu for a bit and then leaves again. The game itself takes place after the events of Yakuza 4, meaning at this point RGG did remember that hey, they have a rival that swore to beat Kiryu one day. But after that... radio silence.

Really, this is such a shame. Just alone from his short appearances I can talk so much about Arase because he really is an interesting character with so much more potential! The only thing that's good about it is that he didn't die, making him technically one of the longest surviving characters in Yakuza which really is a great achievement.

Okay, we don't exactly know that he's still alive, but assuming due to there not being a mention of him being dead, he's probably alive. He might be, might not. Schrödinger's Arase.

One other thing I thought about is Jo Amon. I mean, his outfit and fight style is also similar to Arase, but that's not what I'm mainly thinking about. So the name Amon is for the greatest assassins, right? And they have a strong hatred against Kiryu at the beginning too.

So, putting those things together, Arase being a former assassin in the Nishikiyama Family, then the leader of a dangerous hitman organisation... Then, to fight Jo Amon in Yakuza 3 you also need to do all the hitman missions other than the substories and the IF7 fights. And to start the search for Amon, you also need to go to Ibuki again, where you got all the other hitman missions.

Yeah, it's a bit far fetched, but ... not too far fetched to think that maybe Arase and at least Jo Amon could know each other. I'd say, they could team up in a future game but. Well... Yeah.

Now some more things I thought about, I'll put a warning here though.

Yakuza LaD spoilers ahead!

Soooo, in this game we've gotten a couple of characters "back" ... Some more real than others... Thinking about Joon Gi's body double.

But one character that survived is Kashiwagi! Now the bartender of a bar named Survive. What a fitting name. After surviving such a heavy attack and believed dead by, well, everyone, it was the best approach to keep a low profile, start a new life. Also, he doesn't seem to be fit for any fighting after the incident.

So Kashiwagi is still there. And, now I just thought about, what if there was a possible redemption arc for Arase? Kiryu is believed dead now too, alone the fact that it seems that Kiryu never met Kashiwagi while being in the same area is kinda sad. I like to imagine they met each other...

I think it could go either way, Arase somehow got information on Kiryu being in Ijincho. He is a professional after all. Plus, by now Kiryu is also, well, not really working with... but. You know, not fighting with the Amon Clan anymore, even having Shin Amon to help determine Ichibans strength with the (True) Final Millennium Tower.

And, now, maybe there can be some other comnecting inside the Amon Clan and some info got out to Arase, ah, hell, I don't know, it's all so far fetched but I just like to have those possible headcanons of Arase somehow coming back!

Another possibility could also be Arase thinking Kiryu has died, just per chance being in the area and just going to the Survive bar? He'd probably be way more open about the thought of redemption and with Kashiwagi probably being pretty good at talking former Yakuza into that, given how the whole HLA was his doing.

Just... Thinking about possible things.

Yakuza LaD spoilers end here!

Well. That's that.

At the end of the day, the chances of Arase returning are pretty much 0, other characters you never thought of reappearing sometimes appear in one way or another, so it can be possible, but probably won't.

But one thing is clear, looking more into this character made me really appreciate him more. I guess that's the fact with a lot of characters, not just in Yakuza, but in general.

The characters in Yakuza are just so well written and even though it has some very weird and silly plot points and plot twists, I just love this game so much and looking more into it and replaying it is just so much fun.

I even started to like the minigames in Yakuza 3, even though I got very hopeless at the last pool opponent and the goddamn Mahjong completion, ugh. But at the end of the day it's all just really fun once you get the hang of it. It hasn't aged too well when you play it after the other Yakuza games, but replaying it on all the difficulties and then casually, then trying to beat it as fast as I can just made me love the game more and more every time.

So, uh... I don't know if it's a blessing or curse for me to often really like the characters that either everyone hates or have almost to screen time. Because well... there's such a lack of content and appreciation but hey that's what I'm writing this for!

I hope maybe someone starts to appreciate Arase more after this - if anyone even reads further after learning that I love this character. :D' I swear I tried to write it with as little bias as possible. I do know he's a morally very very grey character but after all, it's a video game character. (...There's no way I'll ever like characters like Yoneda...Ogita...Or Kume though... ugh)

Well anyway, with that, I go!

[ra-ttdrp]

All the broken puzzle pieces

Dr. Ra:

I look over what Tulsix was able to send me overwhelmed, I was so tired but sleeping would just bring on the Infectious nightmare and I'm forced to drug myself further to numb the worms. The worms naturally keep my body functioning so it makes me far more sicker again then if they we're working in there to keep me alive. A few days of constant work on it, visiting the babies for more blood going towards Nala (and Dathan's) poisoning. Checking on Gwen's recovery, hearing Marcellus complain though his condition wasnt as bad as everyone's else. I still had to come to his beck and call. I twitch having been caught walking down the hall to go see test results in another lab. He demanded when Caelus could be treated next. Its been a few days... I still wasnt sure.. it was..ready. I decided not to update the first machine, instead make a new machine. We might need the old machine for .. for..

I try to remember what Infection was left.. somewhere..

I felt so numbed to them now I couldn't even remember.

(Marcellus): "WHEN is Caelus going to be wok-"

(Michael): "You complain more then my granddaughter.." He tisks at Marcellus coming back from visiting Gwen.

(Marcellus): "Michael! Enough games! Where is he!?"

(Michael): "You cant visit him and get infected again you know..."

(Marcellus): "What about Nala.."

(Michael): "There is no point, both are frozen and can not speak to you."

I inch away to the door feeling like I can leave now. Michael stops me to discus the research on the baby's blood. How it seemed to be positively effecting Dathen. I almost got a complement for 'making them'. But he wont give me the credit for improvement and just betrays on about the small amount of hybrid wraith in Dathan did not prove the blood could help Nala. After seeing Marcellus's DNA structure get completely changed he questioned my methods, reminding me Nala had to be RESTORED in a complete and whole manner and not in some botched way.

"Of course sire, yes sire I understand.."

I say trying to blink away any amount of focus of me being here right now.

(Michael): "AND those names.. what we're you thinking?! UGH just get out of my sight and get back to WORK!"

I wake up from my zone out picturing dirt at his scream and dart for the other room.

Sterling came back from the Trydien sector to bitch about the lost General women, Korra being gone for so long meant there is no political puppet to dangle in front of them so he wanted to get her from Tulco but learned from Uriah she was gone.

(Sterling): "Is Gwen the only who can make her hybrid trydien race?! We need those creatures nullified if she cant then give us the Declension Serum. They are just as powerful as Bain Ones."

(Borin): "We dont know if that caused the Infection or not..its dangerous..no one is allowed to use it.."

He shoots me a look and I stand there feeling more pained at them talking about my greatest 'success' / failure.

(Sterling): "We've used it for years, it did not cause that...whats the point of holding those planets if your just going to leave us with it. Isnt your son the 'king' of Ingnitcore then why is it MY problem to keep them from ripping it apart?!"

(Borin): "I dont have the time to set Nash up there if I did I would have taken care of them far better then you can and have. Get out."

(Sterling): "I'm warning you right now, my Prince if you dont act we'll loose it...."

He leaves rather begrudgingly. I guess I cant ask his help on the job, he wont be sticking around if he has to go back there.

(Peli): "I could take Nash..."

(Borin): "No stay away from that little freak..."

He hushed back at her, much to her surprise.

He then yells at me much like Michal about how I'm not doing enough or something and another.

"Its true, I haven't been able to look at Gwen's..results as much dealing with..Caelus's recovery. But I dont see much promise with her memories. You know that."

I add in, knowing he spent all this time on it. My 2nd option wouldnt be much. Well it would be if I told him the truth.. I know that's Perry's venom. So they we're there..so close..

SO. close.

(Borin): ((I think she did it to herself, its VERY selective memory loss..too selective to be natural. OR you did it..I dont believe she could make something I cant crack...))

"And I can?" I cant mindtalk this weak.

(Borin): "I taught her what she knows!" He counters back and hovers back near Gwen who woke up gaging in pain again, hugging herself if that could help the bandages keep her together in more.

I think..what Perry did wasnt meant for her. It was way to strong. He must have loaded it for Bane.. like a nuke.

(Peli): "Its nothing, nothing your stupid father is going to shut up and let you rest.. dont wake up.. go back to sleep baby."

(Gwen): "N..no I.m...o..kay.."

I stare at her trying to make myself feel ok with withholding what I knew about that. Her insides we're probably going to liquify....

*twitch*

I take a deep yet labored breath cause my lungs without the worms keeping healthy feel like a 80 year old man who smoked his way out of a paper bag. The guilt was to much, I grab Gwen's blood samples and take it to a further away lab to try to stop the liquification. I slack off my research on Caelus's cure a few more days to accomplish this. At least the machine was being worked on, it was on a ship so it could be easily thrown into the sun just in case I also wanted the two way transfer to become a one way transfer..somewhere to be destroyed forever but I wasnt sure yet how to accomplish that. Break it into something compacted like dart yet I had a sickening sort of feeling to that for some reason. Then of course there was general transporter error.

Some day *is too drugged out and overworked to know the day of the year details* ;)

I'm on the Infected hive trying not to puke blood in my hazard suit trying to stay in attention for a meeting.

I prattle on my progress of the machine, well the hybrids building it cause I cant really do the manual labor, at least I got out of that. I was however doing the panel's myself that would be installed last by them when the time came.

(Soren): "How much gunk can you put on that one drone?"

"Oh..you'd be surprised how much..."

I couldn't remember now, how many on Xero...

He looks at me disgusted and focuses on the King trying to be very impressive.

(Soren): "Who goes in first?"

(Michael): "I will only risk Caelus's life if I must... if anyone goes in the new machine it will be Julian.."

"Will you allow me to try to break the buffer so there is no sacrifice?"

(Michael): "Do you think that's wise when this is the most important run though..if he turns out human it will be far better then any alternative."

"Of course.."

I try not to panic, I dont want to even imagine what the drone would be like with..all that.

My health decline for the last few days was now too apparent. The King ordered the only Lyratsian he had trusted, Dr. Quasar's specimen clone from the Safar Zoo to look over more calculations for Julian strain machine. Since whatever he did to himself to have infection full control must have went over my head and been some Lysterian secret.

(Quasar): "I am SO honored for another chance your majesty."

(Michal): "Just get on with it.." He shoos her away and I would have liked to see such a famous scientist at work checking the machine but .. passes out smacking into wall on the way down.

[toomanyfandoms02]

Thoughts - Part 1 // Matthew Gray Gubler x Reader

This timeline is set around 2006 because that's when the actually 2nd season of Criminal Minds was going on. So Matthew is about 26.

Summary - Soulmate AU! Once you turn 18, you can hear some of your soulmates thoughts. And when you meet, your thoughts go silent for 30 seconds. Readers soulmate is quite the character. (Anything you see in bold is the other persons thought.)

Word count : 2.1k

This is kind of experimental lmao, lemme know if you like it :)))

"What was your first soulmate thought y/n?" I got this question often, everyone did. This time it was asked by a new friend of mine, we met in our cinematography class this semester at LAFS ( Los Angeles Film School ).

"I think my story is one of the more fun ones."

"I bet mines better." Her eyes held promise, but I wasn't sure she could beat me.

*It was currently 1:15 pm, and I was waiting patiently for my first soulmate thought. I was with my best friend Marley, we sat in the cafeteria of my college, mind you, surrounded by other people.*

*"What time were you born again?" She had asked the question so many times this hour, by the way she was bouncing, you would think that we were waiting for hers.*

*"1:19 pm for the last time Marley." I giggled, nudging her shoulder. I took a bite of the cupcake she had bought me for my birthday. It took no time for the clock to hit 1:19, I anxiously waited to hear something, anything.*

"Now disclaimer." I told my friend, who I now knew as Alex. "I knew that some people had reported that their first soulmate thoughts were kind of, *loud*. But I can tell you that I was severely unprepared."

*Only 30 seconds after my watch ticked past 1:19, I heard a near deafening screech in my head.*

***"What the fuck?!"** The thought was so obnoxious and loud that I spit the fluffy pastry from my mouth and directly onto the back of another person, holding tightly to my ears, this did not help.*

*"What's going on? What did they say?" Marley leaned over to me, rubbing my back with a horrified look. Not long after, the man I had spit on turned around with a furious look.*

*"Hey I'm so sorry." I choked out, waving a hand at the man. "My soulmate thought was painful." The man rolled his eyes with an angry huff, taking his cardigan off and turning back to his table.*

*"What did they say y/n?!" There she went again, bouncing like a dodgeball.*

*"What the fuck." My eyes darted to hers, narrowed slightly. She furrowed her brows at me. "He literally thought, what the fuck, so loudly."*

Alex was on the floor giggling like a fiend, she held her stomache as if her guts would spill out with so much joy.

"Nope, you're right." She could barely speak between laughter. "I can't beat that." She promptly wiped the tears from her eyes, composing herself. "So you haven't met him yet?" She let out a final sigh.

"Nope. When I meet him, I kinda wanna slap him." A sly smile made it's way onto my lips. "The little shit thinks the weirdest things! I have had to deal with his thoughts for 4 years, and I'm ready for the complete silent bliss when I meet him." I laid my head back on the couch.

**I would really like a fruit roll up right now.**

"Speak of the idiot, he really wants a fruit roll up right now." Alex shook her head at me.

"Maybe he will be funny?"

"We'll see about that. What was your first soulmate thought?"

-

Tonight was Marley and I's 'introduction night.' Similar to a movie night, we have a night every two weeks where we either introduce the other to a new show or movie, alternating turns.

"I think you'll like this one." She plopped onto the loveseat, nearly throwing and spilling the hot popcorn on me while grabbing the remote. "It's a crime show, just started last year so after this season we can just keep up with it. If you like it of course." The show was flipped onto the first episode, it was a man talking about an unsub, or unidentified subject. Then a younger guy walked in, interrupting him.

"Who is that guy?" The words flew from my mouth before I could even think them.

"Spencer Reid-"

"No, I mean his *real* name. He looks *so* familiar." It felt like my brain was eating itself alive, why did he look so familiar.

"I think his name is Matthew Gray Gubler." Marley shrugged, not taking her eyes off the screen.

"Has he been in anything else but this?"

"He models a lot. That's probably where you saw him." She pushed some magazines around on her coffee table and threw one at me. "He's on page 16, Hilfiger Jean's." I flipped to the page, seeing his face again.

"Wow, he is something else. I must have just unknowingly saw him in a magazine somewhere."

"I know! Once I saw him on here, I knew you would think he was cute too. Plus, he's a genius. I figured this would be another Peter Parker situation again." She teased, poking at my giant crush on Spiderman AKA Toby Maguire a few years ago.

"Shut up!" I snickered, throwing a pillow at her head. My own thoughts were interrupted by one that was not my own.

**I wish Halloween would come faster.**

"Its literally May." I whispered to myself, earning a weird look from Marley. This is the typical weird thought, Halloween is big on his mind.

I of course ended up loving the show. ~~And may or may not have had a huge crush on Spencer Reid already.~~

I informed Marley that we would most certainly be catching up on the show regularly, making that out new weekly thing for a while.

Though I could truly not get that Matthew guy out of my head, and I had a weird feeling it wasn't just because I thought he was super hot.

Matthew

**Who is Matthew Gray Gubler?**

The thought nearly made me spit out my coffee as I walked through the set. I knew for sure that wasn't my thought.

*No shit sherlock.*

Now *that* was my thought.

The question swirled around in my head, I really wanted to just think,

*I'm Matthew Gray Gubler!*

Just to make this whole process easier. Who knows if she could even actually *hear* it if I did answer her, or that she would believe me.

So lost in my train of thoughts, pun intended, I ran right into a punch cart.

"Holy shit!" The punch came spilling down right onto my khaki pants. I rested my forehead on the rim of my coffee mug. "I'm so sorry Terry, I was really caught up in my head."

"It's alright." He pulled a towel from his back pocket, throwing it onto the puddle that was forming on the wood floor. "Thinkin' about a girl?"

"Yes actually, thinking about my soulmate. Let me help you with that." I kneeled down on the floor, wiping up the spill. "Sorry again."

"It's all good Matthew." He dragged the cart to the opposite side of the room.

**Why can I not focus damnit?! This trip is suppose to be fun. Focus y/n. Focus!**

Y/n! I've never heard her name before. Maybe shes getting closer to me.

I set my coffee on the table of the reading room, pulling my script out and sitting next to AJ.

"You seem out of it today, are you feeling okay?" She tapped my shoulder. "I saw you run directly into the lunch cart." She clearly tried to suppress a giggle.

"How did you meet Nathan? How did you do it?" My script was not slammed onto the table, my hands pressed firmly on top of it.

"Are you worried about soulmates again? Matthew, she will come to you-"

"She said my name!!" My hands flailed wilding in the air. "I heard her think it! This sucks." I laughed a bit at the end, feeling ridiculous and vulnerable. Ask phone buzzed on the table, interrupting my dilemma.

"Well I hate to stop you in the middle of this debacle, but we have a film class coming in to observe, I guess sit was suppose to be a surprise." AJ shrugged with a pity smile, which is my least favorite version of a smile. I dramatically slammed my head on the back of my rolling chair, groaning like a child.

"Come on Gubler, we don't even have to do anything, we just have to act normal so they can observe. Let's go educate some college kids." She stood above me, patting my head and dragging my seat from the table a few inches. I reluctantly stood up and left the reading room.

To be clear, if it were any other day than the day that I found out my soulmates name, I would be totally in the game. I love teaching people, I love being an inspiration, but all I could think about was how close yet how far I was from meeting the love of my life. I shook it all off, physically and mentally, while heading to the set.

*Time to get my head in the game.*

I hope my soulmate heard that and started thinking of highschool musical.

-

"Action!" I held my prop gun in my hand while following Shermar, he proceeded to kick a door down that had a camera on the other side to capture it. The class that was observing sat on the other side of the door, seeing all of the behind the scenes that goes on during filming.

To avoid making direct eye contact with the camera, I often look right past it. So instead of making eye contact with the camera, I made it with a girl.

Then it was silent.

I stopped in the doorway, leading AJ to slam right into me on her way through the door.

"What the hell are you doing Matthew?"

"Cut!"

**You have got to be fucking kidding me.**

We did not break our stare, her eyes wide now with the realization.

*Wow.*

The girl sitting next to her was shaking her shoulder violently, but she sat unfazed.

"Can you excuse me for a second?" Bobby Roth, our director for the day looked at me like I was dumb, inevitably giving in.

"Whatever, take 5 guys."

I immediately waltzed past the cameraman and over to, who I could only assume, was my soulmate. The girl next to her was promptly slapping her arm and squealing like a pig, but she was giving her quite the death stare.

*She's my kind of girl already.*

Right as I thought that, she looke duo at me with a large grin and a tilt of the head.

*Shit.*

**Damn, even cuter in person.**

"Thank you." I couldn't suppress the automatic pep in my step meeting her. "I'm Matthew, you must be y/n?" It came out as a question because I was worried I would be wrong, and embarrass myself.

Which I've done, many times.

"You know my name?"

"I uh, I heard you think it." I pointed to my head, nodding awkwardly.

"You are so weird." She laughed, which made my face reddened more 3x more than I'm sure it already was.

"What?" I managed to murmur out.

"Well, you just think about weird stuff, mostly Halloween though." She was slowly smiling more as she spoke of me, which made my heart skip a few beats. She was so much more beautiful than I had pictured her. Her eyes held every intelligent thought that I had ever heard from her, and I knew right then that the eyes were the door to the soul. "Now that I'm here," she finally stood to my level, poking at my chest. "Do you wanna do a couples costume? This year?" She did a cute half shrug, as if I would say no.

"Oh my God, you really are my soulmate." I pulled her into a hug, a tight one, never wanting to let her go now that I'd found her.

"Alright guys! Let's go!" Bobby motioned everyone back to the set.

"Yeah, get out there *Spencer*." She patted her hand on my cheek. I didn't know if I hoped that she *did* see or *didn't* see how much I already liked her on my face, but I could feel the admiration spilling from my features.

"I- I'll talk to you after this!" I stumbled backwards from her, going back to the set and awkwardly running my back into the cameraman.

"Can't wait!" She waved with a flushed face, sitting back down next to her friend who was now shaking both of her shoulders violently.

*This is the best day of my life.*

**Same.**

---------

I've got a few more Soulmat AU ideas if you want more! I just don't know if theres any demand, so LEMME KNOW.