#(they’re also not used to being directly disobeyed)

[decidueyedreamerdetails]

I’ve been wondering something about Rayne’s world. Is it like another dimension, or a different universe entirely? I remember reading that she traveled between worlds. How does she do that?

Also a semi-related question. Do Legendaries in that world function the same as in other worlds? Like do they fulfill the same roles, or do they differ in any way?

Lastly, are Legendaries in your universe(s) immortal? I know that Rayne killed a bunch of them, but would they have died eventually anyway, or are they functionally immortal and can only die by a deliberate act? Is there a special technique you have to use? (I’m not planning on killing any of them I swear)

Sorry if that’s too many questions, I started thinking of more and more as I wrote this XD

What is Rayne’s World?

As a pre-warning I’m going to apologise for my blatant misuse of the word ‘Universe’. I know what it means, and the space and physics loving side of me hates that I’m misusing it, but I cannot think of a better term to explain it, so sorry in advance.

Okay, so to start with I’m going to explain what I consider Universes and Worlds! A Universe is a collection of Worlds (and some inbetween space, such as the Distortion World, Ultra Space, etc) and each Universe only has one Arceus and Creation Trio.

A World, however, is more comparable to the ACTUAL definition of universe - like the one we live in! The Pokémon, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, and Poképark games would all be three separate Worlds for example! Furthermore, Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl would always take place in seperate Worlds, due to conflicting events.

Basically, if something would count as an alternate universe or alternate timeline, it’s a new World! If you’ve seen my Toyhouse, Canon Compliant and Hydra’s World (or as we’re calling it here, Rayne’s World) are both different Worlds in the same Universe, whereas Gods and Servants is another Universe entirely!

How does Rayne travel between Worlds?

Well, to answer that, I’m going to have to talk about another character entirely, as Rayne’s story does not begin with herself.

It begins with a Hisuian Decidueye, partner to the main character of Canon Compliant’s events of Pokémon Legends Arceus. This Decidueye is called Tansy, and after the events of PLA, she was frustrated that Arceus did not send her Trainer back to the present, and decided the reasonable course of action would to be to fight Arceus to show them that they were in the wrong.

This did not work, and Tansy was killed by Arceus after a hard battle. Impressed by her strength, however, they decided they could use her to help subdue rogue gods in others Worlds. Tansy was reborn as an Alolan Decidueye, and given a blessing so that she could not truly die - she would instead travel to another World when she was either killed, or subdued the rogue god in that specific World.

However, Tansy eventually stopped enacting Arceus’ will, and yet the god was not ready to lose out on her strength just yet. Tansy’s corpse had remained in Arceus’ realm, and so they decided to make an artificial soul to inhabit it and use its power. A soul that had Tansy’s skills and her blessing, but none of her personality, only a desire to make sure the gods did not step out of line and cause major problems. This being, now inhabiting inside of Tansy’s repaired body, was sent out into a random World to wake up. Initially, they did their job very well, but eventually became jaded by the amount of rogue gods they saw, and decided the obvious solution was to kill all of the gods before they turned rogue.

As I’m sure you will have guessed by now, this being was Rayne, although she is fully unaware of her origins. As far as she knows, she woke up in a field with amnesia, and has always been able to travel between Worlds either through death, or killing the ‘correct’ god.

However, after she became determined to kill every god in the World that we know as Hydra’s World, Arceus limited her blessing, and she was no longer able to travel between Worlds. Instead, she now returns to that same World, after a period of a few days to a few months.

Legendaries in Rayne’s World

Short answer to that; the Legendaries & Mythicals in Rayne’s World are actually recruited from other Worlds, and although they typically have the same powers as the others of their species, in their new World they are expected to be doing the jobs of multiple gods.

Long answer: there were eight gods who travelled to Rayne’s World (a Meloetta, Shaymin, Landorus, Tapu Fini, Hoopa, Celebi, Jirachi and a Yveltal), as well as Lilith the Darkrai, the sole known survivor, due to allying with Rayne. Furthermore, there have been three gods born (a Marshadow named Darci, a Jirachi named Goose, and a Hoopa named Currant) and a single demigod born (Sotis, Rayne’s child), making the total number of divine beings thirteen.

The Jirachi, who is called Shallot, is currently sleeping, but their job was to take the light from Luci’s corpse (a Necrozma who assisted Rayne during the mass deicide, and later betrayed her) and redistribute it. However, some of that light was already used up, leading the world to have shorter days and winters of darkness.

Shamin, Landorus, Celebi and later Goose are in charge of making sure enough plants are growing in the world for food, as winters are extremely cold and lack sunlight, easily killing the majority of plants. Additionally, Landorus is in charge of making sure storms do not become too destructive.

Tapu Fini is in charge of making sure the seas do not become too violent, as well as currently holding the objects housing the souls of Treasures of Ruin to prevent them from reincarnating - their seals did not last forever, and they eventually broke free, causing a lot of death and destruction to a world that is already very sensitive to that. The reason why she was chosen to be the holder of them is that none of them can get access to their element underwater, so they are unable to reform their bodies!

The Yveltal, Mara, and her son Sotis, are effectively performing the role of the full Aura Trio by ensuring both life and death stay in balance, rather than just death, as they normally would as Yveltals. It is their job to monitor how many have died, prevent unnatural revivals or gaining of immortality, and in the worst case scenario deliberately revive Pokémon to avoid their World from completely dying out - humanity is already extinct, as well as a few Pokémon species, and the population is very low in general.

The Hoopa, named Allium, and his daughter Currant, are in charge of obtaining any objects someone may need from another World! Furthermore, if you want to leave this World, you will need to talk to Allium and convince them to use their rings.

As an adult, Darci uses his powers to both deliver messages between the gods, as well as explore the world, both surveying the state it is in and bring anything he finds worrying up to the others, and trying to find items that may be useful! She also provides Z-Crystals, as her body naturally forms them!

Lilith, both due to not being fully trusted due to her past (although is she is trusted far more than Rayne, due to her genuinely being kind, and as far as the other gods are aware, never actually killing another god, only helping Rayne and Lilith plan) and causing nightmares as a Darkrai, does not officially have a job. However, she is often the one the other gods elect to talk to Rayne, as they are close friends.

Meloetta basically works as the overseer of both the gods, making sure no one is having any interpersonal issues (which is very common, unfortunately) and that they are both doing their job and not abusing their powers against mortals (something Rayne has made clear that she will not tolerate). Basically she’s their manager!

Overall, they are doing a LOT more work than they typically should be doing - either by covering domains related to theirs, or a much larger territory than they would usually. It is apparent that the gods are stretched thin, as their World is far less habitable than others, but fortunately the remaining Pokémon have adapted to these harsh conditions!

Legendary/Mythical Immortality

Arceus and the Creation Trio are the only ones who are truly immortal in every sense of the word, as they are less living beings and more part of the Universe itself, and need to uphold its order.

However, Mythicals and Legendaries lifespan range from long-lived to immortal to being able to revive themselves! They are all able to be killed, but how difficult a task that is depends on who you are killing, especially if you need them to stay dead.

Generally, Mythicals tend to only be long-lived, and will eventually die by natural causes, whereas Legendaries are immortal and have to be killed by outside means.

You’re correct in that some of them do need a special method to be truly killed though! Victini, due to being the Victory Pokémon, is very hard to kill in direct battle, as that is a situation where there is a winner and a loser. However, indirect confrontation, such as poisoning or natural hazards, would circumvent that issue!

Furthermore, Xerneas and Yveltal have to be killed twice to avoid them simply reviving themselves, by destroying their tree and cocoon respectively.

Most of them, however, only require you to be strong.

Thank you for asking all of these questions by the way! It’s nice to know what may need elaborated on explanation wise, and all of your questions I have genuinely thought about before!

[miraculous-ninjabird]

Now I know everyone else is losing it about 110 (and I am to to an extent though I believe in Akutagawa saving Aya) but I having delusional theory thoughts about 109, Dazai and No Longer Human and I have to share them.

It starts with the fact that Dazai can canonically channel his ability through objects. We know this because this is how he and Chuuya defeated Randou in the 15 light novel. This is why Dazai’s ability works even through clothing and why Tainted can’t be used on Dazai even through a conduit. In 109, we see Chuuya directly touch the gun to Dazai’s head before he shot him. We cannot, however, see if that gun is still touching Dazai when Chuuya takes the headshot. All we know for sure is that Dazai was shot 4 times, there are only three impact holes on the wall, and we never actually see the bullet make impact on his head.

This is my theory thus far:

Chuuya, thanks to Arahabaki, is not completely under Fyodor’s control in that he has some free will to move and see and hear but he cannot disobey a direct order. Chuuya understands exactly what Dazai’s angle was when he tried to provoke him into punching him.

Fyodor tells Chuuya to back off since being touched nullifies the vampirism. But what Chuuya knows and supposedly Fyodor doesn’t is that Dazai does not have to directly touch him. All he needs is for Dazai to simultaneously be in contact with the same object as him. So he shoots Dazai in the shoulder (perhaps to show he has free will perhaps just to get Dazai back for all the suffering his plans put Chuuya through in the past) and uses that chance to get up close and touch the gun to Dazai’s head. This action then nullifies the vampirism.

Dazai, initially shocked by the shoulder wound (likely because even he couldn’t be exactly sure how conscious Chuuya was under the vampirism), immediately picks up on what Chuuya has done. However, they cannot under any circumstances let Fyodor know what’s happened. Hence the ‘Am I though?’ when Fyodor tells him he’s all out of plans and the line about finding the right words to cause a miracle and have Chuuya returning to normal. This is Dazai’s subtle way of saying ‘I see and I understand but now is not the right moment to play our hand’

Everything from this point onward is an act. Chuuya and Dazai are just pretending Chuuya is still under Fyodor’s control. Chuuya can take step back and then manipulate the gravity of the bullet shot at Dazai’s head. Since it’s being effected by an ability, it would nullify the instant it touched Dazai’s skin. If I’m understanding how No Longer Human worlds correctly, this means the bullet would theoretically drop harmlessly to the ground, but not before causing a surface wound in the split second between when the bullet hits its target and Dazai’s ability kicking in. This makes for a fairly believable act since Fyodor doesn’t have a good enough angle to see the bullet fall.

Chuuya fires the additional two shots are also a part of the act so that Fyodor will be confidant that even though the headshot didn’t kill Dazai immediately, he was still as good as dead thanks to the other three shots and the broken leg. He then steps back (still not facing the camera) and pretends to be completely unaffected.

Fyodor will have assumed he won. He thinks Dazai is dead, he thinks Sigma is dead. With all the guards gone and Dazai gone, he has no further use for Chuuya. This allows for soukoku to make their move and execute (an albeit modified version of) Dazai’s original plan. (Which I’m personally choosing to believe was killing Fyodor and getting Sigma out, relying on Yosano to be on standby should something happen to Sigma. Her presence though would also ensure his survival as long as they’re quick enough)

Now granted. Chuuya’s eyes look the same as they have the whole arc and he has no visible reaction to this turn of events. But we don’t see his fangs and there’s also the fact he’s also known Dazai for a very, very long time. They know each other inside and out. The hardly even need to communicate anymore to know what the other is thinking. The moment Chuuya comes back to himself is the exact moment everything turns back in Dazai’s favor because they are Soukoku and together they are unstoppable.

Chuuya may not be as brilliant as Dazai but they would not have been such good partners nor rivals if Chuuya was not capable of thinking on his feet fast enough to keep up with Dazai’s thought processes. They also wouldn’t have made good partners if Chuuya hadn’t at some point learned to play up the roles Dazai’s elaborate plans required. If he’s smart enough to keep up with Dazai’s lightning quick plans then he is capable of thinking on his feet fast enough to come with his own way of achieving Dazai’s original goal. (Nullifying Chuuya)

I honestly think with the way it was specifically framed so that even we can’t see what actually happened when Chuuya shot that gun plus knowing this additional fact about how Dazai’s ability works plus the odd number of bullet impacts plus the fact there is no way Dazai would have been able to speak after being shot in the head like that is enough evidence for me to say with reasonable confidence that Dazai is not dead.

I also love the idea that this was not a part of Dazai’s plan. He was not expecting Chuuya to be there initially and after the failed attempt to provoke Chuuya he was not expecting to survive that encounter. I love the idea that Chuuya is one of the few people capable of actually taking Dazai by surprise and that he genuinely did not expecting a turn of events that could actually end in his survival. We already know Dazai wasn’t planning on escaping the prison anyways. All Dazai needed was to get the information he needed on Fyodor’s ability and stop Fyodor from further interfering with his plans to stop the Decay of Angels. What happens to his own life doesn’t matter as long as those two goals are accomplished and he can put his trust in Sigma and his ‘Angel’ to finish what he started.

But with Chuuya in the picture and on his side, he perhaps doesn’t have much of a choice. There’s no way Chuuya is gonna let him just die like that. (He may still die but Chuuya is def gonna do his best to prevent that.) I love the implication that it would be all thanks to Chuuya, his quick thinking, his deep understanding of both his partner’s thought processes and ability, and his genuine desire to see Dazai live that Dazai has any chance of survival at all.

(Bonus notes and at the end since it would have interrupted my flow but. Knowing BSD and it’s penchant for dramatic twists and crazy cliff hangers I would not put it past Asagiri and Harukawa to have portrayed Chuuya as still a vampire just to up the suspense)

Images/supporting evidence/more rambles under the cut (includes 15 light novel and chapter 109 spoilers)

Light Novel Evidence

This is a man who genuinely does not understand What The Fuck just happened and is mad about it because he prides himself on not being taken by surprise.

This is the face of a man who realizes something is happening but is so thrown he hasn’t quite figured out what yet

And this is the face of a man who has figured out exactly why things just played out the way they did out and is pleasantly surprised by it.

Gunshot? What gunshot? I don’t see anything here? hmmm….. (also verrrrry convenient that we cannot see Chuuya’s expression in this panel. In fact we don’t see his face at all any of the times he fires the gun after the initial shot. Which if you ask me is pretty sus.)

I would also like to point out that the vampires don’t seem to talk, and that there hasn’t been a single point since Chuuya’s introduction as a vampire where he has any sort of speech or thought bubble assigned to him. Just sound effects.

Not a single point. EXCEPT.

This panel here. Right after Dazai supposedly ‘dies’ we get to see Chuuya going ‘…’

But why would they include that? We know he’s a vampire and we know he doesn’t talk. (I’m thinking they can’t speak unless ordered to and/or Chuuya has been ordered not to speak to Dazai). Chuuya could have just stood there silently and emotionless without the ‘…’ bubble and it would have had the same effect. Unless this was a way to highlight that Chuuya is specifically choosing not to say something rather than being completely unable to. Which. Interesting to think about. (I won’t discount the possibility that it’s supposed to highlight Dazai’s silence but personally that would have made more sense if they put it on the empty Dazai panel instead. Plus I think this idea is way more interesting.)

Anyways if you stuck around to the end I’d love to know what y’all think of this

[im-not-a-joke]

Aziraphale is so close to being human it physically hurts my soul. Yes, he eats, he drinks, he enjoys art and literature and he buys clothes instead of miracling them and he insists on taking a drivers test when he doesn’t have to but also. He suffers. He suffers because he believes he needs to suffer before the Almighty to prove his devotion. He’s an angel, it’s not religion for him, it’s just his existence, but he suffers anyways because he lives on Earth and finds more kinship in mortals and one of the Damned than he does in his own kind. He suffers because he believes he deserves it. From The Beginning when he gave away his sword and protected a demon from the rain and lied to the Almighty directly about it. She has not punished him, but he believes he must be punished for it. He disobeyed Her. He lied to Her. He isn’t like other angels, and that must be a Bad thing, he must deserve the life he entreats himself to.

He realizes he’s in love, and for a few moments, he forgets. He lets himself be in love, lets loose, basks in the way Crowley is nothing but supportive. And then Furfur interrupts, and it all comes crashing back into place. He must suffer, and he must protect the one he loves. He is a principality, it’s his job. Not only can Heaven and Hell not find out for Crowley’s sake, but he cannot let himself get too close. He doesn’t deserve to be able to love Crowley, he has not earned it. He must suffer more before he is rewarded.

They (the humans) stop the apocalypse. They (aziraphale and Crowley) get heaven and hell off their backs. The Almighty stays silent. Aziraphale must still suffer. He gets closer, heaven and hell already know, hiding is pointless, but 6000 years of Not Talking About It and Making Himself Suffer can’t be unlearned that quickly. But She is still silent. Maybe it’s okay, maybe he can let himself have something, maybe he can try, maybe he can, slowly, start giving himself to Crowley.

Gabriel shows up. Heaven and Hell are back on his back, but he isn’t Heaven’s anymore, he is still trying. He is going to give himself to Crowley, and they’re going to figure it out Together. An Us.

But, then again, maybe he does still belong to Heaven. Maybe that isn’t something he can change. He still belongs to the people who cast out his love, the people that so callously want to destroy his home, the people that would punish their former head angel for the sin of loving a demon. But, then again, maybe he can fix that. Maybe he can right their wrongs. Maybe he can reframe it all, maybe no one has to suffer. And, maybe, just maybe, he can see that smile again. The one he would rather look at than the birth of a nebula. Maybe he can fix heaven’s biggest mistake.

Or maybe he can’t. Maybe he’s making the wrong choice. Maybe he needs to suffer more. Maybe he has good intentions, but can’t express them to the one person he wants to express himself to. Maybe he needs to suffer more, so that his love may live peacefully on Earth. And maybe then, after he bears that load, maybe he will finally be worthy of being loved.

[dragondemoness]

the Junko and Mukuro ditzy little brother prompt so how about dealing with the girl that he has a crush on and also first finding out their precious baby brother has a crush, but with Maki and Tenko I just would love to see them being overprotective big sisters and wanting their brother to be with a girl that treats them right. Lol let's hope tenko passes

Junko and Mukuro Finding out their Ditzy Younger Brother has a Crush on Maki and Tenko (separate)

Dealing with Maki 

They’re not a fan of her

Junko thinks she’s a creepy bitch, and Mukuro thinks she’s sketchy

For someone who was the “Ultimate Child Caregiver”, she had a very unfriendly attitude 

Mukuro isn’t even sure that’s her real talent

Technically she would be correct, but we’re leaving that out

So what do they do?

SPY

They follow you and spectate your little hangouts

You seem much happier with her, and even Maki is smiling more

But nah, fuck that

The second you leave, they’re on your ass

“(Name)! What the hell are you doing with creepy pigtails girl?!”

“Easy, Junko. (Name), we’re concerned that Harukawa isn’t everything she says she is. We advise that you steer clear of her.”

You didn’t take that shit and booked it straight home

Junko doesn’t feel bad about it, but Mukuro can’t take you ignoring her

As long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters, right?

So they reconciled with you and had a talk with Maki

“I already know you two don’t trust me. You think I can’t hear you spying on (Name) and I? And you don’t have to worry. I may not be the most approachable person, but (Name) means a lot to me, and I’m not gonna sit around and bully him.” 

They’re still wary of her, but at least she makes you happy

So they can tolerate her for now

Up until the truth comes out

Dealing with Tenko

HELL. NO.

No brother of theirs is gonna end up with a sexist bitch 

Their words, not mine

They had no idea why you tried so hard to be her friend, but it wasn’t worth it

It couldn’t have been

Even when they spy on the two of you, it pisses them off

Tenko acts like such a bitchy tsundere towards you, even though she isn’t directly rejecting your offers to hang out

They’re about to interrupt when Tenko suddenly excuses herself

And you’re still staring after her with that dumb, lovestruck look in your eyes

After she leaves, they jump out and confront you

“(Name), what the fuck was that?! I know you’re always on our asses for being overprotective, but that was just ridiculous! Grow some self-respect, jeez!”

“I have to agree. No amount of desperation is worth the way she treats you.”

And like always, things don’t go well and you ghost them for a while

But both of them think they’re totally in the right

You deserve way better than that

But of course, you disobey their wishes and continue hanging out with Tenko

They’re prepared to shut it down until they notice something different

Tenko was… Improving?

She was a lot less rude towards you, though she still seemed stiff and awkward

At this point, this was driving them nuts

They needed to know what Tenko’s angle was

So they confronted her after you left

“I get why you two are worried. My master taught me to be wary of men. But (Name) has been helping me get better about it, even though I was super rude to him. But I promise it’s not gonna happen again. Even if it’ll take getting used to, I’ll give him all the love he deserves, I swear!

They’re still not sure where they stand with her, but she seemed truthful, so maybe they can give her a chance

So then, they reconcile with you and give you their “blessings” to date Tenko

They’ll still spy on you guys every once in a while, to make sure Tenko holds up her promise

And if she continues, maybe they can tolerate her

[bumblebeerror]

jesse what the fuck are you talking about...

i know you said you won't respond, but i don't care. you don't have to. i'm replying because i feel the need to reply. i'm not looking for a response anymore.

"i'm aggressively kind, and not nice" what. i want to study your brain under a microscope. the entire paragraph about what you do with your friends is alien to me. it just does not compute. i don't understand. what the fuck even was that? i've never done that or seen anyone do any of that. what the fuck?

kidness isn't a human right.

education, food, water, shelter, family, medicine... those are human rights. you are not entitled to kindness simply because you were born into this world. you have to earn it.

the fact that you believe bad people like the ones i mentioned deserve kindness tells me you have clearly had a very good, safe life and have never been truly hurt or come face-to-face with evil. if you did, you'd quickly change your philosophy. let me guess, you also oppose the death penalty? figures.

i am not about to fotce myself to disobey my instinct/intuition. when my gut tells me something, it's for a reason. when i get the creeps around a registered sex offender, i can't just ignore that. not just for moral reasons, but because it's a self-preservation instinct too.

"kindness isn't empathy, kindness is compassion" EMPATHY AND COMPASSION ARE SYNONYMS?????????????????????? they mean the same thing. literally what's the difference???????? what.

i've been bullied extensively, please don't fucking lecture me on what bullying does. i can honestly say bullying had a positive effect on me. it helped me build thicker skin and now i'm no longer so hypersensitive. it builds character for many people.

"there's a reason you have trouble making friends" it's not my fault i was born this way. i've tried making and maintaining friends since i was a little child. but fuck it is impossible. making and maintaining enemies is very easy for me, however.

i'm sorry, but i don't think i can remember 20 people, let alone make 20 friends??? that sounds exhausting. i don't even truly know 20 people. i only truly know my mom, dad, sister, grandfather and (dead) grandmother. i think of the people i used to go to school with a lot, but i only knew them superficially. we never truly knew each other.

there are many reasons i have no friends. i think i know myself a little better than you know me. my problems are much deeper than just "not willing to be kind". i've always been distant and uncomfortable with intimacy. and i have a disneyland of problems and difficulties, so even if i did learn to be "kind", i would still have no friends.

it's better to be friendless and tough, than friendless and a pushover.

Yeah, alright. Since we’re off the idea that bullying teens as adults is remotely acceptable, I’ll play ball. You can take this answer or leave it - I don’t care.

1) I explained the difference between kindness and niceness already.

2) kindness is realizing the inherent value of another human and taking actions to that end, whether directly or in politics/raising awareness.

3) I am fat, disabled, poor, mentally ill, have lost several very close family members including my father, and I’m queer; if you think my life has been easy, I want whatever you’re smoking.

It is because my life has not been easy that I know that people deserve to be treated as people, even if they suck.

I don’t put myself in danger either. But it’s not hard to realize that prisons are new slavery or that sexual assault and torture via other inmates and guards isn’t a morally correct way to deal with anyone who breaks a law. I’d hope you’d also realize that being a bigot doesn’t exactly warrant the death penalty.

4) Empathy is the ability to put yourself in one’s shoes and understand where they’re coming from.

Compassion is actually helping someone in need.

Which is why autistic folks have been trying to make it clear for years that being low empathy doesn’t make you evil.

5) I’m sorry you’ve been bullied. Personally, the only thing bullying taught me was to hate who I was and mask extensively.

Have you considered that you struggle to make friends because you don’t reach out to people for fear of them bullying you? Have you thought of the possibility that being bullied in fact changed you for the worse and made you less able to be yourself and be open with friends?

There are loads of studies on what bullying does to developing minds. I’m sure you do feel as if it’s helped you. Check back in on that in 2 years eh?

6) You were not “born this way”. Humans are, whether you like it or not, social creatures. You have unfortunately been taught by your bullies that people are unpleasant and out to get you. This isn’t true, and it’s fairly easy to root out those who are when you’re an adult in control of who you talk to or see.

Because imma be straight up with you king. I’ve got ADHD and autism, and even with those difficulties making friends those disorders represent, I still make friends exclusively because I treat others how I want to be treated and try to be the friend I’d want to have. I have such a wide circle of friends because I treat them well without the expectation that they’ll always be able to match that. I’ve not had a problem since I started doing so.

You have trouble making friends because you are an unpleasant person who does not think of others, and because you have convinced yourself that you were not made to have friends. Have you ever planned an event for your friends? Do you ever reach out to talk to them? Have you ever tried being the friend you want to have?

Because until *I* started doing that, I was a lot like you. I even believed it was other people’s fault nobody wanted to be friends with me. And if that wasn’t the case, I just wasn’t suited to having friends. Sound familiar?

I am also viscerally uncomfortable with intimacy. I also have trouble expressing emotions. I have a flat affect. I have multiple health issues and neurological issues related to them. I do not understand how to comfort others. I still have friends and I still get on well. Don’t put up your own barriers, mate. There are plenty of folks who have similar issues. Unfortunately this is a case where you aren’t special, and that’s a good thing.

7) I’m sure being tough will get you far when you have nobody to rely on for help.

I’m not a pushover for recognizing that other people have needs and inherent value.

[dailycharacteroption]

Class Feature Friday: Tyrant Cause (Pathfinder Second Edition Champion Cause)

(art by johnsonting on DeviantArt)

One of the great things we’ve seen with 2nd edition is the reorganizing of the old paladin class into the champion, a warrior whose beliefs define them and are granted divine power to see them enacted into the world.

We’ve seen the three goodly options so far, but today we’re looking at the first of the three evil options! (No word on when if ever we’ll get neutral options, though it doesn’t look likely since they’re doing away with alignment in the upcoming Remaster, but never say never.)

In any case, the tyrant, epitomes of “might is right”, powerful divine warriors that believe that the world is ruled by the strong, and the weak must step in line with the will of their betters or be punished severely.

As you might expect from a lawful evil version of the champion class, tyrants are devoted to the ideals of power and hierarchies. The idea of authority being derived from the consent of the people is absurd to them. Authority is seized by those with the strength to do so, for the betterment of all, and by “all”, they mean themselves as their betterment is the reward of rule, and those beneath them should be grateful for what scraps they are given. After all, it’s their own fault for not proving their worth and rising through the ranks (but not so fast or high as to threaten the tyrant’s power, of course).

Of course, not all of these champions can truly be absolute rulers, and many serve powerful masters while seeking ways to grow their own authority, and possibly supplanting their masters.

The tyrant first appeared in 1st edition as an archetype for the antipaladin, as a way for fans of the evil class to be lawful evil servants of cruel order rather than divinely empowered vagabonds and vicious destroyers. Make no mistake though, neither that 1st edition version nor the modern champion tyrant are known for showing mercy unless is suits their plans to do so.

Indeed, as we will see, these warriors rule with an iron fist, and one way or another, they seek to bow all to their will.

Like all champions, tyrants have a divinely blessed reflex in combat. However, evil champions typically have one geared towards those that dare to strike them instead of bringing harm to others nearby, and this is true of tyrants. In their case, these profane warriors demand that the offending attacker prostrate themselves before the tyrant for daring to attack them, lest they be punished. The foe can refuse, but their dark power punishes them with pain and suffering for daring to disobey their better.

Their smite improves this punishing harm with continuous agony afterwards as well.

The exalted form also causes nearby foes to also be compelled to drop as well, but the punishment for refusing is not as severe as the primary target.

Naturally, there is a single feat tied to this cause: Iron Repercussions, which causes the damage of their punishment to become persistent.

Other feats that may be useful to them include Conceited Mindset, Lightslayer Oath, Aura of Despair, Cruelty, Sacral Lord, Corrupted Shield, Smite Good, Greater Cruelty, Sense Good, Litany of Self-Interest, Pale Horse, Divine Reflexes, Litany of Depravity, Sacral Monarch, Fiendish Form, Fiendish Mount, and Sacred Defender. Of course, your build may differ depending on exactly what you’re going for.

This is a fun cause to take if you’re wanting to play an evil character, especially with a reaction which lets you force foes to either take a not-insignificant amount of damage or put themselves in a compromised state, which is fun. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that as of the time of writing, there is only one feat tied directly to this cause, and it specifically and immediately makes one of the abilities you gain by level up obsolete as incredibly low level. What’s more, since their reaction does not buff the damage that their own strikes do, it leaves them unable to make use of several feats associated with the tenets of evil. With that in mind, I would focus on a build that seeks to hamper and strike down foes, applying constant pressure.

We’ve discussed this repeatedly on the blog, but an important thing to remember with evil characters is that they can absolutely work together with goodly characters as long as it suits their interest to do so. Tyrants in particular, with their interest in leading and control, will likely plan around having to work with their goodly “allies” until the time comes when they become to strong or well-connected to stop.

Resembling kites rather than ravens, the tengu of Alkaar Pass are said to be descendants of asuras, and like their ancestors, peddle false enlightenment that leads to power, but not wisdom. Fiercest among them is their leader, the faultspawn Sugoda, who rules with an iron talon.

Not every tyrant champion is a product of advanced civilization. Indeed, in the Eternal Lands, the leader of the Skullshatter tribe is every bit the avatar of tyranny and fiendish power as any other profane warrior, and his Warhammer shatters bones just as easily as the cranium of his pachycephalosaur mount.

Though he understands none of it, Svak the Breaker finds himself in control of a massive fortress full of ancient technology and magic from a forgotten era. However, he has done so at the behest of his master, whom he despises. Rebelling now would go against his beliefs, but soon, he plans to turn on his master and assume direct command of all of their forces, but first he needs someone who understands the wonders that surround him.

[lupon]

Door symbolism

There’s a lot of closing and opening of doors in Stranger Things, which yeah, duh, but I think there’s something more going on. The use of doors in media often represents the characters relationships. Letting someone in is a sign of love and openness to them. Forcing oneself through a door is a sign of disrespect and anger with the person. A locked door means someone is either trying to force the other to stay close emotionally, or is being shut out, depending on which side of the door they’re on. On the contrary, being in an unlocked closed door indicates closeness and a deep relationship with the other person. Think of the inside of a door being a characters heart or soul, and it’s interesting to see how it’s applied in the show.

El and Hopper

When Hopper first took El in, we see them entering the door to his cabin, then he quickly hides Sera's box, symbolizing him letting El into his heart, while hiding away his pain of losing Sera. Fixing up the inside of the cabin together was them metaphorically forming a bond with one another and finding love within each other. They’re both growing and healing from their past (Hopper losing Sera and El having an abusive father) and creating something new. Hopper now had a new daughter just as El now had a new father, so they had a new home. 

He also uses a secret knock so he’s the only person she’d let him, he did this out of fear of her getting hurt or leaving him. This was also the point in the series when they were the most emotionally close we’ve seen them, regularly sharing breakfast, watching TV, playing games. He didn’t want her to see anyone else because he was scared of losing her, as he later says he needed her. He also expressed his fear of her growing up and changing in his letter. Hopper locking her in the cabin was him metaphorically keeping her close to him at all times, trying to stop her from growing up and possibly leaving him or getting hurt. 

When Hopper came back late on Halloween, El at first refused to let him in the door, keeping it locked. And when she finally did let him in, she had brought the TV into her room and closed the door. She was angry at him, hence all the closed doors. Even the next day for breakfast, she got mad at him for lying and went into her room and slammed the door shut. Then later that day she unlocked the front door, directly disobeying Hopper, in search of Mike. When she came back, he let her in then slammed the door behind them. This connects to when Hopper later says how he would get so angry because he’s scared of losing her, again trying to force her to stay close with him. He’s locking her in because he loves her and wants to keep her close and safe. She immediately tried to go into her bedroom and close the door, but he forced it open before she could. After he grounded her from TV and Eggos, she began breaking things and slammed her door shut and locked it, officially shutting him out. 

Even in the beginning of s3, she shut and locked her bedroom door when he saw her and Mike kissing. So then, what does the “3 inches” mean? Essentially, Hopper wants her to stay open with him. He wants to always have a place in her heart, which is why she kept it open all the time after she believed he died. She loved and missed him, always keeping him in her heart. When the reunited, he even walked in through the door she was keeping open 3 inches.

Mike and El

Door symbolism is first used in Mike and El’s relationship when El was going to use the bathroom and didn’t want Mike to close the door. Mike had been the first person to show genuine love and care for El, which was something she had never truly experienced before. Not wanting him to close the door was her not wanting him to shut her out, she wanted him to stay close, similar to Hopper. They later have a scene in the same bathroom, only with both of them inside and the door closed, indicating closeness and trust. This is when they had their almost-kiss. There’s also a moment where Mike locks El in the closet door to hide her from his mom. Queercoding aside, this is another Mike and Hopper parallel, hiding her and keeping her safe even if it upsets her. 

Then in s2, El was looking at Mike and Max through the opposite side of a door, indicating that they weren’t on the same page, and that she was angered by what she saw. She felt closed off from Mike, and in response she tripped Max and ran. When they finally did reunite, she unlocked and walked in through a door, contrast from her previously running from him. In the beginning of s3, they’re making out in her bedroom, and she closes the door with him inside, again indicating closeness. 

But then when Mike first lied to her over the phone, El walked into her room and closed the door when Hopper asked what was going on. She was hurt and confused, and that’s when she confided in Max. They went into her bedroom and closed the door, showing how El was listening closely to Max’s advice, and trusting what she was saying. El and Max spend a lot of the season being with each other behind closed doors, like when they were in El’s room having a sleepover, walking through the bus door together after El dumped Mike, or in the bathroom together cleaning up after the sauna test. This is showing how much Max means to El, and how they formed a very close bond with each other. The only other character El has spent more time with behind closed doors than Max is Hopper. Which makes the moment where he’s okay with Max and El being alone behind closed doors all the more impactful. Also worth noting is that Mike was on the opposite side of the door on during multiple of these instances. Mike walked in through and open door to talk to El at the pool, and she ended up leaving out of anger and disappointment. The door being open was a sign that although they were finally talking, they weren’t as emotionally close as they were before. 

This is why it’s very important that El was on the opposite side of a closed door when Mike first said he loved her. They weren’t on the same page. After she heard what Mike said, she walked out the door and started showing interest in him again. She knocked the candy down for him and by the end of the season, they were officially back together. It’s interesting that their goodbye happened in an open door as well, and again ending with them not coming to an understanding and Mike being confused. 

(Side note: Jancy’s goodbye being inside and open door was foreshadowing to their relationship becoming rocky in s4 due to Jonathan being afraid of leaving his family. Even in their conversation Nancy is coming up with fun ideas of how they could stay together, only for him to shoot them down to stay with his family)

Then there’s s4. The first time door symbolism is used is actually when Mike tried to look for El in the bathroom. The transition is what makes this so interesting, from Joyce leaving her house to get the money in order to get Hopper back, to Mike opening the bathroom door and calling El’s name. But El wasn’t in there, and he got kicked out by a bunch of other girls. This is symbolic of how Mike isn’t understanding El, or is looking in all the wrong places, connecting to when El later says Mike doesn’t understand what it’s like to be bullied like she has been. He doesn’t understand, not from lack of trying but because he just doesn’t get it. El had locked herself in the Rink O’ Mania storage closet, hiding from everyone, including Mike. This connects to her saying how she felt like everyone saw her as a monster, and that she didn’t belong anywhere. Even at dinner, she got up and left to go to her room after Mike made her angry, keeping the door open 3 inches for Hopper. 

The next day when Mike goes to talk to her about what happened, the door is kept open, again signifying a lack of understanding and closeness with one another. It’s also symbolic of El’s heart missing Hopper, and how she now trusts what he says, which as she mentioned in another conversation they had behind an open door; “What if Hoppers right? If I only see you, and I’m a different species than you, than I should be with my species more” This is similar to how El feels like Mike sees her as a monster. Keep in mind that the last time her and Hopper had been together, she was under the impression that he didn’t like her relationship with Mike, so keeping the door open for him during this conversation is an interesting detail. The last time we see doors used in their relationship is at the very end of the season, when she closes the door (leaving 3 inches) in the cabin. This was when we learn that El hasn’t been talking to Mike, and has pretty much closed herself off from most people, most likely due to her feeling hopeless and guilty because of Max.

Mike and Will

Obviously there isn’t much use of doors in Mike and Will’s relationship in s1, since you know, Will was gone practically the entire season. Although it is cute how the party busts through the hospital door, finally being together again. However in s2, there’s a fair amount of door symbolism being used. In the very beginning we see Will wander out through the arcade door, then Mike coming out to get him and they walk back inside together. They were also behind a closed door with each other during the “crazy together” scene, and well as when Will opened up to him about seeing now-memories. Moments before that, Mike was knocking on the Byers door, anxious about Will’s wellbeing due to the lack of contact, as he was closed off from what was going on. Another interesting detail was the door being closed during the shed scene where they told stories to get through to Will, with most of the group being on the other side in the house. Only people who were emotionally close to Will were inside with him, Mike being one of those people. 

Then in s3, Mike (and Lucas) ran out the door to buy El a gift, abandoning Will inside, showing how they’re both metaphorically and literally leaving him behind. The next day, Will started a D&D campaign that ended with him being humiliated. When he decided he’d had enough, he stormed out through the door, and Mike followed him, which is when they fight. Contrast from them previously being inside doors together when they were on the same page and understanding each other. Mike then chases Will and bangs on the Byers closed door, apologizing and pleading him to come out and talk with him. This moment parallels s2 when he felt like he was being closed off from Will. It can also be connected to s4 when Mike was looking for El in the wrong place, since Will also wasn’t where Mike was looking, the main difference being that Mike actually found Will. 

They also contrast from Mike and El’s relationship with the door being open when Mike and El fought, versus the door being closed when Mike and Will made up. When Mike talked with Will in his bedroom, it was the first time we’d seen them having a heart-to-heart and being together behind closed doors since s2. They were finally on the same page again and were no longer distrustful or distant with one another. The next time they’re completely along behind closed doors is at the end of s4, when El walks out and closes the door. This is when Will starts opening up to Mike about what’s going on with him, and is likely building up to them having more moments like this. 

So then, what’s the deal with all the exit signs around Mike? Doors tend to represent characters relationships with each other, but this particular detail is likely more about Mike’s relationship with himself. An exit sign is primarily there to signal an escape or a way out during an emergency. And what kind of emergency could Mike be having? Most likely, a sexuality crisis. He’s trying to escape from himself. This is also supported by the one way sign, another sign which shows the direction a person should go in order to stay safe, pointing into his open closet door. He’s trying to escape or run from his own feeling as a way to protect himself.

The Upside Down

The Upside Down was actually the reason I started looking into door symbolism in the first place. The doors opening by themselves during Will’s episodes more specifically. First at the arcade, then at his house. This is meant to show how the Upside Down was invading Will’s mind, entering without permission. His possession scene was especially interesting, since he exited the bathroom door out of his own volition, and we then see the Mind Flayer racing through the halls towards him. The Mind Flayer likely had to burst through one of the doors to enter the school, and we see Will run out through a pair of doors when trying to escape.

Another interesting detail about the Upside Down is how the tears in time and space that connect their two worlds are referred to as “gates”, or as Alexie put it, a “doorway between worlds”. Which means when the gate is closed, you can think of it as a closed door. The right side up world and the Upside Down are opposites to each other, so they always stay on opposite sides of the door. It’s been referenced as being “the other side” on multiple occasions, first from Mike, then the Hero’s song, the comic about Will in the Upside down is called The Other Side, and even Steve in s4 referred to their world as the other side. The right side up and the Upside down can never truly be one and the same, close the door and the connection will break. Even the naming of the Upside Down suggests this - the underside of the D&D board could never be the top side, they’ll always be on opposite sides. Despite the fact that the Upside Down is now leaking into Hawkins, once the gate is closed everything from the UD dies in their world. 

Noteworthy mentions

Max was holding her locker door open when Dustin and Lucas asked her to go trick or treating, showing that she was, in fact, interested and paying attention. However, she slammed it shut afterwards and walked away, since she originally wasn’t planning on going. She only decided to go after Billy nearly ran them over and felt bad since she actually did secretly want to go, and didn’t want them to believe she had any malicious intent towards them. 

When character's are getting Vecna’d, all the doors are blocked off. They’re essentially trapped in their own mind, much like how Brenner told El that her mind was a prison. This connects to the moment where El is trying to escape from her memories when she’s first put in NINA, constantly running through all the different doors, but they all lead to the rainbow room. This also connects to Funshine claiming that Kali “freed” them all, first pointing to his head, then to his heart. Being unaccepting of oneself often leads to them being trapped in their own head. 

Will has a NO TRESPASSING sign on his door, showing how he only lets in people he trusts. This is especially supported by the fact that the only characters we’ve seen on the other side of the sign has been Joyce, Jonathan, Hopper and Mike (other than the time the time the people from the lab were literally trespassing to take pictures of his drawings). Castle Byers is also password protected. This implies Will is selective with who he opens up to, which is supported by his claim that everyone treats him differently and by him implying to Mike how it’s scary for him to open up about how he really feels. 

During their fight, Jason told Lucas about how he “never should have let him in the door” to which Lucas responded with “and I never should have knocked”. They’re talking about how Lucas approached Jason and the basketball team, something he did because he didn’t want to be made fun of anymore. This is Lucas saying he regrets ever trying to change who he is just to be socially acceptable. Lucas realized just how truly terrible Jason was wondered why he ever wanted to be like him. “Letting him in the door” meant Jason gave him the opportunity to become popular like he was, and as we saw, Jason trusted him in the beginning. It’s also a neat detail that once they realized Lucas tricked them, he was running out the door, officially letting himself out and breaking free. 

When Nancy and Jonathan first got together, they were at first both behind separate closed doors. They both walked out at the same time and met in the middle, both trying to reassure themselves and each other that Murray was wrong and they didn’t have feelings for each other. They then went back into their decided rooms and closed the doors, showing how they were on the same page, but both were closing themselves off emotionally. Then, finally, they met in the middle again, only this time Jonathan kissed her. They shared a passionate kiss, then stepped back into Nancy’s room together and closed the door.

When Lucas told Max the truth about what happened, it was the first time they were alone behind closed doors together. She didn’t believe him, so she walked out the door, and Lucas followed. And once she did start to believe him, Billy showed up and she told him not to follow her out. This is symbolic of her being afraid of Billy knowing that her and Lucas are friends, and scared that he would hurt them. So she tells him to stay behind closed doors. where they’re safe to hang out together, hidden from Billy’s view. Lucas is on the inside of the door, aka the inside of her heart, because she cares about him and wants him safe and close. Of course, Lucas didn’t listen and ran out the doors as soon as they started driving away, foreshadowing to them openly being friends with each other by the end of the season, despite Billy. 

There’s also a lot of instances of doors being broken down, most of which involving the monsters. The Demogorgon would quite literally break through the barrier between worlds, such as the Byers ceiling as well at the school wall. It also broke down the door between the party and itself, as well as attempted to force the door between itself and Hopper open. Flayed Billy burst through the sauna door when they trapped him in there to discover whether or not he was possessed. One destroyed all the doors at the lab and killed the kids inside. El broke down the door to the NINA project to save her friends when Brenner tried to force her to stay. 

There are SO many other uses of door symbolism, but I think this has gone on long enough. And I’m sure there some moments I’m forgetting about so if you can think of any cool use of doors I’d love to hear it!

[all54321]

Mother Spore!?

Some time ago I wrote a scene of Pearl and Cub learning about Mother Spore. I scrapped the scene but I do like the idea of it still. So here’s (most of) HEP’s reaction to it. I might rewrite that first part later, unsure right now.

—————

Grian twirls the pen in his hand as they wait to connect. Only part of the HEP is present, due to how urgent Cub and Pearl’s message was. It’s a good amount of them still for being last minute. The pair had been the heads of the research into the mycelium, which makes Grian worry about what they want. Of course it could also be good news for them. Grian can feel how present Scar is in his mind.

The screen lights up as the video call connects. Pearl and Cub taking up most of the screen. Pearl is holding a clipboard in her hands, tapping her own pen in her hands.

“We got as many people as we could under short notice,” Mumbo starts. “What’s up?”

Cub grimaces, “nothing good.”

Grian stills his movements, “what happened?”

“We were talking to one of the infected,” Pearl gestures her clipboard, “when they said something interesting.”

Cub nods and continues, “towards the end of the talk, they mentioned a Mother Spore.”

Grian completely drops his pen in shock, Mumbo also seems too stunned to speak. Bdubs, of course, isn’t, “Mother Spore!?”

Pearl nods, “they refused to tell us anything about this Mother Spore, but they seem to be seen in as high of regard as Father Spore is.”

Mumbo swallows, “so there’s another leader?”

“It seems that way,” Cub agrees.

“Did this… infected say anything else besides about them existing?” Grian asks, trying to hide his nerves as best as he can. He’s not worried about his sporeling outing him, but the HEP being aware of him isn’t ideal.

“Unfortunately, no. They just kept repeating that their ‘Mother and Father’ would like to speak to us themselves. They refused to say anything else.”

Grian hums, he should have expected that. Grian might not want to talk to them, but Scar definitely does. It makes sense that their sporeling would start only responding with deflecting things to them since they would never disobey him and Scar. This does worry Grian about what they’ve been asking them though. How far did they push?

“There are a few ways we can take this Mother Spore’s silence,” Pearl continues. “The two most likely options are that they’re either plotting their next move or possible appearance, or that they’re just running whatever place all the infected are staying at while Father Spore ‘recruits.’”

Both are wrong~ Scar sing-songs, almost smugly.

Mhm, Grian replies, a little bit relieved. They’re not onto him quite yet.

Of course not, songbird.

“This is rather bad news,” Xisuma agrees.

“So we have absolutely no information?” Mumbo asks, worry obvious.

Cub nods, “I’ll try asking them more later, but it’s unlikely we’ll get a different response. You’ll have to tread more cautiously from now on.”

“Including keeping this on the down low,” Pearl adds. “If Mother Spore is as strong as Father Spore, then they can be a kind of trump card. Something up the resistance’s sleeves to use in an emergency. We can use us knowing already to our advantage in that case.”

That might have worked, Scar comments, If only they weren’t talking directly to you, my dear Mother Spore.

Grian tries to keep his blush down, yeah.

—————

Sorry for the sudden end, I wasn’t sure how to continue it past here.

[pictuajjx]

POPPY PLAYTIME AGES

So there’s a lot of discourse going around regarding about the toys ages so I’d like to clear things up starting off with the very two different categories

Big toy experiment - Used real people such as children and employees that disobeyed

Cartoons - The cartoons doesn’t strictly state their ages. As of now they all might be ageless, unlike maybe Mommy long legs and Daddy long legs they might be older (possibly physically but not mentally) Smiling critters and the rest of the toys are most likely the same age range

A lot of people have been saying all of the Big Toy experiments are used with children, while that is true SOME are adults (the employees). We’ve seen one of the experiments be an actual former employee that disobeyed. As of at the moment we can know that Dogday and that other experiment are the only adults that got experimented on. Rest of them we don’t know yet until further info,,

by the way, catnap x dogday is not a proship if you ship directly with the cartoon version, they’re the same age. If you ship the experiment version.. take a step back. Don’t ship a kid with a adult, we have no idea if they can even age physically or mentally in that body..

also, I think it just makes the situation sadder for characters that are adults and the person used for the experiment might be a kid. They might’ve been forced to mature early without living a proper childhood 🙁 And being congratulated to being “adopted”?.. so sick. But I love the twisted storyline going on

[bluiex]

Finished another part for my Father Spore Spy AU! This time with the (kinda) reveal of Mother Spore. The end is a bit abrupt since I didn’t know how to continue it.

—————

Grian twirls the pen in his hand as they wait to connect. Only part of the HEP is present, due to how urgent Cub and Pearl’s message was. It’s a good amount of them still for being last minute. The pair had been the heads of the research into the mycelium, which makes Grian worry about what they want. Of course it could also be good news for them. Grian can feel how present Scar is in his mind.

The screen lights up as the video call connects. Pearl and Cub taking up most of the screen. Pearl is holding a clipboard in her hands, tapping her own pen in her hands.

“We got as many people as we could under short notice,” Mumbo starts. “What’s up?”

Cub grimaces, “nothing good.”

Grian stills his movements, “what happened?”

“We were talking to one of the infected,” Pearl gestures her clipboard, “when they said something interesting.”

Cub nods and continues, “towards the end of the talk, they mentioned a Mother Spore.”

Grian completely drops his pen in shock, Mumbo also seems too stunned to speak. Bdubs, of course, isn’t, “Mother Spore!?”

Pearl nods, “they refused to tell us anything about this Mother Spore, but they seem to be seen in as high of regard as Father Spore is.”

Mumbo swallows, “so there’s another leader?”

“It seems that way,” Cub agrees.

“Did this… infected say anything else besides about them existing?” Grian asks, trying to hide his nerves as best as he can. He’s not worried about his sporeling outing him, but the HEP being aware of him isn’t ideal.

“Unfortunately, no. They just kept repeating that their ‘Mother and Father’ would like to speak to us themselves. They refused to say anything else.”

Grian hums, he should have expected that. Grian might not want to talk to them as Mother Spore, but Scar definitely does. It makes sense that their sporeling would start only responding with deflecting things to them since they would never disobey him and Scar. This does worry Grian about what they’ve been asking them though. How far did they push?

“There are a few ways we can take this Mother Spore’s silence,” Pearl continues. “The two most likely options are that they’re either plotting their next move or possible appearance, or that they’re just running whatever place all the infected are staying at while Father Spore ‘recruits.’”

Both are wrong~ Scar sing-songs, almost smugly.

Mhm, Grian replies, a little bit relieved. They’re not onto him quite yet.

Of course not, songbird.

“This is rather bad news,” Xisuma agrees.

“So we have absolutely no information?” Mumbo asks, his worry obvious.

Cub nods, “I’ll try asking them more later, but it’s unlikely we’ll get a different response. You’ll have to tread more cautiously from now on.”

“Including keeping this on the down low,” Pearl adds. “If Mother Spore is as strong as Father Spore, then they can be a kind of trump card. Something up the resistance’s sleeves to use in an emergency. We can use us knowing already to our advantage in that case.”

That might have worked, Scar comments, If only they weren’t talking directly to you, my dear Mother Spore.

Grian tries to keep his blush down, yeah.

MMM imagine if Grian did get outed later on? Oh the betrayal!! They'd all be so so shocked and devistated I bet

[phantasmicfish]

Did it bother anyone else that in D3 the Rotten Four just like… forgot that they hated their parents…??

D1 and D2 canonically say that the Rotten Four do not like their parents, are afraid of their parents, and do not want to go back to them. I present to you the following movie-based evidence of this (since I’m pretty sure there’s also some in the novels), directly contradicting what D3 is forcibly pushing into canon:

There are specific bits of dialogue in D1 + D2 that suggest (to me) that the relationship between the VKs and their parents is based primarily on fear. 1. In D1, for instance, we see the Rotten Four are scared of the consequences that come from disobeying their family:

Here, they’re clearly worried about retribution from their parents. Instead of questioning the morality of doing certain actions or deeds, the Four ask: what will our parents think of X, or what will they do to us if we do Y… It is evidently a very fear-driven yet clingy relationship. They care about how their parents see them, if they’re ‘evil’ enough, how their parents will react if they do the wrong thing.

2. Directly below are the Rotten Four after the FaceTime/Zoom call with their parents in Auradon. As you can see, the kids look anything but happy. Jay’s expression specifically stands out to me as particularly emotional… he looks so distraught just to see and hear from his father again. There’s no joy or excitement in the VK’s faces. Instead, they’re upset, troubled, and discontent to be connected with their parents again — the VKs prefer to spend large periods of time without seeing their parents, and any reminders of them instantly put them into foul and distraught moods.

3. Also, this scene in D2 is a brilliant (for lack of a better word) example that really emphasizes how they VKs do not want to willingly interact with their parents in any way.

Mal: Carlos, don’t you ever miss screaming at people and just making them run away from you?

Carlos:

Carlos’ expression in the first frame says it all. He’s looking at Mal as if she’s crazy for even asking such a thing— of course he doesn’t miss his mother, and none of the VKs should.

4. Scenes with Uma and her mother also highlight this anti-parent theme well. Here we see Uma’s mother, crashing the Fish Shop with her tentacles, and showing zero regard for anyone’s safety or life.

Directly after this event, we see Uma reassuring her crew that everything is fine after Ursula swooped in. The fact that Uma even has to ensure her crew’s safety also speaks volumes about what it’s like to live with villainous parents, and how said parents don’t give two shits about their kids, their physical/mental well-being, or lives.

I cannot emphasize the established D1 and D2 canon enough, and it is a wonder to me how the writers in D3 ever forgot this.

On the opposing side, I understand how some VKs do want to see their parents again. Dizzy, Celia, Squeaky + Squirmy have good parental relationships, so obviously these characters would be excited to see their families after leaving to Auradon.

So, given all this…

For some reason, at the end of D3 we still see the Rotten Four suddenly excited to see their parents? And running across the bridge towards them ecstatically? I do like parts of D3 but this last scene is especially irritating. D3 erased a lot of characterization that D1 and D2 established, and it was just so random for Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos to suddenly forget the years of terror and abuse their parents imbued in them, and get excited to see them again.

It’s just incredibly irritating to me, and I will forever be confused about the complete destruction of canon in the last 10 minutes of D3.

[feltpool]

Whatever happened to Dogma?

Dogma executed a Jedi.

No matter the good reasons he had for doing it he couldn't simply be given a slap on the wrist and return to active duty with the 501st afterwards. So what happened to him?

There’s a good chance that he was 'decommissioned', whatever that actually means in TCW terms.

Fans have wanted to know what happened to him ever since, and maybe we're going to find out.

Because, and this may seem a bit random, but bear with me.

Hunter could be Dogma.

Or, more specifically, that’s who he might have been before he was 'enhanced', rebranded, and reassigned to CF99.

And before you start coming for me with the argument that the Batch were enhanced as babies so that can’t possibly be the case I’ll remind you that that’s

Only a fan assumption based on the Kaminoan’s being known primarily as cloners

That they escaped from Nala Se’s lab in full grown adult sized tubes, not baby sized ones

And Omega is likely 13 years old at most. How could she possibly remember them being in the lab if they were tortured and experimented on enhanced that long ago?

.

Anyway,

It could explain why he's always been professionally friendly towards Rex, but also seems cautious around him and never lingers, nor encourages Rex to. What if he says the wrong thing and Rex puts two and two together exposing his past to the rest of the team, exposing him for being a Jedi killer, exposing him for blindly following Krell and contributing towards so many of his brothers being needlessly killed.

It'd explain how come Cody knows him. Because he'd know what happened to him even if no one else did. I doubt you can make a soldier with that on his record just vanish entirely and Cody is Marshall Commander of the GAR. Krell pitted the 212th against the 501st - Cody's own men. And he isn't going to forget that it was Dogma who put an ultimate end to that.  He refers to Hunter as a good man, maybe this is why. But Echo had been lost prior to Umbara, so Echo is safe. A reminder of his old battalion, but without the risk of exposure. But why the 'reg' hate? Because he’s bitter and wracked with guilt over the life he used to have? Because none of his brothers stopped him being decommissioned? Because he sees them as having turned their backs on him? Because they remained loyal to the Jedi afterwards even though Krell was a Jedi and he sees them all as betraying him because of that? Or is it just a part of his reconditioning for his new life, to make sure he doesn't want to hang around with the others and inadvertently expose the truth of who he used to be? For all his talk of disobeying orders he still appears to follow them pretty damn blindly, taking Tech's word as gospel, and doing we have no idea what on whatever dubious mission they've been assigned by someone he isn’t willing to admit to knowing the identity of when directly asked about it. Is he scared (has he been threatened) that if he doesn't follow through on their missions that he'll lose everything he has for a second time? He has long hair, just like Tup did. And Dogma growing his hair out as a way of remembering his brother is a common post-Umbara fan theory.

Dogma had a very distinctive hairline, and Hunter never takes that bandana off. It’s never clear if that’s his natural hairline, or if it’s shaved that way, (does the V-shaped tattoo mirror the hairline, or the other way around?) but there’s no sign of stubble on his head like there is on his face so it’s a possibility that he just has a really odd hairline.

We do see a variety of hairlines within the clones, they're not all the same. So it is possible (if unlikely) that his hair does just grow like that.

And if it is natural, if unusual, it’d explain why there’s no sign of him missing any hair post chip surgery. Because Dogma’s hairline goes waaaaaaay back at just the right point.  (The lack of missing hair is still weird though.)

In the finale Crosshair told him to stop pretending to be someone he isn't. Maybe that was a lot more pointed a comment than we're supposed to think it is.

And his tattoo. Presumably they have the SW equivalent of laser tattoo removal for any clones who live long enough to regret the tatt they got in their first year of service and want to get rid of it before slapping a new one on where it used to be. Hunter has a half skull, thick and dark like a lot of coverups are.

Skulls often symbolise death, or change.  The loss of the man he used to be, the 'death of Dogma', him becoming someone new but still remembering the person he used to be, even if not entirely? So half a skull, because he's a dead man, but he also isn't.  Coming back to the whole two-faced thing, but for a totally different reason. The CF99 logo skull is a totally different design to the one he has on his face, the shaping is all wrong.

But tattoo removal, in our universe at least, isn’t 100%. Even after several treatments you often get lingering remains. Like this:

(Courtesy of ‘G-Lasers laser tattoo removal services, Leicester’ website)

Where the original tatt has been broken down, but not removed entirely, and has then been covered up.

Dogma’s tattoo as seen in ‘Plan of Dissent’ ^ (although the design does tend to move about a touch in different shots, which is understandable because it’s a complex design to keep mapped on the model exactly)

Hunter’s tattoo as seen in the mess hall fight in Ep 01 ^

Or, with a very short amount of time roughly scribbling on a screenshot:

A very bad illustration of how Hunter’s tattoo would cover up Dogma’s partially removed tattoo

All of the purple-ish area would be hidden under the skull tattoo, and his ever present bandana would hide almost all of the rest. Only the area above and beside his right eye would need to have been completely erased for this to work. The narrow strip above his left eyebrow is far too narrow for anyone to notice any trace discolouration unless they were really looking for it, and knew what they were looking for.

You can see a ‘darker than his skin tone’ mark on his nose underneath the main darkly tattooed area where the lingering remains of the original nose tattoo may still lightly show.

There. I hurriedly coloured him in for the full... appreciation? of how covering up Dogma’s tatt with Hunter’s would work. If you want art you’re looking at the wrong person. I only do rushed and ugly scribble.

And what of the ID barcode in his left arm? Those haven’t been mentioned since Gregor’s was scanned all the way back in Season 5 even though Echo conveniently managed to keep the arm which would confirm his identity if he ever needs to. Can those ID’s be reprogrammed, or if Hunter’s was scanned would it confirm his birth identity and number instead of the one most recently assigned to him?

We don't know what they might have done to him to 'enhance' him, how he might have been reprogrammed, or how his potentially questionable loyalties might have been reinforced. But I can't rule out the possibility that Hunter hasn’t always been Hunter. Like it or not.

[thewertsearch]

Asks Compilation 13/05

They really are. A lot of these kids seem very isolated (I mean, we know Jade is), and it makes a lot of sense why they’d gravitate to online friendships the way they did. Plus, they subconsciously know they’re going to be co-players, so maybe they were always destined to vibe well together. 

I’ll think about it! Honestly, though, I don’t know if it’d add much. I might try and experiment with different formats down the line, especially for ‘event’ flashes like that - we’ll see. 

[ Super popular (half-serious) fan headcanon  is that Prospit = you make your bed, Derse = you don’t make it. you got lots of asks about this but lots have spoilers so I thought I’d just tell you directly since I know you’d want to know 😂 - Cat ] 

What do ya know, I’m a Derse girl! 

Damnit, I wanted those prophecy clouds. Instead, I’m stuck with an asteroid belt, a sky full of monsters. and close proximity to a gang of murderous Agents. Derse’s perks better be good!!  

Lot of fun Charles Barkley Lore here. I can always count on you guys to explain Hussie’s latest reference to me. 

Now we know where Rose got this enigmatic quote. I like to think that in this world, T.S. Eliot never existed, and Barkley actually wrote all of Eliot’s poems himself, juggling Modernist poetry with his basketball career. 

Yeah, it’s just edging out Doom. It’s a weird pair of elements (aspects?) to be associated with, and I kind of love it.  

Combining the two just makes me think of this guy!

Thanks for the recs, guys! Other than Dumbing of Age, I haven’t heard of any of these, but based on their about pages:

Never Satisfied is a webcomic about politics, and also being a cool wizard. Strangely enough, I think those two would mesh pretty well. 

Sleelpess Domain is a dark magical girl webcomic with an urban-fantasy setting. I really like the artstyle for this one. 

Widdershins is an anthology fantasy series in a Victorian-inspired setting. Anthologies are a lot of fun - I find they really help the worldbuilding unfold. 

Black Book is a card-based RPG, a type of game system that I used to shun, but one that I’ve really been getting into recently. 

Dumbing of Age, which I keep meaning to check out, is, I think, a slice-of-life story about college students. They’re just like me fr

You really have be on the ball with Homestuck. The recap was one of the most information-dense pages in the comic so far, and if I’d been reading casually, I probably would have skipped it!

I guess the character naming pages were Hussie’s author avatar all along. 

This gif kind of mirrors WV’s terminal introduction, and when you think about it, authors are kind of ‘super-Exiles’, sending ‘commands’ which can’t be disobeyed. 

Like, I get it. John has no memory of that timeline, and is already primed not to trust Dave, but it still hurts to see him so dismissive of Davesprite. I think the ‘real Dave’ fuckup was because part of him still isn’t buying it. 

I honestly think one of the Daves might end up snapping eventually, and then John will get his wakeup call. 

Yup, it matches the kids’ introduction order, as most other things do. 

These patterns show up everywhere, and when they do, it’s impossible to tell in advance whether they’re going to be subverted. Hussie caught me out this time!  

.....oh my god?

Sweet!

It’s a good Cal. It’d have been hard to fully capture Comic Cal’s aura in realspace, so changing his design a little was the right move here. 

[obsidianstrawberrymilk]

The interesting thing about Allison Hargreeves

Y’know, despite how I often see Allison characterized in kidfics, as a favorite daddy’s girl, from what we see in the show, that’s not actually accurate.

Now, I haven’t read the comics, so I’m just going off the show here, but the scenes we do see of Allison’s childhood are: she snaps at Reginald for always being too busy to tell them goodnight, she snaps at him at Ben’s funeral when he blames them for his death, she sneaks out with Luther to the attic. In all instances, she’s rebelling, and in the first two, it’s blatant, and she’s met with derision. I’m willing to excuse the last because Luther did it as well, but actually- let’s talk about that.

We all know how loyal Luther was as a kid to his dad. As the “hero/golden child”, Reginald had a control over him that never really slipped, and it meant that, in comparison to say, Klaus, he was way less likely to rebel. Yet here we see him doing something obviously against the rules just for pleasure. Ofc a part of it is just that they’re repressed teenagers who needed SOME outlet, but do you think Luther was the one who thought of that? Nope.

So: we see two instances where Allison contradicts or criticizes her father and is met with derision in their childhood, and a scene where she convinces her most loyal brother to disobey their father, and they are both punished. Allison doesn’t rumor her way out of any of them - including, as far as we know, punishment.

The only actual evidence we have that she’s a daddy’s girl is because Diego says so, and well, it’s Diego - how else are you supposed to be broody and dramatic and misunderstood unless the rest of your family just Could Not Understand your rebellion? Plus, we know that him and Allison have a complicated dynamic - he doesn’t seem to outright dislike her as he does Luther or Vanya at the start of the series, but they’re both clearly used to insulting each other back and forth and there was probably some degree of antagonism in their childhood - they’re too similar for their to not have been. So I don’t know how much stock we put in that.

Outside from that, most of the evidence we have seems to point to Allison as being a pretty rebellious kid. She actively criticizes their childhood, seems to be close to Klaus, a ‘disappointment’ child, and as we see in S2, is actively against injustice. Sure, this could be a recent development, but I doubt it was a totally new thing. Unlike Luther, she’s not loyal to Reginald - she’s ambitious and smart and ruthless, and she doesn’t get herself into a situation that’s so bad she can’t get out of like Five, so Reginald still has to worry about her, because she hasn’t stopped herself from being a threat like Klaus effectively has.

So, I actually think she was one of the most rebellious of the Umbrellas as a kid. Evidence seems to point to show!Vanya being less rebellious than her comic book counterpart in childhood, so probably more than her. The reason we might not see it as much is because Allison was smart - when she needed to so something, she didn’t get caught. And I can bet the second she turned 18 and was legally emancipated, she was on a plane to Hollywood.

But where does this leave her relationship with her father? Well, truthfully, I don’t know. We know at least some information about all the sibling’s relationships with Reginald - Luther was the golden child and Diego the scapegoat, Vanya was the neglected lost child and Klaus was the locked-up comedian. We see him exhibit some care for all of them but Klaus and Diego - he seems to at least respect Five somewhat in S2, expresses concern for Luther in the barbershop with Klaus (I’d also like to note the way Klaus flinches and visibly calms himself when Reginald grabs his face here - it seems like an indication Reginald actually did directly physically abuse his kids sometimes), and gives Vanya Grace’s violin (I think it’s Grace’s?). He gives Ben a statue but idk how much of that is care and how much is just him gaslighting his kids. The ones he seemed to outright dislike where Klaus and Diego.

As for Five, Ben, and Allison, we know very little about their relationship with Reginald. As I said before, I think Five did respect him, even before he time travelled - though his regrets about that definitely played a role in how he saw his father, the way he talked in the running away scene does kind of confirm this for me. He seems to be acting in a bit of a ‘look at me’ way - he’s overly dramatic, stabbing a knife into the chair, makes sure he’s in an environment where he will be the center of his father’s attention, and breaks multiple rules, which we know Reginald dislikes. He’s warring for his father’s attention by disobeying him.

This makes me think of the other ways Five acts - ex: “I don’t think I’m better than you, Number One, I know I am.” What’s interesting about this is not only how childish it is, but the way he reverts back to their childhood numbers, almost. I think that Reginald must have nurtured a weird superiority complex in Five - that while he may have been a lower number he was still smarter, stronger, faster than his siblings, and he had to be better than the. This was how he kept control over someone so obviously rebellious and curious - he made him reliant on his respect as well as approval, made he himself constantly push and exhaust himself. I’m sure he meant to be more controlling - I doubt he expected Five to attempt time travelling even after he said not to, for example, but still.

So how does this relate to Allison? Well, I think Allison’s relationship with Reginald was actually similar to this. Allison, like Five, is intelligent, resourceful, ambitious, curious, and has a power hard for Reginald to control. He can’t break her with disappointment, can’t lock her up, can’t keep her loyal - so how does he control her? He makes her think she’s better. She’s Number Three, sure, but while her brother’s worry about their silly rivalry, she’s the smart one. She’s better than them - she has to be better than them, has to be better than just loyalty, because unlike for Luther, more is expected from her.

Both Five and Allison actively try and get Reginald’s attention by disobeying him, and they both seem more tied to their abilities than any of the others, even Klaus, do. I can imagine that, for both of them, Reginald could not just brainwash them into loyalty and call it a day - so instead, he deprived them of just enough attention so they’d feel the need to get it, put them on a pedestal so they would feel the need to earn respect, be better than loyalty. For Five, it backfired, but for Allison, it kept from just controlling her father to do whatever she wanted, as we see in the scene when they’re younger with Luther.

So Diego isn’t totally wrong about her being a ‘daddy’s girl’ either, but he’s not right - the favoritism I don’t doubt Five and Allison both got shown was almost Reginald telling them to earn his approval, to impress him- and he made them think they were the only ones good enough to do so. It’s how he kept arguably his two most dangerous members under control, even if it backfired for one.

The more I watch the show, the more interaction I want between Allison and Five. They’re both so similar, and honestly, after writing this, I could see them having a bit of a childhood rivalry - not as blatant as Luther and Diego, they were ‘above’ that after all, but maybe something more subtle. At least until Five ran away.

[tortilla-of-courage]

The recent LU update has opened the way for a lot of Sky and Wars being bros content and I am thriving

If you don’t mind, I’d love to hear any hcs you might have about these two?

me TOO anon this update watered my crops, cleared my skin, made me pass all my classes, etc etc. as for headcanons.... hmmm

- they’re partners in crime. like Warriors will go to Sky to ask for help with an incredibly convoluted plan to prank Time and Sky won’t even hesitate to join in

- but at the same time Warriors is 80% of Sky’s self control. he’ll just grab Sky by the collar of his tunic to stop him from jumping off a cliff or parkouring over a monster’s shield or some other dangerous thing

- once Warriors realizes Sky met Fi too, he’d tell him they also met, and they’d share stories about their common friend

- their knight trainings had some differences, mainly what they’d have to focus on as knights, but they appreciate the different techniques and abilities the other has because of this, and help work around any areas the other wasn't trained enough in. i think they balance each other out

- Warriors was trained to be more of a fighter, to protect the people of Hyrule. in HW the first time we see him he’s training/fighting against other knights, and he’s so anxious when he’s told to stay behind when the castle is under attack (because he wasn’t ready to be out in real fights yet! despite his fighting showing he’s really skilled! because he presumably hasn’t fought monsters yet at that point!) that he disobeys those orders to go do what he had signed up to do: defend the people. like he’s obviously also trained to help the people directly, but the focus is to protect from the immediate threat

- meanwhile, Sky’s training focused more on helping the people of Skyloft. Knights learn to use the sword in the academy and it’s implied there’s also bows (since there’s arrows in the bazar from the very start), yes, but the main thing we see knights do is rescue people when they fall and patrol the island to make sure there’s no monsters that can hurt them. The most you can fight in the sky are chuchus and keese on ground, and Octoroks and Skytails in the air, so while fighting is important their priority is the well being of people. i’d like to imagine they have some extensive first aid classes in the academy because of this

- i feel like they bond over their scarf/sailcloth. like, those definitely get dirty all the time, specially with their travels, so i think they'd have these like daily cleaning sessions to get rid of the mud and grass and whatever else got on them, sharing cleaning tips and the alike. they're their comfort clothes, so they’re glad there’s someone else in the Chain who they can talk to about them and have them truly understand what they mean

[robininthelabyrinth]

Same universe as the one where LXC kills JGY on a boat to not-Japan. JRS-centric as he grows up in the Nie clan and deals with his reputation as an inbred son of a traitorous bastard.

so I don't think I've ever written a fic in which LXC kills JGY on a boat, and definitely not one where JRS is a character? I mean, I've written a lot of fics, so possibly I did and I forgot, but I'm pretty sure about this one.

That being said, I don't think I've gotten any Jin Rusong prompts before so I'm reinterpreting this to be a prompt for a fic about JRS growing up in the Nie clan. Fic below!

ao3

-

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, Nie Huaisang reminded himself. Risk is proportionate with reward. Your spine should be made of steel, just as your saber is.

He licked his lips, thought of his brother who had loved him, and threw himself forward with tears in his eyes.

“Oh, gongzi!” he blubbered. “Can you help me? I’ve gotten completelylost, I don’t even know where to begin –”

Xue Yang blinked at him, the lids of his eyes moving slowly like a reptile.

“Maybe you know where my san-ge is? Lianfeng-zun?”

The feeling of immediate threat lessened. It seemed he’d gambled right, and the rabid dog that was Xue Yang could still be controlled by reference to Jin Guangyao.

“I’d really appreciate it if you could just give me some guidance on where to find him,” Nie Huaisang said, lowering his voice confidentially. “I’d be sure to pay you back! If there’s anything you want –”

“Do you have any snacks?” Xue Yang asked.

Nie Huaisang, who had come prepared based on the rumors he’d painstakingly collected, produced some dragons’ beard candy.

“Not bad,” Xue Yang said. “Okay, sure.”

Nie Huaisang smiled, and even meant it.

-

“Hey, good-for-nothing,” Xue Yang said, and Nie Huaisang turned to look at his least favorite but nevertheless highly useful source of information in Lanling Jin. The fact that Xue Yang had no idea that he was functioning as such just made it more satisfactory. “You like kids, right?”

Nie Huaisang blinked. “Yes?” he hazarded, not so much because he actually did – he’d never had strong feelings about children one way or the other, though perhaps he was being presumptuous in thinking that the reference did not involve goats – but because that seemed to be the answer Xue Yang was looking for.

Xue Yang wrinkled his nose in distaste, though not, Nie Huaisang thought, at him.

“Theoretically,” he said, and he wouldn’t know ‘theoretical’ if it hit him in the face, “if there were, I don’t know, a whole bunch of them hanging around somewhere without parents, you’d be able to do something about that, right? Especially if they had a talent for cultivation?”

It took only a moment to piece together what must have happened to lead to such a question, given the ruthlessness of the cultivation world and of Jin Guangyao in particular, and Nie Huaisang marveled briefly at the idea that Xue Yang might draw a moral line in the sand over something. Presumably he felt some kinship to the children, being similarly utterly infantile, amoral, and fond of sweet things.

“Oh sure!” he said, playing up the brainless idiot who didn’t know to ask questions. “My sect is always recruiting, you know. We took some losses in the war and, well, I feel like adult cultivators aren’t really all that interestedin joining ever since I took over…”

“Because you’re a waste of space,” Xue Yang said, and Nie Huaisang pouted at him. “Whatever, the important thing is that you have space for kids. Orphans. Think, like, a whole orphanage getting shut down or whatever – anyway, not important. You’d take them back to Qinghe, right?”

“Oh, that would be so wonderful!” Nie Huaisang clapped. “That would suit everyone, wouldn’t it? They don’t have to worry about the children, and we get new disciples. I should tell san-ge – no, on second thought, he might be too busy –”

“Definitely too busy,” Xue Yang said quickly. “Wouldn’t it be nice to accomplish something yourself? You could casually show him that your numbers went up at the end of the month instead so he gives you the credit, without explaining that it’s kids making up the increase.”

“That’s a great idea! He’ll be much more impressed by that, I should definitely do that. Where is the orphanage?”

“…uh, in the forest. The back forest.”

You couldn’t come up with a better lie?

“You already brought them here?” Nie Huaisang asked, batting his eyelashes. “You’re so nice, Xue-xiong! I’ll go tell my second in command to go deal with it right away!”

-

It was in the fifth round of kids getting picked up – small cultivation clans being massacred and there was nothing Nie Huaisang could do about it, because there was either no evidence or else Jin Guangyao had come up with some motive to justify his actions and, inevitably, Lan Xichen would be there behind him, soothing over tempers and providing explanations because he believed him, every time – that something unusual happened.

“Sect Leader Nie,” one of his most trusted subordinates murmured into his ear. “There’s a problem.”

Nie Huaisang found a reason to leave the party early, a reason to go to the rendezvous point, and, once there, found the reason for the problem.

“Oh, hey there,” he said with a smile fixed onto his face by sheer force of willpower, crouching down to make himself seem less intimidating. Not that he was ever particularly intimidating, though given the rage coursing through his veins right now, he thought he might be able to pull it off if he tried. “What a lucky chance! It’s so funny, finding you here, Songsong. How are you?”

Jin Rusong wiped his eyes and looked tearily at him, recognized that the person asking was his Little Uncle Nie, and threw himself into Nie Huaisang’s arms with a howl.

This was pretty typical – Jin Rusong wasn’t much of a crier, but when he did he definitely took Nie Huaisang as his model, something all the other adults in the cultivation world had a tendency to give Nie Huaisang dirty looks over.

The only problem here, of course, was that Jin Rusong was dead.

Or, rather…he was supposed to be dead.

And if Jin Rusong was here – here, in the rendezvous point where Xue Yang put those of his prospective victims that happened to be a little too young for even him to stomach killing, at least without the personal grudge that had driven him to slaughter the Chang clan in its entirety – that meant only one thing.

Jin Guangyao had ordered his own son to be murdered.

Through demonic cultivation, no less, which was a pretty nasty way to go. There was a reason everyone implicitly countenanced Jiang Cheng’s vendetta against demonic cultivators no matter where they were, even when he ignored all territory lines and forgot to not ask for permission – the things a demonic cultivator gone bad could do were just so much worse than what anyone else could that they couldn’t risk any delay in dealing with the problem.

Well, shit, Nie Huaisang thought, even as he comforted Jin Rusong, petting the toddler’s back to try to get him to calm down. What do I do now?

-

“There has to be a reason,” Nie Huaisang insisted. “He’s not rabid. Songsong was his son!”

“Sect Leader Nie, we can’t find anything that might explain it.”

“Look harder. I don’t care how minor it is, I want to know everythingto do with Songsong. Every little detail – every person who saw him – every medical report, every compliment, every good grade –”

“He placed last in one of his classes,” one of his spies volunteered.

“What?”

“He placed last in one of his classes. About two months before his ‘assassination’, and shortly before his father started collecting evidence against the other sects that were in his way, which he later used to ‘prove’ that they had been involved in the alleged murder.”

“He wouldn’t kill his son for failing a class,” one of the others objected. “The kid’s barely more than a baby. What’s he expecting, genius from birth?”

“He’s a genius himself. Why not?”

“If everyone inherited everything directly from their parents, he’d be a whore.”

“He’d be a Jin. They’ve all got that nose, every one of them…”

“I heard he’s having the other Jin bastards killed. All of them, even the women…”

Something snapped in Nie Huaisang’s hands.

They all turned to look at him.

“Investigate Qin Su,” he said, looking down at the mess of wood and paper that had once been a fan. “Come to think of it, she has a Jin nose, too.”

-

“I don’t want to go!”

“I don’t want you to go, either,” Nie Huaisang said, feeling tired and also much more in sympathy with his poor older brother than he’d ever been while Nie Mingjue had been alive. “But you disobeyed me, and that means we don’t have a choice. You have to go.”

Nie Songsong looked down at the ground, his lip quivering. “I didn’t mean to…”

“You did,” Nie Huaisang said. “You have to own your decisions, Songsong. You can’t take them back once they’re done, no matter what the consequences. Not even if you feel bad, but definitely not because you feel bad for having to pay for what you did.”

“But…”

“No, Songsong. You cannot be in the Unclean Realm when – when he’s here.”

Nie Songsong hung his head.

“He’s not your father anymore,” Nie Huaisang said. “You know that, right?”

Nie Songsong nodded.

Nie Huaisang sighed and held out his hands, and his arms were full of a teary-eyed child a moment later.

“He loved you once,” Nie Huaisang murmured into his child’s hair. “I love you now. I wish I could give you more than that – I wish I could give you an answer, tell you why he didn’t love you enough to keep from doing what he did. But I can’t. All I can do…”

Is what I’m already doing.

“You’re enough, er-ge,” Nie Songsong whispered back. “You’re enough. I promise.”

-

“When will I get to go night-hunting?”

“You go night-hunting all the time,” Nie Huaisang grumbled. “You’re a fraction my age, and already my height, my weight, yet you wield a saber like my brother was around to raise you properly. You’re ruining my reputation, you know; now no one will believe that my incompetence comes from how short I am…”

“Not night-hunting with the rest of the sect, er-ge,” Nie Songsong said, rolling his eyes. “With other juniors!”

“Not long now,” Nie Huaisang said, looking down at the paper beneath his hands. It was all finally coming together. “Not long now. Just give er-ge a little more time to finish taking care of matters for da-ge, and you’ll be able to go night-hunting with anyone you like.”

-

“Er-ge! Are you all right? You look so pale…”

“I’m sorry,” Nie Huaisang whispered. “Songsong – I’m sorry. I’m so sorry –”

“What happened? Are you injured?” Nie Songsong demanded, already starting to pat him over, looking for wounds. “Er-ge, what’s wrong –”

“Your mother’s dead.”

Nie Songsong’s hands stilled.

“I told her about your heritage,” Nie Huaisang said, his lips numb. He’d never tried to hide it from Nie Songsong, although he’d introduced the subject very gradually and only once he thought that he’d be able to handle the revelation. “About your father – your grandfather. What they did. I wanted her to be angry at him, to turn against him, to distract him…instead, she killed herself.”

“Er-ge…”

“I shouldn’t have told her. If I knew –”

“Er-ge.”

“I should have brought her in earlier – told her about you surviving – I kept her from you for years –”

“Er-ge!”

Nie Huaisang looked at the child he had raised as a little brother the way his older brother had raised him, a father in everything but name, and who he had the constant feeling of having failed.

He wondered, as he always did, whether his brother had felt the same about him.

“Er-ge, it’s all right,” his little brother, his adopted son, said, and took his hands in his. “It’s all right. You tried, remember? Time after time, you tried to talk to her, but every single time you concluded that she would’ve told her husband instead of trusting you. She would’ve ruined everything. If she did that, I’d be dead all over again, and you with me.”

That had been what Nie Huaisang had concluded. That was why he’d never told her.

But…

“She’s your mother.”

“And you’re my er-ge. As long as you don’t die on me, too, it’ll be all right. Okay? It’ll be all right. It’ll be worth it in the end.”

Nie Huaisang shook his head. He’d already done so much, caused so much chaos and strife, and yet this moment – this was the step too far.

This was the first time he realized that he wasn’t sure he believed that it would be worth it anymore.

But by now…what else was left to do? There were no ways out of the plan he’d made himself; he’d designed it that way on purpose, because he’d known that if there was a way out, that snake would find a way to slither through it. He just hadn’t thought that he would be the one looking for it.

It didn’t matter.

He had to keep going.

His older brother deserved it, even if the younger one didn’t.

-

“I represent the Nie sect,” the young man – just about their age, though shorter than either of them – said with a smile. He seemed kind, gentle and polite, easy-going, but Lan Jingyi and Lan Sizhui looked at each other, and then at Jin Ling, who just scowled. “Can I come in?”

“Were you even invited?” Jin Ling asked in bitten off words. He was still bitter about some of the things that had happened in the Guayin Temple a month before, and of all them the one he was most bitter about was his second uncle’s retreat into seclusion – they were all upset about that.

“But it’s a discussion conference,” the young man said, blinking in confusion. “We’re a Great Sect. Why wouldn’t we be invited?”

In the face of such profound ignorance, there really wasn’t very much they could say, and eventually Lan Sizhui stepped forward with a smile, welcoming the young man – Nie Songsong, he introduced himself – into the Cloud Recesses.

Everything seemed fine for a little while. Lan Sizhui was able to talk to the people in charge of arranging juniors into finding another place for Nie Songsong to stay, although it would be a little delayed – Nie Songsong assured them that there was no issue – and as recompense they even showed him, at his request, a few of the main landmarks.

And then they turned around and their guest had disappeared.

“I knew he was up to no good!” Jin Ling exclaimed.

“Don’t jump to conclusions,” Lan Sizhui told him.

“I’m with Jin Ling,” Lan Jingyi said. “He seemed so nice and understated – just like you know –”

“Don’t talk about my little uncle,” Jin Ling hissed at him. “I know it’s true, but just – don’t, okay?”

“We should find where he went,” Lan Sizhui decided.

It took them a while, but in the end they found him in the most unexpected place: in the rooms their sect leader had chosen for his seclusion, sitting on the bed with Lan Xichen’s head on his shoulder, sobbing as if his heart had been broken.

“What are you doing?” Lan Sizhui exclaimed, unnerved even out of his own habitual politeness.

“I came to greet my uncle,” Nie Songsong said, his manner just as gentle and polite as it had been from the beginning, although it was now evident that he was as stubborn as a rock and not easy-going at all.

“Your uncle?” Lan Jingyi gaped. “How can he be your uncle?”

“You’re Sect Leader Nie’s son!” Jin Ling accused.

“I’m Sect Leader Nie’s little brother by adoption,” Nie Songsong corrected. “It’s through my father that he’s my uncle – and you my cousin, I suppose.”

“Your – father?”

“Oh, yes. My birth name, you see,” Nie Songsong said, “was Jin Rusong.”

-

“Why did you choose to reveal yourself?” Lan Sizhui asked. “Given that everyone knows – well –”

Nie Songsong finished the character he was writing and put down his brush. “Wondering if you should let it be known that you were born with the surname Wen?”

Lan Sizhui jerked in surprise, then flushed. “How did you – that didn’t come out in Guanyin Temple.”

“No, I knew it before,” Nie Songsong said. “My er-ge is very clever, you know.”

“Yes, I suppose I do...why do you call him brother? Shouldn’t he be uncle, or – or –”

“Uncle is probably right,” Nie Songsong said. “But he raised me like a son, just as his brother did for him.”

Lan Sizhui looked down at his hands.

“Why did he publicly reveal your background, knowing that you were still around?” he asked again. “Everyone will know. Who your father was, all those terrible things he did, his relationship with your mother –”

“Why shouldn’t he? He did do all those things, and he did have that relationship with my mother.”

“But what about you? What about your reputation –”

“Are you planning on sweeping Wen Ruohan’s grave?”

Lan Sizhui stared at him.

“He’s your grandfather, isn’t he?” Nie Songsong looked calmly back at him. “Who he was, all those terrible things he did –”

“That’s nothing to do with me!”

“And the crimes of my father are nothing to do with me. My er-ge gave me his surname, just as Hanguang-jun gave you his, and for the same reason – to cut us off from the sins of our original family.”

“I suppose that’s true. But – no one knew about you, just as no one knew about me until I told them, and I only told them because they were my friends. Why’d you tell us? Aren’t you worried we’d tell more people?”

“Of course I am,” Nie Songsong said. “I hope you don’t, of course, but you would’ve found out regardless – second uncle wasn’t exactly subtle in his grief. And I had to tell him.”

“Why? To bring him out of seclusion?” Lan Sizhui hesitated. “Do you care so much for him?”

“Of course not. The last time I met him, I was a small child, and my father was just about to order me murdered; that’s not much of a basis to build a relationship. But having him lock himself away like that, as if he were in mourning…it hurt er-ge. And I won’t let anything hurt my er-ge. Anything, or anyone.”

They looked at each other for a long moment.

“I understand,” Lan Sizhui said.

“I’m glad you do,” Nie Songsong said, and then smiled. “I would’ve had to escalate to threats next, and I’m given to understand that I’m too short to really pull them off properly.”

Lan Sizhui snorted. “I think we’ve all learned that that’snot true.”

-

“Should we talk about this?” Jin Ling asked, arms crossed over his chest and glaring.

“What do you want to talk about?” Nie Songsong replied.

“How about the fact that your father tried to kill me?”

“Sure. Can we talk about the fact that you got all of his affection for years and years after he tried to kill me?”

Jin Ling blanched.

“I wonder if he would’ve gotten me a dog, too,” Nie Songsong mused. “I was too young for that when he ordered his demonic cultivator to feed me to fierce corpses and have my body ravaged until it was barely recognizable…but sure, let’s talk about how he tried to kill you.”

“I was talking about Sect Leader Nie!”

“Well, then, you should have been more specific. Sect Leader Nie’s my brother, not my father.”

“He’s a whole generation older than you!”

“My little uncle, then.”

Jin Ling flinched. “That’s worse. Go back to calling him your brother.”

Nie Songsong shrugged. “Would it help if we fought?”

“…what?”

“It makes me feel better, sometimes. Besides, I may be short, but I’m pretty good with the saber. I bet I could match your sword…maybe not your arrows. But I’ve always wanted to try.”

Jin Ling looked at him suspiciously for a long moment.

“Okay,” he finally said. “Sure. Why not?”

-

“I really hate that you’re kind of cool,” Lan Jingyi told him.

“I am so cool,” Nie Songsong said, and passed him another jar of wine. “Want to see my spring book collection?”

“…yes please.”

-

“Thank you for taking care of him,” Lan Xichen said to Nie Huaisang, who shrugged. “I’m sorry that you couldn’t trust me to help.”

“It’s only what I should have done,” Nie Huaisang said, not for the first time. He’d said it so often these past few days that it felt like a new refrain, an alternative to the old I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know. He preferred the original. “I was his little uncle, remember? I held him on his first month party. How could I do any less?”

He did not say that Lan Xichen, who could be classified as Jin Rusong’s older uncle, had done much less, but from Lan Xichen’s expression, he’d taken it that way anyway.

“You never…” Lan Xichen hesitated. “Did you ever have any – concerns?”

“That he’d turn out an idiot? No. I figured he’d be in good company, with me.”

“That’s not what I meant!”

“Oh, you meant whether I was worried that he’d grow up longing for his blood family over his adopted family and turn against me in favor of his real father?” Nie Huaisang asked mildly. “No, not really. The memory of your father ordering you to be mauled by fierce corpses and to make sure your face is destroyed so that there’s a reason to refuse to let your mother see the body, as it would only upset her, is a fairly effective panacea against things like that.”

“No,” Lan Xichen said, though he looked sick all over again at the reminder of how considerate Jin Guangyao could be when it came to those he thought of as people, and how monstrous he was towards those he didn’t. “No, just – your brother always took such a hard line against the Wen sect…”

“Because they were raised with the philosophy that they were superior to the rest of us and my brother purposefully made himself into the symbol of their fallibility, thereby making himself and all the rest of us the primary target for their traumatic realization that they’re just as weak and vulnerable as everyone else,” Nie Huaisang said, rolling his eyes. “Our Nie sect cultivators were always especially targeted whenever we were captured – our survival rate as prisoners of war was less than half all the other sects, and it wasn’t just because we were usually more injured when we got caught. Even the civilians surnamed Wen would pull out knives and try to stab us in the back if they had half a chance! We were in a blood feud with them, er-ge. You don’t put down blood feuds just like that, not even if you want to. That’s not how it works.”

Lan Xichen nodded slowly, thoughtful.

“Anyway, Songsong is mine now,” Nie Huaisang said. “Just as Lan Sizhui is your brother’s, and Jin Ling Jiang Cheng’s. Can’t we all just agree to not care about the rest?”

“I suppose we have to,” Lan Xichen said, bowing his head. “Huaisang…did you ever think about what happens now? I mean – what should we do next?”

“I don’t know,” Nie Huaisang said, and smiled humorlessly when Lan Xichen looked at him. “I’m not joking. I didn’t know what to do when I got Songsong for the first time, er-ge, and I don’t know what to do now, either. I just wanted to see justice done for my da-ge, and I did, and for the rest – I don’t know.”

“That’s fine,” Lan Xichen said. “I don’t know, either.”

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, Nie Huaisang thought. Spine as steel as your saber.

“Would you like to come visit the Unclean Realm sometime?” he asked, pretending to be casual. “Perhaps we can figure out what we don’t know together. If you like.”

“…perhaps I will,” Lan Xichen said.