#Argus MT

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

"i was merely curious to know what sort of future lay in store for a hero with their life ahead of them"

i'm gonna find the writer who put that line in and kill them

[apoapsis]

dawn // dusk

a spontaneous lil gift for graviticmelody regarding our f.nv verse.... bc i am a very normal person with very normal emotions when it comes to this specific brand of au's [fa.llout/general apocalyptic/zombie-esque au's... literally obsessed w/ them]

[eternally-tired-cryptid]

Everyone knows you're allowed to break up w someone just bc your not interested or compatible anymore. Like it doesn't have to be a big fight of who's right or wrong it can just. Be a breakup

[sleeplessangels]

Everyday I think about how no one listens to me and then every so often I see some study or some transman talking about how people actively don't listen to you if you're female... do I just have to stuffer this my whole life?

[katetcake]

Hate when the internet makes me see shit against my will

[l33n1s]

No but Shen Twins AU where Shen Yuan is technically a member of Cang Qiong Mt sect but he's almost never there cause he's too busy traveling and studying/documenting all of the cool plants and animals.

But when he Does spend time at the sect it's Qing Jing Peak's emotional equivalent to Christmas, cause Shen Jiu is actually in a good mood (as good as his moods get at least) and Shen Yuan has picked up a habit of bringing sweets for the disciples. He just shows up and suddenly the bamboo house doesn't seem so empty, Shen Jiu actually seems comfortable for once, and the whole peak's atmosphere seems to shift.

And, it's always a very jaring experience for new disciples the first time they meet Shen Yuan. Cause there's this guy who looks exactly like their teacher but is so much less severe. His posture is a little more relaxed, he Actually smiles at them every once in a while, he doesn't get annoyed when they ask about his adventures and is instead very willing to share his stories (if he dresses them up a little who's to blame him). For many of them it stuns them to see Anyone be so casual with their teacher and be left alive after; to see him argue with someone in a way that is actually harmless rather than scathing.

It doesn't help though that noone actually knows When Shen Yuan will ever show up or how long he'll actually stay. It definitely varies, sometimes he'll just be passing through the area on his way to some other cool place, sometimes he stays for a few months in order to teach a couple classes on useful plants and dangerous animals.

Often during his visits, he visits the other peaks too. He talks with Mu Qingfang about about medicinal plants while he's treated for any injuries he has (it's not his fault he's accident prone, and if he fell of that cliff while trying to follow a very cool bird-thing no one needs to know). He has tea with Yue Qingyuan (who met him for the first time and said "our younger brother"); Shen Jiu is decidedly not happy about this but "oh well he'll live"

[demon-witch-cat]

Random trolls AU idea that I'm probably not gonna do anything with, but it's a cool idea so I have to share-

Branch is kidnapped instead of Floyd, right? But instead of Velvet just sending a note out for Brozone, they also send out a note to Kismet, who team up with Poppy to go save Branch together.

The two groups meet halfway to Mt Radious, realize they're all there to save Branch, and team up.

There's some arguing both between the brothers and the two bands, though, that slows them down.

Eventually they do get to Mt Radious, and Branch is overwhelmed a bit by the fact they all came to rescue him. He'd only really expected Poppy.

IDK, that's my idea! I really like Kismet, but b/c we don't see/know that much of them, I'm not actually sure how the whole thing would go, so this is all I've got!

[perfectlysanexd]

I haven't done one of these kind of posts in a while, but the expressions in Rebirth were top notch, and I wanted to talk a bit about and analyze Sephiroth's different smiles, both pre and post Nibelheim.

Nibelheim itself is difficult to gauge, because SOLDIER Cloud is actually Zack, and furthermore, some of it is definitely his own wishful thinking. But one thing you can say for sure, is that they portray that Sephiroth, despite being so emotionally weary, still summons up the energy to smile at his friend.

As soon as he turns away from Zack, his smile falls, and he doesn't give one to the Mayor at all.

However, when he turns back to inform the men that they're free until sundown, he summons up another smile for them. I don't think that he's just attempting to keep their morale up, he genuinely has affection for Zack, and cares for the others. He respects them for their service, putting their lives on the line for what they think is a good cause, and Sephiroth—as we saw in Ever Crisis—learned to be a compassionate person, who cares about the lives of others, even enemies.

Of course, he's deeply distressed during this time, the despair is eating him alive. Even Cloud acknowledges(despite having not known Sephiroth on a personal level) that he just wasn't himself once they arrived. But I'm not going to talk about my theories on all the Jenova stuff right now, that's not the focus here. Even at the window, you can tell he's feeling off, but when he turns to Zack, he attempts to smile again.

Sephiroth has never enjoyed his fame, and as we learned in Ever Crisis, he didn't choose it; Shinra made up bogus achievements and declared him to be a hero before even his first field assignment, as part of their recruitment campaign. Can't argue with results, I guess—it certainly got Cloud to join up out of hero worship, right? In EC, Sephiroth admits that all he ever wanted was to be normal, something that he knows he can never have. How sad...

So when this man wants to take his picture, it's no wonder that he's over it by then, and tells him no. And rather politely, too, all things considered. But even before that, he smiles and tells Zack that as long as he does his job, their young tourguide will be safe.

But as soon as he turns his back and walks away? Yeah, that smile immediately fades.

Which certainly doesn't change when the guy takes his picture. But of course, when Zack asks Sephiroth to pose for one, he just can't say no, even though he's not super happy about it. Anyway, he continues to smile at Zack for the duration of their journey up Mt. Nibel, making an effort to talk and even cracking a couple jokes, just trying to be a good leader and keep them in good spirits.

And of course, there's the very sad bridge part, where you can tell that he's genuinely upset that he failed to save the other infantryman that got washed away. He searches for him, but comes up empty-handed. Still, he smiles for Zack and teases him about a performance assessment, since their morale is quite low now, but they need to keep going.

Honestly, the Nibelheim part of Rebirth really did an excellent job of portraying Sephiroth's inner struggle. For reference, there are only 3 points in Remake, I think, when Sephiroth drops his ever-present, sometimes affectionate(towards Cloud) and often unhinged, smile: First, it's replaced with sheer rage as he kills President Shinra.

Second time, is when Aerith has a Cetra moment and suggests that his entire existence is "wrong".

And the third time is when he holds out his hand to Cloud at the Edge of Creation, and is rejected by him.

Anyway, back to Rebirth. Ignoring the bizarre smiles he showed us as Nibelheim was burning, as if he was in a trance and just not all there(that's a subject for a different chat), post-Nibelheim Sephiroth's smiles are interesting, too, if we consider what kind they are, depending on who he's dealing with.

For people he hates, like Tseng, it's much more unhinged looking, and very cold. You can tell there's a certain measure of satisfaction from shanking him, haha...

For someone like Aerith, who...I wouldn't exactly say that he hates her, but she's definitely in the way. I would almost say that he considers her to be actively preventing Cloud from recovering his true memories, leading him to remain as merely Sephiroth's "puppet", but that's a theory for another day. He looks at her coldly, as well, but it's a bit different. There's a bit more respect there than there was for Tseng.

And then there's Zack. Actual Zack. I feel like, deep down, he still cares about him, and has no intention of killing him. I almost sense a little...regret? Maybe? Hm. It's definitely a bit warmer of a smile. And of course, although he had many opportunities to get rid of Zack, he doesn't. Instead, he sends him off into the space between worlds safely.

And of course, last but certainly not least, is the way he smiles at Cloud. I know, I know. "But Sane, you like sefikura, so you're biased!" Look, I won't deny that. However, when you really look at it and compare his smiles, which is what this is all about, his truest smiles are always saved for Cloud. He has 2 different "flavors": pure affection and cruel affection. (There are also a few pity smiles, I think.) The former is used most of the time, whenever Cloud is in his sight, and the latter is used during moments when he's trying to control/influence him. I would almost say that he's...satisfied, yet regretful at the same time?? Like these:

And now, let's contrast that with his more genuine, affectionate smiles for Cloud... (The first shot here ⬇ can be contrasted with the shot 2 up from the bottom there ⬆, as the one above is when he's calling Cloud his puppet, and the one below is when Cloud goes to attack him and he opens his arms wider for the incoming uh...embrace.)

Remake had many interesting smiles from him, too, but that will have to be a different post, as this already has 30 screenshots. Anywho, you're free to draw your own conclusions, and not everyone reads faces in the same way, so maybe I'm nuts. Who knows? Either way, I hope you enjoyed this random, indulgent, very long post, haha. If you made it to the end, you're awesome. 💕

All screenshots were taken by me on my PS5. I won't ask for credit on them, since literally anyone can take an identical shot if they pause at the right second. (The exception are the 3 Remake shots, which were taken on PC with mods and the freecam. For those, I would appreciate credit if you use them anywhere, since I don't watermark them.)

[old-danmei-fan]

Xianle Trio head cannon time

XL obviously doesn't have a problem cross dressing, so what if back before the trio ascended, XL would cross dress to sneak out and he got caught by MQ one night. So of course XL would convince MQ to do it with him.

As these two are about to make it out of the palace undected, FX walks up and immediately clocks MQ but not XL. I can just imagine FX just absolutely tearing into MQ and this mystery girl he's trying to sneak out with, talking about how disappointed Dianxia would be if he found out.

MQ is absolutely FUMING at this point because he knows the only reason he got recognized was because he let XL do his makeup instead of of doing it himself and XL is doing everything in his power not to completely lose his cool and fall to the floor laughing.

800 years later on Mt Yu Jun, Fu Yao is absolutely loving making little comments to XL about how he must have done this before because he's such a natural at it. Nan Feng would eventually start arguing that the crown prince would have never done that with the exception of missions.

[lazyrunawayphilosopher]

Spoilers from TGCF revised version We got some Hong Hong'er childhood pov content in the revised version of TGCF. Hong Hong'er was unreasonably punished by his family to stand or kneel and was not given food. When he argued with his family, he would go to Xie Lian's temple in a fit of rage. He would also sometimes volunteer to sweep the red autumn leaves and go up to Mt. Taicang to watching Xie Lian happily play on the swings.

If anyone is interested in reading the revised version:- a translation is going on here where the chapters which have gone through changes are being translated.

[demonslayedher]

The joke that started this whole Low-Key Married AU, and the outline of it, though I sure have a whole more tagged in this AU now. It's kind of addictive.

I had a sudden need for more content, but my ability to draw is nowhere to be found. Follow me under the cut for a couple more snippets about married Pillars going to and from work.

SEE, I TOLD YOU MY DRAWING ABILITY IS MISSING

I just....... needed to get the idea out of my head so I could find some peace, and this is what I got.

I'll just write up the last one, because it's been in my head longer and I am certain I cannot draw it: It's the morning (or whatever time they wake up) after one of their rare chances to sleep together. Shinobu has to be on her way first, so she quietly tries to leave the futon without disturbing Giyuu.

He drowsily pulls her back, and she has to push and fight him, insisting she has to go to work, but even in a half-awake state he vastly overpowers her so her poking and shoving isn't doing much to free her from his cuddle. He's impeding her mission, she argues.

That much was supposed to be cute, but then in the next panel, she takes a more serious, kind of angry tone that gets Giyuu's attention. "This is against Corp rules, Tomioka-san."

He silently relents, and she gets out of bed and immediately focused on work as usual.

(Yeah, in this AU, Shinobu still totally has that plan for killing Douma, but Giyuu doesn't know that. Yet. Also, this is totally a throw back to the worst argument they've had to date, with Shinobu finding out about Nezuko and the seen on Mt. Natagumo playing out the same, but with way more betrayal and pain and guilt behind the words.)

(See? That is why I am so stuck on this AU. It is sweet and salty.)

[etz-ashashiyot]

So what’s the modern interpretation of the laws about keeping slaves? I’ve heard that said laws where a lot more kind to slaves then the surrounding nations but, like, it’s still slavery?

Hi anon,

With Pesach coming up, I'm sure that this question is on a lot of people's minds. It's a good question and many rabbanim throughout history have attempted to tackle it. Especially today, with slavery being seen as a moral anathema in most societies (obviously this despite the fact that unfortunately slavery is still a very real human rights crisis all over the world), addressing the parts of the Torah that on the surface seem to condone it becomes a moral imperative.

It's worth noting that the Jewish world overall condemns slavery. In my research for this question, I came across zero modern sources arguing that slavery is totally fine. I'm sure that if you dug deep enough there's some fringe wacko somewhere arguing this, but every group has its batshit fringe.

Here are some sources across the political and religious observance spectrum that explain it better than I could:

Chabad (this article is written by Rabbi Tzvi Freeman, a wonderful rabbi whose words I have learned deeply over the years. He is one of my favorite rabbis despite not seeing eye to eye with a lot of the Chabad movement)

Conservative (to be clear: this is my movement; it's not actually politically conservative in most shuls, just poorly named. We desperately need to bully them into calling themselves Masorti Olami like the rest of the world. It's [essentially] a liberal traditional egalitarian movement.)

Conservative pt. 2 (different rabbi's take)

Reform (note that this is from the Haberman Institute, which was founded by a Reform rabbi. Link is to a YouTube recording of a recent lecture on the topic.)

Chareidi (this rabbi is an official rabbi of the Western Wall in Israel, so in a word, very frum)

Modern Orthodox

I want to highlight this last one, because it is written by the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Chovevei, which is a progressive Modern Orthodox rabbinical school. They work very hard to read Torah through an authentically Orthodox lens while also maintaining deeply humanist values. As someone who walks a similar (if not identical) balancing act, this particular drash (sermon) spoke very deeply to me, and so I'm reposting it in its entirety**

[Edit: tumblr.hell seems real intent on not letting me do this in my original answer, so I will repost it in the reblogs. Please reblog that version if you're going to. Thanks!]

Something you will probably notice as you work your way through these sources, you'll note that there are substantially more traditional leaning responses. This is because of a major divide in how the different movements view Torah, especially as it pertains to changing ethics over time and modernity. I'm oversimplifying for space, but the differences are as follows:

The liberal movements (Reform, Renewal, Reconstructionist, etc.) view halacha as non-binding and the Torah as a human document that is, nevertheless, a sacred document. I've seen it described as the spiritual diary of our people throughout history. Others view it as divinely inspired, but still essentially and indelibly human.

The Orthodox and other traditional movements view halacha as binding and Torah as the direct word of G-d given to the Jewish people through Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses) on Mt. Sinai. (Or, at a minimum, as a divinely inspired text written and compiled by people that still represents the word of G-d. This latter view is mostly limited to the Conservative and Modern Orthodox movements.)

Because of these differences, the liberal movements are able to address most of these problematic passages by situating them in their proper historical context. It is only the Orthodox and traditional movements that must fully reckon with the texts as they are, and seek to understand how they speak to us in a contemporary context.

As for me? I'm part of a narrow band of traditional egalitarian progressive Jews that really ride that line between viewing halacha as binding and the Torah as divinely given, despite recognizing the human component of its authorship - more a partnership in its creation than either fully human invention or divine fiat. That said, I am personally less interested in who wrote it literally speaking and much more interested in the question of: How can we read Torah using the divinely given process of traditional Torah scholarship while applying deeply humanist values?

Yeshivat Chovevei does a really excellent job of approaching Torah scholarship this way, as does Hadar. Therefore, I'm not surprised that this article captures something I have struggled to articulate: an authentically orthodox argument for change.

[whencyclopedia]

Bacchae

The Bacchae is a Greek tragedy written by the playwright Euripides (c. 484-406 BCE) in 407 BCE, which portrays Pentheus as an impious king, for the ruler of Thebes has denied the worship of Dionysus within his city walls. For Pentheus, the god is a destroyer of social and moral values, and the former has returned from abroad only to have his conceptions of the god strengthened. He discovers that this false divinity has caused his women to abandon their domestic roles for the freedom of Mt. Cithaeron in order to worship Dionysus. Despite Pentheus' diligent efforts to maintain control over his people, city, and self, Dionysus proves to be an unstoppable force that the King of Thebes is not able to keep under lock and key.

Euripides

As with many individuals in antiquity, little is known about the life of Euripides (c. 484-406 BCE). It is speculated that the playwright was born in 484 BCE at Salamis, and he first performed at the Great Dionysia in 455 BCE. Distancing himself from public life, Euripides, unlike both Aeschylus and Sophocles, did not hold military or religious positions. Euripides wrote the Bacchae in 407 BCE, one year after he left Athens to spend the final two years of his life in Pella at the court of King Archelaus. According to William Arrowsmith in his introduction to the text, Euripides' son brought the Bacchae, along with the plays Iphigenia at Aulis and Alcmaeon at Corinth, back to Athens in order to be produced at the City Dionysia. Euripides' Bacchae is the only tragedy out of 18 surviving texts in which the Greek god Dionysus appears, the divinity whom the City Dionysia honors.

poetic statement of the tensions set up between an individual and a group when that individual, after being a member, or even standing as head, of the group, with whose collective aims his own individual desires have been identified, suddenly — as often happens in ordinary life — finds himself outside the group, his own will in stark and even disastrous conflict with theirs. (Podlecki, 144).

On the other hand, Christine M. Kalk analyzes the physical transformation that Pentheus undergoes throughout the tragedy, specifically how he metamorphizes from the King of Thebes into a symbol that represents the thyrsus. This transformation illustrates Dionysus' true power. Jean A. LaRue argues that Pentheus is controlled by his sexual obsession with the Maenads. To quote LaRue, “Pentheus' pride struggles with his lustful curiosity, and the latter wins” (LaRue, 212).

Continue reading...

[nukaberries]

New Vegas companions reactions after Old World Blues when courier goes “Would you like to meet my brain :D?” I 100% believe it was a missed opportunity for the companions to meet courier’s brain.

Old World Blues is, without a doubt, my favourite DLC for Fallout New Vegas. The first time I played it, I finished it in one day and it felt very fever dreamish. I wish I'd gone into it not knowing what actually happened in the DLC, but I got into New Vegas really late compared to 3 and 4, so I already knew a lot about the game beforehand from social media.

//

New Vegas Companions Meet Six's Brain (Includes: Arcade, Boone, Cass, Lily, Raul and Veronica)

Arcade Gannon He's understandably horrified, as one usually would be when introduced to the talking brain of their friend. In all fairness, he had been insisting for weeks that all of the courier's tales about their time in the Big Mt were fake, so maybe he'd had this coming - not that it makes the sight before him any less jarring. Between this and the courier surviving a bullet to the head, he's starting to doubt that his friend is even human.

Craig Boone Initially, he seems to be taking everything in quite well, until the courier's brain starts speaking to him, upon which point Boone leaves the room and refuses to come back in. He's seen a lot whilst travelling with the courier, but this is definitely the worst of all for him. He has a headache for about a week after that, it takes another week for him to stop looking at the courier in horror.

Cass Even with the courier's brain right in front of her, talking to her, she refuses to believe it, insisting that they must be playing some kind of prank on her. There's no way the courier's just galivanting around the Mojave without a brain and there's definitely no way that said brain is simply sat in some pod talking to her. Even after the shock wears off, she'll argue it's not true, as though her life depends on it.

Lily Bowen Of course, she's extremely concerned about everything the courier said had happened to them in the Big Mt - at least now the scar around their scalp makes sense. Lily does make an effort of trying to talk to the brain, however, as soon as she realises it's not the friendliest, she decides to leave it alone. Given that she was turned into a Nightkin, it's not that far of a stretch for her to believe that a human could survive without a brain.

Raul Tejada Once he's over the shock of what he's seeing, Raul's actually somewhat amused by the courier's brain. Although, this doesn't last very long. He taps on the glass a little too harshly, earning a few colourful insults from the brain and immediately asks the courier never to bring them back here.

Veronica Santangelo She finds the whole situation remarkable. Obviously, it isn't ideal for the courier, but the fact that a person can survive without a brain and walk around with little to no difference is incredible. After hearing the brain talk to the courier, she figures it's best to not make conversation with it, but that doesn't mean she won't have a million questions lined up for Six now that she knows their stories about the Big Mt were all true.

[runabout-river]

Thoughts on JJK chapter 259 (Spoilers)

We start with a flashback to the blood junkies teaching Yuji how to use BM. As was already said in a previous flashback, Choso can't teach for shit but that's why Kamo is here. Yuji's one way of relating to the foundation of BM is a little infantile but when it works it works.

This 1-page flashback is there for only one thing: preparing us for Choso's upcoming death through sacrifice.

Sukuna collects BV like I did Yugioh cards. First a cooking pun, then a limit on furnace outside of his DE, then the inside of his DE was littered with explosive CE ambers, then a change of his barrier to keep his CT output high.

Uraume (not Sukuna! not the narrator!) declares this their victory while she hasn't even managed to defeat Hakari. The narrator does say though that this is Sukuna's ultimate move. Looking at its scale and immense destructive power, it's appropriate.

I made a post about other techniques that Sukuna probably has in his sleeve: CTR, the Maximum and the Hollow Technique. It could be that Sukuna's MT and HT could rival his Fire in destructiveness without contradicting the narrator: Sukuna is a villain who also grows while fighting just like the typical shonen protagonist. Sth like HT he might've just learned from Gojo making Yuji's continued fight against him hell.

The moment Yuji was in an enclosed and dark space with Choso above him I knew Choso was a goner. It's sad 😢 but we go back to that picnic table and those two have one last conversation with each other. They're at peace with the situation...

Important to note: Yuji normally infuses dream sequences into others unlike Sukuna who has a post-death talk with them. This is a post-death talk that Yuji now has with Choso, so I'm curious how that will get explained in the future. Is that part of the resonance that gets mentioned later?

Also important: with how everything with Choso and the picnic table is set up, I find it likely that Yuji will be here again right before dying (or when he dies). Other dead characters might greet him here.

The narrator tells us that after the dusts settles, Yuji's convictions get shaken. We get an appropriate 80% page close up of Sukuna from below, portraying him as the monstrous giant that he is.

What I don't really like here is that Yuji's feelings of despair don't get to sink in. Todo appears 1 panel after Yuji looks relatively all right. Maybe Gege didn't want to repeat Kugisaki's death aftermath as it wouldn't add much but a bit more emotions would've been better.

Anyway, Todo is here right when he was needed the most. A flashback tells us what the rational behind his late entrance and absence from Yuji's presence had been. Makes sense and now the Sukuna-Yuji(-Megumi?) resonance will be an important plot point later.

Does that resonance go both ways? Three ways? Was that how Yuji had entered the inner domain where Megumi is imprisoned right now?

Also, who else is going to show up now? This feels like the perfect setup for Nobara to make her comeback. The same points for keeping Todo's presence and assistance hidden apply to her and this scene directly calls back her death scene as well.

The "most likely fine" is also funny but it also sets up that Ino, Maki and Miwa(?) might've gotten injuries that cross them out of the fight. I think that only Maki will return.

Now the original Brothers™ are back to fighting together again (would've loved Choso and Todo to argue about that though). Sukuna of course knows everything about their fighting style and he looks like a menace again. (Maybe next chapter will open with another flashback of Choso and Todo fighting over Yuji)

Sukuna's arms are open and he smiles without any worries. While Uraume might be shocked that this isn't their victory and that Sukuna's most devastating attack only killed one person, Sukuna himself is all sunshine and rainbows.

[bluepluto03]

Branch Sacrifices himself for Floyd AU

Summary: in which Branch sees Floyd getting the life sucked out of him and gets freaked enough to make a really bad decision

———————————————————————

“I have a proposition for you. A trade.”

“Branch no!” Floyd yells

“Trade for what?”

“For me. You free Floyd, and you can use me instead.”

“Branch, leave, please.” Floyd begs.

Branch ignores him resolutely

Velvet seems to be considering. “Why should I trade?”

“Um… I won't die as fast?” Branch offers, caught off guard. He didn’t expect he’d need to convince her to kidnap him.

(Full mini/bullet fic under the cut)

———————————————————————

Note: this is a cross between a actual fic and a bullet fic bc I have Other Projects I’m supposed to be working on and I’m trying to limit myself from going all out on trolls, but if people like this maybe I’ll try to clean it up some more and put it on ao3

Branch gets the bait letter sometime before the wedding. He panics badly, barely stops to leave a note for Poppy before running off to mt rageous.

JD has already spoken with Floyd and left to collect everyone

At first their Reunion is pretty similar to cannon with a bit more confusion and worry

Branch starts trying to get the cover off the vents so he can take Floyd with him- he doesn’t want to leave him there. But It’s a huge metal grate over a vent and he’s one tiny troll there’s only so much he can do

Floyd hears Velvet and Veneer approaching and tells Branch to run. Branch argues against him, keeps trying to open the stupid grate, ignoring Floyd’s pleas for him to run

In the hallway the voices of Velvet and Veneer go quiet but the trolls are too frantic to notice

Floyd points out Branch can’t help him if they’re both caught, and Branch reluctantly agrees to hide

Velvet, who’s been listening at the door, bursts in. She lunges at Branch but he escapes into the vents where she can’t reach him

Vaneer whines they’ll never be able to find him now

Velvet is like hmm… picks up Floyd’s crystal, Floyd seems scared, looking back up at her

“Such a shame. Im not sure this one will last until the next one shows up.” She says loudly

Her voice rattles around the vents and shakes the ground Branch is trying to stand on and he he grits his teeth against it

“Oh im sure another one will show up soon enough, but we have half a dozen shows in the next few days. This one’s getting pretty weak.” she shakes Floyd. “With two, well theres one for each of us! Right veneer?”

“R-right?”

“Im sure two would be able to make it much longer…”

Branch knows what she’s doing. He knows she’s just trying to bait him out. The stupidest thing in the world he could do would be to go down there right now.

But all he can see is how pale floyd is getting, and the terrifying translucence of the tips of his fingers, and-

And. if he goes down there he’ll be useless to save floyd.

He’ll have to just figure out some other way to get floyd out

“We’ll have to keep him with us now, i guess, since theres some little critters running around. We don’t want them bothering our little guest”

Anxiety starts to choke Branch and he tries to push it down. Okay, that complicates things, but it’s fine. It’ll be fine. He’ll still manage to save Floyd. Before it’s too late

He can’t pull himself away from the edge of the vent. He realizes he’s been edging closer and closer on his stomach, out of the shadows, desperate just to see Floyd for a moment longer

Velvet looks around. She sees a shadow in the vent and grins to herself

“Well we’ve gotta get going to our next show. Time for a quick spritz”

She sprays herself

Floyd lifts up from the force of it, eyes rolling back in pain. His body shudders once with the wave, then goes boneless as he drops to the bottom of the bottle

“NO-“ the scream rips through Branch’s throat before he can catch it. Velvet looks at the vent with a predatory look in her eye. Floyd looks dazed and terrified on Branch’s behalf

Velvet takes one predatory step forward and instinctively Branch yells “DON’T MOVE”

Velvet stops, seemingly more out of surprise than anything else. She laghs. “Why should i troll? What’re you gonna do? Sing at me?”

“I’ll disappear into the vents” Branch says with much more confidence than he feels. “By the time you get to me, i can be deep enough that you won’t be able to grab me.”

Velvet frowns, eyes scanning the distance between them, but she dosn’t move forward

“Why not just run off then?” Veneer asks, though it sounds more genuinely confused, lacking his sister’s mocking undertone

Floyd is looking at him with a furrowed brow, confusion evident on his face as he struggles to figure out what branch is doing, even as he leans limply against the side of the bottle

“I have a proposition for you. A trade.”

“Branch, no!” Floyd yells as he figures it out

“Trade for what?”

“For me. You free Floyd, and you can use me instead.”

“Branch, leave, please.” Floyd begs.

Branch ignores him, resolutely pushing down the fear in his chest

Velvet seems to be considering. “Why should I trade?”

“Um… I won't die as fast?” Branch offers, caught off guard. He didn’t expect he’d need to convince her to kidnap him.

“Maybe, but pinkie here is pretty powerful. How do I know you’ll be anywhere near as strong?”

Branch hesitates then forces himself move forward “I’m stronger.”

“No he’s not! He’s terrible!” Floyd insists

“Excuse me?” Branch shoots back, indigent and caught off guard

But Floyd’s not looking at him hes talking to velvet. “He’s awful. If you use him you’ll sound like-” he grasps for how to convince them ”like a broken chalkboard, or nails in a clock, or- or a crying bird!”

“You’re mixing metaphors, babe” Veneer tells him

“Or something! It’ll be bad, okay??” floyd insists desperately

branch feels irrationally a bit hurt because he knows floyd is only saying that to protect him. He takes a deep breath, pushing down all the fear and hurt

“No it won’t. I have the voice of an angel.

Velvet raises an eyebrow. “Prove it.”

He sings a few bars

“Deal.” Velvet agrees to the trade

Now there’s the problem of actually doing the trade

They tell him to come down, he says no you’ll take us both, gimme floyd and then ill come down, they accuse him of the same thing, they agree on branch standing on the edge of the vent and them putting floyd next to him as they pick him up

They do it and branch tries not to shake in fear

They let Branch help Floyd into the vent because he’s so weak, but both Velvet and Veneer are hovering so close and they’ve figured out how to shut some of the vents so even if he wanted to leave he couldn’t

As floyd is placed down he beggs branch “branch please don’t do this, please.”

Branch can’t look at him. He wishes he had something, anything to say

Floyd’s hair wraps around his wrist weakly, it’s all Floyd can manage. Branch just gently takes it off and keeps going

As he steps into velvets hand he tries his best for a comforting smile. “I’ll be back. I promise.”

This time, when one of them walks away, they both know he’s lying

Note: that’s what I have so far! Cue very sick Floyd watching his brother suffer and desperately trying to save him while so weak.

Maybe I’ll continue if ppl like this maybe I’ll finish editing this into something a bit cleaner but we’ll see! Honestly depends if people are interested bc I have other stuff I really should be working on but the trolls hyperfixation hit me with a frying pan and dragged me into the fandom in a burlap sack.