#Before anyone freaks out this is supposed to be funny and ironic

[el-conejo-loco]

"Drew like a dark, fucked up version of Weird Al Yankovic haha. Just a glimpse into my dark reality. A full stare into my twisted perspective would make most simply go insane lmao. " -Kaiklops, 2021

Self portrait ! I was told I look like a goth Weird Al, today, so there it goes.

[blanketedblanket]

Splatoon Agent Headcanons

Feelin silly so I might as well drop some agent lore n stuff

Captain 3 (Tessa)

Mains Custom E-Liter 4k

Grew up in inkopolis and relocated to the most popular spots (inkopolis square, plaza, then splatsville) in order to "fit in" with the people that she grew up with, now thinks that it was a stupid decision but is glad she met the people she knows because of it

Neutral about turf war, but will play if she has people to play with. (normally 8 or 4) Absolutely dominates when she does play, all that experience on the battlefield really gets her in the zone when playing.

Dating 8 (Hachi), after the events of OE, they eventually got together and mutually bonded over not fitting in with their peers

Neglecting their hygiene, they will only shower after a mission. (Hachi is currently trying to help her improve, and it's going questionably well)

Callie and Marie once got Tessa her own matching idol outfit for fun, and she burst into tears (happy ones dw)

Cousins with Renee, Tessa freaked out when she found out about Renee ending up as agent 4. (Runs in the family, I suppose)

Formerly "destined for greatness" as their family said, (star pupils were deemed as good fortune and a bright future in their family) Tessa now refuses communication with anyone from her family except Renee, as she knows that they won't leave her alone about "failing her destiny"

Met Orca (neo agent 3) for the first time and was genuinely concerned for their safety in the splatoon, taking into account how frail they were at the time of joining the squidbeak splatoon. "He looks almost as if a light breeze can blow him away he's so small, AND he’s taller than me."

For the first few days of Orca being a part of the splatoon, Tessa was trying to avoid making to many connections with him and giving him to many tough missions, not knowing if he would be able to handle it.

Agent 4 (Renee)

Mains Nautilus 79

Grew up in inkopolis along with Tessa, but didn't move nearly as much as her. Moved closer to inkoplolis plaza to participate in turf wars when it gained popularity over in that area

Loud and rambunctious to the point of being called a problem child in school. Wasn't necessarily one of the popular kid stereotypes like the class clown, but was more of a funny kid everyone knew but only had a few friends (as in they knew his name, but not him if that makes sense) "So what if I didn't have friends and didn't do well in school? I have friends now and I don't even need to worry about education so what's the point!"

Close friends with Tessa in school and in modern-day, Tessa freaked OUT for Renee's safety after finding out that he was the so called agent 4 that marie would be mentioned by Callie and Marie on occasion (only actually met in person as "agent 3" and "agent 4" a few months after OE

Currently has feelings for Neo agent 3, (Orca) the two do not know eachother in their missions, only on occasion hearing the other agent be brought up in conversation (when at work, the agents instead of using real names use their agent number) They met in a turf war, when both of their teams decided to forfeit because "the other team was just to stong" (ironic considering that Renee's team was losing by a long shot)

Scorned by their relatives, was told they were nothing compared to Tessa because of a genetic defect in the eyes, (expanded pupils and heterochromia) even though Tessa technically had one of her own.

Agent 8 (Hachi)

Mains S-Blast 91

Raised in a very militaristic household (right outside of octocanyon), was taught that inklings were evil scum that have stolen their land and need to be eradicated on sight

Was an octarian general before she fell into the deep-sea metro, incredible skill with the blaster

Fought with Tessa before she fell, the floor gave out beneath them from all the chaos

Considered odd, by the octarians Hachi grew up with, as she had a strange fascination with the above ground

Recognized a few of the sanitized octolings in the metro from when she went to school, almost had a breakdown during the first station because the first octoling she saw was on of her only friends at the time that had gone missing a few weeks before

Dating 3 (Tessa), surprised when she ultimately reciprocated Hachi's feelings.

Brother and best friend were both sanitized, when they found out she was devastated, blamed themselves for their deaths. "When I saw them in the metro, I didn't know what to do. Those were the two people in my life that I knew cared about me, and they were just. Gone. Just like that. Pearl and Marina got me through it, but it took months for me to actually accept the truth. Now that I have more people with me, it's not that bad, but thinking about it makes me tear up a little."

Knows quite a bit about octarian weaponry, as back in octo valley they were trained on the basics of operation on all octarian weaponry. Orca has since taking a liking to this information and talks to her about it from time to time

Neo agent 3 (Orca)

Mains Custom Jet Squelcher

Grew up in a place not-so far off from inkopolis square, moved to splatsville when he turned 16 (Now 18) to pursue turf war

Curiosity killed the cat, as they say, Orca got curious on why there was a man in the sewers, boom 💥 neo 3

While in Alterna, they were not able to evade touching the fuzzy ooze too much, eyes, tentacles, and skin was effected (eyes and skin changed color slightly, and tentacles now have a fuzzy sheen near the browner parts)

Has not met agent 4 as an agent yet, hopes to soon but is in no rush to do so

Used to have a slight resentment of Tessa, Orca thought that she was a rude bitch who didn't care about anything, opinions were changed after the events of alterna, and they are on good terms

At the moment, Orca gets along best with Hachi, they bonded over an overabundance of knowledge on weapons and like to chit chat about it

2 different turf war teams, one with his sister and one of his own, considered one of the best in the area

Currently no feelings for anyone, and unaware of Renee's feelings. (I wonder where I'll take this lmao) "I haven't had feelings for anyone since like what..? Uhh maybe when I was 12 or something. If anyone currently does have feelings for me I don't know what I'll do so hopefully that doesn't happen."

Silly

I swear he has more lore I just can't remember shit

Erm anyway that's done

Thanks for reading this?? Maybe?? (Did you actually read this or did you skip it be honest)

Should I post about Orca's team next cause I really want to

[threadsun]

I don’t know what’s hotter, this ramen I’m eating or my face! 😂 I’ll just say it’s the ramen jussst to be cheeky about it (*'▽'*) So um, I’d never, like EVER say I’m a needy little masochist or a slutty little nympho, but like, if I WAS then MAYBE what I’d say your absolutely correct and read me like a book. But I’m not, so I won’t! ;P Fun fact though, did you know when I was younger, I LOVED playing as a kidnapped princess and would tie myself up to the pole at my old home. Like, I would BEG to be tied up because I enjoyed it so much. It sounds really weird in that context, but old habits die hard and I still love dressing like a princess.

I’m gonna go on limb here and say “Why not both?” 😂 Hopefully I’ll get to be your friend in time AND you get money. It’s a win-win! But then again though, it might be hard to form any kind of friendship when all you know about me is that I’m a kinky mfer who uses a pumpkin emoji and loves ghost tiddie men (I mean MDHM is also great too, but my hyper fixation those blinders on me man) so there’s that. ._. I mean, you don’t even know if I’m supposed to be a spooky pumpkin or a pumpkin that turns into a carriage! I completely understand my guy. I wouldn’t be a decent business administration major if I was just like “GIVE ME ALL THE GOODS!” But damn, those are some damn good marketing skills you got here. Ironically though, I used be a vocal major, so you could say I’m a bit of a pro when it comes to anything vocal based~ ;3

It definitely did feel out of nowhere, especially with that afterlife episode (legit finally PLAYED the game instead of watching walkthroughs online last night, but I didn’t see the afterlife part until yesterday). My brain figured after seeing it that maybe he still felt so insecure and unwanted that he fell into the affair so he could forget everything for one night. Feeling like he’s replaceable, subconsciously it’d be almost like a test to see if M/C would really be willing to stick through it all despite what his mother implies (only being good enough if he has money since he looked ugly in his mom’s perspective), but realizing what he’s done, he desperately apologizes. Of course this mostly changed once I read what you thought the reason could be. I think he’d be too scared to upset anyone to do something harmful so that’s why I agree with your theory.

OOOOO! WOOF! Love IT! Think m/c is gonna be stuck doing lots of doggy style and mating presses in that firehouse. Lots of bones to suck on there. But just imagine how often you’d be pulled into the back of the fire truck on a slow day. Being put into degrading positions because puppy was just so bad today. Getting so used to responding to certain commands that the moment one of the guys says it, you instinctively do it. Jack always calling you a good puppy anytime you react positively to his pleasurable touches, so the moment he states, “Awww, you’re SUCH a good puppy for me, aren’t you sunshine? Yes you are!” And you just becoming immediately aroused. He acts so innocent about it too, squishing your cheeks in between his giant hands while your eyes cloud over in lust. That hypnokink post you made before can be thanked for that thought! Lol So hot~! FREAKING YES TO THE KITTY/PUPPY PIN UP CALENDAR!! It’d be funny if someone flips through the different months seeing all the cute animals being held by the guys, until one picture of has you being held in dog ears with instead. The person just squints at the photo and is like “There’s no animals here!” 😂 Freaking going FULL ON MONKE mode at the thought of rough brat taming Jack and the outlaw Joesph x Zander fic! Like YUM! OOOOO That sounds real nice! So you basically saying it smells like Alan? 😂 He got that campfire smell going, but I burn smudging sticks made from sage so I could imagine it! And I definitely could see Ian smelling like that too! Glad to see that you have also been blessed with experiencing the smell of Obsession. I swear that stuff is ADDICTING 😂 Add a little sugar to that grapefruit and you got the perfect scent recipe for Jack!

Ohoho~ Now, I’m a fan of temperature play (ice cubes, warming and cooling lubes, etc), but I’ve ALWAYS wondered what it’d feel like to do wax play. Don’t they have one’s with essential oils too so they smell nice on your skin? My brain always thought you��d get like third degree burns from it so I’d squirm uncomfortably at the thought (same with electricity), but like, they have ones that are hot, but WON’T send you to the hospital?

Also on a side note, I hope I didn’t cause any discourse here within the community because of my very blatant flirting. Definitely not my intentions and I figured if I made you or your spouse uncomfortable, you’d tell me! So I apologize if I made anyone on here upset, worried, or uncomfortable because of how blunt I’m being here. I’ve never really had a safe space to flirt comfortably or discuss sex outside of romantic relationships, so I guess I went a bit overboard! I’m still gonna keep doing what I have been, the moment you tell me I’ve went too far, I’ll stop. I’m all about that good ol’ fashion communication and I know your profession requires it to be respectful and safe, so I know you’ll do it when you feel like you need to and I’ll do the same! 😊

-🎃

Oh of course, no one would ever say that about you! No one would ever say you're a submissive little ropebunny who wants to be wanted so badly someone kidnaps you. You definitely don't want to be a mean dom's pretty princess who they tie up and abuse. That would be ridiculous!

Who knows? I've got a few friends who started off sending me anon messages on my main blog, so anything's possible! But I'm also a professional, so I'll certainly be reserving freebies for those closest to me~

Yeah, exactly!! Like I just can't imagine the same Ian from both Afterlife and those pathetic voicemails being the kind of person who sleeps with someone to test you. That's far too... idk bold? He's the sort of guy who never wants to test his partner because he's so afraid they'll leave at the slightest thing. He already doesn't think he's worthy of them. The only way I can see him cheating is if he thought things were already basically over/they'd cheated first.

Oh yesssssss conditioning like that is so good!!! Jack definitely enjoys making people associate innocent phrases with him fucking their brains out so that every time he slips it into casual conversation, they melt a little bit and start thinking about his cock~ The whole lot of them would enjoy taking turns with the station puppy, definitely!! Lots of getting fucked in the back of the fire trucks... And god the punishments would be so good....

I'm hype to write both of them!! Just need to make myself focus enough to properly write them, but once I do it's over for you >:3c but yes!!! All of those sound right to me in terms of the way they'd all smell!! Ian would lean more floral than Alan I think, but other than that a similar sort of smoky scent~

Waxplay is great!! Different types of wax melt at different temperatures, so some are cool enough to be body safe while others will cause dangerous burns. But if you get candles specifically for waxplay then they won't burn you. You can also get massage candles that have essential oils and stuff and smell really nice, and they basically melt into a hot massage oil you can pour on your partner~ Electricity is also fun and not particularly dangerous if you know what you're doing! I love a good violet wand~

Oh no, don't worry!! No one said anything, I just figured I'd mention it in case people were worried I wouldn't assert boundaries if I needed to. I always ask Moon before flirting with people, and I'm certainly having fun~ So definitely no need to be sorry or tone it down! I'll let you know if it ever goes too far, and I trust you'll do the same 💙 and in the meantime, I'll keep teasing you for being too needy to be a brat~

[whenthechickencry]

Umineko EP3. Replay Part 5

Well yeah Battler, you got it! How did the other Golden Witch get her powers then?

lmfao owned.

Man Virgilia and Ronove really spoil Battler with all the hints.

Rosa and Eva speaking in code is pretty good, neither wants to leave the room without the other....

The fact Rosa shakes a bottle in frustration in trying to find something that isn't there while being angry at Maria for being mad that something isn't where it should be is pretty ironic.

Obviously this scene didn't literally happen and something closer to what actually happens is something like Eva telling Hideyoshi about the gold and her plans and etc while being disgusted by her own greed, while at the same time going deeper into it....

Maria's random insistence at this to me seems like a sign that this is something Yasu and Maria had pre-planned. If there was a deadlock taking place, she would cry about her rose, similar to how she used the cards to break deadlocks in episode 1 and 2. Though I don't think it would work like they intended this time if Eva didn't like, fuck things up her own way.... I don't think Yasu would murder Rosa in front of Maria and I don't think she would like, shoot Maria either....

Well.... obviously the truth is something in between here. Eva may not be enjoying tutoring Rosa at this moment, but she is surely having a fight with her about keeping the secret with her, and pushing her into the fence in frustration.... and then murdering her daughter to leave no witness. Granted, I don't think Eva would just go on a murder spree normally.... I think of it as something kind of like Meakashi Shion. The murders wouldn't have happened if the first accident didn't.

I.... forgot Battler just tells her to kill herself omg.... this scene is kind of interesting. i am kind of interpreting it as what Yasu was scared Battler would think of her when she found out about her murder mystery plans... we know from episode 8 manga that he is all things considered pretty forgiving of it, in actuality. But I could see Yasu thinking this is how it would go down or even what went through his head at first before stopping himself and thinking of what led to it. Also Beato will get to get her wish of seeing what Battler cooks in episode 8!

Of course she is exaggerating for her trick strategy, but I don't think this is too far from what she thought about herself, either, and it's not like she wasn't cruel with her pranks and stuff so it isn't entirely unwarranted, but...

I imagine she probably did apologize to Maria something like here when she found her corpse and had to fix it up, too....

Obviously, though, you are supposed to be very sus of Beato here lol. I mean she turotred Kanon like, a couple hours ago lol.

It's really funny how it seems this specific act didn't really trick anyone lol - sorry Yasu I guess you kind of failed.

There is a clear difference in my view in how the family acts towards the murder in this episode and the last one. In this one they more or less figured out both this and the first murder - compared to how in the first 2 episodes everyone was clueless. I think in universe you can justify this with there being more servant deaths and therefore less culprits to worry about and also you can theorize that Yasu assumed her plan would go without a hitch - something Tohya knew wasn't true.

Eva's desperate to throw suspicion elsewhere lmfao.

tldr people don't believe in magic anymore so to make them believe it you have to make very obtuse murders.

It is kind of funny Hideyoshi doesn't realize what is going on even though it is decently obvious, lol. Also, Natsuhi is freaking out because their reasoning is stupid - and I mean it is if you take it at face value, maybe you should have thought about it Hideyoshi!

"Until that question could be dealt with, the only answer was[...] magic" Is an interesting line. The answer to this sequence of events is obvious, Kyrie and Rudolf are luring out Hideyoshi.... so if this is framed as magic, it tells you how magic is used in other situations, and to go back to other magical scenes and see what you can take from them.

I kind of wonder how Hideyoshi was able to kill both Rudolf and Kyrie, especially at such a disadvantage. I guess he didn't come unscathed, though, considering he died. So it could be as simple as a bullet missing. him or him attacking before Rudolf and Kyrie were ready.

Uh huh, Kyrie... you can tell both this was written by someone with love for Kyrie and Rudolf and that they are someone who knows Kyrie might uh, have some issues.

To be honest, I originally took this to mean Eva literally did show herself and caused the shootout where she was the one survivor when I first read it... I guess I was being too literal when I read this for the first time. It's more of a general representation on Eva's complicated feelings towards her family, the gold, etc coupled with her fucking up the board.

Kyrie is more or less wrong about everything she says here, Rudolf was not in any remote way cornered, in fact if anything he was cornered *towards* dating Kyrie and he still picked Asumu. Kyrie was never anything more than Rudolf's side and they only ever got together officially because Asumu happened to die. To be honest I can't exactly blame rudolf for thinking Kyrie would kill him for revealing the truth.... he would in fact kind of deserve it.

I kind of want to use this scene to springboard to talk about misogyny in Umineko in general - specifically the ones experienced by the mothers. This entire chapter is basically an essay on how Eva faces misogyny, Natsuhi was basically sold and used as a womb, Rosa was left by her husband and forced to deal with how society treats single mothers, Kyrie has shit with her family as well as Rudolf both depending on her while using her as a side piece and feeling emasculated by her, etc. really all the women in Umineko are greatly affected by misogyny. And since Umineko deals a lot with generational trauma and cycle of abuse that is also how misogyny is passed down in Umineko Eva yells at Natsuhi about how she is just a womb, tries to use the fact George is male and Jessica female to steal the headship from Jessica, and that's even before the awful way they treat Shannon. Natsuhi refuses to engage with her daughter as a full person with a variety of interesting and own personality and instead tries to mold her into a "proper" and "modest" woman. Rosa tells her own daughter she is the reason her father left and blames her for the people she is dating not wanting to deal with her. And finally, Kyrie throws endless shit to Asumu and basically has a headcanon about how Rudolf is blameless and Asumu was just a homewrecking whore who got in the way of her and Rudolf, when Rudolf is obviously the one at fault. I don't want to make it look like I am saying these are basically the same characters or anything like that, there is a lot of difference in motivations behind why they do this, in how they cope with it, etc, but I mostly discuss that in other posts so I don't want to go into that much details. I think Umineko overall deals with misogyny in a good way- it understands that misogyny isn't just a Big Bad Old Fashioned Man you have to defeat, and afterward misogyny is solved, it isn't something you can just defeat by just changing the way you think or whatever but a system built in favor of men that gets internalized by everyone, including women, and that those attitudes are internalized and passed to the next generation before they can so much as even talked. This is a little bit of a tangent but related to how all of the characters previously talked about are both victims and afterward abusers or otherwise people that harm others, I am happy that WTC works in general aren't shy of showing how abuse can be internalized in bad ways that cause harm to others while still holding sympathy and space for the victims. A lot of works are scared of this because if done wrong it can look like victim blaming or ignoring victims in favor of abusers, but I think works like this are really important for victims to understand that some imperfect behavior after being abused is normal and that they aren't irredeemable and can grow themselves if they ever fail and do bad things. holy shit I went on a huge tangent. I haven't played in like 2 days because I got the idea to write this 2 days ago and have been workshopping on my brain how to word it.

Anyways back on regularly scheduled Umineko, it is kind of funny how the first time humans really 'win' against magic it's not really presented in a positive light. They won because their vices were even worse than the vices of the stakes representing sloth and envy.

Beatrice struggles about dancing around the fact she just wants Battler to acknowledge her for her own sake, lol.

they have hinted like 10 times that the chiester sisters = gun in the last like 20 lines lmfao.

They are dropping a bunch of hints towards what Beatrice actually wants here. The awkward conversation with EVA meant the same thing more or less too.

This scene's interesting - I am sure Hideyoshi in actuality DID feel Eva was being changed by the gold into a crueler person but everything points towards him being pretty enabling overall. Also Hideyoshi hints towards magic and witchdom being about being unable to deal with the past. Also there is a line that says "The gun near rudolf killed Hideyoshi (paraphrasing) which is kind of interesting considering the manga says it was Kyrie instead.

The fact Eva is freaking out this much about Hideyoshi going outside - even before she knew that Rudolf and Kyrie followed him is a hint that she was recruited, I think. After all, when talking with Rosa she said she thought the original murders were a prank, and she was the one that killed Rosa and Maria so.... why is she freaking out now?

Ok yeah - she's using Yasu keywords like 'Golden witch" and witch in general on a nonfantasy scene. Definitely some hints towards that I think. i didn't catch that Eva was an accomplice in this episode until I read the manga, to be honest. Thought she'd just murdered people on her own. Definitely didn't trust Yasu at all though, didn't even tell her she found the gold.

[bssaz97]

How does Jupiter react to see his little brother, Neptune dating Weiss for the first time meeting him?

Jupiter: So Neptune, when am I going to be meeting your “new” girlfriend? And please tell me that you actually got a real girlfriend this time.

Neptune: Har, har, you’re very funny bro. Weiss said she would be arriving soon, you know how busy a Schnee can be.

Jupiter: Oh right, the heiress to the most famous family on all of Remnant is your girlfriend. I nearly forgot, heheh.

Neptune: You still don’t believe I’m dating Weiss Schnee, do you?

Jupiter: I believe that you’re dating a girl who looks like Weiss Schnee, but I don’t see why saying her name a million times is supposed to impress me.

Neptune: What? Impress you? I’m not trying to impress anyone bro, I just thought it would be nice for you to meet my first girlfriend-! Ah-! I mean, the first girlfriend that I’ve been going steady on. Okay, that sounds even worse….

Jupiter: *laughs* Kiddo, what have I told about trying to act like you’re such a “cool guy”? You’re better off trying to act like yourself. That’s probably why you’ve been able to keep this one around.

Neptune: Actually we had broken up before, but we’re back together now! With hopes of lasting more than a week.

Jupiter: Monty, bro… no wonder you’ve been on edge, you need to relax, you’re as agitated like the ocean.

Neptune: Maybe you’re right. I just want things to work out this time.

Jupiter: Well, if you’re honest with yourself, and with her, than you should be fine. *smirks* And probably try not to flirt with every skirt you see.

Neptune: Gee, that’s ironic coming from you.

Jupiter: As your big bro, “do as I say, not as I do.”

Neptune: Riiight. *sees a familiar bullhead* That’s her! She’s here!

*From the bullhead descends a petite, but dignified young huntress with a white snow hair, and eyes as blue as ice. The girl’s face smiles as she met eyes with the young blue haired huntsman*

Weiss: Apologies for the delay, Ruby had chosen a easy mission taking out silverfish but then it turned into a hard mission when the Grimm started to combine into a giant silverfish.

Neptune: That’s okay, I’m just glad you’re here. *presents a gift* I got you flowers.

Weiss: Aw, how sweet.

*She smells them and looks towards the older huntsman standing besides them*

Weiss: Oh! You must be Neptune’s brother, It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.

Jupiter: …Holy crap, you really are dating Weiss Schnee.

Neptune: Yes I am!

*Neptune attempts to gloat but gets his ear pulls from Weiss who wore a frown on her face*

Neptune: Atatatata! Weiss!

Weiss: You didn’t tell me you were bringing family, I would’ve dressed for the occasion!

Neptune: It was supposed to be a surprise for both of you, I didn’t think you would mind.

Weiss: Of course I mind! I’m in worn battle gear this is hardly the proper attire for meeting on e of your relatives.

Neptune: I’m sorry Weiss, I’ll give you a heads up next time. But if it helps, you still look very beautiful.

Weiss: Well… It does help… a bit. But I’m still upset with you.

Neptune: I promise to make it up to you… just please let go of my ear.

*Jupiter who had been watching the whole exchange was stunned without words, but once it had ended his face contorted into a held back expression until he could hold it no more*

Jupiter: Ahahahahaha!

Weiss/Neptune: Huh?

Jupiter: I’m sorry, it’s just, this is not at all what I was expecting for this day to turn out! Haha. But man, I’m so glad to be wrong, you two are really a funny couple. *sighs* Goad to know my bro finally has a girl who can keep him in check.

Neptune: Hey! I don’t-

Weiss: *glares*

Neptune: Er, I mean, maybe a little.

Jupiter: Hehe, it’s nice to meet you too, Weiss Schnee. Man, mom will freak at this.

Weiss: Your mother? Hi old on, I’m not ready yet. I need a new wardrobe!!!

~Fin~

A/N: Hope this is to your liking, apologies for the long wait. I’m going to try to work more in my ask box since it’s been a minute.

[annetalkscomics]

So I decided I want to get my first tattoo next year…

I always thought it would be fun to have some tattoos but like—never really found one that I thought would fit. Like there were fun aesthetics but nothing I was gung-ho about committing to for the rest of my life, you know?

I wanted my first tattoo to be symbolic. It had to say something to the world and it had to remind me of something very, very important. But what on earth could it possibly be?

What means the world to me?

And then it hit me.

Reading Sandman this year was such an accomplishment for me. I started the series back in 2018, believe it or not, and things were a lot different back then. It hit me around volume 2 that this book was going to be something special, and I realized that once I was done that feeling would vanish. That sense of awe, that wonder. You know that feeling, right? When you’ve picked up a marvelous book and you can already tell before you’re even halfway in that this is a book that’s going to change your life? That was Sandman to me. I knew that this was a book that I would cherish for my entire life, but that also meant I had my entire lifetime to read it. No sense rushing a good thing. I wanted to savor it like a good steak or the finest of wines. I wanted to ingest it in the smallest, most digestible portions…and just let it melt into my palate. So that’s what I did.

Before 2022 I had only read four volumes of Sandman, of course, but I had gone ahead and read both Death miniseries. Why? Because, out of everything I had seen in Sandman and as interesting a character as I found Morpheus, there was just something more about Death. Her friendly demeanor, her lovely smile, the fact that she loved everyone and she was the one person who didn’t judge anyone for what life had turned them into. I thought maybe it was that kindness that drew me to her. I thought that she was just the world’s most ironic comfort character.

But this year I realized that there was more to it. Death wasn’t a character I liked purely because she was nice, but because she was a character that was familiar. Not because she was what I always imagined she would be, but because she was what I always hoped she would be…

I have thought about death more times in the last four years than I ever have in my life. Not because I was depressed or suicidal, but because I realized when I finally admitted to myself that I was transgender that I was no longer safe. It’s funny to assume in a world as dangerous as this that I ever was, but when you think you’re a white cishet man that’s not really something that really crosses your mind. If something happens to kill you it was a freak accident, a total random happenstance, it was a random occurrence of nature that just happened to put you in the wrong place at the wrong time. It felt safe. When I found out I was trans it suddenly felt different and I was scared still am scared because I realized I would never know another day where there wasn’t a target on my back. It wouldn’t always be a visible target, and if I, right now, kept my head down and just kept to myself I could easily pass as having no target at all for maybe the rest of my life…but it would still be there. Just because I’m me. And in the light of events just this past week, that knowledge has never felt more real.

So what am I supposed to do? It’s a terrifying thought; it’s a terrifying place to be. The idea that the clock is ticking away faster for me than for others, faster than I ever imagined…that it could be violent, that it could be painful, that it could happen at any time in the name of hurting me and everyone out there like me. You know how weird it is to feel like not even my own heartbeat is mine anymore? My life is now just a point to be taken at will for the sake of some bigoted agenda, whether passively or actively. So what am I supposed to do? The sound of her wings is louder than ever before.

But that’s just it. If the clock is running down, if I am a target, if this unfair world is my reality than why would I ever just sit back and accept it?

Death isn’t what destroys life—it is the fear of Death that steals purpose from us. It is what causes us to be fearful, hateful, ignorant and cruel. I know that fear is what they want. The same people who want me dead and gone love it when I’m afraid…when we’re afraid. But I won’t give that to them. I refuse. They can use everything against me, but I will not give them control over how I feel. They can not have my mind or my soul. They will not make me afraid. I can reclaim my fear of death, and, by virtue of doing so, reclaim love for my life.

To hell with being scared of death!

So—my first tattoo is going to be Death’s ankh. I want it on my chest like a necklace I can’t take off. I want that reminder that Death isn’t something to fear, and although I carry that with me it is something that I am not trying to hide from. She’s not out to get us, she’s rooting for us, because she knows what a gift this is. I plan to use that to the fullest. For the rest of my life.

Whether it’s me or you or anyone else, we all end up with the same black haired goth on our doorsteps, and I intend to greet her with a smile, a hug, and maybe even a kiss (if I’m real lucky).

She is Death and I love her. 🖤🖤🖤

[mythtiide]

Sending this ask as an invite to let you ramble about tlo as much as you want about whatever you want cause honestly same i have been thinking about this game again too 🙏🙏

YEAHHHHH im going to do the easiest bit and do character personalities (or at least what i think their personalities are lol)

this got. so fucking long i started with undying and started pulling from the game and went like “oh i should do that for the other characters so i dont look so biased” and now we have this monstrosity. For the love of god please help me

undying

starting off strong! just like this guy . He’s a bit of an embodiement of hourglass’s near worst traits, hes his pettiness and hot headedness rolled up into a separate entity for him to deal with.

LIKE ok . i feel like im slandering him to high heaven BUT HEAR ME OUT his entire vibes are overwhelmingly violent, even down to his mechanics. Unlike Pandora’s unpredictability theres an added layer of terror to him. Predator and Prey are a strong theme in TLO2R, and Undying really really really rides that theme home. Hes a man in hot pursuit of you, and he is IN YOUR FACE ABOUT IT!!! Hes almost ??? feral?? about it?? his horror is the exact opposite direction of pandora, hes human shaped and he used to be human but theres something so so so WRONG with how he looks, there is NO shred of humanity in his eyes! Like, if undying wasnt stopped by his bad eyesight tlo wouldve been way shorter lmao

pandora

pandora is a funny girl because like i said shes a little bit of a more neutral party. Obviously shes on the bad guy side but unlike undying shes Literally Just Vibing. Shes not actively searching for you, sort of just bumbling around the house and getting flashbanged.

While she’s a character that relies a bit more on gore to be scary (i will say scenes where she gets in your face never fail to make me jump) shes not without unsettlingness that looking at a dead person makes you feel. Like i said in undyings paragraph, Pandoras horror comes from her looking far too human. Unlike undying, its quite easy to imagine what she looked like probably just a few hours before the gameplay started, also unlike undying we get to see her in the process of being sacrificed. It adds an uncomfortable humanity to her, Its actually quite sad now that in really thinking abut it.

cult

i dont really have too much for cult, other than that hes a cruel and twisted little man. Hes also a bit of a suck up to hourglass, hes like his lapdog or whatever.

Cults phone calls sound mildly like hes bragging and so freaking confident that this hour’ll be your last! and while he was right its still kinda funny. His language is flowery and lax at the start, hell maybe this isnt the first time he’s seen the wrath of Hourglass. He gets more fustrated as time goes on, like no!!! this wasn’t supposed to happen! Hw knows its a waiting game but it pisses him off all the while. I guess most of his words were meant to rile mc up. Scare him enough that he’ll slip up, fail to stifle his breathing, misremember the amount of knocks so that they’ll finally fucking die!!!!

hourglass

the big bad himself. My interpretation isnt really too different from cannon, hes a twisted guy who’ll trample anyone that stands in his way. Hes got no qualms for killing and he wants absolute devotion from his followers. Killing anyone who wants otherwise. Cult may seem like a perfect follower in his eyes, a man that screams his praises of him to high heavens and low hells, his devotion unmatched to any regular cultist, none of THOSE chums would take the time to climb up into a balcony, knock a few times, climb down, walk around and into the building to take an elevator to mcs floor, knock on the door then rinse and repeat! he wants to be revered and respected for his power, rule the world with a clawed iron fist.

This is a silly headcannon but i imagine that because of his craving for respect and undying being himself (see: above) the two have a bit of power struggle going on. They both wanna be in charge at the same time and end up fighting because of it. Maybe thats how Undying got locked into lvl 2 pirate caverns. He got grounded

mc

thats just his name. to me. obviously i really dont have much as theyre not so much a proper character an moreso a vessel for you to project on. so this ones gonna be short lol

I imagine that hes having a mix of feelings that’s being dulled from adrenaline. Mainly guilt and fear though. Mc was probably looking for a place to belong, or to have some sort of higher purpose. Instead he ended up as demon chow :’( The false hope at the end is all too real, and you can almost feel the way their stomach drops when he sees cult outside the door, and the sound of it dropping even lower at the sight of Hourglass overall, this guys just having the absolute worst wednesday night of his life

[swordgayist]

cultural appropriation in ATLA (hinduism edition)

i’m sure there’s already a ton of posts about this, but whatever, i’m still making one idc. 

ATLA’s cultural appropriation, everyone knows about it, the white people don’t speak about it, and the asian and indigenous people get ignored. we know the cycle. but i wanted to come here and highlight some of the most prominent examples of ATLA abusing hinduism, as i am kinda sorta hindu (i was raised in a hindu household, i go to chinmaya mission, that kinda shit). i might forget some things so keep that in mind.

this is gonna be divided into 3 main sections, since there are different ways that they disrespect hinduism that i don’t wanna lump together.

and i’d say i know a lot about hinduism but that doesn’t make me an expert, obviously, so if other hindus have anything to add and/or correct then please do !! and if anyone else wants to share how their cultures were appropriated then please do that as well !!

so let’s get started shall we?

appropriating hinduism

1) the avatar

we’ll start with the most obvious example: the avatar itself

i know that there are parts of the avatar mythos that are taken from other cultures as well but the idea of the avatar itself is primarily from hinduism.

basically in hinduism, the term dashavatara refers to the 10 reincarnations of lord vishnu (the god of preservation), with avatar(a) meaning form or incarnation in sanskrit, and das(a) meaning ten. it was said that whenever the world was out of balance, lord vishnu would come down to earth in a certain form to restore balance. Each reincarnation is considered a different life with a different story. the avatars of lord vishnu are often considered the saviors of the world.

so basically, the central idea of the show and the actual name of the show is largely based on hinduism.

2) chakras

many different indian religions have a concept of chakras (chakra meaning wheel or circle in sanskrit), but hinduism is the one that primarily preaches the system of seven chakras, the version used in ATLA.

chakras connect the physical body to the ‘subtle’ body (referring more to the spirit and the psyche) by connecting parts of the body to aspects of the mind. the idea is that through different forms of steady meditation you can manipulate the different chakras and allow the pure flow of energy through the body.

the whole idea of chakras on ATLA is that aang has to unblock them all to let the cosmic energy flow through him so that he can go into the avatar state at will. so yeah, pretty much that whole idea was taken from hinduism.

3) terminologies

these are just a few terms that were taken from hinduism. i’m pretty sure there are more that i can’t think of right now but yeah.

“agni” kai 

i’ll be honest i don’t know where the ‘kai’ part is from, i don’t think it’s from hinduism but if it is well fuck me i guess.  ‘agni’ in hinduism is the god of fire, so the creators used it in ‘agni kai’, the name for a firebending duel.

“bumi”

this is in reference to the hindu word for ‘earth’, which is bhoomi. this is also in reference to our goddess of earth, bhoomi devi. also this doesn’t really bother me but i wonder if the creators knew that bhoomi is a name typically used for women (as are most hindi names ending in ‘i’/‘ee’).

in general, concepts like having multiple complex gods (the spirits) who are capable of good and evil and the reincarnation cycle are prominent in a lot of asian cultures, including (and arguably primarily) hinduism.

mocking hinduism

now we get into the mockery of hinduism in ATLA, because it is very much there.

1) whoever the fuck that baboon guy in the spirit world was

now what the fuck was this.

i mean i wouldn’t say this is the most egregious example of them making fun of brown people but lord why did this even need to be there? this random guy from the spirit world has an indian accent ? and is fervently chanting ‘om’ for some reason, and it’s clearly meant to be seen as comical. also portraying brown people as monkeys....... really.

2) combustion man/sparky sparky boom man

when rewatching ATLA in 2019 i actually had no idea that this was a thing, because the last time i had watched it was as a kid and i didn’t finish it.

so lord was i in for a surprise when i saw...

now... now what.

if you didn’t know, combustion man’s ‘third eye’ is designed to replicate the hindu god of destruction, lord shiva. right down to the vibhuti on his forehead (referring to the three line markings around the third eye).

in hinduism, lord shiva’s third eye is used to reduce people to ashes, though as far as i can recall, not very frequently. the primary significance of the third eye is that it represents the ability of higher spiritual thought and higher consciousness.

the ATLA writers take the ACTUAL significance of the third eye, throw it out the window, and then take its destructive abilities to make a super duper cool and dangerous new firebending technique.

and if that wasn’t bad enough, the actual person who uses this technique, and is meant to emulate a GOD who is PRAISED, is a scary, burly, half metal man who is a villain and an assassin. not to mention the design of his facial hair replicates that super duper scary “terrorist” depiction of brown people, particularly of muslims, that white people are so thoroughly terrified of for no reason. 

this is a parody of a god, and they portrayed him as this terrifying, maniacal fucking assassin who, along with p’li, the combustion bender from LOK, is constantly referred to as a “third-eyed freak”. i’ve made this analogy before and i’ll do it again, this is like making jesus into a hitman.

now onto my favorite example...

3) guru pathik

ah, this motherfucker.

i don’t really have any problems with him as a character, i mean hell, must’ve taken a fuck ton of patience to handle aang’s “why would choose cosmic energy over katara” bullshit.

but we all know it, we see it plain as day, don’t even try to deny it.

“guru” literally just means teacher or guide, so i don’t really know why pathik needed to be referred to as “guru” so distinctively from aang’s other teachers and guides, but that’s just extremely trivial compared to all the other issues with this character.

first of all what is this character design? what is he even wearing? if they’re trying to replicate the clothes of swamis and priests and stuff this is already wrong, realized people don’t dress like this. and why the fuck does he have an indian accent? and why was this indian accent done by a non indian (brian george)?

once again, the poor but extremely heavy indian accent is clearly meant to be mocking, if it wasn’t, they wouldn’t’ve gone out of their way to get a non indian person to DO an indian accent, and instead they would’ve just gotten an actual indian person to play the role. 

and oh yeah, the onion and banana juice. because hindus just eat weird shit right.

whether it’s actually weird or not, the show certainly portrays it as weird. and as far as i know no hindu actually fucking drinks onion and banana juice.

ironic because brown people can absolutely destroy white people in cooking. but i digress.

i know what you’re all waiting for. because the guru apparently didn’t have enough fun with guru pathik, so they just had to come back to him in book 3:

where do i begin.

so this is obviously john o’bryan’s super funny and hilarious depiction of pathik as a hindu god.

usually when a god has multiple arms it’s to carry an array of things, from flowers to weapons to instruments, and one hand is typically free to bless devotees (ie. goddess durga and lord vishnu respectively):

but of course white people see this as weird and so they make fun of it, hence guru pathik having multiple arms just flailing about aimlessly (save for the two that are being used to carry the aforementioned onion and banana juice).

then there’s the whole light behind pathik’s head which is usually depicted in drawings of hindu gods to show that they are celestial.

also what the fuck is he holding? is that supposed to be a veena? because this is what a veena looks like:

and i assume the reason this was added was to mock the design of goddess saraswathi, who carries a veena:

but that right there in the picture of pathik looks more like a tambura than a veena. 

and it also just kinda looks like a banjo?

but i guess the animators just searched up “long indian instrument” and slapped it on there. actually no, that’s giving them too much credit, they probably didn’t search it up at all. 

and then the actual scene is pathik singing crazily about chakras tasting good or something while playing the non-veena and it’s all supposed to be some funky crazy hallucination that aang is having due to sleep deprivation. just some crazy dream, just as crazy as talking appa and momo sparring with swords or tree-ozai coming to life.

our gurus and swamis and sadhus and generally realized people are very respected in hinduism, they’re people we look up to and honor very much. and our GODS are beings that we literally worship. and the writers just take both and make caricatures out of them for other white people to laugh at.

4) other shit

before we move to the next portion i just wanna mention there are also smaller backhanded jabs that i can’t really remember now, but one example was when zuko was all “we’ll be sure to remember that, guru goody goody”. or when a character would meditate and say “om” only when the meditation is supposed to be portrayed as comical or pointless. or in bitter work when sokka was rambling on about karma. small things like that. but moving on.

south asian representation, or lack thereof

now i finally get to the “losing” hinduism part. by this i mean the lack of actual representation there is of south asians (the region where hinduism is primarily practiced) despite the fact that hinduism plays such a big role in the show’s world design.

i think it’s safe to say that broadly the main cast consists of aang, katara, sokka, zuko, toph, azula, iroh, mai, ty lee, and suki. 

a grand total of none of these characters are south asian. the writers don’t even attempt to add any south asian main characters. 

there are characters with dark skin, like haru and jet, but a) they’re not confirmed to be south asian and don’t have any south asian features or south asian names, b) they’re side characters, so they don’t count as representation, and c) even if they were south asian and main characters, jet wouldn’t even count because he’s portrayed as a terrorist.

the ONLY truly south asian character we get is fucking guru pathik. so yeah. not representation.

i don’t get how the creators of this show rip off of hinduism (among many other south asian cultures they rip off of), mock indians, and then don’t even have the decency to HAVE a main character who is south asian.

i’ve never gotten a chance to compile all this, and this definitely isn’t all the creators have done, but i hope this was somewhat informative.

[hyunjilicious]

What about filming with Seb for the avengers? 🥺

This contains mentions of smutty times but I don't think it needs any warnings? Other than shitty writing lmao!!

Ok, ok, hear me out. You had been on the cast for quite a long while, maybe something like ever since The Winter Soldier or Iron-man 2, so you obviously knew your way around and how everything works. Even though everyone was always a bit on edge when it came to the fate of their character, only a few days were left until wrapping up Infinity War, so you were pretty confident everything would be fine.

One day, when you got to set, a little bit later than usual, the first thing you did was say your hellos and head for the makeup trailer. You had Lizzie on your right, her eyes barely managing to stay open as two pairs of delicate hands worked on styling her hair, and on your left, Sebastian was almost done. The atmosphere was eerie to say the least. Everyone was quiet, none of the usual banter or jokes, but you just rolled with it - putting it on account of the long hours. Boy were you off.

About 9 hours later, those worries had no place left in your mind. You were covered in blood, frantically looking from left to right. 

It was the scene right after Thanos snapped his fingers, and you were thankful your character was supposed to be visibly confused, since you didn't have any idea what was going on either. You just remembered the Rossos saying something along the lines of "Yeah, yeah, just like that. You got this, go" but the problem was that you had never actually given them an idea to agree to. You asked them what you were supposed to do, but they just patted you on the back and left.

So when the camera started rolling, your heart was beating out of your chest, your ears ringing as you knew, deep down, that something big was about to happen. 

Your eyes snapped to the right, seeing Chris, or Steve, fully in character, panting his lungs away as he too looked around, lost. 

Just when you were about to turn around, you caught out of the corner of your eye, some form of movement. 

"What the-" you screamed, completely breaking character and not giving a shit about it, as you saw Sebastian fall to his knees. When he tried to steady himself against his palms, his elbows gave in and he crumbled completely to the ground. This wasn't scripted, and adrenaline washed over you.

In a matter of milliseconds, both you and Chris sprinted in his direction, throwing yourselves on your knees and rushing to turn him around. It all happened so fast, it was mostly a blur, but the fear you felt when you saw him collapse, broke you. And in all that haze, it took you a moment too long to realise that as soon as Sebastian uncovered his face, there were tears running down his cheeks as he laughed his soul out.

"Cut!" Joe called, excitedly standing up and waving his hands in the air. "Perfect! We're keeping this!"

"Seriously!?" Chris exclaimed amused, unable to hide his smile as soon as he realised what had happened. 

"You idiot!" you yelled, looking down at Sebastian who had his arms wrapped around himself, holding his abdomen as his face turned red from laughter.

And maybe, had you not been the one who acted like the world just ended in the middle of a set full of people, you would have found this funny from the beginning too. Literally anyone else could have fallen and you wouldn't have freaked like that. And that was why you were mad at Seb, but proceeded to laugh and make jokes about the situation with everybody else from the cast.

About two hours later, when you were both done for the day, Sebastian couldn't find a way to keep his distance from you. He followed you everywhere, his mouth not shutting for even just one second.

"Come on-" he pleaded, jogging a few steps in front of you so he could see your face as he spoke, "You can't be mad at me, please don't be mad at me-"

"I hate you" you simply said, turning around on your heels and sprinting in the opposite direction.

"No, come on, Y/n" he followed you, arms outstretched as he maintained your pace, "It was funny, and it looked great on camera"

Taking a deep breath, you stopped dead in your tracks and looked into his eyes for the first time ever since it happened. "Seb, you know what? I looked like an idiot, it was a dumb idea, I hate you, goodbye"

Frankly, no matter how dramatic you sometimes got, this was too much, even for you. You were perfectly aware you were exaggerating, and had to struggle to keep yourself from bursting into laughter - but you just needed to see how far this could go.

"No, don't say that.." he argued, stepping in front of you again and grabbing your shoulders, "Don't ever think that. You didn't look like an idiot, you were just worried". As he spoke, his voice softened and his eyes warmed up. "You were just worried about me…"

"Of course I was worried about you!" you rolled your eyes, "And you thought it was funny"

And those words right there, hurt him. "No.." Sebastian mumbled, "No- I'm sorry, I- come here"

Without giving you a chance to object, he gathered you to his chest, his arms tightly wrapping around your body. He genuinely felt bad, and now, you did too.

"Seb," you sighed, pulling away, "I'm sorry too- I'm not really mad. I was just messing with you, wanted to see how far this would go"

He seemed confused - genuinely surprised with the turn of events, but he didn't complain. Instead, he just frowned, and searched for your eyes, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure" you nodded, "I'm not a child, I act like one sometimes but still"

"You really do" Sebastian laughed, as you both mindlessly started to walk towards your trailers. 

"Look who's talking" you mocked.

"If it's any consolation, I didn't know this until like a few hours ago either. I just found out this morning, that's why I've been off. I knew you'd pry the information out of me somehow"

"Yeah!" you giggled, "I definitely would've"

Just when you were about to reach your trailer, you heard Sebastian groan in pain before he abruptly stopped walking. You turned around to see him clutching his right knee, wincing in pain. "Shit!" he cursed under his breath.

"It's too soon" you scoffed, "I'm not gonna fall for that again"

"No-" he waved dismissively, "I'm fine, it's been hurting for some time, don't know what started it now, though"

And despite your brain yelling 'No, no, don't fall for it', that was exactly what you did. Your heart panged when you saw him limp, and you didn't even think twice before rushing to his side to help him walk.

But of course, not even a step was taken before he burst into laughter, causing you to shove him away from you with all your might.

"Can't believe it worked-" Sebastian said in a high pitched tone, laughing as tears threatened to fall down his cheeks.

"I'm never talking to you again. I hate you" you groaned, turning around and storming off.

But he didn't let you get too far. In a matter of seconds he had caught up with you, wrapping his arms around your body from behind, his face right above your shoulder, "No, you really don't hate me"

"Yes, I do!"

"Come on" he chuckled, "Let's go get a beer"

"No, Seb"

"Two beers?"

"Seb-" you threatened, trying to wiggle your way out of his hold, but all he did was follow you around, still holding you in his arms.

"Three beers!?" he asked playfully enraged.

"Let me go, or else-"

"Or else what?" he taunted proudly, leaning over your shoulder to look you in the eye, "What are you gonna do, hm?"

"Don't test me" you threatened, the proximity making you a bit more playful than usual.

"What are you gonna do?" Sebastian grinned, "Spank me?"

And the following words just slipped out of your mouth, your brain having never been involved in any kind of thought process whatsoever. "Only if you spank me first" you said, and then his mouth fell open.

"Deal!" he cheered, letting you go, and moving to stand in front of you, "It's a deal, it's done"

"Yeah" you laughed, "Ok"

"Ok… to the beer and the spanking?" he teased, and you couldn't hide your amusement.

"Just the beer, Seb"

"And what about the spanking?" he pouted.

"Ask me after that beer"

[ameliora-j]

what a lie // ts x reader

words: 1.5k

warnings: angst, smut, mcd, blood, mention of injury, nipple play, pull out method (pls don’t use this irl), pregnancy mention

a/n: this is only half proofread but as always, lmk if i missed any warnings pls. italics is a flashback :)

“you’ll be okay, little dove,” thor whispered as he set a comforting hand on your shoulder.

“we’ll all be okay, y/n,” steve added, accompanied by a hiccup and a small sniffle from his spot next to you. you could no longer contain the loud sob that raked your body as you set down the flower reef that held your fiance’s arc reactor in the center and read: proof that tony stark has a heart.

the blonde super soldier pulled you into his chest and allowed you to harshly sob into his suit coat. tony was your forever. and he just got ripped away from you.

⎊⎊⎊⎊⎊⎊⎊⎊

you walked into the grandiose building called “stark industries” one--very sunny--monday morning. you went to the desk and were greeted with a very pretty blonde woman. “can i help you?” she asked you.

“yeah i um... have a meeting with tony stark. he... he told me to come and meet him here,” you stuttered shyly. 

“ah, you must be y/n,” you nodded and she offered you a smile, leading you into tony’s office. that day, he hired you as his personal assistant. however, at the time, you had no idea what was to come of that one fateful day.

in the coming weeks as tony’s assistant, you picked up his coffee, and scheduled his press conferences, and answered e-mails, and scheduled his meetings, and answered the phone. in that time, you had also become closer to the man you called your boss. you might even go as far as to call the two of you friends.

tony was really funny. whether it was intentionally or not. he told a lot of jokes, and he was nothing like the media painted him out to be. he was nice and caring. he was also very attentive. he stopped turning the ac so high when he noticed that you would always bring a jacket into the office, and he kept little candies laying around for your sweet tooth, and he always had your favorite pack of pens delivered weekly because you were always losing your’s and stealing his. he even let you sign all of his important documents with your pretty, purple glittery pens because he knew you liked them the best. 

not to mention, tony bought you a whole set of y/f/c office supplies for your desk after you called his decoration “bland and boring.” everyday working for mr. stark was a brand new adventure and you absolutely couldn’t wait to see what the future held for you at stark industries.

you learned a lot about tony while you were working. you were the first person that he revealed his identity as iron man to. you, of course, freaked out, lecturing him on safety and being careful while fighting literal aliens, all while he chuckles and assured you that he was fine. one night--or early morning is a better term for it--there was a knock on your window. when you checked your bedside clock, the numbers “2:23″ flashed across it in bright red. when you looked over to the window, you noticed tony in the iron man suit, floating outside of your window.

“what the hell stark?! it’s half past two in the morning!” you complained as you opened the window and allowed him in. he grumbled loudly as he took off the suit and stumbled his way into your bathroom. he ignored you as you flung a million and two questions in his direction. untill finally, you noticed the blood running down the left side of his face. “what the hell!” you exclaimed before leading him to sit down on your toilet seat. you took the small first aid kit from underneath your bathroom sink and began to clean him up while simultaneously muttering what an idiot he was and how he could have been killed.

once you were all finished, you looked down at him. you had seen tony monday through friday for ten hours a day and sometimes on weekends if he had a press conference on a saturday or needed you to come in quickly and do something on a sunday, but this was the first time that you had truly noticed him. cuts and scrapes and bruises over his face, his hair sweaty and some falling into his eyes. those eyes... pretty, brown, and tired. the way that his facial hair had begun to grow on his jaw as a result of not shaving that morning. tony stark was gorgeous... ethereal even. you knew your boss was an attractive man, the media said it every day. hell, your boss said it himself every day. but now, actually looking at him, you saw it. you truly saw it, anthony howard stark was quite possibly the prettiest man you had ever laid your eyes upon. 

you and tony sat in silence. it was in that silence that you realized your current position. the only thing donning your body was a very short pair of black sleep shorts that really didn’t cover much and a black tank top with no bra. you were standing above tony, straddling his left thigh and your faces were mere centimeters apart. the silence was long and loud as you stared, unblinking, into each other’s eyes. it was a hairs breath of a second when tony’s eyes flicked from your’s to your lips, and then back up before he was hungrily pressing his lips to your’s.

the kiss was nothing but the clashing of teeth and tongues. it had you moaning into his mouth as he stood and quickly pushed you against your bathroom counter. he wasted no time as he quickly rid the both of you of your clothes. “you have protection?” he asked from his place, sucking dark hickies into every inch of your neck.

“just pull out, please i want it,” you whimpered as you tugged on his chocolate locks. your whimpers and begs were all the encouragement the man needed as he pushed his cock into you, making you release a loud moan.

the way tony fucked you was a stark (no pun intended) contrast to the way he kissed you. his thrusts were slow and deliberate, hitting spots you never even knew existed, while his kisses were rough and hungry. “feel so good wrapped around me, princess. fuck,” tony moaned into your mouth.

“fuck, tony please. more. give me more,” you whined, causing him to chuckle as his lips traveled down, sucking your nipple into his mouth as his hand came up and twisted and tugged the other one. “feels so good. ‘s so big,” you whimpered as he fucked his cock into you even harder. he moaned at your praise as his teeth scraped across your sensitive nipple before he pulled off of it with a small ‘pop’ and began giving the same attention to the other one.

“always knew your little pussy was made for my cock, princess. knew it from the day you stepped into my office. looking all innocent, just begging me to bend you over my desk and make you mine,” you moaned loudly at this, causing him to smirk. “that what you want? come on, use your words, princess.”

“wanna be your’s. make me your’s tony please. want you to corrupt me. ruin me for anyone else’s cock.” you whined out pathetically as the head of his cock abused your gspot.

“who’s pussy is this?” he asked as he began to rub harsh circles onto your swollen clit.

“your’s. your’s ‘s your’s please let me cum,” you whimpered as you arched into him. 

“cum on my cock princess, go ahead,” that’s all it took for you to cum with a loud shriek of his name. he continued his assault on your clit to fuck you through your orgasm as he pulled out and used his free hand to stroke his cock untill he came with a groan of your name, all over your stomach.

that night, after tony took care of you and made sure you peed and were cleaned up, as he pulled you into his chest, you whispered, “can i really be your’s?” 

“you can be mine forever if you want princess.” you fell asleep with a wide smile on your face.

⎊⎊⎊⎊⎊⎊⎊⎊

you stayed at the lake after all the avengers had left. you sat against the tree with your left hand on your stomach, staring down at the large ring that tony presented you with just days before going to fight on titan. the one that was supposed to symbolize forever. the one that made tony stark your official future husband. 

“i’m pregnant tony...” you whispered as the tears collected on your waterline. “you promised forever. you promised that everything was going to be okay five years ago,” you took a deep breath as you rubbed the small, three month bump that was forming. “what a lie that was.”

how the hell were you going to raise a baby by yourself. how were you supposed to go on without your other half? how were you supposed to heal your heart? your baby would never know how amazing their father was. and your husband would never know how amazing his baby was. it still didn’t feel real. it never would feel real.

but you would figure it out. after all... you were a stark now. and stark’s are nothing if not strong-willed.

[helliontherapscallion]

New Enemies, New Alliances (Sweet Betrayal Part 4)

Part 1     Part 2     Part 3

Spotify Playlist (collaborative)

Warnings: Swearing, graphic description of injuries/death, violence, grief, blood, manipulation

Word count: 3,661 

(A/N): Things are starting to get spicy, folks!

“Nice job today, I think you’d actually put up a fight in battle now,” Dream grabbed your hand and helped you up. You basked in the compliment, they were few and far between. Now, if you didn’t pass one of the Badlanders by accident, Dream and Lucius were the only ones to recognize your work. 

You brushed off your training clothes and smiled to yourself when you saw Lucius move to pat you on the back before stopping himself. He’s been around for a month now and he still isn’t used to not being able to touch anyone. You remembered that when he was alive, physical touch was his love language. It must be killing him to not touch anybody. 

“Yeah! I’d hate to be on the other side of your sword, homie!” You have no clue why he started to call you ‘homie’, he hated that word when he was alive. Faintly, you supposed that he must’ve learned it sometime between after he died and when he was looking for you as a ghost. 

“Thanks, guys,” you fiddled with the handle of your sword before swinging it over to rest on your shoulder. The walk home was filled with Lucius and Dream exchanging terrible puns, much to your exasperation. Out of all the things he could’ve kept in his personality after he died, it just had to be his love for puns. 

As the days passed and the war’s climax drew closer and closer, stress was increasing in the White House. Schlatt had become far more paranoid of traitors in the midst of the remaining cabinet, and truth be told you were also growing more paranoid. It was like you and Schlatt were the only ones completely loyal to Manberg anymore. 

Lucius had increasingly grown worried for your well being, always trying to push you to go to bed early and urging you to distance yourself from Schlatt. In your opinion Lucius was insane for even suggesting the latter, Schlatt was everything to you. Without him, you’d be nothing. 

“I really don’t-”

“Lucius, drop it,” you hissed out, rubbing your forehead and returning to your work. You needed to get this paperwork done as soon as you could, otherwise Schlatt would have your ass. 

“I’m not going to ‘drop it’, (y/n). You need a break! All of this,” he swung his arms around to gesture at your office, “isn’t you.” 

“You don’t understand, Lucius,” you bitterly chuckled and threw your quill down onto your desk. The ink that was on the tip splattered over the desk, staining the birch wood black. “This,” you gestured towards the office and walked over to the window. Lucius followed you and looked out at the city. You clasped your hands behind your back and smiled fondly at the sight of the endless buildings. “This is me.” 

“I know you, you aren’t this- this brutal or bloody insane!” Lucius tried to put his hands on your shoulders but stopped himself, settling for crossing them across his chest. “You’re caring, funny, ambitious, and most importantly agreeable! Now, if someone even slightly crosses you, your first thought is revenge.” 

“That person was a coward through and through. Aren’t you happy that I’m finally standing up for myself?” 

“Standing up for yourself? Standing up for yourself? You get stepped on constantly by that ram asshole that you call a father, you call that standing up for yourself?” 

You spun around to face him, looking down at his face with a harsh glare, “you have no right to bring Schlatt up, he’s done everything for me while you were just galavanting around the SMP doing Ender knows what! He’s the one that took me in. He’s the one that cared for me. He’s the one who made me who I am today. He’s the one that made me less of a coward.”

“Are you serious? He’s the one that completely fucked up your life! When was the last time he’s said anything that bordered on nice to you? When was the last time he said he loves you? I just want the best for you, (y/n),” he ran a hand through his hair and looked up at you in desperation and frustration. “You wouldn’t be this mentally unstable or this disfigured if you would’ve just stayed away from him like I told you to do when I was alive.” 

“You clearly don’t know what’s best for me if you’re too blind to know that Schlatt changed me for the better,” you scoffed to yourself. “That person left the second I killed you.”

You watched as his already pale skin blanched impossibly and his eyes widened in horror. “You- you what?” 

So he doesn’t remember his own death? How interesting. 

“You don’t remember? You were my first kill, I can still remember the crunching sound your skull made and how warm the blood that splattered on my face was when I drove that pickaxe through your forehead. The power I felt after I came to terms with the fact that I just took someone’s life? Exhilarating.” 

You smirked down at his terrified face, taking great pleasure in the fear he felt. He took several steps back from you, almost tripping when his heel caught the edge of the carpet. Grinning, you followed him until he was pressing himself up against the wall. You leaned down close to his ear and whispered, “I’ve never felt anything like it before. You were my first friend and my first kill, kudos to you.” 

He ducked out of your presence with haste and distanced himself from you, his chest heaving with panicked breaths. He stuttered out a response, “do you even regret it?” 

Regret was something you always pushed deep into your subconscious, “regret is for losers, winners own up to everything they do,” Schlatt’s voice echoed in your mind. You didn’t like thinking about your regrets, however the delicious fearful tone that shook Lucius’ voice was too alluring to ignore. He deserved every single ounce of the fear that racked his body, the argument that had raged on previously still filling you with anger. You’d humor him for now.

You certainly regretted it when you first killed him prior to losing your first life, if losing your first life is anything to go by. You hadn’t even done it on purpose; it was simply a freak accident in an abandoned mineshaft. You didn’t know that when you and Lucius discovered it that you’d leave without him. You could remember exactly what happened that day.

“Luci, wait up!” You pushed yourself to run faster into the cave, chasing the short teenager. He threw his head back and laughed, “catch me if you can!” 

You grinned happily to yourself, “I’ll catch you faster than you can say a damn pun!” 

You followed him deeper and deeper into the cave, passing different assortments of ores and jumping over crevices along the way. The carefree laughter that bounced off from the stone walls mingling with the slapping of both of your leather boots against the floor. 

Despite the sharp twists and turns, you managed to stay hot on his trail. Eventually, he led you deep into a mineshaft. That was where you couldn’t keep up with him anymore. By the time you followed him around a corner, he was nowhere to be seen. You slowly came to a stop and looked around at the dark hallways. This had to be the largest mineshaft you’d ever seen, it was seemingly endless with a labyrinth of twisting halls. You looked behind you only to be met with even more dark halls. You couldn’t even remember where you came from, everything in here looked the same. 

In the distance, you heard the hissing of cave spiders and the pitter pattering of their multitude of feet on stone. You swallowed nervously and took out your pickaxe, mentally scolding yourself for not thinking to bring your sword. Every single sound made you jump out of your skin and press yourself up against the wall, preparing yourself to swing at any movement. 

Eventually, you gathered the courage to start to wander the maze of hallways. You gripped the handle of your iron pickaxe in a vice grip, ready to kill any mob that would potentially sneak up on you. 

“Luci, please come out. I’m starting to get scared.” 

You paused to strain your ears for any potential reply, only to sigh to yourself when you heard nothing but cave spider sounds and the faroff dripping of water. With a steadying breath, you ventured further into the mineshaft. 

As you passed a hallway, you saw sudden movement from the corner of your eye. Squeezing your eyes shut with a small yelp, you spun around, raised your pickaxe, and swung it down with all your might. 

In an instant, you heard a sharp gasp. When you felt your pickaxe make contact with something, a sickening combination of a crunching and squelching noise accompanied the feeling of something warm splatter across your face. You peeked your eyes open to see what mob had attacked you. 

Instead of a zombie or… or whatever your mind was expecting to see, Lucius stood there looking at you with his eyes bulging and his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. Your hands left the pickaxe and flew up to your mouth as you stepped back in horror at what you’ve done. As soon as you dropped the pickaxe, Lucius’s body dropped with it. He fell to the stone ground limply with a thud, landing on his side with his arms and legs awkwardly sprawled out. 

You stood frozen as you watched his body start to convulse before falling still completely after what seemed like hours. Nothing but the roaring of blood in your ears and the obnoxiously loud thumping of your heart in your throat was heard. You finally snapped out of your trance when you saw his body still and started to dissolve in glowing golden dust. 

“No, nonononono what the fuck did I just do?!” You dropped to your knees next to his body, feeling icy dread as you saw the telltale sign of death floating from his body. Gritting your teeth, you pressed your hands over his limp arm where the majority of the dust was coming from in a desperate attempt to potentially save him. He was already losing his warmth, you could feel him rapidly cooling under your hands. To your terror, the dust merely slipped through the cracks of your fingers. 

Strangled sobs left your mouth as you removed your hands and dragged his upper body onto your lap. You lifted him up and hugged him as tight as you could, once again pressing your hands over the glowing gold, trying and failing to keep his body in one piece. You hated how he was slowly lightning as his body was dissolving. 

“I’m sorry,” you repeated to him like a mantra. “I’m so fucking sorry Luci, come back.” 

Just before he fully left you, you buried your face into the crook of his neck, praying to whatever gods were above that he’d just wake up and laugh loudly. 

“You should’ve seen your face,” he’d tease you, “I really got you good this time, didn’t I?” 

He’d then realize just how terrified you were, and he’d then hold you close to him while humming your song over and over. He’d tell you, “turn that frown upside down! You’re never fully dressed without a smile.” He’d put his pointer fingers on the corners of your lips and lift it into a smile, telling you to “fake it til you make it” and that “your smile is your best asset to use against someone.” 

You’d ask him in a bout of confusion, “but then you’d be vulnerable! Isn’t it better to just… hide it all?”

He’d give you that dazzling smile of his and gently tap your nose with a finger, “hiding everything behind a smile is better than being a husk of a person. I know there’s a constant happiness deep down in you, I’ve seen it and it’s absolutely beautiful. C’mon,” he’d start to jab your sides lightly, “give me a smile!”

You’d shove his hands away from you with a small, genuine smile. He’d then haul you up to your feet and lead you out of the mines, pulling you behind him as he ranted constantly about what he had planned for you both for the day with his signature blinding smile. 

But that didn’t happen.

Soon enough, you were holding nothing in your tight grasp and your face was hovering midair with something coming to rest in your lap. As you pried your eyes open and saw the bloodied pickaxe that laid in your lap and the blood that covered your clothes and slicked your hands, a guttural scream ripped itself from your throat. You’ve never screamed so loudly or so intensely; you were unsure if the copper you tasted in the back of your throat was from your fried vocal cords or from Lucius. 

You stayed in that spot crying until you couldn’t anymore. The full reality of the situation hit you as you finally found your way out of the cave after days of wandering. Not knowing where else you could go, you stumbled to Schlatt and Quackity’s house. 

The second Quackity opened the door and saw you sobbing and splattered with blood looking like you haven’t eaten or drank anything in days, he immediately took you into their household and sat you on the edge of the bathtub. He was the one that cleaned the blood off from your face with a warm washcloth and held you to his chest after you cried out when the feeling of the warm water was too similar to the blood that had splattered your face days before. 

Schlatt had been the one to coax you to eat something after you had passed out in Quackity’s arms, whether due to lack of sleep or nourishment, you didn’t know. Alongside that, he was the first one you talked to about a couple of days into your stay with them. 

Though you never told them what happened to your late best friend and what you did to him, they fully supported you and slowly nursed you back to the point where you could keep yourself alive without their constant aid. Whenever you’d have nightmares of the incident, Schlatt would be quick to make you realize that you were in their guest bedroom and not deep inside of a mineshaft while Quackity would stay by your side throughout the night softly humming small tunes. 

Though everything came crashing down when Philza showed up at their door one day and drugged you home, your time with them solidified your suspicions that you could be loved. 

You blunk, the scene of the blood spattered stone being replaced with your office and the very boy you accidentally killed cowering in the far corner of your room. He was staring at you like you were a starving lion and he was a cornered gazelle, watching your every move vigilantly. You couldn’t blame him, he was in the same room with his murderer after all.

“...I didn’t mean to kill you; I was terrified at the time, I couldn’t believe that I killed my best friend. Hell, I even killed myself because of the guilt.” 

Though a brief flash of sadness reflected across his face, he hadn’t budged from his place with his eyes still trained on you, “t-the past doesn’t matter. Do you regret it now?”

You once again paused, the question of ‘do you regret it’ circulating your mind once more. If Lucius hadn’t died that day, you wouldn’t be the person you were today; you’d still be getting stepped on by everyone. You’d still be a coward, a spineless nobody. You wouldn’t be happy. 

Though you hated yourself for even thinking about this, you questioned if you were truly happy here. You had everything you’ve ever wanted here: the power that you craved, a surefire means of getting your revenge, and living with the person that had constantly supported you. You couldn’t explain it, but it felt like something was missing. Yes, you’ve felt like that your entire life, but lately it felt like a massive, evergrowing void from deep within your core was swallowing everything within you. Maybe Lucius was right. Maybe-

“Why are you hesitating?!” Your eyes snapped to Lucius, surprised at his outburst. Now instead of the petrified look on his face just moments before, a spiteful one replaced it. “Why the fuck are you hesitating?” 

“Lucius-” 

A bitter chuckle interrupted you, “the fact that you’re hesitating tells me everything I need to know. I really thought the real you was somewhere deep within you, but you were right! This is the real you... You really are the monster everyone says you are.” 

Before you could say anything, he fazed through the door leaving you standing in the middle of your desolate office. It felt like a spike was driven through your heart, you never would’ve expected Lucius to say anything like that. Not Lucius, never Lucius.

The pleasure that coursed through your veins previously during the argument had long since fleeted and been replaced with something you vowed to never feel again: regret. Disgust hit you full force as you remembered the delight and satisfaction that filled you at the sight of his fear. Your first and closest friend that stuck with you through thick and thin, his utter fear gave you pleasure. You really were a monster, weren’t you?

A knock sounded at your door, making you jump out of your skin. 

“(Y/n), it’s time for our session.” Dream’s voice sounded through the thick doors. You sighed and looked at your suit, you weren’t even dressed properly. 

“I’m not ready yet, I will be in about five minutes.” Your tone wavered slightly, making you hope that Dream wouldn’t comment on it.

“Is everything alright? I’m coming in.” 

The door opened to reveal Dream wearing his usual lime green hoodie and his signature smiling mask. His curls bounced as he made his way over to you and examined your face. 

“You look like shit,” he mused, “you know, you don’t need that ghost. He’s just been holding you back this entire time.” 

“Well,” you crossed your arms and looked off to the side, “he isn’t in the picture anymore.” 

He was silent for a moment before he walked over to your couch and sat down haphazardly, gesturing for you to do the same. When you did, he hummed, “you know, Lucius isn’t the only one holding you back from your full potential.”

“Who is then?” 

“Schlatt.” 

Schlatt’s name sent ice through your veins, your fingers growing numb and your throat drying up. 

Just as you opened your mouth to object, Dream raised a finger to silence you. “He can’t even run his own country that he claims to be so proud of. In fact, he’s making you do all his dirty work while he gets drunk off his ass, not even recognizing you for your work. Everything you’ll ever do, even if you half ass it, is always going to surpass him at his best... He’s going to fire you soon, you know.”

You felt truly helpless in that moment, “what? He needs me, he-”

“As soon as the war ends, he’s just going to toss you aside just like everyone else in your life has. Just like Philza has, and now just like Quackity, the Badlanders, and Lucius has. But…” 

He turned his head towards you and tilted it slightly. You hesitated before clearing your throat, “but what?” 

“I can help you. I won’t throw you out like you’re a piece of garbage; I’m not a brain dead idiot like they are. I see your potential, and you’re going to absolutely thrive if you accept my help.” 

You narrowed your eyes at him, “...what’s the catch?” 

“Ever the vigilant one; so wary of the world at such a young age, so smart,” he chuckled to himself. “What you have to do is simple, not even a moron like Schlatt could fuck it up. I’ll do all the work here, all you have to do is pledge your undying loyalty to me. Of course, you could stay here,” he released a long sigh, “and waste your potential while simultaneously inevitably getting abandoned, or you could break the cycle by working with me and reaching your full potential; I’ll never abandon you like they all did. Are you in?” 

He stuck his hand out towards you and held it in the air, waiting for you to seal the deal. You stared at it as you contemplated his offer. 

Though the thought of Schlatt throwing you out crushed your heart, you wouldn’t be lying if you said you expected him to do so sooner or later. With his ever growing dependence on alcohol, his judgement has grown increasingly more clouded. The furthest corner of your mind acknowledged that he was going to abandon you sooner or later as the abuse got worse, but your conscious mind refused to even think about him not being in your life. 

Maybe it was time to turn a new leaf, Dream had said that you hadn’t reached your full potential yet and everything here was holding you back. You trusted him, he had proved to be a good mentor and a good person during your training sessions. He proved to genuinely care about you. 

“Well, are you in or not? I’d hate to see such potential get wasted because someone is stuck in the past.” 

You slapped your hand into his and shook it firmly, “I’m in.” 

His mask lifted up slightly as he smiled underneath it. He shook your hand and matched your firmness, “excellent.”

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[skellebonez]

How's about 45 and 54 where canon MK finds himself in the Inverted AU Universe? Because I think that'd be funny

Poor MK is having the second worst day of his entire life. This is not the situation he should be in AFTER THE FINALE. This would have been way different if I wrote this when you sent it in, but now you get a very sad Monkie Kid.

You may technically be an adult, but you’re still my child./ Yeah well dying generally puts a damper on things.

When MK was knocked out they were on the deck of the drone ship, fighting off some kind of demon that the White Bone Spirit had taken under her control.

When MK woke up they were on the sandy shores of Mount Huaguo surrounded by baby monkeys and one Six-Eared Macaque looking down at them with a face of great concern.

“Are you-” Macaque started to ask them, unable to finish his sentence when MK screamed and kicked out and just barely missed making contact that would have sent him flying backwards into the nearest tree. “Whoa, no, it’s alright! I’m not-”

“What did you do to me this time, Macaque!?” MK yelled, looking around for a weapon, any weapon, something they could use to defend themself. Their eyes fell on something familiar, something that shouldn’t exist anymore and they froze at the sight of red and gold.

“Little one, is your name MK?” Macaque asked softly, holding up his hands as he slowly walked forward back toward the started and confused young adult before him. “I found you washed up on the shore. You need to lay back down, you’re still-”

Macaque let out a yelp of surprise as MK dove, hand firmly grasping the familiar warm-cold center of the staff.

But it felt... wrong, somehow.

They didn’t let go.

"OK, WHAT IS HAPPENING!?" MK shouted, holding the stolen staff in front of them as they turned on the immortal monkey that was their one time mentor. "Is this Jin and Yin again? Is this the Calabash!? Did they change it so my stuff doesn’t work in it anymore!? I'm not falling for that again!"

"I'm sorry, the what?" A new voice rang from behind him. One a little... too familiar...

It was MK. It shouldn't be possible, not if the Calabash was working the same way it had worked before, but it was them. But not.

Like... the way the staff felt.

The Other MK standing in the too bright sun wore a stark sky blue and black instead of his signature orange and red, a large hefty backpack in that same blue slung over his back. And he was... tall. Not unusually tall, just taller than MK was. And also looked incredibly angry as he carried a box of medical supplies.

"The... Calabash..." MK repeated, holding the staff closer to their chest with a nervous gulp. Their hands twisted around the staff nervously, hoping the repetitive action would ground them against the repeating 'THERE IS ANOTHER YOU STARING AT YOU WHAT THE HELL' whizzing in their head. "This... this isn't Jin and Yin again after all, is it?"

MK gulped again, blinking as their vision swam suddenly and their head felt like it was filled with... something. Like liquid but if it was as light as air.

"I don't know which answer would be better for you," Macaque said softly, honesty palpable in his tone. Something so odd for the Monkie Kid to hear in their ears with that voice. "But no. We are very much real."

"Oh..." MK said plainly. "Oh that's bad. That's... Oh boy..."

Before their eyes rolled back in their head and they passed out they were pretty sure they saw a few more overly familiar faces rushing to them.

~

When MK woke a second time they were once again moved, but to somewhere else far less familiar than the shores of Mount Huaguo and the drone ship... but also too familiar. They also now realized that their head hurt... a lot. Like, a lot a lot.

“Finally, you’re back from the brink of death,” that same overly familiar voice rang our in their ear. They snapped their head to the side, regretting it instantly as it made their vision swim again and lights pop in front of their eyes. “Hey, no, don’t do that!"

The other MK jumped up, kneeling down in front of them and poked them in the forehead. His scowl didn’t seem to let up in the slightest, but it tilted in a way that felt more concerned than angry.

"... why am I looking at my own face?" MK asked, not sure whether they should continue to stare at their own face or to look anywhere else to keep their brain from short circuiting trying to process what the actual hell was happening.

“Considering you were able to pick up my staff,” the other MK said, removing his finger and gesturing to the rod that was still across MK’s chest (how had he not noticed the extra weight of it still in his hand?). “I’d say we have some kind of multi-dimensional bullshitery going on here. Unless you’re, somehow, a robot made of the same shit Red used to get the that thing in the first place, but I don’t think robots bleed from head injuries.”

Ah. That would explain why his head felt like someone had cracked it open and shoved cotton balls into it.

MK looked around, taking in the stark white walls and the overly clean smell and the clean white sheets they were laid on.

“... am I at the hospital?”

“Oh, absolutely!” Other MK yelled, raising his arms in frustration as he paced the room in a familiar excess of energy. “But unfortunately for us you don’t exactly exist here! So we’re figuring out a way to make them believe you’re me with some really fucked up memories my dude! Which is easier with, you know.”

The other MK knocked on his head twice, wincing a bit as the second knock seemed to be harder than intended.

“... but you’re..?”

“I snuck in.”

“OK, well, thanks for the help,” MK started, sitting himself up with more than a little struggle. “But I need to figure out what the heck happened and get back to-!”

“Oh no you don’t!” Other MK said, jumping on the bed and standing over him. That was... well, MK would definitely say that was a very weird but effective way of keeping someone from getting up. “Macaque already ran off without letting me stop him, I barely got him to take some backup, to figure out what in the hell is happening. You are me and I know myself and if you ever tell anyone this I will end you, but you are way too injured to be doing anything right now!”

“I have to do something, Other Me-”

“No, oh no I hate that, just call me Blue,” the other MK said, the scowl on his face softened ever so slightly once again. Just slightly. “It’s a lot better than ‘other me’. And there’s nothing we can do until Macaque gets us some answers.”

"So... what, Blue? Am I just supposed to sit around and wait for someone to come and rescue me if he finds nothing!?" MK snapped, grip on their staff tightening so much that their knuckles paled and creaked in stress. "Just do nothing while who knows what happens to my friends!?"

"No," Blue said, placing his hand on MK's shoulder and frowning when the other shrugged it off and curled in on themselves. "But hurting yourself isn't going to help you get back to them. And as long as you’re here you’re my responsibility.”

“I’m a grown ass adult, you should know that.”

“Yeah, well, dying generally puts a damper on things and you’re not so adult that you can’t escape death,” Blue said, letting himself fall back into a sitting position on the bed. “Unless you got to keep your invulnerability or something, but given the crack in your noggin that doesn’t seem... like...” Blue trailed off, looking at MK with an odd expression. “... are you ok? Like. Emotionally?”

“Huh?”

“You’re crying.”

MK wrestled with one of their hands to free it’s iron grip on the staff (not their staff, their staff was gone, they had to remind themselves that their staff was gone and... and so was so much else), raising to their cheek to discover that at some point in Blue’s retort they had indeed started crying.

“... what happened to you?”

“It’s a long story,” MK said, wiping their face on their arm (they now realized they were wearing hospital dressing). “I...” They grabbed the staff with their now free hand again, twisting the grip carefully and freeing the iron hold their other hand had. “Can I just... keep this for a bit longer?”

Blue looked at MK, looking between the other him and the staff that was rightfully his before sighing and rubbing the back of his neck.

“Not like I need it right this second,” he said, his scowl vanishing completely as he stood and yanked over his backpack and put it back on after he pulled a baseball cap out and squished his hair into it and pulled it down to cover his face. “There’s gonna be someone here with you at all times until you get out, just to keep you in the loop of what’s going on here. We’ll figure out where you’re staying if Mac doesn’t figure out a way to get you home by tonight.” He moved toward the entrance to the room, turning back before opening it. “I’ll be back, I gotta restock my bag. There’s a couple people who wanna talk to you already... don’t... freak out.”

Before MK could ask what Blue meant the young man opened the door and slipped out, talking to someone just out of his line of vision before running off down the hall.

And then they saw the overly familiar sight of Pigsy and Tang... except they weren’t.

Pigsy, their Pigsy, was always in a chef’s uniform unless he was sleeping. Rough edges softened when he smiled or looked at MK or Mei with that exasperated look that MK knew meant he cared. Tang, their Tang, was a scholar who looked the part in every way, old fashioned clothes and books in hand. Always smiling when he could manage it and carefree.

This Pigsy was.. soft. And fluffy. Literally soft and fluffy. And wore oversized sweaters and smiled in a way that fit more on someone else’s face but felt right at home on his. This Tang was...

Well, the only way MK could think to describe the man before them was “skinny biker with probably hidden muscles who would kick your ass”. He looked the same but his hair was more wild, sunglasses pushing his bangs up, decked out in a (probably fake) leather jacket... but he had the same scarf.

And he and Pigsy were holding hands.

“I suppose you already know who we are,” the biker version of Tang said, smile on his face very awkward and seeming somewhat forced in a “I don’t know if this is helping but I’m gonna try” kind of way. “And we know who... you are. Kinda.”

“Yeah,” MK responded, thinking for a moment back to when he was found on the beach. “Were you... were you the ones with Blue, the other me, on Mount Huaguo?”

“Yeah,” the soft Pigsy said and... wow, hearing that voice say something so gently so casually was throwing him through a loop. “M-Blue was convinced we needed to get out of the city for the day and brought us along for his training. We didn’t expect to find... well, another him...” Pigsy frowned, the first one MK saw on his face and it felt so much more openly worried than their own Pigsy’s scowls. “How are you feeling?”

MK looked down at the staff in their hands, then back up to the two men in front of them.

They weren’t the two people MK considered father figures. They weren’t. But they were. And as MK tried to process this they felt their breathing speed up faster and faster and faster until-

“Hey,” Tang said, gentle and soft voice breaking MK from their racing thoughts as he reached out to put a hand in MK’s hair but stopped himself short. Probably in remembering that they weren’t Blue. “You can stay with us if you want. Once you’re discharged and if you need somewhere to stay.”

Well... that didn’t help at all.

No.

Instead it opened the floodgates and MK started crying harder than they had since the final fight with the White Bone Spirit, curling in on themselves as the last few days and what had transpired really hit them.

“What the FUCK did you do!?” He heard his own voice shout from the doorway.

~

It looked like PIgsy’s apartment. But not.

MK’s hands clenched at air, wishing they still had the staff for comfort. But no, they insisted that Blue take it back when they were discharged.

Blue was still the Monkie Kid after all. He needed the staff to fight.

MK... was just MK here. And they couldn’t fight, not while recovering from their injuries anyway.

But oh how they wish they hadn’t given it back. It felt so right and yet so wrong to hold it. They didn’t realize how much they had grown attached to the object until it was...

“MK?” Once again Pigsy’s voice startled him, not for the first time since they arrived at the apartment and MK took up the extra bedroom that this world’s counterpart had once stayed in until the apartment above the shop opened up for them. “Do you need anything?”

“No,” they responded, hands gripping the edge of their jacket in an attempt to hold something solid. It wasn’t the same. “I can handle myself.”

“I know you can, but you don’t have to,” Pigsy said, coming into the room holding a cup of water and putting it on the nightstand. “And you don’t have to talk to us, if you don’t want to... but it’d probably help. Even if you just ramble about something.”

Had this been the other Pigsy he probably would have something something like “You may technically be an adult, but you’re still my child”. Something firm and gruff and filled with underlying affection for the younger adult. But this Pigsy... there was some of that there. A firmness to his words, though the gruffness was missing. But he could feel the affection he must have had for Blue transferring to themself, the knowledge that they weren’t the same person holding most of it back.

But it was still there.

And MK hadn’t really talked to anyone since the short lived argument with Blue.

“... You uh...” they started, chuckling quietly as they twisted their fingers together. “You said you own a flower shop? My Pigsy, uh... he, runs a noodle shop.”

It wasn’t going to help. MK was certain that talking about their family and friends and how different they were would probably make how he felt worse.

But sitting there and ignoring it would make it worse far quicker in their mind.

So MK talked. For hours. Eventually Tang joined the two, both listening as MK recalled all the differences and similarities and...

Well. They listened. Just like their own Pigsy and Tang would.

... they wondered if they would ever get to go back.

[angelictrl]

SDR2 SELF INSERT - CHAPTER 1.

i swear i'll finish requests and matchups after i get rid of this brainrot swarming the back of my mind ... hope you guys enjoy reading this and anticipate my other chapters. please let me know if this was good ! <3 i'm nervous ...

psa ;; lowercase + spaces intended ,, second person pov. this isn't completely accurate because i'm currently on chapter three and this story is going to be nagito x reader centered - but you won't have to really worry about that in this chapter !

how did it end up like this ... ? one minute you were a freshman entering hope's peak academy, excited to finally go to the school of your dreams and harness the potential of your talent, but the next minute you wake up on an island with a talking stuffed bunny, sixteen strangers, and no recollection of how you got there to begin with.

not only that, but there was a bear now, too ? it claimed to be the headmaster of this school field trip and now ... oh, yeah ... killings were to take place ... wait - huh ? killings - what the hell ... ?!

"hold on, you guys ! i think they're coming back to us !" you heard a rough yet feminine voice that could've only belonged to the ultimate gymnast, followed by that of the ultimate musician's.

"yoo-hoo ! y/n, are you in there ? earth to y/n, earth to y/n !" the girl with multicolored hair practically shouted, frantically waving her hands in front of your face before gasping in shock and dramatically falling backwards so that the ultimate nurse, the one you recalled to have choppy purple hair and several bandages, could catch her. the poor uncoordinated girl did so with a surprised squeak, nearly falling backwards herself. "oh no ! are you guys sure that aliens haven't taken over their brain ?!"

"jeez, you guys are seriously so insensitive ... ! i sincerely doubt that that happened, ibuki, just give them some time to process all of this," a certain redhead butted in to scold the other, fidgeting with the camera in her hands afterwards.

"h-huh ? aliens ? what are you talking about ?" you shook your head in disbelief as you zoned back in and spoke, realizing you had spaced out trying to rid yourself of the denial you were going through at the moment.

so this was really reality, huh ?

it took you a day and a short amount of rest you were supposed to call 'sleep' to finally face the gravity of the situation you were in.

"nevermind those statements. we were all just talking about having a party at the old building tonight. i expect to see you all there," byakuya butt in, glancing down at your sitting figure with his arms crossed while you still had your elbow propped up on a table and chin in one hand.

"ah, alright, i see ... but isn't it pretty dusty in there ? and i thought it was also still under construction ..." you asked the blonde in front of you, watching the ultimate affluent progeny shake his head with a disappointed sigh escaping him.

"do you even listen or care about your surroundings ? that's why we're holding a drawing to see who's going to get cleaning duty. you're the last one to draw, so hurry up and quit acting like an incompetent fool already," byakuya demanded, watching you tousle your own hair as you stood up with an annoyed huff at his bossy tone, going over to the guy with the cloud-like, wispy hair and pulling a chopstick from his hands.

no red mark.

well, guess it seems that you're not on cleaning duty. but it seems like the lean, tall guy in the green jacket that had been holding the drawing in the first place had been the one to get it instead. how unlucky.

"is that - is that really fair ... ? i feel bad that you have to clean most of the building all by yourself, nagito. i really don't mind helping out, y'know," you offered, already feeling guilty of leaving the sickly looking male alone to clean the place.

a shimmer of what seemed like hope sparked in his greyish-green eyes but that disappeared just as quickly as it came, making you squint and furrow your brows in confusion with pursed lips as the said man gave you a sheepish smile.

"ah - don't worry about me, i'll be fine ! besides, if it's cleaning, that's one thing that i'm pretty good at," he reassured you, waving his hands before him with a bashful look on his face. he looked, dare you say, flustered at your suggestion.

"are you sure ? i mean, i could just pop in my headphones and it'd be completely fine with m-"

"i'm fine ! really - i insist ... thank you, though," nagito cut you off unintentionally yet abruptly, making you raise an eyebrow but finish talking about the subject. the only thing you murmured in response was a small 'alright, if you say so ...' before going back to finishing up your breakfast. what a funky little dude.

on the other hand, teruteru may be out of line and a bit pervy sometimes, but his food wasn't something he was just gloating about for no reason whatsoever. he really did make good dishes no matter the occasion.

10:00pm. that's what monokuma had said on the announcements. "get a good night's sleep my ass ... i've got a party to get to," you said aloud to no one in particular, standing up from your bed to stretch before beginning to leave your cottage and heading over to the old building. you weren't scared of defying byakuya's orders, but the surveillance cameras set up in your room more than kind of freaked you out. at least at the party, you'd be having somewhat more fun while being watched instead of being paranoid of glancing back at whoever's behind the cameras while you tried to enjoy your short lived solitude.

hajime was just a little bit ahead of you getting pat down by byakuya, making you purse your lips in a thin line as you waited your turn. oh well, at least byakuya was being strictly professional about the pat down. but you couldn't ignore the fact that he seemed even more stressed than usual. something was definitely off.

it didn't take long for you to follow after the brunette, however, curiosity got the best of you as you wanted to search the building. i mean, hey, better safe than sorry, right ? it's best to keep track of your surroundings - you learned that from earlier. plus, what the hell was there to even renovate in here ? monomi should've already had everything set up before you guys had arrived, right ?

it didn't take long before you explored the office and greeted peko passing by you with one of byakuya's cases and a plate of food, soon visiting teruteru in the kitchen and quickly leaving due to his talk about his posioned loins (which, for the record, you even stated bluntly "dude, nobody asked ..." yet he still kept going).

yeah, so, let's avoid the kitchen for now. the last room was ... a storage room ? i mean, it couldn't hurt to check out, right ?

the first thing that caught your attention were the three irons sitting on an ironing board. why were there three ? what are irons even doing in here, anyways ? and - wait, are they turned on ?

as soon as you had begin going over to check if they were really plugged in like you had suspected, byakuya had stormed over and found you, grabbing your shoulder.

"what the hell are you doing ? get going to the dining room, everyone's waiting on you," the taller man stated, making you open and close your mouth like a fish out of water as you tried to defend yourself, but to no use. maybe some things were just better left untouched ?

you followed byakuya into the dining room like a kicked puppy, going over to stand next to sonia and kazuichi who seemed to be pretty happy and lively. hopefully, their joyous moods would rub off on you and you wouldn't end up being a killjoy.

as you glanced at all the party dishes teruteru put together in awe, mahiru began taking pictures, the click startling you a bit before you averted your gaze and smiled at her. the freckled redhead smiled back before taking another picture, you making a funny face at the camera in hopes to get her to laugh before another click was heard. neither of you had time to talk or giggle as instead this click was connected to the air conditioning system.

and now it was pitch black.

"uwah ! it's a b-blackout !" mahiru cried out in fear, a few others' voices ringing across the room as panic began to settle into the atmosphere. oh god, what the hell was going on ? you stumbled back from your spot instinctively, feeling yourself get shoved by someone before toppling over onto the floor. a hiss of pain left you after a sharp gasp as you planted face first into the wooden floorboards, trying to regain your footing or at least get up from laying on the floor helplessly. that's the last thing you need nor want anyone to see.

"g-guys, let's just try to keep our cool, yeah ? panicking wont help our s-situation ..." you managed to get out as you got yourself to your knees albeit wobbly and clumsily, finding a table leg to help lean against as you waited for the power to turn back on. could those irons you found earlier be related to the power outage ?

soon enough, the lights turned back on as if to rip you away from your thoughts, making you blink fiercely as your vision tried to adjust to the sudden illumination in the room. everyone stared in your direction and you blinked in confusion right back at them, soon enough realizing you were clinging onto a table leg desperately and probably had blood on your face from colliding so hard with the floor. you quickly let go, stumbling a bit as you tried to stand up and cover your face with a hand, but doing so stiffly as you coughed awkwardly. you felt a bit pathetic for looking so helpless in this situation. but it turns out that everyone wasn't staring at you, they were staring behind you - at mikan ... and her ... quite compromising position.

"w-what the hell ?! mikan, how did you even - ?"

"i-i'm sorry, i tripped again ! ohh ... please forgive me !"

"i- wh- nevermind, it's not like you can control how you fall - i-i think ... w-whatever ! just let me help you up already ... !" you grumbled out as you began moving the food off of her, the others trying to remain courteous and instead searching for byakuya. oh, yeah, where did that rich guy go ? you swore you felt someone shove you and the floorboards rumble from his direction towards yours ... had he ran past you to search for a way to turn the lights on ? but there's no way anyone could even see where anything was in that darkness, so that could've been anyone ...

gah, this whole party was a disaster. maybe you really should have taken that chance to have a staring contest with whoever was behind the surveillance camera screens.

it wasn't long before everyone gathered together again while mikan offered to treat your minimal wounds with the supplies she had on her at the moment, the others having no luck of finding byakuya. alright, now things were starting to get freaky ...

things really began to take a turn for the worse though when akane spoke up about smelling blood. now that atmosphere of tension and panic from earlier was back.

you watched as hajime hesitantly stalked towards the table in the far right with a lamp on top of it, sweat beading down his forehead. you couldn't blame him. this whole situation was pretty damn nerve wracking for everyone, including yourself, involved. in fact, it would probably ease him if you also came over to let him know he wasn't alone - maybe. or you would just scare him, but it was better than nothing.

you made your way over to him after thanking mikan for sterilizing and bandaging up one of your cheeks and nose after scraping your face pretty hard against a loose nail in that floorboard. what terrible luck. either that, or you were just as much of a klutz as mikan was. maybe both.

anyhow, you could barely feel the pain with adrenaline coursing through you at the moment as you two peered from under the table, the sight underneath it making you shriek and cover your mouth. you couldn't tear your eyes away from your "leader's" lifeless body.

byakuya was now dead. only sixteen students remained.

danganronpa masterlist.

[hello-im-not-a-possum]

YEEHAW IT’S MIDNIGHT WHICH MEANS IT’S AUGUST 1ST WHICH MEANS INK DEMONTH SO I CAN FINALLY POST THIS NOW:

1. Pride

Diversity win! There is not a single cishet in the hivemind of ink creatures (To their knowledge) that you slaughter on a daily basis to make yourself beautiful! AKA: Possum has a fuck ton of LBGT+ headcanons regarding the BATIM cast and is happy to use this DeMonth prompt to indulge them. (Set before the loop starts, but after Buddy Boris meets/befriends the lost ones.)

Malice flicked through the channels of her cameras, trying to find more prey in her territory, and stopped when she saw a gathering of the lost and the searching (and exactly one Boris, the most perfect one she had ever seen.) in the Heavenly toy’s lobby, their prophet was brazenly sitting on the side of the waterfall as if he did not fear the ink when he should have.

Her ears steamed with anger as she saw that group, it was far too large for her to deal with on her own and too far away from the Projectionist’s grounds for her to manage to lure him to them. But on the bright side, she could learn some important information from them, after all, with how casually the prophet was sitting and gesturing and how the other freaks in the crowd were responding, this was clearly not one of his normal sermons.

(“I still find it rather funny that almost none of us are straight and that the few straight ones among us are trans, it’s like all this time we thought we were sheep hiding away in wolves’ clothing among wolves, unaware that the “wolves” were simply other sheep in hiding as well!”)

[Funnily enough, I’d rather be a sheep than a wolf, I think it makes more sense for me to be an animal that’s helpful to others but also easily scared.] The Boris wrote on a typewriter. [Or at least, I wish I had some kind of input on what I am, but I doubt I’d make myself an animal…]

(“Speaking of which...”) The lost one next to the wolf whispered in his ear as she looked over his typing. (“How are you holding up, Buddy?”)

Instead of typing, the wolf drew himself shrugging and put a bunch of question marks around him, then stuck the drawn-on paper in his typewriter and added to it.

[It’s hard to think most of the time, Boris always seems stronger when I’m alone, but I know the Ink demon will find us if I stay with you, this hunger is driving me crazy, and I just wanna go home. But on the bright side, I don’t have to deal with periods, chest pain from binding, or people condescendingly calling me ‘Miss Lewek’ anymore.]

She turned on the sound in that room, watching them like one would watch a Tv drama, but what she heard caught her off guard.

“So as long as we’re being honest about ourselves with each other…” The lost one stood up and pointed accusingly at Sammy. “Were you and Joey and a thing all along before the machine came into the picture!?”

If she was drinking water, she would’ve spat it right back out. Sammy, with Joey?! In the latter’s dreams, maybe! Even a few of the other lost ones looked shocked at the question, the Boris even gasped loud enough for it to be audible.

“Technically yes, but not by choice, mind you.”

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”

What the fuck indeed random lost one. The angel wished that she didn’t hear that, but now that she couldn’t unsee it, at least it made a little bit of sense in hindsight. After all, in her eyes, they were awful enough to deserve each other.

“...Why?”

“It’s just, well... somebody had to keep his eyes from wandering to the lambs- err- younger, more naive, less experienced employees, not children (to my knowledge). And at the time, I really thought that he did at least care about me beyond our work relationships, at least a little bit…  But from what I’ve seen, I believe the only things he had ever truly loved were himself, and the idealized versions he had made of other people. His ‘dream versions’ of them, if you will.”

“And this whole time, I thought he was running off with Susie with all those lunch dates! Or where the three of you all… yaknow, *together* together?”

 “Not knowingly… However I wouldn’t put it past Joey to cheat on people. As for Susie... I did like her, maybe even love her in a way, but I doubt I could ever love her in the way she wanted me to love her, and-or love her carnally. I don’t even think I could fake it like I could for Joey, she was never signing my checks and wasn’t holding that over my head so I’d be too disgusted to even try.”

Malice was almost about to march down there herself and push him into the ink, but she knew this troupe all too well, and knew that sometimes this place worked on story logic, he’s now going to say something that alters the context of that statement enough to not justify her going over there and slam dunking him into the ink.

“Now that I think of it, I don’t think that I’ve ever loved… anyone in that sense. I can’t think of a single person or situation where the idea of doing that is anything other than gross at best. In fact, there was someone who was close to me a long time ago, someone who, while I have long forgotten now, would perhaps even be what one could consider a soulmate. Even then, the mere thought of doing that with them still makes me queasy…” The prophet sighed. “I suppose I am simply meant to remain alone in religious celibacy. A relationship of that kind would interfere too much with my worship anyway.”

"Ahh fahr foehck's sake... I can't believe dat it's dis foehckin stupid..." A more lucid, absolute giant of a searcher in the back of the crowd slapped his forehead.

“It?” Malice repeated curiously. “Huh… maybe it and I had more in common than we thought.”

“You're clearly a sex-repoehlsed asexual, you doehmbass! literally everyahne who's ever been in de dark poehddles at de same time as you figured dis ooeht befahre you ded!” He shouted through cupped hands. “celibate people are people who WANT sex, boeht dahn't poehrsue it fahr variooehs reasahns, dey ARE NAHT people who are desgoehsted wit sex to de point where dey legitimately throw oehp and feel 'ahrreble after doin de nahrmal vanella stoehff! Stahp foehckin foehckin people when you're clearly naht cahmfortable wit it, and you and future partner..s? 'll be 'appier wit yooehr rahmantic poehrsuits!”

The searcher, upon realizing that he had furiously sworn at the Prophet, their leader, the one who does not fear anything within the studio, not even the deepest depths of the dark puddles, and most terrifyingly of all; the former music director, he slinked into a puddle within the crowd in fear of being the target of reawakened ancient wrath. Everybody else looked back and forth to the prophet and back at the searcher who spoke out as they remained in stunned silence, even their eavesdropper was worried for his fate, even if in her case she feared how the show would end rather than his outcome. Surprisingly, and luckily for him, the Prophet broke the tense silence by laughing in that caught-off-guard tone of it.

“While you were rather… crude about it, what you’ve said does make a lot more sense then Joey being so bad at sex that he turned me away from men altogether, even if it is funny to assume that he was.”

“A-aye… and I can't believe dat you wrahte an entire foehckin sahng abooeht it! 'ow ded you naht get fired fahr dat?!”

“Good question, I wish I could remember the answer…”

[Maybe you had blackmail on Drew?] The Boris typed out and handed to Sammy.

“Yeah, maybe because you used to be so close to him, you saw skeletons that Joey would want to keep in the closet” His lost-one friend added.

“Like HIMSELF!” A voice from the back added, making the others in the room burst into laughter.

With the tension in the room gone, the group just went back to talking about either journeys they took to become comfortable with themselves, or the various past relationships that they had, or wished they had or in some peoples’ cases, all three.

Malice continued to watch them bitterly. It was as if they had either forgotten what the outside world was like to people like them or they simply didn’t care, and she wasn’t thinking about the ink that made up their bodies. Part of her envied how freely they had talked about themselves and each other, part of her felt like she had been smacked across the face, and a third part of her felt lonely. All of them seemed so happy telling their stories and building each other up, and here she was hiding away with her own story that she had wished to bury.

However, there was no iron clad law stating that she couldn’t tell them her own story. In fact, maybe if she came out of her own cage, made Sammy understand that big part of why voicing Alice was so important to her, made sure that it understood that as the very first explicitly female character she voiced, that Alice Angel was more than a beloved character to her, that she was a part of her, the biggest symbol of her own femininity, then maybe it would recognize the error of its ways. Maybe it would see how devastating it would be to be shunted aside without notice in favor of someone newer, prettier, ‘more feminine’...

She shut off the camera and thought it over, and she made up her mind. While she still didn’t want to share her story with everyone, Sammy needed to know it. Whether the Prophet liked it or not, she was going to pay it a visit.

[plasticnightmaredoll]

This is an idea/scenario I’ve had for a good while now pertaining to Arkham Knight Riddler. I don’t know if it’s any good -- it may be too “fluffy” to be in character -- but I wanted to write it down and get it out there, see what people think. Ironically, the idea came from a similar one involving Telltale Riddler, and I may post that one someday, too, but this AK Riddler one is...very different. Different in regards to a lot of headcanons, imagines, drabbles, etc. about him.

So, the scenario is like this: Someone wants to fuck with this poor guy -- not Batman, not one of the Bat family, not even one of the Gotham Rogues. It could be some random new villain, someone who is maybe more sadistic than any of the Rogues (save for Joker). I thought about this antagonist kidnapping AK Eddie’s s/o and holding them hostage …

But with a twist.

Catwoman has nothing to do with this because she’s not evil, but I thought about the explosive collar Riddler put on her in Arkham Knight, and what if this antagonist -- to really mess with Eddie -- decides to put such a collar on his s/o? And Riddler has to show up and complete some tasks (dangerous puzzles and riddle-based traps most likely), or else, his s/o loses their head.

Of course, Eddie shows up because he’s panicking. This was never supposed to happen! Nothing was supposed to happen to his s/o. This is beyond anything Batman had ever done. This is so sinister, so vile, so abhorrent, Eddie can’t even begin to comprehend it. At first, he bargains, offering money, tech, robots, his hacking skills -- even offers himself up to wear the collar instead because he can’t take the sight of his beloved wearing something that could blow their head right off, right in front of him, and leave him emotionally and mentally broken for life.

But the antagonist doesn’t want to bargain, even when Eddie begs -- like, really begs to the point of tears, asking for mercy and pleading with the antagonist to let his s/o go free. They have nothing to do with any of Eddie’s work. They’re innocent, and they’re too important to him! He can’t let this happen!

The begging amuses the antagonist but once again, it’s not enough. Eddie has to do the challenges, and if he completes them all correctly, the collar comes off. If he messes up, then his s/o dies. Eddie reassures his s/o that everything will be just fine, he’s got this under control, they’ll be out of trouble in no time so don’t be afraid.

It’s difficult to not be afraid when you have a bomb around your neck and a sadistic psychopath with the trigger. As bad as Eddie can be, he’s not THIS malevolent. He has some humanity left in him. But this person, they’re just out there to make him suffer because it’s “entertaining” to watch him squirm. 

As you know, by this point in his life, Eddie is very mentally unstable and could have a mental breakdown if pushed even just a little too far. His s/o is the only thing keeping him grounded, the only reason he has to keep his sanity (or what’s left of it), and this is the only person who has ever cared for him despite the fact he knows he’s not worth it. If he loses his beloved, then what would he have left? There would be no recovery from such a thing.

So, Eddie completes the challenges, although he is internally freaking out the entire time, partly because he doubts himself and partly because he has no idea if the antagonist will just press the trigger and kill Eddie’s s/o without warning. By the time Eddie is done, he’s a nervous wreck and on the verge of a breakdown, but he hopes that, by enduring all this, by letting this person watch him squirm, sweat, beg, cry, and panic, that maybe it’s enough to end this madness without his s/o dying.

But the antagonist doesn’t care that Eddie completed all the tasks. In the end, it’s about making Eddie suffer horribly because watching a nearly broken man finally break -- shatter -- is the point of all this. So, the collar has a 30 second timer set, and as it counts down, Eddie obviously freaks out, hyperventilating as he tries to plead once again for his s/o’s life, offering himself up again in their place, and yet, it’s not enough (kind of reminding him how he was never enough for his father, even if he agonized over pleasing him). The antagonist just laughs at Eddie’s mental breakdown and tells him he better use the remaining time to say goodbye. And no funny business. If Eddie or his s/o attempt to remove or disarm the collar, then it will detonate. 

Eddie’s s/o, despite being terrified does their best to put on a brave face and they tell him it’s ok, it’s not his fault, just don’t look, look away, it will all be over soon, he has to keep going for them...Eddie doesn’t know what to do, and seeing as he now has 10 seconds left, he does the only thing he feels he can and should do, and he grabs his s/o despite their protests and holds them tight, crying and saying over and over how sorry he is, he’s so sorry. 

And the timer reaches zero on the collar.

There’s a soft click.

Then nothing.

No explosion. 

The antagonist bursts out laughing, confessing that the “bomb” is a dud, was never going to explode, and since both Eddie and his s/o were too distressed to think all this through, they never even considered this as a possibility. The collar has been unlocked and Eddie’s s/o just kind of sinks to their knees in complete shock, and he can’t believe what he’s seeing. At first, he’s confused, wondering if this is all some sort of twisted dream, then he’s relieved because his s/o is safe, then he’s angry because what the hell was this?! He vows to get revenge on the antagonist and throws the collar away as he all but screams in rage.

Now alone, Eddie remembers his s/o is still on the floor, pale as a sheet and unresponsive. Kneeling down, he asks if they’re ok, tells them they’re ok, that this was all some sort of sick joke. When his s/o snaps out of their daze, they get mad and push him away, yelling at him for being so foolish

“You were just going to let yourself die with me?!” they demand.

“Yes!” Eddie responds, too overwhelmed to even know how to respond to this. 

“Why? Why would you do that?”

“Because!”

“WHY?”

“Because I can’t go back to my old life! Not having known you! You think that I would just sink back into my old routine without a hitch? You think I would forget you? You think I’d just move on and live life normally? How could I do that? How? If I lost you, I’d have nothing, do you understand? Nothing. My life would be empty, more so than it’s ever been, and nothing could fill that void, not the way you do. No one has ever loved me, not even those who were supposed to! But you, you love me! I didn’t ask for it, and I don’t even deserve it, but you love me anyway. You make me feel valid, you make me feel like...like I exist, like I actually matter.”

His s/o is crying, and he’s crying, and they’re both going to be emotionally traumatized for a while. Sure, Eddie will get revenge but he’s also going to be having night terrors -- nightmares would be much better than what he experiences at night -- about his s/o dying in gruesome ways while is helpless to do anything. Sometimes, he won’t even be able to sleep because he doesn’t want those ghastly images in his head, and he’ll stay up holding his s/o as they (try) to sleep (they have nightmares of their own after this experience). 

He has to come to terms with his first real encounter with the threat of loss, a real loss. He never cared about anyone before because no one ever cared for him. He was used to being ignored, bullied and belittled, and he always had trouble trusting others because of how he was raised. He never had friends, never thought he would need friends because, well, he never had any. Forming emotional attachments was beyond him, as he never had such a relationship with his parents, and that is the first time children are supposed to experience attachment. If your parents don’t love you, you grow up feeling unloved, alone, and don’t understand what it’s like to be close to people, so you just push everyone away and look out for yourself. It makes you selfish just as much as it makes you feel lonely.

But now, Eddie has his s/o, someone who just kind of barged into his life and stole his heart despite his best efforts to not feel anything sentimental because being vulnerable meant he could get hurt, and he didn’t like the idea of forming an attachment only to have it ripped away from him due to the other person’s betrayal. In his eyes, love equals abuse, since that’s the only kind of “love” this Eddie seems to have ever experienced. 

It’s going to take a lot of time -- and patience -- for Eddie to deal with this, and he’s going to be watching his s/o like a hawk. They won’t be allowed to go anywhere alone, and definitely not at night. He’ll be very clingy, protective, maybe a little possessive but mostly protective. When he does eventually find a way to calm down, it will actually make him a stronger person emotionally, I think, because he will understand himself better, and he’ll understand the relationship he has with his s/o better. This experience has taught him -- in the most insane and unwelcomed way -- why his s/o is so vital to him, and while attachment like that is almost frightening because of the risk of loss, he doesn’t want to go back to his old life and be alone, being seen as some sort of joke by everyone in Gotham. He doesn’t want to go back to being isolated, left with only his thoughts to comfort him despite his dwindling sanity and self-esteem. He needs to have a reason to press on, and trying to be better than everyone just won’t do it anymore. He needs to be loved, loves to be loved, but is also thrilled to be able to give it in return, whatever the risks may be.

And you know the antagonist is going to be utterly destroyed by Riddlerbots. Or something. Something awful will happen to that person. We know that much.

-------------

Ugh, so let me know what you guys think! This is way out there in left field in terms of portrayal of Arkham Knight Eddie (or just Arkhamverse Eddie in general) but this idea has been stuck in my mind for so long now. Feedback is definitely encouraged and appreciated here because this is such an epic and crazy h/c. Constructive criticism is welcome. Just don’t be mean, please.

[laughableillusions]

Farkas Meets Neloth

((AN: I wrote this at like 2am last night and I thought it was funny, I proofread it a little but of you find any errors just ignore them)) ((Also idk if this is a bit out of character for Neloth, but mostly I think he’d be at least a bit curious abt the LDB romance choices bc of research abt the magical aspects of dragons or smth))

Lindir wasn’t expecting a manhandling interrogation when he floated up to the top of the Tel Mithryn tower, he almost tripped when the old wizard rushed up to him; berating him with questions as he held his chin in a tight grip. Poor Farkas, he could tell he was a bit overwhelmed. Then again, how many times in a Nord’s life does he float about in a giant mushroom tower?

“Well you seem fine to me, or at least you’re still exactly the same as when I last saw you…” Neloth sounded disappointed.

“I-I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner, I didn’t know you still needed m-“

“Who is this?” Neloth had now turned to Farkas, his yellow eyes narrowing as he eyed the Nord.

Lindir stammered, his protective instincts slamming right into him at the question.

“H-He…I-I got married remember?” Lindir managed, his charm automatically masking his nervousness.

Neloth’sbrow furrowed, he was ironically a few inches shorter than Farkas. But he examined as if he was some kind of strange insect, he walked around him looking him up and down. Farkas watching him stiffly, his hands balled into fists at his sides.

“Well, he certainly is quite the specimen.” Neloth concluded, halting back in front of the man.

Lindir was struck dumb. He didn’t know if he should be flattered or offended at the wizard’s remarks of his husband. I mean the approval of an old Telvanni Wizard was something to be proud of right?

Neloth didn’t seem to notice or care about Lindir’s reaction, only taking his hand and yanking Farkas’s face down to his level by the chin. He looked over him, turning his face this way and that, brow furrowed in concentration. The poor Nord only glanced fearfully at Lindir, awkwardly leaned down at the mercy of the dunmar. He knew better than to stop him at least, he trusted Lindir enough to know when to act and when to stay back. The half-elf knew how to charm and maneuver social situations as well as Farkas could hear a rabbit in the brush. So he would do what he did best, stand and be silent and wait until he felt it was safe enough to speak.

Lindir on the other hand was still caught up in his mind, he didn’t know if he should stop him or not. If he did he was half convinced he would be thrown down the long shaft of Tel Mithryn by Neloth if he protested. Usually if anyone even tried anything like that to Farkas they’d receive sharp consequences (be it verbal or otherwise). One could safely say Lindir was overprotective of his husband, he had the scars from multiple altercations to protect his honor to prove it. Farkas was no exception either, though he was long-cured of Lycanthropy. The possessive instinct to “protect his own” lingered, and it showed. There were many a man (and woman) who had the bruises to prove that too.

Neloth finally let go of Farkas’s chin, brushing the dust that had coated his face off his palms.

“Well, he doesn’t seem in any way special.” The old wizard half-sighed. “But I can see why you like this one, he is quite pretty if nothing else.”

Lindir flushed a deep red at that. His temper now flaring at the back-handed compliment. “This one” “specimen” “not special” it was all simply intolerable. He couldn’t allow any more of it. Farkas was probably the most special person in his life, and he wouldn’t have some old grouch determine his worth.

“How dare you speak to him like that!” Lindir shouted, his hands flying all about him. “Why do you care about who I marry?! It’s not any of your business anyway!”

Neloth didn’t even react to his tirade, which only fanned the flames of Lindir’s anger.

“You act like he’s not even a person while he’s standing right in front of you! How about you treat him like a normal person would and address him properly you wrinkly freak!”

Neloth gave the half-elf a sidelong glance of withering boredom. Sending Lindir sputtering uselessly for words and insults.

“Of course you’d say that, you’re his husband.”

Lindir let out a cry of complete and utter disgust, looking angrily at Farkas. The Nord met his eyes, obviously taking his look as a sign that ‘this was not okay, and he had to do something.’

“I think he married me for a reason other than just the way I look.” Farkas interjected firmly.

The look Neloth gave him silenced him instantly.

“Where did you find him anyway?” The wizard sounded like he was referring to a prize horse. “In Skyrim I know, but what province?”.

Lindir huffed.

“Why don’t you ask him yourself? He’s literally standing right in front of you.”

Neloth frowned, obviously he didn’t enjoy having Lindir be pouty with him. Not that he much cared for what Lindir felt, but it was much too noisy and it distracted him. But if it would shut him up, he supposed he would ask him.

He sighed annoyingly, turning back to Farkas.

“Where are you from?”

Farkas forced himself to look at him, he would hate to admit it, but the wizard scared him. He was always a bit wary when it came to magic, even when Lindir taught him some basic restoration spells he never really trusted it. But those countless burns he sustained from battles against mages, the fireballs shot straight at his face…it was enough to at least have some respect for the craft. He could never really picture going into battle without any sort of weapon, sure swinging a sword around took training. But even then anyone could pick up a sword and use it training or not.

Coming face to face with a master wizard, a wizard that probably studied his craft for more years than he had been alive; honed and perfected every spell so that even the twitch of his fingers would produce what he wanted. Farkas couldn’t fathom the ability this man had over magic, and it was awe-inspiring as well as terrifying.

Neloth was obviously getting annoyed from Farkas’s lack of answer. He could feel himself being read by the Nord, like those pale eyes tried to prod into him.

“Well?” Neloth barked.

Farkas blinked, glancing back at Lindir before pulling together an answer.

“Whiterun, Jorrvaskyr actually.” He choked out. “I-I’m with The Companions…”

Neloth nodded a bit thoughtfully.

“The Companions eh? As in the 100 companions of Ysgrammor...” He thought for a moment, looking Farkas up and down once again. “I suppose that means you’re his legacy hm?” He concluded.

Farkas decided to keep the obligatory Companion Value Lecture to himself, he only knew so much anyway, and didn’t care much for the history either. He just nodded, hoping it would appease the wizard.

It seemed to, and he finally turned away from him. Farkas let out a breath of relief, scooting closer to Lindir to try and recover himself. He didn’t know how much more of this interrogation he could take.

Lindir took his large hand and squeezed it, obviously feeling the same way.

“Well with that out of the way, what is it that you want?” Neloth now said, his back to them.

Lindir thought for a moment, he had gotten so carried away with protecting Farkas the reason for making this tedious trip had escaped him briefly.

“Oh right! Yes,” Lindir said, now completely composed once again. “I’m here about the black books?”

Neloth turned back to him, not even paying attention to the couple’s interlocked hands.

“I thought as much, now come…I have something to show you.” He said, already walking off and not waiting for either of them to catch up.