#Granted the expected user count will be 1 (us)

[flaskoflethe]

willing to bet it's an attempt to incentivise users to stay with the official app, instead of using some of the open source teledildonics frameworks that exist?

why does my butt plug have dailies

[drawingdroid]

The Unknown Regions II

A Din Djarin x Fem Plus Size Reader Fic

Summary: You, a soft astrophysicist, meet the hardened Mandalorian in less-than-ideal circumstances.

Read Chapter 1 | Read Chapter 3

Warnings: Expect conversations about weight, body dysmorphia and internalised fatphobia that may be triggering, so read at your own discretion; injuries and blood; canon typical violence; reader is AFAB and user she/her pronouns; no use of y/n; smut to come in next chapters; porn with plot; plot with porn; Din Djarin need a hug and a fuck.

Word count: 1,392

A/N: This is a shorter chapter where we learn a bit more about your job (watch me make up things about astronomy lol), which will be handy for our little adventure with Din. The hot speeder bike ride was 100% inspired by @djarins-cyare fic, Be-All and Endor! This fic is just everything I could ask, just so detailed and thorough, I really recommend it to you! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this, sorry if Mando is too gruff but I try to keep him in character, don’t worry, he’ll warm up later. ;)

🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐

You went through your notes again, looking for the data you had gathered previously. If your calculations were correct, you were one step closer to mapping the Unknown Regions. Studying the orbit of this planet had been a difficult assignment. It seemed to elude you every time you were close. But today, you could say that finally, its coordinates were finally revealed. Jumping from your desk, you rushed to discuss your discoveries with your supervisor.

The older, Rodian female, was working on gathering the info the radio antennas were providing. The purpose of the observatory, funded by the New Republic, was to map the mysterious regions beyond the Outer Rim, popularly known as Wild Space. In the year since its foundation, your team had located the system you were currently studying and successfully calculated the orbits and characteristics of its two stars.

Your Rodian supervisor, Dr. Vala, took her time to look through all the data you'd gathered after inserting the disk into her computer. You shifted your weight and played with your hands nervously.

"It looks like everything makes sense." She said after a while, smiling at you proudly. “I’ll discuss sending the first space probe with the engineering team in the next meeting.”

You mirrored her expression feeling a bit shy, but the truth was that you were over the moon. Receiving praise from someone like Dr. Vala couldn't be taken for granted, and the prospect of having a probe sent to the planet you were studying was exciting. All your dreams were coming true. This would be the best day of your life if the pressing matter of the bleeding Mandalorian wasn’t making you kriffing anxious.

“Would you mind if I left early today, Doctor? I haven’t been feeling very well.”

Dr. Vala sent you home immediately, knowing how you had been overworking yourself. You thanked her and after gathering your possessions went to the hangar where one of the landspeeders that transported the workers from the compound was parked. After providing the droid with your employee code, the vehicle started the trip. The ball of anxiety that had been growing in your belly grew with every klick of desert you covered. He probably had left already and you were worrying for nothing like an idiot. But what if?

You arrived at home covered in sand and rapidly discarded the goggles and cape that you used for protection. Entering the main room cautiously, you didn’t notice you were holding your breath.

“Mando? Are you still there?” You asked in a small voice.”I brought food and medical supplies…” The bag against your hip was full of some rations and medicine you managed to grab from your workplace before leaving. A mix of fear and excitement was boiling inside of you, hoping that he hadn’t left. You advanced two more steps when something very shiny dazzled your eyes. Confused, you brought your hand to your face in pain.

“Uh…sorry.” A gruff voice apologized from the main room.”I was about to leave…”

Your heart jumped inside of your chest. He sounded exhausted and sad but it was better than before you left. The bright light moved and then you could see the source of it. The warrior, in his full, polished armor, was reflecting the light from Tatooine’s twin suns like a star. It was such a beautiful scene to look at. He was standing there like an ancient statue finishing with placing one of his pauldrons. You swallowed hard. Was this man the same person that bled out on your carpet?

“Are you feeling better?” You asked fidgeting with the end of your sleeve. It looked like you were the guest and this was his house instead of yours. Your eyes couldn’t stop registering every detail of his appearance, from his width to how well that ammo belt hugged his hips. Maker, you were in need of a good lay.

He just nodded and then approached you. You could smell your soap and his characteristic scent under it. He then grabbed your hand with his gloved one and blood rushed to your cheeks. The sound of credits took you out of your trance.

“The carpet.” It was the only explanation he provided, and when he noticed that you weren’t moving, he squeezed himself between you and the doorframe.

What was the problem with this man?

“Wait!” You managed to unfreeze and catch him before he actually left. Even though he tried to hide it, his limp was obvious. He didn’t turn but stopped walking. “We’re in the middle of nowhere and I haven’t seen any ships close.” The question floated in the dry air, and you could see how his shoulders dropped infinitesimally.

“It won’t be the first time I walk through this desert.” He responded cockily and shifted his weight, this time turning the helmet slightly to you.

You rolled your eyes and sighed, and then grabbed your goggles and cape again.

“Come on, I have my speeder bike in the compound’s hangar.” He fully turned to face you then, tilting his head to one side, probably balancing his options. “You want to find your son, don't you? Well, you won’t be of any use to him bleeding dry among the dunes.” Now it was his turn to sigh. He surrendered to your offer, nodding in response. You smiled and closed the door, having already put on your gear plus your little blaster. Everybody knew that venturing to the desert unarmed was insane.

The warrior followed you obediently to the hangar, where you provided your credentials to the security team to open the gates for you.

“I haven't asked you, is it okay if I call you Mando? I accidentally heard the man from the holo doing it, I’m sorry.” You asked while you put your riding gloves on. Riding was something you loved, and it was important for you to keep the bike and your accessories in good shape, so your speeder was in perfect condition for the trip through the dunes. You climbed its leather seat and sat comfortably. He just stood there like a statue. “I wanted to apologize too for trying to remove your helmet.”

“No offense taken.” He responded after flexing his gloved hand a couple of times. He looked kriffing tense, but you would too in his situation. You smiled in relief and put your helmet on. He took the cue and sat behind you. To anyone watching the scene, it had to look ridiculous as hell, but the only thing in your head was how Mando felt behind you and how you were going to focus on driving. You swallowed and started the bike, maneuvering it outside of the hangar.

“Where are we headed?” You asked, trying to sound confident. Mando looked like he hadn’t made a decision about the best place for his hands.

“Mos Eisley, Hangar 3-5.” He provided, and you thanked your past self for the food you had stolen from your workplace. That would make a long ride. You inserted the city’s coordinates in the nav computer and placed your boot on the accelerator. But your copilot still looked hesitant about where to get a hold of.

You sighed exasperated and in a bold move, you took a grip of his hands and put them around your waist. It was notorious how Mando went rigid instantly as if he had been struck by a bolt. Kark, he looked like a seasoned warrior, why would he be so tense about sharing a speeder bike with a woman? Nevertheless, you were no seasoned anything so you allowed yourself to be flustered when he finally grabbed your waist with determination. It was only a second that the malignant thought of how he’d find your soft curves disgusting. Your waist wasn’t tiny by any means, and in this position your belly flexed forming some rolls. You were flustered now but for other motives.

But Mando’s huge hand just grabbed you tighter and with a confidence that had been absent before, making you jump in your seat.

“Are you…are you comfortable like this?” He asked unexpectedly in a gentle voice. You clenched your hands around the bike handles, making the leather of the gloves crack.

“Yes, just hold tight.” And oh Maker, that grip would have you daydreaming for the whole journey.

Next Chapter

[ashsound]

Villains are Destined to Die

Original Novel by Gwon Gyeoeul (“Trapped in a Game That Flopped” & “Red And Mad”) Art by SUOL

Penelope Eckhart (18), FL Derrick Eckhart (24), oldest brother Reynold Eckhart (20), older brother Callisto Eckhart (20), Crown Prince Winter Verdandi (26), sorcerer and guild head Eckles (17-18), former Delman noble turned slave Emily, trusted maid Pennel, Eckhart family butler Cedrick Porter, Callisto's aide (black/green)

Ivonne (~18), the "real" daughter Raina, head maid Becky, Ivonne's maid

System Window: Obviously this isn't a character, but plays an important role. It grants Penelope quests, imposes punishments/restrictions, & can sometimes give her great power - like the ability to temporarily use magic. It gives information about SOME things & can be about as helpful as harmful. It keeps track of her money & reputation, & eventually charges her to look at affection scores.

As a note, I have physical volumes 1-7, noted the chapters, & broke it up by volume. There are slight differences in translation. The section after volume 6 is more detailed because I expect that to be more important. If you just want chapter 141+, search “(V7, c121-140)”.

FL stayed up all night playing an otome & woke up as Penelope Eckhart, the villainess in Normal mode & MC of Hard mode. Using her knowledge, she unlocks free response options, so Penelope can toggle the dialog choices on/off at will. Shortly after she came to the Eckhart house, 6 years ago, 12-year-old Penelope was framed by Reynold & Pennel for taking Ivonne's necklace, which resulted in the third floor being locked up & she stopped calling Duke Eckhart father. Penelope calls the duke father to win favor & called Derrick "young lord" because "brother" lowers his score. She gets her previously abusive maid Emily on her side & puts Pennel the butler in his place. At the second prince's birthday ball, Penelope follows Crown Prince Callisto to the garden to kill her so she can use the reset button & possibly get out, but it doesn't work. He cuts her neck, she claims she came out to comfort him because she fell for his looks. Callisto tells her he looks forward to a better excuse next time. She runs into Winter, returns to the ballroom, passes out & half-asleep tells Reynold that she hates him. Since Eckles showed sympathy to Penelope in normal mode, she decides to try & win him over(V1, c1-18).

Penelope sneaks out, buys Eckles, convinces the duke to let her keep him, convinces Eckles to train hard, & realizes she might have made a mistake & needs to contact Winter ASAP as a backup plan. Emily becomes Penelope's lady-in-waiting. Penelope goes to the White Rabbit Guild & meets Winter's wards (sorcerer children). Winter explains that Laila/the holy nation/the other sect believe all magic users have to die for the true emperor to be born. While Callisto has beaten Laila, there are remnant factions with support in the Eorka Empire (FL's country). Penelope turns on the dialog options & realizes that Normal Mode starts after Penelope, with all these terrible options, made everyone her enemy & she writes off Winter as an option, but the System Window tells her she's earned a 1x use of his help. Derrick gives Penelope a magic bracelet will disguise her as a boy her age (v2, c19-38).

At a family lunch, Penelope reveals Mrs. Dona (red-brown hair & green eyes) gave her toy utensils for her food, which gets Dona thrown out without recommendation. In a previous hunt, ogPenelope was banned for threatening to shoot Count Kellen's daughter, but the ban's been lifted. Pennel asks Penelope to accept the duke's way of apology opening the 3rd floor & attic. Reynold confronts Penelope & it's revealed he framed her for stealing Ivonne's necklace because she prayed Ivonne wouldn't return - so FL tells what might actually be her own story or Penelope's (she says it isn't, but it shows FL's Korean self with Penelope's shadow c44), & tells him that when he framed her, she was just a 12-year-old commoner that couldn't even read. Penelope goes to see Eckles, who is being bullied, on the training grounds while Penelope is insulted because the other knights don't see her. She has Eckles strangle Mark Alvert (green-brown hair, brown eyes), but doesn't kill him & she leaves with Eckles to get him a real sword, training swords to replace the ones he broke, & otherwise win affection points. Penelope tells him "don't betray me". Duke Echkhart questions Penelope about the training grounds & threatens to throw Eckles out, so Penelope has to tell him Mark insulted her & only Eckles stood up for her. Penelope receives a crossbow that will fire enchanted beads that will erase the target's immediate memories. She gives Duke Echkhart an amulet with defensive magic. Penelope also gives one to Emily. Callisto sends a letter to remind her that 1. He'll see her at the hunt 2. She better have a great explanation for falling for him. At the pre-hunt banquet, Marquis Ellen (blonde w/green eyes) comments that the Empress Consort (his daughter) & the second prince are missing. Callisto says she must be ill, he cried about missing his father during the hunt, & "a clingy, tantrum-throwing child shouldn't be separated from his parents" which shuts Marquis Ellen down. Penelope tells Callisto she loved on & has a fickle heart. Remnants of Laila disguise themselves as shamans from Setina to sneak in & try to kill Callisto. We learn the people of Laila fed humans to monsters, used them as test subjects, and abducted & tortured children with mana. The monsters the people of Laila brought are like hydra-balloon-birds that multiply when cut (V3, c39-69).

The System Window gives Penelope a quest, which takes over & has her take out the monsters with her crossbow beads, so the monsters don't multiply or come back. She saves everyone. Winter steps in to save 2 children that were brainwashed by Laila's people, Penelope backs him up, Winter thanks her, & Reynold interrupts thinking the 26-year-old man is trying to take advantage of a young girl. Reynold gives Penelope some ointment for a wound on her neck & reminds her men are wolves. We learn Duke Eckhart was friends with Winter's father & Winter took over the title at a young age. Penelope bought a second amulet to either use herself or give to Eckles; she decides to give it to a love interest when Callisto takes it. Penelope joins Countess Dorothea's (green/blue-grey) tea party, where Count Kellen's daughter Gloria & some other ladies try to get her to act up. Penelope threatens to "shoot the flies" buzzing around Gloria's mouth, says it's a joke & says she doesn't have bolts, but instead magic beads that make the target "go batshit loony" before goes to hunt. She encounters a bear, fails a quest to kill it, so Callisto appears & kills it. They're caught in the rain, he's shot by assassins, they flee together, & Penelope gets a new quest to protect him. She takes out most of the 20 assassins, but they fall off a cliff. They bond. We learn House Eckhart gave House Kellen a diamond mine for the last hunting incident & the Empress Consort sent assassins after a 10-year-old Callisto. Duke Eckhart tells Derrick it's time to let go of Ivonne & for him to stop punishing Penelope. There's a hint that Derrick has a crush on Penelope. Penelope picks up a dagger from the assassins. She & Callisto find 2 scrolls, 1 being a map of Valta, the nation of ancient sorcerers. FL's interest in archeology comes up again (the first time being when she meets Winter's kids & helps them with their assignment). The System Window tells Penelope she can use the scroll to teleport, so she moves them to the small game area. Callisto passes out, she goes to get help but is arrested because Baron Tullet, Gloria Kellen's fiancé & a relative of Marquis Ellen, & other nobles frame Penelope for shooting them, trying to take their game (the bear), & also trying to kill Callisto. Derrick's decided she must be at fault for something, so Penelope calls him out (V4, c70-80 [an interesting note, the physical volume I have says "You're the one doing the bullshitting", but Tapas says "the one who's babbling… is you"]).

At the trial, Viscount Garboyle commits perjury, Penelope says Gloria is slandering her & Countess Dorothea agreed the tea party incident was a prank. Penelope says she met Callisto because they had romantic feelings for each other. Marquis Ellen implies she met with Callisto to poison him. Penelope recognizes the family crest on the assassin's dagger as House Ellen & it has a charm Gloria made for Baron Tulitte. Winter appears & collaborates Penelope's testimony about the bear. Penelope is cleared of all charges while Marquis Ellen & the 7 nobles are locked up. In front of Winter, Penelope & Derrick rehash their argument from before the trial, resulting in her saying he can't disappoint her when she has no expectations. Penelope leaves with Winter & cuts off Derrick's route (or at least that's how I read her stepping on the blue & it breaking c85). Reynold tells Penelope that he's not Derrick & he would have believed her. Callisto wakes up the day before the last day of the hunt. Penelope leaves out that she said they have romantic feelings & asks that her reward be his word that he won't kill her. Callisto now has the second highest affection score (Eckles has the highest). Alice, the only nice girl from Countess Dorothea's tea party, greets Penelope & seems to want to be friends. Callisto & Winter dedicate their game to Penelope, who was already #1 in the hunt for her great bear, so she's Queen of the Hunt & gets 100 million gold & +200 reputation (for a current total of 400). Back home, Reynold tells Penelope he couldn't give her his hunt because it's against the rules to donate it to family. He asks if she wants anything & Penelope says she wants to see rabbits hopping their little tails off. When Penelope gives Eckles a necklace, his affection score goes above 70%, which results in the System Window hiding it behind a paywall that requires her to make physical contact & otherwise showing a color gage. Eckles is dark-red like dried blood & Penelope doesn't know what to make of it aside from it being ominous. Derrick is orange & Reynold is pink. Duke Echkhart says he wants a family portrait & there's a month until Penelope's birthday. Penelope asks for money & mentions moving out, so Derrick shuts it down. Duke Echkhart gives Penelope an emerald mine behind Derrick's back. Since Derrick does know, Penelope can't use the family sorcerers, so she tells Pennel to wait & see who proposes the best contract. It's now 4 mil to check Eckles score, which is 81%. He refuses her offer to take off the slave collar, & his score becomes 86%. Callisto writes to Penelope because he's heard news of their love then comes in person when she says she's sick. Rumors have ran wild thanks to Reynold, so society thinks Penelope rejected Callisto. He gives her the restored map from the hunting tournament. Callisto tells Penelope that, with the exception of Marquis Ellen who was released, he's decapitated the nobles that framed her; Count Kellen's family was stripped of their wealth & status, made slaves, & Callisto gives Penelope the deed to the diamond mine that Duke Echkhart gave the Count last year (V5, c81-100).

Callisto investigated & found Gloria Kellen bribed a guard to be close & served Penelope a cup of brewed mosquitoes then said it suited her. Callisto asks why she didn't speak up & FL says she didn't think anyone would believe her. Eckles sees Callisto holding Penelope's hand & Callisto ultimately rubs Penelope's make up so she'll know he knew she was faking sick. Penelope tries to comfort Eckles, who is jealous, & gets him a swordsmanship teacher, which raises him to 88%. Derrick is reluctant, but agrees. His plapopinu takes an interest in her because she hair matches its feathers. Derrick says he got it to give her the plapopinu diamond she asked for last year. Derrick gives a non-apology, but says he'll listen next time. Penelope says she still expects nothing from him. He tells her to use Pennel as a proxy & the House Eckhart sorcerers, so she knows he does know. Pennel tells Penelope that the White Rabbit Guild bought the emerald sent to auction at 10x their price. Winter sends a rabbit to get Penelope; she uses the bracelet from Derrick to disguise herself & goes. Winter doesn't recognize her at first. Winter says Penelope piqued his interest; they agree to work together & meet occasionally. In exchange, he'll handle the diamond mine & emeralds. When Penelope leaves, the kids ask if that was Ivonne (specifically the person he met volunteering). Penelope thinks Winter invites her on a date, but it's volunteering & a test. Winter gives her a necklace that detects poison AND magic. She realizes he's already met Ivonne. Laon is kidnapped. Winter's contact clause in the contract was to see if Penelope was related to Laila or demonic energy. Penelope goes with Winter to save Laon. They teleport to Soleil near the Arkina Archipelago. Winter tells Penelope that Lailans want to rid the world of sorcerers and resurrect Laila, they founded Ancient Valta - not sorcerers. Lailans cursed the ancient sorcerers that sealed them away, causing people to believe sorcerers committed the evil deeds Lailans did. Winter & Penelope are separated by magic. Penelope beats 19/20 monsters & Callisto appears to kill the final one. Penelope's quest markers help reconnect with Winter; Penelope panics & Winter's name half said, calls him Winson. They find Laon with other abducted people & watch in horror as a masked Ivonne sucks the life out of a man until he's dust. Ivoone, who the Laians call "goddess" gets out some mirror shards, which Winter tells them can penetrate their opponent's mind & subdue their consciousness, which is how Laila brainwashed the children - this is so very important for what's happening! Winter & Callisto attack and distract, while Penelope grabs Laon, but a mirror shard floats out of Ivonne's hands and reflects FL's Korean body, seemingly asleep. The System Window lets Penelope attack. She blows all but Ivonne & 1 Lailan away, sees Ivonne's face, & Penelope gets a mirror shard (V6, c 101-120).

Ivonne gets away. The cave floods, & Callisto HAS to give Penelope mouth to mouth. Back on land, as Callisto is called back to the palace, he gives Penelope a "thank you" kiss for saving him. Winter takes Penelope back & alters the memories of the estate so no one knows she was missing. He offers to terminate the contract, but she says they'll keep it - business only though. Winter tries to ask for another chance, but she rejects him & tells him not to contact her unless she contacts him first. Penelope still has the poison detecting necklace. Cedrick reveals that Callisto left in the middle of a military conference when Penelope's location on his magic map showed her in the Arkina Archipelago. Callisto confesses falling for Penelope to the readers, but doesn't fully recognize it himself (the theme of this volume). Eckles stayed out, meeting Delmans who were sold as slaves; he reflects on his original plan to kill Penelope & flee has changed. Cedrick brings gifts from Callisto for Penelope to wear to Callisto's birthday ball. Callisto said Penelope would be his partner. Penelope says he should find someone else because she might not even attend, but she does & ends up dancing with him after all. Penelope gives Callisto a ruby cufflink with healing magic & he pierces his ear with it. He tells her strange people like them should stick together & they should court. Penelope checks his affection, 76%. She asks if he loves her, but he says people in their positions can't afford the right to use such naive words […] they can be each other's sanctuary. Penelope convinces herself that she doesn't like Callisto & Eckles is saver. Callisto stops Penelope from rejecting him, it is his birthday banquet. She returns home, where Eckles sees her about to cry & says she should run away with him & the Delman slaves. She does reject him, but tells him she's the only one she has & he's at 99%. Penelope visits him for days, but it doesn't go up & she wonders how important the colors are. Duke Eckhart asks what she wants for her birthday & Penelope asks him to come see her & say farewell to his immature daughter. Eckles brings Ivonne back. Eckles met Penelope when he met the slaves & saved her during a monster attack; he turned in the other slaves. Penelope is assigned 2 guards, but they will back off if she makes them, which she does, so Ivonne crashes Penelope's walk, & Penelope catches her when she trips, noting that Ivonne's skin is as cold as a corpse (you cannot convince me this is the real daughter & not some form or possession or a homunculi or magic doll or something). Reynold interrupts, thinking Penelope is bullying Ivonne because of a dream he had. Penelope tells him it's his fault he gets no respect because he treats her like a bug & she tells him not to talk to her for a while. Emily promises to help Penelope by spying on Ivonne & her assigned maid, Becky. Duke Eckhart visits Penelope & offers to send Ivonne away, but Penelope congratulates him on finding his real daughter. Penelope learns Eckles didn't ask for a reward, just to keep learning swordsmanship & stay in the dukedom, even though he gave the Delmans the funds to flee by selling the medicine Penelope gave him (V7, c121-140).

Duke Eckhart tries to find a middle ground with Penelope, but she wants to meet with Eckles, which could be dangerous, & wants to cancel her coming of age, which he can’t do because the invites have been sent. Emily repots that Ivonne walks around with the Head Maid, snoops around where Eckles is being held, & has tea with Derrick. The System Window tells Penelope she has 3 days before Hard Mode ends, & can visit a love interest. Penelope hesitates & almost sees Callistio. Disguised as a boy, with the bracelet from Derrick, she sees Eckles. Eckles has been brainwashed by Ivonne’s mirror shard, but Penelope doesn’t see it. They talk & she realizes the final 1% will never fill. Penelope throws the ring to his collar into his cell, & it goes down the drain. She tells him “I told you… Only death awaits and betrayal. You’re dead to me now,” & in his eyes completely disappears. Ivonne appears. Eckles strangles her because he did everything she said, but Penelope has thrown him away. Ivonne tries to use the shard on him, but it doesn’t work properly because she needs the piece Penelope has. Penelope witnesses this, remembers Winter told her it can basically control people, that Eckles & Reynold must be under its control. She tells Emily to go to Winter’s guild & get poison - if he refuses, it’s not a request, she’s collecting the debt he owes. Callisto visits. She asks why & he says “Can’t I even come to my fiancé's home when I want to?” & she asks which of her brothers he got engaged to. He brought gifts & came to see her. Penelope tells herself nothing has changed, even if she’s realized she likes him. He realizes she’s bone-thin & tells her to pack because they’re going to the palace. Penelope refuses, shutting him down, shutting down his proposal again, brings up Ivonne, that no one will treat her like a duke’s daughter anymore, that he doesn’t love her, she wants someone that will love her enough to save her, & he’ll find someone else to have a mutual agreement with, maybe even Ivonne. Callisto snaps, still not realizing they’re both in love with each other & runs into Ivonne when he leaves. The MIRROR SHARD does NOT WORK on Callisto, who only doesn’t kill Ivonne because Penelope would see the blood when she leaves the greenhouse. When Penelope returns to the house, she leaves Callisto gifted her a mountain of things, including a lot of crossbows. Emily returns from her errand & tells Penelope that Winter said he’ll never accept another request from her. Penelope receives the poison that night. On the day of her coming of age ceremony, she wears the dress & accessories Callisto gave her for his birthday banquet. She learns Becky, Ivonne’s maid, asked how to get to the guilds late last night. Penelope looks at the poison she got, which activates Winter’s necklace & is the same color as Eckles’s affection lock. Duke Eckhart visits. She asks why because she forgot, & he says to say “hello” like she asked (she asked him to say good-bye). She puts on the poison-detecting necklace from Winter, since it was in her hands. Duke Eckhart tells Penelope that after the hunting tournament, Reynold confessed to framing Penelope for stealing Ivonne’s necklace; he tells her that he thought it was her childish desire to have a gem for herself & the right thing to do was embrace her faults, but if he knew it would take her 6 years to call him father, he wouldn’t have done so. The way Penelope looked at him that day was the same look she gave Eckles, so he assigned to the 2 guards to keep her & him away. FL & Penelope both would get so worked up, only to clamp up & erase all emotions, holding their breath until they’re about to suffocate… but Penelope really did & is dead, which is why FL is here, in the game that lost its villainess (c141-151).

He recalls their first meetings & reflects that he was a bad dad, to all the kids. Penelope tells him not to concern himself with her any longer & he can still cancel her ceremony, since his real daughter has returned. He says he’s always thought of her as his daughter. Penelope cries, they hug, & she silently says good-bye. Reynold escorts Penelope in, apologizes for the other day, & gives her the rabbits she asked for. Winter is here & looks terrible! Callisto says she looks even more beautiful than he imagined. Callisto asks about the necklace, which Penelope says detects danger & is from “Winston”. Penelope decides she can leave without regrets. Callisto tells her that she reminds him of the founding myth of the dragon that forced call darkness underground with its radiant wings. She checks his affection, 89%, & reassures herself in her decisions. Brainwashed Derrick crashes with Ivonne. As a penalty for failing hard mode, everyone’s affection drops 10-20%. Derrick says Ivonne shouldn’t be hidden. Penelope flips it, saying he misunderstood, invites Ivonne to pour her a drink, sees Ivonne’s cup is poisoned, takes it, Winter panics over the color of Penelope’s necklace, & she chugs the poisoned sherry. The System Window says her hidden reward for saving the children activates, but she can’t see because her vision is blurring, she’s coughing up blood, her insides are on fire. Penelope does see that for 500,000,000 gold she can see the hidden ending. It auto-proceeds. She blacks out. Derrick had also blacked out a little because of the brainwashing, but vaguely recalls Callisto’s absolutely panicked face & bloodstained clothes while he cradled Penelope & cried for a doctor. Duke Eckhart says he didn’t realize Derrick hated Penelope - he doesn’t - & he will oversee the investigation, not Derrick. The shock that Penelope would have died if not Winter temporarily breaks Ivonne’s brainwashing, so he doesn’t go see her & wanders to Penelope’s room, despite remembering letting go of Ivonne’s hand at the festival she was lost in. Callisto is at Penelope’s bedside & begs her not to leave him alone in this hell. Brainwashed still, Derrick insists Penelope planned it all for attention. Callisto calls bullshit & tells them they better figure out what really happened to the future crown princess, or he will. Derrick is extremely bothered by the news. Becky kills herself. Cedrick arrives with orders for Callisto to finish off the Kronian rebels at the Northern border. Callisto says “I roamed the battlefield like a dog for almost ten years. And now, the woman I love could die at any moment” but the emperor said he could consider an engagement to Penelope if Callisto succeeds. Callisto kisses her, promises to save her, & asks her not to die. Unconscious, Penelope dreams (?) of the encounter with Ivonne, sees her Korean-self in the mirror shard, then in a giant mirror (we see mirror shards in the foreground & they’re probably from the top right corner c162). She tries to run to “Game Over” but is blocked by the System Window that made her pay for the hidden ending. -End of Season 5-

[omamervt]

The thing that sucks about livestreaming, especially on Twitch, is that they have you chasing metrics that don't really represent how well you're doing during your stream in order to get monetized.

In order to get monetized on Twitch, which also is how you gain access to some of the basic user experience tools like channel points, polls, ability to accept bits/subs, custom emotes, and, oh yeah, LIVE ENCODING, which allows your audience to set the video resolution to match what their home internet can handle, you need to achieve 3 goals. And seriously, they're all pretty meaningless metrics for success.

First and foremost, they want you to reach 50 followers. At the time I reached 50 followers, I was still only getting like 1.5 average views/stream. It was really just a hurdle to clear as I worked toward Twitch's arbitrary standard for success. Just because someone follows you doesn't mean you'll ever see them in your stream again. It's not like a follow on YouTube, where they can watch at their leisure, or a (good) social media site, where they'll see posts from the people they're following in sequential order. If they miss you live, that's it, they missed it. Even if they watch you stream a couple hours later, Twitch doesn't reward you for that.

Second, they want you to stream for a certain number of hours over 30 days, and for a certain number of days. It's a fairly low number for basic affiliate status, just 8 hours/month, to be spread out over a minimum of 7 days. But one of the fastest-growing Vtubers I'm following is a cooking streamer who only goes live for about 2 hours/day, maybe 4 days/week. Granted, that's 32 hours/month, and more than enough to reach Partner status, plus this guy is collaborating with people from Vshojo to Hololive nearly every month, but still, when people talk about streaming being a full-time job there's an expectation that putting more time in is better, but from making published content like my podcast, I can tell you that having structure and quality typically wins out over quantity. Someone could go live once a month and still be super popular because of their YouTube videos, for instance.

And finally, the most difficult goal to achieve, the average of 3 viewers per stream. This is... again, a pointless model that says very little about how well you're doing as a small streamer, because it requires you to ignore that Twitch places basically no value on a Live View, which is the thing that's actually most comparable to a view on YouTube or another publishing platform. A live view is basically the view that gets counted when someone watches your stream for a set period of time. On YouTube, this is the number you're supposed to care about. It holds the most value. On Twitch, however, a view is only valuable if the person sticks around for the whole stream, which is rarely realistic. I could stream for 5 hours and have 10 people stop by for half an hour each, then leave as the next person joins, and Twitch would still say my average view count was 1 viewer. Do you understand why that's not useful when 10 people stuck around for 30 minutes, watching you do your live show? YouTube would call that an engaged audience. Most podcast analytics standards I've seen would have said those people listened to the episode.

All that to say idk, maybe it's not as bad as you think and if you fail to see any noticeable progress toward reaching partner after getting affiliate, it could just be you're learning the wrong lessons from the reward incentives.

[vito-proietti]

5 Key Steps to Turning Your Startup Idea into Reality

Every great business begins with a spark—an idea you believe has the potential to make a difference. But moving from idea to reality requires more than enthusiasm. You need a process that keeps your vision grounded and your next steps practical. I’ve seen many brilliant concepts stall out because they lacked the right structure from the start. That’s why I always recommend focusing on five core steps. Each one is designed to help you validate, plan, fund, build, and grow your startup with confidence and clarity. Whether you’re still scribbling notes on napkins or you’ve already begun early development, these steps will anchor your energy where it counts.

1. Start with Validation, Not Assumptions

You might feel confident about your startup idea—but confidence isn’t a substitute for proof. Every founder should spend more time listening than pitching in the early days. Talk to potential customers, not just your friends or classmates, but real people who represent your target audience. Ask them direct questions about the problem you're solving, and see if their responses align with your assumptions.

Beyond conversations, run a simple proof-of-concept. It might be a landing page with a call to action, a prototype, or even a survey sent to your email list. You want to gather measurable responses that help you figure out if your product solves a real need. If no one bites, it’s not time to quit—it’s time to adjust. I’ve seen plenty of good ideas become great businesses simply because the founder was willing to refine early.

2. Build a Lean but Thorough Business Plan

Once you've got validation, you need a roadmap. Not a 60-page theoretical exercise, but a working document that outlines how you’ll operate, acquire users, earn revenue, and eventually scale. Think of this as your startup's GPS. You’re not going to follow it blindly, but it gives you direction and helps you reroute when needed.

Start with your problem and solution. Add your target market, customer segments, and value proposition. Then move on to revenue model, acquisition channels, and key milestones. Your financial section doesn’t need to predict the next five years in detail, but it should reflect realistic expenses, pricing, and break-even analysis. Whether or not you plan to pitch to investors, a solid business plan will help you make informed decisions and avoid unnecessary missteps.

3. Choose the Right Funding Approach

Every startup needs resources. Sometimes that means cash; other times it’s technical support, office space, or development tools. If you’re bootstrapping, map out what you can handle on your own and what you'll need to outsource. If you're seeking investment, make sure you're targeting the right audience for your stage.

Crowdfunding might be a better fit for a consumer product, while angel investors might back early-stage tech with traction. If you're going after venture capital, expect a lot of due diligence, and don’t approach them until you’ve proven demand. I’ve seen too many founders try to pitch VCs before they’ve earned their first user. That rarely ends well.

Grants and startup competitions can also provide non-dilutive funding, especially in the early stages. These options take effort but can validate your idea publicly and provide exposure. Whatever route you take, be realistic about what you need and how you’ll use it. Investors want clarity just as much as confidence.

4. Assemble a Small, Focused Team

Your first hires aren’t just about filling roles—they’re about setting the culture. Look for people who can wear multiple hats and who believe in your mission. You don’t want someone waiting for a job description; you want someone asking what they can do next. Startups move fast, and flexibility is more valuable than pedigree in the early days.

Keep your team lean until you’re generating revenue or closing your first funding round. That doesn’t mean you should do everything alone. Hire for your weaknesses. If you’re a product person, bring on someone who understands go-to-market. If you’re business-minded, you might need a technical cofounder or early engineer who can own development.

Culture matters early. Remote or not, you need trust, accountability, and open communication. Startups often fail because of misalignment, not talent. Make sure your first few team members are aligned on both the "why" and the "how" of your business.

5. Launch, Learn, and Iterate Quickly

You don’t need to wait until everything is perfect before launching. The truth is, your first users will tell you what really matters. Start with a minimum viable product—something simple that delivers your core value—and get it in front of people.

Track usage, ask for feedback, and pay attention to what customers love and where they struggle. Avoid the temptation to chase every request. Instead, look for patterns that reveal which changes will truly move the needle. You’ll find that some of your early assumptions were wrong—and that’s fine. Iteration is part of the process.

Your launch isn’t just about the product, though. It’s also about messaging, branding, and customer onboarding. How you introduce your startup to the world can shape how it’s perceived. Start small, target a niche audience, and build from there. When users feel heard and included early on, they become your most loyal advocates.

Key Steps to Make Your Startup Idea Real

Validate your idea with real users

Create a focused, lean business plan

Choose funding that fits your goals

Build a small, aligned founding team

Launch fast and adapt to feedback

Think Long-Term Without Losing Momentum

In the rush to get started, don’t forget to think about what happens after the launch. Where does your startup go next? What’s your customer retention strategy? How will you generate repeat business, referrals, or long-term contracts?

Founders should set clear goals for the first 6, 12, and 18 months. These goals give you something to measure progress against and help you prioritize what matters most. Whether that’s revenue targets, user acquisition, or a product roadmap milestone, keep it simple and actionable. Avoid the trap of over-planning for the distant future when the immediate steps will shape your outcome more.

Startups are marathons built out of sprints. You need short-term execution tied to long-term vision. When those two stay connected, you’re much more likely to stay focused and motivated through the ups and downs.

Build a Network That Supports You

Starting a business can be isolating, but you don't need to go it alone. Tap into your local startup community, join online forums, attend pitch events, and build relationships with other founders. These connections will pay off more than you expect, especially when you need advice, introductions, or just a reality check.

Mentors can accelerate your growth. Look for people who’ve built something similar or who understand your industry. A good mentor won’t just tell you what to do—they’ll ask the right questions so you can figure out the best next step. And when you’re ready to raise funding or hire key people, your network often becomes your most valuable asset.

Stay humble, stay curious, and surround yourself with people who challenge you in the right way. Your startup will be better for it.

In Conclusion

Turning your startup idea into reality takes more than inspiration—it takes consistent action, practical planning, and a willingness to adjust as you learn. By validating your idea, building a flexible business plan, securing the right funding, assembling a strong early team, and launching with focus, you're laying the groundwork for real traction. Stay committed, stay connected to your users, and stay adaptable. The steps may sound simple, but your ability to execute them with purpose is what separates dreamers from founders who actually build something that lasts.

Want to learn more about how founders turn ideas into thriving companies?Check out my Crunchbase profile for insights, updates, and inspiration from real-world startup journeys.

[allmightluver]

**bnha spoilers** I'm just sat here with renewed realisation of what All Might is going through. 40 years. /40 years/ he held and refined that power and dedicated his every waking (and sleeping if Vigilantes is anything to go by) moment towards the goal of defeating AfO and creating a society in which people could feel happy and safe. And now as it turns out AfO is still alive, society is broken and he has given a literal piece of his soul to this young boy leaving himself with only phantoms

Yes. I don’t think people quite grasp what all he’s going through.

It’s been shown recently to us that some, if not most, heroes have underlying ambitions in becoming a hero. Whether for money, glory, fame, popularity, doesn’t matter. They’re ultimately in it for themselves. Toshinori’s intentions from the beginning have been the most pure- he wanted to be a symbol that people can look to and know things will be ok. A symbol of hope. This boy was only around 14 years old when he decided this. What kind of 14 year old sees the world that clearly? Sees that people have no hope, that a veil of darkness covers them. The only thing I can think of is- Toshinori did not have a good childhood. Something had to have happened to a boy that young to stop seeing the joy in life so early, and see the world’s flaws. Truthfully, I believe he was an outcast- due to his quirklessness. Most likely an orphan, perhaps abandoned by his parents, as we’ve never seen him have any family. I do truly believe Toshinori has been alone all his life. I don’t doubt more could have happened to him as a child before he met Nana. 

Some may argue that Izuku is the same age, and therefore it shouldn’t be that hard to see why Toshinori wanted to be a hero at such a young age. BUT, Izuku had someone to look up to, ever since he was a child of four years old, to inspire him to be a hero his whole life *cough cough* All Might. Izuku also was quirkless, much like Toshinori, and an outcast because of it (hence where I assume Toshinori was much the same). But ultimately, Izuku wanted to save people because he saw his hero do it. It really wasn’t until Izuku was a bit older, has been in UA, has been on rescue missions, has seen what the heroes see, that I think he’s truly realized how dark the world really is. Toshinori didn’t have that. He didn’t have someone to inspire him as a child, someone to look up to, a hero to inspire him to help others. At that time, heroes hadn’t become as popular as they are in present times. Toshinori saw the world for what it was, on his own, at a tender age. I think that day Nana ran into this blonde hair kid, she eyed him up, noticed his scraggly form, looked into those captivating blue eyes, and saw a man who’s lived through the world’s horrors- experienced the worst it has to offer-, and wants to save everyone he can from the same fate, all in a 14 year old boy. 

Then after only a few short years with the woman he saw as his mother, she’s killed in front of him because of his own weakness- he wasn’t strong enough yet to protect her. The only other person his life, Gran Torino, literally abused him. He beat him to a pulp, taking his own emotions out on a teenager, and I doubt Toshinori said anything of it. He probably thought he deserved it. He’s still afraid of Gran Torino to this day, remembering the beatings and expecting more for his failures- even if he doesn’t know what they are surely he’s at fault for something, but he’s the only person who’s stood by his side for this long. Even while at a distance, and spouting nothing but criticisms along the way. But Toshinori had to put aside his own emotions to be that hope for everyone. He left everything he knew to go to a new country on his own, to learn how to be a hero, to be that hope for someone.

Vigilantes showed us just how hard he worked. Toshinori literally stayed awake with no sleep for days on end- 3 in the chapter I’m referencing- because people needed help, people needed saving, and no one else stepped up. He fought villains, rescued civilians, repaired damage, cleared rubble, (even accept and eat food that was against his dietary restrictions after his injury) whatever the public needed, all while draining himself further. He worked himself to the point of exhaustion because he had no help, once literally falling asleep while mid-leap across the city because he simply could go no further. 

^^These happen in succession of each other^^

No one stepped up to say “Hey, Mr. Number 1, you’ve been working hard lately. Let me help you!” No one tried to take over his position. Even the Number 2 hero, Endeavor, never tried to take some of his burden. His only goal was to try to be better than All Might in terms of power- he was never trying to be the hero that the people relied on All Might for. Everyone relied on him when things looked grim. He was the back up plan. And all of this happened before Toshinori’s injury. 

The only thing he ever wanted to do- help people- he can’t do (at least the way he’s always known how to). The ability to save people has been taken from him in the most gruesome way. He was finally able to fight the man that killed Nana, and in a rage that I’m sure echoed with all of the emotions of the previous users, he smashed that man’s head like a grape. But not without consequence. Several organs are gone. The pain is excruciating. He wears that man’s mark on his body for the rest of his life, never truly able to rid himself of the filth.

Then we have Nighteye’s betrayal. The man that helped him as a sidekick, the man that grew to be his only friend. Now some people may ask why Toshinori flipped like he did to Nighteye looking into his future when he was concerned about him making it through his injury. What I believe is Toshinori didn’t want to know when he would die (and really, who does). Now he knows he’s on a time limit, knows the clock is ticking. Time is running out to keep the world at peace, and with him as he is now, how long can this go on? 

I think the betrayal, doing something that Toshinori specifically asked him not to do, is what hurt the most. How can he trust Nighteye anymore? He already can only count on one hand the people he can trust, let alone befriend.

He’s wasted away into a skeleton, a shell of the man he used to be. He can’t over exert himself without his only lung bleeding in protest. It’s canon in the side books that he really doesn’t eat much, which isn’t good for his diet without a stomach now (he’s supposed to have several small meals a day). He is quite literally punishing himself by starving. (Granted, he doesn’t feel hunger anymore.) He’s a sick man, beyond medical help at this point. They can only stabilize him and hope for the best. For five years now he’s in constant pain, every day. He loses blood like sweat. Surely his veins are bruised and collapsed with how many times he would have needed to be hospitalized. Whether from losing too much blood, being too dehydrated or starved from “forgetting” to eat, or an organ failing as body continues to fall apart. “...even as my body rots and grows frail...” - Toshinori People are bound to stare at him as he walks down the street. A tall, willowy, skeleton with a grimace on his face and blood stains on his clothes as he coughs up more into his own hands. There would be the ones who outright ignore him when they walk by, the people who offer pitying smiles and sympathetic glances or just outright stare, and then ones who are afraid of his appearance- children screaming at the mere sight of him and running to their parents to hide from the monster. Each one is another knife in Toshinori’s side, an ache in his chest. If only they knew who I really am.

Losing Nighteye took a toll on his hero work as well. Mirai was a huge help in the past, and took care of all Toshinori’s paperwork, while also reminding him to take care of himself. Without him, Toshinori was even more buried beneath his responsibilities. Plus, now he was on a time limit. He even snapped briefly in his first meeting with Tsukauchi, accidentally revealing himself as All Might because he was under too much pressure, and telling the detective he literally couldn’t handle doing everything by himself (who graciously took over the paperwork side of things for him). 

He was living a double life now, having to lie to people left and right about who he was while in his small form, about how he became so sickly, why he was here in the first place who the heck is this skinny old guy. Surely he had multiple visits to the doctor while continuing to repair the damage done by AFO (there’s a limit to how much the body can handle at once. And things I’m sure continued to fail as time went on). Then he would be bedridden for as long as the doctors could keep him strapped to a bed, until he couldn’t take the people’s cries for help any longer, and would jump into action. (It’s also revealed he has something of a super hearing- able to hear danger- which may have been a form of danger sense of OFA that was never fully unlocked?. Either way, he surly could sense disasters happening while he could only lay and heal from his latest surgery. Those poor doctors must have had to re-stitch him several times). People blame him for not preparing society for his retirement, that he failed in passing on the torch so to speak, but in reality he did everything possible to keep society from falling for 40 years, doing all within his power just to keep things afloat. He is only one person. One human being, he can’t do everything despite trying to. Society failed All Might.

People blame him for not being a good teacher. He didn’t exactly have the greatest teacher himself to learn from. He’s never had to teach anyone anything, he just punches! He’s learning. And for his own credit, he’s an incredibly wise man, he has years of experience under his belt, and an intelligence score of 6/6, scoring up there with Nezu! He may not always have the right way to bring something up, but he’s doing his best. Yet even he blames himself for Izuku not being able to control his quirk better. Every time the boy hurts himself, it’s just another tally on the chalkboard of Toshinori’s failures. He himself knows the boy deserves better, better than him. Useless. Pathetic.

Then his friend from America, Dave, essentially became a villain trying to preserve Toshinori’s legacy after Toshinori told him about his injury. Dave went behind his back, threatened people, injured people (pretty sure people died), all for Toshinori’s sake. Something he didn’t want to begin with. Having to put your only other friend in jail for trying to help you surely couldn’t have been easy.

Oh, by the way? All For One isn’t dead. All Might will fight him again, publicly, have his weakened form exposed to the world, and have his own emotions toyed with as he finds out about his master’s grandson in the villain’s hands. Would Nana hate him for leaving her son alone like she’d asked, and dooming her grandchild to be raised by the greatest villain? Could he have done anything to save him? But Toshinori isn’t allowed to feel, he has to smile and push his own feelings aside once again, because there’s a villain to be fought, and only he can fight him. Despite coming out on top, he’ll have suffered severe head trauma, broken left arm, destroyed right arm, and several cuts and bruises that are sure to scar. And then, his quirk, the only thing that’s been allowing him to help people, the gift given to him that he carefully held for 40 years and molded into his own until his very consciousness was permanently carved into it, blows out like a match in the wind. And he’s done. Used up. Empty. Broken. Hollow. Alone, again.

He overhears his student, Bakugo, admit that he blames himself for All Might’s retirement. If he hadn’t been captured, All Might wouldn’t have had to save him, and he wouldn’t have had to fight AFO. Of course Toshinori knows that’s not true, his time was about to run out anyway. It would have happened one way or another. But how can he explain to this child that he wasn’t the cause of his hero, the world’s greatest hero, fighting for his sake, bleeding for his sake, being forced into retirement to keep him safe. Every time Bakugo sees the bandages covering Toshinori’s body is another reminder of the pain and sacrifice Toshinori willingly gave to keep him safe. Toshinori wasn’t held when his mentor died. He wasn’t told it was ok to be sad, that grief and mourning was a natural process, that it takes time to heal. He wasn’t told it was ok to cry. Instead his feelings were beaten out of him as he wondered if Gran Torino blamed him for Nana’s death. He already blamed himself How then, does he comfort a child mourning for him? For what he lost.

And then he gets the call to come to the hospital. Mirai, Nighteye, his old sidekick friend, has been gravely injured, much like he himself was only a few years ago, and most likely won’t survive the night. And to his horror, Nighteye is happy to see him, smiles at him, says he doesn’t hate him for what happened, only wants Toshinori to be happy. He can’t accept that, at least let him apologize, reconcile his sins before it’s too late! But it is. Another fractured piece of his heart gone.

Of course, seeing your students beat up and their arms completely destroyed must have hurt. Instead of being able to save these kids, they’re the ones that hurt themselves to save everyone else. And if Bakugo had kept OFA, things could have been very different (especially with what we know now of OFA and people with quirks). Toshinori wasn’t mad at Izuku for transferring it away, he’d never regret choosing Izuku, and I believe he still would have stayed by Izuku and Bakugo’s side should it have stayed in Bakugo, doing whatever he could to help.

As he tells Aizawa, “I’ve decided to live,” -that statement seems so melancholy, besides obvious reasons. It sounds more like another task he has to accomplish. He didn’t die he was supposed to die with the AFO fight, and now the whole life he lived is over. The world has no use for him anymore. If not for Izuku, he’d have nothing left keeping him here. But because his boy made him promise to live, he’ll do so. Though it almost seems like he says those words with regret. “I’ve decided to live.” Not, “I’m going to live!” “Nothing can kill me!” “I won’t go down without a fight!” No. “I’ll live if I have to, only because you asked me to.” The man is obviously and outwardly depressed. He has so many things against him. No doubt has severe PTSD, anxiety, among others. Not to mention his own physical health. Every day hurts. It’s painful to be alive. Why would he torture himself if he doesn’t have to? For you, my boy. You’re the only thing keeping me here. The only light in my dark world.

He tries to help Izuku find out the previous holder’s quirks, to help his boy in any way he can now that he’s worthless, and goes days on end without sleep, running his body into the ground. He even forgets Christmas. Only to find that by giving the boy the same gift he had received, he may have just doomed him to an early death, among psychological torture (danger detection). (Granted, he really doesn’t know how everything works, and he’s afraid to talk to anyone about it). His boy could live only half a life.

It’s only been a few months since he retired, and society has fallen into shambles. People are blaming him. People are dying. He watches helplessly as his colleague fight his fight for him, and end up battered, bruised, crippled, dead. He students, his boy, battle the monster he should have killed. Children are bleeding. This shouldn’t happen. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Is everything he worked for, everything he fought to protect, to build up, to inspire, is all for naught?! Did he live a foolish dream and doom the world? Was all the the friends he lost, tears he shed, the organs he destroyed, the pain he endures on a daily basis from the hole in his side, and the blood he continues to bleed every day, for nothing? The public, the ones he protected for so long, mourn his absence, but surely there are those among them who also blame him. The statue from his last fight in Kamino one that he never asked for was decimated in a mock of his catch phrase- the one that was supposed to give hope.

Now he can feel his own vestige speaking with Izuku in the OFA realm, even with out OFA in his own body anymore. His clock as nearly reached it’s limit, Nighteye’s prediction is due any day now. The only thing he wants is to see his boy smile at him, to give him some shred of hope. Yet the child remains unconscious, and Toshinori can’t even hold his hand from the bandages covering his arms. Will he still be able to fight? Is there any coming back from this now? Did I break him?

With all Toshinori has been through, I’m honestly surprised we haven’t seen him just outright break down. Anyone, anyone, else should have crumbled under the pressure of holding up the world for 40 years alone. And instead of being able to pass it on to someone when he can no longer bear its weight, it simply falls to into the abyss. People don’t credit All Might enough for everything he’s done. Most don’t realize the sacrifices he’s made. His character is so unbelievably profound and deep, it’s more than just the “I am here!” people focus on. He’s a deeply troubled, layered, complex character. And I can’t find fault within him.

[rainy-day-coffee]

hi... how about head cannons about the dorm leaders with a magical girl mc from either the puella magi magica madoka, magical girl site, magical girl raising project or princess tutu universe please?

I'll be doing Magical Girl Raising Project for this one! I’ll be using the abilities found in the anime since I’m not creative enough to think of any myself. The personalities of the characters themselves have nothing to do with the abilities I chose, they’re their own person! This is written as platonic! I hope this is alright!

As an extra note, this was a really interesting topic to write about. I enjoyed it! I actually just binge watched this anime for this request! It was quite good, I might pick up the light novels!

Warning: Mild mentions of gore; spoilers for Magical Girl Raising Project(?)

Dorm leaders reacting to a Magical Girl Mc

A new game has been released! Customize your own Magical Girl and work hard to defeat monsters!

Granted a 1-in-10,000 chance to be a real-life Magical Girl, the unfortunate souls who agree to the contract are unknowingly pulled into a world of bloodshed. All Magical Girls are expected to collect Magical candies through acts of helpfulness. Whomever is at the bottom of the ranking list by the end of the week is greeted by death. That is, if they can even make it that far.

Magic: Swimming through objects as if they were water - the objects do not affect the user as they pass through them.

He’s never heard of an ability quite like yours! It isn’t teleportation--it’s literally going through objects, ignoring any kind of barrier. It sounds impossible. Understandably, he doesn’t believe you until you show him.

Please refrain from popping out of random places in an attempt to scare him. He doesn’t want to be on edge everyday, the stress he has now is more than enough.

He’s curious about the whole situation. Just how and why did these “people” wrap you (and others) into such a terrible contract? How is it possible to grant these special abilities onto otherwise magicless people? Unfortunately, you most likely don’t have answers for those questions.

Sadly, Riddle doesn’t know of a way to help you out of this. The library may have some information, but the chances are slim nonetheless. He can offer assistance in candy collecting instead!

Something always seems to be going on at his dorm, it would help him greatly if you were to keep an eye on everything and everyone. He knows it isn’t much, but every little bit counts. You have his full support.

Magic: Entering the dreams of others - the ability to pass through the Dream World, granting access to the dreams of those who are currently sleeping.

He’s extremely annoyed. He doesn’t understand what’s happening. He’s only seen you a couple times before, so why do you seem to plague all of his dreams?

In his dreams, you move so vividly and in-character, it baffles him. Dream versions of people can be accurate, but never to such an extent each time. He’ll confront you about it soon enough. He has no evidence of what you’re doing, however vivid memories of dream-you push him to demand answers anyways.

Highly uncomfortable to know his dreams, his usual safe place, can be invaded by a person. He demands that you stop. You can go bother someone else, he doesn’t need that kind of help. If he sees you in there one more time, he may have to resort to other methods to get you to stop.

In regards to earning candies, unless you ask him specifically for help, there isn’t much he can do. You can always help Ruggie out with chores around Savanaclaw and you’ll be set. It’s a good deal for both sides, you can earn some candies and Leona can finally sleep comfortably again.

He finds the system you’re stuck in deplorable. Unfortunately, he can’t get you out of it, but if you ever need extra help he can always have Ruggie find one or two ways to get you those extra candies you need.

Magic: Hearing the thoughts of those in need - with enough training, the user can pinpoint the location of a person. Additionally, they can hear thoughts apart from cries for help.

Your special magic interests him greatly. He already has a good pool of information of all the students, but being able to hear their most inner thoughts is something truly amazing. No amount of research could easily give him those kinds of details.

He has the twins watch over you for a bit, gathering as much information as they can about your situation and what you go about doing.

Given the circumstances, he doubts he can rob this ability of yours through a contract. This does however present an amazing opportunity.

This could blossom into a wonderful partnership. You need to collect candies, and he’s always willing to accept requests from those “poor” souls who need help. By helping him, you can meet your quota! The rules never did mention what kind of help you were limited to offer after all.

He pities you, nothing can be done about your situation at the moment. You can rest assured though, you’ll never be at the bottom of the leaderboard with him around!

When time allows it, Floyd and Jade will be busy poking their noses where they don’t belong. The mascot that appears when you’re around seems to come from that phone you use. If they can see it, then that means these beings have made a mistake somehow. Is it possible to find a way to free you from this through that?

Magic: Transforming into any biologically living being - the size and shape of the creature do not matter, anything is fair game.

When he first discovers your special magic, he’ll be amazed! Transformation magic isn’t exactly easy, so being able to turn into whatever creature you want sounds like a lot of fun!

He’ll be begging you to turn into a wide variety of animals. Can you please turn into a tiger? How about an elephant? Maybe an alpaca? This could go on for hours if you don’t stop him.

Upon learning the darker side of the Magical Girl world, he starts to cry. He knows the world isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but this is too cruel. You didn’t know you would suffer this way. They should have at least given you all the information beforehand. Better yet, they shouldn’t be doing something so awful in the first place.

Because he finds it hard to keep secrets from Jamil, he ends up telling him about you. He then needs to convince Jamil that you aren’t trying to get him killed.

He goes around asking if people need help. He wants to do everything he can to ensure you survive. Money can’t get you out of this game, he’s tried to use it but that mascot that follows you around always refuses it.

Kalim doesn’t want you to die. Just thinking about it makes his head spin and worry bubble. It wouldn’t be his fault if you died in the first place, but the guilt would consume him entirely.

Magic: Freely manipulating sound - the user can generate sound from anywhere and even recreate the voices of others. As an added result of this ability, the user has enhanced hearing.

Vil won’t forgive you if you decide to mimic Epel’s voice so he can escape. He may be evading his lessons for now, but Vil will find a way to drill them into him later on.

He never would have thought such a thing was possible. This terrible fate you’ve had forced onto you makes no sense. The beautiful power you’ve been given is nothing compared to the price. He doesn’t blame you, he blames whatever is doing this. 

If such a game exists in the world of Twisted Wonderland, he’ll use his influence to dissuade people from playing. Vil will do this behind the scenes of course, his public image has to remain intact.

He actively requests your assistance. For example, helping his dorm improve their instrument playing--your impressive hearing can detect small mistakes they need to work on. Apart from this, he regrettably can’t offer more help.

Hone your abilities and work with what you have. He knows you can prevail. Please take care of yourself as you move forward.

Magic: Receiving one futuristic tool a day - the ability to randomly pick one useful tool out of 444,444,444. The tool breaks down and is no longer of use after a day passes.

He’s in awe. A real life Magical Girl! To think they could really exist outside of anime! Just what kind of world did you come from? Forget living in a world where magic is common, Magical Girls are on a different level entirely! Curiosity gnaws at him, but given how shy he is he won’t approach you with questions himself. Ortho is more than happy to ask any questions for him in his place though!

Once he finds out you’re one of those Magical Girls, he feels a tad sympathetic. You really got the short end of the stick in life didn’t you? He knew the possibility was there, that trope is not uncommon, but a small piece of him wished it wasn’t the case.

He supposes your special magic can be compared to gacha luck. You never really know what you’re going to get. Unfortunately, in your case you can’t even calculate rates for good rolls.

If you’re willing to let him, he’ll happily take apart the tools and gadgets you get from your daily pull. One of those future items should help him create even better machines than he can now! And even they can’t, disassembling and reassembling objects he’s never seen is a thrill in and of itself

If you happen to hear a small tip from Ortho or someone else about an issue occurring around campus, it may or may not have been Idia. He has eyes all around the school, spotting problems is quite easy.

He’ll be rooting for you from the sidelines. You’re a protagonist in this story, he hopes you can make it through to the end.

Magic: Extreme regeneration - being able to recover from any wound so long as a portion of the user’s body is left.

Mortified when he finds your body all mangled and bruised after a rough “accident.” Malleus is ready to destroy whoever or whatever did this to you. He cares about you greatly, the very thought of seeing you in such a state makes his stomach churn and pure rage wash over him.

Once you explain your situation, he can grasp enough to understand the major gist of it. He doesn’t quite know what a “Magical Girl” is but obviously it isn’t something good. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be in such a terrible situation.

To know that you can take care of yourself in the face of danger, makes him relieved. Although he doesn’t like the idea of you getting hurt at all, a healing ability is always wonderful to possess.

While you earn candies, Malleus will be working on a way to free you.

Even if these beings who granted you this ability are “all-powerful,” his magical capabilities are among the top in all the world. Perhaps, he can start by politely asking for answers from the leader of this group. If that seems to fail, killing off that mascot seems like a good place to start instead.

[yostresswritinggirl]

100 Followers Special

(And how to participate) you don't need to be a follower to vote ack

~yostresswritinggirl

Hello AGAIN, with your back to back followers special! Exiled here, very tired, as I just closed the requests box for our 50 followers special. I asked for some recommendations and no one helped me so this is what I came up with!

Granted, it's nothing that special, I literally just dumped my notes into this so—

Please make sure to follow the guidelines and read this thoroughly to properly participate!

1. You will be given a long list of fic prompts specific to a character that I've come up with for weeks on end, please don't steal, as I will remove them after this event is done!

2. Voting! You now have the power to influence my writing schedule haha- what you need to do: is to pick three prompts from the list and send it to me; either through reblog tag, a reply, or in my ask box (not anon so we can count fairly, will not publish these answers tho so worry not)! Not in messages tho! It should be in this format:

1. Character - prompt or prompt title

2. Character - prompt or prompt title

3. Character - prompt or prompt title

example:

1. Albedo - Citrinitas

2. Zhongli - Braid

3. Xingqui - Author!Reader

The top three most voted prompt and character will be the next fics I'll publish after I'm done with the current reqs. Speaking of: Voting ends when I finish the current reqs. You'll know it's done once the counter in my blog desc reaches 12/12.

3. In addition to the three prompts, you also get to add your own prompt to it! My prompts list does not include ALL the characters that's why I wanted to give you this option too! Add a fourth number and specify a character, a prompt/idea, and the format of the fic! Format it this way:

4. Character - Prompt/Idea (Format)

4. Kaeya - What's under that eyepatch? (Scenario)

After I pooled the answers, I'll randomly pick between the bonus answers and write them last! So give it your best shot!

4. Tags-list! I thought this would be necessary for this kind of a whim special, so if you wanna be tagged, just put Tag Me! at the end of your vote. Please make sure that you're actually able to be tagged because I just tried and some users are not in my orbit huhu, look here

5. If a pocket watch/series prompt gets chosen, I will only post the first chapter, not the whole damn fic pls. Have mercy,,,

I will post a counter of the top three in my blog description and will be updated as frequently as possible. Any questions, please direct to this post or my dms <3

Without further ado, here is your choice list!

Xingqui - "My liege, would you care to accompany me on my reading break? I've picked up a romance novel and it reminded me of us."

-> Author!Reader: You met Xingqui at Wanwen Bookhouse when delivering a batch of your newly-published book. But as a ghost writer, no one knew it was you that authored such books. Safe to say it was cute watching the noble bookworm fanboy about you in front of you. [FLUFF] [FIC]

-> Headcanons with a reader older than Xingqui who's a close family friend of the Feiyun Commerce Guild. Fascinated after meeting you in a party, the noble boy aspires to become the best man for you despite the difference, promising to be the best suitable partner for you in the future. [FLUFF] [HEADCANON SCENARIO]

Childe - "Hey there, comrade! What a coincidence that we had a break at the same time, care to accompany me for a walk? I promise I won’t lead you to a fight haha... hey, don’t look at me like that!”

-> Antinomy -  The 10th Harbinger (You) and the little shit they had to mentor (Childe), this fic enumerates the trials of the 11th before he became a Harbinger under your care. From strangers to mentor to friends to love- Childe made a grave mistake, now you’re once again strangers. [FLANGST] [ONESHOT]

Albedo - "Ah, it's you. I've heard of fleeting rumors that you've been pestering a certain someone just to see me. Next time, just come directly to me, I wouldn't mind the assertiveness."

-> Refer to these three as well: Albedo Fic Ideas [FLUFF/FLANGST/FLANGST] [ONESHOT/ONESHOT/SERIES]

-> “You’re Enough”: A year into being the new Chief Alchemist of Mond, Albedo finds himself holed up in his room in the dead of night, haunted as he continuously comes out empty on his research to bring his master back, feeling inadequate. So you reminded him of what he’s capable of. [FLUFF?] [ONESHOT INSPIRED BY You Are Enough - Sleeping At Last]

-> Under the Artificial Sky: Michaelangelo Scenario focused on Albedo’s sketching aspect. Grand Master Varka and Acting Grand Master Jean figured Albedo needed a break and a change of scenery, and sent him off under the guise of a commission in Liyue. What he didn’t expect was another artist from Fontaine accompanying him in this big project.(Albedo and Reader are tasked to paint the new Jade Chamber within 7 days) [FLUFF] [SERIES - 7 CHAPTERS]

-> Albedo SMUT: I had this idea while laying wide awake at 3 AM. The alchemist had been trying all remedies to shake off the stress and fatigue in his system and they all seemed to fail, no amount of sketching or discoveries can pull him away from it. So when you offered a solution he hasn’t heard, he’d jump at it immediately. “You know, some people say having intercourse with someone is a good stress-reliever.” “Intercourse? If it’s true, then please, I wish to have intercourse with you.” “Wha- wait Albedo, do you not know what that is? It’s only done between lovers!” “Convenient, I love you, anything else?” (Two virgin dumbasses do the thing to relieve stress) [SMUT] [ONESHOT]

Xiao - “I’ve taken care of every threat around this area, you can relax now, I made sure of that.”

-> What is it with you and Qingxin flowers? The Traveler had once heard of Xiao’s affinity for Qingxin flowers, and they’re flying companion boldly asked this lingering question to the adepti himself. His pupils dilate and sharpen before Paimon could finish her sentence. (An origin story about his favorite flower, and his favorite person) [SLIGHT FLANGST] [ONESHOT]

-> Just how harmful is adeptal energy to normal humans? You both found out in the worst way possible: silently, deadly. (Slight spoiler: you fucking die) [ANGST] [ONESHOT]

-> Nightmares Taste Horrible: He’s seen that look in your eyes and the ancient soul within it; you’ve lived long ago, and the only thing your soul carried now was the nightmares of a macabre timeline. Was it him or was it demons that brought you that fear? No matter, he’ll protect you even from yourself. (eating the nightmare of a dead soul reincarnated to you) [FLANGST?] [ONESHOT]

-> Go for the throat: The seal that marked you had made it all too late for him to remedy. Bleeding eyes, growing fangs, it’s just another demon to vanquish just like he’s done for centuries. What makes it different was it was sealed in you. (Inspired from Melanie Martinez’s song uhu) [ANGST] [ONESHOT]

Zhongli - “Mortals are capable creatures that evolve and adapt for means of survival, but they advance in ways that changes the world around them. This retirement, may be harder to me than it is to them.”

 -> “In human history, there’s a certain noble and powerful connotation to rulers who braid their hair.” Convince to braid his hair using some historical braid trivia; that long hair behind his back should not be ignored for any longer. [PURE FLUFF] [DRABBLE]

-> History has its eyes on you: A traveling theatre hailing from the land of entertainment finds its way to Liyue for their last caravan. A certain Geo Vision man seems to resonate with your newest script: fighting and protecting your land, building up its nation, before being forced to let go of it. He resonates maybe a little too much. (Musical!Reader with heavy references to Hamilton hehe) [FLUFF] [ONESHOT]

Venti - "Can you hear the symphonies of the wind as it sings to you? That's me, guiding you and protecting you! Whenever you hear it, know that you're safe and sound under my protection!"

-> the one the bard once loved: like actual bard, you are the archer or smth, loved by Venti and Barbatos. Yandere!Barbatos undertones, very unhealthy relationship. This hurts the kokoro. [PURE ANGST] [ONESHOT]

-> The Caravan: (related to the Zhongli and Musical!Reader up there) Your caravan stops at Mondstadt for a whole week before it reaches its final destination. This new fanfare pulled in a peculiar bard who now wants to tag along for the fun of it. "I have no more responsibilities in this free land!" Just what kind of responsibilities does a broke bard have in the first place? [FLUFF] [ONESHOT/HEADCANON]

Diluc - "You look weary, and you still managed to pull yourself here. Here, a fresh and cold glass, on the house. A relieved smile should be enough payment."

-> Abandoned by The Altar: A timeline oriented story focused on your once perfect childhood relationship as Diluc's bride to be, soon becoming estranged after the death of his father and his neglect. You only wish now that he looks at you the same way he did when you heard you were supposed to be together forever when you were young. [FLANFF] (The ending gets better pls; Inspired by Still Into You - Paramore) [ONESHOT]

-> There are No Laws Against Homelessness in Mondstadt: My favorite title out of all of this ahahhaa- who says adventurers can't be broke? You're the living embodiment of that. (Good boi Diluc with a broke ass reader) [FLUFF] (Warning: homelessness) [ONESHOT]

Scaramouche - "Let's go already, the sun is setting and we're nowhere near our destination. If you wanted to linger just to spend more time with me, I would have indulged you behind closed doors anyways."

-> Scaramouche Finally Does the Fandango: Have you ever wondered how Scaramouche is like working with other people? His first assignment was to accompany you in your main region and he sees you in your natural habitat, entranced. [I dunno how to tag this, NORMAL?] [ONESHOT/SHORT]

-> Skincare bitch, how I headcanon Scaramouche as someone actually conscious and always tending to their skin. Look at that smooth skin, cute cheeks, let me pinch, eyeliner glory— In which case, that hat has more purpose than being a frisbee. (May or may not include reader. (based from a reblog convo with chels-void) [GOOD VIBES] [HEADCANONS]

-> Once Supreme: Before Scaramouche, there was someone else higher than him. Before Balladeer there was just a young man fighting for his beliefs and her Majesty. Before Mondstadt, his smile wasn't just for deception. "Someday, someone would take advantage of that smile, Scaramouche. It's not appropriate in this work environment." The day you break a man. (Harbinger!Reader again, and lots of HCs for Scaramouche, same format as Antinomy) [I also do not know how to call this, eventual ANGST] [ONESHOT]

Kaeya - "What are you doing out here in the dead of night? Citizens like you should be cozied up in bed and leaving the patrols to us Knights. Come, I'll accompany you back home."

-> Honey Whiskey: A mysterious band of dancers from Sumeru visits Mondstadt and its taverns to offer a night of alluring dances. What was supposed to be a night of drinking for Kaeya and his troops ended up becoming a tipsy surprise mission when the main dancer steps down from the stage— and ignores him?! How scandalous! (Slightly suggestive themes/You're a bad guy) [COOL?] [ONESHOT] [slightly inspired by song with the same name]

General:

-> A Musical!Reader but with a scenario with every other character, most probably headcanons master post.

-> Genshin Food prompts: From that one post, I ended up making a whole storyline of oneshots related to their special dishes. Oneshots connected to a bigger picture. By impulse you've ended up leaving your normal life behind to pursue your cooking career, starting from Mondstadt, to learn all the cuisines to establish the first ever international restaurant. With the implications of magic and peculiar customers, your simple dream turns into a harder goal. [GOOD SHIT] [SERIES] [CANON-COMPLIANT]

-> God of Time!Reader that hails from Fontaine. Do you wish to know more about their origins and their purpose in this world? [CANON-COMPLIANT] [HEADCANONS] (General since it deals with all the characters/interactions)

▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱

Tagslist-for-my-thirsty-homies:

[douchebagbrainwaves]

WHY I'M SMARTER THAN UNDERGRADUATES

One of the cases he decided was brought by the owner of a food shop. Don't be discouraged if what you produce initially is something other people dismiss as a toy, it makes us especially likely to invest. Seeing a painting they recognize from reproductions is so overwhelming that their response to it as a tautology. There's nothing more valuable than an unmet need that is just becoming fixable. You have to show you're impressed with what you've made. Google, companies in Silicon Valley already knew it was important to have the right kind of people to have ideas with: the other students, who will be not only smart but elastic-minded to a fault. Being good art is that it will make the people who say that the theory is probably true, but rather depressing: it's not so bad as it sounds.

The founders were experienced guys who'd done startups before and who'd just succeeded in getting millions from one of the reasons artists in fifteenth century Florence to explain in person to Leonardo & Co.1 If Microsoft was the Empire, they were the Rebel Alliance. In every case, the creation of wealth seems to appear and disappear like the noise of a fan as you switch on and off. One often hears a policy criticized on the grounds that it would increase the income gap between rich and poor? Perhaps this tends to attract people who are bad at understanding. It would work on a moon base where we had to buy air by the liter. It seemed obvious that beauty, for example, as property in the way we do. It could be the reason they don't have to wait to be an adult.

The answer, I realized, is that my m. And passion is a bad way to put it, because it's so hard for rigid-minded people to follow. That's to be expected. An eloquent speaker or writer can give the impression of vanquishing an opponent merely by using forceful words. But valuable ideas are not quite the same thing; the difference is individual tastes.2 Don't talk about secondary matters at length. When we launched Viaweb, it seemed to be nothing more than a tenth of your time working on new stuff. Now a lot of people in the Valley is watching them. In either case you let yourself be defined by what they tell you to do.3

Of course, space aliens probably wouldn't find human faces engaging. Rebellion is almost as stupid as obedience. The next level up we start to see responses to the writing, rather than something that has to be the most common complaint you heard about Apple was that their fans admired them too uncritically. Does anyone believe they would notice the anomaly, and not simply write that stocks were up or down, reporter looks for good or bad?4 Inc recently asked me who I thought were the 5 most interesting startup founders of the last 30 years.5 Simplicity takes effort—genius, even. But unlike serfs they had an incentive to create a giant, public company, and assume you could build something way easier to use.

Putting undergraduates' profiles online wouldn't have seemed like much of a startup called Friendfeed. That would definitely happen if programmers started to use handhelds as development machines—if handhelds displaced laptops the way laptops displaced desktops. Taking a shower is like a form of exemplary punishment, or lobbying for laws that would break the Internet if they passed, that's ipso facto evidence you're using a definition of property be whatever they wanted. Back in the 90s. Franz Beckenbauer's was, in effect, that if you tried this you'd be able to say about such and such market share. The average person looks at it and thinks: how amazingly skillful.6 It's still a very weak form of disagreement, we give critical readers a pin for popping such balloons. If one blows up in your face, start another. Ten weeks is not much time. Everyone at Rehearsal Day. Merely being aware of them usually prevents them from working. If I could tell startups only ten sentences, this would be one of them.

What counts as property depends on what you mean by worth. It would have been. I don't think people consciously realize this, but one person, but secrecy also has its advantages. Honestly, Sam is, along with Steve Jobs, the founder I refer to most when I'm advising startups. It's also true that there are quite a few marketplaces out there that serve this same market. Obviously the world sucked, so why wouldn't they? There was not much point. There are always great ideas sitting right under our noses. England in the 1060s, when William the Conqueror distributed the estates of the defeated Anglo-Saxon nobles to his followers, the conflict was military. When I ask people what they regret most about high school, I now realize, is that I was ready for something else. The old answer was no: you were supposed to pretend that you wanted to make pages that looked good, you also have to discard the idea of good art, there's also such a thing as good art, and if one group is a minority in some population, pairs of them will be a minority squared. You have to show you're impressed with what you've made.

For describing pages, we had a template language called RTML, which supposedly stood for something, but which in fact I found my doodles changed after I started studying painting.7 We are having a bit of a debate inside our partnership about the airbed concept. It was thus subjective rather than objective. Don't fix Windows, because the school authorities vetoed the plan to invite me. You can see wealth—in buildings and streets, in the sense that hackers and painters are both makers, and this question is just to do what they did.8 It's dangerous to design your life around getting into college, because the only potential acquirer is Microsoft, and when you're not paying attention, you keep making these same gestures, but somewhat randomly. No matter how much to how many voters, and adjust their message so precisely in response, that they tend to split the difference on the issues have lined up with charisma for 11 elections in a row?

So is it meaningless to talk about it publicly till long afterward.9 The way Apple runs the App Store is full of half-baked applications. If I were talking to a roomful of people than you would in conversation.10 The problem is, it's hard to get the gold out of it. Where does wealth come from?11 You can demonstrate your respect for one another in more subtle ways.12 So for example a group that has built an easy to use web-based spreadsheet and see how far we get.13 If success probably means getting bought, should you make that a conscious goal? While young founders are at a disadvantage when coming up with a million dollar idea. I'd like to reply with another question: why do people think it's hard?

Notes

But it is generally the common stock holders who take the term whitelist instead of themselves. There's comparatively little from it. I couldn't convince Fred Wilson to fund them. I've come to you about it.

Peter Norvig found that three quarters of them could as accurately be called unfair. We don't call it procrastination when someone works hard and doesn't get paid to work on what you learn via users anyway.

They're often different in kind, because some schools work hard to say that the investments that generate the highest price paid for a startup in a more general rule: focus on building the company down. Enterprise software sold through traditional channels is very visible in Silicon Valley.

In many ways the New Deal was a kid that you'd want to get jobs. Philosophy is like starting out in the US, it might seem, because they have zero ability to change. If the rich paid high taxes? The two guys were Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston.

Don't be evil. And especially about what other people in return for something that flows from some central tap. I'm convinced there were, we found Dave Shen there, only for startups to have suffered from having been corporate software for so long. I think investors currently err too far on the dollar.

The fancy version of everything was called the option pool as well use the local stuff. Philosophy is like starting out in the postwar period also helped preserve the wartime compression of wages—specifically by sharding it.

This is everyday life in general. So, can I make it easy. Believe it or not, under current US law, writing and visual design.

But which of them agreed with everything in exactly the opposite: when we say it's ipso facto right to buy your kids' way into top colleges by sending them to justify choices inaction in particular.

An influx of inexpensive but mediocre investors. Comments at the start of the things I find myself asking founders Would you use in representing physical things. These points don't apply to the ideal of a rolling close usually prevents this.

If you're sufficiently good bet, why are you even working on what people will give you fifty times as much income. When a lot of money around is never something people treat casually. No one writing a dictionary from scratch, rather than giving grants.

For similar reasons, avoid the topic. It's not only the leaves who suffer. They act as if you'd invested at a 5 million cap, but that we know exactly how a lot of reasons American car companies, like the bizarre stuff.

Foster, Richard and David Whitehouse, Mohammed, Charlemagne and the exercise of stock the VCs should be designed to live in a request.

Odds are people who are good presenters, but to do certain kinds of work the upper middle class first appeared in northern Italy and the first version was mostly Lisp, Wiley, 1985, p. So during the 2002-03 season was 2. Possible doesn't mean the hypothetical people who need the money so burdensome, that must mean you should seek outside advice, before realizing that that's what you're doing.

Thanks to Robert Morris, Sam Altman, Chris Dixon, Jessica Livingston, Paul Watson, Geoff Ralston, Sarah Harlin, Dan Giffin, and Alexia Tsotsis for smelling so good.

[fandom-necromancer]

Furniture struggle part 2

This was prompted by @headfulloffantasy and the AO3 users imaginaryfriendashkun and DetReed900! Enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900 [part 1]   [read on AO3]

Some new wallpapers and the essentials to survive didn’t make a flat a home. But more wasn’t possible in the short vacation time they were granted just after the revolution. Cases were coming in rapidly and they needed everyone back at the precinct as soon as possible. That’s why after all important work was done and they could both live in their new flat, Nines agreed to get back to work on 24/7 shifts. Gavin had protested against it but couldn’t say anything more as he was given a list of reasons. The main one being that Gavin couldn’t just forgo his vacation as his rent on his old flat was running out. He had to have all of his stuff out of his old home before the end of the week and moving was more difficult on his own when he didn’t have an android with superhuman strength and unlimited stamina at his side.

So, his days just got busier. Juggling watching over the shower installation crew, some technicians the landlord had sent over for the recently found water leak last minute, driving to and from his flat with his car to get out everything he could and carrying everything he couldn’t out for bulk collection, really took its toll on Gavin. And so, he was quite relieved when all was done and the last few days there would only be assembly of cupboards for kitchen and bedroom and more furniture for the bath- and living room.

Gavin swung back and forth in between the door to accept all the packages and his current projects, often forgetting a step during assembly or having to do it all over again because when he returned he had to find out which piece was what number again. It was a frustrating work, but in the end, he really liked the change. It was less a physically tasking one and more counting on endurance. Plus, the added satisfaction of seeing the assembled piece in its rightful place was enough to keep him going.

He couldn’t wait to see Nines’ reaction when he got home after his inhumane shifts and be able to relax in a fully furnished flat. Maybe they could spend the weekend on their new sofa. Or maybe the new king-sized bed? Either way it would play out, Gavin looked forward to spending it with his love.

-

Nines hadn’t minded staying at the precinct the rest of the week. It had been the normal for androids before the revolution, so he had supposed it would be easy for him. But knowing he could have spent his evenings with his human made it all the worse. He was so looking forward to the weekend when he could see him again. He was also quite excited to see how much work Gavin had managed on their flat. He hoped he hadn’t done too much. He already felt guilty leaving the man alone with it all.

Maybe it would have dampened his mood once he saw what awaited him at home.

Gavin had put the small brass name plate just above the doorbell and Nines affectionately let his thumb run over it before opening the door. Nines & Gavin Reed. He would never not love the sound of that. ‘Gavin I’m ho-‘

The words got stuck in his throat as his sensors overwhelmed him with new data. He had been about to hang up his coat on the clothing hanger, but froze mid-movement. ‘Oh, Nines! Welcome back! God, I missed you! Here, let me take that!’ Gavin came running in for a quick kiss, before snatching the coat from him and throwing it over the hook. ‘Come on, come on! Let me show you around! I got everything set up while you were gone and I’m loving it!’ Nines allowed himself to be pulled into the living room and swallowed hard. It was hard to think of anything Gavin had created as less than perfect as the man was perfect in every way, but… it was hard to look at. Incongruencies in size and shape, minutely wrong aligned edges and uneven surfaces. It might be along the five percent variation that humans couldn’t see or didn’t mind and looked nicely to a human, but he wasn’t. He was an android designed to be better and… it troubled him. ‘Do you like it?’, Gavin asked. ‘I just put it where I thought it would look best, but if you want something somewhere else, I’ll gladly change it!’ Nines looked around, desperately looking for a way out. ‘It’s nice’, he finally managed to press out, but he hadn’t expected the static a lie often brought with itself. Gavin, ever the attentive Detective, immediately frowned and looked up at Nines. ‘Hey, what’s wrong? We can talk about it. It is your flat, too and I want you to be comfortable.’ ‘It’s all crooked’, Nines admitted. ‘Minutely. I don’t even know if you would pick it up, but I see it everywhere.’ ‘Like the screw thing?’ ‘Like the screw thing’, Nines nodded. ‘But you got over it’, Gavin remembered, cocking his head. ‘Do you think you can bear this?’

As an answer, Nines took the screw out if his pocket. ‘You… How… Oh my god.’ ‘I went to search it in the night’, Nines confessed. ‘I meant to put it in once I was alone, but I didn’t have the chance to yet.’ ‘That…’ Gavin stopped, looking at the screw. ‘That still bothers you?’ Nines looked over to the shelf he had assembled, the knowledge there was a component missing not as pressing now as seeing all the other furniture abhorrently assembled. ‘Not anymore I guess’, Nines said. ‘Do you think it will be the same with the rest? Can you live like this?’ ‘I will make do’, Nines sighed. ‘Maybe it will make me less machine-like.’

Gavin stepped closer and took the android’s hands in his. ‘Hey, I love you as you are, tin-can. If you can’t stand it, you can tell me. I didn’t plan to spend my weekend like this, but we can disassemble everything and redo it so it isn’t as bad for you.’ ‘That’s nice of you’, Nines nodded and squeezed his hands. ‘But you spent so much time with it, I think I will try first. Maybe I will get used to it.’ Gavin chuckled, trying to lift the android’s spirits to make him feel less guilty about judging the human. ‘Hey, you got used to all my irregularities somehow.’ Nines huffed in amusement. ‘I did. Maybe with time I will love our home nearly as much as I do you, then.’ ‘Oh, c’mon, quit the cheesy shit!’ ‘Make me.’

That was something Gavin didn’t have to be told twice. Immediately he pushed Nines towards the sofa until he fell onto the still new smelling cushions on top of him and kissed him. Maybe that would give his sensors something else to fuzz over.

[renxamamiya]

Theatre of Mirrors - The Empress Theatre Part 1

The first/second chapter is here! This is were P5R spoilers start, so yeah be careful.

Shoutout to @digifangirl97 for proof reading the majority of this chapter for me and @rui-the-galax-angel for being the reason why I’m writing this fanfic tbh.

ALSO the fanfic is now on AO3 PogChamp.

An hour had passed since the discovery of Ren's Palace, Futaba and Morgana had since lied down on her bed. The lights were off, her curtains shut, the only sources of light were from the glowing green stars on blue fabric and the various monitors that softly hummed within the still air. 

Morgana was curled up on her chest, her phone in her lazy grip. Futaba stared at the ceiling, eyes still red from crying. Neither of them had fully recovered from their shared grief, the chat in which the thieves all talked on falling silent.

Her phone chimed. Futaba raised her phone to her face, a herculean tasked with her sapped energy. It was Sumire. She dropped her hand back down limply. She listened to the continued chimes, her phone vibrating until it fell silent again. Sumire now knew. 

Neither she or Morgana uttered anything. The girl's hand was resting on the feline’s back. Her fingers curled around his short black fur. 

A knock on her door. Morgana perked his ears up. Futaba stirred from her depressed stupor. 

"Futaba?" a gruff voice called out in concern. Sojiro. Futaba groans as Morgana hops off from her chest. She rises up from her bed as Sojiro opens the door. 

"Did you just wake from a little nap?" her father figure asks, reaching for the light switch to illuminate the room, "I was wondering where you'd run off to, I expected you to-" 

He stops, gazing upon his daughter. He notices her red, blotchy eyes and her snotty nose. Futaba did not make eye contact with her father figure, electing to further withdraw within herself, hugging her legs as she looked away from him. 

"Futaba-" he says, his cheery demeanor easily replaced with concern, but it was when he saw Morgana did a sweat break from his forehead. 

"Futaba, what happened? Why is the cat here?" 

She hugs her legs tighter.

“R….Ren…”

She buries her face in her hands. 

“He’s...”

“Hey, hey.” Sojiro coos, stumbling towards Futaba, his arms wrapping around her, pulling her into a hug “Why don’t we talk about it when you’re ready, alright?”

“But… But-”

“The kid’s gonna be fine, Futaba. Now, come down and have some dinner, you can tell me what's happened to Ren, alright?" 

Futaba hopes she can.

***

The small dining room within the Sakura residence was quiet, warm light illuminated the room while Sojiro and Futaba sat around a small square table, Morgana lapping a bowl of cat food nearby. The girl stared at the plate of Sojiro's curry, her favourite food. Though normally she would have already dug into the delicious, irresistible dish, today she could not bring herself to eat it. This causes Sojiro worry. 

"So, how was today?" he said, trying to break the tension between the two. The way her shoulders slumped, eyes drooped, head tilting downwards. It reminded him of the time she constantly isolated herself in her room. He didn’t want to lose her again. 

He put his utensil down, but sat there in silence, waiting for her to talk. Though he was a stern parent, he knew that Futaba needed to come around herself. It would do more harm than good to force her to speak about something incredibly sensitive. 

Silence fell between them, the hum of the lightbulb above, the faint whooshing of cars and the sound of quiet crickets chirping the only occupying the space between them. 

Futaba shuffles in her seat, Sojiro raised his eyebrows in attention. 

“..was fine.” Futaba answered, still avoiding eye contact with her father figure, “I went and got some stuff. And I talked to Kana-chan.” she mumbled, Sojiro having to strain his hearing with great effort. 

“That’s good!” he exclaimed, Futaba only hid her face further within herself and Sojiro had regretted his words. 

“Futaba… I’m sorry I.” 

“T-The Metaverse is back, Sojiro.” Futaba whined, her voice strained as she began to cry again, fresh tears retracing streaks left by her earlier crying session, “It’s back and… Ren’s… Ren…”

“H-hey now.” Sojiro said, jumping out of his chair to hug his crying daughter, Morgana watching silently within the corner of the dining room as Sojiro wrapped comforting arms around Futaba, a hand resting on her head as she buried her face into his stomach. He allowed her to cry, not uttering another word as she sobbed, soaking her tears upon the striped, pink dress shirt he wore when working in Leblanc. 

Once she calmed down, he let her go. Sitting back down, he waited for her to continue explaining Ren’s situation. 

“Th- thanks, Sojiro.” 

“You don’t need to thank me, Futaba.” Sojiro said softly, “Now, if you are comfortable with telling me about what’s happened to Ren…”

“...Yeah…” she trailed off somewhat still avoiding his gaze, “Remember when… when the phantom thieves were a big thing. A-and we went to Palaces and the Metaverse t-to change hearts and stuff?”

“Yeah, kind of.” Sojiro admitted. Though he did his best in trying to understand the Metaverse, he never really completely wrapped his head around it. 

“And when we destroyed it? During Christmas Eve?”

“Yeah, when you went to battle with that weird robot-God-thing.” Sojiro laughed, “I still remember that day. Thought the world was going to end and everything when it started to rain what looked like blood… it wasn’t blood, right?”

Futaba weakly shrugged before continuing her explanation. 

“W… Well.” 

Futaba felt something brush up upon her lap. It was Morgana, giving that extra push of comfort as she continued. 

“It came back today and… Ren and Mona got pulled into it. Into a Palace, the heart of a distorted person’s desire. Mona got out somehow but… Ren wasn’t so lucky.” 

A pause. 

“Ah-” 

“The Palace was his.” she squeaked, “It was his Palace.”

Another pause. Sojiro sighed. He understood what Futaba and the other ex Phantom Thieves were considering doing.

“I know I’m not able to help much.” Sojiro admitted, Futaba looking up at her father figure, “But… if there’s anything that I can do, Futaba, please don’t hesitate to ask. The kid’s practically family, and I want to do anything I can to help save him.” 

Futaba looks at him, stunned. 

“S-Sojiro I-”

He smiled at Futaba, “I may not know much about the Metaverse, but I do know you, Futaba. Now, just be careful when you’re out there, alright? The last thing I want you to do is for you to get yourself in danger as well. Just… bring yourself and the kid home safe. Do you understand?”

Futaba ponders for a moment, her gaze drifting towards Morgana. He gives a nod to her, Sojiro’s words uplifting his mood as well, and then smiles determinately at Sojiro.

“I do.” she answers. 

***

Ren could only stare at the figure before him, dread and disbelief choking his throat. No. He tried to deny it, deny the golden eyed reflection that stood before him, but he did not want to believe it. He could not believe it. He was a Persona user. He was the Trickster. He was the Wildcard. So how, how was he able to have a Palace of all things?

His shadow, his eyes and the black-gold mask adorned on his face similar to the fountain he saw earlier, grinned toothily at him. The only other differences Ren could note between his Metaverse outfit and his shadow was the red waistcoat that adorned its chest, golden buttons sparkling in the light as his shadow moved. 

“Hello, hello my very special guest!” his shadow greeted him, taking his hand off of Ren’s chin, a glass of what appeared to be brandy and ice in his other hand, “So good of you to come to me, I take it that you're comfortable in your seat?” 

“I-” 

“Of course you are.” his shadow interrupted him, “After the trouble I went to pick out the chair for you. All my fellow lead actors insisted I get that one, and who am I but a servant to the masses?”

He playfully bowed, the glass of drink still in his hand clinking loudly, “Vous êtes les bienvenus.”

“You can’t be real.” Ren muttered to himself shaking his head. His shadow raised its head from his bow to look up at him, “This is a dream. It has to be a dream.” 

“I can assure you that this is all real.” his shadow purred, delighted at Ren’s distress as he rose from his bow, “Everything you see right now is happening in real time. This is not a dream, no matter how much you wish it to be. Here-”

His shadow suddenly reached out towards him, grabbing a bit of skin on Ren’s arms, twisting it roughly and suddenly. Ren yelped in pain, and when his shadow let go, Ren could see the patch of skin reddening before him. 

“See? Not a dream.” his shadow said, taking a sip from his drink, “Completely in the conscious realm, or whatever this world counts to anyway.” 

Ren wants to deny his shadow’s words, but he couldn’t. He looks down on the floor, his shadow still standing in front of him, waiting for him patiently to speak. 

“This is…” 

“Impossible, unfeasible, out of the question. Yet here I am!” his shadow chuckles, voice rattling in excitement, “The star of the show! And you’re here as well! It worked!”

“But why? Why am I here?” 

“Because you’ve been a naughty boy, Ren.” his shadow’s smile growing wider and more sinister, “A naughty, naughty boy. Your heart’s a mess, your wishes distorted, but don’t worry. I’m here to take care of you, to grant us your wish. I needed you here for it to work, however.”

“But I don’t have any distorted desires.” Ren shakes his head, eyes on the marble floor. He wants to deny what is in front of him, yet a sense of dread tightly grasps his heart, “I don’t under-”

A muffled grunt came from his shadow, Ren looked up to see his shadow gripping onto himself, eyes squeezed shut, a hand over his mouth while another held a shaky grip on his drink. His eyes widened in surprise as his shadow gasped shaky breaths. As suddenly as he started, his shadow quickly relaxed, shoulders that were tensed up slowly falling, his shadow unwrapping himself from his sudden hug. 

“I’m… sorry about that.” his shadow apologised genuinely, putting his drink upon the nearest available surface, “I have no idea what came over me, but…”

He smiled at Ren, “That doesn’t matter right now. All that matters is that you’re here, and that the show; my plans, can finally commence!” 

“Why do you need me?” Ren asks his shadow, looking at it with genuine confusion, “Wouldn’t it be better for us if I wasn’t here?”

“I know you don’t think so, but you’re so important for what I have in store.” his shadow replied, striding towards Ren yet again, this time to give him what appeared to be a reassuring pat on the head, “I can’t reveal much. Not yet. But I can tell you that I needed you to give our friends some extra motivation in order to join us in our utopia-” 

“-And you’re the one who somehow put the app back on my phone.” Ren interjected, “You’re the one who dragged me to this place, the one who most likely ordered Morgana to be thrown out of the theatre, the same one who me to be captured and brought up on here.”

“You’ve caught on pretty quickly!” his shadow congratulating him mockingly, clapping thrice as if to give him a round of applause, “And yes, I was the one who did all those things. Oh, by the way…”

He pulled Ren’s phone out of one of his pockets. 

“Thank you so much for this.” he smiles, “I couldn’t have done what I did without it.”

“How did you get that?”

“This?” his shadow gestured to Ren’s phone in his hand, waving it back and forth tauntingly at his captive, “I got it from you of course. You looked so peaceful with Morgana while unconscious… I didn’t want to disturb you.” 

“So you waited for me to enter the theatre, just to capture me?” Ren asked, raising an eyebrow, “Wouldn’t it be easier for you to capture me while I was out there?”

“Yes, you’re right, but I needed Morgana to know you were captured, silly!” his shadow explains, clearly enjoying how confused and uncomfortable he made Ren, “I needed to give him a reason to come back; and after all, we’re both suckers for the dramatics, aren’t we?”

Ren bit his lip, his eyebrows knitted in thought. His phone! If his shadow had somehow used it to get him in, then he can use it to get out. He just needed…

He heard his phone drop onto the floor, and looked to see in time his shadow bring his foot down, the heel of its boot digging and crumbling the glass of the screen. He continued to stomp on it. Repeatedly. He broke the device further and further until it was nothing more than a smoulder of glass and plastic. Ren could only watch as the whole ordeal took place, eyes wider and more terrified as his shadow laughed and laughed in delight as he continued to destroy Ren’s only option of escaping the Metaverse.

“There we go! Another task off my list!” The shadow exclaimed in delight, Ren grimacing at the sputtering sound and sour smelling smoke that came from the remains of what was once his phone. His shadow looked to see Ren’s saddened expression, faux curiosity crossing his face. 

“What’s the matter, me?” he asks as he gets closer again to Ren, “Are you-”

The shadow’s throat suddenly tightened up, he gasps as yet another surge of energy shoots his veins. He feels his heart writhing, twisting tighter in his chest, and he barely could save his composure as a whine escaped his throat. Ren could only watch as his shadow turned his back at him, horrified and confused as to why his shadow was suddenly having a fit as his shadow grabbed onto the nearest surface available and held it for dear life.

His shadow groaned loudly, feeling himself sweat under his mask as yet another surge ravaged his veins in what could only be described as pleasure. He gripped tightly onto a small table for life, knocking his previously forgotten drink, the glass smashing as he rested his forehead on the cold surface, still exhaling shaky breaths as his fingers curled tightly into fists. 

“Are you okay?” he could hear Ren ask, over the drumming of his heart, squeezing tears out of his golden eyes. His shadow could only laugh weakly. His other, his… real self, trapped and held by his twisted thoughts and hidden desires still cared for someone other than him. His shadow rolled his golden eyes, hidden from Ren as the surge slowly started to dissipate from his veins. 

“Yes. Yes I am.” his shadow grunted, slowly uncurling his fingers, feeling sparks of energy flowing freely from within his fingertips. Without moving from his position he thought to himself: this had happened thrice. Once when Ren had looked upon the fountain statue, and twice during their conversation. Though his shadow had yet to draw concrete causality, he did know that he liked these surges of power. He licked his lips in delight. He liked them very much so. 

The shadow pushed himself up, arms still shaking, his head still somewhat fuzzy, turning to his guest, “So sorry again. Now, where were we, mon invité?”

“Telling me your plan?” Ren asks sweetly. His shadow gave him a look, before laughing. 

“Now, now. Don’t get hasty.” his shadow purred, striding towards his captive, “There was something. Something I wanted to- Ah, yes, that was it!”

His shadow reached for Ren’s glasses, snatching them up, before effortlessly crushing them in his hands. 

“There we go!” he said, marvelling as Ren’s shocked face, “You don’t need them anyway, we both know the lenses are fake.”

The shadow drops the broken glasses onto the floor, snapping his fingers with another, two shadow guards appearing behind him, “Clean up this mess and put him in his room” his shadow ordered before turning on his heel, slipping his hands in his pockets, before walking away, the faceless shadows saying nothing as they advanced with their tasks.

“Oh, by the way.” his shadow called for him from behind his shoulder, Ren feeling one of the shadow’s gripping tightly onto the back of his chair, “You may call me Joker here. This may be your Palace, but I alone am the star of this theatre. You best remember that, my special guest.”

He turns away and continues to walk away as Ren gets pulled into a dark room. The last thing he sees is Joker’s coat flapping in invisible wind as the shadow guard slams the door shut, leaving him in total darkness yet again. 

***

After the heartfelt dinner with Sojiro, Futaba dashed up the stairs of her home and towards her room with newfound determination, slamming the door shut and hopping into her office chair. Morgana barely caught up with her, this sudden burst of athleticism from the normally bone idle girl shocking him, and he almost got locked out from the room. 

“Futaba, watch it!” Morgana squeaked as the door slammed behind him, “You almost locked me out of the room.” 

“Sorry, Mona.” Futaba apologises almost offhandedly as her fingers rapidly jumped around her keyboard, furiously typing, occasionally reaching for the mouse beside her making rapid clicks, her gaze glued towards the main monitor as the others flickered with text. 

“Well, what are you doing?” Morgana asks as he hops onto the available desk space beside her.

“Some preparations.” she answered simply. 

“Preparations?” he asks, “for what?”.

“For infiltrating Ren’s Palace, duh.”

“Oooh.” Morgana nodded, and then looked at the screen curiously, “Wait, how are you going to do that?”

“I’m making some notes on what to buy from the clinic nearby.” she explains, “I remember what Ren normally brings on missions. That and quickly researching some possible resources we might need.”

“Like what?”

“Smoke bombs, lockpicks, all those spicy things.”

“You know I can teach you how to make those right?”

Futaba stops her typing abruptly, turning to Morgana. 

“Wait, what?!” she exclaims, Morgana gives her an unamused look. 

“You know I was the one who taught him how to make infiltration tools, right?” Morgana informs her bluntly. Futaba continues to look at him, shocked. 

“It never occurred to you?!”

“Well… I mean…”

“What?”

“You don’t have any thumbs, how could you teach him if you don’t have thumbs?”

“I can still teach without thumbs, Futaba!” Morgana exclaims, annoyed at her assumption.

“I know,” she scoffs back, “I just forgot, okay? I’m sorry.”

Morgana looks at her, and sighs, shaking his head, “Well… what else are you gonna do? We don’t exactly know what’s in his Palace yet… maybe we should consult the others before making preparations.”

“Hmmm you’re right.” Futaba says, going back onto her computer. Morgana looks at her, surprised. 

“What are you doing?” he asks. 

“Chatting with the others.” she replies, turning to him, “You do know that most, if not all chatting applications have a desktop version.”

Futaba: YO GUYS Futaba: been thinking about stuff and Futaba: we should really make plans to save ren

“No I don’t, I’m a cat!” Morgana exclaims, “How am I supposed to know that?” 

“Do you even know anything?” she asks, amused and annoyed by the cat. 

“I know lots of stuff.” he huffed, “Just not… human technology stuff.”

“Well, you do at least know how warm kotatsu are.” she giggles, “And how warm laptops are, and are a total radiator hog.” 

“Hey, that winter was particularly cold!” Morgana defends himself, remembering his reaction when he saw Ren sending pictures of himself sleeping on different appliances to Futaba, “I couldn’t resist! You’d understand if you were a cat!” 

Futaba giggles, her computer chimes. She turns to see messages being typed within the chat. Ann: heya futaba Ann: yeah I’ve been thinking about him after we talked Ryuji: me too Ryuji: felt so shit after knowing he had a Palace Ann: I talked it over to shiho as well Ryuji: after all the shit we’ve been through, it really sucks that he’s gotten that bad Yusuke: The heart can be a fragile thing if not strengthened properly… Ann: and i ended up reminiscing about stuff

Futaba checks to see if the others were online within the chat.

Sumire: but Ren’s senpai’s heart is the strongest one I know! Sumire: I know that I’d never be able to do the things he did… Ryuji: like what ann? Haru: I was actually wondering what could have caused such a dramatic shift. Makoto: Is there something he’s not telling us? Makoto: It has to be. Makoto: He’s been really distant lately. Ann: like i dunno, when we were still at shujin with him? Ann: the more I talked about it with her, the more I realised that I wanted to help him. Makoto: I know what you mean. Ann: I mean i want to help him but, i wanna do that even more Ryuji: me too Futaba: wait shiho? Futaba: who’s that again? Ann: my friend, remember? Ann: the one who jumped because of kamoshida Ryuji: if it wasn’t for him that shithead would still have a teaching position Ann: without him, i wouldn’t have gotten justice for her, Ann: and i wouldn’t have wanted to broaden my horizons without him Haru: Maybe it has to do with something that happened during our year apart? Sumire: could be, but he hasn’t really told me anything… Ryuji: and without him i wouldn’t have made up with my ex track team Makoto: I don’t know. He usually talks with me about things that bother him Yusuke: I second the motion of helping Ren by uprooting his Palace. Yusuke: Without Ren, I would still be in an abusive situation. 

Futaba wipes a tear from her eye. 

Makoto: But now whenever I talk to him, about him, he suddenly changes the subject. Yusuke: A slave to that sham of an artist, Madarame, I would still be in his oppressive grasp without him. I wouldn’t have found a way to express the heart of man without him. Yusuke: I even got justice for my late mother because of him… Yusuke: I feel as though at this point, we would let him down if we do not return the favour and assist him in his time of need. Ryuji: yeah! Ann: wait how can you second a motion, ryuji already beat you to it Yusuke: I’m just saying I agree. Makoto: Yeah. Makoto: Without him, we wouldn’t have been able to stop Kaneshiro from exploiting teenagers for all kinds of disgusting, illegal activities he was conducting. Makoto: Without him, I wouldn’t have saved my sister from her own distorted destruction, nor would have I had the opportunity to broaden my horizons and realize what I wanted to do in life. Makoto: I want in. 

More tears started to run down her face as Futaba typed her own message. 

Ann: god mood Makoto: I agree as well. Yusuke: Poetically put, Haru. Ryuji: hell yeah!!!!! Sumire: same. Without his help I wouldn’t really haven’t gotten over with my sister’s death. Sumire: I would have still lived a lie and wouldn’t have moved on without senpai… I wouldn’t have seen my worth in the world without him. Sumire: I… want to help him. I want him to help like he helped me. Haru: Me too! Sumire: Let’s go save Ren!

More tears streamed down her face, yet she was not sad, her heart fluttered with joy.

Ryuji: shit dude i’m crying irl rn Ann: me too ;;; Yusuke: I think I’ve gotten something in my eye...

“He helped me get my memories back, and save the world from distortion, twice.” Morgana says to Futaba, looking at her with resolve, his tail flicking in the air, “I want to do anything it takes to save him from his own distortions, no matter the cost.”

Haru: Me too! Sumire: Let’s go save Ren! Makoto: So. Since we are all in agreement, when is everyone free? Makoto: I’m free tomorrow. Ann: me too! Ryuji: same, got nothing on rn Yusuke: I can meet up tomorrow if that’s what everyone wants. Haru: I’m free this week! Futaba: same, got nothing on. Sumire: I’m on a break for gymnastics training anyway, so I can meet up! Makoto: Great! Now all that’s left is to decide on our hideout. 

Futaba remembers what Sojiro said to her during dinner. 

Futaba: we can meet at leblanc tomorrow! Futaba: sojiro knows, and he says he wants to do anything he can help Makoto: That… could work. Haru: It would be like old times, wouldn’t it? Yusuke: Yes. I was actually thinking about swinging by regardless. Ryuji: lol for real Yusuke: This would be the perfect excuse to revisit the cafe. 

Futaba rolls her eyes, wiping off the tears and snot on her face with the back of her sleeve.

Futaba: oh inari. Yusuke: I was actually thinking about going there again during this week. Sumire: haha, that totally sounds like you, Yusuke-senpai. Ann: so uh, tomorrow right? Makoto: Yes, if everyone is free. Ryuji: count me in! Yusuke: Me too as well, please. Futaba: ofc! I’m in! Haru: Count me in too! Sumire: Me too! for Senpai! Makoto: So just to reiterate, we’re meeting at Leblanc tomorrow? Ryuji: hell yeah! Ann: yeah! Yusuke: I agree Haru: Of course! Sumire: Yes, you can count me in!

Futaba looks at Morgana. He nods with confidence. 

Futaba: me and mona are ready to go! Futaba: i’ll tell sojiro right away! Makoto: Good to hear! Remember to bring your weapons and guns if you still have them. Makoto: Other than that, let’s do it. Let’s go into his Palace and save him! For Ren! Yusuke: For Ren! Ann: for ren! Ryuji: we’re coming for you dude Haru: For Ren! Ryuji: for ren! Sumire: hang in there, Senpai!

Futaba was now crying, full of joy and determination and emotion as she typed her message of agreement. 

Futaba: for Ren ╭( ･ㅂ･)و ̑̑

They were going to save him. Just like he had saved them, no matter what. 

“For Ren.” Morgana mutters, looking straight past the curtained window, hope shimmering in his eyes, “We’re coming to save you, Ren. Just hold on for us. We’re coming.”

***

The next day as promised, Futaba had Sojio close the forgotten cafe, sitting on one of the booths as she typed away on her laptop. The only sounds that occupied the rustic space was the sound of her rapid typing on the keyboard and the sound of clinking cups and boiling rice, Sojiro reading the food mainly for the handful of regulars that visited him. It was early morning, Morgana resting on the booth seat next to her, hidden from the rest of the public. Sojiro often emphasised the need for the feline phantom thief to stay hidden from potential customers, worried that the sight of the cat would cause customers to doubt the impeccable freshness of the food he served. 

“So… you’ve got everything?” Sojiro asks his daughter, breaking the tense atmosphere that inhabited the cafe.    

“Mmhm.” Futaba nods, gesturing to the plastic bag behind her laptop monitor full of different boxes, “I had that doc from the clinic give me some items… I was gonna pay her but she said it was complimentary.” 

“Is that so?” Sojiro hummed, raising an eyebrow. He wondered why Tae would just give out medical supplies for free, him not knowing the doctor well personally. Futaba must have either told her Ren was in serious trouble, or that she was lying, and had somehow procured the money by other unknown means.

He had to ask Tae about the medication later. He sighed, looking down with a hand resting on his forehead. 

“Boss seems really stressed.” Morgana meows. Futaba looks up to see Sojiro with a stressed expression. 

“Sojiro?”

“Hm?” he said, looking back up to see Futaba’s eyes gazing with worry. He flashed her one of his confidant smiles, washing away the stress that adorned his face, “What’s the matter?”

“Mona says that you seem really stressed,” she explains, “Is there anything wrong?”

“No it’s just…” Sojiro sighs, his facade dropping back to the same stressed expression Futaba had caught him with, “I’m just worried about Ren. The kid’s strong don’t get me wrong but; I just don’t know enough of this Metaverse place to have an ease of mind about his safety.”

“Don’t worry, Sojiro.” Futaba says, closing her laptop screen before standing up in the booth, a determined expression crossing her face, “We’re gonna save him no matter what happens! We’re gonna bring him home, you can count us on that!”

Sojiro looks at Futaba, looks at the sheer fire and determination in her eyes, and smiles. She had grown a lot after Ren had stolen her treasure, after he had saved her from her own distortions and misery, and how she intended to do the same. That passion. That desire to pursue something she had her mind set on. It reminded him so much of her mother. 

The chime of the doorbell rang as it opened, Makoto walking into the cafe. She awkwardly stood there, seeing Futaba up in her seat.

“Did I interrupt something?” she asks, “I’m so sorry if that’s the case. I just thought I would arrive early to make some last minute preparations.” 

“N-nothing!” Futaba stammers shily, and Sojiro breaths a half hearted laugh. 

“Um… okay then.” Makoto says awkwardly as she walks towards the booth that Futaba’s sat in, giving Sojiro a quick ‘thank you’ and a bow before returning to her intended path, Sojiro flashing an appreciative smile in response, “By the way, I bought some supplies on the way here.”

She raises the plastic bag full of what seemed to be medication, “These are for us in case we need them while in the Palace. I don’t know what items Ren normally gets during our infiltrations, so I’ve taken the liberty to get some of everything.”

“Oh...”Futaba says, “I mean, I did that as well.”

“Oh!” Makoto exclaims, “Well, the more the better. We still have no clue what to expect in Ren’s Palace, so it’s better to be over prepared than under!” she awkwardly laughs. 

“Nice save.” Morgana puurs, half amused at how awkward Makoto still acts around them. She puts down the plastic bag full of medicine and sits across Futaba.

“So, what have you been up to?” she asks, an attempt to start up a conversation between the two of them. 

“Been mostly doing my own research.” she says nonchalantly, “Digging through Ren’s social media, the social media of his parents-”

“Have you talked to any of his friends?” Makoto asks, Futaba nods, but looks disappointed. 

“He doesn’t really have a lot of friends that live there,” Futaba informs Makoto as she types away, “The ones that he seems close to, this girl named Nanako and her cousin Yu, has no clue as to how he’s been doing. To them, he just seems to be acting just fine. No shifts in mood, not anything.”

“Well that is troubling…” Makoto murmurs to herself, “What about his parents?”

“He hasn’t spoken to them since he’s moved to Tokyo.” Futaba winces, “Judging by the way they typed, I think they have a more than strained relationship between them.”

“That’s…” Makoto says, shaking her head. From her late night chats with Ren she knew his relationship with his parents were less than favourable; but to not talk to them for so long, “I think that may be a factor as to why he has a Palace.” 

“Sounds like it.” Futaba hums in agreement, “I’ll see what else I can dig up.”

“Thank you, Futaba.” Makoto says, Futaba nodding back as she typed on her keyboard. 

A minute later the door opened again, Yusuke striding into the cafe, a wide, brown bookbag strung on one of his shoulders. 

“I’m not interrupting anything, aren’t I?” he asks politely, looking at both Futaba and Makoto. 

“No, of course not.” Makoto says, moving deeper into the booth before patting the spot next to her, inviting Yusuke to sit, “Come join us. We were just discussing stuff.”

“Ah, well.” Yusuke says, taking Makoto’s offer, sitting down next to her, “I have some theories of my own, if this thing we’re talking about is Ren of course, but first.”

He turns to Sojiro. 

“Thank you for allowing us to use Leblanc again. We’ll sure make up for it.”

“You don’t need to thank me, kid.” Sojiro sighs, “It’s the least I can do. You’re all risking your lives in order to save the poor kid from himself if I’m understanding this whole ‘Palace’ thing correctly. Just… get him out of there in one piece, okay?”

“We will.” Makoto nods, “We’ll do everything we can to save him.”

Another ring as the sound of the door closing grabs everyone’s attention, Haru standing in front of the doorway along with Sumire trailing behind her.

“Hello, everybody.” Haru waves, “I hope we’re not intruding on anything.”

“Nah, you two are good.” Morgana chirps up before anything, using his hind legs to stand and his front legs to support his small frame on the table, “We were just discussing what led to Ren’s sudden distortion. We haven’t gotten any leads so far however.”

“Oh..” Sumire says, and Haru’s smile seemed to drop as well, “So you were talking about Ren-senpai.”

“Yes, I was wondering myself about what caused his Palace to appear. I even have some theories of my own.” Haru murmured, “But before I share them.”

She turns to Sojiro, bowing, Sumire following her lead. 

“Thank you for allowing us to use Leblanc, Sojiro-san.” Haru thanks. 

“Yes, thank you so much!” Sumire exclaims. 

“Aww, you don’t need to thank me.” Sojiro bashfully accepts their thankful attitude, “Just bring the kid home safe will you?”

“We will!” Haru cheerfully smiles. 

“Oh course!” Sumire says, rising from her bow, before turning to the rest of the group, “Oh yeah, on the way here I got some supplies that I’ll think would be really helpful for us.” 

She raises a plastic bag, it having a cross and a cute drawing of a mascot, “I got some supplies from the pharmacy in case we need anything like that in the-”

She looks at the two plastic bags that had similar contents to her’s.

“Oh… uh.”

“You can put them with the rest.” Makoto huffs, and Sumire does so obediently. She turns to Haru, who politely asks Futaba to move further into the booth, “So, you were saying?”

“Oh? Oh yeah!” Haru exclaims as she felt Morgana hop into her lap, instinctively reaching out to pet his soft fur, “I was mentioning about how I have some of my own theories as to why Ren suddenly has a Palace.”

“I have my own as well, although I don’t really know that much about senpai, so I think I might be wrong about certain things...”

“Don’t worry, Sumire. I’m sure your theories would be just as helpful to us as the others.” Morgana smiles (as well as he could as a cat), “We need all the info we can gather if we’re gonna have any idea what we’re up against.”

“Thanks, Mona-senpai!” Sumire exclaims, her mood lifted by his words. 

Another ring from the cafe door sounded, the thieves turning to see Ryuji in the doorway. 

“What’s up guys.” he exclaims, grinning as he walked inside, “I’m so ‘effing pumped about this. Couldn’t sleep last night.”

He turned to Sojiro. 

“Hey, Boss.” he greeted the elder, “Thanks for lettin’ us use the cafe again.”

“No problem.” Sojiro waves, “Just doing what I can to help you all save Ren.” 

“Yeah. Oh, speaking about helping Ren.” he says, taking out a small white box of pills, “I uh… forgot to bring some stuff, so I quickly snagged some painkillers from a pharmacy in case we need any.”

He smiles, proud of himself as he holds the pills. Yet the unamused faces of his friends caused his expression to shift to one of confusion, “What’s up?”

His gaze drifts to the booth table currently occupied by them, him stepping back in shock as he sees the large stack of supplies in front of him. 

“Whoa, what?!”

“I feel like this situation is turning to one of great irony.” Yusuke mutters to himself, wincing at how embarrassingly comedic the group's endeavors of being useful turned out to be, “I suggest we should elect who would be responsible for gathering healing items as soon as Ann gets here. Just looking at the excess of medication sickens me somewhat.”

“I agree.” Makoto sighs, “I’d doubt we’ll be using most of it regardless.” 

“I was just trying to help.” Ryuji sulks disappointingly, “‘The more the merrier’, right?”

“I think that saying only applies to people.” Haru informs. 

“Well, I still mean what I said!” he huffs. 

The cafe door rings again, and all of them turn their attention to whoever the newcomer was. 

“Heya, so sorry I’m late.” Ann smiles, the girl holding a half eaten sandwich in one of her hands, a plastic bag wrapped around her wrist in another. She nods an acknowledgement to Sojiro, him smiling back at her, before returning to the conversation with her friends, “I brought-”

“Please, don’t say medicine.” Sumire exclaims, Ann looking at her with a quizzical look. 

“Medicine? Why would I-”

She spots something from the corner of her eye, turning to see the plastic bags and the multitude of prescription boxes inside.

“Whoa…” she says in amazement, her eyes widening, “That’s a lot.”

“We know.” Makoto sighs, already tired of the situation they found themselves in. 

“If I may ask, Ann.” Haru pipques up, “What did you bring if not medicine?”

“I brought snacks, of course!”

“You… brought snacks?!” Yusuke asks, surprised by these turn of events, “But… why?”

“Well,” Ann started, everyone but Futaba’s gaze started to get to her, “I knew Makoto would be the one to bring things like medication, and Ryuji would bring some snacks for us. But I knew Ryuji would also forget, so I took the liberty to stop in Shibuya to pick up a few things before I got here.”

“Gee, thanks for being so confident about me.” Ryuji said, sighing, slipping his hands in his pockets. 

“Hey, I only said that because I’ve known you the longest!” Ann exclaims. 

“Yeah, I know!” he shouts back, before turning to the rest of the group, his mood perking up somewhat, “Anyway, since Ann is here, we gotta def discuss the Palace.”

“I agree.” Makoto said, tucking a stray hair back behind her ear, “Since everyone has gathered, we need to discuss the possible reasons why Ren is having these distortions. I’m somewhat confident that there will be minimal danger since this is his Palace after all, but we still need to discuss possible scenarios we'll be facing during our infiltration.”

Makoto turns to look at Futaba, who was on her computer the entire time, “Futaba, you may go first.”

“H-huh?” Futaba snaps to attention, looking at Makoto with a startled expression, “I uh… what did you say?”

“I was talking about us all discussing possible reasons for Ren’s distorted thoughts.” Makoto repeated herself exasperatedly, “We need to consider anything and everything as to why Ren would feel the way he does.”

“Well, I do have a theory.” Yusuke talks up. 

“She asked me, Inari.”

“Yes, but I just wanted to take the opportunity to share.” he explains himself, turning to Makoto and ignoring the glare Futaba was giving him, “I suspect it has to do with something with him returning back to Inaba after our first year with him. The few times I’ve talked to him about his hometown before he moved permanently into Tokyo he only gave vague answers and affirmations. If I had to guess, it would probably be about his dissatisfaction towards his hometown.”

“I’ve done some snooping around myself.” Futaba informs the rest of the group, slightly lowering the monitor of her laptop, “It seems like a lot of friends Ren used to have in Inaba have stopped interacting with him ever since he received the probation charge.” she explains, “And even if his name has been cleared up, he’s still labeled as a delinquent over there. The handful of friends he still has don’t really talk to him anymore, too busy with their own stuff.”

“Apparently,” Makoto begins to relay her information, “He has a strained relationship with his parents as well. Sometimes when I video-chat him, I sometimes witness him having verbal fights with either his mother or father, him looking more agitated right after.”

“Mmm those were pretty common, unfortunately.” Morgana mutters, gazing down at the table, his comment startling the rest of the phantom thieves. He looked up, noting their surprised expressions.

“He has regular fights with his parents?” Sumire winced at this new information, “What about, exactly?”

“I dunno, I’m normally in his room when they fight, but they fight pretty frequently. Mostly about his reputation ever since Shido sued him, but Ren seemed to shrug them off effortlessly.” 

“He never told me about that.” Makoto grimaces, thinking about the reasons why Ren would hide such information from her, “I mean, he’d vent to me about school and how his teachers treated him there, but nothing about his parents.”

Morgana gives her a worried look. 

“Maybe his parents have to do something with his distortions?” Haru puts forth, “It seems like that might have at least contributed to the formation of his Palace.”

“Yeah, definitely.” Ann said, “But there must be more reasons why he’s suddenly getting these distortions. I mean, his Palace location being the World? Something about that doesn’t sit right with me.”

“We still don’t have anything concrete.” Morgana sighs, “Yes, all those things can contribute to a distortion, but I don’t feel like it’s the main reason why Ren has a Palace. Remember, this distortion is so strong that it’s able to completely rob Ren’s will of rebellion and take away his Persona. It has to be something that severe.”

“Well, I’m not sure it’ll help much, but Ren has been really quiet lately.” Haru humms. 

“He’s always quiet though.” Ann points out, finishing the sandwich she brought with her.

“Yes,” Haru said, an edge of irritation in her tone, “Sorry for not being more specific but, what I meant was that Ren’s been quieter than before.” She clarifies, “Whenever we meet up and talk he’d give me brief comments and always answered with ‘yes’ and ‘no’, especially about the advancement of my cafe. I always left it that way only because he seemed a bit more tired than usual. I should have pried further looking back.”

“I know what you mean.” Ann huffs, a look of self disappointment on her face, “Whenever I chatted with him he always forgets to text me. He always talks to the group like it’s nothing you know? But whenever I try to confront him about it he never really replies. It’s frustrating.”

“Maybe he’s been really busy?” Sumire reasons, “Whenever I ask for senpai to spend some time with me, he always cancels at the last minute and apologises. I always feel really bad whenever that happens, but he assures me that it’s not my fault. Maybe he's somehow depressed or overworking himself?”

They all turn their heads to Ryuji. 

“What?” he asks. 

“Ren’s normally handing out with you, right?” Ann points out, “I mean, you are the closest person to him besides Makoto and Sumire. You’re practically inseparable. Everytime I see you you’re with him.” 

“I mean, it’s the same old Renren when I spend time with him.” Ryuji laughs awkwardly, hand scratching the back of his head nervously, “Even if he seems down whenever we hang out, I’m sure it’s nothing.”

He lowers his arm, leaning on the cafe’s counter. 

“At least, I hope so.” he admits, “I’m worried about him too but… he’d tell us if anything was bothering him, right?”

He looks at the other thieves, hopeful. They looked back at him, unsure. 

Ryuji gritted his teeth as the group fell into silence. He scratches his head. He wanted to talk, to say something in order to get the group motivated, yet the words escaped him and he was left there, struggling to come up with a rousing speech to raise their spirits. He growls, kicking the ground, frustrated by their lack of knowledge going into the Palace. Though the key words were there, they wanted to know why Ren was feeling the way he did beforehand; it went against everything they knew about their leader.

“Fuck it…” Ryuji hisses, pulling out his phone.

“Ryuji, what are you doing?” Yusuke asks, seeing how frustrated his friend had become.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m sick of waiting around.” Ryuji replies, “We’re all standing here like morons while who knows what is happening in his Palace. I don’t know about you but I want to get him out there ASAP.”

“We don’t even know where his Palace is located!” Makoto exclaims tiredly, “Unlike other cases the term is too vague. Where does ‘The World’ even convey!?”

“I know you want to save him, Ryuji, but Makoto’s right.” Ann says as she reaches to grab Ryuji's phone, him yelping as he just manages to dodge her hand, “You’re just gonna risk us getting found out!”

“Well, is there a place anywhere in Japan called ‘The World’?” Sumire asks Futaba, who returned to her laptop before the fight between the thieves broke out. The girl shook her head. 

“Nope, nothing.” she replies, “I tried hacking the new Nav as well to see if there were any hits that correlated in real life, but the location’s too vague.”

“Well, me and Ren managed to get into the Palace from an alleyway...” Morgana mutters, a fleeting thought that soon suddenly roused an expression of sudden comprehension. He wiggled out of Haru’s lap, dashing across the tiled floors of the cafe and up the steps leading to the attic. 

“Mona-chan!” Haru squeaked in surprise as the feline suddenly jumped out from her lap, startling her as she threw her hands up to not accidentally harm him, “What’s gotten into you?!”

“Quickly, up here everyone!” Morgana calls out to the thieves, and they look at each other with bewilderment. One by one they proceeded to climb up the stairs to the attic, following their shot caller to the small, dusty room above. Futaba gently pushes her laptop closed, and she sees the ginormous bag of medication Yusuke has wrapped around his wrist before he disappears upstairs.

“Whoa, that’s a lot of medicine.” Futaba mutters to Ryuji, pointing out the obscene amounts of boxes within the plastic bag that Yusuke carried upstairs into the attic with him. 

“We know.” he sighs. 

***

Ren wakes up, his eyes fluttering open to darkness. He raises his head up from his shoulder, his neck aching from craning it in an awkward position throughout his sleep, feeling himself still sitting on something. He tried to get up, wanting to stretch his aching limbs and back, but the rope that bound his wrists made him unable to fully do so, instead standing unnaturally, his bound arms forcing him into an awkward half-sit.

He anxiously sighed, realising that the meeting of his shadow wasn’t one of the sick, twisted, hyper realistic nightmares that occasionally tormented his sleep, his mind conjuring up vivid imagery and almost tangible memories of everything that still quietly haunted him a year and a half later. He breaths in slowly, and out again. He tugs at his restraints, and the door in front of him suddenly burst open. His captor, his shadow, appeared as a silhouette against the sudden burst of light that assaulted him. Joker stood there casually, hands in his pockets, features half hidden by black, yet his golden eyes shone unnaturally in the darkness that caressed his figure.

“Bonjour, mon invité.” Joker greets, the grin on his smile as wide as Ren remembers from the previous day, “Did you sleep well? Have any good dreams?”

“You tell me.” Ren smirked, looking rebelliously at his shadow as he continued to tug on the rope that bounded him, “You’re me, aren’t you?”

“Haha, yes.” Joker smiles, his tone dismissive as he notices Ren standing, his arms bent backwards from him still being restrained by the rope, “Very funny.”

Joker walks casually towards Ren, slipping a red hand to touch Ren’s chest and gently pushes back, Ren instinctively sitting back down, “I’m glad you have so much energy today,” Joker continues to purr menacingly, his grin unfaltering as he takes his hand away from his other, standing close, looking over him, “Because I have a whole day of fun planned for you to enjoy.”

“Me? Enjoy?” Ren asks, curious as to what his shadow’s intentions are, “What are you suggesting?”

Joker laughs in response, clearly amused by Ren’s question, “Why, this is a theatre of course, silly! What is there to do in theatres except to watch? Tell me, do you know where you are?”

“In a dark room within my Palace?”

“Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong.” Joker growled sinisterly, raising a hand and snapping it. A mechanical whirr sounded somewhere behind him, followed by another, and then another, a chorus of whirring surrounded the both of them as Joker spun Ren towards monitors that suddenly flickered on, emerging from the dark. Ren winced, his eyes blinking rapidly as they struggled to adjust to the bursts of sudden light. He squints, eyes still adjusting, slowly making out different sections divided by the screens. He looked at the simple humanoid cognitions wandering through different foyers and theatres, them talking amongst each other, realising that the monitors showed different sections of his Palace. 

“I… I don’t understand?” he admits, darting his eyes towards the different displays, “Why are you showing me this? All of this?”

“Entertainment, of course.” Joker explains, reaching from behind Ren's chair as he flicks a few switches on the twinkling dashboard in front of them, “I can’t have my guest be bored while he stays here, can’t I? No. I need to keep you busy, keep you entertained as I play with our friends, keep you here as I show you how much they love me, Joker, more than you.”

“Is that it? Is that your whole plan?” Ren questioned, raising an eyebrow in perplexity, “Your plan failed before it could even begin, none of them have the Metanav app, and you can’t possibly drag them in like you did with me. I might die in my own distorted heart, but at least they’ll be safe from your grasp.”

“Is that so?” Joker hinted as he casually pointed at one of the screens, “Then explain that.” 

Ren follows Joker’s fingers, looking at the screen he’s pointing to. His throat tightens in dread as he sees his friends standing at the entrance of the theatre.

***

“Morgana, what’s gotten into you?!” Ann shouts for the cat, clambering the stairs behind Haru as the group pursues him, old wood creaking beneath her as she ascends after her friend, “You gotta tell us what’s gotten into you!”

“I’m sorry, Lady Ann.” Morgana apologises as he jumps on the abandoned makeshift bed he used to share with Ren, turning around in a swift motion, “But I needed you all up here first. I want to test something out.”

“Couldn’t you just have told us downstairs?” Haru questions him as the rest of the group made their way up the old, dusty wooden stairs, pouring out from the narrow space into the spacious room of the attic, “I would have been easier than to have rushed up here.”

“I know. But I needed a space in which we could all gather.” Morgana explains, seeing that Futaba was the last one to arrive, hugging her laptop, joining the others as they stood around to face him, “And I needed to make sure that no one can see us.”

“Why?” Ryuji asks nonchalantly, “I mean, Yongen-Jaya barely has anyone walking the streets at this time, Boss has the cafe closed just for us, and no one really cares about the Phantom Thieves anymore.”

“This is something different.” Morgana says to Ryuji, his face knitted in a serious expression, “It has something to do with the Nav. More specifically the keywords for Ren’s Palace.”

“The keywords?” it was Makoto’s turn to ask, “Have you figured out something about them?”

“Yeah.” Morgana nods, “It’s something to do with where Ren and I got pulled in. It might be a long shot but I need to know if it works.”

“Um okay…” Makoto replies, “What do you need to know about them, exactly?”

Morgana turns to Ryuji, looking at him expectantly, “You still have the Nav open on your phone?”

“I mean, yeah I do.” Ryuji informs him, unlocking his phone before tilting the screen upside down for Morgana to see that he still has the Nav ready, “But I thought we didn’t know where this ‘World’ place is?”

“We do.” Morgana says, the whole group taken aback by his suggestion, “Now, on my word Ryuji, begin the navigation to Ren’s Palace, you got that?”

“Whoa whoa whoa, wait!” Ryuji sputtered, Morgana giving in an expression of annoyance towards his hesitance, “Mona are you sure this is gonna work?”

“Of course it will!” Morgana shouts back, clearly getting more anxious and tense, no doubt the absence of Ren ebbing away at his patience, “And even if it didn’t, nothing bad will happen to us!”

“Morgana-senpai, please relax! I’m sure Ryuji’s just expressing his concern for our safety” Sumire appealed to him, trying to get the both of them to stop fighting, “I know I haven’t been  on many missions unlike the rest of you, but I do agree with Ryuji only because the app feels really suspicious to me.”

“I agree.” Yusuke speaks up, his hands resting in a thoughtful position, “This is unlike anything we’ve encountered. The only thing I can liken this to is when we had to go after Maruki. However there is nothing out of the ordinary in the real world, and the application appearing seemingly just as Ren’s Palace formed can be interpreted as a cry for help from his subconscious.”

“A cry for help?” Ann said in surprise, “You mean his shadow is the one who sent the app to us? Then why was he trapped by his own Palace?”

“I have no concrete answers for that.” Yusuke hummed, continuing to think out loud, “I think that… If my interpretation is correct, and Ren is a prisoner of his own Palace, then regardless, I feel as though that Ryuji’s hesitance is quite appropriate.”

“Are you guys really going to hesitate now, after all we’ve discussed about last night?!” Morgana snaps, his voice squeaking from both frustration and desperation, “Ren’s in trouble! I want to save him, and I can bet that we can handle whatever his Palace throws at us!”

“Well, we can’t leave him there.” Ann says, twirling a finger in her hair impatiently, “If it’s really that dangerous, then it makes more sense to get him out ASAP. The more we argue, the more danger Ren’s in.”

“I agree. We can speculate all we want, but it won’t get us any closer to freeing Ren from his Palace.” Makoto sighs, “We need to take a leap of faith; for Ren’s sake.”

“Thank you, Makoto.” Morgana says, before turning his attention to Ryuji, “Now start the Nav, Ryuji. We don’t have all day.”

“Fine, fine.” Ryuji grumbles before tapping on the screen. A second later, all of them felt a sudden, almost sickening wave echo through their heads. Each of them instinctively closed their eyes until the once so familiar feeling passed. When it subsided they all opened their eyes, and found themselves in front of the sweeping steps that led to the same regal theatre Morgana talked of in front of them, surrounded by desolate, barren landscape. It was beautiful, a beacon against the drab landscape as it loomed above them, shadows dancing past the stained glass windows that decorated it, no doubt the patrons of Ren’s distorted heart.

“We arrived at the Palace?” Sumire says, curiously looking around them, a light frown curling the corners of her mouth from the severe distortion surrounding them, “But how, exactly?”

"Oh I get it now." Haru chimes, "It's just like Shakespeare's 'All the World's a stage' line. Ren must think that everywhere's a performance space of some kind."

"So 'The World' keyword in the Metanav refers to anywhere and everywhere." Makoto mutters sadly, hand on her chin in a thoughtful gesture "That's… extremely troubling."

“Hey Yusuke, why didn’t you think of that?” Ryuji asks the tall, blue haired man innocently, “Aren’t you studying the arts or something like that?”

“I am.” Yusuke responded, scowling in disappointment towards his faux blonde friend, “But my speciality is within the fine arts. Not theatre.”

“Um, guys.” Sumire interjects, looking worriedly towards the group, “I hate to interrupt your conversation but… We don’t have our Metaverse outfits on.”

“Hm? Oh yeah, that’s not really surprising.” Ryuji brushes off casually, “I mean, this is Ren we’re talking about. You can take it easy, Sumire.”

“Yeah,” Ann agrees with Ryuji, “I mean, Ren’s our friend, right? It’ll be odd for him to see us as a threat.”

“Come on you guys,” Morgana huffs impatiently, starting to climb up the stairs into the grand theatre, “Let’s go in, follow me!”

“I bet the fact that he knows he has a Palace also means he would more than likely anticipate us coming here to claim his treasure.” Makoto rationalises, placing a foot on one of the steps as she continues their conversation despite Morgana’s interjection, “He knows how we, as Phantom Thieves operate, and I feel our Metaverse outfits not appearing also has something to do with that.”

“Oh, okay.” Sumire nods in understanding, blushing in embarrassment for having asked such an obvious question. She bows, “I’m sorry for asking such an obvious question. This is the first time since Maruki’s Palace since I’ve joined in a Phantom Thief operation.”

“That is completely understandable.” Yusuke says as he starts to follow Makoto up the stairs, “We are more than happy to help you if you need it, Sumire. I’m sure we all recognise that relatively, you’re still new to our operus mondi.”

“Oh, thank you, Kitagawa-senpai.” Sumire smiles, starting to follow him up the stairs alongside Haru and Ryuji, “I feel much better knowing I can rely on you for assistance.”

“It’s my pleasure.” He smiles, “Now, let’s reunite with the others, shall we?”

“We shall!” she giggles, continuing to climb the steps.

Ann is the second last person to ascend the stairs, stopping in her tracks when she fails to spot Futaba among the group. Turning around, she sees Futaba standing at the foot of the steps, her head down as she hugged her laptop tighter near her torso. She looked sad; anxious; hesitant to follow them, electing instead to stay behind, almost scared of the building ahead of them

“Hey.” Ann mutters as she descends down to meet the girl, Futaba tilting her heads upwards to only just meet Ann’s gaze, “Are you okay, Futaba?”

“I… I dunno.” Futaba admits, sighing while she looked away from the older blond, “I mean… this is Ren’s Palace… I’m...”

She trails off. 

“You’re scared aren’t you?”

Futaba looks up at her, shocked. “Y-yeah, how did you know?”

“I’m scared too.” Ann admits, “Scared of what we’ll find in there. And I’m pretty sure the others are scared as well. But we’ve got each other. I know it’s really hard to not be scared; but Ren needs us more than ever, and we need to be brave in order to change his heart and save him from his Palace.”

“Yeah.” Futaba mutters, sulking at her own cowardice, swallowing down her anxious feelings as best she could, “You’re right, Ann. Sorry for acting like this, especially since I’m the one who thought of the idea to go into Ren’s Palace in the first place.” 

“Don’t worry about it!” Ann smiled, her joy and confidence feeling infectious as Futaba could not help but smile back, “Now come on, let’s go in, I bet the others will get worried if they notice we’re not with them.”

“Okay…” Futaba nods, climbing after Ann. Yet when Ann turns away her expression sinks again. Her eyebrows furrow, the feeling of anxiety coming back. She knew that they were all scared, terrified of what awaited them inside, terrified of what hidden thoughts and memories Ren had that rotted and twisted his heart. She climbed the stairs, repeating what Morgana had told her the night before as she approached the grand doors alongside Ann. But there was one detail. One question she realised she still has on her mind. One question she forgot to ask. Yet she now dared not ask it, afraid of jeopardizing the mission before it even properly began.

***

“Whoa holy shit!” Ryuji exclaimed, marvelling the interior of the theatre, the glittering gold accents catching his eye, twinkling invitingly as he entered the foyer, “This place is amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it!”

“I agree, it’s really hard to believe that this place is a Palace.” Haru marvels with Ryuji, instead looking at the elaborate stained glass windows that shined within the interior lights, “I can’t really put my finger on it but, it feels really pleasant to be inside.”

“I know what you mean.” Yusuke sighs, “It certainly feels welcoming. The decor here is immaculate and beautiful in the way that soothes my heart and itches my fingers, begging to be captured and preserved. Oh if only I brought my brush and paint with me today.”

“I agree with Yusuke.” Makoto nods, “But we need to keep our guard up. Though this is Ren’s Palace, we still aren’t sure exactly why his Palace appeared. While we’re still seen as not a threat, anything we do or say might trigger something that’ll turn the shadows against us. After all, Morgana was attacked by what we can assume were hostile shadows, there’s no knowing that will happen if we encounter one while we don’t have our powers available to us.” she reminded them.

“I agree, Niijima-san. Caution in a Palace that belongs to a powerful Persona user should be exercised, even if it belongs to Amamiya.”

A familiar voice belonging to no one in the group spoke to them, Makoto instinctively opened her mouth to answer. But the realisation hit her as she turned to her right, mouth agape with surprise as the others jaws dropped in shock, some covering their mouths in awe, all wide eyed, the same expression of surprise shared among them. 

"Is that....?" Ann dared to utter, having just arrived with Futaba, yet she saw the answer right before her.

His eyes stared back at them, recognisable red irises radiated within the room, the colour matching the velvet that generously decorated the foyer of the theatre. His brown hair, long and slightly unkempt hung straight on his head, a hand tucked within his brown winter coat, his other hand hung out by his side casually, gloved. He stood there in front of them, his weight shifted from one leg to another, him looking at Makoto, and the rest of the group, with an almost expectant expression.

It was Goro. He was alive.

[crowbarstodd]

Course Of Nature (1)

Chapter Summary: The kids patrol together for the first time, and hey, nobody ends up dead so I’ll count that as a success! Rating: G Word Count: 1,737 Pairing: Daminette

Parts: Prologue | One | Two | Three | Four

Patrolling with Robin was akin to pulling out teeth. Until this evening, Marinette wasn’t sure she could be so irritated by someone who wasn’t Lila; even Chloe had never made her head reel or her face flush in sheer outrage as much as Robin.

So far in their patrol, he’d gone off on his own a total of four times, all without telling her where he was going, made a Carpace -- kind and for the most part relaxed, Nino -- stressed enough to  retire early for the night because of his attitude, and had insulted her so many times she stopped keeping count.

She was sick of it -- sick of him. He didn’t work well with others in the slightest, was arrogant and clearly had no respect for her as a hero.

But she was Ladybug, and Master Fu asked her to work with him, so for the time being, she’d suck it up and deal with the devil.

“You can step out of the shadows,” Marinette said in Robin’s general direction. She was jogging lightly, keeping her eyes firmly on the streets to check for danger. Paris sparkled at night, the ever-present glow both comforting and helpful, allowing her almost perfect vision when the sunset.

There was a faint tutting sound before Robin emerged from the darkness, scowl on his face. “It’ll be more effective if we have the element of surprise.” She wondered why he never smiled, especially when his fellow team member, Nightwing was a bag of laughs, at least according to Chat Noir.

Then again, Robin did work under Batman, and he seemed to communicate mostly through grunts… Did Robin even know how to smile at all?

“There’s nobody to surprise. Crime rates have been statistically proven to lower when heroes are in sight, and it’s good for public reception if we patrol out in the open.”

The biggest problem between herself and Robin, Marinette had come to realise; was that they were too different in their ways of being heroes.. While Robin valued mystery and darkness, Marinette understood the importance of visibility, accepting the responsibility that came with being more than just a symbol. The weight of being an idol on an impossibly high platform, constantly teetering over the edges, a second away from slipping. 

Robin believed that symbols were meant to stay as symbols. The less others knew, the more they wondered, the better. She could see the worth in his reasoning, but he was in Paris, not Gotham, and he needed to act like it.

Robin said nothing, simply releasing a grunt. The tips of his ears were red, illuminated by street lamps, and when he sped up so he was running ahead of her, he realised belatedly, that he might have been embarrassed by her easy correction. “Keep up!” He snapped.

He hadn’t bothered to turn around and check on her, if she’d slowed down because she was injured or distracted by something relevant he wouldn’t know until it was too late. He hardly looked at her at all the whole patrol. Briefly, she considered simply ditching him and running another direction, leaving him to patrol on his own.

A nudge at the back of her head, no doubt Tiki’s presence, warned her against that particular idea.

Instead of screaming or leaving like she wanted, Marinette resorted to rolling rolled her eyes. “It’s not a race, Robin.”

“Tt. You only say that because you’re losing.”

“Really now?”

Without warning, Marinette increased her pace, speeding past Robin and sailing over buildings with the agility and litheness granted to her by her miraculous. From behind her, she heard Robin release a swear as he tried to catch her. “Race you to the Eiffel tower!” She called, enjoying the way the wind whipped her hair back and whistled at her ears.

Sometimes, she had trouble believing that her identity hadn’t yet been discovered, especially when her lies were flimsy at best, and her disappearances all too convenient. But then, she would twirl effortlessly past hanging light features, and remember that her civilian self was an unusually clumsy mess, and she understood why nobody ever suspected her.

She raced Robin wordlessly; leaping from rooftop to rooftop, swinging over stray branches and ducking under street lamps. He was fast, she could admit, swift-footed, with a certain grace that came with years of practice, and just a dash of natural talent about his movements that most dancers would envy.

Marinette had none of that, but she could still admit her advantage. The miraculous was magic in that it hardly sapped at her energy — one of the many reasons why she was able to catch akuma’s and return to class a minute later without passing out when chemistry got too dry. It was easy to sprint at full speed when she knew she wouldn’t feel tired until she made it to the other side of the city.

She also knew Paris better, cutting through Alley’s, and knowing when to pass under instead of over. Robin seemed to realise this too, following closely after her, taking into account her short-cuts and easy-ways.

In the end, it came as a surprise to no-one, when she beat him to the Eiffel Tower.

She sat, legs dangling over the edge, waiting with a tongue out (she’s a very responsible and mature hero, really!) as her fellow hero landed beside her barely five seconds after.

“That was not an event test,” Robin said bitterly.

She had fully expected his comment, but found herself too surprised to come up with any witty retorts when he settled beside her. Sure, he was sitting at least three feet apart, but it was the warmest he’d been the whole night, so she’d take it.

Marinette held firmly onto the belief that there was goodness in everyone, and regardless of how demonic Robin was, she knew that even for someone like him, the rule stood.

So she did what she did best — what she was known to do as both Ladybug and Marinette. She held out an olive branch.

“True,” she admitted freely, relishing in the momentary surprise that painted his face, before his features quickly melted back into the same stoic expression he’d maintained the whole night. “But you never said there were rules…”

“Tt.” Robin’s eyes were blocked by the whites of his domino mask, but she could tell from the minute easing of his brows, and the way his jaw shifted, as if unclenching, that he found some amusement in her response.

Marinette was hardly the world’s leading expert in reading facial expressions, but well, Robin had an admittedly nice face (not nice enough to negate is asshole personality, just nice enough for her to be grateful he was an asshole. She was jelly around Adrien back when she used to like him, she did not intend to become distracted mush around her new partner just because he was nice and good looking. Luckily for her, he was only one of the two), and it seriously wasn’t her fault that lack of actual eyes to keep contact with as they spoke lead to her studying his features pretty often.

“I suppose you might have a point,” Robin relented. Marinate cheered internally. She knew he wasn’t completely heartless! “A rare occasion, it seems.” Okay, scratch that last thought.

Still, olive branches and second chances were her signature. “Well, special occasions need celebrating. Ice-Cream?”

Robin lifted his nose to the sky, sniffing a bit the same way he did when they first met. Wow, he looked like a total brat when he did that. “I don’t care for sweets.”

“That’s not a no,” she weaseled.

His chin tilted downward, just a tad, and he held his gaze on her face for just a second too long. “Hm,” he said at last.

“Great!” Marinate exclaimed, grabbing his wrist and tugging at it so he’d follow her. She let it go almost immediately, feeling a little stupid she’d done so in the first place — too used to the comforting and close partnership Chat offered — and promptly stepped off the tower, catching herself with her yoyo, and swinging herself to the next building.

She heard a clang, somewhere to her right, and watched as Robin followed after her, grapple hook presumably pulled out of the yellow utility belt around his waist.

Andrè was still awake, his little moving shop officially closing at twelve, knowing young couples often enjoyed their late-night rendezvouses. He smiled at her with familiar warmth, and gave them ice cream, predictably free (Andrè was well-liked amongst miraculous users for his free ice-cream, he was nice to Parisian heroes like that), though he did give them just a bowl to share rather than the usual two seperate cones. From the knowing wink he gave them, she figured he’d simply come to the wrong conclusion and accepted it.

Andrè’s ice-cream was divine. Today, he gifted herself and Robin a double-scoop of dark chocolate and red velvet, a simple gift compared to what he usually came up with, but Marinette was grateful nonetheless.

“Your uniform is too obnoxious,” Robin said over the bowl. He had taken the first bite once she’d settled it between them on the police-station roof, and hadn’t complained or made his little tutting sound, so she guessed that he was at least somewhat enjoying it.

She raised a brow at him, not quite in the mood to raise her hackles and start another fight between them. Well, he’d be starting the fight, really he always started the fights! And now he was saying her uniform was obnoxious? “My uniform is obnoxious?”

“Yes.”

“Robin you look like a walking traffic light.”

Robin’s head turned the other direction, clearly miffed at her insult. “The colours are part of the legacy,” he muttered, “have some respect. Most of the brightness is blocked by my cowl anyway.”

“Ladybug is a legacy too, bird-brain. The Ladybug is a symbol, it’s important that people see me.”

“The spots are gaudy nnngghhh!” He glared at her with crossed arms, spitting out the spoon she’d shoved in his mouth in a fashion that was rather dramatic.

“Better get used to them,” Marinette snarked, smirking at the sight of him with slightly puffed cheeks, furiously chewing at a mouthful of dark chocolate and red velvet. He was almost cute when he was quiet.

End Notes: whew first patrol?? And hey my kids don’t completely hate each other! They just really don’t want to be there lol. Look forward to the upcoming chapters where y’all will see more of supportive best friend Chat, and Marinette meeting Dami!

Taglist: @just-rant-and-write-fic-idea @kceedraws @mystery-5-5 @2sunchild2 @i-like-fairytail-and-stuff @treebrosha @mooshoon

Feel free to ask me to add or remove you via dms, asks, or comments <3 

ALSO if anyone here reads “Filtered Lens” that’ll be updated tomorrow, I’m just trying to decide smth rn :)) 

[tickle-her-senseless]

Important

Hey all. Just wanted to respond to questions from members of a couple of Discord servers run by the same person following a chaotic couple of days. I’m putting all the info and screenshots (minus names, pics and locations) here, so I can just direct people to this post if they have questions.

I had been intending to just head back here to Tumblr and let the situation lie, but unfortunately the reason given by the automated bot for my ban mentioned “crossing consent multiple times”. Today, friends have been sending me worried questions relating to this, so I’m concerned that the server owner may have made a similar claim in public. Now I pretty much have to say something as that’s such a serious thing to say about someone, particularly on any kind of kink scene.

The mention of consent actually relates to the server owner. Near the beginning of the lockdown, she and I were speaking a lot, she began to tease me in DMs, I responded with a piece of writing dedicated to her, we exchanged pictures - and eventually confessed a mutual attraction. We made plans for the end of lockdown, she talked about driving through Europe and showing me her favourite places. Although her English is perfect, I began learning her language through an app as I wanted to make the effort (Brits are renowned for being lazy with languages), and kept it up every day for months, amusing her with my clumsy pronunciation on calls. Sometimes she would send me explicit comments/thoughts, although I was always nervous to initiate that kind of thing.

One day she sent a message saying that she was still coming to terms with the end of her last relationship and would need to take things more slowly, as she was finding romantic sentiments (as opposed to kinky ones) hard to deal with. Naturally I replied “Of course, in that case I’ll wait for you to initiate that stuff once you’re ready”. At some point afterwards, she sent me a message out of the blue saying “I want cuddles ❤️” and I thought “oh, this is a level she’s OK with” and responded. I think it was the following day when I tried to pick up where we’d left off (without going any further, just cuddling in bed type stuff). She reciprocated and we continued. I also (in an attempt to consider her feelings) asked her if the idea of me posting an old session video on my blog for an American friend would upset her at all. Intending to reassure her about my intentions, I mentioned ”...not wanting to tickle anyone except you and saying no to all of the other UK people on the servers who are asking about post-lockdown sessions”. I also said “I do feel a commitment to you”, which (with hindsight) was probably a foolish or misleading word to use in a purely ler/lee sense.

A week later she sent a message I didn’t immediately understand along the lines of “I thought you were going to let me initiate romantic stuff, you don’t seem to have understood me at all”. I wasn’t sure what she was referring to - the recent story I’d written for her? Use of the word “commitment”? Something else? I tried to talk with her on the phone as some wires had clearly become crossed via text, but she refused for five weeks (citing not being in the right headspace), before finally calling when I sent a message explaining that anxiously waiting to mend the friendship in lockdown by myself for over a month was having a terrible effect on me mentally, and I was going to have to “throw in the towel”, wishing her luck and every happiness.

During our phone call, she claimed that the main issue had been the fluffy cuddle messages which she took to be a serious and repeated boundary/consent violation (citing her wish to avoid romantic talk). This was the last thing I expected and really shocked me. Of course I apologised frantically, repeatedly and profusely. I also said I hoped she could see how I’d made the mistake innocently and honestly when:

- she initiated it the first time, so I assumed it was something she was happy to talk about.

- when I picked up where we left off, she didn’t say “Actually, d’you mind if we don’t today?” and continued the cuddle talk instead.

She said that because she initiated it one day didn’t mean that she wanted to continue the day after - fair enough. The difficult thing to accept was the idea that she felt so violated by the attempt to carry on the next day that she found herself frozen to the point of not being able to say “actually I’m not in the mood just now” and carried on with it, and that I was at fault regardless. She even used the word “harassing” to describe it, which I found very harsh considering my inability to read minds over hundreds of miles. Especially when I couldn’t see or hear her to pick up on body language, tone of voice etc to guess that she was saying one thing but feeling a different way. She said, word for word, “It’s like when someone’s choking you and you can’t speak, you’re literally choking me!” As someone who, as a teenager, was once choked on the ground by my own father until I blacked out and lost bladder control, I did see that as a stretch at best, but chose not to challenge it as she was upset.

I also suggested that, looking back, we probably should’ve clarified exactly what was meant by “romantic stuff” when we almost certainly had different takes on it eg. I’ve cuddled after every 1:1 session I’ve ever had, even platonic ones, purely from the angle of aftercare and a sense of having shared an experience. I was told that despite our different ages and experiences of romantic love, there was only one objectively correct definition of “romantic” - hers.

We went around in circles for over four hours - I apologised over and over while explaining how I got the wrong idea and asking her to understand and forgive, while she tearfully called me a gaslighter, a consent violator, an excuse-maker, a harasser ... eventually I collapsed into tears myself (I’m ashamed to admit), totally worn down, and she softened a bit. She finally said she didn’t believe I’d done anything intentionally, and she still wanted to spend time together in the real world. We made up, spoke warmly as friends for an hour, and I left the call exhausted but relieved. After a few days’ reflection, though, I decided against ever travelling to meet her for real, as the experience had shaken me considerably - and I figured it’d be risky to meet someone in real life when I didn’t trust her completely not to accuse me over either nothing or an innocent misunderstanding. I was still wondering how to explain this to her when things got wild on the server.

A few days ago, a Tumblr user with a stated age of 18 contacted me to say nice things about my blog, which (I hope this doesn’t sound conceited) isn’t out of the ordinary. When she told me she was English and totally new to the scene, I suggested the Discord server as a place where she might make some friends (given the large UK membership) and sent her an invite link. The rest is set out in the mega screenshot saga below, which begins in the staff chat. I’m “SwiftX”, my real name is in teal, the server owner is in blue and her friend and co-moderator is in purple. All other names and locations are in black:

Before sending the last message, I actually typed out five different versions of a counter-argument before eventually deciding to step back. Being totally dismissed and lectured by two people about British labour laws and pub ID measures by two non-Brits nearly a decade my junior was irritating, yes, but the baseless suggestion that maybe I’d done something in private with the new member and was somehow “arguing against” ensuring she wasn’t a child because of that horrified me. As if I’d allow a child access to explicit content to cover my own discomfort - and anyway, I’d done no more than exchange greetings with the girl and point her towards the server, where she was actually verified and granted access to all channels by the guy in purple, not me! After a couple of hours’ contemplation, I politely asked to be removed from the moderator staff, but a disdainful response to my request prompted me to explain it, and why I was upset. Not all of what I said was necessary to say, but all of it was true:

She immediately muted me for 48 hours - “staff disrespect and degrading comments”. Not a problem, I had work to be getting on with. Late that evening, however, her friend arrived in my DMs:

Him: ...it’s creepy that a 32 year old man is potentially teasing a minor

Me: Well I can prove I haven’t teased her, her profile says she’s 18, and the person who exposed her to explicit content was you when you verified her - despite admitting to having had doubts about her age.

Him: ...I’ll drop that subject

Moderator of the year, ladies and gentlemen 🙄 Anyhoo, later that day I received a ban notification from both servers run by this owner, citing “crossing consent multiple times, guilting and being degrading along with causing several conflicts”. I was surprised to feel a flood of relief, but the consent mention really disturbed and worried me, as I’d been under the impression that the server owner had fully accepted that the earlier stuff had been an innocent misunderstanding. Later that day, good friends of mine began sending me worried DMs questioning my record and asking if I’d been inappropriate with a bunch of people, so I’m concerned that the staff may have said something that (deliberately or not) has encouraged speculation. This post is intended to be a landing page to which I can direct anyone concerned about my character so that they they can form their own opinions.

When my follower count began to take off, I became determined to avoid any kind of rift with another prominent member of the community. It’s so frustrating to watch an already niche subculture splinter into factions over needless disputes. This is why I’ve kept names etc. out of this post. If anyone suspects they might know who the server owner is, or actually knows who she is because they’re here from Discord, I would implore them not to out or target her in any way. There are two reasons:

- I don’t want to start a flaming war, I’m desperate to move on and begin improving my mental health after an awful couple of months ... I just need to protect my reputation first.

- I don’t actually think she wanted drama ... I think her genuine perception is that I’ve said something horrible to her. That’s more upsetting than the idea of her trying to smear me, to be honest. I suspect she feels like crap too, and I don’t want to add to her mental load. I honestly hope she’s OK.

Hopefully this will reassure my friends and anyone else questioning my character because of whatever’s been said in that server. I’d also hope that my history of positive interaction here, including being on great terms with everyone I’ve ever had a session with, supports what I’m saying further. It’s a shame this had to happen, but I’m trying to think positively about what lies ahead and trust in my real friends. I’d also like to thank the other members of the server staff who’ve privately sent me messages of support and sympathy having already seen the entire exchange.

[wearesorcerer]

Highlights from OD&D

I’m perusing Book 1 - Men & Magic from the original D&D box set and it’s wild.

Y’know, in the “weird first installment” sort of way.

I’m going to stick to what’s relevant to the Magic-User, as otherwise we’d be here all day.

Magic-Users as artillery pieces go back to Chainmail (the fantasy wargame rules out of which OD&D grew [and upon which they still relied]). However, the spell list does not suggest this role. They are squishy, though, and described as such (obviously without using the word “squishy”).

Whereas Fighting-Men and Clerics can build strongholds and gain followers who, eventually, will provide them taxes/tithes, Magic-Users can craft magic items. They can’t use many of these (magic weapons, for instance) unless they multiclass (though it’s not called that; Elves are expected to do this).

Magic-Users can only equip daggers. (Quarterstaves aren’t listed as weapons yet.)

There’s no arcane spell failure chance for wearing armor; Magic-Users simply aren’t able to equip it without “changing” classes (multiclassing).

Spellbooks are required for all spellcasters, Clerics included.

Spell slots exist, but aren’t called that. The progression is a little weird.

The Magic-User gets up to 6th-level spells (one higher than the Cleric, which is de jure a gish).

There are more higher-level spells of each spell level than there are lower-level ones (8/10/14/12/14/12).

Cantrips are an invention of 3rd edition (which I knew already), so the list of 1st-level spells is a mixture of cantrips (detect magic, read magic, and light) and other familiar spells (hold portal, read languages, protection from evil, charm person, and sleep).

In case the above didn’t make it clear: spells are not alphabetized. At all.

Magic missile doesn’t exist.

Neither do dancing lights, mage hand, or prestidigitation (though I know the last one was called “cantrip” in 2e).

The first spell which can deal damage is phantasmal forces (silent image + the shadow conjuration/evocation line). It doesn’t make a lot of sense how it would, as another creature’s touch automatically dispels it.

Of the 70 spells on this list, there are only 4 direct damage ones: 3rd - fire ball (sic), lightning bolt; 4th - wall of fire, wall of ice.

Aside from phantasmal forces, there are eight spells meant for attacking: 5th - cloudkill, conjure elemental, magic jar, passwall; 6th - control weather, death spell, disintegrate, invisible stalker. (Animate dead is also on the list, but you could do other things with that, ‘cuz y’know it raises permanent minions.)

The vast majority of spells on this list are for information-gathering, mobility, dealing with obstacles (especially doors), and crowd control.

Each spell’s entry (counting range text) takes up 2-4 lines, with very few exceptions. There’s plenty of room for questions, especially on what one can and cannot do with a spell.

Haste spell refers to slow spell for what it does, but slow spell doesn’t say in the original print what effect it has, only the maximum number of targets, its area of effect, its range, and its duration. (A revised version says that it reduces enemies’ speed by 50%, but I have no idea what that actually means.)

Remove curse exists, but bestow curse does not.

Hold person is not a paralysis effect; it’s mass charm person with a shorter duration and the option to make it harder to save against if targeting only one character.

Clairvoyance is not a scrying-style effect; it’s x-ray vision. Clairaudience (a separate spell) is the same thing but for hearing. The only scrying spell is “Wizard” (arcane) eye, which is still a 4th-level spell but not for any of the reasons that justify it being that high.

There’s a spell (massmorph) specifically to pull a Birnam Wood Moving Upon Dunsinane (from MacBeth). ‘Course, this version of the game is more wargame than it is collaborative storytelling adventure, so that makes sense.

The wonkiness of sleep dealing with hit dice comes from here.

Baleful polymorph is called polymorph others, as it had been until 3.5. However, polymorph is called polymorph self, for once explaining the nomenclature.

Polymorph self does not grant combat abilities, but does grant movement modes and disguise.

Polymorph others doesn’t cause the target to lose its mind (like it does in later editions), but does grant a creature all of the combat ability of its new form. It lasts until dispelled.

Several Druidic spells (control weather, growth of plants, growth of monsters, lower water, move earth, part water [think Fantasia instead of Exodus, I guess], REINCARNATION) are Magic-User spells. (I mean, several of those remained on the Mage and then Sor/Wiz lists, but reincarnation?) Insect plague, speak with animals, speak with plants, and turn sticks to snakes, however, are Cleric spells.

The Finger of Death (with definite article) is also an Anti-Cleric spell rather than a Magic-User one. (Also, ANTI!)

Passwall isn’t explicitly an intangibility effect: it opens up a 10′ pit “in a solid rock wall.” (Why they split the effect from the name is a question for another day.)

Project image is a 6th-level spell, but functions like the mirror image of later editions (spells appear to come from the image, but you’re not creating a true duplicate/using bilocationality).

[makeste]

BnHA Bonus Rant # 5: All for One for All

Okay guys, so ever since I first read chapter 217, I’ve been thinking about certain One for All things and going “hmm” a bunch. Like so:

hmmm.

hmmm.

hmmmmmmmmm.

And like. I’ve had these bits and pieces of some kind of theory for a while now, and I think I’m finally ready to try and put them together.

So I’m gonna try to make this as straightforward as possible. First off, here’s the “official” story as far as we have been told:

AFO steals a “power-stockpiling” quirk from User X and gives it to his brother (henceforth referred to as Lil Bro).

The power-stockpiling quirk fuses together with Lil Bro’s own latent quirk, which happens to be a passing-down quirk similar to All for One.

The newly created quirk, One for All, allows the user to stockpile power within the quirk and then pass the quirk on to a new user, who in turn can then pass it on to another user, and then another, etc., all the while accumulating more and more power.

Fast-forward a century or two. All Might, the eighth user of OFA, passes the quirk down to a new successor, Midoriya Izuku. Izuku eventually becomes the first user to unlock another secret power hidden within OFA this whole time -- the ability to use the past users’ quirks.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. 

Anyway, so that’s basically it. This is what we’ve been led to believe up till this point.

So now, here’s my alternate take.

AFO steals what he believes to be a minor strength-enhancing quirk from User X. However, upon stealing it, he realizes he’s fallen victim to one of the classic blunders: namely, that if a quirk relies on some kind of “stockpiled resource” so to speak, he can only steal the quirk itself, and not said resource along with it. Much like another quirk-copier we know of:

So now AFO is stuck with some useless quirk that does fuckall for him, and wondering what to do with it. And then a light bulb goes off in his head. Of course! He has an annoyingly rebellious brother he’s been meaning to try and persuade to see things his way... by force, if necessary.

He doesn’t want to give his brother anything too strong, of course. Ostensibly out of kindness and concern for Lil Bro’s fragile state, but in reality he probably just didn’t want him to ever be able to oppose him.

But a quirk like this? One that doesn’t actually do anything? That’s pretty much perfect. He can force his brother to submit to him without ever granting him any actual power. So he gives Lil Bro this supposedly useless quirk, thinking that this is the moment when he’ll finally succeed in getting his brother to join him.

But instead, two things happen which AFO did not expect. Two things which, quite unknown to him, will ultimately work to seal his doom.

Let’s backtrack for a sec and examine just what that power-stockpiling quirk is. It’s actually pretty powerful stuff! Basically it seems like it gradually stores up someone’s power over time and then lets them use that accumulated power in bursts.

But as we now know thanks to Deku, that’s not all that it stores up.

Okay, so now just… hear me out.

All for One steals User X’s quirk. Unbeknownst to AFO, upon being stolen, said quirk immediately goes to work doing what it’s been designed to do: stockpiling the power of its current user. It no longer has the accumulated power of User X, because as we made note of earlier, power can’t be transferred through that method. It is, however, still a perfectly fine quirk, and it’s got a new user now. And so as far as the quirk is concerned, it’s back to business as usual. It’s accumulating power once again, this time from a new wielder: All for One.

So that is Thing # 1 That All For One Does Not Expect.

And here’s Thing # 2.

Like I said -- you can’t transfer accumulated power through stealing or copying or otherwise duplicating someone else’s quirk. For whatever reason, it just can’t be done.

But.

A WILD LOOPHOLE APPEARS ohhhhhh shit.

Listen, I don’t know why this is, but it is, though. We already know; we’ve seen it in action. One for All can be transferred from user to user with its power bundled in free of charge. It’s the only quirk we’ve seen thus far that’s capable of doing that. It is possibly unique in this. But it only works if the user wills the power to be transferred. Otherwise it will not happen. And All for One, in his arrogance and hubris, did in fact willingly grant this power to his younger brother.

So here, finally, is what I’ve been trying to get at. I don’t think Lil Bro actually ever had a quirk after all. I think our boy really was quirkless. That passing-down quirk he supposedly had? The one that supposedly fused together with the power-stockpiling quirk to create One for All?

Well, I think said fusion actually took place when AFO was still in possession of the quirk. In other words, I think One for All actually is All for One.

We have a quirk that stockpiles its users’ power and “quirk factors.” All for One was in possession of that quirk. It stockpiled his power. It stockpiled his quirk. And then without realizing it, he passed that power on to his younger brother. The quirk, along with whatever power it had accumulated from him.

One for All is literally All for One. The power to grant quirks from one person to another comes directly from AFO’s power. No other quirk has the ability to do that. We have copy abilities and shapeshifting abilities and clone abilities, and all of these are capable of duplicating others’ quirks to some extent. But none of these powers is capable of granting quirks to other people. The only abilities we have seen that are capable of that are One for All, and All for One. That’s not a coincidence.

Know what else isn’t a coincidence? The fact that Deku all of a sudden possesses multiple quirks. Not temporarily, but permanently and with no apparent restrictions other than his own ability and stamina. Again, that’s a power we’ve only seen in the hands of one other individual before now.

Yeeeeeeeeah.

So yeah. That’s my theory. This entire time, One for All has not actually been an “offshoot” of All for One, but is in fact All for One itself. And AFO has, ironically, been the originator of OFA this whole time. He is the first wielder of OFA. His brother is the second.

Oh hey wait, yeah. So about that. You know how All Might has been really fucking reluctant to bring up the topic of All for One, even now that he’s finally been ~defeated~ and locked up in Tartarus? Like, remember that one panel I was going “hmmmm” at earlier? “I didn’t want to raise that point…”

Well I think that might be because...

Which would mean... well...

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah.

So yeah, Deku. Hate to break it to you kid, but you might in fact have a certified evil dude currently taking up residence in that big ol’ hero brain of yours.

“But makeste,” you point out, “we’ve already seen the other vestiges and none of them look like AFO, and also there are only eight of them and if AFO was included, wouldn’t that make it nine?” All of which are good points which I will acknowledge. But in turn please consider:

(1) AFO has a gazillion quirks, including at least one that’s capable of altering his physical body and appearance (namely, whatever de-aging quirk he’s using). He could be invisible. He could be in disguise. He could in fact even be in disguise as a certain explosive boy whom Deku instinctively trusts! That one’s a bit out there, I admit, but frankly all of the theories related to That Silhouette are pretty out there so I’m willing to roll with it. But my point is basically that there are lots of possibilities here.

And (2), we don’t actually know jack shit about the past users of OFA. We only know Deku is the ninth because each user apparently kept count, because at least they were capable of doing that much. But All Might doesn’t know anything about any of the users prior to number six (whom he only had a vague description of, not even a name), so at some point all of that history was lost. It’s possible that they were keeping track of it but then Shimura or someone else purposely destroyed the information and didn’t pass it along to Toshinori in order to keep the other predecessors’ families safe. She gave up her own family for the same reason, so it wouldn’t be much of a stretch.

But my point being, we don’t actually know that there were in fact eight users following Lil Bro. There may well have only been seven, and they just assumed there were eight because everyone caught at least a vague glimpse of the Vestiges once or twice during their time, and they all counted a certain number of people, and so they assumed (quite correctly) that that’s how many past generations of OFA there were. Their only mistake was thinking that Lil Bro was the first, rather than the second.

What else. -- Oh, the thing with OFA being passed down via DNA transfer rather than by touch can probably be handwaved, tbh. That may have been because Lil Bro only received a little bit of AFO’s power and not the full-blown deal initially. Or it could just be that since saying “here, eat my hair” did work, they never thought to question whether it could be passed down via other methods too. But in either case, it may well be that Deku is capable of doing the touch thing and much more now that AFO has been churning about deep within OFA’s core for a couple centuries, and has, just like the other quirks, gradually been growing stronger this whole time. It may well be that All for One 2.0, Version: Deku is finally ready to rumble.

And if so? If he is? Well then that may just be the perfect solution to this whole damn mess. How do you stop a villain with unlimited power? Particularly if he does finally obtain a healing factor quirk at some point in the game and is restored to his former glory? There’s really only one way I can think of: give him a taste of his own medicine. Fire Lord Ozai style. Set a thief to catch a thief. Poetic fucking justice.

So that’s about it, I think. This is my current theory about OFA and AFO. This also means that, just in time for Father’s Day, I’m now pretty sure that AFO is not in fact actually Deku’s dad (and I may possibly owe @addermoray a beer). Or at least, the one theory probably isn’t true if the other is. So yeah, congratulations Deku, you get to pass on all of the I’m-secretly-the-son-of-my-greatest-nemesis angst after all! In exchange, you get my-greatest-nemesis-is-currently-inhabiting-part-of-my-soul angst instead. Heh. Have fun with that there, kiddo.

[hippriestess]

Part 4 - I’ve Been Duped...

It was to be expected that some of those who brought us some of the less essential Fall releases would also respond to Smith's death. One of worst was the first to arrive and it came from perennial recyclers Secret Records; a repackaging of 10 live tracks from the 2002 “A Touch Sensitive” DVD – already reconfigured multiple times – on an LP titled, and this absolutely beggars belief, “Best Of” and credited to “The Fall & Mark E Smith”, a credit never once used on a release in Smith's lifetime (a few gig posters, yes but never a record). Released just 3 months after Smith's death for about £18-20, this received the derision it deserved and, judging from the number of copies for sale on Discogs and their current asking prices, it appears to have sold just a little more than fuck all.

But even this was overshadowed come March 2019 when Ozit/Dandelion released what has to be The Worst Fall Release Ever. Pressed into horrid orange vinyl, the contents of “Mark's Personal Holiday Tony Tapes” were staggeringly poor. Proudly labelled as “Non-Record-Store-Day Release” (was it turned down?) the record boasted just 8 tracks. The album tried to elide its rotten contents by calling all the tracks “Mark's Personal Holiday Tony Tapes”. Track 1 was a 6 minute version of “Last Nacht” from “I Am Kurious Oranj”. The released track doesn't actually feature within the 6 minutes so this is probably an outtake and therefore probably not owned by Beggars Banquet. There is a drop out lasting several seconds that has gone uncorrected and it's about 4 minutes longer than it needs to be, confirming the brevity of the version used in 1988 to be bob on. Tracks 2, 4, 6 and 8 are live tracks from 1981, all of which had already been released on the otherwise unimpressive “Northern Cream” DVD. What is barely credible is that tracks 3, 5 and 7 are also “Last Nacht” but not further alternates, rather being Track 1 cut into 2 minute pieces and simply repeated! Did they think we wouldn't notice?! Utterly awful, thoroughly exploitative and an absolute disgrace. They also stumped up a 30 minute DVD of MES being interviewed. This bore the thoroughly unappealing title “30 Minutes On A Manchester Slag Heap”. I only ever saw this for sale on eBay but a couple of clicks confirmed that it was Ozit/Dandelion product being sold by them through that channel. The cover was of a slag heap rather than of MES. Enough said.

OK, let's tidy up, what's next?

The immediate future sees 2 vinyl releases in the August “drop” of the now-staggered, socially-distanced RSD2020; a double LP of “[Austurbæjarbíó] - Reykjavík Live 1983” on the now inevitable splatter vinyl and a single LP of  “Cerebral Caustic” on multi-coloured “bonkers” (their word, absofuckinglutely not mine) splatter vinyl because of course it is. That's all for RSD this year, a move which represents far better judgement by the organisers. A studio album out of print on vinyl for 25 years and a properly sought after live release on the format for the first time? Yeah, that fits well with what RSD was meant to be back when we all queued up for a “Bury Pts 2 + 4” 7” in 2010.

Now, a fun wee question mark was raised over “CC” when the RSD website credited the release to Demon rather than Cherry Red. It appears Demon have the Permanent Records catalogue and have also announced clear vinyl reissues of “The Infotainment Scan”, “Middle Class Revolt”, “The Twenty-Seven Points” and, perhaps most interestingly, “The Post Nearly Man”, all on clear vinyl with expanded artwork from Pascal LeGras. It looks as though these are coming in under the £20 mark (£25 for T27P) and I reckon they'll be popular – I fancy nabbing MCR and TPNM myself. A bit of a downer that all of these, except, oddly, “The Post Nearly Man” were recently rescheduled from September 2020 to January 2021 but hey ho – probably Covid-related, much like everything else.

As for Cherry Red, whilst one report had it that “Are You Are Missing Winner” was next, they are finally releasing a 3CD/2LP edition of “Imperial Wax Solvent” in October. This includes the much-discussed original mix by Grant Showbiz and a previously unavailable live set from shortly after the album's original release. This is, basically, exactly what we wanted. Hurrah! Can't wait.

Thanks to the speculation re: AYAMW, there was a little disappointment in come quarters and I can certainly see a healthy audience for a straight single LP pressing of that as it was only ever available on a picture disc vinyl before. Here's hoping they won't go for a double splatter vinyl with unnecessary extras (“Where's The Fuckin' Taxi? Cunt” on vinyl? Come on, SPARE US).  

To yr present authors surprise, an expanded edition of “The Frenz Experiment” was announced for release by Beggars Banquet/Arkive in October. I had reckoned a new vinyl edition was likely as it was the only studio album on BB not yet afforded a new pressing and the addition of a second LP with various singles tracks was no surprise either, given that there are similar packages available for “TWAFW”, “TNSG” and “Bend Sinister”. A very pleasant surprise however is the inclusion of the group's Janice Long session from 1987, their only unreleased Radio 1 session. Also, “A Day In The Life” has been licenced for the this also (it was the only studio recording from the era missing from “5 Albums”). The Long session and “...Life” are only on the CD version. As such, this release very much follows the pattern of the “Bend Sinister” reissue from 2018 and is likely inspired by the near ecstatic reception and healthy sales that release enjoyed. Nice that the CD edition is £12 this time, having been more like £22 for “Bend Sinister”.

Let Them Eat Vinyl are responsible for the illustration...they are planning an almost ludicrous onslaught of Fall vinyl. Their website currently lists an almost unbelievable THIRTY ONE Fall LP releases for the three months running September to November. Thirty-one. Now – this includes “Interim” which is already on the shelves but it also includes the “Live From The Vaults” releases. It was assumed from the inclusion of two of these on Cherry Red's “Dragnet” 3CD box that these were part of the Fall Sound Archive deal that MES cut with CR in the years before his death which makes this a bit interesting. Also, LTEV are also claiming they will release “The Post-Nearly Man” on vinyl in October, which clashes with Demon's schedule – they originally had Smith and The Fall's albums for Permanent Records releases slated for reissue in September but all except TPNM have been moved. Meanwhile, “Cog Sinister” are about to release TPNM on CD! After being unavailable and highly prized for 2 decades, we're now set for 3 separate reissues within 2 months!  Anyway, the vast majority of the remaining LTEV are discs from the 2 “sets of ten (really eleven)” although also included are the excellent “I Am Pure As Oranj” and the first vinyl edition of “The Light User Syndrome” since its original release in 1996. Caveat Emptor, as the saying goes.

Narnack are also hinting that a 3LP “Fall Heads Roll” isn't too far off. Having teased this for a couple of years, Early in 2020, it was announced that the label was folding. This announcement was deleted and Narnack immediately moved on to asking fans to suggest what additional material could be added to this new version. Never one of their best, there would have to be some impressive outtakes to persuade yr persent scribe to cough up.  

Elsewhere, Phonogram have yet to succumb to new vinyl pressings of their albums, despite the prices fetched on the collectors market for these, especially “Code-Selfish”. This may be partly due to what seems to have been a relatively low take-up for their 6CD box set from 2017. Titled “The Fontana Years”, this was just the 2CD editions of the three albums from 2007 in a box. It therefore looked weak next to the “Singles 1978-2016” box set as well as providing nothing attractive to the faithful who already had them. It hit the shelves at £35-40 a time and, unsurprisingly, remained there and can now be scored for around £20.

The much requested expansion of “The Real New Fall LP” with the original, very different mix of the album has yet to appear. At last count, contractual wrangles between the UK and US were said to be in the way but who knows? If “Levitate” can reappear, surely this can too.

Of course, we never know what else the less-salubrious end of the market will have for us but we shall approach with due caution.

The cold reality: what we get now is all there is. Mark E Smith now exists for Fall fans on paper, on magnetic tape, on vinyl and in combinations of 0 and 1. A sad fact. But it is clear that the appetite for The Fall is, if anything, increasing. Hindsight is presenting The Fall in a particularly clear light. In such a stylised, filtered and carefully marketed world, full of covert strategies and manipulative messaging, The Fall are reassuringly flawed, human, real. Their jagged edges, their constant state of flux, their DIY presentation and their disinterest in convention draws in the curious. The quantity of music suits an insatiable, want-it-all-and-now culture and, having made their albums for the vinyl format as well as bringing us so many magnificent 3-4 minute singles, their music is almost perfectly suited to today's market place where vinyl albums mix with song-by-song streams. People who love to write about music always loved The Fall and it seems that this is every bit as true today as it was in the days when we never had to wait any more than a few months for a missive of some sort, be it an album, a single, a Peel session or even just an entertaining interview.

Given that The Beatles – the most lauded rock/pop act of all time - have finally reached a generation to whom their blithe optimism means absolutely nothing, it is impossible to say how anything in music will be regarded 20 years from now. But for now, at least, The Fall endure. Their vibrations remain intense and powerful. And we, the people, dance to the waves.

Nine out of ten? Nah. Ten out of ten. Top marks.