#I can't with these two XD

[sourtomatola]

wanted to do one more.

[queerlilchinchin]

No Regrets

"Don't you ever regret it?"

"Regret what?"

"Falling in love with her? I mean, look at her... she can't even smile, why would you want to love that?"

Markel's eyes fell upon the girl questioning him with a sharp and dangerous expression.

"No! Of course I don't regret it! She is the absolute love of my life and nothing - not a dang thing - will ever change that! She is beautiful and loving and honest and-"

"Rude." Both eyes fell upon the woman he spoke about in surprise. She rarely ever spoke, and it was honestly surprising hearing her use a descriptive word. She wasn't usually so quick to use one. Markel's lip twitched ever so slightly into the smallest smile as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

She and he both turned back to the woman that he was speaking with. Lindsay's face showed no emotion, while he was beaming.

"This is why I love this woman," he said simply, kissing her temple and giving her a look of pride. The onlooker gave them an odd look.

"You two just don't fit," she said bluntly, making Markel's smile shift into a look of absolute rage.

"We fit perfectly like two puzzle pieces!"

"Like two opposing corner pieces," the woman corrected. His arm slipped from around Lindsay's shoulders as he turned his full attention on the woman and took a step closer, eye twitching with the effort not to yell.

"She is-" He was cut off by the feeling of the back of his shirt getting tugged back. He glanced back to see Lindsay's perfectly straight face staring at him, slowly shaking her head.

She offered no other signs of disapproval, but he deflated anyway.

"Let's get some pizza," he said, wrapping his arm back around her shoulders and pulling her away from the upsetting woman. The woman opened her mouth, lifting a finger, but Lindsay casually called back, "Just stop."

And she did.

[all-my-ocs-are-evil]

[insert poetic title here]

fun fact: this did not start out as isat fanart

(rambling in tags)

[zhukzubast]

a reunion of preordained partners for @tenta-storm. happy bday~!

[akimao]

Happy Birthday Marino 💚

--

PRINT

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2012 versione

[dvilsdesire]

Raphael x Haarlep (dancing)

// I LOVE THEM SO MUCH 😭😭😭 (Wyll's romance)

Mods

[shiori8]

Power-Couple Uravity & Midoriya-Sensei

I know I'm incredibly late to the party but guess who's finally finished MHA and is all sorts of emo about all of these losers... 🥹

(In my head I imagine them posing like this for a magazine cover, but it's been a while since I did much drawing in general, so here's just a sloppy little piece to try and get somewhat back into the groove of things lol maybe I will come back to this idea one day ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

[terubakudan]

Melon Soda 🍒 or Galaxy Lemonade? 🍋

[momentomori24]

[This has been sitting in my draft for a while lol]

When it comes to Curly's failings, I always see people bring up his obvious failure to protect Anya and him prioritising Jimmy, who was the rapist in that situation. Which is completely valid btw and we should rake him through the coals for that alone even more. But I also see too many people saying that Curly "didn't enable Jimmy" or playing softball for his actions. And I could maybe see where that comes from if that incident was the only thing we had to point to-- but that wasn't all he did, is it? Curly being indifferent or not taking Jimmy's mistreatment and belittlement of Anya seriously was hinted at so much earlier than that.

Namely, the very first time we play from Curly's point of view. Let's just skip the fact that Curly was putting everyone in danger by not taking his psych evals seriously and simply giving the same answers to pass them even tho he was shown literal minutes after this scene being clearly not-sane, and go straight to the point I actually wanna get into. Which is this:

These scenes in isolation wouldn't be that bad. From his pov, it's played off as comical and it is. Jimmy being a brony (not really lmao) and getting playfully dragged over it is funny. But unfortunately this is the first example out of many for Curly's complacency. Anya is complaining about Jimmy not taking his psych evals or her seriously, which is easy to believe considering how much he rags on her for "not being a good nurse" (she kept Curly alive on hopes and dreams how dare you). So he keeps making her do silly and inappropriate reports she clearly doesn't wanna do, which is kinda shitty (also borders on harassment). But rather than actually saying something about Jimmy's behaviour or even acknowledging how it sucks he says this:

Mate, that's not a good thing 💀 He's clearly aware that the problem is Jimmy's lack of respect for Anya specifically. He knows that if he, his friend and a man in power, were the one doing the evals Jimmy wouldn't try that disrespect. But it's Anya, a meek woman who ranks lower than him so he thinks he can get away with it (which he DOES), and Curly's shown as comfortable in knowing that. He doesn't chew Jimmy out for making Anya uncomfortable nor does he reassure her that he will do something about it. All he does is take it off her hands this once and helps Jimmy power through it to get a good diagnosis (even tho we know he's DEFINITELY not sane either). He doesn't even mention Anya's discomfort or confront him on his inappropriate behaviour, just teases Jimmy in good fun instead because he doesn't think of it as anything serious. It's subtle and pretty minor in comparison to everything else, but I think it's worth pointing out. Especially because this convo takes place after Jimmy had assaulted her, which makes this so much worse.

If you need any more evidence of Curly being an enabler you need not look further than Anya herself. And I'm not just talking about the way he failed her here-- I'm talking about Anya's own view of Curly and the way said view influences her actions.

Just look at her choice of wording. "What would you have done". This is in response to him saying that she could've come to him if she were feeling stressed, which she-- in his eyes-- didn't. The question itself implies that she had no faith in Curly to actually help despite his insistence that he would've, which I think is significant because it shows that she's very much aware of Curly's shortcomings when it comes to her situation AND it's one of the first (or the first time) she actually verbalised her lack of trust towards him or anyone directly. Prior to this scene she had told him about her rape and the rapist, presumably because she trusted him to handle it. And he dismissed her because the rapist was his best friend, and that evidently deeply scarred her. Enough so that she secretly took the gun and hid it someplace else and didn't even tell Curly were that was, because she knows that if Curly has access to it there's a so much greater chance Jimmy will have too, insinuated by the line "the least I can do is make sure he never gets it either". Speaking about the gun:

It sucks so bad that this perception of him isn't even inaccurate nor unjustified. That despite everything Jimmy had done to her and everything he could still do to her, he'd very likely still not allow her access to the gun for protection. Because that's exactly what he didn't do anyway. He didn't attempt to keep her safe from Jimmy, instead he just pretended that nothing was wrong and still let Jimmy's belittlement of her pass. He didn't give her the gun after the incident, because she wouldn't have hid the case if he had. Despite his desperate reassurance that he'd do anything, he did nothing but make it worse for her and she KNOWS that. It's so frustrating knowing he entrusted the axe to Swansea when he needed it but not the gun to Anya when she needed it too. Also this:

The fact that his knee-jerk reaction to her admitting that she's pregnant was "Who would you--" is so fucked, especially considering she's already told him what happened. "Who would you" what? Who would you fuck? Who would you have sex with? That choice of wording drives me up a wall-- SHE wouldn't and didn't do anything or anyone. That was JIMMY. The potential sentence implies that she had any choice or agency in her pregnancy. She didn't. And the fact that Curly had to ask "who" insinuates that he's been putting Jimmy's action out of sight and out of mind the whole time, choosing to not think about them or what happened to Anya at all. And considering he still made her do Jimmy's evaluations despite being able to do them himself and literally didn't even think of making sure she gets psych evals done too--especially AFTER getting sexually assaulted--that might actually be the case (I haven't seen anyone make a stink about that piece of info so I'm going to because what kinda colossal fuck up IS that??).

I vaguely had a post like this in mind but seeing so many people be like "well Anya did some wrong stuff too like leaving Curly alone with Jimmy but you don't get mad at HER for that so why is Curly not doing anything about Jimmy being alone with Anya so different??" actually makes me want to blow some people up. Jimmy's an abuser, sure, but Anya has no real reason to believe that he'd actually harm Curly. From her perspective, they were close, close enough that Curly would not only let Jimmy continuously disrespect her but also get away with assaulting her too. That, and she knows that Jimmy was closer to Curly than anyone and more likely to be civil around him than he ever was to her. She has barely any reasons to suspect Jimmy would harm Curly when they're alone. Curly, on the other hand, has every fucking reason on the planet to think Jimmy would harm her when they're alone. He knows he raped her (likely in her room at night too). He knows that he sexually harasses her. He knows that he doesn't respect her at all. And that was BEFORE the crash. Anya tried insisting on giving Curly his medicine, only for Jimmy to keep aggressively insisting that he'll take care of it despite her protests. Curly didn't try to keep them separate at all even though he was the Captain and had the power to do so. And this should go without saying, but leaving your rapist alone with his best friend that he was close to and enabled/protected him and leaving your friend alone with the woman he raped (and might have repeatedly assaulted given his free access to her) is NOT THE SAME and I'm going to start chucking some people down a waterfall because what the fuck is that argument 💀 Actually leave it to the fandom of the game where the rape of a woman is the catalyst for the events that unfold to use her trauma to defend the guy that enabled it in the first place. Bloody hell.

The reason why this whole Curly discourse pisses me off is because it-- from what I can see-- ONLY brings up his failures 1-0 days before the crash and the Dead Pixel scene (or all the discussion around other points are drowned out by those two). Those scenes, while important to talk about, are not the only things he's done, and focussing on those as the only things is a mistake that comes short of understanding the issue. When it comes to Curly the main defences I see for him are "he was trying not to escalate the situation" and "he was trying to keep things under control the best he can" and "he was waiting for the right time to help Anya", but those don't work when you look at the bigger picture of everything he's done.

He half-assed through his psych eval despite clearly not being sane (and KNOWING he's barely sane, he literally admits it to Jimmy's face). He still continued to task her with Jimmy's psych evals. He brushed over Jimmy's sexual harassment of her as a joke. He didn't think about making sure she got psych evals done herself after being raped. He gave Swansea the axe but didn't give Anya the gun despite it being for "unrest amongst the crew" (whatever the hell THAT means). He let her assault slip his mind that she had to remind him. He's literally a blond man. He took no action to hold Jimmy responsible for anything, and prioritised how his violation of Anya would affect him rather than her. He ignored her demands for him to get rid of Jimmy. He still allowed Jimmy free reign of the ship as co-pilot even after he was openly fantasising about killing everyone and had a major motive and the means to do just that. He was potentially thinking of making her miscarry to cover up what happened. He was so accustomed to her sucking up being disrespected and disturbed that he didn't even notice a difference in her behaviour until she hid the fucking gun. There's so much other shit he's done and hasn't done, and not talking about them or glossing over them makes it so easy for people to argue that he isn't actually an enabler or just minimise the severity of his neglect.

And while I'm already dragging Curly through the mud, I might as well just drag Swansea too. I've seen too many people being like "Anya should've told Swansea instead" and "Swansea was the one that actually took responsibility". Like, y'all realise he's not that much better than Curly, right? He already knew about what happened to Anya-- he admits it to Jimmy's face-- but he didn't do shit. He knew, but he still got completely shitfaced for months despite her earlier protestation to that (for very understandable reasons). He knew, but he still let Jimmy have the axe AND be alone with Anya while having it. He knew, but when Anya locked herself in the Medical and Daisuke and Jimmy asked for his help he didn't budge nor really showed any care. He knew, but the reason he finally decided to do something about Jimmy wasn't Anya, it was Daisuke. Her suffering and her eventual death weren't enough for him to take action either.

This game, on top of everything else, is a great depiction of rape culture. It doesn't just include the rapists, but the people (mostly men) that stay silent, do nothing, make excuses for and protect the perpetrator for whatever reason, and Swansea and Curly (Curly way more so than Swansea) are both active contributors to the environment that allowed for evil to flourish and continue unhindered until it destroyed them all. And while that arguably doesn't make them evil themselves or as bad as Jimmy, they are so much more a part of the bigger problem than the fandom likes to admit.

[Ok since this is kinda gaining a bit of traction please consider helping these guys out here, here and here. Thanks!]

[theladyyavilee]

I tell myself you don't mean a thing and what we got got no hold on me but when you're not there, I just crumble I tell myself I don't care that much but I feel like I die 'till I feel your touch only love, only love can hurt like this say I wouldn't care if you walked away but every time you're there I'm begging you to stay when you come close, I just tremble and every time, every time you go it's like a knife that cuts right to my soul

Paloma Faith || Only Love Can Hurt Like This

[ID in alt text]

[melchinafan]

Oh, another thought just occurred to me that made me gasp real soft because ow, my heart.

First, to set up what led to the thought, I'll establish something else I noticed in chapter 14. Spoilers ahead:

At the end of the game, you finally get the opportunity to sit in the Flood graveyard without the stress of the storm, and take a moment with Trey's mausoleum if you wish. It's even interactive, letting you get a comment from Hazel and a nice, zoomed-in view of what it says. But if you look closely, you'll notice that there is an owl head at the top of the Flood family crest. (This is theoretically also visible on things like, say, the fancy plates you can see at other points in the game. But it would be too small to make out on those, unless you knew to look.)

After this, you head into the mansion proper. And perched near the broken wall as you exit the graveyard? Is an owl. One that slowly, slowly flies ahead of you, escorting you all the way to the mansion itself. At this point, if you hadn't guessed earlier in the game, it becomes clear that this owl—the one that had landed on the balcony railing when you first hear the strands call to Hazel, and indeed, can occasionally be found flying ahead of you on your path throughout the story—is Trey. Or rather, his spirit, manifested in the form of an owl. It's a lovely little detail, having him help Hazel in what ways he can, while she searches for Lacey.

EDIT: I replayed chapter 1 to grab some extra screenshots for a pair of posts I'm working on (about when SoM takes place), and need to add this detail that I'd forgotten. As Hazel goes through the cemetery on her way to the Flood mansion during the storm, she pauses a moment to talk to Trey. She ends by saying: "I'm so scared for mama. Dad, if you're up there… keep her safe." That quote, in combination with the owl head on the crest? There's no doubt in my mind now that the owl guiding Hazel is definitely Trey. Except maybe in chapter 7, as noted below. Molly's already looking after Lacey, so Trey does his best to get Hazel to her, and of course sticks by her all the way to the end.

Now, with that said, some of the owls in the game are probably just owls. But while I was thinking about things, as I said at the start of this post, it occurred to me...there might be one other owl that had very similar significance.

Granted, this could just be a normal owl. The sign next to the stick tent for the Mississippi State National Forest Laurent's Camp has an owl as its logo. And Laurent himself became an owl, of sorts. So there are plenty of reasons for the animal that shows up in his memories to be an owl! However, given that the game establishes a different owl as Trey...it could very well be that this owl was Laurent's mom, Thea. But poor Laurent, he had no idea. He was too hurt to let her watch over him from so close, to keep him company. And oh, how it hurts my heart. At the same time...I wonder whether the owl you see in chapter 7 is still Trey? Or if perhaps Thea is the one acting as a guide in the dark forest, still close enough to keep an eye on her son, while the Strands whisper louder and more often than any other chapter...

A bonus observation, while I'm here:

This is the boat Laurent would go fishing in as a kid, to get them dinner when his dad fell into depression and couldn't manage. (This memory gets me right in the heart, too. Young Laurent is so small, alone in that boat.) Most of the color scheme of the Rougarou is pretty self-explanatory—red muscle and white bone, reflected in his wings, feathers embroidered with eyes almost like a moth's eyespots. But the little bit of green kept puzzling me...until I ran across this boat. That's why his smaller secondary wings have green in them, and why their embroidery is more rudimentary. Hidden under his fabricated outer layer of fancy suit-like wings, under his normal put-together-adult appearance, is the lingering echo of a hurt little kid who had to grow up too fast.

[sais-of-glory]

a collab between Neo, Bunny and Myself 💙❤️ having some nice winter snuggles uwu

thank you two so much this was fun and I could just eat up your parts of this

original sketch by me

lineart by @neofox

Coloring by sweetrabbit971 from twitter aka Bunny

[eddis-not-eeddis]

Folks, if you would kindly take some time to pray for me over the next three or so days. Midterms are hitting pretty hard.

[pixelatedraindrops]

Overindulgence on Valentine's Day Chocolate~ 🍫💦

This was a very silly little idea I had in my head for Valentine's Day. It was originally going to just be a one-shot fanfiction I write but you should all know by now... xD

I don't know the definition of a one-shot fanfiction

My first ever stomach issue related themed sickfic~ :3

Here is the story (bc archive direct link doesn't wanna work)

Now as for the art, it's pretty self explanatory; our favorite silly little CEO received a lot of appreciation chocolate from some of the citizens of Kanai Ward. Touched by the gesture and finally receiving love reciprocated by the city he loved so much, he didn't leave a single sweet treat given to him untouched or uneaten.

This would later lead to disaster ;w;

Thankfully Yuma is there to lend him a helping hand :3

Spoilers for the Story's Outcome below~ (another drawing +further rambling as always lol I always say too much haha... ^^;)

The best home remedy for an tummy ache is a good tummy rub 🩷

Okay, so I was honestly wanting to write a story like this for a while but was incredibly shy about it... Because upset tummy rubs lowkey are another very small guilty pleasure of mine. When a person gets an upset stomach from either being sick or from overeating, I personally find it to be a very comforting, touching and even at times very intimate gesture. (I even remember trying it myself to help a friend of mine w gastritis in highschool)

Sadly, I felt very shy and even embarrassed to want to try and write something like this, let alone draw it out... Tummy rubs are unfortunately often seen as kinks or are fetishized by other people so it's often seen as weird to the public... So it made me feel nervous to even share this story and art. I did have lots of fun drawing it, but I'm saying it right now, I do NOT fetishize this okay? ><;

(not trying to kink shame, its just not my intention here is all ;w;)

In fact; abdominal massages (a.k.a tummy rubs) are actually a real medical procedure to recover the pressure in one's stomach.

The pose of this art was incredibly difficult to draw but I am fairly happy with the way it came out. Yuma looks either doting or affectionate towards Makoto and Makoto looks perfectly relaxed laying in his lap c: Yuma politely took his shoes off but Makoto is the type to leave his shoes on even when he’s laying on furniture (we saw it in ch4 twice lol) They're such cuties, I love them so much💕 (I even added a kitty to convince myself that its cute and not weird... ;w;)

Truth be told, this idea was actually semi-inspired by a little doodle that @cochidinh drew on X. It made me think that if Makoto received valentines from the people of Kanai Ward, would he eat all of them?

And thus this story was born c: (its meant to be silly so please try not to take it too seriously... ;w; They may seem OOC here, I did my best but this is my first time ever writing a story like this so I might be rusty... ;w;)

EXTRA BONUS: Kitty Makoto 🐱

Fun Fact: Did you know that cats only allow belly rubs from a person they trust? :3c I think Makoto is very cat-like tbh haha~

Anyway Happy Valentines Day🩷

Don't eat too much chocolate now! 💦

[hyog-blog]

If You Like It, Put a Ring on It [fic]

I wanted to write one kiss, under some love seductive magic to make it more fun, but then everyone in my head went: but what about the AFTERMATH of a kiss? Aren't we going to explore why they did it and what happens next? And I'm like sure, another dramedy it is :D Because seriously, it's like these characters just have to have that bit of existential crisis first. And, obviously, overcoming it makes everyone (including me) oh-so-happy on various levels.

So I bring you another delicious Zhao Yuanzhou and Zhuo Yichen coming-together fic, with a first kiss and then some more, with ZYZ being a tease and looking staggering in his attempt to impress Zhuo Yichen even more, with a bit of a plot, found family shenanigans, and a variation of a wedding ring trope (is it even a thing? well now it's a thing :D)

If you read it and like it, come celebrate with me to the comments! :D

https://archiveofourown.org/works/61944364/chapters/158397634

Summary:

“Do I have to?” Zhuo Yichen manages to ask in a husky voice looking as if this magic was the only way for him to actually act upon his feelings, whatever they were, and once they get back to normal, if that was still an option, he will have to restrain himself once more and be that carefully composed, slightly uptight leader of the Demon Hunting Bureau, an exemplary fighter, stoic and untainted by humanly desires.

[tagarilaghost]

Hi uhm I got so inspired by this post from @fujii-draws that i wanted to write like 200 words for the first two artworks! Well now it‘s 1500 words for only the first artwork yeah :) enjoy :D!

Ribbons and Aimilios belong to @fujii-draws

Creations of your own mind

aka Darkrai‘s "Kill yourself" but worse

There is only one cause to ensure failure: 

Mercy.

It‘s like you fear to overcome a morally conflicting line. A line which is just that. A simple line.There is no black and white. There are only different shades of grey. And even if there was a line that could suddenly turn your world black or white, who cares?

That line is a mere illusion created by morality of the Pokemon living in a society.

He will not acknowledge it. He will do what he pleases and if other Pokemon come to harm, there will not be less harm to come to them, just because it would „cross a line“.

It is utterly frustrating to converse with others who do not comply with his visions. His true wish at heart. 

Why is it so hard for folks to accept the darkness and so easy for them to trust the light?

As Darkrai finally entangled his master plan - his oh so carefully crafted symphony of terrors - the most important part would come into play.

On the side of Sharpedo bluff, among ragged rocks, lies a shadow not quite like another. One in the form of his flickering form. There is a little pretty flat plateau that elevates in between the sharp edges of the stone. This is where he keeps his shadow. A shadow which now crawls together and droops to another form. 

Slowly he rises to embrace the moonlight. A white plume of hair comes into sight first. Red spikes embarking from a pitch-black skin follow. With a stare as cold as a Mammoswine‘s unending ice-prison he fully exits his shadow.

UGH! He is sick to death of this frenzy town! When will those fools finally go to sleep?! 

…Calm yourself.

He must tend to his patience, yes, yes. But he waited for so long already, he desperately wants to get into action.

After all, he just had to be in proximity of the dreamer to dive the calm atmosphere into a hellish storm of agony. As soon as these two fall asleep, nightmares will torment their very own mind…

A perfect opening for himself to say so.

Well, then let‘s continue the waiting game. Sitting as elegantly as possible upon the dangerous terrain, he concentrates.

…Tsk.

Trying to meditate is not easy.

Even more draining if there‘s that abomination in the sky.

He growled at the almost full moon. Those damn moon phases.

The full moon in particular greatly weakened his powers, which makes things… merely a little bit more challenging. 

But it had to be necessary to not spread his nightmares in town and attract attention. The moon and his strength are his only criteria to decipher his range of bad dreams - his trusted ability.

An alarming sting suddenly hits him in the head. It doesn’t hurt. It just tingles his brain in a way like nothing else can.

Oh the time has finally come. He put too many hours of research and preparation into this to fail now.

He watched them cower in front of others.

And he will watch them cower in front of him.

Concentrating and navigating the dreamspace are always a difficult task. But with only two Pokemon in grasp, he has an easy time.

One isn’t even a fully evolved dreamer! It still needs to settle into the world of its inner mind to get vulnerable. 

Then let‘s start with our first little victim, shall we?

Entering one‘s vicinity without getting noticed is - at least almost all the time - easy peasy. It‘s the shaping of dreams which makes him talented and gifted. 

No insecurity can hide from him if he finds the right trigger.

Ugh. Everytime folks end up accusing him for being faced with the torment of their insecurities!

He does not create nightmares. His precense merely brings them to light once the Pokemon is asleep.

Yes yes, unwillingly taking them to sleep by attacking them with Dark Void has been in consideration as ever so often. Whatever.

Sure he can also force scenes upon others when shaping the dreamscape. He could do oh so many things to influence a sleeper.

But the true culprit of their suffering always lies at the dreamers themselves. Their own twisted mind is at fault.

So he will abuse every single weakness she shows.

Although… that won‘t even be neccessary to lure out her fears. His research already fed him plenty of points to drive her mind to.

This will be a feast. A feast fit for him, a king.

Everything was dark. Even darker than Dusk Forest. Ribbons remembers very well the gloomy eeriness that struck all over the future. But somehow this was worse. It doesn’t look like much. Only black grey rectangles matched together.

And somehow this weird environment makes her truly feel worse than the dark future ever did. It is discomforting to a degree where she can’t shake it off anymore. The realisation hit her once the edgy masses transform into something… horryfying. Then there’s silence again.

With the blink of an eye, all the unsettling emotions disappear and a new yet familiar place stands before her.

She knows that this is the dark future. She somehow is absolutely sure that temporal tower collapsed here. Why? No clue. 

And yet she feels warm and welcome all of a sudden. She quickly notices why. Standing on the edge of a cliff between the unsettling trees is Grovyle. Her lifelong partner who would give everything to save this rotten future from its unmoving curse. 

Of course it would lighten her heart being in his presence. She trusted him once with her life and she will trust him again.

As Ribbons jumped happily over to him, preparing a joke in her head to tease him, Grovyle huffs. 

She instantly stops, holding her breath.

That huff was full of utter disgust.

…and hate.

„Ribbons.“, his tone is cold. It reminds her of the time when she thought of Grovyle as the villain.

It all shifts, it all… what is happening? 

Panic reaches her now shivering paws and drowns her vision in a color she never saw before.

 „How… How could you do this to me!!!“, he turns around, anger bubbling up in his expression.

No no no nononono…!

This is not… how-

Her eyes gasped for relief, but it only hit her with more and more impressions. The trees suddenly twisted and turned, loomed all over her weak form. Branches reaching out for her like dead claws from the undead trying to rip her body apart.

Bloody drool taints the sky in a dark red sea, drowning her with it.

And worst of all Grovyle‘s form turns into something unreal, something hurt. Something that she hurt.

„Why didn‘t you… save me…?“

His voice echoed in her head.

Why didn‘t you save me? Why didn‘t you save me?

It inflicted her mind with poison that could never be cured.

Why didn‘t you save me! Why didn‘t you save me!

It throws a spear as sharp as a warrior's blade through her very heart.

WHY DIDN‘T YOU SAVE ME?!!?!

She falls to the ground, ears flapping before her eyes and sobbing hiccups escaping her throat.

She did try everything! She truly did! She never wanted this to happen to him! She loved him like she loved Aimilios and she could never replace both of them.

Ribbons shrinks back, but there is no step to take. Behind her is a monster of an abyss which is just patiently waiting to consume her whole.

There is… no escape. 

Before she could think about anything else, Grovyle raises his voice again.

„Why did you leave me to DIE.“

Her throat is sealed tightly. She wants to tell him that he is indeed wrong and that she did try to save him!

But she can‘t.

„Why did I have to sacrifice myself, but you get to live?“

She cowers even further.

Grovyle always had the right words, why does it now feel so utterly wro-

„You should also cease to exist, Ribbons.“

No-! She-!

„You should cease to exist because it would be justice. 

MY justice.“

As Darkrai watches from the sidelines, how perfect the nightmare plays out, he can’t help but laugh out loud.

Ribbons won‘t even notice a thing. He is right there and yet the only one she can concentrate on is her own misery and depiction of the worst situation of an interaction with Grovyle she could ever be confronted with.

Oh how weak the mind can be… she didn‘t even resist him shaping it in this direction. 

In this world he is in control.

And he will have as much fun as he pleases.

Well… while she relieves that same conversation over and over again, he doesn’t have to watch only one tormented dreamer.

There‘s still number two…

Oh yes…

Until the morning sun comes, their minds will be his.