#I didn't even mean to do the Escape Pod Ending I was trying to do Bucket Bottom of the Mind Control Room Ending and

[awkwardtuatara]

Next up in I Accidentally Broke The Stanley Parable: I incidentally moved in and out of the Boss's Office as the doors were closing and then tried to get back in, causing one of the doors to jam and not fully close for about 10 more seconds. You know, the same thing that would trigger the Escape Pod Ending.

Well, I restarted the game from the menu, awoke in Stanley's normal office, saw this on my way out:

went "cool, an alternate office," stepped out, and the entire thing suddenly switched to the normal view:

So I turned around, intending to see if it happened again, and. What. That should be Stanley's office, you know, the one behind Door 427, except it's just a grey rectangle and some darker grey floor.

Going into this grey rectangle, Stanley's room became normal again, and the external office became the short corridor from the first image. So I stepped in and out of Stanley's room a few times (wasn't counting exactly how many) until I stepped into his room, and everything went black.

When I walked forward more I was falling through the map. Various rooms like the main office and some other corridors were visible from the bottom, but fell away too fast for me to take a screenshot of in my surprise. Pretty soon after the game restarted and I was back in a fairly normal that did *not* glitch in and out of scenery.

I did, however, get the office covered in paper upon restarting. And on almost every single subsequent run, I got either an alternate voiceline, an alternate office arrangement, or both. Not sure if that's related, though. I was also holding the Bucket, if that matters.

Anyway. Falling through the map was very cool, I wish I got an image of it - I've seen out-of-map exploration on youtube, but it felt a bit different somehow doing it by accident myself. I'll try jamming the doors in the Boss's Office again - I think it might be because the office loads in differently for the Escape Pod ending? I wonder what happens if you jam the doors and then leave before the external door to the Boss's Office re-opens for you...

[aleksiej]

does rottmnt donnie dislike touch?

i have rewatched all of rottmnt and am ending this debacle once and for all (at least for me lol)

based on the two seasons, the movie and the comics (tho the comics don't really bring anything to this conversation) i think i have the answer to one of the more controversial topics in this fandom

(no, it's not the yuichi vs usagi debate, usagi obviously wins that no sweat)

so, does donnie dislike touch?

in the series, he is shown being fairly touchy with his siblings throughout the series, with some exceptions i will try to list now, tho not with proper episode names as i am not looking them up, sorry not sorry:

pilot episode, captured by draxum in a cacoon with mikey he's visibly uncomfortable and tries to get away

mikey's solo mission, he doesn't look at any of the and in response to a hug he pats mikey's head with a metal arm from his battle shell.

glued together, he's showing visible discomfort at being forced into close (touching) proximity of his brothers, tho that discomfort is somewhat elevated when they do a second go-round after the sticky foam ball got crushed

that time splinter caught everyone in a trap hanging in the lair (i think it's the forest survival episode?), he's, again, uncomfortable and the first to find a solution to their entrapment, be it on his phone

there's probably more, but that's what i remember from the series and spread out on about 60 episodes it's noticeable, but not a deciding factor, especially since donnie's also seen being fine with touch. now, the movie offers us even more of a look into donnie's relationship with touch. this list will include every instance presented i can think of, in no particular order.

during leo and raph's fight after they lost the key, donnie jumps on raph's back in an attempt to stop him from advancing in the fight, as mikey tries to shield leo. it's a very quick decision and doesn't seem to particularly trouble donnie.

after the kraang come through the portal and the turtles escape-pod out, mikey's panicking and grabbing cj, also causing him distress. donnie grabs mikey under his arms like a plushie and is shown to carry him until leo gets back with a panic attack and news of raph, upon which leo starts at cj with a fight in mind and donnie and mikey keep him away. again, no distress is coming off of donnie, no more than the regular situation call for (although he gets more logic-minded and quiet as the movie goes on with only small donnie moments breaking it up, which seems to be how he reacts to stress, but that'll be in another fever post)

he's touching mikey sometimes during the subway battle, but it's most likely he either didn't notice or didn't care, considering everything else happening in that fight (ps the kraang train is my favorite villainous entity in the franchise, give me more of the kraang train and i will give you my soul)

he's shown very visibly having sensory issues (very relatable) throughout the whole movie because of the kraang. not necessarily to do with touch, oh except for the part when he had to get EATEN BY THE TECHNODROME THROUGH HIS BARELY TOUCHED AT ALL SOFT SHELL which is shown to be a sensory nightmare and awful to touch and yes, i had night terrors if that, thank you very much.

at the very end, they all hug with no visible problems except for the fact that they are on staten island. that is to say, there's one important scene still, it happens before the end, but i wanted to have space to gush about it so here we go.

the famous scene of raph grabbing donnie and mikey flying through the air, yelling "don't worry donnie, it's not a hug, it's a rescue". probably the most important thing said in accordance to donnie's relationship with touch.

in my personal opinion, donnie doesn't mask (i mean look at his behavior) or if he does, he does it, rarely in public and even rarer with just his brothers. so every one of the hamato clan knows at least the most important of donnie's boundaries, especially related to the autism, as it's handled well within their family structure (both donnie's and mikey's autism is) . so, if raph calls out to him to warn about the hug he's giving donnie and treats it like a potential bad thing, there are really only two conclusions we can get to.

one, donnie doesn't like/hates physical contact. disputed by just about everything else in the show, except for the listed above exceptions.

two, donnie being open to touch or not is conditional. and considering the mentioned exceptions and raph's rescue from the movie, there's one similarity we can notice between them.

the touch affecting donnie is happening without his consent and without a form of escape.

(except for when donnie's hugged by mikey in his solo mission episode, but considering he's already kind of detached, i'm assuming he's just not up to it and so he uses his robotic extra arms to give comfort instead of ignoring his little brother which aww)

that's the uncomfortable part, the unpredictability and lack of a way to detach himself. aka, donnie's just like me for real. lmao.

donnie probably doesn't mind touch and welcomes it, but needs to be in control of the process and be able to leave if he gets overwhelmed. and his family knows that, hence raph's words in the movie that led so many people astray...

this might just be another evidence of how well donnie is written as an autistic character, both with his low empathy not being demonized and not preventing him from creating bonds (tho sometimes making it difficult) and the fact that the most common opinion of autistic people (that they hate touch, which is something a psychiatrist brought up as evidence of me not being autistic) doesn't apply to everyone.

as a summary, rottmnt donnie is probably the best version of donnie right now and he doesn't hate touching, he just has to touch on his own terms. extremely valid, extremely relatable.

[raisedbyheathens]

So I know in various places there has been discourse about Gordon Porlock not surviving the Hypersleep process. And the "he's a bag of quince jelly on ice" people are incredibly wrong and should feel bad.

Gordon not waking up is a narrative dead end. Gordon dies and then... what? Tell me. Other than the initial gut punch of losing an MC what purpose does it serve? Gordon is gone, and Warren most likely either shuts down entirely or runs. Where to? He knows nothing in this new world. Runs or lashes out and who's he going to lash out at? Aubrey? Clive? The system? How. Tell me how any of this works or is compelling.

Gordon survives and comes out of the pod having lost his memories of Warren. HERE'S a rich vein to tap. Especially if the pod leans into a romantic interpretation of Warren and Gordon's relationship. Does Warren tell Gordon everything that happened, does Warren tell Gordon about his crime? Does Warren push too hard to try and get his friend/beloved back? Then you end up with an Arthur/Yellow situation where that may simply drive Gordon away. It's a more interesting narrative seam, that opens possible plot lines about memory and the past and who we are and what we choose to carry with us and who we are if those things are removed. It asks the question of Warren and more broadly of us- if someone you loved had forgotten the worst thing about you, would you tell them about it? Would they ever really know you if you didn't? Does anyone ever really know anyone else. All of that is interesting to think about and would still be starkly lit by the unflinching spotlight on corporate greed and unfettered, immoral science

Gordon survives completely intact. Another interesting set of paths to explore Now you have narrative possibilities of Warren and Gordon trying to learn how to be human again together. In an whole new world, new context trying to heal but largely adrift in a future they cannot possibly understand. What do THEY do? Does Warren run, like he has always done? Does Gordon follow him? Just walk away together and go be friends or romantic or other and leave cryonics and the fighting behind? Is that a happy ending? Maybe? But it also asks whether we ever really escape our patterns. That even if we are cut off from the circumstances and world that has shaped us, once we are molded there is no hope for change or growth. Maybe they stay and fight, and is it fair to ask these two men who shouldered so much of the initial emotional and physical burden of creating cryotech to shoulder more pain to help fix mistakes they themselves were deeply injured by? It asks does fair matter?

Anyway, Gordon is definitely going to wake up and all the people on twitter gleefully hoping he's goo in a pod are mean spirited sure, but mostly just wrong

now what happens WHEN Gordon wakes up is mostly likely going to murder me, but he almost certainly will wake up

[kiranerysismyhero]

what if how we could have both ezri and jadzia in s7 went like this:

jadzia is mortally injured, and the destiny is trying to get her/dax back to trill while she's still on life support. ben comes along bc jadzia is not actually dead yet and he has good reason to distrust the symbiosis commission.

things take a turn and it's looking even more urgent for the symbiont. ben doesn't want to let anyone remove dax from jadzia (again) while she's still alive but is overruled by starfleet brass at the behest of the commission. the ship's surgeon joins dax to ezri, who in this version is still just as reluctant but now at least the 15 minutes of improvised lecture substituting for years of preparation comes from ben. like how would he approach that conversation?

ezri wakes up and meets ben this time as dax... but in the next bed over jadzia is still hanging on. an hour, then two pass and the symbiont's vitals are a lot more stable now in ezri while jadzia is not doing well but is still fighting for her life. the destiny's doctor is kind of lost because they tried to contact trill about how they should care for jadzia but all the symbiosis commission wanted to talk about was dax and how soon could they get their hands on ezri

and ben is like 'okay i know you just met me but also you've known me for lifetimes now... hear me out...' and ezri's like 'yup solid plan let's do it but also what if we took even more risk bc dax's got a bit of starfleet medical now too' and ben's gotta be 'oh i had more appeals ready that you didn't even wait to hear, okay'

basically action sequence now– the destiny had slowed down to respond to an emergency signal and pick up some escape pods bc y'know dominion war, and ben and ezri work together to sneak jadzia into a biobed and off the ship in a runabout. and we see some of ezri accessing previous hosts as they hide the runabout in the debris field and get some distance before the destiny realizes they're missing

and just when it seems like the destiny is going to find them as ezri's breaking down a little bit about 'i'm a counselor and i'm still in training and out of all these lifetimes i'm still the one with the most medical knowledge in here??' as she tries to keep this woman that she remembers being stable-ish in stasis... the defiant decloaks! grabs them! re-cloaks! outta there!

julian checks that ezri is really really sure and then does what the symbiosis commission was never going to consider as an option: rejoining dax to jadzia now that the symbiont has been rehabbed/bolstered by ezri

jadzia is able to recover, if slowly. ezri is physically relatively unharmed by the ordeal, but a whole lot of psychological upheaval just happened and this woman is sat here making jokes about remembering being ezri for a hot minute and while ezri no longer remembers being jadzia, she does remember remembering being jadzia... it makes her head hurt. and jadzia's just like 'nah it was still less traumatic than last time when i had to be awake for more of it' and ezri just desperately wishes she could remember what the hell she means by last time

the symbiosis commission is piiiissed. they reallly want to excommunicate dax, jadzia, and/or ezri for all this but ben's like 'i'm adding the viability of respite care for symbionts to the list of info that you don't want me to share with your whole society' aand the symbiosis commission concedes under the condition that ezri is now GOING to be the next dax, WHENEVER that may be, there has been eNOUGH hot potato with this worm already, you two are going to STAY CLOSE so you don't end up pulling anyone else into dax's chaos being another intermediary when the time comes

so now jadzia and ezri are bureaucratically handcuffed to each other and both alive and have fascinating things to talk about :)

[mieanme]

Merman x Siren au

Hualian - (part VI)

First part: PART I

Previous part: PART V

***

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND?!"

When Xie Lian gets back, he sure expects other mers to be shocked that he actually did what the Emperor forbade. He also knows that there's probably a scolding from the Emperor himself awaiting him.

However, what he doesn't see coming, is bumping into his two friends the second he gets closer to the main cave formation in the pod's territory. The area loosely called a 'capital' by others is usually guarded through out the night and day, but taking into account that both Mu Qing and Feng Xin had a shift just the other day (he checked in with both of them in the canteen twice, to make sure), Xie Lian thinks he got really unlucky that they have another one right when he decides to not sneak around so much anymore.

"Feng Xin, please, calm dow—,"

"Calm down? CALM DOWN? I AM FOR NOW VERY MUCH FUCKING CALM!"

The loud, harsh sounds that escape the merman's mouth are truly something else. Xie Lian knows only one mer that can produce noise of this caliber and it's none other than his friend. Good thing Ruoye left Xie Lian's side as they were passing by the collar reef, cuz it could never withstand those loud, deep squeaks of Feng Xin.

"HOW CAN YOU BE SO RECKLESS? WHERE HAVE YOU EVEN BEEN? I WANTED TO VISIT YOU, BUT YOU WEREN'T HOME. YOU DIDN'T EVEN TELL ANY OF US YOU'RE GOING OUT DURING THE NIGHT! IT'S DANGEROUS! YOU'RE RIDICULOUS!" There's no end to the merman's rage.

"Feng Xin, shut it, you're behaving like you're his mother," Mu Qing chimes in, slapping Feng Xin's back with his deep purple fin, completely not trying to be gentle.

The comment seems a little bit off, because Xie Lian doesn't even remember his mother, but he's not bothered by it. He's sure Mu Qing means no harm.

"Hey!" Feng Xin exclaims, ready to throw a punch at the other merman, but Mu Qing swims around him adroitly. "We're friends! I care about him! Unlike you!"

"Well, at least I didn't try to visit him empty handed yesterday. I came with some food and saw your brown pathetic ass miserably banging at his cave entrance. The bigger the fins, the smaller the brain."

Mu Qing's slay smile seems to enrage the other merman more than his words, even if Feng Xin is known for having one of the biggest fins in the pod. This time he doesn't miss though, getting to punch Mu Qing straight in the face.

Xie Lian sighs. For as long as he remembers, his two friends have always been bickering over the smallest things. Even from the very day they rescued him in the wild, when they all were still children, he can recall a heated argument they had right before his eyes. They both are great mermen in Xie Lian's opinion, so till this day he can't figure out why they are always so hostile against each other. At this point he's certain he will have to live with that question unanswered till the day he passes.

It doesn't mean he can't try and stop them every time he has a chance though.

"Hey, hey, hey, now! It's okay! I'm back and unscratched, right?" Xie Lian swims in between them right after Mu Qing lands a successful slap on Feng Xin's cheek, making them equal for the time being. "And I got something very important!"

They both actually stop to look down at the algae in Xie Lian's hands, to his delight.

"And what is this? Looks like a sperm whale's vomit. Why did you drag some random plants back to the capital?" Mu Qing scrunches his nose, glaring at Xie Lian.

"It's an algae from the oceanic trench," he states with a small smile, but it fades quickly when this time both of his friends yell at him.

"IT'S A WHAT NOW?" Feng Xin and Mu Qing both scream in unison.

Xie Lian grins, shaking his head.

"I guess I have a lot of explaining to do anyways, so why don't we find the Elder medic first? I want to deliver those as soon as possible."

"The medics are still discussing today's search results with the Emperor and all hunters that are off duty. We're an exception as guards," Feng Xin states, looking back at the highest part of the cave formation, that serves as a house of the Emperor and also a kind of a city hall.

"I will hurry up then, it's good that everyone's gathered in one place!"

Xie Lian of course doesn't get to depart alone this time. Feng Xin and Mu Qing both stubbornly insist on escorting him, so the three of them make their way to the Emperor's caves quickly.

Inside, there actually is a lot of merpeople gathered. Xie Lian enters through a small hole on the top of the main hall that's always open to everyone to come and discuss important matters. The cave itself is huge, it could fit every mer that belongs to the pod and there would still be plenty of space left. Jun Wu spends a lot of time here, tending to other merpeople matters and naturally he's here now too, resting on a seat sculptured especially for him inside the hall. He seems troubled even from afar, supporting his chin on one hand, his golden tail and scales lacking their usual shine.

Xie Lian always thought that very tail might have been the only reason the Emperor let him stay in this pod - they share quite a similarity. They both have features that bring one's eye to their person, so Xie Lian thinks Jun Wu might understand his white-tail-stuggles. However, Jun Wu was never untrusted by his pod, on the contrary, he was always priced for his unusual scales. His handsome face and great intelligance lead him on the top, where he remains till this day, while Xie Lian is collecting scrap for a living.

This world is truly unfair.

"Emperor! Elders! Everyone! I'm sorry to interrupt!" Xie Lian exclaims, silencing the discussion that has been going on and on for probably hours before he even came back to the capital. "I have great news!"

Xie Lian makes his way through the hall right to Jun Wu's throne. He lowers his head and extends his hands, showing the Emperor the plants he managed to take back with him.

"I got the algae we have been discussing about during the prior days! If the medic Elder is ready, please, use them as medicine for the mers that had fallen ill!"

A round of heated whispers explodes right after he finishes his sentence. Unbelievable - the merman almost everyone despices came back with the right plant so fast? Where did he get it? Is this a joke of some sort?

"Silence."

One sound from Jun Wu manages to get a hold of the situation.

"Xie Lian," the Emperor calls his name, so the merman obediently lifts his gaze to meet Jun Wu's golden eyes. "How come you found the algae before everyone else had even found a place it might grow in? Are you sure it's the cure we're looking for? Where did you get it?"

Yes. Xie Lian knew these questions were coming. As for being prepared to answer them, well, that's a whole different story.

"Emperor, I got them from... the trench we all know of."

Another round of gasps of disbelief arises in the hall.

"Did he go to the siren's territory?"

"Is he crazy? The Emperor forbade anyone from going there!"

"How is he even alive? There's no way the siren wouldn't notice him with that white tail of his!"

"What if he's lying? Aren't those just a regular looking algae? Maybe it's poison!"

Jun Wu waves his hands, unwilling to scold the crowd verbally yet again. When everyone stops commenting, he asks the medic Elder, that seemed to be the most knowledgeable about the disease, to examine the plants Xie Lian brought with himself.

The old merman studies the algae only for a few moments and, with not much deliberation, but with great disbelief spread on his face, he speaks up.

"It's indeed the algae we need!" The old merman exclaims, looking in shock at Xie Lian's face. "How did you do it?! You shouldn't be able—"

He stops himself before he can finish the sentence, but Xie Lian gets the message.

'It grows too deep for any mer to pick it. Your elder didn't mention it, did they?'

"Very well," the Emperor chimes in. "Please, take the algae and prepare the medicine as soon as possible. Will this be enough to treat the ill merpeople and store something in case the disease resurfaces?"

"Yes, Emperor! More than enough!"

"Then we can stop the search for other places for now. Everyone is dismissed. You worked hard, take some rest," Jun Wu announces and immediately everyone starts leaving the city hall.

Except, when Xie Lian hands over the algae and turns around with a smile to leave as well, the Emperor speaks up again.

"You stay, Xie Lian. I want to have a word with you."

***

Next part: PART VII

Okay, I have to admit, Jun Wu is hot af. I KNOW HE'S A BAD GUY (I haven't reached that part of the books yet, but tiktok spoilered me that), but I can't deny sky daddy is doing things to my brain and I am awaiting the arc in which I get to meet him as a villain, BECAUSE I HAVE TO STOP SIMPING. BUT I CAN'T. DOES ANYONE UNDERSTAND ME.

[randoimago]

So my request is Mermaid AU w merman goro (P5) being saved by pirate reader and her crew form another ship that capture him and how they fall in love with each other? :3

Fandom: Persona 5

Character(s): Goro Akechi

Note(s): Ngl, this was really hard to write. Because with how Akechi is, it was difficult trying to find a way that he'd fall in love with someone that captured him and not make it feel weird. There's not really a "they lived happily ever after" ending since it'd be way more complicated than that, but I still did my best writing this!

Akechi

The goal wasn't to capture him, it was an accident really. Being a pirate crew means needing food and that comes from fishing. Akechi was minding his own business and saw a group of fish together. He didn't notice the netting due to the color and the way the rays of the sun hid it from his eyes. So he swam right into the trap.

He was snarling and lashing out as he's pulled on to the ship. Akechi has many trust issues from being hurt by his own people and his ex-pod. Being on a ship with humans, well, he's heard enough of the rumors of what humans do to his kind.

Akechi doesn't talk to any of you besides threats. He doesn't even care as you approach him as captain of the ship. He wants to be let go now. But you're a pirate, of course you only think about the gold you'd get from selling him. And so Akechi becomes a prisoner. No matter how hospitable you all pretend to be, he doesn't stop being aggressive and plotting a way to escape.

You're always the one that comes to give him food. You're always the one trying to get on his good side. You're always the one he sees and so of course you're the one that he loathes the most.

But you're also the one that frees him. He doesn't get it. He doesn't understand why. But you decide to let him go. Akechi ponders if it's because he's too much of a nuisance for you to keep. But he doesn't question it as he easily escapes.

He's more careful now, more cautious. Akechi knows that he should count himself lucky that he was given freedom instead of sold for whatever disgusting things humans would do to him. Akechi makes sure to remember your face as well, not wanting to forget about the human that kept him in captivity and the human that set him free.

His remembrance is what leads him to find you again. Not that he's trying, he just sees a pirate ship in the distance and remembers it as yours. And he watches as you're thrown overboard. He doesn't know the details, he doesn't care for them, but he decides to go get you.

He brings you to a cave he found that isn't completely submerged in the ocean. He lets you on the rock where you can breathe air again while he keeps a distance, his eyes on you as he watches. Akechi lets you recover, even if he's impatient about it, and then he wants to hear what happened. He's quick to cut you off from thanking him for being some kind of savior, he just did it so he didn't owe you.

It's a tense relationship that you both have as Akechi keeps you in that cave while you recover. He still isn't the nicest or most sociable, but he does open up with asking you questions or making comments about how you look compared to him. He'd never admit to enjoying the fact that he's not lonely anymore.

Akechi takes you out of the cave and to shore once you've recovered. He's snapped at you a few times for putting your hands too close to his gills or restricting his tail movement while you're holding on to him. But you make it to shore and Akechi finds himself reluctant to leave. Especially when you mention wanting to see him again.

He makes no promises to see you again. He can't because his trust issues run so deep. And he doesn't want to risk other humans seeing him and trying to capture him to do what you didn't. But he does find himself watching you from a distance, staying hidden whenever you came to shore to look for him. A relationship with a human would never work, no matter how his heart longs to prove him wrong.

Taglist:

@abellaheart-blog

[the-suns-a-tube]

my opinion on the mechs as people based on how my brain characterises them in dreams

Jonny: Very annoying and arrogant. When we get arrested, he always hikes up our sentences by admitting to a bunch of stuff we werent even suspected for. Is usually the reason for getting us arrested. In prison, gets all the girls bc he was the only guy there (transphobia in the american prison system). Complains about prison food. attempts cannibalism. gets sent to seg. repeat.

Nasya: Very pleasant to be around. When i spend time with her, shes usually angry at jonny. because when i spend time with her its bc shes been shot planet side by jonny. I help her wash the blood out of her hair sometimes. We both like our bathwater scalding.

Scuzz: Only met her once, she would not stick around for a convo. I was trying to tell her something but she kept hiding.

Carmilla: Never met her :(

Aurora: Never met Her :( surprisingly my mech dreams aren't usually on the aurora

Ashes: Chill and calm demeanor. Always end up in charge of situations because most of the other mechs dont care to create guidelines. Except jonny. They are always friendly fighting over power. Ashes usually wins bc Jonny is not actually a good leader. In prison Ashes was the top of the hierarchy. They were generally on good terms with COs bc they didn't get into trouble because they never actually fought, just had someone else do it for them. and they would only enact violence for rational reasons, or if someone messed with them or one of their own.

Ivy: Very autistic coded like me :) bunked with her for a bit, we shared earbuds while reading❤️ taught me to hide contraband in bible spines

Brian: I have never actually had an extended conversation with him :(

Toy soldier: Creepy but well meaning. Like i have said previously, it seems cute when its jessica law, but its literally just a wooden doll. it blinks weird, it talks weird, it doesn't actually have to open its mouth to talk. regardless i do enjoy its company.

Tim: Never had an extended conversation with him

Marius: Idk the only time i talked to him was when he crashed in an escape pod and wandered off. He seemed. silly.

Raph: Very fun! Cheerful! I love her ❤️ homemade m3thlabs and hair due in prison ❤️ COs annoyed at the fact that her wings could not be removed. Once spent a few weeks? months? idk. on a ship using poison in the cargo bay to stop our lifesigns. ended up in a drunk tank. shes like #1 party friend.

[dizzzydancin]

Step On Me- A John Dory-centric Fanfic

hai again :3 heres chapter two of this fic, it's on ao3 if anyone's interested in that

cw: drug use (i dont know how drugs work)

Rock Your Body- Chapter 2

If anyone learns anything about John Dory, it's that sometimes he doesn't fully think things through. This is how he ended up at this insane party full of trolls he barely knows and the music is so loud that he swears he needs earplugs to listen to.

It's not that he didn't want to be here; quite the contrary.

An old friend, Darnell, had invited John to a party he was hosting towards the top of the Troll Tree and begged him to come on a count of JD always being “overworked and stressed," quote on quote. John wasn't going to go initially; he had responsibilities now. There was no way he could just leave his siblings to take care of themselves!

Alas, upon hearing of John’s invite to the party, Floyd had insisted he go.

“You deserve a break. You never do anything fun!" Floyd points out, which makes John Dory huff out a sigh.

“You don't understand, I can't just leave you boys alone. It's just not right, especially not after…" John trails off, ready to stand up and leave the conversation when he feels Floyd grab onto his wrist.

“You know we're old enough to take care of ourselves, right? We aren't babies anymore, JD.” Floyd laughs but can tell John is still hesitant, and maybe a little hurt.

John bites his lip before nodding, finally agreeing to go to Darnell’s party. Maybe he did deserve some time for himself.

Which is how he ended up here, with a drink of something he can't remember in his hand and suddenly bumping into a taller, dark-blue troll.

The blue troll spins around, long, red hair whipping around with the same intensity the rest of him does, and staring into his fierce eyes makes John Dory nervous.

He takes a step back, only to bump into another troll behind him, who seems to be too busy dancing to even bother looking at him.

“Sorry, didn't see you there!" John yells over the music, putting on his best smile to make him look even the slightest bit more confident.

The other troll stares at him for a second longer, looking him up and down before turning right back around, and making his way through the crowd of trolls to what seems to be the kitchen. Man, that's a relief; John wasn't sure he was trying to fight anyone tonight. This was supposed to be a freeing night for him! And so far it's going pretty awful.

With a loud sigh, JD makes his way through the crowd of trolls just as the dark blue troll had done moments prior, but instead of heading to the kitchen, he leans against a far wall that seems to have the least amount of trolls accumulating near it. John finally feels like he can breathe now that he's not shoulder-to-shoulder with every troll in the pod.

Man, he must look like a fucking loser.

He takes a sip of his drink, quickly being reminded that it's a soda of some kind, and starts thinking of how the hell he can get out of there without being seen by anyone he might know. It seems like an asshole move; he knows he should say goodbye to Darnell, as he was the one who invited him in the first place, but it just seems like too much effort to John who feels like he's been bit by a bus.

Before he can make his escape, the dark blue troll from earlier slides back into the room. He stands out amongst all the other trolls with his long, flowing red hair and heart-shaped chest hair that's weirdly enticing to JD. He doesn't even realize he's staring at the poor fellow and only realizes when it becomes all too clear that this troll is heading in his direction.

Shit, maybe he should have gotten out of here sooner.

By the time John turns around to leave, the blue troll is somehow standing right in front of him, and he bumps into his broad chest with a thump.

John quickly reels back, trying to avoid bringing a black eye back to show his siblings the good time he had.

“Listen, man, I didn't mean-" John begins, throwing his hands up and accidentally sloshing his drink over his gloved hand in the process.

The blue troll sticks out his hand, putting on a friendly smile that makes John's gut feel gooey.

“Chaz." That is all the troll says. What an introduction.

John hesitates, staring at Chaz’s hand before using his non-sticky hand to shake it. “John Dory."

As if Chaz couldn't get anymore weirdly attractive to JD, he bows his head, kissing the back of John's hand and peering at him through his lashes.

“Your name is unique, I like it."

The compliment has John's heart soaring, and a cheesy grin spreads across his warm cheeks.

“Thanks! I like your hair.” John compliments Chaz back, feeling it was the only right thing to do.

"Hmm, thank you, dear.” Chaz rumbles from deep in his chest.

The tone Chaz puts on makes John feel like there are millions of little butterflies fluttering around in his stomach, and it's weird at first, but JD thinks he likes it.

Chaz takes a step closer to John, leaning down right in his ear. The proximity makes John feel weak, and his face flushes almost immediately. Part of him wants to grab this troll's face and study every part of it, but that would be so weird, right?

“I think I know how to make your night a little more fun. Are you up for it?" Chaz whispers to John, who nods excitedly.

When Chaz pulls away, he begins digging through his pocket, which John watches closely. Dude, this guy is jacked, and fuck if it's not hot.

A small package of what looks like candy is pulled from Chaz’s pocket and handed to John, who dumbly stares at it. Okay, not what he was expecting.

Chaz seems to sense his confusion and shakes the package to catch John's attention. “Come on, just try it. I promise you won't regret it." Chaz winks and hands the candy over to John, who finally takes it.

Still skeptical, and now a little weirded out, JD takes the candy and rips open the package. It's a little ring candy, it seems, and it's blue, probably blueberry. After another bought of hesitation, John brings the candy to his mouth and takes a couple of licks across the outside.

“You'll thank me later." Chaz brushes his hand across John's hip, bringing his other hand up to take a lick of his candy, which is red. Has Chaz had that this whole time? How did he not notice that earlier?

Before John could ask what Chaz meant, he felt as if he had entered another plane of existence.

The packed room was stretching and expanding at will, even other trolls' faces became distorted and odd-looking, some of them even changing colors! Oddly enough, John Dory wasn't frightened by any of this, how could he be when his body felt so buzzy and alive? He couldn't help the laughter bubbling in his chest, the wild grin he had spreading quickly across his face. God, he'd never felt so alive!

Chaz seemed to be a bit more experienced with this sort of thing, it seemed since he wasn't as phased by the candy. Instead, he was looking down at JD, his smile quickly building.

“Care to dance?" Chaz purred in John's ear, which earned him an enthusiastic, “Hell yeah!" in return.

Don't be so quick to walk away

Dance with me

I wanna rock your body, please stay

Dance with me

The music was loud, but no longer did JD feel the need to cover his ears and shield himself from the noise. He instead embraced it, throwing his hands clumsily in the air and swaying his whole body to the rhythm. John could no longer remember why he was so anxious, now dancing alongside a hot troll whom he'd only gotten the name of not even five minutes ago.

While John was throwing his body around to the music, Chaz was swaying his hips, keeping his arms mostly by his side. He was more focused on keeping an eye on his new friend, making sure he didn't wander off too far or get into any trouble while under the influence. Deep down, Chaz had a feeling that John had never done anything like this before if his cute confused face from before was any indication.

I don't mean no harm

Just wanna rock you, girl

Make a move, but be calm

Let's go, let's give it a whirl

As the party came to a close, trolls slowly made their way out of the pod and stumbling their way back home, Chaz was guiding John to the exit as well. It was late, the moon glowing high in the sky, and they couldn't stay here all night even if they wanted to. Chaz had become quite infatuated with John Dory, and even though he would love to stay with him a bit longer, it seemed like a better idea to get him home.

“Come on, dear, it's time to get you home." Chaz hums, pushing John Dory towards the pod’s door.

“Nooo!" John whined back, throwing his arms around Chaz’s neck, “The party is just getting started!"

Chaz’s laugh rings through JD’s ears. "Quite the opposite, love. Let's go."

John Dory groans, letting go of Chaz and stomping out of the pod.

He's so cute when he pouts, Chaz thinks, smiling softly as he follows behind the grumpy troll.

“Don't be like that, darling. It's getting late, you know." They're holding hands now, fingers intertwined with one another. When did that happen?

“Can I walk you home? I don't want you getting hurt.” Chaz offers, to which he gets an enthusiastic nod of agreement from John, who begins to vaguely remember the direction in which his pod is.

They walk in silence for a bit. It's a comfortable silence, though, not a silence that either of them feels needs to be filled with mindless banter. Of course, with John Dory being John Dory, he talks anyway.

“Haven't seen you around before." He comments.

“No? I live that way." Chaz points behind them, and John assumes he lives past Darnell's pod.

“Ohh, yeah that's probably why. I usually stay home anyway." John shrugs. It's kind of sad to admit, really, but he has people to take care of, he can't just up and leave out of nowhere.

Chaz nods. “Kids at home?"

“Sort of. My brothers."

The conversation trails off after that, Chaz not wanting to pry into his acquaintance's home life, and John not wanting to have to explain his life story to an almost stranger.

Before they knew it, both trolls arrived back at John's pod, which seemed dark from the outside since it was late and all the lights were off. His brothers should be asleep by now, at least he hopes they are; he's still feeling a bit loopy, and doesn't feel like running into any of them.

“This is my stop." John jokes, turning around to face Chaz.

“Will I see you soon?" Chaz smiles at him.

John just shrugs. There's no way to know what tomorrow brings, not with the way he's living. With that, John turns away and heads into his pod as quietly as possible to not wake his sleeping brothers, leaving Chaz alone on the branch in front of his home.

When JD walks inside, he's pleased to find everything is right where it should be. Except for a stray shirt on the couch and a bottle of juice on the coffee table, everything was spotless. He's impressed, to say the least.

As quiet as he possibly can with his clumsy feet, he walks to his bedroom, slipping his shirt off on the way there. When he gets inside, he shuts the door and throws his shirt into a corner of the room, never to be seen again.

As he collapses onto his bed, curling up on the slightly lumpy mattress and pulling a few stray blankets over the top of him, he closes his eyes, falling asleep with a stupid grin on his face.

If he has a dream about a certain dark blue troll with beautiful red hair, then it was nobody else's business but his.

[lifetimeshipper]

Angel From A Dream

Chapter 2

~~~~~~~~~~

Time has passed and the Autobots had put away a couple of 'Con criminals while Steeljaw worked out ways to build a pack and take care of the Autobots. But all the while he kept thinking about that femme, it was torturing him that he didn't know her name. He had run into Thunderhoof after the elk 'Con escaped the Autobots and avoided arrest. Steeljaw goes up to him and talks him into joining him, after Thunderhoof joins him they work on finding a base and figure out how to free the other 'Con criminals. 

Steeljaw meets a Cyber-tech called Minitron who can control any bot it comes across. It gets on Grimlock and controls him, making him attack his own teammates, and knocking them all out. Then he goes to search for the 'Cons that are locked up and finds Underbite. After he smashes the controls on the ship where Fixit and Russell are, he leaves with Underbite and heads to the dam where Steeljaw is waiting.

Once he gets there, Steeljaw greets him, "I didn't expect you back so soon. Thunderhoof is out looking for a bigger base, but I'll be more than happy to help you with the pods. After all, a good leader is first among equals."

"I uh... had a little problem, boss. I could only get one pod."

Steeljaw let out a growl, "Let me guess, you ran away."

"It wasn't my fault, the Autobots were all over me. But I took care of them. And I snagged Underbite. Between him and me, how much more muscle do you need?"

"That's a rather cowardly way to justify failure but as far as my plans go to make this planet a home for all Decepticons you and Underbite are at least a place to start."

"Or end, Steeljaw!"

Steeljaw looks over to see the Autobots at the entrance with their weapons out and ready to fight. His optics immediately went to the unknown femme that's been haunting him and he let out a slight growl, "You took care of them!" He appeared angry on the outside but on the inside, he felt relief to see the femme was alright.

"Mostly," Grimlock said as Bumblebee started walking towards Steeljaw.

Steeljaw unleashes his claws, "Savor the daylight, it's gonna get really dark!" He runs forward to attack Bumblebee as Bumblebee runs towards him. The two clash and fall to the ground, they roll around as each tries to get the upper hand. Steeljaw slashes at him trying to kill him as Strongarm tries to shoot him.

Grimlock was fighting Sideswipe who was trying to talk some sense into him, he tried to attack Sideswipe who was standing on top of a spool but he moved out of the way and Grimlock ended up with a spool in his mouth. He picked it up with his mouth and threw it but Sideswipe dodged it and it hit Strongarm, sending her flying into Steeljaw and Bumblebee just as Steeljaw was getting ready to throw a blow on the yellow mech. They landed in another pile of spools, Steeljaw removed the spools off him and he noticed the femme was lying on him, knocked out.  

Usually, he would get mad and throw the 'Bot off him while making a threat, but it was different with her, he couldn't bring himself to do that. She looked so beautiful and peaceful. So instead he gently pushed her over to the side then got up while growling and walked over to Grimlock. 

He was upset that the femme he had fallen in love with got hurt like that, though he didn't know why he even cared so much. He made it seem that he was upset about the careless action of the mech he was walking towards, as well as the fact that he was knocked down and prevented from getting rid of the yellow mech.

He walks towards Grimlock growling, "Get a hold of yourself!" He says just before Sideswipe jumped on his back and grabbed his ears.

"You mean like this!?" Sideswipe asks as Steeljaw grabs his arms and tries to pry him off. One thing he hates more than anything is having his ears grabbed, his ears, and his tail. He can't stand any bot grabbing or touching them. "What have you done to Grimlock, Steeljaw?" Sideswipe asks as he hangs on.

Steeljaw manages to get the mech off and he slams him onto the ground, "Aw, is it so hard to believe a Dinobot would choose me over all of you?"

"Yeah, it kind of is!" Sideswipe replies as Steeljaw unleashes his claws, he brings down his claws to kill the mech but he moves out of the way and Steeljaw's claws slam into the floor instead. Sideswipe kicks him in the face, right on the nose, and Steeljaw puts his claw on his nose.

He looks over and sees Bumblebee and the femme stand up from the pile of spools they had been under. Thank Primus... Stop it, she's the enemy! Stay focused on the task at hand! He puts his focus back on the red mech in front of him. Sideswipe comes at him swinging his sword and he blocks every swing, but he almost messed up when he saw out of the corner of his optic the femme being slammed onto the ground by Grimlock. He could care less about the mech but for some reason, it pains him to hear the cries coming from the femme.

"Whatever you've done to Grimlock undo it!" Sideswipe demands as Steeljaw grabs his sword.

"Looks like you have more pressing matters at hand," Steeljaw says as he looks over to the other three. Sideswipe looks over as well in shock, "I doubt they'll survive this." As soon as those words were out of his mouth he felt a pain in his spark. Dammit, why does the thought of her dying pain me?

Sideswipe runs over to help his comrades and Grimlock picks up Strongarm and throws her at him, but Sideswipe catches her and puts her down on her feet. "Nice catch."

"Anything for a team--" Before he could finish what he was saying, Bumblebee was thrown into them.

Steeljaw went to grab the pod with Underbite in it and he pushed it out. He looked over to see the Autobots jumping on Grimlock to take him down. "Farewell, brother, I need Decepticons who don't turn simple tasks into debacles!" Steeljaw says as he walks off with Underbite, leaving Grimlock to deal with the Autobots. They soon found out about Minitron and after a bit of struggle, they managed to capture him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steeljaw gets away from the dam and meets up with Thunderhoof who is on his way back, "Hey, Steeljaw, where are you going?"

"Autobots found us, needed to leave the dam. Did you find another place?"

"Yeah, found an abandoned Saw Mill."

"Good. This is Underbite, take him there. I need to take care of something then I'll meet you there."

"Eyo I am no servant to be bossed around!" Thunderhoof said in retaliation.

Steeljaw glares at him with a growl, "For now you work for me. Just take Underbite to the Saw Mill and I'll be there later. Then we'll figure out our next move," he said with a sense of warning in his tone. Thunderhoof backed off and then told Steeljaw where the Saw Mill was, Steeljaw just nodded and walked off as Thunderhoof walked off with Underbite.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Autobots headed back to base with Minitron in hand. Bumblebee, Strongarm, and Sideswipe were in vehicle form driving on the road as Grimlock stayed in dino mode running behind them. They drove along a stretch of road that went by a forest when suddenly a tree came falling down right in front of them, making them screech to a stop. 

They transformed and went to check it out, "Wonder what made that tree fall. It couldn't have been natural as it seems to be a strong tree and there aren't any storms," Bumblebee wondered out loud as he inspected the tree. 

Sideswipe and Strongarm inspected the tree as well and they noticed some markings on the tree, "Lieutenant, look. These marks indicate this tree was cut down," Strongarm pointed out.

"Yes, this tree fell in front of us on purpose. Whoever cut it down was trying to stop us," Bumblebee responded.

"Or damage us," Sideswipe added.

"Look around and stay vigilant," 'Bee says as he pulls out his gun.

"Yes, sir!" The others said as they pulled out their weapons and went separate ways to have a look. They go searching through the forest for the one who cut the tree down while Grimlock stays behind to watch over Minitron. Nothing was found. 'Bee called for all of them to meet him back at the road.

Strongarm was about to head back when suddenly she was grabbed from behind, one servo clamping over her mouth while the other one knocked her gun out of her servo. She tried to fight back to free herself but it was no use, the being had too strong a hold on her. She felt herself being pulled backward, away from her team and she struggled with everything she had in her.

"Stop struggling, you're only making this harder for yourself!"

Strongarm's optics widened and her spark dropped as she recognized the voice. She knew she was in trouble.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter

[starrygalazy]

It's my birthday todayyyyy :D and because of that I'm doing that trend where you put your hc's with OW characters, so here's my girl Mei and an explanation of the things I changed and added based on my HC's:

Mei's hair is a little more on the wavy side, pretty much STRADDLING the line between straight and wavy. You can't notice it when it's up, but letting it down tends to surprise people sometimes. It's also a little messy sometimes because she doesn't always have the time to make it super presentable

Mei's cheeks and nose are always red, she looks like she's always blushing. When she actually is blushing, her entire face literally turns so red even if she's not very flustered. This is also a permanent effect of her cryo and time in Antarctica.

Mei's both an indoorsy and outdoorsy person and she gets freckles easily, so her cheeks and nose are speckled with them from field work and playing in the sun.

One HC I have is that Mei's cryo pod actually DID malfunction, just not as severely as the others. Now idk how cryostasis as a whole works so this may be FULLY impossible but see those grayish-bluish patches on her face? That's like. A sort of frostbite that formed on her face during cryostasis. When she first emerged, it felt rough and cold like ice crystals (because it sort of was), and VERY painful to touch. After she escaped Antarctica and warmed up the frostbite ended up just becoming numb completely but stills feel rough (though it's thawed long ago). She has some patches on her shoulders too, where her pajamas didn't cover.

Cryostasis also royally fucked up Mei's sleep schedule, permanently. Her brain literally can't comprehend when she needs sleep sometimes. So, she doesn't feel tired ever even if she desperately needs sleep. Because of this she'll like. Stay up for 2-3 days at a time then pass out for like 20 hours, and she struggles to fix it too even though she's trying. So basically a sort of insomnia, all because of the cryo malfunction. Hence, the dark circles.

Mei never really wore makeup except for formal events, and she never experimented with different styles. When she and D.Va met, D.Va showed her a few different styles including puppy liner, which Mei ended up really liking. Now she wears puppy liner whenever she can, though it's kind of uneven. But she's practicing! She also wears cherry chapstick that gives her lips a pinker tint.

Mei's crafty side came out one night when she couldn't sleep, and she ended up attaching the charm on her old hairpin onto her new hair clip-thing for a little style. She still has the pin itself in a safe location. She also drew her team number on the barrette-like clip (speaking of which, anyone know what those numbers mean??).

And that's about it! Other than making her chin a little rounder and nose a bit higher that's what I have so far. Obviously I have a crap ton more HC's but these are the ones I put for her portrait here. I hope you like them!

[kindasortasalty]

Wrote a short story that i would love some feedback on <3

Captain Pyotr Harkov gazed out of the spacecraft's viewport, and saw the last few stars flickering out in the dark. For weeks now, transmissions had been coming in from the farthest flung outposts of the known galaxy, that the stars were going out, and the planets vanishing. Of course, by the time the transmissions reached anyone of note, they were already aware of the phenomena. Since then, everything had crumbled. Political assassinations, mass suicides, general chaos had swallowed up every "civilized" spot of habitation in the quadrant, as all life came to the realization of having to face its impending end.

Captain Harkov had not believed the transmissions at first, "Space madness!", he'd harrumphed at some nervous still wet-behind-the-eared private. Then, he had borne witness to the tens of thousands of ships fleeing away from the "Darkness", a mass exodus by anyone with the means to escape. That was when he knew, there was something coming for all of them. Harkov could see on the navigation equipment, where there used to be star systems and galaxies, there was only nothingness. Maybe his ship's instruments were wrong? The ship's computer, Xaaron 2, assured him that everything was functioning at regular levels. Nevertheless, he radioed other ships in the fleet, desperately wanting Xaaron to be wrong, but of course he was not. What was Captain Harkov to do? Even if the universe was ending, he still had medical supplies to deliver to Hydrus 5. 

That was three weeks ago. There was no Hydrus 5 anymore, nor Hydrus 1, 2, 3, or 4. The Darkness had taken them. He'd let his crew flee in any shuttle or escape pod they could get their hands on, it really didn't matter now anyway. Harkov did not blame them, but was surprised that none chose to stay. The only one left on the ship besides him, was Xaaron, who did not seem to really grasp the situation. "Captain." Came Xaaron's robotic voice. The Darkness had moved closer to them now. "Why did the crew leave?" If Harkov didn't know better, he would have said he could hear sadness in the computer's artificial voice. 

"Well, Xaaron, they wanted to escape the Darkness, so they took the shuttles and escape pods."

"Captain, I am aware of that. But why did they try to escape? The Darkness will surely keep encroaching, and will eventually reach them, no matter where they go." 

"That's carbon based lifeforms for you, Xaaron, hardly rational in times of crisis." Harkov stood up from his captain's chair to look through another window, where he could see the solar radiation storm from the sun of what was Hydrus 5. The purple light of the solar flares whipping and cracking off the molten surface of the sun, the purple gas cloud surrounding it made him feel ill to look at it. The remaining stars seemed to wink at him, mocking him. They would feel nothing as their being was extinguished, man, meanwhile would thrash till the very end. Harkov sighed. 

"Captain, why did you stay?" Harkov turned back to the console where Xaaron was housed. 

"No point in delaying the inevitable, might as well face whatever is coming right here." Harkov grunted. "Besides, you don't make for horrible company." Harkov could see even fewer stars left out of the main window. The computer remained silent save for its constant hum. "Have you ever thought about death, Xaaron?" He always tried to use Xaaron's name, even though the rest of the crew just called him "Computer".

"I cannot die Captain, because I am not technically alive to begin with." Harkov sighed. Outside the solar storm was calming down.  

"You're just trying to avoid answering my question. You know exactly what I mean." 

"I- I try not to think about it, Captain." 

"I think that makes you very human, Xaaron. We spend most of our lives trying not to think about it, and that drives some of us to do terrible things. The truth, Xaaron, is that we all end up being the same kind of dust."  

"If you say so, Captain."

"Xaaron, set a course for Hydrus 5." The console beeped affirmative, and the old freighter moved into the all-encompassing dark. 

[mr-kiwi-the-wizard]

The Trees

The collosal being podded along slowly with his smaller companion through the sparce grassy woods. His companions hat so pointy and long it could take his eye out, even at his hight.

He couldn't help but remark the weather up there.

"It's windy today."

"As it often is around here."

Maglor stopped to examine a large oak tree. One possibly older than the world, or at least as it is now.

"There is a Sad fate in trees filbert. Wouldn't you agree?"

"How so master?"

Maglor placed his hand on the tree and closed his eyes. As he spoke, his voice seemingly coming from elsewhere entirely.

"From the moment a tree begins to grow from sprout and seed it is locked in an eternal competition against itself. Spending every cycle of it's life outdoing itself or dying. For you see, only the outermost ring of a trees trunk is alive. Along with it's branches and roots. And yet that very centre, it's cold dead core that is nothing more than bone to it is so coveted by mortals like you. You do not seek the trees death, nor it's destruction. Although few prove me wrong. You seek that Which the tree not only no longer needs but what is inevitably killing it. Without the need to outgrow it's last ring, it may not need to try as hard as it must to escape it's fate."

William Filbert the Green was a wizard of balance and the way of green. Their very house icon is that of a grand oak so William knew much about trees. But even this antitote from his master perplexed him.

"How do you mean master?"

"The tree must out do itself, time after time. Growing bigger, taller deeper and wider. A fate that will eventually end in it's demise. You humans are lucky you are so mortal as you are. You do not know how to grow rings."

"I wouldn't mind being immortal like you master."

Maglor turned to his young apprentice, bending down to his hight. His green eyes glowing faintly, slightly illuminating his brown beard in the shadow of the sun.

"Didn't you tell me yesterday... You said something you wish was never said?"

Filbert furrowed his brow and lowered his gaze from his master's intimidating face. "Yes master. I spoke of my father. When he left with the others to fight the dragons, I told him that I hoped he died and never returned. I never truely ment it master. I just..."

Pausing to search his feelings for the right words, "I was so angry that he would leave us. Mother and I alone... And now-"

Maglor placed a finger on Williams lips to quite him. And rose back to his full height.

"You regret the actions you took years ago young wizard. You will, in time, amass many more. And until you learn to set those regrets in the past were they belong.

Like this tree.

You will lose your sanity in the eons that follow."

Filbert looked at his master, who was staring longingly at the tree like it was an old friend.

"Do you have any regrets master?

"yes. Only one. And it is my only wish that it be made right."

The pair walked along silently, listening to the sound of insects, fairy's and o so quite trees

[slowee00]

• — SYSTEM X • ACT 1

• BY SLOWEE00/SLOoORE

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INTRO 𝟶𝟷 • 𝚂𝚊𝚌𝚛𝚒𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚎 희생

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❌ MASTERLIST + INFO + WARNING

The first two - three chapters are old. Bare with me.

Chapter warning: super short, augst(?), might have grammar errors.

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DISCLAIMER ⚠️

This is a work of fiction. Characters, character personalities, business, events and incidents are the products of the author's imagination. Stan Ateez and their hardworking music. <3

[Flashback: nearly a year ago]

Location: unknown

"Damn, it’s locked." Lola stated, banging on the medal door one more time. She tried every thing. "We're trapped, it's no use..." Yeji mumbled. She felt the cold concrete under her rear as she sits down on the freezing stairs. She sighs, running her thoughts on how she got into this mess to begin with.

"So...we're gonna give up?" Lola asked, turning around to face her partner. "Well… the head is dead, the widows are free, which means our mission is... done."

Lola gave Yeji a worrisome expression before joining her on the cold stairs.

"One minute till self destruct. Please head to the escape pods immediately."

Lola sighs and rubs her hands together as if she trying to ease some stress. Her leg bounces up and down, thinking if there another way out of this death situation. Any windows? No we're underground and every gate has been locked so tightly, not even a insect can sneak in.

The two woman took off their black mask to smell the toxic yet fresh air. It smelt of burnt mental, dry dirt, and concrete. The smell of being buried alive.

"...smells like ass..." Lola let out a small snort at Yeji's comment. She smiles up at Yeji while Yeji looked up at her smooth face. Lola unintentionally placed her hand on Yeji's thighs with her palm facing up.

Yeji isn't much of a talker. She's probably the only assassin who takes her job seriously besides Seongwha, Mingi, and Hongjoong. Yet she was here, waiting on her death beside one of most loved person in the squad. Lola. A loveable person. Guess she��s the closest Yeji would ever get to ‘rest in peace’.

"10...9...8...7...6...5..."

"I'm sorry, Yeji," Lola muttered, biting her lip and look up to Yeji while the corner of her eyes began to swell.

"Me…” Yeji swallowed. “…Me..too," Yeji answered grabbing her hand and held it tightly; pressing her forehead against Lola's.

"...3...2...1-"

"This is Bravo 7, every squad has made it out, 4-K is unresponsive. 4-K do you copy?! Over!!" Mingi yelled though his intercom, praying to have a response but received nothing but static on the other end.

His breathing slowed. he felt his heart in his throat. He was thinking the impossible. Killing both Lola and Yeji would be impossible. Both women are strong fighters and a simple mission like this couldn't kill them both. No, not after everything.

Drips of sweat ran down the males face as his palms began to heat up. There was something in his stomach, screaming for him to do something more than to scream into his intercom.

"Don't do this Lola, He's gone so far-" just than, a large explosion occurred. Sending large and small parts of concrete in the air. The helicopter swerved in a attempt to dough the flying dead trap.

"Oh god..." Mingi mumbled as the the underground building blow up to bits. His messy yellow and black hair blows crazy against the strong wind through the black smoke.

"Lieutenant I need to withdraw now! I can't see a thing! The mission is complete, there’s nothing we can do!" Yelled the pilot. Mingi didn't have time response as the pilot swerved the helicopter away from the flaming land.

“Lieutenant what’s your status!? Bravo 7 do you copy!?” Mingi could only watch the flame grow smaller as two of his partners go up in flames. With no response or last words.

He lifted up his intercom to his pumped lips, inhaling and exhaling a breath of realization. The sound of the radio and gunshots were muffled as he pushed down on the red button at the top of his walkie-talkie.

“Mission of General Dreykov; 5 out of 7 red room: mission..." he paused.

"Complete... two KIA.”

"Yes!," Wooyoung yelled with a big smile on his face. He jumped off of the helicopter after patting the pilot's shoulder for a 'thank you'. Yunho couldn't help but to smile too. Even the pilot started to play music from the copters radio.

"That was awesome! San, the way you slid under the guard!" He commented pointing at San. "Show me how you did that!" Yunho added.

Everyone's hair aggressively blows as the wind began to pick up. Mingi's copter.

Wooyoung smiled, waving his hand up high for Mingi or anyone else to see. His other hand behind his back.

"Mingi!" He yelled.

Once Mingi's copter was close to the ground, the mixed haired male jumped off of ledge and landed on his feet with a loud stomp. "Min-" Yunho went in for a hug but the male simply walked passed him. "-gi..." he finished, putting down his arms. He sounded hurt with a tint of confusion in his eyes.

The copper finally landed, giving Wooyoung a better view of what was in his companion's copper.

Nothing. The med kit, the backup weapons, and the medical bed still sat at the back of the copper with each strap in the same place.

"Mingi, where's Lola and Yeji?" San asked the taller male, in which he didn't get an answer from. Wooyoung's mouth hanged open slightly, shocked at the empty setting.

"Where is Lola and Yeji, Mingi!" Wooyoung asked, getting more aggressive.

They waited for an answer for a couple of seconds but Wooyoung had enough and began to walk towards the tall male.

"Where the hell are they?!" He yelled, only to be stopped by San and Yunho. Both male placed their hands on his chests, stopping Wooyoung from doing something he’ll might regret later. Mingi stood close to the cliff, looking over the tall trees and mountains.

"K..." He said.

“No-”

“KIA… they’re KIA.” Mingi broke in a whisper, taking out a small box.

Wooyoung grips San's shoulder as his legs began to become weak. “You’re joking..” “wish I was..” The air in his lungs were kicked out of him, leaving his month gaped. Yunho held his waist, trying to keep his partner standing.

“Oh shit…” Wooyoung lips began to quiver. Yunho and San exchanged glances in hopes of one of them knew what to do next. Unfortunately, they were just shooked as everyone else.

“I’m going to look for her-”

“They’re gone, Wooyoung!” Mingi shouted. “I saw the place blow up…” Wooyoung’s mouth was left gasping. “Where… where were you, Huh?!” He asked now getting angry. “They told me to leave and get the USB back to the copper and secure it…” he pauses. “ I thought they were behind me but…”

Mingi avoided everyone’s eyes, he back facing them.

Wooyoung didn’t want to believe it! Without thinking, he legs were running to the other side of the cliff upon seeing the large black smoke painting the sky.

“We have to leave! The smoke is getting too big! Someone definitely seen it and the police is probably on their way here now, get in!” The pilot yelled as he started up the copper once again.

Yunho and San gently grabbed Wooyoung’s arms and guided him to the last copper. From there they got a better view of the flaming forest. Nothing could’ve survived that. There were no words to describe the tension in the air. The atmosphere was filled with realization. The realization of there real business. They’re assassins, death is something they signed up for years ago.



NOTES

N/A

❌ - NEXT CHAPTER -

Taglist

@yayaistime

[bluebeerg]

if stanley and the narrator arent psychic, then what are they in comparison to the psychonauts world? the narrator def feels more than human if he's trying to pretend to be an archetype. what brings them to the motherlobe? I am enamored by your au and would love to hear your thoughts

I'm honoured that you want to know more !! I didn't think many people would, considering it's Extremely Self-Indulgent and I am used to my interests being Niche (reason why the things that I’ve posted have little to no context hgjfkghdfg)

Okay, so, I think it's important to note that, in this AU, the things in The Stanley Parable happened and are real. Stanley was trapped in an eternal loop. Stanley had died a million times over. The Narrator is... still his witty omnipresent self. These things do not change.

I had thoughts about making twisting TSP to be more cohesive to the world of Psychonauts, but ultimately thought against it. I think they are funny silly as they are :] A guy and his voice against the world

Alright, let’s get to explaining this bad boy a little.

So. What happened? Why are they at the Motherlobe?

This is just a rough and vague thought but, after being free of the Parable (when the Escape Pod and/or Freedom Ending is real and is here), Stanley and the Narrator are met with the outside world. Something something, run into the funny Psychonauts. They think something is up with Stanley, that he is strange, but insists that he is Not psychic, they bring him to the Motherlobe. Stanley keeps insisting his non-psychicness, but the Narrator convince him to just “humour them anyway”. Insert funny shenanigans where the Narrator and Stanley work together to do “psychic abilities”. Again, Very rough and Very vague. ghfdkjgdf

But, looping around to that first question: If not psychic, what are Stanley and the Narrator?

Well, they still are your classic Stanley Parable duo. A simple office worker and, like, god or something. But actually, since we’re on this topic...

Let’s talk about how the Narrator works.

Starting off with communication. This one’s easy. Stanley uses ASL to talk people, but, when speaking to the Narrator, it can be through mind thoughts. In the same vein, the Narrator can only be heard by Stanley. He is inside his brain :] This does mean, however, if someone did some mind reading, I guess they’d meet the funny man. the funny loud man. british

Here’s a big one: the Narrator’s power. In the office, the Narrator controlled, well, everything, because they were His creation. The office and everything in it was the extent of his power, and boy is that a lot of power.

But the Narrator is no longer In the office, he’s not even in The Stanley Parable anymore. This is not something he’s created (The Narrator is aware that Psychonauts is fictional and a game btw). However, he still has Some Sort of power in this new world - this is how they are tricking the Psychonauts, after all. So where exactly does that power come from?

As his OC, the Narrator draws his power from Stanley to exert onto the external world - but that, in turn, takes energy from him. Not a lot, mind you, but I guess it rather depends on size, quantity, and distance from him. This means that what the Narrator is able to do is limited and he has to be considerate about Stanley’s health and wellbeing (Stanley sleeps, and eats and drinks now? Fucking nuts, bro...)

I think the other limitation is that the Narrator can’t... Remove stuff was already previously there - that was already part of the world. He can summon things in, sure, and, while they may not stay around for very long, they are there (You guys sure do love the Narrator as an archetype ghdfjghf), and, he can still interact with the world, like opening doors or flickering lights, but to Truly twist, and manipulate, and alter it...  It’d take a Lot. 

Aaaand... That’s it. Probably. I have some other thoughts rattling up in this head of mine but... I think that that’s all the basics :] If you read all of this, thank you?? I love to say things about my funny thoughts, and I know it’s not exactly Fun to read Just text, especially when it’s this long, and I, uh, don’t know how much sense it all makes, but thank you :,] i am very grateful

[ladykatakuri]

What`s in a Name

The Bad Batch ( complete with Crosshair and Omega )

Rating: General

Word Count: 2326

Warnings: None, it is a family story about names. There is an OC in here that was part of the group as cadets though!

Summary: “So, how did you all get your names?” Omega looked at them, curious and intent on hearing the stories, all of them, on how her brothers had gotten their own unique names.

Notes: This is something i have been thinking about and decided to write because it is just fun. How did they get their names and how do they feel about it? Omega would know a lot about the guys from her time on Kamino, but i am pretty sure that information about how they got their unique names was not deemed important by either the Empire or the Kaminoans so it would not be included in any official report. Their names might be, only to serve as information when dealing with outsiders on missions, but that is about it.

“So, how did you all get your names?” Omega looked at them, curious and intent on hearing the stories, all of them, on how her brothers had gotten their own unique names.

For a moment the men in front of her look surprised. They have their own unique names and they have had them for a long, long time now. Nobody ever asked how they got them and even among regs it was not something that was important. Afterall, out of all of the clones, Clone Force 99 was different and the regs were not sure what to make of them.

“Well kiddo, I got my name as a cadet on Kamino when I was part of the Domino squad. You know we get our names from our brothers, most of the time right?” Echo looks at Omega, who had turned to look at him as he began to speak.

“Yes I know.” Omega nods and crosses her legs to sit in a more comfortable way, ready to listen to the stories behind the names.

“Well, we were not a very well oiled machine when we started out and our personalities shaped us and gave us our names. I became Echo after they began to complain how I would echo all the orders we had gotten.” He chuckles as he thinks back to those times he spent with the squad, how they went from being a chaotic bunch to a well tuned group of brothers that could take on the entire galaxy, or so it felt to them. “Fives especially loved to name people and he was the first to come up with Echo. I guess that it stuck with me from that moment on.” The recollection of how he had gotten his name has him feel somewhat nostalgic, longing for those times to be revived once more, but most of all to have his closest friend and brother back so he could talk to him again.

Understanding how this memory of old has affected him, Omega turns to the next man she wants to hear from.

Tech, still standing, leaning against the wall while tinkering with yet another project, notices the silence and looks up. “Ah, I suppose it is not much of a mystery how I got my name. After all, the names we clones have mostly symbolize some aspect of our own character. It would be more surprising if we had completely normal human names instead of designations that would suit our abilities or achievements.”

Nodding to the explanation, Omega looks at the man in front of her. “That is true Tech, but sometimes the name is not as obvious or maybe even surprising in it`s origin.”

Surprised by her logical reasoning, Tech smiles. “You are correct, but my name is no surprise. From the moment we were trained as cadets, it was very clear that my mutation had given me a high intelligence and I had a knack for technology. Because I was always working on computers and other tech while learning about anything and everything else, people started to call me that tech kid or that tech weirdo. From that point on I decided to take part of the name and just go by Tech and it is what I have been called ever since.” For his brothers, who knew him well enough, it was clear that despite his bravado, it still stung at times when he thought back to the name calling and how they had all been shunned by the regulars who were not different from all their other batch mates and brothers. Thankfully, as they aged, they also became stronger both physically and mentally and Tech grew immensely in both ways.

As Tech went back to tinkering with whatever he was working on, Omega turned to the next of her family. Only to notice a strong glare coming from the man that has never been one for stories, or many words for that matter. Crosshair just looked at her with his toothpick shoved to the corner of his mouth. Omega grinned at him as she focused her full attention on him.

With a grumble he replaces his toothpick with a new one and relaxes his shoulders for a moment. “Fine. I didn't have much physical strength at first. So I trained a lot when we were cadets and when we did blaster training they realized I was a crack shot. I trained harder and realized it was damn easy to shoot targets, no matter where they were or where I was. I became the best and during some physical testing they realized my eyesight only improved. I got special sniper training and physical training that would enhance all my skills and that is how they started to call me Crosshair.” Crossing his arms was his way of showing that story time was now over and he resumed chewing his toothpick as his attention went to his brother sitting on the floor next to him.

“You forgot to mention why the regs began to call you Crosshair for real though.” Nudging the sniper with his elbow, Wreckers laugh beamed through the hull of the Marauder. “The regs would always try to bully us, anyway they could. You know, because we are different. One night, they pushed Tech and cornered him, ready for a beating and Crosshair locked in on the one that hit him. He was standing pretty far off but he hit that guy good with his dinner plate! Hah! The reg didn`t know what hit him!” Still laughing, thinking back to how the reg fell on his back, surprised by the dinner plate that came flying from across the hallway, Wrecker wheezes as he once more nudges Crosshair against the leg. That's when they started to call him Crosshair. Cuz when he has you in his crosshairs, you are never getting out of it!”

Omega laughs as loud as Wrecker does at the story. “That is awesome! But how did you get your name Wrecker?”

“Well kid, not because I destroyed everything or something. I mean, I didn't always wreck stuff when I was a cadet.” The huff coming from Crosshair stops him from talking for a second. “Hey! I didn't Crosshair! That was later….. You see kiddo, as a cadet I was pretty careful with everything. I mean, I was already pretty big, bigger than others, and also pretty strong, so I had to be careful what I did. Then this bounty hunter came and he was supposed to train us or something. Well, he was just a kriffing jerk about it and he made fun of us all the time. Hunter told us to stay calm and not let it get to us or something, but that guy was a nasty piece of work. He changed the training program so it was way more difficult than other cadets had to do. Hunter got hurt badly when he tried to shield me and I went mad after that. I mean, the guy was laughing about it! So, I lost control and wrecked the training room trying to get to that guy. The regs heard all about it and started to call me Wrecker as an insult. But Hunter told me to use it as a name because it shows how strong I am when I protect my family.” Beaming with pride he looks at Hunter. “I guess it was Hunter that really made it my name then.”

Hunter nods at Wrecker, a low chuckle escapes him when he thinks back at the times his brothers had gotten their names. Sure, they had pretty difficult, or better said, hard times as cadets, but at least they had each other and that was the only thing that truly mattered anyway. Knowing that he would have to tell the story of how he came to be Hunter he turns towards the young girl that has been listening to it all while snacking on some Mantel Mix.

“I guess I am the last one to tell you about my name.”

Omega already settled to listen to his recollection of the time he became Hunter, nods and grins.

“Well, I guess it is mostly because of my heightened senses that people expected me to be a good tracker, what they did not expect was that I would also become a true hunter.” For a moment he closes his eyes as his mind takes him back to the exact moment and he seems to hesitate.

“You know….. that squads consist of a minimum of four clones but most times there are more in a squad, right?” He looks down at Omega who just popped a piece of mix in her mouth. Chewing, she nods at him. “Yup, i know.”

“Our squad was supposed to have some more members…….” Realizing that the full truth would be revealed to Omega, the others shuffle in their places. Echo, though not an original member of the group, knows the story and understands it is not an easy memory to share.

Tech stops tinkering for a moment and looks at Hunter. A small nod at his sarge and he continues his work.

“Tsk.” It is the only sound that comes from Crosshair, who glares at Omega, for the audacity she has dragging it all up and for Hunter who allowed it.

Wrecker, the most gentle of them all, swallows as he suspiciously turns his head for a moment. When he turns back, his eyes seem to have been wiped dry and he smiles at both Hunter and Omega as approval.

“We have desirable mutations. Something that the Kaminoans would try to add to the newer generations of clones that were bred on Kamino. But changing the genetic makeup of a living being does not always work out well. Tech could explain it al in greater detail.” He holds up his hand to stop his brother, who already looked up, ready to go into greater details about genetic mutations and enhancements and how tinkering with it could have negative or even destructive effects on the subjects.

“Some did not survive outside of the pods used to accelerate age or the treatments to enhance our abilities. In the end our squad consisted of five survivors that could be trained.”

The mentioning of the squad consisting of five members has Omega perk up for a second. This was news to her, though she expected that Nala Se had not told her every single detail about all the members of her favorite squad of clones. Especially not when it became clear she was more interested in this small group than any of the other groups.

“Bug was the last one to die on Kamino, but not from the changes that were made to his genetic makeup. He died in an accident, or that is what the rapport stated. We knew that some of the regs wanted to teach him a lesson. Bug was always curious about other people and would bug them with questions on anything that caught his attention. It annoyed some of the others. They altered a training program and disabled the safety protocol, thinking it would only wound him. But bug, training his blaster skills at that time, was shot by one of the training droids, in the chest. He did not make it…….” Hunter stops there and looks at Omega. “You remind me of him.”

Omega, touched by the remark, softly smiles and nods at Hunter, indicating to him to continue his story.

“When we heard what happened to Bug, we did not believe it was an accident. Bug might have been absent minded at times, but he would never forget to turn on the safety protocols. Tech hacked the systems and found out what really happened. I guess that is the moment I started to earn my name. I hunted the regs responsible for what happened and we taught them a lesson. We didn't kill them, but they knew never to mess with any of us ever again.”

Omega, emotional from the story she was told just now, stands up and dashes over to Hunter. Throwing her arms around him she hugs him tightly. “I`m so sorry Hunter! I didn't want to make you all sad. I just thought it would be fun to hear how you all got your names.” With a sob she pushes her head into his chest, close to crying.

Hunter gently wraps his arms around her for comfort. “It`s ok Omega. Don`t worry about it.”

Wrecker, standing up, moves towards his little sister and pats her on the head. “Don`t worry kid! It was nice to think about Bug too ya know? He was fun to have around.”

Tech, finally done with tinkering with his latest project walks by as he mentions something about checking the auto pilot. A soft pat on her shoulder to tell her not to worry about it as well is all the comfort she needs from him at that time.

Crosshair, not a man to show many emotions, especially when it comes to Omega says nothing as he walks past them. The only surprising action is a quick, soft smile for her as he looks at the young girl still wrapped around Hunter.

Echo puts his hand on her shoulder as he turns her around. “Come on kid. Let's give Hunter a chance to breathe while we go and grab some food for dinner.”

With a final warm smile for Hunter, Omega nods and turns around to leave the hull and join Echo in preparing some food for their dinner. She asked for a story and had gotten more then she expected. Just a little more of the personalities of the men she came to see as her true family, the men she loved even before they met and that she wished to be with for the remainder of her life.

@loth-wolffe@nahoney22@hellothere-generalangsty@reluctant-mandalore@moonstrider9904@chaoticvampirejedi

[infinityactual]

So, thus far I am mad bc I was right not to get excited for Infinite.

Please note that these are my opinions based on my preferred playstyle and NOT a condemnation or attack on anyone who likes Infinite.

For one I'm pissed off that co-op campaign wont be here till May at the earliest. I've been watching my spouse play.

So, it started out okay. Classic John getting his shit kicked in and then taking a space nap for however long. Man loves him a space nap. Then the Pilot finds you after a confusing timeskip, and you have to fight through a Banished starship before getting to set foot on Zeta Halo.

The dialogue for the aliens is fucking HILARIOUS, btw.

But, once you find your way out of Zeta Halo's inner workings and into the environment, the play style changes drastically and begins to take on elements of an RTS game as well as an open world RPG game, and I noticed some elements borrowed from Fortnite.

-You have armor cores you can use to upgrade different aspects of the Mjolnir and grappleshot. It's sorta neat in some ways, but also a little annoying in a campaign. I'd have preferred that stay with MP.

- You still have checkpoints you will restart at if you die, but ONLY if you die. You can no longer load up a previous checkpoint. For example, a drop pod landed on my spouse's Scorpion and caused it to clip into the ground, and even when he turned off the Xbox, it started him back at base with all his previous actions already done, and the tank was nowhere to be found.

-You have to go around and capture bases, which in turn give you access to more abilities and requisition options RTS-style. Thanks I hate it. I didn't play either of the Halo Wars games for a reason; I cannot play RTS games and I do not enjoy them, and this aspect of Infinite is driving me up the wall without me even playing it.

-If the UNSC is shattered and broken as badly as Infinite says it is...why do you have the option to just requisition all this stuff anyway.

-Why are you introducing new characters and making them loveable and then killing them ten seconds later. That isn't a plot twist, that's just bad writing for shock value or however you put it.

-The BIOS sucks, you have to get a separate armor ability to see anything aside from waypoints and weapons. Seeing weapons holstered and walkin around tho is pretty funny, AND you can stick the beacon that DOES detect enemies to the enemies themselves if you aim well.

-The map cannot be rotated, and it's 3d which means that it's easy to get lost because you can't always see how the FUCK to get to an objective. My spouse spent half his play time getting lost.

-You get voice logs for both the UNSC and the Banished, and even though Lasky is in a good number of the UNSC ones so far (interacting with his boyfriend, even!!) he is still Shroedinger's Captain: his escape pod made it off of Infinity, but afaik you don't find out if he's alive or dead.

-The Weapon is actually Cortana. I will die mad about this.

-Infinite ends on a cliffhanger. I will die mad about this.

I'm sure I'll find more stuff to bitch about as my spouse plays more, but for right now I'm debating on whether I even want to try the game, or if I just wasted sixty bucks.