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karahalloway · 7 months

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(Less Than) Noble Intentions: Chapter 17 - News Flash

Fandom: TRR

Pairing: Drake Walker x F!OC (Harper Gale)

Series Summary: The social season may be over, but Harper Gale’s problems are just beginning. With everyone at court a potential suspect, can she and Drake survive the engagement tour and get to the bottom of the plot against her and clear her name? An AU take of TRR2 featuring my OTP - Harper & Drake.

Masterlist: (Less Than) Noble Intentions

Chapter Summary: Harper and the Beaumonts get on a plane to Italy… but they are not riding solo

Word Count: 4,500

Rating/Warnings: M (using the Lord's name in vain, shocking revelations, possible ulterior motives)

Chapter theme song:

A/N1: And… we’re back! I know this is a bit delayed, thanks to my new Heaven’s Secret distraction, but I am hoping to refocus myself on this continuously neglected series again for the next few weeks/months so we can make some headway towards wrapping it up. Also, I know we all miss him, and he hasn’t had as much page time as we all (Harper included!) probably want, but I promise that after this chapter there will be a lot more Drake again 🥃

A/N2: Astute readers will probably notice that there is nary a train in sight (in this chapter, or any future ones). This is deliberate because (i) I never understood why PB went in that direction in canon (is a travelling boutique really that important?!), and (ii) trains don’t make sense from a security point of view anyway (apparently the UK’s Royalty and Specialist Protection — which provides close protection to the royal family — used to hate it when Elizabeth II travelled by train, because it was always a massive headache to ensure her safety as trains travel on a fixed route and schedule, with no opportunities for diversion or evasion of things go to pot). So… planes it is ✈️

A/N3: Finally, another special shoutout to @thegreentwin for giving me the inspiration to have a crack at creating the tabloid cover page featured in this chapter. If you have not read The Rebel Prince, please do so! It is cute, funny, insightful and the gossip magazine covers that accompany several of the chapters are something else!

Chapter 17 - News Flash

"I thought we're going to Italy..." I remark the next morning as we pull to a stop on the tarmac of a secluded private airfield.

"We are," confirms Bertrand, jamming a fedora onto his head to protect against the ferocity of the morning sun... and hide the brutal sunburn he managed to acquire as a result of spending the entirety of yesterday's Festival outdoors without any SPF protection.

"Then what's with the literal mountain of luggage?" I ask as we step out of our customary limo.

Bertrand fixes me with a red-faced glare over the roof of the vehicle. "Have you learnt nothing from the social season?"

I throw him a deadpan look. "You mean apart from the fact that you insist on packing everything, including the kitchen sink?"

Maxwell's snort drifts up from the backseat.

The elder Beaumont is not impressed with my clapback. "The engagement tour will be one high-profile event after the other, which means that we will have neither the time nor the opportunity to engage in slap-dash shopping sprees. Not only would such proletarian behaviour be rude, but it would be misguided as well, given that we need to ensure that for each event we abide not just by the formal dress code indicated on the invitation, but also that we do not clash with, or indeed overshadow the hosts — or the King and future Queen, for that matter! — in terms of style and colour, all while being thoughtful in ensuring that we incorporate elements from both local and Cordonian designers to visually showcase the strength of the bonds that knit our respective nations together. On top of all that, it is imperative that we—"

"How the heck is anyone expected to pull all that off?" I blurt in disbelief.

"Through careful planning and coordination," Bertrand declares as he comes to join Maxwell and me on the other side of the limo. "Which is why I have taken the liberty of pre-selecting each outfit for each event of the tour, in consultation with the Palace's Master of the Robes."

My mouth drops. "You... Put a wardrobe together? For me?"

"Yes," comes the diffident affirmation. "Given that all eyes — not just those of our fellow Cordonians, but of our host nations' — will be on us constantly, we cannot afford any fashion faux pas."

I stare at my former sponsor mutely, mouth opening and closing like a dumbfounded goldfish.

Maxwell attempts to diffuse my slap-faced reaction with a jovial grin. "Bertrand used to lay my clothes out for me all the time when we were younger. I know he doesn't look it, but he has excellent—"

I shove an accusatory finger out. "He tried to foist me into a Medieval cosplay dress! That is the exact opposite of excellent taste!"

The elder Beaumont bristles. "It was hardly—"

"And how the hell did you afford all of this anyway?" I interject, throwing my arm out towards the carefully stacked Eiffel Tower of suitcases. "Because last time I checked, you were flat broke!"

Bertrand's already ruddy complexion darkens further. "There is no need for you to concern yourself with—"

"How?!"

After the way Maxwell had tried to sell covert photos and Christian and me from New York to the press in a bid to make bank, I am not willing to take any kind of half-baked deflection when it comes to the Beaumonts and money. I've been used one too many times for someone else's gain, so my trust is virtually non-existent at this point.

Bertrand swallows thickly as he averts his eyes. "I... I may have made recourse to an old sewing machine I found in the attic..."

My eyes just about pop out of my head. "You what?!"

I'd expected any one of six million other explanations — he'd sold the vineyard... remortgaged Ramsford... auctioned off every last chair and curtain from the manor... Even offered his soul to the literal Devil...

But using a sewing machine...? To make actual clothes...?

I had obviously caught the sun yesterday as well, and am now suffering from heat stroke...

"Bertrand has always been interested in fashion," explains Maxwell with a perfectly straight face. "He even wanted to enroll at the world-renowned Istituto Marangoni International in Milan to study Fashion Design. But then our father took unexpectedly ill, and—"

"Yes, yes..." interjects Bertrand with an embarrassed wave of his hand. "No need to revisit broken dreams and unfulfilled promises. The point is that I made the best use of what meagre funds and resources we had at our disposal to curate a serviceable selection of outfits for each of us. With a little help from Maxwell, of course."

"I was the mannequin," he declares proudly. "I admit, I got poked a few times in the line of duty, but it was worth it. Bertrand did a stellar job – you're going to love what he made for you."

"I... I don't know what to say..." I admit faintly.

And here I'd been thinking that Bertrand's closet Harry Potter obsession had been a big reveal...

"Yes... Well..." Bertrand clears his throat uncomfortably. "We each have our unique talents. Speaking of... I trust you have been practicing your Italian?"

I frown. "My what?"

"You were supposed to give her lessons!" cries Bertrand, smacking his brother over the back of the head.

Maxwell's retro '60s sunglasses fly off his face. "My Prada’s...!"

"What about French?" Bertrand demands, rounding on me with all the intensity of a furious tomato on the verge of exploding.

"Allard and Schweitzer have been teaching—"

"Some initiative at last!" exclaims Bertrand, throwing his hands up in the air in deliverance. "Good — you'll have some semblance of a basis, then. However, while both languages share a common root — that being Latin — and a border, as a result of roughly fifteen centuries of historical and linguistic divergence, Italian has become markedly different from its Gallic cousin, so we will have our work cut out in making you even semi-proficient by the time we land in Rome. So, I hope you brought pen and paper with you."

My shoulders slump as I watch Bertrand stride off towards the waiting plane. "Great..."

There goes the next hour and a half of my life...

"I knew I had forgotten something..." admits Maxwell, rubbing the back of his head as he retrieves his sunglasses from the tarmac. "But I thought it was just my second favourite pair of boxers."

"It's fine..." I assure wearily him as I begin my own trudge towards the jet. "It wouldn't be a true Beaumont travel experience without a droning Bertrand lecture..."

Though I guess it could be worse. I could be stuck on the royal jet with Christian and Madeleine. Which — after what happened yesterday — would be like staging an aristocratic rendition of Squid Game... 20,000 feet in the air. So, on that basis, I'll willingly subject myself to Bertrand's monologuing any day of the week, if it means I can—

"And there she is..." remarks a familiar, though very much unexpected voice as I step onto the plane. "The woman of the hour."

Jerking my head to the right, my eyes land on Olivia, lounging on one of the cream-coloured leather seats, her killer spike stiletto boots dangling over the armrest as she casually peruses a broadsheet.

"What are you doing here?" I ask in disbelief.

Olivia lowers the paper to meet my eye with a quirked brow. "You mean, on my own aircraft?"

I cast a glance in Bertrand's direction as I make my way down the gangway. "Guess your meagre funds and resources didn't extend to sourcing jet fuel?"

Bertrand coughs evasively as he stores his briefcase in the overhead locker. "Since we are all heading in the same direction anyway, Lady Oliva was kind enough to—"

"Shut it, Beaumont," Olivia snaps. "I am doing this as a personal favour, not an act of charity. As Lord knows that I wouldn't normally tolerate sharing recycled air with this many people in a confined space. So, if you want to stay on this plane, you will save the histrionics for the Italian President."

Bertrand promptly clamps his mouth shut to sink into his seat without another word.

"Wow..." I say, settling in across from Olivia. "He must've been really desperate to come to you for help... No offence."

"None taken," she replies with a breezy shrug as she flips the broadsheet closed and nods to the cabin attendant. "Because the request didn't come from the Beaumonts."

My head snaps up in surprise. "Then who?"

She regards me for a long moment, as if debating whether to tell me. Finally, she lets out a resigned exhale. "Drake."

My jaw hits the floor. "What!"

Olivia scrunches her mouth up ruefully. "He twisted my arm into agreeing to look out for you while he's off playing desert soldier."

I stare at her. "How in the world did he—?"

Maxwell thrusts his head 'round the back of Olivia's seat. "Drake's playing video games! Instead of coming to Italy?”

The Duchess of Lythikos shoves the intruding face away with the palm of her hand. "No, you imbecile! Drake's gone to Dubai." Glancing at me she adds, "I presume they know?"

"They do now," I concede with a sigh.

Thanks to the slew of quick-fire developments at yesterday's Festival, followed by the rabid packing to get ourselves ready for the international leg of the tour, I haven't had a chance to bring the Beaumonts up to speed with everything that's happened in the past twenty-four hours.

But they're bound to find out about Drake's last-minute side-trip at some point, so this is as good a time as any to level with them.

Maxwell’s mouth drops with an aghast look. "But I didn't hit him that hard!"

Olivia quirks a brow at me.

"Long story, don't ask," I tell her wearily. Glancing up at Maxwell, I add, "He's gone after Tariq. Bastien found him hiding out on some rich cousin's yacht out in the bay."

"Oh." Maxwell scratches his head abashedly. "That makes more sense..."

"How do you put up with these two?" asks Olivia with a shake of her head as Maxwell sinks back into his seat.

I give her a shrug. "They have a weird way of growing on you..."

"Like some deadly fungus..." she mutters with a roll of her eyes.

"I heard that!" objects Maxwell from behind her.

"Well, maybe you shouldn't eavesdrop, then!" she throws over her shoulder snidely. Turning back to me, she adds, "And speaking of funguses, you can remind your boyfriend when he gets back that you both owe me. Big time."

My gaze darts to hers. "I— We're not—"

"Thank you for confirming it," she interjects with a sly smile. "But also, I'm not an idiot. It's obvious to anyone with a set of eyes that the fool is in love with you... and you with him. It's all quite disgusting, really..."

I feel my cheeks redden. "So, why help us, then?"

She heaves a low breath. "Because you stuck your neck out for me when you didn't have to. Despite everything I did to try and undermine you during the season. And because we have a common enemy."

She tosses the broadsheet that she'd been reading over to me.

Catching the copy of the Cordonia Sun before it has a chance to slide off the table between us, I glance down...

...and my heart sinks as I take in the unflattering picture of myself seemingly facing off against Madeleine under the sensationalist headline.

I shove the paper angrily away. "Hey. I didn't start it..."

"And yet you somehow always manage to find yourself in the middle of it, don't you?" she counters with an arched brow as the jet revs its engines for take-off. "The half-nude pictures... The Beaumonts' financial troubles... The speculations about the real reason Christian gave you a duchy... I mean, even the Duchess of Sussex would have a hard time competing with you when it comes to front-page scandals."

"And you think Madeleine is behind it all?" I ask tightly, indicating the tabloid.

"She would certainly have a lot to gain from waging a targeted media campaign against you," Olivia affirms. "She isn't married to Christian yet, and after what happened with Leo, she no doubt feels threatened by your continued presence at court. So, discrediting your integrity in the eyes of the Council would help her ensure that Christian can never formally pick you over her to become Queen."

"Because she doesn't know I turned him down..." I grumble dejectedly as the plane pulls into the air.

"And certainly would not believe you if you told her, either," she adds. "But she is not the only one with something to lose."

I sit up straighter. "You mean there are other suspects?"

"Yes," she nods. "Namely Godfrey and the Queen Mother."

Bertrand erupts from his seat at the mention of the two names. "That is an outrageous accusation! The Queen Mother would never—!"

"Madeleine is her niece," counters Olivia flatly. "Given that she has no children of her own, she practically treats that golden-haired harpy as if she is her heir. And since she was the one who brokered the original marriage contract between Leo and Madeleine, she clearly doesn't want all that work going to waste."

I frown. "But if everything was in place already, why have a social season at all? Why not just sub out Leo's name for Christian's in the contract?"

"To give Christian the illusion of choice."

My jaw drops. "You're not serious..."

"It would have been in poor taste to simply swap one prince out for another," Olivia advises. "Leo hadn't died... merely abdicated. But that decision nevertheless rocked the kingdom to its core."

"It's true," supplies Maxwell, leaning around with a mouth full of jelly worms. "The headlines were vicious."

"So..." I muse with a frown. "The Palace needed a distraction?"

"Yes," Oliva affirms seriously. "To draw attention away from Constantine's failing health."

"Wait," I cut in. "Constantine is dying?"

Olivia nods. "Prostate cancer. By all estimates, he has less than a year to live."

"Oh, my God..." I gasp, hand flying to my mouth. "No wonder Christian didn't want to talk about it..."

"The Palace is under strict instructions to keep the whole thing tightly under wraps..." she explains. "At least until after the coronation and wedding are both out of the way. They don't want the news to overshadow the first few critical months of Christian's rule."

"So, how did you find out?" I query.

She cuts her eyes over at me. "Like I said at the Masquerade Ball... Christian and I share a special connection. There are no secrets between us. Also – look at who you're talking to. I have files on each of the suitors from the social season. You seriously think I wouldn't know about something as vital to the functioning of the kingdom as the state of the King Father's health?"

"I guess not..." I concede, still trying to process this bombshell. "But how does giving Christian an illusion of a choice during the social season help cover up Constantine's cancer?"

"In the wake of Leo's abdication, support for the Rys family fell to an all-time low. The press started to question Constantine's policies, and the direction that the kingdom has been heading over the past few decades, implying that the country's current trajectory was unsustainable... and uncorrectable."

"I remember reading something about that on the flight from New York..." I recall. "There were suggestions that Leo abdicated because he didn't believe in the future of the monarchy."

"Which wasn't the case at all," she cautions. "But the Palace was worried that such intense media scrutiny would unearth evidence of Constantine's ill health... which would in turn intensify the calls from the republican factions of the country to abolish the system of hereditary rule completely. So, in a desperate bid to reunite the people behind a common cause, and shore up support for the monarchy, the Palace decided run the season again."

"But why?" I ask, still not seeing the connection.

"To charm the country with the fairytale of a royal romance," denotes Olivia sourly. "Because people apparently go ga-ga for that shite..."

Bertrand narrowly avoids choking in his seat across the aisle. "That is a crude and absolutely salacious interpretation of—!"

I whirl across the aisle. "Wait. You knew about this?"

Bertrand folds his arms across his chest. "I am a serving member of the Council. Of course I knew about the Palace's decision to run the social season again. But to suggest that it was all done simply for the sake of—"

"God, you're thick..." interjects Olivia.

Bertrand blanches. "I beg your pardon?!"

"You've been at court long enough to know that the truth is never the whole truth — there is always some hidden purpose or ulterior motive."

"But to suggest that—"

"The Palace needed a believable story — one that could capture the public's imagination — while still serving the needs of the kingdom," Olivia states. "A story of duty and love."

"Between Christian and Madeleine?" I ask sceptically. "But they don't even like each other."

"So?" scoffs Olivia. "The aim was to sell the lie to the populace. Everything else is inconsequential. And can be made to fit the narrative."

"But if you knew all this," I counter, "why did you join the competition?"

"I joined exactly because I knew the season was a sham," she replies heatedly. "To give Christian a genuine choice... not just the one that everyone else was determined to steer him towards."

"Because you love him..."

Olivia nods tightly. "Yes. And I knew it was a long shot. But even if he wouldn't end up being able to choose me — Regina would've made sure to stack the Council votes in her favour — at least I could be there to support him... as a friend."

I feel my heart go out to her, knowing from personal experience how difficult it is to be in a situation where you desperately want to be with someone, but can't because of circumstances that are outside of your control.

"But then, of course..." adds Olivia, once again with her customary breeziness, "you show up from out of nowhere with your hideous accent and relatable backstory—"

"Hey!"

"—and the whole country — Christian included — loses their collective minds. With the result that Regina's plan to make her niece Queen begins to unravel at the seams."

"Which is why she decided to set me up..." I surmise heavily as the jet levels off.

It's been fairly obvious from the start that I'm not Regina's favourite person... But the knowledge that she'd go to such lengths to publicly blacklist me? That's just inexcusable.

"You have no proof of that!" objects Bertrand, butting in again.

"Not directly, no," Olivia admits. "But all the evidence we have to date fits. The money Tariq received for his involvement came from a numbered account located in Switzerland. The blackmail letters distributed at the Coronation Ball were printed on Palace stationery. And as far as motives go, the Queen Mother would have more reason than most to influence the outcome of the social season."

"I cannot believe I am hearing this...!" decries Bertrand with a shake of his head. "The implications alone would be—"

"Ruinous to the Rys family," confirms Olivia. "I am aware. Which is why we must tread carefully in order to avoid tarring Christian with any of this. The monarchy would not survive the ensuing scandal."

"What about this other guy?" I ask. "Godfrey? How does he fit into this?"

Olivia throws her hands up. "Lord, you're more clueless than him!"

"Excuse me for not knowing every single Cordonian nobleman by name," I snark back. "I've only been a duchess for a day..."

"I'll send you my files," Olivia huffs wearily. "All two hundred of them."

My eyes widen. "There's two hundred—?"

"There's more, but those are the important ones," she replies with a dismissive wave of her hand. "And if you want to be an effective duchess, I suggest you study up because you need to have the entire contents of those dossiers memorised and ready to deploy in any given conversation."

"Sweet Jesus..." I gasp faintly, making recourse to Drake's favourite invective, as it certainly fit the magnitude of the task Olivia has just dumped on me.

"You didn't grow up in this world, so you have a lot of catching up to do," Olivia shrugs unabashedly.

"Yeah, I'm very much aware of that..." I concede dryly, rubbing my temples. "So, who is this Godfrey?"

"The Third Earl of Huntford, and Duke jure uxoris of Krona."

My brows furrow in recollection. "Krona... Does that mean he's—?"

"He's Madeleine's dad," supplies Maxwell, popping his head into the aisle again, this time in the company of a CapriSun juice pouch.

My eyes widen. "The man at the garden party! But what does he have against me? I've never even met him!"

"The fact that you are still here..." offers Olivia blandly. "Competing against his daughter for the attentions of the King."

"It's not exactly a competition," I scoff. "I'm not trying to steal him away from her."

"Except that isn't how the press is portraying it," counters Olivia pointedly, tapping the front page of the Sun.

I open my mouth again, but quickly shut it, realising that Olivia is right. As regardless of my personal reasons for being back at court — as the Royal Consort, no less! — the view from the outside presents very differently. And given that Madeleine herself clearly feels threatened by my continued presence at Christian's side, it's no small jump to imagine that her father — who, based on what I saw at the garden party a few days ago, is just as power-hungry and image-conscious as his daughter — would also feel the same.

"Crap..." I huff, falling back into my seat dejectedly.

"Not the most elegant of phrasing," muses Olivia. "But certainly succinct."

"What am I going to do?" I ask morosely, starting up at the cabin's air vents.

"Help me gather as much proof as we can during the course of the tour," Olivia instructs. "So we can narrow down our suspect list... or indict all three of them. In either case, we will be more effective if we work together."

"That plan is akin to sedition!" cries Bertrand, clearly aghast by the very suggestion. "Bordering on treason! All of us are in enough hot water already without—"

"Which is why it is imperative that no word of anything that we have just discussed leaves this aircraft," declares Olivia with a steely look. "Or I will personally hunt you down and turn your face inside out."

I gulp at the gruesomeness of that particular image. "What... What about the staff? Can you trust them?"

"They are all Lythikosians," Olivia states. "Who have sworn blood-oaths to House Nevrakis. They would never dare betray me."

"Good to know..." I admit, watching the cabin attendant re-appeared with a selection of drinks, and wondering if underneath her uniform she is as armed to the teeth as Olivia supposedly is.

"I presume the same goes for your beefcakes?" asks Olivia, nodding her chin towards the back where Allard and Schweitzer have taken up residence for the duration of the flight.

"Yes," I confirm. "I trust them with my life."

She dips her head in approval. "Good. So, as first order of business, I suggest—"

"Can we tell Hana?" interjects Maxwell, bobbing up from behind Olivia again. "She's helping us, too!"

Olivia heaves a breath. "Yes, fine. But—"

I hold up a hand. "And Drake will probably want t—"

"Yes, fine!" she snaps irately. "Anyone else? Your maternal grandmother, perhaps?"

I bite my bottom lip as I peek up at her. "Do we tell Christian?"

Olivia holds my gaze for a long moment. "No. Not until we have concrete proof. One way or another. He has enough crises to manage right now without lumbering him with a major constitutional one as well."

I nod in understanding. The mere suggestion that his godmother and future father-in-law have been conspiring to put Madeleine on the throne (potentially with his fiancée's own buy-in!) would be soul-destroying. Which is why we need to find that smoking gun — ideally several — before we present our accusations.

"Not sure if it will be of any help at all," I say, "but Ana de Luca managed dig up some information on the freelance photographer Tariq was working with on the day of the Jamboree."

"Did you bribe her with another exclusive?" chaffs Olivia dryly.

"We'll need someone to help us set the record straight," I affirm. My shoulders slump suddenly. "But I gave the flash-drive to Drake."

"Which he gave to me," smirks Olivia, pulling the device from the pocket of her jacket.

I gape at the piece of plastic in her hand. "Drake really trusts you, huh?"

"More than most," she shrugs coyly, flipping the drive over to me.

I catch it with both hands. "We should review whatever is on here. Who knows? Maybe the photographer is part of the press corps covering the tour."

"I have my laptop with me," Maxwell offers. "I was going to use it to mix some tunes, but—"

"You'll only get one chance to unravel a high-stakes aristo racket!" I quip, dangling the drive between my fingers.

"God, your incessant American optimism is stomach-turning..." Olivia groans. "And you've clearly spent too much time with Walker."

"Hey," I hit back. "This is the best lead we've gotten yet. We shouldn't discount it. This photographer could be key to linking Regina and/or Godfrey to the plot to influence the outcome of the social season."

"Assuming you can find them..." counters Olivia. "And get them to talk."

I meet her eye with a level look. "Good thing that's your area of expertise, isn't it, Duchess?"

The corner of her mouth lifts craftily.

"But what about Harper's Italian!" disparages Bertrand. "We'll be landing in less than an hour, and she still doesn't know the proper way to greet the President in his native tongue without insulting him!"

I swallow a groan. "Do I really need t—?"

"Being able to carry a conversation with the Head of State in Italian will go a long way in demonstrating to both the public and the press that you are serious about your new role as Duchess of Valtoria," he advises frankly. "And will score you some much-needed diplomatic points with our hosts as well."

"Guess we have our work cut out for us, then," I accede with a sigh. "Any chance for some coffee?"

"Turkish, Irish, or Sicilian?" asks Olivia.

"Which is closest to a latte?"

"Probably the Sicilian," she advises. "If you make it into a granita di caffe."

"I'm feeling Italian already!" I gibe in an attempt to lighten the mood a bit.

Bertrand groans loudly from his seat. "Oh, Dio..."

The story continues in Chapter 18 - Diplomatica

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susartwork · 1 year

Text

New "Murphy's Law" arc started!

Murphy's law = anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

More story under the cut. CW: blood and body horror (?)

-Today my classic self called me, the one everyone calls "Wiz". He wanted to meet me in private.

-He said that... after all I'm better than him.

-I did many mistakes in my life. When my timeline was still affected by resets, before... Flowey started using them to torture me, I spent those time loops doing "social experiments".

-I called them that, but it was just me doing somethin' stupid to see the reaction of passersby. I was very bored.

-But no, my other self went more far. Now he started real experiments on other monsters, and not always safe ones. This is not part of his job, no, he's having FUN doing THIS!

-This disgusting creature is becoming just like him.

-I couldn't stand the stupid smirk of my doppelganger. I- I c-couldn't stand the idea of me and him being the same person. ... I probably got carried away... even though I told Sci I would never try to hurt my other self Wiz again.

-Yet he kept smiling. I can't stand him, I can't stand him, I CAN'T stand him.

-I needed someone to talk to, but I couldn't let my friends see me! I was too disgusted by him, by... myself to let them see me. And they couldn't know that I beaten him after what happened with Hacker!Error 505...

-Basic found Alex's body a few weeks ago in the Waterfall dump of an AU. When I found out I decided to heal her and hide her from Sci's jealousy. I love him, but I can't let him see her. I just want them both to be ok...

-I took Alex to my house to talk to her privately, but... my brother saw me, and he was holding his corpse.

-I used a special material to keep the corpse from rotting and hid it in my pillowcase until now. When I killed him it wasn't enough for me, I NEEDED to see his corpse, KNOW that he's DEAD and that he won't come back ever again!

-I started to panic, too many things were happening all at once. 1) What my disgusting doppelganger did, and that I beaten him. 2) Papyrus saw Alex in my arms, what if he were to tell Sci she's alive? 3) And now everyone would find out that I killed Flowey. This is a problem, because everyone tried to convince me that "I'd be as bad as Flowey if I had to get my revenge". ...This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

-But my friends would abandon me if they knew all this! This thought was drilling into my skull.

-Papyrus did his best to calm me down, but I couldn't stop crying, I couldn't ignore that sense of guilt and fear inside of me. I failed everyone...

-I thought I was hopeless once more. AND I WASN'T WRONG.

-When I realized Frisk hadn't been home in hours, I asked Papyrus where they were, and he said: "Sans... Frisk left this morning to go at the castle... You know they were preparing to sacrifice themselves for us. They couldn't wait anymore..."

-I rushed to the castle. But Frisk... was... dead... sitting on the throne.

-Despite everything their pale, bleeding corpse was still smiling...

-I brought the body to Asgore's house, there HAD to be something I could do to save them!!

-But... there wasn't...

-Asgore found me in his kitchen, I was completely out of me. I was so angry at him.

-Yet he spoke to me with a kind smile... He told me the barrier is now broken. He freed the human souls, but one wanted to stay.

-Sadly Frisk's body is too damaged to keep the soul, but I'll find a way to give them a body back, and I'll also find a way to tell everyone my secrets.

-I'm sorry, old lady. I wasn't able keep your promise... At least we can finally see the sun.

Sci's reactions to the truth ->

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

Author note: I wanted to specify that the new design is due to how much Hopeless doesn't want to look like Wiz anymore. And yes, Wiz is canonically an anti-hero in Underwizard.

Speaking of the other characters' clothing, they have only changed their clothes due to the passage of time. Papy modified Frisk's hoodie after it got damaged in a RP ♡

Thanks for reading this far, and sorry for any misspellings :'3

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rotworld · 6 months

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I just finished Avici and I had to come over here to express how amazing it was. I'm usually not into romance fics but Sukuna/Reader stories usually get at least a second look from me because his canon character is just very hard to write a 'normal' romance for so any story seriously tackling that is worth trying imo, and I'm so glad I did!

The characterisation of Gojo and Sukuna are wonderful, you really delved deep into the darker side of these monstrously powerful sorcerers in the frankly grim world of jujutsu. I've seen a lot of fics make these two softer (especially Gojo) so your portrayal is like a splash of cold water on a hot day lol. I don't even particularly like Gojo honestly but stories that show his darker side kind of make me see his appeal, a little.

I gotta say normally I'm ambivalent towards smut and don't actively search for it, but it's such a core part of Avici that I feel it wouldn't really work as well without it. The flashbacks and slow reveal of what exactly the reader is and the twisted bond they have with Sukuna and later Gojo really add a sense of tension and like, dread? To the whole thing, which was lovely. I also read your director's cut bc I was so enthralled, I'm blown away by how much went into it!

If you're willing to weigh in, what do you personally imagine happens to the reader during the canon timeline?

answer is long and contains jjk manga spoilers.

aaaaaaaaaa that makes me so happy!!! i started out with very little interest in gojo but sort of wrote myself into liking him lol working on avici made me realize how easy it is to draw comparisons between him and sukuna. the things i've come to like about him are mostly things that lend themselves well to angsty scenarios, characters who are messy like that are like catnip to me. as for how things would go for the reader, it’s mostly just more misery.

by the end of the shibuya arc, the reader is in the custody of kenjaku and uraume. as a result of the failed noh exorcism, they have a strong connection to gojo so they would’ve felt it when he was sealed. it would resemble what sukuna’s dormancy feels like, and i think it would leave them with some complicated feelings. maybe that would be enough for them to leave and start wandering in search of some other way to pass the time, or maybe they’d stay there waiting. either way, uraume finds and retrieves them. this would probably involve a fight. the reader by the end of avici isn’t the docile creature uraume remembers. sukuna probably had the foresight to warn them, since this is an outcome he anticipated and even wanted, but that wouldn’t make the reader any easier to deal with. they are, by design, the kind of curse that only someone like sukuna or gojo can safely handle. maybe kenjaku can help with the apprehension lol

for the most part, i don’t think the reader would be very active. they would stick with uraume and kenjaku because they know that’s where they need to be. they would be there to spectate the culling game, they would be there when sukuna reappears in a new host, and they would be there when gojo dies. that might be the thing that finally sets them off, since they were counting on gojo to win that fight. if we’re going into fully indulgent territory lol then the reader would be involved in the final battle against sukuna, however that turns out. that’s the natural conclusion of their arc and it would be poetic for him to die at not only the hands of the thing he created, but the collective remnants of the people he used and tortured in the past. and it would be fitting for the reader to follow him, as promised, into whatever kind of oblivion comes next for curses.

i guess that’s a little bleak lol but that’s more or less how it was always going to be. there’s no end to this for the reader, they’re stuck with him for eternity because he made them that way. but maybe there’s some closure there at least.

#rotpeach answers

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wifiwuxians · 1 month

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On one hand, I do get anon's point. The first few times I saw Xunyang fanart I just thought it was a Xuexiao AU and didn't look too much closer because I don't go there and I abide by the "don't like, don't click" philosophy of life. On the other hand, this is MDZS. MDZS, in my humble opinion, is chalk full of character designs that are way too similar. Especially when you're using CQL as the basis. I freely admit to squinting at Wangxian fanart sometimes, especially in modern AU's, and asking myself "is this Wangxian or Xuexiao?"

So I just think that the similar character designs are just in-keeping with the overall theme of how similar all the MDZS character designs are. I can't really speak for the personalities though because I never read the fic, Xuexiao is a big nope for me but OC x Canon is a bigger nope for me. I do like OC x OC though, so if you ever wind up shipping Wen Xun with another OC I'll be there to eat that up. I also absolutely support you making your content for it, it's not for me but a lot of your other content is.

So yeah, while I understand where anon's confusion is coming from, I don't really think it's entirely fair considering the general lack of distinction between MDZS character designs. If you had designed WX in a way that didn't look similar to other characters from the series, he probably would have stood out way too much standing next to the canon characters. This isn't YGO where the more outlandish the character design, the more they fit in with the rest of the cast. Or even WOH where there's clearly a lot of effort put in by the character designers to make each character have distinct hair styles and outfits. MDZS and CQL are full of characters with similar hair who wear similar uniforms and unless the artist is really skilled at drawing distinct facial features, the characters will inevitably look similar.

I'm sorry for the super long ask. I just wanted to defend your choices in designing him the way you did. I think you did a very good job following the themes of how the character designs in MDZS are very limited and you did give him distinct features that allowed him to be recognized. Unless you chose to draw a design that didn't fit well with the theme of the other characters, WX was bound to look similar to at least one other MDZS character, if not multiple characters. And the fact that you used a different CQL character as the basis for the design and he wound up looking so similar to XXC is just proof of how insanely similar all these character designs are.

On that note, I do think it would be funny to talk about WC and XXC having similar character designs. I never thought that they did and it's been a very long time since I looked at CQL but I think it'd be super funny to explore an AU where they do look similar. XXC being a long lost Wen heir? Or maybe they just coincidentally look similar and it's a "prince and the pauper" situation?

if i ever make a Xun x OC AU i will let you know, i do roleplay w him on here sometimes so it isn't outside the realm of possibility that it could happen

that said it is SO unfair to judge me on the "they look similar" thing because of what you just said! everyone in cql has similar hair, what do you want from me. he wasn't going to get short hair. i don't like short hair. LOL and also, cql xxc doesn't even really have that hair (though he does humorously have the strands at the front which i only noticed later)

so if the only person (kind of) getting anon's point is someone who admittedly doesn't like or really care abt the OC or story... well. everyone who has read it has said it's unfounded

it is hilarious to think maybe xxc is a wen heir and id love a prince and pauper thing... 🎶 I'm just like you, you're just like me 🎶 but truly Chao does not look like him either i promise. GKJFKDJFLD

but still again i am sorry but they don't look THAT similar. Xun having the same hair as manhua XXC is such an unfair standard to hold me to when everyone else in that verse is drawn with the cql design KRNRKFJDKF

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princess-of-the-corner · 5 months

Text

Toontown Rewritten Recap: November 2002 (Part 2)

November 9, 2002

Sir Max reveals that they’ve removed the instant transportation the Trolley previously used, and replaced it with a roundabout called “Trolley Tracks”. (Sir Max assures us that the Toon responsible for that name has been fired… Out of a canon.)

How does “Trolley Tracks” work?

All of the participating Toons get a set number of votes, and vote to go either up or down.

At the end of the tracks are a series of tunnels that lead to various Trolley games. Winning those Trolley games earns the Toons more votes. After three Trolley games, the Toons can get off the Trolley or ride again.

Additionally, Toon Memory Game has been added. 1-4 Toons can now try to match pairs of cards to score points. Clear the board to win.

The Great Umbrella Shortage has ended! Now Toon Slingshot can be played with friends!

Bingo cards have been placed at every Fishing Pond, so Toons can now play bingo for even MORE Jellybeans! They’ve all been given hardwood rods and bigger Jellybean Jars to boot!

Loony Labs has invented the Toon TAGS. These are basically holographic nametags that float over every Toon in Town, meaning you don’t have to worry about forgetting your friends’ names anymore! Thank you Loony Labs! I would never be able to forgive myself if I forgot duchess of the clover’s name!

(Note: Trolley Tracks is typically a Thursday-only thing, and Fishing Bingo Wednesday only, but I have no idea if this was true of Alpha testing, given that they were implemented on a SATURDAY! Then again, Saturdays typically rotate through all Weekly Holidays, so…)

November 10, 2002

Upon being allowed back into the Toon Council the previous evening, Sir Max attempts to pitch one more Trolley game before they declare the Trolley games done: Robot Thief.

Unlike Canon Tag and Crane Dozers, the Toon Council actually likes Sir Max’s idea this time, being outright moved to tears by how beautiful they are. After raising him for his first ever good idea, they asked how soon he can make his beautiful dream a reality.

Upon seeing how much debt his idea would put them in, they kicked him out of the meeting.

Before Sir Max could build a top-down minigame on public property, however, he was stopped by a Toon from Loony Labs. The Silly Scientist somehow already knew about Sir Max’s brilliant plan, and promised to foot the bill for the Toon Council.

With a new arena constructed by Loony Labs, “Robot Thief” discards the “top down” view of Cog Thief in favor of the same third-person POV used in the rest of the game, complete with a designated pie-throwing button taken from one of Toontown Online’s boss fights. It otherwise works exactly like Cog Thief, but actually fun to play!

Indeed, the Robot Thief overhaul was so popular, that it’s still in Rewritten today!

November 11, 2002

Hawkheart had been getting reports and complaints of Fishing Bingo not working properly, and so navigated the under-construction streets to get to the Fishing Bingo Office and tell off the Bingo Operator.

Halfway through his lecture, Hawkheart got fed up with the Bingo Operator refusing to acknowledge him, and turned the Operator’s swivel chair around so he could look them in the eye while telling them off.

Turns out there was no Bingo Operator. The entire system was automated and had never been switched on.

Oops.

Ah well, easy enough to fix!

November 12, 2002

Sir Max considered this update to be cringe-worthy, as all that got added were the “Cringe”, “Bored”, “Confused”, and “Think” emotes.

They would be continuing to add four emotions per day over the next four days.

(Out of character, the devs asked if their players thought that “emotions” should be renamed “animations” to fit with the cartoon theme.)

November 13, 2002

Sir Max found Fat McStink’s “Doglet” script laying around, and decided to make some edits to it.

He also announced the induction of the “Delighted” emote, while the script he was editing called for the use of the “Dance”, “Applause”, and “Bow” emotes. Conveniently, those are the other three emotions that got added that day.

Also, TTR Staff were given special Toon TAGS: Toon Troopers were given yellow tags, while Resistance Rangers were given green tags.

For reference, Sir Max is a Toon Trooper.

November 14, 2002

Sir Max wanted to teach everyone how to do the Flop. Either the “Belly Flop” or “Banana Peel” emotes will do. The “Cry” and “Laughter” emotes were also added.

November 15, 2002

The last batch of emotes were delayed by one day.

Professor Propostera announced that he was studying “The Gray”, a strange “space beyond spaces” that Toons can sometimes see through holes in geometry, or fall into if they happen to phase through something.

Out of universe, the Gray is just a nickname for the “out of bounds” area you can clip into in certain places. This update just patched up some level geometry so you couldn’t see it in Ice Slide, and also patched out certain glitches that’d allow Toons to clip out of bounds. It’s called “The Gray” because it’s an endless gray void outside of the game’s skybox.

Irrelevant, but if you jump while in the Gray, your Toon will just get frozen halfway through the animation and never land. You should still be able to move, but I just thought it was funny.

November 16, 2002

So, no emotes were added, but Sir Max announced something equally exciting: Donald’s Dock was now open for business!

In addition to this, Punchline Place (the street that connects Toontown Central to Donald’s Dock) was now open for business as well!

Also, Toontown Central’s Toon HQ was now open for visitors! It’s not quite complete YET, but soon it’ll be able to serve as a hub for all of Toontown’s tasking needs!

To celebrate, free Ice Cream treasures were deposited all over Toontown Central!

Also, Sir Max decided to open a photography business! First, he just needed some Toons to hop on the Trolley, ride it in a circle so they get off at the playground, take these ambiguously stolen cameras, and take pictures of all the Toons running around the Playground.

Unrelated, but Photo Fun was added to the Trolley Game rotation!

Photo Fun simply requires the player to take pictures of the various Toons doing certain things, and earning more jellybeans the closer the picture is to the goal.

I know I said this before but I do find it great how they just. Roleplayed the fuck out of this.

#submission

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anamelessdragon · 2 years

Text

WHUMPTOBER DAY 1 | A LITTLE OUT OF THE ORDINARY | 1.3k

by NamelessDragon (@anamelessdragon)

Whumptober Masterlist

_____________________

Prompts: Adverse Effects | Unconventional Restraints

Primary Whumpee(s): Bucky

Summary: Pre-TFATWS. After being arrested, Bucky is given the chance for release from prison, provided he accepts the application of a control collar. The first night with it does not go well.

___________________

Author’s Note: “Concept Fic” Teaser for a fic I will eventually write that is basically “TFATWS but with Bucky in a government-issued shock/control collar.” I have...the ENTIRE THING outlined. This part may or may not be canon for the upcoming fic, which will start completely differently.

Pairings/Characters: Bucky

Warnings: Captivity, collars, electrocution

__________________

The collar wasn’t big. Ten millimeters wide, at most.

They had him sign papers for it. He’d pressed metal fingers to gently pin each page to the flimsy fold out table they’d brought in for the occasion, along with extra guards that positioned themselves equidistantly around him. He didn’t look up as he used his right hand to sign his name, the date. His initials, JBB. Over and over. The scratch of the pen was loud even compared to the hum of the energy field outside his cell.

General Ross watched him fill the contract with his arms folded. “You’ll want to steer clear of handling the device with your vibranium limb,” he said, as if Bucky hadn’t already read that in the papers outlining the specifics. “If the calibration sessions show promise, we can release you to the general public. After that, you’ll have relative freedom unless your attendance is required for a mission.”

He stood placidly as a guard brought the collar over, pulling back his hair when ordered so it could be firmly placed against his neck; when the metal pinched sharply at his skin as it locked shut, he didn’t react. It pressed harder into his throat when he swallowed. He only let his hair fall back down when they gave him the go ahead.

General Ross watched him carefully, his phone in his hand. He gazed down at the screen and then back to the collar a few times, then nodded in satisfaction as he slid his phone back into his pocket. “The tests should take about two weeks. Assuming everything goes well.”

Translation: if everything didn’t go well, he wasn’t getting out of here. Here being some black site they’d taken him to after Steve had left.

He’d thought he was going to spend the rest of his life in a windowless room beneath the ground, if he didn’t just end up quietly executed. He’d later learned that he hadn’t been in custody for more than half an hour before a detailed deprogramming and rehabilitation report from the Wakandan Design Group and cosigned by Princess Shuri and King T’Challa had made its way to General Ross’s desk.

So he’d been given this shot. With conditions. The biggest one being the piece of metal sitting snugly around his neck.

The guards moved back from him. He kept his hands at his sides, unmoving as he watched them gather up the collar’s case and the paperwork, and the table that had come with them.

“We’ll start tomorrow,” Ross said. “Remember that if there are any adverse effects, anything that seems out of the ordinary, you’ll want to let either a technician or myself know as soon as possible so we can adjust the device.”

And each report would require more of a delay in his release as they tried to figure out how to fix the collar so it would work. That specific detail had also been in the papers he’d signed. Along with the fact that if he could get out and wait out five years without anything significant added to his record, he would be granted a full pardon, and full freedom.

But besides that… if he was let out, even with the collar, there would be times when his leash was long enough that he could begin to try and right some of the wrongs he’d made.

They left him alone. He sat on the floor next to his cot, bright cell lights beaming down on his head and shoulders, ignoring the grip around his throat and staring at the locked door for the remainder of the evening.

He should have tried to sleep. It would have only made the time go faster. Once he was let out they were going to let him pick his city of residence, and pretty much whatever housing - within reason. Which meant by the end of this week, he was going to be looking at available options in Brooklyn.

But there was a swelling burning feeling, somewhere behind his ribcage, that let him know trying to rest was pointless. They kept the cell too bright, anyway.

He didn’t touch the collar. The minutes continued to pass while he sat. At some point he let his head fall forward. He might have even closed his eyes, tired of the nonstop light burning into them. But he was only waiting.

It was then that he heard the buzzing for what would be the first time; quiet enough that maybe he wouldn’t have if he didn’t have supersoldier enhancements, or if the source of the sound had been located farther than a few inches beneath his ears. Around his neck. He pinched his brow, ready to pry open his eyes.

The shock that followed came so sudden and violent his entire body was seizing before his brain had even a chance to catch up with the pain. When it did, he felt everything - muscles spasming and cramping, his vibranium arm stiffening and going dead as the current interfered with its workings. He made a sound, a strangled noise that refused to be a scream, falling onto his side and then his back.

The current left him. He gasped in the aftermath, wide eyes seeing only the painfully bright white of the relentless bulbs above, a tremble wracking his frame. He could hear the collar still buzzing between intakes of breath. He reached up, touched it firmly with the fingers of his right hand. The skin around it burned.

“What the fuck?” he said, voice hoarse.

He moved to sit back up. The second his back lifted from the ground his body exploded in fire, hot coals searing into his throat as he collapsed back down, shuddering through the punishment, nerves screeching and muscles locked up.

The collar’s fury bled back into that low buzz. Bucky breathed and waited, copper sliding thick over his tongue and pooling into the back of his throat. The vibranium arm whirred as it reactivated, and he jerked his shoulder without bringing it off the ground, the slight movement too insufficient to reset it properly.

He stayed where he was, and the collar didn’t shock him again, just stayed a thin strip of metal, buzzing against his stinging throat. His heart pounded in a frantic rhythm, half his instincts telling him he had to get the device off, while the other half reminded him why he was here and what would happen if he did try.

He heard the buzzing for what it was, now. A warning. To do what? Was this one of the named adverse effects he was meant to report? Was it intentional? Were they just fucking with him?

He took a breath, then two, face setting in concentration. Then he tried to get up a third time.

The collar took him back down, and this time, it didn’t stop for a while.

———-

“You look like shit, Barnes,” General Ross told him the next morning.

He was sitting on the cell’s cot, staring at the spot on the floor where he’d spent the majority of the night. The collar had finally stopped buzzing, just hours earlier. Enough time that the sweat on his skin had dried and the burns on his neck had started to fade. The sour swirl in his stomach had stayed with him.

He raised his eyes to General Ross. Didn’t bother answering. He had a suspicion he knew what this was, now.

“I’ve been told you didn’t touch any of your breakfast except for the coffee.” General Ross looked him up and down, brow furrowed in concern. “Anything to report?”

Bucky swallowed, throat less raw than it had been three hours prior. “No.”

“No?” Spoken again, intently. Knowingly.

Bucky was all too familiar with that kind of inspection. The way it felt to have someone looking at him, judging him. Waiting to see if he would break.

“No,” he repeated, face flat.

Ross stared at him, impressed, then jerked his head in indication for Bucky to follow. “Then we’ll start the tests.”

Bucky exhaled through his stinging throat, steadily getting to his feet. Two weeks.

#fashionably posting this OVER TWO MONTHS LATE #just a little whumpy blurb #bucky whump #whumptober2022

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alexandriaisburning · 1 year

Text

031: Valkyrie Elysium

This entry contains spoilers for the story of Valkyrie Elysium.

CANON FIRE is made possible by the generous contributions of readers like you. Support more writing like this on Patreon. Thank you!

Constructed of sketches and outlines, Valkyrie Elysium gestures towards idea after idea it can never follow through on. Like its post-Ragnarok world, it’s full of ghosts with unfinished business. You see its ambitions in its combat system, layered with systems and nuances that speak to developer Soleil’s pedigree as Team Ninja expatriates. You see it in the surprisingly detailed backstories, which illustrate a society of gender and class violence. It's a game that leaves a lot of implications, because it doesn’t have time to tell the whole story.

And yet, or maybe because of this, I find myself thinking about Valkyrie Elysium long after the story’s concluded. I think about the Einherjar, the troubled souls I brought upon as my allies in my quest to restore the world. I think about the feminine merchant boy, lifted out servitude by the affection and patronage of a prince he failed to save. I think about the butch knight, equal to skill to all in her class, but wishing she was born a man, limited in position by the body she’s trapped in. I think about the witch of the forest, who gave up her desires to continue the good work, becoming a martyr and accepting false accusations, believing in a destiny she thought others wanted for her.

And I think about their unwavering faith in the Valkyrie, and their belief that we would lead them on a noble cause that would help right some of the wrongs left unresolved in their previous lives. And I think about how I failed them.

After several admonishments by Hilde, a valkyrie turncoat, and conspicuously the only Black character in the cast, our Valkyrie finally learns the truth during a crisis of faith. Odin the god she put her faith into, never intended to save this world, but to erase it and start anew.

I knew. I had long figured Odin had been dishonest, and was waiting the whole time for this turn. But for our unknown Valkyrie, upon finding this out, she has no choice but to fall in line with the god she’d put her faith in.

I knew. I knew that there were several steps I’d left incomplete, that if I’d spent a little more time searching, digging up histories, I’d be offered a different choice. But in my exhaustion, in my hours of grinding away at the final area, I only wanted it to end.

I’d seen layers of new mechanics continue to stack, slowly meted out by the flimsy construction of its RPG mechanics and endless tiered currencies, filled with promise only seen in a few brilliant flashes. I’d retread the same ground, the same level layouts, again and again, collecting everyone’s unfulfilled desires, and searching for redemption for the Einherjar who’d supported me. But as it dragged on I thought less about the good times I had grappling across battlefields, raining chaos upon monsters with my group of queers and outcasts, and more about when the end would arrive.

I wanted the work to be done.

And so it was. With so much left incomplete, my Valkyrie was left with an incomplete picture of events, shown the ultimate truth of Odin’s design, but without knowledge of herself, unable to self actualize and make a choice for herself. She was left to move onto the new world alone, the Einherjar that had supported us left behind to be erased from this world, becoming only legends for the new one. My work was done, but I’d left everyone else behind to finish it.

I stared dumbfounded at the conclusion. Unsatisfied, despite finally achieving an end I thought I wanted. The credits ran, then I was returned back to a point right before the end. Another chance. I could try once again, collect all the missing pieces, and write a conclusion to the stories left unfinished. I could do right by them.

But I had made my choice. Like the Valkyrie, I had rushed blindly to finish the work, and left behind more ghosts. How could I resurrect them yet again, just to satisfy my pride?

It was time for them to rest. Time for me to leave them at peace, to let my goodbyes linger. It almost felt fitting, for a story about who we leave behind, to end with regret.

#valkyrie elysium #ps4 #ps5 #pc #action #rpg #jrpg #soleil #square enix

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onewingedsparrow · 2 years

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I posted 1,615 times in 2022

That's 838 more posts than 2021!

51 posts created (3%)

1,564 posts reblogged (97%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@misscrazyfangirl321

@thunderstruck-amanita

@novafire-is-thinking

@sociallyawkwardtoaster

@telemna-hyelle

I tagged 1,592 of my posts in 2022

Only 1% of my posts had no tags

#fanart - 510 posts

#transformers - 276 posts

#tloz - 267 posts

#lol - 184 posts

#ゼルダの伝説 - 182 posts

#link - 172 posts

#miraculous ladybug - 159 posts

#memes - 137 posts

#リンク - 129 posts

#tfp - 112 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#it reminds me why i post my fics in the first place. because other's fics were always an escape for me and i want to provide that for others

My Top Posts in 2022:

For the fanfic writer emoji ask: 🥺, 🛒, 🦅, 💔

Hey Nova! :D 🥺= Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels? Whenever I write Optimus Prime and / or Elita One being tender with baby Bumblebee. So much fluff. 💗 Also, when the Hero of Time is allowed to cry and someone gives him a hug or much needed words of encouragement. 🛒= What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc. Well, my favorite tag is apparently "Angst with Emotional Hurt / Comfort," lol. I love writing angst, but only if the struggle isn't for nothing—there's always hope, always some light at the end of the tunnel, even if things don’t turn out the way you expected. I also really like including the sky in fics apparently? I seem to subconsciously use sky imagery often to set the mood / represent the situation / represent an absent character, whether that's with the moon, the sun, stars, clouds, etc. 🦅= Do you outline fics or fly by the seat of your pants? I do both, but first and foremost I fly by the seat of my pants! Whee! If I plan too much ahead of time, it actually stifles my creativity and stops me from writing the actual story. So I jump into things headfirst, and let the ideas take me wherever they want to go. Once a story has about 20,000 words, that's when I start to sense an underlying structure is forming by itself. At that point I reread the whole thing and start breaking it into chapters, which helps me plan for the rest of the fic. (i.e. Oh, this scene would be a nice transition between these two parts, I should write that next.) For shorter fics...most of the time I really have no idea where I'm going. :) I just start, and see where I end up. My characters often surprise me by doing things I don't expect, which is super fun. Oh, and related to this, I don't write chapters in order haha. I jump all over the place! That's why I can't ever post a long, plot-heavy fic chapter-by-chapter until the whole thing is finished. 💔= Is there a fic of yours that broke your heart? YES. Let's see...most of them aren't yet posted. Of the ones that are, "Ever With Me" hurts a lot but in a good way. "Promise" makes me sad too. Un-posted culprits include 1) a fanciful, storybook-feel Skyward Sword WIP about Hylia and the First Hero, 2) a RiD canon-divergent WIP about Soundwave trying to get out of the Shadowzone, 3) another canon-divergent RiD fic where Steeljaw does something absolutely terrible, and...hmm... 4) a mid-OoT story where Zelda wants nothing more than to see Link again after the separation of seven years. Thanks for the ask! ✨

11 notes - Posted September 27, 2022

Drawing Transformers is literally just tricking my right brain into doing math Before you ask: Yes I brought this upon myself by drawing TFP but I LOVE THE TFP DESIGNS AND NOTHING NOT EVEN MATH IS GOING TO STOP ME FROM DRAWING THEM

12 notes - Posted December 2, 2022

@novafire-is-thinking By the Allspark, Optimus Prime is even bigger and more beautiful than I even imagined...even this photo doesn’t do his glory justice. Catching a glimpse of him from a distance...and then walking closer and closer...until your steps involuntarily quicken and a giant grin overcomes your face and—breathless—you race over to fully behold the majesty of this truck and you find yourself standing there in awe...it is such an amazing experience, I wish every Transformers fan could have that for themselves. Say what we will about the Bayverse, but this truck is absolutely beautiful and in the end I am so thankful that he exists :D

12 notes - Posted June 11, 2022

“You’ll never guess who’s a triple-changer”

(Transformers - any continuity)

Continuity: Cyberverse! One day out of boredom, Starscream thought it would be fun to hack into the Ark's computers and scramble the settings a bit. What he was NOT expecting was a livid Teletraan-X tracking his signal and chasing him over land, air and sea in previously-unknown vehicle forms. Previously-unknown, Very Well Armed vehicle modes. Why the Teletraan needs to transform into vehicle modes at all is a mystery, but Starscream's too out of breath from dodging missiles to ask. For this ask game

This one was super fun but really challenging, I wanted to pick someone unexpected haha. I know Teletraan-X can hover but I think it would hilarious if there was a montage where he chased someone over multiple scenes and changed into a different mode in each one for seemingly no reason 😂

12 notes - Posted December 3, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Rewatching Darkness Rising for the Idkhowmany-th time for fic-writing purposes and getting hit by all kinds of feels :’) I never thought about this before but...in the first episode, right after she “meets” Jack and runs into the two Eradicons, Arcee never once calls for help. She’s angry about Cliff’s death and wants to be left alone, but then accidentally gets Jack involved in a scuffle and only thinks about getting him far enough away from downtown so she can fight the Eradicons herself. She thinks she’s got the situation under control. She’s not worried. She’s upset and mad, but she’s got it. But then Bumblebee shows up on the freeway, right behind her, and slams the Decepticons into the wall. And when Jack looks back and yells, “Friend of yours?” you can hear Arcee’s voice noticeably soften, quite unlike the rest of her dialogue in this fight / chase thus far. “Family,” she says, simply. Fondly. AND IT JUST...! How many times have I watched this??? And yet it only just NOW occurred to me that...Arcee never asked for help...but Bumblebee came anyway. Cliffjumper had shrugged off her earlier offer for backup, and paid the price for fighting alone. Rather than learn from that, though, in her grief over his death Arcee almost did the same. But Team Prime—her family—was looking out for her the whole time. Bulkhead shows up later as well, of course, and that’s when the Eradicons choose to bail. “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” I can’t get over the fact that they came after her without asking. Bumblebee especially; Bulkhead took a while to get there, supposedly due to traffic, but I think ‘Bee might have commed him on the way once he realized Arcee was in trouble. My heart is so warmed by imagining what had happened. I can just see Bumblebee noticing Arcee race away from the gravesite, worriedly watching her go, and then turning to Optimus like “Can I follow her? Please? Just in case?” And Optimus Prime ponders for a moment, and ’Bee bounces on his heels, visibly nervous, and finally Optimus gives a subtle, slow-blinking nod and Bumblebee FLIPS into vehicle mode and books it after her. This show. It never gets old.

25 notes - Posted December 5, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #saving this for new year's eve just for fun

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songouda · 1 month

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just putting down some thoughts for my db s/i, mozzarella (i don't really feel comfortable posting any artwork yet, so i figured i would try to put it in words first !!)

head's up, this is a really long post!

tw // brief mention of sex

backstory ig idk lol:

i don't really have much in the lines of backstory (this is mostly because i haven't finished DB Super yet and i'm not that knowledgeable of how DB's world works lol). but i do like the idea of mozzarella just being a homebody that has a garden and makes a living by selling their fruits n veggies. they met goku at a farmer's market and really hit it off from there !! it was love at first sight with goku ^-^ they are also a shapeshifter and just kind of. exist ! (i looked up shapeshifting on the db wiki and apparently there was a shapeshifting school ? i might incorporate that when i do my full db watch !) one idea that i have is that mozzarella had a previous form but eventually chose to stay permanently in their rat form. it's the form that makes them most comfortable. it took them a while to get used to their current form, but after a while, it became their default form. they aren't opposed to taking other forms for fun ! there is no limits to their shapeshifting ability, but bigger and more complex forms can be very exhausting. still, their shapeshifting isn't 100 perfect either; sometimes, if they aren't focused (which is often), the form they take will sometimes have large rat ears, a long rat tail, or huge whiskers ! typically, mozz will only shapeshift certain parts of their body for convenience's sake. for example, they'll transform their arms into huge bat wings in order to fly around quickly. this doesn't take up more energy to do.

design:

i don't think there's any design variations from my actual sona. mozz will still be relatively average height (shorter than goku but taller than vegeta). they might be a little bit furrier and have a longer tail, but that's about it. oh, and they'll probably fit more into the style of DB/DBZ.

personality:

personality wise will be very consistent with my sona (and myself too). ditzy and easily confused but kind-hearted. does their best to be a good person but worries excessively about how people perceive them. a little weirdo for sure lmfao. the only interesting thing i might have to think about is the idea that saiyans are wired to be attracted to "strong" partners (vegeta said 'women' specifically but i'm just gonna say that gender doesn't matter here shhhhh). i don't know if mozzarella is particularly "strong" or "hot-headed" in the same why bulma and chichi and videl is (or, in videl's case, used to be). i'm leaning towards "no, they aren't;" they're probably pretty passive and typically go with the flow. still, they can be incredibly snarky at times and can come off as a bit of a know-it-all (intentionally or not). i think there is an inner strength there but it doesn't manifest in the same way that it does for the main DB girlies. still, mozzarella will throw hands if needed and does not take shit from anyone LMFAO. bascially "i'm not a fighter but don't test me." even if goku is the strongest in the universe, mozz will be more than ready to beat a mf up to defend him (they fucking HATEEE it when people disrespect goku, it's like their no. 1 pet peeve. they'd probably start crying but will still beat a mf up if needed.)

changes to the canon:

this is gonna be difficult to touch on because i haven't really figured it out in my head yet. the main difficulty is gonna stem from chichi. i love chichi to pieces (all chichi haters will die by my blade), so i don't want her to like. not exist LOL. i also don't want them to have gotten a divorce around the time that goku and mozzarella meet. my solution is that chichi and goku just never got together. basically, the "promise" that goku made to chichi was that they would meet again in the future (not that he would marry her) and that promise was fulfilled when they fought at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai. they're just good friends and sparring partners. ofc, there's the question of gohan and goten existing, and i want them to exist !! an idea that i have is that goku and chichi slept together a few times in the past and thus, gohan and goten. i haven't decided why yet (failed relationship that ended amicably ? maybe chichi or goku or both wanted kids and they trusted each other enough to want to have children with each other ? they were just fooling around ?), but regardless, gohan and goten DO exist, and all of the events in DB and DBZ/Kai did happen as they normally would, just less gochi (i still <3 gochi tho). oh, and i imagine goku just has his own separate place and doesn't live with chichi. goten lives with her (gohan is grown and already left), and goku lives nearby so he can help out whenever he can. (mozz thinks he's a really good dad ^o^)

mozzarella's inclusion in the canon:

so my idea is that mozzarella and goku met sometimes during Super. the idea is that goku is a farmer (i think this concept was introduced in super) and uses the money for himself and for chichi and goten (both he and chichi work). considering both he and mozz sell their crops at the farmer's market, my idea is that they met here. basically, mozz was not involved in any of the crazy shit goku got up to prior to Super. after meeting, mozz was quickly introduced to goku's main circle of friends and was quickly swept up into all of the craziness goku got himself into. this includes meeting beerus and whis, golden freiza, universe 6, etc. also, bulma quickly ran mozz up to speed on everything that has ever happened to them pre-Super, so while they were pretty skeptical at first, they quickly believed her (mostly due to bulma's birthday party fiasco).

i'll stop this post here since it's getting pretty long, but the reblog is gonna focus on mozz's relationships with everyone else, including goku !!

#rat thinks #self insert #this was much longer than i intended #but i had so much fun writing this all out #i haven't made an “oc” in eons #so it felt really good to sort of make one #playing with my dollies

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vicedreams · 3 months

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6 / 25 / 2024

I don't really know how to explain this too well, but just keep in mind I am a very spiritual person (agnostic wiccan). So if this sounds 'crazy', y'all know why.

I have had dreams of Bakugo, but it's not 'him'. It feels more like my protector, whom I saw as this shadow-like owl before. And now, instead of the owl, I guess they're taking the form of Bakugo because his appearance makes me feel safe/comfortable. And they are trying to mimic him as best they can, but the voice is off - like they're trying to speak with an AI voice, in a sense. But I can tell it's not him, yet I am still comforted in the fact that they're trying to appeal to me and showing that they care. Because my protector is a part of me, and so they change alongside me to make sure I'm safe.

I always assumed my protector would look like Deku, but in truth I'm just lying to myself. It's always been the image of Bakugo that made me feel safe, because I connect with him so much on a deep level (plus his design is just so 'attractive' in the sense it catches my eye and I find him adorable I just wanna hug him). But I had tried to throw that away after some random kid accused me of being a 'pedo' for kinning/idolizing him, even after explaining I feel no sexual/romantic attraction to him whatsoever because (at this point) he is still canonically under the age of 18. But you know what? If my own mind is telling me the truth, I won't hide it anymore.

I've currently only had maybe four dreams, with two different Bakugo - one I will call 'Kacchan', and the other just 'Bakugo'.

The former I've seen in my dreams as my 'ideal partner', they basically look like (adult) Kacchan but have a much softer personality and a different voice. He's always waiting under a street lamp at night, as if he is a person that shares my dreams and wants to meet me IRL but simply can't for whatever reason. And I always cry when I wake up from those dreams, because I feel so...loved, when Kacchan is around. That I no longer have to worry anymore, it's just us two under that street lamp and being together forever. Maybe, once I die, I'll finally 'meet' him and we can finally keep the promise of eternity we have between us. Even if they are just copying Kacchan's likeness, at least they care enough to do so and realizing that it brings me so much comfort.

The latter, as I stated before, is my 'protector' within the dream world. They initially took the form of a shadow-like owl, embodying my inner wisdom and strength around the time I met my deity (Persephone). And I felt like they've taken a few other forms before that too, always appearing as my 'companion' in my dreams so I'm protected and can develop my 'dream abilities' even further. But now, they are permanently staying as 'Bakugo'. I can tell they are trying to be 'perfect' with it, but I'm not fooled. I know it's them, and I appreciate them really trying to help me through the one character I feel most connected to (even more than Izuku or Dabi - a very big achievement in my book). Especially since they only pop up when I'm extremely stressed out IRL, and so far it's happened twice (with them as Bakugo - other times they were using other characters I'd find 'appealing').

I don't really know what this all exactly means, but this is the best I can explain it. I hope that I can talk to them again, but I know they appreciate my acceptance and know that I'm appreciative of their efforts. Because that's what protectors do - they are a part of me, doing all they can to make sure I am safe and happy and feel loved. And I love them too. Guess it means I love myself, but it's still hard for me to grasp that concept. At least I have them, to know that my self love still exists and gave birth to them so I can always have it.

#dream journal

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tarnishedxknight · 4 months

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{out of dalmasca} I'm alive, I promise, lol. Mons-Weds this week are the worst days for the start of my summer class. On Mon the course shell opened, so students can see everything, read the syllabus, but the assignments are locked. On Tues, the assignments opened up and they can start working, also it's the first official day of class so a lot of them show up then. And then Weds they have their first assignments due, so that's when a lot of problems/questions will start happening. After Weds it'll probably calm down a bit until the weekend, when they have their first forum assignment due. So that's why I decided to just take this whole week off to give myself a break and make it easier, heh. I hope to be on tomorrow night at least part of the time. I have so much muse for everything here and plenty to do, so I'm itching to chip away at things.

I've also been re-immersing myself in Silent Hill stuff to prepare to work on my fanfic again. I haven't touched that fic since 2016, so I'm slightly rusty on lore, locations, etc. The first movie, which is how I structured the fic because it simplifies things a lot for me, leaves Netflix after 5/31, and the second is on Tubi, so I may watch them back-to-back either Weds or Thurs. The second movie is... terrible, but I like the first movie a lot. I figure I may as well watch both since that's a lot faster than replaying games, and that'll help me get back into the world and mood to write my fic.

And now some blabbing about maybe having Silent Hill as a muse, heh, and about SH in general for anyone who is interested... below the cut.

I may do some posting over on my multi at some point, since the fic concerns a muse I have there, but I am considering? having Silent Hill as a muse. The whole town, heh. Not necessarily any characters in it other than creatures, and the evil or demon or whatever you wanna call it, only because that could get crazy, there's a lot of characters who live there. But the idea would be to let people put their muses in the town and then I throw things at them just like would happen in the games, and it's... designed to push your muse into some realization about themself or admitting something to themself that they're in denial about or that's difficult for them to come to terms with. That's... the very simple way of putting it.

It does... require me to know a LOT about your muse, that's the one catch. Because I have to know what the skeletons in their closet might be, what scares them, what the evil of the town might want to latch on to in order to try to capture their soul. So it has to be a canon character or OC that I know pretty well for this to work. But hey, even if no one's interested in it, it'd still be pretty fun to just write up the info post for it, haha. Yeah, I'm that level of rp dork. I don't know, I haven't decided yet, we'll see how it goes. It may be more work on my part than it's worth and that there's interest for from my writing partners. I am going to try to finish the fanfic sometime soon, though, at the very least.

If you're not familiar with the Silent Hill movies or games, watching the first movie will give you a nice nutshell version of it. It'll help you understand the "universe" better, how it functions, the main story behind it, and will introduce you to a number of the main characters, the creatures, and the locations from the games. And the music! Silent Hill has very iconic music. It's very atmospheric, a little creepy, edgy... and the person who does the majority of the vocals is actually really cool, heh. I met her at a con once and she was just the coolest chick. But, I digress. The first movie used a lot of the music from the games, and that really helps create the same kind of atmosphere as the games. So yeah, if you want the quickest path to understanding the SH universe quickly and simply, I recommend watching the first movie... BUT...

SAFETY DISCLAIMER BELOW!

...I do want to say... and when I post about it over on my multi I'll say the same thing... that if you do decide to watch the first movie, and you're going in cold knowing nothing about SH, please be careful! I don't want anyone to go in not knowing what to expect and being seriously triggered by it. If you have any triggers at all, assume they are in this movie. SH is a violent, heavy, emotional, and raw survival horror world. It's like the GoT of survival horror, heh. No punches pulled, nobody's safe, good doesn't necessarily win, everything terrible you can imagine, it's in there. The game and movie universes hinge on being fear factories for those trapped there. The evil in the town deliberately drives at your deepest fears and worst self-denials, that's the point. So that's why it's so intense. The origin story of how the demon/evil/"dark one" came to be in control of SH in the first place is pretty horrific and triggering too.

If you have any triggers you're concerned about and you want to check with me before you watch it, I'd be happy to let you know if it's in there. I'm only saying all of this because I would never forgive myself if I ended up triggering someone really badly because I didn't properly inform people ahead of time. So please do take care when watching or playing anything SH related if you aren't used to the survival horror genre, and to the level of gore and rough themes that are common in the SH world.

Having said this, if you're into horror imagery, horror symbolism, really fantastical creatures, life after death, and a lot of psychological commentary on human nature, hypocrisy, religion, and the definition of good and evil, then you may enjoy it. Here is the trailer, if you'd like to see, which doesn't have anything too bad in it, but just in case, trigger warnings for a car crash, fire, insects (roach-like), flashing images, and a bit of twisted-body creature imagery.

Also, if I do bring the town to my multi as a muse, of course I will not be venturing into offensive, triggering, or cringe content with threads. The goal would be more of a softened fantasy-horror experience, letting your character encounter creatures, placing them in stressful or puzzling situations, trying to test and frustrate them, giving them clues to things, etc. I wouldn't go into anything too bad, and I wouldn't do anything to your muse without asking you ahead of time. And like I said, I'm still deciding whether to take it on as a muse, or whether it's too over my head as far as amount of work. I've wanted to do it for a while, but I'm just not sure how go at it I'd be. *shrugs* We'll see.

So that's what's up with the lack of activity on here, I've just been working and revisiting Silent Hill stuff. If I'm not back here on Weds (5/29), I definitely will be on Thurs (5/30)! =)

#{ out of dalmasca } ᵒᵒᶜ #{i know most of this had nothing to do with this blog heh}#{but i figured i'd let you know what i was up to since i got quiet all of a sudden}#{and a lot of the same people who follow my multi also follow this blog anyway so yeah}#{also i was feeling blabby so there's also that}#{and now i finally sleep... considering it's 5:30AM}#{lol oops someday i will go to bed before 4AM i swear}

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