#and how she herself can reset her memories after a period of time and only keep 'essential information'.....how???

[wannabeprincess-8]

tin foil hat time!!!

okok this theory is wild and fanfiction-y and probably not true but people wanted to hear it soooo

I think that at the very least, Lenore and Annabel have been to nevermore before and in a more dramatic situation, they're stuck in some kind of time loop.

I first thought this in chapter 73, when Lenore is talking to the Deans in dreamland they say "after what happened at the academy gate. you remember don't you?" then we see a black and white reaction shot from Lenore and then a blurry copy of Lenore and Annabel running through the gates together in chapter 1 except everything's on fire.

So this already establishes something happened at the very beginning that nobody seems to remember. i personally think that maybe the deans altered their memories but its unclear. BUT i think this is eluding to how alllllll this has happened before. that Annabel and Lenore have arrived and fought and schemed their way through nevermore previously and now have to do it all again.

the deans seem to know waaayyy too much about everyone most notably, they can see through Annabel's schemes. she cant fool them with her good girl persona they see through it. they were also quick to separate Lenore and Annabel since the very beginning. not just physically but THEY are the reason Annabel was one of the first to manifest which was the catalyst for Ada attaching herself to Annabel and sticking her with the clusterfucks, which is the only reason they aren't together. Annabel only became the snotty pretty queen bee because that's what people (mainly Ada) wanted from her. none of that would have happened if the deans hadn't caused her to manifest in front of the entire school. (or roomed her with Ada maybe they did that to further create a drift between them)

The deans don't want Lenore and Annabel to get along, they seem to be scared of what will happen if they do. and maybe this was all in their files or whatever but i don't see how a simple explanation of their life would lead to this conclusion. My crazy ass thinks that they have done this before and they stayed together and they fucked everything up and now the deans don't want them to get along because it would ruin whatever they have planned. now its possible that maybe the previous timeline or whatever was only like, a day long, and they reset the first day of school to rearrange everything and keep them apart.

This plays into Annabel's character arc really nicely as well. she's a schemer and a strategist so if something this dramatic happened and she cant account for it in her planning it'd humble her a whole lot, which she kind of needs to open up and grow.

There's other things i could talk about that back up more of an ongoing time loop theory, (everyone's from deferent time periods, so maybe the deans are adding and disposing of contestants as they go, its be more of a devastating blow for Annabel. ect) but that is a much more shaky theory that doesn't have much to stand on. The deans clearly know something we don't and right now this is my best guess as to what that is.

[zahri-melitor]

The Joker War:

Yeah so: this was a good event. The stakes were high, it pulled in and tied off a lot of storytelling since Rebirth, and it reset the status quo for Gotham. Plus, I had a lot of fun reading it.

Sometimes you read an event and come out of it going 'well what was the point'. This is not one of those events; I can see how it sets up a whole chunk of the subsequent 4 years of stories.

It also had an absolutely banger set of writers working on it, supplemented with solid artists. It was very much James Tynion's event, but he clearly was talking to Peter Tomasi, Ram V, Dan Jurgens and Cecil Castellucci to pull the storytelling together. (Scott Lobdell also contributed a single issue but it was very much a tie-in of the 'Jason receives a call' type). Castellucci was the weakest link in that set and even she landed what needed to happen with Barbara during the event.

So. Joker reveals that he knows who all the Bats are, and that he's known that for a long time, as he proceeds to try and break Bruce by plunging the city into chaos, stealing all of the Wayne fortune, revealing Wayne Enterprises to be as 'corrupt' as any other multinational, and using all of the Bat equipment that the company has been manufacturing to cause terror.

Bruce, who has been isolating himself in the wake of City of Bane and Alfred's death, initially starts out trying to fight all of this on his own, and then spends even more time hallucinating Alfred, as Tynion gives him a chance to process what happened. He eventually gets to the classic 'call in the family' round up. But mostly, he's fighting Joker by himself. Harley, who is extremely irritated by Punchline's whole existence (and sewed up her own slit throat with a guitar string at one point), spends a fair amount of time helping Bruce, and eventually sets up a situation in the final Bruce v Joker showdown where she ties bombs to herself and to Joker, tells Bruce he's only got time to defuse one, and sprints away. Joker is VERY put out by Bruce's decisions in this situation, because they contradict what he's been monologuing about.

That's the main Bruce plot. (Oh he also gets to deal with Two-Face bringing Lincoln March back and then my least favourite fake Wayne getting blown up in a way that may or may not be fatal. The wikis cannot agree)

Dick's entire Ric plot arc comes to a head with a series of brainwashings. Joker gets his hands on the crystal that had previously brainwashed him into having no memories and then to thinking he was raised by William Cobb as a Talon, and deciding to join in the fun, rewrites Dick's memories as 'Dickyboy', who was raised by Joker after the circus. Yes. We do Joker Junior (but for Dick!) Most of the bad stuff done during this period is like...calling for help to trick Jason, Tim and Babs to turn up, and then curbstomping Jason. Tim gets to defuse a bomb about to blow up a hospital and is very proud of himself, while Dick's fatal flaw of 'extremely suggestible to redheads' pops up and a combination of Babs and Bea are able to talk him around and restore his memories to actually being Dick Grayson (Bea's purple dreads get her into the category, I think). Thank goodness, Nightwing is back.

Selina is busy playing everyone, and ends up transferring the Wayne fortune she originally set in motion to be stolen from Bruce to end up in Lucius Fox's Caymans bank account, setting up the whole upcoming Jace Fox stories. Also she moves back to Alleytown in the aftermath of everything to get back to her Brubaker roots.

Barbara gets attacked by Joker who wants to replicate A Killing Joke now that he can reveal he knows he shot Batgirl at that time, and hijacks her spinal implant. So Babs digs it out AGAIN, then once she's got away needs Luke Fox to help her fix it and reimplant the connections. The entire point of all of these fun and games is essentially to put Babs in a position where she knows she needs to stop relying on going out as Batgirl: she finally gets to come back online as Oracle, in green wearing glasses, where she seizes control of the city and does some proper Oracle work. There's a fair amount of talk about how she needs to start transitioning back to Oracle at least part time.

Also James Jr has developed a split personality and ends up throwing himself off a building to his death, while Babs as Batgirl tries to grab him, leading to even more extension of the "Jim Gordon hates Batgirl" plot that's been running since n52 and the last time James Jr threw himself to his death (off a bridge). Sigh. I'm bored of that one. There's a broken body at the bottom and we bury him this time, so we're pretty safe from another James Jr plot until someone decides to drop his corpse in a Lazarus Pit or get Superboy Prime to punch time or inject him with electrum or whatever.

Oh and Steph and Cass switch costumes to be both be Batgirl in a short in the anthology issue, which has the most unfortunate art in existence and may possibly be the source of the confusion over their ages at the start of the Batgirls run (It would be fine if it was a DC Super Hero Girls imprint story; it's ridiculous for main universe).

It's fun! Quite a lot goes on! Pretty much everyone shows up at some point, including Kate Kane coming back to Gotham for the first time since the whole 'shooting Clayface' situation; the only big absences are Damian (stuck in limboland and only appearing on one cover; this is presumably due to all the back and forth going on as people try to work out what they're doing with him now that 5G is off the table); JPV, who I think is technically still in space?; and Harper gets namechecked as still working with Leslie, but doesn't show up.

I would definitely recommend it if you have read a decent amount of the Batman/Detective Comics/Nightwing/Batgirl/Catwoman comics between 2016 and 2020. I also would suggest it's a solid choice if you're simply interested in the set up for all the character direction changes spinning out after the cancel/relaunch of titles after Future State at the start of 2021.

This is definitely one of those events where, while there is a lot of Joker, he's actually being used for reasons that make sense, and there's a lot of other villains running around causing problems as well.

[yourbestpalpercy]

Fuck it

Have some pure Operator and Tartar trivia because I randomly thought of a whole lot of trivia. + Some bonus Everest trivia because she’s my favorite.

To start this off, how about some Tartar trivia!

* When all of humanity went extinct, Tartar retreated into the professor’s lab and set up base before it went out and started collecting up every game, book, movie, every kind of media it possibly could find. He even pirate- bought every online game, book, and movie he could. They did avoid online and multiplayer only games for obvious reasons. And before anyone can ask the haha, funny, unhinged question; yes, Tartar did in fact break into houses and other living quarters to make sure it got everything it possibly could get to keep itself entertained for the isolation it had already predicted it would go through. When Tartar ran out of things to do (which took forever), he started making sequels and giving endings to things that were left on cliffhangers. No, this did not stop Tartar from going crazy in isolation, it only helped them ignore it.

* When Tartar did all of that, it started replaying them and fully completing them. Eventually, when there was nothing else to do, he started watching the world change around him.

* So basically, the Resurgence AU Tartar is a gamer.

*Seriously, they will ramble about the things they did during that isolation period if you ask about them.

* I think Tartar liked the Halo games, the Bioshock games, and a few others but it doesn’t like the lore of Bioshock 1 and 2 (It reminds Tartar of Alterna and the professor) but it adores Bioshock Infinite, the lore that it knows doesn’t remind it of its isolation.

* Off page, Everest did once come across the room that Tartar stayed in and got curious. She started going through everything and collected up the things she found interesting (Wings of Fire, Warriors, mostly just books really). One day, Tartar passed by her room and found her reading Wings of Fire (I like to believe that Everest is a huge fan of the series. She loves dragons! Notably though, her least favorite tribe is SeaWings) and had a jolt of shock go through him before asking her where she got the book. Everest admitted and Tartar explained before leaving her alone, absolutely ecstatic that Everest discovered one of the many things he had from the time of the old humans.

Operator time!

* After Tartar’s reset, while yes, Operator did keep a lot of information about humanity and also (albeit now hazy) memories about its isolation, a lot of the older information about humans was erased thanks to the reset.

* He remembers a lot of the games he played during that isolation and after the reset, Everest found herself back in that room when she discovered Bioshock. Operator remembers the game’s contents and refuses to let Everest play because it’s graphic. Everest came up with a plan and dug out a different game, pretending to have interest in it. Operator was skeptical but eventually helped Everest fix and get the console working. Everest played the game she claimed to be interested in for just an hour (Operator was watching her) before putting in Bioshock Infinite the second Operator stopped watching her. Eventually, Everest got to the point where everything goes downhill and she pauses the game immediately after the scene. Operator reenters the room to find Everest crying, curled up on the ground. It’s immediately clear to him that Everest is having a traumatic flashback to her times in the cult. Operator looked at the game (Bioshock Infinite) which gave him a huge clue on what was going on because he remembered the contents of Bioshock Infinite. Operator begins to comfort Everest and soon puts in a different game. Once Everest is snapped back to reality, Operator gets her to start playing a game they would both enjoy and it’s honestly just a sweet scene of Operator comforting Everest.

[strawberry-metal]

Since you understandably portray Narancia as being yandere for Sakura in this AU, what would you say are some of the most yandere things he has done thus far?

Hmm, ok, I'm pretty tired so do forgive me if I make mistakes or things are a little hard to read!

-He once completely lost it and set a street on fire with Aerosmith when he thought she was kidnapped and couldn't find her anywhere, as Sakura ran away to try and find more information on what happened to her parents and friends when she was thrown into the future, finding out they died thinking she was a missing person for ten years or worse, dead. The two end up running into eachother, Sakura puts the fire out with her magic, and she ends up breaking down to him and going on and on about how she needs to go back and change the past.

-This is when he's absolutely terrified of losing her. She's in an overcharged state from her magic so she could not only die if she keeps pushing herself so hard, and no one knows if she'll actually be able to come back to the future if she goes back to ten years ago. So the world becomes dark and bleak, he can't recognize his friends and loved ones anymore. Only Sakura and his adoptive mom, Saki. He keeps Sakura locked up for 'her own safety'. He almost jams his knife into Mista's eyeball at one point, but was stopped because thankfully Yasha was there to stop him. Saki is the one who is able to snap him out of it and he's mortified at what he's done. He does all he can to make it up to everyone and lets Sakura out.

-When Sakura goes through the loops of death, to try and save everyone from their fate from Diavolo after she fucks things up, Narancia ends up being intertwined heavily by the strings of fate due to being the one most closely involved in the loops with Sakura. The only other person who remembers is Fugo for much the same reason. (Sakura would always meet with him at the pier and try to comfort him and give him lire so he could live alone ok. Fugo's fate of not going with the gang was sealed and was something almost impossible to change. Throughout the 2 month period of resetting, he only left with the gang once.) Mareike and Arusa also remember, but that's because Arusa is Sakura's familiar, and Mareike is a ghost....witch who was Sakura's mentor, and experiences the loops without forgetting a thing each time. Bound to Narancia after each reset. Think Madoka Magica when it comes to Narancia and Sakura. This is how Narancia has so much potential as a warlock afterwards and how he becomes so powerful so quick. Naturally, from retaining memory after the loops, he is extremely protective of Sakura now. He HAS killed for her, but he limits doing this only when their lives are endangered. However, it does take literally every ounce of his self control to not stab someone who speaks ill of her.

-He gets jealous really easily and doesn't like other guys to hug on her. He's fine with her having male friends and all the like, he just gets jealous oh so easily and doesn't wanna see another guy touch her even if it's platonic.

-An extra note, Narancia actively tries to be better about these feelings and violent urges. He holds himself back often and even seeks help. He is aware of the things he did wrong and acknowledges them and tries to be a better person for Sakura and his familigia.

So, he is a yandere, and he was a violent unstable one at first, but he is trying his best to be better and seek help for the way he acts and thinks. Sakura's relationship with him is mutual and not one sided, and he also has the support of his family. Rei arc and onwards, he's actually the one who helps Sakura heal from all the trauma she's endured for so long.

[motownfiction]

drawbridge

Sometimes, Lucy wishes she knew how to shut the hell up.

It’s not all the time. She wouldn’t even wager it’s a quarter of the time. For the overwhelming majority of the time, Lucy is proud of her voice. But when the feeling comes on, she can’t make it stop. She just wishes her mouth was a drawbridge, one that she never has to let down. If she never lets it down, she never has to wage war. And if she never wages war, she’ll never embarrass herself.

For as much as Lucy loves to speak, she hates to be embarrassed.

It’s been hours since her English class this afternoon, but Lucy is lying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling, wishing it had gone differently. Wishing she had shut the hell up when she had the chance. She’s pretty sure she’ll be able to visualize this moment vividly for the rest of her life … pretty sure it will always be in her limbs, a muscle memory as easy as breathing or walking, but one that she would prefer to forget. She can’t believe it really happened. She can’t believe she really said all that. Did all that.

In her pride, she wants to blame Nick Crosby for the whole thing. But in her rationality, she knows he didn’t deserve it – not all of it. They were talking about Of Mice and Men in class, and Nick Crosby, in all his smarminess, decided to blame Curly’s wife for her own death. He said she coaxed Lenny into it, so she was asking to die (“or worse,” he added, as though that would make it better). And Lucy couldn’t take it. She couldn’t take that Crosby had said it, and she couldn’t take that half the class was agreeing with him. So, she did what only Lucy would do. She walked to the back of the classroom, picked up a hardcover dictionary, and flipped to the word misogyny. She slammed the book’s spine on top of Crosby’s desk, pointed to the word, and yelled, “Read it! That’s you!”

The fact that she only received a half-hour detention after school was a fucking miracle.

Her parents aren’t really mad at her. They’re not even really disappointed. Mom says it’s good to stand up for your beliefs, especially when you’re right. But Dad has a point when he says that you don’t always have to go around proving yourself to everyone. Sometimes, the toughest thing to do is to let it go, let it roll off your back like the rain.

Empirically, Lucy knows that. She really does. But everyday, it’s like she resets. She learns the same lesson all the time, and it never sticks. It’s like Leave It to Beaver without all the misogyny (or with it, depending on your interpretation of what happened in English today). She looks up at the ceiling and sighs. If only she’d learned to stop talking. If only she’d learned to stop proving herself.

She doesn’t think she was wrong to call Crosby a misogynist. She also doesn’t think it will stop him, as she can most certainly picture what he’ll be like in twenty years: an almost middle-aged guy in finance who cringes when his wife spends a night out with her friends and doesn’t think his daughter should play basketball, even if she’s good at it. But she doesn’t think she was wrong for pointing it out. Maybe for slamming a dictionary on his desk, but not for pointing it out.

It’s that she didn’t know she’d have to deal with this much aftermath.

After English class, there was only one more period left in the school day. But already, word had gotten around about Lucy Callaghan’s latest feminist meltdown. When she walked into her last-period French class, Robby Blair (Crosby’s best friend) slammed his notebook down in front of her. 

“That’s you!” he said. “Read it!”

Lucy didn’t even have to look down to know that Robby had scribbled the word bitch on the piece of paper.

And even though Will saw the paper, tore it out of Robby’s notebook, and chucked it at his head, and even though Lucy knew it wasn’t much in the grand scheme of her life … it still felt like it, anyway. She’s fifteen years old, and worse, she’s aware of it. She knows fifteen is temporary (and sixteen and seventeen and everything that feels so distant, even now, even to her). But just because it’s temporary doesn’t mean it’s not present. And when something is present, it bites and stings until you don’t know who you are anymore. Right now, Lucy’s not sure of who she is … who she’s supposed to be to get by, without ever feeling like this again. Without ever feeling embarrassed.

She wishes her mouth was a drawbridge.

Maybe then, she wouldn’t have to feel anything bad anymore.

(part of @nosebleedclub january challenge -- day xxi!)

[shiningstages]

The very slight urge to rp Fu Hua gets stronger every time I Actually read HI3rd. 

For Senti it’s when she beats stuff up; I love that for her; I want that energy in my life. 

[that-blue-vault-dweller]

We've had so much happy sappy things lately. How about some angst? Companions react to sole getting super pissed at them and just leaving forever?

Oh, no..... I knew this was going to come soon enough... All good things must come to an end, after all 😔💙💛

All jokes aside, this literally broke my heart to write, but I very much enjoyed your suggestion for the new perspective it gave and the opportunity to write some good, old-fashioned angst 🥰 I didn't provide an explanation for what they said or what they did to make F!Sole mad, which I hope is okay! (I couldn't picture my F!Sole leaving any of them for any reason but I'm sure everyone's Sole varies in that respect)

Warnings: Light mentions of suicide, heavy mentions of drug and alcohol use.

Cait - Falls back into chems and will likely drug and drink herself to the grave. She can't believe that she went and screwed everything up again. She let down and upset the one person she vowed to never do that to, and now she's alone. Again. She's managed to run off the one person in her whole lifetime that actually cared about her and all she knows is that life is not even really worth living sober if she has to endure pain like this.

Piper - Cries herself to sleep for many nights after and sometimes finds herself crying during the day while she's typing an article or doing small mundane things, her guilt and sadness consuming her. (If F!Sole let her interview her back when she first came to Diamond City) Piper keeps a copy of the View from the Vault articles beside her bed and numbly reads them sometimes before going to sleep just to remind her of the only best friend she had ever had in her life. The only person that had stuck by her and tried to look out for her since her dad. Eventually she stops crying, but it takes a long time for her to rebound and her smile to come back. It never is as bright as it used to be when F!Sole was there, though.

Curie - Breaks her heart and completely destroys her. She cries for days, weeks, forever. All she knows is that there is a huge hole in her heart and she thinks of F!Sole every day. Her humanity is a constant reminder of the great person that she had lost and she will forever blame and kick herself for being so horrible that F!Sole would leave her. Curie will always care about F!Sole even if F!Sole doesn't care about her and Curie will forever miss her.

MacCready - Ends up heading back to go be with Duncan permanently. F!Sole was the only thing keeping him in the Commonwealth but now that he screwed that up, there is no reason left to stay. He was originally going to have his son brought to him as soon as possible, but he decides that they're better off away from where all of the sad memories are lingering. When he returns to his son, he is very happy, but he soon falls into a basic routine, trying to get through his grief of losing a true friend because of his own stupidity. He will eventually come out of the depression, but he will always carry the intense guilt of driving her away for good.

Deacon - Despite the fact that he just continues on with that constant mask of looking like he's just as calm and happy as anyone else, he is hurting deeply on the inside. It is easy to tell because of how he seems even more distant than usual and he very rarely ever comes back to the Railroad HQ. Guilt turns him into someone even more detached than he used to be before she left. However, he sometimes goes undercover just to watch her at a safe enough distance to keep her from recognizing him. After all, he has not changed his face since she left, preferring to keep some souvenir from his time with her. Unfortunately, his face is all he has left of those days.

Codsworth - Is broken-hearted and is at the epitome of guilt because he cannot believe he has made her so mad that she will have nothing more to do with him. He has absolutely no one left to serve and there is no one left who cares about him at all. He ends up falling into a state of denial, somehow glitching and convincing himself that she, sir, and young Shaun are simply away and will come back eventually. He sadly remains in this deluded state for the remainder of his days.

Hancock - Somehow does even more chems than before, knowing it cannot kill him but needing the rush to distract him from the complete and utter pain after sending away one of the few people that actually stood by him through thick and thin. He goes back to being the full-time mayor of Goodneighbor, but when he falls so deeply into the chems, the citizens begin thinking that it would be best to overthrow him. When he figures this out, he knows he has to stop doing the chems quite so much. He cuts back just enough to be coherent and make speeches to inspire people, but anyone can see that he is by no means doing as well as he used to before F!Sole left. At some point he is completely numb and he takes the chems to just feel something besides this deadness inside.

Danse - Is devastated. She is all he had left after being kicked out of the Brotherhood. He can't believe that he drove away the person that convinced him to see his own worth despite his true identity. He finds himself in deep, inescapable depression, and he eventually loses sight of why he should even keep going on at all. After all, he is just an instrument of evil that breaks friendship, families, and all good things. Why would the world need something like that?

Preston - Despite the fact that he does not believe he can do it, he forces himself to take up the mantel of General. He tries to lead and maintain a brave face even though he feels like he is falling apart. He knows the Minutemen are depending on him, and he feels so helpless. Eventually, he hands leadership over to Ronnie Shaw, returning to a second-in-command position as he throws himself into duties and work to try not to think about the loss of one of the few people that actually saw his vision and tried to help him achieve his dream. However, he can't quite forget the fact that it's all his fault that it ended up like this.

Valentine - Honestly cannot believe it and is in pure shock and devastation for several days before the grief and depression finally sets in. He throws himself into his work and becomes even more self-endangering, caring very little about himself and what happens to him. He knows he still has Ellie and the agency, but it just kind of seems to fade in importance as he thinks of F!Sole and how he drove her away. If he doesn't manage to get himself killed during this period, Ellie has a stern talk with him, and he actually does start being a little more careful. Not quite the level of careful he was when he had both F!Sole and Ellie on his back about it, but he tries for Ellie's sake if not his own.

X6-88 - Is quite angry at himself for angering and isolating such a vital and valuable asset of the Institute, but there is something else inside of him that pricks and pokes at his mind and gut. It is something he cannot identify and something he has never experienced before. It frequently brings her face to the forefront of his mind, homing in on just how angry that she looked and how she looked like she would rather be looking upon a pile of Brahmin dung than to be staring into his face. It bothers him for some reason, and when he returns to the Institute and expresses his thoughts, it is the last thing on his mind before they wipe his memory of her and reset him entirely.

Dogmeat - Tries to follow her even though she does not want him to. When she screams and throws things at him, he lowers his ears and tucks his tail, confused at what in the world he did wrong. He just wants her to love him again like she used to. He could be a better boy. He could stop pooping in Cait's shoes and stop chewing holes in things. Eventually, after weeks of following her and being rejected, he finally leaves her alone, heading back to Red Rocket Truck Stop where he decides to wait for her in hopes she will one day come back and give him all the pets or at least one pet. He ends up living his days waiting for her and pacing the place, waking up every morning with hopes that the sunrise will bring her back to him until he doesn't see the sunrise again.

Strong - Stays mad at her forever. However, he sometimes does wish that he had tiny human to help him with some things like fighting or cooking, but he quickly remembers that he's mad at her and tells himself that super mutants don't need puny humans. But there is something strange in his stomach when he thinks of her, but he usually smashes something to try to make himself feel better. The feeling never goes away quickly, though.

[agathasangel]

written in the stars (wilhemina venable x fem!reader)

Warnings: None really? This is like a short lil fluff/soulmate/love at “first sight” kind of fic.

Summary: (This is kind of a post-time reset part 2 of “her favorite”?) Years ago, the apocalypse happened and you fell in love in an underground outpost, but the timeline reset so you remember nothing. Years later, you went to party because you were bored. And she only went because she needed to work on her personal life after quitting her job. But you were just so familiar to each other.

You were at the birthday party of a girl you went the college with, Mattie Venable. It was the year after you graduated, but even after a year you forgot how overwhelmed you got at large house parties like this. You looked for a quiet room to sit in and calm down, and there was one that was occupied by someone you could never have missed. A woman a bit older than you with flaming red hair dressed head-to-toe in lilac, with a cane in one hand and a glass of red wine in the other. She was absolutely stunning, and you could have sworn you had seen her before, but you couldn’t possibly put your finger on where.

“My sister is a little too old to be throwing this kind of a party for herself, don’t you think?” the woman asked you.

“You’re Mattie’s sister?”

“I am. Wilhemina Venable.”

You’ve never heard of a Wilhemina Venable. So why did that name sound so familiar?

“I’m (y/n).”

“Were you particularly close friends with Mathilda, (y/n)? Forgive me, but I swear I’ve heard of you before.”

“Mathilda?”

“That’s Mattie’s real name. Our parents liked the idea of giving us unusual old-fashioned names and then more “normal” nicknames. Mine is Mina. But were you close to her?”

“Not really.”

“That’s for the better. She is a drunken spoiled brat who only cares about herself.”

“Why are you here then?”

“I recently quit my job. I don’t have friends so I thought that coming here might be a good idea.”

“What was your job? Can I ask why you quit?”

“Have you heard of Kineros Robotics? I was the secretary there. But in reality, I ran the whole place. I did almost everything but building the robots. I don’t know what those two imbeciles are going to do without me if I’m honest, but I suppose it’s not my problem. I quit because I was not able to have a life outside of work. Which would have been fine if those two idiots had given me more agency, treated me with more respect.... I’m rambling, I apologize...”

“No, go on...”

“And I suppose that I wanted some kind of life outside of work. So here I am. But I can’t say I’ve liked any of the people my sister keeps around. Except you, (y/n). I can’t put my finger on why, but you seem... different. Tolerable, at the very least.”

“Thank you?”

“What are you doing here if you aren’t close with Mattie and obviously don’t like big crowds and hard alcohol?”

“I was just bored. I graduated last year with Mattie and I don’t really have anything to do or anyone to visit. And then she invited me to her party and I thought, hey, why not?”

“Do you have no friends?”

“I have a couple but they never seem to be available.”

“Boyfriend or, um, girlfriend?”

“No. I dated a girl for a while junior year though. But it didn’t work out.” you hoped the woman would pick up on the hint that not only were you into girls (if she was, you weren’t sure but you definitely got a vibe) but that you were available.

“What about you, Wilhemina Venable?”

“You may call me Mina. And no, I barely even have friends.”

“I’m your friend now, Mina. Unless of course you want me to be something else...”

“Maybe I do. Would you like to- how do I put this... get out of here?”

“I think I would.”

You left the party, and Mina drove you to a wine bar.

“This can be our first date,” she told you, “Although I swear I know you. You seem incredibly... familiar.”

“You do too. It’s almost as if in another life we had a whole relationship already.”

When you were sat down at the bar, she attempted to start another conversation with you.

“I’m not sure what I should ask you.”

“Anything!”

“Um...what do you do for work?”

“Well I work as a waitress now but I’m looking to get jobs as a writer or illustrator.”

“So you write? And draw?”

“I do. Can I draw you?”

“Yes, I would love that (y/n).”

She asked you to spend the night with her, and you agreed. You drew her in a fancy Victorian-style purple gown, still holding her cane, without her glasses and with her bright red hair pinned pack out of her beautiful face.

“(Y/n), I- I love it. It’s... exactly how I wish I saw myself.”

So you took the drawing out of your sketchbook and gave it to her to keep.

“I have such a clear vision in my head of you exactly like this. I don’t know why.”

“I see you in a similar purple gown and a corset. Almost like a memory. I actually... have several, maybe I have one that would fit.”

So you went into her closet, which had several lovely period-style dresses in all different shades of purple. She found a corset that she thought would fit you and the two of you played dress-up in her closet for a bit.

“I got into this type of fashion when I was quite young. My parents liked it, but what made me really interested was the fact that I had to wear a back brace that was very close to a real corset to improve my posture.”

“Why?”

“I- I have scoliosis, a very bad case. It’s the same reason I walk with a cane now. I would prefer not to let you see my back. For a while, at least.”

“That’s fine. Whatever you’re comfortable with.”

When you found a dress that, according to Mina, suited you perfectly, she asked if she could take a photo of you. She darkened the room and lit candles, and then took several pictures.

“Lovely. You are so beautiful, (y/n). I’ve had this image in my head for a long time, of a girl who looks like you in a dress like that. Of kissing her in low candlelight. May I please kiss you, little one?”

“Please.” you said.

You were often quite tense and stiff in your kisses, but with Mina it was easy. She knew exactly how to kiss you. Take control, gently bite your lip, and softly cup your face before moving her hands down to your waist and then wrapping her arms around you.

You both changed into pajamas after that, both of you wearing nightgowns owned by Mina. 

“I’ve been racking my brain all night wondering how I know you, little one, but I know we’ve never met.”

“Me too.”

After months of dating, you and Mina came to the conclusion that you were in fact, soulmates.

“I know it seems ridiculous. I never even believed in love before all of this and now I’m here talking about “love at first sight” and “soulmates” and “destiny”.” said Mina

“You and I were meant to be, Mina. I love you.”

[johannstutt413]

(requested by mathmaticalknight) Nian/Whisperain

Being a wanderer in Terra isn’t an ideal lifestyle, but it’s one several of Rhodes Island’s heaviest hitters lived before their arrival. Some, like Ceobe, essentially settled down; they found open arms, helping hands, and (in a couple of hungry doggos’ case) a wide pantry that enticed them to stay. Others, however, saw RI as simply another stop in their journey - they found Rhodes Island, accepted their aid and training, but fully expected to leave in future.

Then, of course, there were those who thought they were the latter and became the former.

Whisperain was in the AV cabin alone, halfway through a heart-wrenching drama, when a voice said from behind her, “You’ve got good taste.”

“Eh? O-oh, Miss Nian. You startled me.” The Aegir hadn’t expected visitors period, let alone in the middle of a dialogue. “How long have you been there?”

“Oh, not too long. Saw someone was in here, figured it was you, and figured I’d stop by and say hi.” There was an intensity in her eyes that contradicted her words, though.

Still, it’d be rude to turn her away, so the doctor didn’t. She didn’t openly invite her to stay, though. “Hello.”

“Have you seen this one before?” The Nian asked, inviting herself to an empty chair next to Whisperain and setting a large bowl of popcorn in her lap. “It looks familiar.”

“I don’t remember seeing it before.” Why would the smith say it that way, though? 

Nian offered her the bowl. “Ah, right, how could I forget? Popcorn?”

“Thank you.” She took a single handful. “...Um, what did you forget?”

“Your memory loss between regenerations.”

Stunned silence as the movie carried on. The Aegir went through her handful of popcorn one kernel at a time until, out of distractions to stall with, she asked, “We’ve met before?”

“We have.” She’d dropped the levity in her voice for gravitas. “You saved my life, even.”

“Oh. I see.” Good to know? The doctor wasn’t sure what she was expected to do with that information.

The smith glanced at the pause on the machine, but she decided against pressing it. “I tried to return the favor, but I failed...and I wanted to make sure you knew I was sorry, even knowing you wouldn’t know.”

“...Nian,” Whisperain asked, “have we only met once before?”

“...No,” the Nian admitted.

The Aegir sighed, pressing the pause button herself. “Have you apologized to me before?”

“Every time,” she replied. “You’re the only person I’ve met I can say that about. It makes you special.”

“Is it painful to remember, even now?”

Fair question. “You told me once, while we were talking, that you wondered if people with exceptionally long lives forget. Honestly, a lot of things I have forgotten, details of places and times I’ll never be able to get back - something you probably relate to. Living as long as we have, even if my memory doesn’t reset, it gets blurry. But there are some things that I’m not allowed to forget, and that day is one of them.”

“I see.” The doctor reached into her purse and pulled out a very small plastic bag with scraps of paper in it. Approximately one ticket’s worth of scraps. “While I was in Yen, I attended a showing of a movie called What We Had Before. Do you remember it?”

“In Yen?...No, I didn’t have a chance to watch movies while I was in Yen.” She’d had other matters to attend to then.

Whisperain set that bag aside and pulled out the sturdier pouch she’d pulled that plastic bag from - necessary to keep them in one place. “Would you like to show me what we saw while we traveled together?”

“How far back does that collection go?” And yes, Nian did want to help with that. “When was our first meeting...950? Anything from around that time?”

“Let me see.” One by one, the Aegir lifted a ticket from its stowing place, squinted at it in the dim light, shook her head, and set it to the side.

After five or six of these, the smith pointed to the light above them. “Wouldn’t it be easier to see with some light?”

“It would,” the doctor admitted; she was feeling a bit of strain from relying on the frozen movie to see by. “Would you mind-”

“Not at all.” The Nian went over to the light dial, clicked it up slowly but steadily, and stopped when Whisperain indicated she could see fine.

Looking at her collection again, she realized why she was having trouble finding tickets that old: the first one she had was from around that time, and it was the one she’d asked Nian about at first. “Ah...The only one from that time period is What We Had Before.”

“Oh? Interesting.” Come to think of it, that title did sound familiar. “Do ya think they have it here? Couldn’t hurt to look, right?”

“I’m curious what kind of movie it was. I don’t remember anything about it, unfortunately.”

That wasn’t surprising, but for it to be a shared blank spot from around that time period was especially odd. The smith found the library’s movie database, searched for it, and the first result was for a movie released in that timeframe. “We have it. Wanna finish this one first?”

“...I think I’ll finish it later.” This wasn’t her usual tact with people like Nian, but then again, there wasn’t really any person quite like Nian. Especially in the mood she was in right now. “Before we start, I need some water.”

“Oh, I have some.” The smith reached into a bag Whisperain hadn’t seen before, set on the floor by the chair her ‘guest’ had taken for herself, and pulled out a bottle of distilled water for her.

That meant she knew about the Aegir’s poor tap-mineral tolerance already. “You remembered.”

“Like I said, I’m not allowed to forget.” The Nian smiled bitterly. “At least I learn from my mistakes.”

“If I may ask, could you tell me...how I died?” When Rhodes Island found out about her regeneration - unfortunately through experience - they’d told her what’d happened to her. It meant she could learn from the experience, in a way.

Nian took a breath through her teeth. “You got sick - a routine cold, the sort of thing most people fight off with some bedrest and water - but it hit you hard. Since you couldn’t take care of yourself, I did my best, following your instructions and whatnot, but...I didn’t know you couldn’t handle tap water very well.”

“I see.” Whisperain made a note to make a note of that in her self-treatment guide, something she maintained not for herself but for people taking care of her in illness. Like Rhodes Island had...Like Nian had. “Thank you for remembering.”

“Like I-...You’re welcome.” It would take some time for her to get over that.

Considering their relationship, though, the smith was well aware of what it took for them to get back to the place they’d gotten to the first time they’d sat in the theatre watching this movie - hands clasped on the armrest between them, popcorn in her lap and purse in the doctor’s. The Nian could have drawn that scene from memory by this point, from the number of times they’d seen it toge- she felt the Aegir’s hand settle on top of hers. She’d unintentionally set her arm in its usual place...and Whisperain had followed suit. Nian turned to ask her about it. “Whisperain?”

“The last time we saw this movie,” she whispered, showing her another ticket, “it was playing in a theatre.”

“It was.”

Whisperain leaned in close. “My memory may be erased, but there are some impressions that never leave me, although it seems it took some time for this one to settle properly.”

“To be fair, you’ve had some really crazy things happen to you since we first met.” Death was the least of what the Aegir’d survived- Well, not exactly ‘survived,’ but...fucking technicalities at this point. “I wasn’t surprised that I’d get lost in the shuffle-”

“I never lost you, Nian. It only took me some time to find you again.” The doctor locked her fingers with the smith’s.

The movie hadn’t even started, and the Nian was already tearing up. “Still wanna watch this with me?”

“Of course.” Whisperain turned back towards the screen, but then she rested her head against Nian’s shoulder, blinking tears away herself. “No matter how many times we do this...I want this memory in every lifetime.”

Before the opening credits, they were both crying...a new record.

[inkslingersworld]

Crowbar 2 (Power Couple)

Hey guys! This is my second work for Adrigami Week, following the “Power Couple” prompt. I was originally going to write this following its own self-contained storyline, but after finishing Crowbar for Adrigami Week’s “Alternate Meeting” prompt, I realized the story that I’d started there hadn’t really finished. So, with that, I bring you Crowbar 2! Happy reading! (Contains some profanity)

As they trekked into the evening, Kagami learned some things about her new companion, Adrien:

He was very talkative and sociable, providing information about himself without Kagami having to ask any questions.

He was respectful and attentive; even though he did virtually all of the talking, Adrien seemed genuinely interested in Kagami, and asked her questions about herself despite Kagami refusing to answer.

Adrien not only remembered how to read, write, and tell time thanks to his diary. While they were walking, he told Kagami that he remembered how to cook certain recipes, mimic the sounds of different songbirds, tie his shoes, and give himself a haircut. Kagami was envious - although she didn’t hate her long hair, it was excruciatingly uncomfortable during the summer months.

He relished bad jokes. The only reason that Kagami had laughed at his doctor joke was because it hadn’t made an ounce of sense. 

His backpack contained several helpful items: some food, cookware, extra clothes, a flashlight, batteries, matches, night vision goggles (Kagami nearly squealed in delight at the sight of those), binoculars, a hatchet (Adrien said he only used it for chopping wood), toiletries, sleeping bags, and a tent. 

Adrien would occasionally gaze at her for enlengthened periods of time, but always looks away upon realizing that Kagami noticed.

The duo had reached a lazy river by the time the stars appeared. Adrien gave an overdramatic yawn and smacked his lips.

“Well, no point in trying to cross it this late. I say I make us some dinner and we camp here for the night.”

“I think we should keep going,” Kagami disagreed.

Adrien raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“We’re too exposed,” said Kagami. “This location’s too out in the open; settling here makes us an easy target.”

“For who?” Adrien asked.

“For anyone! Not everybody’s as accepting as you and I are, Adrien!”

“Kagami, come on. We’ve walked at least ten miles, and we haven’t seen a soul. I think we’ll be safe.”

“We’ve walked at least ten what?” asked Kagami.

“Miles. They’re units of distance. I can teach you about them after dinner.”

“We have to keep moving!” Kagami objected. “Even if we weren’t in imminent danger in this spot, my memory is! My memory resets whenever I fall asleep!”

A brief silence followed this information, during which Adrien looked confused and downtrodden. However, his face brightened up soon after.

“I know!” he said eagerly, removing his backpack and unzipping it. “You can start your own diary! That way, you can record everything that transpired during the day!”

He unearthed a journal similar to his own and tossed it to Kagami. She turned it over in her hands.

“This still doesn’t counteract outside threats,” she said seriously.

Adrien groaned. “Kagami, just trust me on this. Nothing bad is going to happen while we’re at this riverbank!”

Kagami’s eyes widened. “You jinxed it.”

“Kagami, please -”

“You jinxed it!” she cried exasperatedly. “Now something bad’s definitely going to happen!”

After a brief pause, Adrien said, “If that’s the case, don’t you at least want it to happen after you’ve eaten?”

“You know what?” said Kagami, giving up. “Fine. Let’s see how good you are at cooking, Adrien.”

Adrien beamed. “You won’t be disappointed.”

In no time, Adrien had gotten out his cooking equipment and started mixing ingredients. 

“What are you making?” Kagami asked, trying not to sound too interested.

“French onion soup,” responded Adrien. “I’m afraid we only get a serving each. Don’t be too disappointed when you crave seconds.”

He winked at her; Kagami felt her face warming up and pointedly looked away. 

She was later thankful she did, or else she might’ve never spotted the tips of someone’s fingers withdraw from around a solitary tree.

“Adrien!” she whisper-shouted.

“I’ve only just started, it won’t be ready for another half hour,” he complained.

“No - there’s someone here!” she hissed, eye-pointing at the tree.

Adrien turned to stare at the tree and shrugged. “Looks fine to me.”

Of course, that was the moment when the hooded figure jumped from the shadows and punched Adrien in the jaw.

Kagami reacted quickly, springing to her feet and waving her crowbar in the intruder’s direction, making them jump back. They sprinted headfirst at Kagami, grabbing her by the wrist and slamming her to the ground. Kagami rebounded by curling her foot around her opponent’s ankle and sending them crashing into the cooking equipment. Adrien let out a moan of despair.

“Guys, you’re making a mess!” he shouted. “Can’t we set our differences aside and just talk it out?”

“There is no talking it out!” yelled Kagami, who was trapped in a headlock. “I could really use your help right now, Adrien!”

Adrien grabbed the closest object within reach (a frying pan) and took a swing at the opponent. The hooded figure released Kagami and backflipped out of the way of the pan. 

Kagami retrieved her crowbar from the ground and tried to ram it into the intruder’s shoulder, but he swiped left and took a jab at her ribcage. Adrien flung himself on top of the intruder’s arm, effectively keeping Kagami’s ribcage intact, and kicked the intruder in the stomach, sending the hooded figure reeling back in agony. Kagami seized the moment of the intruder’s distraction to grip Adrien’s pan and slam it as hard as she could onto the intruder’s foot.

The intruder made no reaction to the impact of a frying pan on their foot.

“The hell?!” Kagami vented. “What type of boots is this guy wearing?!”

She soon found out; the intruder accomplished an acrobatic spin into the air and landed a kick across Kagami’s face. It felt like someone had thrown a brick at her. 

For a moment, all Kagami could focus on was the immense pain. Feeling her cheekbone, she deciphered that nothing was broken, but the blow had certainly drawn blood, as she examined her hand stained liquid red. Kagami was brought back to reality by the force of the intruder toppling into her.

“Sorry!” apologized Adrien, evidently having caused the intruder to collide with Kagami.

The intruder got up quickly, but instead of going for Adrien or Kagami, he dashed towards Adrien’s backpack. Realization dawned on Kagami - this person was here for their stuff.

“Hey! That’s mine!” exclaimed Adrien, rushing at the intruder as they grabbed his packpack and made a mad dash for the river.

Adrien was able to tackle the intruder before he got to the water’s edge. Kagami ran over to join the wrestling figures on the ground. She lifted the intruder to his feet by the crook of his neck, allowing Adrien to reclaim his backpack, and shoved the hooded figure as hard as she could into the river.

The river was deeper than Kagami had assumed, and neither she nor Adrien saw him for a few seconds, but then they spotted him further along the bank, being carried downstream by the powerful current. Within ten seconds, the attacker had disappeared from view.

“Who was that?” Adrien asked, sounding out of breath. 

“A bandit,” replied Kagami shortly. “Someone looking to get lucky from robbing anybody they find. There are tons of them.”

After a temporary silence, Adrien said, “That was scary.”

“Well, it’s over now,” said Kagami comfortingly, giving Adrien a pat on the back.

“I’ve never fought anyone before,” admitted Adrien, picking up some of the cooking equipment.

“You did decently well for your first time.”

Adrien gave Kagami a half-smile. “Thanks.”

It took a long time for Adrien to clean the cooking materials and fix dinner - since the French onion soup had been lost in the scuffle, they ate tamales instead. 

“You know,” Kagami munched, “these are actually incredible. You’ve got a gift, Adrien.”

Adrien smiled broadly for the rest of the meal.

\\\\\

@adrigamiweek

[operationearlgrey]

Regeneration theory

Re-watching earlier episodes through the lens of the timeless child reveal got me thinking. So we know every regeneration of the Doctor's since the 2005 continuation has gone horribly wonky every time with varying side effects. Every single Doctor since 2005 has needed not only a recovery period, but a recovery episode. 

9-10: overloaded with energy from the time vortex. Brief bouts of amnesia, incoherency, and comas before returning to full functioning health.

10-10.5: So I wouldn’t count this except it is a regeneration. The original Doctor seemed to suffer no side effects, but the regeneration energy funneled into the hand created a wholly separate being. I would argue that 10 suffered no regeneration sickness because he only half-regenerated, but the deviation in the regeneration process still left him with the unintended side effect of a clone. 

10-11: Intense food cravings, decreased motor capabilities, sporadic pains, and minor memory issues. 

11-12: Amnesia, hyperactivity, restlessness, loss of consciousness. 

12-13: Amnesia (again), loss of consciousness, food cravings. 

So knowing what we know about the Doctor being the Timeless Child, that explains a lot in hindsight about why their regenerations always go a bit wrong. 

Regeneration is supposed to be like a reset, healing all the wounds, damage, and aging from the last body. Each of the Doctor’s regenerations has required a recovery period, almost like a lag in software after it restarts or reboots. 9 absorbed all the vortex energy and then needed a coma to recuperate while he expelled the energy, 10 absorbed all the radiation that would have killed Wilf, and so on. 

What I’m getting at is we haven’t seen other Time Lord regenerations go quite as off the walls post-regeneration (unless I’m missing one, which is entirely possible as I haven’t seen all of the classic series).

The General in Hell Bent was completely fine right off the bat, making a quip about her former male body and egos and going about her business. 

River didn’t seem to have any adverse effects unless you count mania, but that seemed in character with her former self, Mels. 

Simm’s Master seemed to be unaffected, going by what we saw (though he could have had some effects off screen we didn’t see)

Romana chose to regenerate, trying on multiple faces before settling on a copy of an existing character, and she retained her faculties during and after regenerating with seemingly no ill effects.

So what if the Doctor has issues with regenerating is because of the experiments done on them by Tectuen? We don’t know the extent of the experiments, but we can assume they must have been violent if the Doctor went through so many regenerations within Tecetun’s mortal lifetime. All of those traumatic procedures could have permanently altered their recovery process post-regeneration, which would also explain why we haven’t seen other time lords exhibit any regeneration sickness. They got the regenerative properties with none of the side effects. That could even explain why the Time Lords capped all regenerations at 12. Maybe that was how many times the timeless child regenerated before they started needing a recovery period to adjust to their new body. 

Now I can’t stop thinking about how messed up that is, and how what 13 said to the Master (about how there are multitudes more to herself than she ever knew) isn’t just true of herself anymore; it’s also true of the narrative. The Timeless Child was medically abused and exploited by their parent, their exploitation was the foundation of the Time Lords, their mind was wiped, and then they purposely and unknowingly forged their entire identity around being a proper doctor, the kind of doctor they deserved to have as a child but didn’t get. 

Basically, 

[the-river-person]

Any interesting world-building tidbit that wasn't included in your tales? This is a very interesting world you've got

I have three major bits that I desperately wanted to include in the story but never could find the right moment for. 1. (This hilarious dialogue snippet from Gaster and Alphys that never made it into the story but I decided was too funny to not save.) Alphys: (laying on floor) I’m nothing. Not a scientist. Useless. I’m just garbage. Gaster: (glances down at her briefly, looking thoughtful).... you’re recyclable. Alphys: !?!?!?!?!?? 2. I wanted to better explore the area below Waterfall, the deep pits that all the falls plunge down into, where once Alphys stood and considered throwing herself down into. The concept of it was a sort of transformation for Alphys and Undyne. They return to this place that might have been a place of tragedy, and they make it the start of something amazing. The cliffs below were riddled with caves and openings, an entire city carved straight into the rock, with grand staircases that lead down, and elevators that see a lot of use for those who don't want to walk (or can't). Can you imagine the place? Beautiful caves where every window opens up to the underside of the cascading, thundering waterfalls. And because they had hundreds of years to develop it all, the Lower City had gardens and fascinating landmarks to visit, a gallery devoted entirely to the art of Alphys' favorite animes (and oh boy were there some truly gorgeous works there. For some reason there was also a portrait of Mettaton as God and Alphys as Adam in a lovely oil painting that is a sort of imitative transformation piece of Michelangelo's very famous "The Creation of Adam". Nobody really knows who painted it, nor why, but the gallery director informed the public that it was donated anonymously as a gift to commemorate the gallery's Grand Opening.) Because Undyne had a huge part in the City's inception, there ended up being several small schools for various physical activities such as: Wrestling, Ballet, Clogging, Modern Dance, Taekwondo, Spear fighting, Sword fighting, and Water Aerobics. Also one very tiny school for Piano that consisted of Undyne herself and whoever she was teaching to play at their lessons three times a week. Down below are the Depths, the deepest and darkest part of the Underground's caverns. A massive lake that the falls plunge into. Most of its life has been spent without light of any kind, and even now it's still very shadowy. The Lower City of the cliffs sort of spills out between waterfalls to drift around the shore of the lake. But even 300 hundred years later it hasn't all been explored and the Lower City hasn't expanded much more (even with the Underground populous trying their best to spread out, they can't possibly fill every space. I'm working with an upper limit of 1,400-2,000 monsters total in the Underground, with a lower limit of 322 for the souls visible coming from Asriel in the game when he breaks the barrier. Due to the fact that Ghost Monsters were excluded from the soul snatching event, and the fact that there is literally no way to estimate how many spiders are in the Underground, both have been excluded from this counting.) At the far end of the dark lake a lonely outpost sits, home to a very very few monsters who either prefer the total solitude and darkness, or have come there for reasons of science. To study the pools of super-heated water and geysers, or the aquatic life somehow managing to thrive in the pitch black lake that is swimming with garbage from humans and monsters alike, or even geological strata that possesses very interesting formations this far down. There are numerous guidelines in place that prevent Monsters from staying at the Outpost for more than two months at a time for Mental Health concerns. Both Royal Scientists tried (separately) to use their position to override this rule. Undyne was sent to retrieve Alphys and bodily carried her back despite protests, and Queen Toriel herself came to order Gaster back to the Upper Underground (there were fireballs thrown before he finally gave up). 3. And finally, I actually fully intended to have a scene in the story where Sans demanded that Gaster tell him exactly how long they spent trapped down there, after all, he's the only one who kept track of it if you recall. But I completely spaced it when it came to writing those last few scenes. So I'll tell you my final calculations here. We know that Determination had a strange effect on the magic of the Barrier. Whenever a Reset happened, time in the Underground would move a tiny bit slower than time outside. The time spent inside the Barrier, counting both the truly ridiculous amount of time wasted in resets by both the Human and by Flowey, as well as the 300 years afterward that this story covers, comes somewhere around the area of 51,967,952,715 years. Or Fifty One Billion, Nine Hundred and Sixty Seven Million, Nine Hundred and Fifty Two Thousand, Seven Hundred and Fifteen. An insane amount of time. What’s my explanation for how the minds of various characters remained intact? Well, Gaster spent long long periods of time sleeping. He wasn’t fully himself yet as his assistants hadn’t managed to collect enough pieces of him. So unstable and having a warped perception of time kept him from actually going insane, instead letting him sleep for centuries at a time. Sans actually didn’t start to become fully aware until quite a long ways into the resets, and then spent a while trying to figure out what was going on, fought with everything he could for a while in endless genocide routes, and then eventually lost hope entirely and sort of... went on automatic for a long time before he woke up enough to change something (a single question was all it took). And Flowey stayed in a similar state for thousands of years, quietly repeating the exact same conversations, the same actions, the same patterns. The only times he was even aware enough to notice the passage of time was when something new happened. These are not in any way realistic ways of reacting to such a vast period of time. From what science we understand about the brain, it would barely last more than a couple hundred years at the very most, but probably less than that. And that’s if you can keep it in perfect condition without any decay. Memories would begin to go long before that, only fragments remaining and the brain keeping only what is relevant to you now. But lots and lots of old stories depict supernatural and magical beings as sleeping for centuries in forgotten temples, under castles, in sealed magical caverns, in caves on beds of treasure, and a thousand other variances. So I wanted to explore that in the way of a part of the Monster Soul that would act as a self defense mechanism to the Mind of the Monster who was somehow living and living and living without possibility of dying and needed to be able to stay sane throughout that. So it either makes them sleep, or in severe circumstances it can put them on a sort of automatic mode where they repeat a sequence ad infinitum. Both have their roots in folklore, but the way it works is my own interpretation of the idea. Outside the barrier, however, is a different story. The full total of time that has  passed out there is 10,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000,​000. Known as Duotrigintillion, or also as one Googol. While the Underground got slower and slower and slower, the rest of the Universe continued on at its usual pace. The planet earth was destroyed by the Sun going into its Red Giant Phase, and then it became a White Dwarf. Then a Black Dwarf. Galaxies and super-galaxies went slowly dark, matter was dissolved or eaten by black holes, even black holes eventually began to decay due to Hawking Radiation. And because the light, garbage, and air being let into the Underground were the exact same stuff that was being let in at the beginning and was just on repeat forever, the Monsters never noticed. It was only when a run went on a little longer than usual, when the Barrier started trying to correct itself by syncing up time again, when you could see the darkness beyond. A darkness without stars and without life. Only cold and shadow, forever. The absolute and inexorable Heat Death of the Universe. Is it the only Universe in the Multiverse that has lived its full possible lifetime from beginning to end? Possibly. Ink would know. Whatever the case, its certainly a very very old Universe indeed (It probably is one of several branches off the original Universe, a stray timeline become a Universe in its own right).

[fakeyellow]

The River

a collection of headcanons exchanged btw @sarah-alder and me as we thought about a female love interest for General Alder

OC is the younger half sister of Khalida, who’s 200+ years old. She too is “immortal,” but she could not stomach the idea of living while looking like a child like Khalida does.

Maybe it’s vanity or maybe it’s something else, but while OC wants to live for a long time, she wants to do it while looking like an adult.

So she goes the less taken route. She uses a seed that lets her stop aging when she looks like an adult. But all magic comes at an equivalent price and for the cost of her immortality, OC must sacrifice her memories.

Every time she lives through the lifespan of a regular human (50-80 years), she needs to sing the Seed and erase her memories, effectively “rebooting” herself. Otherwise she loses her immortality and ages/dies.

The longer she lives, the closer she is to the period of rebooting, her memories become fuzzy, like remnants of a half dream.

The price is so great that there aren’t many people in the Tarim who use this seed.

In order to combat this, OC writes in journals.

She has multiple journals of information from all of the years she’s lived, but there is one main, compact journal that contains all of the essential information that she needs to know immediately: the seeds of her tribe, who she is, where the location of the other journals are.

She always keeps this on her somehow, it’s hidden on her body somehow using magic, because without this book, she would be lost.

—

OC doesn’t want to remain isolated with the Tarim, she wants to explore the world, see and experience what it has to offer.

So she goes to America. She doesn’t necessarily agree with the militaristic regime of General Alder and her witches but she’s intrigued nonetheless.

During several battles, General Alder notices a mysterious face in the shadows. She brushes it off, but once, when she is facing a formidable enemy, she feels the sound of another voice singing a seed with her.

The voice is unlike anything she's ever heard, OR it strikes a chord in Alder since she seems to have some sort of connection with the Tarim.

It is after this battle that General Alder and OC first meet face to face.

OC greets her with a nod, “General Alder.”

And Alder says, “I must admit you have me at a disadvantage for I do not know who you are.”

—

Alder and OC continue to meet each other in the most unexpected and random of times. Many years pass between each encounter because OC values her privacy but she also can't help but be intrigued by Sarah.

Each encounter can’t be more than a few minutes but they always linger in both Sarah and OC’s minds, both of them finding themselves drawn to each other.

On Sarah’s end, she is first intrigued by OC’s unchanging appearance.

Enough years pass between their meetings that Sarah realises that OC must also be immortal somehow and she is curious about this.

If there is a way for her to keep living without relying on the Biddies, Sarah would do it in a heartbeat

But OC refuses to tell her because it is a secret of the Tarim.

—

It is a few years before OC needs to “reboot” again, that she and Sarah give into their attraction, having sex for the first time.

OC can't help memorising every inch of Sarah’s body, each gasp she makes even as she knows she won't remember it.

And in that small, compact journal containing only the utmost essential information about herself, OC adds in a painting/sketch of Sarah Alder. Next to it, she writes (to her future self):

“You love her. But do not trust her.”

It is because she loves Sarah and knows her intimately that she knows Sarah’s highest priority will always be the witches she’s helped train, the witches of Fort Salem.

And OC still cannot agree with how Sarah has signed off on the militarisation of witches.

—

When OC and Alder meet for the first time since OC’s “reboot,” Alder pieces it together. Even though OC recognises her and tries to act like nothing has happened, Alder can tell she does not really remember her.

So Alder gives up on that form of immortality because she needs her memories. She cannot give that up.

But Alder and OC continue to meet sporadically, continue to love each other. OC's love for Sarah is for the person she is and not the invulnerable facade of General Alder. Sarah's love for OC stems from OC's unwavering kindness untouched by the harshness of time and war.

—

OC still has some feelings for Sarah carrying on after each reset. OC wakes up with this deep longing in her chest, like a gaping hole is there where something was supposed to be.

She doesn’t know why she feels so heartbroken, like something unspeakably precious to her has slipped through her fingers like sand (until she reads her journal that is).

—

How the OC would tie into the show:

Both OC and Adil arrive at Fort Salem with a sick Khalida in her arms. In her exhausted/half dead state, OC can only repeat Sarah’s name.

Mass confusion ensues but the witches eventually move the three of them to the hospital wing and General Alder comes.

General Alder can't contain that first initial moment of shock when she sees the woman she loves for the first time in years, but after that she tightly controls her emotions, keenly aware of how the others are looking at her.

The same events in the show happens as they try to heal Khalida and OC and Sarah suddenly find themselves separated by a deep chasm.

Even as Sarah had known OC was from the Tarim, it’s her first time really seeing how OC is of the Tarim because OC’s always just been like a rogue witch, traveling around and exploring to her heart’s delight. But now OC is here, dedicated to healing her sister and they are reminded of their fundamental opposition.

Sarah is General Alder, the leader of an army of witches, and there is nothing more she wants than the seeds of OC’s tribe.

So even though they're seeing each for other for the first time in a while, they suddenly feel distant from each other even as their hearts long for each other.

Upon Khalida waking up, she can tell that there is something going on between OC and Alder. She’s calm when she confronts her sister but there's still some judgment in her voice and OC bristles at this.

Because she knows Sarah better than Khalida ever will. Yes, she loves Sarah, but she's neither blind nor stupid

OC: “I left the tarim a long time ago.”

Khalida: “That doesn't mean you aren't one of us.”

OC pauses because of course she agrees, she’s still part of the Tarim, but then she says: “My heart is my own and you have no say over it.”

Khalida ultimately relents because her sister is right. She knows her sister isn't stupid.

—

Khalida and OC then come to an agreement. OC will help Alder with the Spree with her knowledge of the Tarim’s seeds and Khalida only agrees to that on the condition that she won't teach Alder what she's about to unleash into the world.

OC also has information on the looming threat Lyne has hinted about in interviews, from her explorations

The other generals/heads like Petra and Anacostia all are a bit unsure what to make of OC.

In their eyes, a woman they've never seen before suddenly appears and she has information they don't have. She seems somehow intimate with General Alder even though they’ve never seen or heard of this woman.

(They don't even wonder if OC’s immortal because that's how rare it is and she clearly doesn’t have any Biddies hanging around her)

Petra's suspicious of her and Anacostia is curious and watches them.

They begin to work together in order to defeat the Spree but in the last two episodes- someone somehow finds/steals that important journal OC always keeps on her, and they learn the seeds of the Tarim. This person uses one of the seeds and then the rest of them are faced with the destruction that ensues and OC is completely blindsided by this as she realises that someone has stolen and used the Seeds of her people.

At first, she lashes out at and blames Alder because she's just so blindsided and panicked. She's just lost the secrets of the Tarim that have been guarded for centuries and there is no telling how much devastation will be wrought.

—

The next season is all about finding the culprit and recovering the rest of the seeds that have not yet been released.

Despite her initial anger/panic, OC quickly calms down and knows that Sarah is not responsible for the theft of the seeds. She wants to know them yes, but she wouldn't do it like this. Not to her. Not like this.

She apologises to Sarah but the damage has been done and the season is also about how OC and Sarah work things out.

It is a real test on Sarah’s part though because she’s wanted to know the seeds of the Tarim for centuries and now there is a person outside of the Tarim who knows them.

Does she go against her heart and betray OC to learn the seeds so that she can eradicate the Spree once and for all and protect her people? Or does she respect the OC and the Tarim's wishes?

Because if Sarah learned the seeds from the thief, she'd be crossing a line that would irreparably damage her relationship with OC.

This is on Alder's subconscious/mind for a lot of the season and she walks this fine line a lot during the season. You can see her grapple with this, see her be tempted.

But in the penultimate episode of the season, they finally confront the culprit (idk who).  

The culprit is like, “General alder, isn't this what you want?! I did this for our kind, I did this for witches EVERYWHERE.”

And sensing that she could be killed any moment now, the thief desperately says, “I’ll teach you the seeds. Spare my life and I will share them with you like you've wanted for years.”

OC is at her side during this and her heart just freezes because even though she loves Sarah, she's always believed that Sarah loves her witches more than her.

That's why she wrote "do not trust her" in her journal.

OC prepares herself to fight Alder if she agrees to the thief (although can she ever really be prepared for that), even as her heart breaks.

But in a pivotal move, Sarah rejects the thief. She's loved OC for centuries, the only person Sarah’s ever truly loved. As tempting as the seeds are, she's not going to damage what she has with OC.

And OC is just filled with an overwhelming sense of shock and happiness and relief because she’s spent their entire relationship believing that she would never be Sarah’s first priority, that she would always be sacrificed if Sarah could get the power she wanted.

But this moment is the first time that she realises that she might have been wrong, the Sarah loves her as all consumingly as she loves Sarah.

After they kill the culprit, OC turns to Alder and kisses her with the full force of her feelings. Her tears are spilling down her cheeks now and Alder asks what’s wrong. OC is so choked up on her feelings, she can't even answer so she just kisses Alder again

When OC finally pulls back, she leans back in, resting her forehead against Sarah’s, and she whispers,

“I love you.”

This is the first time either of them has actually voiced these words out loud. OC’s always hesitated, has always held a doubt that their relationship might work and Sarah’s always been guarded, believing that these aren’t feelings a general of her position can linger on.

The sex they have later that night is emotional. The first time they did it was less emotions and more physical attraction. But the sex they have tonight is charged with emotion and it’s intense and slow.

Their individual magic come into play, intensifying everything.

The last episode of the season starts now.

The morning finds them in each other's arms, and they also see from the window that they’ve made all the trees and flowers in Fort Salem bloom.

It’s like spring has come anew in Fort Salem and everyone's taken aback by just how beautiful it is

Some of the cadets passing by joke that General Alder must have fucked someone last night.

Both OC and Alder overhear this due to their witch senses and they nearly burst out laughing because the cadets have no idea how right they are.

Later that day, Anacostia comes up to Alder. They can see from her face that she knows what's up and she puts a hand on Alder's shoulder, saying very sincerely that she's happy for Alder.

The episode is happy and full of bliss.

They still have to take care of the Spree but right now, OC and Sarah are in love and happy.

But then OC admits to Sarah that she can feel it. Her time is coming near, it's already becoming harder for her to remember small details.

She’s been trying desperately to push it off because she doesn't want to forget this amazing time, this amazing point they've reached in their relationship, but she’ll have to sing the seed to erase her memories or die.

And Sarah feels as if the breath is stolen from her too because she’d forgotten about this and she also doesn't want to lose this.

OC tearfully cups her face and is like, “I’ll write it all down. I’ll make sure I remember you, I swear to you.”

And later when she's alone, you see her changing what she wrote in that most important journal.

"You love her. You trust her. She is everything"

Although she's always done this seed herself, she asks Sarah to be with her this time. Sarah watches her and the seed is unspeakably beautiful. It’s melancholy and heart breaking but so, so beautiful.

And then OC opens her eyes and END SEASON

OR

OC is fresh off her last reset, she's still got 55 good years in her.

And the season ends with OC opening that essential journal and writing “You love her. You trust her. She is everything.”

— Other lines exchanged btw us: 

“Lesbireal, OC’s filled numerous journals writing about Alder” “at least 4”

“General alder hatefucks petra”

“NO MORE ANGST” “lmfaooo but the angsttttt”

—

More information on how the OC came to be:

I thought about a middle aged woman bc idk about a young woman catching Alder’s eyes bc let's be real, she's been alive for like 350 years. She must have seen them all, the pure naive optimist, the hardened, unable to trust secret heart of gold, etc.

But then Anacostia is also like 40 and Lyne's mentioned how they have like a mother/daughter relationship

So I thought she would have to fall in love with someone who's old, someone who's also been alive for more years than she has to.

Then I thought about the creator talking about how Khalida is Alder's perfect foil, someone who's also lived a long time but without the use of biddies. She just lives forever looking like a child

Instead of coming up with an entirely new backstory (bc that shit's hard), I decided to work off of what we know and give Khalida a younger sister.

I also once heard a neurologist say that vampires couldn't be real bc of how our brains work- human brains can't handle holding hundreds of years of memories. I don't remember quite what he said but the general gist stuck with me

Another point of explanation:

During Beltane, Alder fucks the Witchfather. She does it for the energy. Or maybe she knows it's important/symbolic for her to be with the Witchfather. But also maybe the thought of being with another woman would hit too closely at the closely guarded secret of her heart which is that she loves OC

Also, let’s say Alder doesn't take any lovers after that. She just does what she's expected to do, bang the Witchfather once a year for energy. And that's it, unless she’s with OC.

[siverwrites]

Press Start Letter

AO3: Siver

There are some pretty big groups here, so there’s just a mix of things I like and prompts if you want them. As long as the DNWs are avoided it’s all good. Really can’t go wrong taking anything from my Likes list. A lot of found family vibes happening in this batch so anything in that vein in particular is great.

All requests are for fic or art. Art: Interactions of some sort: emoting at each other, talking, sharing some activity, taking a walk, hugs are always welcome, soft things, whatever suits the pair/group

Likes: fluff, hurt/comfort, comfort, missing scenes, friendships, long-term friendships, close relationships of any sort whether romantic or platonic, familial bonds, found family, sickfic, AUs, fandom crossovers or fusions, angst with a happy end, bonding, cuddling/hugs/holding, banter, mutual care and support, emotional bonding, loyalty, pre-canon, post-canon, reuniting, slice of life

DNW: NSFW, non-con, dub-con, underage relationships, unrequested ships, infidelity, virus things

Thank you!

Ghost Trick

Group: Alma/Cabanela Group: Alma/Jowd Group: Alma/Jowd & Cabanela Group: Alma/Jowd/Cabanela Group: Cabanela/Jowd Group: Cabanela & Pigeon Man Alma Cabanela Jowd Missile Sissel Group: Emma & Pigeon Man: What even happens here? Just such a bizarre and unexpected combo it had to happen.

I love this game, its characters and pretty much everything about it, so whatever you want to do will be great I am sure. New timeline mysteries and dealing with missing memories are always welcome where it makes sense. Alternate timelines and what-ifs are cool to explore. Fluff, comfort, family found or otherwise and friendships are always a go. Sissel and Missile involvements and tricks are always good. Any combination of these characters is more than welcome too! 

I only request that for various configurations of Alma, Jowd and Cabanela there is no infidelity. If it’s Cabanela/Jowd or Cabanela/Alma please let the third party be absent for whatever reason or dead... if a Cabanela/Jowd situation in game or a no reset timeline. But Alma’s absence should still be felt. Otherwise I love the trio so much and always love to see more.

Trails in the Sky

Group: Cassius Bright & Estelle Bright & Joshua Bright & Renne Bright: Family family family! Renne adjusting to a new life with them .

Group: Celeste D. Auslese & Renne Hayworth: What might they discuss in the Hermit’s Garden? What might Renne have to ask her?

Group: Estelle Bright & Kloe Rinz | Klaudia von Auslese & Tita Russell: Sisters and best friend time!

Group: Julia Schwarz & Kloe Rinz | Klaudia von Auslese: Mooore sister times

Group: Kloe Rinz & Celeste D. Auslese: Her ancestor... Kloe must have so many questions...

Group: Kloe Rinz | Klaudia von Auslese & Olivier Lenheim | Olivert Reise Arnor: Royals unite! They have a good allyship now going now it’d be cool to see them interact more

Group: Mayor Maybelle/Lila: they’re just sweet okay. Let Maybelle rest. Lila, also rest. Go on a vacation you two

Group: Olivier Lenheim | Olivert Reise Arnor & Mueller Vander: Exasperated but oh so caring Mueller always...

Group: Olivier Lenheim/Mueller Vander: Same as above but more romantic

Group: Ries Argent/Kevin Graham: Affectionate exasperation

Olivier Lenheim | Olivert Reise Arnor: Just. Olivier. 

Missing scenes, scene extensions, travel along the roads, airship travel times, etc. Post Sky also welcome and at some points necessary. Ample opportunity for anything in the Garden in 3rd. I love these characters, their world, and their relationships.

Trails from Zero/Trails to Azure

Alex Dudley Elie MacDowell KeA Lloyd Bannings Randy Orlando Sergei Lou Tio Plato Zeit Group: Rixia Mao/Ilya Platiere Group: Sonya Baelz & Sergei Lou

These games hit my found family buttons hard. Anything portraying some kind of familial relationship among these characters is awesome. I love our SSS family (Dudley included, you’re an honorary part too, just the way it is). Any combination of these characters is more than welcome!

KeA winning Dudley over because no one can resist her? Always down for KeA and “Uncle” Sergei too. Randy and Tio sibling like times? An outing for our core four, Lloyd, Elie, Tio and Randy, possibly dragging Sergei with for a change? Dudley and Lloyd connecting over something whether the past with Guy or something else entirely? Zeit in any capacity is a very good boy. Sky’s the limit.

Please no shipping aside from the Rixia/Ilya.

Dragon Quest XI

Group: Marutina | Jade & Rou | Rab Group: Sena | Serena & Veronica Group: Sylvia | Sylvando & Dave Group: Sylvia | Sylvando & Graig | Hendrik Marutina | Jade Sylvia | Sylvando

While I wish there were a few more dynamics among the party outside of certain pairs I do love what there is and down for more.

I’d be interested in seeing more Jade and Rab grandfather adopted granddaughter moments. Could be something during the journey or something before they joined the party. Or something after it’s all over. Jade can return to her father in Heliodor but that’s a bond that won’t break.

Any kind of sister time for Serena and Veronica at any time. Can go angsty given Veronica’s situation as well.

I didn’t give Dave a lot of attention until playing the definitive edition and I loved how he was there for Sylv and was able to snap him out of his gloom. More interactions and them supporting each other would be great. Anything during the parade gathering is also great, or Dave’s search for him and Sylv’s recovery.

I love Hendrik and Sylvando’s dynamic. They have that shared history but they’re so different and Hendrik’s reactions are always a joy. But what are some other ways they can support each other?

Game did Jade dirty. Let her shine. Maybe overly ambitious but an AU where she kicks Booga’s ass and liberates Octagonia herself would be cool and she can look after it in a similar fashion to the Last Bastion. But overall anyway, just some attention for Jade.

Just. Sylvando. I love him. Sylv being Sylv can’t go wrong.

Bug Fables

Group: Elizant II & Leif Group: Kabbu & Vi & Leif Group: Prof. Honeycomb & Doctor H.B. Kabbu Leif Vi

My new love and I love the group dynamics! Party fun times while they’re travelling would be good. Really interested in more with Leif’s situation because that is a Lot and open to more introspection and dealing--Kabbu support go? Attempted Vi support go?

There’s also an interesting connection between Elizant II and Leif I’d be interested in seeing more. Leif’s out of time but holds memories of Elizant I. Elizant II is a more direct connection he’s otherwise lacking and it’s nice to see how his opinion of her shifts and grows.

Professor Honeycomb and Doctor H.B.: older cranky lady bees in science! I have no specific ideas, but exploring more of their rivalry would be fun. Hawk and long-suffering Crow involvement are A-okay too.

Final Fantasy VI

Cyan Celes Group: Edgar Roni Figaro & Macías "Mash" Rene Figaro | Sabin Rene Figaro Relm Arrowny

Any combination of any of these tags. Any kind of characters interaction among the party is great. Celes and Relm. Attempted reconciliation between Celes and Cyan. Edgar and Sabin having some sort of interaction with the spunky Relm--she probably trolling them in some way no doubt. Or perhaps something sweeter. Etc

Edgar & Sabin: Moments visiting Figaro during their journey. Or post-game trying to bond again and get to know each other after Sabin’s long absence without doom hanging over their heads. Something to do with or some fallout from the whole Gerad situation?

Celes: Her thoughts on having to sing at the opera? Or what she might be doing post-game. More exploration of her thoughts and feelings after she wakes up on the island? So much room for more expansion on Celes moments. Travelling with Sabin after finding him in the World of Ruin?

Relm: Lean on the magic of her paintings? Or post-game Relm dealing with the loss her powers and/or just trying to live normally again after all that?

Mutazione

Group: Bopek & Jell-A Group: Dennis & Nonno Group: Kai & Karoo Group: Kai & Semenya Group: Miu & Yoké Group: Nonno & Spike Group: Spike/Claire Group: Yoké & Claire Group: Yoké & Karoo Miu Yoké 

I don’t have any specific ideas for Mutazione but all these groups are cool. I enjoyed playing this game so much I’d love to dive back into this world. Leaning hard on its warmth, care and found family is most welcome. And plants! And music! I’m particularly fond of Yoké, but as said these are all great pairs and characters. 

Pyre

Group: Volfred Sandalwood & Ti'zo Group: Volfred Sandalwood/Tariq | The Lone Minstrel Volfred Sandalwood Ti’Zo

Found family joys. Daily activities while they travel? Wagon shenanigans. Post Peaceful revolution activities? Any combo here is great. Soft moments in configurations of Volfred, Tariq and Oralech, pre, post or in-game.   Snakes doing snake things. Imps doing imp things.

Volfred Sandalwood & Ti'zo: Tree and Imp, Tree and Imp! And who knew each other before so something relating to that would be cool. But honestly tree and imp...

Volfred Sandalwood/Tariq | The Lone Minstrel: Something gentle for the tree and the moon who somehow fell for him, any time period

[velvetinewitch]

wips list

this functions as a key to all of my wips, including ones i don’t actively write but still work on occasionally. in case you didn’t know, all of my wips include: poc, LGBT+ characters, disabled and non-neurotypical characters, found families, usually fantasy elements because i love magic, and often a little romance (which is usually accompanied by found families or tragedy, but for my romance-repulsed friends, there are still stories with no romance!)

key: *: heavily connected stories >: stories taking place after the events of Faye and Fate (a very distant future)

Closest to Complete (in order... ish)

Painted Cards: a group of teenagers end up criminals after a magical goddess chooses them for greatness. instead of embarking on some epic adventure, they decide to save the world another way: through kindness and coffee. a story about a found family made up of unintentional criminals with trauma that they’ll learn to cope with. mostly written for myself, but also written for the people in my life who needed to see characters like them have a happy ending. a very hopeful, fantasy slice-of-life story.

*Faye and Fate: almost everything i write is exposition or a result of this 5 book series. Aralion Faye resets the timeline so often it all just blurs together. with each new on she creates, she watches the ones she loves die over and over again, as if it’s all a video game culminating up to that game over screen. things always start out so innocently, too; her memories never return until later, so for a while, she enjoys attending a magic school, falling in love, playing pranks, befriending her peers. by the end of the year, the world comes back to remind her that her happy ending is unachievable. between traitors, corruption, fires, and cliffs... this time has to be different. this time she’ll save everyone she loves. is overall a story about heroes of all types. love this series so much abhddvk. magic is based on skills/interests: art, writing, engineering, astronomy, directing, zoology, architecture, makeup art, etc

*Mortals Versus Morals: (this isn’t actually the title but it makes me laugh so it’s being used as the placeholder) Glen is 17, rich, sheltered, and possibly the most lawful good person ever. plot twist- there’s a prophecy predicting his (as well as 6 others’) involvement in the end of the world, and they aren’t on the good side. Glen struggles to balance saving the world from villains while trying not to become a villain himself. includes: road trips and bonding, scenes like the one where the aro-ace friend gets seduced by a nine-tailed fox who runs a Burger King, everyone educating Glen on cultures and respecting pronouns :) as well as the occasional choking angst that comes with a bunch of almost adults getting dragged into the business of gods. did i mention there are gods? there are gods. i do kill a love interest of a protag but then give them TWO romantic partners because i’m not a coward (i feel like the characters who lose a love interest end up in a poly relationship most often in my stories... as a sort of apology to them lmao). also Utah? basically stops existing at some point. magic is based off a deity someone worships, with worship comes borrowed magic. the characters themselves are basically just omnists? 

Beneath Our Skin: Sam and Ana don’t know each other. it’s by chance that they’re separated from their class during a field trip, and end of wandering straight into a portal to another world, one with magic. while searching for a way home, they accidentally make their own- in the meantime, they’re gonna find a magician who can give Sam a shapeshifting spell because Sam would really like to transition, even if it’s through magical means, please. written for me and my fake-brother, so lots of being platonically domestic and also sarcastic... this is in a really poetic writing style too.

House of Crabs: this is not the name it just makes me giggle so placeholder time! contemporary, no romance or fantasy or anything (although like one crime is committed but life is life that). here’s the old summary: Siera lives in the mansion of thirty year old Janelle, a woman who has the tendency to take in stray children, granting them shelter despite their tragic backstories or strange personalities. When one of the outcasts, Roy, is confronted by his biological brother, Roy is absolutely horrified by the concept of being dragged back to his transphobic family. The outcasts are dead set on protecting him, even if it requires breaking laws. But Roy's brother doesn't seem that content on harming Roy or bringing him home against his will. Instead, the boy seems more interested in coming out of the closet, hoping that his little brother and his new family can help him learn how to be his true flamboyant self. 

>Obligatory Superhero Stories (3 stories):  ----Lei is supposedly a civilian, until she arrests the man who ruined her life and accidentally ends up adopting his daughter, Hera. Hera coerces her into adopting her classmate Jason. the two get kidnapped. Lei gets annoyed by how useless she is in saving them, and becomes the first non-mutant superhero. in the meanwhile, the US Secretary of Powers, Victoria, is forced to monitor her progress for a court case deciding whether this is legal, and accidentally falls in love. Hera fucks with journalists and enjoys being politically smarter, Jason attempts to create a ground-breaking technology and blows up hundreds of phones, and Victoria never sleeps. literally. her superpower is just,,, no sleeping. ----Vessa becomes a superhero by accident. it involves art galleries, snow, and unlicensed doctors. now, she operates under an alias, the hero Froze (very creative, yes), alongside her trusted sidekicks. unbeknownst to Vessa, she has a history with the villain she’s fighting, and their teams may be more entangled outside of their aliases than first believed. basically, an enemies to family (and some lovers) story, involving a lot of morally grey shenanigans thanks to a corrupt society. ----there’s a villain on the lose, know as Heart-twist, with the ability to take someone’s darker emotions and intensify them. in reality, Sora is just a teenage girl, with four dear and near friends. it’s been a year since her sister’s boyfriend, a hero, prioritized glorious battle over rescue, and her sister died alone and afraid. Sora is just waiting to make him fall in love with her, so she can repay the favor.

>Paint Me a Picture: dystopian future! roughly 78% of the population is monochromatic, and can only see in shades of grey. it seems petty in plain sight, but jealousy has left the other 22% segregated, separated by a boundary and sinking in poverty. Pristaline is apart of the majority, privileged without even realizing it- her biggest concern is making herself a future in law. a car accident leaves her in a recover home near the boundary, where she accidentally meets Jackson, a color-seeing boy, who calls her eyes ‘blue.’ the encounter sparks a revolution. this is a sadder story- it ends with a girl, watercolor swatches, and a grave.

*Run From Wolves: Elayna is unfortunate enough to be a magic-born in the one kingdom that still prosecutes female magic-borns (to which she says, fuck their religion for saying women shouldn’t have magic). when she and her half-brother Shage are discovered, instead of being executed, Elayna is offered a position beside her brother in the kingdoms prestigious Goddess Guard. the offer comes with a price: they must swear allegiance to the king, and can do him no harm. luckily, a pretty spy from a neighboring kingdom offers Elayna a loophole. includes spirit animals, political intrigue, lesbians, murdering an asshole king, and a secret mystery involving immortality and wolves.

*Twin Kingdoms: there’s an island floating in the sky- two, now, split in half down the center. Melony and Serena have known about the conflict between their kingdoms, but they never really realized it’s intensity until Melony’s older brother close friend betrayed her and seized the throne for himself, pitting her kingdom against Serena’s and searching for war. Melony and Serena are able to escape together, living in disguise and biding their time before they can retake what belongs to them. has a really fun character who’s a villain (she’s the traitor brother’s little sister), gets stuck with an injury, is healed by a girl in an enemy village, and struggles to reaffirm her beliefs while vaguely falling in love. sighhhhhh i miss this series

*Where Shadows Bloom: written during the time of my life where i loved badass assassins becoming queens or princess... despite the trope being looked down upon, i hold this dear to my heart. basically, there’s a period of turmoil throughout the entire planet. on one end of the world, the queen is assassinated by a girl aiming to use her throne to destroy her noble parents, an underground group seeks to end slavery through magical battles and underhanded deals, and an orphan boy is made king. on the other side of the world, a second world war rages, pitting the Gold Alliance (good guys) against the Silver Alliance (bad guys). a princess goes undercover, venturing into a captured kingdom to spy on opposing forces. she’s taken in by an engineer/pilot who helps her stay in disguise as she uncovers the nefarious plot that involves the prosecution of an entire people. it all ties in together.

*Fateless: i really can’t get enough of magic and princesses, huh. ever wonder what Arthurian mythology would be like if it was in my world? Raine’s family has known tragedy after tragedy, from the death of her uncle, then aunt, her brother, and finally, her parents. fate has left her alive to inherit their throne when she comes of age. still, even she is cursed, wearing a ring that burns her with the pain of her people. she doesn’t wince anymore, not even when she watches another witch burn at the stake, and feels the flames crawl up her body, phantom but so, so real. when her kingdom falls, Raine and her most trusted knights are forced to flee into the woods. there, they find a tavern alongside a their road, run by a mysterious woman named Lancelin. there’s something familiar about the woman, something from Raine’s past, and something strange about the way that each of her customers leaves with healed minds and bodies. secretly-enemies to secretly-lovers! as common with me...

[marshmallowprotection]

Please chat my ear off, I just looked about 3 posts into that tag and I already have questions. I saw the picrew post with 5 versions of Lila, could you tell me about your favorite bad end version of her?

Oh, God. You got me there. There are a lot of Bad Ending variants to my girl, and honestly, I don't think could pick a favorite one. I think I'm most partial to Ray's bad ending for Lila. I can tell you about all of them all though! I didn't get into detail on that post.

I have fics for these bad endings on my AO3! (Well, sans Savior Saeran, that one is coming eventually.)

Bad Ending w/ Ray:

Lila fails to prove any interest in the game that Ray has given to her to play in Magenta, she's far more interested in him than this "game" and because of her unfortunate choice; Ray feels as though he's gone and failed failed at keeping her interest, in spite of her assurance that she'll try to play harder for his sake, he decides to "correct" her behavior, fearing the RFA somehow deceived her without him knowing and that's why she stopped playing his game. He just can't believe that she likes him that much that this would happen. Surely she would have played his game if she liked him. His fears snowball the second the thought of Seven whispering into her ears comes to mind, and he's too scared to lose his Lila.

His choices turn her into his precious plaything. Lila can't ever leave him if she's all his. She's all his as long as he chooses how she dresses, eats" sleeps, etc. She's twisted up until she's nothing but a perfect toy. She lives to please him, she belongs to him, and all she wants is to make Ray happy, even if that means she's just his beautiful doll on a stand.

This Lila is somebody who is treated like porcelain. She can do nothing but smile and listen to every word that Ray says. She really is a doll.

Bad Ending w/ Suit Saeran:

Manipulated, beaten down. This Lila made the mistake of not seeing underneath the truth of the pain and the lies in the dark. The broken doll on the end of marionette strings strung up by her own wrists to an invisible wire. Lila failed to stand her ground to Suit Saeran and grew too scared to fight back. He beats her down and builds her back up again over and over and over again until there's nothing left of her but a lifeless toy left laying on the floor, abandoned by it's owner only to be trifled with if he gets the urge.

Suit Saeran keeps her around just to see if he can pull the shell of her former self out every now and again for fun. She's quiet, always looking down, and scared of losing the one contact she has left in the outside world away from her toy box.

She's a toy, a broken toy. But Saeran will keep playing with her for fun as long as he wants. This Lila is someone who is treated like they're nothing but rubbish. She can do nothing but pray that one day Saeran pities her enough to play with her or keep her company. She closes her eyes and worships him quietly in the hopes that he may be gentle once again.

Bad Ending w/ Savior Saeran:

This deviates from the norm of the typical bad ending.

Instead of siding with Rika to become a shadow queen of paradise, Lila fights to the bitter end of the night to try and protect Saeran from her actions. She is captured before Saeran can awaken from his slumber and save her from being taken like happens originally; She's used as a bargaining tool to manipulate Saeran into staying at Mint Eye forever. Elixir hot and burning in her veins for grueling hours on end by the hands of this so-called Savior. Lila is kept away from Saeran for quite some time on purpose and her mind is dillueded with false memories and sheer misinformation. She is nothing more than a devoted follower that would do anything, absolutely anything to protect and defend Saeran from the filth of the outside world.

Saeran is thrust into the position of Savior after his own period of resetting, and this meek, timid, and very bruised version of Lila stands always right at his side to hush any of the  naysayers. They take the helm to spread the good word of paradise together, while Rika stands in the shadows and relishes within the sheer glory of twisted, dark love that exists. They are the scapegoats if anything goes wrong. They will be thrown under the bus if paradise fails, and if it succeeds, all the better for Magenta.

This Lila is tentative and shy but sure of herself and of her beliefs. She stays by Saeran's side as close as she can be but the two of them are far too broken to ever feel truly happen with their circumstances. He speaks the word of the truth and she repeats it. Their smiles feel hollow, but at least they can hold each others hands.

Bad Ending w/ Unknown:

Ah, yes, my precious assistant.

Lila never even made it to the apartment, Unknown decided that he wanted to keep this girl all for himself and so, he tricked her and lead her to him before she could get away. She is brought to Magenta and becomes his assistant. She isn't the best at following orders but she does everything that he asks of her to do as she knows that she has no say in the matter. This is some time before the real MC comes to the apartment for the first time; and, as she becomes closer to Unknown and learns more about him, she starts to empathize with his experience and come to really like him. Sometimes he blurs between what was once Ray and his feelings confuse and complicate things. Luck isn't in one's favor at Magenta. The moment she and Unknown start to get closer in any sense of the word? The Savior orders for her to go through her cleansing ceremony immediately if she dare wants to stay here any longer at his side. She has no choice but to follow orders.

The elixir is hot. It warps her mind and she gets lost in a stupor for some time. Where there was once a kind and sweet girl who cared for others now lays a petulant and bratty princess that would do what needs to be done for Unknown. She also does whatever it takes to ensure that she and only she stays at his side at all times. She looks sweet and pleasant to the eye but she's nearly rottened on the inside after all that happened to her in this path.

This Lila changed for the person that she loves dearly. She will not hesitate to fight dirty if it comes down to it. Nobody will take Unknown away.