#and i actually liked how lizzie and scar turned out

[vowofbrotherhood]

coloring and shading practice

[theminecraftbee]

actually while i’m on an analysis and also bigb train i want to talk a little about the bigb/cleo relationship because. it’s VERY EASY to just read it as “bigb betrayed cleo that one time three seasons ago and cleo has never forgiven him for this” but there’s way more to it than that and it’s so fascinating i want to shake them around like maracas.

like, okay, the initial betrayal is as much a failure to communicate as it is an actual betrayal. cleo says that if bigb had just TOLD HER she would have let him, and I believe this (loyalty is an extremely consistent cleo trait). however JUST EARLIER THAT SESSION she’d also been talking about how she wouldn’t trust someone with the boogeyman curse and can’t believe someone would betray their allies. bigb heard that, decided he couldn’t tell cleo (because she’d hate him for it), and panicked himself right into a corner where he ended up doing the thing that was WAY WORSE for that relationship. also left out is that part of why cleo got that mad wasn’t even bigb’s fault; she was ALSO mad because lizzie and ren sided with him over her, and she felt betrayed by everyone at once. which she then pinned on bigb. meanwhile, while bigb apologized, he never let go of the idea that he'd had no other choice, and never really addressed the unstated hurt of 'cleo also felt like her friends had been turned against her', so it never rang as sincere to cleo. so like, more going on there than just a betrayal!

but like, let’s talk about their relationship after that, shall we?

on cleo’s end, she’s a character who tends to hold on to relationships across seasons, for better and for worse. the widow’s alliance basically never ending; martyn and cleo and their inability to be normal about each other; cleo and etho’s quiet understanding; and, as one of these important tentpoles, bigb and cleo being unable to trust each other. she carried that hurt with her into the few interactions they had in double life, and that in turn helped to color everything else. see, cleo doesn't just hold on to relationships; she holds grudges, and bigb is the ultimate target of that. unlike some of her potential grudges, she's never had a scenario where she and bigb were on the same side in order to temper the grudge. she's also never gotten the boogey curse herself, making it even harder for her to temper it and understand.

so, even after things like limited life where she's started to be less Immediately Angry the moment she feels betrayed (thank you scar for being kind of a moron and getting cleo that lesson), she still holds on to the last life version of bigb in her head. also, because of that, it makes it easy for her to just... continue perpetuating that. she shuns bigb and assumes he has some reason she needs revenge again. that, in turn, pushes bigb to doing another thing she needs revenge for, so she tries to get it, so they keep spiraling downwards in a cycle of mistrust, because cleo has also made herself untrustworthy to bigb.

meanwhile, on bigb's end... he tried to apologize and she wouldn't take it! she sees all of this as an irrational grudge on cleo's part, and there's been very little to discount that. but also because bigb has a tendency to go off and do his own thing and hold himself apart from people, he has made very little effort to meaningfully fix this. in fact, because he assumes cleo will continue to hold a grudge, he continues to treat her a bit like an enemy, continuing to provoke her at multiple opportunities.

he can't make that relationship WORSE, after all, so there's no reason NOT TO continue to mess with her. she'll never trust him, so there aren't real consequences if he keeps burning her, because the only consequence is that she'll just continue to never trust him, right? it's a simple relationship! and in some ways it's comforting, even; cleo is someone he can never mess up with, because that bridge is already burnt.

and ironically? this makes their relationship surprisingly stable. they will KEEP ON sticking knives in each other, of course. even when they don't have a good reason for it, cleo will assume bigb must have done something and bigb will assume cleo will hate him anyway. but in turn, i think they VERY MUCH know where they stand with each other. and tragically, that means neither of them have an incentive to try to fix this. they're both very, very entrenched in how they see each other now, and either of them will see any attempted olive branches as another place for everything to go wrong. they're cleo and bigb, who don't trust each other because bigb killed her one time, forever. that's who they are. that's how they see each other. and it's not just because that happened; it's because they keep reinforcing it, over and over and over again, in a way that makes communicating that they could stop nearly impossible.

that and i think cc!bigb and cc!cleo out of character really enjoy continuing to have their cubitos have a stupid irrational grudge on each other because they think it's funny but that's unrelated to the character analysis,

[fountainpenguin]

Scott, Gem, and Martyn Secret Life Ep 1 commentary:

"Geez Scott, why are you so creepy?" / "Everyone needs a hobby <3"

Crying at Scott booking it across the grass to break up Scar and Jimmy as fast as humanly possible and they just start huffing and grumbling.

Scott after running into Pearl, Cleo, Jimmy, and Martyn - "I've bumped into every single one of my exes already..."

slkdjf Skizz apparently cut himself saying "I just wanna cause problems" out of his own POV but Scott got it all on tape

Skizz staying within 10 blocks of Gem is even funnier from Scott's POV because he needs Gem to hold his hand while he follows Scott around a corner... The delicate balancing act of obeying Scott's come hither but also pulling Gem along.

The dead silent push in on Scott's face when he notices Gem inching her base away from his and he's dreading starting his "obnoxiously attach your base to someone else's" task over.

Impulse: "Scott, is my cottagecore-ing okay? :)" / Scott, sweating his pretty little head off as he speed-builds so Gem doesn't catch him in the act, not even turning around: "Yep- looks great!"

Gem, emotionally trudging across the map with Skizz and Scott hanging off her.

I appreciate Gem's commentary of "How much room does this man NEED??"

Gem watching Scott un-merge their bases: "Oh, thank you" / Scott: "What do you mean by that. Why is that a relief to you."

---

Impulse and Gem going over the cliff is funnier with the context that Gem's task was to convince someone to "take a leap of faith while also ensuring they take no damage."

Mental image of Gem begging Impulse to take a flying jump into the water while Impulse is grabbing her by the shoulders and trying to force her into a cherry wood boat because it's cherry wood it's amazing Gem come on slkdjf

Gem: "How much more iron do you need for a chestplate?" / Impulse, taking a moment to pretend to count: "... 8 :)"

Gem, addressing the viewers: "And Skizz follows me around for an uncomfortable period of time."

In Scott's POV, he's just watching unhappily from the distance as Gem starts taking down her wall, but in Gem's POV she actually asked him if she can move her base over and he's just like "Yeah... Yeah, you can if you want to :')" slkdfj

Underappreciated irony in Scott being the one to make a big deal about how clingy Skizz is when he's literally fusing his base's roof with Gem's

It's spawn egg-topia!!

Scott: "I'm making the executive decision to separate our cottages." slkdjf Scott recovers from being possessed by the spirit of clinginess and wakes up like "What HAPPENED last night?? What is this garbage??"

---

Holy cow Martyn dropping from 30 hearts to 12 within like 20 minutes.

lksdjf Martyn: "Let's see if there's any response in the chat to my Cover Me With Diamonds achievement :)" / Gem, Scott, and Impulse immediately triple enchant / Martyn: "Oh :'D"

??? Custom zombie spawner? Neat

He started at 30 and went down to 5.5 hearts?? Geez, dude.

It's funny because in Double Life, I didn't notice Martyn taking that much damage compared to anyone else, but I feel like now I understand why Cleo was so irritated with him lskdjf

Martyn at the start of this episode: "Ew I don't want cherry wood" / Martyn trying to complete his secret task: "Where is all the cherry wood??"

Martyn speedbuilding in panic and quiet, then Joel cracks a joke and Martyn laughs and you hear Bdubs offscreen going "You got Martyn with that one" <3

sdfklsjdf I like how Martyn's idea of copying Lizzie's house involved rushing over to hers and destroying her bed to match the fact that his copied house did not have a bed

Wheezing at Impulse being just 2 steps from pushing the success button but Martyn starts trash-talking cherry wood and Impulse immediately goes "Take that back, take that back right now!" with this guttural snarl and starts stomping towards him because he wasn't cured from his cherry wood obsession yet... Beautiful.

[t4t4tclethian]

The moment Joel realizes he has a crush on xB is, objectively, quite a funny one. He’d almost certainly be laughing about it if it had been anyone else. As it is, though, he’s hopping mad, extremely indignant, and deeply embarrassed about the whole thing. Who ever heard of a hitman falling for their mark? (Well, a lot of people have- it’s a whole romance cliche for a reason. But it wasn’t supposed to actually happen!)

(ao3 link)

————————————————

It had all started a few days earlier, when Joel had been hanging out with the other Magical Mountaineers in the breakroom. Gem and Impulse were poring over some papers together, Skizz was on a phone call in the corner, Mumbo was politely watching as Scar fumbled through some magic tricks, and Grian was sitting on the couch with Joel, listening to him rant about his failures at killing xB (he’d drawn the short straw). Everything was normal.

And then, when Joel paused his tirade to take a breath, Grian said those fatal words. “From the way you talk about this guy, Joel, it’s almost like you’ve got a crush on the mark!”

Which was ridiculous, of course! He does blummin’ not, thank you! His relationship with xB was a perfectly platonic contract killing, and Joel is a professional! He knows better than to fall for his target, and he indignantly tells Grian as much.

But, of course, Grian is Grian, and the second he senses he’s touched a nerve he doubles down. And so he did.

“Contract killing? Give me a break, Joel! Your contract on this guy expired ages ago, and you’re not the type to work for free.” Grian’s eyes twinkled with mischief as he continued to needle at Joel. “Admit it, there’s something else going on here, isn’t there?”

Joel spluttered, and took a deep breath as he glanced around the room. Fuck. Everyone had stopped what they were doing to listen in on him and Grian now. He had to say something to throw them off or he would never be able to live this conversation down.

“My contract might be done, but unlike some people I finish the things I start, thank you very much!”

Grian squawked in indignation, and as he did so the others chuckled and turned back to their own conversations, unfounded accusations of romance forgotten. Grian’s tendency to leave things unfinished was well-known, and something that every assassin at Magic Mountain had teased him over many times.

But that thought refused to leave his brain. It had wiggled its way in like a worm. Did he have a crush on xB? Is that why he kept coming back when any sane person would’ve just given it up already? And the answer, of course, is no. All of Joel’s actions here have perfectly reasonable and professional explanations.

————————————————————

Joel waits patiently on the rooftop across from Horse Head Farmer’s Market (which, despite the name, is actually a grocery store/money laundering scheme, not a farmer’s market), rifle at the ready, just as he has been for the past three and a half hours. You can’t rush a good sniping, after all, and xB’s schedule varies enough that Joel’s never quite sure when he’ll head out for lunch. (He’s pretty sure xB has done this specifically to spite Joel- the guy’s obsessed with him.)

Yes! Finally! xB steps out of the store, starts walking down the street, and- turns to look at Joel’s rooftop, makes direct eye contact with him, and gives him a friendly little wave, the infuriatingly sincere kind that makes Joel want to kill him even more. Dammit. He’s been caught. Also, wow, even from here Joel is a little wowed by how blue xB’s eyes are. Or maybe he’s just remembering how they look, because there’s no way Joel can actually see his eyes from here. They are definitely a very nice blue, though, and oh, huh, Joel realizes that Lizzie has blue eyes, too. Maybe he’s got a thing for blue-eyed people, and- OH SHIT RIGHT HE’S KILLING THIS GUY.

Joel fires, because even if he’s been discovered a vantage point is still a vantage point. Of course, xB somehow manages to not be in the bullet’s path, just like he always does, and then he gives Joel a disapproving look, like he’s actually disappointed Joel didn’t do a better job at trying to kill him.

God, he’s so cute, Joel’s brain has the audacity to think, like it’s trying to add insult to insult to injury. To Joel’s horror, he realizes in this moment that he’s had dozens, maybe even hundreds of thoughts like this, that just slipped through the cracks and went unnoticed.

Then, xB smiles at him again before heading on his way, and Joel falls off of the rooftop. He has time to think, Oh, I’m gonna kill Grian, as he plummets towards the ground. And then, everything goes dark, and he dies.

[minecraftbookshelf]

Life Series Scarring Headcanons: Part 1

I'm going in alphabetical order by player handle, so this one is BDoubleo100, Bigbst4tz2, Ethoslab, and GoodTimesWithScar

The concept at hand is that during each game, every death leaves a scar, after the game, those are gone, replaced with scarring from their final death.

I did take some creative licence with the deaths, mostly in the sense of figuring out ways to handle Fall Damage in a slightly more RL based context, as well as figuring out approximately where final blows would fall based on the respective positioning of the players in question. (I did both a lot of video watching and also pointing at and posing myself figuring this out.)

Related to that Content Warning for general blunt but vague descriptions of varying injuries and ways to die, including but not limited to shattered bones and impaling.

Disclaimer that I did make all these diagrams in paint so they are hardly the pinnacle of artistic reference, but I think it gets the point across. Xs indicate arrow kills and i used the spray paint mode for fire/lava/explosion damage. All scars are color coded by series.

I forgot to mark it on the diagrams themselves, but light green is for scars left from the death of the Double Life soulbond partner. The soulmate who died second has phantom scars from their partners death, fainter and sometimes smaller, but still there.

Pink scars are the ones that, while not final deaths, had a significant impact on the story, the cubito, or both.

This project has also has shown some interesting patterns in how some of them tend to die.

On with the show!

BDubs

Third Life: Scar chased BDubs down and killed him with his sword before heading off with Grian to have Their Moment at the cactus ring. He turned around to fight Scar at the last minute, so the killing blow came from the front.

Last Life: BDubs was shot and killed by Grian as he fled after he betrayed the Red Pack and killed Lizzie so that Etho would give him a life.

Double Life: Pearl chased BDubs down and killed him (I believe with an axe) after Tilly died. Like in Third Life, he turned and fought at the last minute, so the killing blow came from the front.

Limited Life: Bdubs' final death was from a TNT Minecart dropped by Impulse, it landed slightly above and to the right of him, so that is where the damage is localized.

BigB

(You see what I mean about trends in the way that some of them tend to die?)

Third Life: BDubs shot him as BigB, the last surviving member of the Red Army, tried to escape from him and the Desert Duo. I placed that scar a bit lower than the others because BDubs is short.

Last Life: Cleo shot and killed him in a river. He was also poisoned from a potion she threw in the skirmish prior, so his health was very low. Reflecting that, my choice for that arrow was that it skimmed the side of his neck and he probably would have survived it had he been in better health at the time.

Double Life: Grian dropped a dripstone stalactite on Ren's head in Box, killing both Ren and BigB. His scar from this is a bit smaller and fainter than Ren's due to Ren being the one to actually receive the injury.

Limited Life: Smajor shot and killed him while he tried to escape through the woods. From what I can tell Scott came at him from the side, so I put the scar for that one reflecting it.

Etho

Believe it or not this is not the worst that it gets.

Third Life: Etho died to fire damage dealt by Impulse during the Battle of Dogwarts. I chose the location for it based of the direction the attack that initially caught him on fire came from.

Last Life: Joel killed Etho before dying himself when the later-game red lifers banded together to take out him and Grian. Etho struggled with his shield during that confrontation, which let Joel get enough hits in to kill him before being killed immediately after by Scott. I placed that injury as a glancing blow off the top rim of his shield.

Double Life: Etho and Joel died to a lava-trapped nether portal. The scars are from the lava flow. Etho died first, so his scars are a bit more prominent than Joel's.

Limited Life: Etho (like so, so many other people this season) died to fall damage. He was fighting the Mean Gills on the edge of the Bad Boy Manor and fell. The "camera angle" of the ground as he fell is pretty much how i decided where the impact probably was.

Scar

Third Life: I deviated a bit here because for everything else I really just went with "this was the final straw that broke the camels back" when picking scars, but I feel like the narrative and character significance of the Cactus Ring excuses the Death By A Thousand Cuts look. The heaviest concentration of scars from the ring are on his knuckles (from hitting), forearms (from blocking) and back and the side of his face (where he fell into the cacti).These are all small, relatively faint scars, there are just. A lot of them. EDIT: He's going to have some lasting explosion scars from the creeper Grian killed him with as soon as I have the opportunity to update the diagram.

Last Life: He was shot by Ren in a skirmish in the woods, that's genuinely all I have to say about that one, sorry. I decided it was a really good shot on Ren's part that got him right in the eye.

Double Life: So, sonic booms don't really...leave marks. They just liquidize your internal organs. I do think though that he and Grian probably have some faint mark approximating the center of their torsos. Because magic. And Lore.

Limited Life: Grian stabbed him in the back and then chased him down and killed him. The infamous "ultimate betrayal" because someone forgot that they were technically only barely endgame allies this season. Because Grian is incapable both of not killing Scar and not being dramatic about it.

-

Part 2

(There are five posts in this series in total, each of them will have links to the first one, as well as the one preceding and the one coming after)

[karma-creations]

My favorite bits/lines from every Secret Life session after watching all POVs

Session 1

tango trying to ask multiple questions at a time to get scar talking for a little while and scar outright telling him to shut up so he can infodump

joel’s response to lizzie, his ACTUAL WIFE, saying "I love you": "oh thank you"

joel: "hey bdubs your house is upside down" bdubs: "YES I KNOW IT'S UPSIDE DOWN- i'm sorry. i'm sorry"

bdubs not-so-subtly begging mumbo not to build a house inspired by his and mumbo straight up going going "uh huh" before suggesting a house inspired by bdubs's

cleo catching etho with the bed shrine

mumbo: "it could be like the alps, but bad. like, much worse."

martyn: "we can do a bit of, uh, tankin' and spankin'" gem: "……bit of what?"

skizz: "all of us are pretty old, maybe our island's called heart problems"

tango: "well, i'll be honest, skizz… everybody's teamed up, so… you're all that's left, we're gonna have to shack up" skizz: "well! it’s like a giant hug!"

Session 2

everyone going "OOOOHHhhhhhhhhhh…….." after skizz's creeper got put in a boat

mumbo: "I'm happy to be in whatever group you guys- oh hey bdubs"

bdubs: "I DON'T NEED NO MOM, I'M A GROWN MAN!" cleo: "really? how do you explain the everything?"

cleo (to bdubs): "you're just a horse girl at heart, aren’t you?"

skizz going "BREAK IT UP BREAK IT UP" at the same time as tango chanting "FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT"

scar: "was this your idea, pearl?" pearl: "no" scar: "this is amazing, only you would have come up with something like this"

martyn: "that's right, I'm a yellow life, and I've come to KILL you" bigb: "….wow, dude"

grian: "I've had the weirdest interactions whenever I see you" bigb: "y'know, I hope they get weirder"

everyone singing happy birthday off-key and out of sync

mumbo: "is there anything that I can help with? I come with no resources and very little talent"

bdubs: "I know how to crit punch, so it's gonna hurt you more than it hurts me!" gem: "..I also know how to crit punch" bdubs: "oh"

scar: "can I give you a ride, bdubs, wherever you're going?" bdubs: "freaking no, not on that thing! you kidding me?" scar: "aw. well I was just offering!" bdubs: "…all right, fine."

Session 3

*joel and lizzie arguing* grian: "aren't you guys married"

grian saying "I don't like what this has become" then immediately joining in the chanting when it’s joel's turn to fail

grian: "I love you, etho" etho: "……thank you?"

mumbo: "right, show me the gear knob on that camel" grian: "I’d rather not"

cleo: "yes, tango, the thing that I know about you is you don't know how minecraft works"

cleo's constant ethubs jokes

etho waterboarding everyone

scar: "losers will be beaten with my beatin' stick"

joel: "you are a FAILURE!!" martyn: "wow that was whole chest" joel: "sorry I’ve had a really rough episode"

bigb accidentally picking up torchy and tango being DEVASTATED

cleo: "why are we coming out this way?" bigb: "so no one can hear!" cleo: "well impulse is right there" impulse: "who?"

torchy out for blood the entire time

Session 4

cleo accidentally hitting etho with her sword and etho's immediate response: "I'LL DO THE DISHES I'LL DO WHATEVER YOU WANT"

cleo: "hey grian" grian: "🎶hellooo theeeere🎶" cleo: "hello, are you singing?" grian: "🎶absolutely not, I would never sing🎶"

mumbo: "what's your favorite welsh town" grian: "……….🎶let me googleee🎶"

grian: "I don't know what to do with myself now, cleo, what do we do?" cleo: "I don't know, I think we should burn things down"

grian: "ignore the stairs, they wouldn’t burn"

scar: "you guys are still here? I went and stole a bunch of stuff and you guys are still yapping over here"

jimmy: "I'll go in BigB's hole" scott: "you're gonna do WHAT????" cleo: "I always knew there was something about you two"

scar singing back at grian with no hesitation

grian and scar spotting martyn hiding behind the tree

jimmy: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING" scott: "hi, I’m just making the path connect-" jimmy: "STOP CRYIN' AND TELL US WHAT YOU'RE DOIN'" scott: "I'm making the path connect like lizzie did"

joel: "anyway, just came over here to ruin your day"

bdubs: "okay, you count us in" bigb: "okay. seven"

mumbo: "what do I win?" bdubs: "uhh- you win.. eight baked potatoes!" mumbo: "YEEEEESSS!!!!!"

bdubs: "you can't hit me! I can say and do whatever I want! okay, going to the house real quick though, to lock myself in"

people gaslighting jimmy and martyn (mostly jimmy) into thinking there’s a zombie/skeleton horse spawner somewhere

bdubs: "hey, hey! I consider you a friend! apparently it’s not reciprocated." gem: "it’s not. what do you want?"

jimmy: "martyn I think he can see you-" *beat* martyn: "WELL HE DIDN’T UNTIL YOU SAID THAT YOU IDIOT"

martyn: "oh yeah, wait! why are you wearin’ that?" scar: *incoherent cop sounds* (/ref)

jimmy: "he'll come back like nothing's happened now" mumbo: "hey guys 😀"

skizz: "here's the thing, I'm not too bossy, I- Boppers, go home for a second, I gotta talk to these guys"

[mama-frog]

Session 7 Brainrot

I have so much to say about what happened this session so I'm gonna categorize this by person.

Gem: I find it incredibly interesting that she was the person given this task. A) Because she is the one the only Geminislay, B) Because she is like fresh meat to the watchers, C) Because of the infection she is already going through. The darkness spreading across her body probably made her more susceptible to the curse at first than anyone else on the server. She's such a strong player overall and the fact that she had a whole army behind her is terrifying.

Grian: The fact that he didn't get caught by the zombies says a lot about him. He's very good at running and hiding (especially from watcher stuff). I also want to point out WHERE he hid in the end of the session. The pesky bird went into a comfort nest. Definitely unintentional but definitely fun to think about.

Scott: Scott and Gem are, in my opinion, some of the smartest people on the server, so the fact that he didn't get caught doesn't surprise me and surprises me at the same time. Everytime Scott got boogey in a previous death game he did it in a way that was unsatisfactory for the watchers (Not actually killing and killing as soon as possible so the others weren't brewing up a pot of tasty negative emotions). He felt betrayed when Gem finally started to go after him (Even though she didn't go completely nuts until she turned red) and he has such a strong sense of loyalty to his allies. There's also some juxtaposition of him hiding underground while Grian hid in the air.

Martyn: Even though it was on a technicality, I think it's interesting that he was the only one not allowed to be infected. It's as if the watchers know that his chaos is secured and are trying to get the others in line with what they want to see. Also, he's just so damn good at being a red name, I feel like he's the only person to do it correctly in this series. I also feel like he was cheated out of his revenge plot on everyone else on the server because of the curse which might've been intentional on the Watcher's end.

Cleo: She is an icon and she IS the moment. I just love the irony of her being a zombie and not getting infected by the curse. I feel like her closeness to players like Martyn and Scott helped her in her ability to avoid the curse for so long. She's very smart with her allies this season.

Pearl: I'm terrified of how quick Pearl is to go insane when given the chance. Especially when it comes to her dogs. Tilly is always in her heart. This woman was YELLOW and decided on her own to bring up a warden when there already was one. And her gear is so well enchanted. She has learned a lot from previous seasons but she has also lost a bit of her sanity (Especially from double life). What a woman.

Joel: I don't know why he thought spawning 64 zombies so close to him and not on the others was a good idea, but man was it good comedy. Once he became a boogey he played really well though. He's so perfectly unhinged and after Lizzie dying he has very good reason to go insane on everyone else (The spine bit was cruel and unusual punishment). Underrated POV in my opinion.

Scar: Unhinged

Etho: Ok this part hinges on my theory that endermen are creatures created by the Watchers to interfere with the games. I fully believe that the watchers hated Etho being green so badly that they personally interfered to take him to yellow. The betrayal of your own tool killing you is a tasty snack for the watchers to enjoy. (Definitely not just Etho being washed up). Also the way he is so incredibly loyal to his team members even after being cursed. He's just a stand up guy.

Impulse: I just love the way him and Gem interact. He's like a proud dad whenever she does anything. That's it.

BDubs: I cackled when he got killed by a zombie again. Gem is hilarious for that. He did about as good as I expected under the curse. I do love all his interactions with Etho more than anything else. Those two are such unofficial soulmates (in a non-ship way).

Skizz: A true light on the server. All the better for the Watchers when he gets corrupted by the curse. He deserved to be mean after the heart got burned down.

Tango: This man's rage is so interesting. The way that it gets triggered most when people mess with his base is something I think could be explored (the ranch in double life, the ties base in limited life, and now the heart foundation).

Overall I have a lot of emotions about this last session

[supertrxshwrites]

This is a continuation of my angsty Jason Todd x Reader fic post ..this isn’t all of it idk if I’m going to write the rest lemme know what yall think. I listened to “ceilings” by Lizzy McAlpine several times while writing this so I recommend doing that anyway enjoy the angst.

𓆩♡𓆪

During the fall and winter Jay always made it a point to drive me home from school instead of us walking. Something about shitheads waiting in the shadows. We finally pulled up to my house, he had been super excited that day, he kept telling me how Bruce was gonna let him do something he’d been begging for, for like ever. Before I got out of the car it was different with us though. When I turned to say bye he had this look in his eyes. It was serious but half joking almost like he was going off to war. I didn’t take it seriously..I probably should have.

“ I’m gonna be gone for about a week..don’t forget about me while I’m gone” he says with a laugh his eyes and nose crinkling as he smiles

‘ I’d never’ I say softly punching him in the shoulder

“Good..because there’s something I want to talk to you about when I get back but I don’t wanna spoil it by leaving” he says with a grin before looking down

“Just promise me you’ll be okay while I’m gone” his eyes were staring into my soul like he was searching for something more than an answer

‘I’ll be fine Jay promise’ I held my fist up for him to bump it

“You’re doing Knucks so that means you can’t break it” he says before fist bumping me

‘I know I know..alright I gotta go before my mom starts calling me’ I say before getting out of the car.

‘Be safe..’ I say as I grab my backpack and head inside.

Jay was so excited about his trip with Bruce, hell I wish I knew where he was going. But I guess it’s like a father son bonding thing. I didn’t want to ruin his excitement I just have a weird feeling about it.

I smile and wave as he drives off down the road, his tires kicking up slush.

I kick the snow from my boots and head inside before going to work on homework.

The next week felt like years, I mean I have other friends but when your best friend isn’t around nothings the same. Eating lunch was boring, the classes we had together weren’t interesting anymore and even after school. I took the bus because I knew Jason would lose his shit if I walked home.

After the first few days I started to feel this funk, something worse than seasonal depression. Something deeper, something scarring.

I found myself in my bed staring up at the ceiling, its old and dusty and peely. The fan going slowly. I can’t help but replay the car ride from school before Jay left.

‘He wanted to tell me something..’ I say sitting up

I shake my head before plopping back down on the bed.

“He’ll tell me when he gets back.”

Thursday felt like Christmas Eve so excited for what’s to come I had been waiting and waiting for Jay to finally get back. The school day went by fast and when I got home I actually ate instead of sulking by the window like a sad puppy.

“Friday was the day! Friday Jason will be back and everything won’t be so boring” I say as I wash my face in the bathroom.

I pull on some shorts and an old Tshirt and climb into bed. Too excited to sleep I scroll online for a bit before dozing off.

The next morning I got ready as fast as I could. Grabbed my backpack and rushed out the door expecting to see Jason’s red Nissan sitting on the curb.

But nothing.

I took the bus, still excited. I got to class early and saved a spot for him.

Nothing.

“Okay maybe he’s coming back late from his trip” I say a bit nervous but I brush it off

As the rest of the day goes on I feel a hard pang of disappointment in my chest. Crushing my heart like a soda can.

I waited at lunch.

Nothing

Even at the end of the day I waiting for him to pull up. I missed the bus I waited so long.

Nothing.

I found myself walking home. I knew Jason would be mad about it but he’d be here cussing me out as he slowly drove next to me.

Nothing.

I step in a big puddle, my shoes and socks aresoaked the entire time of me walking home.

I get home and drop my backpack at the door, I kick my shoes and socks off and run upstairs slamming the door.

“A week..my ass” I say angrily going to sleep.

The next day felt worse, then it was days and then another week. Until one day there was a knock at the door after school.

“JASON!” I run down the stairs almost breaking my neck getting down them. To finally open the door.

“Where have you been oh my god dude-“ my excitement is cut off when I’m met with a familiar frame in all black.

“..Bruce?” My stomach twists it feels sour. That same bad feeling from before when I got out of the car the day him and Jason left for their trip.

“Y/N” he sounds cold and robotic. More than usual. Almost hurt

I yell for my mom and we all sit down in the living room.

“Where’s Jason? It’s been three weeks!” I say crossing my arms angrily

“Uhm..look..y/n” there’s fear in his voice

“What is he sick or something?..spit it out Bruce!” I say impatiently

“Jason’s…gone.”

His words felt like a trigger. I felt my heart burst into a billion pieces in my chest like an airbag. This car crash got worse because Bruce got up and left. No explanation, nothing just.

“Jason’s gone.”

[slvt4em1lyprenti2s]

The Jimmy Fallon Show

Originally posted on my Wattpad @MayaBishop_is_myWife Scarlett Johansson x reader

Fluff

Scarlett's POV:

Tonight I'm going on the Jimmy Fallon with my co-stars show to promote my new movie. I'm really scared for this interview in particular as I've planned to announce something very big and my fans will probably go mental. For a while now there's been speculation around who I'm dating, if anyone and for some reason they always think it's a man. Now, that's what I'm announcing tonight, why it's not a man and, who it she really is.

Y/N POV:

Tonight is the night. The big night. I'm so scared how people are going to react, I mean it doesn't really matter what they think because me and Scar are happy together but, I can't help worrying sometimes. I'm currently in my dressing room behind the scenes at the Jimmy Fallon Show waiting to be called on. My palms are sweaty and my throat is dry. I need to calm down before I go on stage so I make my way over to the only person that can help.

I get to Scarlett's room and knock on the door.

Scarlett - "Who is it?"

Y/n - "It's me."

She opens the door to reveal my panicked face. Knowing immediately why I was like this, she pulled me in the room and trapped me in her embrace. As we were hugging she stroked my head, careful not to ruin all the work the hair and makeup team just did and whispers to me softly.

Scarlett - "Hey, it's gunna be fine. You know half of our fans are lesbians anyway so, I'm sure they won't mind and if it's the press your worried about then stop because they're all idiots and I couldn't care less what they say."

Her grip around my waist tightened as she spoke. I felt safe in her arms and I just kept reminding myself that it would be fine because even if someone does make a comment that me and Scar will always have each other and plus, the rest of the cast is there as well and they'll never let anything happen. We're all super protective over each other because after years of filming the Marvel films together we're basically family.

Our moment is rudely interrupted by a knock on the door.

Producer - "You're on in five!"

That didn't help the situation that I was in but, I'm an actress no one would know I was scared. I'll literally but my brave face on.

Time skip to half way through the show:

Scarlett's POV:

Jimmy - "So, Scarlett there have been some rumors going around that you are dating someone, do you have anything to say about this?"

Scarlett - "Well, uhm, I don't normally address rumors much but this one is necessary. I am with someone."

Jimmy - "Oooh I feel like a school girl, talking about who we're dating, so, does this mystery man have a name?"

Okay, here it goes. I think to myself.

Scarlett - "Well they mystery woman, is sitting right next to me." 

  The crowd instantly starts cheering and Jimmy had a smile plastered on his face. I felt someone grasp my hand tightly. I already know who it is but, I look anyway and see my gorgeous girlfriend to my left beaming at me. I was really happy it was out there now. I didn't need to hide my emotions anymore it felt like a weight had been lifted off my chest. 

Y/N POV:

She did it. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, people actually seemed happy for us. As the interview went on Lizzie and Florence kept looking over to see if me and Scar were okay like the protective people they are and Scarlett and me kept stealing glances at each other constantly. I was really glad we got it out there so we don't have to treat our love like a dirty secret anymore. I can finally not have to carry around the burden of not being able to kiss my girlfriend in public in fear of someone seeing. 

Time skip to after the interview:

We just finished the talk show and now me and Scarlett are walking back to her dressing room hand in hand, chatting away about anything and everything that comes to mind. As we enter the room she closes the door and turns to look at me. She holds my gaze as she comes forward and grabs my hips. 

Scarlett - "I'm so happy we did that because now, I can do this.'

With that she pulled me in close and smashed our lips together in a passionate kiss. My arms were draped over her shoulders and her hand snaked around my waist protectively. Our bodies were flush against each other as our lips were still joined. Once oxygen became a problem we broke apart.

Y/n - "If coming out means we do that more often, we should totally com out more."

She giggled at my antics and pulled me in again. This woman is my one and only. 

[vivianquill]

This was certainly something new.

Martyn watched their new arrival from the kitchen table, having pulled up the camera feed on his laptop. Jimmy and Scott were on the other side of the counter, attempting to fix up some semblance of a meal. Really, Scott was teasing Jimmy about how cute their new arrival was, while the mer made increasingly offended protests.

But it was taking Jimmy's mind off of the fight. If you could really call it that.

Martyn had been watching the whole thing through the cameras set up in the corners of the screened-in pool, and while there thankfully hadn't been any obvious scuffles or physical violence-- one of the last mers they'd snatched away from captivity had reacted quite poorly, leaving Jim with yet another scar-- the mer had yelled at Jimmy. It'd left him quite downtrodden, and doubting whether or not they'd been right to take action this time.

They'd decided to give everyone some time to cool off, and Martyn would go down with Jim. Bless him, but Jimmy wasn't the best at explaining things or holding his ground or-- well-- he was softhearted, despite everything he'd been through.

But for now, Martyn just watched as the mer did laps around the pool, probably stretching his fins properly for the first time in weeks.

It'd pissed Martyn off, seeing the little pond the marine rescue had put him in. At least they'd tended to his injures, and fed him. Martyn and Scott had done a cursory examination, to make sure there wasn't anything that needed immediate treatment or microchips or anything of the like. Lizzie would be dropping by to give a more expert opinion, especially about the broken wrist. It'd looked mostly healed, but Martyn wanted a professional to clear it before they thought about letting the mer back out into the open ocean.

He really was gorgeous, not to mention incredibly quick and nimble. Martyn had never seen a mer who looked so much like fire before. It was one thing to know that mer could look so different from each other; it was another thing entirely to see the diversity yourself.

The mer had refused to share his name with Jimmy, so Martyn had taken to calling him 'Firecracker' in his head. Just until they could get the mer's actual name. With the way he'd attacked Scott and lunged at Martyn when they'd been retrieving him-- and then picked an argument with Jimmy the moment he woke up? It fit well enough for the time being.

Martyn looked up when Scott set a plate of food down in front of him, closing the laptop with a soft 'snap.'

"Any changes?" Scott asked, turning to grab the glasses of water from the counter as Jimmy pushed his wheelchair up to the table.

It wasn't a perfect solution to Jimmy's limitations up here on land, but they made things work. At least it let the mer have some semblance of dignity and a great deal of autonomy, rather than having to get lugged around like a sack of potatoes everywhere.

"No. Not unless you count doing laps in the pool a change." Martyn moved the computer out of the way, "After we eat I'll take him some food, maybe try and get his name, or the names and descriptions of his pod members so we can start looking for them. If this mer ended up getting beached from a storm, who knows where his pod ended up."

"I dunno Martyn. He attacked you guys, right?" Jimmy's gaze flicked to the bandages on Scott's shoulder, before it went back to Martyn, "Maybe I should take him the food, he didn't hurt me. I don't know what he might do if you guys go in there."

"He's gonna have to get used to our faces at some point." Scott rolled his eyes, "I'll come with, and we'll bring some sedatives, just in case. At the very least, he might get bored enough to talk to us."

And that was that. Jimmy still insisted on coming too, and really, two people with gills were better than one if Firecracker did get hostile.

Martyn checked the cameras before the went out, wanting to know what the mer was doing before they tried talking to him.

He was still doing laps.

If Martyn didn't know better, Firecracker looked--- anxious? It reminded him of Jimmy, back when they'd first met, when Evo had first put him on Project Glaucus. The endless looping-- it set Martyn on edge. This was more then just stretching fins after being kept in a small recovery pool. It was something desperate.

But they still needed more information. And Firecracker needed food, if he was going to keep swimming in circles like that.

Martyn's suspicions were right.

When they walked out to the pool, the mer was talking to himself. Martyn couldn't understand any of it beyond the desperate tone. He struggled with understanding merspeak when it was anything beyond some of the more basic whistles. This was slurred beyond comprehension to his ears. But the concerned look Scott and Jimmy exchanged clued him in to anything else he needed to know.

Mer were anything but solitary, Matyn had seen firsthand what sort of a toll isolation took on them.

Martyn winced, as the chittering suddenly changed into a sharp screech-- before it went quiet. The mer had overshot, and walloped himself against the wall of the pool like a falcon into glass.

Oh shoot.

Thankfully-- if you could be thankful about someone knocking the sense out of themselves-- Firecracker had hit himself against the shallow end of the pool, where it was only up to Martyn's waist.

Scott crouched on the edge with Marytn, while Jimmy unbuckled from his wheelchair and slipped down to the edge of the pool, then in. The way the mer didn't respond to the disturbance of the water worried Martyn. So-- probably pretty unwisely-- he also slipped into the water when Scott did.

Hindsight was twenty-twenty, really.

Looking back, Martyn had seen the mer shake off the hit, and instantaneous flare of fins not even a second later when he realized who was in the water surrounding him. It wasn't the smartest idea to corner a disorientated and aggressive mer. He'd shoved off the wall in an explosion of movement-- straight at Martyn.

Martyn was just glad that he'd had some semblance of breath control training, and the clarity of mind to get a full lungful of air before he'd gotten yanked under.

What happened next was a flurry of mer-speak and bubbles, as he was dragged to the deepest corner of the pool, a pissed off and posturing mer holding him hostage in a headlock with one arm twisted so far up behind his back that it wouldn't take much more than one bad jostle to pop it out of it's socket.

Martyn was simply focused on holding his breath and trying to control his heartrate. The last thing he needed right now was to start drowning.

Oh, and he was slowly moving his free arm down to where there was an injector tucked into his waistband for easy access. He trusted Scott and Jimmy to keep the mer from ripping his throat out or noticing what he was doing.

It seemed like an hour passed, before Martyn felt the mer's grip loosen on his arm enough for him to dare retaliate.

Both the injector and his breath were knocked away from Martyn in the same moment, the later coming out in a rush of bubbles as Jimmy yanked Martyn away from Firecracker and up to the surface. Martyn saw a flash of blue as Scott tackled the other mer, keeping him from pursuing.

Martyn felt like he coughed up half the pool's contents-- and swallowed the rest of it-- by the time he'd caught his breath.

There was blood in the water.

He evidentially hadn't managed to get the full dose of sedatives into the mer, as he was still fighting against both Jimmy and Scott. All he could hear was an unholy shrieking, overlaid with other merspeak as the thrashing started to slow and Martyn could parse more of what was going on.

Jimmy was the one pinning the mer this time, canary yellow scales pressed to bright red as Jimmy held him shoved against the wall. Scott was the one bleeding. Again.

Martyn still couldn't understand what was being said.

It was quite frustrating, actually, being unable to know what was going on. Merspeak didn't travel too well from water to air, and Martyn was only semi-fluent. He'd never had to learn what those particular whistles meant, cause he'd never needed to before now.

But it looked like the situation was being handled at least. Martyn let himself flop back down to the concrete, a good arms-length from the pool so he couldn't be dragged back in easily. Everything else could be handled in a minute.

Right now he just needed a moment to breathe.

[mcybree]

Scott in Scars video was high-key trying to guilt trip him the whole time

Like "we were allies at the start, how could you turn on me scar. Why are you doing this😢😢😢😢"

As if he hadn't been barely more than an acquaintance Scar. As if he'd actually been there for him when Scar has been alone the whole season. As if this isn't a death game and in the end it's every player for themselves

I hate him so much (affectionate)

NO LITERALLY the entitlement goes crazyyyy…

The specific quotes I noted were “Scar remember I gave you a sword and was your best ally the entire time?” and “I did so much for you” among other things (you shouldn’t have betrayed me etc etc) which. yes, scott gave him a sword one time. that’s it. It was very nice of him to do that, but I wouldnt call it “best ally the entire time” material.

It’s very reminiscent of earlier in the season when Scott was trying to bargain for diamonds from Scar as part of a task, and then Scar burnt the only diamond he had in front of him. It wasn’t that deep but Scott was so offended that he went and told three different people that Scar was mean to him, and later confronted Scar personally about it (to which Scar stunned him silent by bringing up the whole stealing Lizzie’s spine thing). Scott has personal difficulty believing anybody would want to be mean to him, so anytime people aren’t nice to him in a way he can’t rationalize away he stews on it and makes it out to be way deeper than it actually is. Like. Okay for example if a stranger came by and kicked him on the street he would *need* to know why. It can’t just be because “I felt like it man” there would have to be some deeper underlying reason and he would have to know what it is.

Scott has a system, which is as follows: be nice to everybody, make friends and do people favors, so that in the endgame nobody will want to go after him. The average scott confrontation will end in scott going “remember that one time I did this thing for you? I’ve been nothing but nice to you” and this is what he was trying to do here. When that system fails him he assumes the other person must “have a vendetta” and not like him personally and reads into it wayyy more than he should…

Because people and relationships are give and take for him. He gives things to people, they give things back, he remains in good standing and nobody wants to attack him. This is his shield. He finds comfort in it. He cannot fathom people not returning that favor, it pricks at him it bothers him because the world can’t work like that. The world works for *him*; if he doesn’t do anything wrong, then nothing bad can actually happen to him. Cleo may be his best friend but the just-world fallacy is his BEST friend. That and hindsight bias he passionately kisses hindsight bias under the stars every night but that’s a different post

TL;DR: Scott thinks people not being nice to him or paying back his favors is a rude personal slight because he can’t handle the idea that people would *want* to be mean to him or “betray” him. (Everything has to go his way because he’s been nice and he deserves it)

[renwyvernsims]

Sooo... I've been playing some more Sims on my own for a bit, and had a silly idea like "Oh, what if I made some of the members from Evo and have them play through the Strangerville story, wouldn't that be funny?" But from there I started to actually make a storyline and a plot and what was meant to just be a little thing for me has gotten a bit out of hand... So I'm gonna be posting it here I guess.

Recent Posts / Chronological Posts

Extra notes about the story below:

So if you're following this blog for Sims reasons and don't know what Evo is, it's an old Minecraft server that had a storyline featuring time travel, entities called Watchers that messed with the members, and more. Admittedly, I'm still watching Grian's pov of Evo, but I've picked up quite a bit from fans, and from Martyn's Life Series lore streams, and it seemed like it would be fun to find a way to integrate it into the Strangerville storyline- which somehow I've never actually played through but I've been wanting to for a long while now.

Because I'm less familiar with Evo, but I'm more familiar with the Life Series and it's members, I decided to use the Evo members who are part of the Life Series, with references to other servers they are on (ie. Jimmy and Lizzie are siblings and merfolk, Scar and Mumbo both exist in the save with mumbo being an old friend of Grian's, etc). Some of the other changes I've made are purely fanon, such as Grian and Pearl being twins.

And with this being the Sims, there's certain things that I'm tweaking and changing, or otherwise have decided I'm just gonna have to accept. One of these being that I wanted to have the watchers involved, but didn't know how- for Grian's sake, though, I wanted them to have both a human and nonhuman form, so now they're aliens. I also thought it'd be funny to have Scar be the Curio Shop owner (desert guy scamming people with with outlandish conspiracy theories). Except that it kinda made him very glitchy, so I have to manually summon him if I ever want to talk to him, and he's not even running the curio shop anymore. And then there's some stuff I just decided to roll the dice on to decide whether to allow to happen or not.

(Of course, even with me trying to make a cohesive storyline, Sims will do whatever the heck they want when my back is turned, and apparently everyone is in love with Grian. I've lost count of how many suggestive looks have been thrown his way, and how many times he's been propositioned by other sims, once I left the household for five minutes to fix Lizzie's mermaid form and came back to find a watcher had moved in and was dating him, please I just wanna make a story here, I'm not looking for woohoo at this time!)

[hmshermitcraft]

more hurt/comfort, this time polyhermits + a few others and research subject au. i continue my several years long tradition of being The Longpost Anon in whichever fandom i am in.

some of the hermits (zedaph, etho, impulse, xisuma, hypno, keralis, iskall, stress, beef, pixlriffs, lyarrah and TFC) are working at a research lab that has its own server. (there's a bunch of other staff too) the main focus of their research is the new species they're finding through various portals, which is like 33% biology 33% ethology and 33% anthropology because sometimes through the portals is a sapient species.

false and gem are security

cub and scar are high-ranking concorp executives who fund the place.

joe's a member of a poet's club and also a technician who mostly does fixing up arcade machines but occasionally gets called in to fix stuff in the lab

grian, pearl, scott, jimmy, welsknight, bdubs, ren, martyn, tango, jevin, doc, xb, cleo, joel, lizzie, and sloy are various kidnapped or otherwise entrapped nonhumans stuck in a different research facility with terrible conditions.

grian, pearl, and jimmy are the newest ones in - grian and pearl are watchers, and jimmy is a listener.

tango's a blaze-person (a firey techno-organic construct from the nether), joel is a hippogriff, scott's basically a living waystone, ren is a wolfman, xb's a guardian guy, cleo and sloy are obviously zombies, welsknight is a humanoid bird missing part of one wing, martyn is a pufferfish-person, bdubs is just a regular architect who found a plant symbiote, lizzie is a catwoman, doc is a creeper-guy with a little snow creeper in him, and jevin is obviously a slime.

the unethical lab has various ways of preventing escape attempts, mostly regular restraints and stuff but bdubs is kept chronically dehydrated and soil-deprived so he can't spread his plants around and control them to escape, scott isn't fed enough to safely use his energy-draining teleportation powers unless they're needed for the lab (whereupon he's forced to use them), joel jimmy and pearl have their wings clipped (grian is flightless anyways), cleo and sloy have healing potion dispensers set up around their cell, tango's hooked up to a generator and is powering a lot of the lab, and the watchers and jimmy are kept collared and shackled to dampen their powers and keep them from messing with their emotions.

unethical lab isn't sure how to get watchers or listeners to eat in captivity and is pretty sure their claims the collars are interfering are bunk

joe gets called in to fix something in the unethical lab, sees some of the terrible conditions, and goes to tell the hermits lab and also concorp. they manage to get everyone out of the unethical lab and into the hermits' lab.

they figure the rescued people would just stay for a few days or weeks while healing and having some low-pressure research conducted like "sunscreen for zombies: what's the most effective kind" and "what's going on medically with bdubs' plant symbiote, he's a little worried about that let's check" and "watcher and listener feeding behaviour, just, in general" and "since scott is teleporting around cautiously again, how does that work". except then some of them won't leave and the ones that do leave keep coming back.

doc ends up working with iskall (who is Extremely Old in an immortal kind of way) to make a prosthetic eye and arm for himself, cleo hits it off with TFC talking about geology and joe in a sparring match, bdubs doesn't want to go back to renting and starts building a house Immediately Outside the lab and planting a very large amount of plants and mushrooms, grian is actually interested in being studied and is outright offended the unethical lab was so bad at it, scott's trying to teach everyone to cook, tango's determined to learn redstone, etc

this quickly turns into just about all of the rescued people being either live-in research subjects, employees, or both. there is a small amount of very awkward flirting and an increasingly out-of-control prank war, but very little of the flirting is going anywhere. watcher and birdperson flirtatious display looks really similar to threat displays especially when they're really nervous, none of the scientists want to pressure the rescued research subjects, there is cross-species and cross-cultural confusion, lizzie's attempt to flirt with scott in the ancient catperson tradition of cooking them fancy food is foiled by a. everyone is feeding scott anyway and b. scott doesnt swing that way, etc

some of them have gone a little weird - joel spends a month wearing a hippo mask and insisting his name is griff, lizzie keeps wearing a mask of a person's face and claiming to be human to any visitors, grian has become a hoarder, rendog got a paper crown and started calling himself king, and welsknight got extremely into metallurgy and wearing armour all the time

they end up having to hire a new technician, mumbo, because it turns out watchers and listeners can take a humanoid form and grian keeps using this for getting into the walls and making the jankiest redstone ever with jukeboxes in the walls.

aaaand then grian comes up with the idea to defuse the prank war into "we larp a war on the weekends". disstracks are made. welsknight, pearl, grian, and jimmy are all subconsciously reading "friendly disstrack" as "flirting?" and somehow this is what causes the actual communication about relationship status etc to occur. the larp war. not bdubs growing flowers and struggling to conceal when they bloom (a lot harder to conceal than some other signs of arousal), not wels or the watchers displaying their wing patterning at people, not scott's insistence on making sure everyone knows how to cook, not scar showing up shirtless for no reason or doc deciding to wear 3/4s of a labcoat and no other shirt when his job doesn't actually need a labcoat at all, the larp war.

(bonus worldbuilding notes: bdubs' plants can link into the fungal-and-plant-root network to communicate with and control regular plants, as well as providing him a supply of sugars, vitamins, and oxygen in exchange for water, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen compounds his body wants to dispose of anyways; watcher and listener humanoid form is actually a feeding adaptation to make it easier to stir up strong emotions; doc's snow-creeper ancestry means he can't explode; listeners have venomous spikes like pufferfish-people and he and martyn are immune to each others venom)

It's not the outcome they expected when they planned to shut down the lab. They went about it the legal route, eventually, but they may have been a little illegal about how they rescued the subjects.

There wasn't much to shut down in the end.

Some of the subjects were already dating each other upon being rescued. Being in close captivity can do that, so the freedom to explore their relationships was nice.

Initially, all the staff that dealt directly with the subjects got trauma response training. It was an important part of rehabilitation, making sure the subjects were comfortable returning to their normal lives. Then they refused to only interact with the staff they were supposed, so now all of them are hands on staff. The amount of times Scott nearly caused an accident by watching people from dark corners or high ledges fills several pages.

A lot of the non-humans and hybrids are happy to help with the research once they're further along their recovery. Many of them didn't have a community to grow up in, so there's a lot they don't know about themselves. Sometimes they're even the ones who propose hypotheses to explore.

They're also a great asset in introducing new people to the lab. People are often scared and unsure coming in. Seeing people like them, being reassured and being able to ask questions helps a lot. Jimmy is particularly good at it, xB as well, but he's less of a people person. He's calmed his far share of rampages regardless.

They make sure their relationships don't interfere with their work as best as they can. After all, funding is still sort of important. With the variety of species here (many not even documented anywhere else) and amount of results they can produce, they're sitting pretty, though. They can mess around and have fun. Hey, dating even lets them document some new things!

[wren-kitchens]

anyway i’m gonna spam you guys with various unfinished things that I like here’s a vampire au I came up with a little while ago lmao

“you know, I wasn’t even gonna buy it.” scott is saying to grian. “like, I knew it was silver, but equally the price was just ridiculous.”

“you did buy it though.” grian points out. “how much even was it?”

“like, £250.” scott says.

“for that?” grian says, pointing at the little poppy pendant on scott’s necklace.

“i know.” scott nods. “I think I was scammed. there’s not even a gem in here.”

“you think?” grian says. “you’ve been alive for, like, 600 years and you didn’t think to haggle. not to mention that’s literally silver; how are you still wearing it?”

“I like it.” scott shrugs. “besides, it’s not too painful.”

“it shouldn’t be at all painful!” grian exclaims. “just get fake silver, no one can tell the difference.”

“yeah, but this was only in genuine silver.” scott says. “besides i’m sure i’ll have a spare chain lying around, i’ll look later.”

“I swear, lizzie is the only one who cares about safety here.”

at that moment, the door crashes open, lizzie stood panting in the doorway, flapping her arms excitedly at something behind her.

“speak of the devil.” grian says.

“hello.” scott says. “any reason you want to dent my wall?”

“new- new vampire.” lizzie says through breaths. “oh, goodness. I ran here.”

“sit down.” grian says. “and I retract my previous statement. apparently only I care about safety.”

lizzie sinks into a sofa, fanning her face. she glances over at scott. “is that real silver?”

“yup.” scott says.

“that’s silly.” lizzie says. 

“well, i’m gonna get another chain.” scott says.

“still silly.” lizzie says. “that stuff doesn’t mess around.”

“what’s this about silver?” joel is at the door, accompanied by an unfamiliar man.

“scott has a silver necklace.” grian says.

“that’s dumb.” joel says.

“that’s what I said.” lizzie nods. “anyway! new vampire, guys!”

“hey.” the stranger says shyly. 

he’s quite pretty. tall, with honey blonde hair and brown eyes. he looks like a newly turned, not quite old yet. scott can’t seem to take his eyes off him.

“i’m jimmy.” he says. “uh. not.. entirely sure how this whole vampire thing works? um. yeah.” he chuckles awkwardly. scott might be in love.

grian clearly notices (because of course he does) and snorts. scott elbows him.

“he’s just some guy.” 

“and so what is scar?”

scott watches grian’s face turn red with smug satisfaction.

“shut up.”

“guys, introduce yourselves!” lizzie says as joel sits on the sofa next to her.

“i’m grian.” he says. “been around for, uh.. about half a millennia. and i actually care about safety.” he shoots scott a look.

scott rolls his eyes. “i’m scott. i’ve been alive for 617 years. and.. I don’t know, I like poppies.” he shrugs, hoping it’s not obvious how much he’s trying to look casual.

“you know me and lizzie.” joel says. “uh, there are a couple of others but they’re not here today.”

“well, welcome to the club.” grian says. he turns to lizzie. “do we have a name, I can’t remember.”

“I have no idea, I set this up centuries ago.” lizzie says. “if we do I can’t remember it.” 

she looks up to see jimmy still stood awkwardly. “come sit!” she says, patting the sofa on the other side of her. 

“yeah, we don’t bite.” scott grins. “well, not often.”

“oh, don’t tease.” lizzie says, as jimmy sits down tentatively next to her. “he’s kidding.” she tells him. “we don’t even drink blood.”

jimmy frowns. “what do you drink?”

“coconut water.” grian says. “it can be used for emergency blood transfusions—joel found this out for us—and so it’s somehow the same for us as drinking blood.”

jimmy grins, and god damn it, he’s handsome. “wait, so you’re vegan vampires?” 

“I-“ lizzie thinks for a second. “vegan is when you eat only plants, right?” joel nods. “then yes, I suppose so.”

“that’s so funny.” jimmy says. “oh! that’s what you should call this club! ‘vegan vampires’!” he exclaims, and oh, god, it is so cute. 

“I like that.” lizzie says, clicking her fingers. “can we call it that?”

“you made this club.” grian reminds her. “so yeah.”

“awesome!” lizzie beams. “we are now the vegan vampires.”

[spectator-moon]

My thoughts on Martyn Secret life lore stream (Eyes and Ears AU)

first, Martyn why would you hurt me with that imagery? Poor scar ;-;

-I really like the idea of the logo being the pincer on the Watchers. Grian is a force of nature and should be represented as such

-I am of the personal belief that Jimmy did not break free from the canary curse, since he died right before Wither/Warden boss fight and the entire point of Canarys is to warn of danger

-slightly irralevently but I need to draw the Scar

-BOY do I love the idea of Gem being used as the Watchers new tool because of the Zombie outbreak (send Gem all the love for that skill!!!)

-love Gem being taken by Watchers in general, especially adding in her lore that in Empires she thought everybody was just roleplaying, so she came in thinking it was roleplay and got stuck.

-i also like the idea of Jimmy getting struck down because of the Watchers being confused by his "funeral" and once Lizzy dies, then going "wait no he's supposed to be dead hold on-" and striking him down immediately

-i need more ideas for art. Also references. Please more references proportions are awful

-"if given the right tools, how many seeds of chaos can {Gem} sow, and it turns out, she's a bloody good farmer." Good quote. Make art for quote

-negative emotions being ~spicy~

-martyn being the seperate party in the gang of winners

-the watchers pushed Jimmy off a ledge

-players still having that sense of connections and support (i.e. swapping out) despite being in murder games (also I love the idea that when the Listeners swap out players, the players get a choice, so it's all the much more heartbreaking)

-(personal headcanon that Ren was desperately hoping Martyn would recognize him in Tango's body)

-(personal headcanon that all players start new life series incredibly sore from being tensed as they fall, even though they're unconscious)

-(other personal headcanon that fragmented players i.e. life series players are the only ones who can see the fragments on other servers)

-Speakers maybe being part of a group which works as mercenarys (being paid in whatever currency they use to give players the task of helping each other) (speakers being true neutral)

-y'all imagine the cinematic beauty of the climax I want full animaticssss

-Grian couldn't cash in on success because he either isn't fully in, or because the Watchers are being petty

-the two watchers being the actually evil equivalent of Jesse and James from pokemon

-Grian has emotions about previous series absolutely stunning idea

-like the idea that Winners get to keep their emotions (hence Pearl and Tilly, Grian w/ Scar, etc)

-Fragement lore fragment lore fragment lore

-THE PLAYERS ALL HAVE FRAGMENTS AND I NEED TO CHECK THE POST WHERE EVERYONE PUT THEIR IDEAS FOR PLACES

-Martyn is furry (fragment dog collar) (very not serious)

-fragments appear as important moments from lore? (Can Scar just have a big ol' one where he got punched in the face by Grian from third life?) (I know they don't appear because final death but it was a generator of so much angst)

-autocorrect my beloathed. (Grian ≠ Groan)

-sometimes fragments become scars, and everybody gets confused because "this moment wasn't important I have no emotional attachment to this moment why is there a scar?"

-PLAYERS CANNOT REMEMBER THE EMOTION GOBBLING AND ARE JUST GENERALLY CONFUSED WHEN THEY HAVE AN EMOTIONAL REACTION TO SOMETHING SOMEBODY SAYS

-headcanon that the Watchers do a real shoddy job at emotion gobbling and often leave the memory, which can prompt an emotional reaction. Also, Watchers actively ignore certain negative moments in favour of those spawning more negative emotions (like a cobblestone generator but for negative emotions)

-datastream Martyn??? Please explain I have not the time to watch all the vods

-eeeee winner theory!!!!!

-we love Villain scar

-PEOPLE CAN SHATTER IF THEYRE TOO FRAGMENTED OH MY GODS PLEASE FANART AND FICS

-so wait if they get to watch how it ends does that mean they had to sit and watch Scar go insane???? That makes that sadder

-so without any knowledge of Datastream Martyn, can I suggest that mayhaps datastream means that literally Martyn leaps between worlds by moving through the literal data stream? I have seen references to a Doc, so maybe he and Martyn were experimenting and Martyn got stuck? I know something happened to Doc, probably bad given that the reference was 'yes the red stuff was definitely ketchup', so was it because of the knowledge he has gained? Again, never seen any data stream so take all of this with a grain of salt. I just like analysing stories and have read enough to be able to pick out plotlines fairly well.

-oooh lore comic i want to read that

-Secret Keeper is Watchers putting on a trench coat and going "yes yes no watchers here yes yes"

-imagine how invasive it would be to spawn in and just KNOW the rules, with no background for why or how you have that information. Boy that could be a cesspit for angst. Imagine the panic of that inserted information. (Grian has to calm somebody down fic???)

-new lore enjoyer, but I love this already.

-making a proper movie with this concept would be AMAZING

-players were kidnapped lmao

-Scott having that forewarning for Jimmy and Scar is a funny thought

-Listeners are oldest children fighting their middle siblings (Watchers) because Mom and Dad will blame them for the poor player hurt

Making a part two because this is so long already

[rachiecrown]

OOOOHHH MY GOD LMAO I JUST SAW THE ETHO BDUBS MAGICAL GIRL AU AND IM OBSESSEDDDDD AAAAHHHHH do u have any ideas for potential other magical girls??? or who bdubs was aiming for???????? what are the rules in this universe for being a magical girl?? what exactly do they fight??? PLSPLS AAAAAAAAAAA

/pos

GRGEGAGGEHE YYAYYDYAYA YIPPEE YIPPEE /vpos

^ My first reaction to your ask btw

This is gonna be a long-ish post!!

Okay okay okay so,, as I said before, metropolitan setting, big city, yada yada,

Here's what they fight first!!

In the Etho drawing, in the bottom right corner, BDubs is yelling about fighting monsters... The monsters are kinda like, big, almost shadowy kinda blobby things. Idk how to describe it so I did a really lazy drawing

(ik it's bad don't come at me ty)

So like these things are called Grief Monsters, they're formed from large concentrations of negative emotion in one area. They can range anywhere from the size of a large person to a small building. Bigger ones are super rare tho.

In order to defeat one, a Magical will have to use an attack which usually draws from positive energy. Depending on how determined they are, they can usually beat the monster in one blow, but it will probably take a little bit of time to charge up after transforming.

Most people can't usually see the monster. It will continue to feast on negativity and grow, then eventually bring the energy back to some sort of realm of darkness. Either Familiars, Magicals or people with potential to become Magicals can see them.

In order to become a magical girl, or just Magical, in this AU, (idk I was saying magical girl just to be silly lol but officially in the AU they're called Magicals), something called a Familiar will have to form a bond with them.

Familiars have a special magic that allows both them and their Magical to gain a second form, being a human form for the Familiar and a magical girl(?) form for the Magical.

Usually the magic potential is stronger if the Familiar and Magical's energies align, which I based off of Double Life soul bonds!

This leads up to Etho and BDubs creating their bond! Etho really just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time during a Grief Monster's harvest, (which I need to mention, Grief Monsters will try to eat unbound Familiars) and ended up having to protect a very loud and stressed strange little moss creature.. being BDubs.

BDubs kinda pushed the bond onto Etho, since Etho had Magical potential and the two of them were in a stressful situation, but turns out, whoopsie! Their energies didn't really align correctly! Turns out BDubs got the wrong guy!

Regardless, BDubs gets his human form and protection from the monster while Etho gets his Magical form, some powers, and a pretty dress.

Because of how the energies pair based on Double Life, BDubs should've aimed for Impulse.. Etho would've eventually gotten Joel as a Familiar if things happened differently. (BDubs and Joel will argue about this later with a very confused Etho in the background... Cut to Impulse out and about living his best life)

Here's some other duos I've made in the AU!

Jimmy and Tango - These two have been around for a little while! Tango's the Magical while Jimmy's the familiar, and they're kinda the laughing stocks of the magical community due to how bad they actually are at fighting monsters.

Martyn and Ren - Martyn's the Magical and Ren's the Familiar. These two have been around a little longer than Timmy and Tango. Martyn was once paired with another Familiar, but she left after their bond failed.

Scott and Cleo - Scott's been around a little longer than Cleo, but they created a magic bond a few days after meeting. Scott's the Magical while Cleo's the Familiar.

Joel and Lizzie - Magical Lizzie and Familiar Joel! These two came after Etho and BDubs, since Joel was pushed away by BDubs being territorial, so he kinda just ended up sticking with the pink haired girl who seems to be perpetually confused

Scar and Grian - Magical Grian and Familiar Scar didn't make a bond until really really late. Grian was on the scene for a long time before meeting Scar, and their bond formed maybe a day or two before BDubs and Etho meet. These two are the main villains of the AU. Teehee

ANYWAYSSS IM SO HAPPY I COULD SHARE THIS YAYAYA

TYSM FOR ASKING YOU MADE ME SO HAPPY YIPPEEE

Again if anyone has more questions my inbox is wide open! I'm working on some designs right now so those should be posted soon enough :D