#and it bugs me and pointing out all the ways the original is accidentally (I mean hopefully it was an accident) siding w the

[eponymousfics]

Since I’m not doing NaNoWriMo in any official capacity, I’ve decided to let myself bounce around projects and add up the word count for whatever bit of progress I make across multiple works.

That means I’ve been opening up a lot of different stories and rereading older stuff, and there’s a lot of good stuff that I don’t think I’ll ever post.

Mostly bc I don’t like the idea of putting out snippets of things that might never get a full official story, or the fandom is something I’m not sure I want to associate with (even if it’s to “do it right.” I mean a lot of it is going “yeah so the original was pretty shit but here’s my take” and it feels weird putting that in front of people who are fans and presumably like the original version? Feels like putting “x critical” stuff in the main tag, idk. Then again I know people do that and I don’t have a problem with other people doing it, and the “thanks for canon but we’re taking it away from you now” is also a relatively common attitude so maybe I should get my head out of my ass lol)

But then I’ll read a really good bit I wrote and just go “oooOOOH BUT THAT’S SO JUICY IT MUST BE SEENNNNN” 😂

Idk I just have been pouring several thousand words into a fic that I love but have never considered uploading and I feel the need to acknowledge it in some way lol

[jade-len]

bad svsss fanfic/au idea, pt. 2: random svsss anti-fan (or hater) transmigrates into svsss after tweeting "stupid author, stupid novels" and proceeds to solve 90% of the novel's conflicts out of pure spite by pretending to be a seer.

"luo binghe will not kill you, shen qingqiu. just trust me when i say that."

"please listen to me when i say this, luo binghe. focus on yourself for a bit. learn to love yourself too. yes i know you're hopelessly in love but you shouldn't just rely on his affection to hold up your emotional wellbeing, okay??"

"oh yeah no. the huan hua palace's sect leader is a pervert who preyed on su xiyan, which led to a bunch of conflict and misunderstanding and now he's kinda gotten away with it." *proceeds to explain the whole lore of it* "see you later, yue qingyuan!"

"zhuzhi-lang, i have very important advice, okay. just because you love someone and believe something is best for them, you should not force them to do it. by the way, can i see your uncle real quick?"

"yeah. uhm. it was all old palace master's fault. go fuck him up, tianlang-jun. just don't kill anyone else in the process. also uh, read better romance novels please."

"gongyi xiao, if immortal master shen qingqiu and shang qinghua ever ask you to look around for some special mushrooms, run right after you help them navigate huan hua palace. like leave the damn place. you will meet your fate if you stay here. ok cool bye."

"mu qingfang please introduce this thing called 'therapy' and 'counseling'. i promise you it will reduce qi deviations by 50%."

"mobei-jun... don't. don't beat shang qinghua up. look i know it's demon culture but maybe try to also learn some human courtesy too?"

"liu qingge. one day you will find someone who will have the same amount of devotion for you as you will for them. and you are an amazing person for it ok."

at some point they probably explain to sqq and sqh that they've transmigrated into a story that's about sqq transmigrating into PIDW, which is also a story.

there can be three routes to this:

1. there is no hurt. binghe's heartbreak points doesn't even exist. everyone is cool and there are no deaths. also tianlang-jun tortures and kill OPM, so there's that. maybe some romance or whatevs happens but it's all good.

2. while they stopped 90% of the original conflict, they proceed to accidentally create some more by simply being there. the system declares that they're the "new main character" for the audience, just like how sqq is with svsss. now, new and different plot points start happening to them instead of shen qingqiu! how will they use their knowledge now, with things they can't predict?

2. mid-way, they accidentally put a huge target on their back. unintentionally, they're going against the system's wishes and the whole point of the novel: uncover the hidden plot of PIDW. they're like a virus, a bug, something that isn't supposed to be there, but is. they don't have a system, they exist beyond that; so they can't just be sent back. they're accidentally ruining the story of svsss by not having any of the conflicts mxtx created to occur, and thus must be stopped before they completely flip everything over.

the new mission given by the system for sqq and sqh? [URGENT: stomp the bug, no matter what!]

[multifandomfanficss]

Stuck With You

Adrian Chase/Vigilante x Reader

Adrian Chase Masterlist

Prompt: When the team sticks their newest member with Vigilante, everyone feels bad for you, but you’re grateful to have him around when you run into something from your past and lose your cool.

Warnings: panic attacks, human experimentation, referenced child abuse

A/N: I found a couple lines of dialogue in my drafts that I never did anything with and I had the writing bug today so I decided to finally make something with it! I’ll crosspost it on my AO3 adriansglasses as well. Hope you enjoy!

“(L/N), you’re with Vigilante.” Harcourt says, at the beginning of the meeting.

“You’re really gonna stick the newest person with that psycho?” John asks.

“You don’t need to be mean to Adrian just because he’s not here.” Leota starts.

“I would say it to his face too. He’d probably just laugh and call me his 4th best friend.” John retorts.

You hadn’t been with the team for long. This was your first mission with them. After a mission gone too out of control, Waller sent you to the middle of nowhere Evergreen, Washington. You thought she’d sent you here because the environment would be less hectic, but the longer you’re there, the more you realize she probably sent you here because everyone on this team is either highly traumatized or in need of more experience. She was trying to put the training wheels back on. From what you’d been told by the team’s top conspiracy theorist, Christopher Smith, this team was originally supposed to be an expendable scapegoat, but they ended up saving the world. You had no idea what to believe at this point.

“What’s up with Vigilante?” You ask, wondering why this was all such a hot topic. You hadn’t known him for long. He seemed a little odd, but overall fine. If you were being honest you actually kind of liked him. He was sweet and funny, often without trying. There was this comforting air about him and you didn’t really know why. He was a good fighter and you’d be lying if you said you didn’t think he was at least a little bit cute.

“He’s a little…” Chris started moving his finger in a circular motion, trying to insinuate that Adrian was crazy.

“He can’t be that bad.” You smile.

Suddenly Adrian comes running into the old video store tripping over one of his shin guards that wasn’t on properly. He sits down and fastens it.

“Sorry I’m late, guys. They kept me late at the restaurant and then when I was trying to put on my suit in the car I accidentally ran a red light and usually I would kill somebody for that, but I mean I think the more important thing is that I didn’t run over the old lady crossing the street! She was totally fine and I know she’s alive because she screamed at me…I’ve never seen an old lady use to many swear words. It was kind of awesome! Anyway what did I miss?”

“You put on your suit while driving?” Leota asks.

“Yup.” He gives a straight face nod. Adrian often had a way about him, as if what he was thinking should be obvious to other people, when in fact, it was not obvious to most people most of the time.

“You amaze me.” Harcourt says, sarcastically.

“Thank you.” Adrian smiles, not catching her sarcasm.

She rolls her eyes, sighing.

———————————————————————

Later on that night you and Adrian found yourselves walking through a series of tunnels.

“John, I think we might be lost.” You spoke into your coms, hoping he can help you from the van.

“I can’t even hear you in my earpiece and I’m right next to you. I think we lost the signal.” Adrian walks in silence for a few seconds before adding, “I’m sorry you got stuck with me.” He looks at the ground, sad.

“What are you talking about?”

“I know they stuck you with me. Nobody ever really chooses to be my partner.” He lightly kicks a rock, pretending not to be bothered.

“They did pair us up, but that doesn’t mean I was disappointed.” You smile.

“Really? Why would you want me?”

“Well first of all, you’re a great fighter. You were also the first person to attempt to be my friend. I’d trust you in the field over anyone.”

“Really?” You can hear the surprise in his voice.

“Yeah.” You let out a soft giggle. “Why are you so surprised that I like you?”

“Usually everyone just tells me to shut up or fuck off.”

“Well I’m not everyone.” You nudge him playfully as you walk.

Soon you come upon a door. It’s a little rusted, but Adrian shoots the lock off and you’re able to break in.

“What is this place?” He asks.

As soon as you walk inside you see the tubes, the files, the devices, the tables, the symbols. You know exactly what this is. This is an old facility for the for the group that made you leave your old job, the mission that ruined your life. You see files on the table, files no doubt full of details on the children they were experimenting on. The group would take orphaned children or children who were abandoned and unwanted, kids who had no one to protect them, and they would experiment on them. They were human trials to try to find new ways of making superheroes. This must have been one of their old abandoned facilities. Despite the lab being inactive, just the sight of it was still enough to send you into a spiral.

Your heart starts beating rapidly as you grow dizzy. You look down at your shaking hands. You’re starting to lose control of your breathing.

“I- I can’t-“ You walk backwards out of the room, starting to hyperventilate.

“Woah. Hey, what’s going on? Are you having a panic attack?” Adrian slowly puts his hands out towards you. He’s a little unsure of what to do.

“I’ve seen this before!” Your entire world is spinning as your start to cry. You can’t stop thinking about the awful things you saw when you snuck into their active facility earlier this year. Those poor children. Part of you was starting to wonder if Waller put you on this team for a reason. You should have known better than to think she was giving you a break. Waller always had some sort of fucked up motive that only worked for herself hidden up her sleeve. “I can’t fucking breathe!” You sob, sucking in air.

“Tender nice touching.” Adrian slowly approached you, patting your shoulder. You needed pressure on your body. You felt like you were slipping away from earth and you needed to be held down.

“Can I have a hug?” You asked, quietly.

“You want a hug?” He asked, his voice just as quiet. He was speaking softly to not startle you further.

“Yeah…”

“I think I can do that.“ He smiles, slowly bringing you into his arms. A little loose at first, he tightened the hug as you melted into him.

“I’m sorry- I- I just…I know what the did here and- and-“ Adrian shushes you as you begin to stutter, your mind moving much faster than your mouth is able to.

“You’re okay. You’re safe. I’ve got you. Just breathe with me. Don’t focus on anything else, but your breathing okay? Can you feel me breathing?” He rubs your back as you cry into his arms. You nod. “Okay, good. Just…just follow that.” He sighs and then focuses on making his own breathing something you can follow.

“Sometimes it’s hard for me to know what people on the team want because I know Chris doesn’t wanna look weak and Harcourt would kill me if I touched her, so I try to be careful. I just don’t wanna upset you guys more, but if you want me hold you I can keep doing that. Just let me know what you need and I’ll do it.” He says, softly.

“Can you just keep talking?” You ask. The sound of his voice is soothing and grounding.

“You want me to keep talking?” He smiles. “You’re in luck. I’m actually really good at talking. So good, in fact, that people are constantly asking me to shut up. So uh… What can I talk about? Oh! I know. So I have this friend at work. His name is Taylor. Well, he says we’re not friends, but he texts me all time time asking me to help cover his shifts and I would only trust a friend enough to ask them for that, so I think we’re friends. Anyway, so Taylor walked in this morning and…”

The longer Adrian rambles on the better you feel. The pressure of his body on yours and his voice slowly bring you back to earth. Eventually you find yourselves walking back through the tunnels, hand in hand, retracing your steps as he guides you back to the van to regroup. He keeps you distracted with silly stories the entire walk back.

You don’t know what the rest of your team was talking about. Adrian was the best partner you could have had.

[adobe-outdesign]

Venonat line review if it hasn't been done yet?

Venonat is honestly a pretty underrated Pokemon. I really like how it's a bug-type, but it's an ambiguous little ball of fur with compound eyes and antennae instead of a specific kind of insect. On top of that, it's pretty cute despite the non-conventional design, what with its little hands and big 'ol eyes. The colors are also nice, contrasting bright pink accents with a dark purple base. No complaints here.

I don't know why, but a lot of butterfly and moth Pokemon tend to be pretty bland with only a few exceptions, and unfortunately Venomoth isn't one of them. What made Venonat unique in my eyes was the simple abstract design—so when it evolves into a fairly normal moth, it looses most of the interest it had and doesn't really replace it with anything notable. It is known for scattering poison with its scales, which is interesting, but that doesn't factor into the design—in fact, nothing in the design really even suggests it's a poision-type.

There's a common conspiracy theory that Venomoth and Butterfree were switched during Gen 1's development. For the record, the entire Caterpie line have correctly numbered internal IDs, pointing to them being added all at once; however, they could've always been switched back when they were designed on paper, long before they were programmed into the game.

That said, a lot of Gen 1 designs do just share similar elements. I do think that it's entirely possible that the similarities are just sheer coincidence; like, just look at Dragonite and Charizard sharing the same color palette, or how many lines have the exact same eye shape. Don't get me wrong, we can't know for certain either way; but I do find it annoying how people insist that the lines had to have been swapped, which shows very little understanding of Gen 1's development, especially when it's argued that the switch was somehow accidental.

(If you really want to make things confusing: Venonat's sprite was downscaled at some point, indicating that it originally wasn't even supposed to evolve. Also, some early Venomoth art shows it being blue with multiple yellow spots on its wings.)

ANYWAY, I only point this out because A) people will bring it up if I don't, and B) regardless if the theory is true or not, Venonat and Venomoth have a lot more in common than people seem to realize. The long fur off of Venonat's head becomes the spikes on Venomoth's head, the hands are still clutched to the abdomen, they both have fangs, and they're both furry. I don't think that Venomoth doesn't fit as Venomoth's evolution or anything; I just think Venomoth is merely boring compared to it.

Overall, Venonat's pretty solid, but Venomoth is relatively boring—I think the best thing that could be done for this line is regionals. I'd almost suggest just doing what Galarian Meowth does by making a regional Venonat that keeps with the more unique body shape; though then again, I'd feel kind of bad if Venonat got forgotten. Regardless, this line definitely feels like it could be revisited to make it more memorable.

[crazylittlejester]

I'm still on my Four Swords brainrot detour so you get to hear all about that today. Consider this my vote for you to read the book. I have the legendary copy, it was my big summer purchase last year (it's not that expensive, I'm just a broke college student) and I love it to pieces. I'm usually more into LU due to the fact that the FS fandom is pretty small and I'm not very active in it and my favorite artist is on hiatus. However. When the brainrot circles back around I am stuck in it for a while.

Anyway, it's the only LoZ game I've written anything for (except HW but that was a short bit about gender crises so it hardly counts).

I've taken inspiration from @zarvasace's series Shatterproof, and started working on a disability AU for FS out of pure indulgence.

Have I made basically any progress since I started it? No.

Has it been completely rotting my brain this past week? Yes.

The way I have it planned out is that I'm going to write a chapter for each of the Links, including Shadow, and one for Zelda. Each chapter is going to be a short story about their experiences with being disabled and how they feel about that. I'm supposed to be working on Green's chapter right now and I think it's maybe half done, but I'm contemplating taking it apart and picking at the pieces some more before I actually write the second half out.

The thing about Green is that he's kind of your generic Link. He's as close as you get to the original as far as personality and temperament go, so that's been my main issue thus far. He's just... really, really vanilla. Even his part of the story is kind of vanilla! He gets his death faked twice and he's not even the person doing the faking! He's just there as a driving force and it bugs me sometimes because he's like the FS version of the nameless "prince charming" and I could go off on a whole extra tangent but I should save that for when you've actually read the book.

The point is, he's not a character I easily get vibes from, so I've had to do a bunch of thinking and I came to the conclusion that he's going to be the one to be hit over the head with a work-related injury. Literally. He ends up with a bad head injury that impacts his ability to do a lot of things that knights need to be good at.

I haven't decided if he ends up keeping his job after he recovers or not, but he does have a lot of angst over that because he's a bit of a workaholic and spent most of his time working so that Red, Blue, Vio, and Shadow could focus on taking care of the house and each other. He considers himself to be the main breadwinner and then suddenly can't work because of his injury and has to wait and see if he'll be able to go back to work. There's going to be a whole thing about overcoming internalized ableism, and how even if you aren't ableist towards other people you can still be ableist towards yourself and it's a lot of work to build up the self-esteem necessary to stop that thought process.

I just love his chapter so much even though I'm probably going to use those themes throughout the entire work. There's just something about his part that really scratches the itch in my brain.

I have rough ideas planned out for Vio, Blue, and Red, but I'm not really sure what to do about Shadow and Zelda. Prior to finding out about your Warriors having blood sugar problems I was thinking about giving her diabetes or something similar, but I'm not really sure how much I can fudge in a fantasy setting without accidentally killing her. So I'm still at the drawing board for her.

Thank you for being my FS brainrot victim. :)

I gotta get the four swords legendary edition, I thought I had it but i dont 💔💔💔 I’m also a broke college student so i feel ya

GREEN ISNT EVEN THE ONE WHO FAKES HIS OWN DEATH TWICE ALSKSKDK?

ooooooh work related injury and overcoming internalized ableism, I’m so excited to read that!! (if you share it)

You could totally still give her a blood sugar issue if you wanted, it’d be cool to read about if you do decide to do that, but also anything else you come up with would be cool, all of this sounds awesome

THANK YOU FOR THE DAILY BRAINROT, TODAY WAS EXHAUSTING AND I DONT FEEL GREAT AND THIS LITERALLY CAME AT THE PERFECT TIME >:)

[swimmingtrunks]

Baldur's Gate 3 progress report:

I'm in Act 3 with Durge. Lost my grasp on her character a bit in Act 2, and then accidentally locked her out of all origin character romances. So now I'm trying to find fun in having this playthrough go a little off the rails and exploring choices I probably won't be inclined to make on a more "canon" run. Still not really interested in a full on "evil" run, but definitely making some questionable choices here. A heel turn, if only a weak one.

The romance mess:

She was indulging in benefits with Astarion but after that pivotal conversation decided to be there for him as a friend instead.

I feel like Lae'zel woulda been a good route for this run but she didn't want sloppy seconds after the tiefling party I guess? (Also didn't let her ask until after the creche so that's maybe more the problem.)

By the time Wyll took her up on the dance she had other things cooking, and to be honest he didn't really click for me as a character until Act 3. That pout tho :(((

Pretty sure I want to do a Gale romance with my Tav so I swore him off for now. Gale romance as a treat. Look I KNOW I have a TYPE I have a THIRST for NERD CHARACTERS who spackle EGO and BAD HUMOR over their INSECURITIES like NO ONE WILL NOTICE I NOTICE

Wasn't ready to commit to a Karlach romance after the second engine upgrade and didn't wanna hurt her so skipped that lil' exclamation point and the whole thing fizzled.

I thought Shadowheart was still a possibility but nope! Not sure why!

I'm not sure if I haven't invested enough time in Minthara or if I missed the hop-on point there too. Or if glitched because I did the workaround to recruit her

Luckily Daddy Druid is around and horny, so Durge has an outlet for her less dark urges. Because why not.

The heel turn:

After abstaining from tadpoles for the first two acts, Durge flipped and took the astral tadpole, then started snackin' on the ones she tucked away earlier. She's not pushing them on anyone else who objects, but Minthara was jazzed and Gale was curious so who was she to deprive them of cool powers and a gross complexion.

Oddly enough, I had given her heterochromia at some point to turn the eye with the scarring around it white, and it did NOT get the astral worm treatment. She's got quite the look going on now.

The small grip I have on Durge's motivations is that after the paternity reveal she's feeling like bucking authority and throwing some vindictive middle fingers. Not sure where that will lead with the Emperor/ main quest but I do have a feeling Durge will be indulging the misguided goals of her [power] hungry guys.

Other thoughts:

Astarion is an EXTREMELY good character and all around well written and acted. I do wonder if there would be more affection for other characters if their animations were anywhere near as lively as his. He SHOULD be more dramatic than the rest, but idk. I feel like the others have a few good moments sprinkled in (SH fingerguns, Lae'zel describing turning into a mindflayer, Gale's needle miming, etc) but mostly end up... just standing there. Even Karlach, who's idle animations are the least idle things ever.

When I found some in-world text referencing a miniature giant space hamster, I thought it was a Mass Effect reference, not the other way around. I am on the precipice of meeting Minsc and Boo and I am excited.

Pretty sure I'm having a similar banter bug to DAI. Act 1 had tons of banter, but even then I'd have issues where I couldn't actually hear one of the characters, only read what they were saying. In Act 2 there was like NOTHING, and Act 3 has been sparse with the same issue as Act 1. Made Act 2 feel kinda stagnant to me, really hoping it doesn't happen in my next playthrough.

[lampmanliveblogs]

It’s time for more Owl House! At the time of writing this, I don’t know when this is going to be uploaded, so I’ll tell Future Lampman to make a note below.

Now, where were we? Ah, right, Luz ain’t doing so well. The loss suffered at the Day of Unity weighs heavily on her and she blames herself for them. Camila assures her that no one hates her, although I’m not sure Luz is entirely convinced of that yet. But we can work on that later. For now, this was a sweet, wholesome scene. A bit of hope in the dark. You love to see it.

(Future Lampman here: This took WAY too long.)

Ah, now this? You hate to see it.

So, like… they’re totally going to notice the three or so complete skeletons lying right next to the house, right? Right?

This? You love to see it.

I could make fun of Hunter’s outfit, but I won’t. Partially because it’d be kinda mean and I may or may not have been tipped off that Hunter does not have much fun in this episode as is. But secondly, it’d be kinda rich for me to criticize someone else’s choice in fashion considering that as I’m writing this, I’m wearing a shopping cart-themed pajamas, with matching socks and underwear.

As the camera pans from Hunter’s feet and up, we can see Flapjack looking proud of Hunter, it’s so funny and adorable. Like, yeah! My witch/human/clone boy did this!

And, I mean, it is Halloween. He could just go out in public like this and at worst, some people will bug him about telling them how he got his elf ears to look that realistic.

In fact, this could be an opportunity for all the witch kids to let out their ears for a change. With some cartoon logic, I’m sure it wouldn’t be that dangerous. Unless they run across someone who’s very paranoid and convinced witches are trying to steal his teeth.

Someone pointed out that  I missed Gus implying he knew Hunter’s a grimwalker earlier. Since he accidentally hit ctrl+c on Philip’s traumatic memories, including the whole grimwalker affair.

Here’s the thing: …yeah, I just missed it. Never said I was perfect.

Not that it really matters, because here we have this scene that was far less subtle. Gus pretty much said it out loud.

Now, Hunter’s origin being brought up repeatedly in this episode so far makes me think this might become an important point of conflict throughout this episode (possibly going into the next two) with him not wanting to tell the others.

Who’d have thought, at the very beginning of the series when we first met her, that Willow would ever be this smooth? Half-a-witch Willow they called her, pah! Tripping Hazard Willow is what they should have called her, the way she got Hunter falling for her.

Although, ah… they’re leaving Hunter alone. And Philip’s been skulking around the woods… I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

And here we go. Incoming disaster in three, two, one…

[bonesandthebees]

Yo,

So I was feeling bored and sentimental, so I went back and read through literally all of Clinic yesterday, and I think I noticed a teensy mistake.

In the main fic, when Tommy's under the dream interrogation thingie from 404, in the third dream (I think), Techno burns his hand. Tommy heals it, Techno starts pointing out his worst fears, etc. Anyways, we move on.

But in the Waking Nightmares side fic, when Tommy is explaining his dreams to Wilbur, he says that Techno cut his hand. And he also mentions that the dreams are ingrained in his mind almost flawlessly, so I doubt that's just good ol' Tommy missing a detail.

Idk it's just a silly little thing I noticed because that's the way I am, and just felt like pointing it out.

But seriously, tho, every time I go back and re-read Clinic, I still feel the suspense, even tho I know what's going to happen. Idk what else to call that, other than damn good writing. (Big ol' cheesy thumbs up to you :)



okay first off thank you for the kind words about my writing, I'm glad you enjoyed clinic so much :)

but I'm gonna go on a tangent for a second about my thoughts on you pointing this out to me. this is /nm, I know you didn't mean any harm, but I genuinely do not understand why people feel a need to point out tiny errors in fanfics like this. now in a situation where the mistake—whether it be an inconsistency or a typo or something like that—is bad enough to make the reader confused or possibly misinterpret the scene, then yeah, pointing it out to the author makes sense.

but you said it outright in your ask: you could tell that was just a mistake on my end. me accidentally referring to techno's injury as a cut as opposed to a burn was very clearly just a slight continuity error on my end. you knew what I meant. it didn't damage your ability to enjoy or understand either of the fics. and yet you took the time to write this whole message out to tell me about it. and I just don't understand the point. maybe you thought I'd want to know, but also I have friends who I can ask to read my works for me for errors like this. again, in a situation where the error is enough to mess up a readers understanding of what's going on, yeah, of course let me know. but in a situation where it's easy to understand that it's just a mistake, I really don't get why people feel the need to point it out to me?

this isn't specifically about you. I still get comments on one specific chapter of clinic pointing out a minor typo in the chapter. I finished that fic a year and a half ago. and people still. point. it. out. at this point I refuse to fix it out of spite. so that's also where a lot of this rambling is coming from.

I wanna emphasize, I'm not mad. I know you didn't mean any harm. but frankly, I write fanfic for my own enjoyment. I don't get paid for this. I don't have a professional editor or paid proofreader to go through everything I write to make sure it's publishing standard. it's just me, and sometimes my friends who are kind enough to read over my stuff for me before I post it. I don't care if I make a tiny error here and there, as long as the original intent is clear.

I'm sure a lot of other fic authors feel the same way I do about this. it's not something I'm fuming mad about or anything. it just bugs me because I don't understand the point. when I see an error like that in a fic, I just move on and keep reading.

anyway, didn't mean for this to get so long. you get my point. I'm not fixing that. you all know what I meant.

[thessalian]

Thess vs Spectres

So I finally got through that whole little chunk of main quest. And the only real reason I'm stopping now is a) hungry and b) frustrated and stuck.

Well, before I do anything, there's a rebel camp over there. Might as well clear it out.

DAMN I'm good. No one so much as saw me ONCE.

Okay okay okay, I know I know I know, Fate Of The World, etc etc. I'm going already.

I figure I can skip that cutscene; I have already seen it.

Well, at least I'm not doing all of the searching when I have companions. Just ... most of it.

Nora go down the hoooooooole...

Seriously, Zenith are assholes.

And code aaaaaaaand ... Beta. Cryogenically preserved Beta?

Wait. Wait did she have that thing in her skull? That thing is way too big to be an implant. What the fuck?

Good for you, Beta! Good for us, too!

ofuck.

Traps. Traps. What's this thing weak to? Acid. I'll try acid.

I AM TRYING TO SCAN IT, ALOY; IT JUST WON'T STAY STILL-- Theeeeeere we go.

And it didn't matter anyway because advanced acid traps are awesome, thanks.

Oshit Erend; hold on! ...Wait, why are you not scanning for weak spots and--? Oh, right, because you refuse to use a ranged weapons and your only combat strategy is "get out there and twat it one with warhammer".

Oh. Also because forcefield. Which is only in the front. Good thing you've got a sneaky bitch on side, Erend!

Okay, that's done. And now we can look at that weapon-- Fuck.

Right. Back to base. And everyone's freaking out about Beta. But at least they ask me how I'm holding up. ...Or assuming I'm fine. THANKS, EREND. I know you think I can do anything, but...

Oh, and Beta's not coping either. Okay. Vat-made humans, unite!

Yeah. Yeah, I knew they were still the original Far Zenith assholes. I just wasn't sure whether it was cloned bodies and data uploads a la Altered Carbon or ... well, this.

Look, you bought us time, Beta; we'll go after them as soon as we can. CHILL, already! But then again, you know how equipped they are and we don't, but still, never underestimate the ingenuity of someone who isn't an entitled asshole who never knew real hurt a day in their lives.

Right. Get this thing to GAIA to see if it can help us at all-- SYLENS YOU SHITBAG!

Fine. Okay. GAIA's working on it, Erend and Varl are going to help Beta cope ... oh. Hi Zo. Wait. You have a way to fix your land-gods? COUNT ME THE FUCK IN!

Hunting tiiiiiiiiiime! Whee!

Okay, that'll take some fixing. Lemme just go to Hidden Ember, as they're calling it now, and see what-- Oh. Hi Delah. Ah, Boomer gone missing. Okay, we'll go search.

I bet the Far Zenith assholes want to strip all life on earth because the people who designed Zero Dawn weren't eugenics-y assholes. I like that we still got people on the autism spectrum when humanity was reborn. I mean, I gather it's at least partly genetic. And it's a nice statement about how, no, vaccines don't cause that shit because none of these people know what a vaccine is.

Anyway. What is this thing you're now getting me to use? ...Oh. Okay, I will try this thing.

OKAY I HAVE TRIED THIS THING AND I DON'T LIKE IT CAN I HAVE MY BOW BACK PLEASE?!?

Right. I have used the shredder gauntlet whatever thing. I will never ever use it again. But thanks. That's sweet of you two.

Back to Hidden Ember, and ... okay, where the fuck is Stemmur?

Ah, there he is. And you want another 'gizmo'. I went with 'doohickey' myself, but you do you.

Down into the ruins I go-- Oh, come on, how did the machines come back?!? Well, at least it wasn't the Tideripper. Just Snapmaws, a Burrower ... and two Spinesnouts I didn't see shit shit shit.

And apparently I just accidentally tripped over the hardest vista in the game to find. Now, where's good?

There. There's good. That'll stop bugging me. Onward to the doohickey.

...Okay, I am clearly supposed to get to the grapple point and then jump onto that bit to the left but it is not letting me jump.

Lemme see if Google has any ideas-- And apparently not. Fuck.

Maybe I'll shut down for now and see if a restart actually lets me do what I need to do here. I need food anyway.

Also my mother will be turning up any time now with some treats she brought me back from Canada. Yay! And later I will try again, but how the fuck do I jump when the damn thing won't let me go in that direction because there is no climbing point there? Maybe I need to do a left-control press pointed in a different direction? Maybe? I dunno; this is a pain in the arse but apparently I can't give my stupid doohickeys to Stemmur if I don't get this one! Why can I not just tell him, "I have a sack full of the fucking things; I can get you that one later"?!?

[evaldmark]

My MLP horror

The two last day I consumed an unhealty amount My Little Pony horror. Idk why, I like MLP, I love horror, but I never read or saw the original grimdark MLP story. Until now. Youtube's algorithm just kinda offered to me, and I clicked on it. And somehow I've got an idea, so enjoy :"D First: I don't enjoy body horror, but obviously I need do some physical changes, because its fucking scary. But not too much, becuase I want a pony recognise their dead friends, so cutie mark, color, wings and/or horn stays recognizable. Maybe just a little...off. Like those not-deer story. Hair falling out in clumps, torn mane, damaged hoof, and blood salive. A body untuched by bugs, or flies, or other necrophagous. Doesn't rotten normally, and a flora doens't like it either. So the only way to get rid of it: fire. Seeing your dead friends consumed by flames doesn't do great thing with moral and sanity. I don't have a name for the disase, but I know how it started. Somehow always, okay very often, Fluttershy is the zero patient, but not here! Here is Maud Pie! And Rarity was the catalyst. Kinda. The point is, Rarity went to find some rare crystal, and somehow get lost in an acient cave system. Fortunately Maud found her, and together stambled upon a very mystic and oddly shaped gem. Maud and Rarity split the gem, and somehow they got back to Ponyville. Maud experimenting on the stone and accidentally create a virus. She doesn't know yet what is she done, she just thinking: its a flu, nothing serious. Meanwhile Rarity chop it up the stone, and put in some cute scarfs, and everypony wants and gets one. But when Maud experiment goes wrong every little stone fragment pumping out the disaese. The whole gem is connected, beacause magic, thats why. Maybe later its evolving somehow, and can spread pony to pony, but now its just the stone fragment. Eveypony who has one gets sick: fever, lack of appetite, dreamwalking in two legs and weakness. If the stone fragments gets removed and the pony gets treatment and isolation, they can get better. But if the fragments stay close to the pony more than four days, the disaese just got worse, and this time doesn't matter if the fragment go or stay. The fever goes slightly lower, zero appetite, zero hunger or thirst whatsoever, so the pony lost all of their strenght, only walking on two legs and really, really, really doesn't want stay in one place. And the third stage basically just dead from starvation, or other injury, because the infected pony doesn't mind or acknowledge threat and/or danger. They mostly harmless except when something or someone gets their way. And its also applies when somebody wants to treat them.

So yeah, its not gruesome or horrific, but the whole mental effect is still brutal.

And of course Rarity dies and its effect the magic system - somehow - and Ponyville goes under quarantine. Fluttershy will find a cure, because she is always treat sick animals, so she know whats she is doing! Twilight help with the research, Applejack and Rainbow Dash helps to set up the quarantine. And Pinkie Pie keeps safe the childrens. (Why do children die almost in all horrors? WHY. I'm a Star Wars girlie, Anakin is enough for me) Of course lots of pony also die, but eventually everything gets better, and the gem is gets back where it was found.

Okay, thats it folks, not so much but its honest work. PS.: Pinkie Pie said everything to Twilight before anything is happened, because Pinkie-sense. But Twilight just not believe it.

[northwest-cryptid]

My Fem Presenting Aki model is honestly so good right now, I'm so happy with it. I'm gonna just kinda Go Off about it so I'm sorry but...

LOOK HOW CUTE THEY ARE!

Some things I love about this model right out the gate:

They finally have actual high entia wings, which has been a design point of Aki for literally MULTIPLE YEARS now.

I've put in a ton of references to shit I enjoy, like how the Four Directions tattoo I usually wear on my cheek is now the tattoo from XC3 or how one of their eyes literally has the Ouroboros while the other has Aki's original constellations.

Aki now has a mechanical arm, a gift from an old friend.

It also bears the insignia of Aki's old colleague and other half (literally), Cryptid. along with a decal of The Zohar (can you tell I like the entire Xeno-Series?)

As an avid pin collector I also jumped at the chance to throw these on them:

I currently have two main outfits for them. The first being inspired greatly by the look I first drew them in, just very heavily revised.

I still love the original look don't get me wrong, but I've been wanting to experiment with merging Aki's two (masc/fem) on screen appearances with my real life appearance, or at least things I enjoy about it. So I wanted to give Aki something closer to my own hair for once with the darker center part. I'll absolutely give them at least one outfit with a cute messy bob cut though, and yea I'll absolutely bring back their brown hair because brown/black hair goes underappreciated. I also wanted to add in the head wings because I feel like that's the single most glaring aspect of Aki that no one has ever got right and it's one of the main things I love about Aki's design. However I'm really happy with this look as simple as it is.

A minor detail I actually like a lot and could easily "fix" with some quick bone work but kinda refuse to because I think it adds a lot; is that their mechanical hand doesn't articulate in the fingers.

While I could easily just move some bones around in the hands I honestly really like this more as a feature than a bug. Just because I figure someone out there is gonna go "okay but is this just because you don't know how to fix it"

No. It's an intentional feature. I might "fix" it later, but I think it adds a lot of character and makes it feel like a mechanical hand and not just a reskin of an arm.

The second outfit is geared more towards my need to over-design everything I see ever, and it's where most of the stuff shown above is seen.

I basically kit-bashed 3 outfits together and I'm absolutely in love with this absolute mess of an outfit.

I gave them the slight smug expression because I need to be able to be a smug bastard sometimes.

The hair on this outfit is a bit of a nod to an older OC design I have that I do not have any good pictures of but here ya go:

Funny callback haircut to my old Fem-Sona.

I find it kind of ironic that people have gone from He/Him'ing me non-stop to referring to this Aki almost exclusively as "She/Her" and I'm just sitting here like "oh my god it goes both ways" because I accidentally caught myself doing it too, but I digress.

It's very hard for me with how masc presenting I am, to often depict myself in a feminine manner at all and associate it with "me" I typically look at it and go "yea that's a Girl™." So it's been really nice/cool to see Aki like this and kinda point excitedly like "THAT'S ME FUCKER! THAT'S ME!"

I'm just having a very "HER PRONOUNS ARE THEY/THEM" moment lol.

I really do look at this avatar and go "I Think I Hauve Covid" it's so nice. They're so cute and I love existing in this digital flesh.

[stardroplovebirds]

The Start of the Lovebirds

This blog is basically all about my (accidental) fixation on shipping Shane and Emily from Stardew Valley together! It is a self-indulgent, alternative universe story blog. It's a work in progress still, but everything else should be pretty self-explanatory.

Now, because I know people are going to ask... Here is the origin story of why I ship this ship, so I am not bombarded:

For a while, I was reluctant to get into Stardew. The gameplay is just not my thing, it's a very difficult game for me to play (ADHD and all, and generally not being good at games) - but I have someone in my life who (even when we first met them) was fixated heavily on Stardew. Heavily.

Eventually, we cracked, and got into the game's lore. We love stories, and we have some… criticisms about the game, but overall, we found ourselves sympathizing with everyone's Favorite Boy: Shane.

Except he was nothing like how the fandom (from our perspective) painted him as. In fact, we had realized there were a lot of misinterpretations about him… but that's not the point.

Whilst playing a round of the game amongst friends (cuz playing it by ourselves was a bust) - we had gotten to the Flower Dance. Very early event in the game, happens near the end of Spring. It is a dance where a majority of the characters pair up and do a traditional dance. Adorable and sweet.

Now, this is where it came to our attention that everyone was very specifically put together with character's that are relevant to them and or characters that parallel one another. Aka "Straight Passing Central" (everyone in Stardew is not straight, chill)

Notably, Shane and Emily dance together.

This is NOT where the shipping first began - no, the shipping bug had not bitten just yet. But we had seen the patterns of everyone being put together just as we were learning all the characters.

It was during a conversation on call that we had first uttered the very concepts of shipping any of the suggested couples together. Everyone giving their opinions on the lineup and how they felt about them.

The overall motive was all of them were ok. They were decent. Predictable, maybe a little cliche, but could work. Some worked less than others, but all of them - at the very least - we could see working somehow some way.

And thus sprang the in-depth conversation of Shane and Emily being together.

Shane and Emily being paired together as friends is what interested me the most at the start. Because, as mentioned before, they are parallels.

Emily is a very spiritual being, carefree and free from the burdens of a horrible job. She works at the Saloon, and very happily so - it being a very community-based job. There she can be in tune with the people she lives with around her as well as having a very favorable boss to look after her. (Seriously, we stan Gus in this house)

Whereas Shane is a nearly hallowed man she just so happens to see every day - a man who is overworked and exhausted and in such a depressive state about the life around him that he's grown rather uncaring.

And it is crucial to remember that these two are established as friends, even outside the walls of Shane simply being asked to dance despite that seeming way out of his comfort zone.

It's worthy to assume they are friends due to the very fact that Shane goes to the Saloon every single day. A place Emily works. And there is evidence that Shane is kind and friendly towards her.

Examples include:

In a heart event with Clint, Clint is observing the two of them talking and the entire point of Clint's discomfort about the pair is that they talk to each other with such ease. Despite… Shane being who he is. Shane is even the one to initiate further conversation, prodding further about her day and how she's been.

And in a heart event with Emily, where she's doing her clothing therapy session - Shane is there. Why… why on Earth would Shane be here if he weren't one of the people formally invited? He could easily think something like this is stupid and not attend - but not only does he very willingly participate in this event - he is the first person to be called on to get an outfit. (Which… holy shit.)

In an event with Shane, sometime after he decides to take on therapy for his habits - there is an event where you see Shane with a new camera, accompanied by Emily and Clint. (Unfortunately, in most of the events or background scenes with Emily and Shane, Clint is… loitering.)

They're all hanging out, and obviously Emily was asked to do something like this and agreed. So they're… friends. There are multiple settings where even if you just squint, you could see that they're friends.

Like at the bar, Shane stands by the fireplace and the closest person to him is mostly Emily. And Clint is sitting… right where he can observe them.

Or like, when having a wedding, the two of them are standing side by side… other than Clint standing right in the middle of them-- Seriously, what the fuck is up with th--

Anyway, it's sort of implied that along with the whole… Clint having a crush on Emily thing - that Shane is implied to be "that guy in the way", "that guy that girls prefer over nice guys", that sorta schtick… Because Shane is a bit gruff, and Clint is… in his own words, a nice guy.

So that got more and more gears turning. In the call, we slapped down some concepts on how the two would interact as friends and well… slowly it became more of a fascination of their relationship, escalating the thought… "It could work romantically…"

And now, about a week or so later, I have developed enough brain worms to create an au (mostly made up of random rambles on Discord) of these two being a couple. I went down the irony to sincerity pipeline…

I hope you've enjoyed this long ramble post--

[nonbinary-nahyuta]

Heads up I’ll be live-blogging 6-3 so if you want to avoid soj spoilers at all I tag it as aa6 and also aa6 spoilers anyway thoughts about 6-2 under the cut

First off, I’m so glad we got to see Trucy in her element! This case is exactly what the waa needed, an Apollo & Athena team focused on helping Trucy while Phoenix is off in Khura’in. Plus learning more about the Gramaryes was really nice too (even if it does feel a bit invented and contrived but hey it’s ace attorney I’m used to that by now)! I loved the de Famme twins, their names are the perfect puns (those umbrellas are super clever too) and Bonny learning to stand up for herself and take inspiration from Trucy just goes to show how much she influences everyone she interacts with.

Speaking of Trucy, seeing her constant smile slip and her actually cry was so… not nice because she was sad but releasing? Satisfying? I wish we got to see this bigger range of emotions from her. The Gramarye creed that she follows so closely is doing a number on her ability to express her emotions (think Donald and Goofy in Kingdom Hearts constantly grilling into Sora that he needs to smile, then apply that to the words of a revered biological family member). Then again anything Gramarye-related is going to give me brainrot so

Speaking of the Gramaryes, the flowers from Lamiroir are going to make me cry every time I think about them Retinz as a character makes my blood boil in the best way possible. I’m so impressed that they wrote a character that’s not only fun to hate, but also has (imo and this might just be recency bias) the best breakdown in the series so far as he tries to burn away his memories/ties to the Gramaryes and ends up burning himself in the process. Of course, I saw the twist from a mile away but it was fun nonetheless (I honestly thought he was going to be [redacted] as well and was like “wait they revealed him this early” but once I found out he was a magician it debunked my theory so.) I heard a snippet of his character theme in a video once and desperately wanted to listen to it in full, and now that I’ve played the case I can confidently say only the first bar does it for me, the rest is too subdued tbh

It was great to see Ema again too, especially now that she’s a full-fledged forensic investigator and can, in her own words, “freely take fingerprints whenever she wants”. I’m glad she retained her Snackoos and her model animations like her swaying when she’s thinking add so much character that the 2d sprites just couldn’t capture! Her interactions (or lack thereof since she’s so focused on her job) with Athena and Apollo are wonderful, and her weird needs-to-be-professional-but-the-other-person-is-in-a-higher-position-than-you-and-doesn’t-seem-to-want-anything-to-do-with-you relationship with the prosecutor is extremely interesting.

SPEAKING OF NAHYUTA I’m so happy to finally see my blog’s namesake onscreen! I knew I was gonna love him from the moment I saw him (also forgive if I accidentally use they for him, I saw that he was originally going to use neutral language and kinda ran with the idea which is how I got the blog name in the first place lmao). But how to express my deep love of this Khura’inist monk and international prosecutor who stood in line for an hour waiting for burgers (recommending a specific one in court without being promoted even) just because he delved deep into investigating a case and calls his childhood friend a stink bug and a red pepper just to rile him up?

Exactly like that. He seems so untouchable, but he’s endlessly fascinating and fascinated and in touch with himself and humanized despite intentionally projecting a persona of intense piety (Last Rites Prosecutor anyone) in that he’s almost overly passionate about whatever he throws himself into and intensely curious about Japanese/Japanifornian culture to the point where he’d probably use a case as an excuse to experience all the locals have to offer (which might also be related to his being an international prosecutor).

However, his interactions with his ol’ pal Apollo outside the courtroom are (and will probably be) the most interesting to me. As you can tell, I’ve been spoiled on the nature of their relationship but the game definitely leaves its hints so I’m not really going to call it something super spoilery per se. I’m excited to see just how well Apollo takes Nahyuta “not remembering” him and I’ve already thought about it way too hard so I’m gonna be severely disappointed when what’s in the game isn’t as dramatic as I’d imagined but such is the way of mediocre media with a ton of potential. Whether or not Nahyuta actually remembers Apollo or not remains to be seen and if it’s the first then that adds SO much more drama so it’s kinda what I’m hoping for ngl. That being said, idk if he’s my favorite prosecutor quite yet considering I haven’t spent much time with him, but he’s definitely in the running behind Franziska (especially after playing the Investigations duology) , Klavier, and Simon. Guess I’ll see how the rest of the game goes and make my judgements after the fact. And yes I’m going to be playing the shitty Larry dlc case because of course I am I wanna see Laurice again (especially after aai2-3).

[dnpanimationstudioclone]

How Sidney Died

Made a backstory for my rewrite Sidney Pointdexter on how he died. Warning, it’s really dark. Mentions of suicide, violence and death.

Sidney- How do you think I died specifically?

Danny- They said you were “bullied to death”. I assumed you…

Sidney- Took my own life?

Danny- Y-yeah. I didn’t ask cause I didn’t want to upset you.

Sidney- That was the original plan actually. Well I wouldn’t really call it a plan. I was just at my breaking point of being bullied, I felt so alone, so tired, I didn’t think anyone cared about me, let alone would miss me. I wondered if everyone was better off without me. Then I realized "what did I do!?", "Why should I be gone!?" I never hurt anyone or was a jerk, not like them! Why should I feel like I should have to fit in with those jerks!? Why should people like me or you be mistreated while people like HIM get to live their lives, destroying everyone else's with no consequences!? So I decided that perhaps he should be taken care of and in the process, all those other pests that picked on me.

Danny- You were going to ki-

Sidney- No! I mean, that wasn't what I-I want...

It was a simple enough plan. I took some insecticide my mom used to take care of bugs in the house, put it into a glass cola bottle, hid the bottle in my locker and when no was paying attention, sneak it into his drink or something and-and...

My plan wasn’t really to kill him. I figured he’d just get really sick or hurt. I just wanted to shake them up a bit, put them in my shoes, see how they like to feel scared, to feel like helpless prey, this time at my mercy. I knew it could’ve been worse but I didn’t care. I just wanted to get back at him! Make him feel what it’s like to be hurt! But like you, I-I…

I just couldn’t go through with it. I was just staring at myself in the locker trying to figure out if I really should. Before I could do anything else, that’s when he showed up and shoved me into my locker like he usually did. What he and I didn’t realize was when he pushed me in, it also pushed in the insecticide, right into my mirror, breaking the bottle.

Danny beings to piece things together, his eyes widen.

Sidney- I tried to get out but he seemed to push the door well in and because of the small space as well as me not the strongest, I couldn’t make it budge. I began to panic. In the process I accidentally cut myself from the broken mirror glass. And well I won't go into details but I think you can imagine what would happen to someone when they’re in a confined space filled with broken glass and poisonous insecticide. By the time help came to get me out it was too late for me.

Danny-Oh Sid, I’m so sorry.

Sidney-Sighs. For years I blamed and resented him for causing my death, I still do a bit, but at the same time, I basically tried to bring a gun to a knife fight and got pushed right into the trigger. I pushed everything inside me until it all broke out and made me almost kill someone! He could've ended up like I did and I'd be spending the rest of my life dealing with being a murder-stops his sentence and begins to tear up.

I-I know there could’ve been a better way, or atleast I didn’t need to use something as extreme as insecticide, but at the time I was just so far gone and so angry I ended up destroying my life. And worse I almost put you through the same thing. I’m so sorry Danny, you were right.

Revenge really can destroy you.

This is my Sidney this is based on as well as ep:

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/dnpanimationstudioclone/688093503095521280?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/dnpanimationstudioclone/687345099875680256?source=share

What do you think? I’d love to know💖

[tarysande]

Oh no, I've been thinking.

Okay, I can't stop thinking about something ending-related. I don't know this for certain, but based on previous statements and such, it feels like the writers were always aiming for a bittersweet ending. Like, no matter what else happened or how the story evolved, come hell (lol) or high water, that ending couldn't just be happy. For reasons. I guess.

Now, I don't mind a bittersweet ending ... if it makes sense for the ending to be bittersweet.

I critique stories for a living. I'm literally taking a break from the developmental edit of someone's novel to write this post. And the persistent thought that bugs me about the Rory setup is that it is so artificial. Time travel is a pain in the narrative ass. Time travel suddenly introduced in the sixth season of a show that has never touched on time travel? As an editor, I probably would've pointed out that time travel for the purpose of angst, especially time travel without rules that make sense ("I don't know anything about time travel! Except I do know you have to take the most painful path!"), seemingly introduced as a final ploy to make that bittersweet ending work ... well, to me, it breaks the narrative contract they established with the audience. Your audience is going to be confused. An editor's job is to alert the writer to any potential confusion so it can be fixed before the story goes to print, etc. Confused audiences get mad, annoyed, frustrated. They feel hurt. They put down the book and don't pick it up again. Usually, writers don't want that. But they're so close to their work that they need a completely outside perspective to say, "Hey, I'm not sure you realize this, but..."

I mean, I keep referring to Rory as "deus ex daughter" because in literary terms, she is a blatant deus ex machina. Rory is the god in the machine of the Bittersweet Ending.

Now, I loved a lot of S6. I did. My overall feeling about the season is not negative. But ... I can't stop thinking about why the things I didn't like REALLY didn't work for me.

I loved the emotional growth we saw in Lucifer and Chloe facilitated by the question of parenting and parental love. I did. And I would have loved to see a lot of those notes hit not with an angel kid out of nowhere ... but with the daughter already in the picture. Especially because it would have circumvented the icky idea that a child has to be one's flesh and blood to induce such feelings. I also understand that coronavirus and Scarlett's age and schedule made this difficult. But I just can't swallow that the only way to wrap up the story of this show--a show about found family, non-traditional family, friendship, connection, FREE WILL, love in all its many shapes and forms and colors ... was to introduce a brand new character via a device (time travel) that fails to make sense almost every time it's used, no matter the medium. (And then had only that brand new character be there when her mother died. Don't even get me started. Ugh.)

If time travel was always going to be on the table, couldn't we have found a more plausible way to use it with the characters we already knew, loved, and had spent four or five seasons with? A time-travelling older Trixie, say? If you're going to use the impossible device, just ... twist it another way to make it work.

Okay. Okay. So, leaving Trixie aside for now just like the show did, let's say we leave everything about the season the same, even Rory. Do you know what ending makes more narrative sense?

Future Rory sacrificing herself by NOT forcing Lucifer to make a cruel and impossible "choice" so the baby that might have been her grows up with a family that loves her. Chloe's already pregnant. That's not going to be undone. And this nonsense of a "closed time loop" falls apart if you side-eye it for even a few seconds. The Rory who came from the future never exists except in the memories of those she met when she came back from that future. Chloe and Lucifer lose that daughter even as they gain the new one whose existence is not a tool of unrelenting fate because wow this show has always been about free will what the heck happened there yikes. And a choice made under the duress Chloe and Lucifer were under, forced out of them, and forcing them to "choose" a life apart for *handwave* Reasons has nothing to do with free will. A "choice" made at gunpoint is not a real choice. Future Rory basically bullied them into ensuring she got to exist--something, quite frankly, neither her parents would have done.

Instead, how much more appropriately bittersweet is it if Chloe and Lucifer lose that child while gaining one who, because of that angry time-travelling version, will never suffer as she did.

Also as an editor: the groundwork for my version is already laid, by the way. It should have been Rory learning about the importance of free will over fate. The importance of personal sacrifice. The importance of not thinking your young self knows best ... because experience and therapy will help rid you of that self-centered world view. That's the contract the writers made with us with this show. And Chloe and Lucifer have already BEEN THERE AND DONE THAT. (See: the end of S4.)

Furthermore, this season finally HAD Chloe and Lucifer DEAL WITH the only thing that actually would have contributed to a narrative, characterization-based reason for Lucifer to disappear: His history of running and his putting Chloe on a pedestal. Once they really talked that out, his "disappearance" became a Rory-induced trauma of inexplicable fate that flies in the face of all the progress Lucifer made over six seasons. (I would rather have had more of that and less of mysterious disappearing oh no plot.)

And I'm sorry, the "Once you get to Hell you're going to work 24/7" excuse given for why Lucifer won't be around and why he can't make time for Chloe until she's DEAD(????!???) is ... it's lame. If AMENADIEL AS GOD can make time for his kid's birthday party, I refuse to believe Lucifer can't work out some Hell/Earth-work/life balance. Never mind that in the show about partnerships, the Bittersweet Ending just ... destroyed it. Chloe was planning on being God's consultant; she could have helped Lucifer solve Hell's Trauma Mysteries (it's what she did with Jimmy, setting up that yeah, Lucifer could do it alone like he accidentally did with Lee, but doing it with HIS TRUTHSEEKING PARTNER would be more effective). Just as Lucifer could have continued helping HER solve some of the problems within "that corrupt little organization" of hers.

tl;dr: I think the writers fixated so completely on their version of Bittersweet that they missed all the foreshadowing, groundwork, and clues that were right there, already built into the story, poised for a different kind of ending than the one they once imagined. That's why so many parts of it feel almost-but-not-quite right and why these aspects are so off-putting. That's why it's just not ... organic. It's something squeezed into a box it grew out of ages ago.

Ironically, certain elements of this season involved the writers insisting on the FATE they decided long ago instead of letting the story and the characters have the FREE WILL to choose a different, more fitting, more organic ending--one that had long-since evolved past that original flavor of Bittersweet.

[rainydaydream-gal18]

(The Bad Batch) Camping: Crosshair’s Ending

  Intro

    “I guess I’ll follow Crosshair,” you said.  The sharpshooter hadn’t heard your statement.  He was already on his way toward the edge of the clearing, crossing over into the woods.  

   Omega nudged you with her elbow.  “You’d better hurry, or you’ll miss him!”

   You hesitated.  “I don’t know.  He didn’t wait around for anyone to go with.  Maybe he wants to be alone.”

   “No,” she insisted with a shake of her head, blonde locks waving.  “Trust me, he won’t mind you going.  He likes your company.”

   You had to admit that he wasn’t as abrasive with you as he once had been.  Over time, the sudden snaps and sarcastic comments had died down.  He even showed subtle signs that he cared for you as a member of the team and family in his own little way.  Your feelings for him had grown beyond what you could have imagined in that time.  You didn’t expect for them to be returned, but at the very least, Crosshair didn’t seem to mind you.

   “Hurry!”  Omega urged again, giving you another nudge.  Crosshair had already disappeared into the forest, but he most likely hadn’t gotten far.  You shrugged at Omega before taking off for the edge of the clearing.

   “Here goes nothing,” you muttered to yourself.  A twig snapped beneath your shoe as you stepped out of the bright open clearing and into the shady, cool woods.  It was beautiful.  The trees above created a sort of canopy, only allowing for smaller patches of sunlight to shine through.  Everything was so green, and the air smelled so sweet.  The brush was thick and difficult to get through even though you were following Crosshair’s trail.

   You looked straight ahead to see him standing there several feet away, twisted around to peer at you over his shoulder.  You offered a smile and waved despite the fact that your leg was caught in a bush.  If he was surprised to see you, he didn’t show it.  His gaze swept over you for a moment before he approached.

   “Hey,” you greeted.

   Crosshair’s eyes met yours briefly.  “Hey.”  He extended his hand and pulled you forward so that you could remove your leg from the brush.  It was done swiftly and with ease.  Once you were free, you dusted yourself off and looked up at him.

   “Thanks.  Do you mind if I walk with you?”

   Crosshair turned his body in the direction he’d been walking in before, peering at you over his shoulder once more.  “Do what you want.”  It was well known that he wasn’t the most wordy or expressive.  That phrase was his way of an open invitation.

   You were watching where you walked, but your gaze was also drawn to the one who led the way through the dense woods.  You studied him as if somehow it would give you insight to what was going on in that mind of his.  He didn’t speak for some time.  Your eyes rested on the back of his head of silver hair, traveling down his form and pausing at his arms.  They were left exposed by his sleeveless blue shirt that faded into darker blue further down the torso.  He definitely wasn’t built like Wrecker, but his arms weren’t noodles either.  His lean form held an impressive strength.  You’d witnessed it on the battlefield many times, and even more recently, he demonstrated it when he had snapped the tent pieces back into place in front of you and handed them back.  It had been done swiftly and with ease, whereas it had taken you and Omega both to do it the first time.

   “What?”

   You snapped out of your train of thought at his question.  “Uh, what?”

   “You were staring.”

   Of course, those keen eyes of his didn’t miss a thing.  It was handy when it came to taking out droids, but at that moment, it was unfortunate.

   “Sorry.  I was just thinking.”

   He stepped over a bush and paused, turning to hold out an open hand towards you.  You hesitantly took it, and he helped you over the plant.  “About what?” he asked.  It wasn’t meant to be nosy or demanding.  It seemed he was trying to start a conversation, which was a rare but not entirely unheard of occurrence for him.  At least, not with you these days.

   Your heart was thumping erratically at that point, racking your brain for something to say other than “I was thinking about you.”  Although, you didn’t want to lie either.  “I was just thinking how nice the sights are here.”  It was true.  Crosshair just happened to be one of the sights that you admired.

   “It is nice,” he agreed, pausing to cast an admiring glance at the canopy of trees above.  The leaves created lovely patterned shadows on his face.  You followed his gaze and sighed at how your chest swelled with happiness.  The air was warm, but not quite as blistering hot as it was in the sunny clearing.  The shade held a different kind of quiet intensity, a tension that was still so beautiful to you.

   Your eyes fell back to Crosshair.  The corner of his mouth was turned up in a half-smile at the view.  He noticed then that you were watching him, and he turned his head to look back at you fully.

   “Have you and the squad done this before?” you asked.  “Gone camping?”

   “We’ve camped out for missions,” he replied.  “Never did it for fun.”

  “Technically, Hunter originally told us that this was for team-building.”

   “Funny, he’s the one who let everyone wander off in separate directions.”

   You chuckled at the realization.  “That’s true.  Well, maybe this is part of team-building in the end.  We negotiated an effective way for everyone to do what they want.  I’d say that was a good problem-solving exercise.”

   Crosshair shook his head.  “Good one.”

   The two of you continued through the forest, talking a little along the way.  It wasn’t exactly a chatter-filled walk, but it was probably the most you and Crosshair had opened up to each other.  He told you a few stories about the squad’s past experiences camping out.  There was one in particular about how Wrecker heaved a rock and accidentally knocked over a hive of bees that Crosshair even smirked at.  Fortunately, Wrecker had escaped without getting stung, but he had run off yelling and swatting his hands around.

   You weren’t sure how long you and Crosshair had been out, but it was definitely past lunchtime.  You hardly noticed.  You were having such a nice time with him that the time flew.

   “We should turn around,” you spoke up.  “The others are probably having lunch now.”  Crosshair paused and nodded before turning straight around and heading back the way you came.

   Even as late as it was, It still seemed a little too early for the sky behind the trees to be darkening as much as it did.  The air had grown humid, and the bird chirping had ceased.  The woods had gone from delightfully shady to nearly sunless and dreary.  You walked closer to the sharpshooter, though not so close that you’d step on his heels by accident.

   Then, you heard the pitter-patter of rain beginning to fall on the greenery around you.  It started off as a trickle before gradually morphing into a downpour.  It was so heavy that even the trees didn’t shield you from the drops that soaked your clothes.

   You felt a hand take yours, and you squinted through the rain to see Crosshair urging you to follow.  You let him lead you toward a large tree that had been uprooted.  It leaned against another tree, creating a spot beneath it untouched by the rainfall.

   You rested your back against the upright trunk, panting from the sudden dash.  Crosshair ran a hand through his damp hair and shook some drops from his face.

   “When it lets up, we’ll keep going,” he said.  Both of you stared out into the rainy haze in silence.  You wondered how long it would be before it would subside.  You were glad to have a shelter of sorts, but you were starting to shiver in your soaked clothes.  Crosshair’s eyes locked on you.  He gazed at you, and despite your chill, your face grew warm under his quiet scrutiny.  Finally, he walked over to stand right in front of you.

   “Cold?” he drawled.

   Your words abandoned you at the proximity, so you merely gave a short nod.  Crosshair was just as soaked as you were, but the arm that slipped around you still provided some comfort.  You automatically leaned into him, pressing your face against his bare shoulder which was already warming back up.  His other arm wrapped around your form, and you breathed a sigh as you sank into the contact even more.

   You lost yourself in the rise and fall of his chest as well as the steady thrum of his heart.  It was a melody that you were sure would play itself over and over in your mind after the encounter.  You didn’t even want to think about the after.  You didn’t want this to end.  Your arms had slipped around his waist, and his breath hitched.  You lifted your head to meet his gaze, concerned that perhaps you’d overstepped, but then his eyes locked on yours.

   It was like the bug caught in a spider’s web that caught your eye earlier as you passed through the forest.  You were trapped by those piercing eyes as his face grew closer, though you didn’t feel like the prey you’d seen before.  You weren’t struggling to escape.  You were drawn in.

   And suddenly, his warm lips were pressed to your own.  His grip on you tightened, and you felt like you’d melt into a puddle if it weren’t for his arms holding you.  All at once, something exploded in your chest, and your lips pulled away only to unite again in a more heated dance.  Your back hit the tree trunk behind you, and Crosshair grunted an apology.  His lips met yours again before he pulled away altogether, eyes glinting.

   “Rain stopped,” he said, running a thumb along your jaw.  You didn’t tear your eyes from his to confirm, only noted that the sound had subsided.

   “We’d better head back then,” you replied.

   Neither of you moved for several seconds.  Eventually, both of you were able to pull away, though his hand didn’t let go of yours, and continued your trek back to the campsite.  The walk back was quiet, though you found yourself meeting Crosshair’s gaze many times.  There wasn’t room for embarrassment because he was almost always staring at you first.  Even though there was a bit of a hurry to get back to the campsite before it rained again, you enjoyed every second.