#and possibly layout cuz i don’t like it

[komorim]

finally finished my masterlist. i’ll start writing soon. i think :x

[rorichuu]

raaah! i love your acc layout /gen omg >:O !!

anyway, if it’s not too much to ask for could i request sniper x fem(or gn) reader who’s basically miss paulings assistant? (lol the asisstants-asisstant), like miss pauling is out of work one day and reader takes her place ^^

thanks sm! it can be hc’s, or a fic or like, whatever u want basically cuz i think it’s a pretty complicated req :’) it’s 100% okay if you can’t complete the req/don’t feel comfortable doing so :D

close eye — sniper x assistant!reader

pairing: sniper x fem!reader

authors note: omg hello! and thank you so much! :D this is such a fun request, i seriously loved writing this! also omg this might be a bit jumbled cuz it's 2:51 AM heheh so please bear with me :) — thank you for the request, friend!

disclaimer: none besides the use of sniper's real name (mick, mundy, etc.)! enjoy!

when you were introduced by miss pauling right before she had to leave was pretty brief.

she's a busy woman! and you accepted the temporary position happily!

but as you greeted everyone, one man stayed behind; observing.

as curious as you were, you tried to advance, but was sorely interrupted by a chatty scout.

as politely as you could, you tried to pry from the conversation, only to find the tall new zealander to be far gone.

with a defeated huff, you began the day as you previously intended.

honestly, this man is kinda nervous around you in some sorts.

he probably hasn't interacted with a woman outside of miss pauling (merely because of his job, he's obviously greeted women before)

but as much as he had thought of coming up to you, he always kinda of scurried away before you could catch sight of him

a little nervous and very skeptical...

.

.

.

The horrid sun beat down on your skin as you frustratingly looked through the papers clipped on Miss Pauling's board. You were biting your lip in concentration to finally catch what you were looking for. "Aha!" You exclaim in victory. You look up, eyes immediately squinting at your forgetfulness. You held the clipboard with one hand as the other lifted to your forehead to dismiss the sun the best you could, to finally catch sight of Sniper's van. "Can't hide from me..." You whisper to yourself before you march over.

You come to a stop at the van door, lifting your hand to raise a loud knocking sound to catch his attention. You waited patiently before hearing the sound of his boots hitting against the paved wood. You were then greeted by the man's presence. His eyebrows furrowed, lips forming a thin line in observation of your awaiting figure. His red sleeves were rolled up, one hand on the door handle, the other on the door frame. Sniper leaned out, his figure shadowing yours as he waited expectantly. "Yes?" His voice spoke low, informing you he had possibly just woken up from a nap.

You caught yourself staring, cheeks flushed red at his ruffled hair and button-down shirt. (Although, it could very well be the heat...) You clear your throat. "Yes! I know we haven't properly met... but I have a job that requires you," You said, noticing the man sending you a curt nod. "Uhm, right. And, of course, these are all confirmed by Miss Pauling! I'm simply her messenger and advisor for the day." You happily said, lifting the mood as the man took in your words. With a small acknowledged hum, his arm begun to pull back; and the door then closed.

"Sure, mate." Bam.

? ? ?

"What?" You muttered out, stepping back a bit before looking around rapidly. What just happened!? "M-Mr. Mundy! I haven't even explained what the job pertains to!" You tried to reason, but as time slowly started to slip by, he gave you zero sign that he was interested.

⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀. 3 hours after y/n's introductions .

Sniper held his gun close as he observed you quietly. With one eye shut and the other following you.

Sniper was admittedly suspicious.

Of course, Miss Pauling had directly introduced you to everyone... but occasions like this were rare. So he did what no other merc even considered doing.

He observed your every move.

Sniper's lip curled in a small scowl, ripping away from his scope as he noticed you chatting away with Medic over some job, he was sure. Now listen, Sniper wasn't trying to find some dirt on you, he was just cautious. He had to be! That's what part of his job entailed! But your bubbly presence made it hard to suspect you. Desperately, he tried to let it go. But he couldn't help but have his mind think about just you.

Why couldn't he stop thinking about you?

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀. the present .

"Mister Mundy, if you don't take this job, Miss Pauling will be quite upset with the both of us! God forbid the administrator gets involved... Ugh, Sniper get out here right now!" Of course, this didn't work. Sniper was snickering in his van as he leaned against his seat near the door. His arms were crossed and one leg lay limp on his knee. Mick wore a cocky smile that left you raising your hand and bickering with a shut door, this was quite entertaining.

You huff, hand resting on the top of your head now as you admit defeat. The sun began to drunken your mind as you swayed slightly, leaning against the vehicle, you began to fan yourself with the clipboard. You just accepted the fact you may get in trouble with this.

... Slowly, time passed, it had been a short minute that Sniper began to grow suspicious of the sudden quietness that lurked outside his door. He then heard a small thump and a sliding noise erupt from beyond the wall he sat against. He began to stand, hand now wrapped against the handle as he leaned outside to find the sun taking it's unruly toll on you. "Mind if I come in?"

"Yeah yeah, don't kill yourself out here, mate..."

While his thick accent invited you in, begrudgingly, you nearly ran inside with how fast you wanted to escape the unforgiving heat. He looked over his shoulder to find you faced directly in front of his fan, watching you slump thankfully against the breeze. He scoffed, grabbing two mugs to start a new coffee pot.

"The job," this had caught your attention immediately. "Tell me about it." With a low rumble of his voice, you found yourself watching his back as he grabbed coffee beans and his small machine... which lay in the back of his remote kitchen. Your eyes lit up in clear relief.

"Mhm, right, of course," You cleared your throat, remaining professional the best you could. "There's obvious suspicion up in Teufort... you and the others are needed to scope the enemy in hopes of eliminating any future advances." You snicker. Sniper turns around.

"Was that... a pun?"

"Perhaps."

"Cripes..." Sniper's lips fall into a small smile, turning back to aid to the coffee before walking back over. "Drink." He replies shortly, hand out while he offers the hot coffee. You take it before he leans back and sits right where he was before. You take it graciously after you thank him.

The van keeps quiet for a while, a comfortable silence as you made some notes and read the rest of Miss Pauling's clipboard. "You done then?" Your ears twitch at the sudden sound, you take a second to respond.

"Pardon?" You turn, facing him as your eyes follow up to his. He's looking down at his mug before maintaining eye-contact with you.

"After this. You're gone?" This time his question is much more clear. You can tell Sniper doesn't like eye contact, keeping his space and eyes wandering. You notice this. You let out a small huff.

"Ah, I'll be outta your hair before you know it." You joke, although your shoulders slump in a saddened way. Sniper looks at you in the corner of his eye before taking another slug of his coffee.

"Bummer..."

"Yes, I know. You'd best be celebrating soon- ... uh, hm?" Your head lifts from your papers to see the man swirling his mug before looking at you.

"I said bummer." He repeats himself before he's left getting another cup. You can feel your cheeks getting red... and you being. Very confused. Your hand twitches, almost losing your pen before regaining your composure. "They need'ja out there, best get goin', mate." He announced before turning around and leaning on his counter, looking at you over his mug. You flush once more.

"Right, I appreciate your time and patience, Sniper," you send a quick smile before brushing down your skirt and handing your mug over. "Thank you for the hospitality." You said quietly, nervous around the Australian. He takes it and nods. “See ya’ around miss.”

Taking that as your sign to leave, the click of your heels are soon echoed and left with a small click of his trailer door. Sniper looks at the handle for a while, anxious to see you again.

You were lovely company.

.

.

.

rorichuu!

[mkaroy]

THE AFTON FAMILY

sorry for being dead. i will continue to be dead becuz this took 48 HOURS.

as a treat i’m gonna infodump about my headcanons for a bit (read if you DARE)

so mrs afton isn’t pictured here because she was smart and left william, but william got full custody cause as we know, the fnaf government is VERY stupid and they apparently just love william. cc and michael both like their mother better because she was more patient and emotionally intelligent with the young boys, but elizabeth always favoured her father so she wasn’t complaining.

If it isn’t obvious, i don’t think william is a good parent. no matter how good of intentions you have, he had to be some kind of deranged for his sons death to lead to him being a serial killer, that doesn’t just HAPPEN. he particularly takes out his anger on michael because a) he feels more sympathy with the other two kids and b) michael has always challenged his father, he’s not scared of talking back or standing his ground (even if he gets hurt in the process). however despite this, michael still has a lot of love and respect for his father. as he gets older and as the accidents become worse and worse, through williams manipulation, michael basically works for him, trying to make things right again because he’s fully convinced everything was his fault (ALSO THANKS TO WILLIAM LOL)after he gets scooped he kinda puts it together that maybe his father never had the best intentions for him, and full of rage he does his thing and burns his father to the ground.

outside of william just being the worst to michael, making him a full time babysitter and whatnot, he’s not the kindest to the younger children either. elizabeth is easily the favourite because she tries to serve him as much as possible, but william is simply FAR too busy to care about that, so she gets pushed aside and neglected a lot. she doesn’t know why he’s doing these things so she just tries to be even more perfect, she urns for that attention in other places, i think that’s why she dolls herself up so much, because she loves the compliments she gets from mothers saying that she’s “just the cutest thing”. when her father finally shows her some love by making his specialty, an animatronic based off of her, she can’t help but be filled with excitement. I think as baby, she’s a lot more angry than she was before. she doesn’t understand why her father would do this to her and her anger is bigger than he child brain can comprehend, which is why she’s just so insanely mean in pizza sim and sister location, lashing out to michael and henry because she shouldn’t be an animatronic right now, she should be living her life free of this family. god i love elizabeth.

and then obviously cc, i think it’s a silly headcanon to imagine that william just forgot his name but remembered his initials but that’s mostly cuz i refuse to give him a name (btw all of you guys who put charlie or charlotte into his name are GENIUSES but i’m not you). he was really young when his parents actually separated, so he didn’t have much memory of his mother unfortunately. and ALSO unfortunately he was born with a fear of the animatronics, like how some kids are born with like an irrational fear of mascots of smth, that’s him. I think he was also the first one to die so his nightmares weren’t based off of elizabeth’s death. i also think that the fnaf 4 gameplay wasn’t cc because of MANY reasons (seriously guys look at the room layout…). but his irrational fear of the animatronics makes him almost constantly in tears, which michael obviously mocked. all the afton men were raised with the idea that boys shouldn’t show “feminine” emotions, which is why michael hated cc so much, because it wasn’t fair that he got to cry all the time with little to no repercussions and cc just couldn’t help himself whenever he cried. oh also in my headcanon he’s autistic, same with like most of the aftons, but he’s selectively mute and easily gets sensory overload, which is why meltdowns in the pizzeria were so common.

guys i love the aftons so much fill my asks with them if you wish i will answer ALL OF THEM (until the hyperfixation dies LMAO)

[silent-partner-412]

so when i played echoes, this map was the one that made me quit the game for good.

the combination of the swamp, the archers, the unending monsters coming from the canters, and the fact that all my units sucked ass and i didn’t have any pegasi other than est cuz i didn’t know where to get palla and catria meant this whole thing was a nightmare. it was the kind of thing that felt less like a fun challenge to overcome like a lot of other hard fire emblem maps, but rather an exercise in patience and frustration, and this came after dozens of maps that could be categorized as either completely boring and unremarkable, or nearly as frustrating as this one. i had enough, i put the game down for good and googled the rest of the story so i could understand what people were talking about in online discussions to a degree.

anyway, i just beat this map in sacred echoes and the most frustrating part about it was that mae and est kept missing attacks when i was trying to feed kills to them for their promotions. the game gives you the other pegasus sisters for free, so you can’t possibly not have access to them unless they die. they also give you a warp user for free, you don’t have to go back for him either. the canter spawns in a handful of powerful necrodragons every few turns instead of like six to eight flying demons all the goddamn time, meaning you don’t get swarmed with weak bitches and instead have to think about dealing with just a couple big and powerful enemies instead. my entire army just felt more powerful, and i could actually use all my units to deal with the enemies instead of not being able to damage anything with anybody other than saber. also, my leon was a bow knight and could destroy the archers with ease. it’s actually remarkable how much better of a time i had with this map, cuz the layout was almost exactly the same (i couldn’t find a map layout online so just take my word for it).

anyway this game eats the original echoes up. i’m actually gonna be able to beat this and see the end of the story for myself. kudos to the designers for this one, it’s truly incredible what they managed to do here. if this were an official game it would probably be among the best in the series because i have so little to complain about.

[snumelhp]

Honestly I miss how the editorials were in the late 90s to the early 2010s. I don’t know how to exactly explain it but it had a certain edge and creativity that we just don’t see that much these days. And back then you would look forward to looking at magazines and discovering what kind of brands you did like. I am curious though what are your possible thoughts on this subject?

O this was the perfect time for this ask cuz i just smoked. i feel like i’d have a lot to say about this but just gonna let my high thots out. the creativity was unmatched and pretty otherworldly. i think we are skewed by everything now having so much access especially with the sharings of social media and bts the fantasy now exists with large limitations which puts those limitations on where your mind can go and experience otherworldly thinking imo. obviously budget and the chase for cash and capitalism that has infiltrated every crevice assist as well. i think people were much more interested in taking the time and energy to create beautiful images and beautiful worlds without the blink of an eye at what it would cost which we in turn got to benefit from. i think it’s unfortunate so many young black and poc creatives were not able to experience the access we have now at a time like that when the world was frivolously spending money on/in fashion.

fashion editorial from that time were my textbooks and as the through and through visual learner that i am i learned almost everything from them. trained my eye for composition testing me on color theory some type of critical fashion vocabulary and language layout vs text. the discovering of brands and houses the different tiers that exist within the fashion umbrella.

on top of the fashion pleasures of getting to know models by name calling out the garments and knowing exactly what show and season it came from excited to see the next or newly discovered works by certain photographers and how the colors and lighting would be. that paired with Tim Guns style.com reviews it was such a fantasy and a feast that i just don’t feel anymore and i’m sure I’m not alone in that hence this anon

my love for editorials is at the very center of the core of all of it even down to the relationship i have with my brand… and this ended up being much longer than i intended :)

[totaldramafan-lauri]

OK.....so, I THOUGHT this would be miserable, and that I’d reach Ruler after switching back to normal Turf Wars. It took me a while to....not be disoriented with everything, and I actually start winning games. I told myself that I wouldn’t ragequit, and actually give it a chance...and I did.

And, I’m happy to say, that I DID have good games, and had just enough motivation to play the entire session in Tricolors.

I still don’t like the stage. It’s easily my least-favorite map in the game so far (I consider it separate from regular Gorge, which I like). Sure, it’s cute, it’s unique, and I like how they tried to even the playing field by giving the defenders an actual base, and the attackers and defenders equal space, but......I’m sorry, I just don’t enjoy it! First off, I had to use my Splatana the whole way though cuz there are no - ZERO - safe sniping perches there. THEN, there’s the fact that it’s disgustingly easy to get pinned to a base you only have ONE (1) PATH out of, and THEN, there’s how its encourages everyone to group together on this tiny point......Sure, it’s fun to unleash Ultra Stamps when multiple people are there, but....it’s also SUPER king-of-the-hill chaos, cuz if you get up there, you can practically see the entire stage!? And THAT’S not even a good sniping perch cuz that’s where the flipping signals spawn? And overall, it’s just SO SMALL-

I- it’s just REALLY chaotic....and if you like chaotic matches, sure, you might like it there. But me, being a stealth-focused player, found it hard to do much on my bad games.

But....well....I adapted. I got used to it.

For a while, I had a bad time playing there in both positions (due to, again, how easy it is to get stuck in base, so if I sucked even just once, I’d never recover). Then, as I kept playing, I started winning more.

At first (like, over half the session), my only real wins were on the defending team. For a good long while, I kept losing as an attacker. The only wins I got on the attacking team were second-place wins after willingly letting the other team get at least one signal and backing them up. That strategy was all I could count on cuz I had such little confidence in myself to play well. I knew Ultra Stamp was good there, so I leaned on that a lot and focused on just bullying.

But, in the last hour or so, I WAS able to get a few real attacking wins. Not many, but more than one. And each one was pretty hype! Keep in mind, that as an attacker, unless literally no one is nearby, I NEVER go for the signals. I’m not aggro enough of a player for that. So, in each of those matches, it was my teammate who got the signal (usually just one, but I think in ONE game we got them both) while I was....either splatting or getting splatted, and usually I wasn’t even nearby, so I’d FLIP OUT when the notice would pop up. XD So, I’m not taking credit for those lucky wins, but I still pulled my weight in my own way.

But yeah, MOST of my wins were defending. I’m not sure if that means that the defending team has an advantage on that map, or if it just has to do with my personal strengths. I’ve always had a preference for defending. Maybe a player who likes attacking more will have a different experience. The map seems to be trying to be as fair and balanced as possible, so I won’t say anything.

In the end, I was able to have some good games....but that’s despite the map, not because of it. I just adjusted. XD

Oh! And, one big upside to this - NO mirror matches at all! Wooooo!! Every single win mattered! SUCH a relief after last month....XD

So, yeah, that was my experience with my Tricolor binge. I MIGHT get on one final time to play some Pro, cuz I really do wanna try to win at least one 10x battle to make up for my losses yesterday, but I dunno if I will.

Also, PLEASE don’t get mad at me if you like this Tricolor map. If you do, then I’m really happy for you. I’m happy you got enjoyment out of something I didn’t. I WISH I could say that I loved having a unique layout like this. Trust me. I do acknowledge that my charger bias probably doesn’t help at all, but my experience itself just....wasn’t the best. It’s not the kinda map I like. That’s all. Feel free to disagree with me!

[mythgirlimagines]

DVHS Reread: Chapter I.IV

She hooks her pinkie around mine, just subtle enough that if anyone was paying attention, they wouldn't notice. I look up at her, hoping to see some of the confidence behind her eyes, but she's not looking at me. Her eyes are directed at the trial room. She's the first to step out of the elevator; I'm a close second. No delay to the inevitable.

This is one of the short scenes I wanted to draw as I was writing this, and it might eventually happen, but no promises haha

Something I realize quickly about the way the room is set up: it's easy to push the blame onto someone else. There's always someone to your side, right in front of you. Someone could look at you wrong and suddenly have the blame pushed solely on them. If tension builds and spills over, I'm afraid of what will happen. 

This is just something I noticed about the layout of the trial room that I liked, so I thought I’d give it a couple sentences here.

Monokuma glances at it only passively. "Well, why should he have to miss out on all the fun, just cuz he's dead?" He shrugs. "Plus, the podiums are bolted into the ground. It'd be a pain to move them any time one of you twerps kicked it."

This too

"Yoshida and I spent the night together." Oshiro says it so offhand that for a moment, I think I heard her wrong. "About an hour after the nighttime announcement, I had a nightmare, so I went to her room and asked if I could stay over with her."

Miyuki looks the same way I feel- exhausted and a few seconds away from facepalming. "And neither of you mentioned this while we were collecting alibis?"

Oshiro shrugs, looking between us with a faux-innocent look on her face. "You never asked where we were, just what we were doing. General, not specific."

This is actually one of the first pieces of evidence I thought up for this trial lol

"Look, asshole, we said we didn't do it! Who would want to aid in a murder anyway?" Yoshida shouts, slamming a fist on her podium. I wince; I've seen enough trial-based shows to know that getting angry only serves to degrade credibility.

And, unfortunately for her and Oshiro, Aoyama latches onto that, talking over the rest of us. "Getting defensive, are we? Basically admitting your involvement."

Oshiro's eyes darken, her pupils and irises nearly indistinguishable from each other from this distance. She speaks calmly and clearly, though the room seems to drop several degrees. It's like a storm is brewing around her, covering my arms in goosebumps as she talks. "Yoshida and I did not murder Matsumoto. Got it?"

"Besides, it's not like there was actually an accomplice this time." We all go silent. Monokuma looks up lazily as fifteen pairs of eyes land on him. "Did I say that out loud? Whoopsie."

All of the anger dissipates from Yoshida's visage, replaced with a mix of cautious relief and annoyance. "See? Told you. Prick."

Yoshida and Oshiro would’ve gotten away with a murder if they were accomplices change my mind. Maybe not this murder. But a murder.

"It tells us that whoever killed Matsumoto used both hands." Abe crosses his arms, drumming his fingers against his jacket sleeve. "Likely from a downward strike, where you can get more momentum. Anyone of any strength would be able to do it."

I saw a production of Twelve Angry Men around the time I was finishing and editing this chapter, which factored into some of the knowledge here.

"I think so. There are four major types of a locked room mystery." Abe counts them off on his fingers. "One: it was created from the outside after the crime was committed. The culprit would create a trick to seal the room from the outside. There are endless possibilities as to how. Two: it already existed prior to the murder. The culprit would target the victim from outside the locked room. This case likely doesn't fit there. The doors don't have a wide enough space for that to happen. Three: the culprit was still in the room when the lock was broken. Meaning, they hid, and then slipped into the crowd like they just showed up. Four: it wasn't a locked room to begin with. The room has a secret passage or a way for the culprit to escape. This one is highly improbable in real life, though it shows up a lot in novels."

I think I understand all of that. "You really know a lot about murder, don't you?" Aoyama asks, looking both impressed and highly suspicious. Mostly the latter. "Doesn't seem to have a lot to do with history, wouldn't you say?"

Something in Abe's eyes darkens. He shifts his gaze down, no longer looking at us. "I'm just reciting what I've read before. And besides, that's not our problem right now."

Throwback to DR 1.4, as well as some foreshadowing

"Where does this take us, though?" Oshiro asks, brushing her own pinned hair back with a hand. The bobby pins she's wearing alternate black and metallic purple. 

Reason #6378 I need to read my own writing: I keep drawing her with silver and purple bobby pins

Buttons push out from a compartment in our podiums that I didn't notice before. There's one for each of us, little pixelated versions of us. 

Me also wondering and conceptualizing how voting is done

~Just a Trim~

One of my friends helped me name this execution!

As each decoy passes, he whizzes around them, creating elaborate hairstyles. I don't really know the technical names for them. A fluffed, feather look. A spiked hairdo. A pompadour. A bowl-cut, with one spike sticking up. Extra feathery, like a lion's mane. He does the same thing as Rikimaru passes, all on her and quicker in succession. Drills. A ponytail. Pigtails, with little hair ornaments. Braids. He's working so hard he's sweating.

The decoys that passed through before her start to turn an angry red. Abe's eyes widen. "Look away!"

We do as he says. How can we not? He sounds so horrified, so desperate. I didn't think I'd ever hear him like that. I shield my eyes just in time, my muscles tensing as a blast blows my hair back. It's hot, making my clothes stick to my skin. By the time I open my eyes again, there's nothing left but a few meager flames and Monokuma with a wide broom, brushing hairs into a little pile.

And this is a reference to one of Syo’s moves in DR:AE. Fun fact, I had to look through at least three different playthroughs to find it. At one point I thought I just imagined it.

I get my answer soon. "-ello?" a loud voice calls. With so much static, I can't tell if the person speaking is male or female. Actually, I can't tell much, especially not what they're trying to say. "We- to h- try to- calm!" The person speaking mumbles then, nearly indistinguishable, before trying again. "We- back- more!"

I loved having these PA segments :)

I settle in on my bed, beckoning for her to come with me. I'm braced against the headboard, kind of, slipping down slowly. She lays next to me, her head resting on my shoulder. As I start reading aloud, she follows along as best as she can. "En un lugar de La Mancha, de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme…"

I’d finished reading Don Quijote in 11th grade Spanish not even a full year before writing that section. I did have to google the opening, though, since I didn’t have the actual book anymore.

"I'll just have to do better. I have to."

"Nobody else needs to die."

These little sections at the end of each arc were really fun, too!

[kirishwima]

****

"...Kenma's coming over"

"He WHAT?!"

Lev, whose  head was resting in your lap, a bag of cheetos on his belly that he'd let cover his black tee with orange dust, wasted no time in jumping up, eyes wide with shock, cheetos be damned-much to your dismay.

"Clean that up" you asked with a sigh as he bent down to grab the snacks that had been now scattered across your living room's carpet, "and...yeah. He just texted me asking if we could talk."

"Oh I'm giving that bastard a piece of my mind that-that-idiot!" he huffed, jumping up from the couch with a frown, wiping his hands on his shirt.

"No, Lev-I...I'll need you to go. I have to talk to him on my own, clear things up."

He held your gaze for a long moment, a silent competition-until he sighed, nodding, bending down to cup your cheeks between his large palms.

"If he gives you any trouble Y/N, if he's being mean or anything-you call me and I'll come throw him out a window! And break his playstation!"

He pretended to huff when you giggled, but you could see the smile on his lips, his triumphant stand as he straightened back up.

"You've been hanging out with Yuu and Ryo way too much" you said, getting up and following him to the door as he got ready to go.

"...are you really gonna be ok?" he asked one last time, standing awkwardly besides the door.

You appreciated it, the way your friends cared for you so much-how sweet, gentle giant Lev would willingly throw hands with someone if it's to keep you safe, even if he's never even hurt a fly.

"I'll have to be", you decided, squaring your shoulders-fake it 'till you make it, isn't that what they say? "My relationship with him...it's already ruined. At least I can tell him what's been on my mind with no fear of consequence now".

Lev nodded, still uncertain-but he trusted you and your decisions, you knew he did. So with one last hug and a bid of goodbyes he left, the thud of the door behind him deafening in your now quiet apartment.

And now, being alone...you couldn't help it. The way your gut clenched, bile rising up to your throat. Your breath hitched thinking of all the possible scenarios, of the words you were about to speak, the secret you've been holding onto for dear life soon to be shared with the one person you thought it never would.

It took all of your willpower to simply head to the kitchen, to sip on a glass of water as you waited, mind whirling, the clock not ticking fast enough-until the fated knock on the door came, timid, quiet-not how one expects a life-turning event to begin.

The face that greeted you as you opened up was a hollow one-Kenma was never an overly-expressive sort but right now...he was blank, eyes reddened, the bags beneath them puffy and dark.

He hung his head low, refusing to look at you as you greeted him, his steps slow, cautious as he entered your apartment-as if this wasn't the millionth time he'd been here, as if he didn't know the layout and where you kept what better than you did sometimes.

You nodded to the kitchen, saying you'd pour him some water first-you know him, know he's probably been neglecting himself, has probably not had a sip of water in days, relying on junk and sodas. You wanted to be mad, to not care-but how could you?

He followed you without a word, standing across the counter as you pushed a cup in his hands, waiting quietly until he took a few sips-carefully considering the next words that'd come out of your mouth.

"I'm-"

"I-"

You both started and stopped, looking wide eyed at one another. He hid into his hoodie, taking a deep breath before trying to speak back up-but you simply shook your head, bringing a palm up to stop him.

"Wait-Sorry, just...let me go first, before I lose the guts to. Yeah?"

He nodded, slow and curious.

And so...it was time to get the cat out of the bag. With a deep breath, you let your eyes focus onto the countertop, at your own shaky fingers.

"We...we've been friends for years now, and being your friend-it definitely had it's ups and downs" you laughed, a quiet bitter thing, "You're not always the easiest person to get along with."

You refused to look at his face, but knew he was probably nodding along, maybe hiding his face into his hoodie-but you had no time to comfort him, had to carry on.

"Yet the more I got to know you...the closer we got I couldn't help but realise how kind you really are. You're so funny, real sarcastic at times, but you're genuine, you care for others so much even if you don't show it with words- Kenma, I never once felt like I had to act like anything but myself around you. You...made me feel safe"

You took sighed, eyes shut.

"It's no wonder I fell in love with you."

You heard his sharp intake of breath, making your gut churn.

"I know-I know telling you will just ruin what we had but...it's already in the gutter isn't it? Guess I might as well just-"

Your eyes met his face for a brief moment-enough to make you falter.

He-he was crying?!

Kenma's hands rubbed furiously at his eyes, refusing to look at you as he tried to compose himself.

"Woah hey-Kenma?!"

You reached for him but he shook his head, shoulders trembling.

"I-Tsukishima?!" was all he managed to say.

You sighed, shrugged your shoulders.

"I had to find a way to get these feelings towards you to stop growing. I did like Tsukki, back when I first met him-but it wasn't love. I couldn't lie to myself, not about this."

He didn't say anything. Didn't even look in your general direction, his face tilted away-body tense like a coil ready to snap.

You wanted to do something, anything to soothe him-but what? How could you help when you're the one that caused this?

Tentatively you walked across the counter, nearing where he sat on the barstool-put your hands on his arms, squeezed-to be frank, you had no idea what to do, what you were doing.

"-too"

You hummed, looking at his face, hidden beneath his sleeves.

"Me too. I love you too-"

That...wasn't what you expected. Your mind tried to catch up to what he was saying, hands falling to your sides but Kenma was quick, grabbing a hold of you, bringing you into his embrace-it was awkward, his arms dug into your back, his head pushed against your chest from where he sat on the stool.

Did you really hear that right?

"I love you-I love you I didn’t know what to do, I just realised it and my brain was a mess Y/N-"

He took a shaky wet breath, pulling away to face you-for the first time tonight, you locked eyes. Despite it all, the redness, the tears, the dark circles-his eyes were bright, a new spark in them, and focused on you, drinking in your face, your features, every single thing he loved and more.

"I’m sorry" he said, and though blunt-you knew this was the most sincere Kenma could be. "The moment I realised my feelings I just…the thought of being ‘just friends’ with you broke me. I didn’t know how to face you. I shut you out ‘cuz I’m a coward-"

You couldn’t help it. He was there, cheeks flushed, a small silly pout on his lips as he apologised-what else could you do but take a hold of his cheeks and kiss him?

For a moment his whole body stilled as your lips touched his, before you felt his become pliant, his arms around your neck; his smile was infectious, the way you felt it against your mouth, how you both shared an incredulous laugh, kissing him again, and again, and again-making up for all time lost to miscommunication.

"Don’t think you’re forgiven yet!" You huffed, staring him down. You couldn’t keep a serious face even if you wanted to, not when he was looking at you with that stupid soft smile, as if you were the brightest moon he’d ever laid eyes upon. He had to bite his lip to stop from giggling like a kid, the mere thought of you being his-his! bursting in his chest like a newfound warmth on a winter night.

"Okay."

"I mean it! I expect a bubble tea at my door every day" you tried, really, but he let his hands trail down to your waist, his thumbs drawing aimless circles on your skin-he leaned back in, kissed you softly.

"Okay."

"With extra tapiocas!"

He kissed you again, his forehead knocking against yours.

"Anything. Anything you want."

Really…how could you even pretend to be mad?

"…You",  you eventually breathed out, "That’s all I want."

His smile was infectious, turning you both into heaps of giggles, the tense atmosphere all but forgotten, all secrets revealed, hearts shed and intertwined.

It’s all as it should be.

Both of you, cuddling on the couch, your head on his shoulder, his arms never leaving your body, as if afraid you’d slip out of his fingers (You wouldn’t-you wouldn’t), his lips leaving gentle kisses at the crown of your head, laughing, teasing one another.

Balance restored, at last.

*****

Love in the Twitch Era // Streamer AU-Part 16

It’s here! Sorry for the delay-but this is the official ‘final part’, though there’ll be an epilogue of sorts soon after :) Thank you for reading my first SMAU, and i hope you enjoyed reading as much as i did working on it <3 

Masterpost

[autumnslance]

Theory for Endwalker: if the lady that warns WoL at end of Shadowbringers is Venat, I feel like she’s going to call WoL Azem and everyone is confused until there’s an explanation provided. She might even bring up Azem’s neutrality

I think that's the popular theory right now; since we had Elidibus as the heart of Zodiark, and as of 5.2 we know Venat had planned to do the same with Hydaelyn (however else that summoning differed), the fact she's holding a stylized mask and her bright color scheme...it's possibly likely.

Now, we know Minfilia joined with Hydaelyn as the Word of the Mother when Hydaelyn was too weakened by Ascian shenanigans and protecting various Blessed like the WoL and Krile (just on the Source; what was She doing for other heroes on other shards?). We had to contribute Light from the joined Crystals in 3.4 to speak to the Word and let her go free again as Minfilia.

But was there a residual effect of her joining with the Crystal that let Venat awaken and take back her own shape, too? Did our victory on the First contribute to strengthening Hydaelyn in some way by focusing the Light into a Blade against Hades? Or is it "desperate times call for desperate measures" and with her counterpart gone, Venat is now able/willing to manifest to guide us as directly as she can, since Hydaelyn is unable to do more than send Her automated message to awakened Echo-havers?

I don't think the Azem conversations will be confusing; based on Urianger's dialogue between 5.3 and 5.4 while hanging in Dawn's Respite, when he's speculating on the etymology of various myths and deities featuring names similar to Azem with sun imagery, not to mention how they know Ardbert joined with the WoL given reactions and convo in 5.2, the Scions likely know what we do about WoL being a reincarnation/successor of that former Convocate.

I DO hope we get a tad more information on Azem's actions in the Final Days, with plenty of wiggle room left for people to play with in their own stories. Azem was their own, different person and not our current PC, so it can go either way. But I think it would go a long way toward explaining how and why the WoL is Hydaelyn's Champion, apparently in multiple incarnations over time across the shards.

I'm interested in how they didn't even mention the mystery lady on the key art at FanFest. We had not met young Minfilia/Ryne yet as last FanFest either, but she was in the Shadowbringers trailers, so they gave us little hints without revealing the details of who she really was or how she was connected to the original Minfilia. But this new woman doesn't feature in the trailer, only the art, and only in 5.55's MSQ finale briefly--after FanFest happened.

People thinking she's a villain simply cause of her placement on the key art are forgetting the layouts of past expac art splashes and how they tend to roughly form the Crystals' shape and have important-to-the-expac-story characters in various aesthetic arrangements (there are some who also somehow think placement on key art means one is an ally/upcoming trust which again; not the case in past art splashes). Besides, she's not "sharing a space with the last expac's villain" she's sharing it with Ryne and other characters. Also just cuz a character called "Venat" was an antagonist in a previous FF game doesn't mean she will be here; "Cid" was a antagonist in that game, too (and a philandering husband in another, and the Thunder God in yet another as we painfully learned in Orbonne Monastery). The Ascian info in XIV also doesn't correspond 1-to-1 with the supplemental material from that previous game, either. What we call primals in XIV have been allies and enemies both in previous FFs--heck, we got a visit from FFXV's Garuda for that event, and she's very different from XIV's!

We don't know the plot just because of previous FF games sharing concepts (a thing the series is known for), so take such discussions and "lore" with a grain of salt--though speculation is fun. "Preparing" for 6.0 by playing other FF games where they go to space or the moon may help one see parallels and winks and nudges to past games (like several things in Eden calling back to FFVIII). But we'll see who mystery lady is--and if she's a friend or a foe--come Endwalker.

[sumire-bride]

Talk about Sumire’s route and talk about admin, please read if you can :)

((Yo yo!! I just wanted to apologize for being not as active lately, my mental health is getting the better of me and is getting a bit worse as the days go haha, but I’m living with it cuz I can’t do anything about it at the moment because of some certain things so I’m dealing with all my mental issues myself rn ^^” promise I’m not doing as bad as I was, I feel semi better now, I was thinking of taking a small break but then I realize tumblr is my safe space so idk how to take breaks haha so I’m still gonna active, but back to the part about sumire’s route!))

The route (how’s it gonna be/go?)

((Sumire’s official route is gonna be written completely differently and a lot more nicely then her demo route (I cringe reading it man, all those grammar and spelling mistakes 🥲),))

((I want it to be as close to the game as possible so I’m gonna write the characters and the game layout the same, but I’ll also be adding some drawings in the route for ex))

((But it’ll be drawn in my art style (which I am trying to improve) and stuff like that. And Sumire will be wearing her official outfit and have new spirits in her uniform and other outfits as well!))

((Another thing as well, Sumire will have her route to herself until the ecstasy, where she will pick a boy (Shuu is no longer a option) and will spend time with him and have a ending etc with said boy. But she will have her own ending as well (aka true ending which is the cliffhanger for the more blood route) ))

((Her official route will contain a lot of the true plot and much more of her story backstory and you’ll get to meet more of her siblings. But please note that her route might be really triggering for people as it will contain dark themes and some other things, I’ll make sure to always but a tw if I find it will be triggering to people))

((And lastly her route won’t be out too soon, I really want a break from her route as I fill a page with ideas and stuff so it’s not just a bunch of random things as I don’t want to rush it at all :), but please stay tuned for when it’s out, for now I’ll be posting some other things I have in my little head and some art!))

[spencerspecifics]

Okay i got this idea while talking to @criminalmindsvibez earlier and I just h a d to write it out

Imagine: the team taking one of those “teamwork building” days during the fall and Hotch has no clue what the team could do together to build their teamwork morale because they’ve literally had to save each other from murderers in a time sensitive manner so like??? Wtf are they supposed to do? Solve a jigsaw puzzle? So Garcia gets the task of figuring out what to do and she decides pumpkin patch/corn maze because fuck it. It’s fall.

-they get to the pumpkin patch, immediately Rossi is like “I don’t need to buy a pumpkin. It’ll end up rotting on my doorstep”

- Garcia points out that doesn’t help the team morale so he better quiet down

-he shuts up, they get inside the farm area and the entire team is just sorta standing around cuz when is the last time any of them went to a patch??? They aren’t sure of where to start. There’s stands that sell apple cider and hot coco and kettle corn and there’s some hinky dinky country music playing in the background. It’s nice but they have no clue where to start

-Garcia decides to take over, because fuck it, she got put in charge of this, and Hotchner looks like a fish out of water. Put him in a beauracratic setting and the man knows how to operate, but this? He looks so lost, it’s almost funny. Garcia’ll command this group of idiot life savers.

- she decides the team should start in the corn maze, that sorta helps the team morale. They gotta find a way to get out, after all. Spencer doesn’t want to go in until he sees a map of it, though, so he can check where they are. So they have to awkwardly go to an employee and ask where the map of the corn maze is located

-Derek finds it in a pamphlet that the employee handed to him, he gave it over to Spencer, who gladly accepts it and stares at it for what feels like two seconds before being like “ok let’s go”

-even though finding that damn map took like ten minutes because the pumpkin patch has so many customers so employees are all over the place. So everyone is like “goddamnit dude” at spencer before moving ahead into the maze

- Derek and Garcia take the lead, Spencer in the middle, then J.J. and Emily towards the back, with Hotch and Rossi in the very back.

-Hotch doesn’t wanna have to take charge of how to get through the maze unless absolutely necessary

-J.J. and Emily just end up having some very much needed girl talk while Garcia and Derek bicker about which way to go

- “Get a babysitter so we can have a girls night” “I’ll do that when you call that hot british dude that you met at the bar last week back” “I don’t need him. I have Sergio.” “Cats don’t replace real relationships with people, emily.”

-meanwhile Derek and Garcia aren’t sure which way to go. “Let’s take a left.” “No, we just went that way. We should take a right.” “That just keeps us in the middle, doll ” “isn’t that what we want?!”

-Meanwhile, the entire time, Spencer has been thinking of the turns and loops and steps they’ve taken and calculated exactly where within the maze they are based on the map

-Eventually Spencer takes charge, after Derek made them take two dead end turns, “Guys- no, we’re towards the edge of the maze. The quickest way to the end is through the center, so we need to go back and take two rights, then a left.”

-Hotch and Rossi are just walking through in silence for the most part, taking in the scenery around them. The crisp autumn air, it’s nice. They do break their silence for conversations. They speak about Jack’s upcoming soccer game, and how tiring it can be to work with children.

- “I’ve never been more grateful that my three ex wives and I never ended up with kids- god, it’s enough going to see Jack’s stuff and help coach the team.” “You have no obligation to show up if you don’t want to, Dave. If it’s too much I understand.” “Aaron, I would rather get arrested for a murder I didn’t commit and convicted before leaving Jack’s games.”

-Garcia ends up falling back with the girls, where the conversation shifts to Prentiss talking about how much the corn maze reminds her of the children of the corn movie

-“ew! Why did you have to say that! All their parents end up dead! That’s so sad!” “Garcia, it’s the corn that reminds me of the movie” “Well duh- we’re in a cornfield! But don’t think about that movie. Think about something nicer.”

-Prentiss is drawing a blank on nice fall themed things, so J.J. pipes up with “what about that Charlie Brown movie?” Garcia points out that doesn’t take place in a corn field

-“well. Only corn field movie that’s coming to mind is children of the corn.” So emily continues to talk a bit about it to J.J., all while making Garcia want to run away because “Ew no it’s such a sad movie! Let’s talk about something nicer!”

-Meanwhile Derek and Spencer are solely up front, Spencer is using that big dumptruck of a brain of his to know exactly which turns to take. Derek’s just walking alongside him, trying to weasel from flirting into conversation casually

-“how about after this I get you some cider, pretty boy?” “Do you know cider on average has to ferment for fifteen days?” Spencer isn’t really listening, if that isn’t already obvious. He heard what Derek said, but he’s just thinking of every next twist and turn they have to take to get out. So he isn’t very conversative

-meanwhile the girls have changed conversation topics to what kind of pumpkins J.J. should get Henry (this conversation change was obviously brought on by Garcia) “you should get him a cute tiny one! That would be so adorable” emily on the other hand is saying to get one bigger than him “wouldn’t it be funny to have a pumpkin taller than henry?”

-J.J. doesn’t know which size pumpkin she’ll get for Henry. But she lets emily and Garcia sway her opinion in both directions, because a comically large pumpkin would be funny. But one as small as Henry would be adorable

-meanwhile the old men duo in the back are still just enjoying their walk. Hotch had mentioned how Jack would’ve loved to come to the patch, before silence fell over them again. Rossi asked a few moments later if Hotch knows if jack’s school would be taking a field trip to the patch, “I’m not sure. I’m assuming they will.” Rossi doesn’t say anything more, but he secretly plans on double checking that, emailing the school, and explaining that he and Hotch would like to be volunteers on the trip. He’d like to see that happen.

-Derek hasn’t fully given up on his flirting game with Spencer. But he’s holding off for now, as Spencer is way too focused on the maze layout. So much so that he started mapping out in his mind where the best spot to place a body would be as an unsub. “If someone was to drop a body in here- the ideal location would be the upper left sides second dead end. Geographically, it’s the farthest point from landmarks and least traveled area within the maze.”

-Garcia hears that and butts in, “No murder talk! No dead body talk- there is no dead body! Today is supposed to be a good day! Shut off your brain for one day, Spencer”

-Spencer doesn’t say anything more about the best spot within the maze to dump a body, though Derek is sure Spencer is bored and thinking out a billion separate scenarios within the maze. Mazes were good for hiding and concealing things, after all

-Garcia accidentally mishears Spencer’s directions of “turn left” and she walks directly into the wall of corn that the maze is made out of

-the team all stops for a second to help her untangle herself out of that before promptly laughing at her

-ok Derek and emily laugh the most, emily tells her to steal an ear of corn “It’s not like they’d miss it. It could be compensation for running into it”. J.J. and Spencer sorta stand there chuckling a lil bit, Hotch and Rossi are more like “as long as you’re all good we should continue on” but they had little smiles on their faces too

-They finally get out! The employees at the exit are like “good job, that was very fast!” And everyone on the team is like “thanks we tried” meanwhile Spencer is standing there thinking “no y’all didn’t I did it cuz I memorized the maze smh”

-the team stays as a unit after that. It wasn’t on purpose, but they all had the same thing in mind, the pumpkin patch

-they walk over there, it’s not too far, immediately Spencer makes his way over to the large containers of pre-picked pumpkins, gourds, thise tiny as hell pumpkins, those white pumpkins, and those red pumpkins. He’s one second away from grabbing a pumpkin at random from the container so he can grab a pumpkin and go, when Derek is like “Hey man what are you doing? You’re not picking from the patch”

-Spencer then has to awkwardly explain how the only times he ever went to the pumpkin patch was in elementary school before he skipped ahead grade wise and the kids in his class made fun of him that day really bad. Like they called him names and left him “trapped” in the corn field (tho he had seen a map and was able to figure his way out easily that time.) and so whenever he has to buy a pumpkin he just gets them from the grocery store because he gets anxious at the thought of coming to a pumpkin patch

-immediately the entire team is like “wtf man you should’ve told us!!! Do you want to leave??? We should leave” and Garcia is immediately like “Spencer I am so sorry oh my god I didn’t know” and he has to sorta awkwardly be like “No it’s ok. I wanted to come. I want to try and get a better memory than last time.”

-Derek pats him on the back for that, “You’ll get much better memories this time, I promise. But let’s get a pumpkin from the actual patch instead of from these containers”

- Derek makes it his soul mission to make sure spencer now has an amazing time in the pumpkin patch. So he stays with him the entire time as they walk around, inspecting pumpkins for just the right one

-meanwhile the girls are looking at the biggest pumpkins possible. Namely Prentiss, she wants to get a big one. “Can you even out that out front of your apartment door?” “I don’t know but I’ll make sure it stays until it rots”

-Hotchner is busy looking for a pumpkin he could bring home for jack to carve, though he does guess that jack would be making his way to the pumpkin patch with his class too. It couldn’t hurt to have a third pumpkin to carve.

-Rossi doesn’t want a pumpkin, he’s already decided that they’re messy and smelly and he doesn’t even like pumpkin seeds or pumpkin pie enough to warrant the mess of cutting and getting the pumpkin guts out. So he just stands and watches

-Garcia notices that immediately and is so not happy with that “you’re serious about not getting a pumpkin?” “I told ya” “ughhh Rossi- you could get a tiny one!” “I don’t wanna carve and deal with a mess” “you don’t have to carve a tiny one!”

-“what’re you thinking pretty boy?” Derek asked Spencer, who had been staring down the same pumpkin for like two minutes, which was definitely unusual. Spencer doesn’t answer, leaning down and picking the pumpkin up instead. “Does it have any abrasions on it?” He asked Derek, as he turns it over in his hands to inspect it. “Not that I can see, no”

-Spencer decides on this pumpkin, and they find some wheelbarrows provided by the farm to put his pumpkin in, they give Hotch the duty of rolling the wheelbarrow around as they meander away from the rest of the group

-Spencer then is like “oh shit. Wait Derek. Your pumpkin. We need to find you one.” Derek just laughs a little bit and is like “I’ll find one lol but you gotta come with me” so Spencer agrees as they go to find one for Derek

-Garcia ends up nearby the tiny pumpkins, deciding to buy at least three to litter her front doorstep with

-she is so distracted she doesn’t even realize rossi making his way over. “You’re right. Those ones are way too small to carve.” He says, she just agrees, “Yes, so you should get some!! C’mon. Get that festive spirit.”

-Hotch shows up pushing the wheelbarrow from behind, listening to the tail end of rossi and Garcia’s bickering match. “You should get some, Dave. It would look nice.”

-That makes rossi cave. He mumbles out a “fine. The things I do for you all, I swear” before picking two up and putting them in the wheelbarrow, next to Spencer’s pumpkin.

-Garcia is b e a m I n g she is very happy with the fact she got this fall grinch into getting a pumpkin. So much so that she ends up getting a fourth tiny one, because damnit they’re too adorable.

-Hotchner still hasn’t found a pumpkin for him and for jack so he’s standing in the patch, still surveying like a lost old man. Garcia and Rossi end up helping him.

-Meanwhile J.J. and emily are looking through the medium sized pumpkins to find something for will and Henry. “I’m thinking a medium sized one, because then it’s sort of a mix of what you and Garcia said.” J.J. explained to Prentiss, who nodded along in agreement.

-the team is all pretty quiet at this point as they try to find their own pumpkins. Derek finds his, a large one that’s very vertically elongated. He takes it back to the wheelbarrow, with Spencer trailing along behind him.

-Hotch finds two round, smaller sized pumpkins. And he decides that those are his, they look great and would be easy enough to carve, so he grabs them up, getting them back into the wheelbarrow

-J.J. finds a medium sized pumpkin for Henry, and two smaller ones for her and will. Meanwhile Prentiss is like “Hey Jayge that Charlie Brown movie is applicable now since we’re in a pumpkin patch” Garcia hears that and is like “y e s good fall vibes yes”

-they finish up in the patch, everyone putting their pumpkins into the wheelbarrow as they head towards the checkout

-Derek pays for Spencer’s pumpkin, saying it’s not a problem

-Spencer literally can’t stop blushing at that even tho it’s the most mundane thing e v e r and it’s adorable

-the team gets their pumpkins sorted and paid, before taking the wheelbarrow back towards the stands that sell cider and hot coco and kettle corn.

-the girls go off to get hot chocolate, Dave and Rossi go to get some bags of kettle corn, and Derek and Spencer go get cider

-“If you make hot coco with anything but milk, it’s evil” “emily what about lactose intolerant people who use water?” “They’re on thin ice.”

-Spencer thanks Derek like five times in a row for helping him get a pumpkin and buying it “you didn’t have to-“ “you better stop talking before I buy you a cider too, pretty boy”

-Derek does buy him a cider in the end, which isn’t any surprise

-Dave and Hotch argue over which type of kettle corn is the best. “It’s caramel, Aaron. Why on earth would cheddar kettle corn be good?” “It’s savory as opposed to sweet, it’s better” “That doesn’t matter if it tastes bad!”

-Garcia ends up coaxing the hot coco barista lady into adding a shit ton of extra chocolate sauce and stuff to her drink

-so much so that it’s literally too sweet for her but she dug her grave she will fuckin lie in it like a winner

-J.J. and emily immediately make fun of her, “I can see the regret in your eyes!”

-the team finishes up buying their drinks, pushing the wheelbarrow out to the parking lot.

-“See, not so bad for a team morale building day after all!” Garcia says happily, she’s glad her idea was a success

-it was. The team is happy, they got hot sweet drinks and bags of delicious food, not to mention a shit ton of pumpkins they shove into the trunk of the SUV

-Spencer’s happy he made new memories at the pumpkin patch, Derek was just happy to help build those for him.

-Garcia’s happy her day went so well, emily is glad she got a pumpkin to carve, J.J.’s happy she got good pumpkins for will and Henry, Hotch is happy that he’s not stuck in a stuffy office building in an uncomfortable suit talking about another murder investigation, and Rossi is happy to be with his found family on a day out

-it was a good day at the pumpkin patch :)

[real-jaune-isms]

RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 12 Review/Remix: Creation

For only having a couple major set pieces, this was one of the most plot dense chapters we’ve ever seen from this show. Some of those were a lot time coming and satisfying as hell, and some came right out of nowhere to massive speculation and theorizing to follow. But goddamn if I didn’t love every minute of it, so let’s mosey on through to see just why that is.

We open, as many of these chapters have been want to do, with shots of the Grimm causing chaos and destruction, in this case Teryx attacking airships. JNR fly by in a ship of their own, and looking rather concerned as they approach Atlas Academy. Why the shot was framed quite like this I’m not totally sure, because it looks like they’re approaching the city itself from quite far away when really they should have been approaching from the outskirts and flying over the city itself, considering where the Schnee estate is located. Ironwood is waiting for Penny at the landing site at the entrance to the Academy, just as he and Ruby had agreed on, and he’s got a new toy. Both pistols of Due Process have been slotted into the back sides of a larger firearm, a veritable hand cannon that needs both grips just to keep steadily aimed. I think it’s safe to call this the Gun-gun we had been joking would be coming eventually since the early Volumes. The Ace Ops are backing him up, and we see a few Atlesian Knight robots loading the bomb onto an airship so he can nuke Mantle at a moment’s notice just as he warned. The citizens of Mantle are out of the mines and looking very apprehensive about the whole thing, and we are right there with them. Just as the bots have finished loading the bomb and are about to leave they start getting shot down. Ironwood warns the Ace Ops to be ready for any altered state Penny might be in and any trouble her friends might try to cause. Harriet is all to ready to follow through on the general’s terms and put down any brat who tries to interfere, and this whole thing seems to finally give Vine pause. He’s not stopping now, how can he, but he’s reflecting on the path to get here and only now has some amount of remorse about it. Elm winces at the mention of that too, while my MCU fan mind had to stop and chuckle at a pale bald man with energy powers musing on philosophy and ethics so close after the end of WandaVision. Not intentional, obviously, but a great coincidence. Ironwood gets a ping that there are intruders in the hangar, and they all surmise that’s Robyn and Qrow trying to interfere with the bombing. Harriet is ready as hell for a chance to beat them bloody after all this time STILL believing they’re Clover’s killers, but Elm makes a good point that they can’t just leave to do that because Ironwood will need backup here. Lucky for all of them, Winter is here to provide the general just that, so the other three are free to deal with their fugitive problem. With a quiet moment between them, Winter tries to see if Ironwood can be talked down one last time. He doesn’t want to hear it, and she admits she knows it would be impossible to try.

Penny soars in and lands in front of them, surrendering herself to a pair of cuffs and surprising Ironwood a bit in actually coming alone. She says she’s obeying his order because above all she wants to stop further death and she must open the Vault. The virus coming back a little to compel her to this end, or just frequently repeated phrase for the sake of simplicity? Unclear. Ironwood finally lowers the gun-gun he was pointing at her and puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder to tell her she’s done the right thing. In a cadence very much not her own, she agrees she has, and all illusions are dropped. It Was Emerald All Along!~ And JNR as well as Oscar are standing a few yards behind her along with the airship she must have been masking the approach of with the sound of “Penny” flying in. As shocked realization dawns on his face, James is kicked in the chin by a backflipping Emerald. His gun flies out of his grasp and she catches it with a grin before disappearing. Damn she really has been getting good with her Semblance! Down in the hangar, the Ace Ops arrive to see the jailbirds slicing and blasting a ton of robot soldiers. Just as they’re about to join the fray Marrow is heard giving a command and his former teammates are left frozen under the power of a Semblance they never seemed to give its due diligence. The assembled Huntsmen and Huntresses start attacking Ironwood and he counters the first few attacks rather well. I’m sure he must be pretty damn shocked to see Oscar still alive after shooting him into a pit, and for that matter probably Jaune and Ren too with what Harriet told him about their mission into Monstra. That and how little sleep he’s probably gotten recently make it very likely willpower and his Semblance are the only things keeping him going at this point, so who are we to be shocked if he starts losing to their superior numbers? And start losing he does, because Winter is on their side and helps Nora bash him upside the head. Winter and Oscar charge at James on the back of a summoned Manticore, but he grabs it by the horns and stops it dead in its tracks. So they leap off and Winter hits him in the back with some ice while he’s busy destroying the summon. With another glyph she springboards Oscar back at James and he gives him the old rapidfire cane jab. It knocks his Aura pretty low by the looks of the flickers, but he still recovers and stops Oscar on the next swing. Before he can punch the poor boy any more than Hazel already has in the last 12 hours, Winter does the most anime move these series has yet to offer us and darts past her old boss to slice him at lightning fast speed. It’s a badass sight that I cannot describe with enough words so please just watch for yourself. With that, Ironwood’s Aura is broken and he passes out then and there. Qrow and Robyn apologize for freezing the Ace Ops like this, but these times call for hard choices. Emerald reappears to get uncuffed and Winter tells the five of them to move on to Phase 2.

We flash back to the end of the last episode where Ruby decides taking Penny to the Vault might be a risk worth taking, and we see Jaune and Ozcar immediately pick up on what she’s thinking. Why not try and use the Staff of Creation and hope it can work a twofold miracle of saving Penny and all the people of these two cities? Just then Weiss gets a text from Winter, and the gears start turning in our minds how this whole plan came together. We see Winter shoving Marrow into an elevator and looking very grumpy about the whole experience. He correctly guesses she’s not arresting him, but damn if he doesn’t get why she had to punch him to get him outta here. She rightfully tells him it was to make it look believable and she just saved his life thank you very much. He notices she’s texting someone and asks whom, and she says getting in touch with Weiss for some help is something she should have done a long time ago. Just then the elevator doors open and we get the payoff to who Robyn and Qrow were so surprised to see last episode: These two. Winter quickly sees this as a chance for even more help, and I think it is the happiest she’s ever been to see Qrow. Shifting back to Schnee manor, Weiss is going over the risks of this plan of theirs to the other 10 teens. Oscar pipes up with another danger, Atlas falling as soon as the Staff is used for anything new. The cover story about Gravity Dust keeping the kingdom afloat was only half wrong, there really is a large amount at the base of the landmass that will slow the descent a bit, but it will still be a cataclysmic landing. Jaune suggests using the Staff to get everyone in the danger areas to somewhere safe, possibly even another Kingdom, but Oscar says it doesn’t just work that easily. Especially not with HIM involved. The Staff has a sentient presence you have to deal with to make anything happen, but he’s a real card this one. He gives you what you ask for and only what you ask for, so you have to be specific and provide details or even blueprints for how to make what you’re asking for. Lucky for them Whitley has access to the layouts of Atlas and Mantle due to preparing for their earlier evacuation plan, so they’re off to a very good start. Oz still worries about Ironwood and the bomb at this point, but Weiss assures him they have a good plan for that. And we just saw what that was and how well it worked.

So now we get to see what Team RWBY is doing while ORNJ is handling Ironwood and whatever else Winter is having them do, flying an airship up to the hole Oscar left in the bottom of the Vault and having Ruby use her new Semblance skill to carry the rest of her team and Penny up through that and into the Vault itself. Klein and the other Schnees are also aboard the airship cuz someone needed to fly it and they weren’t gonna stick around in the mansion after the Kingdom starts falling. Ruby can basically fly now, no big deal it’s totally fine this doesn’t make her OP as hell, WHAT???? Okay I’m done. They get to the Vault door and with a shoulder to lean on and a few supportive words Penny opens it no problem. In the split second before Penny starts self-terminating now that this objective is completed, RWBY zooms into the grassy meadow inside this cold winter Kingdom’s vault on another Rose Express and Ruby grabs the Staff. Time stops as we see Winter escorting James to a cell in the brig right next to her other manipulative father figure Jacques, OJNRE are in front of some sort of computer monitor, and various other shots of what people are up to at this second are shown. In a cloud of blue mist emerges a man every bit as big blue and naked as Jinn was, but while she was thicc he is jacked. I don’t know how to describe his light blue hair but it’s got a ponytail so that’s fun. He seems charismatic af with a voice many assumed was Matt Mercer but is not, and seems he’s still a little steamed over how boring a request making Atlas float was. Ruby gets his attention and we learn his name is Ambrosius. When faced with a request to stop Penny from dying, Ambros informs them a limitation of his powers is resurrecting the dead. So everyone theorizing the Staff could bring back Pyrrha, or Clover, or any other beloved character were disappointed to be proven wrong. But bringing back the dead isn’t what Ruby is after, and once Ambrosius sees for himself just how atypical of a girl Penny is he understands their intention clearly. He lets them know of his rules, he is essentially a monkey’s paw and what you get may be exactly what you asked for but not what you hoped to get. They knew about this technicality problem too, so they brought Penny’s blueprints and ask him word for word to “Make a new version of her using her exact same robotic parts”. The robot parts are what have the virus, and once they use the Staff to make something new that infected robot Penny will cease to exist. But if he only removes the robot parts that will leave behind the life and soul that truly makes her Penny. It’s also not within his power to directly destroy, apparently, but it wouldn’t be killing her because it’s leaving her existing with just her soul. Yang flexes her prosthetic arm to illustrate their point that the mechanical parts are just extra. Ambrosius is enthusiastic to give this a try, but he has no idea what the finished product would be, so Ruby encourages him to get a little creative with it. He’s eager to give it a try but does warn them he can’t guarantee what the results will be, but they insist they have no other options and he does a sort of dance in the air like a full body orchestra conduction. Penny starts floating in swirls of blue mist, and in a flash of white light one becomes two. With his job done, Ambros fades away with a wink.

All of Atlas starts shaking, and ORNJE take that as their cue to start their next task: broadcasting to all of Atlas and Mantle a warning that Atlas is falling. Jaune is the one to deliver the message after some troubles figuring out how to get it working, but before he can offer any reassurance that a plan is in motion to save the masses... the broadcast is cut short along with all communications in the Kingdom. My money is on Watts being responsible, but maybe it was Atlas command on a hunch of what Ironwood would want them to do. James himself didn’t tell them to cut it off, cuz he’s still unconscious in a jail cell. Speaking of those cells, Jacques demands answers on what the hell is going on from his eldest daughter. She asserts that they will be getting everyone to safety and leaving the falling rubble to Salem for all the good it’ll do her, but Jacques is still worried he won’t be among those saved. Winter hesitates but tells him that yes he will be evacuated too. He thanks her profusely but she refuses to accept that credit. If he wants to be grateful he has to thank Weiss for deciding to free him, and that news shuts him up right quick. Weiss has been his least favorite child, yet she’s still the one to show him mercy and kindness because that’s the sort of woman she’s always been and he tried to stamp that humanity out of her. What an ass he must feel like.

Back down in the Vault, two Penny’s stand before RWBY. One looks like we’ve always known her, but starts moving and jerking around robotically with red eyes and sparks flying out of it as it collapses to the ground. The other has bare human legs, no gloves, no power sign on her neck ribbon, a natural fabric bow in her hair, and aside from that is every bit the sweet and good girl we’ve come to know. Some people say this was a mistake or a bad move to take away what made her such a unique character but... they really didn’t. She was able to grow outside of the limitations of the body she came into existence with and now lives purely as who she has always felt herself being inside. And that’s pretty cool. She’s naturally very disturbed to see another version of herself collapsing and dying right in front of her, but feels a lot better getting to hug Ruby. Penny never knew a hug could make you feel this warm inside, and gives hugs to the rest of Team RWBY. It’s very very cute and we’re all glad to see she’s doing so well now. 

With this taken care of it’s time to summon Ambrosius for the evacuation creation. He seems to have no concept of time because he doesn’t realize how little time has passed and is surprised to see they’re the ones who summoned him again. And considering how thorough they were with the last request he’s probably bummed he won’t get to pull a fast one on with a request this time either. They try and ask him to make doorways all over Atlas and Mantle that will all become a single doorway in Vacuo, but he requires too much complex metaphysics and space time bending to make that happen so they alter course. Make a central location all the doorways in Atlas and Mantle will open into, and then have a single door in that big new place that will open in Vacuo. He wants to know just what kind of central location they would have in mind, and Yang says he should make one that exists outside of Remnant’s reality just like the Vaults seem to. He commends them for being so smart about it, but acknowledges that could end up being foolishness instead. As a point of reference for the doorway system, or perhaps just for where in Atlas and Mantle they should be opening, Weiss shows him a series of blueprints for the layout of the Snowshoe shipping hub and how it connects to Atlas. Using that basis he makes dozens if not a hundred or two doorways all over the two cities. They’re big gold ovals with pale blue centers, and on the other side is a big empty black void with a series of narrow walkways without and sort of railings connecting all the portals to a single large one at the end of all the converging paths. Very dangerous if anyone ends up tripping or knocking anyone else over. People are very confused to see these things suddenly pop up, but we see Joanna hesitantly step through one and see just what the deal is. Realizing it’s their way out she seems to go back and tell the others. I gotta admit, the look of this large doorway in the midst of a barren rocky place like this gave me serious ending of Kingdom Hearts 1 vibes, and I half expected Mickey Mouse to be on the other side talking about the Door to Darkness. But that’s just me. Satisfied that the job is done, they thank Ambros who tells them they were indeed disappointingly thorough and they can go now. As they head out the broken robo Penny fades away to blue dust and real Penny is rather shaken to bear witness to that. Before he disappears into the Staff for who knows how long now, Ambrosius delivers one last warning about the world of doors and paths they just created. Do Not Fall. With that ominous warning ringing in their minds the five young women head into the doorway before them with the intent to go to Vacuo with everyone else and the hope in their hearts that they’re not forgetting anything important. We see Cinder wearing a hooded cloak in the midst of a crowd about to head into one of these portals, and it becomes very clear what important thing they may not have taken into account.

Time to wait 7 days to see what could possibly go wrong now!

[criquette-was-here]

Replies, finally!

Anonymous said:

Hi! I recently found all your content and I really love, I don't mean to bother you, but I was wandering where did you get the brick wall texture from Hemlock Bend house. I've been looking for this but I didn't found it. Well I really hope to the release from Feverfew! Greetings and thanks! 

Hey there anon! These walls are custom ones I’ve made just for this lot. You can have them if you want!

@pocketsfullofposies said:

Hi! Once again, I really appreciate all your work for this community.. I make a lot of use from your hood deco and facades and my question itself refers to hood deco and your default replacements. I know that you’ve already done default replacements for the forests and some singular trees, so I was wondering if you’ve ever considered doing replacements for the clump of trees? Sometimes I find the forests too big for my terrains and they float which bugs me immensely *_*  

Hello @pocketsfullofposies! Thank you! Actually, there is a default replacement based on my linden trees made by @lowedeus, It replaced Maxis’ trees in clumps and rows with linden trees. As for the floating, there’s nothing we can do about it. Tree clumps will not follow the terrain relief. The only way to avoid floating is to place trees manually one by one.

Anonymous said:

Does this mean you will be releasing Feverfew this month or this year? *sparkling eyes* 

Oh, anon. This year – is the most realistic option at the moment 😔

Anonymous said:

Hello Criquette, I'm running into an issue where road replacements are not visible in the neighborhood in lot view (not on the lot itself, I know how to fix that with overlays, but beyond the lot boundaries). Do you know what causes this and how to fix it? Thanks lots.

Hello anon! Yes, you’re talking about lot skirt roads. If you’re using Rural charm DR, make sure you’ve got all the files installed and there’s no conflicts. If you’re using other road DR, there’s a chance that it does not have corresponding textures inside. But that’s highly unlikely. Usually they’re okay. Anyway, if you’re still having this issue, please PM me. It’s hard to sort it out without screenhots.

Anonymous said:

Hello! I've a question about hood deco & figured you'd be the best to ask. :) How do I make hood deco invisible in lot view (but still placeable in lots in the neighborhood)? I moved some lots off grid, using hood deco to make it look like the streets are connected. But in the lot I've got two roads now--the hood deco road glitching on top of the regular one. I'd like to keep the Maxis road, cuz of the alignment, so I'm trying to make the hood deco invisible. Any help is appreciated; thanks!

Hello anon! There is no way to make a single hood deco to be invisible in the lot view. You either can have all of them, or turn them off completely in game settings. What I would suggest just delete road tiles using ‘movingObjects on’ cheat to make the original road disappear.

Anonymous said:

Hi! Sorry if I'm bothering you. I really like you neighborhood trees, but I feel i lack of trees on lot mode. Do you know wcif some? If you use them could you tell me? Thank you and sorry for my broken english. 

Hello anon! Thank you! No bother at all. I do feel lack of good lot mode trees myself. I mean, there are plenty of trees, but there’s always something about them that bothers me. Since I never actually play my game, I rarely stalk for lot mode CC so I can’t recommend any resources.

Anonymous said:

hi! i think the way you do your roads layout is very aesthetic pleasing! i take so long planning my layouts to end up not even liking it, so i was thinking maybe you could explain how you do them? thx beforehand 💖

Hi anon! Oh, thanks ^^ Well, I don’t have any special solution to successful road planing. In fact, I always end up with editing the road layout multiple times. Feverfew road layout was completely different at the beginning and this is kinda went out of control since I’ve discovered that it is possible to move road tiles around by editing some data in neighborhood files. It’s completely safe, but extremely tedious. You have to alter XYZ coordinates for every road tile vertex, later bounding coordinates, orientation, texture type etc. Oh, I’m getting a bit carried away, sorry! Yes, well. I’d recommend just to imagine your future town as it would be a real place. This street is a town’s main road, there’s a little square, here’s a shopping district, etc.

@meltingmagnetz​ said:

Hii, i really like your rural charm, but i needed roads on them. So i made them than i found out that had already been done. Anyway i used your sidewalk texture for them. But i also wanted to make one that is maxis match. While making the other one was not a problem. With the MM one i can't get it to be seamless. Up close everything is fine but if i zoom out, i can see lines. I am not movies the road texture at all. Any tips on how to make is actually seamless. Thanks

Hello there! Yes, this often happens while DXT building process makes smaller versions of the texture with alpha channel. When the image is automatically resized, the algorithm makes the border semitransparent by blending opaque and fully transparent pixels together into one semitransparent pixel. The way to get rid of that issue that I use consists of making smaller versions of the texture manually via Photoshop and adding them one by one. So that I could just get rid of those semitransparent pixels by turning them into opaque ones.

@bayoubashsims​ said:

Hey Criquette, question about your Rural road & terrain mod from MTS. I was wondering if the road replacement would work without the terrain? As in, could I use this road replacement with your newer terrain replacement and not have ‘weird’ sidewalks from the terrain difference? 

Hey @bayoubashsims​! Well, to get rid of those ‘sidewalks‘ you have to edit the texture of that default replacement. There’s no other way to make them go.

Anonymous said:

Hello! I downloaded your set of shrubs and bushes in 4 sizes for hood deco, but some of them are glowing and flashing bright purple in winter, when there is deep snow. Do you know what is the cause?

Hello anon! That’s sounds weird. I’ll check if there’s any issues with it.

Anonymous said:

hi criquette!!  i hope you are staying safe and thank you as always for the great content and inspo!  i was just wondering if you were going to release your neighborhood deco tennis courts?  I have a neighborhood that they would add beautifully to :)

Hello anon! Oh, you’re very kind, thanks! Yes, I’m alright and I hope you’re staying safe too! I’ve absolutely forgot about the courts, actually ^^’ I think I could release them this weekend!

[fourangers]

Fate and Choices (ch.03)

Summary: When Naruto discovered who was going to be his soulmate, he jumped straight at this opportunity, looking forward to spending the rest of his life with his better half. Sasuke well…he was less eager in this regard though. NaruSasu. Soulmates tattoos. M-rated.

Content: AU!Office, Romance, Comedy, Drama, it’ll get a little too philosophical in some parts talking about free will Vs fate, basically Sasuke is a cynic ass and Naruto is an idealistic moron (great amirite), Anal Sex, tattoos soulmates

Chapter 02 here

AO3 link

--.--

Itachi knocked on Sasuke’s door to catch his attention, muttering. “We have the first polyamorous client that succeeded finding her soulmates using Shinrei. Maybe we should post it on our Instagram.” 

“Oh? How many?”

“Four.”

Sasuke blinked. “Four? That’s quite unusual. What’s the biggest number recorded in history?”

“Seven, if I’m not mistaken. But you’re right, at least in recent history the biggest demographic is monogamous relationships first, and then polygamy with three people.”

“I guess it is pretty complicated having to deal with that many people in your plate that even the soulmate system limits its number.” Sasuke wondered out loud.

“Maybe you’re right, but I also have a couple of friends happily married with their soulmates where they both enjoy an open relationship. Another proof that the system that you claim to despise so much, knows how to match people with similar interests together.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “Whatever. I’m not going to waste my time to convince you otherwise.”

“Talking about soulmates…contact Naruto-kun so he can schedule this post ok. We’ve been gaining new potential clients every day so I don’t want to lose the momentum.”

Sighing, Sasuke obeyed his older brother, also ignoring how his heart skipped a beat when Naruto answered his call.

“Aren’t you too early for a booty call, Sasuke-chan?”

“Moron, it’s nothing like that. It’s about work.”

“Mmm.” There was a long pause then Naruto’s voice was a little rough from yawning. “Lemme get some coffee first. Can I call you in the next five minutes?”

“Five minutes, nothing more.”

“Yeah yeah.” 

Seven minutes and thirty seconds later, Naruto returned his call, his voice chirpier. “Alright, now I’m ready for the booty call.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “Usuratonkachi…”

“Oh hey, it’s been years since you used this nickname!” Naruto’s boisterous laugh made his mood lighter, and Sasuke did not notice a smile curling on his own lips. “Are we going back to pet names? What should I call you then, darling? Honey? My smooching buddy?”

“I’m hanging up.”

“No, no! I’ll behave, I prooomise.” Naruto singsonged on the other side of his phone. “So, what do you want to talk about?”

Sipping his coffee, Sasuke said. “One of our clients managed to find her partners using Shinrei and we’re going to post about our first successful polyamorous example.”

“Really? Congrats to them! Imagine, being able to have more than one option while I’m here stuck with an uptight, inconsiderate bastard.”

“Your observation while accurate is wholly unnecessary.”

Naruto chuckled. “At least you admitted that you’re a bastard.”

“No point denying it.” Grunting, Sasuke considered asking the next set of questions but shook his head. “Anyways, I need this post as soon as you can. Do you need any help with it?”

“Yeah, for now we’re going to post about this milestone but in the future maybe it’s better to ask if they want to talk about this experience and all…you know, to keep feeding the account. You have a contract for them to sign about allowing us to publish their story?”

“We do, but your company is more experienced, I’d prefer if you can handle it.”

“Okay, I’ll talk to Neji ‘bout it. I’ll send you the layout and the script and if everything goes well we’ll be able to post it in the next three days.”

“You can’t for tonight?” Sasuke enquired, slightly annoyed.

“Hah. Ah, that’s the biggest issue about clients, they really think that we take care of only you, and no one else. I have five other accounts aside yours, bastard, my team is crammed with other stuff to do and you just asked out of the blue, we’re gonna reorganize to fit with this request.”

“Hn.”

“And I’m not giving you special treatment just ‘cuz you’re my soulmate.”

Sasuke snorted. “Good, because I don’t want any. I’ll talk with my older brother about it, but I’d appreciate it if you guys can manage to deliver sooner. By the way…” He scrolled down his calendar and muttered. “Are you available tomorrow afternoon for a meeting? I’m going to talk with a potential investor but he’s an older generation that won’t understand much about social media, so if you could help out…”

“Tomorrow afternoon? Hm, sure, I think I can help you out. I’ll just talk to Neji ‘bout it first and I’ll give the confirmation later.” There was a noise of flapping of pages, then Naruto paused and exclaimed. “Hey, maybe we can have lunch together before we go to this meeting! How about that? Remember all the good ol’ times, catching up and so on.”

“Hm…if you manage to send me the polyamorous post today, I’ll consider it.”

“Whoa, you can’t dangle the possibility of a date right on my face just so you can bribe me to do your things!” Naruto said incredulously, even if he laughed afterwards.

“I’ll strongly consider it.”

Naruto was still laughing, Sasuke could picture him shaking his head too. “Nah, I really can’t. I’m not the only one involved ya know, so I can’t force my colleagues to drop everything just so I can have some special lunch with you. Anyways, Neji’s here, gotta talk to him. See you soon!”

“Hn.” Turning the phone off, Sasuke felt someone appearing close to him, so he raised his head, narrowing his eyes from Itachi’s knowing smile. “What?” He barked.

“Nothing, nothing at all…you look pretty happy, otouto-kun.” Itachi’s beam widened despite his younger brother’s growing suspicion. “You talked with Naruto-kun?”

“Yes, he said that he’ll only be able to send that post you talked about in the next three days.”

“Oh. While I appreciate you informing me, that wasn’t exactly the answer I was looking for.”

“I know what you are expecting but I’m not going to give you the satisfaction, so beat it, nii-san.” Sasuke growled, focusing back on his laptop.

Itachi chuckled, before sobering up. “Tomorrow you’re going to talk with Takashi-sama right? She’s the chairman of Essity’s branch in Japan, so I really hope she’ll invest in us. It’ll bring us closer to our first goal.”

“I know. Don’t worry about it. Leave it to me.”

⏤.⏤ 

The opulent decoration in the rich marbled walls intimidated him at first, but it didn’t deter him from fulfilling this mission. Steeling his nerves, Sasuke took a deep inhale and glanced to the side, Naruto was rechecking the speech he’d give alongside the presentation. The comforting knowledge that he had Naruto by his side calmed him somehow. 

The blond man was also a very pleasant addition during the trip, with his playful banter peppered in between adjustments and touch ups. It’s been so long since Sasuke had felt so relaxed around anyone, almost as if all the years without Naruto never happened in the first place. And even if he’s adjusting to seeing the teenager Naruto to now a professional adult one, at least their interaction didn’t change one bit. 

Takashi was a middle-aged businesswoman that accumulated many exploits due to shrewd decisions and flexible strategies using Western offensive attacks, mixed with Japanese well-rounded management. She must have heard many starry eyed, inexperienced men trying to sell their product in the past, so in her point of view, Sasuke must be just the umpteenth one. It was rattling the look of apathy she gave while he summarized.

“Based on our clan’s background, my brother and I decided to create a new technology to help people find their respective soulmates, and we named this technology Shinrei. We first catalogued all the types of tattoos, if it’s written words, or animals, or symbols, all based with the long list of most tattoos that existed in history. Then, once we identify the type of tattoo the client has, the database will search using all social media that match with the tattoo, and then we’ll personally select and filter till we find his or her soulmate, or soulmates. Actually, we recently found a case with four people being their soulmates using Shinrei.”

“Your competitors all claim that they have similar technology, how is yours any different?” Takashi countered in a bored tone.

“We choose quality over quantity, limiting the numbers of clients we’ll help so we’ll ensure 100% successful cases. Also…” Sasuke thinned his lips, taking a deep breath. “Our clan has a long history in being able to find soulmates using our unique abilities.”

“What? Are you talking about mystical powers? This doesn’t look good on paper, how are you going to convince people to trust your technology if you don’t have scientific proof that your method works?”

Blue eyes peered Sasuke’s distressed expression, so Naruto stepped in. “Well…the soulmate system by itself is also shrouded in mystery right? All that we know is part of humanity’s nature, if it’s due to some higher power or anything else, it just exists. Scientists can’t explain how it works, only that they have successful rates in improving people’s lives. So I think that using some inexplicable abilities makes Shinrei unique.”

The old woman contemplated for a while, crossing her arms.

“Also, the Uchiha clan must have a long list of successful examples, even before the advance of technology, we can show for you Takashi-sama as proof to trust Shinrei’s technology. I’m sure that Sasuke can look for some documents stored in their headquarters, right?”

“Of course, I’ll make sure I’ll inspect thoroughly if necessary if it pleases you Takashi-sama.” Sasuke agreed.

Takashi stared and focused her eyes on the blond man. “You called Uchiha-san by his name, are you two close friends or…?” 

Before Sasuke could react, Naruto grabbed his left hand to show their palms, broadening his grin.

“We’re soulmates!”

This piqued her attention, she even tilted her body closer to study their matching tattoos. “Oh, congratulations! You used Shinrei’s technology to track your soulmate?”

Sasuke opened his mouth but Naruto intervened. “Oh no, back then we were just 18. But Sasuke used Uchiha’s clairvoyant abilities to find me, so here I am.”

“Well, at least then I have a successful example right before my eyes.” She nodded, picked her name card and scribbled some numbers on it. “Here’s my personal cellphone number, I look forward to your older brother to contact me so we can continue our conversation. Send me all the statistics as soon as you can, and also send me this presentation you just gave so I can properly study later.” She stood up, and shook hands with both of them. “We’ll talk soon, I hope.”

They both bowed respectfully, thanking for her time as they exited the building, breathing a sigh of relief at the same time.

“Thanks for the save.” Sasuke muttered, Naruto grinned back. “I’m not entirely comfortable that you lied about how we realized we’re soulmates though.” He added.

The blond man rolled his eyes, shrugging. “The only people that know about our history are our close friends, there’s no harm lying a little. Plus, we were fooling around for so long that anyone would also consider that you might be the one who knew that we’re soulmates too.”

“Right…”

It felt weird that they talked about their entanglement in the past tense, like Naruto was some sort of ex that was trying to get back to him. Except that Naruto was his soulmate, so it complicated this situation even further. 

Sasuke cleared his throat. “Anyways, since we’re already in the same city of the Uchiha’s shrine and I’m going to take a quick detour so I can get the documents Takashi-sama asked. You can go back to Tokyo if you’d like.”

“Huh? Oh, I don’t mind waiting a little, the trip back to Tokyo is 1 hour and a half long, man. It’s really boring going by myself so if you’re around at least you can provide some entertainment and let me tease you all the way through.”

“Do I look like I’m some kind of toy to you?” When Naruto curled a mischievous grin, Sasuke harrumphed unimpressed. “Whatever, I’m not going to rush for you, usuratonkachi. I might take the whole afternoon, so if you wait for too long it’s going to be your loss.”

⏤.⏤ 

No matter how many times he went, being in the Uchiha shrine always made him uneasy. He could practically feel the millenia age weighing down on his shoulders. While he was using his own hand to fan his face, Naruto excused himself for a second to buy some beverage in a nearby kiosk.

“Sasuke, hey Sasuke!”

Raising an eyebrow, Sasuke obeyed this call and approached the ditsy blond. Naruto gesticulated in excitement, next to two elderly women that appeared to be the owners of the shop. 

“Those two nice ladies, Yachi-san and Kiyoko-san are married for over 50 years! Can you imagine⏤being in such a happy relationship with your soulmate for so long⏤”

Sasuke huffed, but responded politely. “Congratulations to you both for such a long and happy matrimony. Well Naruto, unfortunately the Uchiha shrine doesn’t allow strangers, even though I talked to my mother to try authorizing your entrance.”

Naruto waved his hand, untroubled. “Eh, it’s fine, don’t worry about it. I can use this opportunity to have a nice chat with those two young and jovial ladies.” He beamed and the women giggled in return. “Is that ok for you though?”

“…sure, why not?”

“Uh, it’s just that, I don’t know. You looked kinda uncomfortable somehow.” He rubbed the back of his blond head.

At this admission, Sasuke could feel his shoulders relax somehow. “I’m fine, don’t worry about it. But thanks for getting worried over me.”

Naruto snorted, and puffed his chest. “Well, of course! After all, I’m your soulm⏤”

“See you later.” Sasuke turned around and ignored the squawk of indignation. 

As expected, the Uchiha clan contained a long array of documents and ancient scrolls neatly put in the huge archive. There was no point collecting all information since day one, so Sasuke concentrated getting most information from the latest decade, and photographed some old scrolls in case he needed it to impress future sponsors. He took for about half an hour or more, patting the dust away from his clothes as he went to retrieve Naruto.

However, as he was approaching the blond man, he noticed the frantic and desperate look while he chattered with the old ladies. Naruto noticed him, giving a quick bow to them and sprinted towards him.

Quirking an eyebrow, Sasuke mumbled. “You look pale. Is everything alright?”

“Uh, yeah! Sure! Everythin’ ‘s alright, they were just telling me some sad story. But we gotta go right?” 

Sasuke observed in silence, but didn’t ask anything further. On the way back to Tokyo, Naruto managed to find his usual lively mood, though sometimes he still appeared to be rattled with whatever news the ladies had delivered. 

⏤.⏤ 

Several weeks have passed without a hitch, as Sasuke and Itachi managed to accumulate more capital for further investment in developing Shinrei. So far with Naruto’s strategies, they have been the talk between youtube influencers, Itachi even gave some interviews to further explain their product.

Sasuke figured it was time for him to look for some international sponsors, at least those in the neighboring countries. After contacting and rescheduling, he called Naruto.

“Naruto, I’ll not be able to attend our meeting tomorrow. Can we change to Friday?”

“Yeah sure, no problem. Why? Is everything going alright for you?”

“Hm, it’s nothing out of the ordinary. I have to go to Beijing to show to some potential sponsors.”

“Oh? You know how to speak Chinese?” Naruto perked up, curious.

“No, we’re going to talk in English.”

“Hey, if it’s English I can help you out! You want me to go with you on this trip?” Naruto exclaimed.

Pausing in mild surprise, Sasuke said. “You can? It’s not too much trouble for you?”

“Nah. I think. Neji said that you guys are now giving a percentage of your profit to our company right? So he’s pretty onboard with anything that will help Shinrei. I think I can get some plane tickets for a good discount, we can meet at the airport.”

It was becoming increasingly disconcerting how he was getting used to having Naruto by his side, giving presentations, sharing meetings, to the point that he was looking forward to seeing the familiar grin and brilliant pair of blue eyes. Sasuke sighed.

Stop. This is nothing. Those emotions are fabricated, some lingering primitive vestiges that he’s forced to face from time to time. 

And yet, he appreciated knowing that Naruto would aid him, swift response to defend their position whenever they were in a dispute with a potential sponsor. After four meetings or so, they finished their meal and took a cab to their hotel, laying tiredly on the seat.

Sasuke was first to give his name to the hotel receptionist, mirroring Naruto’s yawn as the blond man slugged over the reception desk.

“Excuse me, Mr. Sasuke Uchiha? I think there must be some kind of mistake, but we’re not finding your name in our reservation system.”

Sasuke tsked, and grumbled. “Maybe my older brother booked with his own name. Try to find Itachi Uchiha.”

There were efficient typing noises, and the receptionist mumbled embarrassed. “We’re very sorry, but we’re not finding your older brother’s name either.”

Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows. 

“Yes? What’s the matter Sasuke?” Itachi answered his call.

“For some reason, the hotel you booked is not finding my name.”

“What hotel?”

“Hotel? In Beijing? I’m spending the night here nii-san.”

“Oh.” There was a pause and then. “I forgot.”

Sasuke blinked. “You forgot.”

“Yes, how foolish of me. So sorry my dearest otouto-kun.” Itachi’s amused tone raised red flags in his mind.

“Don’t bullshit me Itachi. Are you telling me that you, that can practically remember how you exited mom’s womb, forgot to book one room for me??”

“I guess I was so busy programming and talking with clients and everything…I’m just human otouto-kun.” 

Sasuke wasn’t having any of this. “You’re not human, you’re an evil demon. I’m going to kill you when I get back to Japan.”

He heard Itachi’s amused chuckle in response. “Sure sure. Say hi to Naruto-kun for me ok? I got to go.” 

Sasuke groaned loudly, picking Naruto’s attention while the blond man was signing the papers. “Jesus, what happened?”

Sasuke glared at the receptionist, causing him to yip in terror. Sasuke rubbed his eyebrows, and enquired in a calmer voice. “Alright, give me a single room, I’ll pay with my credit card now.”

“I’m…very sorry Mr. Sasuke, but we don’t have any vacant single room.”

“Oh?” Naruto’s face was now 90% wide grin. “Did I just hear that Uchiha Sasuke-sama doesn’t have any place to stay? What tragedy!”

This is karma, this had to be. There was no way Sasuke would be so ill-fated to be surrounded by utter sadists. 

“Hey, lucky for you I booked a double bed room!”

“You and Itachi didn’t plan this stupid idea together once again, did you?”

Naruto rolled his eyes. “Obviously we didn’t, have you forgotten the fact that I offered on the last minute to go to Beijing with you, while you booked this flight last week right? Ugh, you’re so skeptical over everything.”

Sasuke wrinkled his nose, and muttered back to the receptionist. “What kind room do you have available then?”

“Well…VIP, Deluxe and presidential rooms.”

“They all sound very expensive. You sure you don’t want to share the room with lil ol’ me?” Naruto offered, impish beam stamped on his face.

Fuck this. Picking up his suitcase, Sasuke turned around towards the exit.

“Whoa, where are you going?”

“Any other hotel, so I can avoid whatever trap you’re laying on me.” Sasuke glared.

Naruto didn’t even bat an eye, cooing in a fake, shrill girlish voice. “I mean, maybe you’re right, maybe you need to go to another hotel. Poor wibble, delicate Sasuke-chan can’t defend himself against my evil clutches because I’m a very bad, bad boy.”

⏤.⏤ 

One day, one day, he’ll stop falling for whatever goading Naruto would do to rile him up. The blond man was practically skipping on the way to their room, doing an exceptional extra flair with his hand as he allowed Sasuke to enter first.

Graphite eyes scanned everywhere, unfortunately the room wasn’t big enough for one adult man to sleep on the floor.

“Hey Sasuke⏤”

“Just to be clear, we’re not going to have any sex.”

Naruto gawked, tilting his head to one side. “I just wanted to ask if you mind if I put my luggage over there geez. We’re just going to share a bed, not prepare for some fucking sex marathon.”

Sasuke’s eyes were still narrowed, sharp and cautious.

“I mean, unless you were thinking ‘bout it⏤” Naruto curled a sly smirk.

“Absolutely not.”

“Well, so what’s the fuss is all about. ‘M going to take a bath first, I stink.” Naruto picked up a set of clean clothes and went to the bathroom.

Naruto’s complete lackadaisical attitude, however, just increased his suspicion even further. He used his laptop with a guarded stance, steering clear from the blond man, especially after he exited fresh from the bath, all golden locks dewy, tanned skin glowing good GOD he’s not falling for this. Sasuke grabbed his pyjamas and shut the door with a loud click.

The warm droplets coming from the shower managed to calm him, savoring how it massaged his tense shoulders. Sighing contentedly, Sasuke was ready to call it a day and jump on the bed when he saw Naruto sprawled all over it, patting on the empty spot in front of him.

Sasuke growled. “You’re not spooning me.” Besides, if they really need to spoon, he’d be the bigger spoon.

“You’re always such a ray of sunshine. Just lie down here ok? It’s not like we've never done this before.”

Pursing his lips, Sasuke sat on the edge of the bed, gradually lying down his body stiff. Naruto turned off his lights, his back turned to Sasuke.

After several minutes, the brunet was getting sleepy and adjusted the covers, shutting his eyes. He felt arms enveloping around his waist. “Naruto…” He growled.

Naruto’s voice was sluggish and tired, already ready to slumber. “Mm, ‘s just som’ thing, you’re so grouchy, I swear to God…” he continued muttering until he quieted down at last.

Sasuke sighed, revelling the warm body breathing close to him. Just this once, he’d indulge himself. Next time would be different.

(little did he knew, he slept with a pleased smile)

Chapter 04

--.--

AN: Aw, I noticed how much I missed writing Naruto and Sasuke bantering. It was really entertaining.

[migleefulmoments]

awesome-fanfictionada * tumblr * com / post / 615676095589728256 so anon ask how it's possible that no one's ever let the cat out of the bag this entire time (not to mention no one's ever captured a surreptitious pic of C/D together) and the answer is a rambling response filled with fake rumors and inane talk about smiling at each other. basically, there is no answer for how darren's "incompetent" team has kept a lid on this secret for nearly a decade. cuz they haven't. cuz it's all bullshit.

The first thing to keep in mind is that awesome is a newbie- she popped up in January 2020. Everything she knows is from "researching” the ccers favorite gifs and answers Abby and co gave to their nonnies in the last few years. She was trolling through the cc masterposts but most of them are long gone so she basically learned through their favorite gif playlist-if you put all the gifs together and took away the slow-mo feature it was probably a total of 4 minutes or less of Chris and Darren’s lives and all of it was from the Glee set or during promo for the show.  

I wrote my comments after her post: 

Anonymous asked:

So, we're 8-9 years? into this whole situation. I want to know how no one has ever let something slip about the truth. There's a lot of pieces in motion...PR houses, SM, appearances with beards, them being together (physically in the same place, like living together) without public knowledge. There's also a lot of people that would have knowledge of the situation. And some of them are not that bright or discreet. It's an incredible amount of time to maintain all of this.

Dear Anon, I’m not sure about the tone of your ask and if you want me to convert you or reassure you? However, I’ll just comment on the things you say. It’s not correct that no one has ever let anything slip about them, there have been in the past people who (2) tweeted about them as a couple just to dleete the tweet shortly after. Not always, some tweets are there still. (3)There have been IG posts and radio interviews with the voice of one of them in the background when there was supposed to be no official interaction. There have been other let’s call them (4)“clues” - even if they weren’t meant to be such. (5) It’s been many years, yes, and with the years comes the ease and the routine, everybody is aware of the situation, teams know what they have to do to keep it going (though sometimes they also slip up, some more than others). With the years the startling suspicion that they might be indeed a couple subsides and nobody cares about it anymore (but us), no one goes out to investigate because why should they? (6)Who cares about D marrying to hide the fact that he’s gay? He’s not the first nor the last to do it. (7) And he’s not that famous that people will want to know at all costs or have tabloids to pay for the scoop. (8) No, it is still his team that needs to pay to get articles out (talking about M mostly). And based on the comments they get on such articles, D’s secret seems to be an open one. Why would anyone tell about them? In HW everyone knows everything about everybody but they seldom tell cause they are all in it together - so who should tell and whom to? (9) Besides - there are plenty of couples in HW and around HW who are pretty secretive about their relationships and have been for years without anyone finding out anything they did not want exposed. Some couples are never seen together anywhere but are known to be married because they have at some point or another confirmed their relationship. (11) It is a long time to maintain this but if the parties involved are fine with the outcome (I doubt D and C are now, but for argument’s sake) nothing will get in the way to disturb the situation.

Do you want me to confirm to you that they actually live together? I cannot. That they have been together all the time? I cannot. (12) But look at them interact at the G/lee reunion and tell me honestly that there isn’t anything going on between them - they have been looking at each other that way for almost 10 years now. Have they at any time looked at their official SO in the same way? They make each other smile and laugh, that counts for very much in a relationship.  

Yes, I started on 2...ignore there is no 1. 

2. She mentions the Tweets that were soon deleted- this is one of my favorite arguments because it’s the most pathetic proof and proves just how easy it is to con a tinhat. Faking a Tweet has been easy for many years and anyone with photoshop skills could do it from day one. Tweets that showed up, then quickly disappeared but luckily ONE person managed to get a screencap? Riiigggghhhhttttttt. We also know that a couple of those famous disappearing Tweets were never real but were written about as part of the “news” post that GleekinthePink mistook for real but was later proven to be fanfiction. 

3. The videos where they hear the voice of the other -usually in a laugh- aren’t “proof” of a relationship. First of all, the obvious, we don’t know who it is since they are off-camera and the person on camera never makes a face of surprise like I would expect if the other outed them. It also makes no sense to imagine that Darren married Mia to protect the secrets but they took a risk by having the other in the room during a live or while shooting a video they posted to social media. I can’t imagine taking a chance like that on something as stupid as a promo Livestream or a haircut-maybe to attend a small family event like Chris’s mom’s funeral or his dad’s wedding, but not a haircut. 

4. What clues did they give away exactly? The not-actually-matching shirts? The not-at-all matching duvet covers? The song lyrics? None of these “clues” are evidence of a relationship. They are simply evidence of a fandom obsessed with making everything into confirmation bias and Abby’s talent at bringing everything back to Crisscolfer.   

5. Now she starts to layout her argument that “everyone knows and they are willing to keep it a secret because who cares”? This argument is so weak I would hope that her community should see right through it, but I’m sure they don’t. I’ve learned through my interactions with Trump supporters and ccers that people who are in a group because they want to win and to be special, people who are bonded together through anger, misogyny, and hate require very little fact-based information. They thrive on short sentences-repeated often- and in anger and having a scapegoat to hurl all their shit at. Having someone to hate is like meth- it’s highly addictive, it rots their brains and it keeps them coming back even after it is killing them. I am sure that any ccer who reads awesome’s post will accept it all at face value.  Hollywood isn’t a close community full of people who either love and respect each other enough to protect Darren or are indifferent as long as it doesn’t affect them. The fact is, Hollywood is a small community, yes. If cc were a couple, everyone would know but being a small community and one willing to hide another’s deep dark secrets aren’t the same thing. Nobody has a reason to protect Chris and Darren by lying or actively working to protect their secrets.. People like and respect Darren because he’s genuine, honest, kind, and interesting but ccDarren is none of those things. He’s a liar who is hiding in the closet because he’s can’t give up his fame, he “treats Mia like shit”, he continues to work with the man who put him in the closet using THE Contract. THE Contract alone would be HUGE and go well beyond tabloid fodder. The NYT and WaPo would be all over the story of Ryan Muphy and Fox TV forcing Darren into the closet, forcing a beard and forbidding them to interact for a decade. 

The biggest reason her theory is nothing but a naive fantasy is that Hollywood isn’t a static community.  Over the last decade, many people came and went and there is no way you will ever convince me that in 10 years, not one person let it slip or was willing to sell them out for their own 15 minutes of fame or blackmailed one of the players get something they wanted. Darren is a vary social man and lots of people consider him their friend. He attends a lot of functions where people see him with Mia. Either ccDarren and ccChris never go out in public- for 10 years they have kept their relationship inside at one of their homes and only a couple of friends know the truth or it’s statistically inconceivable that someone hasn’t slipped or outed them. Glee had a huge cast and crew- add the plus ones and we have a crap ton of people who know, but not one person told a friend who let it slip? Nobody told a friend who works at TMZ or knows someone who does or who is on TMZ payroll? Puh-leaze . 

The tabloids would LOVE to get ahold of CrissColfer- not simply because they are gay, but because Darren has presented as straight for over 10 years and he just married a woman! He also said as a straight man he won’t play another gay character. A gay Darren would be tabloid fodder at any level but as Abby loved to point out, he just won every award; he’s one of the Ryan Murphy Players and his career is on fire right now. CDAN has posted multiple blinds about Darren being gay over the years which proves that tabloids would be interested in such a story.  

6. In 2020 it would be big news if a celeb married to hide a gay relationship.  Especially if that man was famous for playing gay characters and who has been in a relationship with the woman he married for 10+ years. Awesome is dreaming if she imagines nobody would care about such a story.  It’s a story about deception and lies but if you add in the shit they believe, THE Contracts and being forced in the closet, a paid beard who abuses Darren and hidden relationship with another man who has presented another man as his long-term boyfriend? Yeah, that would be huge news. 

7. I have no clue why she thinks he isn’t famous enough to have a tabloid pay for information. Has she read TMZ in the last 5 years? It’s full of stories about Farah Abrahman and other reality stars and their shenanigans. You don’t have to be a huge blockbuster movie star to get a tabloid interested. You only need a sordid story about love mixed with deception, sex, money murder or abuse of power. The tabloids feed off stories like the tinhats have written CrissColfer. 

8. I always love the comments about his team forcing articles out -especially Mia. WTF? His team doesn’t force out articles- they get him publicity when he has a project. Darren hasn’t done all that much press I would call fake, certainly, not many that are written by his team or read as if they just pieced together PR pieces written by his team. Maybe ccers are finding nonsense articles that are clearly written for clicks (they were debating about one last month that was clearly written by someone who Googled Darren and cobbled together his story from what they found online without trying very hard. It wasn’t even written well.  It’s super easy to avoid those articles- if they say “sponsored” that’s a good clue. If you have to click through paragraph by paragraph or photo by photo, or you can barely see the article among the flashing ads, you’re probably reading something of poor quality and not worthy of your time. Stick with articles that are more reputable-actual entertainment publications that cover the industry and including interviews or stories written by journalists. BTW, when was Mia in an article last? I mean more than a mention or two? She was quoted in some for TSG’s opening but other than that she isn’t in the pieces.  

9. There are plenty of couples who keep their relationships quiet but Darren Criss is NOT one of them. Neither is Chris Colfer... but especially not Darren Criss. He doesn’t talk about his relationship per se but is mentioned in places where one would normally talk about one’s spouse. Mia is always by his side and clearly enmeshed in his life- they share old friends and live and work together. The people awesome is referring t-those who keep their private lives private- aren’t running around with a fake wife or fake husband to protect their actual relationships- they are just keeping everything quiet-think Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes or early Angelina and Brad. Arguing that because some celeb’s keep their private life private, it is rational to believe that Darren and Chris are simply one of those couples is a fallacy-but it’s almost 3 am and I’m too tired to think about which one it is. 

11. Now she’s arguing that in over a decade in Hollywood, the people in Darren’s and Chris’s lives have been static and therefore there isn’t anyone to rock the boat and out them. An interesting argument in light of Darren’s resume over the last 9 years- Broadway (4 different shows (2 Hedwigs)), TV (Royalties, Hollywood, Glee, AHS, ACS), music (including a few tours, 2 albums, multiple one-off shows, and several music videos), Elsie Fest, two feature movies and all the award shows, charity events, fundraisers, and other random things that Darren does. He also owns two businesses that we know of- TSG and The Motley.  That’s a shitload of people that he’s interacted with just at work in the last decade. Oh and add all the people who worked on the wedding-the vendors and their staffs- it’s unrealistic to believe that not one of them realized something was ccUp. Chris entirely changed careers adding all the people in the publishing world that an author works with. He also has done a couple of shows for TV. I’m not even considering the charities they both work with. Not only is this a LOT of people who are keeping their mouths shut, but it isn’t a static group-Darren filmed Hollywood and Royalties this year and rehearsed Amerian Buffalo bringing in an entirely new set of people to work with. If Chris gets his TLOS movie off the ground that will be hundreds and hundreds of new people with him  The fact is, Hollywood isn’t static- it’s the most unstable business I can think of with new people coming to seek their dreams and others giving up or going off to do something else like music or Broadway. There are alwasy new people coming and others going. If Darren and Chris were in fact in a relationship then lots of people near htier homes would know- grocery store workers, restaurant staff, dry cleaners, etc. Yet nobody with this type of evidence has ever even suggested they are a couple. The legit media has never sniffed around trying to find out if Darren is actually gay or with Chris. That says a lot about the validity of the story. Darren would have been hounded by the media when he started playing Blaine but was telling everyone he was staright and showing up at events with Mia. 

Hollywood isn’t known for being altruistic and kind. It’s a ruthless industry full of people with huge egos and big power and people who are broke and just want to get hired for a part, they want their dreams to come true. Hollywood is a town of desperation for so many with big dreams and a quick buck selling a story to a tabloid or the 10 minutes of fan that it would bring- hell even someone making a deal with TMZ to cover them for a period of time in exchange for info about Chris and Colfer is wayyy more credible rational than believing Hollywood is static and nobody has a reason to out Darren.  

12. Laughter and joy are important in a relationship but smiling at someone during a charity online reunion isn’t proof of anything- it’s just common courtesy to be polite in that scenario. Notice they once again are relying on a photo- a stillshot from a video- 1 single frame is “PROOF they are in love” because Chris is giving heart eyes to Darren.   

If your entire argument is they have overwhelming chemistry then you must know that nobody will take you seriously and you should really get listen to an objective opinion by someone who isn’t desperately searching for confirmation bias that they are a couple. Good chemistry doesn’t make a relationship-lots of people have good chemistry and they aren’t in a relationship and lots of people in relationships have poor chemistry. It isn’t proof of anything except that ccers have no evidence.   

[dahniwitchoflight]

Candy page 9 to page 11

Oh damn, I actually got sucked into the story a bit that i forget to react at all to 9 and 10, got midway through the 11 johndave convo that i realized oh fuck right i should be writing this shit down

So, interestingly enough, the narrative seems to be implying that Jade wants to do a quadrant polyamorous thing with Karkat and Dave

the little mention of fledgling kismessitude with her and karkat and the later notes of her wanting to fuck both dave and karkat suggests that she wants Karkat in Spades and Dave in Hearts

though funnily enough she might actually want to flipflop between the both of them as well

because the little quip about her being determined to solve relationship problems like math problems and turning their hands flipwise behind her back just reminded me of Karkat’s attempt to partition Terezi between himself and Dave also potentially flipflopping the quadrants the same way

just this time it’s Jade not Terezi and it’s the girl not Karkat being the one to suggest it lol

She does also literally make a diamond with her hands and put Karkat and Dave at the centre of it, suggesting she doesn’t mind them being in a relationship together, but wants monopolyamory of the sexuality part of it

Dave and Karkat stay diamonds in her mind while both take turns being flush or pitch with her

It’s a perfectly mathematical arrangement

John’s not wrong when he says she has the social graces of an elephant lol

But it is clear that she does love them both and is just lonely

Everyone seems to be having similar love troubles

John considering between Roxy and Terezi and since his feelings don’t clearly lie in one direction it makes him feel guilty, cuz even when directly confronted with Dave’s situation he doesn’t really entertain the idea that he could do something similar at all, and feels really uncomfortable with Roxy’s and Calliope’s previous relationship, like he feels bad Roxy has to choose him over her, also not thinking about a love triangle as a solution rather than as a problem

Really laying it on thick the idea of having to choose between one thing or another thing in a black and white this or that only sort of way is a really difficult and tragic way of looking at the situation

Heck, they even talk about how coins flips don’t always mean you have two options

“DAVE: ok so every time you flip a coin youre creating an alternate timeline right”

Meat and Candy are alternate timelines created by a “seemingly” binary choice

“DAVE: one where it lands heads and one where it lands tails”

So choose, Meat, or Candy?

“DAVE: but while the coin is flipping both possibilities exist simultaneously”

A prologue for the epilogues existed, a time before John (The Reader) actually made a choice, but it could no futher until a choice was made, until the coin fell

“JOHN: but what if you knew for sure that you’d make the same decision no matter which side landed up?

DAVE: you cant

JOHN: so... it’s like the coin never lands then?

There is a “correct” decision for both of them, both of them do have an idea of which choice theyd prefer over the other, it’s not equalized to them, but they feel guilty about that

they dance around the idea of there being a third option, but don’t have the words to articulate what that means for them besides “not having the coin ever fall, keep it suspended forever and the choice never has to happen”

Because a Coin can’t land both heads up and tails up

but it can land perfectly on it’s razor edge if you’re lucky

You can actively choose another way, rather than just avoid making a choice

Though it is also unfortunately is also implying that both Dave and John would rather be making one choice over another

Dave doesn’t love Jade romantically, not really, he just feels guilty about her and her situation, Dave loves Karkat and here, the idea makes him panic

John doesn’t love Roxy romantically, not really, he just feels guilty about her and her situation, John loves Terezi, and here, the idea makes him panic

Both of them feel like they should try to love Jade/Roxy, just for reasons that don’t actually involve genuine romantic feeling

John focuses on the setting feeling sterotypically romantic, the diner, the pretty lights, the scene feeling right, looking at everything except her

and then that line about how Roxy’s eyes look like staring into the Void, Roxy being unreadable, and seeming to change between the routes, bringing up topics vaguely, like she’s fishing for an opinion of the person’s she’s talking to

Roxy is probably just a social chameleon, eyes like mirrors reflecting the person next to her

Looking into a mirror, you have to get past seeing your own face in the reflection, and somehow look behind your own head and that’s pretty hard to do in a mirror

then the boys immediately segue back into what it means to make the “right” choice, the “canon” choice

John understand in some way that its not enough to have only two choices, or the option to not choose at all

more and more the third option awakens, just what it will be remains to be seen, written in the leafy green

It’s not without intent that the number 3 is Canon:

Essential, True, and Relevant 

So far, Meat seems to carry what is “Essential” in that it technically fulfills timeloops, hits story beats and moves things along at a good pace in a proper story format, the skeleton layout, the barebones structure

But it feels Irrelevant and ingenuine to what the characters experience, so it feels unsatisfying, it doesn’t feel “right”

it doesn’t feel canon

Candy then is obviously not essential to the story at large, it’s made very clear what happens here is technically without meaning and many of the characters are inundated with that feeling of “it doesn’t matter” irrelevance

but it also is technically truth, this timeline does exist and it did happen, these are not fake events

But since it is ONLY “True”, but not essential or relevant, it feels unsatisfying, it doesn’t feel right

it doesn’t feel canon

What then are we left with? What is missing?

And there IS something missing, they make it very clear with the stuff from PesterQuest so far

You click on the last page of the Homestuck Epilogues, then you scroll down. You read it (1). Then you read it again (2). You scroll down to go to the next section (3) and find... nothing?

What kind of ending was that? Absolutely nothing got resolved!

aka, Nothing Mattered.

Nothing was actually relevant to the story we were told.

We’re missing that hidden third pillar.

John remembers those words, essential, true, relevant, but no other contextual remarks which bind them.

He lost why it matters, he’s lost the context for it entirely. 

Also, random Roxy note: “She grins up at John with shimmering, adoring eyes. They’re reflecting every star in the sky, all for him.”

Yup, she’s a social mirror, that’s why people have trouble getting a good read on her

“It makes his heart do a weird somersault. It tries to flip frontways (1), then backwards (2), and ends up landing on its face instead. (3)”

The Coin tried to flip heads, then tails, then ended up landing on it’s side

the more you look for it, the more evidence there is for that hidden third route, all of the text is cluttered with things happening in threes, first a couple of opposite situations, then a third unexpected one.

“ It itches at the back of his head, the idea that he might have just fucked up Dave’s entire life. “

Told ya, John you got main character-ism, you can’t do anything about affecting people one way or another