#and using a torch wasnt any better

[cj-kenobi]

oh and i saw a giant wood wasp earlier and she was so pretty here she is

day 3 of attempting to catch moths (days 1-2 were deeply unsuccessful), it rained so no moths. but there was not one, not two, not THREE but FOUR cool spiders

[localgirlbecomesobsessed]

A Little creature for your enjoyment

Stop leaving Cathrine with Ed, he’s an instigator.

Rui stood dumbfounded as he stared at the scene before him, its the middle of the night in the cathedrals garden.

Lyca stood beside him arms folded as he scowled at Ed, who was leaning back in a semi-broken spinny chair, iPad in hand in the makeshift shed-bratory.

After a shift at the bar, he and Lyca returned to an empty home, though not unusual for Ed to take a walk around the campus in the night-it was rare to see their refrigerator missing, causing a feeling of dread to build up in both men as they moved to quickly track Ed down.

Thus, here they were.

Not particularly sure what they were looking at as Cathrine’s blowtorched their now deceased sideways fridge, - he knew whatever it was- it wasn’t good. Cogs and wires littering the garden as Cathrine spoke low to her new contraption, causing massive concern for everyone around-except Ed who was slowly typing away distracted by whatever he was watching.

Catherine’s face was hidden by a metal helmet, one taken straight out of vagastrom as Sparks flew everywhere, simulating firefly’s in the night sky.

Rui sighed striding up to Cathrine, giving a quick hello to Stera who Lyca had taken a liking to as a prime nap area during the day, the plant large and looming with pride as she stood as a beacon of the cathedral, eyecatching and alluring in the daytime…the night time not so much. The leaves overhanging around them causing the garden to look more eerie and ominous as Rui finally approached the mad woman.

He knocked on the fridge, startling the little pyscho as she quickly turned off her torch, pulling her helmet back as a cold sweat trickled down her face , her cheeks red from the cold evening mixed with the insane heat from her torch.

“Rui! Don’t do that you’ll startle it.”

Rui took an immediate step back, already seeing the maniacal look in her eyes as he held an arm out to stop Lyca from coming any further.

“Ahahah What did you do to our fridge catty…?”

He asked cautiously as Lyca sniffed the air curiously.

She scoffed as she gestured for him to come over, he hesitantly walked over, Cathrine kneeled on the floor tapping gently onto the makeshift see through door she’s replaced the actual fridge one with.

Rui leaned down next to her, as a strange pear shaped creature approached the glass door, tiny beady black eyes looking at the man in intrigue before immediately getting bored and running onto a giant wheel that was on the right end of the fridge .

“I found it in the garden~isn’t it cute!”

Cathrine clapped her hands excitedly as she watched the pear creature with deep interest, watching amused as it ran maniacally on its wheel like a hamster. Rui was speechless as Lyca came over sniffing around the fridge as his eyes sparkled in curiosity as he too joined Cathrine in watching the little guy run.

“Ed said your fridge was broken anyway, so I thought what better way to make use of something broken than to make a home for the little guy.”

Rui groaned hands covering his face as he turned to Ed.

“I may of told a white lie 🫣🤭😘 my flower 🌷❤️‍🔥🥀 or shall I say I was predicting the future…which has obviously come true. 😜 😉 “

Ed called out as cathrine’s face dropped into a comically exaggerated one of shock.

“Dude I am so sorry, I can get you another fridge, Ed why did you-“

A slight spark emitted from the freezer section of their previous food holder, making Cathrine jump slightly.

“Oh dear 😅 it seems my iPad is struggling to download this video…😟🫢😞”

Cathrine jumped up running over to Ed as she snatched the iPad, cancelling whatever nonsense he was trying to download.

“Ed…I told you you can’t overload CXT3.”

She chatisised him, like an owner telling off their mischevious cat.

Rui’s eyes furrowed as he realized that the ipad in his hands wasnt the usual device Ed always keeps close to him. It was a cream thick pad, similar to that of an old computer that had the backs, just thinner and smaller, it wss touch sensitive but needed a power source… Rui’s eyes tracked ths cord following it all the way to the little creature’s new home.

Rui wrinkled his nose as realisation hit him like a truck.

“-there are probably labour laws against this Catty.”

Pinching his brow as he sighed dramatically, hands immediately going to his hips in the signature mum pose ™️.

Cathrine whipped her head around, as she marched over to Rui.

“It’s not what it looks like-LOOK!”

Maniacally pointing at the CXT3 as Rui sauntered over to Ed, who was holding the contraption protectively as Rui went to grasp it.

“Back you barbarian 😡😞😭you do not need to touch my device 🌝⚔️🪦”

He turned the screen to show Rui, holding it just out of reach as Rui went to glance at the screen.

::-:/- 🏃‍♂️ 🏃‍♂️ 🏃‍♂️ 🛞 💓 ♥️ 💓

Edward: 🥰🏃‍♂️➡️📺

::-:/- 🛞⚡️👌🏼🤭

Rui deadpanned as he stared down at Edward, who proudly held up his screen, he spun himself in the chair, Cathrine cringing at the way it creaked and cracked.

“Wha-what am I looking at right now Ed?”

Exhaustion dripped through his words as he tried to comprehend the situation.

“Our dear friend 🥰😈has connected with the device Cathrine made for me ❤️‍🔥🥀🤤 “

Rui continued to stare as Ed spun back around and continued to speak with his ‘new friend.’

Rui turned to Cathrine who was now crouched with Lyca, the two of them mesmerised by the strange anomaly. Their tiny muscular legs flashing by in a blur as it excitedly ran on its metallic wheel. She had decorated the inside with fairy lights, a tiny bedroom and dining room, she’s added loads of weird knickknacks and puzzles to help keep them entertained…it was startling cute at how much effort she’s put in.

“It’s true! When I introduced Pear to their new home, it snuck into the wires section and did something that made them interface with CXT3! I’ve told Yuri and Haru and they’re going to let me keep them until we figure out how the little guy did it…I might just pretend to never figure it out though ahah!”

She cooed at ‘Pear’ who had decided to take a break from running as he teetered over to the glass door jumping in joy as it looked at Lyca. Whose tail was wagging excitedly as he cautiously pressed a finger to the glass, his smile beaming as pear pressed a tiny hand to it.

“Awhh he likes you Lyca!”

Cathrine nudged him in a cheerful manner as Lyca hummed out a sound of happiness, his focus solely on pear.

“Cathrine-my flower 🌷 🌺 🌻 🌹 they do not like the name pear 🍐 😮‍💨😭😞”

Ed sighed as he typed out a message to not-Pear.

“Oh no! What would they like to be called instead?”

Cathrine sounded slightly panicked as the thought of upsetting her new friend sent her into a state of frazzlement.

“Hmmm they sent me a wolf emoji… 🐺 🌒🤭”

Lyca tilted his head in curiosity.

“Wolfie? Wolfie? Luna? Crescent?”

He named the first four things to come to his head.

“It sent four angry icons 😡 😠 😤😮‍💨”

They all turned to Ed, a smug look on his face as he smirked at all three of them.

“I think our young one 👶 🍐 is partial to the name Lyca.🥰🤭”

He continued his video as he spun back around, the sound of the cracking chair getting worse as he did, Cathrine was surprised the chair was still standing.

“Is that true, you wanna be called Lyca cutie?”

Rui brushed his glove hand against the glass, the tiny creature jumping up and down in response to the question.

“Oi! We can’t call them after me~it’ll get too confusing…it’s my name?!?”

Lyca crossed his arm pouting as he glared at Ed, seeming to blame him for this circumstance.

“My dear boy, our Lyca sent five hearts❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥do you dare break them? 💔”

Lyca’s eyes widened as he guiltily lowered his ears, tail no longer wagging, which seemed to enrage pear Lyca.

Cathrine narrowed her eyes at Ed in suspicion as she wandered over to him, Rui trying to cheer up Lyca as he joked how they’ll call him human Lyca and pear anomaly Lyca!

That didn’t go well.

The two now bickering as cathrine glanced at the screen, a flurry of angry emojis from ::-:-/ as Ed repeatedly spammed them with ❤️‍🔥.

She sighed brushing a hand through Ed’s hair as he looked at her, mischief sparkling in his eyes. She kissed his cheek as she drifted her fingers down his back, enjoying his involuntary shiver.

She sneakily took the last loose remaining screw that was holding the chair together as she grabbed CXT3 and turned to the other two, handing it to Rui in a state of exasperation as she leaned down to her little friend.

“Eclipse; lovely to meet you.”

She tapped the glass twice as Eclipse stopped their frantic movement, preening at their name being called as Lyca quickly crouched excited with stars in his eyes as Eclipse waddled over to look at Lyca again.

“I think they like your ears Lyca.”

Lyca grinned smiling shyly as he took out the small sketch pad from his bag, falling into a cross legged sitting position as he started sketching out Eclipse.

The cathedral garden becoming a frequent spot for Lyca lately as he came to draw Stera or practice life drawing as he sketched Cathrine with her weird inventions or experiments.

Ed frowned at the loss of his device spinning his chair and letting out a loud shriek as the chair fell the pieces, he laid on the floor in defeat as Rui stood over him, silently handing him the device with a look of amusement in his eyes.

cathrine came to join them as she slumped in a plastic garden chair as she lightly kicked Ed to check he was still with them.

“Cattyyy~why’d you make Ed a device like that?”

Rui whined finally getting to ask the question that simmered at the back of his mind as the name debacle got solved, a little bit jealous at his lack of a cathrine gift.

“He asked me to…”

She sighed leaning her head back as she tried to stretch her limbs out.

“You never make me anything~ I want a catty original too! Oh~ how about I help you make it? It’ll be a cute date!”

Rui pouted at first before the idea hit him hard and fast, excited and terrified at the idea of conducting experiments with Cathrine.

“But I did make you something…”

She got up, walking deeper into her lab as she grabbed a pink box, handing it swiftly to Rui.

Rui’s eyes sparkled as he shredded the box open, lightly gasping as he pulled out a strange container, it has a weird bronzey cauldron like centre with a glass purple rectangular shape on either side, one a deep dark purple and the other a lilac, there was a cog with a wind up device stuck to the middle.

“What is it…?”

Intrigue as he checked it over, twirling it in his hands as Ed raised his head to catch a glance, even Lyca came over pausing his drawings as he squinted at the device.

“It’s to help with the anomalie plants, if you turn it this way…”

She tapped on the dark purple section.

“This will liquidify or turn it into an essence.”

She tapped the lilac section.

“This will grind it down, the middle section is where you put the item…you just have to.”

She twisted the dark purple to the right.

“Twist it to activate what one you want and then wind the handle. You can also mix things together by untwisting it releasing the liquid or matter into the middle bit again and then using the handle once more.”

Rui gasped happily as he started searching the garden for something to test it on.

“How are you feeling Ed?”

She questioned the man who still hadn’t moved, deciding it might just be more easier and more of a vibe to lay next to him, he looked deceptively comfortable.

“The crescent moon is out 🌙 the weather is delightful🥰🌻 and we have a new addition to our strange unit🥀🐺🌷💀 , I have never come across a creature like this before 😦 🤯🫢and it’s spurned inspiration in me to search through my books 🙀📚 “

He dramatised, using his hands to help eloquently put his short soliloquy across.

“Can I join you in that research?”

She was drooling at the thought of getting her hands on Edward’s old books, she was awaiting the oppourtunity for him to bring it up.

Ed smiled at her, searching up a video of how aliens built the pyramids.

“Of course my flower 🌺”

She grinned locking in as the video started, both her and Ed immersed until Rui broke their concentration.

“Fuck…what about our fridge?”

[ph0enix-12]

Here. I feed you some Crossmare <3

••••••••••••••••••••

Cross knew he was dumb- no, not dumb. Desperate.

He had been living in squallor for as long as he could remember, he often worked as a mercenary or as a one day guard for some stuck up nobles, but times now had gotten more rough. No one was hiring him, no one was in need of any job that would pay him enough for him to be able to eat, so Cross had been forced to go to his last resort..stealing.

He didnt want to. The other people living in his area needed food as well, but Cross needed to eat something or else he would not be able to work- no! He promised himself that he would not steal from other people in need, so, he decided to steal from a noble..a foolish move that had gotten him caught and now, Cross was sure he was either going to lose his hands o his head..both didnt seem like a good option. Him and his dumb morals.

Cross sat on the cold floor of the cell he had been thrown in, not really sure what to do. He had tried picking the lock, which didnt work. He tried the squeeze between the bars, also a fail. He was sure to put up a fight when he first got caught, thrashing around, squirming against the guards, even if it did nothing, at least he didnt go down without a fight. He stared up at the small window that let sliver of moonlight in..the night was still young, that meant that Cross had time to spare, he would come up with a plan...but he was hungry and tired. Maybe his time really was done. All things considered..he had a pretty good life.

The orphanage wasnt that well kept, but miss Apricot was just like a mother and she made sure no one ever missed a meal. The military could had been better, but the experience it gave him proved to be useful. His belly wasnt always full while in the streets, but at least he had been able to help people in need. Cross didnt want to die..but now that he had come to terms about it, he could accept it-

Cross just now noticed that all the torches in the prison were snuff out and that all the noise that was coming from the other prisoners ceased..he rose from the floor and got close to the door of his cell to investigate.

He lightly touched the door to see over the little window and the door slowly opened, Cross took a step back, surprised for a moment before slowly, peaking his head into the corridor with the cells lining it. There was nothing, not a light, not a sound, not another person...which was weird, since he was pretty sure the prison was mostly full when he was dragged in. He took a cautious step into the corridor and started to walk carefully, if he was to be caught again he would not have another chance to escape with his life.

The air in the prison was now colder than before- "arent you going to run?" Cross felt the voice right in his ear. He spun around quickly, his fists raised ready to fight- but there was still no one there, he looked around and still there was nothing but the snuff out torches lining the walls...maybe he immagine it.

He started to slowly walk again in the darkness "i must say-" Cross turned toward the voice with a shot "-you mortals are so very interesting..you do not wish to cease to exist, and yet you are ready to accept it." Cross stared at the figure that was speaking. A black shadow was staring right at him, the only thing visible being its bright sapphire eye "w-who are you?" Cross whispered, the shadow chukled amused "mortals are really adorable when scared~" the shadow moved around him, circling him like a predator "who i am isnt important now. All you must know is that i am here to save you" "..save me?" "Indeed my little darling~" The shadow smiled "i am here to give you a deal." The shadow stopped in front of Cross, who was trying his best to remain calm, he didnt say anything, prompting the shadow to continue "i am here to save you from the death that has been promised you. I will take you away and you will be provided for. All your needs will be met and all that you could ever desire will be yours" "..and what do you ask for me in return?" Cross whispered again, the figure smirked "you will belong to me, Cross, your body, your mind, your sense of self. It shall all be mine."

Cross' eyes widened- belong..?

"Show yourself first." The figure chukled again "very well. As you wish~" the shadow started to morph into the shape of a skeleton- a beautiful skeleton. He was wearing royal attire and four tentacles swayed close to the ground behind him, he only had one eye showing, an eye of the color of the deepest sapphires.

"Here i am, my dearest~ Just like you asked" he smirked "you are-" "Nightmare. God of darkness" he took a small step back to show himself further, almost preening "i trust you saw my likeness on the temple wall?~" Cross simply stared, bewildered. He was in front of a god...a real god. A god that wanted to have him "now, back to the subject at hand." His gaze grew colder and sharper "do you accept my offer?" Cross hesitated for a moment "if you get me out of here...you can have me" The god smiled visciously, almost not trying to hide his eagerness "excellent~" darkness suddently engulfed the two, taking them both far away from the prison Cross was kept in.

Once the shadows retreated Cross found himself in a throne room, a gigantic throne room. He was on his knees, in front of him was the throne, inside of a palanquine. A veil was draped away from the front, letting him view the inside. The palanquine hid away the throne, that was at the centre of a comfy spot full of pillows and various plates with luxurious food.

The god of the night was sitting on his throne, around him, three men were laying on the pillows, coaxing at their god, asking where he had been. The god took the chin of one of them, a skeleton with black empty eyes "do not fret my pets, i simply went to get you a new playmate~" the three suddently turned to Cross, staring daggers at him. The god chukled "Welcome, Cross, to my realm. Or, as youll learn to call it, home" Cross looked around, nervous by the stares the three men where giving him, the god cleared his throat "Dust. Show him around and bring him to the chambers." The man behind the throne stood up, he was wearing a scarf that covered his head "yes. My liege" he bowed and aproached Cross "play nice~"

The palace seemed infinite, it was barely lit, only having moonlight and a few fieble blue tourches lighting it, Dust was pretty quiet, explaining only what was necessary without many fancy words.

••••••••••••••

The rest of the night was peaceful, even if he was basically the property of a god now. The pther men he had seen didnt show up and neither did the god, it appeared that they left him in privacy for the night.

What could the god have in store for Cross?

[minarcana]

sorry for all the ooc, things are wrong with me. anyways i was in prae for the umpteenth time and every time im there all i can picture is the gaius that lives in my brain being forced to go through prae and its him with his head in his hands like "please. dont. dont make me remember being Like This"

im going to talk about gaius, sorry

(caveat: i have a better werlyt in my brain.)

his arc is that he went from a True Believer to "ah. these are people.". me forcing him to live thru prae era again is the cringe punishment cube.

a clarification to werlyt arc rewrite: yeah he did war crimes and he did them on purpose. he was aware they were war crimes. he knew that other legions did bad things, though he consistently underestimated the amount and cruelty of human experimentation going on. he knew other legions tended to treat eorzeans as lesser

however he really did believe in Something. he believed varis's propaganda and that varis was a benevolent leader, that it wasnt just primals but eorzea's belief in gods in general that were killing their own land bc he cant tell the difference between a primal and a god. he was fully committed to "these people are savages and heres some fuckin, fantasy version of the white mans burden" which is obviously incredibly wrong and fucked but yknow, it fuels the war machine. he was a soldier who never even thought to ask questions.

all he did was believe wholeheartedly in the propaganda fed to him and therefore rationalize "torching this entire country is fine, right". cannot stress enough i am not excusing the war crimes. im just making him a consistent character with a mildly rational arc. he super did those war crimes and did them on purpose. but he also did protect the war orphans his own war caused and had no issue whatsoever letting eorzeans who wanted to join the army to protect themselves do so. equality of opportunity providing you pledged fealty to garlemald, bc being of garlemald's population made you Better and Not A Savage and therein lies the line of who it's fine to kill if they fight back and who can be treated with respect.

unfortunately, ascians. gaius got his ass handed to him and the result is [nervous laughter] oh shit the army is super not infalliable and always right and very capable of and prone to wanton destruction instead of targeted attacks specifically to claim territory, hence the depression arc. he's pissed at ascians and wants to die. two birds one stone, hunt ascians till one of them kills him. meet people who want him dead and yknow theyve got a fucking point.

though he did still believe in the last vestige of "maybe things arent completely fucked and i didnt spend my entire life believing in utter bullshit lies?" that varis was a Good Emperor and Capable Of/Genuinely Interested In Ensuring Protection Of Garleans until the black rose incident. he still had a weird loyalty towards him that maybe he could get varis to like. not enact biological warfare against his own men. if he were just able to talk to him. but twas not to be and gaius essentially just [throws hands into air] OKAY! FINE! FUCK ME I GUESS!

hed already entirely lost faith that anything in garlemald's extant ruling structure could be salvaged while they still tried to wage war, weapon series just brought into light how deeply rotten the army had been the entire time when gaius had turned a blind eye to any operations that weren't his own.

if he met himself from his prae monologue now he'd strangle one of himself he doesnt care which one just free him from whatever this is hed Rather Die

the only thing im keeping him actually genuinely 100% totally unaware of from werlyt is the weird Thing livia had for him. shes out there hollering HIS BODY IS MINE as gaius is like "[completely out of earshot every time she does that] haha livia shes like a relative of mine i guess" and thats because i think its very funny.

on a SECOND DIGRESSION ABOUT PRAETORIUM

like. look. garleans cant use aether. i desperately want the explanation for how the fuck this man is pulling shadow clones out of his ass when he repels magic. i choose to believe the X beams are either ceruleum fire or aether cartridges charged by someone else but this cannot explain fuckin naruto shadow clone jutsu going on. what the fuck, gaius.

[thegeminisage]

back at it in KAKARIKO!! finally...they better let me climb these damn ruins ive been waiting to do it for 165 hours

FINALLYYYYYYYY

god and these poor kids can visit their moms grave again...

MINERU, SAGE OF!!!!! oh man i knew it i KNEW it. i love to be right

man calip is such a fucking loser. he's been blocking people this whole time & now he's mad about getting upstaged by a woman. get a life dude

WOW and hes making tauro say "fantastic" again. dude, COME ON!!!

ok wait i changed my mind. before i go to faron i wanna go back to the castle. i know my tunic and shield are both there!! i doubt i'll wear the tunic much bc i got my oot gear but i NEED my hylian shield. ive been using a zonaite shield the entire game!!!

man the music here is still SO intense

i remember zelda's diary said the tunic was in the throne room behind the throne but i dont see any way of moving it...

okay i looked it up. torches!!! and i GOT IT!!!!! wah......

now the shield...NO idea where this is, i'm gonna have to look it up fr

oh.

you have to go thru hands :|

well. how badly do i want it...

wtf this korok had extra dialogue???

"id heard korok forest was allw eird there for awhile but now its back" what the hell?? the other koroks just say ya ha ha......

korok hunting is so stressful here btw. why would anyone put so many seeds here. evil evil evil

OH my god okay i found a video that shows you a way to go around the hands. WHEW. thank you internet. im gonna try it!!!

oh i do Not like it in here. i thot about getting all my korok seeds rn but it is like 1am. no fucjing way. this whole goddamn place is cursed

GOT IT!!!!!! i am getting the FUCK outta here. i can't believe i could have done that the whole time lol

apparently it's 3k to rebuy it if it breaks but...i got the cash.

also tbh. im gonna keep wearing my oot armor bc i was gonna anyway but also bc i think the tunic looks nicer in botw. shoulder guard bad. i mean its more practical but less stylish

lol i went to the tower next to the zonai ruins and calip is there like waaah tauro had to go on ahead wahhhh im slow

suck it up!!!

man i remember being SO put out there wasnt anything here. but i guess there is!

quick stop to deliver this mf claw...

2 down, 1 to go. i have dinraal's claw but idw go back to the power spring bc theres hands near it lol

YOOOOO charged SHIRT

omg lol this is so skimpy and girly. love it <3

this outfit is SIIIICK i LOVE dragon armor!!!!!

DAMN OK....................THAT WAS SICK AS HELL

the storm is gone above the dragon islands!!!!! which is a shame almost bc this armor would have made me so deadly up there lol

man i think calip just has a fucking crush on this dude. problematic gay rep happy pride

ah, too bad i never was able to get a fast travel point up there...

i can fly over from the great plateau though. goddammit. great SKY ISLANDS

ooh, i still see some flashing...maybe an opportunity to use this new armor after all

there are storms! and the music is so cool...

right where i landed before...i know bc i DID get this gacha machine. and i remember this trio of like likes lol. very hard to do with zero visibility

ah man there's so much to see here!! but it's getting late so i have to pause for now :(

[youreaclownnow]

I probably shouldve chosen a different word than "light" in this context considering its dabs, and thus just* needs a high heat source under the banger to melt the wax/bubble hash/crumble/whatever, which burning finger would probably be able to achieve, IF it wasnt so hot that the whole rig would explode like an empty pyrex left in the oven with the broiler on XD [it might have that reaction!]

*i say "just" like thats easier to achieve than setting bud on fire the normal way. Its not. Gotta be hotter than any flame the average basic lighter can make, hence need for a whole ass torch, typically

(The stonertism took over i hope this doesnt come off like mansplaining. Im just enthusiastic about all things weed)

All that said, I do believe Domon kasshu makes for a very efficient lighter. The smokes are better if he lights em! What can any of us FC smokers say <333

Selfshipping as an elaborate excuse to get baked

[cherri-cherri]

× Little Flower ×

-----------×-----------

Pairings - Ryoumen Sukuna x Reader

Synopsis - No one was allowed to touch you as you were his. Those who dared would suffer a fate worse than death...

Warnings - Possible Grammar Errors, Slight Gore, Swear Words

A/N - This fic here is pretty short but I wanted to write this after having a weird dream with flowers and Sukuna. I honestly have mixed feelings about this one but I hope you all enjoy! - 🍒

----------------×----------------

"Speak, girl. Do you know why you stand here on trial here today?" A voice called out to you from above but you simply kept your head hanging down to stare at the stacks of dry wood pressed under your feet. Your body ached due to the countless bruises and cuts littering your skin and the tightness of the ropes cutting into your bound wrists weren't helping at all in the slightest.

"Y/N L/N, do you understand why you stand before us?" The voice repeated again, this time a rough hand grabbing ahold of your hair and gripping it tightly, forcing you to stare up at the man before you.

"Cat has your tongue? Well then, let me remind you that you were caught giving aid to the king of curses. No doubt spreading your legs for him like that harlot you are" his words only mirrored the disgusted look in his cold grey eyes, glaring down at you as his grip on your hair only tightened. Sad to think that you would be used to this knowing your uncle was not a kind or gentle man and yet his words only stung.

"...I did no such thing....He was hurt and I was trying to help, I was–" Letting out a yelp as your cheek burned from the slap your uncle gave you, you felt tears prickling your eyes as he leaned in closer.

"Liar!! Someone saw you with him, saw you hold him! It is obvious that your vile ways allowed him to take over your mind and possess you!" Yelling at the top of his lungs, you heard others around you cheering the man on as some even chimed in. So many hateful words, so many people who you believed to friends and family only for all of them to look at you with such disdain and anger. Tears began to form until your uncle released you and stepped away, "There is only one way to save your soul now before he swallows it whole. The flames will send you to the afterlife and maybe then, you will be saved."

Your heart dropped after hearing that. You were going to die, all because of giving a monster sanctuary, all because you tried to be kind. Men carrying large clay pots came to the stake you were bound to and then began splashing you with oil. Coughing as the liquid was poured ontop of your head, you heard the chanting of the people all around you, screaming and yelling for your death over and over again as your uncle came walking back towards you while holding up a lit torch.

This was the end. Your miserable life ending at such a horrible note, it made you let out a small saddened chuckle as you slowly closed your eyes and waited for the fire to engulf your completely until nothing but ash reminded.

You waited..

And waited..

The ropes wrapped around your wrists were soon sliced off and at the same time, you hear a few thuds collapsing onto gravel not too far away from you. When you opened your eyes, you found yourself staring at your uncle. Your now headless uncle. The blood erupting from his neck like a geyser as the body slumped down to its knees, occasionally twitching as the blood sprayed across your face and ragged dress. The color drained from your face completely as you stared down at the blood on your clothes, horrified until a large tattooed around wrapped itself around your waist. Freezing completely, you looked back forward to see the villagers beginning to flee until those who even took a step back were diced into cubed pieces.

"Any human who moves another muscle will die." A rough voice called out behind you, sending your heart to panic. Turning your head slightly to the side, you saw him.

Ryoumen Sukuna.

His eyes darted down towards you, crimson hues staring into your watery E/C eyes and he simply gave you a toothy grin. "Come on now, Y/N, you shouldn't give such a frightened look to your knight in shining armor. I just saved your life."

"Y-you killed them.. " you muttered, causing Sukuna to roll his eyes as he lifted you in the air before placing you down onto his shoulder to carry you. "And? I don't see what's wrong here. You're alive, they're dead. Now that we've been over that, I think you owe me a reward—"

"I knew it..." a woman said from the crowd, her knuckles turning white from how hard she was gripping her fists. She stared at the two of you with fear in her eyes, more so you than Sukuna. "Y-you were sleeping with him..you dirty whore...letting a monster in this village. Letting a curse spread in this village!" As she screamed out, blood soon enough trickled down her lips as she felt a pain in her chest before a growing numbness. Looking down, the woman saw nothing but a gaping hole in the middle of her chest, blood dribbling down the emptiness to the stomach until she slowly collapsed on her back. Others around her screamed out, some moving from the places they were standing before being sliced in half or trisected into parts. You gasped out, covering your mouth as you felt bile rising up.

"S-she did nothing wrong!" You yelled to Sukuna as he only stared at the remaining people in the crowd with a smirk. "Wrong...As far as I see, everyone here has committed a great sin."

Crimson stained the once grey pathway as people are killed by the curse one after another. A few brave (or foolish) souls attempted to even rush at Sukuna only to make it as far as five steps forward before their insides became their outsides. A woman tried to beg for her life by offering herself as Sukuna's personal slave, even going as far as to give away to lives of her children but once again it proved nothing as she too was killed.

It didn't take long for Sukuna to kill off the rest of the villagers, regardless of their age or even if they were innocent or not. They were all killed and slaughtered brutally without mercy, their blood mixing together as the smell of their corpses began to reek. You stared down at the headless corpse of your uncle, eyes dulled as you thought perhaps it would've been better if the fire had claimed you. Then no one wouldve been killed. No, no that wasn't true.

It would've been better if you never met him. If you simply continued on your way and left him bleeding out for the shamans to find. If you had never opened your heart to the curse..then no one would've died. Then no one would've been killed. Feeling a hand brush your hair gently with his nails and combing a strain behind your ear, you were snapped out of your thoughts. Sukuna pulled you closer towards him with one arm and wrapped each of his arms around your small frame before pressing his lips onto your forehead.

"They didn't have to die..." your voice was practically a whisper at this point, hoarse and dry from the screaming and begging for him to stop. Sukuna merely chuckled as he released you, "Do you feel guilty?"

"What sort of question is that supposed to be? Of course I do...." Saying that you didn't would only be half of the truth. Sure you were angry with how they were so quick to hurt you and kill you but then again, if you knew this was what Sukuna was capable, you would've accepted the punishment. You should've listened, should've stayed away from him that night yet apart of you knew that this perhaps wouldn't have changed much.

"I don't see why when because of you, your people get to live on..."

Those words got your attention as they left you confused. Before you could even question him however, you heard a small weak voice speaking out towards it. "You've doomed us all, girl..."

You could've swore that it was your uncle speaking to you and yet you knew that was impossible seeing as his vocal cords were severed alongside his head. But when your eyes slowly looked over to the severed head, you saw a large flower growing where the blood pooled over. It might have been beautiful if it wasnt for the fact that your uncle's face was on the flower, darkened eyes staring at you. Gasping out, you covered you mouth and took a step back, pressing your back into the warm chest of Sukuna as he pointed over towards the other bodies littered around the execution ground.

A variety of flowers had sprouted forth from the blood soaked ground, each with the faces of the dead villagers as they yelled and screamed out in agony at you. So many cried out your name, children who were unfortunately brought here wailed as their mothers simply screamed out multiple swears at you. Speechless, you froze at the sight as more flowers simply began to grow up around the two of you and were only spreading. Small vines began to creep towards you, only to be sliced away when it got too far, not to you but to Sukuna.

"Regret, anger, hatred, sadness. So much negative energy, so much rage here. I wanted to repay my little flower and what else to gift her with than a garden of her own." He hunching over and reaching for one the screaming flowers, he plucked it forth from the ground as the face on it contorted in pain before it began to beg for mercy. "Flowers for my flower. Though none of this compare to you." Sukuna chuckled, placing the plant onto the back of your ear before combing a strand of your hair.

You felt disgusted as the flower's voice grew more and more faint, it practically whispering in your ear for himself to be spared such a fate. You could do nothing but silently say how sorry you were yet your hushed apologies were drowned out by the voices of your new cursed garden.

[zapsoda]

official zapsoda review of that fuckin batman movie: i liked it :3

it was really dimly lit but i loved the use of colored lighting i thought it was beautiful. the initial scenes in that club were horrible loud and unpleasant.

given how everyone everywhere wouldnt shut the fuck up about him i thought the riddler would have more screentime but i guess my assumptions were just far too hopeful. i did find what scenes there were of him utterly delightful.

ive seen some people criticize the whole flooding the city plotpoint and id have to agree it felt totally fuckin severed from his previous motives like they just needed some big event to close off the last act. i also thought the number of his online followers who actually showed up was totally unrealistic. like, cmon, one or two if any. i dont see why he wouldve been all upset about batman helping them and dealing with it given his other beliefs but whatever. i liked batsy holding that big red torch and guiding the people. think it wouldve been better if the mayor wasnt one of them in that particular scene though.

selena and bats' relationship was okay, i didnt totally see their chemistry but i liked selena a lot so im glad she was onscreen a lot. i also enjoyed the riddlers weird almost parasocial homoerotic obsession, like the "we're a team" bullshit, and i kinda wish there were more of it.

i think three hours was too many for this movie and i still think the riddlers outfit fucking blows.

overall i really enjoyed it 9/11

[crafty-business4130]

so to expand upon this lets go in some ideas on what helscraft is like

i like to think that helscraft is a weird glitched copy of the overworld and the nether mixed together. for the cannon of my hermit duplicate’s AU (of which i will be referring to within this post) the dimension of helscraft isnt really a full dimension that always appears in every world like the end and nether. it only spawns into a world after a year or so of players putting all of their love and care into the world. the world builds up enough of all that good energy and then causes a opposite opposing Force to form. thus helscraft spawns into existence. in a way you could say the whole dimension of helscraft is a duplicate as well.

now one thing that kinda throws a a wrench in the works of this idea is that every year or so the hermits move into a new world, though since its normally has been roughly the same amount of players in each season we can go with the hermitcraft dimension of hels is carried over with each world jump. the world of hels change to match the new overworld but its still the same helshermits. though for the hermits that leave the server their hels counterpart disappears.  this may also work in reverse as well. only have one example so far so who know :) cOUGHCOughNHOcOUGh

with the the hows and whys on helscraft existence out-of-the-way let's get into some worldbuilding!

as ive already mentioned, helscraft is somewhat of a glitchy mix of the overworld and nether. what i havent mentioned is that a good bit of the April Fools updates and removed features for the overworld ended up floating over to helscraft but unlike the overworld in which these features disappear pretty quickly they ended up sticking around in helscraft, for better or worst. 

heres a list of examples of this, of which i then expanded upon them to make them more fleshed-out. 

the list got really long so the rest of the post is under the cut! :D

Pig and cow sized horses, if fed too much will cause the animal to grow dangerous mutations that can not only kill the animal but make its remains toxic and unedible. You can make a green book via using toxic leather (the crafting book)

A common spell is to summon flame that then can be used for new crafting recipes. one such recipe is flaming barrels, if someone walks too close it will explode, another is chainmail armor

if you put too much fuel into a furnace it will explode.

torches burn out an hour or two after being lit

chickens are deadly, do not provoke them. it is extremely rare but the is a very small chance spawn in a blue chicken. only able to spawn via throwing eggs. it drops lapis and diamonds instead of eggs. beware tho, all chickens in the immediate vicinity will protect the blue one with their lives and will attack anything that gets too close.

eating or feeding an animal a god apple will cause it to float upwards for five minutes before slowly descending back to the ground. 

Wheat if not chopped after fully grown will go bad and die, same thing with other crops. though you can make Iron infused melon and pumpkins, it insures that the stem won't die over time after its first produce

Powered Redstone causes redstone bugs to spawn, it can be stopped by combining lapis and redstone dust together to make bluestone dust. asifhfsssdhv only a noob uses redstone.

Redstone wire, another alternative of redstone made with redstone dust surrounded by cobwebs. it insulates the redstone and stops bugs from spawning. pretty much the same thing function wise but is a pretty cool thing to use to flex on others

Villagers are instead piglins, not the tanned ones added into the nether update but rather pink skinned ones.

Glowing obsidian, a glowing red version of obsidian. Only found in trades with piglins

In helscraft there are lava oceans instead of water, water can only be found deep underground. Lava instead of water is infinite, water is no longer infinite. 

The world of hels first looked like the indev world theme of hell, with following updates to the overworld helscraft changed and evolved as well. There is no sun nor moon, just a forever floating layer of lava that acts to light up the dimension. 

Frostwalker is instead, Magmawalker, turning lava into magma blocks shortly before melting back into lava

Boss fights arent the same in helscraft as in the normal overworld and its closely neighboring tied in dimensions of the end and nether. Not found in helscraft are Guardians, the ender dragon, and technically the Wither as well. Instead you can find Giants, the red dragon, the four horse men(much more difficult to defeat)

Giants unlike the ai less ones you can spawn using commands are living and breathing monsters that roam the land. During their travels any ghasts they cross will join them on their wandering

Ghasts can be somewhat tamed in helscraft. If you can successfully capture a baby ghast from its parents and raise it yourself the ghast will be malleable enough, somewhat like foxes but just a bit more wild. If you happen to accidentally harm them it will turn on you and fight you to the death, be it your’s or theirs.

It's a very very rare find but huge brick pyramids can spawn into the world. in season 7 helscraft’s cubfan took up residence within one that spawned in Incredibly Close to spawn

There are alot of different nonsensical potions that can be brewed for interesting drinks. some have a use, most dont tho. all of em have amazingly different tastes and smells

instead of honeycomb there is crystallized honey, it functions as pretty much the exact same thing. has its block too, call the wax block.

Killer bunnies spawn in more often than normal bunnies

Og stonecutter, can cut blocks into half. Not only used for stone. can cut doors, beds, and much more into halfs

Nether reactor core, could be the key on how to jump between the hermitcraft and helscraft. will need to think on this idea some more though

Petrified Forest, a biome within helscraft that has wood as hard as stone and a texture reminiscent of a mix of acacia and crimson planks color wise.

unsure as of yet on what to call it but the volcanic biome the Rempirer had Rendog make is a biome within helscraft as well!(the Rempirer is ren’s helscraft counterpart... he wasnt always evil as he is now) 

the mobs that lost the vote found their way into helscraft, not just the moobloom all of them. the three mystery mobs from the 2017 and the ice illager. (i voted for the glow squid and while i do still stand by my decision it is truely a shame we might not see any of them all in the game ever )

Studded armor and plate armor, alternatives to leather and chainmail. studded armor is made with leather and stone and plate armor is made with smooth stone slabs

stained glass looks a bit like this

and colored wool like this!

and thats everything for now. ill probly be working out some more ideas since theres a surprisingly large amount of features that have been added to minecraft either hidden away in the background or removed.

 also if anyone wants a some links to where i found these old and mostly forgotten facts ill post em in the notes when i get the time to do so. theres a lot of them tho so i might forget a few

hey also if you like these you might also like my Discord! i made it for this au and i tend to share my ideas a bit more over there than over here. theres a lot to see :DD

[sanchoyo]

danny phantom episode 4-7 Thoughts: (under a readmore because, these got kinda long!)

-the outfit danny had to buy for dash's party. CLASSIC 2000S i cannot stop laughing. And also showing up to the party and everyone is dressed like the trio is hilarious. and further proof that everyone looks good dressed goth.

-dash has a closet full of cute lil bear plushies?? LOVE that. adorable. also his response to danny trashing his room fighting a ghost was SO valid if somone BROKE MY BED IN HALF ID BE PISSED TOO.

-technus being like 'oh smart, u should be a tutor!' then later being like 'forget tutor, be a teacher!' :) supportive king <3 I also really like his upgraded suit/design. AND SPOCK CAMEO??? HELLO??

-the music in this show is super. its so funky. I looked it up and the guy who does it, guy moon (awesome name) also did music for other cartoons like fairly odd parents, barnyard, chalkzone, billy & mandy, AND some actual movies like FIGHT CLUB??? the whiplash I got from reading that)

-sam being rich explains a lot about her, actually.

-I know the moral of the episode was supposed to be 'dont ditch your friends for popular people/spend a lot of money on clothes that arent You to Fit In'. but tbh. it wouldve been easy for danny to have been like 'well, okay, ill come but only if my friends can!' but I get. that hes 14. so. not a lot to say there.

-BOX GHOST IS BACK!!!!! also, danny sitting up and wearing the dress/wig/makeup. umm thats how I dress everyday LMFAO. unironically me. (hate the jokes that boil down to 'haha funney man in dress' tho. but this is a look)

-jazz being protective of her brother once again being like NOOO YOU GUYS BETTER NOT STAKE OUT HIS (actually haunted) LOCKER!! shes aware of how people perceive him and she wants to help :( which is also probably why she told dash to invite him to that party even tho she had no interest in going!! she wants to help him out :(

-gotta say im with tucker on the whole 'should danny use his powers to get back at bullies' debate. 100% yes. let him teach kids to fight back. making dash throw his food at paulina out of the blue? no. but when hes actually about to pick on someone? yeah! for self defense? YEAH! if dash and his friends just threw food at him, I think rather than. idk doing sneaky shit with frogs he couldve just threw it back and not pulled punches if they tried to fight. I kNOOWWW its a kids show so they are like 'if u fight back ur just as bad!! violence bad!!' but. theyre HIS POWERS. WHO CARES.

-like my only gripe is that dash really isnt LEARNING ANYTHING WHEN DANNY GETS BACK AT HIM IN THE MOST PETTY INDIRECT WAYS. whatever they had to add a bully psa episode I guess. I hate it and I hate the way cartoons usually handle it because these methods simply Do Not Work. 'aND YouRE USinG YOur poWErs FOR EVill???!' this is Not Evil. even when poindexter takes dannys body, theyre only being 'nice' bc hes stealing soda for them!! bitches deserve what they get (nothing too brutal bc theyre high schoolers but damn, if they pick on danny he doesnt need to be the 'bigger person' he needs to start biting people)

-SAM TRYING TO SMUGGLE FROGS OUT OF THE BIO LAB?? girl in middle school when we had to dissect frogs we could opt out, also, they came to us already dead and preserved...

-sidney's lingo and the fact hes in black and white is sending me. also, danny is a ghost celebrity apparently for being a halfa?? ok. thats interesting to know

-the DENTIST BEING EXCITED ABOUT THE COTTON CANDY FLOOD IS THE FUNNIEST THING SO FAR.

-I LOOOVE the trope of 'wishes gone wrong'. not crazy about the stereotypical genie, or the use of the dreamcatcher looking design. (also, I KNOW theyre scientists but the way theyre handling a cold...are the fentons ANTIVAX)

-the genie. she. whitewished paulina. JKASDFHKJ. (the ghost literally just being hello kitty???? im dying) 'why do i feel that im special and wonderful? because I AM! <3' paulina ilu self worth queen. felt bad for her also getting possessed by (2) boys later who were arguing INSIDE HER. WTF.

-imagine being the guy trapped in his now flying car. he thought danny and tucker were HALUCINATIONS. imagine being trapped in a flying car with two, what you think are imaginary arguing 14 year olds convinced ur gonna die. i WOULD say this dude is gonna need so much therapy, but he seemed totally fine and excited when they landed (I would be happy too if a chicken was on my head. chickens rule) stoner rights

-sam's bat slippers??? iconic. SO cute.

-I think desiree's backstory is so :( do all ghosts have messed up sad backstories?? poindexter's was sad too...cannot imagine box ghost has any kind of fucked up backstory. but what if. his mom got pushed off cliffs by boxes...........a la cruella... anyway her 'no man may lay a hand on me' iconic. ilu

-I know danny has no concept of how much bras cost but my god dont attack tucker with some girls bra. those are so expensive.

-its really. well its not a GOOD THING he went into the portal and got fucked up, but its good danny was the one to do it rather than sam or tucker. because even tho he was being influenced by desiree and kept getting more malicious and it prob wasnt 100% him...he sucked as a ghost like most the people he 'pranked' were innocent ppl just Chillin and he didnt want to help anyone at all. I think danny is the most responsible out of them but also, hes 14 and shouldnt HAVE to feel obligated to fight every ghost. hes a good kid and wants to, but I also feel like he feels like...responsible for the portal turning on?? because his parents did give it up,, but it was an accident and not his fault (if anything, why was the on switch on the inside. why was it that easy. why was there no safety measures. that seems like smth OSHA needs to hear about). like thats my son. hes a good boy. and hes never done anything wrong in his life, ever. if anyone hurts him im killing everyone in this room and then myself. etc.

-danny's curfew is 10PM????? DUDE. when I was 14...shit I couldn't be out that late, I had to be back at like, 8 at the latest, and my parents had to know exactly where and who I was going with, AND i had to call/text them regularly...is this a case of my parents being overbearing, or the fentons sucking??? the only time i could EVER be out that late was if I was at an overnight sleepover or smth...

-the vultures have lil fezes. why do they have fezes...theyre so fuckin funny 'ask him for directions' 'I KNOW WHERE IM GOING' these ghost vultures are my new grandpas. pick them up, put them in the adopt box.

-'I wonder why those guys were trying to waste dad!' THEYRE GHOSTS. YOUR DAD HUNTS GHOSTS. why is that not a conclusion you'd immediately jump to??

-*jazz voice, clearly disgusted* WISCONSIN???

-mrs fenton with the lab coat and leg warmers and PERM. YESSS STYLISH.

-was going to say 'ew billionaire' @vlad but. super valid he used his powers to assumedly steal and cheat to get that money, thats how all billionaires do it! but ew hes a SIMP. and spending your billions on FOOTBALL STUFF?? you are Not Valid overall. I DO respect the fact you have a castle instead of a mansion. in wisconsin. if youre going to be stupidly rich might as well go all out, torches on the wall and all. I DO like his ghost form's little kitty ears. catman. and his cape! every design can benefit from a cape. and how different his forms look, like danny looks the EXACT SAME IN BOTH FORMS ASIDE FROM COLOR CHANGES. vlad's is like,, I could believe they were different people!! also I love the drama. but dude you are fighting a 14 year old. lame. also he was like, telling danny he wanted his mom and him and like, wanted him to renounce his dad?? WHAT ABOUT JAZZ?? bitch. those r MY kids and they are both important and special. I do agree they need better parents but thats not u sir <3

-I thought vlad's 'little badger' nickname for danny came from the football mascot of the packers, but google says they have NO MASCOT?? so now I'm like?? is it because his hair is sometimes black and sometimes white?? I hate to give him props but thats a PERFECT NICKNAME. theyre also tiny and vicious!

-why did I get so excited that Skulker is back!! its been like. 2-3 eps LMAO. AND THE DAIRY KING. ICONIC I LOVE HIM. hes the nicest guy ever :) more nice ghosts please. danny cannot be fighting alone everytime with no ghost buds like every ghost being hostile sucks :(

-mr. fenton knew vlad was controlling him, but a few episodes ago he had no clue danny was doing the same thing...is it something about how malicious the ghost is?? he just seemed to think his memory had gaps the first time, this time he was INSTANTLY LIKE 'GHOST'. then again in this ep when danny did it again he was just slightly confused but not immediately freaking out like he did with vlad possessing him!!

-'my parents will accept ME NO MATTER WHAT' so. so why haven't you come out to them yet, danny?? if you really think that?? if theres no harm, and you're sure??? if vlad is a real problem, wouldnt that make dealing with him easier, to expose him???? SO WHY HAVENT YOU COME OUT YET?? COULD IT BE,, MAYBE YOU HAVE DOUBTS ABOUT WHETHER YOUR PARENTS ACTUALLY WILL ACCEPT YOU??? 🤔 ... 🏳‍🌈 I get why people say He Is Trans. I totally totally get u danny.

-sorta unrelated, but it just occurred to me in one of these eps they go to casper HIGH not casper middle school??? theyre 14?? dont highschools usually do ages 15-18? (I didnt go to hs so I might be wrong, if I am ignore this...) freshmen are usually 14-15, could just be a case of them not turning 15 yet but they will sometime in the school year (I say they because tucker said he was 14 too)? I know the show has 3 seasons, so by the end of it will they be older? thatd be neat but usually cartoon characters stay the same age...I love shows where you can see the characters age and grow up, though...three seasons seems like a long time to spend on like, 1 year...

[kibleedibleedoo]

Hero of your own Fate 2/?

Thorin x reader

Warnings - brief mention of mental illness, slow burn

A/n - sorry it's a long one

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Thorin's POV~

It had been a long detour via the Blue mountains which unfortunately had not born any fruit. All Thorin could think about was a hot meal and a place of safety to sleep tonight. He was getting far too old to be a solitary nomad. His fantasising of his next meal led thorin down his third wrong turn of the evening. The shire was full of winding roads that seemed to follow no logical order in their constuction. Thorin could see the house up on a hill, by mahal he probably could hear the company from back in Bree, but he just could not find the right path to get there and the fading like was offering him no favours.

Thorin watched confused as the heavens seemed to rip open as Bagend was aurrounded by a vrief thunder storm and depositing a girl on top of the hill. From this distance it was hard to tell but she certainly wasnt one of his kin and the clothes she was wearing made ger look out of place in this world. Maybe you were a one of a secretive kind, some even more secretive than dwarves that few even knew the existance of. He watched as you settled yourself and entered the hobbit hole. Something deep inside him was drawn to this unfamiliar woman so deep that Thorin was taken by surprise when he knew how to get to that blasted house, to get to you.

~Reader's POV~

That evening was a whirlwind so much seemed to happen in so little time. The quest was explained along with the risks and contracts were handed out to you and the other burglar Bilbo. It took many by surprise when he fainted at the thought of incineration, sure it would be a bad way to go but an instant death was far more preferable than a long drawn out one, the only one not surprised was the leader of our company Thorin oakenshield. He seemed to react to the hobbit with pure annoyance even going so far as to question him on battle experience upon entering poor Bilbo's home. You had no battle experience at least none in hand to hand combat. You cast your mind back to one of your childhood school trips where you were taught how to fire an arrow and a bit of fencing neither of which you were any good at, at the time which gave you little hope for your ability to fight on this quest. You needed training or you would be a liability and you were positive the whole company knew it.

You took the time during Bilbo's recovery to pull Gandalf aside.

"what am i doing here?" you asked rather annoyed with the wizard.

"You offered to help in the café did you not?" he quipped knowing the answer.

"Yes but there is no point me joining if i am only going to be a liability Gandalf" you huffed, you wanted to help you really did but there was no point volunteering for this quest if it was going to end in your demise or the demise of some of the dwarves before the quest is complete.

"You posess talents aside from fighting that will come in useful that I am sure something that those of middle earth lack" the wizard mused. He was almost certainly keeping something to himself about what you could contribute. Before you could respond he continued "I took the liberty of packing supplies for you, some hygiene products from your home but mainly supplies from here for the journey. They are with your pony at the stables" Your eyes grew wide as you realised the wizard had gone through your things.

"You broke into my house!" you exclaimed in a hushed tone trying to stop any of the dwarves from prying, unfortunately you could not seem to shake the handsome one's peircing gaze. "What if my roommate saw you? omg wait what did you see in my stuff!" at this point you were starting to panic, your roommate had always suffered from anxiety and happening upon a strange man riffling through your stuff wasnt exactly something they would take in their stride.

"I was not seen, and magic comes in useful in your realm too" he chucked "the essentials come to me, they seemed nicely organised so I packed the entire bag for you" mentally you were piecing together what you would be carrying. That bag contained your toothbrush, toothpaste, a few wash cloths, deoderant, conditioner, a spare pair of panties, and some everyday makeup items. Okay so no shampoo, you werent exactly sure when you would get the opportunity to wash your hair while trekking across this world but you had heard others try a no-poo style of washing their hair so that must be what you would have to do from now on. "Along with what is already packed here are a new set of clothes to help you fit in better and if you will let me I can exchange and money you have for coin you can use here." You werent sure exactly where he had stored the fresh clothes but he seemed sincere so you handed your bag over to him.

"Dont touch anything else in there, you only have permission to exchange currency" you said in a stern voice "they might not all work here but they are important to me" you finished softly. You took the clothes to a seperate room and closed the door behind you. It was dark but you still had your phone in your pocket so could use the torch for a while. You silently thanked whatever deity was up there that your parents had got you a solar powered power bank for christmas and it was in your bag, where you always kept it, your phone might run out of battery soon but you knew that you would be able to look through your photos whenever you got homesick on this quest. You turned your attention to the clothes, inspecting each item you noticed the outfit looked like something that would have been worn during the 18th century back home. Luckily your roomate was studing fashion history at the local university so you knew where all the fabric was supposed to go. Gandalf had also been nice and provided you with a corset which did up on the front, looking at them you could almost hear your roommate telling you this style was called a 'pair of bodies' and you chuckled knowing that while this outfit might be more practical than what you were wearing it was still going to be a nuisance to put on and wear all the time. You got undressed and threw the shift over your underwear, not ready to give up your modern bra and pants just yet, next you decided you still wanted to wear your leggings. If you were supposed to learn how to ride a horse tomorrow you sure as hell were going to have some fabric between your skin and the saddle plus it would preserve some of your dignity if you fell off and your skirt flew over your head. Time for the corset, the stomacher was rock hard which you thought might provide some protection, against what you werent quite sure of yet, and the corset was surprisingly easy to lace up at the front. The next item you loved, it was a shame modern women's fashion hated them so much but these bags you tied at your waist formed huge pockets which could fit most of the contents of your bag in without anyone being any the wise. The petticoat and skirt followed and a jacket tied the look together. You decided your doc martens would be far better to wear than whatever flimy shoe gandalf had provided so with your outfit complete you returned to the company.

Gandalf sat there smiling with a bag of coins in his hand. You felt you looked slightly ridiculous, especially since your bosom was more pronounced than in your oversized tee.

"Now you look like you belong here" he took a sip of wine and nodded.

"I might look like it but I have still kept some of my modern luxuries" you responded smugly waving your t-shirt a bit. He smirked handing you over the coins and your backpack back. You stuffed the tshirt in with the rest of your stuff and made a mental note to wear it as a pyjama top.

~Thorin's POV~

Y/N had disappeared off into one of the rooms shortly after her argument with gandalf. It seemed like the company had lost both of their burglars within the space of five minutes. Thorin huffed and sat back next to Balin who was always a source of comfort to him even before Erebor fell.

"We do not have time to delay Balin, if we must leave without them then that is what we must do" Thorin sighed, fewer and fewer folk were supporting this mission a band of 13 dwarves and a wizard was hardly a match for a dragon if Smaug still lived.

"I know lad, have faith this is a worthy quest and mahal would not have forsaken us" Balin smiled reassuringly at Thorin. Balin trusted Thorin like he trusted no other, he knew Thorin would give anything for his people and would do everything in his power to provide them with a place of sanctuary. The pair sat in silence for a few moments when Y/N came out of one of the rooms in a different outfit. The dress made her look like one of them, it fitted her so much better than what she had on before and Thorin found himself staring in awe at her.

"it seems she hadnt given up on us afterall" Balin nudged Thorin grabbing his attention

"aye but does a woman belong on this quest" Thorin sighed "she looks weaker than Dis and we wouldnt allow her to join us"

"she will be fine" Balin was puzzled by Thorin's sudden change in attutude until he realised Thorin was still watching the lass like a hawk. "she will have us to protect her and Im sure you wouldnt mind training her" Balin joked.

"I will not let her presence effect this quest, we will make sure she is trained" Thorin barked back. Both dwarves knew it was already too late just her sheer presence made Thorin reconsider his priorities.

[afterthelastreset]

Rules Of One’s Soul Ch 1 Game Starts

(WARNING!! PLEASE READ: Mentioning of past abuse in this story, don't know if this counts as a trigger but just in case I'm putting this here.. Also Rouxls has a slight fear of touch, and bad anxiety and some stress in this story. Don't know if those count as triggers but might as well mention it in case. But nothing beyond that. You have been warned. Mak belongs to @coffincrawler)

What would you do if your job was to deal with a power hungry king who could snap at any moment? Quit? Haha! Only if thou wanted to end up in the dungeon or worse. But also that you were completly put in charge of something you had barely any knowlege of, forced to babysit a hyper mini king, and had to do whatever the king wanted at a moments notice any hour of any day. Oh! And this was all a 24/7 job. Congratulations. ......Being the duke was highly overrated but, nobility wasnt without sacrifice. Which was what he was ready to put up with when he agreed to first being the king's royal advisor. The king was always much of a brute, big, mean, and not afraid to show his displeasure for anything he didn't find to his liking. But at least the Queen always managed to calm him down-....Ah. Her highness- She was always such a caring and kind spirited lady. How she could possibly tolerate let alone love that big brute was a mystery in of itself, but then again he wasn't in any place to judge. Now was he? He was just the royal adviser(more like royal errand boy) to the king, but still he admired many things about her. Her courage, her endless kindness,....her beauty-...*ahem* Anyways, things were going well in thine kingdom for a while. Sure the constant nagging and intimidation of the king would get tiring but he was used to constant pressure from higher ranking people. The other three kings and queens were much more pleasent to be around, sometimes the neighboring Durrmee Royal family would visit. The Spades even eventually announced the coming of their soon to be child after a while...Huh. It seemed like everyone was starting to settle down it seems. Unfortuneatly nothing like this lasted forever- Everything changed the day the knight came. The Queen disappeared. The king went mad! The former kings locked away, the neighboring kingdom attacked, the foutain appearing, and the king slowly descending into more....destruction. The poor prince. He didn't deserve any of this. Noone deserved any of this actually. It seemed madness spread to others as well. Not too long after the jester was caught trying to slay an innocent bystander and was locked within the safest cell constructed. Not too long after that the royal magician quit along with some of the other staff...or thrown in the already crowded cells. But it didn't make any difference to him. He just had to keep on smiling and agreeing for his own sake. Day after day. Smile n agree. Smile n Agree.....Hopefully nothing bad happened. But enough rambling about his past. You dear readers are here to read the tale of his future are you not? Well then. It all began with one scared rudinn on one rainy night-

The rain had been pretty aweful this season. It only lasted a week or two, but it was always pretty dull to watch. Luckily he had been given of paperwork by his majesty to last hours to keep him occupied! Isn't his majesty so consideret? ..*ahem* anyways- He was swamped with paperwork, which was why he jumped when a knock came from the large wooden door. He obviously flinched and looked at the door. After a few more moments of silence, a timid voice finally broke it:

"...Uh..Sir D-Duke," a male voice sounded muffled by the door, "C-C-Can I come in? W-We have a uh-....s-small problem." The blue duke let out a small sigh of relief it wasn't who he intiatlly thought it was and gave a small smile. "Of courseth. Cometh in soilder."There was another pause, before the door creaked open and said rudinn soilder stuck their head in. The Duke smiled assuringly before waving his hand in a come in motion, to which the rudinn seemed comfortable enough to slither in on his command. "Noweth. What caneth I do for thou this-"...He paused before looking at the clock on the wall. Good golly is was already almost midnight. "...Night?" The rudinn hesitated at first, wringing his hands together and shaking slightly. Even though Rouxls was a much better boss than the king was, he still had to report every progress TO the king and that's why most were nervous when it came to giving the daily reports. "W-Well Sir bossman. Sir. U-Um...I came t-to deliver the day's r-report?" The duke stared at him. "Now? Tis nearly thine next day. Why hast thou come to deliver it so latest?" The rudinn shrank more. "Well...T-That's the problem,Sir Puzzle man. Um....We're h-having a problem w-with one of the prisoners? " Rouxls's confusion must've reflected on his face because the rudinn winced. "It's the um....J-Jester, S-Sir." "Oh..Him." The mad jester was always troublesome. Ever since his capture and imprisonment, he's always found new ways to scare the guards. Babbling about how the King was merely using them all as pawns like in a game, or howling about chaos or something. He never really recalled the jester much, purple jolly fellow, always getting into trouble. Ounce put green hair dye in his shampoo bottle as a prank-.....He'd never forget that, his hair was an ugly green for a month. The guards were pretty freaked out by him, but he didn't see the big deal as long as we was behind bars. "So what thou's problem?" "Um.....H-He's acting....really strange tonight. L-Like..r-really freaky. And uh....No one w-wants to give him his food." "Well, then thy answer tis simple really. Let him go hungry. Maybe that willst teaches him a lesson about his behavior." The rudinn looked even more distressed if possible. ''Um...We kinda can't? The King's d-doing his w-w-weekly insp-p-pection tomorrow, Sir. A-And he gets r-really angry when I-it's not done." Rouxls froze at those words. Weekly inspection...? oh no- HOW COULD HE HAVE FORGOTTEN?! Well- He has been swamped in paper work for the last few hours, so he guessed he could've forgotten,, but the king wouldn't take his excuse. His body began to shake lightly from the memories of the king's anger. Teeth bared, claws out, pain on his face- He immediately shook his head and looked back to the Rudinn with a stern face. "W-Well getest someone down there and feed him something!" "W-We can't." "Why not?" "N-No one wants to go down there, b-but we don't want to see the k-king mad either so..Um...W-We were hoping YOU would do it?" They stared at each other, before Rouxls groaned and moved his eyes down to the mountain of paperwork that STILL needed to be finished before tomorrow. Too many things were always thrown at him weren't they? But...he was always used to bearing the brunt of the hard work, might as well go do it and get it over with. What could've been so hard about feeding one prisoner? He sighed and reached a hand up to run through his white hair. "Fineth. Just..telleth me where I can findest this 'freaky'prisoner thou speakest of?" *********************************************************************************************** DING! The duke made an obvious flinch when he felt the elevator stopped and made the comical dinging noise. He certainly wasn't expecting the sudden darkness greeting him when the doors opened up, luckily there were torches along the side of the darkened staircase that lead down into...well, he guessed the cell, but this seemed a little extreme for one prisoner. Maybe a suitable punishment for the king- He shook his head and meekly leaned his head out a bit to peer past the darkness. He couldn't see anything except barely the stairs and what looked like bars maybe? But he didn't see or hear any evidence of anyone down there? Perhaps this Jevil person was sleeping? Made no difference to him. That just means it'll be easier for him. Taking a deep breath, he slowly stepped out of the elevator and onto the stairs. ..Nothing! Sighing, he straightened up his back and made his way down more confidently. There was nothing to worry about. Rudinns always worry too much anyways, getting him to do all the work when he already had so much to do. He muttered to himself irritatedly, nothing made him more irritated than being interrupted in the middle of work. This would take all night at this rate. The poor duke failed to see the small shadow stirring in the darkness below, or the two small yellow dots that peeked out at him curiously. The yellow pupils blinked up at him from the dark, and a fanged smile slowly grew across his face. OH! A new visitor! Different from the usually rudinns or occasional hathy who usually just dropped his food off and left as quickly as they could, quite rude not to say hello. But THIS one- The worm's biolumeniscent hair shone in the dark and sparkled as he walked down the stairs towards him, a scowl on his face. He muttered some things under his breath he couldn't quite make out, but that didn't ,matter to him. It'd been so long since he'd seen a new face, though he looked very familiar....Hey. Wasn't this person the prince's babysitter or something? Oh! Wait a second. It was the funny fellow called Kaard wasn't it. Yes. Rouxls kaard. Biggest stick in the mud other than the spade. He chuckled lightly remembering the many pranks he used to pull. Always had this serious aura around him. No fun that one. This was going to be fun! He held what looked like the usual mush of food he was given to eat, no doubt to deliver it like the rest, but the way he looked so done with life already- It was too hilarious! He finally let out a stream of high pitched giggles at the sight, just as the duke was bending over to set the tray down by the bars. Making the worm freeze and drop the tray the last few inches to the ground with a clatter. He stared directly into the cage where to his horror, two yellow pupils were staring only a few feet away. The two silently stared at each other until one spoke. "Well, well. A new visitor, visitor to my little freedom!" The pupils blinked. The voice behind it sounded a little too pleased to be seeing him. "What brings you all the way down, down?" The worm didn't say anything. So when the pupils suddenly sprinted at him, he yelped and slammed his eyes shut for cover. ….When nothing happened, he slowly reopened them, but he wished he hadn't. Because staring at him a feet or two from his face was the purple imp from his faint memories, but he never remembered him being so terrifying! When he still didn't answer, the imp hummed. "What's the matter, matter? I got your tongue, tongue silly man? BWAHAHA!" "..duke.." He paused. "Hmm. What was that?" "I-I-..." The duke licked his lips nervously. A few sweat beads of slime ran down his obviously frightened looking face. "It's D-Duke to t-t-thou, P-Peasant." The thing cooed. "Oh. I see you've obtained a title.Hehehe." Somehow he shifted his body to lay on his side in mid air, with his head in his hand. "A title is just that, that. A silly little thing to call yourself, yourself.~...But now that begs a question. What brings the duke, duke to my humble little freedom? Freedom." The duke was still obviously still frozen with fear with his eyes wide as plates, but confusion still seeped it's way into him. Freedom? He calls being in a cell in the middle of the dark feet under ground for years free? He really was mad wasn't he? He really should get out of there soon, but the fact this crazy person was still staring at him like prey was quite unsettling- Wait. He asked something right? Why he was down there? "I-I...T-Thou has scared m-mine workers into not giving thee substance...*ahem* W-With t-t-thine king checking p-p-progress tomorrow, I-I can't afford m-mistakes." The floating man hummed and it finally accured to Rouxls that he was balancing on his tail. What oddity is he? "What would one little me, me do to anger such a man?" …..Rouxls blinked. Certainly not the question he was expecting, but- "Art thou insane? Doth thee knowest what thine king w-w-will doth to mineself if thy rules are not followed accordingly?!" The jester merely shrugged. "I haven't the faintest idea,idea. But life is too chaotic without the stress, stress of trying to follow all of HIS rules, rules. Now isn't it?" "On thine contrary. I wouldst rather keepest mine head on mine shoulders than to risk displeasing his majesty. Following the rules is needed on a daily basis." At that he let off more high pitched cackling. "After all these years, years he still has the pieces of his never ending cruelity, cruelity. *tch* And they say Im mad and foolish." "Thoust tried to killeth thine king. Of courseth he woulst locks thee up like the traitor thou are!" The fear was slowly starting to be replaced with annoyance at the feind. "I have wasted enough of mine time here. "He slowly leaned back up to a standing position. Thou haseth thine food, perhaps you'd be wiser than to scareth off thine food supply. Or else starve to death." His ears perked up. "Is that a threat I hear oh duke?~" "Taketh it how thou wants to! Im nay afraid of a mad fool trapped behind bars of coldst steele." "Is that so?" His eyes lit up with an unknown glee. ''Well, then how about a little numbers, numbers game?The rules are simple to play, play?~" Rouxls gave him an even more annoyed look. He had important work to do and this fool wanted to play games. "Nay! I haveth no time for your idotic foolishness- EEEEE!" A death grip had wrapped his wrist and attatched to it was the smiling lunatic with a gigantic grin, which only grew hearing the Duke's squeal and the way his confidence has easily been returned to fear. "Oh, come now, Duke.~ It's simple really. All you have to do is run while I count how long your-"

Rouxls let out a squeak as a pulsation ripped through their bodies and simaltaniously pulled his hand away from the equally startled imp, who's tail pulled him back a few feet and his eyes widened at the sudden feeling. Rouxls's soul thumped hard against his chest to the point he thought it was going to burst from his chest, then as suddenly as it came it left and his soul slowed down and his lungs heaved out. Rouxls stood there. Blinking. D-Did he...Did he just have a soul attack? B-B-But then, where was the pain? HE should've been flopping on the ground like a fish. Maybe an anxiety attack? Nay. Those never felt like electricity was surging through him. It must've been a giant zap of static cling. The two just stood there as the effects wore off and slowly looked at each other. Jevil was the first to move as he slowly looked down at his paw, his button eye spinning. He stared at his paw for a moment before closing it and giving Rouxls a wide eyes look. Rouxls could see the blue shape of his soul slightly from under his clothes as it faded away....Ok. Weird side affects for static cling. "You?" The voice brought Rouxls back to Jevil as he blinked in confusion. "I-I..I what?" Jevil didn't seem to notice he said anything and instead look back down at his hands in pure confusion. "I didn't think I'd ever see the day, day...and with someone so...opposite, opposite!" He turned back to the kaard with a newfound glee on his face. That spooked and confused him to no end. In one swift moment, the thing lunged at the bars and reached a clawed hand out. ROuxls obviously yelped and tried to back away but the clawed hand caught onto the front of his shirt. With a hard yank, the duke was slammed against the bars and once again a spike of absolute terror washed over him. Yellow eyes looked at him. What he didn't know was that Jevil was drinking in every detail of his face. He never noticed but the duke seemed to have dawned a few scars to his otherwise flawless features, must've been a fight or two. He surely was a fascinating one wasn't he? Oooh! He could feel his soul lighting up with this new found "How marvelous, marvelous! A new player and game, game!" Genuine excitment rang through a genuine happy smile, though the terrified Rouxls didn't seem to notice. His soul beat against his check a mile a minute! He could burst from what he purseived as fear any second, not that jevil noticed. "Ehehehehe! So this is where it all begins, begins! " He HAD to get out of there! He pulled his head back and got his arms up ready to shove this pest off himself- He froze. Something wet slid against the side of his cheek and he gave off a high pitched whine. His body shook lightly- And then he thrashed uncontrollably. His brain having one goal. GET AWAY FROM HIM! Jevil was taken aback and loosened his grip on the blue man. The duke fell backwards and instantly began to shuffle back- "Wha- Hey! Wait, wait!" He didn't listen. Stumbling and desperately trying to breath, he ran back up the stairs towards the elevator and into it. The up button was spammed practically into nothing and the similar ding noise was heard as the doors slowly closed off the darkness. As the machine shifted as it slowly went up, the duke collapsed against the side wall and slid down to the floor breathing heavily. What the actually f*ck was that?!

…………………...……...……......……...……...…...…......………............…...…...…...…...…...…..................…...……......……...…...……………......………...…...…... He shouldn't have done that. He shouldn't be doing ANY of this. What would one think if they knew that the King's appointed Duke of Puzzles, caretaker of the prince, and master of law and order would be feeling absolutely weak in the presence of an insolent clown?! NO! He wasn't weak! Rouxls Kaard was anything but weak. He was just....uh..a little unprepared for the absolute madness of the knave when they first encountered. Yes. That's it! Not even the great Duke of Puzzles could get all first impressions right.

He wasn't sure of the strange feeling in his gut whenever his mind revolved around back to THAT night. The strength of those ghastly hands latching onto him and slamming him into the cold steel, near those sickly glowing eyes. The very thought of those things made him shudder and get a sick feeling in his stomach. In a way, he was more terrorfying than thy king. At least with him you could tell when the Spade was displeased in anyway, but there's no feeling behind a mad man's smile. So. The answer to recovery was to just avoid the place and do his best to push those thoughts deep down and try to distract himself.

And for a while. It actually worked.

He managed to busy himself by making an actual working piece of his work the king seemed pleased with. He called it, A Control Crown. Though it still could use some work as it only worked on more...um. Less smart beings of the realm. And the King's annoying worm(but much better company keeper) of a son had gotten himself into plenty of shenanigans the Duke had to fix or pull him out of. It had been maybe a few months since the incident and he rarely thought of any of that encounter. So all was well with the Duke of Puzzle. Thou the duke did experience a strange tugging or nagging feeling like he was missing something. Oh well. None of it mattered.

At least. Not until that night.

A storm had decided to make itself present that night much to the annoyance and fear of the guards. For it was tonight that the prisoner better who some had called Jevil -odd name if you asked him- once again decided now would be the right time to act up and strike fear into the poor guards in charge of the food supply to him. Which also meant none wanted to go down there. Which ultimately meant the duty would fall on the next upper person in charge.

.....Which meant it was up to him. To settle things. And go down there. With that THING!

He honestly almost threw up the mac and cheese Lancer and himself ate for lunch when he found out. But he was the Duke of Puzzles, appointed by the King himself. Law keeping was one of his best assets, which was why he was put in charge of these guards. So, with a heavy stomach and light head, he assured any listening he'd once again take care of the 'little worm' and put a stop to this all. Oh,if only he could have seen the familiar frozen grin plastered on his face at the moment. It only got worse when he stepped into the elevator and pushed the button to the unknown level.

Once the doors closed, the Duke let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and immediately reached to clutch at the tufts of shiny snow white hair on his head.

"What the f*cketh have I done?!" He breathed between gasping breaths. He wasn't even sure how stupid he was at this point! Why didn't he just tell them to let the stupid prisoner go hungry just for tonight and not bother!? This was absolute madness. Like kicking a live bee nest to anger the pathetic insects-

Bing!

"HA!" The Duke let out a short high pitched squeak of fright from the doors reopening to reveal the beginnings of a staircase and darkness below. He hoped no one heard him. A high pitched series of laughter ruined that hope.

"Oh, how fun,fun! A Duke of no suit has come once again, again to seek what he thinks he rules over!" He flinched when he faintly saw two glowing pinpricks from down below. "How interesting, interesting.~ Have you come to finally play, play?~"

He stood there frozen at the sight of yellow eyes waiting for his answer. The feeling of that insolent's slimey tongue grazing his cheek and the feeling of complete helplessness came rushing back to him in a heart beat. Gathering what pride and dignity he had left, the Duke casually stood straight up and gave an annoyed look. He tried to invision himself talking to a rookie guard or Lancer whenever he had to explain something. He just had to remember. HE was the one in charge. Not some bumbling knave that couldn't even harm him from his prison all the way down below.

"I-It has cometh to mine attention that thou art scaring the very guards that feed you!" He shouted down and waited for a response. But none came. The eyes didn't even blink. So he nervously licked his lips and continued. "If thou wishes to keep getting proper treatment from them in the future then thou needs to follow the rules set in place."

Felling a little more confident. He decided to yell louder. He was in charge. Not him. He had no control over the situation. He made the rules.

"Thou art getting on mine nerves and I do not wish to heareth about thine useless chatters or antics! I haveth no time to deal with thee any longer! I have more important matters to deal with than the rambles of an absolute mad man!! So keepest thine voice down and cease your useless shenanigans at once!!"

His voice echoed throughout the silent prison as the yellow eyes continued their silent watching. Rouxls stared down at the lowlife a little longer before smiling. That was until the pinpricks disappeared as the crazy fool threw his head back in laughter at the stupid show he just witnessed. Rouxls felt his ears press to his sides and his stomach drop hard. This wasn't the reaction he had hoped. All too soon the eyes were back along with a mocking voice.

"What a shame! What a shame! Thinking he could order the only one free, free in the whole kingdom!~ How amusing!~ How fun!! FUN!!~" Rouxls didn't like the change in tone of the deranged jester's voice. It almost sounded intrigued. And that's what scared him most. "I never had so much fun,fun with another pawn before! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!! Tell me Rouxls Kaard. If you are in charge, charge then why are you too afraid to play this little game, game of yours?~ Hmm."

The Duke didn't say anything at first. The heavy scent of fear consuming him and making his head spin.

"I.....I shan't need to e-explain myself to the likes of you! I prefer not to waste mine valuable time on dealing with your insolent empty words. Thou can pretend with thine mind games all thee wishes but Rouxls Kaard is nay fool!" He pointed a hand at him. " For you see, I have thought of the possibility of thou using these games to trickest me into coming in range of your dastardly grip! But I shan't be fooled again so easily! For by me staying far from thine's hold then thou shall not have a open point to strike! Who's winning who's game now if thou never even got a chance to make his first move?!"

"Yet, yet I'm not the one who's playing dirty.~ What fun is a game if one wins just because, because he cheats out of fear?~"

"Hark thee little knave!!" He bellowed in absolute anger like he just threw dirt on his new suit. "What rules are laid down is followed and I shan't listen to you any longer!" He turned back towards the entrance to the elevator with a huff.

The voice cooed in amusement. "BWAHAHA! A shame that the rules card is running like a defeated child,child at a game of checkers.~ My next visitor will be pleased, pleased to hear about the cowardly leader of a Duke that masters, masters over them!~"

He froze. Did he just-...? No. He couldn't have just....But he did! Taking a breath, the duke world around to face the yellow eyes with anger.

"Thou insolent, foolish WORM!!" He bellowed at the top of his lungs. Making the jester laugh again as the duke began to march towards the stairs in complete anger that his authority would be tested by a common criminal. As he stomped his way down, he remembered to keep his distance with time when he reached the bottom. Now face to face with the clown behind the bars. Even with his limited vision, he could make out the jester's pleased smile on his face. "You DARE to threaten me with useless rumors of mine reputation?!"

"Hehehe. Not a threat and not, not a rumor.~ Just facts straight and simple.~ But now that you're her, here-" The bells on him errily chimed as he tilted his head. "I find you're more fun, fun to play with.~ Tell me, tell me. Did you figure out the game, game we started last visit?"

Rouxls huffed. "You mean that useless asult on mine person? BAH! I refused to even think about such things to do with the likes of thou, Jevil!"

A sudden spark seemed to light up in the jester as his attention became a bit more...focused.

"Ooh!~ So you learnt my name, name?~ BWAHAHA! Tell me, oh Duke of rules and puzzles. Have you any idea of what YOU have started with this game, game of ours you triggered? Are not the feelings and tugs at your very, very core not clues to this puzzle you can't seem to solve?~"

The duke gave the madman a confused look at the nonsense he was spouting out of his mouth. Was this a battle of wits or riddles? If so he won either way. He didn't intend on ever coming back or giving this creature any more of his precious time after this. What was the point if he never made sense anyhow?

"Was does thou even mean? This is nay puzzle! Tis a riddle of a mad fool that shan't ever be solved!"

"Hmm. Perhaps. Perhaps. But tell me this Duke, and tell me true. True." A hand stuck itself out of the bars to point at him, making him flinch. "Did you not have a feeling of need,need or incompletion when you first left this place, place!? Is it now gone?! Replaced with the need to prove yourself! To, to the very person you can never win or lose against in this corrupted. CORRUPTED EMPIRE YOU CALL HOME, HOME!!"

It felt like the walls and darkness themselves were vibrating with the booming voice of the smaller floating man. Rouxls couldn't even bring himself to speak and Jevil's smile suddenly became knowing instead of amused.

"THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN REALLY PLAY A GAME!! GAME!! THAT MATCHES YOUR VERY OWN!! ROUXLS KAARD!! OUR FIRST MEETING, MEETING WAS NEVER OUR LAST!! THE VERY MOMENT WE MADE CONTACT, CONTACT IT SEALED US AND FATE INTERTWINED WITHIN MY FREEDOM, FREEDOM AND YOUR IMPRISONMENT!! THE BEING OF PERFECT ORDER AGAINST THE TRUE EMBODYMENT OF RAW CHAOS!! CHAOS!!"

The last word felt like a wave of sound hit him and sent the duke stumbling forward a few steps almost falling to his face before he looked up at the absolute monster clutching the bars in absolute raw horror.

"You....You're absolutely mad!!"

Jevil chuckled again. "Maybe that's true. Maybe I am insane. Insane. But I am truly the only free, free person....But you know. It's gotten rather boring,boring and dare I saw lonely in my little freedom. Duke of puzzles. I haven't really, really felt like anyone but my old friend Seam could begin to make me this amused, amused." Maybe his insanity was rubbing off onto Rouxls but he could've sworn he saw Jevil's smile slipping a little. "I will always regret happened between us, us. But, it seems fate has directed you towards me, hmm?"

"What?....I-I...I still haven't the faintest idea thou is sputtering out!"

"Heh. You still don't get, get it do you, Rouxls?" He gave a hum and might have sounded like a disapproved parent if he wasn't still smiling though me. "Interesting, interesting. Tell me. Do you know the concept of soulmates?~"

Silence.

The frozen duke stared at the floating creature inside the cage as his brain tried to process this. Yes. He knew what a soulmate was. What an absolutely stupid question. Everyone knows a soulmate is the one person in life you feel compelled towards. Like finally putting the final missing piece of a puzzle together-.....Wait.

Wait a minute.

The realization must've reflected in his eyes because Jevil's smile became more soft if that was even possible for a mad man.

".....No...NO! Nononononononono! NO!!" He hands flew up to clutch his head. The floor felt like it was consuming him with how much his body fell forward to it's knees. "NO! NO! THOU TIS LYING!! MORE MIND GAMES!!" He shouted desperately at the jester who just smiled warmly back, like he was a dear old friend stopping by to grab a chat. His eyes searched for any indicators of mind games or a sick joke. "I...I can't anything to you but a toy for your amusement! Let alone thou's s-soul....IT"S NOT TRUE! I SHAN'T HEAR OF IT!! LIES!! ALL OF IT LIES-AH!!"

The same strength pressed him against the same bars. And the once proud duke whimpered like a dog when facing the same eyes from his nightmares.

"Naïve, naïve little duke." His voice was like he was trying to comfort a child and Rouxls let out a whimper when a clawed hand cupped his chin. His face was closer now. Why wasn't his body reacting!? He could feel the hot breath of the jester before he spoke next. "One cannot deny the rules, rules set down by fate now. Can you?~ We balance and do our dance, dance like chest pieces on a bourd. One never belonging to a suit, suit or getting the upper hand. But...we never lose, lose either.~"

The contact was warm, heated and made the duke feel a sudden rush of strange belonging filled with another stronger feeling of throwing up. Both feelings intensified when the crazy jester slightly loosened his grip on the frozen man's shoulder when something that felt strangely similar to a rope wrapped around his torso. Jevil didn't notice the white shiny liquid beginning to sting the duke's eyes or the sudden swing until something came impacting into his face. The force sending the smaller man a few feet away to the ground with a loud "OH!". Instantly when the contact was broken the duke threw himself back onto his rear and shuffled back towards the stairs. Gagging and clutching at his chest. Trying his dammed hardest not to give in to the urge to puke. A slight pain throbbed in his hand from where it struck the jester.

He coughed and sputtered while taking gulps of air through his mouth to help control himself. A small silence went by before the duke shakily looked at the direction of the man who had once again violated his personal being. At first he thought he was imagining it through the tears or the rushed feelings spiked through him, but no. Jevil was standing there instead of floating. One hand clutching the bars while the other cupped the cheek he guess he must've hit. A look of pure shock on the jester's face. Of the ounce proud man now reduced to a shaking crying mess.

Neither said anything for a moment before jevil spoke.

"You're....crying. Crying?" He blinked and removed the hand from his cheek to inspect it. Like the answers were written on his palm. "You...hit me, me?"

"WELL WHAT DID THOU EXPECT YOU GOD DAMMED FOOL!?!?" Both flinched at the sudden raged tone that seemed to rush out of him. Jevil more than him. But the angry feelings overtook any other rational thoughts. "DID THOU SERIOUSLY THINK UP THIS WHOLE CRAZY DELUSIONAL F-FANTASY OF ROMANCE TO GO ALONG WITH YOUR PATHETIC TRAGETY STORY LIKEST SOME SICK NOVEL WRITTEN BY A COMMONER!?!?"

Jevil stared long and hard before an annoyed expression came over him. "Fantasy, fantasy?.....DELUSIONAL TO MY OWN FEELINGS!?" He growled and gripped the bars of his caged prison. "YOU DARE SIT THERE, THERE AND CALL ME, ME A FOOL FOR RECONGNIZING THE PLAIN TRUTH WHEN NO ONE ELSE DOES, DOES?!"

This time it was the duke's turn to give a dry laugh. "HA! YOU CALL WHAT JUST HAPPENED A TRUEST EVENT!? AND YOU ACTUALLY EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THOU'S GESTURE LIKE A NORMAL DARKNER'S?!"

Jevil's face immediately dropped. Rouxls sat there as both heavily breathed from the events. Before the duke slowly stood up onto wobbly legs.

"E-Even...if I did think thou's affections were true, what reason would I have t-to accept or believe when the person who gives it is a prisoner? Seam was in his righteth mind to exit this madness when he did-"

A low growl directed him back to the now angry jester. Anger was a new expression for him but right now he didn't care. Rouxls felt sick, covered in sweaty slime and tears, and equally angry.

''Don't bring Seam, Seam into this."

"Or what!? Thou'll attack me with more unwanted affection! This isn't exactly a splendid walk in the dungeon foreth me!"

The imp let out another growl before pointing another clawed hand at him. "You cannot, cannot tell me you can't feel-"

"I DON'T!!" The loud voice of the duke echoed throughout the entirety of the prison cell. Silencing anymore rambling from either end. "I tire of these useless antics a-and....AND I HAVETH ENOUGTH ON MINE PLATE AS TIS IS!!" He pointed a hand at him. "I SHAN'T EVER RETURN TO DEAL WITH THOU'S ANTICS AND I WILL NEVER SEE YOU AS MORE THAN THE ONE WHO TOILS WITH MINE EMOTIONS!! GOOD MORROW, WORM!!"

He turned and began stomping his way back up the stairs towards the open doors of the elevator. Ignoring the sudden expression on the imp's face.

"W-What?....ROUXLS!! You can't leave a game unfinished once you start to play, play!! It hasn't even finished!...R-Rouxls? Y-You can't forfit this game, game.....Not when I-...COME BACK, BACK!!"

He paid the creature no mind while he continued climbing up the stairs-...Which was a mistake.

An animalistic shriek pierced the air louder than anything he ever heard from the king. A shudder ran up his spine and only one thought shot through his head.

RUN!

He sprinted towards the exit up ahead. Almost tripping over his own two feet a couple times in his panicked haste to get out. Something whizzed by his head and embeaded itself into the wall above his form as more began whizzing past him. The animalistic screaming still present. One of the thing grazed his shoulder causing him to yelp in pain as a cut instantly formed. He ran into the elevator and practically spammed the up button as more of those sharp objects continued to fly around him. The doors slowly closed. Muffling the shrieking and little metallic thuds. Slowly, the elevator began to steadily rise leaving the noise behind him.

Unable to withstand the wild roller coaster of emotions moving through him, Rouxls collapsed against the side of the elevator as it continued to rise. His body shook uncontrollably as he was finally able to take a look at the things that were flung at him.....Hearts. These things were all hearts. He choked.

The once proud Duke of Puzzles reduced himself to a sobbing crying mess as the elevator continued to rise.

[sablesides-writing-corner]

Mulan and Loceit!

Sorry if it's not what you expected, havent seen any Mulan movie since I was little so I dont remember much about it ;-;

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

Logan was quite content with his life, and he was rather smart for someone of his social status. But of course there was only one thing anyone ever seemed to want from him, a husband. He'd just never seen the point in love, or feelings in general for that matter, it all seemed pointless. Yet there he was, getting ready to see if he could ever land the husband his family so desperately wished he would. Make-up itched, and clothing to, everything itched and he hated it. He hated these pointless rituals and matchmaking, hated love, hated feelings. But he sat and smiled, because that's what a good son does, sits and smiles and gets a spouse to carry on his family's legacy. His grandmother had given him a cricket, he never understood how that was going to help him, it was highly unlikely that such superstitions were actually true.

But Logan found himself hoping his grandmother was correct in her assumptions as he walked to the matchmakers house. He hoped he wasnt sweating, makeup ran when in contact with liquids, he thought about how stupid makeup was again.

He wasnt sure when he'd been called, he barely remembered it, but next thing he knew he was sitting on the floor, pouring tea for matchmaker and pretending to have a genuine smile. He didnt have to pretend for much longer, the tea stains on the matchmakers face made her look almost as if she had a beard. She reached for the teacup, and Logan noticed the cricket his grandmother had given him poking its head out from the cup.

"Let me refill that for you-" he said, taking the cup quickly and trying to stall for time. The matchmaker eyed him suspiciously. Logan felt beads of sweat on his forehead and began to panic. This was a bad course of action.

Next thing he knew, or at least wish he knew, the matchmaker was on fire and screaming at him to get out.

"YOU WILL NEVER FIND A HUSBAND, YOU WILL BRING ONLY DISHONOR TO YOUR FAMILY!" the words cut through Logan like a knife. He didnt care about finding a husband, or feelings, or love. But he did care about family, and the disappointed looks from his own haunted him.

It seemed like the day couldnt get worse. Yet somehow, it did. Logan's mother was told she would be sent off to war, and there was nothing Logan could do to stop it. He'd stayed up for hours thinking and devising plans, watching his reflection in the pond, wondering what he'd done to become such a terrible son, when he came to a realization. He walked to the wardrobe his parents had always told him to stay away from, that it was for his mother only, he shouldnt touch it. But when he opened the wardrobe and took out the armor inside, he couldnt see why. Perhaps they thought him to fragile for war, but he disagreed. As he put on the armor and took the sword his mother used to show him when he was little, he felt stronger, smarter, even. He hadnt thought it possible for him to get any smarter than he already was, he suprised himself every day now it seemed. He raced to the stables and found his personal favorite horse, a tan palomino.

"You think you can handle a journey like this? It'll be a while before we can get back," Logan didnt know why he talked to the horse, it was such a stupid thing to do, but it seemed to understand him, he could have sworn he saw it nod. No matter the reaction, he climbed onto the horse's back and set off for the army, completely uncertain of whether or not he would return.

About half way through his journey, as Logan slept one night, he heard something moving in the field. He blinked his eyes open and looked up to see the shadow of a dragon on some stone. "What the-"

"GREETINGS MORTAL- IT IS I- REMUS!" said the dragon. Logan looked around, and noticed a small green dragon with brown lines on its nose nearby, the cricket was holding a torch toward it. "IM HERE TO TELL YOU TO-" the dragon seemed to notice Logan staring at him, "Oh-"

"You're here to help me." said Logan, who quite frankly was not expecting much from the dragon.

"I know more about this than you do, violence is my thing," said Remus the dragon, who was small and nonthreatening.

"I'm sure you do," said Logan sarcastically, but he decided to e

accept the dragon's help anyways, he supposed a talking dragon for company was better than no company at all.

He hadn't expected this to be an easy feat, not remotely, but the addition of General Deceit was something he absolutely couldnt wrap his head around. The general had scars all along one side of his face, he almost looked like he had scales. The rest of the army found him intimidating, Logan found his pushing frankly annoying.

Logan would make one mistake and hear "I've seen better from a servant," behind him. It was, to be frank, a drag. Remus tried to help him several times, but that only seemed to get him into more trouble.

"Alright, I think I've seen enough from you," Deceit's eyes were cold and unforgiving as they bore into Logan's own, he'd never been scared of the general, but this particular instance was an outlier. "Your time in this army is done, I expect your things and you to be gone by morning, Logic," the name had been used on a whim, Logan frankly didnt understand how anyone bought it, but that wasnt his place to say. He watched as Deceit stormed off to watch the other recruits, and he made a decision. He was going to practice until Deceit had no choice but to let him stay.

It worked like a charm, Logan would never forget the look on Deceit's face as he gaped at Logan, sitting atop the log that so many others had desperately tried to scale the previous day. He took great pleasure in Deceit's revocation of his previous command. But this was a war, he had to remember that.

It hadnt really felt like a war, hed been having so much fun talking with the other recruits, and been so caught up in hiding his identity that he had almost forgotten. Which was why when they came upon the decimated remains of another village, Logan didnt know how to cope. They were overtaken soon after, and amid the confusion Logan had managed to screw something up that he couldnt repair.

"What, exactly, is this?" Deceit had his hand wrapped around Logan's arm, despite the opposing armies supposed defeat, Logan had made a grave mistake. He had forgotten all about the markings he'd left on his arm the day of his matchmaking, he'd hoped they would have come off by now, he wished they had. "So you're not even a soldier, then?" said Deceit, the hiss in his voice clearly audible. Logan tried to sputter out a response, but to no avail. He was left there, in the cold, as the rest of the army fled back home. Remus tried to console him, but it was no use. He'd failed to gain honor in any situation, he wasnt a good husband, he wasnt a good soldier, and he wasnt a good scholar. He wasnt good enough at anything.

Logan's horse whinnied, he turned around to see his enemies rising out from where he'd thought they'd disappeared. Frantically, he got back on his horse, Remus latched onto his shoulder, and fled back home, hoping to warn Deceit before it was to late.

The journey seemed endless, but finally, Logan made it. He searched the crowds and streets for Deceit, catching a glimpse of his yellow eyes withing a parade.

"Deceit!" he rode up beside him, the man ignored him. "Deceit, the armies didnt die back at the mountains, we're all in danger! You have to listen to me!"

Deceit turned to face him "I dont take orders from a low-class man who couldnt even land a husband, you are not a leader, and you are not a soldier, stay in your own line." he growled. Logan glared and lead his horse away.

"How dare he! Well if he doesnt want to listen then we can just watch everyone die from out here!" said Remus angrily. Logan ignored him, he was to busy trying to formulate a plan so his idea wouldnt come to fruition. He finally landed on something, but it still required Deceit's help.

By the time he'd returned to the palace however, enemy forces had already arrived. He enlisted the help of some of his army friends as a distraction and ran off to find Deceit.

"Do you believe me now!" he said, halfway sarcastically. Deceit through him a sword and rolled his eyes. Together they fought through the army. Logan had never really noticed it before, but Deceit's intimidating demeanor was actually very pleasing to him, and he fought quite well for someone with so many injuries so close to his eye.

Logan hadnt expected any rewards, he'd expected a reprimand, punishment, maybe even death for what he'd done. Yet as he faced the crowds of people cheering for him, he felt happier than he ever had in his life, he watched Remus giving him a thumbs up, watched his parents beaming up at him from the audience, and then he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He turned to face Deceit once again. The man rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "You uh, fight, well, for someone-"

"So nerdy?" Logan finished his sentence for him. Deceit flushed and Logan laughed. He said his goodbyes and headed back home.

He'd fully expected there to be no more suprises in his life, fore everything to go back to normal as soon as he put everything back in place. He should've known better, his life had been nothing but surprises recently, but at least this surprise was a pleasant one. Deceit's smiling face was a sight Logan had only ever dreamed of seeing again, and his words were something that caused even more joy.

"I'm in love with you, Logan, I dont know how or why, but its true," Deceit had told him. And Logan had smiled, hed felt it to, he'd never known what the word meant before, hed always thought of himself as a glitch in that particular system, yet here he was. Young, clever, and in love,and what a set of things to be indeed, he wouldnt change any of it for the world.

[wheelgr0ve]

Johnathan looks nervous and really Nancy isn’t surprised by that at all she had been avoiding him since the party, now a month ago, so of course he would wonder what he’d done to make her angry. She feels badly, of course, it wasn’t Johnathan’s fault that he moved on he had every right to, he hadn’t known how Nancy felt.

So she meets him at his place, sits awkward at the end of his bed and they talk. He asks her why she’s been avoiding him and well, she goes for broke theres no reason not to tell him now, they’re both in a different place than where they had been a month ago, when Nancy had been pinning after Johnathan who had finally gotten over the torch he had for her and had decided to move on with the least likely person imaginable.

“Oh.” He says, not sadly. It’s just oh, a bit of surprise and thats all. “I had no idea.”

“I know.” She says with a shrug, it hurts only a tiny little bit but not enough to be gutting. “I’m sorry for avoiding you.”

“It’s fine. I mean I get it.” He says and really she knows that he does. He’d avoided her after she’d taken Steve back after Barb’s funeral, back then he must have thought that he and Nancy would lead somewhere both having dealt with loss though Johnathan’s brother had woken up while Barb had just-

“I’m still really sorry.”

“Hey, no, don’t worry about it.” Its all water under the bridge, he’s over it, and really its a good thing, that they’ve both moved on from it and that now they can talk and it’s only a little awkward. She looks at the line of his back as he fusses with his CD’s and she feels only that distant want, so distant in fact that it doesn’t really stir anything in her anymore.

It seems all so final.

“So you and Carol.” Nancy says with a small smile. “Thats a little unbelievable.”

He turns back to look at her a little spacey too.

“Yeah, no kidding.” He says turning on his stereo, loud enough for the hum drum of music to be slightly heard to fill in the empty silence during the occasional lull between them. “Did you know she had a thing for me since middle school? That’s crazy.”

“Crazy because you were literally the only person who didn’t know, Johnathan.”

“You’re full of shit. How could I have known she tortured me.” He pulls a cigar cox out of his dresser drawer and goes to sit beside her, shakes his head. “I was so sure she was gonna tear my head off that night but what happens? She tells me she likes me and suddenly she’s got her tongue in my mouth.”

“And you were absurdly okay with that?”

“Oh definitely. I mean I thought Carol hated me I never said I hated her, did I?”

“Oh?”

He doesn’t say anything more and Nancy has a distinct feeling that Carol’s torturous actions towards Johnathan since the sixth grade weren’t so torturous to Johnathan at all.

Well, wasnt that interesting?

“So you and Hargrove?” Johnathan lights up and takes a deep hit, raises his eyebrows just a bit.

“Yeah,” She smiles softly, takes the joint he passes and feels her heart beat a bit faster. “He’s great.”

“I’m glad. I heard that he was a bit of a hard ass but seeing him with you?” He starts to laugh and Nancy joins him. “He’s like a lovesick puppy.”

“No!” She shoves him a bit.

“He is! Every time you walk into class he lights up, he carries your books and literally ignores everyone around him. Vickie practically had her tits out the other day talking to him and he literally didn’t notice. It was hilarious.”

———

“Do you even live here anymore?” Mike sneers at Nancy from across the dinner table. He’s still sore because she refused to lend him any cash for the arcade.

“Of course I do.” Nancy rolls her eyes but a look form her mother stops whatever she and Mike were about to argue about cold.

“Really? Well this is news to me.” Her mother says, she looks a little stiff and little upset. Of course it’s understandable her 18 year old daughter spent most days at her “friend” Maxine’s place so much that she only really made appearances a few dinners a week at home. “When are we going to meet this Maxine that you’re practically living with, Nancy?”

“Maxine? Wait, Max?” Mike asks a bit surprised and Nancy wants to kick him under the table, tell him to shut up. “You’re living with Max?”

“You know her?” Karen asks and Nancy can feel the moment her dads interest peeks. This isn’t going to go over well at all. Stupid Mike.

“Yeah she’s in my class. I think she lives with her brother.”

And there it is. The shift in the atmosphere, the crackle of anger and even Holly can feel it as she looks between everyone and mutters a little “a-oh.”

“Brother?” Karen turns to Nancy and glares. “You’ve been living with her brother?”

———

The argument is explosive and Mike takes Holly and practically trips up the stairs to get away from it, a look of apology on his face because he’d never meant for it to get his bad but Nancy doesn’t look at him she’s too busy staring at her hands as her parents talk. Her mother is outraged, rightfully so thinking the worst and her father interjects once or twice.

“A boy? Nancy, you’re smarter than this!” Her mother says.

“We’re not doing anything.”

“Really? You expect us to believe that?”

They really hadn’t. A month in and they haven’t had sex, Nancy still wanted to wait but it would be a total lie if she said other things hadn’t occurred. It wasn’t like Billy was pushing her either and being with him and Max at the apartment was better than being at home where her parents ignored eachother and she was always tasked with watching Holly when her mother needed to step out.

“Nancy,” Here dad says. “You’re 18, you’re graduating this year. Are you being safe?”

“Of course I am. I mean it I haven’t slept with him at all I promise.”

Her parents look at eachother, silent communication passing between them. Really its not as bad as she thought it would be, if she were perfectly honest. They only wanted Billy over for dinner to get to know him.

God she hated Mike and his big mouth!

@transbillyhargrove

[tobacconist]

my house got hit with a nasty strike of bad luck last night, all at once, i think around one o clock till about half past; i blame the full moon in scorpio (i believe saturn, venus, and pluto were retrograde at the time too. not sure if they still are)

i didnt feel like writing it at the time because i was too upset

had a really good day before then too. dads been depressed recently and wed sat out in the sunshine n had a smoke n laugh. we played dominoes later on.

ill say it started with my dad gettin absolutely wankered, like really fuckin drunk n stoned, the kind of wankered where you think youre completely fine but you aint and you wont listen to anyone telling you to sit the fuck down or go to bed

anyway, mum went to bed about 11, told us both to get to bed early (because she is the only sensible person in this house) dad said he was going soon after he’d finished his wine (like he does every night) but he filled his glass a few more times and stayed up.

eventually he went to bed, i told him not to keep coming down to pester me and that id go soon after. of course he came down a few times (its like an incredibly unfunny farce every night) to eat crisps and drunkenly ask me why i wasnt in bed ‘give me some fuckin peace and i’ll likely go to bed sooner!’ i said its a farce

i was trying to think about designing an expanded dominoes set which also functions as a jenga set, and perhaps could be used as some kind of analog calculator a bit like an abacus. i was looking up variations on the game of dominoes and thinking about the esoteric significance of the game

of course i couldnt think about it in peace for long, cus dad came down once again to ask me why i wasnt in bed yet ‘because you wont let me have any fucking peace to think!’ i said ‘the sooner you go to bed the sooner i go to bed!’ it really is like this every fuckin night

‘alright, alright, im going to bed. dont be too long’ he said.  then i heard the dog coming down the stairs ‘fuck sake! dont wake mum up for fuck sake, she’ll come down and yell at both of us!’ i thought then he said (to the dog) ‘oh, do you need a wee?’ n then i got a real bad feeling that i couldnt really place, like everything was going to suddenly go wrong.

i hide his wineglass because for fuck sake if he comes back downstairs im not gonna get any peace hes bumblin around makin a load of noise, then he shuts the door so i presume the dogs inside.

then he comes to me! asking me where the dog is, i say ‘didnt you just let him out? is he inside?’ he shouts to my poor mother, who is just trying to sleep ‘is the dog up there with you!’ she yells back ‘NO! YOUVE JUST LET HIM OUTSIDE YOU STUPID BASTARD!’ or words to that effect. she’s really angry and im like ‘hhhhhhhhhh fuck sake’

i start panicking, for personal insane paranoid reasons (basically a picture of my dog taken that day had a strange lense flare from the sun that, sorta, yknow in the film the omen where they take a picture but theres a weird streak on it and then later the person gets impaled by a huge steel beam. looked sort of like a downward swung scythe to me. praying its just the light, but yeah i got really paranoid.) so i was suddenly like ‘holy shit holy shit is something going to happen to my dog’, i grab my torch and sprint into the garden with my shoes on the wrong feet. i hear my dog suddenly yelp and im genuinely prepared for the worst.

mum had come downstairs now and was yelling like fuck at my dad, who was barely lucid, like, not even understanding why she was angry, and that jus made her angrier)

thankfully, my dog was okay. hed found a hedgehog in the garden, once again, and was once again trying to beat it up and play with it.  i grab his collar and send him back inside. i look at the hedgehog. its all curled up, and i can see that its bleeding. its breathing still though, breathing really heavily. i half cover my torch so as not to frighten it any more and watch it for a bit.

i go back into the kitchen and my mum asks whats wrong, i hesitate for a moment and then tell her dog was being nasty to a hedgehog. i should tell you that hedgehogs are my mums favourite animals, she collects ornaments and paintings of hedgehogs. she really loves them

i dont really know what to do, so i go to the fridge and get an egg and crack it half open, i go back outside and leave it nearby. i notice that mums come outside too, and she asks where it is. i dont want to scare it anymore by getting too close so i just shine the torch on it for a few seconds and point out where its bleeding.

we go back inside, now both feeling really sad. dad is wandering around the house demanding to know where his wine glass is not at all aware of whats happened. mum says shes gonna go for a cig and then try to go back to bed.

i shut the dog in the back room with the curtains closed, i only do that when hes really bad. was too sad even to yell at him. left him in there on his own for atleast an hour an d a half. really disappointed in him. i hope he realises what he did was bad, and i hope he never does it again. hedgehogs are friends.

i went into the living room and sat down and had a drink. dad was still wandering round looking for his wine glass. i say ‘you know the dog just really hurt a hedgehog’ he says ‘dont tell me that right now, i dont want to hear it. where have you put my wine glass!??’ hes just madly looking around calling me a thief, i tell him i havent stolen it, just moved it, but hes drunk too much anyway’ this is another another weekly farce.

he finds it eventually, and sits down. my mum comes in the room now, and i can tell she’d been crying. she says maybe we should put it in a cardboard box or something, i say i dont want to disturb or traumatise it anymore, and it wouldnt want to be in our house anyway. we discuss it for a while, dad keeps making suggestions about what takeaways are open or something because hes half asleep and not actually listening to what were saying.

eventually we decide that i’ll check on it in a few hours to see if its still there or dead or what and if its still alive then i’ll put it in a box and see if we can take it to the vets in the morning (not likely, since theyre only open for emergencies atm)

she goes to bed, dad goes a little while after, still smugly talking about how i should be in bed and mumll be upset if im up to late, cus hes completely out of it

then, just as i put youtube on to distract myself, the internet goes down for like 15 minutes.

i jus sit there refreshing the page. it comes back on after a little while.

i idly browse but cant enjoy anything. i think about writing a tumblr post about it (as i am doing now) but it feels wrong at the time.

i open omegle and tell the first person who’ll listen jus to get it off my chest, theyre very kind, and then we idly chat about some shit. i start to feel better.

then i go have a look in the garden; the hedgehog is gone and the egg is unfinished. i dont know if that means a fox got it, or whether it shuffled away somewhere to die or if it was ok and it wandered off thinking ‘never fucking ever coming to this garden again!’ hopefully the last, but thats still sad. i know hedgehogs are pretty resilient animals. i hope it was okay

i let the dog out of the room about 2 because he started scratching at the door. i didnt say anything i just sent him up to bed. he had an ashamed face. i hope he never does it again.

then i stayed on omegle all night until about 6am. stupid thing to do but i felt better after a while. 

i feel the evil energy was gone in the morning. the moon has begun to wane and moved into sagittarius. mum seems alright. dont know if dad remembers anything from late last night. im feelin okay, jus real hungover. drank a lot more than i meant to

dont think im gonna proof read this so it might be a bit rambling. jus wanna get it off my chest

[kendrixtermina]

Tbh I think people often paint CF as the villain route because it challenges moral convictions and that makes them uncomfortable. Like, irl I am a bleeding heart pacifist and deeply suspicious of revolutionaries, yet the complicated situation with the Agarthans/the Church/society, as well as the nuances of Edelgard's character, made me genuinely question whether the war was inevitable. I still ultimately think it wasn't yet I LIKED that CF made me think, but I am the exception, apparently.

It’s also unconventional story wise, challenging the “villains act heroes react” trope and the trolly problem (our bias to see the consequences of active action as more severe than those of passive action, leaving ppl to do nothing though doing nothing has worse consequences)

In our modern world we have stuff like democracy, international institutions and the right to protest, so there is a formal mechanism for peaceful transitions of power that doesn’t involve storming the castle or the factory owner’s house with pitchforks and torches so anyone who tells you that you need to go to war for any other reason than that an enemy army is already marching on you is talking out of their butt, but all of this got established after much ugly mess. 

Doesn’t mean the ugly mess was necessary at all, it would have been better had we avoided it, but it tells us there were people who rather wanted the mess than share power more evenly.

So the routes are all in a sense hypothetical histories for a hypothetical world that was already in a very unsustainable place of instability and dysfunction (bound to get worse as the blood lines thin out - it might have collapsed eventually on its own but not without more suiffering and more mess). Rebels, even when they’re wrong, are often a symptom of mismanagement. There’s always some nuts who want to gather power to themselves or are mad for reasons that are really more internal t them,  but only in dark times filled with dissatisfaction do they find a following.  

And all of that should lead us not to take today’s relatively peaceful world for granted or to see it as the only obvious way, by which im not saying that peace isn’t actually good but that it’s fragile and well within our power to ruin and that we’ve got to work for it. 

“Who started it” is nursery school logic often there is a complicated network of factors preceding all sorts of misery and clusterfricks and when a system finally collapses its because the problems have been piling up a while

You’re absolutely right in saying that something needn’t depict the 100% perfect course of action (when can ppl archieve that? Are we no constrained by error, limitations and circumstances?) to make people think about what the correct course of action would have been and why it wasnt taken (circumstances,miscommunications, character flaws etc.)

I remember watching the old Star Treks and having a chill invigorating discussion about wether the actions of the characters were right, wether it’s a good metaphor for RL issues etc. without slapping labels and angry emotional reactions onto everything. You’re supposed to engage with the material and form your own opinions not expect it to feed you the ‘right’ one - certainly not in a game that’s explicitly like, “Look at these four peeps, which one do YOU think has the best solution here?” and they all win and they all have some tradeoffs to what the costs are and how complete the victory is.