#both their names are Dev but that was actually completely accidental believe it or not

[mcromwell]

I started a writing hobby blog to host all of my Writing Feelings and NaNoWriMo shenanigans and such. (Dev Patel is the icon because he plays the main character in my mind and I enjoy his face)

@the-altered-sequence

[hacker-of-fandom]

Obey me characters reactions to a chaotic ratman human.

Sidenote I was high on tired and chaotic rat TikTok enjoy.

Lucifer:

What the fuck is that thing.

This thing was supposed to go to school with demons and angels.

Thought he summoned the wrong person until Mc responded to the name that he called.

A more chaotic Mammon but he does shit for no reason. LIKE AT ALL.

The first time he saw Mc petting a rat inside the house, he felt himself cracking.

"Mc.... What are you holding?"

"My new friend."

"Is your friend... A rat?"

"Why yes he is, most rats don't like being called a mouse or rodents. So he thanks you for that."

"Would you like to pet him? Oh, you've gotten quite pale."

Might have begged Diavolo to change the human students with someone else. As you can tell that didn't go well.

But-

Mc did have some good flaws.

He has good advice for the stupidest things ever, that just so happens to help in the most interesting times.

Like when the sink starts to flood the kitchen, just to grab Mc and give him a wrench and leave him in there.

"Don't let anyone come in here until I've texted you so, okay?"

Gets a text like a minute after that saying that everything is back to normal.

He runs in there not believing that shit.

No doubt the sink is fixed and there is no more water on the floor. And it seems like-

Mc is cooking dinner???

Lucifer is baffled how that even worked.

Another thing is, while Mc doesn't look like he could even be a suitable tea guest with his messy knotted hair, black ripped clothes, and usually a rode- rat on his shoulders. He likes tea.

Very much so.

"No, no Lucifer. I'm not saying the Earl Grey tea that you brought isn't good, it's just that I can tell that you boiled the tea leaves for way too long. A minute longer than needed if anything- Lucifer. Please don't raise your voice, Charlie doesn't like it."

He will never admit that a ratman was actually right about how long you needed to boil Early Grey tea leaves.

His nickname from Mc is, "Prideful boi" or "Lucyyyyyy~"

When he realized he couldn't get Mc to stop calling him Lucy, he just stopped getting mad over it. He now seems to almost smile at it.

Almost.

Mammon:

He has to watch over this human?

Oh hell no.

Is what he thought when Mc first came to Devildom. But now?

Mc is his escape buddy.

You know how Mammon gets tied up from the ceiling like every week?

Mammon just needs to call out for Mc and he'll come with a smirk on his face.

"What'cha do this time, greedy boi?"

Mammon can't even lie to him.

"I tried selling one of Lucifer's rings."

"Oooooh, yeah that'd getcha stuck. So whatcha goin do for my comrades and I?"

"I'll tell the local crows to stop hunting you guys?"

... The rats basically cheer at that.

"You have yourself a deal."

In the next ten seconds, a small army of rats have bitten the rope apart to have Mammon fall into Mc's arms.

Even with Mc scruffy look, Mammon can't really deny that Mc's smirk is very nice looking.

In class, they pass notes to each other with the rats.

Might have matching necklaces to show both crows and rats that they are equal.

Crow king and Rat king.

Bonus points if they now have networks of crow and rats stealing people's stuff.

"Crow bro", "Mamoney", and, "Cutie".

"Don't pet me when saying that! NO I'M NOT BLUSHING, STOP PETTING ME!"

Leviathan:

Didn't really care.

Just another normie.

Until.

"WHERE IS MY SERIES OF "Rat God and snake hybrid fall in love after meeting each other in the woods!" ROMANCE MANGA!"

He was so sure it was Mammon. He was about to storm up towards his seat in the dining room but-

"Oh, wait- oh man I'm sorry dude. That was totally me." Deadly silent.

Rat man knew how to read?

"What."

Mc explains that he was bored one day and asked if the rats could find him a manga to read. He just never got where they got it from.

Apologies for the inconvenience and hands him the manga that he was currently reading.

Was in such a state of shock that he didn't even comprehend that rats somehow got into his room and got the books of the top shelf.

"Y-you read manga?"

"Yeah, I watch anime and play video games too in my free time."

"Oh- w-well! I bet you don't even play Heros alley!"

"I've played both demos, the first game, and the dev even emailed me a few days ago, about letting me play the second upcoming Hero Alleys 2 game before the release to see my opinion."

He can't believe it.

"You know Kero-sama?"

"He's an old high school friend, yeah."

Begins to worship this rat-man.

Probably hugs Mc crying.

Spends so much time texting each other about games they've played and animes. That Leviathan realizes Kero is not the only game creator Mc knows.

Mc knows a lot of famous people in the Otaku world.

Leviathan sometimes leaves out open bags of chips for the rats that come by his room when Mc is gone.

Might accidentally confess his love towards Mc to the rats.

Mc explains the next day that he can understand what the rats say to him. And that he thinks Leviathan is pretty cool to be around as well.

Leviathan might die.

"Gamer bro.", "Envy boi", and "Levi-Kun".

"Don't call me that!" Five minutes later... "Can you call me Levi-Kun again, please?"

Satan:

Hates rats.

With his cat love, he wouldn't bat an eye at a rat dying.

But when he finds rats in the library in huge group pushing specific books of shelves with Mc sitting on a couch reading the books to them, and them sitting in crowds just watching and listen to his voice. He might think twice before kicking them.

Other than Mc's messy looks and chaotic personality, his voice was often very nice to listen to. So when he saw this reading group of rats, he slowly walked towards Mc before sitting down on one of the empty seats. As all of the other seats were taken with rodents.

It was ironically the Nutcracker, that Mc was reading out loud. At it seemed like he just started on the book. When the nutcracker and Ratking were fighting, Satan summed that the rats would hate the nutcracker.

But to his surprise, the rats cheered or jumped around when the Rat King was defeated. And Mc laughed at their antics.

Mc ended the book with a happily, "The end!".

"Sorry, Satan. You were probably looking for something."

Satan snapped out of his daydream and realized, yes he was looking for a book before coming here.

"Oh no it's fine, this was actually quite entertaining. May I ask some questions?"

"Shoot."

This ended up in a beautiful friendship of two chaotic people who love torturing Lucifer and reading books.

And yes, Satan does try to protect some rats from cats now.

"Kitty cat", "Angry boi", "Bookworm" and "Mine" are all nicknames that has made Satan stop reading or keeping a straight face.

Satan was reading a book while Mc was holding him against his chest, reading over his shoulder and just gripped tighter on Satan and said,

"Mine." Satan didn't know who he was telling that to but he was pretty sure his heart just picked up it's speed and lost his place in the book.

His voice is very nice, okay?

Asmodeus:

GrossgrossgrossgrossgrossGrossgrossgrossgrossgrossGrossgrossgrossgrossgrossGrossgrossgrossgrossgross

Did he mention gross?

Mc needed to take a shower! Do his hair! Clean up! Wear some good clothes!

AND FOR DIAVOLO'S SAKE GET RID OF THE RATS.

Asmodeus avoided Mc like the plague. I mean- rats have been involved with many plagues so it's no surprise.

But one day-

"Hey! Asmodeus! I think you lost this!"

Asmodeus turned around to see his lost necklace. It was pink pearls with a gold diamond chain.

He completely forgot that Mc was dirty and hugged Mc as hard as he could.

"How did you find it? Oh, I've missed it so much!"

"Let's say I've had a little help. Plus I actually wanted to know if you've lost anything else?"

Short answer yes, yes he did.

So Asmodeus was in Mc's room which wasn't actually that bad looking. There weren't that many rats as he expected. While Mc was grabbing all the jewelry the rats have found in a month time.

Is honestly surprised that Mc didn't sell any of the items. A lot of it would have made him one of the richest humans in all three dimensions.

Asmodeus asked how he can repay him, with Ya know. Sex.

Mc shakes his head no but instead asks him what hair products he uses?

Asmodeus thinks he is about to get a new makeup friend when in reality Mc wants to clean some of his rat friends.

But it just ends up Mc and Asmodeus going to a spa, that is at human temperatures.

Even if Mc looks like a rat, he is kinda good looking without a shirt and his hair covering 95 percent of his eyes.

"Pretty boi", "Jewels", and "Pinky-pie" are nicknames he has used for Asmodeus.

Personally likes all of the nicknames.

Beelzebub:

Ratman eats.

A lot.

It's not just him that he's feeding, it's his army of rats.

So when Mc first eats with the demon brothers he eats a shit load for himself and then pulls out a basket to put cheese, bread, crackers, and a few veggies inside for his army.

Then walks into his room and just whistles.

The army comes flooding in his room to eat the food he has provided.

He leaves the room to go to the kitchen where he finds Beelzebub going through the fridge even though dinner was just served twenty minutes ago.

They actually begin to talk.

Beelzebub enjoys knowing that he has a eating partner(s).

They get onto the topic working out, school, food and eventually family.

Mc explains he doesn't have much of a family except for his rat family.

Beelzebub doesn't try to bring up Belphegor but Mc says this:

"I've actually read about the seven sins avatar once. And I'm just wondering, where's sloth? I can't remember his name but I know it starts with a 'b'." Mc turns to the rat on his shoulder.

"Belphegor? Oh yeah, that's it! Belphegor the avatar sin of sloth! Where is he?"

Beelzebub might just cry right then and there.

"I don't know." Mc's eyes soften at his answer.

Mc and Beelzebub talk about what happened. And become very close friends in the matter of days.

Beelzebub is glad to have someone to talk to about his guilt and the fight between Belphegor and Lucifer but-

There is one thing that he just doesn't- understand.

Mc fights for him. And he didn't understand it. Beelzebub once caught Mc fighting a demon in the hallway of the school. And he punched the demon square in the face.

He later figured out that the demon was talking trash about him and Mc overheard it and just attacked the student. Like a vicious animal.

After the fight, Mc is left a bleed nose and a smirk. Beelzebub is very scared and worried. But is calmed down once Mc hugs him.

"I'm not letting anyone talk trash about my family."

Is super happy for the rest if the week.

"Hungry boi", " Favorite cheese.", "Cutie pie".

Cutie pie kinda makes him freeze or drop whatever he has from shock. He likes it though.

Belphegor:

After the whole timeline killing thing, the rats don't trust Belphegor at all. They'll hiss and bit and poop in Belphegor's bed. And let me tell you when you have an army of rats pooping in someone's bed its like cow shit.

Mc probably forgives him completely but Belphegor is getting a different vibe with the rats.

Finally, speak up about it.

"Hey, Mc."

"Yesss?"

"Do you still hate me?"

"What."

Now Belphegor feels like a dumb ass for asking this.

"Do you still hate me because your rat friend-army is like attacking me? And it's making me feel terrible for Ya know, the..." Belphegor kinda just moves his hands around.

Mc sighs and whistles sharply. Belphegor flinches seeing the thousands of rats running in the room with most of their eyes on him.

"Alright! Who has been harassing Belphegor!? I told you guys not to hurt him. He's my friend. We just set on the wrong foot guys. Apologies now."

Fuck he didn't mean for Mc to do this. He has gotten afraid of the rats for the past two weeks and he's just waiting for the rats to turn their backs on Mc.

Like he did.

But to his surprise and relief, the rats run away but come back with an item.

It was ring.

They tower up towards Belphegor with the ring grabbing his left hand and placing it on his ring finger. It was a diamond ring.

"What." Mc stuttered realizing what they were doing.

"Guys I'm not forcing him to marry me to make up the whole killing thing, come one."

The rats didn't seem to care as they danced and made a shrill scream of the wedding music.

"So... We're married now?"

"In rat terms, yes."

He's not going to complain if he doesn't get attacked anymore and is expected to cuddled Mc.

Also, the ring looked very nice.

Nicknames are, "Sleepy boi" "Cowboy" and "My husband".

Mc meant it as a joke but realized Belphegor was blushing. So he decided to only say it when they were alone.

Solomon:

Thinks Mc is a wizard of some sort.

A rat wizard.

Solomon constantly tries to make Mc do a blood pact with him.

"Dude can't we just be friends like come on."

Is also okay with that.

They become potion buddies.

The rats help with getting items that humans can't get. Like herbs in the monster forest.

They might have accidentally made a love potion for Asmodeus but used the wrong hair.

It was a long week for Mc since Solomon taste-tested it.

Solomon was constantly trying to hold his hand, or hug him.

The few times Mc laughed at something in class while hold Solomon's hand, Solomon would be overcome with emotions to kiss the dirty rat-man.

One time he succeeded.

*Insert muffled ratman screaming*

After that interesting week, Solomon remembered everything and would scare Mc by hugging him or giving him the same half lid eyes while telling him he loved him.

The only man Mc has ever feared.

Nicknames Mc has given him, "Wizard boi" "Lover boi" and "White owl."

Solomon honestly likes White owl as an alias.

Simeon:

Rats like shiny things.

Simeon is very, very shiny.

Mc is very protective of Simeon.

Case closed.

But he knew the only way to really befriend Simeon was to befriend Luke. But without seeming like he was just trying to befriend him, Ya know?

So, Mc stood up for Luke when he was being teased for his height.

"Mammon you better shut up before I start sending my rats to take your jewelry and sell them."

You can bet that no one bullied Luke for his height again.

"You okay, Luke?" Luke denied that he even needed help but Mc knew that he just got on Luke's and Simeon's good side.

There is just times where Luke, Solomon, and Simeon talking while Mc is just listening when Mc would grab Simeon's hand and play with it.

Solomon would chuckle at the sight of the rat-man just playing with an angel's hand. While Simeon would be slightly confused.

Mc would have the most serious look on his face while he just tenderly touch Simeon's palms.

"Mc, what are you doing?"

"Shiny."

His hand wasn't even shiny but that's his response.

It would become a thing where Mc would friendly touch Simeon's hair or hand or cape.

And animalistic fight for him.

It took Simeon to look up if rats liked shiny thing and if they protect them.

And they do. In fact, they can hoard them and protect them with their life.

It was too late for Simeon. He had a cute dirty ratman king protecting him because he was shiny.

His nicknames would be, "Holy boi" "Lovely" or "Shiny".

Simeon did blush at the nickname lovely.

Luke:

Luke thought Mc was a sinful human based on looks. Dirty, hoarded shiny things, and was friends with the demons.

But he soon just realized that Mc wasn't a bad person, just a rat.

Luke became very interested in Mc's rat friends and secretly giving him sweet after he stood up to the demon brother about his height.

And much like Simeon, Mc found that Luke was very shiny too.

But soon Luke looked up at Mc like a dirty father-like figure. And Mc saw him as a son. Along with the rats.

"Shiny kid." Or "Angel boi" was the first nicknames he used.

Mc would let Luke pet the rats after a while.

Simeon, Mc, and Luke looked like a small family.

Mc would begin to call Luke, "Son" or "Kiddo".

Luke complained but would cheerfully tell Simeon about it.

Barbatos:

He probably fainted seeing Mc with rats on his shoulders.

Would avoid him at all costs.

But he would suddenly get along when Mc stated that there were mice in the palace.

"What?"

"Yeah, my rats just told me that they smell mice in here we can get them out if ya-"

"Please, that would be very appreciated."

In a minute the ten rats that Mc brought were biting the back of at least twenty mice's feet as the ran out of the open castle doors.

Everyone was in awe at how organized the rats were and more of the fact that Barbatos was being held by Mc.

They got along but Barbatos was very cautious around Mc. Until Mc had enough.

"Barbatos I love you, so I'm going to leave my rats outside when I come to the castle, I also will be well washed okay? I want to befriend you." Is the voicemail Barbatos got from an unknown number which he could tell was Mc.

Part two will be the rest of Barbatos and Lord Diavolo. Thank you!!!!

[pridefulstar]

A Withered Flower

Listen, I was in an Asmo mood because he truly deserves better. Hopefully, the devs can dive more into his character.

Pairing: Asmo x GN! Reader

Warnings: implications of sex (other than that, it is SFW) 

Every one of his brothers has something special about them. For example, Lucifer is special when it comes to leadership. When he speaks, his voice can either command chaos or quell it. Asmo still remembers the time they were in the Celestial Realm and how Lucifer’s speech about sacrifice aroused every angel’s passion to keep Earth and humans safe.  

Then there is Mammon. Even though his second-eldest brother is an absolute idiot, Asmo finds it remarkable how he can come up with a plan in a matter of seconds. Sure, some of Mammon’s plans can be completely stupid and set up for failure, but when one of his plans actually succeeds, even Lucifer is impressed. Asmo always laughs when he remembers how Mammon stole a small pearl from one of Diavolo’s statues inside his palace. Asmo doesn’t know how he did it, but for years no one-- not even Barbatos-- knew that the statue was missing an eye.

When Asmo looks at Levi, he can see how his third-eldest brother is good at being himself--a weeb. Unknown to Levi, his gaming and anime have actually taught him some real-life skills that have saved Asmo’s and his brothers’ lives. An example of this is when Asmo accidentally released an ancient evil spirit in the Royal Palace’s garden. Of course, Levi knew how to vanquish the evil spirit because he read a manga titled: Vanquishing an Ancient Evil Spirit in a Garden That My Brother Accidentally Released When He Tried to Pick a Pretty Flower but That Flower Was Protected by the Ancient Evil Spirit. That day, Asmo swore he would never call Levi a weeb ever again.

It doesn’t take much to know that Satan’s specialty is his knowledge. Asmo doesn’t know how he can store all those words into his head without getting a headache. Whenever anyone in Devildom has a question they cannot find the answer for, they looked for Satan for the answers. Asmo still shivers when he remembers how Satan talked for 10 hours about the entire history of colors and their representation in literature when Asmo just asked him if yellow was a nice color on him. 

Then there is Beel. It is very obvious that Beel shines when it comes to strength. Asmo captured his younger brother’s immense strength in a photo where Beel ripped a tree from its roots and chased Mammon around with it when Mammon sold the fridge for some fast Grimm. To this day, that picture has the third-highest likes on his Devilgram account.  

Finally, Belphie’s specialty is his tranquility. Belphie’s tranquility truly shown when Levi bought a sword enchanted with fire to cosplay as Alibab Salujia from the anime Magi. Unsurprisingly, Levi got way into the character and almost burned the whole House of Lamentation down. When everyone was freaking out and yelling to call Lucifer, Asmo remembers how Belphie shrugged at the fire engulfing the common room and threw his glass of water into the flames. When the water didn’t put out the fire, Belphie just yawned and told them he was going to take a nap at Purgatory Hall.  

When Asmo looked at his brothers, he knew they had something special about them. But when he looks at himself, all he sees is a pretty face. Of course, this never bothered him. In fact, he was completely oblivious to the fact that there was nothing special about him...until he met you. After you got to know his brothers more, he could tell that you too saw their specialties. When Lucifer gave speeches for RAD events, you were always looking intently at him, memorized by his every word. Then when Mammon’s plans included you, no matter the outcome, you both had smiles on your faces. When Levi saved the day because of his games and anime, Asmo can see the glimmer in your eyes as you give Levi a big hug. Then, when you had to do a report about the history of Devildom for class, you automatically went to Satan. When you want to go out at night, you ask Beel to walk with you as every demon knows this human is protected. Then, when you need to escape the chaos of some of the brothers’ antics, you seek Belphie in the attic for some peace and quiet. 

When you came into their lives, you somehow highlighted his brother’s specialties; but for Asmo, you forced him to look at his ultimate flaw. You see, Asmo knew there was nothing special about him. Sure, his beauty is remarkable--breathtaking even-- but what else does a flower have when it withers? 

It was the little things Asmo noticed. When you two would talk, he never knew what to say because in all honesty, your day interested him more than himself. Because of this, he put little input into the conversation, forcing you to fill the awkward pauses with rambles. When you two walked together, through the corner of his eyes, he could always see how embarrassed and uncomfortable you would get when one of his ex-flings gets close to him and tell him that they needed him--wanted him. Even though he did not care for them, their lust--their want for him-- fueled him because, in the end, that is what he is. The Avatar of Lust. He is a want, not a need. People want him for his body. They want to crumble at his touch-- they want to feel their body pulsing with ecstasy. They want the Avatar of Lust. 

Sometimes, he wonders if you saw him that way. He knows his brothers warned you about him. Warned you how his touch can consume you with a lust you had never felt before. There are times he would see this hesitance towards him. With every greeting, Asmo saw how you were careful to touch him. Sure, you would give him hugs, but they were brief. A simple second of affection. Sometimes he would be tempted to pull you back and tell you to hold him longer, but he couldn’t...he wouldn’t.

What Asmo soon realized is that he has a want. He wants to feel your breath on his neck. He wants to hear you scream his name from your lips. He wants to feel you. For the first time, the Avatar of Lust felt lust-- felt a want. But he knew he couldn’t have you. He told himself that he couldn’t have you. He doesn’t deserve you, but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t get rid of this feeling. It got to the point where it began to consume him. He began to spend more nights at random houses, hoping that he could expel this want out from his system. Asmo is even ashamed to say that he accidentally screamed out your name when he reached his climax with a one-night stand. For months, Asmo was a mess. Whenever he saw you approach him, he would look for a familiar fling and began to kiss them, hoping you would leave. However, there would be times where you wouldn’t. You would stand there yelling at Asmo even though he was clearly making out with someone. When you still wouldn’t leave, Asmo would stop and bitterly say to leave him alone as you were taking away his precious time. Eventually, Asmo’s behavior made Lucifer lock Asmo up in his room. He wasn’t even allowed to attend class just in case he snuck off with someone. There would be days where he would hear your muffled voice calling to him outside his door. Of course, he never answered. It was easier for him that way. However this time, he heard you slip something under his door. When he looked, he saw that you gave him an envelope that had a key taped on the back. With a sigh, he opened the envelope and saw a handwritten letter. 

Dear Asmo,

I hope you are doing okay. I do not know what you are going through, but I just want you to know that you are not alone here in Devildom, Earth, or in the Celestial Realm. Believe it or not, me, Solomon, Simeon, Luke, and your brothers really care about you and are worried about you. I miss you walking me to class. Even Levi and Mammon miss you. Like today, they were supposed to deliver your assignments from class, but they decided to finish your assignments for you (don’t worry, I corrected all of the wrong answers). 

Asmo, the house feels lonely without you...I feel lonely without you. You are so special, Asmo. So special to me. I want you to know that. You bring out the warmth in me and everyone around you. Without you, the House of Lamentation--RAD-- feels cold. 

Listen, I stole your room key from Lucifer. Whenever you are ready to talk, use the key. I will always be here for you. I love you, Asmodeus. 

                                                         With all of my heart,

                                                                       MC

Asmo’s tears fell on the letter, making the ink dilute on the paper. It was there he realized that he did not want you, but needed you. He needed affection, not pleasure. He needed love, not lust. He needed you. He needed your love. 

[angelsfalling16]

The Thin Line Between Pretending and Actually Loving You - Chapter 2

Chapter 1 || Read on ao3

Summary: Baz and Simon run into each other, and Simon ends up offering to be Baz's fake date.

Word count: 3548

***

Baz

It is Thursday, and I still don’t have a date to take to dinner with Dev and Niall tomorrow night. It’s not exactly easy to find someone who is willing to pretend to be your boyfriend, let alone someone who would be convincing.

You can’t just search for someone like that on the internet. Sure, you can find a few decent guys that you won’t spend much time talking to, but it is difficult to find someone who will pretend to be your boyfriend.

Part of the problem may be that I was a little too specific when I told my friends about my “boyfriend”. I should not have told them that it was some they knew, however vaguely, but I had one person in mind when I was thinking about having a boyfriend.

Everything always comes back to one person. One guy who I cannot call.

Simon Snow.

You can’t just call up the guy you lived with for four years and ask him to be your fake boyfriend. Especially when you never got along with that guy. He is the exact opposite of who you should call.

But, he is my only option. A highly unrealistic one, but there’s no harm in trying, right?

As I scroll through my contacts and click on his number, wondering whether it will still work after all of this time, I conjure an image of my college roommate. Bronze hair, blue eyes…

“Hello?”

…voice like an angel.

I hang up.

It was a stupid idea to call him. Yes, perhaps I was in love with him once, but that was a long time ago. It’s been two years since we lived together, and it has been nearly five months since the last time I heard his voice.

I thought that I had moved on from him. I was in a relationship when I saw him that day, but the relationship ended a couple of weeks later. I won’t say it was because of him, but it’s hard to be in a relationship when you’re dreaming about someone else.

I ran into him at the store – quite literally - and it was like the past came rushing back. I could remember the way he smelled, the way he glared at me, the way my fist felt when it connected with his face. I remembered the way that I felt about him.

I hadn’t been watching where I was going, and I collided with him on my way out the door. I can’t remember why I was in such a rush that day, but it no longer mattered when my eyes met his.

It was like the rest of the world faded away.

I couldn’t even sneer at him to watch where he was going. All I could do was stare and wonder whether I was hallucinating. The last that I had heard, he was moving away after graduation to look for his birth mother. All he had was a picture of his mom, who he couldn’t even be sure was her, and the memory of a man who was supposedly his father. It wasn’t much, a lot of maybes, but he had hope.

Then, I ran into him at the grocery store of all places, and I wanted to ask if he found her. I wanted to pull him into my arms and make sure he was real, that he was still all in one piece. I wanted to do a thousand different things, but I couldn’t seem to do anything but stare.

Finally, he murmured a polite apology before ducking around me, and I haven’t seen him since.

I also haven’t heard from him since that day.

I’m not even sure if he’s back living here or if he just happened to be visiting that day.

The latter is more likely, which makes it even more ridiculous that I thought to call him today. In truth, I just wanted an excuse to hear his voice.

Setting my phone down, I try to think of an excuse for why my “boyfriend” can’t make it to dinner tomorrow. I go through a few possibilities, but none of them will work.

Dev and Niall are suspicious, and they will not believe any excuse that I come up with. They won’t let this go until they either meet a guy or I admit that he was never real.

It would be better if I just cancelled the dinner tomorrow. At least I won’t have to sit through a meal with them where they gloat about being right. I will have to call them and tell them the truth and hope that I can convince them not to set me up on a date with Niall’s friend. (I don’t have much hope.)

Before I make the call, which I know will be unpleasant, I decide to walk down to the café on the corner to get my favorite drink. At least I’ll have something pleasant in my hand when I’m forced to accept a date with some guy I’ve never met.

There aren’t too many people inside. Half the tables are empty, and there is only one person ahead of me in line. While I wait to order, I try to come up with a reason to tell my friends for why I lied about having a boyfriend.

I could have just put my foot down on the set up, but instead I chose to lie. Why?

It’s my turn to order, so I don’t have time to dwell on that question. Not that I think I would have come up with an answer. The barista recognizes me and punches in my order before I even say anything. I hand her the exact change and step to the side to wait for my drink.

As I do, my phone starts vibrating in my pocket. Assuming that it’s probably Dev, I don’t check to see who it is. I just answer.

“Hello?”

“Baz?”

Fuck. I’d recognize that voice anywhere, even if I hadn’t just heard it less than ten minutes ago.

“Snow.”

“Your name came up when you called earlier, and I was so shocked that I was sure I must have imagined it. Especially when you hung up.”

“Oh.” I’m not sure what else to say. I’m still stuck on the part where he still has my number saved in his phone, even though I’m certain that he never used my number when we were living together.

We mostly communicated through scathing comments and passive aggressive sticky notes left in odd places.

“Did you need something or did you just butt dial me?” He asks.

The barista calls my name, and switching my phone to my other hand, I take it from her, offering her a polite smile as I turn towards the door.

I’m not watching where I’m going, and I bump into someone. I move to step around them, about to offer and them an apology when Simon continues speaking.

“Or maybe you just wanted to see me.” His voice comes from both my phone and in front of me.

My drink nearly slips from my hand as I come face to face with Simon Snow himself.

 Simon

“How did you find me?” Baz demands.

It’s hard to believe that he’s actually sitting across from me right now. I’m not sure how exactly I managed to get him to come join me so that we could talk and catch up.

I haven’t seen him in months. Not since the day that I made a complete fool of myself by running into him and then barely managing to stutter out an apology before I practically ran away from him.

It’s nice to see him now. He hasn’t changed much, but there is something different about him.

It’s almost as though he’s softer around the edges. He hasn’t sneered at me yet, and I keep waiting for him to insult me. The way he’s looking at me, though, makes it seem like he actually thinks that I tracked him down or something.

I won’t lie and say that I haven’t been hoping that I would run into him since I got back in town just a couple of weeks. But I definitely didn’t go searching for him. We weren’t friends when we knew each other, so I didn’t think he would be happy to see me.

I am. Happy to see him, I mean. Seeing his stormy grey eyes and slicked-back hair got my heart racing as soon as he opened the door.

He is the most familiar thing in this town and seeing him felt like I had finally come home.

“You don’t actually think I followed you here, do you?” I ask, frowning at him. “I was seated at this table when you walked in, and I couldn’t believe my eyes. I mean, first you call me, presumably on accident, and then you walk into the same café I’ve been sitting in for the past half hour. What are the odds?”

“It’s purely a coincidence,” he says, his tone unaffected. If I hadn’t lived with him for four years, I would believe that he truly didn’t care, but I can see through the cracks of his exterior. He’s just as unsettled by all of this as I am.

I just wonder if he is even the least bit happy to see me or if he had hoped that he would never seem me again after we graduated.

He takes a sip of his drink and looks away from me, out towards the windows. He doesn’t seem unhappy to see me, so that’s something.

He stays quiet, so I try to come up with a way to keep him talking. To keep him near me.

“So, why did you call me?” I ask.

He turns back to me, his head tilted as he takes me in, his eyes roaming over my face before he responds.

“Like you said, it was just a butt dial.”

I don’t buy that. If it were true, he wouldn’t be fidgeting with his cup so much, and he would have been able to meet my eyes as he said it, rather than darting his gaze to the side.

Fine. He doesn’t have to tell me. I won’t push it, but I still don’t want him to go. I want to get to know him, find out how he’s been.

I never got the chance to know the real him before, but I’m hoping that now that we have gotten some distance from each other that maybe we can start over. Even if it is just for today.

I lean back in my seat and stretch my legs out under the table, getting comfortable. I accidentally bump one of his leg, and he starts at the touch. I raise my brows at him quietly.

If he is that repulsed by my touch, maybe this won’t work. But then he relaxes, picking his cup up again, and I smile to myself.

Baz isn’t leaving yet, and that’s what matters right now.

“How have you been since the last time I saw you?” I ask.

It takes him a moment to respond as he gathers his thoughts, probably trying to decide what he wants to tell me. I wait patiently, sipping on my coffee.

After a long moment, he starts to tell me a few things about himself. I tell him about how I’ve been travelling around since we graduated but that I’ve been thinking about settling down and going back to school.

It takes us a little while to warm up to each other, but then it’s like we’re old friends who got together to catch up. I find that I actually like talking to Baz. It’s nice when we aren’t at each other’s throats, saying the cruelest ting that we can think of.

We have fallen into a comfortable silence when Baz’s phone lights up with a text, and he leans back in his seat to unlock it. I hadn’t realized that we had leaned towards each other while we talked, our elbows resting on the table, until that moment.

I watch as he reads the text on his phone. He grimaces at it, a look I am very familiar with, before he places it back on the table, face down.

Then, he turns his full attention back on me, and it’s so weird that he’s being nice to me. He could have excused himself a long time ago, but instead, he’s choosing to sit with me.

Old feelings come rushing up in me, and I shove them away. It is stupid to think of Baz like that.

Just because he has chosen to sit with me for half an hour after we ran into each other, doesn’t mean that he suddenly wants to be friends with me. And definitely not anything more than that.

I’ll be lucky if we end this day without an argument starting up between us.

“Is something wrong?” I ask, gesturing at his abandoned phone.

“No.” He shakes his head, and a strand of hair falls loose from the rest. I have to tuck my hand beneath the table to keep myself from reaching out to fix it. “It’s just my cousin.”

“Family problems then?”

“No.”

“Romantic troubles.”

He screws up his face into another grimace before schooling his features.

“What would make you think that?”

“Your reaction just now. I was actually kidding.” I smile a little at the face he makes now. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with why you called me out of the blue, would it?”

“Unless you became a matchmaker in recent years, I don’t think that you will be of any help.”

“You seem like the kind of guy who could find his own dates, so it can’t be matchmaking services that you’re in need of.”

At least, I know that he’s single. Not that that really affects me. It does surprise me, though. People were falling all over themselves to be near him when we were in college, but he never went out with anyone that I knew of.

I hated him for that. For the way he always acted like he was above everyone else, and that it wouldn’t be worth his time to bother with him. It’s one of several reasons why I struggled to get along with him.

“Just tell me what you need, and I’ll try to help.” When he looks at me skeptically, I add, “Or if anything, I’ll be someone to rant to.”

I’m not sure why I’m offering to help him. I doubt that I would actually be of any use, but something like curiosity is getting the best of me.

Baz has always been a mystery to me, and for some reason, I seem to be determined to try to change that today.

He seems to be confused by it, too.

“Why are you being nice to me?” He asks. “We’re not friends.”

I shrug. Then, because I haven’t got anything to lose by telling him the truth, I say, “It’s been years, and now that we’re not being forced to be around each other, I might as well be nice. I don’t see the point in fighting anymore.”

I never really saw the point before, but it was like no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop. Fighting with him was better than him not even realizing that I existed, and I took what I could get back then.

For a moment, I’m certain that he’s going to say something insulting and tell me to mind my own business, but then he sighs and words start pouring out of him.

“My friends are trying to set me up with someone, but I didn’t want to go out with the guy they picked, so I told them I have a boyfriend. Of course, I’m not actually seeing anyone, but we’re all supposed to meet up for dinner tomorrow night.”

I’m a little stunned by all of this. Baz has always seemed so confident and like he doesn’t care what anyone thinks, so it’s surprising to hear that he had to lie to get out of doing something. Also, I meant what I said before. I’m sure that he could find a date if he wanted to, even if it was just one to full his friends.

“So, you need to find a guy to be your boyfriend by tomorrow night?” I ask, an idea forming in my head.

It’s a truly terrible idea, but when Baz nods, I find myself saying something that will be impossible to go back from.

“How about I do it?”

“What?”

I could take it back. I could say that I was joking. But the opportunity to go on a date with Baz is too good to pass up. Even if it isn’t a real one. Because the truth is, I fell in love with him.

Running into him today only brought those feelings back to the surface, dragging them up from where I buried them a long time ago.

I know that it’s foolish to pose as his fake boyfriend when I’m not even sure that we can get along for long periods of time, but it can’t hurt to try, right?

“I’ll be your fake boyfriend,” I hear myself saying. I definitely can’t take it back now. “It’s just one dinner, right?”

“Right,” he says slowly, like he can’t believe what I’m saying. I can’t either. “But why would you do that?”

I shrug. “Call it turning over a new leaf. Maybe you and I can start over.”

“Okay.” He nods once, and it takes me a moment to realize that he’s actually accepting my offer. “I’m meeting them at 5, so I can pick you up or we can meet there.”

“Pick me up. I already have your number, so I’ll just text you my address later.”

He nods, and I stand up, grabbing my empty coffee cup. Suddenly, I feel like I need to get out of here before I do something stupid. Or something more stupid than offering to fake date him.

“Well, I should get going,” I say awkwardly. “It was nice seeing you again, Baz.”

I force myself to walk at a normal pace to the door. I glance back at him as I toss my cup in the trash bin, and he turns to look at me at the same time. I offer him a small smile before turning away and hurrying out to my car.

I want to call Penny and tell her about what just happened, but she would go on about how I have once again allowed Baz to pull me in. She used to always complain about how much I talked about Baz, but she wasn’t the one with an awful roommate.

Of course, she would then say that I could always request a new roommate. But I couldn’t do that. Not when I wanted to be near him at the same time as wanting to get away from him.

I was torturing myself, and even though she could see that, she didn’t know the whole truth.

She never knew how I felt about him, but she could always tell that there was something strange about the way that I acted around Baz.

I decide not to call her, but that means I end up planning for the date alone.

Choosing to get ready the night before, rather than waiting until last minute, I go straight home from the café and start looking for an outfit to wear.

I’m not sure how fancy this dinner is going to be, and I’m still in the midst of moving into my new apartment, so I don’t know where any of my nice things are. Not that I’ve got any fancy suits or whatever it is that Baz may be expecting from me.

I’m not sure what he is expecting at all. Are we supposed to be in a serious relationship? Or is it something new? Are we into pda? Or are we more reserved?

The later it gets, the more I start to worry. I did not think through this at all.

I could text Baz and ask for the details, but he may decide that I won’t be any good at this and tell me to just forget about it all. So, after sending him my address, I put my phone away for the night.

Finally, I settle on my nicest pair of jeans and a pale blue button-down. I’m hoping to look casually nice, but I worry that it will look like I’m trying too hard.

It’s difficult when I’m trying to impress someone who won’t notice the effort that I have put into it. He probably won’t care what I wear, so long as I convince his friends that I’m his boyfriend.

It stings to think about how little this will all mean to Baz, but I put myself into this situation. I knew what I was getting into myself, so I’m going to have to deal with this.

Even if this fake date will be everything I’ve always wanted and the worst decision that I have ever made.

[thatyanderecritic]

Yandere Simulator

Title: Yandere Simulator

Media: Game, created by Yandere Dev

Yandere(s): Yandere-Chan (Ayano Aishi)/ Yandere-Kun

Yandere Scale: 0/5

Criticism written by: Kai

Editor: Julie

The Review:

(Warning! This is one of our most highly opinionated critic piece on our blog so far. Be wary and come to your own judgement in the end. m(_ _)m )

It was only a matter of time till we finally reviewed Yandere Simulator… With both the game and the main protagonist sharing the name “Yandere”, it made sense for the Yandere Critics to swoop in and see if this game truly lives up to its name (spoiler alert: it doesn’t). What horrors will our two critics discover in their pursuit of the truth?

This time on ThatYandereCritic…

Hello everyone, Kai here! It’s no secret that Julie and I absolutely hate Yandere Simulator and how the Yandere Dev is handling everything (from how he’s creating this game to the sort of person he is). We would state time and time again how we think that Yandere Simulator is pretty much hot garbage and is a bad representation of yanderes in general. Good concept but awful in execution. Now it is time to give a proper critic to the game that’s became the “face” of our community.

I would like to clarify that we’ll only be looking at the story and the main character (Yandere-Chan/Yandere-Kun). We will not be discussing about the Yandere Dev and his drama. If you want that, there’s plenty of “Yandere Dev rants” videos on youtube that goes in depth about the things he done and currently doing. If you’re curious, I recommend watching this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY-aqqCFjnc With this being said, now for the proper review!

Let’s kick things off by talking about the story… The game starts with our protagonist, Yandere-Chan, accidentally running into her Senpai on her way to school. It was love at first sight when she first saw him. But Yandere-Chan soon found out that a girl named Osana plans to confess to Senpai under the school’s cherry blossom tree. This is like, totally bad! Everyone knows that confessions under that specific cherry blossom tree is guaranteed to be accepted! It was at this moment, Yandere-Chan knew what she needed to do… she must eliminate everything that stands between her and her Senpai.

First, can I just start off by saying how laughably lazy this story is? It’s one thing if this game was just some sort of parody or comedy. A game that is self aware that it’s just a joke and nothing more. But with how much the Yandere Dev hypes about the story and give it a “deep lore”, we can’t give the excuse: “It’s not that deep. It’s just a joke.” No. This game doesn’t have that shield anymore. The story is half assed and it can’t give a well developed yandere character a proper chance to shine. But… let’s ignore the story for now. We have seen examples of an awful story but a fantastic yandere (Example: Joe from the TV show, You). Let’s look at Yandere-Chan.

Thanks to Yandere Dev’s channel, we got a plethora of lore and background about the characters from the game. The office website is also a gold mine of information that we can analyze as well. So… thank god that Yandere Dev is more invested in those two things than his game. Can you imagine if we had to actually play his buggy game to get this information? Lol.

Let’s get on the same page here about Yandere-Chan’s backstory: Yandere-Chan had an odd childhood. Throughout her childhood, she was inflicted with an incurable condition that made her have no emotions. Growing up, she was bullied at school (because she couldn’t feel I guess). But Yandere-Chan learned how to fake having emotions and live the easy life. Oddly enough, Yandere-Chan’s mom had the same condition as well when she was growing up. Yandere mom reassured Yandere-Chan that “When she finds that special boy, [she’ll] be able to feel.” But Yandere-Chan’s dad went “Nah, bitch. I’ll make Yandere-Chan have feelings.” Of course, that didn’t work. In the end, Yandere-Chan lived her life as an empty shell till she finally met Senpai. Yada yada yada…. Start of the game.

So… what the fuck?

This is the literal definition of a psychopath, dude. Why are we skirting around what Yandere-Chan has?! “Incurable condition” my ass. It’s psychopathy (maybe sociopathy but the evidence leans more towards psychopathy). Next, in the video, why would a general practitioner know that Yandere-Chan is a psychopath?! At most, the doctor would notice something is odd about her before recommending a child psychiatrist to examine Yandere-Chan. Mr. Yandere Dev, you make it sound like Yandere-Chan has a cold; not a mental illness. It was also mention in the video that Yandere-Chan felt pity for her father who was struggling with her mental illness. If she can’t feel any emotions, as you said, then please explain how she felt pity for her father? Can I also point out that Yandere-Chan started faking her emotions for her father’s sake AND THEN started getting bullied because she wasn’t normal. But wait a minute… Yandere-Chan learned how to fake emotions because of the bullying. So how does this logic work? Did she take two steps forward but ten steps back? Why did we have the whole doctor fiasco if Yandere Mom already knew all this about her daughter? WHY DOES YANDERE-CHAN’S BACKSTORY HAVE MORE HOLES THAN A SLICE OF SWISS CHEESE?!

Kai.exe stopped working… now resetting program… reset is now complete

Phew… sorry about that everyone. I was going insane after going through a bunch of videos by the Yandere Dev and the Yandere Simulator website.  

For a character called Yandere-Chan, she’s more like Psychopath-Chan. Like geez. If it isn’t obvious, everything about this character screams “psychopath”. Sure, she is portrayed to have “lovesickness” but Yandere-Chan breaks so many rules that her “lovesickness” can’t save her.

A couple of rules she broken:

1. The yandere shouldn’t go on a random killing spree as if she’s/he’s in an all you can eat buffet. Bottomline, a serial killer isn’t a yandere but a yandere could be a serial killer.

2. Shallow background, shallow person. Why were you even created man?

3. Instalove is a pretty cheap cop out for a female yandere to start liking someone. We noticed that sometimes they would fall in love for shallow reasons like: “Kyaa, he passed me the salt shaker, I think I’m in love!” This logic makes me cringe, honestly.

“But, Kai! This game is all about killing the rivals! It isn’t fair to Yandere-Chan to tick her off on that!”

Um… there are many different ways a yandere can get rid of a rival without killing them. Mr. Yandere Dev even suggested a mechanic where the player can hook up love rivals with other NPCs.  Yet the core “tactic” Yandere-Chan (and the player) would chose would be to kill the rivals. Not only that, it’s also encouraged to go on a killing spree for extra points for Info-Chan and the Yakuza (not yet implemented). So… this absolutely is a tick against her.

Moving on! I also find it incredibly hard to even call Yandere-Chan a proper “yandere” considering her creator doesn’t even know what a yandere is. On Yandere Dev's website, he defines a yandere as: “A Yandere girl is a girl who loves a boy so much that she is willing to threaten, harm, or kill any other girl who seems interested in him.”

Uh… W.H.A.T.

That’s literally the definition he puts on his website, people. And don’t even get me started on the definition he uses during videos (“A yandere is a person who is crazy for someone else”). Okay, let’s give Yandere Dev the benefit of the doubt and say: “He sort of right… if you squint hard enough”. But if we refer back to our Yandere Actions post, just using the “yandere snap” doesn’t make Yandere-Chan a yandere. In the end, Yandere-Chan is nothing more but a psychopath.

To those who are reading this: As individuals who are part of the yandere community, I am appealing to you right now. We may disagree on a lot of things. We may disagree on what is and isn’t a yandere. We may disagree on some characteristics of what makes a yandere. But I hope to agree with everyone that “Yandere Simulator” is not the thing we want to define our community.

I’ve heard people compare Yandere-Chan as the “New Yuno Gasai”. I’ve heard people call Yandere-Chan as “the perfect example of a yandere” or “the ideal yandere”. I’ve heard many misinformed comments about yanderes thanks to this game. It may have brought to light our community but this is a double edge sword. It’s one thing if there’s only a couple misinformed users out there. It’s expected and no offense to them. But what’s troubling is the popularity of this misinformed game and the spreading through popular youtubers (again, no offense to them since they don’t know). This game is basically our face to those outside of the community. I talked to several people who are quick to judge me as “one of those perverts” thanks to this game’s reputation (water off my back). You can still like the game or the characters. I know Yandere-Chan generates lots of yandere aesthetics and the fandom has done way better with her than her own creator. But can we all agree to denounce this game as a “yandere icon”. Use it as a conversation starter and use it to point out myths about yanderes… but don’t let this define us. I believe we’re better than that… we’re all better than that. “Romance turned Horror” and “Horror turned Romance” lovers… Aesthetic yanderes, Yandere Recommendations, and Yandere Analysis blogs… We’re all in this together. Let’s shake on this, friends.

Overall score: 0/10

(Post-edit: I forgot to mention Yandere-Kun; there is a bit of a difference between him and Yandere-Chan. He is the genderbend version for Yandere-Chan (for those who want to play as a guy) but Yandere Dev stated that Yandere-Kun’s reasoning for chasing Senpai is purely sadistic. So, regardless how you paint things, Yandere-Kun is just as psychopathic as his female counterpart)

[rottenappleheart]

Alright, friends who've played Bastion, I need your help.

I couldn’t sleep because I was Too Upset. Not about the game’s themes or story, like I should be, but because I have clearly failed to grasp something. Let me explain my (mis)understanding of the game. Maybe one of you will see where I got muddled, and untangle me in a spoiler-free fashion, so that it will actually mean something when I make endgame decisions.

I’ll write it my thinking chronologically, in case that helps you track my mistakes. Long post ahoy!

Here is what I believed, going into the “rescue Zia” mission:

The old man narrator is, in fact, the Kid grown up, and there are wacky time travel shenanigans happening somewhere in the background. He knows what the Kid is doing, and how he’s feeling about it, because he remembers living it. (I’ve been convinced of this since very early in the game, but maybe I’ve been dead wrong! Maybe that’s been screwing me up the whole time!)

The people of the City, whose name I forget, were screwing over the Ura in some fashion with regard to land acquisition, construction, and their treatment of refugees/POWs.

The Kid’s from some other minority population??? In his memories, the old man narrator talks about him and his mom getting grief about their white hair, but literally all the non-Ura characters met have white hair, so IDK what the people of the City were supposed to look like normally.

The Ura created the Cataclysm to get back at the people of the City.

(A sidenote: from the very beginning, the old man narrator speaks about the cataclysm as though it’s a known thing and everyone understands what happened? I don’t? I guess a bunch of people turned to ash where they stood, and also the world started floating? But parts of the world also floated before???)

Zulf and Zia were spared by the Cataclysm that hit the City (because they were Ura?) but didn’t know about it ahead of time. When Zulf finds out the truth, he… agrees with what the Ura were trying to do? He says he’s going to succeed where the Cataclysm failed, and he attacks the Bastion’s core before leaving.

The animals have been building a Bastion of their own, which uhhh implies a level of intelligence that I really think needs to be addressed? But the old man narrator says that the Kid has to destroy it, but that completing the main Bastion will… save the animals too? Which sounds iffy because right now, the entire surviving population of this world appears to be the four survivors gathered on the Bastion, and three pets. (At this time, for the record, the game hasn’t mentioned that the Ura survived.)

I do, in fact, get (unless I am DEAD WRONG) that what the Kid is doing to repair the Bastion is causing a lot of wreckage in other places. I am fully expecting to learn that the Kid is accidentally the villain of this play, and maybe the final act will be him choosing not to carry on (and… not become the old man narrator? Pick a different future for himself? IDK.)

The “you’re probably the villain” feeling is boosted by that one hallucination the Kid has in which he relives the first few scenes of the game, only this time the old man narrator talks as though he is on a murderous rampage through a still-living city, instead of escaping a ghost town. And maybe the part about “he sees the rippling walls, the work of years, destroyed in an instant” wasn’t about the Cataclysm, but was a reference to the player inevitably going hog-wild with the hammer while they’re learning the controls.

At this point, we learn that the Ura have apparently all survived the Cataclysm.

Zulf wrote to Zia to win her over, but failed. He also warned the Kid against going back to the Bastion, because the Ura will attack it. They do, and kidnap Zia.

But things started to go sideways on the actual mission of rescuing Zia.

The game definitely wants me to feel bad about fighting and killing the Ura, because unlike monsters, the Ura leave bodies behind. Read ya loud and clear there, game devs. Also, not super jazzed about exterminating every other living thing in this world! I continue expecting to be the villain.

But the old man narrator begins addressing Zia directly in this sequence, saying that she wasn’t really kidnapped, and that she arranged all of this herself? She was in cahoots with the Ura the whole time? So I start side-eyeing Zia as well as the old man narrator.

The Kid doesn’t find that out, he just “rescues” Zia, and takes her back the Bastion. I assume she’s basically a ticking bomb with a secret plan to destroy everything.

(If you’ve played the game, I feel like you are starting to squint at the screen at how Incorrect all of this is.)

Off I go to the Taral Tunnels, which I believe are pretty much the end of the game. And my understanding of the plot goes completely off the rails.

I’m here to… I guess stop Zulf from whatever his plan for Cataclysm 2.0 is?

The old man narrator reveals that it was actually the people of the City who created the Cataclysm, which isn’t what I believed, but also doesn’t surprise me.

They intended to hit the Ura, to… prevent war? Which is a nice bit of fancyfooting, logically speaking, because this means that I have no evidence that the Ura have ever done anything except be oppressed.

So now we’ve got a story in which the people of the City first wrecked all the Ura’s shit, and made them second-class citizens, and then said “you know what, let’s just wipe them out completely.” Got it.

I can see why Zulf went “SCREW THIS I’M OUT,” and why the Ura have been attacking the Bastion, which is the last stronghold for the people of the city (… inhabited by two Ura refugees, three pets, and one also-a-minority boy and his elderly time-traveling alter self???)

Specifically, it was Zia’s dad, an Ura POW forced to work for the people of the City, who created the whatever-it-was that caused the Cataclysm.

I know from Zia’s memories that he told her to hide inside that last day, so he probably deliberately botched the work so it hit his captors and not his own people.

Except he also never told Zia about their people, or even their language, so IDK how attached he was to them.

The story about this one dipshit who used Zia to get close to her dad, SOLELY TO BE RUDE TO HIM IN HIS OWN LANGUAGE, and then thwart their attempts to escape the city… I don’t know what to make of this story anymore, or the notion that Zia is the one who suggested they escape, given that she knew nothing about her own people. It’s a good setpiece for “the people of the City were awful to the Ura refugees,” but I’m not sure how it interacts with the developing plot twists. Unless the boy was the Kid? Or, not THIS the Kid, but the Kid who grew up into the old man narrator in some… alternate… history???

I no longer know what Zulf said he was going to do that would succeed where the Cataclysm failed. I no longer know if he meant “wipe out the people of the City” or “wipe out the Ura [his own people].”

The old man narrator continues to address Zia like she’s a villain, AND maybe also a time traveler??? He mentions her getting to “try again” all the things that “didn’t go her way.” Now I begin to build a theory castle about the Kid being the old man narrator’s cat’s-paw to… repeat and manipulate a bad past, using his younger and more trusting self, and maybe Zulf is the same thing for Zia, given that she knows things he doesn’t? Maybe she used him and his outrage to bring the Ura down on the Bastion???

I build another wing onto the theory castle in which Zia and Zulf are the same person from different times/realities like the Kid and the old man narrator are??? I DON’T KNOW ANYMORE

(I have a headache just looking at this)

Then the old man narrator says that when the Bastion is completed, they’ll all… cease to exist? And go back in time? The Bastion is built to reset the world to an earlier “save state” and is essentially a giant time-traveling floating ark?

He also says that all the places the Kid has been aren’t real, or aren’t real anymore, but are visions of the past?

Are the Ura even alive in this day and age, or have I been fighting their ghosts and then returning to the Bastion in which there are literally only four people alive in the entire world?

But that doesn’t work if Zia and Zulf have also gone back and forth???

At this point I started completely fragmenting, losing the threads of what he’s saying.

The Ura are pissed off at Zulf for leading the Kid here, so they beat the shit out of him. That part I got loud and clear. You’d better believe I dropped everything to carry that nice gentleman out of there with me. And I wanted to be really upset and invested in that long slow awful march, but I was just so confused.

So I get Zulf back to the Bastion, and complete its construction. Now the old man narrator and Zia BOTH want to talk to me, and Zia finally has a voice, which is great. But my conversation with each of them just made it worse.

The old man narrator keeps giving me more confusing information about the Bastion and the people of the City, which I can’t even recreate here, because I got so lost. I think what he wants me to do is use the Bastion to… go back in time to before the Cataclysm, so that the people of the City will have survived… except that the people of the City were supposed to have fled onto the Bastion in the first place, it was supposed to be their “life raft” in case of trouble…? So is the problem that no one else made it there but the Kid, or is this its intended function, to just be a big reset button?

Zia is telling the Kid that she wouldn’t undo anything, that the happiest memories she has are all after the Cataclysm, which is nice and also it sounds like being an Ura has really sucked, but uh! Literally everyone is dead but the four of us now, thanks to the Kid’s last blitz through the Ura! (If that was real and not a ghost-memory anyway!) The entire world is a cinder! This is not a good outcome to maintain! I don’t like this! I don’t like giving the appearance of siding with the genocidal people of the City, but this particular ark is never going to wash up on solid ground and start new, Zia!

Then the game gives me the actual choice, one of which is “evacuate” and one is… I forget what it was called, but NEITHER ONE OBVIOUSLY RELATED TO WHAT THE OLD MAN NARRATOR AND ZIA JUST TOLD ME. I don’t even know what choice I’m making anymore, or what the outcomes will be.

This is the point at which I realized I was crying and just went to bed.

I feel like I have badly misunderstood something. A lot of things. And I don't THINK I've been missing major clues, because I've been going through all the memories and talking to everyone about the significant artifacts I find. I just put the pieces together wrong and got lost. Please, please come to my inbox or reblog and tell me what’s actually the story, because I was really enjoying this game and would like to continue enjoying it until the ending, instead of crying in frustrated confusion and giving up in the final moments.

[nnctales]

Dreams

continued...

Somehow they managed to go out of the room and enter the mess hall.When they reached there they were hesitating as they were expecting to see their friend lay dead.But when they saw the body they were astonished to see that their was another girl of their class who lay dead.A feeling of relief and astonishment held them.On asking other mates they came to know that the girl got up midnight from bed and was feeling thirsty so she went to the hall.After few seconds her roommate went to the hall in search of her roommate and found her dead.On hearing this, three of them started to think about Lyra and decided to face her.So each of them took something or the other as a weapon and slowly opened the door.When they opened the door they were shocked to see Lyra totally fine.Everything was fine in the room.The cat was alive and there was no blood anywhere.Three of them were so shocked that they started to think about the things that had experienced.But one thing they were sure that something strange was happening in the college.So they decided to investigate in the matter the next morning.They could not inform the authorities as they had no proof regarding the incidences that took place.So they went to sleep but as Riha was scared to sleep in her room so she decided to sleep with Nori and Raila.

In the morning when they woke up and went to see Lyra,she was totally fine.So they asked her about the previous night incidences.But to their surprise she did not remember anything nor she was aware that a girl was dead.On hearing the incidences Lyra was dumbstruck as she could not believe that she was acting weird the previous night.She started crying and became scared.She told them as she was on medication so due to the strong dose she was deep asleep.After consoling Lyra four of them headed to the college for more details in the matter.They finished their classes and decided to go to that corridor where they found the rat and the chemical that day.They searched for the rat everywhere but could not find it.On asking the sweeper about the chemical he said that the chemical was dropped accidentally by the professor named Astana Dhillon who happened to be the chemical laboratory in-charge.So they went to the professor and asked about the chemical.But the professor was so rude that he immediately dismissed them by saying “Don’t put your nose in my matter.Go to your classes or I shall immediately inform the Principal about you four wandering in the college during the class premises”.On hearing this they immediately fled from there and went to the canteen to eat something.Suddenly two boys approached them asking about their class notes.Those two boys also joined the class late.Their names were Palash Daya Firki and Dev Jhingra.Both of them were innocent.Due to their long cumbersome names everyone called them PDF and DJ. Raila was fond of DJ and Nori was fond of PDF.Both of them admired the boys secretly and used to spend hours talking about them.But the boys were also good friends of the four.So they also discussed the incidences with them.At first the boys were finding hard to believe but then the behaviour of the professor compelled them to believe.They found the professor suspicious and so decided to break inside his house and investigate.The girls did not encourage it at first but then Lyra asked them to help her so they agreed.

At around 11 o’clock they sneaked out of their hostels somehow.Six of them met outside the professor’s house in the lawn.They were thinking of a plan to enter the house.Suddenly they saw the professor going out with his car so they got an opportunity as the professor lived alone in the house.So they entered the house smoothly.They searched everywhere for some evidence but could not find one.Suddenly the cat of the professor jumped on Lyra ad started scratching her.Nori immediately took a vase and broke it on cat’s head so the cat ran away.Due to this Lyra started shivering ans so she took a pill which was prescribed to her by her doctor.After taking medicine she became fine.Then they decided to search in groups so as to make it quick.The groups were made as-Nori and PDF,Riala and DJ,Lyra and Riha. Nori and PDF searched the study room,DJ and Raila searched his bedroom, Lyra and Riha searched the bedroom.

When they were searching the bedroom Riha found a file in which it was stated that the professor was suffering from a disease named Collifor and the a medicine was prescribed named Soti.She was not understanding anything as the medicine and the disease was completely new to her.As she was asking Lyra if she also found anything,Lyra did not answer. Riha found it strange as she was completely fine a few minutes ago.On approaching her Riha screamed as again Lyra looked exactly like the previous night.This time she grabbed Riha and was strangling her to death.Hearing the scream everyone immediately ran to the bedroom.PDF and DJ somehow managed to take Riha out of Lyra’s captive.Then all five of them started running here and there.Lyra threw a giant sculpture on DJ and he got injured badly.Then Raila knocked Lyra down and managed to get DJ out.Seeing PDF Lyra grabbed a chair and started to beat him.Immediately Nori came to rescue and managed to fight Lyra. Nori hit Lyra so hard that she blacked out.Suddenly they heard a car honking.Quickly Nori managed to take PDF,Riha and Lyra out as after all she was her friend.All six of them managed to escape before the professor’s arrival.When the professor entered the house he got very angry as the whole house was messy.He immediately called the police to look into the matter as he was doubting a robbery.

Meanwhile Lyra was taken into the hostel and put to bed.Five of them then gathered in the lawn and opened the file to read.On seeing the terms in the report DJ googled it and showed the results to them. Everyone were so shocked that they literally felt the ground been swept away under their feet.What was the disease they found on google?What was the medicine actually?What happened suddenly to Lyra that night?

Find out in my next blog.Till then stay in suspense...

With suspense

NNC