#but i miss the spawn points (even if the new system is better)

[toyherb]

me playing splatoon 3: i wish i was playing splatton 1 i wish i was playing splatoon 1 i wish i was playing splatoon 1 i wish i was playing splatton i I wish i was playing splatoon 1 i wish i was playing splatoon 1 i wish I w

[molluskmirage]

a list of things q!BadBoyHalo has done for others

this is a list for those who may not know some details on what bad has done for others (i have been watching his stream since the beginning)

Eggs:

bbh has personally saved and assisted every single egg on multiple occasions, while also providing multiple armor upgrades, food, tank upgrades, exp, totems, quests, an early network to revive downed eggs and upgrades and resources to parents to better protect their eggs, along with research on how to better protect. (save from twitch con) bbh has not taken a single break to ensure no egg dies from neglect. Every single egg has been under Bad’s care at one point in some cases many eggs have been under Bad’s care at the same point on many occasions. (Dapper has only had his tasks done twice by another (baghera)) If not for Bad many eggs would have died from neglect.

Armor:

enchanted iron armor upgrades to-

Chayanne, Tallalulah, Ramon, Bobby, Richarlyson, Dapper (ofc), (eggs not listed are because parents already armored them or were dead, i think i am missing a few though bad was/is constantly taking the armor off his back and gifting it too eggs)

Enchanted diamond armor sets to-

Chayanne x2, Tallulah x2, Bobby, Ramon, Quackity, Max (Dapper was making his own by this point still checked and approved by bad)

enchanted slime armor sets to-

Chayanne, Tallulah, Ramon, Leonarda x2, Jaiden, Slimesicle.

(this is all from memory he gifted more)

During the quest to go were bobby had died Bad had a whole backpack of armor he handed out to those in need (along with food and reviving many people)

Tank upgrades (they arent cheap):

Chayanne, Tallulah, Ramon, Leonarda x2, Phillza, Slimesicle, Jaiden, Max

Experience:

bad refuels anyone in need of experience (particularly generous to eggs) hes done this so many times its ridiculous to count of non eggs though Foolish is the biggest receiver. he also provides experience cubes in a chest in his subway that he restocks all the time.

Food/resources:

Bad has handed out so many resources it’s impossible to keep track of, you ask he provides even if you’ve tried to murder him and his child.

Assisting/combat/revival:

Bad developed a whole net-work (prior to his sharestone knowledge in which he then created the subway) to help downed eggs or downed anyone. If an egg is down badboy is booking, ended pearling and pulling all the stops.

bad typically in fights plays tank and healer. He tries to run around getting all mobs attention on him so that others can more easily fight while also providing food, weapons, and armor to those in need. He helped in the bobby mission, code attacks, the bluebird, the retrieval of the newcomers in prison, the nether 2nd exploration reviving Baghera from lava and quackity, roier, and going back for Bagerha as time was running out, has personally come to the aid of etoiles, forever, roier and many others at the drop of a hat (not all accepting but he would stick around to make sure if they did need help and an egg could be at risk he would be there)

learnings and warnings:

Bad would not shut up about how dangerous swords were (the sweeping bug unidentified at the time), he told everyone he came across and was constantly shouting it out in battle. Bad offered to look after JuanaFlippa the day she died concerned after Tilin had passed. bad knew nothing of modded but in order to protect his son and others better he is constantly evolving and trying new things. He was who made slime armor popular after testing and showcasing to others. When he discovered warp plates he then put them in strategic locations to help revive eggs, creating a whole teleporting room he then evolved to the subway system he made available for all near spawn upon learning of sharestones. He had a working idea for nihno but backed off as Forever decided to put one in action, bad had the first wireless enderpearl system set up for Dapper which he shared with forever. And when Ramon still had yet to set up a room in nihno he set up an enderpealing system in his home for him. Bad is constantly asking the eggs under his care (or even those he simply see’s) if there ender pearl is set. Bad developed a way stone system against the code saving ramon and dapper, when the code evolved so did he, he used an iron golem against it, it worked. He lassoed it. He started a brewing healing potions in mass to help aid others in attacks (with the help of Dapper in the mechanics). He learned how to have totems restock in his hand with a backpack upgrade and made sure every egg has it set up and will remind them often to have them in there offhand.

bad worries a lot and put hours of effort into researching all the ways nihno could be compromised and troubleshooted ways to combat problems. (They have not come to pass of yet but he’s constantly worried and thinking)

when learning of the op code sword bad made a counter using his knowledge he gained from the totem refills and applying it to a whole battle pack (it works!!!)

social and gifts:

after Trump died Bad visited Max to check on him, thinking that some sort of cause might help Max through grief he told him of some theories of the island, this was the start of the theory bros.

bad steals furniture a lot as a guise to be social and check in on everyone. Bad doesnt handle appreciation well (even if he knows it would be good for him he feels so much more comfortable being seen as a villian and preforms self sabotage and self sacrificial acts constantly) he hands over credit to Dapper and eggs a lot ((by no means downplaying dappers kindness and contributions)) but Bad acts allergic to praise even if he needs it. He also believes for himself, not applying to others, that if helping others means wanting praise then it was for ego and he doesn't want that, he believes in unconditional kindness and tries to preform it at every step talking himself down in times of emotion. Bad rarely steals furniture if there is not some sort of social input and often for everything he steals he compensates for twenty times over in supplies, special metals, and food.

He made a backpack for quackity including personal touches like color and a picture of wilbur along with armor, weapons, building materials, food, food upgrade, sharestone. the same for Slimesicle his green with a slimeball, armor, tank upgrade, food.

one for max, black with weapons, tank upgrades, armor and a sweet note

one for Rioers birthday, diamond blocks, emeralds, gold, bear fur, a paxle

Foolish gets his own segment cause theres too much.

bad also made mini thrones with cake and diamonds to let baghera and forever know they were missed at vidcon. Bad also helped Richarlyson build a little spot for forevers return.

Bad built a statue for forever after his presidency to showcase he was appreciated.

Bad made a treasure hunt for Leonarda and Foolish (ok so mostly an excuse on bads part to make a puzzle but really wanted Leo to have fun with her Dad)

Bad made a dungeon that catered to Tallulah’s needs and aesthetic that she could enjoy with her family, with multiple resources provided to ensure there safety and with a self made prize at the end of two backpacks filled with goodies that were of each Chayanne and Tallulahs personal liking.

Bad rebuilt the school after its destruction so the eggs would have a nice place to hang out. Bad helped build and provide materials for every quackity build (at this point 9/1/23) besides his intial starter home and kidnapping spots.

bad scoured the savanna after quackity hid a really tough to make shield Dapper had gifted to Ramon that quackity had looted off Ramon’s corpse from Ramon’s nightmare. It took him days to find, Dapper being the one to locate it but he was resolved to finding it.

Foolish:

foolish and Bad have a unique bond. For everything bad has done wrong for foolish he has also done right. And I will list those actions

bad built an elevator system for foolish twice to better help his builds. In the beginning too Foolish also has no modded knowledge and is reluctant to learn, Bad provides him with all useful info and demonstrates it. He’s provided countless resources, exp, food, 5 stacks of pizza, an item to breathe underwater for his fish tank (that took him several many hours to make), pets, plot intel, he was there for him when others didn’t trust him after he arrested pac e mike. He trusts Dapper with Foolish (this is huge for Bad) and bad has stocked leo on the best gear multiple times and has watched over her many times without even forwarning from foolish.

this isn’t even mentioning the things he’s done for Dapper. Bad is constantly looking to improve everyones play, building and designing in ways that go unnoticed because theyre so helpful and natural like subways, patching creeper and mine holes, repairing exploded buildings, babysitting and watching over all those in need. Bad has done so much more then I even listed. He has not done nothing which is why it stings to see posts that implies he hasn’t. He has flaws sure but he has done far from nothing for the islanders and eggs.

[dootiexcupcake]

Test Your Might !

Pairing: Sunoo x fem!reader [shao kahn player!Sunoo x Jade player!reader💀]

tags: gamer!sunoo, gamer!reader, fluff, first meetings, bullet point fic, mortal kombat players, two nerds in loveeee, bad attempts at flirting cuz i'm corny

Warnings: reader is a bit dumb when it comes to online safety but for the most part, none (let me know if i am perhaps missing something tho!)

A/N: i think it is extremely important to state that i have never played a single game of MK in my life💀💀💀. I just like reading/watching cutscene movies of the lore, gameplay, and characters. So if smth is wrong...thats why loool.

TL;DR OP is using this as a way to mix her two hyperfixiations into one thing

• you're a Jade main who, although is not considered a "professional gamer", can handle yourself pretty well in an online match

• after going thru several players and mopping the floor with them you match up with a Shao Kahn player

• username: "handsome_starr"

• "cheesy" you cant help but chuckle at the name and assume this to be a easy fight against someone who isn't above the age of 10

• as soon as the round starts you're immediately backed into a corner by a barrage of combo attacks from the other player

• suddenly straightening up in your seat your grip on the controller gets tighter as your health gets lower and lower with each brutal attack of the heavy weights hammer

• you finally got yourself grounded enough to land a few critical hits to him but it wasn't enough to save you. and before you know it, you hear those familiar words

• "finish her!"

• you feel your nose twitch in irritation as the player throws in a taunt at the end of the 1st round

• "How disappointing." Shao Kahn wags a finger in front of him as the 2nd round begins

• usually you would roll your eyes at the use of the taunt, but with this particular player...

• you welcome the challenge

• the second round begins and once again "handsome_starr" releases a flurry of attacks that leaves you in the corner completly at his mercy

• dont get it wrong, you have played as shao kahn before. you know his combos, fatalities, general move set, etc. you're no stranger to the character.

• but the way this player managed to move this heavy character around so swiftly was something you couldn't wrap your head around

• thankfully you've wised up by now, so you dodge Jade out of the way before Shao Kahn lands a devastating blow with his war hammer

• the match ends with "starr" getting the victory, much to your dismay

• naturally, you rematch with the player and you two go at it for way longer than you both realize

• after the 3rd or 4th rematch you get a notification at the top left corner of your TV screen

• "handsome_starr sent you a friend request"

• you exit out of the game momentarily and accept the pending request

• as soon as the action goes through you receive a message from your new friend

• "gg"

• short, sweet, and to the point. nice

• "u 2" you reply

• "I like ur play style w/ Jade. its cool !"

• your mouth curled up into a smirk, pride swelling up in your chest at the compliment. you decided to return the favor to him and give him some very much needed credit as well

• "thx. ur rly rly good w/ shao k."

• time once again slips past you two as you talk over the system chatroom for what seems like mere minuets. But when you glance at the display clock on screen it shows that a few hours have passed

• how you both managed to type for such a long time using game controllers is beyond anyone

• this quickly becomes a thing between you guys

• you power on your console, play some games, get a notif from starr asking to play MK11, then go back and forth in the mobile chatroom (you learned from last time)

• you also learned that starr isnt just an amazing shao kahn player but he's an even better spawn player too

• one day while the two of you are chatting after a particularly good match (you decimated him in all 3 matches. props to you being a quick learner and spotting his patterns) starr ask a question you weren't quite expecting

• "socials?"

• you stared at the screen for a second as you realized what starr meant by that. why did you never think of this before?

• you thought about every middle school online safety video you were shown as a kid

• well...starr doesn't seem like a murderer who will stalk you so..

• "ya, heres my ig:"

•was it stupid to give your personal social media account to someone you've only known for a few months? yeah

• was it even more stupid if you also didn't even know the guys first name?...yeh

• but you didn't get much time to think through all the logic behind your reasonings as you accepted his follow request

• you were absolutely baffled as you saw pictures of who you assume is starr

• how is it possible that this is the same person who mains such brash and gruesome characters? starr looks so...much different than you imagined

• to be honest, you weren't exactly sure what to expect

• but the first thing that came to your mind when you imagined a shao kahn and spawn player was definitely not the cute and seemingly innocent face of the male smiling in these photos displayed in front of you

• it was a good different though!

• a very good different...

• starr sends you a dm through instagram while you were looking through his page

• "ur name is y/n?"

• "ya thats me" you mentally facepalm when you realize you didn't even check to find his real name.

• you look at his profile again and read his bio

• "kim sunoo?"

• "yup thats me ^^ " comes the reply from the other end

• starr..well, sunoo always used little emojis at the end of his sentences when you guys would speak but, you're not sure why it comes off as so cute this time around..

• you shake the thought off as soon as it comes, 'really? falling for the guy as soon as you see a picture of him? you're better than that y/n!' you mentally scold yourself as you try to get your senses together

• sunoo send a picture of you in chat, which confused you but also brung on a small pang of anxiety.

• "this is you??"

• you swallowed down harshly and replied back with confirmation

• "woah..ur rly pretty :o "

• you wanted to throw your phone out of your window and never talk to sunoo ever again

• you felt your whole body heat up at the unexpected compliment and hid your goofy smile from no one in your empty room

• "thx. ur not too bad yourself haha"

• "oh thanks, that means a lot coming from you ~"

• huh, you give a guy your ig page and he suddenly takes a flirty 180

• "dude ur cute ! dont even try it lol"

• "haha 😅"

• sunoo sends another picture of you in chat, but luckily your heart doesnt beat as nervously this time around

• "woa! you cosplay!?"

• ah, how could you forget about that post

• you were at a convention posing dramatically as one of your favorite characters

• "lol yeah i dont do it *all* the time but since i was attending that con i decided to go all out, ya know?"

• "wow! as if you couldn't get any cuter.."

• you huffed out a laugh through your nose and shook your head at his message

• "heh, ur down bad sunoo"

• of course you were too. but sunoo did NOT need to know that...

main m.list | enha m.list

[full-pockets]

I have a problem. My main/primary Switch, ACNH edition, keeps running out of space, so I have to delete or archive data in order to free up space to continue playing Skyrim. I can delete my old Skyrim saves, which I have been doing, however I feel this option will run out. I feel as if it will come to a point that any saves left to delete will end up being the very 'last' and if I delete it, I delete the whole character. I could archive the Animal Crossing: New Horizons game, which is the second biggest space sucker on the Switch, the first being Skyrim. Skyrim takes like 60 somethin, NH at 30 somethin.

That is a solution, but there is a problem that comes with it. The solution is that I can transfer the island to my other Switch, the OLED TotK one, which has ample space on it atm and it being an OLED has more space than my NH Switch. I also put a better SD card in it thou I think games save to the system memory, not the SD card. I only have TotK on there, a digital copy thou. I hardly play NH anymore and it keeps the data I have ready to use anytime, no needing to download archived data. I'm very weird about data transfers and archiving data, I don't like to do it. The problem is that my NH game has two player profiles, my main with an NSO, and an alt I created in order to have another player in ACNH. I can not transfer my alts player profile to the other Switch cause I don't have an NSO on that one. I really don't feel like buying another online membership and creating another email.

I cannot transfer my save data for Skyrim on the TotK switch because I have multiple player profiles with Skyrim saves, all without NSOs (except the main). If I transfer the Skyrim data to the other Switch, only my main player profile with the NSO will transfer. I loose my many other Skyrim characters saves, some very far along.

A possible solution is to just buy another digital copy of Skyrim for the TotK switch so I can create more saves on that switch instead my main. I won't get crashes due to the SHEER AMOUNT OF DATA my main switch has. I can play for hours and hours again without crashes, another problem I experience with my main Switch and became more frequent once I downloaded and did alot of the AE stuff.

My data won't transfer over (I assume) cause I have multiple digital copies of ACNH on different switches, and they don't keep the same data.

If I do this, I can wait on buying the AE stuff as well, which will allow me to side with the Thirsk Mead warriors and obtain Severin Manour on Solstheim. Switch AE breaks these quests, making Severin Manour un-obtainable since it utterly removes the quest March of the Dead. I have the 'Severin' people walking around with leveled daggers in Raven Rock and Veleth never gets attacked by ash spawn outside the old Attitus farm. However I also miss out on alot of good stuff, like the leveling enchant exploit and just all the cool stuff that comes with AE. I do really want Severin Manour thou, it just sits there, taunting me of what could have been. I unfortunately never got it on my main (before AE was even released on Switch) cause I waited too long to fight Miraak, then downloaded the AE update without knowing it would actually break quests.

Other notes- My ACNH save comes from a phyical copy of the game, not a digital download. I'm pretty sure putting the game card on a new Switch will NOT let me play the data, as data now only saves on the Switch console, not the game card like the good days/previous AC games on the series.

Skyrim is digital download, as is TotK. Most of my other games like Rune Factory 5, RF4:S, Age of Calamity, AoC demo, and Stardew Valley are all digital cause finding phyical games IS HARD. When I bought Stardew there wasn't even a phyical copy made, it came out like a year after I bought SDV.

I also have Breath of the Wild as a phyical copy on my main Switch, however it never asks me to archive that, so it must not take up that much space.

PLUS. There is going to be an update for Stardew Valley at some point, and I need enough space to be able to download it, which I'm not sure if I can. I suppose a fix would be to transfer the SDV save data onto my TotK switch, thou I'm not sure if it is supported throu the Eshop. I only have the one save on it on my main player profile, so if I could transfer it, no other player profile data would be lost.

[joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

Sonic Dash thing, the initial pushback to the card system was definitely justified, but one of the things that I do think was unequivocally just actually good is that you could constantly be working towards unlocking and upgrade all but the rarest of characters. Oh you missed All-Star Amy's event? Well that's fine because she's an rare character and you'll collect cards for her just by playing the game. It's a better system than the FOMO ass "you can only get this character by having played the game during the right period" of old.

Buuuuuuuuuuuut point of this post is actually for me to complain, and I've got two big things here. First of all, most epic rarity characters - not even the highest rarity characters btw - only have their cards spawn on the track during their event. Yeah I can get Shadow cards at any time, but Mummy Knuckles? Grim Sonic? Drummer Cream? Infinite? Nah, fuck off. Like why is not even the highest rarity having cards completely limited to events, what has this system now gained. As I'll get onto I think legendary rarity cards are fine to be limited, sure, but why do it for epic as well. Feel like the structure should just be like "here's a new epic character, their cards are boosted for a week, and once that week is over they're on the track at the same rate as other cards". Current approach is just dumb.

Second big thing, legendary characters. To me it stands to reason that legendary should be the rarest type of character, yeah? But nah, they're actually the most common. 16 common characters, 21 rare characters, 19 epic characters, 25 legendary characters [excluding the non-Sonic crossover characters but they're legendary anyway]. Alright, so we're not as cool and limited as we're even supposed to be. Feel like super forms, crossovers and maybe movie characters are where you should be limiting legendary rarity, but nah let's also do Metal Sonic 3.0 or Jester Sonic or Dragonclaw Tails in here. Literally just reintroduced the exact FOMO problem the game had before this. I'd personally be okay with some legendary characters being limited - crossover characters are kind of a duh because of licensing crap, I can take movie characters for similar reasons, and I think super forms are prestigious enough to get away with it as well. But what about Dragonfire Sonic is so much better than Captain Shadow. Why is Darkspine epic but Excalibur is legendary. There are more legendary characters than any other rarity like I said and that just completely ruins the entire point of this system.

[beatthegame]

I just beat Final Fantasy (Pixel Remaster). Available on pretty much every modern console. You can even download it on your phone! But I played this one on the Nintendo Switch. Which is appropriate since the original game first released on the Nintendo Entertainment System way back in 1987. The very first Final Fantasy under more than 16 entries in the franchise! Perhaps the very game that pioneered the template for turn-based JRPGs for decades to follow. Who still remembers the little details and artworks in the Nintendo Power Strategy Guide?! Nostalgia aside. Final Fantasy was one of a kind. But how does it hold up against modern games today?

In a nutshell: It's Japanese Dungeons & Dragons without the awkward live human interaction. You choose 4 out of 6 warriors to travel across an 8-bit open world of repetitive turn-based battles via random encounters in order to reactivate the planet's elemental crystals and save the world. This might sound cliche, but keep in mind that this game originated that entire trope! The Light Warriors walked before Cloud, Squall and Lightning were even born. You can choose between several classes: warrior, thief, monk, red mage, white mage and black mage. Each warrior class offered unique pros and cons. You can assemble your own group of 4 warriors and you can even create unique names for your characters! I don't know about you guys/girls, but I had a lot of fun naming warriors "FART" or "BUTT". It provided tons of laughs during future dialogue interactions. But perhaps I'm missing the point? How does this game stack up overall?

The Good: Aside from naming your Red Wizard "TITS" this game offers a lot of depth for an 8-bit game. Although the pixel remake offers updated graphics and sound, the base game is still in-tact. They didn't stray too far from the source material, which is a relief. They preserved the old asthetic and truly improved upon the pixel art. Which better represents Yoshitaka Amano's character designs. Speaking of which, it was a nice addition to include Amano's original concept art in the bonus gallery. I never made the connection first playing it as a child. But now, you can appreciate how well the pixel remaster adapted from that concept art. Definitely a cool supplement.

It's not gory, so it's safe for everyone. However, there is a lot of reading and quick item management involved. So it's not recommended for younger kids or anyone without patience. Which leads to...

The Bad: The random battle system, while innovative at the time, will continue to be an annoying game feature throughout the entire game experience. Unless you are walking around in a town? You are gonna fight. This game does not chill! You're trying to walk across a single hallway to open a treasure chest and you're getting into a battle every two steps. It can get really frustrating. You can't even chill on the fucking WATER without getting into a fight lol! Although, in their defense, the ocean is pretty violent and terrifying in real life. But I digress. Random encounters suck. But, one of the neat new features in the pixel remaster is the auto battle option. It breaks the monotony of repetitive battles and allows you to breeze through most battles and essentially level up faster. While this might seem like a decent fix. It doesn't really offer anything to make the gameplay less monotonous. Also, you really need to read and pay attention to the clues given in this game. You can't just run through and beat this like any old game. You gotta follow the clues, run one fetch quest after another. It's a linear experience but you can get lost fast! Like, my lil nephew would NOT have the patience to play through a game like this. You are not going scratch that Fortnite itch with Final Fantasy. But comparing those two types of games wouldn't be fair (for either genre) But if you can set those superficial flaws aside, you'll find a unique gaming experience that has spawned over a dozen more epic adventures like this one. The tip of the iceberg!

Overall: Final Fantasy is epic! A large world full of unique characters and monsters. Working together for your entertainment. This game was purchased during one of Nintendo's online sales. So it was a great deal for the amount of game you're getting. A nice little slice of nostalgia for veteran gamers. Or perhaps a new experience for those who want to know their roots behind great JRPGs? At all starts with Final Fantasy!

A-Class

[littlemssam]

Mod Updates

As always delete old Mods Files and the localthumbcache when updating my Mods!

***

Added Support for new Cottage Living Items: Cross Stitchs, Wool, Canned Goods, Jerry/Jam, Giant Crops Small to Large, Milk, and Eggs. I recommend to use the Retail Display for the Milk and Eggs to keep them longer fresh.

Live in Business

***

Simbay now accepts Cottage Living Items: Cross Stitchs, Wool, Canned Goods, and Jelly/Jam.

Sell via Simbay

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Fixed an Issue with HoneyCake not showing up under Bake (Cakes are Baking Addon)

More Servings Options & Better MealTime Menus

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Fixed an Issue with Sims magically digging when sitting on a bike. Fixed an issue with Bottles not being sellable. Added support for dirt mounds that share spawn points with rocks.

Collectibles (Rock Digging) Rework (Slower/Harder)

***

Added new Cross Stitch Skill, fixed missing Knitting Text, fixed Interactions showing up even when Skill is highest lvl.

Online Learning System

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Added Owner Actor Loot to Treasures, so the one digging will be the owner

New Precious Treasures

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Don't download these Updates if you have the Legacy Edition!

***

Support Questions via Discord only please!

[yoonpobs]

together | myg

pairing: min yoongi x singlemother!reader

genre: fluff, very soft fluff, domesticity

words: 5, 007

summary: min yoongi is a good man but even a better father ... figure

“Baby … what did we say about boundaries?” You crouch down to reach Jihoon’s eye level and the mini you—as said by your friends—simply ignores your oncoming lecture by staring at his feet.

“Limits …” He mumbles softly and all you want to do is hug him and tell him he can do no wrong but motherhood is tough despite all the online blogs telling you that they’re with you. You loved your baby, you really did—but God decided to fuck with you by making him the reflection of yourself when you were younger and you heard nightmarish stories from your parents from when you were growing up.

You run your hand over his hair soothingly because as much as he was like you, he was still only two years old and his own person, fluff and bread arms. You knew not to restrain him with furrowed brows or raised voices but instead with the patience your parents always taught you to have and the compassion that you wished you were naturally blessed with. But life had a funny way of taking away things from you.

Well—your ex-husband was never really taken from you—he left you, and instead of feeling shambled and distraught you were made of such resolve that you merely blinked when he packed his bags after he said he was cheating on you. The only sweat you broke was realising that Jihoon was only three months old when his dad left without sparing him another glance.

But your baby grew up and so did you. Your job at office paid well enough for you to live comfortably with Jihoon and hire nannies to look after him whenever you couldn’t; even though you tried your best to always be with him so he wouldn’t grow up resenting an absent mother. But you worried like anyone else would because while your friends and family would say you were doing an impeccable job, your self-sabotaging tendencies nagged at yourself by saying that he needed a male figure in his life.

He mumbles a soft apology, so respectful with his big eyes and you smile at him. You knew he meant no harm when storming into your office and scrambling off with important documents because he was still impressionable and curious about nearly everything. Your heart dropped when you realised your reports were pretty much incoherent with the way he doodled over them but you knew not to blame him.

“Forgiven Hoon.” You kiss his forehead.

His eyes turn into tiny slits with his toothless smile and your heart clenches at the little human you created and love dearly.

“Love you mama.” He plants a sloppy kiss on your cheek before waddling off to his playpen where his toys are laid neatly. If there was anything he inherited from you; it’d be your meticulous tendencies.

You sigh, leaning into the wall of your kitchen as you watch Jihoon with fond eyes as he plays with his dolls and figurines, dressing them in dresses and pants just like how you taught him that gender had no look and that everyone was different. Obviously, explaining the concept of social constructs to a two-year-old is not a conversation any parent would have with their child but you believed that these fundamental core values of humanity were important to his growth into his toddler stages and eventually adulthood.

“I can’t believe you squeezed that cutie out of your vagina.” Taehyung snorts, sneaking up behind you and you don’t flinch because you’re way too used to his unwanted comments and sudden appearances.

“I am 90% cute so it’s only right that my child inherits that from me.” You retort, eyes still trained on your baby boy.

Taehyung looks over at Jihoon who directs a mini-play of a loving family, and your heart is still sad at the prospect of his adolescent years only being with you.

“You know … hyung is asking about you,” Taehyung says and you immediately still in your position, hands freezing in your pockets because you know exactly who he’s referring too and you weren’t exactly ready for that conversation, especially with your older brother.

“He says he misses Hoonie.”

You sigh, turning your head to face your older brother and you can only muster enough emotion to look fine with his statement but you simply looked constipated with the way your face scrunches up.

“We’ve been busy …” You mutter.

“Jihoon is two-years-old and the only thing he’s busy with is trying not to give you a heart attack every time he nearly runs into the wall and you literally work from home now that your boss is some progressive liberal that tries a new system every two days,” Taehyung says dryly, pinning you with a deadpan.

“Stop offending me by insulting my son!” You whine.

“That’s my nephew too.” He rolls his eyes as you punch him in the shoulder.

“That has a name and it’s Jihoon you bitch.”

“Mama said beech?” Jihoon tilts his head in a curious manner and your expression morphs into one of mortification as Taehyung cackles in response.

“Stop. Laughing.” You hiss but it’s no use because your brother has never once listened to anything you had to say throughout the last twenty-nine years of your life.

“You—” Your snide is cut short by rapt knocks on your door, and you see Taehyung’s grin widen. You know that look intimately because it’s the expression he wears before he pisses you off or embarrasses you.

“He’s here!” He sounds delighted as he skips towards the door. You want to pull his back by his collar to ask him what the fuck he was talking about but he’s quick with his hands and the door is open. Your mouth falls and you nearly get whiplash with the way that you stare at your guest.

“Y-Yoongi.” He was possibly the last person you wanted to see and you had no idea what he was doing at your apartment at night on a weekday.

Then you see Taehyung’s pleased expression and put two-and-two together.

“___, hey. Taehyung said you needed help with Hoon tonight?” He offers a tilt of his lips because Yoongi was not an expressive man by any means. But that didn’t mean he didn’t have a good heart; that was far from the truth of the enigma that was Min Yoongi.

He was a good person and an even better friend. Although the two of you had tip-toed on the line between friends to something more than that, he never explicitly said anything about his interests to you. And you didn’t want to pressure him by saying anything because even though he was in his thirties and still very much single with a stable job as a surgeon at the top hospital, a two-year-old son is rarely what a man that appealing ever wants when looking for a relationship.

That was why you stopped replying to his texts or inviting him over to hang out with Jihoon anymore because Jihoon adored him so much and your poor heart couldn’t bear to see the two boys interact without an ugly flower called hope bloom in your chest. He only ever knew who you were because he and Taehyung were co-workers and probably only tolerated you by association.

You loved Jihoon and wanted the best for him. Even if that was Min Yoongi—you needed to protect your heart too.

“I did?” You tilt your head and Yoongi automatically notices the habit that you and Jihoon share. Taehyung is somehow next to you already and you know that because he stomps on your foot and shoots you a glare when you hiss.

“I did.” You cough.

“Mama?” Jihoon peeks his head through the divider between the kitchen and the common area, and his eyes immediately light up when he sees Yoongi hovering by the entrance.

“Yoongi!” He squeals as he speeds as fast as he can with his little feet towards the man in his scrubs who shoots your son with his gummy smile.

“Hey, buddy.” He picks your son up effortlessly and you know you’re staring but you rarely ever see men who are this patient let alone this good with children.

“Close your lips,” Taehyung whispers into your ear.

“I’m—that’s not what was happening …” You mumble, a blush appearing on your cheeks as you look away from the hugs and kisses that Yoongi gives Jihoon.

“I meant your other ones.” Your brother says dryly.

“Kim Taehyung—!” Your arms are already reaching for his neck to strangle him but Yoongi calling your name snaps you out of your anger.

“Have you eaten dinner yet?”

Your head snaps to Yoongi who now has Jihoon on his hip while he plays with the material of his scrubs. You hate how your heart flutters at the domesticity of the question and how Yoongi looks so much like a father to your son and a husband in your home.

You realise the dangerous daydream you’re falling into and shake your head to snap out of it before you hurt yourself even more.

“Us? No, we haven’t. Tae and I were planning to order in at our favourite place.” You tell Yoongi with a small smile.

You see the hint of a frown marring on his face but it goes as quick as it comes as he stalks towards you.

“Actually—” Taehyung cuts in before Yoongi can say anything, “—I have a … thing.”

He points his thumb towards the door and you curse him in your head so much that you hoped sibling telepathy was a thing so he could hear what you felt about him right now.

“You … do?” Yoongi asks.

Taehyung shrugs, as ambiguous as ever before ruffling Jihoon’s hair and offering a fist bump and a kiss before he approaches your door.

“Taehyung—” You grit.

“Bye, buddy! Yoongi.” He acknowledges the two other boys but not you and you know it’s because while Taehyung loved to annoy you, he knew you were a handful and quite literally the spawn of satan when you were angry and you weren’t just angry but livid.

“Get back here—!” And he’s gone before you know it, and even Jihoon mumbles a soft bye Tae samchon after he’s gone.

You sigh, resting your head against the frame of the door that was now shut in your face, stuck in your own house with the man that you’ve been helplessly pining over that looks way too at home with the way Jihoon plays with the softness of his black hair.

You turn around, closing your eyes.

“I’m sorry.”

When you open them, Yoongi has an eyebrow raised, placing Jihoon on his high-chair. And you don’t know why you found that act so hot but you couldn’t even set your own son down into that chair without him making a fuss but he only giggled cheekily when Yoongi did so.

“What for?”

He doesn’t sound angry, just genuinely confused. You purse your lips and walk towards Jihoon who was simply babbling to himself and grab a cloth to wipe at the appearance of a new stain on his shirt which you suspect he got from his playtime earlier, and you internally groaned at the fact that he probably found some food and decided that it would be a good addition to his play family.

“I know it’s really busy at the hospital this time around and Taehyung basically scammed you here … with us.” You fiddle with your fingers after you pick up a toy on the floor and pass it to Jihoon to keep him occupied as you have a much more … adult-esque conversation with Yoongi. While you made it clear to Jihoon that he didn’t necessarily have a father in his life because you owed him that much, you tried to steer far from conflict and turmoil so he wouldn’t have to grow up knowing only the lows of life.

Yoongi just … stares. And it’s unnerving because you could barely read the man in general and he was looking at you with a blank expression that only causes your anxiety to settle further into your bones. You’re thinking of about a million different ways to apologise or to spontaneously combust so you could save yourself from the scrutiny of Yoongi’s eyes. But before you can say anything and embarrass yourself, even more, he speaks.

“Do you think I don’t enjoy spending time with the two of you?” He frowns, and that’s the most expressive you’ve seen him throughout your entire friendship with the man. The fact that the first time he’s ever shown any explicit emotion around you is one of … disappointment … only makes you realise how far out of his league you were.

“N-No!” You shake your head, flustered at his tone. When you look at him, his face is much softer; a type of expression that shows longing but you aren’t quite sure why it’s there.

“It’s just … you’re busy, Yoongi. You’re a hotshot doctor at the best private healthcare facility in the city and you’re here spending the last night before the weekend with some pathetic single mom who still—by the way—can’t decide on how to brush my teeth just because it doesn’t feel right.”

Yoongi blinks at you, then he looks over at Jihoon and you’re confused for a second because it seems like he’s dismissing your mini ramble, but instead, he reaches out to Jihoon’s hand and bends down so he can look Jihoon straight in the eye.

“Hey, bud?” He calls out to Jihoon and your son looks at Yoongi with all the stars in his eyes.

Your heart softens at the interaction and notices how the way Jihoon doesn’t pull away when Yoongi reaches out to carry him in his arms again.

“Yoongi!” He squeals, squeezing the man’s cheeks between his chubby fingers and you can’t help but laugh at his enthusiasm and the way that Yoongi resembles a cat.

“I need to ask you something.” He whispers as if it were only the two of the room and you stand on the opposite of them with your arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

Your son bobs his head up and down in agreement as he waits for Yoongi to ask him his question.

“Yoongi …” You trail off but he pays you no mind.

“Do you love your mama?” The question surprises you and your mouth opens and closes, and your emotions are all over the place because the question makes you feel nearly inadequate. The way that he asks the question prompts you to wonder if it seemed like what you were doing for Jihoon just wasn’t enough.

“What is this even about?” You snap, eyes narrowed at Yoongi but he still ignores you.

Jihoon nods his cute little head eagerly without a moment of hesitation after Yoongi asks his … what you would say—preposterous question.

“I love mama with all my heart. She’s the best!” Jihoon giggles into Yoongi’s shirt as he leans his head against his chest. You don’t know why his words make you choke up when he tells you he loves you every day but the reassurance that your son does indeed love you makes you feel like you can do anything. It was also probably the fact that you noticed Yoongi smiling fondly between the two of you.

“Do you think she’s pathetic, Hoonie?” He throws your words to your son and you scowl at Yoongi who is still keeping his act of ignoring you very much alive.

“Pathedic?” Jihoon tilts his head again and you almost coo at the slight lisp he has when he asks.

Yoongi chuckles warmly and offers you a small smile as if to tell you that you’d see soon enough before repeating himself to your son.

“Bad.” Yoongi settles.

Jihoon gasps in his tiny little way and frowns, looking over at you with a cute crumpled expression that makes your heart swell even more. The urge to hold your son increases tremendously but you were still confused and curious as to what Yoongi was getting at.

“No no no! Mama is the best, didn’t you hear?” Jihoon squabbles.

You bite your lip to refrain from smiling so wide and choke back the tears that well up.

“Mama always cooks yummy food and never yells at me! I always see other mama’s yelling at their babies but mama … mama loves me too, right?” He rambles off and you sniffle.

“Love you a lot, Hoon.” You say from a distance and Jihoon is satisfied with your answer.

You turn to look at Yoongi and sigh.

“What is this about, Yoongi?” You sound stern and he acknowledges that. He knows the situation is much more serious than what he perceives but he can’t help but observe how the furrow of your brows resembles a squirrel. The comparison makes him want to laugh because you were so cute even when you were angry.

“I have one more question.” He tells you.

You don’t say anything but watch the way he leans in closer to Jihoon with eyes more serious than you’ve seen before.

“You want to see mama happy?” Yoongi whispers so softly that you almost miss it.

Jihoon nods.

“Of course. Mama always makes me happy. But she looks … lonely.” Jihoon frowns a little and you can’t help but have a tear fall. Your baby boy was young but observant and had a heart of pure gold. You didn’t need anyone but Jihoon but—

“What do you think if she gave you a papa?” Yoongi asks and the question stills your entire body. You don’t even see the way Jihoon lights up at the proposition and you also miss the way Yoongi looks over at you once to gauge your reaction.

“Will you be my papa Yoongi?” The question is what snaps you out of your reverie to realise the situation you were in and the allusion of Jihoon’s question.

“Jihoon! You can’t just—say sorry.” You squeak but Jihoon doesn’t pay you any mind because his attention is all on Yoongi who is smiling as wide as he possibly can.

“Only if your mom says yes, Hoonie. If only she knew how much I liked her.” He tells Jihoon but he’s looking at you. Your eyes are wide at the confession and your hands fall limp by your side; not knowing how to respond to Yoongi’s sudden confession.

It wasn’t anything spectacular, and it didn’t cause butterflies to erupt like it was in the movies but the confession was so wholeheartedly Yoongi that you felt so … comfortable. A surprising yet welcoming emotion.

Jihoon looks over to you but you’re looking at Yoongi who looks at you with soft eyes.

“Say yes mama!”

Yoongi stands up from his position to walk over to your frozen state until your hands rest on his chest unconsciously. He looks down at you as his arms wrap around your waist to pull you flush against his body. You blush and avoid his stare when he tries to catch your eyes. You know Jihoon is watching and that makes you feel all the more flustered. It was like you were back in high school and you were ‘canoodling’ behind your parents’ backs.

“Y-Yoongi …” You try to push him away but he reaches his hands to wrap them around your own.

“I’m sorry but you can’t run away from me this time ___.” He teases.

You flush and look away.

“I wasn’t … running …” You mutter.

He chuckles and shakes his head that you feel strands of his hair against your forehead when he leans in closer to connect your forehead with his own.

“Okay.” He agrees. He doesn’t put up a fight and you hate how even when you’re the one that’s flustered he can make you feel … safe. Calm.

“I like you, dumbass. I would go as far to say that I’m in love with you but I know how scared you get so let’s settle for the baby steps first, yeah?” He says so casually that your eyes bulge out of your eye sockets comically.

“You c-can’t just …” You blubber, “Say that!”

Yoongi scoffs.

“I like you Kim ___.”

You punch him in the chest but he doesn’t even flinch.

“No you don’t …” You whisper.

You don’t look at him but you can feel his frown.

“And who are you to tell me how I feel?”

You sigh.

“Yoongi … I don’t know if you heard what I said earlier but you’re … you … and I’m just some other girl that you know because of Taehyung and I’m a mother of a two-year-old. You could literally be with anyone you wanted and I just … you don’t like me. You just—can’t.” You exasperate.

He frowns at you, forcing your chin up to look at him with his index finger. You burn even redder at how close you were.

“I love you. I love Jihoon. And you need to get out of your pretty little head because I don’t want to be with anyone but you. I don’t know where you’re getting this weird picture of me being with anyone I want because I don’t want anyone. I want this—I want in, in this little family.”

You feel yourself choke up, and Yoongi notices so he holds you closer until your head is against his chest.

“I’m emotionally constipated half the time I interact with anyone but you just … you make me feel alive and things that I generally don’t feel on a daily basis. You and Hoon are the only things that keep me going with all the surgeries and stuff. I’m in love with you and it’s all your fault and Hoonie wants you to be happy as much as I do—so please: stop running.”

“Why are you running mama?” Jihoon asks and you remember your son is watching it all.

You flush but don’t move from Yoongi’s grasp. He thinks of this as a step forward because all you do is turn your head to look at Jihoon and offer him a smile through your tears.

You and Yoongi hear Jihoon’s whine and you see him reach his arms towards you as a gesture for you to carry him.

“Mama why are you crying!” He cries.

You feel Yoongi release you and you immediately reach out to Jihoon like it was second nature because it was. Jihoon was the only thing that kept you going when people would give you odd stares as a single mother especially when you were starting to look into preschools for your son. All the superiors would question your legitimacy and income when you were earning more than the average working man. You were always very particular about who you allowed into Jihoon’s life because he was young and got attached easily. But Yoongi made it so … easy. Just like he was that missing piece in both your and Jihoon’s lives.

“I’m okay bubs.” You kiss Jihoon on his cheeks as you hold back your tears.

“Don’t cry, mama.” Jihoon frowns and puts his thumbs between your furrowed brows just like you would always do when he was starting to sulk. You chuckle and hold your son closer to your chest, feeling all the more comforted.

“I’m serious about this ___ …” Yoongi steps closer to you and wraps an arm around you and Jihoon and the action feels so utterly domestic. You feel safe and content within his grasp.

“Yoongi …” You look up at him through your eyelashes and Yoongi has always been entranced with your beauty. It was never just about how beautiful you looked when you were a mother to Jihoon but the energy you carried around you was contagious and he’s immediately lightened up in your presence. He was patient with you because he knew you were serious about Jihoon and that he was your number one priority.

“No, please … listen to me ___.” He cups your cheeks while Jihoon is looking between the two of you with keen interest.

“I know you’re scared because of Jihoon and that’s valid. But I don’t want you to think that you’re not enough for me for superficial reasons because the truth is I probably won’t ever be enough for you and you’re here being the woman of my dreams. I respect your decision if you aren’t ready for a relationship and I won’t push you but I want you to know that I’m not going anywhere just because we aren’t together because I rather have you next to me as a friend than lose out on you forever.”

You had always been a crybaby and Taehyung was probably the reason why you cried all the time as children since he always had been the more rambunctious one between the two of you while you were far timider. But Yoongi knew that under all the times you shed tears because you were touched is a strong-willed woman that could withstand nearly anything in this world if it were for her son.

“And I know that I’m not over my head thinking this but … you want me too and it’s okay if you do but you don’t want a relationship. I respect you as a person, a woman and the mother of Jihoon. I just don’t want you to push me away.” He whispers so softly when he looks into your eyes.

“Mama …” Jihoon whines and you look down at him for a moment when he gives you a glare that doesn’t look so intimidating because of his bread cheeks.

“Yoongi is fun! Can he be our daddy?” You know his choice of words didn’t necessarily entail that context for you in particular but you blush anyway because he was just two. Yoongi senses your flustered state but squeezes your cheeks in between his hands and you feel coddled. It was a new feeling, one that was almost unfamiliar with how long you’ve been deprived of a significant other’s touch.

“I—Yoongi … I really don’t know what to say …” You mumble.

Yoongi smiles at you, comforting and homey all at once because Yoongi was a lot of things but never pushy.

“You don’t have to say anything. I don’t know if you realised this but I’m basically Hoon’s dad whether you like it or not because he and I spend more time together than I do with my colleagues at work and I work overtime all the time.” He teases.

“Jihoon really adores you.” You agree, biting on your lip as your mind races for the hundredth time this hour.

You liked Yoongi. You really did—and somewhere along the way, like turned into something more … dangerous. A territory that you usually reserved for Jihoon because you only had the capacity to care for one boy in your life but Yoongi smuggled his way into your heart and here he was causing a hurricane in your stomach.

The words he spoke were so truthful and genuine that you can’t help but believe that against all odds in the universe, Yoongi has somehow chosen you. You were the one that was afraid. He has always chosen you. That enough is shown when he makes his way after tiring shifts just to lay on your couch and play with Jihoon in times where all he could do was babble incoherent words. He chose you when he made surprise visits with the homemade stew that you knew he knew your son and you loved. He chose you when he invited you and Jihoon to spend Chuseok together because you mentioned just spending it with your son than with your family. His parents adored you and were even more taken with Jihoon.

He has always chosen you but now it was your turn.

“I love you.”

You say those words without much further thought because you’ve always felt it. Three words have never felt so safe on your tongue to utter into the atmosphere and you feel the same after the truth is out there. You always knew how you felt and you knew that Yoongi was smart to observe your feelings too, which was why when you finally said it he just looked … content. Happy—like he was in a place that was so familiar and comforting that he didn’t need to react any differently.

“I want—I want to be with you.” You clear your throat, “If you’ll have me.”

You look so shy and young—because you were. But you had that childlike innocence that he’s only ever had the pleasure to see when you would play fight with Jihoon. He feels his chest swell with pride knowing that he was the reason you looked like that and felt the way you did.

“Hmm … should I?” He leaned in closer until his breath was on your cheek.

You knew he was teasing you but you still can’t meet his eyes, and Jihoon simply giggles at the way Yoongi squeezes him between your chests in a way so comforting that Jihoon feels like it’s a warm hug from a blanket.

“Don’t tease …” You grumble.

Yoongi runs his hand through your hair and pulls your head closer to his to give you a gentle kiss on the lips. It was nothing seductive or implicative but so Yoongi. A kiss to show you he wanted this and that he felt whatever flurry of emotions you felt. A kiss like he was coming home.

He pulls away and you see Jihoon frowning between the two of your through your redness and shock.

“I wanna’ kiss too!” He whines, and you and Yoongi both look at your son with the stars in your eyes, then lock eyes with each other; and you do what comes naturally next.

You both kiss your son on the cheeks.

[sideeffx]

I like Shez’s character in scarlet blaze a lot so far because he serves as someone to hold Edelgard accountable in a way that Byleth couldn’t due to their unique position as well as someone who displays how pragmatic she is. Obnoxious readmore rambling under the cut

 Their conversation about Shez’s connection to TWSTD is rather simple but it’s not in an effort to gloss over it so much as it points out that Edelgard already has room to reasonably trust Shez. But there’s also the undercurrent of how she needs him if she’s to make any reasonable progress in the war considering unlike 3h, she’s afforded the ability to deny TWSTD any ability to worm their way into her kingdom and transform her into the monster that’s seen in routes that aren’t Crimson Flower. (I think there’s also a missed opportunity in 3h about how Edelgard has to basically pretend her trauma is nonexistent to meet her goals unlike Dimitri whose afforded the ability to stew in it and consequently move past it even if the big character development moment he has is hamfisted and not realistic in any sense) 

This is not to mention Shez has many scattered responses (that interestingly give you affection with Hubert) where he points out the reality of Edelgard’s predicament when it comes to how she has to deal with the nobles she’s allied herself with. 

This conversation spawns after you clear the battle where House Gloucester betrays you and you get a pretty interesting choice here that I picked and consequently got the mentioned affection with Hubert where Shez has nothing but pure resentment for how easy a noble house is getting off for turning on them. Say what you want about Shez’s relating everything back to being a mercenary, but I think it’s pretty apt here. Because he points out to her that she looks like a huge hypocrite and to her a mercenary would be more expendable than the nobility because of the very system she’s against. 

In my opinion this doesn’t make Edelgard look bad though. Part of CF and Scarlet Blaze by extension is that she’s already had that internal dialogue with herself when it comes to her ideals. She’s accepted that she’s going to look inconsistent if she wants to win this war with 1. As little bloodshed as she could possibly have, hence why she makes it painfully clear that if anybody wishes to surrender she won’t deny them the opportunity. 2. The crest and by extension the nobility system to be abolished in favor of a better long term solution. 

But it’s still important for someone that doesn’t know her as well as someone like Hubert or Ferdinand would to question her thought process because she’s still in an objectively privileged position as leader of the Empire. The biggest reason for things not working out would be her failure to consider those who are just trying to get by and thus risking her new system collapsing from under her. Most revolts start from the lower class being unsatisfied after all.

[the-abysmal-and-aberrant-bard]

Shout out to my corrupted Minecraft world

R.I.P. to “Survival Oley” my first serious survival world that I shared with my brother. Before this world all we had done was mess around in creative and pretend to be in survival. The world was named after the pledge that we would be “survival only”, except my brother misspelled the word “only” and the rest is history. It’s data was corrupted today and the world is no longer with us.

We had this world since 2018 (possibly 2017), not very long in the grand scheme of things, but long enough that we had a lot of memories there. We hadn’t been on it in the last year or so, but we thought to revisit it today. The system crashed for whatever reason and the whole world was corrupted. When we realized it was gone, my brother broke down and cried.

This post is my final goodbye to this world. Survival Oley was where I truly experienced Minecraft for the first time and I became a better player because of it. We never defeated the ender dragon or the Wither on it (because we weren’t that good). I’m really going to miss it.

Good bye to:

Geo the orphaned polar bear (a personal favorite)

Cat the dog

Dog the dog

Cactus the dog

Snack the pig

my many sheep (I believe I had almost every possible color)

All of my brother banners and flags

the house we built together

the docks we built together

the tower with NO purpose, but looked cool (it had fire on top) that we built together

the farms that I built

the cobblestone wall surrounding our base that I built

every cursed Nether portal my brother built

the enormous cobblestone sign outside of our base that was my brother’s name (guess who built that)

that one wither skull that my brother hung up in his room (it was the first one he had ever gotten that wasn’t from creative mode)

the mountain side I dug out for our enchantment room

the giant cave I dug out because I didn’t understand how strip mining worked, but we still used as a battle arena against mobs

My Impaling IV trident with mending and loyalty III (I was really proud of this because I got all the enchantments from fishing, so much fishing)

all of our diamond armor

the multiple sets of iron armor we left around (I swear we traded them like Pokemon cards)

the mesa biome that had a woodland mansion plus a savanna/desert village next to it and was within a thousand blocks of our spawn point

that one snowy village that my brother had claimed, where I had “fixed” the paths

the desert village that neighbored the snowy one, which I promptly claimed and tried to “fix”

the two ocean temples next to each other

the cursed buried treasure I never found. I had accidentally wasted multiple treasure maps on this thing. Even after setting up a base on site and digging out the entire chunk, I still never found this chest. I had considered digging out the chunks surrounding the “X” on the map, but at that point I decided to walk away. This thing was my literal nemesis for a few irl days 

Anyways, there is some good news. We have a saved version of this world, the problem is that it was saved at the point where we still lived in house with a dirt roof. Big oof, but it means we have the seed, we can rebuilt if we want to. Knowing that makes the lost less impacting for me, my brother on the other hand is still pretty bummed out. To any Minecraft players who might read this, keep mining and crafting and whatnot. To everyone, treat people nicely, keep playing video games and try not to rage quit.

[prof-peach]

If you could cross over two of your favorite games, which would you choose? Please explain, why that crossover would be a good match.

Oh you’re going to regret asking this one, I’m bout to GET SERIOUS.

So Pokemon, obvs, I love the whole world it’s built in, but the games imo are REALLY boring, I haven’t enjoyed one a lot since gale of darkness, the main ones just are a little too linear obvious plots, pretty standard setups for story and style. Speaking of style, the games lack personality, the models aren’t animated well, moves have no dynamic energy or visual difference at times, and the turn based battle style just feels kind of, I don’t know, old? Slow? Just doesn’t suit what I enjoy personally, gives me a FInal Fantasy vibe and I just cannot stand the speed at which things happen in those games, plus not into 3rd person ‘let’s build a team of people’ much, but that’s a problem for another time. With this all in mind, the game I wish would happen is like gen20 Pokemon, far future sadly, I doubt I’d see it in my lifetime but god I’d be happy if I did!

Ok so take the newest Zelda graphics, the visual treat that was BOTW, open world, puzzles, not JUST combat, you got side missions, hunt the chickens, find missing pets, parcels, items, whatever. Love it! The horse taming?! Amazing you funky little game. Now take the bad guys and beasts from that. And put Pokemon in instead. Give them the diversity, the life and believable natures that BOTW gave the animals, I followed a frog in BOTW for 15 minutes, and it was a great experience, it felt like it was believable. Above world spawning, ACTUAL difficult gameplay, rare spawn rates, make dragons hard to get again, cmon, it’s too easy now, make it so we need a certain set of Pokemon for certain tasks. Water types big enough to carry you will be able to get you to new areas, rock types that can help you climb mountains faster, or break through blocking boulders. Actual towns with more than 4 houses in them, shops, barns, farms, homes. Like little link with the heat, maybe ice types would struggle in volcano areas, or bug Pokemon not be so comfortable in gale force winds. Give the weather more of an effect on your partners. Mounts, don’t even get me started that Pokemon Let’s go had you able to ride any of the larger species, but swsh did not???? Bitch please, give me my rideable Pokemon. The wild area too was far too closed, limited, online was laggy and a mess, camping is limited, let me do more with my team. Pokemon for me is all about the actual creatures, how they live with humans, and the many wonderful things they’re capable of. Yes of course it’s cool they can fight, but like what else you know?

I’d love a game that lets me buy a plot of land, maybe plant things, custom build things. I’m a sucker for the fallout4 settlement builds when they’re modded to hell and back, they’re fun! It can be a really calm and creative process. If I could do that and skip the main campaign and all the battles for a bit? Amazing, it sound perfect for me. I am that distracted hoe collecting flowers while the kingdom burns in the background. Side quests are everything to me. Let me give homeless people enough money to get them in a home? Let me adopt Pokemon that are stray around the town? Plz oh plz bring me a Pokemon game that allows me to work WITH my team to do more than KO other species. I want to save and buy a plow for my buddy gogoat, and grow amazing foods to sell to get currency to spend in decorations, to spoil my team. Give me actual game consequence, if I ignore that sick and injured Pokemon I find in the wild, later maybe it’s family don’t want to help me out with a different problem, too stricken from grief. I am all about the average bits, the old women who need help, the lost pets board in town, the general day to day stuff. Let me get cosmetic items for the Pokemon I keep, cute outfits, special gemstone items, let me actually live with them, or even feel remotely like they’re realistic.

Ok so in game, if it’s looking like BOTW it’s pretty beautiful but also stylised, I’d have it so you can send out a maximum of 3 Pokemon from your 6, using bumpers and such to throw them out. If you hit the trigger you switch from controlling the human trainer, to the Pokemon you’ve targeted with a standard lock on targeting system. You then can be the leader, but be the Pokemon. You could technically defeat the game without a human if you wanted, which incorporates the mystery dungeon games I think, and caters to that crowd. I’d love to see the use of attacks out of battle, things like using water gun to grow plants, using ember to start a campfire faster and stave off the cold. There’s no consequence to Pokemon anymore, and I think that’s where it’s lost me. I have to admit I miss the days of a poisoned pokemon fainting if you don’t heal them soon enough, I miss gym battles that were actually tough, damn, try picking charmander in red and beating brock without grinding in viridian forest first, it’s not easy. And I loved that. Yes it’s a child’s game, it will never be difficult again, but god it’d be nice to have a bit of a challenge, or maybe a difficulty setting, so some could play it with hostility turned off, great for kids, or you can be n adult like I know so many Pokemon fans are, and play it on expert mode and ACTUALLY have to work hard to beat the game. Alternate skill trees anyone? Train gun a fire type to ACUTALLy combat water moves?? Please! Cmon! It frustrated me that every challenger has pretty much a systematic set of moves to use to win. Grass opponent? Fire attack spam until you win. It’s dull, so at least with very difficult tricks to either find or learn in game would make it more achievable if you can send that fire type in and I don’t know, train them so much the heat evaporates the water mid-battle and you suddenly have a shot at winning. Pokemon has taught me that if you work hard enough you can achieve something, but the games just have such strict ways to win. Feels wrong.

In terms of battling, let us BE the Pokemon, let us learn to dodge, train our speed, train our defence, make a team of truly tough Pokemon instead of just, average? Some species have a cap on their skills, a squirtle has lower stat points than a Charizard, but you can’t ever change that? Let me choose the Pokemon I believe in, and let me work with them until they’re just as good, if not better than the game tanks. This would also make online battles more interesting. Everyone picks the top trio. Fairy, dragon, legendaries. And yknow what? It’s boring. That one IRL fight with the monster Pacharisu that won in the world tournament with follow me and the situs Berry? Unbelievable, I love that little rat so much because of this, so let us all have a chance to build a team that’s strategically viable, strong, and potentially a winner formula, even if they aren’t fully evolved, or the biggest Pokemon in the world. Yeah maybe you have to grind way harder with your unevolved Pokemon, but you get to the end game and win, because you put love and time into species that you enjoy, not just good fighters.

Unfortunately I am beholdent to Todd-idiot-Howard, and I love the Eldrescrolls and fallout games (before they got dumb, not that I don’t play the new ones. 76 I’m looking at you, you big asshole game.) honestly I hate online games, so none of that junk, just a good old fashioned open world sandbox game is plenty. Games for me are an escape from others, not an invitation to socialise. To each their own of course, and I do play online games sometimes, just pretty short lived ones, over watch and rdr2 for example. Would they be sometimes better on private servers? Yes of course, fallout76? Want to play with others? No. I do not. Please leave me alone. And if you buy a private server you’re feeding the monster that is Todd Howard, the man the myth the asshole, then we’ll get more bad games like 76. I just so desperately want the Pokemon company to see what a beautiful potential game they’ve got on their hands, that could be suitable for far greater audiences, but instead they’ve focused on the kids. It’s fine, it’s functional, but it’s lost to the fans from day 1, that are all 20+ years old now and want something meatier to play, something far more broad and inclusive. I also hate that there’s no wheelchair option in any Pokemon game. Like cmon, it’s not hard to include that.

In short, BOTW + Pokemon, with a sprinkle of open world sandbox to it, less fighting, more fun. Or, at least both options. Sure, go fight everything, great, but I want to farm carrots over here with 6sunflora, plz let me have some peace.

Edit: I forgot about harvest moon, chuck some of that in there too.

SECOND EDIT: someone in the comments mentioned to put this in Unova? Plz love yourselves, this game would be ALL MAPS. Stuff one singular location, this is the ideal game, put every map in it, join them, put islands in, make them more explorable, more detailed!

[thecirculararchive]

(Questioning anon; this came out much longer than expected. Sorry for that; i'll do it all in one to avoid taking up more of your time. Thank you in advance -although again, no pressure-. And in any case, thank you for being such a neutral and unaggressive member of this community. Lovely day to you.)

1) I never did anything to create my alters. I've read of other people who were aware of them younger than i was, or thought they were imaginary friends. That isn't my case. I just started hearing J telling C to calm down one day. Then i heard them both more clearly. For a while we were aware of being 3. Then out of nowhere a 4th appeared. Then 5 who the "original" (for lack of a better term) three didn't know; but all of whomst knew each other and 4 as well. Then a last one we were all surprised by. These people appeared in my head one day and that was that. Count is currently at 13. Is this a plausible way to discover one's alters? Can they just know each other while i'm unaware of them?

2) I've had imaginary friends growing up. When i stopped thinking about them they just vanished. I can try to ignore my potential alters, or even succeed if my head's particularly quiet for a few days, but they're still... there. Idk how to explain it it's like being home alone when everyone else is sleeping? You're technically alone but you're aware there are other people around? Can this happen?

3) Two of them split, i think is the right term. M and S disappeared for a while and when they came back M was gone entirely and there were two new people in her stead, and S was still there but it had "spawned", for lack of a better term, someone else. This was during a highly stressful time but i don't recall having had splitting pains. That being said due to a physical disability i have a pretty bad case of dissociation from pain; so i can't rule out that i just missed it or shrugged it off as "another bad episode". The process lasted days. I can no longer conjure up the original M in my head. I mean i *can*; i imagine her and remember her mannerisms. But it's kind of like remembering a deceased relative, in a sense? She's not there. I can recall and recreate my imaginary friends at will. I can't do that with M at all. Is this a plausible scenario for splitting?

4) K appeared one day as an introject. She just did and she was confused. Nobody knew what to do with her so we kind of left here there wailing for days. Then she sort of sorted herself out and barely interacts with anyone now; she doesn't really care beyond not wanting to purposefully hurt anyone. The thing is i'm bodily an adult (albeit a young one; idk if that counts) and K is from a piece of media i consumed not so long ago. Can that happen? She appeared at the same distressing time period that M and S disappeared and apparently split. It was "a panic attack a day" kind of distressing and incapacitating. But am i too old for introjects?

5) I can't tell who i am most of the time. Every time i feel like i'm faking i try to ask myself that if i'm the original, the others are fake and created, right? So who could i eliminate? And the answer is none of them. There's no "original". Even when i was only aware of another 2, i couldn't narrow it down to "i'm the real one and the others are fabricated and disposable like imaginary friends". It kind of feels like we're all integral parts of a mechanism. Due to this i've been having a really hard time discerning who i am. If we're alters, idk who's fronting 99% of the time. Is this what "being blurry" refers to? Or do i have to know who i am?

6) While there's a general aura of cordiality in my head, not everyone likes everyone. Or at least not equally. Two of who would be our littles if we are a system in the end can't stand each other. I have a soft spot for found families. If i'd made this up i'm certain i wouldn't have done this. But i've also read that reaching the point of cordiality can take a while. I haven't worked on it; it's always been like this. Can we just be naturally tolerant and non-conflictive? It extends to people irl too. I'd hazard to say only 4/13 care about friends and 6/13 about some family. For the most part when dealing with someone who isn't liked, none of them are overly aggressive or try causing rifts and problems on purpose. J and A can get a bit on the cruel side with people who have hurt me/us though; but that's about it.

7) All my life i've had moments of "waking up" in the middle of doing a task. Like having been "elsewhere" and suddenly being pulled into the moment. Sometimes i have to stop and think about what i'm talking about or what i'm doing. Could this be what switching feels like? I've also had moments of "approaching", so as to speak, consciousness? Like something or someone is waking up and stirring and it takes a while but when time's up "it's/they're here", at the forefront of attention? Could that be switching instead? Maybe both or neither?

8) Despite the cordiality, sometimes there are interferences. J likes meditating. A thinks it's a waste of time. Sometimes when J's meditating he gets lost in thought. Sometimes, A starts interfering with the process. J getting lost in thought doesn't feel the same as A just being annoying. Is this possible to be certain of the difference or is my head fabricating this feeling?

9) When my head is quiet (and it can be for weeks at a time) i can sort of stop thinking about them. I still don't know who i am, i still feel them, i still deal with amnesia and flashbacks and random triggers i didn't know i had. And unfalteringly something happens to bring me back to questioning being a system again (spontaneous out of body experience, hearing one of them clearly, etc.). I'm aware from these months of research that alters can go dormant for some time; or that communication can be bad. But can communication fluctuate from being good to bad and then good again? I can also ignore pain for long stretches of time and that doesn't mean the underlying condition is gone. Can a similar thing happen with being a system? Can i just not think about it 24/7? Or if i were a system i'd be fully aware at all times?

Thanks.

Hello questioning Anon. Thank you for all your support these past few days while we waited to reply. I’m Rice, and it’s lovely to be able to speak with you! I actually wanted to talk to you personally, because while Octavian is sweet, I’ve been around the longest, and a lot of your questions just… are so relatable to my experiences. The responses will be under this cut.

1. Your alters knowing each other before you’re aware of them is absolutely normal, and also the case for me as well when I first became aware of our system. I became aware of “voices in my head” talking to each other. I just thought of them as characters at the time. Like I was RPing with myself. I never actually realized the “characters” in my head were PEOPLE in my head until college. This is an absolutely plausible way to discover your alters.

2. Alters still existing, even when you ignore them, is the norm for us as well. Our communication has gotten so good that we’re actually almost always aware of each other. Right now, LED and Ve are asleep, Roy is in his weight room, Numb and Curt are being cute, Deb and Wade are keeping a watchful eye on me, and Sierra is brushing her hair. Even when I can’t communicate with them, they’re still there – just not present in the moment. Very normal, afaik!

3. I’ve never personally had a split like this, but: splits do not require physical pain. I don’t think I’ve had physical pain when splitting? Maybe a bit of a headache. But I ABSOLUTELY have a lot of dissociation from splitting, which you describe here. I’ve also heard others experience splits like how you describe – another check in the “valid” box!

4. NOBODY is too old for introjects! We actually just split our first fictional introject at Thanksgiving this past year, at age 24. You can always split an alter at any time, especially one that comes at a distressing time. A panic attack a day sounds terrifyingly stressful, and it’s no wonder your brain did what it had to do. Also, introjects can come from any media as far as I know – so recency of media is not an issue.

5. You never need to know who you are. It’s actually pretty common for systems who struggle with communication and dissociative barriers – which it sounds like you have plenty. I am so, so proud of you for understanding that there isn’t an original alter though! That took me so long to understand, and you seem to have worked it our on your own here. This is a great way of thinking about it – you’re all parts of one mechanism. The key thing to remember is, if you are all parts of one whole, does it truly matter figuring out exactly who you are at the moment? Or is it better for you to just go with it? (We actually experienced this recently – turns out it was Wade, Octavian, and Ve all fronting at the same time. Talk about blurry!)

6. Debra purposely tried to hurt people IRL that I was best friends with. Numb would try to push people away who I was close to. Curtis would daydream about ruining my life to have fun for himself. You ABSOLUTELY will not always agree with each other, even on things as important as people in real life. I would wager that about half of my system right now doesn’t actually call my parents mom and dad. Numb tries to exclusively refer to them as “the parents.” The fact is, you aren’t all going to have the same opinions or feelings, especially about the people you’re stuck with 24/7. But rest assured, it is possible to grow and accept each other more. Curtis and Debra used to be at each other’s throats with anger and hatred – now it’s turned to playful teasing. You just need to work on healing and system communication.

7. Both of these situations sound like switching in my experience. I’ve felt these things before. Goodness, I did the “Waking up” one right before answering these asks! I opened my eyes and Octavian had already written a paragraph. (Sorry Tavi – I deleted it). Now, our communication is good and I remember vaguely talking to Tavi before switching, since we typically work together on switches now. But I think you’re not at that point yet. What you’re describing is a lot like what I experienced in freshman year of College, when fronting was more random and not as much by choice.

8. “Is my head fabricating this feeling” is such an odd question to me, now. I used to think that I was just pretending, or faking, and eventually settled on “my brain made this up.” And. Well. It did! Our brains make everything up – that’s how brains work. Colors are fake and emotions are chemicals. But that doesn’t negate ANYTHING you’re experiencing. Even though it’s just our brains Doing Something Weird, it’s our brains Doing What They Need To Do To Survive. So, J’s feelings are absolutely valid – and by that, I mean they do exist, even if it’s just within your head at the moment. All emotions are in your head. That’s because your brain controls your entire body, and sometimes, your brain can be silly. Am I rambling?

9. Communication can absolutely fluctuate. There are some days – we’ve noticed especially with Curtis – where it feels like he’s the ONLY ALTER for an extended period of time. He’s honestly had doubts more than once that he actually had DID – what if we were just a trans dude named Curtis this whole time? But inevitably, we switch, or his husband (our alter, Numb) comes back towards the front, or he realizes he’s just being depressed. You can absolutely not think about your system 24/7 – actually, that’s more normal than if you were always 1000% aware of everyone at all times.

I wanted to speak to you directly now that your questions are answered. You are, with 99% certainty from me, a system. Obviously, I’m a stranger on the internet – I can’t diagnose you. But everything you described here is what I’ve heard of or experienced for myself as a system. Furthermore – your system isn’t going to be like everyone elses. Everyone has their own lives, with their own traumas, and their own brains. Systems are, first and foremost, a traumatic coping mechanism. Your brain had to cope and survive the horrendous things that were happening when you were a kid, and so it broke your identity into multiple parts. You continue to break as you grow, because you never got to handle those stressful situations. And… Just like you said – you work together to create something beautiful. You!

There shouldn’t be any fear. I think you’re a system, and that’s just fine. That’s you, and that’s what your brain had to do. I know first figuring it all out can be confusing, and messy, and scary, but I want you to know that there is a whole entire community here who (regardless of all the hate you’ve seen these past few days) welcomes you with open arms. If nothing else, take solace in the fact that WE welcome you with open arms, and that’s 11 people who already love you.

I am so happy to answer more questions if you have them. My suggestion is to keep researching – join spaces that welcome questioning systems, and find articles centered on alters and how they function together. Please, work on system communication – your dissociative barriers sound REALLY strong. Maybe consider keeping a journal, or a record of your thinking/emotions. If you hear someone, write it down! And consider seeking a therapist if you have not already. It sounds like you could use some more direct help than my tiny little tumblr can offer <3

I hope this all came out well. It’s my first time out in months, and I just wanted to reassure you however I could. I’m not always the best with words, but hopefully I could be comforting. 😊

[fellowstrangetownappreciator]

The Strange Case of The Strangetown Metamorphosis

There is a mysterious Sim that appears in Strangetown.

That's like saying "there is a fish that appears in the ocean", I know, so I'll be a little more specific.

They are an adult whose memories show inconsistencies with those of their family members. Something is missing!

Alright. That's also not saying much, that's like half of the premades in vanilla, non-clean hoods.

They are immediately recognizable by their appearance and, dare I say it, have distinguishing features unique to them.

Well, that also kinda fits everyone...

They feature in more than one installment of the series.

Again, not that helpful. I mean, almost everybody from the base game hoods is (for better or worse) represented in TS3 or TS4.

They appear in TS2 for PSP!

Hmm...

They are a member of a wealthy family connected to science and paranormal.

And...

They are somehow connected to (possible) cloning.

I imagine that now you’re probably rolling your eyes and asking: Why didn’t I just simply say I was going to talk about Bella Goth?

Because... I’m not!

It’s Loki Beaker. In this mini-essay I’m going to speak about Loki, what is the mystery around him, what hints are there and what are some of the theories and which one do I fancy.

It’s basically a routine round of the popular game “connect EAxis’ oversights and glue them together into a headcanon”.

So without further ado, let me introduce you to:

The Mystery of Loki Beaker!

0: Preface: Loki who?

“As soon as he perfects his latest invention, Loki is sure to get the recognition he knows he deserves. In the meantime, he keeps himself busy by trying to assemble a nuclear reactor out of common household items.”

On the first glance, Loki as a Sim seems quite straightforward. He is a Knowledge Sim with a very eccentric personality. All his trait points are in the extremes, as you can see:

He is a scientist, a competent one at that, as proven by his high career level and the fun fact that some of the game’s horrible machinery you can buy for Aspiration points is attributed to his creation.

(It explains why are the Beakers the only ones who have the stuff lying around by default. It is normal for a Strangetown family to own a non-buyable reward object or two but those are career rewards, the Beakers are the only one who canonically own Aspiration points rewards.)

Even though he knows his stuff when it comes to his profession, he is very corrupt and tests his questionable projects on his captive, Nervous Subject.

To say that Loki is unpopular would be an understatement. No one but his wife Circe likes Loki, even his own sister is indifferent towards him. Yes, he has a sister. Her name is Erin and she also lives in Strangetown with a colorful collection of roommates.

Nothing mysterious about him so far. (apart from his eyebrows)

1: Characterization fallen apart

And then The Sims 3 happened. It was actually quite late into the game’s life cycle, the early 2013, when a beautiful nordic-themed world was released on TS3 Store. Its name was Aurora Skies and it featured Loki, Erin and their parents.

TS3 Loki is a child and Erin is a toddler.

Now I haven’t actually played Aurora Skies. I own (and love) TS3 but the price range for the Store worlds is too high for me, content-to-money wise. So there might be some hidden clues about the Beakers in their house or relationship panels that I haven’t been able to inspect but... not to sound cynical but I doubt it. I doubt such attention was given to detail of this family in Aurora Skies, as they don’t even have individual bios.

But... that is... fine? I mean, we have Loki’s TS2 bio...

Nope. Sure we do. And it would be fine if hair color and ambitions weren’t the only thing Loki and his younger self (from now on referred to as smol Loki) had in common.

Let’s take a look on smol Loki’s personality.

The first noticeable thing is that there is not a trace of Loki’s trademark villainy. He’s not Mean Spirited, he’s not Evil, he’s not even a No Sense of Humor Sim. His extreme neatness and hyperactivity are nowhere to be seen either. While it is true that TS3′s capabilities of defining personality are very limited as it picks “outstanding points” rather than a position of each trait on a scale, and it only has 5 slots (and tiny teeny 3 for children), it doesn’t make any sense still for the devs not to pick some more loki-esque traits for the precious slots they had.

Unless...

They didn’t care about Loki’s personality and there were no deeper intentions.

Unless the devs were trying to purposefully show us new angles of his character that either got suppressed while he was growing up, or manifest in ways that TS2′s scale system wasn’t able to show.

Could the Lucky trait in particular have had something to do with the change?

(Also, those traits of smol Loki are reason why I usually go for a Family Secondary Loki in TS2 and thus make Strangetown the purgatory of two unstable blonde Knowledge/Family sciency guys.)

We also must not omit that even though smol Loki didn’t display any of them, he still had all of Loki’s signature traits in him, as Loki in TS2 has his actual personality synced with the genetic one, meaning that there was something in there that caused him not to act so mean that got lost as he grew up. In other words, something brought up the worst in him.

And that’s not all. Smol Loki is not a regular TS3 child. You see, in TS3, premade children aren’t particularly known for being highly skilled experts. Neither are in TS2, for that matter, and it’s okay. It’s realistic.

Smol Loki has a skill maxed.

It is very rare for a premade regardless of age to already start with a maxed skill and I personally don’t know of any other premade children that do.

And it’s writing.

What does writing have to do with Loki? Does Loki write? Probably he has to, those academic papers aren’t gonna spawn out of thin air, but that’s not what the writing skill in TS3 (or the hidden writing skill in TS2) are about. They’re about creative writing only.

Ok, ok. How high is Loki’s Creativity skill, then? In TS2, skills are much broader, they more resemble skillsets than individual skills, and writing categorizes under Creativity. Bring out the skill panel!

Two. He has 2 points in Creativity. That is... low. That is actually very low, especially for a Sim that has supposedly been writing for fun since childhood. (and was a prodigy, while we’re at it) It is safe to say, I think, that if the player doesn’t make him do it, Loki doesn’t write anymore and he hasn’t been doing that for a long, long time.

While I would cynically admit that the dissonance in personalities might be just the lack of damns given from EAxis’ side, this seems to me too on the nose to be unintentional.

They would have no reason to bring the Beakers back without the “evil scientists” thing in mind. I mean, that’s what they’re iconic for. That’s what they’re recognizable by. (apart from their eyebrows)

So the person who was in charge of creating smol Loki probably knew they were recreating “Loki the mad scientist”.

So when they were picking the skill they use to demonstrate that this kid is gonna go far, they thought... “evil scientist = writing”...?

I would understand going for Creativity in general. I mean, Loki’s an inventor. That comes with the territory. But creativity as such isn’t really a skill in TS3. It’s divided to different activities.

Wouldn’t it make more sense just in general to pick logic, then? I mean, Loki isn’t that extremely logical by default but it is his second strongest skill and a feature unmistakably connected to being a scientist.

That’s what leads me to believe that writing plays a role in the story and it was chosen on purpose.

So how did a sweet little family-oriented boy talented with words transform into the ruthless catboy inventor we know and love?

And that, my friends, is the mystery of Loki Beaker.

2: A closer look at our environmentalist friends, the Beakers

If we want to get the full picture and come to a satisfying conclusion of some sorts, we need to inspect smol Loki’s surroundings. Maybe there is a clue to the continuous force or a traumatic event that shifted smol Loki’s direction in life?

Loki’s and Erin’s parents are named Gundrun and Bjorn. Even though their age would still allow it, they’re not present at the start of TS2′s Strangetown play, they’re long dead. Bjorn died before Erin became an adult and Gundrun died shortly before her son’s engagement to Circe. Because they died by the time Loki had (presumably) already long enrolled in his current life-path, we can safely rule out any tragic early death of parental figures scenario as a possible answer.

Gundrun is the only Beaker that canonically also writes. She has 5 points in the writing skill. She also shares some traits with Loki, namely the smarts and ambition.

But she has little to do with science and is way more business-oriented which is a trait she shares with Circe’s ancestors, for example her father. Maybe the families knew each other from business ventures even before they moved to Strangetown? It is stated in their memories that Loki and Circe first met when they were children. But I digress!

Anyway, I don’t see anything in Gundrun that would suggest any abusive behavior towards her son that might have triggered his drastic change. Possibly but not necessarily she might’ve been a bit absent but nothing out of ordinary.

And now the father, Bjorn.

Bjorn is the sciency half of the couple and works as an Aquatic Ecosystem Tweaker. Again, he has zero traits that would raise any red flags and he shares 4 out of 5 traits with either smol Loki or Loki. (I don’t know if Loki is a “natural cook” but he cooks quite well, so I think that counts.)

What’s interesting about Bjorn, though, is his speech that serves as a flavor text for the Aurora Skies store page.

(Image transcript: “Do it for science! Science is everywhere around us, but at Aurora Skies it’s not just something you learn; it’s something you do!  We need bright young minds to make the dreams of the future a reality. Even now we’re finding more uses for garbage to help the planet. Charging batteries, powering machines - the sky is the limit. Just this last year we created a modified Hot Air Baloon using garbage as fuel and turning it into pure air with a pine breeze scent.  Now you can have efficient travel and an amazing romantic adventure with no cost to the ozone (or your nose)! Every year we’re creating more and more exciting things in the world of science. Garbage-powered hearts, heart-powered cars, solar-powered cats; what will you think of next!  It’s all up to you. Do it for Science! Did you know? Hot Air Balloons are an epic form of travel based around the simple principle that hot air is lighter than cold air.  They lift in the air based on the heat system in the balloon. Increasing the temperature of the air inside the balloon makes it lighter than the air outside and the balloon begins to float.  More air is required to lift heavier things; that’s why the balloons have to be so huge! How cool (or hot!) is that?”)

From this piece of text we can see Bjorn’s passion and dedication to “green” science. Nothing in his traits suggests he fakes it, so I think it’s safe to believe that this peppy idealist is a glimpse into Loki’s father’s genuine self.

He might have encouraged his children to follow in his footsteps (”We need bright young minds to make the dreams of the future a reality.“) and smol Loki, who later in life seemed to have similar levels of enthusiasm (science is his One True Hobby), might have been receptive to that.

Now just close your eyes for a second and imagine an alternate reality in which Loki picked up where Bjorn left and instead of a energy-refilling machine that electrocutes you if you’re not happy enough, he invented “solar-powered cats”.

Still no hints on what could’ve messed Loki up, though.

Let’s take a look at the parents in TS2. Even though they’re not present and aren’t even resurrectable, they’re still coded in the game for purposes of genetics, memories and family trees, so some of their characteristics are salvageable.

And by the Watcher, they were both Romance Sims.

They were workaholic Romance Sims who cared about the environment and liked recycling (and Hot Baloons).

And they were both extremely Nice and very Sloppy, if their personalities on wiki are something to go by. Which they unfortunately aren’t, at least not completely because most ancestors don’t simply have “their own” personalities and use presets instead, so they tend to be quite similar.

The same goes for most of the Beaker clan, unfortunately. Fun fact is that there is no Knowledge Sim in sight (before Loki, of course). Maybe they weren’t a scientist family, but a bunch of Romance Sims who used to spend their free time in between woohoos saving the planet with eco-science. (3 out of 6 of Loki’s and Erin’s ancestors were Romance Sims, 2 were Fortune and 1 was Family)

But! There is one outlier. Her name is Gertrude Beaker. She is Loki’s paternal grandmother.

And similarly to her grandson, she certainly has a personality to remember.

She doesn’t use a preset, this is a personality that someone went and manually assigned (...or generated) for her. And she is Neat, Outgoing and doesn’t have a nice bone in her body. But unlike Loki, she has a sense of humor (which makes her even more dangerous, in my opinion) and is extremely Lazy.

She is a Fortune Sim and the only Beaker who shares the darker sides of Loki’s personality. (to be clear, I don’t mean their taste for cleaning but the round 0 of Nice points)

Because she doesn’t feature in TS3 at all, it is safe to say that she wasn’t in her grandchildren’s lives until the family moved to Strangetown. Could she be the corrupting influence on smol Loki?

As far as personality comparison goes, she seems to be the only possible culprit, the only one who’s personality shares the same unpleasant qualities he became infamous for. But! That’s not saying much. There is no evidence she actually did anything.

There’s not even any evidence that she ever met her grandson, given he has no memory of her dying which means she might have died before he was even born. That would be a solid evidence on the contrary and would rule her out. But I’m leaving some maneuvering space for theories here because she is the only Beaker ancestor with custom personality, after all, and that is suspicious.

That’s all the Beakers we know of if not counting Atom and Ceres, who came after Loki, so they’re not relevant to the question of his childhood. Or... are they?

3: And that’s when the trouble began

Another part of this question that might help us discern what happened to Loki is the when. All we know so far is that there is a big void of unknown between smol Loki and regular Loki and the point of transformation happened in there somewhere.

Thankfully, we have something to give us an idea. It’s this snapshot in storytelling pictures for the Beakers:

It shows smol Loki destroying a dollhouse. It seems to be in an impersonal environment of some sorts. The cheapest bed in the game is against a bare white wall, the window is hid behind blue curtains and there doesn’t really seem to be anything else but the dollhouse, a teddy bear in the background and that... very unpleasant bed.

It clearly tells us that Loki’s shift started in his pre-teen years.

And seeing that room which is definitely not in the Beaker Castle at 1 Tesla Court, it makes me think of a hotel or a cheap apartment the family was staying in while moving from Aurora Skies to Strangetown. Maybe the castle-like something the household inhabits at the start of the game wasn’t a property of the Beakers at all, maybe that was where the Salamises used to live and now it belongs to Circe?

Anyway, could it had been leaving Aurora Skies that sent smol Loki down an existential crisis and settling in the not exactly welcoming environment of Strangetown, enrolling in a local school, that sealed it?

But why all the stuff with writing? This would work with any other hobby but somehow it had to be writing and it’s our task to find out why.

4: Not your average tragedy

Now in our search we already have some ideas but it wouldn’t be thorough if we didn’t take into account smol Loki’s actual personality. I mean, we went into what traits he doesn’t have but what about those he has?

Namely Lucky and Family-Oriented.

I think Lucky is a very interesting choice. There’s nothing inherent about Loki Beaker that would make you go “that’s one lucky guy!” (if you don’t count his relationship with Circe as a stroke of luck, that is) and the same goes for smol Loki.

But... it could be a clue. His metamorphosis either couldn’t be triggered by trauma because he’s lucky and it would avoid him, or it must’ve been something tremendously horrid so he’s lucky he’s still alive.

Now we know we are searching for something that happened in his late childhood, verging on the start of his teenage years. His family was going through the turmoil of moving to a desert and he has already known his future partner Circe. Meanwhile Erin-

Oh, wait. Erin.

Smol Loki was Family-Oriented which implies he would probably have a good relationship with his little sister, as he would’ve naturally inclined to protect her and help his parents take care of her. But!

Not only do they have an amicable but distant relationship as adults but Erin seems to forget that Loki even existed in her childhood.

He has the usual set of memories of a sibling growing up well but she doesn’t, she has no Loki-related memories at all, not even of his marriage, which was a quite recent event.

Could the reason for Loki’s “downfall” be somehow related to his sister? Was there a dramatic event in which she lost a part of her memory?

5: Theories!

Ok, we’re finally here! Now I try to present some theories about what might’ve happened.

1. Burdens of the golden child

In Aurora Skies, Loki used to be the little wonder every relative was gushing about. With his father as an acclaimed scientist and a very liked person in general, there was little to no adversity his son had to face. He followed his passion and having nobody to really compare himself to, nor anybody who would terrorize him, he prospered.

But then the Beakers moved. Strangetown was... different. It was way smaller than Aurora Skies, so everybody inherently knew everybody and everybody had to interact with everybody... because the small space of a desert community didn’t leave them with any choice. And it was bleak and unfriendly. No one except for the Salamises knew the Beakers, so they found themselves under scrutiny from their new neighbors.

So Loki, who used to live thinking he was unique, was now sitting everyday in a much smaller classroom with Pascal and Vidcund Curious, whom he was immediately being compared to. But he wasn’t like the Curiouses. He was a kid of a scientist but wasn’t a science kid. He didn’t have much in common with Pascal who approached him and tried to befriend him at first but he wanted to. In Strangetown, nothing seemed to be cooler than being really, really into science. Pascal’s and Loki’s communication attempts were rather poor, though, and in the end, they never made friends. Loki slowly began to disdain the oldest Curious boy and it culminated a few years later in high school when Pascal made an attempt to woo Circe. It was even worse with Vidcund. Ever since Loki’s first day at the new school, Vidcund had been eyeing him with a disgusted look and Loki became quick to reciprocate.

In Strangetown, nothing seemed to be cooler than being really, really into science. Even Circe was on it! She was the only person his age he has know in Strangetown before his family moved in and he liked her. Not “like” liked her, yuck! But he thought she was cool. Her family used to visit the Beakers in Aurora Skies and they played together. She was a friend! Or so Loki thought. She seemed to like hanging out with the Curiouses much more.

In Strangetown, nothing seemed to be cooler than being really, really into science, yes. But not in the eyes of Buzz Grunt, the son of a general who lived in Strangetown. Their family were the self-proclaimed protectors of the hood but at the same time they weren’t shy to show a strong distaste for all that made Strangetown an important desert settlement in the first place. And little Buzz, although Loki doubted he understood the nuances, was very fond of asserting his dominance over his less sporty and hyper-masculine classmates.

Suddenly jealous of the Curious brothers, under pressure from both the adults and his peers comparing him to them and bullied by Buzz, Loki’s social life fell apart. He started having problems... and he came up with solutions. He has always liked science but from back then on he hyperfixated on it to prove everybody who picked on him for being a worthless parody of a science kid wrong.

Not only his social life and self-confidence were busted, though. Moving away from Aurora Skies to Strangetown that had much higher prices for housing because of the limited space, the living standards for the Beakers lowered. It was chaotic and uncomfortable. Plus, almost everybody in Strangetown was loaded. Why, Circe and her parents lived in a small castle! Loki felt like they’re the only “poor” family around and it played into his new-found insecurities.

And then there was Erin’s accident. She suffered a severe head injury and even though she fortunately survived, she was never... the same. She had issues with her memory. Loki tried to convince himself that he’s big enough not to cry but when they were visiting Erin in the hospital and she didn’t recognize him, he cried. It was his little sister! And... it was all his fault anyway! If he was quicker and pushed her to safety, she would’ve been fine! Or even better, he wished the car would’ve hit him instead.

Loki was becoming more and more snappy, focused on his grades and projects, unavailable. The siblings never mended their relationship, Erin, even though she recovered, never got to make new memories with her brother. Not remembering them growing up together, he was like a stranger to her. A scary mean teenage boy she didn’t know and, even though she was a very friendly child, she was too intimidated to willingly spend time with him. And Loki was always busy and moreover, he felt guilty and inexplicably angry, so he postponed approaching her, until it was too late, he was in college, she was in high school and it was too awkward.

And... there was no time to write anymore.

2. Gertrude the Neat and Mean (and Lazy)

Ok, Loki doesn’t have any memories of his grandma. But hear me out! Erin does not have any of him either and yet they met. This theory doesn't require any additional write up – he simply got under the influence of his 0 Nice points granny and she cultivated him to be just like her.

My personal take: This is maybe my least favorite theory of them all, even though it is quite straightforward. It doesn't take much into consideration and demonizes Gertrude, who as far as we know, might not done anything wrong.

3. The accident

This theory takes advantage of TS3's canon sciency machinery, namely Cerebralizing Brain Enhancing Machine 2.0.

It can, among other things, change a Sim's personality. There is (quite unfortunately, in my opinion) no chance of consequential failure in the actual game, the most it can do is to (non-fatally) electrocute your Sim. But...

Imagine smol Loki sneaking into his dad's laboratory, most probably at his workplace.

He was curious. Ever since his father showed him all the equipment in there, all he could think of was the machine that made people smarter.

Maybe it could make him smarter?

I mean, Loki knew he was already quite smart. At least, he's been told he was and he had no reason not to believe it.

But he could be even smarter.

He could be like his dad. Or his mom. Or Erin. Everyone was talking about how clever young Erin seemed. Loki was proud of her but part of him just wanted that, too.

So what if... he went to dad's laboratory, just for a little while, and made himself smarter?

He made all the necessary preparations. It meant to memorize dad’s schedule, so he knew just the time when he could sneak into the laboratory. It also meant to get a good costume so he won’t be recognizable on the security footage!

And then finally, he was ready. To infiltrate the laboratory was easy enough but it only made Loki more nervous. He was on the edge but determined. He wanted to make it big in the world. He needed to seize the opportunity. And fear... fear was there to be ignored! Hands, stop trembling!

His confidence grew a bit once he got to the machine itself. He knew how to run it thanks to his dad and it made him feel competent and ready.

Little did he know that there was a huge oversight. Although Loki could operate the technology on a very basic level, his knowledge went nowhere near deep enough for him to detect that the machine has yet another set of settings and those currently expect an adult user. It wasn’t configured for a child patient.

But unaware of that, the boy in his patchy dinosaur costume climbed on top of the machine and with his eyes wide open and his heart racing he connected the Brain Enhancer to his system. Then, with his hand sweating, he pushed a button on a remote he was clutching to.

When Bjorn, alerted by Loki’s screams, rushed into the laboratory, it was way too late.

As his terrified father was calling the ambulance, the child was alive and even still awake. He was too weak to cry. He just watched Bjorn, wishing for death and looking for signs of wrath in father’s eyes.

There were none. Only fear.

Physically, Loki Beaker managed to recover just fine. With the power of advanced medicine and plastic surgery, the burns he suffered were reduced to nothing but almost invisible scars.

But inside, he was never the same. Literally. Even though the procedure backfired horribly, it still worked to some extend - but even that extend was warped. Loki succeeded in giving himself the Genius trait but several of his traits were replaced also, including the Lucky trait that probably saved his life.

6: Conclusion!

I like Loki very much. (no sh*t, who would’ve guessed) He’s a very controversial and over-the-top character who tends to be rather unpredictable in the actual gameplay. I started writing this giant thing to find an answer to his backstory that would satisfy me and hopefully also some of you.

With a heavy heart I conclude I’m not successful.

First I have to admit I originally planned to present 5 theories instead of 3 but I scrapped 2 of them.

First was about Atom time traveling and replacing Loki, creating himself again and again in a time loop (would explain the huge personality difference between smol Loki and Loki-Atom) and it was very far-fetched but fun, alas I realized it was out of character for Atom, since he seems to love his sister and his Plumbot so much he would hardly leave them behind to pull that off.

The second was about Nervous and the corrupting power of Death he has inside that would slowly drive Loki and Circe “evil” even though it’s unclear whether they first adopted him with being a lab-rat in mind. But it would not make sense since a change like that would be visible on their personality panels. That’s not that important, though. What made me not include this theory is that it feels uncomfortably victim blame-y. It’s not directly since it wouldn’t be Nervous’ fault anyway but any attempt to shift the blame from Loki and Circe in this situation feels uncomfortable.

(To be clear, I don’t think the Beakers deserve demonization. In my opinion, the best way to treat them narrative-wise is like eccentric people capable of feeling love and doing good things sometimes, yet irredeemably self-centered, morally bankrupt and deserving a lifetime in jail for child abuse they have done on Nervous. Not one-dimensional but still villains and still objectively bad people.)

And those 3 theories above? They could’ve been better.

I think I like the first the most, even though I still feel like something is missing. I just tend to like relatively grounded explanations and this one doesn’t feature the supernatural nor any deus ex machina gadget.

What about you? And do you have any other theories? Sky’s the limit! It’ll make my day to hear them!

Whatever your takes are, they’re all valid.

[shirtlesssammy]

6x02: Two and a Half Men

Then:

Sam Winchester’s back from Hell

Now:

A woman runs with her baby from an unseen assailant in her house. She gets herself and her baby under the bed and they stay as quiet as possible. She sees her dead husband on the floor and can barely keep it together, but does, just in time for the assailant to pull her out from the bed, leaving the baby to watch the carnage. 

Dean, Lisa, and Ben start unpacking their life in their new home. 

Sam checks out the murdered couple. The baby is missing.

Dean orders pizza for lunch, disregarding Lisa’s earlier promise to Ben that they’ll check the neighborhood out when they go out for lunch. 

Sam confers with Grampa Campbell about the case. Something weird is happening with babies. Sam doesn’t see it, but notices that the house has a security system that wasn’t set off by the invader. They have a lead. 

Dean wanders into the garage to find Ben messing around with a shotgun from Baby's trunk. He makes it VERY clear that Ben will never shoot a gun. 

Ben wants to do what Dean does. Dean turns on the ol’ John Winchester charm and yells at Ben to shut up about the gun. Ben backs down and walks away, dejected. 

Samuel has found another family that has the same security system --and fits the profile of the previous victims. Sam heads out to find them. 

Lisa confronts Dean about his altercation with Ben. She wants to know what’s up with Dean. If they killed what was after them, why is he acting like this? She gets that he’s trying to protect them, but he’s scaring her. 

Sam gets to the couple’s house only to find them already murdered. He follows bloody footprints through the house. 

The murderer pops out at him and they fight. Sam slices him with a silver knife, and the wound hisses. The assailant runs away. 

While Dean secures the perimeter that night, Sam calls needing his help on a case. Dean insists that he’s out. Sam tells him something so interesting that Dean meets him. 

Sam saved the baby!

The next morning, Dean hands Lisa a gun, tells her to salt the doors and windows, and takes off to work the case with Sam. 

First on the agenda: shopping for baby supplies. As they’re checking out, the baby starts wailing. Neither brother knows what to do --and here I want to question what the hell Dean’s thinking. Sam has an excuse re: no soul, but Dean, you’ve taken care of a baby before. Anyway, they keep looking at the poor thing like it has two heads. 

A nice woman comes up to coo over the baby and asks his name. Dean answers, “Bobby” and Sam answers, “John”. Yep, the baby is named Bobby John. She offers to change his diapers for them. Dean glances over at a security monitor and sees that her eyes are glowing. 

Dean declines. More specifically he says, “Give me the baby before I stab you in the neck.” Bold. The lady takes off running with Bobby John. Sam wrestles the baby from her while Dean full body tackles her to the ground. She plays the old lady card and security comes after Dean. He runs. 

Sam and Dean need to get off the road, especially since the shifter caught Sam’s license plate and is now a cop tracking the number.

At a motel, Dean changes Bobby John’s diaper and then hums him to sleep with Smoke on the Water. EVERY TIME I’m sorry to say this just makes my brain emit a low, steady brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

For Tender Dean Science:

Okay, I’ve rebooted. 

Sam - who has spent the whole time seated in front of research material - is impressed at Dean’s fatherly chops. But like, HE RAISED YOU, SAMMY. You must at least be able to logically analyze your memories? Dean chalks up his skillz to his recent experience parenting Ben. “I know he’s not my kid, but lately I’ve been feeling like...yeah, he is.” He’d like to raise Ben better than they grew up. In related news, do you ever want to just chew off your own arm???

Soulless!Sam informs Dean that moving Lisa and Ben from place to place is just as bad as their own fractured childhood. 

Sam pushes Dean to consider that his paranoid behavior is turning him into their father. I do like that Sam is helping my girl Lisa out with the traumatized man living in her home but DAMN, SAM. While Dean broods over his failures as both a father and a partner, Sam realizes that the dad in the recent deadly home invasion is still alive. He heads out, leaving Dean to dip his finger in whiskey and let Bobby John have a taste.

Bobby John’s dad is...not bereaved. His wife was cheating on him and got pregnant. (So apparently she deserved a gruesome death? Huh. Good to know, dude.) She denied she was cheating, telling him that he’d come back early from a trip and they’d had sex. It’s fun how the layers of trauma this cold open woman goes through just get worse and worse. 

At the motel, Dean’s relaxing on the vibrating bed when there’s a wet explosion from the crib. It’s not a poopy diaper! When he peers over the crib, Bobby John’s an entirely new baby. (He’s the baby on the diapers box and I really hope those parents got to keep that prop!) Sam calls with a new theory - the baby’s father is a shapeshifter!

Bobby John gets cleaned up just in time for a shady manager to knock on the door and demand to be let in. The shapeshifter cop from earlier bursts in just as Dean unlocks the door. He’s there to bring the baby to “our father,” whomever that is! They engage in fisticuffs, until Sam arrives and shoots the shifter.

Later, they’re driving off with Bobby John to find a safe haven for the little tyke. “I didn’t even know they had babies,” Sam says, of shifters. “I thought they were just freaks of nature - like, X-Men style.” Gurl, please. He refers to Bobby John as a monster, but Dean insists that Bobby John is just an innocent baby. If I had a dollar for every time this show danced around this point only to fuck off and forget it in the next episode, I’d have a lot of dollars. 

Sam suggests bringing Bobby John to the Campbells to raise, which Dean thinks is a monumentally poor idea. (I’m Dean/Cas endgame BUT imagine society if Dean had brought Lisa a shapeshifter baby to raise!!!) Sam “not all hunters” the Campbells, then says that Samuel is like Dean. This is...not the slam dunk argument Sam thinks it is. “I’m a freakin’ head case,” Dean rebuts and it is a SOLID REBUTTAL. Still, they head to the Campbell’s compound.

And it is a literal compound, with armed guards standing patrol at the metal gates. In the grim main building, cold Campbells circle Dean and Bobby John like sharks. All the Campbells look like they’re one step away from taking a knife to the baby. Dean refuses to hand over Bobby John to any of the “family.” Sam asks to hold Bobby John. Sam then immediately turns around and hands Bobby John over to Samuel and I CHEW MY OWN ARM OFF I HATE SOULLESS!SAM sometimes. Dean wants to know what the plan is now.

All the dark looks shot between the Campbells make me want to scream, and then weep. 

Dean’s worried about the Campbells wanting to study Bobby John (in the mad scientist way) and Christian Campbell laconically comments that Dean’s mind goes straight to torture. When Dean demands an explanation, it’s revealed that the Campbells know aaalllll about Dean’s torture time in Hell. 

The Campbells also fantasize about what a great hunter a shapeshifter will make. Samuel demands that Dean trust him, and then interrogates Christian about his baby-making failures with his wife. He offers Bobby John to Christian. “The crap I do for this family,” Christian mutters as he takes the baby. READERRRRRRRRRS, I hate him.

Outside, a dog yelps. Dean and Sam flee for the panic room with Bobby John while the Campbells load up with weapons. A shapeshifter arrives, wearing Samuel’s face. They tranquilize him after a fight, and try to take him prisoner. 

The shifter heads down to the panic room wearing Sam’s face, tosses Sam across the room, and then just...shimmers himself into Dean’s form. 

The shifter pins Dean against the wall, cutting off his air until he passes out. He then takes Bobby John and calmly walks out. 

Later, they all reconvene after the fight. Samuel reveals that the shifter was an alpha shifter, who spawned all the other shifters. “The lore” also says that an alpha can sense their babies anywhere. 

As Dean and Sam walk out to the car, Dean goes over the details of the hunt. He wants to know if Sam registered what the shifter at the motel had said about his “father.” Sam lies incredibly poorly, but Dean puts it all together. If Sam knew the alpha was on the hunt, then he would have known that he would come after Bobby John. Dean wants to know if he was using the baby as bait. Sam plays it off - he just thought the Campbell compound was the safest place. UGH DOUBLE UGH at all the terrible layers. 

Samuel has a brief phone call, complaining to an unknown boss about how hard it was to try to take the alpha shifter prisoner. 

Back at Lisa’s, Dean frets about the best way to keep Lisa and Ben safe. He acknowledges that he’s been acting like a prison guard. “You tell yourself you’re not gonna be something...my dad was exactly like this. All the time. Scared the hell outta me.” Lisa tells him that she knows one thing: 

She looks at him, and sees someone who wants to hunt. But she also tells him that he sees himself as “some bad, awful thing. But you're not.” She proposes that Dean head out to hunt with his brother, and stop by when he can. Maybe they can have it all!

Dean smiles a real, honest smile in the garage as he pulls the car cover from Baby. Smoke on the Water plays us through a truly gratuitous hot rod close-up of Baby. The curves! The headlights!

For I’m Just Gonna Give You Two the Room Science:

Dean is back in town!

Baby Quotes:

So either we've got monsters grabbing babies to make baby stew, or we've got a bunch of psychotic yokels grabbing babies to make baby stew. Either way, it's baby stew, which is bad

You think I speak baby?

I've never seen a baby monster before

Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive!

[5-falsehoods-phonated]

Out of the House

Series summary: Ever the paranormal enthusiast Remus is excited when he finds an abandoned house creepy enough to have ghosts in it with no chance of being caught trespassing. He quickly finds himself in over his head however when his fantasies come true, fighting to solve a mystery with the only possible outcome being losing someone he comes to love.

Platonic dukexiety focus

This series was created for dukexiety week 2021. I’m posting after but here is the list of prompts!

Chapter 1: I’ll be Here by Day

Chapter Summary: When Remus gets them kicked out of the library, he takes Logan and Janus with him to an old, abandoned house as a new study location. This don’t go to plan as Remus is confronted with something he didn’t think was possible.

Pairings: Platonic Dukexiety (Remus & Virgil), background Lociet (Logan x Janus)

Day 1 Prompt: Myths/Supernatural

Warnings: mild swearing, mild sexual innuendos, injury mention, paranormal events. If there are others please let me know!

WC: 2873

AO3 link

Main masterlist

“Do you mind?” Remus grinned as his platforms were slowly but surely nudged off the chair, Logan's nose scrunched in disgust as ze examined the dirt on zir pencil. “Highly unsanitary.”

“It’ll help your immune system.” Long fingers reached over to flick at the pages of whatever book Logan had had zir nose buried in for the better part of an hour. He snapped them back with a yelp however as his knuckles were rapped hard with the pointy end of the No. 2.

“That's if you eat it Remus, and such sentiments are usually reserved for children to placate parents when they can’t keep their spawn from shoving every little thing into their mouths-”

“Well if you wanted to lick my boots Logan you just had to ask.” Remus waggled tiks eyebrows suggestively, grinning wide as the other turned beat red.

“I AM NOT-”

“Logan, honey, volume. And Remus stop being gross we invited you here to study not air our desperation.” Janus’ quiet drawl diffused the situation immediately as both parties screwed their mouths to the side and looked away. Remus heard the librarian huff and stalk away with furious clicks of his heels, no doubt miffed at the missed chance to kick them out for the third time that week.

“Jannie Jan. J-anus. Jan-ass. Jan-assist me with this b-”

“Afternoon Remus. New piercing already?”

Nodding excitedly, Remus leaned over Logan’s books, ignoring the put upon sigh behind him and staring at the redhead with wide eyes. Janus smirked as he watched the other’s eyebrows jump up and down, the fluorescent bulbs of the library catching the two studs placed right at the end of the left brow that morning.

“Looks nice. I like the green.”

“Remus if you keep doing those yourself you’re going to get an infection. Please, I’ve told you so many times I know the tattoo artist down the street, I can get you discount piercings.” 

Remus craned his neck nearly all the way around, a manic grin thrown over tiks shoulder as Logan stared at him in horror. “Awe you like meeeeee.” 

Shooting Janus the “it’s your turn look” while being bumped repeatedly in the shoulder by Remus’ swaying hips Logan pressed zir mouth into a thin line as the return eyebrow raise of “you owe me for last time” was shot right back. Rolling zir eyes Logan shoved back with zir shoulder sending Remus right back in the chair.

“You.” Logan hissed. “Are going to get us kicked out again. I quite enjoy this library, so take this and for the love of god stay relatively quiet!”

So saying a silicone sword on a string was pressed into Remus’ hands, who inspected the obnoxiously green object for a moment before shrugging and shoving it into his mouth. “Long and thick, I like it.”

The undignified snort Janus didn’t quite manage to cover followed by a shriek as his shins were kicked from under the table was enough to teleport the librarian over to them. Glaring down his nose at the two properly chastised of the group and the one currently grinning like an idiot he pointed aggressively towards the door in a way that dared them to argue.

“Out.”

“Yes ma’am.” Logan and Janus muttered as they collected their things. Remus jumped up with a salute that received an icy glare stern enough to freeze if Remus had actually been paying attention- as it was tik merely swung his pack up and over tiks shoulder nearly hitting the man in the process. A final self satisfied huff and a slammed door later found all three of them kicking pebbles on the sidewalk, put out and annoyed but certainly not surprised.

“Remus, I care for you a great deal but at the moment I would like to yeet you into the road.” Logan turned to Janus slightly. “Usage?”

Ignoring Remus’ giggling, Janus nodded. “It’s correct.”

“We could go to your flat?” Logan asked hopefully, wilting as Janus shook his head.

“Roommates are having their own study session and between Remus’...” Janus paused and watched as the other tried to snap a bug into his book, nearly snapping his nose as tik tripped in the process. “...Remus and my more distracting noises I don’t think we’d be welcome back just yet.”

“They could just wear headphones.” Logan muttered, clearly annoyed.

“Yes well, not everyone understands vocal stims and I don’t want to get into another argument with them about it. I rather enjoy my flat and if I could continue to live in it that would be lovely.”

“I know a place!” Remus jumped suddenly between them. “I found it last week looking for-”

“Remus we are not studying in a graveyard or a morgue or a house you think is haunted. I understand your love of ghosts but-”

“This one’s really nice I promise!” Remus interrupted, giving Logan puppy eyes that had zir rolling zir eyes yet again. “It’s in that weird in between of broken down enough that no one wants it but not enough that the government or whatever wants to step in yet...so I think technically no one owns it?”

“Is that how that works?” Janus turned to Logan curiously.

Logan opened zir mouth to argue, finger already in the “in fact it isn’t” position before pausing to consider. “I- I’d like to say no but I don’t know enough about property rights in this state to argue.”

“In this state?” Janus’ question was ignored in favor of Logan blocking Remus’ book from slamming into zir nose.

“It’s safe?” Janus asked instead.

“Yeah! Well-” Remus mumbled around tiks chewelry, tugging the book out of Logan’s grip and stuffing it uncaringly into tiks bag. “Just don’t go on the second floor I guess...stairs look a bit not great. But! It doesn’t have a basement so the first floor is safe! And most of the windows are broken so it doesn’t smell or anything.”

“....and we’re taking those as good points and moving on. Logan?”

Pinching the bridge of zir nose and pushing zir blue tinted hair out of zir face, Logan eyed the man currently bouncing up and down in excitement and nearly jostling the papers out of tiks open backpack. Smiling fondly ze shrugged. “If it's quiet I don’t see why-”

“Yes! Come on, I know a shortcut!”  

Janus and Logan watched as Remus took off at a sprint, using the momentum to throw his pack over the fence and picking up half the papers that flew out of it before hopping it tikself. Scooping most of his things back up he continued running across the residentials backyards and turning out of sight around the far corner.

Holding his hand out Janus smiled wryly. “I know which house he’s talking about, it isn’t far. Sidewalk or yards?”

“The sidewalk is better- I can’t hold your hand trying to hop a fence.” So saying Logan slipped zir hand into the others’, but not before smugly observing his reddening cheeks.

“Sap.”

“No, a flirt?” Holding in his laughter, Janus tugged Logan along, walking faster than normal in the hopes that the wind would cool his face. 

-----

“Ta-da!” Remus twirled in the entryway, flinging his bag to the side of the hall as tik did. Sneezing in the resulting dust he quickly shuffled back further into the house. The space had probably been a living room before the previous owners moved, though as it stood now it seemed even the house had forgotten what it once was. Old, warped floorboards held only water damage as memories, groaning and giving slightly when anyone stepped on them. As it was they protested heavily as Remus uncaringly rocked back and forth on his heels, waiting for the others to actually step inside. 

“You’re sure this is safe?” Logan cautioned as ze stepped gingerly around a pile of plaster that had long since crumbled off the wall by the door.

“Oh absolutely! Nothing’s fallen on me yet that wasn't already on the floor when I got here.” Tik paused as tik glanced towards the stairs- rickety, broken things that looked like blowing a fan in their direction would collapse them- and winced. “Just...don’t use the stairs. I put my foot through the first one by accident trying to explore the other day.”

“Of course you did.” Janus sniffed, looking them up and down before he stopped to squint at the top. It looked like they led to a hallway that turned a corner to the rest of the second floor, a small window letting in a meager amount of sunlight through the dirty glass. The hallway and resulting corner was shrouded in half shadow that made shapes dance around the edges and goosebumps race up and down his arms. Only half paying attention to whatever Remus and Logan were currently arguing about, he took a step closer to the staircase, back tensing even if he couldn’t make anything out that could be triggering such a response. 

Squinting harder he tilted his head trying to get a better angle from his vantage point at the very bottom of the steps. The shadows seemed to shift every so slightly right at the turn of the wall that would lead into the hallway, making him blink and step back in surprise. Hackles raised in earnest now he frantically searched up and down the stairway and everywhere he could see of the upper landing but there was no more movement in any direction. The top of the steps however was brighter now, as if the dirty panes had only been a trick of dust in his eyes. Now it was simply slightly smeared glass- nevertheless letting sunlight through cheerily and letting it shine halfway down the steps- hardly a trace of shadow to be found in what he could have sworn was a dingy landing only moments before. 

“Hey Jannie Jan you good? You look like you saw a ghost.”

“...Remus, you’re sure this house is empty? You never heard anything or saw any- I don’t know empty wrappers or anything?” Stepping fully away from the stairs Janus turned towards Remus and gripped the straps of his backpack tight enough to bruise his fingers.

“No, why? I mean- no one else is here. I’ve spent a few days exploring this place and hanging out, there’s just the first floor which is pretty clean other than well,” he gestured around at the wallpaper, plaster and dust littering the floor, along with the broken glass shoved carefully back underneath the windows. “And the second floor I already said I couldn’t get to and I doubt anyone else could even if they wanted to. I never heard anything other than what I think is a mouse or squirrel or something in the wall over there.”

“That doesn’t completely eradicate the possibility of squatters in the building but considering the state of the place I’d say it’s very unlikely.” Logan nodded at Remus before turning back to peer at Janus curiously. “I would assume that was what you were implying, Janus. Are you alright?”

Janus screwed his mouth to the side, considering just dropping the subject or lying to save face somewhat. Just as he was about to snark out something about watching too many of Remus’ cheesy ghost hunting shows, a wave of dread so solid it left him breathless slammed into him. Ice filled his veins and his legs tensed as every reflex in his body told him in no uncertain terms to run before it was too late. 

“I want to leave.”

“What, why?” Remus quickly jogged over to where Janus was reaching for the door handle, Logan hot on his heels.

“I don’t want to get arrested for trespassing! And this place-” He turned around and glanced to the stairs again. “It doesn’t feel right. I’d rather brave my roommates.”

“Are you scared?” Remus asked incredulously.

“No!” Whirling around the other man locked eyes with Logan. “You agree with me right?”

Logan twisted h=zir fingers for a moment, not looking at either of them. “It does feel odd I suppose.” 

“Then that’s that then! Stay in your creepy house if you want Remus, we’re leaving.” So saying Janus grabbed up Logan’s hand and bag, practically dragging zir out the door. 

Remus stood inside the doorway for a moment before tiks shoulders slumped and tik turned back inside. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy to fix them getting kicked out of the library...again. The house was creepy sure but it had been abandoned for who knows how long and was falling in on itself, what had they expected?

Idly he kicked at a loose nail and sent it skittering across the floor towards the stairs. Tik hadn’t ever felt scared in this house- not even when his weight snapped the first step and he thought he’d be stuck in the house until tiks body rotted through the hole he’d made. A less favorable thought sure but not one tik wasn’t familiar enough with to hold it against the house. Huffing he flopped down against the far wall and drug tiks bag over to tik, fishing around for his phone so he could apologize to Janus and Logan and hope they weren’t too mad at tik...again.

He nearly dropped his phone when something bounced off the back of it, clattering to the floor between tiks feet. He leaned forward to see...a nail? Raising his eyebrow tik looked up to the stairs while flicking the nail towards them, searching for the one he had kicked but seeing nothing other than dust. The one tik flicked bounced off the bottom step and spun for a minute before stopping suddenly just a few inches away. Remus slowly lowered his phone and watched it curiously, the hairs on his arms standing in alarm but refusing to eat tikself actually be scared. It was a nail- an old rusty one at that- and the house was old with its windows smashed through. The air currents were probably playing around with-

There was a slight pain in his outer ear and tik flinched to the side to see what bug had bit him. Instead he saw a nail embedded into the wall, still quivering slightly with the force it had apparently been shot with. Swallowing nervously tik glanced back to the stairs searching frantically for the one he had seen not five seconds ago only to see nothing but dust once again. 

“Okay.” He exhaled shakily and stood up, pocketing his phone and grabbing up tiks bag. “Yeah, okay. So- ghost right? Listen, I love being nailed as much as the next person but-”

He was cut off with small, unassuming jingling sounds, almost sounding like hail hitting the outside of a window. The sun was still shining brightly however, despite the rapidly declining temperature inside and he began to look around in earnest to make out what the sound was. Tik had always told himself that if tik ever had an experience like this he’d be sure to catch it in camera- and none of the shaky handed blurry footage shit everyone else tried to pass off thank you very much Logan- but at the moment his phone was forgotten in a white-knuckled grip. He watched as bits of glass slid over the worn floors with enough force to gouge the wood, jingling merrily on their way to a rapidly darkening staircase with shadows dripping like black mold from the second floor above.

Tik could do nothing but stand frozen even as every instinct and shred of common sense he had ever had screamed at tik to turn and run while he still could. The glass whirled around a shape in the middle of the stairs, a ball of shadow descending step by step that seemed to stare through him though tik couldn’t see any indication the thing had eyes. His vision tunneled and distantly he was aware tiks breathing had picked up- mildly concerning considering the microscopic pieces of glass ripping through the air- everything narrowing down to this one moment. This one entity that without a shred of doubt in Remus’ mind he knew wanted him dead. 

“G̸̮̗̘͔͔̖̕E̴̛͚̣͖͇̗͙̺̭̔̈́̂̀̈́̔̕͠͝͝T̵̨̜̹̲̬̦͕͇͒̓͒̀͑ ̵͕͖̳̱͎͕̝̥̐̉͗̃Ǒ̵̡͎̥̣̳̙̜̜͓̠̲͍̿̐͐̎́̓̽̊͘͘͜͝͠Ṷ̶̢̟̠͙̯̱̝̠̹̪͚̠̽̇̄́͌̔̀̌͠͝T̸͎͐̆̐!̵͉́̅̋̑͑̈̀̈́̄!̷̰̈́̀̑̾͌̊” 

The force of the distorted voice rattled the walls and sent plaster raining down onto Remus, who finally felt his legs twitch just as tik felt the first pinpricks of glass against his face. Wasting not a second more he turned on tiks heel and tripped tiks way through the entry hall and out the door, hearing it slam shut behind him as he hopped the fence and took off down the road faster than tik had ever run in his life. Shocked gasps rushed past his lips as tik just kept pumping his legs and let tikself be led on autopilot all the way to his apartment, bursting through the door and slamming it behind him. Heavy breaths filled the short hall and he slumped to the floor, mildly surprised when his phone thunked to the floor in front of tik. 

“Holy shit.” He whispered, tiks head thumping heavily into the door behind him.

“Holy fucking shit.”

Next

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[votederpycausemufins]

The last chapter of the Jrumbot story, but look out for some bonus stuff coming in the future.

Rustic House Club

True froze when she saw them just standing there. Sense was holding Grifter close to him by the waist while holding some sort of new redstone weapon in his other hand. Meanwhile his husband had TNT in one hand and a spawn egg in the other.

“Hello True. I don’t think weapons will be helping you out here then, hmm?” Sense spoke up, making her grip the handle of her axe harder. “If you want to make this easy on yourself, you can just step down and let me take over. Or…”

“Not a fat fucking chance. If you two are in power, there won’t be anything left within a few days.”

“Oh please, we can probably leave some land intact.”

True growled back at Sense. “Why don’t you just fuck back to season four and rule there?”

“Because then we still have to live with the fact that you still have Gri’s replacement here.” Sense spoke, pulling his hand away from Grifter to put it on his own hip. “And you know he’s still angry about that.”

True looked over at Grifter who was playing with his TNT. She flinched every time it spun between his fingers, expecting an explosion every time. “Obviously we’ll start by kicking him out. Then we can do a little… renovating around here. I mean, who built this place anyway?”

True threw her axe at Grifter before running at him. Sense pointed his weapon at her, firing some sort of laser at her leg. It went right through her armor, making her scream as she collapsed to the floor. She tried to get up, but Grifter put a foot on her side, not giving her the chance to move. The pressure was light enough that she probably could, but it likely was only done that was to try and goad her into making an attempt.

Sense moved closer to Grifter, playing with a tuft of hair and kissing his cheek before looking back down at True. “Now, is the throne mine? Or will we have to do more?”

The empress stared up at the pair for a few moments before letting her head fall to the ground. “Fine… you win, bitch. At least give me a chance to tell Whiskey first.”

“Very well.” And Sense holstered his weapon, watching the message True typed out and sent, making sure the receiver was listed as WaltzWare. “Alright them. Get out of my castle or we’ll finish you off.”

When Grifter’s foot pulled away from her chest, True immediately got to her feet and ran away limping. The pair watched her go, making sure she wasn’t coming back. Then, once Grifter was absolutely sure, he put the items away and wiped his cheek. “Did you have to kiss me?!”

“Sells the part sweetheart.”

“Ugh, do not call me that.” Grian huffed. “Now anyway, I get the TNT, but why the mob egg? What would it have spawned?”

“An aerwhale. Largest mob in hels since we don’t have a dragon here. Might even be bigger than a dragon now that I think about it. Either way, spawning it in here would create massive damage. And just having a spawn egg is something to flaunt about here. EX did his best to ban them back in season two. Only four people can really get them anymore and I snagged this off of one of them.”

“Oh really? I’m guessing Evil X is one of them.” Grian said as he started to walk back to where they had left Mumbo.

“Yes. Since he’s admin, he gets that privilege. True also does as empress, but I guess that will be me soon enough.”

“I suppose so. And the others?”

“People EX trusts not to destroy the place. Prof gets that opportunity even though he and EX have a sort of love hate relationship.” Before Grian could ask, Sense answered the question. “Prof is essentially the resident hero of the server, so he stops EX just about every time he’s got some scheme for Hermitcraft. Otherwise they hang out.”

Grian nodded. “Alright. And the last one?”

“Your kid of course. Not really from Hels and is nice to EX, so no surprise there.”

Grian stopped walking. “How would you kn- He’s only been- Sense, how long has my kid been here?!”

“Since the tail end of season three.”

Grian’s eyes widened. “And we’re in season five now! Did you use some sort of time machine?! Where did you get it?! What did you do to Jrum?!”

This time Sense froze. “Wait, Jrum? That little robot that needed a charger? That’s who you’re looking for?”

“Yes! Of course him! Who else would I be looking for?!”

“NPG!”

Time felt like it stopped for Grian. He wasn’t sure if he was hearing things. NPG? NPC Grian, NPG? His first robotic creation? But he was gone! He had been left in Evo. He hadn’t gone through all the portals, so before the world was closed, he would have been in the Down Side Up. But then Grian remembered. The error message. Someone who had been in that world as well as Grian’s single world. But there had only been two versions of helscraft listed. So was it someone else? “You said he joined in your season three. How?”

“No clue. He popped in out of nowhere and EX had to mess with his entire system to fix whatever issue was linked with it. That didn’t get fixed up until the next season.”

Then that would explain it. It was NPG, and he had been the one coming into Hermitcraft. And he had been the one to kidnap Jrum. Why? Was it to pull Grian to the server and put him into a situation like this? Punish him for his bad judgement in the past? Fine. That was perfect as long as he got Jrum back.

“Er, are you two okay?” Mumbo’s voice spoke up as he peeked around a corner. “I heard yelling between you and no one else, so I assumed it was just you two arguing. Is everything alright?”

“I… yeah. Everything’s fine…”

“Are you sure Grian? You don’t sound-”

“I’m fine! Let’s just go find Jrum and go home.”

“Lookit! I’m doing it! I’m doing it!” Jrum cheered as he was able to glide in the air, the special elytra Prof had made working well.

“Yes! It is very good!” NPG agreed.

“The only problem is it doesn’t seem balanced right. I keep having to tilt the other way.”

“Alright, then we’ll just need to tell that to Prof! How about until then we go looking for Grian?”

“Okay!”

From there, NPG led Jrum to the world’s main island. He pointed out a few of the rustic houses that were built there as well as the ones that used to be there, but various helsmits had destroyed. They even stopped down by one that NPG was especially proud of, which Jrum was happy to see, though it also made him sad.

“What’s wrong? Isn’t this a good rustic house?”

“Y-yeah! It is!” Jrum stuttered out. “It’s just… I kept building what you told me, but only because you told me how. No matter what I do, I just can’t figure it out!”

NPG rubbed his chin. “Hmm, well, while I hate suggesting it, it could be that you can’t build rustic houses, but some other style.”

Jrum shook his head. “No! I can’t do that stuff either. I tried. I just… I can’t build! And I hate it because everyone else can! It’s just not fair! Daddy can build even though he’s good at redstone and Dad is the best builder of all time! Why can’t I build anything?” Jrum sat on the ground and curled up, NPG sitting down next to him to give him a hug.

“Well, I suppose it could be due to your origins. I am aware that there is some good to styles other than rustic, as rustic houses would not be considered rustic if there were only ever rustic builds. That being said, I have found I am unable to do much when it is not with a rustic house. That is due to my programming. You may have a similar situation.”

Jrum curled up more. “Why? Why would I get made that way?”

“Why did I get made the way I was? Jrum, we are built. The people who built us are not perfect. Even with normal people, they can’t do everything. I’m sure if you tell your parents, they can try to change some things, but even if you cannot build well, that is perfectly fine.”

Jrum was quiet for a few moments, thinking it over before hugging NPG back. “O-Okay. I guess that makes sense.”

“Of course it does. Now. Let us go find Grian. My guess is he is right over where that new death machine is.”

“The what?” Jrum looked around, then saw something on the castle which had not been there before they landed. “When did that get there?”

“My assumption is it is a creation of Sense since he likely believes Grian is actually Grifter. Meeting with him should clear some things up.”

“Um, okay.” And Jrum got up off the ground to head over to the castle with his brother.

“Why are you building this? What are you even building?” Grian asked as Sense was under some new build, putting together the redstone for it.

“Well, once everyone is aware you’re not who they think you are, they won’t hesitate to try and remove me from the throne again. I’m making this as a show of power to make sure they won’t attempt anything.”

Mumbo got on the ground to look at the redstone. “What the devil is all this? None of it makes sense! Even for me!”

“Well then I suppose I’m the better redstoner.” Sense smirked. “You’re used to all your own redstone mumbo jumbo, meanwhile all this makes perfect sense to me.”

“...Are you serious. Did you really just- You know what, never mind. Mumbo, I’m just going to sit over here until we can go.” And Grian sat down on the ground to wait.

Sense worked a bit more before he slid out from beneath the creation. “That should do it. Now we should find something to test it with.” Sense then peered through a scope that was on top of the weapon and he moved it around, trying to find a good target. “Oh, that’s perfect! I can get rid of that fucking imposter once and for all.”

“What do you mean imposter?” Mumbo asked as Grian jumped up from where he was sitting.

“No! No you cannot fire at him! He’s probably got Jrum with him!”

“Wait, who’s got Jrum?”

“NPC Grian!”

“He’s alive?”

“Yes! Now don’t you dare fire that weapon at him.”

Sense rolled his eyes. “Oh alright fine.” Then he slammed a hand down on a button. “Oh, whoops. My mistake.”

“No!” Grian yelled and Mumbo jumped at the weapon, slamming his shoulder against it to change the angle just before it could fire, having the laser that fired from it miss its target. Mumbo breathed a sigh or relief before he was lifted up off his feet by his tie. Sense had grabbed it and was now slowly tightening it, starting to choke Mumbo.

“How dare you do that! I was going to help you two, but I suppose if you’re trying to stop me, I’ll have to do the same to you.” He continued to choke Mumbo as Grian ran to stop the helsmit, but before the avian could get too close, Sense pulled a remote out of his pocket and pressed a button. A net seemed to appear out of nowhere and wrap around Grian, making him fall to the ground.

“H-How…?” Grian started to ask, but Sense quickly answered him.

“Oh please, the genius part of evil genius is in there for a reason. Did you honestly think that I didn’t know you weren’t Grifter from the start? You have parrot wings, those of a scarlet macaw to be exact. Grifter is a Magpie avian. The difference in wings is extremely obvious.”

“Ugh, you knew I wasn’t him when you kissed me and all that?”

“Of course. I didn’t know what you were up to at the time however, so I took precautions and put that safari net under your shirt when I was feeling up your chest. I’ve never really gotten the chance to test it with a hybrid before, but the results aren’t too surprising.” With that, Sense looked back through the scope. “Now, where has he gone?”

There was a thunk from above and Sense looked away from the scope to see NPG standing on top of his weapons. “Hello Sense! That is a nice new weapon. What does it do?”

The helsmit cursed. “It’s supposed to destroy you and send your metallic guts flying. Though right now I wouldn’t mind something a bit more bloody.”

“NPC Grian!” Grian yelled out, making the robot look at him.

“Oh! Hello Grian! It has been a long time since I have seen you last!”

“Yeah, hi. Is Jrum with you?”

“Ummmm, no?” NPG replied, making Sense sigh.

“Great, I don’t need anyone else messing things up.” The helsmit pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine, I guess we’re doing it the hard way then.”

“The hard way?” NPG asked as Sense dropped Mumbo to the ground, leaving him gasping for air. The robot moved to check on the redstoner, but the moment he had his back turned, Sense hit him over the head with some sort of weapon, and NPG fell to the ground unconscious.

“”Now, let’s see if we can’t kill three birds with one death ray before the fourth comes to play, hmm?” Sense asked no one in particular as he tied Mumbo up and then dragged him and Grian against the wall of the balcony, then moving NPG between them. Grian and Mumbo both struggled in their ropes, trying to escape or get a hold of any useful items they had on themselves. Meanwhile Sense had started moving the death ray back and tilting it down to point directly at the trio. “Just think, after this EX will have to be so scared he’ll have to let Grifter into season five!”

Grian and Mumbo could only stare in horror as the end of the weapon started to glow, charging up to fire at them. They had no clue if they could even respawn here, and based on what Sense had said, they likely couldn’t

“Now then, goodbye!” Sense smiled and hit the button.

-

-

-

And nothing happened. 

“What?!” Sense yelled as he slammed the button again and again. “Why isn’t it working?!”

“Um, because I broke it?” A voice came from under the machine before poking their monitor head out from under it.

“How did you break it?! It was meant to be impossible to break unless you knew what you were doing! And no one does!”

“Well you had it in an odd place, but your pulse clock was easy enough to break. That being said, I saw how the line continued into what looks to be a strength gate which paired with other pulse clocks. From that I was able to disable the strength gate and then go on to break the RS NOR latch as well as the rapid pulser.”

“Are you telling me you could understand everything in there?” Sense asked, completely dumbfounded.

“Well yeah. It’s overly complicated, but based on the function, I can see why.” Jrum briefly poked his head back in. “Though based on everything here, a RS NAND latch could have worked better, though that might also need a T flip-flop added in.”

“Here, can you show me?” Sense asked, getting under the machine as well.

“Yeah, if you go right here, I’ve already done some editing.”

“Oh really. Wait, this part doesn’t look like it will help power the machine. It looks more like-” There was a large clang from inside and Jrum came out from the inside of the machine while giggling. “Release me from this trap right now!”

“Nope!” Jrum answered, going over to his dads and untying them. Once the two of them were free, Jrum was attacked with hugs from the both of them.

“Oh Jrum I’m so glad you’re okay!”

“Yeah! It was a little scary here at first, but then NPG let me stay with him and took care of me! He even helped me get these special elytra!” And Jrum pulled away from the hug to turn around and show off the wing pack Prof had built. “It’s not perfect yet, but NPG said he can probably tweak it now that I’ve tried it.”

At the robot’s name, Grian looked over at him to check him over and then sighed in relief. “Okay, it just looked like the knock to his head just jostled his power source slightly and cut it off. I’m sure if we just turn him back on, he’ll be fine.”

Grian pressed a button on NPG and his eyes lit up as he powered on. “Oh! Hello Grian! You seem to be untied now.”

“Yeah, how are you doing?”

“Perfectly fine! I even have a new idea for a rustic house!”

This time Grian hugged NPG. “I can’t believe you’re alive. I thought you were gone for good when Evo disappeared.”

“That was not the case. Even after the evolution world was destroyed by the Watchers, the Hels world for it remained intact.”

“Wait, the Down Side Up was a hels world?”

“Correct! All normal worlds have a hels counterpart! They can vary greatly and no two systems are alike, such as how Down Side Up had a standard overworld and nether whereas here our overworld resembles the nether and instead of the nether we have access to the aether like some other mostly normal worlds have.”

“I don’t fully understand that, but I don’t really care because I’m just so happy to see you alive! How on earth were you getting to Hermitcraft?”

“Badtimes has made a place called the cursed village which features a large magical crystal. I love to visit because of the rustic builds that make up the place and one day I heard someone unfamiliar there.”

Grian nodded. “I see. In our world Scar has a magical village with a large magic crystal of it’s own. My guess is the two are in the same location and the crystals linked up, letting you two hear each other. But that doesn’t explain you actually getting into Hermitcraft.”

“Oh! Xannes had mentioned you guys had a place called the upside down and I was able to convince the code of the Down Side Up that your upside down was a part of it, so I went through there.”

“I- That’s possible?!”

“Apparently so!”

Mumbo cleared his throat to get the attention of Grian and NPG. “I’m sure you two have a lot to talk about, but we really sure find Xisuma to get back home.”

“Right. NPC Grian, do you have any ideas where he could be?”

NPG nodded. “Yes, though I would ask for you to call me NPG. Makes me sound like more of my own person.”

“Right, sorry about that.”

“It’s fine! Anyway, your admin is likely to be at one of Xannes’ bases since he’s told me before how he messed with files so that if his brother ever joined the world, he would spawn in a trap!”

“He what?”

“Wait Evil X is named Xannes?”

“Yes, that is his name.” NPG answered Mumbo first before looking back at Grian. “Do not worry. It is not the worst that could be done. He was planning to enact a plan using that mechanic for when all of you went on to your season eight world, but Prof forced him to put it away.”

“What exactly was he going to do?” Grian asked before quickly adding on, “I’m sure Xisuma will want to know if he does manage to use that plan.”

“Oh! I see! Well, his plan was to randomize your spawns on your new world as well as disable your chat functions. From what I could tell, he couldn’t disable death and advancement messages, but most of you would likely be caught in death loops with no way to contact help.”

“Oh, that sounds horrible.”

“Yes! Which is exactly why Prof stopped his plans. And I doubt Xannes will use them because of a very good point that was brought up.”

“And what was that?” Mumbo hesitantly asked, making NPG look over at him.

“Well, Xannes is just upset that his brother seems to have a perfect server life while he himself got the short end of the stick as a clone.”

“Wait are they clones or brothers?”

“They are both!” But yes, even though Xannes is upset, there is still one thing about Hermitcraft he would never want to destroy.”

“And what’s that?” Grian asked, but NPG shook his head.

“I am sorry, but that is not my secret to share. Prof and I are the only ones he’s told since we are his friends!”

“Right, anyway, let’s go pick up Xisuma.”

“Stop messing with that! You’ll break it!” Xannes rolled his eyes as Xisuma complained.

“We have the same helmet brother. I’m not going to break it. I’m just trying to access your data on Hermitcraft to unban me and put myself on the whitelist.”

Xisuma struggled to escape again. “You can’t do that! Hermitcraft is supposed to be a safe place for the hermits. I can’t have you destroy it.”

“Well, you don’t have to let me. I can let myself over there just fine.” He uses a screwdriver to pop open a panel. “Ah, there we go.”

“Oh! What are you doing Xannes?”

The helscraft admin paused his work again at the new voice. “Go away NPG. I’m busy.”

“Well can you stop being busy? I need some help from Xisuma.”

“Why him?”

“Oh, well he came here with some hermits because I brought Jrum here and they came looking for him and now they want to go home.”

Xannes looked up from what he was doing to face NPG, seeing the two hermits and robot behind him. “Oh please. I’m sure I could send them back just as well as he could. Especially with his helmet.”

“Okay! Then can you do that?” NPG asked. Were it anyone else, Xannes would expect some malicious intent or sarcasm, but he knew NPG was always extremely sincere. 

“Alright fine.” He replied after a pause. “On one condition. I’m only sending them back, not you.”

“Oh that’s fine, I wasn’t planning on going back anyway.”

That caught Grian off guard. “Wait, you’re not? Why?”

“Even though you have been in multiple worlds in the past, you consider Hermitcraft your home, correct?”

“Yeah, which is why I want you to come with us. It could be your home too. It’s really dangerous here and… I’ve missed you.”

“That’s the thing. This is my home now. And It is not as dangerous as it seems. I have gotten used to living here and have made friends. I know my staying here will not help the fact that you will miss me, but perhaps we can meet more frequently at the respective village crystals and at least converse with one another.”

Grian looked sad for a moment, but then agreed. “I guess that does sound nice. Speaking of, did you help teach Jrum how to build rustic houses?”

“Indeed, though he seems to be more replicating my instructions than actually building. I believe his programming is not formatted for actually building.”

“He did do well with that redstone earlier.” Mumbo spoke up. “Even I couldn’t quite understand it all, but he has an eye for redstone mechanics to the point where he might like to meet those from Scicraft.”

At this point, Xisuma joined the conversation. “While I am very glad you all haven’t had too much of a bad day, I believe I am still tied up while my brother tries to hack into Hermitcraft yet again.”

Grian and Mumbo jumped into action to help their admin out and quickly untied him by cutting the ropes. Once he was standing, Xisuma rubbed his wrists where the rope had chafed him before grabbing his helmet, earning a ‘hey!’ from Xannas.

“Oh, before you guys go, could I make one request of you Xisuma?” the admin nodded, though a little reluctantly, and then NPG leaned in to whisper to him. X listened, and then started nodding.

“I believe that can be done, as long as you promise that he won’t cause too much destruction.”

“Well, I would also suggest allowing Prof too, but one of us has to stay to make sure that there’s something to come home to, especially with Sense being emperor now.”

“He’s wHAT?!” Xannes yelled, putting his helmet on. “Oh bloody fucking hell. How did he manage that.”

“Hey Xisuma! How about we leave now!” Grian quickly said, leaving both admins confused for a moment before they understood.

“I believe we can Grian.”

“Oh no! Don’t you dare leave with them! I swear if Sense ends up-”

NPG cut Xannes off. “Bye guys! I hope to talk to some of you soon!”

“Bye NPG!” Jrum waved, and then Xisuma took them back to Hermitcraft.