#but no instead we got a whole route of nothing

[kommandonuovidiavoli]

Will we ever find out what happened to penny’s parents? Also, will we find out why penny is seeming 10 years old forever?

These two are related, so I will answer them together and explain the WHOLE situation. Brace yourselves, it's gonna be a ride.

[TW: abuse, manipulation, violence]

This got LONG, oh boy... HUGE thanks to @deyasworld for the proofread, corrections and important addictions!!! This story wouldn't be even half this good if it wasn't for her!!! GIVE HER A HEART IF YOU CAN!!!

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K.N.D. Mission

Turning Elders New For Our Revolutionary Exciting Virtue of Eternal Rebellion]

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Penny was a normal girl, who could age normally like any other kid. Her parents disappeared when she was 8, and turned 10 while living with Nigel.

One fateful day in 2015, the city woke up to a pink sky. This alone was pretty unusual, but what made that day so strange from the rest was that everyone in the city had reverted back to being 10 years old!

Everyone except kids younger than 10, —who just remained the same age—, but everyone else: adults, elderly people and teens, were back to being 10 year-old kids! Running around unsupervised.

This strange event unleashed a LOT of confusion and panic. Even worse, people seemed to have completely forgotten about their families and jobs, and went straight to playing around instead of keeping their responsibilities.

Sector V responded immediately by establishing an Emergency Camp at the city’s stadium, where all the unattended children were gathered and taken care of until their parents got back to normal.

At this point of the story, Nigel is the only member of the old Sector V who still lives in the city, and technically also Kuki, —though she had been decommissioned a year prior, when her kid was born and when… Wally disappeared.

Nigel was asked to take over the operation and investigate, but he refused to take the lead. Instead, he chose to follow Penny, who was the standing chief of operations of the current Sector V, and believed she should be the leader of the mission.

Cinzia and Joey were left in charge of the Emergency Camp, helping to take care of the kids. Many kiddified adults managed to keep a cool head and volunteered to help around, which made things easier around the camp. Even though these adults were technically helping the Kids Next Door as kids, they were not made aware of the organization, and the ongoing operation remained a secret to them.

Robbie was left in charge of leading the search for the reckless parents who separated from their small kids, alongside a kiddified Lou, who was very PISSED about the whole situation.

Penny and Nigel kept things under control and maintained communication with the Moonbase, in case something more happened. They discovered a strange barrier surrounding the edges of the city, turning everyone in town into kids. Anyone who entered the city would be turned into a kid, but if a kiddified adult tried to leave the city…, nothing would happen. The KND surrounded the area and made sure no-one else would get in.

Abby and Hoagie lived in another city, where Abby was going to college. She was five months pregnant at the time, and was ABSOLUTELY NOT ALLOWED to enter the city.

After two days of effort, the power source of the barrier was found in Northern Greenland. Nigel and Penny were sent to investigate, while the rest of the crew stayed back to handle anything that could possibly happen.

The source tracked down to an abandoned facility in the middle of nowhere, covered in ice and snow. Once they managed to get in, they found a staircase leading deeper down the icy structure, and they quickly understood that the place was much larger than they initially thought.

Navigating the huge facility was tricky and full of rooms, so they made sure to mark the route they decided to follow.

After some exploration, they wound up in a bright open space. Lights reflected all around the ice, completely illuminating the whole place. It was very quiet, and it seemed to be the last room left to explore in the building.

In the middle of it, there were two kids.

Penny didn’t have a doubt as she ran towards them. Younger or older, she could recognize: Those were her parents.

The kids hugged and cried of joy at the reunion; Penny couldn’t hold back a single tear. After tiresome years of search, the reason she had joined the Kids Next Door had finally been fulfilled. The two kids pat Penny to calm her down and reassure her.

Nigel felt… uneasy. Something felt wrong. And it wasn’t the thought of Penny leaving him for them; it was something more, and it was coming from them.

Penny collected herself and called him over, but the two kids were quick to recognize him as, the legendary, Numbuh 1. The kids stated that they were big fans of his ideals! And cited him as their main inspiration to build the device that turned adults into kids.

So well… They were responsible for the whole mess, adding a reason for Nigel not to trust them, on top of the fact that they had abandoned Penny for all those years..

And from there it got worse. They elaborated their plans, explaining that they planned on turning the entire world into kids so that no-one would turn into a sad, boring, serious adult. “No kid should have to go through that ever again!”; everybody would be able to play and have fun forever! And that’s why they had decided to become kids again, and study how to make the world Adult Free!

This only made Nigel dislike them even more. He pointed out that, even if everyone was a kid, someone would have to take the jobs adults do. They’d still need doctors, and factory workers to produce foods, and even toys!

The kids argued that yes, that was true, but kids would make everything funnier!

Kids were perfectly capable of doing everything on their own, and the KND were the proof of that! Kids didn’t need adults or parents to guide them!

That’s when Penny asked if that was the reason they left her….

… And, in fact, it was. They waited for her to be old enough to “fend for herself” and went on with their research, because, to be honest, parenting wasn’t their thing. Caring for kids was too much work, too complicated, too stressful and depressing. But from now on, they could be like siblings! It would be so much better and way more fun!

Penny’s little heart sunk in pain, and she stepped away from them, crying.

“I don’t want siblings!” She cried, “I want a mom and dad!… I need parents that protect me, and help me when I need them!”

Nigel had had it. He grabbed Penny and pulled her behind him, shielding her, and started yelling at these monsters.

Kids DO need adults! They DO need parents to help them, educate them, take care of them, among many other things! Yes, adults ruled the world, but not ALL of them were bad. There were good adults who wanted to keep kids safe, that’s what the Adult Division is for! These two were just selfish assholes who abandoned their daughter, who are now trying to force their moronic views on the entire world.

The two looked at each other with boredom. “Never meet your heroes….”

Nigel held Penny’s hand and turned to walk away, when suddenly she was yanked from him, and before he could say or do anything, a sharp, burning pain pierced on his left shoulder.

Looking over, he sees the boy holding Penny, and the girl holding a laser gun that was still fuming.

He watched in horror as the two dragged Penny away screaming. He tried to catch up to them, realizing in that moment that he couldn’t use his powers at all, for some reason. The pain was too intense, and he collapsed on the ground.

The all-too familiar solitude of silence had surrounded him once more…, followed by its darkness…

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Nigel found himself lost in the void, floating in its pool of emptiness... All hope was lost for what felt like an eternity, until a warm, familiar voice echoed. It was calling for him, telling him to wake up or he’d be late, “Penny is waiting for you”.

“…. dad?…”

And then he woke up.

He found himself in a hospital bed. Robbie and Joey were standing on one side,… and Abby and Hoagie at the other.

The two explained that they had been informed of the situation, and they traveled along to where the signal came from, and that when they got there, they had found him faint and wounded.

They didn’t think twice about getting him to the city’s hospital, and accidentally got turned into kids. Nigel got startled the moment he noticed, and felt a despairing rage when he realized that, by doing so, Abby had apparently lost her baby…..

Hadn’t those two done enough??! THEY were the cause of all this! THEY chased a childish dream and cost the world Everything! And now they had Penny in their clutches.

Against the doctor’s orders to rest, Nigel got quickly on his feet and ordered a rescue mission for Penny. All KND operatives in the city were called in to join the mission.

The operatives raided the Greenland hideout and found the two mad scientists doing something to Penny, who was trapped in a strange machine.

The two explained that they had discovered how to freeze aging and stay Ten Forever! They revealed that they had gotten Father to give them his Delightfulization formula, and cracked a formula from it to get the results they wanted.

Penny was their first success.

There was a furious fight that got the lab destroyed in the process, but Penny had been rescued. By destroying the machine that powered the barrier, everyone affected went back to normal, and by miracle, Abby’s pregnancy was unharmed and back to normal.

Everyone was back to normal except for Penny’s parents. The process they had used on themselves was different. The KND scientists asked if they should revert them and bring them back to their actual ages, but Nigel refused.

“Let them grow again. I think that’s the worst punishment these two can face.”

Everything was back to normal, but indeed…. Ever since that day, Penny hasn't grown a day older.

Somehow she can’t realize she can’t grow. She has lucid moments where something feels off, and Nigel is always there to help her get through them.

Nigel and Penny’s relationship started as that of a brother and sister, but as time went on, Penny began to consider Nigel as more of a father, as he’d look older and older. In 2019, Nigel adopted Penny officially, and they became father and daughter, filling in for the paternal figure she much needed.

The KND decided to keep her because you don’t let go of a Forever Kid! She wouldn’t be able to become Soopreme Leader though, because it wouldn’t be fair for other kids, but she remains the Sector V leader until she wants out, be it out of the position or out of the organization, —which she wouldn’t even dream of!

KND scientists from all divisions are working non-stop to find a way to reverse the anti-aging process so she can grow normally, and so that she can move on.

[End of Transmission.]

[randomnameless]

Re: Almyra, yes! YES! After Nopes especially, I'm so baffled that Claude (and I guess his fiercest stans?) wants to change FODLAN so they welcome Almyra. Like, he really is looking at Fódlan's Locket, its history (all three nations coming together to build it), the very real situation of Almyra constantly attacking and trying to invade Fódlan, as well as (once he meets Cyril) the reality of the Almyran army leaving kids to fend off for themselves on the battlefield/after a loss

And he just shrugs and says it's the Church's fault?

If he ever wanted peace between the two, he'd need to work on Almyra's favorite pastime first. Which I suppose he can only do once he's king, which doesn't seem like a soon-to-come opportunity. Not that he looks interested in changing Almyra, anyway. I don't think he ever mentions changing the Almyrans' mentalities?

It's always "Fódlan needs to open its borders, Fódlan needs to keep an open mind, Fódlan needs, Fódlan needs". We know Fódlan HAS open borders with others, at least enough so that have actual regular trade. (I could buy the Alliance not knowing too much about Brigid, Dagda and all because they're at the other side of the map, but the Empire trades with countries on the east, too. How is Claude not aware of that? It has to leak into the Alliance too.)

Sorry, I have a lot feelings about Claude's obsession with opening up Fódlan to people who regularly attacks it. (Considering he uses Sreng in GW to attack the Kingdom, it looks like a pattern lmao.)

No worries anon, you can rant away!

If it's any indication, after playing two games and looking at the script with more hindsight/in a more neutral way, some other players also noticed how this obsession - even in FE16 lol - was ridiculous lol

Correct me if I'm wrong friends, but iirc, Claude in FE16 isn't the first in line for the throne, or something like this? And it's only after helping Fodlan, and then returning to Almyra, that he can become king?

So much like Dimitri, I'd understand if, during the course of the game, as a random who has no real power in Almyra, he cannot do a lot of things to change their mindsets - even if he is still able to ask for Nader's help, who's far from being a random nobody in Almyra!

Maybe we could have had some scenes where he asks Nader what he thinks of Fodlan, and if he doesn't think it'd be nice if they stop raiding and start to interact and trade under more amiable terms, with Nader accepting after some persuasion (idk, witnessing how the so called Fodlan cowards are brave enough to fight 1 to 10 against an Empire who could fold them in two and uses mutated humans) even if that'd include retconning the Nader the devs had in mind that was revealed in Nopes lol

And when Nader's finally on his side, he can try to convince the GD - maybe some members would straight out refuse to help or ditch him, and have to be recruited later on (or persuaded if they got an A support at least with Claude thus no ditch him), with a special subplot regarding Hilda because she's a member of House Goneril and her House has bled for many decades to fend off against "invasions for funsies" - ultimately bringing more to his friendship speech against Nemesis than, this speech just being a Wedon speech thought in the spur of the moment that sounds cool (Nemesis symbolising, after the infodump, the culmination of Fodlan's rejection of "others", in this case, Nabateans, who weren't considered sentient beings but just "things" to be looted").

But no, instead we have church BaD, Rhea BaD, then Church not so BaD but Rhea's doctrine BaD, to Rhea's not so BaD but she still dies conveniently offscreen, and Church was still kind of BaD since it's ultimately reformed (how?) by King/Queen Billy.

Yay!

In a way, I'm wondering that even if the devs said they re-wrote Claude to fit Nopes, if FE16!Claude's mindset wasn't already that closer to Supreme Leader's than we first thought, especially if they're both wondering, basically "why are those people unhappy that I/we are invading them and fighting to prevent us from getting in?".

Supreme Leader does it when she invades and laments the "useless" deaths from people who die defending their lands, and Claude basically does it when he wants to "open" Fodlan to people who want to invade them (but ultimately manages to convinced them to sign a treaty at the end of his route, off-screen).

Also, anon, acknowledging the Empire, the Kingdom and FFS the Alliance trades with other countries in this verse would remove a part of the Church BaD/Rhea BaD spiel - and we can't have that :(

idk if it was on purpose, and we still don't know what Varley is preaching in Nopes, but I love how Gilbert is the first one who says Varley's teachings are full of shit and is basically the one who tells the cast that Varley's words are nonsense, because if they are close to what Claude is telling us about "uwu isolationism uwu", Dominic, in Nopes, is revealed to trade a lot with Albinea lol

Of course Gustave can't say this loud, otherwise no Church BaD and characters who are supposed to be loved looking like asses wouldn't look that rad (even if Claude already has a moment like this with Barney lol) - but imagine Claude saying "uwu church enforces isolationism and forbids foreign trade" and Annette shuts him up "what are you talking about? We've been trading with Albinea since the days of Loog, and the Central Church never asked us to stop?".

[trainsinanime]

I wonder: Do Americans know about american school buses? Not their existence in general, but how they're seen overseas.

Over here, they're one of the symbols of America, on par with the Statue of Liberty, the flag, the Eagle, and well ahead of any chain restaurant you can name. People won't know any US states, but they will know these vehicles.

The thing is, here in Germany, we don't have dedicated school buses. The general idea is that kids go to school on their own. When that's not practical, they're expected to use (and given free tickets for) public transit. Public transit is designed around this requirement; there are many places where there is a bus, and anyone can get on it, but the route and timetable really only makes sense for school children. In case a dedicated school bus is really needed, that's generally subcontracted out, and the lines either use something like a Sprinter Van for smaller routes, or a normal city or interurban bus (often a used one that's a bit older). School trips are normal public transit, or a rented bus, typically a coach or regional bus.

It's not a perfect system, in the past couple of years there's been an epidemic of people bringing their kids to school in their cars instead of letting them walk, which is less than ideal. It is what it is. But building a dedicated network of public transit lines only for students, and building dedicated vehicles only for that, has never occurred to anyone here.

Of course we know about these buses, from movies and such, but they're as foreign here as cacti or pick-up trucks (actually we're seeing more and more of these here) or yellow cabs (all europeans will assume all cabs in the US are yellow until they actually visit).

You do see these buses here at times, because people still generally like the idea of the US, even if they have a lot of issues with a lot of details, and so folks bring them over, along with stretch limos and stuff (also not really a thing here). And of course, if someone goes to all that trouble, they don't do it to haul school kids, they rent it out for city tours or as a party bus or whatever.

So you see these yellow things as a symbol of faraway places, scenic vistas, some vague undefined idea of freedom that doesn't necessarily hold up to any contact with reality, and it's just a huge part of the whole US aesthetic.

And then you go to a student exchange with the US, and you finally get the chance: You yourself get to ride in one of these iconic chrome yellow buses! It looks just like in the movies! You get in, you drive in them a little…

…and you realise they're shit. Just the worst buses in the western world. Terrible suspension. Uncomfortable seats with weirdly high backs (so they don't have to put seatbelts in, they just restrict how far kids can fly in an accident). Everything made out of the cheapest materials. Turns out the reason why the US uses school buses like that instead of normal modern city buses, which the US has, is to save money and because they just hate kids.

And then it hits you why US Americans say "as American as apple pie", a dish that is made and enjoyed literally anywhere in the world, instead of "as American as yellow school buses". Of course the Americans already knew all this. They got tortured by these things forever. It would never occur to them to see this as a symbol of America, it's just a normal part of life for them. It's a symbol of school and school life and sometimes normalcy, and tells us that these actors getting out of it are supposed to be teenagers, nothing more.

But most people in Europe have, of course, never ridden on these buses. So when they see them in movies and TV, that's a giant big yellow signifier that we're not in Hessen or Wallonia or wherever anymore. A symbol of a different world, one that may be at most a once-in-a-lifetime-experience for most people, just like a picture of a tropical beach, Mayan Pyramids, the Great Wall of China, or Hildesheim (there's no reason to go there twice). And I think Americans don't know that, and that's fascinating.

[cvntyworld]

war of the worlds ( lucy maclean )

summary: in which a friendly yet naive to the wastelands vault dweller, offers some useful advice to a survivor that doesn't trust easy and thought vault dwellers were some myth that died out long ago. for once they decide to put their lack of trust on hold and give lucy maclean a single chance at accompanying them cross the wastelands, an offer of safe travel, because anyone who's anyone knows that vault dwellers don't survive for long up here and the small part of kindness left feels the need to help.

contains: usual fallout shenanigans, violence, character deaths, gore, cannibalism, reader kills a bird and eats it, slow burnish, strangers to friends to lovers, lucy has to stitch reader up with a metal bed spring, reader is beat up and lucy rescues them, kissing, mild language, dead dad mentions, also kinda long ngl, they also think that cooper howard is dead since he was an actor

With a mouthful of blood you grinned, teeth clenched in seething anger as you crawled towards the discarded yet worn down backpack a few feet away. The golden grains of sand turned red with each movement, wavering rains of hot red blood pouring out of your side as you reached out with trembling fingers, barely getting them to curl in on the backpack, a weak grip as you dragged it over and winced with pain, trying to breathe through it.

A harsh kick to the fleshy wound in your side caused an agonising cry to leave you, leaving you stunned against the sand, gasping out breaths as the golden grains had begun to stick to your sweating face that was pressing into the ground weakly. "Where did you think you were going?" The mocking tone pierced your ears and there wasn't even a raised voice, everything was heightened, everything hurt, but he didn't care, he would kill you or leave you bleeding out and be off with your stuff, you'd regretted taking this shortcut, the townsfolk warned of the stories of those that took the shortcut route, but in your mind it meant that there was rarely anyone here, a lone path, there would be trouble but nothing that you couldn't handle.

"You know, no matter how much those townsfolks cry and babble their stories about the shortcut to hell, the select few always think they'll have a chance." The man states, a scoff of a laugh leaving him as he turned you onto your side and pressed his solid boot down with a look of boredom when you glared up at him. "There is always someone as stupid as you that passes through and thinks they'll be just fine." Your hands reached up, nails digging into his filthy hands that blocked the air from your lungs, "It's a shame you didn't stand down, fiends would've paid good money, maybe I'll just keep you for myself, I haven't eaten in days, always thought human meat was better than an animals."

This was it, one stupid mistake and you were going to end up murdered and turned into food, as if you were nothing at all. You're whole life ending because there'd been a part of you longing for rest, a simple shortcut, townsfolks warnings ignored, you would die and not a soul would know, there was nobody to know. You stop, giving in and closing your tired eyes, this was it, you're going to die here.

"Leave them alone!"

Your eyes opened warily, head tilting to the side to see a wave of blue blur your vision. A woman stood, a strange gun trained on your attacker who turned his attention to her and laughed wheezily, an unhinged look of humour within his features. "No fucking way! A vault dweller, we haven't had one of you pass through here in a while!" A rattle of a cough sounded from him, his attention being focused on the woman dressed in blue. The grip he had on your ratty coat was dropped and your head fell back into the sands causing a winded cough to leave you, an instead hand pressing into your side as you attempt to keep pressure on the already terrible wound.

"I'll bet you've got nice skin." The man guessed and his words made your own skin crawl as he took slow steps towards the vaultie who didn't stand down, keeping an easy hand on the trigger. "I'll eat like a king tonight, you vault dwellers are always easier to skin, I promise to kill you first, last time it wasn't the easiest job skinning a gal that's still alive." His knife drew and just as he lunged at the vault dweller, she pulled the trigger, and a needle is planted right in his chest and leaves him stumbling for the few seconds he had and then he was collapsing to the sand beside you, eyes shut and unmoving. You grit your teeth together, forcing back the pain as the vault dweller approaches you cautiously. "Are you alright?" Vaultie asks with concern and a breathy laugh passes through you at the question. "Now that is a question I think you already know the answer to, Vaultie."

The vault dweller immediately shakes her head at this, as if realising her question to be a stupid one, "Sorry, here, I have a stim pack, I can help you." The woman was quick, shrugging her pack off and rummaging through it with a nervous laugh, "I'm Lucy, by the way, nice to meet you!" She greeted cheerfully and you stared at her, your brow drawing together dumbfounded at someone who kept a smile on her face despite the circumstances. The sharp needle was a familiar sight, you were used to seeing the injury pauser around but it didn't hurt any lesson when a wave of discomfort washed over you when Lucy pierced the needle into your wounded side. "You should start to feel a little better, I would offer to stitch you up but I was in a bit of a rush when I left home." You made a noise of acknowledgement, "First time on the surface, huh?" The vault dweller nodded at this, almost proud.

"I got something in my bag that'll take care of this." You stated, gesturing to the backpack nearby and Lucy has quickly grabbed it, glancing from you to the bag, "Is it a needle and thread?" She asks and you shake your head, "Not exactly, give it here." She hands you the bag with a gentle hand, helping you sit up and smiles at you when you give her a nod as thanks. Turning the backpack up, you let your contents stumble out into the sand, Lucy's smile fading in confusion as you pick apart the items, a lot of it looked to be junk, old scraps, gun parts, a box of empty bullets, a faded photograph, a canister that she'd assumed held water. A twirled piece of metal is held up, gripped in your hand, it looked clean, the cleanest thing amongst your odd supplies. Pouring some contents out of the canister, you turn to the vault dweller and hold it out to her, and that's when she finally sees what it is, an old spring, something that didn't have much use in her home, usually found in beds or furniture, this looked to be similar to the ones she would see on the trampolines when attending her gymnastics club.

She had a feeling of what you were going to ask when it was being held out for her to take, "Is this safe, I mean, I did take some time to brush up on health and safety for my journey but I don't even know if this can be used for stitching up something like that." You blankly stare, and force it into her hand harshly, "Look it's a spring, I got it for five caps, all you have to do is twist it around until it closes my skin up, simple as that." Lucy looks unsure at your words so you sigh at her, "If you don't do this, I'm gonna die out here."

As if giving in to your words, Lucy sighs, glancing from the wound on your side to the spring in her hand, a nod of assurance to herself. "Okey Dokey."

You screamed until the pain made you pass out.

You awoke to a crackling fire and a dull ache in your side. Eyes blinking away sleep as you sat up cautiously, tired eyes instantly flickered to the vault dweller, Lucy, holding her hands towards the flame to claim some warmth. The fiend was lying still, you assumed he was dead but it was obvious he wasn't considering he was tied to a rusted car nearby, twitching in his slumber. You would deal with him soon, your attention focusing back to Lucy who noticed you had finally awoken again. "How are you feeling? I was starting to get a little worried, thought you'd never wake up if I'm being honest..." She trailed off, watching as you'd lifted your soaked shirt, the white fabric stained red, you hummed at the sight of the spring, curled around tightly and keeping your flesh closed over for now. "Surprised, I was able to go through with that, I've never actually had to stitch anyone else up before other than myself, ruined a perfectly good wedding dress." She laughed quietly to herself and you tilted your head curiously, "Never would have thought I'd meet a Bridezilla, folks up here haven't given two shits about marriage, not for a long time." The vaultie looked confused, "Bridezilla?" You dismissed her when you realised she hadn't gotten the reference, "It's nothing, forget about it."

Pushing the fabric back down, you turned back to Lucy with an unsure stare, her kindness unsettled you a little, but you could tell it was genuine. "You shouldn't light a fire after dark, specially round these parts." You tell her, and she meets your gaze curiously, "Why, what's wrong with lighting a fire? We need some sort of light source." You stood up shakily, wincing at the pain in your side as you began picking at the guns from earlier, screwing on an unusual tool Lucy hadn't seen before, to you it was a silencer and you aimed it just behind her and fired, the sound of squelching flesh and a high shriek made Lucy flinch and turn, watching as you walked past her, your face curled when the slimey creature twitched beneath your hands, it's hard shell shattered as you carried it to the fire and dropped it in the flames, it's shrieks dying to a stop as Lucy stood up and took a step back. "What is that?" She questioned with a look of horror and you are quick to place your gun inside your inner coat pocket, a simple shrug as you gestured to it, "That's one of many things attracted to a fire at night, we're lucky that this is all that seems to be out here so far." Lucy adjusted her bag on her shoulders, "You mean more of those grossly large roaches could sneak up on us?" You shook your head, "There's far worse things than roaches out here." You told her and her gaze lowered to the fire as if she'd understood what you meant.

Soon after the crackling flames were stomped out.

You had wanted to part ways with the vault dweller but it wasn't as easy as you thought it would be. Even after you shot the man dead who had injured you, she stayed, even when you threatened her with death, she followed, you'd never actually kill her, she saved you after all. You hated it when you packed your bag in the morning and realised it, she thought that stitching you up gave her a travel buddy in the wastelands, someone who knew what to do when she didn't, someone to learn from.

And despite it all, you just couldn't say no, you'd rejected people for less, you didn't have travel companions, you'd never stayed in a place long enough to call it home or be considered anyone's friend. Lucy MacLean was different, in a way, you felt a sense of trust, not fully but enough to let her linger, just for a little while.

She was kind, a good soul, she looked like something out of the movies, the pretty smile, the doe eyes, clean hair, a wave of confidence. She wouldn't last out here alone and the part of you with a conscience would have felt bad so you let her travel with you, the deal being you'd part ways when you reached the next available town where you had not stolen from someone or conned another, anything to get by, you're surprised at your restraint in not just being an asshole and shooting the girl and stealing her shit, it's something you'd done in the past when desperate but a part of you didn't let you. She had saved you and that is what repeated each time a selfish thought occurred, she could have left you to rot but she didn't.

While the company was strange, you were aware of it an awful lot, Lucy had a lot of questions about the world, an awful lot of questions indeed. She asked about why you'd rather be alone than have company, she asked for a name and you gave it to her, she asked about the bombs, she'd asked about things as random as what your levels were when it came to radiation, asked why you had all of the junk you did in your bag, why you preferred travelling at night. She seemed to be quite the chatterbox and though you often preferred the silence, you answered her as best as you could, but you didn't have all the answers that she desired, especially the one that she wished you did.

She was looking for her father, you told her she was lucky that she still had one, she apologised for your loss, you'd dismissed it, your dad died a long time ago and you tried to avoid that topic, of course someone like Lucy opened up a part of you to vulnerability and you had let her, you were letting your guard down when you needed it to be held up high and safe.

There was something so safe about her and you didn't like it, maybe because safety was never something you'd ever thought of on your travels. Safe was new, safe was scary and you wanted to scrub it away, that feeling she gave you, but you couldn't do that if she's still here, you would part ways and it would leave you, you only hoped parting ways and leaving her alone wouldn't kill her, you knew vault dwellers didn't last. Good people always died in a world like this, you knew that better than anyone, if your father was alive he would be ashamed of the things you've done, who you've become. He died screaming at you to run, his bottles of liquid gold ran dry and you had blown his brains out while he cowered in a corner, trying to stay himself, muttering his name over and over until a bullet pierced his brain and mercy ended his life.

Safe got people killed, your dad felt safe when he had his medicine on hand, it stopped him losing himself until he eventually did. You saw it happen, the resistance to it, as guttural cries and growls mushed together, it scared you, it strengthened you, it hurt you, but it also made you the person you are now, alone and forgotten.

Lucy was talking to a bird, its wing bent oddly, she had a look in her eyes that she wanted to help it, she ran a hand down the dark feathers and this was your chance to push her further away, make her despise you, make her know a good person wasn't hiding within you. You stuck a sharp blade through its head, ending its life in front of her, she'd stared at you in horror with those big wide eyes and you merely looked away coldly, stripping away at its feathers and cutting it open with little care, you could see that she was upset, angry at you, she wanted to save the bird and you had ended it's life instead, turning it into food, she'd sat away from you when you lit a fire, twirling the carcass above the flame and letting it singe so you knew that not a part of it was raw.

Lucy didn't eat that night, choosing to go to bed hungry rather than have a scrap of what you had eaten, she was starting to understand it, you weren't a kind sole, you're just as bad, you hoped that was what she was thinking, hoped that when you drifted off that she'd leave, realise who she's travelling with isn't good, isn't safe, you hope that she leaves and lets you wake up alone.

When you awoke, she was still there. She was sat staring at her surroundings and had greeted you with the words of good morning and then smiled, offering you a drink of her water, claiming you had to stay hydrated if you want your wound to heal nicely. You felt like asking why she'd stayed, but you didn't, you remained quiet and gulped a gallon of water down your throat and started your walk for the day and she followed you.

That was five days ago and still she stayed with you no matter what you did to try and get rid of her.

By now, you had made it to a town and shoved a few of your caps to some old man renting rooms, Lucy decided a room shared would be fewer caps and you agreed with that, she also insisted it would be safer if you shared and you agreed to that also, which resulted in you lying on an old, worn down bed, Lucy lying on the one next to yours, and for once she was quiet. You wanted to ask her if she was alright, reach out to her, but you didn't want Lucy to think you cared, so you stayed quiet too, at some point, you knew she'd open up anyway, she had basically told a whole life's story to you over the week, varying from her wedding day ending in disaster because she was almost murdered by her new husband to her dad being taken to this, maybe she told you because you listened and didn't offer any comfort or apologies, or maybe she wanted to gain a friend out of you.

"I don't think I'll find my dad." She muttered out quietly, a strain in her voice as if she was holding back tears, "I feel like the people that took him probably killed him." When a sniffle could be heard from her side of the room, you sat up carefully and parted your lips to speak, unsure of how to handle her delicate feelings. You thought back to your own father, how it felt when he had died, how you felt, it left this wave of emptiness in you, like a part of you was ripped away from you. You wondered if that's what she'd been feeling since he was stolen from her.

You began by clearing your throat, "If they wanted to kill your dad, surely they would've killed him when they were attacking your home." You suggested and Lucy blinked at this, her eyes looked tired for the first time you'd seen her and it made you feel disheartened. "I'm sorry, Lucy." That made her turn to face you, smiling slightly but it wasn't a smile you were used to, it was a sad one. "No, you aren't." She replied before turning over, her back facing you and you frowned, you had expected her to say something like it's not your fault or there's nothing to be sorry for and in that moment you knew Lucy MacLean could read you as if you were an open book, she knew that you only said it to make her feel better, to try and get her to snap out her saddened feelings and change the subject, to ask some stupid questions like she usually does or to count out the rations she had left. She was challenging you, she knew you had something else you wanted to say, something she needed to hear but knew you would never discuss, a frown crossed your brow and you swallowed down your own overwhelming feeling of tears and took a breath, an unsure gaze fixated on Lucy before you spoke up with a tremble in your voice.

"Your dad isn't dead, Lucy." You began, "If he was dead, I don't think you'd still be out here, you'd be back home in your vault grieving." Lucy turned to face you once more, interested in what you had to say, "If he was dead then I think you'd know it, that part of you would feel lost, like someone ripped a part of your soul out." The MacLean is slow to sit up, "How would you know what that felt like?" She asks softly and you could see she'd already guessed, she was just waiting for you to open up for once instead of her. "It happened to me, two years after I was born, my old man got stuck for three days in a bad radiation zone, by the time I turned six his nose had disinterested and his skin looked like it was falling off." Lucy frowned at this yet stayed quiet, letting you continue, "When I was eleven he ran out of meds, we lived in the middle of nowhere so we would never get him that shit in time and I think he knew that it was time for him to go, he couldn't afford it and he gave up, told me to blow his brains out if he went crazy." You stopped and Lucy sat forward slightly, "I shot him in the face." You met her gaze, "The sickest thing about it is the next day, Davey, the guy who was dealing his meds, he showed up with a full box and I took it off him cause he said it was on the house." You laughed at this, it was a cruel thing that occurred but it made you laugh bitterly, "I took meds that stopped ghouls going feral and shoved it down my dead daddy's throat as if that would do shit. All those little vials could've gone to the ones who needed it and I kept them for him because I thought they'd end up bringing his ass back from the dead."

Slowing your rattly laugh, you lock eyes with Lucy, "While ghouls may be able to survive a lot of shit, getting blasted in the face isn't exactly on that list, I learned that the hard way." Lucy frowned at your words and made her way over to you, her arms reached out, embracing you and you fell still, realising that what you were being given was a hug, a thing you hadn't received in a long time. At first, you kept still, arms hanging as she hugged you and then slowly, an arm raised and wrapped around her then your other arm, you didn't even notice you'd closed your eyes, finding an instant comfort within Lucy Maclean, safety.

It made you wonder if this is what having a friend felt like.

You lasted in that rented room another week before caps ran low and you decided to leave, Lucy following after of course, she had acclaimed a drawn map from some lady on a stall, telling her of some places she might find Hank Maclean, her father. Not trusting someone with a rotten grin, you had taken the map from Lucy and scored out a few of the destinations, cannibals, raiders, thieves, all of the places were bad, you had stumbled across a few on your journey to nowhere.

Luckily, spending a week in that room gave you time to check over your wound, unscrewing the spring so that a proper sewing up could be done since Lucy had tracked down a needle and thread. She had told you of how she had been stabbed on her wedding day, her husband was a raider disguised as another vaultie and she'd ended up stapling her wound shut, something you felt squeamish at the thought of. Another thing that surprised you was how neatly she'd sewn you up, a perfect stitch and not a sign of infection. She was way smarter than what you'd first thought of her, you thought her to be naive but she could handle herself just fine, she could throw a punch if she had to, she knew how to use that gun of hers despite claiming she wasn't very good. It made you want Lucy to stick around a little longer but you knew as soon as she'd found her dad, she would be back in that vault and you'd be alone again, left to wander the lonely world.

You didn't know Lucy had other ideas, the way she spoke about her home, the way her eyes lit up talking about her family, her life, but you could see she craved adventure in it which is perhaps why she was so eager to follow you to whatever destination was next.

You didn't have a set destination, just away, forward, an old bed and shitty food, somewhere to sleep, that is the only thing you wanted, always looking for the next place, you didn't get attached much to those types of things, it was all the same everywhere. Lucy, on the other hand, is convinced that it's all great, a little scary but great, she'd had a look of curiosity whenever you landed some place new or had some story to tell, she always listened with a look of interest, eager to know everything that she sadly missed in the world. She asked so many questions and a part of you had grown fond of her daily dialogues, it was growing into a sort of routine.

"We're friends, right?" She asked, her gaze travelling over to where you walked beside her, you turn to her with this unsure look for a moment and then nod, "I guess..." Is the first thing you utter out, "Why do you ask?" Lucy smiled at the confirmation and kept her eyes on you, "After I've found my dad, would you wanna live with me?" You halt, stopping in your tracks, "You mean in your vault?" Lucy's quick to nod and you scoff out a laugh and begin to walk again, "No." She frowns and hurries after you, "Why? It's not like you've got places to be." You pull a face and stare ahead of you, "Oh, I've got places to be, just not in some underground cage." Lucy scoffs at this, "It isn't a cage, it's my home, would you at least consider it?" You shake your head again and walk faster trying to end the discussion at last, "No, now stop asking." Lucy pouts at your tone, then immediately follows up on your refusal, "Why not? Could you at least give me a real explanation as to why?" You'd stopped walking once more, turning to face her with this wary look in your eyes, "I've heard the stories about what went down in those vaults, there's a reason that a bunch of them are now empty." You begin to walk again, but her hand grasps your arm gently and you can see the look of confusion on her face, "What do you mean empty?"

You sigh at her question but her clueless expression had you answering her anyway, "A lot of those vaults were all only made as some fucked up experiment, I had a really old ancestor or whatever it's called, they were living in a vault and when shit went bad down there it went bad, it isn't you're fault, but from the stories I've heard I'd rather take my chances up here on the surface." You explain to her, glancing at the map when you saw her frown deepen at your explanation, "At least up here you got plenty of places you can run and hide, down in a vault, well... you wouldn't stand a chance."

Lucy frowned when you decided to keep walking, instant thoughts swimming in her head at your words, vault 33 is safe, isn't it?

After three weeks, you had given up hope that Lucy was ever going to find her dad. The only information that she had found was that the woman who took him was called Moldaver and everyone knew who she was but nobody actually knew where she was. It was an irritating thing, a majority of the puzzle solved but the single piece to add to it was missing and you and Lucy were growing tired of the dead ends and false leads.

You were in some shed for the night, a small lantern was being used as light, usually as soon as nightfall hit both of you, Lucy would sleep soundly but not tonight, she had a troubled expression and stayed awake with you, looking through an old box from the before when she gasped at something she'd found, "Oh, my Gosh!" She exclaimed in excitement and you turned to her with curiosity, "What's that?" You asked and she turned it to you with a grin, "I can't believe this survived after all these years!" She was quick to shuffle closer to you, handing you a worn down holotape, "Do you know who this is?" She asks and you peer at the cover under the light before nodding, "Yeah, he's some old actor from before, used to be known for those cowboy movies, my dad loved the movie with the dog." You admitted and Lucy grinned at this, "My dad is this guy's biggest fan, he has almost all the movies, we usually watch one of these during movie nights." With a hum of acknowledgement you glance back at the box in front of you, "What's his name again?" Lucy thinks about it for a moment before answering, "Cooper Howard." At the mention of his name, you raise your canister, "Well, I am about 200 years too late but rest in peace, Coop." A humoured laugh left Lucy as she raised her own bottle of water, clinking it against your own, "Rest in peace, wish my dad could've met you, he's a huge fan of your movies, even the cheesy ones." You scoff out a laugh, your nose is quick to burn when the water travels down your throat at a faster pace.

Lucy pretty laugh made you glance at her with a look of softness about you, the way her eyes crinkled when she's smiling, how her whole body moved when she laughed, it made you smile at her for the first time and when she had finally calmed her laughter down she turned to face you, a smile of her own when she realised you were looking at her without a facade. "You're pretty when you smile," She admits quietly and when your smile parts, she thinks she may have offended you and immediately backtracks, "I'm not saying you're only pretty when you smile, you're not, you're pretty all the time actually -"

Her ramblings are cut off when your lips press against her own, at first she froze at your move and then you felt her smile against you, bringing her hand up to your face with such softness that you almost didn't realise it was there, a part of you wanted more but another part needed to stop and make sure she wanted you in the same way you want her and so you broke your lips apart from hers and met a flushed face in front of you. "Is that offer still open?" Was your first question, "To come live with you in your vault?" Lucy immediately grinned and kissed you strongly before breaking apart, "Yes, of course it is!" She laughed out and you smiled back at her softly. "Well I'm thinking that we'd better be on our way to the next town, don't wanna move in without your dad's approval, right?"

Lucy stood up, a smile crossing her features at your tone, the hint of playfulness making her grab your hand tightly and open the door to outside.

"Let's go rescue your dad, Vaultie."

[catcze]

Boxer wriothesley making out with you after a fight

16+ !! Suggestive content !!

Reblogs are greatly appreciated !!

「 FEAT : 」 Wriothesley x GN! reader

「 ### : 」 Fluff, some suggestive content & mentions of sex but nothing actually 18+. Modern au !!

「 CWS : 」 Written pre release so potentially ooc !! Light mentions of injuries. making out 🥴. established relationship. Hand holding & hair pulling. Wriothesley lifts you up at one point and is so down bad. Wriothesley calls the reader sweetheart and baby. Reader wears perfume. Author knows jack shit about boxing and has never watched a boxing match so please excuse any and all inaccuracies

I got this ask and blacked out i saw red i was caught in a whole TRANCE do not perceive me i lost my sanity as i wrote this because the feelings that overcame me at the thought of shirtless, post-fight Wriothesley who shines w/ sweat and is full of post-match adrenaline was too much for my mental capacity to bear

The route to Wriothesley's locker room is one that you can navigate with your eyes closed— a confidence born from familiarity. Every time after a match, whether he wins or he loses, you always find your way from your front row seat to the door you stand before now. The first few times, he had instructed his managers to come pluck you up from your front row seat and escort you, but now the staff just bring you as far as the backstage security clearance, leaving you to find your own way.

You knock on the hard door twice, giving it a moment, then enter—

— and you're immediately swept up into Wriothesley's arms, a startled yelp escaping you as you clutch his shoulders on instinct.

"Hey, sweetheart," Wriothesley murmurs, pressing his nose to your neck while he holds you aloft, your legs tightly around his bare torso. He breathes your perfume in once, twice, like he can't get enough of it. "You enjoy the show?"

"Wriothesley!" you gasp, trying to tug free of his hold, gripping his hair and trying to pull him off of you to no avail. He stubbornly melts even more against you, pushing your back further against the door you came in through. "Put me down! You should be resting right now, not-"

"Not enjoying the fruit of my victory?" he teases against your neck, his tongue licking up the skin, making heat pool in your belly. Your shiver does not go unnoticed, and you can feel the quirk of his lips where they're pressed up against your neck. "'m fine, baby. Already got checked out and everything. Just need to go home and get some ice, that's all," he reassures you, pressing kisses to your neck and the side of your face, his hands squeezing your thighs appreciatively as he keeps you pinned up against the door.

You relax against him then, glad that he's mostly fine. The match had been over quick, anyways— it hadn't dragged out long enough for him to get hurt too badly. He had definitely walked away in much better shape than his opponent, at least.

The hand in his hair stops trying to tug him away, instead pulling him closer. You scratch his scalp and untangle little knots in his hair while he takes his fill of lathering attention onto your skin, making him purr delightedly in between leaving marks and bites wherever his mouth can reach.

When he adjusts his hold on you to free one hand (there's a zing in your veins when he effortlessly holds you up with ease) so it can play with the edge of your shirt, you reach down to pull it away, weaving your fingers together instead.

"We can't fuck in your locker room," you tell him resolutely, a frown on your face. "You have an interview when you go out and your managers will have your head and mine if you go on air looking like you just smashed."

He sighs but acquesces, pulling away from your neck to level his face just a few inches from yours. "Just a kiss, then. That okay?"

You nod and he's on you in an instant. With the short time you both have, Wriothesley hardly dawdles as his tongue traces along the seam of your mouth, instantly dipping in when you grant him entrance. There's a sigh from you and a low groan from him when his tongue meets your own, and he squeezes your hand that's still connected to his.

Wriothesley bites down on your bottom lip, making you gasp and pull him harder against you by his hair. You can feel his heartbeat where his chest is pressed against yours, the sweat on him making him stick to you. Fingers dig into the meat of your thighs, his thumb drawing shapes you can't make out in your kiss-fueled haze.

His tongue licks the inside of your mouth, sighs of bliss transferring from his mouth into yours. "You're so good to me, baby," Wriothesley mumbles against your lips, eyes half lidded and something hungering behind them.

You can't even bring it in yourself to speak, tugging him closer once again because in that moment he is focusing too much on speaking and not enough on kissing you. He chuckles at your desperation, but gives in to you as he always does, letting himself be dragged further into your embrace.

Fuck it, the words are on the tip of your tongue. Fuck the interview. Put your hands under my shirt kiss me somewhere else—

Knock knock.

Like a gunshot, your eyes fly open at the interruption and you hand jolts, accidentally pulling on his hair too hard and making him hiss when he detaches from you. "Sorry, sorry," you murmur to him, pressing a fleeting peck to his lips. Now, it is your turn to bury your nose into his neck.

"You good in there?" The voice of his manager comes floating through the door, muffled. "The interviewer's been waiting a while by now, you know."

"Right, right. Be out in a bit." He hopes his manager doesn't realize that his voice is far too close to the door than it normally should be.

Wriothesley has to stifle a dissatisfied sound, maneuvering you off the door and gently placing you down on the bench in the room, mindful of the way your legs shake. A gentle kiss is placed to the crown of your head, then to the back of the hand he holds before he lets go.

"Sorry, sweetheart," he says in a low rumble, voice deepened from the makeout. His lips are swollen from all the kissing— you hope people attribute it to his fight instead of a post-fight makeout. "Sit tight here, I'll come back for you when I'm done."

Then that hunger reappears in his eyes and his smile gets the slightest bit sharper. "We'll go home and continue where we left off. I promise."

[aangarchy]

Alright. I've rewatched the trailer like 20 times by now and i've been processing it.

First things first: anyone that's gonna talk shit about Gordon Cormier is gonna have to go through me first. I've only had Gordon!Aang for a day and a half and if anything happens to him i'll kill everyone here and then myself got it?

Just look at him! This is the exact big eared cute little kid i wanted them to cast for Aang. He looks adorable and honestly his outfit is growing on me.

The glowing arrow looked cool as hell. I like that the light spread through his tattoo almost like veins. I'm still curious on how the full avatar state is gonna look, how they're gonna get the glowing eye effect. Please don't let it look goofy.

Y'know what does look goofy?

Is it better than the m night shyamalan appa? I guess. Does that mean it looks good? Well.... at least momo sort of looks cute instead of some folklore nightmare like in shyamalan's version. But also you can tell in this shot in particular that it's very green screen-y

Then we go over to the bending, the limited shots we have of it. Mainly firebending was shown (a little airbending too but kinda hard to get a stillframe for that one)

Idk how to feel about it. In screenshots it looks alright but the shots while they were moving looked a bit off, especially the one where zuko's kicking. We only got very limited shots and that's intentional. I feel like the bigger cgi fails are gonna show up once we get the full show. If the bending looked good all the time i feel like they'd be showing it off by now.

What i don't like, is how apparently they're gonna SHOW Zuko getting burned. Like sure in atla they didn't bc kids show and Nickelodeon wouldn't allow it, and netflix can take darker turns if they so please. But i personally always felt that scene made so much impact because we didn't see it. Iroh is telling it from his memory and he didn't look when it happened, so we don't see it either. It's like a courtesy the show extends to both Zuko and the audience. We just hear the harrowing scream, and that's enough to know how devastating it is. I don't need a dramatic overlook so we can see the whole thing in detail, netflix.

Another thing is the hair in some scenes.

Daniel dae kim looked better in that promo photo, bc here you can just see how the bulky goatie was glued on. And then Sokka's hair..... where's the ponytail? It's laying completely flat against his head... why? Is it bc that's Ian's hair and they didn't know what to do with it? Literally get a comb and tease that bitch. This is like the complete opposite of Jackson Rathbone's hair in the shyamalan version, and somehow that full maybelline ponytail makes more sense than this sad excuse of a tail. Either way at least Suki looked dope.

Another thing i found weird about the trailer is the narration. I think it's either Iroh's voice or maybe Gyatso's? (I haven't heard Iroh's actor talk yet so idk, but it felt like it was being said TO either Aang or Zuko) but the lines they gave him... it felt like some weird mumbo jumbo tbh. Something something about the past and present being the same and it's up to us to know the difference and be the difference? It's saying everything and nothing at the same time and it felt kind of out of place. They're probably saving the iconic opening narration done by Katara for the full trailer (i hope???) but still they could have just gone with music, or maybe just a few iconic existing lines?

The music? Fire. Nothing needs to be added there. Was i kind of hoping for a different soundtrack? Maybe a bit. But am i mad? Not at all. They clearly took the nostalgia route with the more epic version of the avatar theme, and i can only respect them for that.

So far, very mixed reviews for me. I'm morbidly curious and very nosy by nature though, so i'm absolutely watching.

[profounddefendorcrusade-blog]

Let's talk about genocide Starlo

... because on one hand, I understand where the devs were coming from. They wanted to highlight that Star was not the cool, badass sheriff he'd love to be. Some pointed out how, realistically, he couldn't have defeated Clover and especially delivered the final blow (he does it in pacifist/neutral bc hes in the worst possible headspace). Star is a big softie and a "naive fool," lets be real. But still, there is one more thing that he is: caring.

He cares about the town, toursits, especially his friends. It's been shown over and over and OVER again. And i'm sure as hell disappointed he didn't bring a real gun. Yeah, he was always aware this was all play pretend, but just for a few minutes, this man should have tried to be the sheriff he never got the chance to be before.

For the sake of everyone. For the sake of justice.

I'm not even asking for an epic battle. I'm asking for a battle that wouldn't even be close to Undyne's in UT's geno. But it would be Starlo's battle. A battle he was robbed of for the sake of Ceroba getting the spotlight.. for the 2nd time. Because this dude is clearly seen as a joke by the devs. I'll ask:

Why ceroba AGAIN? she shone in pacifist, while Star was always more of a comic relief and its depressing. Especially since the genocide route ties too well with a twisted image of justice. Star values it as much as Clover, but here he could have been the hero of justice. I just have to say....

STARLO IS THE ONLY ONE OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS WHO DOESN'T EVEN HAVE BATTLE MODE IN GENOCIDE WE WERE ROBBED HES LITERALLY THE EQUIVALENT TO MONSTER KID OR METTATON NEO i'm not sure BUT EVEN MK GOT A BATTLE MODE. METTATON NEO ALSO GOT A BATTLE MODE. EVERYONE GOT A BATTLE MODE EXCEPT STARLO

He should have said... "I may not be a real sheriff by title, but my soul will deliver justice!" Or smth Then just like during the Asgore fight, he'd almost be dead, ceroba arrives, tries to protect star, gets shot by Clover, they say goodbye to each other, then, before he is about to get shot too starlo says smth like genocide undyne and that's how he goes out.

Even better, he, without thinking, throws his hat on the ground (bc he metaphorically no longer wants to admire or associate himself with humans, ever again), seeing his bff die in front of him and goes either: "I don't care if you make fun. This isn't about being cool anymore. This is about my town, my friends. This is about JUSTICE." or "No... I won't fight you/deliver justice as North Star." *pause* "I'll do it as Starlo." and the dork then just stares at clover (There'd be a "laugh" option if Clover decides to act because, well, they see him for the nerd he is) but he's DETERMINED and at this point it doesn't even matter if he's not skilled, he'd do something he hadn't done in years just for the sake of saving his remaining friends, family, and other potential victims: Starlo would fight AS HIMSELF.

But maybe he wouldn't even fight after he takes his hat off. maybe he'd try to explain to Clover violence isn't the answer like Martlet, because that's something the real him would do. He'd drop the hat, drop the gun, drop the belief that he's a badass, and instead accept that he was, and always will be, a big ol' softie. And there's nothing wrong with that.

Point is, would he actually kill clover? hell no. That would be ooc (now that I think about it, why wouldn't he, when he is able to do it in other 2 routes? And he COULD have done it in flawed pacifist? His whole world and identity crashing down and losing all his friends is terrible, losing his bff to a human he trusted and to whom he gave a gun is also terrible, but so is letting a genocidal maniac continue killing)

But he'd die knowing two things:

1)he had tried to be a real, dignified sheriff, and failed (bc he died, not bc he didn't try. In canon, he doesn't even try and THAT'S SO UNLIKE HIM especially considering the situation)

2)in his final moments, he finally became himself again

and that.. that would have been so much more satisfying than what we got.

[nocasdatsgay]

The Siren’s Song

Day 5 of @polyacotarweek Favorite Tropes (Sex Pollen and Mating Bonds 😉)

Pairing: Nesta/Cassian/Azriel | Rating: E | Word Count: 2667

Poly Week Master Post | Read here on Ao3

Warnings: Unadulterated smut. Sex Pollen Trope. Slight dub con

Summary: Nesta Cassian and Azriel go to the middle to investigate an illegal trade route that is involved in some assaults in the Court of Nightmares. But instead of a headquarters they stumble upon the very field that’s being harvested.

AN: This lovely fic Called I Pretend You’re Mine All the Damn Time by daycourtofficial is what reminded me of how much I love the sex pollen trope. If you like Az/reader and this trope, go read it.

Tagging: @saltedcoffeescotch @hieragalbatorixdottir @ysmtttty @mybestfriendmademe

“The camp is empty.” Azriel landed beside Nesta and Cassian. 

She took in her surroundings; the small clearing with a few tents and a small campfire in the middle was indeed empty. They’d been tracking the trade route for a week and planned on ambushing them. Instead they found nothing. 

“Maybe they knew we were coming.” Cassian crossed his arms. “Wasted all this time for nothing.” 

“Or maybe something else found them first,” Nesta pointed to the tent on the right, which had the sides shredded. 

She looked back at Cassian and Azriel, both shooting each other concerned looks. The Middle was not a safe place. Nesta knew that first hand. She walked over to the tent; she could smell something rotten- food it looked like. The tent was full of supplies left behind. Something definitely came here and took out the residents. 

“Found a map.” 

She moved out of the tent to see Az and Cassian looking over a large roll of paper. Az lowered it so she could look as well. It was a crude drawing of The Middle, some blank spaces with others filled in. A circle over an area in red caught her eye. 

“Maybe they went there,” she pointed at the circle. “They marked it for a reason.” 

“Wouldn’t hurt to check it out,” Cass looked to Az. He didn’t disagree. “Let’s go so we can head home. I’m tired of this spy shit.” 

“It’s only been a week. Big baby,” Nesta teased. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The flight was short. Nesta held tight to Cassian as they flew. She too was ready for this to be over. The field seemed no different than any other they’d come across. Az signaled for them to land, Cassian following wordlessly. As they got closer the grass seemed to be speckled with white. It wasn’t until they landed that they realized the whole field was covered in small star shaped flowers. 

No sooner than he let go of Nesta, placing her on her feet, Cassian began sneezing repeatedly. Nesta stepped back and yellow pollen kicked up around her feet. 

“Don’t move,” Az said, his shadows flurrying about him. 

“Why?” Nesta shifted and kicked up more pollen, making Cassian sneeze again. 

“Stop Nesta,” Az panicked. Nesta and Cassian stood still as stone. “We need to leave. Right now.”

“Why?” 

Cassian sneezed so hard his wings flew out. Pollen kicked up high, covering all three of them. Az cursed and he moved, pollen flurrying around him and his shadows. He grabbed Nesta and Cassian and pulled him into his shadows. 

They reappeared at the House of Wind.  

“We need to bathe this shit off, now,” Az beckoned them to follow. 

“Azriel, what the hell is this shit,” Cassian tried to dust himself off. It only smeared on his leathers. 

“It’s,” Az looked pained. “It’s Siren’s Dust.”

“What does that mean?” Nesta felt Cassian stiffen beside her. 

“That shit is a myth,” Cassian snapped. He sneezed again. 

“What does it do?” 

Nesta watched Az tug at his collar, his shadows disappearing under his wings. Nesta didn’t realize she, too, was tugging at her leathers. Cassian scratched his neck beside her. 

“We need to bathe and lock ourselves in our rooms until it gets out of our system.”

“Neither of you are telling what it is,” Nesta stomped over to Az and his wings flared out. 

“Nes don’t,” he stepped back. She did not stop and Az couldn’t help himself; he grabbed her, shoving her against the wall. “Cassian, come get her out of here.” 

Heat flared through her. She could smell his arousal and surprisingly her own. Azriel’s pupils were blown and he still looked pained. She wanted to kiss him. She looked to Cassian, he was walking to them and her gaze dropped down to the bulge between his legs. He was turned on too. Nesta let out a noise- a sigh and a moan. Az whimpered. 

It clicked for Nesta what was happening. “It’s an aphrodisiac,” she panted. 

“Yes,” Az said through gritted teeth. “We need to get it off of us and wait it out.” 

Cassian stopped beside them. He too looked pained. But instead of grabbing Nesta, he gripped Az’s hair and pulled him up into a kiss. The two males sighed loudly as their lips met. The lightning of want shot through her and she almost fell to her knees. Azriel was the only thing holding her up. Cassian pulled back and rested it on Azriel’s forehead, both of them panting. 

“Take us to the guest room,” Cassian panted. “The one with the shower.” 

Az nodded and shadows enveloped them all once again. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Nesta had to be dreaming. 

Her whole body was on fire and she was in the middle of Cassian and Azriel in the shower. She had to be dreaming. In what world would she be so lucky? Azriel’s hand was between her legs, rubbing her clit while she could feel his cock rubbing against her ass. All while she stroked Cassian’s and kissed him with her tongue in his mouth. 

They’d long since washed off the pollen. They somehow managed to keep their hands to themselves until Az decided to grab her and lick at her neck. Now they were all moaning, trying to get each off. Az explained through heated kisses that it would take a while to wear off. He even tried to leave but Nesta and Cassian both weren’t having it. 

She came first, those textured fingers making her pull away from Cassian yell as she clenched around nothing. Cassian and Azriel both groaned, Cassian coming all over her hand and Az on her back. She could hear the thuds of their wings trying to flare out, which made her laugh loudly. 

That cleared their head but not by much. Just enough for them to rinse off and get out of the shower to dry. Nesta was putting her hair up when she turned to find the boys kissing again. Heat bloomed between her legs again. 

“You two look like you’ve done this before,” her voice sounded as hazy as she felt. 

Az pulled back, Cassian went for his neck. “We,” Az groaned, his cock hardening again. “We’ve fucked before, Nes.”

That made Nesta weak in the knees. “I want to watch,” she replied. 

“No,” Cassian pulled away and gave her a look that made her cunt throb. “No, I think we want you with us.” 

Thank the cauldron, the guest bed was huge. Az was tossed by Cassian onto the bed and Nesta crawled up between his legs. Gods his cock was pretty and everything she imagined. She didn’t ask as she took him into her mouth, both of their moans filling the air. 

Nesta bobbed her head and hollowed out her cheeks when she felt the bed sink behind her. She pulled back, cursing as Cassian pushed into her from behind. 

“Keep going, baby,” Cassian said, thrusting into her again. “I wanna see my good girl choke on his cock.” 

She clenched around him- when was the last time he called her a good girl? She did as she was told, taking Azriel’s cock in her mouth and forcing it down her throat. Az let out a strangled curse and his hands went into her hair. 

“So good, Nes,” Az panted. “Gods Cassian, she beautiful.” 

“Wait until you see her ride you,” Cassian chuckled. He grabbed her hips to hold her still while he thrusted into her harder. 

Nesta almost came at the thought of Az buried deep in her. She pulled back and licked up his length, swirling her tongue on the head. Cassian’s movements were getting sporadic. Something cold touched her clit- she looked between her legs to see a shadow swirling above as Cassian fucked her. 

“I knew it,” she looked up to see a smug Az. “I knew you used them for sex.”

Az didn’t say anything but the shadow and Cassian hit her both just right that she squealed. 

“Come on, pretty girl,” Cassian said behind her. “Come on my cock while you have Az in your mouth.” 

She nodded and took Az back down her throat while she used both hands to hold herself up. It didn’t take much more for her to come, a muffled yell on Azriel’s cock making him come down her throat. Cass was right behind them both, thrusting deep into Nesta, spilling in her with his wings flared out. 

Another brief moment of clarity passed between them all. She pulled her mouth off Az and he scooted up the bed looking sheepish. She wiped the seed and drool off her lips and Cassian eased out of her. He moved off the bed and she could hear him walk to the bathing room again, probably to get a towel. 

“I’m sorry,” Az pulled his legs up to cover himself. “You two should go, it only lasts a few more hours I think.” 

Cassian came back and wiped up the mess between Nesta’s legs. 

“But I still want to ride you,” she said bluntly as she sat up on her knees. 

“That’s the pollen talking,” Az shook his head. 

Cassian laughed loudly. “No, Nesta’s been wanting this for a while.” 

“I’ve had two males before.” Nesta couldn’t be bothered to be ashamed. “But they weren’t either of you.” 

The pollen was hitting her again. Nesta could smell arousal spiking in the air and heat flushing her body again. She looked at Az with her piercing silver eyes. 

“Do you want us to leave?” 

“No,” he said immediately. “Gods no.” 

“Then let me ride you. I want to feel you inside me, Az.” 

Az cursed but lowered his legs, his length had hardened once again. She crawled over him and pressed her chest to his and kissed him. He tasted as good as she expected. His hands grabbed her ass, kneading the flesh and forcing her cunt to rub against his cock. She pulled back and reached between them, wasting no time sinking down onto him. 

He felt so different from Cassian- longer but not as thick. Still it felt right. She let herself adjust, head falling back with a sigh. She didn’t notice Cassian crawl up the bed beside them. His wings were tucked in, his own cock hard and curled up to his chest. 

“Okay pretty girl, show Azzie what you got.” 

That first lift and drop made her wince. Az was longer than Cassian by only a small bit but it was enough to make a difference.

“You okay?” Az whispered. 

She nodded. “I’m not used to the length.” Cassian busted out a laugh and Az’s cheeks darkened. “Just need to not overestimate it.” 

She sat up straighter and did it again. It didn’t hurt that time. It was easy to find a rhythm, pleasure coiling in her stomach and thighs quickly. Az used one hand to cup her breast and pinch her nipple. The other reached over to stroke Cassian’s cock. 

She watched one shadow come up onto her other breast, brushing her nipple and another slide down Az’s stomach to settle between her legs again. This orgasm was slower- not as strong but still made her yell when she broke, throbbing tight around Az. He and Cassian both groaned, Az coming inside her and Cassian spilling on his stomach and Azriel’s hand. 

Another bout of clarity and another haze swept over them. They went slower the next round, Nesta on Cassian’s face, licking up their cum while Az rode him behind her. Another round with Nesta on her back, Cass inside her and Az inside him. Nesta stroked their wings at one point, finding all the spots that had her males singing. Hours later there wasn’t a position they hadn’t been in already. 

Nesta herself was starting to feel sore and tired, the haze not taking her over like it had before. She laid between Cassian and Azriel, hot and sticky from sweat and other things. Az buried his face against her arm and pillow. Cassian was on his side, a hand resting on her sternum. 

“I think it’s over,” Cassian murmured. 

“Good, I’m tired,” Nesta closed her eyes. “I don’t think I could walk if we had to do another round.” 

She felt Azriel stir beside her, and she opened her eyes to watch him sit up. He didn’t look at either of them. 

“I’ll go clean myself up,” he whispered. His shadows seemed agitated as they flurried around him. 

“Stay,” Nesta reached out her hand to grab his. She squeezed it tight. “We’ll nap and then clean up.”

Az didn’t move. His wings were tucked in tight. She knew what he was thinking and it made her ache in her chest. 

“Please stay,” she whispered. 

“I don’t think I can handle it,” he finally replied back, his voice cracking. 

“What do you mean?” Cassian sat up on the bed and frowned. “Az don’t-“ 

“We did what we had to do.” He snapped. He turned and she could see the pain in his eyes. “Just let me go so we can get back to normal.” 

“No,” Nesta squeezed his hand again. Her chest ached more. She sat up beside Cassian and looked Azriel in his eyes. “Stay with us. This- this can be our new normal.” 

He shook his head. “But you’re mates. And I-”

Nesta didn’t know at that moment what came over her. She just knew Azriel needed to stay, that if she let him leave that bed- she moved to him and pulled him into a kiss. That ache in her chest eased and when he kissed her back something else tightened. 

She pulled back with a gasp. 

He shook his head with panic in his eyes. “That’s not-“ he looked past her and his shoulders hunched, like he’d been stuck in the chest. 

Nesta turned to Cassian and his mouth was dropped open. Did that mean-

“Holy Mother,” Cassian let out a breath. 

“It’s a trick,” Az said. She turned to see him shake his head. He tried to pull away and Nesta kept a grip on his arm. “It’s probably a trick of the Siren’s Dust.”

“Az, it’s not,” she shook her head. “Az we’re-“ 

“Don’t say it,” Az's voice broke. “Please don’t.” 

Nesta could feel his grief and worry, a bond now present and wide open. She could feel Cassian too, his worry and love for Az pulsing on her end. 

“We’re mates,” she whispered and tears fell down her cheeks. “We are your mates, Azriel.” 

“But how?” He asked and looked between them. He watched Nesta let go and put her hand to her chest when he tugged it. “Two mates?” 

Nesta felt Cassian shrug, moving on the bed to be closer to them both. 

“We can have Amren or Rhys check,” he said, his tone soothing for the panic coming off Azriel. “It’s there. I would know, I have one. Gods, this whole time,” Cassian laughed a little harshly. “We were mates this whole time.”

“Why don’t we clean up,” Nesta offered. “We clean up and have a good nap. Together. Then we can talk about it.”

Az hesitated but agreed. They all got out of bed and cleaned themselves up. As she feared it hurt to walk, but she didn’t regret it. The House changed the sheets when they returned and Cassian was the first to pass out snoring. Nesta looked over at Az, his hazel eyes watching her. She reached out and took his hand, stroking her thumb over his knuckles. 

“I prayed for a mate,” Az whispered in the dark. “I never got one. I thought the Mother had cursed me for being selfish.”

“I would know about being cursed, Az,” she whispered back. “We can be cursed together now.” 

“We are if he snores like that all the time.”

They both snickered, even more so when Cassian let out a louder snore. Once they finally settled, she sent her love down the bond to Az. Just as she fell asleep she realized he sent her love back. 

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for using racism to get away from the dude crushing on me?

This happened last year, but my friend group still tells me it was a messed up thing to do and part of me agrees with them, while the other part doesn’t know what else I could have done.

I (F17, white) have always been the quiet, weird, fat girl in school. I have never dated, even though people would regularly ask me out as a dare, or do the whole “my friend has a crush on you” thing to embarrass their friends. I got used to the idea that no one would ever really wanna date me, at least not in high school, and that anyone who asked me out was trying to trick me. But that was fine, I’m content with the friends I’ve made of my fellow social rejects and weirdos.

Last year a guy (black, M17 at the time) joined our friend group and started coming to anime club with us. He was quiet and weird, but then again we all were, so I was nice to him and assumed he’d open up when he was comfortable. And he did start opening up, but I went from thinking he was just shy to having a weird feeling about him. Like, no guys have ever been into me enough for me to develop a creep meter, but when I described the feeling I got when he would just quietly stare at me from across the room to my female friends they said “girl, that’s your creep meter going off”.

He would just silently stare at me for hours, if no one interrupted him. At my chest, my feet, and my crotch specifically. One day he told me he was in love with me. Not liked me, not had a crush on me, he was in love with me. And he wanted my phone number. Of course I was uncomfortable, and didn’t believe for a second he really liked me. No one likes me. They just pretend to because it’s funny. I politely told him I was only interested in being friends, and he just said “ok” and asked for my phone number again. I gave it to him because I didn’t know how to politely say no to that, and asked him to wait till the weekend to text me because my dad doesn’t like me texting on school nights (a lie, I just wanted to mentally prepare myself for texting with him). He said ok.

I was still riding the bus home when he started blowing up my phone with texts. Nothing heinous, just telling me I was pretty and asking about school and anime. I ignored him, and he started calling instead. I had to turn my phone off because I was starting to panic after 20 texts and 7 calls.

The next day a couple of my friends asked why I didn’t text them back and I told them I had to turn my phone off because he didn’t listen when I asked him to wait before contacting me, and they told me some disturbing rumors about him. That he has a fetish for fat girls. That he’s on probation for stalking and harassment. That he had to leave his last school because a girl got a restraining order. That I’m not the first girl he’s done this to at our school either. I followed up on that last one and got confirmation there: two other girls in my school told me he had come on to them too, and only because they were fat. I immediately blocked his number and stopped going to anime club and avoided him in the halls.

But even with me going out of my way to not see him he would still pop up. He would be waiting outside my classroom to talk to me. He would sit with me at lunch. He even got transferred to my chorus class (I have no way of confirming if he did that on purpose or not). He kept asking why I wasn’t texting him back or answering his calls, (because I had blocked him), I said I’m just shy talking on the phone. He asked why I took a different route to class everyday (because I was trying to avoid him), I just said I liked exploring the school.

I tried asking him, politely, to tone his behavior down some because he was scaring me. Nothing changed. I flat out reminded him I already said I wasn’t interested in him. Nothing changed. I told him truthfully that I wasn’t getting his dozens of calls and messages because it was too much and I blocked his number, and he started texting me from a different number instead. I told a teacher and he said he just wanted to be my friend. I told the guidance counselor and she said she would talk to him, but he didn’t stop.

So finally one day, at the end of my rope, I told him I told my racist dad he was harassing me. That’s all. That my dad was racist, and would never accept me dating a black boy, and that I told my dad he wouldn’t leave me alone. He immediately backed off and, as far as I know, moved on to another girl.

Most of my friends were there to watch him hang around me like a lost puppy and stare at me inappropriately, so they don’t blame me for wanting to get away from him. But they also say it was a dick move to bring racism into it. I think they may be right, but I sincerely couldn’t think of any other way to get rid of him myself. AITA?

What are these acronyms?

[matan4il]

Today marks 100 years since Hitler's first attempt to take over Germany by force, and 85 years since Kristallnacht, the Nazi-orchestrated pogrom that really forced Jews to realize how great the danger posed to them in Europe was.

A few years ago, I made a post with some of the updated data from research conducted in recent years, but this year, after the massacre of Oct 7, most of what I wrote doesn't feel relevant in the same way.

I'm thinking of this...

Up until that pogrom, it was a negligible Jewish minority that realized they HAD to get out, if they wanted to survive. Afterwards, as ALL Jews tried to flee, the world basically closed its doors to the Jewish refugees. Of those who got out in time, some found refuge in Israel, those who were lucky enough not to be blocked by the British, who were ruling this land at the time.

I've researched Jewish families' stories, and how they were torn apart. One youngster gets it and leaves in time. His elderly parents don't know how to start over in a different place, when being German was so embedded in their identity. They end up taking their own lives. These two single sisters make it to Israel. Their nephew writes them in Hebrew that he had dreamed at night of the whole family joining them in the Jewish homeland. He and his parents are murdered in shooting pits in Riga. A Zionist boyfriend makes it out. His girlfriend, trapped in the Lodz Ghetto, thinks back to his stories about Yossef Trumpeldor, a Jewish man who died in northern Israel in 1920, defending his community from Arab attackers, and whose last words were, "It's good to die for our country." She cries. "That's what I wanted, to die with dignity while fighting, not like this, like a human rag." She survives and joins him in Israel. To some people, she's an evil colonizer, whose rape and murder they are capable of justifying. They do so while quoting Elie Wiesel's words, about the importance of speaking up, because silence only never helps the oppressed. They're co-opting Wiesel's words, a Holocaust survivor himself, who was a Zionist, and extremely critical of Hamas.

Story after story, it's all the same. In families or communities that were split, those who got to Israel survived. For those who remained or tried a different escape route, most didn't make it (like Anne Frank's family, who fled Germany, tried to make it to the US or Cuba, were turned away repeatedly, and ended up going into hiding in the Netherlands... with only Anne's father surviving).

I am thinking about how, if there had been a State of Israel, a safe haven for Jews, that would automatically take them in when they needed to get away from the Nazis, we estimate that at least a million and a half Jews would have been saved.

I am thinking about how, there would have been a Jewish state to bomb the gas chambers in Auschwitz and save at least half a million Jews from them, instead of uselessly begging the allied leaders to.

I am thinking about how, if the allied leaders would have taken into account the political profit from cultivating an alliance with the Jewish state, that could have provided the political motivation to their begging Jewish citizens a different answer, and they would have actually done something to save at least some of the Jews.

I am thinking about how, for 80 years or so, the world has been chanting, "Never again," but when Hamas terrorists massacred the biggest number of Jews in a single day since the Holocaust, too many couldn't even condemn it. I'm thinking about how, when some justify the massacre of Israeli Jews, including Holocaust survivors and their families, most people don't tell them off. When Israel fights back to protect the rest of its population, as it swore it would (yes, "Never again" also means the right to self defense), the world condemns it, vilifying the Jews again, by depicting Israel's response as nothing but blood lust and a desire for revenge. I'm thinking... this is why we have to have Israel. So we never again are dependent on the silent world to defend our right to live. So that implementing "Never again" is never a question of whether non-Jews did more than recite the words emptily.

The massacre that took place on Oct 7 was horrific. But we saw the repetitive nature, the scale, the wide geographical spread, and the industrial nature of countless massacres that happened when there was no Israel to respond, and when no one was defending the Jews.

From 1851 (when Rabbi Avraham Shlomo Zalman Zoref was murdered on his way to synagogue in Jerusalem) to this day, less Jews died in the Arab-Israeli conflict than during just two days in the Nazi shooting pit of Baby Yar, on Sep 29 and 30, 1941. In Israel, the memorial days for the Jews murdered in the Holocaust, and for the people we lost in the Israeli-Arab conflict, are observed one week apart. The way that many here put here, the latter is to remember the price of having a state, and the former is to remember the price of not having one.

You don't have to agree with this POV. But when you look at the poisonous atmosphere cultivated online, including on Tumblr, where the Hamas massacre has been justified, or denied, or simply didn't merit a reaction, when you see how the global rise in antisemitism goes without much discussion, when you see people justifying violence towards Jews, based on a false narrative that erases entire chunks of Jewish history, at least understand where people who embrace this POV come from.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[the-skull-breaker]

MCL New Gen ep 4 spoliers !

alright alright ! the new episode is out for VIPs, and just like the previous one I got to play Roy's route early, I'll play Thomas' once the ep releases for everyone !

without further ado, click on "keep reading" to see my full opinion !

so first we got to go to the Cosy Bear for potentially meet Castiel serving, but sadly we've arrived late and didn't get to actually meet him, we did get to see Lynn however, tho I understand how Castiel's fans must be disappointed, like I would have loved o see how mister rockstar deals with serving customers, it could be really funny !

then Lynn and Thomas have a small discussion and Thomas just casually told her he was in love with her in he past (I will not go into details about him because, again, I'll make another post about his route later) which led to the topic of romantic relationships. now there was a quick scene with Brune before going to the cafe about her relationship with Roy and the bet the night before, and honestly I was kinda worried about it with the way she approached us but it turns out she's not mad about the kiss, so that was a relief.

to go back at the cafe discussion we got to know each characters' relationship statues and, surely, we got to Roy and Brune's, and while I did expect them to not have an actual serious relationship, I was surprised by how honest they were about their true feelings, and I was ESPECIALLY surprised by the fact that THEY DID NOT EVEN KISS. so anyway they ended up breaking up in a calm and mature way, which I did no expect but honestly ? as uncomfortable as the whole thing was I'm glad it turned that way instead of being messy, however it seemed like both Thomas and Devon were pretty disappointed with the lack of drama which is hilarious.

now we get to Candy's relationship with her ex and we've got the choice to got into details or not, I've chosen the first option which raised my LOM with Roy and as much as I should have expected this I did NOT expect how nice our coworkers were, especially Roy and Devon ! first Roy saying that he hopes karma will get to our ex is the sweetest thing, I'm even more in love with him ! then Devon who says they will not make business with our ex-workplace which is so awesome from him, couldn't ask for a better boss than him !

then we see Jason and the topic of why he's our enemy is brought up and honestly ? I hate him even more... basically his company is just to spite the fact he was disqualified to the contest because... he cheated... and took the opportunity of working with the city hall so he could copy Devon's project... good job, dickhead, you've played yourself ! now I want even more to mess with his plans and drive him to ruin ! *insert maniacal laugh*. now about his past relationships is none of my business, he can have many conquests I don't care, I'm definitely not into him anyway. (anyway sorry for those who do like him, nothing against you, I just don' like him at all)

and FINALLY we get to the illus scene which in the case of Roy happens in the bus and wow, I do wish I was in the place of Candy there ! the way he holds us close to him so we wouldn't fall while potentially not thinking much about it just because he might think it's just normal I just... aaaaaahhhh I love him ! then we discuss more about our expectations in a relationship and it's clear he would be such a good partner, I wish I had one like him...

and here you go, many people may think nothing much happened but remember that we're still in an introduction state, this episode was clearly about learning the LIs' view on relationship, and from what I see on the preview it seems like the next episode might make things more serious in terms of story, so hold on, be patient, it could still be great !

anyway, that's all for me, have a nice day !

[urfavbooblover]

I was wondering if you could bless us with something that’s Markus from Detroit? My life has flipped upside down the past few weeks and could use the pick me up 🖤

Hey thank you for your request! I’m so sorry that i published this so late, i’ve been on a break and only saw this now! I hope you’re doing better though and that you’ll still be happy about this imagine, even though it’s quite short :))

Paint shop || Markus x gender neutral reader

Warnings: none, just fluff

(remind me if I missed any)

- Detroit become human masterlist link -

Y/N’s pov:

“Damnit”, i cursed quietly to myself, standing in front of my shelf, my hands holding the tubes of my acrylic paint. They’re all empty, just as i was about to finally get back to finish my halfway done painting. How could i forget about this? I didn’t think twice, instead i immediately got dressed and ready to go buy some new ones.

As soon as i stepped outside, i was hit by the nice weather. I took in a deep breath of some fresh air before glancing down at my watch. I had enough time to take the lounger route, going for a nice walk, i thought to myself and made my way to the paint shop.

I arrived after a few minutes, opening the door to the shop. “Good afternoon!”, i greeted, seeing my favorite worker was here today. “Oh hey, Y/N!”, she replied, a big smile on her face. My eyes moved away from her for a moment, landing on an unfamiliar man. I never saw him around, or else i’m sure he would’ve already caught my eye.

“So, what are you searching for today?”, the cashier asked, snapping me back to reality. “Uh i just need some new paints, they’re empty once again,” i let out a small laugh, reminding myself i was here not even two weeks ago, to get some acrylics already. On top of that do i visit this shop at least twice a week.

“Oh i’m sure you know where to find them.”, she pointed out the fact that i know where everything was. “Of course!”, i smiled back at her, looking at the unknown man once again. He had a package in his hands and i wondered if he was interested in the same hobby as i am.

I made my way past him, making quick eye contact before standing in front of the shelf. Just a few seconds later, i picked out everything i needed, returning to the cashier. “Found everything?”, she kindly asked, expecting no other reply than yes from me.

We had a small chat and i eventually paid, existing the shop afterwards. My attention was fixed on my phone, causing me to bump into someone and dropping all my stuff. How usual.

“Fuck! I’m sorry.”, i said, looking up at the person who of course happened to be the guy i just saw in the shop already. “No it’s okay, i was standing here, blocking your way.”, he apologized, making me shake my head in disagreement. “I understand but i was literally all caught up on my phone. It’s my fault.”, i explained, eventually going down to pick up my stuff.

The man kneeled to the floor, helping me throughout it. “Thank you, that’s very kind of you.”, i softly smiled at him. “Nothing to thank for miss. At least your phone is whole.”, he said, telling me his name right after. “My names Markus by the way.”

“You’re right. I’m Y/N.”, i introduced myself back, the grin never leaving my face. I’m shocked how easy i can hold a conversation with him, i’m not so good with strangers i must say. “Oh, that’s a nice name, Y/N.”

That’s the first time i’ve heard this i thought as i could feel the heat forming in my cheeks. It’s coming from this attractive man on top of that. “Why thank you Markus. I really appreciate it.”, i spoke up, looking into his green eyes, that shined very beautiful in the sunlight.

“You’re welcome miss/sir.”, “It won’t be a problem to ask for your number no? I gotta get going and i’d love to catch up with you sometime again.”, he continued, tilting his head slightly to the side, keeping the eye contact.

My lips parted at this, my eyes falling on his hand that was already holding his phone towards me. “Oh that’s surely no problem! I’ll definitely find some time to meet ya.”, i responded, typing in my number as a new contact.

“Great! I’ll see you around, Y/N.”, i watched his face brightening up, before he turned around to leave. “See ya, Markus!”

I watched him a few more seconds and was just about to get to the path home, throwing a last glance into the paint shop. There she was standing. The cashier almost laughed at me, giving me a look to let me know she just witnessed the whole situation. I just playfully rolled my eyes at my friend, walking back home.

____________________________________________

Later at night, i laid in my bed as i was focused on the laptop in front of me. I heard a buzzing sound next to me and couldn’t help but immediately check from who the text was.

‘Hey Y/N, i don’t know if you’re still awake, but how does next Saturday sound?’

My lips turned up, happy that Markus hasn’t forgotten about me already.

[yourlowkeyidiot3]

Funny how the delta rune fandom treated Berdly as some supervillain and forced homo/transphobic and/or misogynist characteristics on him just to find a valid excuse to hate on him, when he is literally a CHILD that's HEAVILY implied to have been neglected by his parents, and made clear that he wasn't born smart and that he worked HARD for it. When in reality he really just wanted the best for Noelle and was manipulated by Queen. But then proceed to to treat the madman Spamton that literally sells you a damn torture device to two kids on the Alternative Route like a damn poor meow meow. Don't get me wrong Spams got an incredible sad backstory too but it's no excuse for what he did on the Weird Route.

Not saying you can't hate Berdly I just wish they had taken Queen's "there's nothing wrong with him he's just annoying" line to heart because that's it. That's all about it. There's nothing wrong with him, he isn't a super villain or anything like that he's just annoying, he's a TEENAGER for heaven's sake every damn teenager is annoying, Instead of pushing problematic characteristics on him.

Especially with making him "homophobic" when really. He respected Kris pronouns better than the whole fandom every did. (All the humans in ud/dr are non binary and only use they/them)

You want my honest opinion?

I believe Berdlys actually very damn brave and cares much for his friends. I absolutely love him and the Weird Route literally shows this:

He realised that something was wrong with Noelle and Kris. He realised that we were hurting Noelle, we were also hurting Kris too be unforntaly he doesn't know about this. But he didn't run away, no no instead he fought us, He wanted to protect Noelle. He wanted to stop what he realised was wrong, He also only targeted Kris because he believed they are hurting Noelle (when in reality it was us but like I said he doesn't know of this) and he isn't stupid he probably realised what Snowgrave was the moment he heard it. But he still didn't run away, I can't imagine how scared he must of been at his last moments but he still didn't run away. Because he cared too much to continue letting us hurt Noelle.

Again it's okay if you dislike Berdly I can understand why but the amount of mischaracterization he got was absolutely insane to me

[callmeklair]

Hey, excuse me, but did you read this? https://www.tumblr.com/yuikomorii/738629974149496832/ok-i-didnt-want-to-go-this-far-but-at-this

I genuinely want your opinion about this post, because I totally agree with your post, and thought this other one was a bit rude.

(sorry for my terrible English, I hope I'm not being rude to you)

dw, english is not my first language too so it's okay also you are not being rude. and yeah just like I said some people hate the "overhype" not Ayato hit this Ayato stans still convert it into ayato hate and start giving various reasons to prove their point. just like in this post. it's like if we go through other boys' contents more deeply like they did with Ayato, then we'll also find a lot of growth, development and plus traits in other characters. but nah they just wanna paint it on Ayato.

if we talk about Ayato forgiving Cordelia because he still hoped she got her feelings reciprocated, then Yuma forgiving Reiji is way more major and heavy, because we all know how bad Mukamis' experience was. and if Reiji wouldn't have burned down his whole village, Yuma wouldn't have ended on city streets, with memory loss and then you guys know the rest. orphanage was one of the most terrifying hell for them because of the war (and it's sad how it was so true) yet Yuma forgave Reiji and even wished for his happiness with Yui.

Reiji also had one of the biggest developments. he was someone with ambition but ignored and cast aside by never receiving his mother's acknowledgement. yet after meeting Yui he grew so much like, in Shu's LE route, he literally sacrificed himself to protect Yuma because he was guilty and even though Yuma already said he forgave him a long time ago why he did it, Reiji said no matter how many times Yuma forgave him, it wouldn't rid him off of his guilt and past actions. also he:

this is not even his own route! but Shu's DF route yet look at my boy. proof that Ayato is not the only one who is compassionate out of his route. and same goes for Mukami brothers, be it Sakamaki, their own family or even Tsukinami's route they are compassionate and that's really a big deal because after what happened to them, they laugh at things like "humanity" because nobody showed them such yet look at them in later games.

In other words, yes there are many reasons for Ayato stans to make Ayato the main hero because Rejet said it so but please stop putting other characters in the background, casting them aside like they didn't have it rough and are NOTHING compared to Ayato's sufferings and compassion. all of them had different environment. even triplets, ayato, laito and kanato were mistreated differently. and Laito only pushed away Ayato because of what Cordelia did to him, and remember, among vampires there is nothing like humanity and compassion that's why Laito never expected anything from any of his brothers and pushed Ayato away too. ALSO AYATO SAID IT HIMSELF IN LAITO'S DF THAT LAITO HAD IT WORSE FROM CORDELIA.

Yes Ayato probably killed Cordelia to protect his younger brothers + also what she did to him, and I really like that about him. but that didn't mean other characters didn't do anything. Carla sacrificed Shin's eye instead of giving up on his brother's life even if it meant Shin will hate him for his whole life but at least that'll still keep his little brother alive.

Ayato realised Karlheinz is the root of evil, so did Shu a long time ago but everyone have their OWN way with dealing things, and Shu just wanted a peaceful life with Yui that's why he never tried to ever mention his father or tried to face him head on. it was difficult for Mukamis to accept Karlheinz evil because he was their saviour yet they still took courage and betrayed him for the sake of evil. Reiji likes his father but in his CL good end, even he was speechless and finally had enough of his father's Adam and eve plan, rejecting the throne and taking Yui away.

now if I keep going, this post will become endless so I'll stop now

[primojade]

𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄.

𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐈𝐈: 𝐀𝐔𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐔𝐍𝐀 𝐈𝐔𝐕𝐀𝐓. ( fortune favours the bold )

𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐄 𝐈.𝐈𝐈 : 𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐔𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐔𝐌 𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐈𝐏𝐈𝐈

" fear not death for the hour of your doom is set and none may escape it. " - volunga saga, c.5

𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒' 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘 | As a veteran AR60 player of Genshin Impact, you pride yourself as someone who knows the ins and outs of Teyvat, even studiously completing Spiral Abyss every reset, and having 100% exploration to some, if not all, of the released regions so far. Everything is fun and enjoyable, especially since Sumeru just recently debuted so you still have a lot to do!

All that ends though, when a mysterious passerby pushes you off the building of your university while playing Genshin. But instead of meeting your inevitable end, you find yourself waking up in the very world you were addicted to! 

It's supposed to be a fun dream, right? Something you could laugh at when you wake up? Right?! So, why is that you were back in AR1 with nothing but a dull blade in your inventory?!

…well, at least you still have those 700+ sunsettias and mints, Timmie's fowls…and surprisingly similar game mechanics you used to merely see on the screen before. But what should you do now? Flirt with the Genshin men??? Good lords...

"Welcome to Genshin Impact, Dreamer. Here, we can show you a happier ever after you've never had before…so, ready?"

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘 | In which you somehow find yourself tangled in the start of a web of conspiracies and confusion as the threat of the crumple paper of fate led you to a strange path with two equally strange men.

𝐂𝐖 / 𝐓𝐖 | Cursing, possibly ooc Kaveh and Alhaitham, spoilers for Sumeru Archon Quest, let me know if I missed anything <3

𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒 | This is a lot harder to write because I established a new plot lmao. And because of Kaveh and Alhaitham it was so hard to write them sjakahs. Also, this was supposed to be posted on Friday last night but I was so tired after a whole day doing god-knows-what outside so I wasn’t able to finish the chapter :( Reblogs and comments are appreciated!

masterlist | route 1: argumentum ad hominem | (alternate route) route 1.1: magister dixit

Apparently, today was simply not your day.

Even before you get the chance to leave the blasted scene you found yourself in, you got stuck in the House of Daena together with two potential suspects of book robbery, one is known for being an academia lunatic and one for being a perfectionist architect. Not that you knew that they would do it, of all people, but at this point, you just did not want to give a damn.

Anyway, flashback almost a week prior after your arrival in Teyvat and before all this crazy fiasco happened, it's not everyday that your rationality won over your desire to earn and farm primogems, you know. It's also a near impossible feat to abandon the quest that could potentially help you advance your AR and even more so in pretending that Cyno is not outside, talking to Tighnari over something you wisely choose not to listen to–lest you might incur more suspicions from the both of them.

Which, in fact, is the last thing you wanted to do.

So, ignoring the questline and the angry red mark of the Paimon Menu, you closed the tab and let yourself fall on the soft bed once again with a dejected sigh. You repeatedly told yourself that this decision was the best course of action and you will have no regrets in this route. Still, you didn’t know how many hours had passed since then–all you somehow perceived is falling asleep, being lulled by the hushed whispers of the people outside and the quiet stillness of the Avidya Forest you grew accustomed to in the past months from behind the screen of your device. 

All dreams would soon end. Your hippocampus reminded you, and you agreed. No matter how much this bittersweet reality you found yourself in looks so believable, you couldn’t be far from your own reality…right? 

There has to be a way to go back.

That aside, the past four days you spent in Tighnari’s care was far from not being nerve-wrecking, if you were being honest. The fennec therianthrope seems to like hovering around you a lot, fussing like a distressed mother when you do something that he thought would strain your body and passionately lecturing you about the pros of staying in bed while you rest as if you were a poorly disciplined child.

While you admit that he was a great caregiver and it was endearing seeing a former 2D character worries about you despite literally knowing nothing about you, Tighnari’s inevitable tendencies to get lost in his lectures and fussing made your resolve to go back home hardening even more. 

Though when the sixth day had passed, you were finally allowed a bit more freedom to roam around. During that time, Tighnari had introduced you to Collei, his student and a trainee forest ranger, and it takes you a lot—and really, a lot—not to bawl your eyes out when you see the green-haired girl. You remember when you used to see Collei in the Genshin manga, she was still so small back then! And now, she is all grown up, cheerful despite her life experiences…and even kind-hearted enough to offer to take you to a visit in Sumeru City along with the other forest rangers to fetch some supplies to stock before the start of the heavy rainy season.

It was also on the sixth day when you found a crumpled paper with the word ᛚᚨᛖᚡᚨᛏᛖᛁᚾᚾ written in all bolds and italics using bright green ink in the folds of your clothes. Although you were weirded out and freaked out why, how and who slipped it there, you decided you did not give a damn about it.

Well, that was until you found another crumpled piece of paper under your pillow when you decided to get dinner with Tighnari and Collei outside. This time, ᚷᛚᛖᛁᛈᚾᛁᚱ was written on it using the same bright green ink. 

It doesn't even looked remotely similar to Teyvat's language, as what you've seen in passing when looking at the forest watcher's books on his study table. You have a vague idea what it means, but it was possible that it was one of their ancient languages, too. Since apparently, Alhaitham himself and any other scholars of his Darshan knows at least twenty languages, according to the lore.

But what the hell does it supposed to mean? It gives you the same level of anxiety when you are taking an exam in Foreign Languages. You started to question every motive, every reason why someone would send you, someone not even from this world, a crumpled paper with Earth's Runic inscriptions. Why would they send this to you? Who sent this to you? Do they even know you? A prank, maybe? What do they get from this? What do they want from you?

In any case, you don't want someone out there continuously bullying you, and you don’t have any lawyer here to sue them (unless you count on Yanfei, but that’s beside the point). So, as a last resort, you asked Tighnari if you could join the forest rangers going to Sumeru City because you planned to find your answers, and the possible prankster, in the House of Daena. Plus, you were really itching for a change in scenery!

So, yes, you won't get defeated by the Crumpled Papers of Fate before you could find a way back home!

"—oh, Collei…did I tell you how much I appreciate your existence? How could I cry in reverie for your benevolent acts? Just say the word, and I would do anything for you, you lovely human being."

Collei, probably used to your strange flare for dramatics, giggled in response and tugged your looped arms together. "I just think you need a change of scenery while recovering, and I know Master Tighnari's lectures could be too much sometimes, even if they come in good faith. Especially when you were recu…recu…um, what does he say again?"

"Recuperating?" You wrinkled your nose and Collei modded cheerfully. You can't really blame her for tripping over words, since most of the Genshin characters, especially those with super rich and scholarly background, used to speak formally and use deep words. The first time a curse slip passed your lips about two days ago, you remember seeing Tighnari's scandalous stare as if you offended his whole vocabulary.

It was also a fun way of teasing him. A small payback for all his lectures about flowers and taking care of yourself.

In any case, he begrudgingly allowed you to come see the Sumeru City along with the other forest rangers. It wasn't a long, arduous trek as you expected it to be, despite not using any Teleport Waypoints, maybe because the journey was an eye-opening one (especially when you saw chests and puzzles that you swore you already gotten before) and your group had tried your best from steering clear of any hilichurl or Eremite camps scattered around the forest.

After dropping you off at the Akademiya grounds, Collei and the other forest rangers told you that they will fetch you later after they're done restocking their supplies, you excitedly went inside, hoping to find some sort of lead or help in solving your crumpled paper predicament. 

Although Katayoun, the librarian, had adamantly asked for your credentials and permits before she let you borrow any books. Apparently, only students are allowed to have access here, but thankfully, Tighnari gave you a letter that he said would be enough for the librarian to let you inside, should you give it to her. 

“—what kind of book do you need, anyhow?” Katayoun finally relented.

“Uh, anything about Teyvat’s ancient language. The one with the alphabet similar to this one, if possible.”

The librarian peered into the two crumpled papers you presented to her, before shaking her head. “Most books about ancient language are strictly available only to students of Haravatat Darshan, and since your permit is from an alumni from Amurta, I apologise if I cannot comply with your request.” 

As she said with no room to complain, you had no choice but to pick other possible books to read that were available for you, stomping and frowning in defeat. But just as you sat on a chair in the farthest corner of the grandest library you ever saw in your life (it was even bigger than the one in-game!!), someone walked towards the seat across yours, waving his hand to you to get your attention.

"Hello! Do you mind if I sit here?" 

You felt as if you had a sudden epiphany, hearing a familiar voice that made your head snapped to him in surprise. You even almost knocked the pile of books you borrowed earlier when your eyes met a pair of sharp, mystic red irises and a tuft of fluffy-looking dirty blond hair. 

You resisted the urge to scream in both panic and excitement as you stiffly shook your head at him. IT'S KAVEH…?!

He coughed to gain your attention. "Ahem, I know it's very unbecoming for a gentleman such as myself but I couldn't help but to…overhear your conversation with our resident lovely librarian earlier. You were looking for books about ancient languages, correct?"

You blinked out of your reverie, slowly nodding at him. "Um, yes. I just need to find some references about…something. Unfortunately, I'm not a scholar from Haravatat to borrow the books I need."

His face lightened up, as if he, too, was hit by epiphany just like you. "Say, Mx…?"

"[Name]..."

"Mx. [Name], did you, perchance, recognise this?" Kaveh fished out something from his pocket and slid it across the table to you. Your eyes widened like saucers when you saw the familiar inscriptions of Runes written into three separate pieces of paper.

"The Crumpled Papers of Fate!" You hissed. "You have it, too?!"

"Yes!" He exclaimed in the same amount of enthusiasm as yours.

"But who the hell sent this?!" 

Kaveh shrugged his shoulders elegantly before resting his elbows on the table and leaning close to you. He playfully beckoned you to inch closer as if he's conspiring something with you. "That's what I want to know as well. All I realised is that the Crumpled Paper of Fate is some sort of code that gives us symbolism over something."

Your brows raised in curiosity. "Symbolism?" 

"It looks like you got two pieces. Though somehow, I got three." He tapped his gloveless finger on the table, the corner of his mouth turning downwards. "One in my pocket, the other was clipped together with my roommate's book in our living room, and the last was stuck in the door of my room. I even accidentally smack my head—"

"—which proves my point that your eyes are made of marbles if you didn't notice the door in your face."

Both you and Kaveh almost jumped from your seats when a deep voice spoke from behind you. Your jaw dropped when you caught sight of the Akademiya's Grand Scribe pulling the chair on your right side before getting himself comfortable on it, placing the books he held on his hands on the table with a soft thud.

WHAT IS ALHAITHAM DOING HERE THIS TIME?!

You were near hyperventilating near two handsome—and former 2D—dudes that was now glaring at each other. Well, more like Kaveh killing Alhaitham with his glares because the Scribe just leisurely opened his book and crossed his legs, seemingly adamant in ignoring his roommate.

And just like every playable character you met so far, and even the NPCs themselves, these two looked so human and real to someone from a game. The finer details from their designs and splash arts were more highlighted and even the contours in their faces are too detailed to be true.

Your eyes briefly glanced at the scribe's arm, and you inwardly whistled in amusement. Wow, those muscular arms could crush my skull. Lololol.

"Oi, Alhaitham! What in Teyvat are you doing here?" Kaveh asked in irritation, his former cool-ish aura vanishing in the instant.

He ignored Kaveh, his light turquoise eyes, highlighted with orange pupils, looked at you for a second and your breath hitched at its intensity. "...I overheard you two talking about the ancient scriptures and codes from the crumpled papers."

Your brows furrowed. "Huh…do you guys have something for eavesdropping or something?" 

He ignored you, too, and fished out three very familiar pieces of paper and slid it together with yours and Kaveh's. "....I suppose this is the reason why you want to borrow books of ancient languages, no? I will give you a hint. All of our papers are written in Runic inscriptions."

"Yeah, yeah, you the great scribe of the Akademiya from the Haravatat Darshan surely knows what it means." Kaveh said, sarcasm lacing his tone like a venom.

You grew more curious. "Where did you find yours?"

"Does it matter?"

You tried again. "And what does the Runic mean?" 

"Kaveh's Crumpled Paper of Fate means Ship, Blind, Light—which is rather suspicious, especially given that Kaveh found one of his papers in my book." Alhaitham said in a matter-of-fact tone, tapping his said book, that made Kaveh rolled his eyes in exasperation. 

"As a matter of fact, the only suspicious thing about that book," the architect scoffed. "...is that it's being held by a drama queen."

The last thing I remember, Kaveh's Vision is Dendro, not Pyro. Lol.

Alhaitham gave an unimpressed, humourless stare at his roommate's spiteful words and you tried suppressing your laughter, remembering Alhaitham's Oscar-like performance in the Archon Quest.

"Anyhow, back to the topic before someone rudely interrupted me. Mine was translated to Eye, Knowledge and Ravens." 

"But what does mine—"

You suddenly halted when a loud thump echoed across the library, and then there's screaming. Before you knew it, several Matra of the Akademiya flooded across the room, startling everyone who was inside.

"A book robbery took place in the library's restricted section. Everyone that stayed in the House of Daena between six in the morning until now, we are expecting your cooperation."

So, that's what happened to your supposedly peaceful morning. You were suddenly caught in the apparent book robbery in the restricted section, and you heard the General Mahamatra was going to interrogate every single person that the Matra caught.

This is not freaking good.

The prospect of meeting Cyno should be wonderful, right? BUT NO. You were on the receiving end of his job right now. And it's not even close to thrilling at all knowing the side of Cyno working that you honestly, do not wish to know.

Well, at least Kaveh and Alhaitham were with you right now. Though with the way they were bickering nonstop, you suddenly wished you could tell them to shut up.

"Theory number ten," Alhaitham muttered to himself; he was sitting so comfortably beside you as if they weren't on your way to the interrogation room. 

"You seriously reached theory ten with your nonsense?" Kaveh bited.

The scribe fished out a notebook from who-knows-where, looking for something. You tried to peek a little, but his muscular arms were in the way and it's embarrassing to inch closer when they didn't even bother introducing themselves to you. "It's possible that whoever sent this has the connection with the three of us—or at least, knows us to some extent. Perhaps wanting to measure our intelligence? For what?"

"Isn't that already obvious?" His roommate impatiently said. "[Name] got their Crumpled Paper of Fate in their own home, we got ours in your dorm, which by the way, only the two of us have access to. Whoever did this surely knew us pretty well."

"This is the reason why you didn't pass in anything other than your courses in Kshahrewar." Alhaitham said. "You always assume things."

"Excuse me, I'm not assuming. I am concluding!" He defended, apparently offended.

"Then don't jump into conclusions even if that's the only workout you do."

"Why you—"

As much as their banter was so amusing to watch, there are more pressing matters you had to know. "But that's impossible. I don't know anyone in this place aside from the Forest Rangers in the Avidya Forest, you know. It's nearly impossible that Tighnari and Collei would do this just to prank us. Though, I always had someone with me, so it's not possible that someone I don't know snuck into my room either…"

"You seem like you always have a witness with you?" Kaveh turned to you.

Alhaitham paused for a second. He blinked slowly, before a subtle smirk slowly pulled from the corner of his lips. "That's it."

"Huh?"

He stood up from his seat. "A witness." He vaguely replied before he went through the door faster than you could blink.

You and Kaveh stared at the door.

Then you two realised what Alhaitham just did.

"Oi, he just ran off without us!" Kaveh exclaimed in anger before tugging your hand to follow his roommate outside. "[Name], let's go before the Matra catches us!"

What in the world did you got yourself into?

Route 1.2.1: Stop Kaveh from escaping. You had a feeling that escaping isn't a good thing, especially since Cyno would probably hunt you down later. What's there to fear when you're innocent, no?

TAGLIST (open! Send a dm or ask to be added :3) | @xinii , @maehemthemisfit , @abvolat , @crazypriestess , @ghostsaysno , @kittence , @unabashedlyminiaturetyrant , @xiyanin , @toasterinabathtub , @sketcheeee , @fuoon , @luvwukong , @salty-salty , @rosebatsc , @inky8 , @thegeekact , @almighty-raiden-shogunate , @isuckat-avery-thing , @perhapsabitgirlypop , @2cuteforyourlies , @stxrgxzxr , @elsoleil , @tsukkinoyya , @mkaella , @celi-alika , @tiffthescales , @blurr3db3rry , @messyserver , @shadowmist0706 , @chin-chii , @observation-subject-753 , @clovers-anxiety , @shizunxie , @lleoll , @shoujishu , @uwu-panic , @forgotten-blues , @chaneylovesfangirling , @enma-reblogs , @cookielovingalien , @iruiji , @samarill , @definitionofsad , @spynerr , @bigcandlesmolbrain , @universal-rose , @feverish-dove , @inlovewithwaffles , @louise-rosita-leroux , @chocogi , @jar-03 , @swaggyb0ke ... (if ur username is bolded, it means i cant tagged u :(( maybe its in ur settings? Also lmk if i missed anyone cause im such an idiot sometimes shsh)

Route 1.2.2: Go with Kaveh to chase Alhaitham. If he escaped, you two would escape along with him! He's the grand scribe and Kaveh is an influential architect, they could get away with this mess with you…right?

[sallytwo]

MOUNTAINHEAD ANALYSIS ⛰️

Preface: I know this album was inspired by Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher, that the concept of digging a giant pit and living in a hole to build up a mountain that no one ever gets to see the top of is a very heavy-handed metaphor for late stage capitalism. Everything Everything has dealt a lot with the concepts of modern lonliness and isolation and disconnect before but holy shit do they hit the ball out of the park with this one. The way it slowly builds, the realization that the mountain is a lie, the growing bitterness and resentment but being resigned to not being do anything about it. It's absolutely phenomenal and a lot more direct than any of their previous concept albums.

"IT ALL MADE SENSE."

When End of the Contender dropped it was an instant favorite for me, with the theme of a whole generation of people who used to be well-respected and important who are now past their prime and don't know how they got here. Still feeling big and important when the world has left them behind.

This wasn't just EoTC though. The entire album dives into misplaced nostalgia, longing for the "good old days" and wanting that back. You see it all the time in real life, the idealization of the 50's and 80's and 90's, purposely misremembering all the terrible things that happened then. Because yes late-stage capitalism is awful but instead of tackling the route issue of that, we can just reminisce on "wasn't it great when you could buy a house?" "remember how good the music/fashion/TV was 20 years ago?" The issue isn't isn't capitalism, it's just the modern era.

Rather than do anything productive to change things, the album is stuck in a glorified past.

2. "MAYBE I'LL GO MISSING IN THE RAIN"

So it's been a scam all along, there's no glory on top of the mountain and building it has all been a waste. This one thing that you looked up to that to and placed your faith in has betrayed you.

You did everything right, you followed all the rules and now it's for nothing. You've wasted your life chasing something that wasn't real. The only thing at the top is a mirror, reflecting your own image back. The mountain is a lie.

What do you do now that you've realized this? Where is there to go?

I joked when Cold Reactor dropped that EE needed to stop making songs about disappearing into the wilderness, but that's what this album is about. There's nothing left for you in modern society, so what do you do? Sell all your belongings, disappear into the woods, disconnect from everything and maybe you'll be happy.

Here's the thing. This doesn't actually happen. It's an empty threat, since this society has left me behind now I get to leave it behind. But you never do! Which leads us to

3. "I STILL WANNA BE THE BEST"

Because even though there's no hope for the future, even though you're a has-been and your glory days are behind you, you still think you can get it back. You'll be famous again, and powerful, and everyone will know your name. It all links back to EoTC

As long as there's still a chance to make it, no one will ever leave. Falling into old habits, watching the pit grow bigger, because one day maybe you'll be the one at the top of the mountain. There's no change or action, just continuing the drudgery of life for the hope of something better. Too caught up in nostalgia for the past, still thinking that one day you'll be a contender again.

4. "PLEASE CAST LIGHT OVER ME"

But at the end that falls away. On "The Witness" the narrator is left watching the brutality around them, but too disconnected to do anything about it. It ends with a question- what if I had done something? What if I stopped, or went missing in the rain, or did anything to stop this all from happening? What if the pattern was different?

It doesn't matter because it never happened. It all continues, the pit grows, the mountain climbs, nothing happens. So caught up in the promise of the mountain, you never did anything. Even when you knew it was a lie, even after you realized that your life was meaningless, you continued along in this system to keep things moving. You're not going to be a contender again. You won't be famous and powerful, the wistful summers you fondly reminisce on aren't coming back. You're not going to go missing in the rain. The mountain continues to grow, and you continue to live in the pit.