#but trying to convince other people the world is doomed and there’s no hope

[tanadrin]

I like how they invented a new kind of seasonal depression where you get near-suicidal because winter is gone and never coming back, and unlike regular seasonal depression nothing can ever fix it or improve it in any way.

I don’t think doomerism is smart, correct, or useful. People selling you the line that the world is fucked and beyond saving are exploiting the fact that humans are likelier to latch on to certain doom than they are to complex uncertainty, because cognitively we find uncertainty difficult to deal with, and at least “everything is fucked” is a narrative we will always be able to support with confirmation bias.

If you think everything is doomed, you are some combination of 1) depressed, 2) credulous, and 3) under-informed. If you are trying to convince *other* people everything is doomed, you are a complete asshole.

[hana-no-seiiki]

Can you write something about yaoshi?thou their design is very pretty (⁠●⁠’⁠3⁠)⁠♡⁠(⁠ε⁠`⁠●⁠)

Let's say we're their fav human/god

I hope this makes sense

We don’t know much about the Aeons yet, so don’t expect this to be an accurate representation of what Yaoshi acts like. I’ll give ya two versions (human and aeon reader).

(YANDERE?) YAOSHI x READER (ft. Other Aeons)

warnings: ddne, mind break, power imbalance, massive age gap & infantilization(for the human section), yandere themes in general, somnophillia.

note: from what i read in yaoshi’s lore what i wrote feels like something the canon character would do hence the question mark

status: unedited

STORY ONE : TO LIVE IN ABUNDANCE | Doctor ! Reader

I.

Yaoshi could not fathom why one would not wish for eternal life. Life was the most beautiful thing in existence. Wondrous, with a diversity one could not begin to imagine. Yet, there exists people who desire for existence to come to a halt, many who wish for their teachings and gifts to end.

You were one of those people.

Despite your occupation as a doctor, you believed that every patient had a right to choose their destiny. Whether it be to continue fighting for their lives or to die peacefully in their death beds, who were you to decide what happens to them? You were only the nurturer and provider. Even the best doctor in their field has to let go of a patient when it came down to it. For life is only beautiful, meaningful when it has to diminish one day.

And in spite of your beliefs, Yaoshi decided to bless you to join him in his path.

Your world was shaken.

Why were you of all people chosen by this Aeon?

Sure, you were fully dedicated to career. But if anything, your views were more aligned to the Archer Lord of Fate. You have had many Mara strucken, the victims of Yaoshi’s ‘gifts’, pass away before your very eyes. Beasts who have long lost their minds and ability to choose what future they’ll follow. If you had a choice, without a heartbeat

Several millenia pass with you never aging. Generals that ruled come and go.

And now, because of their so-called kindness, you were banished from Xianzhou. Your home. Thrusted into the embrace of space and void,

and none other than the Aeon that doomed you.

“Child. You have come home at last.”

II.

If you were born into a different culture, perhaps a planet that worshipped the Aeon before you, maybe then you would be elated with your current happenstance.

But this was not the case unfortunately.

You spend around a decade filled with hatred and anger. Hurling the most venomous words and even attempting to harm their being. Of course, none of your actions do anything to help your situation.

A century was spent trying to convince them to let you go, to rescind their blessing and leave you to live your life as a mortal.

They refused, stating that it would saddened them to lose you.

It gets close to another century with how long you spent in tears. For the loss of your loved ones that had left you to go to the afterlife. For the situation you were forced into. As you cried and cried, all Yaoshi could do was embrace you using their many arms. It was a peculiar feeling at first but unfortunately became comforting soon enough.

And after all that you finally gave in.

Yaoshi did not seem surprised at all. In fact what awaited your complete acceptance was a gentle smile. One akin to a parent seeing their child come back home after running away in a fit.

“We can finally begin the preparations.”

“For what?” Your voice, hoarse and abused by your depressed barely came out.

“For our wedding.”

iii.

You were used to their multi-armed touches, their inhuman way of showing affection towards you. But nothing could prepare you for the consummation.

You don’t remember anything. Throughout the whole process you were extremely disassociated to the point of being catatonic.

This, this was your life now. Stuck to a god as a human who has far outlived their expiration date. Slowly yet surely your mind corroded.

And even as your body was littered with the golden allure of ginkgo leaves, your freedom never came.

Yaoshi did end up releasing you from their grasp to roam the cosmos freely. People from all over the universe called you the Golden Wanderer, or the Sanctus Medicus Saint.

But what was the point?

Even with your endless fame and immortality. You were a dead man walking.

Waiting, hoping, that one day someone would grant you mercy a god of life and everything beautiful in it could not.

STORY TWO : TO DIE IN THE LIGHT | AEON OF DREAMS - IMAGINARY ELEMENT ! READER

i.

In the time humanity and civilizations began to rise. You were created within the womb of the universe representing a concept. Dreams. Though you most presided over preferable ones, you were known to give unending nightmares to those that slighted you and your domain.

In the grand scheme of Aeons, you were neutral. Never straying from the unbiased perspective of a god. Those that worshipped and favored you get rewarded, those that dirtied your name were punished.

For that you were often looked down upon by your fellow gods, seen as indecisive with your head literally and figuratively stuck in the clouds.

Yaoshi used to be one of them. They had a difficult time understanding how one could live without ever peeling their eyes to the grandiose aesthetics of the world.

They soon began to fall in love with your fair — beautiful and impartial — self.

And if those mara-struck beings were anything to go off of . . .

Their infatuation spelt your doom.

ii.

There you were. Your form shone brilliantly under the light of the moons and stars that seemed to dangle above you.

Even a god snored, and snored you did. But to Yaoshi this hoarse sound was music. No, even more than that.

It was a reminder that throughout the eons, you two are alive. Together. Breathing.

Yaoshi visited your slumbering body frequently to the point that it became a risk. That Lan would sometimes stand guard over you in case they would come, or have the Xianzhou oversee your vicinity. Not many mortals can hold up against the Aeon however, and if it meant having to go against their path in order to see you — the choice was obvious.

Their stays mostly consisted of performing lullabies and poetry of how both your and their followers adored your seemingly romantic partnership, to your blissfully unaware body.

At least that’s what they thought.

iii.

Contrary to popular belief, your most devoted of followers do not eternally sleep. Nor do the majority spend a lot of their sleeping. In order to spread your name, a lot chose to stay awake. Because if there was anything your true followers loved more than a good nap it was you.

As such, not known to many people or gods, you had a vast network of knowledge. A lot of what people learn and experience appear in dreams, and once the more fantastical ones were taken off the list, you were left with a near infinite amount of information.

Humans have also mastered a way of communion with you.

Case in point, you had long known about Yaoshi’s visits. You were the one that asked Lan to aid you. Breaking your self imposed rule of impartiality.

But all is for naught.

Misinformation had spread far too wide and the delusions Yaoshi infected the world with overpowered your truth.

Their acquisition of you was as tranquil and hurdle free as it could be.

While you were caged by Yaoshi, another Aeon swore to bring you back.

Ending life and therefore your deeply unconscious state. A state which they saw as involuntary. A cage infinitely worse than the Aeon of Harmony kept you in.

And the first Stellaron was born.

a/n: i imagine human reader, especially post yaoshi adoption, to be like a lifesteal-tank sort of abundance character. only ever healing(mostly themself) if they attack/hurt the enemy, which would go against what yaoshi wants. i might draw a design for them actually. the type that if you build well, won’t ever die. but any battle with them would take a really long time since their damage is pp in comparison to other characters at the very least.

[link to the design/drawing here if i ever finish it]

[here’s a link to another aeon related fic]

i wanted to include both versions here before i uploaded this even if the first one is so long cause i just know im never gonna write a part two if ever lol. and yes, the aeon in the last bit is nanook.

want more hsr fics/have an idea for one? send me an ask or submission ❤️

©️ hana.no.seiiki - yun | 2023

[withdenim]

I think it’s time I introduce my doomed ancient yuri to the ninjago fandom. I’ll leave the story under the cut if anyone wants to read it 💜 it includes my Wojira backstory and why I draw Nyad as oni

Wojira is the younger, less powerful sister of firstbourne, I think. Wojira and Firstbourne we’re both chill with Oni, but Firstbourne was more Reserved about it . Like, she didn’t enforce weird rules or anything but she also . Didn’t stop her kids from being really awful.

Wojira spent more time with Oni than other Dragons. Even her kids (wind and water Dragons) were sort of weird about it. She didn’t really like the sort of power hoarding attitude of the other Dragons and decided to teach them a lesson about it.

When the first master was born she realized that Oni blood COULD bear elemental magic, and she took in two Oni kids (Nyad and her brother who I made up and haven’t named yet lmao) and gave them wind and water (separately) magic. And the other Dragons were VERY mad about this. They thought it was disgraceful.

They tried to get Firstbourne to banish her . Firstbourne refused and so her kids just all worked together to banish her instead. And sort of gave her a fucked up cursed eternal headache (in the amulets) Whoops . Nyad and her brother followed Wojira into the realm of Ninjago and tried to ease her pain for years but eventually it just sort of broke her mind and she started laying absolute waste to everything.

The FSM goes through his whole story (still figuring out details of it in my headcanons) and comes to Ninjago, desperate for a new home. And Nyad and her brother (I really need to name them DIFNDKFM) are scared of him at first. But he shows them his elemental magic and they realize he’s like them (Oni with elemental magic). And they bond over that and tell him about Wojira. The first master decides to help Nyad convince the Merlopians and Islanders to resist Wojira and hopefully bring peace to the realm.

Over several months they become good friends, and they often calm Nyad’s brother by making beautiful little worlds out of their elemental magic for him. And the FSM promises that one day Ninjago will be safe like these worlds, and they’ll all be able to live there.

And these very very lonely people have made a little family.

Of course, the Oni hunters are sent to track down the FSM, and Mystaké is the first to find them. She announces herself and demands the first master return with her. He begs to stay just long enough to make this world safe for the people there, and she reluctantly agrees when they show her the safe world they’re planning to build. It looks beautiful.

Mystaké joins their efforts, hoping to speed along the process of the first master’s return to the first realm, but she finds herself amazed by their magic and (worse) deeply fond of the little trio. She falls in love with Nyad, and starts letting herself indulge in their hopeful fantasies of a safe world where no one will find them. In this time, Nyad gives the FSM a name of his own to use when they have their safer world. Hajime.

When the preparations are as ready as they’ll ever be, the Battle of Nine Days begins. On the eighth day, Nyad’s little brother (who wasn’t even fighting) is struck near-fatally, and Nyad launches a risky attack to try and end the battle once and for all. It’s unsuccessful, but she realizes Wojira’s weak spot. Like in canon, she merges with the sea, desperate to give the others a chance at the world they’d all hoped for, and hoping that her brother could be saved if the battle ended and he could get proper help.

She knows she should kill Wojira, but she can’t bring herself to. And instead of killing her she decides to take the amulets, and send Wojira into a deep, painless sleep, hopefully eternal.

Hajime is devastated by Nyad’s death, and though Mystaké grieves her as well, she’s a lot more accustomed to death, and watches her go, surprised by the ache in her heart.

The brother lives, but passes on his element very soon after the events of the battle, sick of it’s consequence. Hajime builds the new world and appoints new masters, though he doesn’t know where the water and wind elements went (not his domain). Mystaké never even brings up the idea of taking Hajime back to the first realm again, and protects him from other hunters when she can. Hajime lives a long long time before choosing to pass on and find peace for himself. Mystake lives another thousand years, farming strange enchanted teas, occasionally a companion to Wu and Garmadon.

In Hunted, she confides in Lloyd that if or when she dies, she would like to be sunk into the sea where the battle took place (not that she tells him the story. Just the location), and Lloyd thinks it’s just some weird senile old lady talk. But when she does die at the hands of his father and the Sons of Garmadon in Hunted, Lloyd doesn’t get a chance to row her out until after March of the Oni.

She liked Lloyd. He was a lot like Hajime.

[shima-draws]

OOUGHHH been thinking about Grovyle lately and how much I just *clenches fists* love him. Listen to me. Listen,

He is the character of all time. He’s introduced as a wanted criminal stealing something SO forbidden that even the worst Pokemon criminals won’t even touch. That immediately shoots his coolness factor through the ROOF. And the fact that nobody is able to catch him;; AND we see that he’s ridiculously clever and smart and can worm his way out of just about any situation with a bit of quick thinking. And he’s always surrounded in this air of mystery and intrigue and you’re set up to think well yeah he’s stealing Time Gears and stopping time everywhere OBVIOUSLY he has to be an asshole. Except during your first encounter with him he’s very calm and collected and shockingly polite, and even apologizes when he attacks you?? Basically just the opposite of what you’d expect from a criminal. And then to top it off you find out he’s from the FUTURE?? Which is SO sick. And he’s got some secret history with Dusknoir. And when he’s finally captured and being brought into Treasure Town all tied up he doesn’t even act out UNTIL Dusknoir mentions the planet’s paralysis. Which is the first hint you get that things are a leetle sus.

And when you get taken to the future and are about to be executed…he helps you? He has literally zero obligation to do so, esp since you’ve attacked him before. And there’s another subtle hint that maybe deep down he’s got a soft side, that he’s actually not a bad person. And it’s heartbreaking bc he finally knows someone else who is a common enemy of Dusknoir, and he clearly wants to team up with you, bc all this time he’d been by himself in the past and having people he can trust would make things so much easier (and it’s startling how easy he trusts others, too, especially considering everything he’s been through). But your partner isn’t having it and you can FEEL the disappointment he feels that he’s not able to convince you, that you aren’t going to work together, that he can’t have someone else to rely on besides himself. But that little spark, that glimmer of hope comes back when you catch up to him and you’re like yeah we’re going to decide for ourselves what we think about all this. And you find out from Celebi that Grovyle’s always been hasty, always hurrying ahead to try and achieve his goals, and it’s admirable but also regrettable bc he doesn’t ever have time for anything else.

And THEN you discover the truth…that he’s been your partner all along…and he speaks of you so fondly and has such faith in you that he’s totally fine leaving things to you and letting himself get captured because he trusts you SO much. And the despair right after when he finds out you’ve been traveling alongside him the entire time. His precious partner is also going to get captured and executed and the world is doomed to fall into disrepair. But then your partner ignites that spark of hope again and it’s enough, and you make it back to the past, and suddenly things are different but in a good way because Grovyle suddenly has someone to rely on again, even without a memory to go with it. But he can also tell that because of your amnesia he’s no longer important to you, not by choice of course, but you’ve found someone else, a partner suited for you that brings out the best in you. And that’s fucking heartbreaking because everything the two of you shared is gone now, and you’ve moved on, and even though you’re THERE you’re also so far away and so different from the person he once knew. But he knows he has to let you go, had to from the start anyway, because of the sacrifice you were prepared to make. That BOTH of you were prepared to make. And despite the fact that you have no memory he still. Trusts you. Completely. Enough to sacrifice himself to take Dusknoir back to the future. And believe that you’ll follow through with the vow you made and prevent the planet’s paralysis. And he KNOWS you will so he doesn’t know how much time he has left but it doesn’t matter because he’s been prepared to disappear, to die knowing that he’s saved the future, that he made his mark and was able to shine in his finest moments. He can leave this world knowing he did what he set out to do and he made a difference and things will be better for everyone he’s leaving behind. Shut up. Shut UP. I care about him so much I am GOING to explode. THE character ever. You don’t understand,

[aita-blorbos]

(Spoilers for Magnus Archives)

AITA for burning my childhood house down

Hello, Jon.

Apologies for the deception, but I wanted to make sure you started reading, so I thought it best not to announce myself.

I’m assuming you’re alone; you always did prefer to read your statements in private. (slightly strained) I wouldn’t try too hard to stop reading; there’s every likelihood you’ll just hurt yourself. So just listen.

Now, shall we turn the page and try again?

WIBTA for starting the apocalypse

I hope you’ll forgive me the self-indulgence, but I have worked so very hard for this moment, a culmination of two centuries of work. It’s rare that you get the chance to monologue through another, and you can’t tell me you’re not curious.

Why does a man seek to destroy the world?

It’s a simple enough answer: for immortality and power. Uninspired, perhaps, but – my god. The discovery, not simply of the dark and horrible reality of the world in which you live, but that you would quite willingly doom that world and confine the billions in it to an eternity of terror and suffering, all to ensure your own happiness, to place yourself beyond pain and death and fear.

It is an awful thing to know about yourself, but the freedom, Jon, the freedom of it all. I have dedicated my life to handing the world to these Dread Powers all for my own gain, and I feel… nothing but satisfaction in that choice.

I am to be a king of a ruined world, and I shall never die.

I believe there are far more people in this world that would take that bargain than you would ever guess. And I have beaten all of them.

Of course, this desire did not manifest overnight. When RS (87, M) first gathered our little band – L, S, and the rest – to discuss and hypothesize on the nature of the things he had learned from R, I felt what I believe we all felt: curiosity, and fear.

But as he compiled his taxonomy and codified his theories on the grand rituals, I began to develop a very specific concern. RS was so obsessed with his ideas on balance, even as our fellows began to experiment and fall to the service of our patrons.

I began to worry that if one of them successfully attempted their ritual, then I would be as much a victim as any, trapped in the nightmare landscape of a twisted world.

At first, I attempted prevention, but the cause seemed hopeless. The only way to ensure I did not suffer the tribulations of what I believed to be an inevitable transformation was to bring it about myself. So what began as an experiment soon became a race.

Beyond that, I was getting older, and mortality began to weigh more heavily on my mind. How much in this world is done because we fear death, the last and greatest terror?

I convinced RS to work on Millbank, leading him to design it as a temple to all the Fears in equilibrium, such that my own modifications to the design of the Panopticon went… unremarked.

It. Took. Years. for the dread of the prisoners to fully suffuse the place, and I was an old man before I made my first attempt at the Watcher’s Crown, sat in the center of that colossal eye, the great ring of cells encircling me like a coronet.

It was… flawed, of course, as all RS’s rituals were, and none of the inmates survived as the power I attempted to harness shook the building almost to pieces, and the murky swamp upon which the prison was built consumed it.

But it left me a gift: For sat in that watchtower, I could see everything I turned my mind to.

It was a dizzying power, and one I discovered I maintained even as I found vessels to extend my life. Of course, I had to make sure the location was kept under my control while I worked on revising my plans, and so I moved the organization I had founded to assist in my research down to London, and the Institute as you know it was born.

I’ll not bore you with details of my bodies and failures through those intervening years. Suffice to say I kept busy, both planning my own next attempt, and doing my best to stymie those others who tried versions of their own.

Surely my interpretation of the Watcher’s Crown had been incomplete; there had been some element of the ritual I had overlooked.

It was not until I met G (70, F) that things began to really come into focus.

You see, the role of Archivist has been part of the Beholding for as far back as my research can go. This isn’t uncommon for the Powers; most of the beliefs around them are guesswork and fallible human interpretation, but there are certain throughlines and consistencies that can be spotted, regardless of the trappings.

But G was unlike any other Archivist. She simply did not care about compiling experiences or collecting the fears of others. She was driven to stop those who served the Powers.

More than once I thought she must secretly be of the Hunt – but there was never that sick joy in her, that thrill of predator and prey. She had simply decided that this was her position in life, and went about it with a practicality that even I found disconcerting at times.

I once asked her what drove her, what had started her down that path. She told me the Desolation had killed her cat.

I don’t know if she was joking, and, to be honest, I could never bring myself to look into her mind and find out for sure.

In any case, G’s ruthless efficiency in derailing and collapsing rituals threw into stark relief a question that had been bothering me for almost a hundred and fifty years: In the whole span of humanity, why had nobody ever succeeded?

Perhaps there were a long line of G throughout history, but I found that hard to credit. Could it be, then, that there was something in the very concept of the rituals that meant they couldn’t succeed?

She was clearly having similar thoughts in that last year, all of which culminated with the People’s Church.

When I saw that she was making no preparations whatsoever to stop it, I realized she was putting into practice a theory, and one she couldn’t afford to be wrong. She was going to wait, and see if the unopposed ritual succeeded, or if it collapsed under its own strain as mine had all those years ago.

Knowing G, I’m sure she had a backup plan if she had miscalculated – but she had not. The ritual failed. And all at once, I realized what had to be done.

You see, the thing about the Fears is that they can never be truly separated from each other. When does the fear of sudden violence transition into the fear of hunted prey? When does the mask of the Stranger become the deception of the Spiral?

Even those that seem to exist in direct opposition rely on each other for their definition as much as up relies on down.

To try and create a world with only the Buried makes as much sense as trying to conceive a world with only down.

Every ritual tied itself so closely to a single power as to render itself impossible. They could bring their patron close, but never sever it from the others, and eventually it would be violently pulled back into the place next to reality where they dwell.

The solution, then, is simple: A new ritual must be devised which will bring through all the Powers at once. All fourteen, as I had hoped I could complete it before any new powers such as Extinction were able to fully emerge. All under the Eye’s auspices, of course. We mustn’t forget our roots.

And there was only one being that could possibly serve as a lynchpin for this new ritual: The Archivist. A position that had so recently become vacant, thanks to G’s ill-timed retirement plans.

Because the thing about the Archivist is that – well, it’s a bit of a misnomer.

It might, perhaps, be better named: The Archive.

Because you do not administer and preserve the records of fear, Jon. You are a record of fear, both in mind as you walk the shuddering record of each statement, and in body as the Powers each leave their mark upon you.

You are a living chronicle of terror.

Perhaps, then, if I could find an Archivist and have each Power mark them, have them confront each one and each in turn instill in them a powerful and acute fear for their life, they could be turned into a conduit for the coming of this – nightmare kingdom.

Do you see where I’m going, Jon?

It does tickle me, that in this world of would-be occult dynasties and ageless monsters, the Chosen One is simply that – someone I chose. It’s not in your blood, or your soul, or your destiny. It’s just in your own, rotten luck.

I’ll admit, my options were somewhat limited, but My God, when you came to me already marked by the Web, I knew it had to be you. I even held out some small hope you had been sent by the Spider as some sort of implicit blessing on the whole project, and, do you know what, I think it was.

Of course, I had to bide my time, get a measure of you before I began to push, learn how you worked – So I decided I would wait until something came for you, and see how you reacted. Attacks upon the Archives were not uncommon during G’s tenure, and, while she was always prepared, I made sure you would not be.

I reasoned if you couldn’t survive a single encounter, you were unlikely to make it through all fourteen. So, when JP attacked, I watched eagerly, one hand on the gas release from the start.

You acquitted yourself well enough, so I decided to see how far you would get, though I waited until the worms were in you before I pulled the lever. I needed to make sure you felt that fear all the way to your bones.

The discovery that one of the Stranger’s minions had infiltrated the Institute in the aftermath was certainly a pleasant bonus. Even if that sliver of paranoia, that vague wrongness you couldn’t quite place wouldn’t count as a mark, it was only a matter of time before it confronted you in a far more direct and affecting matter.

Admittedly, given the advent of the Unknowing, I needn’t have bothered. But what’s the old saying about hindsight?

More important to me was Sasha’s encounter with the Distortion. If it had taken an interest, then I very much wanted it to cross your path.

So I found one of its current victims and convinced her to make a statement.

Poor H (~20, F). I actually had to put her in a taxi myself, she was getting so lost in those narrow London side streets.

It worked, though.

Between the stabbing and at least two desperate flights into its doors – you’re marked very deeply by the Spiral.

JL (~70, M) was a surprise, of course, and I was forced to improvise. I had no idea how much G would have told him, and he could very easily have derailed everything if you learned too much too fast.

I justified it to myself saying I was going to have to send you out into the world anyway, if you were to encounter more of the Powers, but I can’t honestly pretend it wasn’t a… rather rash move.

Still. I’d requested Detective T (~25, F) be assigned to the case when they found G’s body in the hope that having a Hunter in the mix would eventually lead to a confrontation, and setting you up as a killer certainly hastened that.

Then it was just a matter of feeding you statements to lead you to a few Avatars I thought were likely to harm you – but probably would stop short of actually killing you.

J (27, F) served her purpose exactly as I had hoped, as did our dearly departed Mr. C, marking you for the Desolation and the Vast.

Honestly, I had – nothing to do with M (23, F) and her Slaughter adventure, but when I saw the situation, I made sure to trap her here, so when her rage bubbled over you would be right there, a ready target.

I didn’t foresee the mark coming from surgery gone wrong, but it was a very pleasant surprise.

The Unknowing was a distraction, but not an unwelcome one. For this to work, you needed more than just the marks; you needed power. And that was something the Unknowing served to test, though it posed no actual danger in the grand scheme of things.

And it did serve another purpose, of course. It inadvertently pushed you to confront death, a mark I had been very worried about trying to orchestrate. If I tried too early, you’d just die. Too late, and you might be powerful enough to see the attempt coming, and maybe even understand why.

As it was, it was just right, and once again, you came through with flying colors.

By this point, your abilities were coming along in leaps and bounds, and I was concerned that meeting face-to-face might end up with you – (sigh) – Knowing something you shouldn’t.

I had initially planned to go into hiding, but when your colleagues surprised me with the police, well. It was simple enough to cut a deal.

All that remained, then, were the Dark, the Flesh, the Buried, and the Lonely.

I was a little put out when that idiot JH (???, M) misinterpreted my letters and attacked the Institute too soon, before you were even out of the hospital, but then – Ho, you should have see my face when you voluntarily went to him.

I couldn’t see what happened in there, of course, but given how you came out, I’m very sure it counts as a mark.

I suspected the coffin might turn up again, and once it did, it was simply a matter of getting any, uh… restraining factors you might have had flying off on a wild goose chase, and waiting.

Honestly, Detective T has been proving invaluable through this process. I’d been racking my brains for months about what I could use to lure you in.

And, of course, I knew the Dark Sun was just sitting there waiting. So when it came time, I just whipped up another apocalypse and sent you on your merry way.

Then all that remained was the Lonely.

Poor P (~50, M). He really should have left well enough alone. Or just done what I’d asked in the first place.

Ah well. He knew what I was attempting, and was very unwilling to cooperate until I made him a little wager about M (same age as you, Jon, M).

Of course, he had no way of knowing that, in addition to setting you up for the final mark, he was giving you all the tools you needed to escape from it.

How is M, by the way? He looks well. You will keep an eye on him when all this is over, won’t you? He’s earned that.

And there, I think, we are brought just about up to date. I have enjoyed our little trip down memory lane, but past here lies only impatience.

You are prepared. You are ready. You are marked. The power of the Ceaseless Watcher flows through you, and the time of our victory is here.

Don’t worry, Jon. You’ll get used to it here, in the world that we have made.

Now. Repeat after me.

You who watch and know and understand none. You who listen and hear and will not comprehend. You who wait and wait and drink in all that is not yours by right.

Come to us in your wholeness.

Come to us in your perfection.

Bring all that is fear and all that is terror and all that is the awful dread that crawls and chokes and blinds and falls and twists and leaves and hides and weaves and burns and hunts and rips and bleeds and dies!

Come to us.

I – OPEN – THE DOOR!

[ampblamp]

AU: Here's How Billford Can Still Win

(part 1: make that triangle miserable)

tl;dr: i want bill to have his ability to live in denial about what he did shattered by several important figures from his past BEFORE he can enact weirdmageddon. this way the yaoi can be messy and toxic (at first) but NOT doomed. it's self indulgent for sure but i'm doin my best to keep it IC as i can 🫡

this first post is just me figuring out how i think things would have to go down on bill's end for billford to have any chance of working out. take my hand. come away with me to my autism world

i'm still figuring out all the details of what would have to change to like. weaken bill's mental defenses enough because he HAS been able to shove his guilt down for so long. i do think everything with ford would be one of the key factors cause he had never connected so much with any of his prior human partners and obviously things souring fucked him up enough to have a turbo breakdown. (i know it's also because of the amount of times the plan has failed but i think he's also feeling rejected by so many humans not liking him lolll)

i think his breakdown after getting wasted at o'sadley's would happen like in canon, save for its repercussions. once bill starts thinking about his mom and everyone else from euclydia around when he's about to be arrested, maybe it would open the door for thoughts of them to keep slipping through his defenses. and suddenly thinking about weirdmageddon and hearing himself and other people talking about it could have a chance of triggering him.

i know personally that trauma can jump in and completely drag you back in time regardless of any logic, and i think him having that kind of episode sooner might be the key to getting him to face that he doesn't want to keep repeating what he did to euclydia because it's never going to be enough to convince the small, small voice in his head saying 'stop'.

because that's just the thing. bill has forced himself down a path of destruction to Prove to himself that its actually for the best to tear down "miserable reality" and replace it with his own vision. his drive and impatience to get weirdmageddon going is BECAUSE he wants to permanently cement that narrative in his mind with the ultimate "proof". because if the narrative fails, not only will he not be able to mentally cope (without help) he'll completely fail the henchmaniacs, who he promised a new home, and look vulnerable and weak, which he's TRAINED them to view as what should be destroyed.

i think the o'sadley breakdown and my proposed worsened repercussions of it would destabilize him, but it wouldn't be enough to stop him. what would push bill over the edge in this hypothetical would be several powerful entities from bill's past like the axolotl, the oracle, and time baby working together to somehow target his mental weak point. cause remember, time baby canonically KNOWS bill's weak point.

also like. To Me. the axolotl and the oracle are people bill was close to and has seen himself in at one point* but they matured and he didn't, and that's why he's SO hostile towards them.

*the oracle being an ex-henchmaniac is canon but i say this about the axolotl because of xolotl. look him up, it'll freak your bean.

alsooooo... ford not being as immature and vengeful as bill hoped he was is probably why bill broke down so hard - because it reminded him of the axolotl and the oracle. all the people who he actually connected with on a deeper level have left because of the same reason. but bill was always too terrified to confront everything he's done, which would be necessary to follow them.

so ends part 1... next, i think i'm gonna try to figure out how ford and bill would meet again (haha). ford is sucked into the portal right after (maybe even during?) the whole o'sadley's deal iirc sooo... fun point in the timeline to play with!

also hopin to draw stuff for this AU in the future :]c calling upon the power of my newly aquired ADHD meds lmao

[litnerdwrites]

"Rhysand had every right to be mad at Nesta for giving Bryce the mask. Cassian was right not to defend her."

Okay, so our issue isn't that Rhysand is mad at Nesta for giving up the mask. Logically speaking, giving up the mask was reckless and dangerous. She and the IC don't know Bryce like we, as readers, do. They don't know her story, motivations, or goals as we do. All they know, is that she has a power that their enemies are looking for, and if they let her go, their world as they know it may very well be destroyed. Especially after they saw the weapons that the Asteri/Daglan have. From a logical perspective, it makes sense that they don't trust her, so giving her the mask was too great a risk.

That's not the issue. It's never been the issue.

First, I think it's a little hypercritical for Rhysand to be so mad, since he, unapologetically, did the same thing to Tarquin. At least Bryce gave them assurances that she'd return the mask, assuming they'd succeed, through hostages. It would also be a way to make sure she wouldn't give in under torture, since that would mean opening the gate to where her family is and dooming them as well as Prythian. Meanwhile, Rhysand didn't even give the book back, or offer to make it up to Tarquin somehow.

That aside, however, Rhysand being mad makes sense. Rhys can be mad she's risked his people, his city and their world. Cassian can be mad that his home and family is in danger because of Nesta's reckless actions. That's fair.

What's not fair, is Rhysand threatened to kill her. What's not fair, is that Cassian let him.

No matter how angry he is, threatening his family/in law's (I'm not convinced he sees her as family at all tbh) with bodily harm. Especially when he's very capable, and (at this point) not proven that he's in any way unwilling to actually carry it out. He has no right to take it out on her in that way. That is verbal abuse. That is threat of bodily harm. He has no right to argue that females are safe in his city, because clearly, Nesta isn't safe in her own home above the city.

Cassian can be upset with Nesta for her decision. As a general, who's job it is to protect the NC, it makes sense he'd disagree with her choice and can be mad over it. However, standing back and letting someone threaten Nesta's life, in her own home, that's supposed to be her safe space, knowing damn well that said person could kill her if he felt like it.

It seems like common sense that once you get married or mated or whatever, your spouse becomes your family. While it's important to prioritise your other family, the safety, and comfort of your spouse should come first and foremost. Every relationship, and family, has their issues, granted, but resorting to abuse, and threats of violence to fix them, is wrong. Allowing others to resort to abuse is wrong.

It's not even the first time this has happened either. The last time he threatened to kill her, she was mentally broken and suicidal, and Cassian didn't stand up for her then either. Maybe Nesta shouldn't have said it the way that she did, but someone should've said it. The worst Rhys can be upset about, in that case, is her 'trying to upset Feyre' (but I've already made it clear a post or two ago how I don't think that was the case), and maybe about how she essentially broke into Amren's apartment, but both pale in comparison to what Rhys did, and should be put aside for a while.

Cassian needs to get his act together. Let Rhysand be mad at Nesta. Let him dock whatever salary I hope she's getting after the events of ACOSF. He's, unfortunately, technically, her employer, so he's free to cut her pay for a bit, suspend her from work for a while, or fire her from court matters, or even give her a few days worth boring paperwork to do. Those are normal, workplace punishments, and make sense, if he's really that mad (but we all know he won't since he needs to keep her and her powers under his thumb), but threatening to harm her when Cassian should draw the line.

The reason he's a terrible mate, isn't because he doesn't act like she's always right or take her side every time. It's because he lets other people (read Rhys) take things too far. Nobody has any reason to think that if Rhysand ordered Nesta to be killed the next morning, that he'd do anything to protect her. He may tried have stood up for her when she wasn't around once or twice in... The series (once in acofas, during that dinner, another time when they wanted her to find the trove, and once when he wanted her to be aware of the fact she can create a trove), but he backs down so easily, proving that if push comes to shove, he won't fight for her.

[eroguron0nsense]

I've written before about how Ace's story has so many goddamn biblical allusions/parallels with the New Testament (conceived of by a miracle, survived a state-sanctioned mass infanticide/femicide, handed over for execution by a traitor, biblical resurrection kinda fulfilled through Luffy and Sabo inheriting his will) that I sometimes wonder if it's kind of intentional. That being said, if Ace is a Christ figure, he's a very interesting take on one: he's not dying voluntarily, but because the Navy and the World Government are hoping to set an example, reaffirm their power, and (theoretically, although this is a far less convincing motivation than punitive cruelty for the sake of it) discourage people from participating in the search for Roger's legacy and "end the great pirate era". He's not perfectly wise or selfless or divinely blessed by his parentage, nor does he ever identify with his semi-divine father; he's a twenty-year-old who rejects Roger and spends his whole life trying to find some agency and freedom from that legacy, living with the perpetual excruciating terror of being discovered until it finally happens and he's doomed both by the narrative and by the terrible destiny of being born a D and Roger's child. His execution isn't framed as a predestined moment of divine sacrifice and absolution, it's a frantic nightmare that ends in tragedy, surrounded by constant reminders of the hollow, twisted "justice" and false promises of a new dawn espoused by the oppressor. And when he does end up sacrificing himself, he doesn't do it for a greater purpose, or for the good of mankind: he dies fighting for himself and his family, he dies turning around to confront the tormentors who have taken his and his loved one's lives and freedom and mocked their sacrifice, and, most importantly, he dies for Luffy. He dies in defiance of these grand narratives ascribed to him: not to save the world or bring about a new era but in the name of defending the people he loves and finds his purpose in loving.

TLDR: Oda’s take on the Christ Figure isn’t a prophet or all-knowing son of God, but a young person born with a terrible fate, who tries to live and find love in his friends and brothers and family only to have it stolen from him by the powers that be for a cruel birthright he had no say in, whose execution and its symbolic purposes are forced on him from outside. He's a child who deserves the world and is killed for the "sins" of others, but instead of dying on the cross, instead of being sacrificed on the altar of state control for an ostensible end to an era, he manages to die fighting on his own terms for something that truly matters to him, and the ripple effects caused by his death/sacrifice are slated to eventually bring about the downfall of the system that murdered him.

[streets-in-paradise]

Third Fate - Achilles x Fiancee!Reader

Requested by Anon

" Hey, I found your tumblr and I'm loving what you do here, mostly troy. I don't know if you're getting requests, but if you are, you can make one for Achilles based on that scene where he's told he can go and win glory in battle and have his name spoken for centuries or he can stay and be loved, have children, wife? I would love to see Achilles receive more love, with a wife and children. Feel free to make any changes you want, thank you very much in advance."

Hi, anon! I got this way sooner than what i expected because I was really in the mood to write it. The bittersweet mix of angst and fluff was exactly what I wanted to get into this week. Hope you will enjoy it :)

For a lenght concern i kept it in a pre war, pre marriage discussion of the prophecy. If once you read it you happen to like what i wrote here let me know and I can post a continuation showing what happens next ( i originally planned to do so, but it became too long so i prefer to save that for a second part)

Word Count 3.200

Warnings: Standard Achilles sexyness ( no smut, but if you watched the film you understand what I mean with this.) Some aspects of both, the canon of the film and the source material it is based on, were changed to fit the request in my envision of the story.

Summary: Terrible news disrupt the eve of your engagement to Achilles. He is called to fight in Troy and the spectacular war that the gossip foretells seems to be the destiny of greatness he had always dreamed with, but the price he has to pay for it is his happiness with you. The three days ultimatum Odysseus gave him is his moment to decide, but he won't do it without you.

Note: Inspired by two prompts by @creativepromptsforwriting

Prompt 1014 - " Well, the prophecy was a bit unclear about this part."

Prompt 1010 - " Let's not worry about the future. Let's just take this one kiss at a time."

"I like how that sounds."

Tags: @mysticaldeanvoidhorse @helie-brain

There was no easy way for him to explain to you what he had just found out. After Odysseus arrived bringing the news of the war in Asia you were already sad thinking of the distance that would keep your fiancé far away from you for an uncertain amount of time, but the real hardships surpassed your expectations. The whispers of fame claimed the conflict escalated enough to become the greatest war your world had ever seen, but you still imagined it as one war like many others he fought before. No matter the challenges found in battle, Achilles would always return to you. 

Except that he wouldn’t,not from Troy. His mother told him of an old prophecy announced before his birth assuring that war would be the peak of his consecration as a hero, but the price for this glorification was his death. From this fact fate allowed him only two options of choice. He could either stay in Greece and be loved during his lifetime knowing history would forget him, or go to Troy to make his name immortal facing his doom. 

To the end of his tale all you could do was cry, convinced that you were losing him forever. All your plans faded in just one instant, the life you dreamed together was gone. 

“ I’m not dead yet, look at me.” He sweetly mocked you. “ How can you be so sure already that I’m here to tell you I’m abandoning you to get myself killed?” 

You could tell he was trying, but that wasn’t making it any better. 

“ If you don’t go, you will regret it. “ Was your dry comeback. “I know you, Achilles. You live to fight, staying away from the battlefield feels to you like a punishment. I can never keep you for long, not even when war calls you to fight other greeks. Why would it be different this time? You were born for this war, not to labrate the fields and raise goats. If Troy is the fate of greatness that you deserve, I can’t ask you to abandon this life purpose for the sake of our wedding.” 

Despite how much he loved to see people worshiping as a hero, he was very aware to be a man in your eyes. Your approach was realistic and showed how well you knew him, much better than some of the men bleeding with him in war. If you fell for him, you did it knowing what to expect. Begging him to change his nature to fit the requirements of peaceful domesticity was never in your plans and you wouldn’t try it even if you were desperate. 

That didn’t mean he wouldn’t be able to surprise you on occasions, exactly as he did when he proposed to you freshly arrived from the victory against King Triopas and his giant Boagrius. 

“ Do you think I wouldn’t give it all away for you? Then I guess you don’t know me as well as you claim. “ He teased you with insistence. “ I can do well raising horses, I have some magnificent ones already. Do you know that horses are one of the most remarkable exportations of the trojans? If their city gets sacked by greeks and I manage to buy a few of theirs to mix with mine we would get an excellent rare breed. “ 

You cleaned your face and warned him against the mockery. 

“ Don’t play with me! With the memories of your proposal still fresh, fate demands me to let you go. Being your wife is my dream, but I can’t have you knowing I would be destroying everything you worked so hard for. The immortality of your name is a cause bigger than me, the happy marriage we could have had or the children I could have given you. It can’t be a coincidence that this war gets unleashed precisely now, just as we are taking the first step to formalize our union.” 

“ They are pressuring me to choose, it’s true, but the load of this decision lies in the fact that I want both more than anything.” 

Achilles interrupted himself to take your hand, inviting you to abandon the distance you were forcing ever since he began to explain the situation. 

“ I need you by my side, it’s the only vulnerability I have ever allowed myself. A glorifying death doesn’t scare me, but surviving far enough without you would be torture.” 

Your lips parted in sincere amazement for that confession, so unusual of him. 

“ A slow agony. If the war doesn’t kill me first, lovesickness will.” He continued. “ The comfort of lonely men fighting in foreign lands is dreaming with their distant wives at night, the hope of returning to them makes life bearable. I would not have this, from the moment I would board my ship I will be aware you are lost to me. All I would have is the wound of my pierced heart still bleeding love for you and plenty of time to wonder how wonderful it would have been to make you mine… Sooner or later I would lose my mind. Knowing glorious death would be the only comfort already promised to me, I would roam the battlefield searching for it. It’s most likely I would perform incredible acts worthy of being remembered, but I would do it as the insane man who is desperately looking for the warrior meant to kill him. The poets would write for centuries about the madness of Achilles.” 

“ Aren’t they singing that already? Many people have described you as a madman.” You teased him, unsure of how to comfort him. “ Not that I mind, but that is a fact.” 

“ They have no idea, unfulfilled passion would consume me in such an incredible way that Paris would feel a reasonable man hearing about me.” 

He dragged you even closer so he could hold you in his arms and you fell for his touch chuckling sweetly. 

“ Would you be competing against both princes at once while fighting the trojans?” 

“ The warrior prince and the lover boy wish they could compare to me, I win in each one of their expertise areas. “ He followed your provocation, then whispered at you. “ I fight as fiercely as I love. “ 

You bit your bottom lip to avoid an audible response, but your flustered face was speaking for you. For an instant you felt as if nothing had changed between you and you have never heard the terrible omens. 

“... Maybe that’s why no woman is meant to have you, the great goddesses would be jealous. “ You theorized out loud while caressing his cheek. “ It’s too much, like Icharus flying too close to the sun… Although I would be lying if I deny I would gladly burn and fall for you.” 

Achilles stopped the flow of words taking your breath away with kisses that numb your senses, but not your mind. He had the habit of expressing important things in short, ambiguous phrases or not saying anything at all. When the hungry kissing began to escalate and you felt his hands roaming the sides of your body you understood that was his answer. If he would be saying goodbye, he would at least try to keep himself distant to make it easier for both of you. Given that his involvement on the war would ruin your chances to formalize, he would be encouraging you to find someone else. 

 He was pulling up your skirt slowly, evidently searching for the heat underneath. The opposite of what you would need from him if he would be about to leave you, so you stopped him right away because you realized what that meant. 

" This isn't the time to act impulsively. I know you love me as strongly as i love you, but you have to choose what truly matters the most to you. If you decide to stay, others will be making history and maybe the pleasures of the thalamus will not be enough to cure the resentment for what you will be missing. Think carefully, hearts can change and the future wife you adore now can one day become the load that brought you down. " 

Although a sensical objection, that didn't seem to preoccupy him much. 

" Never, you were made for me. The omens were very clear, staying grants me a blissful life with you for the price of letting my name fade. I have only two options: be loved and forgotten or waste my life following the fool's orders until death will reward me with immortal glory. Between spending the rest of my life with you or with Agamemnon, I think it's clear where I would rather be. "

The sacrifice was too great, ultimate proof of his love for you. Behind that relaxed phrasing Achilles attempted to de-dramatize giving up his biggest personal dream for the one you shared, what you still considered wasn’t fair. 

Responding with an equal offer was not only what your heart began to crave, but an alternative solution neither of you had considered. 

“ There has to be another way, your mother never said what I must do in all of this.” 

He wasn’t sure of where you wanted to point, but began to suspect it. 

“ Well, the prophecy was a bit unclear about this part.” 

The mischievous happiness renewed in your eyes let him know you had just found hope in the most insane of places. 

“ Don’t give me that look, this is what happens for leaving you a while alone with Odysseus! Now you think you can outsmart destiny and find me a third end.” 

You smirked with pride before presenting your idea. 

“ I can’t interfere with yours, only my own. If no part is clearly stated for me in this sacred command sent to you, then nothing stops me from choosing one. Instead of having you abandon your dream to stay with me, I’ll follow it with you.” 

His eyes were wide open staring at you, disbelief making him feel you were then playing with him. 

“ Are you telling me we could just get married and board the ship to Troy the morning after our wedding night? What kind of honorable nuptials would that be? When all the wives of the country would be giving their farewell to their husbands, would you follow me like slaves are meant to? War holds no virtuous position for a woman to occupy, it would be a stain to your reputation your parents would curse me for. “ 

“ If your baby cousin can go, so can I.” You justified yourself.” To stop me you will have to stop Patroclus and we know that is not going to happen.” 

The exactitude of your threat made him feel frustrated. Not because he wouldn’t love having you with him, but since he was refusing to publicly humiliate you like that. All Greece would know you were going to be the only wife following her husband to Troy for unexplainable reasons and they could judge your morals. Decent wives were meant to wait for their husbands and take care of their homes, not let passion distract them from their social duties. War camps were masculine places meant to be despised by the women, since their only female presence was typically in a state of degradation. Besides, Helen had already caused a moral breach shaming the greek concept of marriage and that was the reason pushing the fight. People would be judgemental of your relationship, they would question you for immorality and him for lacking authority to make you stay like a normal wife should. 

He wasn’t thinking about him anymore, of protecting his name and the weight of his masculine prestige. He was extremely worried about you and the consequences it could bring when he wouldn’t be there to protect you. 

“ Do you sincerely want to go to Troy and watch me die?” 

“ It’s still better than watching you sail knowing you will never come back.” You terminated in response . “ I have heard the city is built to withstand a ten year siege, enough time for us to have a life together before destiny will reclaim you.” 

Arguing with you was hard, even if the idea was insane you would find ways to make it sound logical. 

“ A camp on the trojan beach is no place to start a family. “ He replicated softly, just letting you know he was trying to make you understand you couldn’t ask that. “ What are we going to do when the children come? Because they will, eventually. If you become my wife no omen of death is going to stop me from making love to you.” 

You smirked innocently, ready to deliver a justification. 

“ I'm not naive, Achilles! Do you think I don’t know what happens in those camps? Captives get pregnant all the time, so it's not impossible to go through it there. It may not be ideal, but I can make it. If you would leave me here and break our relationship to protect me from your fate, you could still put a baby inside your finest war trophy girl.” 

“ And who said I’m leaving?” He questioned you. “ I’m not doing it and I am not breaking up with you. Now stop with this nonsense, my wife can’t be giving birth surrounded by death.” 

“ But trojan women can? Because births aren’t going to stop there. “ You insisted, sitting near and acting as if you were two civil parts on a trial. “ Hector has a baby boy, if he can be a father in this mess so can you.” 

The provocation made him hold a groan, but he turned back and kicked the nearest surface as a frustration release outlet. 

“ It’s different for him, his wife is a princess and they have a city to defend. “ He tried to articulate in fast speaking, doing all he could to not show signs of anger growing because of your stubbornness. “ I don’t want you to have the life of a war captive, to denigrate yourself for me.” 

It was very sweet, you were feeling his pain but he had to understand yours too. 

“ As long as you are still breathing I will not accept a life without you. When the time comes I will embrace grief, but I’ll cry for you as your widow. In the meantime I don't want no one else, I’ll have the ground of your tent as thalamus and I’ll have your children.” 

He gave a few steps towards you, presenting one more solid concern. 

“ What will be of all of you when I'm gone?” 

That should have been a strong preoccupation making you desist, but it didn’t. 

“ We will be alright. They will inherit your share of the sacking, we know your death is linked to the fall of Troy so I can assume we will win something. Given that the House of Aeacus would possess fresh new heirs to renew the bloodline, I may even be able to bargain with Agamemnon the throne of Phthia for one of them. He hates you, but he would not be politically capable to refuse if you become the maximum fallen hero of the war he just won.” 

At that point he felt true powerlessness because he just couldn’t convince you out of it for your own good. 

“ They can’t grow in a warzone, think of the ruthless people they will become.  Those kids would not know any better until it would be too late for them. I don’t want a soulless soldier as heir, people saying Achilles’ son has surpassed the brutality of the father.” 

“ Let our little monsters run free through the camp, they will turn out fine if we guide them right. “ You imagined out loud, not scared at all by the dark warning. “ I can’t wait to see them messing around, you will be in tears the first time one of them will grab a wooden sword trying to copy their father.” 

Illusion was starting to make his negative stance harder to maintain, he loved what you were saying. It sounded so wonderful that he couldn’t help find some sensical feeling in it. There was only one detail you haven’t solved for his resistance to fall completely. 

“ How would I fight the enemy worried for you? You will be the only married woman around thousands of men and although I'm terrifying to most of them, I can’t keep control at all times. Some of those men will not be myrmidons, they will not know who you are.” 

“ That’s the best part: I’ll keep Patroclus bussy.” You announced with excitement, knowing well he wouldn’t resist it. “ I know you don’t trust him in an open battleground yet, but he would not accept being left behind so you have to take him or he would never forgive you. With me on board you have a safe mission to give him that would keep him away from combat but still make him feel a hero. By the time you will judge him ready to charge into battle my presence will be naturalized and his vigilant eye won’t be needed anymore.” 

Hope was truly hitting him because he started to feel as if the crazy plan could work if you all would make it work out. Most of the persons he loved the most could be with him for the rest of his lifetime, making the surviving gap before the consecration worth living. His little cousin, his best friend and his wife along with his future children all gathered like some warrior family. 

A taste of happiness before the end, walk the two roads simultaneously into a third fate. 

“ Blessed be your stubbornness, you wonderful woman! “ He praised you, surprise making his attitude switch as he rushed towards you. “ How can you be in every detail? You are insane, but I love you. I don’t deserve you, I can’t believe this.” 

He made you smile and by that point you knew you were about to win. 

“What exactly? My incredible ingeniousness, my gorgeous looks?” 

“ That you love me so much, '' He admitted, then picked you up bridal style. “ That you will be my wife and I will brag about having you to both greeks and trojans. I will not rest until you will be the most honored person in that camp alongside me, your sacrifice will be part of my legend and maybe that will be my start to repay you. “ 

His immense gratitude was making you chuckle due to the unusual intensity, but he wouldn’t stop. 

“ I’ll love you to my last breath, I promise you that.” 

You were all smiles while caressing the strands of hair falling at the sides of his face. 

“That’s all I want. No other payment you can offer matters to me because my will for sacrifice comes from love, just like yours.” You purred blissfully. “ Let’s not worry about the future, let’s just take this one kiss at a time.” 

Mesmerized as he was, he replied against your lips. 

“ I like how that sounds.” 

[everlasting-rainfall]

I didn't see anywhere that requests are closed, so I was wondering if you could write something for your pages au with Boa Hancock? She's my favorite female character, so thank you!

Okay so I’m gonna have to come clean about something and it’s that I haven’t yet reached Amazon Lily like most of my knowledge about One Piece characters comes from a lot of outside sources and for why I haven’t reached it yet?

That’s a simple answer as I have a very bad attention span so if I’m not watching with a friend then my brain wanders and suddenly the episode is over but I promise that I’ll do my absolute best to write her for you!

As Boa is honestly a really cool character like she isn’t my favorite female character as that honor goes to Rouge a lot of the time but I do love that girl regardless!

So before I start rambling too much and making an absolute fool out of myself, let’s get into it. Yeah?

Also since I do know what Boa’s backstory is, I can’t see her trying to actively force someone into a relationship but she is probably willing to keep them if it means they’re safe

!-MINORS DO NOT INTERACT AT ALL-!

!-POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNINGS-!

Manipulation, Copying of Work, Workplace Sexism, Implied Homophobia (?), Delusions, Kidnapping (?)

!-POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNINGS-!

!-MINORS DO NOT INTERACT AT ALL-!

Okay so let’s imagine that you wrote a book, it was a romance novel of course and it was pretty good like it didn’t sell well but it was seen as pretty good by those who did read it

But about a year later while you’re working on the sequel story that you managed to convince the publisher to give you, something happens as a book is released into the market that looks so much like yours except… bad…

The main character on the cover is grossly sexualized when they’re supposed to be someone that the reader can project themselves onto and the two love interests have basically been turned into big muscle men with no personality compared to how you had them as powerful women with quite a lot of personality and complex backstories that helped to shape their characters

You took some time to read it and found yourself absolutely disgusted with it as it was exactly your book just if every trope from R/MenWritingWomen was stuck onto it, certain important plot points were changed and romantic scenes were either completely changed or removed

Attempting to talk to the publisher didn’t do anything as they simply told you that your book hadn’t been copied and clearly you were seeing things if you thought that… You should just get back to what you were writing and be quiet about it…

This was humiliating but there wasn’t much you could do except hope that your next book would absolutely blow this gross copy out of the water especially as when the reviews came in, you found that most people loved it with very people pointing out that it was a gross copy of you

Eventually when you did release your sequel book, it had some moderate success but not as much as the copy… It was truly discouraging…

When you tried to ask your publisher to at least push it a bit more with advertising, they were reluctant but decided to do it in the end to just get to be quiet so they started doing some advertising on other islands and quite a few people picked up the book

Your book achieved more success! It was great!

Soon enough, word of this book had reached Amazon Lily and it was raising quite a few eyebrows in interest as although it did have a few male characters in it but the story and what they heard about it was truly what interested them

A female marine captain saving the MC from certain doom at the hands of pirates by holding them close with one arm and defending them with the other even despite their injuries? A pirate captain who promised to give the MC the world and much more if she would simply take that first step and set out to sea with them on their ship?

All these things that they were hearing were quite interesting and after hearing about one scene in particular where both of the love interests put aside their differences to save the MC from a dragon? Interests peaked!

So a request from so many was given to Boa as they asked her to please make it so that a shipment of the specific book would be sent to Amazon Lily, it took her a bit but she soon made a request and sent it out

The publisher picked it up and within the week, a small shipment of the book had been delivered to Amazon Lily. So many were excited to read the book that they had heard about but there was one problem with it…

This wasn’t the book that they expected, everyone was so confused as the book was awful to the point where most dropped it within the first few minutes of reading it as what had been delivered wasn’t your book but instead the copy

When Boa found out about this, it was safe enough to say that she was quite irritated as in all honesty based on the way that the story had been described to her

She was getting excited to read it as well only for this to be what was delivered so she had the shipment be taken back away from their island alongside a message detailing how disgusted she was and how she demanded every last beli that she spent on this shipment to be refunded or there would be hell to pay

Of course, the publishers listened as who wants an angry pirate empress after them? But they fucked up yet again and instead of realizing that they sent the wrong book, they gave you the message thinking your book had disgusted the women of Amazon Lily that badly

Upon reading the entirety of the message, your heart sank and you got ready to reply as you started writing an apology along with an explanation of what had happened

You took your own personal copy of the book at home and attached the apology to it alongside a gift before sending it to Boa Hancock herself who almost threw it away the second that she saw it until she noticed the cover and stopped

A close look at the cover revealed that this was the true version of the story as there was the MC laying down in the bed of flowers with her hands clasped with the pirate captain laying facing towards her on her left with a red rose in hand while the marine was laying on the opposite side with a blue rose in hand

This was not the same story… The title was even different so she sighed and decided to at least give it’s first page a read to see if it was truly different…

It was and she found herself hooked, she read through the entire thing and couldn’t stop a smile at the scenes that you had written alongside the part where the pirate captain and marine saving you from a greedy dragon despite the fact that they may fail? It was lovely

When finishing the book, she took another look at the note accompanied with the book and reread the explanation. She was honestly unsurprised about learning the truth and set it aside before opening the gift

It was the only piece of merch to ever exist for the book and it was because you had made it yourself only to give it to her as a truly sincere apology, it was a pair of fake roses with their stems tied together. A red rose and a blue rose tied together with a lovely white ribbon, a physical version of the books very last illustration

Part of her was touched by this and in all honesty, she found herself thinking about it for a good while as you had taken the fall for the shoddy knock off created by the gross imitator and the publishers hadn’t even been willing to help you sort things out

It was downright deplorable in her personal opinion and she knew that you weren’t the MC from the story but part of her started to feel like she wanted to rescue you

Rescue you from your life dealing with the publisher on that island where no one would ever appreciate your work just like how the MC had been rescued from the dragon, she would keep you safe and keep you in a place with people who actually appreciate your work and wouldn’t just disregard it in favor of someone’s fantasy

She would keep you safe from the prying eyes of anyone who wanted to harm you, she wouldn’t even let anyone brand you as theirs and do horrible unspeakable acts to you

If you wanted then the two of you could even become friends and maybe potentially something more which she grew to like the thought of more and more until she started to imagine the two of you going on nice walks together, laughing together and having fun

Ah yes, that was the life that would be perfect for you in the end…

All that she needed to do was get you here and she knew exactly the way to go about it…

It was a few weeks after sending your own letter when you received one from Boa Hancock, it was a request to come to Amazon Lily with copies of your book as she no longer trusted the publisher to send them the right ones

She also requested for you to bring your things as well as she would like you to stay on the island for an undisclosed amount of time, you didn’t want to potentially make the pirate empress any angrier than she already was so you packed some things and took a large box full of book copies of the first book and the sequel and headed off

A few days were spent at sea before you finally reached your destination, you were greeted and the books were quickly taken off of your hands in order to be enjoyed by everyone who had been so excited to read it

Meanwhile you were taken off to meet with Boa herself, she was a scary lady and more than intimidating but she was kind to you despite everything and had a smile on her face when you offered her the sequel story

Your time on Amazon Lily started on that very day, a lot of it would be spent with Boa simply spending time together as she took her time getting through the sequel story as she always stopped to ask you questions about it

As time progressed however and Boa continued to read the story, she found that it was wrapped up in the end with a neat little bow and the person the MC chose got married in the end. The MC had wound up marrying the pirate in the end and symbolically tied a ribbon around the stem of a red rose as a sign that they would always be together

Boa found herself enjoying the scene of the wedding and she smiled to herself as she reread the chapter only to notice certain things this time around like how the pirate had her hair done in a similar fashion to Boa’s and not only that but the way that the outfit was described? It sounded like her…

Part of her tried to write the entire thing of as a simple coincidence until she reread the line “The beauty of the two was so strong that it could turn anyone who laid eyes upon them to stone”

…Oh my god…

That was all that Boa needed to see and she quickly closed the book and set it aside, she honestly wasn’t sure what to think as this couldn’t be a coincidence anymore as the one who had won over the MC in the end was a Pirate Captain who would do anything for her…

It couldn’t have been just a coincidence now and she had to be sure that you didn’t write about some sort of deep hidden feeling for her… So she picked up the other book and spent quite a bit of time searching it for answers…

And as they say, if you’re looking for something hard enough then you’re gonna find it regardless of whether or not it’s there

Slowly Boa becomes convinced that you wrote about some sort of feeling that you had for her despite the fact that you could have never known her before this point…

And she would confront you about this, she would tell you off for doing this and make you leave but something in her refuses to do so

You don’t see Boa for days as she deals with these emotions, you aren’t sure why this has happened but you don’t bother her simply thinking that she’s busy while she attempts to figure out what’s going on

Until it hits her… She returns your feelings…

And when this happens, this is when things start as she starts to attempt to show you that she feels the exact same way about you that you do her

It starts with her trying to spend more time with you, it progresses into her getting jealous when other people speak with you, it progresses even further to her actually touching you with hand holding and the occasional caress

When it reaches its peak? That’s when Boa starts to greet you with a red flower of some kind whenever the two of you meet, she hopes that you’ll get the hint and finally realize

But hey, it’s not so bad that you aren’t getting it as your smile is heavenly to her to the point where she could look at it all day and has even caught herself staring at your smile for long periods of time when the two of you are together only breaking out of it when you point it out to her

Eventually you’ll start wanting to return home and back to your old life but Boa will insist that you stay, the world off of Amazon Lily is dangerous for someone like you after all and she wants to keep you right where she can absolutely make sure that you’re safe

You might try to insist on returning to your old life and that’s when Boa will start to manipulate you, I can’t see her turning violent but she probably would tell you things like “If something were to happen to you out there then I simply wouldn’t be able to live with myself”

She’ll trap you into staying on Amazon Lily this way until you’re ready to stay of your own accord…

It’s for the best after all and once you finally realize that she returns the feelings that you oh so clearly have for her, everything will be perfect…

A pair whose beauty is strong enough to turn people to stone…

[acourtofthought]

I’m a firm believer that is Elucien wasn’t meant to end up together, the sjm would’ve had Elain reject the bond long ago. Or just not have made them Mates in the first place.

P.S. I really hope we get a few really cute/sweet Eluciens moments when their stories get told.

Fully agree!

This is how some truly think Lucien's arc is going to go:

SJM writes absolutely tragic love story on how Lucien loved a female to the point he believed them to be mates then he was held down and forced to watch as she was murdered dooming him to close off his heart for centuries.

SJM plans on mating Lucien and Nesta but realizes they would cause one another too much hurt on top of their already deep wounds so she changes course.

SJM mates Lucien to Elain and decides she'll write him breaking free of the kings spell with a power he didn't realize he had, has him leave his home to fight his way powerless to a rival court to ensure her safety, has him sit day after day in a court with those who clearly disdain him in order to think of ways to help Elain through her depression, has him leave on a dangerous mission to support her vision, has him suffer at the realization she's engaged, has him meet Elain's father, has him race to Elain's side after the war, has him suffer more as she continues to mourn the loss of Graysen, has him never demand an answer to their bond, has him give her the space to do whatever she wants though it pains him, all so his character can not only have lost Jesminda but also have his mate reject him without ever getting to know him.

It comes across rude to say it like this to those who believe that but be for real 😂

If Sarah didn't want Elain to end up with Lucien she would have either never mated them in the first place or shown us that Lucien was behaving badly in regards to Elain (like maybe demanding she leave Graysen because she's his mate or continuing on with his dalliances). Instead Sarah made him utterly perfect for book boyfriend material. Other women? They didn't exist the second he found out about Elain. She needs space? He's giving it to her despite how it hurts him. Beauty? She's the only one who ever took his breath away to that degree, to the point he felt guilty about it because she took that title away from Jesminda. Upon his very first look at Elain.

Sorry but that's the epitome of romantic and there is very little chance an author would have Lucien go through alllllll that just to end up with someone who would not be his mate and would not even be a person he loved so much he thought she might be his mate (as was the case of Jesminda).

Some will try to convince themselves Lucien will be just as happy with some random side character at this point (or a cursed human who wants to return to her own people and hasn't even shown us her sexual preferences) but it's not done in the romance world. Elain is his second chance after Jesminda. A mate is the only thing that could trump Jesminda for him, especially when that mate is Elain.

He already loved someone without a bond once, he refused to love another after that until his actual mate entered stage left. He's not suddenly going to be open to loving a third person if Elain breaks their bond, when he's now dealing with feeling a tug to her for the rest of his life on top of the loss of Jesminda.

In romance books, experiencing those two losses (Jesminda and his mate) would max out the possibility for Lucien's character finding his great love.

[thedo0zyslider]

New World, Same Old Us - 9K Words

In which a Sheriff falls in love with the first ever criminal he catches, and Oli can't help but fall for the man over and over again.

A03 Link

Jimmy’s life changes one day, when he’s following behind fWhip. His deputy is leading him through the winding streets of gobland, rambling on and on about the very first criminal he had caught. The Sheriff was trying to listen to what his deputy was saying, he really was, but it was hard to focus on words when he had to dodge goblin after goblin wherever he stepped. They were just so small! He wasn’t used to looking that far down when walking! Or used to looking out for stray and moving tails!

They made their way to where Goblands admittedly unconventional prison was, the Sheriff muttering dozens of apologies and excuse mes as he moved throughout the empire. The citizens seemed to take all that in stride though, giving him kind smiles whenever he misstepped and greeting both the blonde and their emperor. He’s glad they seemed to like him so much, or else trying to navigate through a world that’s way too small for him would’ve been a lot more challenging than it already was.

The prison hangs above a rather large drop, once certainly long enough to kill a man. Or severely injures him, at the very least. And that’s not even mentioning the sculk pulsing threateningly on the cave floor below, and any shriekers and sensors that might be hiding between the stones. fWhip had said, had promised to him and fiercely insisted that there wasn’t a trap door at the bottom of the cage when the Sheriff asked about it, or a hidden lever anywhere nearby, just Jimmy still wasn’t a hundred percent convinced on that.

There is a man inside the prison now, inside the cage that had been empty before. That must be their very first criminal then. Well, their very first captured one, Jimmy concludes rather obviously to himself. Said criminal is hunched in the corner, his back to them. He faces the cavern floor below, presumably staring down at it. Jimmy wonders why anyone would stare at their potential doom like that, and assumes he must be losing his mind in the cage.

“Hey! Turn around!” fWhip calls out as they approach, skittering down the path in excitement. Like a child running to a playground. Jimmy follows behind him, opting for a more casual stroll than his deputy. His deputy, who’s rather too enthusiastic about locking people in cages and punishing them for the Sheriff’s liking. But maybe goblins were just weird like that, he didn’t know. Or maybe fWhip was just weird.

At the goblin’s call the man in the cage lifts his head, and turns to face the two of them. Surprise shows on his face when he sees the Sheriff, and it is quickly replaced by dread. He must’ve been told all about what would happen to him when the Sheriff got here, knowing fWhip and how he tended to ramble. Jimmy can only wonder what this guy was told, and hoped it didn’t make too bad of an impression. But he fears it did anyway.

The man says nothing at first, just turns until his body is facing them. He’s in quite the weird outfit, a white undershirt with a more floral, bright pink one over it; and shorts. With sandals to top it all off, for some reason. His hair is dyed blonde as well, the natural brown color already starting to seep back in. His hair desperately needs a redying, because it does not look good right now. And that’s not even mentioning how unkempt it is. Though Jimmy imagines he would look pretty dashing when it’s properly taken care of…

The man locks eyes with Jimmy as the Sheriff approaches, and then quickly adverts his eyes to the cage’s floor. The Sheriff, on the other hand, keeps staring as he comes to a stop in front of the prison. He feels more than a little mesmerized right now, barely noticing the proud and affectionate look fWhip shoots at him. This prisoner, despite (or maybe in spite of) the roughed up appearance, is the most beautiful man Jimmy’s ever goddamn seen. And he’s friends with Scott and Sausage , for christs sake. Horrible thing to think while standing next to your deputy slash situationship, by the way; but he can’t really help it.

“So Sheriff, what are we gonna do with this thief!?” fWhip says, blue eyes boring into the Sheriff. He looks at him expectantly, like he wants praise for catching their very first criminal. Jimmy, who's still pulling himself away from thoughts of another man, is not going to give it to him. He will not praise the goblin for doing his damn job. “Thief?” He says, surprised, and glances down at the goblin next to him. He doesn’t remember anything about this guy being a thief (even if he does have the face for thievery,) only that he had done something to wrong Gobland and fWhip. Which felt like it could be anything from stealing a bunch of gold to saying a word wrong; with how flippant his deputy could be.

“Were you not listening on the way over here?” fWhip frowns, and his tail flicks in irritation behind him. Jimmy resists the urge to roll his eyes. He hates when his deputy looks at him like that. But he ignores that for now, and pushes the annoyance down. They can deal with all their other emotions later, after the prisoner is settled.

“I was trying not to step on any goblins.” He explains, placing a hand on his hip. The gesture feels a lot sassier than intended, but that only helps get his point across more. In Jimmy’s mind at least. Even if he has to ignore the quick and absolutely unpleasant look fWhip gives him to reach that conclusion. Just another thing to worry about later. 

“Well you —whatever.” fWhip cuts himself off with a frustrated huff, and pinches the bridge of his nose. Like he has anything to be stressed about right now. “Remember that sign? In the ancient city? The one that tipped me off to everything being looted? That was him! He stole from Gobland’s ancient city!”

“Gobland wasn’t even here when I stole all that!” The prisoner speaks up, his voice full of indignation. He also sounds tired, probably for a variety of reasons.Being trapped (and probably starved in a cage, because the Sheriff has yet to remind his deputy of ethical imprisonment,) will do that to a person. Jimmy can’t help but think the blonde’s voice is like heaven on the ears, even if it is all worn out and weak. The Sheriff is so wrapped up in that thought, and other similar ones, he barely hears the argument going on around him. “This was just an empty cave!”

“Likely story!” fWhip snorts, narrowing his eyes at the other man. The prisoner makes an equally rude retort in response, which fWhip just has to match with his own insult. Because of course he does. And then the blonde man responds again, and then so on and so forth until a conversation the Sheriff cannot bring himself to care about is going on. Even if half of it is his deputy having rather sad insults thrown his way.

The argument continues around him, but Jimmy barely listens to it. He doesn’t want too anyways, it would probably just annoy him more than anything. Instead, he spends that minute or so thinking about what he wants to do with this prisoner. Though, it’s not really a hard conclusion to come too. The Sheriff had made his mind up the moment he’d set eyes on the man, really.

“Let him go.” Jimmy says, crossing his arms over his chest decisively. The two men next to him stop bickering, both falling into a stunned silence at his words. The prisoner, who;s name he still has not gotten, looks at him in utter disbelief. There’s some hope mixed in there as well, Jimmy notes, and that makes his heart swell. His deputy just stares at him, shocked and mouth hanging open, before he absolutely explodes .

“What!?” fWhip yells out, his blue eyes burning with something akin to betrayal. Jimmy does not feel like he just betrayed his deputy. He actually feels like he did the right thing, when he had been so nervous of doing the wrong thing. It makes whatever betrayal is in his deputy's eye feel like nothing to him. “Sheriff, he stole from Gobland!”

“Was it really Gobland if you hadn’t settled here yet?” The blonde looks back at his deputy, eyebrow raised. In the cage, the prisoner just smirked in triumph. It seemed he’d been arguing that point for a while now, and hearing someone else share it must be nice. Especially with how stubborn and set in his little goblin way fWhip tended to be. 

“I-” His deputy stumbles over his words, clearly dumbfounded. Yet he keep protesting regardless, even when it is two on one. Even when the odds are stacked against him, and he is clearly not winning this argument. Stubborn and annoying, just like the Sheriff had been saying to himself for months now. “That’s not the point! ”

“Let him go, fWhip.” Jimmy says, his tone stern. He does not feel like arguing with fWhip anymore, especially not over this. He’d already made up his mind, and that was that. He was the Sheriff , and fWhip was just a deputy . The Sheriff’s word was always final . “That’s an order .”

(In the cage in front of them, Oli feels himself go a bit red. He was glad neither emperor was looking at him when it did, because woah. He liked a commanding voice more than he thought he did! Which he didn’t think he liked that at all. Interesting discovery that was..)

“ Fine.” The goblin huffs, a pout starting to form on his face. Jimmy thinks he looks like a petulant child, sulking after they didn’t get what they wanted. But he resisted frowning at that, not wanting to make things worse. Or incite another argument. So instead he places his hand on fWhip’s shoulder again, and makes his hold firmer than before. He ignores fWhip after that, and the way the goblin stiffens under the touch near instantly.

“There’s a good deputy!” He purrs, mostly to himself. The Sheriff flicks his gaze back towards their prisoner as he speaks, his attention solely focused on him. The lingering pink-tint on the man’s cheeks does not escape him, and he wonders what all that’s about. One of the many questions he’ll have to ask later, it seems. “Now, prisoner, what’s your name? If you’ve got one, that is.”

“The name’s Oli, dear Sheriff.” The prisoner says, lifting his head to get a better look at the Sheriff. His eyes are a nice brown color, Jimmy has to admit. They’re nice to look at, and probably even nicer to get lost in. fWhip is absolutely radiating with emotion beside him, and none of them are the positive king. Jimmy just decides to ignore him until he starts speaking again, which ends up happening a lot sooner than expected.

“He sings a lot.” The goblin remarks, his tone a lot less cheerful than it was before. He even sounds annoyed by the fact, like Oli singing had been an annoying thing about him. The Sheriff couldn’t begin to imagine why, because he was sure this man had a lovely voice. The Sheriff also hadn’t purposefully been kept awake all night by loud, echoing singing in the caves, because Oli learned it annoyed fWhip and then started to do it out of spite. And also to keep his sanity intact while he rotted in a cage, that was also a factor.

“Does he now?” Jimmy hums, probably more happy about that information than fWhip had wanted him to be. A good singer was never a bad thing to have, especially one as dashing and good looking as the man in front of him. This guy could certainly earn quite a bit of cash if he just went around performing. “Well, he’d be perfect for a tavern.”

“Not mine.” fWhip’s pout seems to get even worse as he speaks, and he glares daggers at the bard in the cage. Like he had done something other than steal what the goblin thought he was entitled to. The goblin was not entitled to anything at all, in the Sheriff’s humble opinion. Even if he thought he was. He wasn’t entitled to anything other than the kingdom that had been given to him, and nothing more than that.

Oli protests their words with a loud squawk, flailing his arms in protest as well. For some extra flare and emphasis, of course. “I’m not a bard, though!” He shouts, voice rising higher than intended. The Sheriff cringes a little at his volume, but doesn’t really mind it. It’s certainly better on the ears than when his deputy sounds all squeaky, that’s for sure.

“You are now! The Sheriff said so!” fWhip taunts, sticking his tongue out at the other man teasingly. But it;s not a friendly kind of tease, that’s for certain. The blonde in the cage glares at him, one that’s sharp and unfriendly. His deputy returns it with a similarly nasty look, and probably has a retort just as nasty prepared and ready.

“Let him go now, fWhip,” Jimmy says, sensing the need to step in before Oli can respond. Lest this turn into another argument again. He thinks if he just doesn’t do anything, the two of them could stand here and fight all day long and then some. Which exhausts him to just think about. “You had something else to show me, didn’t you?”

“Oh, yes, I did!” The goblin’s tone gets a bit cheerier than it had been, now that he had something else to think about other than the personal betrayal Jimmy had supposedly committed. Good, it was always great when he wasn’t being grumpy. fWhip fishes the cage’s key out of his pocket without another word, and reaches forward to unlock the thing. Oli just stares at it, dumbfounded, and like he can’t believe he’s free.

After that, The Sheriff praises his deputy again, and then turns away. He says he’s going back up the path, wanting to get a move on. He needs to be home before sunset, Tumble Town’s latest bandit problem keeping him from being gone all day and spending the night in Gobland like he would normally do on a visit, fWhip just nods in response, and says he’ll show him that other thing in just a minute. Right after he points Oli towards the exit of course!

Jimmy leaves the two of them with a happy smile, the spurs on his boots clinking across the ground as he retreats. His deputy wastes no time, and as soon as the Sheriff is out of hearing range, yanks the bard forward menacingly. Oli, who was still in the process of stepping out of the cage, has to fumble forward, desperately grabbing for purchase on the shorter man’s shoulder. If he hadn’t done that, there was a very likely chance he would’ve fallen into the deep dark below, and it all would’ve been over from there. But it’s kinda hard to dwell on that near death experience for long, especially when your captor is yelling in your face right after it. 

“The Sheriff might’ve let you go, but you still owe me five hundred diamonds.” fWhip hisses, grabbing Oli’s arm before he can fall; somehow both saving and dooming him all at once. He digs his claws into the bard’s skin, causing him to yelp. It’s not enough force to draw blood, but it’s certainly enough to bruise. For someone so short, he’s surprisingly strong!

“Five hundred!?” He exclaims, struggling against the hold on his wrist. It only makes it hurt worse, and Oli lets out a yelp despite himself. fWhip seems to relish in the sound, and claps his hand down harder. “That’s too bloody many!”

“It's equivalent to how much treasure you stole. ” The goblin snaps, and seems to resist racking him with his claws. He glares at Oli with more vitriol than he had when they first met, clearly upset by something he had done. Which was weird because he hadn;t done anything but sit in a cage! For two weeks he’d just sat and starved in a cage! 

“I was literally here first! ” Oli says, like he’s been saying and protesting for weeks now. It doesn’t matter how many times he argues and reasons with the goblin, or how much sense he makes, the bard has yet to get through his thick skull. And even now, as he’s leaving jail and it barely matters anymore, he feels hopeless that he’s never going too.

Something, something that Oli later figures out is jealousy, gleams in fWhip’s eyes as he lets go of his arm. The blonde snatches it closer to his body, wincing in pain when he goes to rub at the injury. “Well I don’t care!” Gobland’s ruler snaps, turning his back on his former prisoner. He starts going up the path again, leaving Oli behind with one last yell. “Just get out of my empire and get me my diamonds!”

Oli watches the man leave in stunned silence, rubbing his still aching wrist as he goes. He doesn’t really know what just happened, his brain only processing that he’s finally out of the cage. He’s standing on stable ground for the first time in over fourteen days. fWhip had said to get out, but his legs barely feel like they used too from all his recent inaction, (He certainly won’t be getting him those diamonds though, that’s for sure. Even if he can walk again soon.) 

He watches as fWhip scurries after Jimmy, jumping on parts of buildings and whatever else he can until they’re eye level. When they are, the Sheriff rolls his eyes fondly, and accepts the kiss he is given. The goblin seems to smirk triumphantly at that, and then they continue walking away from the prison, until they are just figures lost in the city's neverending crowd. That kiss was deliberate. That kiss was supposed to send Oli a message.

And it sent one alright, but probably not the one fWhip had wanted. 

_____________________________

Oli is there when Fwhip and the Sheriff break up. So are Scott, Gem, and Sausage. It is a rather awkward ordeal. It is also a rather quick ordeal, and a situation everyone leaves right afterwards because holy fuck what the hell was that. If the situation had been more nuanced than it was (read: two people being equally shitty to each other), and if a few more of them had been involved any longer, this would’ve been a friend group ruining event. Thankfully, it isn’t. Because even in the relatively short time Oli’s been here, he finds that he quite likes this group of friends, and would like to keep it around longer than his last one.

Everyone had known fWhip and Jimmy were in a relationship, or a situationship; something like that. They hadn’t labeled what they were, but the two also weren’t very subtle about it either. Public affection was very much on the table for the relationship, much to every other person’s dismay. Oli swears everyone has seen them kiss at least five times, maybe even more. But the affection hadn’t stopped the cracks from showing in their dynamic.

Jimmy and Oli had a blossoming friendship after the latter's release from jail, something that fWhip didn’t seem very fond of. It was one of the many things the goblin wasn’t very fond of, actually, considering how many fights the couple had. In public and in private. They usually weren’t very intense fights, no screaming matches or anything, but the bard knows that having small arguments with someone every day isn’t really the healthiest thing in the world. Especially when you’re in a relationship with them. It’s just a lot of negative energy is all, and he doesn’t know how those two deal with it. Or how they’re even still together. 

All that energy comes to a head on the breakup day, as the bard has dubbed it, after a small prank on the Sheriff. They had just trapped him in a jail cell for a little bit, and it was meant to be nothing more than a harmless prank. Jimmy clearly did not see it that way, and was frankly pissed as hell when they finally let him go. Everyone seemed to get the hint that they had gone too far this time, and backed off. Everyone but fWhip, that is, who just kept giggling to himself. Which he probably shouldn;t do, because he was the deputy and all, but the goblin did it anyways. The lack of respect just upset Jimmy even more.

A fight happens rather quickly, after Sausage gives Jimmy his stuff back. Sanctuary’s ruler looked like he had some quip to say, but thought better of it. Especially when the Sheriff turned to fWhip, and started questioning his loyalty. Ya know, the loyalty he promised he had? Yeah, Oli could tell this was gonna get nasty fast, especially when the goblin started walking away from his Sheriff. Because that was gonna make everything better. Yep. Ignoring him would totally work. And the Sheriff just followed behind him, as he was always going to do.

“What was that fWhip? What was that!? ” Jimmy yells, throwing his arms up in the air. He follows his deputy angrily along the half finished train tracks, looking like an absolute force to be reckoned with. The goblin whips around to face him, and the rest of their small group can only watch in silence as a full on fight brews under the summer’s sun.

fWhip snaps a response back, his tail lashing against the ground behind him. His expression is clearly upset, for a myriad of different reasons. Jimmy’s own expression twists again, and he yells back at his deputy. Oli sees Gem and Scott exchange a glance, while Sausage just stares at the ground awkwardly. Well, no one had expected the day to go like this when they pranked Jimmy. But now it was. That was fun. Oli didn’t do anything, just watched the fight unfold in silence. He didn’t really know what else to do anyways.

The topic of Oli gets brought up, and the bard feels three sets of eyes turn to him. He doesn’t say anything, or even meet a single stare directed towards him. He just watches the fight continue on, and crosses his arms in front of his chest. He has nothing to say, and saying anything would probably be a bad idea if he did. There was nothing helpful he could add.

Oli doesn’t really feel like he’s responsible for this breakup. Even if the breakup hasn’t really happened yet, but is clearly about too. From what he’d seen, it’d be a long time coming. It’s not like he could control what Jimmy thought of him, or how he looked at him. All Oli could do is not flirt with a taken man, and he had done exactly that. He had treated Jimmy like he treated everyone else, ignoring the Sheriff’s clear interest in him, and whatever interest he himself might’ve had in the latter.

Jimmy changes the topic of their final couples fight one last time, and that’s when it all goes wrong. They all watch as fWhip gets fired right there, in the town he was the deputy of. They all watch the last kiss that happens, and how Jimmy pulls away from it sharply. The air is tense after that, and Sausage makes the correct call to book it before something else happens. Oli can’t really blame him, though the way he scurries away is a little funny.

The Sheriff says one last thing to fWhip, who doesn’t say anything back, and will not for the rest of the afternoon. Then the blonde turns his gaze to their three remaining friends, and also the fleeing silhouette of Sausage in the air. His eyes settle on Oli, and the bard has never wanted to disappear more in his life. And usually he likes it when the Sheriff looks at him…

“C’mon Oli, let's go!” Jimmy says, turning his back on his ex partner and all their friends. He stomps towards the train tunnel, and calls for Oil again when he realizes the blonde is not following. The bard follows him this time, feet dragging across the sand floor of the mesa, not knowing what else to do. Other than have fWhip’s jealous stare try to burn holes into his clothes and have even more suspicious ones make him feel self conscious, that is.

He follows the Sheriff back to his house, and doesn’t leave till they're sure everyone is gone and no one wants to yell at them anymore. It is a very awkward few hours, but Oli can’t say he regrets it. They were hours spent with his beloved Sheriff, after all.

_____________________________

A month later, Oli finds himself back in the mesa, whistling a tune to himself as he strolls through Tumble Town. He’d gotten a new outfit since he was last here, fully accepting the bard label he’d been given. Even if he’d done so a little begrudgingly. He’s also managed to get himself an instrument, maybe using those charming good looks and that rugged voice the Sheriff had first mentioned to swindle it. Or maybe he had gotten it in a more legal manner, or handmade it himself!? Who was to say, really.

He follows the paths throughout the town, only a little unsure of where he was going. The bard had only been here once after all, and that day was disastrous enough that he ended up forgetting the layout of this place. Also he didn’t like thinking about that day anyways, and pushed the memories down on purpose. Meaning he was extra screwing himself over when it came to navigating Tumble Town. But it’s fine! He has to find the building, or the person, he’s looking for sooner rather than later!

He does, in fact, find the building sooner rather than later. Even if he did need to ask for directions from a kind looking local. And whaddya know! The Sheriff, the very man he wanted to see, is standing right near the saloon’s door when he gets there! What a lucky day! So when the bard is close enough, he calls out his friend’s name, and can’t help but be filled with joy when the blonde’s eyes light up upon spotting him.

“Oli! What can I do for you today!?” Jimmy says, tipping his hat for extra flare. The bard cannot say why, but he loves when the Sheriff does that. Even if it’s only like, one of the first few times he’s seen Jimmy tip his hat. He still loves it regardless. It’s just an endearing thing to him, for a reason the bard can not yet name, and doesn’t really care top right now.

“Oh, nothing much, Sheriff!” He hums, his instrument securely strapped to his back. “But letting me play a tune or two would be real nice!”

“Why of course you can!” Jimmy flashes him a grin, holding the saloon’s swinging door open for him. What a gentleman the Sheriff is! “Your song should bring in plenty of patrons!”

“That is the goal!” Oli winks, and dips inside the building. He doesn’t miss the way Jimmy’s eyes widen, and his face turns a bit pink. He has no time to tease the blonde for that look, the patrons who had spotted him already getting excited over a bard, and some music to go with their drinks. So Oli throws the Sheriff a smirk as he unstraps his guitar. Jimmy just stares, looking a little dumbfounded, as Oli starts the first of many songs he will sing that day; and earns the first few pennies as well. Thankfully for him, there is a lot more where that came from, and the bard will be leaving Tumble Town with his pockets full of gold. Literal gold as well as the metaphorical kind!

The saloon closes several hours later, right in the dead of night. Oli packs up his stuff, his instrument and bags of change, feet aching from all the dancing around and the shows he had performed; near non-stop for hours and hours. Jimmy holds the door open for him once again, flashing him that same grin he had earlier. Oli returns it this time, not getting far before he flops down. He just needs to rest a minute before he heads back home, maybe even stay the night in his friend’s empire. Or, well, what’s left of the night that is. There’s some shuffling behind him before the bar is locked up, and a case of something is set nearby before the doors swing shut for the day. It seems Jimmy has grabbed them some beer, like the good lad he is.

The two of them end up sitting on the outside steps, talking quietly into the night. Talking about everything and anything, about whatever comes to mind. Oli has a beer in his hand, sipping from it in between words. He’s trying not to get too wasted, wanting to carry all his money back home sober.. Jimmy,who’s looking at the twinkling stars next to him, has no drink. It’s not smart to get drunk on a work night, after all.

The Sheriff has been a lot nicer to be around ever since he fired his deputy, at least in the short bursts of time Oli had seen him. Before, he would’ve been all upset and cranky about having to stay up this late. Even with Oli. But now he is quiet and gentle, a stark contrast to his attitude before. And when the bard had seen fWhip a few days ago, handing over twenty or so diamonds (because the little guy would just not stop nagging him about it,) the goblin seemed to be doing better as well. It seems the breakup had been the right move for both of them, even if it had come about in a rather disastrous way.

“Where were you from, before this?” Jimmy asks into the darkness, curiosity lacing the edges of his tone. His voice draws Oli away from thoughts of fights long passed, and back into the present. The Sheriff is looking at him with wide, curious eyes, and the bard finds he has to tear his gaze away before he gets too flustered to respond.

“Somewhere pretty far away.” The bard says, moving his own gaze up to the stars quickly. Right where Jimmy’s own had been, before becoming near permanently fixed on the man beside him. Oli can’t help but feel a little self conscious under those brown eyes, maybe because of how pretty they are. “No one around here would know it.”

“Well then, what was it like?” The Sheriff inquiries, finally taking a beer for himself. He cracks it open, and takes a long sip from the can. The bard waits till he is done, and till he has taken his own long sip of alcohol, to say anything back. This is starting to feel like a conversation he needs to be drunk for, unfortunately, and he prematurely grabs another can out of the case; setting it next to his leg with a clink.

“...There weren’t that many of us,” Oli begins, looking off into the distance. A pang of longing shoots through him as he speaks, choking him up. But he keeps talking despite it, desperately hoping he doesn't sound like he’s about to cry. Because he kinda is really close to crying right now, gotta be honest.  “No more than fifteen of us lived there I’d say.”

“No one else made it out.” He adds more quietly, then takes yet another sip of beer. Yep, this is a conversation he’d rather be drunk for. Some unpleasant memories of his old home are already starting to come back, and he hasn't even described anything of substance yet. The bard hadn’t even mentioned all the people he missed, and already found himself choked with grief. Tonight was going to be a longer one than expected.

“Oh-” Jimmy says, and cuts himself off with another drink. It seems he doesn’t know what to say to that, and figures it’s best if he lets Oli keep talking. The bard can’t really blame him for being a little unsure. He had just dropped that fourteen he cared about, and considered his best friends and family, fucking died, after all.

“You….remind me of an old friend from there, actually.” Oli hums, switching thoughts to one of those long gone people specifically. He’s pretty sure that had just been Jimmy, and that old world was just their weird past life no one but the bard remembered. It’s the explanation that made the most sense, considering how different all his old friends acted. And how the people that hadn’t been from their old world were completely unknown Oli.

“Do I?” Jimmy’s voice is soft now, but curious at the same time. He rests a comforting hand on top of his friends, and fiddles with it until their fingers are twined together. Oli lets him do so without complaint, enjoying the touch more than he thought he would. He wishes Jimmy would hold hands with him more.

“Yeah.” The bard says, a smile forming on his face as he remembers the old Jimmy, and all those forms he had taken throughout their lives. He’d liked that dumb candyman power the most. Mainly because that outfit had made his old flame look far too dashing for his own good. He does like a man in a suit, after all. “But in a good way.”

The Sheriff takes another sip of his drink, and finally turns his eyes back to the sky. Oli relaxed more, now that no one is studying every move his face makes. He wonders if they’re watching the same stars while they talk. “..What were they like?”

“Mm, they were stubborn. And kinda silly. A bit too reckless.” Oli muses, running the memories over in his head. Yeah, that Jimmy had been quite silly. Especially with all those deaths he had. But that same silliness is what made him so endearing, and why Oli had ended up liking him as much as he did (and still does .)

“They died, didn’t they?” Jimmy mutters, his tone quieter than it’s been in a while. It’s a stark contrast to how he was standing in front of this building, screaming his heart out at a goblin who didn’t care only a month before. Oli can’t say he hates the change.

“Yeah.” Oli responds softly, and then promptly downs half of the beer can he’d set aside. The Sheriff says nothing against it like someone would expect him too, just gives his friend a comforting squeeze of the hand. Oli squeezes back, and holds on tighter than he intended too.

“I'm sorry.” Jimmy mumbles again, and sets his now empty can to the side. He didn’t even know when the Sheriff finished it, but the drink is now long gone. The blonde doesn’t grab another one from the case either, all his attention now fixed on the bard in front of him. It makes Oli feel so horrible and so special all at the same time.

“It's okay.” The bard doesn’t feel like crying right now, even though any other person would probably be sobbing if they had to talk about all this. Even if Jimmy is clearly worried about him balling his eyes out. He’s either become numb to all the pain, or the beer is making him act funny. Oli is gonna go with the latter for his own sanity. “I think they would’ve liked you a lot.”

“Well, that’s good to hear.” Jimmy flashes him a small but comforting smile, and stops holding his friend’s hand. Oli can’t help the pang of disappointment he feels at that, or the newfound yearning for human contact that’s nestled itself in him. It’s probably for the best Jimmy let go anyways.

“Yeah, yeah it is.” He hums back, and then falls silent for the rest of the night. Quietly, Oli leans his head on the Sheriff’s shoulder, his half full beer can now being forgotten. He doesn’t know why he drank so much of it, doesn’t know why a whole can and a half of beer sounded like a good idea when they were literally sitting outside a saloon. He didn’t even like beer that much. He would’ve preferred to get all sad over a cocktail.

But Jimmy had brought it outside just for the two of them, so it had felt rude not to at least drink one can. (Even if a fruity margarita would’ve been so much nicer on his taste buds….) So he’d drank the beers anyway, because maybe he likes the Sheriff more than he wants to admit, for a bunch of more reasons he also doesn’t want to admit.

Jimmy finishes his own drink with a hum, and wraps a warm arm around Oli’s shoulders, protecting his bard friend from the night’s chill. And that is how they stay until sunrise. Sitting in front of a closed business, snuggled next to each other with half drinks around them, and lightly sleeping against each other.

_____________________________

The Festival of the Rift comes around, and Oli finds himself way more excited than he’d thought he’d be. He’s practically bouncing off the walls with how fidgety he is, and worries he’s gonna break the small ticket stand he’s set up at the entrance. He can’t help it though, his own bloody festival is about to start! The bard has never done an event before, and has made sure this one will be a success. Unless someone messes it up, which is likely possibility knowing the attendees. 

The fair goers start trickling in slowly, each forced to pay a fine at the entrance. Or else bad things will happen, as Oli vaguely threatens. And maybe also threatens a random pig or too to get his point across even further, and subsequently get his money. He lights up when the Sheriff arrives, False trailing just behind them. He noticeably does not threaten the Sheriff upon his entrance, and sweet talks the money out of him. False, (who he hadn’t threatened either. Mostly because he was scared of her,) just gives the two of them a knowing look as she walks into the rest of the fair grounds.

After all the guests have arrived and paid their diamonds (ones he would be paying back to fWhip within the next few days, because he was always pestering him about that debt,) Oli decides it’s finally time to explore the festival grounds, and see what all his friends have set up. Through, despite all the nicely designed and somewhat interesting stands and shops that have been set up, it’s the most plain one that catches his eye.

“What’s this over here then?” Oli says, spotting a wooden both. It had popped up without him noticing, like a lot of the stands on fair grounds had. This one is smaller than the other ones though, and probably the smallest one by far. It’s a simple thing, four walls with a entrance door hidden in the back and a lobe lectern placed inside, the book atop it already opened to a page; as well as a window at the front for customers. The gold star symbol above said window tips Oli off to who’s stand this might be as soon as he sees it. 

“Oli!” Jimmy’s voice rings out excitedly, and his head pops out of the window. He beckons the bard over with a smile, and Oli knows he can’t help but see what's happening here, even if every other booth looked a million times more interesting. Not when Jimmy was calling to him like that. “This is the compliment stand! Where you leave a nice note about the Sheriff!”

“Is it now?” He says, suddenly understanding what the lectern and only the lectern was inside the stand with his Sheriff friend. And also having an idea for what kind of compliment he wanted to give. Though it was probably different than whatever Jimmy had initially made the booth for. “Well, allow me to leave one then!”

“Great! Here’s a piece of-”

He cuts Jimmy off, leaving the poor Sheriff looking rather befuddled; paper still clutched in his hands. Oli can’t help but smirk as he speaks, giving a quick glance to make sure no one else was around. He didn’t want anyone walking on their very personal moment that was about to happen, and was sure his friend wouldn’t like that much either.“Oh I won’t be needing paper for this compliment, dearest Sheriff.”

“Wha-”

Cutting him off for a second time, Oli leans over the stand’s counter, grabs the Sheriff’s face in his hands, and presses a quick kiss right onto his lips. It’s nothing more than a small peck, but it makes his whole being feel alive like it never has before. Jimmy doesn’t kiss him back till the very end, when Oil needs to pull away. But the attempt to reassure Oli that his advances weren’t unwanted, and that he hadn’t just ruined everything good they had going.

“Well Sheriff, I’ll be seeing you at the concert later!” He says, pulling away quicker than intended. He also runs off quicker than intended, too flustered by his own flirting to do anything else. He just leaves Jimmy standing at his booth, dumbfounded and red faced; the unused slip of paper still clutched in his hand. And if anyone asks either emperor why they’re so flushed, and blushing and smiling throughout the whole festival, both will deny anything ever happened. That kiss, that moment, was there and there’s alone to share.

Later that afternoon, Jimmy comes to see the dragon egg. He listens to Oli’s songs, doesn’t say anything about the very personal decorations lining his tent thingy, and compliments his attraction when everyone else leaves. He looks at the bard like he’s made of silver and gold, like he’s something valuable. He’ll even give him more compliments after the festival, even after the rift incident, and tells him he had a lovely concert for them all.

Oli knows he can’t be blamed, when after everyone has left the festival and the sun is starting to set, he pulls Jimmy inside that handmade crystal cave on the fairgrounds, and kisses him for the second time ever. The Sheriff kisses him back, and Oli knows he never wants to leave this man. Not ever, ever again.

_____________________________

They kiss again behind the saloons bar on a Tuesday evening, illuminated by the low lighting of the bar and nothing else. The bard thinks he’s in heaven when it happens, just as he did the last two times he’s kissed Jimmy. He can barely believe he’s kissing him a third time when that happens, even after everything and all the progress they have made. The blonde feels like the luckiest man in the whole wide world.

The bar is closed when it happens, and it’s only the two of them standing behind it. Oli can barely remember how they got there, just that they had been teasing each other. Maybe with more than a few drinks in their systems, to up the flirting just a little bit. And yes, the blonde did get his fruity cocktail this time, thank you for asking.

Suddenly, in between laughs, their faces are closer than they’ve been since that fateful festival booth, and the bard knows he has to take this chance. He has to take this chance, because he’s probably never going to get it again, with how the world likes to fuck him over. So, when both their slightly drunken laughters calm down, Oli leans in as a little tease. Jimmy takes it as a challenge, like he takes everything as. He steadies them both with a hand on the bard’s waist, and fiddles with the loose fabric under his fingers. The blonde just feels his breath hitch, and moves so their faces are practically touching. To make his intentions more clear than they already had been.

Oli closes his eyes, figuring it'll be less awkward if he does that. He isn't sure what Jimmy’s doing, not until he feels a gentle hand, the one not on his waist, reaching up to hold his jaw. The Sheriff's hold is nice and warm, and Oli is like a moth to a flame. He leans into it before he even knows what he's doing, and feels Jimmy’s heartbeat skip a little afterwards. Whoops. 

They stay like that for a moment, before Jimmy tentatively presses their lips together. He seems rather unsure about it, like this might be unwanted, until Oil presses back rather insistently. (This is very clearly a wanted advance, for christ's sake, he'd been teasing the Sheriff for weeks! They’d kissed twice already! This man is so stupid sometimes, and it’s way more endearing than it should be!)

It is….a very hesitant kiss, despite their past ones, but the Sheriff's lips are soft and warm against his own. Warm, like everything else about him. Warm like the mesa he lives in, and soft like the way he holds the bard. He feels alive again, and never wants this to end. Not ever in a million years would he want kissing Jimmy to end.

But they have to move back eventually, the need for air outwinning every other thought in Oli’s head. He gasps to catch his breath, and gasps again when Jimmy leans in for another one. Finally! This man gets the hint! The bard kisses him back happily, and doesn’t mind when they kiss a few more times after it, again and again and again, until people get too close to their little hiding place. Only then do the two of them separate, laughing quietly once more, and stumble back to the Sheriff’s house, far past each of their bedtimes.

It is the best night of Oli's life. He wishes he could relive it over and over again, and tries too for months and months afterward. The universe does not want him too, and he stops relieving it far quicker than he ever would have wanted too.

_____________________________

The last time Oil stops by Tumble Town, the place is in complete and utter disrepair. He stares at the rundown buildings in a worried sort of curiosity, wondering how they would’ve gotten in such a state. Jimmy is normally very good at keeping the place tidy! Though, he hasn’t stopped by in several months, the patrons in Chromia being a lot more generous with their gold, so it’s possible all this decay was gradual. Which is a lot more worrying than it all being recent. 

He sees something as he walks through the eerily silent town, something blue and mossy clinging to one of the fading buildings, and the bard immediately stiffens. The signature signs of the fae are here, right in the middle of the mesa. And that can’t be anything good, not in the slightest. So he quickened his pace, worried out of his mind about what could’ve befallen his favorite Sheriff.

Oli finds Jimmy by his house, clearly loading bags onto a horse's back. His personal horse, Bullseye. So he’s going somewhere, presumably for a long period of time. And with all the abandoned buildings, the empty town, the general lack of life and the bloody fae hanging around, it’s not hard to figure out that the Sheriff is abandoning his home. Jimmy is leaving the place he;d built from scratch, where he’d made all these memories with the bard, and Oli can barely believe it’s happening.

“Jimmy!” He yells out, doing so without even thinking. He has no idea what he would even say after that, and half hopes the Sheriff did not hear him. He absolutely did. They are not anymore than ten feet apart. Oli has successfully snuck up on a fleeing man.

“Oli!” The Sheriff whips his head around, panic clear in his tone. He obviously hadn’t been expecting to see Oli before he left, if the newfound fear in his eyes said anything. Like leaving him without any fucking warning was an okay thing to do. “It’s not what it looks like-”

“You're gonna leave, aren't you?” Oli says, arms dropping limply to his side. He doesn’t know what else to do with them, for once, except just let them fall. The action seems to upset the Sheriff for a moment, a small frown crossing his face. Good, let him be upset. The dirty deserter…leaving like this…

Jimmy says nothing in response, he doesn’t even meet his bard's gaze for a last time. The Sheriff just turns his back on his lover, and stares blankly at the wooden walls of his house. Oli can’t even muster a snarky response out like he wants too, emotions gathering in his throat. Because he’s losing Jimmy. He’s losing Jimmy again and he knows there’s nothing he can do to stop it. Again. He’s losing Jimmy again .

The Old Sheriff calls from somewhere, and Jimmy turns his head to where the noise came from. The old man needs help with something, it seems, and has unknowingly provided the Sheriff an escape from this situation. The bastard. Oli is almost grateful for the distraction, because he doesn’t know where else this conversation was going. It wasn’t anywhere good, that’s for certain. And he doesn’t wanna be another fWhip.

“I have to go, Oli.” Jimmy says, giving the bard one last hopeful glance. Like he hadn’t been trying to leave without telling him. Because apparently all those kisses and what not meant that much to him. He looks at him like he has anything to be hopeful about. Like he isn’t shattering a man’s whole world as they speak. “See you later?”

“You won’t, because you’re leaving.” Oli spits, and promptly turns tail and runs. Jimmy doesn’t even call after him, just stares sadly. He looked like he wanted to kiss Oli, before the latter had run away. The bard doesn’t know if that would’ve made that hurt more, or have made it hurt so much less. He’s glad he didn’t stick around to find out.

And that is the last damn time he ever sees the love of his life.

_____________________________

Right before he leaves, the Sheriff gets invited to a funeral. He gets invited to Oli’s funeral. His friend had died suddenly, seemingly jumping off a roof. Or maybe falling, but all the people who had seen said it looked like he jumped. When Jimmy gets the invitation, he stares at it blankly for a minute, and then tears it up in grief. He didn’t even get the chance to see where the ceremony was, and has to figure it out when he arrives at the Olipeligo two days later.

The remains of the paper go right in the trash, along with that stupid letter fWhip had sent. One about trying to make up or whatever. That trash is then thrown to the fae, so the three things ruining the Sheriff’s life can all be in one place. He barely cares that it makes the blue substance spread across his mesa more. He’s leaving right after the funeral anyways, and never coming back to this dumb empire he’d made ever again.

Pix is there when he arrives, and is the only other emperor to be. Eddie from sanctuary is there too, the fling Oli had in his first few months of being here. They hadn’t been involved in months, but it seemed the rabbit man still cared enough to show up. There are a few more rabbit people, who all probably came with Eddie, and a few people from wherever who had liked the bard’s singing. It is a small funeral. Jimmy hangs in the back the whole time, cowboy hat hiding his face. He doesn’t give a eulogy. He doesn't think he could speak if he tried.

The cherry petals fall around them as the processions come to a close, the staple petals of this lovely beachside empire. Pix gives him a comforting pat on the shoulder as everyone leaves, and Jimmy barely even acknowledges he did it. The Sheriff is too busy staring off at the ocean, and trying not to cry. The man he loved the most is dead, and it is only fueling his desire to run away more and more.

(Unbeknownst to him, a boat is sailing its way upstream, towards where the festival grounds lay. Oli is leaving, because he knows this world is not for him. His death was faked, and he hadn’t stayed around to watch the funeral like he had wanted. Besides, possibly seeing Jimmy again would just make it harder to go. So he rows away quietly, and ignores that pain in his chest as he does. [He wishes he had kissed his love one last time..])

Jimmy leaves the Olipeligo before the sun sets fully, and meets the Old Sheriff on the outskirts of the mesa. He’s surprised the old man actually showed up, and he didn’t have to drag him out of the old, run down bar or something. But he’s here on time, horse and supplies in tow, and that’s all that matters.

The Sheriff sets off into the distance with his companion, never to see these lands again, and aching for the person they had taken from him. For the part of his soul he is never going to get back. He wishes he had never settled here. He wishes Tumble Town had been built elsewhere. Maybe then he wouldn’t be running. Maybe then Oli would still be by his side.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Which cullen would fall prey to an mlm scam first

You mean a pyramid scheme?

Well, the trouble with pyramid schemes, is they can be surprisingly tricksy even if you know what to look for. They're very good at reeling you in and convincing you it's different somehow than a pyramid scheme. See, it's shaped like a funnel and not a pyramid! Or you earn income based on how much you sell and then you can enter another tier!

A lot of people who would think they'd never get roped into a pyramid scheme can end up sucked into one if they're not wary.

But alright, let's do it.

Alice

Alice doesn't fall into this for a few reasons.

The first is that her gift stops her, she sees this venture won't make her money but will get her saddled with a shitty product she can't peddle fast enough to break even.

Alice is perfectly content playing with the stock market.

The second is that Alice wouldn't be interested. She has her own way of making more money than she could ever hope to being a salesman and she'd have no interest in selling the kinds of products that pyramid schemes usually do (which are generally mass produced, cheap, and rarely have any quality to them). Alice wouldn't think they're good products and would have no interest in trying to market them herself and sell them to others.

Bella

Doomed.

Give Bella the right pitch, (and many of these are aimed towards women trying to support themselves), and she's there selling what she believes is a great makeup product/clothes line/what have you and refusing to believe she's made a terrible mistake and been conned along with all these earnest other women.

Edward I imagine has to get rid of the product for her and get her out of the hole (Bella's pride never lives this down).

Carlisle

Carlisle's been in the human world long enough, interacted with it more than the others, and is generally very particular about how he should be viewed and seen that I don't see him biting.

"I am human doctor man" Carlisle says, and has no intention in pursuing any other means of income or anything that would make him not look like human doctor man who is definitely 39 why do you ask?

It's not even a matter of him being swayed or not, he's not listening close enough, and likely makes his earliest escape.

Edward

Edward's actually in a little danger in part because of his gift. The thing about pyramid schemes is that those in the lower tiers (even the mid tiers) aren't in the know. They may suspect it's a pyramid scheme, and that they're in too deep to get out, but it's the ones at the top who really planned the thing. The very low-level grunts generally believe it's a real company (it's how they get hooked and sucked in).

If Edward were to meet someone trying to hook him in (as you generally get rewards for recruiting others) then there's a chance.

Now, the chance is small, because like Alice, Edward's comfortable with his money and has 0 desire to work or be a salesman (notice Edward just goes to high school, then university and never goes off on his own or with one of the others to get a job).

That said, I could see Edward being tricked into believing it's a good product, a good cause, and more by people who earnestly believe it. More, because Edward doesn't really doubt his gift, it might not occur to him that these people are also being lied to or else are lying to themselves.

Edward also believes himself intelligent enough that he'd never fall for a pyramid scheme and so would be less wary of it.

Basically, still unlikely as Edward would never get dragged to one of these meetings or into it, but not impossible and much more likely than Alice.

Emmett

Doomed.

If he was taken to the right pitch, for the right product, even though he himself would never use it he'd think it'd be so cool that of course he should sign up. Hey, then he can make some dough for a change, how about that Alice.

It doesn't last long, though, as Rosalie tells him, "Honey, this is a pyramid scheme".

(It also doesn't last long as no one would ever pitch Emmett as he looks fucking terrifying and he's huge).

Esme

Esme's so nice, I could easily see her being essentially bullied into joining. The thing is, she actually doesn't get in too deep because she never depletes her initial stock and has no hope of doing so. Esme doesn't go out enough or interact enough with others to actually sell the product so the terrible makeup brand just... sits there...

She's out some amount of money, but she won't dig herself into the hole that usually happens in pyramid schemes where, with the taste of initial success, you just keep going.

Jasper

Jasper's too scary. The others are all too scary but Jasper's really too scary. He's never approached and if he was I imagine him staring dully at these human products not sure what he is supposed to do with them or how he's supposed to sell them with his face.

Renesmee

Doomed.

Renesmee has no idea how anything works and is ridiculously sheltered by the Cullens. I doubt 'theft' is even a concept she understands nor is 'money' for that matter. Now, this might help her, as she has no idea how to sell anything, but like Esme she probably gets conned into signing the dotted line and making the initial purchase because the nice salespeople tell her it's a great idea.

Rosalie

Rosalie has been through a lot and is naturally wary and skeptical of others. More, while liking to be the prettiest in the room, she doesn't seem all that weak to flattery from what we see of her. Rosalie would be immediately suspicious of anyone trying to sell her anything or get her to do something as she'll be immediately wondering what they get out of this and why they're trying so hard.

[updatebug]

I've seen the theories about how Chester and Norris aren't actually Jon and Martin following the most recent episode (or are and are evil / controlled by the web) and I'm not ruling it out but IDK.

To me, this could still be another case of Jon trying to warn Sam away (albeit one that goes horribly, horribly wrong). Like the statement starting immediately after Celia sort of convinces Sam to give up looking into the Magnus Institute is kinda damning and I can see why people are seeing it as a lure. But on the other side of things, Sam is still doing the same stuff that Alice keeps warning him is going to get him into trouble, he's engaging with the weird shit in the office. He's filling out the deeply cursed paper work and answering the deeply concerning questions.

So a statement about someone doing something seemingly innocuous (rolling a pair of dice) and being met with costly rewards and horrible misfortune doesn't exactly seem out of place. (we can all see the parallels between 'I refuse to give it the satisfaction of giving up', 'It's kind of compelling at this point.' and 'I still don't really know if they made me roll them' and 'I don't think I ever felt them calling me' right?)

Also insert small domino to big domino meme here but the first step to Jon destroying the world and possibly dooming the multiverse was literally him signing a contract (and the contract itself does have some supernatural significance based on the way daisy joined). I also think - given we don't know how much control Jon and Martin have over their statements (but there are thematic parallels) the Magnus Institute link might be at least in part Jon's own trauma - (please for the love of god this place is deeply cursed and the worse nothing good can come from this it only has eye mutilation and cursed dice) and part hey Sam remember your horrible hidden trauma about this place, it is so much worse than you think pls stop poking around while you still can.

Like I think the first statement, the 'canaries should stay above ground' was just a general warning. Look at this horrible thing that happened but don't look to hard, let's just move on, we're not even going to tell you what happened just allude to the horrors. Only Sam didn't take that warning. And Jon's been here before, in this exact position in fact, being kept ignorant never did him any favours it just meant he made things worse in his search for answers. So I think this is his way of saying look, this is the kind of thing the Magnus institute dealt with. This is how horrible it was, and how terrible it could be for you. STOP.

(I actually kind of think that the Gerry thing was another attempt to do this that backfired. Gerry was the one who properly clued Jon in about the world and if we assume that Jon has access to the supernatural files but only the supernatural files then he knows that Gerry was involved with the MI but not what happened to him after. So he might have been hoping that Gerry would give Sam this universe's version of colour theory only for Gerry to turn out to be a happy, friendly painter - better for Gerry but not as helpful as a haunted encyclopaedia)

[assorted-things]

My thoughts on the ending

This is probably going to be a bit rambling and disconnected, so bear with me...

(This got far longer than I meant it to be...)

Does anyone else feel that the Deserter is a reflection of the person Harry could have been, if he hadn't lost his memory? The bitterness and anger and inability to let go of the past remind me of a lot of things that the Ancient Reptilian Brain and the Limbic System say in the dream sequences... I think that Harry's amnesia is a gift, in a way - it allows Harry to eventually let go of the past and decide what kind of person he wants to be now. One of the first dream sequences shows Harry a vision of himself as the hanged man, and I think in a way the old Harry did die when he lost his memories. One of the reasons the game was so affecting emotionally to me is that you as the player are the one getting Harry to turn his life around, if that's how you choose to play it, because it really makes you feel involved and part of Harry's story. It's one of the reasons why I don't think the game would work well as a TV adaptation - I think it would really lose a lot of its emotional impact without your input. It really moved me that I could get Harry to go from screaming that he "doesn't want to be that kind of animal any more", to telling the Phasmid: "I'm glad to be me - an incredibly sensitive instrument".

I really love how the tone of the game manages to be somehow hopeless and hopeful at the same time. Maybe the world is doomed by the Pale, and the Revolution failed, and maybe Revachol is a shithole, but... you can find that there are things worth loving and saving in this broken world. You're subconscious tries so hard to convince you that it's all terrible and evil and that you should just give up and let the darkness take you, but all of your actions through the game can prove that voice wrong. It tells you you're not helping anyone, but depending on how you play the game, you are: you found Billie's husband, and even though he's dead, at least now she knows and won't have to wait forever for him to come home when he won't; Cuno has someone who actually listens to him and takes what he has to say seriously; you got Plaisance to bring Annette in from the cold; you stopped the mercenaries from killing as many people as they might otherwise have done (it went pretty badly in my playthrough, but I tried), and you gave Kim a friend. I love the message it seems to be trying to put across that even if the world is ultimately doomed, you can and should still try to find the good in it, and make a small part of it a better place. And maybe in the end it won't change anything, but the fact that you had hope enough to try matters. And maybe if enough people thought that way, they could change reality for the better - maybe there was a grain of truth in that infra-materialist stuff all along. Maybe it sounds corny, but I found it very touching.

This is... sort of where the Phasmid comes in for me, because everyone thought the existence of the Insulindan Phasmid was impossible, but because you believed in it enough, you were able to prove it was real. And if the Phasmid is real, then maybe other things that people thought were impossible can happen, too... It makes me feel very satisfied that I chose "SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL IS GOING TO HAPPEN" when I painted that wall. It seems fitting.

I also love the fact that the Deserter being stuck in the past is literally killing him. And... he talks a big game about being the last real Communist or whatever, but in the end, how is he actually helping the working class by clinging to his bitterness and refusing to let go of what could have been, instead of trying to do something to help the people around him? Even though Harry is flawed, and on his own can't change the world, he's made a difference to the people around him, which is better than being consumed by bitterness and doing nothing at all.

In the end, I think for me one of the core themes of the game is faith/belief (not necessarily in a religious sense)... I think that something that really helps is Kim's belief in Harry. He's so kind to Harry, when he could just as easily write him off as a shambling alcoholic. I think Kim's faith in you makes you want to live up to what he thinks of you, so... I'm not sure how coherent I'm being here, but it's a bit like how Harry believing in the Phasmid lets him make it a definite reality - Kim's belief in Harry as a great detective, or someone who could be a great detective, makes Harry a better person, I think. (At least, that's my take on it - I got so attached to Kim as a character that I really wanted to make him proud of my version of Harry!) And in the end, his faith wasn't misplaced. Again, he can't change the world, and he's human and not a saint (much as Harry may think he is), but Kim choosing to be kind did make a difference, even if it was only to one man.

tl;dr This is going to sound unbearably pretentious, but if someone asked me if video games can be art, this is the game I'd point to and say "yes".

[littleeyesofpallas]

I have always loved this final(ish) boss design in Wild Arms 2nd Ignition so I'm just gonna babble for a bit here, apropos of nothing. So, spoilers I guess(?) for a quarter of a century year old game --I think it's still available on the PlaystationStore, but obviously emus are always an option. Large flightless Australian birds are crafty like that.

Even though, design-wise, a good chunk of it falls in line with pretty standard JRPG angelic monster/grotesque angel/now-your-teen-hero-fights-god motifs, it was just so out there in terms of lore.

The game starts with you gathering a band of heroes --A fresh faced army recruit, a grizzled war hero, a magical girl, a sacrificial martyr, a brooding anti-hero, and an optional vampire-- to fight an evil organization out to take over the world.

The evil organization, Odessa, declares that the world is changing, monsters are popping everywhere, and the kingdoms of the world do nothing about it, and so they threaten that if kings and queens and politicians cannot or will not do anything about it, then Odessa will conquer their kingdoms, seize their resources and manpower, and they will fix the problem thru unilateral authority.

But while there is a certain righteous anger behind their manifesto, they of course end up attacking innocent civilians, staffing themselves with war criminals and homicidal lunatics, sacrificing people to summon demons, using the monsters they claim to want gone as weapons, and ultimately trying to threaten the world's governments into submission with a nuke that is also a dragon...

So you smack their four generals around, corner their boss in his giant flying fortress, and then when he knows he's done for he tries to launch himself and the heroes into space to kill them all. It mostly fails, in so much as your party escapes the fortress, but the protagonist stays behind like the big damn hero that he is and consequently dies in space... He gets better tho, don't worry.

But then comes the sort of inverted 3rd act twist --instead of all hope being lost and then a reveal saves the day, everything seems like we should be done with the world ending threats and the world should be safe, until it's revealed that it is very much not-- an alternate universe is colliding with this one, and has been the whole time...

What that really means and how that works and how to envision that is left meaningfully abstract. Metaphorically the other world threatens to "devour" theirs, but it's not clear what that consumption even means... The slowly merging realities are actually why those monsters Odessa swore to eradicate had been appearing at all, and as the two alternate realities collide, the shape of the extra dimensional invasion isn't just a flood of monsters, but that the very nature of reality in this other world will come to replace this one.

Also in a cool throw back to the original Wild Arms, in which the extraterrestrial demon invasion the kicks off the game's plot is heralded by the sky cracking and chipping away, when the protag recovers from his whole died-in-space situation, he awakens to a literally unfamiliar, alien sky... a shifting, sloshing, iridescent acid trip looming over a doomed planet.

In fact the terrorist threat that had consumed so much of the heroes efforts until now was part of an elaborate long con by a certain wealthy would-be-hero out to save the world from the existential threat of total annihilation... The same man who recruited your heroes to fight terrorist in the first place.

Convinced that the world governments would be too fickle and petty to set aside their differences and personal interests to combat something as incomprehensible as (another)reality itself, he actually funded the terrorist organization in order to scare the world into cooperation against something much more concrete and straight forward --or, if international cooperation really did prove impossible, then as an owner of the new dictatorial world government, he'd simply make Odessa to save the world for him.

(A Note: The whole thing has strong american cape comic energy running thru it, specifically Watchmen and DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths.)

But then even his Xanatos gambit falls just short of saving the world in the final stages, and he's pushed into a corner. It turns out that even after tricking the nations of the world into allowing him access to harnessing the raw life force of the planet itself, the life force of a planet with a dying ecosystem just isn't enough to contain this hungry eldritch reality. So, in a last ditch effort he turns to the raw energy of creation, the miracle of life itself, to contain the menace and shackle it to a tangible reality in which it can be fought and killed... and so in a prison of otherworldly flesh contained in the belly of the earth itself, you confront the alternate universe in the form of an unborn child, and with his mind speaking thru it he tells you to kill him.

Anyway, yeah, that's you end up in a big red meat room fighting a vaguely angelic baby in an orb.

Immediately the thing that jumps out is, "Hey, that's the Starchild from 2001: A Space Odyssey!" Which is of course, very cool because everyone loves an unnerving weird fetus. But when it comes to JRPGS and weird fetuses, and incomprehensible reality destroying menaces, of course, the first thing to come to mind is Gigyas in Earthbound.

But more over, I really love that --where as, by point of comparison, there have been questionable theories about the layout of the Devil's Machine dungeon map looking like a womb, piggybacking off Giygas's ultrasound looking fetus shadow pattern-- the rest of the boss form surrounding the little Starchild core actually do appear to be modeled off a reproductive system, complete with ovaries and fallopian tubes, even going so far as to include the fimbriae as stylized angelic wings.

And I like the odd little detail that, because most babies develop upside down, the design with the fetus upright seems to have taken that into account by also rotating the reproductive anatomy accordingly? The baby is upright, so the organs are upside down.

Plus, even though it's not how fallopian tubes look in a real body, most anatomical diagram will show them as having this kind of flared arc over and around the ovaries beneath them, but the wings of the Kupier core arc under the two green orbs approximating ovaries. All that just to say that the big metal golden halo structure hanging under the core is technically oriented toward the "top" of the implied anatomy.

Also the game has a whole big subplot about a Christlike martyr --as an extension of the broader themes of heroism, and what it really means to be a hero-- and there is even a moment just before this final dungeon where Irving refers to his sister, the mother carrying this alternate reality made flesh, as "The Madonna of Destruction"... That all being context to support that, although it can be hard to notice or discern meaningful details on, that weird little fetus is definitely wearing what I can only assume is a crown of thorns.(I mean, that or it could be a pair of little devil horns? but I find that a less interesting alternative) Because he was, after all, conceived(although not so immaculately...) so that he could die to save the world.

Also not at all related to any fun themes or anything but I like how there's this big mouth it's seated in, that I only just realized has a "bottom" jaw to it. The top teeth are most noticeable and go around the front and sides, and I always kinda assumed they were a nod to the whole vagina dentata myth, but on a scale and at an angle that would've been imperceptible thru the blur of a CRT, there's definitely 4 little teeth normally hidden by the glare of the little uterus bubble

Oh and I didn't even get into the name itself being named after the Kuiper Belt, the asteroid belt around our real world solarsystem, as a play into some other astronomical terminology the story borrows from; namely the event horizon of a blackhole being referred to as the thing sealing away the mythic evil demon that started the whole world decay thing that makes the setting a desert wasteland in the first place, and became the wrench in the aforementioned plan to harness the planet's life force as a weapon against the parallel universe.(that ancient evil demon is the actual/surprise final boss of the game after this fight, btw...) There's so much more going on just in general, but that doesn't really play into the way this boss mosnters looks or why.