#but what if he was the Worst in the scenarios where alternative was Worse? what then huh

[maegalkarven]

I have an awful idea of Karlach and Durge actually knowing each other in the past, quite well, actually.

(The reason Karlach did not recognize Durge is because Durge always used that shape-shifting mask of theirs and looked like someone else).

Durge and Gortash met for the first time 11 or so years prior the game.

Durge was already a cult leader, Gortash was not yet Bane's Chosen or even banite, but was starting to work on the cults angle.

Durge hang around just enough for them and Karlach to hit off; it was actually Karlach who is the first person Durge felt genuine connection with.

Father Bhaal disapproved and Urge started to act up; Durge blacked out several times killing innocent tieflings, acted a lil weirder than usual.

Gortash, being Gortash, noticed.

He had a list of candidates from whom he was planning to choose the right person for Zariel's engine.

But he discarded them and sold Karlach instead; he explained it to himself as there's no better candidate for the role. She would survive the engine being installed and, if she was tough enough, would survive Avernus and emerge victorious.

It had nothing to do with his unstable ally acting more unstable than before.

Durge, who at that point had caught up what Father demanded Karlach dead and, for the first time ever, were hesitating to kill someone, visited Gortash and found out Karlach was gone.

"Good," is all they said. They did not elaborate.

[lizzaneia-elizalde]

Request: Inigo Dragonov scenario where we (his darling) didn’t cave into remarrying him. (I guess this is like an alternative timeline from the original storyline). He was thinking about bankrupting our family, so aside from that, what if we also didn’t want to remarry him because we found a new lover (that even his private investigators didn’t know about). And to make it even more soap opera drama like, our new man is Inigo’s old university rival (who’s still also his company’s rival). I’m sorry…I just love these tropes/cliches. What makes it even ❤️provokingly❤️ worse is if his rival were just to see Inigo across the street one day on an outing with us and our twin babies…and just kiss the babes while pulling us into an embrace…all while keeping a long deadlock stare with Inigo. Like DUSKGSJOSLHWJJJWJ!!!!!!!!! Unleash Inigo’s full yandere potential after being forced to witness this!

Yandere! CEO! Arranged! Ex-husband x AFAB! Ex-wife! Reader

WHAT IF: You refused to marry him?

Ooh anon, you're the worst (lovingly). You really want Iñigo to suffer huh?

Once more, I'm delving into Iñigo's lore because fun fact, Rowan may be my first yandere OC, but Iñigo had a whole novel just exploring him and his actual partner, Ykaidi! (I unpublished it on Wattpad though, it's so cringe lol. Also, there's so much stuff I changed so technically, the original timeline IS an au in itself) So this will be a good creative exercise to explore his personality more.

He's one traumatized bitch.

No?

Did you really say no?

Iñigo scoffed before tilting his head to the side, a bit bewildered.

"This..."

Words died down in his throat as he saw your resolute face.

"A-are you sure you don't want to marry me? I told you that the children needs a father figure in their life."

He somehow got a bad feeling about this. And that proved right as you gave him a soft smirk.

"They do, actually. It's not you though."

Iñigo felt his blood run cold.

His ears started to ring from the shock he received.

"You..." You have another man? That was not... Him?

How could that possibly be?! He always made sure that his private investigators would know each and every single one of the people that you spoke to back in New Zealand.

He should rethink his choices right now.

"But, Elise and Elliot needs their biological father. I am their bio father!" Iñigo yelled, his jaw ticking. But you only rolled your eyes.

"Did you think I would take into account on going back to you?!" You screamed, marching up to him and pushing him back. Your heart squeezed in pain as it pumped to accomodate the anger rising inside of you. "You neglected me. Insulted me in ways I don't even hear from my parents!"

You stomped one step, as if crushing his heart in pieces.

"Why would I come back to you?" Your voice, crackled with the pent up anger, gave a raw, intense tone of rage that echoed your beating heart. "You must think I'm stupid if I'll run to you."

Iñigo's vision swam, breathing heavily as he felt small, pressured....

Intimidated.

He never took account of you moving on and hating him to the point of getting another man. But you did. You did what he thought was impossible.

"Sweetheart... Please..." His tone was getting desperate, clawing at the seams to make sure he won't burst from the emotions he's feeling.

Iñigo is an emotional man. Yes, he may seem cold hearted and reserved, but when it comes to you, it's different.

His hand trembled, wanting to grab your hand to rest upon his cheeks and place a shackle on it.

"I'm going." You whispered before walking out of him.

~~~Two weeks later~~~

It's been hell in Iñigo's company. He's working his employees like dogs to create the best fashion company out there.

Whatever that means.

But all he knows he needs to outrank the Smith's when it comes to the Fashion influence across the world.

He needs to outrank you.

He needs to be more popular.

More rich.

More influential.

He drank another coffee, letting the coffee dribble down his chin and onto the hardwood table.

"Indigo, I think you need to take a break." Oliver said, using the nickname he's been using since he was a child. Iñigo looked up and saw Oliver holding up a mirror, reflecting how bad Iñigo looked.

"Wow, way too drive the nail further. Fuckhead." Iñigo glared at Oliver before shaking his head and standing up. "Alright. I'll go for a walk, Livi."

Iñigo went to the bathroom, fixing his appearance, shaving a bit, and adding light makeup to his face, just to hide the circles on his eyes.

Damn, he even knew how to apply makeup just to impress you, the fashion icon you are.

His tongue stung, remembering when he called you frumpy.

He got down through the elevators and walked towards the park. His steps heavy and straightforward. He ignored the stares he got, some shocked, some flirty, but he didn't mind them.

Because once he looked up to cross the street, his eyes widened seeing you and...

"Steven..?"

Steven. He knows him so well.

He's an academic rival back then in highschool and college, and now a business rival too.

He also can't believe he's now a love rival also?

Iñigo always remained victorious between them, with Steven simmering in second place.

But Steven only laughs, rolls his eyes and moves on.

He hated that part of him.

But now, it seems that Steven is leading in one aspect.

And it's you.

Steven looked around, sightseeing before landing on Iñigo.

Both froze, unsure of what to do.

But this time, Steven smirked and pulled you close, kissing your temple lovingly then scooping Elise and Elliot into his arms, laughing as they giggled in Glee.

People awed at the sight, seeing this "father" play with his children and being openly affectionate with his "wife."

The perfect family.

Iñigo feels like he's looking into the spotlight, looking into a pedestal that looked too far from his reach.

He wanted to break the hands that affectionately caressed your hips, to tear the lips that kissed your temple, to break the ankles that dared walk up to you.

He felt something crack inside him.

Sure, he won't use violence.

On you.

But, the prospect of Steven dying in his arms, torturing him for hours sounds delightful.

He finally snapped.

He's not afraid of blood, nor guts nor any of that gorey stuff.

He got his yandere side from his biological father after all, not Allastor. It was never Allastor, after all, he's a really sweet man.

He could never spawn a devil in hiding.

And, as Iñigo walk away to buy the necessary items to torture Steven, he smirked.

"Business be damned. I'm taking what's mine."

[sparks-olivarpente]

the Stranger Fics

(byler fics with unexpected powers or twists)

Turns out a lot of my favorite fics enter this category. Feel free to reblog and add fics you love :)

In the Eye of a Hurricane (It's You and Me) by Julia_Skysong "Jonathan, why…why am I with dad on the security tape????" Lonnie Byers is a royal piece of shit. Will finds out he has powers and understandably has a meltdown about it, and Mike helps him through it.

over a bridge of time by @sevensided Hawkins isn't the same without Will. So Mike goes to visit him in Chicago. Then strange things happen… Second part of the awesome serie THE DARK MIRROR and of course you should read the whole thing :)

I know the end by @cosmobrain00 The worst-case scenario has happened. … and that's all the summary you'll get from me! an ongoing serie that keeps getting better and better (or worse and worse, depending on the point of view). Tags: #Mind Manipulation #Will has powers

them’s the breaks by emelinelou Three years after moving to California, one Will Byers shows up - read: dimension-teleports or something - back in Hawkins. In the corner of Mike's bedroom. In the middle of the night. Turns out this is a bad thing, namely for Mike and Mike's sanity.

captured ghosts by etchedstars ghosts from will's past come back to haunt this. literally or metaphorically is up to audience interpretation. Some favorite tags: #plot relevant cuddles #will gets to be sarcastic #he also commits crime

Come Hell, High Water by naiesu “It’s been months, Mike,” Lucas says, staring at Mike, hard. Mike can’t remember a time he didn’t look at him that way. “Will is a cold case. You need to accept that.” The dream-like parts are amazingly written <3

yesterFriday by nbfutureboy (@futureboy-ao3) Will Byers wakes up as usual one Friday morning - he worries about his family, his History test, and telling the people he loves that he doesn’t Like Girls in that way. Then he does it again. [Groundhog Day AU where Will gets stuck in a time loop.]

a strange education (reach out and touch me) by Total_Serene (@total-serene560) 16 year old Mike Wheeler wakes up in the middle of a highway in Indiana. He can't remember what happened, but he knows three things: He was going somewhere, it was supposed to be night, and he had taken Nancy's car. The mystery in this one…!!!

The Basement by olliecoddle (@souverian-are-we) Will and Mike spend their days in a little run-down house in the Upper Peninsula with dated furniture and peeling wallpaper, two sinking recliners next to each other. But there is a beast in the basement.

A Stranger Things Ghost Story by Junigatsu84 It is the Summer of 1983, before all the horrors that befall Hawkins. The boys are looking for their own mystery to solve and find a haunted house. It’s a shame Will is the only one to see it.

Back to the Future (with Mike Wheeler) by Nymphadoragreenleaf On a list of the top five most unexpected things to happen to Mike Wheeler, traveling 10 years into the future has got to take the top spot. The half-naked man claiming to be his best friend might be number two. Alternatively known as, Mike Wheeler tries to survive a week in the 90's and figures a couple of things out along the way.

You are the Heart by TouchTheSky A fever-dream, mucho-feels, super long, semi-fix-it, version of Season 5. i feel like i know you (but we never met) by @andiwriteordie “Who?” Mike’s voice breaks again, and Joyce chokes back a sob. “Joyce, who… who was he?” Or: The one in which Will Byers doesn't exist… At least not anymore.

with all my heart by mogiah (@morganee) what happens when Birthdaygate and Lettergate meet. or another one in which Will doesn't exist anymore

i've come home, i'm so cold by astrobi (@astrobei) Will's trying his hardest to make it through fall semester in one piece. Unfortunately for his degree, he's being haunted by maybe-feelings for his best friend (metaphorically), and also a maybe-ghost with rather abysmal fashion sense (literally). The fic that made me decide to spend the rest of my life that year reading fics

Blackout by Tea_For_One_Please as if their senior year of high school wasn't complicated enough, the Party find themselves investigating an accidental death, believing it to be connected to a similar event nearly two decades earlier. Just normal teenager stuff, right? This one hasn't been updated for a while but I remember enjoying the plot and mystery a lot

baby, we’re perfect by bookinit (@bookinit02) Senior year in Hawkins. Will and Mike figure some things out. I'm not allowed to say anything else about this fic. To quote the author: "brace yourselves. sorry in advance."

you were bigger than the whole sky by delusionaltogether (@parkitaco) Mike breathes out sharply, sinking to his knees in front of Will without conscious thought. Every bone in his body is turning to jelly, because Will is here, but he's also- not. on march 29th, 1986, will byers vanishes for a second time. 366 days later, he reappears.

This is where it starts by cottonscent While the rest of the party moved on and forgot once the gate closed Will kept exploring, and the connection he formed to the other dimension it actually a lot more complex than what they originally thought.

[darkwitch1999]

@darkwitch1999, I got a question. It’s a little bit of Marinette salt, but what was Noelle and Devin’s worst experience with Marinette/Ladybug?

Well, @princessbutterflysposts. In an alternate reality where Marinette/Ladybug is an even worse bitch than Chloe, Lila, or even the Parisian Mean Girls quartet, I can imagine any one of these scenarios happening that would cause Noelle and Devin to hold a grudge.

Devin Nolan

During the first year of junior high, Marinette almost turned him into a social pariah just because he comes from a wealthy family and she saw him talking to Chloe ONE TIME! Apparently having money and telling Chloe to "fuck off" meant that he was another spoiled rich brat according to Marinette's perspective.

Fortunately, it didn't take long for Devin to convince everyone that he was nothing at all like Chloe. Though Marinette just switched tactics and used his cold, aloof personality as an excuse.

Ignores Devin's intense fear of being touched. She claims that Devin is just being "angsty" and "overdramatic" and doesn't take his phobia seriously.

Whenever Devin shoves her off or hits her whenever she touches him, she plays the victim card, making it seem as if Devin was a jerk despite her being the one clearly in the wrong.

Marinette mocked Devin's psychological fixation on being perfect when she found Devin having a panic attack in an isolated area of the school after he had gotten a 99% on a test. Didn't even stop to consider that as a red flag of psychological trauma/abuse. Again, claiming that he was being "overdramatic".

Ladybug tried to recruit him into becoming a superhero when someone he was close to got akumatized, but when Devin refused because he wasn't interested or comfortable with becoming a superhero, Ladybug had the audacity to call him "selfish".

Devin eventually gave in when Ladybug wouldn't stop pestering/gaslighting him for his help. Jokes on Ladybug, when Devin saw an opportunity to talk the akuma down, he de-transformed right in front of the akuma and revealed himself. He had to endure a harsh lecture from Ladybug about how what he did was "dangerous" and that she could never trust him with a miraculous again.

Devin wasn't even fazed by Ladybug's rant. The whole time she's lecturing him he is all like ("Yeah, don't ask me to do this shit again!").

Noelle Odeja

She's best friends with Lila....need I say more? Well, alright then.

Noelle played a horror-themed practical joke on Marinette on Halloween by putting fake dismembered body parts in her locker. Immediately, Marinette made it seem like she was being "victimized all over again" and compared the prank to the ones that Chloe and Kim played on her last year despite Noelle's joke being tame compared to what those two pulled.

Marinette's "Liars and Cheaters are losers" mentality has made her unsympathetic to Noelle's family problems. Thinking that Noelle's father is a horrible person for having an affair when she doesn't know how abusive Noelle's mother is towards her husband.

Every time Noelle brings up her parents arguing at home again, the first thing that comes out of Marinette's mouth is "What did your Dad do this time?".

The scar near Ronan's eye? "He probably deserved it!" Bitch, the woman blinded him just because he was defending his son from his transphobic mother!

Noelle wore a dress to school on the ONE day a year she wears a skirt or dress (Picture Day) and Marinette won't stop telling her how she looks "better" or "prettier" in dresses and that she should wear them all the time, ignoring the fact that Noelle expressed her distaste for wearing dresses and skirts.

Since Ronan and Gabriel Agreste are old friends and Ronan does photography work for him sometimes, Marinette is always trying to exploit this to her favor by trying to convince Noelle to help her with the "Adrinette" plans. ("Uh, hell no.")

Noelle's brother, Michael, offers free nail paintings to Noelle and her friends. Naturally, Marinette is not on the friends list and thus does not get the privilege of having awesome nail polish art done on her nails like everyone else.

In retaliation, Marinette called in a fake anonymous tip to the police that Michael was in possession of illegal drugs. No surprise that the police didn't find anything but because the studio that Michael worked at knows about his history of substance abuse, he had to pass a drug test to avoid getting fired.

Though Noelle couldn't prove it, something just kept nagging at her that Marinette was responsible for the bogus report.

Ronan had gotten akumatized after having a horrible fight with his wife. Noelle was present when her father got de-akumatized and she had to listen to Ladybug give her father a speech about "forgiveness" and that he should apologize to his wife. Noelle had to summon every ounce of restraint that she had to not punch Paris's "beloved superheroine" in public.

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

If there was a cult club out there that was all about hating Marinette, I bet that these two would join in a heartbeat.

[delaber]

The Ask Out (Bucky Barnes x Reader)

Summary: After having finally plucked up the courage to approach the handsome stranger who’s been eyeing you for weeks, you’re disappointed when he doesn’t ask you out despite the signals you’ve been sending.

Words: 1.6K

Fluff fluff fluff

As you scan Bucky's handsome features for what feels like the millionth time tonight, you're trying to decide for yourself which category he falls under: 'not interested at all' or 'just really thick'.

...God, with the embarrassing way you've been making an ass of yourself, you sure hope it's the latter. To flirt so obviously only to find out he's not the least bit interested would be absolutely devastating, so you hope that he truly hasn't understood the signals of your batting eyelashes and the vigorous hair-flipping to the point where you have damn near given yourself whiplash. It's a stretch, but maybe he's even honestly mistaken your featherlight touches and prolonged eye contact for mere friendliness?

If you're unlucky, however, his unaffected behaviour is simply because he doesn't look at you that way - which would suck - and if you're really unlucky (and this is without a doubt the worst scenario you can think of) he's only keeping you pity-company because he's too polite to leave you alone in a crowded bar.

Gaaah!

The humiliating thought alone is enough to give you a stomachache, so you're hoping, hoping, hoping to dear God that he's just a little thick-headed...

"So, what are you doing this weekend?" you flirtily try asking him while seductively tilting your head to the side, hoping that if the suggestive words alone aren't enough, the vulnerable body language will put ideas into his head.

"No plans," Bucky shakes his head with a small, charming chuckle that thankfully seems genuine.

Silently, you conclude that he does seem to be enjoying himself even though he hasn't made any move at all to advance your conversation to more than just, well, conversation.

"How about you?" he continues, "doing anything fun?"

"Oh, I'm not doing anything either," you chuckle suggestively and wink at him but he doesn't take the bait and just smiles shyly at you before quickly emptying his beer bottle, clearly unsure of how to react to that.

"Bummer," he ends up shrugging and even though he's still smiling at you, you feel the last remnants of hope slip through your fingers.

To say you are disappointed is an understatement; Bucky is funny and sweet and very easy on the eye, but he's making it more and more obvious that he's only settling for a night in your company because the alternative is worse: drinking with his friend who's clearly only out for the night because he's on the prowl for some tail.

Fucking bummer, you think to yourself and is about to place him in the category marked 'not interested at all' when his smile goes all charming and crooked again. It makes you pause mid-thought and with a pounding heart, you wait to put the definitive label on him.

"Do you -" he hesitates for a moment and your breath hitches in your throat as you without thinking are about to blurt out that yes, you'd love to go out with him! But then he points towards the bartender over his shoulder,"- do you want another drink?"

Your heart immediately sinks back to the bottom of your stomach.

He might be enjoying your company but he's certainly not crushing on you as hard as you are crushing on him, so you shake your head no. "I should probably head home," you point over your shoulder in the opposite direction, "- I have an early shift tomorrow morning."

"Oh..." a disheartened look flashes over his features for a split second before effortlessly being replaced with a careful smile that makes you wonder what he really thinks of your turndown. "Okay," he nods respectfully without pushing you to stay although he does sound a bit despondent. You honestly cannot decipher him...

"I had a great time," you smile and softly bump your knee against his in one last attempt at showing him that you're interested in him.

"Me too," he nods and shifts a little in his seat, his eyes never leaving yours.

You can't quite figure out if your gesture is making him slightly uncomfortable or not, but at least he looks sincere as his blue irises start scanning your face.

Kiss me. Ask if you can see me again. Get my number. Anything!

But he's still just smiling softly, clearly unsure of what to do with himself.

Disappointment growing hot in your stomach when he keeps his silence, you move your knee away from his and step out of the booth. You know a lost cause when you see one, and Bucky clearly doesn't want to go out with you.

"Well, thank you for a lovely evening," you fight to put on a smile as you pull on your jacket.

"Yeah... thanks," he breathes and looks as if he isn't quite ready to let go of the night yet as he studies your every movement.

"I'll see you around, okay?"

"Yeah," he smiles again though it falls a little flat. "See you."

With one last look at his fidgeting hands, you turn on your heel and walk out the door, ready to leave this catastrophe of a wonderful night behind you. You really like him, and he'd made you feel so special...

"What a fucking disappointment," you give out a sigh as the cold night air hits your cheeks and you take a moment to just breathe as you overlook the almost empty street, deciding on walking home.

Fumbling for your gloves in the pockets of first your coat and next your bag, you realise that you must've left them inside, and with a slightly irritated huff, you push open the door behind you again, hoping you can avoid running in to the man who so brutally have just rejected you.

He's not in the booth anymore and you breathe a sigh of relief when you manage to fight your way through the crowds unnoticed and over to the lonely gloves lying atop of the leather seat, you'd only just occupied minutes earlier.

As you pocket them and zip up your jacket again, ready to get the hell home so you can forget all about tonight, you hear a familiar voice hissing in frustration from the bar and it makes you freeze in your tracks.

"I'm such a goddamn idiot!" Bucky is vexing and running his fingers over his face, obviously very angry with himself while his friend who'd introduced himself as Sam nods in agreement.

"Go after her," Sam says with a roll of his eyes. "Simple as that.”

"I can't go after her now?! I choked! It was embarrassing!" Bucky's hisses while his fingers once again roll down his face in frustration, "I cannot believe I fucking blew it!"

"Dude, you've been gawking at each other every time we come here," Sam sighs, "you didn't blow it - she clearly has a thing for bionic men," he smirks with a shrug.

"Ha-ha, very funny" Bucky says sourly, grinding his teeth without looking the least bit amused. "God, I need a whisky," he turns around to face the bartender and Sam seems to heave a deep breath as his eyes scan around the bar for someone else to introduce Bucky to.

He doesn't seem to find any of interest over at the tall tables nor on the dance floor, but when his eyes land on you by the booths, his lips spread wide. "Hey man," he elbows Bucky in the side, and you start walking over to them, more interested in the mystery that is Bucky Barnes than ever before. Seems like you mislabelled him after all...

Bucky turns around with a deadpan look on his face that disappears within the second as he locks eyes with you. Immediately, he straightens his back.

"Oh, hey," he breathes and runs a hand through his hair when you stop right in front of him, "you're back."

"Forgot my gloves," you cannot contain the smile that erupts on your face when he looks downright relieved to see you again.

"Yeah, yeah okay," his eyes wander down your entire frame, "have you checked over by the booth?"

"Got them," you nod your head and hold out the two pieces of leather for him to see. "I just came over because I wanted to say proper bye to you."

"Yeah?" He smiles broadly and swats Sam's arm away when his pointed elbow meets Bucky's ribcage. "Yeah, hey, uhm, listen," he licks his lips and looks suddenly nervous. It's cute. "I wanted to ask you if maybe you - uh - you wanna - uhm - do something this weekend maybe?" He exhales heavily, "...with me, I mean."

"Yeah!" you grin excitedly, "yeah, I'd love to do something this weekend," you chuckle happily and can't help but teasingly add a "- with you, I mean."

"Great!" he nods and looks a fifty-fifty mixture of proud and surprised, "yeah, great, can't wait!"

"Me neither," you chuckle, and he carefully joins in. "Good thing I forgot my gloves so you could finally ask me, huh?"

"Yeah - uhm - sorry about that," he awkwardly laughs and rubs his neck while his cheeks blush pink. "I wasn't sure if you wanted me to and I didn't want to make you uncomfortable..." he smiles shyly again and as your heart soars in your chest, you can finally place him under his proper categories: insanely cute, handsome, clever, flirty, sweet, but my god, really, really thick!

[zuko-always-lies]

What are your thoughts on any ways that Zuko and Azula's relationship could be reconciled post-canon (not including comics)? Because it's really hard to see any scenario - that isn't incredibly convoluted like the comics - where Zuko is willing to make amends/admit his mistakes and blindspots (which would be necessary for gaining her trust), especially considering he has no one pushing him to help Azula considering Iroh's disdain for her and the Gaang's far more rightful disdain for her. And of course even if he was willing to try once or twice Azula's obviously not going to jump at the opportunity to frolic in the gardens with him.

I have to agree. Azula showed tremendous kindness toward Zuko, and he stabbed her in the back and she lost everything because of it. She has zero incentive to try to reconcile again or to trust him again.

Zuko has plenty on his plate with being an unprepared 16 year old Firelord. He also both has massive resentment toward Azula, largely for things she wasn't even responsible for, and zero understanding of her whatsoever. She's so demonized in his mind that I doubt he'd have much desire to try to help her, and even if he wished to help her, he has so little understanding of her experiences that he would probably make things worse. Best case scenario is he that puts Azula in some sort of place he can forget about her in and ignores her. Worst case scenario is that he's actively abusive toward her.

However, I could see several situations which might lead toward reconciliation. One would be that they both grow up. Once Zuko matures a bit, gets more life experience, gets further away from Ozai's abuse, and maybe even his children of his own, he might look at his relationship with Azula in a different light. Azula being able to look back at what happened at a distance of several years might also dull a bit of the pain and the hurt for her.

Another alternative, a very dark one, draws from the fact that Azula is broken and desperate and lonely and isolated at the end of the series. She might latch onto Zuko like she did Ozai and be willing to go to extreme lengths and do anything to earn his approval. Note that this is the "Ehasz arc."

A more attractive alternative is that a third party mediates between Zuko and Azula in a way that ultimately improves their relationship. That would be very difficult in itself but more realistic than any other alternative. The most suitable candidates I can think of for this are Ursa and Mai, both who are highly incentivized to do what they can to have the Fire siblings get along. The Gaang wouldn't be the best choice here, as they're only children themselves and don't know Azula well. Ty Lee also wouldn't be great in this role, since Zuko doesn't respect her and won't listen to her.

[accirax]

DRDT Secret Swap AU: For Better and Worse

The following is an ask sent to me that, while numerically present in my inbox, is invisible and inaccessible, and thus, I was only able to read it through its corresponding notification email. Tumblr be a functional website challenge; level impossible.

What a great question! Up to this point, I’ve been more of an AU enjoyer than an AU creator (other than the BNHA thing), so this will be an exciting foray into the realm of possibility! The task of creating both the best and worst outcome also provides a lot to think about when it comes to characterization. I’m excited to get talking about this! But first, some rules.

(And the usual CW for DRDT spoilers, as well as mentions of murder, suicide, self harm, eating disorders, and implied homo/transphobia. You know, standard business for DRDT secret discussion.)

To keep things simple, I’m going to be assuming that the true owners of the secrets are as follows:

While I’m by no means asserting that this interpretation of whose secret is whose is 100% accurate, it’s what I see widely agreed upon by the fandom, and what I currently believe myself. Having to factor in a bunch of different permutations of secret distribution seemed terribly complicated, so I decided to avoid it. If anybody disagrees with where I’ve placed any of the secrets, please just consider it as another facet of the alternate universe.

Additionally, I’ve kept up the “rule” that no one is allowed to receive their own secret. I’m also assuming that everything is the same up until when MonoTV hands out the motives, such that Xander and Min are still dead. However, a different distribution of secrets could have changed the details of the Chapter 2 murder, so I kinda have to speak about it in hypotheticals. I was just talking about how I didn’t want to make things needlessly complicated, so I’m not throwing in a bunch of speculation about how the secrets may have factored into the AU killer’s motives when I can’t even say for certain who the canonical killer was.

I also decided to interpret the prompt as “what’s the best/worst overall shuffle” as opposed to “who is the best/worst recipient for each individual secret.” The latter seemed like it might repeat characters too many times, and “the ch2 secrets [getting] swapped in a different way” implied to me that each character was still limited to receiving one secret. Hopefully that’s what you were going for with your ask!

Okay, I think that’s it. Let’s get started with the best case scenario, given that I think that’ll be easier. I’ll go through the characters’ secrets in the order they’re listed in on the board, so that it’ll hopefully be easier to follow along.

The Good Timeline

Eden receives Levi’s secret

If someone was going to have remorse for the remorseless killer, I think it would be Eden. Even if the concept of someone killing in cold blood might frighten Eden, the pair is already off to a good start with the conversation they shared at the beginning of Chapter 2. Eden knows a bit more about Levi’s family situation (which may have been the cause of his callous killing) and how he is trying to be a good person, even if he feels like he might be failing. Compared to others in the cast, I feel like Eden might be more willing to hear Levi out.

Specifically, we know from canon that (under David’s encouragement, at least) Eden planned to share her secret– which was a pretty severe one already– in a closed environment with just her and the secret’s owner. Of course, we haven’t yet seen from canon how Levi would react to getting assigned this secret, so it’s possible he could flip out in a similar manner to how Arturo did when Eden confronted him. However, I think there’s a good chance that he would be more resigned or neutral, which might also give Eden hope that he isn’t a lost cause… again, under the assumption that he isn't. This secret does have a chance of backfiring, but I’m making the choice to have faith in Levi– much like I think Eden would if she saw his secret!

Nico receives David’s secret

Now this is kind of an unconventional one, but, hear me out.

I don’t know if there really is a “good option” for David’s secret in the sense that I think anyone who would choose to reveal the information to the group would be the type to do so in an accusatory, non-constructive way. Similarly, a lot of people who wouldn’t reveal the secret might face problems if it caused them to quietly simmer in their distrust. That suppression of emotions could lead to a big blow up in the future.

Because of that, you might be wondering why I didn’t assign this secret to one of my throwaway slots– namely, Xander, Min, or Rose. Well, it’s because I also wanted to consider what would happen if, even in this good universe, some number of students still needed to attend a Class Trial where the secrets are unknown. Certain secrets, if left unassigned, would lead to paranoia and distrust amongst the students. And, by throwing this secret away, this secret could basically never be confirmed as David’s other than by process of elimination or (highly unlikely) self-assignment. Therefore, all of the students would have to assume that anyone whose secret isn't known has a decent chance of believing that everyone exists to be manipulated. In my opinion, that would make productively discussing a murder really difficult.

So, I decided that the best course of action would be to give this secret to the person who would make the smallest deal out of it, and that turned out to be Nico. Nico already believes that socially interacting with other humans is a complicated and confusing process, the rules of which force you into expressing yourself in a specific, “acceptable” way. Basically, I think that Nico might already see a lot of conversation as manipulation, and themselves as the manipulee. The secret says that David is really good at interpreting those rules and acing the bullet points of “acceptable” conversation? No shit, he’s the Ultimate Inspirational Speaker.

I’m not trying to say that Nico is “dumb” enough to not realize that this secret is generally threatening, but I think that, if word of it were to come out, Nico would present it in a subdued enough manner that it wouldn’t make things worse than they need to be.

Hu receives Ace’s secret

Oh boy, this is a dangerous choice given Ace and Hu’s tumultuous relationship. Although, to be fair, I don’t remember exactly how established that rivalry was prior to the distribution of the canonical secrets. To the extent that they didn’t already hate each other to the point of no return, I chose this one because I think that Hu having the context of Ace’s secret might actually help to mend their relationship.

As I said up top, this AU is predicated on Hu having the “hopeless child” secret. Thus, in this AU, we can say for certain that Hu has a prior history of self harm/self destructive tendencies. If hopeless child Hu does turn out to be canon, it would support the theory that part of the reason why Hu won’t share the “harm yourself for fun” secret is because she knows that mental health is a sensitive subject, and doesn’t want to force someone to open up about it. Given that eating disorders are a form of self harm, we can rest assured that this isn’t a secret Hu would share, no matter how much David suggests that she does.

Given Hu’s history, she might be one of the people in this cast who could best understand Ace’s plight. With this additional context, his quest for power over something in his life might feel more sympathetic, and Hu might be able to muster more concern for him. And, I’m not gonna lie, part of this assignment was granted in the slim hope that the Ultimate Mom Friend Hu would be able to make a big grandma-style meal for Ace to enjoy. They could be an improbably wholesome duo if not for… The Circumstances.

Those circumstances won’t fade anytime soon in canon, but exploring hypotheticals like this are the whole reason why AUs exist!

J receives Eden’s secret

Compared to everyone else, Eden’s secret is a pretty nonthreatening one that, especially among this pretty queer cast, shouldn’t raise a whole lot of issues. The biggest problem I can see arising from it is if someone decided to out Eden, sort of like what happened to Nico. Therefore, I wanted to give Eden’s secret to someone who would be unlikely to share it without Eden giving the okay. And, J seemed to fit that description pretty well.

Obviously, some of J’s canon behavior was spurred on by the fact that Arturo non-consensually revealed her secret (which, spoilers, will not be happening in the blessed half of this AU). But, given J’s preference for privacy, I don’t think J would jump to sharing even a “harmless” secret. We directly saw that J only revealed Charles’ secret once he gave express permission for her to do so, which is what I would ideally want for Eden. Eden’s secret being given to a girl who would presumably be cool with her lesbianism is an added bonus to assuage her fears that (straight) girls who know she’s gay wouldn’t want to be her friend.

Unless, of course, J is also a girlkisser… then maybe the motive secrets could turn into a meet-cute…….. (/j)

Rose receives J’s secret

Finally, our first throwaway slot. After what J’s been through, I think she deserves to have her secret not be a topic of discussion at all– or at least not until all of them are listed out on the board.

There is also some logic behind which secret I gave to Rose as opposed to Xander or Min. We didn’t really see this in canon, but if Whit had let his secret go unclaimed, I could see some people being mad at Rose for inadvertently throwing away valuable information. This sentiment would only increase if Rose’s secret was something more relevant to the case at hand. Like, could you imagine how mad Teruko would have been if Rose had received the “murderer without remorse” secret? They could have had the answer to which person among them was a murderer without remorse, but Rose just carelessly threw it away because she was worried about people’s privacy?!

Therefore, I think the best case scenario for Rose is to receive one of the low-stakes secrets. In the case of J’s secret, it’s possible that someone like Arturo would be able to figure out that it was J’s secret without any confirmation from Rose as long as he had the information that someone in the cast was Mariabella’s daughter. No harm, no foul if Rose throws out the secret only for it to be instantly solvable anyway.

By giving J’s secret to Rose, J gets the blessing of privacy for as long as the secrets don’t become public knowledge, but Rose also doesn’t garner any backlash if they do, for one reason or another.

“Xander” receives Arei’s secret

Just to clarify, there isn’t any meaning behind which secret Xander vs Min got; they both just mean that the secret is un-confirmable.

Arei’s secret is a good one to bury because of how easily it can be misinterpreted. From the phrasing of the secret, nobody would know that Arei’s sisters abused her unless Arei told them herself, and without that context, Arei appears quite villainous. Hell, some people believe that learning of this secret was a reason why Levi would have chosen to kill Arei! If this information about Arei just isn’t out there to be known, then nobody could make that fatal oversight.

Also, Arei already knew what the vague contents of her secret would be, presumably without having seen the actual text. In Ace’s flashback, she quotes David’s secret from memory (because she read it), but when she unveils her own secret, she throws in the detail about reform school which isn’t at all present in the secret’s text. I think it was really important for Arei’s development that she had the agency to reveal her secret at her own pace. By making her secret inaccessible, it removes the possibility that someone else would reveal it before she’s emotionally ready.

Arturo receives Min’s secret

Look at me, pairing Arturo and Min together yet again. What is it about these two that causes me to keep coupling them…? Well, at least this time, they’re paired up because they, like, never talk in canon.

Arturo has proven himself to be a problem when it comes to revealing secrets. Even if he hadn’t been handed Miss Rosales’ dirty laundry, I would believe that he would air out the secrets of whichever nobody he learned about simply due to disrespect. Therefore, I think that giving Arturo a secret that really doesn’t matter is the best course of action. Whether he reveals it on the day the motives were distributed or the day of the Class Trial, most people probably wouldn’t make much of a fuss about an already-dead student’s secret, least of all Arturo. If he doesn’t care about what Min was up to, he wouldn’t stir up any drama by revealing or concealing information.

David receives Xander’s secret

Not gonna lie, I mostly gave this one to David as a form of damage control. I don’t know what he’s going to do with the secret he did canonically receive in the future– whether it belongs to Teruko or someone else, or whether he’s dying immediately or in it for the long haul– but giving David the silver bullet of “the killing game is all your fault” seems like way too much power to hand over. With a dead student’s secret, he doesn’t gain much by telling the truth or have much of a basis to execute a good lie.

The elephant in the room, of course, is that David received Xander’s secret, which is all about the tragically heroic backstory that probably led him to find comfort in David’s speeches in the first place. (And it does paint Xander in a decently positive light– “it wasn’t your fault” erases the possibility that Xander killed his family or whatever.) I imagine that, had David received this secret on the first day, basically a little buffering symbol would appear over his head and he would have to go lie down and stare at the piece of paper for a few hours. Or days.

By distracting David, we can hopefully avoid any of the decidedly negative side effects that him attempting to deduce and reveal everyone else’s secrets caused. While everyone else is growing as a person and whatnot, David can just be… looping the Literature Girl Insane MV in his head, or something. Is that really good for him? Probably not, but these are the heights you can reach when you set out to cause problems.

Arei receives Whit’s secret

Arei already didn’t reveal whose secret she had to anyone, as far as we know. So, if she had the secret belonging to Whit, arguably her closest friend at the start of Chapter 2, I really don’t think she would say anything. That’s good for Whit, because, similar to what I said about Arei herself, I think it’s better for him to have the ability to come forth with his secret when the time is right. Anything else and it might shake up his persona too suddenly and send him fight or flight mode.

I think the biggest potential flaw here is that we don’t know how Arei felt about her mom. Arei is willing to go confront other people about their secrets, so if Arei either really loved or really hated her mom, maybe that would lead her to go confront Whit about what his secret meant. And then, that could lead into him deflecting and looking shady.

That’s not really a huge liability to me, though, so I think this one will be fine.

Veronika receives Charles’ secret

Veronika is a weird case, because whether or not she reveals a secret seems to be based solely on entertainment value. In canon, we’ve seen that she hasn’t yet revealed the “hopeless child” secret because, for whatever reasons, she thinks that’ll make the killing game more interesting. But presumably, if she thought that revealing someone’s secret would make the game more interesting instead, she would have done that.

Because Charles doesn’t remember his brother’s death himself, I don’t think Veronika would see much value in holding it over his head, saving it for a dramatic reaction down the road, or whatever the hell she was trying to accomplish by not revealing Hu’s secret. Therefore, I think Veronika would find it most entertaining to see Charles’ reaction to learning about his amnesia, and tell him pretty quickly.

On the surface, that seems bad. However, I actually think that Charles learning about his secret is… for the best? If you assume that Charles is going to have to learn about this factoid someday, it’s probably better for him if he does it before a Class Trial is called, so that he can be in a more stable mental state. It’s also better for him to do it while he has Whit there to support him, and who knows what could happen between those two in future chapters? Much like Arturo’s assignment, we defuse Veronika’s chaotic power with this one, with the added benefit of potentially helping Charles on his journey to self-understanding.

Levi receives Arturo’s secret

Arturo’s secret was a hard one, because I think most people would react to it pretty negatively, especially with the confirmation that it belongs to Arturo of all people from the start. You could leave it with Eden as someone who seemingly didn’t judge, but given how poorly that situation played out in canon, it felt wrong to leave it in her hands.

Therefore, I gave it to someone who could potentially relate: Levi. He, too, came from a tense family background which he had to leave, and as such, he might better be able to put himself in Arturo’s shoes. While it is possible that Levi could resent Arturo for “ruining” a “good(?)” relationship with his sister (given how Levi struggled to coexist with his siblings), I don’t think it would irk Levi so much that he’d take drastic action against Arturo.

At the very least, we saw that Levi didn’t spill the beans about Arei’s similarly anti-sister secret. By that logic, he probably wouldn’t tell anyone about it, possibly including Arturo. In that case, we avoid Arturo blowing up on whoever was unlucky enough to have to break the news. And, even if Levi did tell Arturo, and Arturo decided to attack, I trust that even an injured Levi could defend himself far better than Eden could.

Ace receives Veronika’s secret

I just don’t think anything particularly bad would happen here. When I imagine Ace receiving this secret, I kinda just think of him going, “what the fuck?!”, and then putting the paper away. As someone who cares immensely about his own safety and image, I can definitely see this secret confusing Ace, but I don’t think to a point where it would really mess him up. It might make him think that Veronika is dangerous and weird, but… well, he already thought that.

Speaking of, especially with this information, Ace is too afraid of Veronika to try to bully her in the same way that he did with Nico. I don’t see any reason why Ace would benefit from revealing this secret, so it would likely remain hidden, which is probably for the best. Honestly, I don’t know if Veronika would care if this secret of hers got out, given that the main reason why people think this is hers is because of the similar sentiments that she already shared with Teruko in a public location. But, regardless, it takes away any ammo Ace might have by making his only target someone who he’s too afraid to take shots at.

Teruko receives Hu’s secret

Completing our little triad of sadness, this is the third instance of me giving a secret involving self harm to someone else who engages in self destructive practices– first Hu with Ace, then Ace with Veronika, and now Teruko with Hu. It obviously sucks that there are so many people in this cast who are struggling with this same issue, but I think it works out well to have them overlap. They’re probably the ones who best grasp the severity of each other’s problems, so they understand the gravity of sharing the information and would take steps to avoid doing that unnecessarily.

But, yeah, there wasn’t much of a reason beyond that for me to assign Teruko here. As a further extrapolation of the above point, though, if Teruko decided to ask Hu about her secret in the same way that she did with Rose, maybe Teruko could provide Hu some comfort about the situation and they could become friends.

Although, thinking about it more, that would actually have a decent chance of backfiring, as Hu might not appreciate having to take on the role of the helped as opposed to the helper, and Teruko might freak out if she felt herself letting her walls down around Hu. But that’s only if Teruko chose to talk to her about it, which is dubious in the first place. I don’t think Teruko would intentionally use this as any sort of weapon against Hu, which is the main criteria I was looking for.

Charles receives Rose’s secret

More unproblematic people being unproblematic. I don’t know if anything weird would happen as Charles’ upper-class upbringing came into contact with Rose’s cash-strapped past, but if it did, it would probably be a positive development for Charles. Y’know, like “realizing that it’s not only wealthy academics who can have talent” or “further learning to recognize his privilege and have sympathy for other people.” Much like what Charles canonically did with Eden’s secret, this one would probably go under the public radar until a Class Trial occurred, at which point Charles would reveal it. And, hey, that’s kind of like Rose’s secret’s canonical fate as well.

I also don’t think that we’d run into any trouble with Teruko possibly learning this one from the note that Charles passed her either, because… again, this was Teruko’s canonical secret, and nothing bad happened. Sometimes no reaction is the sweetest reaction of all.

Whit receives Nico’s secret

Yup, like you implied, Whit receiving Nico’s secret would probably be one of the best options for them. It’s not too much of a surprise. Whit seems to be a pretty securely out bi guy, so he would obviously support of Nico’s identity, and possibly even be someone Nico could look up to for being confident in who they are. On top of that, Whit greatly values privacy, and thus wouldn’t go around immediately shouting, “wow, Nico, it’s so awesome that you’re nonbinary!” He’d only do that if Nico wanted him to, after asking them first. I’m not even sure if Whit would contact Nico about it directly, but even if he didn’t, I feel like Whit would try to find ways to subtly encourage Nico so that they would feel safe coming out themselves. At least, that’s what my bias is telling me.

As a side note, I’m still playing with the rule that Arei sees whatever Whit’s secret is over his shoulder, which is actually what gave Nico’s secret the nod here over Eden’s. We saw that Ace, along with some others, were confused about what exactly the text of Nico’s secret meant. Meanwhile, if attached to Eden, her secret is pretty explicitly about her being sexually attracted to women, and therefore homosexual. I’m not at all calling Arei homophobic (in fact, the concept of doing so makes me very uncomfortable, so please don’t joke about it), but given that the two had been fighting beforehand, it’s possible that Arei would have tried to use the content of Eden’s secret against her somehow (but again, not in a homophobic way).

At the very least, Arei would know something about Eden that Eden might not want her to know, which is bad. I’m not sure if Arei would inherently understand Nico’s secret enough to gain anything of use from it, while Whit and his intuition would definitely understand what’s going on.

“Min” receives Teruko’s secret

Here we go; our other throwaway secret! Part of the appeal of leaving this one in the dark is because… well, we don’t know if it’s true. While the secret doesn’t explicitly state that its owner is the mastermind of the killing game, it’s definitely designed to make you think that’s the case. And, uh, I don’t know if Teruko is the mastermind or not. I recently wrote 1000 words about it, which is equal to one picture.

So, let’s explore both avenues. If Teruko isn’t the mastermind, then sharing this secret around is obviously bad. It would cause people to unwarrantedly distrust Teruko, and possibly even cause Teruko to distrust herself. That could impede the progress of Class Trials, if people don’t trust Teruko’s reasoning anymore, and the progress of deducing the actual mastermind. Therefore, by taking this secret out of circulation, we stop the misinformation from spreading.

Alternatively, if Teruko is the (evil) mastermind, then… aren’t I doing a disservice by not allowing the students to encounter this information? Well, yes, and no. I am preventing them from accessing the deus ex machina of David just outright saying, “oh, and by the way, Teruko is the mastermind!”; that much is true. But, by leaving that information out… aren’t I just leaving them in the same position that most killing game casts are in? They know that one of them is the mastermind, they just don’t know who. And, actually, they have a leg up on the other casts because the mastermind’s identity would still be a logically deducible fact that they could basically confirm if they all worked together. I don’t think it’s too much of a blow to the innocent students if we leave this one out, is what I’m saying.

So, that’s the good ending! A quick graphic to show how everything shook out:

(I swear, I didn’t mean to make it look like Whit was laughing at Nico’s identity. I just reused the sprites from my archetype analysis because I was too lazy to go get new ones…)

Now, on to the bad ending. This one was a lot harder to assign. Given that these secrets were meant to sow discord, there are only so many ways that things can play out well. There are lots of ways that things can play out poorly.

But, hopefully I’ve found the aggregate worst answer! Given that this is, you know… the one where things go horribly wrong, things may get pretty dark in this section, so proceed with caution. Nobody’s going to die or anything like that, but know that your faves may not be depicted in the most positive light in this section. Grab something comforting and put on some happy music, or lean hard into the angst, ‘cause we’re about to get started.

The Bad Timeline

Ace receives Levi’s secret

Look. I 100% agree that the whole Ace/Nico situation is a Major Yikes Situation /pos. However, I’m hopeful (in the sense of trying to craft the worst possible outcome) that we could still get a More or Less Yikes Situation even without the pair obtaining each others’ secrets.

Although Ace revealing that he was in possession of Nico’s secret closely preceded Nico’s death threat, that wasn’t actually what specifically led Nico to intimidate Ace. It was Ace’s comment that Nico was such a weakling that they could only solve their problems by getting people like David to help them, as well as the culmination of several days of Ace’s torment beginning in Chapter 1, which led them to do it. What I’m saying is, Ace and Nico were already rivals before the secrets even came out, so even without the direct connection to one another via the motive, it’s possible the high tensions would still cause similar events to unfold.

All that preamble hopefully helps to justify my choice to put Ace on Levi’s secret, because, my god, you can open a whole other can of worms with this one. Ace gaining the knowledge that Levi is a killer without remorse the day after Levi threatened to kill him would freak Ace out like nothing else. Being as loud as he is, I would think that Ace wouldn’t be able to stop himself from sharing this one with the class, starting a conflict right from the start.

While do I think the other students would believe Ace in the end– especially if he showed them the paper on which Levi’s name was printed– I also think that some people might doubt Ace’s words at first, thinking he’s overexaggerating as usual. However, that moment of being Boy Who Cried Wolf-ed by everyone else would also really fuck with Ace. He’s literally right, and has the paperwork to prove it, and yet people are still disinclined to believe him because they see him as a fool. It would draw an even deeper wedge between Ace and his classmates than we saw in canon.

Tying back around to the beginning, I think that this extra layer of powerlessness would just make Ace even more inclined to seek out a feeling of power elsewhere. So, I’m thinking that would still result in Ace bullying Nico, and, assuming he still keeps it up for long enough and calls Nico a weakling, we might be able to loop back around to Nico’s death threat anyway. Major Yikes Situation not averted!

Veronika receives David’s secret

Here’s a chaotic choice. Given how open-ended and accusatory David’s secret is, I definitely think it’s one that Veronika would have chosen not to reveal. However, just because she doesn’t want to reveal it doesn’t mean that the information won’t get out… in a way.

We’ve seen time and time again that Veronika is fascinated with morally questionable people, first with Arturo and later David himself once she knew about his secret. Therefore, if she knew about David’s secret from the start, I don’t think she would be able to stop herself from following him around and making some clever comments here and there. Can you imagine how concerning it would be to watch David try to give hope speeches and guide people while Veronika is peering over his shoulder and grinning at him, refusing to elaborate?

It would definitely be worrying, but I don’t think it would fully stop everyone from listening to him– but in this case, that’s a good thing! David’s tactics wound up causing more harm than good, so it was important for me to give his secret to someone who wouldn’t call him out immediately and stop him from enacting these bad policies. Veronika is a great choice for allowing that to happen, but also causing a lot of stress and doubt speculating as to what exactly Veronika could know about David that would make her act this way. Honestly, it might be the worst for David himself…

Levi receives Ace’s secret

This one isn’t that terrible on its own, but in the context of Ace also having Levi’s secret, I think it gets pretty hairy. I can’t really see any scenario where Levi knowing Ace’s greatest secret goes over well for them. If Ace blows up at Levi right out the gate, there’s a definite possibility that Levi can’t keep his cool and winds up firing off Ace’s secret in front of everyone else as retaliation. Betraying Ace’s trust like that (even if Ace was the one to mouth off first) would make their relationship even more unsalvageable.

Even if Levi did manage to keep his mouth shut, knowing Ace’s secret would just generally make it harder for Levi to talk to Ace when explaining himself or trying to make amends. Like I discussed with Hu in the good timeline, there’s a lot you can learn about Ace in the contents of his secret and the way it’s phrased. I feel like Levi would be able to pick up on some of that knowledge, but he would then find it even harder to interact with Ace without accidentally spilling the beans on some of that newfound understanding. This secret shuffle would make their relationship basically irreparable in my opinion, and the increased frustrations from both boys might make one of their tempers flare and lead them to do something inadvisable.

“Xander” receives Eden’s secret

First of all, giving “Xander” this one means there’s one less problematic person who could draw a relatively harmless secret, which is a pro in this scenario. Leaving this secret unconfirmed could also cause problems in a Class Trial. Given that this secret doesn’t include murder, blackmail, manipulation, etc, it’s a pretty nice secret to claim for yourself, even if it can basically only be claimed by one of the girls. This means that, even if Eden tried to be truthful about her secret, people might believe that she’s lying.

Furthermore, the DRDT cast seems to be a pretty queer group of people overall. 6/15 of the non-Edens are confirmed LGBTQ+ themselves (even if not all of them are out), and everyone has treated Nico and Whit’s identities with respect since learning about them. Canonically, I would say that Eden has nothing to worry about with regards to the other girls treating her differently for being a lesbian.

So, by making Eden’s secret far less accessible, it becomes less likely that she’ll ever get that moment of recognition and affirmation. Instead, as Eden’s secret remains hidden and irrelevant, it becomes easier for her to stick to what she knows is safe. An accepting environment was right there in front of her, but with the convenience of periphery, she might not ever see it.

Arturo receives J’s secret

Yeah, I agree with you on this one– J truly did roll a crit fail. I did consider giving J’s secret to someone else, as long as they would definitely publicly spill the beans, if it meant that Arturo could learn the content of J’s secret while receiving an additional bad secret as well. However, I couldn’t think of anyone who would be so guaranteed to tell everyone about J’s secret that I could be confident Arturo would hear of it, nor could I think of any particularly catastrophic secrets I’d rather give to Arturo. So, this one stays. J really is living in the worst timeline already– like if you cry every time.

Hu receives Arei’s secret

Hu was a tough nut to crack, because I think the ideal bad situation for her is that she gets a secret that’s problematic enough that it would cause major issues if news broke, but not so problematic that she wouldn’t be willing to share it as a part of David’s “let’s tell each other about our secrets” plan. Operating under the logic that the mention of self harm was the reason why she wasn’t willing to share the secret she got in canon, 3/15 options immediately disappear. More options vanish when you start eliminating not-super-problematic secrets like Xander's family, Charles’ brother, or Rose’s debt.

After some consideration, I landed on Arei’s being the best balance of thorny and not. It’s a secret that discusses a serious crime without incorporating murder, and there’s lots of room for public interpretation that could cause things to go really poorly for Arei if folks jump to conclusions. Given that Hu already didn’t super like Arei (I’m basing this off of her chastising Arei for bullying Eden), I could totally see her being willing to share this secret publicly in order to help everyone see that Arei is someone not to be trusted.

Making Arei’s secret publicly aired also removes the very important aspect of Arei’s agency that I wrote on in the good section. If Hu is sharing this secret, it’s probably pretty early in the chapter, which means that Arei might not be prepared whenever the news drops. The context of the secret sharing doesn’t involve Eden at all, so Arei might have a harder time putting two and two together about why she acts the way she does and how she wants to change. Not to mention, if Hu shares the secret in a way that directly agrees with David’s scheme, it automatically pits David against Arei, which means that he can’t offer her any help (to the extent that what he said helped her canonically). It’s just bad all around. But that’s why I’ve come to feel pretty confident in this choice.

Rose receives Min’s secret

Following up on Rose’s last entry, this is not one of the secrets that the rest of the students could either easily deduce or ignore. It would be very easy to assume that the owner of the poison secret was a murderer– possibly a mass murderer, and even one who didn't regret what they did. Even if poison wasn’t used in the Chapter 2 murder, people might suspect this person of being the killer, and/or it could throw suspicion on Charles as the only one (who we know of) who has a poisonous custom weapon.

Now, obviously, this secret did not cause much of a scene in the canonical Chapter 2 trial, but I think at least part of that is because it was Xander’s. Everyone knows that the person who has that secret can only be determined by process of elimination no matter who they ask. The same would be true if it were the secret Rose got, but people might grow upset that Rose threw away such a valuable piece of evidence. And, with Min incapable of claiming her secret, it might appear even more that someone was trying to hide something when nobody spoke up to claim it. It’s not much, but Rose made it difficult to come up with something bad.

Teruko receives Xander’s secret

Funnily enough, the logic behind me giving Xander’s secret to Teruko is quite similar to the logic behind me giving it to David. Much like how David would be taken out of commission by reading this secret, I think that Teruko would act the same– it would just be worse for her and the group as a whole.

Like I said for David, Xander’s secret paints him out as a tragic hero. He loved his family to pieces, and regrets their passing so much that he wishes he could have died with them. Even though it was textually not his fault, Xander still beats himself up every day for not being around to do the right thing and save people when it counted. …What does it mean that the guy with this secret was the one who felt he had to kill Teruko for the greater good?!

Reading Xander’s secret would only pull Teruko deeper into anger, self-hatred, and confusion. She was already pretty off kilter in this Chapter from trying to ignore her mixed emotions regarding Xander, and I think that having to relive her trauma and his betrayal any time someone brought up the mere concept of secrets would basically take her out of commission. I mean, check out how many times I was able to say the word secret in these three paragraphs alone. I don’t imagine Teruko would be able to fare much better in the hellish environment of this terrible swap, which might lead her to hole up in her room all day and grow increasingly bored and bitter.

Now, I’m not saying that Teruko needed to be up and at ‘em in the daily life because her running around and pressing knives to people’s throats was just so helpful. But at least, unlike David, she wasn’t actively making the situation worse. Her presence may have even made potential friends like Eden, Charles, or Rose feel better. At the very least, Teruko learned some key social context in the Chapter 2 daily life prior to the Trial, so removing Teruko from those interactions would make it much harder for her to fully grasp what was going on should she be forced to solve a murder once again.

Charles receives Whit’s secret

I agree with you here as well– Charles acquiring Whit’s secret is probably the worst case scenario for Whit. As one of two people who actually heard Whit talk about his mom in Chapter 1, Charles is one of the only people who would know that Whit doesn’t just “omit that truth” by not talking about his mom, he actively talks about her like she is alive. This would raise a very big question for Charles at a crucial point in their friendship. Charles has just come to start trusting this guy, so what do you mean he was lying about something so odd…?

There’s a chance that the reveal of this concealment of the truth would cause Charles to determine that he couldn’t trust Whit anymore, and it would drive them apart. But, I think that’s pretty unlikely. More likely is the option where Charles (who’s in a fragile state from his meltdown yesterday and only JUST started learning how to be a good friend) tries to question Whit about it, only for Whit to panic. I don’t really think that Whit would try to keep the ruse going, seeing as Charles literally has the answer right in front of him, but he still might be full of deflections, or try to avoid the subject with jokes. (“Huh? No, I totally said that my mom passed away a few years ago! You must’ve just not heard me– did you fling some detergent into your ears with that laundry machine?”)

I’m not sure if this distribution of secrets would fully split them up, but it would definitely cause a rift in their conversation and bonding that might stop Charles and Whit from growing as close as they did. And, all this isn’t even taking into account that–

Whit receives Charles’ secret

Did you ever notice that Whit and Charles’ secrets are both about a hidden dead relative? I didn’t put two and two together until now, but boy does it work out poorly for purposes of this AU.

Much like Levi with Ace’s secret, I don’t think this is an inherently bad draw for Whit, but it kinda sucks in this context. Whit gets placed into a really weird trolley problem: do you tell and comfort Charles about his dead brother when it’ll definitely segue into discussions of your own dead mom, or do you keep it hidden, not helping Charles and leaving yourself open to the possibility of him feeling betrayed later that you kept this secret from him? It’s these kinds of questions that Whit would be forced to ask himself in the moment that Charles first confronts him, and the time needed to process would only throw him off his game and make him appear more suspicious to Charles.

To be fair, a lot of this does depend on how deep in the lie Whit is. Is he usually pretty quick to admit that his mom is dead to anyone who digs deeper into the issue, or has he been lying about his mom’s status to everyone, his father included? If it’s more like the former, then maybe the two of them could actually come to bond over the tragedy of losing someone you care about. But, if it’s more like the latter, then this distribution of secrets could get in the way of one of the (seemingly) most stable and healthy relationships in the killing game.

Arei receives Arturo’s secret

At first, I actually considered giving Arturo’s secret to Arei in the good universe, because I thought that Arei could understand having complicated relationships with your sisters. But then I remembered something critically important. Arei herself is the younger sister. She wouldn’t relate to Arturo; she would relate to Felicity. And then, all hell would break loose.

Arei knows what it’s like to be a younger sister who, even if she never considered it herself, had other people try to pressure her into committing suicide. So, to have a younger sister lucky enough to actually have a big brother she cared about, only for him to leave her alone and cause her death? Arei would be furious. She would absolutely call him out for it immediately, and use all of the bullying tactics she learned to make his life a living hell.

Despite all that I wrote about what Hu would do with Arei’s secret, I don’t actually know if Hu would be more or less likely to share Arei’s secret if Arei was acting this way. Would Hu take it upon herself to join in shaming Arturo for his actions, or feel that Arei was being a hypocrite and want to share Arei’s own truth? Either way, with both of these secrets, I think that the option of Arei’s character growing at all (or becoming friends with Eden) any time soon is pretty much dead.

And then there’s Arturo himself. While we’ve seen that Arturo does genuinely seem remorseful and haunted by Felicity’s death, I doubt Arei would know or care. I also totally think that J would join Arei in absolutely demolishing the man. Having Arei’s offense be backed by the Julia Rosales might just break him. Whether it would be in a victim way or a killer way I’m not sure, but it would definitely be bad for funni beauty standards man. The good news is that it might stop Arei from dying…? Unless Arturo just decided to kill her. There really isn’t a lot of good news.

David receives Veronika’s secret

Alright, back to David and Veronika. This is the third time I’ve had two people just swap their secrets, I guess? And, it’s kinda for the same reasons again. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

Since we’ve been through a lot since we last discussed this pair, let’s get a quick recap: Veronika knows that David is a manipulative bastard, but won’t tell anyone that yet because she thinks it’ll be more interesting if she keeps her mouth shut. Thus, everyone is kind of wary of David, and David is definitely wary of Veronika, but not so much that it stops David from doing his information-seeking “let’s all share our secrets” plan.

I think that learning this about Veronika would make David pretty confused, very concerned, and extra conscious of Veronika in a way that would be hard to conceal. He could probably guess from the way Veronika was acting that she had some kind of dirt on him, and therefore conclude that, if he ever tried to share her secret, she might just fire back at him. David does not want that. So, the two of them remain at an uneasy stalemate that would make everyone else increasingly troubled.

Furthermore, I think that Veronika’s secret is a good balance of an unexpected yet potentially relevant piece of information about a living student that David would want to seek more of, while also not being so grim that it would appeal to whatever morals David may have. (Don’t get me wrong, Veronika’s secret is very worrying and tragic, but at least the inclusion of “for fun” makes it less grim than Arturo’s or Hu’s, to me.) David would be inclined to continue on his quest of acquiring the most knowledge-as-power as possible, and Veronika would be thrilled to watch! Both of them would just be giving off… really weird vibes about it.

Nico receives Hu’s secret

(extra suicide TW just in case)

If I say anything offensive or incorrect in this section, I deeply apologize. I don’t mean to portray either of these characters, their issues, or people who relate to them or their issues in a bad light, and I definitely don’t mean to demonize mentally ill people. The reasoning behind why I think it would be bad for Nico to get Hu’s secret is complicated, and may be based on uninformed thoughts or unfounded projections. However, based on what I do “know,” I think it makes sense, so I’ll try to explain myself as best I can.

Basically, I think that receiving Hu’s secret would be bad for Nico because it might make Nico less likely to speak up for themselves when Hu talks over them. If I were Nico, I might be worried about reacting too strongly to what Hu is doing, and accidentally sending her back into the hopeless state of her childhood. Just interacting with Hu in general might lead someone (like David) to start questioning Nico about the secret they received, and cause the information to accidentally leak out. It would make Nico saying anything on how Hu was acting difficult.

Again, I am not trying to villainize Hu, or mandate that you have to walk on eggshells around suicidal people because they’re loose cannons or whatever. I just think that, especially for someone as uncomfortable with socialization with Nico, navigating the sensitive subject of past suicide attempts in this incredibly hostile bad AU environment might prevent them from speaking up for themselves when they’re feeling belittled. And, that would be bad for their personal development.

I wish we could move on to something happier to combat these bad vibes, but unfortunately, we still have a couple more to go.

“Min” receives Rose’s secret

Well, at least we can cool down a little bit with this one. Not a ton going on here; basically just that Rose’s secret is pretty lowkey and I could cause more damage with other secrets elsewhere. I don’t think it would cause a particular stir with either other students becoming paranoid or Rose’s characterization and growth. I suppose that, without the excuse of being able to explain her past, Rose probably wouldn’t have had that chance to vent to Teruko, which was probably a good experience for her? The conflict-avoidant Rose will be suffering enough with all the turmoil going on around her, methinks.

Eden receives Nico’s secret

Make no mistake, this is not a decision made to hurt Nico. It’s meant to hurt Eden. With her compassionate heart and non-judgmental attitude, Eden is a great draw for any secret-holder to have in order to not cause trouble. That’s why I thought that the best move here was to use the secret as an offensive weapon to lessen her impact, as well as preventing a more problematic secret from being absorbed into her positive vibes.

Eden’s greatest secret is that she’s a lesbian, and she fears that people will come to hate her or discriminate against her if they find out about her identity. Therefore, the worst thing to do to her is to affirm those fears by shoving the homophobia someone else suffered in her face. Learning that Nico was mocked for their identity would make Eden less confident in hers, and might dampen her spirit enough that some of the good effects of her optimism are negated. She might become more hesitant to discuss secrets and more fearful of her peers, knowing that one of them probably knows about her identity and could use it against her at any time. Little does she know, it’s actually in the morgue alongside the Ultimate Rebel.

But, the fact that is just further feeds into my idea from Xander’s section. If Eden has just been reminded of how cruel the world can be to LGBTQ+ people, she wouldn’t be jumping at the opportunity to reveal which secret was hers. This would 1) allow another troublemaker to perhaps successfully claim it as their own, 2) make Eden look suspicious as she tries to come up with a solid lie of her own, and 3) postpone or deny (if Eden dies on a short timeframe) Eden’s ability to feel comfortable in herself.

Also (not to say that David forcing Nico to share their secret was a good thing), if Nico’s secret never becomes available to the public, they might have to go through the rest of their time in the killing game getting misgendered. Diversity loss!

J receives Teruko’s secret

J could stay quiet for a lot of things, but I feel like if she knew who the mastermind was (assuming she doesn’t know that she herself is the mastermind), that’s something she wouldn’t stay quiet about. I think that J at least wanted to see Teruko as her friend, given that she approached Teruko on the day she tested out her universal remote and roped Teruko in as part of her plan to get away from Arturo. Teruko double-crossing J by “being the mastermind” would, I think, be enough of a betrayal that J would set out seeking answers. Publicly.

Teruko, having just seen Xander’s secret, is also in a terrible mood, meaning that her ability to defend herself against J’s accusations and keep a cool head would be lessened, and possibly devolve into a screaming match. This would send the students down the incorrect(?) path as to the mastermind’s identity, further encourage Teruko to distance herself from everyone else, and cause J to lose faith in one of the few people she liked just before Arturo starts to get on her ass. Needless to say, the group would be in shambles.

That was rough, but we’re finally done. Let’s take a look at how things shook out.

(Once again, I really didn’t mean to make it look like Whit was laughing at Charles’ dead brother? A little treat for everyone who believes Whit is evil, I suppose.)

Blech. Even though torturing characters can be fun sometimes, speculating about the worst case scenario isn’t usually the kind of energy that I like to bring to this blog. Hopefully I was able to deliver something satisfactorily devastating, though!

As a final note, assigning all these secrets to everyone did get me thinking a little about what would have happened in this chapter if the motive had gone as planned, and everyone had gotten their own secrets. While it obviously wouldn’t have been as good as the good universe, I do think that people learning of their own secrets is a lot better than many of the bad scenarios that could have been created with a shuffle. Charles and Teruko definitely would have been a bit thrown, but at least in Charles’ case, I don’t know if it would have resulted in murder.

In my opinion, I think it’s probably most likely that David or Nico would have killed? David obviously cares a lot about his career and the prospect of his secret being shared with the world, so he could have tried to ride his good social graces and fake “family history of depression” secret to a Class Trial clear. Nico also has a lot to worry about with their secret getting out, and, already facing pressure from Ace’s bullying, it’s possible they would have made the same decision to kill Ace if Ace’s harassment continued. I suppose this is a question I can ask back at ya, Gremlyn, if you feel inclined to answer! :D And, thank you for the ask. Even if it got a little bleak, I had fun with it.

Stay safe and happy out there, everyone, and make sure your deepest, darkest secret doesn’t get handed to your worst enemy. Or really, just try to avoid entering a killing game at all. Until next time~

[haydenn]

Crowley had been dreaming of Aziraphale for 6,000 years. Ever since the first time he closed his eyes and succumbed to this human habit, Aziraphale had been in his dreams. At first he dreamed of the angel’s smile, of the way he’d fretted over giving away his flaming sword, and of the way he had looked at Crowley from under his wing, hair damp from the first rain and eyes shining with… not love, not yet, but certainly intrigue and interest.

Later dreams had been more wish fulfillment than echos of reality. After they had oysters in Rome, Crowley had dreamed of tasting the salt and brine again from his angel’s tongue. After the first time he’d taken Aziraphale to a Shakespeare play, Crowley had dreamed of whispering sweet nothings against his angel’s skin until Aziraphale gasped and sighed for his words as he’d done for the Bard’s. When they’d finished their crepes in Paris, Crowley had revisited the Bastille in his dreams and imagined an alternate version of events. One where Aziraphale had remained in his chains and Crowley pealed those pretty, ridiculous clothes off of him piece by piece until they were pressed against the wall, trembling and holding each other through the aftershocks. When he’d finally returned home after their candlelight dinner in 1941, he’d dreamed of telling Aziraphale all the feelings he’d held back for millennia, which he now suspected were reciprocated.

Of course, not all his dreams had been fantasies; there had been nightmares too. When they fought in 537 and 1862, those fights had haunted his dreams. He tried to rewrite them, to come up with cleverer arguments or more compelling reasons for Aziraphale to stay, but every time they had ended with Aziraphale storming off and leaving him alone exactly as he’d done in real life. His dreams had been plagued by the words “You go too fast for me, Crowley.” for a decade after Aziraphale said them in 1967. But the true nightmares had started when the world began to end. In the wake of delivering Adam to the nuns, Crowley had dreamed of every worst-case scenario, of Heaven winning, of Hell winning, of the whole universe being vaporized into nothingness. In every one of those nightmares, he and Aziraphale were irrevocably separated and the thought of losing him forever was enough to wake him.

After the bookshop fire, Crowley had dreamed of smoke and flames and a sense of loss so profound it was as if half his soul had been ripped from him. He dreamed of searching for ages and never finding what he was looking for, never truly knowing what he was looking for because he had forgotten the half of himself lost in the flames. Nothing could startle him awake from those dreams. He had to ride them out until he woke naturally, his nose full of phantom smoke and a gaping hole in his chest where Aziraphale used to be.

He thought the fire dreams were the worst of them. After all, what could be worse than dreaming of being trapped in a world with no Aziraphale, doomed to an eternity of futile searching for an angel he couldn’t remember, but knew he’d lost? But now, as his naked feet slapped against the cold floors of the shop, he knew those dreams had been nothing compared to the one he’d just had. After the fire dreams, he could at least wake up, drive to the bookshop, and reassure himself of Aziraphale’s continued existence. But now? Now he was sprinting through the dusty stacks of the shop, as he had done through the corridors of Hell in his mind, screaming for Aziraphale and coming up empty.

The shop was empty.

Aziraphale was gone.

———————————

May You Be Forgiven (pt 2) was updated…. 2 weeks ago. There won’t be an update today because my grades are due. But, if you haven’t seen the last chapter, here it is.

And here’s a link to part one if you’re brand new.

[damned-punk]

What You Won’t Ever Find (Kidd x Reader)

Part Eight

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Content Warning: nsfw, modern!AU, suggestive language, unhealthy attachment, angst

Content Description: gn!reader meets Kidd in a bar and their relationship develops from there ♡

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Killer had to work the next day which was why he hadn’t attended the party and while you hated to bother him so late in the evening, you needed to know that Kidd was safe. He answered after a few rings but to your dismay, Kidd hadn’t come home and Killer hadn’t heard from him since he left hours earlier. None of it made any sense, he’d never done something quite like this before and it seemed so strange. Killer reassured you that while he was likely fine, he’d do what he could to locate him and that you should try calling him in the morning. He knew Kidd better than anyone and the fact that he’d told you to trying talking to him later didn’t sit right with you.

Did Killer know something you didn’t? You ran through every scenario of the evening but not even the slightest thing gave way as to why Kidd had disappeared. You’d already been waiting for him to return for just over an hour and since Killer didn’t seem too worried about it, you decided to just go home for the evening. You’d be lying to yourself if you said his actions weren’t hurtful, perhaps there was an unforeseen reason? Nevertheless, you tossed and turned until finally succumbing to sleep sometime in the early morning hours. The first thing you did when you woke up was dial his number. It rang for a little longer than you’d hoped and just as disappointment flared, your call was answered.

“Hello? Who the fuck is it?”, a voice you did not recognize asked, high pitched but groggy from being woken up.

“Who is this?”, you asked, doing what you could to maintain your composure, “Where is Kidd?”

“Still asleep, care to leave a message?”, the unknown person prompted with attitude.

“Are you at his house?”, you asked, ignoring the snarky tone the person had assumed.

“Yeah, I think so.”, they replied as your anger boiled over.

You immediately hung up and pulled yourself together as quickly as possible. Whatever was going on, you needed to see it for yourself. You fought against what would be the worst case scenario, attempting to rationalize that the person could be a friend of his that you just hadn’t met yet. Alternatively, you couldn’t shake the reality that the person could’ve been at the party last night and caught him alone after your heated exchange. You wanted to think that he wouldn’t go as far as to sleep with someone behind your back, but you weren’t sure of anything anymore. The fact that he’d left at all was enough of a problem in itself, made worse by the addition of his unknown accomplice.

And if he had slept with someone else, was it really feasible to be upset? No matter how often you saw each other or how much your time together meant, neither of you had given your situation a title. You didn’t want to overwhelm or press him to move too fast after he’d opened up about his continuous struggle with emotions, but you also couldn’t ignore the intense nausea that came from imagining him with someone else the same way he was with you. As you started pulling into his driveway, relief washed over you when you noticed his car was parked in its usual spot.

That relief was quickly eradicated because just as you stepped out to knock on the door, it swung open to reveal a shirtless Kidd and woman you’d never seen before. She wore a shirt that was very oversized, one that was eerily similar to those you’d borrowed from him. Several deep purple hickeys littered her neck, obviously created within the very recent past. They were talking and laughing far too merrily for your taste, all of it coming to a halt when their eyes fell upon you. Kidd froze in his tracks and felt like he’d been punched in the gut, he could do nothing but watch your eyes begin to water. The woman made her way to his car, slipping directly past you and into his passenger seat where you’d once sat not so long ago as the two of you got to know each other.

Your heart was pounding alarmingly hard and a deafening ringing sounded in your ears, the accumulation of stress and hurt was working against your ability to remain calm. You didn’t want to seem weak and you certainly didn’t want them to see you break down, but something had finally snapped. He’d made a couple mistakes during the several months that you’d been seeing each other, but this was something of an entirely different magnitude. Your face was so hot that you could barely feel the tears rolling down your cheeks, the only indication of your emotions was the shaking of your chest between deeply strained breaths. Kidd didn’t know what to do, he felt like the idea of even trying to begin to explaining himself was off the table which in turn caused his own rage to manifest. It wasn’t what it had looked like, at least not as far as he was concerned, he’d hoped to be able to send the girl on her way and blame his absence on the innumerable drinks he took in stride with his friends.

“What the fuck?”, you asked in defeat, the crackling of your voice serving to substantiate his surmounting guilt, “What the hell have we even been doing all this time?”

You weren’t sure if you were asking him or yourself, all you could really be certain of was the overwhelming feeling of humiliation. So much time and commitment felt like it’d been wasted but even more so than the loss, you felt stupid for thinking someone like him would ever take someone like you seriously. Even as he stood before you, clenching his fists and becoming consumed by wrath with each surmounting second, you mourned the person that you’d hoped he was. Kidd could be good, it was something that you’d experienced many times before and it was great, but it seemed that something like this was an inevitable part of being involved with him. Every incline was met with the eventual plummet, no matter how sublime things had been previously.

“(Y/N), I fucked up and we both know that.”, he said through gritted teeth, his breaths impossibly heavy, “I need some time to think… I don’t even know how to begin to explain this shit.”

“Did any of this mean anything to you?”, your voice raised involuntarily, “We talked about some really serious and personal things, Kidd. You know things about me that no one else has ever cared to know… This is making me fucking sick, I don’t understand why you’re like this.”

You knew you were spilling your innermost thoughts, but the situation was so turbulent that there was no chance in hell you could stop yourself. Grief and its many forms were sinking their teeth into the tattered remains of your pride, working to irritate what was already an open wound. You brought your hands to your face to cover your mouth as tears turned to full-on sobs. Kidd couldn’t take the intense feelings pilling on top of him so he relieved his stress the only way he knew how, carrying himself to the nearest tree and laying a heavy fist on its trunk. The sudden display of violence caused you to flinch, you’d never once feared him but the situation was taking a detrimental turn. He felt like a monster as he watched you tremble, this wasn’t what he wanted and was certainly never something he’d intended to happen. He’d told you time and time again that he wasn’t good with these things, this was the reason no one was ever glad to have met him.

“Of course you mean something to me!”, he shouted far too loudly, “If you didn’t, you’d fuckin’ know it! I wouldn’t waste my goddamn time!”

“Kidd, that’s enough! Get your ass inside and calm down!”, Killer scolded as he stepped out of the house to try and act as damage control, “(Y/N) please, I really don’t think it’s what it looks like. He’s got a bad temper, just give him a second.”

You appreciated Killer’s willingness to jump in the flames for his friend, you were happy to know that Kidd had someone like that on his side. If this behavior was usual for him, he’d need someone like Killer when everything inevitably falls apart time and time again. By this point you were becoming numb, your senses were heightened and you’d been feeling everything so intensely that nothing could register as it had before. It felt like you were watching things happen through a screen, unable to feel your lips moving and only hearing what you were saying.

“I think I should just go.”, you took several strides back to your car, “I’m not welcome here anymore.”

Despite walking through your own front door and seeking the comfort of your bed, you couldn’t recall the drive home. You couldn’t remember a time that you’d driven in silence, let alone a time that you couldn’t remember the task of traveling. To say that you were devastated was an understatement. If the woman was just a friend, why hadn’t either of them just come out and said that from the start? In the most rational division of your thoughts, you knew what the likely outcome was, you just couldn’t face it. Those few fatal minutes you’d spent helping Hip were so much more detrimental than either of you could’ve ever imagined. It wasn’t her fault by any stretch of the imagination, all the same her warning seared through the few lingering parts of your self worth.

Whether you’d listened to her then or now, the damage was done. Your feelings for Kidd had bloomed in spite of her warnings and you were finally paying the price. You wished you could say that you hated him but those feelings hadn’t changed in the slightest. He needed to take accountability for his actions and while you weren’t sure if your relationship was even a relationship to begin with anymore, you admittedly yearned for his comfort. He was somehow the disease and the cure, a twisted dichotomy that had been in motion since the first night you’d met. He hurt you then only to talk his way of it, you couldn’t let that happen again.

You could hear your phone’s incessant buzzing from its place on your nightstand, you certainly didn’t have the energy to answer it. You could see Kidd’s name brandished on the screen, not at all prompting you to answer and instead bringing you to tears once more. What was the point if something like this was going to restart your relationship every few weeks? You had a lot of love for him, but it clearly had nowhere to go.

Part Nine

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A/N: Thank you for reading! All characters presented in the story have been caricatured to fit the desired plot devices. Some interactions and situations may read out of character, this is only to progress the story and does not reflect my view of their canon personalities.

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[nevis-the-skeleton]

So in “The Polar Star”, what would’ve happened if Arcee and Bee saw the files instead of Smokescreen?

I was reading and randomly had this thought

It’s indeed a good question, I apologize in advance if my answer is a little messy, sometimes it’s not easy to completely reimagine a scenario XD. It's true that Smokescreen really wasn't the best bot to find out the truth about Starscream, especially because of his more than inappropriate words about Cold Constructions.

Additionally, Starscream and Smokescreen are both very impulsive, which creates a torrent of chaos. We also saw what could have happened with Ratchet, and the result was not better, if not worse, due to his status as a doctor (here). But with Arcee, and especially Bumblebee, there is a possibility that the outcome could be much less dramatic.

*

First of all let's talk about Arcee, we must already put their current situation in context: the two are in a fairly cordial understanding, although they both made mistakes at the beginning, when Starscream had just joined the team, they managed to put their differences aside to work better together.

And, Arcee also has a huge advantage on her side: she's a Caminus. So this may seem like a super strange reason, but you should know that in my AU the Cold Constructions were only persecuted on Cybertron, and not on the other colonies, in particular Veloctitron and Caminus.

Caminus was the only planet to oppose the Caste System, and the Mistress of Flame also showed great disapproval of the treatment of Slaves and Cold Constructions. So the fact that Arcee grew up in an environment such as Caminus may make it easier for her to gain Starscream's trust, unlike Smokescreen.

But Arcee will still have to be careful. She'll be facing a terrified and cornered Starscream, and it's truly the worst thing that could happen with him. Both are impulsive, so if Starscream tries to fight, she won't hesitate to fight back. It will really be up to Arcee to defuse the situation, by starting a conversation directly.

I already think that, unlike Smokescreen, she won't hide what she discovered from Starscream. She will show him what she found, ask him if it is true, waiting for his reaction. Of course, the Seeker's reaction will be bad, and Arcee will have to be very quick so that it doesn't get out of hand. But it's definitely possible.

This will also be an opportunity for her to talk about the Autobots' real goal, which was never to reestablish the Caste System, as Starscream thought all along. Indeed, the Seeker must surely have wondered for a long time why a Caminus had joined the Autobot camp, when her people were against the Cybertron system.

In this alternative of my story, it would therefore not be Ultra Magnus, but Arcee who would tell Starscream about the existence of the Sentinels.

*

Now let's talk about Bumblebee, he is at a much greater disadvantage than Arcee, due to his age (which is the same as Smokescreen) and the fact that he is a Cybertronian who was raised by the Autobots. That really doesn't work in his favor.

But, Bumblebee was raised primarily by Optimus, Ironhide, and Ratchet, and the three never wanted Bumblebee to fully know Sentinel Prime, knowing full well that he really wasn't a good influence, and that his speeches were the more often inappropriate and disrespectful.

So, Bumblebee grew up in an environment where he was taught that every life was important, and that no one was worth more than the other, while Smokescreen was with a conservative and strict Creator, who viewed Cold Constructions as defective waste and Slaves as disposable robots. So, it is indeed not the best setting to have a fair point of view.

Bumblebee also has the advantage of being eloquent, despite the lack of his voice, and his empathy can greatly help him defuse the situation with Starscream. In Part 2 (spoiler alert if you haven't read it yet), when Starscream has a panic attack, it's Bumblebee who goes to see him and speaks with him. He's also the one Starscream confides in about what happened with Smokescreen, no one else (end of spoil). And it’s quite simply because despite his young age, Bumblebee knows how to listen, he manages to put himself in the other person’s place.

So, if he discovers the truth, it will be natural for the young Autobot to start a discussion with Starscream. He will know how to find the right words (or rather beeps) to calm the Seeker and put him at ease. And if Starscream asks him not to tell anyone, Bumblebee will promise not to (and promising is something very important among Transformers).

*

So, as we saw, it was really bad luck that it was Smokescreen who discovered the truth about Starscream. Arcee would have had the advantage of her origin, and the fact that she and Starscream have been getting along better for a while, while Bumblebee will have his empathy to help him.

Although, honestly, the best scenario is when Bumblebee finds out the truth, because unlike Arcee he is not impulsive, so there would be no risk of fighting, unlike with Arcee.

[temporalbystander]

So @erisluna35 liked my last post and reblogged another. To refamiliarise myself with what they are about I read through their blog. Came across a lot of salt regarding the treatment Chloe got in season 4 and 5 and derision specifically. So it is their fault I am up this late with a very disturbing realisation. Long winded ramble under the cut.

In my original rewrite of the show, you know all the tedious writing of how Faybon interacts with the episodes putting him way more front and centre than an OC should ever be, the big twist, after the paradox thing, was meant to be him realising that, even if we can't influence history, we can influence people. That even though he couldn't stop Monarch or Felix, or stop the akumatisations, him being there did make an impact on the people. Which is where we get to my disturbing realisation about Derision.

Yes I didn't watch the episode but I'm aware of what Kim did because of Chloe pushing him and while I headcanon some things being a bit different, such as the water phobia being solely based around being in a relationship while at the school pool and her and Kim having a very strained relationship afterwards, I more or less accepted it as something plausible.

Same for some of Chloe's "pure evil" characterisation like in Sole crusher. The reason for this? While I only got partway into season one of my actual rewrite and my notes were just things to refer to with some possible Faybon input, my mind still filled in the blanks. Still had Faybon going to class alongside all these students, witnessing all these interactions and having some of his own... But I'm stalling because... I never realised just HOW in-depth my mind had gone. See the invisible thing was just a handwave at the beginning for why he wasn't involved before horrificator. The time paradox was another handwave to explain the invisibility and him being unable to change things. All these things came AFTER I had seen all three seasons and had started coming up with alternative scenarios. So, even though the "drama" has Faybon being overlooked, forgotten, and unaffected by the healing ladybugs, the day to day stuff my brain filled in ignored all of that.

My point? I accepted Chloe as capable of much worse because I'd had Faybon constantly running interference and slowly trying to get her to change. I accepted Kim as able to do such a mean prank because him and Faybon would always but heads and got into many arguments as what is a prank versus what is bullying. I accepted how stressed being the guardian made Marinette because I'd had Faybon helping her get away to transform. I accepted everything the fourth season threw at me because I'd had Faybon basically running around and filling in all the character development and screentime the writers wouldn't give us.

Worst of all? I BELIEVED Chloe was regressing because, chronologically, by the time she starts being uncaring and crueler to everyone? Faybon has learnt about being a paradox and has given up trying to change anything. I accepted a "completely irredeemable" Chloe because, in my mind, that's what would happen without Faybon continuously making an effort. Completely forgetting he was never apart of things in the first place. So, to me, Chloe in season 4 is a result of Faybon being depressed.

But it gets worse. Marinette going overboard with her stalking? Faybon and Alya team up to reel her back in. Adrien just stuck in his room? Faybon breaks him out to spend time with his friends. Luka just Marinette's love interest? He's now Faybon's confidant and gives him the advice he needs to keep going. Zoe... Being a Mary Sue? It's Faybon who talks to her, brainstorms ideas on getting through to Chloe, who listens to her stories about New York and is the first one to figure out her feelings for Marinette and, though she never says it, realises THAT is what made the other prep students in New York bully her. It's Faybon who then helps her spend more time with Rose and Juleka and Marc and Nathaniel. It's Faybon who gives Sabrina the e-mail address of the cute boy she was talking to in the New York special and it's Faybon who comforts her when that falls through.

So many issues in the writing and with the characters that I, seemingly unconsciously, just had Faybon fix. I didn't write any of this down anywhere but it is stuff I know happens and is another reason why I abandoned the rewrite and why I struggle writing. Faybon is the wildcard from Persona on a New Game plus. He's juggling friendships, school, multiple jobs, homework and dealing with supervillains daily. And some how does it all perfectly. No wonder I needed to pull him back, it was way too much.

[smpsys]

Do you ever think about how Lilith was let into the vault? How the vault hunter's had to fight all the eridians but Lilith was able to walk past them?

We were once into the Gotham fandom, specifically the twins, so the concept of being "born bad" comes to mind. But that combined with how I just see Jack as having npd, uh, ow.

Cause think of what Jack had done at this point. His wife had died, his daughter was a siren and was being hunted down by bandits. There was no concept of sirens powering vault keys at this point, so for all we know, Angel was locked away with access to Echo and nothing else. You could even say this was for the safety of Angel, (atleast partially, Jack obviously still didn't do the best thing here) she had previously been nearly taken and that event had cost Jack his wife.

So the Eridians teamed up with rouge military forces and decided to destroy an entire moon over... what? A grief striken, and yes, minimum emotionally neglectful man, with a mental predisposition to lacking empathy?

They were willing to kill hundreds of innocent people, men, women, children, over a guy who had zero guidance or knowledge on how to handle having a siren daughter and, at this point, made a singular but major shitty decision because of it. But who was actively trying to express empathy where he lacked it, was doing his best to be a good person the way it was expected of him.

The only other action you can judge him for at this point is what happened with Timothy. Even then, looking at the cut dialog, Jack expresses concern for Timothy and whether or not he knows everything is permanent and then is told it's fine and that Timothy is enjoying being him. You honestly could argue that all the Jack knew was, someone signed up, kinda weird that he doesn't know, but he's having fun so whats the harm? All of the shittiest parts are done by the doctor with no signs of Jack knowing! And Timothy harps on about "why would an engineer need this type of protection?" But consider again that Jack is the father of a siren and he already lost his wife to that fact. You could argue that Timothy and all the other doppelgangers were because of that fact.

Also, on the argument of why didn't Jack push harder to confirm Timothy's wellbeing, the doctor phrased Timothy enjoying himself in a very off putting way to the point that Jack openly says how he doesn't want to hear about it. Which with the guy's trackrecord, I wouldn't be surprised if it was on purpose, this guy is clearly well versed in medical malpractice. So untreated and masking npd leading to often times being overly agreeable to what others establish as the morality statis quo plus a purposeful deterrent?

"But Eridans could see the future!" Why couldn't they predict the that Jack would eventually be defeated? Or predict the actions of the vaulthunters and truly stop them? Or that Lilith would let Jack live after making him worse than he ever was?

And even when you think that maybe the Eridian's aren't all knowing (DESPITE BEING TREATED AS SUCH) they still have abilities far beyond an engineer and and some vault hunters. They built a planet! They could've easily prevented these events, could've found some alternative to killing innocents, yet didn't.

If they're all knowing, they either knew they'd lose and hurt innocents anyway or they chose to hold back and let everything happen.

If not all knowing, they're still far more powerful than what they were attempting to stop and yet went with one of the worst options in their wheelhouse of abilities, attemlting to destroy the lives of a planets worth of people.

So, best case scenario, the Eridians only had glimpses of what was to come, they grouped up abandoned militia forces, and then took to slaughtering a facility of workers (dont forget that Helios had ZERO MILITARY), comendeering it's weapons, and then decideding it was best to kill an entire planet. BEST CASE HERE.

At worse, they are a group of aliens who are no better than humans that have been raised to this statis of godship that they're selfishly abusing based on their own unchecked system of moral beliefs.

The middle ground here is that they are a civilization of highly advanced, godlike beings who are some kind of enforcers of fate.

This is good because it means they don't have personal stake in their actions, they are just doing what's best for the universe or something.

This is horrible because that means that Jack was doomed from the start, like Jesus being born a sacrifice, Jack was never going to be able to stop or escape what he'd become. That the Eridians purposely acted as his antagonist to lead him to act they way he did. That they armed these forces, threatened these people, killed innocents, cause they knew that Jack, a man who desperately wanted to be a hero and do the right thing without any guidance of how to do so, would fall for it and play into it. That they facilitated and orchestrated every horrible betrayal that lead to his spiral. They let Lilith into the vault knowing that she would, freshly after being shown the warrior and it's abilities, punch the artifact into his face. That he would then lose one of his last threads of humanity, be permanently scarred to the point of needing a prosthetic, and would become the Hyperion tyrant that would go on to terrorise Pandora.

Even if you can't feel bad for Jack due to his later actions, the ultimate take away here is that Eridians are still morally screwed up and shouldn't be on the pedestal that the people of the borderlands have put them on. That they are either negligent or abusive with their abilities and shouldn't be allowed to get away with their actions with just a hand wave of "future sight" or something.

[roseyturtles]

is your Bencade post meant to be like, an Evil Power Couple AU? because Arcade is not a very warlike or violent person, and he wouldn't be antagonistic enough to want to "strike first in self defence". Maybe Benny would be, but Arcade would NOT. (agree to disagree if you want, but that's just how i see it!)

You're right, Arcade is by no means warlike (unless you go by the op companion ai and that's not a good judge of character.) What he IS, is idealistic. And that's the funny thing about idealism. You put it in the right circumstances and it can twist into much more perverted versions of itself.

Gonna put this under cut because it's a long theoretical chain of events explaining my thoughts.

As we know him now, no, Arcade would never decide to go on the offense against another faction. But let's assume for a minute that he and Benny, in all their ambitions and knowledge and collective political influence, managed to bring freedom to the Mojave. No NCR, no House, no Legion. Arcade would be happy to let the people rule themselves as just another citizen himself, but Benny is much more power-hungry and takes House's old throne. Of course, seeing this and knowing his political partner, Arcade follows him and decides to stick by his side instead, knowing he's prone to overly cruel decisions.

And what would you know it, all that power at his fingertips means that helping organize council meetings, redistributing wealth, and keeping raiders at bay is a much easier endeavor! It's easy enough that with a little reprogramming, the Securitrons can assemble a tiny citizen's militia as well as defend the people with their own numbers. They don't have to worry as much about inside squabbles or starvation or people who would take advantage of a power vacuum because there is none. They're able to make as close to a utopia as they can get in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

But all the while the realization is beginning to sink in that this model of government isn't sustainable. Two figureheads actively abdicating their political power while still maintaining an iron grip over the Mojave's only major military force? That's an opening just waiting to be exploited by the likes of a scorned NCR, or whatever rises in the east after the Legion. But what alternative do they have? Give the immense power of the securitrons to the Mojave Council? To any smaller individual factions inside it? And what if they don't use the securitrons when and where necessary---or worse, what if they do? No, The Mojave needs people who want the best for everyone, not just their own interests, to handle such forces. Even the Followers follow too strictly their pacifism to be effective. But that still doesn't change the basic problem that outside forces bigger than them aren't going to stay put like they have.

So he talks with Benny, his only real equal anymore, about the situation, about what-ifs, worst-case scenarios, because admittedly, just for the dam, the Mojave is inevitably going to be the center of another war if they don't do something about it. And Benny's solution is surprisingly straightforward. They attack. Whoever wants to take over their little commune isn't going to listen to diplomacy or gift baskets or any of that prissy nonsense, he tells Arcade. They only speak one language, and that language is guns. ("Only guns? No energy weapons?" "Yeah, yeah, sure, doc, semantics." "Because if they speak the language of energy weapons too, that makes them bilingual." "Shut the hell up, you know what I mean.") And as much as Arcade hates it, as much as it goes against everything he stood for as a practicing physician, he knows Benny is right. No one likes war, least of all him, but out here it's just another fact of life. The least he can do is make sure it never reaches the doorstep of the people he's sworn to protect.

Which is how he ends up in a military position at all, because like hell is he letting Benny do it, what is he, insane? Inevitably, the NCR tries to strike back. Inevitably something sickening rises in the east. Inevitably Arcade's hand is forced and he pushes back against opponents. And then again. And again. Enough that it exhausts and hardens Arcade, who has at this point spent years at the top of the food chain. By this point he's doubtlessly either been ousted from the Followers for his use of the securitrons or simply has drawn away from them over time because he deems his work protecting the Mojave as more important, leaving him only with an enabler. One he listens to more and more, especially with his own anxieties gnawing away at him. Is that just another little tribe or something more to worry about? Is that war dance for them or for another smaller conflict? Why are these people organizing like this? Better show their hand just to be safe. Better make sure they know not to come near. Better make a proverbial barrier around the desert, just to keep its citizens safe.

And maybe Arcade hates what he's doing. And maybe it twists his stomach and makes him lose sleep. And maybe that only makes his paranoia worse, put in charge of this necessary evil. And maybe he mistakes one thing for another and maybe he fires on people he shouldn't have and maybe in some sick way it feels good and maybe he wouldn't trust anyone else to do this and maybe this is for the best and maybe he has to do this and maybe he's right and maybe he's right and maybe he's right and maybe-

Anyways.

You're right about Arcade being a good man. It'd take years to have this happen. But it's not so far off you can't track the line of thought from point A to B and that's what's fascinating about it.

[budgetaus]

You know the drill, Lets get straight to the point silly little goober!1!! So heres the question!

How would Cold react to seeing Papyrus again? Like not a alternate au or whatever or a clone. Like his original brother again in flesh blood.

AGAIN? As in, his progress gets reset back to zero, again? Because he'd have mostly same reaction whatever "again" you mean.

Well, lets explore what would happen, together.

Papyrus wakes up early in the morning as always.

"ANOTHER DAY TO CONQUER IN MY CONQUEST FOR FAME!!" He shouts happily. Even just waking up he's full of energy, like he's had 3 cups of coffee.

After flinging the covers off himself he leaps out of bed and does some stretches to get the stiffness out of his bones.

It's very important to be in tip-top shape.

Especially since he has training with Undyne scheduled today!

He hurries over to the full-body mirror he had set up in his room, unbuttoning his night gown and taking off his cap. He hangs them up in the closet and takes his cape off its hook and puts it around his neck..where it belongs.

While he was in the closet he reached down, pushing some clothes aside so he could reach two boxes tucked away.

Crouching he sifts through one of the boxes for a moment before grabbing what he needed. A replacement clock to put back in the place of the broken one.

He opens the other which was full of various broken clocks.

Switching the two clocks he takes the broken one and tosses it into the closet where it neatly lands with the rest of the junk clocks.

"SLAM DUNK. AS PER USUAL, AS PER USUAL." He said.

Gloating slightly,

he goes back to his morning routine, applying makeup and creams to his face to look as beautiful and presentable as possible amidst slight mumbles of getting a vanity as standing in front of this mirror was tedious.

Finished!

....

"MAYBE I WENT TOO HARD ON THE BLUSH...? SIGH!!...I WISH SOMEONE WERE TO COMPLIMENT ME ON MY LOOKS THAT ISN'T MY BROTHER..."

....

"SPEAKING OF MY BROTHER!!

I BETTER GO CHECK TO SEE IF THAT LAZYBONES IS UP AN'ATT'EM...PROBABLY NOT, BUT WHO KNOWS?"

He chatters cheerfully to himself swinging his bedroom door open.

....Sans isn't in his room.

....

Sans isn't on the couch.

Sans isn't in any of the cupboards.

Not under the sink either, no, not even Toby was there.

Nor in the refrigerator..

Or under any of the furniture.

He wasn't in the abyss that was in between the couch cushions.

Papyrus tries to call Sans.

....

But he didn't pick up.

...Maybe Sans was at Grillby's?

He tried to call Grillby

....

But nobody picked up.

....

...Maybe Undyne would know?

He tried to call Undyne

....

But nobody picked up.

Now Papyrus was worried.

"WHY IS NOBODY PICKING UP??"

He mumbles to himself breathlessly.

No,

No, he shouldn't jump to the worst possible scenario.

"MAYBE THERE WAS AN EVENT..? OR..."

He was grasping at straws.

Why wouldn't he be alerted if there was an event?

He paced the perimeter of the living room his own mind racing.

-

"I SHOULD JUST GO LOOK FOR HIM..MAYBE GRILLBY AND UNDYNE DON'T HAVE THEIR PHONES WITH THEM..OR ON, MAYBE THE PHONES ARE DEAD." He said.

Mostly trying to reassure himself.

He was Papyrus! He could take on anything, even if worse comes to worse! But, that wouldn't happen!

No. It wouldn't.

He sighed, his nerves calmed, he could think rationally. Making the executive decision to leave the house and look for Sans.

.....-

"WHAT THE H- ECK"

It was snowing lightly, a new thick layer of snow coating the ground ontop of the old. Someone should really shovel this away..but that wasn't the part that confused him. Or horrified him.

The town. The one he'd come to know and love.

Was dead quiet. Nobody, not even a single soul he could sense for miles was around.

The only things left were a few odd ice sculptures in place contorted in agony or fear. Some looked to be in positions to run, fight, or cower...they all seemed to be carved to look like the residents, his friends. (even if they didn't consider him as such)

Faint traces were left in the snow and few magic attacks scattered in the snow were the only thing that hinted at what may have truly happened.

He tried not to shake or shiver at the chill in the air and the shudder running down his spine.

...

He took slow steps to one of the ice sculptures...a bear...reaching out, he ran his fingers along the face....

Chills.

This.....these weren't CARVED.

These weren't ICE SCULPTURES.

These were FROZEN STATUES.

He stumbled back in sheer terror a twist knotting in his nonexistent stomach.

It felt like his soul was shattering, but it didn't.

None of this made sense.

What had happened?

Why was everyone like this?

Was...Was his brother okay?

He looked down...

at least the snow was peaceful..nearly undisturbed.

...

strange texture, though.

...

really strange...

..........

"OH MY FUCKING GOD."

That wasn't snow.

He couldn't handle it-

He gasped, fumbling, trying to pull his fucking phone out

COME ON.

HANDS WORK, GODDAMNIT.

He finally managed it...finally.

He frantically dialed his brothers number again.

His phone chimed, letting him know each ring went unanswered.

...

"SANS...SANS I SWEAR TO GOD!! PICK UP. PICK UP. I- I DON'T- YOU DON'T HAVE TIME TO BE THIS LAZY- PLEASE..PLEASE...PLEASE...." He choked up,

But nobody picked up.

..He decided to leave a message,

"BROTHER, SANS, LISTEN. I WOULDN'T BE CALLING THIS MUCH IF IT WASN'T FUCKING **URGENT**. SOMETHING...S-SOMETHING HAPPENED IN SNOWDIN, IT IS HORRIBLE,

BROTHER..DEVASTATING..EVERYONE IS...IS.....STATUES AND- AND I'M REALLY WORRIED ABOUT YOU-

...

PLEASE PICK UP..GOD..PLEASE..I PROMISE I WON'T BOTHER YOU ABOUT BEING LAZY FOR A WHOLE MONTH- NO- A WHOLE YEAR!!! JUST..please...PICK UP"

He hugged the phone.

-

"OH MY GOD?? SANS??"

SOMEBODY had picked up.

"WHO IS THIS??"

...

"oh..SANS...OH MY F- FLIPPING GOD YOU HAD ME SO WORRIED.." He sounds like he might start crying he's so relieved.

...

"SANS..WHERE ARE YOU???

DO- DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED?"

"...WHAT??..WHAT IS IT."

Papyrus heard a loud snap on the other line.

Panic.

Panic resonated from the very pits of his soul.

Papyrus has never remembered ever being this scared..but it felt..familiar, in some way?

Deja vu.

This sense..familiar knowing seemed to just control him

"SANS, WHEREVER YOU ARE IN SNOWDIN FOREST DOES NOT MATTER BECAUSE YOU NEED TO GET OUT OF THERE.

TAKE A SHORTCUT TO THE FIRST, YOUR, POST AND GO INSIDE, HIS UNDER THE COUNTER LEDGY THINGY I DON'T KNOW JUST KEEP OUT OF SIGHT.

I WILL BE THERE IN A FEW MINUTES."

Papyrus sprints.

The life or death sensation

The pounding of his soul

The sheer urgence of the situation

The a strong determination to help his brother

All lent speed to his steps, his bounds and leaps.

He was clearing miles faster than a car.

Even though his surroundings were just a blurr at this pace he knew exactly where he was going..

and yet.

He felt like out of the blinding snow,

Out of the haziness of speed...

He could see more statues in the edges of his vision.

Like they were watching him like this was another MTT show segment filled with drama, suspense..

But- he wanted to think they were cheering him on.

He needs all the hope he can get.

END PART ONE.

1/2/3

(Writing and drawing is hard, ok.)

[oatmealaddiction]

I'm really glad tumblr has changed and it's not a place where people just shit on kids constantly for being children. That said I'm noticing this sentiment going around that worries me.

The sentiment is basically "Taking care of kids is easy when you just do XYZ. Parents who yell are assholes." And it sort of equates being good with children with being a good person, which to me is a dangerous idea.

Like you wouldn't walk onto a construction site and assume because you're nice and even tempered you therefore have all the tools to build a skyscraper. If you did that you'd feel like a horrible person when you inevitably fuck up, and you'd feel worse if the people trying to help you get better were calling you a bad or dangerous person.

Mr. Rogers was not good with children because he was a good and kind person. Yes he was a very nice guy, but he was also a serious professional who spent years studying child psychology, working with kids one on one in research groups, screwing up and perfecting his methods for decades on top of decades. But people don't see that, and instead the narrative surrounding him is that he was "good" and therefore it must've been easy for him, a natural skill.

Raising kids is really hard. It's a job like any other that requires time, lots of reading, trial and error, and inevitably screwing up. What works for one child is not going to work for another. You will inevitably have days where you do everything wrong, and possibly even days where you lose your shit. When that happens you need to know it's not because you're a bad person who hates children, but because you're acquiring a learned skill that's really hard. Being calm and collected and even headed all the time is a super hard skill to have. Not losing your shit when your kid bites you is really hard. Having good positive and empathetic alternatives to punishment is hard when you've been at it for weeks on end and it's still not working. It takes practice and work, and to be clear that's work you have to do, but it's not easy and if you're not someone who's practiced it before you're going to mess up.

And I think this equating of "good person" with "good parent" sets a lot of people up for failure. On the one hand, you'll have new parents and teachers who have done no reading and no preparation stepping into childcare roles and assuming because they like kids and they're nice that the job will be easy. On the other hand you've got caretakers who cave under stress and yell, or issue a harsh time out, or have a breakdown and then spiral into shame and self hatred for being a "bad person," OR WORSE completely reject any kind of advice or help because they're terrified of admitting to any flaws in their parenting/caretaking because that then reflects on their personhood. In the very worst case scenario, sentiment like this is what breaks up marginalized and impoverished families when they don't have the resources to provide for their children, or when stress takes a toll on a parents mental and emotional well-being. If they were good people who loved their kids, why didn't they take care of them, right?

So like, when we make these posts about how to take care of kids, my best advice is that we have to look at parenting and caretaking as learned skills. You practice them, you grow, you learn, and you will also fail, and it's okay so long as you keep trying to do better everyday. Seek out lots of advice, read books on the subject, take classes, and keep trying and if you feel like you're doing bad, don't be ashamed to seek out help. And for people who are trying to be better, empathy from others is always so helpful, and the community at large should be practicing that. That's what will make more positive environments for children.

[fezwearingjellybananas]

talk shop tuesday - what made you write Once Upon a Timeline?

To bully Eobard Thawne.

So, Thallen and Westhallen are nice ships, they are sweet, I adore @kitkatt0430's Westhallen fics and that is meant as a fic rec for every single one of them, but there is at least part of liking them that is I think it is funny if Eobard has gone back in time to erase his nemesis Barry from existence and now not only does he have to ensure the Flash exists, instead of finding his great-something-grandma Eddie is going and making out with Eobard's nemesis (who he may or may not be in love with, he would rather die than admit he has feelings) and erasing Eobard from existence instead. This is his Worst Case Scenario, why is this happening to him, what could he have done to deserve this (you know what you did, Eobard)

(Which is why I often headcanon Patty Spivot would have been Eobard's great-something-grandma in the TV show universe, Eobard now has to live with instead of them getting together his grandfather dated Iris West and his grandmother dated Barry Allen and that's not fair, why did he never get to do that)

And Once Upon a Timeline is mostly how do I take that and make this even worse for Eobard Thawne. Who is the person Eobard would hate most of all if Barry went and fell for them instead of him.

Originally I was going to just giggle away to myself at the idea and keep writing Gone in a Flash, but that I was heading towards writing myself into a corner and I like doing Writer's Month, it's a fun challenge, and because I've already written the Milk and Sugar 'verse I don't want to do any more full series rewrites, so having prompts to tell just the changed parts of the story seemed like a good idea, and with it being prompts for an event there was a deadline so it couldn't grow that wildly, having a few chapters for Writer's Month would get the idea out of my head and then I could go and focus on what I was writing originally after a break and I could figure out where that needed to change to make the plot flow again. So I wrote Once Upon a Timeline. Which is not a silly fic at all given its origins, but it is one I enjoyed writing very much.

And it had to be Westhallen. I get to write Iris and Eddie being in love and also both pining after Barry, Eddie gets a comic inspired storyline (while at first glance it looks like he's taking Malcolm Thawne's, he's actually borrowing an origin story from Iris), and know in the background Eobard Thawne is having the worst day of his life, where's the downside.

(Also, as an extra, Once Upon a Timeline originally had a different ending, but that would have meant a much longer fic that wouldn't have fit with limited prompts so the choice was either leave it on Chapter 9 and write a sequel later or scrap that, and I went with scrapping that in favour of what is now Chapter 10. But it's Multiamory March next month, and I won't fill all of those prompts, but I have a few, and one I have already written is the original alternative ending to Once Upon a Timeline)

Thank you!

[Talk Shop Tuesday]