#enjoyed the multiverse-hopping stuff

[rosenclaws]

ma meilleure ennemie || Worst!Logan x Reader

summary: Logan loved, lost, fought, and killed you in his world. Now after being thrust into another universe. He finds you in a world where things worked out. How unfair.

warnings: angst, fem pronouns are used for the reader, its kinda a sad ending but like bittersweet more. talks of fighting and violence

wc: 4.2k

a/n: This is based on the song from Arcane! I would highly recommend watching the show btw its amazing and the scene this song is from is absolutely gorgeous. Anyways I hope y'all enjoy <33

Logan was really sick of all this multiverse stuff. Like seriously.

He barely remembers what happened. Wade had taken another one of this universe hopping devices from the TVA in order to complete some mission but as usual the two got into it. Shouting and fighting until Logan's claws went right into the little device. Before either of them could react it exploded. Logan felt like every atom in his body was being ripped apart and put back together. The world was spinning and he wasn’t quite sure where he was anymore.

In the blink of an eye he's not standing next to wade anymore. He in a bedroom. The light shining through the window and birds chirping outside. Logan looks down and sees that he's no longer in a bloody yellow and blue suit, but simple sweatpants and a black shirt. What the actually fuck. He catches a glimpse of himself in a mirror.

He looks different, just slightly. He had less wrinkles and the bags under his eyes were gone. His hair was a little longer too. It was uncanny as hell. It was him, he was moving his hand and touching his face but it doesn't fully feel like him. He hears laughter outside of his door.

Slowly he opens it, poking his head out to see the hallways bustling with students and teachers. He catches a glimpse of blue fur and he slams the door shut. No no no this isn't real. This is some weird fucked up nightmare dream thing. His heart starts to race as the sights and smells of this odd world start to fuck with his senses. He shuts his eyes and bangs his head against the door. Just wake up already Logan.

Wake. Up.

"You drink too much last night honey?" Logan acts before he can think.

Claws out and slamming whoever had snuck up on him into the door. Logan's eyes widen as he sees you under his arm. Confusion in your eyes as you tug at his arm.

"Fuck! Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." You push him away with your powers but Logan's gaze only hardens.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" He growls. He should bury these deep in your fucking head.

"I live here?" You furrow your brows as you put your hands up.

You take a step forward but Logan takes on back. His defenses are up and he won't make the same mistake this time. You're dangerous, you're the enemy.

"Logan what's gotten into you?" You ask softly. You try again to reach out and touch him but he flinches away.

"Stay away from me." He pushes past you, shoving you into the wall as he rips the door open and runs down the hall. Ignoring the call of his name.

He wanders aimlessly around the mansion until he finds Charles office. If anyone can explain what was happening it's him.

"Ah Logan, I've been waiting for you to arrive, please sit." Hesitantly he sits down, he can't help but observe everything around him.

The last time he was here, at the mansion, was the worst day of his life. But now everyone's laughing and happy. He blinks and the memories flashes in his mind. The blood that stained the walls, the smell of burning, the screams.

"So much pain. I'm so sorry." Charles wheels over to Logan.

"Hey chuck. Been a long time." Logan grumbles. His hands dig into the chair handles, almost tearing them off the more he lets his mind spiral.

"Forgive me for prying, but your thoughts are incredibly loud." Charles pokes and prods Logan's brain. Seeing glimpses of his world and this one mashing together.

"You're not from here." Logan nods his head.

"I don't know how I got here but, I need to get back."

"Start from the beginning." Logan spills it all.

Starting with his own world. How he walked away and it led to everyone being killed. The years of grieving and killing. How he was found and kidnapped by Wade and how it led to him saving the universe. How their fight led to him being thrown into a completely new timeline. Appearing to have taken over the body of this worlds Logan. And you. How you were in his bedroom and the flurry of emotions that came with it.

In Logan's world you were a very powerful mutant with mind powers. You were kind and friendly, but rumbling deep within you was a terrifying power. Power that could level a city with only the snap of your fingers. Charles had taken you in as a child and nursed your abilities. Teaching you the importance of control. You were his prized student. But then Jean came along and Jean became everything you couldn't be. At least that's what you had always told Logan.

She took the spotlight. She got everyone's love an admiration. People weren't scared of her. Her power was graceful and strong while yours was reckless and something to fear. When Logan rolled around you were a professor. He had caught your eye from the moment he was brought in. A handsome, mysterious stranger. But as always it seemed that Jean was the one to grab his attention. Which Logan admits is true, at first. But Jean didn't want him and he respected that.

Logan met you in the middle of the night one day. Small talk turned into more as the sun came up and the two of you were still wrapped up on the couch. You understood him more than anyone and he got you. Your romance may have started slow but it grew into a pillar of Logan's life. He loved you. God he loved you so fucking much. You were his light, his love. You were never a second choice to him, but the right one. The only one that mattered.

But he got to you too late.

All that pain and doubt had been manifesting years before he got there and after one bad mission you exploded. The team had turned on you, told you that it was your fault. It was misplaced anger from everyone. Including him. A shame he carries to this day. Your powers became uncontrollable. If not for Charles and Jean together you could have leveled the entire mansion. Logan tried to console you, to bring you back to him but it was too late. You saw the fear and the hatred growing from those you once considered family.

So you left. The brotherhood got to you before Logan could and the next time he saw you was on the opposite side of battle. You had changed. He barely recognized you anymore. You were cruel and ruthless with your powers.

For years the two of you fought on opposite sides. Logan tried to fight for you. He was convinced the you that he knew was still in there but no one else believed him. They told him over and over that you were gone. That the woman he loved was no more and only a cold blooded villain remained.

You hurt his friends, you threatened the mansion, the kids who once looked up to you now shivered at your name. It hurt him to his core, but eventually he accepted it. His love wasn't enough. Nothing could bring you back. You were gone.

It all cumulated about five years after you left. The brotherhood wanted to use you to wipe out all those who opposed them. Innocent people included. Anyone who stood in their way. The X-Men were sent to stop them. It was a bloody, long, intense fight. Allies and enemies being taken down left and right until it was you and Logan left.

"Please sweetheart, I miss you." Logan begs.

"Come back home."

"That place is not my home anymore." You spit. Nothing but hatred in your eyes as you pushed Logan to the ground. Your powers keeping him from moving.

"I'm going to kill you and all your friends. Nothing is going to stand in our way. Nothing!" Your powers let him go but you grab him by the neck.

For a split second Logan thought he saw regret in your eyes. Something. Anything other than the empty soullessness from before.

Logan! Take it! He hears Jean speak in his mind.

She was nursing Scotts wounds, she could barely stand on her own. With a broken roar he digs his claws right into you. He watches as the light drains from your eyes. As the blood pours from the wounds he gave you. He holds you in his arms. Silently whispering that he loves you, that he's sorry.

Your body goes limp and when Logan can no longer hear your heartbeat he knows that you're truly gone.

Why you let go of Logan he'll never know. You had to have known what the risk was. Why would you ever give him free use of his hands, of his claws? A part of him wonders if this is what you wanted.

Your death took a heavy toll on him. He started drinking more and more. The conflicted feelings weighed heavily on him. Most would celebrate your death but he mourned you every damn day. Mourned the woman you were, the woman that you loved.

"What is she doing here?" Logan asks lowly. Memories of his version of you flashing through his head.

"Here she never lost control, never joined the brotherhood.

"What changed?"

"In this world, Jean came to me first. She was my student first and thus Jean helped me train her to control her powers. She was my star student. Never feared her powers." Logan scoffs.

Was that all it took? Was that little difference all it took to save you? If he had loved you enough could he have saved you? Or were you already too far gone by then.

"We'll work on getting you home. I'll talk to hank and get back to you. For now, just try your best to adjust." Logan is dismissed.

Now what? Maybe he should just hole himself in his room until its time to go home. Until he remembers that you're there too. Suddenly he hears kids screaming, his senses kicking into high gear as he runs outside, claws out on instinct. He sees you with a bunch of kids running around screaming. He doesn't have time to think. He just acts.

"Get away from them!" Logan yells. Making everyone stop in their tracks. He lunges at you and you use your powers to slam him to the ground.

"What the fuck is your problem! We were playing a game!" You shout.

"Kids, go back inside." You command and they slowly file inside, whispering amongst themselves.

"How was I supposed to know that?" Logan growls once you let him back up.

He puts his claws away but the hostility doesn't fade. How could it? His brain is so fucked up right now, he had long accepted that you were gone and now he's thrown into a world where you aren't a villain anymore. That you're the woman he loves again but he just can't let himself trust this. He can't. What if Charles is wrong? He just...he can't do this.

"What did you think? Did you actually think I was going to hurt them?!" You ask mostly as a joke.

"Logan, you've been off since this morning." You reach your hand out but he doesn't take it. He pushes himself up. Putting up these walls that you swore you broke a long time ago.

"I think its best if you stay the hell away from me." He walks away without another word.

Leaving you utterly confused.

Logan locks himself away for the next couple days. Only coming out when he was called by Hank and Charles. He could feel your eyes on him every time. Like a sad puppy he kicked to the curb. He doesn't even look at you. He knows he can't. If he does he'll cave. The problem is that Logan knows he can't stay here. He's only setting himself up for heartbreak if he lets you in. Nothing but pain and what could have been. He just doesn't think he can mourn you anymore. He just wants to go home. To forget this ever happened.

Once again he can't sleep, deciding to walk around the mansion instead. Pictures line the walls, some that he recognizes and others he doesn't. He stops and one in particular. Jean and Scotts wedding. Scott looks happy and Jean is a beautiful bride, but that's not what catches his eye.

It's you standing right beside her. A big smile on your face. You look gorgeous. So happy and carefree.

"I remember that day," He jumps hearing your voice once again. He turns to see you standing away from him, but staring at the picture. His claws don't come out this time at least.

"Can't believe Scott even wanted you as one of his groomsmen with how much shit you give him." You say softly.

"Yeah," Logan looks over to the other side of the photo. Seeing himself dressed in a suit. Except Logan's eyes are on you.

"Charles told me. About your situation. I understand why you reacted the way you did. I'd be freaked out too." You rub your arm awkwardly.

"How much did he tell you." He asks.

"Not much. Just that you're from another timeline and you're trying to get back." Logan grunts.

"That...you've been through a lot of pain and loss." Logan's breath hitches. So Charles didn't tell you any specifics. Maybe that's for the best.

"I don't know...what we are in your world. But I want you to know that I'm here for you Logan." He clenches his fits, god how can you be so sweet to him after he almost stabbed you twice. He'll never understand.

"Thanks. I'm sorry If I scared you before." He says.

"You can never scare me." You say and Logan shuts his eyes.

You used to say that to each other. Logan was made to be a weapon and you were a ticking time bomb. Yet not once were you ever afraid of each other. Both of you looking past what others saw.

"What...what am I? To you?" You ask hesitantly.

The question's been eating you alive since you learned about this whole thing. Logan takes a deep breath. Turning to look at you and feeling his heart sink down to his feet.

"It's a long story, one you don't want to hear." He says with a sigh.

"I mean, I have time. I just. I don't want you to have to carry it all alone." You reach up and touch his arm. Logan's eyes close as he feels your fingers trail down to his hand, lacing your fingers with his. It's been so long since he's held your hand.

"Maybe another time sweetheart." Logan squeezes your hand, using all his willpower to let go of your hand.

You watch sadly as Logan walks away, disappearing back into his room without another word.

He lays on the bed staring at the ceiling nursing a glass of whiskey. It's been a week since he got here. They're close to getting him home. There's muffled music coming from the living room.

It's Storms birthday. Logan should be out there, maybe to keep up appearances but a party is the last thing he wants to be at right now. There's a knock at the door and he ignores it. Until another one, and another. Finally he just gets up to tell them to fuck off. He opens the door to see Charles.

"I said no." He mumbles. Ready to slam the door but Charles stops him.

"I'm not here for that. We should be ready to send you home within the hour. That being said. I know it's been a long time since you saw most of us. Consider saying goodbye this time." With that Charles leaves, leaving Logan stunned.

Quietly he grabs his jacket and heads to the party. Sneaking in as best as he can. Sticking to the corner of the room. He sees Storm talking to Jean and Scott. They're smiling and laughing. Jean spots Logan from across the room. Offering him a small smile.

His eyes move over to the middle of the room. They had pushed the furniture around to make room for a dance floor. He watches as He's not strong enough for this? Rogue, Kitty, and Bobby were dancing. Laughing as they take turns making up stupid dance moves. Jubilee was using her powers to create fireworks that lit up the whole room.

She catches Logan's gaze and waves happily. Seeing everyone again, seeing them happy and thriving. It made his heart ache. To know that at least in one universe, everyone is okay. No thanks to him that is.

"Logan! Come dance!" Jubilee shouts, making everyone's eyes turn to him.

"No thanks kid, I don't do that." He grumbles.

"Oh come on Logan, it's a party." She begs.

Logan sighs and pushes himself off the wall. Walking to the dance floor taking Jubilees hand and spinning her around a little bit. A small smile crossing his face.

He remembers Jubliee asking him to dance once. Back in his timeline. She was a kid. There was this school dance and she wanted to go so badly. He took her hands and she stepped on his toes. He made her swore up and down to never speak of it but he remembers it fondly.

"Mind if I cut in?" He turns to see you standing there. You're all dressed up looking so pretty. Jubliee bows out, wiggling her eyebrows making Logan roll his eyes.

"Hi." You say softly as Logan holds out his hand.

"Hi." He says.

You and Logan move in sync. Like nothing had happened as the two of you move to the music. Logan smiles as he twirls you around and dips you. He lets go of the weight on his shoulders. Letting himself just exist for once. To enjoy holding you in his arms and dancing to the music. He'll face reality when he goes back. But tonight, he'll dance.

When the music lets up he drags you outside away from the noise and the prying eyes. You walk through the garden in a nice quiet. He leans down and picks a flower from the ground, putting it behind your year.

"Pretty." You bite your lip as you tug your coat tighter.

You sit on a bench and Logan joins you. From this angle you can see how lively the mansion is tonight. The party, the lights on in the bedrooms. Its so homey. Logan smiles, a part of his heart feels like it's patching itself up. At least its not all bad in every universe right?

"You go back tonight right?" You ask and Logan nods.

"Are you happy to go back?" Logan looks over at you, grabbing your hand and squeezing it tightly.

"I uh, I don't know." The truth is he wants to stay.

God he wants to stay so badly. To live here and be happy. No worries about the world ending or being reminded of his dead friends. But...He can't stay. As badly as he wants to this isn't his life. You aren't his girlfriend.

As he was told before. All the pain he went through made him the man he is now, there are people out there who still need him. Who need the Wolverine to fight for them. You lean your head on his shoulder.

"I wish I could stop time. Just for a second." He mumbles.

His arm wrapping around your shoulder as he watches them sing happy birthday. You lift your head, staring into his eyes. What sad lonely eyes they are. He leans in, foreheads touching as he cups your face gently.

"Can we, can we just pretend like it's the first time?" He asks in a low whisper.

You nod your head as you close your eyes and let his lips touch yours. The kiss means fucking everything to Logan. His thumb brushes your cheek as he kisses you with ever ounce of love he still has deep in his heart. He knows that you aren't the same woman but fuck he just hopes you know that he's sorry that he wasn't enough. He hopes you know that he loves you.

You tug on his hair and Logan groans. His other hand resting on your back pulling you closer. He reluctantly pulls apart from you. Breathing heavily as he catches his breath. There's this silly smile on your face, one that always appeared after Logan kissed you no matter how much you tried to hide it. He missed it.

Logan. It's time.

He hears Charles in his head. His smile dropping as he realizes it's time to go. "I can go with you down to the lab." You offer as Logan stands up. He takes your hand and helps you up, leaning in to kiss your forehead gently.

"No, I should do this on my own." The truth is he knows that if you're down there he won't be able to go through that damn portal.

"Don't look so sad, You'll have your Logan back soon sweetheart." He wipes away a stray tear from your face.

"I know. It's just, hard to say goodbye." You take the flower from your hair and place it in his jacket pocket.

"Something to remember me by." You walk hand in hand back into the living room.

Logan takes one last look around the room. A strange sense of peace coming over him as everyone smiles and waves to him. It's not goodbye for them, but it is for him. But at least this time, he got to say the words. Logan lets go of your hand, sparing you one last look as he steps into the elevator. He can't bring himself to say anything. You know what he wants to say.

The elevator moves slowly as he heads down to the lab. Silently he steps out and heads towards the lab.

"Logan wait!" He freezes as he hears your voice.

"How did you-"

"The stairs. I took the stairs." You blurt out. He nods, standing there unsure of what to say.

"Can I ask you one question before you go?" You ask breathlessly. He nods. He can hear something happening in the lab, he doesn't have much time.

"In your universe, did you love me? Were we happy?" Maybe its an odd question. After all you just made out outside. But you don't know what this Logan had been through, if things were different or how different they were. You just needed to know. You always had a hunch your love was stronger than a simple timeline.

Logan takes a long look at you. Committing you to memory, so that now he can remember you like this. Smiling and happy and unafraid of who you are.

"I loved you more than anything sweetheart, I still do." With a soft smile you take one last look at Logan before returning back up the stairs. When Logan returns he'll be the man you knew before, but you don't think you'll ever forget this other Logan. Not for a long time.

"You ready Logan?" Hank asks as he hooks Logan up to a machine.

This was supposed to separate the two Logan's. He just prays it doesn't kill him. Logan closes his eyes. Similar to the feeling before he grunts as his cells seem to tear apart once again. Only this time when the pain stops he's back in his bloody suit. The other Logan is laying on the ground. Knocked out from whatever the hell Hank managed to do.

Before their very eyes an orange portal appears. They must have finally pinpointed the anomaly once the two had been separated. Before he steps through he turns around, nodding his head at Hank and then Charles.

"It was good to see you again Chuck, Thanks for everything." Logan says.

It feels like a weight has been lifted off his chest as he steps through the orange portal. In a flash he's at the TVA headquarters, standing in front of Wade.

"Peanut! There you are, oh I was worried sick." Wade jumps into his arms and Logan just drops him. Wade stands up and dusts himself off.

"We need to get you chipped or something. Maybe a bell to wear around your neck." Logan rolls his eyes and just follows the TVA agent in front of them.

"I went to a world where dogs could talk. What about you?" Wade asks as they're brought back home. Logan thinks for a moment. He sticks his hand in the pocket of his suit. His body freezing as he feels the soft petals of a flower.

"Hello? Earth to Wolvie? What having some emotional flashback to something only the readers know about?" Wade waves his hand in front of Logans face.

"I was thinking asshole." Logan shoves his hand away. Smiling as he tucks the flower deep in his pocket, deciding that he'll keep his adventure to himself for now.

"Anything you want to share with the class?" Wade asks. Logan just shakes his head.

"No, nothing worth mentioning."

[loverofpiggies]

Oh, you watched Fiona and Cake, great!

I am curious, what were your thoughts about like Winter King or first opening? Or like about overall more mature stuff than in og adventure time

So now that I'm doing a huge rewatch of the OG Adventure Time, I will say I adore both in their own ways.

It was really cool seeing the more mature stuff in Fionna and Cake, sort of like the show 'grew up' with the audience, you know? And do NOT get me started on how much my heart was destroyed by Simons entire plight through.

See I never managed to finish the first show, mostly just got distracted, but on my rewatch I can tell I at least got through six seasons. I like how spaced out the original show is, and it makes the really sad shit with like the Ice King hit like a ton of bricks when it happens. It really feels like you're watching all these wacky people live their lives, and occasionally the horror of the Mushroom War reminds you of its effect, through Marceline, and the Ice King, and every character who was forced to live through it. I don't know, it's really nice!

Okay I'm gonna ramble so I'm putting a read more!

I was wondering if on a rewatch I'd get frustrated the way later seasons of Steven Universe made me get frustrated, but it never felt like that at all. It's just been... fun. It's just Finn and Jake on adventures, occasionally having to set down their fun and recognize the horror of things around them, and it's just. DAMN it's just done so well.

I just got to the episode where Finn meets Prismo and makes the wish, and accidentally ends up wielding the power of the crown, and all it did was break my heart. Like I was sitting there, and for a split second I was like 'wow that crown corrupted him really fast!' and then I remembered.... he was like 13 when he got the crown. He was still a child, and when Simon got the crown, he was what, in his 40s? He was just a kid, and couldn't possibly be able to handle or combat the crowns power. It just punched me in the gut.

So I very much enjoy how spaced out and silly the original Adventure Time is, because its such a unique world I love seeing more of it, and I feel like it makes the heavy scenes hit so much harder. With Fionna and Cake, I love how tight the story is and how structured things are. They're both SUCH good shows, with different ways of writing and different vibes and I adore them equally at this point.

ALSO THE WINTER KING, holy shit don't get me started, but I will rant about this mofo

(These are keychain designs but I decided to put them together on a little canvas)

Firstly, I fucking LOVE the Winter King, and I'm really sad we didn't get more of him. I do wonder if the fact that Fionna's universe wasn't 'canon' during all the universe hopping, that if somehow the multiverse will reverse some things and 'repair' the damage. I'm not even saying that because I want to see the Winter King again, it just absolutely sounds like something that could happen in Adventure Time. Hell, look how they made Fionna and Cake just-- real! Thanks Prismo you're a cool guy.

But in terms of the Winter King as a character, and in terms of his universe? I want SO much more detail. Where is Finn, where is Jake? Marceline either left the Winter King or got killed, so I'm curious there too. The juxtaposition of genuine confidence and whimsy, and the mans incapacity to feel remorse or even real deep sadness (him saying 'Oh! The dead one?' when Simon asked about Betty was... holy shit) he was just an EXTREMELY interesting character, and I so badly want to see more of him.

Also dude was just funny. The fact he straight up admitted he thought about kissing his alternative universe self was so fucking funny, and plays heavily into his narcissistic behavior and tendencies.

On TOP of that, the idea of how he ended up cursing Bubblegum specifically would be so interesting. I read online people assuming when the Ice King did his spell, it was more like "I want Princess Bubblegum to love me, so I'll do a spell so she can understand what I'm feeling and then she'll marry me!" but then the 'understand what I'm feeling' is actually just... "Hey, I feel absolute madness, here, take it off my hands!' and might have just been a huge accident. We certainly can't trust Winter King's words about it.

I don't know. He was so fascinating, and the way he put feelers out to see if Simon would feel the way he does (Specifically talking about making an Ice Betty, then realizing Simon was disturbed so he shrugged it off with a laugh, being like 'no thats immoral obviously haha') and the fact that he was so cautious and smart about avoiding telling Simon how he conquered the crown? Like he would be glad to help and teach Simon how to keep his sanity AND his power... but obviously would have never spoken his secret the more he realized Simon would morally object to it.

I dunno. This character was in the show for 20 minutes and he was so fucking interesting I almost feel robbed. I hope maybe we can get some Adventure Time comics about the guy at the VERY least!

[bibiana112]

top 9 things wrong with akane kurashiki 🗣

Oh boy! My favorite topic, sure hope I don't go yapping about my headcanons on the subject in incredibly long-winded fashion

So yeah, uh so these are not ranked in any particular order teehee thanksies

1. The aforamentioned being resistant to the very idea of letting herself be happy and enjoy the moment without some higher goal to achieve which extends to policing others as well unless it is the perfect moment in which being happy is allowed which is totally not hypothetical like some sort of perfectionist sunk cost fallacy ass timeline hopping 99% of shifters stop jumping right before getting to the one true timeline where everything's fine type shit

2. Girlie did kidnap more than a dozen people and had to come to terms with and justify that at a very early age to boot so I don't think she'd have the soundest idea of boundaries or respecting other people's autonomy or right to privacy and ofc that wouldn't take an actively malicious form with her and it comes from her own trauma as well but like I still think she'd need to actively work on letting others close to her have a full sense of agency which would be suuch a painful learning process with Junpei specifically since he fears being used and abandoned again and lashes out about it

3. She's such a hypocrite that I don't think she thinks she has any agency in what she chooses to do with her life either though like the way she sees things play out in the future and the goals she sets up in her head are the way things Must Be thanks to her Divine Visions and because of the way the multiverse plays out like it is multiple choice that dillutes any weight she could give to her own individual actions, it's just free abdication of guilt that also leads to her play acting things out again and again while being carried by the conviction that it'll all lead to a better outcome than the current one without ever giving herself room to question if this defense mechanism she once used to survive is still necessary or just keeping her stuck in place forevermore. many such cases. I think this way of going about her life repressing any real wants and desires would only spell great things for a marriage (lying)

4. She's a great actress she's so manipulative, I bet she can cry on the spot if a situation calls for it and immediately walk off like nothing happened she got it down to a science on how to present herself in a way that would compel people to underestimate and want to protect her and I don't think she could break away from that habit so easily but not even only from the angle of wanting to keep people around her predictable and dancing to her own tempo but just I think being honest and vulnerable is not a skill she ever developed with the exception of Aoi who will already do anything for her so she doesn't need to have that fundamental lingering bit of mistrust like with everyone else including Junpei because he's Also a manipulative bitch when he wants to be and she knows this. girl who generally believes in the good of people but has not ever been accepted or fully understood or stayed anywhere long enough to grow roots burying herself in layers and layers of riddles while remaining deeply unwilling of being found alongside the answers

5. I believe she has not touched grass since she was twelve all she's known since the incident have been books, screens, and the grind. Like she goes out for bussiness reasons I bet but always with Aoi in tow and never having had the time to actually go out into the world on her own and do some self-discovery and very basic coming of age stuff like not even dating and stuff but either going to uni or getting a job or any sort of thing that could expose her to different people with different perspectives and interests and ways of fitting into the world that aren't crash keys manpower that her only dynamic with is assigning tasks to. She does not know how to act like a 'normal' person who has mundane worries and responsibilities at all she's never talked to one of those outside a saw trap and no wonder she gets a lowkey god complex on at least one timeline because she'd be so far removed from the average mere mortal experience in so so many different ways

6. There's no way spending 9 years of your life in a scenario where commiting any small mistake in the set up of something will actually kill you and your brother and your crush and a bunch of other people you have nothing against doesn't mess up with how one deals with small changes of plan or being forgiving of themselves and others for not being perfectly put together 24/7 she's lowkey more judgemental of Junpei's drinking than she's understanding of the concept of relaxing and coping I bet she's only heard those words in derogatory contexts. she has never taken the edge off one day in her life because she needs that edge sharpened enough to stab her enemies with and anyone not doing the same must be stupid and careless or something the right thing to do is of course obsess over your goals, ends only justify the means if she has exhaustively ran every possibility through herself a thousand times and if it's something that might lead to an awful future she'll still do it but not without torturing herself about the futility of it all a little bit

7. I've seen people write her as struggling with thinking she deserves good things after her crimes but honestly? I don't think she'd ever apologize, definetly not for the second nonary game but imo all the other stuff as well, I man she might performatively but while she would feel bad about it she wouldn't like let it get to the point where it warps her perception of herself into a bad person if that makes sense? I think she has her own reasons and her own morals and while her view of herself would be warped in many ways I do think she has a pretty hard line between good and bad just because everything that happened during her childhood showed her such extremes like she's not comparing herself to animal abusers or murderers who revel in suffering and any attempt of pointing out the grey area her actions fall under would be met with some big infodump about what even is morality or ethics anyways that ends in her saying how she's still never done anything wrong actually because she's long since rationalized all the harm she inflicts as being ultimately for the greater good and not something she can afford to ever regret since so much premeditation went into it. I don't think she fully grasps that she has victims of her own.

8. HER SENSE OF HUMOR WOULD BE SO FUCKED AKSHAK Like she probably shouldn't joke about cutting off people's arms when she has had the power to kidnap and feed bombs to people before I firmly believe her and Aoi would cope by developing very morbid humor and like they wouldn't just be saying they'll kill people for being annoying out in the wild but idk if many of the others would appreciate anything close to that as a joke again especially Junpei but tbh I think he would get too comfortable with the provocation and try to joke around about something messed up too and overstep. actually in canon hate that scene btw but it starts the other way around because he is jokingly fatphobic to her and she replies with jokingly violent which is honestly kind of childish of the two and god I love junepei (true) they'd be such a healthy and functional couple (lying)

9. She doesn't know she's autistic. Or any other thing she could conceivable fit into the criteria of and benefit from acknowledging, she has only done some surface level research and officially undiagnosed herself of everything because why would it apply to her she's too much of an outlier too smart too special she's busy girlbossing and girlbosses don't waste time reading mental health advice, besides more structural neuroscience that doesn't get into this uncomfortable feelings stuff is more interesting anyways. Aoi and her both think all the accomodations they worked into their routine are special them things and not something most people with autistic siblings would come up with, she's lucky the ratio of autism in this universe is higher than the average and that infodumps work to get her point across to the other person more than half the time. She has heard of therapy but it like actually couldn't help her unless there was one specialized in esper stuff and that wouldn't turn her in so she does her sciency things and whatever meds her or Aoi needs are entirely self-prescribed and situational and through the lens of her equating psychological trauma to physical trauma that should just get patched up when it flares up and be fine again after hydrating and eating a little

Hope it didn't feel like repeating myself kahsks I just love gushing about her problems

[clowningaroundmars]

punkflower hcs bc i need to see more of them being cute teen boys together.... like, playful and creative and stuff

looong long wall of text under the cut (no nsfw)

♡ miles and hobie definitely exchange art often, even collabing on some punk zines and graffiti pieces occasionally. hobie also makes mixtapes on cassettes and slaps a million stickers on them just for his bf. miles appreciates the kind gesture but reminds hobie that he doesnt have a cassette player. "yet," hobie tells him with a wink :)

♡ miles draws a million little doodles for hobie on scrap paper, post it notes, hobie's gear, hobie himself. ofc hobie loves them all, esp when he gets to go home with his arms and chest covered in stars, cartoons, graffiti, and hearts

♡ miles is a lot more shy about dancing in public than hobie is, but whenever they manage to have any downtime at all hobie will wrap his arms around miles and sway them around. if music is playing anywhere, hobie will bop to it and get miles to join in

♡ hobie's love language? touch. any kind, anytime, anywhere, for any reason. words of affirmation come next

♡ miles' love language? quality time, and he's big on kissing. hobie isnt much of a kisser but loves his sunflower just the same, and does not complain at all when miles places little kisses on his hands, ears or his back

♡ sometimes hobie will be a lil mean to miles just as a flirty thing. just usual teenage boy stuff like kicking miles' sneakers, manspreading to get into his space if they're sitting anywhere together, using his height to bully miles into a corner away from everyone so they can flirt some more, crashing into miles on purpose just to be annoying

♡ anytime they get to go on multiverse missions together they somehow manage to get into the craziest shenanigans. breaking into a zoo to stop a villain from mutating the animals, saving a group of schoolkids on a field trip from a killer robot (?), one time hobie even drove a runaway car to stop it from crashing right into jamaica bay and miles was scarred for life

hobie tries to control the car as he haphazardly swerves it around pedestrians and barely manages to miss a group of elderly people.

miles clings onto his seat for dear life. "HOBIE!! you're gonna kill us man, where'd you get your license from!?" he yells.

hobie scoffs. "license?! i said i could drive, mate, i aint mention nuthin' 'bout no license!"

♡ hobie's universe is set in the 1970's and living in a dystopian police-state means it's too risky to bring back a phone with him, so he's often left out of spiderkid groupchats. miles still tries to keep him up to date on the latest memes and inside jokes though. they also have their own inside jokes too

♡ hobie wouldn't bring a smartphone with him anyways since he's so mistrusting of tech in general. video games, laptops, and "smart" tech mystify him, and smart watches? forget about it. when miles gets one for christmas one time, hobie clowned on his bf so hard the watch was never seen again

♡ that being said, they love exchanging music often so the only piece of technology hobie ever brings back to his dimension is an ancient half-busted ipod (it was probably rio's at one point) filled with music miles managed to download for him that week. spiderman-ing and living as a homeless teen means hobie doesn't get much time to explore genres outside of the UK punk scene and listening to brand new genres is often a trip! hobie finds out he loves drum n bass, grindcore, industrial techno, UK drill, deep house and 90's hip hop

♡ hobie gets miles to make him cool posters for whatever venue he plans on (or doesnt plan lbr) playing at every now and then

♡ rio LOVES hobie. hobie is the perfect gentleman (gentlespider?) around her and often tries to help her around the house when he can. miles... does not enjoy how much his mom favors his partner. jeff is also not so crazy about this smart-mouthed punk

♡ miles and hobie absolutely swap clothing as often as possible, with hobie "borrowing" miles' clothes more often. miles' parents keep commenting on how much of a rockero he looks with all the punk stuff and hobie never returns clothes without having altered them in some way (pins n bits everywhere, a mysterious rip or two here n there, pinned-up sleeves, etc)

♡ miles is absolutely horrible at cooking and feels left out when he sees hobie helping his mom in the kitchen. he desperately tries to learn, but it's a wonder how he hasnt sliced his fingers off yet trying to peel and cut platanos so they can make tostones

♡ for a person who's built like a lamppost, hobie is shockingly graceful with his movements. he always slips around a room like a cat and miles is so jealous of that. long gangly limbs should be a deterrent from moving like That and yet here he is, practically pirouetting around miles for fun

♡ which is a total TRIP when they go out swinging around a city. once the mask is on, every movement hobie makes is chaotic, frantic and unpredictable. spiderpunk and hobie are very different people sometimes

♡ rio often points out hobie's thinness as a typical hispanic mom does ("jóven, pero tu 'ta tan flaco, hobie honey come eat! i have leftovers here!") and miles also agrees that hobie could eat a lil more too. he is always sneaking bits of food into hobie's pockets or bags, saving fries and last slices for his partner. sometimes hobie brings home armfuls of tupperware filled with caribbean food back to his boat

♡ in return, hobie is like a magpie and brings back shiny gifts for them, some handmade stuff too. miles' drawers and nightstand are filled with jewelry, bottles, knickknacks, and other handmade accessories. his walls are filled with collages and zines hobie makes for him and rio bought frames for some of the pieces he makes her

♡ the first person to say "i love you" was miles, but by accident. after realizing it, he was nervous as hell worrying that hobie would clown him to death since he didnt seem like a big romantic. instead, hobie went nuts about it in his own hobie way, writing lyrics about miles' face when he said it, doodling them together more often, teasing miles about it often but lightheartedly. he flaunts miles' love whenever he can

♡ miles has a lethal puppydog face and he KNOWS it! one 🥺 look and hobie immediately folds and gives miles whatever he wants. but not before hemming and hawing about it first, playing up his hesitation just to make miles laugh

♡ speaking of laughter, hobie does Thee Most just to see his bf laugh or smile. he will always goof off in the bg, crack jokes every 2 secs and pretend to get hurt sometimes. hobie is naturally sarcastic and goofs off in general anyways but around miles he dials it up to 200

♡ hobie tries to get miles in on the whole anarchism thing but 1. the texts and manifestos from his dimension are different than miles' and 2. miles is a teen boy. he doesn't know anything about the theory of alienation or effective mutual aid and won't really care at the moment. "mm, you'll learn all 'bout it soon enough, though... eventually," hobie muses

♡ miles is not as big on pet names as hobie is. hobie has like 24984 nicknames for miles but miles mostly sticks to just calling his partner by his name. one day during history class tho a lightbulb moment happens, and when they meet up again miles is excited

"hobie!! guess what, i really got it this time. i have a nickname that i know you're gonna love!"

"spill," hobie says as he throws an arm over miles' shoulders.

"so you always call me sunflower all the time, right? and your name is ho... bee. get it? so i was thinkin' i'm gonna call you 'honey bee' now. y'know, you're not the only one who's got corny ass nicknames! it's good, right?"

hobie has to fight not to grin like a jackass

♡ hobie's sleep schedule is atrocious so whenever miles can manage it, he tries to wrestle his partner into any bed and tucks him in. hobie is touched that his sunflower cares so much about him ♡

♡ miles almost never gets permission to sleep over other friends' houses but on the rare occasions he does, he leaps into portals and goes to visit hobie in his dimension. his fave part of New London is hobie's boat, bc they set up a big hammock for them to lay in, feeling the sway of the boat and letting it lull them to sleep. not to mention that the boat itself is totally badass, and hobie more often than not encourages miles to cover it in graffiti

♡ hobie lowkey (but highkey) loves when miles gets a little bossy, forceful or stern. he loves ribbing miles about it (the "ill do it, but not cuz you told me to" line in mumbattan was a total joke from hobie btw LOL) and saying corny shit in response to a demand, but he loves seeing miles being confident and calling the shots every once in a while. it makes him proud

♡ if they can, miles and hobie try to gather up as much food as they can and take it over to the F.E.A.S.T. that's in hobie's dimension. miles meets hobie's "family" there and gets to know the community, which feels so much more tight-knit and welcoming than Visions. once miles gets over the major jarring differences between his world and hobie's, he finds he LOVES New London

♡ miles and hobie teach each other slang from their countries and time periods, you can't change my mind. miles walks around saying shit like "bloody 'ell" and "septic" all the time. the one time hobie said "deadass" completely unironically, all of the spiderkids DIED laughing

♡ miles learns that EVERY spider is a total dweeb in some way shape or form. even hobie! hobie's awkwardness comes out when theyre in big groups of people. hobie is oddly comfy with performing in front of crowds but when he's invited to parties and tries mingling, it's so... sooo awkward. miles secretly rejoices when he finds out hobie's weakness

♡ i'm an adhd hobie truther and i hc that miles buys hobie the weirdest fidget toys he can get his hands on. along with his switchblade, jewelry, and whatever he stole that day, hobie carries various different fidget toys in his vest to keep boredom at bay

♡ hobie definitely writes songs for miles but takes a very very very long time to actually admit it. miles finally finds out when one of hobie's songwriting notebooks falls open when hanging out in his boat, and hobie comes clean about it. with miles' encouragement tho, hobie makes the decision to add some of those songs into the usual setlist his band performs

♡ if miles ever has time, he tries to attend whatever gig hobie and his band has going on. he loves to see hobie perform on stage, his energy and stage presence is always electrifying

[subway-boss-jericho]

▽ Intro // AU Mega Masterlist! ▲

Hi!! I'm Jericho! My main is @joyfulness03 so if you see me rbing your stuff that's me! I try not to reblog stuff here because then I would never post my own art,, I think it's an autism thing

I've got the classic auDHD and I use Ey/Em/Eyrs neopronouns! Also! There will never be any kind of NSFW on this blog! I am aro/ace and discussion of such makes me uncomfortable, so please don't interact with my stuff in that way!

▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽

I do not want blankshippers or inc/st shippers on my blog! nsfw already makes me uncomfortable. please respect my boundaries by keeping your fetishes private.

▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽

With that aside! Hi! I ramble! 👉👈 Nice to meet you! I am super open to asks and submissions! Feel free to say hi, ask questions, and engage with my stuff :D I love all comments and questions. I don't post super frequently because my brain is not very compatible with social media, but I hope you enjoy what I do post :] And I'm trying to get better at it, one step at a time.

▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽

If I've posted something upsetting or triggering without tagging it correctly please inform me right away! I don't plan to post upsetting stuff but if I have I will do my best to tag.

I do not plan to tag angst! If this becomes a problem I will course-correct, but in the meantime know that this blog will probably have a lot of angst and/or dramatics because I am a Hurt/Comfort writer! I will not be offended if you choose to block me! 🤍

Below the -read more- is a big compilation of all of my AUs that are currently public! Feel free to ask questions about any that catch your interest!

✨🤍Thank you for reading!! Everybody smile! All aboard! 🤍✨

▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽▲▽

These are sorted in alphabetical order, not by quantity of content or chronological age! The tags won't be used on every post, and so are mainly here to give you an idea of what each AU is about!

ALSO: I have a UQuiz that has ALL of my noteworthy AUs in it!! So if you wanna have a fun go at that, check it out:

Coupled (Uncoupled) - Fusion AU Tags: #Coupled (Uncoupled), #Fusion AU, #Post Canon Befriend my reflection to find my shadow (Reflection AU) - Cross-Dimensional AU Tags: #Befriend My Reflection, #Reflection AU, #TwoLeftHands Faling, falling, with no one to catch you - Double Faller AU Tags: #FallingFalling, #Ultra Wormholes, #Reunion Fossil AU Tags: #Fossil AU, #Death, #Temporary Character Death, #Reunion Half-Ghost AU Tags: #Half Ghost AU, #Death, #Major Character Death Hero!Ingo AU Tags: #Chosen Hero Ingo, #Hero AU how could we have possibly fallen this far? (2D AU) - Real World AU Tags: #2D AU, #Mind Fuck, #Emmet in NYC, #Reunion I feel your heartbeat buzzing in my chest - Combee AU Tags: #Combee AU, #Combee PreFall, #Combee PostFall, #Vespingo, #Vespaegis, #Reunion, #Combee Ingo and Ingo and Emmet Hop The Multiverse - Dimension Hoppers AU Tags: #IAIAEHTM, #Dimension Hoppers, #NonCanon Shenanigans, #Reunion, #Fix-It Fic I See You - Song AU Tags: #I See You Legacy Tags: #Legacy, #Post Canon, #Past Character Death, #No Reunion, #OC Family Members Mechanical Dreams (can you hear the cogs clicking?) - Mecha AU Tags: #Mechanical Dreams, #Mecha AU, #Crack AU, #Extreme Canon Divergence, #OCs, #G/t, #Size Shifting My Echo - Song AU Tags: #Echo AU oh my god what the fuck is ingo doing in pokemon mystery dungeon (omgPMD) - PMD AU Tags: #omgPMD, #PMD AU, #Reunion Quantum Superposition AU Tags: #Quantum AU, #No Canon Ending, #Hurt No Comfort Static Meltdown - One Move AU Tags: #Static Meltdown, #One Move AU, #No Canon Ending Steady Tracks Do Not Waver - Pokemon!Ingo AU Tags: #Steady Tracks, #STDNW, #Steady Tracks Official Art, #Pokemon!Ingo,* #Post Canon, #Reunion, #Implied Character Death, #Past Character Death** (*this tag will change later) (**No one actually died) Take My Hand! - that one episode of ben 10 Tags: #Take My Hand!, #TMH!, #Handy AU, #Crack AU, #Disability Support Pokemon The Spirit Keeper - Spiritomb AU Tags: #Spirit Keeper Ingo, #Spirit Keeper, #Spirit Farer Emmet*, #Reunion (*Branch AU) The Whole World Is Against You - Public Enemy #1 Emmet AU Tags: #TWWIAY, #Public Enemy Emmet, #Enemmet, #Reunion Treehouse - Song AU/Childhood AU Tags: #Treehouse, #Song Fic, #Pre Canon, #Kid AU, #Divorce, #Complicated Upbringing While You Were Gone - Time Capsule AU Tags: #WYWG, #Implied Character Death, #Past Character Death, #Post Canon, #Reunion Your reflection in the mirror is reversed - Impersonation AU Tags: #Your Reflection AU, #Impersonation, #I Am Ingo, #Reunion

[sananaryon]

Frogvasion ask.

How often, if at all, do Anne and Sasha return to visit their Amphibian loved ones? We know Earth is off limits to the Calamity Empire, and that Anne and Sasha haven't gone back for reasons, but what does the Amphibia version look like?

Amphibia, shockingly, is actually doing very well in this au. Part of the deal when Anne and Sasha agreed to serve the Core was that Earth would be off-limits, but also that Amphibia would be left relatively unchanged. It is the throneworld of the empire, and Newtopia is its capital, but it has not been industrialized to the degree we see in the show. In fact, with the influx of trade and resources from other worlds, Amphibia as a whole has largely benefited from this arragnement - although Olivia will complain a fair bit about the increased workload from being duchess of a multidimensional empire's capital.

As for the loved ones;

The Plantars are still living as best they can. Polly took over the farm once Hop Pop grew too old for the hard work, and with the help of Frobo she's been applying her usual ambition to running it. She's also definitely not using the tunnels under to build mechas and weapons and stuff which she would absolutely in no way ever consider using to usurp the throne, certainly not using information that her brother feeds to her from his travels.

Sprig probably took a few years at the Newtopian university because I think that should be acknowledged more in the show, but by the present he, Ivy, and Maddie have taken to traveling, selling curses and tinctures, minstrels, what have you; they don't exactly have a problem getting around since Sprig can flash his "Triumvir Queen's brother" credentials if needed. There are new worlds to explore and he's eager to discover, though deep down the real reason is that he hopes he'll catch up to Anne and get to see her more often.

Anne does visit the Plantars, just enjoying the peace and quiet and time with them, and ironically does it more often now that Sprig has left home. Polly is of course all in for multiversal conquest, and Hop Pop never makes her feel judged. She knows Sprig probably wouldn't hate her, but she's also scared that he would. They still see each other occasionally, but it's more when Sprig seeks her out than the other way around.

Grime was appointed Margrave (governor) of Marka. Living his best life fighting lavamonsters and putting down rebellions by the surviving Markans. Sasha has repeatedly offered to get him a better position, though he has turned her down, he insists that he's right where he wants to be. In reality though, he knows that there are no one else Sasha would trust with Marka.

Sasha visits him often, though she's rarely in the mood to talk when she does, which he respects. They do see each other often at meetings though.

And it's on one of those meetings that a new human girl Grime has never seen before stumbles in.

oh and yunan is the same as she always been, though her duties as general are somewhat expanded.

[t1meslayer]

Breaking the Ice

It really is something to look at my previous new fic post for "A Golden Afternoon" and see my hope still burning for many more fics to come as I got my life sorted out in 2025.

Anyway! Here we are some four months later :)

Between new living situations and the world being. What it is. I really had to wring my brain to write much of anything, even with the inspiration fostered by the great many hours playing Marvel Rivals with my friends throughout the year. But I couldn't NOT post something for Pride.

... Especially not after K-Pop Demon Hunters got my mind thinking about idol stuff.

So, enjoy your 15 minutes in a somewhat off-brand choice of fanfic for my usual tastes!!

===

Fandom: Marvel Rivals

Characters: Luna Snow, Storm, Magik, Squirrel Girl, Mantis, and a special surprise guest who I will not spoil~

Summary: Luna Snow is psyching herself up for a big mission with her team of multiverse-hopping super friends when those very allies start teaching the K-Pop idol a few new things about herself.

Click through the Read More below to get a preview of this latest fic. Thanks for reading <3

Storm offers a daintily curled hand from on-high, gloved palm to the stars above. Immaculate silver spikes stretch from each fingertip, the prints long-since calloused in a carapace of pitch-black char that stretch to the knuckles.

Grovel.

"Ororo!"

Kiss her hand.

Luna shakes the intrusive thoughts from her mind before they get worse.

[noballls]

Spiderverse Angst headcanons

I got bored and made angst headcanons of Peni, Gwen, and Spot. Enjoy.

This post includes mentions of: death

Peni Parker

Uses canon events as a way to cope with Aunt May and her father's deaths.

Remember the old ball like robot she had? That was the last thing she had of her father.

Feels like she never got a childhood (she got bit at like, 8 or 9).

Blames herself for Aunt May and Addy Brocks death.

She missed Spider Noir and Spider Ham a lot, she felt as if she was completely alone without them.

She tried to make her own multiverse hopping tech before encountering spider society, she failed.

Overworks herself a lot of the time, that's why she's so tired.

She cries a lot thanks to stress.

Gwen Stacy

Has frequent nightmares about Peters death.

When she ran away she missed her father everyday, she had a lot of thoughts about going back home but her fear held her back.

She hates herself for betraying Miles.

She's still a bit scared of her dad, she's constantly on guard around him.

Doesn't open up a lot.

Fears falling in love since most Gwen variants end up dying.

She doesn't sleep a lot, stays up late a lot of the time.

Sometimes she thinks about what she could've done to prevent Peters death.

Made a promise with one of the Peters to protect each other since they both lost a version of each other.

The Spot

He's beginning to forget what he looks like, he can't remember certain features of himself. Like eye color and stuff.

He fears he'll eventually completely forget what he once looked like.

He tried finding other people like him in the multiverse, he didn't have much luck.

He holds a lot of anger and hatred towards the ones who mocked and abandoned him.

Doing science kinda stuff helps him relax funnily enough.

He doesn't have a lot of humanity left thanks to the whole collider incident.

Can't bring himself to look into mirrors anymore.

(if Doc Ock survived) He was friends with Olivia/Doc Ock, when he went to Alchemax he ended up encountering her. She attempted to experiment on him.

Has a fear of abandonment.

[huffle-dork]

Swap Beyond the Crystalverse Chapter 11: SepticPirates

Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix Read Swapboys | Read Crystal’s AUs

Other Multiverse Stories: SITCV | SATCV | GITHV

SBTCV Masterpost

There's slight movement all throughout the night, as the crew of a pirate ship never really falls asleep. But as morning dawns, movement picks up. The crew is getting up, getting ready to cast off. Some of them grumble and hold their heads, and there's a steady stream of people heading towards the doctor's office.

The Brody brothers slowly start to wake up, groggily taking in the sight of the crew moving. 

Alt groans and covers his face with his arm, curling back up in the hammock. “…fucking hell-“ 

Bro on the other hand seems perfectly chipper as finishes waking up and hops out of his hammock. He ties the slash back on his head and grins down at Alt. “Morning bro!” 

“Shhhhh-“ Alt groans, waving a hand his way. 

Bro laughs quietly. “Went a little too hard huh?” 

“Shush up ‘fore I blast that smug look of yer face-“ Alt mumbles in the hammock’s fabric. 

Bro just laughs again and lightly pats his head. “I’ll get you some water-“ Bro then hurries onto deck, squinting but smiling at the morning sun.

The early morning has dawned bright blue. There's a lot of rope tying and cargo storing happening up on deck, a surprising amount of movement. 

"Ah, me! Or, uh—other me!" The speaker is Chase himself, standing up at the helm, speaking with the same woman who'd been manning it last night. Chase's hat is pulled low over his eyes as he waves at Bro. "How are you feeling? And your brother?" 

Bro looks around for a bit then turns around and grins up at Chase, heading over to them. “Oh I feel grand, honestly.” He laughs, “Alt’s having a hard go at it though.” 

"Really?" Chase looks at Bro in surprise. "Grand, hmm? Your witchcraft must be very special." He laughs. 

“Eh yeah my powers help me recover from stuff pretty quick- sucks ass when I wanna be drunk though.” Bro laughs. 

"Well. Does your glass eye tell you where to go?" 

Bro blinks and digs around in his pockets finding the tracker. “Oh right!” 

The tracker tells him that they’ll have to head due southwest. “Due… southwest-“ Bro says slowly and looks back at Chase, “Is that enough?” 

"Aye, that's perfect!" Chase nods. 

Next to him, the helmswoman takes out a compass, turning in place for a moment before finding their direction. "Everyone! Get ready to cast off! Loose the sails! Hoist the anchor! We're heading southwest!" 

Activity on the deck immediately kicks up. A handful of crew swarm the center and start pushing some sort of massive dial in the center: hoisting the anchor. Others start climbing the rigging up towards the sails. 

Bro looks around at everyone rushing around and grins, thinking of his last adventure on a ship. He didn’t really get to enjoy it last time since he was so worried about Alt. 

Below deck, Marvin walks up to Alt's hammock, leaning down and waving for attention. "Headache? Easy to overindulge, isn't it? Here." He holds out a wooden tankard for Alt. "Water mixed with some lemon and tri-weed. The texture isn't the greatest but it works wonders for this."

Alt makes a grumbling noise and peeks his eye out from under his arm, squinting at Marvin. He fumbles for a second for a good way to hold it before carefully sipping at the water. He makes a face and sticks out his tongue. “Bleh-“

"I know, I know." Marvin nods. "But it does really help. I'd go to Henrik and get a tonic, but uh..." He glances over towards the doctor's office. "Looks like he'll be busy handing those out for a while. We're lucky they're really easy to make."

Alt grumbles and drinks some more, getting a bit more clarity. He looks at the line and makes a face, “Mm yeah- I wanna avoid that if I can…”

“Yep.” Marvin grins. “Well… when you’re feeling up to moving, head on up to the deck. Or don’t. You can stay down here if you want, I’m not your captain.”

Alt nods and leans back to nurse the tankard some more, “I’ll be up in a minute…” he slurs sleepily.

Marvin laughs and nods. "Alright. Sounds like things are picking up the pace up there, I'll go help. Be seeing you later." And he turns away, heading up towards the top deck.

Alt watches Marvin leave and then picks up on all the noise and curiously turns towards the sound. He looks down at the tankard and downs the rest of it before glitching up to the top of the stairs, watching everyone rush around with a bit of awe.

"Where the lock is Jackie?!" Chase shouts, climbing down the stairs from the helm deck to the top deck. 

"I'm here." Jackie walks up from the stairs leading below, stopping next to Alt. He's squinting a bit. "Gods, it's bright out here." 

"We're heading southwest, d'you still have that map?" Chase asks. 

"Of course I do." Jackie reaches into a pocket and pulls out a square of paper. Or, well, it looks more like cloth than paper, some sort of yellowish material that's in between the two states. "Southwest, you said?" He unfolds the map. Looks like this is a miniature, less-detailed version of the world map in the captain's cabin. 

Alt glitches up to look at the map next to Jackie, curiously tilting his head. 

Bro hears the sounds of Alt’s glitching and grins, hoping onto the railing of the helm and then hanging off it upside down so his face is right by Jackie and Alt, “GOOD MORNING!” He greets brightly. 

Alt yells in surprise and falls back on the stairs. 

Bro winces, “ah- oops.”

"Damn fucking locker!" Jackie jumps backwards, teetering on the edge of the staircase, barely managing to keep his balance. "Gods. Good morning, Chase--other Chase." He shakes his head. "Going to send me off the side of the boat like that." 

“Sorry! Thought it’d be funny!” Bro snickers. 

Alt glitches back up and glares at Bro who just grins at him sheepishly before pulling himself back up onto the helm.

"Jackie!" Chase approaches him. "What's to the southwest?" 

"Ah, right." Jackie checks the map. "The Jungle Islands, looks like. They're the nearest ports." 

"Hmm. That's still pretty far." 

"But that makes sense, doesn't it?" Marvin suddenly appears, Jameson beside him. "Ghost ships aren't exactly known for getting close to land. Oh Jackie, if we stop by Rojagua you can see the sweetheart you have in that direction." 

"Wh--we are not sweethearts!" Jackie protests. 

It's on and off again, Jameson says jokingly. If you get close to someone you like you become sweethearts while you're within range. 

"There's one for each cardinal direction," Marvin adds in a teasing tone.

Alt blinks at Jackie and tilts his head with a smirk. “You have that many sweethearts?”

"I do not!" Jackie protests. 

"Do we want to count out every one of them?" Marvin asks. "There's Rama in Rojagua, of course, that's the nearest one." 

And that dark haired woman from Nordømme, JJ adds. Sigrun, or some such. 

"Guys!" Jackie protests. "Don't forget Captain Chiu," Chase says. "Oh no you leave Fengge out of this! Leave all of them out of this!" 

Alt glitches to sit up on the helm’s rail- and him and Bro share glances as they recognize some of those names. 

Marvin laughs and looks at Alt. "Every time we get on land he finds someone to court for a moment, and then when it's time to leave he says something like 'sorry my first love is the sea' and they cut things off. Then we arrive in the area again and he says 'I wonder what they're up to' and ends up starting the whole thing over again." 

"I'm open about my love life!" Jackie folds his arms. "If any of them had a problem with it, I wouldn't ask about it when I saw them again!"

Bro laughs, “No judgment here bro! I bet being on the sea can be like- lonely in the love department way.” 

“That would explain why our Jackie doesn’t want to be disturbed when Zara gets home,” Alt smirks. 

Bro laughs harder.

Oh, Zara? Jameson repeats, grinning. Jackie knows someone by that name, too. I believe she does research on ocean creatures-- 

Jackie shoves him lightly. "Oh shut your hand-mouths 'fore I smack you upset the head." 

Jameson laughs. 

Jackie rolls his eyes. "What about you and that Moizone guy, hmm? That Romitan commodore from the Inlet Sea?" 

See, the difference is that I don't get all defensive with my love like you and Henrik do, Jameson says smugly. 

Alt and Bro gasp in delight. “yo! That’s just like our Jackie’s wife!!” 

“Oh he’s not gonna believe this at all.” Alt laughs. 

“He’s gonna kill us for going on an adventure like this without him,” Bro shakes his head with a laugh. 

Alt chuckles at Jameson’s comment, “I’ve noticed that! No matter what world the Jackies and Henriks get super flustered about their partners-“ 

“Well so do you, Alt,” Bro grins, “Should I tell them all about your tearful goodbye to Oliver?” 

Alt’s face turns bright red and he slams his hands over bros mouth in a quick glitch, “No! No t-that’s okay!” 

"Oliver?" Chase repeats, blinking. "Huh. you know, our captain, Jack, has a friend from Hangal who runs another crew, I think one of them was named something like that..." 

"Really?" Jackie says, looking surprised. 

"Oh yes, one of those four siblings who were the stewards," Marvin agrees. 

Alt blinks and makes a face as he thinks- then he imagines Oli dressed as a pirate and he starts to blush more. 

Bro gets tired of Alt’s hands on his mouth so- “Ack! Fucker did you lick me?!” Alt glitches back and shakes off his hand. “What are you, five?!” 

Bro just giggles. 

Suddenly, the sails unfurl, billowing white canvas rolling down and catching the wind. "We're underway, mate!" the helmswoman says. "Perfect!" Chase shouts back.

The brothers both look out as the sails unfurl. Alt watches with starry eyes.

The deck starts to sway more noticeably as the ship pulls away from the dock. 

Alt feels the sway and yelps a bit, stumbling and holding out his arms to balance. 

Bro grabs his arm to help and laughs. “It’s kinda weird to adjust to, huh?” 

“It’s… so weird-“ Alt comments, wobbling along with the ship. He goes to the rail and clings to it. 

"Prepare for about face!" Chase shouts. "Hard to starboard!" 

"Aye, mate!" The helmswoman turns the wheel. 

"Marvin, can you check the weather?" Chase asks. 

"Of course." Marvin reaches into his pocket and pulls out a handful of eight-sided dice made of ivory. They don't have numbers on their faces, but instead strange pictographs. He walks over to a section of the deck that's clear of crew and rolls them, his eyes briefly turning green--not glowing green, as Alt and Bro are used to seeing, but a more natural shift in the color of his irises. "Looking clear!"

Alt curiously watches Marvin use his dice. “Oh woah- are those.. divination dice…?”

Marvin looks back at him and grins. "Exactly! A set of divining dice for seeing the current fate." He scoops them up. "Here, hold them if you want." He then reaches into his pocket. "I also have these." He pulls out a set of 12-sided dice in different colors: green, white, red, black, and blue. "More powerful dice, if you want to see farther, or even try to influence circumstances a bit. You have no idea how expensive these are." 

"Didn't you take those from that witch on Isla de Espada?" Jackie calls. 

"She tried to kill us, it cancels out," Marvin shouts back. "I also have divining cards, too." He takes out a deck of cards. Their backs are dark blue, with intricate silver patterns forming waves, crystals, and an eye-like pattern in the center.

Alt’s eyes light up and he grins holding the dice in his hands. “Oh sweet- I gotta get more into divining… it’s really fascinating I just- usually work with more… combat related spells.”

"Hmm. Rare to get that sort of direct magic in this world," Marvin says, nodding slowly. "Witches here find more indirect ways easier, usually. Subtly changing the ways of the world. Forms of divination are my specialty, actually."

“Oh really? How does that work?” Alt asks, looking fascinated. 

Bro makes a face, showing his disinterest at the magic talk to the others before he looks around and starts to climb the rigging again.

Jackie and Chase also seem to disperse with the sound of magic talk on the horizon, though Jameson lingers. Sam lands on a rope nearby and he feeds them a cracker. 

"Lots of knowing what the symbols mean," Marvin says. "Here." He holds out the green jade d12. "Look at this. Sun, compass rose, lock, key, wave, cloud, and fish. Those are on the eight-sided ones, too. These twelve-sides also have skull, gem, lightning, and hourglass. Each can mean different things. Many people can memorize the meanings, but witches like us often know in our gut what they're meant to say. You roll, thinking of your question, willing the answer, and the dice will respond. There are other methods too, like the cards, like mirror-gazing, but you'll find most people like using the dice." 

Alt leans in closely and tilts his head at the dice, looking them over. Then he grins. “That’s so cool! I know my mentor talks a lot about more subtle magic like this… stuff like- human witches do back at home. Focusing on gut feelings and using stuff like these… I haven’t been really good at them but the art of it is really fascinating!”

Marvin grins. "It can be hard to learn at first. How do you know that you're not seeing what you want to see? It takes a lot of practice. Here, do you want to try? Think of a question. The more vague it is, the more dice will give you results. The compass rose is a zero result you can ignore any dice that land on those."

Alt hums at this then nods. What should he ask? …there’s the biggest question on his mind- if his magic will be enough to stop the red Anti that’s hunting them down. Seems kinda like a serious question but… maybe this will help him. He keeps his question on his mind as he rolls.

There are seven dice in the set. They roll across the deck with a satisfying clacking sound. The pattern they land in is surprisingly regular, with one in the center surrounded by all the others in a circle. The center one has a key. The others alternate between wave and cloud. 

Marvin whistles. "You must have asked a big question. Not a rose in sight. Of course, I don't know what you could have asked, but the clouds and waves together usually mean a time of difficulty--stormy weather, you know? The key is usually interpreted as a 'yes,' or generally an answer or solution."

Alt seems to relax and smiles to himself with a nod. “Okay… so… it’ll be difficult but- I… I can do it.” He looks up at Marvin and laughs, “Guess it was kinda a big question… we’ve been on a… kinda intense journey so far.”

Marvin raises an eyebrow. "Really? Oh! Let me see if I can figure it out." He reaches for the dice, then hesitates and takes out his cards instead. "I'm sensing these will be better." 

Alt blinks a bit in surprise but he’s pretty curious how accurate Marvin will be. He perks up at the sight of the cards. “Oh! Are those… crystal eye? I’ve seen those before!” 

"Crystaleye...? That sounds familiar, but I'm not sure where I've heard it," Marvin mutters.

“Oh, well… I’ve seen cards similar to these then,” Alt says sheepishly. 

Marvin pulls out three cards and lays them down on the deck in a line, flipping them over. Each one has a name and illustration... tarot of some sort. The Shadow: Someone dressed in white standing against a wall, a black shadow cast behind them in a mirror image. This card is upside down. The Star: An eight-pointed star shining bright in the night sky. Time: An illustration of a clock space, stars swirling around it, the background whirls of purple and blue. 

"Ah... so your journey has brought you in contact with some dark mirror of yourself," Marvin says. "And yet, there have been times of rest and rejuvenation. Even so, you've been forced to continue forward."

As Marvin reads out the cards, Alt winces a bit at the mention of the dark mirror, holding his arm and curling up some. “…yeah that’s… pretty spot on, actually.”

Marvin looks at him, a bit concerned. "Do you want... a card reading for the future of your journey? That might... assure you?"

Alt is quiet for a second before looking back at Marvin with a vulnerable expression. “…if you… wouldn’t mind-“ he says quietly.

Marvin nods. "Not at all. Here." He puts the three cards back into the deck and shuffles it, then draws three more and places them down in a line, turning them over one by one. Fracture: A colorful background split by a black, shattered, cracks. The Artist: A blue-haired woman sits at a blank easel, turned away so that only her back is visible. Aeon: A humanoid figure floating in the center of the card, their form glowing yellow and surrounded by waves of bright color. 

"...huh. That's... not what the Artist illustration usually looks like," Marvin says slowly. "Normally it's a person with short red hair." 

Alt furrows his eyebrows together, looking at the Artist card. “Huh… I… I know an artist with blue hair, she’s my friend… god it’s been ages though.” 

Marvin shakes his head. "But in any case. It looks like you'll face a great disaster, yet with the help of something--creation, or a new idea, or some great swell of emotion--your journey will be fulfilled. Aeon often means a new dawn of some sort. The start of something new."

Alt nods to the prediction, humming to himself. “….creation or emotion huh…? I mean… I knew this journey was gonna be important but… damn. A-At least the cards seem to think we’ll win, that’s good.” He tries to laugh.

Marvin smiles encouragingly. "Exactly. The cards aren't perfect, of course. But if you reach for this future, I'm sure you have the power to make it happen." 

Sam the bird suddenly swoops over, landing nearby and blowing away some of the cards with the wind from their wings. "Avast!" They squawk. "Swab the deck!" 

"Sam!" Marvin quickly gathers up the cards and dice. 

"Swab the deck!" 

Jameson chuckles. Sounds like Sam wants you two to chip in. 

Marvin jerks his head back towards the masts. "Alt's brother is just climbing around, does that count as chipping in?"

Bro is indeed, just climbing to the top of the rigging and looking out at the ocean with a big smile. 

Alt rolls his eyes, “Feel free to tell him to find something to do.” He glitches to his feet and looks around, feeling a bit wobbly again. “…I dunno how to help out though…”

"I never do, either," Marvin says. "Jameson and Henrik get official positions, they don't have to help." 

Jameson raises an eyebrow. I do try to pitch in where I can. 

Marvin gets to his feet. "Chase?!" 

"Aye?" Chase leans over from the deck above. "Anything we can do to help?" 

"Ah, Alt doesn't have to, being a passenger, but if you can scrub the deck--" 

Marvin groans. 

"You asked!"

Alt hides a laugh behind his hand. “Oof- bad luck, mate.” He laughs. He then looks up above at Bro. He grins at Marvin then gives him a little salute. “Thanks for your help, dude- I’ll go check on my brother then~” he giggles before glitching away- up into the riggings with Bro. He fumbles for a second to get a good hold on them but Bro shouts and quickly helps to right him. “hey Alt! Didn’t expect ya to come up here!” 

“Wanted to see what all the fuss was about-“ Alt grumbles, clinging onto the ropes and trying to sit like Bro was. 

The older brother laughs. “Never thought you’d be one for heights~ but isn’t it great up here? The wind is nice and the view is…” He trails off as he sees Alt staring out at the open sea with wide starry eyes, the wind tousling his hair. 

Bro smiles warmly. 

The rigging jostles nearby and Jackie appears, climbing up to the crow's nest. "You got up here fast!" he comments, looking at Alt and chuckling. "Enjoying the view?" 

It's nothing but endless blue wave all around. Up here, there's a slight breeze as the ship travels through the water. 

Alt slowly nods, “I’ve… never seen anything like it.” He closes his eyes to feel the breeze.

There is also a faint image of a ship in the distance, with strange sails. Jackie squints into the distance. "Looks like a Zhongu ship over there. Can't see the colors from here."

Bro leans forward and squints at the ship. “I’m guessing that’s another country, right?” He asks Jackie.

"Mm-hmm. They have very distinctive sails." Jackie takes his map out again. It flaps a little in the wind. "Here, it's on Donfang continent, right there." He gestures awkwardly. There are only about three continents in this world, none of them bigger than Australia on Earth. Most of it is water and islands. "Fengge and Zara, who you heard everyone talking to me about earlier, are from Zhongu." 

Bro hasn’t seen the map yet so he balks when he sees how much water there is. “Yo what the hell?! There’s like- barely any land at all on there?? Is your map broken?!” 

Alt bursts into laughter.

Jackie blinks. "No? Well, it is a simpler version, but it's pretty accurate." He pauses. "Are you saying there's more land where you're from? Really?" He sounds just as incredulous about that as Bro is about how much water there is.

“Yeah dude! Where we’re from we have like- 7 huge continents! Most of them are bigger than these guys! And even so our world is like 70% water or some shit-“ Bro explains.

"Huh???" Jackie blinks. "Seven continents?! And even then it's still seven parts water?!" He looks down at his map again. "Well I'm sure some islands are missing... I think our world is eight parts water? Don't listen to me about that, though, I'm not good with numbers, that's why Jameson's the purser and not me." He laughs.

“That’s insane-“ Bro laughs. “But- I guess not every world would be made the same way… Alt I wonder if Glasuil was this different over all! Country wise at least-“ 

Alt shrugs, “Who knows? Maybe we can ask next time we go.”

Jackie shrugs too. "Well, everywhere has maps, you'll just need to find one of this ah... Glasúil place... What an unusual name. Reminds me of home, of Éire." 

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they were pretty similar,” Bro smiles. 

Jackie points to an island on the east half of the map. "There, right next to Anglice. That's home. for me, at least. We have a whole bunch of crew members from different places. This is where Cutlass Cove, by the way." He indicates an even smaller island in the west, barely a dot. "You won't find that on many maps, believe you me. Trade secret."

“Seemed pretty bustling for somewhere that’s hidden on a map,” Alt observes.

Jackie laughs. "Every buccaneer this side of the Peridot Sea knows where Cutlass Cove is. It's a safe haven for us to trade goods and such. A bit closed to outsiders, though. But that's for good reason. Don't want a nation's navy or the Iris Armada to find it and take back all the things we've... liberated."

Alt and Bro pick up on that name, Iris, and give each other a look. That name seems to be everywhere. 

“So full of pirates-“ Alt grins, “Pretty sick.”

"I'll assume that means 'good' in your world." Jackie grins right back. 

“Yeah it does.” Alt laughs. 

"Now. Would to like to see around the ship? the Septic Eye is a fine vessel, more than just these riggings--though they're the best part if you ask me." Jackie continues.

“Ohh a tour??” Bro asks excitedly, hanging a bit more on the ropes. 

Alt makes a face then eventually shrugs, “Yeah- why not? Might as well explore.”

Jackie grins. "Back down to the deck, then!" He folds his map up and scrambles down the rigging. Like a little monkey.Bro laughs and climbs down a bit before jumping down and rolling like a parkourist onto the deck. Alt rolls his eyes at his brother’s antics and glitches down to the others.

"This is the main deck," Jackie says, gesturing around at everything. "In the center here, this is the mainmast, over in front is the foremast and in the back is the mizzenmast. The deck above the captain's cabin is called the quarterdeck, but we often call it the helm deck, since that's where the helm is. Do you know the directions of a ship? Port and starboard and all that?"

Bro nods along, repeating what Jackie says under his breath. 

“Uh… vaguely,” Alt says sheepishly.

Jackie grins. "Bow, stern." He points towards the front of the boat and the back. "Port, starboard." Left and right, relative to the front of the ship. Alt points and repeats before nodding. 

"We're going below now, heading down into the ship." He goes over to the staircase in the center, talking as he goes. "The hammocks are on the gun deck--you probably noticed the cannons. Or maybe you didn't, given your state last night." 

They follow after Jackie and Alt blushes as he looks around, “yeah I… didn’t… notice…” Bro giggles.

"Ha!" Jackie giggles. "We're in the middle of the boat right now--amidships. The cannons line up towards the bow." He goes over to the side and pushes open a wooden trapdoor on the side, opening up a window that you can push the cannons out of. 

Bro and Alt both comically peek their heads out of the cannon’s trapdoor.

"Over towards the stern are all the offices. For the officers, of course, though Chase doesn't use the first mate's place so we keep water and rum in there.”

“Huh- why doesn’t other me use the first mate’s place?” Bro wonders. 

“There's also the--" 

"Doctor's office?" Henrik appears out of nowhere. 

Jackie jumps and spins around, closing the trapdoor. "Among other things. Hey, Hen! Good to see you finally got some time."

Bro also jumps and Alt glitches a bit in surprise. Then, Bro laughs. “morning Doc!”

"Hello." Henrik waves. He jerks his head back towards the stern. "Want to see the doctor's office? I have two headache tonics if you need them."

Alt blinks then laughs quietly, “…I wouldn’t mind one.” He doesn’t feel too super bad thanks to the drink Marvin gave him- but he can still feel one nagging at his skull.

Henrik chuckles. "Follow me, then." The group heads towards the back, where there are wooden doors that slide open. The doctor's office is the closest one, and Henrik pulls the door open, revealing a small wooden room with a desk and a bunch of trunks. 

Bro blinks at the room, “Tiny-“ He comments lightly. 

"And ah, the size is normal. Not much space on any ship. Why do you think we all sleep in hammocks and only the officers get rooms?" Henrik explains.

“That makes sense!” Bro laughs. 

Henrik walks inside the office, "Did I hear you ask why Chase doesn't use the first mate's office? I think it is hard for him to get used to it. He started as a regular crew member, you know.”

“Oh really? Huh! Guess that would take some getting used to. How long have all of you been around?” Bro asks. 

As Henrik opens up one of the trunks and reaches in for a tonic, Jackie talks. "I've been on the longest, for going on four years now? Henrik joined shortly after, about three and a half years now. Then Chase, and then Marvin, right around the same time. Jameson is the most recent, been here for about two years. I'm assuming that's all you mean by 'all of us.'" 

Bro listens to Jackie and smiles nodding, “Yeah! So you guys all know each other pretty well then!” 

"For sure!" Jackie smiles. 

Henrik hands Alt a small, roughly-made glass bottle, about two inches tall. The creamy liquid inside is a pale pink. "You can mix that in with water if you want, or simply drink it, though some find the taste too strong."

Alt takes the bottle and looks at it with a raised eyebrow. …he should listen to Henrik and just find some water… but he’s so curious. He opens up the bottle and takes a small sip of the tonic.

The taste is remarkably close to the artificial grape taste that a lot of modern cough medicines come in. But it's clearly not that, at the same time.

Alt blinks in surprise at the taste then chuckles, “This tastes like the medicine I used to get as a boy.”

He takes a bit more then smiles at Henrik, “Thanks Schneep!”

"It does?" Henrik blinks, then laughs. "Schneep? What an unusual nickname." 

Alt flushes a bit and grins timidly, “Uh- oops… that’s a nickname some if the others yous use-“ 

"I love it, I'm going to use it," Jackie says cheerfully. "Now, besides the doctor's office, we have the officer's quarters and the purser's office. That's where Jameson spends a lot of time." 

"You know... I just realized, they probably do not know what a purser is," Henrik says. "That is the man who handles the money. Very important."

“Ooooh! That’s why he needs to be good at math!” Bro laughs, “Makes way more sense now!” 

"Exactly." Jackie grins. "If I have to be honest with ye--not many of the crew know maths that well. Jameson's probably our best man for that." 

“Oh huh- given the time and spending most of days at sea, guess you wouldn’t really need much maths.” Bro comments. 

"Should I be offended, Jackie?" Henrik says jokingly. 

"And Henrik. Oh--Schneep." Jackie laughs. Henrik chuckles as well. "So. You are giving them a tour? To the galley next, I am guessing?" 

"The hold and the galley, yes." Jackie looks at Alt and Bro. "If you've seen everything here."

Alt stuffs the rest of the tonic in his pocket and nods, “I think we’re good! Lead on-“

"Alright!" Jackie grins. "Henrik, want to come with?" 

Henrik shrugs. "Might as well." 

The group heads down another set of stairs. "This is the orlop deck, it's where the galley is, as well as one of our cargo holds. Below that is the brig, another cargo hold for less essential cargo, and the bilge, where any excess water gets drained."

“Orlop~” Bro repeats and giggles, “That’s fun to say!” Then he blinks at the mention of the brig, “Ohhh the brig- those always sound so ominous.” He makes spooky fingers at Alt, “Imma send you to the brig, Alt!” 

Alt scoffs and shoves at him, “You’re being a dork-“ 

Jackie laughs, but Henrik is serious. "The brig is no laughing matter. It is not a comfortable place." 

"Oh come on, Henrik, don't be so serious," Jackie says, nudging him. "The word is funny, isn't it?" 

"All Anglish words are funny to my ears." 

"Oh, don't tell me Deutz words are not funny at all, either." Jackie laughs a little. 

Bro straightens up and blinks, “Oh uh- sorry.”

"No, really, don't think about it too much," Jackie insists. "Henrik is really serious all the time, he has a stick up his--ow!" Henrik smacks the back of his head. 

Jackie rubs his head. "In any case, here's all the cargo." 

They are currently surrounded by stacks and stacks of barrels and crates. "This is mostly food and water... but we have the occasional something more exciting, too." He grins. "One time, we dug up a chest full of all these rubies. I'm not sure why people bury their treasure so much."

“Ooh that’s so cool!” Bro says, then he thinks, “…yeah why do they bury stuff? I swear I’d just forget-“

"That's what the maps are for, I guess," Jackie chuckles. 

"They bury it so that others won't find the, ah, stash," Henrik says. "After all, they worked hard for that treasure, it would be terrible if their ship was sunk and all the treasure was lost." 

Bro nods, “Ah right- cuz if something happened on the boat- it’d get lost to the sea. Damn… wonder how much treasure is just floating around down there.” He muses. 

Alt glitches around a bit to look, peeking inside anything that’s open like a curious cat. He mostly sees food, like salted meat and flour for bread and the occasional crate of whole oranges. But there is one stack of boxes that is open and full of gold pieces of eight, along with smaller silver pieces, round bits of polished jade, and tiny gold coins with holes in the center. 

"Hey, careful!" Jackie says as Alt looks into that one. "That's our spending coin."

Alt startles and glitches back up to look back at Jackie. He rubs his head and grins sheepishly, “S-sorry I was just curious-“ 

“Damn! That’s a lotta coin!” Bro whistles.

"Much like those people who bury treasure, not all of our coin is on the ship," Henrik says. "But yes, it's a lot. After all, there are many of us on this crew who needs shares of their own."

"Our most important stuff is--ah, well, that's probably not at liberty to be shared." Jackie chuckles. 

Yeah keep that to yourselves,” Bro laughs.

"Want to see the brig?"

Bro perks up, “Sure! Gotta see if it’s as spooky as ya think!” Alt glitches back over to join back up with them.

They go down one more staircase. It's a bit dimmer down here, and the areas are separated by wooden walls, as opposed to the orlop deck where everything was open. There's a set of barred walls--four cells. No doubt that's the brig.

“…yeah it’s kinda spooky, not gonna lie.” Bro says with a nod. “Def would hate to be down here.”

"Yep, not a pleasant stay," Jackie says. "But luckily people don't stay down here that often. Jack didn't believe in it." 

Henrik chuckles. "Though occasionally we did have to throw you in here to sober up when you went too far." 

"Hey—I don't do that anymore! I know restraint!" 

Henrik grins at the other two. "He used to be very wild."

“Ha! I can imagine that!” Bro snickers. 

“How far is too far? Like- so drunk he’s gonna fall off the boat?” Alt asks with a laugh.

"Exactly." Henrik nods. 

"That's in the past, I'm more careful now," Jackie says, waving it off. "In any case, it's around noon now. We should grab some food from the galley before it gets swarmed."

“Oh yeah! God I didn’t even realize I was hungry-“ Bro says with a laugh. 

Alt nods in agreement, “Food is good.”

Jackie grins. "Let's go on up then! Cook won't be making an actual meal until dinnertime but we can grab things from the counters." He rushes up the staircase, Henrik right behind him. Alt and Bro trail after Henrik. "Hm... what are you wanting? We have just about everything, though I can't promise it'll be the best."

Bro hums and puts a finger to his chin, “hmmm I dunno! I don’t really know what to expect on a ship!” 

Alt shrugs, “I’m not particularly picky. Whatever you all have is fine.”

"Let's see what's in store, then!" Jackie says. 

The galley is towards the stern of the ship, built into one side with a small island of counters nearby. An older man is busy looking through the cupboards. 

"Hello, Cook," Henrik says. 

"Hello boys," the man says. 

Bro waves at the Cook with a big smile. Alt nods politely. 

"What can I do you for?" Cook asks.

"Lunch before the rush," Jackie says. 

"Look around, then." 

There's a variety of foods in the galley. Bread with crunchy crusts, cured and salted meats, some dried fruits and berries, a variety of nuts--and some fresh oranges and lemons. There are also bottles of rum. 

"Ah, don't worry, these aren't strong," Jackie says, picking one up. "Mostly water, in fact, the rum is for taste."

“Oh that’s like us getting those flavor packets so Jackie would drink more water!” Bro snickers to Alt who laughs. They both look around and grab some of the bread and meat, Alt grabbing some of the dried berries and Bro grabbing an orange. He tries to play catch with it for a second.

Jackie grins. He grabs an orange as well, tossing it around. Bro grins back. Alt snorts at their antics. 

"Idiots," Henrik mutters fondly, taking some bread for himself. "What is for dinner, Cook?" 

"Using some of the veg to make a good stew for our guests," Cook says, nodding at Alt and Bro.

The brothers blink at the cook. “Fuck yeah, stew!” Bro says cheerfully. Alt tries not to laugh.

"You should be honored, we don't have stew often," Jackie says. "Gets stuck on the decks, can cause difficulties." 

"This is a special occasion," Cook says. 

“Daw- you’re gonna make us blush,” Bro laughs. 

"And we'll probably have to have a hearty meal if something's coming up." 

"Ah, yes, has your glass eye changed at all in direction?" Henrik says, looking at Alt and Bro.

Alt digs into his coat for his tracker and touches the pupil. “Oh yeah lemme see-“ The tracker says they must veer ten degrees to the south—pretty specific for directions.

Alt furrows his eyebrows in confusion and looks up at Jackie and Henrik, “it says… we need to steer 10 degrees to the south…?”

Jackie immediately takes his map out. "Hm... don't see anything in that bearing. But we're looking for a ship, so we shouldn't count on getting to an island." 

"Well, I will go alert Kilani that we need to shift heading a little," Henrik says, tossing a couple berries into his mouth.

“Does 10 degrees even make much of a difference?” Bro asks, biting into some of his bread.

"When you're out in the open ocean? Yes." Henrik nods. "But I will admit, not too much. Still, we will take what we can get when dealing with a fucking ghost ship.”

“Huh- neat.” Bro says.

“I'm heading topside, want to come with?"

Alt nods to Henrik, “Yeah- think it’ll be nicer to eat up there.”

"Oh wait, good idea, I'm coming too." Jackie had been leaning against the counter, and he now stands up straight and follows the group. 

The sun is beating down hard on the deck. It's actually noticeably hot for the first time in their journey. But luckily their outfits seem to have been designed for hot weather. Even Alt's longer coat is surprisingly breathable. 

Henrik heads up to the helm and tells the helmswoman--Kilani, apparently--that they need to shift course a little. She nods and turns the wheel accordingly, checking her compass afterwards.

Alt shields his eyes a bit then goes to find a good place to sit and eat. Bro flops next to him, digging into his orange. He hums, “I didn’t expect it to be so warm! But I guess that makes sense when it’s just the sun beating down on you-“ 

"You guessed it!" Chase shows up from out of nowhere, leaning against the ship wall besides them. "Out on the sea, it's usually either hot from the sun or cold from the spray of water. Though it... probably doesn't help matters that we're close to the center of the world. That's where it's hottest, you know." 

"I am sure they know what the word 'equator' is, Chase," Henrik says. "Their world cannot be that different."

“Oh yeah we know that word!” Bro laughs. 

“We don’t live anywhere near it though, in our world,” Alt adds, “we live more up north. So it’s colder there- lots of rain.”

"Sounds like my home," Chase mutters. "Hen, does Deutsreich get a lot of rain?" 

Henrik shakes his head. "We are not known for it. But it does get cold. There are some mountains, they get beautiful snow. Though not as much snow as up north in Rosstvo and Nordømme, I'm sure." 

"Well, home doesn't get much snow at all, so you're winning in that race."

“Oh yeah it sometimes snows for us but not for long,” Bro says. 

“The sea must be such a difference experience for all of you then,” Alt comments in between bites of his lunch.

"Oh yes, but it's a good difference," Chase says. "It's rare that someone will commit to spending so much time at sea and not enjoy it." 

Henrik nods. "I became a ship's doctor to get away from home at first, but I stayed a ship's doctor because I love the journeys."

“I hear that! This seems like great fun!” Bro grins. 

Alt chuckles, “I’m sure it has its hardships… but the adventures you all have must be more than worth it.”

Chase grins. "Aye, I think so too. Not everyone's made for it, but if you are, there's nothing better." 

"Though I won't lie, there is a lot of downtime," Henrik says. 

"Maybe you need more to do," Chase says. "Do you want to help swab the deck?" 

"Booooo."

Alt and Bro laugh. “Yeah guess there’s not much to entertain you out here.” Alt says. 

“Why do you guys always say that huh? Swab the deck- such a pirate saying!” Bro laughs. 

"Well you have to keep the deck clear," Chase says, shrugging. "Don't want anyone to trip over something. And the water helps keep the ship in... shipshape." He bursts into laughter. 

Henrik rolls his eyes.

Bro also bursts into laughter, “Ayy! Good one!” Alt snorts slightly but also rolls his eyes.

Chase calms down. "Well, we'll still be sailing for some time, it seems like. Keep a hand on your glass eyes, tell us if we need to adjust our bearings again. Until then--hope you enjoy the ship!" 

The day passes, and the sun gradually moves through the sky, until it approaches the horizon and turns the sky orange and pink again. With everything set and the ship underway, the crew has some free time. They seem to really enjoy their instruments, as a group forms around the foremast to play. 

As the others bring out their instruments, Alt moves close to listen. He doesn’t know how to play anything they’re playing but the music is infectious. He doesn’t like big crowds though so he gets up somewhere high and brings out his iPad to draw people on the ship. 

Another group forms around the mizzenmast. Are they taking turns telling stories? Huh. Bro goes to the mizzenmast to hear the stories- unlike his brother he’s all for being in a big crowd and trying to act like one of the crew. 

The sun's halfway below the horizon when one of the crew members comes up onto the top deck and shouts that stew is ready. Everyone cheers, Bro being one of the loudest. Alt laughs at everyone’s excitement but stays where he is, watching as everyone goes to file in for food. 

Down in the galley, Cook and another crew member spoon stew into bowls, handing them out to anyone who comes by. The stew is thick and creamy-looking, with bits of meat and chunks of vegetables mixed in. There are also crackers, and to drink, water and rum, of course.

Bro hurries down to the gallery and grabs stuff for him and also some for Alt. With arms full he comes back topside and looks around, finally finding Alt hanging up on one of the masts, tucked against the middle beam and out of the way. 

Bro looks around then bursts up into the air to Alt’s side and grins, “You still being a loner, baby bro?” 

Alt startles slightly and then gives Bro a look before perking up at the smell of dinner. 

“Hurry dude imma drop this!” 

Alt hurriedly takes the bowl and rum bottle from Bro and the hero zips up to sit next to Alt, trying to balance. Alt sticks his iPad in his coat and digs in, relishing in the delicious stew. 

Bro watches him with a smile before sitting crossed legged and digging in too. “I wonder if you would have been this reclusive on the other ship- the one in Glasúil.” Bro comments after a bit. 

Alt shrugs, “Probably? You know I don’t like being around a lot of people.” 

“You like being around us though-“  “For the most part,” Alt smirks. He looks out at the sunset and darkening sky, “…I just like the view.”

The two eat together, enjoying the moment and the beautiful ocean around them.

[oddwriterhere]

INTRODUCTION POST!!!

*ੈ✩‧₊˚~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Heya! Welcome to my blog! My name is Kai! Here you find my art and writing, I also post the occasional comic dubs and such! I hope you enjoy!

*ੈ✩‧₊˚~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*ੈ✩‧₊˚

FACTS ABOUT ME

Goes by any pronouns / asexual & aromantic Birthday is 26 June Very easy to get confused with social cues or other things like that Been writing since March 2023 Hops between fandoms often Will very much have the pleasure to ramble someone's head off with my constant lore dumps or random stuff Sometimes posts loads or less depending on my mood Has a big love for both rarepairs and headcanons Keeps out of drama and or involving myself with people that aren't good people in any way DNI if you're a pro shipper or anything of the sorts Loves a well written fanfiction about my favourite characters

*ੈ✩‧₊˚~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*ੈ✩‧₊˚

FANDOMS

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles UnderTale / UnderTale Multiverse Lego Monkie Kid Sonic the Hedgehog Lego Ninjago

*ੈ✩‧₊˚~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*ੈ✩‧₊˚

TAGS

#kai answers - answerin' asks #kai's nonsense - general posts/reblogs #kai voice acts stuff - comic dub posts/videos #kai's lore dumpster- basically where I ramble on about lore surrounding either my og characters or fandoms and such like that

*ੈ✩‧₊˚~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*ੈ✩‧₊˚

SOCIALS

YouTube: DoodleVerse Production AO3: AroAceWriterHere

*ੈ✩‧₊˚~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*ੈ✩‧₊˚

MASTERLIST

Started: 8th March 2025 Last Updated: 29th May 2025

*ੈ✩‧₊˚~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*ੈ✩‧₊˚

AO3 MASTERLIST

Been writing on AO3 since 24th November 2024, prior to that I was using Wattpad, but found AO3 as a better option for my works.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*ੈ✩‧₊˚

AO3 Collections/Series

None Yet.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*ੈ✩‧₊˚

AO3 WORKS

New Kind

SUMMARY: It hadn't been long since joining the team, and Swap becomes the focus of the Bad Sanses, the destroyer of AUs, and many more baddies rising to ruin the peace. During this time, he starts to realize that there might be more to the "villains" than he had thought, after been told they were nothing but pure evil... But... Was that really the truth, well everything would change when one such skeleton tells him something. "You're really playing the long game by trusting those guardians...!"

Love on the Menu.

SUMMARY: The four turtle brothers come across a café, feeling intrigued, they decide to go into it. There they each order food, Donnie hadn't been attention much until Raph pointed out the waitress was waiting to serve him next, nothing really happened after all it was suppose a one trip to the café. Though fate had other plans for the softshell turtle as Leo would later become friends with the rabbit waitress. At first he wasn't bothered, but soon he realized that they had quite a bit in common, everything felt right with the rabbit around, but when he was gone.. It felt in sufferable without him... Why was he feeling odd feeling his heart that felt like it was becoming warm..? Surely some date collecting could help him out of this strange situation... Right..?

*ੈ✩‧₊˚~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*ੈ✩‧₊˚

AO3 Short Stories

Lego Monkie Kid Short Stories

Ninjago Short Stories

Sans AUs Rarepairs Short Stories

*ੈ✩‧₊˚~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*ੈ✩‧₊˚

[synodicsoma]

Seeing all the oc x canon stuff with Stanley and Ford is super encouraging. Fuck yeah, shoving my multiverse aware and hopping ocs to suck face, taunt, tease, and ride those old men until they break (metaphorically).

Louis would hold Bill's hand platonically while he's going through it in the Theraprism. He'd also hold Fiddleford's hand and listen as he plays the banjo.

Already have Pyro jumping Stanley in his early mullet years then getting flung to THEN jump Stanley's old bones as a ripe sliver fox.

I think Nico would pair well with Ford, he's a big bug and plant nerd who'd enjoy playful back and forth smartass sciencey banter.

[theresattrpgforthat]

Heyo, i've got a game rec request for you! In a couple weeks i'm going to be a summer camp counselor for a cabin of teen boys (around 14-15 years old), and i'm on the hunt for some ttrpgs that i could bring to camp and try out with them! ideally something good for hour long pick-up-and-play sessions, more focused on getting into silly shenanigans than deep introspection. so far i've picked out Honey Heist, Galaxy Goons, and To Serve, but i'll take any other suggestions you can offer! tysm!

THEME: Quick Funny Camp Games

Hello friend, I’ve got a few silly games for you but I also included some games that are quick to run that have a little more focus to them in case your campers want to get their teeth into some plot.

Cryptid TV, by yanahn.

A plague of Reality TV stars has descended upon the sleepy town of Mountain Lake ready to hunt down (and capture on camera) anything that looks even remotely like a cryptid - your crew is among them to cause drama, fake hoaxes, and enact sabotage beyond all reckoning.

If the game uses the same rules as Honey Heist, then picking up and playing will be even easier! And Cryptid TV is one of those games. As a reality tv crew invades your hometown, your job is to infiltrate the film crew and sabotage the show - while trying to hide the fact that you’re one of the cryptids they’d want to get on camera! This game is set up for exactly the wacky hi-jinx that you might expect, and I feel like the vibe really goes well with a bunch of campers playing in a cabin somewhere. You should definitely check it out!

1400 Planes, by Unknown Dungeon.

The multiverse roils with boundless existence. For many, the infinite planes of creation drift past at an immeasurable distance, their alien secrets perpetually out of reach. However those who break their mortal shackles and cross that liminal space, wander such exotic spheres on an eternal pilgrimage.

If the group wants to jump into something a little less silly or just wants a chance to feel powerful, the character options in 1400 Planes included Clockforged, Birdfolk, Jotuun, and Merfolk (to name a few). You are hopping through a multiverse, and while the different planes are dangerous, your characters have gear and skills at their behest to help them face danger head-on.

The biggest obstacle that might stand in the way of this and the other 1400 games released by this designer is the dice requirement - 1400 Planes requires at least one d6, one d4, one d8, one d10 and possibly also one d12. If you want a great tactile experience though, the different dice shapes certainly deliver.

Bro Hunters, by The Other Tracy.

Bro. Ghosts, Bro. The stories are true. We've got our gear and we're gonna get famous, Bro.  Bro? Bro.

Ghost stories feel like a great match for camp, so pulling out a quick game of ghost-wrangling or other supernatural tomfoolery just feels right. Bro Hunters has a built-in goofy element in that all of the characters will probably refer to each-other as “bro” - and the game also comes with structured scenes to bring you from point A to point B. This game also gives the players a chance to contribute to the narrative - if their character dies, they will narrate the creepy stuff going on in the house.

What I enjoy about this game is the number of tactile elements. You’ll need something to act as a speaking totem - or Brotem - as well as some tokens to help you change the narrative (also called Bro-kens!). This game is much more free-form and allows the players a greater amount of narrative control than the other items on this list - it's a great introduction to roleplaying if your group is familiar with telling ghost stories together.

Crime Wizards, by pewter bee.

You are the Fox Club, a magical crew of thieves and criminals. Your mission is to take what you want, work with clients to fulfill their needs, and uphold your crew’s reputation. Your leader, Juliet Thrice, is in hiding due to heat from a recent job she conducted, leaving you to act on your own until her return.

Lasers & Feelings is another system with quick character creation and only 2 stats to worry about, although it can be decidedly more serious than Honey Heist. In these kinds of games, you are typically skilled individuals with a job to do, with the challenge of operating without a key figure or resource. You’ll choose a single number and roll a d6 to attempt to roll over or under that number, with an exact roll giving you something special! In Crime Wizards, you’ll be on a fantasy heist - perfect for cool scenes while also providing moments for some fun along the way.

[sinukiyo]

Reading A Thousand and One Lifetimes Be Like

Eren: so why were you at the church

Me: looking for Jesus 🙄

Armin: I know you're not Eren. So who are

Eren: I'm Eren Yeager

Armin: stop the cap

Eren: I am, tho. Just not your Eren.

Armin: well... I read yo diary saw stuff about me and Mikasa

Eren: so you know erthang?

Armin: not exactly. I just skimmed through it and have like the Spark Notes knowledge about yo shit

Eren: so... you want to know the truth?

Armin: obviously mutha fucka.

Me: you got free time? Coz it's a looooooooooong story.

Eren: aight so. I came from a reality where there's these giant human eating monsters called titans that we genuinely thought took over the world but found out that we're actually humans and there's also these superhuman who have the ability to turn into titans but with some special powers. I was one of em and so were you. And we ended up finding out that our people have a thousand year beef with these Yazis with an N. I got killed and discovered that I can hop my consciousness into versions of me across the multiverse which I did with yo eren and used him to destroy the source of the power of the titans so that all that shit I went through never happened.

Armin: okay wow that's a lot. So... what happened to my Eren. Why are you still in his body

Eren: oh he dead dead. That accident killed him and dragged me back into his body so I'm stuck. And the only way I can leave is if I die🤷🏽‍♀️

Armin: oh 🫤

Eren: yep. This is my life

Armin: so....what I am to you

Eren: same as we always been. We're homies

----

*Armin asking questions Eren about the multiverses*

Me: wow he's taking this surprisingly well

Armin: so like.... was Annie around in the other universes

Me:

Eren: yep pretty much

Armin: did we like each other 👉🏼👈🏼

Me:

Me: need I say more

*que Mikasa appearance. Love sick Eren activated*

Me: ayo dude you have a fake straight girlfriend 👀

Armin: did you like Mikasa

Eren: nah. I didn't like her

Me: why you lying 🤥

Eren: I loved her

Me:

----

Baby daddy- I mean Levi: aight brats. Since yall didn't embarrass yo selves at the camp there ain't no training but yall will be having a friendly spar. So choose yo partners

*I stand next to him*

Levi: tf are you doing 🤨

Me: picking my partner 🤭😏

Annie: I'm picking Mikasa

Ymir: I'm picking Eren

Me: oh..... shiet 😬

Reiner: tf I want to spar with Eren 🤨

Ymir: wait yo turn muscle pig 😒

Eren: oh hell naw fuck this 😐

-----

Eren: great now I have to deal with sparring with Historia's jealous girlfriend 🙄

*Mikasa shows up*

Eren: yo

Mikasa: sup

Eren: connie told me that you were looking for me.

Mikasa: you weren't in class yesterday

Eren: wasn't in the mood. I just wanted to rest and unwind

Also Eren: *walking out the church covered in blood*

Eren: did you miss me

Mikasa: pft! No!

Eren's thoughts: yeah she definitely missed me.

-----

*Ymir prepping up to get ready to whoop Eren's ass for stealing her girl*

Eren: welp let's get this over with

*one angry sparring match later*

Ymir: stop holding back and fight me

Eren: or what

Levi: ENOUGH! I said to enjoy the spar not to fight. Try listening next time

Me: yes zaddy- I mean Levi

Eren: yo historia. Tell yo girlfriend to chill out and back off

Historia: *glares at him*

Me: nah sis. You better tell yo boo thang to back up coz yo boi Eren is not going to be responsible for what he will do to her if she decides to get froggy and leap on his ass.

-----

*mikasa steps out of the rain and into the gym. Not even a few seconds later Eren Armin and Historia walk in. Historia and Eren are super close*

Mikasa's thoughts:

Armin: yo Mikasa. Need an umbrella? I'll walk you back to your dorm

Mikasa: aight bet

*not even a few seconds later*

Eren: wait!

*puts his red scarf around Mikasa*

Me:

Historia be like: 😶😶😶

Mikasa's thoughts: oh my God. How could Eren do that in front of his girlfriend

Me: yeah. How he indeed

-----

*in Erwin's office*

Erwin: I told yall to be discreet

Me: watchu mean

*shows the news paper headline saying Ancient Church Goes Up in Flames*

Me: AYOOOOOOOO WTF 👁👄👁

Eren: we ran through some problems but we found out that Historia's papi is running a human Trafficking operation and Frieda is some how involved

Historia: what? Frieda would never

Eren: I mean... considering that she's the heir

Historia: don't even-

Erwin: enough. Historia, imma need you to take you position as heiress seriously and show yo papi that he can trust you. Eren I need you to get close to Mikasa

Me: oop 👀

Eren: hell to the fuck no.

Erwin: I'm not asking

Eren: I'm refusing.

Historia: what does this have to do with her.

Erwin: the men who killed her parents were likely trying to Traffic hed

Eren: either way I ain't doing it. If I want to keep her safe I need to keep my distance

Me: my brutha in christ. you helped her with sparring, went to protective boyfriend mode when she almost drowned and gave her your scarf. you did anything BUT keep yo distance from her 👁👁

-----

And that's it's for this week's recap. See y'all in the next one

Eren talks more about staying away from Mikasa then actually doing it

[triptychcryptid]

Kings of Gravity Falls AU-

Sherman sitting at the kitchen table at like 10 p.m, drinking a coffee and working on his laptop. Ford comes in for a snack and sees Sherman.

"Oh, hello Sherman!" Sherman looks up

"Hey, Stanford." Ford grabs some dinner leftovers and sits down at the table across from Sherman. Sherman looks at his plate.

"You're not gonna heat that up?" He asks. Ford shrugs.

"There are very few microwaves in the multiverse. You get used to eating things as-is once you've been on the run for 30 years." Cuts into his steak and starts eating it.

"Fair." Sherman says, eyes travelling back down to his computer. Ford points his fork in the computer's direction.

"What are you working on, Sherman?" He asked, interest piqued.

"Oh, I have a project for work and I have to do a virtual presentation next week, so I'm getting the powerpoint together. I'm pulling an all-nighter because I didn't get alot of work done earlier." All Ford gets out of this is that it's work stuff. He nods in understanding.

"Oh, I meant to apologize to you." Sherman gives him a small grin.

"Oh, you mean for earlier when Stan told me about your kissing robot from high school, you punched him and you both started yelling and fighting so loudly that you drove me nuts and I kicked you out of the room?" Ford looked away as he chewed thoughtfully.

"Well yes, that. But also for...not being there for you when you were younger. " He looks at Sherman, catching his carefully placid face. "I...was a very selfish man in a lot of ways in my youth. I wasted a lot of time feeding my ego and being angry at people who didn't deserve it and not being there for the people I cared about. I think you are a very cool, wonderful person, and I have truly enjoyed spending time with you and learning about you this past month."

Sherman smiles at him.

"Well thank you, Stanford, I appreciate that. I don't remember much of you from when I was a kid, but It seems like you've grown a lot after dimension hopping for 30 years. Stan actually kindof stepped up. A lot. Knowing what I know now, I think he felt a lot of guilt about what happened to you and didn't want to lose his other brother. Suddenly, my mysterious brother Stanford was sending me letters and calling every couple of weeks. Sending me hannukah and later on, Christmas presents. He was there when my kid and grandkids were born, he was one of the groomsmen at my wedding...don't get me wrong, he drives me insane, but I love him to death. "

Ford smiles a bittersweet smile at his plate. "I'm glad to hear it, Sherman. It sounds like in some ways, he's really grown up as well. " Sherman studies him for a minute.

"You know, I wasn't sure what to expect when the kids told me about ..your whole deal. But I've had a lot of fun getting to know you too, Stanford. You're very interesting, your stories are as good as Stan's, the kids ADORE you, and since you've been 13 again, I'm starting to see a bit of the little Gremlin streak that Stan has coming out in you. You seem to be having fun. Is this what you two were like as kids?"

Ford laughs "Oh god, we were worse! We were little terrors as children. We once hunted the Jersey Devil and had a rivalry with two kids who fancied themselves the Hardy Boys." Sherman laughs.

"Yeah, that tracks. Oh, and you don't have to be so formal with me. You can call me Shermie if you want." Ford smiles fondly at him.

"And you can call me Ford."

[literary-illuminati]

Book Review 38 – A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow

This was the second novella I read on account of it being a Hugo nominee, and probably the book I was/am second-most dreading getting through (I am really not looking forward to Legends and Lattes). And, I am sad to report, that dread was entirely justified. This really isn’t going to be a very nice review, so, you know, caveat lector.

The story is a direct sequel to A Spindle Splintered, and will be incredibly confusing to read without that context (source: my roommate did so accidentally). In the five years since Spindle, Zina has been very busy being a dimension hopping heroine, crashing into one alternate reality’s version of Sleeping Beauty after another and either ensuring that the Happily Ever After goes as planned or offering an escape to Beauty’s (and presumably others, though I don’t believe it’s ever mentioned) who’d rather opt out. In the process she’s entirely abandoned Charm and Prinny, and essentially every tie she has to her own life, sublimating anxiety over her own mortality into heroine-saving adventures.

Then it turns out all the jumping between stories and screwing around with plotlines is doing structural damage to the multiverse, as she discovers when a desperate Evil Queen drags her into her castle to force her to explain how to escape the fate she knows is coming for her, after a ratty old copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales appeared on her bookshelf earlier. The queen is, unsurprisingly, not as evil as she seems on first glance, and also just smoking hot (Zina’s narration is very clear on this). The two go on interdimensional adventures, bond and open up to each other, face down an evil immortal cannibal Snow White, hook up, and write their own Happily Ever Afters, or at least something close enough. And in the meantime Zina reconnects with her friends and agrees to become the closest thing Earth has to a fairy godmother.

So, to not be entirely one-sided here: I really did enjoy the sequence where Zina and Eva are thrashing about jumping through a dozen different versions of Snow White over the course of a few pages while they fight over the magic mirror. That was fun. The close narration did an excellent job getting across who Zina is and characterizing her too, even if there were a few too many pop culture name drops for my taste. Otherwise...

This book is just..argh. Even it’s basic premise is the fairy tale equivalent of one of those zombie stories about a guy whose spent his life fantasizing about killing zombies and won’t shut up about how similar the plot is to all his favourite zombie movies, except in this case the hypothetical zombie killer has also taken half a film theory undergrad and keeps peppering the narration with commentary about how the monsters trying to eat his brains are a problematic appropriation of Haitian folklore and/or a representation of late 20th century American anxiety over mass culture and consumerism. The bit gets old so so quickly.

Beyond that – look, I’m a hard sell on multiverse stuff generally these days, versions that try to milk it for serious drama especially. And the metaphysics just make zero sense at all, and not even in a charmingly nonsensical fairy tale way – adding scifi technobabble to things that are just neer going to make sense according to any sort of mechanistic scientific understanding of the world’s usually a mistake unless you’re actually planning to do something with it, in my opinion. Absolutely worst of all, though (and now I know this is an incredibly petty and personal pet peeve), the story lampshades that it makes no sense. Okay being honest if I’d otherwise liked the book I might have found the whole conversation with the folklore professor where Zina asks how to solve the plot just kind of endearingly annoying, but as is? Unforgivable.

The Evil Queen (or Eva, as Zina names her, since in the Grimm Tale she doesn’t have any other name, you see) isn’t a bad character, but she does rather feel like she walked right out of Enemies to Lovers central casting. More than that, as a villain redemption story goes it just hits all the beats that it possibly could to make its job easier, which just makes it so much more boring than it could have been. Eva never really did anything that evil, all she ever wanted was agency and self-determination, she was motivated by fear, she’s only an antagonist for like fifteen pages before becoming Zina’s sidekick, she’s heroic and selfless when given the opportunity, she’s physically attractive and falls in love with the protagonist, etc, etc. Most of all, she’s contrasted with a real villain, a gothic horror Snow White who really does eat the hearts of children to retain her eternal youth. And just, you can feel the author stacking the deck in her own favour here – there’s just almost no actual moral conflict or drama to it all, you know?

I’m sure it was mostly unintentional, but the wider themes of the story are...weird. Or, actually, so aggressively conventional that I’m just surprised to see them in a book with this one’s explicit politics. ‘You owe the world to your closest friends and relations, but ignoring your own affairs to go help strangers is irresponsible and dangerous to everyone. It’s also an infantile response to fear over your own mortality; maturity and responsibility mean settling down and helping to raise a kid,’ is, like, really not the message I was expecting. Especially from a book that keeps peppering the narration with phrases like ‘heternormative family structure’. Admittedly a probably uncharitable read, but you really can’t spend so incredibly long hammering home how fucked up and horrifying so many of the narratives that the world is made of are, and how all the different iterations of each story are real and all the characters full moral agents, and then pivot to ‘but intruding on other stories is damaging the fabric of reality! So we’ll just stop.’ Fuck all those other not-really-evil queen’s being forced to dance in red hot slippers until they die, I guess – if they wanted to live, they should have had the good sense to be a love interest.

Also, look, it’s not a rage button for everyone like it is for me. But the bit where the narrative came out and drew a bright line between Zina ‘refusing to accept’ how she will inevitably die from her tragic wasting disease and evil Snow White eating the hearts of children for eternal youth is probably the point where the book went from mediocre to actively making me angry.

I love the whole fractured fairy tale conceit, I really do. But this whole series is just not it, at least for me. Go watch Maleficent instead, for something with the same take on an evil witch queen. Or, I don’t know, Shrek.

[disruptivevoib]

I keep hearing stuff about the cjverse chat room and I’m so curious- what is it????

The Chatroom is an RP between a hefty handful of members in the CJ fandom, specifically its geared around the CCCC album!

We made it way back in April of this year and has been going pretty steadily since!

The premise was initially alternate universes with HMS all being put into a multiversal chatroom! However, as things developed we had VoR Mind, Tinker, create a machine that allowed multiversal travel, thus allowing these versions of HMS (and Whole if present) to interact with one another by universe hopping. Occasionally this would be to other Psyches, but sometimes there is no Psyche and everyone is real, and the transmitter still works. So sometimes, you put a guy from a guy's brain into London (The TMA au).

We also had the creation of the AI AU which.... well.

A multiversal interdimensional chatroom has to start somewhere, yeah?

But yeah! It's a lot of interwoven stories with folk's aus! While it can wind up convoluted on some fronts, we are all really enjoying it and wanted to share it should anyone else be interested in the characters. Rather, the various versions of HMS we've got.

Which is a lot. We've not been keeping up with the opinions/relationship chart I made, but the last time I counted it was in the hundreds if not near it. Lots of guys.