#i do have another comic Similar to this planned ??? but i think im going to let my computer just rest for a day before i work on it

[hiorisgf]

Hii! For the valentine's event can i please request Kaiser with marriage booth? Thank you so muuuch!⚘️

##DO YOU LOVE ME OR NOT, WANNA FIND OUT?

↪In which, Kaiser thinks the best way to find out if you love or hate him is by a kiss

↪ft. Kaiser

↪Guess who forgot who Kaiser was halfway through😍😋 Also, I tried.

↪Mentions of murder(jokingly, probably) and uh roaches?(somewhat a replacement for butterflies bc im original like that/j im sorry)

Event navigation

"You insufferable bastard."

"D'aww, can't you at least sugarcoat your words, mein Liebling?" You scowl at the pet name, and Kaiser finds the sight adorable—very kissable, he'd add.

Kaiser places a hand on his chest, his face mocking a hurt expression. "You wound me, dearest. The price for this experience was not a hefty one; the least you could do is thank me for giving you this one-of-a-kind experience." 

The gasp you let out was nothing short of comical. And the guests—your classmates—grows curious about the conversation you're having.

"You paid to have us in this hellhole?!" 

The way Kaiser looks at you makes it seem as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Yes," he said, and you considered committing 2nd degree murder right then and there.

Your hands are trembling with fury, and all you see is red. Blood—you're out for Kaiser's blood, and you'd be sure to squeeze him of every last drop once you've managed to stop his heart from beating entirely. 

"Why do you hate me so, dearest?" he asks, and you're drawn out of your thoughts as you stare at him dumbfoundedly.

Come to think of it, why did you hate him exactly?

The answer to his question was left unfounded, even to you. All that you knew was that ever since he'd decided to bother you to the best of his abilities, your heart started to flutter as your liver and lungs danced around, doing a tango in your stomach. Heat would rise up to your face and smoke would come out of your pores the more he spent time pursuing you, and from then on, you assumed it must be because you hate him. 

"That's none of your business."

"Oh, but it is. You're bullying me for no reason whatsoever." 

You flare your nostrils in annoyance—at least, what you think is annoyance—at the way the cockroaches fly and buzz around in your stomach, begging to be sprayed with insecticides. You've noticed it appearing more often; the insects comes and flies around at times where Kaiser flashes his stupid, stupid smile at you. You remain silent as the makeshift priest drags on his speech. A second more, and Kaiser asks you yet another question: "Is it really hatred you feel for me, dearest?" 

"Yes," you reply without skipping a beat.

"Oh, how you hurt me, beloved." 

He begins his theatrics, and you roll your eyes at the sight. But despite your apparent display of annoyance, a microsmile graces your lips, barely noticeable to normal people but an easy find for Kaiser, who loved you dearly.

He takes ahold your hand in his, and you try to pry his wretched hand away from yours, pulling and tugging on it with force no stronger than when you try to lift a hundred weights. But Kaiser makes it clear he has no plans of letting go when he refuses to budge his hold on yours. His eyes gleams with something you find, you are a stranger to. And the heat of summer seems to hit you the most as blood rushes to your cheeks and leaves it smothering.

"Pray, do tell, does your heart flutter when I hold your hand like this?" He asks, and your face forms an expression you think is one of scorn. The next, he's inching your hand closer to his face—too close to feel his breath, in fact, and the room grows hotter; despite the ac being turned on to the highest point, it's as hot as the desert's temperature—and maybe even hotter than that.

Your heart, the idiotic organ that pumps up blood, leaps and soars and has suddenly learned to do ballet when he presses his lips on your knuckles, eyes never leaving your face as he kisses it softly. It's similar to the hundreds of novels and movies your friends had forced you to watch alongside them—the way he looks at you, as if he's the main lead of a romance movie—and you, his love interest. "Or does it do leaps and twirls when I do this?"

By now, you're rendered speechless and immobile as Kaiser asks you questions you'd answer yes to. Lungs almost failing when he pulls you closer, the crowd gasps and cheers, but you pay them no mind. Your focus remains on Kaiser and how he looks so frustratingly beautiful wearing that suit and along with it, his hair tied up in a ponytail. 

"Well? Riddle me this, dearest, does my face without fail, pop up in your daydreams? Do I ever cross your mind, and do you wonder how do I do?" 

If you were to answer truthfully, you'd tell him yes. That his mind plagues you every waking moment, that you worry and wonder if the smile he makes whenever he's with you isn't exclusive only to you, that you wonder if his teasing remarks meant anything at all. You'd tell him you think of him too much; it's maddening and bothering. 

"What are you trying to say?" 

"I'm saying, are you sure it's hatred you feel for me rather than love?" 

"Interesting, where did you get the idea? Was I doing a bad job at not leading you on?"

"Certainly not, you've done too good of a job I almost got discouraged," he chuckles, "but I've read somewhere that love and hate are two sides of the same coin, and I'm just a hopeless fool who wishes you've mistaken the other for the truth."

Kaiser leans closer, and your breath hitches because of the proximity you share with him. "Won't you indulge this man in his foolishness, dearest?"

Your eyes lock onto his ocean blue eyes, and for a moment, you're stuck in a trance. "Why not? This ought to be fun," you say, and you almost fall to your knees when you find Kaiser smiling down at you. god, this stupid man and his stupid smile, you'll kill him someday, most probably.

"Splendid!" 

"Well, what do you have in mind?" 

He hums, and it's only then that you haven't released yourself from his hold yet. His face is close, so much so that you could count his eyelashes, and his breath tickles your skin, leaving goosebumps trailing over its place. His arms rests on your waist, holding it firmly yet loosely enough for you to move out if you wanted to. And maybe you should; it's the most genius idea you could come up with at the moment. But something in you refuses to let you move away, and rather makes you lean into his touch. And if Kaiser noticed—which he most definitely did—then he didn't say anything.

The priest continues his speech, and you notice him pausing from time to time to eavesdrop on your conversation. But it seems like Kaiser didn't mind, given the way he continues speaking despite the priest's obvious eavesdropping.

His eyes flickers to your lips for a split second, and had you blinked, you're sure it would have gone by unnoticed. But you noticed, and it sure didn't do well for your mental health.

"I've been thinking long and hard about it, and how about we kiss?" 

His blunt words leaves your mouth agape and your eyes looking at him with a silent question of "what?"

Laughter bubbles up from Kaiser's lips, and your stare turns into a glare, one sharp enough that should you not have an ego as large as Kaiser's, you'd be sure to cower away in fear. 

"Be serious"

"Oh, but I'am, darling dearest. I believe kissing is the best way to know if you love me or not."

Doubtful, those were the words that were imprinted in the way you stared at him. "Be for real, Kaiser. How are we supposed to know with that method?" 

"If we kiss and you feel something, then you're in love, simple as that." 

"How am I supposed to know if it's special?" 

"You'll know when you feel it. Experience is the best teacher above all else, after all." He pauses, giving you time to think. "Well, what do you say?"

You nod, and at that very moment, the priest finally gets to the part people seemed to be aniticipating from the start.

"You may now kiss the bride!" 

Kaiser moves his hand to rest on your shoulder, face moving closer until he's a breath away, and your hand trembles, whether from nervousness or excitement, you aren't sure. He connects his lips with yours, and you shut your eyes close.

Oh.

A firework is sparked, and it soars into the sky, exploding into thousands of pieces in the shape of a heart. The butterflies goes rampant, aggressively fluttering around, and it feels like you're riding a rollercoaster, your heart thumping so wildly it's almost concerning and inhuman. Your legs are weak, threatening to give up underneath you, and it's pathetic how you have to hold onto him for balance. 

His hand moves to caress your cheeks, and the simple gestures sends over a tsunami of emotions you don't know how to process. It gets your lips twitching, threatening to form a smile too dorky for your character, and you feel like melting into a puddle of nothing but the emotions the event makes you feel.

When Kaiser pulls away, he's grinning from ear to ear, and you think you'll faint with how unfairly pretty it is. 

"Well, what do you think?" he asks a minute later, but the smirk that rests on his face tells you he's already figured out the thoughts that courses through your head as you gasp for air.

"Do you think you've got it all sorted now? If you don't, we can always go for another one," he winks, and you think all the feelings you had for him had been washed away by the shore. It's funny how love comes and goes so fast. 

And oh, heavens no, you think it's returned—the feelings that the waves had taken away—happily returned on a silver platter when you spot him looking at you, so full of love it leaves you gagging. Why does love come and go so fast.

[lamuliz]

i have a couple questions about your au. actually they are all about the skip button. i think a lot about the skip button in general. it haunts me. anyway here we are:

how did stanley access and modify the skip button?

how did he feel during the original skip button ending? when he realized what it was doing to the narrator?

does the narrator have vague memory of the skip button? he looked shocked and terrified the first time stanley froze him in the comic.

that’s all :) have a good day!

The Boss' Office.

I actually had a whole other section of the comic where I planned to have Stanley explain how he found narry (the "blueprints"), how he managed to string this plan together and etc. I had to rush things so this never got explained but the short answer is the Boss' Office.

It's a video game, and everything gets stored one way or another, in a digital environment. As I've mentioned before, Narrator does remember patches and bits from the previous resets. But he forgets most of it. Then where do those forgotten memories go? Well, they get stored in the library of the Boss' Office. The books start blank, and the pages get filled with Narrator's not-supposed-to-remember memories as they keep resetting. The entire library is filled with how Narrator crafted the gigs for "The Stanley Parable 2", how he accesses the doors in the office, how he connects his voice to Stanley, and everything else he knows (or... knew).

Narrator is connected to the parable while Stanley is trapped in it.

This is one of the biggest reasons Stanley is convinced Narrator controls the entire game, and is keeping Stanley there for arbitrary reasons.

First, Stanley figures out how to disconnect Narrator's voice from his head. Then proceeds to find a hiding spot to cut the Narrator's end of the connection they have (Temporarily, of course. Narrator regains access once Stanley goes up again.) Using the information from the library, he manages to make modifications to the skip button to reverse its effects, then proceeds with his plan.

About the second question, I haven't really thought about it. It would depend on when they got that ending, I guess. Stanley starts off friendly with Narrator, and you can only get the skip button ending once (I think? im not sure) So I assume they were rather close when it happened, so he'd feel bad? I'm really not sure. I guess this ones up to interpretation.

The answer to the third question is no. Narrator doesn't remember the skip button. But the reason he makes that expression once its activated is not that. Stanley's modification of the skip button was a far from perfect reversal. The skip button was meant to freeze Narrator in time, which it did. But failed to fully prevent Narrator from moving, and even limited Stanley's movement at times.

Before drawing the glitchy bits, I thought about how it would feel for the Narrator to be under the skip buttons effect, and I imagine It's similar to getting electrocuted. Like a constant buzzing feeling under your skin. So that's why he looks like that, he's in a lot of pain.

[unhingedkinfessions]

so like not really a kinfession but kinda wanna know if how im feeling abt this is valid (no pressure to respond if u guys dont want to btw!)

so my bf and i are planning on making a comic based around our "sonas" (idk what else to call them), but how these came to be was us literally drawing ourselves how we see ourselves essentially. like for me, im demonkin, so i just drew how i remember myself and then projected all my memories to this "character" and i think my bf did something really similar to that when making his, so basically we are these characters and they are us

after a while we added aspects to them that dont reflect memories (such as the two of them dating) but more so reflect us CURRENTLY, as well as some random things that just make sense and these "sonas" became very important to us and huge parts of ourselves (naturally, since we are them)

now wed love to do this and possibly post the series on tumblr and/or another site as a nice project between the two of us but thats when my bf realized: what if people kin them? and it kinda made us uncomfortable thinking about it since its based off our own otherkin experiences and that theyre literally us

so basically what id like to know is if itd be wrong to ask people to not make fan works (if it gets popular) and tag them as kin and stuff? weve seen people mark stuff with that and so thats why i planned on doing that, but do u think people would understand our discomfort? ik people cant help kins, but id feel a lot more comfortable if people didnt make it comfortable they're whole public identity based around one of us or used our work as face claims and stuff. am i being irrational or is this understandable?? (sorry if any of this sounds repetitive im kinda nervous lol)

the thing is, if this does get popular (and thats a big if- i dont mean that as an insult you truly cannot predict these things) yes there will be issues. youre not being Irrational, and i understand where ur coming from but im *in* the same community as you & kin also. if this gets popular, there are inevitably going to be people who dont understand and ignore that boundary, because you cant exactly stop people from doing that once smth gets big. theres a difference between like, asking someone to not kin tag an art post vs not kin from a Popular Piece Of Media, yk? it wouldnt be a wrong thing to ask for no. but if youre ok w the possibility that this could blow up ur gonna have to realize that you cant control an entire fanbase that closely and what ur afraid of is likely to happen. tldr i think this is understandable but im not just the average consumer that doesnt have the full story

[insertcoolusernamehereee]

Spider-verse, but Nightwing

OK I once saw a comment somewhere which went along the lines of...

"I wish Dc would give us a animation-like Spiderverse of Nightwing"

and at first i kind of ignored it- cuz idk, i don't really care about Nightwing- I mean, i love him! He's great, but not one of my favorite batfamily members.

BUT THEN I REALIZED THE OTHER CHARACTERS WOULD BE THERE TOO

so, here's what i think a Spiderverse movie would be like,

(If the plot was similar)

Nightwing- Obv he's Miles Morales, the main character!

Gwen- OK, the love interest. So we have three main competitors for fan favorite ships! Dick/Wally, Dick/Barbara, and Dick/Kori! Now one of them is already cancelled by default, because Dc is a coward, so we only have Barbara and Kori left! and well, Barbara fits Gwen's personality much more than Kori, and that paired with the fact that DC favors DickBabs in general, WE HAVE A WINNER!

SpiderVerse- okay, this is where it starts to lean a bit away from the movies and a bit from the comics; Spiderverse is now the Court of Owls! My headcannon is that for some reason all vigilantes (minus Batman and one other person, u will find out) join the court of owls thinking it has the right idea, and then BOOM its not actually that good (it kills people it can't control). BUT its not that wrong either. When it figures out what its doing wrong, it starts helping the vigilantes against the real evil, which is...

Spot- The league of assassins :)) YES I KNOW, IT ISN'T REALLY A MAIN VILLAIN of Nightwing's, but STILL, it's too good of a opportunity to give up seeing Ra's and Talia in the movie.

Miles Parents- Bruce and Selina, obviously. I think Jefferson's personality as a parent is PERFECT for Bruce-emotionally-constipated-dad! Selina is Bruce's wife, obv, BUT there is one change here...Y'know that scene where Rio gives Miles that 'your un-grounded" talk? I think it would be Wally giving Nightwing a super cool heartwarming speech (it won't be the same though) and then turned out Selina was listening to it all and at the end is just like "sigh, ok, you're ungrounded, come back soon, i'll deal with Bruce."

NOW FOR THE REST OF THE BATFAMILY MEMBER'S

Tim Drake- DRUM ROLL PLEASE, Hobie Brown! Hobie's smart, and while his personality might be a bit too much....It's still perfect for the role Tim would be playing. Hobie doesn’t trust the Court, and at the end he’s the one who had everything prepared for when they realise that the Court Of Owls is wrong!

Stephanie Brown- AND SHE'S GOING TO BE OUR FAV CINNAMON ROLL, Pavitr Prabhakar. And as much as it pains me as a Pakistani to remove his Indian heritage, it must be done. He's goofy, he ships the two main characters, and is just adorable, he's perfect for Stephanie, and will definitely give her justice.

Cassandra Cain- Sadly, Cass is going to have a less prominent role in the second movie, but hopefully she shows up more in the third; Margo Kess! the scene where she lets Miles go is perfect, because she can detect body language and would understand that Nightwing is right, and Miguel is planning on hurting him.

Damian Wayne- FINALLY MY FAV CHARACTER, but this one is more of a original character instead of a already made character in the movie; Damian is going to be the person Dick has to save. Because i love their dynamic. So, Damian is probably being manipulated by LoA, and idk maybe Ra's is trying to use him as a body vessel without Damian knowing, and the court of owls needs him dead because "HES A WILD CARD" but Dick just NEEDS to save him "BECAUSE THAT'S MY BROTHER, DAMN YOU, IM NOT LETTING ANOTHER ONE DIE" and cue everyone fighting LoA and then a wholesome Dick and Dami scene; Feel free to elaborate on it.

Jason Todd- I had to think a lot for this, but i have a PERFECT answer; Uncle Aaron. ITS SAD AND WILL BREAK HEARTS BUT ITS PERFECT, HELP- The relationship with Jefferson? check. Dies? check. What more do we need?

a happy and alive Jason

Hey! Maybe he comes back when hey go to save Damian! Actually, yes, that is 100% the plot. They find Jason revived at the league and save him :3

Duke Thomas- I CANT FIND A CHARACTER FOR DUKE BUT HE HAS TO BE HERE DAMN IT- please either come up with a original character for Duke or find a already made character PLEASE.

RANDOM OTHER CHARACTERS

Peter B. Parker- Must i explain why? No, no i do not. its perfect.

Mayday- Jon Kent :))) Because why not///

MJ- (Peters wife and Maydays mother) Obv Lois Lane.

Miguel- Random court of owls leader (any idea's?).

SpiderWoman- Can't think of anyone...let me know what you guys think in the comments!

Peni Parker- Kori!! She's perfect

Pig Spiderman- Beast Boy lmao

Black and White Spiderman- Meme version of Raven.

Roy Harper- Just another original character who i need in the movie.

King-Pin- Mr. Freeze! his goals match up pretty well with Kingpins anyway.

The rest of the villains Miles faces will be random Rogues from Batman's gallery.

The rest of the Spiderman's in Spiderverse will be random Justice-League members (OMG I LOVE THIS)

And, well, the first movie takes place when it's only Dick and Jason adopted (Before Jason's death, and then a bit after, when Dick is dealing with the grief)

Feel free to add more stuff in reblogs/Comments! Really want to see what you guys come up with :3

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

So, lemme give some context on why I'm bringing this theory today. I was rereading Cyanide and noticed something during chapter 10...

This line said by Morax :

"No, it would seem you instead utilize your own innate energy - this would imply your pool of innate energy is... much larger than the average Adeptus. We cannot rule out this being a human trait, but given there are no Vision bearers at the point in time... Well, regardless. It is with this innate energy that you gather the elemental imprint of the energies around you, and, likely by utilizing your Vision, parce the Hydro from the non-Hydro."(ok the many lines- I realized that more and more of his dialogue would work to support the little theory I'm about to dump here so I kept adding on lolol)

With the information received in the past chapters, some pieces started to form in my mind... We know that Ajax has some Volchiy and Zvezdochoty blood, but other then his hair and eye color along with what Rex Lapis told him, we didn't have much to show that he was a descendant of both and while his control over hydro was pretty good, it came from his tedious training. But now, now that I'm rereading... this "innate energy" that is apparently "much larger than the average Adeptus" feels very suspicious. What if it came from his Volchiy lineage? I mean, they are amphibious right? So for them and their descendants to have a natural affinity to Hydro would make sense. It would also explain why he would go deep in the waters of Luhua Pool to gather his thoughts during chapter 5 or when he went into the tank that was in the Hydro chambers in chapter 38, the water brought him comfort, it might've felt natural to go there. The fact that he could use Hydro the way he did towards the begining was probably also thanks to his Volchiy and Zvezdochoty blood, seeing how both are definitely not human, and could thus probably use the elements in a way that is more similar to that of the Adepti. So, because of that, Ajax likely has a lot less restrictions when it comes to how he uses Hydro, unlike normal Vision holders from future Teyvat. Sprinkles(it feels rude to call you Trashcan so Sprinkles it is), did you plan this from the begining? If so, then massive Kudos to you for having this much foresight on what you intend to do!

WOW, ok, uuuh I was pretty hyperfocused there haha, anyways... I can't think of anything more to add so... yeah! That's my little theory :)

i feel so seen rn,, i did in fact (more or less) plan this tysm for pointing it out;;; my efforts have been validated

(i say more or less bc some details were indeed added along the way bc they just fit, but for the most part it was all planned)

the gigantic pool of innate energy is a mix of both actually. it's bigger than the average Adeptus' because it's a combination of a human's (which is bigger than they would think they'd be, not as large as ajax', but still larger than they'd expect) and the mixed non-human heritage. they sort of- add together, which resulted in ajax having a comically large pool of innate energy. so you're correct in that it relates to his heritage, but not in that- like- he pool being huge is *just* bc of his heritage. still!

everything else is right on the money. like yeah ajax is really good at elemental manipulation but his familiarity w hydro does indeed come from his ancestry. but since he's the only human to have had control over it in who knows how long (in his world) it never really registered as odd to him that he found so much comfort in water. like- he just said 'oh well i guess im just a child of the ocean' and left it at that.

another detail to add to your theory that you might notice once you get there but i'm putting it here anyway bc now you've enabled me- ah, in the tsaritsa's monologue when ajax n co swoop in to the rescue (i believe) she mentions how it must've been his connection to the abyss what enabled her to send him back in time without completely exhausting all her energies (which would've required her to go to the brink of death to acomplish. what she doesn't know, of course, is that what made it easier for ajax to go from his world to teyvat was that the roots of his lineage were- well, in teyvat. it's not the abyss (it don't work like that), as she thought, but his ancestry. she might not have been able to send him back and then survive if he hadn't had non-human blood from teyvat in him hahah

anyway uh- thank you!! this comment made me smile like an idiot <3

[figofswords]

whats wrong w post new52 jason todd im not hip

everything reboot through task force z is written by scott lobdell who is a creep of a human being and can't write for shit. also, jason was really at the start of his redemption journey post-under the red hood, and the reboot cut off that emotional arc. jason and the outlaws had potential because i do think pairing him with roy harper (who has had similar themes throughout his arcs and is another black sheep of his superhero "family") was a really fantastic idea but unfortunately it was written by lobdell who doesn't plan story arcs, apparently doesn't do research on existing character lore, and cannot write realistic characters or dialogue to save his life. 

i will point to the "Cheer" storyline in batman: urban legends 1-6 as an actually really good modern take on jason, but that's a short story in an anthology series. his more major appearances are dogshit. i haven't read task force z even though it's a new writer because i frankly do not care for the suicide squad as a concept and i don't like the team he's been paired with (bane??? come on). it feels like another way to lump him into a very un-nuanced antihero role without examining the things that make him a complex and interesting character. lobdell's run did a lot of damage to his character and continuity and putting him on task force z is not where that is going to get fixed.

honestly the only really good jason writing (aside from cheer) is by judd winick (under the red hood, etc), who was responsible for his resurrection and who took a subtler approach to dealing with the complexity and managed to craft a really layered, compelling, and most of all believable character. just compare jason's encounter with tim in teen titans 29 (total crap, bad writing, cartoonish villainy, zero nuance and poor characterization - not lobdell, but lobdell is not the only guilty jason writer) and his encounter with mia dearden in green arrow 69-72 (winick again. complex, interesting, actually in line with jason's characterization, subtle!!!!). again, lobdell isn't the only guilty party - grant morrison's jason immediately before the new 52 reboot is completely off the rails in terms of cartoonish villainy - but before new 52, jason's story was predominantly handled by winick and was restricted to appearances in other comic runs. he didn't star in his own run until red hood and the outlaws, which means it became the authority on his continuity and character post-reboot, which is unfortunate because all of it was written by lobdell. who didn't get fired for forever because he was in with the boys gang at dc. which is crap.

anyways. sorry to go off i just have a lot a lot a lot of feelings on this matter. tldr new-52-and-onwards jason sucks because scott lobdell is a shitty writer. holding jason in my hands and sobbing baby boy what did they do to you

[eldritchmochi]

b m u y ! letter ask game

B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

i fully blame seize and gem for getting me on the shadowidomauk train, regardless of the teif personality. seize especially has me in a chokehold re: their lucien and essek combo in one of their fics, which i have not read nor do i even know if its been posted but they keep sending me snippets like MOCHI YOU WILL LOVE THIS IT HAS ALL* YOUR KINKS and by dog they're right (*it is not actually "all" this is impossible as i have Too Many Kinks but)

also gem's essek-owns-a-boujie-coffee-shop au that has shadowidomauk as end game is cute as shit im sorry gem that i haven't had the spoons to edit more (its so good aaa)

M - Name a character that you’d like to have for a friend.

i answered M with "ashton" over here in this post the other day but another character i would want to be friends withhhhhhhh hmmm lets say asterion. no i have not played the game but from the lore i have absorbed via cherry he is very much the kind of gay i would have fun having catty gossip with while also being the sort of rock for him to lean on and like..... not therapy him i hate being peoples therapist but the immovable object he can bounce trauma off and figure out How 2 People again. i think he would appreciate my bluntness and the way i set clear, explicit boundaries but am otherwise unflappable, and i would certainly appreciate his humour, and we can bond!! over the whole being ace as a result of trauma!! :D

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

answered U over here with ashton, kylo, and bucky over here but lets do it again!!

lets kick it off by going Old School with the Original Husbando ^TM: vash the stampede. you have no idea how jazzed i am about the new trigun anime (no i have not watched it i merely enjoy the smut on twitter) because vash is like, my og blorbo. did i have blorbos before? yes, kind of, but my Wants in a man* (*fictional character) had not yet developed so they were but proto-blorbos. vash tho... he has it all: tall pretty boy happy go lucky twink who is secretly Full Of Trauma but shoves it down super hard by being just so upbeat and goofy, and just really wants..... love and peace lmao. a lot of my blorbos historically have similar vibes in the "puts on an act to cover deep severe trauma" way lmao

next up: more anime i guess, but modern: i honestly super fucking love all might???? like SO MUCH he is such an interesting character and i desperately want to read fic of him grappling with his severe health issues alongside his image as a hero AND his mentoring of midoriya (preferably with that guud guud smut, but i have no clue who i'd ship him with, i only got two seasons in lmao). unfortunately, everything i like about him isnt even in cannon its just stuff that i, a cripple, can extrapolate from the worldbuilding and lil snippets we get of him but MAN i am o b s e s s e d

third!!! more comics: loki, specifically the agents of asgard loki. i am 100000% planning to cosplay that loki (i have the hair after all) and i am very excited because he is just so very Gender. it was the first time i saw a genderfluid character in mainstream media and his "i AM gender queer, i IDENTIFY as a bitch" like is something i quote constantly to describe my gender. also hes just such a dick who is obviously trying to do better and unlearn bad habits and god, i dont remember specifically what its about but he has a big fight with his earthside contact roommate buddy helper person over something and then comes crawling back and does this big speech where he talks about how he knows hes a fuck up but he's trying and he values her friendship so much even if he's been shit about showing it and it is chefs kiss

Y - What are your secondhand fandoms (i.e., fandoms you aren’t in personally but are tangentially familiar with because your friends/people on your dash are in them)?

dragon age. just... i know so much vague dragon age lore from listening to cherry talk about it because it is their BIG love for video games (pending bg3..... not sure if itll overtake da but theyre very sad they cannot play it again til monday lmao). i absolutely instigated a convo with someone on okc asking if xyz thing was a da reference and i was rIGHT it secured me a date lmao

similarly, mass effect, batfam stuff, haunted mansion, nbc hannibal (dont ask me why its a fandom in law still i cannot explain), s8 infinity (???? i only know matcha blossom), the final fantasy mmo, taz......

you can ask me more of these letter questions!! i have much time to spare!! maybe!!!

[gingerreggg]

Is that one small comic about Joseph downloading that game on his computer a one-off, or are you planning on expanding on it? It hits the type of horror I like right on the spot and overall it's just 👌👌👌👌

Been rotating it in my head since I saw it

Its so funny that u ask cause it seems like people are really into it I didn’t think anyone would want more of it lol

I might flesh it out a little bit, it depends where my brain decides to go and im still tryna think of how it would play out but I will post more if more comes to mind!

Edit: I do also have another AU which is similar in nature I will tag it here its got robots and angst

[fmp1elliotp]

in the website Step-by-Step Guide: My Comics Process (comicsforbeginners.com) the steps to making a comic are: 1: Script, 2: Thumbnails, 3: Rough sketches, 4: Borders and lettering, 5: Borders and balloons, 6: Sketching, 7: Inking, 8: Scanning and clean-up, 8.1: Colouring (optional) and 9: Repeal and replace.

i started my comic in a similar way to this process, starting with a script of sorts. i didn't have a full story written out, i still don't, but i knew the knew the story, even as it changed due to doing more research i know i will need to write the story out eventually, but i know how it starts and ends.

one difference however i don't think i made any thumbnails for my first page though i did toy with a different starting point, but i found it didn't flow how i wanted it to so i changed it into the comic im working on now. i do however have some thumbnail like pencil sketches of other parts of the story as well as a few more pages continuing the time line at the start.

once i figured out the comic panel layout i started my basic sketches, being rough and quick meant i did have to re draw a couple of them just to make them give the look and feel i wanted it to. using reference pictures for this part was vey important as to make the characters look fluid and real, in fact the drawings that i re did were where i didn't use a reference making the pictures look stiff and not believably like my character was a real person.

i written in the sketch what i wanted the people to say i used the basic font as a place holder and i plan to find a better font for the final product.

i need to finish all the background sketches but i have the basic sketch done.

another differnce is that i sketch straight onto the computor whereas this artist draws on paper and scans in their picturesad inks them digitally.

i was going to do clean line work but i prefer the sketchy look over clean lines i feel it makes my work mor fluid.

once i was happy with the sketches i have now started with the colour thought i did do this part a bit out of order to start with but now im doing it in a more concise pattern.

[mushroom-winners-proof]

so sleep has taken you yet again

[attemptsonherlifepdf]

bojack horseman and bo burnham: the art of acting like you’re acting and the comedy of misery

at the core of bojack horseman, raphael bob-waksberg’s 2014 comedy, is a story about the relationship between performance and depression. the protagonist of this renowned tragicomedy is best described as a sympathetic villain; he is shown to clearly be in the wrong across various events of the show, and is explicitly referred to as a bad person, but the audience is granted deep access to his personal struggles, resulting in some portions of the audience finding themselves on bojack’s side. the duality of his character is complex, but can be broken down into some core components, that all stem from the impacts of stardom and performance. the standup comedy of bo burnham arguably echoes this sentiment in real time. having been a performer from a young age, burnham creates work that serves as a satirical commentary on the life of entertainers. he uses original songs to explore the reliance upon and resentment for his performative nature both onstage and within his personal life. both the comedian and the netflix show are widely understood to be thinly veiling their critiques of the entertainment industry behind a particular brand of witty and absurd humour.

both bojack and burnham’s content openly criticises their audiences and explicitly states the manufactured nature of the narrative the audience is fed. in the fifth season of bojack horseman, the show satirises itself by having bojack star in a police procedural drama, parts of which are actively written by other characters to reflect events of bojack’s life. the titular character he plays, philbert, is the epitome of selfish male angst, and an example of what bob-waksberg’s show could have been; another story about a sad and angry man whose guilt supposedly makes up for the people he has hurt. according to bojack, philbert teaches us ‘we’re all terrible, so we’re all okay’, an interpretation that is harshly disputed by diane: ‘that’s not the point of philbert, for guys to watch it and feel okay. i dont want you, or anyone else, justifying their shitty behaviour because of the show.’ this moment is a direct reaction to some of the online reception bojack horseman has received. various circles of the show’s fanbase have found themselves relating to the protagonist to the point of defending his untoward behaviour, a response not intentioned by the show’s creators. this is not the only example of bob-waksberg’s ability to make his work self-evaluative. in season six’s exposure of bojack and sarah lynn’s problematic relationship, characters question their sexual encounter from the first season. the writers use this as a way of examining their own choices, and the harmful tropes they played into when using this exploitative sexual encounter as a gag. this self-evaluative quality is what sets bojack apart as a show that assesses the performance it participates in, much like the comedy of bo burnham.

bo burnham is known for directly addressing his audience, particularly in terms of discouraging idolisation and parasocial relationships. some examples of this manifest as responses to hecklers rather than a planned bit in the show, for instance:

heckler: i love you!

bo: no you don’t

heckler: i love the IDEA of you!

bo: stop participating!

he actively addresses the issues posed by being an entertainer, and encourages the audience to understand and recognise that his onstage persona is just that: an exaggerated persona. not once does burnham claim to be fully authentic onstage, and even moments of authenticity we see in his latest special, inside, are staged. we make the assumption that having the physical setting of a stage stripped away grants us a more personal look at the entertainer’s life, but he makes it clear that even in his own home we still see the aspects he has carefully constructed rather than the full truth. arguably though, parts of the show really are authentic; in his monologue during make happy, bo deconstructs his own show in a way that is similar to bojack horseman’s later seasons, admitting that all he knows is performing and thus making a show about the more mundane and relatable aspects of life would feel ‘incredibly disingenuous.’ in his attempts to separate himself from this onstage persona he actually manages to blur the lines between what is acting and what is now part of his nature as a result of his job. this notion is echoed in bojack horseman as bojack’s attention seeking nature is attributed to his years acting in front of a camera every day.

bo suggests that the era of social media has created a space in which children’s identities mimic that of an entertainer like himself, describing the phenomenon as ‘performer and audience melded together.’ in this observation he criticises the phenomenon. bo attempts to force the audience to recognise the ways in which their lives are becoming shaped by the presence of an audience and to some extent uses his own life as a warning tale against this. he points out the way in which the ‘tortured artist trope’ means that your cries for help or roundabout attempts of addressing mature themes such as substance abuse, mental illness and trauma become part of that on stage persona and therefore become part of the joke. both bo and bojack address these topics in more discrete manners earlier in their careers, but this eventually becomes expected, and thus they are forced to explicitly detail their struggles with these topics in order to be taken seriously. even then, portions of the audience are inclined to see it as part of the persona or as something that fuels the creators creativity and thus does not need to be addressed as a legitimate issue. the emphasis on creating a character or persona promotes the commodification of mental illness: any struggle must be made into a song or a joke or a bit, must be turned into part of the act in order to have value. this actually serves to delegitimise these emotions and create a disconnect between the feeling and the person, as it becomes near impossible to exist without feeling as though you are acting. even when an artist’s cries for help become blatant, they continue to go ignored because now they serve the purpose of creating content that criticises the industry they stem from. online audiences can be seen as treating bo burnham and his insightful work as existing to demonstrate the negative effects entertaining can have, and because this insight is useful or thought-provoking to audiences, he is almost demanded to keep entertaining and creating. in response to this demand, his work becomes more meta and his messages become clearer, and the more obvious his messages, the more people he reaches. this increases audience demands and traps entertainers in a cycle fraught with internal conflict.

during bojack’s second season, bojack’s date asks him, ‘come on, do that bojack thing where you make a big deal and everyone laughs, but at the same time we relate, because you're saying the things polite society won't.’ this moment exemplifies how aspects of his genuine personality have now become a part of his persona and this is demanded of him in genuine and serious situations, undermining the validity of his emotional reactions. he immediately makes a rude comment to the waitress at the restaurant they’re in and satisfies his date by performing that character he has set himself out to be. some circles of the fan base have argued that bojack is written as a depiction of somebody with borderline personality disorder, offering a psychoanalytical lens through which to view this notion of performance. a defining symptom of borderline personality disorder is a fluctuating sense of self; having grown up on camera, being demanded to perform to others as young as six years old, bojack’s sense of self will have been primarily dictated by the need to act.  whether this acting is for the sake of comedy, or as a representation of masking his mental illness, when they need to act is taken away bojack entirely loses his sense of self and relapses into his addictions: ‘i felt like a xerox of a xerox of a person.’ burnham’s depictions of depression run along a similar vein; in his new special he poses the idea that his comedy no longer serves the same personal purpose it once did for him. he questions ‘shit should I be joking at a time like this?’ and satirises the idea that arts have enough value to change or impact the current global issues that we are facing. burnham’s ‘possible ending song’ to his latest special, he asks ‘does anybody want to joke when no-one’s laughing in the background? so this is how it is.’ implicit in this question is the idea that when the audience is taken away and there is nobody to perform his pain to, he is left with his pain. instead of being able to turn his musings and thoughts into a product to sell to the public, he is forced to just think about them in isolation and actually face them, an abrupt and distressing experience.

the value of performance and art is questioned by both bojack and burnham, particularly during the later years of their respective content. burnham’s infamous song, art is dead, appears to be a direct response to the question ‘what is the worth of art?’ he posits that performing is the result of a need for attention (‘my drug’s attention, i am an addict, but i get paid to indulge in my habit’) and repeatedly jokes throughout his career that the entertainment industry receives more respect that it deserves (‘i’m the same as you, im still doing a job or a service, i’m just massively overpaid’). his revelations regarding the inherent desire for attention that runs through all entertainers is frequently satirised in bojack horseman. bojack is comically, hyperbolically attention hungry and self-obsessed, and the show has a running gag in which he uses phrases along the lines of ‘hello, why is nobody paying attention to me, the famous movie star, instead of these other boring people.’ his constant attempts to direct the focus of others towards himself result in bojack feeling like ‘everybody loves you, but nobody likes you.’ his peers buy into his act and adore the comical, exaggerated, laughable aspects of his character, but find very little room to respond to him on a genuinely personal level because of this. interestingly, bojack appears to enjoy catering to his audience and the instant gratification it produces, whereas bo burnham becomes increasingly candid about his mixed feeling towards his audience. ‘i wanna please you, but i wanna stay true to myself, i wanna give you the night out that you deserve, but i wanna say what i think and not care what you think about it.’ he admits to catering to what audiences want from him, but resents both the audience and himself in the process as it reveals to himself which parts of his character are solely for the sake of people watching him.

within bojack horseman, this concept is applicable not only to the protagonist, but to the various forms of performer demonstrated in the plot. towards the show’s end, sarah lynn asks ‘what does being authentic have to do with anything?’ to which herb kazzaz responds, ‘when i finally stopped hiding behind a facade i could be at peace.’ this highlights the fact that because entertainers are demanded to continue the facade, they do not receive the opportunity to find ‘peace.’ this sentiment is scattered throughout the show, through a musical motif, the song ‘don’t stop dancing.’ the song stems from a life lesson bojack imparted to sarah lynn at a young age, and becomes more frequently used as the show progresses and bojack’s situation worsens.

sarah lynn is also used to explore the value of entertainers; in the show’s penultimate episode, she directly compares her work as a pop icon to the charity work of herb, arguing that if she suffered in order to produce her work. it has to mean something. she lists the struggles she faced when on tour: ‘i gave my whole life...my manager leaked my nudes to get more tour dates added, my mom pointed out every carb i ate, it was hell. but it gave millions of fans a show they will never forget and that has to mean something.’ implicit in this notion is the idea that entertainment is the epitome of self-sacrifice. there is a surplus of mentally ill individuals within the industry, largely due to the nature of the industry itself, but some may argue that the cultural grip the industry has, and the vast amounts of respect and money it generates annually, gives the suffering of these prolific individuals meaning.

the juxtaposing responses entertainers feel towards their audiences manifest as two forms of desperation: the desperation to be an individual who is held accountable, and the desperation to be loved and validated. we see both bojack and bo depict how they oscillate between  ‘this is all a lie’ and ‘my affection for my audience is genuine’, or between ‘do not become infatuated with me im a character’ and ‘please fucking love my character i do not know how to be loved on a personal level.’ bojack explicitly asks diane to write a slam piece on him and ‘hold him accountable’, similar to bo’s song ‘problematic’ in which the hook includes the phrase ‘isn’t anybody gonna hold me accountable?’ for his insensitive jokes as a late teenager. their self-awareness is what enables their self-evaluative qualities, but self-awareness is its own issue. bojack grapples with a narcissistic view of his own recognition of his behaviour before settling on a more nuanced, albeit depressing take. originally he makes the assumption that in recognising the negative aspects of himself, he is superior to those who behave similarly: ‘but i know im a piece of shit. that makes me better than all the pieces of shit that don’t know theyre pieces of shit.’ eventually, during his time at rehab he is forced to reconcile with the fact that self awareness does not, to put it bluntly, make you the superior asshole, it just makes you the more miserable one. the show does, however, make a point to recognise how the entertainment industry protects ‘pieces of shit’, prioritising their productive value over how much they deserve to be held accountable, demonstrated using characters like hank hippopoalus. the show itself obviously stems from the entertainment industry, as it is a form of media produced by netflix, one of the most popular streaming platforms available. bojack horseman and bo burnham represent the small corner of the industry that is reflective enough to showcase the damage it inflicts. this is powerful in terms of education and awareness, and urges audiences to question their own motives and versions of performance, but the reflection alone is not powerful enough to help the artists in question. burnham’s candid conversations surrounding his mental health continue to reveal a plethora of issues somewhat caused or sustained by the nature of his career. within bojack horseman, bojack is only able to stop hurting other characters when those characters construct a situation that forces him to face consequence, his introspection alone is not enough. while bojack ends on a message of hope, suggesting to the audience that reverting back to the status quo is not the only acceptable way for events to end, it leaves stinging lessons and social commentary with the audience regarding the unnatural and damaging narrative that performers live through. on a similar but markedly different note, bo burnham’s work and personal progression is playing out in real time, and not in a way that is as raw and genuine as it appears. each bit is planned, even the most vulnerable moments that appear unplanned and painful. his latest special is not entirely devoid of hope, but does translate to audiences as a somewhat exaggerated look around the era of social media and the development of performance, using himself as an example.

the absurdist humour that often acts as a vehicle for poignant statements or emotionally provocative questions is very specific to each media creator. bob-waksberg’s use of puns, tongue twisters and entirely ridiculous circumstances served to simultaneously characterise his points as an expected part of the show’s style of humour, similar to bojack’s emotional instability, but also to make them appear gut-punching in comparison to the humour. burnham’s work is similar in that poignant but blunt statements are often sandwiched between absurd and exaggerated jokes, making them stand out via contrast but not giving the audience too much time to dwell upon them as they are said. performance art is second nature to entertainers, and is presented a an issue that is infiltrating the general population via social media rather than solely affecting the ‘elites’. bojack horseman and bo burnham present the duality of artists simultaneously attempting to level the playing field and increase their chances of survival in the industry, and encourage audiences to know that everyone is bluffing and you’ll never have the right cards anyway.

i.k.b

[nakamoto-aesthetics]

Guardian Angel | Johnny

synopsis: on the way from a friends house you bump into a man who was trying to harm you but luckily a guy named johnny saves you before you were taken. from there you get to know him a bit and things get… interesting. (the synopsis makes the story sound boing but i promise it’s not :)

pairing: johnny suh x fem!reader

genre: angst, fluff, a lil smut

warning: something similar to human trafficking in the beginning (if you’re sensitive to that topic please don’t read this fic), heavy make out shesh, not proofread!, other than that there’s nothing i can think of

a/n: also remember that this is a FIC and not real life, please don’t welcome strangers into your home :))

word count: 4.1k

“where do you think you’re going in that cute little dress baby?” an unfamiliar voice is heard as you walk down the fairly dark street. you don’t say anything and continue to walk not paying any attention to the voice. there was no one else really around, barely any cars passing by, let alone people.

“I asked you a question, I expect an answer” the tone was firm, his footsteps getting faster and so do yours. you hurriedly pull out your phone, quickly forming a plan that involved some of your friends but that all crashed and burned once you saw the dead battery flashing on the screen. your heart sink and tears instantly pooled in your eyes, threatening to fall from your eyes. that was your only escape, what were you gonna do now?

you were just trying to get home that was all. maybe you should’ve let your friend drive you home but you didn’t because you didn’t want to cause your friend an inconvenience. you were beginning to regret that decision, all because of that small reason. at least you would’ve been home safe and sound but no, you decided to be the unselfish and independent person you are, and look where it got you.

“hey!” a hand grips your shoulder from behind and swings you around. “I asked you a question when I ask a question I expect an answer” the guy wasn’t a foreigner, he was most definitely korean. he seemed to be in his mid-30s, the age definitely showed. there were creases and wrinkles in some areas of his face and his clothes were all black including his shoes. you try to pull away from the grip but he only grips your shoulder harder, hurting you more than you would like to admit.

“maybe I need to refresh your short memory,” the guy chuckles lowly, his finger shifting your head up to meet his eyes. “where are you going in that cute little dress?” his eyes looked you up and down, his free hand gliding down your waist, slowly traveling to your ass. your face stayed straight the entire time even while tears fell down your face. you knew who had the upper hand power in the situation, you knew there was little you could do even if you didn’t dare say it aloud.

“still not talking? well maybe I should force it out of you huh?” he tilts his head. no, because the whole time you were creating a plan b in your head since plan a failed. there was no way you were going to allow yourself to be trafficked.

“well then, you made this choice for yourself. i’m sorry to do this sweetheart” his hands grope your ass and that's when you strike. you move your leg up to kick him in the balls but he’s faster than you, grabbing ahold of your leg before it collided with his area.

“is that what you were doing this whole time, creating that wack-ass plan? you didn’t think i’d see it coming that’s so cute,” he fake coos. “i’ve been doing this longer than you, i’m smarter and faster than you love” he throws down your leg and in the blink of an eye, you are turned around in his grip with an arm around your neck. your hand flies to his arm and you pull on it, not wanting to be choked to death.

“is there a problem over here miss?” another unfamiliar voice calls, making both you and the guy look over to where it came from. it was a tall guy with light brown hair. he had tan skin and different pieces of clothing put together that oddly worked. his eyes were a soft brown, not too harsh. he was… kinda cute if you were being honest. he was also In the process of taking his headphones out of his ears, for what reason? you didn’t know.

“there’s no problem here, keep on walking buddy” the male answered for you.

“I asked the lady not you” the new stranger spoke harshly to the trafficker and look at you once again. “are you okay?” he knitted his eyebrows. your eyes caught his, filling with tears, threatening to spill from your eyes. he nodded softly understanding how you were feeling through your eyes. he then looked at the male behind you.

“let her go, I don’t wanna hurt you” he said firmly.

“oh yeah, what can you do?” he looks him up and down and laughs at the guy, walking back to his original place, which was a block or two away.

“Im can do a lot” the stranger walks in front of you and the guy, making you both stop once again.

“listen man, this is my girlfriend. we’re just having a little disagreement aren’t we honey?” the guy tightens his hold around your neck. you open your mouth trying to suck in more air but his hold gets tighter. you tap on his arm in hopes that he’ll release you but he doesn’t. there was no way you were gonna agree with him.

the stranger doesn’t think furthermore and before either of you knew it, your head was being moved out the way carefully and a punch was thrown at the guy's face. you heard a crack of a bone and quickly moved away from the area, running out the man's hold.

it was like an action movie, the man was the villain and the stranger was the hero, and you were the one in need of help. the fight ended with the stranger still standing and the man now on the floor. he wasn’t moving but his chest was still rising and falling. he wasn’t dead although you weren’t sure what was gonna happen in the next few minutes but you weren’t gonna find out either.

“are you okay?” the stranger rushes over to you, sliding off his jacket and handing it to you.

“that won’t be necessary” you chuckle and wave your hand at his jacket.

“please, I insist” he places the jacket around you, not wanted to make you feel uncomfortable by touching you.

“thank you” you look down and smile softly.

“it’s no problem, I could never just walk by if I saw something like that” he smiles gently. “do you want me to walk you home? you know, to make sure you get there safe?”

“uhh… why not” you smile and begin to walk in the direction, he comes up beside you and walks along with you.

you pulled his jacket closer to your body for warmth as you kept your eyes glued to the sidewalk, scarred by what had just happened. you’ve never experienced something that traumatic before. you could’ve been snatched up a while ago if it hadn’t been for the guy walking beside you right now.

“thank you” your voice was quiet in a way it had never been before.

“anytime” he glances over to you, seeing your small frame wrapped in his jacket.

“I really do mean it, if you wouldn’t have been there I don’t know what I would've done”

“yeah, i’m glad I was there too. it hurts me to see things like that happen” he shakes his head. “I wish I could protect everyone around the world,” he breathily laughs. “that’s probably why I want to be a police officer” your ears perked up when you heard that. you looked up at him with surprised eyes and he looked at you nodding his head.

“it’s always been a dream of mine ever since I was a kid. when I read my first comic book I loved everything about it, I knew I wanted to be some kind of hero after that. I wanted my parents to buy me every single superhero costume so then I could feel like that character, with all the powers and stuff.” you breathily laugh at that, he notices and laughs with you. “anyways that’s enough about me, I wanna know about you” he looks attentively to you.

the conversation continues until you got home. you learned that his name was johnny and that he was 25. he grew up in his hometown chicago but his parents are both korean, and he moved to seoul for better job opportunities. you gotta admit, the guy was interesting and you wanted to know more about him, you thought he was pretty cool.

“so… this is it?” johnny stuffs his hands in his pockets and looks up at the house.

“yep” you look at the house and back to him. it got quiet for a few seconds, neither of you wanted to say bye to each other. johnny wanted to get to know you more and you wanted to know him more also.

“listen, I don’t know if the feeling is mutual but I wanna talk to you some more so how about this, I give my number and you get to choose if you want to text me” he offers and you instantly take it up. he smiles softly and enters his number in your phone. once you receive it back you see the name option blank.

“you’re not gonna name yourself?” you cock your eyebrow at him and he lightheartedly chuckles.

“I want you to have free will and set it as whatever you want. I want you to always feel like you have a choice when you're with me y/n” a smile was blatant on his face, allowing the corners of your mouth to pull up also.

“well thank you very much johnny,” you say, staring into his eyes, which seemed to catch the light from the streetlights in a way you’d never seen before. would it be weird to say that you wanted to get to know the sweet guy in front of you more?

“um.. i guess i should get going, it was nice meeting you y/n” his hypnotizing but kind eyes still staring into your soul. you never wanted to part away from them, from him. johnny was captivating, too captivating to let slip through your fingers.

“it was nice meeting you too. see you later johnny” you dismiss him yet his feet don’t move, they stay in place and so does he, looking at you with eyes of fondness. this continues for about a minute before you break the silence/slight sexual tension.

“uh- actually, do you wanna come in? i’m not going to sleep right away, honestly might have some trouble falling asleep” you shake your head, looking down and pretend to find your nails interesting.

“a-are you sure? i wouldn’t want to make you uncomfortable-” he seems caught off guard by your words, obviously snapping him out of whatever trance he was in.

“not at all, now come on. i’ll put on a movie and get some food and drinks. it’ll be good” you smile brightly, grabbing his hand without thinking and taking him up to your front door. you unlock it quickly and turn on the lights, stepping into your clean house.

“this is a very nice environment you have y/n” he looks around staying still in his place, nodding his head, seeming genuinely impressed with it.

“thank you, it took a bit of work to get to this point” you chuckle, taking off your shoes and then his jacket. “oh, here you go” you hold the piece of heavy fabric out to him. he utters a ‘thanks’ once he sees it and takes it.

“you can put your shoes there” you point to the shoe rack beside to door. “and your jacket can go there” you point to the coat racket right next to the shoe rack. he doesn’t say anything and does as you say.

“now make yourself comfortable i’ll be right back” you point to the couch and then walk away but not before you caught his eyes. damn those eyes..

“now why did she do that? i swear horror movie characters are so fucking dumb” you roll your eyes and johnny laughs, agreeing with you.

“i mean what would you do in her position” you look at him. the light from the tv illuminating him perfectly. it was dark everywhere else so the only light you had was from the tv.

“i would’ve saved the friend and then booked it not stand there like an idiot waiting for someone to kill me” he looked at you right back, giving you that same look from earlier but his eyes were a bit brighter, filled with joy.

“exactly! so why can’t she do the same?” you sigh.

“y/n it’s just a movie” he chuckles.

“i know, i know but they really irritate me yk? like why stand there knowing damn well a killer is in the house with you i mean it’s-“

“alright it’s time to turn this off” he backs out of the movie, returning to the netflix screen where you started.

“hey!” you look at him with confused eyes.

“you were way too into it, it‘s not good for your blood pressure.” he says and looks at the tv, going through the comedy section.

you kept your eyes on him watching the way his eyes watch the screen attentively. you nibble on your lip, beginning to get lost in your thoughts. he could be your friend, best friend, boyfriend... husband- too far y/n, too far. you just met the guy but you felt like you’ve known him for a long time. you could see him being a potential boyfriend honestly. it’s been a while since you’ve had a boyfriend, really only focused on work. it wouldn’t be a bad idea. johnny seemed nice and he was interesting in a way nobody has been before, you could stay up talking to him and it wouldn’t get boring ever. what if you guys-

“y/n?” his head turns toward you and he catches you staring back at him with your lip between your teeth. he smiles softly and that’s when you are dragged out of your thoughts.

“here” you say out of nowhere making johnny laugh harder than before, his head is thrown back and his eyes are closed, filling the atmosphere with his beautiful laughs. meanwhile, you sat there a little confused and startled, blinking multiple times.

“huh?” you furrow your eyebrows.

“nothing” he waves his hands continuing to laugh.

“yah!” you hit his arm playfully. “i was lost in my thoughts im sorry” you look down feeling your cheeks heat up.

“while staring at me? what were you thinking about?” he says after his laughter dies down.

“uh.. nothing important, what did you pick?” you look at the tv trying to change the subject and you’re thankful that it works.

“that was a great movie, what’d you think?” johnny looks over to you and you nod tiredly, letting out a yawn. “oh somebody’s tired” he says and you don’t know if it was because you were tired but you thought it was cute.

“i enjoyed it and yes i am tired” you lazily chuckle and rub your face.

“alright, i’ll leave-“ he goes to stand up.

“no-“ you say abruptly and grab his wrist and his eyes shift down to your hold on him. “i mean… no you don’t have to, it’s late and i don’t want you going home at this time of night” you checked your phone with your free hand, completely forgetting about your grip on his wrist.

‘4:08 am’

“damn it’s four already?” your eyes bulge out your head and look up at him, his eyes still watching the way your skin was touching his. “you mister aren’t going anywhere, wouldn’t want anything to happen to you” you move closer to him and he notices this. you take your hand off his wrist and interlock your arms, resting your head on his shoulder. maybe it was the sleepiness that put you in this position but you didn’t mind it one bit, too tired to care.

he seemed surprised tensing up almost immediately but relaxing once he realized what was really happening. you were like the little bear that found comfort in the big bear. johnny brushed the extra pieces of hair out the way, how was it that he’d just met you but he felt so connected to you as if you were a lifelong friend he hadn’t seen in a long time. he didn’t under but at the same time, he didn’t want to understand it. he’d rather just let whatever this was flow at its own pace.

“do you think we’re moving too fast?” you say out of nowhere, pulling him out of his thoughts.

“i was just thinking about that and i think we should just let it happen naturally. whatever happens, happens” he says in a sweet voice and caresses your arm gently with his free hand. “if it feels right then act on it right? anyways, that’s the motto”

you move your head to look up at him and nod, intending to catch his eyes and you do. you’re only inches away from each other’s faces, eyes shifting from his eyes to his lips and so do his before either of you knew it your lips collided. johnny holding your jaw between his index and thumb. you wrap your hands around his neck and sit up slowly shifting onto his lap. your heart began to race as you kissed him deeper, johnny too, feeling his heart pumping with adrenaline, moving his hands down to your waist and gripping it. you moan softly against his lips as his hands travel inside your shirt. he felt like pure ecstasy against you. his touch, his lips, his words, everything him felt so good with you.

his hands then slid down to your hips and he gripped them, continuing to kiss you like no tomorrow. he pulls away from your lips, you following his lips for more, and he chuckles; before you knew it his lips were on your neck, pressing soft kisses to it making you moan softly. when his lips found your sweet spot he attacked it, leaving a dark red hickey in that place. you began to move your hips against his, hungry for some type of stimulation down there. his hands fly to your hips and he rests his head in the crook of your neck, letting out soft grunts.

you bite your lip and pull him up to kiss his neck, one of his hands rest on your shoulder. once you find his sweet spot you do as he did and leave a dark red hickey. you pull back and look at it proudly.

“an eye for an eye” you wink at him.

“yeah, yeah” he smiles and pulls your face closer, kissing you again, this time using a bit of tongue. you moan instantly, letting him win and he explores your mouth as your hands glide down his chest, you could feel all of the contours and lines of his muscles and abs, letting you know he was fit. which only made him sexier. your hands slip under his shirt and you explore the area. he was too hot for you to handle, you could pounce on him again even though you kind of already pounced on him. he’s just too hot.

you pulled away abruptly and he looked at you with a confused expression. you smirked and stood up, him still looking at you, obviously confused. he reached for your wrist but you pulled it away and before he could say anything, with the help of his thighs you got on your knees. his confused expression was now gone as he watched the scene unfold, his jeans were so tight against him and you knew that. his hard-on wasn’t small either, it was actually pretty big, you could still see his print though it was dark and you wanted to help him out so you teased him by gliding your fingers up his thighs and then teased his dick by running your finger up and down his hard-on.

“stop t-teasing” he breathily moans, watching your every move.

you smirked, looking up at him and unzipped his jeans.

did you guys fuck? no. just oral sex, that was all you guys agreed to. johnny thought it would be a bad idea to have sex during the initial meet. he said it would be best to give it at least a few weeks. he truly did wanna get to know you some more as did you and that’s why you were okay with not going that far.

you slept in your room after you guys were done giving each other head. you’d given him a blanket to sleep with and a comfortable pillow instead of making him use one of the uncomfortable decor ones on your couch.

“thank you johnny,” you said as he grabbed his coat. you let him stay for breakfast, that you and him cooked together. (he wasn’t going to let you cook it by yourself)

“for what? i should be thanking you. i had fun” he says as he puts his coat on.

“because i had fun too. the most i’ve had in a long time so thank you for that”

“it’s nothing really, i’m glad i could reflect some light on” he laughs and slips his shoes on.

“i hope we could do that again” you hint your fondness toward him.

“of course we can you just gotta let me know. i’m always free” he looks at you with that look once again and you can’t help but let it slip out.

“why do you keep looking at me like that, you’ve been giving me the same look since you met me” you say softly so then it doesn’t one out harsh and you know it doesn’t when he responds.

“because...” he moves closer to you which makes your heart skip a beat. “i actually like you y/n, and i mean it. you’re so different from other girls i’ve met. i’m not just another handsome guy to you. you take an interest in the things i say and the stories i tell you, not many girls do and i thank you for that alone. thank you for listening to me.” he moves even closer to you, grabbing your hands which makes your heart begin to race. “so when i look at you like this, i’m thanking you.” he doesn’t say anything after that continuing to stare deeply into your eyes.

you felt so drunk in the moment, hypnotized by his eyes and soft words. you could already feel how head over heels you were gonna be for this guy, that's if you guys kept it up, which you think you will. the chemistry was way too strong for either of you to let go of.

“thank you” you whisper and he nods gently not breaking eye contact. “you should get going, i wouldn’t want you to be late for work. you still gotta get home in time to change out of these clothes... do you need a ride or?”

“kind of... only if it’s not too much trouble” he answers.

“of course it’s not, come on” you quickly get your stuff on and take him home.

“this is it” he says and you stop the car once you’re in front of the house.

“okay, i’ll see you later” you look over to him and he’s already looking at you. nothing happens for a few seconds but then johnny leans over to you and kisses you. you sigh into the kiss and grab ahold of his neck and kiss him back as his hand rests on your neck, he kisses you just as deep as last night but before anything serious happens he pulls away and lets a ‘text me’ roll of his tongue before he exits the vehicle and walks to his front door, unlocking it and walking inside. all without looking back.

you however, were in complete awe. he kissed you like that and then left. damn was he a good kisser, you could still feel the sensation of his lips on yours even after he was gone. you touched your lips and then smiled, pulling off.

bonus: later that day; the evening

you decide to pick up your phone and do exactly what he said earlier.

you: what was that all about earlier? - y/n

johnny🥰😫: so you decided to finally text me😊

johnny🥰😫: and what was what about👀

you: you know what i talking about. the kiss in the car

johnny🥰😫: you know, it was just a see you later kiss

you: mhm, okay mr. suh

johnny🥰😫: what?😂

you: imma give your ass a ‘see you later’ kiss and then walk away. see how it makes you feel

johnny🥰😫: bring it on then sexy, let’s see what you got

you: oh i’ll show you what i got👀

johnny🥰😫: are we still talking about kissing?😳

you: maybe, maybe not🤷‍♀️👀

NCT Masterlist

[kaissauce]

okay, phucker, do it

ok let's do this @rolli-zolli @ninikins

Horrortale: technically an alternate timeline instead of au. after a neutral run where undyne's queen the core malfunctions and food becomes scarce and people resort to eating humans because sans suggested it. Aliza is the protag. latest thing that happened in the ongoing comic was Aliza agreeing to go with Papyrus to solve his last puzzle. as for the appearance of sans he has a HUGE hole on his head and a red eye. he got the hole from undyne when she got his magic eye which was going to be used to power the core. sans didnt die tho and killed the guards holding him down and just took whatever eye was on the ground and used it as a replacement for his magic eye that's powering the core. i quote first words he said after putting the eye in his socket "who the fuck took my phone?". then the magic eye went apeshit and broke the core again. oh and also he made alphys braindead by quite literally scrambling her brain. yeah this au is rough sans hasn't really eaten anything since the core was destroyed since he decided not to eat any humans.

Dusttale: i think this was originally a korean au? basic rundown: too many genocide runs sans goes apeshit and tries to get his Lv up by killing monsters himself man went fuckin insane kills his brother blah blah blah edgy angsty au the ghost of papyrus haunts him n stuff. sans literally just looks the same except he has his hood on and sometimes artists draw him with papyrus's scarf. the cool artists draw him with his hood on and has the hood completely cover his face so u can only see his glowing pupils. although people call him dust sans he's actually named murder sans

Killer: so frickin similar to dusttale except sans goes apeshit because of the human being like "join me lmao". three different outcomes come from this. i think it was 1 sans joins human 2 sans joins human kills human later on 3 kills human or something. friends with color sans who is basically his impulse control. pretty sure his soul's fucked up and Color sans tries to make his soul un-fucked but Nightmare comes in and fucks up the progress. he has white shorts, his eye sockets are constantly pitch black and leaking tar or something also has a weird target thingy on his chest. OH YEAH ALSO HE HAS BEEF WITH UNDERSWAP SANS ALMOST FORGOT. basically swap sans tried to make killer good and then they had a fight, swap sans lost and was on the verge of dying thankfully swap papyrus was able to save him in time i think

Dreamtale: Dream isn't in the drawing but his brother, Nightmare is. Sooo he used to not look all goooy and have tentacles n stuff but then he ate a couple hundred apples and yeah. he's six years old apparently. Nightmare and Dream are supposed to be guardians of a tree that has 500 golden apples and 500 black n goopy apples. the golden aples are positive and the goop ones are negative. you're not supposed to eat either of them cus bad shit happens. Dream and Nightmare live in a village and for whatever reason they're all dicks to Nightmare because ooughh he's the guardian of negativity that's not baller. he also goes apeshit (do u see a pattern here) and eats a goopy apple n then becomes the goop man he is today. he fuckin eats 999 apples jesus christ. and the last one is eaten by Dream because if u eat all 1000 apples u become unstoppable and immortal. so that would be a bad thing if nightmare got the last one. wop wop wop these dude aren't sanses they only have the body of one if that makes sanse.

Error: manlet. he's literally an error and that's why he's like that. also he's technically not a sans now, the redesign for him was so that he could be in the creator's webcomic named Lucidia. Error sans, aka the destroyer of aus, finds aus to be mistakes so he tries to get rid of them. his process of doing this is simple: get the human soul to the void so that they can't reset, destroy the au. he primarily attacks using his strings which can wrap around one's soul and control them. he like some aus like outertale because of how open and empty it is. he likes to be alone and has haphephobia. if u touch him he'll glitch out and possibly crash. he crashes whenever gets overwhelmed. said crashing causes him to shut down and reboot and he's powerless while doing so. he's actually pretty easy to beat if you know how to push his buttons the right way. in the og ask error blog made by his creator Loverofpiggies he kidnaps Swap sans who tries to help Error become a better person. this ends horribly as error leaves Swap sans in the void who then becomes an error aswell due to being alone in the void too long. Error actually regrets doing that to swap sans

Aftertale: OK FUN FACT THE SANS OF THIS AU, WHO'S NICKNAMED "Geno" IS ERROR. aftertale is a comic made by LoverofPiggies it's been SOOOO long since i last read it so i cant really give a good summary. but anyways Geno is trapped in the loading screen with the human and will die if he leaves the loading screen. eventually from being in the loading screen for too long after the events of aftertale he becomes Error.

OOF WOWIE THERE'S SO MUCH TO GO

Underfresh: he's not even a sans either. "Fresh" is a parasite inhabiting a skeleton. his birthday is on 4/20 which is ironic cus he doesn't like drugs. he censors swears. he speaks 90's lingo and dresses like a neon sign. for some reason he has eyebrows and a gold tooth. the glasses he has can change text but normally defaults to "YOLO". he can't feel anything since he has no soul of his own and just latches onto the host's. instead he learns how to act from the people around him. not being able to feel actually bothers him a LOT

Echotale: Aka Gaster sans. uhhh this one was also a comic if i remember correctly. basically Frisk and G!Sans are the only ones in the au and they're trying to find the core to fix the fucked up timeline that they're in but the core keeps changing positions so that sucks.

Swapfell: originally made by Khhoppang who left social media. Started out as an Alphys x Undyne au so only those two were designed but Kh was planning to design more of the characters. before they could people had a field day with the idea of mashing two aus together and SO many people came up with their own designs for sans and papyrus. Khhoppang left social media because they got overwhelmed with all the art reposters and stuff, pretty sad. the appearance of the sans in that au is the purple one with a scythe (i dont think he has a scythe in the og design).

Swapfell Red: so basically this is the swapfell made by people that isn't Khhoppang. community made per se. Sans's appearance changes constantly because as said before many people made many different designs. typically he just looks like Swap sans but with red high heel boots and his color scheme fits underfell

Fellswap (gold): Au made by blackggggum. so swapfell is underswap turned fell, fell swap is underfell swapped it takes a bit to understand that. his appearance is somewhat similar to Swapfell red. He's kind to his friends but if ur his enemy he'll fucking deck you. he's blind in his left eye, the leader of the royal guard, and secretly into dressmaking. fun fact in this au Papyrus has autism

Xtale: uuuuhhhh so Cross is a complicated one. he's part of the royal guard along with papyrus. has beef with xgaster. responsible for the downfall of his au and then Underverse happens and Ink is all "oh cool someone to mess with" and they became friends for a bit then shit hit the fan

Underfell: OOOOO YES UNIRONICALLY ONE OF MY FAVORITES. So Underfell sans is actually a very powerful mf and constantly has his magic eye activated because he has so much magic. This au is also technically an alternate timeline where monsters "lost their humanity" as the creator put it. so basically trust in the underground is scarce. Sans and papyrus, contrary to many interpretations i fucking hate, are actually on good terms (and no sans doesn't call papyrus "boss" the creator said if he does he'd do it ironically and papyrus would hate it). Fun facts he pays Grillby in socks (grillby accepts the socks as payment and wears them), if u make grillby laugh he gives u a jacket that looks like his and it's heavily implied that sans made him laugh because their jackets are similar

Underswap: ah yes another classic that i love as well. originally made by PopcornPr1nce who fled social media because they hated how the majority fandom treated Underswap (Blueberry and Carrot were popular names for the fanon swap papyrus and sans). Swap sans is constantly infantilized by the community which sucks and i hate it so i draw my own very super cool version of him whom i kin because i am also very super cool.

Outertale: mainly an aesthetic au pretty sure there's no comic of it. basically, instead of underground they in space. outer sans dies in underverse after like minutes of screentime lmao

Epictale: a comic made by Yugogeer. the og comic was retconned and the creator loathes the original version and made a reboot that's much better. Sans actually dies very early in it because Yugo hates how Sans is almost always focused on in aus. also the creator hates how meme-y their sans has become (like him saying bruh every single sentence, using a rubber chicken as a weapon, cookies, etc.) he's friends with Cross but not in canon. He has a purple magic eye that makes him immortal and i think only epic gaster could remove it which is how sans was able to be killed when he fought gaster.

Temmietale: it's undertale but everyone is temmie, don't question it

Trainertale: it's undertale but it's Pokemon, don't question it

Dancetale: it's undertale but you dance instead of fight, don't

Mobtale/Mafiatale: im unsure if mobtale and mafiatale are separate or not but they are very similar. basically undertale but mafia it's self explanatory

Undertale: no clue which au is this one, nope not at all/j

Bittytale or whatever idk: so take sans, make him small. boom. never understood this au

THAT BASTARD INK: HOOO BOY SAVED THE WORST FOR LAST. FUCK THIS GUY/j. THIS DUDE. IS THE REASON IM STILL INTO UNDERTALE AUS. I LOVE EM SO MUCH. also technically not a sans. He comes from an unfinished au and ripped his own soul to escape said au and became an outcode. for so long he was just a soulless husk until someone drew him and he got splashed with paint which let him feel. soon he learned to keep the paint in vials so that he can be able to feel 24/7. And then he learned how to create things with a paintbrush and the paint and spent time alone drawing up his own world until a portal appeared and took him to the multiverse. now he encourages artists to keep creating aus. he's the protector of aus in the sense that he keeps other outcodes from disrupting the script of the au, so if it's pacifist and an outcode tries to kill people he'd stop them, if it's genocide and an outcode tried to help them he'd stop them. no matter what he wants the au to stay on script. fun fact the creator of ink and the creator of error never had them interact with each other in canon, that was all the fandom's doing. Contrary to popular belief he's not really considered "good" his alignment is officially "Chaotic neutral". I personally interpret him a lot more chaotic than in canon because it's fun but he's a pretty chill guy actually. he can just be a bit of an ass sometimes. According to the creator of Ink (who is Comyet) his interpretation in Underverse is not canon compliant. one of the biggest canon things that underverse contradicts is Ink deliberately not taking his vials. if he were to do that in canon he'd become a husk again which is the equivalent of him "dying". he was described as a walking corpse by Comyet, without the vials he can't function anymore. Like Error he's pretty easy to beat if you know his weaknesses. also he has fears of empty spaces and being alone

off topic kinda but i very much love how Error and Ink are opposites yet parallel even though they were completely written without the other in mind. Error believes getting rid of aus is getting rid of anomalies. Ink believes people interfering with aus are anomalies. Error loves emptiness, Ink hates emptiness. list goes on it's funky fresh.

also uhhh sanses missing from that drawing that i can name from the top of my head

Seraphim sans, Insans, Dusttrust, He who shall not be named because he's from an 18+ au, Swapswap (yes. that exists), Storyshift, Inverted Fate (very good au i suggest checking it out), Negatale, Oceantale, Template, Pale, Mafiafell, Farmtale

my phone is at 9% y'all are spared from me going on

[writing-for-me-at-this-point]

The Missing Guardian | Prologue: Act I Scene I | Mondstadt: The Outlander Who Caught The Wind

A.N. okay! so first chapter of a new series im starting! its a series rewrite of the genshin impact plot. i had always wanted to do one of these, and with my comic obsession, if you read marvel/dc comics youll find some crossovers hints. hope yall enjoy as i finally start to write and get on some type of schedule. its also one in the morning so imma head to bed :)

Word Count. 1,633 words

Page Count. 4.8 pages

Synopsis. When you’ve finally found a home in a set of twins who travel across worlds, setting out to enjoy your time with them; learning everything you could while traveling from world to world. But this time was different, because this time, someone stood in your way from continuing forward, from going home. You watched as your family was torn from you once again, leaving you stuck in a world alone with only a guide, the memories of a life long left behind, and the hope of finding them once again.

[ Series Masterlist: The Missing Guardian Mini Masterlist ]

[ Act I, Scene I ] [ next scene ]

Prologue Act I: Scene I | Monstadt: The Outlander Who Caught The Wind

                So, what you're trying to say is that you fell here? From another world?

                But, when you wanted to leave and go back to your world... Your path was blocked by some unknown God?

        You could only nod at Paimons commentary, watching as she floated next to you, a small hand to her chin as she looked deep in thought. Looking forward to the vast openness of the ocean in front of you, memories flashing before your own eyes as the pain settled in your heart, the wind slowly picking up before the tears filled your eyes. It hurt to think back at what happened, to how you lost them, the two people to found you after being lost for so long.

        That carmine red outlining the dark abyss shaped like a star would haunt you as a woman walked out, snowy white hair and the bandages around her legs flowing around her as her voice seemed to break through your skull, demanding your attention while the twins next to you could only look up in confusion. The anger in those golden eyes was enough to make you take a step back, you've never met her- Hell, you've never seen or heard of anyone like her, so why did she come at you with such ferocity? Even her mere presence contrasted with the ivory, baby blues, and gold of your surroundings, the heavenly area around you tainted with this... Unknown God.

        "Outlanders, your journey ends here." She demanded, the portals behind her sharpening with the wave of her hand. Lumine took a step forward, her shock evident in the small gasp she let out before speaking, determination and confusion spilled across her features.

        "Who are you?"

        "The sustainer of heavenly principles." She responds quickly, bringing a hand up to her line of vision with a small red and black cube in her hand, twirling it causing the ground beneath you to tremble, Aether looking between you and his sister. Shaking your head, you bent your knees ready to jump, the engines in your heavy boots started up, as your mask appeared on your face once again with only a light touch to the earpiece.

        "The arrogation of mankind ends now." The ground lit up around you, red and irritated with magic you haven't seen before, your boots shooting you into the air as Aether and Lumine jumped- following your lead as they pulled their golden swords and allowed their wings to manifest, holding themselves in the air.

        It was barely a second, before you moved forward with the twins by your side, your hands moving to the Quads in their holsters and taking them out for another fight. You only thanked whatever Gods in your own world were listening, and that damn mentor of yours, before your mind went back to the battle at hand- requiring you to fly around and dodge the large amounts of glistening red and gold cubes that came in your way, blocking you from the target of the Unknown God.

        Before you knew it, the end of this battle came quickly, an explosion from the mere speed of you, Lumine, and Aether stopping right before the Unknown God to attack.

        And that second was all she needed to do what was needed. 

        Her gaze fell upon you, making you shiver in fear, before you flew back and blasted a beam of energy at her from your Quad, only for it to be absorbed by a cluster of cubes. Your voice came out robotic, echoed with the technology that covered your face, you eyes moving to see the cluster of cubes enveloping the twins that were once beside you. 

        "Aether! Lumine!" They only looked at you in horror, fading once the cubes covered them whole, returning to the Unknown God in a hollowed and golden version of her twisted and unique weapon. She watched the rotating cube with wide, uncaring eyes, giving you enough time to circle around her and attack once more- throwing the handheld mines from your belt onto her form, the beeping accelerating once it met her skin, and an explosion following quickly. 

        By the time the smoke cleared, and before your mask could scan and gain some sense of recognition, the cubes that protected the Unknown God attached themselves to your outstretched hand, closing in on you while maintaining the explosion you caused. Eventually, it all settled into one cube that contained your hand, before you followed the same fate as the twins.

        "Wait! Don't go! Give them back!" You managed to scream, desperation in your voice, as you watched another family be taken from you once again, your vision fading into darkness and your heart breaking once again.

                And just like that, the god took away my friends.

                Some kind of seal was put on my being, and the power I had was gone.

                And while I had the freedom to travel the universe, worlds, and entirely new realms.

                I was now trapped.

        "How many years ago was it? I don't know, Paimon. But, I've gotta. I have to." You answered Paimons question, still looking out to the sea in front of you, mask now hidden into the earpiece that decorated your left lobe. The leather of your jacket warmed you from the cool breeze of the sea, the bodysuit underneath regulated your body temperature in any environment, but you specifically used it when in space when you held the title of Guardian. But you couldn't afford to think about that now.

        Not when there's a chance of finding Aether and Lumine. 

        "After I woke up, I was alone- until I met you two months ago." You finished, looking over to your floating friend, who only turned as she spoke.

        "Yeah. Paimon really owes you for that. Otherwise Paimon likely would have drowned... So, Paimon will do her best to be a great guide!" She smiles, hands on her hips while looking up to you, seeing as she always chose to float around chest-level when around you. You sighed, a weak chuckle escaped your lips before you sat up from the sand, brushing off the back of your cargo pants and looking towards your guide for this new world- patting her head and making sure to be careful of the crown that hovered above her.

        You had only hoped Paimon would do most of the talking for you anyways, due to Tevyat’s language being foreign even to your ears and tongue, a feat for a Guardian of your reputation. A decent understanding of the oral part of the language under your belt, you found reading to be easier, since it did look similar to some scripts back in your own world. Your thoughts were cut off as Paimon spoke up, calling for you to follow her as she sped ahead of you, following the path from out of the beach to the grassy area ahead of you.

        "Awe, the path ends here. I guess we'll just have to climb, huh?" You rolled your eyes, shaking your head while you started to heave yourself up the large rock, Paimon taking notice of this.

        "You mean I have to climb the rock, P, you just have to float." You laughed, reaching the top with a grunt before she whined about floating taking as much energy as walking or climbing. It wasn't bad, you've climbed a lot worse in even more horrid situations, but damn did that take a good breath from you. You'd have to work on rebuilding some of your stamina while traveling here, and possibly need to find some supplies to settle somewhere for a bit, maybe even collect whatever currency they had here.

        "Well, let's take the route we planned! We're off to... a Statue of The Seven!" She smiles with glee, before a questionable face appears as you both move forward, her head turning towards you as you attempt to take in much of the scenery and areas you could. Your heavy boots only crushed the poor underbrush and grass that came into contact with it, your belt that was filled with gadgets and such clinking with the sway of your hips- hitting the holsters.

        This world is beautiful...

        "Which of The Seven are you looking for exactly?" She asked, making you shrug your shoulders at her, hands up as you walked towards a nearby tree- picking up the strange orange fruits and packing them away before moving forward. They looked like some weird crossbreed of orange and pear, but, you hoped it would taste as good as it looked.

        "To be honest? Any of them. They should have some idea of what happened, but even then, The Seven are gods in this world- and from what I remember of gods... they aren't too sane to say the least." You said, reaching a small cliff side that overlooked a lake with a statue near the edge of the small island in the center of it. 

        "That's a Statue of The Seven!" She pointed in its direction as you gave her your full attention, your finger going to touch the back of your ear to signal that, mindful of the metal to not trigger the activation of your mask.

        "There are a few of these statues scattered across the land to show The Seven's protections over the world. Among the seven gods, this god controls the wind. Paimon's not sure whether the god your looking for is the Anemo God, but... Paimon'll take you to the Anemo God's place first, and there's a reason why~" She muses, giving you a small wink before turning around, allowing you to follow her down the path to the first Statue of The Seven.

        To the first step towards finding Aether and Lumine.

        Your journey has started.

[sineala]

A Few Thoughts About Hurt/Comfort

I have been asked this month to make a post about hurt/comfort in Avengers comics. And I love h/c -- I actually have a massive number of WIPs right now that are h/c -- so I am very happy to talk about it! Anyway, this is not really all that planned out and this mostly turned into an excursus on Tony Stark's pain. I'm sure you're all surprised.

Like pretty much everyone else, I'm sure, I have found that everything lately has been... pretty tough. And the coping mechanism that really got me through last year and this year was reading and writing a lot of h/c, on the theory that, however lousy a day I'm having, I can absolutely make sure that Tony Stark has a worse one. And then I can make sure he gets hugs. Wish fulfillment? Why, yes. (Once at Hallmark I was trying to find a "get well soon" card, forgot what it was called, and described it to my wife as "a hurt/comfort card.") I think Marvel Comics -- the Avengers side, in particular -- is an interesting canon for h/c for a lot of reasons. Though, honestly, if you asked me to recommend you, a hurt/comfort fan, a new fandom, I would probably just hand you some Starsky & Hutch DVDs. Go watch "The Fix" and get back to me later. If you like that, there's way more where that came from. But there's still lots to love in Marvel! Superhero comics are really a goldmine as far as the hurt side of h/c. Because superheroes, and you probably have noticed this, get hurt a lot. They get hurt repeatedly, in fantastical ways that are probably impossible in real life both physically and emotionally (at least, I don't think anyone's invented mind control yet), and even the heroes without superhuman healing powers tend to get physically hurt a whole lot worse than actual people can take. Currently in Iron Man comics, Tony has a broken back and is dealing with this by locking himself into the armor as a backboard and injecting himself with massive doses of painkillers. He's busy! He's got stuff to do! He doesn't have time to lie around and heal! So, basically, if you name a kind of pain that you would like to see happen to a character, it's probably happened to superheroes. Multiple times. The downside, though, is that comics do not really deliver that well when it comes to the comfort part of h/c. They could. It's not inherent to the medium that they don't. But because of the serial nature of comics and also the fact the primary audience is dudes who want to read about people in spandex punching each other, a lot of the time they don't really feel the need to provide closure and write about people dealing with any of the hurt. (Raise your hand if you're still annoyed with the end of Hickman's Avengers run.) But at the same time, I think that's a quality that makes Avengers ripe for h/c fanfic. Because, generally speaking, fandom likes to provide the things that canon doesn't, and fandom is more than happy to provide the comfort. If you enjoy canonical h/c in comics, I think you really can't go wrong with Iron Man. One of the big innovations of modern Marvel Comics was the concept that heroes would also suffer from relatable human problems, and in practice what this means is that a lot of heroes start with a fully-loaded angst-ridden backstory and origin story, ripe for h/c. So Tony starts out by incurring a heart injury that he fully expects is going to kill him, which he responds to by vowing he won't get close to anyone so they won't be sad when he dies, and throughout the early Silver Age is constantly on the brink of death as his heart nearly gives out on him practically every issue. And then even after his heart gets (mostly) better, there are various plots involving his armor being detrimental to his health and him choosing to fight on anyway. It's hard for me to think of another superhero hitting that particular variety of h/c in exactly the same way. Sure, superheroes risk their lives constantly, because this is how superhero comics work, but Tony is the only one I can think of who is this constantly this badly off, physically. Like, think of all the other heroes who have had a continual solo presence as fan favorites across Marvel history -- Captain America, Thor, Spider-Man, Wolverine, maybe even Deadpool. You know what those guys all have? Healing factors! For the most part, they are not running around continually on the verge of death, and while there are certainly memorable arcs involving several of them being severely injured and/or dead, you really have to work at it. It's not their constant state of affairs, whereas Tony is the kind of superhero who shows up to a fight already bleeding out under his armor. Yeah, I know Extremis gave him a healing factor. But he didn't have it very long, and also he did some extremely dangerous things while he did have it; I'm pretty sure I've never seen Wolverine saying that he'll just solve a problem by cutting off his own foot. So, anyway, yeah, there are a bunch of good arcs involving h/c for Tony. If you're looking for physical injury, he has a whole bunch of heart problems over the years, gets several new hearts, then ruins his brain, et cetera. That level of hurt is basically the background pain of Tony's life; every so often, his heart will get damaged or he'll have to live in the armor or the armor will be killing him, et cetera. If you're looking for more unusual trauma, I am, as always, going to rec Manhunt, a relatively obscure arc in late v3 (IM v3 #65-69) in which Tony has an extremely bad week. His tech is stolen and used to bomb a building. Then he gets shot in the chest. Then while he's at the hospital a nurse tries and fails to poison him, and she then tries to beat him to death. Then he checks himself out of the hospital and a helicopter shoots missiles at him. Then he becomes a fugitive from justice. And then, oh, yeah, he has to fight the Mandarin. It is... a lot. (Volume 3 of Iron Man is pretty good as far as h/c possibilities. You've got a lot of physical pain, Carol's drinking arc, the Sentient Armor, both DreamVision arcs, and Manhunt. Manhunt is finally supposed to be out in trade this month, by the way.) There are of course the drinking arcs, which probably count as their own type of hurt. But if you haven't read the second drinking arc (IM #160-200), please do. Marvel likes to up the stakes on events (Fear Itself, Secret Empire) by making Tony drink, and it does work, I think. I feel like I've spoken at length about Tony's drinking elsewhere so I don't really want to rehash it all here. And then there's the emotional pain. Angst and drama is something that happens to a whole bunch of characters, yes, especially in comics, but somehow Tony seems to end up with possibly more than his fair share of it. Fandom likes to make a lot of Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, so much so that you might think, if you didn't know canon, that this was just fandom running with a throwaway mention of Tony's terrible childhood and making it worse. But, no, canon really does go there with a reasonable amount of frequency. Howard's actual first appearance is in a flashback where he's ordering teenage Tony to break up with his girlfriend because she's the daughter of one of Howard's business rivals. And then we get into the verbal abuse, and the physical abuse, and the time Howard made Tony take his first drink, and the part where Howard was a demon in hell who Tony fought while he insulted him. And more! Currently, in canon, Howard is alive again and is in league with Mephisto for the express purpose of ruining Tony's life. Also when Tony was a baby, Howard tried to trade him to Dracula. I think you can make an argument that fandom is actually showing restraint when compared to canon. Tony also has a whole lot of Terrible Exes whose presence and/or former presence in Tony's life can be used for a lot of hurt. If you've read any amount of fanfic, you probably know that the exes who get the most play in fandom are Sunset Bain and Tiberius Stone -- not that Tony and Ty were ever canonically a couple, of course, but fandom is definitely enamored of this idea. Ty and Sunset both have relatively similar interactions with Tony in canon, in that they are both liars and emotional abusers, heavy on the gaslighting, with the purpose of becoming more successful than Tony. They both also attempt to murder Tony, although this is after he figures out they're evil, at least. (Yes, I know, this is not how either of them usually appear in AUs.) Tony also has a bunch of exes who also have just straight-up tried to murder or otherwise hurt him, sometimes while they are dating, and sometimes before Tony dates them: Whitney Frost, Indries Moomji, Kathy Dare, and Maya Hansen come to mind. There are probably more I'm not thinking of! But, yes, if you want to write about a guy in a series of terrible relationships, please consider Iron Man comics. If mind control is one of your favorite flavors of hurt, Tony's pretty good for that too. We all know about The Crossing. I suppose when I say "mind control" I mostly mean "armor control" because there are an awful lot of plots where someone else makes Tony's armor do whatever they want it to do and Tony is along for the ride -- Demon in a Bottle, Sentient Armor, and Execute Program are the first things that come to mind. There is also a fairly obscure What If that is What If Iron Man Lost The Armor Wars in which Justin Hammer apparently really wants Tony in a mind control collar to take off all his clothes and lounge around in his underwear. No, really. I think a lot of pain for Tony often revolves around his issues with control, generally -- his alcoholism comes into play here again. The entire aftermath of Civil War is also notable for its propensity to hurt Tony over and over and over. Is he stoically soldiering on through his grief after Steve dies? Hell, no! He cries, like, six separate times. He 100% blames himself for Steve's death. It's great. Everybody loves The Confession and the funeral in Fallen Son, but one of my personal favorites is Avengers/Invaders, in which Tony is confronted with a time-traveling Steve from WWII and in order not to screw up the timeline, he can't tell Steve he knows him. He is clearly not coping well. He shuts himself in a room with a giant wall of pictures of Steve! Also there's a part where he has to try to convince Steve he can trust him and he ends up having to tie Steve to a chair to talk to him, and Steve looks at him and asks, "Who did you kill to get where you are?" and I feel like that is probably one of the worst moments in Tony's life. No wonder he gave himself amnesia. So now we might want to ask, okay, but why is hurting Tony in fanfiction so much fun? I mean, I can tell you why I think it's fun. I can't speak for anyone else. One reason is that he is very emotional and very affected by everything he does. Sometimes you will see people complaining that the heroes of m/m fanfic cry too much and this is not realistic. This is not a problem if you're writing Tony! He can cry as much as you want and it's perfectly in character. I don't think it would be as fun to hurt him if he didn't express so much of his pain. But he does. He also feels guilty, and for me that's a very satisfying character element. If he were well-adjusted and didn't blame himself for so many things, it wouldn't be nearly as fun as watching him blame himself for everyone whose death he thinks he is responsible for, whether or not he is. And then he just keeps going, and it's, y'know, nice to watch him be resilient, too. So, I guess, I think hurting him is interesting because it's easy to hurt him, his weak points are pretty obvious, and he reacts a lot. Steve doesn't hurt quite as much as Tony does, in canon. It's certainly possible to hurt him -- I mean, they did actually kill him after Civil War, after all -- but I don't think the canonical patterns of hurting him are as numerous. Obviously deseruming Steve is a fairly popular go-to in terms of physical hurt; he's been deserumed at least three times that I know of. I think's easy to see the appeal there of taking a character who is fairly physically resilient and making him... much less so. Certainly Marvel seems to see the appeal. But other than that I don't think he has any other really common way to get physically injured. Unlike Tony, whose origin story is basically "oh no, I've acquired a disability," Steve's origin story is "I drank a serum that cured all my disabilities." Which, I mean, great wish fulfillment but there's not really as much there to poke at. Pretty much all of Steve's pain is emotional, but, unlike Tony, his pain isn't often specifically in response to someone directly, purposefully hurting him. Hickman's Avengers run is a big exception, yes. His pain seems to come up most often as a kind of situational angst. He feels like a man out of time. He feels out of touch with the modern era, with people his own age. He feels guilt because he feels responsible for Bucky's death. He feels like he can't trust the government and therefore he can't be Captain America. He worries that he doesn't know how to have a normal life. And, yes, these are deep and important worries but it's different than, like, Indries Moomji dumping Tony with the intent to make him sad enough to start drinking. Very few of Steve's villains want to personally ruin Steve's entire life the way Tony's villains do; mostly they just want to do things like bring back the Nazis. In terms of Steve's potential for h/c, I think Steve is harder to hurt than Tony is. Physically, he is definitely harder to hurt. You can deserum him, sure, but unless you want everything you write to be a deseruming fic you're probably not going to want to do that more than a couple of times. And if you want to hurt him physically while he has the serum, you have to hurt him hard. Usually past the point where a regular human would ever survive it. He's also harder to break, emotionally, than Tony is -- which means it's very satisfying when you can get him to break, but this is a guy who's only cried twice (that I remember) in canon. So if you want to get him to cry, you really, really have to wreck him, and he doesn't have as many obvious weak spots. He also doesn't generally sit around blaming himself for things that aren't his fault, and the whole "stewing in guilt" genre of plots for him basically came down to "he was sad that he thought Bucky's death was his fault," and that's really the biggest regret he seems to have, and also Bucky's not dead anymore. The Steve/Tony relationship itself, I would think, is also appealing to h/c fans because canon provides a lot of ways for them to hurt each other. Some people only ship pairings who would never, y'know, take turns beating each other half to death in major event comics. (And for a lot of Marvel Comics history, that was also Steve & Tony, so if you want them to be BFFs who have never fought, you can just set your fic earlier.) They have definitely hurt each other both physically and emotionally, so if you're looking for something easy and satisfying as a h/c fan, you can just read or write something where they... make up. What about Marvel characters other than Steve and Tony? Surely some of them are angsty, yes? Well, yes, but also it depends on the particular flavor of angst that you like. If you like the way Tony hurts, you may very well enjoy Doctor Strange comics, because they have a very similar attitude towards life -- they are both former alcoholics whose origin stories involve physical disabilities, who routinely make tactical decisions that negatively affect their continued existence and/or happiness a whole lot. It's very much an "I must suffer alone in the dark and no one will ever know what I am doing to save the world but it's the right thing to do" sort of vibe. Like, you can read comics where Strange is lying in hell with two broken legs, hallucinating that Clea has finally come to save him. Strange's biggest fear, akin to Tony's control issues, is basically that one day he's going to be an asshole again, so he's out there trying as hard as he can to do good. Also, if you like tentacles, he has all of them. I mean that. Carol also occasionally hits similar angst spots, and her drinking arc is great. A lot of people like Natasha, too; I have read zero Black Widow comics but I get the impression many people enjoy her brand of angst. The mutant metaphor is a little different in terms of overall vibe, but some people really like it as a source of angst -- the whole "protecting a world who hates and fears them" thing. It may not work for you, but if you like your hurt to include things like systemic oppression, go pick up some X-Men comics. Start with something like God Loves Man Kills. I feel like I liked this sort of thing a lot more as a teenager but that I kind of aged out of liking the mutants quite so much. It's also worth mentioning that not everything that hits the spot in one universe will be the same in the others, and I'm mentioning this because I feel like I have to say something about MCU Bucky. MCU fandom seems to get a lot of mileage out of Bucky's guilt about being the Winter Soldier, everything he was forced to do, et cetera. I have definitely read my share of those fics, and FATWS sure went right for that angst too. But as far as I can tell, he doesn't hit the same way at all in 616. And I like him a lot in 616; I'm always pleased when he shows up on a team. (He was so good in Strikeforce. Everyone was so good in Strikeforce.) But the thing is, 616 Bucky is, basically, phenomenally well-adjusted, given everything he's gone through, and I'm including the time he wrestled a bear in a gulag. He gets over having been the Winter Soldier, and now he's just, y'know, a guy with a cool arm who likes to bring guns to every fight to horrify his teammates, and he snarks at Clint. If you're looking for that angst, that is really not him these days. He's all better. So pretty much all that is canon. So what do we do in fandom for h/c? Well, as far as I can tell, a decent amount of it is canon-based or very canon-close -- there are a whole lot of stories exploring the angst of Civil War or Hickman's Avengers run. Tony's drinking comes up a fair amount, and if one of Tony's Evil Exes comes back to haunt him, it's pretty much only Tiberius Stone. I don't think I've read a lot of fic with Steve getting deserumed; it doesn't seem as popular in fandom as in canon. When Steve gets hurt, he tends to just get physically whumped pretty hard, and there's a fair amount of that for Tony too, but of course Steve can take more. There's also a thriving, uh, subgenre of pain involving Hydra Steve doing terrible things to Tony, presumably the terrible things he would have wanted to do to Tony in canon if Tony had had a flesh body. There's the usual kinds of h/c setups that appear in basically every fandom as well -- sickfic, whump, dub-con/non-con. You get the idea. But since fandom in general likes to take specific inspiration from canon, there's a lot of fic where the hurt tends to resemble things that happen more in canon. Like, I feel like comics fic probably has more tentacle fic and more mind control than canons that don't come pre-stocked with those. Probably everybody has a whole lot of "tied up by bad guys," though. And then, of course, fandom brings the comfort that canon does not. This is true in pretty much every fandom -- I mean, you aren't going to find a lot of actual canons where Character A saves Character B from mortal peril and then there's gay sex -- but, like I was saying, comics don't provide a lot of closure before it's onto the next thing. Usually with a different creative team, who has no interest in wrapping up anything from the last team. Steve and Tony talked about the incursions exactly once after Secret Wars and nobody mentioned the part where Steve spent several months trying to hunt Tony down and kill him. Tony is never going to remember the events of Civil War. Hydra Steve died ignominiously in a fire and no one has ever talked about him again. Honestly, if you're looking for a way to get some comfort in your fanfic, picking an event, any event, and just having the characters talk about it will be way more than any of them get in canon. I feel like honestly that can often be a pretty satisfying to read. And even though comics canon physically hurts characters pretty often and pretty badly, they also often skip right past the recovery. Maybe you'll get one page of a character in a hospital bed at the end of the story arc. Maybe you won't. Demon in a Bottle has one splash page of Tony going through alcohol withdrawal and then he's all better. I think Manhunt skips to Tony getting out of the hospital at the end. That's just not a story that they want to tell very often. The second drinking arc is notable in that it devotes almost as many issues to Tony's recovery as it does to getting him to rock-bottom. Similarly, Steve is done with his Nomad angst way way faster than you probably think he is (though The Captain does go in for a fair number of issues). So one of the things we often want to do in fandom is focus on all the bits that canon skips over, both in the "why did no one ever mention this story arc ever again" way and the "wow, so how long are they in the hospital after that" way. That's really all I can think of about h/c! I'm off to write some more of it!

[halfway-through-insanity]

Febuwhump Day 2

Eyyy I”m back with the prompt for day 2! I’m tired so it ended up being more comical than whump, so im sorry :/

Failed Rescue Attempt below the cut! Read it on ao3 and leave a kudos if ya want!

Failed Rescue Attempt

Warriors hid behind a large rock beside his new companion as they considered their next moves. Wind was young, but the kid was sharp and had a fiery spirit. They didn’t know what had brought them together, but they gathered enough information to guess that something was drawing the two Heroes from different times together for a reason.

In an effort to find out more about this strange inter-dimensional occurrence, they asked around at local towns about any strange happenings recently. The information pointed them toward a desert where they now have come across a sizable fortress manned seemingly by women alone. They looked fierce with their scimitars in hand while patrolling the different levels of the structure.

“What if they’re nice?” Wind whispered, hazarding another glance over the rock at the fortress. Warriors didn’t bother to answer beyond a skeptical stare. “Okay, okay. What do you suggest, oh wise Captain?”

Warriors rolled his eyes at this, but set his brow in a thoughtful frown. “They seem very well organized,” he observed, his tactical mind running through everything he could deduce simply by looking at the soldiers before them. “Fighting head-on is certainly not the best option.”

“Ah c’mon, we can take them!” Wind said in a hushed but determined voice.

“Absolutely not,” Warriors hissed. “If they’re organized, they may respect someone from a similar background.” He motioned to himself as he spoke.

“That’s really all you got?”

“If I ask about the strange occurrences, maybe we can come to an agreement to share information?” Warriors was honestly grasping at straws. They were beyond out-numbered, legendary heroes or not, so he figured diplomacy would be the best angle.

“Do we have a plan B?” Wind inquired, not convinced with the current plan.

Warriors thought for a moment. “Perhaps I go alone, and if things get dicey you can come out to assist or distract or something.”

“Why can’t I just come with you?”

“Because if things go south and they try to kill us or at least imprison us, who is going to save our sorry skins?” At this Wind pouts, weighing the options.

“Ugh, fine,” Wind sighed.

“I’ll give you a signal if I need assistance.”

Wind nodded.

~*~

Warriors casually approached the fortress, hoping to the Goddesses that these people were reasonable. It didn’t take long before he heard a sharp whistle and suddenly two guards charged at him. “Wait!” Warriors threw his hands up in surrender. “I just have some questions, I mean no harm!”

Their response was a blade to his throat. Warriors gulped, but forced a calm expression.

“No men allowed on premises!” One guard said.

That caught Warriors off guard and his expression faltered.  “Wha-…um,” he cleared his throat. “I apologize, I was unaware of this restriction.”

“There’s a sign, or can you not read?” The other guard barked. Warriors held back a wince. He may have missed the sign. He is usually more observant.

“Forgive me, but I simply have some questions and I was wondering if you could offer some answers.” Despite his calm tone and charming half smile that usually got him his way, the blade was still held firmly against his throat.

“What is your name?”

Time to build rapport, Warriors thought. A question for a question, perhaps? “My name is Link.”

At this, their eyes narrowed and the blade pressed further against him. “A male and a liar,” the one holding the scimitar growled.

“But that’s my name,” Warriors allowed his brow to knit in confusion.

“Do you think we are stupid?” The other spat. “We know Link and you are certainly not him.”

“There’s…another Link?” Warriors asked, more to himself.

“Take him,” the guard concluded.

“Wait, I just want to know about any weird portals in the des-” Warriors was cut off by a swift blow to the head that came at him far too quickly than he had time to prepare for. It was effective, too because he immediately was out cold.

~*~

Warriors woke up with a throbbing headache. He seemed to be in a small cell with one window, desert light streaming through almost blindingly. There was one nasty looking door in the corner with metal reinforcements, probably leading to a hall. But upon further inspection as he peered through the window, there would be no hallway. He was in a tall tower at the far end of the fortress. From there he could still just see the rock he and Wind had hid behind as well as most of the fortress grounds.

He was just wondering how he would get out of this mess when, to his horror, he watched Wind stumble toward the fortress. Was something wrong with him? Did he get attacked too?

“Ohhh…” he heard Wind groan. A whistle blew and Warriors watched two guards rush up to Wind, weapons brandished. Wind collapsed before the guards, clutching his stomach. “Ughh…” Wind continued to groan loudly.

Warriors caught on to his charade and pinched the bridge of his nose in disbelief. “Merciful Din,” he grumbled under his breath. Was Wind really pulling the ‘Please help, I don’t feel good’ stunt?

Wind peered up at the guards that had yet to go off high alert. “Please help,” Warriors heard him whine. “I don’t feel good…”

Warriors face palmed. Great.

“Turn back, boy,” A guard spat.

“Please lady, I’ve been lost in the desert for days!” Wind whimpered. “May I take shelter in your lovely fortress?”

“Get lost, kid!” The guard growled. Warriors could barely see Wind’s face as he calculated his next move. Just go, Warriors thought to himself. This plan was bound to fail, the guards didn’t buy it and the only logical choice was to abandon the bit and leave. Wind seemed to have other plans as he lurched forward, grabbing the pant leg of the guard in front of him and groaned even louder.

“I’m gonna hurl right on your shoe, lady, please I gotta get inside!”

Warriors was crushed with second-hand embarrassment as he watched this painfully horrid show below him. The guard jumped back quickly out of Wind’s hand that he was clearly forcing to tremor as he held it out feebly. “You wanna go inside so bad? Fine!”

The guards charged at Wind, who was quick to draw his own sword and was skillfully blocking rapid blows from the guards. His size worked to his advantage as he rolled between legs and buzzed around them like a hornet, but as soon as a third guard joined in, he was overwhelmed. The third guard came up from behind and restrained Wind in a head lock. Wind spewed a stream of curses as he flailed in the guard’s hold. He squirmed and twisted enough to bite down on one of the arms restraining him- and he bit hard. The guard roared and threw Wind to the ground, who immediately bounced to his feet and slashed with his sword, opening a deep gash in the guard’s arm. After that offence, he stood no chance because now the guards were mad and in a matter of seconds they knocked Wind out and carried him toward the fortress.

~*~

Wind woke up with a groan- a genuine groan this time. “You good?” Warriors’ voice asked beside him.

“I don’t understand where it went wrong,” Wind complained as he sat up, rubbing the back of his head. Well, he tried to sit up but he felt a sharp pain shoot up his right side and he clutched at the afflicted area instinctively. “Broke my damn ribs, no less!” He added under his breath.

“Really?” Warriors asked sarcastically. “Not a clue why it went wrong?”

“Shut up, pretty boy, I don’t see you in a better position!”

Warriors rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “You’re a literal pirate, aren’t you supposed to be good at this sort of thing?”

“Yeah! And it works every time!”

Warriors had no reason to believe Wind was telling the truth in any capacity. “Right. Anyway, what now, pirate genius?”

Wind thought for a moment before he shrugged innocently. “Sleep?”

“We’re going to die out here,” Warriors grumbled.

~*~

Link strode easily into the Gerudo fortress, waving pleasantly at a few guards as he passed. He had caught wind of some odd portals appearing in the desert, so he went to go check with Nabooru to see if she knew anything.

“Unfortunately, I don’t know much,” The sage mused after he had posed his inquiry. “Although…”

“Although?” Link repeated hopefully.

“Yesterday, a male soldier came asking about the portals, too,” she recalled with a hand on her hip.

Link, knowing the Gerudo of old, crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “What did you do to him?”

Nabooru let out a sharp laugh. “Incarcerated him, of course.” She said it like it was the obvious choice of action.

“Incarcerated for asking a question,” Link reiterated blandly.

“Oh, not for asking a question. He claimed his name was ‘Link’.” His friend leaned forward as she said this, knowing his interest would be piqued. A simple ‘huh’ confirmed that he was in fact intrigued. “Why would a soldier pretend to be the famous Hero of Time, hmm?”

“Maybe he’s not the brightest,” Link shrugged. The Royal Guard was not known for its scholars, that was for sure. “Well, let’s see him,” he sighed laboriously.

~*~

“You didn’t mention there was a kid,” Link said when the door to the tower cell opened to reveal two prisoners.

“The kid is the imposter’s accomplice, we assume,” Nabooru replied. “He bit Asha and cut her pretty deep, too,” she added.

Link glared at the boy, finding it hard to believe that this child was bold enough to hurt a Gerudo guard. “You did what?”

“I’ll do it again, just you watch!” The kid gloated. This one had some spunk, for sure. Link would figure out what to do with him later.

Instead, Link stepped closer to the older of the pair- the ‘soldier’.

“Who are you?” The soldier asked defensively.

Link knelt on one knee, his one good eye boring into the man’s wary ones. The intimidation worked, it seemed, because the man shifted uncomfortably where he sat. “I’m asking the questions here,” he said with authority. The man’s back straightened as if on instinct. Perhaps he is a soldier, Link thought. His reaction was a schooled response to a superior officer. “You came here under the impersonation of ‘Link’ I’m told. Why?”

The soldier seemed mildly offended at this. “It isn’t an impersonation. It’s my name.”

“And I assume you would therefore claim to be a great hero?” Link jabbed.

“You bet your ass!” The kid behind the soldier chimed indignantly. The soldier’s face dawned with horror and he wheeled around.

“Wind!” The man hissed at his companion.

“Just who are you to be so important, mister? Why didn’t they arrest you, huh?” The kid- ‘Wind’- challenged.

“I’m Link, that’s why.”

“It’s true, then,” the soldier muttered under his breath.

“What is?” Link asked carefully. “Explain yourself.”

The soldier let out a long sigh. “You may wanna sit for this, Old Man.”