#i have no clue how many still active followers I have these days | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

findmeinthefallair · 1 year

Text

Hunter's Experiences After Belos's Death

Oops, this got long. Aw well, it was really fun to write.

Special thanks to @ashanimus!

This is speculative at the end of the day, but since:

1. This is my fave animated show of all time

2. I grew up with Complex PTSD (CPTSD) like Hunter

3. I work as a therapist,

I thought to list down some things I can visualize happening in the duration of the finale's timeskip, before that beautiful epilogue we saw. And I want to dive in using whatever clues, leads and parallels I can find in canon: to analyze and see how he went from the Bad But Sad Boy to that peaceful-looking palisman carver in the epilogue.

A small reference I had for this meta is Cinema Therapy's episode on the Hunger Games movies (link), since the protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, from the book and also movie trilogy would have the same diagnosis as Hunter. Those books and movies explored how Katniss coped with the frightening and dramatically different landscape that was the calmness of her world post-victory.

Part 1: His Possible Experiences Leading Up to Seeking a Therapist

His disposition could possibly become like Luz's from early Season 3: a state of emotionally shutting down and numbing out. He appeared to nearly head in this direction right after he was revived by Flapjack, as he began to cry. There was that small window where he could have expressed more tears than he did, and have his body shut down under the weight of bereavement.

But the immediate physical threat, Belos, was still on the run. He got up, sprang into action and didn't catch a break from the time he followed Belos through the portal until he stood in The Collector's palace after Belos died (had he even received the news of his 'Uncle' dying yet??!).

Now that Belos isn't around anymore, the Isles will have a completely different feel and rebuilding the land would've taken grueling work after the dismantling of a damaging Coven System.

I was looking at Luz's behavior and gestures in Thanks to Them, which were indicative of her sinking into depression after 1. the horrible revelation in Hollow Mind that she unintentionally helped Philip. 2. witnessing Flapjack's death. I'm putting screenshots of her below in parallel with Hunter's own emotions in For the Future:

They have different mental health conditions if you talk symptoms, e.g. Luz doesn't show signs of CPTSD hypervigilance, while Hunter doesn't have that slowing down in his physical and mental activity which points to depression. But both have suffered from moral injury thanks to Belos's violence and manipulation.

However, a major comparison is that Hunter has had much more repressed emotion over a long period compared to Luz. The column with Hunter screencaps above, is what he may feel with a much higher intensity in the weeks and months after he first hears that his abuser has passed on.

Shown below, the few seconds of Hunter's big smile drooping when it was all over, was a big hint for me:

A hint that there is a deep undercurrent of emotions he'd much rather not feel, that he'd probably rather hide from himself. Even while smiling, we know how his heart-wrenching story has played out and the light in his eyes here doesn't match the brightness we see in his expressions in the epilogue, post-timeskip.

That is the face of a kid who has not cried out massive amounts of tears yet. He doesn't look like he's carrying a light load yet, compared to what we see in his future self. And it's certainly a heavier smile than the jollier one he makes here right after King's Tide when Flapjack was still around:

I can't imagine the amount of grief that his body has yet to dredge up and release, once he finally doesn't have to worry about his 'uncle' threatening his life anymore. Too many times to count, I've been in the situation where I cry intensely after being retraumatized and think "Huh? More tears? Where did it come from?? I thought I had cried it all out from my whole being the last time!". It kind of convinced me that anyone with CPTSD has so much grief stored up in their body that the number of times needed to have a good cry feels like a really endless expanse.

However: because I had 7 years of being in and out of therapy, what matters is that the durations between these episodes of mine, the durations of the episodes themselves, plus their intensity have reduced a lot. It was around a 4-year timeskip in the finale, so for Hunter to get as far as he did to heal, his own therapy sessions would've probably been rigorous and very consistent.

Anyway, he might now cycle through his own version of what Luz cycled through when she gradually shuts down from failing to build a new portal door in Thanks to Them, continually believes she's as bad as Belos, and when she alludes to her suicidal ideation in the classroom:

whereby there is a likely parallel between Luz wrestling with guilt from her own moral injury, and Hunter's own guilt from what he wished he could've done to prevent being possessed, to prevent Flapjack from dying. Both their situations are that of moral injuries.

The adrenaline rush would be over for everyone on the Isles.

I'm quite sure the therapists on the Isles will operate pretty soon after the news about Belos's death was out. They would conduct whatever version of mental health triage they have, that involves risk assessments and crisis counselling. Both of these based on what I've learnt are shorter in duration (30 minutes) and are one-off sessions, compared to regular talk therapy which is an hour minimum.

The therapists would be redirecting people to necessary resources e.g. where to find food or loved ones, and managing distress only related to people's immediate needs instead of forming a longer term plan for several weekly sessions.

I believe things are simpler when you are running away from an external threat, like the two Hunter scenarios below. In Hollow Mind there is no emotion on his face because in peak C-PTSD mode he has shut down his emotions to pour that energy into escaping Belos. In Thanks to Them, he appears quite obviously scared with widened eyes because he got comfortable with safety for months and Belos's return was a surprise attack (thanks ashanimus for pointing out to me how his expressions are animated!):

But what is there to run from now? Not an external threat for sure. The war zone is now the one in his mind, heart and soul and it would become front and center. I believe both these screenshots are two notches on a dial, and the missing third image - which would show him finding it difficult to stuff down the grief any longer, might look like a more exasperated version of when he told Willow "Please don't call yourself [a Half-a-Witch] ever again" in For the Future, and eventually a more depressed version of his vanishing smile in The Collector's Palace.

When can he really run from himself? Only while asleep, if he's spared nightmares on any given night, or while distracting himself with the main mission of rebuilding the Isles or continuing to bond with his friends and other people.

His anger in For the Future was a telling sign for me that he made sure his focus was still on an external threat: he still had the opportunity to do so back then, because Belos was still alive. But when we see him in The Collector's palace sending Willow off to her dads, there has realistically been a shift in what will threaten the more fragile shreds of inner peace he's still clinging on to. There are those scary trauma-related emotions to worry about, which wouldn't have just evaporated into thin air. They would be looking for a new outlet, and they'll find their way into flashbacks, nightmares, tension still stored in the body, an exaggerated startle response, etc.

We have seen a range of reactions he has to danger, triggers and emotional pain: some involve moving his body more, and fewer involve a short of shutting down:

Flinching during Belos's tantrums, being able to fight Kikimora calmly, freezing up in the throne room (Hunting Palismen)

Suicidal ideation and even a sort of suicide plan (Eclipse Lake)

Freezing up and expecting punishment from Darius (Any Sport in a Storm)

Being able to stay almost entirely calm as he learnt more and more of the truth about Belos, though his hand was shaking briefly, then a panic attack later on (Hollow Mind)

Lots of avoidance symptoms like numbing, combined with hypervigilance e.g. shivering and another panic attack (Labyrinth Runners)

Feeling fear with underlying shame and subconsciously expecting punishment, when he failed to save Luz (Clouds on the Horizon)

Freezing and recoiling, though he fought against this by asserting a boundary with Belos (King's Tide)

Panic attack when looking into the mirror and having an emotional flashback, hypervigilance e.g. stamping his foot and shivering (Thanks to Them)

Anger and rage to cope with bereavement, later being tearful (For the Future)

Most likely a sense of bereavement, deep exhaustion and possibly loneliness, during that briefly shown moment in The Collector's Palace (Watching and Dreaming)

The serious work he has to put in to heal from his trauma would begin once his whole body gives in to the exhaustion, catching up with the bereavement-related emotions that have also begun to settle in. It could be a massive emotional and physical collapse that he can't fight off, where his physical energy levels become tanked seemingly out of nowhere. And I think it would look like a worse version of him lying in his makeshift grave, where he is barely able to move around the house or anywhere for some time.

This happened to Katniss in the Hunger Games trilogy, and while the portrayal was done differently in the books and movies, both were good explorations of what it's like to shift from the default high alert (and long-term) mode of CPTSD to coping with the scary unknown world of newfound safety. Katniss spent her childhood in poverty and being constantly on edge that she might be chosen for the Hunger Games, being parentified, to provide for her family.

While participating in the games, she had to utilize battle skills and kill others to survive and sustained many injuries, still constantly on high alert whereby any respite would last for incredibly short durations. Towards the end of the story, after she loses the one she loved most (her sister Prim, who I think can be a parallel of Flapjack in this meta), Katniss shifts from peak physical activity into mostly sleeping and being actively suicidal for months, hardly moving and not leaving the house, until the shock of traumatic grief began to wear off. She absolutely crashed and went from one extreme to the other. In the movie Mockingjay Part 2, they added a non-book scene where her grief comes out in an outburst when she sees their pet cat hanging around on the kitchen counter. She flings an object in the cat's direction, then screams "[Prim] is gone!!" repeatedly before collapsing into heavy sobs, picking up the cat and holding it to her chest to soothe herself.

This kind of major collapse might happen very soon to Hunter after he leaves The Collector's Palace or only after some weeks. The timing of this, I can't predict. The reason why he didn't appear to have this issue in the early months being in the human realm is because there was still something external to concentrate on: help his friends get back to the Human Realm, help Luz reunite with Eda and King, while him and Flapjack hoped to go home too.

You could argue that even now, he still has something external to focus on i.e. helping the others rebuild the Isles. However I keep imagining that the people who love him are going to be quite adamant in getting him, Luz and the other kids to please rest. Since we saw Steve recommend his therapist to Lilith in O Titan Where Art Thou, I can picture the adults in particular monitoring how Hunter is doing without Flapjack.

But if this collapse I'm speculating about doesn't happen so soon, he would be pouring himself into helping others, referencing his character-centric line all the way back in Hunting Palismen about wanting to offer help, which he utters twice in that episode. There is an overlap between this expectation he has of himself and the old habit he's at risk of falling back into periodically: overworking.

Once his desire to help others is clearly comes across as an avoidance tactic on the outside - a maladaptive coping mechanism to run from the very difficult emotions that he should be processing - people around him are definitely going to set boundaries and say "No" to any attempts he makes to assist them. Someone is probably going to tell him that whatever desperation he is showing in wanting to help other people, needs to be redirected at himself. Making time and space for himself, taking time off to rest.

Him suffering from a major emotional and physical collapse is pretty likely because things are more complicated (though, physically much much safer) for him now than at the beginning of Thanks to Them when he had just fled from Belos to the human realm, and had Flapjack as his closest company. Fast forward to the victory won in Watching and Dreaming: both Flapjack and Belos are gone now.

It's telling that different thoughts are occupying Hunter's mind now, from how his expressions are drawn during his first days in the human realm vs. when peace is restored in the Isles.

1. See the sense of calmer urgency in his expression, putting the mission of building the portal door first, while experiencing a strong sense of togetherness with his friends, and learning to trust Camila who is treating him well:

compared to

2. the sheer exhaustion and feeling of "What now...?" (see his upper eyelids below?) that set in, once he helped Willow find her parents and there was no more task at hand that didn't involve himself. His bright smile from a split-second ago has drooped and disappeared:

I know that right after the above frame, Darius and Eberwolf reunited with him, but his emotions are going to cycle up and down in the hours, weeks and months ahead. The elation from seeing Darius and Eber - people who were there to greet him when he expected nobody to turn up - is not going to last, though it will certainly come and go, because high-running positive emotions like that don't last as long, especially in the context of the life he's had as a child soldier. It's totally possible that on the same night, hours after this reunion with their loved ones, their emotions will shift drastically.

The tired look in his eyes above and the sad face he then makes, is in between two moments of him having something external to focus on (Willow and then Darius). I'm inclined to think that the above depressed look reflects a lot of the complexity that is going on underneath the surface. What is his state of mind when alone with his thoughts, when he has zero tasks to perform? How is he handling those thoughts?

There will be a deep, sometimes mind-numbing sense of bereavement over two significant figures in his life. First Flapjack, now this:

He used to love Belos. But I'm really not sure he can just uproot that love from deep within and discard it. Hunter carries memories like the following ones around which will be confusing to navigate on tougher days, despite being able to tell Luz "That's what Belos does, he tricks people". Because these were his formative years:

and something tells me that Philip was cunning enough to strike a delicate balance between being 'nice' to Hunter like above, versus unleashing his violent temper to terrify and harm him. Making sure that balance was so close to 50/50 that it would leave a child very confused. So confused he would rather believe he's never good enough rather than the more frightening prospect that his so-called family does not actually love him at all.

Hunter will have a moment now and then of still missing the 'niceness' that his 'uncle' showed towards him (felt in his heart and subconscious), while still knowing (in his head, rationally) that Philip was not genuine when treating him that way.

To note though, he did not witness Belos's death which reduces the severity of intrusive images that the poor kid would see in his mind.

What I'm worried about is how he'll handle the news about the grimwalker graveyard, since I'm sure that location is going to be scoured and Darius would want to give his mentor a proper sending off. They'd want to give all the Golden Guards and Caleb a sending off and pay their respects. This might add to what I suspect will be the messed up depression he'll fall into.

It will be very confusing and emotionally disorienting, literally not needing to worry about anyone killing him anymore. He has had no point of reference for this in his life at all. It might possibly the furthest he ever goes from that primal survival instinct he had while living in the Castle for so long, which took up the majority of his life so far:

There will also be the added layer of how he feels about those first emotions. This is literally a concept called Feelings About Feelings and it's a key part of my work since I use the Satir Model in my style of counselling. We don't just feel emotions, we also tack on our own judgments and evaluations about them. E.g. shame about feeling anger, guilt about feeling sad because of burdening others, or even a combination like fear about feeling joy which can show up in healing from bereavement.

Depending on how we feel about whichever emotions got there first, it makes a difference because we could be adding or subtracting unnecessary suffering from the first emotion, especially if the first emotion is an already unpleasant one.

I have a feeling that we'd see Hunter look very very tired, till he makes breakthroughs in therapy. A tiredness that sleep, a healthy diet and exercise alone simply cannot fix. Because there's an entire upbringing in the Emperor's Coven to sort through in his head, this time not combined with the avoidance of having fled to the human realm and living under one roof with his friends.

The Hexsquad are not living under the same roof anymore, they are reunited with their own families with much to emotionally talk out, and the group no longer has a very urgent single collective mission. Sure, Hunter has an active role to play in rebuilding the Isles, but what about rebuilding his very self? He has the steepest climb, because we have seen the symptoms he exhibits.

Most of all, referencing a section of my Retraumatization and Self-Soothing (Part 1) meta (link), a memory as horrible as this:

will likely be the most intrusive image is going to be replaying again and again over the months to come, and it may flood his thoughts during moments of being triggered or even out of nowhere during quiet moments for no apparent reason. It will be just like a broken record, where the same small excerpt of a song loops endlessly until the needle of the gramophone is repositioned.

It was remarkably poignant that his final words to Belos were "And most of all, I'm going to make sure you never hurt anyone again", and I'm happy with the story keeping it this way and understand why the writers likely made this decision - not just because the season was shortened. Hunter did not need to directly see or hear more from Belos in close quarters, not after his abuser minimized his needs for years, gaslit him, possessed him and got him to murder his best friend with his own hands.

It's more straightforward to make sure someone else isn't hurting anyone. It's easier to think of what plans to implement, when it comes to him protecting others: which he has had plenty of practice with. Because those are practical methods that we can see in action on the outside.

But here's the kicker: what about applying that last grand statement from his TTT speech to himself, emotionally: making sure he isn't psychologically hurting himself with harmful unhelpful thoughts and beliefs, after Belos's death? "I'll make sure I don't hurt myself (and by extension, my loved ones) again".

This will be very new to him, and it is a theme that I handle in pretty much every client case in my therapy work. The client's self-dialogue, the self-compassion or lack thereof. Which, in real life, is often not a concept that our own families and schools introduce to us to be familiar with.

For Hunter, this may translate into him making the decision to get help and truly accepting the gift of life that Flapjack gave him.

Basically this on a much bigger scale:

whereby in Flapjack's absence, he can truly believe in this new and positive fundamental belief about himself. The evidence that he managed to make it to that heartbreaking but incredibly beautiful place is pretty strong:

But before his happy ending, the pressure on himself to be useful to others via helping and working is likely going to come back and be used as his way of coping, and there's a chance it will cross the line into becoming a form of self-harm that he's relying on to avoid the frightening, deeper emotional pain. People around him know him well enough that they'll be able to spot his behavioral changes and then sense he is not going in a helpful direction. They'll see that it's hurting him even though it's the most familiar territory for his mind to be in, and someone is going to tell him to change that.

He's going to be seeing his friends with their palismen. How will it be like being among them, even if they are pretty good at supporting him? How would he attempt to make sense of the void that is the absence of the incredible love he experienced from that first friend, the absence of that mental link between witch and palisman?

What emotions could be lurking beneath the surface? Believe it or not, there are some signs from Luz's nightmare even though yes, Hunter was being controlled by The Collector. I wouldn't quickly dismiss this dark Flapjack-related scene as 100% being about The Collector's goal to scare Luz in the nightmare.

I think there was a smaller subplot going on as well.

The Collector needed material to work with in the first place, to perform the puppet acts: the material was whatever fears and whatever pain was already there in their targets.

The Collector didn't create Hunter's emotions from scratch for the puppet act; instead he manipulated and redirected what existed at the base level. All this wouldn't work as analogies of mental illness vs. mental health if The Collector could just engineer emotions on their own and simply replace whatever his puppet targets were already feeling. Emotions never vanish and always take up space somewhere, they are redirected, transformed or channeled into outlets even if it means they become repressed or locked away. But they never stop existing.

I have a feeling that despite the nightmare being Luz's, despite Hunter being used as an instrument for The Collector to achieve their goals...the pre-existing emotions that Hunter himself felt in his body, not puppet!Hunter's verbal responses towards Luz, were true. He is a haunted boi.

This face he makes above might be a hint at the worst of his pain. It might be the furthest he has felt from when he said "I like who I am right now" to Flapjack. In the place of that confidence from before, there might now be his own version of Luz's "I'm as bad as Belos". I cannot be entirely certain, but the negative belief that may have taken root in him could be "I am not deserving of the life Flapjack gave me".

Interestingly, if this is the case, it could easily parallel his line from all the way back in Any Sport in A Storm: "I'm unfit to wear the sigil of the Golden Guard." It's definitely a possibility, since Hunter is now faced with having a lot of time and space now, and less urgency than he's ever had in his life, to think back on all those times he helped to further Belos's cause. Especially when it came to sending many palismen to their deaths.

With his own palisman now dead, the engraving we would eventually see on Flapjack's grave: "Thank you for finding me", would be the destination. But the journey needed to reach that destination of amazing gratitude in the first place...must have been a harrowing one. In the early months of the acute grief, it would've been more like "Why did you have to find me?! You shouldn't have. Then none of this would've happened". Not forgetting the number of times Hunter has replayed in his head what he could've done differently, trying so desperately to rewind the clock and make that better alternate timeline a reality.

If you remove The Collector and even Luz from the equation in the Luz nightmare scene, Hunter may well be having such responses - the ones that puppet!Hunter directed at Luz to blame Luz - as a dialogue with himself. He might direct those negative emotions towards himself since he's so careful about hurting others and has taken on unfair punishment for so much of his life.

Even when he was temporarily himself, smiling, expressing a positive emotion to encourage Luz with "What's the first thing you do when you wake up from a bad dream?", that was him conversing with another person, someone external. Not his own self. I am willing to bet he wasn't at a point in his arc where he would smile at himself like that and easily encourage himself in the same way.

While we can be certain he had already reached his breakthroughs by the time we saw him post-timeskip, he has not experienced them yet in the frame above. He has not felt (yet) what Luz felt onscreen when she had breakthroughs in relation to her moral injury:

Taking a leap of faith to accept the Titan's gift, to trust that he chose her because she has a good heart and will never be Belos.

Then later, being able to stand firm, believing she truly is good ("I am the Good Witch Luz!"), and not uttering a word to Belos as he died - which was post-traumatic growth beyond how she broke down under his threats and manipulation towards the end of Hollow Mind and later in King's Tide.

Recap time. In the (quite likely) long period that passes by before we meet his new palismen, he's likely going to want to jump into action and attend meetings with Darius, Eberwolf and co, help to physically rebuild things and organize people with his own Coven Head experience. Leaning back on the ingrained and familiar lifestyle of pouring himself into work and gearing towards burnout is certainly a risk to watch out for.

The Hexsquad, CATTs and the Clawthorne sisters are going to notice his behavior and likely urge him to get appropriate rest and seek help.

However, there is the other extreme: Belos isn't around anymore to torment him, and Hunter would know this in the rational sense (head knowledge). Which leads to the possibility that he may swing towards shutting down as opposed to overworking tendencies. He would feel allowed to do whatever he wants, in this new Boiling Isles, and he had months of opportunities to do that in the early part of Thanks to Them before Belos's return.

What I'm getting at is, if he didn't sleep enough before, he might swing towards sleeping too much after finally collapsing from the familiarity of survival mode into unknown but genuinely safe territory. If he cared too much about helping others before, he might swing towards a depressive state of apathy (the closest canon reference point would be him digging his grave: he was very disarmed in that scene to even think much about helping anyone including Belos). This is why the screenshot I used of his smile drooping in The Collector's Palace, feels like a big clue to me. This would be where Darius, Camila and other adults have to seriously keep watch over him.

In the Cinema Therapy episode I had as a small reference for this post, the licensed therapist who hosts the series mentions that "It takes a lot longer to put oneself back together than it took to fall apart." In Hunter's case, the "falling apart" period here refers to that collapsing I mentioned. It would be the time between:

1. the grief hitting him in full force: when he subconsciously understands and acknowledges that Flapjack isn't coming back (which...will involve hell of a lot of wailing and sobbing. Him having a full version cry of those first few tears he shed at the end of TTT),

and

2. the time when the painful shock from feeling the full force of the grief has decreased enough that it plateaus.

This falling apart stage may need to pass before he seeks therapy. If he tries going for sessions while still going through that shock and pain, it might be too much for him.

As terrible and sad as it sounds, a deep dark spiral like this might be necessary. It would be his body and mind wanting to compensate for several years' worth of unnatural hypervigilance which wasn't serving him in a advantageous way (i.e. surviving) any longer. His body and mind begging for rest at last, to try and make sense of everything that happened. This big collapse into depression would empty out the old and free up much room in him for new stories, beliefs and perspectives to take root. Depression is, after all, the body's attempt to (maladaptively) try and protect us by numbing us, or else we would be overwhelmed.

As someone whom we know keeps himself very busy, this could be the period where he is the furthest he has ever been from that old simpler life. Because his CPTSD-ridden body would be demanding more than ever that he compensates for a childhood and teen years' lack of general rest, he may not even have the strength to cope the way he did before. The only way he might possibly cope in this period is to go with the flow of that raging current and do exactly what his body is asking of him: getting real rest.

Like what happened with Katniss in the Hunger Games trilogy, this early grieving stage would emotionally be difficult and terrifying, like walking along a tightrope, finding balance between left and right to angle yourself as straightly as possible and walk forward. (the tightrope metaphor is what I use with some of my clients to explain swinging between extremes of coping mechanisms).

The missing pieces of the puzzle in his arc, in the 4-year duration before the timeskip, might be his own version of these points in Luz's arc:

where she sank lower before she realized her deepest wish and emotionally experienced her worst fear in her Watching and Dreaming nightmare.

For Hunter, these could look like the following:

Like Luz saying it'd be better for everyone that she permanently stays in the human realm, Hunter might say he wants to remove himself from his loved ones in some way, for good. Whether a literal suicide attempt (like Katniss from The Hunger Games) or not, I can't say for sure.

A parental figure trying to reach out to him, saying he is deserving of Flapjack's gift. But he still struggles to believe that. What matters though is this parental figure is present and he's not pushing them away.

Him hearing some confirmation of his deepest negative belief about himself, in his own nightmares. Like Luz hearing the most terrifying things she could ever hear - Amity's "You've been the real villain this whole time" and "But for the sake of everyone you hurt, I challenge you to a witch's [duel]".

Him being able to reach an emotional space where he can begin to question that unhelpful belief: "Am I really deserving of Flapjack's gift?", or something similar.

The big moment when he finally tells someone how he really feels about the possession, Belos's death, Flapjack's absence in this new supposed peace and quiet....this would be the important invitation for the other person to connect and meet his emotional needs, and is a lot like how support groups for addiction work: a client needs to acknowledge that they are struggling with a problem, not avoiding it with distractions any longer, and then seek help and express their need for said help.

I suppose the question is how soon Hunter might decide to accept professional help and give it a go: or whether he'd have the genuine need for space first and say "I need some time". Because one's rational mind can be ready to go for therapy, but their subconscious and body would find it too unpleasant if it's too soon. Every part of him would have to be ready to begin putting himself back together after the falling apart stage occurs.

The messed up experience of CPTSD is that you stay shockingly calm during real danger, but on the flip side have big, disproportionate freakouts during actually safe times. Compare how calm Hunter was when he smiled at Luz in her nightmare while he was tied up with puppet strings vs. his fear and shame when he couldn't save Luz in Clouds on the Horizon.

In a CPTSD memoir I read, the author describes that it was horribly frightening to hear her partner be in a bad mood and wash the dishes more loudly than usual, while during the pandemic, she felt completely calm seeing empty shelves in a supermarket when she struggled to get supplies.

From my own experience, I have experienced being pretty damn calm when bleeding out and needing hospitalization. But in a different year before that, I recall one afternoon alone in my house right before a vacation where a strong gust of wind very loudly slammed an open door shut next to where I happened to be standing, and I broke down sobbing from a retraumatization via an emotional flashback. Because it felt extremely real as if my abusive parent was lashing out to physically hurt me.

After a 5-year period of mostly being in talk therapy, and then a 2-year period of regularly scheduled EMDR therapy, my response if I have a door loudly slam shut near me now would maybe be a smaller-scale flinch and a flash of anger that would last about maybe a minute. Which is miles better than sobbing for half an hour and being dissociated and frozen in a memory for hours before I thaw out of that flashback.

Since the show's writing is just that good, I could look at Luz's depressive symptoms manifesting in Thanks to Them and see a likely parallel in Hunter's story moving forward, since we know how much this show also digs neat and tidy parallels. These are characters written for TV after all, so they'd have to fit a formula to an extent, to have compelling arcs and reach high and low points along said arcs.

Part 2: Therapy Itself

Part 1 was the setup to give a good amount of context: now for the technicalities of the therapy sessions themselves:

Like Adrian Graye said in Labyrinth Runners, Illusion Magic can sort through memories. We have seen from Gus's own powerful Illusion abilities that he could do so with Belos. It makes sense that a therapist does this in sessions to have a magnified version of how in our world, therapists exercise empathy by imagining what it is like to be their clients:

I would monitor whether his mood (what he is feeling within) and affect (how the emotions appear on the outside e.g. tone of voice, face expressions) are congruent. Congruence usually means a client is in less distress. Incongruence might mean they are in so much pain that they can't connect directly with the main emotion: the perfect example of this being Hunter laughing when digging his grave.

We therapists take note of aspects such as affect, mood, the client's motor activity, any indicators of psychosis, even down to things like how untidy their hair looks in case we get clues about the severity of their issues (this is called a Mental Status Exam, and we write what we see in our case notes per session).

Because CPTSD is so relationship-centric, I'd discuss how he's getting along with new parental figures (the Belos replacements who will heal him so much and change his life forever!) and friends.

If the Boiling Isles therapists use their own equivalent of EMDR therapy, which is theorized to be like a waking version of how REM sleep and REM-related dreams help our brains to sort through memories, it sounds like a great fit for his case. This intervention involves subconscious work and could help him reshape how he experiences memories of Flapjack and Belos. EMDR clients are expected to see vivid images popping up without control in their mind during the sessions, and they are quite symbolic e.g. seeing a grey sky often indicates grief, seeing lighter colors indicates more calm. This technique helps a client's subconscious rewrite their story the way they'd like it to be, and install new positive beliefs and emotions over time.

My own example of EMDR experiences from the second half of 2019 as a client, is it majorly changed how I related to my own abuser, got me to finally feel allowed to emotionally break away from her, even though she is still alive and even lives in the same building.

In the early sessions, I saw an image of my 5-year-old self being forced to wear an ugly grey apron that my abuser used for baking. The apron is a real object, not fictional, and the emotions I felt showing up were matching with the image: feeling very uncomfortable seeing a visual representation of my abuser's hold over me.

But in a later session after a few months, guided by my therapist, I saw a vivid image of my abuser receiving a sea burial. She was lying peacefully on the water surface and sank down until she was gone. That was me subconsciously burying any expectation that she could ever provide what I needed. This was so powerful that I could go home after that session and permanently (so far) be significantly calmer around my abuser.

Therefore if Hunter goes through something like this, he'd potentially be able to put Belos to rest and have it feel very real and true: and have significantly reduced distress about Belos-related memories. There is the potential for powerful breakthroughs for him here, especially also related to Flapjack's death and how challenging it might be to carve palismen in the beginning. Especially since in the worst case scenario, even touching palistrom wood might be enough to badly trigger him. I cover this particular point a bit more in my other meta, Retraumatization and Self-Soothing (Part 1).

We would also be discussing what he's implementing into his routine and what may benefit him. I would be seeing if he is able to laugh about things, be motivated enough to be outdoors and among people, experience pleasure when creating new things, and form closer bonds with parental figures (what I just listed is to do with neurotransmitters in the brain that increase mental health: serotonin, endorphins, dopamine and oxytocin).

If I were his therapist I might suggest that whatever volunteering tasks he does, he carries those out with his friends, and time should be allocated to managing and taking care of a specific demographic: children. Because I think it'd be a safe, low stakes form of unfamiliarity for him to have enough emotional distance from his traumatic memories. Early months of acute grief usually require such emotional distance.

Having a good dose of an environment like that alongside the other tasks where he's working alongside Darius etc, could help him because kids' emotions are less complex, and their infectious laughter and fun-loving nature may play a role in helping him be more open with his own inner child. His therapist would be seeking to draw out that inner child in their sessions, and that little child would need to feel safe enough to emerge.

Importantly, his future palisman: it would've been interesting if he did what Luz did with Stringbean and allowed the palisman to be whoever they wanted to be...that would've been a nicely organic process. But even if he had a good idea to incorporate a Flapjack-like design but change details like the color, I'm sure he thought it through very well. I'm certain that this was a major topic of discussion at some stage of his therapy. Discussing the guilt he'd feel about replacing Flapjack vs. still taking Flapjack with him in a new way.

Coming from a strengths-based angle: paying attention to which of his individual strengths he is shows and recounts in the session. If he needs reminding, I could give him a simple worksheet listing various positive qualities and ask him to circle/colour in which ones he feels he has, which then prompts further discussion and questions. Lastly, a powerful tool called reframing e.g. if he says he's worried about being a nuisance to his friends, I'll point out how much he cares about their comfort and affirm that place of kindness.

Work on inviting self-compassion into how he sees himself. Is he able to view himself the way he views his friends? If he remembers the encouragement he gave to Luz about "turning on the light", I would ask him what that would look like in his own life, symbolically.

Hunter's own life has been a really really bad dream for a very long time. He himself has to reach for that light switch and choose to heal by embracing Flapjack's ultimate gift to him.

And we can rest assured that Hunter did that.

Because this post-traumatic growth right here?

This looks like multiple breakthroughs have taken place while he's been receiving consistent care from an excellent community. And there's no way it was an easily won victory. It has been very much hard-won, after how dark the story became in Hollow Mind and Thanks to Them, and it looks like whatever breakthroughs he had left him pleasantly surprised.

It doesn't seem like his heart and soul can contain this much joy and hope, without a very painful dismantling to have taken place first, to make room for the most unexpected treasures to fill his life back up.

The joy becomes even greater if you never would've expected it in your wildest dreams.

#toh hunter #toh analysis #toh spoilers #the owl house #loz writes a meta

791 notes · View notes

lunehong · 1 year

Text

Tethered

college student! Jongho X college student! fem oc

Soulmate AU, just cuteness and fluff

warnings : mentions of anxiety, illness, pregnancy.

word count : 6.9k

synopsis : what happens when your soulmate bond is finally activated but it doesn't fall under any of the existing types? Jongho and Yunhee try to establish their connection with no clue and minimal examples to follow. Would they succeed in meeting each other and seal the bond or would they fall gradually ill?

a/n : okay so my first ever oneshot, and I'm glad I could write one for our baby bear jjong cuz there aren't many jongho fics on here PLUS I miss him so much :(( I hope he's recovering well and also his birthday is coming up next month! feedback is always appreciated!

----- A reblog would mean the world to me <33 ------

Yesterday was Yunhee’s 18th birthday, which meant that she was finally an adult according to society’s standards. It also meant that she could watch netflix shows that were adult rated without feeling guilty about her age and of course, call chronically online minors out on their behaviour as someone who’d automatically be deemed more mature and responsible.

However, this also entailed that her soulmate bond was activated.

Yunhee did feel a tingly sensation and the butterflies in her stomach like the others said she would, but after that everything went back to normal. No tattoos were etched onto her body, nor did she see a flash of her soulmate’s face in her mind and there was no response when she thought of a bunch of things to test if they had telepathy.

She really didn’t know what went wrong but it made her anxious. Also the fact that she had no way of knowing if something happened to her soulmate, as their soulmate bond was still unidentified.

“You should really calm down, Yunhee.” said Minha, her best friend of 7 years.

“What if I don’t find him soon enough? We have to meet each other as soon as possible after our soulmate bond has been activated or else we’d both gradually fall ill! Don’t you remember what happened to Nina and her boyfriend?” Yunhee muttered anxiously.

“It has only been a day! I don’t understand why you’re panicking so much. Give it a week and if there’s still nothing after that, then we can panic.” She concluded.

Taking her best friend’s advice, Yunhee decided to leave the matters into her soulmate’s hands, thinking if she was frantically trying out different confirmation methods, it was safe to assume that he was also doing the same.

“Dude, I’m telling you, your soulmate bond is telepathy! There isn’t any other type that matches!” Wooyoung exclaimed, while flailing his hands around to prove his point.

“But I haven’t heard anything from my soulmate so far! Nor do I know if the things I thought reached her!” Jongho yelled back.

“Okay… Well, try again later! Don’t give up on this, because I’m a hundred percent sure it’s telepathy of some sort even if it isn’t the common one.” Wooyoung got up to leave.

“How are you so sure? Are you a soulmate specialist or something?” Jongho scoffed at him.

Wooyoung smiled at that. “Remember how my soulmate bond was telepathy?” Jongho nodded, “I never told anyone this but, mine wasn’t your typical telepathy… It was one-sided.”

“What? No way!” Jongho stared at him in disbelief.

“Yes, our bond was such that I couldn’t hear anything from her but she could hear everything I thought about. I was ready to give up when I got this idea and decided to give it a last shot.” Wooyoung continued.

“What did you do?” Jongho asked.

“I sat down and started revealing my full name, my social media handles, my address and other details in my head, so if there really was anyone listening they’d know how to find me. She showed up on my doorstep with my favourite snacks not long after. The rest is history.” Wooyoung grinned while recalling the memory.

“How the hell did we not know this before? It’s literally a story worth telling!”

“Yes, I’m aware but the topic never came up and I can’t just randomly reveal that my soulmate bond was flawed you know?” Wooyoung tried to reason with Jongho.

“Okay, fine I got it. I’ll try thinking of different things and hope it’ll reach my soulmate somehow” Jongho sighed, giving in.

“That’s the spirit! Let me and the other guys know if you feel anything and I’ll see you later. Bye!”

Jongho headed to bed early that day, feeling exhausted. As he was lying in bed, trying to fall asleep, an idea came to him. ‘What if I focus on one topic to think about instead of multiple things at once? It might be a more organised approach and less strenuous for my brain.’

So he sat up and started consciously thinking about one topic, but phrased them in various ways.

‘What is your name?’ He waited a bit but there wasn’t a response.

“At least I know this won't work,” he said out loud.

‘Can you tell me your name?’

No response.

“Okay, that’s crossed out too then. How else can I phrase it…”

If anyone saw him then, they’d think he had gone mad by the way he was talking to himself.

‘Could you speak your name?’

‘Could you spell your name?’

‘Could you trace your name on your hand?’

Jongho tried phrasing it as many ways as he could, even if some sounded ridiculous.

‘Telleth me thy name.’

He paused before laughing at himself.

“So, Shakespearean English is crossed out too it seems.”

When he ran out of all the ‘tell’, ‘spell’, ‘speak’ and ‘think’ questions he took a different route.

‘Can you write your name?’

No response.

Jongho yawned, feeling sleepy. Lying back down on the bed, he tried thinking of a few more sentences before deciding to continue again the next day.

‘Could you write your name on paper?’

No response.

“Okay, then” he said.

‘Write your name down on paper for me please?’

He paused, just about to fall asleep.

That was when the most unexpected thing happened to him.

Yunhee was tossing and turning in bed, unable to fall asleep. She had just finished her college assignment, due the next day and all the stress she took for it made her extremely tired.

Assuming sleep would come easy to her, she finished her nighttime routine and headed to bed. But alas, sleep was nowhere to be found. It was one of those days where her body was tired but her mind was wide awake and she despised when that happened because it meant that she would not be able to fall asleep anytime soon.

She started counting sheep in her head as a last resort.

When she was on her 29th sheep, Yunhee heard something resonate in her head. The first noise sounded like an incoherent crackle and she almost dismissed it as her mind playing tricks, when she clearly heard a soothing male voice telling her to write her name on paper.

She sat up on her bed abruptly and tried to reach out to the guy, but to no avail. Her heart was beating very fast at the prospect of finally receiving a telepathic message. She was able to hear her soulmate’s voice and it was a feeling like no other.

After waiting a bit, she decided to do what the voice told her to: write her name on paper.

Yunhee got up, retrieving her notebook and a pen from the desk. Sitting back down on the bed once again, she opened the notebook to an empty page and scribbled her name on it. She also wrote “What is your name?” underneath.

She waited for a bit in case another message came through but there were no other responses.

Yunhee was completely unable to sleep that night.

Jongho couldn’t believe what he just saw. It was like a flash that only lasted for a few seconds, but he saw a vision through someone else’s eyes. He saw a hand pick up a light blue notebook with the words “hakuna matata” written in a corner with golden ink. The hand also picked up a pen and wrote down something in the notebook. What it wrote, Jongho couldn’t make out because the writing became hazy and blurry. He could only read out ‘Park’ and the writing underneath that said ‘what is your name?’.

He was sure the person wrote her name down but he could only read her surname.

Jongho felt something unexplainable in his gut. He was finally able to reach his soulmate, even though he couldn’t see her name. Thinking about the vision brought out a sense of longing inside him. He wanted to see more, feel more and know more about her, but he didn’t yet know how.

‘At least this is progress’ he thought. ‘I need to tell the others about this and figure out what I should do next.’

The doorbell rang but the sound went unheard by the group of guys inside the apartment. The person standing outside got impatient after a while, and had to bang on the door to gain everyone’s attention.

“Geez, Hongjoong-hyung why are you banging on the door like that? The bell exists for a reason.” Wooyoung tsked while opening the door for him.

“I rang the bell like 10 times already! None of you brats could hear it over the noise pollution! I swear y’all can be heard from down the hallway!” Hongjoong yelled at him.

“Cut us some slack though, Hongjoong. We met up after almost a month!” Seonghwa reasoned with him.

The seven guys excluding Jongho made themselves comfortable in Jongho’s living room, catching up with each other. Meanwhile, the resident of the apartment arranged some refreshments for the eight of them, bringing them over to the living area before plopping down between Yeosang and Mingi.

“So let’s come to the reason why I called you guys here–”

“You called us for a reason!?” San fake gasped.

“You wouldn’t have invited us if you didn’t have a use for us!?” Yunho butted in.

“Guys let the poor boy speak! I can kinda guess what it’s about.” Wooyoung tried to defend Jongho.

“Yes, thank you Wooyoung-hyung. The reason why I called you here is because I was able to contact my soulmate yesterday and I still don’t know what type of bond this is.”

At the revelation, everyone started yelling over each other and asking questions, of which Jongho was unable to decipher a single sentence.

The seven looked like a bunch of chattering baby birds that wanted food from its mother. He sighed and shook his head, thinking how the people in front of him were supposed to be older in age.

“Guys, one at a time!” he yelled.

“Okay, so it’s telepathy right?” Wooyoung asked.

“Yes and no.” Jongho paused to sort out what he wanted to say, “It’s telepathy, yes, because I consciously thought of something and it went through. But, only one kind of conscious thought out of all the other ones I tried to send, elicited a response.”

“That’s…weird?” Hongjoong muttered.

“And not just that, hyung. The response I received was in the form of a glimpse, showing me a vision through my soulmate’s eyes!”

“What?” exclaimed Mingi.

“So, it’s not just telepathy, it’s specific and supposedly one sided, while you receive sporadic glimpses through your soulmate’s eyes. That’s a very odd combination.” Wooyoung said, in deep thought.

“This is more complicated than yours was, hyung.” Jongho muttered.

“What do you mean?” Yeosang questioned, being able to hear what he said.

Jongho proceeded to tell them all the details regarding what he thought and what he saw in the glimpse, meanwhile not forgetting to expose Wooyoung and how he hid such crucial information about his own experience. The rest reprimanded Wooyoung for it, making him sulk, but they also collectively tried to figure out exactly how the bond worked.

“What happened!” Minha burst into Yunhee’s place, panting like she just ran a marathon.

“Why hello there best friend, why do you look as if you got chased by a dog?” Hayoon, their other best friend, asked sarcastically.

“Dude? I came here as fast as I could! I got Yunhee’s text a while ago that said ‘EMERGENCY’ in all caps! I thought some code blue shit happened to her!” Minha exclaimed.

“Wow, and I thought the text I received was bad… she sent, ‘come over, I have something to say’ that made me rush here because I thought she was pregnant or something, which would’ve been really bad considering her soulmate bond just activated.” Hayoon laughed.

At that very moment, Yunhee walked in with tubs of ice cream, suddenly feeling like she entered a lion’s den. The two girls yelled at her for being so dramatic over nothing but calmed down once she handed them their favourite ice cream.

“So, the reason I sent those ‘dramatic’ texts as you two so eloquently put it, is because I got contacted by my soulmate and I freaked out.” Yunhee revealed while rolling her eyes.

“What?” Minha yelled.

“When? How?” Hayoon followed.

“At night yesterday! I was trying to sleep after finishing the assignment and that’s when I heard his voice in my head telling me to write my name on paper. I don’t know why that was so specific but yeah I did as he said.”

“Did you hear anything in return?” Hayoon inquired.

“No, unfortunately. That was the only thing that came through.” Yunhee sulked.

“But hey! You got contacted by your soulmate! So we are sure that nothing happened to him and he’s probably trying to figure out how the bond works as well right?” Minha tried to cheer her up like the mom she was, unable to see her kid sad.

“Yeah, that’s true. I hope he figures it out though because I’m at a dead end here.”

“I’m sure he’ll figure it out! We currently have nothing to do but trust him and cheer him on. So don’t stress too much, Yuns. Stay alert and just wait for him to make the connection again.” Hayoon exclaimed, in a cheery voice.

“Exactly! Let’s trust him on this one and we can think more about it when he manages to contact you again. Meanwhile, tell us how he sounded! What did you feel?” Minha shook Yunhee in excitement.

So, the three girls spent the rest of their time discussing the interaction and other’s soulmate experiences while they enjoyed their ice cream.

Jongho recalled the conversation that he had with the guys earlier, who managed to come up with a few hypothetical situations for him to experiment.

He sat down on his desk with a notebook before him, taking notes like he would for a science class. The guys did have a few different ideas but Hongjoong’s idea made the most sense to Jongho.

Hongjoong proposed that the message that went through was a command rather than a suggestion or a question. And what Jongho received as a glimpse was the completion of said task that got sent as a command.

So what Jongho had to do was make his soulmate do tasks for him and if it worked out every time, then eventually find a way for them to meet face to face.

He relaxed himself and thought of a task for her to do.

“Okay, so I know that I’d probably not be able to know her name or see what she looks like through the bond so I can’t ask anything related to that.” He spoke out loud.

After thinking for a while, Jongho got an idea. He decided to send his soulmate to her favourite cafe and order her favourite drink. In this way he’ll be able to figure out which cafe she frequented and what drink she liked as well.

‘Go to your favourite cafe and order your favourite drink first thing in the morning.’ He thought, hoping that his soulmate heard it.

“Did it sound too rude? But I can’t send anything other than a command and commands don’t particularly sound nice though.” He spoke to himself again while scratching his head.

Before he could overthink more, Jongho wrote down what he said and headed to bed as he had classes to attend the next day.

Taking a last minute impulsive decision, Minha and Hayoon chose to stay the night at Yunhee’s house. The three slept over at each other’s places quite often, making it a regular occurrence in their lives. Yunhee let her mother know about it and she told her to grab the extra mattress that they had for such occasions.

While she was dragging the mattress to her room, she heard a crackle resonate in her mind like the last time. Yunhee dropped the mattress, focusing intently to see if her soulmate’s voice came through.

Minha was walking back with a glass of water when she spotted her by the living room standing as if she saw a ghost while the mattress was abandoned on the floor.

“Yuns, what happened–”

“Shush! I think I’m getting another message.” Yunhee quickly cut her off.

Indeed, the soothing voice she heard the first time spoke to her again, making the darn butterflies in her stomach return to torment her. She unconsciously smiled, the emotions that hearing her soulmate’s voice evoked in her being all very new.

Minha stared at her from the side, relating with the lovesick look on her friend’s face all too well.

“Go to your favourite cafe… and order your favourite drink first thing in the morning?” Yunhee repeated what her soulmate said to her out loud. She looked at Minha, tilting her head in obvious confusion.

“That’s what he said?” Minha looked equally perplexed.

“What is taking you two so long– why are y’all standing there with the mattress on the floor?” Hayoon came out of her room to check on the two.

Minha told her what happened while they dragged the mattress to Yunhee’s room. They sat down to think why her soulmate would send in yet another oddly specific message asking her to do something.

“You know what I think?” Hayoon said in a serious tone, unlike her usual carefree demeanour, “The only form of message he can send are the ones that tell Yunhee to do something. ‘Cause think about it! He probably already tried saying the common stuff like ‘what is your name’ or ‘where do you live’ like we telepathy types did, but in our case all the things we tried to send went through.”

Yunhee and Minha looked at each other for a few seconds before directing their attention back to Hayoon, who was raising her eyebrows at them.

“Wow dude, what’s up with you? You’re actually making sense today!” Yunhee exclaimed with fake enthusiasm while patting Hayoon on the shoulder, who rolled her eyes and pointed her middle finger towards Yunhee in return.

“Yeah! But Yoon’s right. Can’t relate though, ‘cause I was the tattoo type but she has a point. And I also think that he can somehow sense if you have done the given task or not or else he wouldn’t have any way of knowing if his messages are going through.” Minha added while laughing at Hayoon.

“I mean, the task is simple enough. I do visit cafe Aurora before heading to class anyway, so it won’t be anything out of the ordinary, I guess.” Yunhee muttered.

The three girls started their movie marathon, when Minha’s phone rang. It was a facetime call from her soulmate Changbin, who was also their childhood friend since middle school.

When Minha turned 18, which was three months back, she invited all her friends to attend the party, including Changbin. He was out of town that week so he couldn’t attend her birthday party.

The tattoo that appeared on Minha’s wrist was supposed to be the first thing her soulmate told her after it was activated, which said, “Happy birthday! Sorry I couldn’t make it, Min.”

Minha looked absolutely bewildered while Yunhee and Hayoon laughed at it like maniacs. She got teased by the other two the entire day, while she tried to appear nonchalant about it.

When they were younger, Minha never liked the concept of soulmates and always complained about the idea of getting paired up with a complete stranger for the rest of their lives as it seemed unnerving to her. But when she realised that her soulmate might be good old Changbin, she didn’t hate the idea anymore. It was true that Minha never saw him as anything more than a friend but he was an amazing guy and she did think he’d make a good partner.

At night she received a call from him and indeed, the first thing he said was “Happy birthday! Sorry I couldn’t make it, Min.”

Minha laughed and said, “Thanks, idiot.” when it dawned upon Changbin as well that his soulmate was none other than Minha.

They met up when Changbin returned (he basically scrambled to return as fast as he could) and made it official.

Among Yunhee’s friends, Minha and Changbin were probably the fastest soulmates to seal the bond which made a lot of them jealous because of how easy it was for them to find each other.

Back to the present, Changbin facetimed Minha who received the call.

“Hey Min, are you staying over at Yunhee’s today?”

“Yep. Sudden decision.”

“Oh okay, have fun! And pass the phone to Yunhee please.” Changbin spoke.

Yunhee peeked from the back and waved at him.

“You! What were you thinking when you sent a text like that, dumbass? Who sends ‘EMERGENCY’ and dips without explaining what happened?” He exclaimed.

“Ugh, okay fine sorry. I won’t send texts like that again. I got nagged enough by these two, I don’t need you to add anything to it, Binnie.” Yunhee whined.

“At least you’re fine and dandy so I’ll spare your ass today. How's the soulmate situation going?”

They told him everything that happened and gossiped with him for a few more minutes before hanging up.

Yunhee left to talk to her parents about something, only to come back to the room with her brows furrowed at the screen of her phone.

“Uh, Yoonie? Why is Eric texting me saying if I decided to keep the baby or not, and if I did he’ll help me convince my soulmate to keep it too?”

At this, Hayoon and Minha looked at each other, before they burst out laughing. Yunhee was still looking at them in bewilderment but the two were not being able to stop.

After two minutes of them laughing without break and Yunhee standing like the clown that she was, they finally stopped.

“Remember the text that you sent me? I showed it to Eric and he was the one who said ‘why does she sound like she’s going to announce her pregnancy or something’ and we realised that it could be a possibility, because dude, everyone knows that you write paragraphs when you text. So, such a thing was not to be taken lightly.” Hayoon shrugged.

At this Yunhee threw a pillow at her, yelling how her love life was as barren as the Sahara desert (because she couldn’t fall for anyone else when the thought of having a soulmate later in life hit her) and how she and her soulmate shared the same braincell.

“Come on! At least he’s supportive!” Hayoon defended Eric.

“Yeah yeah, I can see that. Let me call him and explain the whole thing, or else he’ll start preparing to be an uncle.”

Eric was Hayoon’s soulmate that she met 3 weeks after her 18th birthday. They were the telepathy type, being able to contact each other almost immediately after the soulmate bond was activated.

The two had a few bumps on the road, as Eric wasn’t cooperative in the beginning. The reason being that he liked this other girl and he couldn’t accept the fact that his soulmate was someone else. But the said girl found her soulmate a week after, which finally pushed Eric to move on and seek his own soulmate.

Minha and Yunhee didn’t like him, as he made their best friend suffer and put her at risk of getting ill due to the unsealed bond, but he redeemed himself eventually. Now they were a pretty wholesome couple.

After clearing the misunderstanding, they resumed the movie marathon, falling asleep in the midst of it.

Jongho didn’t feel like getting up. It was a cold winter morning, which made sleeping under the warmth of the duvet all the more enticing. But he had to wake up as he had an important class to attend that day.

He reached college early, so he was waiting inside the classroom when he saw it.

a glimpse of an awfully familiar cafe. He was able to hear her voice this time, when she spoke to order a regular hot mocha. A shiver ran down his body when he heard it, realising how sweet her voice sounded to him. Keeping his emotions at bay, he noticed two very familiar faces through the glimpse before it ended.

“Cafe Aurora, huh.” He smiled to himself. His soulmate was nearer to him than he thought.

As he entered through the door in a hurry to get away from the cold, Jongho noticed that the cafe was busier than usual. He figured that it was due to the freezing weather outside, while the cafe provided the warmth everyone including himself was seeking.

Upon reaching the front he spotted Soobin behind the cashier counter, taking orders like he usually does with a smile on his face. Beomgyu was in the middle calling out names and distributing drinks while San was at the back making them for the customers.

He eventually spotted Jongho and called another worker to take his place, so that he could go greet his friend.

“Jongho? Fancy seeing you here.” San spoke up in a playful tone.

“Why? Can’t I visit my dear hyung during his shift?” Jongho retaliated.

“No, of course you can but you usually don’t frequent this place. Remember when you told me it was far from your house and you already found another place to get your iced americano from?” San raised his eyebrows making Jongho avert his gaze.

“Okay, fine! You got me there. I came here to ask you something.” he pouted.

“Ei, don’t feel bad! I was teasing you! But do visit me more often from now okay? What did you want to ask?” San laughed while patting his back.

“So, I saw another glimpse this morning. I’ll tell you the details later but I think Hongjoong hyung’s theory worked. Can you tell me if you remember any girl, possibly a regular here, ordering hot mocha around 8 am?”

“I make the drinks dude, I wouldn’t know. Hey, Gyu? Can you come over for a sec?” San yelled.

Beomgyu, who finally got to breathe after distributing the drinks, clicked his tongue and walked over to where the two were standing.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“Do you remember any regular female customer that came today around 8 am to order a hot mocha?” San asked him.

“Okay first of all, I have been distributing over hundreds of drinks, at least 30 of which were hot mochas. And if we are talking about 8 am then a lot of people came in to get their morning fix before college so I don’t think I can help you.” He paused.

“You could check the server but I doubt that would be of any help either, because a lot of female regular customers order hot mochas in the morning so…” Beomgyu shrugged.

“Okay thanks, Gyu. We’ll figure something out.” San sighed.

“Why? Did anyone take a drink without paying again?” Beomgyu inquired in a concerned voice.

“No, no. We’re trying to find Jongho’s soulmate.” San and Jongho laughed at Beomgyu’s expression.

“Oh, thank god. Good luck searching for her, bro.” Beomgyu gave Jongho a thumbs up before resuming his work.

San looked at Jongho, who was deep in thought.

“How’d you know she came to Aurora?”

“Oh, come on hyung, I’d recognise the interior anywhere! Plus, she gave her order to Soobin and you were at the back making drinks. I saw you two in the glimpse.” Jongho poked San in the shoulders, making him swat his hand away.

“Moreover, I think I found out how the bond works. So, I’ll increase contact and try to get her to meet me somehow.”

“That’s the spirit! I know you’ll succeed Jongho-yah.” San said with a proud look on his face.

He asked Jongho if he still wanted to order an iced americano in a weather like that, to which he said yes. San shook his head at the boy but proceeded to make him what he wanted, yelling how he wouldn’t take any responsibility if Jongho caught a cold later.

He just smiled and gestured at him to continue making the drink.

Two days have passed since Yunhee received the last message from her soulmate. She was trying not to think about it, distracting herself with other things but every now and then her mind would fleet to the honey-like voice which evoked an unexplainable sense of longing in her. She wanted to hear his voice again.

During breaks, the trio made a point to gather whenever their schedules coincided, to catch up and complain about college, even though it was just their freshman year.

Yunhee was walking towards their hangout spot with Hayoon when she felt like another message was coming through. She stopped walking and tapped Hayoon on the shoulder to do the same.

The now familiar voice reverberated in her head saying “Write the name of your favourite flower on your notebook.”

She stood there with a faraway look in her eyes, while the girl beside her extended and retracted her hand awkwardly, not knowing if she should shake her best friend or not.

Hayoon didn’t have to suffer in indecisiveness for long, as Minha approached them and did the job for her by back hugging Yunhee, bringing her out of her trance.

“Why are you two standing here? Let’s go.”

“Wait, Yunhee received another telepathic message. What is it bro?” Hayoon asked Yunhee.

“He asked me to write the name of my favourite flower. What is he up to?”

“It’s just flowers Yunhee, he probably wanted to know basic stuff like that so that he can be prepared when he finally meets you.” Minha reasoned.

“Okay let’s go sit, so that I can write it down.”

The three headed to their hangout place. As soon as Yunhee sat down, she reached for her bag to bring the notebook out. She opened it and wrote, ‘sunflowers, but pink roses are great too’ after much thought.

The other two teased her saying they already knew she was going to write sunflowers so she really didn’t have to ponder so much, but Yunhee disagreed by saying how she found all flowers pretty so it was hard for her to pick one.

The following day, Yunhee received another message that asked her to write yes in the notebook if she was available on the weekend and no if she wasn’t.

She ended up writing a ‘YES’ in capital letters on her notebook that probably covered the whole page, out of sheer excitement.

Jongho on the other hand received a glimpse of it, laughing at how adorable she was. It was as though he felt the excitement of his soulmate and that made him more eager and impatient to meet her.

Yunhee immediately informed Hayoon and Minha about it, who were equally thrilled for their best friend and promised to help her get ready for the occasion.

Weekend arrived faster than the two soulmates anticipated. Jongho made sure to send her a message saying “Go to cafe Aurora at 4pm” before he started preparing to meet her.

He got ready at three and sent a message to his group chat asking which flower he should pick between sunflowers and pink roses. Most of them suggested him to buy both and get them arranged in a nice bouquet.

What Jongho didn’t know, however, was that the seven were already camping at cafe Aurora (excluding San because it was his shift anyway) to watch the scene unfold.

Yunhee finally finished getting ready with the help of her two best friends. She opted for a classy but casual look: flared jeans, puffy sleeved black top, minimal pearl accessories and light makeup.

She kept stressing and overthinking about the entire situation like the worrywart she was. At first Minha and Hayoon were trying to reassure her and alleviate her concerns but after a while it became frustrating for them so they nagged her and threw her out of the house before it was too late.

Yunhee, although still anxious about the whole meeting up with her soulmate situation, took deep breaths and reminded herself how much she had been wanting to meet her soulmate for the past few days. After calming down a bit, she headed towards the cafe.

Jongho arrived at the cafe, the bouquet of flowers in hand. It seemed as though he attracted quite a bit of attention, because of how big the assortment of flowers looked due to the big and vibrant sunflowers. He didn’t think much of it however, opting to find a suitable seat while he waited for his soulmate to arrive.

San on the other hand, went inside the storage room upon Jongho’s arrival to alert the other six who were hiding in there. The guys were trying to find a suitable position to peek in through the door; bickering in low voices to prevent being seen. Yunho had to hold his hand over Wooyoung’s mouth in case he yelled unintentionally and gave out their position.

Meanwhile, San explained the whole situation to Beomgyu and Soobin, who finally understood what was going on.

“Here goes nothing.” Yunhee muttered to herself while she pushed the door to the cafe open. Upon entering she noticed that the cafe was moderately busy– an unusual sight for her as she always visited early in the morning during the rush hour, when all the seats were occupied and a huge queue present.

She didn’t know what to look for as her soulmate hadn’t really mentioned anything that would help her identify him in the crowd, but she hoped that her ‘soulmate senses’ would assist her with it (if such a thing existed).

Soobin noticed her standing awkwardly by the door and called her.

“Hello! Yunhee, right?” he said.

“Oh, hi! Yeah, I usually drop by before going to college. I’m glad you remember my name!” Yunhee was grateful to him for striking up a conversation.

“You seemed like you were searching for someone. Do you perhaps need some help?” He inquired.

“I was, actually! To be honest, I don’t know what he looks like.” she paused. “It’s… my soulmate and today is supposed to be our first meeting.” Yunhee said truthfully.

Upon hearing what she said, Soobin immediately yelled at San to come to the counter, who was standing at the back.

Yunhee saw Soobin whisper something to his ear and he looked at her with his eyebrows raised in shock. He then moved back to allow the guy to stand in his place.

“Hi! I’m San and I usually handle making beverages at the back. Soobin here just told me that you are looking for your soulmate, is that right?” He asked politely.

“Nice to meet you! And yeah, I am.” She replied.

“Looks like we’ll meet each other more often from now on, Ms.Yunhee.” San said while smiling. “And you might want to look there, on the right side, where a guy is sitting with a huge bouquet of flowers. Good luck!” He instructed while pointing towards the table.

Yunhee approached said table and immediately noticed the assortment of sunflowers and pink roses along with a few other flowers. She tapped on the table to get the guy’s attention, who was on his phone with his back to her.

Jongho looked up, only to find, arguably, the most beautiful girl he has ever laid eyes upon. He seemed to be in a trance, everything but the girl in front of him becoming a blur.

Yunhee wasn’t faring any better, feeling like her heart was beating out of her chest as she stared at the guy that was supposed to be her soulmate.

Both of them felt like something clicked in place, like the final piece in a puzzle that they didn’t even know was missing all this time.

Jongho recovered first, standing up to move the bouquet so that Yunhee could sit in the seat in front of him. Once she settled down, he swiftly handed the flowers to her, to which she thanked him in a bashful way.

“I did think your choice of flower was unique, but now that I saw you face to face, it suits you.” Jongho said, after clearing his voice.

“I’ll take that as a compliment, thanks.” Yunhee replied.

“I’m Jongho. Choi Jongho. Sophomore in college.”

“Park Yunhee. Freshman.”

“Yunhee… a pretty name for an even prettier person it seems.” Jongho replied playfully, making her blush.

They carried their conversation, feeling quite relaxed and comfortable after a while. Yunhee asked him a bunch of different questions, as she couldn’t do that with their bond earlier and Jongho patiently answered every query that she had with a smile on his face, not missing to ask her some in return.

The more they communicated, the more they realised how similar their values and preferences were, which dispelled all the concerns they had about liking each other.

Jongho got up to collect their order when he noticed the six heads peeking through a door in the distance. He made his way towards the door and swung it open, to see the six guys trying to hide behind carton boxes.

Jongho folded his arms and glared at them while they stuttered trying to explain the situation. Meanwhile, San pretended he did not see anything and continued his work.

Being discovered already, the guys came out from the storage room and greeted Yunhee, who was taken aback at first but reciprocated their enthusiasm almost immediately.

She could see how embarrassed Jongho looked because of them so she tried to console him by saying that her friends were like this too and they’d all get along really well once they met.

The guys started leaving one by one, seeing how Jongho’s death glare was still quite evident and they didn’t want to be at the receiving end of their youngest’s wrath.

Jongho sighed and apologised to Yunhee again for his friends’ sudden intrusion to which she was fine with and said that it was quite nice to meet the people he was close to.

They finished their beverages and chose to take a walk outside before heading home.

As they were walking along the pavement, Jongho felt a sudden urge to hold her hand. He tried to appear nonchalant and brushed his hand with hers, to which Yunhee responded by grabbing his hand while looking the other way.

As someone who hated skinship with all his being, Jongho didn’t quite fathom why he felt the need to initiate physical contact with the girl walking beside him. Something as simple as holding hands was making his emotions go haywire.

'So this is what having a soulmate feels like.' Jongho thought.

“Right? I always felt like it was a foreign concept to me, which I couldn’t relate to at all when the people around me shared their stories. But now that I’m experiencing it for myself, I get what they were saying.” Yunhee replied, while swinging their joint hands back and forth.

Jongho looked at her, perplexed about how she knew what he was thinking when their soulmate bond was supposed to dissipate once they met; not to mention it wasn’t regular telepathy to begin with.

Yunhee glanced back at him, to see his head tilted endearingly towards her in confusion.

“You said that out loud, Jongho.” She pointed out while giggling at his expression.

“Oh, I didn’t realise that.” Jongho turned his head away to hide his embarrassment but Yunhee noticed how red his ears were, making her chuckle again. He figured that he really loved how her laugh sounded.

After their impromptu stroll, Jongho took Yunhee home.

They were at the gate, when the girl turned around and held both of Jongho’s hands.

“I had a lovely time today, so thank you so much for that. Thank you for not giving up on me even after knowing how complicated it was trying to find how our bond worked, as I completely started depending on you after not having a single clue about it. I know that our life was kind of on the line too but still I’d like to express my gratitude. And also… thanks for not turning out a jerk I guess?” Yunhee ended with a mischievous smile, making Jongho laugh.

“Then I’d also like to express my gratitude for the fact that you chose to trust me on this and I’m so glad that you’re my soulmate.” Jongho smiled warmly while squeezing her hands tighter. “Also, thanks for not being a snobbish Karen.” He ended with a wink.

Both Yunhee and Jongho felt all warm inside just by looking at each other. Every emotion that they felt just by doing the bare minimum seemed heightened and it was a complete new experience for both of them.

The day ended as Yunhee hugged Jongho despite him telling her he hated skinship, and surprisingly Jongho didn’t mind it and hugged her back.

Yunhee promised to introduce her parents and friends to him some other day, to which Jongho wholeheartedly agreed, saying he’d do the same.

At last they parted ways, Yunhee entering her house and Jongho on his way home even though they didn’t want the day to end.

Unspoken promises of a life together at each other's side lingered on. A life, where they were bound to be together, chosen as each other’s counterparts by fate itself. No matter how many lives they lived, the red string of fate would always bring the destined souls to one another; such was the way of the universe.

104 notes · View notes

albentelisa · 9 months

Note

Hello! What if when Jim used the Khronosphere, he somehow ends up on Camelot Castle with Nari instead of waking in his room?

To make matters worse, he is in his half-troll body and with some help from Nari, finds out he time traveled to a year before Kanjigar falls.

Hi! I really like plans-gone-wrong kind of scenarios!

So, here the time travel is screwed, misplacing Jim and accidentally giving him the body he had at some point in time. Even the burden of knowing about the different timeline is heavy and here Jim has it even worse as there is nearly no one he knows to be by his side and giving the comfort unknowingly.

Jim tells Nari his story (without expecting her to believe him) and surprisingly she believes as the Kronisfere is something only a selected few know about.

After discussing the matter with Nari, Jim decides to go to the Trollmarket and be the onlooker until the right time comes. He still has his new amulet and Excalibur for some reason, and Nari believes that it may help to bring the change.

The trolls at the Trollmarket initially have some mixed feelings about the newcomer, but Jim quickly wins their hearts. He becomes Blinky's assistant at his library. Jim doesn't reveal his amulet though as he isn't sure how trolls will react to it. He also hides his origin, inventing a fake backstory about being from New Jersey.

The first complication starts when Jim realizes that he has bonded with Kanjigar too much and simply cannot let him die now (not to mention that because of Jim's intervention, Draal and Kanjigar finally manage to talk and go back to normal father-son relationship).

Jim's plan ends up to be saving Kanjigar and becoming his helper while trying to make everything work. The thing is - it doesn't work as planned as Jim miscalculates the supposed date of Kanjigar's death (it happens a day earlier).

And there is another thing Jim hasn't considered (or more like deliberately omitted thinking about it) - namely, his own human life. There is only one Jim in this timeline, so from humans' point of view, Jim Lake disappeared a year ago.

Both Barbara and Toby are devastated, never giving up on finding Jim. Strickler is upset too, but unlike Toby and Barbara, he believes that Jim is dead (between Bular, other changelings, and goblins, there are too many possible suspects who love human flesh too much). Strickler meets Barbara when she comes to the school looking for clues. Initially, he helps her with the investigation out of concern that she might stumble upon the supernatural, but gradually falls for her. Barbara starts to have feelings for Walter too and feels guilty for finding her personal happiness while Jim is not around.

Toby, on the other hand, gets close to Eli and starts believing in creeps, suspecting that those might be the reason for Jim's disappearance. Toby tries to stay positive, but deep inside he wonders if his best friend is still alive.

Toby and Eli snoop around a lot. Steve tries to follow them one day for a nasty prank - and ends up learning about the supernatural stuff too. He's still mean to both Toby and Eli, but joins them in their investigation (he is a self-proclaimed leader).

Those investigations lead the boys to the location of Kanjigar's death and Toby picks up the amulet. When Jim discovers that, he is devastated (even though it was his initial plan to have Toby as the Trollhunter). Jim comes to Toby's house together with Blinky and Aaarrrgghh, hoping to be a secret helper.

Toby, however, finds out Jim's true identity really fast. Jim has no choice but to confess, though he omits the time travel part and tells Toby he has no idea why he transformed one day. For now, Toby promises to keep it secret, even though he thinks that Jim should at least tell his mom he's fine.

Eli and Steve become a part of the team early on as Toby kinda drifts away from their previous activities after becoming the Trollhunter and they start investigating why which leads to them discovering everything. Eli is obviously excited to learn more about 'creeps', but Steve is annoyed that he isn't the chosen one. He grows a better person only after getting into several troubles and being saved by Toby and Jim.

Ironically, Steve is the second one to learn Jim's true identity and the first one who finds out about Jim's amulet as Jim is forced to use it to save him. After this, Jim tells the entire truth to his team (which consists of Toby, Eli, Steve, Blinky, Aaarrrgghh, Draal, and Vendel by that point).

There's also an issue regarding the situation with Enrique and his potential kidnapping, and Jim patrols near Claire's house hoping to prevent it. However, he doesn't know that the switch has already happened in this timeline (as Strickler discovered Nomura's Snatch earlier and used it to get himself another subordinate). Claire also starts to notice oddities with her brother earlier, which leads her to discovery of changelings' existence. She lands herself in trouble as she has discovered Strickler's true identity, but as Strickler prefers not to have another misterious disappearance, he just manages to silence her with blackmail. Strickler also uses Claire to investigate who is the human Trollhunter as he himself has no idea.

Claire accidentally notices Jim who is roaming near her house. Initially, she thinks he's one of the bad guys (as she has no idea there are good trolls and assume that all of them are on the same side as NotEnrique and Strickler). That is how Jim learns that he's failed to prevent another one of events he would rather avoid and Claire realizes that not every troll is evil. She propose the alliance and suggests leaking info on Strickler to Jim's team. While Jim is slightly reluctant at first (not wanting to endanger her life needlessly), he remembers that Claire is competent and smart enough so her plan should work.

Claire, however, tries to go beyond her initial plan and ends captured. Strickler uses her as the bait to lure the Trollhunter. There's the clash between the two sides. Jim fights Strickler, but (obviously) refuse to kill him, so Strickler escapes. Meanwhile, the rest of the team deals with Bular and Nomura. Bular is killed, and Nomura is captured.

While Strickler is out of Arcadia, and the team is planing entering the Darklands to save Enrique, Jim decides to contact Douxie and recruit him to the team. Douxie agrees after learning about everything and starts to teach Claire.

Jim isn't that worried about Strickler most likely freeing Angor as his plan is to have a proper talk with his teacher and set everything straight. Besides, Jim is sure that Strickler won't do anything dumb like using the binding spell in this timeline (as he has no idea that the half-troll who defeated him is Jim).

However, Jim hasn't considered that Strickler feels cornered and rather paranoid because Gunmar won't be kind to him and he has no tight bonds with the current Trollhunter Toby. Strickler believes that he is on his own now - and there's nothing to lose, so he is even more hostile and manipulative than in the original timeline, but it also leads to more missteps - including Angor getting free on his own and Barbara discovering Walter's secret.

Angor is deadset on killing Strickler, and only Jim's involvement stops him. Angor agrees that now that he's free, he has no reason to act like a villain and leaves to sort his feelings. Strickler is indebted to Jim though he still has no idea why this odd youngling has saved him. Jim has no choice but to tell him everything in hope to earn his trust.

Barbara is another person who figures Jim's identity herself. Initially, she is seriously upset that her son hasn't come to her once the transformation happened, but she forgives Jim eventually.

Now, that everyone is together in this, there is some thorough planning regarding the mission to the Darklands. After all, Enrique isn't the only one they will save, but other familiars too. Besides, they plan to talk to Dictatious and make him remember how he used to be (Blinky already knows about the situation and had enough time to make peace in his mind with this fact).

Strickler contacts other members of the Janus Orders (those who he believes to be willing to change sides) and warns them that they will lose their familiars soon. However, he misgudges some and those find the way to contact Gunmar and warn him too. Obviously, Gunmar doesn't care about the changelings, but for him it looks like the perfect opportunity to escape. He also has an ally in Usurna - and it turns out that some trolls at the Trollmarket would rather pick Gunmar's side too.

So, when the team marches into the Darklands, there is a riot at the Trollmarket and Vendel is imprisoned. The Trollhunters seemingly meet no resistance at the Darklands (minus several Gumm-Gumms and goblins) and save the familiars, but can't locate Dictatitious (as he isn't there at the moment). After some thinking, they decide to go back for now and return for the second time (as everyone is sure they have been stealthy enough).

Meanwhile, Gunmar has passed through the bridge with a good chunk of his elite forces and is greeted by his supporters who have control over the Trollmarket. So, when the Trollhunters are back from the Darklands, they get a nasty surprise. They manage to escape only because Claire summons a shadow portal (it's the first one for her in this timeline as she has learned different magic from Douxie). The lack of practice shows here and Morgana gets a link to Claire's mind.

Jim knows that Morgana can be redeemed but feels conflicted when he sees that Claire goes through the events leading to her possession for the second time (it's something he would rather prevent). Not to mention that Angor isn't that willing to forgive Morgana.

Jim contacts Nari, hoping that she might have an idea how to help Claire, but Nari admits that shadowmancy is beyond her competence (actually, beyond everyone's but shadowmancers). Jim decides to propose Morgana to possess him instead as he thinks that he might have a better resistance (spoiler: he hasn't).

Morgana uses Jim's body to come and bargain to Gunmar, reminding him about their alliance.

Meanwhile, Claire and Toby with Angor's assistance go to the shadow dimension to save Jim. On their way, Claire has a fight with Morgana and barely manages to win due to some quick thinking. Toby, Claire and Angor reach Jim and manage to break him out of the possession.

The team decide to fight Gunmar before Morgana starts the Eternal Night. The clash happens at the Trollmarket (some former members of the Janus Order, trolls from different clans and some local wizards come to help too).

After the fight is won, Jim realizes that they still need to reach Merlin and think about the further actions against the Arcane Order. And well, when Merlin is awake and learns about the time-travel, he isn't happy as he thinks that messing with the time has already lead to some horrifying consequences. He also isn't happy to learn that Jim still hopes to free Morgana and refuses to cooperate (which change nothing as Claire steals his staff).

Jim tries to talk with Morgana for the second time after she is free, trying to appeal to her former ideas about co-existence and asking if she actually wants to have the world destroyed. It works this time.

The team also contacts Aja and Krel when they arrive to the Earth, finally reuniting with the rest of the guardians and forming the united front. Together, they have less trouble dealing with Morando and later, Green Knight. Nari sees it as an opportunity to talk to Bellroc and Skrael and appeal to their common sense as the times have changed and humans proved to be able to co-exist with inhuman beings. Bellroc and Skrael are still skeptical but agree to wait and see.

As the peace is reached, Claire joins efforts with Morgana in the attempt to find the solution for Jim (and to some extent all the changelings who changed sides) to change forms and be able to enjoy human life.

#tales of arcadia #toa #what if scenario #post rott #jim is back in time as a half-troll #jim isn't the trollhunter in this one #he still has Excalibur though #trollhunter toby #half troll jim #jim lake jr #claire nuñez #toby domzalski #text post #ask box #anon ask

31 notes · View notes

imagine-knb · 11 months

Note

Yaknow, it’s crazy!! Back when you were originally first active, I had turned on notifications for your blog because I loved your content so so much! I forgot all about it until you became active again! I’m happy to see you back !!♡

I’d you don’t mind~ can I request GoM+Kasamatsu reacting to their childhood crush/friend confessing their feelings for them?!

Maybe a little bland and simple, but I love to think of some characters who’ve really been pining on their crush being over the moon with joy over this kind of thing^///^” > maybe also a little big of how they would act around their crush before the confession!

-koi

You still have notifications on for us? I'm so grateful Koi-Anon! It honestly makes me so happy that so many of our previous followers stayed despite us not knowing until now if we'd be back. I've honestly felt so giddy and have been gushing about the blog to my significant other since I came back (my relationship with my current partner started after I left the blog, so they have no idea how deep this obsession runs lol) Also this ask is far from bland, I think it's adorably fluffy! Admin Neon

Kuroko

when Kuroko has a crush on someone, it's not so obvious at first; in fact, the only clue that he has feelings stronger for you than simple friendship are the little actions he does for you that he doesn't do for anyone else

they're small actions that could simply be mistaken for him considering you a close friend – letting you borrow his jacket when you were cold, purchasing your favorite snacks from the convenience store as a surprise

the day you confess to him, it's more than obvious that you're nervous – how could you not be, because the way he treated you, you thought he only saw you as a friend

Kuroko knew he was staring, knew that it was making your already fried nerves work in overdrive, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from your form. He was surprised, somehow not expecting you to reciprocate his feelings — even more surprised that you had confessed them first. But above all else, he was delighted.

"____-san," he called your name, interrupting your nervous, rambling confession. "I feel the same way."

Kise

in contrast to his light-blue haired friend, when Kise has a crush on someone, it is very obvious; he's clingy and flirty and always wanting to be the subject of your attention

to be frank, Kise would probably want to ask you out long before you came to the conclusion that you reciprocated his feelings – at least, he would have if he didn't think it would jeopardize your already great friendship with him

your confession to him comes randomly in the form of a question – "why aren't we dating?" – and it catches him completely off guard; you'd never heard Kise so quiet before

"Wait, wait, wait," Kise repeated himself, holding a hand up like he could pause your train of thought. "Are you saying you like me, too?"

When what he received in return from you was an affirmative answer, Kise feels overjoyed. His arms are instantly wrapped around you in the next moment, pulling you close. He had to resist the urge to kiss your cheek — didn't want to move too quickly — and you practically have to tear him off you at the end of the night because of how much he's clinging now.

Kasamatsu

you were his good friend and he was comfortable around you... until the day he wasn't; the day Kasamatsu realizes he has stronger feelings for you is the day you think he wants to end the friendship for good

he's suddenly embarrassed every time you catch his eye, he starts avoiding you more often, and he can't seem to talk to you without sounding angry – he's not angry at you though, he's angry at himself for his sudden 180 in how he treated you; why did it feel different now that he liked you like that?

you corner him one day, angry that he'd been ignoring you, and when you grilled him about his recent behavior he actually blurts out that he'd been doing it because of his growing feelings for you; your response wasn't what he was expecting – "is that it? I like you, too, dumbass."

For a moment, Kasamatsu seemed to be floundering in front of you, mouth agape as a red hue flooded his face. His pulse had been quick when you cornered him, then it felt like it had stopped the moment of your confession. Now? Now it felt like it was working double time — this couldn't be good for his heart.

With a cough behind a closed fist, Kasamatsu glanced off to the side before speaking. "Well, that's... good. That's good." He doesn't know what else to say however — now he was even more confused on how he should move forward with treating you.

Aomine

he's almost in denial with himself when he realizes he has feelings for you; the two of you had been friends for so long, practically since you were babies, so he didn't know when he stopped seeing you as a friend and started seeing you as more

he actually starts treating you just a little meaner, making snarky comments and trash talking the things you enjoy, but you're used to his shitty attitude and take it in stride – it actually ends up making him like you more

the day you confess to him actually has him confused, because how could you like someone who treated you so rudely, but he can't deny that it also makes his stomach fill with butterflies

"You must be some kind of masochist then," he commented, trying to hide the erratic thumping of his heart behind a sly smirk. "Don't think I'll be treating you any differently now that we're dating."

But the way you were looking at him, all smiles and teasing looks as you said you wouldn't have it any other way, made you seem so much more alluring to Aomine. As he stepped forward, one hand reached out to tilt your chin up so he could press his lips against yours better, a thought crosses his mind — maybe he would be treating you a little bit differently.

Midorima

it's hard to tell when Midorima has a crush on someone; he doesn't treat them that differently from before he liked them because he tends to treat all of his good friends with respect except Takao

he's actually already planning on confessing to you, but he's waiting for the perfect day; his luck has to be perfect, your luck has to be perfect, everything about that day has to be absolutely perfect

so when you confess to him on one of the most unluckiest days he's had that year, he almost feels mocked – almost, if it weren't for the fact your confession had him elated

"You really couldn't have picked any other day," he mused, a small smirk on his features telling you that he really didn't mean the words he said.

Normally, Midorima would be adamant that Oha Asa was never wrong — an unlucky day was supposed to be just that: unlucky. But after your confession, he was starting to think that maybe even his unluckiest of days could have a brighter side to them. He thanked the heavens he was able to afford double of his lucky item that day.

Murasakibara

he gets a little clingy to the object of his affection when he has a crush; he always wants to be around you and wants to be the only person to snag your attention

he tends to get a little whiney when you give other people attention, even if it's just your or his friends, but he's been that way every since you were kids so you're used to that behavior – maybe he's liked you since then?

the day you confess, he takes it so well, it's almost as if he already knew you would be doing it; maybe he already expected this to be the outcome of all his time spent with you

He was already hugging your smaller frame against his when you confessed, so after the words left your lips, Murasakibara's arms only tightened around you. He was pressing his nose against the side of your neck, hiding his expression, but you could feel that lazy grin of his against your skin.

"It's about time, ____-chin," he teased, voice muffled against you. "I was wondering when you'd say something."

Akashi

when Akashi has a crush on someone, he already starts treating them like a potential future spouse; he's a very straight forward person, so he doesn't want to date you just for fun because he's looking for his forever

he treats you better than any other friend he has, constantly making sure you're okay and healthy, keeping you stress free to the best of his abilities, and wanting to help you better yourself – honestly, it's only a little bit more than how he treated you as a best friend

he honestly confesses to you first, but you don't tell him right away that you reciprocate his feelings because you feel like you're not good enough for him – he only seems to catch on to the fact that you do like him back, however

Akashi seemed almost too calm, like he had expected what you were saying. As you finished your confession, tacking on your doubts on your worth to him, he steps forward and places a gentle palm against your cheek. The smile already on his face only softened when you leaned into his touch.

"None of that matters, ____," he reassured. "I like you. And, if I'm not mistaken, you like me too. That. That's all that matters to me."

#divider by skylightlantern #kuroko #kise #kasamatsu #aomine #midorima #murasakibara #akashi

45 notes · View notes

nixie-writes-aot · 2 years

Note

Hello, fren!! Hope you're doing well! Might I be able to request Reiner, Bertholdt, and Levi (individually) w a male reader who doesn't sleep all that well due to tinnitus/insomnia?

i am once again requesting based off of personal things, hdnfkkfnd. reader, to me, is their own lil character and each different fic w a reader is different frome each other and their all lil wet pathetic meow meows /aff

Insomniac S/O Drabble

Warnings: insomnia, mentions of death, canon divergent in Bertholdt's, fluff

Pairings: Reiner Braun x male reader, Bertholdt Hoover x male reader, Levi Ackerman x male reader

Author's Note: I never know where to put this section but I went with insomnia because I have no clue how tinnitus functions hkdndk also fren look at him in that gif. That's my favorite gif right there jdnsj

Word Count: 863

Reiner Braun

You stared up at the ceiling in the dark, frustration settling into your bones. You had been trying for hours to sleep, trying your best not to toss and turn. Lest you wake up the blonde beside you. You let out a quiet sigh, turning grumpily onto your back, eyes glaring at the wall beside the bed. Your eyes had adjusted to the darkness hours ago, despite how you felt about even still being awake in the first place. You began to let your thoughts wander from the exhaustion that wore you down and to the events of the day.

Dammit, with how active you had been there was no right to be this unable to sleep. It annoyed you, to say the least. You closed your eyes, silently pleading with your brain to just shut up and drift off. All in vain, of course. Why wouldn't it be?

You felt Reiner shift beside you, two strong arms wrapping around your torso and pulling you into his chest. He pressed his lips against your neck with a hum.

"Can't sleep?" He quietly asked.

You only nodded, feeling your cheeks flush as you heard that deep rumbling chuckle in your ear. "Me either." Reiner admitted, "Might as well stay up together. Right?"

You smiled softly, "Right." You whispered, melting into his warm embrace. Reiner knew what he was doing, evidently, because before long the both of you were drifting to sleep.

Bertholdt Hoover

Unlike you, Bertholdt didn't really struggle to go to sleep but rather struggled with restful sleep. You and him alike had very few nights where the two of you were able to sleep at the same time. Especially after he had returned to Marley with you in tow. Yet every night he tried. His arms wrapped around your, your head on his chest and listening to his heartbeat. Yet sleep wasn't coming, not easily anyway. Even as you listened to the gentle and steady thumping of Bertholdt's heartbeat paired with his quiet, barely audible snores.

It was cute, really. You pressed a hand against his cheek gently, smiling. "I love you." You softly whispered.

Bertholdt's heartbeat fastened, cracking a shy smile. You gasped, playfully hitting his chest. "Oh you weren't even asleep! Liar!" You growled in mock offense.

His pale green eyes opened, falling on your figure. "Mm, no. Can't sleep either. I just didn't want to get in the way of you sleeping, if you were."

"At least this way we can stay up together then." You offered, watching Bertholdt's face heat up. No matter how long you had been dating him, he would always flush at the most beautifully domestic words that you uttered. You laid your head back down on his chest feeling Bertholdt start to run his hands through your hair with a quiet hum. Despite yourself, you ended up drifting off to sleep in his arms, feeling his hands still before you were out like a light. You suspected that Bertholdt had followed suit shortly after.

Levi Ackerman

Levi did not sleep often nor did he sleep well. His dreams normally came paired with nightmares from hell, you were in a similar boat. Although, you supposed that issues sleeping just came with the territory of being scouts. Especially Levi, at the very least you didn't have to send scouts, many of them baby faced and young, to their deaths. You wanted to hold him close most days, because of that. If anyone deserved to sleep well, it was Humanities' Strongest. A title he earned yet a title that came with far too many ghosts.

Which was what you and Levi were doing now. It was after an expedition, his head in your lap as you ran your fingers through his black hair. It was a quiet, gentle moment. Exhaustion wore on the both of you yet not only would sleep not be coming but, additionally, you knew far too well what would happen within your dreams.

You were a veteran yourself, even if you didn't command your own squad like Levi, Miche, and Hanji. You knew his pain. You knew that what others claimed him to be just wasn't true. Sure, he seemed rude and uncaring but you had yet to actually meet a man who cared more than Levi. Levi was quiet, simply enjoying your company and you his. Levi looked up at you, studying your face for a few moments.

"You look exhausted." You remarked.

"Tch, speak for yourself brat." Levi retorted.

You chuckled, nodding. "You got that one right." You watched Levi close his eyes. The silence was comfortable, natural even. It always was around Levi. You didn't need words to express your love for the man before you. Considering his distaste of being emotional, you had a feeling he preferred your silence communicating how you felt for you. Like after every expedition, you two would stay up until you passed out, taking advantage of the planned day off to do with whatever the hell you wanted. Normally, that meant making up for sleep that the night following a return from an expedition stole away. Tonight would be no different.

168 notes · View notes

skzoologist · 7 months

Text

My mooties

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ ꨄ︎ ⋆｡ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆｡☁︎｡ﾟ⋆

⤐ @dmnksrt - One of my irl best friends, you guys can thank her for so much, because she is my number 1 fan and keeps cheering me on. Without her, I wouldn't have written this much. She's a victim of accidentally being converted into a kpop fan, purely because I was also dragged into the fandom. Even though she stans another group and man (Suga), we still ramble to each other for hours easily. Once she gathers the courage to post her own fanfics, you can be sure I'll be there to support her immediately. Her brain is wonderful, just like her, I wouldn't hesitate to commit arson for her sake. Her tag is 'my Darling', no, we aren't dating, in case any of Nat's anons come here asking that.

⤐ @nerenbe - Well well well, if it isn't my menace herself. This lil gremlin is the sole reason I am in this fandom altogether, since she just kept singing 'Star lost' while we were in the Christmas market in the year 2023. I guess this is what I get for dragging her into so many animes and manhwas, haha. She isn't really active here, but know that she loves to murder me with pics and memes of my bias and wrecker. Truly, she lives up to her nickname.

⤐ @shetherocket - The last of my irl best friends, the poor one who isn't in the kpop fandom and has no idea wtf I am saying to her, ever. It's really funny actually, as she just nods as I speak, no clue about anything. But she likes Felix! Loves his softness and sunshine self, so I sometimes spam her with him lmao. I am never going to be sorry for that :D

⤐ @thightswideforhanin - First ever person to loudly admit Bae wrecked her, and hard. I always enjoy her reblogs, she was one of the first ever active members of my blog.

⤐ @michelle4eve - A shy follower of mine who gathered enough courage to speak to me, and would you look at that, we speak more regularly now :) She's very sweet, which is why I just call her my Sunshine.

⤐ @jinnie-ret - Jinnie-ret, Jinnie-ret, the person who started it all. She was the first skz writer who noticed me and decided to raid my blog, quite literally. She recommended my work on her blog and I got a big influx of people, making me breach the 100 followers threshold. I still can't believe she'd followed me back, when I've been her silent follower for months by that point. While we don't speak a lot, as she is busy, I know she's very welcoming and kind (also my brit mum, because she decided to adopt me lmao).

⤐ @atinyniki - Niki, my precious little pocket pookie who just loves to pester me and absolutely shower me in love, no matter how hard I keep pushing it away (this is the norm for me and my friends). She's absolutely sweet and so strong, I look up to her in that sense to this very day. We easily start gushing about ATEEZ or my husky puppies for a good while, or even start planning some gut-wrenching fics together xD I am so happy she wrote to me, even if she keeps insisting I am cute, falsely.

⤐ @writingforstraykids - Nat, my talented menace! I love her art, oh my god, I cannot wait for her to draw more, even if that is a year later or more. And her soft thoughts? Hell yes! She's the one who usually gets to see my own random thoughts about the boys (hence our collab), because she's my mootie and they get VIP services :) I am forever afraid she's gonna do what my menace does and send me pics of the boys... I would straight up die on the spot.

⤐ @cheesemonky - Leisel! While we don't talk a lot (timezone differences and my depressed, anxious self), she's cute and so supportive. I just know if we would talk more, our chat would be filled with rambles and thoughts about TXT, haha.

⤐ @yangbbokari - Mumu, the chaos child. We didn't get to know each other well yet, but she loves to say random shit and cause mayham xD Very maknae line coded.

⤐ @lilmisssona - Sona, my sweet sonata, who is so sweet and supportive of me despite barely knowing me, it gives me diabetes. I already love her works, her AUs are very interesting. She also loves my two puppies, and I am only glad to provide her with photos and videos of them.

⤐ @minholing - Jenny, my lil biologist sprout. While she left, I will await her return here. Who knows, maybe by then I'll be able to accept her hugs more easily.

⤐ @kimistorm - We don't really talk, but we occasionally tag each other in some games. Her works are really nice and sweet, I wouldn't be surprised if she is like that too.

⤐ @miuracha - Miu, the legend amongst us. I haven't really gathered the courage to talk to her yet, but I do know she is an absolute sweetheart who only deserves the best. I hope life finally gives her a break, and very soon.

⤐ @silverstarburst - Silver, my star and guardian wolf, thanks to her protective nature over her friends. Our friendship started with her tagging me in a Jisung photoset, completely unprompted. That was a sign, so true that we now regularly talk here or on discord. Bless her and her gif/photo sets.

⤐ @galaxycatdrawz - A very active moot of Nat, someone who gave me even more meme ideas when I started memeing Nat, being the menace he is. Thus, he shall be named my official meme partner. While we don't talk regularly, that doesn't mean he isn't fun to be around.

⤐ @thatonedemigodfromseoul We haven't really talked a lot so far, but that is how it is when you just meet someone.

⤐ @dean-a-mean-tae Ah, yes, sweet Ronnie, who likes to sing my praises, even though I am average at best. No, please, don't look at me like that guys, I'm sorry- We have this mouse and cat game where we compliment the other in an endless cycle. Also let me tell you, when I first saw that they mentioned me, saying how good my silly fics are, I just sat in front of my screen like a confused and emotional dumbass. Definitely will remember that day for a good while, haha. I look forward to getting to know them better, if life allows it.

If I didn't tag you here, that either means I am way too nervous to do so (you're probably a big writer blog), or I just straight up forgot with my smooth, pea-sized brain. Please do reach out to me, I assure you I didn't mean to somehow offend you.

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ ꨄ︎ ⋆｡ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆｡☁︎｡ﾟ⋆

#potat's guide #my beloveds #the way i just sat before this post for 5 minutes #before posting it #tells you how axious i am...#btw i truly do mean that 'tell me if i forgot to put you here' part #i assure you i don't hate you or anything #it's just that i can be very forgetful or anxious sometimes

33 notes · View notes

r-rook-studio · 1 year

Text

Return to the Bracknell Horror

Crossposted from R-Rook.studio.

I like to think of myself as someone who loves and writes scenarios that are inherently sandboxy. My ideal horror investigation scenarios—Goblin Archive's The Mall and Zzarchov Kowalski's Price of Evil—have a few hooks, a usefully detailed map, a well-thought-out escalation clock, and interesting, tersely described NPCs... but not much else. In adventure design, those are my ideals. Sometimes, at a one-shot are con, you need to make your frames slightly harder, but often when doing that, the goal is to preserve as much player agency and GM creativity as possible, especially when the scenario isn't only for demo or public play.

Over the past weekend, I had a writing breakthrough with "The Bracknell Horror," an adventure for the next Roseville Beach Book. This post isn't grand RPG theory; it's just a quick note that my two favorite parts of scenario design (setting and escalation clock) were ultimately what fixed the problem. It's odd that I've run this little adventure many times since I started working on Roseville Beach in 2019—it's fun and gives me room to bring in a lot of the PC's connections—but it was only last weekend that I was really happy with it how it all came together.

"The Bracknell Horror" has been my go-to con game or demo for Moonlight on Roseville Beach. Inspired by both a messy blend of the Migo and the Dreamlands with the actual Belvedere Guest House on Fire Island, I've been running it since 2019. Roseville Beach's Bracknell Lodge is a good place for a kidnapping mystery: the guest house is too expensive and exclusive for our PC sleuths to have been in before, even though it's local to the town where they do their monster-hunting. It also gives them the potential to deal with wealthy, WASPy, and mostly unsympathetic queer characters who are still being harmed by cishet magician Simon Mather and his cronies who've decided Roseville Beach is the perfect place to find some warm bodies for some nightmarish Dreamlands entities to possess.

Ultimately, I didn't put it into either the quickstart or the main book because we were out of space and because while it was always a sandbox when I got to the Bracknell, I was always too intimidated to create an escalating clock and always needed a scene structure and over-the-top clues to get them there.

In my original version, the PCs wake up Saturday morning to discover that during the night, people have gone missing. In some cases, they had missed connections with those folks and may have been looking for them before. I'd always excused that issue, rationalizing that missing a meet-up with friends in an era before cell phones often meant not reconnecting until everyone got back home the next day. But Roseville Beach isn't just a small town, it's a fairly tiny one, and the locals know each other well, so I was never happy with actively preventing the PCs from getting involved until the clock was farther advanced, but my brain was hyper-focused on that structure until I started preparing to run it for A Weekend with Good Friends hosted on Discord by The Good Friends of Jackson Elias. Finally, it occurred to me that the adventure really needed to begin the night the disappearances start instead of just including a few flashbacks the PCs remember the next day. In doing that, I had a chance to target not just the PC's connections and allies but also the PCs themselves, giving them a chance to interfere with Mather's plans as they were getting started or follow Macgregor and his cronies as they moved through the town finding people to target rather than waking up the next morning and converging on the Bracknell.

I'd been afraid that getting the PCs involved too soon might mean it moved from creepy horror scenario to a big fight in the middle of town, but it took PCs time to confirm what was happening and that the people who were running late or took longer than usual to use the bathroom, find a pay phone, or cash a check at the grocery were actually, really missing that the kidnappers always had a head start (a crow shifter spotted one of Mather's henchlings walking toward the Bracknell with one of the victims, but couldn't do much to interfere until he rendezvoused with everyone else). Once that happened, a PC who'd been invited back to the Bracknell by a stranger she was dancing with had a new motivation to accept the invitation. We still had a chance to explore all the less-known ways to get into the lodge—the gardener's entrance, sneaking in via the unused boathouse, climbing over the front gate (this time with the cover of night)—so I got to reference Dai's incredible map (that will also appear in the full version of Dim All the Lights).

This time, I'd also simplified Mather's plans so that they were way easier to plot out on a clock, and PCs interfering with them weren't filling pages of notes when they learned about them. Moving everything to the nighttime also meant that PCs' plans to get into the Lodge by subterfuge, stealth, and seduction felt more logical and logically likely to succeed.

#roseville beach #moonlight on roseville beach #dim all the lights #tabletop gaymes #tabletop game design #ttrpg design #scenario design

24 notes · View notes

kyndaris · 8 months

Text

Isu Origins

The Assassin's Creed games began with a simple story about erstwhile bartender Desmond Miles reliving the memories of his ancestor: Altair while being held by a sinister organisation known as Abstergo. Over the years, however, the franchise has grown, spawning spin-offs and trying new things by adding different features to spruce up the gameplay. Unfortunately, as the series has continued Assassin's Creed has become far too convoluted for its own good. Heck, even Desmond was killed off before being replaced by Layla Hassasn. She too, however, was set aside at the end of Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (a game, I should note, which took me about 150 hours to complete).

Enter Basim: an assassin from the ninth century, who also served a pivotal role in the aforementioned Assassin's Creed title and introduced protagonist Eivor to the Hidden Ones. Basim, of course, is also the Isu Loki. The Isu, for those unfamiliar with the games, are an ancient and highly advanced species of humanoid beings that have taken on mythological connotations. They were the ones who created the Pieces of Eden, and were responsible for the creation of the humans. A cataclysmic event before written history wiped out many of them although some have survived. Including, of course, Loki after his consciousness was reborn.

Assassin's Creed: Mirage is a game that harks back to the Assassin's Creed games of old. Instead of the open world role-playing games from the last three titles in the series, they have returned to a much more contained world. Mirage, it should be noted, is set before Valhalla. When we first meet the Isu Loki, he is naught but a street thief with no knowledge of his Isu heritage.

The Basim we meet is a man with a good heart and a strong sense of justice. Life on the streets of Baghdad is not easy. Doing odd jobs for the Hidden Ones has helped him feel like he's contributing to his community but it's not enough. Basim, we soon learn, wishes to join them. Something his lifelong friend, Nehal, disagrees with.

Still, Basim is a stumble young man. Sensing an opportunity to impress the Hidden Ones, he decides to break into the Winter Palace and steal whatever treasures the Hidden Ones have their eye on. Things go from bad to worse when after witnessing a meeting between members of The Order of the Ancients and the Caliph, he stumbles upon an ancient artefact. Upon activating it, he is discovered by the Caliph and kills the man in self-defence.

After a fraught escape, Basim is left with nowhere to turn to. Roshan takes him back to Alamut and serves as his assassin mentor.

So ends the action-packed prologue of Mirage.

It isn't long before Basim is sent back to Baghad following a fellow assassin's discovery and failure to track down the members of the Order of the Ancients that hold the city in their vice-like grip. And just like the earlier games, Basim must slowly track down clues around the city to deduce who each Order member is before assassinating them.

While there isn't much variety in the type of missions, I still enjoyed my time exploring Baghdad and learning a variety of facts about the culture. After reading about the Silk Roads and how pivotal the Middle East was back in those days as a hub for trade. So much of the history during the early Middle Ages I used to know has been so centralised in Western Europe, it is refreshing to see how interconnected the world was outside of it. Yes, Western Europe might have seen economic, intellectual and cultural decline but this was not so for so many other countries and budding empires.

Honestly, the best part of the Assassin's Creed games has been the opportunity to learn about history through a medium that is fun and engaging. I might not retain everything I've learned but for those similarly minded, it can spark curiosity about the world around them.

And given how little the Western world knows about Muslims and their history (as well as the trouble between Israel and Palestine), learning about these people is a great tool to understanding their perspective and to garner sympathy.

The Middle East has such a rich history that the Western world has ignored or taken advantage of. Were it not for how Western Europeans have exploited their land, and gone to war with them during the Crusades, the possibilities of what might have been achieved are endless.

Anyways, after identifying the Head of the Order, Basim confronts his mentor, Roshan, regarding who he is and of the secrets lying underneath Alamut. It later turns out, the Hidden Ones were guarding a ruin from the time of Those Who Came Before. It later turns out, the ruin was the prison where Loki was held. This is further emphasised by the nightmares our protagonist experienced throughout the game of a terrifying djinni.

Mirage ends with Basim embracing his identity as Loki despite Roshan's attempts to get him to leave the past behind, thus providing some much needed backstory to the antagonist Eivor faced in Valhalla. Where Ubisoft goes next with this storyline is anyone's guess given Loki's immediate mission to find those who had wronged him in his past. But there is little doubt he would be an asset for the current iterations of the Assassins as they struggle against the modern-day version of The Order.

From a gameplay perspective, I liked how Mirage moved away from using R1 and R2 as the attack buttons and moving it back to square on my PlayStation controller. There is also a renewed focus back to stealth with Basim having many tools at his disposal to dispatch unsuspecting guards. Yes, they might be a little dimwitted as they lose their fellow guards to the wind but there's something fun about taking them down. What I didn't like, however, was the addition of a stamina bar and unblockable attacks which were denoted by enemies flashing red (this was particularly hard if one had just used eagle sense beforehand).

When did these games suddenly become like Dark Souls? Why is there a need for a stamina bar? I know, Ubisoft, that you don't want players to wail on guards like they did in the open-world games but there are so many other options at your disposal than incorporating a stamina bar!

That aside, I did notice Basim's freerunning parkour wasn't as tight as I would like. There were several occasions where my erstwhile assassin would veer off to clamber up another object rather than the one I'd directed him to. Then, of course, there was his stubborn insistence to DIVE into the water rather than leap onto land even though the jump would barely be an inconvenience.

I was also irritated, for a few missions, with how quickly enemy guards could detect Basim. Perhaps this was my own inability to track down nearby enemies but let me just blame the game, okay?

These gripes aside, Mirage still remained an enjoyable game. Especially because it was a much smaller open world than the giants visited upon by Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla. There was no swapping out of weapons or equipment based upon stats. Basim was equipped with sword, dagger and hidden blade only. The simplified skill tree and the focus on just one city was a breathe of fresh air considering the open-world exhaustion I'd faced although Assassin's Creed Codename Hexe does promise a return to it. Still, the concept behind it - that of the witch trails in the Holy Roman Empire - does tickle my fancy.

And while Mirage doesn't break any new ground, I very much enjoyed the setting and the return to a simpler time when it came to gameplay. If there is a return to a bigger open-world, though, we'll have to see if the story will be enough to pull me through as I've faced significant fatigue of overly long games that take me a month or two just to get through and add little to the world because they thought including frivolous points of interest was the best way to make the world interesting.

#video games #assassin's creed mirage #assassin's creed #basim #loki #isu #those who came before #hidden ones #the order of the ancients #chaos vs order

7 notes · View notes

epprbcu · 9 months

Text

Hello, Star here! I just mini-games and a few other blogs, as I'm sure many of you know.

I... Don't actually feel motivation to roleplay in the epprbcu anymore. I feel like it is more of a job now instead of something I do for fun.

I don't think I will be fully leaving the epprbcu. Mostly because I might come back one day. But I'm no longer really involved in the lore, I have NO clue what is going on, and with Miles leaving, I don't really know much of what to do anymore? Since Terro is the character Mini is closest to.

I'll probably respond like, every once in a while to a thing I forgot to reply to, or an ask or something, but at this point I just don't know if I can keep going with it.

I thought that, maybe killing off Themis would give me more motivation cause that's less blogs I have to keep track of! But apparently not.

I feel really sorry about this, I really do. So many threads and arcs left unfinished. But I don't think I can finish them anyways. For now, lets just see how things go.

If you still want to see me be active here on [tumblr], then feel free to follow me @shiningnightstars! If you check my pinned post there, I also have several other blogs, so feel free to check those out as well if you are interested.

Thank you everyone for the good times we've had, see you later!

-Star (mini-games mod)

(p.s. for the record, the blog will stay up but I will not send it to the graveyard just yet, just in case I one day feel like coming back.)

#epprbcu #punctuationverse #eppfprpg #!cu #starling sings #important #exclamation point pfp rpg blog cinematic universe #exclamania #epprbcu notice

7 notes · View notes

muiltifandomnerd · 1 year

Text

Adventures of Chika Hanabusa: The Restoration of Earth

Disclaimer: This book follows the events of Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus fanfic. This fanfic will not include Trails of Apollo, The Kane Chronicles, and Magnus Chase.

Chapter 5: Hyun’s Origin

Hyun PoV

After we are done talking to Ceres about the quest to stop Discordia and Bellona Greek forms, we walk to New Rome. AHH, the place a child soldier can retire from constantly fighting the god’s war. It is truly a shame that we literally fight two wars for the gods, and we don’t even get a reward for it. I guess you will have to be Percy Jackson and Jason Grace to get the gods to care.

"I never thought I would have to fight gods in my first quest," Chika says in a low voice while she looks down on the ground. Reyna gave a reassuring pat on Chika's shoulders and Chika put on a huge smile and blushed like crazy. This girl is such a simp for Reyna, and it is funny to watch.

“Do not worry Chika, you will get used to fighting mightier enemies. After all, I fought the Titans when I was just 13 years old. Besides Hyun and I will help you defeat them.” Reyna says reassuring while she continues to pat Chika and has a small smile. Ok, Reyna is never that touchy with others or even that smiley, I guess Reyna is fed up with being a soldier queen and just wants to be a normal girl. Well, Reyna deserves it, the girl needs to release that pent-up tension somehow, I remember the days when she was a simp for Jason Grace, now she's acting like this with a Greek no less.

“You know guys I think Eris and Enyo will be a walk in the park. Reyna, are you ok to fight your mother, I know it’s her Greek form and all of that?” I asked in concern.

"I will do what I must to protect Camp Jupiter, even if it means fighting my mother," Reyna says in an assertive tone while she looks down at the ground for a bit and then looks up in determination. I imagine it will be very hard for Reyna to fight her mother, but it is a good thing that she has a lot of resolve.

While we were walking around New Rome, we saw many children practicing their sword skills by slicing up the dummy. I pray for the day when we demigods don’t have to fight for our survival anymore. I also saw an elderly couple having Italian cuisine at a small table, and many teenagers getting a lot of candy and shirts from the gift shops. Fauns just lying in the grass and smoking cigarettes, Ugh Why can't we get satyrs instead, these fauns are just too dang lazy and have never done anything. The weather is a bit mild but not enough to ruin my makeup or make me sweat like a pig.

"Thank you, guys, for helping me on this quest, We will be alive by then," Chika says in a stutter between each word, Poor girl is nervous.

"Don't worry cheerleader because you have me on your team. Eris and Enyo will have no clue about how to deal with the most dangerous demigods." I chuckle as a mad woman.

"We shouldn't underestimate them just because they are minor deities, they help Mars wage war for millennia." Reyna looks at me like I'm some insane little child. Reyna needs to buy a sense of humor; she is the most serious teenager I have ever met.

“Ehh, we have two months to prepare, and we got a bunch of their myths. So we will be fine.” I say in a confident tone while Chika and Reyna stare at me, wondering why I’m so confident. Chika was quiet and anxious the whole time while we walked on the boardwalk of New Rome. Chika is truly lucky that she hasn't dealt with the demigod for long and she gets to have an active godly mother and an alive father. Truth be told, I'm very envious of her. My father died from cancer when I was just 10, and I still remember it yesterday.

Flashback (6 years ago)

I can't wait to show Daddy that I passed so many of those tests, maybe we will have a cool painting. I skipped to my house in New Rome, it was much nicer than the apartment we had back in Chicago. As I got into the house, I ran up to Daddy's room. I hear my daddy violently coughing blood and Mrs. Sinclair looking on to my dad with tears in her eyes. Daddy has a bald head, and he wears a worn-down expression, he doesn't move in his bed that much. And just lays there. Her son Ben was looking at my dad with empathy and he was crying for him. I saw Ben look at me with tears coming out of his eyes.

“Will my daddy be alive, Miss Sinclair," I say in a low voice, this can’t be happening, my daddy was supposed to beat this cancer. It’s not fair, my daddy didn’t do anything wrong to deserve this fate. I was about to tear up, but then Daddy patted my head and held me close. This is it; my daddy will go to Hades and I’m not ready to let him go.

"This is it, my moon. I'm about to leave this world, I have saved up a lot of money and you should be covered up to go to a university. Please take my will and make sure you have a happier life in New Rome. I'm sorry I failed you as a father."

“You didn't fail me at all, we watched many Disney movies together and we painted this whole house by ourselves. I remember you pretended to be the knight and I'm your princess. I will be fine at New Rome, but I'm not ready to let you go." I sobbed through my tears while everybody else looked on in sympathy. My daddy's coughs were getting so much worse, and he was breathing very rapidly. Miss Sinclair sets him back down on the bed and gives him the medicine. He drinks the medicine, and his coughs are getting a bit better.

"All this medicine does is ease your coughs, but you will die a painless death. Forgive me, Sir, I’m sorry I didn’t do much to save your life.”

"You give me more years to spend on my daughter, promise me to help my daughter whenever she asks.” My father says as he begins to close his eyes.

"I will look after Hyun no matter what and I make sure she and Ben will go to New Rome University together." Miss Sinclair holds my father's hand in a soft caress. I hugged my daddy tightly and Ben was holding me closely while I sobbed in my dying dad's chest.

"Thank you, Emma, now Hyun promised me that you will be a good girl and won't cause Miss Sinclair wrinkles. This is it, this is goodbye, I’m proud of my daughter. You will do great things in the future. Promise me you will go to New Rome University."

“I promise to go to college, and I promise to not cause Miss Sinclair problems." I sobbed like crazy, and Ben held me to his chest. I hear Father gives out his last breath and closes his eyes. He closed his eyes to spare me from looking at him and make it look like he had gone to sleep. I prayed to Letum to be a compassionate guide for my dad in the underworld and I put a drachma on my father's chest. I sobbed the whole day while Miss Sinclair and Ben held on to me.

Flashback Ends

Why do I have to think of that memory right now? Reyna leads Chika and me to the practice area.

"Now Chika, are you prepared to lose again to me." I give a wink and a mischievous smirk.

“I’m ready to beat you in our spar.” Chika took on a karate stense, I lounged at her, and I did round house kick to her his. Chika blocked the roundhouse kick and did a single-leg takedown. Great now she is a wrestler, but I can get out of this. I tried to move my hips while she was pinning me down, but she what I was doing and moved to do a side cradle. While she has me in a side cradle, she wraps her hands around my head and moves our body to the ground while she puts me in the D’arce choke. I tapped quickly because I knew that I lost, I may have underestimated her. She will be fine in the quest, thank the gods that she is not useless.

"Ok, I yield Chika. I guess it is 1-1 now, I admit I have underestimated you. Hey Reyna why do you need to do more hand-to-hand combat drills?” I ask.

“Because we are fighting a war goddess and so far what you guys demonstrated is not enough to beat her. We will work more on these drills and also we need to work on our powers.”

"I trust your judgement Reyna because I'm not sure if my plant abilities will be enough to defeat the two goddesses." Chika looks on to Reyna like she wants to please her master, oh boy these two might be gay for each other. The good thing about being a legacy of Venus is that I have excellent gaydar.

“We should also work on using our weapons and practice our powers. I can bring my spellbook and my magic should be very useful for the quest.” I say as I break up their moment.

"Excellent point Hyun, We will need your spells as well for the quest." Reyna looked startled, how unusual it was to see Reyna in her little world. We spent the whole day doing weapon drills, practicing hand-to-hand combat drills, and working on our powers. Chika and Reyna watched me hit the targets with my arrows while they sat on the grass like a couple. These two are hopeless and I must be the one to set them up. I will need good luck to deal with the hopeless romantics in the quest.

#pjo #pjo ocs #pjo fanfic

11 notes · View notes