#i will miss my mutuals who are not in the echo chamber but yeah <3

[constellation-skirmishes]

taking a break from tumblr tbh. not really having fun w art atm and i dont want to deliver mediocre drawings to y'all (๑･㉨･๑)

[residentbunburyist]

for the askbox game: I know roughly where you stand on a good chunk of these I think but I like to pick brains anyway so I'm just gonna: ocelhira, bbkaz, snakemeryl (sn... sneryl??), vkaz, otasune (I just wanna know the answer to 3 in particular for this one eheeh) takes a bow

aw hell yeah. i'm gonna do ALL of them!!

but maybe under a cut because it'll go for a bit

OCELHIRA -

1. What made you ship it?

love it. one of my favorite trash ships. 10/10. hatefucking their way through a decade of warcrimes

i am a huge sucker for angry, twisted, mutually angry relationships, and this has everything that i want: they're forced to work together towards a mutual goal for the man they both love while he sleeps, and they're angry, and jealous, and both awful people in their own rights. i love it

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

i like seeing the multitude of ways that people fill the 9 years that bb was asleep with the two of them, and how they explore how they worked with each other and maybe started relying on each other more than they wanted to. but most importantly, i love the deceit and the knowledge that ocelot was still lying to him the entire time with the full intention of just dropping him like a rock for bb once he needs to, like ocelot always does.

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

i've read a few fic where ocelot really does switch allegiances and falls truly in love with kaz, and betrays bb for kaz and v. i can't jive with that. i'm far too dedicated to ocelot's single-minded obsession with bb to let him ever fully change his allegiances. only work up some lovely lovely regret and conflicted feelings.

have my wonderful Ocelhira playlist

BBKAZ -

1. What made you ship it?

also love it. 100/10. 2 men, 1 braincell, 1000 war crimes.

what made me ship it is just all of their AMAZING interactions in peace walker. the relationship between the two of them just progressed in such a weird, but also weirdly natural way, and i can absolutely believe in their comradarie and affection

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

i love how these two get along together like an oil fire. they drive each other to new heights, and new ideas, but also enable each others' worst tendencies. in the peace walker tapes, you can really see how well they feed into each others' self-involved echo chambers, and convince each other that the things that they're doing are not only good, but GREAT ideas. i wholly believe that bb would not have become who he was without kaz egging him on, both feeding his grandiose view of himself and his world-view. plus of course i adore how it all falls apart in the end and the end their lives as bitter enemies. perfection

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

i always really really hate when people flatten kaz down to some sort of... battered housewife and bb into a manipulative, abusive husband. because bb was physically stronger and so came out on top of their fights, that must mean that kaz must be reduced to a quavering waif who doesn't understand that he's actually being abused and that's just... missing the mark on their relationship in so many different ways and i fucking hate it.

have my wonderful bbkaz playlist

SNAKEMERYL -

1. Why don’t you ship it?

I like thinking that they briefly got together after Shadow Moses, but obviously they didn't canonically work out. I'm going to say I don't ship it, just because I like working within those confines. i like thinking that they stayed together for a few months, but due to just... their mutual bad coping and disinterest in talking about their problems, Snake didn't have enough support to not fall back into his drinking and closing himself off, and Meryl got frustrated both with Snake not meeting any of her standards in a 'never meet your heroes' sort of way, and way too cooped up and lonely because she wasn't ready to wallow and write off her whole life.

2. What would have made you like it

i kind of like it just the way it is, honestly? like, i really like that they didn't work out, and that the spark that they had during Shadow Moses was based more on danger and adrenaline than actual compatibility. If anything i think i would have liked to just see a little bit more of what their time together in Alaska post MGS1 was like before Meryl left

3. Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

i really like all of the interactions between the two of them, both in mgs1 and mgs4. also i just adore Meryl in general. she's perfect.

VKAZ -

1. Why don’t you ship it?

this is a really hard one. like... I DO ship it, but... I'm going to say no, just because i only like it under VERY specific circumstances and i very rarely see it done in a way that i like. i'm incredibly picky when it comes to vkaz

2. What would have made you like it

it's one of those ships that i theoretically go ham for, and when it IS done right it hurts in the best possible way. i think... i can never get into it when it gets TOO tender, and they actually fall for each other, or become...healthy, in any way? Like, v and kaz don't communicate. basically at all. throughout all of mgsv, we only see kaz fluctuate wildly between codependently thinking that v is the only person he can trust, the one who can fix everything, the reason he's been putting himself through so much hell for the last decade... and then being vicious and vindictive when v doesn't meet the standards that he's worked up in his mind over that long period. and v, lacking any and all of the charisma that bb had, completely fails to meet kaz at any point. his reactions tend to be anywhere between confused, hurt, or upset but patient, but never... connecting. they have none of the spark, romantic or destructive, that bbkaz had. they are two husks of people who used to exist, but don't any longer (in v's case much more literally so), clinging to each other because of a sunken cost fallacy and because they're all that the other has. but there's no point in mgsv where they actually seem to connect in nearly the same capacity as just bb and kaz ranting excitedly about international politics and their plans for the future. it's tragic, it's empty, and when people explore it like that, i love it. basically... for having chosen to say i don't ship it, i sure do have a LOT to say about it

3. Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

i've seen a few fanworks that depict them in the absolute perfect way, and when it threads that needle, it becomes one of my favorite things. it's potentially the most poetic and painful pairing in the series and the people who can make it work KILL IT.

have my wonderful vkaz playlist

OTASUNE -

1. What made you ship it?

as opposed to all of the others, which i enjoy for their unhealthiness and tragedy, snake and otacon are perfect for each other and do an amazing job at learning and growing and healing together and it's absolutely one of my favorite pairings ever. the both of them had hard lives, and had made bad choices, and were having a lot of trouble connecting to other human beings in different ways. But they do such a good job of like... not perfectly, not without difficulties, but very realistically helping each other to become better and happier people

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

watching their relationship develop between mgs1, mgs2, and mgs4 is so good. watching them become more comfortable as partners, and then become the person that the other understands more than anyone else, is just so heartwarming to watch.

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

the next person who depicts otacon as a perpetually sobbing but also tender and understanding uwu softboi who needs big strong david to hug him and solve every problem for him gets both a kick in the teeth and a full transcript of every time that otacon has been kind of a sarcastic or passive agressive dick

[standingmanintheshadow]

The Gambler

Chapter 3: Time to Pretend

(I hope you enjoy this, I'll try to keep my chapters around this length)

The first thing that Elijah saw when he first woke up was white. As his eyes soon adjusted to the bright light that littered the room, he realized that he saw the world through a blank tint, like something was covering his head. He started to analyze the place he was in; there were file cabinets and a desk that seemed to see some recent use. Elijah kept looking around the room until he realized that the puppet he picked earlier was on his hand. Elijah started to freak out, and the puppet seemed to notice that he was looking at it.

 “ Wait, was that eye contact just now, are you awake ?” the puppet asked as Elijah soon realized that the female voice that was in his dream just a few moments ago belonged to this puppet. Elijah tried to respond to the puppet but could not due to his mouth being stitched shut, so he just opted for a swift nod. “ No, no, no, you are supposed to be out, a zombie, Zonked, I’m supposed to control you completely,” she said worryingly. Still, before she could continue talking, a collection of small screens placed on the wall sparkled to life, showing both of them an image of what Elijah could guess was a puppet’s face that seemed way to close to the camera. This puppet appeared to be wearing a smiling face mask and had two different eye colors, one of being green and the other blue.“ I guess even puppets need to wear a face mask during this pandemic. Geez, what has this world come to?” Elijah thought to himself as he turned his body to pay full attention to the screen.

“Welcome to Puppet, Host Orientation, our purpose is to measure your host control and manipulation,'' the new puppet said as Elijah noticed the rhyme she put in there. “ Wait a minute, I think there’s something wrong with my host,” the puppet on his arm said as the puppet on the screen was getting agitated for some reason. “Rhyme Scout!” the puppet said. “ Oh shit,” Scout said as she tried to think of rhyme as quickly as possible. “What if my host is not working? Could I get one without any jerking…… around?” Scout said as Elijah was starting to get impatient with these two’s antics. “ You had two failed tests in the past, the third one will be your last,” the puppet on the screen said threateningly. Scout looked back towards Elijah “ dammit, look, you are not supposed to be awake right now, so you're just going to have to pretend that I have total control over you, or we are both dead. Elijah only responded with a low guttural affirmative growl. “ Oh right, I forgot Riley stitched your mouth shut, so just keep making those noises, until we find a better way for you to communicate,” Scout said.

“ Did you say something?” the puppet on the screen said as both Elijah and Scout forgot she was there. “ No, no, just talking to myself, I didn't mean to spread the wealth,” Scout rhymed. “ Surprisingly coherent rhyme scout, maybe your future is no longer in doubt,” the puppet replied as the screens turned off, signally to Elijah that she was not watching them, or hopefully not. Elijah used his right hand to feel around his mask on and soon felt what seemed to be a rope tied around his neck. Elijah did quick work of the rope as he untied it and pulled off his mask for him to see the world a bit better than before. Scout saw him do this “ what are you doing? We’re going to get caught,” she said as Elijah swoon focused his attention on the stitches shutting his mouth shut.

 Elijah rummaged through his pockets until he pulled out a playing card “ what are you going to do with that” Scout said questioningly. Scout could only hear a slight chuckle from Elijah’s mouth as the playing card slowly morphed into a serrated combat knife. After the card completely transformed, Elijah began cutting away at the stitches on his mouth. One by one, they slowly fell out as Elijah started to breathe through his mouth again. Once he was done with the stitches, he took a deep breath in and out as the small wounds that were on his face slowly healed and soon there were no visible wounds or scars on his mouth telling that there once was stitches, the only thing left on his mouth was the blood that seemed to be dried up.

Scout looked in absolute bafflement at the events that just happened, she knew that magic did exist in the form of voodoo since they were born from it, but she never knew stuff like this existed. “ What the hell was that” she half yelled since she did not want Riley to notice. “It's magic. Have you never seen it before,” he said. “No, I have seen magic but not that, that’s something completely different,” she said. “ Hmm, well whatever floats your boat, miss,” he said as he raised his left arm so they could look at each other eye to eye. “Alright, the look, can you just put the cloth back on and pretend?” she asked as Elijah quickly turned the knife he had back into a playing card and put it back into his right pocket. “Sure, I’ll play along for now, but if I see anything fishy from you, you’re going to be in big trouble,” he said. Elijah quickly put the piece of cloth back on and put the rope around his neck, loosely tightening it. After that, he gave Scout a thumbs up and walked towards the door in front of them.

“ Hey, see that door with the screen next to it get closer to it so that I can open it,” Scout said as Elijah just nodded and obliged. The door opened to reveal a small room with a gadget in the middle and a camera in the corner of the room with its light on, signifying that they were being watched. “Lets the testing begin,” the voice said as Elijah got closer to the machine seeing two buttons, one of them was smaller than the other. “ Ok, Magic Man, listen up here’s the deal we are supposed to press these buttons at the same time, ok got it?” she whispered. In contrast, Elijah already pressed his button, which resulted in a loud beep, which meant that he messed up. “ what are you doing, host? We’re supposed to press them at the same time, are you trying to get us killed?” she whispered angrily, as they tried again, resulting in them pressing the button together and completing the test. “ That was surprisingly well done; continue forward, let’s see how you fare against the next one,” the puppet said, ignoring their first try. The door in front of them opened, revealing the same room but without the machine before. “Please wait here and do not tread, another test subject is just finishing up in the room ahead,” the puppet said as both Elijah and Scout heard a blood-curdling scream and what seemed to be some growling echoing from the room in the front. “ I’m going to be sick,” Scout said, but Elijah only weakly whispered, “gimme a break.”

The door soon opened to reveal the room ahead was a bloody mess on the walls and floors; as Elijah walked more into the room, a body popped from the ceiling, scaring Scout but not Elijah, who was shaking slightly from anger “ what a waste of human life….. A dead body, made into a prop, makes me sick to my stomach,” Elijah thought as he envisioned ways of mutilating the puppet on the voice com. “ That was a test of reflex and reaction, which you barely passed to the satisfaction,” the voice said. “ Test my reflexes when I kick Your ass, Riley! '' Scout muttered under her breath, but loud enough for Elijah to hear it, which put a smile on his face since they had a mutual goal to kick the shit out of this puppet named Riley.

Elijah walked past the body hanging on the wall while muttering some prayers about wishing the man’s soul peace. At the end of the room, there was a machine similar to the one before, but instead of buttons, they had two gears and a grip on the top of it. “ Ok, this time we got to twist these in the same direction, so please don’t fucked this up,” she pleaded to him. Elijah merely nodded here as they both twisted in the right direction resulting in the door ahead to open. “Huh, another test past, which I can suspect is your last'' Riley said with a tone of disappointment. “Hmm, I guess she doesn't like you a lot, right?” Elijah asked as Scout nodded sadly towards him. Like the others, the room ahead was the same, except bookcases filled the room, and the door was one of the touches locks Scout did before.

 “Please hold steady, the next chamber isn’t quite ready,” Riley said in a bored tone. Scout looked at Elijah `` Host, you are killing ourselves out there; you are not passing for a mindless zombie slave at all, and you’re dragging me down with you,” Scout said berating Elijah. “Hey, I think I’m doing pretty good. I think you're just paranoid; we’ll be fine, calm down,” Elijah said. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m just paranoid since we are in a warehouse full of sentient murderous puppets that want to restart their old t.v show and take over the world,” she said sneeringly. “ Yeah, you just paranoid, my friend,” he told her, utterly oblivious to the sarcasm. “Are you serious right now? I don’t think you understand what the consequences are if they find out that you are awake,” Scout said worryingly, as she started to breathe heavily. “Don’t worry, puppet, you’re attached to me, not some pushover who’ll get scared by some haunted toys,” he said confidently. “Look, if we’re gonna get out of here, we need to be a team, so what do you say, teammate?” Scout said as she held out her hand, looking for a handshake. “ Sure, and when we make it out of here, I’ll treat you to lunch,” he said as he shook Scout’s hand with his thumb and index finger. “I always wanted to try host food, now I cannot wait to get out here,” Scout said excitedly as the door ahead of them opened up.

Elijah looked through the door and discovered no light in the hallway, just pitch black. “Hey, host its fucking dark in here; hit me on my head to turn on my light,” she said. “That’s a weird but convenient thing to have, but I’ll take it,” Elijah thought as he hit Scout and her head soon illuminated the hallway in front of them. He walked through the hallway and soon discovered a room with two blue screened monitors sitting on a desk. There was a cassette player on the desk and a tape already inside it; there was also a picture of what looked like Riley dissecting a sock puppet for some reason. Elijah looked at Scout, “ do you want to hear what’s on this tape?” Elijah asked Scout. “ Yeah, sure, what’s the worst that can happen” she replied as Elijah pressed play on the cassette player and let it play its message.

“This is Anthony Pierson; I have to keep my voice down. I think there are puppets nearby…… this is a real fucking supernatural phenomenon, you know the one I’ve been looking for my whole life, and it was hiding here in a run-down warehouse. I can’t believe I almost baled in this place… I got to get pictures of everything, not just for the website, for the world. I must keep my research, so I’ll hide it in hidden compartments around the warehouse with the Vox Veritas symbol nearby; it’s a pyramid with an eye, so it won’t be hard to find. What was that shit!” 

The recording stopped as Scout looked at Elijah. “That guy sounds crazy, and that’s coming from a talking hand puppet, what do you think?” Scout asked while Elijah was looking at the picture next to the tape. “He is not crazy Scout, he just wants to prove to the world that the paranormal exists in our world,” Elijah said as he put the picture and cassette into his jacket pocket and left the room. Elijah continued walking down the darkroom, now illuminated thanks to Scout. Elijah saw a big glass window that showed nothing behind but darkness. Trying to get a better look in, Elijah walked towards the window. When he was mere inches from it, a giant dog-like creature on the other side of the window suddenly popped out and banged its head against the window, instantly startling both Scout and Elijah, but Scout was more vocal about it and screamed.

 “ Rosco, bad dog! Sit my pet, don’t attack them yet,” Riley said.  Elijah was starting to hate Riley more and more by the second but took some deep breaths and started to calm down. They both heard a door open as they walked through the dark searching for it, and when they finally found it, they found themselves in a more well-lit room with some game that was playing carnival music. “ Welcome to visual hand coordination; this custom design handy big ball drop and search device will test your ability to verbally relay information,” Riley droned on as she sounded like she wanted to be somewhere else right now. “ Rhyme Riley,” Scout said smugly, as Elijah looked at Scout weirdly. “INFORMATION RHYMES WITH COORDINATION, DO NOT QUESTION MY RHYME PARTICIPATION,” Riley yelled over the microphone distorting the audio and making it almost impossible to understand.

“ She's just mad because she knew that was a stretch,” Scout said as Elijah responded, “well, I’m no expert on rhyming…. Buuut I think she's right on this one, Scout,” he said honestly. “Are you taking her side? Oh my god, you are such an asshole?” Scout said with bitterness, but Elijah just laughed off the insult she threw at him. They both focused on the gadget ahead of them. “Okay, teammate, I think I remember this one, stick me in that slot, so I can see the balls coming and then press the buttons that correspond to what I say,” she said as Elijah replied with a nod. Elijah put Scout into the small slot, and she turned on the machine “ okay, it’s starting, three two on,e Yellow” she said. Elijah quickly pressed the yellow button, and soon a ball fell where the switch was located. “Red,” she said as Elijah pressed the red button; this continued for a couple of rounds.

 “ Wait a minute, it’s changing, now I see nouns instead of colors Cardinal,” she said, and Elijah responded with a push of the red button and a grunt of accomplishment. This continued until suddenly a string of confetti came out, signaling that they passed the test. “Oh, shit, we did it,” Scout said as the voice came back on. “Hmm, you passed the test you always failed somehow; I’m skeptical but continue for now,” Riley said. Elijah softly chuckled at the voice before becoming serious at her statement, “ I don’t think she thinks I’m awake, but we have to careful just in case,” Elijah thought.

A door across the room opened up, so Elijah walked towards it, in the hope to be done with the tests. When he walked through the door, he was greeted by the same darkness form earlier, but thanks to scouts light, he did not have to worry about tripping over anything. When he was about to turn the corner in the ay they were in, they both heard loud footsteps and a growl that was pretty generic by Elijah standards, but he did not have time to dwell on that. “Quick turn off my light so it can’t see us,” Scout said with fear in her voice. Right after Elijah turned off her light, they saw a shadowy figure walk past them. The only sign that they could identify was the white eyes of the puppet controlling the person. As soon as Elijah could not hear any more footsteps, he slowly walked towards the lit room ahead of them. 

When they entered the room, they could see many washers and dryers littering the place. The only thing that interested Elijah was a triangle with an eye on a wall near them. He immediately recognized it as the Vox Veritas symbol, the guy on the cassette was talking about. He approached the mark, and Scout recognized it too but decided to say nothing about it. Elijah looked around the room to find another cassette player lying on the table. Elijah looked at Scout for a brief second, who just gave him a nod. He then turned his head and pressed play.

“Testing, testing uhh it’s March 4th, 11:30 pm. Okay, start here, uhh, this is Anthony Pierson, co-founder of Vox Veritas. We’re an independent journalist blog. We investigate paranormal phenomena and shine a light where the government and Illuminati don’t want light shown. We’re here at the abandoned Handeemen warehouse, a place that local homeless populations say is haunted. Anyone who wanders in never leaves, what terrible secrets does this place hold?.....Okay, cut there; this place is bullshit; this is a total wash. If I don't get something soon, I’ll get randy here to bang some pipes upstairs and get some reaction shots I don’t know. Photoshop a heat reading, whatever. Just once, I would like not to have to fake this.”

“So Vox Veritas is a paranormal investigation group. I have to research them once we get out of here,” Elijah thought as Scout started to speak. “Hey host, I've meant to ask you something,” she said, suddenly gaining Elijah's interest. “What is it, Scout?” he replied curiously. “When we met, we were in such a rush, and you only learned my name, so I would like to know yours,” she said as Elijah grinned. “ Elijah Adler, but Elijah is just fine,” he said as Scout was speaking his name silently in hopes of remembering it. “Hmm, I thill stick with Host or Magic Man. It suits you better,” she said while Elijah just looked at her and sighed deeply “ Whatever floats your boat,” he said as Scout began to laugh, her laughter was soon joined by Elijah. “You are a truly interesting puppet, Scout,” Elijah thought, while he was still laughing.

When they were done laughing, Elijah walked out into the hallway and saw a room completely covered in mist. “That must be our next test,” he said to Scout “well, Riley was always trying new things to see what works best for testing newer puppets and their hosts, so I guess yes,” she said. “Well, if that's true, then I have to give her respect for the hustle,” he said as he walked toward the room of interest until he accidentally knocked into a shelf that fell over, making a loud bang that echoed through the dark halls of the Handeemen studio.

 Elijah stood still for a minute, not trying to make a single sound; the same could be said with Scout as she did not make a single peep to criticize him for his fault. When the coast seemed to be clear, Elijah started walking again to the misty room, this time being more careful, but soon stopped when he heard a familiar human growl behind him. Elijah turned around and saw the puppet they saw a few minutes ago, but instead of the white eyes he saw earlier, it was an ominous red. Elijah instinctively put Scout behind his back to protect Scout from harm and slowly got into a combat stance, while the puppet ahead only just pulled out a kitchen knife from its pocket.

“Scout, don’t worry, I’ll deal with this quickly,” Elijah said confidently, “ okay…. just be careful,” Scout replied with a taste of fear in her voice. Elijah nodded at her request and focused on the puppet ahead. “So, can we come to some agreement here, or are you too stupid to understand me?” Elijah asked it with a growing grin on his face trying to egg the puppet on. The tool seemed to understand the insult and, as a result, yelled at the top of its lungs and charged like a rabid animal towards Elijah, who just stood there with his grin becoming impossibly wide. Still. Even no one could see it due to the cloth on his head concealing any facial expressions.

“HEHE, VERY WELL LET THE FUN BEGIN”