#if you're wondering when this is set in their timelines [you aren't but i will tell you anyway] its post drake-up. pre-hope's peak. anddddd

[probably-cringe]

Sleepover

The quality ended up being terrible in all of the images (thank you so much, Krita), but i still wanted to show these anyways

[Without the weird circley things [and a lighter background for some reason]

Theoretically, they should be bickering like cats n dogs, but Fuyuhiko's busy eating [COOKIES!!!!!!!], Drew's getting his ass kicked at *insert game here*, and Chuuya’s enjoying spending time with his friends while he still can [I'm so sorry, Chuuya]

[flightfoot]

Hi, since you're the ML fanfic authority around these parts, can you rec any fics based on the paris special? Even if its not finished or is abandoned it doesn't matter, i'm in desperate need of more paris special content. thank you!

Oooh, yes I can! Of course there aren't a ton of them as of yet, but there's still enough to scratch your itch, I hope! Luckily most of these I already have recs written out for, for the large rec lists I'm gonna publish at the end of the year (or well, the beginning of next year, actually). I'll tag everyone whose tumblr handles I know, but feel free to tag anyone I didn't get!

First, I'll start off with the complete fics.

If We Run, We Run Together by @heartfulselkie

The mockery of his laugh had always made her want to punch Griffe in the face, but now the thought wasn't even crossing her mind. The teasing tone in his voice and smugness of his grin had faded, his cocky attitude dissolving into something more genuine. Was that what his real laugh sounded like? Was that what his real smile looked like?

I loved seeing Toxinelle and Griffe Noir awkwardly start relearning how to be around each other, without hiding behind uncaring facades. They've got a long way to go, but they're getting there!

---

Back to Life (Back to Reality) by @2manyfandoms2count

Toxinelle and Griffe Noire return to their world after their night in the canon timeline.

I loved seeing these two talking a bit more amiably, especially with Toxinelle commenting on how silent Adrien is as a civilian. That doesn’t appear to be something he really wants to dwell on.

---

Here’s Hopes For Moving Forward... by allthingsasian

Gabriel finds out his son is Claw Noir.

Set just after the Paris Special...

I loved seeing Gabriel’s perspective here, finding Claw Noir broken down, crying on his son’s bedroom floor, and realizing what that means. How badly Adrien must have been hurting, how he’d been lashing out and hurting everyone he could reach, including himself, with the self-cataclysm. 

But now, Adrien and Gabriel are ready to talk, with Adrien getting the hug he’s sorely needed for a long time.

---

The Supreme Movers by PearlO_O

Continuation of Tales of Shadybug and Claw Noir.

Adrien and Marinette battle with the emotional aftermath of meeting their alternate selves.

This was an excellent follow-up to the Paris Special! To be clear, the Adrien and Marinette here are Claw Noir and Shady Bug, not the ones from the show we’ve been following all this time. I really liked Adrien and Marinette reflecting and recontextualizing how their parents have been acting in more positive ways, and getting more positive responses in turn, along with them reassessing how they’ve been acting and reaching out to Alya and Nino. There’s this theme of “it doesn’t matter who we were or what mistakes we made, but who we want to be and that we keep moving forward”.

---

Keep Me Safe Inside by RoFair

Adrien Agreste, formally known as Claw Noir attempts to get to know the girl he admires behind the mask of the reformed Shadybug. He has a plan, but it is derailed by a blonde bully.

I love how smitten Adrien is with Marinette! He might have a lot of bravado as Claw Noir, but he’s kinda shy as a civilian. Of course, that all goes out the window when Marinette needs help - like when she’s being bullied and is nearing a breakdown.

---

Eat, Pray, Duck by @trishacollins

Gabriel Agreste split his twin sons apart when his wife died, keeping one with him and sending one to London with his sister. Unfortunately, the Supreme was not willing to let this be.

He wanted a matched set.

Felix is a weapon, a servant of the Supreme. On a mission to retrieve the stolen Miraculous.

In a world that has outlawed kindness, sometimes the most dangerous person is the one who chooses it anyway.

I love this glimpse at what might have been going on with Felix back in Shadybug and Claw Noir’s world, I did wonder what might have been going on with him. Poor kid, he managed to have it even worse than he did in canon. I really loved seeing his interactions with Luka, the Couffaines rebel through kindness it seems!

---

Friends who kiss by @kuromori4

It’s been about a week since Shadybug and Claw Noir’s goody-two shoes alternate universe counterparts convinced them to betray the Supreme and join the Resistance. And while they are determined to be better… It hasn’t been easy. While both Shadybug and Claw Noir have a lifetime of problems to untangle if they want to be good people, they realize a new look doesn’t magically make you a nice person. As if that weren’t hard enough to deal with, the two ex-Villains struggle with defining what their new relationship might be.

I love the two of them talking things out, and struggling. Shadybug in particular is still very prickly and prone to making snide comments about Adrien, even though she doesn’t really know him, and she still hasn’t totally come to terms with her own true feelings about Claw Noir. Though by the end they um. Figure that out, I guess you could say XD.

---

These next two are WIPS, I've really been enjoying them so far!

Cracked White Porcelain by between

The basement is a wreck by the time they return and it takes her a moment to remember where their last fight in their world had really led them. "Remind me, please," Noir says, voice still but a fragile tingle against her ear. "To think about it, later." "You'll have to," she agrees with a nod. His hand is shaking in hers. "I know." They both pretend they aren't holding onto each other as they blindly, foolishly, follow their enemy, their ally, through the shadows of their city. (An act of treason against the Supreme doesn't leave you with a lot of places to go. Giving up on your goals is a lot easier when the consequences of your actions haven't caught up to you yet.)

This fic mostly covers what happens immediately after they return to Hesperia's HQ, with Marinette and Adrien freeing their kwamis of their gags, for starters. Marinette and Adrien apparently figured out that Hesperia is Gabriel before the events of the Paris Special here (since well, his HQ is beneath the Agreste Mansion, so that makes it pretty obvious) while Gabriel still has no clue, which leads to an interesting dynamic, especially since Gabriel's worried about his son while having no clue that he's right in front of him.

---

One step forward, no steps back by @theerurishipper

Wanting to move on, wanting to choose to be part of the world, meant looking at it. And it also meant he had to look at all the fear, the heartache, the terror and rage and anger that he had caused. And he’s not sure how to come back from it all. It all feels so hopeless, like there’s nothing he can do anymore. But he can’t go back either. Not to that life. Not after everything, not knowing that something better is possible. For better or worse, that optimistic, hopeful part of him that he’d thought long lost has awakened once more, and holding onto it feels much better than the consuming despair that had plagued him for months. But it all feels like it could fall apart any second. And he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to bear losing himself a second time.

This fic's from Adrien's perspective, dealing with the new changes in his life. You get a good look into the mindset that led him to becoming Claw Noir to begin with, how he was breaking down and lashing out at everyone around him, and had little concern for even his own survival.

Things are getting better though, slowly. Nino's willing to hear him out, and he and Marinette are really talking, in ways they didn't before, when they were villains. Even his relationship with Plagg's on the mend, and Hesperia's acting like a father to him (which well, considering what we readers know of their relationship... XD).

But the Supreme isn't willing to just let Adrien skip off to a happier future...

[bonny-kookoo]

Hi Bonny! I don't know if you're still doing stuff for this story (feel free to ignore if you aren't) but I couldn't help but wonder how Lacrymaria Olor!(I pray that I spelt that right) JK would react to MC getting her period for the first time. Especially after seeing his little freak out when we almost got kidnapped. Anyways, have a good day/afternoon/evening/night!

Nop, that was actually never asked- so here you go! Set very close before the happenings of Part 3, just for a clearer timeline haha

Some things about you have pretty much gone unnoticed before Jungkook truly began showing more intimate interest in you. From quirks and habits, to more unique things that set yours and his kind apart- and you tend to forget that some things he's never witnessed.

Before, you'd sleep in a room just for you- and you'd be cared for by maids he'd apparently hired just for the purpose of making sure you wouldn't have to worry about anything. They'd tend to any request you might have, and apparently even had to learn about some human anatomy simply to be able to be prepared for anything that might happen.

Things like.. well, your period.

And every month, it would be fine- so much so that you got used to using the cloth-like material in a way similar to how you'd use pads bad on earth. It became normal again, in a way. His palace became.. somewhat home.

You're woken up in the middle of the night, a clearly distressed Jungkook leaning above you, eyes wide open, scanning your body it seems like. "What- what's going on?" You mumble half asleep, now sitting up as well before you cringe at the cramping of your lower stomach.

And when you look down, you notice it.

"I've already called for Namjoon. Don't worry- we'll fix it." He promises, holding your hands, while you laugh a bit under your breath.

"I- Jungkook I'm fine." You tell him, and he shakes his head.

"You don't have to act tough right now-" He softly argues, and you shake your head again, carefully trying to sit up and wiggle out of bed. "Don't stand-"

"Jungkook, this is normal- let me clean up please." You giggle, squeezing past his arms and into the bathroom, where you do just that- finishing your business only a few minutes later, emerging out of the bathroom again just to run into Jungkook's chest. "oh-"

"What's happening to you?" He asks, now a lot more serious.

"I'm.. menstruating?" You raise your brows a bit, testing if he knows what that word means- but his face tells you he clearly doesn't- but Namjoon clears his throat in the doorway now, similarly amused over his friend's and king's distress.

"Her body is preparing for pregnancy." He bluntly states, giving you some hygiene necessities you take with a thankful nod, slipping back into the bathroom to fix yourself up. "Humans bleed during that time, and shed some of the lining of their internal reproductive organs." He explains, while Jungkook looks absolutely horrified as he watches the maids silently change the bedsheets.

"Will she be okay?" He asks, worry clear in his tone. "What does she need to regain her blood?" He instantly wants to know, and Namjoon laughs.

"Jungkook, I just wanna sleep.." You say, leaning against him, and he instantly holds you close, delicately as if you're a wounded pet on it's last breath.

"She'll have some cramps and will probably be a bit less active than you're used to. But she's fine, just like she said. She knows her body best. If anything is out of the ordinary for her, I am sure she will let us know." Namjoon says, and you nod.

And so Jungkook, albeit reluctantly, gets back to bed with you-

and holds you just a little tighter tonight, just to be safe.

[tawaifeddiediaz]

Hi!

I was just wondering if you have a tutorial on how you created this effect in your gifset, it's something I'd like to try but have no idea where to start. Your set is so pretty! Any helps appreciated x

https://www.tumblr.com/tawaifeddiediaz/712911415428743168/ill-take-you-with-me-then-well-both-die-you?source=share

Hey Nonnie, thank you! This is super late, but I don't actually have the psd for this set anymore (I delete them as soon as I post them), so we're just gonna wing it with a gif I made the other day. I think this ask is about the text, but if it's anything else, just drop me another line and I'll get to it when I can!

I'm pretty sure I got this tutorial from the wonderful @eddiediaaz but I then turned it into Lazy Girl Hours :)) anywho, here we go!

We’ll be making this gif:

This tutorial assumes basic knowledge of gif-making, Photoshop, and coloring. I’ve only described the typography tutorial in this, but you can reach out if you have any questions.

Tutorial under the cut:

Couple things to note beforehand:

There is a lot of trial and error involved when doing any sort of effect, and this is no exception! You might have to play around with the colors and the settings before you find something that looks good and readable and that fits your set!

This text effect works better on big gifs (540px width).

For this, I find that a simple font works better than a fully-cursive one, but play around with what you like. The boxes may need some adjusting if you use a font with too many tall or tail letters (i.e. text where all the letters aren't on one uniform line - that's why capital letters work so well.)

Movement works really well with effects like these, but again, it depends on your gif + readability. If you have a blended gif, it may take a little more trial and error.

I work in frame animation for all my text effects, but this works just as well in timeline as well.

We’re going to start with this gif:

First, I like to put my text on the gif. You can obviously move this around later so don't worry too much about how it looks right now.

The dialogue is "Just don't feel it." "Feel" is one of those Big Words for this quote, so I'm going to emphasize it with cursive text.

I am using Moon for the sans serif text, and Santa Fe Spring for the cursive text. Keep both of these in white for now:

Next, we're going to use the rectangular marquee tool to draw our rectangles around the capital letters (we're not touching the cursive text right now). I just eyeball this, and then try to center it as much as possible.

(The rectangular marquee tool has a keyboard shortcut of M, and it's the second tool in that little toolbar on the left of most people's Photoshop.)

This is what that'll look like:

Next, we're going to go down to the icons at the bottom right of the layers panel and select the half-black half-white circle > Color Fill.... You should get a color dialogue box. Choose your color - I'm using #8d0000. Then, we're going to move that layer below the corresponding text layer, and set its blending mode to Difference. This is what that looks like (click the image for better quality):

I'm going to repeat that with the other two boxes as well, using the same color. The boxes will look different with the Difference blending mode because of the shadows underneath.

For example, the box with "it" looks like a solid red square because it's against a completely black background, while the other two have some blue shading to them since there are some highlights behind them.

This is what my gif looks like now:

Next, I like to go The Lazy Girl™ route and put all three color-fill layers into one group underneath all the text layers. This just lets me edit the drop shadow of all three of them at the same time.

Right-click the group and open up the Blending Options. In Drop Shadow, these are the settings I'm using. The drop shadow color is #0c6477:

(Note: uncheck "Use Global Light" especially if you're working in frame animation to make sure all the drop shadow has the same angle on all frames.)

This is what my gif looks like now:

Now that we've finished that, time to move on to the cursive text.

I usually match the cursive text to the palette of the rest of the text, and since the drop shadow is our "accent" color, so to speak, I'm going to use a lighter version of that color. I am also going to add a drop shadow for readability.

The color I used for the text is #acfffe and I actually ended up adding two drop shadows, just because I needed something subtle that doesn't overwhelm the text, especially since it's a delicate font. Here are the settings for both layers:

And here's what my gif looks like now:

Now, before we move on to the lines, just check the adjustment of all these text layers, see if there's anything you want to change. It's easier to change now than after the lines are added, since you'll most likely have to redraw them if you move the boxes after the fact.

To draw the lines, we're going to use the Line Tool. I just freehand all of this, and I try to go from center to center of the boxes when I can. It all depends on your angles.

My lines are 2px thick, but you can change these depending on your preference. Here's what mine look like right now:

We're going to do the same lazy hack that we did for the color fill, and put all three line layers into a group. Move this group below the text layer and the color fill layers. The reason for this is so that the lines look like they're coming seamlessly from the box, rather than from on top of them or something.

Then, set the group to opacity 50%. I like more subtle, simple looks in my gifs, so I don't like super high opacities.

And that's it! This is our final gif:

Some final notes:

Absolutely play around with the blending modes of the color fill layers for this effect. These two gifs are the exact same color we've been using, just two different blending modes. You can see how drastically different they look. The first one is Linear Dodge (Add) and the second one is Vivid Light:

It can change how your gif looks in a BIG way, so play around with it, see what you like, especially if you don't really like the "two toned" thing going on.

Sometimes, I also like playing with the width and height of the text in the font settings, making it shorter and wider, or making it taller and more compact. You can play with the letter spacing as well. The world is your oyster, etc etc.

One other thing I've started doing is erasing the lines with a big brush, just to fade them from his face a little, like this:

To do that, use a layer mask on the line layer folder, and a brush that's 0% hardness, and at least 200px big. For this gif, I also changed the opacity of the lines back to 100% so the fading effect is a little more pronounced:

(this gif isn't the best example for this, but oh well. Anywho, hope this helps, Nonnie! Let me know if you have any questions.

Enjoy!

[pawified]

while i have a wip on the way here's a littl treat for my angels, it's based on my fave song by laufey called promise

info: being deeply in love with blade, you are scared to admit your feelings so you distances yourself from him.

"i think we should spend less time together." you say looking out the coffee shop window, as u sat across from your friend blade.

he didn't say anything for a while, he had a look of confusion on his face, he was trying to think back to see if he did something too cause you came up with this decision.

you see him trying to create a timeline in his head, " it wasn't anything you did, if that's what your wondering. i just think we spend too much time together." you can hear your heart beat grow faster. it pained you to do this, but how can you be friends with someone you're in love with?

"is that what you truly want?" he is staring into your eyes, eyebrows frowned causing lines to form. he is trying to read you like he always does when he thinks you aren't telling him something. blade can't understand why you are suddenly just ending your 4 year friendship.

it doesn't make sense to him, nothing ever does.

"yes, i think its best for both of us." you can feel the tears welling up in your eyes and your sure he can see them. "i just can't come to a reason as to why" his voice is laced with hurt.

He never really showed emotion in front of others in your 4 years of knowing him, sure he has gotten mad but never really was the one to be vulnerable in front of others. "everything doesn't always have to have a reasoning blade." you whisper, words barley meeting blades ears.

"i'm starting to realize that now." he bites back, he looks at you once more. your head is hanging down, eyes not meeting his. he scoffs and there's a screech, as he pushed out his chair from the table. he grabbed his coat, heading towards the coffee shop entrance.

before leaving he stops next to you, looking down. "whatever the reason is, i hope it was worth throwing our friendship way." his tone is distant and cold. "blade-" you try to call out for him but the entrance bell had already spoken for you, indicating he had already left.

you don't know how long you had been sitting in the coffee shop but when you left the time had past and the sun is now setting, you had so many thoughts running through your head. you've made your choice and there was no taking it back, you regretted everything you had done.

this wasn't some rash decision you made randomly. it was days, weeks, months and years of back and forth with yourself. constant days of "is this truly what i want?" "will this make me stop what i feel?" it all came boiling down to this exact moment, the weight that once sat heavy on your heart, sat twice as heavier than before.

you cried yourself to sleep that night and many nights to come.

as the days pasted, the more heavier that weight felt. you constantly checked your phone in hopes of blade messaging you. it's stupid, you know that but you longed for it, but it never came.

what you hadn't know is blade fought with himself on contacting you. he prided his self into respecting your wishes even though he refused to believe them. He wanted nothing more to have you around.

it's been almost a month since you parted ways with blade. you were standing on the side walk to cross the street, its cold and rainy.

As the crosswalk light changed signaling it was your turn to cross, you see a guy walking towards you, with shaggy , long, dark violet hair and he has pricings along his ear. As he got closer, you realize it wasn't him. you let out a exhale of breath that you didn't realize you were holding.

walking down the city sidewalk, you stand off to the side to get cover from the harsh rain, you take out your phone. scrolling through your contacts and looking for a familiar contact.

"𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑒 🐈 " you stall for a moment. debating if it was a good idea to call so randomly, anxiety bubbling up and creating things that go bond the person blade is. you take a deep breath and quickly press call listening to the phone ring, once , twice than a third time before a deep voice answers.

"❤︎?" he sounds like he just had woken up due to the state of his deep voice, you felt horrible. "i'm sorry, i did i wake you?" you apologetically say. your heart is beating, your pretty sure you're going to pass out from this whole thing.

"no, its fine. are you okay?" blade is always worrying about you, up until now he is still worrying. "m' okay?" you replied in a questioning tone, you shut your eyes. fuck this harder than you thought. "m' okay..i was just wondering if you had time to talk?" you hoped.

there was a pause, you quickly rush out an apology " you know what, im sorry. i don't know why i thought this was a good idea-" you sighed lifting the phone away from your face and going to end the call.

"❤︎." blade calls out, your name. you put the phone back up to your face, "yeah?" you softly say, the raining still patting against the roof of the building your standing under.

"i would love too talk, where are you? i will come over" you can hear the smile in blade's voice, it warms your heart in the cold weather. "no it's okay, m' out now. i can come over too yours .. if that's okay?" you tip toe around the question, smiling through your words. "that's more than okay."

[torhues]

kuroo tetsuro.

silence fills your kitchen, a wisp emerges from your coffee and vanishes into thin air. your fingers tip press a little harder around your cup; there's something wrong with kuroo today.

you notice the way he hasn't looked at you since you've sat at the table for breakfast, you've been noticing for a while; his actions— antics, watching him do things he usually doesn't, making decisions he generally wouldn't, say things he doesn't mean otherwise. you've been noticing for over a month, and it feels that the kuroo you knew has simply became a distant memory. the more you think about it, the further it drifts away, morphing into ancient history.

sometimes, you think you're dreaming.

"you friend from work called, inviting us to his farewell party," you break the silence, but your eyes are fixed on the ceramic plate in front of you. "i said we have other plans for the day, the highschool reunion,"

"i see," he nods, and those words mark the end of your small talk. frankly, you miss the days none of you would shut up, no matter what time of the day it was. it doesn't matter now, not really, kuroo talks when he wants, other times, it's just silence communicating with itself. "are you done shopping for the reunion?"

just like now.

for some reason, the empty plate in front of you seems more tempting than the question he asked. you remember winning the whole crockery set at a couple game around two years ago, or three, maybe. you're not sure, the timeline is getting blurry inside your mind. you leave his question unattended like the coffee in your cup, to see if he cares about a response.

a second passes, then another, one more, kuroo grabs the newspaper kept on the further right corner of the kitchen counter. it's as if the question doesn't mean anything— your response doesn't mean anything, perhaps, would be a better conclusion. you hope you're dreaming, because the kuroo sitting in front of you doesn't seem like the person you fell in love with.

"you know, i think we shouldn't attend the reunion either," you give in either way, putting your plate aside, leaning on the counter with a smile in an attempt to make yourself feel better.

kuroo looks up. "oh," but, he's looking somewhere else. your hair, shoulder, the paining behind you, anywhere, but your eyes. there's a certain look in his eyes, grief, guilt— remorse, and you want to ask him, what is it that turned you into someone so unfamiliar?

his eyes shift back to the newspaper. "suit yourself. i have a few meetings that day, either way,"

you wonder if he cares, you realise he doesn't.

and you can't take it anymore.

actually, there's a question you've been wearing on the tip of your tongue for days now, finding the right moment to ask him. it would be a lie if you said life didn't give you any opportunities, you just weren't able to bring yourself ask it. you aren't brave when it comes to such things, never were, never would be, talking about love scares you. you never know how the conversation would turn out. there are too many risks.

falling for him was the first one you took, confronting him would be probably be the last one with him.

"i think you don't love me anymore,"

a pause; you notice the hesitation laced in his expression, it doesn't faze you anymore.

kuroo nods faintly. his eyes don't leave the sight of the empty cup in front of him, as if it's staring back at him. his lips press into a thin line as the unsaid words intoxicate the silence spinning in the air. he sighs; the empty cup reminds him of something, of himself, his heart,

and so, kuroo finally musters up the courage to look into your eyes. "i know, i've noticed."

— inspired by vie's prompts ( 5th one )

[boyfhee]

DISTANT MEMORY · pjs

synopsis · jay seems like a stranger, you wish you were dreaming ( ~ 1k )

genre · angst :/

notes · for my lovely @homelycat bff again. btw im still on hiatus i just wanted to drop this promised jay angst, i hope u all read this suffer a lot

silence fills your kitchen, a wisp emerges from your coffee and vanishes into thin air. your fingers tip press a little harder around your cup; there's something wrong with jay today.

you notice the way he hasn't looked at you since you've sat at the table for breakfast, you've been noticing for a while; his actions— antics, watching him do things he usually doesn't, making decisions he generally wouldn't, say things he doesn't mean otherwise. you've been noticing for over a month, and it feels that the jay you knew has simply became a distant memory. the more you think about it, the further it drifts away, morphing into ancient history.

sometimes, you think you're dreaming.

"jake asked if we're down for movies this saturday, with everyone else," you break the silence, but your eyes are fixed on the ceramic plate in front of you. "told him we have other plans for the day, you know, my highschool reunion, since you're supposed to join me,"

"i see," he nods, and those words mark the end of your small talk. frankly, you miss the days none of you would shut up, no matter what time of the day it was. it doesn't matter now, not really, jay talks about whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and other times, it's just silence communicating with itself. "are you done shopping for the reunion?"

just like now.

for some reason, the empty plate in front of you seems more tempting than the question he asked. you remember winning the whole crockery set at a couple game around two years ago, or three, maybe. you're not sure, the timeline is getting blurry inside your mind. you leave his question unattended like the coffee in your cup, to see if he cares about a response.

a second passes, then another, one more, jay grabs the newspaper kept on the further right corner of the kitchen counter. it's as if the question doesn't mean anything— your response doesn't mean anything, perhaps, would be a better conclusion. you hope you're dreaming, because the jay sitting in front of you doesn't seem like the person you fell in love with.

"you know, i think we shouldn't attend the reunion either," you give in either way, putting your plate aside, leaning on the counter with a forced smile in an attempt to make yourself feel better.

and jay looks up. "oh," but, he's looking somewhere else. your hair, shoulder, the paining behind you, anywhere, but your eyes. there's a certain look in his eyes, grief, guilt— remorse, and you want to ask him, what is it that turned you into someone so unfamiliar?

his eyes shift back to the newspaper. "suit yourself. i have a few other stuff scheduled for that day, either way,"

you wonder if he cares, you realise he doesn't.

and you can't take it anymore.

actually, there's a question you've been wearing on the tip of your tongue for days now, finding the right moment to ask him. it would be a lie if you said life didn't give you any opportunities, you just weren't able to bring yourself ask it. you aren't brave when it comes to such things, never were, never would be, talking about love scares you. you never know how the conversation would turn out. there are too many risks.

falling for him was the first one you took, confronting him would be probably be the last one with him.

"i think you don't love me anymore,"

a pause; you notice the hesitation laced in his expression, it doesn't faze you anymore.

jay nods faintly. his eyes don't leave the sight of the empty cup in front of him, as if it's staring back at him. his lips press into a thin line as the unsaid words intoxicate the silence spinning in the air. he sighs; the empty cup reminds him of something, of himself, his heart,

and so, jay finally musters up the courage to look into your eyes. "i know, i've noticed."

[theambitiouswoman]

Hi! I hope you're having a wonderful day!

Do you have any tips on how to make your twenties worthwhile? I'm 19 (currently unemployed but looking) and trying to read as many non-fiction books as possible to build my life in my twenties so that when I turn 30, I can rest easy and settle in [and possibly be financially free by my mid-thirties]. Any tips would be helpful <3

There are so many things you can accomplish in your twenties. So many experiences. So many versions of yourself that you can become.

It is just as important to take advantage of that, as it is to not put yourself on a timeline. I firmly believe the more we expose ourselves to new realities and information, the faster we learn and the sooner we can arrive at our personal goals. So dive into your passions, your dreams. Discover what makes YOU happy. Who you want to be. Be understanding and kind to yourself.

You can do this either way, but I would say to work on yourself only and make sure you love the person staring at you in the mirror. I would learn as much as I can about anything that interests me, figure out opportunities that align with those interests and then learn as much as possible. Opportunity is everywhere. You do not have to wait to start building your dream life. You have a very lucky opportunity, with the overwhelming amount of information and accessibility there is right now. The world is literally yours.

Learn how to budget and invest your money.

Learn all of the ways to make money and learn how to from the ways that interest you.

Build relationships.

Focus on your physical and mental health.

Do not listen to people who aren't where you want to be. At all. This includes "build with you" rhetorics. I can get into this in another post.

Travel (if you can) and learn how to become independent. This is important because codependency can hold you back and creates a ripple on how you do everything else in life. Ultimately having an adverse effect on your reality and mental health.

Start taking risks and embracing failure. I believe you always have time and its never too late. However, when you get older and set in your ways, it is very hard to change and establish a new mindset.

You said by your 30s, so I recommend you figure out where you want to be by 30 and work backwards. Set yearly or monthly goals.

Everyone's journey is different. Figure out what resonates with you and aligns with your personal values and aspirations.

The most important point I want to end with is, to remember that you can in fact do anything. There is more to the world than your current environment. Do not let anyone make you feel like you are limited to it. Many people restrain themselves due to fear or the familiarity of their current situation, trying to adapt to a place they might not belong. It is because they do not realize they are meant for so much more. They probably do not realize that more can exist for them. But there is. And they can.

[thewertsearch]

AA: y0u really d0nt understand anything yet d0 y0u AA: and yet y0u bug and fuss and meddle AA: with things m0re danger0us than y0u can imagine

An accurate assessment. Rose is acting on information from the Gods, and it's glaringly obvious that she hasn't been given the full picture. As a result, her plans are flawed and dangerous.

Now, if Aradia would enlighten us as to why Rose's plans are so dangerous, we might actually get somewhere. She seems uncharacteristically chatty at the moment, so my hopes are high.

AA: what d0 y0u want with the s0urce 0f the first guardians AA: what g00d d0 y0u really think c0uld c0me 0f it TT: Do you know about it? TT: The sun?

So First Guardians are created by the Green Sun.

Wait - actually, I think they're created from the Green Sun.

While Bec was being cloned, the screen which originally displayed Nanna and Grandpa changed to a field of flickering green lightning.

It almost looks like the appearifier was pointed inside the Sun itself, which leads me to wonder what would happen if you tried to summon the thing. Maybe some of the Sun's material was teleported into Bec's body, to serve as the fuel for his abilities.

That would certainly explain his astronomical internal temperature - but Bec is basically a god, so he could also just be doing this with his powers.

AA: y0u cant p0ssibly wield its energy 0r put it t0 c0nstructive use

I'm sure it could defeat Jack - although the word 'defeat' falls a bit flat when you're reducing someone to elementary particles.

Using the Sun against him feels like bringing a nuke to a knife fight - it's ridiculous overkill, and will get literally everyone killed.

TT: That isn't exactly my plan.

Well, now I'm stumped. All my theories about how Rose would use the Sun were predicated on the assumption that she wanted to access the First Guardians' powers - or, at least, the enormous energy they wield.

But it doesn't sound like she's trying to empower herself, or convert the Sun into a weapon. What can you do with the Sun that doesn't qualify as 'constructive use', but does contribute to killing Jack?

Well, I suppose she could corrupt it. Maybe the gods want her to transmute it into the Black Sun, and create some eldritch First Guardians to fight Noir.

That said, they'd be hard-pressed to create a Guardian who's more corrupt than Doc Scratch.

AA: y0u w0nt find it either AA: its imp0ssible

The Sun is implicitly connected to every First Guardian, so it's unlikely to be in any specific session. I don't think there are multiple instances of it, like Skaia, because it's not supposed to be an official part of a session in the first place; Rose had to essentially datamine Sburb to learn about it.

I assume, then, that the Sun is somewhere more fundamental than any specific Medium instance. It's probably in intersession space - perhaps even beyond the Furthest Ring.

AA: im thr0ugh with c0nsci0usly c0ntributing t0 inevitable 0utc0mes TT: Well, TT: Aren't you doing that regardless? Right now? AA: 0bvi0usly AA: but im just talking [...] AA: maybe if i behave in a manner s0 rand0m AA: parad0x space w0nt kn0w h0w t0 handle it! AA: blah BL00P blee BLUH!@#$%^&()_+ AA: didnt see that 0ne c0ming did y0u pspace??? + ?rand(413^612)

Well, I don't think you can break predestination with a run-of-the-mill pseudorandom number generator - but I do like where your head's at. Probability might just be the key to fighting fate.

I mean, Vriska is apparently able to alter probability - despite the fact that all Alpha Timeline outcomes should be set in stone.

What's up with that?

[monstersinthecosmos]

So I'm a newbie in the VC universe that discovered the books only a few months ago through the series and I have a question regarding Louis character so I came here because I believe it's a safe space for that. Well, to begin with, I'm not really into the vampire lore before so the show was okay to me and since I'm more of the reading type, I plan on reading the books after watching the movie too because I kinda like the aesthetic of that century. And oh gosh, that was the best decision I ever made because I am madly in love with it especially with Louis whom I find so relatable, but then that's when I realised that though I find myself relatable in Book Louis, that never came across me with Show Louis and I wonder what could be the main reason for it. Is it my lack of understanding the story in the show or the show doesn't show me the side of that Louis? I suppressed this thought for a long time because of the constant fandom war going around regarding the book vs movie vs show on Twitter and I only upload Tumblr not long ago so I really got no one to ask at that time. Sorry if my question is hard to understand/lacking in any sense, I'm not really good in voicing out my thoughts.

Hi! So like, TLDR; they are two completely different stories and two completely different sets of characters that happen to share names. I don't think it's a big mystery that one resonates with you and the other doesn't, that's just how it goes! And I hesitate to compare & contrast the two canons too deeply because I don't need any drama lol. But I'll try to parse some of this: I don't think you're missing something in the show. Unless I missed it too. 😅 But truly the show has a completely new character, and while I think they have some things in common, and I definitely really SAW LOUIS a couple times, they really aren't the same. And even in moments where I think I see Louis (ie: thoughtful, brooding, spiritually tortured) I think some of the decisions the show made to change the story just really narratively don't work for the book character. I really think these two pieces are best enjoyed as completely unrelated series, because we can tie ourselves in knots trying to make the book fit what we're watching, and vice versa, and every character on the show is essentially an OC. Of all the characters we've met on the show, I don't think ANY of them feel like the book counterparts. (Lestat is the worst offender for me personally LOL.)

The book I think also is about grief and Anne Rice often discussed using "the vampire as the other" as a means to write stories about feeling isolated. I think that's a huge reason why the books are so successful and why they reach so many people! It's such a broad theme and using vampires as a symbolic conversation means that we can make it about anything when we're reading. And especially like IWTV being written IN GRIEF I think makes that theme so so powerful like not just the pain but like, how disorienting it is, how lost you feel, how small and powerless. And feelings of grief come up over and over in the series, and not just literally about people, but about the sun, about life, about things we lose when we're forced to go on without. And I don't think the show really got into that topic; even using vampirism as a conversation the timeline of the canon is so short it doesn't really stick the landing. We get some brief glimpses of the life Louis had before, but by the end of the season his family is still alive. Barely any time has gone by. If this will be sort of an overarching theme over the longevity of the whole series we shall see, but tbh S1 was so absolutely unrecognizable to me as a book fan that I'm not super interested in following up lol. You'll have to get back to me in a few years and let me know how it went. 😂

ANYWAY. I outsourced this ask to a couple friends because admittedly I've never been a huge Louis fucker so some of the show changes were lost on me and I hesitate to speak deeply on either version of him for that reason but!

@somevagrantchild says: [...] the tv show created a whole new character in Louis’s place, in a different century with different values and a different background that gave him his own unique personality and struggles that are very different from book Louis. Which means the decisions and choices he makes are also very different as well as the way he relates to Lestat.

An example is show Louis using his vampire powers to get revenge on people from his mortal life vs book vampires becoming detached and not caring about those things anymore Also show Louis being selective about who he kills (coming up with the evildoer idea on his own) vs book Louis just never wanting to know, so being the most indiscriminate killer of them all @covenofthearticulate says: i mean god the whole goddamn point of louis' character is that he only really values humanity after losing it, so after being turned he's like desperately grappling to find some sense of humanity and identity and goodness and i think that's something that resonated with a lot of readers who feel Othered………whereas the show gave him vampire powers that were basically an excuse for gore porn and weird revenge power fantasy @covenofthearticulate also wrote this post (in her @sangcreole blog) about the decision to have Louis kill Lestat rather than Claudia and I think it sums up a lot of the dissonance as well.

Anyway yeah the fandom can be a nightmare about this topic because I think people can be very defensive and emotional, and unfortunately there's a lot of cult behavior and bullying when people step out of the party line, and it makes it difficult to discuss these as two pieces of media which are different from each other, without saying that one or the other is bad. And we all relate to characters differently, and for random reasons, and we often DO NOT PICK OUR BLORBOS LOL, so like it makes sense that a book character might resonate with you when the TV character didn't, because they aren't the same character, and they are acting from different backgrounds, they are being used for completely different narrative functions, and their relationships to the people & places & centuries around them are totally different stories.

[puhpandas]

i saw some of your posts about being anti-cassie's dad protag for HW2, which valid, but the theory's become so popular most people seem to accept it. HW2 is kind of a mess to theorize about what the string of events was considering both endings could easily be canon, but I guess I'll get to the point. I'm sure most people have heard plenty of theories about what happens in the game if it's Cassie's Dad as the protagonist, so I'm curious. If you don't think it's him, who do you think is most likely? And (while this is difficult to figure out with any protag..) what do you think is supposed to be happening throughout the game, like, timeline-wise/plot-wise? Personally I feel like Cassie's Dad protag is possible, but I don't think it's set in stone or that he would be a reoccuring character. Imo Cassie's Dad protag works best if he stays a one-off character, building onto Cassie's backstory. I kinda wonder if the "what makes you so special?" lines aren't actually saying he's special, but asking what he thinks makes him special enough to go through all this and survive. Still I'm really curious to hear alternatives! I'm definitely not attatched to that theory lol. I just haven't really heard anything else tbh since the theory's so big in the fandom..

theres tons of evidence (a lot of it already used for cassie dad protag evidence) that apply to Cassie protag. for starters hw2 is obviously incredibly reminiscent of hw1 with its ending. vanny traps you somewhere and waves, the same way glitchtrap trapped you somewhere and waved in hw1s canon ending.

it's been widely accepted that vanny cassie is very possible and the direction the story is going in so playing as cassie in the lobby and going through princess quest and helping vanny and it being implied Vannys using the player as a vessel now the same way glitchtrap used vanessa to create vanny makes it very plausible we play as cassie

theres also the 'unused' line (but they all perfectly apply to the game as it is right now and add much needed context that make the game actually make sense) that's from presumably vanny, saying: "it kept you for a reason"

not only does the it pronoun 100% mean the mimic (and cassie is still down there in the same place where the mimic is literally free rn but alive) but it means that the mimic purposefully didnt kill cassie and also probably was the one to drop the evelator because it has a plan for her. aka the plan is getting vanny a new vessel so mimic can resume operations

the lobby itself also perfectly matches post ruin. you have the vanni mask on first of all, but second of all theres little items around the lobby that hint that you're cassie. like the robot parts strewn around that could imply cassie is trying to repair roxy (theres also the helpy screen)

as for "what makes you so special" I think people are misinterpreting the cassie ending as it being Cassies dad and not a staffbot. it literally shows you straight up that you get attacked by other staffbots and made into maskbot and give cassie the mask. if anything it shows us that Cassies arrival was planned and it's more evidence that we play as her becoming vanny. but its ALSO a perfect explanation for how confusing the minigames are in telling us who we play as

we literally play as a staffbot/mapbot. the minigames go from clean and fixed animatronics to gradually getting worse. even when the pizzaplex is clean and the animatronics are just a bit dirty, we've only seen that in sb. we play as a staffbot from pre sb, during sb, and post sb. "what makes you so special" what makes you so special compared to the other staffbots

it also explains why the animatronics are mean to you. staffbots are seen as useless hunks of junk and its shown all across the pizzaplex and in ruin as well when they're constantly shown discarded and destroyed.

freddy also says the line "you ARE a Fazbear technician, arent you? idk bc I can't see you". it means we literally arent a Fazbear technician. were a staffbot. and the same applies for carnies line about kids. its prerecorded and we're just a robot anyway

I have more posts about all this stuff individually but more in depth in my hw2 theory tag. this is what I genuinely think and I believe cassie is the protag for sure. it just feels so clear with how reminiscent hw2 is of hw1s ending tied with the clear plot of vanny cassie it's just like. why would we play as her dad when we watch ourselves get trapped by vanny the same way vanessa did right in front of our eyes.

we have the cassie ending because it shows us how maskbot got the mask and where it came from. it came from glitchtrap + by extension the mimic and vanny. vanny betrays glitchtrap at the end but also traps cassie in the process. the elevator dropped on cassie in ruin because the mimic did it on purpose to enact this plan. I think hw2 is more straightforward than ppl realize if you put everything together from what we have and dont try your hardest to put other characters in when the game is definitely about vanny cassie

like hw2 and ruin were made at the same time. they go hand in hand and reference eachother in the game, even before one of them was even out. the story is about cassie becoming vanny, the whole thing. this game is an intermission (the song scorched cranberries (the end credits song) is elevator music) showing us how the new villain/character thatll be big in the next plot was created. this is about cassie

maybe her dad will have the spotlight in hw2s dlc. idk. he has something going on but nothing in hw2 I dont think.

[stellar-constellations]

Hi! I just wanted to let you know that I binged your Star Patient series in one go and I love how you write! I was so immersed I actually got so disappointed when I realized I hit the end of the uploaded chapters haha. I'm really loving Reader's character in terms of how she deals with the verrrrry questionable obstacles coming her way, girlie needs a break to just cuddle it out with Andrew or something. Anyway yeah I just wanted to drop by and let you know I'm absolutely eating your writing :D

Thank you so much! It means so much to know people enjoy the personality I chose for reader! I honestly love writing her.

I didn't want a Mary Sue type of reader, or a reader who just seems like a replacement of Ashley (I'm getting real tired of seeing these rip-offs of Ashley, she has her own charm nobody can compete with).

I wanted a reader with her own psychological issues and problems, this series is for Andrew, who is from the psychological game genre! It only made sense having a unique character to go with him! I wanted to match the game's elements and have the reader just like it; battling with her morals and if what she's doing is right, just in a different type of context and setting.

Reader's obstacles and drama in her life is just crazy, but we embrace the crazy. It'll be boring just reading the same thing you've already seen inside of the TCOAAL game, so I wanted to flesh out my own plot and characters. Reader might not be everyone's cup of tea, but she's mine and I love her.

Honestly, I'm still trying to understand Andrew's personality because of how complex it is (I simp for this man so hard, we need more fics of him). Andrew is such a pain in the ass to write sometimes, but I really love him for it, so please bear with me if he seems out of character, because he is! He's my own version of Andrew I wrote for this story, so he's not going to be canon, just like how the timeline and characters aren't canon either.

She really does need to sit back and take a breather with Andrew, but her trust issues refuse to and we'll see why in later chapters~

I've been hinting the introduction of a new character, and chapter 6 will have plenty hints of that, so I'm really excited for their eventual release since it'll really spice up the story and characters. It's a yandere story, after all.

Slight spoiler for chapter 6 down below, if you didn’t already piece this out:

I don't know if anyone has pieced this out yet, but our reader is bipolar (hence part of the psychological aspects of her), and it's something we'll see more of in chapter 6 and onwards. I'm going to do my absolute best to not make her a stereotype of the typical bipolar stereotype (0-100 real fast, sudden mood shifts, etc). I don't want it to feel like anybody is being targeted or portrayed inaccurately, nor to do I want it to feel as the disorder is glamorized/romantized. I want reader to feel like a real person, just like how disorders (especially mental) are real too.

I'm definitely going to have to update my warnings because I'll be honest, the plot is being written as I write along and I don't want to trigger anyone or have unsuspecting readers read something they weren't expecting, so make sure to reread my warnings when chapter 6 is out!

I genuinely didn't believe many people would care much about this series, and I wrote it for fun, but it's such a wonderful surprise seeing people engage in my stories and ideas, you're apart of this journey just as much as I am.

Chapter 6 is currently at 6,000+ words and still has a lot more to go through, so it'll be a long chapter! Thank you my stars, for your support, patience, and giving me motivation!

The Andrew "Andy" Graves complete masterlist

Inbox is currently OPEN for questions about the story and new plotlines/ideas, temporarily closed for requests!

[henrysglock]

Timeline? Split. Universe? Destroyed. Hotel? Trivago.

As Em just put in this brilliant post (now with a diagram!) it's entirely possible that each UD is a destroyed version of the alternate timeline:

I want to bring in a little more support, because it makes perfect sense. If you're new here, or if you'd like a refresher, here's the reading list:

Nuclear Winter in the UD/One's Nuclear Bomb

Mirror Swapping and Wall Cracks Post

Missing Rainbow Room Wall Cracks Post

Multiple Dimension X Ones Post

Vecna Puppetry Post

Multiple Upside Downs Post

As I laid out back in March, we likely have 6 separate versions of the HNL massacre.

One set of factors is the swapped mirror:

The other set of factors is the crack patterns in the Rainbow Room, or lack thereof:

(Gate, dematerialization, and no-event cracks respective to photo order)

Dematerialization is a separate process from the gate, and the two aren't ever shown on screen together outside the one dual outcome overlay.

No gate, just dematerialization:

No dematerialization, just gate:

2 mirror alignments * 3 outcomes = 6 total outcomes

As we're shown in 4.07, when we follow One through the gate, it takes us directly to Dimension X:

And dematerialization, as we're shown in Season 1, pulls us directly to the Upside Down:

So that makes: Upside Down, Dimension X, and Right Side Up...and one of each of those for Henry and Edward. Still totaling 6!

This tracks with what I laid out about the two different Dimension X Ones:

Two different Dimension X's, two different Ones.

It also tracks with the post I made about physics and gravity in the Upside Downs:

(Orientations of the Upside Downs, gravity overlay, and directionality mirroring overlay respective to photo order).

Two different places...two different guys? (but different this time)

And then, of course, my two favorite pictures of all time:

Mirrored POVs. Inverted poses. Different hair.

Two different guys.

Dimension X: 2 guys. Upside Downs: 2 guys. Right Side Up: 2 guys.

6 guys.

Number of Jumpsuit Patterns? Six. ("But James, there are only 5 there!" I know. Consult the bloodless jumpsuits from before. There are two of them. Thus, JA, JB1 and JB2, JC, JD, JE. Six suits)

Back in May, I asked the "What happened to the other two non-Dimension-X jumpsuit guys?" question.

The answer may very well be: The Two Upside-Downs, becoming the physical Monster Vecna, one of which we see getting Flambéd™ by Nancy et. al.

Make sense? 1 Monster Vecna, 1 Dimension-X One, and one Normal Guy One per timeline: 6 guys. 6 places. The math is mathing.

This all also tracks with what I said about Vecna as a puppet/symbiotic partner of sorts who connects to Dimension X via ethernet tentacles:

It also explains how the USSR has an active Shadow, despite the Side-Side gates being shut:

There may be two of them. The one in Russia may have awoken due to the up-down gates being opened in Hawkins.

Now, you're probably wondering why I linked the nuclear winter/nuclear bomb posts.

As I said in my post about the Rifts:

One dropped a whole-ass nuclear bomb on Hawkins when he opened the rifts and began merging the Upside Down with the Right Side Up. This resulted in a gradually spreading nuclear winter. Thus, if any other timelines/universes were to collide, we could expect much the same effect:

As Em said in his post, it's entirely possible to have a timeline split based on which timeline/universe survived the collision, thus generating a set of 4. Two Upside Downs, two Right Side Ups...and both Upside Downs are experiencing the associated unending nuclear winter.

Then, of course, the question becomes: Which One collided the universes, why, and how?

Of course this is all speculation and relies heavily on what we might see in The First Shadow...but I know most of you have seen me speculating on the full extent of Henry's powers. If Henry isn't the ST4 Vecna, then we really have no clue what the extent of his powers are.

For example: Vecna couldn't open gates until he copy-pasted that power from El and cobbled it together into his own form of gate opening. Henry might not be constrained by that same lack of ability.

In fact, based on what information we have been given about The First Shadow, it's entirely possible that he did open a gate of some kind.

How do I figure that?

There are monsters in The First Shadow, and it's touted as being the origin of the Upside Down, not to mention Matt hinting the Brenner already knew that Henry had access to other worlds even before The First Shadow had been teased (That Deadline article is from July of 2022).

We also have BTS pictures from the filmed show of the Creel house fully decked out in UD tentacles...even in places Stobin+Nancy never visit when they go to fight Vecna.

Namely, we have tentacles in the parlor to the right of the front door and the dining room respectively...ft. Raphael as baby Henry:

(Note the light fixtures! They tell us which room we're in)

So...it's entirely possible that Henry did it by accident or otherwise back in 1959, which would explain why both versions of Upside Down Hawkins are completely abandoned: They may have been in a state of multidimensional nuclear winter for the past 27 years.

[sirdolraan]

Timey-wimey Revelations

(( DWC May 2024, @daily-writing-challenge, Day 3, Shame/Favorite, CW: None ))

Spiru was resting in Halfhill, recovering from the big battle of Stoneplow, when she received the message.

The message was written on simple, local paper, handed to her by a grummle who carried post. "I'll be in Gardener Fran's barn after dark. You've held up your end of the bargain, now I will do the same."

And thus, that very night, Spiru silently clambered into the upper window of the barn, landing silently within. Her training in the ways of the pandaren monks were paying dividends, and she had grown quite proud of her growing abilities.

"Ah, hello friend! You're looking much more vibrant that last I saw you. Though I suppose that was inevitable," the voice said, as a dwarven woman with yellow, draconic eyes emerged into the moonlight coming in from the window.

"Nice to meet you face to face. What do I call you?" Spiru asked, eyeing the shadows of the barn. They seemed empty, save for a few sleeping yaks.

"Call me Tawnee, and as I'm sure you realize, I am your benefactor, of a sort. You've done very well for yourself in this pocket of time," she said, smiling broadly with her visage.

"Then it's time for answers. I've played along, even made some friends. But I need to know what is going on."

Tawnee's smile faltered a bit, her eyes turning down and putting a shade of sadness on it. "What do you know of the bronze dragonflight, and their purpose?"

"They protect time from those who'd abuse it." Spiru replied, swiftly.

"That they do, in the name of the 'true' timeline, as declared by the titans and Nozdormu. Part of that duty is dealing with timelines that exist alongside, but shouldn't. Timelines like yours. Usually, they fade away on their own. Sometimes, they need to be pruned, lest they become a target for other forces, like the void. That used to be my job."

"Used to be?" Spiru asked, teal eyebrow arching.

"I was bronze before I was infinite. It was the pruning of your timeline that pushed me over the edge, as it were," Tawnee replied, stepping forward and lowering herself to the floor of the barn, carefully arranging her skirts around her. Leaving herself vulnerable on purpose. "The decision to end your timeline was made by Nozdormu himself, it was too persistent, but it didn't fit. It was a threat, a way for the enemy to get in, he said. So we did our work, redirecting the sands of time, and cutting the threads of fate so that your whole existence would just fade away. No pain, no suffering, no joy, just.... gone. I was one of those who entered to ensure all was as it needed to be. During that inspection, I saw you, Spiru. I saw you walking down a street in Gnomeregan, full of life and love, and bearing that special spark. Your Azeroth had already marked you."

"Marked me? The planet?"

"The worldsoul. She marks mortals, empowers them. Those she choses become important people, heroes and villains. It's said that even death has trouble claiming them. And you were destined to be one of them. Even as we set your timeline to collapse, I found myself wondering what destiny you would have forged. And I couldn't stop thinking about it. That loss of possibility, the loss of you, consumed me." Tawnee regarded Spiru sadly. "And it led me away from my family, to the Infinite. Those of us who wanted to make a better future, one without mortal suffering. One where we acted for our charges, not our former masters. I joined the infinite to save you, my champion to be."

Spiru regarded the dragon before her, the perfect image of a dwarven princess, vulnerable and open. A sham, surely. She was a dragon, and her visage's vulnerability could be erased in an instant. But Spiru couldn't sense any lies. "Wait.... did you fall in love with me?"

Tawnee laughed ruefully. "I thought I had. But what I fell in love with was the idea of you, the you I built in my mind. You aren't her. But you -are-, and I want you to keep -being-. That's why I broke the rules to restore you, and sneak you in to this grand experiment."

"So what, you restore me and only me, and just expect me to enter this 'True Timeline' in the crowd and hope no one notices?"

"It cost me a lot to get enough of you to rebuild. Any more and I might not be here. And yes, essentially. There are others from different timelines being given a second chance, you're just from a timeline that doesn't exist anymore, hardly that different as long as you don't tell anyone."

Spiru's head swam. The enormity of the situation bore down on her, and she struggled to grasp the ramifications. "What do I have to do to make sure I don't just disappear again?"

"Keep as you are. The threads of fate you're gathering for your cloak aren't just making you stronger, they're helping to reinforce you. Get far enough, get strong enough, and you'll be indistinguishable from the prime's natives. It will be as if you always were. And I'll have some chance of finding redemption for all the lives I gently erased in the name of duty."

Spiru nodded. "Alright then. I will do that, however," she turned her back to the dragon, "I will not be doing it for you. I thank you for your aid, but it's probably best for us both if we just tend to our own business from now on."

Tawnee sighed. "Yes, I had a feeling you'd feel that way. I will honor your wish, Spiru. But whoever you do it for, please. Live gloriously, and don't hold back. More than I are rooting for your success, after all. Her blessing is still with you."

"... Azeroth, you mean?"

"Yes. It appeared shortly after I finished your reconstruction. I took it as a sign I was doing things correctly. She's counting on you."

"We'll see." Spiru said, and then she was gone, leaping back to the upper level and exiting through the window, jumping on the back of her kite and flying away on the valley's winds.

She had a lot to consider.

[mega-ringsandthings-world]

YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS! Back at it again with the ask. More world building questions this time because they’ve been chewing on my brain for a bit here.

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In this world where the Marines are hunting pirates more than ever, how many small-time or strong but still vulnerable pirates join up with emperors? I don't know if they were even emperors at the time of Roger's execution, or they were created as the smaller, more inexperienced wave of new pirates broke themselves on the end of Paradise. But how many do you think joined up for protection? Whitebeard would be popular, aside from his more laid-back nature, or maybe that comes later with more age. At least he won't take your life force as payment to be under him, and most have no chance of moving up ranks in Big Mom's crew unless you're married and/or family, so basically stuck being indentured servants whose payment is life energy. Or with Kaido, who, if you aren't strong enough, will, if you're lucky, laugh at you, then kill you, or if you're unlucky, torture you and then kill you. Either way, it's slim pickings, and a lot of would-be pirates or older crews who made a living on the down low or were building strength die or are captured and then die. The sea must be empty in this timeline. Maybe people banded together instead of going to any of the emperors; they lose some freedom, but it's better than being forcefully integrated into the other crews.

Not to mention, when the breakout happens, those lone traumatized pirates are going to book it to the Grand Line asap. The Four Blues are probably militarized hell zones, but on the Grand Line, there's some hope of freedom. And Whitebeard, greedy meddler that he is, will definitely Shanghai some of them in an attempt to bring them into the family, like he did with Ace. Unlike Ace, these people are ready and willing to die before being kidnapped again. So they'd either A. Kill themselves once they found out they couldn't leave. B. Kamikaze their way out, hoping to kill as many as they can before they die. Or C. Hunker down for an opening to mutiny. Getting together like-minded individuals who are dissatisfied with being held captive. (Could bring in black beard with this.)

In this AU where the world is cracking down on pirates, what's going to happen to the Warlord program? Is the World Government going to crack down on pirates full stop, or is the Warlord program going to change? Maybe the Marines make more deals with lower pirates to bring in other pirates in order to have some freedom or lesser sentences. I can see betrayal being a big issue in this world, and most free pirates would be incredibly untrustworthy. You don't know who will sell you out for a buck.

But if the Warlord system is still in place— Doflamingo, I could see taking advantage of the system again. Boa Hancock, I could also see; she's in it for her island and her people, and the prison work camp the government set up would hardly ruffle a feather. She already understands how the World Government works; she knows slavery is still alive and well, and it's only when it's shoved in people's faces that they give a shit. Kuma, from what we know of his background, probably doesn't have much of a choice in the matter. But Jinbei... I'm torn because, on one hand, he understands the horrors of the World Government being an oppressed minority; on the other hand, he's still trying to integrate fish-people into the wider world as a whole. So I see him being pissed about Loguetown, but probably not enough to quit. But definitely one of the straws that make him quit in the future.

Also, also, also, Arlong? I don't know if Jinbei could give Arlong the same protection he could give him in the same timeline. Maybe? I don't know.

Anyways what I’m getting at in a lot of herd mentality going on in this au a very us versus the them vibes not a lot of individualism and the chooses that can be made are between six wrong ones and six worse ones. No wonder and revolutionaries are so tempting in this au.

World building is my jam LET'S GOOOOOO! It roughly halves. Half of whatever is left of the pirates go into hiding and the other half finds whatever place they can with the Emperors (the title of Emperor only came into being after Roger's death, so in this AU, perhaps the marines derisively create the 'Emperor' title to single out the strongest pirates still free) and the small percentage that neither hide nor join up, would yeah, try to make their own bands or strike it out alone, and very few of these would make it. The ones that do get thinned out even further by those of them that join the revolutionaries. Whitebeard would get the most of them, Big Mom is the second choice for magnanimity, and Kadio is the last resort unless they're bloody desperate. (and they are) The sea is a ghost town for the two-three years the Loguetown pirates are in captivity, everyone is trying to simply stay alive and stay free, and the Emperors wouldn't engage the marines openly. So the Grand Line would be everyone's go-to place even before the breakout, the free pirates/Emperors would retreat back there as the marines overtook the Blues (militarized hellzones indeed). So when the breakout happens, all the Loguetown pirates run smack into everyone else on the Grand Line. Now, Whitebeard, seeing as how he's going to collect a fair majority of the free pirates, he'll be inspired to keep on collecting via all the fresh new blood. That feelings of the 'collected' pirates are mixed. So that will make some chaos for Whitebeard in the short run. Suicides/kamikazes/various attempts at mutiny, all yes. The plan was for Blackbeard to form a secret fledgling fleet out of people from the Loguetown breakout he lured in, so him swiping up Whitbeard's discontents fits right in. Which. Not good news at all. One thing that's going to happen after the Loguetown breakout is that Mihawk/Shanks are going to be aided by the revolutionaries, and then in the near future after that, Shanks is going to confirm the existence of the one piece and form the Red-Haired pirates. This, along with seeing Shanks free, serves to embolden every pirate out there and pull the ones in hiding back out into the seas, which kicks off the search for the one piece. So you'll get a lot of pirates beginning to form independent crews again/actually leaving the Emperors. And the seas start to slowly fill up again.

The Warlord program will stay around, although it gets pushed back into the shadows. The Warlords will be used mostly to go up against the Emperors and bring in free pirates, so the Marines don't have to risk their own forces. The marines do offer pirates the opportunity to sell each other out, and those that do mostly get grouped into troops to supplement the Warlords. So when you have faces you recognize hunting you down, maybe even your own defecting to the marines, there would be a lack of trust. Hm. Doflamingo is self-explanatory, so is Kuma, and Boa and Jinbei have something they need to protect enough to remain Warlords. The marines/world government would offer Jinbei lucrative privileges for the Fishmen, maybe even a full integration into society at large, so he feels utterly obliged to stay a Warlord. Up until Luffy appears. Under the concession Jinbei is being given, it's possible he'd be able to offer Arlong what he did in canon, maybe even moreso. Anyways what I’m getting at in a lot of herd mentality going on in this au a very us versus the them vibes not a lot of individualism and the chooses that can be made are between six wrong ones and six worse ones. No wonder and revolutionaries are so tempting in this au Yeah. Exactly so. Either you go to the only refuge out there, or you die. Not much else. So, when Shanks gets free, he begins the start of restoring that lost individualism. He brings in the one piece and the revolutionaries. He suddenly opens more choices. He brings something like hope. Which paves his way to becoming the influential Emperor he does become.

[merakiui]

how do you manage to write for scaramouche so well?? ❤😭 it may be because i havent played genshin before. but. you srsly have me simping HARDCORE for this man, to the point that i wanna get in on the action too and write something of him for myself!!!- but as someone whose barely wrote before and struggles with dialogue sm, it feels impossibly difficult.. may i ask for some tips or advice abt this, if youre up for it ofc? and this is off topic but i also want to say that i enjoy reading every single writing of yours, and im very very thankful to you for even choosing to post them in the first place. reading something that you write will always make my day sm better and i appreciate you so much. im so sry this became so long rn, but i wish you a day as hardcorely wonderful as youve made me simp so hardcorely for scaramouche!!! (it was sounding better in myhead NOO. in all seriousness tho i wish you the best day ever possible, THANK YOU!!! you should be super duper proud of yourself for making these masterpieces and i srsly hope you are, even tho i know its hard to feel this way abt your own work!!!)

AAAAA this is so sweet... 🥺 thank you for enjoying my writings and the way I portray Scara!!!! (੭´͈ ᐜ `͈)੭♡ I'm glad you can love and simp for him!!!!!! He deserves many fans!!!! >3< and I'm grateful to know my works can make you happy!!! I wish you the most amazing, hardcorely wonderful day as well!!!!!! 💖💖

As for advice I'm not sure if it's advice for writing dialogue or Scara, but I can share my thoughts for both!!! :D dialogue is fun because, while it's still conversational, it can come in many forms depending on the context and dynamic/relationship between the characters. For example, dialogue between a boss and their secretary will be different from that of dialogue between close friends. Real-life conversations aren't perfect; we stutter, repeat words, trail off in what we're saying, ramble, interrupt, use fillers like "um" or "ah," and so on. Adding these elements into dialogue between characters can help it feel more natural.

With Scara, he has so many layers and can be written in many different ways depending on what era of him you're writing for. What I like most of all, though, is his ability to act so friendly. I feel as if this ability of his is somewhat forgotten, but in the Unreconciled Stars event he approached Traveler and company with such a friendly façade. Even his intonation was bright and kind (as opposed to how he later addresses the Fatui soldiers)!!!!! orz orz I adore this aspect of his character,, how he's able to be both a brilliant actor and an intimidating Harbinger all in one. His sharp, sarcastic tongue... the threatening aura he has despite being so short hehe. <3 there's so much to love!!

I like to imagine him as the stray cat they tell you not to feed often otherwise he'll continue to come around even when there isn't any food to give. Although it also helps that he's portrayed as a cat in Nahida's fairy tale. ;;; I love Scarameow with all of my heart!!!! It's also important to note that, as evil as he was during his era as a villain, there were also facets to him that showed some gap moe. How he cares for the elderly and children. How we know that he has a tendency to get attached to things, to seek a purpose, to know what it's like to be human and feel human, to be accepted and loved.

His misunderstanding with Ei also plays a role in how he views the world (and how he'd probably be wary in falling in love because he fears abandonment). Whereas Ei was hoping he could live his own life by setting him free rather than destroying him as Miko had wanted her to do, Scara mistook the gesture as abandonment and betrayal. And from his perspective it's hard to see the goodwill in what Ei did because she,,,, didn't exactly go about it in the best way. ^^;;;;

Aaaa there are just so many parts to consider from the timeline of his existence. As Wanderer, it's really heartwarming to see him gradually healing and accepting himself as well as letting go of past grievances (but also taking accountability for and acknowledging all that he did as well as all that he is). He still has that same sharp-tongued sarcasm and there are still rough edges, but he's not so harsh or vindictive. 🥺 I just adore him so much...

I rambled a lot and I'm sorry. T^T I hope it's helpful advice and not just my adoration for Scara shining through. ;;;;;