#liddle theories

[withgreatpowercomesmyfuckingdick]

I find it fascinating how the event of Crisis Core seems so important and so big in it's era, but when in Remake, the event seems insinifiant . Yes, it had been at least five years, but it's crazy how everyone just forgets about it , in a way like Soldier First Class Genesis and Angel never existed in the first place.

Thanks for the ask lovely! And yknow what, I’ve actually wondered abt this myself and my primary explanation is this:

Shinra’s propaganda is Just That Good.

Like let’s please keep in mind that Shinra is everything. They’re the news, the press, the internet, the market, the government, everything. Whatever they can control, they do.

We have canon confirmation that the Firsts’ fan clubs were run by Shinra PR. Everything supplied to those fan clubs was through the filter that Shinra put up. They could easily sour the tone of the fan clubs overnight. (Ofc, staying accurate to a real fan club, it’s quite likely the really loyal ones would set up different forums and probably end up conspiracy theorists, but the primary ones would eventually go down thanks to Shinra’s ownership)

I’m sure Angeal ‘deserting’ on a Wutai mission helped fuel some racist propaganda and fear of ‘corruption’ of Midgar. If they twisted it that way, like Genesis and Angeal were active traitors, popular opinion would turn against them.

Sephiroth couldn’t have been as easy, and I’m sure the damage couldn’t completely be mitigated, so they may have played into the ‘grieving company’ ploy instead of trying to hide that Sephiroth was dead.

So I wouldn’t say things are forgotten so much as Shinra makes sure things aren’t talked about. People remember, but Angeal and Genesis being related to Wutai/rebellion against Shinra makes them a no-go topic, and Sephiroth is painted to be a traumatic experience for Midgar (how ironic) and is only spoken in a ‘how sad, how tragic’ type tone.

And I mean, these events are consequential to US because of how much they affect Zack’s/Cloud’s stories, but five years is a large gap when you think about it. To the Midgar people, those three were more celebrities than SOLDIERs. The general population remembers them but they aren’t going to be a day to day topic. SOLDIERs on the other hand, they likely remember a lot, but there aren’t many of the originals left considering Genesis dragged a shit ton of them with him during his mass desertion. SOLDIER after the Firsts are gone is basically a new program altogether. There aren’t enough people that care enough to keep the rumor mill going, and those that have suspicions are either tracked down by Shinra or know to keep their heads down so they don’t get a Turk on their ass.

Buuuut ultimately a lot of what I said is more theory/headcanon than confirmed fact, but we’re getting some interesting new content lately. Maybe they’ll address this in the future? Who knows who knows

[wr0ngwarp]

music box

[silvershayde]

Fascinating how the desert also has its own version of the withering. So far I’ve only found it in three places, by those pillar ruin places. However the difference is it doesn’t affect anyone, and the way to undo it is to activate those pillar ruins.

Wild how advanced the tech the people of the desert were, and poses the question on if they were dealing with a form of the Withering so long ago. It is plausible; with how the Withering was actually rooted in the desert people’s old quest for knowledge [is this still a spoiler? Imma tag it as such just in case].

Idk I’m just thinking of parallels between the desert and the forest. At the height of the desert’s civilisation there’s also that element of a quest of knowledge. And it’s great how the desert was the example of what happens when you take it to far, and how the forest was so close to following in its footsteps. Then again, the Sages of the Akademiya, actually I think even all the lecturers too, have such a specific view on what is valuable or not, and have such an iron grip on what all these researchers and students carry out investigations in. The attachment between knowledge and value are so ingrained within the Akademiya in such a way that it is suffocating.

Not only that but when it comes to the desert and King Deshret, they are so ignorant that it is sometimes vexing. Instead of building upon existing evidence that not only supports the concept of Deshret being a tyrant but also goes against it, they approach the topic with a sense of bias and refusal to accept any inclination against that. This bias actually runs rampant within the Akademiya and its just sad. With a certain quest chain that happens what it also shows that IF someone comes out with results that go against existing opinions, instead of deeming it valuable and a cause for further investigation, it is so quick to be dismissed as either an over exaggeration of results or results with a very unstable foundation, pulled out of their ass if you will.

[This mini paragraph doesn’t flow as well because I accidentally deleted the original paragraph and tried to rewrite it from memory, didn’t exactly work but oh well] The scholars of Sumeru are so limiting within their scope of research and quest for knowledge. It’s like Yes! Become a scholar! But only on the things we deem important we don’t actually care about your opinion and what drives you to seek knowledge.

Sorry, I get annoyed whenever they slate on King Deshret when so much evidence us as explorers find that suggest otherwise. Talking about his tyranny and all that. If it wasn’t for the control of information anyway they would have a better idea on what actually lead to fall of such an esteemed civilisation. Not only that but the consistent emphasis the scholars have on King Deshret’s tyranny is so stupid. The people of the desert lived the same as those of the forest; trying to make the distinction between them in such a way just because they followed Deshret rather than the Dendro Archon, is just sad.

[louisinart]

i have a theory that one of my mutuals is secretly one of my fave ao3 authors

[charalysis]

Alice Liddle: American McGee's Alice

MASSIVE TRIGGER WARNING: THESE GAMES AND THIS POST WILL BE DISCUSSING THEMES OF S.A, PEDOPHILIA, MURDER, MENTAL ILLNESS, SELF HARM, PROSTITUTION, AND MEDICAL ABUSE.

Alice Liddle of American McGee's Alice and its sequel, Madness Returns, is a severely mentally ill character in the games she stars in. She endures trauma after trauma, with next to no assistance, alone. In this post we will break down what happened to her, her reactions, and how she developed.

Disclaimer: Despite mental illness being the main theme here, I will not be attempting to diagnose Alice, as I am not professionally trained and she does not have an official, canon diagnosis of any kind. I will however make inferences.

For those unaware, American McGee's Alice is a horror twist on Alice in Wonderland, following the protagonist Alice. In this first game, you play as 18 year old Alice Liddle, who from eight years old to that point has been living in Rutledge Asylum in England. The game begins with the player introduced to the catalyst of Alice being in the asylum: a house fire.

In this fire, Alice is the only one to survive from her family, with her parents and sister, Lizzie, dying in the fire. This causes a massive snap in Alice's mind as she watches the house burn and townspeople surround her.

In this scene we are also introduced to the idea that Alice was likely already mentally ill, as when the fire begins, what wakes her isn't the smoke or screams, its Hatter and March Hare screaming in her dreams about the fire, begging her to wake up. (However, its likely it was just a framing device, but we do see its what woke her.)

From then on, Alice spent her time in the asylum, nearly comatose. She was catatonic and would only speak in shrieks and shrill screams. She'd have seizures and episodes of hysteria before falling unresponsive and mute again. Her doctor's notes also describe an incident where she "wielded a spoon like a knife and the orderlies, then turned the makeshift weapon in her own arms".

Needless to say, the fire that killed her family severely traumatized Alice, and she struggles heavily with possible PTSD and survivors guilt.

Alice in the first game also expresses suicidal ideation, or at the very least a passive desire to die. She's heard saying, "Save myself? From death, is that it? Is that why I've come here? I'm not afraid to die! At times I've welcomed death..."

And, "Everyone I love dies violently; unnaturally. I'm cursed! Why go on? I'll just hurt others."

The latter of these quotes is indicative of her guilt; it shows she blames herself for not just her her family's deaths, but others, and believes those she grows close to will also die horribly if they stay around her. She expresses she thinks people are better off without her.

In regards to Wonderlands occupants and how they relate to her fragile and broken psyche... American McGee has stated that all in some way represent her fragments mind and emotions. How, I don't think is explicitly stated beyond the Queen, but I have theories:

Cheshire: Her subconscious and manifestation of Dinah in her mind. Dinah lead her to safety in the fire, showing the way out. Chesh is guide that knows more than Alice consciously knows, but things she's got hidden in her mind. He tells her the clues she's seeing and picking up on subtleties she can't. That's why he uses riddles.

Hatter: Hatter is obsessive and rambling. He's a sort of representation of her doctor in the asylum, after all he runs one himself. He's paranoid and obsessed with time and loathes mechanical malfunctions. He may very well be a sort of ego aspect, where the Queen is super-ego. He could also likely be the manifestation of Alice's own paranoia and frustration surrounding her own "malfunctioning" mind.

Queen of Red Heart: She is Alice. She is the part of Alice that causes her the most grief and torment. She is what keeps Alice locked in her psychosis; a malevolent manifestation of super-ego. Cheshire compares her to a cancer in the body, which must be excised or Alice would die.

Jabberwock: A creature who taunts Alice and accuses her of not caring about her family. He is what taunts her about their deaths and says that she was, "in dream land taking tea with friends", and she, "couldn't be bothered". He is her guilt and self anger and he is there to remind her of this guilt constantly.

Caterpillar: He provides her wisdom giver. He takes things she sees and can help her recontexualize them. He is similar to Cheshire, but more to the forefront. He is also seemingly the calm part of her mind.

Tweedles: looking identical to the orderlies in Rutlidge, the Tweedles are cruel to Alice and lack any higher intelligence beyond orders. They are childishly cruel and likely have something to do with Alice's self punishment.

Rabbit: More obsessed with time than Hatter, Rabbit is a mostly absent guide who rushes ahead of Alice and he's very, very fidgety. He likely represents her conflict between anxiety and comfort. The comfort being from him being based on her favorite toy, and his face being easing to her. But he's very paranoid about time and danger.

Duchess: Initially a manifestation of the cruel nurse in charge of her, Nurse D, Duchess is a violent cannibal. It could be argued her outfit initially resembles a nurses outfit too. Later in the second game, she is seen in more revealing clothes and no longer eats people, and prefers pig now. Her "overbearing goodwill" and appearance now more represents her nanny, Nan Sharp.

While I do not believe these games are a 100% accurate depiction of mental illness and trauma, they do a good job showing the struggle between one's self and the inner machinations of their mind as they struggle with their mental health, and struggle to learn to cope on their own.

The second game is much better about the direct correlation between Alice's real struggles and Wonderland falling apart.

In Madness returns, we see an older Alice struggling in therapy as her doctor, Angus Bumby, tries to make her forget her past. She wants to forget everything rather than continue to struggle with it. We see she's still being abused and exploited by Nurse Witless, who's blackmailing her.

In Wonderland, we see the Corruption and the pollution destroying Wonderland piece by piece as the Dollmaker (Bumby's influence and brainwashing) takes over her mind bit by bit. We see her remembering her childhood and the past Bumby tried to erase, and we see her piece the truth together as she slowly banishes the Dollmaker.

By the end of MR, we see a confident Alice, the pieces of her fragmented life and mind put back together as Wonderland blossoms and Bumby dies via a train after Alice confronts him with his crimes.

Tl;Dr: While imperfect in their portrayal of mental illness, PTSD, and more, American McGees Alice And A:MR depict the grittiness, the despair, and the pain that can come with these things fairly well. It also depicts a woman struggling but succeeding in helping herself and bettering herself. These games revolve around facing your issues head on and healing. Their use of symbology is fantastic in my opinion.

[skunkes]

I always wonder about things like the fridge situation. If I'm just a liddle beast how am I going to fit a whole tomato in there. Wait I just remembered cherry tomatoes exist nevermind. Anyway where would I put my whole singular apple?

OKAY so i can think of 2 answers for this and one is like. more out there but less fun to me if taken to the extreme...which is like modifying certain foods to be different sizes... i think this cld be fun within reason, like i dont think it'd be as fun (imo) to have mouse sized apples...but yes to smaller ones existing. anyway the other answer(s) (actually not even answers im just saying stuff now) is being able to purchase foods like this in portions...so you buy a half or quarter apple and figure out how to further store portions...

but also also also... i do think it'd be fun to have specified big appliances for stuff like this ykwim...like walk in fridge ice box but reasonable to own...because i DO want the satisfaction of knowing a small animal could store a "regular" sized (big to them) food item that needs to be refrigerated so that they could just live off of that for a few weeks/months and use it in their meals as god intended.

or like. you know those neighborhood mailboxes that exist? what if something like that but its a big huge fridge you go access for the bigger items....with ur own compartment... hm but then you'd have to walk further from your home to access the big food instead of just having it there...idk! many such theories (<- incoherent)

[queen-caramilflinda]

here's a thought: fighter and/or barbarian gerard. murph finally combining his two great loves, "weird little guy" and "party tank"

Yes!!! I’m hoping for this as well. I love that Murph exclusively plays Liddle Creechers and Himbos I hope he never changes.

My current class theories for the PCs classes are:

Gerard - Fighter, Banneret/Purple Dragon Knight. Has elements of fighting, royalty related features and a built in animal handling proficiency

Ylfa - Barbarian, either Totem Warrior or path of the Beast & maybe a Ranger multiclass. Both barbarian subclasses have aspects of turning into/channeling animals and of course fighting which plays into the wolf ears the character has

Pinocchio - Rogue, Thief & Warlock, Genie or Archfey. Pinocchio is known for being very mischievous as well as having been brought to life by the blue fairy. The former gives immediate rogue vibes, and the latter makes me think there could be some sort of warlock pact involved. The trailer has Lou saying that his character stole 40 pennies from a witch, which makes me think thief specifically.

Puss in Boots - Cleric, Death OR Rogue, Mastermind. This one is complicated because it really depends on which version of the Puss in Boots story Zac is pulling from. The original story doesn’t frame the cat as a trickster, but instead as someone who is helping to make his owners life better. However the much better known version of the story is the one where Puss in Boots is a rapscallion who causes trouble. This is the one I have the least confidence in. I picked death domain cleric because in the character portrait he has a cane with a skull on it.

Rosamund - Warlock, the Undying &/OR Paladin, Oath of Ancients. I think she will be either a warlock, as the sleeping beauty story (as told by the brothers Grimm) features the princess being put under a protective spell to keep her from dying. The idea for her to be an oath of ancients paladin is purely due to the channel divinity that the subclass has of restraining people with vines.

Timothy Goose - Bard, Lore &/OR Wizard, Scribes. Both of these classes have ties to learning and manipulating information, as mother goose does. I do really hope Ally plays a bard though, because I think it would be fundamentally hilarious.

[ambreiiigns]

tell me about ghost?? :0

thank you SO much for asking 😭😭😭 sorry it took me a while to answer but i am finally home so Let's Go

so first off . ghost is. a band. but it's actually a front for a satanic church who's trying to spread their message thru rock music. as you do ! it's really silly actually you're not supposed to take them seriously :^) if you follow me for the wrestling think of danhausen they do the same concept :^)

church And band are lead by the pope officially but also this one girlboss queen named sister emperor is the one who actually kinda pulls the strings in the back. besides the pope a handful of liddle demons are summoned to help w the instruments. they're called nameless ghouls but they are divided by element (usually it seems that fire=main guitar, water=bass, air=keys, earth=drums, quintessence=rhythm guitar + some bonus occasional non-elemental ghouls who do Whatever) and somewhere around era 3?? started getting nicknames from the crowd

now. the papas.

this was revealed later in the timeline but Technically Chronologically the /ghost ptoject/ started in the ? 60s or 80s before being discarded for a while and the first papa from back then is someone we know now as papa emeritus 0 aka papa nihil. he's the father of all the following papas. he made the cursed mary on a cross song that's on tiktok these days. but also this is just lore and obviously ghost did Not exist back then irl

in reality the first frontman for ghost was papa emeritus i aka primo (which just means first in italian. this is the pattern for what seem to be the papas' proper first names) there's not much to know abt him as ghost was pretty unknown back then but to me! he seems like a nice old man! who was doing his job more seriously and normally than anyone else! i like him. he made the BANGER that is ritual i feel like everyone knows ritual right like. if you're into the genre even if you're not a big ghost fan we all know ritual don't we.

unfort primo didn't Spread The Word Of Satan far enough so he got booted off the role and got replaced 😔🤙🏻 by the nastiest slightly less old horny man you've ever seen. papa emeritus ii aka secondo he's maybe the coolest looking in some ways i feel like he might be the most iconic. every day he grows on me more and more. he's so fuckin bald. spoke full italian. liked to Party and Fuck. so much so that even tho he did pretty well w the band and the spreading the word and won gold for his album he completely gave up on doing his work as papa !!! he was having too much fun. no work all play. church not happy. booo so he also gets kicked out the band lol

he's replaced by 💜terzo💜 the man of my dreams papa emeritus iii thee icon thee legend thee blueprint for all that is to come. i love his guts. he's the youngest emeritus and everyone has big hopes for him and he delivers! wins a grammy! ghost is at an all time high thanks to his lead! he's doing everything right and perfectly and great :) maybe too great. i have a bit of a theory on what happens to him but what is factual is that this is when the ghouls gain Rights. he starts acknowledging the ghouls by name and it's sweet! his album meliora is like kinda smarter than the others. talks abt Doubts in a way. doubts in the church and what the point of it all is. how church makes you feel worthless and helpless without it. wonders if it's possible or worth it to try to break free. encourages you to take the leap out of heaven and even if now you have to build yourself back up from the ground at least you're free to be yourself. in short to me this is the closest to like real life laveyan satanism where you're your own god and ! the idea that i get is. that terzo was learning to find worth in the individuals (himself, his ghouls) outside of their role in the church and he was maybe on his way to rising above it. so what happens is terzo also gets removed from the band allegedly for becoming too self absorbed. which is bullshit! if anything he's the most selfless! but the THING about terzo is THE WAY that they remove him. before that everytime the papa changed they'd just hand their microphone to their brother during the show and that's it. but with terzo. they lichrally dragged him off the stage during a live show. which like. if they never did that to secondo who actually kinda deserved it there is NO WAY that terzo earned that kind of treatment. so this is just sus to me

anyway after they drag him away nihil walks in, introduces himself, says the party's Over and then we have a period of sede vacante where there's no one filling that role like nihil is Kinda doing it but not really and he's all out of kids so who's gonna be next papa!?!?!

i should say now. this band is very Fake and all about Lore in many ways it's like wrestling storylines. all the papas besides nihil are just The Same Guy in /realistic/ masks and it's all a big show. i forgot to mention this detail to emi last night and she got so confused 😭😭😭

so around this time ghost starts doing a little youtube series to show what's going on in the church in these confusing times and pretty much it's just. sister emperor tells nihil he's too old to do the job and since he doesn't have any more kids (🤔🤔🤔) she suggests they bring forward one of their best cardinals aka copia. nihil isn't feeling it mostly bc he doesn't like the idea of interrupting the bloodline but they come to the conclusion that this is the only way. so sister decides that. since they're interrupting the bloodline. they simply Need to kill primo secondo & terzo (😭😭😭😭) but it's so bullshit bc it's SO OBVIOUS that copia is sister and nihil's bastard secret son that no one seems to know about besides her so why would you do that 😭😭😭 to my old men 😭😭😭😭 ma'am pls that was so unnecessary 😭😭😭

anyway copia becomes front man and drops an album which doesn't do as well as terzo's 😌😌 but before they can doubt copia's place too much nihil fucking Dies so copia needs to be made papa Immediately. so he's papa emetitus iv now. whatever. he might have also figured out he's nihil and sister's kid around this time but it's unclear. regardless he gets plastic surgery w his mom. makes another album which is WEIRD! bc so far every papa has only made one (1) album before getting booted off! but i personally chuck this off to copia being cardinal for his first one and now that he made an album as papa he's not gonna last much longer. which is basically confirmed lol and i hate to say this but i can't wait for him to fuckin GO!!!!! I HOPE HE DIES!!! i cannot forgive him for replacing my man but also he's just sus he might have been more involved than he looks He Took A Picture With Terzo's Decapitated Head which. didn't happen to primo & secondo. they only decapitated terzo. doesn't it feel weird to you. doesn't it feel sus to you. doesn't it feel like adding insult to injury or whatever. why was he done so especially dirty. weird.

so copia's time is about to run out everyone's wondering who'll be next some say nihil (who's been sticking around as a proper ghost) might do it some say terzo's coming back from the DEAD i have no idea but i'm excited to learn! i've been casually listening to ghost since high school but all this lore always intimidated me so much so i'm soooo happy that i finally caved in. ghost fits me really well i think. it's really fun all their songs slap and fuck i cannot recommend them enough. i'm happy to be here for copia's downfall. i'm literally in love with you for asking even if you don't read this i'm thanking you from the bottom of my heart mwah 💜💜

[tturing]

closeted yoi enjoyers popping up everywhere like worms after a storm. hi :3

[serpentariusart]

Hey I did a thing and I like it a lot.

It’s Nonyrth babey. This was a lot of fun so I might make more of these for my other dragons.

[readymades2002]

reading that one 300-smth page kh3 theory with my last two braincells and going HAM 

[withgreatpowercomesmyfuckingdick]

i am just here to talk not very a ask because if i can't say it, i will probably destroy someone house.

i have been thinking what was going on in cloud's head before tifa went in and put him back together ?

Like i think that we all could see how cloud talk about the nibelhiem accident. Even if he was just putting himself in place of zack that is to much. it dosn't fell like the zack from crisis core you know ?

i think that cloud brain creat memories by taking a vag felling of how the things went and use the emotion accociate with it, then fell it what is left of it with the " first class soldier, friend with sephiroth like you know zack ". wich give that hell of a fanfiction. cloud was next to his idol, so he must have quite the happy emotion, and sephiroth acted that way because in the logic of " cloud being zack" it wouldn't make any sense for sephiroth to not act on it even it may have been a little bit exagere by the feeling of that time.

and then there is that wierd felling that it dosn't stick with the rest of any implied memories. you know. i don't know how to explain it, maybe it's final fantasy 7 ( 1997) that is influenced me here. please tell me that i am not the only one who can see a 180° change in atmosphere when it's about that memory ( i know that they did it this way for the lovely fan we are but dang it's destroying my view of cloud. seeing cloud with emotion on his face has actually wierd me out, his the one wtih the stoïque one, you know ? )

plus has anyone ever ask what cloud remember in between the memory of tifa and being a first ?

and why does cloud shoose zack or not tifa or hell sephiroth himself ? plus he seem to remember zack before that little discour of his. what if when zack said to cloud that he would be his legacy, cloud broken mind took it literaly and for the event to have sense ,zack as a person had to go. it's why ex-first claas cloud do not have zack personality :"]

it's probably extremely wrong, i am still stuck with ff7 ( 1997 ) and can't get myself aroud the remake . like at all. stone face cloud, stays my favorite boy .

ooooooh this is a very interesting ask/ramble this might take me a sec to break down.

edit: this was in my drafts for a few days and ended up very lengthy, but I promise I didn’t forget you LOL. I’m going to give a header for each question for ease of reading. Thanks for the ask, and read more should you be interested in the rambles you set off for me 😂

What was going on in Cloud’s head before Tifa helped put him back together?/What’s with the tone change in his memories of Sane!Sephiroth?

The mind is very fascinating. The closest real life experience i’ve been able to relate to Cloud’s situation is friends I’ve had with dissociative identity disorder (DID). the mind on its own is very much capable of twisting events and compartmentalizing them between personalities. Cloud’s case is an extreme case in that 1) there’s a fucking alien involved and 2) the effects were basically amnesiac. He literally couldn’t retrieve the memories by himself because of how well his brain did in compartmentalizing his trauma, which is fucked up, since all it really did was leave him with the effects of his trauma without knowing the cause. So. Yeah lol.

I get what you’re saying with the memory thing and the gap though. The change in atmosphere IS stark.

I think the big thing to remember here is that Cloud’s brain isn’t just casting itself as Zack. He is Zack’s legacy, what Cloud interprets as being what Zack represents. Seeing as Cloud sees Zack through some rose-colored glasses for sure, there’s plenty of room for error. And who of us doesn’t look at our friends and think, “Everyone should love you like I love you”? Like you said, part of it could certainly be Cloud’s personal of bias of “how the fuck could someone not like Zack?” and it skews the memory.

However, I have a theory I personally prefer: The addition of Jenova cells in the equation. The lines between minds affected by Jenova cells is evidently thin, there’s no reason why it wouldn’t be even thinner between Zack and Cloud considering their trust in each other and everything they’ve been through. Couple that with Zack constantly telling Cloud past stories and you have falsely constructed memories all over Cloud’s brain. Maybe Cloud heard those stories and the ‘memories’ we see are his brain taking creative liberty. Like you said, taking what he knows and just filling things in based on how he assumes they would act. Maybe those are actually Zack’s memories, somewhat transferred due to their joint prolonged exposure to J-cells and each other, glorified a bit thanks to Zack trying to filter the stories for his paralyzed friend. We probably won’t get the full scope until Rebirth, but I’m pretty sure we’ll find out.

What does Cloud remember in between the memory of Tifa and being a First?

I’d say very little if any at all. There’s evidence in Rebirth that he hadn’t even remembered their promise on the water tower, a very important motive behind his wanting to become a SOLDIER in the first place, until she’d mentioned it. In fact, I’d say his memory of her is pretty much gone, and looking at it from the “I’m Zack” standpoint it makes sense.

Everything in Nibelheim is attached to a very heavy feeling of shame for Cloud. He wouldn’t even take his helmet off going back because he was so ashamed about talking shit he couldn’t back up. Tifa is the main person he feels he let down by not getting into SOLDIER. Reread that: Tifa is the main person he feels he let down by not getting into SOLDIER. The very existence of her memory is a threat to his alternate personality as a First SOLDIER. That shame and his fabrication can’t coexist, so it makes sense to me that Cloud’s brain pretty much eliminated Tifa before he sees her again.

There’s also evidence he doesn’t remember his time at Shinra at all aside from his ‘Zack’ memories. I don’t remember if it was in the OG, but the Remake makes it very pointed when Cloud runs into a soldier that recognizes him and he has no idea who they are. So this alternate personality thing pretty much erased his life aside from very basic knowledge, from my understanding.

(Which is why playing with his character is so fun for me because, technically, for all of FF7, Cloud is OOC. Crisis Core Cloud is the more accurate rendition of him. Smacking them together into one guy is the closest to Cloud’s true post-trauma personality we get. But that’s a rant for another day.)

Why did Cloud choose Zack and not Tifa/Sephiroth/someone else?

First off I’d like to say, and I think people forget this: Cloud thought he was the only survivor of Nibelheim for years. Cloud thought he was the only survivor of a genocide. That shit is heavy. And who was there after all of it plus all the bullshit with Hojo? Zack.

Sephiroth was his hero, but he turned to a villain. Tifa was his goal, but as far as he knows, she’s too dead to care what he does now. But Zack was Cloud’s friend, and that never changed. Zack was everything he had left.

And here’s another thought: I said earlier that Jenova cells in the both of them probably excaberated Cloud’s mental break. Cloud’s brain probably didn’t consciously decide “Oh, I’ll be Zack now.” What it did was replace his trauma with the safest option. If the majority of his trauma and grief is tied to Zack then, boom, we take Zack out of the picture. It was probably even convenient, since his memories of being paralyzed and experimented on are also inextricably tied to Zack. So naturally, they have to pack it up too. Zack is the one that got wiped out of Cloud’s memory because losing him is apparently where Cloud’s brain drew the line for trauma capacity. Even though Cloud went through a shitton with Sephiroth and Hojo, it was ultimately Zack’s death that pushed him over the edge. Out of everything that happened, Zack dying is what his brain decided Cloud couldn’t handle. Zack’s request for Cloud to be his legacy, as sweet as it is, probably didn’t help.

(Clawing at my hair because Zack, you could’ve said literally anything else. I know it’s symbolic in his approval of Cloud and his trust in his friend etc etc but couldn’t you have said something with LESS emotional and psychological damage? Goddamnit, Zack.)

Naturally, logical vacancies are left. Who’s the First SOLDIER that helps Nibelheim? Hm, must be Cloud. But if he helped Nibelheim, then who discovered Sephiroth in the Manor? Must be Cloud. If he talked to Sephiroth in the Manor, then he must’ve known Sephiroth, and how does one know Sephiroth? You should be a First SOLDIER. In Cloud’s head it comes full circle because there’s a SUBSTANTIAL gap that used to be filled with Zack. We could say that either 1) J-cells made his memory fucky and having some of Zack’s memories in his head accelerated his faulty logic or 2) the memories we ‘see’ aren’t even real and are just wallpapers Cloud’s brain hung over the holes in his memory.

Enjoyed breaking this down, but overall you’re very correct! And I mean, it’s fair to favor the original over the Remake! I think we all subconsciously default to the 1997 canon, because I certainly do. I’m literally using the 1997 canon and just nabbing little details from the Remake because I like the world building and the NPCs and the new visuals we have for battle and magic and what not. Thank you so so much for this ask and I’m sorry if my text wall was a little much in reply 😂

[lieutenant-columbro]

The Evidence

1) the fact that we the viewer know who the murderer is long before the investigation even starts

2) the fact that most of the time, Columbo is able to figure out who the killer is in minutes, and then has to spend the rest of the time trying find evidence to back it up.

3) the fact that we never see Columbo's wife and yet he constantly mentions that she helps him solve cases even when he's not talking to a murder and has no real reason to lie

And, this last point is important:

4) The fact that we the viewers constantly see Columbo in the most indearing, flattering, adorable light

5) we all agree that if Mrs. Columbo IS real, she's definitely some kind of eldritch entity right?

The Conclusion

Mrs. Columbo is the audience, or to be more specific, the viewers are seeing everything through the eyes of Mrs. Columbo. An all seeing, omnipresent, being who loves her husband very much and especially likes to watch him while he's on cases to make sure he stays safe. Maybe her husband is aware of this, but he probably isn't. But either way, she's there as a silent observer.

TLDR: I think Mrs. Columbo is an omnipresent eldritch being and we see the show from her point of view.

I'll be honest this theory makes less sense to me now than it did 30 minutes ago, but like I said it's been 30 minutes so it I might as well send it in for peer review.

ohmg..... this is why they are literally relationship goals 😭 i mean don't we all wish we were a silly liddle guy with a big eldritch goddess watching out for us or is that just me

[agentrouka-blog]

Who do you think will take Winterfell in TWOW? Do you have any theories how it will play out. There are so many variables and so many ways GRRM could go that I just can't see who will achieve it. I know the fandom had decided Stannis (I thought so too) but it's predictable and I doubt there will be no surprises. Any thoughts?

Hi anon!

I think it's going to have to be Jon and Sansa. Thematically, it is the only thing that makes sense. These two are the ones most closely connected to the image of rebuilding the place, and renewing House Stark.

Renewal includes earning the return of the castle into the hands of House Stark. If Stannis takes Winterfell for them, it means it will have been handed to them by a Southern king who likes to burn people for convenience. Not going to happen.

Winterfell was taken from House Stark because of a number of old "sins of the fathers", amounting to gaining power through conquest and oppression. Theon was a hostage who grew up terrified that he may be executed. House Bolton was defeated and forced to submit to Stark rule. There was no loyalty there, why would there be? Ned dismissed the threat beyond the Wall because House Stark had forgotten its history in the Long Night, which had been the foundation of their House. There was rot in the North, same as everywhere.

Roose Bolton is Warden of the North for the Southern crown by the grace of the Lannisters. The Starks are going to need a better claim than that. One born of the will of the actual people, as represented by the lords and ladies who made it through the chaos. House Bolton is imploding due to their own issues. They are not good leaders for the North. So the position is opening up. Job interview time.

Why should the Starks rule? I think we'll need to see Jon and Sansa answer that question.

Jon already started out by earning the trust and loyalty of Alys Karstark, and making an alliance with the wildlings to ensure the greater good for all people. When he's recovered, he's likely to continue working to protect the North and all of Westeros by trying to promote cooperation and trying to remove obstacles to cooperation.

Sansa will have to do her part, as well, making use of her own potential strategic alliances to benefit the North (knights and food in the Vale), and employing her political instincts and her ability to influence people through communication and recognition of their goals and needs.

And not just to regain their seat, but specifically to address the lack of proper leadership in the North, and what it means for the people and the greater threat facing the whole continent. They'll have to do what Jon advised for Stannis: do the legwork, pay respects, demonstrate their ability to lead by rallying the North toward a greater cause.

The Starks had done enough good in the past to earn the loyalty of a number of their subjects: Manderly, Glover, Umber, Liddles and the other mountain clans, Mormonts... there's a base built on past competence, but Jon and Sansa are going to have to prove that there is substance in the future, too, before they can gain enough support to retake Winterfell, and the Northern crown.

[leos-regression-cove]

Nothing In The Parenting Books Prepared Me For This

Chapter 59: The One Where Everyone is Little

Synopsis: Thor and Mobius get to try out being small with Loki and Sylvie.

Word count: 7,317

Stand Alone?: No. Part 3/3 of a mini-arc

Warnings: wetting

Notes:

Well, this is the third and final in my series of utility chapters, but the good news is, it did exactly what I needed it to do! The point was to test dynamics and see what I wanted to do on a new fic, which will begin uploads on the 25th to mark my first AO3 anniversary! But don't worry, this fic still has a few chapters still left in it, even if uploads may become slightly more sparce.

Also, don't worry, this is probably going to be the last you'll see of little!Mobius in this fic. I'm going to keep writing him, but I just like him a lot more as a caregiver in this specific story.

Read on AO3!

When Sylvie came back with her arms filled with Thor’s stuffed animals, she was surprised to find not one, but two little ones, once again. 

Loki was in a colorful romper, and, like usual, a bulky nappy, lying on the floor on his belly next to Mobius, who was in a very similar state sans the wardrobe change. 

Loki was up on his elbows to poke at an odd toy that the two were entranced by while Mobius rested his head in his hands. 

The lower half of the ball-shaped toy was blue, while the top half was a clear look in at three rocking-horse figures on a grassy painted surface. It made little glockenspiel noises as the figures rocked back and forth. But even though that interested the babies, it had no effect on Thor and Sylvie. 

Sylvie knelt down and caressed Loki’s chin, forcing him to meet her eyes. “So, you’re just leaving me to play caregiver, huh?” she passive-aggressively asked him. 

“No,” Loki told her, wiggling and giving her one of those ridiculous smirks that had too much genuine sentiment in them to be really mischievous. “Seevee liddle too, an’ then all be liddle bigga ta help!” 

She crossed her arms and pucked out her bottom lip as she considered this. “Only a little bit small though, okay? Not fully.”

“Okay,” Loki shrugged. What did he care, anyway?

Starting to feel a little bit left out after dropping off his stuffed animals on the crib, Thor wandered to Sylvie and the younger littles, finally deciding to observe what the interesting toy was that the boys were so enamoured with. 

He picked it up, and shook it. 

At first, Loki seemed hurt to have the ball taken away, reaching up to take it back, but then as the dink dink dinks filled the air he became even more curious, and stood up to watch the curious rocking horses and maybe grab the ball back so he could force it to make that noise, too. 

Thor set the ball down and kicked it lightly over to Mobius. 

It made one full roll, and then stopped about a foot away from him, rocked back and forth, playing a couple more notes, before stabilizing itself. 

Mobius curiously shimmied up to sitting and picked the ball up. “It’s weighted,” he commented, holding it out for Loki or Sylvie to take so they could test his theory. 

Loki took the ball, madly shook it like Thor had, and then set it down. Nodding to confirm that this was in fact the case, shoving it once more, just to watch it roll back and prove this once again.

Loki got up, abandoning Mobius on the floor, to bother the big kids, who were standing by the opened crib, chatting about Thor’s plush stuffed animals. 

“They’re not gonna play, you know,” Sylvie said as Thor introduced his toys. “Like you can play with your toys, but they’re not going to.”

“They won’t?” Thor sounded a little disappointed.

“No. But you can play, though. It’ll just be on your own.” 

“Will you play with me?” 

“Um…” Sylvie paused for a minute to think about it… “no.”

Thor looked a bit taken aback. “Oh…”

“Yeah… but you can still play on your own… Or you could just bring your stuffies while we play something else.”

“Something else?--” 

As Thor questioned what exactly she had in mind, Loki finally found a way to catch their attention. He was sitting in the crib, rooting through the plushies, when he picked up a blue Carebear with a rather grouchy face, and pressed it up to Thor’s face. 

“Mm-ah!” he said like it was a kiss. 

Before he could do it to Sylvie, she put her hand up to stop the kiss. “Ick!” she said, sticking her tongue out. 

Mobius watched from afar, still on the opposite side of the room while Sylvie and Thor chatted, both obviously trying to somehow cling on to adulthood. 

He debated getting in between them, but as he mulled it over, before he could make a decision, Sylvie looked at him, her distant conversation with Thor disappearing into thin air, and marched over to where he sat. 

“Do I need to pick you up?” she asked. 

Mobius shrugged, a bit unsure himself. 

“Well we’re gonna go play outside. So you gotta get dressed in something that’s not pajamas because I know if you were big you’d be grumpy about that.” She spoke really quickly and like she knew every word she was saying was so incredibly boring-- logistics logistics--. 

Mobius nodded that he understood and stood up, cautiously gripping the zipper of his pajamas. 

“Oh! Um he had some little clothes earlier!” Loki piped up, letting himself have some more grown-like speech. 

He summoned the clothes to his hands and began to quickly wiggle them onto the little with help from Sylvie, who shoved him out of the way when he couldn’t do the buttons on the little one’s shorts. 

Mobius inspected how his nappy fit under the shorts and smoothed them out a bit before Loki picked him up and brought him outside to a small dried creekbed a couple hundred feet away from the home. 

“Seevee get water n’ we’re gonna make pottery,” Loki explained as Sylvie ran with a watering can to the lakeside. 

“Is there really enough clay in this dirt for that?” Mobius asked, sitting down to pick up a handful.

Loki shrugged, and then grinned just before Sylvie poured out water in front of him, accidentally splashing the mud onto the little, who laughed and stuck his hands in it. 

Mobius stopped for a second until Thor did the same, and then did it himself as Sylvie dumped another can of water on the spot, and then sat down to begin sculpting her own masterpiece. 

“It’s just like play clay we made last year,” Sylvie said, ripping a glob of earth away from the greedy roots of a nearby tree and letting the dirt get under her nails. 

Thor followed her lead and took a massive clump, grinning as he did so and smacking it down onto the forest floor before trying to shape it. 

Loki, covered in speckles of mud, simply pushed the clay in his corner around, not really bothering to scoop or really take anything out to make a finished piece. 

Sylvie took Mobius’ chunk of clay out of the earth for him. 

He couldn’t help but blush a little bit as she set it in his hand.

He immediately began shaping an item-- something intricate, like a Grecian urn-- and now that he felt like he had some permission, he began to dip his hands into the muddied water of his own volition in favor of his creation. 

Loki sort of played with his, and Thor worked on creating a small beast while Sylvie shaped a weapon in her hands-- a small knife, actually. 

As Mobius watched them, he stopped, and squished his art project again, electing to start over. 

Traditional ceramics was definitely an ideal outcome. If this actually worked, it would’ve been very nice to come out of today with a new pot, but perhaps it was more important to allow himself the grace of working with clumsy hands like Loki did. 

What was something a young toddler would attempt to make? He asked himself, looking to Loki and Thor. Thor wasn’t that little, but he definitely had around the same level of fine motor skills as little Loki. 

Mindlessly, Mobius began to roll his mud into a ball, and then squished it; pulled it apart. This wasn’t so much about the final creation as it was about the act of creating something. 

He started on something new. Three new things actually, breaking up his big clump of mud into new, tinier pieces. 

“Whatcha making?” Sylvie asked as she dug up a new clump for herself.

“It’s you! An’ Loki an’ Thor,” Mobius told her a little bit self consciously. 

“Mine needs a bun so you can tell it’s me!” Sylvie critiqued. “Maybe my horns, too.”

Mobius seemingly ignored the suggestion, and made no acknowledgement of her words until he showed her the completed clay figures. 

They were modest; rather lumpy and disproportionate, about on the level of what a child may actually sculpt. But by the time he was done, it seemed like everyone else was, too, and thinking about it for too long wasn’t going to make anything better. Only Sylvie had made something actually impressive: a nice bowl, and an itty bitty dagger that looked as if it were made for a Lego person. 

“Okay, so now we can put them in the oven,” she smiled, feeling as though her art were very impressive compared to everyone else’s. 

Mobius looked up at her. “We’ll need some magic for that.” 

“Mhm! I can!” Loki said, running back to the house in bare feet with his piece of clay, which Mobius now realized had become a miniature horned helmet, the perfect size for a plush animal. 

The house became quite toasty as the oven heated to an unreasonable degree. Of course, that was partially welcomed as the day began to cool, since the cabin lacked much climate control. 

Together, the awkward group of mentally kindergarteners and toddlers worked on making something to eat, an early dinner of sorts.

Most nights, Mobius would put something on the barbecue for the group or make some sort of vague oven-baked casserole for Loki and Sylvie out of whatever was in the fridge (occasionally he’d use a crock-pot if the day was especially busy, or hand them some sort of microwave meal). 

“Can I help?” Mobius timidly asked as the Asgardians stared blankly into the fridge.

“No,” Loki said. 

“But… I can cook.” 

“Hush, you’re just a baby,” Sylvie interjected, picking him up. “Why don’t you go start a game we can play after dinner?” 

“But I wanna help!” Mobius fussed, gently setting his fists on her shoulders, as if he were scared to hurt her. 

“I’ll put you in the crib if you don’t calm down,” she whispered, quietly in his ear, bouncing him up and down lightly. 

“No, we need him here. We’ll just give him the Loki jobs, Loki can have yours, and you and I can do the big kid stuff!” Thor proposed. 

Mobius breathed a heavy sigh. That could work. Not ideal, but it had some weight. 

“Okay, so what can we cook?” Sylvie then asked. 

“Mac and cheese,” Loki suggested, shaking a box he pulled out of the pantry. 

“Is there another box?”

Three more boxes appeared in Loki’s hands, and he set them down on the counter. 

Mobius watched them for a second from Sylvie’s arms and then wiggled down to open the fridge. He took out a handful of vegetables, buns, and a large package of hamburger for them to also use. 

“What’s this?” Thor asked, turning around to look at him. 

“I was thinking we could put in some broccoli, an’ have sloppy joes with our mac and cheese, an’ maybe salad?” 

“You and your salads. This is enough!” Sylvie assured him. 

Mobius shook his head irritably and tried in other, smaller ways, to interfere with their cooking, and adding the vegetables himself when none of the other littles would, or suggesting different spices until Sylvie decided this wasn’t working the way her and Thor had envisioned. She picked him up, threw his upper half over her shoulder, and dumped him onto the couch.  

Mobius was, at first, offended and surprised that she’d take that sort of action against him. Sure, she’d throw Loki out of the way, but him? He paused for a second, leaning on the back of the couch and observing more bad practices or poor cooking choices. 

 He considered the next course of action. He couldn’t just sit here, right? But if he just walked back, then he’d get tossed right back to where he started, and that was no good either. 

But, he thought, if there was a time and a place to act like a baby, this was it. 

He mustered up his courage and trust in his companions, and leaned against the back of the couch before sticking his arms out towards them and letting out a loud whine. 

Normally, if Mobius was put in this situation, he’d just leave or maybe just hang out where Sylvie set him, but things were starting to feel different now. 

Unfortunately, the little who attended to him was not Sylvie or Loki, but Thor, and the other two were left to finish the meal. 

Thor picked Mobius up and put the dreamer’s head on his shoulder. 

Gently, he bounced Mobius up and down as if he were inconsolable. “What is it, little one?” he asked. 

“Let me help!” Mobius whined again, reaching out towards Sylvie and Loki, who were stirring and draining hot pots of overcooked pasta in blatant disregard of the instructions on the packaging. 

“They have it. It’s okay. Why don’t we make a fort instead? It’s boring over there.” 

Remarkably, Thor was almost exactly the same little as he was big. He said he was about five, but nothing really changed aside from the fact that he was a little more fidgety. Well, that’s what Mobius had thought at least. It only really clicked once they went into the nursery for pillows and blankets, and Thor used the opportunity to introduce some of his stuffed animals.  

“This one’s Grumpy. He’s not my favorite Carebear, but I like him because I got him out of a claw machine and that was really lucky but it’s also because I’m like super good at everything.”

“So which’s your favorite?” Mobius asked as Thor handed him the toy. 

“I like Brave Heart Lion because he’s super brave and cool just like me!” 

“I didn’t know you liked Carebears.”

“Yeah. They’re fun… Um, I like He-Man and Transformers more though, but you don’t see them around so much.”

Mobius nodded understandingly.

“But we can watch some of that later though. Let’s get yours and Loki’s pillows and blankies.” As Thor spoke, he shoved the pacifier clipped to Mobius’ shirt back into the little’s mouth. 

“Hey!” Mobius complained, smiling. 

Thor scooped him up, blankets and plush toys spilling out of both of their arms. “There!” he yelled as he dropped everything onto the living room floor. 

Mobius only made an “Oof!” as he fell down with everything else. 

Loki left his post in the kitchen, flicking melty cheese and sauce off his hands before joining the other littles, leaving Sylvie on her own to cook the hamburger meat in an unoiled pan. 

At first, Mobius tried to help in construction or at least the layout planning of the fort, but he soon found himself relegated to just the underneath of it all, crawling to reach toys and pillows and set them up for everyone else and making sure they got a good TV view. 

Dinner itself was actually somewhat edible, and both Mobius and Loki were able to feed themselves in their highchairs while Thor and Sylvie poked each other with their forks and generally made a mess trying to bug each other. 

Loki also made a mess. He picked at his mac and cheese with only his hands, using a pinching grasp, and then wiped the excess cheese on his bib. 

He only ate about one layer into the bowl before deciding he was done and pushing it aside in favor of the sloppy joe sandwich he was given, which he also only took one bite out of before setting down and simply playing with the food on his plate and tray. 

Mobius on the other hand, did try his best to actually eat, as lunch, or “tea”, hadn’t been exactly filling, since it had pretty much just been beverages and some small pastries. However, because of this, paired with the food he was eating, both his mustache and bib became orangy-yellow and red Jackson Pollock paintings. 

Thor wiped up their faces with the bibs Sylvie had put on them, and picked both littles up once she had set all the dishes in the sink for Mobius to wash at a later date. 

After setting both littles down, Thor pulled back the backs of each of their nappies and checked both of the diapered littles in a very childish way that made both tots quite fussy and uncomfortable. 

Mobius put his hands behind his back to smack Thor’s hand away, while Loki simply whined and scooted away, but Thor caught him before he could get far and scooped Loki back up. 

“Soggy little thing,” he commented as Loki struggled and kicked and whined. 

“Mobius, should we put on our jammies?” Sylvie asked. As she fluffed pillows inside the fort and turned on the tv. 

Mobius nodded. “Yeah, jammas,” he said absently around his pacifier, while examining one of Loki and Sylvie’s long-time ignored plush animals that was sitting against one of the couch legs, away from the other toys. 

It was one of those baby toys with different buttons on it that activated a noise or sometimes small light. He pressed one button on the little green dog curiously, but when nothing happened, he tried another, and another, until finding the velcro on its back and prying the battery box out. 

“Hey! Babies don’t get to play with that, that’s for the adults,” she told him, stuffing the box back in and pressing the velcro back together. 

“But… m’ a big adult!” he whined in the most unconvincing tone Mobius was probably even capable of. 

“I’ll fix it after we get your jammies on, how’s that?” She sounded quite stern when she asked. 

Timidly, Mobius let her lead him back to the nursery where Loki was still on the changing table. His new nappy was on, but his pants were still down around his ankles, as Thor had seemingly gotten distracted making silly faces at the little and trying to make him giggle, which was, to say the least, not working out too well, as Loki looked away with arms crossed, and rolled his eyes at every attempt Thor made to win him over. 

“Just set him down,” Sylvie said, rolling her eyes as well, and getting ready to shove Thor out of the way. 

“Fine, but he’s being a big grumpy bear.” Thor pulled the pants around Loki’s ankles all the way off as he said it. 

“Maybe if you had actually properly checked his nappy, he wouldn’t be,” Sylvie mumbled as she helped Loki up. 

Loki patiently sat down on the floor, seeming to understand that there was a reason for everyone being in the room, and opened his toy box while he waited.

Thor sat down a couple feet away from him and tried to poke and prod even more to get a smile or giggle out of the fussy tot. 

Now, with a clean nappy, teether toy in his mouth, and without restraints, Loki wasn’t as fussy. Instead of an eye-roll or resigned huff, Thor would, at least now, get at very least blank stare, and at worse, Loki would sort of crawl or walk on his knees slightly further away. 

“Brother, look at this!” Thor shook a ring filled with plastic beads in it to get Loki’s attention. 

The little stopped trying to slide up and down the crib bars to look back at him. 

Thor shook the ring again, causing Sylvie to look back and for Mobius to accidentally drop his fidget toy down at her feet. 

This time, Loki sat back down across from his brother. 

“Look at all these!” Thor said in fake puzzlement, pointing to all the differently sized rings. “Can you help me stack them, brother?” 

Loki smiled and then shook his head, simply taking the one green one Thor had shook and shoving it into his mouth. Not fully, it was much too big for that, but just enough to get his lips over the hard plastic. 

“Ew!” Thor laughed. 

Cautiously, the younger little took the ring back out with strings of spit coming off of it, and set it back down onto the floor, seemingly a little bit hurt by that. 

“Babies tend to teethe, Thor,” Sylvie said. “If it can fit in his mouth, he’s going to put it in his mouth. Stop acting surprised.”

Mobius paused and tried to roll over on the changing pad, which was, purposefully, pretty difficult to do, in order to grab the keychain-taggy-crinkly-giraffe-mirror-rattle-thingy while Sylvie was distracted. 

But he was just a second too slow. 

“Hey, Mr. Silly, your bum’s still out,” Sylvie said, pushing on his legs and trying to flip him back over. 

Mobius blushed beet red, both from the awkward angle he was leaning at, and from Sylvie’s comment, which had caused both Thor and Loki to giggle. Well, at least it put Loki in a better mood. 

Not knowing what else to do, Mobius tried to wiggle himself back into position so Sylvie could finish her job, but also so he could make the saddest possible face at her and gently ask for the toy back. 

Luckily, it seemed he didn’t need to. After being properly moved into position, and setting his arms next to his head, out of Sylvie’s way, Loki toddled over and picked up the toy. 

He carefully inspected it-- A stroller toy which had been detached from the shade-- before reaching up as high as he could and dangling it above the age dreamer’s head.

 Begrudgingly at first, Mobius reached for it and grabbed it from Loki’s hand, but soon a small, almost embarrassingly so, sense of accomplishment began to set in, and he smiled, bringing the taggy creature up to his nose and mouth and almost hiding his face in it. 

Sylvie finished taping on the colorfully printed nappy and helped the little sit up. 

“Lookit!” Loki grinned. “Match!” he laughed, pointing at his own diaper, covered in shapes, numbers, and big blocky letters with an alligator on the back. 

Mobius looked down and realized he had gotten the same, and not one of the blank medical-looking ones he had been given previously. 

“I think it makes you look very cute,” Sylvie commented, before Mobius had a chance to protest it. “And we can put pants over it if you want.” 

Mobius considered this and then bravely shook his head. It was warm outside and in the home, and Loki wasn’t wearing pants either. 

“Actually, a onesie, might not be a bad idea though,” she commented. “Don’t you think?” 

Mobius stood up and tested out the feeling before agreeing. He knew the nappy would sag and get heavy if he chose to wet it. It would be really nice to have something holding it in place like that. 

Sylvie took off his shirt and kissed him reassuringly on the cheek before placing one of Loki’s onesies over him. Once again, it was a bit big, but Sylvie was quite confident that that would be okay. It was white with blue accents and covered in little crayon drawn rainbows and squiggles, and Loki rarely ever wore it. In fact, when he saw it on Mobius, he sort of shrunk it to fit. “There, baby!” he giggled. 

“I’m not a baby! I’m like your age!” Mobius complained before getting down from the table. 

Sylvie opened the oven with mittens, as everyone else was “too little” and irresponsible, citing they’d “get burned so don’t touch any of it,” and swatting Loki’s hands away from the figure he had produced.

The regressor kept trying to look over her shoulder and made sure to point out his piece to everyone around him in an unbridledly self-assured way that only a toddler Loki was really capable of. 

Mobius couldn’t help but smile a little bit, knowing that if Loki wasn’t so little-- maybe even just a year or two older in headspace, he probably would’ve thrown a fit about having made anything with imperfections, like the little dents and scratches that had been pressed into the helmet on accident from other dirt and the regressor’s nails. 

Loki’s perfectionist instincts had kicked in early in life, Mobius knew that for a fact, but it seemed that the little’s small headspace had preceded the high standards he set for himself. 

Thor finally got a glimpse of the tray after that, but did not find his creature. What he did find instead was a smattering of small clay bits around the tray.

“Yours had an air pocket,” Sylvie said shortly. 

Thor took a moment to process this and then sat down like Loki would to have a big pout. 

“You can always make another. The dirt clay stuff’s probably going to be there tomorrow.” 

“Probably?” Mobius asked.

“Well… I mean, you never really know.”

“I guess not.” 

As they talked, Thor had folded his arms. It wasn’t quite a tantrum or a meltdown like what would be expected from Loki, but a swelling of negative emotions, that for Thor, was not expressed in outright screaming (and he pretended it wasn’t expressed through crying either), but instead, took on small actions to express frustration and aggravation, creating an uncomfortable amount of sudden tension as he stood up, knocked the cookie sheet of items to the floor, and stormed off, presumably back to his yurt. 

Loki, almost immediately, began to cry. 

And hearing that, Mobius immediately snapped back into full caregiver mode and picked the tot up. “Hey, hey, Lokes, you’re alright. Thor’s not upset with any of us.” 

“Just give him a minute. He’ll cool down,” Sylvie added. 

Even when big, situations like this weren’t uncommon (hence why Thor was not invited to board game nights) but they weren’t usually around a little Loki. 

Big Loki could handle anything (or so he said). 

Big Loki could get his head cut off and be fine. He could wick away rude words and fights like water off a duck, and prevent any damage from coming to material things he cared about with his magic. 

Little Loki though… little Loki could not. 

When Thor was big, Mobius could give some kind of a lecture, vie for sympathy with little Loki’s tears and get Thor to apologize pretty quickly, but if the playing field was now so equalized, would that even work?

Probably not, both Loki and Mobius thought in unison. 

“Me?!” Sylvie asked. “Why should I go talk to him?!” 

“You’re the most grown-up looking of the three of us,” Mobius reasoned. “You hold power.” 

“Wan’ Tor!” Loki cried.

“And I should take care of him, don’t you think? Tot to tot?” 

Sylvie gave him the biggest eye roll ever seen in the history of the universe. Just because he had figured out that age dreaming was kind of fun sometimes meant he just knew everything about being little, huh? In all fairness, though, even if he couldn’t regress, Mobius did probably at least know a little bit more than Sylvie on the matter, as he had sort of had to study up when he began figuring out Loki. 

“Just go see if he’ll calm down.”

“Fine. But you’re the worst!” she said in a way she didn’t really mean before leaving to go find Thor. “And for the record”-- she poked her head back in-- “I hate being the big sister.”

“I know.” Mobius said. That last bit did actually get to him, pulling at the guilt he had been feeling all day, at least since Sylvie and Thor had gotten involved. Maybe next time he should ask Kate or Sam to babysit for the four of them. But he shook the feeling off quickly when Loki began to wiggle out of his arms. 

“Um...” Loki started to say, pausing to unscramble the jumbled letters in his brain into coherent words and wipe his pinkened face. “You’re being too big.” 

“I am?” 

“Mhm.” 

“Okay, well… how do you want me to be?”

It seemed Loki had a very specific script that the dreamer was refusing to follow. This was the yell for cut. 

Loki plunked the pacifier hanging from Mobius’ shirt into his mouth, then shrugged. “Be littler.”

“Oh, hey, um… What about the puppy? That might help.”

“Puppy?” 

“Mhm!” 

Mobius crawled into the fort and brought out the toy puppy dog with all the buttons in the paws, showing it to Loki. 

“Oh,” Loki said, as if the pup had just sprung into existence. 

“Mhm! Can you help me turn it on? The batteries are dead.” 

Loki nodded and put his thumb in his mouth before casting a small spell with the other hand. 

Mobius smiled and tried pressing one of the buttons, to which the toy responded by lighting up and talking about a number, asking the little if he could count that high. 

Mobius was obviously quite tickled with the toy and set it down in front of him.

Loki watched him for a moment, and then grabbed one leg, and set it a little further out, and then did the same with the other. 

“What doing?” Mobius asked, obviously meaning to slip an extra word or two in there. 

“There. Littler,” Loki answered. 

“...Oh… okay,” Mobius said, slightly confusedly as he continued to press buttons and played with the toy. 

Loki watched, crawling around the fort, messing with a couple of toys absently: setting them down, and then picking them back up again, watching Mobius, and eventually sneaking in between his arms to watch the puppy toy, as well. 

But Sylvie, leading Thor in appeared mere seconds after the two had gotten comfortable, and both Loki and Mobius peeked out of the fort to watch them as they walked past, only ducking their heads in as the older littles got closer. 

Neither Sylvie nor Thor looked at the two when they came into the fort.

Thor put his knees up to his chest and set his back up against the couch, burying his face into his stuffed animal and closed himself off, while Sylvie more passively did something similar, but in more of a criss-crossed sort of way-- out in the open-- while she picked up the tv remote. “Thor said he’d come back if we watched a movie he wanted to see,” she mumbled. 

But it seemed like she was the only person who actually cared about that.

Loki was very quietly and gently trying to scoot closer to his brother and cheer him up in an awkward reversal of events from that afternoon while Mobius pulled him away very gently, trying to give Thor a little bit of space. 

After turning on the tv, Sylvie looked back at Thor. “What do you want to watch?” she asked. 

Thor shrugged. “I dunno I didn’t think you’d really agree,” he admitted softly and in a voice muffled by his teddy bear. 

“Um…” Sylvie browsed through the catalog, flipping through movies rapidly with her finger continuously pressed on the scroll button. 

Thor watched from behind his bear, with his eyes just up enough to watch the screen. “Wait-wait-wait!” he said suddenly, lifting his head up. 

“Barbie and the Diamond Castle? Really?” 

“No, the one before it!” he said, snapping out of his grudging angry funk, and running up to the flatscreen excitedly to point at the little thumbnail so Sylvie knew exactly what he wanted to watch. 

“Oh, lizards. Very cool,” Sylvie commented.

“They’re dinosaurs, and they’re super cool,” Mobius said around his pacifier, hardly looking up from helping Loki restack the rainbow rings while hugging the puppy close to him. 

Plenty of other toys, mostly baby toys, scattered the fort, and as Sylvie turned on the movie (and Loki helped dim the lights), she reminded the younger littles to turn off the sounds on their toys, taking a moment to flip a couple of the switches herself. 

Although he kept the puppy in his hands, Mobius stopped slapping buttons and stacking toys and sat down to watch the animated creatures on the screen. He set his pacifier into his mouth and watched intently, with a big, silly, grin on his face. 

He looked between the two older littles, and then back at Loki, who still seemed content with his toys, even though he was definitely watching the movie and fairly entranced. 

That’s when Mobius decided to check on Thor, crawling over to him, in front of Sylvie’s view, which resulted in a small kick meant to nudge him out of the way. 

After he eventually made it to Thor, he sat down, puppy still clutched in one hand, and patiently waited for Thor to talk to him first, keeping a little bit of distance. 

“Have you seen this movie before?” Thor eventually whispered. 

“No. Have you?”

“No.”

“But you really like dinosaurs.”

“I like all lizards.”

“They’re closer to birds in real life. You know, most of them were actually feathered.” 

“...Oh. That’s a little less cool; Wouldn’t really want to ride a giant bird…”

Mobius considered that for a moment. “I would.”

For a long while, almost ten minutes, they sat in silence and watched the movie, but eventually, Thor couldn’t stop wondering why Mobius had gotten closer to him of all people. 

“Um… Would you like to be held?” Thor asked awkwardly. 

Sylvie looked over and raised her eyebrow at him. 

Thor shrugged back while Mobius chuckled embarrassedly. 

“No, I’m all good. I just thought you liked dinosaurs, too.”

Sylvie pet his back a little bit and scooted closer to them, before whispering, “you should let him, he’s really good with babies.” 

Thor heard her and smiled before gently lifting Mobius up into his lap, helping the other age dreamer face the screen and wrapping his arms around his midsection. 

After a few minutes of watching them, Sylvie grabbed Loki away from his toys and did something relatively similar, with a couple adjustments due to their awkward size differences.

But instead of babbling on about the movie and pointing at the different plants and animals and animation history, Loki rolled over and wrapped himself around her like a koala. 

“Gods, you’re annoying,” Sylvie mumbled as she pet his hair, moving it out of her face. 

“Can I take him?” Mobius asked. 

“No,” Sylvie scowled, hugging the gangly tot. “He’s my responsibility. I’m the big sister.”

After a long while, Loki made a small mew by her ear, signaling that it was perhaps closer to bedtime than she had thought. 

“Okay, potty break time,” she announced, pausing the movie and moving Loki off her lap.

“Aw!” Thor cried. “I don’t even have to go!” 

“Well I need to make the littler ones bottles. It’s their bedtime and Loki’s getting sleepy.”

“But Mobius isn’t a baby. He’s a big kid like us!” Thor argued.

Mobius paused. “Just in talk… I’d really like a bottle, actually.” 

“I know, that’s why I’m making you one,” Sylvie replied. 

She held both bottles and crawled into the fort, waiting for three tots to join her. 

She waited until Thor got comfortable first and told him to cradle Mobius like he would Loki, which the both of them weren’t too comfortable with at first. 

However, as Sylvie got herself and Loki into place, she began to give Thor directions, and Mobius found himself pressed into a big, comfy tummy. 

Sylvie unpaused the movie once bottles were in mouths. 

Loki scooted up and unlatched from his bottle after a few minutes before tilting his head back to look at Thor and Mobius. He could see Thor pretty well, but most of what he could see of Mobius was the two argyle socks that fidgeted and kicked ever so slightly and a tiny patch of gray hair a bit further away that was a little messier and out of place than usual. Occasionally, there was also a tiny hand that came up to readjust his bottle. 

Thor smiled back at little Loki and leaned in a little bit to tap him on the nose until Sylvie leaned the tot back up and stuck the bottle back into his mouth. 

Mobius watched the tv as he drank, keeping his focus on the movie, sometimes pointing at things he found particularly interesting. 

There was a moment of sleepiness the little experienced as he got down to the final quarter of his bottle, rolling into Thor similarly to Loki and shutting his eyes for a few moments. But the climax of the movie was much closer than he had anticipated, and a loud tyrannosaurus roared onto the screen, to which Thor responded by leaning forward to watch, squishing Mobius a little bit. 

It all happened so quick that Mobius hardly had more than a moment to think about anything, including what he was doing until Thor said it. 

“Ew! Sylvie!” Thor whined, sitting up straight. 

“Hm?” 

“He’s pottied in my lap!” 

“Both him and Loki are babies! Come now, this can’t be the first time one of us has had a bit of an accident while you’re holding us.”

She picked Mobius up, who looked about ready to cry as she spoke, setting him at her side and placing her arm around him while Loki kept himself tethered to her, taking his own bottle so she could have both hands free. “Did he leak?” 

“No,” both Mobius and Thor said in unison. 

Sylvie unsnapped Mobius’ onesie just to double check. “Poor thing, feels like that bottle just ran through you didn’t it?” 

Mobius’ nappy wasn’t leaky,  nor especially heavy. Thor had probably just panicked at the little bit of warmth he could feel through the onesie. 

“M’ really sorry,” Mobius said quietly, still a bit upset and shocked. 

“Hey, no, don’t apologize,” Sylvie admonished him. 

“Yeah, baby no sad,” Loki agreed, wiggling out of Sylvie’s arms to nuzzle against Mobius like a cat before picking him up into his own lap and hugging him.

“Let him breathe, silly bunny, there’ll be enough snuggles at bedtime,” she cooed, pulling them apart and taking Mobius’ bottle from Thor. “Can you hold it yourself?” she asked.

Mobius nodded. 

“That’s good,” she said. She looked over at him after saying that, scrutinizing him a little bit closer to check if he was being honest and to make sure he wasn’t all that hurt by the incident.

The accident had caused him to sort of snap out of headspace, or anywhere even remotely close to it, and it was obvious from the way he was sitting and the fact that he was debating on twisting the cap off his bottle. 

“No, don’t do that,” Sylvie warned him, reading his mind. 

“B- but--” he stammered.

“Alright, okay, I see now,” she sighed, before gently moving Loki’s bum onto the floor, keeping his upper body positioned appropriately, and having Mobius do the same. “It’s just like the first time we did this. It’s okay.” 

Reluctantly, Mobius latched, but halfheartedly, he didn’t really feel like he had much of the stomach for this. This was wrong. Something was wrong. And he knew going into this that something was bound to happen. For the first few hours everything had been so nice, but nothing like that could last, nothing could ever last hadn’t he learned that by now--

Suddenly, the bottle was taken out of his mouth and Mobius looked up to find not only credits rolling, but both Sylvie and Loki staring at him. 

Loki was first to react, “is okay,” he said slowly with genuine concern with his voice, rolling over to place a hand on Mobius’ head. 

“Embarrassment is part of being small sometimes. It’s alright. You’re little, and more than that you're tired.”

Mobius shifted onto his back but shook his head. 

“Yes, you are. Those are those scary sleepy thoughts.”

“No.”

“If you were just a little more regressed you would’ve just had a meltdown.”

Mobius opened his mouth to say something else, but then shut it again knowing she was right. 

“You and Loki just need some changes and then we’ll go to bed.” 

“I don’t want to sleep!” Thor piped up. 

“We’re all going to sleep because it’s Mobius’ fir-- second time being little and him and Loki are just babies.” 

“But it’s my first time and I’m not a baby.” 

“Then don’t! Go grow up and go sleep in your own house.” 

Loki made an effort to get his big brother to stay after that, trying to hug him close so Thor wouldn’t leave, and of course the bigger God couldn’t resist that little face. 

“Okay,” he surrendered. “I’ll stay.” 

After nappy changes, a potty break for the older littles, and some fort redecorating, the four were ready for their bedtimes. 

They made a sort of nest in the center of the living room, with the coffee table set outside for the evening so that everyone could comfortably lie down. Although Thor and Sylvie had originally planned on spreading out and creating an environment like the naptime sessions at daycare, Loki decided that other plans were necessary and that he wanted to sleep in a modified version of their usual configuration, with everyone snuggled together under just a couple of blankets. 

The rest of the group hesitated just a little bit but Loki was confident. He wanted to be right in between Thor and Mobius, nestled in comfortably, and Sylvie very quickly agreed that she’d be a big girl and snuggle up to Mobius. 

It was no fight to get them to get comfortable, but it was a fight for Mobius to let Sylvie read the bedtime story, and to not read it himself. However, he fell asleep with a pacifier in his mouth and the arms of both Sylvie and Loki around him. 

“So…” Sylvie said as she strode up to the kitchen table. 

“Hm?” Mobius asked, looking up from his coffee, already showered and dressed, back in his adult attire.

“How’re you feeling?”

“Sore, if I’m being honest,” he laughed, looking up at her. “How’re you feeling?” 

“Um… Not great.”

“Oh? What’s up?” 

“That… yesterday-- was a lot on me.”

“Yeah, same here.”

“What do you mean ‘same here’?! You got to be tiny and taken care of!”

“I-- I know, but we’ve been over this, it's just… I don’t know.”

“You facilitated it! That’s what Loki said!” 

“I know, I know, I did. It’s just like… fun when it’s just me and maybe a caregiver but it was just so much! And it’s so hard to just let you guys do stuff for me. I don’t fit into that ‘baby’ or ‘toddler’ or ‘big kid’ sort of thing like you or Loki do.” He genuinely sounded upset. 

Sylvie patiently listened, at first standing with her upper body leaning against a chair, but then sitting down and propping up her head in her hands. “It is sort of tough isn’t it?” 

He nodded frustratedly. 

“We’ll work it out, and I’m sure Loki and I will be happy to help you be small whenever you need if you just let us know,” she said, but then she considered her own train of thought which she had originally approached him for. “But um…”

Mobius took another sip of coffee to hide his smile as he predicted what she was going to say. 

“I hadn’t really prepared to be a caregiver yesterday, like mentally… so um…”

“You want some daddy time?” 

“If you’re alright with it.” 

“Yeah, that would be good for me, too actually,” he smiled. 

“… and them?” 

“What about them? They’re sleeping. We’ll be quiet and clean up once they’re up. There’s no big rush today.” 

Sylvie grinned and gave him a hug. 

“Thanks for being there for me,” he told her. 

“Oh, shut up,” she laughed back. Like I wouldn’t.

[lewisbian]

my theory is that lewis likes being babygirlified. Which is why he dresses in baggy clothing that makes him look even more liddle

He likes people doting on him and being put in a breast pocket and carried around

And if that is the case he needs to come HOME to ME his LAWFULLY WEDDED WIFE !