#listen objectively this bit is traumatic and kinda fucked up but like

[the-starry-seas]

Stormbrake: *talking about how the Decepticons treated him*

Ratchet: what the fuck?

Stormbrake: is. is that not normal?

Ratchet: bruh

[thefanficmonster]

Kick Some Ghost Ass

”Until Dawn Gang x Reader (Gender Neutral)

Warnings: Swearing, Sex jokes (excuse my bad humor)

Genre: CRACK, Humor

Summary: It’s one thing when trouble finds this gang, but why don’t we take a look at what happens when they go actively looking for trouble. Needless to say, chaos ensues and no one is spared. Some are more affected than others, and some are dead-ass traumatized, but isn’t that just how life is in general?

Requested by my dearest ever - Until Dawn Anon. Hi lovely! I’ve missed writing your requests and I’m really happy to be back, creating another chaotic fic! I’m sorry it has taken me so long to post it but here it finally is - crazy as ever! I hope you enjoy it! Love you to Blackwood Pines and back baby ❤❤❤

I don’t know how I’ve found myself in this situation but I’m not complaining. If I get to do dumb crazy shenanigans with my crew, I’m ready for just about anything. Not to mention I’m no stranger to ghost hunting. I’m that kid that made DIY Ouija boards and took them to cemeteries with their terrified friends. You should’ve seen us leaving after capturing no ghostly activity - my friends relieved as fuck, and me pissed as fuck.

But today, I’m not expecting nor will I be accepting any disappointment. Especially not with Jess swearing on her Chanel purse that she wasn’t making things up when she said she had a haunted house she wanted us to visit. I must say, I appreciate this group’s enthusiasm when it comes to the paranormal. Never have I had someone who catches my vibe on the subject so well, let alone an entire gang all sharing the same opinion as me - that ghosts, demons and poltergeists are so fucking cool. Sure, Emily took a bit of convincing and Jess is not one to give a shit about the other world creatures invisible to the human eye, but something allegedly happened that changed her mind.

Her a-hundred-and-something-year-old great-grandmother passed away recently and though the death itself didn’t shake Jess up as much as it probably should’ve, the events that followed led to this moment right now - the eleven of us pooling out of two minivans that have pulled up to a terrifying looking house in a wooded are of the suburbs. Jess literally gathered us all on an ‘emergency meeting’ in the courtyard of our college just so she could explain the situation in detail - she doesn’t do well with explaining things in general, let alone when she’s hysterical - so we only understood what she was trying to say when she mentioned the word ‘ghost’. That’s when we all started listening more closely, with the exception of Emily, Beth and Sam but the latter two were intrigued despite trying yo hide it. You can only imagine how excited Josh, Chris and I were, Mike and Matt following a close second behind. Ash was a tiny bit more hesitant but Chris convinced her to give in. And just like that, a week later, here we are.

“I gotta ask, did your great-gran own a VHS player? Or a chest in the attic? Bonus points if there’s a creepy, child-sized doll in there.“ Josh asks as he yanks all the equipment he insisted we bring out of the trunk of the minivan.

“Quit fucking around, Josh! This is serious!“ Jess complains from the spot she’s standing in, shivering in the cold autumn breeze.

“Yeah, Josh! VHS players, creepy dolls, that’s all child’s play.“ I scold him as I pull on my jacket, wrapping it around me more tightly, “Shit gets serious when there’s a secret basement.“

“Y/N!“ Jess shrieks in exasperation. Honesty, how am I supposed to NOT bother her when doing the opposite is so much easier and brings more amusement? “You’re not helping!“

“Wasn’t trying to.“ I wink at her, driving her into a new level of fury that almost leads her to chuck her phone at me. If it weren’t such a prized possession of hers, I’m pretty sure she would’ve chucked it with the intention of knocking me dead. I’m lucky she has the aim of a drunk toddler that spun around fifteen times.

“Hey, quit pissing my girlfriend off, will ya?!“ Mike, who is basically halfway inside the trunk of the other van calls out to us.

I roll my eyes but choose to let it slide. However, someone else doesn’t. Emily does a dramatic turn on her heel, turning to face Mike, or at least the only part of him which is visible. You can imagine how hard it is arguing with an ass like THAT. I don’t know how Emily does it but oh well, I guess I do it too, in a way.

“So it’s girlfriend now, huh? No space between the words?“ Oh that smile she’s flashing him, it could make the Devil himself shiver. I find it kinda hot though - it means shit’s about to go down or hit the fan, either way, the rest of us will be entertained.

Mikey boy straightens up, gracing the rest of us by-standers with his dazzling features. Nah, I’m capping. I honestly think Mike is as attractive as I am patient - very little, almost not at all. It’s surprising how him and Jess are now apparently together since I always pegged her to be the superficial type.

“Got a problem with that, Em?“ He asks, eyebrow raising, head tilting to the side. Oh yeah, it’s on now. But, as someone who’s been quite excited to do some ghost hunting, and also as a representative of the peanut gallery formed of the rest of us who find it amusing and annoying, I feel the need to cut it short before it goes where it shouldn’t. I came to see some exorcist shit, not Keeping Up With The Bitter Exs.

“Jess, I sure hope your grandma is a blood-thirsty ghost cause I can think of at least two people I’d serve to her on a silver platter.“ I snatch the keys the blond has been jingling nervously between her fingers and jog up the stairs to the front door.

Ok I maybe overexaggerated the eeriness of the house. It sure wouldn’t sit right with you if you saw it around sunset or at night, especially not if it’s foggy, but a horror movie house it is most certainly isn’t. It’s pristine and well kept, not a single crack in the walls, the only reason it’s unsettling is because: 1) We’ve all seen a few too many horror movies; 2) There’s been reports of ‘ghostly activity’ - as far as Jess is to be trusted.

While I’m surfing through all the keys, checking each and every single one of them on the door because the real key is unmarked, I can’t help but overhear the conversation going on behind me on the porch.

“Can you believe we got all this in a single day and for a discount on top of all?! Whoever says Craigslist sucks isn’t doing it right.“ Chris’ enthusiasm over the deal him and Josh got on the ghost hunting equipment has been what’s keeping a wide grin on his face this whole time. Though I’m proud of my boys for not getting murdered by the Craigslist seller, I must say I hate that I lost the bet we had - I had to pay them each ten bucks if they didn’t get scammed/kidnapped/murdered and I’m now twenty bucks poorer. I’m not saying I value those twenty bucks more than my friends, though my broke ass needs all the bucks it has and all the dollar bills it could get, but Lord knows I hate losing.

“Yeah, and the guy was only mildly sketchy.“ Josh adds just as excitedly and proudly, “To be honest, Cochise and I were probably the scary looking ones in that parking lot.“

A look over my shoulder shows the twins, Sam, Matt and Ash giving the duo skeptical and somewhat disappointing looks and shakes of their heads. I’ll admit, the equipment is in very good condition and it’s the complete set for ghost-hunting, according to BuzzFeed at least. I’m impressed with the purchase - probably had something to do with how scary Chris and Josh actually look. The all-nighters we’ve all been pulling lately have taken a toll on them worst with the dark circles and bags under their hollow eyes, pale faces and brains turned to mush. I know I’d give them a discount to avoid them pulling out meat cleavers on me.

“That’s all fine and dandy guys, but do you know how to work any of this?“ Sam asks, hesitantly lifting the EMF reader and turning it in her hand, analyzing it with a curious gaze. 

Josh and Chris exchange a look before the former replies, “Just the cameras and voice recorder, the rest falls on them.” He points a finger at me and laughs, “Though they aren’t able to work something as simple as keys, they are more than qualified to be a ghostbuster.”

“You know, Josh, jokes on you, I can work keys! Jess, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be able to work well with organizing things, hence my problem with these keys.“ I hurl the bunch of keys connected my a scarlet keychain at Josh, “Lemme demonstrate my true skills.“ I hop down the flight of stone stairs and approach the pile of equipment the guys have created smack-dab in the middle of the house’s driveway. 

“Oh, I gotta see this!” Mr. Ex-Class-President all but runs over, frowning when we all turn to look at him just as I pick up the spirit box to show off how it works, “Oh that’s what you meant. So you aren’t taking your clothes off?“

Jess and I are alike in one thing - the need we feel to chuck objects at people who piss us off. “You’re girlfriend is, like, right behind you, Munroe. Have some decency!”

“I was gonna enjoy a show as well, but I’m guessing we won’t be getting one.“ The girlfriend in question replies, looking at me quizzically as though that’s gonna convince me into discarding my outfit.

“No, unless you’re a ghost.“ I point the device I’m holding at Mike, “But if your boyfriend here keeps acting up I might turn him into one.“

“That sounds kinda kinky.“ Beth’s comment surprises me. The wink she sends me even more so. “And I kinda like it.“

Ok, ok, ok, hold on. 

Flirting with Munroe is one thing, but Beth is a completely different story. I can be threatening Mike with a knife one moment and cracking sex jokes with him over cold beer the next. While Beth actually has the ability to get me flustered and blushing, and my close relationship with her brother doesn’t help. Mother fucker can just whack me upside the head every time he catches me fussing over my silly crush on his sister.

“Ew, you too! Keep it in your pants or at least get a room.“ Emily doesn’t miss a beat when it comes to being herself. She’s truly a garbage bin full of treasure.

“We’d do the latter if SOMEONE could get the door open.” I glare daggers at Josh who is making hopeless attempts at what I was doing earlier - unlocking that damn door.

“I’d be more than happy to come through for you ladies.“ Mike says, getting in a stance of a runner before a race, his body directly opposite the door.

Oh I can’t wait to see where this is going. I SHOULD RECORD IT.

“Mike, it’s still breaking and entering and it’s still against the law even if the person’s dead.“ Sam points out, entering her mother-like mode, ruining the fun and causing me to pout at her. She gives me a look of disappointment - one worse than I’ve ever seen on my parents - so I just shut my trap before she can also express said disappointment through words and have me feeling guilty for the rest of the day.

A loud crash suddenly echoes causing us to turn our heads to look for the source of the terrifyingly startling sound. One glance is all it takes to put our minds at ease and a second one is enough to provoke different reactions in all of us - the broken window telling the story of where Josh has disappeared.

“What did I just say about breaking and entering?!“ Sam shouts after him while the vast majority of us are cracking up like hyaenas. Jess is just gaping at the broken window next to the front door in disbelief. She obviously can’t decide whether to join in on the fun or serve as back-up to Sam. Josh did technically damage private property that’s partially hers, but if you ask me it serves her right for not marking her keys.

“Sorry, I was too busy breaking the window to hear that part of the conversation!“ Josh’s apologetic smile appears on the other side of glassless frame. I can’t tell if he’s genuinely sorry or holding back laughter but either way, he looks innocent enough for Sam to let him off the hook as long as he doesn’t cause any more trouble - in which case: tough luck. Chris, Josh and I are nothing if not troublemakers, especially when we’re together. Chris tones it down when Ash’s around, and the same goes for Josh with Sam while I’m simply problematic regardless of who’s watching. My chaos is untamable, it’s a blessing and a curse and I love it, even though it’s landed me in hot water more than once. It’s nice to be around people on the same wavelength - chaos resides within this group and not a single one of us can hide it.

“At least we have a way in now.“ Ash offers Josh a helping hand in this argument after she recovers from the overwhelming fit of laughter. “I hope the broken window doesn’t anger your gran, Jess.“

The blond snaps out of her trance briefly, “No, she was a very sweet lady, but damn is Josh creative!” She hurries to correct herself, “Destructively creative.”

I hurry to correct her once again, “Chaotically creative.”

“Guys, do you mind coming in? It’s very creepy standing here alone!“ Josh calls out to us, looking over his shoulder at the interior of the house, “I’m expecting to be snatched and dragged to that secret basement we mentioned.“

“Mention it one more time and I swear to God-!“ Jess screams, fists tightened.

Before her angry wrath could crash atop us, we all make our way into the house through the broken window, carefully avoiding the shards of glass strewn about. One step inside and we’re met with the upmost of horror clichés - a drop in temperature. We’re all wearing thick hoodies because the weather outside is chilly in and of itself, but said hoodies aren’t as efficient at holding the house’s cold at bay and away from out skin.

Chris and Matt make their way in last, carrying the equipment consisting of three cameras, flashlights for everyone, an EMF reader, a spirit voice box, a voice recorder and a motion detector. I help them hand a light to each group member as well as a ghost-hunting device before we venture onward.

“If I were your grandma’s ghost, I’d be ten times more pissed about that window. It looks to me like that lady payed a lot of attention to keeping things in order.“ Matt comments while he examines the expensive looking painting hanging in the hallway.

I hear Emily scoff, “Unlike some.” but the remark is said so quickly and quietly I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who heard it.

Jess laughs, “She did like things in order, but she was never as strict as you might think. As I said, she was very sweet.“

“So do you just not take after her at all or were you adopted?“ Emily’s remarks are no longer a mumbled jumble of words, “No, nevermind, of course you’re not adopted. Your parents are smart people, they wouldn’t have chosen you if they had the chance.“

Jess laughs again, much more menacingly this time, causing me to exchange a look with Hannah who’s walking beside me. “Twenty bucks says one of them isn’t making it out of here.” It’s just a matter of time, to be honest. If not the lodge, or any party we’ve ever attended as a group, this haunted house is the perfect opportunity for a murder. We could even argue it was a ghost.

Luckily, the two cats clawing at each other’s throats don’t overhear, “No, my parents aren’t stupid, but your boyfriend clearly is. He chooses to date you! Or are you holding him captive or something.“

Ok that’s enough. I can tolerate a lot of things, but people calling one of my best friends stupid is not something I’m about to put up with, “How dare you call one of my hoes stupid?” I sneer at Jess, eyes narrowing.

“I thought I was your hoe too!“ She fights back, looking almost offended.

“Even more reason you shouldn’t have called him that! I don’t tolerate my hoes not respecting each other.“ 

I don’t get to see where this argument goes because Ashley’s shriek echoes throughout the hallway, stealing mine as well as the attention of everyone else. 

“There’s a ghost in here!“ Making it to the doorway of the room she’s in first, I peak my head inside and see the EMF reader she’s holding going nuts as if it’s detected something.

“Don’t worry, Ash, there’s a dead cactus here. That’s not the ghost we’re looking for, is it?“ Chris, my amazingly bright friend says, quirking an eyebrow suggesting that remark was nothing short of dead-ass serious.

“Chris, darling, that’s not how it works. Cactuses are plants.“ I point out as sweetly as I can as to mask my laughter.

“Don’t the same ghostly rules apply?“ The genuine look of confusion he gives me almost makes me lose it.

“Ok children, leave the room, we need to set up a motion detector to be sure.“ Beth says with a tone that suggests she’s more than over our insanity. Jeez, count on her and Sam to start parenting us through our chaos. They are of high authority, must admit - one genuinely feels bad if they don’t comply to whatever these two girls demand.

We all pile out in the hallway while the twins set up this interesting motion detector with green dots. I don’t know what Jess’ granny looked like, but I bet that even the most unattractive of people would look hella good with this lighting. Thankfully the room is dark enough with the shutters closed and the curtains drawn, allowing the dots to be perfectly visible.

We stare at the minimalistic room littered with fluorescent green dots on every surface for maybe a minute or two but not much happens to the disappointment to some and relief to others. However, as if not wanting to let us down, the ghost makes a shy appearance if the shift of the green dots is anything to go by.

“Oh shit, is that a ghost?“ Chris whispers, sounding as amazed as I feel in this moment.

“It better be.“ I mutter in response, refusing to blink and risk missing anything important.

The sudden presence of the obnoxious noise of the spirit voice box makes us all jump. As I turn my head to glare at whoever’s using it, Josh speaks up. “Are you an attractive ghost?”

“Josh, that’s my great-grandmother, you ass!“ Jess barks with disgust in her voice.

In the meantime, I catch glimpse of Mike rolling up his sleeves. Oh shit, this ain’t good.

“I’ve been waiting for this!“ He shouts victoriously, cracking his knuckles.

Knowing this won’t end well, the first thing I do is snatch the camera from Chris’ hands and turn it on.

“Um, Mike, what do you mean?“ Sam’s back to being concerned, turning to the rest of us when Mike doesn’t give her a response, “What’s he gonna do?“

“Fight it.“ I answer as though it’s the most normal thing to ever have been done, “Or, ash he calls it - kick some ghost ass.“

“A freaking ghost?! He’s gonna try to tussle with something he can’t see?“ I can’t tell if Matt’s tone is disbelief, amusement or disappointment, but I believe he isn’t about to try and stop or dear ex-president in his pursuit and that’s all that matters. I ain’t about to let someone stop whatever’s about to go down from going down.

“That’s still my great-grandmother, you dumbass!“ Jess shrieks with something alike terror.

“Don’t worry Jess, I’m sure she’ll go easy on him.“ I say in an attempt to reassure her but I can’t even be bothered really, I’m too laser-focused on the circus that’s about to take place in front of me.

Mike, as if encouraged by my words, charges into the room. Much to his dismay, before he could even reach the ghost, he’s met with a much more vigorous enemy - the carpet. The rascal trips him up and Mr. Munroe falls flat on his face.

The group stays silent, looking at the glorious aftermath of the glorious fall. Told ya these lights could make everything fabulous. Must say, it’s truly an honor for me to have been able to catch all that on tape.

“10/10, would ghost-hunt with Mikey Munroe again.“

[calpalsworld]

Not "autistic anon," but also autistic, (being called maybe ableist made me want to put this out there before go to bed) i thought Zane was depicted that way purposefully by the writers. He has stereotypical traits like taking things literally, and has an actual humor switch. The writers have done things with Zane before like have him lose bodily autonomy (during that one Wu's teas short) and did something with his voice be it making him unable to be understood or talking too loud and the forced pirate voice by Jay. (what you're doing isn't too different from that, right?) I thought it was just a little iffy to distort his body and memory bc that could be interpreted as something not that I'm sure what exactly, it's some kind of disability. I dunno. I'm not good with putting this to words. I hope this makes sense.

Sorry I went to bed but now I’m awake 😭

Also I ended up totally spilling all my thoughts here rather than only specifically replying to you please forgive me context: my scary zane concept design, & my ninjago rewrite i refer to a lot 

Im a little confused but I think I get what you're saying? You're saying the Ninjago writers absolutely DON'T write Zane well (you listed examples of this) and you don't want me to fall into the same trap?

I had the opposite logic earlier. I thought: If Ninjago writers made Zane have stereotypical autisitic traits while also being a dehumanized robot, I may as well embrace it, say he is autistic blatantly, while also making him do funny/cool non-human robot things, so its clear as possible the two aspects of his character are literal and separate and not a metaphor for each other. But you're right! I do have a choice and I dont have to embrace things! :)

Like there were a couple ways I was gonna reject the original, for example, I never wanted Zane to have a funny switch, and I hated how other characters could fuck with Zane and he didn't even care 😬. I want to change that stuff. So youre right, if I am changing shit like that, it would be counterproductive for ME to GIVE him MORE traits along that theme. 😬😬😬 I should try to feel less obligated to portray Zane like he originally is. I still like the concept of "scary zane" (for reasons i explain below the cut) but I might tone it down a bit like with the claws and weird proportions and shit. I’d def make him look more skeletal and undead. That was my original intention, but i didnt execute it as good as I could have.... idk if anyone could tell thats what he was supposed to be like...my bad! But rn I dont wanna redesign him I wanna draw other stuff like normal alive Zane. Sorry LMAO 😳. Like I said in some earlier asks I think, I think Im gonna focus rn on how I should portray season 1 normal not dead Zane so thank you and feel free to share any other Zane thoughts ^_^ SOME OTHER THOUGHTS:

Also I Wanna Argue Some Stuff But I Understand its a Weak Argument Since All of This Context was Just In My Brain (so don't take this as an argument, just as me rambling): I don't want messed up things to happen to Zane and for it to just be ignored. I think if Zane is going to have fucked up things happen to him, as all characters must, its best for it to happen during a season where he actually addresses his feelings about being a robot (learning to accept that he will always be himself, regardless if hes "human" or the "original" or whatever. (thats how I always interpreted his emotions)). But I wouldn't have the other Ninja be very phased by Zane's looks because the whole point is they already love who he is (seasons 1-3 were about getting to know Zane) and now Zane himself just has to learn the physical, robot part of him is okay. Its about person-hood rather than humanity. Because the season focuses around Zane's soul, and because he lost his original body, I feel like I could mess around with his current, temporary body and have fun and make it scary. Because that body should be irrelevant. I understand it possibly being upsetting for an autistic character to be designed like this, but other people I talked to see it the opposite way. They find it comforting for him to look so different but still be himself and be so loved. SO IM ABSOLUTELY NOT saying its wrong to be bothered or to hate it or to feel any way. Just that I personally think it would be cool for Zane to be portrayed with a little spice lol, so thats why I like scary Zane for season 4.

Another Thing I Wannna Say But Is REALLY Hypocritical: (this isnt directed at anyone I just REALLY want to say this) I know I say "this is Zane but scary, he looks like fnaf" so he's obviously dehumanized, but I always felt like "scary" is more of an objective fact. Its an instinct. But what's "not human" is subjective. I think there is a problem with saying anything different from "average" human is dehumanized because that could extend to real people. Lol I know its bad for me to compare FNAF-ass Zane to real people, but I mean he could be real. People can have exposed teeth, and people can be shaped weird. And when someone first sees a person who looks like that they'll probably think "woah those features are scary" by instinct. And that surprise doesn't make someone ableist obviously. But bring that person’s humanity into question is NOT an instinct, and is fucked to shit. This is kinda a bad point for me to make since its about the fictional FNAF Zane I drew, and I am NOT implying ANYONE was thinking like this. [especially not the original asker anon who I am totally forgetting about at this point OOPS]. But I just thought it was an opinion of mine I couldn't go without mentioning when talking about dehumanization and disabilities.

^^^ I think you (anon) understand what I mean and might’ve said the exact same thing as me if you were writing a long ass response? I think this because you started to bring physical disabilities up and you said it was "a little iffy." ^_^ So we agree, but I don't see Zane's relation to real life disabilities as "a little iffy" I see it more like "complicated"? IF THAT DIFFERENCE EVEN MAKES ANY SENSE?????? I feel like a lot of things about Zane are really just complicated and need the right context, rather than the concepts necessarily being wrong -- NOW THAT I THINK ABOUT IT! THATS THE WHOLE REASON I DO THIS STUPID REWRITE! XD thats why a lot of my rewrite SO FAR has been the same concepts and plot beats, but different dialogue n specifics and such. I like a lot of concepts in Ninjago but I dont think they were presented correctly.....! :( So I guess all we can do is wait and see if I make Zane offensive or not....???

Also something about the memory part - yeah i agree i was surprised no one thought that was weird to make jokes out of his memory issues..... BUT I am like 100% firm on making his memory take longer to come back because I think its stupid how quick Zane was able to recover from literally dying. Like its just dumb to me. Hate it. (also bc memory & soul mechanics is ummm kinda important in my rewrite.... for reasons). Another memory thing btw, I was going to make his original amnesia come from hitting his head in an attack against the Skulkin when they stole his dads corpse, rather than his dad fucking choosing to make him forget. (its a sweet & iconic scene, but Um, WHY?!!!?!?!?!?) He has to follow data recovery instructions he finds in his dads diary. I think in that context it makes moments of memory loss somewhat different for Zane's character? Instead of loss of autonomy associated with disability, its a literal violent loss of autonomy associated with being traumatized by physical force. Idk how to phrase it exactly but I think that makes some vibes different?

Sorry, I think I got really distracted, and I don't know if I responded well to your points. Because uhhhh I think I agree with your stance actually? If I understand correctly? Fuck Ninjago writers for making the robot lose autonomy (a stereotypical robot theme) while also making him seem clearly autistic (NOT A HAPPY THEME FOR AUTISTIC PEOPLE) and not addressing it. And also auuugh Zane with a weird body is a difficult topic - kinda sussy pretty iffy.

Lol anyway idk if this made any sense and I REALLY rambled on you. but this was nice 👉👈 more Zane criticism pls love you and i love zane. i hope u dont feel mad at me because then it would be weird that im saying that lol. if you do feel mad at me tho you can send another ask (ILL TRY TO JUST LISTEN NOT RAMBLE NEXT TIME) but assuming ur chill rn, love you thnx

Take this page, don’t mind cole’s ass.

[songofwizardry]

critical role thoughts time again! damn this arc just keeps on giving us episodes like this huh. spoilers for c2e129 under the cut.

first off AAAAAAAAAHHHHH

shout out to liam for accurately summarising how I felt at the end of the episode: I went in thinking "thank fuck, they got away, they just gotta lie low and get some sleep it'll all be FINE" oops nope never mind

before I get into the actual story and my overload of screaming and emotions about it, more to remind myself than anything else: this stuff is all what *makes* good stories. not-the-most-clever character decisions. fraught moments. having to choose between two really shitty options. tension in extremely unsafe places (and lbr, both the happy fun ball and the fucking plane of fire are objectively v unsafe places! the tension and the fact that neither of those places were safe makes sense!). conflict and guilt and character death. all good story material. soooo yeah these have been very intense episodes, but fuck, these make for some good stories!

first off: the happy fun ball! I always forget how much I loved the episodes we spent in there, it's such an interesting (& terrifying & promising) place

I absolutely LOVED the fact that Yasha could break the door down but it resulted in untethering the rooms from each other. what a brilliant way to keep them moving but also having there be consequences.

the entire imagery of the void and the hallway falling away was so good

... the mighty nein's motto really could be "curiosity before caution", couldn't it. these fuckers, I love them for it

can't believe I was so stressed about the golem I was not prepared for what came next!

team fireplane time!

I was paying lots of attention to Liam's descriptions of Caleb and how he's behaving this episode and look ok he's very good at playing the aftermath of all that traumatic shit with Trent and Vergesson &... my heart ok.

side note: this is more re last episode, but it means a lot to me that Caleb was able to... like, stand his ground and tell Trent to fuck off repeatedly when Trent kept insisting he "just wants to talk", and that the M9 refused to let him go back to Trent, like, that is one abusive and manipulative and extremely honey-tongued man and I did see stuff in twitch chat being like "oh if Caleb had just spoken to Trent this wouldn't have happened" which... nope, it means so much to me that they have settled on "nope fuck this asshole"

Veth's high rolls are so wild I love them, rogues y'all

Matt honestly fucking KILLED it this episode, this really felt like the episode for the families to shine, and Marion, Yeza and Luc all have such strong characters and Matt plays them SO well! I loved every second of it. also I will never not be impressed at Matt managing social situations with multiple npcs.

Luc and Caduceus talking about farts is the adorablest thing, new favourite dynamic

oh boy that combat huh. wow. wtf.

love that Luc tried to shoot the elemental this kid

we're just not gonna talk about everyone's faces when Matt rolled damage for the explosion thing that hit the families, bc I cannot Handle that. it's fine it's all fine

okay but fate just DOES NOT work normally around this game, how tf do you explain those two successive nat 20s from Veth, that was incredible and just. narratively perfect. I loved it I was full on crying at this point.

Cad's hdywtdt was very good

speaking of Cad! this is the first time in a while we've had a revivify! Cad's whole prayer was lovely, and I do like the detail of bugs and moss covering Luc. but mostly I loved the detail of Yeza going up to him and thanking him

the quiet, calm, determination of Yeza Brenatto saying make them pay will stick in my head for a long long time

the sigh of relief I let out when the dome finally went up. my god.

hey hey caleb asked Jester to help him with the collar and it fucking worked, finally, after all these attempts on like the longest of long days when they're all fucking tapped. I was not expecting that! a win!! and he explicitly told her it was for Trent!

look it just. watching Caleb's reaction to Trent coming close to his new family makes me feel things, okay, and the poetic justice of Trent whose manipulative words are as much of a weapon as his magic getting a silencing collar is. pretty fucking delicious.

a lot of the fanfic on the last week has had bits of interaction between Marion and Caleb and I am delighted to see that in canon too!!!

Marion: "if there's one thing I've come to know, it's that the good people are easy to be mislead to think they're at fault for the things the bad people use to victimise them... if they convince us that they're responsible for everything that comes upon us, then they're absolved." man, matt is NOT fucking around

I think these conversations (both Yeza and Marion's) are so important bc after an encounter that harrowing the like... reminder of what you're doing it for, both for the characters AND for the players as like an "it's ok" from the DM is reassuring and needed yknow?

anyway I love Marion so much, her character is just. so excellent, and I love how both her sex work and her agoraphobia are respectfully handled and it's never implied that she's less of a mother for them; and getting a reminder of hey this is a wise and caring and insightful woman who's seen a lot of stuff and hearing her words was just really nice! would like a calm episode where we just get to spend time with her soon pls

loved Liam explicitly saying that Caleb bites his tongue and tries to listen, look how far my boy has come

and Yeza!!! Yeza!!! I cannot have many coherent thoughts about that conversation but I loved how he went full on, this is the firmest I remember him being, saying, "you cannot shoulder the blame for this on your own"

ugh look I love Veth and Yeza's relationship, I love that there is this conflict in their story that doesn't have anything to do with how much or whether they love each other, and I absolutely loved the reminder that Yeza – for all that he is a gentle stay-at-home dad – did get himself mixed up in the assembly business and that Veth dove into the Dynasty to come looking for him. and yeah the image of them cuddling in the dome and talking about the uncertainty of the future and about guilt and blame and the potential end of the world, and still ending with "I love you" is gonna stick in my heart for a while

to zadash!!!

hey at least Jester remembered to send a message. it is entirely ridiculous and kinda adorable that the Gentleman is cleaning up the place for Marion.

okay I think that's all I got, I feel like this is even more rambly than usual. looking forward to some calm?? quiet?? no using up all our spell slots? next episode! also the parent trap

I'm going to sleep now. man this show.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #454

“last thing i remember, i was running for the door  /  i had to find the passage back to the place i was before”

Last thing you bought online? Did you like it? I have no clue. Could you date someone who didn’t drive (and didn’t show an interest in ever getting their license, either)? I don't know. Public transportation isn't a big thing here at all, and even whenever I get my license, my partner needing to get somewhere while I'm needed elsewhere could be problematic. I think it would also depend on why they don't want their license. Like if they had a traumatic wreck, I couldn't blame them. How would you react if your artwork became famous? That'd be fucking amazing. Would you get your nipples pierced? I've briefly considered it. I ultimately wouldn't, though. How many people know your birthday? Without the assistance of Facebook, a few, I guess. My immediate family, Sara, uhhhh... Has anyone ever tried to ruin a relationship you were in? Yes, and it worked. For the better, though. He had a bad reputation. Have you ever watched a whole hour long infomercial? Ha, yes, this one time with Girt. It was a vacuum infomercial. We were just really bored at my place and... okay, I have no justification for watching that whole thing lmao. What is your current MySpace song? I still remember it was "Pocketful of Sunshine" by Natasha Beddingfield lmaooo. What is your favorite kind of meat to put on your sandwich? Ham. Which one of your exes do you feel like you have the most chemistry with? Sara or Jason, idk. How do you feel about people who make Facebook profiles for their pets? I don't care. Have you ever personally known a pair of conjoined twins? No. What was the most disturbing thing you have ever heard your mother say? Mom and my older sister got in a fight once and Mom yelled that she was a slut. I don't know why, but... it never left me, and I GUARANTEE it never left Ashley (who is not a "slut," by the way). This was when she was a teenager, so it's been many years and I can absolutely promise you Mom regrets it, big time. I don't even have to ask. Is there something in particular you like to look at photos of? What is it? Mark and meerkats, ha ha. Chewy chocolate-chip cookies: like or dislike? Chewy is the way to GO. If your boyfriend/girlfriend wanted to dress only in the opposite sex’s clothing, would you support that? If not, would you leave them? I wouldn't care. I'm pansexual, anyway. Anyone can be attractive to either gender's clothes to me. I think assigning clothes to a specific gender is dumb, anyway. Do you think your grandmother is/was beautiful? I only remember how my maternal grandmother looked, and yeah, she was a pretty lady. Which of your fields of interest are you a total expert on? Mark, ha ha. I know way too much on a person I've never met. When was the last time you got all dolled up? Not since last October when I did a witchy Halloween shoot with friends. Do you ever name objects? (i.e. mp3 players, guitars, cars, etc.) No. Do you have a criminal record? No. Last person you took a nap with? Sara, years ago. Well, unless you count my cat. He always comes running when he hears me getting comfy in bed, ha ha. Does seeing your mother cry automatically make you feel sad as well? Yes, and angry because I want to stop whatever it is making her cry, but I usually can't. Do you think someone likes the same person you like? I have no idea. Do you want your life to stay the way it is right now forever? God no. Have you ever been to craigslist.com? Yes; I've adopted and rehomed pets from there. What about eBay? Mom's bought stuff from there. Have you ever used Nair? Yes, on my legs. It's just as exhausting as shaving with how thick my hair is. Are you medicated? I think I'm on too much medication, personally. I want to try weaning off my OCD prescription, because I haven't had problems in a long time, but my psychiatrist doesn't want to? Which is odd to me because when I came to him, he was stunned by how many different meds I was on. He's concerned that the symptoms will just re-emerge, but like... I've beaten OCD before, for many years. I can do it again. I trust him with my life though, because he saved it, so I just go with what he says, honestly. Do you shape/fill in your eyebrows? No. Have you ever stolen/borrowed clothes from an ex? I've worn Jason's pajama pants before because I found men's pj pants more comfortable, and besides, sometimes I spent the night when I didn't plan to and needed something more comfortable than jeans. Could you make a statement about anything political? Texas' new "heartbeat bill" is fucking bullshit and is going to get so many women killed from DIY abortions. Do you think you’ve already met your soulmate? I don't believe in soulmates, but I do believe I met the person I loved more than I could ever possibly love somebody else again. Do you get the feeling something good will happen in your life soon? Fuck if I know. Do you enjoy romantic movies, even when they’re cliche? Yes. Have you been to McDonald’s in the past month? Yes. Have you ever slept over at your best friend’s house? I have. How often do you go bowling? Very, very rarely. I haven't been since I was on a date at the end of 2017, I wanna say??? Or was it '18??? Last time you were in an apartment? Not since Colleen still lived in one and I was visiting her. Have you ever seen a live seahorse? Yeah, in aquariums. Would you like to have your own yacht? I mean I wouldn't say no if you offered it to me for free, but I'm not exactly interested in one. I'd probably just give it to my dad. He'd be on Cloud 9. Winnie the Pooh or Tigger? Pooh! :^) What’s the unhealthiest thing you’ve eaten today? A brownie with caramel drizzle. Mom bought a box of them to split between Ash and her family and us, so I had one. :x Thankfully though she gave more to Ash, because I don't like having treats in the house for my weight's sake, but a little something sweet occasionally keeps you sane when you're trying to lose weight. Has a stranger ever offered to buy you a drink? Ew, no. What is something you’d be happy to receive as a gift, that doesn’t cost a lot? I'd really appreciate something hand-made, like a drawing or something. What kind of music does your significant other/crush like to listen to? He likes mostly the same stuff as me, but also more indie-ish stuff than me. Who did you have your first kiss with? Do you remember what colour his/her eyes were? Jason. His eyes are brown. Are there any themes from TV shows that you like to sing along to? Supernatural. It's inevitable that I'll sing, ha ha. Do you eat dessert after dinner? Very, very rarely. Have you ever had too much to drink and felt embarrassed about your behavior the next day? No. When you go out drinking, what do you prefer to drink? I don't go out drinking, but if I was to order a drink right now, I'd go for a sangria. That sounds soooo good rn. What was the last animal that you saw? My cat. Venus is in her hide as I'm answering this, so I can't see her. What was the last thing that you said to one of your siblings? I told Nicole bye when she was leaving the other day. What is the most expensive thing that you’ve purchased that you paid for: My snake. What is your favorite messaging program? Discord, nowadays. Do you eat fast food more than 5 times a week? Yikes, no. Have you ever almost drowned? No. Have you ever learned something shocking about someone through Facebook? It wasn't shocking in a bad way, just very unexpected. One of my friends has been an egg donor twice, I wanna say? What’s the scariest living animal that you’ve petted? I have no clue. Nothing that dangerous. Well wait, I shared the story of holding a tarantula before, and I was still kinda nervous to do so when I did. She was a total sweetie, though. Do you remember the first conversation you ever had with the person you currently have feelings for? I actually don't. Other than he got my attention with "lip ring girl," lmao. Do you dread certain days of the week? If yes, what day/s and why? No, because they're all the same to me. If you eat oatmeal, do you have it plain or do you have certain toppings that you like to add to it? I add a bit of sugar. What is the funniest or strangest thing you’ve ever heard somebody say in their sleep? *shrug* Choose one - Butterfinger, Milky Way, Snickers: Milky Way, 100%. Do you use Mozilla Firefox? No, I use Chrome. Who is your favorite person to hug? Sara. Have you ever had to have a mug shot? No. What was the last thing you carried to your room? Water. When was the last time you had a late night phone call? Damn dude, I couldn't possibly tell ya.

[bthump]

If you could rewrite Berserk (or maybe parts of it), what would you change? I love the way you interpret this story. The way you interpret this work, makes it so much more powerful, than how some other side of the fandom understand it.

thank you so much, i’m glad my interpretations resonate with you!

tbh my ideal version of Berserk is basically a much shorter story that begins with the Black Swordsman arc and ends on this shot:

more specifically I’d open on a similar panel of Guts fighting ghosts, seen far above, and alone. I’d include a version of the Lost Children arc in the Black Swordsman arc after chapter 2, between Snake Baron and Count Slug, also introducing Skull Knight. I’d make some kind of pointed visual comparison between Skull Knight and Vargas, illustrating that they’re both similarly consumed by revenge and cautionary tales for Guts.

This version of Lost Children is even sadder and more depressing - Jill and Rosine’s friendship is highlighted as positive, the scene where they fly together is beautiful and uplifting, and it’s suggested that if Jill did stay with Rosine her influence could remake the creepy Land of the Elves into less of a horror show and more of an actual place of refuge sans monster transformations. Yk, Rosine is open to Jill’s suggestions basically.

Guts still has his humanizing moments with Jill but he’s shown at his most monstrous too when he kills Rosine. Jill returning to her abusive home isn’t uplifting or hopeful, it’s tragic. Guts’ “this is your paradise” bit isn’t an objective statement, it’s a sign of Guts’ depressed cynicism and increasingly monstrous mindset. Oh and despite the Land of Elves being fucked up (in my version it would at least be sliiiiightly less fucked up), Guts destroying it would have some thematic echoes in the destruction of the Hawks. Maybe the raid we see on the Hawks after they’re declared traitors involves a lot more fire and forest burning down. Maybe some of the elf monster kids try to save each other and one of them gets Guts with a thrown knife lol a la Judeau protecting Casca. Idk, something.

Also the Peekaf story is cut, as is Rosine’s tragic flight home, as emotional as it was in the manga. She dies with Jill here. I’m kinda downplaying the dreams as escapes theme wrt Jill’s flight with Rosine and the land of the elves because I don’t think it works in this arc due to, yk, the alternative being abusive homes.

Afterwards ghosts still taunt Guts about becoming like Femto, but without the “your friend” description bc that gives too much away. Skull Knight picks up Rosine’s behelit and has his suggestive “hm this could be Guts eventually” internal monologue even though Guts doesn’t have a behelit yet.

Count Slug arc is essentially the same. I would turn the fetus into some kind of pathetic looking misshapen dog demon (like the Beast of Darkness but in much less cool form, bc that’s essentially what the fetus was before Miura overwrote it) who follows Guts around and reminds him of what he’s in danger of becoming. Guts picking up Slug’s behelit is the last shot before the Golden Age begins.

Theresia is a more angry version of Jill, and they’re both examples of Black Swordsman Guts ruining lives wherever he goes, along with the zombie girl in chapter 2 - it’s all variations on a theme of Guts sort of creating mini versions of himself bc of his traumatized lashing out. Zombie kid is most metaphorical in becoming a monster after listening to Guts’ cynical take on dying by the sword; Jill goes back to her abusive Gambino-esque father when her potential escape, Rosine, is killed; Theresia swears vengeance when Guts kills her father who couldn’t sacrifice her to save himself.

(this mini me thing would parallel Slug and Rosine’s abilities to create their own monsters, btw. Cycle of violence kinda thing.)

Everything else follows the manga up until Guts and Casca start getting romancey. I’d cut that out completely. They can have a burgeoning friendship but there’s no romantic undertones and no sex and no meddling Judeau etc. Casca still fights Guts and stabs him and yells at him about Griff but there’s no sucide attempt. She still confesses to her crush on Griffith because it’s a good griffguts parallel, but definitely doesn’t say she was lying to Guts and herself when she said she wanted to be Griffith’s sword. But I do want that “Griffith’s not a god... and I am a woman” line in there because it’s such a good parallel.

Guts monologues about his newfound dream to Godo in a flashback during the Wyald fight instead, then does the waterfall log thing and breaks several bones, then gets told off by Erika who points out he just wants to fight Zodd again. I’d maybe move some of Godo’s lines about Guts metaphorically being a nicked sword to here too. Also show the dragonslayer leaning up against a wall lol.

Guts still tells Casca at some point that he fully intends to leave again. Maybe during the rescue mission. Because yk we still need that moment where Griffith overhears someone telling Guts to leave.

Finally the last change is that Casca dies with Judeau, Guts manages to survive until Femto wakes up, they have a moment staring each other down, there’s a clear parallel to a moment of Guts’ childhood - I’m thinkin Guts asks “Why?” and there’s a shot of Femto, shadowed so we only see one eye, a la:

Apostles begin to descend on Guts chanting shit like ‘sacrifice’ and ‘ours,’ (comparison to bb!Guts facing down the wolves btw, Guts is resigned) and then Skull Knight appears and rescues him and we get that last shot of Femto.

The End.

The implication is that Guts and Griffith are alone and monstrous without each other, violence begets violence, relationships are a positive contrast to that but they keep fucking those up, etc. There would still be a slight ray of hope though in comparisons to Jill/Rosine and Slug’s inability to sacrifice Theresia, and Femto lowering his hand, showing that, yk, even monsters have potential. It would be a very thin ray though bc Guts killed those monsters lol so the implication would still be that Guts is kind of doomed to roam the world alone with his sword like Skull Knight or Zodd.

Also... I’d fuck around with the world building and astral plane stuff because Guts and Femto being metaphysically separated doesn’t work for this. I want that thin ray of hope even if it necessarily comes to nothing lol, if only because if I was alternate universe Miura I’d want people to write Femto/apostle Guts fanfic. So no mention that the Godhand can only appear when someone uses a behelit, maybe even imply somehow that Femto could show himself to Guts at any time, he’s just snubbing him.

Anyway yeah, ty for asking.

also if you’re interested I once wrote a very long and involved post here about what I’d change if I had free range to adapt Berserk if you want a longer answer with more details that follows the actual story much more closely (including a less involved take on my answer here lol).

[i-am-vpelno]

Review of Love Never Dies (aka Phantom of the Opera 2):

I’m no theatre expert so I assume the reason it takes a while to start is so people can get to their seats but yeah it takes a minute to actually start the show. First song is one of my favorite though the giant ass picture of Christine is awkward.

I’m sorry but I hate the clowns in this entire thing it’s just too much and I don’t like their songs. Aside from the main three, who are tolerable and kinda have unique characters. Costumes and sets are beautiful. The sets are quite sparse however, I think a few more walls and little pieces of furniture could’ve added to everything.

The previous performance explains that they are now in Coney Island America instead of Paris and explains some of the acts. This makes it weird for Meg’s performance to also explain the performance rather than show off a unique song. At the same time, I still like this performance because it shows how non-special she is. Also I’m going to assume the lethargic dancing was a purposeful decision to show that Meg just isn’t that good. I really like the actress’s voice and acting tho.

I love love love the introduction to the new De Chagny family and how they’re not used to this American brashness that the actors play up. Raoul has a complete character shift that, while its an amazing performance, I don’t understand it compared to the ‘Charming Prince’ he was in Phantom. I like Christine’s comforting song to Gustav but I feel like it was just put in to enforce the “LOOK, LOOK HOW MUCH I LOVE MY SON” thing. Also, if the events of Phantom were so traumatic that Raoul can’t stand music and Christine gets PTSD flashbacks from that familiar tune, I’d just leave. 1 point to Raoul for recognizing that this isn’t a great situation.

Fucking, best song goes to Beneath A Moonless Sky. Like, I feel that, I believe that, I’m in that tension like UGH THE CHEMISTRY!!!!! Like if Lloyd put in a weird on stage no nudity sex scene I’d be there for it honestly. THE WAY ERIC GRIPS HIS THIGHS AND THEN SHE CARESSES HIS HEAD I BELIEVE THEY SEXED. Like she even stares at his lips as he gets closer and they just get closer as they specifically recount the sexing. It’s just UGH it’s all there, the song, the body language, the emotion in their voices. Seriously though this is super believable and I even imagined this happening before I saw this but, and this can be said for the entire show, it’s just stuff shoed in for a second story.

Once Upon Another Time is weird and shouldn’t be there because Christine is obviously done with the Phantom so it’s weird that she sings a whole diddy about love and stuff. The only part I like is that when she drops the “no choice” bit the Phantom seems to realize she’s not happy with Raoul, or so I assume. Then Phantom starts being psycho again and Christine is like 👁👄👁 shock. Like you knew he been bad wtf you on Christine???

I like the reprisals, though I feel they’re too squished together, they’re put in places where it’s like “uh oh, the phantom’s acting up again, remember this tune?” Or to exacerbate the mood. Also something I forgot to mention, this time around the Phantom has object inventions such as a self driving carriage and ?electric? Toys to show he’s improved as an engineer/inventor.

I also fucking love the reunion between the Madame, Meg, Christine and Raoul. Though Raoul and Madame aren’t old friends?? But the spicy tension here is amazing for interactions not with the Phantom! Again though, the Phantom is a criminal and Raoul is a “famous” viscount. The move should be grab your wife and kid then go to the police. Also, I have started shipping Meg/Raoul lol.

Remember the creepy kids from Nightmare Before Christmas? Yeah, that’s the three clowns...making the Phantom Oogey Boogy lol. Okay, I specifically hate singing children, I always have but have not specific reason. “He plays like me 😲” I hate the way he says this JFC along with “I want to know what you think 😯” But the “10 Years OLD😫” is amazing tbh.

THE BEAUTY UNDERNEATH SUCKS ITS A MAURY STYLE QUESTIONNAIRE PUT IN A SONG DAMN IT!!!! It’s just an excuse to be weird!! Also is this glorifying freak shows or something? Something about how the “not so bad” guy is associated with the “freaks” makes me feel some type of way that I can’t define. It’s a weird translation but the Phantom’s face is supposed to be so horrible he looks like a corpse so I didn’t get why the kid was scared of Ben Lewis but I forget that he’s not supposed to be that hot lmao, also PHANTOM CRY LIKE A BITCH, *comforting head grab*. Christine out here being a dumbass, HE TOLD YOU TO LEAVE seriously just go! But no Christine has to let his music be heard.

Okay I like that Madame Gerie is getting more stuff to do but I don’t get how “everything” will go to Gustav. Didnt she hear that they leaving? I don’t get it.

OKAY okay I’m dying laughing as it’s apparently almost morning in this bar, then “the morning shift” comes in AND SO DOES THIS CHIPPER FUCK WHO JUST TIPS HIS HAT AND STRUTS IN. I really don’t like Raoul’s “I’ve always been empty and dark, etc.” Like, come on bro, not true. Suddenly it’s dawn after his wallowing song, and in comes Meg and HOLY SHIT JUST KISS.

“I’m not afraid of him!” 🙃😨 I loved that moment. Devil Take the Hindmost is 3rd place for best songs, it really shows off...sorry I’m distracted by Ben Lewis’ tall slender figure AHEM instead of straight up fighting it shows off Raoul’s cowardice and basic bitchness “You’re ugly” whirl the Phantom out here like “Are you sure the kid’s yours and OH YEAH IM A MURDERER” like his insults are written to cut on a deeper level. Okay I see now, the Phantom wants to keep Christine and the boy of course, but he knows she intends to sing.

ExuSe Me? SWIM SUIT BOYS THROWING IT BACK??? Bathing Beauty is adorable but slowly making me realize I haven’t seen a single scene between her and the Phantom and this is making me question what her deal is with him. Also, just made me realize she has an American accent?? I wish it was more about Meg and the Phantom, I need to know more!

I like seeing Christine being silly. Okay “single red rose” line is weird. Ew Raoul crawling back just so he doesn’t lose. First time Raoul looks hot tho but it’s just another ploy dammit! I do like this direct choice though unlike the first one, despite what Raoul knows, Christine thinks there’s no danger and that she’s merely doing Eric one last favor. This leaves her mind pretty clear on what she wants without the pressure of death at least. Okay scratch that, the necklace being placed and then the Phantom guiding her head makes me think Lloyd is trying to imply the Phantom still has an almost psychic control over her. UGH THE REPRISE WITH BOTH THEIR VOICES THIS TIME UGGHGGGGGGGHHHHHH SO GOOD.

Who will keep an eye on this well dressed little French boy lmao. Again, did Meg and Eric shabang? Devil Take the Hindmost reprise is good but a little on the nose with Gustav’s part. I absolutely love that the stage is used as an in universe stage btw, especially during Love Never Dies. Those earrings don’t go with that necklace hon. God I love this song and the message but only in this context! I can’t listen to it outside this musical! Does anyone else get the feeling that she’s singing to Raoul in the context that yes she’s singing for the Phantom but she’s choosing to stay with Raoul??? Especially from that reaction of discomfort when he grabs her. Like they’re my OTP here but she doesn’t seem decided honestly despite it being obviously implied by the kiss.

I like seeing the Phantom freak out about Gustav tbh. It seems like honest care and worry not peacocking or triumphing over winning Christine from Raoul. The kidnapping just makes Meg’s story seem more weird because why kidnap the boy if she’s not going to hurt him??? Not saying this whole confrontation is fucked up and I feel her pain, I just don’t feel like I know everything. THEN FUCK! What a bullshit way to die. Would you trust this man with your child, honestly! That awkward shimmy he has to do to get closer tho 😂 THE EW FACE ERIC DOES AS HE LEAVES AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 THE REAL TEARS THE SON ACKNOWLEDGING THE FATHER awkward face touch END.

Overall, beautiful disaster piece with great music that I’m glad exists even though it shouldn’t!

[norristheundying]

ALL QUESTIONS FOR HWAN AND VI PEW PEW

I’M SO, SO SORRY!!!! I HAVE ENTIRELY FORGOTTEN ABOUT THIS ASK!!

Here are the answers for Vi:

🌹 Where in the world does your OC feel most at home? – Outside the city, exploring caverns. Vi used to work at an animal reservation site, which was a much preferable environment than their abusive household.

Is there any reason why? – Vi loves animals, plus it was a sanctuary for them too.

If it’s not the place they were born, where were they born? – In one of the poorer district of Zuian’s capital city.

Is there a certain somebody that makes them feel at home where ever they may be? – Yes, their best friend, Piers uwu

What does home mean to them? – A place of freedom with company they feel safe around.

🍄 What are your OCs favourite snacks? - Dried mushroom jerky, sour jelly, crispy shrimps. Basically anything with interesting texture and taste.

Their favourite comfort food which always cheers them up when they’re down? – Probably some very unhealthy cheap snack their mum used to buy her kids to cheer them up. It reminds them of happier times.

Favourite meal to make? – Mushroom stew.

Do they enjoy baking and cooking and are they any good in the kitchen? – Vi used to cook a lot for their family from scraps, and they learned how to make good dishes from leftovers / what was available. For them this was mostly a chore, but after their sister was born they tried to make it more „fun” for her, so she would eat the dull meals with more appetite.

🍁 Where does your OC go when they need to have some time to themself? – Some hidden nook nobody would look for.

Would they ever have their own “comfort corner” filled with all the things they like? – Both at home and at the military they have a small box full of trinkets and souvenirs they like to look through alone, or with their siblings / friends.

Do they have a favourite spot outside that feels like its theirs and theirs alone? – Not really.

🍂 Does your OC enjoy hugs? – Oh yes! Vi is very touched starved and enjoy receiving hugs. Other way around they like to make sure first the other person is comfortable with hugs, and if so then they like to give big hugs.

What do they do as a show of affection for: their friends, their family, their significant other(s) or for strangers? – They are very expressive; they like to hang around their friends and family (not the dad bc fuck him), smile a lot, give hugs, make silly jokes, give compliments, lift up others’ spirit, take part in activities the others would enjoy. For strangers they simply smile, just have a vibrant energy, and speak politely.

Overall what are they like with receiving affection from others? – They love it! Can’t get enough.

🌻 What little things do they notice about people or the world around them that make them happy? – Vi is very observant; they like to see other people happy or content in everyday situations, find little joys in the dull routines. Other than that, THEY LOVE WORMS. If they are outside in the caverns, they are always on the lookout for critters (which is not hard to find, considering it’s their job to maintain the monster and beast population).

What tiny little treasures do they find in the normal every day that makes the world seem a little brighter for them? Every worm is a treasure. Seeing their loved ones happy makes them happy as well. Also geodes are pretty cool.

🌾 Describe your OC through the eyes of someone absolutely head-over-heels in love with them - Devy, I let you fill in the blank from Piers’ POV.

💐 How does your OC handle being unwell or forced to rest in bed? – Since medicine is really expensive, they didn’t always get appropriate treatment, so they just suffered through the illness until they got better, or forced to be bed bound with a bad fever, in which case medical treatment was a must. Possibly going to suffer from sequela in the near future, like other Zuians! Huzzah for health care!

Who cares for them and in what ways? – At home either their mother or brother. In the military any illnesses are treated immediately and responsibly to prevent the outbreak of epidemic, so medical wards are always accessible.

Does your OC enjoy being doted on or are they a terrible patient? – It’s a weird feeling for them to be doted on, but they don’t mind. They listen to their caretaker and don’t make a fuss whatever they’re told to do (either to stay in bed and take meds, or to just “man up”).

Reversed: is your OC good at taking care of others who are ill or in need? – Yes! Whenever someone just gets a bruise, Vi is already there with a kiddie band-aid and healing kiss.

🌿 What way does your OC show that they care without using words? – They are very good at non-verbal communication; with reassuring gestures, a smile, giving or lending small objects (ie. reserving their dessert for a friend, giving away their last blunt).

What way do others show your OC that they’re cared about without using speech? – Vi generally has the “must be protected” vibe, so people with a spine will always stand up for them and be kind to them.

🌳 What is your OC’s favourite way to relax after a stressful day? – Hug Piers, hug Sparkles, smoke a blunt.

Do they have a favourite book to curl up with? – Anything about worms.

A hobby? – Learning more about worms, duh. Tending to Sparkles is a good spare time activity. They also like to collect geodes or mushrooms.

Or do they have a nice bubble bath and have an early night to bed? – Vi would definitely enjoy a good bubble bath, it’s a luxury they can’t enjoy at home.

🌲 How deeply does your OC feel? – Very deeply. Vi is quite emotional, but hides any hurtful feelings thanks to domestic abuse.

Are they typically empathetic or do they have a hard time connecting with others in this way? - Vi is very empathetic and a good judge of character. That helps them show compassion towards those who need emotional support, or steer clear from assholes.

What are they like when offering support and comfort to someone they care for? – A bit timid and uncertain, but if the person allows then they would hug them, listen to what they have to say, let them tell about their worries, then ensure them with kind words.

🌺 What does your OC do to calm down when they’re scared or after a nightmare? Do they have any special comfort items or need to be reassured by a specific person? How do they handle this if they’re alone? – If a loved one is around, they would cuddle with them to feel safe. If they’re alone, they would just silently cry.

🌸 What are some of their favourite things and why? List as many as you can think of! – Piers (their bff who makes them feel loved), their friends (Vi values friendship), worms (funky little dirt eaters), Sparkles (it’s a slug! and it’s cute!), siblings and mother (Vi just wants the best for them), geodes and quartzite (because they look pretty!), mild drugs (yea).

🥀 How would your OC decorate a notebook or journal? – For their own research they would sketch anatomical drawings. If it’s a personal journal, probably some silly doodles of others and the environment (mostly worms).

What kind of things are written in there?  - Their notebook would be very messy, full of side notes written in a fast almost undecipherable way, but with massive amount of information. A journal would be about the highlights of their daily life.

Could you give an example of a nice entry? – “Got detention again for pranking the Cap’. I feel a little bad but I’ve gotta admit, it was pretty funny. Like, the whole soufflé just exploded!! Even the neighboring table got dirty! Anyway, it wasn’t that bad. We had to scrub plates and stuff. Had a fun time spraying each other with water! I think we will get another detention for drenching the kitchen tho.”

🌼 Who are this character’s friends and found family? How did they meet, how long have they been friends for, could they ever be something more than just friends? What do they look for in a friend or a romantic partner? – The infamous wimp squad is their found family, and they’ve known each other for hmm three or five years now? I don’t remember what I established. And of course they met in the army, each one of them are from different divisions. Kinda in love a with Piers, but I’m not going to say more!!

Questions for You!

💫What is your favourite fact about this character and why? – Vi had only one trait when I created them: a weird fascination with worms. And I wasn’t sure they would end up a creepy weirdo or something else, but eventually they became a sweet, lovable weirdo instead.

☄️ Does this OC deserve better treatment from you? Do you make them suffer just a little bit too much? Be nice to them! – I never treat my characters kindly (:

🌠 On a scale of 1 - 10 how Baby is your OC? BONUS when asking this question rate the OC yourself as see if the reply matches up!! – 10/10 big baby energy.

💦 If you as the writer could erase one traumatic event from this OC’s life what would it be and why? – Losing Piers :)

(I’ll answer the questions for Hwan another time because I’m pooped right now.)

[evilelitest2]

Just heard your Berserk Fatal Flaw. I agree with a lot of stuff but dude... I.. I don't know if I can follow you anymore seeing you chose to be so wrong about Casca. I need revalue everything you have said. Nah, just kidding, I love ya man. This really is the first time I'm seriously disagreed with you on something though. Not about the way she's been treated (I will add it's not JUST the rape that got to her state), but she is a complex, layered character. In my opinion.

First off, thanks a lot for listening to the Berserk review, I really appreciate it, and its fine if you disagree (nice joke btw). And thanks for asking the question politely (if people want to know what we are talking about, the podcast in question is here) Personally I think Caska has a great character design I love the way she looks especially compared to most anime women characters, (I actually designed a Casca look alike for a dark souls playthrough) and you are right it isn’t just the constant rape that makes her the way she is.  With all due respect I don’t really see the complexity of Casca (is it Casca or Caska?  I keep seeing alternative spellings), I mostly see people referencing complexity without really showing it.  For contrast, lets talk about a different abused character, Guts (Gatz...no i’m just kidding)

Gut’s life is also defined by traumatic events which shape his personality  To witAn unloved Childhood full of physical Abuse Killing his first man at a young ageBeing raped Finding out that his father figure sold him out Accidentally  being responsible for killing a Fairy child who wanted nothing but to help himSeeing his father figure break downFather Figure attempting to murder himMurdering the Father FigureBeing driven out by his surrogate family Period of LonlynessKilling a child who metaphorically was Guts Having his “best friend” (AND NOTHING ELSE) betray him after Guts was nothing but faithful, murder all of their companions by leating them get tortured and eaten by demons, and seeing the women he loves get raped in front of him while having his arm and eye removed and left totally helplessMeeting Puck 

(This manga is weird) 

Every one of these is a horrifically traumatizing event but each one actually tells us something different about Guts, he isn’t just “Traumitized” each one of them informs us about a specific aspect about his personality.  To wit, his abusive unloving and neglectful father fiture who showed just enough affection for Guts to latch unto means that Guts is also defined by his desperate need for affection and love.  Guts really craves friendship and equal relationships and at his heart is a bit of a people pleaser.  However because his father figure then betrayed him in the worse possible way, he associates that aforementioned desire for love to be a weakness unto itself, and he has thoroughly internalized the notion that being weak is a crime and not only hopes never to be weak, but is constantly beating himself up for “being weak”.  

(pictured, hetrosexuality) 

The irony of the strongest man in the world is torturing himself for “being weak” is the core of the story.  Because he is obsessed with always being strong, he doesn’t allow himself access to feelings he really wants to experience, like friendship, attraction to Casca....attraction to Griffith (This story is so fucking gay) and basically tries to avoid dealing with feelings through the very popular use of horrific violence, which doesn’t work, so he keeps trying to have more violence the cycle continues.  His attempt to go be by himself is an important part of his heeling process, because he is learning to actually define himself by himself, not just as a giant mass of muscles with a sword.  He hasn’t really thought of himself as a person until he joins Griffith’s band, and hasn’t thought of himself as “the bad guy” until he killed a child and was like “um.....wait.....I’m the victim here.....fuck”

And that is what separates Guts from Griffith, he ultimately does accept blame for his actions.

(pictured, character growth) 

So each traumatic event informs Guts as a person, and they all tie into the larger theme of Machismo  What is interesting about Berserk is that it is actually about toxic masculinity, both Guts and Griffith are people who are super macho and are extremely unhealthy in how they approach masculinity.  In fact what they have in common is that neither one of them is actually happy with the coarse they are pursuing, but they keep doing that because to do otherwise would make them feel weak.  Griffith wants to have a castle....kinda of for its own sake, it is not like he has any political ambitions or dreams, he doesn't have reforms he wants to initiate, he just wants a castle because he made a goal when he was 7 and has a really hard time changing direction.  Meanwhile Guts keeps pushing everybody away from him and all he wants is some sort of support unit.  Hence why the manga is named after a Suit of armor that tears you apart as you murder people

I..don’t get this from Casca.  Maybe i’m not paying attention enough and i’m missing it, but it feels like each traumatic event leaves her kind of the same until she suddenly losses her personality (I haven’t read the latest chapters yet so maybe she has had her personality restored).  Each cycle of trauma seems to leave her just....kinda of the same

(I do like this scene though) 

So young Casca we see in the flashback is just kinda...demure.  Then Griffith makes her kill a guy (like a dick) and from that point on we see somebody who is controlling, obsessive, tense and hostile towards everybody but Griffith.  And that is...kinda it.  LIke I don’t really see how she changes internally and I don’t see how we go from that to “becomes a child”  Why does Casa become a child rather than Guts?  

My issue with Casca is that we are always viewing her from outside and she is defined by her relationship with the characters rather than with herself.  Guts and Griffith both have scenes where the narrative gets us to see what they are thinking internally but beyond one or two exceptions, Casca always seems like a character who exists as a satellite.  She bounces between rape threat and rape threat and never seems to be able to come into her own.  The scene taht upset me the most with Casca was the Eclipse, because while Juddeau and Pippin and even fucking Corkus got there own special moment where they either fought a bunch of demons or died in a specific way, Casca, the best fighter other than Guts, goes down without killing a single demon.  Her last big fight was against the comedy relief villain.  And in a manga where the way people murder their fellow human beings is actually how they express there character that says a lot. I never actually see the complexity beyond the writing saying that she is complicated, just like she is built up to be a great fighter but never seems to do much. 

(I kinda wish we had gotten to see more of this rather than just skipping it over)

The only time where I kinda liked Casca was the bit between her hooking up with Guts and the Esclipse, ecause then she and Guts were in a relationship and actually got out of their shells a little bit, and its the first time we see them actually show more of their humanity.  

(I also like this scene) 

Just to be clear, you aren’t wrong for liking the character, even if we can prove taht Casca is objectively a bad character, you aren’t wrong for liking her.  The Strength of the art design and the way she is built up means that it makes sense if you like her, I just kinda feel like the narrative doesn’t, and the beset version of Casca i tend to see are the ones fans imagine rather than the one which is written.  Epsicailly because she is one of the very few female POCs in anime/manga who isn’t racist or offensive in regards to race.  

(.....wtf)

[sadheartsongs]

the 1975 • a brief inquiry into online relationships

•  the 1975: step into your skin, i’d rather jump in your bones. // it’s a lovely tradition that they start every one of their records with a self-titled song. which also happens to be the intro of their live shows. a few seconds that always (kinda) sum up the whole record.

• give yourself a try: like friends don’t lie and it all tastes the same in the dark. when your vinyl and coffee collection is a sign of the times. //  the first song of that record that came out. the typical the 1975 sound, which feels like coming home but it sounds new and unknown as well. the lyrics are pretty personal pretty dark. i think we all have a lot we’d love to tell out 16-year olds... but we never told ourselves back then that it’s actually worth giving it a try, right?  ‘and what would you say to your younger self? growing a beart’s quite hard and whiskey never starts to taste nice....’

• tootimetootimetootime: i swear that i only called her one time, maybe it was two times? i don’t think it was three times, can’t be more than four times. // there are so many things about this song, ohmygod. first of all the fact that they incuded ‘me too’ in the title. and have you even lived if you didn’t catch yourself at 3am in the morning singing the lyrics?  the third release of this record and probably the most catchy one. i don’t even need to listen to this song to have an earworm again, haha. and i love how matty said in an interview that this song 'is not necessarily all autobiographical..’ good! and later he said he doesn’t care if tis song is gonna be a hit he only wants us fans to listen. well i guess both things are happening.

• how to draw / petrichor: love yourself like someone you love. don’t take one of my advice // ugh ‘love yourself like someone you love’ is one of the best advices i ever heard but what do i know. at the first listen i didn’t like the song that much, i don’t know. maybe it have to grow on me. but my electro-clubbing-loving heart instantly fell for the beat of this song. this is something i’d like to dance under neon lights with a drink in my hand and not caring about anything at all. oh, and ‘don’t let the internet ruin all of your time’ is another very good advice. surround yourself with good vibes only, online, too.

• love it if we made it: oh fuck your feelings, truth is only hearsay. we’re just left to decay. modernity has failed us. // this is my favorite the 1975 song ever. EVER. okay i said this with ‘somebody else’ from the last record and ‘chocolate’ from the first one buuuut whatever. i just love everything about this song. the beat the lyrics the whole vibe. how it sounds like an old song from the ninetees or something and still so new at the same time. this is the kind of song you need to turn up as loud as possible and it’s still not loud enough. there are references to lil peep and kanye. and i love the ‘modernity has failed us’ line so so much. i think if i’d have to describe this record, the whole band in just one song i’d choose this. sure there are a lot which also would be perfect for this cause but you know. fuck i’m dying to hear this live. announce european tour dates, pretty please. ugh.

matty said about this one at beats one radio: ‘it’s quite outward and it’s me kind of looking out. it’s an interesting one because there’s not a lot of context in a lot of the things that I say in that it’s direct quotes of people or their headlines I’ve read (...) it’s very objective though, this song. i think that’s one of the things i suppose i get to hide behind. a lot of the stuff that you could be upset about in the song, I never said in the first place. ‘

• be my mistake: i shouldn’t have called cause we shouldn’t speak. you do make me hard but she makes me weak // this is supposed to be about guilt and being with someone else to get over / forget the one you actually want i guess. maybe it’s about addiction. the mistake you make over and over again even though you know it’s so wrong. but sometimes you need to make mistakes to realize what you really want and need. this has kinda a therapeutic thing.  i love the acoustic vibe of the song. it doesn’t need much to glow.

• sincerity is scary: why can’t we be friends if we are lovers? cause it always ends with us hating each other. // the fourth song that came out of this, the slowest one and a very deep one, again. i admit it had to grow on me, too. don’t know, the slow songs always take some time on me. ‘if i believe you’ from the last record still does. anyway. i’d love to listen to this at church. you know, the acoustic. that would sound breathtaking. ‘and irony is okay, i suppose, culture is to blame. you try and mask your pain in the most postmodern way.’ this is the most accurate description of the way everyone just put a facade on them which makes others feel like they’re okay nowadays ever. no one would survive without irony but why is everyone so scared of eing real for once?

• i like america & america likes me: i’m scared of dying. no gun required. my skin is desire, so fired. // maybe you wouldn’t expect a political song about gun usuage in america between all those songs and maybe that’s exact what we need at this point. matty said that this song is an hommage on the soundcloud rap - which is pretty big in america i guess - and he first wanted to release it (without or) just mumble lyrics but combining this with lyrics about the biggest problem america have - perfect. i guess this is one of the things that makes this band so special. every song has a deeper meaning, there’s not a single one which only fills a void. i‘m not a big fan of the soundcloud rap stuff and i’m still not friends with that song but it fits in the whole pretty good.

• the man who married a robot: you can tell me anything. i’m your best friend. anything you say to me will stay strictly between you and the internet // the whole song - which isn’t particulary a song - is spoken by the male version of siri. a monologue about a lonely man whose only friend is the internet. he lives in a lonely house. in a lonely world. it sounds so sad but this is actually more real than we can imagine i guess. there are a lot of lonely people in the world who sit alone at home daily with no one to talk. i’m pretty sure it won’t take long until the first human actually marries a robot, haha. this sounds so weird but you know the world we live in is so weird and nothing is impossible anymore... matty said he likes the idea of the next decade being about robots. sounds interesting, count me in.

• inside your mind: maybe you are dreaming that you’re in love with me. the only option left is look and see. // ‘it’s just the idea of sometimes wanting to know what  your partner is thinking so much that you want to smash their head open to look.’ this song is inspired by the movie ‘gone girl’ (i love that movie! if you’ve seen it it makes sense i think) and this whole thing, the thought, the metaphor of this... is kinda morbid but i like that kind of stuff so... the slow beat of this song makes the whole thing even more intense. like you can almost feel the voice, the whole song crawling into you. wow. just wow.

•  it’s not living (if it’s not with you): all i do is sit and drink without you. if i choose than i lose. distract my brain from the terrible news. it’s not living if it’s not without you. // what sounds like a love thing at first - you know, the whole ‘oh my god i can’t live without you’- thing... - is actually about mattys heroine addiction. drug addictions are maybe the even biggerl ove than a person ever could be, sadly. the vibe of the song is so happy and positive like you want to listen to it on a sunny day and sing along and if you listen to the lyrics it’s the complete opposite. he was in rehab for severe weeks and seems to be clean ever since. thank god.

i love how he tries to put the whole thing into songs - like he did on every record - and being open about it. everyone of us has their own truth and sooner or later we need to talk about it i guess.. it helps to see people as they really are. which is important. ‘the problem I have now is that this is my truth, and I feel like I can’t negotiate properly with the world if I can’t tell the truth.’

• surrounded by heads and bodies: she wears it like a dress, a post-traumatic mess // another one about his time in rehab. or better, about a girl he met there and instantly had a connection with. the title is inspired by a book and i guess that’s pretty much how you feel while being in rehab. but i have to admit when i read the title i kinda expected more from this song. shame on me, i know.

• mine: when people said it was raining all the time i see sunshine ‘cause i know that you are mine // god this line is one of the most beautiful love confessions ever, i’d cry if someone said something like this to me. the song has a pretty jazz vibe. this is something different. a song you’d like to hear in a old jazz bar in downtown new york with a huge glass of wine in one hand and the hand of your loved one in the other. (and i want to see matty in a suit performing this, haha.)  nothing you can hear on repeat, but if you listen to it it gets you completely. completely smiling. and a bit sad.

•  i couldn’t be more in love: maybe i’ll rely on all the things that made it right because i’d give you all the years of my life // another big song. with a slow and deep vibe which could be played in the movies. though it’s not a love song, according to matty. ‘it’s about what happens when people don’t care anymore.’ he sang the vocals the day before he went to rehab. it would’ve came out better after but this is what makes this song so special. it’s not perfect, the voice sounds so vunerable. hurt.  hopeless. a song that physically hurts you when you listen to it but you just can’t stop.

• i always wanna die (sometimes): your memories are sceneries for things you said but never really meant // fuck, fuuuuuuuuck. this song always gets me no matter how many times i already listened to this it always feels like the first time. it also sounds like a song which exists since a a long time, like a song you’ve always known. another big one. a cinematic vibe. it’s a summary of the daily online life. the perfect last song for this album.

i’m following them since such a long time, i guess it was when ‘chocolate’ came out. wish it was earlier. and it makes me so happy to see how far they’ve come and how this whole thing grew bigger and bigger with each album. how many memories are made with the songs over the years.  saw them live a few times - always mindblowing. you know i see a lot of concerts of famous bands and small indie ones and this and that but they have that kind of live show which leaves you kinda speechless, so many colors and lighs and beautiful effects and the songs and damn, this wasn’t what i wanted to say when i started the sentence haha. what i actually wanted to say was, that this album, even if you’re not listen to them that much (if someone is doing this) will make you feel like coming home after a long day when you sit down on your couch and pour the wine in the glass. they have their own kind of sound. probably nothing that hasn’t existed before but if you hear the songs you instantly know it’s a 1975 song. this album will make you smile and cry an sing along an think about your life and buy concert tickets because you NEED to see this live for at least once in your lifetie, i promise you. if you’re searching for a good soundtrack for your life, try the 1975.

[mittensmorgul]

I think Sam agreeing with Dean wasn't a matter of Sam AGREEING with Dean, but a matter of letting Dean make his own decisions. Which is 100% what Dean did for him re: Swan Song and Lucifer. It's the least Sam could do for his brother, to let him make his own decisions. Wouldn't you want the same?

not if my decision was objectively terrible and compromised by an archangel trapped in my brain freezer and a complete lack of self-worth, no

I mean, Dean kinda agreed with Sam at the end of 11.18, and then was like, lol fuck that let’s go save Cas now

Sam: Listen. Um, I know I came down on the side of wanting Cas to deal with Amara, so-Dean: Well, that's what he wanted though, right? Besides, didn't we say that we're gonna swear off getting in the way when one person makes a choice the other didn't agree with?Sam: Yeah, um. Yeah, we did say that.Dean: So...Sam: Okay. So, that's our policy.Dean: Which sounds damn good. Well, let's go find that idiot and bring him home.

I mean, he didn’t hardly even pause for breath between those two sentences.

Like, even in 11.22, just four episodes after this, Sam had been hiding the fact that he’d talked to Chuck about taking on the Mark of Cain himself, and had been prepared to sacrifice himself. Dean found this out literally moments before Sam and Chuck tried to carry out that plan, and only balked a lil bit before letting Sam’s choice stand:

CHUCK: Once she's been weakened, I will take the Mark back from Amara and use it to seal her away. You ready? SAM: Yeah.DEAN: Wait, what? SAM: God and I talked about this. Someone needs to bear the Mark.DEAN: Well, that should be me. I-I've had it before. I'm damaged goods.CHUCK: Exactly. You've already been tainted. I can't transfer it to you. Sam volunteered.(DEAN glances at SAM then yanks on his arm to talk with him some feet away.)DEAN: First Cas is making kamikaze side plans, and now you? You couldn't have talked to me? SAM: We did talk.DEAN: And what happens when the Mark turns you psycho, then what? SAM: You lock me up where I can't hurt anyone and you throw away the key.DEAN: Sam, no.SAM: Dean, you told me you couldn't beat Amara, that it would have to be me. Well, this is it – me. [...]SAM (to DEAN, quietly): We talked about this. It's time to do the smart thing.DEAN: So, what am I supposed to do, just sit by and watch? SAM: No. We're both in this fight. You're leading this army.DEAN: Oh, you mean babysitting the bad guys?(SAM huffs out a laugh.)DEAN: Okay, Sam. Okay. God's plan.

Thank HECK Amara was like HELL NO YOU ARE NOT LOCKING ME BACK UP LIKE THAT and came THIS CLOSE to killing GOD over it.

So I mean, no... 

Cas had said yes to Lucifer at a point where he believed he was completely useless otherwise. He’d been so depressed, so convinced that there was NO OTHER WAY that he’d been lured to believe in the shred of hope based on a complete lie that Lucifer was offering. In the kitchen inside his own mind, Cas told Crowley that Dean might have a more objective view on whether he should boot Luci out or not, but was so traumatized and emotionally and mentally beaten down that he just sat there doing nothing. I mean... I absolutely would want someone to snap me out of that sort of state rather than insisting on staying buried inside that bleak headspace. Because that is how we deal with these sorts of negative spaces. We don’t ask our loved ones to heap dirt over us, but to help lift us out.

I think Dean was only able to accept Sam’s offer to take on the Mark because it was a) a last minute surprise and they didn’t really have another plan to fall back on at that point, and they could always search for a solution to that problem once they stopped Amara from snuffing out the actual sun, and b) Sam hadn’t made that offer from a place of absolute despair, but from one of “if this is our only option, then I offer myself as tribute because it’s better than the alternative.”

So there are even shades of grey to both of these situations, as well.

I think Dean is currently somewhere in between. Like Cas, he’s already got The Bad Thing inside him, and he’s already been used by said bad thing in horrific ways that have traumatized him. While he’s not at that point of bleak despair that he was with the Mark of Cain, I don’t think he’s actually in a healthy frame of mind to make these kinds of choices based on the sort of incomplete information that Billie presented him with, and that we know he’s always fought against.

He does, however, blame HIMSELF for this problem even existing in the first place, since he was the one who insisted on poking at the AU in order to save Mary. Granted, there’s no guarantee that AU Michael wouldn’t have eventually ended up in this world anyway if he figured out how to work that spell himself (and he almost did, entirely without Dean’s interference). But that rift wouldn’t have even opened in the first place, causing all of this trauma to unfold, if Jack’s birth hadn’t torn that hole in the cosmos in the first place.

So yeah, Dean’s not exactly looking at this objectively. I’d want someone sticking by me through that. So I think Sam agreeing to support Dean through this isn’t Sam surrendering and accepting that this is a foregone conclusion and burying Dean alive at sea is the #1 best solution here. But he’s smart enough to recognize the consequences if he tries to force Dean to just abandon his plan, too. He’s just gonna need to work faster on an alternative solution...

[avaquet]

Evelyn Lavellan - Detailed Backstory

Because why not?

Her backstory has kinda changed throughout the course of me lol, most things have changed.

Under the cut because it’s long - consider it a short story lmao (lotta HCs please don’t mind too much, Ev is also part of an AU)

Let’s do a briefing on her parents!

Taelhen Lavellan- He was born in the clan, son of the keeper and of a mage in a coastal clan. His father, the keeper of Lavellan, had died prematurely from an illness while Taelhen was still quite young. This is when Deshanna took over as keeper. When Taelhen became old enough, he was destined as First due to his magical abilities and bloodline to Lavellan them-self. In his thirties, he had contact with a city elf by the name of Valonna who had escaped an alienage wishing to join with a clan. Clan Lavellan was welcoming to her, and Taelhen had a soft spot. They soon fell in love, and after a few years, Evelyn was born.

(A/N: no mods were used here, this was purely photoshop. At the time I made this, I was still on Xbox)

Valonna Lavellan- Born in the Kirkwall alienage, Valonna had always sought to escape. She had always felt on edge where she was and craved a place where she could feel decently safe. Her best friend was a homeless half-elf by the name of Evelyn. Evelyn did not actually want to leave, but she helped Valonna because she wanted to see her happy. Evelyn had informed her of a clan up north that frequently did business with travelers and traders that came to and from Kirkwall. Then, Valonna set off, saying her final farewells. She joined Lavellan and changed her last name in her early thirties. Because of the help Evelyn had given her, she decided to name her daughter after her.

(A/N: Looks kinda like Ev’s twin almost, yeah? Based it off my own life, as I look eerily similar to my mother)

Early Childhood: Ages 0-7- (Warning: Abuse is mentioned and described) Despite Taelhen being First, he did most of the work raising Ev. In fact he worked his ass off while Valonna seemed absent. And despite that, Taelhen never raised his voice, yelled, or otherwise blatantly argue with Valonna over it. They got into a few disputes, but always made it a point to never do it in front of Ev. When Taelhen was out doing his job, Valonna stayed back basically to make sure Ev didn’t accidentally kill herself. Ev personally cannot remember much during this time, in fact most of her memory is blank from ages 0-4. During that time, Valonna had used some questionable parenting tactics, at least in front of Taelhen. Alone, no one knew exactly what she did. It was never physical, and no one heard any screams or crying, but little Ev did seem excited to see Taelhen come home, a bit too excited.

One night when Ev was 5, now this is a memory she remembers, though cannot get into vivid details because it hurts, Valonna and Ev were alone at the house (AU: HC they have fold-able houses that can easily be transported) and Valonna was particularly frustrated that day. She had told Ev to stay out of the cookie container, but had forgotten that she moved it. There were a few containers on the counter and Ev was curious about the new objects. So, she took a peek. Valonna walked in on Ev while she was examining the cookie container and basically lost her shit for no plausible reason. She yelled and over-scolded Ev, in fact little Ev was on the floor with her back pressed up against the corner practically frozen. Valonna went on a harsh, emotionally abusive rant that would be ingrained in Ev’s head for decades.Of course, Ev was terrified and confused, so she muttered out for her Paba (father). Valonna took great offense to that and struck Ev. Little did she know, Taelhen had just walked in and saw the moment she struck her. It was a mix, she had made a fist but struck in a back-handed motion to Ev’s face. Of course, Ev gave out a scream of bloody murder, she was in all different levels of pain and betrayal. A traumatic moment that had given her PTSD, and was the catalyst to her anxiety, depression, loss of self-confidence, loss of passion, and intrusive thoughts down the line. Valonna had immediately seen the repercussions of her actions and immediately felt regret, though it didn’t matter for the damage had been done and Taelhen forcefully yanked her away from Ev. He finally cursed and screamed at Valonna to get the fuck out, and he almost hit her but he prioritized Ev and knew more physical violence would not help and she needed to be attended to ASAP. Valonna left and ran, pulled over by the Keeper and she confessed her actions which got her banished from the clan, though Valonna found a new clan to stay with later.

Once Valonna was out of the house, Taelhen went directly to Ev, the bruising had already started and her lip was bleeding. He picked her up and let her sit on the lounge while he frantically got different things from around the house to help. He got a wet rag and cloth to help with the bleeding and pain. He got a potion to help with the inevitable headache that would come. He got her favorite blanket. He stayed up with her all night and held her so she would feel safe and secure and so he could watch over her for a concussion. He would use his magic to make the wet rag colder or warmer depending on which would soothe the most at the time. He did his best to make her laugh, he braided her hair, he did everything he could to help. All while biting back his own tears, he couldn’t help but blame himself because he didn’t listen to earlier times. It was the only time Valonna got physical with Ev, and it would be the last. That night, Ev got a busted lip that turned into a small scar, a bruised facial bone, black eye, welts, and a concussion.

At the age of six, Ev’s magic started to manifest along with the ability to tamper and control her dreams a bit. This is when she started to spend a lot more time with Deshanna as she was taught about her magical abilities. Ev was also given books because she felt good reading. Started off with tales and fiction and then it was sprinkled in with magical theory and demonology at an older age. But she had a strong affinity with books and found a sense of comfort within. Ev at this time was the youngest in the clan, and the other children saw her as somewhat weird because she read more often than she played outside. Ev is an introvert as well and the other kids sorta found that odd. Ev also liked to observe the other people to learn, and she learned quickly. For about a year or so, the other kids treated her as an oddity and were barely nice to her. Though, the other kids didn’t actually realize they were offending or hurting her. A year or so later, most of the kids warmed up to her and realized that they were hurting her. Ev was quite kind and respectable, she showed a lot of care as well. For instance, a kid she didn’t particularly like herself because they were mean, wanted a candy but was too lazy to get one. So, Ev got up and got them a candy, just because. Ev’s greatest strength, caring, is also her greatest weakness. For a while there, Ev went through a phase of wanting to please as many people a possible, even if that person was mean. Merrisiara or Merri, became Ev’s first and closest friend. Though Merri befriended Ev out of pity at first. They are still, to this day, close friends.

Late Childhood: Ages 8-12- Ev was officially declared a Dreamer at this time and had received more books and studies on the matter. Ev loved to learn, she just hated being tested on it or pushed by a due date. Her magic skills were improving and improving quite fast, in fact Deshanna began to think about making her First.

There was a time that Ev got quite sick. Her allergies flare up the most during the winter and spring, this year was particularly bad. She was wheezing for a solid week and coughing up phlegm constantly, one night she coughed too hard and threw up. The circumstances were just right to send her body into an overdrive and it was like she was having some sort of respiratory attack. She couldn’t take deep breaths, and her breathing was extremely fast and short. Her back was in pain due to the amount of effort it took her to breathe. She was with healers and clan medics for about eight days, and since then she had developed emetophobia. The phobia was strong enough to keep her from puking again to this day. Though it’s not pleasant, each time she feels close to throwing up she goes into a panic. She knows rationally that what happened to her before probably won’t happen again, but her mind remembers the event all too well and is overly afraid of it happening again. She’s gone through many events of some kind of stomach ache or pain that would be easily rectified if she were to puke, but because of the event and how strong the fear is, she puts up with it. (A/N: Based off a real life event)

During these years she got to spend a good amount of time with the coastal clan her grandmother was from. She got to meet another friend who became close to her at the time and they kept in contact. This is when she got heavily into music. Singing, dance, and instruments. The dance she learned and practiced to this day is a solo dance, she knows how to tell a story through her dancing, and the style is focused mostly on the hips and belly, she had to learn most of her dances while balancing a book on her head. She learned a style of singing that got the halla’s attention and worked with the halla care-taker often. Her singing style is a mix of (what we would call) a Celtic/viking-esque and her own personal style. Taelhen learned a bit about instruments over the years and decided to learn more about conducting and at when Ev turned ten, he gifted her a violin and they practiced together. Though Ev is shy about her passions out of fear of being ridiculed for them. She also just dislikes most attention and it takes her a while to look past the fact she is receiving attention.

She rescued a stray cat and named her Echo, they became akin to what we see in movies with a witch and their familiar. Echo had a very close bond with Ev and Ev poured so much love into the little kitty.

When she was twelve, she first started to menstruate, though she only got one or two cramps before the bleeding started, the rest of the time she felt bleh and she searched for a way to feel less bleh. One of her clan mates told her of this method she’s been using for about a year or so now that has worked for her. Shortened the length and got rid of almost all the bleh and pain. It was true, except they were both ignorant to what else it caused to happen. Ev used the method for half a year before feeling really weird, and actually got into more pain. Her friend told her to seek out a healer or something because she might’ve had an allergic reaction or something. So she did. When she explained the method to the healer, the healer themselves almost had a heart attack. The healer got both of them in and did tests with the medical. For the method that they were using had a side effect of infertility if used long enough. Her friend had to actually get her ovaries removed because it was so bad (AU), Ev hadn’t used the method long enough for it to be that severe but it did render her infertile as it had basically fried her eggs and killed them. Her friend felt devastated and horrible about what happened, though Ev felt more sorry for her. Ev wasn’t devastated at all, in fact, she felt more relief than anything. Ev was always a bit uncomfortable and afraid of becoming pregnant, and truly believed she has no maternal instinct. She doesn’t wish for kids, but she knows if by whatever chance she changed her mind, she’d rather adopt anyways. She gave a lot more support to her friend and knew that she didn’t feel the same way as she (Ev) did so Ev didn’t treat the situation the same way, instead she catered towards more what her friend needed and needed to hear.

Around this time, Ev questioned her belief in the elven pantheon. She didn’t feel like she truly believed or wanted to believe. Inspired by a book she read she began to question many things on faith and life itself, she would pace the home and talk to herself trying to figure out different philosophical questions. At this point she was agnostic, and wasn’t sure if she wanted to believe in gods at all but kept going with the flow just in case. It wasn’t until later that a fantasy book gave her the idea that maybe the pantheon might not have been gods but influential or powerful mages? Then she became atheist, but still deeply respected the views of her peers.

Teenage Years: Ages 13-17- (Warning: Harassment and brief statements of sexual activity) During these years, her anxiety and depression became more and more prevalent, along with the voice in the back of her head she calls the gnat or the voices of abuse past, referring to her mother. The gnat is extremely harsh on Ev, tells her she’s not good enough, and keeps her from fully enjoying her passions. She even tried to pursue new ones like sketching and journaling, but alas, the gnat’s voice only got stronger seeing her as a beginner try new things. It made her into a perfectionist and somewhat of a hypocrite. Where she would say others deserved love and kindness the gnat in her head would tell her that she herself didn’t deserve it because she can’t seem to get over herself, ignore the voice in general, because she’s a burden for having an internal conflict such as this, or whatever reason the gnat comes up with. Early on, Deshanna finally decided to start training Ev to being First, Taelhen happily stepped down, proud of Ev, and became her mentor and basically Second.

When Ev was 13, she thought she had a friend where there wasn’t one. A person that added to the voice of the gnat. Ev opened up to him about her internal thoughts and he responded basically by telling her to get over it and to grow up. That no one wants to deal with it, that if it continued she’d be more like a leech to society because she just can’t take care of herself it seems. He told her it’d be unwise to enter any sort of relationship because she would be a burden at times, because it seemed she didn’t love herself so how the hell could she love anyone else? She was defensive and pushed him out of her life and sought solace in Merri, Taelhen, and Deshanna, who all told her that he was wrong and a dick. But his words, no matter how much she tried to ignore them, fueled the gnat she was still battling. 

She learned different ways of battling the gnat, whenever an unstoppable thought told her that she hated herself, she would have to consciously catch herself and correct it. “No, I don’t hate myself, I just dislike the situation I’m in.” Merri, Taelhen, and Deshanna would also catch her with self deprecating humor and reminded her to try out the more positive thoughts. For her, it worked for the most part. Sometimes the gnat would become too strong and just rapid-fire thoughts would hit her all at once and she would break down crying. Taelhen usually heard and would always come to her aid. One moment, she came out to her Paba about some deeply disturbing thoughts she’s had, thoughts that come out of nowhere and made her question if she was truly a kind and caring person. He reminded her that she is not her thoughts and that actions speak more, that she is kind, and recommended ways to ignore or let these “thoughts from the void” pass. Sometimes Ev would break down crying because those intrusive thoughts could be so damn horrible. And it wouldn’t just be thoughts, her mind would immediately make her imagine it, would play out the what if, she’d never do it in real life, by the way her mind played it out like any and all ideas that crossed her mind, would sometimes make her break down crying. 

These years also uncovered a trigger of hers; accusatory yelling would cause her adrenaline to pump, if it was directed at her then her freeze response would kick in and a slight panic, and if flesh struck across her face she would break down completely. She became hyper-aware of her mistakes and a fear built up behind it. She mistakenly looked in the container of cookies and she got hurt badly, what if she made another mistake? - the way her mind worked. That’s what really drained her of her passions and made the gnat win many battles. She became severely afraid of making mistakes and then would regret not taking action to begin with. She fell into a spiral, as she basically became afraid of being a person.

But, she had a lot of support, a lot of care, and a lot of love by not just her Paba, Merri, and Deshanna, but varying members of the clan that were friends with her. Over the years she learned how to quell and fight back these internal thoughts effectively. Reminded constantly that it is okay to seek help and have a shoulder to cry on. Reminded it’s okay to be emotional, that it’s okay to feel. Yes she reached a very dark point in her life where she felt she could only escape by sleeping, but she was also helped a lot. It wasn’t perfect and she wasn’t cured by any means, but she wasn’t spiraling anymore and she was building herself back up over the years. 

If you asked her if she’s ever been in a (romantic) relationship before, she will tell you no. Though, she has called someone her boyfriend, and she will tell you that yes, at the time she called him her boyfriend, even a friend, but she’s learned now that that wasn’t the case. It would be akin to holding an orange and calling it an apple, the orange is not an apple just because she mislabeled it. She was 15 when she entered this little fiasco with him. He was a friend and moved to the “relationship” a little quick for her liking but, she cared for him. (Remember greatest strength can also be the greatest weakness) She didn’t really feel ready for the kind of relationship he wanted, but wanted to try it out anyways. Some time passed and he expressed interest in wanting to kiss her, and she told him that she would want it planned out because she’s anxious about it and uncomfortable with a surprise first ever kiss. Her irrational thoughts were rampant still at this time. On the surface, he agreed. Later on, unannounced he leaned in to try and kiss her, and she immediately panicked. She covered her face entirely and thoughts like, “Hadn’t brushed my teeth since the last meal, my lips are a little chapped, I don’t know what I’m doing, this is going to be horrible” rampaged her mind immediately. Then, she felt like an utter bitch the way she reacted. “Oh fuck I offended him...” When he calmed her down a bit and she let her guard down, he tried again and lo and behold the same reaction occurred and it took her even longer to let down her guard and she even started to flinch whenever he moved. He was disappointed and upset, and she felt awful because well...she cared. They never kissed at all their entire “relationship”. Another instance of broken boundaries, is when she was around friends and he decided to slap her ass in front of them, and she got mad. Ev was extremely uncomfortable with that kind of thing especially in front of her friends, she sternly told him not to do it and had to explain why because he questioned her. Then in his mind, for shits and giggles he did it one more time. The rest of the day she felt she couldn’t turn her back to him. Hell the entire fiasco made her uncomfortable but alas, she cared too much and ignored the red flags which when she looked back in hindsight, kicked herself for. He found a way to frustrate her to the point that she bawled, and he enjoyed it. Finally, after not letting him do anything she deemed she wasn’t ready for, he broke it off. She was relieved and also saddened. The first thing she asked is if she did anything wrong. He told her it felt like a glorified friendship and he wasn’t getting anything out of it. Sure she cared a lot, but she had a lot of stubbornness, and if it wasn’t for that, she would’ve given into everything and been even more unhappy. And even as a friend, he was an ass and soon she refused to call him a friend. In hindsight, she knew she should’ve broken off the fiasco much sooner, and now she knows what happened was more of a one sided asshole-ry rather than a relationship at all.

Later on, Ev and Merri became experimental. They shared a lot of firsts together, though Merri and Ev were not romantically involved. They preferred it like that, but they felt safe and comfortable practicing kissing and the likes with each other. They didn’t have any romantic feelings toward each other but still remained respectable friends. Their experimentation lasted around half a year before Merri got herself a girlfriend, then the experimentation ended. Their friendship didn’t, and they were extremely mature about it as well. Merri’s girlfriend was also mature about it, in fact she became friends with Ev. Ev is glad Merri is happy with her girlfriend, and there was no jealously. This is what really taught Ev that the fiasco with dick face was abnormal.

Deshanna had Ev get her vallaslin at the age of 17, a year earlier than most. Ev was hesitant about it because it was supposed to honor the gods she didn’t believe in. Deshanna reassured her that it’s okay for the tradition and symbolism. Ev chose Mythal because if the gods were real, maybe Mythal would understand the most her predicament. Would offer protection and care. And thus, she had the simplest Mythal vallaslin applied to her face in a coming of age moment. Ev wasn’t sure if she would regret it or not, but it’s there forever. At least she’s fond of the style. That day she was officially declared First, though she still constantly learned. Her relationship with her own magic grew a respectable amount.

Recent Backstory: Ages 18-21(Now)- Ev had always dreamed of exploring. She wanted to write songs about her adventures and the vistas she visited. Paba always told her stories of adventure growing up and she longed for it. She constantly begged Deshanna to let her go out on some kind of excursion, and she did when it was for the Conclave, but that’s the present.

Most of this time, one may consider uneventful, but Ev had a lot of fun. She learned so much about Elvhen history and studied many things, including a few artifacts Lavellan had procured over the years. It was a calm three years in retrospect. Some events she can remember literally had her laughing and rolling on the floor wheezing because of some stupid random shit. It wasn’t even that funny! But she was with friends and they all just started laughing for what seemed to be no damn reason and it just spread. Then they started to laugh about how they were laughing for no reason, and for just how stupid it was which made everyone laugh harder. Everyone was on the floor or slumped over wheeze-laughing, and then Paba came into the room completely unaware what was going on and questioned the shit out of why are there people wheezing on my floor- which you guessed it, made everyone laugh harder if that was a thing. Just, stuff like that. 

Though, a tragic event did occur during these years. Echo had passed away and Ev felt so alone without her little feline familiar. She cried for days, and held a solemn heart for months.

When she was 19, she fought her first demon. A member of the clan had gone rogue and betrayed Lavellan. Ev was alone in the woods collecting herbs when the desire demon cornered her. It was the first time she had ever truly fought something, especially one that could fight back. Ev had a strong will, though, “Yeah? Well right now my biggest desire is to see you dead. Can you make that come true, demon?” It was an intense battle, but Ev ultimately sent the demon back into the fade. At the clan, they had already defeated the culprit that let in the demon and that was the first time Ev had seen a dead body like that. It was extremely unnerving and she felt light headed almost instantly. She knew the culprit, at least she thought she did, and now they were dead, defeated in battle. Deshanna and Taelhen helped Ev to deal with the sight and praised her for defeating the demon.

(A/N: All these pics of Ev is what she looked like before Inquisition, and well before she got her many scars. I know I mention that often, but idk who’s new to her story or not.)

As it stands, Ev had a very supportive and loving childhood despite Valonna. She had dreamed of adventure and getting away from the clan for a while, but she proudly calls it home and she does miss the people during the events of the Inquisition.

[lore-a-lie]

Chapter 1: Her Threads Dividing Heaven From Hell

Daily Life

Kaede opened her eyes to the sound of her door sounding on the verge of breaking rather than the announcement, so sleep must have won out after all at some point. She shot from the bed to open it while it was still in one piece and became smothered by something big and warm for her efforts.

“GONTA IS SO HAPPY KAEDE’S NOT DEAD!”

Well, that answers who has her trapped in a bear hug right now at least.

“Umm. Yes. I’m not. That may change in a bit if you can’t let go a little but I’m definitely alive right now.”

“OH. Whoops, Gonta is sorry. Gonta came by because he got worried, Gonta was asking the others why you hadn’t come to breakfast yet and Kokichi said it cuz you were too busy being dead.”

“... Excuse me?”

“Well Kiyo said you might be talking to Shuichi’s hat, but Kokichi insisted you were so sad you just died of loneliness. Like his bunny.”

“... What?” (Should I be happy Kokichi chose to make it sound less like I lost my mind or committed suicide over a boy I knew for only a few days or offended he put this idea in Gonta’s head at all?)

“Everyone will be so happy to see you fine!”

And with that and little that could be said to stop him Gonta “escorted” Kaede to the dining hall like a true gentleman should. If it was more socially acceptable to practically to carry the “lady” in question somewhere she wasn’t really going in the first place. Inside she found evidence of Kirumi in the kitchen, Kibo having an argument with Kokichi about his robophobia, and Korekiyo sitting further apart eating on his own. Somehow. Without taking off his mask or undoing the zipper. No time to get distracted though.

“Hello everyone! As you can see I’m not dead, nor have I lost my mind and taken to talking to inanimate objects. So what’s been going on?”

“Well Kibo’s here so you are still totally talking to an object right now but okay, we’ll pretend to believe you! It’s not like you’ve ever lied to us before or anything.” It was hard to tell if the grin on Kokichi’s face as he spoke was one of mockery or malice considering his words, but the reminder stung all the same.

“I am not an object! I just finished explaining that-”

“And I wasn’t listening. Obviously. We’re still just waiting for everyone else to show up, and I was thinking it was pretty weird for us to be up soooo early and ready to plan while our “Leader” moped in her room over some emo murderer some more.”

“Huh? That’s not what you told Gonta-”

Korekiyo chose to interrupt Gonta’s confusion to try and smooth over the conversation without Kokichi’s excuses or lies derailing things. “It’s good to see you are doing better at any rate. And as it sounds like my own suggestion has been misconstrued I merely offered that you had taken our friend’s hat with you with the intent to use it as a coping mechanism to help you through your grief. Briefly as we’ve known each other you two had connected rather strongly, what happened to him was very traumatic, and you were clearly distraught. Belittling any chosen methods to help you deal with your loss or questioning your mental health were never my intentions. There are far less conventional means of doing so after all and no one should judge you for mourning the loss of a life. Particularly one who helped save all of our own in a way.” Kokichi flinched a little at the cold glare Korekiyo directed at him as he finished.

“Are you feeling better this morning Kaede? Can I get you anything? Is there anything you’d like for breakfast?” Kirumi came out of the kitchen with a cart stacked with food and began to effortlessly lay out the filled dishes on the table without breaking her concerned eye contact with Kaede.

“No, I… Thank you for your concern but I’ll be okay. Maybe something simple like pancakes? Only if you’re already planning on making something, I don’t want you to feel you have to do anything.”

The pancakes helped give some sense of normalcy and were easily the best she’d ever had, but if grandma ever asked after all this was over she’d still have to say hers were the best. She took a seat between Korekiyo and Kokichi as she waited for the others to arrive. Miu arrived a few minutes later and made a beeline for Kibo’s side where they started animatedly talking about something. Hopefully work safe. It sounded like it might be about making upgrades to some of Kibo’s features, since for an Ultimate he is rather underwhelmingly normal and now they really have the time to help change that.

It was after Angie came springing in that Korekiyo had eaten enough to go back to “Professor” mode and give a lecture about the cultural trivia and origins related to their food, though only Kaede and Kirumi paid it any attention. Kokichi was more focused on trying to get a reaction out of Kibo and Miu over anything he could, which proved as effective as it was amusing for him.

Benefits of sitting close to the two creepiest kids of this hodgepodge group of friends: the not-so-local religious zealot can’t ask you to join her cult and both love the sound of their own voices so much there’s little pressure to do much talking yourself so you can just focus on eating and breathing and trying to get the images of that godforsaken trial or Rantaro’s corpse out of your head for a few minutes of peace.

After Angie came Kaito, Ryoma, and Maki. Kaito must have tried dragging both of them here, but since Ryoma is here he was likely only a token effort while Maki looked ready to kill something. (Maybe she’s so good with kids because she scares them too much for them to risk giving her trouble but not enough to the point she stops being “cool”? She does look kinda badass right now, in a scary sorta way.)

Tsumugi, Himiko, and Tenko were next, which was a bit odd for a girl as energetic as Tenko to be so late.

Once everyone was together it was time to start planning on what everyone was going to do. The day before everyone finished exploring all of the newly unlocked areas. Tenko even set up a little poolside date for most of the girls and Kibo. Maki wanted to stay in her lab again instead and Miu was too busy due to a project Kaede asked her about so she pushed for Kibo to go in her place. (No one really knew what to make of these memories about the Ultimate hunt either since Rantaro was no longer with us.)

“Has anyone else watched those tablets the Monokubs gave us? I tried to but when saw that I got someone else’s I stopped so I didn’t see the whole thing.” (What? More tablets? When? Why?)

“Kaito got one too? Atua said the one Angie got would mean nothing to her, so I just started trying to incorporate it into a sculpture instead for now. Since damaging it was said to be against the rules.”

“Wait what do you mean you got someone else’s? Mine had my name plainly written on it but it wasn’t anything special.” Tsumugi sounded very confused, almost concerned, by this turn of events. But even she knew what was being talked about, which was more than Kaede could say. (I better fix that then.)

“I didn’t see anything when Gonta got me this morning, what are you guys talking about?”

“What, really Kaede? We all get motives delivered beyond our doorstep and you can’t even get ahold of yourself enough to even notice? Jeez, some “Leader” you are-”

“OI, watch it you brat! Besides if these are motives it might’ve been for the best most of us didn’t fucking see ‘em.”

Kibo was quick to latch onto this idea. “I agree with Kaito! If they are truly intended as “motive videos” for us I think the easiest way to protect ourselves from this threat is to ignore them.”

“Oh come on, it’s because they’re motives that we need to know what’s on them all! If we don’t check ‘em we’ll have no idea what we’re up against. Especially if not all these videos have a one to one switch, who knows who’s seen what by now! Doesn’t take much to lie about this ya’know.”

“You are suggesting we all divulge the contents of whatever video we were given yes? Have we and the owners of their respective videos no right to privacy anymore?”

Everyone started arguing over what to do, some sharing who’s videos they had while others refused despite trying to find out who had their own. If Kaede didn’t do something people would probably leave to take matters into their own hands, and who knows what that could lead to. (Well Shuichi and Rantaro know now, don’t they?)

“Wait everyone! Kokichi might have a point here.” She tried ignoring the look of shock that quickly changed to one of smug superiority on Kokichi’s face, but she certainly had everyone’s attention now.  

“If we watch all of these videos together we’ll better know what’s being used against us. Depending on the contents of the motives it may also be good to have others to talk to about them too, rather than dealing with any stress they could cause alone. I don’t see anything Monokuma wants us to have being purely for our own benefits after all, and who knows if the contents of these are even true or not.”

Everyone quieted down to weigh their options. Ryoma was the first to speak up.

“Not all of these motives could even lead to a person trying to kill you know. I just want to know what reason Monokuma thinks would work on me.”

“Gonta thinks it could also help us get to know each other better! Gonta never watched movies with friends like this before.”

“And what of those of us who would rather not know? Or those who think their video could do more harm than good? Will you just force us all to participate for the sake of your own paranoia?” Maki’s deduction hit a little too close to home, but Kaede ignored that best she could. It was a fair point.

“Come on now Maki Roll, it can’t be that bad. And if you don’t want to know what your own video’s about you can just leave the room for a bit or something. If it’s because the idea scares you then at least we’ll be able to let you know if those worries were founded or not and help you through it either way!”

The look on Maki’s face was enough to reconsider how safe of a plan this really is. Or at least think twice about using that cutesy nickname for her as that’s when this glare started, not that Kaito noticed. (But this was the easiest way to regain some faith in my friends again. The easiest way to prevent another Shuichi.)

“Well everyone let’s just take a vote then! If we want to watch the videos we’ll find a way to hook them up to the projector in the AV room, and if we don’t we’ll just gather up all of the videos and decide on a safe place to lock them all up as a group. Since Angie mentioned destroying them isn’t an option for us.”

Ryoma’s hand was the first up when voting for the videos, followed by Kokichi, Gonta, Kirumi, Kaito, and Kaede. Tsumugi took a while before saying how since she already saw her own video it wouldn’t be right to vote any other way. It looked like Tenko was going to wait for the “no” votes but when Himiko raised her hand so did she.

Maki, Angie, Kibo, and Korekiyo voted against it. Miu said she wasn’t really interested either and already had other projects to work on so she just didn’t want to be put in charge of projector duty.

With the results in, 9 for it to the 5 against,  it was easy for Kaede to announce their decision. “So looks like that’s settled then! Think we could watch them all tonight, about when nighttime starts? It’ll be better to get this over with sooner rather than later to keep more of us from peeking early.”

“I guess I’ll take a look at the projector now and tell ya if it’ll look like I’ll need to make any adjustments to it for this to work, but sure sounds like a plan so far. Or ya’know even if it doesn’t we can just bunch together and use the tablets directly while we netflix and chill-”

“I’m fairly certain that’s not a program any of us have access to nor is “chilling” a part of neutralizing a potential threat on our lives.”

“I think it’s plainly obvious that’s not exactly what she had in mind Kibo.”

In an effort to keep Tsumugi from explaining the “joke” to the naive robot right now Kaede carried on. “So anyway I guess we’ll just have some free time for ourselves for now!”

As everyone left the dining hall at that implicit dismissal Kokichi took a moment to pull Kaede aside.

“What are you playing at here exactly?”

“I don’t get what you mean.”

“I suggested the video thing and you just agree with it? You even twisted my words to make it something easier for the others to swallow to help them see it “your way”. What are you trying to get here?”

“I’m choosing to trust your judgment on this, even if our reasons for both coming to this conclusion differ. While I may be the leader this is a role your talent’s better suited to and I think working together like this can benefit everyone”

“... Even though I’m a liar. A lying liar who lies. Who nobody really likes if they have two brain cells to rub together. How do you even know I’m not lying about my talent? Or that I’m not hoping you’ll mess up so badly this buddy-buddy thing you’re trying to foster between us crashes and burns?”

“Because you’re smarter than me, possibly all of us. And putting our lives at risk could be just as dangerous to your own. You caught onto what Shuichi was doing… Long before I did. You’re able to point out when I’m doing more harm than good, and unlike me, you aren’t afraid to play the bad guy.”

“Who says I’m playing? I’m the Ultimate Supreme Evil Leader after all. And getting everyone killed would totes be to my benefit for this game.”

“Well, I think you’re lying right now. Because if you were it’d be more to your benefit to keep all this to yourself, since I’m more predictable to you than you are to me.”

“... I’m not sure if this attitude is making you more interesting or just a total snooze fest.”

“Then I guess time will tell won’t it?”

                    Previous Chapter      AO3 Version      Next Chapter

[setoangel01-fanfiction]

Disclosure

Beautiful Disaster - Chapter 6 (Previous Chapters)

Fandom: Sing 2016

Pairings: Johnny x Ash (Jash)

Rated: T

Chapter Summary: Johnny finally tells Ash exactly what happened tonight and everything leading up to it…

Fanfiction.net

A03

Johnny grew silent again, lips slightly pursed even if it appeared to cause him some discomfort before he took a deep breath; chestnut eyes glazing over a bit as he started from the beginning…

"It started a few weeks ago... I-I was heading home one night after practice and I saw these three shady looking animals hanging around the neighborhood with apparently no motive in being there. They didn't say anything to me, just kept staring as I went into the garage and shut the door behind me; i-it wasn't exactly threatening. Heh." Johnny chuckled mirthlessly. "I mean, it was nothing too out of the ordinary. it's admittedly not the best neighborhood so shady characters hanging around are to be expected. Lots of drug activity and gang hang-outs and whatnot, so I never really took it too seriously for no one ever done anything to me before. After awhile, I drummed it up to the fact that perhaps they were simply lost, high, or something easily explained away but…it didn't turn out that way."

Ash's stomach plummeted.

"I would see these same animals perhaps once a week at first, then it evolved to seeing them all the time. They didn't do or say anything to me and even stopped staring when I'd make my way into the garage but…that's when I also began noticing things moved around in my house. Doors I know I closed when I left were now wide open when I returned. Objects askew, things moved from one place to another - it was obvious someone was in the house when I was gone. At first, I chalked it up to my imagination and you know as well as anyone that Buster has been having us in practice and rehearsal for so long that afterward, you're just exhausted - so, naturally I thought perhaps I was seeing things or remembering wrong." Johnny closed his eyes for a moment, shaking his head slightly, his brow brushing Ash's wrist and she couldn't help but flinch a bit at the unexpected contact.

"I-I should have realized someone was casing the house sooner - it's so painfully obvious now that they were making sure there was no security systems or alarms. Or even checking to see if someone else lived with me I guess too. Yet, nothing was stolen so I just ignored it…but then..." Johnny sighed, voice tapering off and the upcoming silence became too much for Ash.

"...but what?" she asked, voice trembling a bit in her throat.

Johnny swallowed a bit before answering, "Last week was when I started getting this weird feeling whenever I was at the garage. Nervousness, anxiety - I dunno why exactly, but it was stifling. I-I couldn't sleep, barely ate and kept glancing out the windows all the time for apparently no reason. Something just didn't feel right whenever I was there alone, so, as I told you before, I started staying here at the theater for the past week." his face turned a bit; worried about seeing perhaps Ash's pitied look in his peripheral even if there was none.

It felt so embarrassing but he ignored it and continued.

"My gut was telling me something was off; like a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach whenever I went back to the garage to retrieve more clothes or whatever I needed that day. I-I didn't want to stay at the theater but I found myself not having much of a choice. I just wanted to make myself scarce and hoped whatever happened would happen when I was gone. Ya know, just let them take what they wanted; nothing much of worth in there to lose a life over." he helplessly shrugged, his shoulder brushing her side.

"...then what?" Ash gripped the thick fur covering his shoulder, teetering on every syllable that slipped off his tongue.

"Tonight happened…" Johnny muttered; his brows furrowing at reliving the horrendous moments but knew he had to.

Ash swallowed thickly; not sure if she wanted to hear how Johnny acquired his horrific injuries but she needed to know even if it would hurt like hell; even if it was brutal and made her want to scream and hunt those bastards down. String them up by their claws and dip them into vats of acid for daring to lay a single paw on Johnny...

As much as it hurt…she had to know…

"I was on my way home after I'd run some errands around town. Moon let us out late so I didn't finish up til around 10:00, 10:30 so I was a lot later than usual but I didn't think much of it. I focused mainly on balancing on my skateboard while riding through the alley to get to the back of the garage. My only intention to be there tonight was to shower and get some extra clothes for tomorrow's rehearsal when I saw the same three animals blocking my way... They'd never approached me before so naturally, my first instinct was to run…but I didn't.

"Rather, like a bloody idiot, I-I spoke to them, 'Good evening, isn't it?' I said while smiling, acting casual, all that jazz - but their expressions didn't change whatsoever. The closer I looked at them in the dimming light, I knew they were the same animals I'd been seeing around for weeks. A thought flashed suddenly that perhaps they saw me on TV, thought I was rich and planned to mug me or something," Johnny chuckled, shaking his head at the inkling of it. Hell, if they stole his wallet, they would have been sadly mistaken for there was nothing more than a five dollar bill inside the folded black leather.

"They didn't answer." Johnny continued, "Saying nothing and just staring at me with more disdain than anyone had ever had before…and remember, this coming from a chap whose own dad disowned him for awhile." Johnny smirked a bit but Ash saw the pain flashing in his eyes; hand trembling as she brushed it across his jaw in what she hoped was a comforting gesture. She was never good at these things...

"…Speaking of which, they finally spoke and all they did was mutter my father's full name and that shocked me for no one had called him that in a long time - not since I was a lad. He's known by his nickname even to those in his gang and for these three animals to know it in its entirety… I knew immediately that something was wrong. I was frozen for a moment and in that time, the one in the middle muttered something about a massive debt my father owed them. H-How since he was in the pen now, his debts transferred to me. Of course, I tried playing dumb - acted like I had no idea who they were talking about but they saw right through it…Can't exactly hide the fact I look a helluva lot like my dad."

"...and you've always been a bad liar." Ash muttered, reaching out and running her hand across his head with the rag over his un-bruised cheek.

"Yeah. I know…but I had to try." he shrugged helplessly and Ash bit her lip as he continued his harrowing tale.

"Anyway, they didn't take very kindly to the fact I acted like I didn't know about them or how much my dad screwed them over. I was frozen, words failing me when I realized they weren't buying the act. After awhile, they stopped talking and rather started approaching even closer and as much as I wanted to hold my ground, they were huge! One steroid-jacked jaguar with a x-scar on his cheek, a gigantic crocodile with the nastiest set of teeth I've ever seen, and a wolf with mangy, ratted fur and a really bad attitude. Indeed, one of the strangest gangs I'd ever seen…and they were cornering me.

"My mind was everywhere in that moment a-and I kept telling them I hadn't the faintest idea of what they were talking about and all they kept demanding is that I pay them what my dad owed them! How he screwed them over on a deal and now it was time for payback. …I-I knew right then that this was not going to end well but before I could even think of an exit strategy, they just ganged up on me."

Ash's eyes widened, her breaths quick even as much as she tried to calm them. She knew how the story ended; Johnny lived but it still was horrifying to listen to what he had gone through tonight.

It fucking broke her heart into pieces…

"It all happened so fast…" Johnny whispered; eyes glazed as he lost himself to the traumatic memory from tonight, "I-I didn't know what to do. The first instinct was to run but they had cornered me! I was up against this brick wall and some trash cans and they were just closing in - so I did the only thing I could do - fight. The smallest was the wolf so I naturally attacked him first - socked him as hard as I could in his snout and he just screamed - warm blood squirted all over me…" he told, flexing his right hand and glancing down at his swollen knuckles with a look of disgust echoing in his tense features.

...you punched him?" Ash couldn't hide the surprise in her voice.

"Heh. Yeah…" Johnny chuckled, acknowledging how strange in fact it was, "Guess when a life and death situation rears its ugly head, you find yourself doing whatever you can to survive. Ya kinda just react and…my dad was always keen on self-defense; had me learning to box since I was in middle school." Johnny shrugged and Ash was surprised she never knew this about him.

"You box?"

"Yeah. Boxing and kickboxing mainly - it was more for exercise than anything, but hey, it came in handy."

Ash absorbed this new information for a moment until she realized the conversation got way too light for her liking - situation far too serious for them to be chatting and shooting the breeze as if everything was normal.

"T-Then what?" she asked, pushing for the final part of a story she still partly didn't want to hear.

"Yeah. Well, anyway, that bloke was out of commission; wailing and holding his bloodied face was when I was suddenly blindsided by my legs being kicked out from under me and I just fell hard on my back. From what I gathered, the croc had slammed his tail against the back of my knees and I fell like a sack of potatoes. On the ground - defenseless; the air knocked out of me and I-I couldn't breathe…but I got up anyway." he spoke and Ash felt a chill go down her spine.

"At that moment, my whole body just pumping with adrenaline as the jaguar came out of nowhere and began punching me in the face - him and the crock essentially taking turns kicking my arse. I blocked their attack as much as I could but it all happened just so fast and my vision was getting all blurry when he smashed his knuckle into my eye. I could barely see and…then all of a sudden, the wolf with blood covering most of his face was snarling as he jumped over to me with the glint of a metal in his hand..."

Ash's hand left his face as she brought it up to cover her mouth; terrified she'd let out a pathetic whine or sob if she didn't stop herself. Icy eyes taking in Johnny's battered face, a faraway look in his eye and pain echoing in his features she hated seeing on his normally friendly, serene face. It killed her inside when he spoke the next six words…

"...I really thought that was it…"

"..." Tears filled Ash's eyes; pain erupting in her chest at seeing all the emotions playing out on his face - his descriptions playing in her mind's eye and it hurt so bad…

"Yet just something came over me and I knew I was going to die if I didn't do something. I needed to get up so I had kicked the jaguar back enough to pull myself semi back to my feet and...before I knew what happened the wolf had made it to my side and…this pain - it erupted under my right armpit. I couldn't feel it at first - just this force hitting my rib bone. In that moment, my body just reacted…

"I was able to throw my arm out, slamming the wolf back into the wall just enough to run out from in-between them. The croc tried to trip me but I jumped over his tail and by some twist of fate or God having mercy on me that night - my skateboard was right there. I landed on it perfectly and even with my eyesight blurry and darkening, I…I was able to get out of there. Blood was pounding in my ears but I could still hear them screaming at me…but I didn't look back. I just got out of there and I wasn't sure where to go. I-I thought about going to the police station but…my dad…if he knew…" Johnny's voice tapered off again.

"My dad can't know…So, once I saw the Moon Theater, I grabbed my board with one hand and climbed up til I got to the window I always kept open… I-I wasn't sure what to do, just thought I'd hide out here until…" Johnny sighed, "I don't know…it just seemed like the only safe place I could go…and…well, you know the rest."

Ash had so many questions on the tip of her tongue but said nothing.

Heart pounding painfully in her chest as she saw the hopelessness filling his chestnut eyes. Fighting off the rise tears that filled her own, Ash gently brushed the rag ever so gently over his uninjured eye, wiping a tear that had escaped in the process. He gazed up at her for a split second before his eyes wandered back out to nothingness. The silence the only other entity in the room and she accepted it; continuing to run the rag over his face - not even aware of how long they sat there in silence. Both lost in their heads of what was told tonight; questions and concerns both had so cloyingly thick in the room but neither felt in any mood to confront them. So, they stayed silent. Enjoying the rare moment of peace they found themselves in.

It was slow for him at first. Relaxing in the tender ministrations she bestowed on him. The cooling rag soothing the swelling of his cheek as well as the nerves flitting right underneath its surface. All the tension and anxiety right below was calming with her touch. Before he'd realized what was happening, his eyes started slipping closed and breathing slowing down as she continually ran the cool rag over his swollen cheek.

All the while, Ash was doing her best to ignore the smears of blood the rag collected over the minutes. Chestnut eyes really not focused on anything, more looking through her to the ceiling but Ash didn't mind. Still absorbing his story and everything it pertained... How these three animals nearly stole his life away for some damn debt his father had who knows how many years ago? It shook her to her core but as Johnny began relaxing into her touch, she allowed those thoughts to wane.

The silence was comfortable; mellowing…dare she think relaxing? Whatever it was, she appreciated it right now.

A night that had been filled with so much anxiety and stress now was more lax even if the situation he had been through kept filtering through her mind. Johnny had been hurt and nothing was solved, nothing was figured out so he wouldn't have to worry about a repeat performance…but he had told her the truth. Johnny had relayed the events of the night and that alone meant more to her than anything.

Ash slipped the rag over his face. Gently cooling down and hopefully alleviating the pain and swelling if only a little bit - she still wanted to badly for him to get more help than she could provide but knew asking it now was completely out of the question...

"...Thank you, Ash…that feels a lot better." Johnny breathed out a moment later and Ash almost choked on another sob that wanted to escape when he finally looked at her. Although his right eye was nearly sealed shut with the swelling and lip split and very painful looking, he did look a little better…

"You're welcome." Ash muttered; running her fingers gently across his cheek in what she hoped was a comforting motion. She continued the ministrations, her own mind buzzing and finding it difficult to relax completely went on for some time.

Staring off into some far off distance when a few moments later, they gravitated back to Johnny's face - and to her surprise and relief - he had fallen asleep…

[cookie-waffle]

what are your headcanon personalities for the 3d links?

OOOOOAAAAAAAHHH I LOVE TALKING ABOUT THIS!!!!!

I did post some of my headcanons in detail a long time ago but since I love talking about them it wouldn’t hurt to talk about them again. Fair warning though, this reply gets LONG.

SS: Basically a big cuddly bunny. Very sweet and affectionate. He’s always daydreaming and losing focus in class (mostly due to his ADHD). He’s also slept in every possible surface you can sleep on in Skyloft. And when he was younger Groose and the gang™ would even have a contests to see how many random objects they can place on and around him before he notices and wakes up (the highest record was 3 books, 10 sky stags, 30 small loftwing feathers, 7 eggs, 2 pot lids, 20 rupees, and a remlit). But there little contests eventually stopped when Zelda chewed Groose out for it. Speaking of Zelda, Link actually kinda enjoys how much she fusses over him. He likes having someone who looks after him, which could be partially because his parents died when he was very young so the only one who was every there to encourage him and make sure he didn’t get into any trouble was Zelda. Does Link have a crush on Zelda? Oh yes, ABSOLUTELY. But the kid has a tendency to be super oblivious to things sometimes and he can’t seem to figure out that Zelda likes him too. Almost all the other kids and even professors at the academy can see it (hence why Groose feels so threatened by him) but Link just seems completely oblivious to it all. He doesn’t even fully realize the full extent of his feelings for her until he has to save her from Gihrahim and The Imprisoned. Now as for his relationship with Groose, Groose was never the kind of bully who was brutal and beat Link up and try to torture him constantly. He and the gang™ would just throw some bad insults and pull mean pranks on Link from time to time. Even if he did want to be brutal he’d never have the guts to do it out of fear of Zelda getting upset at him. However there was ONE pretty bad incident where Link and Groose got in a big fight and Groose ended up giving him a bloody nose. (Groose did get suspended for a while after that.) However despite all this Link never really hated Groose, at most he just found him really annoying and irritating. But after the events the events that took place in Skyward Sword, Link and Groose actually became pretty good friends.Before Link went on his quest he didn’t think too highly of himself or think he was that special. All he felt like was some kid with barely passing grades trying to become a knight. He wanted to become partially to honor his parens who ere both knights and even met at the academy, and also because his grades at his old normal school were horrific and Knight Academy has easier academic classes (so like math, history, and english) but is seen as an acceptable alternative to normal school since being a knight is considered an honor. During his quest he began to mature a lot more. No matter how scared or exhausted he got he refused to give up because he knew Zelda needed him and the only way to ever see her again was to keep pushing on. His journey did get emotionally taxing at times but he did manage to pull through without losing himself. And he didn’t do it just because someone told him to, he did it to save the girl he loved. After Zelda was crowned as the first queen if Hyrule she did marry Link who then became the first king. When they were in their early to mid 20s they had some kiddos who Link absolutely spoiled rotten.

WW/PH: Weird awkward gremlin child. Doesn’t sleep quite as much as Sky did but he still sleeps quite a bit. Not the most socially inept Link and certainly was not the most confident Link when he started out his adventure. But his little sister Aryll looks up to him nonetheless. Although he was not anywhere near prepared for what he ended up getting thrown into on his 12th birthday he did always have some sense of adventure. He would often explore and play the forrest with his little sister. Growing up as the oldest child on the island, Link is used to playing and communicating with younger children. But unfortunately he also has a bit of a hard time socializing with children around his own age. All the other kids on outset island were like 4-8 years old, the only time he saw kids his age or older than him was on the rare occasion that a ship would stop by to restock IF it just so happened to have a family with children on board. The first kid his age he actually befriended was Tetra who is FAR from a normal child. At first Link was even quite intimidated by her until when eventually he got used to her shenanigans. Tetra did not like him AT ALL at first. Like Link, she never had much interaction with children her own age, but unlike Link, rather than growing up with nothing but younger kids, she grew up around nothing but adults and learned how to boss them around pretty well too. Link saw her as bossy and mean at first and Tetra saw him as kind of a pest who was just there to get in her way. But they did eventually warm up to each other and became close friends. They were an odd couple but somehow it worked out. Link never gave leaving Outset much thought until his sister was kidnapped. His original plan was to get her back as fast as possible and head back home. Buuut as we all know that didn’t work out as planned. Throughout his journey Link gained much more self confidence and wasn’t as easily intimidated by challenges. After the events of WW and after Tetra and the crew™ went out to find new land, Link wrote letters to home every day. He tried to keep his family updated on his adventures as much as he could. And years after the events of PH Link and Tetra did get married and became the rulers of New Hyrule. They had like… way too many kids…. Like… 10…. TEN CHILDREN. (4 of which they had before they were even married) The little gremlins could be absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to control at times but Link still adored them anyways. Link’s family came to the wedding. Grandma was still alive but very old and weak. If there was one last things she wanted to do it was to see her grandson as a full grown man with a family. Aryll was a grown woman and had a family of her own. And Linebeck was there too! And Grandma recognized him… and Linebeck recognizes her… she does not remember him fondly and starts threatening him… apparently he dated her daughter years ago and broke her heart, came back 4 years later, promised to marry her, and then fucked off again never to return…. Oh wait then this must mean…. oh shit… THE WEDDING RECEPTION HAS SUDDENLY BECOME VERY AWKWARD.

OoT/MM: Oh this one…. this one ain’t happy… Link was the only child in Kokiri Forrest who often dreamt of the outside world. When he set off on his quest he was cheerful excitable and ready to see new sights and meet new friends! He was a but scared of adults at first because up until then he had never seen an adult before (other than the Great Deku Tree that is). This carried into the part of his journey where he aged up 7 years. He still only had the mind of a young child so he still felt like he was on a fun adventure. But that did not last… he eventually became extremely traumatized, basically ripped away from his childhood and forced to grow up when he wasn’t ready. He had lost who he was before. When he was sent back to his childhood came back mature beyond his years but also traumatized. He could never be the same again. This only got worse in MM. He started to get angry more often, felt much older than other children his age. He could however, handle a lot more hardships than he could have in the past. He was not afraid to get up in people’s faces, he was not easy to intimidate, some monsters would even cower away in fear when they saw him. Despite how shockingly young he was he was able to give off an intimidating presence if he wanted to. After the events of MM he never really was able to find Navi, and it took him many years to find his way back to Hyrule. Along the way he ended up losing Epona in a battle. He was all alone. He NEEDED to make it back to Hyrule. During the events of OoT he did indeed end up falling in love with Zelda/Sheik and was hoping to ask her hand in marriage when he finally made it back to Hyrule. But when he finally did it was too late and Zelda was already married to someone else. He ended up marrying Malon instead and had children with her. He did love her very much, but there was always something deep inside that mad him yearn for his soulmate. Malon did notice this but decided never to bring it up. But even though Link never became the prince of Hyrule he was able to get a position as a high ranking Knight. One night before Link set off to battle, he felt in his gut something bad was going to happen. So did Zelda. They tried to convince themselves it was just nervousness but deep down they knew something was going to happen. So for that one night, the two let themselves give in to their feelings and they kissed. Just once before he left.Link never returned from the battle.

TP: He looks stern at first glance but he’s really quite gentile and kindhearted. He has a great love for animals, is very good with kids, and probably unironically uses the word “ya’ll'id’ve”.Teenage girls go absolutely crazy over him but he’s not too interested in dating or girls. He’s kind of a chill dude actually. Unlike Sky Link, he can focus on things easily and is very good at completing the task on hand quickly. He’s also nice to talk to because he’s a very good listener and never interrupts or speaks over people. He has very good manners for a boy his age. As for where Link came from, no one really knows…. Hanch and Jaggle just sorta found him wandering around aimlessly in the forest as a toddler and all the villagers in Ordon made it a group effort to raise him. There were some blod stains on his clothing when he was found that did not come from him, suggesting that his original caretakers were killed by monsters (who were most likely really after Link because of his triforce birthmark). He was never really around other Hylians growing up, so Zelda was the first Hylian he ever met, or at leasts remembers meeting. Link found Midna a bit irritating at first because of all the teasing but after a while he would start to playfully smart mouth her back and the two started to make it into this sort of game of who could come up with the best sassy comebacks. Before his journey Link never felt like he had a big purpose or anything like that. He didn’t even know that the triforce birthmark he had meant anything. He was raised by humans with human culture and legends, not Hylian culture. So he sure had a lot to learn. When he discovered that he was the hero of legend it was all a bit overwhelming. But he did it anyways. He wanted to make sure his friends were okay more than anything. After the events of TP Link stayed in Hyrule and became a knight. When he got older he started to fancy the (now queen) Zelda who he had become good friends with over the years. Unfortunately… he didn’t live long enough to propose to her. He died at the age of 20 of a serious infection from a poison arrow that went unnoticed. When he was still ill but knew he wouldn’t make it he requested to be brought back to Ordon so he could pass away at home, and he stayed in his wolf form the entire time so his friends would not be able to see how much he was really suffering. Zelda insisted to be at his side. She had a great respect for him and he was a good friend. She never fully knew how he felt about her, but the final look Link had given her when he looked into her eyes for the last time was a look of pure love. There is a legend that says each time the hero or princess dies they can see all of their past live’s memories in their final moments…

BOTW: Can be shy, very quiet, but incredibly sweet. Like Sky Link, this Link has ADHD. Except instead of not being able to focus, he has the type of ADHD that makes him VERY VERY HYPER. As a young child it was hard to keep him from climbing over and running over everything. And on top of all that he has incredibly high energy levels. He very reckless as a little kid but he saw it all as just fun and games. He would laugh, giggle a lot, and even speak loudly. But it all changed when his father started to train him as a knight… Most would assume Link chose this path. People think he did it because he wanted to be like his father. But truth be told, his relationship with his father was actually cold, controlling, and emotionally draining. Link’s father made him dedicate all his time to training. He was no longer allowed to play with the other children because his father wanted to discourage childish things like playing. He was deprived most of his childhood. He did however, become an exceptional knight. And he learned how to control his hyperactive tendencies. But he also developed high levels of anxiety. He was used to being severely punished if he slipped up so he made sure to try his best to never show what he was feeling or thinking when on the job. And when he found out he was the hero of legend his anxiety got all the worse. He couldn’t even speak anymore he was so terrified of making a mistake. He became selectively mute and only spoke around close friends like Mipha, or when someone who has a higher level of authority asked him a question, speaking in a very soft, quiet, and sometimes even difficult to hear voice. (this didn’t stop him from muttering smartass remarks @ Revali under his breath from time to time though)When he was assigned to be Zelda’s knight it changed his world. He was surprised how much he could relate to her, he LOVED listening to her ramble on and on about her interests, and every time she smiled it made him briefly forget all of his anxieties. However, fearing that he may say something he regrets, he rarely spoke to her. So all he could do was be there next to her, silently falling more and more in love. Eventually Zelda did get him to open up more and although he was shy at first he did greatly enjoy speaking with her. They related to each other a lot and felt an instant connection.After Link awoke from the shrine of resurrection, he did not remember anything of his past, including his father. So he no longer felt too much of a pressure to hide his emotions so much. He did however, carry on some habbits he had from back then. Things like rarely speaking unless spoken too and some of his anxiety issues stayed. When he regained all his memories of Zelda he remembered how in love he was. The emotions would hit him hard. And gave him more the reason to want to save her. On his quest he showed a lot of his old personality traits that he used to show when he was younger. Being a lot more cheerful, very friendly, and just wanting to run around and go on adventures. He also eats. A LOT. And this kid will literally eat anything (except live frogs). He’s literally cooked a pile of rocks before and he STILL ate it. He’s trained himself to be quite the chef even though not all the dishes always end up great (hence the rocks). Link also likes animals similar to Twilight Link. He is especially fond of horses. He’s one of those people who has this strange ability to calm down horses a lot more quickly than most people. Even though Link can hide his emotions there is one thing he can’t hide. And thats blushing. When he blushes his face and ears get very red and it is noticeable. And he blushed so much around Zelda that she just assumed that’s what he normally looked like. After the events of BOTW Link did eventually reagin the rest of his memories piece by piece. Some memories he was happy to remember, and others would sometimes make him an emotional sobbing mess and Zelda would have to stay up all night comforting him. When Link and Zelda finally revealed their true feelings for each other Zelda almost immediately wanted to ask for Link’s hand in marriage but she stopped herself out of fear of overwhelming him. So she waited to ask him a year later. They decided to start a family soon and to have many children because the Yiga clan was still out there and would not hesitate to kill Zelda given the chance, ending the Goddess’s bloodline. Having many children would be kind of like insurance. If one of them gets slain there will still be others left to continue the bloodline. A morbid thought that Link and Zelda did not like to think about but it was true. They ended up parenting 11 of their own children and 2 that Link adopted on impulse because he has a huge soft spot for kids and Zelda of course could not refuse. (yes know that’s more kids than Wind Link had but at least these ones were PLANNED).Link and Zelda made sure to give them the childhoods that they never had. Link made damn sure that he did NOT raise them like his father raised him. He did teach them how to climb, shoot arrows, and basic sword combat for survival reasons but he did his best to never force anything onto them. And surprisingly, the kids were usually well behaved (much unlike Wind Link’s kids). This could be because Link has a very calming presence around people. People no matter what age seem to be much more at ease when he’s around, especially Zelda.

[captain-shitpost]

Tangled String Chapter 1

Relationship tags: UF!Fontcest, Kustard, Kedgeup, Sans/UF!Papyrus/UF!Sans

Rating: E

Tags: Underfell, Genocide Route, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Established Relationship, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder-PTSD, Amputation, Hurt/Comfort, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Sexuality Before First Heat, Healthy Communication, Healthy Relationships, Smut, Fluff, Slice of Life, Ecto-Genitalia, Soul Sex, Non-Binary Frisk, Fluff, Everyone Acts Edgier Than They Really Are

Summary: Sans has given up. After his fight with the Anomaly, he knew it was only a matter of time before he dusted, and could you blame him for wanting to be with someone he knew in his last moments? But when he took a shortcut to Grillby's, something went wrong and flung him to a new world-one where it's kill, or be killed. His brother is alive but completely different, and a different version of him enjoys pissing him off. 

For some reason, they both help him get better again.With their help he may just learn to live again, as long as he lets them in. After all, that's a lot easier said than done.

Ao3 link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/10654206/chapters/23576172

Sans was having an oddly good day. He got up this morning to Boss calling him a lazy fuck and kicking him out of bed, ate an admittedly dubious breakfast of bread and mustard, took a nice long nap at his sentry station, scammed a few people out of their money selling shitty hotdogs and eventually wandered over to Grillby’s. Almost 2 hours later, he was pleasantly buzzed and waiting for his brother to burst through the doors in exactly 37 minutes and drag him home when he felt a tingle near the base of his spine, followed by the sound of a large object crashing behind him and breaking wood. He whipped around and saw a previously empty bar table smashed into splinters, the monsters that were near it scrambling away to safety.

The entire bar was completely silent for probably the first time since it opened. It lasted all of 10 seconds until the crowd erupted into activity.

Everyone was scuffling, either trying to back away from the table or trying to approach it out of curiosity. With the entire guard out on duty, the patrons were getting rowdy, right up until Grillby slammed the glass he was cleaning hard on the counter, crackling in warning. Nobody was stupid enough to challenge the bartender’s authority, so once he flicked his hand everybody backed away from the rubble. He approached it, fireball ready to fly in hand, and Sans quietly followed him, right behind his billowing coattails.

He saw the way Grillby stopped and straightened out, the minute stutter of his flames giving away his surprise. He shuffled next to the taller monster to get a better look, and holy shit it was a skeleton.

A rather unusual skeleton, though Sans had little experience with his own kind. They were unusually short (he had been sure he was the only short skeleton to ever exist until now), wearing a hoodie in a rare shade of blue, and slippers. Slippers. They had a style that Sans could appreciate, even if they didn’t have common sense. And he saw all that before he noticed the stream of dust falling out of their sleeve.

Grillby was fast on his feet, bending down to pull the skeleton’s hoodie off, Sans feeling a rising sense of nausea when he saw the way their arm was slowly dusting, the decay creeping up to their elbow. Grillby frowned.

“…Whiskey,” he barked out, Red Bird jumping off their barstool and looking for the requested item. The fireball Grillby summoned changed colours from purple to green and he quickly pressed it into their chest. Sans approached the skeleton’s head, trying to see if they were awake.

He saw that their-his eyelids were closed, just like Sans expected from his lack of reaction. What he didn’t expect was his face being a mirror image of his own, except his teeth were blunt and all accounted for, and he had no scars on his face.

Shit. He knew who this was. He knew who this was and he knew why they were dusting so slowly, despite not being a boss monster. His eyes flickered to the skeleton’s ribs and he was unsettled by the deep gash running across them diagonally, visible through the tatters of his shirt, starting from his right clavicle and cutting left to the bottom of his ribs. A red liquid was pooling from it, dripping slowly down his ribs, soaking into his clothes.

He was pushed aside by Red Bird so he could put the whiskey down next to Grillby. Sans backed off to let them work and pulled out his cellphone, letting out a relieved breath when he saw the battery wasn’t dead.

“grillbz, i’m calling boss. he’s gonna want to know about this,” he announced, dialing the number and listening to the annoying beeping. Grillby barely had time to nod, frown of concentration on his face, before Boss answered.

“SANS I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU FORGOT YOUR MONEY BEFORE EATING AT GRILLBY’S AGAIN I’M GOING TO THROW YOU OUT THE WINDOW.”

Sans grimaced. Calling his brother to annoy him and consequently get nagged at was usually the highlight of his day, despite Papyrus limiting it to once a day to prevent slacking off during work hours, and this was definitely not what he wanted to talk to his bro about. “uh. didn’t, actually. there’s kinda a situation at grillby’s. can you send in one of the guards?”

He heard Boss’ huff on the other end. “NO, THEY ALL HAVE TRAINING WITH UNDYNE TODAY, I’M COVERING FOR THEM. I’LL BE THERE IN A MINUTE,” he exclaimed, the sound of snow crunching loudly audible from the speaker. “WHAT IS THE SITUATION?”

Red looked around, checking to see if all the other monsters’ attentions were on the passed-out skeleton and bartender, then quietly slipped out the door. “a monster fell into grillby’s table. he’s, uh, pretty messed up,” he muttered, swallowing nervously. “fell, as in fell out of thin air. grillbz is trying to keep him alive.”

There was a pause on the other side in which Sans heard only breathing and running. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN, FELL OUT OF THIN AIR? LIKE A SHORTCUT? YOU SAID ONLY YOU COULD DO THAT,” he exclaimed. Red could see a dot in the distance, approaching Snowdin from the forest, kicking up snow as it moved.

“ho boy. listen, bro,” he said, knowing it sounded more personal than Boss, “this is gonna be really weird and i promise i’ll try to explain after we’re alone, but once you get here you gotta make sure the guy stays with us, alright? at least at first.”

The dot was covering a lot of ground, and soon he could see the red scarf billowing behind it. He turned off his phone and stuck it in his pocket along with his hands. He always fidgeted with them when he was nervous, and showing your nerves was a sign of lack of control over emotions. A vulnerability.

Slowing down from his mad dash yet not breaking a sweat, Papyrus stopped in front of him. Sans let out a breath of relief he didn’t realize he was holding as the other skeleton straightened out, scapulas rolled back and chin up, looking every bit the vice-captain of the Royal Guard. Stars, his brother was cool.

He leveled his eye light at Sans, making him subconsciously straighten up. It was a purely professional look, so he responded in kind. “SHOW ME.”

Sans stepped into the bar, stepping to the side and holding the door open for Boss. His boots made an intimidating ‘click, click’ on the wooden floor, and all the monsters’ gazes, except Grillby’s, snapped to him. It was ballsy, making so much noise when you walked. It showed you were confident enough you didn’t need to hide.

They approached the passed-out skeleton, watching as Grillby tried to get him to choke down some whiskey to heal him, apparently hitting the limit of what green magic could do. He saw Boss stop for a moment, a flash of surprise showing on his face, but he snuffed it out before anyone else noticed.

“WHAT’S HIS STATUS?” Papyrus demanded.

“Dead, if you don’t fuck off and let me work,” Grillby snapped back. He was probably the only monster in Snowdin that could get away with blatant disrespect of that level, but given that he was usually cooperative with the demands of the Guard, Boss let it slide this time. There was a mutual dislike yet grudging respect between the two monsters, and Sans figured that if it had been anyone else that talked to him that way they would be eating their teeth.

With a grumble, Papyrus stepped back and turned to the bar patrons, barking out demands and questions at the shaky, half-drunk monsters to gather information. He wouldn’t be getting a lot, but Sans knew his brother would have to write a report about this later.

Grillby suddenly gestured him over, so Sans followed his non-verbal instructions, propping the skeleton up so Grillby could force liquid down his throat. The first few tries ended with the whiskey simply dripping through his thoracic opening and down his chest, but after two more rounds of healing magic the passed-out skeleton managed to reflexively convert the substance into magic. The toughest step done, Grillby’s posture relaxed a bit as he fed the skeleton more alcohol.

Sans looked around at the patrons. Papyrus was keeping them busy with interrogations, and Grillby wasn’t the nosy type, so he quickly checked the monster.

*SANS 1 HP 1 ATK 1 DEF

*1 LV 0 EXP

*He ’s given up.

Sans winced. He had a strong hunch already that, somehow, this was a Sans from an alternate universe. Even if his name wasn’t evidence enough, the horrible HP was. But what really unsettled him was this Sans’ lack of EXP-not only was it extremely rare for adults to not have a single LV, but this Sans had obviously been in a fight to the death. Never killed someone, was in a fight to the death, and looking at his flavor text…it painted an unsettling picture. He wondered what happened to him.

“His HP isn’t rising above 1, I can’t help him more than this,” Grillby huffed, putting the bottle away. He knew the fire monster’s posture meant he gave up on his counterpart, but Sans knew that his HP wouldn’t rise above that with healing magic and food. Grillby got up and dusted himself off, then went to collect the splinters of wood that used to be a table off the floor, breaking them into smaller bits and munching on them as he went to get his cleaning supplies.

Papyrus noticed the healing had stopped, so he interrupted the stuttering of the drunk fish monster in front of him and approached. He looked at Sans’ imploring gaze, then picked up the monster, acting cold but carefully cradling his neck, hand underneath his hoodie so nobody could see.

“WE’RE KEEPING HIM DETAINED IN THE SHED UNTIL HE WAKES UP, I CAN’T RISK HIM DUSTING ON THE WAY TO THE NEW HOME JAIL. WE’RE LEAVING. DON’T START SHIT WHILE I’M GONE,” he bit out at the patrons. They nodded stiffly.

Sans grinned a bit more genuinely as he followed him out the door and into the snow, taking his usual position on his brother’s left side and slightly behind him, around an arm’s length away. He carelessly waved behind him to the bartender, and with a ringing the door closed behind them.

Papyrus shifted the skeleton from a bridal carry into a more comfortable position, keeping him propped up on his hip and his skull resting on his shoulder. Sans payed careful attention to the skeleton in case he woke up and tried to attack. He felt the slightest bit of irrational jealousy that he tried to smother. His brother had never carried him in public like that.

It was always nice to see the way Papyrus relaxed once he entered their home (or shed, in this case), when he was finally out of the eye of the public. His posture was still great, but his shoulders weren’t so tense and his spine slouched into something approaching natural. He approached the bed in the corner, well-made in case Captain Undyne needed a place to crash, and set the skeleton on it. Looking over his clothes, he removed the tattered shirt, having to rip it up to get it off completely, then lowered the skeleton’s shorts slightly to check for underwear. His counterpart must have been as lazy as he was, because he wasn’t wearing any, so Papyrus let them be. His fuzzy slippers came off next and then, with a slight blush that made Sans snort and laugh, Papyrus tried removing his socks.

The right one came off easily and landed on the ground with a wet slap, but when Papyrus tugged off the other one, Sans flinched seeing it squish together, like there was no bone to fill it up. Sure enough, it was half-full of dust, and Papyrus spilled the contents on the floor with a curse after he lost his grip on it. Half the skeleton’s foot was gone, all his fingers and metatarsals were missing, as well as all the bones up to the calcaneus. Papyrus clicked his tongue in disgust and left the room, Sans moving closer to continue the examination.

The skeleton’s left foot was half-dusted, and looking carefully he noticed his right foot was missing the very tips of his top phalanges. Checking the rest of his legs and spine, he saw no wounds and was surprised by the utter lack of scars. Even with 1 HP, there were ways of getting wounds without dusting. So no EXP, no previous injuries, but still somehow in a battle to the death. Sans was finding more questions the more he looked for answers.

His right arm was fine, but the left was missing his entire forearm and the bottom part of his humerus. Sans grimaced. If his counterpart was left-handed like him, that would be a bitch to get used to. He saw the giant gash on his otherwise pristine ribs, and noted that while it still looked new and ready to open again if put under strain, it was scabbed over. His skull was in good shape, and he lifted the lids to see his eye lights flicker weakly into life, blown completely and hazy at the edges, indicating that the skeleton would be out for a while.

His brother came back into the room with a first aid kit and cleaning supplies in his hands, carefully proceeding to clean the area around the wound so he could dress it.

“So,” Papyrus said calmly, much quieter once he didn’t have to intimidate random citizens and careful not to disturb their new guest. “What really happened, Sans?”

Sans watched the way his brother’s long fingers unwound gauze, winding it around the smaller skeleton’s ribs. Where the hell should he even start? “remember when i told you about when i was a scientist?”

Papyrus frowned, securing the gauze with pins. “Of course. It was the first damn time I managed to get you to be honest about anything,” he snipped, squeezing out a washcloth to wipe the dust and red liquid off his counterpart’s bones.

“shit, you’ll never let that go, will ya bro?” Sans snickered. “one of the ideas we worked with was parallel universes. like, apart from our own, there are an infinite number of universes out there. and they’re all different. like, some will be completely different from ours, but some will be similar, just with a few changes.”

Papyrus hummed in thought, frowning at how dirty the water got once he put the cloth in. “So it could be a world like ours, but the monsters are on the surface.”

Sans grinned. Damn his bro was smart. “exactly. or it could be a world where monsters don’t even exist, or never even got trapped underground. hell, there could be one that was exactly the same as ours, except the only difference was that i sold 10 hotdogs instead of 11 today.”

“For fuck’s sake, Sans, I told you that’s illegal. You’ll lose your damn job if they catch you at best, jail time at worst, you bonehead,” Papyrus growled, trying his best to stay quiet.

“hey, it’ll be fine, no need to worry. i know a guy, so i won’t get boned,” Sans said with a smirk, letting Papyrus fume on his own. “but as I was saying, this guy here is probably from one of those other universes. did you try checking him?”

Papyrus dropped the cloth in its basin, the water a disgusting mixture of grey and red. Sans could tell the exact moment he checked, because his expression changed from its default tired annoyance into a look of surprise, the frown deepening as his sockets widened. “Wait, what the-”

“yup. he’s me from another world. i’m not sure how the fuck he got here or why, and i can’t tell yet how dangerous he is. but we should keep an eye on him until he wakes up and i can ask him a few questions. and we’ll see after that. he could cause a mess if he wakes up and has no idea where he is,” Sans explained, looking at his counterpart’s face. During his research, they found evidence of other universes, but they never figured out a way to access them. By all calculations, it was impossible to contact them, so how in the hell did this guy end up here?

Papyrus’ expression shifted into something more somber. “So he’s you? You from another world?” he asked quietly, and if it was anyone else but Sans listening they wouldn’t be able to hear the note of sadness in his voice. Sans gently took his hand, rubbing it with his thumb. He knew exactly what his brother was thinking. He could already see the way his brother was planning their next meals to accommodate the small skeleton’s needs, and the way his eye lights flickered over him he knew he was sizing him up for new clothes. For all his bravado, his brother could be such a bleeding heart sometimes.

Sans raised his brother’s hand and clacked the back of his phalanges with his teeth, more of an idea of a kiss than an actual one, but his brother smiled at it anyway. “hey. grillbz did what he could, there’s nothing else we can do for him. he’s gotta pull through on his own,” he mumbled into his brother’s long phalanges, then lowered his hand. He still didn’t let go, though. “come on, get some food and go sleep. i’ll keep an eye on him in case he wakes up.”

Papyrus scoffed. “You’ll fall asleep after five minutes, Sans, I know what you’re like in the evening. You go first, I need to clean up the floor anyways. Take time off tomorrow to keep an eye on him during the day, for once you have an almost decent excuse to skip.”

Sans chuckled, getting up to stand in front of his bro, then bending forward and giving his brother a quick clack on the teeth. “you’re the coolest, bro,” he whispered, his voice going low and full of awe the way he knew made Papyrus blush. Papyrus chuckled deeply and pulled him closer by the hips, wrapping his long arms around his body.

“Of course. After all, I am the Great and Terrible Papyrus! Everything I do is the coolest!” he said half-laughing, before going in for a second kiss, this one much longer. Sans felt his magic spark, and he opened his mouth with a smile when he felt Papyrus’ tongue lick for entrance.

He stood there for a while enjoying the languid yet skilled movements of his brother’s tongue, the way their magic sparked and ebbed at the point of contact, spreading into his bones. He felt the responding heat in his pelvis, but he knew with their unexpected guest needing attention nothing more would happen tonight. All the same, once they broke the kiss he was reluctant to move again, enjoying the way Papyrus nuzzled his skull into the side of his neck, shivering when he let out a warm, content sigh, way too much like the one his brother made in…other situations. He suddenly really regretted his counterpart’s appearance.

With an embarrassed chuckle and a blush, Sans backed up, watching the knowing smirk on his brother’s face. The bastard knew exactly what he was doing.

Payprus smacked him on the ass, laughing loudly at Sans’ yelp of surprise. “Go sleep, brother. I have this covered.”

Sans grumbled, rubbing his ass. His sacrum stung, and it did nothing to kill his arousal. “asshole. we’ll see who’s laughing when i spank you.”

Papyrus grinned, too cheeky to really sell the look fake innocence. “Is that a promise?”

Sans flipped him off with a laugh, then entered the living room through the door that connected it to the shed. It was a new edition, Papyrus nagging him to make it after Undyne bitched about having to walk in the snow to get to the kitchen. The things he did for his brother.

He grabbed the bag of leftover popato chisps from the fridge for his before-bedtime snack, then took a shortcut to his bed, chucking off his sweater and shoes and crawling under the covers. He knew if he ate in Papyrus’ bed he’d get crumbs all over it, and while he gave precisely zero fucks, Papyrus would have a nervous breakdown.

He listened to the sounds of his brother cleaning downstairs as he ate, calming him down until his eyelids were drooping. He didn’t know what happened to his counterpart, or what would happen next, but he knew the routine he had with his brother was going to get blown to shit. It will be such a pain keeping an eye on the guy, if he even survived.

In the very depths of his soul, he felt a pang of worry for the short skeleton. He scoffed and tried to ignore it, but it wouldn’t let go. He let it carry him into an uneasy sleep.