#lol don't take me too seriously

[honeybreadbee]

Lmao I adore the beef between the head vamp and Frost

[cinnamonsikwate]

chilchuck spends the entirety of his daughters' visit hovering suspiciously between them and a certain dwarf. when it's time for the girls to go home and no proposals have been made, he breathes a sigh of relief — awkward coworker x family member romance route narrowly avoided!

a couple weeks later meijack shows back up unannounced, backpack laden with tools and thigh-high boots looking uncharacteristically spiffy. bewildered and betrayed, chilchuck rounds on a clueless senshi, only freezing mid-swear when meijack interrupts to ask after namari's whereabouts.

the last thing he remembers thinking is, "shit, i forgot about the other dwarf!" before promptly blacking out.

[zuzu-draws]

["....And there is a certain Hunger within him, that is difficult to satiate.."]

[elyfonart]

Been having COMPLETELY normal thoughts about a pre-timeskip Germa AU recently

[welcometogrouchland]

(ID in alt) I literally said I was gonna post this month's ago and then never had the wherewithal to describe it and so I didn't Lmao (said with pain). But since I'm thinking of opening my commissions I figured I should remind ppl that I. Yknow. Can draw.

Lots of Steph here (I had major art block making all of these and my brain worms for her kept me going) + some sprinkles of stephcass for Cass nation to enjoy!

[butterflysonnets]

yes i'm rooting for m*leven breakup because byler is neat but mostly? i'm rooting for m*leven breakup for the sake of el and mike.

to me, their romance was always a puppy love born out of a combination of social pressures, naïve curiosity, and a lack of true understanding regarding intimacy and romantic love and what it really is. it was real in that they do truly, deeply care about each other and they are close friends, maybe even shared an attraction, but a maturing romance is so much more than that. they've grown up and out of being boyfriend/girlfriend, and that's okay! i think television/film needs to show more often that most of us don't have definite "soulmates" or first childhood loves that we spend our whole lives with. it doesn't mean these relationships meant nothing and didn't impact us, it just means they've run their course and that something else is in the cards, and this is part of life!

i've always felt el was at her best and most confident self when broken up with mike, discovering who she was and what she liked alongside another girl her age instead of just relying on mike for mentorship on how to live in the real world. she deserves more of an opportunity to find herself, her autonomy, and her independence, and to love who she is, and she's made it clear she's felt insecure in the relationship with mike because she isn't being loved and understood the way she wants, needs, and deserves from someone who is her partner.

also, it's okay if mike doesn't love her in "the way he should". he is not obligated to love her romantically and stay in a relationship with her just because she's a girl, because she "needed someone", or because he cares about her a lot. he shouldn't be pressured into a romance if it's not truly coming from his heart. he deserves freedom to find out and honour who he is, too, instead of just staying in his non-functional first relationship — one he got into as a child, essentially — and defining himself that way because it's what's expected when a boy and a girl are close. he loves her in some way, yes, but it's okay if he doesn't feel comfortable or secure being her boyfriend anymore, for whatever reason that is. he's felt insecure too, and that's valid and it matters.

they are their own people and are steadily growing and changing every day. they need time to figure out who those people are, and it's become clear (at least in my opinion) that those people aren't meant to be a couple at this stage.

they deserve freedom. they deserve to grow up and be authentic to themselves and not feel like they need to lie for the sake of a relationship. they deserve to move on from this version of their relationship that isn't making them happy and rekindle the best part of their bond: their strong, beautiful friendship. they don't have to be a couple if it doesn't make them stronger and better and happier people.

i think it would be healthy and wonderful for a show, especially one consumed frequently by young adults, to show a relationship starting, progressing, and ending on good terms in this way. sometimes things don't work out, and that is okay.

[mishalikessoundsandcolours]

I feel like starting a tag game so let's go :D

If you could take three people (celebrities, fictional characters, mythological beings, anyone really), steal their gender and mix these three genders into the ultimate gender for yourself, which people's genders would you take? (feel free to add pictures)

I'll go first:

Rick Wright

Peregrin Took

And David Bowie in this particular era

Tagging (no pressure to do this ofc!):

@falldogbombsthemoon @aseriesofshocks @horrormovie-addict @tabb1tha @vengefulvermin @percys-lemons @coffeefromvoid @killingthemoon84 @skelegenie @miko-fellco @insectsinthestars and anyone else who wants to join!! (sorry if I forgot anyone)

[feralkwe]

absolutely no shade to people who hold them, but i personally dislike headcanons that posit urianger as inept at or completely without experience with sex or arts or other expressive acts due to him being bookish because to me it is reductive to bookish people everywhere. but also it feels reductive to his character to me.

the man taught himself astrology in a world without a night sky. he helped bring a depth of understanding of the experience of humanity to moon bunnies who hadn't met a person under 20 feet tall in thousands of years. he befriended the fae. he comforts the sad and scared and sees unique traits in those others might dismiss. he demonstrates compassion and regret and grief and joy. he jokes and partakes of the fun of ribbing your loved ones and revels in being weird and dramatic.

urianger augurelt understands the depths of an array of human (not hyur, but people's) experiences and finds ways to broaden his horizons wherever his interests are piqued, even if sometimes awkwardly or imperfectly. i see no reason why these other things would be any different.

that man is a sloppy wet kisser tho.

[happyflux]

Saw a really long post today where someone was talking about D&D vampire lore, compiling what different sources say about it (including the Baldur's Gate games) and, y'know, for the most part it was a good post, it's a useful and good quick reference on what the different sources have said about vampires.

(readmore because this turned out long oops)

But then at the end, and in an addition to the post replying to a tag someone had put, the post began talking about applying all this lore to BG3 specifically, and it made me think. Because the takeaway that post had seemed to be that the things about vampire lore which are consistent to the rest of D&D do apply to BG3 as well, and that Astarion is simply an exception due to his extremely strong willpower and sense of self. And that just doesn't seem right to me at all. It feels like missing the point.

BG3 did some very specific, very interesting things with the lore of D&D. In terms of vampires, yes, but also more generally, BG3 pretty consistently gives the message that the things that are said in the rulebooks are not necessarily true, but are oversimplifications and generalizations that are believed to be true in universe.

BG3 got rid of racial ability scores, giving every race the same "choose a +2 and a +1" that variant humans can have in D&D. BG3 not only got rid of racial alignments, but got rid of alignments entirely - there is no detect evil and good, protection against evil and good has been replaced with a spell that mechanically protects against outsiders of various kinds, there is no alignment selection for player characters, no alignment showing up on inspection despite pretty much entire stat blocks being visible, and the companion characters all have complex morality that doesn't fit neatly into any alignment box. BG3 establishes and many times repeats that Volo, the in-universe author of a lot of the texts we have access to about Faerûn, is an incredibly unreliable source. BG3 has Halsin, a large-built and hairy elf (something which the rulebooks claim is impossible as elves are slender and graceful and have no body hair), say that "sometimes I think conventional wisdom is too narrow about what someone can or cannot be".

On the topic of vampirism specifically, BG3 has Jaheira (who is established to be wise and knowledgeable due to being an experienced and well travelled adventurer) say "They say that the only thing a vampire can feel is hunger. Nothing else touches them - not grief, or mercy. Or any sense of what is just. Who knows. There is often more ignorance than insight in what 'they' say", in response to Astarion remaining a spawn. And, on an Astarion origin run, it is established that at least half of his siblings can be convinced to want to oppose Cazador (it's just that non-origin Astarion chooses to antagonize them instead), and they can be persuaded not to feed off of people, and even without Astarion suggesting it Dalyria will take the initiative to help and take care of the other spawn. And, and this I think is crucial, every vampire we see in BG3 aside from possibly Vellioth is established to have been through circumstances which could easily twist someone and turn them horrible, no magical twisting of emotions or inherent existential evil required.

To play Baldur's Gate 3 and take away from it that the things which D&D lore has previously said about vampires apply to this game, and that Astarion is just somehow Special because of his Extremely Strong Willpower and Sense of Self feels like completely missing the point. Vampires in BG3 are evil because they're stuck in a cycle of violence and suffering and aren't able to escape, and when they are given an escape from that cycle they are able to heal and recover and be more than what they were made. Astarion does not have exceptional willpower, Astarion got lucky. He got out, he made some connections, he got a chance to heal and unlearn the things he'd been taught before being thrust back into Cazador's presence, and that's why he's able to break the cycle. Or, alternately, if the people he finds when he gets out don't push him to unlearn the things Cazador taught him and instead reinforce those beliefs, he becomes just like him. Again, no magical twisting of emotions required.

[zombiedcattle-art]

he can be a little gaudy . as a treat

[foundationsofdecay]

Okay, I've finally made a list of most of my Sleep Token lore and analysis posts! Divided by categories under the cut, with improvised titles and brief descriptions for each.

Posts are listed in reverse-chronological order per category, except for crossovers.

The catch-all hashtag for these is #aqua's offerings, in case you prefer to look through them that way.

Longer Form Posts:

Duck Into Deep Blue Safety - Comparing the composition of Drag Me Under, Atlantic, and Fall For Me as to how solos are used to describe physical isolation, separation, and the spectrum bridging spiritual wholeness and estrangement.

Show Me What Wounds You've Got - On begging, emotional vulnerability, and our agency as audience and character.

If a Man Falls, and Nobody's There to Hear Him... - An addition-by-reblog to this post by @melit0n about Fall For Me, continuing the exploration of silence and vocals and the implications of Vessel's isolation and actions in the song.

So He Gets To Die A Saint - Martyrdom and the desire to save and be saved, but the uncertainty of who is saving who, and to what end.

Something Was Between You and I My Dear - Musings on the theory posited by @a-s-levynn that separates Vessel as his masked self and as his unmasked self into two separate characters, and what that means for a potential reading of the events of the trilogy, particularly its ending.

I Would Turn Into A Stranger In An Instant if I Could - A deep dive into DYWTYLM with themes of identity loss and the effects of a long-term yet one-sided relationship.

Flood Me Like Atlantic - An examination of the metaphor of being dragged into and under someone's love throughout the course of the discography, and how it reflects in the shifting characterization of both Vessel and the character being sung about.

Would You Invite Me In Again? - A look at cycles of union and disconnect, of love as a melding of body and soul in addition to a rending of body and soul, and the cyclical nature of this dichotomy, primarily through the lens of Drag Me Under and Blood Sport.

So Let's Play - A look into how the language of games and winners and losers is used and evolves throughout their discography.

With My Love as Your Garden - Exploring the lyrics regarding flowers and gardens, of upkeep and of fire, and how it relates to the relationship between Vessel and his lover, described here as Sleep.

Welcome Me In, Deep Into You - Side-by-side examination of Vore and Drag Me Under and their language as it pertains to consumption and consummation, and the respective tones those carry.

Drag Me Under AGAAAAAIN - An addendum to my second Sleep Token x TDH crossover post (linked further below) that brings Drag Me Under into the fold of Atlantic and Telomeres, as requested by @moonchild-in-blue. Elaborates further on the entwining of Vessel and Sleep, of their love and the idea of inevitability.

Duet - Proposing and elaborating on the concept of the song Give being a duet between Vessel and Sleep with alternating POVs.

Other Other Eye - A look at Ascensionism, particularly the lines regarding eyes and attention and conflicting desire. [note: written very early into my posting theory/analysis, somewhat outdated]

Catching a Falling Knife - Using the metaphor of "catching a falling knife" and the general stock market as lens to examine the power dynamics between Vessel and Sleep.

Mini Musings:

Rain Can't Wash Away the Tar on the Inside - Consideration of the lyrics implying Vessel has been trapped by tar and subsumed in it both from the outside and from within.

Keep an Eye on the Road - A quick talk about visuals of crashing cars and mentions of various roadways, and being trapped in untenable situations.

The Vicious Cycle - Cycles and the breaking thereof within the discography.

My Puppet Queen - The dehumanizing language used towards Vessel, specifically as a toy or object.

Glitches in the Code - Considers Vessel as a literal algorithm, and how that reflects in his vocals and degeneration throughout the narrative and what it would say about his relationship with Sleep.

Mirror Talk - Notes on mirrors and both outer and inner reflections.

Are You Watching Me? - Different ways eyes are described as it relates to prey and predation, and Vessel struggling with human nature and humanity.

A Different Harbor - Musing on the peculiar use and otherwise of language regarding boats, harbors, and anchors.

You Want Someone To Be - Concept post about a more literal take on lovers entwined, to both want to become the other, and the loss of understanding of what it means to be yourself without them.

Crossovers:

TDH x Sleep Token #1 - Love as a crashing wave, questions of fate, choosing love despite the clear doomed nature, using The Dear Hunter's Waves as a frame of reference.

TDH x Sleep Token #2 - Uses The Dear Hunter's Vital Vessels Vindicate as a lens to provide a different perspective through which to examine Vessel, death, and what it means to choke and suffocate underwater.

[naivety]

okay i need feedback from the autism mentall illness website um. this is going to read like an AITA post. brother vs half-sister (who are currently my dependents do to their own individual disabilities + ptsd/depression) spat i will skim the details on but i'm worried my sister will discount my take since i'm not autistic myself so. am i crazy to call it ableist to look at an autistic person (23) who is clearly going through it dealing w long term depression, a world that doesn't give a shit abt him, unemployment, very self-isolated and burnt out barely leaving his room because the world is an ableist dumpster fire with zero opportunities for him, and then bring up childhood abuse he's suffered and his diagnosis as reasonable factors on top of this to worry he'll [checks notes] abuse my cat just to hurt me or even worse have a breakdown and kill me and his other sibling in a violent episode, a train of thought i probably wouldn't even be having were he not [checks notes] mad at me for the first time in my life?

like i don't have any other read on this kind of fear-based characterization other than ableism. like those are very real things in his life but she never points out any current violent behavior, of which there are none, only the one (1) instance of him lashing out when he was like 14 and Officially Diagnosed Low Empathy she thinks is a concern and Hateful Looks toward her since he stopped getting along with her, that's it. i tried explaining to her why i, someone who's lived w him his entire life, can vouch for how unlikely he is to do anything like that, especially when it's again not based on anything he's actually currently doing except for isolating in a way that is much more indicative of him potentially being a danger to himself than anyone else, and being cold towards her specifically, and i thought she had let it go, but when i brought it up off-hand in a conversation tangentially related, she continued to defend and justify her Concern about the potential directions his behavior could lead to because [checks notes] other people in similar situations have lashed out and killed their entire families according to. true crime books or videos she's watched on youtube as far as i'm aware. ignoring the fact that her and i have had the same or Worse childhood abuse and have acted similarly isolated in the past, or for her literally just as currently as him, and she's not expressed any worry past or present about either of us doing anything like that, in my opinion obviously because i haven't cut her off due to our differences like he decided to. like am i big sibling biased because this is pissing me off so bad.

[xproskeith]

If Twenty One Pilots is a cult, attending your first show and experiencing Trees live for the first time is the final act of initiation/indoctrination. And if you're in the pit for that moment, there's no going back ever.

[heymrspatel]

i need a matching christmas pants ramble

Y E S! please i love this so much. it's also one of those things i didn't know i needed until like right now, you know?

ian comes home with his arms full of bags the day before christmas eve. he left to pick up some groceries, he said. some snacks to tide them over. chocolate. popcorn. hot chips. because they're not moving a muscle on christmas eve, he said. he's calling it The Plan. it's been settled. no one reach them. no one come knocking. do not disturb will be in full effect, he said. christmas day? yea, that's for the family. they'll gather around in the living room and watch movies and eat and drink - have a classic gallagher throwdown. but, ian has to prepare for christmas eve. that's just for him and mickey, he said. quiet. calm. cozy...

they need pajamas!

he's gone for a couple hours. and for the life of him, mickey can't figure out why. pop in. walk down the snack aisle. pop out. what else could hold him up? ian not giving anything away. being cryptic and secretive and... endearing.

ian 👅: i got the bbq pringles do you want another flavor? ..... ian 👅: no baby i'm still here ian 👅: grabbing a few more things ...... ian 👅: relax mick... i'll be home in a bit ..... ian 👅: it has NOT been 5 hours ian 👅: you miss me that much? 😏 ..... ian 👅: i just saw a dog in a shopping cart!!! ian 👅: IMG_0710

he barges in. with 284 bags. stands in the doorway. shifty eyes surveilling his surroundings. finally locking onto mickey. standing in the kitchen doorway, hands on his hips, nibbling a hole through his bottom lip.

a standoff. two pairs of eyes. assessing. mickey sees the bags threatening to slip out of ian's fingers. an arm stretched out - stopping a big tote bag from sliding all the way down, straps caught on his bicep. ian sees the lit up phone in mickey's hand, opened to their messages. the amused as fuck look on his face. eyebrows to the sky. a smirk he's about to kiss off in a few minutes. once he shows mickey his bounty.

ian kicking the door shut. mickey thumbing at his eyebrow. ian relieving himself of his treasures. mickey sighing. putting his phone down. walking over to help with their "snacks". and.... he sees it. The Plan.

lots of snacks, yes. but also, a blanket. candles - four different ones. a couple of mugs. hot chocolate. whipped cream. candy canes. a gingerbread house kit. a mistletoe. and... pajamas.

two midnight blue pajama pants. with a green christmas tree, red gift, and white snowman pattern.

two. matching. pants.

and like hell mickey is wearing those! LIKE HELL! absolutely not-

-------

debbie finally put franny to bed. the excitement of christmas morning prolonging their bedtime routine by an hour. finally she gets to sit and exhale. picking up her phone for a little scrolling time. swipe swipe swipe. scroll scroll scroll. tap tap tap... and oh! a pause on iangallagher96's story. he's posted three pictures. one: two mugs of hot chocolate. two: ian and mickey. ian with a whipped cream mustache and mickey with a candy cane sticking out of his mouth like a cigarette. three: their overlapping legs. propped up on their coffee table. ian's hand on mickey's thigh. wearing matching pajama pants.

The Plan setting off a yearslong tradition.

[kyouka-supremacy]

Who in sskk would you say has the higher IQ?

IQ as in, conventionally smart? Then definitely Atsushi does. I'm sorry. I've said it many times before, but I don't think Akutagawa is a particularly perceptive person. Or witty. Or intelligent in general. It's due to external factors, he never got the chance to have anything that could resemble a proper education; but it's also a matter of his nature, he's just so impulsive, and narrow-minded, and stubborn, he really has the thickest skull ever. But seriously, especially in a world full of geniuses, Akutagawa simply doesn't shine for sharpness of mind, and is way too impulsive and instincts-driven to be a person that relies on reflection or rationality. Everything that Akutagawa does is the epitome of irrational, it's one of the greatest appeals of the character.

Atsushi is smart,,,, I've talked about this also, and I think it's less sustained by canon than for Akutagawa, but I like to think he's a very observant and perceptive person whose intelligence doesn't show because he's constantly surrounded by geniuses, but still he is smart. When it comes to observations skills, I find it easy for him to have them due to his childhood of ill-treatment and abuse: as a defense mechanism, he learnt to be especially observative of people's behaviour in order to tell what sets people off and be able to prevent any escalation, I think that's a widely shared abuse survivor experience. Something among these lines is shown in chapter 51:

I also think Atsushi is a very fast learner. He's observant, and that results in him constantly absorbing other people's knowledge. He's often asking for explanations for Dazai and Ranpo's reasonings, and although I know more often than not it solves an expositive role in the storytelling picture, there's still the fact that it makes Atsushi a person who's constantly trying to understand the reality surrounding him. Atsushi is also shown to be very cool-minded and calculating in fight: from him sliding under Akutagawa and attacking him from behind successfully eluding having to face him front-off in chapter 4, to him retracting his tiger limbs to escape Rashomon's bonds in chapter 12, to the strategy he elaborated with Tanizaki (and his ability to catch up on that) to defeat Lucy in chapter 16, to his attempt to outsmart Fitzgerald in chapter 34 (that, although failed, was still driven by rational thinking nonetheless), and the list could go on. The way in fight Atsushi is shown to ponder over and implement the advices people like Dazai or Mori offered him further makes me believe he's really good at absorbing information. And Atsushi is probably book smart, too! He's compelled by reading to the point he would even risk the orphanage director's punishment just to sneak into the library and read (not explicitly supported by canon, but I can take a guess). According to the second guidebook, he spends his leisure time borrowing books from the library and studying. Overall, he really seems to be rational in all the places Akutagawa is on the contrary driven by impulses¹.

It's like… A physics law when it comes to sskk, that Akutagawa will have the most despicable trait while Atsushi has the trait that is conventionally considered the best; or at least that's as far as my characterization of them goes. Atsushi is beautiful, Akutagawa is ugly². Atsushi is polite, Akutagawa is rude. Atsushi is pure, Akutagawa is stained. Atsushi is smart, Akutagawa isn't. Atsushi is lovable, Akutagawa is destined to cause repulsion in everyone he meets³. In the end, none of this matters: they're no different where it counts, that is, Atsushi isn't any more morally just than Akutagawa is. Atsushi in not any more good than Akutagawa is (I actually suspect the contrary is true). But as far as appearances go, it's still important to portray them as opposites, because Akutagawa being unlovable and Atsushi receiving all the love Akutagawa didn't get for being his contrary - even though deep down they're the same - is almost everything their relationship is about. It's also a big part of why they act like they do towards each other: it's source of Akutagawa's bottomless envy for Atsushi; it's source of how devoted and loyal he will grow to be for him - reaching the point of giving his life for him -, because he can't see Atsushi as anything but perfection. It's source of confidence and of that certain justified hatred towards Akutagawa Atsushi feels because to his eyes Akutagawa is about the worst person to have ever walked on earth. It's source to their wish to annihilate the other as the opposite they can't exist at the same time of. It's the reason Akutagawa had to die, because he's not the good one. Overall it's also expression of Akutagawa's thematic struggle to be good and unavoidable failure at that because of the constraints of a narrative that never wanted him to be good.

But I also think they can make it work. More precisely, I think sskk can make it work when both of them can overcome and defeat the narrative dichotomy they found themselves stuck into: by recognizing that deep common ground of “we're the same” and that where it matters, in morals, neither of them is better or worse than the other. The Beast universe exemplifies that for us readers, but they don't know Beast, so they'll have to realize it by their own. About that, I think Akutagawa already caught on, because he was faster to call out the hypocrisy of Atsushi's good guy façade, and from that it's a short distance to realizing that, as much as he hates to admit it, at his core Atsushi is not that different from himself. It's taking a little more for Atsushi to realize, because it's harder to get down from that higher moral pedestal he believes himself to be on, but with his whole reevaluating Akutagawa after he stopped killing and sacrificed himself for him (and then saved him again. And then showed him how formidable of a team they are when they find a common ground.), I think he's getting there.

Tl;dr: Atsushi is smart and Akutagawa is stupid and yes it fits their personalities, but way more importantly it's consistent with the themes they carry that translate in what their relationship is like.

¹ For further reading on how Atsushi can be witty, please refer to @/gloomierdays's tags on this post. ² For further reading on how Atsushi and Akutagawa's looks can be used to reflect their characters themes, please refer to this post. ³ For further reading on how Akutagawa being not smart (as far as conventional definitions of smart go) ties to his character themes, please refer to this post.

[stabbyfoxandrew]

#14's Past

I finally got over the cringe so here I am with OC stuff again! If you remember, we left off with Fay joining the mob. If you haven't read Introducing #14!, you should probably go do that and meet my little guy before you read this. :)

Solo:

After working for the Butlers (Marcus' family) for a while, Fay garners quite the reputation. He handles pressure well. He's smart and quick on his feet. Though he hasn’t got a driver’s license, he’s a hell of a wheel man. He also does just as he's told and knows how to keep things under his hat. After Big Marcus (Marcus’s dad) insists on teaching him to shoot, they learn he's a crack shot. With such great qualifications, he ends up becoming a gun for hire. A freelance assassin, if you will. 

So he bounces around the country working for a lot of horrible people and becoming one himself. He goes by Ghost on the job— because he’s nineteen and thinks it sounds cool. (Loser. /affectionate.) His occupation gets his name out on various and numerous hit lists. Of course it's never his real name. No. He holds Aaron Farris close to his chest. No one but his ex teammates and the Butlers know him by that name.

Speaking of names, he's got plenty of them. A dozen aliases, carefully crafted by Big Marcus, kept stashed away in a binder. Every page details a different persona. He's got IDs tucked inside as well as reminders of how they act, speak, dress, etc. And the contacts he has for each of them. He's a very organized motherfucker. And he keeps this well guarded. It's his entire life. Or, lives. 

Swapping into a different persona is easy. Sometimes too easy. But it pays well. He can slap on a new accent and change his clothes and it’s like he was never there in the first place.

Familia: 

After a while, Fay hangs up his Ghost persona and starts doing other mob work. In doing so, he ends up earning himself a spot under Tony DiAngelo, eventually becoming his right hand man. Tony grows to think of him as a son, calls him Luka. (“Ya know. That’s what I woulda named my son, if I had one.”) Fay stays in Los Angeles for over a year, working for one of the biggest players on the west coast. 

Until the feds catch up to Tony and raid his building. He and Fay are in his office, in the penthouse when one of his sentinels comes to warn him. Tony tells Fay to take the fire escape and run. Fay doesn’t want to, but Tony tells him he’s ‘too goddamn young’ to get caught up in this. Tony pushes his wallet into Fay’s hands and tells him to get the fuck out or Tony will shoot his ass. (“You wouldn’t.”/ “I’d rather kill you than drag you to prison with me.”) So Fay flees down the fire escape, feeling like a traitor.

With his life ripped out from under him yet again, Fay sees no other alternative. He goes back to what he thinks he’s best at. Being quick and quiet, unknown. He becomes Ghost again and writes letters to his imprisoned father figure. He never gives details, just lets him know he’s alive. Signs them all 'Luka DiAngelo', a boy who never existed.

Settling Down:

By 22, Fay is tired.

He’s killed more people in the past year than he's spoken to. He's got no real friends left, only contacts. No family, only employers. He's been living out of seedy motels and storage units. He's got no stability, no one to depend on. And... He's starting to imagine things, hearing and seeing things that aren’t there. Haha. The pressure must be getting to him... 😅😬

One night after a job goes wrong in North Carolina, turns out killing a senator is pretty tricky, he hauls ass out of there and heads South. He gets as far as Columbia, SC, before running out of gas. That's when he coasts into a hotel parking lot and gets himself a room. He's scared to death and shaking, afraid he's been followed. That they're going to find him. That the man who hired him is going to kill him for failing. After sitting and watching the window all night, he decides he has to get out of this business. He has to. Before he cracks up completely.

After a few days of trying to decide what to do, he hears that Kevin Day is officially playing striker for the Foxes. If he could get a new start after his world fell apart, maybe Fay could do the same. After all, the university is so close. And he’s got money saved up. And it would be fun to watch Kevin play… So he makes a call to Big Marcus, asks him for a favor. Once he receives his new identification papers in the mail, he applies and gets accepted.

Okay! That's all for his past, unless anyone wants to know anything specific. Next post we'll be seeing Fay at PSU, perhaps meeting the Foxes... Also if you have any questions about this loser from my mind, please send me an ask. I will be so happy to talk about him!

fay's friends: @joanofexys @ordei @themundanemudperson @felixvanhuss (if you'd like to be tagged next time, let me know! and if you don't wanna be tagged anymore, let me know.)