#maybe if it makes you feel better i will respawn in a day or two

[coffee-writesthings]

I may or may not have been feeling inspired-- might try to expand it into a proper fic later but this is more of a refined-ish idea dump. A fic of a fic (Taking Running Blind by @thetriggeredhappy and having a similar plot with different main characters. Congrats, your peer pressure worked! :))

Summary: Spy is blinded, and after an earnest attempt to hide it, Engineer and Sniper notice (not crossteam btw, tho that would be another cool angle). They try to help him as best they can. (It's those 3 being shipped together, since I have trio relationships on my mind lately cus i read this rly good book with one in it it's called Iron Widow you should go read it rn)

At the moment it's more like an organized-ish infodump that I might turn into a proper fic at some point

Okay so Spy going blind, I think he would still be able to see light but nothing else. It'd happen because of some sort of injury that Respawn couldn't cover for some reason and that leads to Medic and Engineer getting anxious as all hell about Respawn. Medic would make Engineer take breaks, and it's during these breaks that he is trying to help Spy deal with day-to-day stuff.

I think the first to notice would've been Sniper, honestly. Looking through a scope it's not hard to assume that his sorta-friend is struggling with backstabs for a reason he can't place. What's going on with the Spook?

It gets even more obvious when Spy's knife lands, not into someone's spine, but their shoulder. it still does damage, but it's not a backstab. he's killed immediately by Pyro who was nearby and he's still blind. He thought maybe respawn would fix it but no nothing was fixed. Fuck.

Since he can only perceive light, he has to hide out for the rest of the match, using his Cloak and Dagger to remain alive and make an excuse as to why he wasn't seen on the field. I think he would hide out with Sniper, trying his damndest to not give the game away.

It's in this next half-hour that he starts getting used to how loud everything else is, without the visual clutter to distract him. For some reason he hears the other team's Heavy nearby, and it tips him off that that's actually the other Spy, using a new tactic.

The knife sinks into Sniper's back easily, but he never expected the second spy (our pov spy) to pin him down and start stabbing wildly, finishing him off with a carefully aimed gunshot before returning to the shadows.

Once the match is over, he makes his way back to the base, using the light and large colored arrows he can process as a guide. All of this is under the guise of his cloak, so nobody notices.

Or, at least that was the plan. He manages to fall into the Engineer, knocking both of them over.

"Spy what the hell are you trying to pull?"

"That's not your business." is the lousy attempt at a coverup he gives. If he knew the only way he could tell who he was talking to was by the sound of his voice... that would be bad for him.

"Then get off me, will ya?"

He does so without making eye contact, he couldn't imagine what his eyes looked like at the moment but it couldn't be good (they probs look normal, if the research i've done is correct)

There isn't another battle for two weeks, so during that time he rests up and figures out some very basic echolocation so he can make his way around the base. it's better, in his mind, to look competent than it is to be hidden. So long as nobody can tell he has a problem, that's fine by him.

~~~

Engineer and Sniper get to talking, and find they both think something's up.

"You think his sight's gotten worse?"

"I can only tell ya what I saw mate, and I saw him swinging blindly. You've seen how his stabs usually are, they're point-perfect on that specific spot on everybody's spines! Just doesn't make any sense."

"He did trip over me... Kinda thought it was some short joke but, now that'cha bring it up, it's kinda suspicious."

"He'd never want us to notice."

Engie snorts, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure he'd rather die than admit he needs help."

"What do we do then?"

"We help him, whether he admits he needs it or not."

~~~

The first way they try to help him is subtle, reaaaaal subtle. Sniper asks to take him on a walk, holds his hand and tries to talk to him about that day's battle-- he's a bit blunt but he's got the spirit. Spy complains some, but doesn't really say anything substantial. He's actually surprisingly good at not getting off-track (i've been doing things with my eyes closed as an experiment and your steps can legit get wobbly), using sniper's voice as an anchor of sorts

~~~

Engineer takes the next attempt at getting him to open up, just sort of chilling together though. It's a normal thing they do every couple of weeks to de-stress after battles. Today he thought that it would be nice to watch a tv show together, and it's some history thing idk. He describes some of the images to him, which makes Spy feel a mix of thankful and scared about-- Did he notice something? And he confronts Engie on it, asking what's going on?

"It's been both you and Sniper, what do you think happened?"

"There's no think to it. He pointed it out to me-- you botched a buncha backstabs and it looked like somethin' happened.

"This stays between the two of you and me..." he proceeds to explain what he knows about what happened. He does admit that he is, in fact, blind. He explains that he can perceive changes in light but nothing else. "It's... something like closing your eyes, permanently."

Engie is conflicted, having very little of an idea how to care for someone having vision in a state like that. He's especially not sure what to do in terms of telling Medic for instance (since respawn didn't fix it like expected)

~~~

Still though, he tells Sniper about it after staying up all night doing research on like a million specifics about vision loss (causes, treatment, what to do if it can't be fixed, etc etc)

"Huh, so what can we do right now?"

"He's gonna be real concerned about visibility, so honestly our best bet might be teaching him echolocation."

"You're kidding me!" he lets out a wheeze of a laugh, "Spy, echolocating? Yeah right. By the way when was the last time you slept?"

Engineer responds, "uh, yesterday."

Sniper proceeds to herd him into bed like a border collie, doing everything up to and including a brief attempt to pick him up over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes. Engineer blushes, maybe makes some joke about being a princess

~~~

So anyway they teach Spy how to echolocate (Sniper does, specifically, since he just forced Engineer to get some sleep).

Spy: 'this is a joke, right?"

Sniper: "do you want to do this without help or not? I don't see you being willing to get a white cane" (note: it's super good actually for figuring out ur surroundings and materials, i didn't think it would be as good as it looks but the way it works sounds really damn useful)

Over the next hour or so they do echolocation together, starting with simpler sets of noises (snapping, clicking of tongue, things like that) and then just walking and talking around the base. After a little bit, Spy is able to get a general idea (hehe i misstyped that at first to be gender. Spy is certainly able to get a gender alright) a general idea of the layout of the base. He can't really figure out the rooms without touch and counting the individual doors, and stairs are his worst enemy, but he can do the base mostly.

~~~

The next day is a CTF battle (completely spontaneous for some unknown reason) and Spy hangs out with the intel with Engineer (yknow what fuck it i'm being fancy this isn't 2fort it's Landfall, the foresty one), hoping that the administrator will just think he's having a bad day. They chat while Engie builds and tinkers, about all manner of things. Probably more about what Engie found and remembered in his research.

~~~

Anyway I've been sitting on this a few days, felt like sharing a collection of vibes which may someday be expanded. Btw writing this actually inspired me to take a different direction in an original work lol, I might try to share some of that in the future when I have proper snippets to share

[cluelessatthispoint]

HI ITS PLATONIC YANDERE ANOM HERE AGAIN IM SO SORRY FOR COMING IN YOUR ASKS AGAIN BUT I NEEDED TO GET THE IDEA OUT OF MY SYSTEM BEFORE I COMPLETELY FORGET ABOUT IT IM SORRY!!!!

I keep thinking of a platonic Yandere!RED Pyro with either a BLU Engineer!Reader or BLU Spy!Reader. The idea of Pyro, an absolute menace of a human, a danger to everything and everyone to some degree, a complete pyromaniac and ABSOLUTELY NOT sane in the head caring so deeply for someone who they are supposed to kill just fills my lil heart with joy.

Yes, they did force you to join their tea party with their "friends"(who are a bunch of dead parts of your teammates), they also broke all of your weapons and MAYBE went a little overboard by "begging you to stay just a little longer"(pointing their axe at you while starting directly at your soul) but like- c'mon! You two are besties!! It's normal!!!

They just want to spend their time with you out of battle! And your corpse after a battle or your severed head that Medic was experimenting on simply doesn't hit the same spot as talking to you while you are alive and "well"! Even if that means that they will have to tie you to a chair with a "lovely red and blue ribbon"(literally the tightest and itchy rope ever known to man) and "put a do not disturb sign on the door"(locking and barricading the door so nobody can leave or enter). They just want to spend time with you!! Is it so wrong to have you by their side on work days just for a few hours?? I'm sure your team won't even notice!! Just stay calm and let your good friend Pyro help you relax and forget about the outside world :D

(SORRY THIS IS SO LONG :()

To make this easier I'm going to write the reader as the BLU Spy. I really love the idea! Pyro is such a little crazy guy and I love him, not as much as engie. But it's pretty darn close. :) No worries about the long request, the more detailed the better!!!

warnings: platonic yandere, blood, mild gore and kidnapping.

~~~~~~~~

Being hired as the new BLU Spy for the BLU team was a surreal dream come true. The opportunity to go to new places and to see new things and experience different cultures while getting paid was really a great deal. Being under the tutelage of the former BLU Spy for years now you felt more ready for this job, than at any other job. The sights, the sounds, the comradery! It was perfect. Well, almost perfect.

Having worked for the team for a little over three months you began to notice right away that there was something up with the RED Pyro. That crazy arsonist seemed to target you every time in battle. No matter if you were cloaked or in disguise, he would somehow always know that you were there. It was so humiliating!

The time you disguised yourself as the RED Sniper he seemed to know right away. Remembering how you made it as far as the door to the intel room before he rounded the corner and hacked you to pieces with an axe. It was horrible. The feeling of white-hot pain and warm blood pooling out of you was one of the feelings that you would not have repeated. That damned RED Pyro, well. he has another thing coming to him that's for sure! Today for the match you made a plan. Before the RED Pyro could find you, you would find him!

The thought made you smile. With fifteen minutes till the battle started you set to finalizing every detail. Instead of cloaking and running to the RED Sniper's nest you would track around the RED base and disguise yourself as the RED Spy. Grabbing your tools and your invis watch you made your way over to the respawn room and waited. Before too long you were joined by your fellow teammates. The noisy din echoing off the tiled walls served as a comfortable distraction.

The memories of previous battles only fueled your determination. The disturbing memory of watching the previous battle's clean up flashed briefly across your mind. How from a distance you could see the enemy Pyro go digging around in the pile of corpses looking for something. You don't know why you stayed, why you watched him from afar. Maybe it was just morbid curiosity, or maybe it was just to simply be nosy. You weren't quite sure. But when the Pyro pulled your severed head from the pile you felt your knees wobble. The way he held your corpse in his arms seemed almost tender-like.

Shaking your head to clear your thoughts you readied your disguise. The voice of the Administrator signaling the start of the battle rang out loud across the field. Steeling your nerves, you cloaked yourself and headed out the door. Walking around the field, dodging bullets aimed for your fellow teammates you had only one objective in mind: to kill the RED Pyro.

Walking around the battlefield you noticed one thing that was odd. There were only eight RED's on the field. The Pyro was missing. Feeling a pit of dread well up in your abdomen you continued cautiously onwards. Finally making it inside the RED base you put on your disguise and walked freely through the halls. Every once in a while, the sound of soft footfalls from somewhere behind you made you put up your cloak in defense. Looking this way and that, there were no signs of anybody being nearby as far as you could tell.

"My nerves must be shot." Your soft voice sounded so quiet and yet so loud in the empty base.

Walking around, you couldn't find any signs of the RED arsonist anywhere. And it was really ticking you off.

Rounding a corner, you stopped dead in your tracks. There right in front of you, starring you down; like a mountain lion staring down its prey was the Pyro. Bringing a hand up to your face you adjusted your disguise, softly exhaling as you felt the paper between your gloved fingers.

"Ah, Bonsoir mon ami. I am just in here for a relaxing smoke."

Beads of sweat rolled down your masked face. Something wasn't right. The way he stared at you; something was wrong. Something here was very, very wrong. Trying to quell your rising panic you didn't notice how he took a small step forward. Then another, followed by another. Feeling your breaths increasing, you closed your eyes. Fight, flight or freeze. Three of the things that a spy should overcome if they ever wanted a chance to be successful in their career. Stopping in front of you the Pyro looked down at your disguised face. Being only a few inches shorter than him he still seemed to tower over you.

To Pyro, you looked so cute trying to disguise yourself as his friend. But he would always know who you disguised yourself as. After all you are his bestest friend. The way that you looked for him today seemed to prove that. Placing a heavy hand on your shoulder he pulled you into a hug. To you however, his hand pulled you into a chokehold. Feeling your mask slip off you flailed your arms and legs every way you could think of. Slipping free from his arms you ducked down and ran further into the base.

Feeling a smile rising to his lips he watched as you disappear as you rounded the corner. What a great friend you were; trying to find him first, then initiating a game of hide and seek. Oh boy! what fun! From the amount of time that passed from you searching him out to him choking you the battle was long over. The doors to the outside battle grounds were sealed shut. Finally happy to have his best friend over for a game of hide and seek and a sleep over he chuckled happily to himself. Oh, what a great time the two of you were going to have. Especially since the next scheduled battle would take place in a week. The idea of having a friend over for a whole week put some pep in his step.

You both were going to have a great time. Whether you liked it or not.

~~~~~~

Playing hide and seek with Pyro would be absolutely terrifying and so much fun at the same time!

[miloscat]

[Review] Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal (3DS)

Maybe Sonic Boom works better in 2D than 3D.

Alongside Rise of Lyric, Sega commissioned a handheld companion game within their Sonic Boom line. Development duties went to Sanzaru Games, another American studio who had previously made the Sly Cooper 3D platformers. This is actually their first 2D game (well, 2.5D anyway) and while it's less ambitious than RoL, it is much more successful at fulfilling those lower ambitions.

While RoL had a flash-forward cold open, this one abruptly starts in medias res with Lyric accosting Amy. Amy apparently is an archaeologist of sorts, and Lyric mind controls her to find the secrets of a lost extra crystal, tying into the MacGuffin objects in RoL. This sadly puts Amy in the "damsel in distress" role, but it does make room on the D-pad character switcher for Sticks to be playable this time (yay!). Incidentally, Lyric is not given an introduction in in-game cutscenes, but gets some backstory in the form of a short comic that is only viewable after level 1, which also sets up the present-day events. It's done by the Archie team of Ian Flynn and Evan Stanley, and [fun fact] is the only time that Sega let them put Lyric or Boom Shadow in any kind of comic medium.

The game plays out on a 2D plane with occasional dips into the foreground or background in short transitional sequences. It reminded me a little of Generations 3DS since it has a boost/dash button (unlimited use here, but doesn't damage enemies until you get an unlockable perk late on) and a mid-air homing attack. You also get the Enerbeam for grapple swinging and removing enemy shields, and each character has their own abilities and interactions. Tails can hover and throw bombs, Knuckles can burrow, Sticks throws her boomerang, and Sonic has a versatile air dash. As you encounter the characters and quickly build your team, you can swap between them on the fly which is needed to progress and find optional areas.

Although the format feels a lot more like traditional Sonic than RoL, this is similarly more slow-paced and exploratory than many of the series' 2D outings. I do think it strikes a good balance and flow, helped by quick on-the-spot respawns from pits as long as you have rings. The levels can be sprawling, and it's not always obvious which path leads onwards or to optional goodies, but it's usually possible to backtrack or loop to earlier portions. And you will need to do this, as completionist plays of levels become necessary. In a good use of the bottom screen, a scrollable map does help you get around and find goodies.

Saying this game only has eight (8) levels sounds absurd, but it's not the full story. The levels are huge, with full collectathon runs taking upwards of 15 minutes while the time trials often have a goal over 5 minutes. Each one also consists of two different environments that you bounce back and forth between using Enerbeam slingshots. These levels have a series of goals: time trials and ring collection give tokens to unlock character model dioramas, while collection of all blueprints (for unlocking passive perks, much more useful here than RoL's equivalent bonuses) and crystal shards give crests that unlock new levels. If you try to just breeze through you quickly encounter a hard roadblock that makes you go back and repeat levels for crests. I'm the type who enjoys doing and getting everything so it suited me, but it might not be to everyone's tastes that this is required.

Along with the eight main levels, there are race levels... kind of like the races in Generations 3DS. These use the same engine to have you beat another character through a fast-paced platforming level, and I found them fun to learn and improve. Another type of side level is the worm chase, an into-the-screen autorunning affair which Sanzaru would build on in their Tron Run/r game soon after this. These were less enjoyable for me and more demanding, although they're simpler to control. Rounding out the whole game is a Lyric battle—the only boss fight—which is not bad and incorporates platforming between phases. These other level types are a good way to flesh out the package and break up the action between the gigantic regular levels.

One of the strengths of the Sonic Boom show is its array of goofy side characters, and while RoL slotted a few in, there's a dearth here. Shadow at least has slightly more of an integral role in Shattered Crystal, but oddly Eggman has barely a cameo! However SC does stand head and shoulders over RoL in the script department as it actually remembers that Sonic Boom is a comedy series, and has lots of silly interactions between the characters before and after each level. The credited external writers weren't involved with the show but they seem to get it, and it makes this game feel more authentically part of the setting.

Speaking of the setting, the game looks lovely with varied environments and lots of detail in the backgrounds. The Donkey Kong Country-style world map helps give a sense of place and context to the levels, although it's far too zoomed in so you can't even see where the paths take you, which means a lot of trial and error to find levels. Trial and error on the map screen! What were they thinking!!

Shattered Crystal always got points for me by including a playable Sticks, but now that I've played it, it turns out it's a decent game as well. It feels more like a Sonic game than Rise of Lyric, but also shakes up the format a lot in ways that I like by encouraging exploration and interaction, even if it's relatively simple. I also think it does well specifically as part of the Sonic Boom series. I'm excited to see how Sanzaru builds on it with their second game!

[faint-kitten]

Apex S:22 infodump

Talking about this season so far:

Apex apparently is letting us earn this first battle pass for free, I think the Premium+ bs is just 2 skins and some of their green bs currency. At the moment I'm not looking to support this change, but I've found myself liking the Revive mode, I actually might prefer it to normal Apex? TDM is too much of a meat grinder, and normal Apex is too based on chance, and too sweaty in modern days to meaningfully get anything out of it.

Keeping the characters and guns and just adding Fortnite Reload on top of it, has definitely made people more confident of pushing, and allows a quick escape, while having your respawns go up or down based on how much you're actually fighting really makes this mode pop for me. I think this mode is a nice middle ground and I think I prefer it to both Fortnite Reload and 3 strikes. I like battle royale but there's too many people who are either too good at Apex, or not good enough and the gulf becomes apparent really quick. After you play for a long time all you want is the rush of fighting, and Apex is so unforgiving in it's player base and meta that it's hard to find a way that encourages you to push in, while also giving you a second chance if you fuck up. I think Revive is fantastic.

The new map is...okay. There's a very heavy emphasis on "you land in one of these 6 locations, or you're not finding shit for loot." Which is great it pushes everyone together. I like that there's a lot of care and thought into making Controller Legends have a comeback. I've been having so much fun as wattson, this map feels like it's specifically designed to allow controllers to fence, and fortify, and trap as need be. There's lots of opportunities to fence zip lines, or spike doors, or gas bag buildings. There's a few things I wish teams would stop doing.

First don't push in while the other person is respawning. I'll get into like an out of sync cycle with my team, where two of us are respawning, while one of us is dying. Someone keeps pushing as soon as they come back, and they get downed while we're in the air coming back. Or Two team mates will keep pushing while I'm in the air and by the time I hit the ground, they're downed again. It's like: If I die, we're dead, so I can't fucking do anything but they saw me drop, and they kill me as you're falling, but then you push immediately so by the time I'm respawning you're hurt and bleeding out and I can't fucking come push the whole team by myself. Like it's stupid. If half your team is respawning regroup before pushing a fight again. Also learn when a team is just better equipped than you. Like we'll get our asses kicked 5 times in a row, and these nuts will rush the exact same building. Like they think "THIS time we'll totally get them." Like no, land somewhere else grab something, and maybe fight them later in the ring. Maybe they're just holding that building too well, maybe you're fighting with stuff your team isn't as skilled with. Like give yourself a chance to backout.

There's a nasty habit of just getting stuck with crap guns. Because there's no downtime between fights, so you can't just look through a box. You're kind of grabbing shit without looking. And there's a really bad habbit of just not being able to switch to something you're more comfortable with, so you can get stuck with a weapon a whole round and just not have the juice you need for your specific mojo. (this is why I said maybe they're just better equiped in the last paragraph) like we won't have cells, or heals, we do get ammo when we respawn, I think keeping everything on respawn is a great decision. Keeps the game flowing. Dying hurts because it resets your tac and Ult. That's a good punishment to have, it also sucks ass if you're like, a Loba and want to shop.

I dunno between being absolutely burned out on everything else and the promise of working toward a new Loba skin, I think they got me, but I'm still not buying their 20 dollars of battle pass.

But also like...

They're adding Gwenpool to Fortnite in 11 days and I absolutely will not rest until I get her. So I might be back on FN before I know it. I'll be pissed if she's the mid season event.

[convexicalcrow]

Hermittober Day 5 - Sand

what came before: day 1: frost - day 2: time - day 3: fortune - day 4: bound

-

Doc grumbled as he realised his compass was pointing at that cursed artifact location in Pearl's area. He wondered idly if Tango had fixed it or not yet. If he hadn't, well. This would be another wasted run.

He didn't exactly run up the stairs. Doc didn't really run per se in the dungeon. At times he did, when it was needed. But mostly he carefully picked his way through, aware of a need to not dawdle while also not caring enough to run through like a ravager in a museum gift shop. He was careful, methodical, his demeanor calm and focused in spite of any internal panic that might set in from time to time.

The berry bush hadn't regrown. Doc cursed it out too. The dungeon was feeling a little grumpy today, it seems. A lot of berries were not regrowing quick enough, or so Doc thought.

He sighed and threw the compass at the right location. It didn't go in. It sat on the sand, its needle spinning pointlessly around it. Hem ight have kicked it into the berry bush in annoyance.

"Goddamnit, Tango. Fix your stupid game, already!" Doc muttered as he picked it up, scratching himself on the berry bush as he did so. "Stupid bushes. Stupid compasses. Well. Might as well go find a ravager now, hmm? Nothing else to do at this point."

He didn't leave just yet though. He checked the compass one last time and threw it in a slightly different spot, and this time, the compass went in, and the dungeon boomed with ringing bells. Doc didn't have time to take in much else before the floor collapsed underneath his feet and he was falling through sand into a deep, dark pit that seemed to have no end.

-

He hit the ground with a hard thud, landing hard on his cybernetic arm. He heard a couple of awful crunches; he'd definitely damaged it somehow. And then, he felt sand falling on him, and he scrambled to his feet, trying to not get buried. He backed up until he was against some kind of solid wall. There was only a glimmer of light now, though his redstone eye could see just as well without it if he switched it to night vision mode.

"Man, this must be some troll right? Tango fixes my broken compass spot and turns it into a trap. How am I even meant to get out of here? I can't climb up that sand pile, it'll collapse under me! Hmm. I wonder if there's anything down here, though. Maybe Tango would be helpful here?"

Doc started looking around, but there wasn't much to find. Bare sandstone walls, an empty chest or two, some sticks, and a piece of coal. Well, at least he could make some torches. That was allowed, right? Doc didn't care about the rules at this point and set them around the room, lighting it up. It didn't help ease his sense of foreboding, but at least he could see better.

But now he could see some carvings on the back wall that hadn't shown up in his night vision as they'd needed the shadow cast from a torch to appear.

"Oh, do I have to do a puzzle, hey, Tango? Is that how I get out of here?"

There was no response, of course. Well, none save for what Doc could only describe as the dungeon laughing at him. A low, cackling kind of laugh that did sound a little like Tango, but also very much not. Doc scowled, but didn't let it get to him. Maybe if he just...

-

Doc didn't see the skulk veins closing in around him until it was too late. They had his legs, and pulled him down sharply, submerging him into the skulk until he was nothing. Doc didn't even have time to protest. But when he realised, he panicked.

-

Tango found him easily as he was writhing in the skulk, unable to escape. He didn't show his form, though. Instead, he travelled through the skulk to whisper in his ear as the hunger in his stomach roared.

"Don't you ever insult the dungeon, my dear Doc, or I will turn against you," Tango murmured.

Tango imagined Doc might have screamed at that point. He didn't know, not really, though. The skulk simply dissolved him and Doc respawned elsewhere, ready to die again to feed the hunger that was never satisfied.

[blazehedgehog]

The Gradual Degradation of Fortnitemares

Getting to be so let down with Fortnite lately. Much like how people get excited for Scream Fortress, Fortnitemares used to be this incredible thing. All the houses on the map would get decorated with inflatable witches and pumpkins and ghosts. There were spooky graveyards to explore, all kinds of fun stuff

As Fortnite continued and they leaned more and more on the lore, the map got away from urban environments. Fewer houses means fewer decorations. And Fortnite started getting into a habit where chapters got shorter and shorter and shorter -- Chapter 1 was something like three or four years, Chapter 2 was two years or less, and Chapter 3 was almost one year on the nose, ending just after Fortnitemares in 2022. Dataminers suggest that Chapter 4 was also supposed to end after Fortnitemares 2023, but the new map isn't ready yet, so supposedly Epic is considering a tiny interim season just for December so they can take Christmas break in peace and worry about launching the new chapter when they get back. I think that's fair.

Going back to the urban environments -- Chapter 1 Fortnite was all about towns. Greasy Grove, Tomato Town, Pleasant Park, Retail Row, all of them were full of houses. Retail Row would even get a Halloween Store like the map's own personal Spirit Halloween that you could visit if you wanted to see all the Halloween decorations in one room. It also had multiple farms, and farms mean things like corn mazes and more.

Chapter 2 was, in every way, a better Fortnite. Everything was more organic feeling than the Chapter 1 map was. It felt less tile-based. And it still had plenty of towns -- notably, Pleasant Park and Retail Row carried forward, and close to one fourth the map was covered in a vast forest that could be kind of spooky even in the summer. Also, that Halloween store got an upgrade, moving to its own location -- the Halloween MegaStore, which not only housed TONS of decorations, but even displayed previews of Fortnitemares Skins. As Fortnitemares drew close, the entire map was enveloped in spooky, endless fog, showing off Unreal Engine 4's great volumetric lighting, and a special "Nightmare Royale" mode was enabled, where you respawned as ghosts that could terrorize the living.

Chapter 3's map was hard fantasy. Coastal settlements dominated by "The Seven", whose buildings were charitably described as "We have Star Wars at home." What urban environments it had were quickly destroyed -- not much reason to put up decorations in a demilitarized zone, after all. A house or two dotted around the map still featured the very rare Halloween decoration, but things were so dire that they straight up teleported a spooky farm into the middle of the map right before Fortnitemares just so they'd have something. Whereas Halloween would take over large portions of previous maps, the farm and the map's giant "reality tree" were the only places designated as Halloween-safe zones. Getting near them would enable a special vision mode that would suddenly make everything look dark and foggy, but 99% of the map remained un-spooky. It was, bar none, the worst Fortnitemares in the entire history of the game.

Chapter 4's big new feature was its modular map. Sort of like how they dropped a farm into Chapter 3, in Chapter 4, huge segments of the map changed from season to season. Cyberpunk cities just dropped out of the sky one day, as did Japanese pagodas, plus vast (and annoying) jungles dug up from underground. The map even launched with spooky castles built right in by default and maybe the biggest farm the game had ever seen. Even back in January, I was thinking, "this could make Fortnitemares awesome again."

Chapter 4 has been a mess. This Gamespot article talks about what a jumble it is -- and before you ask, yes, Fortnite does have a storyline. Or it used to. Chapter 4 was apparently planned out well in advance and then (as per rumors) the order of everything may have gotten mixed up as crossover plans shifted or were canceled entirely. Friends and I figured this was what also spoiled Fortnitemares 2022 -- a rumored Lady Gaga concert ultimately never materialized, despite the season's "spooky rave" motif. The suggestion now in 2023 was that Epic had apparently been banking on a Persona 5 crossover to launch season 2, and when they weren't allowed to use Joker, it threw all of Chapter 4 out the window with it. The game has spent the last 11 months spinning its wheels and under-delivering on map updates -- sure, each season sees massive changes, but Fortnite used to actually mean a Fort Night, with bi-weekly updates that would shift a dozen mini-stories forward bit by bit.

Chapter 4 does none of that. The map changes once every three and a half months and that's basically all you get outside the thinnest strands of MMO-style quest progression and an overarching narrative that has gone from "not really making much sense" to "beyond a waste of time."

So stop me if you know where I'm about to go with this: Chapter 4, Season 4 launched maybe a month ago, and as of a night or two ago, Fortnitemares 2023 officially began.

That big spooky castle? They dropped a tropical resort on top of it.

The biggest farm in Fortnite history? So far... untouched.

Halloween decorations? The most you get is a candy bowl sitting on a curb of some houses.

There are little bits of Halloween flavor -- the tropical resort is owned and operated by a Playboy Vampire (in the James Bond sense, not the porn sense). Since the launch of Nitemares 2023, he's vamped out, and you get a special shotgun that shoots wooden stakes. But he's also trivially easy to fight, even by the standards of Fortnite's usual PVE "boss" characters.

Nitemares staples like the Pumpkin Launcher and the Witch Broom have returned, though the Broom has less "returned" than been wholesale replaced with something that, to me, feels considerably more nerfed compared to the original item (it also doesn't make the cool sounds anymore).

And, like, it's early, yet. We could still just be getting started. Maybe the best is yet to come. Epic was apparently telling streamers that Fortnitemares this year was "going to be big." But I look at things right now and I feel the same underwhelming feeling I've had all of Chapter 4. And I look at the news lately that a lot of Epic people, guys like Donald Mustard, Sergiy Galyonkin, and one of Fortnite's chief artists, Drew Hill, have all left the company over the course of Chapter 4... plus the state Fortnite itself lately...

And it's starting to feel like there might be writing on the wall.

Over a year ago, half jokingly, a friend told me about his theory for the eternalization of Fortnite. Epic would probably never retire the game, but they would restructure its output so that new seasons would funnel into the game's growing Creative Mode, effectively turning it from a Battle Royale into their equivalent of Roblox. And the more time goes on, the more what he said is starting to feel right. Fortnitemares also features the game's newest UI refresh, which pushes creative maps right on to the main home screen in something that looks more like Amazon Prime Video than a video game.

Now, maybe more than at any point in history, Fortnite feels the most like The Product and not a game. One designed to take less resources to maintain and continue to generate some amount of infinite money.

I never expected the good times to last forever, but it's sobering to think Fortnite's best years may be long gone and never to return.

[destiny2paladin]

Astroneer is by far my favorite game and it has such a small but dedicated fanbase. I will be making a long post here about the general game, progression, missions, and some very heavy spoilers for late-game. Also, its an independent studio making the game and bless its nearly perfect.

This will likely be the longest post I ever make on this hellsite (affectionate) and it'll be worth it.

First up, the setting. Astroneer is a game set in a different star system, with five planets and two moons. Each planet/moon has unique challenges, resources, and requirements to properly explore and utilize. You are The Astroneer, sent to this system to exploit its resources and research the system. You land on Sylva, the first of the planets, remarkably similar to our home of Earth. It is orbited by a singular, crater-pocked moon named Desolo. Nearby is Calidor, an arid, desert-like planet similar to Mars. Then there's Vesania and Novus, exotic, alien-like forested worlds. Glacio is the frigid tundra planet, and Atrox rounds out the group by being awful and feeling hostile down to the air around you. Astroneer's core gameplay loop is exploration -> collection -> manufacturing -> repeat. You start out with a tiny shelter, go out and grab some basic materials, build some better stuff, expand your base, get more stuff, go find more resources, get better ways to explore and manufacture, etc. So, in a sense, its like Minecraft and Factorio and maybe Satisfactory, but I've never played that last one.

Astroneer has so many mechanics and systems to play with that I'd have to make a 2 hour long video essay discussing them all. Automated crafting, resource gathering, transportation, research, processing, and more. I really only have delved into automation twice, and both times I've been floored by how INTENSE it is. There are: Storage sensors, power sensors, proximity repeaters, button repeaters, count repeaters, and thats just the BASIC items.

Everything below this is spoiler territory, so if you're happy with what you've read, congrats. Lots more below the cut.

First up: Gateway Engines and Gateway Portals. The bread and butter of 1.0 and when the lore and theorycrafting really got going. The Gateway engines apparently generate gravity in weird ways and are at the cores of each planet/moon, needing a unique resource to activate. There are six (or two, for the moons) purple nebula-filled structures (Gateway Portals) on each planet that require 30 seconds of power PER NODE to activate, and the power requirement increases as the planetary difficulty escalates. Sylva needs 6 power, and Atrox needs 30 power. For reference, the highest output portable generator of power has an output of 9 units a second. Everything higher is either stationary or dependent on environmental power for output. And since we're on the topic, energy production varies from planet to planet, and the day/night cycles are even different.

Sylva is the most neutral, with an average cycle, Desolo has no wind but decent sun, Calidor is REALLY good with solar power, Glacio has fantastic wind, Vesania and Novus both have good wind, and Atrox has almost nothing. Not even any unique planetary resources. This means that each planet, to have a functional base, needs a special set of power generation solutions, and there's even DIFFERING TERRAIN HARDNESS THAT REQUIRES DIFFERENT DRILLS AND TOOLS.

Moving on to the story, the player, through missions, is tasked with accessing and activating each planetary core in order to activate a strange satellite orbiting the sun. Once completed, you pass into a strange portal and then respawn back at your base. Congrats! You... did the thing? But that was when 1.0 came out back in February of 2019. In the four years since, Missions, Power, Trains, Xenobiology, Automation, and more updates have come out. The most interesting of which is Awakening. And Awakening introduced the lore and told the story of the game. It explained everything.

When you have completed three specific missions in the mission log, a new one is added. It simply says: "Help." And then it asks you to break reality. Something is speaking to you through the mission terminals. A little fox named EVA speaking to you on behalf of Chronos, the AI in charge of everything on the ship you came here on. Except... You never made it. The ship crashed. Life support, repair systems, the generators, all of it damaged. Data banks and the SOS system. So Chronos shoved everyone onboard the ship into a simulation, or at least unique instances of the simulation. This includes you.

Yep. That's right. Everything is a simulation. The sky, stars, all of it. Even the sun is a simulation, and THE DAMNED SUN IS THE CONTROL CENTER. You are told that Chronos' memories are broken, and need to be repaired so that the SOS signal can be sent and you can all be rescued. So you go around, learning more about how the world should have been. The wrecks? Originally fully-populated bases. Calidor? It was supposed to have gold! Vesania and Novus were massive research bases for alien structures. Atrox was supposed to be radioactive and with some sort of anomalous destruction present. The missions have been helping you repair the systems, the Gateway Portals and Engines have been repairing the real-world systems of the ship. The reason you respawn is because your real body never died. Just a copy, a simulated form. The dead bodies aren't real people, just NPCs that didn't load! The data is corrupted and missing shit so it throws in broken stuff! You're not alone in a cold and unforgiving world, you're just in a simulation like thousands of others! The ghostly versions of the Wanderer, the Conductor, and the Scientist are just what's left of the only casualties from the entire crash!

So you go around collecting the memory fragments, bringing them back to the control room to try to fix Chronos. Except... at the end, EVA realizes what the plan actually is. The memory fragments, they're not just memories. They're data. Codes for a manual shutdown of Chronos. Chronos came to the conclusion that there's not enough power for life support, AI systems, the simulation, AND the SOS beacon at once. Something needs to go, and Chronos chose to have you pull the switch. EVA is the final piece needed, and with everything together, you watch as this little fox and the AI who didn't want anyone to die fade to nothing so you can call for help. And it works. And at the end, Chronos left you a gift: EVA. A copy of the little fox for you to take care of. Someone to keep you company and remind you that you will be saved. You came here unaware of what was going on, died perhaps dozens of times, traveled across worlds, set up rail lines, studied alien life, and then uncovered the memories of a shipboard AI. All because the AI refused to give up and saw you as the best hope for the crew surviving. AND I SWEAR IF NONE OF YALL AT LEAST LOOK UP THIS GAME AND TRY IT BECAUSE ITS ON EVERY PLATFORM I WILL SCREAM. I LOVE THIS GAME AND I WILL DIE DEFENDING IT.

[shifting-with-alex]

Hiiii it's me Alex and I'm going to be talking about two things that could be blocking you from shifting. You may have already heard about these things but that's okay, if you haven't I highly recommend you read this.

So the first thing is a lot of people say when you have doubts to dismiss them and let them go. Well that's easier said then done. What I do and it has helped me a lot is when you have doubts about shifting recognized them, debunk them, and let them go.

Basically what you're going to do is when you have doubts recognized it, so realize you're having doubts instead of trying to get rid of them because more than likely they're still going to be there. Next I like to sit down in my room and basically explain to myself (like if I was explaining to an anti shifter) why shifting is real. I know it may sound weird but actually talking to yourself helps you to put that belief into you. I'll bring up the CIA documents, peoples shifting experiences, times where I've gotten super close, anything that makes me believe in shifting. By doing this it's helping you better grasp the idea of why shifting is real. After talking to myself I like to say some affirmations and then maybe do a meditation for getting rid of negative thoughts. I do this anytime that doubt creeps back into my mind.

Alright the second reason is you're treating shifting like a chore. I have realized this and when I did it made a lot of sense. So basically when I would go to try and shift I would go to do my method and when I did I would have the mentality of "Alright I'm going to do this get this over with and shift". What a surprise that is terrible. Shifting needs to be a want and not a need. I WANT to shift because it's fun not I NEED to shift to get away. Shifting needs to be enjoyable including the process of shifting.

What you can do is find a method that is fun or has fun visualizations and makes you excited to try it. For me it's the shower method. That way if you don't succeed you still had fun doing it. Then next time you can try it again or you can find another method that intrigues you. Also don't stick to the same method because after a while it will get boring. If you feel you're getting super close using the same method you can do it again and if you still don't shift you can try another fun method and come back to that one. And take breaks so you don't get bored of shifting from trying it almost everyday. Also remember you don't need a method so if you want to make something up that you feel would be fun go right ahead. I know this is very cliche but it's not about the destination it's about the journey that follows. Treat shifting the same way.

I hope this helped . Also if you have any other questions about shifting you can comment them or you can message me (they're always open). Have a wonderful day/night and remember you are loved and you WILL shift.

Happy shifting/respawning 🖤🖤🖤

[whydoilovesomanyvillains]

Dreblr valentines day exchange

I got @susanshinning and for it I made this fanfic. I combined the prompt of dream being an idiot, chat being worried and doomsday trio @dreblrtine-gift-exchange  this is also my first exchange and it was really fun to work on

(also I don’t really know how formatting on tumblr works so my bad) 

How do you measure healing

~ Dream had started feeling better and needed to prove that he was too bad you can’t rush healing~

Dream had been staying with Techno and Phil for quite some time now. The prison had taken its toll on his physical and mental health but he was slowly beginning to feel like himself again, so much so that he actually managed to convince his two friends that he was able to go out by himself. Of course the two were worried and gave him a few rules: he wasn't allowed to go too far and he wasn’t allowed to be alone for a long time. It's not that they didn’t trust him, they just didn’t want him to get hurt. This was fine with Dream. He doubted he could even get very far with how messed up he was after the prison and chat would probably freak out if he was gone from Techno and Phil for a long time. So it was set he would mainly wander the area around Techno’s house, maybe gather a few resources and go back besides he wouldn’t actually be alone the blobs that served as his chat would be accompanying him. Dream had to prove that he could be left alone, he had to prove he was getting better.

Dream was always a thrill seeker, this fact will most likely never change. From manhunts to his everyday life he took risks and they usually paid off. So it was no one's surprise when he found the ravine and decided the only logical thing to do was to try and jump across. It wasn’t a very big ravine. He had jumped farther ones in the past and he was bored so sue him if he wanted a little thrill. He had to head back to Techno’s soon anyway so in his mind it was now or never and what better way to prove he was indeed healing then try something he used to love. Dream’s chat, however, had other ideas about his actions. The blobs who had mainly been hanging out, playing in the underbrush, and squeaking at him clearly knew what was going through his head because they had begun to bunch up at his feet.

“Oh will you guys calm down, it's gonna be fine besides i’ve got a water bucket so even if I miss, which I won’t, it’ll be fine” Dream said to the blobs that were gathering at his feet warning him against the idea. The distressed squeaks from his chat were ignored as he batted a few from climbing up his leg and made sure his boots were laced tightly as he put the materials he had gathered in a chest, while he didn’t think he was going to fall no use going through the process of a painful respawn and losing the stuff he collected, with his minimal preparation done and the blobs being moved out of the way, despite their protests, he began backing up. He went a little ways back from the edge before he started running. Dream had been bored all day just walking around he wanted to run, sure it was nice being by himself finally and not having two of the most powerful men on the server overbearing him was lovely but Dream missed the way his body felt after running. The word runners high came to his mind but he could dwell on that later. Dream wasn't worried when he started running, it felt nice to take off at full speed after a rather slow day. Dream wasn’t worried when he jumped; the feeling of disobeying gravity's idea of always staying on the ground continued to fuel his fire. Dream did start worrying, however, when he realized very suddenly that the little white blobs that always followed him were right he wasn’t going to make it, which sucked because after they found out he was alright they always got a little smug when they were right. He really only missed by a little bit. Maybe if he had started farther away or put a little more power into his jump he could have made it but he didn't, his fingers grazing the other side of the ravine felt like a cruel joke. Still he wasn’t panicking he had a water bucket on him, he could land safely but the day was apparently not done fucking him over because as he was falling he heard the tell tale sound of an arrow being launched. Hearing the twang of the bow almost hurt more than it actually hitting him midair, almost being the key word here, as what really hurt was the arrow landing right in his leg causing him to lose a bit of focus, but what truly hurt the most was the landing cause he did in fact miss the water bucket the last thing he felt was cold stone before blackness overtook his vision.

The fall hadn’t killed him. The fall hurt both his body and his ego as he groaned awake pulling himself into a sitting position on the ravine floor. His leg still had an arrow in it and he didn’t know if he could pull it out seeing his blood on the stone floor almost brought him right back to that small cell but he wasn’t going to panic he had to prove he was getting better Dream was not going to let that stupid duck hybrid best him even when Dream was nowhere near him so he ripped his eyes from his leg to look around. It was darker out now if he had to guess it was a little after twilight with the oranges fading from what sky he could see, the skeleton was nowhere to be seen thankfully. Dream absently wondered if the walking bones had thought him dead and left him alone. Dream stayed staring up refusing to look down because he felt himself slipping with each second, the pain mixed with rough stone below his hands was trying to drag him back there. Back to that godforsaken place where he was always too hot, too hungry, too dirty, too exhausted, to- his spiral was stopped when instead of stone under his hand he felt something squishy try to get under his closed palm looking down at his hand and only his hand he saw a little blob. Flipping over his hand and allowing it onto his palm he lifted the little guy up closer to his chest. 

“Now how did you get down here” his voice was rough even to his own ears. The white creature in his hand replied by making a squeak and nuzzling into his hand. Dream could tell it was worried but it was, to his knowledge, the only one down here which worried him more.

“Where are your friends little guy” Dream didn’t know much about the little blobs that followed him, he knew that they were practically indestructible, they couldn't be damaged to his knowledge, the number of them changed frequently sometimes he could count them on one hand while other times there would be dozens, they easily followed him almost everywhere either keeping pace or somehow just appearing near him. He liked them; they provided comfort but there was one place they could never go. Pandora was not a fond memory for Dream his discomfort grew each second just thinking about it he knew his blood would forever stain those dark walls his screams would always echo and the heat would never truly leave his skin but the only good thing that had come of the hell was the fact that the blobs could not get in. Sometimes this was hard he had been lonely, at one point the warden had taken to never visiting him, but there were times when he was bleeding out and the cruel gaze of an eye was on him that he was thankful they couldn’t see him and he didn’t want to think of what Quackity would have done to them if he had found any. One of the first things Dream had done when Techno broke him out was talk to them, his voice sounded awful and he couldn’t walk but he wanted nothing more than to talk to the little creatures that followed him. Techno took him back to his home in the north where he and Phil had tried to fix what they could but there would always be scars and at first they hadn’t been sure he would even walk again but in those first few weeks Dream had only really cared about being around the blobs and they weren’t leaving him alone either. So now being hurt with no real way out Dream did the only thing he could think of and talked to the remaining blob he just hoped Techno or Phil would be able to find him. 

“You know I hate to say it but I guess you guys were right to be worried” the little one looked at him with concern plastered on its face, although the smile never faltered. “I know you're worried but it’s gonna be ok alright, see i’m not even hurt all that bad” but he couldn’t bring himself to look. “You know” his voice got quieter “I really thought I could do it I thought maybe if I could then I’d start feeling better, feeling more like myself but look at me now I can’t even bring myself to look at my own leg” Dream let his head hit the wall and let his hands to his sides, he felt the creature move out of his hand and up his arm till it rested on his shoulder it bonked it’s head on the side of his face almost like a cat and Dream let out a disheartened laugh at the gesture his head was reeling at the fact that he wasn’t getting better he knew that now. Dream was not going to get better. There was always another dark stone cavern that his blood would coat and he would not be able to leave. He was lost to an abyss and no matter how hard the little one on his shoulder tried, Dream was not going to get up he would probably be lost down here forever. If Dream were maybe a bit more in the moment he would have heard the chirps and squeaks grow from one to many he would have also heard the gasp Phil made when spotting him in the dark. 

Getting him out of the ravine was not an issue Dream was still underweight from his time in Pandora and he wasn’t even down there all that long as soon as he fell most of the blobs had gone to get one of his two protectors who were already getting worried as Dream had not come back in the time they set. Getting him home wasn’t an issue either Techno was quickly taking care of any mobs that dared cross his path and Phil was keeping up with ease checking in with Dream every step of the way although the man in his arms was not responding, breathing yes but he wasn’t lucid. When they eventually made it back home Dream was carefully laid out on the table so they could go over each of his wounds all in all he wasn’t hurt badly a few cuts and scrapes the main issues being the arrow in his leg but even that would heal in a few days luckily it hadn’t hit anything important. Phil was mainly worried about Dream's mental state; he had fallen asleep a while ago and as Techno cleaned up Phil moved him to the living room couch so they could monitor him for a little bit. The blobs had also joined Dream on the couch but they all stayed clear of his injuries the best they could. Phil had grown fond of the little creatures that followed Dream even his crows enjoyed the beings and he knew, even if Techno would never admit it, that Techno enjoyed their presence as well but the little ones seemed so worried they never stray far from him so when almost all of them came rushing back they both knew something had gone wrong but now all they had to do was wait.

Eventually Dream did wake up and Phil allowed him to take in his surroundings before talking to him. He'd punch himself if he made Dream more scared than he was. When Dream’s eyes did land on Phil he just held them there and Phil could not tell what he was thinking. It was, however, Techno that made the first move walking over and lifting Dreams head so he could sit down. Piglins enjoyed braiding hair. It was an intimate act among family and it made them feel at ease. Phil had no doubt Dream knew this as Techno began braiding his hair. It had come a long way. The once nest was now able to be combed through with ease and the filth that had once clung to it was gone. They could really only stall for so long.

“Dream, are you okay” the words came with ease to Phil. He had asked this question many times and each response was always different. He didn't know why he feared this response so much.

“I’m” Dream began not looking at him but looking towards the ceiling, maybe even at Techno. “I don’t think I can be okay,” he said with such certainty that Techno’s hands faltered. Phil waited for more anything really something he could work with and looking at Techno he knew they were both lost.

“Dream what do you mean by that?” and it was Techno who asked his hands, continuing to work through the strands of blonde.

“I’m not getting better you should have just left me down there” Dream was still staring at the ceiling but techno’s hands had stopped and Phil felt the pieces connecting as to why Dream was in that ravine in the first place. He wanted to prove he was getting better and what better way to do that then do something you once could. Phil knew he was crushed when he couldn’t make that jump, the feeling of failing at the simple act of healing Phil knew that pain all too well.

“Dream you are getting better just think about how much you’ve changed from your first day here you couldn’t walk and staying awake for more than an hour drained you, you are getting better it's just going to take time to get back to jumping ravines” Phil said the last part with a bit of a laugh trying to lighten the mood a little bit. Dream remained silent though not bothering to look his fist tightened though and his face had a look of disdain on it. Techno started braiding again. He was out of his depth for this he wanted to help but if he was being honest with himself he had never gone through this and he doesn’t think he could even imagine it if he tried. But he could braid hair and he could be a warm body and if that's what he needed to be then so help XD he was going to be perfect at it.

Phil moved to sit under Dreams' outstretched legs; he was met with no resistance and was careful not to agitate the wound.

“Listen Dream I know this has been hard for you, I’ve been told about your manhunts and I’ve seen first hand how quick on your feet you can be, but and I know you won’t want to hear this, you are not going to make these huge leaps and bounds after what you’ve been through. You have to look at the little steps ok” Phil studies the man on the couch, Dream hadn’t moved and Techno was running out of hair. “You eat more, you can clearly walk around, your hair isn’t matted, and you’re not back there okay you're getting better but you're rushing it and it doesn’t work like that you can’t rush a bone to heal” Silence fell across the room and Techno ran out of hair. 

“Then what can I do?” Dream's voice was quiet and he sounded choked up. The blob on his chest moved towards his face. Techno picked up the blob when it tried to get into Dream’s hair.

“We keep doing what we’re doing” Techno spoke up looking at the creature in his hand. “Because you have been getting better we just have to keep going” as if to punctuate his words he dropped the blob on Dreams face who let out an oof sound. “Besides if you keep getting hurt like this who’s going to be my rival cause, I don’t know if you’ve looked around Dream they’re not that many people who am i suppose to spar Ranboo the kid would fall over in a second” This got a small laugh out of Dream.

“Alright Alright, I believe you” For the first time that night Dream sounded somewhat hopeful. He knew it wasn’t going to be easy, he would always want to do things he wasn’t ready for but he had to believe he was getting better he had to think it was working and for once he might not be lying to himself. He was right about the blobs though because a few days later when he could continue to walk they looked incredibly smug. 

[the-haunted-office]

Surprisingly, it's Rourke who comes and finds her first. He looks....nicer than usual. A buttoned up shirt, a tie, nice pants and shoes. He looks like an average office employee, minus a coffee mug. However, he has a dark bruise over his right eye and an office staple-the kind used for paper-stuck in that eyebrow that he apparently either hasn't noticed or is ignoring for some reason. He looks nervous as hell, but also tired as if there's a huge weight on him, and when he speaks, his voice is softer than usual.

"Uh......Doom? I-I know you said not to follow you, but......I got something I need to say before you yell at me for not listening. I....I know we haven't been the greatest of friends.....because I haven't been a friend at all. Well, neither of us has, but I'm only talking about my half of the problem here. I have been the biggest damn horse's ass to you, and I.....I'm sorry for that. And I'm sorry I didn't do this sooner. Mama taught me better than that. When you're wrong you don't run away from it, you admit it and you fix it. Well.....I've been doing you wrong and running away from it, and I.....I don't want to do that anymore. I made things about the two of us-me and the other horse's ass-so much when I should've tried to make it the three of us. Or you and me. You get what I'm saying there. Point is.....I'm sorry for all of my shit I've done that hurt you in any way, and I want to make things right between you and I. That's.....that's why I'm here. I hope you'll let me do that. And even if you don't want to.....thank you for letting me say what I needed to say here." He drops his hands to his side and shifts onto one foot as he awaits her response, his dark eyes misty. He's nervous, he's never been good at this, but dammit, he had to at least try. He only hopes she sees that.

Doom is hanging out in one of her usual spots at the Office, which in this instance is up on the roof. It's a good spot, relatively private, only one way up and one way down, unless you count scaling the side of the building, jumping onto it from above, or jumping down below as entrances or exits. The Days like to go up there to stargaze on a weekly basis, and to throw rocks off the roof. It's good for relieving stress.

There's a dwindling pile of rocks up there now, which Doom actually isn't making much use out of. She's just sitting next to it in one of the camping chairs that's been placed up there, stretched out and leaning back with her hands crossed over her stomach and watching the sun set. The stars will be out soon and maybe then the rock throwing will commence.

The sound of the door to the roof opening gets her attention. It also gets an eyeroll and a small noise of annoyance out of her, because she doesn't want company, so now she has to find somewhere else to go to be left alone.

Pushing in the reclining part of her chair, she stands to get up and stops when she sees Rourke standing there. For a moment she seriously considers throwing him off the roof. He wanted her to kill him a couple weeks ago, fine, maybe she'll grant his wish now. She's certainly still angry enough to do it. And they all know he can respawn now, so it's not really murder, now, is it?

There's zero concern for the state of his demeanor or apparent health as she listens to what he has to say. In fact, she does her best to appear decidedly bored by it all. Part of her is. She's heard this all before.

Hey, sorry, I know you said not to follow you, but I'm gonna disrespect your boundaries anyway to lay down this big pile of bullshit at your feet in an attempt to make you feel guilty for making me feel like shit for how I treated you. Look at me, look at how sullen I am, look at my face, look at how little I have been taking care of myself, I'm even calling myself names and belittling myself instead of focusing on how I made you feel and asking how you're doing or anything, but that's okay, I'm still doing this all for you, and if you don't forgive me, I will continue to sink further into disparity and it'll be all your fault if you don't forgive me, Charlotte, I know I did you wrong and I just want you to give me another chance, I'll fix it this time, I swear I will, if you just give me another chaaaaaaaaaaance-

Rourke and Milo. Those two really were made for each other, weren't they? She takes a long look at that staple in his face and hopes that however it got there, it hurt him.

After letting things between them be uncomfortably silent for uncomfortably long, and doing this with intention, she finally says, "Why?" and she says it with almost cold calculation to it. But she really does want to know why, and so she further clarifies: "Who or what exactly am I to you, Rourke?" She shifts and tilts her head back in the other direction, as if sizing him up. What she's doing is making sure he understands that she's deliberately keeping him at a distance, keeping her eyes on him, that she knows exactly where he is standing and that he's not yet welcome anywhere near her that isn't directly with her line of sight. Like a predator carefully observing prey. "I've never been anything to you. You say we haven't been the greatest of friends, but we haven't even been the worst of friends, have we? We haven't been friends at all, I'd say. You barely acknowledge that I exist, and when you do it's only to disrespect and disregard me - like right now. I told you to leave me the fuck alone, and you have the audacity to seek me out anyway. Who do you think you are to me, Rourke? Do you think I ever cared about you? You're a fucking idiot. What do you want from me? My forgiveness? My friendship? I tried to give that to you. I did give that to you. Over and over and over, and what did you do? You looked right fucking through me!" These last few words, she suddenly screams at him, as all her anger over how he and Milo both literally looked right through her as she lay on the ground in pain comes roaring back through her.

"And that's not even the first time you've done that! You and Milo both act like I don't exist! So why do you care now? What has triggered this little charade of yours? Are you feeling alone, Rourke? Are you feeling some kind of remorse? Why? That's what I want to know. WHY? What has triggered you to come to me now, to break through my boundaries and disrespect me yet again, to ask for my forgiveness. You tell me that, and maybe I'll decide whether or not you're worth any more of the eternity I have left to live."

[shinycircus]

Here's a short story set in the DSS Universe! Acts as a kind of origin story for one of the reoccurring characters, too, so a good way to kick off this account. If the formatting is messed up somewhere, let me know!

TW: Gore, Graphic Descriptions of Death, Suicide Mention, Childhood Trauma

------------------------------

Interview Log: TL-36

------------------------------

The following is a transcript of a recorded interview with a subject involved in a temporal anomalous event. The identities of those involved in the interview shall not be part of the standard record and are for administrative access only.

------------------------------

Interviewer: Dr. ████████

Subject: Anna Coleman

------------------------------

Foreword: Subject is being interviewed on the origin of a temporal anomaly attached to their person where, should they expire, they would automatically return to the last instance of 8:00 AM EST they passed through, “respawning” in their own words with their knowledge and memories fully intact.

------------------------------

[Begin Log] 

████████: “Do you think you could talk about when you discovered this… ability of yours?”

[Subject adjusts in her chair, seemingly looking past Dr. ████████ and at the two-way plexiglass behind him. Subject responds after around a minute of idle movement.]

Coleman: “At the time, I was… God, I’d say twelve or so? Yeah, young enough to still make stupid decisions, but old enough to have known better. My old man had been a pretty big name in the small-time circles at the time, but he wasn’t big enough to be batting in the league he was trying to. He kept trying to make deals with big players- like Valentina and Ivan Petrovski- as if he had the manpower and influence they did. Heh… can’t imagine things went well, considering the extra air-flow through his skull after a month or two of that.”

Coleman: “But, where was I? Oh yeah, twelve-year-old me. I was playing outside with my bb-gun, taking pot-shots at blue jays and the like. Annoyed the shit out of the neighbors, because stray bbs kept hitting their house’s lining or paint or whatever, and kept coming over to my mom to complain, who always said she’d talk to me, and who never did, regarding the bb’s or anything else. Guess in that way, I was kinda lucky.”

[Subject once again adjusts in her chair, looking again over Dr. ████████’s shoulder and at the pane of plexiglass. Subject then looks up at the security camera and stares with narrowed eyes for around thirty seconds. Subject then clears throat and continues.]

Coleman: “But my luck had to run out eventually. I was standing near the end of the driveway, taking aim at a bird picking at Old Lady Morris’s garden, when I heard an engine rumble too loud for the small neighborhood we were in. I barely had time to register the swerving white van as it turned off the road and slammed into me, sending me flying through the air like a wet rag doll. A metallic taste filled my mouth like liquid tooth filling, as every sense of mine was immediately overtaken in a split second that seemed to last an eternity... I could feel my ribs and sternum splinter, like old wood on a dry summer day. I hit the ground hard, my torso bending in strange ways due to the now blatant lack of structure. Red spread out on the pavement around me, though I could barely see it as my thoughts swarmed with desperation. I tried to scream for help, but no sound came out. Now that I think about it, maybe my lungs had ruptured from the impact. Not sure though. Don’t know how I would’ve survived long enough to think at all, let alone keep breathing for around a minute.”

Coleman: “Explosive pain was pulsing through my body, but all that filled my mind was one sentence, over and over. ‘I’m going to die,’ I realized. ‘I’m really going to die.’ But I couldn’t. My family was never religious, and in my young, childish head, there was no comfort in the void I was told was coming. I struggled, I wiggled on the pavement- I did everything I could to hold off that darkness at the edge of my vision, but no matter what I did, it continued to advance threateningly. It was about that time when a kind of feeling began welling up in me. It wasn’t… Well, it wasn’t a new feeling per se, but it was something intense. Something primal.”

Coleman: “I kept screaming at myself to get up, get up, get UP. Unconsciousness kept trying to pull me down but I forced my arms to move, pulling myself forward on the rough concrete. My nails splintered and pulled from my fingers as I dragged myself down the street towards my door, but the pain, the fear, the resolve, and the determination all kept me going and, more importantly, conscious. My thoughts, my emotions, and my heartbeat were all ringing in my ears up to the end, as I was pushing myself off the ground to reach for my house’s door handle. My splintered rib cage cried in agony, but I stretched further and further, refusing to lay back down and accept my death. That pain kept building, but my tenacity forced me onward, pushing and pushing until finally, I guess unbending my chest finally allowed some air into my lungs. And the first thing I did with it? I screamed. I screamed my hemorrhaged little heart out. It tore through my blood-soaked throat with enough of a ring in my ears that I’m sure it would have echoed in empty air… but I guess I’ll never know what happened after that because then I-”

Coleman: “Well, I woke up.”

████████: “Hmm. Interesting.”

Coleman: “Weird, I know. I woke up that morning, the spring sunlight filtering through my window, that morning taste of sourness in my mouth. I sat straight up, soaked in sweat and tears running down my face. Wasn’t crying though, strangely enough. I just sat there in open mouthed shock for around an hour. I could’ve sat there as long as I liked; it wasn't like Mom was coming to get me.”

Coleman: “Thought it was a dream.”

████████: “A dream?”

[Subject nods.]

Coleman: “Yep. What, was I supposed to have believed all that actually happened at twelve years old? People don’t die and come back to life. That’s what I believed at the time. So after a while, I pulled myself out of bed.”

Coleman: “My house at that age was… ah, what’s the point. It looked mostly the way I wanted it to.  I was pretty much the only one there most of the time. Mom was off who-knows-where a lot, so I cleaned up all the old coffee cups and whiskey bottles, I cooked my own breakfast, and I left tylenol and water on Mom’s nightstand for when she got home. It was a daily routine.”

Coleman: “But I noticed things were happening very similarly to things in my ‘dream’. It was little things. A bird slamming into the window. The toaster spring coming loose. That kind of thing. It was weird. Surreal. I even pinched myself to make sure I wasn’t still dreaming.”

Coleman: “But it was enough to make me cautious. As I went outside to practice my shooting, I looked towards Old Lady Morris’s garden. Sure enough, that same blue jay that was there in the dream was there. Pecking at her plants without a care in the world. That’s when it really hit me, you know? No denying it now. I had died, and for some reason, I’d come back. I slammed the door shut and stumbled back. My breathing quickened. I was panicking. In and out, in and out. I was twelve, to remind you. I don’t think you’re supposed to think about your own mortality until at least adulthood and after a few stiff drinks. God, it felt like I could feel the hit-and-run all over again. My side ached, my chest hurt with each breath, and I was desperately looking for an escape from a threat that wasn’t there yet. I ran over to the window and opened the blinds. Pulling into the driveway was that same white van, but of course, this time I got a good look at it. It was a beat up old thing, rusty in parts, with the hood all jagged and bent.”

Coleman: “God, I almost look back on it fondly. My first Groundhog Day.”

████████: “A Groundhog Day?”

Coleman: “What? It’s that movie with Bill Murray where he repeats the same day over and over, so I thought the name fit-”

████████: “I’m aware of the movie. I’m just interested in how jovial you seem to be about this.”

[Subject leans back in their chair, crossing their arms.]

Coleman: “Look, you asked for the story. I’ll tell it how I want, got it?”

Coleman: “Anyway, a guy hopped out of the van. Tall fella, paper bag over his head. Knew he was with Ivan after that. I’ve seen that gang’s uniform before. Bruisers used to come by when I was… six? Seven? Something like that. He kicked down the door, shotgun in hand. The door flung around and hit me in the head, the edge of the doorknob slamming into my skull. I yelped in pain, but just half a second later, I’d be feeling a whole lot worse.”

Coleman: “I heard the rough, crunchy bang of exploding gunpowder, like a crackling firework on the Fourth of July, and for a fraction of a second, my ears burned from the sound. But then I felt the first pellet from the man’s shotgun go through my head. A rending pain tore through my skull, only intensified as another went through. And another. And another. And another. I felt more and more painful piercings through my skull and brain as the buckshot rained down until it felt like a hail of hell exposing my brain to the bitter cold of the outside air, each slight draft in that microsecond feeling like raking red-hot blades across the now non-existent back of my head and neck.”

Coleman: “Then I woke up again. Sat straight up in my bed, sunlight through my window, yada yada yada. I jumped out of bed, ran to the kitchen, and waited. Sure enough, a bird smacked into the window. All the proof I needed, that. I ran outside, looked down the street. There was the van, rolling up the road. I started to prepare.”

[Subject sighs and rests an arm over the back of the chair, once again glancing at the security camera.]

Coleman: “And here’s the repetitive part of the story: all the different attempts I made to try and survive. You’d get really damn bored if I went over each attempt individually, so I’ll go broad strokes here. Tried disarming him with a broom handle. Dead. Tried laying a trap in the road. Dead. Tried attacking him with the neighbor’s dog. Dead. Tried to tackle him right as he came in. Dead. Tried to attack him, over and over, every way I could find. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Each time hurt in a new, horrible way. I like to call it the “cost of immortality”. You may be able to come back from death, but that moment you die is gonna really fuckin’  hurt. It’s like time itself slows down at that exact moment, letting you feel each tiny sensation in that microsecond.”

[Subject straightens her posture and idly rubs her arm, staring absently at an insignificant point on the wall.]

Coleman: “Gah… if I really think about it, I can still feel each one. I never forget a death and trust me, that’s a feat considering how many times I’ve died. Rammed, stabbed, shot, beaten, I couldn’t get away. Tried running, got run over. Tried to hide, got pulled out and shot.  It felt like there was no end in sight, that it was endless.”

Coleman: ‘Maybe there isn’t an escape,’ I thought. ‘Is this Hell? Did I already die?’”

Coleman: “Yep, grappled with that for a while- Or, however you would define ‘a while’ in a situation like this. But I had to keep trying. I. Would. Survive.”

[Subject leans back once again, making eye contact with Dr. ████████ and maintaining it for the rest of the interview.] 

Coleman: “My last attempt started like any other, I jumped out of bed immediately and propped a chair against the door. I learned to do that in attempt twenty-three, and every attempt afterwards, I did it again. It bought me valuable time- two minutes and thirty-eight seconds, to be exact. I sat there for a second, that despair of possibly never escaping still… I don’t know, there in my mind, you know? But when I saw the guy's car pulling up, that’s when it hit me. I thought back to when I got hit. By the van.”

████████: [Interviewer stays silent.]

Coleman: “…Oh come on, that was good.”

████████: “Excuse me for not seeing the humor.”

Coleman: “Ah, screw you then. Point being, I thought back to how powerful it felt when I got hit and it gave me an idea. I snuck out through the back door, I worked my way around the house while the guy tried jimmying the door, struggling with the chair I’d propped up. I looked behind him. He’d left the car running.”

Coleman: ‘Oh fuck,’ I thought. ‘Oh shit, this could be it.’”

Coleman: I snuck over quietly, walking at a snail’s pace. I swear, I felt like breathing was a death sentence. Now that I wasn’t being chased, attacked, or killed, I had an opportunity to truly get a look at this guy. He was putting all his weight on one leg in a way that was both pathetic and intimidating. Maybe it was just because of how often he’d killed me, but I couldn’t help but shiver being so close to him. The man who had been the cause of my hell for the last- well, it felt like forever at the time- was standing right next to me, so close I could almost swear I felt his body heat. But I got over it and proceeded to the van, opening the car door as slowly as possible. As the door clicked and popped open, my heart dropped as I thought it was enough of a sound for the man to turn around. But then, as the smell of alcohol wafted from the vehicle’s interior, I understood why his senses were both dulled and heightened. Why his balance was off so much, and yet he was still so murderously inclined. I thanked whatever horrible, fucked up god that was listening, and hopped in, got down on the floorboard and, bracing myself, punched the gas. Literally.”

Coleman: “The wheels under the car instantly peeled out on the blacktop, the loud screech finally being enough to make the man turn around, but far too late to jump out of the way. The car drove forward at an angle, slamming into him and pushing him back until he hit the garage door. The jagged metal of the hood on the beat-up van drove into him, blood already spreading over the front of it, but the vehicle kept going. It flattened the metal spike the man got stabbed by against the metal of the wall behind him, and pressed against him even harder. Because of the angle we went at, the vehicle slipped sideways as it drove against the metal. It smeared him against the garage, like a badly sealed paint varnish as sputtering gasps and screams echoed around me.”

Coleman: “I jumped out of the van, ripping the key from the ignition so it wouldn’t run me over too. I walked over and saw that, to my surprise, he was still alive. He reached for me, hand outstretched. He was begging. Ha! Can you believe that? He was begging me for help! Could hardly believe it then either.”

████████: “And how did that make you feel?”

Coleman: “Hmm… Indifferent, I guess? The reality of it didn’t sink in until a few hours later. When it did, though? Oh man, it was a rush! I had won. I was ALIVE. I felt unkillable- and to be fair, I was. Er, still am- whatever, you get the picture.”

████████: “Hmm, that would indicate far more loops than what our instruments have-”

Coleman: “How about you let me tell the story, alright? No more interruptions. Where was I- …right.”

Coleman: “I looked him in the eye, and I saw something. Those eyes that I’d seen so often, those eyes I’d seen staring dispassionately as I was strangled, stabbed, and shot, were looking at me now in fear. It was like there was new life injected into him, but I don’t think I appreciated it then like I do now. I looked back down to the ground. His shotgun was there. Loaded and pumped.”

Coleman: “So I helped him. Put him out of his misery, nice and quick. I’ll be honest, I- I didn’t really know what to do at the time, heh. My clothes, sneakers, shirt, pants, and face were all covered in blood and viscera. My hands were still shaking from the recoil. So I guess I just kinda… went back to normal. Walked back inside and sat there. For the first time in eight-thousand-five-hundred-thirty-eight loops, it was 8:12. I went back to the kitchen, made myself breakfast, and put the tylenol and water on my mom’s nightstand. Some loops never change, I guess.”

████████: “I see. Were there any repercussions afterwards?” 

[Subject nods.]

Coleman: “Mom came back later, freaked the fuck out for obvious reasons, then asked me how I was still alive. I had already changed clothes, you see. Plus, I didn’t exactly know how to explain what had happened. So I just shrugged and said I didn’t know. That I got lucky.”

Coleman: “Then life continued without a feather ruffled. No therapy or counseling- hell, after the initial check-in, Mom didn’t even bring it up again outside of “We don’t speak to the cops about this.” I’ve had plenty of Groundhog Days since then. You run into them a lot in my kind of business. Which brings us back to you lot.”

████████: “Indeed it does.”

Coleman: “What happens now? I know there’s probably a team of  You gonna lock me up like a lab rat with the other freaks? Cause I could just blow my brains out and avoid this whole interview if that’s your plan.”

████████: “Actually, quite the opposite. I have an offer for you, Miss Coleman, and I believe it’s one you’ll quite like.”

Coleman: “An offer? …Okay, I’m listening.”

[End Log]

------------------------------

Closing Thoughts

Origin of anomaly is still unknown, and at time of filing, is of low priority.

Recruitment initiative was successful. Monitoring of the temporal anomaly has become more efficient by 76% with the subject’s cooperation and induction into the ███████████.

Subject currently owns and runs a bar in downtown Providence and is available for consultancy and fieldwork at the Director’s discretion. Compensation must be made on contact, with an unmarked envelope of ███████.

[silverskye13]

heyo! Do you have any brainworms for Hels, Wels, and what happened halfway through season 6 that made Wels disappear for the rest of the season?

There's a knock on his door, and he's not ready for it. He’s only just sat down, and honestly he’s kind of scared he won’t be able to stand up again. Welsknight stares up at the tall ceiling, and idly wonders if he doesn’t answer the door, if whoever it was will just… go away. He wants them to go away. He wants to be left alone. He wants to sulk and lick his wounds in peace, or, failing that, to respawn outside the gaze of prying eyes.

They knock again. Wels sighs, but still refuses to move. He probably can’t move? Well, he could move, but it’d be painful and uncomfortable, and his lounge chair is in the process of swallowing him whole anyway. Maybe if he tried hard enough he could sink through the floor. Fall through the world, through the bedrock, through the void, down, down into nothing where nothing can bother him and he can finally get some uninterrupted rest. He stares at the ceiling. He realizes his head is spinning a bit. Less of a spin outright, and more of a gentle rocking, subtle dizziness. He has probably lost too much blood. This seems like a blood loss thing.

The knock on his door returns more insistently, followed by a voice he recognizes. It’s False, sounding barely-awake but concerned. “Wels? I know you’re in there. I saw your rocket trail.”

Hm. Yeah he should have probably tried to be a bit more subtle. Loud rockets overhead in the middle of the night was an unsubtle thing. But not using his rockets required landing somewhere and walking home, and as he’s already established with himself, movement is difficult right now. Just staggering from the front door to his chair had taken a monumental effort, aided by every wall and tabletop he could lean on as he stumbled his way through. For obvious reasons, the stairs to the bedroom were out of his current skill set to tackle. Still, it sucked he’d woken someone up with all the racket. He would have to try to be better next time.

Right. 

Next time.

Wels watches the ceiling slowly tilt.

He doesn’t want there to be a next time.

“I’m coming in, Wels.”

Welsknight digs deep inside himself for the strength to call back. “I’d rather you didn’t.”

To his credit, he tries really hard to sound normal, albeit tired. He’s aiming for that sweet spot of ‘I just got back from an exhausting day of work, don’t bother me - but I’m fine!’ kind of tone. It’s a hard tone to master, one he’s still actively practicing. This time, there’s a little too much pain in his voice for it to land. As soon as he speaks, the dryness of his throat makes itself evident - along with the bruises in his ribs, the tear in his shoulder, the puncture wound he hadn’t noticed until now in his side, and whatever the heck was going on with his guts after Hels kicked him that one time. It had been one hell of a fight. Wels wasn’t entirely sure who’d won yet. He would probably count it a win if he managed to live through the night, but he might be too tired for even that right now.

There was a rattle from the general direction of the front door, followed by the loud creak of its opening. Welsknight might be angry about it, if he weren’t so full up of exhaustion it crowded out just about anything else he was capable of feeling. Something like indignance fluttered up in him only to die down again. Instead of getting worked up over the intrusion, he simply observed the ceiling as it lilted a little further to the side than it had before, and tracked the sound of footsteps entering his home. He very distinctly counted two sets, and that bothered him. Either two people were intruding on him, which he distantly recognized as kind of rude, or the blood loss was making him hallucinate. Someone who wasn’t False swore under their breath, and Wels figured that answered that question.

“It’s a bit of a mess, sorry.” Wels called weakly from his chair, still failing in his attempts at phasing through the floor.

“Wels, are you alright, love?” That was definitely Stress, and he should’ve figured the two of them would be together. “You’ve got blood all over your nice floor.”

“I’m fine,” he answered witheringly.

Their footsteps meandered as they tried to find him in the house. They stopped outside the doorway to his library and whispered for a moment. One pair of steps retreated hastily further into the house, while the other continued in his direction. Wels’ tilting vision was suddenly obscured by False looking down at him.

“Howdy False.”

“You look dreadful,” she said matter-of-factly.

“If you think I’m bad, you should… you should see the other guy.” Wels drawled, his addled mind tripping over the words a bit. Long sentences required concentration he didn’t really have. “I admit I’m not… uh… quite at one-hundred percent right now.” 

“Are you dying?”

“Maybe?”

“Well you’ve got two options,” she leaned against the arm of the chair, and Wels thought she was taking the frightful state of him pretty well, all things considered. “We can either speed you along, or patch you up.”

“Is there a third option?”

“You wait here until I decide for you?”

Stress’s footsteps sounded in the doorway, her voice grinning. “We’re in luck False! E’s got some ‘ealth potions in ‘is stuff, and I got me bandages in me enderchest as well.”

“Decision made,” False told him. She slipped one arm underneath him and pulled him to a standing position. The previous tilting of his vision jerked into a harsh spiral, rapidly followed by bright lights that consumed every ounce of his vision. 

Then he was sitting in a chair in his kitchen, blinking stars out of his eyes. His world was still spinning at dangerous speeds, and he felt a bit like he was about to slump out of his seat, or maybe throw up, or maybe both. It was funny, having so little balance that ragdolling in his chair was suddenly a monumental effort. He thought maybe it was good he was too tired and in too much pain to move, or he would have probably thrown himself out of his seat by now simply because the feeling of constantly leaning and tipping and falling had him that confused.

“I didn’t know you could teleport, False,” Wels joked humorlessly.

“You passed out, love,” Stress corrected him with a pleasant smile. He realized she was in the middle of removing one of his gauntlets, and then his spinning vision became aware of his helmet and chest piece stacked neatly behind her against one of the cabinets. False turned on the nearby sink and wet down a rag.

“You guys don’t have to do this.”

“We don’t?” False asked, a smug smirk in her voice. “Oh well that’s good news. You’ll be patching yourself up then?”

She held the rag out to him to take, and Wels thought it would be great to grab it. He wanted to grab it and prove he was fine, or at least prove that everything was under control. Except when he tried to move his arm, he found he couldn’t really feel it. Or well, he could feel it, but it was heavy, and he couldn’t concentrate on lifting it long enough to actually lift it. His other arm hurt, the tear in his shoulder warning him rather insistently not to move it and risk making it worse.

“Touché.”

“So what’s got you in this state to begin with?” Stress asked, inspecting one of the health potions she’d pulled from his chests somewhere. She uncorked it, poured some onto a rag, and pressed it to the wound in his side. The touch stung at first, and she chuckled when he flinched away from her, but then the magic of the potion settled in, soothing the harm.

“I mean, take a guess.”

"This is the third time in as many weeks, Wels," Stress pointed out to him, as if he didn't already know. "You fink maybe you should be coolin it a bit on the fight-picking? Or 'is 'e starting it?"

"I would argue he's starting it."

"Right, yeah, you see how that would sound like you're the one starting fights, right?"

Wels scowled in the general direction of the ceiling. They'd sat him up too straight in the chair for him to lounge backwards like he'd been in front of his fireplace, which was probably for the best since he was so dizzy. It made it hard to find a good reason to avoid eye contact though.

"I'm tired of hearing his voice, Stress."

She nods but stays silent, inspecting the wound in his side to see if it's healed completely. She must've been dissatisfied with her assessment, because she dabbed at it again. False busied herself with his wounded shoulder, washing away the blood so she could gauge just how bad it was. Awkward for the silence between them, Wels continues. "He's relentless. He's always there, telling me how bad I've screwed things up. I'm- like I'm not getting desperate yet, but I'd just like a break I think. I can't even sleep. I dream about him sometimes now. If I sleep. His stupid voice keeps me awake. I--"

Wels cuts off with a startled cry when False dumps a potion directly onto his shoulder. It's less that it hurts, and more that it's just, incredibly cold. As the healing magic floods him, the tilting in his vision comes to such an abrupt halt his stomach turns. Both False and Stress are laughing at him, and False turns back to the sink to rinse the blood from her rag. “You know, for a guy who fights his inner demons on the regular, you’re a big baby when it comes to the healing bit.” 

“It was cold, False.”

“Is that what ‘e is, a demon?” Stress asks. “I always figured ‘e was one of those Evil X types. Like a bad double or somefing?”

“We’re… the same person?” Wels says, unsure. “Kind of.”

“So more of like a clone then?”

Wels shakes his head. “No it’s… we’re the same person. We’re just two people. He’s… He’s told me before it’s… I’m…” Wels sighs, and both False and Stress pause in cleaning him up to watch him with concern. Wels finally admits, “I’m,h̷i̶s̴ ẃ̸e̸͒ǎ̵k̸e̶͝r̸͙̈́ ̴̒h̵͔̐a̸̳͝l̴̙͝ḟ̴̠.”

The room is dark. Nearly pitch black. Wels blinks. He has enough time to worry that he’s somehow gone blind, before the smell of brimstone and the feel of skin-cracking heat washes over him. He’s sitting alone in a small room. There’s a window to one side casting flickering red-toned light around the space, highlighting the silhouettes of a closed door and a single small bed. A loud noise outside the room startles him, and Wels ducks towards the wall, searching for safety-

-he falls out of his chair and onto the floor of his kitchen. The room is bright with warm lantern light. The air is cool and a bit damp with the summer humidity. The sink is pouring water that False turned on and forgot to turn off. False herself stands with her sword drawn, eyes wide, standing between Wels and Stress like she’s scared he’s going to attack her. There is blood on her sword. The three of them blink at each other, and Wels becomes aware of a new pain slowly brimming to life on his chest. It’s a distant sting that is getting further away from him, because his head is starting to get fuzzy with static. He has enough clarity to recognize the fact that he’s panicking. Panicking because he has no idea what just happened, but he has a pretty good guess, and he thinks if Stress and False stare at him like he’s a wild animal for another second, he might throw up, actually, for real this time, and-

“This is a problem,” False states the obvious and sheathes her sword. She takes a bracing breath, and Wels has enough wherewithal to notice she’s shaking. “Alright. I’m calling a meeting.”

[dreamsclock]

I love the name when pigs fly it’s genius—

THANK U ^_^ have a fun little snippet from it !!!

when pigs fly au — ch1

It’s day twenty four in the prison when Techno slips through time.

Okay, granted, he actually has no clue what day it is, twenty-something is more of a guess, because he’s fallen asleep, like, twenty four times, and Dream looks minutely comforted when Techno says “twenty four days” to him in a strong assertive voice, but if he’s being really honest, he has no idea how long he’s been stuck in prison.

He’d like to say the twenty fourth day was discernable from the twenty three others that had passed before (again, time is relative), but he’d be lying. Time in prison is hazy and dull; each day blends into the one before it and the one after it, leaving him feeling disappointingly dissatisfied before bed every night. Dream doesn’t seem to find this too hard to bear, finding something new to do every day, though admittedly, Techno thinks he’d rather be driven mad than go to the lengths Dream is going to. Or maybe being mad is why Dream goes to such lengths — he loses track of how much times Dream has thrown himself in lava, loses track of how many times he’s yanked his (friend?) (rival?) (cellmate?) (telly-tubby?) from the flames before they consumed him entirely.

“Dude,” he complains, shoving a burning Dream towards the water pot in the corner, “you’ve gotta find better coping mechanisms, man, this is really pitiful at this point. I don’t even have any witty comments any more. I’m just concerned.”

Dream, for the most part, looks chill. “You could’ve let me burn.”

“And then watch you respawn in the corner and giggle to yourself and mumble to yourself and wonder if you’ve been driven mad this time?” Techno arches an eyebrow, fans out a flame on Dream’s shoulder. “Nah, I’m good. That would be kind of a lame, bad-friend move.”

Behind the mask, he can see the harsh, gaunt edges of Dream’s face soften. “Friend,” he repeats, “huh.”

Techno makes a mental note to make sure Dream gets better friends when they’re both out of here.

…When. More and more, it’s beginning to feel like an impossible dream, no pun intended. Chat are faint in his head on good days, completely gone on the bad days (and there are a lot of bad days), and Techno is worried, with each hour that ticks by, that their chances of getting out of here alive are dwindling.

He and Dream both have one life. The people keeping them here have two and three.

The odds, he admits, aren’t exactly in their favour.

He lets go of Dream, slouching back into the same spot as before, and watches Dream pick up a book from the chest with slightly charred burned fingers.

“Hey,” Dream breaks the silence after a bit, clearing his throat, “what— okay, so, if there was— What would you do if there was a genie who could grant you any wish?”

Techno blinks. “Heh?”

“I mean, like—” The younger shrugs offhandedly, shoulders hunched as he stares down at his book. “If you could tell — I dunno, genie, magic guy, wizard, whatever — If you could say one wish, and it would come true, what would you wish for?”

It’s a good question. Definitely one of the better ones Dream has asked. Over the course of their weeks in the cell, the other has been getting creative: his first questions started off lame, like what’s your favourite colour? and what’s your favourite weapon to train with? and if you were being tortured daily by someone with little to no hope of escaping, all over a book that you can’t ever reveal the contents of, and you were terrified of one day revealing its secrets because you’ve grown weak enough to want to die over wanting to live, what would you do?

(“…Uh, hope for Technoblade to drop by,” Techno had answered at the time, after registering the question, “wait for a Technoblade to cheer me up with his witty commentary. That sure would make the torture bearable.”)

(Dream had laughed for the first time then: an unpleasant, hoarse, bark, but a laugh nonetheless. “Wait for a Technoblade?” He repeats.)

(Techno had shrugged. “I’m no Theseus, but you’re not exactly Pandora,” he’d told him, “no rule about having to stay in here yourself, right?”)

So yeah, he definitely prefers the genie question. Furrowing his brow and tilting his head back so it touched the rough obsidian wall, Techno considers his answer.

“Ask for a bell,” he deadpans, and smirks at Dream’s snort, “nah, but seriously? I’d probably ask to get out of—”

Another answer strikes him, one more fantastical, a daydream, childish, more than anything else.

He pauses.

“…Probably go back in time.”

Dream’s attention swivels to him, slowly. “What?”

“Dunno. Would be pretty neat.” Keeping his voice neutral, Techno offers Dream a wry grin. “I mean, ignoring the whole butterfly-effect thing, but I think I could be careful enough. I dunno, I think… maybe I could stop certain things from happenin’. Stop certain people from… becomin’ who they are now.”

Sam. Quackity. Wilbur. Tommy. Techno meets his new friend’s eyes behind the mask. Dream. He could change so much with the knowledge he has now — of course, he doesn’t think he’d ever actually want to go back in time, but hey, he thinks he could change a couple of crucial things.

Just as he thinks that, the whole universe tilts on its side. For a moment, Techno thinks god has struck him down for his insolence.

And then he hears it: a laugh, echoing in a thousand voices.

Time travel, huh? The protector of the End portal muses, and Techno imagines millions of rows of tiny sharp teeth baring in a smile at him. Never heard that one before. He laughs like he knows something Techno doesn’t. Alright. I’ll grant your wish, just this once. So sue me: I’m curious.

“Oh, wait,” Techno says into the darkness, “I was kidding.”

Too late. The world explodes into shards of different colours. He feels like he’s falling through static, every particle of his being glitching and sliding and spilling over timelines, months, events. So much whizzes by him — Doomsday, the Butcher Army, the Sixteenth, joining Pogtopia—

He goes instinctively to draw back. He remembers that all too well.

And because the universe hates him, Techno finds himself falling forwards, not back, and resurfaces — literally — in a puddle in Pogtopia, coughing and blinking water out of his eyes.

“Bruh,” he manages to cough out, absolutely horrified, “you can’t be serious right now. You cannot be serious right now.”

Oh, absolutely I’m serious, a smug voice in his head seems to say, have fun.

And before Techno can even begin to process the fact there’s a god with a petty vendetta against him (he’s supposed to be an atheist), the voice disappears, and leaves him stranded in the frozen ravine of Pogtopia…

…Six months in the past.

Because that’s just his luck. He’s stuck, confused, stressed, and pretty unpleasantly cold, in Pogtopia, which smells exactly like he remembers and is startlingly innocent: before wars, before betrayal, before the sixteenth and everything going wrong. If he has anybody looking out for him up above (which he highly doubts), he might be able to fix things.

…Or not. Because he’s Technoblade, and he’s on the Dream SMP, and things never ever work out the way he wants.

The sound of a screeching child trampling towards him does absolutely nothing to assuage his new fears.

[ramzawrites]

can i request an angsty sbi fic where sibling reader lost two lives saving others (maybe tubbo at the festival?) and they see everything falling apart (techno and phil destroying everything, wilbur dead and tommy focused on the disks) and they pretend to be ok while their mental health gets worse and worse until they decide to end it, and people only realise they weren't okay after the death message pops up and their reactions to seeing it? if not thats completely fine, ik its pretty heavy

Broken

GN

Pairings: none

Characters included: Wilbur, Tommy, Philza, Tubbo, Technoblade

Warnings: depression, suicide (falling, non descriptive), angst

Series: a request!

Summary: Y/N just wanted their home back. They just wanted to live a peaceful life but instead all their hopes and dreams got ripped apart by the people they loved the most.

Words count: 3647

Authors Note: Honestly I could have shortened it quite a bit but here we are, it’s way longer than I wanted but I hope you guys enjoy this. I’m sorry if this went kind off of rails to what you might have envisioned. Also I hope that you guys know that you are loved and appreciated. I appreciate you for taking the time to read my stuff :] Here is m favorite video to cheer me up some times, hope it can cheer you up as well!

I’m also curious what your guys thoughts and opinion are on this or my writing in general! Can’t get better without feedback :]

Y/N loved their family.

They were all pretty chaotic but so was Y/N, following their siblings into trouble ignoring any possible consequences.

So when Wilbur proclaimed he would create an independent Nation inside the SMP that was owned by Dream himself, you bet that Y/N was standing right beside him.

When Wilbur would struggle with his tasks or was weighed down by doubts they would swoop right in and do their best to support him. Every time Wilbur would say “I don’t know what I would do without you sometimes.” While Y/N didn’t do it for praise but out of love for him it was still nice knowing that he appreciated them and that he took note of their work.

Tommy wasn’t really for heartfelt words but he too expressed in his own way how much he appreciated them being around. Most of his schemes wouldn’t have even happened without Y/N’s help after all. As a way to say thanks he would let them just take stuff fout his chets or when he heard they needed a specific resource he would wander out and get it for them. Of course saying something on the lines of “I was out there anyhow, so I brought some with me. It was on the way.” Y/N could read between the lines though. They grew up with him after all.

Y/N put so much energy into L’Manberg they couldn’t help but be in love with this little nation. They would do everything to protect their home.

When Y/N lost their first life it was together with their siblings protecting their nephew Fundy.

The Dream Team suddenly retreated after another battle against L’Manberg. While the group was celebrating what they thought was their first victory in ages, Eret appeared. She told the group of a small bunker with more resources.

Still celebrating Wilbur, Y/N, Tommy, Tubbo and Fundy made their way towards the bunker. The bunker that would later go down into history as “The Final Control Room.”

Inside they all looked at the labeled chests only to notice that they were empty. Eret then pressed a button which opened up secret walls with the Dream Team standing behind. She herself got into safety as Dream and his friends merciless attacked the L’Manberg faction.

As soon as Y/N understood what was happening they did their best to form a wall between the attackers and Fundy. Slowly pushing him out of the room while they made sure to block the exit, giving the Fox Hybrid enough time to run away.

When they woke up again it was inside their home. In L’Manberg. Sore from the respawning.

Once they did respawn though it didn’t take long for Fundy to barge into their room and throw himself against them, thanking them. Wilbur was close by, looking worse for wear as well but incredible thankful nonetheless.

After that and a few battles more Tommy challenged Dream to a duel in order to secure independence. He lost so instead he bartered his music discs for freedom.

After Tommy respawned a second time Y/N made sure to spent most of their time hovering around him. Making sure he was doing alright.

But with that L’Manberg was independent and it was Y/N’s time to shine. Sure, they worked hard on strengthening the infrastructure of the nation but now, maybe even because of that, they basically coordinated all the new builds.

Shops, homes and other things were being build with them overseeing it. Meanwhile Wilbur and Tommy took care of the political part only to come to the conclusion that they had to have a proper election.

At first it started innocently enough as well. New political parties were made that begun advertising themselves. Funny enough they would always come to Y/N asking them where they could hang up their posters. It was then that Y/N realized that the people saw them as some sort of authority, even asking them if they wanted to start their own campaign. They politely declined, saying they worked best as a support role.

Then Schlatt entered the stage and everything got thrown upside down.

In the end he managed to become the next president via a coalition and his first declaration as the president, or emperor as he called himself, was to exile Tommy and Wilbur.

As they ran for their life Y/N didn’t hesitate to follow. It hurt them so much to leave L’Manberg, their fruit and labor, behind. This only got worse once they realized that Tubbo was basically left alone back at the city under Schlatt’s rule.

Then Pogtopia got established.

Tommy, Wilbur and Y/N did their best to get a proper foothold again. Gathering resources and planning for ways to get their home back. And to accomplish this they soon called in the oldest sibling of the group, Technoblade.

Techno has been away for the longest time now. He moved out early to travel the world and apparently train himself. Somehow Tommy found a way to get a message to him, so he made his way towards Pogtopia.

He wasn’t big on words or emotions but as soon as he arrived he let Y/N hug him.

“This is a onetime deal, Y/N.”

With Techno they finally felt like they had a chance. Y/N could maybe return home someday. Back when they were children Techno always looked out for them so to have him back Y/N felt infinitely safer.

All the while Wilbur showed more and more signs that his mental health was rapidly declining. Y/N did their best trying to cheer him up but there was only so much they could do. Especially since they themself were struggling.

L’Manberg was their everything and now it was under the iron rule of Schlatt. They had to watch as Schlatt walked through the nation, ripping apart builds that they commissioned or even built themself. Every time he did something like that it felt like another stab wound directly into their heart.

Then the festival happened where Y/N lost their second life protecting Tubbo.

Schlatt wanted to apparently celebrate democracy and his amazing rule. Tommy and Wilbur weren’t allowed to join while Techno and Y/N received an invitation.

Y/N was very wary of that. They learned from Tubbo that Schlatt apparently was pretty interested in bringing them over to Manberg since a lot of the residents trusted them and saw them more as an authority than Schlatt himself, so bringing them over would probably also bring a lot of the residents around to his rule.

On the day of the festival Y/N made sure to stay close to Techno. Holding on to his arm and basically hiding behind him, not feeling up to talk with all the people in Manberg.

The people were happy to see them but Y/N was tired. They haven’t slept properly ever since the exile, too many thoughts that kept them awake.

Then the speeches started.

Honestly Y/N wasn’t really listening, their attention purely on a broken old building. It used to be the place where Y/N and the other residents would meet up and map out their plans for new builds. Discussing and even sometimes arguing on what materials should be used and where to get them. Now it was empty.

Their attention got pulled back towards what was actually happening once Tubbo begun speaking. It was a nice little speech Y/N had to admit.

Just as Tubbo was about to leave, Schlatt moved back in. Holding him in place and pushing him in something that Y/N had to describe as a cage with the help of Quackity.

“Techno, buddy. Come up here for a sec.”

Technoblade tensed up but still moved towards the stage. There Schlatt uttered the words that pulled the rug out from beneath Y/N once again.

“Kill him Techno. He is a traitor.”

“Don’t you dare!” Y/N yelled out, making their way towards the stage as well.

Y/N knew Techno couldn’t deal well with social pressure, especially when there were about ten people or more behind him that could attack him at any point.

Tubbo looked so scared as he pressed himself against the wall. There was no escape for him.

When Techno moved his crossbow up, aiming directly at Tubbo, Y/N let out another scream. Urging him to stop.

Explosions. Colorful explosions filled the place.

“Y/N!” it was Tubbo screaming their name out.

Just as Techno pressed the trigger Y/N managed to jump in front, the rockets hitting them instead of Tubbo.

Their older brother looked absolutely mortified “Y/N? Wha- What? Why? How?” staring at Y/N’s lifeless body that slowly dissolved. They were slowly respawning but seeing his siblings body was enough to send him in some sort of frenzy.

Filled with bloodlust he aimed his crossbow towards Schlatt and Quackity. Killing them with one press of the trigger only to turn around and aim his crossbow towards the people.

As this happened Tommy enderpearled over, screaming at Techno.

He helped Tubbo out of the cage who was still in a state of shock. He only saw Y/N for a second and the next they were laying on the ground in their own blood.

Y/N heard the details later after they respawned. Tommy had apparently been incredibly angry at Techno, even attacking him. Wilbur then offered that the two deal with their argument via a fistfight inside a pit.

Normally Y/N would have yelled at Wilbur for that. Would have told him that this was his dumbest idea yet but they were too shook from what had happened to them.

Technoblade always spelled safety to them but he killed them. Sure, he meant to kill Tubbo but that didn’t really make it any better. They gave him an out, they would have helped fighting off all these people so they could flee.

The next time they saw Techno they flinched every time he got too close to them and yet they still put on a smile “Never, do this again.”

Techno only nodded.

After this downward slope the momentum didn’t seem to stop for them. Wilbur dropped even more and more off. Falling victim to his paranoia. Y/N tried their best convincing him to not blow up Manberg, that they will fight to gain it back. At this point trying to gain back their L’Manberg was the only thing they could hold on to.

Though all that work was for nothing.

The war to take back L’Manberg went way differently than they all had imagined. Y/N fought with a viciousness most didn’t think they had it in them. This was the day for them to finally regain what they had wished for, for the longest time now.

Everything came to a halt once Dream surrendered. He showed them Schlatt who was sitting in the Carmavan. Drunk off his mind he yelled and screamed at people only to die of a heart attack which meant that the Pogtopia faction won.

The people begun cheering, they had their home back! They were free! Y/N was probably the loudest by far. It felt like a huge weight was lifted from their shoulders. All this hardship and they could finally return to working with the others and rebuild L’Manberg. Return it to its former glory.

Tubbo got appointed President and Y/N was happy with it. Tubbo had an eye for building and was a good person, with him they were sure they could do some amazing things.

Apparently Techno thought otherwise. Instead he pulled Soulsand out, holding onto the Wither skulls as a visible threat.

Y/N had somewhat forgiven Techno for what had happened. It was a stressful situation and they acknowledged it but seeing him there, threatening to kill all of them? That they knew they couldn’t forgive quite so easy. Especially since he made some sound points but it was their L’Manberg. The people didn’t like living under Schlatt’s rule, this wasn’t something that could be described simply as a coup. Technically he was right but only technically. There were so many things that came into play that could let you argue over that but Techno would have none of it. Yelling something about Tommy only wanting to be a hero.

When the first explosions rang Y/N thought it came from a Wither but Techno was still in the middle of putting the heads onto the structure.

When more explosions rang and the ground beneath their feet broke away, Y/N understood what had happened.

At some point Wilbur ran off and must have pressed the button. The button that set the TNT beneath the city ablaze, effectively destroying everything.

Y/N was too busy with finding hard ground again and then dealing with the Withers and Techno that they only noticed after the fighting ended, how broken the nation was now.

They had won. Why would Wilbur do this? He knew how much the nation meant to them and again, they had won, so there was no reason for blowing the place up!

And if that wasn’t enough to see how both their older brothers destroyed everything Y/N worked for, they also had to see how Philza, their father, stood next to the corpse of Wilbur. It felt like they lost everything.

They lost their trust in Technoblade.

They lost their hopes and dreams via Wilbur blowing up the freshly liberated L’Manberg.

They lost their trust in their own father who had slain his own son.

Y/N felt absolutely crushed. Family was so important to them and it was their own family that destroyed their hopes and dreams. They did everything for them and this is how they repaid them?

Once everything calmed down and Tubbo begun making plans on how to rebuild the nation, he immediately came to Y/N for help but they hesitated which worried him.

“Is everything okay? Usually you would have jumped on that offer, Y/N.”

Y/N put on a smile that didn’t seem to reach their eyes “Don’t worry Tubbo, of course I’ll help you. I’m just tired from what we have been through. I finally have time to take a breather and I think it all just crashed down on me.”

“Well if you ever need help you can talk to me.” It was an earnest offer that Y/N would never take advantage of.

Y/N mostly ignored Philza. He talked with them a few times and even explained what has happened but Y/N still made a wide berth around him. Seeing him just hammered back down the feeling of distrust and hurt. Their familial relationship took a hard hit from that point on.

With Ghostbur it was a weird situation as well. They enjoyed spending time with him but were also always incredibly sad around him. Ghostbur took notice of this and would always offer them to take some of his blue but Y/N declined every time.

“Don’t worry Ghostbur. Everything is still just fresh in my mind. I’ll be back to my old self in no time. You take care of yourself, you hear?”

“Of course Y/N! You have always looked out for me, thank you.”

L’Manberg slowly took on a proper form again but it wasn’t the L’Manberg Y/N knew. It felt to them like they were standing on top of a grave. A grave for their dreams and it was getting hard, real hard, to walk through it every day seeing places where they know specific buildings should be standing. Buildings they build on their own only to be destroyed by their brothers doing.

Then Tubbo exiled Tommy and Y/N felt conflicted. They felt obligated to stay in L’Manberg since they were the main person people came to for builds but that was their brother. Their only brother they still trusted and felt a need to protect.

Instead of following him into exile they stayed in the city. Visiting Tommy whenever they could, noticing pretty fast that he was struggling hard with his situation and for once they didn’t feel strong enough to properly support him. Y/N tried their best but once they noticed they couldn’t reach him completely they gave up a tiny bit.

It reminded them too much of Wilbur.

So while they visited him and helped them where they could, they spent more and more time alone in their home only coming out for work and other necessary things like food. Soon it was normal to see them with ever present dark circles beneath their eyes.

Before Philza disappeared to join Techno, he would stop by Y/N’s home all the time.

“Have you eaten, yet?”

“Yes, dad. I’m an adult. I can take care of myself.”

“I just haven’t seen you much lately and I got worried.”

“Don’t worry. I’m fine. Hey, if you go out, please, can you tell Ghostbur to stop coming around to throw Blue inside my mailbox? He won’t listen to me but perhaps he will to you.” And they would always carry the same big smile on their face accompanied by empty eyes.

The only time their happiness reached their eyes again was when Tommy returned from his exile. They crashed into their younger sibling holding him close to them and muttering apologies. He pried them off, embarrassed by all of this.

This short bout of happiness was destroyed by Doomsday. Dream, Technoblade and Philza once again made sure to set L’Manberg ablaze.

The second time Y/N’s fruits and labor got completely annihilated by their family but still they had some hopes this time. They still had Tommy on their side they could just finally build a home somewhere else and live in peace but Tommy had other ideas. He had it in his mind to get his discs back and he would do anything for it.

So while Y/N tried to ground themself with new hopes and ideas, holding onto the only constant of what was important to them, that being Tommy, Tommy ignored them. He was too busy with his own things and the worst part was that Y/N couldn’t even fault him for it.

They understood how much these discs meant to him and that this was something that had to come to an end but with this they lost another, and possibly their last, anchor point.

Yet you could still see them running around with a smile, tending to every one and trying to help out the best they could.

Then suddenly they were gone. They just disappeared one day. The few people who took note of that took some time to look around but there was no sign as to where they left. Y/N didn’t take their armor with them nor any weapons or food.

< Y/N succumbed to despair and fell of a high place>

When every ones communicators rung out with this message the SMP fell quiet.

Tommy couldn’t believe what he was reading. This didn’t make any sense. Y/N was fine! They would talk with them and everything looked fine! This must have been a cruel joke from Dream somehow, right? This couldn’t be real. Why would Dream do this? This didn’t seem to make sense.

Exactly there was no sense in Dream doing this.

While Tommy was battling with his thoughts Tubbo came running over to him. Tears streamed down his face.

“What happened? Why did this happen? Where are they?”

Tommy was visibly shaking “I- I have no idea. I don’t know. They looked fine. I’m- I’m not sure. Tubbo-“

Tubbo just slammed into him, giving him a proper hug, trying his best to help Tommy through his rising panic. He lost another sibling and by Ender that hurt.

Meanwhile in the snowy Tundra both Philza and Techno were staring at their communicators as well.

Philza was pale. So pale it almost rivaled the snow around him.

Techno had his brows furrowed. For anyone who didn’t know him well enough he looked at best displeased with this situation but Philza could see the small details that told a different story. Him sucking his breath in as he read the message, hiding his quivering lip in his cloak. He was heartbroken.

Sure the two weren’t on good speaking terms but Y/N was still his younger sibling. He still loved them.

Philza felt similar. He acknowledged that he screwed up and honored their wish to be left alone by him but he never imagined this could lead to their death. His knees buckled and he sank to the ground. Two of his children died, one directly by his hand and the other due to his inaction.

His eyes glossed over, the world became a blur and yet he continued rereading this message over and over. Y/N just lost their last life.

Philza could hear Techno walk closer to him and sat down on the ground as well.

“Y/N is-“ Philza begun but he didn’t know what he wanted to say. State the obvious to his eldest son?

“I have more fault in this than you, dad. Don’t feel guilty.” His voice was uncharacteristically weak. Wavering as he spoke. He wanted to cheer Philza up but it was a weak attempt.

“What have we done.”

Ghostbur was at first confused when he read the message. It was like he couldn’t connect the dots but it slowly dawned on him what this meant.

“Oh my.” His usual happy demeanor was suddenly gone.

He touched his face and as he put his hands back down he saw how they were smeared with blue.

“Y/N is dead?”

His usual ghost behavior seemed to break a bit. It was like through the warped version of Wilbur that was called Ghostbur for a moment the true version of him came through again. And he was hurt. Devastated.

“I think I need to find the others.” He mumbled to himself, making his way towards his family. All the while he held onto the blue wool of Friend like a lifeline. Combing through it nervously. Blue continuing to spill from his eyes.

[obeiii-mee]

Hello! Can I request an hc about a shady MC who's not phase by anything in Devildom with the brothers (and Diavolo?? he deserves love!!!)? Like, when Luci's like "i CaN KiLL yOu hUmAN", MC's reaction was like "Oh... congratulations then." i need more shady mc who may or may not be planning to ruin your life😂😂 Thanks and take care!!❤❤

The Brothers + Diavolo with an MC that is not phased by DevilDom

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Pls I need more shady MC, they would not take any shit from the brothers. Put any Gen Z-er with these guys and you’ve got yourself a suicidal and reckless human exchange student.

They wouldn’t know what to do with one of those ahaksbakanhaka you’re right, Diavolo deserves all the love >:(((((((

You better take care too >:( thanks for sending me this big brain request. I’ve been preoccupied with other projects so I took a while to get to this ask. Hope you’re doing OK💙

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Lucifer:

-He thought having a human exchange student was going to be bad enough as it is but this…..this was so much worse than he could have ever imagined

-The moment you arrived, he already knew you were going to be a problem child and a persistent one at that

-Literally the first thing you asked him was : “Why do you look like an off-brand Levi Ackerman?”

-And he was left there, astounded, confused and offended because he had no idea who you were talking about (cuz at that point you hadn’t met the third eldest) and the tone you had was, frankly, pissing him off

-You kept wondering off on your own????? Without looking like you gave a shit even though you almost walked into a butcher’s shop that specialises in human meat???? Tf MC?

-Also really irritated that you couldn’t be intimidated and that DevilDom was like a playground to you, for some reason? Like, MC get out of the fiery pits of eternally tormented souls- this is Hell, not the McDonald’s ball pit ffs

-Things did not improve for him lmao, by the end of the first week he had already ripped out a good chunk of his hair because of you

-“MC, you should know by now provoking demons like this for no good reason is only going to make life harder for you. Keep this up and you’ll get killed in no time because of your behaviour.”

-“Great, can we have a hip-hip and a hurray?”

-In the span of one day, he’s had to come to your rescue six times (approximately) because you’re too nonchalant about your surroundings around literal creatures of hell

-He doesn’t have enough coffee or will to live for this bs

-“Lucifer, I found this dead plant and brought it here because it reminded me of you.”

-“…..sigh. Why? Why does it remind you of me?”

-“Because it’s cold and unresponsive.”

-He made the consecutive decision to ignore you

-(low-key kept the plant tho)

-Honestly, you get on his nerves a lot and he has definitely contemplated killing you in the past but at the end of the day he really can’t bring himself to do it

-We both know he tried a few times lmfao

-“I will tear you limb from limb, human-“

-“Can I finish my tea first.”

-“You…wait, what?”

-“You’re crazy if you think I’m letting this tea get cold. Try to kill time before I’m done and I’ll smash this cup against your head.”

-If you try hard enough, you might even elicit a laugh out of him, especially if your shadiness is directed at any of his brother which results in him patting your head affectionately

-Nowadays he’s just concerned because you seemed to have made an alliance of sorts with Belphagour and Satan and that’s not a good sign

-For his sake, if not yours, at least try to survive the year without getting chomped on by a random demon please

-He’s too stubborn to let you die just because you’re unbothered by everything so cut him some slack and help out damn it

Mammon:

-“Oi Lucifer, how come I’m stuck babysittin’ this stupid human?”

-“And how come I’m stuck with this asshole for a tour guide, with his fake ass designer shoes and no brand sunglasses. That’s a lot of smack talk from someone with crow shit stains covering the back of his jacket. Also, did you stick your hair in a bucket of mayonnaise?”

-……..

-He was so offended lol

-Normally, humans like you cower in fear whenever demons are as much as mentioned because of the whole “I can eat you whole” thing

-And here you are; insulting the Avatar of Greed and one of the princes of Hell himself just because you didn’t like his attitude

-Don’t worry tho, he warms up to you in less than a fucking month simply because you still come to his rescue whenever his brothers start insulting him and wow, look at that, his heart is now combusting on the floor

-“Y’all have no right to criticise Mammon when he has the most self control out of all of you.”

-“Since when does Mammon have any self control? He can’t keep himself from nicking anything that looks shiny.”

-“Motherfucker, I don’t see him trying to choke me to death, respectfully pls shut the fuck up. I don’t want to say I have favourites but if I do, it’s definitely him.”

-While Mammon’s in the background, with hearts instead of pupils in his eyes like ❤️👄❤️

-He doesn’t even mind running around after you anymore (will still complain about it though because your ass is in constant danger and he’s had enough)

-Honestly, you keep starting shit with random demons, some of which are quite powerful mind you, and you don’t back down even when he’s there to step in

-Would low key love to watch you fight one of your classmates at RAD and organise a ticket selling booth for the event but Lucifer will hang him a new one if he does

-So for now, he sticks to baring his teeth at the aggravator in question and you’re there, giving the same demon the middle finger

-The way you sometimes match his energy gets him so hyped up lmao

-“Mammon, did you steal Levi’s money again?”

-“T’s none of her business human. Now go away, shoo!”

-“Bitch, don’t ‘shoo’ me, I ain’t a bird. Now tell me, did you?”

-“…..Why do you ask?”

-“Because a new flavour of instant noodles just got announced, called ‘Super Hell-Sauce Flavour’ and I thought you might be more interested in that than wasting the money on gambling.”

-“….ok but only if you come with me to buy some.”

-This…this is true love right here

Levi:

-Oh no, now there’s two of you

-Why do I feel like his energy would match MC’s almost immediately? Maybe it’s because he spends too much time in his room on the internet like the rest of us do

-“What do you want, you stupid normie?”

-“300…..”

-“….300 what?”

-“300 mangas collected, thousands of episodes of anime watched, over 60 character figurines, plushies, body pillows, merchandise and several posters only to be called a fucking normie by a demon weeb that’s only known me for 10 minutes.”

-Boom, instant friendship

-He becomes attached to you almost immediately and now that he knows how unphased you are by DevilDom, he is seriously worried

-Hell, you’re making him consider going outside his room just to make sure you’re alive and not dead in a ditch somewhere because you decided to get on someone’s nerves that particular day

-Even during the quiz thing, when he almost kills you, you’re just sitting on the floor and awkwardly watching him as he throws a sissy fit

-Levi feels sort of conflicted with you because one one hand you’re good company and he loves having you around, you’re his Henry after all

-But on the other hand, you put yourself in so much danger it makes him paranoid so often to the point where he wants to keep you locked in his room and wrapped in bubble wrap

-Nearly had a heart attack when you almost walked right into a pit of lava like MC???? This isn’t one of his video games???? You’re not gonna respawn if you die????

-Besides all that, he gets a bit jealous of you confidence and your ability to just do whatever without fearing death or consequence

-“MC, how do you do it?”

-“Do what?”

-“How do you go about your life without a care in the world?”

-“I guess I’ll tell you my secret Levi. I’m not like other humans that’s why, I’m just so unique I do things differently.”

-“You sound like a pick me-“

-As long as you’re OK and not injured because of your carelessness, he’s indifferent about your behaviour and will even applaud you for your bravery when it comes to this sort of thing

-“lmao the human exchange student just dumped Solomon’s cooking in the trash while looking him dead in the eye 💀💀💀”

Satan:

-Your attitude towards DevilDom and demons in general kept him entertained, if nothing else

-You rarely seemed to consider how much of a threat that place really is and usually you were just running around, completely ignoring Lucifer’s rules and doing your own thing

-Which, you know, he’s all about

-I can’t say there were no incidents between the two of you

-With his short temper and your tendency to say things without caring about the consequences, there were definitely moments when he might’ve snapped on you

-“MC for goodness sake, what happened to my room?”

-“What do you mean?”

-“It’s an absolute mess! I just told you to bring me my spells and curses book, not mow through everything!”

-“It’s not my fault this place is built like a fucking labyrinth. You should be grateful I went to get it for you at all, I almost tripped and died several times on my way back. Also, you should get a new ladder for your shelves. It did the broken.”

-“MC….”

-“Yes?”

-“You are so lucky I love you.”

-Other than the fact his anger takes over him when things like these happen, he not so subtly encourages you to keep going because seeing Lucifer scowl at your antics gets him wheezing his lungs out

-I like to think Satan would be very impressed, even in the beginning, at the amount of nonchalance you can radiate at times

-I mean, you sure as hell don’t see it often and he loves how unpredictable you are more often than not

-If anything, he should probably thank you-idk how, but his patience has increased significantly every since you got here and he appreciates having some more control of his emotions

-“I’m gonna go put oil in Lucifer’s shoes.”

-“Do you have a death wish?”

-“Satan, I am old enough to make my own decisions and I concluded that this action is necessary.”

-“Necessary for what?”

-“Raising everyone’s morale! All of you seemed to feel down lately so I thought this would be fun for everybody!”

-“Except Lucifer, right?”

-“Except Lucifer. He grounded me from my D.D.D like I’m a fucking teenager who needs to be supervised-pssshht, I’m the most responsible one here.”

-“Yes clearly.”

-“Goodbye dear Satan, I may die today. But it’s for the greater good! (Dramatic exit with sound effects)”

-“WAIT MC!”

-“(pops head back in) yes?”

-“May I offer you my assistance?”

-You’re basically taking turns pranking his brothers and it’s hilarious

-Satan is not too worried about your well being simply because he knows his siblings and him are always going to be nearby to save you if you pull something stupid again

-Even so, he checks up on you throughout the day; just to make sure

-“Where were you?”

-“Running from a bunch of demons. Who wanted to go munchy crunchy on me, I assume.”

-“……”

-“Either that or people here are a lot friendlier than originally expected.”

-You can be such a handful and it really tests him, especially when he’s angry enough to begin with

-But despite your amazing talent at either getting completely lost around Hell, purposely walking into a prohibited place just because you felt like it or riling up others with how blunt you are, he still cares about you deeply

-You may be a pain the ass, but you’re his pain in the ass <3

Asmo:

-He should’ve known something was up with this particular human when you stood there, completely calm and collected, while Beel salivated at the thought of eating you on your first day

-Asmo just brushed it off for a while but it kept happening???

-The first time Lucifer ever told you off, you really went and said “Or what? Are you going to eat me? If so, you can go ahead and start with-“

-He came to your rescue and covered your mouth before you got to finish and before Lucifer unleashed his wrath on to everyone in that house

-“OOPSIE! I think MC has been spending too much time with me. Sorry Lucifer, we gotta run now! We have a party to attend, don’t we MC darling?”

-“You mean the one hosted by the guy that tried to kill me because I shoved into him on the hallway at school and then proceeded to tell him to go fuck himself right back into whatever hell hole he was born in before you came and charmed our way out of it?”

-“Yes.”

-“Ah OK. “

-You’re tiring for sure but you’re not exactly unlikeable

-You have a certain charm hanging about you that Asmo loves

-“I almost died like…30 minutes ago.”

-“WAIT WHAT?? WHY?? WHAT HAPPENED-MC ARE YOU OK???”

-“Yeah, I almost drank some poison today because someone told me it was water. It smelt off though so I didn’t.”

-“….”

-“Anyway, I got you this bracelet on my way home.”

-He really does wish you would take things a bit more seriously

-This is your life on the line, you know? What would he do if you died?

-“MC, you’re not immortal, you can die so much more easily than I can, you know that right???”

-“I don’t care.”

-“Well I do! And you should too….”

-A lot of people don’t see past his vanity tbh, because he can be such a caring person towards the people he loves

-The amount of videos he has of you appearing to be completely calm while pure chaos is descending in the background is pretty impressive

-Every time he uses his charm on you to try and get you to commit his sin, it just doesn’t work???? For some reason???? And even if it’s just with simple, innocent affection for now, he is determined to tempt you into it

-“MC~gimme a hug!”

-“But that’s social interaction and I don’t support it- do you have a charger for my D.D.D by any chance?

-Or at least die trying to ig

-Asmo loves having you around but you’re giving him wrinkles and that’s not okay >:(

Beel:

-The moment he realised how carefree you actually were, he sort of started checking up with you quite frequently throughout the day

-It’s his way of protecting you but if he could, he would follow you around all the time

-Becomes your body guard because you may not care enough about your safety but he certainly does so get ready to be carried everywhere

-You will not get hurt nor will anyone mess with you if he has a say in it and let me tell you, he does

-Thing is, his brothers mostly know him for being slightly dense in some aspects of day to day life

-He’s not perceptive of things that don’t involve food or his loved ones

-And because you most definitely are a loved one of his, he does notice how careless you are really often

-And it scares, rather worries, him because DevilDom is an incredibly dangerous place-even with all the precautions they had taken when you came

-“MC get down, you could fall.”

-“But Beel, look-I’m finally taller than everyone else! Taller than you even! Hey, should I do a backflip?”

-He has no idea why you thought jumping from 60 meter high cliff into a small river of squashed demon blood was a good idea but he wasn’t going to risk anything just because you felt like showing off your diving skills

-Proceeds to carry you away, completely unfazed

-In this case, I feel like Beel is not someone who gets bothered by the horrible things happening around there either

-As long as he has food and his family is safe and happy then he’s also happy, as mentioned above

-But he knows he’s alright with DevilDom because he’s been living here for centuries now

-A bit curious as to why you’re so unbothered

-And even more curious as to why you weren’t terrified of him transforming in his demon form after he lost control when he found out you ate his pudding

-Or more like Mammon did and pushed the blame on you

-“YOU. ATE. MY. PUDDING!”

-“Beel I love you but if you did not just see Mammon shoving the damn container in my mouth two seconds prior to this, then you might need glasses.”

-He apologised to you later for it but even so, you didn’t seem to mind like at all and he didn’t really understand why

-Unless you end up explaining why exactly you feel so indifferent about your life being in potential danger, he won’t really pry

-But now he has even more reason to follow you around like a lost puppy

-Since it’s clear you don’t really care about protecting yourself

-So now it’s his job to do it

-MC protection squad? Mostly Beel and Mammon

-ahhh he cute

Belphie:

-Oh

-You piss him off so much

-He’s trying to have his moment, you know?

-Finally getting that glimmer of satisfaction after killing a human as a way to avenge his sister’s death

-Trying his hardest to make it as miserable as possible because he has so much rage in him, he needs you to suffer

-“Harder Daddy-“

-“Oh fuck off.”

-Nah but for real, what the fuck MC

-Why does he even bother, he feels like he should be sleeping instead of dealing with your bullshit

-Even afterwards, when your future self shows up and he tries to kill you again, you look more thoughtful than irritated???

-Lucifer and Beel are literally holding him back from doing another Chocky on you and you’re standing there, looking at him with your eyebrows raised

-“Hey Belphie, I have a quick question. I know you’re trying to kill me and everything but do you like the colour blue?”

-“HUH??!?!”

-“It’s a simple yes or no question Belphie. Do. You. Like. Blue?”

-“WHAT DOES IT MATTER???!!!”

-“BELPHAGOUR, AVATAR OF SLOTH-YES OR NO, JUST FUCKING ANSWER!”

-“YES! FUCK YOU!”

-“Ah ok thanks. I like blue too :)”

-????????????

-Pls he felt like sticking his foot down your throat

-As of late, he’s kind of glad he didn’t manage to scare you away that day and that he didn’t traumatise you or something

-At the time, he was mad because he didn’t understand why you weren’t scared but now he just wants to make it up to you

-“You didn’t deserve any of that. I’m sorry MC, I won’t blame you if you decide to stay away from me now.”

-“Stfu dipshit, what’s gotten you so depressed? Did you have another fight with Beel? I told you not to eat the last slice of cake.”

-“Rude ass, I was trying to apologise for my past mistakes-let me repent will you?”

-“Said no demon ever. Now let’s go hang out you emo bitch.”

-Y’all vibe together on a spiritual level once that shit gets sorted out

-But he’s kinda scared you might pull out a knife on him ngl

-Obviously, you’re still annoying as fuck with that indifferent attitude of yours but he can live with it

-He appreciates the fact that you’re not scared of him, even after what he’s done

Diavolo:

-Ah yes, the future King of DevilDom himself

-He’s very enthusiastic about the idea of you having fun this year…..and to keep you alive….

-He, of course, expected a range of reactions from you when he first summoned you here

-None of which were “Ok but could you not have given me a heads up? Before the whole teleportation thing? I face-planted your onto marvellously polished the floor and now I think I lost even more brain cells than before.”

-He felt so bad gagajajahahwgehhsb

-He apologised for bringing you out here without any warning like that and then proceeded to introduce you to everyone

-Diavolo is actually kind of relieved to see you’re handling everything pretty well

-He thought that maybe DevilDom was too much for a human to deal with

-Meeting Barbatos also went incredibly smooth

-“Barbatos? The one that cleans the floors right? Big fan of your work, I could eat off the floor of the main hall.”

-He’s so glad to see you getting along with everyone and not getting intimidated by the brothers

-It gets him excited thinking about how the exchange program is gonna work and all three realms will be united

-But he’s not stupid so don’t think he’ll allow you to stumble around, getting up to all sorts of mischief

-He always has someone watching you because he would hate to see you die, despite being pretty fond of your carefree attitude

-“MC, please be careful. Most demons here aren’t all that nice.”

-“Aye aye Captain.”

-He fears that many demons would take your indifference as a challenge and try to assert dominance or something by kidnapping you

-As far as creatures of hell go, they love installing fear in people

-So he always keeps an extra eye open for you

-And he’ll be there to help you if something goes wrong

-But other than that, he’s pretty chill as well and he finds you so hilarious, it’s been a while since he’s seen someone as eccentric and dramatic as Mammon and Asmo

-Idk what else to add here, Diavolo is very accepting and as long as you don’t get hurt, he’s glad you can get used to your new surroundings so easily

———————————-

Al~