#so dumb. I wish I could redo it and be like. nice. so it hurts more. tumblr can we add a close friends feature z

[werebutch]

Not at all the same as violent urges obviously but I really wish I had better control of my anger in general erm I can stop myself from being violent but I still say and do crazy hurtful things😭 erm

[levisgirll]

Hi! Can you do a headcanon of Levi being jealous/posessive when someone tries to flirt with his crush?

𝐦𝐲 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧 (𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐢 𝐀𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫)

text: Hello anon! Thank you so much for the request🥺 Of course I can! and I hope you like what I wrote💞 (also I’m sorry this took some time! this week and last week was just so stressful ahhh) incoming some cute jelly levi boi, I also realized now we need more of this- ALSO will be using this fact stated by Isayama about levi getting jealous which is he wouldn’t get jealous over his lover because he would trust them, although if he were to be jealous he’d stay low about it then by time explode. in this case it would be his crush and not lover as requested! (incoming some real cute fluff and levi being a cutie who is a bit jealous <3)

synopsis: Levi Ackerman isn’t the one who would get easily affected by others, he wouldn’t care most of the time what people would do and say to him. But....he has a crush on y/n for the longest time now and it seems his feelings is growing too with time. He notices some scouts trying to tease and flirt with his crush, he starts to feel something about it and pushes the thought away, but the feeling is still present. One day, something happens and he can’t take it anymore and becomes a bit possessive and clingy towards y/n!

fluff, aot world, headcanon fanfic ♡ —

You let out a long sigh as you were heading back to the survey crops headquarters from your training. Today was a really busy and stressful day as you had to train a lot and also manage to keep up with everyone.

You joined not long ago and you still were trying to fit in, learn new skills from others, and kept on training to catch up with others. Many saw you as a really hard worker.

But, you recently been getting some help and advice from Captain Levi! The strongest solider that everyone talks about and with that, you both got close and Levi seemed to like your attitude, and would usually ask you for your opinion on things.

Everyone was quite shocked how Levi seem to show a little bit of interest in you and even spoke to you. Y/N was different, unique more like it and how they never gave up and still kept on going amazed Levi. He was a bit worried about you though cause you could be reckless, but he had your back always watching without you even noticing. Later then, he realized after sorting out this emotions and feelings he had....he actually had a crush on you instead!

It was a fact that Y/N was quite attractive and good looking, everyone had eyes on Y/N and Levi would sometimes be quite annoyed and pissed about how some guys who seemed to have bad intentions always trying to get a chance to talk to you and get you alone but Y/N would usually avoid them and leave the scene before it happens.

You were just such a likeable person though! Who wouldn't like you? and many tried to make a move on you but you made the scouts that you were hard to read. But instead for one guy.

A scout was keeping his eyes on you for a while, and with his friends telling him that 'he would never get a chance with y/n' made him take the bet and go for it.

"Hey there! I see you training hard? My name is Roy, nice to meet you" He said with a big smile and gave you a little wave while coming up to you. You were setting up your ODM gear and glance at him. "Oh, I see it's Y/N." You said normally, but you weren't going to lie, the guy did look kind of cute but you had a gut feeling something was up.

"Of course, you are the great Y/N everyone talks about." He said with a smirk, "You look so much prettier." You were taken aback by the comment and thanked him, it was not everyday you would hear this comment and someone saying that bluntly.

"Haha, you don't have to be shy! It's the truth so own it. Anyways, I'll see you later yeah? Bye!" He shouted out and ran back to his friends, and you stood there quite shy.

You did not notice that Levi was actually standing near the entrance of the headquarters and watched the whole thing. You could tell by his gaze towards Roy he was...glaring at him? "Tch." He scoffed and walked away from the training area, looking rather pissed but you managed to go over to him and caught up with Levi. There your bright energy opened up, and you gave Levi a bright big smile that you would only usually do for him. "Hi Captain Levi! How was your weekend? I haven't seen you for a while." Y/N said in a cheerful tone, they looked rather happy to see Levi and that made him relax and warmed his heart since his crush has always greeted him this way. "Hey Y/N, it was alright I guess. And Oi, didn't I tell you to just call me Levi? Drop the captain, don't wanna hear that from you." He said and crossing his arms and looking slightly away to hide his faint little blush on his cheeks.

He observed you for a while, and he realized that you were the only one who would talk to Levi like this and he was the only man you ever showed your cute and gentle side to! And the same goes to him, you were the only one who he showed his soft and nice side by his small actions and words. So, he felt really lucky and somehow was assured and felt trusted that you might not be interested in anyone else, and maybe....just maybe he had a chance!

"My bad, Levi" Y/N said after a small giggle which was one of his favorite sounds, hearing his crush laugh a little was one of the main things he wanted to achieve. "I'm going to do hand-to-hand combat training later. Could you perhaps train m-" Before Y/N was going to finish talking, Levi cut them off and said "Yea sure, don't ask me and just tell me what it is and I'll help you train."

Levi didn't notice, but he was becoming rather tender and considerate only to Y/N these days which not only shocked them but also made them happy. "Thanks Levi, you are the best! I'll see you later!" Y/N waved at Levi with a joyful expression and ran off. After that small interaction and chat, it seemed like all Levi's worries and stress was relieved and he gave a small smile. Not only that, but also another feeling he had earlier was gone, but he couldn't figure just what was that feeling from earlier?

Later on, training for hand to hand combat has started and you were there, ready and waiting for none other than Levi to show up. But, someone else showed up instead of him. "So we meet again, Y/N." You turned around and it was Roy, he looked rather excited and he was checking you up with a gaze that made you slightly uncomfortable. "Um...yea cause we still have training?" You gave him a confused look and raised your eyebrow at him 'Just what does this guy want...' you wondered.

"You aren't pair up with anyone, so let's train together!" He said cheerfully and was in his fighting stance, all ready without you even having the time to respond to his offer.

"W-Wait...I'm waiting for Levi to train me!" You finally said in a stuttering tone. "Levi? Ha....since when did you start calling him that? Anyways, I don't see him? So, train with me instead sweetheart." He gave you a flirtatious smile, and you sighed and brought out the wooden dagger which you took your stance and took charge at him. He somehow let you take the hit and you looked up at him "Wow, you are good!". He was not taking you seriously, and was playing around with you, teasing you more like it. While you were training with Roy, without any warning he made you trip and you fell on the ground which you felt your knee starting to hurt. "Oh no. Are you okay?" Roy said and bent down, to check your knee. You felt it was done on purpose just to get you off guard, and so he can get closer to you.

With your surprise, he brought his hand out and pushed your hair back and behind your ear and then touched your cheek which made your eyes wide "No one should be allowed to look that good. How do you do it?"

"Huh...what do you mean?" Y/N said, all confused and tried to get up but Roy's grip made you not get up so easily. "Say, tell me how are you still Single?"

Before you could respond, someone quickly grabbed Roy by his wrist and pulled him up quickly. "You....The fuck do you think you are doing?" It was....Levi! He gave a death glare to Roy who now seemed to have been displeased. "I'm helping them up...What do you think you are doing holding me like this?"

"Did I ask you a question? It a command, answer it. What. Were. you trying to do." Levi said now in a very serious tone that gave off a scary vibe and everyone had stopped their training and were all frightened. Levi was not dumb, he clearly knew what Roy was up to, seductively flirting with you which he ignored before he knew you would not respond to it but.... he then purposely made you trip which he noticed and was not able to hold it in any longer.

"Do you want me to fucking break your leg to answer me?" Levi was being impatient and without any hesitation and not giving Roy any time to respond, he knee kicked him right up his chin and that made him fall down on his knees and covered his nose which was now bleeding. "You little shit, and you dare even question me after disrespecting Y/N? You have a death wish for sure."

Levi was about to kick him when Y/N quickly held on his arm and pulled Levi a bit back, holding on to his arm. "Stop! That's enough Levi. Don't bother with him, I'm fine now!" Y/N said, trying to calm Levi down and reassure him.

He stayed silent, and looked back at Roy, deciding on what to do. "Hm...Alright. I'm only stopping cause of Y/N." Levi took Y/N's hand which shocked everyone in the training area, including Roy and Levi turned around while saying in a cold tone. "Roy, you have cleaning duty for all the toilets at the HQ for a month and it better be fucking clean or I will make you redo it. You are nothing but a piece of trash so be useful and clean them."

Levi still, holding your hand tightly, pulled you and you both were walking away from the training area, away from everyone else. Y/N was blushing now and was looking at Levi's back head where they clearly saw his neat underhair cut. 'Levi why did he do this....' You wondered and Levi then stopped walking when you both reached near the stable. "Are you...hurt?" He said, turning around to look at you with a slight worried expression. "N-No, and thanks for back there." Y/N said, blushing even harder and looked down. "But, why..." They finally said looking directly at his grey eyes which soften, this was a question that kept killing Y/N's curiosity.

He stayed quiet, and looked away from your gaze. He seemed to refuse to respond. 'Wait....don't tell me!' Y/N then jolted their head up which caught Levi by surprise (worried if they noticed-) and they immediately said in a hyper tone.

Y/N: "Oh Levi....were you-"

Levi: "No."

Y/N: "You sure? Cause I swear you-"

"Shut it. I was just being annoyed by him, alright?" He would say and ruffle your hair gently. He wanted to hold you, hug you. You were just too adorable to him! But he knew he couldn't do any of that.

"Weird...I don't recall saying anything about that. But you just proved to me you were actually jealous!" Y/N said, and let out a happy and cheerful laugh. He would not admit it, but he felt embarrassed right now.

"Tch, brat are you gonna actually keep saying it now?" He said with a slight blush and turned around, "Well...Not till you be honest with yourself." Y/N told Levi in a shy tone, and still with a smile that was too big it hurted their cheeks, they were just too happy to see Levi like this!

You weren't going to lie, but seeing Levi jealous really made you feel something and so did he!

He took your hand gently and caressed your hand with his thumb. "If you want to know....come to my office?" Levi, was now a blushing mess, he was being nervous but he knew that at some point he had to let his feeling out because it was not an easy one to handle despite him being emotional he was able to control that but this was a special case and today proved that to him. He had to let you know.

You both went to Levi's office, and he pulled you closer and looked at your eyes which was filled with lust and love just for you "Please....Could I?" Levi said softly which had a little bit of nervous and tense tone. You then realized and confirmed, you both did actually shared the same feelings and behind closed doors while the evening was approaching you both slowly started to kiss each other even though you both were new to this sort of thing you took it slowly, and kept trying it again and again, till you both got the hang of it. Levi did that just to show that he wanted to make you his starting tonight and not having anyone else flirt with you anymore and that that he was capable of being romantic to u too! You never saw him this clingy, it was super cute.

With your reassurance and talk with Levi, your words would comfort him and calm him down and he then started to trust you even more which he was since the beginning but now that he got your approval he never felt such a lucky man.

Now, no scout with bad intentions ever dared to come up to you and Levi does not take it lightly next time if he even sees someone checking you up, or making you uncomfortable. With this, he promised to protect you from any harm and swore to that, he wanted to be your protector.

So poor them who ever tried to flirt with you and poor Roy stuck with a broken nose and having cleaning toilets duty!

But thanks to Roy, Levi finally was able to explain and show/say his true feelings to Y/N and now he can keep Y/N close to him only and cherish and protect them without any hesitation. He truly did value and care for Y/N.

This was actually so fun to write up ahhh and I find Levi acting sort of like this when he explodes at the person trying to flirt with his crush and the one responsible making him jealous! (I don’t think he would explode or lash out on his crush/lover, he is too mature for a situation where someone flirts with them, he would lash out on whoever is hitting on them instead of his lover ofc) I hope you enjoyed this anon and sorry this was late but hope you enjoyed it and if you did or anyone else please leave a like or a reblog!🥺 ♡♡♡

[cmyknoise]

Home becomes Home Again

Fandom: MCYT/Dream SMP Characters: Tommyinnit, Technoblade, Philza, Wilbur/Ghostbur, Ranboo & Tubbo are briefly mentioned  Relationships: (Platonic Technoblade & Tommyinnit; Sleepy Bois Inc.) Words: 3995  Summary: Things had gotten a bit too quiet for Techno, and he thinks a lot about his family. After a morning of sparring with Tommy, he has a few ideas and it only helps to make their home feel like home again. AO3 Link

Home didn’t feel like home anymore. It was far too quiet and somber. He’d spent years fighting wars in the empire he and Phil had shared. It was loud, freezing. Things had settled down at a point- Phil had taken in two kids. It was then that Phil discovered that Techno had been a kid too. It was then discovered that he and one of the kids shared a birthday- and from that point on he was officially the unofficial twin of one such Wilbur Soot. He stuck around with Phil and his new family, and at some point he supposed he’d been sucked into it.

Growing up within their empire, Technoblade had once been annoyed by how loud and obnoxious his new family had been, but he’d gotten used to it. He’d gotten used to hearing his younger twin belting out ballads like a bard whenever he pleased. He’d gotten used to Tommy screaming as he would jump from the top step to the bottom, trying to fly like their father. He’d gotten used to the stern lectures and loud laughs that Phil would give them. He missed the chaos. It took awhile to call Phil his dad, he still had trouble with it, but it was an understood thing. They were friends and partners in war, and family at home. He missed the loud moments. He missed the quiet moments.

Home didn’t feel like home anymore. Wilbur was no longer there. Ghostbur stopped by, an echo of who his twin was. He supposed Ghostbur was more of a reflection of when they were younger- when Wilbur’s only concerns were his music and friends and family. Ghostbur wasn’t Wilbur, but he was still Techno’s brother. Ghostbur sometimes remembered their childhood- he supposed it was because they were happy memories. It was why the spectre still remembered how to fight- he remembered when they used to spar. Ghostbur didn’t come by often. Techno supposed it was because L’manburg held more recent memories.

Technoblade sat at a lectern in his room, looking through various books and papers. It was late, and the cold icy wind howled outside, shaking the shutters. He hoped Phil was okay. He’d gone out in the morning to go retrieve Ghostbur from L’manburg. According to him, supposedly Ghostbur had gotten a notice of eviction. How they were going to evict a ghost or why was beyond Techno, but the more he heard about L’manburg, the more the hate for the damn country bubbled up within him.

At one point, he wondered if they’d gone too far. Seeing Phil in the control room, hearing Wilbur’s begs for death, and the crater which had been made where land once stood. He’d wondered if they went too far. Had this all been worth it? Had it been right to destroy the place? They’d done an unlawful coup, and based on what the country was doing now...maybe it had been the right decision, maybe. Techno only wished it hadn’t ended in the demise of his twin, a broken family and broken home. There may have been other ways… maybe Techno could’ve found them if he tried harder, or if he tried harder to pull his brother out of his spiraling madness.

The night was loud, and the house grew cold. The fire went out- Techno had to fix that. The house wasn’t empty like it usually was. Tommy was here, sleeping in the basement. No matter how many times Techno tried to coax him upstairs, to sleep in a bed or a couch, the youngest insisted on sticking to the basement. Techno didn’t think forcing the kid would be a good idea. He seemed….fragile. It was strange, Tommy had never been fragile. Honestly if the words Techno lived by were ‘Technoblade never dies’, then he was sure Tommy’s was ‘Tommyinnit is unbreakable’, at least. That’s what he thought until he found his youngest brother in the...state he was in. He looked like if Techno even just poked him, like Tommy would crumble. He decided it was best to let Tommy do what made him happy and feel better, and be there for the background support. Based on what his kid brother had told him… he’d put the pieces together. Dream had hell to pay, that dumb smile would be crushed beneath Techno’s hooves if he had any say on the matter. But that was...that was a later plan.

The fire sputtered to life as Techno added more logs and coal, fueling the furnace to the max. It was the only way the heat seeped into the basement. He should check on Tommy. He’d make it up to him. The moment back in the war- he’d taken it too far, he thinks. The way Tommy shut him out for so long, the trauma he caused- he had to make up for it. There was no fixing it, or taking it back, but he could be better for him. He wouldn’t let anyone hurt him. He wouldn’t have his last brother be a ghost or become a shell of who he was.

The piglin snatched up a few blankets, and slid down the ladder with. He then kicked open the trap door, climbing his way down into the ‘den’.  He glanced up at the ventilation he installed. He doubted Tommy noticed, but it was at least tolerable down there. He glanced at the doors. Tommy was unintentionally smart with installing three doors. It kept out the cold. He glanced around the dark room eyes landing on the blond, curled up in blankets. He looked at ease when he was sleeping. He looked like how he did before he and Wilbur had left home in the empire. Techno longed for that peace again.

He carefully draped the blankets atop the teen, watching as he curled further into them. Tommy didn’t wake, and Techno took the moment to see how he’d changed. Exile hadn’t treated him kindly. Tommy had more scars on his face than Techno ever remembered. His hair had dulled and faded lighter, a symptom of malnutrition. Tommy was still recovering from that. His hair had grown longer- long enough to need to pull back at times. It made him think of himself, how Wilbur taught him how to do such a thing. Wilbur had taught him how to take care of his thick pink locks.

Technoblade ran a hand through his bangs. He hadn’t really taken care of his hair in months, not since Wilbur did it the morning before the war. Even in his crazed state...he’d taken the time to put Techno’s hair into a tight braid, nice and tidy.

“You know how to do this, right Tech?”

The piglin nodded, running a stone over the edge of his blade as he sharpened it, giving a huff. He knew how to put his hair up. He just preferred Wilbur doing it. That’s what he told himself anyway. The brunette laughed softly. It wasn’t maniacal like the laugh that usually echoed the caves of Pogtopia. It was genuine, a laugh at Technoblade. He’d be offended if circumstances were different.

“Then why am I doing this for you, huh?” Wilbur joked as he brushed through Techno’s long hair, not at all stopping. The sound of stone scraping against metal paused as Technoblade gave another soft huff.

“Because you braid it. It stays out of the way better.”

“Awe~ Techie doesn’t know how to braid, does he? Big bad Technoblade- I never taught you how to do that, did I?”

There was a snort from the piglin before he shook his head some, “No, you didn’t.”

“Well...here,” The brunette scooted over some, taking the ends of Techno’s hair, “it’s real simple. You split the hair into three, like this,” he held his hands out with the hair, showing Techno. The piglin set the sword and stone aside as he watched his brother’s hands, gently splitting his hair into sections.

“From here, you take one of the side strands, and cross it over the center. This then becomes the center,” Wilbur demonstrated as he spoke, showing Technoblade slowly as he switched the strands, “You then take the other side strands, switching it with the middle, you repeat this, just switching the sides with the middle. There are more complicated braids, but this is the quickest to do, it’s what I always do with your hair.”

Technoblade smiled some, turning quickly back to his sword. Wilbur rolled his eyes as he undid the braid, starting instead from the top of Techno’s long hair, pulling it back to braid it completely. Techno gave a soft huff and a quiet thanks.

He hadn’t taken his hair down since. It was unkempt, the braid hardly had form anymore. It wasn’t clean or brushed out like usual. Techno hadn’t the heart to take it out yet. He sometimes noticed Ghostbur staring- the ghost had tried to do it for him, but couldn’t seem to grasp his hair, let alone take out the braid and redo it. The ghost seemed to have trouble making contact with living things opposed to inanimate objects. It was something that Techno noticed saddened the ghost- his blue seemed to spill from his pockets whenever he realized he couldn’t easily make contact with others.

He imagined the exile with Tommy wasn’t easy. Even in death, Ghostbur seemed just as much driven as he was in life. He knew it must’ve hurt that he couldn’t help Tommy much, or stop Dream. He hoped Phil would one day figure out how to bring his brother back, if he wanted to come back anyway.

Shaking his head, the piglin fixed the blankets on Tommy, tucking the teen in. He gently ruffled up his hair before heading back to the ladder. He left the trapdoor open this time- it’d help with heat, and he doubted that Dream would come searching so early in the morning. The downstairs doors were locked anyway- he’d have to pass Techno first.

Techno dimmed down the lanterns in the main room, glancing out his windows. He hoped Phil and Wilbur had taken shelter before the storm hit. He hoped he wouldn’t have to go searching in the morning. With a soft huff, he laid down on the couch in the main room, tugging the throw blanket over himself. He was too tired to change, it was late anyway.

₍ᐢ･⚇･ᐢ₎

The morning brought about a bright sun and calmed down winds. Techno had made breakfast, some potato pancakes with honey syrup from his bees. Tommy seemed quite happy with it. When Tommy was here, home started to feel more like home.

Phil still wasn’t back, and while Tommy ate Techno sent him a quick message via their communicators. He was pleased to see Phil respond quickly. They were a ways out, taken shelter in the night, but they were safe. That made him feel better.

“Hey, Toms, want to practice not being awful at pvp?”

“Oi! What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

Techno chuckled softly, standing up, “Come on, I’ll teach you some sword stuff, before it starts snowing again.”

Tommy couldn’t hide the excitement he had if he tried.

Techno grabbed a few swords on the way out- golden ones, they wouldn’t do a lot of damage but they were good to practice with. He had Tommy put on his coat, an old outfit from when he was younger. He was surprised the empire garb fit Tommy so well, but he was glad the kid could stay warm.

Outside in the snow, Techno taught Tommy how to properly defend blows, they’d been doing this for an hour, easy.  The kid was a natural when it came to the offensive, better than Wilbur had been at the same age, but Tommy sucked at getting critical hits and blocking attacks, “Toms you can’t take your eye off of the target, and you have to keep your stance strong.”

“Got it, got it-” Tommy groaned, blocking one of Techno’s slashes, with his sword, taking a step back as Techno pushed forward, copying what he was told, “It’d be much easier if I could see-” With a huff, he blew his wavy blond hair out of his face temporarily, but with another move it was back in front of his eyes. Techno rolled his, and lowered his sword.

“I think spar time can be put on pause. I can teach you how to disarm a foe tomorrow,” He put his sword in the sheath on his belt, offering a hand out to his brother. Tommy put away his own sword, taking the piglin’s hand, “Yeah yeah, nearly better than you at this point, maybe will be in a few more lessons.” The teen grinned proudly.

“Heh? Absolutely not Tommy. You’re better than Wilbur was at your age though, he sucked with a sword.”

“I remember that,” Tommy paused, quieting some as he looked forward as they walked. The mention of their brother seemed to kill the mood, and Techno was not about to let that happen today, “Let’s warm up. Phil should be home soon.”

The two brothers went inside, both taking off their heavy winter clothes, putting the tools aside. After some clean up, and a quick snack of home-made chips, they found themselves on the couch in front of the fireplace. Tommy was fussing with his hair. No matter where he pushed it, it seemed to fall right back in his face.

Techno gave a snort, “Why don’t you just cut it?”

“No! It’ll look like shit. Rather have it long than lookin’ like shit. I have a brand.”

“You could get Phil to cut it.”

“I will not let the old man cut my hair! He just chops it off with a sword, and that is not very pog, probably cut my head off along with my hair.���

Techno snorted, suppressing some laughter. There was a noise at the door as it was pushed open, and speaking of, Phil came inside, Ghostbur by his side. The older man set down a few of his packs by the door, “Did I hear someone just call me an old man?”

Tommy gave a yelp, “Nonono no! Nope!” He grinned. Techno just laughed, as did Phil.

“Sorry I’m late, the storm last night kept us on the shores, and I stopped by the village to pick up some supplies, heard that a large storm is comin’ and we may all get snowed in.”

Techno groaned at the thought. They’d have to go shelter up the bee and turtle farm. Phil seemed to understand the meaning of the groan and he just chuckled, “Seems you two have been getting along-”

“Yeah, Toms hasn’t been too much trouble. How’s L’manburg?”

Ghostbur hummed, “They’re preparing a festival!”

Techno grimaced, “Didn’t go so well last time.”

“I think that may be the plan,” The ghost grabbed the packs and carried them over to the chests to organize, “I’m not sure though! I don’t think I can take part. Eviction notice.”

“Oh yeah- what’s with that?” Techno frowned. He still couldn’t believe they’d evict Ghostbur- he’d even helped rebuild their country on stilts.

Phil hummed, “Well, when we were packing up, Ranboo stopped by- the ender hybrid? Nice kid. He asked what we were doin’, I told him we were leavin’. He didn’t seem to know why, but we mentioned the notice. He was confused- said he’d been to all the meetings and hadn’t heard it bein’ spoken of, but we showed him the notice. Wasn’t signed or anything, but he agreed it may be best to go, just in case.”

“Ranboo hasn’t been liking L’manburg recently! I haven’t either-” Ghostbur furrowed his eyebrows as he put away some leather and wool, “Tubbo imprisoned people and has been holding trials. I remember that’s not the L’manburg way, but he wouldn’t listen much. Tensions are high, I think.”

Tommy shifted uncomfortably, “I think I’m gonna move my stuff up here guys, if it’s going to storm I don’t think the den is a good fucking place to be- would hate to freeze to death.” He chuckled some, standing up, “Tech where should I put everything?”

The piglin gave a hum, “I can move around the chests, by the brewing stands would be a good place for now. I’ll have to extend the house some when the storm is older. It wasn’t built for all of us.”

Tommy nodded before heading down the ladders. Techno gave a small huff, running a hand through his hair before getting up, “I’ll move around the chests, set up cots. Phil if you want you can go cover up the bees and turtles, there should be some tarps and leather instilators on the first floor chests-”

“Gotcha mate, will do,” Phil gave a small wave before heading outside and to the back, shutting the door securely. Wilbur hummed, “Oh! Techno, can Friend stay downstairs with your cow for awhile, he’s outside, but I don’t want anything happening to him- I don’t know what I’d do if something did-”

“Yeah, go ahead Ghostbur…” Techno paused, “Hey Ghostbur?”

“Yeah Techno?” “Can you braid shorter hair?”

“Oh! Oh yes, you can! You just have to make smaller strands- why?”

“Just wonderin’. You mind if I borrow some blue? Think I may need some later.”

The ghost gave a grin, shoving his hand into his pocket as he handed Techno a small pouch of blue powder. The piglin took it, and went on to reorganize the main room, while his spectre of a brother finished up organizing and went on out to help Friend into the lower house.

₍ᐢ･⚇･ᐢ₎

Home started to feel like home when Techno could hear Phil snoring from upstairs and the warmth of the fire bombarded him in the face as he threw another log on. Tommy slept nearby, a light wind from outside whistling against the windows. Home started to feel like home when his family was all there. Phil was safe and around again. Ghostbur was not Wilbur but he was still his brother and he was here and well. Tommy was getting better at being chaotic and unbreakable again.

Speaking of Tommy, Techno noticed the floorboards creak and the weight of the couch shift as the teen sat behind him, rubbing his eyes and yawning softly, huffing hair from his face again.

“Dreams again?” “Yeah, fuckin’ nasty ones too,” Tommy gave a small whine as he blinked himself awake. Techno swore he’d make sure that the cause of his brother’s nightmares would pay the price.

“Hair still bugging you?”

Tommy gave a soft laugh and a nod, “Fuckin’ awful, innit?”

Techno chuckled, “I...I think I may have a solution for you.” Techno turned some to him. Tommy gave a hum, “Try anything big man, too tired to care, sick of the fuckin scratchy feelin’ on my face-” He gave another yawn.

The piglin gave a nod, pulling a few things from his pocket, setting it beside him, “Come here then, Toms.” Tommy nodded and scoot right over.

Techno brushed his fingers through Tommy’s hair gently, giving a soft huff as he parted it. God when did his raccoon-looking-ass of a brother brush his hair? He was one to question, really, huh? Techno grabbed a small elastic band, and took the back of Tommy’s hair. It was far too short in the back to do anything with other than tie it into a short ponytail, but it kept the hair at the sides of his head out of the way. He motioned for Tommy to face him, and tiredly the teen did. Techno then gently parted away Tommy’s bangs, and slowly he parted them into three.

“Side… middle.... side…” Techno muttered as he carefully braided Tommy’s hair, focusing on the pattern. Tommy gave a small laugh but let him continue. When it was completed, he pinned it along the side of his head and behind his ear. Tommy reached up, touching it briefly before grinning.

Techno chuckled, “Hope it helps, go back to bed Toms. If you do I’ll show you my secret stash of chocolate made from cocoa beans. Don’t tell Phil.”

Tommy nodded, “Yeah- alright. Thanks, blade.”

Techno gave a snort, “Alright, child. Go to bed.” He stood, letting Tommy head back to his cot. He still had a few things to do on his own.

Both failed to notice the head peeking down from the ladder from upstairs, and the smile on a certain ghost’s face, or the happy tears which fell down the ghost’s cheeks.

Once Tommy was in bed, Techno went to the kitchen and started carefully boiling some water, adding in the blue from Ghostbur. For the first time in months, Technoblade reached back and pulled out the old hair tie from his hair, running his fingers through the matted braids of his hair, undoing the mess.

His hair was still clean, he washed it, but now it was wavy from being forced into a braid for so long, and it was definitely damaged in some way. That was a problem to fix later. He sighed as he combed through his hair carefully, bringing a stool near the stove as he waited for water to boil, combing through the knots in his hair, making it smooth again. It hurt some, and he stared at the hair tie a bit too long, but he pocketed it for safekeeping. Techno tied his hair back some, and took a few thick strands of his hair, separating it from the rest. After a tedious process of switching boiling blue water to a bowl, he would lean in and dunk the strands of hair into the blue, staining the pale pink with the deep vibrant color.

Home was feeling more lively and colorful, and it was time for Techno to change to match.

After carefully dying bits of his hair, and tying it back into a long ponytail, he got to work on braiding it, just like Wilbur had done for him in the past. After he was satisfied, he stored the remainder of the dye and cleaned up, going to bed as if he’d done nothing at all, but it was the first time in a long time that he fell asleep with a smile on his face.

₍ᐢ･⚇･ᐢ₎

In the morning, Phil laughed and smiled, and the family couldn’t stop talking about Techno’s blue additions of hair, or how clean the braid looked. They also couldn’t stop talking about how Tommy could see again through his hair. They couldn’t stop talking about Friend downstairs, or the breakfast Techno had made.

Phil laughed at how secretly sappy Techno really was. He commented that Tommy looks good with his hair tied back (promptly getting a laugh and ‘damn right’ from Tommy).

Techno brushed Phil off with the excuse for ‘new eras bringing new changes’, and that it matched their empire outfits- it was time to recreate what they had before (that included recreating their family, but he wouldn’t say that).

Tommy wouldn’t stop joking about the blue, but he also couldn’t stop touching his braided bangs or the small ponytail. He also wouldn’t stop bothering Phil about being old.

Ghostbur smiled. For the first time in a very long time, the transparent dust in his hands didn’t turn blue. He remembered teaching Techno how to braid, he wouldn’t tell him that he saw how careful he was with Tommy when braiding his hair. He wouldn’t tell him how happy he was that he was able to pass down something despite his death. He’d smile and laugh along, but the soft yellow dust in his hands showed just how happy he felt to be home, that his brothers got along again, that his father was there with them again.

Home became home again, and this time, they’d keep it that way.

[yet-another-fan-girl9]

Different Worlds (7)

Summary: You’re the youngest Winchester, a girl who needs to show her big brothers that she doesn’t need help. Then one day, on a totally normal vampire hunt that you had all under control, three meddling Avengers come barging in.

Warnings: language, violence, canon divergence, slow burn, me making stuff up

Word Count: 2234

A/N: Is it 2 am? Maybe... Am I listening to nostalgic and depressing music to make myself sad? Maybe...

~*~

Chapter Seven: Some Words Are Exchanged

“Well don’t just stand there,” Crowley said when nobody moved. You all traded glances as you tried to come up with a plan. “Come and take a seat.”

“Cut the act, Crowley,” Dean ordered. “You know why we’re here.”

“And here I thought we were friends, Squirrel.” The demon sighed and with a wave of his hand, the music stopped. “You brought me a new friend, though.” He looked at Bucky and when you moved to interrupt his gaze, Crowley smirked. “Ah, but it looks like the soldier is already taken.”

“Give me the book Fergus,” Rowena drew her son’s attention toward herself.

“Well since you asked so nicely, mother, and sat at my table and ate my food and joined me in some wonderful conversation—”

“Stop stalling,” your oldest brother nearly shouted. “Where is the book?”

“What book?”

“The Magicae Libro.”

“Ah, yes. It’s a powerful book, but why would you think I have it?”

“You stole it,” Jack answered. “After the Avengers left we discovered both you and the book missing.”

“Then let me rephrase it,” Crowley grinned while everyone else either glared or rolled their eyes at him. “It’s a powerful, very powerful book. Why would you think I still have it?”

“You gave it away?” you groaned and resisted the urge to stomp your foot like a child. Why did this have to be so fucking hard? It was starting to feel like a scavenger hunt. “Who did you give it to?”

“I didn’t ‘give it away,’” Crowley scoffed and sat in the chair at the head of the table. He motioned to the other chairs as if the action would convince your group to dine with him. “Honestly I’m hurt that you would even think that I would do something as dumb as giving the Magicae Libro away.”

“So you’re saying someone stole it from you?” Sam cocked his head.

“Stole it? From me?” You had to bite back a grin at seeing Crowley’s very offended expression. “First you think that I simply gave it away, then you think that somehow, someone came into Hell to steal it from me?” He paused for a moment. “Though I’m sure you morons would have found a way to steal it from me.”

“So where is it?”

“Where is what?”

“Crowley, I swear to fuck—”

“He’s stalling,” Bucky said to your surprise. “He told us that he wouldn’t give the book away and that it wasn’t stolen. He still has it.” He narrowed his eyes. “But not for long. He traded it for something.”

“How do you know?” You look at the blue-eyed man.

“My training,” he replied simply.

“That’s amazing.”

“Thank you, doll.”

“Okay,” Rowena snapped. “We get that (Y/N)’s boyfriend—” Both you and Bucky interrupted with a couple of half-assed denials. The red-haired witch cleared her throat and raised an eyebrow at you. “We get that (Y/N)’s boyfriend is good at whatever he’s good at, but I need the book.”

“Yeah, we need the book,” Dean said holding his knife up threateningly.

“Who are you giving it to?” Jack added.

“And where and when does the exchange take place?” Sam joined.

“Um, I’m personally more worried about what Crowley traded it for,” you point out. A small smile crept up your face when Bucky nodded his agreement with you.

“What makes you think I would tell you?” Crowley leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.

“We’ll postpone killing you,” Dean threatened.

“Would you let them kill me, mother?” the king of Hell turned his gaze on to his mother who sharply responded,

“Maybe. You are being a pain in my ass.”

Crowley opened his mouth to retaliate but before he could get anything out, you jumped in.

“What if we trade you something better than what the other party offered you?”

“You leave me alone for two years and I’ll answer your questions,” he said immediately. “That means you all let me do whatever I want for two whole years. No stopping me or my plans.”

“As long as it doesn’t endanger anyone,” Bucky negotiated.

Crowley shook his head. Superheroes, right? They never want anyone to die. There will always be casualties, but you can’t save everyone. It’s a lesson all hunters must learn early on.

“As long as it doesn’t hurt more than ten people,” Sam offered but the demon continued to shake his head.

“It doesn’t matter who he kills as long as it’s not me,” Rowena sighed.

 “Fine,” you said. “Twenty-four people. You’re limited to one every month.”

“Twenty-four?” Bucky asked as Crowley pretended to mull over the offer. “That’s a lot of people.”

“Without limitations, his body count would be in the hundreds each year.”

“I’ll take the deal.” Crowley held out his hand.

“Remember, if there’s more than one person per month, we will intervene,” Dean warned and stepped forward to shake the demon’s hand.

“Is that it?” Jack asked. “Has the deal been made?”

“What do you want a kiss?” Crowley made a face. “Anyways, my client, or clients, are the twin witches by the names of Myra and Alek.”

“Those pieces of shit,” Rowena spat. Then she turned to the rest of you. “They were, and I suppose still are, hungry for power. I heard that they were the ones Lucifer recruited to get the book in the first place.”

“Yes, I do seem to remember them saying something about their Dark Lord,” mused Crowley. “They decided to meet, well not meet per se. The book will appear in the Stull Cemetery at the witching hour at their request.”

“So they have a sense of humor,” Sam deadpanned.

“Stull Cemetery’s in Kansas,” you pointed out.

“Right, okay. Let’s get out of here and come up with a plan.”

“You’re not sticking around for dinner?” Crowley looked at the table.

In response to his question, Rowena mumbled some Latin under her breath and you all appeared in the bunker’s library in a flash of purple flames. Cas jumped up from his seat in surprise and the fire in the bowl died out. 

“Do you have the book?” He asked once you were all orientated again. 

Dean shook his head no and explained the deal you had made with Crowley. 

“So we go in and get the book before the witches,” Sam summarized. Talk about easier said than done.

“Rowena, are you in?” You looked at her. 

“I would very much enjoy obliterating those pieces of shit.”

“What about you, Bucky?”

“I think I gotta sit this one out,” he said slowly and you could feel yourself visibly deflate. “You guys sound like you’ve got this handled anyway.”

“Okay.” The room was silent. Oh, fuck. Everyone’s eyes were on you. You have to get out of here. “I’ll show you out.”

“Can I talk to you about something?” Bucky asked once you left the library.

“Uh, sure.” You had a few ideas of what was on his mind. Was it going to Hell? Was it the multiple almost-kisses? You really needed to talk about that.

“Are you sure letting Crowley kill one person every month is a good idea?”

Hmm. Not quite what you were expecting. You should have known this was coming. Definitely would have preferred the almost-kiss topic. Maybe have a redo.

“Well, to keep the book out of those twitches’ hands, we had to make a deal appealing to the King of Hell.” You led him up the stairs, getting very close to stomping. “As I said before, he would kill a lot more fucking people if we gave him even the slightest hint of…” You turned around at the door to face the superhero. “Listen. Any other scenario would definitely have a body count higher than twenty-four. In a shorter time frame than two years might I add. Trust me. I’m not exactly thrilled about this deal either, but there will always be casualties. I would think you would be one of the people to understand.”

“I do understand,” Bucky said when you finally gave him a moment to speak. “But I thought you would have tried harder.”

He opened the front door and left silently. The slam of the door behind him echoing a bit too much in the large, empty room.

~*~

Bucky wished he hadn’t left like that. In fact, he kind of wished he hadn’t left at all. The moment the door had closed, a bit too loudly in his opinion, he had regretted the goodbye. Or lack of one. As much as he wanted to go back in and set things right with (Y/N), he was never one to properly deal with his emotions.

He marched back to the small quinjet he had flown to Kansas in. The journey back was quiet, but not in Bucky’s head. The events of the day kept repeating in his mind just like a record stuck on repeat.

The day could have ended so differently. He had almost kissed her. Twice. Once even in Hell. Fuck, the fact that he had been to Hell, actual, literal Hell, made his mind spin. And he hadn’t even left the castle.

But he had almost kissed (Y/N). He wondered if she wanted to kiss him too. Would it have happened if Dean hadn’t interrupted? They had been seconds, inches away.

And now he probably fucked everything up because he had to question her. He knew that there would always be casualties. He knew she didn’t want anyone to die. But he wished that she had tried harder.

Twenty-four was a pretty large number. Twenty-four people were a lot of people. Bucky wondered if he even knew twenty-four people right now.

It was eight pm when Bucky landed in New York and his stomach was practically yelling for food. He half wished he had taken up Crowley’s offer of a feast. But then again, who knew if it was poisoned or cursed or whatever the demon King of Hell would do to food. Probably curse the consumer to be stuck in Hell like the Greek myth of Persephone and Hades.

The kitchen was empty except for… great. Bucky sighed, knowing that the two men in the kitchen serving themselves ice cream wouldn’t let him have a peaceful dinner as he had hoped. They greeted him happily when they saw him and Bucky mumbled his greeting back. He wandered over to the fridge, praying that there were some decent leftovers. He didn’t think he could eat instant ramen right now.

“Hey, Buck,” Steve called out. “Where’ve you been?”

“Yeah, man. You look like shit,” Sam joked, though Bucky was sure there was some truth to it.

He ignored Sam’s oh so important contribution to the conversation and answered Steve in one word: “Hell.”

“C’mon, it couldn’t have been that bad,” Steve prompted, eager for more details.

“No,”  Bucky corrected as he placed a bowl of spaghetti in the microwave. “I literally went to Hell with the Winchesters.”

“Oh, so you were with (Y/N),” Sam smirked.

“Why did they need to go to Hell?” Steve asked, he too ignoring the Falcon.

“Apparently Crowley stole the Magicae Libro from them the other day.”

“Did it end in a fight?” Bucky could clearly hear the concern in Steve’s voice.

“No.” This has had to be the longest microwave minute in history. One of them would come to the conclusion soon enough. Sure enough, the next words out of Sam’s mouth…

“So trouble in paradise, huh? That’s what’s gotcha so down?”

“I wouldn’t call it paradise if nothing ever happened between us.”

“But you want something to happen,” Steve confirmed the same time Sam asked what had happened.

Finally, the microwave timer went off and Bucky managed to escape answering his friends as well as the onslaught of questions that were sure to follow. He took refuge in his room and ate the spaghetti on his bed. Bucky could see (Y/N)’s file on his desk. It was pinned underneath the Supernatural book Wanda had lent him.

The specific book was titled ‘Skin’ and it was about skinwalkers. It had matched up with what (Y/N) had told Bucky about Dean’s first serious run-in with the law. Bucky kind of wanted to read more of the Supernatural books, God was actually a decent writer, but at the same time, it felt sort of like reading (Y/N)’s diary.

Shouldn’t he be learning all about her from, well, her? Bucky supposed that she could also look up his life on the internet. Although the media wasn’t always true or nice to Bucky. How true were the Supernatural books? Did he trust God, or Chuck Shurley, to know (Y/N)’s thoughts and emotions in those situations? She must have changed a lot since the books had been written.

Shit. Maybe Sam was kind of right with the whole ‘obsessed with her’ thing. It wasn’t an obsession, it was just simple curiosity. Bucky was only interested in learning more about the hunter lifestyle. Or (Y/N)’s hunting lifestyle. Or (Y/N). Damn, he really couldn’t get her out of his head.

When he finally went to bed after sluggishly completing his nightly routine and confirming to Steve that he was okay, it was twelve thirty-two. He wondered how (Y/N) and the rest of the gang were handling the witches.

~*~

~*~

~*~

~*~

~*~

Tag List (strike though means tag didn’t work):

@grav3dollie-666 @broco8

[almost-correct-bnha-quotes]

hai, so this bish cut her own hair, the layers look good tbh bUT the fringe is too short (fml) so i thought if you dont mind, if you're free, maybe hcs of izuku/todoroki/kirishima on that? please? (i already cried three times because my family bullied me about the fringe and i feel like jim carrey from dumb and dumber tho its actlly not that short)

Hi! I'd love to do this! I'm really sorry your family is so mean to you. Try not to let it get to your heart. I hope this helps you feel better!

Izuku

-He knew you wanted to try a new, shorter haircut for a while.

-To be honest, he was really supportive. If you really wanted to try a new haircut, you should go for it.

-When you shared your worries that it might not turn out well, he was quick to reassure you.

-"Hey, there's nothing that can go bad. If you don't like how it turns out, it's fine. Your hair will grow back in a few months," he told you.

-So one particular Saturday, in the U.A. dorms, you went for it. While the layers were fine, you didn't like how short that the fringe turned out.

-You were low-key stressing out since you had to go to school in two days. Hair was going to grow back in a few months, not a few hours.

-So you did the most logical thing- you called Izuku and asked him to come to your bedroom urgently.

-Within two minutes, you heard knocking on hour door, along with Izuku's worried voice asking you to let him in.

-You didn't specify what the emergency was, so Izuku and his anxious brain only assumed for the worst. What if you accidentally cut off your leg, or broke an arm, or got stuck under the wardrobe that fell on you...

-You opened your door just enough for a person to fit through it and pulled Izuku rapidly inside of your bedroom. As soon as he was inside, you slammed the door shut.

-"Eh, Y/N... What-"

- That's when he noticed your hair.

- You puffed your cheeks as you looked through your wardrobe. You eventually picked out two caps that you really loved.

- "Which one should I wear to school?" You asked.

- "Wel- I- You- Um- You- You don't have to wear one, though. I know that your hair didn't turn out the way you wanted, but it doesn't mean it's ugly. Quite the opposite. You look really nice with it. It would be a shame if others wouldn't get to see it."

-Saying that both of you turned as red as a tomato was an underestimation.

-Regardless, he did make you feel better and, as it turns out, your new hairstyle truly wasn't so bad. Many appreciated it and you actually started a trend amongst girls to cut their hair similar to you in order to be "fashionable".

Todoroki

-You never considered yourself close to Todoroki, but you acknowledged the fact that you did have a particularly strong bond with him.

-It wasn't romantic- it was more like a sibling relationship. You would tease and annoy each other a lot, but when one was in need, the other would always have their back.

-That's why he was the first person you called for comfort one evening. You cut your hair earlier that afternoon and a few students made some really rough comments on it.

-It wasn't that you weren't confident or happy with yourself, but words still hurt and the comments you recieved truly upset you.

-As you sat on your bed in your dorm, trying to cope with your suffering, you heard a knock on your door.

-You honestly hoped it was Todoroki. You called him a solid fifteen minutes ago and he had yet to fulfill your wish to come and be by your side for a while. You didn't dare to go out and look for him. Not with that hairstyle you had.

- "Hey Y/N... I'm here." The person behind the door said. Their voice was so familiar you wouldn't be able to mistake it for anyone else's- Todoroki was there.

-You mumbled something about how he could come in, but for obvious reasons, he couldn't understand what you said.

- "Hey, dickhead, I can't hear you. Open up. I brought you something."

-Your head shot up in curiosity. You wiped off a few tears off your face and made your way to the door.

-You opened it and found yourself standing in front of Todorki, who had a small bag by his side.

- "Surprise. Sorry it took me so long, I had to make a stop by the store nearby."

- You invited him in and soon found yourself laying on the bed, your head on his lap, crying your eyes out. His hand ran through your hair in an attempt to comfort and relax you.

-Honestly, it did.

- "Don't stress so much about it. You had a mild error in the process. It'll get fixed soon." He said.

- "Yeah, but until then..." You said between sobs.

- "You'll live your life like always. Try to enjoy the small things. Buy your favourite candy, sweet or desert. Try some make-up. Buy that t-shirt you've wanted for a while. Do whatever. It'll get better before you know."

- "How can you know so much?"

- "Experience," Todoroki shrugged, "Had to accept I can't change some things and how to live with that."

- "Like what?"

-"Shitty father... Half a quirk I don't want... and ugly hair."

- You frowned lightly as a snort escaped you.

- "You don't like your hair?" You asked.

- "Well, everyone seems to have a very good opinion of my hair... except for me. Can't say it's my favourite part of me."

- "Why do you hate it? It's unique."

- "My father has an unique style of parenting, but it's not good, is it?"

- You pursed your lips at the thought of his father. You generally weren't the one to fully dislike someone or to say that you hated someone, but Endeavor was one of the exceptions. Outside his work as a hero, Endeavor was a horrible person, in your opinion. He failed spectacularly as a husband and even more as a father.

- “Your hair is not a toxic father.”

- “And neither is yours. Your hair isn’t that big of a fail. A little unsuccessful, yes, but terrible? No. You’re beautiful.’

Kirishima

-Kirishima couldn’t say your hairwas the most successful hairstyle out there, but he knew the struggles of hair insecurity, so he couldn’t help but feel empathy towards you.

-As it turned out, you two were living only two streets apart, so you had most of the way home together. You became buddies in no time and you’d chat all the way home with all kinds of topics that interested you. One particular afternoon, you opened up to him about your new hairstyle.

- “It’s okay, Y/N!” He exclaimed, “Your hair will grow back in no time and you’ll be able to redo your haistyle!”

-You smiled faintly. “Thanks. It’s gonna be quite a road until then. My family’s kinda rude to me about it as well.”

-Kirishima let out an empathetic laugh. “I had that as well when I changed my hairstyle. My mom was kinda supportive, but everyone else... nah. The thing is, don’t let other people’s opinions bring you down. You’ll get judged no matter what you do, so you should best just do what you really want to do and be yourself.”

-That was some solid advice. When you thought about it, it truly didn’t matter what people thought. Even if something you did turned bad, you had to try again and again until it succeded. Otherwise, you would remain with the sour feeling of misery that would do nothing but bad to you.

[zachscarroll]

Final Thoughts on Paper Mario the Origami King with some major spoilers

I thought this game overall was incredibly charming and worth your time if you are a fan of the classic games like the original Paper Mario 64 or Thousand Year Door. It was leaps and bounds ahead of Sticker Star, and overall I thought it was better paper Mario game than Color Splash ever hoped to be.

Even though I'm pleased with playing it through it does have some glaring issues. Right out of the gate, this game is being held back by some sort of executive decisions from Nintendo and it shows tremendously especially within the first few hours of the game. I know nothing about the development of the game, but there are defiantly some things that seem either out of place or rushed which is strange.

Practically the first 3-4 hours of the game is nothing but tutorials, which they do need to explain stuff but not this much oh my goodness. They truly took a lot of the challenge out of the game and made it "very, very young kid oriented" and I'm not looking for the most challenging game out there--I usually play most games on easier difficulties so I can enjoy the adventure instead of having to be annoyed with redoing things. Olivia pops up way too much. I liked her character for the most part. Between Huey, and Kersti, Olivia was a very good one. Huey was a little bit more funny, but Olivia had a lot of charm and multiple emotional arcs. I know saying that sounds silly for a Mario game but she does grow as a character showing that she's still worried about whether or not she can really stop her brother. However, she pops up every time something happens. It's too much. I can see something has appeared Olivia. It's okay--but I'm getting off topic that's exactly what Huey did too in Color Splash. I hate to say it but when she leaves your party by being crushed by a boulder it felt like a classic paper mario game then. You had Bobby with you and he would add his own flair as the helper character.

Bobby truly was a great partner, and even if he's only with you for like maybe 2 or so hours I enjoyed having him around. I'm extremely glad they had partners return even if they felt more like story related. I liked having more than just Olivia with me. All of the partners except Professor Toad were really cool. It kinda sucks that Professor Toad is so forgettable because he is the only partner who has an over world ability. I think it would have been cooler if he was like a Monty mole or something instead of just a Toad with a shovel, there's just so many Toads in the game that an archaeologist Toad could have been cool, but I don't really know where they were trying to go with the character. He was like a scaredy-cat kind of character but also made weird like college references like about his thesis. At the very least he had an unique outfit? I don't know I'm reaching for Professor Toad. Why not just have Captain Toad who's an already established character and an explorer? Anyway, I found it kinda weird that no one else had an over world ability, and they could have done some more interesting puzzles if they had given Kamek or Boswer some. I loved having Kamek join and how he talked about being self conscious and lacking self esteem because Bowser never listened to him. Bowser Jr. was cool too, he wasn't as bratty as I thought he'd be. He was written like a tough kid. Both Kamek and Jr. have satisfying reasons for leaving your party. I liked how they put Mario first in order to save the whole kingdom. It made me as the player feel like "these bad guys know that Mario can save them." I know it's silly but again just a nice touch to the story. Of course you get Bowser to join you right at the very end which is just so great. He even talks about his parenting practices. Luigi also have a shockingly hilarious and "key" role to the story. I'm so glad to see these classic characters have great writing behind them, and really show off that these partners are pretty vital to paper Mario. Especially Luigi and Bowser when in the previous two titles had maybe like 8 lines between the two of them. Yes they don't do much in battle, but they are vital to the story. If my paper Mario games have a fun and unique story then that's all I really want.

Bobby was my favorite. If you haven't seen the one big twist involving Bobby, I'd skip this section and pick back up at the next paragraph. Anyway, Bobby sacrifices himself to save Olivia. While you can kinda piece things together and see it coming after a while you don't expect Bobby to just like straight up die. I remember when it happened I was like, "they really did this in a Mario game?". They even have a cute moment later on in Bowser's castle where Olivia thinks she see Bobby again. Overall he was amazing. That whole area of Shogun Studios felt the most reminiscent of classic Paper Mario games. I had a grin on my face pretty much the whole way through.

The one big gripe I had with the partners is other than Bobby any time you wanna go back to Toad Town or other areas they're just like "yeah okay i'm gonna stay here see ya later". Why? Why not let them come with you? The writers don't have to write any additional dialogue and if they did that would have been cool. Why wouldn't Professor TOAD wanna go back to TOAD town? There's an extra area where you can take Bobby at one point to get photos taken with him in Shogun Studios. Why not do that with other characters as a cool little Easter egg? Truly I didn't understand why they couldn't travel with you. I know in that infamous interview floating around with the directors and producers saying they only wanted one partner at a time so it didn't cause any confusion for swapping them out but that's so stupid.

Back to the game being held back--there were times I could see the designers desperately wanted to make a unique character better, or give something else a personality but they weren't allowed to. It hurts a lot when the original paper Mario games could give toads fun little names like  "Zess T." or "Fice T." and now we have "Professor Toad" or "Battle Lab Toad". There are two toads in Toad Town that both say something like "where's Purple Toad?" or "Where's Blue Toad?". Stuff like that takes me out of the enjoyment of the game. It's only when you go and look on the around on other sites that you find out that the Origami Craftsman man is actually Theofold. Yes, we did have captain T. ode, but like. That's just "Toad". Back to that interview from the producers of the game where they say they can't really alter Mario characters anymore like give them age, gender, etc. But come on. I'm not really sure why they can't give the toads proper names. I know that's an extreme nitpick, but that's definitely something that takes me out of the game and reminds me "oh yeah we can't do this anymore". Even Bobby, will constantly remind Olivia to call him "Bob-omb" It just feels like a slap in the face. Bring back Toadsworth? An established character who has been MIA for like years now. Just please. Please make the Toads different they did a very good job here with a handful like, the sea captain, captain T.ode, Professor Toad, and the Shangri-spa Toads. I remember those toads because they were dressed up differently than the other ones. I even remember the Toad who told you where the heart ups were because he was in a completely unique pose then the other ones. Please Nintendo I'm begging you just make them look more unique or don't rely on them as a pillar of a character. They are all the same. Just do more colors of Toads! There's red, blue, yellow, green, and purple.Make an orange Toad or something please. I liked finding the Toads in the different areas and they would unfold from origami, it gave me some korok seed vibes. Do more stuff like that!

Concerning the game's overall story, I liked it, but it could have been so much more. There were multiple key moments where I was like "why wouldn't they have a cut scene for this as like a flashback?". The first one was right at the beginning of the game. They instead of showing you in the actual game like a cut scene, they show a small slideshow of Toads setting up for the Origami festival with Princess Peach on the logo screen which I guess is okay, but I'm not a fan. Personally, I would have liked there to be a sort of storybook intro that the previous games had being like "every 100 years the toads in toad town set up a festival to honor the proud technique of origami" and then cut to Mario and Luigi getting a mail call from Parakarry (like the previous games) and then being like "the festival is today we hope to see you there." and then bam they're driving to the festival. I know that seems kinda dumb but why not show that in your game instead of Luigi being like "can't wait to get there" while he's driving his cart from Mario Kart. It's a little weird to me. The biggest moment like this happened when you first meet the origami craftsman (who yes is just a Toad) he explains these unique origami techniques he used to fold King Olly to make him come to life, but like brushes past it real quick. And then at the very very end (skip ahead if you don't want spoilers) Olly talks about this 1000 crane origami wish thing that was never brought up before by anyone. If he had mentioned it when he dropped the boulder on Olivia that would have been acceptable but it just kinda comes out of nowhere. If you're going to bring these things up then like at least mention them once before or have some type of set up and pay off for it. It just felt kinda rushed. The ending was cute though, and I remember liking Color Splash's ending a bit more but this one was surprisingly beautiful with how it ends with floating lanterns it reminded me a little of Tangled.

The other big thing people are complaining about is no experience. This has pros and cons. pros: the battle in this game a lot of them are scripted or can be ran past no problem. However if you want to buy better weapons or accessories (this game's subtle nod to the badge system) you need a lot of coins. A lot of them. You use the coins in battle to let the Toad audience help you or use coins to buy more time to line up your foes properly. I like this system. While I could have gone for a little more incentive to battle I found myself using my coins even if I had thousands of them. I thought it was a pretty good balance. I don't see why they couldn't have thrown in a little more to make the battles worthwhile though. Why not after ever 10 battles let you pick a stat? Mario's running speed in the over world could be faster, Mario's first strike can be stronger, It doesn't cost as many coins when using them in battle? These are just thoughts I've had if they don't want to use a traditional style stat system. They had max up hearts that raised power and health it's just kinda strange why they don't want to have stats improve or give you another reward for battling other than money.

I will say while backtracking to get missing collectibles I avoided battles outright. If I got into a battle while backtracking I would sigh. I knew there was nothing left for me to spend my coins on so I would try to run from the battle but nine times out of ten I would fail running from the battle. At least the battles go by quickly, but it would use up durability on your consumable weapons. I'm very glad that they brought back permanent weapons and no stickers or cards. This weapon system is a littler underutilized though. I feel like if the designers went in they could have come up with three or four more weapon types. Why not use more Mario related power ups? Why just the fire or ice flowers, tail, and pow block? Why not have a jump move that hits in a 4x4 area like the hammer? They have a hammer item that works like the jump move! Why not have the frog suit back from sticker star or color splash that you can use to dodge unavoidable damage if you don't line up the monsters in time? I loved the battle system a lot more than Sticker Star and Color Splash but it seems like they only scratched the surface of the attacks Mario could do. If you're going to have different weapons that break why not have 10 or 20 unique different weapons as opposed to just more powerful versions of the same 5 weapons? Same with the healing items. Why only mushrooms, when in Toad Town you can get coffee that speeds you up or slows you down? Especially when you find a handful of coffee shops in the game, why can't I buy those coffees there? Why not bring back the cooking in the game from the first two? I know it'll never happen, but near the end of the game you get a spot to cook one item and I really got my hopes up.  I know I'm presenting a lot of questions, but this is all I thought about when doing the battles. If they do an "origami king 2" or something that reuses this battle system I feel like there is a lot of room for improvement and a lot more unique encounters. I also feel like they did this because they didn't want to over complicate things. They wanted the battles to be simple after you did a puzzle section. Also the battles are super snappy. Lasting two turns if you get the right line up and can be more if you don't. I think that's a really good way to make the player really learn the right way to move the board. That being said there were many times I didn't see the solution and would brute force my way through making some of the battles a bit of a slog.

They do flip the script a lot with the boss battles. First off "The Legion of Stationary" is great. While it took me a while to get used to them, they were some of the best fights in the whole game. The Tape boss was extremely cool and used an element that I wished more games could use. They let you get comfortable with the battle system then the tape is like "no you can't move stuff around, or you have to move the 2 rings around at once." This was such a cool battle and it really did make you think. I will say it was a little weird that the bosses were real life objects like colored pencils or a bunch of rubber bands, but I thought it was more comical. I know a lot of folks did not like them at all. They were set up and referenced though because all of the tools were mentioned in a bookshelf in the origami craftsman's library. This is how set up and pay off is done correctly because Olly would have seen him using them and so he'd use them against the toads and Mario just a nice little touch really. If you missed the book in the library scene they really hammer it home by showing you the legion of stationary was on the origami craftman's desk. I've looked around online and apparently a lot of the bosses can be beaten differently, they don't all end in 1000 fold arms finishers which is super cool.

Also the two other big mechanics for this game were the 1000 fold arms and the paper macho bad guys. The 1000 fold arm thing was fine, it felt right at home in a game like this which focused on origami. That being said the paper macho characters felt tacked on. They did not belong in this game, They were the other side of the battles being in real time and defeated by Mario using his hammer on them. The reason why they had to have these were if Olivia was not with you like on the cruise ship you had a way to take down a boss without her help, because she's needed for the 1000 fold arm technique. Cool idea, but felt wrong for this game which focused on origami it's like they really really wanted to make this a Zelda game and have action style battles to contrast to the puzzle ones. Again, I could see them being used in another game.  

If they do make another Paper Mario game, and I hope they do, I hope they keep pushing the needle forward.Every game since Sticker Star has been a HUGE improvement, and if we're not going back to the original games I hope each game makes an effort to address all of the glaring issues that all of us Paper Mario fans have.

[chxrdsxfsteel]

Narumitsu Week Day 1 - Beginnings

AAAA this is probably the first time I've formally managed to attempt participating in this stuff, mostly because I'm still a tiny bit inexperienced with writing

My theming of Day 1's prompt will be around Phoenix's letters to Edgeworth, spanning from December 2001 (immediately following DL-6 incident) to roughly August 2016 (including covering the day of The First Turnabout).

I'm gonna warn that there'll be spoilers for Gyakuten Kenji 2/Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth: Prosecutor's Path, Ace Attorney (the original), and Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations, as well as the Ace Attorney anime episodes Turnabout Promise and Sound the Turnabout Melody. Also, mentions of death, some minor violence and the usual crap discussed in the Ace Attorney series applies here, so read at your own risk.

December 29th, 2001

Dear Miles, I dunno what happened yesterday.. The power went out and Mom and I had to eat dinner with candles since the power stayed off all night. Mom said it was a 'quake, a really bad one. I went to school today and didn't see you, so I hope you're okay.. Uh, I'm gonna try to get this to your uncle Ray, so he can get this to you, like we usually do if your dad isn't around to take my letters to you after I send them in the mail. Come back to school, please!! -- Phoenix

---

December 31st, 2001

Dear Miles, ...I heard your dad's gone away.. When I got my first letter to Uncle Ray, he was crying and stuff. He kept saying your dad won't be coming back from the courthouse.. I had to redo this letter a few times after that, cuz I kept crying all over it. It.. I... 

(The letter is smudged a little bit all over the words after that, making the contents a little harder to read on the already semi-terrible handwriting.)

Man, I cried all over this one too, but not as bad, so I guess I'll send it. I'm real glad you and Larry aren't here to laugh at me, but I'm also really missing you bad, Miles. I don't have a dad, either, so I really wish you'd come back and stay with me and Mom. Mom says she misses you too. Where did you go...? It really hurts not having you here.. I can't stop crying... I can't stop.. Please come back!! -- Phoenix

(There's a tiny scribbled P.S. on the edge of this letter. 'P.S.- Happy New Year's in advance, I guess')

---

January 2002

Dear Miles, I.. think the teacher said you moved. I'm writing this at recess, so.. it's not gonna be as good. It's gonna be longer, too.. sorta. I don't know where you moved, but.. It hurts that you did. It's all over the news that your dad got.. I think it said 'shot'. Is that why he's not coming back? Uh, never mind, don't answer that. Lots of stuff happened since you went away. Uncle Ray stopped coming to see me after I gave him my other letter, so I'm gonna try giving this one to the principal or Mr. Grossberg's to have them try to get it to you. I feel really.. empty. Especially since you didn't write back yet. (I hope I spelled that right.. I had to ask a teacher to help me spell that.) It kinda hurts coming to school every day since you're not there. I miss you telling Larry he's saying dumb stuff (cuz he does).. I miss you teaching me about law stuff. I miss you getting all the teacher's questions right and helping me read better. I really miss you. ..I wonder, if this is how it feels for you to miss your dad. Does Uncle Ray and Larry and Mom miss you this bad, too? -- Phoenix

(Again, the letter is riddled with the occasional tear stain, and the last couple of lines seem unusually shaky, as if the writer were starting to lose their resolve mid-sentence..)

---

May 2002

Dear Miles, It was raining today when graduation happened. All of us got really wet, but you know what? I made it, Miles! I'm not gonna be in elementary school anymore! I'm a middle schooler now! ..But now I'm gonna get a cold and I'm gonna be stuck in bed for a week. Stupid rain!! Oh well, at least I got almost all A's. I'm working really hard to get to college like you were saying! You said you wanted to go to college someday to be a lawyer, right? I'm gonna do that, too! I wanna find you so we can defend people together someday like your dad did! He'd want that, right? Oh yeah, Larry and I are also learning how to draw and stuff. I wanna draw really good too, like those people who draw court trials for a living. If I really end up not being able to be a lawyer, I can at least draw you in court doing stuff, right? Anyways, I'm REALLY hoping this dumb letter gets to you this time!! The last one got sent a little bit before you showed up to get your dog back in December, but I guess it's okay that you didn't answer it. It was really good to see you again, but I'm also really scared you'll get sad and lonely by yourself out there. I hope you can visit without running away this time, okay..? -- Sincerely, Phoenix Wright

(There's another P.S. at the bottom of the letter. 'P.S- You used to put 'sincerely' on your old letters before you said your name, so I'm gonna try it, too!')

---

Spring 2004

Dear Miles, Did you like my radio request..? It was the only way I could think of to get my message out there. I really hope you're still in California to even hear that, Miles. So, I'd seen that Larry had bought a radio, since he said that was how adults liked entertainment nowadays.. (I hope I spelled that right, Miles. You kept referring to our old favorite show as 'children's entertainment' every time you talked about it at school!) I heard that the station was giving out requests one day, so I called them and asked! ..It's goofy, I know. I remember you went all pink when we were kids when I said nice stuff about you when you were there to hear it.. It made me feel warm when I thought about you! I still do feel warm, but I also feel like crying, because you're not here.

You're out there somewhere, out there with someone I don't know, out there with your dog, and that's still enough to make me feel happy. It makes me hope that you'll get these letters someday, Signal Red. ...Man, now Larry's laughing at me! I'm sitting here at lunch on the roof with him, writing this, and he said I looked all dreamy when I was writing this and my request to the station. Now I'M going pink! Okay, I'm gonna quit writing now before Larry sees it and laughs at me again.. I did mean what I said on my request, though. I want to see you again, Miles. Here's hoping one day, I can. Somehow, something tells me that my voice might help me the same way you helped me three years ago.. -- Sincerely, Phoenix Wright

---

August 2013

Dear Miles, I haven't written one of these in a while, heh.. I see you still haven't gotten my letters. Damn my life. I really had hoped you'd get the last one.. When did I write that, middle school..? I bought a radio with Larry's help after that, but you never did post a request after I did, so I kept it and moved on. I've decided I'm going to become a courtroom artist, so I've enrolled in Ivy University. Actually, haha, I didn't even MENTION that part first! I got into college finally! I had to redo my SAT a couple of times to get in, but I did it anyway! I'm mainly in their art program, but I'm doing some law studying on the side. Speaking of law... I heard you became a prosecutor not that long ago. The really nasty kind, like that gross von Karma guy. ..I saw a news story, right? It talked about you. There's some really nasty rumors going around, both in the papers and even around here at school. Nobody believes me when I say I had you for a friend, Miles. You used to be really thoughtful, and also kinda blunt. But I have a soft spot for you. A.. Admittedly..

(There's a break in the page. The handwriting got slightly shaky.)

...I guess you'd term it as 'unnecessary feelings', huh? Since middle school, I couldn't quit thinking about you wherever I went. Stuff keeps reminding me of you on a daily basis. Little Pomeranians walking around reminds me instantly of your tiny dog.. Every time I hear the Signal Samurai song when they do the occasional rerun reminds me of the time Larry bought us those keychains as kids, and that one time I had the radio people play the theme song. Since I've gotten here to Ivy University, I finally started contemplating my love life. I... never bothered with it, since I had you and Larry when we were in elementary.. You never bothered with girls, so I didn't feel so bad about being too nervous to ask any out. But the truth is... Maybe you were, and still are, enough to trump any girl. Okay, sure, I still occasionally wish I could kiss one or say 'I love you' to a girl, but.. most often, I end up imagining you in that girl's place. I see us together on the courtroom floor, working together to find the truth.. I see us finding the truth and smiling, even if one of us loses. Maybe a really long hug or a kiss at the very end of the trial, when nobody's looking at us. You going all pink and telling me that's unnecessary, but me insisting, like the goof people always call me now.

(Another break in the page. The handwriting gets slightly shaky again.)

...but I can't have you by my side now. Not now. You're stuck, Miles, and I can see that even though I can't see you physically here with me. It's almost like I can karmically feel your pain. If that makes any sense. (It probably doesn't.) I want to save you from becoming that von Karma dude. I'll get there eventually, right..?

(Another break in the page. The letter actually ends up on a second piece of paper this time, carefully handwritten in blue pen like the rest.)

..There's another reason why I can't do any of that sappy stuff I wrote earlier, at least not with you. I got a girlfriend, a really pretty one that smells sweet like cake.. Her name is Dahlia Hawthorne, and she's a writing student here at Ivy! We met up at the courthouse while I was doing some reading in the library, and I bumped into her when she'd been doing some stuff for a paper. She gave me this lovely glass necklace, with a tiny blue container and some gold decoration stuff. I ended up falling for her on the spot, ahaha. I did say earlier that I like girls, too, Miles, so I guess this makes sense! We started going out after she gave me the necklace, and she's absolutely wonderful! She makes me food all the time, and she made me this cute pink sweater I wish you'd see. (Knowing you, you'd probably end up laughing at how silly it looks, but if that's what Dollie's into, then I'll go with it!) I still really miss you, Miles, though. I wish you could meet Dahlia. She's like an angel, like the butterflies she's always got around her. She's as sweet as her coffee and cookies she makes. I'd draw her, but it'd be really weird if I gave you a picture of her, she said. Uh, I guess I'll write again later, this kinda got long.. -- Sincerely, Phoenix Wright

---

April 10th, 2014

(The letter has standard stationary belonging to the detention center, with some kind of emblem on the top, unlike the past letters which were on plain copy paper. The pen ink is replaced with pencil this time. Even the handwriting looks somber.)

Dear Miles, ...I got arrested. I guess I'd better explain, huh? Dollie had a boyfriend before me, apparently.. He was some snooty guy from the Pharmacology part of Ivy named Doug. He kept warning me about Dollie being dangerous or something, so I pushed him over and ran away. It'd been raining yesterday.. and... and..

(Tear stains almost ruins the writing in this section of the letter.)

...and Doug was gone, when I came back. I felt really bad for pushing him, honest! Now.. I might be responsible for him dying. How's that for bad luck, huh? I feel really heavy, like when I was a kid and your dad had gotten shot dead.. I can't really stop crying, and the guards are probably gonna yell at me to shut up if I start really going at it. Plus, I'm sick today, because I got a cold a little while ago thanks to all that rain.. God, Miles, I really wish you hadn't become a fucking prosecutor! I wish you were here to help me again! WHY DID GREGORY HAVE TO--

(More tear stains ruin a whole line of text following the name and messily written handwriting, making it unreadable. The writer must have been inconsolable trying to write this.)

....I had to get someone else to try defending me ib--

(The next word was crossed out after the tear-ruined handwriting. So was a few other expletives following that. Eventually, after a lot of crossed-out words in pencil, the letter continues a little more properly.)

...Crap, I ruined the letter, didn't I, Miles? I just feel so lost right now. I don't even have Larry or Dollie to make me feel better, and you're still off out there prosecuting. As I was saying before I messed up my words, I got another lawyer to hear me out. My trial starts tomorrow, so... I might be doomed. I'll never be able to become a lawyer and save you, it seems! I'll just be stuck in this gloomy prison for the rest of my life.. I really doubt I can get out of this one okay, Miles. I'm not good at doing stuff last-minute. You are, and you're not here.. Please, just this once.. Just this once, Miles... Come back.. Answer my damn letter! Please! Just once! I can't take being alone like this! I can't take it!! -- Signal Red

(The letter's not even signed properly.)

---

April 12th, 2014

(The letter goes back to its usual format, with one addition. There's an attached drawing this time. The drawing appears to be of Edgeworth himself, holding a few sunflowers and gladiolus flowers in his hands. The drawing is also in color, with Edgeworth being drawn in some distinctive shade of maroon.)

Dear Miles, ...Everything about Dahlia was a lie! She lied to EVERYONE. Including me. She was gonna kill me for real, Miles! Maybe I should've listened to imaginary-you and trusted my gut in court yesterday. Speaking of, I almost got poisoned! I'm having to write this from the hospital today, since they wanna make sure I'm not going to be poisoned for sure. But I've changed my mind about being a courtroom artist. That's no way to save you, Miles! I've made up my mind- I'm pursuing law full-time. My defense attorney, Mia, said she'd help me out if I were ever to go that way, and now I am. Dahlia's not holding me back, and now I won't let anything short of the law itself hold me back from saving you. Sure, it's probably really stupid to quit while I'm ahead, but.. I can't really say I should hold myself back anymore. I'm scared, but I want to push on now. I want you to smile with me again, Miles. That sappy stuff I said before.. I truly mean it. I love you, somehow. I don't know exactly how else to put it. You never read these, so I might as well be entirely honest, right? I promise, Miles, that I'll save you at any cost. Even if I have to defend you in court, I'll save you! That drawing’s some proof to it! -- Sincerely, Phoenix

(The P.S. this time says, ‘P.S- If I learnt anything from my shit experiences with Dahlia, it’s the meanings of the flowers I drew you with. Gladiolus flowers mean remembrance.. and sunflowers usually get symbolized for loyalty and joy. I also hear it’s a flower associated with lawyers...’)

---

July 2016

Dear Miles, Phew! I'm glad to say I finally managed to get my attorney's badge! The Bar Association just approved it today, and I'm not gonna lie, I ended up crying when my results came in! I'm now going to work for my past defense lawyer, Mia Fey! She was really happy when she'd heard I wanted to work as a member of her law team, and I'm gonna move into the office pretty soon now that I'm not gonna live in my old college apartment anymore. ..Yeah, I'm still gonna keep writing these letters to you, even though you haven't answered any of them all these years. So what if you never answered them? ..I'll keep sending them anyway. I'll be more of a pest than Larry was to us as kids until the day I die or the day you come back! ..Well, I digress. (Please tell me someday if I used this right.) Uh, anyways, things have been relatively okay since my last letter. I got my law degree, and that was really exhausting. My sleep schedule's now ruined forever thanks to going through the cogs of law full-time in college, but I kinda know what I'm doing about law now. I'm still doing art, but I more or less do it strictly as a hobby now, to be honest. I'm still in contact with Larry, too, but he's usually pretty bad at his jobs and stuff. He's a bit of a deadbeat, just like you remember him from elementary school. I don't have any pets, save for Charley, the office plant that's in Mia's office. I also got a brand-new suit the other day, a really bright blue one! Man, it was pretty cheap, and it fits kinda weird, but the shade's really comforting to me for some reason. It reminds me of Signal Blue, from Signal Samurai. I still have my old keychain to this day. It's on my phone now, actually, and I think of you a lot whenever I see it there. Mia told me a bit about her sister, Maya. She says she really likes bad jokes and that Steel Samurai show that plays sometimes on TV. I told her how you used to like Signal Samurai as a kid, and Mia said you'd probably be the kinda person who likes Steel Samurai. (I don't doubt it, surprisingly. After all, it's kinda Larry's fault you and I ever got into Signal Samurai..)

(There's a second sheet of paper attached.)

Oh, there's one more thing! Larry finally got a girlfriend. She's somewhere else right now, I think, maybe some kinda business trip? Her name was something like Cindy, I think.. but anyways, she and Larry have been having an awful lot of trouble lately, so I'm sincerely doubting they'll make it. ..As for me, well.. my mushy stuff still stands. Now, I mostly daydream about you when I'm not brushing up on law stuff or checking emails for Mia or cleaning the toilet.. I keep imagining you as a defense attorney like Mr. Gregory was, standing confident and having your cold-hard logic crush any lies that might come your way.. Well, and what I said in my last letter, heh. Me.. uh, kissing you and all that. That still stands! A lot! ..I just don't know if I can say this outside of writing, ugh. I feel so nervous just writing this down, and Mia's starting to stare eye-sized holes in my soul from where I'm sitting... Does she suspect something? Okay, yeah, maybe she does. All I usually do once asked why I became an attorney is gush about that tiny class trial years ago, when you defended me despite everyone else (save for Larry) not believing me when I said I didn't steal your lunch money.. I've kinda-sorta come to terms with the fact that you're apparently the one person I can count on for me to love, since you haven't killed me and haven't done anything else to break my heart besides not reading my goddamn letters ever. Seriously, Miles.. You've never sent any letters back to me.. That's okay, though. Maybe if you never open these, you'll never reject me like Dahlia Hawthorne did.. -- Sincerely, Phoenix Wright

---

August 3rd, 2016

Dear Miles, Okay... Here's my first ever trial! Larry got.. arrested. Probably the worst thing that's happened to him yet, I'm afraid. He's been accused of killing Cindy, apparently?? The second I heard about it, I asked the Chief to give me the case on the double! The problem? My stupid fricking not-diagnosed anxiety, that's what's the issue here! Well, that, and this IS my first trial.. Thankfully the Chief's gonna help back me up, but to be entirely honest, I'm kind of shaking right now.. I'm writing this as I'm preparing for the trial, so I don't know the outcome. Uh, wish me luck from out there, Miles! Maybe if I manage to bail Larry out of this, AND you answer my letters for once, how about the three of us go out somewhere and celebrate with the Chief? I think you'd really like Mia, Miles. She's really smart and really strong and independent, and I think you'd probably admire that a whole lot.. (And to be honest, you really should just answer my goddamn letters for once.. I miss you still, and I'm one step closer to saving you..!) -- Sincerely, Phoenix

---

April 4th, 2019 -- High Prosecutor's Office, Room 1202

Papers with varying writings scattered across the maroon-clad prosecutor’s desk, His heart fluttered slightly, feeling strong embarrassment at Wright accusing him of never touching the letters in the final page of the last letter he'd gotten before the pair reunited back during the trial of Mia Fey's murder. To be fair to the defense attorney, it hadn't exactly been his fault for not recieving them.. But to be fair to himself, he'd never bothered to open a single one, not even after Wright had freed him from the burden of ever having to hold back his pain that von Karma had caused him. As a result of realizing that, he felt his face flush furiously, almost the color of his own suit.

"...Calm yourself, Miles," the silver-haired man grumbled to himself, willing away the heat from his cheeks to the best of his ability.... and then it hit him like a pile of bricks, right then, That Sort Of Realization. He remembered wordings from a couple of the past letters, and..

Oh. Now he felt as if he'd gotten slapped in the face with a white-hot iron to the face. That was how flustered he felt, attempting to re-assemble his mess of brain cells after realizing W-- Phoenix had imagined the same things he did. No wonder Franziska said Phoenix was a distraction. He kind of was. But the good sort. How is it that he managed to miss that for so impossibly long...?!

That was incredibly embarrassing, to say the least! The grey-haired prosecutor gave a deep sigh, pinching the bottom of his nose and staying like that for at least the next ten minutes before huffing, stuffing the letters back in the bag, and locating the nearest pen and paper. Then, in a flurry of determination and his much-neater-cursive-print-hybrid handwriting, Edgeworth began to write something on the paper, his grey eyes focused very carefully on the words he wrote.

Dear Phoenix, I wish to tell you something, now that you and I have a little less chaos in our lives at the moment to prevent me from answering you...

~Fin~

[lumiereswig]

Do you have any crossovers with/AUs inspired by "Moulin Rouge!"? I know there's a fics list page but my wifi is so stupid slow it never loads so I can never tell.

nope! srry

since u can’t load the fics page im gonna give it all to you right here boo

Lumiere discovers something new, post-curse: Matches

Plumette/Lumiere, pre-curse. Plumette growing up and Lumiere growing close. Lit By The Sun

Plumette/Lumiere, immediately after being cursed: Fire and Feathers

Lumiere meets the prince for the first time: A Showman Through and Through

Plumette/Lumiere as college kids: Modern AU that is not super great but eh i tried

plumiere in love: it’s right here for now (at least until I edit it and make it better)

here’s Scotland

“a maid that has a crush on Lumiere faking being Plumette and trying to seduce him”: hahaha this one still makes me laugh

abandoned ‘kidnapped’ fic—here

lumiere finding out plumette is pregnant: Here.

lumiere sees the baby for the first time:  Here. Aww.

“a one shot in which plumette and lumiere go on a romantic tryst about the castle in the days following their wedding 💕”:  poor cogsworth

Lumiere is the sexiest sandwich in the palace. Here.

Plumette gets sick, it’s really sad: Right over here, pal.

More plumiere falling in love here.

Tale as old as time, older than that guy, Beauty and Maurice.

garderenza backstory? here it is

So, like: what if Mulan showed up.

“can i please have a crack-shippy fic where everybody is in love with the wrong people.” Here.

figuring out how to be human again. here

lumiere/plumette body swap HERE.

“Movie night at the castle!” As you wish.

a bunch of other maids have a crush on lumiere and try to get his attention: a short fic about trapezes

“A group of poor motherless ducklings imprint on Plumette” QUACK QUACK.

“please expand on that night when Plumette and co. got drunk because of Chapeau’s brandy + wine idea…” I don’t know why I like writing drunk!staff so much but i DO

1991, MEET 2017!

What happened to Gaston? The only Gaston fic I’ll ever write, probably. Here.

He is nineteen. She is younger. Lumiere tells Plumette a fairytale. Lit by the Moon.

“How about a fic were the staff play light as a feather stiff as a board with Plumette as the board.“ what the fuck even is this game i am still confused but on y va, i guess

ATTRACTIVE FARMER MAN AND HIS TWO WIVES

Plumette’s last seconds before the curse takes hold. Laughing Still.

Forgotten. [Ongoing]

Plumiere in the rain. Quick mini-fic. I’ve Seen Fire and Rain

“quick question : how often does lumiere get sick?” Here.

“What if the day the curse was broken the staff go batshit crazy over being able to eat again so they eat until their stomachs hurt. Then Chip starts a food fight by throwing a bread roll at Cogsworth.” THIS HAPPENED?

“A dragon comes to try and eat Plumette” Lumiere is a fire-bender

“crack fic where they somehow discover theyre fictional” this one was so fun to write, lumiere picks up ewan’s scottish accent and hates it

“What about a really cute fic were Lumiere and Plumette fake being sick so they don’t have to work and get to spend the whole day together” poor cogsworth part 2  

“Who gets the weird nightmares and who consoles the other at two in the morning because they’re in tears.” Me, because I just want my OTP to have nice things. Here.

”coffeeshop au but its still set in the 18th century“ BUT WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ROUSSEAU, THO??            

“Can you write about Lumiere throwing Plumette a surprise birthday party for her?”  hey

“Chip wants to be maître d’ someday and follows Lumière around the castle as his little protégé” he’s going to be a better one than lumiere here

“don’t think about how painful the transformation must have been for the servants" do i ever think of anything else. [the answer is no]                

“*Whispers in your ear* AMNESIAC LUMIERE”   FUCK. HOW’D YOU KNOW I LOVE AMNESIA FICS?? FUCK. ultimately one of my favorite fics. holy fuck

“*Whispers in your ear* AMNESIAC LUMIERE” part TWO, motherfuckers

“Maybe one during the curse where they can suddenly hear the soundtrack around them?“ poor cadenza

“What if somebody after the curse was broken just out of nowhere started playing the Aria. I NEED FEELS” have you thought about horrible things yet today  

“The castle has to order in pizza” adam would like to register a complaint.

“Ewan McGregor and Lumiere switching universes" here

”A water balloon fight that gets out of hand?“ SPLASH.    

Les Miserabeauty and the Beast. Here.

“Can you do where everyone is turn into a baby” ANGST

STANFOU ROMANCE

“Nutcracker AU?!” aw fuck here

“I Never Really Knew You”—Cadenza & Adam

“He Must Loathe Me”—Chapeau & Plumette

“The Sound of Her Weeping”—Garderobe & Lumiere

“Her Little Satin Slippers”—Cogsworth & Plumette

“Home”—Mrs. Potts & Plumette

“Chapeau’s Charade”—Belle & Chapeau

“Lullaby”—Garderobe & Plumette

“Cake in the Sun”—Lumiere & Stanley

“Like You Used To”—Adam & Garderobe

“Why The Beast Eats Like….That”—Chip & The Beast

“The Boy’s Hand”—Chip & Adam

“The Pink Vest”—Garderobe & Cogsworth

“Draw”—Maurice & Adam

“They’ll Never Meet Again”—Plumette & Garderobe.

“Her Beautiful Maman”—Garderobe & Plumette, in the parents AU. Also: Lumiere & Frou-Frou. Woof.

“have Belle and Adam watch batb 2017?” sure.  

“I would love to see their reaction to singing in the rain! It’s my all time favorite movies!! ❤️❤️"  🌧🌧🌧🌧SAME 🌧🌧🌧🌧

“consider the coconut” MOANA CRACK.

“Plumiere goes to Paris?” Prequel fic! [oh là là]

“thy crackest crack of all - batb but adam/belle and lumiere/plumette swap places” lumiere turns into a dragon

“so. um. amnesiac adam?“ FUCK. FUCK.FUCK.              

”Mary Poppins would be practically perfect in every way!” Feed the fucking birds

“I should have told you a long time ago.” Plumette wakes up, after their first night together. Fits into the “Lit by the Sun” story.

“This is why we can’t have nice things/you don’t see me”—right after the curse, Plumiere cope with their new forms. Angst?

“Prove It/You’re Drunk.” Lumiere had….a night of it. Poor Cogsworth, the Continuing Saga

“great comet” fic: the candle in the mirror

“I’ve been waiting a long time.” finally a happy!cogsworth fic. Tic toc.

“Batb and Frozen crossover pls“—it’s garbage                          

The whole palace body swaps. here

“What happens when Lumiere’s family wakes up and realizes they have a son at the palace?” well SHIT ! there’s a prompt

“Chapeau having to relearn and figure out how to play the violin once he’s turned into a coatrack.” Shh.

a cuisinier fic! this fandom doesn’t deserve him

“Batb and Robin Hood crossover!!!!!” fuck

“how about the castle residents plays a giant game of live clue.” Adam would like to register another complaint

Lit by the Stars. Plumette and Lumiere meet for the first time.

“belle catches a cold?” i’m allergic to fluff

“how about amnesiac belle this time?” FUCK

w o w this one’s about plumette & belle sharing plague stories

“Can you do where Lumiere and Plumette babysit Chip while Mrs. Potts is working”  cute? ??

Wedding Cake: it’s huge

“lightly read fanfiction.” RIGHT?!

“You should let them watch the classic movie Beauty and the Beast” here

“ plumette x lumière modern spies AU” here.

“cogsworth angst” YOU GOT IT dude

“Hi, could you do some fluff and angst headcanons for Madame de Garderobe and Cadenza please xx” the honeymooners

“Shalalalalala my oh my, looks like the boy’s too shy, ain’t gonna kiss the girl” has lumiere ever been shy in his life ?

“Would you care to write a drabble of the castle redoing Mrs. and Mr. Potts’s wedding because Chip found his mother’s wedding dress and was bummed that he missed it?“ oh hey unrelated: i never dated a christmas ornament  

“imagine plumiere first met AFTER they were turned into objects” um: FUCK YES.

“Batb characters in the titanic” too soon, people. too soon.

“Plumiere prompt: A whole new world! new fantastic point of view. No one to tell us no. Or where to go. Or say we’re only dreaming.” ok    

“a touring theatre group comes to perform at the castle” this is more like a headcanon but it’s long as fuck so it ended up here              

“cogsworth discovers he can fly” this is so wrong, this is so right              

“Card Tricks”—Lumiere & Chip

“Coffee & Tea”—Lefou & Mrs. Potts

“Lion’s Mane”—Cuisiner & Plumette & Adam

“the characters read some of your fics and their reactions” o fuck. crack.

“Ok, but what about someone slipping Lumiere a love potion meant for Plumette??” kisses

Plumette stargazes; Lumiere dates someone else. Veronique

“ding dong we need more cogsworth- can we have something with him and mrs. potts bonding over all of their dumb kids” ding dong yes yes yes we do!

the villagers get cursed. a trash fic!!!![[[[ongoing]]]

Seating Arrangementsare! important! here.

“cogsworth sharing plumette’s first dance with her at her wedding, and…” I don’t dance.

poly garderenza/belle. i love this bullshit. i ship this

“Bonjour you wrote a fic about Luimere taking care of Plumette when she’s sick, can you write one about Plumette taking care of Lumiere? 💛💛” cough!

The First Untethered Hot Air Balloon Flight: oh, fuck.

garderenza content FEELS

“amnesiac belle?” COMPLETED, BITCHES. fucking ga w w d

“Can we have cogsworth headcanons?? Pretty please mon ami??” Dulce et decorum est.  

“Eclipse”—Lumiere & Chip

what if the servants came awake again, in modern days? Here

‘do you remember when we were human?’ Plumiere shit.

A history lesson w/Cogs and Lums. Beware the dust. Album.

 GARDERENZA HIGH SCHOOL AU !!!

“Woof”— Belle & Frou-Frou

“Fireworks”—Adam & Plumette

“Amnesiac Mrs. Potts?” Eh.

“a midsummer night’s dream au?” welcome to CRACK CITY [x]

“Plumette has a tragic, existential moment.” Pouf-pouf.

“a touring theatre group comes to perform at the castle. like some kind of magic, they can perform shows that don’t even exist yet” [x]

“I would ​ love if you wrote when Plumette and Lumiere came up with Be Our Guest” BE! OUR! GUEST

“The castle adopts a pet? but not like a cat or anything, like they get a pet komodo dragon or something” welcome to the zoo

garderenza’s glory [x]

“Flicker In, Flicker Out.” The curse takes its toll.

“Who would be into divination? the Supernatural? Spooky Shit™?” HEY THERE DEMONS, IT’S YA BOI.

“If each of the servants could write a book, what would they be about?” The Villeneuve Catalog of Literature, fresh off the presses.  [x]

“Cogsworth + Lumiere switch personalities?”  i fuckin love a good crack prompt. showgirls!

“Socks”—Pere Robert & Mrs. Potts

adam and belle meet as tiny kids

COLLEGE FACULTY AU FIC 

sad maurice fic: :)))))))))

“What do the servants do when they can’t sleep?” Shhhh.

Chip being in town when the curse strikes, here [ongoing!]

Belle gets used to the staff being, well.….human again. “New.”

“Have you ever done a role-swap where Belle was the princess and Adam was the boy from the village?“ CHIP. DON’T FUCK WITH THE TIME TRAVEL. Here.

The useless energy of haunted things. “Freaks of Furniture.” Thanks, JSTOR.

@batbobsession​ collab w/me called “One Moment”—their part is here, my part is there. The servants and the staff take a minute, right before the battle, to face what they’ve become.

“spooky prompt: What If the castle was haunted the year after belle breaks the spell…sadder prompt: What If the ghost was Adams mom…Worse prompt: or his father” THIS IS NOT THE FUN GHOST-HUNTING I ASKED FOR.

“Everyone says that Adam was under the spell ages, so what if the spell went on for 300+ years or whatever, and a woman hiking through the woods kind of went through what Maurice did with the tree being knocked over…” Fucking!!!! Granola bars!!!!!!!!!!!![x] [Ongoing.]  

How desperate I became. To erase. To unmake my mouth, my pulse. / To unlive. “The Writing-Desk.”

“So Very Different”—Cuisinier & Garderobe

“how would the staff and Belle and Adam react to some little kids from the village showing up trick-or-treating?“ Something like this, I imagine.

“Amnesiac Cadenza?” i do fucking love an amnesia ask

“During the curse, Adam begins to see ghostly apparitions of the servants’ human forms.” Dead men walking.

“Spooky prompt: A haunted house in Villeneuve.” i just want to talk to the demons!

“These Two Need More Love”—Chapeau & Cuisinier

“A piece inspired by the song, “A Shoulder to Cry On,” aka, ‘80S MUSIC FICS

“Adam, Belle + staff go to pick out/chop down their own Christmas tree……” Yule fic by me + other people! ho ho ho.

way down in hadestown

The fandom-spanning fic, involving Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, and Tulio and Miguel.

“Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said.” Evermore. Thanks Ray Bradbury.

“idk how she got there but Garderobe rules the world.” ❤️

“Oh! How about a story or headcannons of Shane and Ryan doing a Buzzfeed Unsolved Video at the enchanted castle in BatB?” [wheeze] (a FAVE)

“Words”—Garderobe & LeFou.

“what if someone confused the servants with the royals, cuz they dress better than adam and belle?” This happens regularly.

“Pere Robert somehow comes across a Time Turner” ⏳tick-tock⌛️

“Crackfic prompt: Belle is messing around with magic books (AGAIN) and somehow summons dinosaurs.” that’s , uh, that’s chaos theory

plumiere SNUGGLING FOR WARMTH TROPE????

“The BATB characters stumble into The Great Comet” EVERYBODY RAISE A GLASS

“So I’m reading the Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater…..” Here.

“Please give me more singing hair brush!” the fucking hairbrush. Here.

“Please can I have a bunch of adorable hcs where Garderenza are prepping Bassette for their first concert with her singing in it too” that is a hairbrush

arrrrGGHHHH, mateys, that thar be a magical pirates fic, shiver me timbers

“lumiere gets a sunburn” ouCh

“for adelle: maybe the Official Proposal?” Here.

“ what if. an amnesia fic. where they. ALL. Got. A m n e s I a“ —MY BRAND~

“Headcanons for Belle and Adam being the world’s greatest grandparents?” also known as “be a bear, grandpa!”

“Garderenza prompt: ‘You saved my life!’” oh how divine

belle keeps playing with magic and getting everybody fucked

this collab fic with @theteaisaddictive​ is done! “agathe gets amnesia”

“Whisky and Red Wine”—Lumiere and Belle have a night in.

“AU idea: As belle is leaving the second time, something stops her and she turns and whispers ‘I love you’ before running off.” Can you say “two idiots”?

“ have you ever done any asks about what you think maurice/belle’s mum’s life was like before they had belle???” I AM ALWAYS HERE FOR THE MAURICE SAD!FICS [x]

“something sweet with adam and the plumiere child.” sweet as stolen breakfasts.

“Belle messing with magic again finds one that puts the universe into reverse” this one is straight crack i hope you like it

chip is the middle man for some major lumiworth action

“A traveller stops by for directions […] by coincidence, he’s one of Belle’s *very favorite* authors.” Wow I wonder if the world’s biggest book nerd is going to handle this in a responsible manner [x]

“a man attending a ball at the palace spots plumette, and falls in love with her beauty. she receives an anonymous present of heart-shaped chocolates on her bedside the next day, and assuming they are a present from her dear lover, eats them without a thought. moments later…..” Not exactly this trope but uhhhh it’s a love potion fic babyyyyyyy

[starlight-seeker]

ALL OF THEM ~~~~~~~

1: The last person you kissed screams they love you, you say…It really depends who the person Is lol, I haven’t kissed anyone in a long time and the last person wasn’t so great so I would kindly reject them ://

2: Did you get to sleep in today?

FUCK YES I SLEPT UNTIL 1:30 PM

3: You never know what you got until you lose it?

It throws a lot into perspective. There’s a lot people take for granted and once you loose it you don’t realize until it’s gone and you can’t get it back.

4: Do you have siblings?

An older brother whose 9 years apart from me named Chris.

5: How many kids do you want?

2 probably, both more likely adopted.

6: Who was the last person you held hands with?

Collin Aka Literal-Trashlord.

7: Did you stand on your tippy-toes for your last kiss?

Nah, person was shorter than me lmao.

8: Do you think if you died, the last person you kissed would care?

Who knows. I don’t really care weirdly enough lol.

9: Last person to talk on the phone?

My mother.

10: Did anyone watch you the last time you kissed someone?

No.

11: When’s your birthday?

June 3rd.

12: Remember the first time you kissed the last person you kissed?

Not really, I kind of blocked the memory out lmao.

13: What kind of phone do you have?

Iphone S7

14: Are you wearing jeans, shorts, sweatpants, or pajama pants?

Rn I’m wearing my work pants 😩

15: Are you a different person now than you were 5 years ago?

God I hope so, I wasn’t in a great place mentally then lmao.

16: What were you doing at 4 am?

LMAO THATS LOADED. LATELY MY GAY ASS HAS BEEN FINDING MURDER MYSTERIES AND BUZZFEED VIDEOS WHILE TEXTING FRIENDS AS THEY SLEEP.

17: Would you rather write a paper or give a speech?

Paper definitely.

18: Are you lying to yourself about something?

Probably. 👀🗡

19: Last night you felt…?

Fine mostly, tired and a bit sore.

20: What’s something you cannot wait for?

To be able to go stargazing with someone close to me as well as get my life together hopefully and travel.

21: Ever told your parents you were going somewhere but when somewhere different?

I think so. I haven’t done that to my biological mom at least 😂

22: How many hours of sleep did you get last night?

Uh…7 and a half hrs?? I went to bed at 5:35 and woke up at 1:30 pm.

23: Are you a morning or night person?

Definitely a night owl. Morning person Rarely.

24: What did you get your last bruise from?

I banged into my friends counter like a dumbass. That or I was doing a price check and hit into something.

25: Do you reply to all of your texts?

Mostly though i forget to reply sometimes oof.

26: Your phone is ringing. It’s the person you fell hardest for. What do you do?

Talk to them casually, times passed and we’re still close beyond reason. ❤️

27: Did your last kiss take place in/on a bed?

No. I don’t really care about it 😤

28: Anyone you would like to get things straight with?

Yeah, a few people honestly. Some I was extremely close to.

29: How many months until your birthday?

12

30: Favorite thing to eat with peanut butter?

Celery or Apple slices.

31: Did you like this past summer?

It was good. So yeah I can’t complain.

32: What were you doing before you got on the computer?

Working and hanging out with friends.

33: Your ex is sitting next to you, with their new partner. What do you do?

Big oof. Honestly make the best of it?? Really no reason to get upset at this point.

34: What is the last thing you said out loud?

“Get fucked, Steve.” (We were playin Yahtzee with an Ai)

35: Your mood summed into one word?

O O F.

36: Are you doing anything else besides taking this survey?

playing Yahtzee with friends and an Ai Whose kicking all our asses.

37: What are your initials?

K. C. M.

38: Are you a happy person?

Generally though I do struggle with depression but no big deal.

39: Do you still talk to the person you liked 4 months ago?

Yeah, we’re still close friends.

40: Where do you want to live when your older?

I want to travel around, but I would love somewhere quiet with mountains where I can see stars almost every night.

41: Have you had your birthday this year?

Yes. We went to a trampoline park and got absolutely lit jumping around. 👀🔥

42: What did you do yesterday?

I worked 2:00 to 6:30 as a Cashier otherwise I went home and chilled out 😎

43: What will you be doing tomorrow?

Thankfully I have a day off tomorrow. So I’m probably gonna chill out and continue with ideas for a comic I might post soon.

44: How late did you stay up last night?

Until 5:35 AM.

45: Is there anyone you would do anything for?

Yeah definitely. I would drop everything for a select handful of people. Honestly I’d help anyone if I could.

46: Is it hard to make you laugh?

No omg. I laugh literally at anything unless I’m in a weird funk.

47: Do you believe ex’s can be just friends?

Yes, I’m still alright with one ex. But honestly work it out and hopefully things will be alright. Especially if its a mutual breakup things should be alright even if they’re awkward for a while.

48: Do you think any of your exes will eventually want to be with you again?

Lmao nah. I doubt it.

49: How many people have you had feelings for in the year of 2012?

BRUH YOU ACT LIKE I REMEMBER

50: Do you wish your ex was dead?

Never wish that on somebody.

51: Have you ever dyed your hair?

Yes I had it dyed Teal once.

52: Would ever take back someone that cheated?

I doubt it. I’d have issues trusting them.

53: Was New Year’s Even enjoyable?

This year shockingly was.

54: Bet you’re missing someone right now?

Yeah, I miss my family a lot. I don’t really get to see them. I got to see my mom today and I was really happy. ❤️

55: How would your parents react if you got a tattoo?

My mom probably wouldn’t like it at first but grow to like it knowing her, she wants to get a butterfly tattoo on her wrist.

56: Sleep on your back or stomach?

Stomach and side mostly. I can’t really get comfy on my back :((

57: If you could move away, no questions asked, where would it be ?

Somewhere nice and fun. Probably star lit and mountain filled but still some hustle and bussle.

58: What would you change about your life right now?

Living situation, I love living with my best friend but sometimes I miss living with my mom?? Idk.

59: Has anything upset you in the past week?

Yeah a handful of personal things. But I feel alright now.

60: Are you on the phone?

Yes

61: Today, would you rather go forward a week or back?

Probably back, I’d rather redo a few days than skip and loose out.

62: Would you take $40,000 or a brand new car?

Probably 40,000 so I can give some and help others.

63: Have you ever talked to someone when they were high?

OH YEAH THATS AN EXPERIENCE

64: Ever cried while you were on the phone with someone?

A few times, mostly when I’m stressed out or the situation is really tough.

65: Have you ever copied someone elses homework?

Yes. Especially when I forgot it and my friend came in clutch.

66: Are you the type of person who likes to be out or at home?

I’m a mix. There’s days I love to be out others inside and relaxing.

67: Do you automatically check your phone when you wake up?

It’s my alarm clock so sadly.

68: Have you ever stayed up all night on the phone?

Sadly, yes.

69: Could you use some sleep right now?

Probably like 20 + hrs. One good ass nap.

70: Are you going to have a baby by the time you’re 18?

Looks at age. Uhm 😂😂😂

71: Does it bother you when someone hides things from you?

Yeah. I’d rather the person come to me than hide it and talk shit. Even if it hurts I’d rather know and fix the situation.

72: What’s your favorite color?

I love deep reds but I also like blues and purples.

73: Have you ever slept in the same room with someone you liked?

Yes a few times

74: Have you ever been looking for something and it was already in your hand?

LMAO YES. i was looking for my wallet once and panicked but i was holding it.

75: Do you get annoyed easily?

Depending on the situation but when the questions dumb as hell or argument yes.

76: If someone liked you, would you want them to tell you?

Yeah. I’d rather know so I don’t accidentally break their heart. I’d rather know so I can confront the situation though still I’d be extremely flattered.

77: Do you have a person of the opposite sex that you can tell everything to?

Yes.

78: Does anyone call you babe?

Yeah a handful of people.

79: How many people of the opposite sex do you fully trust?

A lot ????

80: What do you prefer, relationship or one night stand?

Relationship. Never had a one nighter lol.

81: What color hoodie did you wear last?

Dark purple with writing on it from my college 😂

82: Is there someone who meant alot to you at one point, and isn’t around anymore?

Yeah. Someone I really did trust and love. They did some shitty stuff and I had to break the friendship off but even now I find myself checking in on them now and again even though the answer is always the same or really cold.

[theworldsoul]

I feel so disconnected from reality, from truth. I don't even know who I am. Underneath all of the layers and layers of fake skins I've put on to hide myself, who am I really? Underneath all these layers and layers that you have suffocated me in, what is there?

I thought I was the storm, the wonder... but now I don't feel that spark of love anymore. I only feel pain.

I'm a horrible person. I'm ungrateful and honestly? I feel like I'm crazy. A lot of the times I will go off on these tangents and... the looks people give me...

I'm ungrateful. Its like,,, I SHOULD just get over the pain. I'm stupid for thinking that my pain matters. I am not suffering as bad as everyone else. I'm sad, but I dont deserve to say I'm sad, I'm just a dumb kid complaining. It's like my dad says: I should be grateful that I'm being fed and that I have a house.

Even still, my heart is loud. It screams at me even if I stop thinking about my own problems because it cares too much about other people. Tears come to my eyes quickest when the well being of other people in this world is mentioned... because they're SUFFERING and here I sit doing nothing. I hate myself for that. I contribute nothing to the cause. Reading a book of theory takes a long time for me because I get distracted so easily... and other than that I dont do anything to change this world. I hate myself for my inaction.

And overall? I'm a horrible person. I'm ugly as fuck and nobody will ever love me or care about me. I'm useless, I have no talents. I'm alone and I have no friends right now. I'll never be what's expected of me. I'll never be what I aspire to be. It hurts.

Ugly as fuck,,, I am. I am ugly as fuck, and my whole body is gross. Its shaped wrong... I barely look human. I have thick muscular calves and apparently they look like "chicken legs" and the worst part is I KNOW my legs are not supposed to be so big because when I wear pants it's common for them to strain at the calves due to all the muscle on them... its gross. If I knew sports were going to do that to my legs I wouldve opted out. Also all of my fat ends up on my thighs and its ugly... I just want nice thin legs like EVERYONE ELSE. I want to be taller... fuck I'm crying now, I really want to be taller... I look so gross with my stubby little legs full of ugly brown scars... I'm 15... i should be taller... god im so fuck ugly. My face is fat and my nose is the WEIRDEST FUCKING NOSE EVER I HATE IT I HATE IT and my skin is very bad and full of acne and I just wish I looked normal. Once I showed soemone my face for the very first time and they laughed at me... I'll never get over that.

Fuck... fuck. I just want to... let go of all this stress. I hate myself so much. I'm so inferior I cant even be considered human. I'm like, subhuman. Fuck. I wish I could just... have never existed. I wish i just never existed. The world would be better off without some ugly stupid ungreatful annoying cringe 15 year old with the ugliest face ever who cant stop fucking crying and cant perform basic tasks like SHOWERING soemtimes like dude...

I'm so sad. Honestly? I've been drained ever since I stopped having friends. Drained. I wish I had friends. I wish the kids in my class actually talked to me... I really hoped that maybe this year would be better for me. This was going to be the year!! The good year!!! But nope. No friends. No convo with anyone. I'm alone.

But dont I deserve that? The reaosn I cant make friends is because I'm a fucking weirdo. Nobody wants to talk to me. They'd rather talk to the funny kids, the kids who are outgoing, the charismatic kids, the extroverts... the kids who have everything I dont have. And I dont blame them. I'm just naturally inferior at everything, so who would want me?

Most days I cry... for hours at a time... just cry. I wish I could dissapear... the human condition is especially fragile, at least for me it is. I add that because my whole life I was told that my way of experiencing emotion was abnormal and weird and made me a bad person... and that's hard to unlearn. To this day I cant really Express my emotions to anyone irl. I WOULD talk to my friends, they offer, but I feel bad. I feel like im just burdening them with my shitty complicated issues. And really? What I want is something they can never give me. Nobody can ever give me what I want. It's far too late.

I just wanted loving accepting caring parents. But it's too late for that. They're trying now, but they can't go back in time and redo like 13 years. Everything I do now to try and cope with that is a simulation of the true thing... and its WEIRD for me to be doing that since I'm basically an adult, right? Like... they're right. They caused me so much pain but they're RIGHT that I'm stupid and useless and abnormal. An anomaly. Not. Human.

When will I ever become human? Never. I am, in my core, not human. Then what am I? I don't know. I'm an orb of light that burns to touch... housed in a human body. I want to get rid of my body and have a new one. I hate it. I want to get rid of my stress and all the pain and honestly? I think I want to die. I had a chance to do it once, but I declined the offer, and now? I regret that decision. I should've done it right then and there. But now that I didnt do it then, I'll never have another opportunity as perfect as that one e ever again. So I'm stuck here. Living. Breathing. Disgusting. Inside a body that isnt mine, inside a home where I am a scared little rabbit, inside a world where I am a grain of sand, carrying on my back a lovely crucifix.

I am SO close to relapsing right now. I want to... so bad... SO BAD. The desire is near overwhelming. Theres something about all sorts of different pains mixing together that will do that to you.

I will try to ignore it or somehting... I cant afford a relapse right now.

[concussed-to-pieces]

9, 11, 14 Coreigns pretty please!

[Hadto make a pie/do more Thanksgiving prep work, back now to finishthese off!]

Number nine, “Undercover time! Who wears a fakemustache?”

Romanhas been waitingfor this day since he made it through the academy. He shaves,moisturizes and carefully prepares his face for the gloriousopportunity this assignment gifted him. A real, honest-to-goodnessinfiltration mission, complete with disguises!

Baronbusting a gut over his new facial hair isn’t something he’d plannedon and Roman feels a little of his enthusiasm ebb away. Until Baronsmooths a finger over the horseshoe that frames his mouth and grinsat him. “It’s good, but it’s no you, Reigns. The goatee was waybetter.”

“I…th-thanks,Corbin.”

Number eleven, “Which one can get out of literally anyand all restraints?”

Baron Corbin,long of limb and quick of temper, is a self-proclaimed expert in the art of notbeing restrained in the first place. On the odd occasion when he is,however, he’s got a bit of a hang-up about it. Not being able to movethe way he wants to has him flying off the handle in record time.

Hedoesn’t consider it panicking,not really, Baron has never panicked in his life.

Hemay flail. A little. He’s gone dark a few times while he was trappedin this little hole and every time he wakes back up he feels like thewalls have gotten even closer, like his hands have been tied eventighter. Claustrophobia,someone had said once, and he scoffed at them.

Nowthough, he’s having a hard time keeping his breathing in check and hefeels like he’s going to grind his teeth into powder in betweeninsulting the men who bagged him. A body crash-lands beside his ownand the muffled groan sounds familiar. “Reigns?” Baron has toswallow a few times, his throat dry from yelling abuse at hiscaptors.

“Yeah.”Reigns sounds annoyed. “Now get over here so we can get out, beenlooking for you for days.”Baron shifts closer and after a second he feels hands working on theknots around his wrists.

“Areyou doing that shit behindyour back?” Baron finally asks, craning his neck to look over hisshoulder.

“Ain’tno other way to do it, man.”

“That’sit, you’re my permanent partner from now on.”

“Gosh,what an honor.” Baron can hear the smile in Roman’s voice andit’s…nice.

Number fourteen, “Which one survives a killing shot to hear the embarrassingconfession?”

“Endof the line, big guy? I didn’t think you would go this way.”Roman’s doing his best to keep his voice steady, holding tight toBaron’s slack hand. “You…shit Baron, if there was one fuckingthing I could redo in life, I would have…I wish I’d told you…”He trails off and squeezes Baron’s hand again, wiping at his eyes.“Look, it doesn’t matter anymore, okay? It doesn’t matter. The–themedics will be here any second and…and you–”

Romanstops, a sob stealing his words away, and he scoops Baron up bodily,crushing the other man’s face into his chest. He cradles him for whatfeels like an eternity, motionless except for the heave of hisshoulders.

“Shouldhave told you. Such a f-f-fuckin’ bitch about it. Know you would havegiven me shit but you d-deserved to know before something like thishappened.” Roman finally mumbles, He doesn’t really want to openhis eyes again but eventually he does, and he’s met with the sight ofBaron staring back at him with a glazed expression. “How you doing,big guy?” Roman whispers, sure he’s witnessing that last rally he’sheard so much about.

Baronclears his throat. “Thirsty.” He squints up at Roman. “Why’rey’ cryin’?”

“It’s…don’tworry about that now. Am I hurting you?”

“Nah.Had worse than you wrapped around me.” Baron’s head lolls back fora minute. “God,my ears are fuckin’ ringing. Woo, how bad is it?”

“No!No, don’t look. Leave the vest zipped.” Roman insists, catchingBaron’s hand when the other man shakily goes to undo his bulletproofvest. Reigns is pretty sure that’s the only thing keeping himtogether at this point.

“Thatbad? You sure it’s not the ketchup packets I tucked in there beforethe fight?” Corbin tries to joke but neither of them laugh.

“Maybeif you squirreled away a whole bottleof ketchup.” Roman shakes his head.

“Wereyou saying something while I was out? Caught little…bits andpieces.” Baron’s eyes keep closing. “Gotta’ get a thing or twooff your chest, Reigns? Because if…if this is actually where Icheck out man, it’s been a hell of a ride.” Baron squeezes his handand offers him a rare, exhausted smile. “Two days left ‘tilretirement.”

“Ilove you, Baron.” Roman blurts out. “I’m sorry I never told you.I’m sorry I only manned up now when you’re fucking bleedingoutand everything has gone to shit, I just…I didn’t want to ruin ourfriendship, or make you think I’m weird or…I don’t know. It allseems so dumb now.” Roman knocks their foreheads together and goessilent. His face is hot with embarrassment and tears and he feelslike he’s going to be sick to his stomach.

“S'okayman.” Baron’s eyes slowly drift shut as medics and police officerspour into the room. “Love you too, anyhow. You and your dumb smilesand shit…”

[dbtrilogy2]

Old Friends-New Enimes(3)

Chris

Sitting in our booth I was tearing up my ribs. This dry rub and the bbq sauce like some good pussy. Morgan was on my side smacking away on my mashed potatoes she kept sticking her hands in. Across the table my wife had Mylan who like always was sleeping on her chest.

“Daddy some?” Maliki pointed to my food licking his lips.

“Nah nigga eat your own food this mine.” I lick the sauce off my fingers one by one in his face.

“Mean.” He frowned at me. “Mommy.”

Cam looked at me sideways. “Give him some Chris.”

“No it’s mine.”

“Chris your son wants just like piece stop being a greedy ass.” She chuckled shaking her head.

“I’ll stop being greedy when you stop being sexy.” I smirk taking some of my Macaroni and cheese giving Morgan a little taste. She smacked her lips reaching for a noodle.

“I can do that you’d be surprised at my talent.” She smirked back sticking her tongue out at me.

“Daddy…some!” Maliki said getting fussy.

“That’s not how we get things now is it?” He shook his head pouting. Cam kicked me under the table nudging her head to him. “Fine damn! You better stop kicking me woman with my daughter on my lap.”

I pull off a little piece of my ribs for feeding him. He smiled bouncing in his booster seat. “Good.”

“Yeah I know. Little greedy ass.” I chuckled at him smiling at me. Since they as in all the kids gonna be gone tonight I wanna do something with my beautiful wife. “Feel like dressing up tonight?”

“Maybe what would I be dressing up for?”

“Dinner with the best and sexiest husband to ever exist.” I smirk at her pulling on my chin hairs.

“Are you asking me on a date Maurice?” She leans over batting her lashes.

“I am…so what do you say Mrs Washington?”

“I would love to dress up for you…especially if after I can dress down for you.” She brushed her leg up mine.

“Hell you can do whatever you want baby.” We both chuckled but got interrupted  by Maliki.

“Some?” He pointed to my plate again.

“Nah nigga you already had some.”

“Mommy.” He pointed at me frowning.

“Sorry baby I can’t help you this time. You want some of mommy food?” She held up a shrimp to him which he gladly took.

Shaking my head I went on enjoying parts of my meal that Morgan wasn’t putting her hands in while Camila went back and fourth between her and Maliki. I paid for our lunch after some to go dessert. Helping her put the girls in their seats then my son.

“I should be home around maybe six our reservations are at eight.”

“Ok I’ll be ready for you daddy.” Her arms went around my neck as she stood up on her toes kissing me quick.

“Mmhm I hope so….you gonna do that thing with you tongue again?” I smirked pinching her butt.

“Stop that. I’ll see you later. Love you.”

“Love-it’s the girls school.” I pulled out my vibrating and ringing phone. “Yes?”

“Hello Mr.Washingtom sorry to call out of the blue but we had an altercation with your two daughters happen here at school. I have both girls and the other involved here now and hope you are able to come in.” Their principle says all at once.

“Um yeah we’ll be there in a minute thank you for the call.”

“What happen?” Cam looked at me frowning.

“Something happen with the girls we gotta go down to the school.”

“What? Damn it now I gotta whoop somebody ass….come on Mali lets go see your big sisters.”

We both got in my truck heading off to the girls school.

Mona

My leg bounced fast as I breath through my nose. Stanley sat next to me sniffing fumbling with her hands picking at her nail polish.

“Stanley stop picking at your nails.” I sigh putting my head back. “You didn’t do anything.”

“But it’s my fault.”

“Should’ve stayed in your lane nerd.” Clare spoke up from the other side of the principal office. She had cotton up her nose ice pack on her eye and cheek with half her hair pulled from her scalp.

“You honestly have no room to be still talking. How about you focus on how to get that knot off your head damn slug.” I only had a little scratch on my cheek while Stanley had a busted lip.

“Well it is you choosing that crack baby over me your best friend who you’ve know for-”

“Three years you cum bag! She is my sister all loyalty goes to her first.” I roll my eyes redoing my ponytail.

“Please she looks nothing like you or anyone in your family!” She started moving up in her seat. “I look more like you all I could be your sister.”

“Duh bitch she’s adopted she not suppose to look like us you dumb thot!” Stanley held my hand so I couldn’t get up. “I’d never want you as my sister your faker than Kylie Jenner/Stevenson and the rest of those Kartrashians whole being. You really showed your true colors and honestly I’m glad you did.”

“Oh whatever I was a blessing to you.” She flipped what was left of her hair.

“More like a rat in a closet.”

The principle mom dad each holding a twin and “it’s” parents walked in sitting near us. I guess they had sometime to spare. Funny thing is they didn’t even really pay her any mind while mom was right in front of me then Stanley before sitting.

“Mo…..hurt.” Maliki looked at us with a frown.

“Come here critter….I’m ok big sis just had to handle a troll.” I held him in my lap kissing his chubby cheeks.

“If not gonna say it to my face-” It started talking again making me clench my jaw.

“Oh shut the hell up!”

“Enough you two not in front of the parents.” Our principle warned us both.

“Only two of us have parents here.” She mumbled getting a mean grill from me.

“Why can’t you just leave me alone I’ve done nothing to you!? God just stop fucking talking!” Stanley exploded starting to charge at her but dad got to her pulling her next to him.

“You not doing that don’t let her take you anymore out your character.” He kissed her head with mom holding her hand.

“Can’t you two control your children so we can get this over with some of us have work to get back to.” Her mother spoke while typing away on her phone.

“Lady don’t do that. Maybe tell your child to keep her damn mouth closed and we can…try parenting your own child before coming at mine.” Mom rolled her eyes. “So what happen?”

“Well-"the principle started just as it talked right over her.

"Those bitches attacked me!”

“Uh no no sweetie you started with my sister you put your hands on my sister and in returned I whooped that flat ass. Don’t try playing me hoe.”

“Mona I swear if you curse one more time Im'ma slap those glasses off your face.” Mom looked down at me. “Can we please get what happened.”

“Well earlier I got from their teacher it was some arguing but it’s what happen during cheerleader try outs that lead to the fight.”

Earlier*

Smiling I drag Stanley with me into the gym. “Ok so you remember the cheer right?”

“Yes Mona I remember gosh…lets just get this over with so you can make the team?”

“So we can make the team. There’s no way I can make it and you won’t.” I hug her tight jumping on her back.

The whole team came in sitting at the long table sitting a few feet from the bleachers where everyone who was trying out sat.

“Wow so your really going to do this?” Clare came standing in front of us. “Honestly it’ll be funny to watch you crash and burn. At lease I can get my best friend back once we both are on the team.” She smiled at me.

“You know back in class I thought you might be loose in the brain like you were dropped as a child or something….that statement there proved me right. Like you really believe she would want to be anything with you again after what you said.” Stanley chuckled shaking her head sitting back.

“It’s all your fault anyway…why can’t you just go be the nerd you are and leave us alone. You don’t fit in with us just go read a book or something.”

“Imma ask you nicely to walk away right now because my hands are just itching to punch your lights out.” I chuckled just as the team got our attention.

“Hi hi everyone thank you so much for coming out to join the team. We are only looking for about four new members today so just do your best. First up-” she called some random name. Three people later we were called. “Stanley and Mona Washington! Come on up guys” the preppy captain waved us up as everyone cheered.

“So uh we have our own cheer to show you guys.” I said getting my hair straight. “If we make team you can use it if not pretend it never happened.”

Getting in our positions with wide smiles.

“Ready…ok! Hey Cobras hey heyyy go Cobras…hit em high hit em low hit em on my uh oh…ssssss…our grades high our team so tight we scorin points from left to right…left right left right sssss…who rock the court Cobras rock the court and when we rock these teams we knock em wayyyyyyy down.”

Everyone stood cheering for us both. I jumped on Stanley as she blushed from all this praising. “I told you we had this!”

“Love love love it we definitely have our next two and their freashmens! Welcome to the team guys!”

“Oh please get ready for a real show.”

Stanley

Biting my tongue I stepped aside after she bumped me. She smiled wide clapping as she did a famous school cheer.

It’s really sad how you spend so much time with someone have them in your house wearing your clothes even take them to special events only to find out their evil. Clare was Mona first friend outside of me. I just feel really bad knowing its my presences that triggered this 360 in her attitude all because I wanted to join the cheer team. It was originally planned for her and Mona to join but she wanted me with her. Mona is the best sister I could wish for. Always looking out for me putting me before others I guess that’s why Clare is so jealous…she wants to be me.

“You know we got it if you want it come and get it-you know we got it if you want it come and get, come get you some, you don’t want this cobra bite no you don’t but if think you got that bite come get you some!”

*

*

“Wow…she’s good.” I nod looking over at Mona who just shrugged.

“Bitch nearly broke her neck…she ain’t that good.” We chuckled low.

“You know it’s real rude to be talking about people behind their backs.” She turned to us walking up.

“Yeah but we’re on the side of you so piss off.” Mona waved her off.

“I can’t believe you let this seed of a drugged up whore into your life she’s clearly changing you for the worst.” She looked at me with disgust.

“We get it your jealous and that’s cool but I’m not gonna stand here and keep letting talk about me or my mother  in my face. You a real slummy bum bitch pretending to be my sister friend when in reality you hating on me it’s snakes like you that make people wanna kill themselves.” I spoke feeling my hands starting to shake my heart rate picking up.

“Woah lets just calm down and keep a positive vibe here.” The captain said in her bubbly tone. “So we have our four. Clearly the two freshmen, Ana and lastly Bonnie congrats to you all! You can pick your uniforms next week.”

Mona hugged me squealing. “I told you we could do it! We’re cheerleaders!”

“Are you stupid!? That nerd can’t make this team it’s not her thing!” Clare yelled flaring her nose.

“Well we welcome all to show their school spirit. Practice will be next week so don’t be late. Go Cobras!”

We were about to walk out.

“You ruin everything!”

Now*

“And that’s when she punched me and Mona jumped in.” I finished putting my head down. “I tried breaking them up but it wasn’t much help until some of the other girls came.”

“Honestly it sounds to me no one was really at fault here kids will be kids and do crazy things.” Clare father spoke up.

“Uh to hell with that fighting is against school rules so all involved should get some kind of discipline.” Dad said. “Detention after school today sounds about right to me.”

Mona and Clare might be against this but I’m for it. No one learns from mistakes if they don’t get some kind of discipline to straighten them out. I know neither of us started this but we were still involved.

“Uh I think not I have important things to do and can not waste time waiting for my daughter to finish sitting in a room with other rotten children.” It’s mother said standing.

“Lady you got one more time and imma make you look like ya daughter.”

“Please sit down. Let’s just agree on the detention and go on with our day.” The principle said as mom is taking maliki from Mona standing to leave.

“We’ll talk about this later girls. Mona try to keep your cool later please.”

“Ok I’ll try.” She shrugged.

“Sounds fair to me thank you for being here today. Girls get to your classes and after report to the library for detention.”

[takerfoxx]

“Fires of the Sun, Part 5″ Thoughts

It's a little hard to look back at these chapters months later and try to remember exactly when and why I made some of the decisions I made. However, for Utsuho, I'm pretty sure she got a major promotion from satellite character who'd show up maybe once an arc and be all nice and endearingly dumb to sort of the secondary hero of Fires of the Sun mainly because I loved her speech to Rin so much. Hell, depending on where you stand on Rin as an anti-hero, Utsuho really is the most classically heroic. Characters really can surprise you sometimes, and in this case she fully won me over just by being a genuinely good person who reached out to Rin when she had no good reason to. It sort of makes me want to have more interactions with those two in the future, though at this point I really have no idea how.

Another reason for her upgrade was me scrapping another, darker storyline. The original plan following The Storm was to have Yuuka release Satori from her crystal and then go on methodically torture her by forcing horrific images into her head over a course of several weeks, mostly for shits and giggles. I ended up not having room for that during this arc, and was going to just push it up to the next one, with Yuuka having managed to hang onto Satori's crystal after Elly rescued her, but in the end I just got rid of it entirely. I dunno, I know it's a dark fic and all that, but seriously, at what point do things just get cruel for the sake of it? I couldn't think of any of any real outcome for that sideplot other than to show how much of a monster Yuuka was, and we'd already had plenty of that. And with FotS ending on a bittersweet note, I wanted one unambiguously happy ending. So despite being betrayed and abandoned by Sakuya, she stepped up, took charge, fought her way through Yuuka's remaining plants (while dropping shoutouts to Wargames and The Last Starfighter along the way. Yay classic sci-fi!), stood her ground, and saved the day for her team, none of which lost any members and all of which came to finally respect her. So, yay Utsuho!

Rin's ongoing fight with Yuuka started with a scene that I almost scrapped as well but was able to use after all: albeit under somewhat different circumstances. Like I mentioned a few days ago, I had this one scene planned where Yuuka's just beating Rin to a pulp, Rin starts to feel that since she can't adapt she can't keep taking those blows, only for her to realize that she had at least built up an incredible tolerance for pain and managed to finally get up, stop Yuuka cold, and then pretty much start slamming her back and forth into the walls and floor like a Looney Tunes cartoon. Then I think the mob was supposed to break through the ground and send everything into chaos or something. Well, the whole fighting through the pain thing ended up happening way earlier when Yuuka was zapping her with the ring, and the mob thing ended up ending in a completely different manner due to reasons that I no longer remember (I think I wanted to avoid further distractions and just keep the final sequence between Rin, Yuuka, and Flandre). And as a result, I almost dropped Rin playing Whack-a-mole with Yuuka's body as well. But it snuck in, and Rin got to drive her through a bunch of pillars to boot. So, yay violence!

I got more of a kick out of Sir Fly than I expected. The dude is just so gentlemanly! And I got to wrap up the whole bug thing in a satisfactory manner. So yeah, always happy to see investments pay off. Though come to think of it, I could have given them a better exit. I just checked the next chapter, and there's like one sentence making mention of them leaving and that's it. Oh well.

Though by the by, Yuuka's screechy flower minions (which were a callback to the flowers that taunted Team Nineball when they first arrived in Yuuka's mansion, waaaaaaaay back in God I don't even remember) are totally patterned after Mad Dummy from Undertale. Hey, I didn't get to include Undyne, so I had to make it up to myself somehow. Besides, Undertale was all the rage back then.

And yes, it made me giggle to smash Rin through the fountain and have it pour water on her butt. Because I'm an adult.

One recurring problem I did have through this whole thing was the fact that Flandre was sort of kept in the dark about Patchouli's death. Hell, I didn't get to fit in her finding out about the SDM gang even being there until the previous chapter, and that took some forcing (at least I got a Rin/Flandre hug out of it). Granted, Rin had a lot on her plate at the time and just didn't have time to break the news to her. Or rather, I didn't have the room for a fully emotional breakdown on Flandre's part. I made the time for her to react to Sakuya's supposed "death" here because, well, things were wrapping up and it needed to be dealt with. I eventually decided to tie that final bombshell with Sakuya's later attempt on Rumia's life, even though I knew Flandre's reaction would make the scene messy, but more on that later.

Rin's reaction to getting stabbed with the mordite knife took some work. RoSD already established that Hourai Immortal's freedom from death was absolute, so of course nobody was going to die, but I wanted to drive home just how incredibly potent even that small speck imbued into steel was. The little trip back into RoSD did that nicely, with the little monologue on pain and showing that not even Kaguya and Mokou could withstand the agony, even as deep down as they were. I think I wanted to also show Nue and Mamizou being affected as well, but cut that for being sort of redundant. Or something. However, looking back on these chapters, I did make sometime of a mistake. I wanted to have one last Kaguya and Mokou at the end, showing them waking up just fine on the beach, bitching at each other over what had happened, and Kaguya storming away in an angry huff. But…I seem to have forgot. So…whoops.

Anyway, I had to keep redoing Rin's own internal monologue so it wasn't a rehash of Kaguya's. In hindsight it was a little long, especially since Kaguya already covered the essentials. But that's all right, because right after that I got to do one of my favorite things: go into my Chekov's armory, grab some long-forgotten plot device, and bring it back in horrifying fashion! Here, it's Yuuka's ability to read souls through staring into people's eyes. Why she doesn't use it more often, I don't know, nor am I motivated enough to bullshit a reason. Regardless, the last (and only) time she used it was to fact check Rin's history and subject her to a bunch of painful flashbacks. Here it was a little more abstract. Instead of memories, she went for baggage. She essentially fused Rin and Flandre's minds together and put them through a series of…I dunno, hallucinations? Nightmares? Well, representations of what burdened them the most. The first, in which they're strapped down and unable to stop Eirin from experimenting on Rumia showed how helpless they often felt, despite their immense power. The second, in which they stood trial, was more on the guilt they carried for the many and many innocent people they had accidentally hurt or even killed, and their fear that everyone would eventually turn on them because of it. And the last was their fear of being alone, of being locked up and abandoned in the dark like they had been for so long, and how much they preferred death to such a fate. Damn, I am so glad I ended up pairing them off, because they really do have a LOT in common. Though on a side-note, I did have a scene in mind in which a gate to Hell would open up in the darkness and suck up that crystal coffin, leading to it to fall into a giant eye made of fire, which would then transition into the giant Yuuka that taunted them. Why didn't I go through with it? Because I was really tired and creatively spent and just wanted to get this chapter up already. Looking back, I now wish I had just gone through with it and made it work, because it would have been a cool way to bridge things.

Flandre's childish crush on Marisa harkens back to the single scene they shared, in which an over-enthusiastic Flandre almost glomps Marisa to death. At the time it was just a funny bit, but once again it ended up paying off as a long-term investment where I got to show why Flandre likes Marisa so much. It's because Marisa was nice to her, when no one else was. She showed her a small, kind gesture that the witch probably forgot about a moment later but ended up meaning the world to Flandre. And it gave her the will to push back against Yuuka, and force her into a tour of her own greatest failures: the moment she was initially ejected from Yidhra (which was a total BITCH to write), completely with Nyarly making a little cameo, followed by Yuuka's first failed attempt to fit in with humans, and then showed that initial fourth wall break from her POV and capping things off with the moment in which Marisa fully broke her spirit by simply refusing to give her the satisfaction. And on a meta sense, we then get to see the moment she's finally kicked off the center stage, with Rin and Flandre literally dragging her out of the spotlight. A quick montage of everyone else wiping out the rest of the Mykr's Sirens follows (and I never want to see those again, let me tell you), and Rin finally gets to deliver (for her at least) the final blow. By saying "kyuu."

Hey, it's a Touhou fic. You have to make some allowances.

[softboiii]

A letter to a girl who wont stop smiling.

Dear Girl,

When did I first meet you, I really don’t know. All I know is your always smiling. Its really distracting, in a good way. 

The day I consider the first day i met you i didn’t even know your name. It was a hot sunny day and I was cursing my friend for dragging me along to the market. We were just loitering wasting time walking around and eventually out of the market. Thats when I first took notice of you, walking beside your mother. You looked familiar, that smile is not one you would let pass on crowded market or a rambunctious student lounge. Right away you were beaming at us. As you spoke I took in every word waiting and hoping for a chance to interject and join in on the banter. If I said too much i would seem too eager, too little and i would look reserved. So i waited and gave my two cents as i saw appropriate. 

Soon your mother was looking for you and you had to go. to my luck we followed you around the market cracking jokes and continuing the witty banter. we got around to the dogs, dogs! the thought jumped at me. i have a dog, does she like dogs. so i asked praying that you say yes “do you like dogs” and i watched your lips part and say “yes”. Fucking perfect Im in! i reach for my phone to show you leo and describing him along the way. little did naive me know what you would say. To be completely honest i didn’t hear much but i heard enough, “my boyfriend has”. you have a boyfriend, why? well why not, the world would not be in its right mind to just let you be by yourself. 

The evening was going so well but its ok I’m not too invested in you. although i must say it is a shame. you point me in the direction of food you were talking about and then your mother shows up. its time for you to leave. quick awkward introductions are exchanged and we go our separate ways. i check out the food you mentioned, its not worth the second thought anyway, you’re taken, why feign the interest. you don’t cross my mind at all until the next time i bump into you. 

again there you are sitting in front of me, smiling away, even i cant help not smile. cards are being dealt and i’m just staring. if you look at me I’m caught so please don’t, you don’t. soon i have to go on the inside i am reluctant but hey, act cool. don’t let the blue bird sing.

third times the charm, we talk a lot this time we talk about your assignment, you ask me a question. i know nothing so when you’re not looking i try to sneakily try to google it so you don’t think I’m stupid. but i am caught, you’re staring at me laughing as i look up from the phone. “you looked it up?” quick don’t sound stupid she’s really cute. “how else would you learn new things” i shoot back, nice one dude way to sound like a fucking retard. you ask to use my laptop and you take it and start discussing the topic with a class mate. i am no longer of any use any way. like a lost puppy i move around and finally sit down close to you so if you were ever to look up just like a puppy i would pander to your beck and call.

the memory of you having a boyfriend is lost in a stack of metaphorical papers on a messy desk that only exists in my mind.

eventually you are done and i am given a chance to grab your attention. the girls around me want to play cards, perfect, you like playing cards. you suggest playing president. its a rather simple game you come first you’re president. you come second you’re vice president. any where in the middle you’re a commoner. finish last and you’re the bitch, have the dumb luck of fishing just before last? you are vice bitch.

i had no intention of making you my bitch, you’re far to smart and pretty for that. i do see some potential a first lady but its way too soon to tell. right now you are just an infatuation a boy has with a girl wont stop fucking smiling.

please stop smiling…. please.

you move the couch creating a circle, I bring the stool and we are ready to play. but first where do i sit… next to you of course. we sit so close our legs are touching, just like pudge i count the layers clothing between us, four. the game progress i use the excuse of teamwork to get closer to you. we talk, we joke, and we playfully prod and nudge each other. 

we play for what feels like an eternity, we have been sitting together for so long my leg is sweaty i can only imagine yours is too. maybe not, maybe its just me the oxytocin seeping in to my blood stream is just increasing my temperature. there is a break in play and we are just waiting. you nudge my shoulder as if you are fluffing a pillow and rest your head.

 “wow your warm and soft”. 

why would you utter such words, do you know what it did to me? you don’t, because why would it carry any meaning to you. each syllable played at my heart strings.  

i wanted to wait like that for longer but my dumbass had to say some thing didn’t i. “do i look like a pillow to you” you move the moment i had is lost.

i go home. 

i spend the next day anxious of the night to come we are going out to drink. theres you, me, and every one else. do they have to come well if they don’t would you? ill take what i can get.

the night comes we all meet. we all drink and we laugh. you and I, we dance. i feel my self slowly get lost in the moment. we spoke about a lot of things, some heavy subjects. you saved the heaviest for last, your boyfriend. the words cut through me like bullet through water. we dance some more, well i got lost in your hands while you moved to the sound.

its dark we are in the tuk, why did i do that? thats not what i meant to do. why did i do that? whats wrong with me? why does he get down? now its only the two of us. the words we spoke are foggy but i have some recollection. you told me about your troubles with him. what comes next i remember all too clearly. we stop a little ways before our destination and walk. as i walk i tell you, i pour everything out like a bottle thats fallen over.

“i like you, i really do like you alot”- i’m sorry 

“i have never felt this way about a girl since my ex” - i’m sorry

“but you have a boyfriend ” - i’m sorry

“if you could give me the chance i would make you the happiest girl” -i’m so sorry

all you can say is “aww you are so sweet”

dont say that.

stop smiling, you really need to work on that.

we agree to be friends, albeit a hollow promise on both ends. i feel guilty for what i did. i asked to hold your hand, i feel guilty because you held mine. for me i was holding the hand of the girl who had my heart. you held the drunken hand of child, yet you held it and i cherished it. thank you but i am so sorry.

the night ends like that.

i’m so sorry, i wish i could take everything back. i’m sorry, i’m sorry, i’m sorry times a million.

the next morning you have sent me a snap, it jogs my memory and i apologize. i crossed a line i never should have. i feel the weight of my actions rest upon my shoulders as the day goes on. i feel worse, what have i done why did i do that, what is wrong with me. 

i’m sorry.

i’m sorry.

i’m sorry.

its now been two days and my penance has not been payed, i continued to dwell on this. it eats at me, destroying me. please i beg,”please let me erase what i have done”. i can’t thats not how life works, its never that easy.

that night i don’t sleep, i don’t sleep one bit. 

i go to school early the next day and i am hit with karma. on the way you send me a snap that you are there early as well. of all days today you come early. i ignore you except for a reply saying hi. you never look at it and i hope you never do. maybe i should send you a text, formerly say sorry and explain myself but as i go to text you i see it. its you and him happy as a kite. it hurts so fucking bad so bad. that drives the message to me clearly i have no place in your life.

again, i’m sorry.

i’m really really sorry.

its not fair to ask me you to stop smiling.

i like you, it hurts, its not your fault but my factions have put that on your shoulders. 

now every time is see you my heart quakes, my knees go weak. i lose all rationality in my mind and just want to run. i haven’t felt this in such a long time that it feels alien, i get sacred. i’m so scared to face you, i am afraid you will smile at me but i’m more afraid that you will never look at me ever again. why should you, you don’t need to. you have all you need in front of you, you love him. for me to go against that is like to go against the Persian army, but in the stead of three hundred men there is just one, one fool.

when the fight or flight response kicks in all i can do is take flight. with my tail between my legs i will run. You make my heart do things, that my uncle, a cardiologist, cannot begin to explain. i am a coward, that has no strength to face you. i don’t want to hurt you anymore than i already have. i can only imagine the burden i placed on you with such a selfish self centered act. i hope that one day you can look back and forgive a fool like me. 

i can hope that i lessen the predicament i placed you in by saying that it was never you. you never did anything wrong, if you could go back don’t change a thing about you or what you did. it was all my fault, i’m supposed to be an adult who should be in control of my self.

i wish i could redo this,

my sincerest apologies,

the boy that fell for your smile.  

[seeking-something]

I'm bored and answering all of these to spill my guts to an empty wall

1.)Have you ever considered dating yourself? no lol I’m a piece of trash

2.)Which would you choose? Being with your soulmate for 1 year and then they die, or choosing to not meet them at all. Meet them. I am selfish and self deprecation is fun so yeah.

3.)If a prisoner (in jail) wrote a letter to you, Would you write back? Absolutely. I’m weird as hell like that

4.)If you could have a twin, Would you? I’d love to. I always wanted a sibling growing up.

5.)If you had to give up Your arms or your legs -which would it be? My legs. I cant go without being able to feel touch with your fingers

6.)If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future or anything else, what would you want to know? I’d want to know the fate of some people I love and I’d like to see if I will ever be really happy.

7.)If you had to pick 1 or 2 qualities that you have had since you were a child -what would they be. I don’t mind the qualities I have if just like to feel some of them less intensely

8.)If you could see your death Would you want to see it? No. I don’t really care about death. What you do in life is more important

9.)If you could lose all your memories and start fresh, would you choose to do it? Say the age you start fresh would be at 15 years old.What about at 20? Well I am 21 so. Restating at 15 would be kind of nice but I think everything happens for a reason

10.)Would you rather have an unrequited love for 5 years or feel no love for 5 years? Unrequited love has a harsher loneliness than not feeling love. So I’d go with no love

11.)Would you ever give 5 years of your life To extend the life of a grandparent? Yes as long as they have a good quality of life

12.)Would you rather have a father that is in jail or not know who your father is? Not know who my father is

13.)How many more Failures can you take? Zero. I often even overreact and think something is a failure even if it isn’t. I fear the idea of failure

14.)If you could pick a country that most represents you, which would it be? I’m too inebriated to think of an answer

15.)If you could be on a dating reality TV show -would you? No I already fear what people think of me. I couldn’t handle all those people watching my life

16.)Would you choose to look in mirrors all day, or never look in a mirror again? Never again

17.)What is the first thing you look at when you look at yourself in the mirror? My hair

18.)If you could never again think one thing what would it be? To forget some past trauma

19.)If you had to be sick for the rest of your life would you choose something that kills you quickly & painfully, or bearably but slowly Quickly. I’m a baby with pain and extended pain affects you different from excessive pain

20.)If you could redo your first kiss would you: a) choose to do it and b) -change the person -change your age -change the location -change your/their skill level I would redo it and change the location. I liked the person and didn’t care our skills or age. It’s a first kiss it’s supposed to be awkward.

21.)Do you think more people like(d) you now or when you were younger? More people liked me when I was younger but that’s not who I am. Quality over quantity.

22.)If you could change your name what would you change it to? Lola

23.)Have you ever been attracted to a friend’s parents? More than once lol

24.)What would you do if your life was stuck on replay, and you continuously relived one day? Probably end up killing my self. That’d be terrible after a long time. But at first it would be nice. Would give me a chance to observe people and learn all of their little nuances

25.)What is something you’ve always wanted to do but never done because it doesn’t “fit” with what people expect/are used to from you? (now consider doing it!) I want to get a tattoo and dye my hair. But in my head only pretty people do that and I’m not pretty

26.)If anything could happen to/through your tumblr site what is the one thing you wish would? My blog is a stream of consciousness through different mediums. Maybe someone will realize that they feel the same and aren’t alone.

27.)How many times have you wanted to ask someone out but haven’t done it because you *weren’t sure if your feelings were strong enough*? Constantly. Not even just ask out but even make a move I’m always too scared. There’s so many people I want to just take by their dumb faces and kiss them but fear paralyzes me

28.)If you are sick and will die in 1 yr, And you found your soulmate (and they know they are as well). Would you: A)even tell them you are sick, and
B) be with them for the year, or break up with them I would tell them but stay with them. Telling them will help the grief begin and spending it at least they know. If I don’t tell them they will still grieve anyways. Or grieve a break up.

29.)What characteristic makes you attractive to the opposite sex/potential partners? (Do one physical and one personality) I don’t have set physical attractions. I appreciate a lot of men and women. I think all women are gorgeous. I love heir hair and their eyes. Their hands their necks. So many things about women drive me bonkers. I like people who are funny. Who are introspective. Who are passionate about something. There is so much to people

30.)If you had to choose between getting married to your soulmate and continuing a super successful career -which would you choose? Getting married is a formality. If I could be with my soulmate and not Mary them but have the career that’d be great.

31.)Would you rather settle or be alone? Settle. I can’t be alone

32.)Have you ever questioned Your sexual orientation? Yep. How I realized I wasn’t straight

33.)How close and warm is your family? Do you feel your childhood was happier than most other people’s? Lol. My family is as warm as an icicle. I had a happy childhood because I wear ignorant of so many things that now fuck me up.

34.)What roles do love and affection play in your life? Honestly is the reason behind everything I do. I’m an extremely loving person

35.)Would you like to be famous? For what? No I don’t like eyes on me

36.)Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say? Why? Yes because ANXIETY is fun

37.)If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want? I’d want the body of a 30 year old. I work in a nursing home and I have seen people who lost their bodies and retained their mind or lost their mind but retain their bodies. and trust me, you don’t want to be aware of the affect of aging. I’d rather lose my mind

38.)Name three things you and your partner appear to have in common. Our morals, our humor, and our perspective on life

39.)Would you (do you) ever save 50% of your income? I would if I could and still afford life.

40.)What do you think you haven’t found in a potential partner yet? Why? I have but I’m a very polyamorous kind of person.

41.)When something bad happens how do you deal with it? Talk to someone✔️ Think about it alone (ruminate)✔️ Ignore/suppress and distract yourself✔️ Try to fix it immediately

42.)Would you say yes to being in the body of the opposite gender for 1 year? Sure. I like seeing things from different points of view

43.)Have you ever considered “trying out” an eating disorder? Unfortunately yes.

44.)Ask a significant person in the group you are playing this game with, whether they have ever considering breaking up with you (friendship-wise or romantically), when, and why did they not. So I’m not playing this as a game but I will say if I’ve considered it with someone who is in the room with me right now. I’ve considered breaking up with someone in this room because I feel like they deserve better. They deserve someone who can be Happy with them and someone who is better for them in so many ways.

45.)What’s the biggest sacrifice You’ve made for the person on your left (or in the room), that they haven’t acknowledged? Just in the room. I’ve put myself aside a lot for this person because I care about them so much. How I don’t want to add pain or burden to them so I hold things in.

46.)Ask your father “How am I most like you, and how does that scare you?” I can’t ask him this.

47.)Are you scared someone in the room will hurt you? Who, and in what way? I’m scared every person in the room will hurt me. They would by leaving me. Especially without a reason.

48.)If you needed to decide between two people you know, which will die -would you want to decide, or let a stranger decide? I would want to decide.

49.)What was your family’s attitude towards affection? How has that impacted you? My parents don’t show affection and this has hurt me a lot now in my adult life.

50.)Do you wish facebook didn’t exist? Yes. I wish people didn’t know so much of my life.

51.)Think of the question you would most like answered, by a person or an all-knowing being or device. Which of the following most closely resembles the answer you’d like to hear? Without a shadow of a doubt Never You are No i didn’t I will show you everything I do Come with me Only one Yes-✔️ this is the answer I’d want to hear Always You will In the distant future

52.)What do you like most about having a child of your own? You MUST say something I don’t have one. It I’d want a child of my own simply because it’s a feeling and connection that you can’t see get any other way

53.)Is there a profession You’ve always wanted to date? (Doctor. Firefighter, military, vet etc) Military

54.)Among your group of friends are you one who will generally take care of and help everyone (even if you hate it)? Or are you the one who rationally thinks about it and determines whether the person actually needs help? I’m the one who will help and take care of anyone and everyone.

55.)Would you rather live in a world where you are never alone or where you are always alone The thought of either of these fuck me up so much. I don’t think I could ever decided.

56.)If your life could be a soundtrack Which movie/tv show’s would you choose? Greys anatomy. Because damn that sound tracking.

57.)If you could live a movie which would you choose? I am too inebriated for this question again

58.)Has this election Made you be more interested or less interested in politics? Think carefully. I don’t think this section has done it but I am more interested this time around because I’m now older and these things pertain to me and my life

59.)When was the last time you cried? Why? I cried last night because I have a lot of feelings lately and I wasn’t sober and I just cried.

60.)Would you rather feel too much or feel nothing at all? I’d rather feel everything. That’s what I already do

61.)Do you feel you are more attached to your friends, than they are to you? Absolutely 100%

62.)Which of the seven deadly sins Do you deal with the most? Sloth. Lol

63.)What would the title of your autobiography be? She did the thing

64.)Do you have songs that you avoid because they make you feel too much? Give one example, and one feeling associated with it. Yes. But I’d rather not name them.

65.)If you could be an Expert in any field, which would you choose? In being a surgeon

66.)Describe your ex Using one emoji 📉

67.)What aspect do you struggle With the most, when making a new friend? (Ex: Vulnerability, time/history together, learning about them, integrating into your life etc). Vulnerability absolutely. Gettin myself to Open up to them is a bitch

68.)Do you have a hard time Integrating your friends into different aspects of your life? ( Ex work friends with family, family friends with school friends). Usually no because I make friends with the same kinda people so they all get along.

69.)Big spoon or little spoon? Why? Lol this question is 69. Anyways. I like both but big spoon is nice

70.)In what situation do you Feel the loneliest? Usually in a room full of people that aren’t interacting with me.

71.)What is something you Believe your parents dislike about you? That I’m gay

72.)Do you feel That the way you look right now represents who you are/how you feel? Not at all. I hate my appearance

73.)Choose between being able To make people very happy vs. Never hurting them. Which would you choose? Never hurting them

74.)What made you start Your Tumblr blog? I was depressed and wanted to vent.

75.)Have you ever wished For a disorder or disability? (Or considered it) Never

76.)Choose. Between perpetrator and victim. Victim. I’d rather take the pain over someone else

77.)Do you feel Like you’ve reached your peak? I think I did in high school

78.)How much of your time Do you spend thinking about romance? A lot. I think it’s great.

79.)Have people pointed out Your biggest insecurity, or have you never talked about it with anyone (positively or negatively)? People have and I hate it when it happens and also I never like to talk about it.

i. Did you generate your insecurity, or was it something you developed over time based off of other people’s comments Mainly due to my mothers comments

If you were in a group of best friends; Are you the: A) ring leader B) the groupie C) the lone wolf D) the drifter

I used to be the ring leader now I’m the lone wolf.

[junker-town]

The teams that wish they could have done things differently at the MLB trade deadline

Or, rather, the teams that I would mess with if I were in charge. Which I’m not. And you’re grateful for that.

The trade deadline was just 11 days ago. It feels like 40 months ago. The rumors were everywhere, hanging over the heads of losing teams, giving life to winning teams. Anything was possible. Justin Verlander on the Twins? Sonny Gray on the Rockies? The Mariners acquiring every single Tyler in baseball after Jerry Dipoto had a waking vision of a flaming trade eagle? Which he has every other week? It was all possible.

Now we’re in the middle of August, and the teams are mostly set. Sure, Verlander still might get sent to the Astros. Other players will be traded. But for the most part, the teams that made moves have to live with those moves, for better or for worse.

These are the teams that would do things differently if the deadline were just 11 days later. Maybe. I don’t know. Probably not. Teams are stubborn.

There’s are the teams for which I would do things differently, at least. These organizations made their decisions, and I’m here to retroactively change them.

Cardinals - All-in

The state of the Cardinals is something like this: They have a rotation that’s so full, they can’t work in their best young prospect, who’s probably ready. Their current no. 3 hitter is a rookie shortstop who was injected with Temporary Serum of Stan Musial’s Pancreas, which they’ve fully synthesized at this point, but there’s no way to tell how long it will last. It was a season for Randal Grichuk and two for Allen Craig, but the serum is still pumping through the veins of Jedd Gyorko and Matt Carpenter. Total crapshoot.

And the Cardinals are winning. Like, a bunch. I was so very excited to crow about my preseason pick of the Brewers finishing ahead of them, but, as always, the baseball seasons are too long. The Cardinals are battling for first place in the NL Central, which is one step closer to meeting the Dodgers in the NLCS, which is their destiny, even if it looked unlikely a month ago.

At the deadline, there were talks that the Cardinals were interested in trading Lance Lynn, possibly to replenish the farm, possibly in a three-way deal to bring back an outfielder. Now that I’m in charge, I dial it back all the way before the deadline and get them J.D. Martinez, who was kind of the perfect fit and didn’t take a bevy of prospects to acquire for the Diamondbacks. I understand why the Cardinals weren’t interested in a rental back when they were spinning their wheels in the mud.

They’re probably cool now, though. And they would love to have Martinez.

Astros -- More, dammit

This is an obvious one, and I’ve written about it before, so I won’t belabor the point. But ...

Astros first 85 games: 58-27, 3.91 ERA, third-best in AL. Astros last 29 games: 13-16, 5.20 ERA, 27th-best in MLB.

— Richard Justice (@richardjustice) August 11, 2017

Yeah, that. Add in the surly Dallas Keuchel comments, and you have a team that’s lost a little puff of steam. Their main addition — Francisco Liriano as some sort of super reliever — has been a small-sample flop because he has trouble throwing strikes and hasn’t been used in short relief for years.

I’m torn, though. Do they give up prospects for Yu Darvish? Or do they beat the Yankees’ offer for Sonny Gray? Both seem daunting, but I’ll go with the Gray option because he would bring the Astros’ guaranteed payroll commitments up to, oh, $60 million next year and $30 million in 2019. That would give them the freedom to buy whatever complementary players their hearts desire to supplement their absurdly young core.

And they would have Gray for next year. It made far too much sense to work. But when Derek Fisher is in the middle of baseball’s first 60/60 season, maybe they’ll look back at this moment and laugh.

Royals — Sell, sell, sell

Oh, I know better than to doubt the Royals. They shouldn’t be here in the first place. For the first 45 days of the season, when I was writing article after article about how the Giants were on fire and running straight for the oxygen tent, I was mad at the Royals because they were so bad offensively that it forced me to write things like, “The Giants are the worst offensive team in the National League” or “the Giants are the 29th worst offense in baseball.” Ruined the impact.

Then the Royals started winning and winning, and while they didn’t exactly go on the same streak as the Dodgers, they were 44-27 after a 10-20 start. They were in position for a wild card slot, and that’s if they weren’t pushing the Indians for the Central.

Since then, they’ve gone 3-10, including getting swept in a four-game home-away stretch against the Cardinals, which put both teams here. They have six more games on the road trip (against the two worst teams in the AL), and then they’ll start a 15-game stretch against contending teams. If they can’t make up ground against the White Sox and A’s, they’ll be in a dilly of a pickle.

If I have control of the Delorean and I’m redoing their trade deadline, I’m selling. There would be no way to sell it back then. It would have been worse than the White Flag trade of the 1997 White Sox, a punch in the throat of fans who deserve better. That’s why I’m taking all of you with me. To explain.

The Royals have been outscored on the season, and their expected record is more like 54-60. The players they traded for — Brandon Mauer, Trevor Cahill, and Ryan Buchter — have all been terrible. The most important part of this endeavor, though, is that the Royals are going to be decimated by free agency. Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Lorenzo Cain, and Jason Vargas are either going to be so expensive that they’ll prevent the Royals from signing some of the other guys, or they’re going away.

In this new reality, the Royals can swoop in with Mike Minor to appease the teams disappointed that Brad Hand and Zach Britton didn’t go anywhere. They could have dealt Vargas when his value was as high as it has ever been. Heck, they could have kept Hosmer, Cain, and/or Moustakas to keep the exclusive negotiating window and the potential that one of them might accept a qualifying offer in a weird market.

They would have had prospects, they would have been facing the same confusing offseason, and they still would have lost just as many games. There was no way to justify it back then, but we’re here, and even with the Royals just a game behind the Mariners for the second wild card, I would be ready to pull the emergency chute.

Now let’s all kick back and wait for the Royals to win 10 straight, just to make the pundit look stupid. They’re good at that.

Mariners - Trade James Paxton for all the prospects before he breaks, then crawl into a little hole and hide there forever, because baseball is not your friend, baseball will never be your friend, baseball is trying to tell you something, Mariners, you’re not wanted here

Wait, that’s not nice. Dial it back a bit.

Mariners - Get at least one more pitcher

There we go. And this seems unfair because I loved their creative approach to filling out a rotation on a budget. Marco Gonzalez and Erasmo Ramirez were both fine additions for a team that didn’t have a ton of prospect capital to spend, and I applaud them for this.

That written, James Paxton might miss time with a left pectoral strain. That’s not an elbow or a shoulder, so maybe I’m making too much about this, but I’ve got the heebie-jeebies about this. Felix Hernandez has shoulder bursitis. Hisashi Iwakuma has issues with his shoulder, too. One of the pitchers they got at the deadline, David Phelps, has an elbow impingement, which always sounds like the most painful injury in baseball. Nothing is going right for the Mariners, who are resigned to the fact that baseball is their personal kite-eating tree.

Yovani Gallardo is back in the rotation, for example. After all those deals, all that planning, they’re back to where they started.

My suggestion is this: One more pitcher. It doesn’t have to be as creative as Gonzales or Ramirez. Something obvious, like Yu Darvish or Sonny Gray. Maybe if we go back and tell the Cardinals that they lose 14 in a row, they trade Lance Lynn after all. The Mariners looked like a team that would do well making some creative additions. It turns out that the dumbest, most heavy-handed prospect-for-known-quantity deals were what they needed the whole time.

If Paxton just needs a little rest, forget that I wrote this. But if he has to miss even two starts, I’m a little fidgety thinking about how the Mariners are going to maintain their contending status for the rest of the year. Paxton getting hurt right after Hernandez is absolutely brutal.

Although, I must say, isn’t it their time to have a streak of dumb luck? Shouldn’t this be when Gallardo throws six straight quality starts? We’ve seen the White Sox, Red Sox, Giants, and Cubs get it this century after not getting a lot of it in the previous century. The Royals climbed out of the depths. Why not the Mariners? Isn’t this their time? Is that too much to ask*?

* Yes