#so he basically floats during visions??

[rainofthetwilight]

I love how luh lloyd's just. Floating. my man is quite literally high

[thatdeadaquarius]

College be kicking my ass but we continue on like Scaramouche (alive and kicking, but still crabby about it all lmfao)

Random idea but what happens when the acolytes got hold of Creator that is able to squeeze into small places (like a cat would but less liquid) and knows how to escape? Think of sagau but instead of all the deaths, its just they got overexited and chased the Creator the moment they see them which scared them shitless seeing a mob just appear out of nowhere.

I mean who wouldn't after seeing your favourite person in your favourite game just appear right in front of you? (I apologize in advance to the poor unfortunate sucker)

Imagine a world-wide search that keeps getting them heart attacks. Venti just flying by with Dvalin ony to see you on top of the floating pillar above Dragonspine LEANING PRECARIOUSLY OH MY ARCHONS GET AWAY FROM THE EDGE---

Zhongli walking around trying to find peace and quiet only to sense your presence which led him towards Azhdaha's domain and nearly shouted in terror seeing you hanging by one of the limestones above the slumbering dragon your grace what and how the in the fucking name of teyvat did you---

Yae Miko screaming in surprise seeing you inside one of the cupboards of your grace's house (you made a small temporary one in each country in case u need more rest) that she and Ei found in one of the remote islands.

Nahida and the entire Forest Rangers having one of the most intense, frustrating and most challenging game of hide and seek in the entire freaking forest.

You hiding underneath the sand like a fricking snake everytime Cyno spots you from a disrance.

-Vine Boom 🧨

I am no longer apologizing for lateness simply bc atp its basically assumed Im terribly sorry 💀 /so gen

  

Content under -----------------✄

☆

Sun: Reader, (you/they/them)

Orbit: Headcanons-ish, Imposter SAGAU? Imposter SAGAU Reversed Ver? unclear (NOT DARK)

Stars: little here, little there

Comets & Meteors: Content Warnings: reader/you thinks everyone is hunting them down, dark sagau fake-baiting lmao, & Trigger Warnings: none known.

Please comment if I missed any. /gen

No but the traumatic experience of you cautiously wandering into Mondstadt after realizing ur in Genshin like, ✨👄✨

and every single street/alleyway you try to go down to even avoid it is just people all looking at you like: 👁️👄👁️ ???

and ur over here equally just like: 😃 tf u lookin at????

u get up near the cathedral and finally see a playable character, Barbara, and she just fully GASPS and POINTS at you like she’s getting paid to be an actor for this

shouting sm nonsense like: “My Creator??? King of All???? IS THAT YOU?????”

and after which a few nuns check the commotion, Rosaria and Barbara’s Visions are glowing, and all join in heckling you

Venti coming (literally) flying around a corner on a breeze, saying he was trying to catch up to you, and ohhh now ur Convinced:

None of these bitches must be happy to see you, you did forcefully control their bodies if by the sounds of it they knew you/they must’ve been aware during the game, aw damn looks like u gotta run for your life now

You just book it out of Mond, Venti/Barbara yelling after you to come back, and meanwhile you’re leaving a shell-shocked Jean/Diluc/Kaeya (with Visions glowing) in ur wake on the way out

Not one being, mortal or otherwise, convinces you to stay in Mond, and you finally get to Dragonspine- the only place u know they wont follow

(well maybe the pyro characters but ur betting if u can make it up the mountain theyre not committed to,, running you down? arresting you?? ur not sure)

u make it all the way up and luckily everythings all solved like u did in the game, the traveler must be well into teyvat by now, and u decide to say “for the already achieved achievement” and fuck around and find out near the nail

U thought as u finally got on it u heard a scream somewhere in the sky, and u spotted Dvalin carrying Venti/Barbatos, and once again book it out of town (damn u cant believe theyre so committed they got the dragon in on it…)

so u haul ass all the way down the mountain, traveling only at night, living like a vampire, holing up during the day when u see Mond citizens/knights/gods/etc. walking around presumably looking for you

but u make it, finally! sweet, sweet Liyue, ur 2nd home (besides Mondstadt)

Only to immediately, like right outside the fucking gates to Liyue Harbor, run into Zhongli.

and he’s standing there like this mf knew u were coming, and the first thing out his mouth is some BS like, “…Darnell, that you??”/ref LMAOO

but instead of laughing abt it u just scream and run for your life haha

oh jesus h christ- he’s sending the adepti after you fuck- how hated are you??

sure u maybe hate Celestia a little, and sympathize with the traveler, but this seems a little extreme?!

you go to the one place u know he/any other adeptus doesnt like to come often, Azdaha’s cave

and after a night (well, day bc ur sleeping during the day now) of Azdaha sleeping peacefully, he wakes up fully coherent and u actaully have a rlly pleasant conversation with him about Liyue food lol

he also kept mentioning some kind of god? but like in reference to you?? are u connected to them, u kinda know a lot of gods atp so ur not sure which he means, a god to rule them all??? Celestia?? yeah u guess u know those fucks-

Cue u looking down from ur perch in the stalagmites above, u found a ledge and Azdaha helped you,

only to see a very concerned and borderline nervous Zhongli down below, Azhdaha just greets him like nothing’s wrong, but as soon as he sees you’re uncomfortable, helps you escape (more like teleport) away

(the old geo archon was probably nervous just be around Azhdaha u assume)

and now ur on the islands of Inazuma

u know exactly what islands are all but abandoned, the ghost one, the electrocuting one, and the scary bird one, all great options 👍

Raiden and Yae Miko manage to find you on every single one, with Yae getting more and more exasperated, and Ei getting more and more concerened with every position they find you in

hanging out on the banks of the electro river that would kill you if it weren’t for the little electro trees fending it off (thank fuck u maxed that shit out while in game)

bc u assumed they’d hate to be around it, plus lots of ronin- nope Ei is almost… scolding you?? oh but she’s got her Musou no Hitotachi out fuCK-

(she was slaying ronins that were getting too close to you)

she also is constantly jumpscaring you on tsurumi island/ghost island bc while the ghosts are gone, the creepy atmosphere isn't, and it makes her all the more terrifying as The Raiden Shogun comes walking out of the fog into the cave you've hidden in, stuff of ur nightmares for weeks as u just bird box style try to be silent and stealth around the island to get to an abandoned boat,

literally her scary ass purple sword glowing silhouette wandering around in the fog as you paddle away 💀

getting to thunder bird island and Yae Miko is literally both running/teleporting as quickly as she can to you, as you jump from floating rock to floating rock to escape her, god its so unnerving to watch someone so lazy running after you

she keeps getting in this weird “praising the heavens pose” sometimes when you jump, oh shit she’s aiming hER ATTACKS AT YOU THATS WHY-

oh good- she missed and deflected some stray debris coming ur way, u gotta get to the bird area and see if you can glide away (u managed to get a glider at some point thank fuck)

the bird is luckily on ur side against all these mfs trying to hunt u down (for controlling their bodies u guess) and flies u back to mainland teyvat

sumeru u thought would have the most mercy on u tbh, maybe fontaine bc Neuvillette only rlly cares if u break “fontaine” laws, maybe he wouldn't care to chase down a mortal like u over this

and nahida bc shes just nice

which is somewhat true, as you are acting like tarzan swinging around on vines and shit to escape the forest rangers

but she does show up in ur dreams, but shes just all foggy or distorted, u guess bc ur not of this world or smth??

and so it just unnerves u more, and u try to make it out to the desert, where at least there's no gods to worry about

mf ur hunkered down in a pyramid and see the shadowy shape of Cyno walking thru a sandstorm at you 💀

U dont kno how u got out of that one tbh, smth abt “king deshret made a plan for this” and left it behind for ppl to use to escape underground, sweet

And while Nahida and other eremites, scholars like Alhaitham/Kaveh/Dehya were looking around the desert sands, u slip by them

And u make it to the oasis at the edge of the desert, and steal an old rowboat to cross to fontaine (if i had a nickel everytime u needed to escape a god via old rowboat, youd have 2 nickels- )

and getting to Fontaine is not much better.

U literally get to the clockwork tower, foggy, ominous, uninhabited except for treasure-seekers occasionally, its perfect

until Neuvillette himself just strolls in abt 3 nights of u making camp there

u nearly shit urself as he just fake-knocked on a wall, meanwhile ur like hanging from the ceiling (four limbs out suspending you type of fictional shit)

luckily, mostly bc u were trying to wait him out (which wasn't possible ur limbs hurt so bad) he was, finally, the first person around u long enough to be genuinely kind and patient and answer questions

(Neuvillette acc couldn't figure out where u were at first, and was very confused how u got ur voice to boom around this chamber of the tower, after a minute of talking u trusted him enough to tell him to look up lol)

just in time too, he was able to hide u from the archons a little longer bc u were nervous

(u were already intimidated enough by Neuvillette being irl himself, talking to you, let alone all the other gods/vision users, as u realized afterwards thinking abt all the ppl trying to “hunt u down”, that if they all counted as ppl actually wanting to see you, that was a rlly overwhelming amount, esp if their first instinct is to run at you??? what are you, a fan-abused/disrespected kpop idol????)

☆

trying to be fancy and schedule posts once i get enough free time to actually wrangle my adhd to actually partake in my favorite hobbies 💀

well as long as I'm not getting slammed with lots of shifts again

hope u guys had a great weekend and have a good week! Happy late Valentine’s Day :)

Safe Travels Vine Boom,

💀♒

If you wanna join a taglist, DM me what for! "Pspspsss, please tag me for [All SAGAU posts, Only SAGAU Language AUs, diff fandom, etc.]!"

(If you ever wanna drop, just DM me! "No more taglists/[specifically this AU/fandom] please!")

♡the Beloveds♡

@karmawonders / @0rah-s / @randomnatics / @glxssynarvi / @nexylaza / @genshin-impacts-me / @wholesomey-artist / @thedevioussmirk / @the-dumber-scaramouche / @chocogi / @fallen-starr / @areaderofbooks / @devilangel657 / @esthelily / @justinsomniachild / @nanithefuck / @questionotmystopit

@kiyomi-uchiha777

[dantakeyoman]

omg.. i need a pt 2 to the seeing you for the first time :") it was so well written!! maybe something where he keeps staring at her and not doing well to adapt until his parents scold him?? if ur too busy then no need obv, but yeah i like ut writing alot !! 🫶🫶

Neteyam Is Struggling In Learning The Metkayina Ways, So You Give Him Some Encouragement (SFW)

Part 2 of "Head Over Heels"

CW: simp Neteyam, touchy reader, Lo'ak and Kiri duo, annoyed Ao’nung, reader is lowkey kinda crazy lol ( but in a good way i swear ), i headcannon that the Sully kids use beads as a barter system of some sort, and the person with the most beads has the most bragging rights, which is why Lo’ak and Neteyam have so many in their hair ( they bet a lot), Kiri has a few, and Tuk has next to none ( she doesn’t really understand it, but still attempts to )

“Neteyam, how many times have I told you? You must breathe from here, not here,” you playfully scolded, placing your hand on his chest and stomach to show how he was doing it wrong.

Neteyam’s breath hitched, already feeling his heart rate pick up.

Shit.

You moved you hand from on top of his lungs, to on top of his heart, and sighed.

It was practically going a mile a minute, like every other time you had checked these past two weeks.

“And your heartbeat. You must calm down, Neteyam. Allow your mind to go blank, and your heart rate to slow.”

It had been the same shtick since the boy got here.

All of the other Sullys had taken to their lessons swimmingly, now able to keep up with Ao’nung and Tsireya.

But Neteyam was the only one that couldn’t quite get the breathing right.

When Ao’nung taught him how to ride an ilu, he got it almost immediately. It only took him two tries.

When Rotxo taught him some basic sign language, he got each gesture the moment it was shown to him.

So why was he having so much trouble when you showed him some simple breathing techniques?

Little did you know, the boy could to do the breathing perfectly fine.

Practicing in his free time, he had managed to get it on his own.

But in order to graduate from his lessons, he had to keep up the technique for 5 minutes, with you checking to make sure he maintained the proper form.

And that was the root of the problem.

In order to check, you had to touch him, feel up on his chest.

And that always sent his heart into a frenzy, making all memory of the technique go out the window.

You were just so...you.

Every time you got anywhere near him, everything about you would flood his senses.

Your smell, your voice, hell, just your aura in general. 

It would all cloud his mind, and leave him unable to think about anything else.

It was overwhelming, and made it so he couldn’t be anywhere near you unless he wanted to become a stuttering idiot.

Which was, obviously, impossible to avoid during your lessons.

How does Dad do this everyday?

Who knew having an angel could be so frustrating.

“Here,” you started, snapping him out of his thoughts. “I think I have one more way to help you get it.”

He watched you, intently, as you tied a large rock to a really long stalk of kelp, then tied it to your ankle.

Once it was secure, you gave him a warm smile, which practically turned him to putty.

Fuck.

“See you later,” you winked, pushing the rock in the water and jumping in after it.

Neteyam stared, confused, as he watched you sink.

What is she doing?

2 minutes go by.

Is this normal?

4 minutes go by.

Okay, something’s up.

5 minutes go by.

That’s it.

Neteyam quickly dove into the water, frantically looking around to find any sign of you.

When he couldn’t see anything, he swam deeper, turning at a large coral reef.

There was no way you could’ve disappeared. So why couldn’t he find you?

It was scaring him.

What if you drowned? What if you were attacked by a predator? What if you had been swept away by the current?

These thoughts only fueled him more. And when he made it past this giant school of fish, he saw you.

The fish had been obstructing his vision at first, but he could now see that you were floating in the water, limply, as the rock from before kept you tethered to the ground.

Without hesitation, he swam towards you, whipping out his knife and cutting off the kelp stalk, before taking you in his arms, dragging you up.

He could feel himself slowly running out of air, but he had to stay strong. He couldn’t let you drown, not like this.

Not when he could’ve saved you sooner.

“Sure, men can have angels. But only real men can protect them,” his father’s words repeated in his head, keeping him going.

He was a real man.

And he was going to be his angel’s protector.

When the two of you broke the surface, he let out a loud gasp, flopping the both of you back onto the rock, panting.

When he turned to you, you were unconscious, laying still on the stone.

“(y/n)! (y/n), are you alright?!” Neteyam frantically asked, trying to shake you awake, pressing on your chest a few times.

That seemed to do the trick because you gasped, coughing up a little bit of water as your eyes snapped open.

“For Eywa’s sake! You surely took your time,” you breathlessly laughed, looking up at the boy with a smile.

“I-...wait....YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE?!” he exclaimed, shocked.

He was absolutely befuddled. You scared him half to death, and you did it on purpose?

“I’m sorry I tricked you. But that was the only way I could see the breathing get through your thick skull,” you apologized, giving him a little flick in his temple, making his nose twitch.

It made your smile grow.

He looked cute when he was shocked.

Without warning, he pulled you into a bone crushing hug, burying his face in the crook of your neck.

“Please don’t scare me like that ever again,” he asked, his voice quiet and slightly broken.

It made you blush, and your heart wrench, at the same time.

You hadn’t thought he cared for you that much. Not to the point where he sounded like he was on the verge of tears at your death.

It made you guilty for pulling such a cruel stunt.

But it also made you feel loved, loved in a way you had never felt love before.

“I am really sorry, Neteyam,” you apologized once more, your joking tone gone.

You wrapped your arms around his neck as he backed out the hug, keeping him close.

He expression turned confused, and you gave him a chaste kiss as an answer, making his eyes blow wide.

This was really happening. You were really holding him. You were really kissing him.

Eywa, please don’t let this be a dream.

You kept it short and sweet, long enough to let him feel your emotion, but short enough to make him want more.

When you pulled away, his lips chased you a little bit, mindlessly, and you giggled.

“Let’s take it slow, forest boy,” you smiled, placing a hand on his lips.

He nodded frantically, like a child being promised candy, and it made you burst into full laughter.

This boy made you feel happier than you had in a long time.

“C’mon, let’s go for a swim,” you suggested, moving your hand from his mouth and nodding towards the water.

“I’m in,” he smiled, staring at you with an enamored glint in his eye.

That’s when you remembered.

“Hey, if it makes you feel any better,” you started with a smirk, turning to him and resting your hands on his chest.

His breath hitched, and his heart picked up speed yet again.

You leaned into his ear, dropping your voice to a whisper.

“You passed.”

The way you said the words made a shiver go down his spine, and a warmth spread through his body, it’s origins being your hands.

You pulled back, flashing him an innocent smile as if what you did was the most natural thing in the world.

But he knew better.

You knew exactly what you were doing to him, hiding it behind that beautiful smile and those gorgeous eyes.

Little did you know that that was making you all the more enticing.

Who knew his angel could be such a little troublemaker?

bonus !!

Lo’ak, Kiri, Tuk, and Ao’nung watched you kiss Neteyam in the distance, their ilu lessons being put on hold for the spectacle.

“Look at my bro. It’s only two weeks and he’s getting some tail in,” Lo’ak smirked, setting a reminder in his head to congratulate his brother the next time he saw him. 

“You better tell him to keep his hands to himself,” Ao’nung grumbled, turning to Kiri.

He did not find the situation as amusing as Lo’ak.

“Tell her that,” Kiri playfully scoffed, watching you move your hands down to his chest.

“Are Neteyam and (y/n) mates now?” Tuk asked, tugging on Lo’ak’s arm.

“No. But it’s only a matter of time,” he shrugged, ruffling her hair.

“Hey!” Ao’nung exclaimed, shooting the boy a sharp glare.

“I’m betting a week,” Kiri smirked, crossing her arms as she turned to her brother, holding up a satchel of beads.

“I’ll take action,” he smirked back, holding up his own.

“I hate you all,” Ao’nung groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

But in all honesty, knowing his sister, he gave it a few days.

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

VERY IMPORTANT SPIDER-VERSE QUESTION -

Do Nueva Yorkers know about Spider Society?

In Across the Spider-verse, we essentially see The Spider Society essentially terrorize the downtown of Nueva York in an attempt to capture Miles.

All of the Spider-people seem pretty versed and keen on where they're going for the most part. None of them seem particularly shocked by the floating train to the moon too.

This could be chalked up to the fact that they're Spider-people, and that means naturally good navigation -

But the Spider Society is basically one of the tallest buildings in NY99

So I'm assuming everyone (citizens) knows what it's for, or at least have a name for the tower (O'Hara Tower, or maybe just Spider Society Tower like the Avengers).

And it makes me wonder -

Do they see Spiders often? Do they know about The Society?

Do citizens know about the multiverse, as if it's taught in elementary school? Do they understand why there's so many Spider-people?

They seem to know it well - so do Spider people hang out in Nueva York? Maybe you can eat lunch at the cafeteria, or go off campus for some local 2099 food?

Are they celebrities? Do people see them like super-stars, or like students at a college in a college town?

Or do they go out there plain clothed so they blend in more?

But if they can do all that, that implies they're getting 2099 currency from somewhere. Maybe an allowance/stipend from Miguel? If he can own that big building, then why not?

I'm so curious!!!!! AHHHHHH

I NEED A POLL

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Cause nah for real, think about it -

Margo and Gwen hanging out at a super futuristic arcade together during their off time.

Cafes run Spider-Society discounts like cafes around college campuses. They have local fans.

Ben Reilly getting stopped in Nueva York for a picture with a fan and he doesn't stop talking about it for weeks.

The Spider-saur and Spidey-Jeep pulling up to the drive thru and you — the poor McMiguel's employee in 2099 have to act like that's natural and normal

hanging out with Hobie and hitting a bar with him in Downtown Nueva - listening to some obscure as future-retro punk band from 2099.

WAIT A MINUTE AM I COOKING LET ME COOK

Are y'all seeing the vision??

[ckret2]

Chapter 23 of human Bill being the Mystery Shack's prisoner is honestly becoming a bigger inconvenience for them than for him, featuring: Bill's ex-girlfriend.

Bill wants to avoid being seen in a human body (humiliating), Mabel wants to know everything about Bill's love life, and Ford and Soos just want to get rid of the safety hazard. And somehow they start here—

—and end up here.

After going through the entire pile of library books on lucid dreaming, Bill found one to recommend to Mabel that had glossy full-color illustrations, simple little meditative exercises, and—most importantly—no information about astral projection. (It was galling enough that her brother had somehow picked up the trick without realizing it; like heck would Bill help Dipper master it unless Bill could think of some way to take advantage of his skill.)

But for himself, Bill elected to follow a slim decades-old guide that advertised full control over your dreams in four weeks or your money back. A frustratingly long wait to master his own dreamscape, but surely Bill could find a way to fend off his execution at least another four weeks. And anyway, Bill was already a dream expert—maybe he could take shortcuts a human couldn't. He'd picked this book for two reasons: it was the shortest of the books Mabel had brought home; and it had Bill's face on the inside cover page, a triangle containing a grayscale human eye. If Bill couldn't trust advice dispensed by his own face, who could he trust?

He flipped to the back of the book, to the section on all the advanced dream tricks the author promised readers could learn once they'd mastered the basics. Telepathically sharing a dream with a lover. Prophetic visions. And of course, astral projection.

He gazed wistfully at the drawing of a body with its humanoid soul floating above it, loosely tethered to its physical shell's belly button by a ghostly cord. When Bill got out, no tether would tie him back to his flesh prison, and the little soul floating free wouldn't look so human.

He hoped��it wouldn't, anyway— No. It wouldn't. Surely the Axolotl had only imprisoned him, not altered him... but then, the Ax had strange ideas about mercy.

Well, Bill wasn't getting to those tricks until he mastered the basics. He flipped to the front of the book. Step one of this four-week journey was to establish...

Bill scoffed under his breath. "A dream diary? Seriously?" A primitive travel journal for psychically-stunted creatures who could only peer through the doorway of the mindscape without properly exploring it.

But right now, Bill was one of those creatures. This book was for him, no matter how condescending he thought it was.

He sighed. All right. Dream diary. Fine. Luckily, he'd already assembled all the supplies he needed.

Mabel had spilled out her crayons in front of Bill plenty of times; sometimes she even let him use them. It had taken some careful timing and preparation, but a few days ago he'd grabbed the unloved grey and greenish-yellow crayons—the sharpest in her collection—during a moment she'd left him unsupervised. So that there wouldn't be any gaps in Mabel's meticulously rainbow-ordered crayon box, he'd had to unwrap the crayons, break off the tips and butts, roll out two tubes of Claydough to fill in the gaps, rewrap the false crayons, and stuff them back in the crayon box before Mabel got back. The middles of the crayons were safely spirited away in his hoodie. He was a genius. The humans underestimated him without his powers, but he was the smartest creature in the universe.

Bill was loathe to pull out Ford's Journal 4—he'd entertained some vague fantasy of filling it with the secrets of reality and slipping it somewhere Ford could find it, make him really regret turning his back on Bill's wisdom—but it was good quality paper and it was already in Bill's possession, so he couldn't afford to pass it up.

The lucid dreaming guide recommended keeping the dream diary under his pillow. Considering he was still sleeping on the floor on a couple of stolen couch cushions that he shoved aside as convenient, not likely. If he was supposed to have easy access to it whenever he slept, he couldn't leave it in his usual hidey-hole, either. He pulled the cushion off the window seat, chewed a tiny hole in the seam on the bottom edge, and carefully plucked out the thread to open up a gap along one side where it wouldn't be seen.

He pressed the stuffing out of the way, slid in the journal and crayons, and put the cushion back in place to await his next dream.

As Bill straightened up, he glanced out the attic window—and flinched in surprise.

Just outside, by the trees, was someone he knew. The most beautiful, graceful, desirable person in all the world. Someone he half thought he'd never see again. Bill stared in shock.

And then she turned toward the shack.

Bill ducked out of the window's view. "Heck."

####

"Star girl, we've got trouble." Bill was standing grimly in the kitchen doorway. "My ex is back in Gravity Falls."

Mabel's brain short-circuited so hard that she momentarily lost the ability to see as she processed the revelation that Bill Cipher had a love life. A whole new multiverse of matchmaking possibilities had just opened up. "Your what?!"

Bill pointed upward.

Mabel bolted out of her seat to follow him upstairs.

"Anyway, I assume we're exes," Bill said. "I usually dump people when they die, I'm sure she did the same to me."

Barely listening to him, Mabel gushed, "Bill, you sly dog, you've been holding out on me! I didn't know you dated!" She took his elbow to help keep him from tripping as they headed upstairs. "What's she like? Tell me everything!" Mabel hoped she wasn't evil. She probably was, but Mabel still had her fingers crossed for some sweet alien princess with a taste for bad boys who may yet lure out Bill's tender side.

"Oh—she's a stunner." Bill used his free hand to pantomime a shape that didn't conform to any silhouette Mabel could imagine, "Curves in all the right places... Down for anything..."

Maybe it was that pink Henchmaniac. She had curves. And was also the only one Mabel remembered who looked like a girl. "You must miss her a lot."

Bill grimaced uncertainly and muttered, "I miss what she does to my body, let's leave it at that."

He steered them toward the attic window and heaved a sigh of relief. "Okay, she's still here. Don't let her catch you staring."

Mabel pressed her face to the glass, eager to see who could have won the heart of Bill Cipher, Most Villainous Triangle Ever.

Below, a gigantic veiny eyeball flopped through the air on gnarled bat wings.

Mabel glanced up at Bill skeptically. "The eye-bat?"

"Mm-hm." Bill was biting his lip and gazing at the bat with pained, shiny-eyed yearning. His face reminded reminded her of the time her parents had dressed for a fancy grown-up dinner, and the way her dad looked when her mom came out in a slinky fuchsia cocktail dress.

Well, who was Mabel to judge? Everyone is beautiful to someone. Good for them. "What's her name?"

"Iris." Bill put a hand on Mabel's shoulder. "You've gotta help me."

####

"Hey, Ford? You got a minute?"

Ford looked up as Soos hovered in the door of his study. "I suppose I do now." He swept aside his lunch—his desk was littered with the remains of formerly-undead teriyaki chicken and the cheap wooden chopsticks he'd jabbed through the meat like wooden stakes—and slid the notebook paper with Bill's fowl resurrection spell back into his journal. "What's on your mind?"

Soos stepped fully into the room. "We've got a supernatural problem I was hoping you could help with," he said. "You know those little eye-bat things that hang around the farm? Well, there's a really huge one flying around the shack, and all the tourists are out-of-towners, so they don't know the eye-bats will swoop at your face unless you pretend you're blind? So the big guy keeps attacking the customers. I had to give away all our souvenir sunglasses to let the last tour group escape to their cars."

"A giant eye-bat?" Ford frowned. "How large?"

"Uh..." Soos held his hands apart. "Like a big beach ball? Yeah. One of those novelty oversized beach balls. But not like, so comically large you can't do anything with it. You could definitely still play beach volleyball with it. But you'd have to deflate it to get it through a door."

It sounded like one of Bill's minions. "It's not turning people to stone, is it?"

"No, just swooping at people's faces and being terrifying."

####

Bill watched from the kitchen window as the eye-bat folded in her wings, like a hawk preparing to snatch up a mouse, and dove at a tourist's head. The tourist screamed and ran the other way, chucking her purse at the eye-bat. Bill shouted at the window, "You don't know what you're missing out on, lady!" He dragged his hands down his face, groaning. "Man I wish that was me."

####

Ford nodded. "I'll see what I can do."

It was a welcome distraction. With Fiddleford currently pursuing their best lead to kill Bill, Ford hadn't felt motivated to keep researching long-shot plan B options; but he got antsy without work to do. Maybe dealing with an eye-bat would make him feel useful enough to quiet his nerves. 

Soos heaved a sigh of relief. "Thanks. I've gotta head back up now—there's a tour bus coming and I need to scare the eye-bat off with a broom so they can come in."

As Soos got on the elevator, Mabel bounded off. "Hi Soos. Grunkle Ford! I need your help. You'll never guess who's at the shack: Bill's ex-girlfriend! Whaaat!"

Ford opened his mouth. He shut his mouth. He tried again. "His ex-girlfriend."

Mabel nodded excitedly.

Ford was momentarily stunned silent as he, too, processed the revelation that Bill had a love life; although his reaction had less to do with matchmaking possibilities and more to do with trying to reconcile the eccentric, intellectual, standoffish alien that Ford knew with the concept of romance. "She doesn't happen to be an eye-bat, does she?"

Mabel's face fell. "Did he tell you about his girlfriend before me?"

Once Mabel had explained what she knew about the situation, Ford frowned. "This could be gravely dangerous. One of his 'Henchmaniacs' is a potential ally. If he catches her attention..."

"Actuallyyy," Mabel said, "he's super trying to avoid her."

Ford blinked in surprise. "What? Why?"

####

"I can't let her see me like this," Bill told Mabel, pacing across the attic floor. "I'd be a laughing stock! Look at me—stuck in a human body, powers locked away, and hideous!"

"Don't say that," Mabel said reassuringly. "You know I think you make a really beautiful human, right?"

"True, but that's like saying Caesar is delicious for a salad. It still doesn't compare to a hot fudge sundae, does it?" He pointed toward the window. "You have to hide me."

####

"So do you think you can help?" Mabel asked.

Ford reluctantly got to his feet. "I suppose there's not much choice, is there?"

"Wait—" Mabel stood in front of Ford, blocking him with her arms. "You can stay here! I just meant if you know how to make some kind of magic anti-eyeball forcefield or something! You don't have to—you know—talk to Bill..."

It was sweet of her to try to spare him. "Unfortunately, I do. I don't trust his story." Why would Bill drive away a Henchmaniac, ex or not? Maybe this "ex" was actually Bill's enemy—some sort of interdimensional bounty hunter or law enforcement officer hunting for him. Bill was too sly, too opportunistic, too manipulative to throw away a useful ally.

But then, Bill was also vain and arrogant. Once the portal was finished, how fast had he thrown Ford away?

Ford headed toward the elevator, gesturing for Mabel to follow him. "Come on. Let's find out what he's really up to."

Mabel cringed, but followed.

####

Bill's face lit up as Mabel came in from the gift shop with Ford. "Look at you, Shooting Star, you brought reinforcements!" From his position seated cross-legged on the cushionless sofa, Bill gestured grandly at the unoccupied living room chairs, like a lord inviting two guests into his parlor.

"Yeah," Mabel laughed nervously. "Reinforcements. Sure." She took the chair closer to Bill. 

Bill beamed at Ford. "Welcome back to the surface world, Stanford. If I'd thought you were coming up, I'd have made tea."

Ford remained standing. "Cut the chatter, Cipher. Why is your 'girlfriend' back on Earth attacking people? How did she get here? Is she looking for you?"

Bill's eyebrows raised in surprise at the abrupt confrontation; then he slowly leaned back in his seat, his expression cooler. "How should I know? Maybe she never left Earth."

"How? The rest of your thugs were dragged back into the Nightmare Realm when you died."

"So I've been told," Bill said dryly, glancing at Mabel like he trusted her eyewitness testimony over Ford's.

Mabel nodded. "Like they got sucked into a big invisible rainbow tornado!"

Bill spread his hands in exaggerated bafflement. "Then I don't know what to tell you. It's not like I was around to see it. Maybe she was out visiting family when you kicked out my pals."

"Of all the absurd—family? On Earth?" More likely she had been sucked out with the rest, but found her way back to Earth through—what?—a small rift they'd failed to seal that Bill was trying to cover up...? "For once in your life, why don't you give a straight answer?"

"You wouldn't know what to do with a straight answer if I did give it! You walk in looking for a fight and act like I'm the one who picked it." Bill gestured between Ford and Mabel, "You think I can't see you two trying to pull some good cop/bad cop routine?"

Defensively, Mabel said, "I'm not—!"

"I'd be happy to give you straight answers about anything you want, Stanford," Bill said, "but if you're treating this like an interrogation instead of a conversation, then I'm pleading the fifth until my lawyer gets here. And you do not want to meet my lawyer."

Bill had lost the privilege to have "conversations" years ago. But—as much as Ford hated to admit it—starting a fight was a poor way to gather information. "Fine." He forced himself to sit down. He wasn't about to be nice to Bill, but he could at least hate him civilly.

Bill made a gracious, open-handed gesture, as if to say proceed.

Now that Ford had taken a moment to turn over the idea—perhaps Bill wasn't lying about the eye-bat visiting "family." Here were two facts: there were eye-bats in Gravity Falls; and there were much larger eye-bats in the Nightmare Realm who'd been there before the dimensional portal ripped open. Ford hadn't been able to inspect Bill's variety, but... "That's another mystery I've been wondering about. What's the nature of the relationship between your eye-bats in the Nightmare Realm and ours in Gravity Falls?"

"Pfff, come on." With an air of smug intellectual superiority, Bill rolled his eye and said, "You clever little pattern-seeking humans want to find connections everywhere! Who said there's any relationship between them at all?"

"You did," Ford said.

"A few seconds ago," Mabel added.

Bill's smug look disappeared. He considered that. "Hm."

So much for getting straight answers out of Bill. He couldn't go one minute without contradicting his own lies. "Unless you're saying she was 'visiting family' because she is from Gravity Falls? Not one of your Henchmaniacs," Ford suggested. "Just some local eye-bat you mutated and magically enthralled into doing your bidding when you arrived?" Bill wouldn't like that.

And sure enough, Bill laughed harshly. "I'm flattered you think I can woo someone that fast," he said, blithely gliding past Ford's implication that mind control might have been involved, "but no. She came with me from the Nightmare Realm and we've been going out for... I don't know, a century and a half now?"

This information immediately activated the household romantic. Mabel gasped. "What! Bill that's so long! You're basically triple married."

Bill shuddered. "Yeesh, don't say that. It was a casual physical thing! We were seeing each other until we found better options, that's all. She's hot, but not my type."

"You have a type?! What's your type?"

"Don't answer that," Ford said. (Mabel pouted, but didn't argue.) "How is the same species in two places? Are the eye-bats in Gravity Falls descended from the eye-bats in the Nightmare Realm...?" But how would they have gotten in?

"Other way around," Bill corrected. "A few leaked into the Nightmare Realm from Gravity Falls. I wouldn't be so rude as to call them an invasive species, but they've taken really well to the place! I'm proud of the gals."

"But then how did the eye-bats get into the Nightmare Realm before the portal was complete? That's the whole reason you needed the portal—there was no other access."

Bill hesitated—and Ford got the sense that Bill had once again accidentally talked himself into a corner. Then there was some other passage to the Nightmare Realm, and Bill didn't want them to know about it. But what? Where else in Gravity Falls was there an opening to other dimensions?

The answer came to him before Bill had a chance to try to make up one. "The bottomless pit," Ford said. He couldn't believe he'd never made the connection before. "That's it, isn't it. The eye-bats could have fallen through. One of its exits leads to the Nightmare Realm. You said so in my journal."

There was a flash of irritation across Bill's face, and then he was all smiles. "Oh, you finally figured out that code, did you."

"Please, it was a simple substitution cipher. It wouldn't have taken me nearly so long if someone hadn't kept me sleep deprived for weeks."

Bill didn't respond to the jab—but it was clear from the way his mouth twisted that the restraint took an effort. "I'm not making any plans to jump into the bottomless pit, before you get worried." Said like somebody who had definitely considered jumping into the bottomless pit. No wonder he'd been so evasive about his eye-bats' origins. "The odds I'd actually make it back to the Nightmare Realm are way lower than the odds I'd either end up right back here or somewhere worse." 

"'The lady doth protest too much,'" Ford muttered. He'd have to find a way to seal off the pit. "Is that why the eye-bat wasn't sucked out with your other minions? It has some... ancestral, genetic link to this world—?"

"What, do you think the fabric of reality is running DNA tests to see what does and doesn't 'belong' here?" Bill scoffed. "Most universes aren't sentient and yours isn't one of the exceptions. Still, you might be on to something. Most of my guys are built on biological blueprints and laws of physics that aren't compatible with this dimension; I had to use some of my power to 'translate' between their bodies and your universe. That magic connection probably reeled them back into the Nightmare Realm. And the eye-bats were the only ones I didn't do that for."

"Really." Ford's fingers itched to pick up a pen; he wished he'd brought his journal. "If you were supporting them, why did they get sucked back through the rift when you died? Rather than just dying when your power dissipated? Was that some sort of safety measure you left in case—? No, that's not like you." In order to plan for his death, Bill needed to admit he could die. "Is the source of your power in the Nightmare Realm?"

Bill said, "Frankly, I'm taking your word for it that they survived at all. I wasn't exactly around to watch."

"You're dodging the question." Trying to get anything out of Bill was like chasing a dancing ghost while wearing lead boots. "I want an answer."

"Then ask a different question."

"Fine!" Ford had plenty of questions. If Bill wanted another one so badly— "Why did you need the interdimensional portal?"

Bill stared at Ford. "What?"

"The bottomless pit is ancient—and you clearly knew about it. If you already had an opening into Gravity Falls..."

"The pit only goes one way."

"So why didn't you build something on your end of the exit to reverse its direction? You certainly had the time to work out the science! Or—there are thousands of openings from other dimensions into the Nightmare Realm, natural and artificial alike. Why did you never use them?"

Ford had wondered for decades during his travels through the multiverse. He'd told himself he would never know, that Bill's motives were incomprehensible—ineffable like a god's, unintelligible like a madman's. But Stan had asked the same question a few days ago, and Ford hadn't been able to get it out of his head since. "If you had a trillion years to refine your plan, then why did you give me blueprints for a portal that would tear my universe apart, instead of any other design? Why here, why now? Why me?"

He expected some catty quip or a dismissive brush-off. But instead, Bill gave Ford an appraising look. A chill ran up Ford's back. Bill's face was blank now—no trace of the smirk he'd worn while tossing out contradictions and cryptic riddles—but his eyes had the same hard, heavy look he'd worn in the penthouse, talking about "liberating" his dimension. Bill asked, "Do you really want to know?"

It felt like they were back in Ford's dreams, and his fickle, wonderful muse had finally decided to stop teasing, get serious, and tell his student some precious secret. It felt like he was about to get a real answer. Ford did want to know. Of course he did.

"No."

Bill would only lie. Everything he'd ever said about the portal had been a lie.

Disappointment flickered across Bill's face.

Before an uneasy silence had a chance to fully settle over the room, Mabel shifted in her seat. Ford started; she'd gone so quiet, he'd almost forgotten she was here. "Grunkle Ford, is that everything we needed to know?" It wasn't like her to sound so timid. "We know she's not looking for Bill, she just—got stuck here last summer. Right?"

Why were they talking? "Right." The eye-bat harassing the tourists. Ford shut his eyes and took a deep breath. "And the eye-bat is from the Nightmare Realm, but it's descended from Gravity Falls' eye-bats—which means it has the same weaknesses as local eye-bats. Right?" He opened his eyes again, directing the question at Bill.

"Oh, now you're interested in what I have to say?"

"Good point; I'm not." Ford stroked his chin. "I have a recipe for an eye-bat repellant spray I learned from Old Lady Sprott, we could use that to keep it away from the shack. I wrote it down in... my first journal..." 

"Ah," Bill said. "You mean the incinerated one." He said it so coolly, like he wasn't the one who incinerated it.

"Actually," Mabel said, "after everything went back to normal, Grunkle Ford's journals got un-incinerated!"

Bill made a poor show of trying not to look surprised. "You don't say."

"Yeah, good as new! They regrew their torn pages and everything," Mabel said. "And... then we kinda chucked them into the bottomless pit."

Bill cracked up, kicking out a foot in mirth. "You what?! You idiots, don't you know you had an invaluable occult encyclopedia in your hands? The second journal alone was the most important human grimoire of the last five hundred years!"

Ford was too irritated to be flattered. What business did Bill have mocking him, thirty seconds ago Bill had thought he was the one who destroyed the journals. Ford snapped, "I didn't want to keep anything you'd tainted."

He was gratified by how fast Bill stopped laughing. "Then burn down your shack and lobotomize your hippocampus," Bill muttered. "Fine! Are we talking about the eye-bat repellant made with gnome wizz?"

Bless this insufferable, all-seeing pest; maybe he was good for one thing. "That's the one! You know the recipe?"

"That's the only ingredient I remember."

Ford mentally retracted the prior blessing. "It's the only ingredient I remember." He sighed. Maybe Old Lady Sprott had taught her son...

Bill said, "But wasn't that was back before you turned into a hermit, when you were still interviewing the human neighbors about the freaks in the woods? All those little interview notebooks—"

"Yes! That's right, I'm sure I kept them somewhere—"

"Filing cabinet under your globe. Second drawer."

Ford shot Bill a dark look.

"You're welcome," Bill said.

The insufferable all-seeing pest didn't need any blessings, he was smug enough already. Ford got to his feet. "Then as soon as I find the recipe, we can chase this eye-bat off and put this whole mess behind us."

"Finally," Bill sighed. "Always a pleasure to work on a project with you, Sixer."

Ford glared at him again; but as he turned to go, his gaze fell on Mabel. Sitting in her chair with her hands under her thighs, with that big-eyed small-mouthed look children got when the adults were talking about something they had no part in but they were paying keen attention to it anyway. Ford winced at himself. "Mabel. I'm sorry that got... a bit heated."

She gave him a small smile. "It's fine—"

"And whose fault was that?" Bill cut in. "I was being perfectly helpful."

Ford swallowed back the urge to retort. 

Mabel didn't. She blew a raspberry at Bill. "When you weren't lying to us?"

"When did I lie! Tell me one lie I told—"

Ford wasn't getting dragged into this. "I think you can handle him from here," he muttered to Mabel. "I've got work to do." He escaped back to the gift shop; but the tension in his shoulders didn't start to loosen until he was back in his study.

####

The door swung shut behind Ford; and Mabel waited a few more seconds before she said, "Sorry about that." She sighed. "I thought Grunkle Ford could think of some way to help. I didn't think he'd actually come and talk about it."

"Not your fault." Bill smiled ruefully. "He was probably looking for an excuse for another confrontation. And to think, for a moment I was excited when my old friend showed up." He sighed deeply. Oh, how poorly he was mistreated—

"What?" Mabel laughed. "What are you talking about? You're not friends—"

"Hey! Shush-shush-shush!" Bill blocked Mabel's words with a hand. "Shooting Star, I'm about to tell you something that'll put you ahead of the competition for the rest of your life. Once you've figured out lucid dreaming, go back to the library—"

"Are you about to give me more homework?"

"I'm giving you more homework. Go look up the law of attraction. Master that, change your life. If you want something to happen, the first step to making it happen is saying it's happened. Say it until you believe it; believe it until it's true. So I don't want to hear any of your negativity, buster."

A thoughtful look crossed Mabel's face as she considered that. She was such an attentive listener once you figured out what caught her attention. Best student Bill had had in eons. She'd go far. "So..." She lowered her voice. "That means you really do want to be friends with Grunkle Ford!"

"That's not what I said. I said we are friends." Bill was sure she'd pick it up. It was an easy game and she was a quick study. "Even if he clearly doesn't know it. Sixer's such a grump these days." He sighed, again. Woe was him—

"He's not that grumpy! Only around you," Mabel said.

"And how is that fair? After everything I did for him—"

"You mean everything you did to him?"

Bill shot her an exasperated look. Mabel's impish grin stretched wider. Bill said, "Whose side are you on?"

"I'm on the side of truth and tough love!"

"Oh, truth. Truth's a fickle god. Does your version of the 'truth' include all my contributions to his work that he never brings up—"

"Nope, I don't care about what you're saying!" Mabel bounded over from her chair to join Bill on the couch. "We're done talking about your dumb grudge and pretending you're not evil."

"'Pretending'—!"

"There's only one thing I'm interested in!" Mabel leaned into Bill's face. "I wanna know everything about your love life."

"Wh—?" Bill's train of thought veered off track as the conversation swung from Ford back over toward Iris. "I'm flattered by the attention, but don't you think 'everything' is a little personal?"

"Nope!" Mabel got comfortable in her seat. "So have you ever gotten married?"

This was what Bill got for being so open and forthcoming with the personal details while Ford was in the room. He'd wanted to look like he was an open book, and what happened? Now Mabel thought he was an open book. Funny how that worked out. "You don't even know if marriage is a thing where I'm from."

"Is it?"

"Next question."

"Do you want to get married?"

"Next question that isn't about marriage."

"Who do you consider the top ten most attractive people or creatures in Gravity Falls."

It was beginning to dawn on Bill that he was in danger.

####

Soos passed from the gift shop through the living room. (Mabel had put on the Color Critters Valentine's special—Prisma the Rainbow Fairy and Glory Unicorn were explaining to Misty Dolphin why it was important to give a Valentine to all your friends, even the ones you weren't as close to, because it might hurt their feelings to be left out and including everyone might make you a new friend.) Bill was sitting upside down, legs hooked over the back of the sofa and head bright red, as he said, "No, I just don't see relationships as eternal. Romance is a short term commitment. Like a fashion trend, or, or—"

"Like gum?"

Bill snapped his fingers. "Yes! Exactly like gum—"

"Hey dudes." Soos awkwardly squeezed around behind the TV to avoid blocking the screen. He looked at Bill's face and said, "Hey, all the blood's rushing to your head. Be careful, Abuelita says if you do that too long your head could pop."

"She's right," Bill said.

Mabel said, "He's making his face red on purpose so I can't tell when he's blushing."

"Not true! You little tattler!"

As he headed upstairs, Soos heard Mabel say, "So when a romance starts to lose its flavor, you just—" and Bill cut in, "You spit it on the sidewalk, grind it under your heel, and float away without looking back, never thinking about it again..."

A few minutes later, after changing out of his Mr. Mystery suit into a more comfortable question mark t-shirt, Soos headed back downstairs. Bill was still talking, "... and all you get out of it is sickly sweet spit, you're just—swallowing all this sweet spit until it makes your mouth sour and it's dripping out around your eye, and you're hungrier than if you'd never eaten at all, and all your friends say 'oh Bill, you're always griping about your gum, why don't you settle down to eat a proper meal,' and you say 'how about you mind your own business, Kryptos, I don't lecture you about your diet,' and then your other friends accuse you of choosing inedible snacks so you don't have to commit to swallowing them, because they don't get that you're a flawless energy being, you don't need 'nutrition' or 'sustenance,' this is just a hobby to you—and finally you just, you get sick of the taste of gum altogether, you never want to chew gum again as long as you live, it's always so needy and your jaw hurts, and everyone thinks it's your fault if you can't focus on chewing the stupid thing all day every day, like maybe you have a life of your own, did anyone consider that? And at this point you're so disgusted by the very idea of gum that you burn down a gum factory so you don't have to look at their stupid ads! And then an eon later you find yourself craving a stick of gum, so you find a different brand and cram a new one in."

Mabel, who'd been listening to Bill's monologue in wide-eyed stunned silence, finally smiled in relief as he landed on a familiar sentiment. She pumped her fist in the air. "Yeah! Cram a new one in!"

"You get me, kid."

Probably none of Soos's business, but he thought Bill needed to work on his relationship with gum.

He took the elevator down to Ford's study. "Sup, dawg."

"Hm?" Ford was sitting on the floor in front of an open filing cabinet, completely surrounded by skinny reporter's notebooks like the kind Abuelita used for shopping lists, intensely focused on flipping through one. "Soos. Yes?"

"How's the eye-bat problem going?"

"I'm working on it," Ford sighed. "Somewhere I have a recipe to repel eye-bats, but it's been thirty years since I've seen those notes, so..." He shrugged helplessly. "But I'll find it before I go to sleep and we'll deal with the eye-bat tomorrow."

"That'd be great. Thanks, Mr. Pines."

"In return, can I ask you to take care of something?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"Could you find a way to block access to the bottomless pit? If Bill gets outside the shack, he could use it to escape to his own dimension."

"Yeah, no problem. I've got the perfect thing for that," Soos said. "Hey, don't stay up all night, okay? I kinda think the eye-bat's attracted to bloodshot eyes."

"That's not the worst thing she's attracted to," Ford muttered. "Thank you, Soos. I won't be too late."

That was, of course, a lie.

####

(Took a week longer than planned, but it was worth it to get this hammered out properly! As always, I DEEPLY appreciate any thoughts, comments, and feedback y'all have—hearing from you guys is what saves me from feeling like I'm just shouting thousands of words into the void. Thanks for reading!)

[masteraqua]

okay i need to take a break from thinking about it but i still want to share what i've been working on for my kh3 reimagining—now officially named KH3 Retry! get it? re-tri? you get it

so i've been thinking a lot about the kh3 prologue. if you saw my recent complaints about it, then you'll know i find the original sequence to be sloppy and forgettable, resulting in an incredibly weak start to the story. and so in light of that, i'm throwing the whole thing out and starting from scratch.

keep reading to see what i have in mind! 👀

i'm still working out some details, but here's what i know so far:

a teenage xehanort is the central character of the prologue rather than sora. i always found it bizarre that the main antagonist barely appears in kh3 until the finale, and i intend to correct that by starting the game with him, allowing us to get a glimpse inside his head to better understand his motivations and perspective.

as a direct parallel to kh1, we begin with a dream sequence. however, instead of a station of awakening, xehanort finds himself atop a gigantic alba & ater game board floating in a void.

i love the way the board is used throughout the kh3 opening as both a physical stage and a framing device. i'm incorporating both of those angles, but i'm also taking it a step further by making it playable. the tiered structure of the tiles would lend themselves well to teaching physics controls, don't you think?

the height of the tiles will change as the tutorial progresses, depending on what's being taught; walking/running, jumping, climbing, dodging, etc. maybe they'll form stairs or a labyrinth or even a pit if the situation calls for it.

here's some concept art! no i did not draw the board accurately, but you get the idea. baby nort for scale

after completing the mobility tutorials, the ground will begin to shake and towering chess pieces will fall from the sky to fill the board, nearly crushing xehanort in the process. this will lead into the questionnaire that influences the level progression system.

as this is xehanort's dream, the dream weapons this time around will be represented by chess pieces. i need to flesh this part out more, but the basic idea behind it is that everything in life is a strategy game to xehanort; move the right pieces to the right places and you'll win. so you choose which piece to play

here's a low-effort mockup of the pieces that can definitely be improved later

as xehanort traverses the board, setting up his strategy, he will see visions playing out around him of events that have yet to pass—events he will one day be responsible for. this ties in to all the pieces that are now on the board, since they represent different characters. this also has the added function of reminding the player of the story up to this point.

there are several cool shots from the kh3 opening to use as reference here. it's a shame they go by so quickly

after the questionnaire, there will be combat tutorials and probably a boss fight at the end, à la darkside and twilight thorn. i haven't thought it through yet, but i wouldn't dream of leaving out a big monster set piece battle. maybe he's fighting a representation of his own darkness? or somebody else's...

it might be interesting if he's using the gazing eye keyblade during this part, because he doesn't actually have it at this point in his life. i think that'd be very ominous from his perspective.

after taking down whatever metaphysical monster has been conjured by his psyche, the dream will end on a triumphant but foreboding note. altogether i think this sequence would take about 15-20 minutes.

but we're not done yet! continuing the parallel to kh1, xehanort awakes in scala ad caelum. he's sitting by the window in the classroom, game board by his side. he gives it an inquisitive look, still thinking about his dream.

i'm still contemplating what happens next, but the gist is this: playable scala. we should get a proper introduction to the world and be able to interact with the environment in order to learn more about what xehanort's life is like here. i think this is important in the pursuit of humanizing him.

there will probably be some minor objectives to complete, something small, maybe a fetch quest. would it be too on the nose to have a mock fight against eraqus with a score counter?

i have some ideas for how to incorporate story elements from dark road, but i need to think about them more.

this section doesn't need to take longer than 20-25 minutes, i think; it just needs to be enough to get a sense for the world. it's very important to me that it isn't as time-consuming as the kh2 prologue.

the last shot will have the camera follow xehanort's gaze up to the sky, followed by the title card.

speaking of which!!! i made a logo :)

[yonaioana]

Genshin characters with a Gn! teapot god s/o

I will use mainly the characters I have in my teapot for this or characters that I want to have.

Characters: Gorou; Tighnari; Kazuha; Thoma; Scaramouche; Xiao; Cyno

Gorou

I imagine this being during the vision hunt decree. Basically everything he needs in the teapot. I think mostly his s/o would work as a healer for the troops,a hideout or as a food suplier. Even if his s/o would understand the importance of a quick heal on the battle-field or a hiding place in case of a retreat, Gorou would feel very bad about using his s/o godly powers. He needs a lot of reasuring that you are ok. He's too embarrassed to recive kisses and head pats from his gigant s/o, especially in front of his soldiers. Due to your size hugs are a bit of a problem, but he loves sitting in your hand placing small kisses on the corner of your mouth or cheek. He also loves when the two of you float above the clouds where his soldiers cant see their general being soft & lovey dovey.

Tighnari

He would use the teapot for reaserch purposess the walls of the main building being plastered with reaserch papers and jurnal pages of his findings. He is overjoyed with the ideea of experimenting with the teapot plants without affecting the wild life of Sumeru. Imagine him managing to find a better alternative for some medicine and running out of his lab to show you, eyes full of excitement, basically glowing. His s/o gently masaging his head behind his ear when he decides to study outside. He would most definetly want to invite Cyno and Collei to meet his s/o. He will never let anyone from the Akademya aproach the teapot, since he is very very afraid they will take you away from him. Azar once took interest in the pot asking Tighnari how it works and he hissed at him.

Kazuha

The teapot would be extremly usefull on his travels, when the storm comes in he can just enter the teapot to dry his clothes and get a kiss. The moment he enters the teapot he gets picked up and taken to the hotspring. His clothes out on a drying rack and Kazuha chilling in your hands while being wrapped in the thickest blankets. He loves laying on his s/o's chest while the two of you gently float above the clouds. While he does enjoy the winds some are so cold it gets instantly chilly, he feels the best when he's cuddled up to you in a warm embrace. He would bring little souvenires from his travels and hang them up since you do most of the decor.

Thoma

He would feel a little weirded out at the fact that he's not the one doing the house chores anymore. His love language is acts of service so rpegardless of the fact that he doesnt have to do anything he does take up on all the cooking. One day while you were looking at furniture blueprints he noticed one that looked like a bowl. You were suspicious at first but you bought it anyway at your lovers pleads. The two of you usually slept toghether above the clouds but for some reason that night he asked if it was ok if he slept into the main house. As you retreated for the night Thoma began to work for the bigest hotpot he ever made. Only did he not realise that you were the god of this teapot, you didnt necesarely need sleep instead staying there above the clouds admiring your lover puting so much work into your bowl of food. As morning rolled in Thoma was now trying to keep the food hot so you could still eat it warm. You had to act as if you just woke up and so surprised ready to enjoy his cooking. He's never been more proud of himself.

Scaramouche

Scaramouche would ask you to turn the teapot to look like some evil lair where only he is allowed to live. He has a hard time keeping the teapot safe since his colleagues keep trying to get their hands on it. After he got defeated Nahida brought him to you for healing. When he woke up he just broke down crying. Babbling about how he lost the gnosis while hugging your wrist. He tired himself to sleep crying whie you were kissing his head. Even though he doesnt need food to survive he does feel beter after eating something. He would talk to you about the whole becoming a god thing while you were holding his hand.

Xiao

Xiao is an angsty yaksha but he does like to impress his "dad" which was the first reason why he accepted the gift from granny Ruoxin. He put the teapot on a cupboard on the upper floor of the Wangshu Inn and didnt think much of it until granny asked him if he liked the inside of the teapot. He met you a little while after he teleported in the pot. He felt very bashful at first and avoided you a lot but he started being more comfortable around you. He ended up confessing after pretending to not understand his constant blush and the tsundere behaviour. He will not let you pick him up at first cause it makes him feel small but he quickly realises that you leaning over to kiss him is even more embarrassing.

Cyno

He will keep the teapot a secret. You remodeled the enviorment in a way that is refreshing and cooling since he spends most of his time in the desert. It was a pleasant surprise when you started growing mist flowers around the water. He will bring his friends over in the hotter days and you really took a liking to them. You also installed a few floating islands since he likes looking you in the eyes or braiding your hair. He likes to brush and braid your hair when the sages get on his nerves in order to calm down and keep and keep a cool head while telling you his jokes as practice. If you do laugh at any of them his heart would melt and fall in love all over again (he doesn't show it though). He brings you cactus flowers so you can plant some around the waters. There were a few times when he was so tired from work and fell asleep in the spring only to be quickly scooped out and wrapped in a blanket. He woke up a few hours later after what he felt like the best nap of his life.

[deathmetalunicorn1]

Hey there! I'm glad that your back and I hope everything goes OK with everything you've went through and big hugs from me!

I hope you don't mind a fluffy request of Poseidon falling in love with a fire goddess and teaching their children how to swim years later.

Lots of love and hugs from a big fan!!

-He was definitely not the first god on your list that you would think would ever propose to you, but Poseidon shocked not only you, but a lot of people, including his brothers.

-He was taken by you- seeing your warm radiance wherever you seemed to go- and unlike other fire deities, you had good control over your temper…sometimes.

-Poseidon adored that you were more levelheaded, you were calm but also warm and cheerful, the opposite of him, as he was cold and stoic, and that’s what drew him to you, and despite your very different abilities, the two of you were so happy together and you made things work.

-Many envied the both of you, as both of you were very highly sought after- both of you being visions of perfection, but more envy arose when the two of you started dating- you looked so perfect together!! It wasn’t fair!!

-Poseidon had no issues lording that over others- being smug about it and not hesitating a millisecond to tell those who are beneath the two of you that he was the only one worthy of you and you were the only one worthy of him.

-You were less antagonistic with talking about your relationship, something many admired you for, but also wanted you to take Poseidon down a few pegs.

-Your relationship leading into your marriage was quite literally, steamy, as the two of you seemed to create steam no matter where you went, your powers working off each other, but you both learned how to live with it early one, while others weren’t so enthusiastic, as the two of you always made things humid and muggy.

-Poseidon had to learn how to survive your mood swings once you became pregnant- gone was his level-headed (for the most part) wife and was replaced with a vicious woman who wouldn’t hesitate to raise Valhalla to the ground if you didn’t get your peanut butter and ice cream right then and there!

-Luckily the mood swings only lasted about two months, and Poseidon was able to keep them at bay using cuddles and lots of affection.

-As king he was cold, calculating, and a highly respected leader, but as a husband and soon to be father, he was so attentive of you- if you called for him, he wouldn’t hesitate to abandon whatever he was in the middle of doing to be by your side, even if you just wanted to hug him because you missed him.

-When your children were born, twins, one boy and one girl, he became an even better father, doting on them so you could rest, you did all the hard work, now it was time for him to pull his own weight around.

-Poseidon was hesitant about his children having nannies, who would assist during the first few years of his children’s lives, but learned to grow used to them, as he could dismiss them for the day if he or you were going to tend to your children.

-Your daughter was the spitting image of her father, but had your warm and bubbly personality, while your son looked more like you and acted just like his father, but just like his father, he was only soft around you and his twin.

-Once your children were old enough, five was the age you and your husband agreed on, the four of you went to the beach, Poseidon’s private beach and you set up a picnic under a large umbrella while Poseidon and your children went out into the water.

-Both were excited to finally learn how to swim, both taking after their father for the love of water. Poseidon taught them how to stretch appropriately before teaching the basics on how to float and tread water.

-Your son was a natural with floating but not as good with treading while your daughter was the opposite, having troubles staying upright while floating and treading like an expert.

-You smiled warmly, watching the three of them playing in the water, Poseidon holding onto each of their hands, one at a time, teaching them how to kick their legs and propel themselves.

-You couldn’t help but giggle as you had three fish by the time you called them back to shore for lunch, all three racing to get back to you first.

-Your kids pouted as daddy stuck his tongue out at them as he won, getting to hug you first which made you giggle, pecking his cheek gently as his reward before your kids plowed him down, knocking him away from you before rushing into your arms, hell bent on keeping him away from you.

-As you gave them all their lunch you couldn’t help but smile softly, basking in the happiness of your small family, warmth surrounding the four of you.

-Poseidon took a drink as you spoke, “Oh I almost forgot- the two of you are going to have a little brother or sister soon.” He immediately spat out his drink, looking at you as your daughter leapt into your arms, “Really?!” you couldn’t help but smile as the two men were stunned stiff at the news, but you could tell they were happy.

[constelationprize]

ROBIN/ELODIE ??????

if this about to be like my eva josten/adèle moreau scenario i will cry then ask u to please marry me.

i need this more than i need air. u don’t understand. i love u. ur the freaking best. tell me more.

Yeah that one came to me in a vision.

The thing is that like most of my other niche rarepairings I just cannot resist the allure of Narrative Parallels™. Mostly I just realized how similar Elodie and Robin's stories are (in concept) and that they could actually be around the same age (considering Elodie would be around 15-16yo in 2007 and Robin joins the Foxes in 2009 after Kevin graduates, and assuming Robin didn't get held back due to the Horrors, that would put them at around a 1-2 year age difference).

So the basic concept for the AU is that Elodie survives and is rescued by Stuart during TSC and then brought over to the USA to live with Jean and the Trojans. This goes about as well as you would expect, which is to say not at all – she's heavily traumatized, barely speaks English for the first couple years, and is resistant to any kind of help that would result in her having to leave Jean's side. She also at first does not want anything to do with the other Trojans at all because she sees most of them as adults she can't trust and also resents them for monopolizing Jean's time, and none of these college sports players is anywhere near qualified for unpacking All of That.

Elodie and Jean effectively make each other's recovery worse for a long while because they immediately try and fall back to their childhood dynamic, which can no longer work for multiple reasons. But through Betsy Dobson all things are possible and eventually they get to a point where they aren't actively standing in each other's way anymore, though things are still Not Good.

It gets tough again when Jean graduates and they move out of LA, which just uproots what little stability Elodie had again, and he has developed a need to constantly check on her that cannot be good for his now even busier pro player schedule. Also, Elodie is almost 18, and at a point where she should be graduating high school and thinking about her future, which she very much is not doing because until a couple years ago she didn't even HAVE a future so she doesn't really know what to do with it.

They start floating the possibility of getting her into a community college or something in the state Jean's in, but eventually the possibility of having some strings pulled to get her into PSU is brought up, and Elodie latches onto it immediately, mostly because she both feels stifled by Jean's helicopter parenting AND kind of wants to punish him for not actually spending time with her by moving away. Jean doesn't want to let her, but he also doesn't really have a choice, and PSU might be far but at least he knows Elodie will have people there to reach out to if she needs it.

Joke's on Elodie though because going to college to annoy your brother does mean she just conned herself into taking classes and figuring out what to do with her life now and she has to do it while dodging 20 phone calls per hour. Anyway now that she's on PSU she has to learn how to do human person things like making friends. She ends up joining a roller derby team as a combo meeting people-getting exercise-venting anger deal.

Robin, on the other hand, is going through a similar situation where Andrew just graduated, and Neil is in his last year, so she's about to lose her anchors at PSU. Once Neil graduates, she won't have anyone to night practice with anymore, so she also joins the roller derby team to fill in her nights, in a way of trial-running how to maintain some sense of routine and normalcy and maybe make some friends as well.

And that is how the world's saddest most traumatized girls meet. They have no idea who the other really is at first because Elodie doesn't follow exy out of spite and they also don't tell each other their full names because they are very googlable and the team is for both of them a way to finding who they are outside of what happened to them, so they don't want to invite the past in there.

Neil figures it out pretty fast though, since he's been keeping an eye on Elodie, but he tells no one because he thinks it's going to be funny when Andrew and Jean (who absolutely hate each other) discover they're dating (He's right). The basic idea I have is that everyone kind of finds out at the same time when Andrew and Jean play against each other in a nearby city and both Elodie and Robin come to watch and it's a very spiderman pointing meme moment all around.

Getting to truly know each other then is a blessing and a curse because the similarities between their stories are as important as the differences. Elodie would have given everything to have parents that would want her back home and want to protect her and Robin would kill to have her family understand and relate to her trauma the way Jean does. Elodie genuinely cannot understand Robin's guilt over escaping by dooming another girl because she would have actively killed without remorse to break out. Robin doesn't get why Elodie is bitter over having to be rescued when she used to dream about someone finding and saving her. It's a very "grass is always greener on the other side" situation, and they clash a lot, but eventually they work it out.

I'm also thinking of having Robin being conflicted over whether she wants or even is capable of going pro (since as per the EC she technically wasn't good enough to be recruited if not for Andrew's constant endorsement). I'm not sure what Elodie would be majoring in, but that's fine because neither is Elodie. So that's something else they're both dealing with.

That's mostly what I have so far, I'm hoping some day this fic will grow a plot that can hold my attention so I can actually write it.

[ramjam]

i just know you're cooking up something crazy with the jericho stuff

maybe i will talk about it. i just haven't been too in-depth about my theories because being potentially catastrophically incorrect about this would be SOOOOO embarrassing LOL but i'll put my foot in the ring here. i wanted to wait until i caught up with the new episodes to see how the anime adapted the scenes but i'm bored, so.

the idea that's been floating in my brain almost since those chapters dropped is that she's under some kind of mind-manipulation. we do know arthur has that capability, he's been using it to control the people he makes work for him.

since the main villain is literally "chaos", choosing to use her as a tool in such a traumatic and destructive way like this would just make a lot of sense. and could serve a lot of purposes for arthur. theory is a bit long so it's going under the readmore.

i'm currently under the belief that he warped her mind this way for one (or all) of these possible reasons.

to generally just cause chaos. it's implied that jericho and lancelot were investigating the chaos knights and this would be an insane way to get back at her/mess with her life for it.

to push lancelot away from guinevere. he may be aware that lancelot and guinevere's fates are connected to each other. he wants guinevere for her power, he can't let an opposing force connect with her.

arthur may believe that fighting this lancelot guy is crucial to his own destiny and goals in some way? so he did something to cause him to hate him. he acts quite smug about this when they first meet officially. it seems like he's asking a question he knows the answer to. more-or-less indirectly saying, "yeah. i did something to piss you off."

arthur didn't know that lancelot was one of the four knights, but he recognized his name and had a strong reaction to it. he's also seen his face before, but didn't connect that significant name to this boy. maybe it's because jericho's future vision of lancelot is explicitly really, really feminine (interesting choice, nakaba...) he looks nothing like lancelot, basically.

you could say he's just aware of him because of jericho, but this response comes across like the name has importance to him, and not just simply him recognizing lancelot as jericho's former student. hearing "lancelot" nearly stopped arthur in his tracks. this is before arthur officially abducted guinevere, too.

i'm under the belief that arthur was clued into the fact that guinevere has been searching for lancelot-- she's been doing this for years, investigating at random trying to find him by her own words. if arthur has been tailing her, there's no doubt that he'd have heard lancelot's name come up.

okay please stick with me i have to do a brief analysis on her introduction with guila in order to elaborate on my point here.

something else that i believe supports this is the fact that during guila and jericho's introduction together in the sequel, guila's mini-arc with gowther was brought up for the first time since chapter 168 of the original manga. ie: when she was brainwashed to love gowther for his own selfish experiments/motivations.

throughout the series, guila and jericho tend to parallel each other a lot. even when they're separated, their arcs often coincided. in the end of the original manga, it concluded with their epilogue being "together." their introductory scene in the sequel put heavy focus on the fact that they parallel each other. the way they couldn't land any hits on each other because they know each other's bodies and movements so well.

despite jericho being full villain mode, she still didn't want to hurt guila. there was a softness here. she refused to harm her unless guila did first, she gave her many chances to leave so it didn't have to come to that. jericho is lancelot's teacher, older sister, and supposedly in love with him. but her introduction is all about her fated connections with guila and the care she has for her, even when she has to face her as an enemy.

if jericho's relationship with lancelot was truly meant to be genuine, i feel like nakaba would've introduced jericho in the sequel by fighting lancelot instead, and not guila. but he doesn't. we have this multi-chapter fight with heavy emphasis on her relationship to guila and the way they always find each other again after falling apart.

two sisters-in-arms, fire and ice, forever linked together. her fight with guila is actually a direct callback to her introduction with fighting ban in the prison, too. which is um... an interesting comparison to make, all context considered.

the title of this chapter refers to the sudden reveal that guila managed to master some kind of body horror ability with the latent demon power she has in her. but in my opinion, it refers to both of them. so how has jericho "transformed" in such a way that can be directly compared to guila's shape-shifting?

and despite the significance behind the plot-twist with jericho and lancelot, the databook that released doesn't reflect this at all. jericho's main quote here is when she's speaking to guila. the japanese text is the line she's saying in the panel i'm adding alongside it. the line nakaba chose to represent 4kota-jericho is her telling guila that she'll be forced to kill her if guila isn't backing down. nothing to do with lancelot at all.

(guila's quote on her databook page is when she tells jericho that she has a duty to uphold as a holy knight, so she can't back down. they're directly speaking to each other. just to further emphasize this.)

meanwhile, the panel about loving lancelot is a tiny blurb. not even her personality description mentions it. it's just kind of a side detail. ultimately, she's still being centered around her dynamic with guila, like she always has been. i think this detail is fascinating and important.

anyways, jericho also had a really sudden shift in personality the moment lancelot entered the scene and touched her, like it triggered something. i'm really curious to see how the anime handled her voice-work at this moment.

circling back to the gowther situation being randomly brought up. the fact that jericho was being more like her old self (although a bit villainous, like her arc one personality) with guila and then having a sudden personality change when lancelot engages with her, reminds me a lot of this.

(edit: i'm dying, i forgot the punchline of this scene was that jericho became disturbed since she knows guila has no men in her life besides her little brother and couldn't think of anyone she'd be referring to. more emphasis on how jericho is very much not for predatory behavior.)

in the original series, jericho's presence seemed to have temporarily disrupted gowther's brainwashing, only for guila to suddenly have this insane shift in demeanor the moment gowther appeared again and she was forced to question her memories. this is also the first time the audience is clued into the fact something is deeply wrong here. it's so similar that it's difficult to ignore.

this panel in particular when guila first brings up lancelot reminds me of guila's reaction when jericho questioned her about how she managed to survive unscathed. like their true memories were getting mixed up after suddenly having to question reality.

kudos to my friend ren for this next observation: guila and jericho have also strongly paralleled hendrickson and dreyfus respectively as early as the original manga. guila suddenly having demon powers is a reminder of that. if you recall, an aspect of hendrickson and dreyfus' dynamic is the fact dreyfus ended up being a corrupted figure in power because he was having his mind tampered with in an extremely similar way.

so not only is jericho's current situation possibly reflecting what happened to guila before, it may also be further connected to dreyfus.

in regards to what i mean by the "shift" in personality: before lancelot directly makes contact with her, she's still in her smug-battle state.

the chapter where this reveal drops is called "a burning, freezing heart" which still draws more connection to her dynamic with guila than lancelot. the title is very much a reminder of their relationship-- especially after that huge focus in the battle where jericho froze guila's fire-- and not really necessarily about lancelot at all.

despite lancelot showing up-- this boy she supposedly loves-- her focus here is on guila more than anything else initially. her dialogue here in japanese is less "no hard feelings [from me]" and more her asking guila, "please don't hate me for this." but once he engages with her to save guila's life... something shifts.

there's even this notable focus on her gasping at the contact. all attention on her delicate relationship with her friend and partner shatters in an instant.

nakaba also visualizes this by having lancelot touch where the brand arthur left on her body is. and now all of a sudden, her demeanor became wildly different. it feels unnatural.

especially with the entirety of jericho's character in mind. she's exceptionally good with kids, acts as an older sister to both zeal and lancelot. one of the films also dedicates a scene to how good she is with children, when she's on patrol with guila and they encounter some kids playing in the street. she's an honorable knight with a strong moral code.

the two-parter movies also back this idea up, in my opinion. they take place about a year before the sequel manga begins. jericho is still watching over lancelot from a distance and behaving like her usual self.

nakaba could've used this point in the movie to set-up the whole "secret admirer weirdo" thing, but instead it's just her being the cool level-headed sisterly master that she was to him. sometime between then and now, she was taken in by arthur as a chaos knight and began to act a lot differently.

the one-shot has a moment that i feel serves as a red-herring for this plot point. out of context, you'd think it supports the idea that her words to lancelot are 100% legit and serious. in-context, it's not inherently weird and even elaine says so herself after the fact. she's literally just doting on him. lancelot only initially interpreted it as weird because he was just told the same thing by someone who had ill-intent with him. i think this scene exists to create doubt.

not to mention the fact that if jericho had been harboring these feelings for the three years they were spirited away, lancelot would know. he's a fairy, he can read hearts. he does it a lot, almost constantly using it so he's clued into everything around him. lancelot was doing it in that scene i just posted, too. he would've known. but he had no reason to suspect this was supposedly happening.

because it... probably wasn't! this is likely a new development manufactured by arthur for some villainous motivation, to create tragedy and conflict. this is not jericho's first run-in with being dragged into a cult and manipulated to behave in ways that go against her moral codes. she's a professional at this point.

the reason jericho up and left lancelot (if the version she tells turns out to be a fabrication) remains a mystery. i think it's possible it had something to do with his well-being. especially if she was looking into arthur, and we know arthur was aware this mysterious lancelot guy is a detriment to his goals with guinevere. i think it's possible she also could've made a deal of some kind but things got out of hand and she became a pawn, kind of like what happened to her in the first series.

if i'm wrong i'm going to be so embarrassed that i jump into traffic.

[bugslaststraw]

I was struck with a powerful vision a few days ago and I *want* to put this in fic form but I wouldn't know where to start finding those spoons so just hear me out okay: what if we straight removed Humanz. No hear me out I don't mean remove the stuff that happened in Humanz, I like what happens in Humanz, I just mean like. I know this couldn't ever have been canon, as the writers are making the story as they go, and I don't blame A&H & co. for the wonk, but the Humanz period of time existing makes the character progression/arcs feel iffy in some areas, and fucks with the pacing, so I still like to entertain this idea, what if Humanz was sort of... integrated elsewhere. This should've been a 15k word fic and I am so so mad that it can't be but here goes

Humanz happens during and after Now Now. Sandwich the two together and you get one longer period of time.

The hiatus is probably also longer, so it takes more time for the band to find their ways back to London.

This is crucial: Murdoc goes directly from Plastic Beach to exiled at sea to eventually jailed, and stays jailed until freemurdoc happens. When he's found floating around in a leaky submarine and taken in for whatever list of petty crimes they've managed to pin him for, he's drunk out of his mind rambling on about how nothing matters, the world's already ended and he's stranded in hell; that is, until someone informs him "if this is about your bandmates, they're fine. They recently went on air saying they're going to start playing again" and he goes "oh........wait without me?" Cue jail time.

I always preferred the idea that Noodle or Russel brought in Ace, mostly because imagine how pissed Murdoc would be about that. Being replaced is like his kryptonite (to be fair he has a lot of kryptonites) and I just find the mental image of him ranting to his cell partner about how they got another green guy so they CLEARLY miss him funny

Things seem to be going well for the New (Now) Gorillaz. They're playing again, a sudden flood of creativity leading them on. They're basically making two albums at once; Humanz, which had a political concept and a vision that was there from the start, and the Now Now, which started out as a sort of b-side that grew to develop its own personality as 2-D especially became enamoured with it. They dithered about which album to put Strobelite in.

Cont. under cut cus long ass post:

The Strobelite music video does happen, minus Murdoc side plot of course. Not sure about Saturn Barz. No I don't care about the stupid meme.

However, Russel and Noodle can't find peace. Originally they think they're alone in that feeling, until they come together to talk about it one night and realize that they both feel on edge and uncomfortable. They can't really figure out why; not being equipped with quite enough emotional intelligence to realize that failed suicide attempts, getting dragged to Hell, almost dying at sea twice, spending years in self imposed exile chasing demons or being stuck in a glass tube for five years might leave you with some mental scarring. Rather than feel warm and welcome, the bright sunlight on LA beach gives them both headaches, and although they try to hide it, and do so very well, they find themselves never quite being able to enjoy their newfound peace.

2-D on the other hand genuinely feels on top of the world. As with regular Now Now he has time to regain his ego during this period, "reset himself and get back on track" after Plastic Beach, as he puts it. He's free now, properly, and revels in it, getting to learn and re-learn new skills, and he writes a lot during this period, proper creativity finally coming back to him.

That's not to say that Murdoc is forgotten; anything but, in fact, Murdoc has gravity, and the rest of the band (and 2-D especially) still subconsciously orbit around his absence. Big difference is; 2-D is aware of it. He knows he can't get rid of Murdoc and he knows, with a light-hearted, almost smug sort of resignation, that he's probably not going to stop forgiving him either. Maybe I'm some kind of a masochist, he thinks to himself. Oh well.

So he takes to taunting Murdoc every chance he gets, like with Humility, for example. Strutting around his absolute freedom from outside the prison walls, asking how does it feel, huh? and almost daring Murdoc to come get at him again, knowing that he can't ("calling the hunter with the rifle; if you're coming back to find me you'd better have good aim.")

This is all obviously sort of subtextual, but it's the vibe I get from Now Now anyway: Memory famously gains rose tinted glasses, so 2-D finds himself thinking back on Plastic Beach more fondly than he knows it should be remembered, almost feeling sorry for his ex-captor. Although he knows that's probably not a healthy mindset to have, it makes him feel really good for some reason, so he indulges in that too, occasionally fantasizing about the day Murdoc's let out of jail and comes back to them, because saying "I forgive you" after all this would be such a power move, wouldn't it? He can hardly wait, yet in a way loves the wait as well, trying to savour the last few moments (years) just before catharsis.

Obviously this all drives Murdoc absolutely up the walls, and his fellow inmates have a fond memory of that one time he threw a fit in the cafeteria about it (eg: that's MY thing he's fucking STEALING MY SIGNATURE MOVES don't be fooled by his stupid innocence-play and pretty face ok this smug piece of SHIT is TAUNTING ME LET ME OUT I NEED TO KILL HIM)

When not raging, he's usually begging Noodle to let him help them make music over the phone. He sends her blocks of lyric/hastily scribbled notes when he can, and wrote most of She's My Collar, which the others picked up, found a guest for, added to, and in 2-D's case practiced obsessively for (implied to be because he knew killing the performance of such a mature song (with his very wholesome, innocent public image, no less) would, again, drive Murdoc nuts.)

Mudz also still tries to pull the whole "I was framed by a demon thing" lie, which none of them believe, for obvious reasons.

Noodle is vaguely aware of 2-D's agenda and angrily side-eyes him every time he comes up with a lyric she finds suspicious, which is more often that he actually means anything by it (eg; the mirrored world lines in Saturn Barz and the like.) She's slowly developing a persistent urge to shake her friend/adoptive brother by the shoulders and shout "STOP GIVING HIM ATTENTION HE FEEDS ON IT LIKE A LEECH. YOU DESERVE BETTER THAN THIS" until he stops.

Noodle and Russel are also still wondering if the guy's possessed by something, and the idea that it might be El Mierda feels logical to them considering his mood.

Ace, not being very close to the rest of the band, picks up on almost none of this; assumes Noodle and Russel are doing fine and that 2-D genuinely hates Murdoc rather than whatever the hell is actually going on. He is never let in on the possession thing and bugs Russel about tripping 2-D up in Humility. He's there to be a little shit and enjoy the good vibes, he says, and that's what he'll do, but there's no need to fight now, is there?

Everything is, apart from that, going just fine. And then Murdoc, at least to the knowledge of the world in general, drowns in a sewer. Which obviously is bound to become a bit of a problem.

More accurately; it grinds everything to a halt. At this point Noodle is already out of England, looking for El Mierda, and finds out when her plane lands and she can call her band. She tries to get ahold of 2-D first, but he doesn't pick up, so she calls Russel, hoping he can help her. They talk a lot that night, over the phone, her sitting bent over the table in an empty cafeteria at the airport.

Russ has known for a day or so at that point, while she's just found out. He tries to explain things to her and sort of distance himself from the conflict as a whole while she's fuming, absolutely livid, because how dare he, how dare Murdoc send her into the mountains on a dangerous mission and then just die in the most ridiculous way possible on top of that? He tells her 2-D's gone very, very quiet since he found out.

They come to the same agreement eventually. "He was such a shithead. Literally not worth being stepped on like a bug and I hate him. And I'm gonna miss him. How fucked up isn't that?"

To Russ and Noodle's knowledge, no more music is really produced at that point.

There's one (to Russel very memorable) instance where Ace makes a misplaced attempt to lighten the mood ("yeah, but, c'mon, the old man was pretty awful, no need to get all teary over someone like that, c'moon let's just get back to what we were doi-") and 2-D breaks his nose over it.

Aside from that, that handful of weeks is slow, silent, and confusing.

On the plane from England to Patagonia, Murdoc listens to Souk Eye exactly once and has since avidly refused to ever do it again and won't explain why.

Cue the ending of freemurdoc, Noodle kicking snow for half an hour to stop herself snapping her awful adoptive father's spine like a toothpick, "you're like a family to me!! You're the daughter, Russel's the son, an' 2-D is uuuhh. The uh. The. House cat," etc etc

When they make the trip back home, a week or so later, the world already knows that Murdoc isn't dead, and so does the rest of the band. Ace dips, stating that he "would rather not be around when ol' Muddy shows back up if you catch my drift."

2-D, who's romantic idea of a triumphant reunion is shattered, is conflicted and nervous up until the point Murdoc shows back up, ("heyyy gang, sorry we're late; I almost drowned in a sewer and the trip back was awful, they didn't even have drinks on the plane, also sorry about lying, hope you don't mind, also here's a yak") when he goes from blank staring to a fit of laughter that makes everybody involved worry for his sanity to "I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD YOU PIECE OF SHIT HOW DARE YOU BE SORRY NOW" to the four of them eating takeaway noodles on the floor of their studio in dead silence as Murdoc tries to avoid eye contact and 2-D stares at him as if he's imagining eating him

Humanz is finalized, and Murdoc happily partakes in some of the interviews and promo for the album. Seemingly, everything is normal again. But upon any kind of closer inspection he comes off as almost nervous, jittery, raw and easily upset. Something has changed, and he hasn't caught up yet. There's a tension still among the group.

When Humanz is finally released, they all swear to each other they have no idea where Busted and Blue even came from. Well, three out of four swear, and the fourth just sort of gives them a weird look and mutters something vaguely denying.

And then it transitions directly into Song Machine, which directly deals with the set-up we already have! The power dynamics in the group have changed, everyone is confused on how things work now, Noodle is annoyed with 2-D and how easily he's forgiven Plastic Beach, Russel is resigned about the same, and Murdoc himself tries to claw his way back to the top but can't, as 2-D has finally slipped through his hands to join the others well out of his direct control. And we all know what happens in Song Machine, so I hardly need to recount that

Ok done now :)

[lol-jackles]

Re: Q scores

Who orders the Q scores to be done? Like in Justin H’s case, was that NBC where This Is Us aired? Or does the actors agent order these?

Who was ordering them for Jensen? WB? Why do you think they stopped at 2018?

The timing seems too coincidental that in 2018 is when Jared said no more spn and the WB/CW talked about and then decided against a Dean-led spn. Thus ending the series, and also seems ending any interest in entertaining Jensen as a lead for any show.

Would studios like Amazon look at Q scores for actors leading their shows? Does it not seem odd that no one has ordered Q scores for Jensen since 2018?

Why wouldn’t his agent or team order them and use the scores to help pitch jensen for roles/projects?

Generally, it's studios who commission Marketing Enterprise or other market research firms to conduct Q score surveys to assess the popularity and appeal of specific actors, directors, or franchises.  My guess is NBC studios had Justin's Q score surveyed in case they want to a spinoff with him. CBS studios noticed that NBC is continuously having Justin's Q score measure every year and they sussed that his numbers are good enough without actually knowing his number, so they offered him a holding deal and basically poached him away from NBC. Same thing happened with Jared, CBS studios noticed that WB commissioned Q scores biannually on him and because he's from a nitch show, CBS may have even paid Marketing Enterprise to have access to their database. CBS studio likely did the same with Rose McIlver when she was the lead of iZombie, paid to see her Q score and then poached her away from WB and now she's the lead of CBS's hit Ghosts.

I agree with your theory on why WB stopped surveying Jensen's (and Jared's ) Q scores in 2018. Before or early into season 13, Jared had accepted CBS holding deal offer and that may be why his and Jensen’s Q score stopped in 2018 since Supernatural was ending and there was no need to continue spending money on surveys. Jensen made his last-ditch pitch effort at Comic Con prior to season 13 premier (X). with a Sam-less Dean-led Supernatural.

CBS studios then commissioned Jared’s Q score after Walker’s first season.  Even during the strike, Jared’s Q score was still being assessed because with the upcoming industry-wide contraction the number of projects is cut in half, the studio wants to know who are hirable for a limited number of projects.

I imagine Amazon studios would look at Q scores database, though that place is such a mess so who could tell. Amazon Studios hold no union contacts and instead work through layers of temporary entities. People have said that working for Amazon Studios is like floating without a rudder: no leadership, no creativity, and no vision. Amazon recently realizes that they don’t understand that producing television is hard so they’re turning to production services deals.

Q scores are expensive. If Jensen wouldn't pony up the money for personal publicist for years, I highly doubt he would front the money to have his popularity assessed. So his team puts out those clickbait articles saying "Jensen almost got the same role the A-lister got". I still can’t decide if this propaganda piece was written by an AA or his team.

[w33zerbluealbum]

TRANSFORMERS OC!!!!

This is Ricochet!!!!!!! He's a military attack helicopter. He lost his right hand in an accident and Rachet (the medical robot) was able to repair it and give him a helicopter blade spinning hand thingy, whatever you wanna call it. He has wheels on his feet so he is able to sort of rollerskate when in robot form like Bonecrusher in the first movie. His wing looking things are the helicopter blades, and those spin as well, meaning he can sort of float above ground in robot form, but can't fully fly. He has weaponry torpedo looking bomb thingys on his back for battles and he can also light up his chest lights during darker times of the day. The bottom, darker "wings" on his back are the helicopter doors. He has exceptional vision and can see very well in the dark.

Please reblog, I spent a lot of time on this and I'm pretty proud of it!!!! /nf

For non Transformers fans, here's a basic sum up of the first movie's lore if you wanna know it.

To put it simply, the Decepticons (evil robots) want to take over Earth and kill the humans. They are searching for The Cube and the Allspark, which both have immense power and if they fall into the wrong hands, they could be terribly destructive. The Autobots (the good robots) are doing everything they can to try to stop them from destroying Earth and taking it over. The Autobots are sided with the humans.

[karekuat]

A continuation of the Axi ask for @arcaneglitch (and anyone who maybe possibly is interested in my made up stories)

So let's talking about Destiny 2 Axilaes =)

For the basics, he's a warlock, broodweaver specifically, he was revived in the dark ages (OLD), and he's human (albeit with cybernetics in him)

I feel like there's a lot to talk about so I'll break it down via different segments

His Timeline & History

Axi was revived in an old Braytech facility in the Dark Ages before there was any sense of a collective humanity during the time where warlords controlled land used their Light for power. He noticed he was capable of some of the same things they were, rifts, floating, and being essentially immortal as long as his Ghost was alive. But unlike the other risen he noticed his light didn't seem to manifest as any particular element, all he was really good at was making rifts, and any time he tried creating any of the other elements he saw it ended in failure. He stayed like this for a while.

Along the way he got a travelling companion, who was another risen with the same kinds of powers as him but was able to manifest a fire element power. They wandered together and exchanged their healing powers for food in the settlements they visited, but eventually they had a falling out and Axi went out on his own. He met the Drifter a few times.

He made a habit out of stalking warlords and scavenging the carnage after battles for supplies, so in legend he became kind of a ghostly figure who haunted the scenes after wars broke out. He unintentionally befriended a dog, ended up with a pack, and used his pack to help him scavenge and vulture off others. Sometimes he'd even purposefully create hostility between two opposing powers just so he could steal and pillage unnoticed. He also started to see little green wisps appear when it seemed like something important was about to happen.

When the world started shifting into a place that had more order and discipline he kept his routine by joining up with a rogue crew of Eliksni pirates. When they eventually all died, he retreated back to earth alone and decided to live isolated in silence for a while.

On his travels with the Eliksni on other planets he'd taken an interest in the foliage and flora that existed in the Sol System and especially with paracausal plants, taking note of certain kinds that would be imbued with Light or Darkness. He studied them and learned to extract and use their powers. Some risen, and guardians at this point with an interest in his work would ask him for the consumables he made, which he offered at a price. Over time he started becoming a name associated with Dredgens since they would use his concoctions to commune with Darkness or overexert their Light. At this point he'd also began understanding the green wisps and learning to control them

Drifter asked him to join in on Gambit when it started, and he refused at first. Eventually he lost a bet and was forced to play a game, and he realized he loved it. He remained a consistent player and made a slight name for himself amongst frequent Gambit players.

When strand was revealed to the cast of the game he had finally stopped hiding the fact that he'd already learned about it and managed a basic level of control over it up to that point.

Cyberware

When Axi was revived he was already equipped with a strange type of cyberware replacing his arms, lungs, heart, eyes, and parts of his spine. Despite having cybernetic eyes his vision is QUITE BAD, which was odd, until he managed to find some information at Braytech about an "experimental aquatic proto-exo" meant to be exos designed to fully inhabit water. Sure enough, underwater he's able to breathe (though not without a little discomfort) and see perfectly.

He doesn't know why he's not a finished prototype and was left primarily organic, but it doesn't bother him either way.

Personality & Relationships

At his core Axi is the type of person who just wants to live a peaceful life. He has hobbies and interests, but he's not ambitious with his work. Unfortunately (as he sees it) he's had a bad track record of getting really attached to people. Some kids back in the Dark Ages, his old dog pack, his former Eliksni crew, Lucius (who belongs to @light-thedar-k), and Elijah (who belongs to @thetruenightzedge)

Axi doesn't have much empathy for humanity in general and only wants to keep himself and those in his circle cared for, so he's very willing to jeopardize others for the sake of his own needs and feels no guilt about it. He's emotionally stunted and has a harsh personality, he scolds a lot, he's bossy and strict. With strangers he's often cocky and always unintentionally (and maybe sometimes intentionally) carrying an air of "I'm better than you" with the way he holds himself and smiles condescendingly. When he feels like he's lost control of a situation he's quick to anger and over-dramatic frustration (and frankly just going fuckin feral). He loves games and gambling and bets, and he's a real sore loser lol. When people hurt the ones he cares about he tends to go overboard with the revenge.

Lucius he met in the Reef when he lived as a pirate, and her death was one of the first to affect him as much as it did, he saw her as a sister. Elijah he fought against a few times in Gambit, and they developed a very intense horny enemies to rivals to lovers dynamic.

Extra Trivia

He's gay and transgender, and transitioned before he was revived

His Ghost is named Anem

Since the dark ages he's always been able to have visions or gut feelings about the future, so in some degree he's like a psychic but he has low control over his ability unless he meditates consistently. He often has visions of the future while he's sleeping that feel very real, and also has dreams of parts of his life in the past, so oftentimes when he wakes up he has a hard time knowing whether he's in the present past or future, and gets really disoriented. He hates sleeping.

He doesn't like to cook

He adopted two golden age sentient AIs he found and named Ćiknawi and Hari and input into his jumpship and sparrow/skimmer respectively

He's really lazy

and you can have a little half assed drawing I did of him

[kara-knuckles]

I might have been quiet about it, but don't be mistaken, I'm still not over GudaGuda 6, I just really don't know what to say after waiting for two years… So, here, have some Oryou-centric headcanons, since people don't talk about her as her own character nearly enough!

This event made it pretty clear that Oryou is supposed to be GudaGuda version of Hiruko. In his IRL myth, after being thrown away, he drifted to Hokkaido and was raised by the Ainu. I headcanon that Oryou was raised by the Ainu snake god instead, and he was the one who taught her how to change into a human form. Oryou didn't like how cold it was in Hokkaido, so, once she became strong enough, she migrated south. > IRL!Ryouma was interested in going to Hokkaido, so I like to think that one of the reasons Guda!Ryouma wanted to go there was because of Oryou's stories about it.

Back in the day Oryou was a chaotic evil goddess, but, after meeting Ryouma, she got inspired to become his mysterious, beautiful, chaotic good secretary.

Oryou speaks in third person about herself as Ryouma knows her (she really likes her name); she talks about herself as a goddess in first person.

Sea-related traumas aside, Oryou LOVES water. She invites Ryouma to swim or take a bath with her when she wants to bond with him, and going for a walk on a rainy day is one of her favourite kinds of dates. I headcanon that during the Age of Gods she had storm related powers, and even during Ryouma's times she was still attuned enough with them to precisely forecast weather for a large area.

When they were alive, Izou was the only one who knew about Oryou's true nature. Most people thought Oryou was some kind of yakuza, and you could probably write an entire book if you combined all the different theories people had about her past and connection to Ryouma.

She has two recurring nightmares: about being thrown away by her parents and about Ryouma's death.

There is a tradition in GudaGuda world to bring frog figurines to Ryouma's grave to pray for a safe voyage. It was started by the Kaientai members, who quickly put together what happened to Oryou after Ryouma's death, so they would bring frog souvenirs during their visits.

Since Oryou is a serpent, her body doesn't generate much heat on its own. I like to think that she produces poison (or whatever she uses in her Rider animations) somewhere between her chest and throat and this is her only natural source of heat. The reason she has scales on her neck in human form is to protect (and maybe cool off) this part, and she goes berserk if you touch her there because this poison temporarily goes to her head.

Her scales contain magical energy. She has transparent scales over her eyes that gain colour as her anger (read: magical power) rises. > Super Ryouma's "tattoos" are actually patches of scales, like snake skin. They act as substitutes for magical circuits.

Oryou's hair helps her to maneuver in both water and air (basically, it acts like fish's fins or bird's wings/tail).

She likes to build her own "nests", and from time to time changes placement of items in Ryouma's office "because keeping things the same makes it easier for enemies to find them".

She is lean, but well-toned. Snakes are all about dem muscles.

Her legs are fully functional; she has no problems with kicking or using them to swim, but she just can't figure out how to walk properly. Because of that (and her legend), she prefers to float. > Despite this, after GudaGuda 6 Ryouma asked Mata Hari for some dance lessons for him and Oryou. He wanted to show Oryou how much she changed compared to back when she was a helpless child, and that, even though she still has her shortcomings, she can always rely on him for support.

Like a real snake, she has an extra organ that lets her "smell in 3D". Ryouma compares it to a ship's radar, which Oryou finds annoying because ships are her longstanding rivals for Ryouma's affection.

She also has heat vision. This makes her great at scouting and spotting threats, like being surrounded or noticing someone eavesdrop on Ryouma. However, this has some negative effects: for example, she can't see well when fevering (or berserking). It also makes her a somewhat poor cook, because she gets confused by multiple similar heat sources, especially as it gets hotter in the kitchen. Still, she learned how to make simple dishes to impress Ryouma, and she is actually really good at making traditional tea because she can literally tell the temperature at a glance.

Oryou is fascinated by human "mating rituals" (not the lewd stuff, rather couple-y things like Pocky game and such), but because of her sources (romance stories, etc.) and ancient god-snake perspective there are a lot of misunderstandings. Ryouma finds it adorable, though. > One time Osakabehime advised her to watch Titanic with Ryouma, because it is "modern time classic romance story". Oryou now hates this movie because Ryouma wouldn't shut up about the ship for the entire duration. > She likes when Ryouma gives her bellflowers, because they symbolize her being a part of Ryouma's life and mean "eternal love".

Another thing that fascinates her are hand gestures. Her dragon talons aren't very agile, so she really likes using her human fingers for stuff like peace signs and handshakes. > IRL!Ryouma's hands were badly injured in an assassination attempt, I think that afterwards Guda!Ryouma gained additional understanding of Oryou's clumsy movements and appreciation for her interest in trying to figure things out anyway.

Oryou likes rhythmic sounds. Because of that, Ryouma sometimes sings or reads poetry to her, and they may even end up in a poetic match (no matter how it starts, it will always end up being about frogs). > This one is actually based on several things. The obvious is the (false) idea that snakes like music. The less obvious is the fact that Oryou rhymes in some of her lines and it was a normal pastime in Ryouma's household to come up with short poems. And the obscure I can't really verify because I can't find IRL!Ryouma's letters in English, but, apparently, he asked his sister to send him a poetry book so he could impress IRL!Oryou.

[davyjoneslockr]

anything fortunate son because im absolutely insane about this au

OKAY yeah I think it’s about time I explain what this is to the general public :]

Not gonna reveal too much because I am in the process of writing it and I don’t want to throw out spoilers but. Basically, Fortunate Son is what I’m calling my good old-fashioned Giorno in Florida during Stone Ocean AU. His Joestar Senses urge him to go there like everyone else, and, while he’s not really sure what he’s looking for there, he knows something’s up. He has a fated encounter with someone who realizes his true potential, informs him as to what’s going on, and convinces him to join a quest to save the world.

That encounter’s not with Jolyne, though. It’s with Pucci.

In this AU, Giorno doesn’t know anything about his heritage until Pucci tells him. According to him, his father was a godlike figure who sought to save humanity from itself. He was killed by a family who grew envious of his power, and who wanted to keep him down. This resonates with Giorno, who grew up imagining his father as a larger-than-life figure, one who could save him from the life he lived as a child.

And, of course, it invokes a bit of anger in him, hearing that the Joestars were the reason he never got to meet him.

Pucci suggests that fate brought them together, and that there’s still hope for Dio’s dream – after all, his son is still alive. And if Dio is God, then Giorno is the Messiah sent to realize his father’s vision.

Giorno, being a lover of pipe dreams and eager to play the role he’s been given, joins forces with Pucci, and agrees to track down and kill Jolyne Cujoh and her allies.

Of course, there’s other reasons Pucci recognizes Giorno as his Christ figure above Dio’s other sons – who they run into much sooner than in canon, thanks to Giorno’s Joestar Senses. Much to Donatello’s chagrin, of course. But the other Brando brothers have their own roles to play, as do Giorno’s companions – his husband Fugo and friends Mista and Sheila, who are joining him on this mission.

I think that’s all I can really say for now without giving away too much. I did actually have an alternate idea for this AU, which is more canon-compliant and follows Jolyne’s gang killing off Giorno’s in self-defense, one by one, until Giorno’s left alone, despairing, and powerless, eventually finished off by Jolyne herself. But rest assured, I’m not going with that ending :] (for now. I do have some ideas floating around about that, including how a few of the deaths go down, but. I’m not strong enough to write that fic yet.)

ALSO. Very important. There’s a subplot I’m calling Mista’s Hot Girl Spring Break where Mista hooks up with all the Brando Bros, a large assortment of other characters, and eventually. Sighs. Anasui. Don’t ask why. Don’t worry about it. Yes this is why my mutuals and I were Anamis posting a while back. Hi Sboopie and Tony.

So yeah!! Like I said, there’s a lot more to it, but I don’t want to give away some of the big plot points yet. This also spawned largely due to my friends and I going insane on Discord over the course of a few weeks, so big thanks to all my mutuals who helped “yes, and…” with me in the server :D