#so i had to figure out how the story works without anyone time travelling (since link cant and zelda doesnt need to)

[gay-jesus-probably]

Ngl my best friend and I are doing a kind of rewrite of totk for fun and like. We had a more nuanced story in around thirty minutes, and I kind of want to work on it more. Here's the thing though, it's so easy to write this as a good story because it has so much potential, and it's like you said!! Taken at face value it's so boring!! I'm genuinely so frustrated with this!!

I know, right? Something I've noticed is that like literally anytime I mention the story being kinda shit, it takes like maybe a minute for people to look at the existing setup and think of something more interesting. Like, I briefly complained about the boring writing in a youtube comment, and I've seen three different people reply to that with more compelling takes on the story using very minor fixes. There's just so many bad decisions in the writing, I have no idea how the fuck Nintendo thought this was acceptable.

I mean goddamn, even putting aside all of the Everything with the imperialism in the memories, the memories existing at all is a horrible decision! They seriously made a role playing game where 95% of the story occurs in the past, where the only involvement the player has is our character being namedropped a few times. It worked in BOTW, because Link was there the whole fucking time, and also the memories WEREN'T the story - that was everything leading up to the actual plot kicking off! If a player just totally ignored the memories, the only real consequence was that you didn't really get to know Zelda! If you ignore the memories in TOTK, you are missing the entire fucking plot.

It's such an easy fix too, I mean ffs if the ancient past is where everything interesting is going to happen, just send Link and Zelda back in time together. Link can actually interact with the story and characters, he can develop his own beef with Ganondorf instead of them literally having nothing to do with each other beyond other people saying they should fight, and it'd fix the gaping plot hole of literally all the Sheikah tech being gone - none of it's been built yet. The story could take Link through working with the Sages, finding a way to heal the decayed Master Sword - fuck, he could even wield the ancient Master Sword in its place while he's in the past! They fight Ganon, seal him away, then for the grand finale Link and Zelda return to the modern day Hyrule shortly after they left, and discover it's basically an apocalypse kicking off, because why would Ganon bother to just wait for his enemies to get ready to stop him, he can just go apeshit the second he's free of the seal. This works in story, but also excuses the finale having some railroading - the chaos of the apocalypse stops Link from going off track, ensuring the devs don't need to put in the entire BOTW map just for that one finale sequence. Link retrieves the formerly decayed Master Sword from wherever he left it to heal for the last ten thousand years, and then him and Zelda go fuck up Ganon together, for real this time. Bam, problem solved. Link's in the actual plot, Zelda gets to actually exist for more of the story than just the ending cutscene, there's a reason for the map being completely different, and the Sheikah tech isn't just retconned into non-existence. Fuck, they could explain the runes being gone as just Zelda dropping the Sheikah Slate in the chaos before being yeeted into the past, or the slate being hit by Gloom and destroyed as well. Also, the expanded list of monsters and old monsters having different designs to include the new horns makes sense; they're ten thousand years in the past, of course things are different. Yeah it'd suck that we wouldn't really get to see the characters from BOTW, but... come on. They barely did anything with them anyways.

Alternatively, they could just do the story in the past with Zelda as the player character, if they're that hellbent on ensuring Link isn't allowed to do anything. It'd be a really cool twist! They wouldn't even need to change the gameplay that much, it's been years since the Calamity and Zelda's been travelling around with Link the whole time, it makes perfect sense that she would have learned how to fight over the years, and Link teaching her would give her a very similar fighting style.

It would have been so easy to give the game a more interesting story, it's just embarrassing that they fucked it up so badly.

[ashensgrotto]

Why, greetings my dear anon! I’m happy that you enjoyed the ‘Poor Unfortunate Souls’ to read it that many times - and I apologized that I haven’t been able to get started on the Scarbia segment yet (between that and Raison D’être plus work & other stories… and GloMas, I really need to get my priorities straight seriously -_-). However, I do intend on working on it as soon as I can so I can get it out sometime this month or in December - I mean, I think that would be the most logical since that one takes place during holiday break, right?

Now, for your request - I hope head cannons are alright for the time being. I’ll try to come back to them and do short stories for each of them that follows the same concept design as “Am I Feeling Love?” - which is the first installment of the Yandere!Azul series. I'm also going to divide this into two parts - about halfway through I realized I hadn't posted anything in a while and thus, I want to make it up to all of you for not writing or posting anything for some time.

Part 1 (Here) will feature Riddle Rosehearts, Leona Kingscholar, and Jamil Viper

Part 2 (Here) will feature Vil Schoenheit, Idia Shroud, and Malleus Draconia

***

Vil Schoenheit

Vil is a combination yandere - he is both a studdle stalker type, but also a projection type. Of course, in his youth, he was an up-and-coming movie star… famous for the villainous roles he played. This caused a lot of grief in his childhood, not to mention some of the trauma he had endured from other children who believed everything they saw on the big screen - thinking it was real, even though it was just special effects and players playing their roles on the stage. And, even though Jack Howl became the closest thing he had to a friend, there was nothing that he could do to shake the fear of wanting to be ‘the good guy’, the ‘hero’... to be the most beautiful of all.

As a junior in Night Raven, Vil and the rest of Pompfiore were just as shocked as the rest of the school when you appeared. At first, Vil was not interested in what you may have to offer - but ever faithful Rook was the one to point out certain features you had; soft cheeks, a creamy complexion, eyes wide and filled with wonder - not to mention a figure that would’ve had some acting agencies dying for; you almost reminded him the the princess the fairest queen had raised years ago. Vil was reluctant, but stepped forward and offered the headmage a place for you to stay in Pomfiore until you could return home. 

It was at this point that Vil realized that you were more than what you appeared. Whatever he asked of you, you did it - to nearly perfection. Scrub the ballroom flooring? It shone brighter than diamonds when you were done. Wipe down the windows? Clear as crystals. Tend to the gardens around the dormitory? Neat and tidy without a single flower or bush out of line. This, of course, caused Vil to backpeddle a little bit - if anyone from outside the dorm found out about how well you followed instructions (specifically a certain lion or scheming octopus), there would be trouble. Hence, Vil decided to try and keep you close, luring you in like the villain he was always meant to play.

He learned quickly that your home in your world was… chaotic. You often traveled back and forth between two families, plus your grandparents. If you had a choice in the matter - you would’ve stayed with your father and your stepmother full time as your mother and her on-again-off-again boyfriend often mistreated you. You were in charge of the cooking, cleaning, and caring for the home while under your mother’s care and were often trapped in her home more times out of the year. Vil had remembered about Niege LeBlance’s situation when the two stars were children - he could sympathize with your situation - and decided to take you under his wing. Vigorous training began shortly thereafter, and you soon found yourself secured under Vil’s thumb. You, along with Epel, were put through beauty regimens regularly, vocal and annunciation lessons followed classes and chores, and fashion and gossip columns replaced your books at night; and if either of you tried to escape or slip out of something, ever faithful Rook brought you straight back to Vil - a disapproving scowl on his face, arms crossed over his chest, and heeled foot tapping, looking very much like a disapproving mother.

With the arrival of spring and the fast approaching date of the Cultural Fair, Vil’s energy became more focused on the SDC - working long hours into the night perfecting the team for the competition. You did try to help sooth much of the stress that had fallen on the headwarden and offered your assistance in any way you could, Grim acting as your assistant under the watchful eye of Rook. It was also here that things slowly began to take a turn for the worst - after the mention of Neige LeBlance, Vil had begun turning to his phone more often, asking it every day who was the most beautiful of all. Mira always answered… Neige LeBlance.

The last straw was when you and Rook attempted to stop him from poisoning Neige, the vice warden ordering Neige to run and evacuate the premises. The other members of the team rushing in at the sound of Rook’s shouting. Vil couldn’t forgive himself for what he had attempted to do… he was as ugly as the poison that he created. If only he was the fairest… if only Neige LeBlance hadn’t walked into his life again… if only you could understand what it meant to be… the fairest one of all…

Idia Shroud

Idia would also be a combination type yandere - possessive and clingy on a short list, with subtle stalker on the longer list. Not that anyone can blame him of course - his childhood was spent in it’s entirety on the Island of Woe, the next Shroud in line to take up the mantle as the Watchman of the Underworld. He, and his little brother Ortho, were the only children that lived in the facility, spending their days playing video games, reading manga and comic books, as well as creating original characters of their own. However, tragedy struck when the two boys snuck out of their room during a routine lockdown and one of the phantoms possessed the younger brother - Idia’s grief and self-blame pushed him away from others, even after he was able to reunite with his brother… in a technological sense.

Years later, during his junior year at NRC, Idia was surprised when Ortho volunteered to bring you into Ignihyde - as many other students were. When Idia demanded an explanation - Ortho explained the scan he did on you indicated that you had a lot of the same qualities as many of Ignihyde's students. What a drag - but what's done is done, and Idia found himself, not only in charge of a dorm, but an unexpected guest as well.

For the first few months, Idia holed himself up in his room - trying to avoid an encounter with the ‘normie’ of the dorm; the magicless guest of Ignihyde. Ortho attempted over and over again to get him to come out and meet the new member, telling him all about how interested you were in manga comics, fantasy RPGs, and the like - but Idia always refused… until one night during a routine midnight snack run, he ran into you. You were smaller than he expected you to be, the dorm’s heavy leather jacket baggy over your form - also swapping the typical heavy denim jeans and boots for leggings and slippers. Idia was even more surprised when you offered him a large roll of chocolate chip cookies you had picked up from the school store, a smile on your face, “Hello, I’m (y/n). You must be Idia, right?”

And following that first encounter, Idia slowly began to warm up to you. He was drawn to your sassiness and imagination, especially when the two of you talked about video games - Idia even went as far as to introduce you to his online friend, Muscle Red - the gamer excited about having another runner in the mix for events. 

However, what no one knew was that Idia slowly began to worm his way into your online presence. He hacked into your computer that Ortho had provided for you and watched when you were online, who you interacted with, and what you talked about. At first, Idia reasoned it was a way to get to know you - the best way to find out the internal workings of someone was to figure out about the mask you wore, right? But even so, the real pusher was when he was spying on a chatroom you were a part of and one member began insulting you - saying that you weren’t really a gamer, that you didn’t know anything about online gaming, or anime, and that you were a fake… a ‘normie’. If Idia had been standing next to you, you would have seen his typical calm blue hair turn red hot - hotter than the flames of Tartarus. No one was going to get away with calling his friend a ‘normie’ - magicless or not.

In the months that followed, Idia began to slowly attach himself to you - spending more time in your presence than ever before. Then, when he was summoned back to the Island of Woe to test the students that had overblotted, he brought you along with him, keeping you close as each test was conducted, examined, and recorded. The look on your face and the questions you asked him, yes, brought him joy.. But also made him worry - what did you think of him now that you knew what he was doomed to become? Would you eventually end up like Ortho because of his mistakes? Idia didn’t want to think about that… but even so, to be free of his responsibilities… to not have to be the caretaker of the Phantoms any longer… to reset the world… maybe then, you would be safe…

Malleus Draconia

Malleus follows the same combination style - he’s definitely the obsessive, the stalker, and possessive style. Living in Briar Valley, it’s no secret that as the next in line it is his duty to help provide an heir that will take over for him when the time comes. As his mother and father had loved each other before him, Malleus often wished for the same kind of companionship that they had - however it is hard with Lilia away caring for a young human and Sebek, hence the only thing Malleus has is the comfort of his dreams. He dreams a lot, images of a fair young human traveling through the forests of Briar Valley playing in his mind - Malleus far too fearful to approach.

Many years later - during his junior year at NRC - Lilia informs him of a strange individual that has arrived - a magicless guest that is to be taking residence within the Ramshakle dorm that was on the school campus. Of course, Lilia had known about Malleus’ tendency to spend quiet nights in the dorm, listening to the sounds of the old building creek, the windows rattling against the wind… the silence and stillness of the place. Even so, Malleus does continue to travel to the dorm at night, walking around the premises like a dragon guarding his hoard. One night, however, he encounters you - the child of man with no magic abilities whatsoever - and is surprised by how easily you talk to him, without any fear in your eyes, even more so when you nickname him ‘Tsunotarou’. It slowly becomes a habit for him, heading to the Ramshakle dorm each night daily to spend time with you and talk to you - the first friend he has outside of the protection of Silver and Sebek. 

Malleus often sends Lilia to keep an eye on you, much to the chagrin of Sebek - the elder warming up to you and sharing everything he finds interesting with you with his charge - how you love visiting the other dorms, spending time with Ace, Deuce, and Grim, the struggles you encounter… never mind each of the overblot incidents that cause destruction and harm. Malleus then uses the reports to gain your trust, always lending out a hand to help when needed and offering comfort when there was none to be had. You slowly became his secret treasure - something he wanted to hide away, to protect endlessly until the end of your days.

But still… to a fae, a hundred years can pass in the blink of an eye… a thousand years was just the same way… And when the revelation of Lilia’s powers slowly depleting became noticeable, Malleus became lost for words. He was losing the closest thing he had to a father… and you were close to finding a way back to your world. He couldn’t allow that - he couldn’t lose anyone that was close to him.

When the others attempted to stop him - Malleus easily overpowered them. After all, he is one of the top five mages of the world - his power as a Draconia was more than enough to defeat an army, let alone students in a magic school. With ‘Fae of Maleficence’ casted, darkness covered the school - pulling everyone into slumber and keeping them as they were indefinitely. Everyone could be the protagonist of their own story… everyone could be happy… to live in their current state… and he would never be alone again…

[cobaltperun]

Lost (16) - Night of the Hunter

Tara Carpenter x female Reader

Summary: To anyone on the outside, and to Tara’s friends, you were Tara’s fierce protector, the MMA fighter who’d take anyone on for Tara. The Guard Dog, as Amber called you. You had no idea you’d have to protect her from people who claimed they loved her. It didn’t matter. As long as you and Tara had one another there was nothing you wouldn’t be able to survive.

Story warnings: Scream violence, family issues, trauma, angst, certain sensitive topics

Word count: 5.5k

Story Masterlist / First part / Previous part / Next part

-Whatever you do, don't be afraid of the dark-

You lost count of how many times you looked at your phone in the last couple of hours, so you basically lost all the patience you had. You leaned on the kitchen counter and waited. "Come on, it's not that hard to pick up," you muttered as you tapped the fingers of your free hand on the kitchen counter, but much like the other two times you called earlier, Susan didn't answer her phone. "Hey, please call me when you see this, I'm getting worried. Ghostface is back, and I don't think you're in danger, but I'd feel better if you spent a few days at a neighbor's house or something," you decided to leave a message this time. "Be safe, love you, bye," you had no idea why you said those words, you never said them to Susan before, but somehow you just had the need to say them.

You should have said those words sooner, you loved Susan like a mother, hell she was the one and only person in the world you could consider your parent. You never said those words because you struggled to say them to anyone other than Tara. Years of only having a deep, emotional bond with Tara made it difficult to express yourself to anyone else, though you cared for a lot of people now. Well, a lot compared to before. You loved Susan, and Sam, and Chad and Mindy, and even though you didn’t know her for long, you loved Anika as well. But saying it, even casually, felt almost impossible. Yet now it just slipped out.

Susan was going to get shocked when she hears that. She knew you loved her, even without you telling her, but you knew she’d be happy to hear it.

"Susan still isn't answering her phone?" Tara approached you and you just nodded as she took your hand. If you weren't worried, you'd think the situation was funny, since the roles reversed as the day went on. When Susan first failed to answer her phone, you brushed it off as a hectic day at work and Tara was the one who got worried right away.

Then, when Susan didn't answer her phone the second time you found yourself assuring Tara she was okay, even if you were getting worried yourself. And now Tara was the one comforting you. "She's on the other side of the country, I doubt Ghostface would travel all the way to Sacramento," you said, but you could see the look in Tara's eyes. She saw right through you, sure, you wanted to reassure Tara as well, but those words, they were meant more for you. And you were still a hundred percent certain no one figured out she had anything to do with you.

"I'm sure she'll call you soon," Tara placed her hand on your left forearm, gently tracing random patterns across your skin. You relaxed significantly, choosing to remain in here and now with Tara instead of in different what-ifs your mind was making up. Tara wasn't the only one who found comfort and safety in your touches, you craved it just as much, relied on it just as much, so you placed your right hand on her waist and tugged her body closer to you. You just weren’t as obvious as she was, or well, at least it took some time for your friends to figure out it wasn’t just Tara that was touchy with you, so you guessed you weren’t as obvious.

Tara smiled softly as she let you pull her in. Her left hand caressed your cheek, and it was so minute you doubted anyone but you or Sam could notice it, but there was the slightest tremor in her touch. It was getting a bit cold. You raised the hand that was previously resting on Tara's waist and placed it over her left hand to warm it up. “I’d be lost without you,” you whispered, kissing her palm as she smiled, she didn’t need to say anything, her eyes told you all you needed to know, her eyes told you the feeling was mutual.

The sound of gagging made both of you roll your eyes, though you didn’t separate from one another. "This is why I couldn't take living with you. It's either drama or sickly sweet with you and I could somewhat handle the drama," Mindy was being Mindy, teasing and complaining even if you and Tara knew she was, deep down, happy for you two.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, go cuddle with Anika," you smirked at Tara's words. Granted, Mindy and Anika weren't as touchy as you and Tara, but they were fairly sweet as well.

“Ha! Don’t even try to pull that one, T, Anika sitting on my lap, or me sitting on her lap is as rare as you not sitting on Y/N’s lap,” Mindy fired back, luckily Tara was getting fairly immune to Mindy’s teasing.

‘There’s not much point in denying it,’ she told you one time when you got worried Mindy’s teasing went too far. Tara just made sure you understood that she didn’t care about the teasing as much as she used to. She was touchy, and clingy, and she couldn’t and wouldn’t even try to deny it. “I’m clingy and I’m proud, besides, who wouldn’t be in my position!” Tara declared boldly, and took a step back to gesture toward you with her hands.

You went to pour yourself a glass of water. “Maybe you should try snuggling with Anika more often, it’s relaxing to snuggle with someone you love,” you smirked before drinking a few sips of the water.

"Sure, I was going to do that, but you two missed my monologue, again," Mindy said, and you nodded a few times, silently accepting that this was happening. "Also, you were spared from Ethan's weird overshare that he's a virgin, and if we have to know so do you two," at that you had to groan.

"Not our business, Mindy," come on, you did not need to know that. You absolutely did not care one bit about how experienced anyone was. You wouldn’t have even cared about Tara’s experience if she herself didn’t tell you about it, mostly because she needed to get it off her chest.

"It wasn't our business either," she just deadpanned, as if that was actually a good excuse to go and share Ethan’s private information, that you didn’t even ask for.

"So!" she ushered you and Tara to the table and from the corner of your eye you saw Chad giving you a thumbs up with an encouraging look on his face.

"Someone save us!" you whisper-shouted, mostly looking at Sam for help.

Tara chuckled and lightly elbowed your side. "Behave, it might be fun," she sat on your lap instead of the chair Mindy pulled out for her.

"Oh, come on, for once sit somewhere else!" Mindy huffed with her hands on her hips.

Tara just grinned and leaned back against you. "I'm doing you a favor, you know Y/N might escape if I don't do this."

You wrapped an arm around Tara's waist and leaned your head back, feeling just a tad bit annoyed. "Gee, sorry for not wanting to live by movie logic," a good movie to watch as a way to have fun? Sure, any time, especially with Tara. This was just going too far for your taste.

"Too bad, Y/N, this is your life now!" Mindy walked over to you and poked the side of your head. "The sooner you accept that, the better."

"Never!" you gave a defiant, and maybe a bit childish, refusal.

"You can't fight this, miss MMA! Besides, we are in a franchise, and characters aren't safe anymore, so you better listen, especially Sam and Tara," any fun you might have been having with this conversation was gone in an instant.

"No one is killing Tara or Sam," you felt Tara twitch slightly on your lap, you figured it was due to the tone of your voice, lower than usual and promising pain to whoever tried to hurt either of the two sisters. "No one is killing any of you, not you, not Chad, and not Anika, not while I'm breathing."

Mindy looked away from you, touched, but not really believing your words. "You can't promise that, Y/N, but thanks anyway."

Your eyes met hers, you understood, while you would do everything in you power and protect Tara you couldn’t be everywhere at once, you couldn’t claim no one would get killed as long as you were breathing, not after Wes and Liv being killed last year. You would still do your very best to keep them all safe.

"Okay, I'm sensing tension here, let's just relax and have a fun slumber party as the Core Five," Chad and Sam came into the kitchen while Anika stayed back in the living room watching news.

"Core what now?" you couldn't help but ask.

"Core Five?" Sam asked at basically the same time.

"Did you just give us a nickname?" Tara asked in utter disbelief.

"I sure did! I mean, we've been through a lot together and it's a pretty cool nickname," Chad explained and you honestly could go along with that logic.

"That's debatable," Sam wasn't quite on board yet.

"It's extremely debatable," Tara definitely wasn't in favor of it.

"You can't just give yourself a nickname, dingus," Mindy was probably just messing with Chad.

"Of course I can, dingus, because I just did," Chad raised his palm for a high five. "Core Five up top!" he exclaimed.

"No." Mindy immediately rejected him.

"Down low!" he tried with Tara.

"Get that away from me," Tara laughed.

"Please, for the love of God, Sam!" he might have been getting a bit desperate.

"Don't do it!" Mindy, perhaps seeing that Sam might actually do it, quickly interfered.

"Y/N!" he tried one last time.

"You know what, I feel sorry, here's to your Core Five staying alive five," you high-fived Chad, ignoring the incredulous look on Tara's face.

"Thank you!" and Chad looked happy, so win-win.

"I can't believe you," Tara shook her head.

"What? It's kinda cool," you shrugged, but before an argument could be made for or against the nickname your phone rang. Tara nearly jumped off your lap, but you kept a firm hold on her. "Yes?" you picked up without even looking at the caller ID. Maybe you should change that habit…

"Y/N L/N?" that didn't sound like the way a Ghostface would start the conversation.

"That's me," you replied, keeping caution at bay.

"We received a report of alarms going off at the gym you work at. Thomas Laurent called us and said he was out of state and that you'd come to handle the situation. We just need you to come by and make sure everything is still here," the woman spoke over the phone, and you nodded, making up your mind in a second.

"Not the best moment, but sure, I'll be there as soon as I can," you hung up and realized Tara wasn't budging. "Love, I know it's not ideal, but I'd like to keep my job," you pressed soft kisses to the back of her neck. "I promise I'll be careful."

"I'm going with you," Tara decided still not moving from your lap.

"Tara, no you're not," Sam didn't waste a moment, she just outright put her foot down.

"Listen to Sam, please, you'll be safer here," you pleaded for Tara to just listen to you this once. Ater all, if this was the trap you were guessing it was, this was your best bet. There were two options, either Ghostface was waiting for you at the gym, or he was trying to separate you from the group and attack them.

"You're not going anywhere either, Y/N," and it looked like both sisters were about to give you trouble.

"Sam," you tried to argue, a plan already forming in your head, and you didn’t feel like letting this opportunity get away.

"Thank you!" Tara looked so happy Sam was on her side in this. She then turned to you. "You're either not going, or I'm going with you, the same way we agreed on me going to parties."

You and Sam both groaned at that, Tara really shouldn’t have mentioned that agreement when she broke it twice.

"You were beaten! You're not going alone!" Tara argued, before either of you could respond to her previous argument.

"T, if this Ghostface that attacked you really is stronger than Y/N, and she really has to go, then she'll be safer on her own, or, if someone has to go with her, it should be Chad," no one quite liked the idea of you going anywhere, and you were sure Mindy didn't exactly like the idea of Chad leaving either, even if she did suggest it.

"I'm definitely going with you. We'll beat this chucklefuck up together," Chad seemed confident, and the way Sam was nodding at that had Tara reluctantly getting up.

You got up and grabbed your car keys and wallet. "No one is going with me. I'll be in and out," you sighed when Tara wrapped her arms around your waist. "Tara, Love," as gently as you could you got her to let go of you. As hard as she tried there was pretty much nothing Tara could do to you unless you let her, and you sometimes wondered if she got so used to you giving in to her wishes and demands that she forgot that fact. "Please, don't make this harder than it should be," you understood, you really did, but the sooner you left the better.

Tara looked you in the eyes. "Please, don't leave," it nearly made you change your mind.

"Trust me, I'm not about to walk into a trap," you assured her, you reached up and touched her cheek. "We need to be rational about this," even if it did hurt to leave Tara like this you turned to Sam. "I know this isn't the smartest option, but I made up my mind."

You didn't exactly leave a lot of space for arguing and by now they all knew how stubborn you were. And so, you left the group, taking your spare keys with you.

~X~

You left the apartment. You actually left Tara and she… she was frightened, not for herself, the apartment was fairly safe as far as she was concerned. She was there, Sam was there, Chad, Mindy and Anika were there, with five on one even the Ghostface that fought against you would have troubles. So, no, she wasn’t afraid for her life, she was afraid for you, you reckless, asshole. You left when Tara all but begged you not to, you were knowingly putting your life in danger when you knew one moment of carelessness could mean death. And you just wanted Tara to accept it and wait helplessly for you to come back home.

And it made Tara angry. It was a similar feeling to the one she’d get when she had mood swings back in Woodsboro, only even stronger this time, and her emotions were out of control. She needed you here, both to feel safe and to complain to you about your behavior.

"Hey, she'll be fine," surprisingly, the one who reassured Tara was Anika.

Tara looked to the side. "How can you be so sure?" a part of her wanted to say something along the lines of 'easy for you to say', but she knew better. Maybe it was because you and Anika didn't have siblings in the friend group, or maybe it was because Anika was the one who helped four months ago when Tara first disappeared, but somehow the two of you bonded a bit more than Tara expected. You definitely bonded more with Anika than with Ethan. Granted, that was true for the entire group, not just you. Except maybe Chad since Ethan was his roommate.

"Come on, T, she's strong and smart, she's either sure she can handle whatever trap someone could be setting up for her, or she has a plan of her own," and if you had a plan you weren't about to say it.

Perhaps you just didn't trust Anika enough to openly say what you were going to do.

It didn't stop Tara from worrying about you, but she couldn't do anything but believe in you. So, she felt better. You'd come back to her. You always did. "Thanks, Anika," she smiled, and then they heard the news that Sam was the suspect.

~X~

You needed to be quick about this. Luckily, there was a gas station near your apartment, so you approached the first younger driver you saw. "Hey, would you like to earn three hundred bucks, with absolutely no effort?" the moment those words left your mouth you wondered if your morals completely abandoned you.

"Huh?" the kid you approached probably wasn't even out of high school.

"Look," you showed him a police tracker. "You drive away with this in your car, in the opposite direction of your home. Then, a couple of miles away from here just chuck this somewhere. No matter what, don't keep it," as long as he kept driving and went far enough you genuinely hoped nothing bad would happen, but you needed to get rid of the bloody tracker.

You should probably thank Sidney for making you paranoid about trackers on your car.

"Uh, sure," quick and easy money, coupled with the kid being young and likely naive did the job.

"Thanks," you said and handed the tracker and the money over to him. "Throw it away, and don't stop, just throw it, you hear me," you really hoped you wouldn't see the kid got stabbed in the news tomorrow morning. "Don't ever do this again though, you never know who you're dealing with!" you hollered as you ran back to your car.

You were suspicious the moment that call came, guessing Ghostface would be trying to separate you from the group. Either to jump you or attack the others, you weren't sure. But you weren't about to take the bait. You drove like a maniac, parking the car in the back alley less than a minute from the building you lived in. Even less if you ran. And then you hid in the shadows, watching the entrance, thankful you chose to wear a black hoodie today.

Your phone rang and you picked up, once again without looking at the caller ID.

"Hello, Y/N," oh, you recognized that voice. "What are you doing so far from your workplace?"

"Ruining your plans," you were relieved the kid listened to you.

"Hardly. I got you exactly where I want you. Away from home," that would have been chilling to hear if you weren't looking at the entrance and noticing the figure approaching.

"If you even try to touch them," you warned, stepping away from the shadows, and as silently as you could you went after the Ghostface.

"What are you going to do about it?" you didn't respond, seeing as you were already about a dozen feet behind the killer. "Silent, huh? Will you be that silent when I carve up your little whore," you grabbed Ghostface from behind and slammed him into the ground.

"Sorry, whore really doesn't fit any of my loved ones," you picked up the knife he dropped and quickly stabbed him several times, but just as you were about to slit his throat you heard tires screeching, horns blaring, and looked up to see a car heading right toward you and the Ghostface.

You jumped up to your feet and headed for the stairs, you got inside just as another Ghostface emerged from the car and went to his fallen accomplice in crime.

You felt your blood run cold when you took a good look at the two. They weren't nearly as big as the one you fought at the bodega.

No.

Fuck!

Would this one run after you or get the other one out of the way? You didn't know. It didn't matter.

~X~

Tara couldn't remember the last time fifteen minutes made her go through such a rollercoaster of emotions. First, she was worried about you, then reassured, then she had to completely shift focus on comforting Sam, and then, finally, she even allowed herself to be excited and happy for Sam because she was sleeping with Danny, or Cute Boy, as Tara dubbed him, mostly to see if you'd get jealous. You didn't even react, but the nickname kinda stuck around.

And then they all heard Anika scream.

Tara jumped to her feet and ran into the living room to see Ghostface standing over Anika with a knife in her stomach.

"Anika!" Mindy cried out as Tara, before anyone could grab her lunged at Ghostface and tried to push him off Anika.

He wouldn't budge, Tara was trying with everything she had, pushing the forearm, but nothing worked.

"Feisty," Ghostface chuckled, entirely unbothered by her efforts.

Tara suddenly remembered all those times she watched you fight, pulled her fist back, and with all her weight put behind the punch she hit him right where his liver was.

He flinched, probably more surprised than anything, and pushed Anika aside. Before Tara could react, he grabbed her left forearm and pulled her closer. "You should have left the fighting to your girlfriend," he taunted and raised his knife. And she screamed, for a moment feeling like she was back in Woodsboro, with Amber, in her robes above her on the night she was attacked for the first time.

Everything turned hectic from that moment. Sam grabbed the arm holding the knife and pushed, desperately trying to keep the knife from reaching Tara as Chad jumped in and punched Ghostface in the face. Tara did her best to push as well and they managed to topple him over.

"Help Anika!" Chad got on top of him, hitting him with all he had several times and for a moment Tara thought they would be safe. She thought Chad's hits were enough to defeat the man, because while he wasn’t as skilled as you were, Chad wasn’t weak by any means.

"Chad get back!" Sam, however, saw something else and went to pull Chad back. Only then did Tara see the man had his forearms raised and was blocking each and every hit Chad made. And it looked a lot like how you would fight in the cage. There was no doubt in Tara’s mind now, this man was an MMA fighter and she felt her blood run cold, because she knew exactly how dangerous that made him.

There was no mistaking it. This was the Ghostface that attacked the three of you at the bodega. Sam wasn't strong or fast enough to pull Chad away in time and Ghostface stabbed Chad right below his chest.

He violently yanked the knife out, making the wound even worse as blood splattered on the floor and Chad cried out as he and Sam fell back. Tara watched in horror as Sam managed to get back on her feet only to just barely avoid the knife.

"Run!" Sam yelled and Tara went to help Anika to her feet. There was no way they could reach the front doors, but maybe they could lock the bedroom doors and call for help from there. Mindy, trusting Tara to handle helping Anika went to get Chad, only to get sliced across her left biceps.

Sam grabbed a lamp and threw it at Ghostface, slowing him down just enough for all five of them to flee into the guest bedroom.

They had no idea what to do now, though. They didn't bring their phones. They barely managed to block both of the doors and Ghostface kept trying to break through.

"Sam!" they heard Danny yelling from his apartment and Sam went to the window.

"Shit," she cursed, and Tara realized they really had no way out. Ghostface would break in sooner rather than later.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Tara looked at Sam, not knowing what was happening, all she was focusing on was trying to slow down Anika's bleeding. "Fuck, I don't," Sam grabbed onto something and Tara realized it was a ladder.

"Tara! Tara, go!" Sam ushered her to the ladder.

"Sam! Wait!" Tara tried to argue, but Sam just grabbed her shoulders and made her look into her sister's eyes.

"Listen to me, we'll send Anika next, but I need you to get out of here," the frantic, frightened look in Sam's eyes made Tara give up on fighting.

Tara pulled Sam into a hug. "Please don't die," she begged and, not having any more time to waste, went to the ladder. She looked Danny in the eyes and swallowed down her fear. The last thing anyone needed right now was for her asthma to kick in. Slow, deep breaths. She thought about you, about how you'd be encouraging her right now, but she was moving too slowly. The lack of strength in her left hand made her uncertain.

"Come on, Tara, I got you, Sam will be right behind you, you can do it," Danny encouraged her, reaching out for her to grab onto his hands. And she did, she grabbed on and with his help made her way to the safety of his apartment.

"Sam!" she immediately cried out, now feeling even more anxious since she had no idea what was happening in the apartment. She could still hear Ghostface trying to break into the apartment, she flinched when she heard wood cracking but managed to keep her breathing under control when she saw Sam climb onto the ladder.

Sam began making her way over, but the ladder shook slightly. "It won't hold me," Sam spoke what Tara feared the most at the moment.

"It ain't going anywhere, it's gonna hold you, I promise," Danny kept a firm hold on the ladder and Sam nodded slightly.

"Eyes on me, Sam, come on, I got you," just like he did with Tara he reached out for Sam and pulled her inside.

Sam immediately hugged Tara, trembling slightly, and then looking at Danny. "Thank you," she whispered. "Okay, she turned back toward their apartment. "Come on!" she yelled for the others to get across.

"Mindy! Chad! Anika!" Tara yelled, hoping any of them would just get to the ladder and get out of there before it was too late. She saw Mindy and Anika getting close to the window. Her heart shattered when she saw Anika and Mindy kissing, possibly for the last time, and Mindy climbing on the ladder.

"Anika and Chad are coming right behind you! They're right behind you!" Sam kept yelling, keeping Mindy from panicking. She made it to the other side of the ladder much faster than either Tara or Sam. It wasn't fast enough though.

Just as Anika climbed onto the ladder they heard the doors slamming open.

"Chad!" Mindy screamed. They didn't see it, but they heard a loud thud and what sounded like a body dropping.

And then Ghostface was at the window, stabbing the knife next to the ladder.

"What?" Anika asked, afraid and in pain and there was nothing they could do to help.

"Anika you have to move now!" Mindy cried out as the man slowly, as if taunting them reached down for the ladder.

"No!" Tara cried out, and then she felt like her heart stopped beating for a moment when she saw a fist colliding with the side of Ghostface's head.

You came back.

~X~

You could hear the screams as you were running down the hall toward the doors. You could see blood from the moment you burst into the apartment. You saw red when you realized Chad was struggling to get up and Ghostface was reaching down for the ladder.

Why was there a ladder? You had no idea. It didn't matter. You rushed into the guest bedroom crashing your fist against the side of his head and for good measure slamming your entire body into Ghostface.

Both of you dropped to the floor and you placed him in a hold, wrapping your arms around his neck and right arm as you pressed his left forearm down with your knee.

"Y/N," Chad stumbled to his feet and you could see how unsteady he was.

"Get out of here! Get across the ladder!" you yelled, still not sure what that other Ghostface was going to do. "I've got him, just go!" you could feel Ghostface trying to get on his knees, but you kicked his leg and added pressure to the forearm at the same time.

You could hear Chad climbing onto the ladder as you tried to choke Ghostface. Even with as much strength as you were putting behind your hold, he managed to grab your forearm and pull just enough to prevent you from choking him.

You were stuck in a different dilemma though. Should you fight him right now? Just try to end the biggest threat? You were vaguely aware of the knife next to the ladder, you could reach it before Ghostface, but you weren't sure you could be quick enough to end it all before he got back to his feet.

"Y/N!" hearing Tara crying out for you made you consider just running away. Just getting across the ladder as quickly as you can instead of fighting. Leaving the fight for another day and just hoping you’d get a better chance to finish him off.

Hearing footsteps closing in made the decision for you and you jumped to your feet and went for the window just as the other Ghostface came in, knife twirling between his fingers.

You didn't have time to do it carefully. "Out of the way!" you yelled and jumped out of the window, just barely keeping your balance as you lunged forward and tumbled into Danny's apartment. The ladder fell as you stumbled into someone and tripped over your own feet.

You knew who you stumbled into before you even opened your eyes. You felt her trembling arms clinging to the back of your hoodie. When you opened your eyes you saw Tara beneath you, tears falling from her eyes as she pulled you down to kiss you.

"Are you okay?" you asked, looking her over when she allowed you to pull away.

Tara nodded frantically. "I am, I'm okay, Y/N," she whispered, and you relaxed just for a moment before looking around you. You weren't too late, everyone was still alive. Everyone but Tara and Sam were injured, but they were all alive and you hugged Tara tightly, kissing the side of her head and muttering a soft thank you into her ear.

~X~

You were all, aside from Anika, more or less, fine. Chad had a concussion and a deep stab wound, but he could still move around and Mindy's cut, while painful, wasn't deep enough to cause permanent damage. Tara, Sam and you were, for the most part, just a bit shaken.

Anika was the one you were all the most worried about. Her wound was serious, and while she survived, and the surgery went well none of you knew when she would wake up or if there would be any lasting issues caused by what she went through.

You folded your arms and squeezed at your biceps, barely keeping yourself from biting your lip. You thought you could outsmart the killers and it nearly cost Anika, and everyone else, their lives.

You stepped back and leaned your back against the wall. Events of last year came to mind as you watched Mindy watching over Anika while Tara was comforting her to the best of her abilities. You guessed you had a similar expression back when you were waiting for Tara to wake up.

Chad walked over to you, leaned against the wall, and placed a hand on your shoulder. "What now?" he asked.

"You stay here, protect Mindy and Anika, and leave the rest to us," in any other circumstances you were sure he would argue. That he would demand to be there for Tara, Sam, and you, so he could help you fight. But this was his sister and not only was she injured she wouldn't leave her girlfriend here.

"Y/N is right, Chad, you're needed here," Sam understood. Everyone understood what the only option was for Chad.

So, he nodded. "You better come back. We are Core Five," you could see in his eyes that he felt bad about his choice, but this was one of those situations, where you just had to choose the one most important to you. The pair of siblings would choose one another, no matter who was on the other side, and no matter how much it would hurt them if they had to choose.

"Yeah, you might want to change the nickname, use six instead of five," you said, firmly believing that Anika would make it out of this completely fine.

Story Masterlist / First part / Previous part / Next part

[jheselbraum]

can we talk about the apprenticeship again? i wanna talk about the apprenticeship again (people online are scaring me bringing back the "ford didn't really care about dipper/his family/placed them below his Greater Good" discourse again ☹️ feels like we need a refresher)

The apprenticeship was about Ford wanting a friend and buddy! It was about Ford reaching out to his family the only way he knew how! The second he and Stan were on good terms again he immediately wanted to spend time with him. The apprenticeship was Ford wanting to spend more time with his family because he doesn't think anyone will want to spend time with him without some sort of scientific endeavor to catch their fancy, and while I always thought that if Mabel had simply asked to stay too Ford would've said yes after reading tbob I am firmly convinced that if Mabel asked to also stay in Gravity Falls with him he would've started crying. And this whole "catch their fancy with an apprenticeship instead of just asking them to hang out" thing carries over to Stan where he asks Stan to go with him to fucking Antarctica to dig up Time Baby or whatever the fuck, when what he actually wants is to just finally go on the damn boat trip with Stan!

The only thing particularly wrong with the apprenticeship offer is that while it's Ford's way of reaching out, because of who he offered it to and when it would effectively mean passing on his tendency to close himself off to Dipper, Mabel, and Stan, as each of them would be alone. This effect is reversed when Ford offers the same deal to Stan, who at the end of summer would otherwise be returning to his lonely life before he met the kids, so now at the end of summer neither Dipper and Mabel nor Stan and Ford are alone. It's weird to hold that against him since that's how conflict in a story works and the payoff of Ford wanting to go travel the world with Stan at last is weaker if we weren't presented with the first option of Ford wanting to remain in the basement with Dipper cataloging mushroom samples forever.

And at the end of tbob, Dipper, Mabel, and Stan are so fucking supportive of Ford, literally laughing off his worries about his biggest insecurity (in a positive way). They don't care that he made a deal with Bill, they don't care how much he fumbled Fiddleford, they don't care about the fucking apprenticeship! They love him and they're glad he's okay!

The solution to Ford's problems, past and present, has always been reaching out. The correct action for Ford to take, whether or not he takes it, has always been reaching out.

Ford didn't reach out when Stan was kicked out. He didn't reach out when Fiddleford left the project. He only reached out to Stan when he realized Bill's abuse and manipulation when things got truly dire, life threatening, not just to himself but when Bill made it clear that he could and would hurt the people Ford cared about, too, at least emotionally. And then finally after a lifetime of closing himself off and putting up walls, he actually honest to goodness reaches out to his family (or rather, they reach out to him) and it wouldn't make any sense if building and maintaining those connections didn't finally pay off for Ford. His life is better for having formed those connections! The Pines' lives are better for having those connections as well! Stan has his brother, his twin! Dipper has a mentor figure who shares his love of mysteries! Mabel has a companion who fosters her outgoing spirit and shares her creative interests! One of the show's big themes is family, why are we acting like Dipper and Mabel should reject a member of their family who, like Stan, is a gruff old bastard who's made his share of mistakes but god damnit if those kids aren't the light of his life?

[auberge13]

Since the Jon and Nia friendship is shaping up to be an important aspect of Absolute Power and especially Absolute Power: Super Son (based on some comments by the writers and preliminary sketches from the artist), I wanted to explain why I think the friendship is so strong, despite its minimal appearances. Overall there are 4 major issues for this friendship: Son of Kal-El issue #13 (she's in a few issues after this but this is the big one), Beast World Tour: Metropolis, the backup in Action Comics issue #1060, and the mini story at the beginning of the Pride Uncovered Issue. This post is gonna break down how those issues establish this friendship and how they do so really well.

Starting from their meeting, Nia lets herself into the Fortress of Solitude via dream travel because she had a future vision of Jon and every other superhero being taken down by the big bad of this book Henry Bendix. After warning him about this and therefore preventing it from happening, we get a few moments that show why Jon and Nia hit it off so quickly. For one they are very similar people!

As Dreamer (and soon Super Son) writer Nicole Maines has pointed out, they are both small town farm kids with really big powers and legacies to live up to. I would also add that they both had to figure out those powers and legacies largely without the help of the hero they're trying to emulate, Jon because of his time spent on Earth-3 and the lack of time he's gotten to spend with his dad since returning, and Nia because she wasn't given any of the training she was supposed to get before unlocking her powers because her family didn't think she'd get them, and then her mother died. They are in very similar places in their lives and can relate to each other in different ways than they can with anyone else.

Nia also gives Jon something he really needed at this time in his life- certainty

Some of Jon's big feelings in SoKE and leading up to SoKE had to do with his fear that his father was leaving earth never to return. The records from his time in the future said that Clark would never make it back from Warworld, and, as we see in that first screenshot and also a dozen other places, Jon was not ready to be Superman OR to say goodbye to his dad. This is a huge moment for him.

In return, Jon gives her a confidence boost in the form of 31st century admiration and some help with controlling her powers. In this scene, Jon and Nia give each other the things they look for in their close relationships: tangible, provable support (as tangible and provable as things can be in a world with time travel and future visions).

This transitions smoothly into the next major appearance, Beast World Tour! In this story, Nia has a vision of the future that shows Metropolis' destruction, and therefore needs to evacuate the city. However, no one listens to her because she's a new and unknown hero. So she calls Jon, Superman, for backup. This works, but they still need to deal with Livewire, who Nia foresaw causing all the damage. They have this exchange.

I love this moment in their friendship. I think it's worth noting that Jon just got back from the Injustice universe- his major reckoning with what it means to be Superman and the many ways Superman can be bad. He's once again insecure about how to be Superman in any way that differs from the way his father does it, and therefore resorts to trying to emulate his dad as much as possible. Here, Jon is behaving at his most Superman, but his least Jon. As I mentioned previously, Jon really cares about the provable and the tangible (I could write a whole post about that but to put it briefly it's the whole reason he goes with Jor-El as a kid). His platitudes here are very Superman, but they don't do or mean anything. He's ignoring what Nia is actually saying. Then, Nia does something that really solidifies their friendship- she doesn't treat him like Superman. Nia doesn't put up with his finger waving or cave to his certainty that Superman can handle everything. She treats him like any teammate. She knows this is best and she doesn't care that Jon is Superman, just about how to do the right thing. Tangible and provable. And in response to this-

I love it when the friends respect each other.

This leads directly into the AC backup, which takes place soon after this. The two have succeeded and taken a break in Nia's hometown, Parthas.

If we can take one thing from SoKE, it's that Jon has an immense fondness for anyone who lets him nap on their couch. I joke, but there are actually a lot of parallels between how Jon draws close to Jay and how he draws close to Nia. In both cases it is because they could relate to Jon in ways others couldn't, they could provide Jon with real tangible solutions to his problems (headphones, future vision), and they allow Jon to rest and be just a normal guy. We saw how these aspects led to a close and lasting relationship between Jon and Jay, and because of that we can see how they would create a close and lasting relationship with Nia.

And finally, we have this adorable little moment from the beginning of the Pride Uncovered Issue.

The chemistry here is just so strong. This is a friend group! I believe it! But to go beyond that, Jon hasn't really gotten a chance to like. Chill. Kid can't catch a break. The fact that this nice little hangout exists really does a lot to sell this friendship, at least for me. When a character is constantly embroiled in The Horrors, these little fluffy moments stand out! They matter!

And now, we get to watch this all fall apart! Nia has helped Waller take over Gamorra, the country she helped Jon and Jay liberate in the first place. She has captured and imprisoned Jay for Waller, and is complicit in Jon's kidnapping and Cyborgification. We don't know the role she has to play in Absolute Power: Super Son just yet, but it's sure to be a major one, and no matter what, this friendship is about to get a whole lot more complicated.

[ladye-zelda]

Which Links do you think have been to formal schools?

Oooo, good question

Sky without a doubt has a formal education; I am not sure what kind of teaching they do at the knight's academy, but I am sure they would teach some kind of math, science, or whatever was known in Skyloft at the time.

I think Four might've also had a formal education, as we can see a school in Minish Cap in Hyrule Town. Then when he was of age, he would've been taken under apprenticeship by his grandfather (or maybe taught smithing at an earlier age, who knows).

For Time, I think he relies heavily on experience. The Kokiri don't have a traditional school, and judging from the little training area and how highly they regard their deity, I think they have a sort of "figure it out" mentality when it comes to, well, figuring stuff out. I don't see Time (especially as a kid) to going to anyone for anything, but I think Talon would teach him some things, especially when he gets together with Malon as that's probably the only adult that Time trusts (since the Great Deku Tree is gone).

Legend is taught by his uncle during his childhood, and does try to go seek more places to learn (as apparently he does travel in pursuit of knowledge, hence why he got caught up in the oracle games/link's awakening). Then, afterwards, tries an apprenticeship with the blacksmith but then just decides experience is the best teacher and travels from there.

Much like Time, Hyrule is also a hands-on learner. I think the reason why he might be so insecure about his place in the Chain is because he wasn't taught properly like some of the other knights; one day he was just given a sword and was told to go save Princess Zelda. The only things that he were taught were magic spells by old people in Zelda 2 (though I am not too familiar with the game so I might be wrong on that) and that is about as much as he would learn. I like to headcanon that he tried to get a formal education in the 6 years in between games with Princess Zelda, but it didn't work out for him.

Twilight was most definitely taught by the people of Ordon. Probably not any formal education, as Ordon is a small village and probably not enough kids to have a proper school (like, you're telling me that Ilia is the only other kid in the entire village close to Link's age? And look at that age gap between Link, Ilia, and the other kids!). I think Fado taught Twilight all of the ranching aspects -- horse riding, animal tending, etc -- while Rusl taught him how to fight, other things a boy needs to know, and Uli taught him how to take care of himself and to help others.

I'm not too knowledgable about what goes in Wind Waker, but there is the old guy that teaches Wind how to sword fight, right? If I am thinking correctly, I think Wind's island would've had kind of like what they had in Moana and that the village elders would just teach the kids what they need to know, mainly stories as that's kind of what Link's grandma does in the beginning of the game.

I think Warriors was taught by some sort of school. After all, he had to become a knight in training and there had to have been some qualifications to get into that, right? Either that or he was taught at the knight training place, where he would've learned to strategize and make rational decisions. Maybe some heavy-duty military training.

Lastly, that leads to Wild. I kind of have a few headcanons with this, so stick with me.

Before the Calamity, Wild was definitely taught things when he was travelling with his father's knights, especially how to fight. He was probably under apprenticeship with his father, as it's sort of baffling to me why a four year old would be travelling with the knights instead of, I don't know, at a daycare or something? (But that raises the question of if whether or not his mom is alive, but she should be since Wild's sister is canon in LU, but then again his dad could've remarried and had his little sister a bit later. Actually, I kinda like that idea.)

Anyways, when Wild was old enough he could've further his training and education at the military camp right outside of the Lost Woods, which would've made it easier for him to find the Master Sword when he was twelve (plus with the village nearby, he and his father could've been living there as it is close to the castle, but not close enough at the same time). Then for the next five years, Wild just goes around Hyrule, doing natural hero stuff, developing his stoic personality as everyone sort of tells him what a hero should be; so it gives him plenty of time to mold that persona until eventually he becomes a Champion and... well, y'know the rest.

After the Calamity, Wild just sorts of takes the Time and Hyrule route and learns on his own. Though, I will say I think Wild is more open to asking how this are and what to do with things more than the former heroes because its quite easy in the game to have a tutorial on literally anything if you ask the right npc. So, he would just have an education from just random travelers he meets. Plus I guess it would make fighting easier since he still has muscle memory, due to his prowess with weapons right from the get-go.

[gx-gameon]

I have a couple of questions about the bonds beyond time arc of your story and I apologize if you answered these already.

Would Jesse travel with Jaden and join him on the adventure? I feel like Jaden would seek him out after graduating, maybe attend his graduation ceremony to surprise him.

And since the Crystal Beasts and the Rainbow Dragon only allow Jesse(and Jaden) to summon them, would Paradox kidnap Jesse and use his power to obtain the dragon?

Oh I love this.

1) I’m a big fan of Jesse bullying his way into traveling with Jaden.

He came to Duel Academy’s graduation to surprise all his friends (specifically Jaden,) and celebrate. (Jim and Axel do to. I’m also a big believer that these three have a separate group chat because they are the three exchange students who got dragged into all of this. They planed this trip together)

But Jaden isn’t there. The boy skipped his own graduation and took off.

He’s got a head start but Jesse’s never been one to quit and he might have snagged Yugi’s number before the DM cast left after the Dark World fiasco.

He reaches out and figures out where Jaden is heading. They have a few near misses but eventually Jesse catches up. (gap years are super common in Europe so it’s not like Jesse traveling the world with his friend looks weird to anyone from home)

Jaden’s surprised but the addition of Jesse is not unwelcome. After all Jaden basically left to live Jesse’s dream. He’s helping bring duel spirits and humans together. He’s a literal bridge.

The two travel together have adventures and checking in with Jaden’s family. They are thrilled that Jesse is with him. They were worried about Jaden being ‘alone’ in foreign countries. Yes he has his duel spirits but it’s different walking around by yourself vs walking around with a group. They know Jaden can handle himself but they are over protective parents

They do stop at domino (the tournament arc. Or maybe that’s where they meet up again I’m still playing with ideas)

But eventually Paradox arrives and steals Cyber End Dragon. Zane and Syrus call Jaden about it and the two start looking for it. But the Dragon finds them first.

Now your second idea…..

I love this. I never thought about him needing Jesse to summon Rainbow dragon. I think in cannon he steals it the same way he does Stardust where he traps the spirit in a different card, therefore severing the connection with the original owner.

But let’s say that’s not how it works.

I’m a big believer that Jesse could learn to be a physic duelist (Chazz to but we will talk about him another day)

Jesse can see spirits and has a strong connection to his cards to the point where he calls them family and they allow no one else to use them without either Jesse’s permission or corruption.

With training Jesse could absolutely bring them into the real world. It will take time but he can learn.

Note: I think when he and Jaden reunite and are hanging out Ruby appears and Jesse’s petting the spirit but he can’t truly feel it you know. And Jaden just goes “may I” and brushes his hand against Ruby bringing her into their dimension. Ruby is thrilled!! It’s cuddle time. Jesse is shocked. One Ruby is here! But two he felt Jaden’s power in his own soul when he brought Ruby through. Jesse’s so close with his cards they are a part of him and when Jaden used his own power (his ba) to bring Ruby (Jesse’s ka) into their world, he quite literally touched a part of Jesse’s soul. Jesse wants to learn how to do this as well, but there is also just something so special about Jaden bringing his family into this world. The gentle feeling of Jaden’s powers washing over Jesse’s soul as he draws the spirits through.

Back on topic!!!

So let’s say that Paradox steals Rainbow dragon. He probably had to attack Jesse to even get a shot at Rainbow Dragon. He tries to summon it but Rainbow Dragon refuses to appear.

Paradox can’t figure it out until he looks at the beat down but not defeated Jesse and puts two and two together. He hears Jaden running towards them and sicks Stardust on the boy to distract him. He hops on his duel wheel and takes off, straight at Jesse. Grabbing the boy and taking him with him. If the man can time travel he’s got to have some crazy magic or tech and uses either or to drain Jesse energy and uses it to summon Rainbow Dragon to ‘finish’ Jaden off before taking off for Yugi’s time.

Of course Jaden doesn’t die but he’s just watched Jesse get kidnapped again.

It’s a really fun idea. I need to work shop it more before I could be happy with it. But it’s a fun idea. I don’t know if it will be cannon here but it could be a fun oneshot.

[yellobb]

Tell me about ye olde "cold case outline"

Ooooo I was hoping someone asked about this one when I first posted the ask game!!!!

From this ask game

Cold Case Outline

This is another WIP that my sister and I did that we actually fully fleshed out, but I am still holding out a bit of hope that one day I’ll actually write the damn thing.

Simon is a mechanic and Baz is an Instagram model. They first meet when Baz brings his Jag in, and he’s immediately enamored with Simon in his oil-stained tank top, messy curls, and freckles. Simon immediately falls in love with Baz’s Jag and fawns over it, which does not help Baz’s predicament. He starts coming to the shop as often as possible with any excuse he can think of (oil change, tire rotation, “the building is just very aesthetic, Snow, so I need you to take my picture while I pose all sexy”). He even keys his own car at one point to have an excuse to visit him (it was a moment of desperation and he’s not proud of it, but he stands by his actions).

Simon lives with Penny and Shepard. Shepard is very into true crime and is hoping to start a podcast of his own about it. Shep visits Simon at work one day, but he gets very quiet and starts staring at Baz when he walks in to drop off the Jag, looking like he’s seen a ghost. Baz is visibly uncomfortable, so Simon kicks Shep out until Baz is good to go. He asks Shep what the hell that was all about afterwards, and Shep is like “that’s Baz Pitch”. “Yeah, and?” “Like, Natasha and Malcolm Grimm-Pitch’s son?! From the 2002 Olympics! Do you think he’d let me interview him for my podcast?”

It turns out, Baz isn’t just mildly famous for his Instagram presence. In 2002, when he was just five years old, his mother was an Olympic figure skater. The day of her event, she didn’t show up to warm-ups. She was found dead under suspicious circumstances over a week later. There are clips of some of her last moments where she acts erratically that went viral, and her case has fascinated the public ever since.

We didn’t get far on actually writing out this story, but what I did finish is a news report that explains the circumstances of Natasha’s death 👀 I’ve included it under the cut if anyone wants to read it! I’m actually pretty damn proud of how it turned out and have always wanted to share it, so I hope y’all enjoy :)

Natasha Grimm-Pitch Death Still Stumps People 20 Years Later

Natasha Grimm-Pitch, world-renowned ice dance figure skater from Great Britain and 3x Olympic medalist, went missing on February 9th, 2002. That morning, her husband and partner, Malcolm Grimm, woke up to find she had not returned in the night. Assuming she had stayed the night with her sister, Fiona Pitch, who had traveled with the pair in order to watch their 5-year-old son, Tyrannus Grimm-Pitch, while they competed, Grimm got ready for the day’s competition, but began to grow worried when Pitch met him at the Salt Lake Ice Center without her sister. She had met Grimm to take Tyrannus, known as “Baz” by those close to the family, but was shocked to find out that Grimm-Pitch had not returned to the couple’s room in the Olympic Village.

“Nat had come over the night before, yeah,” Pitch said, when interviewed about the disappearance the day after the event. “She came over to my hotel room to get some stress relief. I mean, this was her moment. She’d been out of the public eye for a while, after having Baz, and felt like she needed to medal in order to prove herself. I couldn’t tell you who she was proving herself to, though. She never cared what other people thought of her; not even me.”

Grimm was hesitant to alert the police, hoping that his wife had stayed with a teammate, but couldn’t hesitate any longer once warm-up was scheduled to start and she had yet to make an appearance.

“Nat would never have missed a warm-up, especially not now. She’s always on time. Something happened to her,” Grimm told the press the day of the disappearance. Grimm-Pitch’s disappearance caused a stir in the Olympic Village, especially amongst her teammates.

“I knew Natasha. That woman was a force to be reckoned with. When I heard that Malcolm had forfeited their position, I knew something was wrong. Everyone was uneasy as soon as we heard. I think we all knew, deep down, what must have happened. None of us even saw Natasha take a sick day. There was no way in hell she was going to let something stop her from competing again,” said teammate, Mitali Bunce, a year after her disappearance.

A mass investigation was launched into the disappearance, with state and local police leading the search. Grimm searched the streets with his sister-in-law in the hopes of finding her, often leaving their child in the care of the other British athletes. Though the ice dance competition continued, this would not be the case for long.

Natasha Grimm-Pitch’s body was found, washed-up in nearby Farmington Bay, on February 20th, just over a week after her disappearance. The Olympic Village, and the world, watched on in shock as her death was officially announced by the Salt Lake City Police Department at 11:08 AM. The Olympic Committee officially suspended what remained of the ice dance competition that evening, putting out a statement about the tragedy:

“In light of the recent tragedy involving ice dancer, Natasha Grimm-Pitch, the Olympic Committee has unanimously decided to suspend the ice dance competition for the remainder of the Olympic season. We ask the figure skating community to come together at this time to honor her legacy and mourn her loss. The Committee will reconvene in the next month to determine when the events will be completed.”

Her body was flown back to the family’s home in Hampshire, UK, but the FBI stayed in contact with British authorities for the resulting investigation. In the coming months, the mystery only grew. According to her autopsy, Grimm-Pitch had been dead for around 230 hours, placing her death sometime on the evening of February 10th, the day after she went missing. To make the case more shocking, she had only been submerged in the water for five days upon being found, meaning there was a six day gap between her death and her body being, supposedly, dumped in the bay. Despite this, she appeared to have died of natural causes, with nothing to indicate that she had resisted an attacker. There were already rumors in the news surrounding foul play, but things really exploded once security camera footage was made publicly available in April 2002.

In a now infamous clip, Grimm-Pitch is shown entering the Olympic Village at 3:00 AM, missing her shoes and the bag her sister claimed she left her hotel room with. Grimm-Pitch appears to be disoriented, running to hide behind walls and looking around wildly, despite no one being in the vicinity. The footage lasts six minutes, with Grimm-Pitch circling the building she was staying in, even briefly entering the entranceway before stumbling back out.

Her erratic behaviour combined with the confounding circumstances around her actual death threw the media into a frenzy. Every major news outlet reported for over a month with updates in the case, but no suspects were ever identified. It seemed that there were no leads whatsoever. The figure skating community and the true crime community alike waited with bated breaths to find if her death was ruled a suicide, homicide, or accident.

Unfortunately, the answer never came. In 2013, the case was unofficially closed after over a decade with no new information. The case has gone down as one of the most shocking and mysterious disappearances in British and American history alike. The Grimms and Pitches are still desperate for answers, though.

A year after the death of his wife, Malcolm Grimm officially announced his campaign for Prime Minister in the United Kingdom. Despite critics saying he was using Grimm-Pitch’s death to further his political aspirations, which had begun in 1997 with the birth of his son, he won the seat. With his victory, the most popular conspiracy theory surrounding Grimm-Pitch’s death was born.

Many people believe that Grimm knew their performance would fail, leading to them fading from the public eye. To prevent this, Grimm chose to murder his wife and use the sympathy he garnered following her death to get elected. He, allegedly, drugged her, waited for her to die, and hid her body in their room until, six days later, the police grew suspicious of him, so he dumped her body in the bay as a cover-up. Proponents of this theory claim that the mortician performing the autopsy was paid off to lie about finding drugs in her system.

Another popular theory surrounds Fiona Pitch. Pitch has a record of substance abuse, so theories have circulated about her, accidentally or otherwise, giving Grimm-Pitch more than she could handle (despite multiple sources stating that she never used drugs). The theory states that Grimm-Pitch managed to leave her sister’s hotel room before she started experiencing delusions and paranoia. Her sister, who had aided in the search for her, then found her body six days later, dead from overdose, and dumped her in the bay to avoid indicating herself in manslaughter. Many point to a 1995 case involving Pitch where her boyfriend, Nicodemus Petty, overdosed in their London apartment. Pitch herself barely survived the ordeal, but was saved when Petty’s sister, Ebeneza Petty, happened to visit that morning and was able to call paramedics. Pitch was convicted of illegal substance abuse and spent five years in rehabilitation facilities. She claims that she has been clean ever since.

Others believe that it was simply a case of mania, despite Grimm-Pitch’s nearly spotless mental health record. She had been prescribed Wellbutrin following the birth of her son, but stopped using it after only a year. To this day, the case remains unsolved.

Despite the rumors surrounding the family, they have seen unbelievable success. Grimm still enjoys a successful political career, but the star of the show is Tyrannus “Baz” Grimm-Pitch. He has grown a large following online, amassing thirty million followers on his Instagram since its creation in 2018. Grimm-Pitch enjoys a life as an Instagram model with an estimated net worth of nearly $10 million. Despite being in the limelight since his mother’s death, he has yet to publicly comment on the infamous case. His aunt acts as his manager, but abstains from all public appearances.

[stabbyfoxandrew]

happy wipwednesday my beloved! i glad to see that you survived yesterday's fight with our angel and came out winning!

i am here to humbly request to know what your other problem child is up after he fucked up his not-date. Can't wait for you to break my heart again but until then:

kith <3

WIP Wednesday (4/3) | Arsonist Neil / Firefighter Andrew AU (Part 126)

The only way Neil can fix this is by explaining himself. And explaining means telling the truth. A lot of it. Pretty much all of it, he thinks. 

How can he possibly do that? 

Neil’s never told anyone the truth. Well, besides the FBI. And that doesn’t really count because he had no choice. That night it was either tell the truth or go to prison for being related to Nathan Wesninski. He chose wisely, of course. But it was no picnic for him. Neil recalls those horrible hours he spent recounting his absolutely abysmal childhood to a government issue thug wearing scuffed loafers and a bored expression.

They didn’t believe him at first. Not totally. They made him rehash everything over and over until his throat was raw from talking so much and they were finally, finally satisfied with his life story. Then they shoved him into witness protection, where he was forced to spend almost a year living in North Dakota under the name Peter Duncan.

God, Neil loathes that state. And he loathed Peter. And that stupid, dinky little apartment with the awful neighbors and shoddy TV service. Sure it was stable. Normal, even. But, as insane as it would seem to anyone else, he prefers being on the road again. Running is something he’s used to. Something that makes sense even though his demons are long buried.

He likes traveling without a destination. He likes free Wi-Fi and complimentary breakfasts and room service and nice people telling him to ‘come again’. He likes his stupid little car and it’s stupid broken radio that’s thankfully stuck on a sports channel.

Hell, he even likes Neil. He likes the man he’s become since crawling out from under his mother’s corpse and his father’s ax. Because despite everything— all the names he’s used and cities he’s seen and things he’s had to do to survive— he’s turned out to be a mostly decent person. Except for the whole… ‘burning down buildings’ thing. But he’s working on it. Sort of. And on the bright side, he hasn’t killed anyone in years. Those were all self defense, of course. So… Do they really count?

Wait a minute, Neil blinks. What was his point? 

Oh. Right. The truth. 

Other than those suited pricks at the bureau, it’s a completely foreign concept to him. Neil runs his fingers through his hair a few dozen times, the curls tangling around his fingers as he does. He rips his fingers through and wonders if he should shave his head again. No. No, it’s about to be winter and he hates when his ears are cold.

And with his hair longer, he looks less like his father.

To prove that, Neil looks into the bathroom mirror and finds Neil Josten there. Not Nathan or Nathaniel. Not even Peter. (Of course not, Peter had black hair.) Neil gives his disassembled phone a glance and wonders if Andrew would’ve wanted to be friends with Peter. Or any of his other aliases with friendly dispositions. 

It wouldn't matter. None of them would ever have even tried. That's one thing that sets him apart from all his past selves. He's trying. Neil lets out a breath. He’ll put his phone back together and tell Andrew… Something.

In a day or two. 

When he figures out what that something is.

[rosemary-morgan]

Javier Escuella X F.Reader - It's never to late to repent (Part 2)

(Pictures found on pinterest/google. That one with Javier is mine. Collage made by me 🌺)

Many thanks to @fangirl-ramblings 🖤 she has been beta reading for me 🌹

The second chapter is online 🥰 thanks to all who read and like my story 🐝🌺 I hope you will enjoy the second chapter too!

@rose-of-black-blood @livingdeadgirly

If anyone of you want to be tagged to not miss the newest chapter, please let me know 🙏

👉Read Part 1 /Part 3 / Part 4

Warning: a little angsty, broken hearts and their effects, hints of depression!

Summary: Javier is trying to escape his past, while you still have the hope of seeing him again one day. But the loneliness and pain of a broken heart keeps pulling you back to reality. This never-ending pain just doesn't seem to go away, and you try to suppress it as much as you can…

Javier Escuella X F.Reader - It's never to late to repent (Part 2)

Javier sighed softly while sitting by the fire and sharpening the blade of his knife. The pleasant tranquility of nature surrounded him. The soft croaking of the crickets was like a chorus in unison.

Many things were going through Javier's mind, he thought about the turn his life had taken since Dutch's downfall, the downfall of his family. After Javier lost all his trust in Dutch, he lost himself. He had traveled a lot, trying to cope with the pain and the loss of his family, but he had fallen into one shit situation into another. But at some point Javier had realized that real life was different. He had realized that it had been time to come to rest, to earn his money with decent work. It was not a life of luxury that Javier lived. He lived in a small hut, a bit away from the city center. This was the best he could get in the area, yet it was possible for him to sleep in a bed, something that had been impossible for him for decades. His job was making furniture, engraving it. He had a talent for that kind of thing and his boss liked what he saw. In the last few months, Javier had made great progress. There was a customer in Saint Denis who wanted to see his skills and so Javier was asked to visit that customer. Well… then you came into the picture. Suddenly you were there, in Saint Denis. Javier had avoided this cursed city for years, for he had not come to terms with the bank robbery that had gone wrong in 1899. It had been the beginning of the end.

Javier would never be able to forget how young Lenny had been lying in his own blood. Shot by Pinkertons. Or Hosea who had been a father figure to all of them. A man who had taught him so many things. Guarma was also a dark chapter in his life. He had been tortured there and that had left its mark on his psyche.

Seeing you was the happiest moment for him in years. Knowing that you were alive was an incredible relief for Javier. Yet you seem so far away from him. How could he ever come face to face with you? After he had sent you to hell because, unlike him, you had realized the truth. God, he wanted you so much. Javier suffered like a dog without you. All these years he had been as miserable as you. Living apart from you was a torture for him!

Javier put his knife aside to pull out a piece of jewelry from his vest pocket. It was a necklace, with a medallion. He opened it and looked at your photograph. After all these years, he still had it with him. It was the only thing he had left of you. How many sleepless nights had he had? He couldn't even count them. Nights in which he had looked at your beautiful picture and guilt had eaten him up.

"Y/N… Mi rosa…"

He clasped the medallion with his hand, closing his eyes as he did so, trying to suppress the pain in his heart, but he had never been able to do that before either.

“Mi amor… nunca he dejado de amarte” (I’ve never stopped loving you)

Maybe you were married? Had children? Javier didn't know. Did he even want to know? See you with another man by your side? Probably not!

But this uncertainty would kill him! Making him extremely restless with these thoughts! He sighed in annoyance, started to wriggle his leg, his whole body moving as he did so. He hated the thought of seeing you with another man! At some point it became so unbearable for him that he got on his horse and went for a night ride. He needed a clear head now, he needed to sort out his thoughts…

♦♦♦♦

You looked at yourself in the mirror, really liking how the new dress looked on you. It's been a long time since you last treated yourself. You were actually only working to earn your salary, and had often forgotten to do something good for you. Therefore, it came in handy that the train connection had broken down and had forced you to stay in Saint Denis yesterday. With a smile you pulled the fabric over your shoulders, looking at your skin and how the dress flatters your figure. It was a dark green dress, or emerald green as the seller had called it. Actually, you had no idea what occasion you would wear this dress to, but you had liked it so much that you wanted it. Of course, you could have sewn one for yourself, but you still had orders waiting and you couldn't just let them wait.

"I could wear it… wear it tonight?"

You looked thoughtfully in the mirror as you adjusted your dress. You knew about a performance at the theater. It would be the perfect opportunity to wear this dress. So why not? What was wrong with a young woman going to the theater alone? You had done everything alone for the last five years, so you were used to it, along with the stares from the people, since it was rather unusual for a young woman to sit down alone in a restaurant, or to go into a theater. You still had to admit that it often hurt to see couples. Couples walking through the park holding hands. People looking at each other in love while sitting in a restaurant and letting their food get cold because they didn't care about what was going on around them. You had once felt that feeling too. That feeling of love and happiness. Oh, how you wanted to experience that again…

Your gaze wandered to the ground as your thoughts searched for Javier. You couldn't help it, but sometimes this man just crept into your mind. There was nothing you could do about those memories, even though it hurt so much that very moment. Loneliness has become a bitter companion in your life. And the more you thought about it, the more you fell into sadness. Now, in those moments when you were not among people, those were the most difficult moments for you because you had the feeling that no one would see your tears. You sighed heavily as the first tears shimmered in your eyes. Until a few seconds ago, you had been happy about your dress, until Javier had come back to your mind. You had asked yourself the absurd question of whether he would like you in this dress. But it didn't matter at all, because there would be no answer.

Why had Javier hurt you so much ? You couldn't forget his words until today. And yet you had forgiven him. But you didn't know if he was still alive. There was not even an address where you could send him a letter. There were hundreds of letters in your home. Letters that you had written, but never sent. Some you had burned in the fire, others you had torn up. And that's what you did in the beginning to banish Javier. But it was of no use…

You shook your head, undid the bows on your dress to loosen the corset and finally pulled it off your body. What was that all about? Why this torture? You decide to go back home right away. Work was calling and that had always been the best distraction for you. When you had taken off your dress, you put back on the one you had come here in. Your mood had dropped rapidly and that you were sad could be seen clearly in your face, but you didn't care. A bit gruffly, you packed the new dress into the box, which you had received with the purchase, in order to be able to transport the dress safely home. Within a few minutes you were out of the hotel and headed straight for the train station. You hoped very much that you would be able to travel home.

With a quiet sigh, you headed to the cashier's desk to buy a ticket. While waiting, you let your eyes wander around the area. And suddenly, there it was again. The scent of spicy lavender. Just like the day before. Instantly you were reminded of Javier, because he had smelled the same! But you shook your head, about to banish that man from your mind again, when something caught your attention. When you looked out onto the platform, there was a young man… a cigarette in his hand. His raven black hair tied back in a pigtail. A red scarf he wore over a blue jacket. You frowned and stopped in place, watching the man and wondering if you had now completely lost your mind. You thought you saw Javier, but you couldn't swear to it, as he had his back to you. The supposed stranger threw his cigarette to the ground, blew out the smoke, and in the next moment looked slowly in your direction.

As if in a trance, you looked at him, not even hearing what the train conductor said to you, as he handed you the ticket. Javier really was standing in front of you. Only a few meters away, but he hadn't noticed you yet. But he felt all the more that he was being watched. This feeling grew stronger until Javier looked directly in your direction and when he saw you, his heart almost stopped. He stared at you, his throat went dry. How many times had he wished to see you again? How often had he imagined scenarios in which you would find each other again? Saying everything that had remained unspoken? And now that time had come. But for what he had done to you, he could not be ashamed enough. Not just what he had done to you. But John and Arthur as well. You'd probably send him to hell anyway.

"Miss? Miss, the train leaves in five minutes! Miss?"

But you didn't listen at all to the friendly man behind the counter and he gave up, served the other passengers. You were busy processing in your mind what just happened.

Only a few moments passed, but time seemed to stop. And that magic, that moment, dissolved when Javier shamefully averted his gaze from you and walked in the other direction.

"No…"

You wouldn't let him go! Not this time. It hurt you immensely to see him running from you after all these years. Did he have any idea how miserable you'd been without him? You immediately ran after Javier, calling his name.

"Javier!"

Instantly he stopped, looked down at the ground, and swallowed nervously. His Adam's apple trembled, he tried to suppress his tears that were just rising inside him. His heart was pounding up to his throat! His stomach contracted painfully. He heard your footsteps, but he still had his back turned to you. He perceived your scent and for a moment he closed his eyes to recall what you once were. A couple that had loved each other dearly. A young couple who believed that nothing could tear them apart. How wrong he had been. The most painful thing was that he had allowed you to be torn apart.

You stopped at his side, looked at his back, wondered if he still loathed you, because he didn't even look at you. But at least he had stopped.

"Javier?"

Carefully you put your hand on his shoulder, making him turn towards you, but still his eyes were not on you. You could make out a guilty look on his face, which gave you a glimmer of hope that he might feel something positive for you.

"What's wrong with you, Javier? Can't you look me in the eye?"

And after you said this, his gaze slowly moved up to your pretty face. Yet he remained silent, for his words stuck firmly in his throat. You looked at him closely. He had not aged in the last five years. You were still young, just in your early thirties, and yet it seems as if decades had passed.

"Do you think you broke my heart?"

It needed to be said. You've been carrying this with you all these years now. Javier had hurt you deeply, but you had forgiven him. You were ready to make peace, and now that he was standing in front of you, all you wanted to do was lie in his arms. But at the moment it felt like you two were complete strangers.

"Yes, Javier… You did. You hurt me a lot when you stood by Dutch and Micah…"

"It's better if I go, Y/N. I'm sorry…"

Javier had only wanted the best for his family at the time, but had been taken advantage of like a puppet. Dutch had blinded him and that he had listened to it, well, he just had to live with the consequences now.

But you didn't even think about letting him go! What was that about? He was just going to leave? Just like that?! Didn't he have anything else to say? Immediately you grabbed his arm, whereupon Javier also stopped. It didn't look like you had to make an effort to keep him with you. A good sign. At least, that's what you hoped.

"It won't help you if you run away, Javier. You won't undo anything by doing that!"

Besides, you had just found him again.

Javier saw your tears and at that moment his eyes softened. It hurt so much to see you. He had no words to say! It seemed easier for him to leave and go on living his life as he was used to.

"Y/N, I've made a terrible mistake…"

That was what you were hoping to hear. Not because you wanted to claim your right, but because you had hoped he had made his peace with you.

"There is no hope for me. No forgiveness, Y/N."

"Oh, Javier… don't say that. We all made mistakes…"

His skin tingled pleasantly as you placed your delicate hand against his cheek. Lovingly, you stroked your thumb over his skin as you sought the look in his eyes. The scent of spicy lavender rose to your nose, mixed with tobacco and you had to smile, because you associate this scent with many, beautiful memories; but also bittersweet moments…

"Please… Javier, look at me…"

And he looked at you, his eyes reflecting the restlessness and guilt in his soul.

"I don't know where your paths have led you, Javier. But I can see that you have regretted the decision you made back then."

Javier sighed softly, unable to answer anything, but his eyes held your gaze and by God he was glad you didn't loathe him.

"I live in Strawberry, Javier. When…when you're ready for it one day, come and see me. I'll be waiting for you there."

His eyes immediately moved to your hand to see if you were wearing a wedding ring. His relief was great, because he couldn't see anything.

You tell him exactly where you live and to what address he should send letters to contact you. Hoping that he would do so.

When the signal sounded for the train's departure, you were jolted out of your trance.

"This is my train, Javier. I have to go now…"

"Okay…"

That was all he said in response. He held back a lot, because he would have loved to pull you tightly into his arms, not to let you go again. But he didn't. And part of you hoped he wouldn't let you go. Still, maybe that was too much to ask of you.

"Will you walk me to the train, Javi?"

Javi… that's what you had always called him, and this was the first time in years that you saw him smile. It was a small, dainty smile, but it was there. Javier led you to the platform, his hand was on your lower back and your body was tingling like crazy. This little touch, this little gesture, excited you deeply. It was still the man you desired, the man you loved.

"You should… get in. It's about to leave…"

"I know, Javi…"

But you would have preferred to stay with him. Your hope now was that he would seek you out…

[dfroggofarson]

i wrote a oneshot about a hot NPC dilf. its 1600+ words. i'm really proud of myself.

when i was doing this quest, i had to come to the realization that i, in fact, do have some daddy issues. and that i have no idea of their origins, but so be it.

the more daddies for my perverted imagination, the better my day is.

if you haven't done the Golden Slumber world quest so far, i highly recommend it! it's long and sometimes annoying, but man, anything for hot dilfs (and their also hot daughters).

ok, that's all, i'm done simping. requests for other stories are open, as always.

fluff, comfort embedded. no smut for y'all horny ppl. sorry, not this time ;)

enjoy! ^^

A difference between sky and sky.

A night in the desert wasn't a joke to anyone. It was rough, cold and merciless, killing anyone that missed to take care of themselves. Most mobile creatures had already found a shelter as soon as the Sun started to dive into the treshold of the horizont, hiding itself behind the gold of endless dunes. No matter if it were just animals, people, or monsters - survival made everyone behave similarly.

That night wasn't anything different than the previous ones. You and your two companions have been traveling for two days - for the fifth time. You commisioned them yet again to escort you while you collected some redcrest and other materials from the desert for special herbs. And why not just commisson them to bring some, without you having to travel such a long and tiring journey, or just buy what you need from the mercenants? You asked yourself at least a thousand times. For example, when you almost stepped on a giant scorpion-like thing, got hit by an especially massive tumbleweed, tripped on a scarab, and even when you got into a fight and almost lost all of your dignity?

Yes, you asked yourself a lot of times.

But you only trusted yourself when it came to collencting materials. After all, only you knew what exactly you needed.

And... Maybe you just enjoyed traveling with them on a regular basis.

Because every one or two months you came to Aaru village and commissioned them for the very same reason, and there wasn't even a single time they turned you down. It started nearly a year ago, when you had no idea of who to trust and how this region works, but out of sheer luck you bumped into - literally, right to his chest - the perfect people. And ever since you only commissioned them and no one else.

So there were the three of you: a still unexperienced, clumsy alhemist's apprentice, depending too much on their deputees; an always smiling, funny and kind, but at the same time life-threatening girl; and her father, a whole natural force, like a billion-years-old mountain looking like he could even challenge Morax himself with his bare two hands.

Well, a colorful team, might as well to say, you tought to yourself as you were laying in your tent. It was a strange friendship between the three of you. You were almost best friends with Jeht, you could talk and laugh about almost everything. And even tough you never talked much with Jebrael, he had proven that he really did care about you, so you considered him as a dear friend as well.

Despite these dangerous journeys, they were the most awaited people in your whole month.

Minutes passed, then half an hour, and then a whole, and you still could not sleep. Getting bored of trying, you sat up and started to think again. But after another thirty minutes you got bored again, so you decided to do a little stargazing. It might help you fall asleep.

You put on some clothes, and opened the tent. You almost tripped in your own legs as soon as you saw the tall, threatening figure's back infront of you-

Oh, wait. It's just Jebrael. Yeah. He's in your team.

Cool.

After your heartbeat kind of went back to normal, you just stood there, studying the man's silhouette. If the muscles and scars armoring his massive body could tell you their stories, you'd probably listen to them for years long. When he fights, he does not have any spare movements, and the way he swings his weapon with such pure brutallity and unique elegance... This controversiality always left you tremble and speechless at the same time.

You snapped out of your toughts as you approached the man, not having any better idea as soon as you saw him. You were sure he's heard you, but just in case, you stepped on a drained brach to alert him of your presence. He did not turn his head towards you, and didn't say a word when you sat down next to him. You both remained silent for long minutes.

"Aren't you tired?" You asked, breaking the silence. "It's been a long day. You should take a rest, too."

"It's my turn on watch," he replied. "And Jeht is also tired. I'm fine. You should be the one taking a rest."

"But I can't sleep. I just keep thinking about everything."

"Hm," he 'said', still not moving an inch. Sometimes you wondered how a man of such a figure could act so unnoticeable and noiseless.

"For examle, the sky," you pointed at the stars. "All the orbs can be seen from there so much better than from Lyue harbor or Mondstadt. It's probably because of the light pollution, or I don't know."

"I tought you were a scientist?"

"Well... sort of, but this is not my field. I'm more into alchemistry. Or, at least, I'm trying," you laughed nervously, scratching the back of your head in embarassment. "But I'm not that good, no matter how hard I try."

"That's not true," he opposed, slightly turning his head toward you. "The ointment you gave us was really effective."

"Ah, yes. That is the only one I'm proud of," you chuckled. "And the anti-sweat bandages! I see you still use them," you smiled at him, looking at his arm.

"See, these things are useful. Just keep it up."

There was silence again. You stared at the endless black of the sky, toughts racing trough your head like a tumbleweed in the wind.

Somehotw, sitting in silence with him wasn't uncomfortable, like it was with other people. You could collect your toughts and think silently, while feeling perfectly safe.

You wanted to experience it more. Not just every one or two months.

"How much more materials do you need for the following months?" He asked suddenly.

"Well... Hmm... I need a few more redcrest, five scarabs and three more ajilenakh nuts... but I think that's all for now. But I'll think it trough the morning."

"Good. Jeht and I have to head back to the village soon, so we can collect them tomorrow and then start to take our way home," he said casually.

Like it didn't mean that your journey, your only chance to finally have some time for yourself, but be safe and with friends at the same time wasn't about to end in a few hours.

"Oh," you replied. "Okay, no problem."

"And you know, you can commission others to these trips, too. I have some reliable acquintances, so I can recommend you some of them. You don't have to aks us every single time."

Ouch.

You gulped. Did that mean that he wasn't enjoying your company? Definitely, you declared. But he seemed to be okay with it... Is there something wrong with you? Or with anything? Did you do something wrong?

Oh, silly question. Even when establishing the camp, you couldn't help properly, because the tent you tried to make always collapsed as soon as it had the chance, and it was always Jebrael who helped you fix it. You could only make some food, but that wasn't so delicious either, rather flavoured with herbs to make your companions feel better. But that didn't mean they enjoyed it as much as you did...

Were you overreacting again? Yes. But was it logical? Absolutely, for this time.

They were... he was important to you. It did matter what he said. Maybe a little bit too much.

"Right. That's true. I should probably ask someone else, too, you two must be busy as well," you laughed again, but this time much more nervously. "I'm sorry I bother you with this every month. Seriously." You nodded, holding back your tears, trying to find some excuse to leave the scenery as fast as possible. "Oh, can you feel it? It's getting so cold! I'd probably go back and, you know, try to get some rest... Good night, then!"

You quickly jumped up from the log you were sitting in, waving a quick "goodbye", then turned your back on him and walked to your tent.

How could you be so blind... Why would you think that he enjoyed spending time with you? No one enjoyed your company, that's why you didn't have any friends. You were nothing more than an ignorant little pharmacist who had no idea about the dangers and pressures of the world Jebrael lived in. He's porbably had some more important business to take care of, and you had no right to tell him to stay one more day just because-

"The... The stars. What's the difference between Lyue and here?"

You froze, slowly turning your head back to him. His head was facing the sky, hands resting on his knees relaxed.

He looked so peaceful all of a sudden.

You gulped again.

"We- well," you started, playing with your hand in embarassment, "there are so much more lamps in Lyue. It's a harbor, after all, and it's always bathing in light, so you cannot see the night sky so well..."

"Hmm. I haven't seen it in a long time," he whispered.

You turned your head to look at him. You had no idea why he was wearing, or why he had to wear that blindfold. You never asked about it. Once you tried to talk to Jeht, but she just brushed it off with an "I dunno, he never talks about it," and that was all.

Jebrael never talked about himself, not even to his daughter.

But something changed this evening.

He seemed to be more... open. To have a conversation. Even if it was just about the sky.

And he started to open himself for you.

You snapped back to reality, forgetting that you should probably carry on the talk. You made your way back to the log, sitting down next to him where you were just moments ago. It was still warm.

"Do you... want me to tell about it?" You asked silently.

For a moment, he didn't reply. Then he slighly nod.

You smiled.

Well... at least that's something to begin with.

} > -- • -- < {

The next morning, when Jebrael woke up, he found himself under a blanket - and with you leaning onto him, head on his right shoulder. He focused on the sounds surrounding him, but he couldn't hear Jeht's breathing, only yours. But when he moved his left hand, he found a short message.

'Wouldn't want to wake you two up, went to grab some branches. Not gonna be back soon. ;P'

Jebrael let out a small sigh, cautious not to wake you up, and just listened to your peaceful breathing for a few minutes.

And then he cracked a small smile.

That business in the village could wait a few days.

} > -- • -- < {

[nomsfaultau]

Daily ask №12

Hobby edition!

Firstly, Author, what is YOUR favourite hobby? Besides writing? Mine is probably text roleplay if you're curious : D

I'm pretty sure that there was a list of hobbies for each character somewhere z or at least I've seen it written down that Tubbo likes gardening, but still, what is each character's hobby/hobbees?

Hobby swap. Every hobby gets sent to the person arter them in the order that you answered the second question in. How well does it go?

I do still remember that you wrote that Wilbur figures out that it has no hobbies when he doesn't have to get food so I suggest: Photography. I mean, they're already travelling through the USA and considering the fact that the foundation forgot about their existence they might as well have some fun and not hide constantly yk. Climb onto the statue of freedom or something. Why not. Might as well keep some memories!

Also it would just bee kinda ironic if Wilbur who has like the void thing which is the absence of light, photography as a hobby which is essentially capturing light.

5. What hobbies do you think whatever character/s would enjoy but aren't able to do due to their situation?

Man I don't think this one has an ounce of spoilers for Fault or content warnings!

1.Drawing. I find my drawing and writing is a very symbiotic process that keeps up passion about projects. I write a cool scene so I want to draw it, and while doing that I’m thinking about the story. Or I draw something sick as hell and am like well now I gotta put that in. I also like dnd but don’t play much alas.

2.I realized I was addressing the 5th question a little, so I’m going to put asterisks next to functional hobbies that they’re able to do on the run.

Tubbo gets the most exploration of hobbies due to the interlude WHiT Croplands. Tubbo definitely likes gardening because of Rhodes, though it’s also kinda cheating since flowers auto bloom once exposed to Tubbo long enough. Rosalind also has a lot of hobbies, and a bit of a problem with starting a new thing only to abandon it for the next project. So quilting*, painting, knitting. Tubbo also enjoys the Pokémon franchise. And they’re a dirty cheat at monopoly, can’t trust that guy at all. Also likes messing around in photoshop since they had an Instagram and needed to learn how to look like they badly photoshopped themselves into looking like a bug fairy thing.

Philza is seen doing a lot of meditating*, which is good for an embodiment of wrath. He’s probably picked up thousands of hobbies at one time or another. On speculation, he’s drawn to hobbies that involve fire and absolutely adores how creative humans are. Like part of Phil becoming a person was deffo influenced by humans changing the symbolic meaning of fire to include creation and protection. So metal work, glassblowing, anything with a combustion engine, etc. Philza was absolutely invested in the space race to an inordinate degree since they’re going into space with ROCKETS! He’s into cooking* and has a lot of random recipes that are nostalgic and tied to previous Collected. I can also see him doing a bonsai tree thing but like with a whole forest. Like sculpting how it grows over a few centuries. Ever see tree braiding?

I’m not sure if The Blade necessarily likes playing video games? I think he views it as a safe way to let The Blood God and voices go ham and appease their cries for slaughter. So it’s more The Blade disassociating while The Blood God plays, so I guess that makes video games his hobby instead. The Blood God finds it a little demeaning of his capabilities but at least The Blade is letting him out? His hooves and size would make it somewhat difficult, so probably tends towards turn based strategy games. The Blade does not let anyone around him when gaming for safety. The Blade personally prefers reading*, which is like narrating for an audience. The voices get really into it, and The Blade gets goofy and dramatic with it. It is difficult without his glasses tho given pigs are hyperopic.

Tommy likes video games, watching scary movies his mum forbid, and goofing around with his friends. He also gets into drawing at the Foundation using either his Red or Ros’ crayons. Not uh good at it but still it’s enrichment.

Wilbur has music* and that kinda it. A bit of a risk with instruments, given that’s extra weight to carry and the void could eat it but after a few messy obliterations over scratches the void has gotten the memo kinda. Wilbur likes the act of creating stuff to spit in the face of the void, but anything it makes runs the risk of eventually getting eaten by the void, which would really upset it. But music itself isn’t a physical object and so is safer. It’s a big coping mechanism for him to help calm down and control the void. The Foundation tried to ruin music for him but it didn’t work.

3.Tubbos wide array of hobbies would mesh well with Philza’s, and the gardening already aligns with the forest maintenance I hypothesized.

The Blade can’t meditate. He just can’t. He and Phil have a convo about it in the whumptober prompts thing since he’s frustrated meditating isn’t working and Phil just blinks and is like ‘? Why would my coping mechanisms be tailored to you? Come on mate let’s find something suited for you.’ All the fire related hobbies would also be no bueno bc he is very fluffy and very flammable. Might go for cooking tho, but on the whole he’s lazy and can just eat things raw so why bother.

Video games work out for Tommy, though I don’t think he’d be a fan of strat games. Reading is tricky with Red though, he needs someone else to hold a book. There’s a deleted scene where Tubbo and Tommy help each other read a book between the Red and dyslexia, with The Blade spoiling things and the pair getting salty.

Video games would drive Wilbur crazy since it doesn’t have the cultural background for them at all. Ever seen a grandparent try to play Minecraft? Plus he doesn’t like staying still in one place too long. Maybe a DS would work until the void tries to eat the cartridge. Scary movies don’t do anything to Wilbur because he IS a scary movie. And drawings are the worse for it since 1. Probably accidentally incorporates an evil rune subconsciously and gets cursed 2. Paper is Tastey snacc for void and prone to getting snapped up.

Tubbo canonically is bad at singing. I get the vibe Rosalind played the viola in middle school ? Sheet music can be rough on dyslexia though you can do stuff like use colored highlighters for different notes, though I don’t think Wil uses sheet music. They’d try to figure out simple tunes, very basic stuff. Tubbo wouldn’t be good but they’d have fun and annoy Wilbur.

4.There is the problem of photos getting eaten. I think he could convince the void that the camera itself is a dangerous creature that could vaporize them in a single flash of light if threatened. But if it could get the photos safe it would be a really good thing to help with its memory. Like visible proof xyz happened. Though I imagine what Wilbur and a human think is worth photographing is very different. Wilbur would have a blurry picture of a road captioned with something like ‘tastiest asphalt in Indiana’. Picture of random camping site ‘place where Phil admitted I was his favorite (this was not under duress)’. Picture of a lumpy cloud ‘if I got tall enough could I eat a cloud’

5. If Tubbo did beekeeping would that be like Mickey keeping Pluto as a pet.

Wilbur NEEDS to be in theater. Ideal enrichment for its dramatic soul. Interact with humans in a normal setting would be fantastic to work on the racism problem. It’s also the perfect medium for him since a performance is a one time thing that can’t be destroyed after the fact. Its main hold back would be the bad memory, but I think learning to value non survival memories could actually improve its memory and priorities. Theater is like 3 different character arcs for him. Also put him in a hot dog eating contest. I need Joey Chestnut to taste overwhelming loss.

Also put Tommy in an improv troop he needs it. Or therapy. He needs therapy as a hobby.

Alas having fingers holds The Blade back from a lot of things. But I think it would be funny to plop that man in a furry convention and try to scam people into giving him money to also make them giant crazy realistic suits. Would he do this. Never. It would be mean and require talking to a lot of people. However. It would be hysterical.

Back in Philza’s day, you could just be a leviathan monster in the ocean and eat entire whaling ships. But now you can’t anymore. Becuase woke.

[rosethornewrites]

NR, E, & M reading since 4/19

Finished

Not Rated:

Wen Chao kills WWX, by nirejseki

Prompt: Wen Chao kills Wei Wuxian at the Wen Indoctrination camp to intimidate the heirs of the clans.

WRH/CSSR/WCZ, by nirejseki

Prompt: So I really liked your pairing of LQR/WRH/Lao Nie and after seeing wwx's parents in the last episode of the donghua it got me thinking, How about WRH/WCZ/CSSR? WRH maybe saves them in yiling and they end up hitting it off (WRH might do it in the beginning just spite jfm by stealing his former best friend and crush) and the Wei family settles in nightless city, wwx grows up with the Wen heirs and wen Qing and wen Ning and that affects the events of Canon

Explicit:

something left to save, by androids_fighting93 (9 chapters)

"It’s going to be okay,” he murmurs in A-Yuan’s ear. Balanced on Wei Wuxian’s hip, A-Yuan watches his home disappear behind them, and starts to cry. Wei Wuxian looks again — away from the lands he knows, a world with no place for him. “We’ll take care of each other, won’t we?”

After the Wen remnants turn themselves in, Wei Wuxian disappears with the last living member of the Wen Clan. Lan Wangji follows.

one of those evenings, by westiec

“Ask for what you want, A-Cheng,” she instructs.

Intimacy between them has been… interesting to figure out. Neither of them had much space to become practiced at tenderness, and both of them have known their own bodies first as raw material to be shaped, cultivated into the right tool, the right weapon, something with which to do what needed to be done with as little friction as possible. Learning pleasure as husband and wife has been a negotiation, a dance, and—somewhat to both their surprise—a delight.

“I’d like to make you feel good,” he says, still adorably red in the face but undeterred. “To undress my wife and properly appreciate her beauty.”

T4T Chengqing enjoying a very sexy evening in Lotus Pier

Mature:

Heart of hearts, by apathyinreverie (🔒)

It won't be until several days later that Wangji will know to be grateful for Jiang Wanyin’s insistence to split up in their search.

(Or, JC and LWJ spend those months searching separately and LWJ ends up finding Wei Ying a little earlier. Wei Ying who doesn’t remember anything beyond his own name. So, LWJ takes his chance and takes Wei Ying home. To Gusu.)

justice, by thelastdboy

When Lan Wangji’s punishment had been decided, everyone at the Cloud Recesses had been aware that it had been a death sentence. Thirty-three lashes with a discipline whip weren’t something anyone had expected or even wanted him to survive.

And yet, he lived.

And now everyone needed to learn how to live with that.

Unfinished

Not Rated:

The worth of a life with no regrets, by SnowdropsAndDreams

It was hopeless. Utterly hopeless.

The night hunt had gone disastrously wrong and Wei Wuxian's tiny pebble of a core isn't enough to save him. But Jiang Cheng will be damned before he watches another sibling die in his arms, especially one that miraculously came back from the dead.

"I'm going to die here, Jiang Cheng. We both know it. But unlike last time, I'm going to make it meaningful."

"I know of a forbidden array that can turn back time."

"Didi, do you want to come with me?"

Or, a time travel fix-it fic where Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng work together as brothers.

Delight in Misery, by nirejseki

When Lan Wangji ran away from the jingshi to look for himself, his back still raw, and on Yiling he found only a small child, feverish but still capable of a little bit of babbling, still able to tell the story of what had happened – when he found the traces of blood on the ground, Wei Wuxian’s from when his power had backlashed on him – when he saw the bodies in the blood pool, already rotting –

For the first time in his life, Lan Wangji didn’t want to go home.

(what if he had another option?)

Explicit:

The Second Hand Unwinds, by trulywicked (🔒)

Sent back in time without his husband after a night hunt gone wrong, Lan Wangji is determined to ensure that Wei Wuxian’s safety and in the process hopefully mitigate, if not prevent, the war.

Through marriage among other things.

Heart of the Beast, by WaitForTheSnitch

“Wei Ying?” Nie Mingjue prompted him gently. ��Where are your parents?”

“They went on a night hunt,” Wei Ying said, a bit evasively.

“Your parents are cultivators?” Da-ge asked in surprise. “Did they leave you here while they hunted? When did they go on their night hunt?”

“Four summers ago,” Wei Ying said a bit uncomfortable.

“Four summers ago,” Nie Mingjue repeated. “What are your parents’ names?”

“My mama is Cangse Sanren and my baba is Wei Changze,” Wei Ying told him, and recognition registered in Nie Mingjue’s eyes.

“Wei Ying,” Nie Mingjue said, sounding a bit regretful, “Your parents aren’t coming back.”

Or, Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang run into Wei Ying while in Yiling and decide to bring him home. And it changes everything.

Mature:

Vow of Remembrance, by eightapart

It starts when he’s four and he whispers to Lan Huan that he’s lived his own death. His brother waves him off and tells him to go back to sleep, but it happens, again and again, until Lan Huan has no choice but to bring it up to their uncle.

After a series of trips to a child psychologist, Lan Zhan learns to stop dreaming.

or: Lan Zhan has memories of a past life with Wei Ying where they had a tragic ending.

At heart, by apathyinreverie (🔒, 2nd in a series)

“I feel like I might have known you,” Wei Ying murmurs against Wangji’s throat the next morning, air rushing past them as Bichen carries them speedily towards Gusu.

Or, LWJ finds WWX a little earlier after the Burial Mounds. WWX who doesn’t remember anything beyond his own name. So, LWJ takes his chance and takes WWX home. To Gusu.

(Continuation of Heart of hearts.)

(Un)Hidden truth, by Sarah_R

After watching his husband; his son; nephew; brother and little radishes dying in front of him one by one because of a source of resentful energy; Wei WuXian dies too as he destroys it.

But instead of darkness; he finds himself back in the past when he had just gotten kicked out of the cloud recess and everything looks so peaceful he can’t stand it. No…no no no he really can’t go through this hell again. Not again. Not after everything was supposed to be over.

Not knowing that Lan WangJi has been thrown back in time as well; he tries; and fails at taking his own life by slitting his throat open in the middle of lotus pier and so; he decides to show everyone the future.

If he’s going to live this hell again; he’s going to change it and if these people are suddenly so determined to keep him alive; then he’s not going to let them die either.

It doesn’t matter if they end up hating him just as much as he hates himself.

(Or; another time travel fix-it which happens to be a watching the show fic as well! With our favorite baby boy and his husband; all their ducklings and their very much alive family and friends from the past.)

[terrainofheartfelt]

Sort of inspired by your discussion of Jenny needing to go to London alone to really grow into herself and mature as a person, in an ideal world in which none of the main characters were forcibly tethered to the UES or its more toxic inhabitants post-high school, how do you generally - like broad strokes - imagine them developing as people in college and throughout their twenties? I always wonder where everyone might have ended up had they not been constrained by the type of narrative they were living in, and I’d love to hear any headcanons you have on the subject!

I've been thinking about this on and off since i received it (an embarrassingly - for me - amount of time ago) and now finally feel like I can answer.

because, like, what if we weren't constrained by the harsh realities of making tv? what if the rules meant that they could leave new york?

well, first, let's dovetail off jen moving to london and blossoming, and send eric along with her. he can go to cambridge, or any of the other big name universities in the area, and he and jenny would be flatmates and live their own hilarious queer sitcom of being students in london.

I've already plugged nads' yale au in my answers this evening, but I still really like the idea of dan and blair attending yale, and outside of the maelstrom of manhattan drama, they settle into their own selves and learn they could actually...like each other? and then they fall in LOVE as far as careers, they are the most driven. and we've talked about novelist dan and editress blair and art historian blair and college prof dan.....but lately I've been thinking about blair working in costuming. It's not high fashion design, but I think it's a great synthesis of the things we know blair loves: literature, film, history, art history & fashion history, Evil Dictator of Good Taste, being a specialist and big boss on a niche subject...yeah...

i still enjoy the idea of vanessa being at nyu, or at another arts college in nyc, and making her own way and building her own story (without being boxed in to the secondary character of anyone else's story!) I like the idea of her attending Tisch too, and expanding her skill set into screenwriting in that way.

to plug another au by a friend, S's goodbye stranger introduced the concept of Serena attending Berkeley, and I LOVE it. I love that for her. Berserk-ley. I think that school in that part of the country would be where Serena would really thrive. She becomes a full glamorous SF queen. perhaps she opens a coffee shop. Blair is outwardly mortified but inwardly very proud.

As for Nate, I think he is the character who really should take a gap year. It's never questioned, but the way he is yanked around by the collar those first two seasons, the more I think about it, the more it makes sense that nate would decide that he needs some time to figure out what it is he wants. sidebar: bc the serena gap year felt disingenuous in many ways, yk? serena was so eager to leave new york and go to school and study. she likes learning, we see it, and the opportunity to reinvent herself that college would provide....why would she walk away from it? except for TV Reasons. so, I like the thought of nate taking at least a year. traveling, volunteering, maybe he takes a community college course or two. he falls off the grid for a while and he realizes how healthy and how happy he feels without the constant eyes and pressure of his family & gossip girl. and after that time, he's found what he actually wants to do, and goes to school to do it. -- as always, I'm fond of nate working in health care, as a nurse or pt or something, but it could really be anything. teacher? chef? social worker? children's librarian? (actually culinary student nate has come up in convos with ivy & cherry before and I am into it.)

and uhhhhhh i guess chip wiskers can crash his inherited business and money into the ground bc lets be real that fucko would try to launch his own cryptocurrency and since he seems to hold such disdain for education and self-betterment, he stagnates and falls off the face of the earth byeeee

[pebblysand]

[books of 2022]

this is long overdue (i mean, it's april, but sure look) but i wanted to hop on here and do a little bit of a wrap-up of the books i read last year. i will say this: i am not (at the moment) a "voracious" reader. since the pandemic, i've struggled to find time to read - partly because i used to read whilst traveling, and i didn't do much of that in the past few years, and partly because i've been writing a lot, and i've always found it hard to do both at the same time. i must admit i find the #booktok girlies who read hundreds of books a year particularly unrelatable, but i did get through ten books last year (and DNF-ed three) so, i'll happily talk about those.

READ:

enfant de salaud by sorj chalandon (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) [fiction]: this isn't in english i know no one on here will read it, but sorj chalandon is and will always be one of my favourite writers in the world, and honestly the only french writer whose books i actually read voluntarily. i think what i like about sorj chalandon is that he's not only a fantastic fiction writer (his style - omg! his style ❤️), he's also a war reporter. as such, there's always a lot of "wars" in his books, either figurative or literal, which is obviously a topic i find incredibly interesting. this book is set in the 80s and centres on a reporter who is covering the klaus barbie trial in france, as well as coming to terms with his relationship with his father, who is a pathological liar. i really liked both aspects of the book. the klaus barbie trial story gave me a lot of food for thought for castles at a time when i was planning/writing the wizarding war trials, and the personal story was super interesting. i gave this a four-star because it's not my favourite book of his (retour a killybegs is) but i thoroughly enjoyed this.

au guet-apens by maître mô (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) [non-fiction]: another french book (sorry ^^) but this one was probably my favourite read of 2022. it made me laugh, it made me cry. maître mô was a french lawyer specialising in criminal law who got somewhat "twitter famous" in the 2010s for talking about the reality of his criminal law practice (the good, the bad, the ugly) - always with a lot of empathy, humour, and humanity. he passed away from lung cancer in 2020 and a compilation of his best blog (he also had a blog) posts was published, and i was very glad to be able to read it. there are so many funny and tragic human stories in there, and a beauty in the idea that everyone (yes everyone) is owed a criminal defence. i would so very much recommend it to anyone who has ever wanted to ask the question: 'how can you defend them?' the writing is gorgeous and i think it's the kind of book that strangely gives you faith in humanity again.

men explain things to me by rebecca solnit (⭐️) [non-fiction]: i hated this book so much i wrote a tumblr rant about it. i'm still angry i wasted my precious time skimming through it until the end. i refuse to give it another minute of my time. the one star is for the quality of the paper it was printed on.

none of this is serious by catherine prasifka (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) [fiction]: i picked this up in the shop a bit at random, but i really, really liked this book. it's a bit of a concept (the main character never speaks out loud, all you ever get is her internal monologue), but it's a concept that works. it also tackles very well that awkward time between finishing university and getting your first job, and how powerless and scary it all feels. minor tw for sexual assault there, but i truly enjoyed this. the writing style was very much my jam (present tense and not trying too hard) and again, i really loved the concept. i do feel like it could have done without the sci-fi element but i liked how chronically online the main character was (#relatable). i loved how there's just so much talk around her, and while you always know what she thinks, you never know what she actually says. would definitely recommend!

we had to remove this post by hanna bervoets (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) [fiction]: i've spoken about this book on here a lot already but again, i really, really loved it. this was probably my runner-up favourite, the only thing i have against it is that it felt Too Damn Short. broadly, the book is about the tech world and particularly the job of content moderators, which is a massive ethical can of worms. as someone who works in tech and in the "trust and safety" space (although i've never worked in content moderation myself), i found the book very faithful to reality, very well-researched, and deeply fascinating. the characters are incredible and the end twist was... a twist, to say the least. absolutely loved this.

an american marriage by tayari jones (⭐️⭐️) [fiction]: it took me three years to finally finish this book. i should have DNF-ed it. i kept picking it up and putting it back down again. i think i stuck with it because everyone said it was an Important Book about the mass incarceration of black people in america, but honestly, it wasn't really a book about that. it's a book about three people who are all equally unbearable and cannot make decisions to save their lives, and the fact that one of them happens to be in prison for a crime he didn't commit is, frankly, secondary. i really want to read a good book about racial issues in america, particularly regarding the justice system (if anyone has recs, please hit me up!) but this was not it.

bullshit jobs by david graeber (⭐️⭐️⭐️) [non-fiction]: this was both incredibly funny and incredibly triggering. really makes you realise how much of the corporate world is just bullshit, and i definitely include my own job in this category. most of us just serve zero purpose lol. that man is dead right. giving this three stars because while fine, the writing wasn't mind-blowing, but honestly, i'm glad i read this.

vox by christina dalcher (⭐️⭐️⭐️) [fiction]: like, idk. this was fine. i read this on the beach and had a good time. the romance was a bit nonsensical and the end a bit "blah" but i liked the premise. basically follows the life of a woman in a society where women are limited to saying 100 words a day. it was trying a bit too hard to surf on the handmaid's tale mania in the same way we had all these vampire books after twilight, but still, it was good. a fine summer beach read.

the seven husbands of evelyn hugo by taylor jenkins reid (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) [fiction]: everyone and their cousin has read this book and recommended it so i'm not going to reinvent the wheel. i promise, it is a great read. i very much enjoyed it. someone sent me an ask about it a few months ago, in which i shared a few more thoughts, if you want to head over there to find out more.

station eleven by emily st john mandel (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) [fiction]: this is a fantastic book. it's a masterpiece. it also fucked up with my mental health so badly i considered going to therapy again and totally messed with my brain for months. i think i'm on the tail end of it now. but, if you're an artist who has anxiety about dying before you manage to finish whatever it is you're working on, don't read this. honestly.

DID NOT FINISH:

i had a whole period of my life where i thought I Must Finish All Books, but that is no more. as that fake german heiress said: 'i do not have time for this, i do not have time for you'.

a brief history of the future by stephen clarke: it pains me to say because i really loved the merde series, but i've been dragging this book around for years, trying to finish it, and i think it's time to say goodbye. i just couldn't even tell you what the plot is, or what the point of the whole teleportation machine was... i'm just ... confused. i suppose one cannot write great books 100% of the time.

1984 by george orwell: look, i tried. but i think the issue with this book is that while it was the first in its genre, it was far from the last, and as a result of having read a lot of the dystopia that came after it, this just felt boring and stilted. the misogyny is also rather off-putting. i have read 100 pages and that was sufficient.

la peste (the plague) by albert camus: fuck, i love camus. i really, really do. the stranger is the only book that was assigned to me in school that i actually read. and, having now lived through a pandemic, la peste is strangely prescient. probably too prescient. i think the reason why i gave up on this is because 1) i "read" it as an audiobook and i think i'm just not an audiobook person and 2) i started this in the middle of the pandemic and it was just too much. the bubonic plague lockdown in the middle of the covid lockdown was hard to handle. so i just stopped listening to this on my walks and began listening to music instead. i don't think it's abandoned forever (i'll probably pick it up in book format again some day) but at the moment i just can't lol. no need to repeat the station eleven experience lol.

[morganlefaye79]

Things you should know about your characters

Original post

The original post was more of a guideline, but since I made all the thinking about it I figured I could write them down as well.

Valaire Dercks

What would completely break your character?

Someone dying that he is very close to, at some point it was Vicco, later on it is Kerry. And since it is foreseeable that Kerry will die earlier. He will follow soon after. 

What was the best thing in your character’s life?

He had a few good things happening to him and most would think that it is his marriage to Kerry, but actually, the best thing was when he found out he had a (twin) brother. Although it came with the same amount of pain.

What was the worst thing in your character’s life?

Dying, two times.

What seemingly insignificant memories stuck with your character?

The first time he woke up next to Vicco. Vicco was smiling in his sleep. At this moment it was very insignificant, but he would later find out that it is very rare for Vicco to smile at all.

Does your character work so that they can support their hobbies or use their hobbies as a way of filling up the time they aren’t working?

What are hobbies? His work is everything he knows. He is a full fledged workaholic. The only thing he does that you could count as a hobby is his daily workout before starting work. By the time he is healed from the relic, he has a security company and a foundation to manage. A bit later he is also Kerry’s manager, officially, which means Kerry manages himself and Valaire is just the one that makes the statements. 

What is your character reluctant to tell people?

Anything on the subject of his father and his life at Arasaka. He might even lash out if you prod him too much.

How does your character feel about sex?

Very good. Actually it wouldn’t surprise anyone when he would have unknown kids somewhere in the world. He travelled a lot for Arasaka and so he had his needs. During his relationship with Vicco (both were in agreement) he had some side flings when he was on the job. But when he was in NC he was faithful to him.

Kerry doesn’t share him so he is here 100% faithful, and Valaire wouldn’t have enough energy to have two lovers, Kerry alone counts for two at least.

How many friends does your character have?

His friends are/were:

Judy: He liked Judy from the start, even before the heist they talked a few times because Vicco was often at Lizzies. Valaire helped her to find Evelyn. Yes he had his own interest to find her, but he primarily wanted to help Judy. When Judy leaves NC they stay in contact for a while, but it becomes rarer in time. Valaire is worried about her but she always tells him she is fine. At some point she stops picking up the phone.

Mitch: First time Mitch saw Valaire he would have kindly suggested to Panam to get rid of that corpo rot as quickly as possible, until Valaire safed his life when he got caught by Kang Tao. When the AV-pilot threatened to kill Mitch, Valaire looked at Mitch, and MItch immediately understood, don’t move. Valaire used the same gestures and signs he used as a soldier. Although Valaire knew that he could never replace Scorpion as a friend, he tried. Over the years they become good friends even if they don’t see each other that often.

Vicco: It is a story from enemy to lover to enemy to friends. After Valaire broke up, both men couldn’t be in the same room without yelling at each other, Vicco was the one that always started the fights. He was hurt, and Valaire knew. At the time Vaslaire fell into his coma they were at a point that they would talk again at least, without spreading poison. 

Faye: Faye and Valaire met at a bar, they liked each other immediately. But both knew that they wouldn’t like each other as a romantic partner. Since Valaire was looking for a wife, he thought this to be perfect. They married so that Valaire’s foster mom stopped nagging. Faye could continue University, while Kilian had now a permanent father (figure). Even after Valaire divorced her, they were friends, until Valaire fell into his coma which caused Emails to be sent to all people he held dear as a goodbye message. In Faye’s mail he tells her how much she meant to him. But also a confession. The confession, that he was the one who killed her parents. At the time they didn’t know each other so he couldn’t have known. Faye will not speak to him for a very long time after that and their friendship is over.

How many friends does your character want?

Valaire is happy with a few good friends he can rely on.

What would your character make a scene in public about?

Valaire, although he is a Corpo himself, hates them. When he sees corpo’s preying or picking on someone he can’t just walk past. He will intimidate whoever is the bully. Most corpo’s give up quickly, those who don't want to budge get a look at his hand cannon, which ends any argument.

What would your character give their life for?

For his friends and family, without hesitation.

What are your character’s major flaws?

Valaire sometimes thinks he knows the answer to any problem, which he doesn’t and which always ends in a little disaster. 

Due to his corpo upbringing he is sometimes passive and waits for instructions without realising it. 

What does your character pretend or try to care about?

Valaire is a businessman, even if he rather would not be one, and so he pretends to follow (and care about) the universal corpo etiquette. Which he drops in the bin every chance he gets.

How does the image your character tries to project differ from the image they actually project?

Here again Valaire is a businessman and so he needs some facade to show to others. He envies Joris sometimes because he can be as he wants. Joris owns Valaire’s security company by 49%, but as a netrunner he is responsible for internal affairs and doesn't have to talk to clients.

What is your character afraid of?

Failure, that his life, in the end was a big bad lie he told himself.

What is something most people in your setting do that your character thinks is dumb?

Let’s call it drugs in general because naming all of them would take some time. Valaire was fed so many drugs and boosters during his time at Arasaka that he is so traumatised by it that he can’t stand any kind of drugs or boosters around him after he left Arasaka. With time it gets better and he himself enjoys sometimes a drink or two but he will carefully watch his loved ones that are prone to “overdo” it. Which includes mostly Kerry and Vicco.

Where would your character fall on a politeness/rudeness scale?

It depends on the person he meets. Generally he will be farther on the politeness scale.