#so many implications

[naomistares]

this one part from harrow the ninth always made me really upset. so i made a four page comic out of it!

[i-mybrunettelady]

1, 4 and 8 for El 😁

arsonson <3

4. Someone my muse likes, who doesn’t like them back quite as much

logan thackeray, in a way. el is still very much pro-trahearne marshal agenda, but he doesn't mind logan at all - it's not a terribly close relationship, to be sure, but it's a working one, esp because logan became marshal when el isn't as explosive as he'd been during the personal story. he also thinks logan is hot and likes looking at him.

on his end, though, logan doesn't like him quite as much. again, it's a working relationship, and logan respects el's expertise and knowledge and status, but he just doesn't really jive with him as a person even though el does remind him of nyra, who is a former protegée of his. but it's general knowledge that nyra is more likeable than el so

q1. Someone my muse met only briefly, but who impacted their life

aurene. el is a known elder dragon hater, and i think i may have written about their first meeting years ago, but prior to meeting her, el really felt like all the dragons were like mordremoth. so he approached her as such, and they had maybe one or two conversations total because he was never really comfortable around her. she did, however, change the way he views them - not as creatures that ought to be destroyed at all costs, but maybe as individuals on a wildly different timespan and with a wildly different worldview than him.

does he still dislike them? yes. does he still dislike aurene? no. but she did change the way he perceives them, and that's enough.

8. Someone my muse never met, but would have loved to

riannoc. see, el is a secondborn, but he awoke on the tail end of that year, and is one of the baby secondborn; as such, he was born after riannoc died, and heard all the stories about him, especially from trahearne (who was his necromancy mentor, after el's necromantic wyld hunt was revealed.)

now, this is where i explain my hcs as to hearne and riannoc's relationship. they were brothers, sure, in a sylvari way. but trahearne was also a little in love with riannoc, though i hesitate to say they were a couple - intense love, coupled with a certain level of being charmed by heroism and chivalry (which drew him initially to nyra, btw) were a potent mix he really didn't have the maturity to discern at such a young age. so the way trahearne would've spoken about riannoc did awaken a deep desire in el to meet him, though that never came to pass. only time he was ever able to see riannoc was in caladbolg visions.

(it also bears reminding that trahearne and el were in a romantic relationship themselves for a time. what that says about trahearne, i leave up to you.)

(it's also very interesting to me that el awoke with the notion of death from the get-go, but that he never really experienced the full effects of being left behind after someone's gone until trahearne dies. food for thought, el lore edition)

[toastess-with-the-mostess]

Let's Rewind! Toast watches Voltron Defender of The Universe (1984)

Season 1, Episode 29: Magnetic Attraction Season 1, Episode 30: The Sleeping Princess

Episode 29: Magnetic Attraction

Defensive training time! The team are doing Karate together I only got to a yellow belt myself because of how expensive lessons were, but it was fun either way

"I flipped Lance easy, and I'm a girl" "I fall for girls" Lance just say you like women who can kill you Once again we see Allura pointing out the fact she's a lady,,, I will never get over the back handedness of those comments

Oh my bad it's Judo! I've never done that one before

Great, nanny and Coran are here to tell Allura she's being improper again, and he thinks it's a good idea to guilt-trip her with her dead dad dude when will you learn that you can't stop her, she's literally doing worse by being a solider, protecting herself is the least she should know since even her guards can't handle when Lotor is after her

More misogyny from the team, the show really do be a product of its time 💀

The one good thing Coran does is warn other people to get to safety, but then proceeds to say "it's nothing, definitely not weird that a freaky orange and red cloud is slowly spreading over the sky of Arus when it's noon" if he doesn't die of old age I'm killing him myself

Oh so the cloud is rapidly causing global warming, eco terrorism is horrifying

Why the hell is there a group of people washing themselves in the last remaining water of a boiled away lake? im not sure if dotu will ever answer that but golion will later on

robeast so hot it melts missiles, and the team is immediately going to fly up to it except allura can't launch because blue has no power from the surrounding water which got boiled away oh shit this is actually a good plan on Haggars part

Ooh we get to see a crystal that probably helps power blue lion! Maybe that's where the nexus idea in VF came from!

Alfor ex machina, i can't remember the last time we saw you but it's been a hot minute hasn't it

HOLY SHIT LORE Black gets powered by lightning/electricity, Red gets powered from the heat of lava/magma, Yellow is also magma but more earth dependent, Green is powered by wind, and blue obvs is powered by water like i knew all this already but i love the fact i get to listen to it now

Coran finally thinks of protecting Allura against Lotor and attacks through castle defenses,, except not that it works because Lotor just attacks Allura who is still stuck in her lion as long as she stays inside I assume she's safe but man she's not having a good day

Lance is a smart cookie! He plans to make a path with their own magnetic laser in order to get up to the robeast Now only if he made more plans like that, the fights would be easier me thinks

Lotor doesn't want to hurt Allura, yet actively sends missiles at blue lion while she can't move I hope your dad beats you ong

wait did the team not know that they needed water to launch blue? ok that makes sense actually since they don't know anything about the lions and their mystic nature kind of late in the episode to realize that though

GIRL WHY ARE YOU OPENING THE HATCH FOR THE MECHANICS OF BLUE TO LET WATER RUSH IN, I DON'T THINK THAT'S HOW IT WORKS BUT OK Blue lion is back anyway so I guess it worked

Voltron formed, robeast defeated, and global warming cloud dispersed, so water can come back, the GIF for this episode is going to be great

DAMN ZARKON TRASHING HIS SON FOR THINKING FOR HIS DICK AGAIN

"My beloved nincompoop" LMAOO

/episode end

Episode 30: The Sleeping Princess

Lotor has a nightmare about a woman he says is Allura but very obviously isn't, especially when she does fade into Allura's design, probably his mother This man really obsessed with Allura

PRINCESS CORRAL MY BELOVED, LOTOR IS A SLUT FOR TURNING HER DOWN SHE'S SO CUTE

"Stop whining, you have no feelings" -Zarkon get his ass

Lotor stop making batshit excuses for not marrying her, you'll be unhappy either way good god

At least Zarkon knows that he'll fail his mission against Arus, if he just held on a little longer lotor wouldn't be a problem but nope

Look at her, she's such a sweetie! She's even helping Lotor try to marry Allura, a mistake, but she's got her heart in the right place

"I want Allura to come willingly, [but] she lives in terror of my father" Lotor she's afraid of YOU, this is man is all kinds of delusional

Another flashback of the Not Allura woman, still think it's his mom, and she's definitely Arusian which is probably why Lotor has so much obsession for Allura

Flower picking time! Gotta give the pretty princess some pretty flowers to match! The boys are so wholesome

Ah, shit the cat fucked over a blue lion pilot again, what is with that cat against the color blue, now Allura is presumed dead and everyone is freaking out about it

Of course Keith pieces it together that she can't be dead as long as Lotor is still after her, which yeah makes sense but c'mon any other guy see through it please

Hunk makes a plan! Fake funeral for the princess to lure Lotor and Haggar out I'd love it if the team got more scenes like this, everyone is smart enough to contribute somehow

Oh shit Orla attended her funeral! That's nice to see

Keith you're such a simp for Allura, yes, yes we get it Allura is a girlboss and is an amazing leader

What a sweet idea, people throw flowers into Allura's casket and almost filled it to the brim maybe it's tradition for every Arusian, that'd be cool

Lotor hijacks the carriage Allura's casket is being transported in, sucks for him though BECAUSE PIDGE MANAGED TO HITCH A RIDE GET HIS ASS PIDGE

Rip Pidge gets used as a hostage EXCEPT ITS PIDGE VS HAGGAR AGAIN BECAUSE HE HAS A GRENADE ON HIM Oh god this kid is about to sacrifice himself if it means making sure Allura is safe and taking down one of the baddies, where's that post about dotu Pidge being suicidal

"I oughta feed you this" (proceeds to run at Lotor and Hagar with a live grenade) "PIDGE FOR PETES’S SAKE DITCH THE GRENADE" - Keith "WANNA SEE WITCHCRAFT?!" oh my god, everything is happening all at once

Grenade explodes, it was knocked out of pidge's hand beforehand, so he dove for Allura to protect her as best he could still so sweet even under all that pressure

Lotor and Haggar run away and Allura's awake, so all's well that ends well I guess Pidge finally gets a real kiss on the cheek from Allura, good for him

LOTOR STOP BULLYING CORRAL, SHE WANTED TO HELP BUT YOU FUCKED UP SO MARRY SOMEONE WHO ACTUALLY LOVES YOU YOU FOOL

/episode end

[destiel-more-like-im-dead-again]

We as a collective do not talk about 9x7 Bad Boys nearly as much as we should it has so so much to unpack about Dean and his early years

[zaiinab]

no bc rewatching the as it was music video two years on and realising it’s so much deeper than i realised….

[hajimedics]

I'M NOT YOUR DOLL AND I'LL THINK FOR MYSELF AND I'LL LIVE FOR MYSELF

[kat-katharsis]

HOLY FUCKING SHIT WHAT THE FUCK AHHHHHH!!

[twobrokenwyngs]

Travis Cohle ⟶ True Detective Season 1: Who Goes There ⟶ True Detective Night Country: Part 2

[wherestoriescomefrom]

rian johnson took all that time, put in all that effort to make glass onion a fantastic period piece to the first four months of pandemic, a prescient narrative that anticipates the stupidity of rich billionaires, and then pulled the rug from under us because the world of benoit blanc just straight up doesn't have the mona lisa anymore

[hanafubukki]

You must have really ticked off someone in your past life.

There was no other explanation.

Because how else would you explain your current situation?

Not only had you somehow ended up in the past, which your mind was still trying to make sense.

The past, not a dream, but the past.

You stared at the person in front of you before looking towards your hands.

If it was anyone else, you would have an inkling of how to deal with them.

General Lilia, done, been there and survived his dream self and know his future cute self very well.

Baul Zigvolt…you would eventually wear him down like you did his grandson.

Hell even with Meleanor Draconia, you would somehow be able to deal with her. If dealing with Malleus and Lilia’s dream world gave any indication.

But this…

A glass came into view.

“Here, have some water.”

You numbly took the glass that was offered to you, barely glancing up.

You took a sip and the man in front of you nodded his head in that oh so familiar manner that almost had you choking on water. It made your heart ache at the familiar actions.

He turned back around to talk to his colleague.

This man?

Well, he was the Knight of Dawn of course.

…of course.

You were fucking screwed.

Part 2 and Part 3 (each part takes place after some time has passed) or can be read as a stand-alone.

[that-ineffable-devil]

I know I already posted about this but it was on a reblog that I think got buried under the original and I need someone else to lose their mind with me.

So the wonderful human that commented on this post about Hell's understaffing problem made me rethink something that I think a lot of us are sleeping on: Hell is RATIONING something.

At the beginning of S2 in between other remarks, Shax mentions that Beelzebub has put some lower ranking demons "on half rations." But we know celestials and infernals generally don't eat, so surely it's not food, right?

So what could they be rationing?

And then I remembered how both Heaven and Hell keep close tabs on the miracles done by Crowley and Aziraphale on Earth--even the little things.

And how, in S1, Hastur is stuck in Hell waiting for "maintenance" to come fix a leak in the ceiling. It's played off as a joke and it's something that would be so mundane for a human in an office or apartment building, so we don't give it much thought... But they can do miracles. They could literally fix that with a snap. We've seen Crowley fix the Bentley, so surely a little leak is nothing.

And Aziraphale gets reprimanded for doing "too many frivolous miracles," which we initially ignore because it's exactly the kind of bureaucratic/corporate BS we'd expect from Heaven and Hell.

But what if it's not just BS?

What if the power sources used by angels and demons are not infinite? Worse, what if they're not replenishable?

What if Hell is rationing miracles, because there's not enough power to go around?

And if so, where's the power coming from?

[captainofthetidesbreath]

I can't draw, so I gotta communicate it this way but I'm just going to imagine this is how it was going to go

[just-null-cult]

YO, SUPER LATE SUPER LONG SUPER MESSY OCTOBER POST THAT I JUST SHOVED EVERYTHING INTO BC I DIDN'T WANT TO DO MULTIPLE. FUCK IT.

I forgot halfway that these were supposed to be costumes and not mini aus... SO REMEMBER IN MY PLACE, EVERYTHING IS HYPOTHETICAL. also. some have a bit of yandere elements to them bc its SO FITTING FOR NORITOSHI.

Happy late October, everyone. it's winter now. Let's get it, baby.

[Long rambles and doodles under the cut!]

Vampire!

I kept asking myself, "How sexy is too sexy.." and "How the fuck does a sexy vampire even look like without it being a shirtless guy w fangs or Edward Cullen....." I think I figured it out

Sure, sure, vampires are superhumans with sun allergies that can drink blood really hotly. They can also easily overpower you to feast and blah blah blah, but what if said vampire (Noritoshi) was too weak to do any of that? Not literally, but he craves your say. He wants not only your blood but your affection. He wants to get praised as he drinks you in. Are you comfortable? How much will you allow him to take? Do you want to get him back in return? Guidance with this makes him feel more at ease. It's still Noritoshi at the end of the day. He's going to find a way to be a little awkward about you because of his crush. He refuses to drink from anyone other than you, even if it causes his death. Therefore, he has to keep you healthy! For the rest of your lives..! Besides, he can't really go outside or else he'd.. y'know. So if you think about it, this is a very beneficial relationship for both of you!!

The only downside is that you're losing blood on the regular, and for some reason, more people are moving away... Probably nothing, right? Noritoshi is always there to keep you company and help you recover anyways.

Witch!

my attempts also bled into the witch design.... you got greedy with requesting two in one ask, but I'll spoil you this time bc I also wanted to see Noritoshi as a (sexy) vampire and witch. heh. AND I DIDNT REALIZE HED BE SO CUTE AS A WITCH..... WHAT THE FUCK?? rip momo, fight for your title of cute witch...

Noritoshi strikes me as one of those witches who'd rather be left to their own devices because they're running some important magic whatever in the background. though, he'll take some breaks and indulge you if you insist on having him around. Insist meaning you pass by and strike conversation, leaving him to neglect anything and everything to prioritize his time with you. He doesn't want to use magic on you unless it's beneficial for either you or both. Noritoshi likes a natural progression with you that he knows for a fact is true and not some product of some spell. Though it doesn't mean he wouldn't use charms and such to get you to interact with him more often to speed up the process!

Can't sleep? He has a remedy perfect for that! Bad luck? Oh no, take a charm. Nerves? A potion he perfected will help you ease your jitters. Annoying peers? With a snap of Noritoshi's fingers, they're gone! Just don't ask what happened. Enjoy yourself instead and come to him with any new issue. He's quick to resolve it.

Definitely has some sort of doll that looks suspiciously like you.. Noritoshi would probably talk to it and practice one liners that give you the strongest sense of nostalgia once he uses them. He's simultaneously giddy that the charm he put in the doll works but also a little annoyed that his hard work isn't surprising you, but leaving you with deja vu.

Idol!

i was crying the entire time bc what does an idol look like.... noritoshi is handsome enough to be an idol without actually being an idol... now i can confirm that idols are very well dressed though. thumbs up 100% but i had some thoughts...

[Idol]

Noritoshi would be the type to cherish his fans, but hold clear favoritism over you. he'd be those idols that look cold, but they talk, and they sound smug in a charming way. i don't know much about idols, but i know he'd be so fucking good.... he'd be the type of guy to sing to you amongst the hundreds in the crowd.... ahhh the interviews w these famous aus. they're just talking and acting like themselves. can you imagine Noritoshi getting asked the question if he has a lover or not? he can lie, im sure you're alright with that, but he doesn't want to!! he does have someone!!! someone he loves more than all his fans love for him combined!!! he just can't say it for the sake of your privacy and his career. so Noritoshi does what any charming guy who's good with their words does. he deflects the question. answering the question, but not really, that'd be something he's known for. fans online are split on why Noritoshi does this. some think he's trying to keep that side of his life private, others think he's trying to mess around, and others think he's hiding a secret lover!!! though the last one is usually seen as the outlandish one, sometimes it makes Noritoshi's heart drop bc they get some things right. "Having a lover is a complicated question hidden behind a simple disguise. If I had to answer, I'd say my lovers are my audience. they make sure i'm well cared for, some more than others." AND HIS FUCKING LITTLE SMIRK I CANT COUGHS UP BLOOD. IM A THEORIST TOO. SECRET LOVER. 🫵🫵🫵🫵🫵

ON THE FLIP SIDE....

[Not an Idol]

An amusing thought where Noritoshi goes out in his casual clothes, and he's mistaken for an idol. No one knows who he is, but he just looks like he'd be one. bro's just trying to buy groceries, and now he has a fan group asking him to take pictures with them.. He'd tell them that he's just a guy, not an idol, but the group would still want a picture with him. it'd be a waste to pass by someone who's so naturally gorgeous, so with a sigh of defeat, he relents. It's just a photo, right? No harm done. Noritoshi'd go home and feel overwhelmed/embarrassed by the whole ordeal. later, he gets a call from someone in the kyoto group or you to inform him how he's all over social media, known as that handsome guy in the supermarket. HED BE COMPLETELY UNREACHABLE TO MEDIA OUTLETS BC NORITOSHI IS THAT GUY WHO DOESNT HAVE SOCIAL MEDIA.... he'd have to make one to make sure no one pretends to be him online. "Hello, I don't use social media, but I've been informed I've been getting attention online. To prevent anyone from being fooled by an impersonator, this is my official and only account. thank you." P.R. STATEMENT WRITING ASS.. his single post gets flooded with likes, comments, and DMs. it almost blows up his phone..... he was just buying bread, dude...... people try to dig up and find him through the other Kyoto group's social media.

[bonus] my second in command requested to put him in a fem idol outfit bc he thought it was funny. after frothing at the mouth and coughing out blood, I complied.

Doctor!

THIS IS SUCH A STRAIGHT FORWARD ASK BUT IT HAS SO MANY IMPLICATIONS. MY BELOVED CULT MEMBER.. THOSE EMOJIS GIVE ME A DIFFERENT IMPRESSION BUT IM NOT SURE.

Noritoshi as a doctor...... apple sales would plummet. his little clinic's business would skyrocket. sick cases would peak in his area. getting your heart checked by his stethoscope would be so fucking embarrassing bc all he'd hear is THUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMP

LIKE IMAGINE IF THAT WAS YOUR DOCTOR? BRO.

COUGH COUGH HACK WHEEZE COUGH COUGH.

Noritoshi would probably own a small clinic that he wants to expand. That or he opened one after working for a hospital for a while. He's a great doctor who's most likely respected but a pain in the ass to work with. Among patients, he's gotten the hot doctor reputation. Most want to be treated by him, but he's so professional, any chance of trying to flirt goes down the drain. Yeah, he puts his hair up to avoid it in his face even though his eyes are closed classic lab safety procedures. He seems like the type to have a soothing but authoritative voice during examination, so he gets his message across. it's a bit difficult when dealing with patients for Noritoshi. If he sees them too often, he firstly scolds you for not taking care of yourself, then feels guilty for not giving you the proper care. Keep yourself safe and healthy, or else Noritoshi will clearly :( Putting him in a yandere setting would be dangerous. He'd have a lot of control over you, considering he can prescribe medication, shots, visits, and other things.... he'd have a ball.... nothing that would cause you any harm, of course. he's only looking out for you and doing what's best for you..!

Pirate!

my second in command wanted a pirate. pirates are so fucking cool and i know damn well if this guy were a pirate he'd have a bunch of battle scars under that fancy coat.

Noritoshi as a pirate would be more than a little odd, but also fitting. He looks like the type of guy who'd be well put together, yet he's willing to get his hands dirty. Like the guy who got into the pirate life because of some personal issue that couldn't be solved fast enough through conventional means. Even as a pirate, i imagine he holds everyone to high standards. They're still pirates though.. so his expected standards aren't even that high. He has more freedom here, so even he himself lets loose once or twice. Especially with you. He's even able to get away with more violent actions for you, the seas are unpredictable, after all. While taking some treasure, Noritoshi'd toss you a gem or golden coin, just so you can say you were the first to claim it. Just so he can see that happy glint in your eyes when getting your hands on treasure. God forbid anyone try to get their hands on your hard earned goods. They'd be met with a bullet to the foot or a sword at their neck. Everyone and their mother knows how you're his favorite, but Noritoshi downplays it. Its not a crime to help out someone from his crew is it? Not in the seven seas. He leans more into his cold ruthless killer side here. He has goals and people to help keep in line whether hes captain or not. Yet when around you, he's almost adorable in how he shows you a pearl so entrancing that it reminded him of you.

Corpse Bride!

my submission to my Noritoshi Halloween costume closet.. CORPSE BRIDE, THIS MOVIE FUCKS. esp w the yandere elements.

Noritoshi 100% made you recite the wedding vows to him before accepting the ring. If you fumbled up, he'd correct you with SO much attitude and expect you to start from the top until you got it perfectly.

Hypothetically, in the chalice scene towards the end..

Noritoshi is the type to never be fully relaxed unless he knows for sure you'll be eternally his. In this scenario, YOU proposed to HIM but have to die to continue being together. Not only that, but someone in the living world is also after your heart. Someone who bleeds. Someone who's the obvious choice. Someone who can give you the life that you deserve. Someone who will succeed in their pursuits if you. remain. alive. Noritoshi's life was cut short, yet he still managed to lose so much and be abandoned a considerable amount of times. When he meets you and finds out about the possibility of having to go through that again even in death, it finally clicks in his rotting mind. He realizes he's been doing something wrong to keep constantly failing. Noritoshi revises his methods to a more.. selfish course. Why should he care about anyone else's wants or how his actions hurt them? You were the only one who made him truly fulfilled, to make him feel alive. The only one who deserves anything and everything good that comes from this world. Destiny is never done toying with him when he realizes your marriage is invalid because of your pulse and his lack thereof no matter how hard he'd try, but the opportunity arises. of course, he's ecstatic to give you an afterlife worth much more than what a silly beating heart can achieve. "All people die eventually. If you miss your living family or friends, all it takes is patience, darling. I'll wait by your side in the meantime." He weighs the pros and cons of everything, but when it comes to swaying manipulating your thoughts he only highlights the ones that'll get you on his side. in this case, the pros of dying to be with him! Honestly, the answer was so obvious that Noritoshi didn't know why he was stressing about it before. It hurts him to see you in any type of pain, but he reassures both himself and you that it'll only be for a moment. Afterward, he'll have the rest of your afterlives to make it up to you!! What happened to Till Death Do Us Part? Noritoshi thinks it's insulting that something as shallow as that could be so widely accepted. If your love were true, it wouldn't stop just because the world decided to take them away. "Till death do us part? Darling, don't be silly. 'Not even death will do us part' feels much better, doesn't it?" 

[starshapedfruits]

The fact that in the manga Riku briefly "sees" Xion as Kairi when she asks if he hates her for taking Sora away from him is absolutely heartbreaking...

[pixelkip]

You know what. Why do we as a touhou fandom not talk about the fact the pc98 songs are canon. They exist. In canon. Akyuu has them documented and has probably heard them. Someone within touhou's universe wrote them. Reimu could probably actually listen to her own theme. Were the songs actually written about the events of those games?? Was eternal shrine maiden written about reimu?? Was love colored magic written about marisa?? I'm going insane

[theminecraftbee]

hermit horror week day 4: season 7 or taken over

Xisuma slowly blinks at the console logs for the server again. He's very tired; he's been collecting blackstone again, and it's very tiring, collecting blackstone. He's been building a lot of pretty houses, and stocking a lot of shops, and he hasn't had time to look at the console much recently. He probably shouldn't be now, because he's tired, and tired people make mistakes.

He makes a lot of mistakes; he's silly like that. A big derp. It's why he has to be careful, since he's been tired so much lately. He definitely shouldn't have the console open.

It's just, earlier Impulse had a question, since his moss farm kept lagging, and Xisuma thought it would be easy enough to try to find the root cause of. And he did find the root cause of it--Impulse's farm is too fast and his storage simply doesn't keep up with the amount of moss--but there's... some other things...

He blinks again at the dates on the server files. The last edited dates. Slowly, he clicks again on his own player data, and tries to make sense of what he's reading. Files like this, they aren't really meant to be that human-readable. It's--well, it is mostly json, so it's mostly human-readable, actually, but a lot of it is still encrypted, for player safety, which would. Maybe explain what he's looking at? He thinks? He's--well, he does have root access, is the thing, because he's the admin, but he still shouldn't be able to look at any player willy-nilly.

He's a little too much of a derp to be trusted with that. He probably shouldn't even be looking at his data! It's just. That last edited date. Xisuma doesn't edit his own player data. That way lies madness. He's, uh, pretty sure he knows some people who went a little mad doing that. So the fact of the matter is--well, it's not the only file that's been edited recently, he tells himself. Just because it's a lot of memory files that seem to have been edited, as well as access permissions--that's... normal enough for a new season, right?

He's...

He doesn't notice his other self walk up behind him.

"Oh, hey Xisuma. You finished gathering materials for our next build, then?" Evil Xisuma says. All of Xisuma's hairs stand on end.

"I mean, I've gathered enough to get started," Xisuma says.

"Pity. I was really hoping you'd manage to get everything. I thought maybe we'd finish today, but I guess we can't now."

"I--you're right. I'm really sorry."

"No, no, don't worry, don't worry, my friend," Evil Xisuma says. "We probably couldn't have finished today anyway, even if you said you'd try for it."

Xisuma's heart is in his throat. "Sorry, my head's just been. You know how I am. Silly me, forgetting things."

Evil Xisuma shakes his head. "It's awfully lucky I came back this season. Think of all the important things you'd be forgetting without reminders!"

Xisuma looks down and away.

"Gosh, and now you're... playing around in the admin console?"

"Oh!" Xisuma says. "It's, er, nothing really big..."

"Can I see it?"

He barely resists the urge to close out of his player data and hide that's what he'd been looking at. He doesn't know why he wants to hide it. It's not like--well, if Evil Xisuma got mad about it, it would be... right, wouldn't it? Because, well, Xisuma knows full well he shouldn't be looking at or editing his own player data. Editing your own data is the way to madness, and Xisuma, well, he's been so tired lately. He could easily accidentally hit a button. He could easily accidentally hit delete. He has root access, after all.

His heart is in his throat again. He shuffles his feet. "Sure," he says, finally. "I, er, I promise, I wasn't doing anything. I just noticed the last edited date on, uh, files that aren't automatically created by the system? And I thought, gosh, that's weird. I'd only been in there to check on Impulse, really, after he'd had some lag issues. I was just finishing up. It's nothing--the date's weird, though, right? That's all I was noticing."

He watches Evil Xisuma's fingers scroll through all of Xisuma's data. It's not quite fast enough that Xisuma isn't sure he's reading it, and suddenly, Xisuma feels very small.

Finally, Evil Xisuma hands Xisuma's tablet with the admin console open back to him. Xisuma looks down, and Evil Xisuma has closed out of the player data again.

"You just forgot the last maintenance date," Evil Xisuma says.

"Really?" Xisuma says.

"Oh, yeah, for sure. You're so tired lately. You silly derp. You've just been forgetting things easily. You should really get more rest!"

"Oh, but then we won't finish our projects," Xisuma says.

"I guess we wouldn't," Evil Xisuma says back.

"It's just--it's. Most of the time, access permission for player memories isn't edited during maintenance, and I just--I don't remember putting your name down?"

"Why wouldn't you?"

Xisuma tries to think.

"I don't know," he says finally, small, unable to meaningfully articulate anything about what's wrong with it. "I guess it only makes sense, if I'm forgetting things so easily."

"Exactly! Gosh, we make a good team," Evil Xisuma says, and he smiles at Xisuma. Xisuma crookedly smiles back.

"Yeah, we do," Xisuma agrees.

"Don't pull that out again unless I say so, okay?"

"Okay," Xisuma agrees automatically, and then he knows he will not. It makes sense. If he was upsetting himself over nothing like this, why, imagine what he'd do if he could open it whenever? He'd just constantly be upsetting himself!

"Now, my friend, let's return to building the Evil Empire."

"Let's!" agrees Xisuma, and just like that, the entire encounter slips from his mind.