#sorry i'm bad at math and magic math

[solitaire-sol]

02: Number

For: @prongsfoot-microfic

Month: August 2023

AO3: Link

Notes: ---

By Third Year, James and Sirius had a certain... reputation. They had no problem scoring higher-than-average marks, of course, but holding the attention of either boy was another thing entirely, particularly with the distraction of each other's company. Only Professor McGonagall had any success in keeping Black and Potter's attention on the task at hand, and even then it was accompanied by a sinking feeling that their focus synced directly with its less-than-school-approved uses. No-one in their Transfiguration class would forget the day they covered the Draconifors spell: While most struggled to do more than give their matchbox or pincushion a scale-pattern, James and Sirius had Transfigured an entire flock from wooden spools and discarded Every Flavor Beans boxes and forks nicked from that morning's breakfast table, the palm-sized dragons gem-like and metallic and an eye-searing orange that had once been Peter's prized Chudley Cannons trading-cards. The classroom had been thrown into chaos, students gaping in awe and fending off the tiny reptiles when they began snatching quills and nesting in peoples' hair. McGonagall, in the midst of restoring order, had leveled a stern look at Sirius and James, who were too busy collapsing in laughter at their own cleverness to care.

Privately, Minerva would admit to being at impressed, though that didn't stop her from assigning the proper amount of detention.

When both James and Sirius signed up for Arithmancy, the decision was met by confusion from most and by satisfaction from a few, who anticipated their humbling by the notoriously difficult subject. Those who'd been hoping to see them fail were disappointed: James and Sirius spoke numbers as easily as they did spells, and Ravenclaws who had the misfortune to share a class with them snapped more than one quill over the course of the term, their pride wounded when they spent all night laboring over numerology tomes to produce what James could rattle off while doodling snitches, what Sirius could correlate and defend while devoting a greater amount of concentration to balancing his chair on two hind legs. The careless way they conducted themselves drove Professor Vector mad, but she was fair: Their homework was timely, their classwork faultless, and she spent enough time grilling them to prove that they weren't copying off each other.

Unlike most students, neither James nor Sirius had any interest in knowing their futures; determined, perhaps, to shape them themselves, or convinced that only bright times lay ahead. What piqued their interest was Arithmancy in spell creation, how it could change or alter a spell, which both boys gravitated towards as if the idea itself was a puzzle to be solved.

Such spellwork, of course, lay far beyond their current abilities, as Professor Vector didn't hesitate to say: Even students as talented as themselves could hardly hope to produce proper results with such limited experience.

“Yes, Professor,” they'd chorused, exchanging glances as soon as her back was turned. As always, what was meant as a proscription had been taken as a challenge.

[ssahotchnerr]

girl!dad aaron reading to his daughter over the phone while on a case! 🥹 just like that one episode of jj and henry 😭🥰

nightmares

i will sob. 🥺 i'm also setting this in ellie's bad dreams era :( cw; fem!reader, girl dad!aaron, slight angst, fluff <3

"It looks like this is his comfort zone." Using a red marker, Spencer circled an area on the map. "If we pinpoint-"

As he was continuing his thought, Aaron's phone rang. He fully expected to see Penelope's name, anticipating her call as she was working her magic to narrow down a pool of potential unsubs. However, his eyebrows furrowed in worry as he saw it was from you instead.

"Excuse me." He spoke lowly yet urgently, keeping his eyes on his screen and hurrying away with no hesitation, missing the team's concerned glances.

"Hey," he answered, closing the door to the empty conference room behind him. There was knowing feeling deep in his chest - and a grim one at that. "Everything alright?"

"Kinda... no." You switched up quickly with a sigh, slight distress in your voice. "I'm sorry, I know you're busy. But can you spare a minute or two?"

"Another nightmare?" Aaron's eyes shot to the clock perched on the wall. While it was somewhat early for him, it was getting late back home, timezones to thank. And doing the math quickly, bedtime for the kids had been about two hours ago. So sadly this - right on schedule.

You hummed in confirmation, beginning with the positive first. "She fell asleep in her bed tonight, actually. Went down easy, not much protest. But then woke up crying, and was nearly inconsolable for a while. She's with me now." Your eyes shifted down to your frightened daughter besides you, who was inching closer and closer to seemingly making herself smaller. "And keeps asking for you."

Aaron glanced out; the team was still preoccupied, discussing the geographical profile amongst themselves, and could definitely manage without him for a while longer. "Yeah, I have some time."

There was a quick rustle as you set your phone down, placing it on speaker. Your voice was farther now, not by much, but it felt treacherously distant, as if more miles had been added. "It's Daddy, honey."

"Hey Ellie Bellie." Aaron's tone quieted, his face softening as he spoke. "What's the matter?"

A light sniffle came from the other end. "I had a scary dream."

"A scary dream, huh?" He repeated, an achy pang producing in his chest. Ellie's nightmares have been occurring for a while now, and indubitably becoming a problem. You both expected the dreams to run their course, eventually pass, and things would return to normal. But as time moved forward, it was becoming clear it was well beyond that as they worsened. "It's okay, you're safe with Mom now, right?"

Ellie nodded, unknowingly to him. Her small voice cracked, laced with tears. "I want you."

"I know, and I'll be home when work lets me, I promise. You can even use my pillow tonight too, if you want." He bit down onto his lip as Ellie mumbled a small 'okay' in response. Hard. "Or how about a story? Would that help you feel better?"

Her head rose up and down again, prompting you to speak up as Aaron was met with only her silence.

"We have a few right here." You reached across her, grabbing the few storybooks that frequented Aaron's nightstand and settling back against your own pillow.

"Your pick sweetheart." Aaron pulled a chair from the table, sitting down and making himself comfortable momentarily.

"Goodnight Moon?"

Goodnight Moon, also one of Jack's favorites when he was younger. Between him and Ellie, Aaron's read it so many times, he had the entirety of the book memorized. In addition, Ellie's other, more lengthy favorites - he had gone through and cleverly taken a picture of each page, all stored safely in his camera roll for instances such as tonight. No matter where he happened to be, he could read the text, while also drawing attention to and discussing the images with her.

"Sure. Get all comfy and cozy up to Mom, yeah?"

Ellie nestled herself more into your side, her head resting on your arm as she death-gripped onto her plush bunny. You adjusted the duvet to adequately cover the two of you, scooting down and propping the book up for the two of you to see.

"We're ready when you are." You told Aaron, brushing a few stray strands of hair away from Ellie's face.

As your brief sentence concluded, a harsh pinch formed behind Aaron's eyes, the guilt creeping in as he pictured the two of you laid together, where he also should've been. His little girl was beside herself in fear, wanted him, and yet here he was. Far away on the other side of the country. He felt as if he were failing her; letting her down.

Aaron swallowed to even out his voice, to sound as cheery as he possibly could, and to refrain any agony from being heard. He took a deep, yet small guttural breath.

"In the great green room..."

[dashamanych]

What if it's all was just a game...

Hi there! I finally can create art again :3 im finally free and i WANT TO TELL YALL A LITTLE ABOUT MY SILLY DONT STARVE AU....

I just had a funny thought... what if there was no magic, no another dimensions, no real survival - what if its all was just imagination of a lonely boy Max (i thought it would be funnier if he'd name his edgy selfsona after himself, so he is not William there)...

He is a fifth grader with a very rich imagination and a rather unpleasant temper. I think one day he found a big notebook in a stationery store that had the first letter of his name on it (maybe it meant "Math," or maybe it was just one of those lame designs for cheap stationery), and just started to pretend that this is some sort of his magic book, lol! After a while, he came up with his own imaginary world where he was the edgy ahh king of nightmares MAXWELL!!!!! He drew all the monsters and stuff as well

But of course that wasnt enough....... He didn't have a very good relationship with his peers, I think. That's why he's exploiting someone younger! One day Max found Wilson, a random third grader, compliant enough to play his games. He came up with a lore for him, annnddd the just played their "don't starve" game, some kind of improvisation roleplay xd ????? Idk how i could call that in english

Sorry for bad translations english is not my mother language x')

Anddd of course there was a girl sitting at the same desk with him, and she really liked him!!! But he didn't seem to notice, because he was too caught up in his imaginary world 😥

Then, however, he will agree to write her as a character in his story!! He didnt know..... That someday shes going to appropriate his setting

"To spite Mom, I'll freeze off my ears."

That's all i have for a while! I'm pretty bad at describing things in words, and I prefer to show rather than tell! ^^" So forgive me being a bit awkward

[science-au-oliver006]

"Hm, this app looks interesting... Heh... Nobody's gonna know I'm here :)"

*cough-cough* Welp, yeah, welcome to RP blog for my most favorite character from FPE, but from Science AU!

I haven't seen any blogs for this AU yet so... I guess this one is gonna be the first :b Cuz why not lol

Note for yall: Some things on this blog are just headcanons, some are canon.

(this is already my 3rd FPE RP blog...- 😀🔫)

Anyway...

🧪Info/Headcanons🧪

🧼 Science AU!Oliver is 24 on this blog.

🧼 He actually can talk, but he just rarely talks, he usually growls most of the time.

🧼 Still incredibly likes eating soap (literally addicted to it-)

🧼 After being reduced to a such state, he of course become much more aggressive and feral, he can even be aggressive towards his friends if he's in a very bad mood. But he actually still cares for them, even though it's not visible.

🧼 Despite being immobilized by the black bands, he won't hesitate to stand up for himself if someone is irritating him (he can easily use his sharp teeth, so be careful-)

🧼 He starts to growling if someone he doesn't trust to is approaching him, this is his warning sign. And if the person he doesn't trust to won't back up, he'll attack them.

🧼 He hates the scientists the most.

🧼 Of course still simps for ∆lice-

🧼 He's the only one who Science AU!∆lice being softened up to.

🧼 If you try to steal his soap you're dead- /j

🧼 Secretly loves belly rubs and getting scratched under his chin :3

🧼 He can purr <3

🧼 His horns are his melt spot, he secretly likes having them petted :3

🧼 He's bisexual.

🧼 Surprisingly very ticklish (underarms, belly and under chin are his worst spots-)

🧼 He's just silly despite being a feral guy :b :3

🧪Rules🧪

• No NSFW is allowed. I'm aware Oliver is an adult, but still, such stuff is not allowed. Mod is a minor.

• Be kind and respectful towards me and other roleplayers please.

• Don't harass me for my headcanons.

• Don't force me into roleplaying with you.

• Don't try to ship Oliver with OC or other character who's not ∆lice (I have nothing against anything like OC x canon ships and so on tho, but canonically Oliver is dating ∆lice)

• Don't spam in the inbox and please be patient if I'm not answering your ask right away since I have other blogs to keep up with. Also I just can be busy irl, sleeping, etc.

• Please don't spam-like.

• Donation asks will be deleted.

• Magic asks and tickle asks are allowed, just please don't be weird about it-

• Don't try to kill Oliver.

"Oliver will talk like this."

[Mod will talk like this]

🧼 🧼 🧼

Other cool FPE and non FPE blogs that you should check out :3

@engels-ask-blog @askclairefpe @lana-and-her-sockpuppets @abbie-appleboy @claire-the-silly @abbie-the-apple @ask-lesbian-bubble

@oliversoapeater-official @zip-the-chaos-child @3dward-th3-s1lly @ask-edward-fpe @ask-zip-stuff @sillylilchipster

@alice-monstrous-princess

@sk3ll-em0-k1tty @ruby-the-pansexual-robot @riley-crazy-kid @rabies-infested-riley

@ask-silly-rabbit @ask-lizzy-fpe

@math-teacher-who-loves-oreos @miss-bloomies-science-class @wendigo-language-teacher @pansexual-music-teacher @lesbian-history-teacher @kitkatlovingalgebrateacher @best-social-studies-teacher @principal-grace

@danger-abbie @danger-engel @danger-ruby @danger-zipster @danger-bloomie @danger-oliverrr

@askskary @viviansmagicshop @official-crazie @agethath3silly @girl-from-the-snowy-forest @ask-miller

@askofficialfern @amythesilly

(I'm sorry if the ping didn't work, this is all Tumblr💔)

That's all for now. Might update later if necessary. For now, have a good day/night and have fun! ^^

(As always, mod is @just-cutie-avocado)

The character and AU don't belongs to me. The character and FPE itself rightfully belongs to Kaaatie on YouTube/A3DGhost on Twitter. Science AU belongs to Molly on YouTube/HHunh6941958086 on Twitter.

[a-small-batch-of-dragons]

A Balancing Act

There were so many wonderful prompts that I couldn't fit them all in here! Thank you so much to everyone who submitted one :)

Read on Ao3

Warnings: bruised ego, panic attacks, touch starvation

Pairings: none

Word Count: 6556

It starts, as do most things, in the Imagination.

Deep beneath the surface of the world, buried in layers of implication and mystery, lies a set of scales. Perfectly balanced? No, never, but always in a state of equilibrium. It operates on a set of rules far older than the theories of physics that govern the Waking World—that is, what most would refer to as Reality, outside the bounds of the Mindscape—for science is an intersection of math and literature and magic is a science based on a math most esoteric. Its golden rule is simply thus: whatever gives must be pulled, and whatever pulls must be given.

The scales must always hang. The scales must always be.

In the middle of the night, when no one will notice, Remus turns on his convincing loop of his own sleep noises—grunts, sloshing, the occasional rustle of bed covers—and sinks into Roman's room. Roman is awake, sitting on the edge of his bed, tying and untying the same knot in a length of rope as he stares into nothingness.

"Sorry," he mumbles as soon as Remus comes to sit next to him, "I'm…trying. I just can't seem to get anything…more."

"It's okay, Roro, I'm not mad or anything. I honestly thought it was kinda cool."

Roman huffs a laugh, only mostly filled with humor. "I figured you would. I mean, it's way more of a you idea, isn't it? Having the entire tower suddenly become as flexible as rubber and threaten to kill everyone inside?"

"I'm not gonna try and summon Janny at this point of the night, I'm definitely stealing it for my next video game dungeon idea."

"I'm glad at least one of us is getting some use out of it."

The humor dissipates quickly as Roman's fingers keep working unsteadily at the knot. Remus reaches over and rests his head on his shoulder, enjoying the warmth of Roman's breath ghosting over his temple as he wraps his arm around Roman's waist. "Are you doing okay otherwise?"

Another sigh. "I don't know, Remus. I don't—I haven't had the energy to know how I'm doing which I think is answer in and of itself, and every time I try to actually do something about it, the Imagination knows that I'm not—that I can't—"

Remus gives him a squeeze when his breathing starts to pick up a little. Roman winces and he sits up right away. "Are you bruised again?"

A suspiciously long pause. "It's nothing, Re—"

"Bullshit." Remus storms to the bathroom and returns with the first aid kit, tossing it on the bed. "Lemme see, Ro-bro, I'm not letting you get away with being bruised to hell and not letting anyone take care of you."

"Re," Roman almost whines, but he sets the rope aside and starts fiddling with the hem of his pajama shirt. "I'm—it's really fine, it's not even that bad this time."

"I'll be the judge of what's 'that bad,' thank you very much. You're not allowed to evaluate your own injuries after you hid broken ribs from me for almost a week."

"I was sort of proud of that, actually. Hey!" He yelps as Remus tugs on his hair. "Not the hair!"

"So lemme look at you. Come on."

"You're so demanding." But off comes the shirt and Remus has to begrudgingly admit that it's not actually that bad this time. A light smattering of yellow and a dusting of blue along Roman's side, probably just enough to make him wince if someone presses down on the right wrong spot. "See? It's fine. It'll probably fade by morning."

"You can't blame me for being suspicious, though."

"No," and Roman's voice gets all soft and gentle for a moment, "I don't. Thank you, Re. I…"

"No need to get too sappy, Roro, the night's still young."

"Yeah, maybe by your standards."

"I always go by my standards, because my standards are right," Remus remarks as he goes to return the first aid kit at a more reasonable pace, "how you should be treated better, how the others should know about some of this stuff—"

"No."

"But Ro—"

"No, Remus," Roman says, voice suddenly cold. He puts his shirt back on and hunches his shoulders. "We both know that them knowing isn't going to be a good idea."

"They care about you, Ro—"

"Evidently not!"

"But they don't know about it!"

"Yeah, because I've tried opening up to them in the past and all it's gotten me are insults, badly veiled pity, and the promise that it will be used against me at the first time it's convenient for them! I'm not going to give them an even more detailed guide of 'Press Here to Hurt the Prince!'"

Remus is quiet for a long moment and Roman sighs.

"You're thinking of how to make that into some sort of weird carnival game for your horror country fair, aren't you?"

"Only slightly—"

"I knew it."

"—but I'm also worried because you're my brother, Roman," Remus says quietly, coming over to sit next to Roman again, taking his hands and giving them a squeeze, "and I don't like seeing you hurting."

"But you know I'm right."

"…but I have a feeling that your instincts may be accurate."

Roman's brow quirks in amusement. "You've been spending more time with Logan, then?"

"Yeah. We, uh, we have an experiments lab in the mad scientist part of that big old spooky mansion you and I made when we were younger and it's…it's really fun, Ro, you should come hang out with us."

Roman chuckles, smoothing his thumb over Remus's scarred knuckles. "I don't think me and experiments would be very fun for all of us, but I'll happily partake in quests to gather the more obscure resources you might require. I'm sure you could convince Logan to take a small break for such an excursion in the future?"

"Ooh, a quest with an actual party! That might be fun. We'll have to think about that more tomorrow after we get some rest," he says pointedly when Roman looks eager enough to keep going now, only to chuckle at Roman's disappointed face, "hey, you're telling me—I'm being the reasonable one here and I'm exhausted already."

"Restoring balance to the universe, then." Roman leans forward to rest his forehead against Remus's. "Thanks for coming to check in on me."

"Hey, you're my brother. The entire world could be turned upside down and back to front and that'd still be true."

"Is that your way of saying you're always gonna be there for me?"

"Just like I know you will. And yes, before you ask, I'm enjoying imagining the others being surprised we're like this too."

"Just checking."

Remus ruffles Roman's hair. "Get some sleep, okay, Roro?"

"You too."

***

Roman wakes up cold.

Well, no. That's not quite right. He wakes up in agony that he can only bear to keep to himself because he's too cold to have the energy to move.

The first thing he registers is the pain. Deep, bone-weary agonizing pain that feels like he's been locked in a suit of armor that is being tightened, slowly, half-turn by half-turn of a screw. A noise threatens to escape his lips before he presses them tightly together, managing to roll onto his back.

He's on his side—or he was on his side. There's a soft rustle and a weight that indicates a covering of some kind. Blankets. He's in a bed. A bed he doesn't recognize in his state of delirium. The pain becomes enough of a dull roar that he can move his head, looking around at a blurred and darkened room. The barest sliver of light comes from a window just off to the side, behind his head, exposing the dark red of the covers slathered across his body. It stretches away into the darkness as though it were an ocean of blood, a tug of renewed pain reinforcing that as his neck cries out for release. Already exhausted, he lets his head flop back down onto the pillow—pillow, right, that's what it is.

He closes his eyes. It isn't often that he has nightmares as visceral and violent as this. To his—shame? Relief? He doesn't know anymore—it's been so long that he doesn't quite remember what he's supposed to do about it.

Behind his eyes flash aftershocks of his own screams of pain, his own bitten whimpers and whines as pain explodes along his body. He flinches away from the memories on instinct and the blood-red covers jostle with him. He remembers the darkness, the too-bright light, the pain, the waiting, and the voice.

The voice, taking observations and notes in a clinical, detached tone, ready to aim the next caustic remark to paint black and blue and purple across his fragile skin.

He knows it's probably a bad thing, to have nightmares about his fellow Sides. He knows it's probably not healthy, indicative of much larger problems between them—and for Thomas. He knows the best thing to do is probably to talk about them with the Sides in question so they can move forward together.

But bruises ache in a way that not many other injuries are capable of, and Roman has always, always been so, so sensitive.

He sees one last terrifying glimpse of Logan's face, a twisted curiosity pinned to him as though he were a bug to be displayed, and turns the idea away. He won't give it any sort of excuse to come true.

***

"No, no, no, we're not going over this again."

"On the contrary," Logan sighs as Virgil groans, slumping against the railing, "it seems that is exactly what we're going to do."

Janus rolls his eyes and examines the tops of his gloves, brushing away imaginary specks of dirt. "I don't understand what the hold-up is here, Patton, it's not as though we don't have endless possibilities for what we can watch for movie night."

"I'm just saying we can do better than getting them illegally! Thomas has access to streaming services, we can just ask one of his friends for their password—"

"Password sharing?" Janus mock gasps, holding his hand over his mouth. "Patton, didn't you know that's also illegal? The streaming services don't want you to do that! They want you to have your own account!"

"But that doesn't make any sense!"

"That's his point, Pop Star."

"But by all means, Patton," Janus continues, adopting a sickly-sweet tone that quickly morphs into one of disdain the longer he keeps speaking, "if you'd prefer to get the movies legally like a good little servant of this capitalist hellscape and contribute to the erasing of public ownership of storytelling by allowing corporations to scam us by 'selling' us copies of media that we can never actually permanently have, then by all means, let's keep looking."

There's a pause. Then Patton snorts. Soon everyone's laughing at the sheer ridiculousness—and accuracy—of Janus's little monologue. He holds his hands up. "Alright, you've convinced me."

"Thank you." Janus preens a little. "I always did think there was more validity in such arguments once you add just a little bit of flavor."

"Okay, if that's what you call a little bit of flavor, I'm never coming over for dinner again."

"Why, Virgil—"

"Nope." Virgil holds up a finger. "'Cause, see, I always thought it was weird that we went through spices so quickly over there when the ones in this kitchen have lasted for months—"

"I'm not sure Remus is entirely free of blame in this case," Logan remarks wryly, "in any case, thank you, Janus and Patton, for coming to an agreement. Now that it's all settled, shall we proceed with movie night as planned?"

"Works for me!"

"Yeah, I'm all set now."

Janus simply waves his hand in an 'of course' gesture. Logan glances around. "Alright, then—and Roman? You're all settled?"

He sees Patton and Janus visibly jerk, as though they'd forgotten he was there. He smiles a little weakly from his corner. "Yeah. I'm all good."

"Okay, I'm gonna admit something I really didn't think was possible," Virgil mumbles, fiddling with his hoodie strings, "but I genuinely forgot Princey was here and was just about to ask L what he was talking about."

"Gosh, I think I did too! I'm so sorry, kiddo, I didn't mean to!"

"It's okay."

"You better watch out, Princey," Virgil laughs, "pretty sure J's gunning for your spot as Thomas's theater kid Side with monologues like that."

Roman forces himself to laugh with everyone else—well, almost everyone. Remus shoots him a concerned look that he only nods back to, I'm fine, it's okay, as a bruise blooms warmly along the underside of his ribs. Thankfully, his little exhale disguises himself as part of the laugh as Janus starts preening again. Still, the words linger over his skin as they settle in for movie night, wriggling their way up from his stomach to the tip of his tongue.

During a loud part of the movie, he turns to whisper to Janus. "Hey."

"Hey," Janus whispers back, "you doing okay? You need us to turn it down?"

"What? No, far be it from me to keep you from enjoying something. I was just—I was just thinking. I have a proposition for you."

"Oh?"

"Did you, um, do you have any interest in learning how to fence?"

Janus fully turns to look at him, surprise painted in the many colors from the screen. "Really?"

"Yeah, I think you'd—"

"You know how to fence?"

A smaller bruise, colored mostly by the surprise, but a bruise nonetheless as Roman makes himself hold the smile. "Yeah, I know how to fence. I think you'd enjoy it."

"Yeah, yes, Roman, I think I'd like that very much." Janus blinks, surprise settling into something more akin to excitement. "I'm—well, I'm grateful you've finally noticed me as someone worth spending time with."

It's a tease, it must be, and yet the bruises ache no less at the implications. "What can I say, I need to make sure Thomas's theater kid Side knows everything."

Janus takes it as a joke. He usually does when it comes to things like this, which is why Roman knows he can get away with it right now. While Janus is distracted, high on the energy of winning the argument and the general daze that comes from being invested in a good movie with friends. Where he doesn't have time to realize that this isn't a lie, it's the truth, and if he uncovers that then this has a lot smaller chance of this actually working.

But Janus doesn't notice. And Roman can breathe a sigh of relief when no more bruises blossom across his aching chest.

***

The scales tip further and further to one side. The Imagination responds, growing wilder and crueler as the woods thicken and the rivers deepen. The skies grow darker, the wind colder. In the center of an old castle ruin, a garden that has lain untouched for years begins to wither. A single rose petal flutters to the ground.

***

He's grateful for the excuse of training Janus how to fence. That way, he has a reason to wince and smile sheepishly when the bruises covering him reassert themselves. Then again, as with most things that work in Roman's favor, it's a double-edged sword. Wow, Janus must be improving quite a bit, then! He's getting good enough to put you on your ass already, Princey? It's a good thing you've found a sparring partner that challenges you, then. Can't wait to fight, Snakey!

And then new bruises will spring up and the cycle will begin anew.

Janus is, in all honesty, quite an excellent sparring partner. His movements are fluid, graceful, no doubt in part due to his snake-like traits, and he internalizes the key lesson Roman teaches him on their very first day. It doesn't matter how quickly you get somewhere so long as you arrive at the right time. Slow is steady. Steady is smooth. Smooth is fast.

"I'm curious," Janus asks once day while they're taking a break, sipping from a water bottle and eyeing Roman over the top, "why fencing?"

"What, am I not fulfilling all the stereotypes as you wished?"

"Most knights don't fence, not all swordplays are alike." Roman waggles his eyebrows and Janus rolls his eyes, smacking his shoulder. "That's not what I meant. You grow more like Remus everyday."

He's grateful that his entire body is covered when a light smattering of purple decorates the insides of both of his arms. "I like fencing. It's all about timing."

"You mentioned."

"I don't know, I think—you know, like with most stories. It's all about getting the pacing right. You can't rush into the narrative, you can't force the plot, it has to sort of…happen on its own. Your job as the storyteller is to make sure the pace is right so the story has the most impact."

Janus's eyebrows raise higher and higher the longer Roman keeps talking. "Careful, there, you're getting dangerously close to being insightful."

"Hey! I'm a storyteller, shouldn't I know my own craft?"

"I suppose so."

"You suppose—what is that supposed to mean? Oh, shut up," he grumbles when Janus makes a smug expression, "I'm not falling for that again."

"I believe you already did, dear prince."

"Don't call me that."

"Whatever His Highness commands."

Roman rolls his eyes and turns around to hide the flicker of genuine hurt behind putting his water bottle down. "Come on, then. If you've got enough energy to bully me with words you can do it on the mats."

"You'll make me think you like being pushed around."

"Believe me," Roman says darkly, "you have no idea what a glutton for punishment I'm turning into."

***

"Hey, Remus?"

Remus pokes his head out from the massive gorgon corpse he's butchering, draped in all sorts of gore with a manic grin on his face. Virgil mumbles a quiet sure, why not as Logan adjusts his glasses. "Friends!"

"Hello, Remus," Logan greets, "we were wondering if we could have a moment of your time."

"Sure. Gimme just a sec to finish up with this thing and I'll be right with you."

"Is there, uh, somewhere we can wait that's less…entrail-y?"

"Go over the hill to the back, that's where the big shed is. I'll be in there in just a moment." There's the whirring of some sort of machinery that no one quite has the patience—or stomach—to name as a spray of something wet and squelchy-sounding hits the ground on the other side of the carcass. Virgil and Logan glance at each other before making a strategic and somewhat hasty retreat to the shed.

True to his word, Remus shows up a few minutes later, wiping the remains of something off of his hands with a rag he tosses into a wash barrel on the porch before coming inside.

"My two favorite Left Brain Boys, how can I help you today?"

"We've come about Roman."

Remus sobers immediately. He runs a hand through his hair and pulls a stool closer, sitting down and immediately tapping his fingers against his thighs. "What is it about him?"

"He's been bad," Virgil blurts out, hands bunched in his hoodie pockets, "like…really bad. Worse than normal bad."

"I got that much."

"He's been distant during brainstorming," Logan says quietly, "and I'm not sure—I do not know enough about it to understand what I can do to help."

"He won't talk to me about anything that isn't meeting or food related anymore. I can't even get him to complain about stupid plot twists that don't make any sense."

"He's stopped writing in his notebooks, at least where the rest of us can see."

"He's not even singing as much anymore, Remus, it's bad."

"I know." Remus's quiet admission startles them into silence. He's still tapping out a frantic rhythm, eyes darting from beaker to chart to specimen as the silence grows fuzzier and fuzzier. The wind whistles through the holes in the shutters. "Believe me, I know."

"My apologies," Logan says after a moment, "we didn't consider—at least I didn't consider that you would know Roman better than we would."

"No, no, I didn't—fuck, shit, sorry, Remus."

"You guys don't have to apologize to me. Ro's—Ro's not having a good time right now, yeah. And I'm…not helping."

"What do you mean, you're not helping? You're always there for Princey."

"Yeah, but not—okay, shit, look, I'm actually—I need to check with Roman before having this conversation."

"What? Why? Is there something wrong that we shouldn't know about?"

"It's just—to explain why—you know what? No. We're gonna do the short version of this conversation where you guys ask me questions and I tell you what I can. I'll talk to Roman later."

"We don't mean any harm," Logan starts to say, but Remus waves him off.

"I know. It's not about that. It's about me making sure I don't fuck up Ro's boundaries."

"I get that." Virgil shuffles a bit on his stool. "So can we—can we ask you stuff now?"

"Go ahead."

"Princey's been off ever since the wedding. Is—is that accurate to say?"

"Yeah."

"And it seems like it's not—like, it sort of seems like it's getting better, but it's not, not really. He's still been really down and upset and it's—it's getting really hard to like, talk to him about things. I'm just—is there something else we don't know about Roman that's making this harder?"

"Yes."

"Are you…gonna tell us what it is?"

"No."

"Okay, I guess that's fair."

"Would I be correct to say," Logan asks, "that Roman's struggles are related both to the wedding and to additional factors?"

"Yeah."

"Would it be accurate to say there is something unique about Roman that makes this situation significantly worse?"

The corner of Remus's mouth twitches. "No."

"Amended question: is there something unique about both yours and Roman's relationship to the Imagination, the Mindscape, and Thomas himself that makes this situation significantly worse?"

"Where the fuck are we, in court again?"

"Do you see why Janny didn't want Logan to be part of it if he was gonna win?"

"Answer the question, please, Remus."

"Yeah, Lolo. You're right. And we're not in a court room, which means I'm not bound by any of those stupid fucking rules and I will tell you that you're walking a dangerous line over there."

"Forgive me. I'm not trying to pry into Roman's business—okay, I'm not just trying to pry," he amends hastily when Remus glares at him, "I want to help. But I need to understand in order to help."

Remus sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I know you guys want to help. But Ro…fuck, okay, this is the only piece of info you're getting from me about this that isn't gonna be just an instruction on what to do, but Roman…Roman really isn't good about letting people help him."

"Why?"

"He lets you help him."

"I'm his brother. I'm exempt and can make him let me take care of him."

Logan looks like he wants to argue for another second before he makes himself take a deep breath and adjust his glasses. "Thank you for telling us, Remus. How…how can we help?"

***

"It's getting worse." Patton confides in a whisper as Janus leans into his side. "I don't know what to do."

"There's not much we can do if Roman doesn't let us."

The irony of this conversation is not lost on either of them, not when the expression Roman wore when they glimpsed him all but fleeing back to his room is still in the forefront of their minds. They'd tried everything Remus had suggested, all of it: letting Roman have a say in what they watched for movie night, what they had for dinner, what they talked about when they all hung out in the living room just for the sake of it. They'd tried asking about his projects, expressing enthusiasm for things they didn't love for themselves but they loved because Roman loved them, even just asking Roman if he was okay, if he needed anything.

And Roman just kept falling further and further away from them.

"I don't know what to do," Patton confesses, prompting Janus to reach up and card a hand through his hair, "Roman's so quiet now, he's so small, he's not—Roman's not supposed to be small."

"He isn't," Janus agrees, "he's supposed to be our larger-than-life prince. I don't…I don't know how to fix this."

"If I'd known that it was going to be this bad, that the wedding would cause something like this to happen—"

"Don't play the 'what if' game, Patton, it never ends well. It's not—" Janus sighs— "believe me, as someone who's spent too long wallowing in the guilt of how badly my actions have hurt others when I truly didn't intend them to, it's not worth it."

"But I don't know what else to do! Roman's hurting, Janus, and I don't know how to fix it! I'm supposed to know how to fix it, we all have to take care of each other, and Roman's not—he's not letting us!"

"I know," Janus whispers, pulling him closer, "I know."

"What do we do?"

"The only thing we can do is keep trying and hope that Roman realizes how badly we want to see him alright again."

So they do. They try, and they try quite desperately to make sure Roman knows how much he is loved and how they care for his happiness. Roman, their wonderful vibrant prince who is greyer than any can remember him being. Roman, their songbird who hasn't sung a single note in weeks. Roman, who once could light up a room simply by appearing within it who has relegated himself to silent corners where their eyes long to skip over him. They don't know what to do. Roman is fading right in front of their eyes and nothing they do seems to have any effect on it whatsoever.

Remus is getting worse. He's more frantic, more hyper, more exaggerated. His ideas grow more and more frenetic, his experiments wilder and less restrained. The Imagination grows dangerous and chaotic as rules break and remake themselves over and over. The doors are soon locked and barred lest something try and escape and only the brothers can safely enter its depths without fear of getting lost in the storm. Remus tries to keep himself contained there, just because there is so much energy brimming within him that it would be catastrophic should it leak into the Mindscape proper, but Roman…

They're losing Roman.

Desperation makes fools of us all.

They have a meeting. They ask Roman what's going on. They try to be gentle. They try to tell Roman how much they care. They try to show that it's all coming from a place of love.

And Roman, their precious, lovely, wonderful, incredible Roman, collapses into a heap of tears.

***

The break comes. It's horrifying, tragic, and so very beautiful. The scales are upended, one side swinging wildly towards the heavens as the other shatters free from one of the links holding it aloft. The Imagination screams.

***

"Please—please—just tell me what you want, I can't do this anymore, I can't—I can't—" Roman's hands tangle in his hair and pull— "don't do this to me, I'll never—I can't—don't fucking do this!"

"Ro, Ro, you gotta calm down—"

Roman flinches away from Remus's touch, even as the others back up to give the brothers more space. His sobs run his breathing ragged, each inhale more pained than the last as they echo around and around the room. Remus swallows and reaches out again, carefully prying Roman's white-knuckled grip free.

"Ro-bro, it's me. It's just me. You know I'll never hurt you, right?"

"I don't understand, Re—"

"Shh, shh, hang on, breathe first. Don't try and speak, it's gonna be okay."

Sobs choke themselves free from Roman's lips as Remus coaxes him forward, wrapping his arms tightly around his waist and pulling him nearly into his lap. He sets Roman's head in the crook of his neck and keeps murmuring reassurances, stroking his hands up and down his brother's spine.

"Remus—"

"I'm right here, Roro. Don't you fall away from me, not again."

"I can't do this—"

"You can. You have to, Ro, I can't—I can't hold all of this by myself, you know I can't. Come on, just breathe with me, okay? I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere and neither are you. You're gonna stay right here, with me, and we're both just gonna breathe and let this even itself out." For indeed, Remus is trembling too from the force it's taking to restrain his nails from digging into Roman's back. Even now, there is too much energy thrumming inside him, two vessels forced together and it's not sustainable, none of this is. "I'm right here, Ro, you gotta let me be here for you."

"It hurts, Remus," comes the whisper against his neck, "it hurts so much and I don't know how to make it stop."

"I know, Roro, I know."

"I can't do this anymore. It's too—I can't. I just can't."

"You need to let us help you, Ro. I know, I know," he says, quickly hushing Roman when he cries out in pain again, "I know, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"I can't!"

"I won't let them hurt you, not again. I promise." He tightens his grip. "Just—just hold on for me, okay?"

"I'm so scared, Re. I'm so scared."

"I know. Me too."

The two of them stay like that for a long, long time. Long enough for the room to grow cold as the sun goes down, long enough for them to start to shiver from having expended so much energy just to stay in each other's arms.

"Here," Logan says softly, so softly so as not to startle them, "I have a blanket for you."

"Thanks, Lolo."

"Of course."

Roman eyes him warily as he approaches, blanket held out unfolded between the two of them like a peace offering. Logan offers him the gentlest of smiles and drapes it over them. He retreats to a safe distance where the rest of them are, still watching, still waiting.

"You stayed," he croaks, throat weary from overuse.

"Of course we did, kiddo," Patton murmurs, "we were so worried."

"We wanna make sure everything's okay, Princey," Virgil agrees, slumping down a little to make himself seem like a smaller target, "that's all."

Janus, scales glimmering from his bare hands, wordlessly holds up another blanket.

It takes another long pause for Roman to nod, but he does nod, and perhaps that makes all the difference.

***

"Come in, please," Logan says, smiling when Roman shyly knocks on his door. He steps aside so Roman can shuffle through. "Sit wherever you'd like."

"Even on your bed?"

"Even on my bed."

Roman looks at it, clearly tempted, before he decides to only partially push his look and sit on the floor, his back against the bed. Logan just chuckles and comes to sit next to him, getting comfortable before holding out his hand.

"It's not a trick," he says when Roman just looks at it, "will you let me hold your hand?"

"Why?"

"I'd like to." When that just gets him another look, he lets out a small sigh. "I'm…concerned that in my failure to realize how much you were struggling, I've cultivated a relationship between the two of us that is a great deal more adversarial than it needs to be. I'd like to amend that by offering you comfort, both emotional and physical. So…I'd like to hold your hand."

"…oh."

"But if that's something you're not comfortable with yet, I understand."

"N-no, I didn't—I didn't mean—" Roman splutters for another second before he puts his hand in Logan's—well, he more lets it flop in his direction like Logan might take it back if he lets it go for too long.

"Thank you, Roman." He covers it with his other one and pulls it into his lap to cradle it gently, raising an eyebrow at Roman's noise of surprise. "What?"

"I, um…didn't know that's what you meant."

"Is this alright?"

"U-um…yeah. Yeah, it's…it's okay."

"I'm glad." His thumb strokes soothingly over Roman's still-trembling knuckles. "Can I ask you something?"

"Aside from that?"

"Yes."

"Sure."

"Are you…is it possible that you're touch-starved, Roman? Shh, shh, easy," he soothes when Roman tenses immediately, "my apologies, I didn't mean to frighten you."

"I—um—I don't—"

"No tricks, Roman, I promise. I'm only asking because I want to help. Here: is it easier to just nod or shake your head?" Roman nods. "Alright. Can…are you?"

He nods again, his mouth twisting up to hold back a sob. Logan quickly squeezes his hand, still stroking over his knuckles.

"Thank you for telling me, though I am sorry to hear it. If…if it's alright with you—and please know you can say no or shake your head and I won't bring it up again—may I help?"

He likes to think that the work they've put in to making it easier to spend time together without it feeling like a fight or an interrogation is what makes Roman nod. He's unable to keep the grateful smile from spreading across his features, nor the way he scoots a little bit closer so their sides press together.

"Thank you."

They sit together like that for a long while. Long enough for Logan to start running his fingers up and down Roman's arm, long enough for him to squeeze his hand when Roman's grip shivers and shudders, long enough for Roman's head to drop onto his shoulder, breathing heavily.

"That's it," he whispers, turning his head so his nose brushes Roman's hair, "you're doing so well. It's alright. Is this still okay?"

Roman nods.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he can't help himself from asking, "I would've helped, I would've done this earlier."

"…I was scared."

It's not a surprise to hear, not truly, but Logan can't stop the slight pang of hurt. Quickly, he moves past it; Roman has been so terrified of asking for help for so long, he will not give him the opportunity to be further hurt by this. Instead, he carefully lifts Roman's hand to his lips and presses the smallest kiss to his knuckle.

"What were you scared of, little one?"

Patton had always warned him about asking questions, said at some point he might learn something he wished he hadn't. This…is not one of those times, as he does not regret learning about Roman's terrifying nightmares, but he does…ache.

"If ever you need to be reassured that something like that will never happen," he manages, voice slightly hoarse with Roman's confession, "please, little one, let me know."

"I don't think it'll happen anymore."

"Perhaps not logically, but fear is rarely logical." Roman shifts, caught out, but Logan doesn't give him time to murmur an apology. "It's alright, I understand, and my promise stands."

"You mean it?"

"Of course I do, Roman."

***

"Go on," Roman whispers when Janus, Patton, and Virgil don't say anything for too long after he's explained himself, "just get it over with."

"May I hug you?"

His head snaps up. Janus is looking at him with that foreign soft expression again and he—he can't have heard that right.

"May I hug you," Janus asks again, holding out his arms, "please?"

"I—um—sure?"

Janus stands and hurries—hurries?—over to wrap Roman up in his arms, pressing a kiss to his temple and Roman is confused but Janus is warm and solid and there are more hands than he expected and he's—he's going to cry again, isn't he?

"You're gonna overwhelm him, J."

"Too late for that, I think," as Patton and Virgil come closer too, "oh, kiddo…I'm so sorry we didn't know about this sooner."

"I know that was on purpose, Princey, but…" He runs a hand through his hair. "Shit, I didn't—I didn't know we were—that you—fuck, I didn't know we'd fucked up that badly, I guess."

Roman glances at Patton, who looks so upset that he doesn't even call Virgil out on his language. "I didn't know how," he manages, just as Patton reaches up to brush a tear from his cheek.

"You shouldn't have had to go so far for us to notice, and that's on us."

"But I should've said something—"

"But you didn't to try to keep yourself safe," Janus interrupts, his own voice thick with tears.

"…yeah."

"Will you tell us, now?" Patton wraps an arm around the part of Roman's waist he can still reach. "If we do something that hurts you?"

"Don't feel like you have to promise something if you don't think you can," Virgil adds when Roman looks even more terrified at the thought, "just…know you can tell us, okay?"

"Okay."

"There's no replacing you, Roman," Janus says, leaving no room for argument, "not at all."

"Not even with your monologues?"

"Not even with my monologues."

"Can we hug you too, kiddo? Please?" Patton has to keep himself from beaming when Roman nods, quickly ducking over to wrap his arms around both him and Janus properly. "Oh, kiddo, I'm so sorry."

"Move over, Princey," Virgil teases gently when Roman tries to lean against the wall, "I'm the one who gets to cuddle you, not the wall. Hey, hey, shh, it's okay—c'mon, let's all be a puddle on the floor, okay?"

"I like floor puddle plan."

"Me too."

Roman is crying too hard to say he agrees, but he thinks the boneless way he slumps into the embrace is as good as anything else.

***

"Hey, Remus?" Roman whispers in the middle of the night as the rest of the Sides slumber around him, curled up on the massive mattress with fluffy blankets and soft pillows.

"Yeah?"

"You were right."

And because Remus is a good brother who loves Roman so very, very much, he doesn't even hold it over his head. He just smiles, leans over to bonk their foreheads together, and tells his brother to go the fuck to sleep.

***

A new chain holds the scales together, forged in longing and heartbreak and strife, borne of an old magic far more ephemeral than whimsy and fantasy. Tendrils of roses curl up the sides of a golden dish, affixing it to links of courage and loyalty. The Imagination heaves a sigh of relief. The sweet smell of petrichor wafts over the exhausted landscape.

The scales stand balanced once more.

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[theroundbartable]

Okay, if you were asked who are in Merlin BBC & Voltron that you can see based on canon that are gay/bi/pan/demi, which characters are they? Why?

What a fun ask I'm totally not doing to procastinate on cooking... XD

BBC Merlin

Arthur Pendragon is, in my head, demiromantic and bisexual... It sort of depends on the circumstances/episode. Arthur needs a very long time to really feel connections with people and only starts to consider love after he really gets to know them, hence his constant search for true love in the show. With Merlin I'm not entirely sure if he was attracted to him instantly, strangely enough feeling a connection from the moment they met, or if it takes him till the end of the series when Merlin confesses his magic and finally shows his true self to realise the depth of his feelings.

Merlin is, well... Bi Bi Bi. A disaster bi in fact. With a preference for sweaty men in metal boxes, he's not very peculiar. However, Merlin is a one person hyperfixation kind of guy. Most people are convinced that Merlin's gay.

Gwen: I feel like most people in BBC Merlin are bi and Gwen is no exception. Like Merlin, she prefers the hero type in metal uniforms. But she also had a thing for Morgana in the beginning.

Morgana: lesbian. I have never seen a woman so disinterested in men, I'm not surprised that they casted Katie McGrath in supergirl as supergirls love interest. I might settle for homoromantic and asexual. But definitly in love with Gwen in the very beginning.

Sir Leon, my beloved, the immortal, the one and only, the eternal suffering aro/ace. I don't have to explain this one. The only counter moment is the Lamia episode where Leon suddenly develops interest in women out of nowhere. My personal take is that anyone could be fallen under a Lamia's spell, this one just had a taste for men (and male presenting).

Sir Elian: once upon a time I clocked them as nonbinary and sadly that's as far as I thought into this character. Pretty sure he's aromantic. He/they pronouns. I dunno, I don't think Elian would conform to anything if given a choice. Aromantic too, I think. Like Leon, there is no interest there, but he does play around with Percival and Gwaine quite often, so I'd take that as allosexual.

I am excluding Gwaine because I think canon Gwaine is written as a straight oblivious fuckboy. Albeit a kind one XD fanon Gwaine is often poly/ pan... Or into apples. Lmao XD and I'm not sure about Percival because the man has a dead wife and kids.

Voltron

Keith: with his lack of interest in women, he can only be gay. That man looks at no one quite the same as he looks at Lance. what the hell was the whole bonding thing if not a hint for post canon klance? Sorry, not sorry XD rivals to best friends to lovers.

Lance: *bi bo bi* bisexual lighting Lance. Doesn't matter if you prefer klance or shallura, this man is a walking bi flag. I don't know what you mean by proof, just look at this wiggly boy with the fingerguns. He can't even sit straight! Can't do math either. He's perfect!

Shiro: probably the only character in my entire history of shipping that I would unqueer without feeling bad about it. I know he's gay, I just don't really see it in the writing. Of course there aren't always clear signs that someone is gay which is why this is good rep actually (+he's married), but you asked me for proof in the show and all I see is that this man is a dad. That's his gender and his orientation and that's all I really need to know.

Pidge: aro/ace because I love my aroaces and this child loves robots and robots only. Also nonbinary/genderqueer. Pronouns: fuck/off XD

I think Lotor should have been bi. Pre-canon Lotor had us Langsters ship Lotor x Lance and it was so much fun :D

Bob: gender: evil, orientation: villain. I hate this guy

Coran: the georgous man is either gay or pan. More likely pan because I vaguely remember he had a son?

I hope I answered your question reasonably enough XD thank you for the ask, anon :3

[eah-the-retelling]

Apple and Raven chat in their dorm

Apple entered the dorm, humming cheerily as she sat at her vanity and began reapplying her makeup.

Raven, already on her bed and trying to relax, rolled her eyes. "Come on! It's the first day of school. No one can be that peppy all the time."

"Oh Raven, that's where you're wrooooong!" Apple sung the end of her sentence. "I'm happy because it's the first day of school. It's the perfect start to another perfect year. Why wouldn't I be happy?"

"Really? A perfect day." Raven sat up.

"All my days are perfect, silly."

"I refuse to believe you have a perfect day every single day of your life. It's not realistic. Surely something bad, however small had to have happened. Come on, tell me the entire day went off without a single thing not going your way."

Apple paused. "Well. I suppose technically there is one thing that did not go my way today. Not that I'll ever let one little hiccup stop me from having a perfect day."

"What happened, stubbed your toe? Accidentally stepped in some mud? Dropped something by accident?"

"No, nothing like that... I was told I wouldn't be taking a math class this semester."

"What??? You're bad thing that happened is you got out of math for a whole semester?"

"I happen to like math!" Apple said, staring sternly at Raven as she said it.

"Who likes math???" Raven laughed.

"As I just said, me! Math is straight forward and always true. Unlike with words where sometimes people say one thing when really they mean the opposite."

"Whaaaaat? The princess doesn't like sarcasm?" Raven asked sarcastically. Seeing Apple fail to laugh, Raven quickly apologized. "Sorry."

"No, it's fine. You're supposed to laugh at me. So really, I should be thanking you."

"Actually... About that. If you don't like sarcasm, are you telling me those times where I'm rude to you and you thank me for it... Are sincere?"

Apple finally returned to focusing on her reflection in her vanity. "Well if course I am, why wouldn't I be?"

"Because people don't usually like when people treat them badly."

"Well you're supposed to treat me badly, you're a villain. My villain, specifically."

Raven sighed then rolled her eyes. "Yeah... Your villain."

"Since we're opening up and being sincere right now... Can I ask you something, Raven?"

"I guess it's only even." Raven responded, crashing to return to lying on her back in bed.

Apple, in the middle of applying mascara, held her arm in place as she asked, "Do you... Not... Like? Being a villain?"

Raven breathed incredulously. "No, not particularly."

"Why... Not?" Apple asked.

"Are you serious right now? Who would?!"

"Well I assume I would in your place."

Raven scowled as she raised her voice. "Oh, and why is that?"

"Because... That's just nature. I was born to be a Snow White so it's in my nature to be beautiful and perfect. Isn't everyone is the same way?"

Raven took a moment to process what Apple was saying. "Your... Nature? You think you are the way you are... Because you were born that way?"

"Well yes of course. We're all born with the talents needed to help us meet our destinies. That's why you're born with magic, right?"

"Uh... No, actually. We only need to poison you with a magic apple, you don't need freaky sorcery powers like my mom and I have to accomplish that. My mom was just a natural and did... Something to make sure I was born with just as much magic potential... If not more." Raven unleashed small bits of magical energy from her hand and watched the faint purple flames dissipate into the air.

"Huh. I was always told the Evil Queen line was full of menacing witches. I guess I just assumed your powers were per the course."

"You seem to assume a lot of things about me."

"So those times where you... Aren't rude to me. Those are... You being genuine? Not just part of the Evil Queen act where you try to gain my trust to betray me with the apple?"

Raven groaned. "There is no act! I don't want to be evil. I just want a normal life where I can just do my own thing and no one has to live in fear of me."

"But why would you want that?" Apple asked. "You have a legacy. You're one of the most important people in the entire world. There's so much responsibility on your shoulders and you just want to... What, ignore it?"

"I never asked to have this responsibility! It's a lot of pressure and maybe someone 'perfect' like you can handle it but I'm just a normal person! A normal person who already feels bad every day being avoided by everyone because they see me as a monster! So sorry, if I'm not as thrilled to live out my destiny as the world's most perfect princess who at least gets a happily ever after out of it."

Apple looked away to contemplate. "I... Never considered that someone might not be as enthusiastic about their destiny as I was. I mean not all destinies are as glamorous as mine... But. Our destinies make us... Important."

"Well I'm stuck having to choose between being important or being happy." Raven said solemnly.

Surprising both the girls, Apple's makeup began to run as a single tear fell down her cheek. "Raven... I'm. I'm so sorry for you. That sounds so hard."

Raven didn't know how to respond. For as smart as Apple is, it surprised Raven that she had genuinely never considered another person's perspective in regards to destiny. She felt the instinctual urge to tease her for this astonishing lack of empathy.

But on the other hand, this was the most... Human she had ever seen Apple. She was always so well put together and also so busy. She went from extracurriculars, to volunteering for the less fortunate, to studying to get ahead on classes that hadn't even started yet. All the while, she managed to keep it up with an impenetrable, smiling facade. But now here she was, crying. Over Raven of all people.

"Thanks... Apple." Seeing her face continue to be bereft with sadness convinced Raven even more that this was not some polite social script Apple was doing for appearances. It was genuine.

"For what it's worth," Raven continued, "I also think you're more than just your destiny."

Apple seemed to rein her emotions in enough by now to begin drying her tears and fixing her makeup. "What... Do you mean by that, Raven?"

"Well... You're destined to get everything handed to you on a silver plate. You don't even... Do much as Snow White, things just kind of happen to you."

Still teary eyed, Apple's face became terse as she prepared a rebuttal, but Raven cut her off. "Let me finish. You're destined to get everything and yet you're still out here working hard like you need to earn it. You're at the top of the class, you're involved in everything. You barely even sleep. You may be the most privileged person I've ever met... But I've also never seen anyone work as hard as you. And that has nothing to do with your destiny. That's all you, Apple."

Apple let Raven's words sink in. "Thank you, Raven. That was. Very kind."

[jplopsjournal]

Main World Understanding

Our worldview in the original Punch Out is EXTREMELY limited, restraining us to simple cutscenes so we can focus on the fights at hand. This is basically the same as putting all this unexplored world in my lap and saying "do whatever" so I ran with it. Important Punch Out: Expanded World Details: -Magic is, at its core, an ambiguous word. In theory, it is the raw spirit a human possesses, taking form and reacting with the material world. Obviously Great Tiger is using magic, but this rule also applies to things some may think aren't magic. Piston Hondo's uncanny speed and hyper-vigilance? Magic. Don Flamenco being able to punch a bull into the sky? Magic. Glass Joe's ability to miraculously come back after 99 straight losses? Magic. Sandman's raw ability itself? Besides hardcore training, it's MAGIC. It's SPIRIT. That's what empowers some, if not all of the boxers, and therefore all people. I will go into magic lore in a later post. -The timeline is ambiguous. This isn't for a real reason, I'm just bad at math. Like. So bad. A math skill so HORRID It would kill Albert Einstein himself. So sorry if some of the info I lay out is off, just know I'm trying my hardest </3 -In POE (or PO = E/PO:E, all acronyms for this fanwrite/au), Doc is Mac's adoptive father. I will elaborate more later, but for now I will just say that Doc found him when he was a baby, after a horrific accident that took the lives of both of his parents. Since then, Mac has been living in the Bronx with him, and as of the beginning of Punch Out Wii, is 18 years old. I aged him up just the year so he'd, y'know, be legally allowed to box.

I know, I know, "how is all that other crazy stuff legal", it's not. It's just slick movement depending on the boxer. Plus, the WVBA outlawed people under the age of 18 from participating ever since a couple incidents kinda put the sport in a bad light...

-Like people, boxing evolves over time throughout the years which pass. I...don't have many details on this yet. -SPO Aran and Wii Aran are NOT the same person. The former goes by the name of Andrew, and is the older brother to Aran, as well as the oldest of their four siblings. Or...was, the oldest. -Pizza Pasta is renamed Peter Zachelli (actual name) as well as Pete Zepasta (stage name), because I do NOT want him named Pizza Pasta. That's crazy for a name lmao -I take creative liberties on some of these character's personalities, just because those which both predate AND are not featured in the Wii version lack a significant amount of it. This especially applies to Kid Quick and Pizza Pasta. -All backstory stuff, living environments, and anything we don't directly see, is created by yours truly. PHEW that was a lot of typing but I'm glad I could jot this down

[tobiasdrake]

The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy 97 - Pudding Math

Day 38 of 100. We've got Shouma motivated now, and we've still got time to get him prepared and... figure out whatever else there is to figure out.

Somehow, I don't think this is going to be simple.

Never mind, this is going to be simple.

FREE TIME FREE TIME FREE TIME

I know we're at odds with Kurara right now but I got a bunch of Minerals so I'm sure she'll be happy to make these upgrades I ordered anyway. Just because we're at each other's throats over curry, that doesn't mean we can't be professional about it.

Today is going to be the first Gift we've gotten Takemaru, and this is going to be a cinch.

He likes pudding. He's a biker. Piece of cake.

HELL YEAH

And now let's do something for Eito next. He's harder and I'm going to have to use the "Hang out with people and learn keywords" thing for him. We hung out with him and got Knowledge keyword for his first Gift, which is in the Books category.

Yeah, that seems right. Also the Mystery Novel Set is definitely going to be for Kako once we find the thing it needs and once she's able to start taking Gifts.

Jackpot.

Oh! And we gained Math!

This was a very productive day. I made pudding, defended it from the pudding thief, and then got an A on my math test by reading books with Eito. Now back to the feeling of dread and despair lurking around every corner of this facility.

That's probably a bad sign, huh?

I mean, I guess he might just be psyching himself up. But I don't feel like Shouma's the type to do that. If he's gone back into his hole....

And also to see Shouma front-and-center in the group instead of hanging out in the back somewhere.

Good news! He was psyching himself up! While I was doing Math Pudding, Shouma was storing up energy for the biggest social expenditure of his life thus far.

Okay, I am so proud of him right now. He's still self-deprecating but he actually mustered up the courage to have this conversation with them himself! Nobody twisted his arm into it!

You tell him, Takemaru! I love the way you manage to be encouraging on Shouma's level rather than expecting him to come up to yours. You'd make a great teacher or coach or something.

Four days, Darumi! Just give it four days! If you can't be patient, then I volunteer Gaku for sacrifice.

Yeah, we still need to figure out what to do about that. I'm curious to know if he still has that problem in his Magical Girl form. He might. Tsubasa's henshin doesn't get rid of hers.

First order of business should be to test out Shouma's transformation in a safe environment.

Yeah, like that. Just what I was thinking, Darumi. Way to go.

And Shouma, you don't have to stab yourself. There's an easier way to do it. It's called "You turn around and I jam it in the back of your neck suddenly." We should give that a go.

If it would help, Darumi could hold you down on the table. I would volunteer Takemaru but I think he might sympathize with you too much and/or be too moral to go along with it.

...right, you've told me this story. But what happened after that, is the question. Surely, once you transformed, you revealed your awesome powers and--

Be specific. Desperately in what way?

Do you even know what your powers are?

We really should just take your transformation for a test drive and see what's up. But if no one's going to go along with my "Hold him down and stab him" plan then I guess that's that.

That's depressing, Ima. We still haven't really unpacked the revelation that you're a child prostitute. That you're also a complete asshole has given me an excuse not to think about it too much.

But I'm sure we'll circle back to you. I bet there is a load of trauma packed into that brain of yours.

Oh, Darumi....

I know. For you, this is your chance to take a mulligan on whatever you had going on with "Mistress Hiruko". You're going to be super bummed out if we actually pull this thing off. And I'm sorry for that.

But no. We're going to win this thing somehow and then... I don't know. Maybe Shouma will earn Kurara's respect and we'll be able to move forward acknowledging each other as equals even though their team is way more competent than ours and that fact is not in dispute.

There are fifteen people left in the world. How the hell did we end up doing a sports movie? We are 100% the ragtag underdog team going up against the arrogant champs in the playoffs. Doing everything in our power to prepare our boy for his grudge match with Cobra Kurry.

I don't know.

In any case, Darumi, maybe you and Kurara can work something out as a side bet. There has to be an easy wager you can throw! How about this: Bet her that Shouma has toughened up enough not to call himself trash at any point in the fight. If he does that, then you have to be her dog.

There you go.

[tseecka]

Tagged by @joyful-soul-collector

What's the origin of your blog title? In elementary school I wrote a story about a girl with magical shapeshifting powers who was prophesized as the saviour of her people, or something. Anyways--her name was Tseecka Akeunah, and when I first started to venture onto the Internet, that was the pseudonym I used. The name is intrinsic to me, now, I can't imagine being on the interwebs as anything else.

OTP(s) + Shipname: I have so many omg. JayVik is obviously the biggest one right now. Trephacard, AkuRoku, Hannigram, WangXian, ShaKadolin, Sheith, Thorki, McShep, Spirk, Merthur, HMS Intoxication (aka Jack/Daniel from SG1), Jack/Sam, VMin, Cherik, the list goes on and on.

Oh. And Desper, the ship name for my wife's horrible con artist of a Cleric in D&D and his war profiteering noble boyfriend who is going to kill the gods for killing his boo.

Favorite color: Blue or purple

Favorite game: My Father's Work is I think still the reigning champion, though Silver is quickly gaining.

Song stuck in your head: A Dream Within a Dream - Nevermore Original Cast Recording

Weirdest habit/trait? I'm trying to think of what other people find weird (affectionate) about me...oh! I prefer stale marshmallows and will put them into the freezer to stale them out intentionally as a snack. And I eat raw frozen tortellini by the handful if I allow myself to have it in the house.

Hobbies: TOO MANY. Knitting, cross-stitch, harp/piano/handbells, writing, reading, video games, soon-to-be bookbinding and weaving, board games, ttrpgs, the list goes on...

If you work, what's your profession? Canadian public servant

If you could have any job you wish, what would it be? Honestly, I think I'm good with this. Maybe if there was something with language...?

Something you're good at: I'm told I'm good at writing, and I'm working my way back to believing it. I'm good at Excel.

Something you're bad at: Staying on top of life. Things constantly escape my awareness and it causes me and my family no end of frustrations. Hoping for the ADHD consult sometime soon...

Something you love: I'm gonna copy joyful-soul-collector's answer: I love stories. I love reading and watching TV and movies and playing games, anything that tells a story with moving parts and interwoven fabric, that lets me escape for a little while.

Something you could talk about for hours off the cuff: My strong opinions about the Dragon Age franchise and the rise and fall of BioWare in general.

Something you hate: I'm gonna go with the less serious version of "hate" and ignore all the big, obvious, real world stuff for a moment: I hate Critical Role. (Add my "strong opinions about the relative merits of various actual play podcasts/shows" to the question above, actually.)

Something you collect: Yarn, books, board games, MTG cards

Something you forget: Everything. Constantly.

What's your love language? Acts of service and words of affirmation

Favorite movie/show: Lord of the Rings

Favorite food: Too hard, sorry

Favorite animal: Giraffes

What were you like as a child? Precocious, teacher's pet, bullyable

Favorite subject at school? Language Arts/English

Least favorite subject: Math

What's your best character trait? I am devoted to the people I care for.

What's your worst character trait? I can be petty and jealous.

If you could change any detail of your life right now, what would it be? Let's have a cure for Behcet's, please.

If you could travel in time, who would you like to meet? Tolkien, I think.

Tag as as many mutuals as you want!!

@barnespls @snefrue @valorcorrupt @kieren-fucking-walker @vanilla-of-esk aaaaaand idk, anyone else who wants to!

[nanda-writes]

Paternity Test

“I think my dad is a demon.”

“Not unheard of.” Carlos, the exchange demonology student, replied.

Liz frowned.

“I'm serious. My mom never talks about him and now there's this weird… spirit thing, following me.”

“Do you feel hot?”

“What?”

“Hot, angry, headaches, skin reddening?”

“No?”

“No signs of a hellspawn then, you're clear.”

“Come on Carlinhos, help me here, you're the only one from that weird magic uni I know.”

Carlos sighed.

“Okay, tell me what happened.”

“It all started 3 months ago.”

I had just arrived home from school. Mother sent me a message saying she wouldn't be home but lunch was in the fridge. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw Mom in the kitchen, frying rice. (my favorite!)

When she noticed me walking in she turned to me with the brightest smile I ever saw on her face. She rushed me to the table saying I should eat my lunch before going to work. And that's when I started to notice some weird stuff.

First of all, her fried rice didn't taste the same. It wasn't bad, but it didn't taste like mom's fried rice.

Second, she would not eat with me, just… stare. It freaked me out. She kept smiling while looking at me, and when I asked if she was going to eat she said:

“Oh no, human food give me stomach aches.”

She said that with a straight face, I didn't know whether to believe she was joking or not.

Once I finished my food she stood up and gently held me by my shoulders. With tears in her eyes she said:

“My daughter, my beautiful daughter.”

Do I need to say that's not something my mother does regularly? She continued:

“I missed you so much.”

And kissed me on the forehead.

It was at that moment I heard the entrance door being unlocked and the distinct voice of my mother saying:

“I'm back early sweety, did you eat already?”

My “mom” froze.

When my real mom finally reached the kitchen, they stared at each other for a moment.

“You again?!” My real mom yelled, throwing the shopping bags on the floor “I told you to leave us alone! Get away! Go! Go!”

She was slapping my “other mom” in the back and rushing her out of the house. I remember the pitiful look on my other mom’s face, she was silent as she left the house.

When I, rightfully, asked my actual mother what the hell just happened, she said we should talk after my shift, so I went to work. When I got home that day, she simply acted like nothing ever happened! She's gaslighting me to this day!

***

“Oh!” Carlos interrupted “Was it that day? The one you were so tired you thought your hand was turning gray while working the coffee machine?”

“Yeah”

“Hm…” he squinted his eyes at her “Crazy, sorry, go on”

***

And then I started to notice weird stuff happening.

First, suddenly I noticed a strange aura on the snake that always follows me around…

***

“Wait, wait, sorry again, the hell you mean the snake that follows you around? Are there even snakes in this region?! Isn't Ireland a snake free country?”

“Yeah, I didn't notice at first, there were plenty of snakes in my hometown, I hadn't realized they weren't common here.”

“And you were not worried that a specific snake followed you around?”

“It wasn't a venomous one, it's a milk snake, cute, like a pet.”

“Holy Shit.”

“Can I?”

“Yeah sure, go ahead.”

“Okay so…”

***

There was this weird aura around it.

Out of nowhere the snake tried to curl around my leg so I grabbed it gently, I looked at its face and I shit you not — I recognized it! The way its mouth stood… it looked like it was smiling, the same smile my “other mother” had at that time!

No need to say I dropped the snake and ran away.

Three days later my math teacher started acting weird as well. You know, don't you? Mr. Walker hates my guts! But suddenly he was being very nice to me. He wouldn't complain about my lateness anymore nor scold me for sleeping in his class. A sudden change of heart was weird but I wasn't complaining. Until I noticed.

His smile. He would always smile at me, with the same smile.

The same as the other mother. The same as the snake.

I wasn't having it.

After school, I cornered him in the parking lot.

“Who are you and what did you do with Mr. Walker?!”

He looked surprised for a moment.

“What do you mean, Miss Ferreira? I'm Mr. Walker.”

“No, you're not.” I rebuked “Mr. Walker can't pronounce my last name for shit. You're not him. What did you do?”

He smiled. The same sly snake-like grin.

“I believe we should discuss this in a place a bit more… private.”

“I'm not going to your fucking second location, you weirdo.” God knows what he had done to Mr. Walker. I wasn't risking it. I watch true crime documentaries, I'm not dumb.

He looked genuinely hurt. Maybe I was being rude. But fuck politeness.

“Maybe you could… choose a place and time? So we can discuss it properly. I swear your teacher is fine.”

He looked pathetic at this point. I was starting to feel bad.

“Okay…” I said and gave him a place and time.

***

We met at a diner. It wasn't late, I had just gotten off work. The sky was gleaming orange on the horizon, streets busy with workers heading home. It was fine. I was fine. I was not nervous. Not a bit.

I wiped the sweat out off my hands as I waited for him.

He showed up. At the exact time we planned. He had the same big smile on his face, it felt… silly.

“I'm glad you chose a more isolated seat,” he said to me and winked, “Let me show you a trick.”

And then the man wearing Mr. Walker's skin suddenly wasn't anymore.

I'll spare you the details of the transformation, but you know how snakes shed their skin? Yeah. That's what happened.

The new… person in front of me was very pale, although their skin had red and black spots all over, very androgynous also, and very lanky. Their hair and eyes were black as the night sky, I could not see their pupils, but I was sure they were slits and I just knew that if I touched their skin it would be cold and damp. The smile was the same though. It felt… comforting, for some reason.

I was shocked of course. And disgusted. Not by their appearance but the “trick” was nauseating to watch.

They grabbed my hands. As I expected, cold and damp.

“Lizzzzz…” they said “I know this is weird, but it's been 17 years and you need to know the truth.”

My mouth dropped to the floor as he said:

“I am your father.”

***

18 years ago, Maria, my mother was living in the Bahian Caatinga. She lived a simple life. Not so good, not so bad. Her parents wanted her to have a good education, so she went to the capital to study biology in college.

Mother had a special interest. Growing up in the caatinga she was used to seeing and handling a fair share of regional snakes. But what most people thought as just a regular inconvenience was her deepest passion.

She loved snakes and would never let her father kill the ones that sometimes sought shelter in her house. She would always hold them carefully and release them back to the wild, leaving the old man to pout and rant “They'll just keep coming back!”.

And that's cute, right? I'm all for helping the local species but… it caused her to receive some… unusual attention.

Suddenly, — no matter where she went — there would always be a snake around. She didn't notice at first, after all, what are the chances? But it was the same snake every time. A male milk snake, very common in the area but, That's weird… she thought, yet, what could she do? Even if she was superstitious, wouldn't that be a good sign anyways?

She got used to it eventually. And everything was normal. At least until St. John's day.

It was during the June holidays. Her village was going all out for the festivities that year: colorful banderoles from pole to pole, stands of all types in the street, the laughter of the children in their costumes filling the air together with the winter smells of corn, peanut, stews and alcohol brought by the cold breeze, the music never stopped, from the sanfoneiros at the plaza to the home speakers blasting all genres of music.

It was night, but the village shone as if the sun had never set.

It was during the festivities that a strange man, who later claimed to be called Conrado, approached her.

Extending his hand he said:

“Care for a danssssssce?”

Oh, he must be nervous, Mom thought, how adorable. And took his hand.

The dancing leads to flirting, and that leads to kissing, and kissing leads to… well, you know.

He promised to go see her the next day, at the cathedral by morning. She accepted, of course, after all, she had to explain that she had a boyfriend in the city… oopsies. But when she went there… there was no man, only that same snake that always followed her around.

And that was when he realized, and oh boy was she pissed.

Seriously? A snake demon?! A STALKER SNAKE DEMON?!

The snake did its best to be understood, to explain itself. But it could not talk, so I guess it didn't work.

What made Mom angrier was the fact that she didn't get her period the month later… neither the next month, nor the nine months that came after. And then I was born.

Years later, when I was… uh… five? she moved to Ireland — the only place with no snakes she could think of — to further her education, claiming I would also be safer here.

It took a while for “Conrado” to find us, most specifically, me. But he is very happy he did. He's been watching over me ever since.

***

“Wait, you said she had a boyfriend back in the city?” I asked.

“Hm? Yessssssss… I didn't mind though…”

“That means I could also be his daughter.”

He gave me a sad look.

“Yessssss but, I feel you aren't…” He looked even sadder. “But you musssst have notisssssssed, right…? That you are different.”

“No. I didn't.”

Was my skin a little weird? Yes, but I'm a teenager. Do I have some speech impediments related to s and z sounds? Yeah, but lots of people have it too! Was my sense of smell stronger? Yeah, but that's not out of this world. Was I a bit stronger than normal for my build? Yeah, well actually no, y’all are just a bunch of wimps.

He looked at me with the saddest expression I ever saw on a man, he looked… pathetic. Exactly my mom's type, that I can't deny.

“Okay, then…” he sighed, “but if you notice something… anything, you can call me, alright? I'm staying in the woods next to your house, just scream into a tree and I'll find you.”

He was about to leave, but then realized something and turned back to me.

“Also, take this,” he handed me a rock with a hole in the middle “You might not be my daughter, but I still want Maria's kid to be safe.” aw

And he left.

***

“And that’s it.” Liz finished her story with a sigh. “He can’t be my real dad, right? I would have noticed it…”

“Liz,” Carlos said in a deep voice “Did you notice that you didn’t blink a single time in this conversation?”

“What?”

“And that your hands and arms have camouflaged themselves on the table?”

“What?!” Liz looked down and sure thing, the color of her hands was completely changed, blending in with the table. Liz's mouth was on the floor.

“Also, everyone thinks I am enrolled at a regular university, no “weird magic uni”, for the institution is spell protected.”

Liz was flabbergasted “Then how? I…?”

“Only special humans or magical beings are able to know the truth about the university.”

“...”

“You should call your dad.” Carlos said “Also, you're almost finishing high school, right? I think you'll be getting an email soon…’’

“I… don't I need to apply first?’’

“The mystic arts university works differently, it's more like they come for you, no application needed.”

“I… I'll get going.” Liz stumbled.

Needless to say, a certain snake was very happy that evening. And feelings aside, Liz could not help to feel relieved to have a uni waiting for her already, admission exams were such a pain in the—.

[fanaticsnail]

Hi Snail! I read all the posts about physics and maths and I see that nothing has changed for me, it's still incomprehensible 😵‍💫 At school I was terrible at both subjects, even though my father was a mathematician and chemist, and my brothers and sister were very gifted. And I was considered a bad student because I didn't understand anything about mathematics, even though everything was going well in the other subjects. I suffered a lot from this, it was very difficult to live with. Now I'm a teacher and if my students have difficulties in maths, I encourage them and I always tell them that you can't be good at everything and that we all have an area of predilection that we need to exploit. 💚

And so, when I created my OC One Piece, I imagined her to be very good with numbers - she's a real math and physics genius. It was cathartic and liberating for me, I felt better with her!

I always enjoy reading your blog! Thank you 🥰

And sorry, English is not my main language, I hope I don't make too many mistakes.🫣

Ooooooooh I love your OC already! I would love to hear more about her! Healing through creativity is amazing. Do you ship her with someone? You have to tell me.

Your family of origin sounds incredibly academically intelligent, numbers being a common denominator. Just because something doesn't come easily to you doesn't invalidate the skills you have. Two of my siblings are incredibly athletic, while me and my other sibling are musically inclined. Although, in saying that, @since-im-already-here is gifted in both, little shit (affectionately, of course. She's my precious littlest sibling and I love her).

You're a teacher!! I have massive respect for educators: the path I was actively pursuing for horticulture and music. There's something so beautiful at watching the "ah hah" moment from students when they finally grasp concepts foreign to them. It's modern magic, and I honestly take my hat off to you.

@physics-of-one-piece is absolutely spectacular, I love them. They're doing amazing things on their page. (Physics anon, you are getting so much love in my ask box: as you should be!!)

Thank you for your ask! 🖤

[madfishmonger]

Quotes From Curse of Strahd

"The party won't be surprised by me biting Strahd." - the wizard "We do know something is wrong with you, but we don't know what." - the paladin

"You're evolving like a pokemon!" - the bard

"We're doing the Scooby-Doo running across the doors hallway bit with Strahd. You run away from Strahd, he runs from you, you run with Strahd, everyone's in costumes..." - the barbarian

"I'm going to gentrify this area *so hard*." - the bard

"I cast subtraction! Math!" - the bard

"What a wuss, can't handle fighting a dinosaur." - the barbarian

"I'm sorry." - the GM "No you're not!" - the paladin

"I think he's mad at me for graffiti-ing 'Todd loves Strahd' all over Barova." - the bard

"Non-magical damage is beneath me." - the wizard

"Everything I do has to be the most metal thing you've ever seen." - the barbarian 🤘

"Call that spell Vampire-B-Gone" - the bard to the paladin

"Yer one-a those self-hatin' vampres, ain'tcha?" - the bard

"As soon as I get free I'm going to chase Strahd around with my radiant damage." - the paladin

"Gravity is doing its thing." - the wizard

"Oh, they don't get their shadows back? That's too bad. I'm fine, but I feel bad for them." - the paladin

"Did my shadow turn into tyranno-shadow?" - the bard

"Strahd zombie. Stombie." - the bard

[cringelordofchaos]

fandoms

(for my intro post)

(I am. So sorry for some of these.)

Ace Attorney (/#aa)

Amphibia

Animation Vs Minecraft (#avm)

A Silent Voice

Avatar: The Last Airbender (#ATLA)

BAD END THEATER (#BET)

Bojack Horseman (#bh)

Brawl Stars (#bs)

Class of 09 (#co09)

Clive Barker's Undying (#undying)

Craig of the Creek (#cotc)

Creatures of Sonaria (#cos + #rblx)

Disventure Camp (#dc)

Flicker (+#rblx)

Freakblr

Friday Night Funkin' (#fnf)

ghost eyes (#webtoon)

Heartstopper (+#webtoon)

her tears were my light (#htwml)

Horrid Henry

I Am Not Okay With This (#IANOWT)

Infinity train (#IT)

I Saw The TV Glow (#isttg)

Jacksons Diary (/#jd + #webtoon)

Minecraft

Minecraft Story Mode (#mcsm + #minecraft)

Miraculous Ladybug (#mlb)

mo.co

Moomintroll

my eyes deceive (#rblx)(I know it's not originally from Roblox but we'll pretend it is)

My Little Pony; Friendship is Magic (#MLP)

Ninjago

OMORI

ONE (by cheesyhfj) (#hfjONE)

Only Fools And Horses (#ofah)

Parappa The Rapper (#PTR)

Pokemon

Pretty Pretty Please I Don't Want To Be A Magical Girl (#pppidwtbamg)

Pseudonymous Bosch's secret series (#the secret series)

Roblox (#rblx)

Royale High (#rh + #rblx)

Scott Pilgrim (#spto)

6teen

Skyrim (+#tes)

Sonic The Hedgehog (#STH)

South Park (#sp)

SpongeBob SquarePants (#sbsp)

Squid Game (#sg)

Stardew Valley (#sdv)

Star Trek

Steven Universe (#su)

Stranger Things (#st)

the elder scrolls (#tes)

Tetris

The Amazing Digital Circus (#tadc)

The Fairly Oddparents (#tfop)

The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn't a Guy At All (#green yuri)

The Karate Kid (#tkk)

The Loud House (#tlh)

The Mitchells vs The Machines (#TMVTM)

The Music Freaks (#TMF)

The Owl House (#TOH)

The Simpsons

The Truman Show

Tomodachi life (/#tl)

Total Drama (Island) (#TD)

Warrior Cats (/#wc)

Willcrafts's Monster school (#minecraft)

Wolfs Rain

Wolfwalkers

Your Favorite Martian (#YFM)

And my own monster school fanfic

other interests / hobbies / whatever

psychology

physics

roleplaying

storytelling, writing (but I never finish anything)

drawing

daydreaming

talking

Reading about neurodivergence

SOMETIMES Math

reading books or comics

watching television

sociology

basketball (edit: yeah right. by that I mean i sometimes like throwing a ball into a hoop)

Taking care of bees

singing

mask-making

flute playing

I'm also trying to learn how to play the piano. by just googling piano sheets online and going off from there. its going ok so far

and I'm also tempted to start playing the guitar, I have a guide for beginners, but like I'm not too into it

Collecting random little trinkets

collecting bottlecaps . like a ton of them

Making random uhh. guys. Out of trash/random stuff from nature. (IDK HOW TO EXPLAIN IT. I simply call them Jinklings.)

Shipping (yes I consider it a hobby)

Sometimes zoology

Playing with plushies !! Yes, I am childish, but I quite frankly don't give a shit

Writing

Karate

Analyzing fiction (not that I'm good at it)

Gaming

Language learning (currently (trying to learn) greek, spanish, japanese, and I might consider aromanian if I find a way)

Fashion?

WEBTOON COMICS I LIKE

(italics - currently reading / rereading, bold - absolute favs)

Always Human

Blooming Season

Boy Girlfriend

Castle Swimmer

Emmy the Robot

Erma

Encore!

Feeling Felix

Ghost Eyes

Heartstopper

High Class Homos

Home Sweet Ghost

ISADORA

I Want To Be A Cute Anime Girl

Jacksons diary

Letters on The Wall

MAX has AUTISM

Of Alien and Cacti

Post Harbor

Somebody to You

Sonic The Hedgehog (now I can call it a webcomic AHAH)

Spellward Bound

Surprise You're Gay!

The Four Of Them

The Last Dimension

The Little Trashmaid

The Prep and Goth

The Prettiest Platypus

True And Me

Unfamiliar

War and Tea

Will There Be A Tomorrow? (H)

Will update with time

[darkcrowprincess]

Goldenlight week 2023: 💜💛 Day four Human Realm/School

"Trrrrrrrrrrring." Went the school bell, signaling the last class of the day was over. That the school day was finally over. It's Friday and all the students of Gravesfield high school had a whole weekend to look forward to. Anticipation and teenage excitement was relentless in all of the student body. In Luz's class everyone else jumped out of their seats. Some talking to friends while walking out, others grabbing their stuff and bolting out of class. Quickly to leave school behind. Luz wasn't. She was lost in her head and being purposely slow. Stuck in a day dream about this or that. She would have stayed in her daydream, vaguely staring out the window if something hadn't hit her head.

"What?" Says Luz confused, than she notices a paper airplane stuck to her curles. Written on it in neat handwriting was the words "Read me." Next to it a really cute drawing of bird in flight.

Luz turns around to see who threw it, but other than the math teacher packing up their stuff, eerily no one else was here. Luz quickly gathers her stuff, pulling the note out of her hair as she does it. Slipping her blue backpack with stars and little clip on figurines of the good witch Azura she heads outside. No one was waiting outside for her either. So walking mindlessly down the locker strewn hall with out paying attention, she opens and reads the note.

If your not ready to go home yet, come meet me at my secret spot. Go to the school auditorium, and meet me on the stage.

-Hunter.

Luz blinks at this, reads the note again to be sure. "Hunter," hums Luz. Hunter is one of her friends. Though honestly he's her best friend. Though even more honestly the feelings she's has for him are confusing and strange. But not in a bad way. The problem is, well it's hard to explain. No one would probably believe her.

It doesn't take her long to walk to the school auditorium. Opening the big wooden doors, everything is quite. From the long rows of orkastra seats, to the balcony seats above. It's dead silent. 'A ghost town.' Luz laughs at that thought. Walking between the isle she looks up on the stage, where the big red curtains are closed. "Hunter? I'm here?"

Walking up the stairs to the stage, she moves to part the curtains. Something taps her on the back before she can.

"Ahhh!"Luz yells, surprised. She almost trips and falls off the stage if someone didn't grab her. Catching her in his long strong arms. As if doing a salsa dance dip. Luz blinks at not falling and looks up at her savior.

"Sorry, couldn't resist," Hunter says with a sheepish smile.

Luz pouts at him, grumpy but still happy to see him. "You need to stop doing that."

Hunter brings her up and out of the dip he has her in, but doesn't let her go. "Can't help it. It's in my nature."

Luz continues to pout at him for a moment or too. Than remembers why she's here.

"I got your note, what did you want to show me?"

Hunter smiles in mischief. He finally lets her go to disappear through the curtains into unknown darkness. Than he sticks a hand out back to her. One finger makes a come here motion. "Do you trust me?

Luz puts her hands on her hips, but can't help but smile, "Despite the present situation, yes." Than she takes his hand, no hesitation at all. Hunter pulls and gives her in darkness. She can't see at all, but him being him, he's use to it. His gold brown eyes glow in the dark. The only light, and leads her to a wall to flick several switches.

Out of the darkness comes soft blue light. Like moonlight. Luz also finally sees why the curtains were closed. To hide what the theater club was painting for this year's musical Aladdin. A dark blue starry night sky sparkles back at Luz. Full of glitter and sparkle, it looks magical in the soft blue stage light.

"Woooow!" Luz says amazed, stars and wonder in her eyes.

"That's not all."

Hunter hits another switch and soft music starts playing. And instrumental theme of "Whole new world," Soon fills the tiny room. Luz turns to him, but before she can say anything,he has her in her arms and in a moment they're floating. A few feet up. Luz holds tight to him. They start to rotate slowly, as if in a slow dance. But Luz still feels safe. Hunter always makes her feel safe. Hunter than brings her even closer. They are almost nose to nose. Hunter with his eyes half lidded and with a hopeful look on his face, "Can I keep you?" Even if Hunter wasn't a ghost, and hadn't been lonely for a long, long time. He still would have asked Luz the same question. Luz says nothing. Just closers her eyes and kisses him. His kiss a little cold, but still solid, firm and real just for a moment.

[stardew-obsessed-ora]

hi do you have any headcanons involving morris and the junimos (or maybe just magic in general) ?

Hiiii anon! Thank you so much for the ask! This was actually quite the interesting topic to think about, so thank you for that! I apologize for how long this took to pump out. I was so busy with college math that I wasn't really able to focus on writing. Regardless, I'm excited to finally be able to sit down and answer this!

(Some of this is going to be based on the before the farmer comic)

Word count: 1,621

tiny bit of angst but it gets better! ∼ ~~◡◡◡◡ ~~ ⥽ Ⅰ ⥼ ~~◡◡◡◡~~ ∽

For starters, the Junimos have made themselves somewhat known to Morris for quite some time. Not in a positive way, of course. They were there when Joja was first making its presence known within the valley. Maybe they were trying to ward the company off with what little mischief they could pull? Or maybe they just wanted to use what little remaining power they had to screw with the man before shriveling up due to the continued environmental damage from the corporation. 

From the first day he started working as a district manager onward, they would appear out of the corner of his eye. He thought it might’ve been flickers of light, or maybe he was just up too early? That was probably it. This went on for weeks, months even. It was maddening. It was hard enough setting up a new store in town, but with the added paranormal activity? That wasn’t what he signed up for. 

He would clock in at 5am sharp each day, do a routine check of everything and make a mental note of what needed to be done, the usual. And then- something would fall. Morris, being rather jumpy, would flinch every single time without fail. Whenever he checked the room where the source of the sound was, however, there was nothing on the ground. There wasn’t a single trace of what could’ve made the noise. Of course, there were boxes being perpetually scattered from their uniform positions, but they couldn’t have made such loud noises.  

There were numerous meetings with his employees regarding the incidents. If it wasn’t just him, it had to be some elaborate prank, right? These meetings would go from casual reminders of company policy regarding messing around on company time, threats that whoever was to be found wasting so much time on an elaborate scheme as opposed to getting the upper-hand working would be fired, to subtle pleas for whoever it was to turn themselves in and that their punishment wouldn’t actually be that bad. 

“What if it’s like- raccoons? Those little guys can go crazy all on their lonesome. I remember one time mom had accidentally messed up a recipe, so she threw the most burnt pieces out, and a few hours later we found like- all kinds of trash on our lawn!”

“Respectfully, I think I’d know if they were raccoons, Sam. I’d have come across the mess already. And- I’d probably have come across one of the raccoons on my daily searches. I’m very methodical with my process.” 

“Also… sorry to butt in- I’d probably hear them coming in. I’m always here early.” And then Claire yawns. “I hear a bit of rustling, but it’s not really… that obstructive.” 

“Seriously? So you’re inattentive. There’s no way you’re not hearing- well- what I’m referring to.”

“They say regions like this tend to be a bit haunted.” “Haunted? Seriously?!” “Yeah, next thing we know Morris’ll start seeing the lights flicker when nobody else does. Then, he’ll see his reflection laugh at him. And then-”

“Shane, enough. Seriously. Spirits aren’t real. They’re mere fairy-tales at best.” “Fine, alright. If it’s such an issue, why don’t you install cameras?” 

“For your information, we actually do have- wait.” And then he checked the cameras. It became somewhat routine for him to skim through the footage daily in an attempt to find anything incriminating. Maybe he’d catch the person putting him through this annoying, relentless hell if he remained vigilant?  

As much as he wanted to act like he wasn’t unnerved by the thought of the Jojamart being haunted or something, he was. Horror terrified him, he was the kid who dove behind the couch whenever something even slightly unnerving came on the television. He didn’t want to be living through a real life horror movie! Maybe he should’ve just accepted the raccoon suggestion… Thumbing through the camera footage, he became distraught. He, in fact, did not catch anything. The most paranormal thing he did catch, in his mind, were both Shane and Sam doing their jobs exactly as he had asked. Great, so that was a fruitless- wait. Checking the camera in the storage room, he saw something. He saw several of the boxes rustling, moving on their own then stopping. If all of his employees were at their stations, then what was..? 

He decided to investigate himself. 

“Hey, Mors. Don’t die back there, kay? It’s always the people going on investigations themselves that get caught in horror movies!” 

“Shane, I’ll dock your pay if you don’t get back to your station.”

“Goooot it.” 

The first time he stepped into the storage room and heard squeaking he assumed it was rats. Great, they had an infestation on their hands. Another lengthy email to corporate. And then- he saw a flicker of green, a dash of blue, and- an apple stem? There they were. The Junimos. It was ridiculous, but he wanted to run away. Even if they looked cutesy, they were spirits- ghosts- supernatural beings, for crying out loud! In his moment of panic he stood, pale and wide eyed as he observed the creatures. 

And then his panic quickly subsided, replaced with soft laughter.

“Is this a prank? Some kind of toy? Seriously…” When he tried to pick the creature up, it quickly hopped away, then reappeared behind him. Of course, Morris, being stubborn, doubled down on his internal viewpoint that they were toys. The squeaking didn’t help. Neither did their bouncy movements or overly cartoonish faces. He thought they were toys for the remainder of his encounters with them. 

Regardless of how much they tried to keep him on his toes, annoy him, make him resign and bring peace back to the valley. They couldn’t get under his skin as they had his first few months of working. 

I like imagining the Junimo are very determined little creatures, however. They both don’t understand human emotion very well, and also don’t understand the concept of knowing when to quit. They continued to make messes, hit against things to make unruly sounds, appear out of the corner of his eye, but it only made him crack down further on policies regarding workplace ethics and appropriate behavior. 

Of course, this wasn’t to say Morris didn’t humor the “toy” he had found. At times he’d act scared, or frantically pick the mess it had made up, or try again to pick it up, somewhat impressed at the fact it had such sharp reflexes. If only the person controlling it put those skills to something productive. 

When he’d spot one of a color other than green he wondered if the person who owned the toy had invested in multiple just to freak him out. 

He found them kind of cute, and almost endearing. A part of him thought about pitching an idea to corporate regarding Joja potentially making their own line of the little things. 

Before he knew it, however, the ruckus stopped. 

The little creatures stopped squeaking, they stopped rummaging through the back room of the store, they stopped appearing out of the corners of his eye. The Junimos were losing their magic within the valley, and the spread of Joja was at fault. They couldn’t even ward off one store chain from the valley with the best of their abilities. 

When he finds the last Junimo he almost jumps out of his skin at the sight of it. Anything unexpected caused him to jump, let alone one of the very things that had tried to annoy him for months on end. But now, there it was, its little leaf hung low and its eyes half shut in defeat. 

Of course he was confused. A toy shouldn’t have been that expressive. Maybe it was another one? Maybe it-

And then, it disappeared. Right in front of his eyes, to his own dismay. Its little leaf had withered away, followed by the rest of it. 

Panic, worry, and a strange sense of guilt filled his chest as he would bolt from the storage room. The realization they weren’t toys and that he had spent months pinning their appearances on employees embarrassed him, yet also, terrified him. Up until that moment he had assumed fairy tales, magic, and things of the like were fake.

Afterwards, he spent months making sure the Jojamart wasn’t haunted or anything like that. It was ridiculous, but nobody bothered stopping him. It took time he spent chewing them out for meticulous things away, and kept him preoccupied. 

For a while, he tried asking other townsfolk about what he saw, being met only with confused glances and a few remarks here and there regarding him possibly losing it. 

It made him feel crazy. 

When the farmer actually reaffirmed the existence of the little fellas he had seen, it lifted a weight off of his shoulders. He didn’t have to feel even remotely worried that his unhealthy work hours were actually taking a toll on him. Nope! 

And yet, it still made him feel bad. 

Bad, as in wondering if something had happened to them that might’ve been caused by him. Or- by the collective efforts of the corporation he had been working so tirelessly for, anyways. It ultimately helped feed into his doubt regarding whether or not what he was doing was truly right. 

It wasn’t until after the community center had been rebuilt that he saw the little fellas again. He was tending to his garden when he spotted something from the corner of his eye. He thought it was an animal, or perhaps just something blowing in the wind.

That's when he saw it, a Jumino making its way onto his property with a flower in tow. A white tulip.

It takes the Junimos a while to grasp the concept, but they realize Morris wasn't intentionally trying to fuck up the valley. He was just a victim of circumstance. So, after coming to this profound realization, I like imagining they occasionally drop off little flowers of varying positive meanings at his door to both reassure him that he didn't help permanently ward them off and to show that there's no hard feelings.

(also this takes away from the more serious nature of these hcs but if he could grab one of the little guys i do think he'd squish it in his hand. he finds them really cute outside of the initial five nights at junimos encounter he had)