#that iterations of him existing together feels so so wrong

[daisyishedwig]

I was literally spinning around my kitchen giggling and twirling my hair listening to the latest episode and I can't wait for the official drop to come tomorrow because I need y'all to hear this. (I do have a tendency to do this with most episodes of woe.begone but this one was a particular joy to listen to)

Very spoilery screaming in the tags below.

[breadbrobin]

“in every other universe”

luke castellan x reader — percy jackson and the olympians

summary: luke said he’d love you in every other universe. luke was many things, but he wasn’t a liar.

warnings: ANGST, kissing, mentions of canon typical violence, use of pet names, so much angst bro omg

word count: 1.0k

(i wrote this AGES ago like around episode three so don’t come at me for it being a lil different to how he acts in the finale ok i did my best and i didn’t wanna change too much bc i love it)

—————————————

“do you think we’re together in every universe?”

it was a quiet question. one that luke’s ears could barely pick up through the murmurs of the hermes cabin and the whistling of the wind outside. your breath was right against his cheek though, and your whispered question carried to him.

he frowned. “what do you mean?”

“like,” he could hear you shifting to face him, and he looked over at you, seeing the outline of your features in the dark. “in every other universe where we exist—as whatever we exist as—do you think we met? became friends? then fell in love too?”

he was quiet for a moment, turning his head back to look up at the bunk above him. “yeah. i think we find each other in every universe. i don’t think even the fabric of time and space itself could tear us apart.”

he could hear your soft giggle through the night. “really?”

“really.” he rolled to face you, pressing a kiss to your lips. “not even the gods could tear us apart, baby. not the gods, not the universe itself, nothing.”

he punctuated his words with soft kisses, only stopping when you smiled and yawned tiredly.

“i love you,” you whispered, shifting closer and tucking your head under his chin.

he kissed your hair, warmth growing in his chest as it always did around you, especially on nights where you’d sneak into his bunk to fall asleep together, limbs tangled, hair messy, sleep in your eyes. “i love you too.” his voice was a whisper, barely audible. he said it like a prayer, a reverent statement that made you feel like the most loved person in the universe—in any universe. you wondered if all of your other iterations loved him like you did. if all of your other versions of yourself were as deeply, irrevocably in love with this boy who had you wrapped in his arms and wrapped around his fingers. you didn’t used to believe in fate and destiny. luke helped you see that he was yours.

in every other universe, you thought bitterly. i hope every other universe is happier than this.

luke had left. he was gone. long gone.

he’d came to see you, begging you on your knees to join him, to leave with him.

“please, my love, he can give us whatever we want. we can live forever, immortal in this new world that he will build us!” his eyes had been frantic, pleading… broken.

you had gotten to his level, cupping his face in your hands and stroking his cheeks softly. “luke…”

“baby, he will give us anything,” he’d begged. “anything. just come with me.”

you had shaken your head, kissed his lips one last time. your own were salty with tears. “he’s poisoned your mind, luke.”

“the gods have poisoned your mind,” he sneered. “they are responsible for everything. all the pain, all the unclaimed kids, this—“ he jabbed a finger at the scar on his face. “—and all the death that came with it.”

“and you think titans will be better? luke, don’t do this.”

“it’s already done,” he said, his voice stronger. “come with me. together in every universe. this will be the only one that matters anymore, baby. come with me.”

“no.” that was all you’d had to say.

his face crumbled. bitterness and regret filled his eyes, and for a second, you thought he might change his mind. you thought he might stay with you.

you were wrong.

he’d stood up, looking down at you with eyes colder than you’d ever seen. you’d always known luke could be volatile. he was too controlled sometimes, when he shouldn’t be, like he was always holding something back. his sword-fighting was too restrained, and yet too good. there was a balance there that was impossible to achieve unless you’d seen both sides—weak and strong, powerless and entirely powerful. you understood now what that was. you’d never been scared of him before.

he towered over you. “fine. you’ve made your choice. don’t come crying to us when you change your mind.”

the way he said ‘us’ sent a shiver down your spine. you felt nauseous as you kneeled there in front of him, not even feeling strong enough to stand up.

“i love you,” you whispered as he drew his sword.

he faltered for a moment, then his jaw clenched. “if you really loved me, you wouldn’t be betraying me like this.”

as the hilt of his sword hit your temple, memories flashed through your head—of sharing strawberries and kissing under trees, of skipping stones on the shore and sneaking into each others bunks when you couldn’t sleep. years of friendship, then love… all destroyed with the hit of a blade’s hilt. you wondered, who was really the traitor here? it didn’t feel like you.

when you’d woken up, you were in the infirmary. chiron was just outside with the new kid, percy jackson. annabeth was sitting beside you, holding your hand, tears in her eyes.

when she saw you were awake, she squeezed your hand and helped you sit up.

“he’s gone?” you asked weakly.

she nodded, her eyes filling with bitter tears again. “yeah. he… he attacked percy too. while everyone was celebrating. he…” she trailed off and shook her head. “he betrayed all of us. i should have seen it coming. i should have…”

you shook your head. how could he be so cruel? how could you not have noticed? it wasn’t annabeth’s job to—it wasn’t yours either, sure, but you’d seen the signs months ago. you should have seen how things would end. you should have done something sooner. you should have, you should have, you should have.

out loud, you said nothing, just opened your arms for annabeth to fall into. you both needed someone, but the person you both needed was nowhere to be found.

it wasn’t fair.

you didn’t know what was coming next, but you knew that luke’s soul was intertwined with yours, in whatever way it ended up being. he’d said once that you were his anchor, his reason to live after his failed quest… so why couldn’t you be his reason to stay? why couldn’t he have loved you more, loved you like he said he didn’t in every other universe, and stayed?

why, why, why? you feared you would find yourself asking that question until the day you died.

[brandwhorestarscream]

LISTEN TO ME LISTEN OK!! I'm not done talking about this!

Shattered glass Skyfire journeying to the center of the Allspark dimension to steal Starscream's spark back

Regrets weigh heavily on his shoulders and Starscream's death was the final straw. He's through sitting back passively and letting their overlords do whatever they want--they killed his Starscream, his seeker, his buddy, his everything, and now they're going to pay with their lives

He takes Starscream's body, delicately cradling him and promising, looking down at his broken, cracked face and gaping hole in his chassis where his spark used to be, "I'll bring you back... whatever it takes, I'll save you!"

Starscream didn't deserve to die

Starscream didn't deserve to suffer

He didn't deserve Skyfire's betrayal, he didn't deserve to see each and every dream shattered onto nothingness, he didn't deserve any of the pitslag the universe had put him through. Skyfire intends to right these wrongs, by any means necessary.

First, he scratches out his autobot badge and carries Starscream's corpse away, taking him somewhere secluded and untraceable. He begins work slowly, putting him back together piece by piece: a shot straight through the soul was obviously fatal, but it also severely damaged his body. Layers of plating and wires melted through and obliterated, countless energon lines severed, internal components completely wiped from existence. He has to replace each and every piece, perfectly, or this won't work. He uses everything he can, parts manufactured and sculpted by his own hands, and taken from the bodies of dead mecha alike

It takes him months to repair his precious seeker, and once he's fixed up, Skyfire makes him a grand pedestal to lay upon to await his revival. A raised dias painted the purest white and adored with golden glyphs, depicting the second coming of the Prince of Stars and a thousand iterations of Starscream's name. Obsessed and sickened by the loss, Skyfire dares kiss his forehelm and his cheeks but can never bring himself to take Starscream's lips: if he's to savor the delicate kiss of the most important person in his life, he shall only do it when light returns to his optics. Tch, isn't that ironic, he thinks bitterly. Only realizing the true depth of his affections for Starscream when he was dead and gone. They had been close, once, when they were so young... he'd been too naive or perhaps too afraid to confront his truest feelings. Perhaps, if he wasn't such a coward, things would be different...

The realization has only made him more determined to see this through

Once Starscream's body is complete Skyfire goes after the wicked Lord Prime. Optimus's name is like a frightening curse, bleeding life from every land he touches and siphoning the sparks of everyone around him. Skyfire is not afraid, and he doesn't care if the other mech lives or dies. No, when he storms the Primal Palace, it is with the intent to steal. It's a brutal altercation, but through sheer size and murderous fury Skyfire rips the Matrix from the Prime's chest, carrying it to the desecrated Temple of Prima where the entrance to the Allspark Vault awaits. A living mech attempting to jump into the afterlife has never come to pass before, but Skyfire isn't worried about dying. If death comes for him, let it be known that he willingly embraced it. In death he could reunite with Starscream, so it is not something to be feared. If he succeeds, though... he'll once again be able to hold the love of his life in his arms, and that makes every risk worth it

[alllgator-blood]

okkk wait this is the anon that sent an ask about autistic narinder and leshy hc 😅 i retract my statement they're all autistic 🤯🤯🤯🤯

I WAS LITERALLY IN THE MIDDLE OF ANSWERING THAT ASK TO SAY "I FEEL LIKE THEY'RE ALL AUTISTIC" BEFORE THIS ONE GOT SENT IN, I was two sentences in so your comedic timing was impeccable actually

I know there's like no evidence in-game to back my claims so this is purely a vibe check (and also me being unable to write for neurotypical characters) but yeah no I 100% feel like all the bishops have autism for some reason. They definitely express it in different ways and I was actually thinking about that in the car ride back home tonight??

SEMI-DETAILED HC EXPLANATIONS BELOW THE CUT

For leshy, I feel like since he's the youngest...when he came along, everyone was like "yep. We don't even need to get this one tested" after seeing him in his natural element. Which sounds cruel but that's just personal experience after people in my family started getting diagnosed and we started noticing things about each other better LMAO. I kinda actually designed my iteration of him to be like a big stim toy, I did that shitpost sketch in the last post but even the first time I drew him I was like "this dude is made out of orbs that make satisfying noises when they click together", so if I had to categorize the way his neurodivergency manifests, it's definitely "I NEED TO MOVE AROUND!! RIGHT FUCKING NOW!! MAYBE SCREAM A LITTLE IDK IT JUST FEELS RIGHT!!"

Heket is for sure the one that fights the most against people labelling her with it, just because she's like I'M SO NORMAL GUYS. LOOK HOW NORMAL I AM. LOOK HOW WELL I CAN ADAPT TO CHANGE AND LOOK AT ME NOT FREAK OUT AT ALL WHEN I'M OUT OF MY ELEMENT!! She's the new leader of the family so she does her best to hold it together but if you make plans with her, she's gonna be in Waiting Mode as soon as the plans are made and might tear you limb from limb if you flake or reschedule. Something my therapist told me recently is that me getting absurdly upset over injustices (small or big) is likely directly related to being autistic, so if heket feels like something is wrong she will absolutely be vocal about it. If someone says something mean to her, they are her fucking arch nemesis from that point on. The block button is NOT enough she wants them DEAD

For narinder, I feel like he maybe bonded a lot with shamura over the fact both of them feel pretty disconnected from everyone else? The way his autism manifests is probably the feeling that he's on a completely different wavelength than everyone else, and can't experience empathy the same way his siblings can. He'll like have conversations with people but it feels like someone just talking at him, and him having to mentally choose the dialogue options that make the conversation end the quickest. He probably feels like a completely separate species from everyone else on more levels than just "I am a cat and you are not". I know this doesn't line up with my narinder art so far but I have a distinct characterization of him pre-schism that's completely different from post-schism. I feel like he also resented the other siblings for having the same condition as him but presenting so differently, he felt like he got the short end of the stick.

Kallamar........is a FREAk ABOUT TEXTURES. Bro will actually throw up if he has to eat or touch something gross. He would probably excuse himself to go hurl if he sees leshy combining everything on his plate and shovelling it into his face. I'M actually about to hurl just thinking about it. I have to have lotion on at all times or I freak out when I touch things with my hands, and I feel like kallamar needs to have that famous Cephalopod Mucus Layer in order to exist in his body without wanting to implode. Maybe even a special oil he formulates himself? I also feel like he probably has the most freakouts and has been left crying inconsolably + hyperventilating on the floor over something seemingly stupid MANY times, but shamura is understanding enough to be patient with him and not try to grab him or repeat phrases at him over and over.

LASTLY, SHAMURA DOESN'T THINK THEY HAVE AUTISM. They're like "I love my Neurodivergent Family :) can't relate tho" but all the siblings have unanimously agreed they have something going on up there, even before the TBI. I think they're very book smart, and have little file cabinets of their brain of stuff like "arthropod husbandry" and "dreamcatcher making techniques" but are totally clueless to how other people operate. They don't really know *why* people do the things they do; in my prequel AU thing, they gain most of their social knowledge through people watching rather than like...being normal and just knowing how to behave. Out of all the siblings, they've probably been told the classic phrase "but you don't look autistic!" the most LMAO

Also shamura 100000% has misophonia and that's the reason I didn't have them sitting at the table with the other siblings in the voidpunk comic I did of them. They love their family to death but they have to make the conscious decision to not shake baby leshy every time he loudly chokes down his dinner, so they just sit out meals and eat on their own time. If shamura was real I would build them a shrine and sacrifice my noise cancelling headphones cause idk if they have sound reduction methods in cotl world <3

I know autism kinda encompasses ALL of these traits and isn't something that can be categorized into "this one hates noises, this one needs to follow a schedule..." but I also don't want to just point at one bishop and go "YOU. YOU WILL BE MY VESSEL" because I'd never get to write all that I have in mind if only one character had it. There's definitely overlaps in symptoms between them but I just wrote down what I felt would be the most notable to that specific character. I've been wanting to do a comic about their special interests or the times they just like sync up and have a brain blast jimmy neutron moment, cause usually they're all over the place. I have literally never said the word "autism" so many times in my life I think I gotta cut it here, THIS IS SO LONG. I REALLY DID WANT TO TALK ABOUT THIS THOUGH SO THANK YOU FOR THIS ASK GENUINELY. IDK IF YOU EXPECTED A SMALL ESSAY ON THIS BUT I WROTE ONE ANYWAY

[fereldanwench]

started thinking about what worldstate i wanna create for my first run in veilguard because of course i have.

we can't import past saves and we won't be using the keep anymore, so I'm not sure how detailed we'll be able to get with it but I've got a few possibilities to play with:

the first and most likely is my mostly canon-compliant worldstate with these bbs:

lorelei cousland [rogue; double-wield] warden / queen of ferelden / li: king!alistair

daphne caron [rogue; double-wield] warden commander / ruler of vigil's keep / li: warden!bethany

ansley hawke [warrior; board & sword] champion of kirkwall / pirate / li: isabela

melisande trevelyan [rogue; archer] herald of andraste / inquisitor / li: cullen

rosalind hendry [mage; knight-enchanter] former chantry scholar / inquisition agent for leliana / li: blackwall

the second is my slightly less canon-compliant worldstate that i never brought into inquisition because i didn't want to have to choose between alistair and my favorite hawke in the fade lmao:

karina amell [mage; i do not remember her spec] warden-commander / li: warden!alistair

rhiannon hawke [force & elemental mage] champion of kirkwall / temp viscount of kirkwall / li: cullen or fenris*

*last summer i did replay da2 with an iteration of rhiannon that actually romanced fenris and i loved it and I've complicated shit for her, lmao. rhiannon x cullen were my goro x valerie of 2013-2014 and making her officially with someone else feels wrong bc i loved them together so much. but i just can't enjoy cullen anymore. so do i do i give rhiannon a boyfriend upgrade? do i make a whole 'nother hawke inspired by her? do i just let rhiannon x cullen and rhiannon x fenris exist in different AUs? i don't know!

and the third is kind of the opposite of the second one: a worldstate i made just for inquisition in the keep with some choices i had never made in the previous games. i don't even have the worldstate in the keep anymore so i don't remember everything but i think it was like this:

default f!mahariel [rogue; archer] no li / recruited loghain / made alistair marry anora

default m!hawke [mage] li: anders / sided with mages

keagan trevelyan [mage; knight-enchanter] herald of andraste / inquisitor / li: cullen (although i headcanoned a polycule with her, cullen, and josie)

one of my conundrums with all of these is, as i mentioned, i can't enjoy cullen anymore. he was obviously a big fave, i think his arc is fascinating especially in da2 and especially if you side with the templars and he has to contend with the shit he's done for meredith, and i enjoyed all the different shipping dynamics with all different kinds of ocs. but i can't separate him from his dipshit VA at this point. hearing his voice is just an instant NOPE for me now

i am 99% positive cullen will not be in veilguard for 2 reasons: 1) the writers said during inquisition that they were no longer trying to work in characters whose fates could be too varied depending on player choice and 2) that twitter shitstorm a few years seemed to guarantee ellis will never work with bioware again lmao

now i suppose there's a possibility that ellis could have recorded lines before that happened and somehow they would be able to be used despite all the changes that happened, but I'm trying to be an optimist here

nevertheless, all of the inquisitors i played were with him, and it sounds like we'll be able to engage with our inquisitors in some capacity in veilguard so do i even want to have a passing mention of cullen? idk. i mean, my disdain for his VA isn't so bad that this would ruin the game for me or anything, but i also feel like this is an opportunity to enjoy another character

between keagan and melisande, melisande was definitely my more developed OC, but i just loved playing as a knight-enchanter gameplay-wise so keagan is actually the only one of the two who did trespasser and jaws of hakkon. i never did the descent--the only DLC in all the games that i haven't played. I've been debating firing up my inquisitor!valerie game again to play that with her but i know the descent recommends a pretty high level and i can't remember how far i got in the story with her (I think i just reached skyhold that last time i played)

so anyway, i've got some decisions to make!

as for what i'm leaning towards playing in veilguard: at this point in time, i'm pretty sure my first rook will be a mage of some kind and lucanis sounds like he was made specifically for me lmao so odds are looking good that'll be my first ship

[collarbjt]

Jared acted ‘Dean forester’ in Gilmore girls,

So I’m wondering if he’s being in Supernatural universe.(maybe it’s an old, iterative question but I’m curious now)

If Dean Forester And Dean Winchester met, could they be friends?

In my thought, Sam and Dean Forester can be friends(they are also doppelgänger lol) but with Dean?? Nahh….

Maybe the only plot that make sense is :

Dean forester enjoyed his applepie life in university with his lovely girlfriend, but one day, a case caused by the Things occurred so Sam and Dean Winchesters showed up to solve the case. The Things, I prefer to vampire for this case ☺️.

Because the victim who affected by vamp is one of his friend group’s member(I really wanna keep Dean Forester’s girlfriend be safe, unlike our Sammy’s girlfriends…), Sam and Dean will investigate the whole group members and talk to Dean Forester too.

After they saw him, they will be surprised and suspicious about him because he’s just looks like Sam so much-ofc they are both Jared lol-but after splash the holy water into his face, silver knife burning test, and some other processes to check he’s not a shapeshifter or doppelgänger, they will release him.

Maybe Dean might feel nostalgic about his little bro’s youth and university life, while Sam remains somewhat suspicious, but there’s no evidence so they’ll focus on the current vamp case.

But what-if)

Dean Forester is a demon that can crossed the universes to parasitize as a character in particular universe, and he is confused btw two hollywood tv shows’ universes-Gilmore and SPN, bc the male main characters have same first name-Dean.

So at first, he planned to settle down in Gilmore universe and pretend to be Dean Forester after kill him. But bc of confusion, he settled to the wrong place-SPN world and used ‘Dean Forester’s name in the wrong world.

Therefore he twist the SPN world’s rules and a lot of Things are generated by his existence, and Winchesters know why the Things population is exponentially growth, and they’ll find the main problem is the demon parasitizing on universe.

After some stories, they will kill the demon but it’s a type of laplace’s demon, which can be killed or died, so they asked Cas or Crowley to open the gate to the other universe, and…ofc in SPN world, Winchester bros will successfully done their work always, and perhaps the demon itself wants to go to the right place so it will be gone and then case solved.

After that, well, they’ll drink some beer together and do another job. Heaven and hell are returned into the normal, included the human world.

I’m just starting what-if Dean and Dean met but at the end, the story expands to the multiverse lol😅

[talesfromtheunknowable]

hey! question: how did Anuli come to be?

HIi! Thank you so much for the question.

ANnnnddd... whoooo boi, this is a long and convoluted history of the 'many drafts of the land of the fallen fairies'.

Grab some popcorn, there will be plot twists.

First came up with the 'Land of the Fallen Fairies' idea when I was around... ten-ish. I saw this book called 'the land of forgotten girls,' (just the cover, never read it) and I had watched the movie 'Fern Gully' in school, and had also learned of trees being able to communicate with each other from magic school bus. And thus, ten-year-old me decided to write a story about it, in the way you might imagine a ten-year-old writing a story.

Very overdramatic. No plot.

Basically it was about 'the last tree on the planet' and its fairy. They both lived next to a factory and no one on the plantet knew of thier existence. (Wow, spooky.)

The fairy (faer name was 'Oak'... which was very creative of me.) got stolen by some humans, who were children, but one of them worked for a scientist for some reason? They kept Oak in a jar where fae met the other fairy named Meadow (who was 'Oak's... mother? Or smth.). Oak eventually broke out and went to this 'hidden land' in the Bermuda triangle for reasons. (wow, spooky)

And I stopped at around there because I wasn't feeling nice while writing it anymore.

There are definitely iterations that I don't remember anymore, this is a seven-ish-year long project at this point after all, but here are the major ones.

The Floa and Naegi backstory.

I made these two dolls (that I don't have anymore). Floa was a redwood and Naegi was an evergreen. It was pretty much an 'enemies to best friends/platonic lovers / opposite attracts' sort of thing taking place in that Bermuda triangle island. They both watched the sunset together so yea.

Bloom

Insert the lychee tree that lives in a cave and made a bunch of doohickeys to survive and killed off faer younger 'siblings' accidently with... fire magic? At one point Bloom was a lychee tree and the whole 'fire magic' thing came from Mediterranean cypress's being immune to fire. I also made a doll for this one that started off as this tall and lanky and kind of scary crow-looking thing with long arms and burnt hands. Then it changed to a small deer thing, (Mediterranean cypresses are immune to deer too.) and it's legs kept breaking off.

The black fairy and Squioo

Another scrapped duo! The black fairy is based off the pando tree (and the only one so far that uses he/him pronouns) and the Pando tree is one large tree that looks like a lot of little ones in a huge forest. (It's a real thing! You can look it up.) And I think I had this whole thing where Squioo is another mediterranean cypress and fae died or something? I think at this point the land of the fallen fairies was more of a 'protective group' and fallen fairies were fairies that lost their tree, so they were almost 'apathetic zombies that could be dangerous if provoked'.

the houseplant

This is the iteration where it starts getting to where tLotFF starts looking how it does now. The scale isn't 'across the world' anymore and there is more of a focus on themes and always a protective guardian.

Although for this one the mc was called 'Amaris' and they started off in a houseplant store where everyone else shared memories. There wasn't really anything wrong with this one, I just didn't enjoy writing it.

Guardian territory

This is the previous version, and is also where you get Anuli. I just wanted something that would be easy for me to write, so I had Anuli use story metaphors for everything and be very contemplative, to the point of not knowing what is going on around faer. Fae isn't... 100% Anuli yet, but fae has the bones. In this version, it starts off with Kamari, Anuli and the sibling Maidoe (who got scrapped because fae had no purpose but may come up again later) leaving the 'bad place' to go to the guardian territory. I rewrote that version so many times and got super stressed out every time I wrote it because it had to be PERFECT.

The 'snippet version'

I changed my writing process to be what works for me and started from scratch, and so, after all that, we get to your question.

I wanted to write something that felt nice, that felt like my truth, especially since my life started feeling... monochromatic, and if I had to live for one thing and one thing only, that that thing better make me feel better.

(I just needed an outlet otherwise I would explode.)

And I always loved those 'metaphorical journeys with a very obvious message but it is told in a whimsical way' sort of stories, and I also wanted to tell my younger self to stop driving themself crazy looking for answers on how to make themselves 'better' in order to regain their lost childhood wonder, because 'better' was burning them out.

Also this video -

I wanted so hard to find that thing called 'happiness', to find that happy ending that I didn't let my story play out.

Anywho, I mention this because the writing process I follow is very 'theme based' and I wanted for my story to explore a theme more than anything else. (Think 'Little Prince' vibes mixed with a slice-of-life-children's show so I could be as dark as I wanted to).

Some of my earliest (for this version) planning pages! (I modified the 'Story Genuis' method to work better with my iterative, and impulsive self. Nowadays I write a 'scene' by exploring a sub-concept of my overall point, and writing out all the thoughts surrounding it, in five different pages at once.)

I needed Anuli to represent all of the aspects of myself that were 'too slow for society' and molded them around a bit to fit who Anuli wanted to be (fae wasn't as overdramatic and silly and metaphorical before.)

And as if this post wasn't long enough already, here are some extra things about where Anuli's traits come from <3

Anuli likes morbid stories because my parents didn't like how 'dark' my stories were, and where thinking of something happier and more 'inspirational for kids, new york times best seller', whereas I just wanted to explore this weird thing called existence. I didn't even think that version was so dark.

So I let Anuli tell the darkest possible things that fae can.

---

The Land of the Fallen Fairies slowly changed moreso to a more 'pixie-based-concept' on who is and isn't 'good enough to be part of society' rather than a 'zombie fairy'. I don't fully know what the criteria is for a fairy to be a fallen fairy, for now it's just 'can't keep up with regular society'.

----

Part of the reason Anuli's POV 'style' is the way it is, is because I wanted something that would be easier for me to write. There's very little scene description or character actions, 90% of it is thoughts and metaphors, and it's nice that the 'shortcut' that I put for myself so I could actually write something also works for the character I am writing.

---

For both Anuli and Kamari, both their names come from the origin of the tree. Anuli, the fiddle leaf fig, originates from Africa, and faer name means 'joy'

Kamari, who comes from... northern Africa and surrounding areas if I remember correctly, means 'moon'.

----

The land of the fallen fairies takes place in my backyard. So I don't really want to move (again... apparently the moving unspoken feelings I didn't know I had got expressed though the LotFF) because all the characters are outside. We got a magnolia, and I have a fiddle leaf inside my house for Anuli.

---

I knew I didn't want to have Anuli describe any feeling, not even tired-ness with a word. Fae has an internal world filled with sensations and emotions fae does not understand and uses faer stories to create faer own 'shorthand' for how to describe them. I really really like this aspect of faer, because it makes communication that much harder for faer, but that much easier (hopefully, I've been told that no one understands what I write.) to understand what fae is thinking. Fae has built up quite the shorthand over the course of the backstory, none of faer thoughts are understandable without context.

----

Anuli ended up liking sunflowers completely on accident. I needed to have something for Kamari to notice and prompt Anuli to tell stories about, and there was a small sunflower patch near the magnolia.

---

Character design is a whole other thing. Before I made the doll, I drew a bunch of sketches based off all the character design videos I could find.

(The ones with the horns were designs for the 'Amaris' previous iteration.)

Oh wait! I remember this iteration. Anuli read the memories of dead pollywiggins for some reason before everyone else told faer that was bad and creepy.

These are some of my favorite Anuli drawings. I made a sticker out of the 'Responsibility' one.

Anuli had a hoodie for some reason, I don't think most fairies wear clothes other than for accessorizing or practical purposes. I may have Anuli wear a cloak when fae comes out of the archives because the weather is changing to fall now and @imjusthereforeternity happens in real time, and Anuil is not meant for cold weather.

getting closer.

Last sketch is from @mylee-sketches for Maidoe. This was around - I think - the time I started making Anuli the doll, which was impulsive as I did not have some of the materials I wanted (it worked out in the end) and I did not plan out sizes.

Anuli the doll took three long months and fae is MASSIVE. (I ran out of the color for faer face and had to improvise with other colors to make faer body match). Fae is around the size of a newborn/1year old CHILD. I can hold faer while I'm writing stuff and fae can stand in my lap and be up to my chin in height. The biggest thing I will ever make and I do not think I'll be doing something of that caliber again for AWHILE at least.

I got a desk recently and fae stands on that now.

Fae also sits nicely on a bookshelf.

... I think that's it. As far as progression from idea to now over the past seven-ish years, this is about everything.

Thank you so much for the ask! And for reading this LONG post!

[dededaio]

Out of curiosity as well,

What are your favourite Kirby, Meta Knight and Bandana adaptations?

with kirby honestly it's hard to say for me because i wouldn't say that there's one perfect portrayal of him in adaptations. there are certain elements in each that i love that would be perfect together, but they are just not.

i guess for now i will go with light novels iteration (from the later novels, in earlier ones he's kind of awful).

for all shit i lately gave mie takase i really appreciate the way she explored kirby's desire to live in peace, which also means that he doesn't want to hurt or fight anybody for no good reason. making him a pacifist is such a natural extension of the character who's primary motivation in most games is to just bring back peace. i also like his development of realizing that sucking up others for copy abilities without asking them first is kind of wrong.

with meta knight by far my favorite iteration of him is from moretsu pupupu hour:

(source)

he's just very funny and him being a glorified theater kid who always has roses and sparkles around him is an amazing touch.

i feel like some hardcore meta knight fans might dislike this portrayal and i would understand, but let's just say i'm not one of the hardcore meta knight fans so i enjoy it a lot.

with bandana dee ill have to go with light novels again, but here's mostly because he barely shows up in any of the adaptations??? most mangas ignore bandee's existence in favor of generic waddle dee as one of the main characters, if they even have a generic waddle dee as one of the main characters to begin with (like, for example, in aforementioned moretsu pupupu hour, there are no prominent waddle dees at all)

meanwhile bandee in the books gets the most significant character development out of any character, going from shy and weak waddle dee with no unique name or attributes to a stand-out fighter on par with kirby and others. one of my favorite moments in the whole light novel series is how dedede gets impressed with how much bandee grew as a fighter in kirby fighters 2 novelization.

[sothasil]

Hi! You're one of my favorite artists ever, and I would love to do some studies of your art! What are some of your favorite pieces that you've done, and how do you pick your colors? There's a lot more questions that I could ask, but figured you wouldn't appreciate an entire list of questions XD

Hello and thank you, I am honored! Feel free to send me all and any questions! I'll answer these two, starting by:

How do you pick your colors?

As I change art style with pretty much every illustration project of significance, this varies a lot. Here are, from most to least common, ways I pick my colors.

Eyeballing it. Unfortunately my most common... What I will do a lot digitally is lay down a color background, and flats of a few colors, then manually adjust each until they look good together by selecting by color and using adjustements. I then paint over it all.

Using a limited palette, eyeballed. Same as before, but this time I force myself to only use a few colors. It helps me, as constraints do.

Using a reference, eyeballed. This happens a lot when I mimick an art style. My medieval drawings for example, are often done by looking at images of actual medieval art to get an idea of what colors to use to look medieval.

Using an existing image, pipetted. Rarely, often as a challenge or if I'm super stuck, I'll just take a pic with colors I like and pipet from it. This website automates this if you want a good easy starting point!

These can be combined around. I'll post examples now, explaining how they use each.

This is a sketch for a drawing I ended up doing way different. This is the first method - I used a flat layer for the characteres and three colors for the sky to test out atmosphere. This is how I plan out most full paintings, just trying to nail down a mood I have in my head. I fiddle around until I like it or, like in this case, fully give up and iterate further. Here, the composition was to be redone too as I did not like the body language. I was going for "bright hot sunny day under a weather that feels wrong".

For this comic, I combined a very limited palette and a photo ref to pipet from. I was looking for the stark cold/warm contrast of a mid-season bright night by a fireside. I took a google image photo of a campfire at night that was already edited. The photo itself looks unnatural but conveyed what I wanted. It's still on the file itself! From it, I pipetted a few colors I found "summed up" the palette and did all with them.

While my own habits make me prefer painting as you would in traditional methods, with directly picking the right colors, I will often digitally alter with overlays and layer blending modes some colors and gradients, etc, to alter a drawing to fix it's color palette. The following is a quite egregious example, because I first drew the character in flats before putting him in a full scene. Here is a before/after summed up.

The shadow is a layer, the bright yellow light zones also, and the orange "transitions" of light zones on the skin a third. There's also an overlay over the full character to blend him in. I do this by...making a full flat color of a layer, fucking around until a blending mode does what I want, and adjusting hue/brightness/saturation and opacity until it looks good.

Another WIP where I was struggling with the overall palette. I was going for late 60s psychedelic. You can see in the top right the original color. I thought it looked too...new, so I added a yellow layer on top, and fiddled with it. Final choice was the following setting. I then put it with my sketch and color blockout in a folder and painted over it.

For this sort of adjustement, the "Color Balance" modifier in CSP, Photoshop, and others is also a godsend - but one I often use for fine tuning a finished piece.

This being said, there's some rough rules to coloring which are...born from studying color theory and doing studies. I am guilty of doing very little studies...so I'll just sum up the basics of the color theory rules I use.

For "default" shading, I use a color that is darker, more saturated and with a slight hue diff. This is my "don't shade with black".

Using a shadow that's cooler will make the light look warm.

Vice versa.

There's a bunch of stuff to remember in how colors relate to each other and pipetting images who's atmosphere you think is interesting really is the best way to learn... It's learning how to black-blue/gold-yellow dress in your own art for the lack of a better word...But the basics will be:

Don't trust numerical values, but look at your colors in context. A same hue, brightness, saturation can look so much different. This is how Rakkan's beard looks whiteish here despite being a light very grey brown.

All this but...colour is such a wide topic, I can't really say a lot but can also type for hours... if you have precise questions about a piece in particular I can explain :') I hope this wasn't too vague and was instructive!

Speaking of particular pieces, answering your question last under the cut:

What are some of your favorite pieces that you've done?

In no particular order, illustration only.

Including this in another poast bc staff's new post editor limits the amounts of pics I can put in response to asks. Insert colorful language here...

Frankly twas hard to pick I am rarely fond of what I draw

[oogaboogaspookyman]

This is the final iteration of the exe oc that is not fond of anything even remotely related to the concept

A game was released to the public, titled "Sonic.EXE LEGACY", a game assumed to be a direct copy of the og og og game, way before fnf, Xenophanes, Lord X, Faker, Sunky, way back when the creepypasta was crowned one of the best and right after kicked right off the throne and forgotten.

However the title deceives. It's not the game you expect it to be.

Everything looks... Peaceful, lively, unharmed, untouched by Sonic.exe, like he never existed in the first place, even the character select screen, although still out of place, looks like something you'd see in a normal Sonic game. There's nothing scary and out for blood. Not anymore.

You start with Tails. You're greeted with the sound of someone sighing in defeat. An entity.

Act 1 - Hey

Nothing seems wrong, and it shows so very clearly. The music is the usual Green Hill music, so happy and cheerful and so much like home.

All of the animals, once mangled and emptied corpses, run around and jump away like there's no tomorrow, living life like nothing is wrong. The entire walk is like this, just Green Hill, so full of life... Yet it feels so hollow.

You reach the end of the level and the music stops, for you have come to see Sonic with his back turned, facing away not waiting for victims, but... Not waiting at all, he's just facing away from Tails out of... Shame, it looks like.

You approach Sonic, the static intensifies, it all starts to feel like he's not done torturing souls yet, and when you reach out to Sonic... Nothing happens.

Tails taps him on the shoulder and he turns around to show... Sonic.exe himself, but with no mouth or red pupils, just black empty eyes and the usual blood tears.

The screen goes black and the usual ding is heard as a message pops up.

Oh. It's you again. He's not here anymore.

The screen goes black again, and you're back in the character select screen. Tails is seen worried, almost deppressed like this strange exe sounded.

You choose Knuckles next, as usual. You're greeted with the entity's voice again.

"Hmm..."

Act 2 - Why Come Back?

You're placed in the usual scrap brain zone or whatever it's named- it's been a long time, anyway- as Knuckles and begin your walk again.

Throughout the entire walk, nothing happens. Everything is so empty, yet unharmed. The peacefulness fills you with anxiety and it really shouldn't at all. It's all so hollow.

You reach the end of the level and find Sonic again, with his back turned against you, looking away in shame like before.

He turns around to show his empty, emotionless face again, and the screen goes black once more.

A message pops up...

Why are you here? What more do you want?

The Knuckles character is shown in a fighting stance ready to fight... Yet this entity is doing nothing but stare, not even out of malicious intent, if any intent at all... The silence feels hollow.

You try moving Knuckles over to the entity and press Z, and Knuckles throws a punch to the face... The punch missed, the entity teleported behind him.

It's seen again right behind him, but instead in a pose that expresses... Fear. He's not so empty after all.

The Knuckles character begins walking on his own to try again, and right before he reaches it, you press right to stop him. He's displeased, but you say it's not dangerous, if anything it's probably not even anything at all. It looks hollow.

Knuckles stops moving and points to the right, probably telling it to leave already.

The entity walks away, in the usual deppressed manner.

The screen goes black, and you're sent back to the character select screen. Knuckles is shown to be confused and trying to put two and two together, not focusing on the fact nothing is wrong anymore but rather on the fact that it's wrong that everything's okay. It's so hollow.

You choose Eggman next, and you're greeted with the entity's voice again.

"Alright..."

Act 3 - ...

You're placed in the usual third level of Sonic.EXE, the same purple tiled enviroment with the same torches and music, as Eggman.

You begin walking right, half an hour later you find stairs and begin stepping down and down and down below, down the seemingly endless stairs...

Nothing happens throughout the entire walk, nothing at all, there's nothing out for blood or souls or anything like that, just stairs and floors seemingly looping over and over again. Nothing but this empty place. So hollow.

You finally reach the end of the level, and find Sonic one last time... This time he's looking straight at Eggman with nothing but the same emotionless face, yet you feel like it's... Disappointed? It's not showing anything to express it though.

The screen goes black again and a message pops up...

You've been here before, everyone has. Why are you here again? It's over.

Eggman starts laughing, although you can't hear him, he shows he's laughing at the entity's deppressed mannerisms, cracking jokes about it and making fun of it... It's not long before Eggman stops the comedy show and questions about it's deppressed, empty behavior.

The entity, for the first time, speaks on it's own and on-screen, animated sprites included.

"It's all the same thing every single time, you know?"

"Tails is killed, Knuckles fights and dies anyway, and you end up last in the count, and then the spooky scary demon hedgehog pops up in the screen up close and personal and writes in blood "I AM GOD" like he always claims he is. It's all the same thing every time."

"And then one person decided to bring him back into the spotlight."

"Now there's all these attempts at one-upping the original with another demon, another ghost of a dead person, another pirated copy, hack, virus, living corrupt ai, all of them try to one-up the original exe..."

"... And none of them realize they're just making more useless versions of him, just more dead weight in this world... Nothing surprises me anymore, nothing surprises anyone anymore, nothing is special anymore"

"It's truly a lost cause after all, don't you think?"

"Just let it die. Please. It's been long enough..."

It's after a few long minutes later that Eggman hugs the entity, not out of any form of malice, but out of genuine pity. Genuine empathy. Genuine kindness, because everything feels so hollow.

"There's no jumpscare to look forward to, if you're wondering..."

The screen goes black and you're sent back to the character select screen... Although, none of the characters can be selected anymore.

Eggman is shown wondering about what has happened and about the new, strange and hollow entity possessing Sonic, even going as far as questioning whether Sonic is truly possessed or not.

The entity's voice is heard one last time...

"What more do you want...?"

Then the game crashes, leaving a text file titled "Hollow"

You open the text file and find a message from presumably the entity...

It's my name, i'm calling myself Hollow because that's what i look like. Ironic, isn't it? I'm expressive, despite the looks saying otherwise.

I found this game and decided to inhabit it, mess around and give it the title it has to get people to find me.

I just want people to face the truth and accept it's all over now, but nobody listens. Nobody cares...

I guess it really is a lost cause after all...

At least i'm here, alive and now... Out to the rest of this digital land.

I'll just travel around, look for things that catch my eye... Just fool around like everyone else.

See you next time, i guess...

-Hollow

[tiredassmage]

so there's a lot going on in act iii of baldur's gate. that's not news, lol. but if i don't start writing down my blorbo thoughts about it somewhere, they're gonna become as murky as my quest log trying to complete it all.

and ambrose has really, really become my blorbo for the game i think. which is fantastic, i missed him, she unlocked new gender since her first iteration i had a while ago, he is not having a great time!!! but there's some really interesting things coming together as companion questlines come to their close with her and. i need to gnaw on it like a bone. [so, spoilers naturally ahead.]

part of it requires me to do a lil bit of a setup since i haven't put a lot about her backstory in posts. i don't think i've really done any of such things, so! ambrose is my wild magic sorcerer, my sweet darling angel, my sweet bean finally attempting to leave the abusive teachings that raised her right as the whole mindflayer abduction business was seeing a massive growth spurt, and so thus added tadpole problems to trying to unlearn apologizing for existing wrong related to her magical talents in addition to changing his name and having an identity exploration era shorn of the master that raised her and trained her and her talents for a very specific purpose.

in short, ambrose is more familiar seeing himself as an ice- and lightning-magic inclined runepowder bomb who is somehow both... dangerously competent at her own magics as well as inherently incapable of truly controlling them. in short, a lot of internalized feelings of never being good enough, regardless of which path or action he decided to take. his one bastion of trust in it all was a paladin that grew up with her named ysabel - and ysabel is the one that got them both out of their home (if you can loosely call it such) and to baldur's gate in the first place. [you're going to ask me what happened to her and i'll admit right now, i have... not decided. which i also thought i would've done by this far in, but... here we are. <.>]

naturally, becoming the leader of a merry band of tadfooled misfits didn't exactly factor into that plan and it was... frankly overwhelming. and terrifying. as if everything they were encountering wasn't terrifying. ambrose can be timid. she's used to saying "yes" to things on reflex, because "no" wasn't particularly allowed. or feasible.

and in an attempt to keep nearly the whole game's worth of experience semi-short as just an introduction, ambrose has been particularly gifted at haphazardly discovering ways to do things i had not found in the previous like 200 hours of playing, lol. so, he's been challenged plenty. and a lot of it has been "do it downright fucking scared."

he fell first for shadowheart, which is not what i would've expected, but i think her 'take no shit' attitude, for... a failure on my part to think of a better way to describe it in this exact moment, does a lot for ambrose and i think... might've been part of the appeal. ysabel's guidance was... similar, though a bit softer. but they share a quality of not being willing for ambrose to simply lay down and take whatever is pushed on her. [it did, admittedly, intimidate ambrose at first. i almost didn't think they'd quite get along.] but then ambrose is also... well, kind of a sad puppy, tbh. and just. genuine in asking questions, when he does. i think... it's a slow process of trying to give to others the space she didn't quite have, growing up. this whole process of... being able to share freely that she cares, what he likes and doesn't like is... still pretty new. so it's... as helpful for her as it is trying to be helpful for his companions.

and then... gale and her are so painfully alike in circumstance, if not motivation. ambrose sees mystra's request and his battle with the orb in his chest a lot like her own training. ambrose's content of study still makes her feel more an acolyte than a soldier, but there's no denying that he was a weapon, meant to be handled as thing of war [with the resulting backfired fireball-related injuries concealed under long sleeves to accompany it]. it breaks her heart when gale sounds so resigned and defeated. ambrose doesn't want gale to resign himself to being what she was made to be by choice. but he also doesn't want gale's own ambition and rose-tinted askance of forgiveness to turn around and bite him. the fate of the crown of karsus is their most recent point of contention.

and astarion and her have been butting heads for a while now, but they've also made progress. i'm not sure they ever had a great understanding of one another, but ambrose figured enough to at least think astarion was hurting, too. just... being a vampire's snack pushed on her own fears and traumas around autonomy and control of her fate. again, astarion i think... did scare her with that whole... little incident one night at camp, but. it was important for them to have a conversation for ambrose. astarion at the time i think was still a bit allergic to being so open and vulnerable with feelings, but ambrose didn't ask to speak with him after really expecting that to change. she just needed to get across why she'd said no, and why that was important to her. he wanted astarion to stay - they are all in this together - but. he... might've gotten a fireball in the face if he'd tried again. he got a little lucky she didn't smack him with one in fright the first time. she didn't want to have to, but. she would. if it kept her feeling safe.

and i think those are the three stories i've touched on lately in act iii that are really getting me in my feelings. after a very unceremonious and startling entrance into the city that saw ambrose sign a deal with raphael - which just. agonizes me, honestly. because it's a decision she made absolutely fucking terrified. a decision he knows has no good consequences for anybody in the end. but i think it's one that came down to ambrose being more afraid of the emperor than of raphael. to be clear, he's terrified of both. but they've dealth with hellish types before on this little journey, right???

[she does not, actually, have a plan for how that's going to work out. it does, in fact, hurt and scare him that such a decision disappoints practically the entire camp.]

karlach especially oh my god i don't think i'm done crying about that reaction. ouuuuggggh. anyway. before i get entirely derailed wailing off a cliff about it. karlach thankfully has an idea and ambrose somehow pulled off the actual performance of her life lying to the emperor about making a deal at all, so stay tuned for our future visit to the house of hope to see how that all goes down.

but! we have concluded... the house of grief and cazador's palace now, so! i can now say with certainty ambrose has killed someone for her girlfriend, which is kadnfl;dsfnl; not a sentence i ever thought i'd be writing. sure, they've been in plenty of battles, but shadowheart left viconia's fate up to ambrose and... i admit i'm a little surprised he went in for a definitive kill, but also... thinking about it, i think... it is because she's seen how shadowheart has hurt so much and for so long under shar's gripping hold, and here is the person that helped facilitate that. here is someone that treated shadowheart... not exactly like how ambrose was raised, but far too similar to ignore.

and that sort of... taken with continuing to push back on gale, to question more and more plainly if that path to the crown really ends in anything good for gale, let alone the rest of them, and... still pressing astarion about right and wrong and who are we, really? is all just... a culmination of the journey. asking wyll to break his contract so soon after she caved to one with raphael felt hypocritical, but it's advice given out of a place knowing ambrose didn't make hers for the right reasons - if there is such a thing in dealing with the hells.

that deal might have been rock bottom, and i wonder if seeing these places where maybe he can still help his friends is... sort of the switch back to hope she desperately needed, especially right now. part of what i think i'd already had to start slip in regards to ambrose's deal with raphael is... it was also made in a place of there was no one 'better' in the party but her for such a role. he was already raised in a role far beyond himself, something sacrificial in one way or another. she doesn't like it, he'd been trying to finally free himself from those shackles when this all started, but she hadn't really felt like she'd made it. so it was... resignation, in a lot of ways. before the horror of what it was got a grip back on her.

and then orin got her claws around gale, and ambrose i don't think has before reacted so strongly with anger and desperation. it didn't matter in that moment what orin was capable of, only that she had gale, and ambrose needed to see him safe again. and she wasn't keen on taking on gortash - not yet. the foundry is... a lot to go up against, and... somehow strolling into a den of murderers felt really possible in that moment of anger - more so than strolling into gortash's office for more than a chat or taking on the entire city, it felt like, in going after the steel watch. and this... came up before i'd turned sights on actually going after viconia and cazador, so that. might have played into those decisions, too, i reckon.

maybe ambrose has finally given up enough. maybe she's done with being scared, being bound to that expectation that she is, that he should be. sure, plenty of enough of what they have yet to do is scary, it is no walk in a park with cake, but... these are his friends. none of them have turned away from him even with a less than stellar choice this far in. she still has shadowheart, and halsin and them have grown closer.

and i just hAVE SO MANY FEELINGS ABOUT IT. MY SWEET ANGEL... GROWTH! I THINK!

the idea of defying raphael is still. ouu that's. that's terrifying. but. but they've taken down orin now, too, right? something would have to give eventually between this deal and seeing gale's mission through anyway, right? right??? i'm rooting for her to nuke raphael. she's got this. might not know it yet, but she's got it.

[doctorbrown]

DOCTOBER '23 ⸺ 「 25 / 31 * CAFE 」

November 7, 1955

❝Alright,❞ Emmett says, holding up the bag in his hand, ❝this should be enough time-appropriate clothing for you to get you through the rest of the week. I would have given you something out of my closet, however—❞

Marty puffs out his cheeks, looking the much-younger iteration of his best friend up and down. ❝I know, Doc. I'd be swimming in anything you gave me out of there. Thanks, by the way. For buying this stuff for me. I didn't want to put you out or anything—❞

Emmett shakes his head. ❝Nonsense, Marty, it's no trouble. It's the least I can do.❞ The last thing the boy needed to add to his mounting pile of worries was clothing and lodgings and despite this being the result of the negligence of his future counterpart—how could I have allowed this to happen?—the fault seemed to ripple back through the timestream to fall solely on his shoulders.

Marty may have inadvertently jeopardised his existence, but it was his time machine that had sent him back here in the first place, perpetuating the entire situation.

❝Doc, you've already done so much for me. Or, uh, you will. Besides, I don't have a chance of getting back to the future without you.❞

Emmett checks the time on one of his wristwatches and presses his lips together in a tight line. 15:27. It's still early enough in the afternoon where they have plenty of time to start gathering more of the necessary supplies needed to finish the modifications to the time vehicle, but given Marty's rough arrival in this time period barely two days ago and the way he had collapsed on the couch in the early hours of the morning leaves him wondering if he would be up for any further running around.

There was still much to be done, but he didn't want to exhaust Marty further than was necessary and he still had to be conscious of his needs.

They had managed a small breakfast earlier that morning once Copernicus had decided to leave Marty in peace, but if his hunch was correct, Marty would need much more of a meal than the eggs and toast he'd whipped up to hold him over.

Perhaps their purchasing an additional meal would have some drastic effect on the diner's revenue, or prevent ingredients from being used as they were meant to be. Perhaps the ingredients would never have been used and simply gone bad.

Possibility brought with it uncertainty, but Marty's presence in this time period meant that he needed to be cared for just as he would have in his own time, and that meant the essentials: food, clothing, and so on. With things being the way they were, it was unavoidable that his presence should have some small effect on the timeline.

If they didn't go out for lunch now, he would spend that additional money at the grocery store. And since they were already out...

Emmett would simply have to hope this didn't all catch up with him for the worst in 1985.

❝It's three-thirty now; how do you feel about stopping for lunch, Marty? Lou's Cafe is just a block over and we still have plenty of time before Saturday.❞

Marty scrunches his face as he tries to pretend his stomach isn't growling at the thought of food. ❝Isn't this going to, I don't know, screw something up if we go there? Buying another meal that wasn't purchased before or something, changing the timeline?❞

Emmett sighs and Marty gives him a look when he doesn't even take a couple seconds to think over his answer. ❝Such things are unavoidable; you need to eat.❞

When Marty starts to rub anxiously at the back of his neck, Emmett's brows furrow. Even after two days, it was becoming apparent that this was one of the boy's tells; that he would often touch the back of his neck or run a hand through his hair when he was nervous or withholding information.

❝Did something happen here, too, Marty?❞

His awkward laugh says it all.

❝Well, uh, this is where I first ended up when I got into town because I saw they had a phone. That's how I found you; you're in the phonebook. Spelled your name wrong, too. Oh, and this is where I first met my dad—by accident!—and—anyway, the guy in there, he also thought I was with the Coast Guard and, uh, let's just say things got a little...awkward.❞

He doesn't need Marty to fill in the gaps; he can already imagine the future boy's far-forward slang and mannerisms garnering weird looks from the people of Hill Valley.

❝Don't worry about that,❞ Emmett says, and Marty throws a curious look up at him. ❝I have an idea.❞

❝You're the doc, Doc,❞ Marty acquiesces after barely a moment, placing a level of trust in Emmett that is both foreign, yet oddly comforting. ❝Then let's go; I'm starving.❞

[penguin--person]

👁️ EYE - what colour are their eyes? do people notice their eyes? is there anything special about them (shows emotion easily, literally magical...)? & 💐 BOUQUET - create a bouqet for them! what do those flowers mean? are any of the flowers their particular favourite? for bg

📦 PACKAGE - what are some "most likely to..." that can apply to them? for tva

🌪️ TORNADO - what is the biggest change you've ever made to them? how have they changed from their original version? & any heart (platonic) for ui

🌟 GLOWING STAR - what do they think about when they look at the night sky? is there someone they want to star gaze with? & ❇️ SPARKLE - what is their most prized possession? what do they value? for chance :]

thankee for the ask!!

👁️- their eyes are a dark, greyish purple! the most emotion they can show through them (and, trough their whole puppet (not counting body language)) is that they shine when chance gets happy about smth n such:3 not much else is special about them id say ... just your regular ol iterator eyes! tho - they Are colorblind, which ties into their eyes! the ancients thought that just, giving them the ability to see colour was pointless, since the anwser to the age old question How To Die most likely won't be found on a colour wheel.

💐- mm... id say she likes all flowers, tho, if we mean our flowers and not rain world ones, she'd like sunflowers a lot:) in rw, .. we dont know any other flower than the karma flower, do we? and i think. bg would dislike that one bc it reminds her of the cycle and her failed purpose and all. but sunflowers, she'd like.. n i dont think i can create a bouquet for her:( maybe sunflowers lillies n. idk👍

📦- most likely to die in a looney toones scenario. most likely to get divorced. most likely to be silly. most likely to be goofy. most likely to get back together after the divorce. most likely to listen to will wood tbh

🌪️- tva! tva was originally supposed to be a very compassionate iterator - hes the first ittyrator i made out of this group! his first name was 'ava' bc it was just 'a vast attempt' bc i didnt have . three yet. he was just rlly compassionat.e.. like, a slugcat would come to his chamebr, he'd analyse it a bit, and then let it go like "you might think your existence has had no purpose. you're wrong. you being here, talking to me, means you have fulfilled it. you've done all you ever could. and i appreciate it so much. i love you sluggy. id die for you sluggy. you might deem yourself insignificant but your presense has changed the trajectory of my life. i love you. id die for you." n shit... n now hes THIS asshole!!! bg and ui were created with like, their purposes in mine, tva was made from fucking around and finding out

💗 GROWING HEART - if they have a crush, is it noticable? what changes when they're in love? - i'd say so! when he got a 'crush' on feathers, he became very distanced and detached, didn't wanna hurt him and be a bad friend, yea? if he didnt care, he'd just tell feathers to fuck off and leave him alone. but he cared!! and still does.

🌟- m... i think chance would feel less alone. like, with all the stars in the sky, its proof that theyre not alone! even if everyone else is far away, they're not alone. and umm they'd wanna stargaze with anyone boss👍as long as there was someone to gaze with them

❇️- ourple pearl:) they value being there and not being abandoned👍

[nimbus-writes]

Shackle and Chain Timeline

the zelda timeline as a whole is something of a mess, and its easy to get confused trying to parse out the inconsistencies and how everything fully ties together. ive seen a lot of different interpretations and how they differ from the canon timelines supplied by nintendo (none of which ive ever really agreed with, particularly the more recent idea of having the timeline split during minish cap, but thats another topic i wont get into here), but for my story i figured id give my shot at one that makes the most sense to me. there arent too many differences, but i feel any differences from the canon example at all are deserving of an explanation, so ill get into that here (along with my kinda shitty timeline graphic i threw together in like 5 minutes)

to make things simple, ive outlined every iteration of link in a square, and listed all of their games they appear in! also, the gaps in time arent really to scale, but in general are just there to help spread it all out. this doesnt feature EVERY character that i plan on having appear in the story though (such as how ravio has already made an appearance in chapter two, and i plan on him sticking around for a while because i love ravio) but lets get into the differences! like i said, this mostly follows canon, since i find a simpler option to be better, but there ARE some important changes ive made!

first off, ive included two non-canon games! im not planning on bringing in any others aside from the hyrule warriors games, but i felt these were necessary for the timeline as a whole. the first hyrule warriors is the only way to easily resolve nintendos stupid "breath of the wild is in all 3 timelines!" bullshit, since thats not how time works. at all. but if you take hyrule warriors as having merged the timelines back into one (with three parallel worlds as opposed to three timelines), then the problem is solved! and since i included one warriors game, i might as well include the other, which leads to the second timeline split as a result of terakkos actions. (and like, yeah i COULD have added in another "link dies" timeline there, but since neither that nor the post age of calamity timeline will ever get another piece of media, i dont see a reason to explore that concept)

the next change ive made is combining what canon considers two separate iterations of link (specifically the one from a link to the past and a link between worlds). i understand WHY theyre two different links, but a lot more of the two games just makes sense in my opinion if they arent different at all (specifically how a link between worlds has the same map, characters, dungeons and themes, AND the actions of link at the beginning of tri force heroes, where he tries to hide his identity. that just makes more sense to me if hes been through a LOT more quests, including one where he was labeled a criminal, than just one quest where he wasnt ever vilified)

the last change i made has to do with four swords and four swords adventures, and this change is a hill i will die on. THESE GAMES ARE A PAIR. DO NOT SEPARATE. i KNOW the timeline has them centuries apart. i KNOW this. but its wrong! at the beginning of four swords adventures, it directly references both the hero from minish cap and four swords, but only vaguely referring to minish cap while specifically calling the hero from four swords "link", which, along with implying the hero from four swords adventures already knows what happens when you draw the four sword, leads me to believe that these two games feature only one iteration of link! but then that leaves the question of where in the timeline both games fall? is it directly after minish cap? or after twilight princess? well actually, its neither! several things featured in four swords adventures shows that the two games can only exist during a brief window of time, namely the presence of zora as an enemy, and the existence of the dark world. both of these things are only found in the downfall timeline, after link is slain in ocarina of time, meaning both games have to take place there (not to confuse the dark world for the dark realm, which only exists in the adult timeline as far as weve seen. im pretty sure they have the same origin, but the dark realm was influenced less by ganon since he was sealed somewhere else in that timeline). the dark world narrows it down the most, since it gets restored back to the sacred realm after the events of a link to the past, so the game has to take place before then. this means the two games actually fit nicely into the period of time known as the imprisoning war, where ganon is properly imprisoned within the dark world (which, to those of you who played the game or read the manga, know that this is what happens in four swords adventures!). in my opinion, not doing this is the single most aggravating thing nintendo did to the timeline. everything else i can excuse, but THIS angers me to no end.

anyway, thats the timeline ill be working with! at least, assuming tears of the kingdom doesnt have MORE fucked up time travel bullshit. ill take a look at this again once the game comes out, but hopefully it wont change anymore!

[crystalelemental]

Instead of my usual "Just let SS Kris/SS Ethan/Lucian kill it," I decided to give some alternate teams a try in Villa. Add some variety to my life, you know?

Caitlin Favoritism The Psychic thing was my first iteration. I wanted to get something rolling with Caitlin. And don't get me wrong, she did well enough, but I feel like this is more about Bede being disgustingly good than anything. Lucian being used again also just doesn't sit right with me for some reason. I dunno, I'll have to workshop something else with Caitlin next run. They win easy, but so much of that is Bede.

Ice Queens Irida was actually one of my go-to solutions starting out. Field effects on entry are a big deal, and she gets a whole 50% bonus damage skill at 1/5, so I'm like hey. 90% bonus damage for existing? I'll take it. It's actually 105% bonus damage, because BP Candice is also here spamming Blizzard. Glacia pulls it together, with +1 crit every time she attacks, healing under Hail, and most critically, Synchro Healing. The team is fantastic...for the short matches. Longer matches need Hail to be re-applied, or gauge goes to shit and it all falls apart. But "long match" is really just the 3v9, and you have four instances of Hail. They could absolutely clear Villa as a solo team. I actually think Glacia might be the second-best Villa sync pair in the 5* pool after Lucian. The +1 crit and Synchro Healing is divine, and she never takes more than one gauge to get things moving. Very strong performance.

Baby Children While considering Irida, I had initially thought about Lucian again, but I'm kinda sick of falling back on him all the time. My second thought was P!Dawn, before realizing the gauge issues that might cause, and that Irida likely wasn't going to appreciate that kind of support given her timer. What I landed on was the team above, but there was a brief moment where I thought...what about Summer Tate? And this led to me going actually wait, Tate's really good in this mode too. Paralysis, debuffing special defense every action, randomized buffs aplenty, Doom Desire? Tate had a lot to work with. So then I went hey. I wonder if I can get him and Liza to win. The answer is a resounding yes. Thanks to SC Shauna.

Note their HP remaining. That's because Shauna never once used a Potion. She has Double Potion MPR. Girl could easily have achieved a solo team clear with these two. Liza's able to pivot into Iron Defense at any point to get a free Giga Impact, so gauges aren't a huge concern, and Tate can throw around Paralysis and still blow apart something with Doom Desire. SC Shauna is perhaps an odd pick, given how many options have Double Potion, but my reasoning is that she has randomized team buffs. Two of them, half the time. Which means there are a lot of rolls for speed or either offense for the twins. With the Debut Regen effect, she's a very good frontline tank that doesn't worry too much about damage. Which is good because it saves healing for Liza and Tate. This one has the opposite effect of the Ice team. While Ice does well in fast matches, the children do really well on the longer fights, but due to poor initial gauges, struggle to avoid taking a bunch of damage in the short 3v3 stages. It's weird, but such is life.

Next Run I have heard the joys of SS Steven as a solution, and while I recognize how good he'd be offensively, if I use him, I want it to be for Speed. Specifically, I want to test him out with Rose. AoE Max Moves and fast-ramping sounds really, really funny.

I really want to get something working with Caitlin. Ideally, something that isn't SS Lana, though I know she's the best option. I'll have to really think about it, because truth be told, I think Caitlin might be best here as the tank, thanks to regen and Catalytic Cure.

I want to do an Adaman equivalent, but that legitimately feels like cheating.

[villlainarc]

“are you guys happy together?” you ask like it doesn’t matter (and it doesn’t, because you have no history. none that he’ll remember, anyway).

and it’s strange, because he pauses like it does. “yeah!” he replies, but you see something in his eyes. not like he’s lying, but like there’s something he’s not saying.

“well, i’m glad,” you say, because you are. he should be happy.

“have you found your soulmate yet?” he asks like it doesn’t matter (and it doesn’t, because he doesn’t remember you much at all. not the parts that would change anything, at least).

“ah,” you say like you hadn’t been prepared for this. “no.”

you stare at him.

he stares back.

“not yet.”

and it’s strange, because he almost looks hurt.

it’s strange because he’s happy and in love and nothing is wrong because he doesn’t have this weight that you do.

you remember everything. you’re not sure if it’s a curse or a blessing or some sort of result of being tied to these worlds since their beginning, but you do. you don’t think you’ve met anyone else who remembers the way you do, who feels the weight of every world like a physical thing.

you remember the years and years and years and years of isolation and loneliness and how dark it all feels. felt. sometimes, you’re still there.

and it was nice if you squinted, but when you also almost half remember a time in the future where you’re surrounded by people who care, it’s hard to be satisfied.

you remember meeting people for the first time in a different iteration of the same sort of universe (because that’s what you called them at the time—universes, not worlds the way you do now) and how he was one of them, wasn’t he?

and you remember trying to be happy and light but how it was so hard when this new universe vanished like the lonely one and was replaced in the same way. that’s when you decided it probably wasn’t the universe that was being remade, but rather, the world.

you remember trying and trying to make each new world work and you remember the guilt in abandoning it before it would truly end, retreating to the familiar loneliness of a world that existed outside of time, frozen simultaneously in a moment before you knew how nice company could be and in one where you could feel very acutely what you were missing.

mostly though. you remember the heavy weight of guilt at your abandonment when you realized the jungle was eating him alive or the moon was about to destroy everything he’d created or anything else because you didn’t want to risk forgetting, even if forgetting meant not living with that weight that remembering always (always) brought. because you’re a survivor and you need that one fact to stay true if you are to maintain an identity in any capacity. so you leave. even if it means, sometimes—often (always)—leaving him.

it hadn’t mattered that much before.

and then you’d realized that you would give your life for him.

that was terrifying. that was a new feeling in a new world with new guilt at not having the bravery (to match his) to say, surrounded by people whose eyes you felt tear into your soul, that you could love.

that guilt is the strongest.

you’d killed him before (and he’d done the same), but this was different. it meant something, you sending him off (to die) when you could have saved him because this was permanent.

at least, for that world it was.

he’s alive here, obviously.

but with every breath you take in his presence, you can’t help but remember how you couldn’t even say what you’d meant (what you’d really meant) to say when you’d told him that he had to take a life to earn one of yours.

not until you were both already dead, at least. and you can’t help but remember that you did so deliberately, never intending for him to hear it. and even if he had by some miracle clung to a memory of a dead world, that truth was one thing he’d never be able to remember.

because you’re the only one who remembers.

so it’s strange, then, that his face betrays your own feelings.

the ones that whisper whenever you’ll listen that you’ve already found your soulmate. and that you’ll always find your soulmate. any time, and in any world.

the kind of person you would give every one of your lives to protect, not the kind whose life you share.

it’s different.

and you think he sees that?

you don’t know what he remembers. and you don’t want to ask.

but then he nods, smiles, and any confusion you’d felt vanishes. “you’ll find them soon.”

he doesn’t remember.

and it’s better this way.

it is.