#the alternative was the human need of telling stories and playing with d&d as an example but someone already did it!

[globossum]

I am already thinking about my Master's thesis and I don't know if I wanna stay safe and do it on the tiktok phenomenon of "shifting" in Literary Theory or suffer and ask my General and Historical Linguistics professor if i can write it about xenolinguistics with gallifreyan as a case study.

[discord-lurking]

Dungeons and Daddies Wiki Drama: A Greek Tragedy Told through the Medium of Forum Posts (Part 1)

Prologue

Greek tragedies are typically formatted in three or more acts interspersed with choral interludes, beginning with a prologue, and ending with an exodus. In these, protagonists often meet their downfall due to their fatal flaw, or hamartia: the ways in which the protagonists are their own undoing. Our own human failings are the things that bring us the most pain.

When considering a three-act Greek tragedy structure for this, my first thought was to use the Oresteia as a framing device, a trilogy of plays written by Aeschylus about Agamemnon's family in the aftermath of the Trojan War. Upon reflection, though, the themes of the Oresteia (revenge vs. justice, perpetuating a cycle of violence, honor and punishment) didn't quite fit the story I was trying to tell.

No, this is a classic tale of hubris: excessive pride and its ultimate downfall.

After all, what position could come with more power than that of wiki moderator for a Dungeons and Dragons podcast series?

Act One: The Beginning of the End

The D&Dads wiki has historically been... unhelpful, at best. (Source: Myself.) Trouble had been brewing for a long time.

Forum posts from spring 2022 began noting issues cropping up around the wiki. First, it was a complaint about anonymous users "disrupting" the wiki (specifically on Jodie-related pages) while also fixing mistakes in articles.

I'm unsure what specific "disruptions" were meant, but the proposal to ban anonymous users didn't garner much traction.

March 21st, 2022:

After little activity for months (only one forum post, related to infoboxes), wiki user TwoRatner had a radical proposition: wiki migration.

December 17th, 2022:

TwoRatner suggested an alternate platform that would have different editing options, then made a potentially-prophetic statement: the wiki might be cursed.

This warning went unheeded.

December 27th, 2022:

Ten days after the migration suggestion, TwoRatner came back to ask if there were any recent changes. This went unanswered for months until new user Penguinwithafancytophat reported adding art to character pages (including Glenn, a main season 1 character since the start of the podcast in 2019, who incredibly might not have had any official art on his wiki page before March of 2023).

Spring of 2023 seemed to bring along a revival of the wiki, with new editors coming in, engaging with the forum, and attempting to make suggestions on how to improve wiki organization.

March 31st, 2023:

May 27th, 2023:

July 17th, 2023:

October 2nd, 2023:

Interestingly, the only administrator seen to be interacting with these enthusiastic new editors? Gaycowboyrats. Let's put a pin in that.

Enter: the drama.

It started out simple enough- a forum posts for administrators to discuss changes that needed to be made.

November 3rd, 2023:

76 replies.

Seventy. Six. Replies. Each deeply interesting in its own way.

However, this is a Tumblr post, not an Hbomberguy video essay, so I'll keep it brief.

The discussion started out as one might expect a wiki admin discussion to start:

Mods discussed blocks, deleting stub pages, spam, etc. Standard wiki business.

The first reply to ping my interest:

Removing cast pages from a wiki about their work seemed like an odd decision, in my non-wiki-editor opinion, but the last line is what really stuck out: "Besides, I hate the idea of someone vandalizing the pages to defame them."

Several questions arose for me:

Was this a known problem? Were people constantly vandalizing cast pages?

Would a vandalized fandom wiki page really defame somebody?

Isn't the point of wiki editing to remove vandalization on articles?

The administrators began to stand out to me as deeply invested in a very specific sense of wiki justice.

Users TwoRatner, Brazil86, and TheOneTrueGod41 agreed with Honic's take.

Another thing to ping my interest: these users seemed to share a similar odd, slightly stilted, writing style. Almost Tommy Wiseau-esque.

Brazil86 expressed optimism about users engaging with wiki pages, something that would begin to set them apart from other administrators.

As I read, themes began to emerge: wiki justice, and incongruous one-liners.

Quoth Honic Washington: "I just found a wave of nonsense fish. My backyard is full of them. Hey, TOTG41, do you like jazz? I like jazz."

Truly, modern poetry.

Administrator Marth8204 suggested giving people more time. More time for what? Unclear. It seems a plan was afoot.

TwoRatner came in with a hot take: "I feel like we need a community more right now, than adding links that people can search for in the search bar."

Brazil86 agreed: Changing the navigation was less important than getting people editing and making friends.

Another theme began to emerge: wiki community as more important than wiki functionality.

Gaycowboyrats had some (incredibly reasonable) objections to this, pointing out that the wiki was a resource for many visitors who might not participate- something that is generally true of wikis as a form of content.

Honic Washington responded to this, the signs of wiki-related stress beginning to show.

Honic posts a long rant about the thankless task of moderating a wiki, which goes largely unacknowledged.

Notable TwoRatner quotes:

"You can't crack open a few omelets without punching a few egg-rolls."

"Now Freddie will get more money. What do you all say? I think I helped quite a bit."

Another theme emerges: discontent in the wiki moderator ranks.

Honic reaches full Joker mode. Again, this goes largely unacknowledged.

Honic: "I am leader. I am a painter! Keep your rules. Keep your status. Keep your friends."

"Keep your status"- words that will reverberate throughout the rest of this tale.

The final theme? Wiki moderator status, and the maintenance of it.

After Honic's bomb drop, conversation about regular wiki moderation continued, with mods considering the addition of a bot to make edits.

Admin Discussion Zone, first started by Honic Washington, ends not with a bang but with a whimper.

Over nearly a year of forum posts, patterns emerged.

Firstly- users attempting to engage in the wiki, wiki administrators not engaging with these new users, then wiki administrators bemoaning the lack of user engagement.

The notable exception was Gaycowboyrats, the only wiki administrator to engage with new users in the forums. Gaycowboyrats, the administrator whose (incredibly reasonable) suggestions ended with Honic Washington's villain-esque monologues and denouement as a moderator.

Secondly- administrators putting forth large-scale, drastic solutions to real or perceived wiki problems. This includes Cheesoid4 wanting to ban anonymous users, TwoRatner suggesting site migration, Honic deleting cast pages to prevent vandalism, and more to come.

Thirdly- wiki administrators seeming to share similar styles of speech and occasional non-sequiturs. Interestingly, this mainly seems to include the wiki administrators who agree with each other.

Funny how that happens.

Chorus

Stay tuned for Part 2, where the forum drama really starts to heat up.

[musclesandhammering]

Spn Opinions That’ll Have Me Burned at the Stake Pt. 2: Electric Boogaloo

I’m back and bitchier than ever. For reference, here’s part 1.

• Season 5 wasn’t that great.

• D*stiel isn’t real, it’s a sucky ship, and that confession scene was just the writers pandering to the rabid deancas fans cause they knew they were the only ones still watching the show lol. And they left it ambiguous enough that they could still say it was meant platonically if they needed to.

• I hate how they watered down both angels and demons post-season 5ish.

• I liked Ruby 1.0 better than Ruby 2.0.

• I hate Honey!Cas. They just did that cause they didn’t know where to take his story from there, needed him out of the way, and thought it would be funny. It was insulting.

• Jack should’ve been played by an actual child so everyone’s abuse of him would resonate with the audience for what it was (casual fans are brain dead and need to be spoon fed).

• Victor Henrikson deserved more time on the show.

• I said it in the last post, but Alex is way more interesting than Claire and should’ve been given the lead role in the wayward sisters storyline instead.

• Dean is canonically straight and for Christ sake if you guys wanted bi rep, there’s about a thousand other characters that are strongly coded or implied to be bisexual (including Sam!) but y’all didn’t focus on them because it wasn’t actually about representation, it was about making it more plausible for your dumb fetishised gay ship to actually happen (spoiler: it didn’t).

• Season 3 and Season 6 were some of the best ones, you guys just don’t have any taste.

• Claire is not Castiel’s daughter and saying she is erases Jimmy and insults her, and even Cas himself acknowledged that on the show.

• Castiel is canonically NOT gay and Misha constantly saying he is is annoying and airheaded. He’s been attracted to women IN THE SHOW and he’s not even really male, so calling him a Gay Man is reductive and just plain wrong. Also, it’s veeery sus that- given how bi/pan folks are even more underrepresented than gay people- that one of the rare times where the bi/pan label actually fits a character BETTER in CANON……. the allies and monosexuals adamantly reject it. Hm.

• “Curing” vampires or werewolves or demons shouldn’t have been a thing.

• The Winchesters cause most of the bad shit that happens and then they just force supernatural beings to fix it for them- tell me again how they’re Super Special Heroes.

• It shouldn’t be possible to make angels human by removing their grace, because (unlike demons, werewolves, etc) they were never human to start with. If you drained me of all my blood, I wouldn’t magically transform into another species, I’d fucking die.

• Making Billie go crazy was dumb.

• Rowena was one of the most interesting and charismatic characters on the whole show- they just didn’t know what to do with her character.

• The archangels, Lilith, and Azazel should’ve been the biggest threats on the show. No other knights of hell, no god and his sister, no Cain, nothing like that. Having every villain just get progressively more overpowered made the show unbelievable and repetitive and annoying.

• The kernel sanders king of hell guy was hot.

• Dean is misogynistic as HELL, homophobic, likes racist porn, is a narcissist, pervs on teen girls, & thinks all non-human people should be exterminated… and that is all CANON.

• Most of John Winchester’s abuse is fanon.

• Fans portraying Cas as a smol bby who colours in colouring books and has a bee plushie is so fucking annoying.

• Instead of having so many gigantic cosmic storylines with god and his sister and alternate dimensions and even the angel and demon tablets, they should’ve just scrapped those and made the stein family and the bmol and the alpha vampire storylines way bigger than they were. Less cosmic stuff, more earth-based stuff.

• They ruined Lucifer’s character post-season 5. Before that, he was more sympathetic and reasonable than Michael. After, he was a spoiled child hurting people for fun.

• Everything from season 7 on is garbage. All of it. There’s bits of goodness here and there but overall seasons 7-15 are trash.

• How the fuck are there actual people who are deangirls and hate Sam?? The space where your brain should be is empty, I swear to god.

• If there was gonna be any lgbt rep in the Wayward Sisters group, it should’ve been Jody and Donna instead of Claire and Kaia. Those two were boring as hell and had zero chemistry or build-up, but Jody/Donna had plenty of chemistry and was very believable.

• Meg has the best and most realistic redemption arc of anyone on the show.

• Chuck was not likeable or charismatic enough to carry off as big of a villain arc as they gave him. Also that whole thing was stupid and WAY too Out There.

• All the angels should’ve been aroace. All the demons should’ve been pan.

• I stanned Cole so hard up until he changed his mind about hating Dean. That was disappointing.

• Sam went through the same shitty childhood Dean did (plus Bonus Abuse on top of it) and he didn’t turn out Like That.

• I cannot think of a single person that was asking for a spin-off about the Winchester family, like that has to be the most boring thing.

[earlgraytay]

Wait do tieflings still have +2 Cha and +1 Int? I thought WotC got rid of ability score modifiers for different "races"/ancestries

Unfortunately, both things are correct.

... Wizards has been churning out these books that contain a bunch of errata-fixes, Alternate Ways To Play, and stuff like that-- kinda like the 3e Unearthed Arcana book, except that there's so. many. more. of. them. Xanathar's Guide to Everything, Tasha's Cauldron Of Everything, and so on and so on.

And one of the things they've really been pushing with these books is a model of the game where different species don't have innate ability score increases (or cultural weapon proficiencies/skill proficiencies, or any sort of proclivity for a particular class, or... you get the idea). They've really taken the backlash about how D&D Is Racist to heart and have given people who don't want to play a game like that the tools they need to do so.

....Except that a) the shit in the Everything books only overwrites what's in the Player's Handbook if your DM says so, and b) it's a band-aid solution at best and shoddy game design at worst.

Because, like... look... yes, the model of the world that D&D is based on is fucked up; the idea that people can be divided into separate "races" that each have their own culture and are fundamentally good at different things is Bad irl and is Bad in D&D.

But also, character creation in a TTRPG is about making interesting choices. Whether it's like, Gamma World 4e where the "interesting choices" are "roll on a table and make sense of the abomination you've created", or a PBTA game where your skin mostly determines what kind of story you want to tell, or D&D where you sit down and crunch a bunch of numbers. You're making choices that give you certain abilities and lock you out of others.

In D&D, the two fundamental choices that you make at the start of every game are "species" and "class". Are you an elven wizard, a halfling rogue, a human fighter, a dwarven cleric? These choices are supposed to shape how your character interacts with the world on both a mechanical and characterization level.

Taking one of those choices and making it, essentially, "how fast do you want to move and do you want a spell-like ability or a feat"... I feel like that's a bad idea from a game design perspective, even if it's the correct idea from a Not Having A Fucked Up Worldview perspective. Because, like, it turns a choice that's supposed to be incredibly meaningful for the first few levels into "eh, whatever your DM feels is Goodthink".

The way I would honestly handle it is to make backgrounds more mechanically important than they are in 5e right now and offload most of what used to be ~racial traits~ into backgrounds. Keep "what species are you" as an actually interesting choice, but move most of the crunch into a place where you could be a human raised by dwarves if you want.

[montygatorguy]

all the question for the fic ask thing just all of them

this took ages but thanks for the ask dude :D

💖 Which of your fics is your pride and joy?

i love all my fics, but i think im most proud of look all around at the mountains you haven’t climbed

🎥 Pick a fic and I'll tell you the song I imagine playing during its movie trailer.

ill go with an easy one, terrible things would be terrible things by axie

📝 How many words do you have posted?

55,334

🤩 What's the most meaningful comment you've ever received?

either when i saw your (reggies) bookmark on my autistic may fic or the guest that commented a bunch on my alenoah sickfic

🔮What's your favorite plot twist you've ever written?

i don’t write that many, but bringing romeo back as a ghost in glass half empty was fun

👄 Your OTP are having their first kiss. What song do you imagine is playing?

i won’t use maycois here, imma use gweather from td. they remind me of good luck babe by chapelle roan so that

🎭What genre of writing comes easiest to you?

probably just fluff. it’s fun

🙊Your coworkers or classmates stumble across one of your fics, but don't know you're the author. Do you fess up? Or keep quiet?

my friends and my parents all know i write, but if one of my classmates said something i would probably stay quiet.

🙌What's a line or paragraph of yours that you're proud of?

“When you’re a superhero, no one thinks you can die. They think that with every injury, big or small, you’ll always get back up. But that’s a lie. Superheros, no matter how strong they may be, are still human. And for the first time since they were bitten, the police saw the two of them as such.” from chapter 1 of glass half empty

🦉Is there another author that helped inspire you to write?

a couple, maybeimamuppet, onthelasttrain, and flylikeajailbird. all really good writers that i read on my early days on ao3. also all of my insanely talented mutuals here <3

👶Fankids: How you do you feel about them? Would your OTP have kids?

may and frankie would make great parents and i could imagine them probably adopting :)

🐗How do you handle trolls?

never had to deal with any thankfully, probably would just ignore

🟥How long do you spend in edits?

not really that long tbh

🏡What is your perfect writing envrionment?

school, usually when im supposed to be doing something else lol

💪What motivates you to write?

its fun getting to share the ideas i have with others and seeing what they think

🚿Where do your best ideas seem to strike?

almost all of my fics started out as scenarios i would think of before bed.

🌠What are your top three most commonly used tags on AO3?

from the other tags catagory it’s alternate universe - high school, canon divergence, and modern setting

💻What do you write your stories on? Laptop, phone, paper, etc.

my chromebook from my school, but i started out writing all the way back in first grade where i wrote a story about a superhero fish (that was vaguely base off shark tale lmao)

🤔What are some words or phrases you find yourself overusing?

probably just finding different ways to have people express affection, idk

📕How do you feel about people printing your fics?

if any of you ever do this i will lose my mind /pos, please tag me (but give credit!)

🤷‍♀️What's a fic you didn't expect to be popular, but really took off?

my one singular fnaf sb fic. i don’t understand why it has 300 hits. i need to write a better one sometime

🍎What's something you learned while researching for a fic?

that APPARENTLY the canadian date format starts with the year. it was interesting

🥘What wip are you most excited about?

i hope sometime i get the motivation to finish terrible things because i have lots of ideas i just don’t wanna write them

🦗Do you write in sequence or jump around?

in sequence, but i usually plan things out first

👀 Would you ever accept requests or commissions?

maybe!

😱What's your greatest fear as a fanfic writer?

like you said, the actors reading my fics. that would be terrifying if i just woke up and checked my inbox and there was a comment from like. justin david sullivan. i don’t know what i would do.

☕Coffee or tea while you write?

i don’t like hot drinks. usually i just drink water

📈Which are your top three most popular fics by bookmarks?

throwdown (chase and mk sibling fic, 8) blaze (alenoah sickfic, 7) and haven (hg/ss lance and silver fic, 5)

🎬One of your fics gets turned into a TV series. Which one is it and what network is it on?

terrible things (let’s just pretend it’s finished) id love it to be a 2d animated show but im not sure on what network

🛌 What's a trope you haven't written, but want to?

oh god, i have no clue. maybe like a swap au thing or something with &j idk

🐸 If you incorporated your OTP into a Disney movie plot, which would it be?

the only movie i can associate with maycois or jumeo is moulin rouge tbh

👩‍🎓 Do you have an 'official' creative writing background such as a degree or previous experience publishing?

im just a high schooler with a chromebook, blorbos, and a dream

⏳If you could go back in time and tell your younger writer self something, what would it be?

that people won’t think you’re cringe or anything. people love your writing

💯 What rating do you write the most? Gen Audiences, Teen, Mature, or Explicit? How many fics at that rating do you have?

20 general, 8 teen. none for mature/explicit

😁What makes you happiest? New fic comments, kudos, bookmarks, user subscribers, story subscribers, or Tumblr asks?

comments or bookmark messages!

🐎 Would you ever do a medieval or pirate au?

maybe. i do love pirates.. yargh

👩‍🏫Pick a character and I'll tell you their favorite season and why.

ill pick may, they like spring. cause flowers :)

🎵Do you make playlists for your fics?

nope. i just listen to my fnaf playlist most of the time

🌷What's one of your fics that isn't as popular, but you hold dear?

holy shit, my vacation simulator fics. hats off to the one guy who commented on them, i love you

[staceymcgillicuddy]

Hi! What are some of your hellcheer high fantasy AU headcanons? :)

Oh my gosh, I love this! And I could come at it from like a dozen different ways, so I'm just going to start making bullet points and letting my brain do the talking. I'm most well-versed in Tolkien, so that's where a lot of this is coming from, but fantasy doesn't get higher than that. (Wait, that came out wrong... :D )

So, if I were going traditional and Tolkien-esque, it would lean hard into the Beren and Luthien of it all, with Chrissy and Eddie falling into those roles. Arwen and Aragorn are too tragic, and Tuor & Idril are fun but kind of boring, story-wise. I would love to do a reversal, where Eddie's the elf and Chrissy's the human, because that wasn't something that ever really got explored in the books (though I do appreciate that Rings of Power is... trying to do something with that).

Going from there, I think I would play into Chrissy's issues with her mother in a way that she's chafing against the structure placed on her by her position. I think she'd be a lady, and promised to Jason, in whatever role made sense for him.

She starts hearing whispers on the wind, or having prophetic dreams, or something that tells her that her destiny lies elsewhere. And, much like with Vecna, Chrissy listens to her dreams enough that she seeks help, only instead of Miss Kelly (or maybe we turn Miss Kelly into) some wizened, ancient wisdom. So a real "Faramir was Gandalf's good pal and Denethor was Not Having It" situation.

Plot plot plot and Chrissy runs away to follow this new destiny, which is how she meets Eddie. I would want to do some parallel to their canonical situation, where she's in mortal peril and he saves her. Could be Luthien-esque "singing to Morgoth" situation, where Eddie frees her with a song, because he's an elf-bard, of course.

Will 100% be some dick elf politics in there, where Eddie's a prince or high-born and Chrissy has to prove herself before she can be with him.

ALTERNATIVELY, if we're dealing with higher beings and wizards and gods, there's the opportunity to kill her off, and have Eddie do some wild journey into the dark to retrieve her, or vice versa. I think either way works, so long as there's no damsel-ing.

Because I am a sucker for a happy ending, I'd need some sort of human becomes immortal and/or elf becomes human situation. Elrond and Elros, looking at you here, babes. ALTHOUGH if I did bring in any Tuor and Idril elements, this would be it, with the whole "Tuor gets to go to Valinor" thing.

This is a ridiculous amount of rambling and don't even get me started on how I'd involve everyone else, and where I think they fit in the grand scheme of things. THANK YOU for asking, this was so much fun to ponder!

[space-ship-earth-crew]

Recently a Jehovah’s Witness came knocking on my front door, asking to talk to me about the future. I responded, “You want to talk about Star Trek?” Unfortunately they weren’t amused, and eventually walked away when I tried to tell them about it, but this got me thinking, “I wish Star Trek fans showed up at my door instead, seeking to build a new kind of fellowship, while asking to talk about another kind of future.” I would totally join them if they did. (continued below photos)

Imagine a world where in every major city, you would see people in Star Trek uniforms on the streets alongside Jehovah’s Witnesses and as an alternative to them knocking on your door, to share good news of a brighter future, inspired by the greatest story ever told about the final frontier. (continued below photos)

Unlike the Jehovah’s Witnesses preparing for the end, there are no injunctions or divine curses in Star Trek, directed at anyone trying to rewrite a new beginning, with a revised Star Trek timeline, where we build a future and a starship without the World War in 2026. We are free to skip the nightmare straight to living the beautiful dream, and I don’t know of a single fan who thinks otherwise, because Star Trek canon has another outcome.

If our civilization has already built three life sized replicas of Noah’s Ark spread across three continents in the northern hemisphere, surely we as a species can find the resolve to build at least one life sized replica of the Starship Enterprise, using it as inspiration for moving to the next level, converting pessimists to optimism, building a future and humanity’s first Star Ship so we can explore, rather than wage the last World War.

Because the symbolism of the Enterprise can be seen as a metaphor of (one of Star Trek’s famous early fans) Martin Luther King Jr.’s Dream Reborn for our entire spaceship Earth, and all humanity united and working together as its crew-members, we can imagine the possibilities these replicas could facilitate to transform consciousness. Imagine electing progressive secular leaders who see the big picture, speaking for the Earth rather than any single nation, seeing our planet, not as a resource for capitalism, but as a collective organism capable of healing and bringing into being a future United Earth like in Star Trek. We may not be ready yet for first contact and a United Federation of Planets, but the peoples of the world are ready to get moving now, to build a United Federation of Nations.

Imagine a full sized replica, of say the Enterprise D in a major world city, filled with hotel rooms as replica crew quarters, holodecks converted to theaters to play Trek, other science fiction shows and movies, virtual reality rides and adventures, Star Trek and sci-fi conventions held in the main and smaller shuttle bays, fan film festivals, ship tours, science labs, merchandise, gift shops, restaurants, bars, lounges, science and astronomy seminars and classes, gaming and gaming design conventions, school field trips, TED and science talks, STEM events along with a full sized aquarium in Cetacean Ops. Star Trek could help counter the rise of tribal religious fanaticism on Earth, while inspiring Christians and Muslims to rewrite their Revelation / End Times timeline of the future too.

Imagine a fellowship of Trek, no holy scriptures needed, just a tablet or smartphone with over 900 episodes of Star Trek, over a dozen films, many games and potentially thousands of novels. We meet every week, not in churches, but first in virtual star ships, where a strengthened community with renewed purpose, can raise capital through donations, to build replica Starship bridges in every major city, our sacred meeting space to someday become as plentiful as Christian churches in the West and Mosques in the Middle East.

The view screen in every bridge will be the main window into our cosmos, (eventually to be built a quarter size of the Volume used to film Star Trek Strange New Worlds) calling us to awaken to a spectacle beyond imagination; a place to explore Astronomy and the incredible discoveries we see every day through science, whether through probes sent to Mars, new exoplanet discoveries or James Webb / Hubble space imagery. The bridge will be our cathedral of the final frontier, for exploring the wonders of our universe through smaller, more intimate meetings with your designated bridge crew.

Larger gatherings can be facilitated in replica shuttle-bays, built standard along with every bridge, while doubling as VR space to explore strange new worlds, along with a communal setting for special events. Here we can strengthen our community as crew-members of space-ship Earth, where we organize, become a support to each other and a global political force, countering the rise of theocracy and fascism, transforming extremism through the beautiful vision of Star Trek; about connection, relationships, family, fellowship, and a future in which humankind is united, with infinite diversity in infinite combinations our greatest strength, not weakness. (continued below photos)

✌🏽👁️🌎👁️🚀✨🌘✨🟠✨🪐✨🌟🖖🏽 If you are a world citizen who loves Star Trek and believes we should explore, not wage World War, I want to join forces with you to change the future and the world, so we can all live long and prosper. 🖖🏽🖖🏻🖖🏿🖖

[protagonistheavy]

So, Life is Strange: Before the Storm... HAD to be a rushed product, right? I only just recently got around to (watching) a playthrough of it and wow, that final episode is hugely lacking. It absolutely feels like there should be at least one whole other episode to round things out and for the consequences of your actions to pan through. So many plotlines that were promising just drop dead, and almost every character gets short-shafted for the spotlight -- I can't even remember half of these characters' names because they have so few interactions.

A lot of this is in exchange for giving more time to Chloe and Rachel, but even their plot seems so rushed and quick. It's hard to find romance genuinely between these two characters when their whole history unfolds into a major drama over the course of, like, 56 hours. Rachel feels so back and forth that I was always uncomfortable with her, and the nature of LiS games make me inherently suspicious of characters and their motives, since this series knows pretty much nothing else except twist villains. Maybe if there was a bit more casual time spent between the characters, and not so much huff and drama? But after all these episodes, I'm hesitant to say I want more Rachel Amber on screen lol.

But at least she's a fine, developed character -- I just spent too long scrutinizing her. Everyone else? They just feel like ideas for characters to put into the game. Playing D&D with Mikey and Steph was one of the coolest moments and I had hoped we'd get a second session, buuut then the plot happens and we never get to just hang out with these guys again. Mikey's brother is EXTREMELY awkward, but to his credit, I think my issue with him is that he's very different depending on your choices -- I probably need to see some alternate routes to really understand who he is... but at least in this playthrough, it felt like they were writing him on the spot.

Nathan is also a really weird issue in this game. I just dont get why Dontnod is so persistent on making Nathan also a victim, forcing us to sympathize with him so much, when we KNOW he's a school shooter. Like sure, he isn't a shooter in this prologue, but we know what he becomes! And while I appreciate some concern existing for how exactly people like Nathan come to be, his inclusion here feels immature and shallow. It feels rather uncomfortable for the writers to try so hard to tell the reader, "He's not all bad! He's human!!!" considering they were already doing this in the first game. And what about the girl that follows Nathan around? What's her deal? She's a new character for this story and not a great one lol. She exists just to give Nathan a sympathizer, to guilt-trip readers that still felt friction against Nathan that they should at least feel bad for his little girlfriend. What happens to her? Nothing! She just disappears from the plot, same with Nathan.

I think what ticks me off most about this prologue is that it does nothing a prologue should be doing. Do we learn about the Prescots? Do we learn about Jefferson? Do we learn about the origin of these powers? No, but thank god we learned how Chloe got her shitty truck. For goodness sake, Frank is such a major part of this plot, and even he gets screwed over, because we never even learn what got him and Rachel together before she went missing -- a critical part of the original story!! It's so frustrating to have this chance to see how shit came together, but instead of learning more about the base game, we're treated to a melodramatic sidestory, involving a girl that just couldn't keep her shit together after finding out about her dad cheating. It's totally unrelated and not at all what I think LiS fans were wanting when given a sequel.

And one last thing about Rachel Amber, man, I really just didn't vibe with her. I think my big issue with her is something similar I have against Chloe, and that's that I don't quite understand what makes these girls "punks." They're more like... rebels, and even then, not very fascinating ones. Rachel Amber comes from a very privileged home where she had almost no problems in her life... so it's really hard to sympathize with her when the only dilemma in her life is just her dad cheating on her mom. And yeah, that sucks, but maybe I'd feel more for her if her reaction to that wasn't to recklessly cause a whole forest fire. Ugh, maybe Im thinking too much about it, but seriously, that moment put a wedge between me and Rachel for the entire game -- I just felt so bad for the forest animals lol, like wtf, they didnt deserve that and Rachel never once feels bad for destroying a whole swathe of nature + endangering the lives that have to go and fight it.

This plot really needed to be slowed down or given more space to breathe. I was agasp when I realized it was the ending of the game and everything was just getting summed up anticlimactically. The fact we can't even get a solidified fight between Frank and Damon also tells me that they had to hurry up and finish this with as little budget as possible. Such a shame considering LiS is full of mysteries with so much promise, but virtually NOTHING from any of these games is intent on actually exploring any of it -- and at this point, it's outright too late, as the greater plot of the games has just moved on.

[simplyotometrash]

Could I request hcs of the brothers reacting to MC asking them to lay on top of them. It’s just sometimes really comforting to have the weight of someone else on me.

I love your writing and I hope life is getting better for you! 💕

MC Asking The Brothers to Lay on Top of Them

Lucifer:

“What?”

You sprung the question on him while he was working on paperwork late at night.

“I just...well...”

“MC, please say what you wish to say. It’s late.” He rubbed his temples but there wasn’t even a hint of frustration or irritation in his voice. He sounded tired but nothing but kindness was direct at you.

“You’ve been working a lot more lately and I’ve been having trouble sleeping and, well, it’s really comforting to feel someone else’s weight.”

The blush on your face made him smile. 

How could he say no to such a face? 

He couldn’t

He turned out his light, now the room dimly illuminated by what light flitted in through the window.

“Well, my dear, your wish is my command. If you’ve been struggling to sleep, you should have said so sooner.”

He was careful when laying on top of you but found a comfortable way to lay soon enough.

It was odd, as usually, you would end up fast asleep on top of him. But he couldn’t deny it also felt nice.

“I suppose I could do this for you more often. All you need to do is is ask me.”

Mammon:

It was the middle of the night. The only reason you even bothered to ask him was because Mammon wasn’t snoring up a storm.

So you knew he wasn’t sleeping.

“W-what? Lay on top of ya? Is this some new kink ya found?”

Of course, you couldn’t help but laugh at his reaction.

You could feel how hot his face was. You loved how easily embarrassed your tsundere was.

“No, silly! Sometimes it’s just nice to have weight on top of me in bed. It helps me feel better and safer.”

Immediately rolls the two of you over to lay on you. You can feel his skin get even hotter against yours.

“D-don’t go makin’ a habit outta this, ya hear? I love ya and all but the Great Mammon ain’t yer weighted blanket!”

Says not to make a habit of it.

He’s the one to make the habit.

Him laying on top of you becomes the norm when you guys get ready for bed. 

There’s something about it that makes him feel...small. But not in a bad way.

It’s like when he is the little spoon.

He feels protected and loved. Nothing can touch him.

But also nothing can get to you without going through him first.

And that makes him feel like he’s protecting his human, even while they sleep.

Levi:

Leviathan.exe has stopped working

System reboot needed

His face is so hot and red you could fry an egg!

“M-MC! Are you sure? I’m a gross otaku, I might not be very comfy to sleep under! A-and I have a weighted blanket, we can use that instead-”

“No, Levi, I want you to lay on me. If you’re okay with that. I liked weighted blankets but it is different when it’s another person.”

It takes some calming down before he goes for it.

And boy oh boy does he like it.

It’s not the most comfortable in his bathtub, though. He knows it’s gotta hurt your back.

So he plushes out his bathtub for sleeping to make it less hard and ensure your back will never hurt!

Besides, laying like that makes it way easier to actually lay together in his tub anyway. It’s such a narrow space.

Sometimes he asks if you can sleep on him instead and instantly understands the comfort it brings you.

Even when it becomes standard practice and asking isn’t needed, Levi’s face is always going to be bright red until he gets settled in for the night.

It also helps force him into a sleep schedule because he loves it so much.

Yeah, he’s okay with this. More than okay.

Satan:

Very little reaction from Satan.

He read about this kind of thing before. He was kinda wanting to ask you to lay on him but you beat him to the punch. 

Mostly because he wanted to test it out.

“Of course I will. If it helps you, I’ll never say no to it.”

The biggest downside of being the one laying on top?

He can’t read to you very easily.

Satan loves reading to you at night, it helps the both of you wind down.

That’s okay, though. He memorizes plenty of stories to tell for the nights that he lays on top of you.

And he has books ready for the nights where the two of you switch.

He has no qualms with this. It actually feels really nice.

He can understand the comfort it brings.

Satan has never felt so warm and calm in his entire life. 

But there will always be nights where he’s likely not going to be there when you go to sleep. So he invents in a heated and weighted blanket. He makes sure that he sleeps with it on him enough to the point it smells of him.

If it can help, even just a little bit, he’s happy.

The sweet boy just wants to do his best for you. He hates when he isn’t there for bed but sometimes it just cannot be helped.

Asmo

No explanation needed with him.

“Of course I will! I’ve been wondering what it’s like to lay on top of you anyway! You’re always laying on me when we sleep or cuddle!”

This man just adores it.

And he’s the smallest of the brothers so he definitely won’t be crushing you under his weight.

He likes it! It feels like he’s being pampered!

It gives you a great chance to play with his hair and he gets to just bury his face against the side of your neck or against your chest.

He actually likes it more when he’s on top of you. Especially when he’s had a bad day.

It makes you feel better and it helps him feel comforted after a long, awful day.

He feels like it’s his sanctuary almost. 

Nothing can touch him but you.

This is completely innocent. He might make suggestive comments but this little habit you two have won’t be tainted.

Unless you’re the one to start it. 

seriously this is just being said because i’m sick of everyone writing asmo as horny 24/7 and nothing else :))))

Beel:

“No.”

“But-”

“No.”

You gotta understand, this is gonna take A LOT of time and working up to get him to even attempt this.

Even then, he will never lay fully on top of you.

The most you’ll get is gonna be him resting between your legs with his head on your chest.

Beel won’t budge on this either.

“I don’t want to hurt you. I’m a big guy, I weigh a lot.”

All of that muscle comes with him being pretty heavy. Also, he’s somewhere over six feet fucking tall, he’s a very physically dense boi.

He will do what he can to help you but nothing will convince him to ever put more weight than necessary on you.

And even then, he doesn’t sleep too well if this goes on overnight because he’s just so worried about accidentally crushing you in his sleep.

I mean, it took a long time to get him to share a bed with you! And he’s still afraid he might roll over and crush you in his sleep!

Just take what you can get. He’s trying his best, he’s just scared.

He’s beefy and sweet and personally would rather you be laying on him where he feels a little more secure in your safety.

When he’s having a day where he just can’t do it, he gives you his jacket.

It’s heavy and warm and smells just like him. It should help, right? 

Asmo said it would be a good alternative so he tries it.

Plus he gets to see you drowning in the fabric of his jacket because no matter how tall you are, his jacket will make you feel small.

The damn thing is baggy even on him!

Belphie:

Pffft

You never even needed to ask him.

You think you got a choice in this one?

Belphie will lay on top of you just because it means you can’t go anywhere unless you can get him to move.

Which means keeping his warm cuddle partner in bed all day.

So words aren’t needed here.

But you do explain it to him one day while you’re just snuggled in bed together. 

“Huh. Makes sense to me.”

He’s so nonchalant about it. But he understands that someone else’s weight can be comforting.

Why do you think he sometimes pulls you on top of him to lay? 

He takes comfort in it. Your warmth and heartbeat and weight remind him that you’re real. You’re alive. And you won’t be leaving him.

Of course, you’ll still be trapped by the Avatar of Sloth so you better eat and take a bathroom break BEFORE you head to the attic or to his room. 

You won’t be moving until he wakes up.

Sometimes you swear he’s not even asleep based on the cheeky smile etched across his face.

You’ll take it, though. It brings both of you comfort

[thewritetofreespeech]

Obey Me + Jealousy

prompt: The Demon Brothers don’t like that you’re spending time with your best friend in the human world. Loosely based off this prompt done previously.

Lucifer

It had been a long time since you had been up to the human world. Even longer since you had seen your best friend. You were so excited to see them! Laughing. Telling old inside stories. Catching up on gossip.

Although you were having a great time in the human world, your escort for the day did not seem to be enjoying all your world had to offer.

In order to get ‘top side’ Lucifer had to come with you. He was the only one able to open the portal there and back, and insisted on coming with you to keep you safe. You felt the need to remind him that the Devildom was the actual dangerous place, but it would take longer than just letting him come.

Now you kind of wish you had taken the time to argue. He was really being a major downer the whole day.

“Are you ok? You seem irritated.” Or, well, more irritated than usual.

“No. I’m fine.” Lucifer replied. Although not lending any credibility to the statement. “I’m just thinking of all the more useful things I could be doing with my time.”

You frown at his flip comment. “If you don’t want to be here, then you can leave. No one is making you stay here.”

“Fine. Since you seem so entertained by your little friend to pay any attention to me, perhaps it is best if I do head home.”

You blink a little at Lucifer’s statement. It was cold, and once again flip, as usual. But you were surprised he mentioned your friend. “Lucifer, are you jealous I’m spending time with them?”

The demon rebuttaled with a surprised look before he frowned at you. “I am not jealous.”

“Really? Cause it seems like your-“I am not jealous!” He repeated, louder and sterner this time. He let that moment linger there before he sighed and looked away with his arms cross. “I am….perhaps irritated to be ignored.”

‘Right, so, totally jealous.’ You think to yourself. But have the good sense to keep that thought to yourself alone. You suppose you could see where he was coming from. It’s hard to be the odd man out when you and your friends get together. Being so proud and prominent in the demon world, this is probably the first time it had happened to Lucifer.

“I’m sorry if you’re feeling left out. I’ll try to be more inclusive.”

“No. You’re right.” Lucifer remarked. Finally looking back at you with a much softer expression. “It’s foolish of me to think I can take all of your time. You deserve some moments of your own. I shouldn’t have intruded.” His hand reached out to cup your cheek, while offering you the faintest of smiles. “I will leave, but not because I’m angry. I want you to spend time with your friend and enjoy it, which would be best when I’m not around. Just call me when you’re ready to come home and I’ll come fetch you.” He released your cheek and took a step back. Smiling at you again before he disappeared.

You wonder, briefly, if he could feel your heart swelling with pride after you left. To think a small human like you could make the great Lucifer jealous.

Mammon

There were a lot of things you loved about Mammon.

His spontaneity. His zest for life. How nothing ever seemed to get him down for too long.

However, it was hard to remember all those good qualities when he was behaving so poorly all day.

“Mammon! Can you knock it off?!”

“What?! I’m just standing here. I’m not good enough at standing here for ya now!” The demon barked back. Not matching your whisper tone at all.

“That’s not what I said, and you know it. You’ve been a jerk all day and I’d like you to cut it out.”

“Oh, so now I’m a jerk! Well sorry sweetheart but I’m a demon. We’re not ‘upposed to be nice and friendly all the time. Sometimes we get ta be jerks!”

“Good lord, say it a little bit louder Mammon!” You hiss back at him letting practically the whole world, or at least this park, know he was a demon.

Mammon tsked his teeth and turned away from you. “Can’t do anything right.” He muttered. “Why don’t you go hang out with your friend then, if I’m such a jerk? You two seem ta be having a grand ol’ time on your own with me here. Shouldn’t make much of a difference if I’m gone.” He said before crossing his arms in a huff.

“Is that what this is about?” You ask. Ignoring his little out burst (because when he gets this way it’s just best to ignore him). “You’re mad that I’m spending time with my friend and not you?”

“No!” Yes. Totally yes.

“Mammon are you jealous?”

The demon floundered comically at the question, his mouth opening & closing like a fish as he tried to find words, before he answered. “I am not jealous!!” Great come back. “The Great Mammon does not get jealous! Ya hear! I’m just pissed because you’re spending all this time with them when I’m the one who schlepped all the way up here for ya, and used my connections to get us top side!” He turned away again and recrossed his arms. Then he muttered under his breath, “it was just supposed to be you and me today, for once.”

A sigh left you lips, and you step closer to Mammon to place your hand on his arm. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ruin your plans. I was just excited to see my friend. It’s been so long. Plus I wanted you to meet them so I can show you off. You are my first after all.”

Those blue gold eyes got a little wide, and Mammon blushed, before he gulped once and refocused himself. “Y-Y-Yeah! Of course. Ya should be proud to show me off. It’s not everyone who gets to be seen with an all-powerful demon like me. If anyone is ‘jealous’ it should be everyone else for not having the Great Mammon by their side!”

“Of course,” you agree with a giggle. Before you lean up and give him a kiss on the cheek. “I’m lucky to have you.”

“D-Don’t ya forget it!”

Levi

“Hey, [Y/N]-chan, I think I’m gonna head home.”

You look up from your soda at Levi, who was fidgeting beside you after he spoke. “What? Why? I thought you were having fun.”

“Yeah, no. No I mean….you seem like your having fun with your friend so I don’t want to bother you. 3 is a crowd.”

“Levi, that’s not true. You’re not bothering us. I just wanted to spend sometime with my bff while we’re in town.”

“No. I get it. Who would want to hang out with a crummy otaku like me.”

“Levi, that’s not what I said. I do want to hang out with you!”

“But you have your normie friend.” Levi looked past you at the friend in question. “Look at them. Being out, talking to people like a regular person. I can never do that. You should go on without me and leave me here. You seem much happier with them anyway.”

“Levi…come on. That isn’t—” Your train of thought stops itself as it came to a sudden, and abrupt realization. “Levi, are you jealous?”

The blue haired demon responded with his trademark ‘eehhh??’ at the question, and quickly covered his face with is arm. “O-O-Of course not!” He exclaimed. Barely hiding the blush on his cheeks. “Who would be jealous of a normie?? I just I…I mean you…Y-You seem so happy with them [Y/N]-chan. A sad otaku like me can never make you that happy. So it’s just bumming me out!”

You offer Levi a soft smile, then move to squat down in front of him. “True. I am happy when I hang out with my friends. But I’m happy when I hang out with you too. No one can gush about anime with me like you can.” You reassure him. He was the Avatar of Envy after all. What did you expect?

The demon slowly poked his head out from under his arm. “Really?”

“Of course. It’s…not really a side of myself I get to show to people. They think I’m weird. But with you, I can be that part of myself. That’s the part that you have Levi.”

His face turned bright red all over again, and Levi sat there for a moment before he quickly shook his head. “D-Don’t say stuff like that [Y/N]-chan! Don’t make me fall for your normie trap!”

You giggle and stand up again to offer Levi your hand. “Come on. Lets find something we can all do together. The Cineplex is playing some old action movies we can go and make fun of.”

“Oooo! Which ones??”

The distraction of old movies to riff on, and for Levi to share all his in-depth knowledge on, was a welcome alternative for the afternoon. He even had a spirited debate with your best friend on the concepts of CGI graphics vs old school ‘cut & paste’ cinematography. Crisis on planet Earth avoided.

Satan

It was always fun to come back to the human world. Especially with Satan.

Not that you didn’t enjoy spending time with the others, but most of them could be a little....energetic. It was nice to spend a calm afternoon with the 4th brother alone for a change.

You both had stopped in a local coffee shop you loved when you ran into an old friend. You hadn't seen them in so long that you got to talking and eventually invited them to join your table. Where you had been laughing and having a grand time for a while now.

Or so you thought.

Satan hadn’t said a word the whole time you were at the table. Which was necessarily odd. He wasn’t a big talker like some of his brothers. However, you could tell that something was wrong with the way he kept stirring his cup, or how his jaw clenched ever now and then before releasing. His movements subtle, as always.

“I’m gonna get another cup. You want anything?” Your friend asked as they got up from the table, to which both of you motioned no.

“Can we go now.” Your head turned back to Satan at his cool words. “We were supposed to go to the bookstore.”

“We still have time to go to the bookstore.” You tell him. “It doesn’t close until a while from now.”

“Yes. But we agreed to be there at 1:00, and now it’s 1:30. That’s not the way this day was supposed to go.” The blonde replied. Fidgeting with his cup to try and align it perfectly on the saucer. “This day was supposed to be just you and I.”

You blink a little at Satan’s response. Initially thinking that he was miffed about the time. Now, however, you weren’t so sure. “Satan, are you jealous that I paused our date to hang out with my friend?”

The demon sat up straighter; though how you could be sure. Then he frowned. “I am not jealous.”

“No. I get it. It’s hard to be in a group if they have a lot of inside jokes. It’s ok if--“I am not jealous!” He shout. His fist slamming on the table, rattling the frail wood and cups. Alerting everyone in the shop to your conversation.

Satan hissed through his teeth and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Alright. Fine. I am jealous. We so rarely get time away from those idiots, and I was really looking forward to the bookstore with you. Now you have someone else tagging along. Is it so awful to be alone with me?”

Your heart sank a little at that. Was that really how Satan felt? “I’m sorry. That wasn’t my intention. I just wanted to catch up with my friend for a bit since I haven’t seen them in a while. I didn’t mean to disrupt our date.” The demon blinked a few times at the word ‘date’ then blushed. Muttering about how it wasn’t like that, that he was being unreasonable, that it was all fine. Still, you smile and offer to him, “let me tell them goodbye and we’ll go to the bookstore. If we leave now, we can also stop by the pet store and play with the cats if you’d like.”

Satan fidgeted in his chair. Cheek’s still a stark pink against his blonde hair. “I....would like that.”

Asmo

It was a beautiful day in the human world, and you were so excited to be home.

Being able to spend the day in your home town, with your best friend, shopping and just playing around was the best way to spend an afternoon. Who could be sad at a day like this?

“[Y/NNNNNNNN],” Asmo whined. The usually bubbly demon dragging his shopping bags behind him as he pouted behind you. “Can’t we stop for now”

“Really Asmo? You’re usually much more of a marathon shopper.”

“It’s too hot.” He quipped back. Now with more of a frown than a pout. “This humidity is wreaking havoc on my hair.”

“Why don’t I get us something cool to drink?” Your BFF suggested. Trying to stay positive all afternoon, and pretending that they didn’t hear Asmo’s bitter ‘yeah why don’t you do that’ as they took off and he sat down.

“Asmodeus,” you hiss when you were alone. “Who can you be so rude to them? What is wrong with you today?!”

“It’s not my fault!” Asmo snapped back. Looking wounded but also scratching at his chest where his pact mark was to let you know that he knew he messed up. “This was supposed to be a day for you and me! They’re the one that but in!”

“No. You did. I told you I was going top side for a while to hang out with my friend, and you invited yourself along. So now you’re ruining everyone’s day with this behavior. I really don’t get you.”

Asmo stopped scratching at his chest and pouted for real this time.

“I don’t like seeing you with them.” He confessed. “I don’t like seeing you with anyone. Your smile….it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. I wanted to come along with you today because I wanted to see your smile. But seeing you happy with someone else is the worst! I don’t even care about any of this anymore. Not even my new shoes.” His foot kicked at his bag sullenly. Asmo must really be upset. “I want to go home and forget all about the human world. I want you to come home with me!”

You listen for a while before you make a confession of your own. “You’re jealous, aren’t you.” It was plain as day now. Or at least now that you realized he wasn’t just being a brat to be a brat.

Asmo turned and glared at you slightly. “Green is not my color.” He insisted before turning away in a huff.

You chuckle, then sit down beside him on the bench. “I think you look good in any color.” You tell him. Softening the demon up. “You know I care about you Asmo. But me being with my friends doesn’t mean I care about you any less. And that’s no reason to be so ugly to them. You need to apologize.”

The demon winced at the word ‘ugly’, but did seem to agree that he needed to turn this around.

When your friend came back, he quickly apologized. Blaming jet lag, or some other ridiculous believable excuse. It didn’t really matter when he turned on the charm. Gods help him if he ever set his mind to something.

Beel

He was stress eating. You could tell.

Although Beel was still shoveling food into his mouth with his usual speed and gusto, by now you could tell the difference in his eating habits. Like when he was just bored and there was food around, or when he was really hungry for something, or when he was excited to try something new. Right now, he wasn’t enjoying what he was eating. Even when he was bored or just eating to eat, Beel always seemed to enjoy it. Even if it was just a vending machine’s worth of junk.

Right now it just looked like he was doing it to take his mind off something.

“Beel? Is something wrong?” You ask softly. Still getting his attention though, and causing him to stop.

“No. Nothing ’s wrong.” He replied. His voice unusually sullen as he wiped his mouth. You knew something was wrong now. He never sounded said when he was eating. Now something was double wrong because he was lying to you.

“Beel….”

“…I don’t like your friend…” He finally confessed after a moment and long bout of staring.

You blink in surprise at his answer. Not expecting that at all. You’ve never heard Beel say a mean word about anyone before. Let alone not liking a person. “You don’t like my friend? Why? Did they do something wrong?”

“It’s not that. I just….don’t like how you are when you’re with them.” He said. Picking at the various candy wrappers he’d left littered on the table. “You seem happy.”

“Of course I’m happy. They’re my friend. I haven’t seen them in a long time, so I miss them.”

Beel flinched a little. “I know….” He seemed to be feeling bad about this now. “And I want you to be happy. I know the human world is your first home. But I’m scared that….if you like it here so much and them, that you’ll leave us again. When you’re not around it’s like this big whole in my stomach and I can’t fill it up.” His stomach growled in protest, or agreement, at his words, and Beel went back to stress eating his vending machine contents again.

Your gaze softened as you finally understood. He was jealous. He thought your friend was going to ‘take you away’ and leave him alone. That of course was silly because you’d never leave him, or the others, ever if you could help it.

You reach out your hand to stop his arm from lifting another fist full of chips to his mouth. Causing him to pause, with his mouth open, and look at you. “All this junk can’t be good for you.” You announce as you stop up from the park table suddenly. “Why don’t I take you to my favorite restaurant in town? My friend used to work there, so I’m sure we’ll get a great table and lots of yummy stuff on the house if we go.”

Beel’s eyes sparkled at the proposition. “Really??”

You giggle. The way to a man’s heart was through his stomach you suppose. Because after this, and a few unlimited fry baskets later, he and your friend were besties for life as well.

Belphie

"[Y/N], I wanna go home."

"Home?" You ask. "But we just got here." You’d only arrived at the park to meet your friend a few hours ago, and had only just started hanging out.

"Well I'm tired.” Belphie muttered.

“Aren’t you always kind of tired?” You ask, as a joke, but it doesn’t seem well received.

Belphie’s frown deepens, and he even lets out an annoyed little growl, before he turns on his heels to walk away. “Belphie! Where are you going?”

“You nap under that tree.” He announced. But doesn’t seem as thrilled as he normally is about the prospect. Napping under trees was like his third favorite nap spot. “You won’t let me go home, so I’m just going to stay there while you hang out with your friend. You won’t miss me anyway.”

The last part of his statement was muttered under his breath, but you still heard it. Was that what he was being so moody about?

“Belphie? Are you jealous I’m hanging out with my friend?”

“Yes.” He replied. Rather quickly considering, with only a moment to scuff the tip of his shoes. “I don’t like that you’re spending time with them and not me. I don’t like being ignored.”

“I’m not ‘ignoring you’.” You tell him. “I’m just hanging out with my friend for a while. I haven’t seen them in a long time. They’ve probably been lonely too.”

Belphegor huffed again and sagged his shoulders. You know you got him.

Belphie might be kind of selfish sometimes, but there was one thing he could empathize with: being alone. He was cast aside and locked out, partially of his own doing, for a long time. So he didn’t want anyone else to feel that way.

“I just don’t like the idea that you like them better than me.”

“I don’t.” You assure him. Stepping in to give him a peck on the cheek, which he adorably flinches at. “I love you both. Differently, but equal. Why don’t we think of something we can all do together then, hm?”

“I’m kind of committed to this nap-tree-idea-thing.” The demon confessed. You have to giggle.

You all don’t nap, but your friend agree to get some ice creams from a vendor in the park and sit under the tree to enjoy them while Belphie napped. It was a remarkably pleasant afternoon. You were glad you got to share it with Belphie.

[harbingers-appointed]

Your Demon King Master post

Ask status:

Open

"characters" open to receiving asks:

[Me only. I'll get to character asks eventually again]

[As a foreword on this, I want to add more information to this post! I just wanted to get what I have up since the blog desperately needed a new information post. Please bear with me as I continue to work on this post]

What Is the DemonKing Yb AU?

The Demon king Au is a Your Boyfriend Alternate universe (AU) That features the same familiar cast along with a few new faces in the setting of HELL. I (VEE) The creator- and god of this AU- am working on a fan game for it. It is being built using Ren’py and I am mainly a one-person team. I am doing all the character creation, all the art (character talk sprites, backgrounds, etc), writing, and the bulk of the coding (I will be getting help from someone for the complex things later down the road). The music will be done by someone else as well and I would love to get voice actors eventually too.

Beyond this post, I recommend reading through old asks since there is a lot of hidden information in them! I do have a tendency to put hints in the tags as well. Some information has changed, but for the most part, a lot of the information is still accurate.

Premise

You, a human, lived an ordinary life on earth until one day as fate will have it you get into an accident, falling into a coma of sorts. You awake in a mysterious place, surrounded by other lost souls unsure of how you got there or why you ended up there. Soon after you are whisked off to a grand palace and are told you were one of the lucky souls selected to work right in the center of Hell for the Devil himself. Hell, you were in Hell and you were to become the devil's new house worker.

From here on out you meet the main cast of demons, The king himself, Don, Lucy, Tk, and Flauros. They all play their own unique part in this Au and it will be up to you what story you get to hear.

Meet The Characters

Click the name of the character below to be taken to the corresponding post with their information

Your Demon King

"Darling, you want to learn more about me? I want to learn more about you!"

Tk

"I suppose if we're going to be working together from now on I should tell you more about myself"

Don

"..."

Lucy

"Oh~? Well if I tell you all about me, I want to know all about you."

Flauros

"You'll find out more about me if you look through the blog, but d;"

Important in World Things and Abilities

¹The Blue Flames

Commonly referred to as true hellfire

These flames can only be controlled by one being at a time(it could be inherited by any being but the prior user would have to pass the ability off to them and they would lose access to it) the Blue Flames can consume any Demon or entity and completely absorb their soul/flame.

The only way to completely kill a demon is to use Dk's Blue Flames, Supposedly. His fire will consume a demon's inner flame and they will forever become a part of the Blue Flames- unable to reform as they get merged into them for all eternity. Getting "extinguished" is like a final death for demons. They become a part of The Blue Flames forever, their original fire converted into this greater energy. The mystery of how The Blue Flames work is only held by the King.

So maybe he is withholding important information on them.

He can also control the heat of the Blue Flames. For example, he could cover you with them and they'd feel like nothing more than a warm tingle, maybe more if you catch my drift.

²K̵̨͓̲̖̽̏̒̀̈́̈́̃͐̄̚͘͠n̸̰̺̱͍͌̈́̆͌̉ͅi̵̡̲̫̙͉̤̙͉̪̞̬͉̜̔̀̃̒̔f̶̨̠͉̝̟͉͉̻͓̠̖̘̥̟̎̑͛̆̃̈́̎̽̉̀͌͒͗e̷̛̪̺̠̜̰̙͛͆̈́̑̑̏̈́̐̇̍̕̕͠͝

A knife belonging to Flauros. The reflection that shines from the blade doesn’t match up the surroundings it currently is in. It doesn’t look like it belongs in this realm of existence. He calls it very special to him, mentioning how

“nobody but me can wield this weapon properly. So, don't get any funny ideas~”.

Dk has commented on the knife saying that,

“When I was cut by it… It did...SOMETHING to me. Stay away from him, please darling I’m begging you”

The 9 Circles of Hell

The 9 circles, or rings, of Hell, consists of the following(and the corresponding inner flame associated with each) from the outer rim to the center;

limbo(white-black)

Lust (pink-magenta)

Gluttony (Green)

Avarice (Yellow-gold)

Sloth (orange)

Heresy (purple)

Wrath ( red)

Pride (dark blue)

Treachery ( cyan )

Each circle has a prince and their higher-ranking demons just beneath them. There is one exception to this rule, however. The Limbo ring is not quite fully a part of Hell. It is the place between Heaven and Hell, empty- save for the souls trapped there and the prince Of Limbo. They are an unsettling being, neither demon nor angel. They once were an Angel, but due to not choosing a side were cast to Limbo for the rest of eternity. Their body is always shifting and changing. When spoken to they will take on the form of your face and speak back to you in your voice as well.

All the princes, including DK find Limbo an extremely unpleasant place to visit. The prince of Limbo cannot leave Limbo either, trapped there just like all the other lost souls.

[more info on the princes+abilities related to the different circles to come soon!]

Inner Flames

All demons possess an inner flame that corresponds to the circle of hell they were created in. Inner flames are the equivalent to a human's soul, as in if a demon's inner flame were to be snuffed out they would ‘die’. Unlike humans, however, when a demon is killed their physical body will decay and crumble, yet their inner flame will still remain. The severity of the way they were killed determines how long it takes for the demon to reform. Sometimes the inner flame will be so small and scattered, taking many centuries to reform.

The hands of a demon reflect the flame colour they possess. Demons can't have two different colours of inner flame. Just one.

Demon Reproduction

Demon reproduction can happen in a typical sexual manner. Though there's more to it than simple mixing of DNA and more so mixing of two demons' inner "flames". Reproducing in other manners Is a possibility though. As for demons reproducing with humans, it depends on the human and if their soul can handle taking on a demon's energy.

Importance on demon horns+tails

[click above for the original post]

Demon horns aren't exactly fragile, but it depends on the Demon. I like to think you'd need to really try to break them. In fights, demons try to cover their horns and tails in armour to protect themselves. Horns are made of the demon's inner flames condensed essence. It can take on different forms and materials, so some being more like keratin growth while others may seem like glass or crystals even.

horns can break- as seen in the art of Dk with missing horns and the one where he's impaled on one of his own snapped-off horns. It would be INTENSELY painful- agonizing...(Flauros is built differently, however) break a demon's horn/’s and they're essentially crippled, can't control their innate magic and the regulation of their inner flame. Cutting demon's tail will also result similarly to breaking their horns.

So if a demon's horn or tail is cut/broken said demon will suffer a lot of pain and lose control over their inner flame- which is like a soul and what keeps them alive. They can be regenerated over time and this can be sped up through healing magic. But if left unattended they'll likely "die" and return to being a little flame/ loose energy that can't take a form. They are immortal so eventually, they will reform fully. It depends on how they were killed to determine how long it takes. Damaging the horns could lead to it taking years to reform for example. Stronger demons can regenerate quicker, but getting their full strength back takes time. So I wouldn't recommend damaging the horns or tail of a demon!

About Aggressive demon forms

[click above for the original post]

All demons have "Aggro" forms [aggressive] they use mainly When they are in battle. While in this form they have heightened reflexes, better hearing added strength[in general more aware and ideal for a fight] but it burns through their energy faster(doesn't exactly apply to the king). Their inner flame is burning extremely brightly during the time this form is active.

The king would also have his blue flames likely crawling up his body/around him. This would also provide more offensive and defensive capabilities for him. Of course, if he wanted to he could be in this more monstrous form indefinitely- but he wouldn't want to scare you... He is the King so his power is huge.

A demon who is almost always in half-aggro is Don, as his scleras are always darkened. He has his reasons why for this, but you can imagine why.

FAQ

When is the fan game slated for release?

As of right now, I’m working solely alone for most of the game. I have hopes I can get a beta test out for day one by December-January. I do have a life outside of all this, so sometimes things come up and things get pushed back. I try to work on it a little bit every day, but there’s a lot to do (finish the rest of the visual assets, writing the dialogue, programming… but also running this blog and answering asks). Make sure to keep checking on the blog- I try to update with something every few days- and while you are here you can read through all the past updates +and asks! There are a ton of hints and foreshadowing of what’s to come- and be aware the tags have information in them oftentimes!

How can I support you?

Sadly as of right now since this is a fangame I cannot accept any money for this. Ideally, someday I can get some merch made- but until the rules on fan merch of YB content loosens there isn’t much I can do. (Unless people want Flauros merch? haha) The best thing you can do to show your support is to interact with my posts, follow, comment, like, and reblogging really helps get the word out! I also hope someday to work on my own fully original game as well- and maybe by extension, you would all love to support that too!

Is this blog a trans and other minority-friendly space?

Yes! Very much so! As a chubby trans person who is also half Chinese, I like to try my best to be inclusive on all fronts. I do not tolerate racism, sexism and in general bigotry.

[More FAQ To be added later!]

[thedeadhandofseldon]

The Anti-Mercer Effect

On the Accessibility of D&D, Why Unprepared Casters is so Fun, and Why Haley Whipjack is possibly the greatest DM of our generation.

(Apologies to my mutuals who aren’t in this fandom for the length of this, but as you all know I have never in my life shut up about anything so… we’ll call it even for the number of posts about Destiel I see every day.

To fellow UC fans - I haven’t listened to arc 4 yet, I started drafting this in early August, and I promise I will write a nice post about how great Gus the Bard is once I get the chance to listen to more of his DMing).

Structure - Or, “This is not the finale, there will be more podding cast”

So, first of all, let’s just talk about how Unprepared Casters works. Because it’s kind of unusual! Most of the other big-name D&D podcasts favor this long, grand arcs; UC has about 10 hours of podcast per each arc. And that’s a major strength in a lot of ways: it makes it really accessible to new listeners, because you can just start with the current arc and understand what’s going on!

And by starting new arcs every six or seven episodes, they can explore lots of ways to play D&D! Classic dungeon delve arc! Heist arc! Epic heroes save the world arc! Sportsball arc! They can touch on all sorts of things!

And while I’m talking about that: Dragons in Dungeons, the first arc, makes it incredibly accessible as a show - because it lets the unfamiliar listener get a sense of what D&D actually is. (It’s about telling stories and making your friends feel heroic and laugh and cry, for the record). If I had to pick a way to introduce someone to the game without actually playing it with them, that arc would definitely be it.

And I’d be remise not to note one very important thing: Haley Whipjack and Gus the Bard are just very funny, very charismatic people. Look. Episode 0s tend to be about 50%(?) those two just talking to each other about their own podcast. It shouldn’t work. And yet it DOES, its one of my favorite parts, because Haley and Gus are just cool.

And a side note that doesn’t fit anywhere else: I throw my soul at him! I throw a scone at him - that’s it, that’s the vibe. The whole podcast alternates between laughing with your friends and brooding alone in a dark tavern corner - but the laughs never forced and the dark corner is never too dark for too long.

Whipjack the Great - Or, the DM is Also a Player!

I think Haley Whipjack is one of the greatest Dungeon Masters alive. The plots and characters! The mechanical shenanigans! The descriptions!

Actually, let’s start there: with the descriptions. (Both Haley and Gus do this really fucking well). As we know, Episode 0 of each arc sees the DM reading a description - of a small town, or the Up North, or the recent history of a great party. And Haley always strikes this tricky balance - one I think a lot of us who DM struggle with - between giving too much description and  worldbuilding, and not telling us anything at all. She describes people and events in just enough detail to imagine them, but never so much they seem static and unreal - just clear enough to envision, but with enough vagueness left to let your imagination begin to run wild.

While I’m thinking about arc 3’s party, let’s talk about a really bold move she made in that arc: letting the players have ongoing control of their history. Loser Lars! She didn’t try to spell out every detail of this high-level party’s history, or restrict their past to only what she decided to allow - she gave them the broad outlines, and let them embellish it. And that made for a much more alive story than any attempt to create it by herself would have - but I think it takes a lot of courage to let your players have that agency. Most Dungeon Masters (myself included) tend to struggle with being control freaks.

And the plots! Yeah, arc one is built of classic tropes - but she actually uses them, she doesn’t get caught up in subverting everything or laughing at the cliches. And it’s fun! In arc 3, there really isn’t a straight line for the players to follow, either - which makes the game much more interesting and much trickier to run. And her NPCs are fantastic and I will talk about them in the next section.

Above all, though, I think what is really impressive is how Haley balances mechanics, and rules as written, with the narrative and rule of cool - and puts both rules and story in the service of playing a fun game. And the secret to that? She’s the DM, but the DM is a player, and the DM is clearly having fun. Hope Lovejoy mechanically shouldn’t get that spellslot back, but she does, and it’s fun. The changeling merchant in Thymore doesn’t really make some Grand Artistic Narrative better, but wow is it fun. And she never tries to force it one way or the other - the story might be more dramatic if Annie didn’t manage to banish the demon from the vault, but it’s a lot cooler and a lot more fun for the players if Annie gets to be a badass instead - and the rules and the dice say that Annie managed it.

Settings feel like places, NPCs feel like people, and the narrative plot feels like a real villainous plot.

Anyway. I could go on about the various ways in which Whipjack is awesome for quite a while - she’s right, first place in D&D is when your friends laugh and super first place is when they cry - but I’m going to stop here and just. Make another post about it some other time. For now, for the record I hold her opinions about the game in higher esteem than I do several official sourcebooks; that is all.

Characters - Or, Bombyx Mori Is Not an Asshole, And That Matters

Okay, I said I would talk about characters! And I will!

Just a general place to start: the party! All of the first three parties are interesting to me, because they all care about each other. Not even necessarily in a Found Family Trope sort of way, though often that too. But they generally aren’t assholes to each other. The players create characters that actually work together, that are interesting; even when there’s internal divisions like SK-73 v. Sir Mr. Person, they aren’t just unpleasant and antagonistic all the time. Listening to the podcast, we’re “with” these people for a couple hours - and it isn’t unpleasant. That matters a lot. (To take a counter-example: I love Critical Role, but the episode when Vox Machina pranked Scanlan after he died and was resurrected wasn’t fun to listen to, it was just uncomfortable and angering and vaguely cruel).

All of the PCs are amazing, and the players in each arc did a great job. If you disagree with me about that, well, you have the right to be incorrect and I am sorry for your loss. Annie Wintersummer, for one example: tragic and sad and I want to give her a hug, but also Fuck Yeah Wintersummer, and also her familiar Charles the Owl is the cutest and funniest and I love him. And we understand what’s going on with Annie, she isn’t some infinite pool of hidden depths because this arc is 7 episodes and we don’t have time for that, but she also has enough complexity to be interesting. Same with Fey Moss: yeah, a lot of her is a silly pun about fame that carries into how she behaves, but a lot of how she behaves is also down to some good classic half-elven angst about parenthood and wanting to be known and seen and important. (Side note: if your half-elf character doesn’t have angst, well, that’s impressive and also I don’t think I believe you).

There are multiple lesbian cat-people in a 4-person party and they both have requited romantic interests who aren’t each other. This is the future liberals want and I am glad for it.

Sir Mister Person, the human fighter! Thavius, the edge lord! Even when a character is “simple,” they’re interesting, because of how they’re played as people and not action-figures. And that matters a lot.

In the same way: the NPCs. There really aren’t a lot of them! And some of them come from Patreon submissions, so uh good work gang, you’re part of the awesomeness and I’m proud of you! The point being, the NPCs work because enough of them are interesting to matter. It’s not just a servant who opens Count Michael’s door, it’s a character with a name (Oleandra!) and a personality and history. They’re interesting. Penny Lovejoy didn’t need to be interesting, the merchant outside the Laughing Mausoleum didn’t need to be interesting, but they ARE! And Haley and Gus EXCEL at making the NPCs matter, not just to the story but to us as viewers. I agree with Sir Mister Person, actually, I would die for the princesses of the kingdom. I actually care about Gem Lovejoy of all people - that wouldn’t happen in an ordinary campaign! That’s the thing that makes Unprepared Casters spectacular - and, frankly, it’s especially impressive because D&D does not tend to be good at making a lot of interesting compared to a lot of other sorts of stories.

And, just as an exemplar of all this: Bombyx Mori. Immortal, reincarnating(?), and described as the incarnation of the player’s ADHD. I expected to hate Bombyx, because as the mom friend both in and out of my friend-group’s campaigns, the chaos-causer is always exhausting to me. And yeah, Bombyx causes problems on purpose! But! She is not an asshole.

And that’s important. Bombyx goes and sits with the queen and comforts her. Bombyx gives Annie emotional support. Bombyx isn’t just a vehicle to jerk around the DM and other players; Bombyx really is a character we can care about. To compare with another case - in the first couple episodes of The Adventure Zone, the PCs are just dicks. Funny, but dicks. Bombyx holds out an arm “covered in larva” to shake with a count, and robs him of magical items, but she also cares about her friends and other people! She uses a powerful magical gem to save her fertilizer guy from death! Yeah, Bombyx is ridiculous, but she’s not just an asshole the party has to keep around for plot reasons; you can see why her party would keep her around. And one layer of meta up, she’s the perfect example of how to make a chaotic character like that while still being fun for everyone you’re playing with, which is often not the case. And I love her.

The Anti-Mercer Effect - Or, “I think we proved it can be fun, you can have a good time with your friends. And it doesn’t have to be scary, you can just work with what you know”

The Mercer Effect basically constitutes this: Matthew Mercer, Dungeon Master of Critical Role, is incredible (as are all of his players). They’re all professional story-tellers in a way, remember, and so Critical Role treats D&D like a narrative art-form, and it’s inspiring. Seeing that on Critical Role sets impossible standards - and people go into their own home games imagining that their campaigns will be like Critical Role, and the burden of that expectation tends to fall disproportionately on the DM. And the end result, I think, of the Mercer Effect is that we get discouraged or intimidated, because our game isn’t “as good as” theirs. (And I should note - Matt certainly doesn’t want that to be our reaction).

So the Anti-Mercer Effect is two things: it’s D&D treated like a game, and it’s inspiring but not intimidating. And Unprepared Casters manages both of those really freaking well. Because they play it like a game! A UC arc looks just like a good campaign in anyone’s home game. They have the vibes of 20-somethings and college students playing D&D for fun because that’s who they are (as a 20-something college student who plays a lot of D&D, watching it felt like watching my friends play an especially good campaign). They’re trying to tell a good story, sure, and they always do. But first and foremost, they’re trying to have fun, and it shows, and I love the UC cast for it.

And that’s the other half of it: it’s inspiring! It’s approachable; you can see that Haley and Gus put plenty of work into preparing the game but it also doesn’t make you feel like you need hundreds of pages of worldbuilding to run a game. Sometimes a cleric makes Haley cry and she gives them back a spell-slot from their deity! That’s fantastic! It’s just inspiring - listening to this over the summer, when my last campaign had fallen apart under the strain of graduation, is why I decided to plan and run my new one!

That quote from Haley Whipjack that I used as the title for this section? That’s the whole core of this idea, and really, I think, the core of the podcast.

The Mercer Effect is when you go “that’s really cool, I could never do that.” But Unprepared Casters makes you look at D&D and go “wow, that looks really fun. I bet I can do that!” And I love the show for it.

And I bet a lot of you do too.

[chenziee]

Please, don’t ask

@lawluevents​ 10 Days of Lawlu 2022 Day 1: Alliance/First

Alternate summary: "He's flirting oh my god he's flirting help--"

Huge thank you to @idiotmilk​ who helped me a ton with this and basically writing the entire flirting dialogue because the author Does Not Know How People Flirt™ <3

Useless trivia: All of these stand-alone stories in this series take place in the same timeline and, because I like to make things unnecessarily complicated for myself, it’s also the same timeline as 10 days of lawlu 2020 :)

[ READ ON AO3 | FULL SERIES | KO-FI ]

----------

When the Captain had decided they would go to the human shop on Sabaody, Shachi didn't expect anything to happen—besides getting sick to the stomach from the entire ordeal. He had thought they would just stay there for a bit, check out what kind of fucked up people actually bought slaves, then leave.

The flying fish crashing through the ceiling and Straw Hat Luffy punching a Celestial Dragon in the face like an absolute madman… well, that was a complete surprise. And Dark King fucking Rayleigh strutting in after busting a hole through the stage like it was a normal Wednesday?

That was when Shachi stopped even trying to make sense of whatever the hell was going on anymore.

Penguin, however, seemed to have more endurance than him.

"Hey, Shachi, can you see that?" he asked, the urgency in his voice highlighted by the elbow that he buried into Shachi's gut.

"See what?" Shachi hissed back, shooting his partner a glare. "The fucking Dark King? All of the people he knocked out? The fucking collar he ripped off with his bare hands?!"  

"No, you idiot!" Penguin grabbed his arm, shaking Shachi a little bit as if that would make him see into his head or something.

Shachi had absolutely no idea what his problem was. He wanted to shove him away, to tell him to shut up so that he can try to pay attention to the happenings but then Penguin pointed at something and when Sachi's gaze followed in the direction…

There was the Captain.

The Captain who was staring intently… but not at Rayleigh.

Instead, he was staring at Straw Hat Luffy, a small smile playing on his lips and looking completely entranced.

"Oh my god," Shachi muttered quietly.

"Yeah," Penguin agreed, not even needing to hear what Shachi was thinking—although, Shachi wasn't even entirely sure what he was thinking himself.

But, looking at Trafalgar D. Water fucking Law and seeing the soft look on his face as he followed every Straw Hat's movement, the tiny signs in his body language…

He has never seen the Captain quite this taken by someone before.

Hell, he'd never seen him taken by someone, period—and god knows people have tried.  

No, he wasn't jealous. Nope.

Not at all.  

Okay, maybe just a little bit…

Whatever.  

But, to Shachi's horror, the gentle—if creepy—smile Law was giving the other pirate wasn't the end. Oh no, it was just the beginning.  

"What's with that, Straw Hat-ya?" Law asked, voice light with amusement as he looked down on Straw Hat's tiny form. "Didn't really end up on a high note for you."

Straw Hat hummed. "You think? I did whoop their asses though!" he announced, giving Law a grin so bright even Shachi felt blinded from all the way at the entrance to the auction house.

"Sure," Law agreed. “But turning into a child after that is not attractive. Not even a little bit.”

“Oh yeah?” Straw Hat hummed. “Not like I care about that— Oh, I’m back,” he added when his body bounced back to its original size.

Law huffed in amusement, raising an eyebrow at Straw Hat. “You should really start to care, idiot. Otherwise some people might not find it in themselves to      reward    you after all of this.”

“Oh?” Straw Hat perked up, looking up at Law with eyes full of eager curiosity. “What reward is that?”

“Wanna find out?”

As each of the three words left Law’s lips—Trafalgar D. Water fucking Law’s lips—Shachi felt his soul leave his body a little bit.

What kind of timeline was this? Did the flying fish fall on his head and he jumped into a parallel world where nothing made sense as a result? He really hoped it was just a dream and he would wake up soon…

But of course that would be letting Shachi off too easy.

“Does it involve me and you?” Straw Hat asked earnestly after a moment of consideration.

“Mhm,” Law hummed, the corner of his lips quirking up into that stupid smirk that seemed to be reserved just for Straw Hat.

“And meat?!” The younger pirate looked like he was basically vibrating in place now as he stared at Law with wide, excited eyes.

Law paused, his brow furrowing as he regarded Straw Hat for a moment—Shachi didn’t even want to know what was going on in his head right then—before he slowly, uncertainly replied, “Uh… sure?”

At that, Straw Hat’s face split up in the brightest grin, so wide it felt like he face would have split if it weren’t made of rubber. “What kind of meat?!” His voice was loud and so painfully enthusiastic when he replied… it made Shachi want to crawl into a hole and perish.  

“Well not fucking sausage, Straw Hat-ya. What the hell did you want to hear?” Law said flatly.

Oh thank god, Shachi thought to himself, the relief he felt was only comparable to the mortification of his witnessing this whole thing at all.

Straw Hat tilted his head to the side, an adorable, confused expression finding its way onto his face. “Who said anything about sausages?” he asked, completely honest and innocent. “You don’t have actual meat?”

Dead silence settled over the entire area. It was as if even the marines had stopped to stare at Straw Hat as every single person within earshot marvelled at the man’s naivety. Did he… seriously not understand what that statement was implying…?

Out of the corner of his eyes, Shachi could see Straw Hat’s redhead navigator face-palming, her face twisted as if she was in physical pain and Shachi… couldn’t help but empathise with her.

It felt like an hour later that the world started moving again once Law’s quiet chuckle reached everyone’s ears. “You’re really something, Straw Hat-ya, you know that?” He shook his head before he looked Straw Hat Luffy in the eyes and said softly, “I’ll see what I can do.”

Oh.  

God.  

If Shachi didn't know any better, he'd think the Captain was—

“You two are disgusting. If you’re so busy flirting, I’m just gonna help myself to these. You can have the leftovers,” Eustass Kid announced then, already swinging his huge metal arm towards the group of navy soldiers surrounding the auction house.

Immediately, both Law and Straw Hat whipped around to glare at Kid, snapping at their fellow pirate captain—taking the bait without even pausing, like children fighting over the same toy. Which was basically what was happening, Shachi had to admit.

But the three captains’ childish fighting wasn’t what had Shachi’s eyes blown wide, his mouth hanging open as he stared at the exchange happening in front of him.

No; the only thought that resonated in his head was, ‘He said it. He really fucking said it.’  

It wasn’t fair; until the word was thrown in his face, Shachi was fighting in his mind to avoid putting a label on what was going on. Because Law… flirting?

Trafalgar Law and flirting in the same sentence, in the same thought… it was just wrong.  

“I didn’t know the Captain could flirt,” Penguin whispered in his ear, sounding just as horrified as Shachi himself felt.

It didn’t make sense.

Nothing about this made sense; Law was not a romantic relationship kind of person—hell he wasn’t even a people kind of person. They’ve known each other for ten years and he’s never seen Law show the least bit of interest in anyone. Female, male, neither, both, it didn’t matter.

Not once did he care.  

But now there was this kid, this absolute idiot who just went and brought a fucking marine Admiral down on all of them just because the Celestial Dragons pissed him off.

One would think that would make Law hate Straw Hat or would at the very least annoy him—Shachi himself would certainly have very much appreciated it if they had waited with the beat down until he was at least out of the auction house—but no, he just put on that creepy love-stuck smile on his face and hit on the idiot.  

“I think the sky is gonna fall down on us any moment,” Shachi muttered, earning himself a solemn nod from his partner. At least they were on the same page about this.

“Next thing we know, he’ll turn around and announce we’re making an alliance with the Straw Hats just because he’s cute or something.” Penguin laughed when he finished talking but it sounded hollow, like he didn’t really think what he had said was a joke himself.

And Shachi, looking at his Captain’s profile, seeing the happy, sappy smile on his face, looking more relaxed than Shachi had seen him since… probably since they had entered the Grand Line months ago—

Shachi, as well, couldn’t honestly say he would be surprised if Penguin’s prediction came true one of these days.

Suddenly, a deep, quiet voice came from behind them. “What were they talking about with the sausage and meat?”

Shachi didn’t even try to suppress the groan at the innocent question.

“Bepo, please, don’t ask.”

[aziraphales-library]

Ones I’m less sure about: 78.4(@corviddance)& 56.2& 40.2: it’s high time that you love me, cause you do it so well by mygalfriday (BrinneyFriday) — this fits the main description but not any of the other caveats so I’m very unsure | 74.5 (@for-peanutbutter): Pretend For Me by LollipopCop | 66.3 (@an-ineffably-pale-oracle): On The Matter Of Touch by Somedrunkpirate | 63.1: Gives Me Hot Cold Fever by HotCrossPigeon | 36.3: The Sandford Flower Show + Tabula Rasa, by Mussimm

Thanks!

it’s high time that you love me, cause you do it so well by mygalfriday (T)

The looming threat of searing pain and the memory of blood pouring out of his mouth is enough of a deterrent to keep Crowley from ever daring to attempt saying the word Love again but nothing -

not even God Herself -

could stop him from showing it.

Pretend For Me by LollipopCop (E)

Crowley was still as stone beside him. His ears were cherry-red. “So...if we pretend we’re in a relationship, we’ll be safe.”

“I believe so.”

“And that would, that would involve, what?” he spoke hesitantly, softly. “Holding your hand, telling you that you mean a lot to me, kissing you for them to see?”

Two great hands were constricting Aziraphale’s lungs. He fought back an undignified wheeze. “Yes, I think so.”

“I can do that,” he croaked. ~ In a panic, Aziraphale tells the archangels he survived hellfire due to his soul mixing with Crowley's because they're in a romantic and sexual relationship. They want him to prove it. Cue a fake relationship.

On The Matter Of Touch by Somedrunkpirate (T)

“On the matter of touch,” Crowley begins, waving his teaspoon in what he hopes passes for idle curiosity. “Thoughts?”

---

For two ineffable husbands, they don't really touch each other much. Here is a story on why that might be.

Gives Me Hot Cold Fever by HotCrossPigeon (NR)

In which Aziraphale discovers that the Serpent of Eden is venomous.

And Crowley panics.

The Sandford Flower Show by Mussimm (E)

Crowley had waited six thousand years, kept it all in check. But this was the slipperiest slope he’d ever set foot on and as soon as he’d indulged in a few discretionary acts of kindness he was falling face first into pining, tumbling into flirting, about to dislocate his knees on the sharp rocks of intimacy.

Was this really it? What he had waited six thousand years for? A stupid flower show? Aziraphale wasn’t pulling away from him. Maybe… maybe this time he wouldn’t? Maybe they’d hold hands again. Maybe tonight with a bottle of merlot in them he’d finally work up the courage and just kiss him and he wouldn’t pull away.

The very moment he’d thought it he spotted the problem at the flower show.

Tabula Rasa by Mussimm (E)

Alternate ending to The Sandford Flower Show, if Aziraphale had never plucked up his courage and fixed things. You need to read the first one to understand this one.

Mephistopheles was good at her job.

It was a strange thought to find comforting, but it was one Aziraphale clung to. Sometimes it was easier to think of his life in the broad strokes than to suffer through each moment of it. If in his mind he was the hero of a Shakespearean tragedy, his life crumbled to dust by such human foibles, then there was a certain dignity at that. He had lost, but at least he had been playing against a master.

Once again - please make sure to check the tags and warnings before reading!

- Mod D

[arty-shadow-morningstar]

Treasure Hunter AU

I binged watch the Mummy trilogy while i had no wifi/internet for a while and I had an idea for a treasure hunter Mari with Daminette.

--------

Damian was bored.(age: 22-28 years old.)

At a gala party.

Meets Marinette who was equally bored.(abt the same age as D)

He finds out she was the finder of this famous artifact on display.

-----

Damian tugged at his collar, scanning the crowd. His father needed a plus one to show up with and everyone else were busy.

He grabbed a champagne flute and made his way to the edge of the room.

He found a woman in a black evening gown, looking as bored as he felt. short dark hair. Blue eyes.( I suck at describing people after the third time doing it. It feels overrated)

"Hello, stranger. You bored with mingling in with the assholes on their high horses?"

"Should I be offended?"

"We will see. Depends on you."

"How about you? A beautiful lady like you not kissing up their asses to climb the social ladder. That is strange."

She made a face. "Trust me. I don't want to be here but my friend wanted family time so I came in his place. What about you? Why are you here?"

"I am pretty sure my father wanted someone to get him out if the vultures came too close."

"Vultures, adept descriptions. I am glad no one realized who I am yet or i would be in their claws."

"Who are you representing, anyways?"

"Myself but Adrien or Kagami usually comes in my place but tonight, they have their son's play to go to."

"Adrien and Kagami. Aren't they the Agreste-Tsrungi?"

"Yep."

"You are the Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Globe trotting Treasure hunter and also world-class designer, MDC."

"Now you know. What's your name, handsome stranger?"

"You don't know?"

"Hey. Like you said globetrotting treasure hunter. I am not up-to-date on the news front. And when I am in Paris to do designer stuff, i am too busy to look at the news."

He gave her his hand, "Damian Wayne. Son of Bruce Wayne who is a billionaire and owns Wayne Enterprise."

She shook it.

"Pleased to meet you."

She stills design but like sent her designs to Adrien at least once every month, who had rebranded Gabriel to Miraculous Designs.

Some ppl thinks he did it to spite his father, who is in jail. Adrien and Mari has a partnership thing.

Mari also makes clothes but for a few months. And the rest of the time is spent travelling.

Exclusive designs from MDC are rare but the designs hand made by her are rarer so they are like a really big deal. They have the most amazing details. Really expensive and limited edition.

The rest of the time Mari spends finding Miraculouses (Miraculi ?) lost in the world so if she happens to find a few priceless artifacts that aren't the Miraculous. She donates it.

Alix helps and sometimes go find them with her.

She has Tikki and Plagg and maybe Wyazz all the time to look for curses and counter it.

She has also met John Constantine. They have an arrangement of sorts. A few magical artifacts that doesn't have to Miraculous business are given to him in exchange for any miraculous stuff he has or found.

Adrien funds her trips.

He is married to Kagami.

Kagami goes with Mari and Alix for a few months sometimes. Adrien likes being a stay at home dad.

Their kid is named Marin/Martin because it was Mari who got them together.

The few trips Mari dragged him on was enough to make him stay behind and run the business.

(Back to the story) Damian fangirled a little because Mari had been doing stuff like this since she was 18.

It was an amazing reputation she has.

She invites him to her next trip after questioning his skill sets.

------

"Are you good with heights, dark scary places and adventuring into the unknown?"

"Yes"

"You any good with guns, swords, knives, booby traps and keeping calm under pressure?"

"Yes. I have many experiences with them."

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Yes. Why are you asking me this?"

"Wanna join me on my next trip to the jungle of China? There are myths about some hidden temple."

------

Damian was a little conflicted.

He hadn't have the chance to explore the world much. He had been somewhere else for a mission (for the League of Shadows or JL business) but never for pleasure.

Being a vigilante by night and working at Wayne Enterprise by day gets a little boring after some years.

His brothers had a chance to travel the world on their own for a while. Sure, for reasons other than sight-seeing and looking for something to break out of the rut he was in. But still.

This was an exciting opportunity but a tad suspicious.

-----

"Why me?"

She looked surprised at that.

"Oh. Well, my friends enjoy coming with me on my adventures, treasure hunting and all that every now and then except Adrien but they have other things in their life to come with me all the time. I can mostly survive on my own most of the time but it gets lonely travelling on my own and it's nice if someone is there to watch my back. I understand if you don't want to come. It's just that I enjoy your company and you aren't like those assholes on their high horses. My gut feeling says I can trust you. You are not after the treasure or see it as one big game. You are looking for an escape. You would definitely catch me if I fall. As you know from my choice of friends, i have a bad habit of pulling rich kids from their stuffy lifestyle and take them on potentially life-threatening adventures." She joked. Then she lowered her voice, "Besides, it might be handy having a former assassin around."

She said in Arabic.

His hand went to his hidden knife and found it not there.

"Looking for this?" She said, holding it.

"How much do you know?" He hissed back in the same language.

"Relax," she gave back the knife, "my mother was one and I have accidentally came across a few in my adventures. I know one when i see one. I took a stab in the dark with your middle-eastern background. Speaking of, you know Talia Al Ghul by any chance."

He narrowed his eyes.

"She's my mother. Why?"

"You look like her. Met her a few times. Nice lady but scary. Mine's Sabine Cheng, goes by the Blue Reaper." She said it so casually like their parents weren't dangerous deadly assassins and had normal jobs.

"You aren't normal, are you?"

"What gave it away?"

"That you willingly gave away blackmail material to me."

"Normal people don't have assassins for mothers. And you and me aren't exactly meeting the minimum standards for normal. Besides, I just told you a family secret that you would have found out anyways with a through background search and a little digging. So far all I know about you is that your parents are Talia Al Ghul and Bruce Wayne-I wonder how an assassin got together with a billionaire-, you are a former League of Shadows assassin, you are great with weapons, keeping secrets and so far meeting the criteria for an adventure buddy. That's all I swear. And that you have some pets. A cat, maybe."

"How you know about my cat?!"

"Cat hair on your clothes." She was good. "If it will ease your mind about me, you can ask me 5 questions that I will truthfully answer. "

"So why are you doing this?"

"That's question 1. Well, I really want whatever this is between us to work. Partners, Friends, Companions, Comrades. Whatever you want to call it. Like I said, I get lonely sometimes and need some human interaction to at least keep myself sane. You looked like you want to be somewhere else and I thought this is perfect. I am not going to tell anyone about you or push you to join me. I swear on my mother's sword."

"Are we killing anybody?"

"Mostly I try to avoid that as much as possible. Sometimes I get into situations with no other alternative. " She looked away guiltily.

"Fair enough."

"Not judging me for that. That's a first for me."

"I am a former assassin and have killed before. I have no right to condemn you for your past."

"How much are you willing to tell me about this hidden temple?"

"That has to do with a secret. I would tell you more when there are less ears around. But this temple was said to hold a magic jewel that grants some powers and it is located really deep in the jungle. Getting there might take months."

"You forgot to mention that last one."

"Oh yeah. You think you can get away for some months. This kind of stuff usually takes a while. Like I said before, no pressure. Anyway, 2 questions left."

"What's my salary?"

"Aren't you a billionaire?"

"My father is. I have a trust fund and I get a salary for doing my job at the company. You are lucky that I just finished with most of my assigned projects so I might be able to come."

"I am so sorry about just assuming things about you. You can say no to the offer. The temple is said to hold some other treasures but I mainly want the jewel. We could auction off a few bits and pieces. I usually just donate them to museums and universities or sell them to those who really appreciate the history. I would also pay for the entire expenses for the trip."

"Can I think about this?"

"Sure. Here's my number. I leave on the 1st of next month. Gimme an answer a week before that so I can make the proper arrangements. It has been fun talking to you, Damian."

She walked away, going towards the buffet table.

------

Back in the car on the way home to the manor.

Bruce asked, "Who were you talking to for that long?"

"Who?"

"The one that gave you her number."

"Oh. MDC. She invited me to join her in China next month to find some hidden temple."

"She did?"

"Yes. Not only that she found out about mother and know what I did before I came here. She doesn't know about Batman, Robin or Crow. And she said she wasn't going to blackmail me but just wanted a companion to go with her. Ideally, it would be best to silence her before she digs any further into me but I trust her. I sincerely believe that she meant it when she said that she's not going to tell on me. And I am really tempted to take up on it."

"What do you want to do?"

"On one hand, i would be gone for months so there won't be Crow in Gotham for a while and I have a few projects I need to finish up. On the other hand. Father, I have been a vigilante for over 10 years now and I haven't really done much out besides that, school and now work. I have appreciated all you have done for me over the years. But I want to go with her. Do something that is not connected to Batman or Wayne or Al Ghul. Just a little something different for myself."

"You can go if you want. I am not going to stop you. I will make arrangements so the projects would be done by someone else. The others can cover your patrols. You are still young so it is understandable to want some fun every now and then."

"Thank you, Father."

Bruce put his hand on his shoulder.

"I am proud of you as Crow and as Damian Wayne. But if you want to go find some hidden temple in China just for a break from this life, to be just Damian, go for it. There are worse things you could do. Just tell me if you are going to go on any future trips like that." (I don't know DC much, sorry if that is a little OOC but I like good dad! Bruce.)

-------

Damian dialed the number on the card.

"Hello"

"I accept your offer, miss MDC."

"Damian? Right, text me your email address. I will sent you things you would need to pack and flight details. And can you come by to the Gotham Rose Hotel tomorrow? I will give more details on the temple."

-------

Damian comes by the hotel.

Marinette tells him of the kwamis and miraculous and makes him swear to not tell anyone unless they already know.

The hidden temple actually might have a miraculous.

Damian gets a little interested in the akuma situation she mentioned.

Mari doesn't say anything about it much.

When he got back, he goes to the Bat-computer and did some digging.

Ladybug looks a little familiar. Pulls up younger picture of Mari and look at that, she used to be a superhero.

Wonder Woman was kept informed of things and made sure no one goes to Paris without her knowing.

Zatanna helped capture the villain Hawkmoth and end his 2 year reign.

Fast forward, they are in Beijing now, sleeping off jetlag.

The next morning, They get out of the city somehow to the city limits and somewhere remote.

Mari uses Kalki and transports them to the jungle.

They set up camp. Cue Campfire stories.

-----

"I thought getting here would take months."

"No actually, finding the temple would. According to my research and the map I copied through less than legal means, it is somewhere in this general area. There used to a city around here too and the king or emperor pissed off some powerful priest or wizard, take your pick. There was a curse. The city crumbled down and the temple is the only thing standing because the king went there and prayed to the gods for protection. The one who answered his prayers and protected the temple in doing so the king was pressed into service of the god. The king did everything the god said for a while but later, he started to hate it and began disobeying the orders. The god cursed him for his disobedience. The temple he was protected in became his tomb and he was tasked to protect the chest inside the temple for the rest of eternity. Anyone who opens the chest would gain the ultimate power to rule the earth. Thankfully, we are not after the chest. Some powerful crack-head with a misused miraculous tried to find it and open the chest for more power. But he never returned. My theory is that the miraculous is still in the temple. As long as we don't wake up the king or go for the chest, we would be okay."

"What are the guns for? And How did you get them past security?"

"In case of emergencies, an army of undead was mentioned and guns are surprisingly good repellent. Well, most of the time. It's useless if there is a no weapons can kill 'it' rule. Then, it's just a stress reliever. I kept them in a pocket dimension. Makes it easier to get around."

Damian vowed to never let Marinette meet Jason. Judging by the pile of guns and occasional knives and other weapons she took out of the brown satchel which apparently holds a pocket dimension, Jason would adopt her. He wondered if that was all that was inside in.

-------

They packed up and started searching the jungle for hidden temple.

It was a month and a half before they found it.

They bonded a lot during that time.

They had a moment after drinking a little alcohol which Mari has in the pocket dimension. Or Drank a lot of alcohol and had sex.

It was awkward and they both agree to not talk about it again.

Soon after, they found the temple. But it is still a little far away.

But the temple is not the only thing they found. They also found a campsite with many people milling around. Some of them carried guns.

Somewhat rich bastard who overheard their conversation at the gala. Heard treasure and found out where Mari's next expedition is.

Had the help of some scholar who wants to be famous for the greatest find since King Tut.

They found the temple even though they had no magical help, they left 2 weeks before Mari did, so yeah.

Rich Bastard's name is 'Philip Anderson'(This sounds familiar to me for some reason and I can't find out why.) and Scholar is 'Harry Scott'

They have armed bodyguards and some 'hired' help to get the treasure.

Anderson is still rich but his company had been getting losses the past 2 years and this is a quick, easy get rich scheme.

Mari and Damian: "Rich asshole on his high horse."

Anderson doesn't know about the chest but Mari and Damian thinks he does and it was what he was after.

They set up camp a little further ahead of Anderson's

Unfortunately, they were found by Harry. Somehow.

-----

I am going to continue this when I am more awake.

[thesoulspulse]

Regarding My Good Vlad AU (Re-imagined Timeline! FINALE ~ Part 1!)

I split this into it’s own section since the final two episodes in the series are critical, especially since the last one is a literal trashfire by itself. I don’t think there’s much worth saving in it but I’m going to give it a shot anyway!

Also, I kinda forgot I tried to salvage Dani’s existence in this AU too so I’ll be writing two different takes on what may have happened to her before getting to the overhaul of the series finale. And just fyi it looks like I’ll have to split this yet again too into one more part since the latter isn’t even half-way through a story arc and clearly needs its own dedicated post. But we’re nearly there now and then maybe I can get this out of my system for a while.

Good Vlad AU Timeline: https://thesoulspulse.tumblr.com/post/661878830618771456/regarding-my-good-vlad-au-alternate-timeline

Part 1: https://thesoulspulse.tumblr.com/post/667945950680104960/regarding-my-good-vlad-au-re-imagined-timeline

Part 2: https://thesoulspulse.tumblr.com/post/668078084027727872/regarding-my-good-vlad-au-re-imagined-timeline

Part 3: https://thesoulspulse.tumblr.com/post/668277176759664640/regarding-my-good-vlad-au-re-imagined-timeline

Alright, with that out of the way here’s Danielle’s portion of the series finale!

D-Stabilized (Dani Already/Being Adopted)

Ok, so to fix forgetting about trying to add her in this AU I’m going to back track a little and say that Vlad’s been hiding Danielle from the GIW and THAT’S why they trashed Vlad’s last mansion in Wisconsin during this version of “Eye for an Eye.” So this time the tip was that both Vlad and Danny’s family are accused of harboring a ghost fugitive, which is ironic since Vlad technically is since Danielle is a half-ghost clone created by a rogue agent.

So now, when Vlad decided to move to Amity Park it’s also to hide Danielle right under the noses of the GIW agent while also waiting for his chance to expose their crimes.

That said, in this version of events Danielle is probably getting restless and sick of hiding so she’s taken to sneaking out without Vlad’s knowledge to help her cousin fight ghosts. However, eventually she starts actually feeling sick and does her best to hide it from Vlad until it becomes clear something is seriously wrong.

Vlad of course runs some tests on her and finds the problem, she needs a mid-morph sample from Danny which shouldn’t be too hard to get. Unfortunately, since Danielle wasn’t home at the time Vlad couldn’t tell her this in person and is angry/concerned of course to find she’s not in her room.

What Vlad doesn’t know is that Danielle’s been discovered by her creator but only left alone until he can trap her and Danny at the same time. Not only that, but Valerie has made a bit of a name for herself in the ghost hunting community so this rogue agent reaches out to her and asks for help with a special mission.

Thankfully Valerie has gotten over most of her lingering issues with Danny Phantom and usually leaves him alone, so the agent has to play the part of “I’ve mended all my ways and want to help this poor unfortunate soul, but I’ll need help capturing her so we can give her the medical care she needs” to convince her to work with him.

Reluctantly she agrees if only for her dad’s sake since the guy promises a large enough reward that it’ll get Valerie and her dad out of their crappy apartment since Vlad was only willing to do so much for them when his main concern is Danny and his family.

What Valerie didn’t expect was to find out that Danielle is a ghost AND a human and after capturing her she says she can’t let her go for her own good and promises that the Guys in White are trying to help. Obviously Danielle panics and tries to convince Valerie how evil that guy is and that she needs to get back to Danny since he’s the only one she can trust because Vlad’s still kind of a stranger to her despite all he’s done for her plus she’s worried about exposing him because of his important job in this town.

While Valerie isn’t strictly Danny’s enemy, something compels her to challenge him for the first time in a while so she pretends to go along with Danielle’s request. She has no idea her upgrade from Technus has ghostly side effects that have slowly been making her more hostile towards ghosts again, especially Danny Phantom.

When Valerie springs her trap, something snaps her out of that weird battle lust when Danielle faints and falls right out of the sky, thankfully Danny catches her just in time. Angrily he demands to know what she did to Danielle but Valerie gets defensive and tells him “I didn’t do anything ghost punk, in fact, I let her go since I figured another ghost would know how to help her more than the Guys in White. I’m missing out on a nice reward thanks to you so you’re welcome. Now hurry up and help her before I change my mind and capture you both!”

Nodding, Danny reaches down to pick Danielle up when the Guys in White surround them which is really bad news. The guy from before does the whole “thanks for leading me straight to them” thing before ordering his men to move in.

Going against everything she stands for as a ghost hunter, Valerie defends the two ghosts and tries to give them enough time to escape, only to get arrested by them herself for assisting ghost fugitives.

Danny manages to get back to Vlad and explains the whole mess, insisting they need to rescue Valerie but strangely enough Vlad refuses, explaining, “Don’t be a fool my boy. That’s exactly what he wants you to do! She’s clearly being used as bait and right now we need to focus on stabilizing Danielle. They can’t do anything to Miss Gray since she’s a human and a civilian so as soon as I’ve finished coming up with a plan we’ll rescue her the old fashioned way. Until then, you’re not to do anything reckless.”

Infuriated Danny snaps, “Oh that’s rich coming from you fruitloop! We wouldn’t even be in this mess if you had taken better care of Dani! It’s your fault she ran off!”

Showing his angry eyes, Vlad replies coolly, “Do you think I haven’t been trying to keep her happy this entire time? I’m a busy man Daniel, and you and your family have always been my top priority. That’s the main reason why I accepted your request to welcome her into my home in the first place. But ultimately, if she refuses to acknowledge my efforts then I don’t see the point in wasting my time. And if Danielle is that unsatisfied with my care then she’s free to leave at any time. I won’t force her to stay with me if she’s that tired of me...” he seems hurt by the last part and then snaps bitterly, “If it has come to this then I’m not going to bother getting my hopes up that either of you will ever see me as more than an ally when all I want...is to be loved and to be part of a family. But I guess that’s too much to hope for, isn’t it?”

At a loss for words, Danny leaves Vlad alone in the lab for a bit without realizing Danielle was awake and heard the whole thing. She feels awful for making Vlad feel like she didn’t appreciate everything he’s done for her over the past few months but like this, there’s nothing she can do.

Meanwhile, distracted by his guilt for being a jerk to Vlad too, Danny is caught by the Guys in White and locked up in the same cell as Valerie after they discovered her battle suit has ghost tech integrated into it. She’s obviously scared, angry, and confused by all of this but that only gets worse when the room their in short circuits Danny’s powers and his secret is revealed.

They talk things out and Danny ends up telling her everything, even about Vlad since he’s the only one who can save them before anyone else finds out their secrets.

Despite feeling unsure about Danny now that she knows his secret, they team up to find a way out of this mess together.

Off screen, Vlad and Danielle have a heart to heart and team up too once she’s stabilized to rescue Valerie and Danny. There’s a big fight between them and the other GIW agents as their leader fills Valerie and Danny’s cell with some kind of gas to make them more...agreeable and get Danny ready for transport to a more secure location for further study, maybe even to make a better clone than Danielle ever was.

During all that, Danielle reappears in top form now thanks to Vlad’s help and she kicks that rogue agent’s sorry butt. The rest soon follow and the rescue is successful. Valerie is carried out by Danielle, and Danny is carried by Vlad and they regroup at his mansion.

Once the sedatives wear off Danny apologizes for being a selfish brat and thanks Vlad for everything, especially for saving Danielle. Meanwhile, Danielle admits she’s been selfish too and needs some time to find herself now that’s she’s stable, thanking Vlad and calling him dad before saying goodbye. He seems to understand though and hugs her, saying she’ll always have a place to return to there.

As for Valerie, she says she needs some time too to come to terms with all of this and Danny says, “For what it’s worth...I never stopped caring about you Valerie. We’ve fought a lot, and you used to drive me nuts too in a way...but you know, I still think you’re pretty amazing.”

Danny seems to be directing that at Vlad too who just smiles at them and adds, “I couldn’t agree more. While my intentions for making you a ghost hunter were admittedly rather selfish at first too, I truly believe you’ve exceeded my expectations. As such, if you’re willing I would like to officially offer you a job as Axion Lab’s official ghost hunter, I’ll give you an advance on your first paycheck even to help you and your father move into a nicer apartment. How does that sound?”

With a heavy sigh Valerie nods, “Fine, it sounds like a better deal than working for those government losers anyway. But lets just keep this professional ok? I need time to process that not only are you two half-ghost like Dani, but I might not be so human myself anymore...so I guess we’re not really that different after all.”

D-Stabilized (Dani NOT Adopted Yet)

Not much changes from the canon episode except that the rogue GIW agent hires Valerie to capture Danielle but this time pretends he’s trying to save his daughter that was “kidnapped” by an evil ghost.

Instead of being restless from being cooped up, since she flew off into the sunset in this version of the timeline after the events of “Kindred Spirits” Danielle eventually makes her way back to Amity Park and is searching for Danny to help her escape the replacement character for Vlad since he’s not evil.

Just like in the canon episode, Valerie is shocked to find out Danielle is half-ghost but still captures her anyway since he dad is trying to save the human girl she supposedly is overshadowing. Danielle tries to convince her otherwise, saying he’s lying and both parts of her are one person and the subject of Danny Phantom is brought up.

Before she can find out anything the Guys in White track her down and take Danielle into custody but something feels wrong about all this so Valerie decides to confront Danny Phantom about it before anything bad happens to the ghost girl.

After finding him and fighting briefly, Valerie stops when she remembers why she went looking for him to begin with and tells Danny his ‘spooky cousin’ was taken by the Guys in White and demands to know what’s going on between him and the government.

Of course this news freaks Danny out and he blurts out that she’s in real danger and they have to save her. Valerie points out that it could be a trap though but Danny doesn’t seem to care...

He does the smart thing though and tells Vlad what’s going on in a message, but the sad thing is it turns out his phone was bugged and the rogue agent hits the jackpot after hearing that Vlad Masters is a halfa too!

So then it becomes one of those scenarios where Danny is forced to choose between saving Danielle or saving Vlad’s secret from being exposed. Or it was going to be until Valerie realizes these agents aren’t trying to help anyone but themselves and takes Danny and Vlad’s side, tipping the scales in their favor since she believes Danielle is just a kid and didn’t do anything wrong, so it doesn’t matter if she’s a ghost or not.

Vlad also brings the ecto-dejecto Jack made and uses it to save Danielle since there’s no time to worry about getting a mid-morph sample from the original Danny which would have been a painful process anyway.

When the dust settles, their secret is safe from Valerie but she’s not thrilled about what the Guys in White seem to be up to and reluctantly agrees to work with them to put a stop to this once and for all.

As for the rogue agent, he totally underestimated how powerful Vlad is with his connections and his ghost powers and Vlad gets the man fired as a government agent and he loses all of his authority and leadership over like-minded agents who want to use ghosts as weapons of war.

Too bad this has the opposite effect and only motivates this former agent to try even harder to gain control of Danny and Vlad and to destroy Danielle for her treachery. Or better yet...now he wants to find out how they became half-ghost instead. Dun Dun DUN!!!

Meanwhile, Danny finally tells Vlad everything and asks if he’ll take Danielle in since she has nowhere else to go and he’s the only person who can keep her safe from the government. Of course Vlad agrees without hesitation and welcomes her home like a daughter so all’s well that ends well...for now!

And the best part is, Valerie and Danielle sort of develop a bond and decide to team up to fight ghosts from now on too on top of that.