#the game didn't have a feature to add wings to the character

[beevean]

Comparing CV and NFCV designs

I was having thoughts about how game designs were translated to the show. While I'm not a character design expert, I ended up having a fair bit to say, because most of the changes are fascinating, for better or for worse :P

1) Sypha

She's the only character I would say that was improved over the game version.

While Sypha never starred in any game post-CV3, and wasn't redesigned by Ayami Kojima like Trevor and Alucard were (excluding a cameo in PtR), we know what she looks like by her ending sprite of CV3 and the Fake Sypha of SoTN:

Yet another long-blonde-haired woman. Like pretty much every other woman in CV with few exceptions. She's carried by her mage outfit and her big hood that give her a mystique air, but I don't blame the showrunners for redesigning her.

Giving her short, reddish hair was a great choice IMO. It's a very cute haircut that doesn't fall into the "Stronk Female Character" stereotype (think Zafir essentially lol). Too bad they didn't even attempt the whole "secretly a man" plot point because it would have worked pretty well. Her clothes are simple, and I wish she hid herself in the hood more, but they work for her character. Full thumbs up!

2) Dracula

I'll use the Dracula from SoTN and CoD as reference, since those are the designs that inspired the one from the show.

His SoTN design is iconic, a true classy villain that inspires awe, and surprisingly faithful to the description in Bram Stoker's book. His CoD design isn't bad, very similar in features to the previous one, but with clothes more inspired to his "Classic" style, which makes sense. (the spiked wings are particularly cool)

... but I must confess that I prefer Dracula with black hair rather than white:

I know that LoI didn't happen in NFCV, but it would make more sense for the original Dracula. He could have looked like an older Mathias by the time of CV3... then the grief of losing Lisa would turn his hair white, as we see in CoD and after. Also it's just aesthetically more pleasing lol.

I like the outfit as well. The top is inspired from the CoD outfit, where he looked like a sorcerer, and the bottom is inspired from the SoTN outfit, where he looked like a noble (he wears boots, hidden here). Not particularly elegant, but then again this Dracula is neither of those things, so it works well enough.

It's ranked below Sypha simply because, well, it's just Dracula with a dye job, not much effort went into here. Hell, Kojima herself considered the idea first:

But it's a small change that works wonders and I like him a lot!

3) St. Germain

In CoD, St. Germain was meant to look very out of place:

He wears anachronistic clothes, and even his body build is unusual for the style. You can tell before he opens his mouth that something's up with him.

In the show, having a different background, he had to be redesigned:

He looks more time appropriate and stockier, but still recognizeable as the original character in physical traits. They even kept the hourglass!

I have little to add. The two characters serve different purposes, so they have to look different, and both work. I don't prefer one over the other, which is good enough. It was also a cute easter egg that N!St. Germain at one point wore the original outfit.

4) Trevor

Now we're getting into "obvious downgrades compared to the original" territory, but Trevor still looks fine for what he is:

Handsome in a scruffy way, combat ready (especially after ditching the cape), and with noble heritage. Nothing near as iconic as his CoD design, which looks both elegant and as combat ready as a veteran vampire hunter should be...

... but again, it's fine for the kind of character this Trevor is, and he's still aesthetically pleasing.

I do question, however, why Trevor starts out with his scar. In CoD, he got the scars on his eye and chest after the fight with Dracula, to mark him as a survivor of the Dark Lord at the peak of his strength. Giving it to Trevor simply because he got in trouble with humans is cheapening it.

5) Hector

Hector has the dubious honor of being one of the few characters who looks nearly identical to his game counterpart. As you can tell by the placing of the designs, I don't like this choice (Dracula notwithstanding because the black hair really is an improvement IMO), because they end up looking like discount versions of the beautiful Kojima designs.

Still, what more or less saves Hector is that his design had to be simplified, because man there is a lot going on here:

Hector's design conveys two important factors: he's a knight, and he's proficient in combat. The outfit's not elegant, but it's protective - look at the armor on his chest, his boots, and the guard on his left arm. His clothes overall look sturdy and comfortable enough to run and fight. He also has a ton of details that would be a nightmare to animate, such as the holes in his sleeves and pants, the chains, the skewed belt...

The simplification here was done with the right amount of care. The holes have become a motif, and the sleeves are no longer asymmetrical in color; same for the holes in the pants. The armor and boots still share the same motif, even without the detail that made them look protective (in fact, the armor is more visibly made of metal here, while in Kojima's style it's hard to tell if it's metal or leather). The belt has become a singular object, and most importantly they removed the black ribbon wrapped around the sash - it was most likely an accidental choice, but since that is Rosaly's ribbon, and ofc Hector wouldn't have it in this version, it was the right call.

There are, however, some problems with this. All these compromises make for a weird design in the context of the show: no other character has this extravagant design, even with all the simplifications. I'll explain later that he's especially jarring contrasted with Isaac. Also, it simply doesn't fit the character: this version of Hector is infamously completely ineffectual in battle, spends most of his screentime being used and tortured, and never once swings a weapon at an opponent (perhaps this is why he looks like he lost all muscle mass lol). Just look at the glove on his right hand: the reason the real Hector wears it is as protection when he uses his sword. Hector from the show doesn't even have a sword! That glove is completely useless for a blacksmith like he's supposed to be!

As a plus, this is what Hector is supposed to wear when employed under Dracula:

They gave Isaac the correct uniform (and I will have words about it). Hector started to wear his CoD clothes after he decided to run all over Wallachia to chase Isaac. Again, the outfit is not for work, it's for combat.

But it's not just the clothing that changed. On a positive note, I like his darker skin: Hector here is canonically Greek, and I appreciate it. I would like to see this bronze skin tone with game Hector's silver hair. On a negative note, however, this Hector's hair is very bad: not only it's a dull grey and not shiny silver, but the haircut is simply unflattering - why did they cut off the tips like that? It falls very badly around his face, it looks like a cheap, static wig.

(i'm not even going to deign words for how they drew child hector. that thing has suffered enough)

Overall, I don't know why they bothered to recreate the same design when it simply doesn't fit the character, and the character in general just looks like a downgrade, but I can accept the compromises in a vacuum. It helps that Hector's original design is just that good.

6) Lisa

Lisa also looks identical to her game counterpart, perhaps because there was no need to waste time for a minor character.

She's female Alucard with a typical mom ponytail. Nothing much to say.

And I will only say one thing about Lisa in the show.

Man is the style so damn unflattering for her.

She can look better depending on the artist...

But I'm not giving points for literally copying Kojima's design and doing it poorly.

7) Alucard

Alucard's design by Kojima is one of the most iconic in videogame history.

Look at him. Pure, effortless elegance. An absolute prince, graceful and deadly. The sheer amount of detail in his clothing are a fashion designer's dream. You cannot top this. Which is why I imagine the show didn't even attempt to.

... but what the actual fuck am I looking at here.

Again. Simplification was in order, I get it, I understand. But... really? Really. You did this to Alucard. You gave him the shittiest V-neck shirt and pants I could buy at the thrift store? Where is the elegance? Where is the nobility? Just having a long coat isn't enough to recreate the same style!

I also resent the scar on his chest, given to him by Dracula (unlike Trevor). That is the true reason he wears the shitty V-neck shirt. His S4 design all but proves it:

Now this is just nonsensical. What's the point of wearing a cape and a coat, but still going around with your whole chest out? I mean. We all know why. But it's ridiculous.

This is why Alucard ranks far lower than Hector and Lisa: his design has cheap fanservice as its priority, and I find that disrespectful towards the character and the audience. Plus, much like Lisa, the style is very unflattering to him.

I don't know what to tell you, guys. I just find him ugly, even in the best shots.

8) Carmilla

Comparing the two Carmillas isn't even worth it, but then again I could say the same about Isaac, and I don't want to be unfair :P

This is the most famous design for Carmilla in the games:

A giant, masked, naked woman riding a skull crying bloody tears. Nothing like any other foe in the series, and absolutely raw.

We also have "Camilla" from CotM:

Aww, she's cute. She's so pink and frilly! She has fins in her hair! Hard to imagine her as a villain. But don't worry, she also turns into a giant naked demon lady riding a skull:

So the showrunners had some good ideas to transport into the show.

... And they went for the most generic "sexy female villain" design they could.

She's not ugly, but... she's just boring. This design fits her to a T because her whole character is boring. They didn't even give her a mask, or a skull motif. Nothing. It's just a forgettable sexy #girlboss. Disappointing. Even the dress is boring - does this thing even have shading?

I guess they recycled the idea of a cute vampire villain for Lenore, but she's outside the scope of this list, so.

9) Isaac

And finally we get to the worst downgrade in the whole show :)

Where do I even begin with this guy. He's unlike any other character designed by Kojima, but not to the point of looking like he doesn't belong. What matters is that you can tell everything you need to know about him at first glance, and first and foremost: he's the peak of flamboyancy and insanity. You are not going to forget Isaac very soon lol.

But it's all the details that make the picture. He's red and black, marking him as a foil to Hector who is blue and silver. His outfit is obviously similar to Hector's, but fallen off of him and rotten (the "armor" on his chest resembles Hector's own, just stripped down). He has long forgotten anything resembling "sturdy and comfortable", but the bloodied spear tells us he's still a formidable fighter. The hair is anachronistic to say the least, but the way the bangs cover a side of his face contrasts Hector's billowing hair and draws attention to the tattoo on his face. He is covered head to toe with intricate tattoos, that must have been painful to get: a show of strength, loyalty, or masochism, you decide. Among these, he proudly displays a tattoo in the shape of the Devil Forgemaster crest on his back: this, along with the collar, tell us that he's slavishly devoted to his master.

This is Isaac's character, and the design does a fantastic job at telling us everything we need to know without even needing him to move or speak. I would say that his main characteristics are the color red (the hair, mostly) and the tattoos.

Yeah, good job not keeping a damn thing that made him recognizeable.

This is a dude. This is a completely average dude who rolled into the set and stole a costume for the role. No, giving him red eyes and a few dots on his face is not enough to give him an unique, memorable design. He's bland... neutered. And they absolutely did it on purpose, because this design is the complete opposite of the controversial original above - this Isaac is serious and "deep", not a gay clown, duhhh.

They don't even deserve credit for the uniform:

And may I say that Kojima, being an artist on a whole different level, was able to make the cossacks look elegant and dynamic, while N!Isaac above looks flat and boring.

Also, in PtR, Hector and Isaac match:

Because they're wearing a uniform. They have the same job and the same role, so they are wearing the same clothes. It's common sense. (it also makes more satisfying when at the end they diverge, displaying more of their personalities)

In the show, they do not:

Why is Hector, the ineffectual non-fighter, wearing combat clothes, while Isaac, the sharp and strong fighter, is wearing a full vest? Why is Hector wearing blue and Isaac is wearing black? Why do they have different crests on their armor???? IT'S A UNIFORM!

This is what happens when you browse the wiki without actually doing research on what the elements you're referencing mean.

Also, blue and black? Nowhere near as striking as blue and red. Isaac has something of a red motif in the show, only in his magic, but his personality doesn't match it. Even worse, Isaac wears blue in S4. Because he's not a foil to Hector, he is Hector but worse.

As for the tattoos, obviously I would never expect all those intricate tattoos in an animated show, but it would have been cool if he had at least the Devil Forgemaster one (even the extremely simplified version on this Hector's back), since even this Isaac starts out as being blindly loyal to Dracula. Instead, they thought that Isaac has a fetish for pain, and they gave show Isaac the habit of flagellating himself... which then got attributed to religion, and then was dropped lol. His actual tattoos are... weird? And overall they hardly matter, since they're concealed most of the time. Unlike game Isaac's tattoos, they don't convey anything about his character.

As you can guess, the reason Isaac is my least favorite design is that he's not just a downgrade: he's a downgrade that pretends, and is accepted, to be an upgrade. You can feel the contempt against the real Isaac, by showrunners who didn't bother to understand the character and hastly rewrote him to "fix" him. Isaac was deliberately neutered because the show thought itself too superior... although in retrospect it's funny, since they allowed a pink haired BDSM vampire in Nocturne...

[talonwolf2]

I said earlier I was writing a Team Rancher fic based on the idea of what if they had a different number of lives, and I've actually written it! I still don't consider myself a good writer, but it took me two weeks to write and I wanna put it somewhere, I contemplating putting it on AO3 but I have no idea how that site works so Tumblr can have it. It is obvious that hurt/comfort is my favorite trope lol, flower husbands enthusiasts may not like this, Scott's an antagonist >:)

Word count: 12,738

Main characters: Tango and Jimmy

(all characters are present in some form)

Warnings (tell me if I should add/delete some): main character death, talk of side character death, stabbing, kissing (one is non-consent,) suicidal ideation, implied self harm, light description of gore, fainting, lotta stuff about blood

Tango shook his head, "you really shouldn't let them walk all over you," he said in a faintly questioning way, Tango had been sitting on their porch-like bridge that sat as a border for the Ranch while skimming through his communicator's logs. The late morning sun had been bouncing off the water below, blinding those spending time near it. He hadn't said anything since they'd gone back after Rancher's Revenge was slain.

Jimmy walked up from behind him, with a weak smile he added, "It's fine, I don't mind it, I swear,"

Jimmy sat himself next to Tango who emitted heat from his netherborn body, Tango gave no notice of him, focused on whatever was on his mind. He had the remains of Ranchers' Revenge in his lap, he pursed his lips holding onto what he wanted to say and Jimmy knew something must have been really bothering him. He knew Tango enough to know he couldn't just pry information like that out of him. They simply sat in an awkward silence, Jimmy peeling pieces of bark off the bridge where they sat seeing if he could throw chips far enough to land in the water with little success. Tango fiddled with his hands, eyes glued down to a rushing stretch of water, Tango silently moved away, standing up with Rancher's revenge sitting on his hip.

Jimmy watched as he started to walk towards the goat barn wordlessly, he knew it wasn't his time to chime in. Jimmy stretched out his shoulders hoping for it to help the tight feeling in his back despite knowing it would have no effect. Jimmy didn't want to tell Tango about it even though he knew Tango could feel the itchy and tightness Jimmy felt from his undelt with wings. He'd grown accustomed to it, but he knew it was being shared through their soulbound, it was stupidly obvious through the way he slouched. Jimmy told himself maybe things would be different this time if he didn't show his wings to anyone, they had really never really interacted with each other enough in the other games. He knew Tango wasn't aware of his avian features as he already had started to hide them by last life, so he'd already been used to unpreened wings at this point. He'd decided when he'd met Tango due to his innocent mistake, to hide them fully hoping that one little thing could break his curse; their curse now.

"Maybe we should stop," Tango said, cutting off Jimmy's thoughts as he sat back down close to him, his eyes subtly looking at Jimmy, "you know the way this always ends and we don't have a whole lot going for us," he paused setting his hand on Jimmy's, "ally wise." When Tango had returned, he was empty handed without his armor and extra bits of his outfit.

"Come on Tango, I really don't have too much faith in myself after how these games have ended for me," he chuckled, "I'm all in this for you now."

Tango only frowned at his attempts to get him to smile, Tango continued where he left off, "we shouldn't have messed with Scar," he said while Jimmy turned to see the ruins, "I am upset, but focusing on such a single miniscule issue could go south real quick." Tango took the hat he'd had on and set in on Jimmy's head, "but come on Jim, we got bigger things to deal with,"

Jimmy flushed at the gesture, "well okay then, what's the plan?" Tango only then returned a smile, "So no revenge, friend making?" He questioned adjusting Tango's hat on his head.

"Yeah, I'm thinking I'll work on the Ranch since it's been decided I'm the talented one," he poked, "and you'll try to unburn bridges, yeah?"

"I could do that," he said despite the fact he admittedly didn't want to, "then it's a plan!" He faked excitement.

"Great! Do you think you could track down some sand as well for a totally normal reason?" He added with a smile in his voice.

Jimmy started standing up, "wait do you want your hat back?" he said, tipping the hat.

Tango smiled dismissively, "nah keep it on, show others you're with me," as Tango went to push himself back up onto his feet, his hand went through a flimsy board. That board was a critical one which collapsed under his weight, causing him to fly down the revine.

Jimmy screamed as Tango's pain shot through both of them sending him back into his knees, Jimmy rushed to the edge spotting Tango laying on his back.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" he insisted even though he'd fallen a good forty feet and he could feel the wind knocked out of both of him. "Maybe a scratch or two," he said, cradling his arm to his body still sprawled over the mossy rocks by the shore.

Jimmy stared down at him, "you dumbo," he gritted through his teeth from the pain rather than malicious intent, he yelled down to him, "maybe my curse has spread to you."

Tango swore under his breath, "you know how stupid I think that is, now are you gonna help me or what?" he shouted innocently. He turned to his communicator.

<SolidarityGaming> Ranch needs some help

<Grian> Deserved

<Inthelittlewoods> L

<Inthelittlewoods> What's up though?

<Tango> I feIl down the big revine

<GoodTimeWithScar> totally deserved, that's what you get for stealing my horse

"They really don't like helping huh," Jimmy yelled down, turning his head thinking he heard something behind him.

"Yeah I noticed," Tango said faintly, trying to ground himself which made him yell out in pain flopping back down onto the unforgiving rocks.

Jimmy swears he hears a faint giggle around him, but with his bound's pain shooting through his body, he knew he couldn't do anything about it, he wouldn't be able to fend for himself. "Tango do something," he shouted down as a feeling of dread filled him.

"What!?" Tango yells back trying to get up, which only causes him to stifle another pained sound.

All the confident footing Jimmy had made simply crumpled under him, "Whatever is there go away," he screamed covering his eyes.

A familiar voice spoke out, "oi what's all this for," he looked up only to see a girl in a red hood with torn moth-like wings, she giggled at how useless he looked, "You really do need a hand."

"Pearl! You scared the life out of me," Jimmy looked down gesturing, "again." She wasn't looking at him, but rather the condition of the Ranch, "are you gonna give us a hand or what?" Jimmy hushed.

"What's in it for me," she said in a deepened voice, "I gotta get something in return," she smiled.

"Pearl we are dirt poor," he said shakely standing up edging closer to her trying to make himself look bigger. She simply gave his shoulder a small shove, causing him to topple back, "fine, fine whatever you want!" His voice shook.

"I just want a promise of safety for my Tilly," she crouched down next to him.

"Is that it?" He furrowed his brows as she towered over him, "like your dog, really?"

"Mhm" she responded innocently.

"Then come'er," he becened her to the bridge, "the problem is very clear." he pointed down at Tango who gave a half-assed wave.

"Is that Pearl?" He shouted shifting how he lay.

Pearl looked at Jimmy who stiffened, "Bet you're happy I am a makeshift medic," She leaned over the edge getting a good look at him, "I'm gonna jump down to you."

Before Jimmy could get a word in, Pearl had already backed up and started running off the edge, "you really are crazy!" he shouted.

°~-–~°~--~°~--~°~--~°~--~°~--~°

"Are you not wearing armor?!" Pearl exclaimed as she pulled herself up to the rocks he had fallen on, "that would explain a lot!"

"I don't wanna talk about it," he said, forcing a smile.

Pearl sat herself next to him, unclipping the bag attached to her thigh. Pearl took what he said as an ask for silence which he didn't mind, he thought she had an interesting character so he liked just seeing how she works. Pearl placed what seemed to be a mastershift cloth on the ground between placing other health items that were obviously made by her on it.

Pearl looked at him, "sanitizing," she gestured to the items being separated in a particular way.

Pearl looked down at her communicator as if she expected something only to discard it to the side. Pearl put up one finger as she hoped back down to the water, Tango looked up there cliff seeing Jimmy was looking down at him.

<Me To: SolidarityGaming> I don't like this

<SolidarityGaming To: Me> Me neither man, but you gotta trust her

<SolidarityGaming To: Me> Nobody else really wants to help us

<Me To: SolidarityGaming> Fine, what did you even say to get her help?

"And emotional support," Peart returned with a bucket full of water in one hand and a puppy under her other arm that seemed tired, but happy to be included. Pearl sat both down, the puppy just laid down next to her while the bucket splashed as she dropped it down. Pearl's mood switched back as she sat closer to Tango, "are you fine with me touching you?"

"As long as it gets me out of pain," he said, trying to find a way to sit comfortably.

Pearl turned away, sticking her hands in the ice cold lake water, "What all is bothering you?" She twisted back to him.

Tango paused thinking about it only to find with all the adrenaline pumping, he wasn't really sure, "all over," Which wasn't really wrong, he was in a lot of general pain. Tango had found it harder to get comfortable since he got bound to Jimmy, but he felt it wasn't his space to ask Jimmy if it was because of him.

Pearl frowned, "well that's not too helpful," she paused, biting her lips, "there's a quick way and a slower way to deal with that."

"Why would I not wanna take the quicker way, wouldn't that just be statistically better?" He questioned as she was looking away from him trying to get her to look him in the eyes.

"Typically yes, but it would break your soulbound," Pearl held out a Notch Apple, "but I don't think you want that."

Tango's eyes widened, he hesitated, "woah, woah, there is no way I'm doing that!" he hated to admit he thought about it for a second saying they were on their red lives, "I can't just do that to him."

"That's fine, you just need to tell me what's wrong then," Pearl said, trying not to sound bugged.

Tango looked at her thinking about her disunion with Scott wondering why she hadn't used it on herself, "well when I fell I got pretty winded and I tried to stop myself while falling and I already got this nasty gash on my arm," Tango extended his arm to show a winding injury that went from his inner wrist to the bump of his elbow.

Pearl looked at it and didn't say a word, she silently dug through her bag and pulled out a pink potion, "start with this," she pushed it into his hands.

"This is different than the apple?" He fiddled with its cap, "it won't affect our bond?"

"It shouldn't," Pearl said simply looking at him kindly, "I assure you it shouldn't."

Tango looked at her and drank half of it, it was very odd tasting and not too enjoyable, "bleh," he said sticking out his tongue, "It does seem like it's helping though." Tango smiled, pulling out his communicator.

<Me To: SolidarityGaming> Hey is what she's doing helping on your end Jimmy?

<SolidarityGaming To: Me> Yeah it's definitely working, whatever witchcraft she's using is amazing!

<Me To: SolidarityGaming> Yep!

<SolidarityGaming To: Me> I'll start trying to mend bonds like you said

Tango looked up at her, "well that works super fast," Pearl was busying herself again with her items, "I need to ask, why does everyone think of you as-"

"The crazy ex, a demoness, insane, weirdo," she looked up at him, "because I was abandoned back to back, I think if anyone else was in my boat they'd react the same way as me." Pearl took off her hood which made her green galaxy of freckles almost glow.

Tango sat up "I don't think you're some sort of demon, I think you're right, but people don't wanna see your side," after listening to Jimmy talking of him and Scott's falling out, he'd grown to have neutral at best feelings towards him.

She giggled, "I think you'd go crazy in this murderous loop as well," for once her smirk seemed rather malicious which admititly freaked Tango out just a tad.

Pearl smiled back at him in her normal innocent wonder way, "but, you are distracting me, I came to help you, not be reassured," Pearl pet the puppy who'd fallen asleep and had not been disturbed by their talking.

°~-–~°~--~°~--~°~--~°~--~°~--~°

Jimmy swatted at a low hanging branch as he walked through the wooded area between him and Pearl's base, he felt the need to leave her at least some sort of gift. Jimmy was holding a young calf over his shoulders and had his pockets filled with small eggs, he thought it was a simple enough gesture from The Ranch that surely even a dog could enjoy. He sat them down in the base of her tower only to sit with them for a moment to ponder his next move. Jimmy did admittedly want to reconnect with Scott, they had been husbands in the past after all. He was in so much denial of Scott pushing him away, and he thought maybe he could change his mind this time as if he hadn't tried a million times. He loved Tango and all, but in no way was it in the same way as he'd been attached to Scott. Tango was his best non-romantic lover he'd ever had, he would do anything for him, but he couldn't just let go; he'd always been adored for never letting go. Jimmy gave the calf a good pat before standing up leaving it turning out the building towards him.

°~-–~°~--~°~--~°~--~°~--~°~--~°

"You didn't really know Jim before this?" Pearl questioned helping Tango back onto the bridge, Pearl gave a little yelp as she grabbed onto his hand, which had heated up from his excitement of getting back up.

Tango gave heavy breaths as he stabilized himself back on his feet, "No, but I'm glad they brought us together," he smiled, "proud of us, we're gonna prove this nonsense curse thing being false."

"So that's why you're not afraid of this reversed red riding hood," Pearl huffed

"Possibly," he leaned on her shoulders, "you got good in you, i've got your back till the end if you need it, my last life if you will."

She pushed him off politely, "That's a huge deal, I couldn't do that."

"Okay~, offer will stay open," he added, staying cocky, Tango turned his back to her, eyeing The Ranch, "gotta figure out this mess now."

"Okay then sir, good luck with that and stay safe," Pearl waved as she headed on her way.

"You too Pearl!" He smiled.

<Me To: SolidarityGaming> Do you think you could still pick up some sand?

No response.

<Me To: SolidarityGaming> Jim?

<Me To: SolidarityGaming> You there?

Tango frowned, "I need to have faith in him, he's probably just out of range," he told himself as he fiddled with the antenna of his communicator. He crouched down in the shade of the goat barn and pondered over The Ranch. Maybe he could rebuild it out of brick, or hay, or stone, but he knew his limitation of items within his grasp would not let that be possible. Tango entered the Ranch again looking around the ruins of the main floor.

"Hello there," a smiley Scar on a horse says, "enjoying an almost end to your series."

"Yeah yeah yeah," he swatted at him away while rummaging through chests, "you're lucky I've not decided to turn on you, I don't think you want that either."

"Nope, me and G are really liking our green names and will be keeping it that way," Scar hopped off his horse, throwing its lead over what was once the door frame before entering the Ranch.

Tango turned to him, "is that a challenge?"

"I promise it is not, I have come to apologize," a smile slipped into his voice, "and I swear I'm not being forced to."

Tango sat on a singed chest, "then do it," he looked Scar up and down, "go on."

Scar stuttered over his words, "well, I guess I just wanted to uh, uhm words aren't working," he nervously laughed, "just I'm sorry, I want to just put it simply, but you did start it."

Tango heard Scar's communicator buzz, he took slow steps closer to him, "seems like you're just being used as a puppet," he leaned in close, "I don't think Grian deserves your trust." Scar looked at him but didn't back away, he didn't dare utter a word, as if he did admit it, everything would fall apart. Tango stepped back, "I'm not wrong am I?"

Scar's lips were sealed before spitting out, "I trust Grian," he had a thought filled look, "he's protected me with his life in the past."

"And didn't you turn on him?" Tango slowed, this wasn't where he meant to bring the conversation, he was filled with guilt, "I'm sorry, that was inappropriate of me to say."

Scar looked at him before folding onto the ground, "heh, forgot my cane," he froze, "but you're not wrong," he looked up at Tango, "the lenses are definitely rose colored," he scoffed.

Tango joined him on the floor silently, "earlier Pearl gave me an offer,"

He perked up, "an offer you say?"

Tango glanced at Scar, "you may not like this, I sure didn't," Tango touched the back of his neck, "Pearl had offered me a god Apple," Scar furrowed his brows, "which breaks a soulbound."

Scar's eyes flashed with fear, "you're serious?"

"Completely."

"And you have it?"

"No, I didn't dare touch it, let alone take it from her."

Scar had an unreadable look, "what did she want for it?"

"Are you actually thinking about it!" Tango was genuinely surprised, that seemed so unlike him.

"Oh would you look at that my communicator is going off, bye bye now Jolly Rancher!" Scar fibbed, jumping to his feet obviously too quickly for his body, hobbling towards his horse.

"It's still Team Rancher Scar," he shouted as he pulled himself onto his horse and headed on his way, "I was gonna try to pull a you and swindle for you horse." he laughed to himself.

Tango took a random pain, "ow!" he audibly exclaimed, "that was a lot of damage!"

Tango pushed himself off the ground, he paused looking at the chests, he decided it wasn't quite worth his efforts. It had already been a long day and the non-existent sleep for the past few days was getting to him. Tango took out his horn and gave it a good blow.

No response.

Not answering his communicator wasn't unlike him, but not answering their horns? He blew it again as loud as he could.

No response.

An unfamiliar sensation followed the silence.

°~-–~°~--~°~--~°~--~°~--~°~--~°

His communicator buzzed without him realizing as he entered Scott's own version ranch.

"What do you want this time," a bitter Scott spat at him.

His eyes scanned Scott's base, "I just wanted to say hello!," Jimmy responded with a gentle smile hiding a daisy behind his back.

"Timmy, you are literally a beggar, leave, I don't do charity,"

Jimmy felt struck by this reminder he truly wasn't the same Scott who paraded him around, "well I guess I really only wanted to say hi!" He repeated hiding his disappointment.

"Then hi," Scott gestured him away, "I had plans."

Jimmy continued, "just wanted to see how the worse ranch was doing with your self made soulmate," he said poking at him.

"We have a stronger bond than most for the record, me and Cleo are better than any other partner I've had." Scott said shoving a fence post to correct its wonky placement.

"What happened?" Jimmy walked closer to him, trying to get Scott to look at him while fiddling with the flower, "you have spent this series abandoning, not one, but two past partners who had been just as important to you."

"This is not the same game," Scott growled.

"Pearl is literally bound to you, and you left her," he snapped for her despite the fact he was one of many who was afraid of her, "you lived with her last time and left me!"

Scott got in his face, "I choose my own destiny," he scowled as their eyes locked, and slowly added one word at a time, "it's none of your business Jim."

Jimmy slouched, "I want a reason," he added in a hushed voice, "please."

"Well I'm not gonna give you one," he backed away, "you are not worth my time." He started walking backwards, "you have Tango and you still come back for my praise, pathetic," Scott rolled his eyes.

His heart sank, "you really are that cruel," he hissed, "forget this." Jimmy threw the daisy on the ground stomping on it. He gave a quick glare before crossing his arms huffing as he walked away. Tango was all he needed, Scott meant nothing to him!

Totally nothing.

Jimmy didn't know where he was going but he just let his legs take him wherever they'd dare to, he didn't care anymore. Tango was all he had, he hated the frustration that started to boil up inside him thinking of how Tango was the only one he felt ever truly believed in him. Jimmy started to audibly grumbling to himself as it all started to bubble over his limit, it was all so much. He wanted to not care, but he did, too much.

Jimmy suddenly fell, the ground underneath him stopped. Within his blurry haze of emotions he fell into a cave, It wasn't a shallow cave at that, it definitely wasn't a fun fall, "Why does this keep fucking happining," he whimpered to himself. He leaned his head down between his legs wondering what he did to deserve what had been thrown at him. Jimmy put his hand through his hair realizing Tango's hat had fallen off, he panicked for a moment before seeing it slyly laying on its side a few feet away. Jimmy smiled at it as he stood up to go and grab it, everything seeming to fall back in place as his emotions fizzled away. "I have Tango," he smiled. It was getting dark, he knew if he tried to get out now he'd run out of energy, Jimmy knew he'd have to set up camp there for the night. He reached for his communicator only to find the string that once chained it to his belt had snapped, he grumbled, "hmph, I don't wanna worry Tango, but I really can't tell him."

He nodded his head, maybe a nap would be deserved, but he just couldn't get comfortable. He moved his shoulders and patted his back, but it didn't do anything to help and he knew it wouldn't. Jimmy had spent so long abusing his wings that it truly was starting to come back to bite him. He hated them and the pain they brought, he never dared to tell, let alone show Tango his wings because of it. Jimmy as a stabbing pain ran through him, annoyed he finally caved. Jimmy took off his jacket tossing it to the side, he then untied his bandana he matched with Tango tossing onto the hat on top of his jacket. He paused for a moment, rubbing his shoulders trying to help his pain, his wings had only become more of a nuisance especially as he tried getting his shirt off. Jimmy could barely get his shirt off with his wings sticking to his shirt, he found that with an elongated stretch, he could finally pull it over his head tossing it over to join his jacket. Jimmy then struggled with one hand trying to reach the string he'd used to tie his wings together tightly to his body, Jimmy took one good tug to it and it untied falling behind him. Jimmy was instantly filled with a feeling of pleasure, it felt so good to have them freed, he moved his wings around with a cheeky smile giggling to himself. The pain ceased!

But that joy was instantly taken over by an even greater level of discomfort that rolled over him. It was actually painful, he folded into himself from the pain, grinding his teeth together. He went from sitting happily to laying on his stomach to trying to get weight off his wings. The pain caused him to have a giggly feeling even though it made him feel like he was about to faint, he couldn't help but continue to giggle as he thought about how he got there. Arrived in the game after an unknown amount of time in his own personal void to find his wings maliciously clipped perfectly, with nothing but his clothes to his name. The talk of soulmates comforted him, he thought knowing his track record, maybe his person could help make this short time together pleasant.

Jimmy was hit with another stinging pain as he started to doze off. He was laying his bare chest to the unwelcoming stone hearing distant sounds, but it was not enough to keep him awake.

°~-–~°~--~°~--~°~--~°~--~°~--~°

Tango couldn't take it, he yelled through the horn one more time.

No.

Response.

Panic set in, "I swear if I die like this," he mumbled to himself. He had been leaning precariously against the ruins, he finally threw back on his vest seeing that the sun would start setting within the hour and started running towards The Cake. He called out being the first person he'd seen. "Scar, Scar!"

"Oh, oh, ooh my gosh," a spooked Scar dropped his cane, "you scared me!"

Tango rushed to pick it up, shoving it back into his hand, "I'm so sorry, but have you seen Jimmy?" he pleaded.

Scar had a hand on his chest, "well no, geez, I need a moment."

"I don't have a moment," he wanted to yell. "Take your time," he hummed.

"Come, Come, to the Panda Sanctuary!" he invited, "I need to sit!"

"I'm still sorry, but I don't have time for that, have you seen Jimmy!"

Scar frowned, "well that doesn't make me wanna help," Tango glared, "you're looking good today though, classic Avian slouch is gone."

Tango tilted his head, "What?"

"Hmph, okay then," Scar grinned, "I swear I saw him on the other side of the revine a while ago," He added while turning away, "I'll be with the Jellies if you need me."

Tango sat frozen for a moment before snapping out of it, he looked over the bridge, the Relation. He hopped over towards the wobbly bridge that crossed over the ravine that connected The Cake to the Boat Boy's base. He ran up there path to the boat panting frantically looking around the boat to see noone.

<Tango> aye, SmallEtho, where are you at? It's urgent

<Etho> Nowhere

<Tango> I'm at the Relationship, I have a flint and steel

<Smallishbeans> I'm calling your bluff

<Grian> He is at your base

<Etho> Kinda busy

Tango grumbled leaning against The Relation as the unfamiliar feeling ran through him again. He picked at a splintering piece of wood, he gave a defeated tap to the boat as he started his way towards Cleo's base. He thought maybe she'd be of some sort of actual help. Tango grabbed at random pieces of tall grass within his reach while walking trying to get his mind straight; he'd never felt this way about others in the past games. Was it because of their soulbound or did he actually care? He stuck with that thought, smiling to himself, he really did love his bound. Even if it wasn't the same as some of the others, of whom were more than just soulbounds. Yet he truly loved Jimmy. His partner in this life.

"Oh Cleo!" Tango said extra exaggeratedly, a smile slipped into his voice, "you around." He blew his horn while stumbling around her home, "man she's not home either!" Tango looked down the bridge and grimaced, it was a pretty bridge and all, but he didn't like who was sat on the other side.

"Hi Tango," added a lonesome Scott sitting inside his sheep pen brushing a young lamb, "you having a fun time there yelling all about?"

Tango waltzed up to the pen, "what do you think," he snapped.

"Feisty today," Scott looked up at him, "I swear if you scorch my new fence."

Tango lifted his hand not realizing how hard he was gripping it, "oh, uhm," he stammered, "What are you doing?"

He didn't respond to him, "My fence! You owe me now," he stood up reminding Tango of how tall he truly was, "here, have this."

Scott tossed him the wilted flower, "What's this?" He furrowed his brows, "a daisy?"

Scott made a face, "yeah, I believe it is,"

Tango smiled, "he quite liked daisies,"

"He did."

Color drained from his face, "What did you do."

Scott calmly opened the gate and stood in front of him, "nothing," he had an abnormal smile on his face.

"I won't ask again, what did you do to Jimmy," he threatened standing in his face.

"Well I didn't do anything," he calmed, "Timmy definitely wasn't happy about what I had to say."

"You know his name, stop," he growled.

Scott put his hands in his pockets, "oh I'm well aware, he responds to it, no harm here."

He rolled his eyes, "Stop it, are you really no help either!" Tango held everything inside him to stop himself from putting his hands on him.

"No I don't plan to be, are you gonna keep loitering there," Scott poked him in the chest turning to fumble with something else in his pocket.

"I hate you," he spat on him, "you are so two faced!"

Scott stared at him as if it came out of nowhere, "well that's just rude." He wiped his face, "leave."

"I know you're not telling me something." He gave in, shoving Scott which did nothing, but off his footing.

"In that case, just take this stupid thing," he threw a pile of mini redstone peices, "the canary dropped that and it fell into the pen and the sheep got to it first."

He realized that it was the remains of Jimmy's communicator, he'd lost it and that's why he hasn't responded. Tango felt he may have been a bit irrational with his fear, he scoffed at it. "Why did you call Jimmy a canary?" He questioned picking through the pieces.

"I think that's something you'd want to ask him yourself," Scott started walking away.

Tango looked at him, but he didn't bother. He turned back to the pieces, Tango knew it would take him hours to fix it. Tango frowned as he started trying to separate the old casing from wires, and wires from the mechanical pieces, but with his still injured arm, he struggled to pick up the tiny pieces. Tango slashed through the pieces in frustration, he knew he couldn't fix it even if he did have hours.

Jimmy's weird pain returned to him again in an even worse wave than before. Tango laid back on Scott's wooden path, he wanted to give up there, but he knew he couldn't just yet.

"Are you good Tango?" Scott returned with concern itching in his voice.

"I think I'm dying," Tango closed his eyes, "I'm on my last life, but I'm not out for blood," he pleaded.

He could feel Scott take a step back through the vibrations of the path, "oh," he hushed.

"I don't wanna die like this," he bit his lips, "I'm not ready."

Scott couldn't help but wordlessly stare from a short distance.

Tango tilted his head with his ear to the ground, "we both keep taking turns causing pain the past few hours," he laughed to himself.

Scott squatted down next to him, "where does it hurt?"

Tango elected to ignore how genuine he sounded, "it's grown from discomfort to a stabbing pain, it's all in my upper back and it's not gone away." Tango had pained tears in his squinted eyes.

Scott had his mouth glued closed, he remembered Jimmy going through something similar once when they were together. He had been in no way the same level of pain, but he had sworn he'd never let it happen again because of how much it worried him. He knew Jimmy had become more secretive, but he didn't think he would keep his avian nature secret from his soulmate of all people. "I can't help you if it's through Jimmy," he mumbled.

"Great," Tango gritted his teeth, "I can't, I can't this is," he trailed off.

"Tango?" Scott asked, "Tango, are you okay?" He repeated, he tapped his face to get no response repulsed by his warmth, he froze, "Tango?!"

<Smajor1995> GUYS SOMETHING'S OFF WITH TANGO

<ZombieCleo> I swear I just heard him embarrassing himself on my lawn

<Smajor1995> I'm being genuine, it doesn't seem good!

<RenTheDog> Are we already getting someone out this quick?!

<PearlescentMoon> I'm coming, I'm coming

Scott kept patting very unconscious Tango, "come on, not like this!" He suddenly felt as if he was back at the failed trap that had taken Jimmy's yellow life. Scott remembered peering into a crumbling explosion hole that was a mix of his and two other people's remains. It was the most bloody, gruesome scene he had ever seen in these death games he'd partaken in. The horrors of that scene alone scarred him for such a long time that he still got debilitating nightmares over it. He couldn't peel his eyes away from him the same way he couldn't then.

Impulse jumped over to him, "wow what's going on," he swooped down going to support Tango's head.

"I don't know he complained about Jimmy's pain and he passed straight out," Scott had tears running down his face, he reached to touch Tango's face only to recoil. He swore under his breath, "I keep forgetting he is literally burning hot." Scott scoffed as he wiped his own wet cheeks.

"What do we even do?" Impulse asked, also bugging Tango with the back of his hand.

"Depends," Pearl suddenly stood above them, "I don't think we have a set plan for this type of stuff."

Scott watched as Pearl popped down next to Impulse, "what should we do then," he stared at her.

"Don't pour water on him, that would shock his system," Pearl looked at Impulse who's gloves had holes forming in them, "I'm not as confident on what to do either, is it his problem or y'know?"

"Complained of extreme upper back pain, what do you think," Scott grumbled.

"Ah, then Jimmy," Pearl turned, hiding the smile his acknowledgment gave, "I think we just gotta wait it out though sadly," she stopped, "we don't know where Jimmy is so that's a huge roadblock."

He dropped his tensed shoulders, "We should bring him inside," Scott invited, "I'll grab his feet, you grab him by his shirt," he directed Impulse.

He nodded and Scott tilted his head towards his home. Pearl understood running in front of them and propping open Scott's door. "He's a lot lighter than I thought," Impulse said through a slightly strained voice solely because of his awkward hold of him.

Pearl kicked away small debris on Scott's floor, "Can you grab some wool from my chests," Scott asked, struggling to hold Tango up.

"Yeah yeah I can do that," she shifted over to his chests rummaging through them, "here," she tossed a decently sized clump of wool.

He let it drop on the floor adjusting it with his feet, "okay, let's turn him around and put his head there," he looked into Impulse's eyes.

Pearl watched them carefully set him down, "what now?"

"We have to make a search party," Impulse clapped his hands together looking up at her, "I'll organize it." He got to his feet, made a quick goodbye, then got on his way.

Scott was now sitting rummaging in his own chests while Pearl was left standing there, "I think I'll leave."

"Please do," Scott responded simply.

"Okay," she murmured, pausing by the door as her communicator buzzed, "I guess I'll answer that."

A silence loomed over Scott, Scott kept moving his hand close to Tango making sure he was still alive. Scott couldn't focus on his other plans especially with the sky's color draining swiftly; he had spent the past hours pacing while Tango was under his care. He was struggling with nerves from his lack of understanding of Tango's kind. Scott could hear horns blowing and yells all day, and with the day's light, the shouts ran dry.

Tango stirred and Scott paused, frozen in place. He dropped down next to him, "Hey," he hushed hoping he'd respond.

Tango squeezed his eyes together, he hummed ineligibility, he opened one eye and gave an unimpressed look.

Scott pushed more wool under him inviting him to sit up, which Tango couldn't really argue against.

"Still don't like you," he grumbled, slurring his words together.

"I guess that's fair," Scott scooted away, Scott twiddled his thumbs, "how do you feel?"

"Sleep helped," he replied, continuing to slur, Tango looked at him with heavy eyes that peaked open.

He didn't dare correct him, "probably need something to munch on, lemme see what i've got," he walked up to his counter.

"That'd be nice," Tango faintly smiled.

"I haven't been killing any of my animals, but I have some bread," he returned to him, "it's a touch stale."

Tango happily grabbed it from him, "Thanks," he wasn't wrong about it being "a touch" stale, "is Jimmy okay?"

"People have been searching for him, I haven't been updated, but most stopped going out since the moon started dominating the sky," Scott lit a lantern sitting near them, "I don't believe they have though."

"I gotta find him then!" Tango exclaimed, rushing to his feet.

"You were unconscious for almost five hours, I wouldn't," he said, putting a harsh hand on Tango's shoulder.

"You're not in charge of me," he fought back pushing himself up off his bent knee.

"I can't stop you-"

Tango didn't let him speak, "that's right, I have things to do," he scoffed, "I sound like you."

Scott watched Tango slam his door open and closed, he snapped back to his senses; why did he care?

Tango stopped just outside the door, where does one even start! He peeled his hand away from the handle, he reached for his communicator, it was dead. He sighed putting it back in his pocket, defeated, he stumbled down the steps. Tango kicked a small package and stopped, it peaked his curiosity. It read:

I tried

-Impulse

Tango tilted his head, picking it up and heading towards the exit of Scott's perimeter. He struggled to deal with the leather wrapping around it, Tango paused just outside, pulling a sharp cobblestone from his pocket. He grinned, it was a gold and blue communicator with Jimmy's name etched in it. The gesture touched him, he dashed it into a pocket in his vest, he needed to find Jimmy.

"Jimmy, Jimmy!" He yelled out getting louder, "Jimmy are you around!" He passed Box which was lit up, "odd looking place," he mumbled to himself looking through the darkness of the trees thoroughly. "Jim! Jimmy," he continued yelling, keeping up a swift pace starting through the dense woods.

He noticed something else wandering in the woods. Tango almost ran into a silent Ren and Martyn, they were holding each other's hands while Ren held a nearly out torch. They looked at him unfazed and nodded at him, Tango returned the nod. "Well that happened," he thought to himself.

He continued yelling, staring up at the moon which sat just above him, "Jimmy, where are you!" He coughed, the yelling was not treating him well, he turned to his horn, he blew it as loud as his sore lungs would let him.

No response

He blew it again, one more time; a defeated blow.

A distant response

He froze, "Jimmy!" He yelled out one more time running towards the sound, he abruptly stopped, "woah!" He blurted out, tipping himself backwards avoiding a huge cavern.

"Tango?"

He kneeled, peering over the edge, "Are you down there Jim?"

"Yeah I'm down here, I don't see you," he shouted distantly.

Tango's heart melted, he missed Jimmy, but he wasn't sure if he was gonna hug him or kill him when he got down there, "I'm gonna find a way down," he didn't have any of his tools on him, but the ground seemed too unstable to dig already. He looked at the surrounding woods, he yanked long vines off trees tossing them towards the cavern. He was always surprised by how strong vines were, he braided a bunch of them together. "I'm tossing something down,'" he smiled excitedly, ready to see him again, thinking how it was basically the same their last meeting had left off. Tango stepped back, he blew on his hands trying to keep himself from getting too excited, he turned to tie the long vine to a nearby tree. He neared the edge kicking his feet over the edge, he grabbed onto the vine and scooted off the edge. Tango yelped as he fell, the vines were not a forgiving hand hold, despite that he made it to the bottom safely with only a little skin rubbed off his palms.

"Tango," his familiar voice screamed.

Tango's eyes met Jimmy,

he ran putting him into the strongest hug he could, "oh my god you're alive! And fine."

"Tango, that's starting to hurt," Jimmy's voice reeked of a smile.

Tango loosened his hug, "I'm sorry," he pecked his cheek, "I'm so glad you're okay," he repeated himself letting go of him.

Jimmy stepped back flustered, "me to," Jimmy itched the back of his head nervously.

Tango clocked on, "wow," he stared at him, he stumbled, "you're not wearing a shirt." He cringed to himself, redirecting to the more obvious thing, "and those wings!"

Jimmy's face was flame red, "yeah," his wings folded into himself, "not the most comfortable thing ever."

Tango was in awe of his wings golden color, "they're beautiful," Tango approached him, "so is that the cause of that stupid feeling."

Jimmy shifted his shoulders to let Tango get a good look, "yeah, gotta a lot of junk stuck in 'em and I'm pretty sure they're getting pretty infected in places."

Tango reached his hand into the feathers, "that's fine, we can deal with it, it doesn't make them any less beautiful," Tango couldn't let go of how amazed he was.

Jimmy tensed with his warm touch, it was pleasant on his wings, but it was a surprise, "can you not?"

"Sorry! I forgot about that, I'm just excited," Tango haphazardly pulled his hand away, hitting Jimmy's back.

Jimmy recoiled, "ow, Tango," he blurted with a pained giggle in his voice.

"Sorry sorry!" Tango yelped, hugging his hand to his body, "I'm so sorry, how can I apologize!"

"Sorry is well enough," he insisted, "come on, don't work yourself up over it."

Tango furrowed his brows, "you can see my handprint," he bit the inside of his cheek, "can I say sorry again?"

He scoffed, smiling, "no, you can not," he extended his wings and a single feather fluttered to the ground, "I'll be fine."

Tango bent down grabbing the feather, he smiled up, "can I keep it?"

He grinned back, "the same way I'm keeping your hat?" He knew his face was red, letting others keep feathers had never been a gesture he felt comfortable with before. It was a big deal.

"Then that's that," he stuck the golden feather behind his ear, blending in with his own fiery yellow hair, "this is all this moment needed."

"All," he smirked, "I feel as if another hug would perfect this moment."

"Wait one sec something even better," Tango dug through his pockets interrupting him, "I got this for you- well technically Impulse did." Tango extended his hand with the custom communicator.

Jimmy's jaw dropped, taking it from him, "oh my god you're the best!" He wrapped his arms around him, pulling him off his feet.

Tango buffered for a moment before digging his face into Jimmy's shoulder, "you know it!"

His heart fluttered, they were meant to be together. Jimmy loved Tango in a way that was special to them, he loved Tango's gestures and spark. But that all came from a place of their strong soulbound and not relations like most. Jimmy made a tight smile as he loosened his grip on Tango, Tango lifted his head cracking a smile. Jimmy kissed Tango slowly on the cheek, returning his beloved reaction to reconnecting.

Tango eyes shifted to his not leaving a moment for silence, "can I kiss you?" He never felt a yearning to kiss someone like that before. Tango put a hand on Jimmy's face rubbing his thumb where he had kissed him before.

"Yes please," he melted into Tango's kind touch. Tango giggled, "come on then, kiss me," Jimmy bugged.

Tango pulled him closer wrapping his arm around his waist keeping the other on his cheek, "well okay then mister."

Jimmy made the move in his hesitation, tugging his shirt tightly, smirking, bringing Tango's lips to his. Tango was noticeably shorter yet Jimmy melted into him, causing no need for Tango to tiptoe to his height. Tango lowered his hand off Jimmy's cheek, rolling his hand down his back, running his fingers through his wings. Jimmy returned his hands to Tango's face feeling the moment build up inside him, the world felt as though it faded into blissful nothingness. Jimmy opened his mouth smirking, Tango smiled against his teeth, leaning their foreheads together. Jimmy slid his hands around his neck, Tango reached back in for more of Jimmy's soft love. Jimmy's breath was sweet from watermelon while his was bitter from wild berries, yet they were tied to each other gladly.

Tango pulled back from him gently, all giddy he remarked, "you're the best."

Jimmy brushed his hand against Tango's, "mhm," he leaned back standing on the heels of his feet, "we should really deal with the big problem."

Tango hugged Jimmy close to him, resting his head on Jimmy's collarbone, setting a cool hand against his chest, "yeah, but that can wait," he kissed his neck, "I only just got here."

Jimmy pushed him off shyly, "what about The Ranch though?"

Tango frowned, dropping his hand to his side, "it's about just as ruined," he stepped back as well, "I guess we should deal with that."

Jimmy turned his back to him letting his wings pick up the rising Sun's glow, Tango followed him closely as he wandered towards the pile of his belongings. Jimmy crouched down, causing his wings to smack Tango in the face, Tango spat out the taste of his feathers in his mouth. Jimmy stifled a laugh, "sorry about that," he picked up his jean jacket, "I've gotten real sick of tucking my wings in my shirt."

Tango knew what he was thinking, digging into his pockets tossing him the sharp stone from earlier, "temporary solution, but you could always just slice a bit off for your wings to fit through."

Jimmy turned the rock in his palm, "I could," he draped the jacket over a knee and nicked the fabric with the duller end. He stared at it closely for a moment, before slashing through the fabric swiftly and as evenly as he could. "Perfect!" He exclaimed.

Tango watched him throw the jacket over his shoulders, "do you want any help?"

Jimmy struggled trying to pull his left wing through the tear, "I think I'm fine," he insisted, "okay yeah I do," he quickly backtracked, distressed by feathers that got snagged.

Tango sat down behind him, silently adjusted his feathers as Jimmy kept trying to maneuver his wing through his jacket, knowing his bodily temperature was rising, he feared burning him again. Tango gently grabbed the bend of his wing, straightening it, Jimmy smiled at him, laying his head back on Tango as he pulled Jimmy's short feathers out of his jacket. "This is annoying," he laughed nervously.

"Well you started it," he put his hand through Jimmy's knotted hair, "come on we're half way done."

Jimmy groaned as he threw his head back up, "yeah," he drawled.

"There ya' go," Tango said while helping Jimmy put his wings through first, which was much more successful.

Jimmy tugged at the cuffs of his jacket, shifting to face him, "thanks, I haven't had to put on a shirt with my wings in a long time," he started buttoning his jacket, "what're you thinking now?"

"Well we gotta get out of here to say the least," Tango leaning into him undoing Jimmy's top button smirking, "let's figure this out."

°~-–~°~--~°~--~°~--~°~--~°~--~°

Jimmy flopped into the grass, "told you it wouldn't work."

Tango pulled himself up, "hey we still got up here," he stood over Jimmy panting slightly, "to The Ranch?"

Tango extended his hand to him, Jimmy grinned taking it, "Ranch repair time." Tango launched him to his feet with a simple pull, "woah dude!" He stumbled trying to ease himself, "you're excited."

Tango bashfully touched the back of his neck, "whoops?"

Jimmy laughed, taking his hand, "ow! I forgot about it this time." Jimmy shrugged it off with a smile still plastered on his face.

Tango did not seem to find it as amusing, he gave a low humming grumble, "One second." He grasped his own hand, pacing, Tango gave a quick annoyed breath stepping away swiftly. Tango yelled out as he swung full force at a tree, Jimmy groaned as pain climbed through his arm. Tango growled looking at Jimmy with his red eyes glowing like he'd only ever seen once before. Even with twenty feet between them, Jimmy could catch Tango's bothered expression.

Jimmy approached him kindly, "it's really fine," he paused watching Tango huff. Jimmy knew it wasn't his fault he tipped over the edge, but he knew the way to Tango. Jimmy cornered him against the tree and held one hand over Tango's shoulder, caressing the back of their hands together with the other, "I trust you." Jimmy watched Tango with a tilted head watching him glance haphazardly at the ground avoiding his eyes, his grumbling stabling.

Tango made a muffled sound from deep inside his throat, peering at their hands, he loosened his hands from the fist he hadn't realized he was making, which was digging his nails into his palm, Jimmy flipped his hand rubbing Tango's knuckles softly. He found it quite amusing that he had met Tango's melting point.

Jimmy stepped back giving him his space back, Tango pulled his hand closer to himself only for Jimmy to take his hand and hold it between his own, "there's the boy I know," he laughed as Tango looked up at him square in the eyes, "we have each other," he reminded.

Tango's lips perked up, "mhm," he twisted his fingers into Jimmy's.

Jimmy took a step forward, "ready?"

He nodded, "yeah."

Jimmy started off at a swift pace, Tango squeezing his hand, finding it a tad bit unnatural for him to keep up. Jimmy eventually slowed his pace to account for their lack of knowing where they were. Jimmy kept accidentally peering into the sun trying to figure out which way to get home.

"Maybe we should cut out this way, it seems to be some plains," Tango pointed out.

"Ah I see," Jimmy dropped his hand ducking under a very low hanging branch, "freedom!" He joked, running up ahead.

Tango laughed rushing to catch up to him, he picked up Jimmy giving him a good spin when he did. Tango set him down carefully, bowed kissing his hand like a prince as Jimmy's feet settled. The two pranced together with nothing in their vision but each other, the world around then being blurred. Jimmy squeezed his hand as hard as he could, the two laughing together as one, their perfect moment could never end.

And then it did

Jimmy flashed awake, he was in The Ranch? Jimmy reached in his pockets having nothing but his communicator on, he scoffed, "man we must have died," Jimmy looked to the other bed, but it remained empty, "Tango?" He froze, "This isn't funny, where are you?"

No response

Jimmy rushed to his feet, he could see through where the upper floor used to be, no one. He rushed down to the basement, no one. He peered out from the door frame, no one. He looked at their farm, no one, the goats old home, no one, no one, no one!

Jimmy yanked his communicator out of his pocket in desperation.

Tango fell from a high place

SodalityGaming died

<Grian> OMG FIRST OUT

<PearlesntMoon> NOT TIMMY AND TANGO

<Smajor1995> AGAIN!

<SmallishBeans> Called it

Jimmy furrowed his brows reading earlier messages.

<PearlesntMoon> I gotta call it a night, sorry

<Grian> No sightings in the caverns either

<RenTheDog> I'm not giving up quite yet dudes

<ImpulseSV> Thank you all for trying at least

<Smajor1995> Can someone help me, I don't know how to help him

<Smajor1995> You know stuff about the nether right Martyn?

<InTheLittleWoods> No can do bud

<Smajor1995> You bitch, I don't want him dying dying in my arms

It hit him, Tango was gone, his one love was gone like that. It hit him, and his blood boiled inside him.

<SolidarityGaming> Guys?

<GoodTimeWithScar> Wait, shouldn't you be dead?

<ImpulseSV> You're alive?!

His wings hugged around him, Jimmy couldn't stomach looking at his communicator anymore. He collapsed on the ground into a pile of bones. He felt struck, in shock even, but nothing else. Jimmy looked up to a small calf that escaped the pen staring down at him, he gave a labored breath as he picked up the calf, it happily sat in Jimmy's arms. He walked back through The Ranch slowly, his wings wrapping closer to him as he passed the beds, he turned setting the calf back in the pen and it swiftly returned to its mother. He turned away struggling to bear it, Jimmy thought about his communicator again, not daring to look at what they're saying.

He needed Tango, now what? Jimmy couldn't help but deny what happened, his vision blurred as he stumbled out of The Ranch, "Tango!" He screamed while running, he found himself stuck running with no direction, just wanting to find him okay. Jimmy froze, seeing someone on the ground, Jimmy ran to them.

A single Bdubs was crumpled with a shovel dropped in front of him, he had silent tears running down his face. Jimmy noticed a hole not far from him, confused he peered down the pit; everything stopped.

Tango

Jimmy pulled the shovel away from Bdubs smacking it into the hard unforgiving dirt, he needed to get down there. Jimmy dug and dug until he met the shaft of the man-made hole staring down eyes glued to Tango. He pleaded for Tango to be okay, even though he knew. He glanced up before looking back readying to drop down. The space was no bigger than then five by five feet so he sneaked down carefully by pushing his arms and legs against the wall sliding down. Jimmy's body wasn't ready for it, and it gave out when he was still around fifteen feet up. He fell smacking the ground harshly, hitting his head on the walls on the way down.

Jimmy sat himself up rubbing his eyes, a touch dazed realizing he had passed out. After a moment he stirred noticing an evident commotion starting above him. He snapped back to his senses, he looked at Tango realising their bodies were touching, yet he was cold. Jimmy put his hands on either side of Tango's face bringing their foreheads together. He gave a saddened smile dropping his hands watching Tango's head droop towards him. Jimmy looked up seeing someone look at him, he shot his eyes down to Tango. He took off his jacket, covering Tango's face, Jimmy put an arm under Tango's limp legs and the other behind his shoulders, Jimmy whimpered as he lifted Tango. If Jimmy hadn't looked hard enough, he'd have just assumed he was asleep. Sure Tango had a nasty gash along his face that tracked down to a new rip in his shirt that tinted it a new shade of red, along with that his left ankle and wrist were both bent in a fashion that was oddly sat. But Jimmy thought just maybe if he ignored it, it wouldn't have been real.

He struggled to use a pickaxe to tunnel back up with a Tango draped over him. Jimmy fell into a blurry daze, he could hear voices and steps above him, but none of them he could decifier anymore. Someone's words seemed surprised, while someone was upset, and others flat, but he couldn't process their words or voices.

Jimmy met his old tunnel, he hit it with the dull end of his pickaxe against crumbly dirt, the sun hitting his face. Jimmy glued his eyes to Bdubs as he took his final step up. Impulse, who was kneeling next to Bdubs, stood up patting his back. "Jim," he started looking at Jimmy who was scanning the group seeing Etho, Joel, and Cleo all staring at him, "I would like to apologize for Bdoubleo's actions."

Jimmy's wings puffed while his face was stuck in a grim look, Jimmy turned back to Bdubs who seemed just as defeated as before. He felt a type of anger he'd never felt himself as he stared, "I don't blame you," he gritted to Impulse.

"He is really sorry, he hasn't been able to say anything more than 'I'm so sorry' he is insanely sorry!" Impulse insisted trying to defend his sad lump of a bound.

Jimmy pushed his chest, "I don't need it from you," Jimmy pulled his jacket off of Tango's battered face to let the golden sun attempt to give him his glory back, "I want more than an apology," Jimmy looked at Etho who was grasping Joel's hand desperately; they were not known for showing affection. "I'm sorry Etho," he hummed tapping his shoulders kindly, glancing at Cleo who stood behind him staring down the pit, "and you as well, Cleo." Tango only talked highly of Cleo and the rest of Team BEST, so he took the time for them, excluding him. He didn't want him to get a touch of clouser. Jimmy shifted his hold of Tango, he glued his eyes to the direction of The Ranch.

Joel hushed something to Etho that he didn't dare to even try to eavesdrop on, he could hear Cleo's rich voice yell something argumentative. But he didn't care anymore.

Jimmy kicked open the gates of The Ranch so hard the hinges stuck open, he grumbled not slowing. Jimmy approached the goat barn which continued to sit empty, he popped down on one knee setting Tango down against the building. Jimmy fell to his side, his negative emotions finally hitting the surface, Jimmy gave a pained cry of agony that rang through him. He was gone-gone and never coming back. Jimmy grabbed Tango's hand, squeezing it almost hoping it could jumpstart his fiery self again. He adjusted his feather that had been tucked in Tango's hair, letting his sobbing tears drop into his once flaming hair. He flopped his head into his shoulder, sobbing harder than he ever had, his body serving to dull the horrid sounds coming from his mouth. Jimmy flopped back trying to take back his tears, afraid to get back on his feet as if they'd cause him to fall to his death again. He wasn't afraid of TnT despites its worse connections to death, but this caught him where it hurt. Jimmy cried slowly getting to his feet, side glancing at The Ranch as if it would relight on fire. He marched into it pulling a shovel out of a chest, using it as a steadying stick while walking to the side of The Ranch. Jimmy dug the shovel into The Ranch's rich soil, taking chunks of it out of the Earth, tossing it to the side, the dust from the scoops sticking to his wet face. He cried as the shovel hit stone, stopping him from making it any deeper. He stuck his shovel in the pile of soft dirt, turning away from the shallow grave, scrounging around for anything to make a makeshift headstone. Jimmy yanked loose stones from the of The Ranch's old foundation, piling them up in his arms. He returned squatting down, next to the hole his tears turning from agony to anger as he set up the rocks in a simple fashion. It wasn't a grave fit for any man, but he couldn't do any better, he wasn't supposed to die. Especially like that. He couldn't help but stare at Tango, he was so lifeless, that sight only caused bubbles of emotions to continue popping. Jimmy approached him again, dropping down to Tango's side and one last time took his hand and brought it to his lips gently kissing it. Jimmy picked up Tango bridal style, lifting his limp body the short distance to his depressing resting place, Tango's clothes instantly tinged brown as a dust cloud formed around him. Jimmy collapsed into sobs as he shifted his painfully still body.

Pressure met his shoulder, he turned to see Martyn and Impulse on either side of him, standing each with a hand on his shoulder and Grian standing not far behind them. His fellow former Southlanders bowed their heads with Jimmy out of respect. Jimmy knew he didn't look very pleasant, but he didn't care, he had dirt caked on his hands and face, rips on the knees of his blue jeans, and his jean jacket which was now laying under Tango left him shirtless. Tears left trails of dirtless patches down his face serving as more evidence to the others he was hurt, as if his puffy eyes and sounds of agony that had been heard throughout the whole area wasn't already enough.

Jimmy looked at his former alliance members, "Are you really here for me?" He barely got out.

Impulse extended his hand to him as Martyn stated, "Yes, we are all here for you and Tango of whom we are all deeply saddened for."

Jimmy stood noticing how almost everyone was there, he felt a little silly for standing there in front of all of them. "Thank you," he whispered to the three in front of him. He hugged Impulse who patted his back as he leaned into him, Jimmy felt frozen trying to figure out what he had to say. He had to be the one to say something, he scanned the group looking over his shoulder, "Thank you all for coming, this means a lot." He wiped his face only smudging dirt, he looked back to the grave failing to hide tears forming in his eyes again.

"Tango was lovely," Grian walked up next to him, leaning his head against Jimmy, "he meant a lot to all of us." Grian stepped forwards grabbing the shovel scooping dirt, setting it onto Tango's chest. Jimmy's eyes filled overflowed with tears as he watched the dirt lay there, he gave a simple defeated huff. Grian hugged him, "glad to see your wings again bud, I can help whenever you're ready,' he whispered into his ear. Jimmy nodded slightly, flexing his wings mimicking Grian's natural resting position. Grian dug the shovel back into the loose dirt returning to the group, grasping Scar's hand softly as he stood back. Jimmy noticed that Scar was using his wheelchair that day, he felt horrible knowing he must have overworked himself trying to help find him.

Impulse, who was still standing close to him, breathed in adding, "You're welcome at the mid-century modern home anytime if you ever need a break from all this," he too took a scoop of dirt, "Tango was a tricky soul in the best way possible." He too sifted the dirt into the grave slowly, Jimmy smiled for a moment almost forgetting this was his soulbounds fault.

Jimmy stared back seeing that Bdubs was one of the only ones yet to make an appearance, he grimaced, "I don't think that's something I can take up," his eyes snapped back to Impulse, "your husband has yet to make his homage."

Impulse furrowed his brows making an unfamiliar expression, "I'm sorry," was all he mumbled as he stuck the shovel back in the dirt. "Owww," he whined as he walked back to the rest. Jimmy smiled as he turned to see Cleo grumble something being in his face.

Cleo gave him a good shove, knocking him into the dirt before walking up to him, "hi Jimmy," her voice softened, "I'm deeply saddened by this all." She pulled him into a soft hug, "it'll get better with time," she stepped back keeping her hands on his shoulders, "I am sorry for all my wrongs against The Ranch." She slowed her hands away as she peered at the dirt looking back at Jimmy, he side smiled nodding. Cleo turned grabbing the shovel taking a generous scoop of dirt spilling it gently onto Tango. She set down the shovel, pausing squatting down to wipe dirt off of Tango's face, she fumbled his hair. "Hmph, he seems so peaceful,' she hushed standing up, she crossed her arms in front of her, "I'm gonna go deal with him," her voice itched with anger.

Jimmy dropped his head watching her feet leave his view, he found his once pleasant, well kept shoes were now muddy beyond recognition. For the first time since setting Tango in the grave, he ungrounded his feet and fully turned his back to him. It felt so wrong, he watched others hush to each other. Etho was crumpled sitting on the ground whispering something up to Joel, Joel seemed less enthused by what he was saying. Etho pulled Joel's shirt trying to get him to listen, Joel made a defeated face.

Joel sighed walking up to Jimmy, "Aye, Timmy," he sounded uncomfortable looking at Etho, "well I had no connection to Tango, but uh," he paused thinking, "Etho did though. He wanted me to tell you he was a great hand with all his troubles." Joel forced something into Jimmy's hands, Joel moved away quickly, skipping to the dirt taking one swift scoop then another careful one dropping it at Tango's feet. Joel ran back to Etho, Jimmy could just not quite make out what Etho mumbled to Joel, but it didn't seem happy.

Jimmy loosened his hand, a heart necklace? It had what seemed to be broken loops and "b e s Tango" sloppily engraved in the back. He tilted the heart pendant in his hand noticing the tinged red look of it, it hit him, it was Tango's Last Life indicator. Etho had held onto it, his eyes widened as his eyes shot up to him, Jimmy slowed to him. Etho stood up holding onto Joel's muddy hands the way he had before. "thank you Etho," Jimmy cried, "this means so much." Etho glanced up, he could tell even with his mask on that he had a weak smile on his face. Etho nodded dropping Joel's hand wrapping Jimmy in a hug, he was struck by his act of affection. He looked at Joel confused, who only returned his glance with a half assed smile, Etho pulled away from his hug, eyes brimming with tears. Jimmy didn't know what to say, this wasn't a side of Etho he was used to. Jimmy checked out the necklace again, smiling fondly at it, clipping it around his neck.

He scanned everyone present, Grian was standing with his hands in front of him, Scar sat in his wheelchair next to him whispering something, Cleo and Impulse had both seemed to disappear, Pearl was sat elegantly on the roof of the goat barn trying to ignore Martyn, then Ren and BigB we're standing a bit away from the others watching with unsure expressions. And then there was Scott- no, he wasn't going to even give him a thought!

Scar unclicked his wheelchair, rolling it over to Tango's grave, "come, come," he beckoned Jimmy back after silence had taken over the group.

"Okay Scar," he shook Etho's hand, "thank you," he mouthed. Jimmy hesitantly walked over to him knowing how Scar can be. He paused standing a few feet between them. Jimmy, without realizing it, was starting to feel able to cope with it all.

Scar rolled to Jimmy, closing the gap between them, "Jim, we are all proud of you and Tango even if it's ended with a moment like this." Scar grinned backing his chair up, he locked the wheels on his chair before shakily getting to his feet letting himself fall into the dirt. Scar knelt down pushing dirt into the grave silently with his hands, Jimmy watched confusion washing over him. Pearl quickly joined him on the opposite side of the pile, pushing dirt in to avoid his face. Martyn then Ren joined in then wordlessly, followed by Etho, Grian, and BigB. All in a silent agreement to not make Jimmy have to bury his soulbound.

Joel wrapped an arm around Jimmy in a side hug, "we're a family here Tim," he shook his shoulders before also going to join the others.

Watching it unfold made him feel so secure, he watched as the final clumps of dirt covered Tango's face. He was gone, Jimmy joined them on the ground, setting his arms on top of the rough patch of dirt, but this time tears didn't fall. The numbness returned, "you can leave now," he stated, resting his hands over where Tango's beating heart had once been.

Scar turned to Pearl who was across from him, "I'm gonna need a bit of help then," Scar laughed to himself peering at his chair.

"I can help you," BigB invited looking at Grian, "we got you."

Grian scooted over to Scar, "you grab his chair," he directed BigB.

The others started dispearcing with the bounds back to their homes and Jimmy felt hurt watching those leave in a way he would never again. He watched as Grian and Scar, the last pair, waved kindly goodbye leaving him almost alone. He stared at him.

Scott clenched his fists in his lap while sitting where the chaos had started, Jimmy held everything inside him to keep himself from kicking him off the porch. "Jimmy," he forced, turning to him, "I am so sorry, for everything," Scott gave a labored breath, "and for leaving you."

Jimmy scowled, "and now is the time to gain pity points?" he could see through him.

Scott was silent, "I feel guilty," he stopped himself, "but you don't need that."

Jimmy sat about as far away as he could while still being on the porch, "then apologize," he leaned towards him holding a foul expression.

Scott's words stuck in his throat finding the apology he had planned leaving his head. Scott mumbled nonsense trying to formulate his words.

"That's what I thought," Jimmy stood up rolling his eyes, "good job messing this up."

Scott's eyes widened rushing to his feet, "wait! Jimmy," Scott ran after him, "please just let me-"

Jimmy turned to him, meeting his eye level stare, "no!" He shouted, "you've made me waste enough time thinking about you!"

Scott grabbed Jimmy by his shoulders, "just listen to me, please!"

"You're an asshole," he said between his teeth

Scott grasped the back of his head forcing himself onto him, kissing him harshly. Jimmy was caught by surprise, his wings flying up, he bit Scott's tongue in retaliation, he felt scared. Scott held onto his kiss, trying to pretend nothing had changed and that they were still in the game, when they pranced around together claiming each other as husbands.

Jimmy pulled away from him, "What the fuck!" He yelled, slapping Scott, "you're so selfish, you thought this was the right time!" Jimmy spun where he stood, he yelled out an unintelligible sound shoving Scott to the ground, "never come back!" He was filled with a feeling of agony, sobs taking him over, falling to his knees.

Scott froze for a moment before turning to run away, he royally fucked up.

°~-–~°~--~°~--~°~--~°~--~°~--~°

Jimmy sighed wearing one of Tango's old shirts, that was worn from his risky behaviors he'd partaken in since his passing. Jimmy's body was plastered in burns, scratches and cuts from all of his self sabotaging behaviors he hid behind a yearning for revenge. He just wanted to join Tango, but he was too scared to actually do it. He sat on the edge of the barley intact roof of The Ranch. He'd been working on remaking it within the twenty-three days since Tango's death, but he hadn't made it up there yet much more than to contemplate his existence.

Jimmy pulled off his shirt, "hey Tango, I got him for you," Jimmy was saddened but proud of himself for killing Bdubs that day. He felt guilt soley over the blood soaking into Tango's shirt. Jimmy had a gash that ran from his thigh to his calf still dripping with blood that he wasn't sure if it was his own, but he didn't care anymore. Jimmy smiled thinking, maybe he had fulfilled his lust of revenge. He had tried to kill Scott earlier, but he just couldn't finish him off, but at least Bdubs was no more. "Are you ready for me, my boy!" He screamed standing up, his shoes failing to grip the damp shingles, "give me a sign!" Jimmy puffed up his wings as if ready to fly despite his lack of flight feathers. Jimmy laughed to himself which quickly turned to soft cries as he plopped back down to the roof, "nothing? Still?" He tried to hide his disappointment. He sunk his face into Tango's shirt crumpling it, letting it soak in his tears.

Jimmy looked towards the flaming Cake thinking of Scar, he had broken his soulbound, how he didn't know, but the image of Scar putting his sword through Grian was engraved in his brain. He felt proud of Scar through his confusion of the event, Grian did deserve it for his acts of manipulation to them all; he was the one who tricked them all into these games. Jimmy watched as smoke continued rolling through the sky from that day's main event of chaos, a lot of things had met the same fate as The Ranch. Jimmy watched the sky spotting an unfamiliar star shining brighter than the rest, Jimmy smiled up at it, a mysterious feeling of calm washing over him. Jimmy felt safer than he had in weeks sitting there with the company of the stars, he couldn't explain it. He spoke to himself, "maybe another day," he hushed to himself heading back to the ladder down dreading the nightmares to come.

Tango had proven he wasn't cursed to die first after all.

[edgepunk]

Okay, filtered MSM 2 thoughts:

We knew Kraven was gonna show up in the sequel, however, I def did not expect The Lizard/Dr. Connors and the fact that Kraven is focused on him instead of Peter or Miles is very interesting. I wonder if they're gonna sort of recreate/reference Kraven's Last Hunt 👀

Either way, I'm very excited to see these classic villains showing up. Maybe we'll see Yuri Watanabe/Wraith too??? They were building her up in one of the DLCs quite well. Also, interested to see how Peter will react since they were friends.

Gameplay!!!!!! I already loved the gameplay in the first game, and the Miles Morales game improved upon that. And they seemed to take it another step further, it's like they actually listened to the criticism that people had, and I didn't know it was possible to improve the already banger gameplay (tho yes the first one was a little clunkier but still v intuitive)

The new traversal features look so good hello?? The web wings used as a glider? Miles slingshotting himself across the city??? aoughhfg and also!!! It looks like we'll be able to explore other parts of New York like Queens and maybe Brooklyn??? tbh Manhattan became a little restrictive after a while in the first two games, so it would be cool to expand the map a bit. Y'all know I'm meh about huge maps with some exceptions, but if done right, I think it's gonna be good.

Putting this under a read more bc this game is driving me insane I'm eating drywall

So I was right that we'll be able to switch between Peter and Miles. I kinda guessed that they're gonna be mission specific, and maybe, we can switch between them in free roam like with Jacob and Evie in AC: Syndicate (this specific feature isn't confirmed, just speculation on my part)

Looks like Nuform changed Miles' abilities since his Venom (heh) powers can turn blue? I'm interested to see what it did to him and if they're going to address it. Maybe it's purely for aesthetic/gameplay reasons. Who knows, I'm still curious.

Also, love how they incorporated Ganke as their guy in the chair. I loved him in MM and the fact that he helped Miles with the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man app. Just give me more Ganke please, he was really charming and they managed to differentiate him from MCU Ganke Ned that he feels like his own character.

Okay, I'm done beating around the bush and I'm going to address the elephant in the room - the symbiote. This is all we've been waiting for, we knew from the post-credits scene from the first game that Peter is gonna have the black suit. I'm glad Insomniac were like "yeah let's get this over with" and showed it to us.

And people are already calling him Bully Lowenthal 💀

Now, I was a little bit iffy about the design of the black suit, but after I watched the trailer a couple of times, it's starting to grow on me? Maybe I'm looking too much into it but the organic armor/exoskeleton design gives me xenomorph vibes, and I love the tendrils in the "exposed" exoskeleton. The texture looks gross and slimy and I love it. I was wondering if they're gonna add some subtle sci-fi horror elements to it and they delivered. I've always said that the symbiote has a lot of space/eldtrich horror potential.

Which brings me to the tendrils (I can already hear the p*rn artists working hard), jokes aside, they look so cool and they're animated so well???? The way Peter fights with them??? He straight up turns into a uhhh tentacle monster for a split second. And his fighting style is so brutal, I liked when he kept repeatedly kicking the guy as if he was a punching bag ddjhsjh

but the scene where he shows up in the sewers(???) yeah this shot legit gave me chills bro looks fr intimidating

And do I really need to gush about Yuri Lowenthal's voice acting? Ben 10 off the shits I'm gonna do it anyway bc holy shit he got the guttural growl down to a T. However, I do wish they put a very subtle filter on his voice. Doing that kind of growly voice must've hurt his throat real bad. Maybe his voice is gonna become more monstrous as the game progresses, that'd be real neat :3c

Honestly, I'm really curious to see how it will affect Peter since May is dead, the whole thing with Otto (I think they're gonna have a convo on the Raft maybe???), he's got a lot of debts to pay and he mentioned that Harry is dying. Bro's going through it fr also parksborn angst???? I'm ready for the homoerotic undertones in their cutscenes kdjkdjdkj I'll take any crumbs I can get 👀

And the way that Peter just dismissively shoved that one civilian away??? Ah?? I'm not ready for Peter to become an absolute cunt and be mean to Miles. There's a high probability we're gonna have to fight Peter in a boss fight as Miles aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

ANYWAY THAT'S IT I'M LOSING MY MIND

[glaivenoct]

( fanfic writer ask game ) ✏️ , 🎧 , 🔬 , ✍🏽 , 🌾 ?

Thank you so much for sending some in! ;u; (Fanfic Writer Asks Here)

✏️ The first fanfiction you ever wrote? (doesn’t have to be a posted fic)

Heh.. back in 2005, a show aired on Discovery Kids that became my favorite show in the history of ever. Wee 9 year old Brina did not understand or even know of the concept of Fandom or Fanfiction - but this show is what I consider my first Fandom ever.

Did any fellow millennials ever watch Flight 29 Down on Discovery Kids (2005-2007)? Man, I loved that show so fucking much. I wrote silly little fics for it in my spare spiral college ruled notebooks! AUs before I even know what an AU was lmao. My favorite was one I called "Agents in Action" where I pretended all the characters in the show were recruited as Secret Agents after being rescued lmao.

I also wrote fics for my favorite ship in the show. Again, I didn't really know what the word ship was, but I knew I liked two characters enough to write fics of them getting together and referring to them with a pairing name. I shipped Jackson/Taylor aka Jaylor! Jackson was the Tall-Quiet-Mysterious foster kid with a questionable past and a sense of being an outsider among his peers, and Taylor was the seemingly shallow rich Mean Girl, who turns out not to be as mean or shallow once you get to know her a little more and she learns some more empathy/self-awareness.

When I wrote these fics, I had no idea what fic even was. But man oh man was it such a happy place for me to write them at the time. I wish I still had them, but I don't know where they went. I used to draw pictures at the back of every page and everything. Good times, good times ;u;

🎧 A certain song you listened to while writing a fic?

MUSIC, YAASS. So! Rare is it for me to make a playlist for just a one-shot, but for my NyxNoct Masquerade Fic I really needed a decent chunk of songs that captured the right vibe to help me write it, if ya know what I mean!

Young and Beautiful is the star of that playlist. I not only imagined Nyx and Noct dancing to the song in the fic, but the playlist also features two different instrumental versions of it too! It was such a big help with that fic uwu.

🔬The fic you had to make the most research for?

Hmm.. there's honestly 3 contenders for this, and the Masquerade fic is definitely one of them - but that was research in the sense of looking up a lot of visuals for inspiration. Outfits/ballrooms/mask designs and things like that

The second has to be cagefighter AU because of the fight scenes. I looked up articles about boxing rings/MMA tournaments/different styles of martial arts and things like that. I think I put at some point in the fic that Nyx leans more towards a boxing style while Noct kinda knows a mix of things thanks to Cor. Come the next time I need to write a fight scene, I'll probably be looking up martial arts/self defense videos again. Which is usually fun for me!

The third would have to be my old and Very Incomplete NyxNoct Wings AU that only has one chapter and no proper plot to this day ;u; Researching wing anatomy and all that. Visual references for different wing designs too.

✍🏽 How much do you plan your fics beforehand?

If we're talking about outlines, never have I ever in my fic life done a proper outline ^^; I'm very "I have all the backstory in my head, the rest of the details of the actual plot will unfold as I go" :'D

🌾 A fic you really want to write but you haven’t (yet)?

So Many ;u; but right now, the main things on my radar after I finish the current WIP are: -An assassination attempt prompt that's been sitting in my inbox for too long -A new possibly probably definitely spicy NyxNoct fic ideally for Valentine's Day. Buuut there's a good chance I chicken out of that one and try writing the next chapter of Cagefighter AU instead.

If I add anything else, I'll be getting too ahead of myself and overwhelmed lol. To anyone who's sent me prompts in the last several months: bear with me please I swear. I either get them done sorta quick or... Not Quick.

Thank you again for indulging me with these! ;u; <3

[cinnamon-pineforest]

((Alrighty. Right now Cin is pretending to be in a rebellious phase. Sorry for the delay and messy photo. I couldn’t take a picture of her with the game program and had to take a screen shot and crop it. This is the best I could do. It’s the same thing for the red glove and ribbon on her right hand and the ribbon on her left glove. I recolored it from black to red and reverse for the ribbons so it would match everything else. Again, it’s not good at all but I did my best. @taiyang-too-long is the one who tossed me that idea (I nearly gave up on it but didn’t) and @alphabeowolf-ism and @the-last-ice-elf helped me decide on this final picture. Thank you all for helping me. ^.^ 

A little trivia. Yes, I know this outfit is completely out of character for Cin and is clearly out of her comfort zone. I did that on purpose. I wanted her to wear something she typically wouldn’t. Hence the low cut top, black and red stockings, and absent sleeves. I like to think she’s wearing a pair of short shorts under the skirt. Before anyone asks, she’s wearing a black haired wig. Dying her hair would be a pain, so she’s wearing a wig. Easier to deal with and she won’t have to mess with hair dye. Plus, I wanted to have her in pigtails that are poofy and curly. I added the parasol and purse just because they added a bit more flair to her. 

I’m not going to have her act really mean or anything. This is something just for fun. But, that doesn’t mean she won’t try to act like she really is going through a rebellious phase. So, feel free to ask her questions and whatnot.))

[tiredcorvid]

Sims 4 Omen Twins

Rounding off my games with character customization in them is the sims 4! With this I can now play 3 of my favorite games(4 if you count adding them to a Pokémon team) with Mohg and Morgott. And my other favs like Varré, but humans are not as much fun to make.

I decided to go for a modern day route instead of trying to find period accurate/game accurate CC for these guys. We'll start with Mohg. I feel he'd dress to impress whenever out and about so opted to put him in formalwear for most of his outfits. Gave him claws since one extra claw/finger wasn't happening unless I made it myself and I sadly lack any real art skills. You can't see it but he does have wings tattooed on his back. I'd argue his teeth clipping through his lips is an intended feature. Also kept him barefoot as Miyazaki intended.

Morgott is here in his one single outfit. It still fits, why would he get something new? Was sad at the lack of real body hair options but didn't think to check for body hair CC until writing this description. Also something funky is going on with his tail color but I think its stealing information from his horns and between no horns, no tail, or weird tail; I choose weird tail every time. I feel he's not wrinkled enough but modern him didn't grow up in a sewer or live in a war-torn world so maybe they just haven't set in yet. Will definitely add more wrinkles when he ages up. And if Mohg's not wearing shoes, I can't imagine Morgott would.

And a family shot to finish it off.

Huge shout out/thank you to @hellafluff here on tumblr. Not only did I get inspiration from em, but ey were also kind enough to share the CC ey used so I had a good starting point. Ey also did Sims 4 designs for other Elden Ring characters so if you like this sort of thing you should definitely check em out.

[sttheorycraft]

There Came an Echo

In Season 2, there's a melancholy, relaxing song that plays in three different scenes: In S2E2 with Will/Mike's Crazy Together scene, then leading into Jonathan tucking Nancy into bed, and then again in S2E7 when Eleven and Kali are just meeting.

It's called Outside the Realm, and it's from a 2015 video game called There Came an Echo. Synopsis information isn't easily available online, but I just watched a playthrough of this game and wanted to summarize the bits that felt relevant both as context to this song and potentially implications to Stranger Things. While this post won't be a total synopsis of the game, spoilers are ahead (enough to ruin pretty much most of the interesting bits of the game) so be warned.

The Game

So again, this isn't a full synopsis, it's just the bits that I think are interesting or could relate to Stranger Things.

Basically the game revolves around this futuristic technology which is capable of capturing someone's brain state in detail and then at a later time reconstructing it (think 3D printing a brain into a body in the right configuration) such that the resulting clone believes it's the same person that was scanned. So effectively, it's technology that supports save/restore points in consciousness.

An organization in-game develops this technology and then uses it (first just through simulation) to raise a child with the perfect upbringing - whenever anything goes wrong, they just save/restore until it goes right. The end result (which they do 3D print into a body) is this super genius.

Unfortunately, unbeknownst to everyone, they're living inside a massive simulation ("The Realm" of the song's title) and simulating this level of intelligence unchecked would cause such a massive power drain that the simulation would have to be shut down. So some outside forces basically ruin that person's life to reduce the energy drain (saving the other life forms in the simulation from shutting it down).

At some point they escape the simulation and meet the steward of it, who is a creature from some ancient civilization which, filled with existential dread, has basically created lots of simulations to try to bring about other intelligences and add meaning to their world. The creature is kind but fair, and basically a goddess from their perspective. The song plays when they're outside the simulation interacting with this creature.

Finally, the game flirts with religious topics (and honestly, not very intelligently in some ways - it was pretty offensive towards atheists in particular). It dealt a bit with souls, because of course that's the question with this new technology: is the clone lesser because it (the characters assume) doesn't have a soul?

...

Possible Ties to Stranger Things

Honestly, I mostly don't think the game ties in much here, unless I'm missing something. There was however one line in the game that jumped out at me in big, bold letters:

"You can copy her cells, her brainwaves, but she isn't the same. She's just... an echo." - Grace, There Came an Echo

When the characters learn that one of them was this super genius that was 3D printed after being cloned over and over, a couple of them aren't too impressed. Several characters don't think that the clone is the "same" as the restored creature, that it's worth less (because of it lacking a soul seems to be the reasoning behind it).

This is especially interesting to me because even before I got why the game was titled "There Came an Echo", I was thinking that "echo" is a perfect way to describe how I see Eleven's sometimes empty-feeling imitation of others. Like there's something missing there, like she's constrained to produce only what she hears (like a Kenku), in a way that I don't think is simply because of her overly restricted upbringing (though I totally accept I could be wrong, it just feels like a hint).

Then combining it with my theory that Eleven came from the Upside Down, that she potentially died in the water tank, and her psychic reflection became real by passing through the Gate just like the Demogorgon, completely fits with the theme of this game. The version of Eleven we know best clearly has the memories of the Eleven from the tank, but I'm suspecting it's a copy, and isn't completely the same. That the quote above directly fits Eleven.

I guess time will tell...

...

Usage of Beyond the Realm

I don't however see a tie between the video game and the meaning of the song they used in the show. Perhaps Kali is closest to tying into it - the goddess's name is Iris in the game, and right when the song starts in S2E7, Kali's imaginary butterfly cycles through the colors of the rainbow on its wings (yet another rainbow appearance in Stranger Things). But that's only 1 of the 3 times the song was used, and evidently not the usage the show cared most about:

https://www.pcgamer.com/au/stranger-things-season-two-features-a-song-from-this-voice-controlled-indie-strategy-game/

"It's funny because the show is developed under a code name and while the description of the usage is in the contract, it's really super vague, so even with 'context' I didn't really know anything.  Stuff like 'two friends are talking and comfort each other.' So you can imagine how thrilled I was when I learned that the mystery show was actually Stranger Things 2."

If I were to summarize what the three scenes have in common, it seems to be about like someone's missing half. There's also a longing there I think. And there's ambiguity (in this context alone) with Byler vs Mileven there, because the song kicks on when Mike is speaking about Eleven.

[uncle-jj]

My Dream Animal Crossing Game

An Ideal Proposal for an Ideal Sequel

Okay, now I know I love Animal Crossing (especially the New Horizons game) for its quirky charm, the cute cast of characters, and the sweet, peaceful life that our playable characters live (and we wish we lived). I am proud I raised my island good ol' Funklox to be a 5-star island! What's also cool is that I'm getting the knack of designing awesome homes for villagers (especially Katt, my favorite cat next to Kiki and Punchy)!

But I haven't probably told you I always wanted to be a game developer myself. Being indie, publishing my own works, making my own music and graphics...being almost the next Toby Fox or ZUN.

However, since I also wanted to express two of my sweet passions in this post, I decided, "Wouldn't it be cool to make another Animal Crossing?" Now that I'm writing my first ever large post on Tumblr, Uncle JJ will get to tell you my ideal sequel to New Horizons, hands down!

That's right! Welcome to Animal Crossing: Us-Topia! It's gonna have everything I (and probably you) have dreamed of! I'm gonna show you the features I most likely would to add to my dream Animal Crossing game!

1. Build a Village AND an Island

I'm sure you remember the forest village you first lived in (and/or becoming the mayor of your own town). I myself fondly remember first stepping foot on that deserted island, with my fine winged friends Jitters and Flo. I instantly realized I had the potential to build this paradise on that island, which I would name Funklox.

However, though I am happy with my cute, little island, I wonder what it would be like to run a village, too. I mean, don't get me wrong, but I still can't believe Animal Crossing: Population Growing is more expensive than it used to be! *Laughter reaction*

I mean, you just live in a village IN a forest, hence its birthname (which is Japanese for Animal Forest)! What's up with that, let alone how expensive retro games can be? At least my family has a GameCube in our house, though, so MAYBE we might play Animal Crossing on it as well someday!

All jokes aside, I propose living in a forest village as the main residence (like the games prior to New Leaf, then later on having Isabelle ask us about helping an overseas friend found a tropical island resort (which hopefully Kapp'n or Wilbur will take us to). That way, it'll be like Animal Island, except way cooler than before! Remember inviting islanders to your village with fruits they love? You probably may not, unlike the folks who would be greeted by their neighbors living in their memory card every time they started their day. But still! Running a village AND an island at once, though! That will be the main feature of Us-Topia!

Don't steal this idea from me, Nintendo.

2. Upping the Villagers' A-Game

Back when Tom Nook was living back in his hometown, villagers used to be crass to players! Or at least in the localized release. All rudeness aside, I think they softened up in later games.

Anyways, you may complain not about rude villagers as much as you used to, but how repetitive the dialogue can get. I understand that frustration, which is why I hope Us-Topia! will have expanded, extended, and exceeded dialogues. For example, imagine Audie talking about how she loves to lift weights! Imagine Flip the monkey explaining his hopes for being a pro golfer! Imagine Graham confessing his love for Franchine and Chrissy when you look at their photos! In his home!

Oh, and let's not forget how conservation would go between our villagers:

Punchy: So Al, I know this may sound funny, but would you like to have lunch with me, mrmpht?

Al: Sure thing, ayyyeee! Where you suppose we'll snack?

Punchy: I was thinking we could stop by the mall to have fish sandwiches! Ah huh huh huh.

Al: ...Fish sandwiches? Are you sure those kinds are healthy for some guy who wants to stay strong, Punchy?

Punchy: Oh. I...didn't notice you were trying to live a healthy lifestyle, Al.

Al: That’s okay. But I wouldn't mind having a pretzel to eat! Ah huh huh huh!

That was just an example for reference. And aside from dialogue, I thought I'd present another gender of villagers. Yes, I want Us-Topia! to introduce non-binary villagers! That way, it would help support LGBTQIA+ and they/them pronouns even better! But if we want another gender in Animal Crossing, we'll need 4 more personalities!

Lucky Villagers - Derived from the mummy dog's name, lucky villagers would be a great counterpart to the male jocks and the female peppies! Luckies are energetic, willing and friendly, and not afraid to take dares! They would along with smugs, snooties, normals, crankies and (yes) jocks and peppies. One of the only villagers they wouldn't get along with is the big sister, due to her snarky demeanor. Crankies and lazies would sometimes be confused by the lucky's lifestyle, concerning them.

Simple Villagers - While easygoing and carefree, simple villagers are a proposed counterpart to lazies and normals. Despite this, the simple has a big imagination, and will do anything for their friends! They will get along with luckies, lazies, normals, peppies (due to shared imagination), big sisters, jocks, crankies, but not smugs.

Defiant Villagers - These counterparts to smugs and big sisters are confident, loyal, and hopeful they'll take on the world someday. Despite not having a big ego like their smug man, the defiant villager has an equally shared amount of ambition. Often they'll act like a sidekick to the player, too! Despite getting along with smugs, big sisters, peppies, jocks, crankies, and lazies, they don't hang out with luckies, simples, or normals, due to the defiant's self-centeredness.

Awkward Villagers - This angsty fellow should be compared to their snooty girlfriends and cranky folks. They may appear rude to the player like their counterparts, let alone pessimistic, but all and all, they do provide good philosophies, almost as good as Pascal's. They're likely to get along with smugs and big sisters (because they're all like teens), lazies, normals, and simples (because of their caring attitudes), luckies, and (you guessed it) snooties. They wouldn't even touch a jock, a peppy, or a defiant with a 39½ ft. pole. "Like, dude. That sucks." Crankies wouldn't make them feel better either.

That's my proposed personalities for non-binary villagers. Here's to a grand hoping Nintendo will realize the gender spectrum and implement it even further to a sequel to New Horizons.

"But Uncle JJ," you may ask. "Are you sure that would make villagers better in an Animal Crossing game?" Well, my fellow crosser, this is just a proposal. I would care more about anything else than if it gets rejected. I was just expressing my thoughts and feelings.

And speaking of better villagers, wouldn't it be cool to have variants of already-has-been villagers, along with more special villagers exclusive to Amiibo cards? Think about it! Maybe there could be an Alien!Ankha! Maybe there could be a Swap!Francine and Chrissy! Maybe you could get Raymond dressed as Rayman, or a 1930's!Doc, or even a Nyan Katt!

And please, Animal Crossing gods...please give us more info on our villagers in the game. Please. I just want to get to know Francine better. Even have Pocket Camp's villager thoughts, too. That is what else I want done.

3. More Food to Harvest

Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O! And on his farm, he may have pumpkins, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, wheat, and sugarcane, but the poor farmer is still missing something.

I know! How about some more crops, such as zucchini, bell peppers, peanuts, and even radishes? Don't forget that MacDonald needs back his grapes, bananas, mangoes, and lemons! I wanna drink lemonade in Animal Crossing, but I sold my Mario and Luigi 3DS, so I can't be a mayor in New Leaf. Bummer.

Maybe I can catch up to that lost opportunity by putting those in Us-Topia! so that old MacDonald can love farming again! E-I-E-I-O!

4. Quality of Life (It's a Necessity)

I know Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2.0 doesn't have all the quality of life features we wanted, but at least it has the quality of life features we didn't know we needed.

But I'll tell you what...perhaps I could implement those features, such as stacking ALL items in 99's, just like you wanted, bulk crafting, warning players when their tools run low, and even sort our pockets out, and making our backpacks have space for items, too! At least the backpack thing is what I want. Oh, and better online play.

And let's not forget about switching our players' voices to suit our personality, so that folks can recognize our dialogous voices when they dream of our village! Even yet, give us a guide to help us set our paths and/or dig where we wanted to! And calling folks over so they can remind us they're near! All that cool stuff Nick Ha talked about! That's the truest quality of life ever, baby.

5. Expanding Creativity

We all know Animal Crossing is about creativity, right? Interior/exterior design, fashion, customization, even the famous custom designs we love to share. But all that should change once I expand your canvas in Us-Topia!

With almost infinite custom design slots, and touch screen support, we could make better designs than we anticipated! We could get villagers to wear our handmade fashion again! Just imagine Mint in a Hatsune Miku coat! We could even have sharp notes and flat notes in our town tunes! Endless possibilities just got less limited!

In Conclusion

Those are my proposed ideas for when there should be another Animal Crossing in the future. Though we don't know how the future of Animal Crossing would work out, but I'm sure there's a chance it might happen to end up brighter than before someday!

As our friend Isabelle would say, "A good attitude will always take you further than a bad habit!" Thank you for listening.

[afoxysunny]

Pixel as Spectra

My mind first connected him with the Peacock Miraculous because of their shared colour scheme and ended up loving the combo more and more the longer i thought about it

Pixel lived in Lazytown for as long as he can remember. Being probably the most introverted person in the friendgroup and not as excitable he still tends to feel a little removed from them though. Still he always tries his best to help out with his more or less successful inventions, giving him a bridge to connect with the others by combining the comfort he feels in the digital world and his wish to be there for his friends even when he doesn't fully understand them.

Because for most of this design i went with "he'd think this is cool so let's do this" i didn't have a ton of references this time around

With almost all of these designs I'd tweak them a little bit if only i knew what bothered me and how to do better but, man, am I thrilled with how Pixel turned out! I love him exactly as i drew him!

Design Notes:

Colours - so many of them. The only thing that I was initially not 100% sold on was the sheer amount of colours in this design but damn it really grew on me. The peacock Kwami Duusu and Pixel (puppet design) share two main colours, Dark blue and white so those were a must. But then i also had Duusu's pink that had to stay and Pixel also has light blue and orange. I feated it would be too much but peacocks are damn coloirful and beautiful so it worked out after all

Orange + green hair - and of cause i had to add another colour: green. I knew i really wanted to keep his dark skin from the tv show but god i love the green hair he has in Glanni Glæpur í Latabæ so much! I couldn't help myself. I also kept that cool crown like part his visor has on the puppet design as it, together with the mask shape resemble the natural peacock's face pattern very well

Cape/Top thing - i just googled "men cape fashion" or something like that and didn't expect too much but when i saw that pic i knew exactly that this and only this had to be included. I'm kinda obsessed with it and i want one! So Pixel gets to live this dream for me. Being an extreme introvert a cape like this to quote unquote hide and protect part of himself behind suits him so well in my opinion

The fan - the weapon for this Miraculous is a fan and Pixel is a video game nerd so naturally he's very excited about this super aesthetic weapon. As far as i remember he's left handed in the show (i think i remember him using the mouse of his computer with his left hand?) but i already put the cape and Miraculous Brooch on hif left so the fan gets fixed to his arm. Like this it doesn't really matter that his right hand isn't as proficient as the other would be and he can be dramatic and open the fan like a bird spreading his wings if he feels like it

Miraculous Brooch - the Peacock Miraculous grants the power of Emotion, symbolizing this, i put the brooch directly on his heart. Not only to be easily protected with his cape but also to show where his powers come from

Feathers - in the show Miraculous Ladybug the peacock is one of the corrupted ones and the white feathers turn dark purple when charged to use. With Pixel they gain orange strands in them to look just a little bit like they are glowing and also sunshine

Reasoning:

Duusu, while also corrupted in canon like Nooroo, seems not as bothered by that. Firstly because he appears a little dense and playful in the few times we see him but also because the user isn't doing evil because she lost her way. No, Mayura is still using the Peacock's power as intended to help another miraculous holder.

But more than that this is about Pixel. I don't remember where exactly but i read on multiple occasions that he has a form of autism. While I'm not the most knowledgeable person at this topic and I'd love someone to enlighten me more about it i did understand that this manifests strongly in each depiction of him with being very introverted and only able to understand and properly communicate with others via help from what he's most comfortable with. This is precisely why i believe the power given to him by Duusu, to sense others emotions, would be an incredibly valuable help for him. While simultaneously not getting crushed by the constant stream of feelings around him like someone as emphatically sensitive as Sportacus who must struggle a lot with getting that same power from Nooroo. Furthermore the power to give form to someone's strongest emotion matches perfectly with his usual role of building gadgets to help other!

Story:

I already slipped into this very heavily in the reasoning section so sorry if i repeat myself bit I'll try my best not to

First up, I'm absolute Trash for Pixel x Jives so that means, spoiler alert, most of what i have thought up for either of them is related to their journey from best friends to boyfriends

But i think a "lovestory" where that's the only defining feature of both characters sucks so I'll go into detail with characters a little more here

The Peacock Miraculous is meant to be used pretty defensively as him losing his strength would also mean the Amok, the powerful creatures he creates out of people's emotions, would disappear with him transforming back. Also he'd need to stay back for a good overview of the situation to make a better judgment, i definitely think he's the perfect fit for this role but besides that he wouldn't enjoy just that. If video games taught him anything then that standing back and watching others fight is not what a hero should do. His set of powers and given weapon may not lend themselves as easily to physical combat as the others but that doesn't mean he won't try. And fail. Obviously he'd beat himself up over this a lot and end up training way more on his own than the others.

You see, after Lucky Bug and Pitch Serval have a good long talk with the Guardians of the Miracle Box they get the job to pick up their friends and help them choose a Miraculous for each if and when they trust them enough to fight alongside them. After that they train as a group to master their new powers but Pixel also trains on his own as directly fighting isn't really something he's meant to do with his powers so it's not included in their training sessions. The only one who joins him, finding out kinda on accident is his best friend Jives, who gladly helps him of cause

Name:

I knew from the start off that i want to give him a name relating to colour and computer. Thankfully my sis is a lot wiser with both those topics and gave me a few options. One of them was Spectrum and, god, it just clicked with that one! Not only did i always headcanon him as bisexual, one spectrum he's on but also there is the autism spectrum and just colours in generl, three specrta for him so the name was the most obvious and best fitting i could pick

Thank you so much for your attention! I hope this was relatively understandable, my rambles can get a bit hard to follow and i was very excited to share this one so let me know if i ended up confusing you more than explaining anything. Thanks again

[sluttyhenley]

fanfic ask game!: 3, 15, 23

3. favorite line/scene you wrote this year

probably this bit from let's get lost (and let the good times roll), which i just really enjoyed writing, and didn't really anticipate writing, but it started taking shape while i was still writing lover be good to me

Nile grins at the thought. “I bet they do.” After another moment, where the full implication of what Booker said sets in she says, “Booker. Are you asking me to sleep over?”

It sounds like Booker is choking and Nile can’t help but laugh. “I–” he starts, “If that’s–”

“Relax, Book,” she says, still laughing. “That’s what I want.”

“Oh, good,” Booker says, a note of relief in his voice, and her laughter dies down to an easy smile. She loves that she can fluster him like that. It’s kind of cute.

“So, what did you have in mind?” Nile asks. “Besides sex,” she adds, grin fixed firmly in place. In another world, she’d be twirling a phone cord around her finger, her heels swinging in the air. Her phone doesn’t have a cord and her heels are hanging off the edge of the bed, but the feeling is the same.

some of my absolute favorites bits i've written are in fic i haven't actually finished yet

15. something you learned this year

so, this is the question i saved for last. not because i don't think i learned anything this year when it comes to writing, but probably more like i'm always learning. i have learned to make more/better use of punctuation like em dashes and semi-colons. but a lot of the time it's just learning how best to word things to bring the most emotional weight. and trying to carry forward anything i figured out from previous fic into my new works

23. fics you wanted to write but didn’t

so since my brain is a goblin, if i want to write something, chances are very high that i will write it. and this year that was the case. i do have two fics that i wanted to write that i haven't finished yet that were both born from the same urge even though they're different characters/pairings and fandoms. but they both came from me reading things that featured incorrect details about things i know about

the first one was already a vague idea taking shape from this song, this song and an au gif set for Book of Nile i saw towards the beginning of the year. and it remained a vague idea until my knowledge of the american military and desire to get details correct got the better of me. It's a Nile centric fic that deals with trauma and healing and her time in the american military that i really want to do justice to. and i'll definitely finish it but i had to put it on the back burner to finish some other things i signed up for first. it’s probably going to be titled with these hands (there's a not insignificant possibility that that would be done by now, even with having to shift priorities to things i signed up to do, if my brain hadn't been taken hostage by the damn firefighter show this fall)

the second one wasn't even a vague idea taking shape but it came out of reading something that got firefighting/firefighting details wrong and i started thinking about something i could write where i could use my knowledge of firefighting. thinking that was going to be an actual firefighting scene but then i started thinking what if i made it a nightmare and used it to open the fic. next thing i had a doc titled 'i'm gonna hurt my own feelings' with 'wild geese' by mary oliver as an epigraph and started writing a post mid-season 5 fic for 9-1-1 that deals with trauma and healing and single parenthood. this will probably be titled your hearts a bird without the wings to fly

there's another fic i absolutely do want to write that i haven't actually started yet that will, if it doesn't do anything unexpected, be significantly lighter than the above fics

both of those fics are shaping up to be a lot longer than i had initially anticipated and i absolutely did not think i would be writing either of them. i certainly didn't think i would be writing anything other than old guard fic this year.

Fan Fic End of the Year Asks!