#there are a few exceptions but mostly i can not

[dazais-guardian-angel]

Dazai Osamu and the Dark Era: the visual novel (a fan project)

On a whim, I've decided to finally just publicly release this project that I've had laying around for two years at this point, for Dazai's birthday today. It was originally made for my very dear friend @letmereachforthestars , when I first introduced her to the series and wanted her to be able to read my favorite BSD light novel in an easier-to-read format. You need a computer to be able to play. The details and links are under the cut:

If you've never played a visual novel before, it's basically a novel in the form of a video game. Text will appear line by line, one a time on the screen, and it will be accompanied by relevant background visuals, music, and sound effects, to make the reading experience more immersive, and more stimulating than just reading from a book. Some visual novels have actual gameplay elements to them, and some are just books and nothing else (oftentimes dating sims/choose-your-own-adventure novels), the latter of which this is. If you've played the mobile game Bungou Tales/Mayoi, the story sections of that game are basically mini visual novels.

This game was made with screenshots and music from the anime, sound effects from the anime and Bungou Tales and free sound effect online sources, as well as graphics and fonts and other assets from Bungou Tales and other official BSD art (particularly the official anime soundtrack cd covers). The script is taken entirely from the official Yen Press translation of Dark Era, with the exception of about two or three iconic lines that I used different translations of because I felt like they had more impact. Additionally, at the very, very end, I added on the original ending scene from the Dark Era stage play and wrote a few fanfic lines of my own to accompany it you can tell because they are very cringe and don't match Asagiri's writing style.

Before playing the game, there are a few very important things to keep in mind; PLEASE read all this:

I am not a professional in the slightest. I took some coding classes in high school, and have some photoshop skills (when it comes to the design elements of the menus), but for the most part the former wasn't much help here; this was my very first time ever using the Renpy engine, and I made this entirely from scratch. I used my knowledge of playing other visual novels to emulate the kinds of effects and timing that is typical for these games, and I think it turned out pretty well all things considered, but it's still very amateur. This is most evident in the sound effects. The sound effects have no volume consistency between them, and some of them, particularly the gun/battle sfx, can come on very suddenly and be loud. I highly, HIGHLY encourage going into the settings and turning down the sound effects volume (the music should be fine), so that you're not startled by certain sounds when they happen, and for a lengthy time. I wouldn't blame you if you decide to turn the sfx off entirely if's too distracting, honestly 🫠 I am no expert in sound files equalizing and making sound files loop seamlessly, so this was by far the most tedious and frustrating part of the process of making this for me. Hopefully it doesn't ruin the game or break immersion too much if you decide to leave them on (I hope you do, for the rain and clock sounds at least, but again I wouldn't blame you if you can't).

Dark Era is the most faithful light novel adaptation in the anime, but there are still a handful of scenes, mostly fight scenes, that got shaved down significantly. Because of this, there are numerous occasions where I had to simply linger on a black screen or the same screenshot for a long period of time, while tons and tons of narration happens, because there's simply nothing I can show to accompany said narration. This is not ideal, but unfortunately I didn't have much else of a choice in those instances, so I hope it's not too distracting. There are also a few instances of straight-up inconsistencies between the novel and the anime (ex. the fight between Oda and Akutagawa happens in the woods in the novel, but in the anime it's still right outside the art museum), so sometimes what you're reading won't quite match the screenshots I use. Fortunately it's never anything major, but it does happen.

There will sometimes be long, unchanging black screens. Don't worry, the game isn't broken; just wait long enough and it will continue.

Sometimes, a character will get cut off when speaking, and when that happens the dialogue will auto-force to the next line. If you didn't get a chance to see what was said before, check the text backlog/history (in the menu or the H key).

Last but not least, this game was made with the default text speed in mind. Meaning, that when it comes to certain specific scenes, the mood/tone of them, made up of the timing of music, transitions, sound effects, etc, all of it was arranged around the speed at which things progress when using the default text speed. I completely understand if you can't, but if at all possible, please try not to change the text to go too much faster or slower, especially faster, because certain scenes will lose a lot of impact otherwise. If you already know Dark Era, you probably have an idea of some of the scenes I'm referring to. At the very least, during the more high-stakes/intense scenes, please try to play through those all at once without stopping, for the greatest impact based on how I designed the game, and only pause/quit during the slower scenes. There are specific moments that I'm really proud of how they came out, and I'd like for them to have the maximum impact that I intended :') (also note that if you make the text appear instantly, the cut-off dialogue mentioned above simply will not appear at all, and you won't even know to look back for them, so please refrain from making the text instant at the very least)

Ignore the cringe sappy final message

...I think that's everything. With all that out of the way, here are the links for both PC and Mac:

Download the PC version

Download the Mac version

This was a passion project for me for a good many months back in 2022. It started out just as a gift for my friend, but in the end I was really satisfied with how it turned out, despite how tedious and frustrating it was to work on. I've been hesitant to share it with the fandom for all this time because I kinda doubt anyone would really be interested in something like this especially since it's not stormbringer or beast, but someone on discord who tried it told me that I should share it, so here it is. I'm sharing it not just because I'm proud of my work, but because Dark Era is a truly amazing light novel — underrated, in my opinion (yes, I said what I said) — and far better than the anime adaptation, as good as that is, and I want more people to read it. If reading the books is hard for you and you've never read Dark Era before, if I can help just one more person to read it with this, I'll be happy, and consider my job done. 💖

I so desperately want to make more of these visual novels for the other light novels, but sadly, some of them simply aren't possible thanks to how many scenes are missing from the anime, like with Entrance Exam in particular. I've also been waiting with vain, thin hope that Bungou Tales will eventually reach seasons 3 and 4, so I can use their Fifteen and Untold Origins title screens like I did here, if those ever exist. However, I'm also held back thinking about certain scenes that would require some redrawing/drawing additional details to match what's written in the novels. If anyone has any ideas on things I could do to possibly get around these issues, or just thoughts in general about how the other light novels might be tackled, or if you're an artist who can recreate the anime's style and takes commissions/knows someone who does, I'd absolutely love to hear from you! As well as any advice/help on how I can smooth out/improve this project here!

Anyway, sorry for the long wall of text. Thank you for reading all this, if you did, and if you do try the game, please let me know your thoughts; I crave any and all feedback. 💙✨

[cobaltperun]

Leave out all the Rest - Smells like Teen Spirit

Natasha Romanoff x female Reader

Summary: A passion born from blood. A soul turned weapon. A project meant to create a super soldier without the serum, burning down in flames, leaving only a failure in the ashes of dreams turning to dust. You were never meant to belong, until they came along.

Story Masterlist / Previous Part

Word count: 2.6k

-With the lights out, it's less dangerous, here we are now, entertain us-

You could feel the tension the moment you spoke up. You heard there was some tension between Fury and the Council lately.

‘Oh, even I could cut this tension, and I’m a flint knife!’ of course Spark had to talk to you, and of course you couldn’t stop your eye from twitching.

‘Shut it, I’m warning you,’ you thought, frustration slipping into your thoughts. And of course the two agents noticed the change in your expression. Great. What were you supposed to tell them?

‘Hello there, I have a voice inside my head, he is the greatest ever, the one and only Spark, something like that, Y/N,’ Spark laughed, and you had enough of him. Though it made the agents around you suspicious you went and tapped the flint knife, making it vanish as the burning sensation in your left arm flared up just for a moment.

“Sorry, I was being cautious, I guess there’s no need for that,” you tried to make an excuse to the agents, especially the two you were supposed to work with.

Barton’s eyes widened a bit, and you figured you couldn’t blame him, you did just make a flint knife disappear. “Cool trick, what else can you do?” he and Romanoff approached the table, sitting down on the opposite side of you while Fury took the seat between the two of them and you, though there were still fair few seats between him and you or Barton.

You thought it over, you were under explicit orders not to reveal anything about the project, but on the other hand if you were going to work as a team you should at least tell them the basics. “Not nearly as much as they’d like me to. I’m immune to fire and I can create fire,” that was Blaze’s power, the one you gained when he saved your life. You had your own, but it was a bit too unreliable and unstable to be used at the moment. You still remembered the utter disappointment when Pierce realized you were the one who survived instead of Blaze, but by that point Blaze’s soul couldn’t be separated from you without it being destroyed in the process.

“And the thing you just did?” Fury demanded, his tone leaving no space for arguments or disobedience, and you straightened your back at that.

“The flint knife helps me ignite the flames. I can freely materialize or dematerialize it,” you explained automatically. “It can’t do anything else though,” and you weren’t lying. Spark had only one purpose, creating sparks and helping you form flames when you strike something with it, mostly metal, but lately you’ve been getting better with it and that opened up some other materials as well. You couldn’t strike someone and create sparks though, well, there was one exception to that rule, but, again, unreliable and unstable.

No one said it, but you could tell they would keep an eye on you, whether the ones keeping an eye on you would be the two agents, or if someone else would be doing that, you couldn’t tell. Maybe both.

Fury studied you, looked for signs of deception. He would find none, you weren’t deceiving anyone, let alone the man that was the director of an organization such as this one and three agents that were either close to his level or maybe even better. You weren’t trained for spy work or deception, you barely had any infiltration skills. Your skills were much better suited for combat. “Agent Coulson, can you brief us on the mission?” Fury eventually asked and the screen to your left lit up.

“Yes sir. Secretary Pierce reported an attack on one of the facilities of the World Security Council, a secret base where they were working on a project, one we weren’t aware of. Codenamed Project T.H.U.M.O.S. short for Project Transformative Hybrid Use of Merged Overlapping Souls,” Coulson began, showing a building you used to be rather familiar with, it wasn’t supposed to exist, but clearly it was rebuilt after Blaze turned it to ashes. You thought everything in there was destroyed, but clearly you were wrong. You felt a bead of sweat sliding down your face, and you couldn’t stop your left arm from twitching, your hand closing into a fist. Your scars itched as you remembered growing up in there, only knowing your name and purpose and nothing else.

“You look distraught, agent L/N,” Romanoff spoke up for the first time, startling you.

“I’m not allowed to speak of the project, as it is our priority needs to be retrieving whatever was stolen, the purpose of it isn’t important,” you replied, meeting her eyes and realizing you just walked into her bait, they now knew more than you should have revealed.

You couldn’t get a read on anyone’s face, their emotions, their thoughts, it was all blank to you. You thought you could at least somewhat read people, yet here you were. Still, at least these were the greatest spies in the world, so you found some comfort in that thought.

“According to our intelligence, the group responsible for the attack has a main base in Detroit. The three of you will fly there immediately. They will be expecting you,” Coulson said and the three of you nodded.

~X~

On the flight to Detroit, you maintained the distance from the two agents. They were suspicious of you, and you didn’t exactly appreciate that. Sure, they had no reason to trust you, but you would be lying if you said you didn’t expect at least a slightly better experience on your first mission.

They seemed to know each other well enough, though maybe not all that well, as there was still a fair distance between the two of them as well. Or maybe they just didn’t like being close to others. You couldn’t tell. Either way the flight felt awkward to you. Still, they were nothing if not professional, as you realized the moment you landed.

“Here’s the plan ladies, I’ll find a good lookout overlooking the base of our target. Natasha, if you can I’d like you to try and gather information, try to see if there’s a way to infiltrate the building unnoticed, and L/N what are you good at?” he asked you, already making a basic plan of action in his head.

For this situation, well, there wasn’t much you could do as far as infiltration went. “I can clarify if the stolen goods are in the building. Well, I can try, at least,” you didn’t sound entirely sure, you’ve never done it from a huge distance and considering the size of the building and the surveillance there was a chance it would just be out of your range.

Barton nodded, accepting that you could do that. “Good, that could save us some time,” he agreed and that was pretty much it, you all had a task to complete, those tasks would be done separately, there was no need to chat unless you had information to give, and just in case things went wrong you had an earpiece to contact them.

It didn’t really feel like a team, it felt more like three people working toward the same goal

~X~

Fury was a lot more trusting than Natasha thought he would be. He just allowed her to go on a mission, granted, with Clint, that involved something he didn’t even know existed up until a day or so ago.

She wasn’t blind, she knew Clint was there to keep an eye on her, as he was the only agent Fury had that could go up against her. Somehow, Natasha didn’t mind. She decided she would wipe out the red on her ledger, and considering everything she did this was much better treatment than what she deserved.

She went to the hotel first, checking in as Nastya Lucheva, though not before making sure the hotel was safe. It was far from their target, but one could never be safe enough. She checked her room, looking for any potential form of surveillance and only then, when she found none did she change into civilian clothes. She opted for denim jeans and black high-collar blouse, she did her make-up, and prepared in case an opportunity to seduce her way into the building popped up, and then she was on her way.

It wasn’t her first time in Detroit, but most of her information came from the maps Coulson provided for her and Clint. She still liked to familiarize herself with the place as much as she could given the lack of time available. She took note of small alleys, good hiding spots, different points from which a sniper could overlook the base, and she noticed Clint, not in the most obvious position, but the third best. He hid perfectly, but the two of them played the game of hide and seek for weeks back in Budapest and she learnt his patterns likely better than anyone ever had the chance to before.

She noticed you as well, blending into the crowd to the best of your abilities, your clothes weren’t casual. But they weren’t a standard uniform either, which made sense. You weren’t officially an agent, you worked for the Council. Instead, the jacket gave you a fairly common look, if not a bit biker-like.

Natasha observed as you faded into the background, blending in with other people, most people would dismiss you as harmless. She wouldn’t. There was something dangerous in your eyes, beneath the surface, and perhaps not even related to your abilities. You would get the job done, even if you seemed to hide the information that could be of use to the mission, or to the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. That was a rather impractical name, but that seemed to be the trend with these projects and organizations.

She sat in a coffee shop near the building and ordered the first coffee from the menu. First she had to locate someone from the base and preferably figure out where the main guards were. After that she could go and get closer.

~X~

The building Clint chose wasn’t the best position, it was a compromise between having a good spot and remaining undetected by the enemy. Though he felt eyes on him, he felt that same sensation of dangerous eyes spotting him, and he found Natasha looking toward him, not that it would have mattered where he hid. She was by far the only person he met lately that could figure out his approach.

You on the other hand remained somewhat oblivious. Oh, you felt his eyes on you, that’s for sure, but you couldn’t place where he was watching you from. Fury was very explicit in his orders, he was meant to complete the mission, but also needed to keep an eye on you and Natasha, for different reasons, but still. And while Clint was willing to trust Natasha near completely he had no idea who you were. He heard of people having powers, but somehow, he had a feeling your case was a bit more complicated.

So, he kept an eye on you while gathering intel from his position. The building, a five-story apartment building on the surface, was heavily hoarded, though it didn’t look like it from the first glance. Every member of the group standing guard was hiding on the balconies, dressed like civilians, but he noticed easily reachable weapons close to them. Seeing as no one on the streets around the building seemed worried you figured they were keeping up their cover well enough.

The issue was the entrance, they only had the main doors to work with, As they couldn’t reliably use the window or the roof without being riddled with bullets, and the entrance was heavily guarded from several locations, some probably outside the building as well.

He grinned a bit, he liked the challenge.

~X~

You couldn’t get rid of the feeling that you were being watched, but at least you were sure it was one or both of your teammates and not the enemy that spotted you right away. You had a suspicion about what was stolen, judging by the cylindrical container that was sealed tight, and the urgency to get it back.

Project T.H.U.M.O.S. was deemed a failure, but if your suspicion was right what was stolen was still the result of that project, and it definitely worked. You glanced at your left arm, the very proof that the project was, in theory, successful. You put a glove onto your right hand as you approached the newsstand and purchased the daily newspapers before leaning against the concrete pole near the bus stop.

It was close enough to the building, and you hoped it would work. Your right hand twitched as you flipped through the newspaper, and then, while pretending to be engrossed into the article you just set your eyes on you pulled out a phone. As the blue markings on your right arms went from dull blue to brighter blue, you weren’t lighting up, but you felt your original ability flaring up, leaving tingles through your entire body, connecting to the phone. Left arm for the flames, right arm for electricity, hence the unofficial codename now that you were a bit less of a failure.

Firestorm.

You sent electricity up the pole and to the power line, latching onto the one connected to the target building. A billboard flickered a few times before running out of power, and you would have winced if you weren’t trying to get the job done. There was the unstable part… You focused harder, entering the electrical system inside the building and going for the cameras. It was good that they had them because there weren’t many machines you could hack into like this, surveillance was just one of the things that was absolutely required from you.

Luckily, there were security cameras all over the building, inside it, outside it, images rapidly switched on the phone and in a bizarre moment you saw yourself, looking like you were reading the newspapers and not like you didn’t belong there. You didn’t see Romanoff or Barton on the cameras as you went through each and every one in rapid succession. The building had an underground part, and the further inside you went the more camera were there, until finally several camera showed the container you were looking for. There were people trying to pry it open, but so far it looked like they just dented it. Good, they were likely afraid of damaging what was inside. That should buy you some time.

“It’s inside,” you said to the other two and got on the bus to avoid suspicion. You needed to regroup at the hotel and exchange information before actually going in to retrieve the container.

~X~

Natasha was genuinely puzzled, you leaned against the pole, newspapers in hand and she thought you were trying to find a way inside, but several minutes later you just said you confirmed the target was inside. She remained puzzled until you moved away from the concrete, and she noticed it sizzling a bit, with tiny scorch marks going from where your right hand was up to the top of it.

She took notice of the billboard that short-circuited and realized you likely messed with electricity in some way.

Liar. Fire didn’t allow something like that.

A corner of her lip twitched up, she could appreciate the need to keep some secrets, and perhaps you weren’t as open of a book as she thought when you so easily fell for her bait.

A/N: There's the first chapter, again, tell me what you think. Do you want G!P Reader, do you have any comics you'd like me to adapt? Feel free to tell me those thoughts however you choose. 😁😁

Story Masterlist / Previous Part

Taglist: @esposadejoyhuerta

[smalltimidbean]

Hey you!!! Do you wanna make a silly, little guy in my style? Well now you can!!!!!

Here are some free-to-use linearts of my versions of the Fake Peppinos and Peppino Clones from Pizza Tower! Link to Drive with all versions here!

There are five different linearts; Tall Fake, Wide Fake, Peppiclone, Baby Fake and Baby Peppi! (tho the last two are technically mostly the same but shh)

And each variation has four versions, so at least one should hopefully work regardless of your art program! (Except traditional, sorry traditional artists kjgfsl)

There is: PNG with white background, PNG with transparent background (marked with 'Trans'), Photoshop Document (marked with 'PS'), and an MS Paint friendly version (marked with 'Paint')

Please Read Before Use!

I have a few rules when using these, so please follow them! If these rules are broken, I reserve the right to ban anyone from using them or revoke free use entirely. Just be respectful, please!

These are free to use - but if you would like to support me or give a tip, I have a Ko-fi right here!

Please do not remove my signature!

Please credit me when posting your own versions - I am SmallTimidBean on most sites, but if posting to a site I am not on, just say SmallTimidBean on Tumblr (also probably credit McPig/Tour De Pizza for the og concept!)

You may edit the lineart to add features (tails, horns, wings etc) or change features (the expression etc) - just keep in mind, if you are going to edit very heavily, then consider drawing your own version first!

Please do not use for commercial use - IE Making designs to sell (aka adoptables)

Please do not use in AI databases, or for AI bots

Please do not use for hate or bigotry

Please do not draw anything sexually explicit on these - I don't mind what you do with your clones outside this lineart, but I don't wanna see that on my art Imao (Also, two of these guys are literal babies)

Adding Body Horror or Gore aspects is fine, - those come with the territory of being a clone - just be sure to use the appropriate content warnings!

While these are based on clone characters from Pizza Tower, they do not have to be used as such - any characters you make with these, are yours to do with as you wish!

I encourage you to draw your new clones after you have created them! I would love to see them in YOUR style, not just mine!

And have fun!

Hopefully that's everything! I do plan to make versions with additional features and maybe even a version with all features to mix and match - but I do not have the spoons for that right now, so check back later!

Please let me know if there are any issues, or if you have any questions or suggestions for me!

[thornofthelily]

I have a theory about why the Redacted vampires can't go out in the sun.

All the other vampires powers and quirks can be explained by a corrupted, unexpected consequence of Sovereign tampering. The blood-drinking was an attempt to get them dependent on a specific food supply like daemons were to them (except they needed human blood not Sovereign arcana.) Increased physical ability, healing- better to serve the Sovereigns, be more durable to handle more tasks. Invocation as a method of control. Not aging, just like the Sovereigns themselves so they can serve eternally. Even trancing could have been a means of control, to manipulate other humans. But sunlight? I mean sure that could have been some random weird consequence too, something they didn't intend and was just part of the magical tampering, but I think there's an even simpler explanation.

I believe Vincent once said vampires can actually go in the sunlight, for brief periods. It may be painful, and too much sun can kill them, but it's not instant smoking death like some other vampire stories. We all know sunlight is pretty bad on all our skins, that UV radiation is pretty harmful no matter your skin type. What if the danger isn't necessarily the sun, but the vampire's own natural healing? A vampire goes into the sun and their vampire core immediately start trying to heal the skin from the radiation, constantly working reversing the effects all over their bodies. It quickly drains them, exhausts them, and staying out too long overextends and outpaces their healing, until their cores are expended and their healing gives out and they just... die of exhaustion, in a way. Kind of like how a demon can die from using up every drop of their magic, which would make them even more like their demonic cousins.

We don't know how long is too long for vampires to be out, and maybe a few minutes of sun exposure isn't enough to overwhelm them, but that's the conclusion I've kind of settled on for the aversion to the sun. Besides, and this is mostly my opinion, it seems the vamps aren't necessarily deathly afraid of sunlight, but view it more like an inconvenient allergy than a deadly one. Something to avoid exposure to otherwise you're gonna be tired and worn out and feel like shit for a while after, so just better to avoid it when you can. After all, how the fuck can William start a successful real estate company if he can never go view a property during the daylight hours when most humans would be looking at them?

[illarian-rambling]

@fantasy-things-and-such, I'm gonna steal this from you because it's hysterical

Rating Randomly Generated Headcanons About My OCs

(Using this generator)

FALSE LMAO! I actually have a few jokes about how Twenari does Izjik and the rest of the Outcasts' taxes because Sepo doesn't read Janazi that well, Izjik doesn't read it at all, and Djek won't touch taxes with a ten foot pole. This, of course, means Twenari is committing massive amounts of tax fraud unbeknownst to the adults, as that's what she learned from her mom. Not reporting income is just a useful loophole.

You're breaking my heart, random headcanon generator. Yes, Sepo does hum or otherwise vocalize in the shower, despite not being able to actually sing anymore.

Yes. That's the most bisexual middle schooler you've ever seen.

After all the character development I put him through, I'm sure he does. Probably mostly about fighting End alone and being betrayed by Tyche.

True. Her line between cooking and alchemy is very thin, and she'll taste test either.

False. He can actually read and write in not only formal Janazi characters and Abrimite script, but Skysheerian script as well.

Soooo false. He'd teach them to make cocktails for him and spray them with water like a cat any time they get on his nerves.

Uh, I haven't thought about this? I don't think their memory is great in either direction. Except for faces though. Elsind never forgets a face.

Nope. They are and were way too serious for that, even as a kid.

I'll stick my taglist on here in case any of you wanna have some fun with this ;)

@amandacanwrite @elsie-writes @riveriafalll @kosmic-kore @kaylinalexanderbooks

@bard-coded @carrotsinnovember @patternwelded-quill @somethingclevermahogony @whatwewrotepodcast

@goldxdarkness @the-angriest-author @mk-writes-stuff @frostedlemonwriter @vyuntspakhkite-l-darling

@watermeezer @leahnardo-da-veggie @mr-orion @televisionjester @the-ellia-west

@ray-writes-n-shit

[mayapapaya33]

The fun part about Gabriel and Beelzebub is that they can be together and happy because they are still fundamentally selfish and so only really care about themselves and now, because of character growth, each other. Whereas Crowley and Aziraphale care about each other AND the world and so are torn apart by their morals and their philosophical difference in how to deal with the problems facing them. (By fun I mean I want to strangle someone).

Aziraphale has learned, mostly through watching Crowley over the centuries ironically, that morality is not black and white and that you need to actually put the work in to make things right, not just assume that a greater power will take care of everything for you. He's developed a sense of civic duty. His heart is in the right place, Unfortunately he's still deeply indoctrinated by Heaven's supposed goodness and superiority despite all evidence to the contrary. He can't see that it isn't just a few bad apples, but rather an institutional problem. He doesn't understand why going back to heaven would be painful for Crowley, why being offered "full angelic status" is such a slap in the face. He just doesn't get it. He says "you're the bad guys" without even blinking but he loves Crowley and thinks he's a good person.

He thinks he's offering a reward, something Crowley deserves for being good, when all this time Crowley has been trying to explain that they are the same. He isn't an angel anymore and he never will be again, not because he couldn't, but because he would never want to. Aziraphale's double think is too strong. Until he breaks through his own mental barriers of HEAVEN = GOOD. He will never understand Crowley's feelings. Because in his mind heaven can never truly be wrong. Except for all the things heaven has been demonstrably wrong about. But that was probably just Gabriel or Michael making bad choices, and he can fix that. Crowley's fall, was is justified or a mistake? Heaven doesn't make mistakes (except for when it does) but that was GOD not just heaven and GOD definitely doesn't make mistakes right? Well, let's not think about that, let's just fix it! Crowley is clearly good, and heaven is good (except for when it isn't) and angels are good (except for when they aren't) so let's make Crowley an angel again! Perfect, what could be wrong with that?! So on and so forth.

Crowley on the other hand, has learned that the difference between Heaven and Hell is aesthetic and that working within the system got him nowhere fast, except doing a million light year free style dive into a pit of sulfur. (I know he's an unreliable narrator and he probably did more than just ask questions, but come on, what does that mean? Seriously, did he stage a really annoying protest in heaven's lobby or something? I can't really see him doing anything TOO nefarious lol. This IS the guy who goes around gluing coins to the sidewalk and taking down the cell phone service, not exactly a monster here, I feel pretty safe in assuming that with anything he did, his punishment did not fit the crime). He works outside the system, to great success.

Which is why at the end of Season 1 he said that he thought it would come down to him and Aziraphale and Earth together AGAINST Heaven and Hell. People always seem to forget that because of Crowley's much flashier (and romantic seeming) panic response of running away. He literally only says that whenever Aziraphale blindsides him and is falling back into Heaven's rhetoric. If Aziraphale was firmly by his side, he wouldn't want to run, he likes Earth and wants to save it. HE was the one who had to convince Aziraphale to try to stop the apocalypse after all! He only started talking about running away when Aziraphale LIED to him about Adam when he was trying to be a "good angel" and Crowley thought there was nothing else they could do to stop the Apocalypse. He Loves Earth, He just Loves Aziraphale more and wants to get him away from heaven.

Same thing here in the final 15, Crowley sees Aziraphale slipping through his fingers and is desperate. Maybe, if they were working together, they COULD reform Heaven, but not while Aziraphale is still in denial about just how bad the problem is. And how much it would hurt Crowley to go back. Which is why I'm so proud of Crowley for not following him. I think Aziraphale needs to come to those realizations on his own. Only then can they come back together and try to stop the second coming and maybe even reform Heaven.

[wisedelusionalmarshmallow]

@jegulus-microfic, June 19th - Mechanic, G, Word Count - 857

Regulus did mostly everything in his life with a sort of mechanic feel to it. As if he wasn't fully putting his heart into it. His spells were always perfect, the wand movements textbook perfection. He was able to recite what he had just read in his books prior to the lesson as if he had them in front of him.

But writing, writing was his thing.

Whether it was an essay, or a poem, or a journal entry. Regulus actually cared, and put his all into it. It's where he actually allowed himself to be vulnerable.

In the case of his essays, he lets his professors into his mind. Sharing his opinion and knowledge that far outweighs the complexity of what he should know at his age. Most teachers are impressed, except for his Ancient Runes teacher. She complained that he was too far ahead and now she has to find things for him to do instead.

In the case of his poetry, he lets his friends into his mind. He knew that they were all very bright when it came to school, but none really had an eye for art, nonetheless decoding it's meaning. So when Regulus serves his rawest emotions to them, veiled with heavy metaphors and complex symbolism. He doesn't expect them to understand.

In the case of his journal, he explains his own mind to himself. He doesn't hide behind his vast knowledge of magic. He doesn't hide his emotions behind frilly words. He's true to himself. Writes his emotions down with the simplicity of a child explaining the world to their parents. His complex emotions, deepest secrets, and truest thoughts come out late at night when everyone else is sleeping.

No one's allowed to read it. Many have asked and few have tried. In order to make sure no one does though, every time Regulus closes it he charms it to turn to stone.

So when he wakes up that Wednesday morning, and his journal has disappeared he doesn't worry, not right away. The book is stone, Evan probably stole it again to hit Barty with it.

He gets up out of bed and goes through his normal daily routine, showering, getting dressed, brushing his teeth and styling his hair. Only when he arrives to the great hall does he realize something's up.

One. Evan and Pandora are looking for him as he enters the great hall. Which is odd since they're usually engrossed in conversation. Two. The marauders aren't there. His brother and his brother's group of friends are almost always there before Regulus.

Evan waves him over and he goes to his usual seat at the table, wondering what's going on.

He spots his stone journal sitting on his plate. Regulus looks up to Evan to ask what's going on.

"We didn't read it," Evan quickly says.

Read what?

Regulus takes his seat and picks up his book, noticing there's a piece of parchment attached to the back of it. "Did you see who dropped it off?" Regulus asks his friends, peeling the note off the back of the stone.

Evan shakes his head. "Nope," Pandora continues his sentence, "It was here before we arrived."

How odd. Regulus starts to wonder who did this, but figures that the note may explain it better. So he unfolds the note and starts reading it.

Regulus,

Whoever wrote the note did not have good handwriting, Regulus squints to read it a little better.

I told them not to but your brother went into your room last night and stole this. I didn't want to know what you write in here. I can tell it's special and private to you so I will apologize as much as I can for your brother.

The boys read it out loud in the dorm room last night, I placed a silencing charm around the room to minimize the damage, but Remus, Peter and I all heard the things Sirius was reading.

I feel awful, it felt so wrong to be hearing your inner thoughts and I tried not to listen but, you mentioned my name a few times and well, I got curious. I apologize for that as well. I should have known better.

But if what you've written is true—which I suspect it is considering you never thought someone else would read this—I wanted to let you know that your feelings are reciprocated. Much to your brothers dismay, but, they are.

Sorry again,

And a million times more,

J.F.P

Regulus can barely begin to process the letter. On one hand, he's insanely mad at his brother for stealing his journal, and somehow finding the spell to revert it back to it's original form. But on the other hand, he's somewhat glad that he did it. It wasn't like Regulus was ever going to confront James about his crush himself.

But if Sirius read the stuff about his crush, then he probably read everything else too. Regulus sets fire to the note, watching the ash cover the stone. He looks up to his friends, “Someone found it on the floor outside of my room, nothing significant.”

[pokemon-ash-aus]

I'm more curious on what reverse betrayal AU is, i couldn't really find anything in the tags sorry

Damn i SWEAR i wrote it down already. I guess Tumblr's tags are extra extra broken.

OKAY 👏

So everyone knows the canonical fanfiction trope of Betrayal AU's yes? Where the Main character of any fandom (in this case Ash) gets abandoned and spit on by their friends and partners except for the brief few that usually end up being the love interest?

In this case it's

Ash's friends leave him, ash's pokemon leave him except for the strong ones (pikachu is usually leaving him behind but i call bull so whatevs), Ash gets new pokemon, stronger and so much better (also legendaries, whoda thunk), he gets a love interest or a harem (cause why not) and then gets WICKED OP to the point its a bit unbelievable. Theb the betrayers come back and Ash wipes the floor with them while mocking them the whole time.

Its a well known trope, one that i used to adore myself, but i found it lacking after a hot min. The characters were always OOC, and the progression of events started to lean on terrible for me. No hate to the trope, i wrote one nyself once upon a time (unfinished), but it's nit in my wheelhouse anymore.

And so i made the Reverse Betrayal AU, mostly as a kick but really it started on the same premise but executed differently.

Ash's friends gather round, in this case, it had only gone up to alola so im sticking by that. My reasoning was that the little field trip down in Kanto was an excellent opportunity to get the rest of Ash's friends down there as a surprise!

Now, i want to point out the crucial information that Ash acts differently with each friend group. Not intentionally being deceitful, but more of, trying to fit into the type of person they need. For Misty that was a Brat, for May that was a Mentor, for Dawn a Sibling, for Iris an idiot, for Serena a hero. Etc etc.

Alola was the place where Ash *couldnt* do that so he finds himself in a mix of Mentor/friend/sibling role.

But when they all are there, Ash has a hard time trying to figure out what he should be and what he should stray into. And that leans into him being a Brat because Misty is a VERY loud personality in a way no one else was.

And boy do they grate on each other's nerves.

Misty is teasing him playfully, but Ash is biting back HARD. Not because he wants too, but the stress of the situation makes it hard for him to fight back just as playful. Especially with Iris there since her words used to cut before, but now he's painting Misty with the same brush but twice as deep.

And Misty doesnt appreciate this right, so this playfight on her end turns into actual fighting, words of anger and resentment speaking out on both sides.

"I WISH I NEVER MET YOU." Get's thrown out and the entire field goes quiet.

"Ditto." Ash growls.

And they turn away from each other.

And Brock is already trying to placate, he's seen this before a million times but then...

Everyone else jumps in.

Accusations are thrown, some side with Misty some side with Ash. None of these people are friends with each other, they all are connected through Ash.

And so Brock cuts them all off, cause the two were BOTH being uncalled for. And when he turns to Ash to ask what he was thinking.

The kid is outright gone.

No words no nothing and that leaves a deep deep dread in Brock's stomach.

"Oh he left, just like a little kid." Iris sighs, shaking her head as the others glare at her.

"No," Brock's voice trembles and that stops everyone else from really saying anything. "Ash can be rude and angry and wrong all he wants but he doesnt ever leave a conversation mod way- hell he doesnt even run away from a confrontation- this- this isnt right."

And while they look for him it starts ti become more and more clear that... None of these people are /friends/. They know Ash and Ash only.

And that starts *arguments*, screams of whose right and whose wrong and why Ash doesnt need to have a friend like *you.*

Its the take of, instead of Ashbeing abandoned by his friends. Its instead Ash 'abandoning' his friends instead. But its not really true, cause Ash wabts to be with his friends he's just...

Very mad right now.

Whoo i went on a tangent. I have more- somewhere- so ill need to look for it.

[aspd-culture]

Sorry ig in advance since you get questions a lot but got curious about a few things

1. Is it normal for pwASPD to view unbeneficial relationships as chores? I know I, a likely prosocial, when I don't see the benefit in a relationship, I have to view it as being a chore to continue it.

2. If a connection is established between harming others and being harmed, will a pwASPD, for lack of a better term, be able to mimic empathy or remorse?

3. Do you know if pwASPD and another comorbid disorder, if the other disorder causes already low or fragile self esteem (like another cluster B), can seem like they don't have ASPD?

These are mostly for project research but also out of curiosity because I can

Nothing to be sorry for!!/gen

1.) Oh yes. So very, very much yes. And honestly, it's even worse than a chore - more like if a dead-end job decided to stop paying you but you'd go to jail if you quit. If you've ever seen a kid stuck dress shopping with their mother on TV, that's the way I would like to act through every single interaction with an equal part useless and annoying but unavoidable prosocial irl. Every single non-Exception prosocial is that coworker you hate who won't leave you alone./hj Joking aside, not all prosocials are actually that annoying actually. So it kind of depends; sometimes it's fine at least for me.

2.) Yeah, I'd say so. This goes differently for all of us, but for the most part "connection formed" would probably go in the direction of an Exception, and that's where some symptoms of ASPD are lessened for those of us that have them. That includes often having some degree of effective empathy and/or a desire to work on cognitive empathy with them in particular (I use them as practice to make the necessary use of cognitive empathy less annoying with non-Exceptions). Ditto with remorse for some pwASPD, though for me in particular that depends on the Exception in question. Some still do not bring out remorse in me for whatever reason. This is a good place to note that actually, since I don't think I've mentioned this elsewhere. Exceptions do not all have to be the same even for the same pwASPD. Two friends may have different symptoms they alleviate vs don't affect vs worsen, and of course platonic vs sexual vs romantic Exceptions often vary in that as well. For me and a few other pwASPD I've met, this may also occur with some groups of people who aren't Exceptions but cause an Exception-esque response. For me, kids get that as most do other people struggling with mental health disorders beyond just depression and anxiety (nothing easy about those two it's just in our current world most people have those). If I hurt a kid's feelings, 25/10 times I am going to cry with them or force myself not to. And that will vary for each pwASPD based on how much social neurological development was completed before it was fundamentally changed and started developing antisocially too. Some of us have more empathy than others, or more remorse than others (and vice versa) in general, so that'll impact those situations too.

3.) So this depends on what you define as "seem like they don't have ASPD", though it won't be self-esteem that affects that. Generally I'd point that more in the direction of NPD. But yeah, looking at the symptoms of ASPD, there are a few specific disorders that cause someone who very much has ASPD to not be diagnosed and/or believed both professionally and personally. In personal relationships, it's honestly just not being a serial k*ller that will get most to think you don't have it. Professionally, you're looking at disorders that cause social problems (such as autism, SAD - social anxiety, and GAD - generalized anxiety), impulse control (ADHD mostly), emotional instability (bipolar disorder, IED - intermittent explosive, ODD - oppositional defiance, and yeah your other cluster b PDs). There are others that make a whole lot less sense imo to get in the way of an ASPD diagnosis too. Schizophrenia comes to mind, with some professionals thinking that it's just... so many episodes of psychosis that it starts to look like ASPD which, don't even get me started on how much of a medical failure it is that I have heard of that specific thing happening. But mostly, it's going to be the ones I listed previously. None of these are mutually exclusive with ASPD, but they have symptoms that overlap with or mimic ASPD's, and so you'll have genuinely good professionals who are trying to avoid over/misdiagnosis where it applies to a *very* stigmatized disorder, and you'll have lazy ones that don't care to try and pick out which it is if not both. That will all just depend on the pwASPD's presentation of symptoms. I had more than one professional refuse to believe I had ASPD, and my (very lovely and dilligent/gen) psychiatrist was also leaning to just diagnose autism until I said some line about the reason I try for social interaction not being because I want to but because everyone has to to be able to get what they need in life. Once she realized I see it as an irritating requirement to associate with other people - even ones I kind of like - she quickly turned on that and diagnosed both. That's why it's important to speak openly and with as much of the mask removed as possible without getting yourself in trouble. They will try and avoid labelling you with something like this unless they are 1000% sure because of its connotations and the social and professional implications of having ASPD. It is very possible to pick out which is which or if it's more than one with overlap in regards to any set of comorbidities even outside of ASPD, but it takes a lot of work for that to be done properly especially if you're still masking in front of them.

I have no issue with anyone asking just out of curiosity by the way. Seriously like I guess I see why some people feel weird about it, but genuine interest is the reason why disorders get looked into, researched, and potentially normalized and accepted. There is nothing wrong with being interested in any topic as long as you're respectful in your interactions with sensitive subjects, and this ask was completely respectful, so I'm happy to answer it./gen

Plain text below the cut:

Nothing to be sorry for!!/gen

1.) Oh yes. So very, very much yes. And honestly, it's even worse than a chore - more like if a dead-end job decided to stop paying you but you'd go to jail if you quit. If you've ever seen a kid stuck dress shopping with their mother on TV, that's the way I would like to act through every single interaction with an equal part useless and annoying but unavoidable prosocial irl. Every single non-Exception prosocial is that coworker you hate who won't leave you alone./hj Joking aside, not all prosocials are actually that annoying actually. So it kind of depends; sometimes it's fine at least for me.

2.) Yeah, I'd say so. This goes differently for all of us, but for the most part "connection formed" would probably go in the direction of an Exception, and that's where some symptoms of ASPD are lessened for those of us that have them. That includes often having some degree of effective empathy and/or a desire to work on cognitive empathy with them in particular (I use them as practice to make the necessary use of cognitive empathy less annoying with non-Exceptions). Ditto with remorse for some pwASPD, though for me in particular that depends on the Exception in question. Some still do not bring out remorse in me for whatever reason. This is a good place to note that actually, since I don't think I've mentioned this elsewhere. Exceptions do not all have to be the same even for the same pwASPD. Two friends may have different symptoms they alleviate vs don't affect vs worsen, and of course platonic vs sexual vs romantic Exceptions often vary in that as well. For me and a few other pwASPD I've met, this may also occur with some groups of people who aren't Exceptions but cause an Exception-esque response. For me, kids get that as most do other people struggling with mental health disorders beyond just depression and anxiety (nothing easy about those two it's just in our current world most people have those). If I hurt a kid's feelings, 25/10 times I am going to cry with them or force myself not to. And that will vary for each pwASPD based on how much social neurological development was completed before it was fundamentally changed and started developing antisocially too. Some of us have more empathy than others, or more remorse than others (and vice versa) in general, so that'll impact those situations too.

3.) So this depends on what you define as "seem like they don't have ASPD", though it won't be self-esteem that affects that. Generally I'd point that more in the direction of NPD. But yeah, looking at the symptoms of ASPD, there are a few specific disorders that cause someone who very much has ASPD to not be diagnosed and/or believed both professionally and personally. In personal relationships, it's honestly just not being a serial k*ller that will get most to think you don't have it. Professionally, you're looking at disorders that cause social problems (such as autism, SAD - social anxiety, and GAD - generalized anxiety), impulse control (ADHD mostly), emotional instability (bipolar disorder, IED - intermittent explosive, ODD - oppositional defiance, and yeah your other cluster b PDs).

There are others that make a whole lot less sense imo to get in the way of an ASPD diagnosis too. Schizophrenia comes to mind, with some professionals thinking that it's just... so many episodes of psychosis that it starts to look like ASPD which, don't even get me started on how much of a medical failure it is that I have heard of that specific thing happening. But mostly, it's going to be the ones I listed previously. None of these are mutually exclusive with ASPD, but they have symptoms that overlap with or mimic ASPD's, and so you'll have genuinely good professionals who are trying to avoid over/misdiagnosis where it applies to a very stigmatized disorder, and you'll have lazy ones that don't care to try and pick out which it is if not both. That will all just depend on the pwASPD's presentation of symptoms. I had more than one professional refuse to believe I had ASPD, and my (very lovely and dilligent/gen) psychiatrist was also leaning to just diagnose autism until I said some line about the reason I try for social interaction not being because I want to but because everyone has to to be able to get what they need in life. Once she realized I see it as an irritating requirement to associate with other people - even ones I kind of like - she quickly turned on that and diagnosed both. That's why it's important to speak openly and with as much of the mask removed as possible without getting yourself in trouble. They will try and avoid labelling you with something like this unless they are 1000% sure because of its connotations and the social and professional implications of having ASPD. It is very possible to pick out which is which or if it's more than one with overlap in regards to any set of comorbidities even outside of ASPD, but it takes a lot of work for that to be done properly especially if you're still masking in front of them.

I have no issue with anyone asking just out of curiosity by the way. Seriously like I guess I see why some people feel weird about it, but genuine interest is the reason why disorders get looked into, researched, and potentially normalized and accepted. There is nothing wrong with being interested in any topic as long as you're respectful in your interactions with sensitive subjects, and this ask was completely respectful, so I'm happy to answer it./gen

[ablazeinhim]

I have such a problem with "semi-formal" designations for event attire because I am always ok being overdressed to a casual thing, but don't want to be the person too dressed down at the gig.

[sunderwight]

Bingqiu roleswap where disciple Shen Yuan knows he's gay, and figures out that he has a big huge crush on his handsome Shizun, but also concludes nearly at once that he's not going to be drawing Luo Binghe's eye any time soon. Firstly, Luo Binghe is notoriously straight. Secondly, even if he weren't, he wouldn't go for his scrawny untalented nerd of a disciple! Shen Yuan's not bad looking, not before or after transmigrating, but he's neither a beautiful nor a hot manly man, and he assumes if Luo Binghe were into dudes he'd be into the same kinds of twunks that Shen Yuan likes. Guys on his own level, etc etc.

Plus Luo Binghe hated the original disciple Shen, and only started to warm up to the transmigrated version after Shen Yuan got injured in front of him trying to stop the other disciples on the peak from killing a small animal. For some reason, Luo Binghe brought Shen Yuan medicine. He got even nicer after Shen Yuan distracted the skinner demon by trying to convince it to take his skin instead of Luo Binghe's, and then again when Shen Yuan successfully fought off a demon invader -- though initially when Luo Binghe volunteered him for that job, he thought it was an assassination attempt. His heart was in his throat when Luo Binghe nearly took a poisoned blow for him, but luckily he reacted more quickly and got hit by the thorns instead. His heavenly demon blood took care of the poison, and he managed to convince everyone that he narrowly avoided getting cut at all.

Shen Yuan's careful not to read anything into it when Luo Binghe finds out about his, erm, uncomfortable dormitory situation and moves him into the side room, or when he completely messes up trying to make dinner and Luo Binghe takes over cooking and bans him from the kitchen (he swears he's not actually that bad at cooking, he just never had to use a kitchen without a microwave or an electric hot plate before...)

After all, it's not like Luo Binghe is cooking for him, he's just making food he likes and letting Shen Yuan eat it too! Because he's nice! He's way nicer than the book gave him credit for being, see, clearly Shen Yuan was correct in signing up for his defense squad, "top ten worst villains of all time" his ass that poll was nonsense...

Unfortunately, though, the plot's still gotta plot. Shen Yuan is heartbroken when the Immortal Alliance Conference rolls around and his shizun stabs him and throws him down into the Endless Abyss. Heartbroken, but not surprised. After all, it was always going to go this way, wasn't it?

But at least, now that it's done, he has some agency in how he reacts to it. He's changed the story enough that he doesn't need to go get revenge. Maybe Luo Binghe's still the villain of his story, maybe that was inevitable, but some heroes let the villains get away. Don't they? It's all part of that noble, breaking the cycle of abuse type stuff. He can be that kind of hero. He can let it go. As long as he avoids Luo Binghe altogether, it should be fine, right? It's not like he's obligated to turn people into human sticks. He asked the system, he's definitely not!

Technically he's not even required to conquer the demon realms. He just has to get out of the Abyss and the be sufficiently cool and/or tragic. Conquest is just one means of doing that, and not even Shen Yuan's preferred, since he doesn't exactly want to rule over anybody. Going around the demon realms beating up some jackasses and rescuing some damsels in distress and becoming sworn brothers with Shang Qinghua, one of the current demon kings, is suitable. He definitely doesn't want to marry any of the damsels he encounters (thank fuck the system lets him off the hook for that!)

But eventually he has to go back to the human world. Not only is it mandated by the system, but he also misses living there. The demonic realms are in many ways better than expected, plus a lot of the monsters are really cool, but he misses the weather and plants and the people he's more accustomed to being around.

He misses Qing Jing Peak, if he's being honest with himself. Shizun's cooking and the bamboo forest and the crisp mountain breezes, the comforts of home.

Not that he can actually go back there in specific. Of course not. If he did that, Luo Binghe would try to kill him, or else the system would try and make him kill Luo Binghe. Bad ideas all around. No, he can't go back to Qing Jing Peak, but he can go find someplace nicer than the demon realms at least. He just has to keep a low profile, which shouldn't be hard since the original goods did that even while actively scheming to kill his former master!

Except.

Everywhere he goes, suddenly Luo Binghe is also there?!

Good thing Shen Yuan thought to take a page out of the book of Luo Binghe's actual love interest, Liu Mingyan, and start wearing a veil. He just didn't want any randos who might have seen him at the Immortal Alliance Conference or on any of the other missions his shizun sent him on to recognize him. But one minute he's investigating a strange case in Jinlan City, and the next the streets are full of Huan Hua cultivators (Shen Yuan has no intention of joining them, that's the path the original took to getting revenge! He doesn't want revenge!), and then Luo Binghe and Sect Leader MBJ and Peak Lord SHL show up, and SY is ducking down alleys and hiding behind columns, just trying to stay out of the way until the lockdown on Jinlan lifts and he can leave.

Except...

Luo Binghe really isn't acting like himself?

He looks like he hasn't been eating or sleeping well. There are dark circles around his eyes, and something almost melancholy in his countenance. And he's dressed entirely in white, none of the usual Qing Jing greens and blues anywhere to be seen. Of even greater concern, he's being reckless. Shen Yuan can't stop himself from rushing out when he sees his former shizun get infected by a sower demon.

Luckily, it's been some years since the last time they saw one another. Shen Yuan's gained a few inches in height, so he's almost at eye-level with his old master now, and though he's still more slender than bulky he's picked up some totally new styles from training the demon realms. He doesn't move the same way he used to. With that, plus the veil, it's enough for him to quickly swallow back his words as he grabs Luo Binghe and quickly administers a cure for the sower infection.

Well, he has one of course. He wouldn't need it himself, heavenly demon blood and all, but his time running around playing hero in the demon realms meant he rescued a lot of humans from such fates. Which is hard to do if you don't have a cure to their afflictions, but between him and Shang Qinghua, sourcing such things was almost easy.

Luo Binghe looks at him like he's just seen a ghost. The other Cang Qiong sect members are alarmed by SY suddenly accosting one of their own and of course find him suspicious, so he runs away right after, and then he has to lose Sha Hualing's pursuit in the city.

But what else could he do? He manages to evade the system's attempts to railroad him into meeting Gongyi Xiao, avoids the rest of the Cang Qiong crowd, and drops some of the cure through the current Qian Cao peak lord's window to get the incident sorted out. Then he flees and puts a good amount of distance between himself, Jinlan City, and every righteous sect he can think of.

The only problem is that after this point, Luo Binghe is everywhere.

Any time Shen Yuan stays in one place for longer than a few days, Qing Jing disciples start turning up. Any time he takes a job hunting some cool-sounding monster or pursuing some interesting tome of knowledge, the better to satisfy the system, it seems like Luo Binghe has selected and gone after the exact same target! Which is especially annoying because back when SY was a disciple, Luo Binghe was always assigning him to do this stuff. Since when does his chronic homebody master have an interesting in six-tailed scorpion lemurs or ancient spiritual kilns?

What's weirder, though, are the rumors.

It seems like any time SY stops at some well-populated place and asks for the latest gossip, he has to hear about how the Qing Jing peak lord lost his beloved disciple during the Immortal Alliance Conference, and mourned like a widow, and now wanders the earth in search of solace for his grief. Seeking something, possibly even the ghost of his dear disciple.

What nonsense! Luo Binghe threw SY into the Abyss himself. He had to do it, it was the plot! And also his obligation as a righteous cultivator, confronted with a "dangerous" half-demon. Does it sting? Yes it stings! That's why SY wouldn't just forget it! Despite logically knowing it's pointless, is there some part of him that wishes his master would have chosen differently? That thinks he should have known that no matter what kind of power Shen Yuan had, he would never use it to hurt people recklessly, or harm innocents, or especially not harm... well. It's pointless, his blood condemned him, and if there is some part of Luo Binghe which regrets what happened, it's doubtless just that he unwittingly harbored a monster for so long.

Which is fine and Shen Yuan would leave it at that, if the guy would just let him!

But no. Instead he has to deal with Luo Binghe turning up and asking him questions, trying to get him to talk (SY has no hope of disguising his voice, if he says anything he's not even sure it won't crack as he comes perilously close to tears instead, so he just stays silent), and then asking for his name, asking if he's mute, asking about his background, his sect, his kin. Is his a righteous cultivator? Where did he get that sword? (NOT Xin Mo, thanks, he used that thing once and then tossed it back into the Abyss before the portal finished closing behind him -- he knows a poisoned chalice when he sees one, although knowing the plot twist about that sword from the novel sure helped.) Where did he learn those forms? Is he... does he have a safe place to go home to? Someone to tend his injuries? Make sure he eats his meals?

SY, of course, stays silent. But it's difficult. Not only because Luo Binghe asks, but because he still looks... bad. Sunken, sorrowful, desperate almost. Shen Yuan can't figure out if he knows or not. Maybe he's unsure, maybe he's looking for SY to give him a sign, so that he can figure him out and then flip a switch and try to finish the job he started.

That can't happen. If they fight, SY will win, and he doesn't want to hurt Luo Binghe.

But even if Luo Binghe's not a heavenly demon, he is a highly accomplished cultivator, and it seems he's got his own breaking points to reach. Eventually he corners SY and gets a hand on his veil, and for a moment SY is sure he's going to rip it off, see his face, and confront him all "I knew it was you, you twisted evil demon, you won't escape justice a second time" and he feels a deep, icy terror close around his lungs--

Luo Binghe lets go of the veil before he can lift it.

But then something even worse happens. Because Shen Yuan's handsome, peerless, noble master breaks down. He falls to his knees, begging forgiveness, sobbing, clutching at his head like he's being driven to madness.

It all spills out of him, then. How he pushed his own dearest disciple into the Abyss, which obviously SY already knew, but also how he was apparently qi-deviating the whole time, and his senses could not differentiate between one kind of demonic "threat" and another. How he realized what he'd done only after he regained his senses hours later, and rushed back to the place where the tear to the Abyss had opened, but could not find a way in after the one he lost. How he had betrayed and thrown away the only person who cared about him, and couldn't even explain that he hadn't intended to. How he would accept anything, any punishment, hatred, penance, or revenge, if only he could see his disciple's face once more.

SY is stunned.

Apparently, Luo Binghe hadn't rejected him for his demon blood?

Not only that, but beforehand, he seemed to have valued Shen Yuan a lot more than Shen Yuan would have credited.

Is it a trick? Is he lying? SY would have guessed so, would have assumed that Luo Binghe's plan was to lull him into complacency only to turn on him once he finally had confirmation. But somehow, he just... doesn't think this is an insincere display. His old master is too cool for this stuff! He has too much dignity to just throw it away on a scheme! There are other ways to get what he wants.

Even if it is a lie, Shen Yuan is tired of running. He's the hero. He won't actually lose, and if it comes to it, it's still in his hands to decide if he wants to spare Luo Binghe or not (he does, of course he does, even if this whole spiel is an act). Plus he's got a backup plant body in one of Shang Qinghua's greenhouses if all goes to shit.

He takes the veil off himself.

Luo Binghe, teary-eyed, stares at him as if his face is the most beautiful he's ever seen.

Shen Yuan nearly puts the veil back on. His cheeks heat up. Dear Shizun, aren't you an immortal master? A noble peak lord? Isn't it your calling to vanquish demons? Get up off the dirty ground right this minute! Where did your dignity go? Shen Yuan did not spend all those nights doing the laundry to watch his teacher dirty his knees for no good reason!

There's a quaver in Luo Binghe's voice as he points out that Shen Yuan was terrible at doing laundry. Luo Binghe had to redo it the day after, all the time.

Shen Yuan chides at him that he should have made one of the other disciples do it then.

Luo Binghe just laughs, and stays on the ground, until finally Shen Yuan has to physically pull him up. Muttering about how he's being ridiculous, what's he crying for, why's he been moping so much, doesn't he know that handsome face should never look so bereft? Then he realizes what he's saying and shuts his mouth, but Luo Binghe just looks happy for the first time in years. Since the Abyss. How is it possible that SY, who actually had to slog through that awful place, can still smile more than Luo Binghe, who didn't?

They're standing so close. Holding on to one another. Almost as if... as if the scene's tone is... well...

Oh what the hell!

Shen Yuan closes the last little bit of distance between them, and kisses Luo Binghe.

[tvckerwash]

I like to think that during pfl (using his s9 characterization, not s10) wash is the guy you go to when you want to know something (ah la a line in the fall of reach novel I believe where chief says the enlisted personnel always seem to know stuff bc wash is clearly enlisted).

he's in a position where he's privy to information from the higher-ups, and he's friendly enough with the lower rungs that he knows the gossip going around. as a bonus though, wash ain't no narc, so if you want that information you need to offer him something of equivalent exchange (consequently fueling the 'guy who knows things' thing). for example, north had to tell him about using equipment in the field in order to get him to tell him what his meeting with internals was about.

wash isn't the only guy who knows things, of course, but he's the guy who has the widest base of general knowledge. ct is also someone who knows things, but she's a lot more specific, and what she lacks in scale she more than makes up for with how in-depth her knowledge is. wash is where you learn about something from, ct is where you get all the juicy details (to the point of it almost being tmi). she also has an equivalent exchange policy, but people tend to be a bit more reluctant to get information from her because of what her knowledge is (and the borderline 'insane conspiracy theorist' energy doesn't help either).

florida? well...you don't wanna know what he knows. the cost is simply too high.

[fffuckthelaxbros]

alternatively‚

Also if you’ve only read the main comic so far I recommend also checking out the extras tag! There’s a lot more fun stuff in there (like. A lot)

[ichthyorelationships]

an idea i invite anyone else to write about / run with lol....

the premise that The Change gets all messed up for alberto, say it's something that can happen from stress, &/or happens rarely and you just have to wait for it to resolve itself....used as some parallel to struggling through some emotional turbulence / upheaval / questioning / Realizing Things, etc etc

[marklikely]

"musicals are so dumb like why do people burst into song" its nondiagetic "how did all these background people know the words" its nondiagetic "how did they all choreograph this dance" itS NONDIAGE

[loregoddess]

I FINALLY FINISHED MAKING THIS.

It's exactly 100 questions so whatever your score percentage is at the end is exactly how many you got right. Fair warning that I do use Hyrule Historia and the LoZ Encyclopedia as canon sources of information, although I usually give precedence to in-game lore. (Also fair warning there are a few timeline questions, although BotW/TotK are exempt because we have no official placement for them).

Quotev doesn't let me write result descriptions for trivia-style quizzes like that other site that everyone uses for quiz-making, but I make a quiz literally once in a blue moon and therefore refuse to make a new account with a different website. Instead here's what I would have written if I could have written result descriptions:

---------------

100% - Wow! You're either a superfan or you realized there were no rules saying this couldn't be an open-textbook quiz. In either case, kudos.

75%-99% - You're a serious fan of the series.

51-74% - You know a decent amount of LoZ trivia and lore!

25% - 50% - You know a Normal Amount of LoZ trivia and lore.

1%-24% - You're casually familiar with the series.

0% - You either truly know nothing about LoZ, or realized quizzes could be treated as a game where a perfect 0% result was an achievement. Honestly a perfect 0% is as impressive as a perfect 100%, so congrats.