#there ended up being 12 pictures of my books in this set but I might add more later depending

[roping-riding-wrangling]

Chapter Three: I Am A Rock

He opens the backpack and retrieves several photos. You can’t help but look at the pages and a gasp breaks from your lips. “Jonathan, what is this?”

“Y/n,” he responds quietly.

“Y/n, this is what happens when creeps are given too much freedom and no consequences.” Steve tells you, jaw hardening

“That's not…” Jonathan trails off. 

Summary: turns out running on barely an hour of sleep has consequences. Y/n goes for a drives, gossips, meets Steve (not just him staring at her from across the parking lot) and has a mental breakdown!

Previous Chapter

words: 4k

Warnings: ANGST, mentions of death, swearing, stalking, mentions of sex, nonconsensual pictures, Steve Harrington being an asshole, sleep deprivation and its effects

The alarm clock reads 12:08 am. You toss and turn, fluff your pillows, tighten your blanket around you but nothing eases the stress. Your dad had long since gone to bed so putting on a record was out of the question. You hadn’t written in a journal in months and you weren’t keen to start now. It was far too late to go on a jog. You glance at the clock again. 12:10 am. 

“Fuck”

Your contemplation hadn’t even passed the time. Throwing the blankets off, you huff up from the bed. The carpeted floors protect your feet from the cold. Feeling around in the dark, you open your dresser and pull out a pair of wool socks to brave the hardwood of the rest of the house. You step into the hallway, using the light from the living room lamp to illuminate your path. As quietly as possible, you fill the kettle and set it on the stove. You glance to your left and spot your book from where you’d left it in the morning. 

You’d honestly forgotten about it, but realize that this could be exactly what you need to settle your mind. As you wait for the water to warm up, you lean against the counter and use the soft  stove light to read. You’ve made it two chapters farther by the time the water gets hot enough. 

Armed with your tea and book, you set yourself up on the couch. Honestly, for being a paperback romance, A Pirate’s Love was rather compelling. Anastasia’s character arc wasn’t too bad. You suppose that of stock female leads, she did have a fair bit of agency. And her friendship with the pirate Robert made their romance seem pretty natural. You did doubt how historically accurate it was that Anastasia would have become the captain of a ship after only a year at sea. 

In no time, you were nearing the end of the book. 

“Well? What shall it be?” Captain Jones yelled at Anastasia, “your ship or your love?” at the last word, his blade pressed into Robert’s back, pushing him farther along the plank and pulling a strangled cry from the man. “No!” Anastasia roared, caught in the helpless situation. If she saved Robert, Captain Jones would seize immediate control of her ship and crew. Her hard-won freedom would slip from her fingers and everything she had sacrificed would be for naught. 

But if she chose her ship, she would lose Robert. Robert, who’d been her ticket out of the arranged marriage. Robert, who’d first taught her how to sail. Robert, who had been the only person by her side for the past 3 years. The man she loved, whom she was not sure she could navigate this or any other life without.

“Tick tock, lassie,” drawled captain Jones. He wickedly sneered at the woman, and she couldn’t help but be disgusted at the rotting teeth and sickly skin. 

Anastasia was frozen in panic. All she could do was flit her eyes between Jones, Robert, and her crew. Landing her eyes on Robert, he stared at her, lips a small, almost resigned frown. 

He took a step farther on the plank. 

“Robert! No!” cried Anastasia. 

“Let me make the choice easy, my love”

With that, Robert, quick as a rabbit, turned around, grabbed hold of captain jones, and pulled him tight to himself. He then used all his might and hurled them off the plank, together.

You slam the book shut. “What the fuck” you whisper. You had managed to get lost within the story, but the ending made you remember everything you were trying desperately to forget. You beeline for the trash and angrily throw the book in there. “Shit,” you say aloud, wringing out your hands, desperate to shake off the stress. 

You sneak a peek at the oven clock–it's just past 2 am. You feel trapped and the walls are moving in on you and the shadows look darker and your hands feel clammy and a bead of sweat trickles down your back and– you need to get out of here. You slide on your sneakers by the door, grab your keys and leave and quickly and quietly as you can. 

The ignition in your truck stalls a minute and the panic begins to set in again. You turn the key once more, and finally the engine starts. You let out a breath you didn’t know you’d been holding and back out of the driveway. 

The windows are down and cold air hits your face. Normally, you’d recoil at the aggressive wind and biting cold, but now they are welcome distractions from the turmoil in your mind. The only sound is the rushing of the air. At the first red light, you reach into your glovebox and randomly pull a cassette out. You shove it into the port, not paying attention to it, and turn the volume up to overcome the noises of the truck. A familiar guitar melody lets you know you’re listening to Simon and Garfunkel.

Satisfied with the music, you blast down the roads of Hawkins, singing (screaming) along to the lyrics. As the songs continue, you recognize this as a mixtape you made a few years ago. You’d just gotten a tape recorder and the quality reflects your inexperience with the machine. There’s a clear switch when your dad had clearly taken over the recording, the audio suddenly becoming much clearer. In your mindless driving, you’ve ended up at lake Jordan. You park your car, head no longer swimming. You turn your truck off, and grateful at your earlier forgetfulness, grab your walkman from the passenger seat and the cassette from the deck, as well as Jonathan’s jacket. 

Out in the darkness, you lie in the bed of your truck, Jonathan’s jacket wrapped around you, staring up at the stars. You don’t recognize any constellations, but you attempt to make some up. A snake, a butterfly, a gun–no, not a gun, a vase. A vase with a flower in it. 

Side A ends, but when you flip the tape, it takes longer than normal for it to start playing. You pull the headphones around your neck and hold up the walkman trying to inspect it. 

The crack of a twig pierces through the dark silence. You would almost miss it, if not for the headphones on your ears. After a beat, you don’t hear anything else, and assume it's probably an animal somewhere in the woods. You give up on your walkman and, finally tired, you return to the cabin of your truck and begin the journey home. 

If you hadn’t had your music so loud, you probably would’ve heard the monstrous roar coming from the trees. 

––––––

You manage to get an hour of sleep before your morning alarm goes off. The coffee is twice as strong this morning and you down a cup and a half. The chilly air that you’d normally detest is, for the second time today, welcome as it keeps you awake on your drive. Tonight, you vow, you will actually get a decent night’s sleep. 

Practice is uneventful. Stacy, the only other junior on the team, asks for a few tips for diving and landing on her knees. You give her the pointers she asked for, albeit through several yawns. She seems to understand it though, and acts on your guidance, picking up the skills rather easily. Throughout the final scrimmage, you and her take turns saving the ball from hitting the floor. 

In the locker room, you’re one of the first to hit the showers and miraculously, the water is warm. You wipe the sweat and grime of the gym off your body and take a few extra seconds to hold your head under the showerhead, letting the water hit your face. 

Your wet hair sticks to your face as you get dressed, mindlessly listening to the idle chit-chat of the locker room. You have a few minutes before the bell will ring, so you sit on the floor against your locker and pull out your walkman. Removing the mixtape, you replace it with a cassette from your backpack–some ABBA album. You hit the play button and the tape starts up perfectly. You roll your eyes at how erratic your walkman can be and slip the headphones over your ears. 

Second period is full of notes being passed and whispered shared, despite the quiz. None of the information is shared with you directly, but you manage to overhear two names: Steve and Nancy. It's clearly salacious information, as it has the student body abuzz for the rest of the day. You sneak a glance at Nancy in the hallway and the girl seems distraught. You wonder, for a moment, if she and Steve had broken up, but then he waltzes up to her and plants a kiss on her and you’re left speculating again.

Your curiosities are finally answered in seventh period. Mr. Burkhart lets the class have an independent study day (you’re pretty sure he just doesn’t have anything planned) and Stacy, who sits next you, chats your ear off. Stacy seems to know everything going on within the halls of Hawkins. “And then I heard from from Anna P, who heard from Jimmy, who heard from Gareth, who overheard Tommy H that apparently Nancy Wheeler spent the night in Steve’s room, if you know what I mean,” she wiggles her eyebrows, insinuating the not-so-family-friendly activities that went on between the couple. 

“How does Tommy H even know that?” you ask her.

“Apparently, he was there.”

“What, like, in the room?”

“No! He saw them go into Steve’s room and I guess he heard them totally doing it.”

“That's gross. Like, really gross. Tommy H is a total perv. I bet he was listening at the door.”

“Ew! Y/n, that's gross to even think about.”

“He’s the one going around telling everyone about Steve and Nancy.”

Stacy takes a minute to consider that. 

“Huh, I guess you’re right. Steve’s house is pretty big, I’ve been in it and Tommy H would totally have to try to be listening to hear anything.” She shudders at the thought of the freckled boy trying to hear Steve and Nancy through the wall, “Ew, that’s totally skeezy of him. Especially when his girlfriend was probably there.”

“Carol was probably listening with him.”

Stacy giggles at that. Speaking of Carol, you glance in her direction and subtly stare as she and Nichole huddle together, whispering. You can’t tell what they’re speaking about, but you gather it's something more serious than Steve Harrington’s sexual escapades, if you can tell anything from Carol’s furrowed brow and Nichole’s concerned face. 

You turn back towards Stacy and interrupt her rambling about how gross both Carol and Tommy H are, “Why does anyone care if Steve and Nancy had sex? I mean, Carol and Tommy H practically devour each other in the halls constantly, but no one bats an eye.”

She blinks at that, clearly unprepared for the question. “Um,” she answers, “I don’t know…”

She trails off, and the conversation slowly dies as she flounders trying to find another conversation topic that won’t end as awkwardly. 

You turn your attention back to the two girls on the other side of the classroom. Nichole and Carol both rise from their seats and leave the room. 

Your eyelids once again start drooping, clearly the caffeine from the coke you had at lunch is wearing off. The gentle chatter of the classroom and the whirring of the desk fan lull you into a gentle daze. You quickly ask Stacy to wake you in ten minutes before resting your head on your arms and dozing off. 

A gentle shake wakes you from your nap and you rub the sleep out of your eyes. The power nap helped you, but you doubt you’ll last much longer without more caffeine. You glance over to see the girls have returned at some point during your nap. You get the hall pass from your teacher and make your way to your locker. Grabbing a few bills from your wallet, you beeline for the vending machine. Turning the corner, you crash into a body, and in your tired state, fall to the floor. 

“Oh jeez,” a masculine voice says, “Here, let me just-”

Standing above you, hand outstretched, is Steve Harrington. You stare at him dumbly for a minute before he waves it in front of you and you come to your senses. You grab his hand and he easily hoists you up. 

“Sorry about that,” he chuckles awkwardly, “I didn’t mean to knock you down.”

He gives you an apologetic smile and his eyes crinkle slightly at the edges. 

“It's fine,” you brush off his apology, “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“Shit!” he exclaims as he looks to his left. You follow his line of sight and see a dented can of coke, slightly leaking. You cringe and offer an apology, which he waves off, “It's fine, I’ll just get another one.”

“I’m uh, headed the same way.” you offer and he nods in response. 

“It's Y/n, right?” he asks.

“Yeah.” you answer warily.

“You’re on the…soccer team?”

“Volleyball, actually.”

“Ah sorry.”

“Its fine”

“How come we’ve never talked before? I know most of the volleyball girls come to my parties. Stacy, Anna, Patty…”

“I’m not really a party person”

“Got it”

The pair of you reach the vending machine and he lets you go first. You deposit your bills, receive your coke and your change. You offer the coins up to Steve, “Here. I kinda killed your first can, so…”

You tense at your own choice of words.

He doesn’t notice though and barks out a laugh. He takes them, inserting them and getting a new coke. “Cheers, killer”

You tense even more at the moniker, but clink your can to his. You down the can as fast as possible while he sips idly. He salutes as you wordlessly leave, walking back to your classroom.

You spend the rest of the period catching up on some of the work you missed yesterday. Stacy peers over your shoulder, nosy as ever, and raises an eyebrow at you.

“Yesterday’s work I missed.”

“Oh yeah! I meant to ask you where you were?”

You turn pale at the probing. You know she means well, but you’ve been avoiding reminders of the incident all day. Still, you answer her, “Benny Hammond, uh, died and I had to go to the police station to give them a statement.”

“Oh man, I’m sorry. I had no clue. God, this town is getting crazy. First the Byers kid, now this,” her voice takes a gentle note, “I can’t believe you came in today. No one would blame you if you missed a day, you know”

One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten

“I know, I just didn’t want to skip school. Plus I had a quiz in second period today.”

You shrug your shoulders and hope she lets it go. She takes a breath, as if she is going to push the topic but ultimately says nothing. 

The final bell rings and the students flood the halls of Hawkins High School. You rush to your locker, grabbing your bag haphazardly. Groups of students clump together by their cars discussing carpools, gossip, and tonight’s football game. You throw your bag in your truck and fish out Jonathan’s jacket. Glancing around the carpark, you don’t spot him, but you do eye his car and start walking, intending to wait for him. 

Oddly enough, Steve and his friends are also at his car. Gone is Steve’s carefree demeanor from earlier. His eyebrows are furrowed and his lips are pursed, clearly distraught over whatever the group is discussing.

The group tenses as you approach. Steve offers you a curt nod. 

“Whats up, killer?”

You scrunch your brows at the nickname that has unfortunately stuck. 

“I’m just waiting for Jonathan. What are you guys doing?” you ask, warily. There is a sinister air about them, and whatever has transpired in the last 30 minutes has Steve’s hackles raised. He doesn’t answer you, having spotted something over your shoulder that distracts him. He stands from his position on Jonathan’s trunk.

“Hey man.”

Jonathan looks just as confused as you feel. “What's going on?” He asks, eyes flicking between everyone before landing on you. You shrug your shoulders at him. 

Steve responds to the smaller boy, “Nichole was just telling us about some of your work.”

Carol pipes up with a smirk, “We’ve heard great things.”

It seems that Jonathan connects dots that you don’t have, and you feel slightly stupid for being the only one in the group that doesn’t understand what's going on. You grip Jonathan’s jacket tighter in your hands. 

Steve continues, “We’d just love to take a look, you know–as connoisseurs of art.”

Jonathan looks back at you, some unreadable emotion dancing across his face, and attempts to break through the group to get to his car. Unfortunately, Tommy H is quicker than him, and pulls his bag off his shoulder and tosses it to Steve. “Man,” Steve says nastily, “he’s totally tripping, he must have something to hide.”

He opens the backpack and retrieves several photos. You can’t help but look at the pages and a gasp breaks from your lips. “Jonathan, what is this?”

“Y/n,” he responds quietly.

“Y/n, this is what happens when creeps are given too much freedom and no consequences.” Steve tells you, jaw hardening

“That's not…” Jonathan trails off. 

You stare transfixed at the pages in your hand. Barbara Holland sits on the edge of a diving board, a sad look on her face. Nancy Wheeler through the window–shirtless. A familiar pit settles in your stomach. 

Tommy and Carol pull the stack from you and start combing through them. 

“Dude!” Tommy H yells and Carol backs him up, “Yeah this totally isn’t creepy at all.”

Jonathan seems to find his voice and defends himself, “I was looking for my brother.”

“No,” Steve counters, “no, this is called stalking.”

“What’s going on?” a new, gentle voice joins the mix. You look over to see Nancy Wheeler, the focal point of many of Jonathan’s photos. 

“Here comes the starring lady,” Tommy teases.

“What?” she questions

“This creep was spying on us last night,” Carol responds and hands the girl a photo from the bunch, “He was probably going to save this one for later.”

You look down at the jacket in your hands as Carol explains. Last night? That means he was probably just getting done with taking the photos when you found him. Was his empathy a ploy to throw you off of his creepy scent? You thought you knew him fairly well. Hell, he was probably your closest friend. Christ, that’s depressing: a kid you only know fairly well is your closest friend.your train of thought spirals further, spinning farther out of control. Your closest friend, a kid you only know fairly well, is a total creep!

“See, you can tell he knows that it's wrong,” Steve begins laying into the boy, “But that's the thing about perverts. It's hardwired into them, you know, they just can’t help themselves.”

He begins ripping apart the pictures in his hands.

“So you just have to take away his toy.”

The taller boy grabs the camera and you take the tiniest step towards him. You don’t know how you’re going to stop him, and you certainly can’t defend Jonathan’s actions, but breaking the camera would take it too far. 

“Steve,” Nancy clearly has the same sentiment. 

“C’mon man, not the camera,” Jonathan begs.

“Hey, hey ok,” Steve calls out, extending his hand with the camera towards Jonathan. 

There's a split second where you think that the issue has been resolved and Steve has cooled down. Then the camera is in a million pieces on the ground. Jonathan makes a strangled noise. The air is stolen from your lungs. Your feet are frozen to the ground. 

Steve shoulders past the devastated boy, his posse following. He looks back at you, his eyebrow raised– a clear invitation to join them. You stay rooted to your spot, unable to move and his eyes narrow. His clear brown eyes hold a fierceness in them and you know your inaction is a decision to him. 

“Nancy, c’mon!” he beckons her over and she stands from where you hadn’t noticed her collecting pieces of the torn photos. Before she leaves, she stares at you. Her eyes flick to the jacket in your hands. Her blue eyes are wide and slightly watery. They make the rest of her feel that much smaller. Her nose is slightly red from the cold and her lips are pressed in a thin line. She seems so fragile in this moment, like a slightly-too-strong gust of wind could knock her over. Yet there is a quiet resolve behind the ocean in her eyes. She stands firm, torn pieces in hand and gives you a small, barely there nod. She turns heel and plants herself under Steve Harrington’s arm. 

Before they fully leave your eyesight, she looks back at Jonathan sadly. 

Everything seems to process in slow motion for you. You finally look down at the boy, desperately trying to collect the fractured remains of his camera. He looks up at you, unshed tears in his eyes. 

“I’m sorry,” you breathe out. You gently lay the jacket on the top of his car and walk away, leaving him alone on the ground of the parking lot. 

––––––

You drive home in silence. This morning you couldn’t escape the onslaught of terrible thoughts and now you can barely form a coherent one. You don’t even bother bringing your bag inside with you when you get home. 

Your dad sits on the couch, reading a magazine. A Simon and Garfunkel song plays on the record–the same one from your now ruined cassette. Wordlessly, you crawl onto the couch with him. He raises an eyebrow but says nothing as you tuck yourself under his arm, curling yourself into a tight ball. Mindlessly, he draws small circles on your arm. 

Your breath catches in your throat, and he presses a gentle kiss to your forehead. It's the final crack in the dam. You press your face closer to his shoulder in an attempt to muffle your sobs. 

“Oh buddy…” he croons sympathetically, and you just cry harder. You feel him readjust his posture, likely setting down his magazine. You sit up and gulp down a few lungfuls of air. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” he prompts. 

“Its all a mess! Benny is dead and now I don’t have a job and I know it's terrible that thats one of my concerns, but it is! And there's missing kids all over town. I don’t know if she is ok and Will Byers– he’s so small. And I realized that today Jonathan is my closest friend but hes a fucking stalker creep and all the kids in school are terrible evil people. And now my friends are either dead, a creep or my dad! How fucked up is that? I just want to go back to Sunday when everything was fine. But nothings fine now and its all fucked and Steve’s right!”

Your rant is punctuated by collapsing back into your dad’s chest. You continue sobbing, wetting the front of his shirt. He holds your head and lets out a string of whispered comforts, “You’re okay. It’ll be okay. We’ll figure it out. Shh shh shh. Just breathe…there you go”

His rhythmic breathing is a balm to you, and you feel your blinks lasting longer and longer. The record ends and he rises to his feet, pulling you with him. Your feet drag as you lean on him. He leads you to your bedroom and lays you down on the bed, removing your sneakers. He lifts the blanket over you and tucks you in, something he hasn’t done since you were twelve. 

You relieve your heavy eyelids and welcome the darkness. He turns off the lamp and you hear a gentle whisper of “Good night buddy” before sleep takes its hold on you. 

Next Chapter

taglist: @ucannotcompare

[kurain-genealogy]

Investigating Glamrock Bonnie, The Mimic, and Why I Think the Mimic Killed Bonnie

The theory that Mimic killed Glamrock Bonnie is one I’ve seen held by a small handful of people since RUIN’s release, but never fully expanded upon or fleshed out. After seeing Twitter argue, once again, over whether or not Monty killed Bonnie, I was inspired to actually make a serious attempt at supporting my theory.

In this, I’ll be using the Tales from the Pizzaplex (TFTPP) books to support my conclusions – specifically the epilogues, GGY, The Mimic, The Storyteller, and brief mentions of others. You can debate the canonicity – and thus, validity – of the books, but they are set in the game’s universe, and at least some of the stories are directly tied to the games (especially in relation to the Mimic). I mainly use the books to construct a rough timeline of events and as supporting evidence so (hopefully) this theory should still be plausible if you ignore all the book evidence (& btw I read all of the books on archive.org, so apologies if any referenced page numbers are off).

This will contain spoilers for book #8’s epilogue!

First, I’ll go over general information regarding Bonnie and his death. Then, I’ll cover why I don’t think it was the other suspects. I’ll end off with why I think that leaves the Mimic responsible.

This is a long one, a lot longer than I expected – nearly 7.5k words, not including this introduction – so it's also available to read on a pageless Google Doc here! It's best viewed on desktop & has more pictures (I had to combine/squeeze some out to fit the tumblr image limit), as well as clearer sections and an outline. I highly recommend reading it there if you're able.

There's a timeline + TL;DR at the end for your convenience :]

& tysm to my friend @clmntne for beta reading this theory for me <3 go look at his art @clementartz ok?

-☆-

If you’re unfamiliar, stories in TFTPP take place over a large time range, ranging from back in the ‘80s to sometime after the events of SB. A handful of stories (including the connected epilogues) take place during the construction of the Pizzaplex or shortly before/after its opening. None of the stories mention Glamrock Bonnie at all, meaning he gets decommissioned very early in the Pizzaplex’s lifetime, likely within the first year or so of operation. To my knowledge, any stories that might take place during GlamBonnie’s lifetime don’t provide any details as to who’s in the main band.

Starting us off with the infamous missing message:

MISSINGSECURITY REPORT - 12:24AM - Bonnie is seen leaving his green room in Rockstar Row heading East towards the atrium. 2:40AM - Bonnie enters the East Arcade. 4:12AM - Bonnie enters Monty Golf.

Something I find extremely interesting about this are the HUGE chunks of time left unspecified, something I feel a lot of people gloss over. In the middle of the night, Bonnie spends a whopping 2 hours and 16 minutes in the atrium – or wherever he is – before entering the arcade. He has to go up to level 3 to get to the east arcade from Rockstar Row (RR), but I don’t think it’d take him one hour per floor to get there. 1 hour and 32 minutes later, he enters Monty Golf. He could be gaming in the arcade for all I care, but what intrigues me the most is the time spent between RR and the arcade. If he was seen entering other specific areas that would’ve been noted in the log, and I imagine if he was being erratic or unusual during that time it would’ve been mentioned, too. Without much to go off of, we really can’t say what was going on or what his reasoning was. With so few security sightings over four hours, to me personally it feels like Bonnie was somehow avoiding the cameras (or was being led by something that was). Another thing to consider is that unlike in SB, the Pizzaplex had multiple human security guards on staff (it’s not until shortly before SB, after Vanessa’s hired, that they’re replaced with STAFF bots). So not only was Bonnie rarely seen on the cams, but he wasn’t caught by a security guard, either.

(shoutout to the person who made these labeled maps of the Pizzaplex, since I don’t own the game myself it really helped me get an idea of the layout)

Prior to Security Breach, the animatronics weren’t normally active during the night. In The Bobbiedots, Part 1, we get this:

Supposedly deactivated by this time of night, Roxy probably wasn’t any kind of threat. But a couple weeks ago, as Abe had been heading to his hidey-hole, he’d gotten a glimpse of Roxy stalking past one of the doorways to the raceway (p. 135).

In the story, this takes place around midnight. It makes sense, too, that the large, power-consuming robots would be deactivated and/or charging while the Pizzaplex is closed. If a security guard saw Bonnie roaming at night, they probably would’ve led him back to his greenroom.

So, Bonnie is up and about while the animatronics should be powered down. This means that:

He is probably the only one who was awake, or at least the only one who left their designated area during the night.

He either woke up on his own with a specific purpose in mind, OR something woke him up.

Now, the crime scene. There is a lot more here to unpack than I expected.

Majority of reference images in this section come from Banden and FusionZGamer.

At the time of Ruin, the only entrances to the room where Bonnie’s body is found are these: A broken piece of wall behind the bowling lane, and a vent high up on the wall.

At the time of SB, the vent was covered with striped wall panels. It probably only became accessible after the earthquake when they fell, or were stripped off during deconstruction.

This entrance is odd; The bricks look deliberately cut or pulled out from both sides, and the inside between the walls is dug through. It’s hard to know when it was first burrowed through, and from what direction – I personally think it was dug from the inside-out, since inside, the hole is high above the ground and level with the boxes, which feels deliberate.

In the room, there’s a bowling ball rail that leads out, the opening to which is boarded up from the inside.

From Fusion’s video, we can see that the rail would lead down the length of the bowling alley through the dingier hall on the right side, visible in the first image. On the left side is the area behind the bowling lanes, presumably where maintenance is done on the machines (more apparent in the second image), and large garage doors on the right that lead to the dingy hallway. 

As seen in the bottom two images, if you go to the fenced off section with the electrical lockers and turn around – hey! We’re in the area behind the ice cream parlor’s stage where they stashed Bonnie’s stuff. From here, we can see the hallway where the ball rail would be and the large doors that lead to it.If this is confusing, I recommend watching Fusion’s video to get a better idea of the layout.

If you wear the VANNI mask in this section, it looks like a headless STAFF bot caught by the arms with cables, and maybe being dragged through the doorway, or something similar? It’s hard to find a good picture of it from other angles since I can’t find a video of someone going out-of-bounds to get a closer look. We get a lot of interesting environmental storytelling in the AR world, but there’s also many seemingly random changes.Could this symbolize or depict something surrounding Bonnie’s death? Maybe it means something, maybe it doesn’t. I just find it interesting.

So, the only entrance to Bonnie’s tomb is through the hallway behind lane maintenance, accessible only by the garage doors. This hall presumably had a rail that spanned the length of the bowling lanes. I imagine this area was used for storage and the likes. The very end of this hall is where we find Bonnie. The entrance to this section is weird – it’s smaller than Cassie and barely bigger than the Caution Bots – but I digress. As for the front entrance from the lanes being walled off, I feel like that’d render those lanes unusable. In fact, there’s no evidence of there being pinsetters for these lanes, so maybe they were gutted in order to wall off the room. Or maybe they just didn’t feel like modeling all that, I dunno. Not really something that matters. What does matter is how this room is closed off in the first place, having been boarded up from the inside, and the thick ass wall someone excavated through. All of it feels very intentional.

The dirt and debris around Bonnie tells me that this room is in fact the crime scene. This is heavily supported by the impact crack on the wall (third image) and the similar cracks on the floor underneath Bonnie in AR (second image). Bonnie and his attacker could have had encounters elsewhere in the Pizzaplex, but this room is where the final showdown occurred.

I’ll try not to include more images than necessary, so if you want some good looks for yourself, Fusion’s video from before does a good job showing off Bonnie’s state, as well as this FazFriends video analyzing the DLC animatronics, and is where the upcoming screenshots come from.

Most prominently, Bonnie has a massive laceration in his chest and is missing the left side of his faceplate, the latter possibly caused by the bowling ball split in three around his head. The biggest gash in his chest runs from his left shoulder diagonally toward the right side of his waist. With the direction his casing peels and how most of the damage is at the top, I’d say it was a downward strike, most likely done with the left hand. He’s covered in dirt and grime, and wires poke out from his innards. 

There’s some green coloration on his torso, leading many to think this could be paint rubbed off from the attacker. Personally, I think it looks more like patina, a green tarnish resulting from aging metal, similar to the floor and metal shrapnel around him. It could also be his base paint color.

His arms are pulled apart at the joints; the legs are pulled apart at the knees, but I can’t tell if they’re pulled from his hips as well (though, the pelvis is definitely ripped from the torso).

As noted in the fourth image, he lays atop these strange black tubes – I can’t help but think of the AR headless STAFF bot from earlier and the cables it was falling onto. Could it be related?

In addition, there’s several random animatronic pieces scattered around, some of which look significantly older than others. For example, at Bonnie’s feet:

There’s a chunk of relatively clean metal akin to the spine inside Bonnie, but also an older, more corroded, grimier piece next to it. I feel this could’ve come from Bonnie’s attacker, but Bonnie also has one of these yucky pieces sticking out of an arm socket, so who knows.

-☆-

Before I talk about the possible attackers, I first want to take a brief intermission to talk about the books, as they establish an important timeline that will be relevant later. I’ll be talking a bit about The Storyteller and The Mimic, and the animatronics’ behaviors before and after the former.

The Storyteller is a story in the 5th TFTPP book about a creative AI software – called The Storyteller (TS), unsurprisingly – that was implemented across the entire Pizzaplex sometime prior to the game’s events. The purpose of TS was to cut down on costs spent in the creative department by using an AI to formulate new stories based on preexisting ones within Fazbear Entertainment (🙄). TS was connected to virtually everything in the Pizzaplex – including VR, AR, and the Glamrock Animatronics – to create more unique and dynamic interactions with guests. So, instead of programming in new AR/VR experiences or animatronic behaviors manually, TS could continuously change how the games/characters acted. Here’s an excerpt on how TS altered the Glamrocks specifically:

Montgomery Gator also exhibited disturbing changes. The alligator featured in Monty’s Gator Golf was the quintessential rockstar. […] Prone to smashing things as part of his extravagant image, Monty was always dramatic, but he had been harmless... at least until The Storyteller started messing with him. Now the alligator was turning into a sulky shadow of his former self. Monty’s rampages became more violent, and in between tantrums, he withdrew into a depressive silence that was actually driving children to tears. All the Pizzaplex’s other main characters began to undergo similar personality shifts. Whatever trait was normal for them began to skew toward the dark side. The shift wasn’t dramatic. None of the animatronics had turned homicidal or anything, but the altered dynamic was noticeable, at least to Edwin. (pp. 95-96).

Edwin’s story is revealed to us in TFTPP #6 in the story The Mimic. Edwin was the original creator of the endo, The Mimic (TM), 30-40 years prior to the creation of the Pizzaplex. He made it to keep his 4-year-old son, David, occupied while he (a single father) worked. It was a learning robot that imitated what it observed, making it a good playmate for his son; David even made TM a white tiger “doll” out of fabric to match his own white tiger plushie. The program that The Mimic ran on was called Mimic1 (hence, where the endo got its name). One day, David tragically dies in a car accident. Edwin enters a depressive fugue for the next two weeks in which he barely remembers anything. When he comes to his senses and sees the still-active Mimic acting like his dead son, in a moment of intense grief and rage, he beats the everloving shit out of TM. When he snaps out of it, he’s filled with regret and leaves.

By this point, Edwin’s company had been bought out by Fazbear Entertainment, so when he just dips and thereby breaches their contract, they send a team of people to the factory to “clean up a mess.” When the team arrives and sees the crumpled remains of TM, armed only with their vague instructions, they conclude that they’re to finish Edwin’s abandoned projects. TM had only an upper body, so the team fixed him up and gave him legs and a voice box.

Now, remember how I said TM learns and imitates behavior it observes? Well TM just starts fucking killing these guys. And “puts them away” in the fridge and closet, like how he’d learned to put food and clothes away with Edwin and David. Fazbear Entertainment sends another team of guys to do the job when the first team doesn’t return, but they too are killed. This time, TM put on various mascot costumes and pursued them in a more “hide and seek” manner.

Okay, now back to The Storyteller. The AI was allowed to decide its own appearance, since the plan was for TS itself to become a Pizzaplex character – so, its hardware was put inside a white tiger bust.

Edwin, vocally against the project, was purposefully kept in the dark about the workings of TS. He snuck into the Pizzaplex on the night of its installation, and the sight of the white tiger triggered a panic attack. Fearing the worst, he later sneaks into TS’s enclosure to confirm his suspicions.

If you hadn’t guessed already, Edwin discovers that The Storyteller is running on the Mimic1 program.

TS was only in the Pizzaplex for three weeks before it was removed. However, even with all its arms broken and cables pulled apart, the Mimic1 program continued running. I believe it’s implied that it remained within the Pizzaplex’s system, even after TS’s hardware was completely removed.

It’s hard to say exactly when in the Pizzaplex’s lifespan this story takes place. Interestingly, there’s mention of a character associated with Bonnie Bowl experiencing malfunctions (p. 109), yet just a few pages later Montgomery Gator is said to have a room in Rockstar Row (p. 111), meaning he’d already replaced Bonnie as bass player.

Tragedies that occurred at the Pizzaplex early in its lifetime – such as in the stories Cleithrophobia, HAPPS, Pressure, and Under Construction – weren’t because of malfunctions, but more so from human error. In the first two, the robots are behaving exactly as they’re programmed to, but end up causing harm due to the circumstances around the story. Pressure happened because some idiot put a springlock suit in the RolePlay area (combined with the protag having bad friends). You could argue that Under Construction is an exception (that something malicious purposefully altered the AR experience), but to that I argue that the AR attraction wasn’t even finished or intended to have someone use it (nor an employee to keep watch), so of course it wouldn’t be functioning properly and end badly.

All of this to say, it could very well be that nothing in the Pizzaplex’s network, including animatronics, were malfunctioning, acting strange, violent, or purposefully malicious, prior to The Storyteller’s – Mimic1’s – integration.

-☆-

Okay. Just keep that information in mind. With that, let me rule out some suspects.

Suspect 1: Vanny

Whether she controlled Monty, STAFF bots, or did it herself, this follows the idea that Vanny/Vanessa had something to do with Bonnie’s disappearance.

Well, based on the established timeline, she couldn’t have. Bonnie was killed within the first year or so of operation, and Vanessa wasn’t working at the Pizzaplex yet. We can already deduce with SB that Vanessa’s security guard position was somewhat recent, but we also have GGY as further proof.

GGY is the story that all but confirms to us that Client 46 (from the Retro CDs) is Gregory. This story connects the GGY character (Greg/Gregory) to the disappearances of three school counselors/therapists. It takes place about 3 years after the Pizzaplex opens, as the first school counselor was hired before its opening, and had been working at the school for three years before disappearing. (& btw, SB takes place around the 5th year. This is deduced by a Faz Life magazine in SB being labeled #19 in a quarterly release, meaning if it started with the opening of the Pizzaplex, it’d be 4.75 years in). This places the Retro CDs around the same time. In Vanessa’s sessions, she’s clearly at her old job – she sits at a desk on the computer and mentions her coworker Luis, who was also mentioned in Special Delivery’s unused emails from Vanessa’s old job.

Could Vanny still have snuck in to do something? Sure, I just don’t think it’s likely. She’s still working on her costume at the time of these sessions (which remember, is a few years after when Bonnie would’ve been decommissioned), and is clearly still very anxious and reluctant to do as Glitchtrap tells her.

Suspect 2: Monty

Okay, here we go. The most obvious piece of evidence for Monty’s innocence is the fact that he wasn’t given his claw upgrade until after replacing Bonnie. Of course, he still had claws beforehand, he’s a gator, but, the claw upgrade switches the endoskeleton’s hands entirely.

Compare Monty’s sharp fingies to the blunter Glamrock Endo’s. Monty’s original hands could still do major damage, I mean look at what the STAFF bots did to Freddy with their even bigger & rounder fingers. But if you look at the gashes in Bonnie’s torso, they’re much more clean slices accompanied by smaller scratches all over, which had to have been made by something much sharper and pointier.

Also, Monty attacks with his teeth, not his claws. (link leads to gif of his jumpscare)

Further, we have absolutely no reason to think Monty would want to attack Bonnie. There’s no bad blood, and if Monty truly did want the spotlight, he could’ve gone for Freddy.

Monty MischiefERRANT BEHAVIOR REPORT - Monty didn't show up for the main stage performance again. We found him in the same place we always do, the catwalks over Monty Golf. We can't have a repeat of last month. Someone hit the hole in one and the hurricane bucket knocked him down. Both legs were broken and required emergency parts and service work.

This message is very telling: Monty frequently skipped main performances and hid in Gator Golf. This is completely counter to the notion that he craved the spotlight and attention of being in the band. In fact, it sounds like he didn’t even like being in the band. Perhaps his aggression during/before SB – like destroying his green room – was partly fueled by resentment for being taken from his element?

Monty has no personal motives for killing Bonnie, but could he have been controlled? Mmmmmaybe? But I don’t think so. We’ve already established that Vanny couldn’t have been involved. Then there’s Mimic1/TS, which I already established came into play after Bonnie was gone. In fact, the way the book described Monty post-Storyteller is a lot like how he acts around SB: violent, destructive outbursts, and silently sulking (like in the catwalks). It’s even specified that the malfunctioning Glamrocks weren’t homicidal or harming others. Monty – nor any of the other animatronics – have ever been violent towards each other. Monty’s aggression is aimed at his own belongings and like, fences and shit. Never his friends. Plus, Monty disliking Freddy is something only ever depicted in Monty’s arcade game, which TS had access to. I think the arcade game can absolutely give us storytelling via symbolism, but I doubt it’s altered by Monty’s mind and thoughts.

And say Monty did kill Bonnie – why wasn’t he noticed on the cameras either going to Bonnie Bowl or moving Bonnie’s body there from Gator Golf? If an outside force deleted security footage, why leave the incriminating part where Bonnie goes to Gator Golf in the first place? It wouldn’t make sense. Plus, most evidence points towards Bonnie Bowl being where the incident occurred.

Suspect 3: Prototype Freddy

The theory that Freddy killed Bonnie comes from @glammiketrash, and it’s a great theory. Give it a read if you have time, I think it’s definitely one of the more likely theories on this topic and has strong supporting evidence.  

However, there are a few reasons why I personally don’t think a rogue Freddy did it (even ignoring the timeline I established). For starters, the Prototype Freddy in RUIN is heavily implied to be the same Freddy that was left in Fazer Blast in the Princess Quest ending of SB – the ending that’s canon to RUIN (at this point I don’t think I have to explain why PQ is the canon ending, but I’d be happy to explain it in the replies if needed).

The comic for the Disassemble Vanny ending shows us an illustration of how Freddy was damaged by the STAFF bots, and it’s strikingly similar to Prototype Freddy (PF): exposed hands, a chunk taken from the right bicep and thigh. You could even argue that the torso cracking is similar (I’m drawn to how both have the lightning bolt cut off similarly). It feels like PF was designed/modeled after the illustration. He has the sharp claws from the Monty upgrade, and his missing head aligns with the PQ ending where Gregory leaves the Pizzaplex with it. Then of course, there’s the fact that he’s found in Fazer Blast, where Freddy in SB was attacked and left.

Yes, I believe that the Glamrock Freddy in SB was a prototype model the entire time. We still don’t know why Freddy glitched out in the beginning of the game, but it’s entirely possible that Parts & Service simply booted up a new/temporary endo while they dealt with whatever broke Freddy. He’s on reduced power for safety measures because, as an older version, they don’t know how unusual or erratic he’ll be – a justified precaution, since we can see that when he runs out of power, or is under maintenance (you know, when his head’s off), he attacks Gregory. It would also explain why Freddy in SB isn’t connected to the network or infected by the virus – he literally just got switched on.

And holy shit, at the time of writing this, FazFriends just uploaded a video showcasing the animatronics’ endoskeletons, and it happens to support my theory!

Freddy and Bonnie both share an endoskeleton unique to the other Glamrocks. Monty, Chica, and Roxy all share a basic endoskeleton. The Glamrocks would all be kept up-to-date and modified throughout the years. Since Bonnie is one of the original ones, we can assume that’s what their endos looked like when the Pizzaplex first opened. It doesn’t make sense that Freddy, being who he is, wouldn’t be upgraded the same way the others are… unless this is an older Freddy. SB Freddy having a unique endoskeleton that matches Bonnie’s signifies that he was in a Prototype model from the beginning.

Freddy has a lot of personality for sure, but still seems a bit sterile and stilted at times, especially if you compare him to someone like Roxy. In the books Freddy’s personality is changed on a few occasions, such as by The Storyteller (in which he’s adopted a “spoiled brat” personality) and by GGY (in which he’d acted eerie and followed/stared at the protagonist). He’s completely wiped clean of all this though in SB. He still has a distinct personality, memories, and feelings, but it feels kind of like it was reset to default. That could just be me, but it supports the idea of him being PF.

Prototype Freddy looks like that because of the events of SB. Prior to that, he looked just like a normal Freddy. In the timeframe that Bonnie was destroyed, none of the robots were acting violent and there was no AI or virus to control him, which rules out any last possibility of PF being Bonnie’s killer to me.

There are definitely holes in this line of thought; It’s just speculation that makes sense to me. I’m also generally forgiving when it comes to changes made to SB from RUIN; SB seemed to go through a lot of changes in development and was released in a messy state, so I wouldn’t blame them if at this point Steel Wool was establishing things that would retroactively apply to SB.

Suspect 4: THE MIMICCCCCCC

FINALLY, over 4k words in, we are talking about the thing I promised. I’ll start with some more information on the Mimic itself (yup, there’s still more!!!).

Every TFTPP book has an epilogue, all of which connect together into one narrative that tells us the story of how The Mimic ended up in the FNAF6 Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza Place beneath the Pizzaplex.

The Pizza Place was originally intended to be refurbished into a Fazbear museum in conjunction with the Pizzaplex’s construction. There was a small team working there to clean the building, particularly to pick up and disassemble all of the remaining endoskeletons littered throughout the place. One of the guys on the team (Gil) hates his job and goes outside to take a break just in time to see a shipment arrive containing the Glamrock Animatronics – and, for whatever reason, The Mimic. Since TM was clearly older and the odd one out of the bunch, Gil drags TM inside with the intention of uploading a cleanup protocol into the endo. He instructs TM to remove the limbs and heads off of the endoskeletons and pile them up at the door. The Mimic does this quickly, and when it runs out of endoskeletons, begins to dismember the renovation crew. Construction workers from outside rush in when they hear the commotion, which only adds to TM’s victims. The youngest of the renovation crew manages to escape and desperately convinces nearby cement workers to seal the entrances to the pizzeria (Epilogue #1). (This massive pile of animatronic parts and murder victims is theorized to be the origins of Tangle/The Blob, btw.)

Sometime later, a group of 8 teens sneak into the Pizza Place via a vent opening in the roof. Once they discover the gruesome mass murder scene, they realize that they aren’t alone, that their way out was crushed, and that they’re trapped (Epilogue #2).

Over the course of the next few installments, the teens are slowly picked off by TM. It uses mascot costumes to trick and murder the teens (similar to what TM did in Edwin’s factory) in a twisted hide-and-seek type game. When the group finds an old radio, TM intercepts the signal and pretends to be someone else within the Pizza Place calling for help, attempting to lure the kids into a back room. It also could disrupt electronics, as the lights and electricity as a whole often flickered and went out when it was near. A manual found in the office tells us more about TM:

The one we saw is either a Mimic Model 1 or 2. […] They have retractable and expandable limbs and a contracting torso so they can fit into pretty much any mascot costume. […] The tech in the Mimics was pretty clunky. […] If you encounter one of these things, you should immediately disconnect its power source and disassemble it (Epilogue #4, pp. 219-220). [...] When the team created the Mimic line, they didn’t want to have to program in every show routine, step-by-step. That was a lot of coding, so they just programmed the Mimic to basically watch and learn. Not only could a Mimic fit into any costume, it was designed to observe the other routines and then mimic them (Epilogue #6, p. 183). I wish I could read all of this, but it seems like the original Mimic began mimicking not just the other animatronics but also people. And it did it in ways that weren’t intended. I’m not sure what it did. I can just make out the words misconstrue, scared, potential disaster, and deactivate remaining Mimic endos (Epilogue #6, p. 184).

It's kinda unclear, but this is the narrative I’m picking up: Once Fazbear Entertainment was finally able to “clean up [the] mess” left by Edwin and get their hands on The Mimic, they were like “hey this programming is actually genius” and started making their own Mimic models based on Edwin’s, claiming it as their own engineering (classic corner-cutting Fazbear Entertainment). However, due to its primitive programming (Edwin was an engineer, not a coder) and the nature of Mimic1, Fazbear quickly realized how faulty and unreliable the Mimic animatronic line was, so they decommissioned them. The Mimic in the Pizza Place is likely Edwin’s original, considering its costume-wearing, hide-and-seek style murders.

Enough backstory for now. I’ll be addressing more book stuff later (sorry, sorry), but I’d like to bring this back around to Bonnie and how TM qualifies as a suspect before getting into the how and why.

Think back to Bonnie’s corpse and the diagonal swipe to his chest caused by sharp claws.

Get a load of this guy.

Very sharp fingers on the left hand. Returning to the analysis of Bonnie’s corpse – facing Bonnie, a downward right-to-left swipe is likely achieved by the left hand. Supporting this is TM’s jumpscare, in which it grabs with the right hand and attacks with the left.

In its costumed jumpscare, TM attacks with its round-fingered right hand in a fist. Bonnie, along with several scratch marks, is also covered in dents, meaning TM could have used both of its attack methods.

“But TM has 5 fingers, and Bonnie’s slash marks look like they’re from a 4-fingered hand.” I hear ya. Here’s some possible explanations:

With the angle of the motion and the curvature of Bonnie’s torso, the pinky finger didn’t pierce the casing, instead merely scratching it.

TM wears 4-fingered costumes – you can see it is in the jumpscare above. Who’s to say TM didn’t travel in a costume from the Pizza Place, or even found Glamrock casing to put on?

It can just like, shapeshift. I wouldn’t think that extended to details like the fingers, but I wouldn’t be surprised. The left palm does have holes in it, so maybe the fingers were designed to contract to fit various gloves.

Another obvious connection is that TM famously tears off the limbs of its victims – and wouldn’t you know it, Bonnie’s arms and legs are dismembered. TM, noticeably old and described as discolored in the books, could also be the source of all the extraneous, out-of-place metal parts that surround Bonnie.

Out of all the suspects, TM is the only one that’s known to be violent towards animatronics, has the physical capabilities to have done it, and would be awake while the rest of the Glamrocks were deactivated for the night. When it comes to analyzing the crime scene itself and the events surrounding it, The Mimic fits the bill the most out of all the suspects. Isolated, it’s the most likely option, in my opinion. Determining how this happened is a bit trickier; expect a bit more speculation in that regard.

I know what you might be thinking: How did The Mimic get into the Pizzaplex in the first place if it was sealed underground?

It’s not all that unusual if you think about it. For starters, the Pizza Place was not sealed very well (it was done in a panic, after all). The teens were able to enter through a vent in the roof, multiple characters attempted to leave through a vent blocked by a giant (moving) fan, and Lucia (the protagonist) was finally able to escape through a window in the bathroom that had less concrete blocking it than the others. There are various means of escape in which TM can contort its body to fit through.

Briefly, while on the subject of the latest epilogue, it’s worth noting that Lucia was able to deactivate TM by trapping it in a springlock costume and flipping its off switch. To this, I remind you that the Epilogues aren’t over. The book series is still ongoing, as is TM’s story. Plus, by the time of SB/RUIN, TM is clearly awake, so it’s possible that it was reactivated by the time of Bonnie’s death.

Prior to that, Lucia briefly restrained TM with rope. It reminds me of the AR STAFF bot hanging over cables, and the weird tubelike things underneath Bonnie’s body. Could they all be connected? Could TM have learned the rope tactic from Lucia and then gone on to mimic that when attacking Bonnie?

Anyways, another important aspect of all this is TM’s connection to the Pizzaplex. We know that TM and TS share the same program, Mimic1 (it’s unclear if TS’s programming came from the original Mimic or one of Fazbear Entertainment’s copies. My own opinion flip-flops). TM is also connected to the VANNI mask and the AR world – whether you believe the theory that Glitchtrap is Mimic1 or not doesn’t matter, since it doesn’t change that The Physical Mimic Under The Pizzaplex Somehow Connected Itself To The Mask, even after the PQ ending got rid of Glitchtrap and its control over the robots. TM could also interact with the security feed and get in contact with Cassie, who was outside the Pizzaplex. Of course, none of these things are relevant to the time period we’re working with, but it shows how TM can connect itself to electronics, even long-distance, and possibly without the help of shared software. If it can interfere with radio signals, I wouldn’t be surprised if it could at least view security footage, maps, employee messages, and whatever else from the Pizzaplex.

Okay, now think waaaaaayy back to the beginning when I was analyzing Bonnie’s behavior: “He either woke up on his own with a specific purpose in mind, OR something woke him up.”

Returning to these two options with the information we have now, it turns to:  “Bonnie either knew something suspicious was afoot and wanted to investigate, OR The Mimic woke him up (purposefully or not).”

There could be alternatives, but these are the most obvious conclusions.

While what we know about GlamBonnie’s death is limited, we know even less about his personality. We don’t have any hints on why Bonnie in particular would be acutely aware of something unusual, or on the contrary, why he’d be targeted by TM. But we do know that on this occasion he was awake and later murdered, and TM is looking guilty.

Again, think back to Bonnie’s strange behavior caught by security the night he went missing; The long spans of time between very few appearances on camera, almost as if he was avoiding them, either on purpose or as a result of following something. If Bonnie was doing something he shouldn’t’ve, he probably would be sneaky about it. If Bonnie was being lured by TM with the intent to Get Him, it makes sense that it would lead him where he can’t be tracked. If it’s possible TM could access security and maps, of course it would know how to not be seen – and if it plays hide and seek, it would want to stay hidden. 

(I’ve been speculating under the assumption that TM can’t alter the Pizzaplex network, just view it. If it’s possible that it can alter the network, i.e. delete security footage, then that’d save us a lot of assumptions. If that were the case, then TM could just delete any security footage of itself, which is why we’re only left with random sightings of Bonnie on camera. The rest – the missing pieces – would fill in the blanks). 

TM may have an impressive AI, but it’s nothing near the Glamrocks’ level of self-awareness. Its actions are all motivated by the Mimic1 programming and what it’s learned/observed. It doesn’t try to escape because it has the desire to get out, but because it was not designed to be confined to a room. It doesn’t dismember people because it enjoys killing, but because it’s reacting “the way it had learned to handle all endoskeleton-like objects,” (Epilogue #7, p. 169). We don’t have reason to believe TM resents or envies Bonnie. Bonnie became a victim because he entered the crossfire of TM’s programming.

I personally believe Bonnie had suspicions something Strange was happening and began to investigate (either over a period of time, or simply was woken by TM skulking around one night, and was like “what the” and searched for the source). TM caught on and entered “hide-and-seek mode,” in which it was hiding from a pursuing Bonnie. Persistent and stubborn, as all Bonnies tended to be, GlamBonnie pursued TM all night. TM, in its previous killings, would hide, lure, then ambush. I think TM finally cornered Bonnie by luring him to the end of the long hallway behind Bonnie Bowl and finishing him off. Sunrise is approaching by this point, and the Pizzaplex would be opening up soon, so TM retreats back to the Pizza Place to avoid being found.

AC Inspection Thank you for contacting Low Budget Building Contractors. We have done a preliminary inspection and find nothing wrong with your ventilation system. The 'loud clanging', 'banging' and 'scraping' noises which were reported don't appear to be reproducable. Call us if it happens again. Invoice attached. - Keith

This might be nothing, but I want to include it anyway. The AC Inspection message from SB is most likely referring to the wind-up Music Man that chases Gregory in the vents. I think I’ve seen some speculate that this could be The Blob snaking through the vents (I’ve heard a theory somewhere that The Blob is what’s stealing from Rockstar Row). Personally, the language reminds me of the noises described in the Epilogues of TM crawling through the vents. Just skimming through Epilogue #7, the words and phrases “scraped,” “grinding,” “metal-on-metal scratches,” “thrum and thunderous rattle,” “sonorous clang,” and “screeches,” are used to describe the sound made by TM in the ventilation system.

There’s nothing in this message that dates it, so the cause could be anything, in theory. It's possible that TM used the Pizzaplex’s ventilation system to avoid the cameras while traversing, entering, and exiting the premises.

-☆-

OKAY. THIS IS THE LAST SECTION. YOU’RE IN THE HOME STRETCH –

WHY A COVERUP?

Why completely hide GlamBonnie’s existence and opt for a rebrand?

Option 1: They literally couldn’t find him. Hidden in such a hard-to-reach location, Bonnie’s body was simply never found. It doesn’t help that security logs pointed staff to Monty Golf. Left only to speculate, Fazbear Entertainment had to be ready for any possibility. Could he have been stolen? Thrown out? Hacked? Imagine if someone had stolen and hacked Bonnie, and he reappeared acting inappropriately or in any way unregulated by Fazbear Entertainment. If they’d gone ahead and replaced Bonnie, not only would there suddenly be two Bonnies, but one of them would be acting weird, outside of their control, and Fazbear would have to do something about it. No, as long as they’re unsure what happened to him, it’s easier to just have the understudy replace him. Precursory damage control. Bonnie was never a character in the Pizzaplex, so whatever a rogue Bonnie is doing or saying isn’t their fault or responsibility.

Option 2: They deduced what happened and couldn’t let word get out. Perhaps Bonnie saw something he shouldn’t’ve. Perhaps he knew too much. Easier to get rid of All the evidence, pretend it never happened, cover it All up, than to attempt damage control afterwards. Fazbear Entertainment surely knew about TM sealed up in the Pizza Place beneath their mega mall. If it’d gotten out, that’d be bad. If Bonnie lived to tell the tale, that’d be bad. Don’t even move the body, just seal up the room best you can so nobody can find him. Secure all entrances to the Pizzaplex so that Thing can’t get back in and do more damage.

Option 2 seems most likely. Clearly, he’d been found by someone – the Caution Bots found him, after all, and the room was boarded up from the inside. The only thing I can’t explain is the weird tunnel through the wall leading to the room from the bowling lane. Genuinely what is up with that. It could’ve been the escape for whoever was boarding up the main entrance, but if that was an official effort, I feel like it’d be easier to remove the wall panels and leave through the vent rather than create a new, messier entrance.

The hush-hush surrounding his disappearance indicates that some employees had a general idea of what happened (or at least that Fazbear wanted him replaced, refused to elaborate, and didn’t have an explanation).

AR Glam Bonnie Plush Dad wouldn't tell me why they replaced Bonnie.

This inventory description from Cassie tells us all we need to know: Not that her dad didn’t know what happened to Bonnie, but that he wouldn’t tell her. He knew what happened to Bonnie. Being the daughter of a Faz-Technician, Cassie was often exposed to the behind-the-scenes of the Pizzaplex. The fact that her dad refused to tell her the truth could mean any of these three things: 1) He was on very strict legal orders to not say anything; 2) Bonnie being his favorite character, dad couldn’t bring himself to tell Cassie what really happened; or 3) He didn’t want to upset the empathetic Cassie, who would’ve been nearly half the age she was in RUIN, by telling her that Bonnie was literally killed/destroyed and wouldn’t be fixed.  

Combined with the fact that Fazbear Entertainment didn’t have an official response regarding Bonnie’s whereabouts until sometime after the rebrand, I get the impression they Knew Something and had to deal with That first.

Understudy MANAGEMENT REPORT - With Bonnie out of commission, we are making Monty the new bass player. Parts and Service has already done the proper adjustments. This could be a good thing. Monty could be even more popular than Bonnie.

“Monty could be even more popular than Bonnie.”

I don’t think they were wrong with this one. Like I said earlier, we don’t know anything about Bonnie’s personality. I’d harbor a guess, though.

Bonnie, across all games/iterations, is generally characterized as a stereotypical rock musician: active, boastful, and a confident performer. The unused Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza Theme Song from Help Wanted portrays Bonnie similarly, but with a laid-back hippie sorta voice. The Freddy & Friends: On Tour! web series promoting Security Breach characterized Bonnie as deadpan, casual/laid-back, and mute. Steel Wool-era Bonnie leans more into the chill, hippie-type rockstar stereotype, so I don’t think it’d be a stretch to say that Glamrock Bonnie would’ve retained some of these elements.

Monty, as shown in the book excerpts earlier, is a dramatic, guitar-smashing rockstar. Loud, hyper, destructive, eye-catching Monty. I’ve no doubt that Monty was popular due to all these traits that made him unlike Bonnie. Bonnie is “go with the flow,” while Monty is “my way or the highway.” Monty's excitement and energy would also freshen up the main band – none of the other members steal the show the way Monty does.

Their coverup works. Monty’s popularity is soaring. Everyone forgets about Bonnie.

-☆-

ROUGH TIMELINE

Construction

The Mimic is brought to the Pizza Place during the Pizzaplex’s construction.

Pizza Place sealed with concrete, teens later sneak in.

Pizzaplex construction completed.

Pizzaplex Years 1-2

Bonnie is decommissioned.

Monty becomes bass player and GlamBonnie imagery is removed.

Pizzaplex Year (???), but after Monty rebrand

The Storyteller is installed; removed 3 weeks later. Mimic1 continues to alter technology in the Pizzaplex.

Pizzaplex Year 3(ish)

Events of GGY and the Retro CDs.

Pizzaplex Year (???), but pre-SB

Vanessa becomes Chief Security Guard by recommendation.

All remaining staff are replaced by STAFF bots.

Pizzaplex Late Year 4-5

Freddy malfunctions onstage and is temporarily booted up in his prototype in safe mode.

Events of Security Breach.

PQ/Free Vanessa ending.

Post-SB

RUIN

-☆-

TL; DR (EXTREMELY simplified)

Bonnie was decommissioned within the first year or so of the Pizzaplex opening.

Any outside virus/programming couldn’t have influenced another animatronic to attack him, and Vanny wasn’t working at the Pizzaplex yet.

Bonnie was last seen wandering the Pizzaplex for several hours in the middle of the night when he should’ve been deactivated. Only spotted on camera three times, no mentions of a security guard encountering him.

Bonnie’s body is in a small room at the very end of a maintenance/storage hall behind the bowling lanes, which has been boarded up from the inside.

Due to the environment, this room must’ve been the crime scene.

The state of Bonnie’s body aligns most with The Mimic’s killing style.

Sharp claw marks

Dismembered limbs

Old, corroded metal parts around Bonnie that could’ve belonged to the Mimic

Possibly was lured to a secluded location.

The Pizza Place underneath the Pizzaplex wasn’t properly sealed, so The Mimic could have escaped and possibly entered the Pizzaplex.

The Mimic can interfere/interact with technology, so it could’ve had access to information about the Pizzaplex.

Knew how to avoid security.

Bonnie pursuing TM caused it to respond with its “hide-and-seek” style of attack, eventually luring Bonnie to an isolated location and ambushing him.

Fazbear Entertainment knew their murderous basement creature is what killed Bonnie and covered up the incident.

They didn’t want any chance of the incident getting out, which is why they sealed Bonnie’s tomb and replaced him instead of repairing him.

[lovelyladyabsinthewrites]

From the Ashes Pt. 35

Pairing(s): Pairing(s): Rhaegar Targaryen x Lannister!Reader, one-sided!Jaime Lannister x Lannister!Reader, Jaime Lannister x Cersei Lannister

Warnings: slow burn fic, changing povs, MC POV, long chapter ahead

Words: 6023

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 3.5  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6  Part 7  Part 8  Part 9  Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26 Part 27 Part 28 Part 29 Part 30 Part 31 Part 32 Part 33 Part 34

Book Two of Dārilaros hen ōrbar se perzys (Heir of Ash and Fire)

Panting and reeling away from her personal brazier, Alizah closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Her face was still warm from the gentle licks the fire gave her as she had been staring deep into its flames. She had to know of any situations that might follow them to Asshai. Especially with confronting the darkins in their own realm. Alizah had never anticipated seeing a screeching dragon in her visions. So clear, the dragon had emerged from an egg that was being held by (y/n). Soaring through the rippling orange and yellow before growing ever larger and landing next to its mistress.

Alizah pulled up a chair and mulls over what she had just seen and the true meaning behind it. If only she was able to write down what she saw like many of the other red priestesses. Alas her blind eyes would merely be able to make scribbles. The only time she ever saw clearly was looking into the heat of the things, the soul of a being. She knew it would be wise to tell High Priest Benerro, after all she was his shining star in the whole temple and was heavily relied on. That’s how the temple knew (y/n) was in Volon Therys. And it was the vision of a box being delivered by a stranger that tied into the scenes she had seen at that moment.

When Ser Barristan Selmy had arrived on the doorsteps with a dark wood box under his arm, she had seen the warmth emanating from inside. It was a sleeping warmth that she had nearly waved off for it was a faint flicker. A box from Thalina.

“Did she actually succeed?” Alizah thought out loud to just herself. Thalina’s talent in reading the flames had been growing steadily before her departure to Westeros. Helped by Alizah and Melisandre, there were high hopes for her but only a handful of people knew of Thalina’s ultimate fate. Thalina had seen her own end but had just laughed it off. She never did like being serious. The air around her was always jubilant and Thalina had always been a smiling fool. That was the impression she left on everyone in the temple.

“I’m sorry. . .” Alizah whispered behind her hand after Thalina had told her how her life would end.

Thalina merely cocked her head to one side, her long braids shifting ever so slightly. “For what?”

“That you will not live a long life. That you will die in Westeros. . .”

Her laugh had surprised Alizah and Melisandre who had also been present. There in that solemn council room sat the senior red priest members Hayri and Iomhar, as they were the ones to be in attendance when the High Priest was unable to physically be there. “Ah, I’m not too worried about that. I’m more so concerned about getting all of my tasks done before that happens. If I can accomplish all that I have set forth in front of me, then I can die happily.”

“You shouldn’t be so callous when talking about your own death.” Iomhar growled but it didn’t dampen her smile. “The temple has so few people who can read the flames as well as you three can. To lose one would be a setback.”

Hayri, although perturbed by the revelations, shakes his head at his younger companion. “Settle down, Iomhar. Thalina is thinking about the bigger picture. We won’t need any more readers if she procures Azor Ahai reborn.”

Thalina beamed and nodded enthusiastically. “Exactly! If I’m able to get her here. . . Then I would have done my job. But there is also one more thing I aim to do.”

“And what is that?”

“Why, bring back dragons of course!”

Bring back dragons. . .

It was too crazy a thought, that’s what everyone was thinking at the time. Melisandre was the only one who didn’t think it quite as crazy. She had said it was exactly what Azor Ahai reborn would need to truly make a stand. Alizah had never thought that Thalina would actually succeed in procuring a dragon egg.

“You were always a crazy girl.” Her voice was sad as she thought back on the girl who was the same age as her yet already gone from this plain of existence. Everything Thalina did, she did fearlessly. An admirable quality. “Guess I’ll have to be the same. You have left her in my care. I will see to it that your visions come true, Thalina.”

Also important in the back of her mind was making sure that Rhiannon would be guided in the right path. That didn’t appear to be a problem. Rhiannon had immediately attached herself to (y/n) and (y/n) to her

They filled the empty spot in which Thalina’s death had left them.

A festive atmosphere had claimed Volantis, especially around the Red Temple; the hub of the ceremony. None of the jovial air reached you though. Thinking of being in front of so many people still made you nervous. All eyes would be on you. You hadn’t felt such trepidation since your wedding. There would be more people at your ceremony and certain expectations had already been set for you. You wouldn’t become Princess (y/n) Targaryen, no, you would be crowned as Azor Ahai reborn; the champion of R’hllor and the ender of the long night.

Your ceremonial headdress solemnly sat on its pillow. Tyrion had playfully tried it on and nearly toppled over, not used to such an accessory. While the robes had once belonged to Azor Ahai, the headdress was completely new, made specifically for you and this occasion. Inanna and another young temple girl named Farah were helping you get dressed, slipping your arm through the gilded sleeves. They chatted excitedly as they did so, apparently the temple was making this a very big deal. After all, their savior had finally been reincarnated and walking on the earth among them. The people of Volantis were already crowding near the bridge to get a sneak peek of the set up. Servants were setting up a pyre right outside the doors of the temple. A special feast was being prepared as well.

While Rhiannon positioned a gold armor breastplate in front of your chest, you examine your painted hands which Siofra had done for you. The dye was a dark brown and in intricate designs. You were worried about smudging it but tall Siofra merely laughed and told you it would not be an issue. The only thing that would wash away the ink would be hot water and soap.

Personally you didn’t think that it was an appropriate time to have your ceremony, but High Priest Benerro along with his council of priests insisted the people of Volantis see the face of Azor Ahai reborn before you left for Asshai.And most importantly to witness Lightbringer with their own eyes. You were nervous, what if you weren’t able to conjure up the flames when the time came? You had still been unable to call upon it freely, not since your fight with Inniros. Without its holy flames, Lightbringer was just like any other sword.

Farah helps Rhiannon by tightening the armor’s straps behind you. When her warm eyes flick up to your face, Rhiannon frowns. “Are you okay? You don’t look too well.”

Inanna pops up, having been helping Tyrion with his own outfit. Even Tyrion looks up with concern. “Perhaps I should get nuha kosh something to eat?”

Tyrion shakes his head. “Get her some tea. You don’t want her to develop an upset stomach and throw up during her ceremony.”

She smiles sweetly, making Tyrion’s cheeks turn a vibrant pink. “Ah, that’s a better idea! Good thinking Lord Tyrion.”

In the corner of your room, lounging at your round table was Jaime and Inniros being briefed on their roles by Alizah and Melisandre. Behind Inniros was Sirvart leaning against the wall but with a cautious eye on the darkin, her whip at the ready. The red priest Kafele, a man in his middle age, was in attendance as well to decorate Jaime’s own hands with the same dye Siofra had used on you. Initially he had grimaced when the older man had walked up to him with it and outright refusing. Tyrion told him to suck it up and to add salt to his wound had Kafele paint his own hands. Jaime, not being one to be outshined, relented.

Inanna goes to the packed table and pours you a cup of tea that would calm you. Carefully you take it from her small dark hands and thank her. A chair is also brought over to you so you could sit down and relax for a moment. Rhiannon helped you sit, holding your robes in such a way where they wouldn’t get stuck under you. “I’m fine. I’m just worried about using Lightbringer in front of all those people. I haven’t been able to summon the flames.”

“When the time is right, you will.” Melisandre says, although it didn’t necessarily make you feel any better. All you could do was blindly trust in her cryptic words.

“Maybe you just need to stab Inniros’ shadow again.” Jaime grins and teasingly looks at the bored darkin.

Inniros doesn’t blink an eye at Jaime’s remark, merely shrugging. “You can try.”

You shake your head. “No, I don’t think that’s necessary.”

Rhiannon hums thoughtfully, sitting at your feet and resting her head against your knees. “What emotions were you feeling when you first summoned Lightbringer’s flames?”

Thinking back to that day, you grow silent and close your eyes. You attempted to put yourself back there in your mind. You remember seeing Jaime, held down by Inniros’ shadow and about to be killed. Rage had filled you. Unadulterated rage ran through your veins and the urge to protect your older brother. Such an intense feeling was something you had never felt. Sorrow was nothing new to you. Even growing up with your cruel sister and distant father, you hadn’t felt resentment, only sadness that they didn’t love you or even care for you. Rage and anger was something entirely new to you.

You look at Jaime who wasn’t particularly paying attention until the red priest puts down his brush and turns around in his seat to face you. Kafele had the starting of wrinkles around his dark eyes and a peppered beard that covered his lower face. The top of his head was bald and shining. “Maybe you should call upon whatever you were feeling during that experience.”

“I’m not particularly angry about anything though. . .” You whisper against the rim of your cup.

“You have plenty to be angry about though!” chirps your little brother as he climbs atop of your bed, his red robes drag behind him. “Just think about all the things Cersei and father have done to you! And King Aerys!”

“I’m guessing you’re not used to feeling such a toxic feeling.” Alizah gently smiles.

“Obviously. Don’t you remember how she looked the first time we met her?” Sirvart speaks up from her place. “She didn’t even look like she could harm a fly. So sweet and wide eyed. Like a rabbit.”

Thinking for a moment, Jaime leans in his chair. “Well Cersei did use to call you a mouse.”

Clapping her hands, Sirvart nods. “That sounds more accurate!”

Blushing at their description of you, you still doubted that you could come up with such an intense rush again. It had nearly consumed you and. . . and something seemed to wake up inside of you. A feral beast that had been sleeping for so long. Just thinking about it made your heart pick up pace.

Rhiannon’s upside down face calms you back down and forces you to put on a wavering smile.

“It’s not the end of everything if you can’t do it yet.” Alizah’s words do happen to give you peace of mind. You trusted her word. “Of course Benerro will want you to show off, an actual testament that you are indeed Azor Ahai reborn. You’re still getting used to fighting with it. The two of you need to know eachother better. You and Lightbringer. It may be a sword, but it’s an extension of yourself and of the power of R’hllor.”

You had never really thought about it like that. If only you knew more about the actual Azor Ahai and how he had done all the things that was expected of him. True, the temple put you through lessons on their faith and history, never on a personal level. You had learned hymns and the many trials that Azor Ahai went through to forge Lightbringer. Definitely nothing you had to do. He had labored thirty days and thirty nights to forge the sword. Even then it broke had he had to repeat his actions again. And then again. Someone made your Lightbringer. Maybe it was because you didn’t put in your blood, sweat and tears into the steel? There was no personal connection.

Finishing up your tea, Rhiannon stood and took it from your waiting hand. She lingers before whispering for just your ears to hear “Don’t worry. Thalina had faith in you. Have faith in Thalina too.”

The first true smile you felt in the entire day warmed you from the inside. You couldn’t worry about it. Worrying now would do nothing for you in the long run. When the moment came, well, then you would deal with it. Thalina had gotten you this far and she hadn’t been wrong yet.

You nod and catch Jaime’s gaze. Hardly ever having his emotions on his sleeves, you saw evident worry in the depths of his eyes. The two of you had gone through so much. You had spent more time with him in Essos than you ever had growing up in Casterly Rock. Growing to know each other like the back of your hands you knew Jaime was concerned with all this fanfare and the pressure it was putting on you. He kept his thoughts to himself and merely pressed his lips together, returning his attention to the artful details being painted onto his hands and running up to his elbow. The dye was meant for warriors afterall. Sirvart was displaying her own designs as her arms were folded, obediently observing the darkin.

Going back to preparing the boys, Melisandre finishes with her words directed to Inniros. “I know you boys will be on your best behavior today. It will be the most important day of your lives. The world will know that (y/n) is Azor Ahai reborn.”

For the first time, Inniros showed interest. “The whole world?”

Melisandre nods, narrowing her eyes at him in suspicion. “Of course.”

“Even all the way to Westeros?”

Rhiannon caught on fast and a new sense of dread made her clutch her skirts. “The king will know she’s alive then. And. . . your sister will know where you are.”

Had she told you that a few months ago, most likely you would have been stricken with the same fear. You felt nothing though. If all of Westeros knew you were alive, Rhaegar would know too. Hope sprung up immediately and you couldn’t stop your smile from widening. “I’m not scared of Cersei. Or of Aerys.”

Melisandre smiled at you with great pride and even Sirvart smirked. The female Fiery Hand chuckles. “You certainly have grown since your days stumbling in Volon Therys.”

On your night stand was the box which the ancient dragon egg had been hiding. You get up from your seat and wander over to it, making sure your back concealed what you were looking at. But Tyrion knew as he craned his neck slightly on your bed. With the hope bubbling in you, touching the rough scales of the egg seemed to amplify that light feeling that tickled your chest. Rhaegar will know you’re alive. Hopefully once he knew maybe he would come for you once the war was over. Better yet, you hoped he would wait for your eventual return. You would always return to him. Now it felt like a closer reality.

Gentle footsteps fall behind you and in one fluid motion, you hide your opal and turn around. Alizah is standing in front of you, that permanent gentle smile. “Nuha kosh, may I have a private word with you in the antechamber?”

“Of course.” Picking up the skirts of your robes as not to get the hem dirty, you walk over to her.

“You as well, Rhiannon.” She addresses Rhiannon who had been polishing your ceremonial headwear. Slightly confused as to her summons, Rhiannon steadily joins you over to the door that leads to the antechamber. The walls are curved making the room a circular shape with a royal blue rug on the floor. A stout, round coffee table was in the center, surrounded by dark orange cushions. Other multi-colored pillows were present for added comfort.

Rhiannon made herself comfortable, laying on her side across the cushions. Honestly it was unladylike since she was in a dress, but that’s what you liked about Rhiannon. She was so comfortable with herself.

Without any assistance, Alizah sits down on the plush ground and looks up at you. Her smile widens at your expression. “Don’t look so worried. I was merely wanting to discuss the matter of that box that was so kindly delivered by Barristan Selmy.”

You had been waiting for one of the Red Temple clergy to ask you about it and you knew it lay heavy on their minds. If it was from Thalina that meant it was something of great importance. The question was on their tongues but they were willing to wait until you were ready to tell them.

Nodding, you decide that you trust Alizah enough to tell her the truth about what Thalina had sent you and the darkin confirming it’s true nature.

None of what you told her seemed to surprise the red priestess one bit. “And Rhiannon, you were the one who solved the puzzle to break open the box. How clever of your older sister. She planned out everything thus far and the events have been executed precisely. (y/n), Rhiannon, Thalina had another goal besides bringing the two of you together. Something else she had foreseen in the flames and that was bringing back dragons.”

That made Rhiannon sit up, her brows scrunched. “Bring back dragons? Thalina saw that actually happening?”

She nods and glances at you. “(y/n) is the key to everything. That is why I’m not too concerned if you can’t summon the fire of Lightbringer. Because during the ceremony you will take that egg and hatch it in front of all to see.”

You gawked at her before laughing nervously. When Alizah didn’t say she was kidding, you stopped and became anxious once more. “I think it would be more simple to try and get Lightbringer’s flames to surface. But, dragons Alizah. . . Dragons haven’t been seen for a century. Even Aerys couldn’t resurrect the last surviving dragon eggs. And now you truly expect me to do the impossible.”

“Thalina didn’t think it too impossible.” Alizah replies but pats the spot next to her for you to sit. “Relax. I have a plan set up. I’ve seen in my own visions a great pyre in which you sit in the center with your dragon egg.”

“She’ll burn!” Rhiannon exclaimed, looking panicked at the mere thought.

You were about to agree with her but then a faint memory arises; you laying down on the cushioned grass, still smelling of smoke while Jaime told you of the events that had previously taken place. You were still weak and slightly ill but you could never forget Jaime telling you how despite your room being up in flames, they didn’t touch you. Even as the fire consumed your bed and the corpse of Thalina. You had remained in one piece with no burn marks.

Alizah seemed to read your thoughts with her vacant, dark eyes. “Fire will not harm you. Not R’hllor’s champion.”

Rhiannon didn’t like it though, her fingers curling into her palm as she rocked on her heels. “We can’t risk it. . . If fire does harm her-”

“That’s the thing about faith. Sometimes you have to squash down your worries and blindly hope that things will work out. When you have a higher power to trust in, anything may be possible.”

“Sure, blindly believe. But what if your theory proves to be wrong? I’m not-” You noticed Rhiannon’s eyes begin to shine with the threat of tears that she tried to brusquely wipe away. “-I’m not losing another sister.”

Ever so slowly your own vision became hazy as your own tears became obstructive. Not even Cersei had claimed you with such pride and worry as her sister. Yet here Rhiannon was, calling you her sister. A lump developed in your throat as you try not to cry. They wouldn’t obey you and tears soon trickled down your cheek. It was too sweet and too heartbreaking.

“You told me to believe in Thalina, Rhiannon.” You took a deep breath and dabbed at your eyes with the sleeve of your robes. “To have faith in her. I’m scared too, but Thalina has yet to be wrong. If she saw that I was the one to bring back dragons, then I must be. Right? And If Alizah sees me not succumbing to the fire, then all I can do is try and live up to her vision.”

Pursed lips, Rhiannon’s shoulder trembled a little bit as her mind spiraled with all of the negative outcomes that could happen.

“In order to even hope to have the courage to go through with this, I need you by my side.” If Rhiannon wasn’t there with you to transfer her endless supply of bravery, you knew you would crumble on the spot.

“You shouldn’t let your fear show, Viserys is like an animal. He can smell fear.” Thalina had told you one day after he had threatened you. You had witnessed first hand the cruelty of Viserys after he had taken a blade and cut off Thalina’s beautiful braids. That incident had made you steer clear of the young Targaryen prince. He had the same malicious tendencies as Cersei.

“But he scares me.” You whimpered.

Thalina laughs. “That little squid? Trust me, he is nothing to fear. He’s just a bully. You just have to show him that you aren’t going to put up with his attitude.”

“I can’t do that. He’s a prince of the Seven Kingdoms. If I do something to displease him, he’ll tell the king.”

Moving a piece of your dirty blonde hair behind your ear, Thalina hums. “But you are Rhaegar’s future bride. One day you will be queen. That trumps being a prince. Viserys will be second in line for the throne until you produce an heir. Then he will be obsolete.”

When Viserys had cut off her hair, Thalina was livid and had grabbed the prince to promptly spank him on his rear. The horror you felt watching it. You had been sure that there would be terrible repercussions from her actions. You had tried to get Thalina to run away, worried that there would be guards showing up at any moment to execute her. But there was none. Only the matronly septa who turned her head, pretending not to see anything. Viserys had run howling to Queen Rhaella but received another reprimand from his mother.

You always wished you could be fearless like Thalina. Being next to her, you could feel her courage seep into you for as long as Thalina was by your side. When she was around you weren’t afraid of Viserys but Viserys was afraid of Thalina.

“I no longer have Thalina in my life. I need you Rhiannon.”

Gulping down her emotions, Rhiannon wipes her face. She was trying her best to put on a tough facade. Helplessly she looks at you with red rimmed eyes and determination.

“Then it shall be done, mandia(sister).”

A weight was lifted off of you. Now you could confidently ask Alizah “What do you need me to do?”

“Promise me one thing.” Jaime had one hand on the handle of the temple’s front door. A giant of a structure that led out to the crowd you could hear waiting with anticipation to see you.

Rhiannon on your left and Tyrion accompanying you on your right, you glance at your older brother.He didn’t look straight at you, choosing to keep his gaze focused forward.

Your entourage that trailed behind you stood silently.

Your left hand held your large opal while the other kept a steady grip on Lightbringer’s pommel. “What’s that?”

“Please don’t burn to a crisp.”

“Jaime!” Rhiannon remarks in a sharp tone before shaking her head with exasperation.

Actually you quite appreciated Jaime’s lighthearted attempt at diffusing your nerves that were already at a debilitating amount. “Hah, yeah, I’ll try.”

“You know what I mean.” He takes a deep breath.

“Do you not think I can do it?”

“Absolutely not.” Finally turning in him, you take all of Jaime in. The scar under his dancing green eyes. His long braid he had incorporated into his hair, casually resting on his shoulder. He wore armor over his ceremonial garb with vambraces that shimmered gold. Rubies and topaz decorated the rimmed arc “I would be a fool if I thought you couldn’t do this. I witnessed the most impossible things. Well, nothing seems impossible when you’re concerned. I know you can do this. Just. . . I’m still going to worry about you and feel like this could go terribly. And Tyrion, you look completely calm.”

“I believe in her too.” Tyrion smiles up at you, his long, curly hair framing his large forehead.

A knock from the outside was your signal to begin your descent to the circular plateau that led out to the plaza market of Volantis.

“The priests are ready for you, nuha kosh.” Melisandre instructed you, her hands folded in front of her and head held high.

Show time.

The booming voice of High Priest Benerro penetrated the door, a stream of words in Valyrian that were deaf on your ears as you tried to keep your composure. Heavily concentrated on your breathing, you stare as the doors slowly open; the other had been pulled open by Iyan. Bright, blinding sunlight makes your eyes squint up. You held the egg closer to your side, mentally trying to reach out to the warmth inside. That soothing closeness that reassured you.

Hanging tapestries that blew in the partial breeze portrayed the Red Temple’s burning heart against scarlet fabric. In the vestibule, the bridge was blocked off by Fiery Hands that held their weapons at the ready. People nearly spilled over them but you knew it would take a lot more to get past your guards. They clamoured on tip toes to try and be the one to catch the first glimpse of Azor Ahai.

The heat from the pyre in the center could be felt from miles away. There was no way you could get past the loud pounding of your heart in your ears to listen to the High Priest’s introduction. At a slow pace, you step forward until the sunlight fully reveals you for all to see. Vibrations from their cries of jubilation shook you to your core and you nearly lost the will to move forward had Rhiannon not given you an encouraging nudge.

Go on (y/n). You can do this. Even if every inch of me is trembling. . .

Summoning strength from your tightly clutched dragon egg you stiffly continue your walk until you are right next to Benerro. He had his arms out, welcoming the world to you.

“Chin up, (y/n).” Joanna smiled patiently, her index finger coaxing your chin up so that your eyes met hers. “There we go. That’s much better. Let everyone see your face.”

Remembering her words, you hesitantly raise your gaze up, your crown pulling you up. His tattooed face breaks out in a smile despite his mouth appearing to actually lack lips, the sun beating down on his bald head. Under the light of day, his pale face almost looked skeletal. You always thought he was a little ominous looking, but he had always been good to you so brushed off his horrendous appearance.

“Se dārilaros bona iksin kivio. Ōñosmaghare's āeksio se Rullor's kosh. Kessa mazilībagon se path va perzys se udrāzma iā azantyr naejot pryjagon se azantyr hen tolie. Rytsas se kosh qilōni kessa iōragon against sȳndror ,(y/n) Targārien. Azōr Ahaī sigligon! (The princess that was promised. Lightbringer's master and R'hllor's champion. She will set the path on fire and command an army to destroy the forces of the Others. Welcome the champion who will stand against darkness ,(y/n) Targaryen. Azor Ahai reborn!)” His thin and feeble stature betrayed his loud booming voice that reached even those who were looking out their balconies and windows. The city streets were completely covered in civilians. Not even when you married Rhaegar at the sept had there been so many people. They moved like a wave vibrating with energy enough to overwhelm you. You stood tall though and took a deep breath.

You knew Benerro wanted you to say a speech. Actions were louder than words though and you passed by him, down the small flight of stairs, Rhiannon falling beside you easily without a word. The red priests that were gathered along the sides murmured nervously, unsure of what you were about to do.

Closer to the fire until even the crowd started to voice their worry. From your periphery you noticed an older priest pull at the arm of a Fiery Hand who merely shook their head, having been given strict instructions from Weles not to interfere.

Face to face with the inferno, tongues of flames whipped out at you. While the heat was indeed intense, it wasn’t so bad as to deter you. No, a comfort of sorts beckoned you closer.

Before you stepped a foot any further, you shed yourself of your gaudy garlands and ancient robes that would be quickly engulfed in flames. Even the spiked crown made of precious gold. Everything that could be potentially destroyed were discarded, leaving you in a short sleeved, white dress made of soft cotton. It had taken so long to put on you yet mere seconds to take off. You unsheath Lightbringer and pierce an opening into the tall flames. The closer you were to the fire, the safer you felt. Worried shouts from the audience were suddenly becoming a mere muffle. Your hearing was overcome with the crackling of wood as the flames appeared to be parting just for you. Making a way to the heart of the pyre. Enclosing you in like a fairy nestled inside of a flower, you stare all around you.

Cozy was the first word that came to you. Flames did indeed start eating at your dress. If this did indeed work, then that meant you would be naked in front of possibly thousands of people. A self conscious thought you couldn’t help but think about as you saw your naked skin become visible.

You look down at the egg you were holding, your sword hand trembling a little as you held the blade up. Alright. . . If there’s still life in you, please, please let this be enough heat for you.

Cradling it closer against your chest, you carefully rest your chip atop of it’s soft teardrop shape. “It’s just us in here. It’s okay.” You squeezed your eyes shut and prayed. They were ancient prayers that Melisandre had told you of in a language that you had never heard before. She said they would help to stoke the flames if the heat needed to be increased. You muttered them quickly and with fervor. Within seconds you felt the temperature rise abruptly and it even made you begin to sweat. Slowly you brought your sword arm down and to your delight, Lightbringer’s own steel was swept up in it’s own flames. They didn’t tarnish your blade and you felt the same swirl of familiarity surge through you. You smiled wide and continued your chanting.

In your arms you felt a heartbeat and around you the flames began to depict figures. One looked like your regal mother, prim and proper smiling at you. The other was Thalina.

The figure of a man you didn't know manifested, tall and burly with long hair that whipped in the flickering flames. Features of his face were obscured and unclear, but you saw his cheeky smile.

The cracking of the shell as you felt the egg begin to budge.

Your orange blanket of safety began to dance erratically.

Pure joy had you crying when you saw a piece of the shell pop off.

An eager mouth poking out.

You became part of the pure warmth of the fire. Twining arms came out to hold you and you swore you could hear your mother's voice whisper in your ear.

The structure around the pyre began to crumble under the pressure of the rising flames as they seemed to reach for the sky.

Many people had begun to disperse, fearful of what would happen.

Jaime was starting to feel light headed, not realizing that he hadn’t been breathing since (y/n) stepped into the fire. His eyes were starting to burn and the smoke was almost unbearable.

The red priests and priestesses were not as concerned. They had been chanting louder and louder. Picking up tempo, Jaime noticed the flames begin to creep down. Intervention of the darkin brought the fire down immensely before his shadows completely snuffed it out, creeping back to their caverns and crevices. Jaime had never thought that the darkin would be able to use his shadow magic against the fire. It was bright after all and the light of it could have eaten his pathetic shadows.

“Have you not heard of that saying, Jaime?” Inniros, seeming to read his mind, glared at him with his only eye. Looking at him made Jaime feel sick. He was unnatural. “The brightest lights cast the darkest shadows.”

Did everyone in the continent have to speak in that annoying, mystical manner? It annoyed him to no end that everything just had to be so vague with them.

With the flames having all but disappeared, he could see his sister and finally he allowed himself to start breathing again. Good, she was okay. Still standing with Lightbringer’s flames still burning despite her clothes having been burned off leaving her in her own skin. Her once long hair had been diminished to the length of her jawline and was patchy but even so she seemed alright.

Nothing could have prepared him for the wriggling creature in (y/n)’s ash covered arms. The creature that mewled pathetically to everyone's great shock as some red priests even jumped back when they heard the abnormal sound.

He knew this had been Alizah’s plan. They had informed everyone before making the descent to the ceremony what was to be expected leaving no time for Jaime to interject. He had to go along with whatever she told him.

Still. . . Jaime could only stare and smile like a maniac.

Of course she did it.

What was left of the crowd were starting to lean in, finding it hard to believe their own vision. Then there was a cheer from the congregation of Red Temple priests. Cheers grew to a deafening roar. Those who had run away at the sight of the towering inferno soon came back hesitantly at the cries of disbelief that were emerging.

The small dragon in (y/n)’s arms stretched its wings, the scales sparkling in different flecks of green, blue, yellow, and pink. Its small shriek could still be heard over the clamour.

Taglist:

@boywivlove

@esposadomd

@domoron

@yentroucnagol

@enchantingcupcakecollectionfan

@bregarc

[meimi-haneoka]

Clear Card Trivia 1 ~ Literary and musical references/mentions in Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card

Hello everyone! The end of the Clear Card manga is very near, so I thought it was about time to start writing the long list of posts I'm going to release in the upcoming months, since it's almost time to wrap everything up and it would be nice to look back and not only analyze the plot but also trivia and themes/topics discussed (openly or not) in these almost 7 years of serialization of Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Arc.

Today we talk about the several literary and musical references spread across the different CCS Clear Card media. The references are quite a lot and I find it so very fitting for a story that features books so much, both under a positive and negative light. Books have a life-saving role, being the only thing young Akiho could cling to, to survive mentally till the arrival of Kaito in her life and the subsequent removal from her abusive family, but for a twist of fate, a spell under the guise of a book is also what was about to destroy her soul forever when said book got filled up with magic. The very first time Akiho's inner book gets set off is precisely in Fujitaka's library. Moreover, a fictional world existing into a forbidden book called Alice in Clockland is also where Kaito sends everyone in the climax of the story. In that fictional world, it is said that books record the memories and feelings of people. And after recording them, that same book can rewrite them. Books are literally an essential element of the plot of Clear Card Arc.

In my list I will take in consideration both the anime and the manga, with a special section for the now-defunct Happiness Memories mobile game! The references are ordered basing on their impact or importance within the plot, and include all the info we have till chapter 72. I might update this post if we get more literary references in the very last chapters of the arc. I will probably not be able to talk in depth about all the possible double meanings and connections of these stories to the real Clear Card plot, as I haven't read most of these books or I'm still in the process of reading them, but I have looked at summaries on Wikipedia, so hopefully I'll be able to feature at least a part of the interesting connections. Anyone who knows these stories or songs in depth is welcome to give more insight!

Soooo, ready to dive in?

1) Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There / Lewis Carrol

Of course the first reference featured in this list couldn't be other than this one! The whole Clear Card arc is heavily based on the Alice In Wonderland narrative, but particularly in the sequel "Through the Looking-Glass". The very first mentions of "Alice-related" stuff is as early as chapter 12, when Sakura and Tomoyo visit Akiho's home and they check out her huge library: here Akiho shows them her book "Alice in Clockland" for the first time. Tomoyo spots the resemblance with the title of the best-known novel, but Akiho says that the book she's holding wasn't written by the author of Alice in Wonderland, and although the language it's written in is composed by runes, she was taught how to read it. Later on we discover that the more she progresses reading this book, the more it gets connected to recurring dreams she's having, with an "Alice" as the main character who experiences all sorts of adventures (unbeknownst to her, she's dreaming about Sakura's adventures with the Clear Cards). Akiho sometimes shares these dreams with Kaito and he always listens attentively, commenting that it'd be good if Alice acquired "more and more skills". We also see Rika (through Sakura) giving away to Akiho one of her Alice picture books, and the girl is definitely thrilled and moved by the kind gesture of who is basically a stranger to her.

Moreover, in chapter 38 & 39, Kaito shrinks Sakura in order to prompt her to create a Card, and sends her down a hole carved in a tree, calling her "Alice". Sakura also created the Shade card supposedly basing it on the Jabberwock featured in Through The Looking Glass. The whole situation prompts Kaito to remember about his first face-to-face meeting with Akiho, which he says happened in a garden fit for Alice in Wonderland. The whole scenery Sakura witnesses in the strange world she's sent to is very reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland/Through the looking Glass, with her being so little and the talking flowers. Of course, the biggest reference to Through the Looking Glass is the whole Alice in Clockland play, in its first version based on Akiho's beloved book with the same title (Naoko initially called the play "The Two Alice", but then decided to change it at last minute, in a twist of fate). Both "before" and "after" the rewriting of memories operated by Momo's book, we not only have an Alice in this story, but also a Cat (which will have a key role) and a Red Queen. Another notable similarity is how Alice, in Through the Looking Glass, crosses "the wood where things have no names", forgetting her own name for a short time while crossing that forest in the company of a fawn. In Alice in Clockland, the Red Queen completely forgot her name once she entered Clockland, in both versions of the play, before and after the rewriting. Akiho/Red Queen regains her memories by lifting the dark veil covering her face, while Sakura/Red Queen regains her memories thanks to Alice telling her the truth about what happened.

Furthermore, the fact that later in the climax Sakura and Akiho are turned into twins by the forbidden magic activated by Kaito might be considered a reference to the famous twins Tweedledum and Tweedledee (although, that's also commonly known as one of CLAMP's obsessions 😂). One more reference is represented by the White Queen in Through the Looking Glass, who can remember events that will happen in the future, and while Sakura can do that herself to a certain degree, certainly this character is better represented by Lilie, Akiho's mother, who could see so much of the future ahead and tried to reach Sakura in her dreams to inform her of an important truth. It is also to be noted that the White Queen's daughter in Through the Looking Glass is named.....Lily.

2) Ten Nights of Dreams (夢十夜) / Natsume Sōseki

"Ten Nights of Dreams" is a collection of short pieces by Japanese novelist Natsume Soseki, where he narrates 10 mysterious dreams set in various time periods, including his own. The book gets featured for the first time in chapter 10 / volume 3 of the manga, and episode n. 6 of the anime. In this scene, Sakura and Akiho are each reading a portion from the 7th dream, the one where the dreamer finds himself on a ship, among strangers, not knowing where the ship is headed to or when he'll see land again. The tone of this dream, like the rest of them, is pretty dark, as the dreamer is extremely discouraged and decides to throw himself into the sea, regretting it when it's already too late. This book gets directly mentioned again in chapter 58 of the manga, when Naoko reflects on the fact that even the tenth night told in the collection is a dream, because there's no point where the storyteller wakes up. This leads her to think how scary it would be to have a dream you can't wake up from, and this will become for her one of the sources of inspiration for the scenario of the school play. When the teacher talked about this book to her students back in chapter 10, she stated "this collection features plenty of mysterious stories, but depending on the person, they could also be considered 'scary' ". I feel like this is exactly how Clear Card Arc could be described too, especially from the POV of the Japanese readers, that I've witnessed these past couple of years on social media. I wonder if this wasn't a way for CLAMP to tip the readers off regarding the thematics and tone that Clear Card would take halfway through. Moreover, the teacher mentions "foretelling dreams" in relation to this book, and that prompts Sakura to consider if the dream she's constantly seeing with the Mysterious Cloaked Figure could be a foretelling dream too.

3) Momo / Michael Ende

"Momo" is a fantasy novel written by German writer Michael Ende (the same of The Neverending Story), and it gets featured in chapter 39 of Clear Card, while Kaito is having a flashback of his first face-to-face meeting with Akiho. At the moment of Kaito's arrival in the rose garden, Akiho was reading a book, and when she's asked about its content by Kaito himself, the girl tells him of a story that is unequivocally that of "Momo": a little girl battles some so-called "time thieves". Akiho seems to love that story, as she has read it many times.

Although it might seem just an easter egg at the level of the Cthulhu books that I will mention later, the presence of the "Momo" novel here is completely different and very significant to the main story of Clear Card. First of all, its complete German title translates in English to "Momo, or the strange story of the time-thieves and the child who brought the stolen time back to the people". As we all know, this sequel of the Cardcaptor Sakura series deals heavily with the theme of time, and Kaito is strictly related to that theme, as he's the major "player" of that element, using magic to stop it or especially to rewind it. In "Momo", the "time-thieves" (also called Men in Grey) are some kind of paranormal parasites with the goal of stealing the time of humans. They appear to people offering to save their time in some so-called "Timesaving Banks", urging them to spare time by dropping any activity that supposedly "wastes time" like relaxing, playing, enjoying things, with the goal of having that time returned back with interests later. But that time saved in the bank is actually stolen and consumed by the Men in Grey for their own survival. Human feelings such as love are a hindrance for them, and they avoid at all costs to form any bond with anyone. Momo is a mysterious little girl, beloved by everyone in her town as she seems to be able to solve anyone's problems or afflictions just by listening and talking to them. She will eventually take on the task of defeating the Men in Grey. Ende's novel is a critique to consumerism in the modern society and how hectic our lives have become, where time is everything and we often never use it for what really matters the most: making us happy. Momo was published in 1973 but its thematics are super relevant even today.

Aside from the easy connection of the topic of time to what Kaito does (although in a more benign way, in our case), "Momo" is also how Akiho chose to name her beloved bunny plushie, who, unbeknownst to her, is actually the magical Guardian of the Book of Time. We don't know when exactly that naming happened, as of chapter 72, but the fact that one of the most treasured and beloved existences in Akiho's life was named "Momo" - the same as the title of the book Akiho was reading when she met Kaito for the first time - suggests hitsuzen is strongly at work here. Akiho might have named Momo after she met Kaito, and to show how important that meeting was to her, she chose to name her after an element that was strictly connected to that meeting. And if she named her so before meeting Kaito, then it shows just how fateful their meeting was. She named one important existence after a beloved book, and precisely when she was reading that same book, she had her first meeting with another important person in her life. The one she will love the most.

It is also to be noted that in "Momo", the time is consumed by the Men in Grey in the form of smoking cigars made out of dried hour-lilies' petals, which are pink flowers representing time itself. Again, a feature of lily flowers, which connects us once more to Lilie.

Depending on how Clear Card will end, and whether Sakura will be able to regain all the memories and the time lost with them, beating the Forbidden Magic activated by Kaito, we might even draw another reference - how Ende's Momo is able to give the stolen time back to the people of her town.

4) "Tsuki ga kirei desu ne" (月が綺麗ですね) / Natsume Sōseki + "Kaze no nai yoru ga boku wo semetogameru" (風のない夜が僕を責めとがめる) / SPARKS GO GO

In chapter 48 of the manga, Akiho, unable to sleep after waking up from an unsettling dream, heads to the garden of her home in the middle of the night. And there surprisingly she finds Kaito, also awake and staring intently at the full moon. In a magical and emotional scene, illuminated by the full moon and prompted by feelings of worry for Kaito's pale complexion - too pale for his own good, Akiho tells him "Can we talk a little bit longer? Because...the moon is really beautiful".

At first, these can seem totally normal words of admiration for the full moon illuminating the two. But actually in this scene, Akiho has just covertly confessed to Kaito that she loves him. Many of you probably already know, but in Japan there's a little story that takes us back again to the famous novelist Natsume Soseki who seems to influence Clear Card so much (he'll get another mention later in this post). There's no actual written evidence of this, so Japanese people tend to consider this as some folklore tale, but when Soseki worked as an English teacher, he allegedly corrected one of his students who translated too literally the English phrase "I love you" in Japanese. He supposedly said "that's too direct, Japanese people don't express such phrase so directly. You should use 月が綺麗ですね (tsuki ga kirei desu ne, 'The moon is beautiful, right?') instead". And that's how the myth of expressing "I love you" in Japanese with "the moon is beautiful, right?" was born. It is very poetic, romantic and subtle so there's no doubt its popularity is really high and used in all kinds of media even today. And, I have to say, it fits romantic, shy and bookworm Akiho to a T. But how can we be sure that Akiho was really-really meaning that? It's because of the quotation marks on the original Japanese script. Akiho was deliberately quoting a source. And her face right afterwards, eyes cast down and red as a tomato, is the final proof of her intention. We still don't know, 24 chapters later, if Kaito's surprised face meant he understood what she was secretly meaning, or not.

However, I have a second source for this particular line from Akiho. One day I was searching on the internet, wanting to know more about this popular phrase, exactly as she worded it (it's slightly different from the classic one) and I stumbled upon the song "Kaze ga nai yoru ga boku wo seme togameru" (The windless night is reproving me) by Sparks Go Go. It's a love song from 1993, and the very first verse features the very same line Akiho said, worded exactly as she did. When I started to translate the lyrics, I was shocked. The lyrics actually fit perfectly the scene in the garden under the moonlight and what was going on between Kaito and Akiho in that moment, so much that it really makes me wonder if Ohkawa wasn't trying to make a double reference here:

Since the moon is beautiful I'll invite you for a stroll outside Tonight it's a bit chilly So wear one more layer of clothing I'm stammering And for some reason I suddenly realize All the feelings I've kept inside till now The windless night is reproving me Even though you're telling me A funny thing that happened to you today Tonight it's a bit different than usual My heart is twinkling Our footsteps echo softly As if I'm about to realize something All the feelings I've kept inside till now The windless night is reproving me The windless night is gently inviting me

As you can see, it's almost a precise description of that scene, with the mention of the stroll at night under the moonlight, the talk and the hidden feelings that are being conveyed in that moment.

I'll conclude this paragraph with something that I usually always mention when I tell people about the "moon is beautiful" 's hidden meaning in relation to Clear Card's storyline, because I think it's highly related. There are several ways to respond "I love you too" to a love confession made in that fashion. And one of the most popular ones that gets associated so much to this phrase (despite not coming from the same author but actually another one, Japanese novelist Shimei Futabatei who lived in the same period of Soseki) is 死んでもいいわ (shinde mo ii wa), which literally translates in English to "I can die happy" or "I can die for you" (you already know where I'm going with this one, right?). Apparently, Futabatei decided to translate in Japanese as shinde mo ii wa the Russian word Ваша present in a passage of the book "Asya" by Ivan S. Turgenev. The word Ваша actually literally translates in English as "yours", and the scene showed a woman deeply committing to her love, but since this is the same period as Soseki, the Japanese novelist used an indirect way to express it. I've read that the choice of shinde mo ii wa is tightly connected to the context of the original story, where a woman of low social status (an illegitimate daughter of a Russian landowner) and a man of higher class fell in love, but kept it hidden for most of the story. Back in those times, such relationship was frowned upon by society and so, indulging in that love could also be seen as the death of someone's life in society. In that sense, that "I would die for you" expresses the spirit of abnegation and complete dedication that such profound love inspires. Now, back to Clear Card, consider who's literally sacrificing himself for Akiho, and draw your conclusions.......

5) Liber Ivonis, Celaeno Fragments / H. P. Lovecraft & August Derleth

When Akiho visits Sakura's home in ch. 26 in order to learn how to cook from her, Sakura also brings her to visit her father's small library. In a very excited way, Akiho recognizes some books of her interest and she asks Sakura if she can take them. Those books are, in order of appearance, "Liber Ivonis" and "Celaeno Fragments" (there's a small typo on the book's title, due to the ambivalence of R/L in Japanese) which are two books featured in the Cthulhu Mythos created by US writer H. P. Lovecraft. Both books seems to be grimoires about occult topics and dark magic spells. It is very likely that the two books are merely easter eggs (they had no influence whatsoever on the plot) or a covertly way from CLAMP to let us know that Akiho was acquainted with magical books.

6) Buying Mittens (手袋を買いに) / Nankichi Niimi

"Buying Mittens" from Japanese author Nankichi Niimi is the book Sakura and Akiho are asked to read to the children of the hospital in episode 19 of the Clear Card anime. The story features a baby fox going on a journey to a nearby village to buy mittens to warm its cold paws in the rigid snowy winter. The story revolves around the themes of trust in other human beings. Although the mother fox advised her little one to be careful of human beings, because if they found out it was a fox, something terrible would've happened, the little fox actually finds out humans are not all the same, and the human being selling the mittens wasn't actually harmful at all.

See, when this episode was released in May 2018, I remember it got a lot of criticism for being a "wasted episode" and not bringing the plot forward at all. But I had already understood back then that this was actually a very symbolic episode for one of the major thematics of Clear Card, which would've shown its full importance only later on the story: how much we can trust other people, especially when we don't know them and they are having seemingly hostile behaviors. I knew the anime staff chose to feature this book for a precise reason. With hindsight, from the manga storyline POV, this is absolutely connecting to how Sakura had her trust tested multiple times in the entire arc, not only towards Kaito who had the most ambiguous behaviors, but also her loved ones, starting from Syaoran himself - who stole her cards in the very beginning and even lied to her, hiding an important truth for her sake; but also Yukito, for a moment, when he activated the Moon barrier all of a sudden, scaring even Kero and Suppi; or how inevitably Sakura's trust in Akiho was also put under pressure once she found out that Kaito was a magician and so inevitably she had to question the reliability of a person very close to him. Trust, trust in your beloved people and even more deciding to trust someone you don't know well is of utmost importance in this arc. If Kaito the magician is, in Buying Mittens, the human known for hurting and hunting and killing foxes, Sakura is the little fox who has to make the important decision of whether she can trust him or not, especially when she's in a moment of vulnerability (in the story the little fox shows the fox paw instead of the human hand to the hatter, who recognizes it as a fox but actually doesn't hurt it at all).

When Sakura found out about Kaito being a magician, she made a careful and delicate decision: she decided to trust Akiho and indirectly to trust Kaito too, avoiding to jump to conclusions and to ruin Akiho and Kaito's relationship by questioning her friend about Kaito's nature. And despite acting in shady ways for the entire arc, and sometimes being just misunderstood - leading everyone to believe he intended to hurt Sakura, in the end we found out that none of that has ever been Kaito's intention from the very beginning.

As repeatedly told by Nanase Ohkawa of CLAMP in Twitter Spaces, Sakura trusts her loved ones, and that actually represents her strength to believe that she will always be ok and everything will eventually be alright.

At the end of the Buying Mittens story, on its way back to his mother, the little fox hears a human mother singing a lullaby to her baby, and the fox draws a parallel to its own mother. Thanks to that, while being cuddled by the mother fox later, the baby fox says "maybe humans are good, after all". Motherhood and mother's love is definitely another thematic common to Clear Card and Buying Mittens, but also finding something that wholesome in common between the two species (humans and foxes) is the key to trust that there can be something good to be found even in "the other" that seems so scary and oppositive in the beginning. I'm certain that will also be a huge theme that will lead Sakura to help Akiho and Kaito in the very end of this climax.

7) Night on The Galactic Railroad / Kenji Miyazawa

"Night on The Galactic Railroad" is the title of the book Yukito is reading to the children of the hospital in episode 19 of the Clear Card anime.

8) "Oborozukiyo" (朧月夜)

"Oborozukiyo" is a Japanese folk song that gets featured in chapter 9 of the manga and episode 6 of the anime. Tomoyo and Akiho sing together this song in 2 different occasions between manga and anime: in the manga they sing it at the hanami in front of group of school friends, while in the anime it is a song that Tomoyo suggests to Akiho to sing together, and at the end of the performance she offers Akiho to join the choir later. The song is also featured in the Clear Card soundtrack album.

9) Special references appearing in the mobile game Happiness Memories:

Botchan / Natsume Sōseki

Natsume Soseki gets mentioned again in the Happiness Memories game when Akiho, in one of the photostories (the one focused on the study of English, with Syaoran reiterating his love to Sakura in English without her knowing what he meant ❤️) tells Sakura she's looking for the English version of some books, namely Night On The Galactic Railroad by Kenji Miyazawa (already mentioned above) and Botchan by Natsume Soseki. Apparently, Kaito suggested her to find those books and read them in English, since she's still having some difficulties with Japanese language. Akiho doesn't initially remember the titles of those books, so Syaoran intervenes and tries to help.

The Wandering Lake / Sven Hedin

"The Wandering Lake" is a book written by swedish geographer Sven Hedin. This one gets seemingly mentioned during one of the photostories set during the old anime arcs, where Syaoran gets invited to the Kinomoto home and bakes a cake with Fujitaka and Sakura (I don't really know much of the details because I never got this card 💦) While they wait for it to bake, Fujitaka and Syaoran talk about their favorite subject, archeology! And Fujitaka apparently makes references to this book (he supposedly mentions the lake name, Lop Nur) while explaining his love for archeology.

And I believe that's all for this first installment of "Clear Card Trivia"!! I hope you enjoyed it and maybe that it surprised you too, for some reference that you didn't catch before today! My love for this story is infinite, for all the reading "layers" it provides us with, and one of those is composed by all the literary references featured in it, since books are really so important in this arc. Knowing all these little quotes and references makes me appreciate CLAMP's efforts to build this arc as something deeper and more meaningful.

As I said in the beginning, I intend to update this post in case something else comes up in the handful of chapters that are left! See you next time, what will I feature? I have looooots I want to talk about!!

[hyacinthsdiamonds]

F1 teams as districts:

District 1, luxury items; The first half of the career pack, for me, has to be Ferrari. The privilege and prestige District 1 is implied to have in the books (in comparison to the other districts) and the undeniable privilege and prestige Ferrari has in F1, it just makes sense to me.

District 2 is masonry and defense, I am leaning towards mercedes here, purely because narratively it makes sense to put them as the second half of the career pack. I did debate putting in mclaren but in recent years only, there was no contest.

District 3 is general electronics, this one caused a lot of back and forth for me but in the end I went with Williams. The brilliance of the way Beetee used his intelligence to win and the brilliance of the cars Newey produced for Williams in the early ninties, it just made sense for me.

District 4, fishing; now maybe a controversial take, but for me, District 4 is Red Bull. Hear me out: while considered a career district, District 4 is implied to be for conditional career District. Depending on circumstances, District 4 tributes might not ally with the traditional career pack. Its implied the tributes capabilities and age, the type of arena they're thrust into, etc affect whether or not they'll make the line up. In the books, the girl from 4 is a career tribute but the boy, the youngest tribute alongside Rue, is not and is killed pretty quick. Annie Cresta only won her games due to her ability to swim, which implies that she wasn't hunting down her fellow tributes with the careers. We know she was traumatised by the death of her District partner which also implies that he was her only ally in her games. Now Finnick, Finnick is the exception. He's one of the youngest Victor's ever, he was 14. Primarily stayed alive at first because no one thought he was a real threat. It's kind of implied he was with the careers but that's up for debate and discussion. When he is gifted a trident by the sponsors, that's when things change. The other tributes didn't realise their mistake until it was too late. Not to mention, according to Katniss' initial thoughts of him, Finnick comes across as confident, obnoxiously arrogant and devilishly charming. It just screams red bull golden boy to me. There's a reason why 12 year old pictured seb as finnick when I first read catching fire lmao.

District 5 is power/electricity, mclaren. Mclaren was a hard one to place. I switched them and Williams around a couple of times. My justification for possibly putting Williams here? The battery logo on their car lmao. In end a similar justification as to why I put Williams in 3, put mclaren in 5. Ngl Oscar is a little foxface coded.

District 6 is transportation, we don't see much on District 6 other than the morphlings so thanks to word association with the concept of the districts role, I had to go with Alpine lmao.

District 7 is lumber, Aston Martin purely because I think Johanna Mason and Fernando would either get along like house on fire, set the world on fire or both.

District 8 is textiles, alfa romeo. Was this primarily because of Zhou's impeccable fashion sense? And what about it? And I can't deny Bottas gives me District 8 vibes based on the character's from that District. That being said they were almost District 7 because of Johanna taking her clothes off in the elevator and Bottas being Bottas on insta lmfao.

District 10 is livestock, again I have no justification other than vibes but haas. I nearly put Alpha Tauri here due to their relationship with red bull.

District 11 is agriculture, I put Alpha Tauri is the only team specifically there to develop young drivers and has been struggling due to various issues in the last few years. Very much needed (in regards to developing young drivers, 11 produces most of the food for the capitol, both are underappreciated and are harshly criticised/punished by the sky sports commentators/the capitol.

There was a 13th District that was in charge of nuclear weaponry, but prior to the start of the book, it was obliterated. (We later find out that wasn't totally accurate, but anyways, for the sake of this post, it was completely obliterated). 13, along with 2, was the main weapon developer for the capitol. 13's destruction paved the way for 2 to become more valuable for the capitol and why it became a career district. If 2 is mercedes, 13 is brawn gp.

District 9 (grain) & 12 (coal mining) I've had to leave blank as I can't think of anything else currently but I'm sure if I look back through the f1 vaults I could find parallels between different teams and these districts.

[jackleg-penwright]

Why six is an important number in Anzoni culture

Back on the subject of the ridiculous amount of math-based worldbuilding I ended up doing for a simple Star Trek: Deep Space 9 fanfiction, we get to the part that doesn’t really come up much all in this first fic. Because, with the number settings that both Garak and Julian keep their universal translators on, any numbers they hear are going to be automatically rendered in the base ten number system that is ubiquitous in the Federation. I don’t actually KNOW if Cardassians use base ten or not, but at the least as someone who does a lot of trade with multiple species and cultures, Garak is quite familiar with it. For that reason, the way that the Anzoni people THINK of numbers isn’t going to come up much in the main fic. But since sixes and twelves are really important numbers in Anzoni culture (hence the sixth anniversary being a big deal), I think it’s relevant enough to put this out there now.

--- --- ---

Because it’s really practical for mental math, the Anzoni number system is built around base twelve, which the universal translator calls dozenal. The base place values (each twelve times the previous place value) are ones, dozens (12), grosses (144), zengrosses (1728), grubbs (20736), tooks (248832), thags (2,985,984) and buches (35,831,808). 

Ones, dozens and grosses are the actual English terms, a zengross is my coinage and comes from a dozen grosses, and the last four are from Bilbo’s birthday party speech in The Fellowship of the Ring (book version), in which he mentions the number 144 and refers to it as a gross. Grubbs and Tooks are the family names of guests, and Thag and Buch come from his recounting the time in the Hobbit when, on his fiftieth birthday, he had a terrible cold was unable to say much beyond “thag you very buch.”

In practical terms, this means that Anzoni people think of numbers in clusters of 12. We actually do that too, in the right contexts. So a carpenter might think of a window as being 54 inches across, but in their head, they’re probably picturing it in terms of four and a half feet. If your tape measure reads 306 inches, you’re probably more interested in the side that says 25 feet 6 inches. 

I’m not going to get into the details of how to translate back and forth between dozenal and base ten, because if you’re mathy enough to follow it, you’re probably mathy enough to either already know, or interested enough to google it and learn how from someone who’s a lot better at explaining than I am. 

A side effect of using base twelve instead of base ten, the Anzoni people are all really comfortable with mental math (when you’re just dividing things into fractions of half and third and variations thereof, it’s much easier to make a picture of what you’re working on, so it’s easier to hold numbers in your head long enough to manipulate them at will). While they recognize that other species often have a hard time sorting out numbers in their heads, the skill is so ubiquitous that NOT being good at it is as puzzling as someone being illiterate is in our culture. So they’re always amused at aliens who get lost on the simplest of sums.

[pantherazuredevil]

Japan Trip 2023 - Day 4 (From Izu to Kyoto) Part 2

Continued from Part 1

Yeah giving me two beds is a bad idea I'm not the kind of person to want to sleep on either or both, though I did make temporary use sometimes of the second bed.

I got off at Kyoto and the very first thing that hit me was "my god the number of foreigners". I had booked a hotel very near the south of the station and found it almost immediately, a mere stone's throw away. I checked in with some computerized system that was new to me and pretty advanced, though the staff were on hand to help just in case. I got to my room, which you can see partially as well in Part 1, and it was pretty modern and a nice place of stay, or so I thought at first. This was when I could finally sit down and update my journal.

I chilled for a while in my room exploring the amenities. The biggest surprise was that the TV could connect to Youtube, and also had the nice function of checking both the hotel's restaurant and laundry congestion status. I later found out a lot of hotels have these functions now (excluding Youtube apparently). I was planning on doing my laundry at the hotel for the first time since coming to Japan, so that was pretty convenient.

I decided to head out to Kyoto Tower after finding out it was nearby, somewhere north of Kyoto Station. I found the place with a bit of trouble due to the route Maps gave me, and the entrance was itself a little out of the way. It was ￥900 just to go up the tower wow, that was a little too pricey for simply going up to see a bird's eye view of the entire city, which ended up being nothing much for me anyway.

The admission ticket for the tower. They were having a collaboration with Hibike! Euphonium so the girls from that series were all over the tower.

Here are 4 videos I took of the view from the tower, each of a cardinal direction. Excuse the shitty video-taking skills please.

Video 1 / Video 2 / Video 3 / Video 4

I spotted this Buddha statue from far away and decided to try to maximize my zoom to try and take a shot of it. Using a phone proved to be a futile attempt for such an endeavor.

I had been given recommendations to go to a famous ramen chain known as 天下一品 (Tenka Ippin) by Japanese acquaintances so I found one near where I was at dinnertime. I took a look at the menu while outside and decided to go for the ￥1200 set of chahan (fried rice) and ramen.

It was great stuff, the chahan might not be as good as what I might be able to find back in SG, but the cheapness of this entire set combined certainly made that a moot point. The ramen and dashi were both excellent. It was in a form called にっとり, which apparently means thick and full of broth according to an explanation I was given by my JP acquaintance. I highly recommend trying this set from 天下一品, it's worth the price.

Right after that I immediately scouted out the route to Fushimi Inari Taisha, another highlight of my trip and the whole reason I came to Kyoto for. Seeing as it was just 2 local train stations away, I decided to simply recon the place and took the train there.

Getting off, anyone would be immediately be hit by "This is Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine" vibes. The pathway to its entrance you see above was practically right outside the station. They knew what they were doing building the station here.

It was obviously a little late when I went in, but I was simply here to look around and scout the place a bit before my formal entry and climb tomorrow. I also took pictures of the map of the area that I ended up not using because I disliked having to zoom to see the map clearly. It was also of little help in what would be my toughest day throughout the 12-day trip for reasons that are a little unexpected.

Even with the rather late hour at evening time, there were still a lot of people milling about, mostly tourists of course, coming out of Fushimi Inari. There were some school kids as well, like those you would see going for their school trips to Kyoto. At this time, I could only imagine what a crowd it would be the next day for me.

The picture of the map. Looks rather simple to follow right? Well, it ended up being useless for me.

I returned to Kyoto Station and looked for a 7-11, and finally found hot milk tea for sale there. Bless the hot drinks section of 7-11, it was rare as hell to find honestly, and vending machines that vended hot drinks too. Hot drinks are so much easier to find back here in SG. I also decided on buying a slightly more expensive tiramisu dessert instead of pudding just to give it a try.

I had both back at my room and damn their milk tea is something else! So nicely blended together, and it being warm certainly helped in the cold weather. By this time I no longer complained about the cold since it was something I got used to and enjoyed compared to the blazing oppressive heat of SG. The tiramisu was very nice as well, and I made it a point to buy more of it through the trip when I could.

Then it was the grueling wait of 2 hours and 5 total attempts to try and get a turn at the washing machines to do my laundry. My god, this was the entire reason I blacklisted the hotel - too many foreigners here and everyone trying to use the same things together. When I finally got my turn, I discovered I had run out of 100-yen coins to operate the machine with because I didn't know they only accepted 100-yen coins, and was saved only by a random guy who came in looking to use the machines. I changed my 50-yen coins with him and started the washing before going back to my room where I could finally have a shower.

Once the laundry was done, I didn't even dry them since I was using the machine without a dryer, as the combined weight of my clothes would have been too much for the ones with a dryer. I resolved to save up 100-yen coins for this sort of situation from here on. I had to hang the laundry all over the room in all sorts of weird places and positions, but part of the reason I was fine with that was because I had another night at the hotel.

During one of the attempts I had a chat with a woman who mentioned they were checking out Japan because her daughter might head on over to the place to study. There was also a time when I saw what I assumed to be a school trip group of high school students, and one JK thanked me when I signaled to her that the lift behind her, which she hadn't noticed opening, had arrived, lmao.

Upon my final return to my room for the day, I relaxed and updated my journal before sleeping, finally ready for the climb tomorrow.

[firstofmay23]

Day 2 part 1: Changi-Heathrow-Keflavík

Landed in Changi airport at midnight. I was worried that I might need to book an overnight room which might bankrupt me. But turned out everyone is just sleeping on seats and sofas so might as well do the same. And some of the table were equipped with power plug and since it was midnight finding a decent spot was very easy.

I also realized that in my flight I was the only one carrying mountain backpack in the plane, oops.

But of course, I wasn’t able to sleep properly so I decided to find something to eat

I also bought the fish skin chips to eat later on. Heaven.

And that is only hour 4 of my 12 hours layover. Luckily Changi was pretty convenient so I managed to sneak some more rest, do some work, and get myself coffee. Took a while to board the next plane but I finally did

The flight from Singapore to London was done what…interesting. I sat next to these lovely old Australian couples, didn’t catch their name but I’m pretty sure the wife is called Edna. And in front of me there is this Singaporean family with a very loud kids, and this is where the drama started.

I couldn’t tell you the details because I was half asleep during the whole thing. So the kids in front of my seat was shouting and yelling and to be honest it was pretty annoying but I had zero energy to deal with it and decided to put on my earbuds and get some rest. She was also pushed her seat a little too way back, so when I got my food I was unable to pull out the tray. The wife and husband probably had enough of it and told off the parents that their kid was misbehaving. The flight attendant was there of course, because he was giving out lunch on our row. He tried to talk to the couple and ask about what was happening and managed to calm them down. Very good for him, I would never had the patience to be honest. But after that things got more relaxed, except the occasional crying baby on the front. But then again, earbuds and Rammstein did their thing. As well as my second glass of wine

The rest of the flight was just me eating, drinking wine, watching sandman, wondering when we will land, and an occasional check outside the window to see where in the world am I (literally)

Somewhere in Middle East

Finally it was a couple hours before landing. I’ve been wanting to go to the loo but I don’t feel like moving across two people so usually on a short flight I just wait until we land. But this is a 13 hours flight and I just have to. So when I told the couple that I need to go, their reaction was “so finally you’re going to the loo! We thought you’d never go!” Which was funny to me because they’re probably looking at the amount of drinks I had and was wondering if I was ever going to go. Curious to know what the convo was like.

So finally landed in Heathrow, and sparing no time to rest I went as fast as I could (which was not fast at all) because it’s almost boarding time to Reykjavik, while taking a few pics of the airport for my ‘mom I made it back to London’ moment. And me being me, of course I took a wrong turn and had to walk all the way to the OTHER end of the terminal because I misread the sign. When I finally got to my gate, it’s boarding time already

I don’t know if because it’s my first time flying with it or because it’s a night flight, but Icelandair is a very cute airline. Like small but elegant in a non flashy way. I can’t think of a better way to explain it. I think it’s partly because how the cabin was lit, it was this nice white light with slightly bluish tinge to it. I wish I took some pictures of the interior.

The turbulence was worse than the previous flight. Maybe because we’re going up north, or because the plane was smaller. But when we were about to land, my God it was beautiful. It was dark on one side and sun was setting on the other. But when we finally landed, it was midnight and dark.

[morgan-of-ireland]

Updates and That kind of Stuff

Hey all, Momo here! Book 1's remake has been completed. I've finished up all the editing and proofreading and stuff like that. It's 11 chapters long, 10 not including the epilogue. However, it'll likely be 12 at release. There might be a teaser to book 2 at the end that'll count as an additional chapter. It'll also be about as long as the average chapter, if not a bit shorter (give or take a page). As for my reasoning for not releasing even though it's done; it's pretty simple. I want to release the remake trilogy all at once, so I gotta finish 2 and 3 first. I take this approach in case I come up with something crazy I want to change later on. It's a bit up in arms on the release date, but I hope have it done by late February maybe early march. Book 4 is where it gets even rougher. I wrote 24 chapters for it (20 main and 4 epilogue with a planned 5th), but since it's the longest, it'll also be the longest to rewrite. Think of the 24 currently completed chapters to be the first draft, with the one you'll see at some point being the final draft.

Book 2's status is "Early development." My estimated time of completion (At least for writing, not editing), is Christmas of New Years. The original version might've had the least amount of chapters but it covered a lot with more packed into those chapters.

Depending how things shake out, I might take the multiple perspectives a chapter thing out of the picture, but I might not. It all really depends on how I re-plot this bitch out. Book 2 is definitely going be to be the most different out of the three, since I feel like it's the weakest of them. It set up some of the best parts of 3 and paid off a few of my favorite setups from 1, but it struggled in it's own right.

My creative juices are drained right now, especially after the editing of book 1. That shit nearly killed me. I'll get what I can done for book 2, but it's gonna be awhile before an actual teaser is dropped. I made the book 1 teaser at around 8-9 chapters, and right now I've got a grand total of 31 words on the first chapter book 2's first chapter.

Here's my AO3 link in case you wanna check out the original versions of the books. Here

This your author, Momo, signing off. See you all in the next chapter.

[michele-mccoy-photography]

12 Must Have Wedding Detail Shots You Won’t Want to Miss

The dress, the flowers, the bridal party and all the decorations, there are a lot of things you’ll want to remember and reminisce on from your wedding day. While some of these details may be obvious there are others that you might not have thought about, This list will give you some ideas of the must have shots you’ll want to look back on for years to come.

CAPTURE THESE ON YOUR WEDDING DAY

1. DRESS

While there will be plenty of shots of you in your wedding dress, and you have probably snapped hundreds on your phone, you don’t want to miss the opportunity to have a beautiful shot of your dress hanging in the morning sunlight before you put it on.

2. RINGS

You’ll want your photographer to use their creative skills to take beautiful images of your wedding rings bands.

3. SHOES

Your shoes may not get as much attention as they deserve on your wedding day, but they really bring your whole look together. You’ll want to have the details of your shoes captured as well.

4. SPECIAL MEMENTOS

Whether it's a necklace, earrings or a special charm wrapped around your wedding bouquet to remember a loved one, these little mementos are something you’ll want to have documented.

5. GETTING READY

From getting your hair done, having your makeup done to being zipped and buttoned into your dress, the getting ready shots are some of the most fun and sentimental shots you won’t want to miss.

6. NOTES AND GIFTS

Most brides and grooms exchange little love notes or gifts the morning of the wedding and the moment you read these sweet notes are definitely ones you will want to cherish and remember.

7. BRIDE GLAMOUR SHOT

Once your hair and makeup is perfectly done and you are dressed and ready for your walk down the aisle, you’ll want to take a few moments to get some of those high fashion styled shots of just you.

8. FIRST LOOK

There is nothing quite like the expression your soon-to-be spouse gives when they see you for the first time all done up in your wedding attire. While in the past this was left for the big moment when the bride walks down the aisle, a first look can really enhance this moment. The first look allows you to see each other for the first time without having to keep your composure in front of all your guests. It allows you to get a genuine and natural reaction to seeing each other and can result in incredibly beautiful moments you won't want to miss.

9. CHILDREN

The flower girls, the ring bearer or just some of the adorably dressed children of the guests attending your wedding will make for sweet images that will bring a smile to your face.

10. RECEPTION DETAILS

There are a lot of things that you'll want to have pictures of at your reception site. You'll want to allow your photographer to get into the reception prior to your guests arriving so they can capture the table settings, escort cards, guest books and more untouched.

11. SPEECHES

Not only will you want pictures of the person giving the speech but you will also want your reactions and your guests’ reactions to the speeches.

12. FAREWELL

There are so many ways to capture your departure and this is one thing you don’t want to leave out. Whether you are running out the door with your guest throwing flower petals or lighting sparklers you’ll want to have your farewell captured to remember how you ended your big day.

LOOKING FOR A WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER?

Your special day is around the corner and you're looking for a wedding photographer to capture all those special moments. I am all about capturing the details of your wedding day exactly as they are and preserving your valuable memories for years to come. To take a look at my wedding photography packages click here.

IF YOU LIKE THIS BLOG, YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

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Michele McCoy

PHOTOGRAPHER

I'm Michele McCoy, a family and wedding photographer in beautiful Mountain Home, Arkansas. I am also a blessed wife, mother of two sweet boys, nature enthusiast, and creative.

My passion for photography has grown over many years, from receiving my first disposable camera as a kid, to now capturing all those special moments in life within my own family and for my clients.

I have over 10+ years experience taking photos. My family and friends all told me that I should become a photographer. From there, I launched my business and found a mentor, an award winning photographer for 20+ years, to help me become the best photographer I could be.

[canolaaoil]

I remember childhood in yellow and blue

1. Who Can Sleep? Sally Davies // 2. @dakotajohnsongf // 3.Let Magic Surround You, Carmine Belluci // 4. @electraheart2012​ // 5. Kitchen, Larry Bracegirdle // 6. Hum Hallelujah, Fall Out Boy // 7. INTERIOR AT NIGHT, Ryan Kapp // 8. Letter for home, Felix Lee // 9. Monet’s House in Giverny // 10. @girlfromenglishclass​ // 11. @kernjosh​ // 12. On Turning Ten, Billy Collins

Description Follows

Post Description: 

1. [ ID: A photograph of a city at night. There is a skyline in the upper quarter in dark, navy blue, while the lower 3/4 of the image portrays an apartment building. Several windows in the building are lit with golden light in a random assortment around the building. In a few of the windows, sillouettes of people can be seen in black. End ID]

2. [ ID: an exerpt of a tumblr post, reading; let me tell you — sometimes i think this might be all a bad dream. every now and then, when the world is quiet enough, when the yellow light hits the ceiling just right, i feel like a child again. sometimes i wish i could find the spot where time is the weakest, touch it, tear it apart, and wake up on the sofa, behind my parents’ backs where i’ve crawled after some nightmare. from the tv, a laugh track. i’m pretending to sleep. its summer. see, the balcony door is ajar. see, there’s a mosquito trying to get in. see, my heart isn’t aching. see? End ID]

3. [ID: a painting in a stylized fashion of a cat sitting on a table from inside a house looking out a window at snowfall. there are papers on the table, a wooden chair, red and purple curtains around the window, a yellow patterned table cloth, and cups of coffee sitting nearby the cat. The cat is black. The walls of the room are golden yellow. End ID]

4. [ID: a tumblr post by user electraheart2012, reading; being alive is like: you want to go home. you don’t know where home is. you want to go home. you don’t know where home is. you want to go home. you don’t know where home is. you want to go home. you haven’t known for a long time. you want to go home but you don’t know where you’d go. you want to go home  you want to go home  you want to go home. End ID]

5. [ID: A painting in a semi-realistic, oil style, of a corner of a home. The colors are mostly warm yellows, oranges, and browns. From left to right there is a calendar, a doorway, a console table, and a couch. There are mirrors, and shelves with books lining the walls. On the table there is a lamp, which casts most of the light in the painting. The walls have wood paneling on the lower half and paint on the upper half, likely white or off white, but appearing soft yellow due to the lighting. End ID]

6. [ID: a screenshot of a lyric page, reading; And one day we’ll get nostalgic for disaster. End ID]

7. [ID: an oil painting,  portraying a rectangular set of windows, looking inside a home at night. curtains cover the left and right panels of the windows, and the center one portrays a wall in the distance with several pictures on a fireplace mantle. The painting is in mostly golden yellow and orange, with the window frame in dark navy blue. End ID]

8. [ID: a handwritten note on a blue, lined sticky note, written in blue pen. The handwriting is cursive. The note reads; Dear Mum, / Once you’ve cleaned this room and house, I won’t forget the sweet, strange and unforgetful memories. This box will contain most of my belongings and I hope for you to take care of it. End ID]

9.[ID: A photograph of a room in a house through a doorway. The visable room is a dining room, with a table with six visable white wicker chairs surrounding it, a white fireplace/mantle with blue vases and pottery decorating the top, and several paintings lining the wall.  The walls are painted bright yellow, and the triming of the doorways are painted light blue and white. The lighting in the dining room makes the entire room look golden, while the room the photographer is in is in regular daylight. End ID]

10. [ID: a tumblr post by user girlfromenglishclass, reading; Childhood made everything feel like it lingered. The time it took for hot chocolate to cool down was eternal. Christmas day took weeks. The two-hour drive to my grandparents’ house took us to a new world. It’s all too fast now. End ID]

11. [ID: a photograph of two people on a bed. Both lay on their backs. One is wrapped in a puffy duvet cover, laughing with their whole face, looking in the direction of the photographer. The other looks up at the photographer, with their shirt pulled up, with most of their chest exposed, just wearing a pair of checkered boxers. The colors of the environment are light blue; the duvet and the sheets of the bed. The walls are white-ish blue.  The people are warm colors; pink and brown. End ID]

12. [ID: an poem exerpt, reading; But now I am mostly at the window / watching the late afternoon light. Back then it never fell so solemnly / against the side of my tree house, / and my bicycle never leaned against the garage / as it does today, / all the dark blue speed drained out of it. End ID]

paragraph break

[ID: two lines of writing, underlined in yellow, reading “one day i was seven years old, / after that all i ever was was lonely.” end ID]

end post description.

[blouisparadise]

Today we have the third part to our rec list of BL college/university fics! You can also find part one to this rec list here and part two to this rec list here. If you enjoy our rec lists, please be sure to like this post and reblog to spread the word. Happy reading!

1) Understanding Silences | Explicit | 3487 words

Staring at the black swirling ink was something everyone did, fantasizing the voice speaking those words, picturing the scenario that would lead them to find their soulmate. Harry did that too, only, he wondered why would those be his soulmate's first words. It was not a light curiosity, it was a big question in his life.

2) I Don't Want A Taste (I Want It All) | Explicit | 3865 words

What Louis really needed was a fat fucking nap.

What Louis got instead was some hipster-looking wannabe arguing with him over the validity of avocado toast.

3) Signed, No Name | Mature | 4647 words

Harry doesn’t know Blue, he just knows that he leaves random notes in the corners of the books he checks out, and he’s head over heels for him.

4) Fratboy In Love | Mature | 6830 words

Harry Styles was a frat boy who loved to sleep around and flirt with boys and girls. Louis was a good uni student who loved to stay in amd study and wasn't much of a partier.

Insert his best friend Niall who talks him into going. Louis gets drunk and ends up sleeping with harry. The next day he leaves before Harry wakes amd tries to avoid him at all costs. Thinking Harry wouldn't care since Louis was just another conquest. But what if Harry did care. And actually have a crush on Louis. Read and find out.

5) Feels So Right | Explicit | 8804 words

The emcee leans in between them, handing over his mic to the blue-eyed vision. “You know what? Someday… Someday you guys might thank me for this...”

6) You're The Only One Who's Making Me Come, To My Sinful Senses | Explicit | 9355 words

Louis the dance major and Harry the business major meet on Tinder. They hook up regularly and come to find out they like each other more than they let on.

7) One Day You'll See (All The Things That We Can Be) | Mature | 10657 words

Louis has a problem; he's in love with his best mate.

8) Hate To Smoke (Without Me) | Mature | 12164 words

Sleep. Harry just wants one good night of sleep.  However, his neighbour has a thing for headboard-banging-against-the-wall-sex every night.  After a secret set-up and a bet, Harry may finally get the sleep he so much desires.

9) Like Spilled Garnets | Explicit | 14316 words

AU where Harry and Niall are vampires who go to college as a hobby,  Louis is the human willing to endure any adversities that come with dating an ancient vampire,  and Liam is the over protective best friend.

10) It's Hard To Look Right At You, Baby | Explicit | 14584 words

Coffee Shop AU where Louis is going through a dry spell, Zayn wants to be a good friend and help Louis find someone, and Harry ends up finding him instead.

11) I Couldn’t Face A Life Without Your Light | Mature | 15538 words

Louis and Harry are college students who haven't been the same in the past two years.

12) Sometimes A Fantasy | Explicit | 18654 words

There’s nothing to complain about when Harry’s walking around their flat with his cock swinging about, nothing to complain about when Harry’s pressing himself up against Louis’ naked backside when he’s reaching for a mug in their cupboards, and nothing to complain about when Harry’s got his hand firm on Louis’ arse when they’re cuddling on the couch.

So, in reality, it’s really fucking weird, and Louis knows that.

But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t like it.

13) Even The Best Laid Plans | Explicit | 25190 words

Louis wants to have sex with someone and decides Harry is the perfect alpha for the job.

14) Hold Onto This Heaven (Of Yours) | Explicit | 25213 words

An ode to being too young, too sad, and too in love.

15) The Devil’s In The Details | Explicit | 25372 words | Sequel

He squeals when Harry smacks his bum as he bends over to pick up his bag, swinging it over his shoulder. Harry smiles smugly at him, bottom lip caught between his teeth. “When are you going to start calling me professor?” He asks.

“When you actually are one,” Louis says with his hand on the doorknob. He cocks his head to the side in curiosity. “Isn’t that how words work? You did study English, right?”

Louis’ quick to slip out the door before Harry can smack him again, his laugh echoing through the hallways as he makes his way to his next class with flushed cheeks and a bright smile.

16) Short And Sweet | Explicit | 29658 words

Louis is a shy university student in a world scarce of male omegas. He’s always dreamt of having an alpha despite his sheltered upbringing, fantasizing about being loved and cared for. He’s immediately smitten by the mysterious alpha with curly hair, broad shoulders, and the addictive coffee scent.

17) Push You Out, Pull You Back In | Explicit | 31544 words

Harry hates feeling vulnerable. Louis is set on breaking through his tough facade.

18) Marks On My Baby | Explicit | 31628 words

“What’s that?” Harry hadn’t meant for his voice to sound so sharp and even he winced at his own outburst. It was more of a hiss than an actual question, but for now, he was too surprised to care.

“What’s what?” The omega asked, eyebrows raised and lips pinched. Harry knew he was probably mad at him for interrupting his rant, but the alpha was too on edge to bother pleasing the boy.

“On your neck… Your bondmark spot…” His voice had grown low and deep, almost a growl.

Who knew a single love bite on his omega friend's neck would trigger Harry this much? Certainly not the alpha himself.

19) Smoke Between Your Teeth | Explicit | 37015 words

Louis tries to stop his addiction to cigarettes and discovers he's been addicted to Harry for much, much longer.

20) The Row House | Explicit | 44287 words

Going from friends to lovers is never easy. But what about when you've already crossed that line and suddenly, you have to deal with what comes after?

Fresh Meat-inspired fic where a bunch of young university-students live in a row house near uni together and all have their issues to deal with.

21) Know I Think You're Awesome, Right? | Explicit | 60108 words

“Well, that’s not very Treat People With Kindness of you.”

“Neither is approaching someone with the sole intent of criticizing a cause they’re clearly passionate about, given the amount of time they’ve dedicated to advocating for it,” Louis snaps.

“Sure, but I’m not the one with the button,” Harry shrugs.

“So, is there actually something I can help you with, or did you just come to push me into pepper spraying you as well?” Louis is quickly growing impatient. Hell, he was impatient the moment that Harry made his grand entrance on campus yesterday.

“I’m just trying to assess the environment here,” Harry says, “Because if this is all you’ve got to offer trans people who just want to be able to use the bathroom in peace like the rest of us, then I’m not sure I fit in.”

“Allow me to save you the trouble, then: you don’t.”

22) Don't Think About The Consequences | Explicit | 70478 words

Can you shut up, for once?” Styles asks, and Louis’ eyes widen in shock. He opens his mouth, and Styles can tell he’s going to start yelling again about something absurd that Styles really doesn’t want to listen to. Professor Styles keeps talking instead, not giving Louis the chance to yell. “How…. how do you go from flirting with me in the middle of class to these annoying outbursts of anger? Can’t you just, can’t you just…” Fuck it.

He leans in, and molds his lips against Louis’ open mouth. The wind gets knocked out of him when their lips finally meet, and he can finally feel Louis’ softness against his own lips. His hands reach up to cup Louis’ face, as Louis leans closer to Styles and he finally relaxes into Styles’ embrace. Styles doesn’t deepen the kiss, instead he pulls away and ghosts his lips across Louis’ while he comprehends what he just did fully. Fuck.

23) Flash Back To Me | Explicit | 73066 words words | Sequel

Louis narrows his eyes, wanting more than anything to tell Liam to go fuck himself, but he can’t be sure, is the thing. As much as he knows for a fact that he would never date someone like Harry Styles, he has months missing from his memory. And it’s scary to think that, in that time, everything he’s come to know about himself could have changed so drastically.

24) Darling | Mature | 110147 words

"Why do you call him darling?"

I looked at Liam and felt my features soften.

"Because he's a darling. He's absolutely the most precious thing I've ever seen. He's a darling boy and I just want all of him and only him."

25) Never Be | Explicit | 117522 words

The one where Harry Styles moves to Connecticut from England for nine months as a part of a study abroad program, and he just so happens to move in with Louis Tomlinson and family.

Check out our other fic rec lists by category here and by title here.

[absolutepokemontrash]

MC’s half Demon, and they look AWFULLY familiar...

‘Kay guys, I got a different kind of stupid Headcanon to throw at you. Get ready!

Part 2 Lessons 1-5 Part 2.5 Group Retreat Lessons 10-12 Lessons 13-15 Part 3 Part 4

*ahem* picture if you will, it’s the day the exchange program is set to start. The student council (nix Mr. Kill All Humans, Weeb-supreme, and our Scummy Sweetheart) have assembled to welcome the new human student. All is going according to schedule, the portal opens up at eight am sharp, they hear the pitiful screams of the selected human who was not given a heads up about the whole thing, and the poor little human falls straight onto the marble floor.

There’s something a tad... off about this human don’t you think? After they’ve peeled their sorry ass off the floor they observed the assembled student council with an air of sophistication and self importance that no one expected. Their posture was perfect, their eyes sharp and calculating... they bared a striking resemblance to-

“Lucifer,” Diavolo looked to his right hand man, then back to the human. “The human kind of looks like you!”

And out popped four pitch black wings from the human’s back and two small horns out of the sides of their head, one horn was a bit bigger than the other. They even still had some of their down feathers! How cute!

((Content warning: Swearing (I have a potty mouth, forgive me), but that’s it.))

Luci-dad

So, the MC is Lucifer’s kid! Of course Mr. Prideypants immediately tries to recall exactly what little romp in the human world uh... spawned this half-human half-demon child of his. Good thing MC’s got the other parent on speed-dial.

“Please note, MC,” Lucifer pinched the bridge of his nose upon hearing Asmo take even more pictures of his newly discovered hellspawn. “I was not aware of your existence, if I was I’d-”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m not upset.”

Lucifer blinked a few times in surprise. “P...pardon? You aren’t upset?”

“No, my parent told me that my father was a high ranking demon, and they bare no ill will against you. Though, I am looking forward to this whole... exchange program thing.”

Oh wow, that was easier than Lucifer thought. Damn. Well, he was a father... (let’s be real, he’s been parenting his brothers for thousands of years, and a good chunk of you sinners call him daddy)

MC is probably the most protected student at RAD, despite the fact that they have no visible security detail whatsoever. They didn’t want to be seen as... weak and pathetic.

Something about this human just... set the lesser demons on edge. Any talk of eating them was stamped out on the first day when they walked by. It’s like Lucifer himself was staring at them, daring the demons to try and bother the human. MC’s powerful presence kept them protected and feared.

...at least until dear uncle Asmo decided to do their hair one morning. All those ribbons may have looked adorable but they kind of ruined the intimidation factor.

MC loved to mess with the other students, keeping their lineage a secret for the first little while just made it so much funnier when the other demons tried to scramble out of MC’s way without looking like they were running from the ‘weak little human exchange student’.

Oh wow, what a sadist. Like father like child

Flying lessons are a must. Poor MC isn’t terribly good at controlling their wings, and their horns are still growing in so when they pop into their demon form the first thing they get is a sore skull. Ow... it sucks that Lucifer isn’t outwardly very sympathetic.

“Ow!” MC crashed face first into the grass in the backyard of the House of Lamentation. “Father! My wings are cramping! Can’t we practice this tomorrow?”

The sight of seeing his dear child crash face first into the ground had lost its hilarity after the first three times. Lucifer slowly lowered himself to the ground and crossed his arms as he stood over his incredibly grass-stained kid.

“MC, we’ve been ‘practicing this tomorrow’ for the past month. If you want to learn to fly you’re going to have to actually manage to stay in the air for more than three minutes.”

MC shot Lucifer a withering glare that only preteens were capable of, Lucifer matched it with his own much more sophisticated glare.

“You’ve been flying for over a thousand years! Don’t you have any tips that can actually help other than ‘don’t panic, you’ll look ridiculous’?”

Lucifer dragged a gloved hand down his face and looked around, the two were alone as far as he could see.

“MC,” Lucifer began. “When I was a young angel, I needed to learn how to fly with someone else.”

MC perked up. “Who?”

“Michael. The smug bastard picked up flying quicker than I did.”

“What’d you do?!”

Lucifer smiled at his child’s intense investment. “I practiced flying every day for five extra hours until I could do everything that Michael could do, just better.”

MC’s starry eyed interest died almost instantly upon hearing about the extra five hours of practice. “Humph, I bet I could outfly younger you and Michael with only two hours of practice a day.”

“Really now?”

“Yes! Watch!” MC shook off their wings and took off in a running start before shakily making it into the air. Their form was decent enough, and they weren’t shaking as much as the previous attempts. “SEE?!”

“Yes MC,” Lucifer smiled. “I can see.”

You know what else Lucifer could see? MC crashing right into a tree.

“Ouch...”

Okay... maybe they could halt practice a little early and order a treat from Madame Scream’s. A little sugar to refuel is needed when the end goal is crushing a mutual rival beneath their heels. Just some good old fashioned father/child bonding time!

MC has a smaller seat right next to Lucifer’s seat in the Assembly Hall. I will not compromise on this one.

For all your fluff needs, I give you: Lucifer teaching MC how to play the piano. He has a proud little smile on his face when his kid finally starts getting it. That’s all. Enjoy the image.

That one Uncle who gives you Alcohol at Family Gatherings (Mammon)

Yeah, when Mammon burst in late to the party and whining about everyone’s spamming him with texts to haul his scummy ass to the Assembly Hall, the last thing he expected was to see a mini-Lucifer.

“What the fuck am I lookin’ at?!”

The glare the two Lucifers gave the poor Avatar of Greed was enough to make him want to turn tail (uh, wing) and book it down the hall.

“Mammon, this is MC. They’re my child.”

“Hello.”

“...whaaaa..?” Mammon looked between the two, same glare, same intimidating aura, same annoyingly good posture.

Mammon scratched the back of his neck and looked over at his older brother. “Do I uh... still gotta babysit em’ if they’re not human?”

“The lake of Cocytus will melt the day I let you babysit without supervision.” Lucifer grumbled.

“I don’t need a babysitter!”

Despite Lucifer’s initial denial, Mammon and MC ended up spending a lot of time hanging out when Lucifer was busy with paperwork. Of course Mammon’s first thought was ‘how do I profit off this situation?’

MC is now Mammon’s designated babysitter after they caught him picking up their feathers that had fallen off with the intention of painting them white and claiming they were Lucifer’s from back in the Celestial Realm.

Mammon does end up spoiling MC a little. Just a smidge. They’re the kid of his totally not his favourite brother after all! How could he not? Whether or not these gifts are obtained legally or are legal at all is subject to scrutiny.

“Mammon, I can’t drink this!” MC placed the bottle of Demonus back on the counter of the kitchen.

“Why not? That’s a bottle of the good stuff! We gotta celebrate you gettin’ an A on that test somehow!”

“I’m underage! Incredibly underage. I’m not legally allowed to drink.”

Mammon wordlessly plopped a silly straw into the bottle. “...does that help?”

“No.” MC then inclined their head to the bottle. “And I don’t want to get hung from the ceiling, that bottle was in my father’s study yesterday, I’m above theft.”

“How old are you s’posed to be anyway? Never mind... uh...” Mammon wracked his brain for something else he could do for MC that didn’t cost anything (don’t judge him, the poor bastard was flat broke!). “I could... teach you to drive!”

“Driving?”

“Yeah! Drivin’ is awesome! We can take my car!”

The bills for the damages done to the car and the Devildom were mailed to Lucifer the next day, and MC and Mammon got to keep each other company as they hung from the ceiling. Ah well! At least MC wasn’t upside down!

Mammon wasn’t that good of a flight teacher either, he also crashed into a tree (the same tree MC crashed into, actually) when he was cheering for MC. They were finally able to do a loopdy loop! He was proud and distracted! Okay?! Lucifer! Stop smirkin’ at him! It’s not that funny!

At least the vantage point from the tree was decent and the branches didn’t scratch him up too badly. Oh hey... that person walking by was wearing a very nice watch... he’d be right back-

That Uncle That is Always Absent From Family Gatherings and When He is Present He Leaves Early (Levi)

He missed everything. That is not an exaggeration. He was in the middle of an online raid battle and couldn’t look at his phone! No Lucifer he can’t pause an online game! That’s not how it works!

Okay, the human exchange student is half demon? WOAH! THAT’S JUST LIKE THAT ONE ANIME- W A I T. THE LITTLE NORMIE IS LUCIFER’S KID?!

Okie doke, he was fully convinced that MC just had to be an anime protagonist.

They binged every series that Levi compared them to. Sure MC might have missed a few assignments because of late night anime binges, but they were too good for this school crap anyway, right?

Nope. Lucifer put a ban on the two watching anime until both their grades improved. Surviving that hell brought the two together.

“Ugh!”

The sound of a pencil case being haphazardly thrown across the room made Levi peek out of his bed-tub. If his figurines got knocked over so HELP HIM-

“This is stupid!!I shouldn’t have to catch up with this!” MC crossed their arms and gave their Demonology textbook their best disapproving glare.

Lucifer Lite (tm) was having a hell of a time trying to claw through their missed work, and Levi sympathized, he really did, it’s just... he was playing Animal Crossing-

Levi paused the game to placate his anime-buddy when their wings popped out and he feared for his rare merch’s safety.

“H-hey, MC? Do you need help?” Levi’s offer was met with a bone chilling glare that lived rent free in his nightmares ever since. He had pulled a Mammon and forgotten he was talking to Lucifer’s child. Lucifer’s allergy to help must have passed down to MC.

“No! I don’t! It’s just... dumb!” MC hissed, she turned and looked over at the fish tank. “Right Henry 2.0?”

Henry 2.0 did not respond.

“MC, you need to finish your homework or we can’t watch anything together,” Levi sighed, he had finished his work over an hour earlier. He had mastered the art of all night anime binges and managing to do most of his work in the fifteen minutes between the time he woke up and the time school was supposed to begin. “We haven’t even binged all of volume 4 of TSL yet!”

“Mmm...” MC grumbled. “Fine...”

MC picked up their pencil case and began continued their work. Levi breathed a sigh of relief and went back to Animal Crossing.

The tiny normie did in fact finish their work, only after they caved and asked Levi for help. Swore him to secrecy, they did... very intimidating, they were.

Just saying, he most definitely sent that one Keanu Reeves meme with big Keanu and little Keanu but with Lucifer and MC to the wrong group chat. Poor bastard.

Flying lessons? No. Levi hadn’t flown since his time in the Celestial Realm, he had no advice to give other than: “Flap your wings!”

“THAT’S WHAT I’M DOING YOU-”

MC didn’t get to finish that thought, they lost their balance and fell right into RAD’s fountain. Ah well, Levi had a head start on running for his life that he squandered by laughing at MC. RIP.

The Uncle/brother/whatever the fuck that Starts a Fight With Your Dad at the Family Reunion. (Satan)

Oh... another Lucifer? Eugh. Gross.

Satan gave the kid a wide berth when they first met. Everything the kid said or did ticked him off. “Tsk. Look at MC. Making an omelette. So annoying.” “Oh wow, MC vacuumed? Roll out the red carpet, we need to celebrate their existence!” “Look at them. Breathing. Disgusting.”

MC’s pride wouldn’t ever let them admit it but... they knew Satan didn’t like them, and it hurt their feelings.

“Shhhh,” Satan whispered into his backpack.

“Meow.” The backpack replied.

“I said shhhhh.”

The backpack did not reply after that, which was a good thing considering the little princet of the HOL was nearby.

“Satan?” They asked. “Who are you talking to?”

Satan coldly brushed past them as he made his way to his room. “No one you need to concern yourself with.”

When the little calico kitten was safe in his room, Satan quickly realized a mistake in his foolproof ‘sneak a cat into the house’ plan. He didn’t have any toys for the kitten, and he didn’t want his books getting scratched...

It was alright, he’d just rush out to the a store that sold cat things and rush back! Five minute trip tops!

Well when Satan got back the cat was no longer in the room. Oh dear. He discreetly tore apart the house looking for the poor little thing until he ended up finding it in the library, happily chasing around a loose feather being held up by MC.

“Oh, hello Satan.” MC chirped as the kitten batted it’s adorable little paws at the feather.

“My... my door was closed. Did you let the cat out?”

MC shrugged. “I heard meowing.”

Satan ran a hand through his hair and grumbled. Stupid smaller Lucifer. Stupid original Lucifer. Everyone sucked.

“Let me guess, you’re going to run to Lucifer and tell him all about the meowing and the rule breaking.”

MC shook their head and glared at Satan. “Of course not. I’ve already gotten way too attached to this little guy anyway. We’re co-parenting this kitten like mature adults.”

With some coaxing, Satan did sit down and play with the kitten, maybe MC wasn’t... so terrible.

The two watch Unsolved Mysteries together, that’s their show. “This guy did it.” “Satan, we’re two minutes into the episode-” “Trust me.”

Thirty minutes later.

“He did it.” “See MC, what’d I tell you?”

Lucifer did find out about the cat, but with enough pleading, MC and Satan managed to warm up the cold spot in Lucifer’s chest where his heart should have been. The cat’s name is Detective Toe Beans (or just Bean).

Satan can’t fly, he has a tail, but he did read up on wing anatomy and how flight actually works in demons, his advice would be good in theory, but it’s full of so much technical jargon that MC can’t understand it.

At least MC didn’t crash into something, they barrel rolled through one of the HOL’s windows. Good thing it was the window to their room. The broken arm still hurt like hell.

The Best Dressed Bitch Who Brings The Booze to The Reunion. (Asmo)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Lucifer’s kid was SO CUTE! A thousand pictures commemorating that adorable moment needed to be taken! Wait- Lucifer- GIVE BACK THE PHONE-

Asmo, surprise surprise, absolutely adores little MC! So cute! So small! He was just so excited to announce to all his Devilgram followers that Lucifer was finally a certified DILF.

That post disappeared five minutes after it was made but the damage had already been done.

Asmo made sure MC looked their best at all times, if they needed help talking to anyone? Asmo’s got their back!

Sure, maybe he’s a little pushy, but pushy’s a good thing sometimes, right?

“Asmodeus-”

“No, these shoes wouldn’t fit you...”

“Asmo-”

“No, not these ones either...”

“ASMODEUS.”

Asmo squeaked and jumped upwards, Geez Louise... little MC’s voice could sure be scary when they wanted it to be...

“I don’t need any fancy new shoes.” MC huffed, sitting up straighter in one of the chairs in Asmo’s room. “I thought this was supposed to be a sleepover.”

“Hmmm...” Asmo pouted. “Makeovers are an essential part of sleepovers... what’d you do with your human friends up in the human world that could possibly be better than a make-over?!”

MC began to list things off. “Ordered junk food, talked about people we hated, watched movies,”

“Greasy food is so bad for your skin...” Asmo cringed and shook his head violently. “But I’m totally down to watch a movie and bitch about people I hate!”

“Ah yes, human sleepovers, a tradition I never quite had the chance to enjoy.” Solomon said from Asmo’s bed. “Who are we bitching about?”

“Remind me what Solomon is doing here.” MC muttered as they sat down in front of Asmo’s TV.

“Because, I wanted to hang out with my two favourite humans.” Asmo cooed, reaching over and trying to pinch MC’s cheek, which they awkwardly dodged.

“Can we watch The Exorcist?” Solomon asked, propping his head up with his hands.

“Ew, no.” Asmo made a face at him. “That scene with the vomit? Hell NO.”

“Mm.” MC mumbled. Asmo turned to look at them.

“MC? Are you doing okay? You don’t look like you’re having any fun...”

“I’m fine.” MC grumbled.

Asmo pursed his lips, as much as it made his little narcissistic heart break, he nudged MC. “Why don’t you pick the movie, sweetie. I’m sure Solomon and I will like anything you pick!”

MC noticeably brightened. “Let’s watch Scream!”

The strangled noise that came from Asmo was... concerning, but to his credit, The Avatar of Lust held his tongue about his distaste for the movie, and the three slumber-party goers had quite the lovely time.

After the movie ended, MC went back to their room, sure it was a sleepover but their bed was right down the hall.

Good for Asmo and Solomon. Horny fuckers. We stan.

Asmo just claps and tries to cheer MC on when it comes to their flying lessons. (The idea that Asmo came up with to wear his cheerleader costume from the previous Halloween was immediately shot down by Lucifer)

“You’re doing wonderful, MC- WATCH OUT FOR THE POWER LINE!”

MC didn’t hit the power line, but Asmo’s scream of terror caused them to fall butt-first into a dumpster. Their injured tailbone served as a tragic memory of the incident.

Oh well, good thing Asmo had nice smelling soap to give that could mask dumpster-stink.

The Uncle that eats everything and tells you to eat your veggies while you angrily pick at your broccoli at the kid’s table. (Beel)

Lucifer... has a kid?! Beel choked on the cheetos he had snuck into the Assembly Hall when the kid’s wings popped out.

Oh wow, that’s nice :) maybe they can eat together. Belphie would probably like them.

Wait what is the gender neutral term for Niece or Nephew?

...Nibling? Uh... let’s not say that around Beel. We don’t need him to get hungrier and begin associating MC with nibbling on things.

The Underground Tomb incident probably went a little differently, but after all that nonsense, the two are closer than two peas in a pod!

Mmm... peas...

“Beel?” MC stepped into the Avatar of Gluttony’s room.

“Hi MC.” Beel was doing push-ups in the middle of the room, on the ground right beneath his head was a massive bowl of spaghetti that he bit into every time he completed a push-up. “Can you come stand on my back? I need the extra weight.”

“On your back?” MC padded closer. “Are you sure? It’s not going to hurt?”

“No, it’ll be okay.” Beel assured them. “Belphie and I did this all the time. Except Belphie is normally asleep.”

MC tentatively stepped onto Beel’s back. It was a balancing act to say the least, they eventually gave up on standing and ended up sitting cross legged between Beel’s shoulder blades.

“You did this with Belphegor?” MC asked.

“Yeah,” Beel sighed. “He was always too tired to exercise, but he’d let me bench press him sometimes...”

MC frowned and hugged their knees to their chest. Knowing full well that Beel’s twin wasn’t in the human world like Lucifer said was absolutely ripping them apart from the inside. Guilt felt just as rotten as their pride did when they were being belittled...

“Maybe you’ll see him again sometime soon.” MC whispered. “Maybe my father’ll come to his senses and let him come back down to the Devildom.”

Beel paused his push-ups for a brief moment, then nodded and went back to his eating exercising combo. “I hope so. He’ll like you, MC. I’m sure of it.”

MC nodded. “I... hope so.”

Beel’s a pretty decent flight teacher, but his wings are just so different from MC’s that it renders any tips he had next to useless.

“MC, maybe your wings aren’t flapping fast enough.”

“Beel, I appreciate the thought, but I’m not a hummingbird. Or a fly. I don’t need to flap my wings a million times a minute to stay afloat.”

Ah well, MC tried to take some of Beel’s advice, but their lower right wing cramped up and they ended up flying in circles until Beel was able to catch them. Ah well, better than the dumpster incident the previous week.

The Uncle That Passes Out in The Basement and You’re Not Allowed to Wake Him Up Even Though All Your Toys and Video Games Are Down There. He Also Picks a Fight With Your Dad’s New S/O Before He Passes Out. (Belphie)

Sitting in the attic was quite a drag, and this supposedly weak little human was quite the annoyance to try and call out to. It took a lot longer than expected, but when he heard little footsteps coming towards his prison, Belphegor nearly jumped with joy.

Oh... it... looked like Lucifer. Smelled like Lucifer. Stood like Lucifer. Quacked like Lucifer. Or... trilled..? Whatever sound a peacock made, this brat sounded an awful lot like Lucifer.

A... half-demon. Hmph. Belphie honestly thought Lucifer had actual standards. Not anymore, he guessed.

(Man I could fill a whole-ass fic with the Belphie betrayal thing, but for now let’s skip to post attic nonsense)

Okay so maybe MC wasn’t disgusting. They made a good nap buddy. It was cute when their wings came out when they were sleeping sometimes. Well... it was cute when they didn’t hit him in the face and make him wake up with his mouth full of feathers.

What Beel said had been true, Belphie made a good substitute when weights weren’t available, but Beel didn’t want MC to feel left out, so Belphie and MC ended up sitting on his back while he did push ups. MC once got bored and started playing Go Fish with Belphie on Beel’s back while he exercised.

Yes. MC is still a member of the Formerly-Anti-Lucifer League.

“Are you sure he’s not going to be too mad at us?” MC asked for the dozenth time that day. Detective Toe Beans was wrapped around their neck like a scarf (he had gotten so big!!!) while MC nervously sat in one of the Library chairs.

“Positive.” Belphie said with a toothy grin. “Besides, he’s like putty when it comes to you. Just give him your best puppy eyes and we’re not guilty on all charges.”

Putty..? Really..? Lucifer..? How strict was he before MC got there... they wondered.

“Sh! He’s coming!” Satan stuck his nose into a random book, it was the Oxford English Dictionary... and it was upside down.

Belphie pretended to pass out and MC decided that the best course of action was to stare deeply into their cat’s eyes. Yeah... that looked casual and not weird.

“Satan, MC, Belphie.” Lucifer nodded to the three of them as he walked towards the entrance to his study.

“Lucifer.”

“Afternoon, father.”

Belphie let out a cartoonishly loud fake snore that nearly caused both MC and Satan to break cover and start laughing.

Side note, Bean had adorable widdle eyes! That cute little face was just to die for-

“You three..!”

Belphie, Satan, and MC peeked their heads into Lucifer’s study, their handiwork was perfect. Everything was covered in red post it notes. Perfectly not harmful, but SO inconvenient!

“You’re all cleaning this up or so help me-”

“GO!” Belphie and Satan each grabbed one of MC’s arms (Satan also grabbed Bean) and sprinted out of the House of Lamentation. Maybe they’d move back there in twenty years... they hoped that Solomon and The Angels would let them crash at Purgatory Hall...

Belphie had used up his physical energy supply for the next four years. He passed out the moment they stepped into sanctuary. Time for a nap...

Flight practice? Ha. Belphie’s napping. Though, he was suspiciously awake and filming whenever MC did something stupid.

“Try not to suck so bad.”

“GO TO HELL BELPHIE!”

“I’m already there. Hell is every second I’m stuck here watching you fail.”

“YOU’RE GOING TO GET IT FOR THAT!”

Well... MC mastered the dive bomb that day. Lucifer bought them a cake.

Bonus! Your Dad’s New Husband! That Has Managed to Somehow Make Everyone Hate Him Despite the Fact That He’s A Cinnamon Roll. (Diavolo)

A mini Lucifer? A mini Lucifer!

Diavolo dotes on MC like he’d dote on his own kid. MC wants a crown? They’re getting a crown! A damn nice one too! MC wants a title? Here! MC is now... idk Ruler of the area between Majolish and Hell’s Kitchen.

Poor Uncle Mammon’s got some financial insecurity, he’s still the cool uncle... right?!

He is very much that ‘how do you do fellow kids?’ Meme.

He tries to do stereotypical ‘dad’ things but he’s not very good at them. Once he tried to host a barbecue...

Barbatos saved the day, but Mammon’s hair was still singed, Solomon’s cooking still gave Beel food poisoning (SOLOMON EATS TOXIC WASTE I SWEAR-), Luke still got hit in the face with a frisbee, and Simeon got an unhealthy dose of DAD NERVES and got so stressed everyone was almost blinded by the holy light he suddenly started blasting. We do not mention the water guns.

(Seriously whose bright idea was it to give Belphie and Satan water guns while they were in Lucifer’s presence?)

Praise Barbie. He’s too good for them.

“Um...” MC awkwardly held up the baseball, trying to look at it from all angles like it was a completely alien object. “Lord Diavolo... are you sure you want to play catch?”

Diavolo clapped his hands and bounced on the balls of his feet. “Yes! It’s a thing human fathers do with their children, correct? We must make up for lost time between you and Lucifer, right?”

Lucifer massaged his temples and nodded. “If you two would like to play catch...” Lucifer grimaced. “I will too.”

“Okay! MC, throw the ball to Lucifer!” Diavolo instructed.

Lucifer half heartedly held up his baseball glove as MC tossed him the ball. He caught it, and looked over at Diavolo, who was applauding like he just witnessed the greatest feat in sports history.

“Okay! Throw it to me!” Diavolo waved his glove in the air, Lucifer rolled his eyes and smiled. He threw the ball at Diavolo with... a lot of force. Enough force to probably dent steel... Diavolo caught it like it was nothing.

MC suddenly feared for their safety.

“Okay MC, catch!”

Diavolo threw the ball with enough force to break the god damn sound barrier. Well, maybe that was an exaggeration, but the ball sailed way over MC’s head and crashed right through a window.

“Oh my...” Diavolo put a hand on his hip and surveyed the damage to the window. “This isn’t so bad, I believe in human world TV shows this happens quite often. Look! The glass broke in a perfect circle!”

“Yay... property damage...” MC murmured.

Lucifer sighed and pulled out his DDD. “I’ll phone someone to replace the win-”

“Lucifer no! Now according to human world customs we must,” Diavolo took a deep breath, rushed forward, grabbed both Lucifer and MC’s hands and started sprinting away from the Demon Lord’s Castle. “RUN FOR IT!”

“Di- Diavolo!” Lucifer gasped.

“Who are we running from?! That’s your castle!” MC squeaked.

“I don’t know! Just run! That’s what the human TV show says to do!”

Weirdly enough, Diavolo was the best flight instructor. MC’s ability to fly increased tenfold after Diavolo found out that MC was learning to fly.

“You’re doing amazing MC! That was a perfect turn!”

“Thanks Lord Diavolo, I’m surprised I haven’t crashed into anyone or fallen yet!”

“Well, I highly doubt you’ll be crashing into anyone anymore, your flying is practically perfect now!”

Mammon proceeded to fly past them holding what looked like Lucifer’s wallet.

“M-mammon?!”

“Oh... I wonder what he’s doing. Look, MC! It’s Lucifer! Hello Lucifer dea-”

Lucifer ended up colliding with the two of them and sending them all crashing to the floor.

That was the last time MC fell during flying practice.

(We currently have a Go Fund Me set up for Mammon to get the funds necessary to flee the Devildom after that incident. Please donate to save- oh shit hi Lucifer-)

[volterran-wine]

Fully prepared || Caius & Felix

Requested by @xxx-wounded-angel-xxx​ : “Hi ! Could I please have headcanons for Caius, Felix and Alec with a S/O who's been fascinated with vampire since childhood, and has an impressive collection of books about vampires, from kids picture books to obscure gothic novels and romance ones? Merci beaucoup :)”

Hello there! Happy to see a request not exclusively for the kings. Lets me get into the heads of the guards a bit more. One thing I will have to touch on however. In my rules I state I will not write Alec or Jane in a romantic/mate/S/O setting. Because I do see them as their book counterparts, and there they are 12/13 years old. So I will not write for Alec here, I’m sorry. But Caius and Felix you shall receive! 

𝐀𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬, 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐰

𝐂𝐚𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢

Humans had become truly odd through out the centuries, in Caius’ humble opinion. While he was quite up to date with the on goings in the human world, he still could not quite grasp why they were so obsessed with the darker things in life. Especially a myth like vampires. So when he was out on a routine mission with the guard and stumbled across his potential mate, it did puzzle him how... resigned they were to their fate. Almost joyful at the prospect of him bringing them back to Volterra. 

Would end up gently interrogating them about their massive interest in his species. Had they perhaps seen something they shouldn't? Had a vampire been careless around them as a child? Caius entered full security breach mode, when the answer was actually quite simple “They were much more interesting than werewolves.” Ah, at least his mate had excellent taste and saw reason. They might get along just fine. 

“You know, it was us that perpetuated a lot of the myths” “... Really?” “Yes, I believe it was Aro that suggested that holy water can hurt us” “What did you come up with?” “... That we sleep in coffins” 

Caius could appreciate their massive collection of literature however. When he looked past the children books, there were also classics like Carmilla and Dracula. Both beautiful special editions that had been well taken care of. When he stumbled across a certain section of adult romance literature however, a smirk graced his lips. Unable to fight the urge to tease his significant other about this.

“Did you always hope a vampire would come to you in the dark of night love?” “...Caius put that down right now!” “Shall I read it to you? Discover your deepest and darkest fantasies in the process?” “CAIUS!”

𝐅𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐱 𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢

When Felix had imagined meeting his would be mate, them being so positive about vampirism was not part of his imagination. He had expected them to be quite terrified of him, hell even most vampires felt fear creep up on them when Felix approached. But this human was turning out to be something out of the ordinary. It was a blessing in Felix’ eyes. That the universe had rewarded him with a mate that saw passed what he was.

After the initial shock and confusion, Felix would be exceptionally amused at their antics. They certainly had built up their own view of what vampires were like. Both him and Demetri would humor them with stories that either confirmed or disproved their various theories. 

His significant other would end up asking him a multitude of questions, endlessly curious about the different aspects of being a vampire. Some things he would gladly show them and talk about, others... not so much. 

“Can I watch you feed?” “Absolutely not.

Would have to sit them down at some point for a serious talk about what vampires actually were like. Fiction, no matter how dark in nature; had a tendency to still not measure up to what his world was like. 

“... So crosses do nothing?” “No, we predate the cross.” “Sunlight?” “...” “Felix what happens when you step into the sun?” “... we shine.” “????” “Please ... don’t make me elaborate.”

[lemonluvgirl]

I have a friend who hates Peeta so much, because they only watched the movies. They said that Peeta is a weakling and a stalker etc.

What key point or best qualities of Peeta's I should tell them so they change their mind? Thank you 😊

(Please don't answer with, "they should read the novel, it's so good!", I've tried many times, fail every times 😑) @curiouspeetamellark

Ahh, well my main point on Peeta being a great character is that he was a constant source of optimism and support for Katniss. He was also a moral compass for her during difficult times. He gave her a reason to get up and keep fighting in the first Games after Rue died. He was willing to sacrifice his life for her so she could go home to her family, when he told her to shoot him after Cato died at the finale. He moved past his hurt feelings and tried to become friends with Katniss during the victory tour. He gave his winnings to Thresh and Rue's family, in honor of their deaths and sacrifice. He stood up for Gale at the whipping post. He ultimately accepted Katniss' choice to be with Gale in the 2nd movie (he put Gale's picture in the locket), and again tried to sacrifice himself so Katniss could live. He saved a lot of people's lives in District 13 when he warned them about the bombing even though it meant that Snow would have him punished and tortured. He eventually showed Katniss that goodness can overpower evil when he fought his way back from the hijacking. He showed her that things can be good again, and he stayed with her and built a life together after the war. He helped her come back from a deep depression after she goes home to 12. And ultimately, the greatest point is that Katniss loved him and trusted him enough to have children with him. Something she was hesitant to do when she was younger because she feared loving and losing those she loved. But Peeta made her feel safe, and secure. He helped her move on and embrace the future. He helped her see that life was worth living and things could be good again.

Those would be my suggested talking points. But in the end some people are set in their opinions. They might not change their minds. And that's ok. As long as you enjoy the books and the characters and know about what Peeta truly represents (hope, rebirth, and growth) then that's alright.

[1plus1kiyoomi]

Sakusa’s Best Gift

: fluff, domestic, dad!sakusa, dad!sakusa

a/n: happy birthday to my mans!! 🥳❤️

Sakusa sighs heavily as he slings the bag over his shoulder. He glances at his watch and frowns. It’s 30 minutes after 10PM. He only has an hour and a half left to celebrate his birthday. If it wasn’t for the damn training that took over his whole day, he would have spent his day with you and your daughter.

Sakusa never even liked celebrating, but your daughter was so excited about his birthday. She rambled all night about how she would make it the happiest birthday of his life. She even planned a surprise for him, which he knows all about, because the child wasn’t particularly good at whispering and keeping secrets.

Sakusa knows about the cake your daughter iced herself. He knows about the dried peaches that she made for him. He knows about the card she wrote for him. But her plans are all ruined because of a training he could have skipped, but he didn’t want to. He regrets making that choice.

After a quick drive to your house, Sakusa checks the time before getting out of his car. A little over 11PM. It’s still his birthday. He silently wishes that you are still awake so at least he can spend the remaining time of his day with you. He enters the house and sees how dark the hallway is, the only light provided is the one from the kitchen.

“They must be asleep...” Sakusa frowns. He stalks to your room and finds your sleeping figure tucked under the bed. He drops his bag on the floor quietly before sitting on the foam. He pulls his mask down and plants a kiss on your forehead, mouthing a soft ‘I love you.’

The athlete changes into his pajamas and just when he’s about to join you in bed, the door opens.

“Papa?” A small voice speaks and the door opens wider. Sakusa smiles at sight. His little girl in a black Jackal pajama set, that was specially made for her given by the team. Her small hand rubs on her eye, the other clutching on her her fuzzy blanket.

Sakusa walks over to her and tries to pick her up, but she avoids his hold and gets out of the room. He follows after her small figure. “Hey, baby. Why are you still awake?”

She goes to the kitchen and pulls the fridge handle with all her might, the blanket pooling on her ankles. Sakusa watches her in confusion and amusement. The refrigerator door finally opens and she points at a box. She looks up to him with dog eyes. “Papa, help...”

“Oh, sorry,” Sakusa chuckles. He was so amused of her actions he forgot to help her. He takes the box from her and places it on the dining table. “What’s this?”

“Don’t open it yet!” Your daughter scolds. She runs out of the kitchen and ventures back to her room. Not long after, the small girl comes back quickly with a big box in her arms. She checks on the digital wall clock and sighs in relief.

“What’s that?” Sakusa asks her and she climbs on the dining chair, the box she was bringing now on the table.

“Happy birthday, papa!” She cheers, taking the lid off the first box. There’s a cake inside covered by pink icing and topped by sliced peaches, a lot of sprinkles too. “I love you!”

Sakusa hugs her tightly, lowering his body to kiss her cheek. “Thank you, baby. I love you too.”

“I waited for you to come home!” She proudly tells him, hugging him back. “I made you a gift! Open it! Open it!” He opens the gift as she says. It’s a scrapbook with a bracelet that he can tell she made herself from the mismatched beads. There’s also a bottle of alcohol that is designed with car and rainbow stickers. A

“I like it. Thank you.” He smiles at her, and she returns the favor, flashing her small pearly teeth at Sakusa. “Let’s go to sleep. It’s late.”

“No! No! It’s still your birthday. We have to celebrate it until that clock turns 1 and 2!” His daughter argues, pointing at the clock.

“We can celebrate it tomorrow.” He picks her up from the chair despite her whines, but she eventually gives in to her sleepiness. As the father and daughter reach your shared bedroom, she’s already fast asleep, too fast for someone who was jumping like a bunny a few seconds ago.

“Omi?” You sit up from the bed, hand slowly rubbing on your eye. Sakusa can not help but smile. You and your daughter act way too much similarly. No wonder why he loves her the way he loves you.

Sakusa lays your daughter in the middle of the bed before slowly pushing your should back down to the bed. “Go back sleep.”

“But your birthd-”

“Shh... no wonder why our daughter is so excited about my birthday. We can celebrate it tomorrow.” He pecks you on your lips and you nod, wrapping your arms around your child before closing your eyes and drifting back to sleep.

After making sure that the two of you are asleep, Sakusa gets out of the room to put back the boxes on the table back to its proper places. He puts the cake box back into the fridge first, after snapping a photo of course. He would never forget to take a picture of his daughter’s masterpiece.

Out of curiosity, Sakusa picks up the scrapbook and flips through it. It’s just pictures of him when he was a child up to now. He takes a mental note to call his mother, because other than her who else would give you access to such embarrassing pictures? He stops on a page, seeing his baby picture with his parents, and a small note you wrote at the side.

Don’t forget to thank your parents for giving life to you. Because I surely am thankful to them for giving birth to you. ❤️

Sakusa lets out a snicker. “So cheesy.” He smiles at your note nonetheless. On the next page was him as a baby and your daughter months after her birth. The resemblance is uncanny. She surely is her daughter. He laughs at your written note at the side.

I carry her for nine months and go through so much pain to push her out, but she still ended up looking like you! That’s so unfair! But it’s okay as well. At least I get to see a little you everyday.

He stops on a page with a picture of only the two of you back in high school. Sakusa is sure that the picture was taken during his 18th birthday. In the photo, he was holding on to a cake you baked, while you were hugging him by the waist. He never understood what was so happy about birthdays until that day. He doesn’t forget to read the note.

Your first birthday that we spent together. Komori and I had a hard time planning it because you didn’t want to celebrate it, but we know you had a great time that day. And we did it for the first time that day 😳

Sakusa chokes at his own saliva after reading the last sentence. He clears his throat and continues to skim through the book. At the very last page is a picture of the three of you together. It’s a simple picture but it’s Sakusa’s favorite. The three of you were in bed, your daughter’s arms wrapped around his neck, while you are seated between his legs. One of his hands was on your growing belly, and the other is on the back of your daughter’s back. The note on the side undoubtedly makes his heart swell in happiness and his lips curl into a big smile.

Thank you for being born in this world.

And below your handwriting is your daughter’s.

We love you so much.

Before the clock strikes 12, he opens his phone and posts a picture of you and your daughter in his Instagram, his first ever post in his account. He’s a private person, but everyone deserves to see the two of you— the best gift ever given to him.