#this is why I couldn't move things

[mushroompollution]

Canon Divergence pt 1

Oh, how he wants to lie there forever. Wrapped in Elliot's arms, breathing the smell of his sweat and cologne, nodding off to the rhythm of his heartrate as it calms.

this must be Heaven, Leo thinks.

But as badly as he wants to drift away into the comfort of sleep, the valet forces himself to open his eyes. He's careful and cautious as he slips out from the arms of his lover, though his heart aches with guilt as he does.

Elliot's old speech about his feelings on liars plays through the back of Leo's mind as he redresses quickly and quietly. But he had proposed this forray for a reason. He can't go back now. There may never be another chance.

He tiptoes out of the bedroom with a heavy weight in his chest. Carefully, he heads downstairs to the Duke Nightray's study. The door is locked, of course. But with the temporary use of Jasper's powers he's been granted, he's able to easily bypass the lock.

The study resembles the one back at the mansion, just a bit smaller. Leo swallows down the lump in his throat as he looks around. In theory, he has the entire night to search for any clue, any shred of information about the House of Fianna's or Elliot's Illegal Contract. But he still feels the pressure of time on him. What if the nobleman wakes and wonders where his servant has gone?

Leo bypasses the cabinets and goes straight to the wall sconces, just in case. But of course, it's not that easy this time. The Nightray mansion must have been built around the same time as Lutwidge University, using the same sort of mechanisms. But this townhouse was built some time later. If there was a secret passage, it must be something else.

Something less obvious.

Leo sighs quietly and gets to searching the cabinets. He finds plenty of sensitive information, deeds to the family's properties, including the orphanage. But nothing on Abyss, nothing on the children.

And his stomach starts to sink.

Maybe this was a mistake.

Maybe he was wrong.

Maybe he just betrayed his closest friend's trust for nothing.

Maybe the ghosts were right.

Leo barely catches himself from slamming the cabinet shut in frustration. He has to be quiet. He can't wake Elliot...

His gaze rests on a photograph sitting on the Duke Nightray's desk. A photo of a little blond baby, hoisted into the air by one of his brothers, two others watching in amusement from an ornate sofa. A portrait of happier days, taken by the Duchess when she was well. Back when all three of those brothers were still alive.

Back before Leo came along.

A sour taste burns his tongue.

Remember this is all your fault.

Hesitantly, he reaches for the photo to get a better look, as guilty as it feels. Elliot had been such a cute baby--

But the frame gives surprising resistance when he tries to lift it. Leo gasps softly in surprise.

Instead of lifting, he tilts the frame forward, and his eyes go wide as it gives. There's a click, and then the sound of movement makes Leo spin round to watch as the bookshelf opens up.

hiding behind his own family....

Leo swallows down the thought along with the bile on his tongue and surges forward, into the secret room.

Unlike the one back in the mansion, this chamber is fully furnished, though much less ostentatious than the main study concealing it. A large, impressive, solid desk sits in the middle, matching bookshelves and file cabinets lining the walls.

A collection of printouts, handwritten notes, newspaper clippings, and other articles are pinned to one wall around a map of the country and surrounding region. Leo feels his hair stand on end as he approaches the display. It feels surreal, like a movie set.

Red X's mark Sablier, and a location somewhere in the Tor countryside, near a small town that Leo knew well, once upon a time. A question mark drawn over the neighboring country to the west is crossed out by a similar X. A large circle is drawn around an area in the country to the east, which Leo assumes must be Isla Yura's estate.

the locations of the Sealing Stones--

Leo isn't quite sure how he knows that.

Though he doesn't really know what to make of any of this, at least he knows he's found something. Hands shaking, he quickly grabs his phone to snap some photos of the wall. He can't waste time trying to decipher it now.

The cabinets below the assorment of documents is locked of course, but that means nothing to Leo while he has Jasper's powers. He opens it up, only to be nearly overwhelmed by the things he finds inside. He scans files, reports, and notebooks, key words lighting up all over the place.

Handwritten notes on the Sealing Stones. On the Baskervilles. On the Chain Raven, and the family's failed attempts to form a Contract with it. About Vincent, about Gilbert, about the doors to Abyss that they each came out of.

The desk quickly piles up with the things Leo pulls out, and his stomach sinks. Even for him, this is an impressive amount of reading. Far too much for one evening. Where is he even supposed to begin...?

He opens a drawer on the next filing cabinet, and his heart skips a beat.

It's almost too convenient.

Inside are a number of documents and folders. Studies of Humpty Dumpty and a caselog of its victims and Contractors over the years. And in the next drawer of that same cabinet, a set of tabbed folders, each labeled with the name of a child from the House of Fianna's.

Not just any children.

When Leo had snooped around the office at the orphanage, he had found files on all the present children, as well as those who had aged out in time. But there had been no record whatsoever of any of those who had died during their time at Fianna's.

Instead, those records stare up at him from this locked cabinet in the Duke's personal, hidden study.

And amongst them, one name stands out above them all. A file thicker than any of the others.

Leo's hands tremble as he removes the folder with his own name across the tab.

why...?

He walks over to the desk, collapses into the oversized executive chair as if in a daze, his eyes cast down at that folder.

Why him...?

He forces himself to open the file anyway.

And after all of this. Does he really want to know....?

The first page is a pretty straightforward document, Leo's personal and medical records upon admission into Fianna's. It would be unremarkable, if not for one line:

EYES: See notes¹.

He takes a deep breath, turning to the next page.

The Subject possesses eye color and details which defy medical explanation. Iris color appears to shift between blue and violet, with black rings surrounding the pupil. More interesting are the flecks of gold which appear to drift freely throughout the anterior chamber. When questioned if these flecks interfere with vision, the subject reported seeing "white orbs," "golden lights," and "glitter" since childhood, as well as a "black haze" around the edges of his vision.

Furthermore, the subject also reported hearing unexplainable "whispers" and "voices."

Upon receiving this information, the decision to move the subject to the House of the White Angel despite being older than the usual admittance limit was made by the Great Duke Bernard Nightray himself.

He had always known he was weird.

Now he has medical record of it.

keep going.

Leo's chest feels tight. But still, he forces himself to read on.

The next page includes several eyewitness reports of his mother's final moments, her Chain going berserk in the middle of a crowded town square, killing six before dragging her into the depths of Abyss. Leo had been there, and each report brings her desperate screaming back to his ears.

keep reading.

Reports of his poor behavior at the orphanage, details of his building friendship with Elliot.

Then, finally, he finds it. A detailed summary of that rainy day, including the report he had given. The one the Duke Nightray had dismissed as a nightmare.

Three children had wandered into that crater in the center of the city, where they were attacked by a fearsome Chain. Though Leo found the third, shaken and scared, the monster loomed over them from a nearby cliff. Watching them.

Elliot had drawn his sword and run at the monster. In response, the Chain had pierced straight through his chest with a long, sharp tendril.

Leo's stomach turns.

Not to defend itself.

It was only protecting its master--

That's when he had made that fateful choice to save his friend's life.

No, not save.

Just prolong.

As he reads, he can feel the stares of those ghosts boring into him. Standing over him, drowning him in their shadows.

It's because of what you are.

Following this incident, the decision was made to allow the Subject to remain in the employ of the Nightray house in order to better study the correlation and relationship between Humpty Dumpty and--

"is this trying to say that i'm...."

Leo trails off as he comments to himself, already completely absorbed in the next line of his file.

It's because you are ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓

Those words that had overwhelmed him before come to his mind clearly now.

"Glen Baskerville...?"

"It's about time you finally woke up to the truth."

The valet jumps as a cold voice snaps him out of his reading. He looks up quickly, only to find the entrance, and exit, of the secret room filled by the imposing form of the Duke Nightray himself.

[why-the-heck-not]

me, a responsible being, working on the coding project as I should vs. me, a dysfunctional shithead, getting distracted by reading about brains (once aGAIN damnit (it's my favorite "I need to study my field but bc I should do that it's an impossible unthinkable feat now, so I'm reading about something else to fool my brain I'm still being productive"-topic))

[found--family]

cas would not kiss dean first. dean would also not kiss cas first. this is their tragedy. but a shapeshifter or some kind of monster clone or djinn dream would initiate the first kiss and they would 100% return it. or the real dean and cas would've just simply fallen together somehow like tripped and fell and gravity would bring their mouths together whoops anyway they'd both take it from there - and that's not fate pulling strings it's just dumb luck for these two dumbasses (affectionate)

[fridgrave2-0]

hehe ghost-turbo haunting felix au

turbo is connected to the last piece of his code in the whole arcade - a trophy he gifted to felix in mid 80s as a symbol of him genuinely caring about their relationships on par with being the best racer. felix also gave him one of his medals and both kept their gifts next to other rewards, but when roadblasters and turbotime were unplugged, the medal was gone with everything else

now, after burning in cola-lava turbo is basically dead, but scraps of his code still were intertwined with the trophy (after all, it was his first winner's cup, but felix never knew about it), giving turbo an opportunity to exist as a shadow incapable of interacting with anything and anyone besides felix, who kept the trophy even after the roadblasters incident

also I went crazy in tags, feel free to check them out

[aquanutart]

desert flygon

[bluberimufim]

The coolest thing about opera is that most of them have existed for actual centuries and people have just run out of normal ways to stage them. You either do something boring and predictable or you go off the fucking rails.

We've all been in this enclosure so long we've started losing our minds but we don't want to leave. In fact we want to see how much crazier we can get.

[quackity1999]

In my experience, Las Nevadas is more than just a city. it’s a stage, a test, and a trap all at once. The players may change, but the game stays the same. And as long as the lights stay on, there will always be someone willing to bet everything they have.

Never look desperate. Desperation is blood in the water. If you lose big at the casino, laugh it off. If someone powerful snubs you, act like you don’t care. If you want something—access, status, revenge—get it quietly. The second people see you scrambling, you’re done.

Las Nevadas is a performance. A high-wire act where every glance, every deal, every drink poured means something.

And at the center of it all, there sits a husk in a silk shirt, gold in its teeth, wings heavy with a past it won’t acknowledge. He is evidence that you don't play the game. No, no. You become it. And that is when you are well and truly lost.

sounds like you've fallen out of love with her. the lights are warmer than the snow coating the rooftops, y'know. you'll be back before you realise.

[blackcrowing]

smh... there has been a recent spike in activity in my house again, which feels like a completely different being.

Which means my upstairs neighbors are either back in their uneducated woo-woo shit and have managed to invite something else in OR (I think more likely) they accidentally left a standing invation that something else took advantage of.

Regardless, I'm going to have to ward our space so whatever is going on can stay up their with them and I am absolutely ✨️trash✨️ at any kind of banishing/warding. I can cleanse and that's about it in that department, so it will certainly be a challenge for me to make more than a wet paperbag level of defense.

[arthursfuckinghat]

Elysian Pool Cave, Van Horn Mansion, Braithwaite Tree, Serpent Mound - Roanoke Ridge/Scarlett Meadows

[katsy-kitty]

I'm going to vacuum my apartment, which means I'll be out for the next few days.

Keep me in your thoughts.

[dormiloncito]

just remembered watchmen

[unchartedstarsocs]

Various comments I've gotten on this art (and the page after it, which has the same characters):

Mom: "Timothy's shirt looks good" Me: "Thanks?"

Kate + Lydia: "Best friends :3" Me: "That's what I was going for :D"

Dad + Laiken + Oakley: "Is that a mullet" Me: "No."

Laiken: "Are they gay?" Me: "Up to interpretation!"

Marcus + Rachel: "Timothy's hot" Me: "I'll take that as a compliment"

P.S. the turtle's name is Pete

[allthegothihopgirls]

google is like a clingy ex because you can go non-contact for several months, but on the rare occasions you still manage to encounter it, it repeatedly tries to get you back in a really pathetic and whiny manner. and just doesn't stop.

[sysig]

hands shaking, teeth grit, sweat on my brow: It doesn’t have to fit the timeline perfectly, it’s okay if some of the details don’t match, no one’s going to care if this one thing happens just a Little later than it would have anyway

[some-pers0n]

I'm the type of fic writer that loves sticking to canon and generally writing things as canon compliant up until canon does something that I Don't Like. Canon Compliant Until I Don't Want It.

[remyfire]

I want to know what it was about me that I sat down to watch WTK around April 1st of 2023 with no memories of Beje, no fandom presence, no associations with him at all, and within 2 minutes of him showing up on screen, I went, "Oh, that's a bi man. He is fully aware of his queerness and he's comfortable with it." I wish I had made notes about it—the nuances I must've subconsciously interpreted, the moments that made me Leo Point at my screen. What the hell was it that had engrained that in me before I had even really met him?

It made instant sense to me. "Yeah, queer man. Yeah, he's in love with his wife, and he considers himself monogamous in this moment, so he's trying not to let his eyes linger on anybody, but he's definitely bi and he knows it and he's known it for a long time." Like it wasn't even a question.

I barely knew the guy. I had no idea how much I'd warm to him. I was rediscovering everything about this show all over again, so he was as much a blank slate to me as the rest of them. So why the fuck did I immediately Know it, balls to bones, in the way that I knew Hawk had been in love with Trap and that the sky was blue, when the majority of people I interact with either pegged him as being extremely straight, extremely repressed, or extremely closeted?

This isn't me asserting that I'm The Correct One either, btw. I just wish I could peek into my brain to understand why I was that one person who clocked him in such an oddly specific way that's contrary to the majority of fans I've spoken to when he had done almost nothing at all. It's so settled in me now that I can't rewatch it to try and interpret it they way I did when it was completely new.

I mean, I'm happy I did. I wrote the first several chapters of Scratching the Itch before I spoke to a single person in the fandom, and STAE would never have happened if I hadn't been so confident in my interpretation. But boy, it's always gonna be weird never knowing why apparently I was swimming against the current before I even knew I was in a river instead of a bathtub.