#yes the colors are off on purpose. they will be adjusted later im just fucking around atm

[meldailyarts]

04/23/2024, mirages in progress that ill probs either work on more today or more on tomorrow

[numba99]

The Intern

Summary: You are an intern at MSG, strictly forbidden to become involved in with any of the Rangers players. However, this becomes difficult when you catch the eye of a certain player. (y’all should know vague summaries are my brand at this point) Word Count:1.8k

Warnings: none for this part. But also I just want to toss out I know nothing about like sports broadcasting which is what im using as the internship here please don’t drag me if something is inaccurate or something I am trying my best okay ty also didn't proof read teehee <3

You walked up the block, nervously fidgeting with the end of your shirt. To tuck or not to tuck? That question had been nagging you then entire subway ride. You were most certainly over thinking it, but you didn’t wanna mess anything up. You had somehow managed to nail your dream internship at Madison Square Garden doing sports broadcasting for the Rangers. It felt like at any second the other shoe was gonna drop and they were going to tell you they accidentally confused you for the real intern they wanted.

That fear was pushing you to want every last delight to be perfect, hence the intense internal debate about tucking or not tucking in your shirt. You wanted to look professional, but not stuffy or uptight. The more you thought about it, the more silly it seemed and you finally decided to just play it safe and tuck it in.

As you finished adjusting your shirt, MSG came into view. The building towered over you, making you feel so small. You’d been there countless times for concerts and hockey games of course, but it felt foreign to you now. You couldn’t wait to get the first day over with so you could stop being so nervous about everything

You finally reach the door staff people were let in, flashing your badge to get through. Now that was cool. You weaved through the hallways, reaching your supervisor’s office without having to ask for help. Considering you had the sense of direction of broken compass, you were impressed with yourself.

“Hi Beth, I’m here,” you greeted, knocking lightly on the door. Your supervisor was pretty young; you guessed she was in her late 30s. You appreciated that, having been afraid you were gonna be stuck with some old dude you couldn’t relate to at all.

“Y/n, welcome! And right on time too, I like you already,” Beth smiled, waving you towards the seat across from her desk. You noted she had her shirt tucked in. Good call. You only met Beth once at the interview, but form you gathered she seemed nice. Tough, but nice. The type that wants to push you to succeed and as long as you don’t cause any problems, you won’t have any issues with you. Which was fine with you, you were good at taking direction. Nothing was going to ruin this for you.

“We’re not going to be here too long, I wanna show you around before things get too busy,” Beth began, “I just wanted to touch base with you and go over some ground rules.”

“Of course,” you nodded.

“So there’s a lot you're just going to lean on the fly or by watching. Don’t ever be afraid to ask questions, I’d rather explain to you how to do something than tell you what you did wrong,” Beth told you, “Be careful with your phone, no taking pictures or videos in the locker room unless it’s for work purposes. Be on time - but you’ve already got that covered. Um hmm... I know there's more, but so much is just learning while you do it.”

“That makes sense, I’ve got lots of observing to do I’m sure,” you replied. It’s what you expected.

Beth nodded, “Definitely. You’ll mostly be doing observations for the first few weeks, but I’ll definitely give you more to do as you get more comfortable.”

“That sounds great, I look forward to learning from you,” you smiled. It sounded kiss up-y, but you really meant it.

“I look forward to working with you,” Beth replied, “Oh one more thing, and it’s pretty important. No fraternizing with the players, that’s a pretty strict rule I have. Team events are okay, making friends is okay, but romantic relationships are strictly prohibited. It’s just not professional, you know?”

“I completely understand,” you nodded. You didn’t think that would be a problem. Sure, there were plenty of players you thought were cute, but you doubted they would think you were. Besides, you were not about to risk this placement,

“Perfect. Now it’s tour time,” Beth replied. Beth showed you where your office would be first, since it was right next to hers. it was less of an office and more of a glorified closet with a computer, but hey a place to call your own was pretty cool. It was awesome to see this side of the Garden. Sure, it was just a bunch of offices, but everything was decked out in Rangers colors and pictures so it felt so much more exiting. 

The coolest thing by far was seeing the locker room. It felt a lot bigger than it looked on TV, then again it was devoid of a team full of giant hockey boys at the moment. Beth explained most the time spent here would be observing her interviews with players and taking the notes for her. You knew you were going to see players in person, but standing there it was all starting to feel real. You were practically giddy, though you were hiding it under a layer of professionalism.

Beth showed you around a little more, before returning you to your office. She told you to just get yourself comfortable and watch some past interviews to prep for later. Your stomach did a flip when you realized you’d get see all the players tonight.

Luckily the day moved quickly. You got to watch the game in the viewing room with some other press outlets. Beth told you to take notes as you watched, which would be used to ask questions and write up articles or social media post later. Even though it was work, it was fun. You couldn’t believe this was your internship.

You tried to hide your nerves as you followed Beth in the flow of reporters to the locker room. It was surreal, seeing all the players there. You tried not to stare to hard, especially since some of them were changing. Beth warned you some of the guys are pretty shameless about it. They had won that night, so everyone was in a good mood, joking with their locker mate.

The first player to make eye contact with you was Lias Andersson. He gave you a small smile and you returned it, though you could feel yourself blushing. You quickly turned away, telling yourself to get it together. You turned your attention to what really mattered - jotting down players answers to the questions they were being asked. First it was Kreider, than Buchy, and lastly Andersson. If you weren’t so focused on getting all the details, you would have been completely starstruck.

“Are you new?” a voice asked as you were finishing up your last thought. You looked up, finding Lias smiling down at you. You were always somewhat partial to him, and he was even cuter in person. 

“Um yeah, I’m an intern,” you replied, “Is it that obvious it’s my first day?”

Lias chuckled lightly, “No, I’d just remember seeing a pretty face.”

“Oh,” you replied, at a loss for words. Was he joking? Was this some sort of intern initiation. “Thanks. Great game, I’ve gotta go.” You cringed at yourself as you walked away. What the hell was that? And why were you so awkward about it?

“Ready to head out?” Beth pulled you from your thoughts. You nodded, happy to get out of the room. You watch Beth go through the notes - which she said were very well done - picking out the best quotes and putting together some little statements to release. After that she let you go, congratulating you on a successful first day.

---

The next day you woke up feeling on top of the world. Sure it was just one day and you didn’t really do much, but it went well and you were super excited about it.

“There’s my little intern superstar,” you best friend and roommate Jess greeted you. You laughed and rolled your eyes as you poured yourself a cup of coffee. It was a rare day you two had off together; Jess was a nurse who often worked nights, so your schedules didn’t match up a lot. “Come on tell me more about it, I was half asleep last night when you told me.”

You plopped down next to her on the couch, giving her a non sports fan friendly report about how it went. As much as you tried to get Jess into hockey, it just wasn't her thing. However, she did appreciate the good looking guys, so her next question didn’t surprise you much.

“So which one are you hooking up with first?”

“None of them. My supervisor said there’s a super strict rule against hooking up with any of the players,” you replied, “Besides lots of them are a bit older than me anyway, Or taken.”

“Just because there’s a goalie doesn’t mean you can’t score. Isn’t that the whole point of the game?” Jess teased.

You couldn’t help but laugh at that one. “Yes, but not for me, I can’t risk it.”

“Well there’s nothing against you setting up friends right? Let’s take a look at these guys,” Jess took out her phone, pulling up the roster and going through the list with you. “Zi.. Zibanejad? Don’t know if I said it right but he’s cute.”

“You did, And he is, but hes taken,” you told her. She sighed, but moved on.

“Ooh, Kreider is painfully my type,” she nearly swooned.

“Not sure about him actually, I think hes taken,” you said.

“You say that like it’s going to stop me,” Jess joked before proceeding, “Oh what about this guy Andersson?” Your heart skipped a beat at the mention of his name.

“Funny story with that actually,” you replied, before launching into the weird run in you had with him yesterday.

“Holy shit he wants to fuck you y/n,” Jess replied.

You blushed, “I wouldn't go that far. It may have been a joke, him being nice or something I don’t know.

Jess shook her head, “Men are not nice. At least not for no reason. He's totally into you. You gotta hop on that.”

“I can’t,” you repeated, “I could get fired.”

“How would she even know? Is she going to follow you into the bedroom,” Jess replied.

“I don't know, but she seemed really serious about it,” you told her.

Jess rolled her eyes. “The way I see it is you’ll be hooking up with the guy by the end of the year. And then you can get me in with this Kreider guy. We’ll be the cutest hockey wives the NHL has ever seen.”

“Yeah right,” you mumbled, playfully tossed pillow at her. As much as you knew it was ridiculous, couldn’t get Lias’ face out of your head for the rest of your day.

[sosu-morgue]

Hi! I just read one of your reacts and it was brill! Could I request maybe the first time the companions knew they were in love with (a preferably female but if you’d rather keep it neutral im game) sole ? Especially hancock because im hancock trash lmao love that ghoul x

You got it! I’ll do F!SS, I truly do not mind any gender preferences of my asks. I love doing it all!I’m so glad you liked the last one, it was my very first so I was really nervous~(somewhat extra long Hancock romance part just for you) I just worked with whatever came to mind, trying to test what I can write off the top of my head.So I hope it’s good!

Please feel free to message anything was missing or you want to see something specific! I’m always happy to do “companion reactions” for a specific companion too.

Please forgive any grammatical errors, it took a good few hours to write this and I’m finishing at 2:00 AM. I will correct any I find later :)

Some companion story line spoilersAlso it’s LOOOONNNNNGGGG

Context:Sole, the pre-war survivor from Sanctuary, frozen in Vault 111. She came here to save her son, meeting colorful people along the way.All sorts of people flocked to her, but most of all she attracted…

Cait:Damn. She sighed, standing up from that awful chair. Cait felt horrible, trying to keep herself upright when she felt Sole’s hands helping her. It took a minute before Cait felt like she was able to even see straight.

Cait felt fresh, somehow she felt physically lighter. Everything seemed so… bright.

The first thing she saw with any clarity was Sole’s face. She looked worried, but hopeful. An kindness to Sole’s features entirely alien to Cait.

It’s as if Sole wasn’t even real; some kind of apparition designed to appease something Cait never thought existed.

A person who wanted to be there for their friend. A person who didn’t ask for their loyalty, caps, or anything else. She only wanted to care for her friend and hoped that friend wanted the same. Sole trusted Cait; something Cait wanted to resist.

There were so many rules of the world that Cait established. A hard earned understanding of people, of how everything functions in the commonwealth. Outside the commonwealth too, of course.

But… Sole was kind and gentle, but terrifyingly fierce when she wanted to be. She wanted to help her friends, defend innocent people, and Cait had heard Sole refuse payment for these acts of kindness many times.

There was no backstabbing plan in the end, no turn around for the people she helped. Sole did what they needed, so long as it was for a good cause, and wanted for nothing.

Generosity was not a word Cait believed in, yet she believed in Sole. 

They left Vault 95, Cait pausing just behind Sole as she walked out into the sunlight. With a deep sigh of annoyance, Cait cursed under her breath.I fuckin’ love that idiot.

Curie:She didn’t really know when she did. It was only a feeling that slowly built up, then washed over her like rain. Pleasant, sweet - she liked it and didn’t understand why.

Sole would not push Curie to do anything until she figured it out. There was no need for pressure, Curie had to learn how to live in a new body. Things were complicated enough as it was without having to deal with a budding romance; something that was complicated even to humans.

As the days went by Sole and Curie spent most of their time together. Being so close to Sole made Curie feel tense, it was a good kind of tense, but she wanted to satisfy whatever that feeling was.

She narrowed it down to longing. A strange emotion that was difficult to explain and more difficult to understand. This happened when she was away from Sole for any period of time.

But when she was with Sole the feeling turned into this uncomfortable churning. Something she learned had many names. One of those names was passion.

Curie gazed over at the sleeping form of Sole, the soft rise of her chest.

Suddenly Curie felt a powerful want to be resting with her, touching her… sharing a private moment with her.

Though she was aware of the word she was cautious to use it. It meant so much to people, often a major focus of their lives. Curie wondered… perhaps she could be this focus for Sole.

Curie had learned, understood what it meant. This was more than just affection for the person who helped her become a synth, allowing her to experience so much more of life.

This was desire to be with Sole, to be able to hold her. Only her, no one else. Curie now only hoped Sole felt the same.

Danse:He never quite caught onto anything that was not Brotherhood related. He stuck to his loyalties and never strayed far, romance of a civilian was not something he deemed acceptable.

Now his world changed.

No longer was his life dedicated to the Brotherhood, to their cause. He didn’t share those plans anymore, he didn’t believe in them.Sole was the cause of that, convincing him that everything he had done for the Brotherhood was being repaid with cruelty.

Synth or not - Danse dedicated his life to the Brotherhood. He fought for them, risked his life for them, and he knew he followed Maxson unerringly. Though Danse agreed with the Brotherhood that he should die, Sole disagreed.

She was the most charismatic and persuasive person he knew. Danse believed that Maxson was with how he rallied his soldiers and gave them the passion to fight for the Brotherhood’s cause.

But Sole… she convinced him that he should live. That his years of service to the Brotherhood proved that he, even as a synth, did not deserve execution. That Maxson was acting out of hatred to people he didn’t know.

Danse knew Sole wanted him to understand the Brotherhood’s morals were… questionable at best… and somewhere in the back of his head he knew that.

It didn’t matter though, he didn’t care to exploring those thoughts. Fact or opinion changed nothing. He wanted to move on with his life, learn how to live as a synth and figure out who he really was.

He is a synth who hated synths, a prejudice towards a whole that he now grew closer to.

Danse had judged Sole’s other friends. Nick Valentine, the older synth that didn’t hide himself. John Hancock, the ghoul mayor of Goodneighbor, a town with many under the table dealings. Curie, a pre-war machine turned synth.He won’t even mention Strong. His feelings on Strong hadn’t changed that much.

He joined them as an equal forming a new brotherhood… in a sense.Danse needed a new purpose and Sole got him a role within the Minutemen, he was a soldier once again.

Still, the Minutemen did not replace the Brotherhood to Danse.Sole would brush passed him and guide him… She had replaced the betrayal of the Brotherhood.She was his new purpose.

Deacon:The man who could blend in anywhere, remaining undetected all around the commonwealth. He found a friend in Sole who showed up on the Railroad’s doorstep with a sarcastic attitude and a receipt for good karma a mile long.

Her help was invaluable to the Railroad, furthering their efforts to free enslaved synths more than anyone had before. She was critical to both the survival of the Railroad and the synths.

That wasn’t why he liked her so much. Well, not the only reason.

Deacon traveled with her on tasks with no connection to the Railroad or Institute. He got to see firsthand how she was in the remote parts of the commonwealth with no agenda.

Yes, he was with her, but it didn’t matter. She was so genuine to the people she helped, so compassionate.

He figured he shouldn’t be surprised, she wasn’t raised in this world. So the ‘for yourself, fuck everyone else’ mentality wasn’t natural to her like it was to everyone else.

Slowly but surely, she helped him too. Partly in ways she did not know about and some she did. Though he was unsure if he could ever return that favor or even want to tell her about it.Not that he didn’t want to trust her, open up to her. He did this because sometimes potentially losing a friendship is not worth admitting to an emotional connection like that.

He knew himself better than that though. He knew he would say something eventually, regardless of how.Deacon did not find a singular moment where he loved her, it was many things that built up until he came to this conclusion.

Here, watching her help a commonwealth settler restore their home after super mutants tore it apart, he decided on how he felt about Sole.

When he was ready, he would tell her.

Hancock:She restored everything, she gave everything to everyone no matter how bleak it seemed.

He watched her walking ahead of him, a ghoul child in her arms. His name is Billy and he was trapped in a pre-war fridge. She had broken open the fridge door in a flash, helping Billy out and on his feet.

He was in there so long, she insisted on helping him. So she lifted him in her arms and carried him on her hip. Billy was too old to be carried, considering he is a child not including the 200 odd years he was stuck in a fridge. But she was concerned for his well being.

Trapped for so long, pitch black, unable to really move - she thought he would have a hard time adjusting. It was so simple to her; carry him. She reassured him they would go to Quincy immediately, redirecting their course from another task deemed quite critical in order to find her own son.

Yet she still stopped everything to save someone else’s son. She didn’t do it for a reward or expecting to find something, it just came natural to her. To help all people she came across.

Hancock, upon seeing her dote on Billy as if she was his mother, definitely made him think of her in a different light. Not that he hadn’t been attracted to her before - she is a gorgeous woman no doubt. That made him interested.

He would be attracted to any attractive person. That’s not news to anyone. He is attracted to her because of things like this.

She was unreal, her moral compass never wavered for a second. She is fiercely loyal, honest, trustworthy, empathetic, and her charisma; oh, how he loved how confidently she carried herself. Both physically and otherwise.

The second that they came across the slaver, she snapped at him. Though her expletives were censored. She purposefully went around certain words to both enforce how offended she was at the offer while not cursing like a drunk in front of Billy.

In Quincy, they found his home. And in Quincy, they found his parents.

It was perfect, like a story book. She and Hancock both didn’t believe his parents were alive, it was so unlikely it was ridiculous. Yet there they stood, Matt and Carol Peabody, the parents of Billy. All ghouls.

Hancock watched the family reunion, the three holding each other close stunned that each other were still alive.But Hancock wanted to see the pride Sole felt having been the catalyst for Billy’s return. Surely she would be beyond thrilled, feeling the same he did having brought them together.He loved shit like this. People pulling through, surviving, and finding each other. It really was amazing.

He didn’t find Sole beaming as she would after doing a good deed. She was facing the family, but her head was tilted to the side, eyes downcast. There was a faint smile on her face, yet it was a sad one.

Hancock sighed, he didn’t think about it at first. He saw the family talking among themselves, talking about what happened 200 years ago.

Sole wanted that and she didn’t know if she ever would. While she was happy they were together again, she could not help thinking about her own family.

How Shaun would never meet his father. How Shaun had already grown a few years, he think she said he was about ten now? He had been staying with the man who killed his father.She had so much to do in order to find Shaun and there was no promise he was still alive at all.

Hancock didn’t know what to say. He did want her to know he got it, that it’s all going to be okay. They’d find Shaun, just like they found Billy.

Then came another threat and he saw the instantaneous change in her demeanor. The man who wanted to buy Billy returned and he came back in numbers.

The intense fury that woman had… a contempt only capable by experience.

She tore through the slavers like a nuke fired from a fat man. The Peabody’s stayed inside, protected by Hancock in case any of the slavers got through her. No surprise that not a single slaver survived.

When she returned, her rifle was steaming and she had hateful gleam in her eye. Hancock figured that was her killing Kellogg all over again - just for someone else.

The Peabody’s thanked them, insisted on a reward which she naturally turned down. Then offered them a place at any of her many settlements protected by the Minutemen. All human, ghoul, and synth friendly with a grand defense. She gave them a gun, ammo, and enough caps to feed their family for a long time.

They would consider the offer to the settlement; she did not force anything.

Billy returned to her, she kneeled down, and he gave her a hug which she happily returned. Telling him to take care, be smart, and listen to his parents.

Back on the road she returned to their purpose out here as if nothing phased her. Strong as ever.

Hancock ran a hand over the back of his neck, not quite sure how to start, but figuring it was better than letting it pass. She deserved some appreciation.

“Hey,” He patted her arm with the back of his hand, “You did good with them, Billy’s a good kid. I’m sure they’ll be fine.”

Sole nodded, “Yeah, I know.” Her tone was happy with a barely noticeable undertone.

Man… Hancock pulled her arm slightly, letting her know to stop a moment. She was confused, but didn’t mind chatting if he wanted to. He did, for sure, though he wanted to chat for her.

“It’s gonna’ be okay, y’know?” Hancock assured her. Poorly, perhaps, he didn’t like hitting the nail on the head too hard. It was better to be careful, allowing her to duck out if she wanted.

Sole gave him a lopsided smirk, “Well, course. They survived this long alone, I’m fairly sure they can continue. They’re smart, it’s no problem if they don’t go to a settlement.”

Again, he tried. “Look, I get it. With Billy and his parents.” Sole’s expression turned somber, finally understanding the point. “We’ll find him and we’ll bring him back, you know that, right?”

She didn’t respond for a moment, she thought to herself what to say. To her it wasn’t an option to express all the pent up stress and emotion she felt about Shaun. So she slid her arms over his shoulders, hugging him tightly to her.

Not what he expected and not unwelcome. Hancock returned the embrace, figuring it was comforting to her. To him too, but he wouldn’t say that.

He hadn’t actually touched her skin before, not really. Maybe during a fight he brushed passed her, but her skin… It was so smooth. Yes, she’s human. Hancock had been with smoothskin women before and it wasn’t even close.

This was the skin and warmth of a pre-war woman that didn’t grow up irradiated, burning in the hot sun, or suffering from some other affliction.Sole is perfect, inside and out. It was just how wonderful she felt skin to skin. It was like running his hands through down feathers. Impossibly soft.

He didn’t want to let go, he wanted this all the time. He wanted her.

When she released him, she continued their path. Hancock felt that telltale spark, feeling caught off guard. He liked her before, cared for her a lot… this wasn’t the affection two close friends have.

Hancock swallowed hard, his mouth dry. Watching her start walking ahead he really got it this time.

He was completely, helplessly in love with her.

And he had no idea if she would have a ghoul like him.

MacCready:He really didn’t think about falling for someone, especially not someone who employed him.

But she did what she could for him, with Daisy, to help Duncan. It was all so much for someone to do, someone who just up and hired him one day. He had no words to express himself properly.

She insisted it was nothing, that she would’ve done it even if she hadn’t been working with him all this time. Just like that, like it was nothing.

No caps, no trades, nothing. He believed in tough love for sure, though that didn’t mean there can’t be the occasional good deed here or there. To her those good deeds were her day to day life.

He was thankful, more than thankful, that she followed through with him. From the times she helped others for nothing to her haggling talents; he felt like he had it all.

She could be domineering to strangers and yet generous to others. He had no idea how she always seemed to know who needed what and when. Also how; she could just look at some random person and know.

Clairvoyant was the word for it. That’s just nonsense though, she was simply talented at understanding their perspective and empathize. It was uncanny how she settled into the life of everyone she came across with ease.

Provided they weren’t trying to kill her.

MacCready wanted to make caps in the commonwealth, to survive well, to keep his head above water. He believed in community being a mutually beneficial arrangement.

It wasn’t really her random acts of kindness that made him gravitate towards her. It was her unwavering loyalty to her companions, how she served them and did what they needed to keep them as well set up as she was.

She is kind too, she is beautiful. MacCready wiped the sweat off his forehead as they traveled through the heat. It was brutal and she tossed him a canteen of chilled water, purified.

He gave her a nod and drank. Relieved, he passed it back and watched her drink.It felt so normal to be out with her, like a part of him he didn’t know he wanted. He wasn’t sure if this really was love, he loved Lucy, but maybe… maybe he could do both?

Nick:There was a distinct moment he found himself loving this pre-war woman.

She tracked down the tapes, helped him find Winter and end him. It was revenge hidden under the guise of justice. Nick needed this, he truly needed it to be done so he could move on.

Maybe it was foolish, maybe he should admit the purpose of this whole thing. Aside from the obvious that he wanted Winter gone, he wanted to tie the last loose end left behind by the pre-war Nick Valentine. The man he carries the memories of and hid namesake.

He felt like he was pre-war detective Nick Valentine, but was aware of himself enough to recognize he is not that Nick. He’s his own person, sharing the memory of someone who died a long time ago.

She knew that too, it was clear as day to her. He didn’t know why he had such trouble understanding this. It was more complicated than he could put into words, yet when he tried she beat him to it. Always with the right thing to say at the moment, never too presumptuous, never invasive.

Aside from her interactions with him, she was openhanded all the time. Everything she had she was happy to give away to someone else if they asked of her.

She crossed the commonwealth over a dozen times, finding more people to save and more to settlements to build up. She established safe havens all over, none of them served her. She did not charge them fees like other landowners would. There was no tax or extortion.

If someone wanted to live there, she would do her best to accommodate them. If she could not, she would find an alternative.

What’s even more impressive is if she found a potential threat that needed her attention, she would handle it as soon as she could. Her willingness to risk her life for others was a trait he didn’t ask of anyone, but… he really didn’t know how to say he was honored to be at her side.

People began to recognize the two. They knew her first of course, but she traveled with Nick so often some people began to notice he was a part of all this.

For the first time he saw people uniting to the betterment of the commonwealth. He saw them change from hopeless wanderers, desperate families, and aimless vagrants into stand up people. They became hard workers. Some were farmers, others vendors in the settlements, some were taught engineering to maintain the generators and water pumps.

Together they became more. The world was safer with Sole in it.

And he got to be there with her through it all.He looked down to his metal hand, almost wincing when he saw it. He didn’t need reminding he is a synth - it’s just when he got lost in his own mind thinking about the woman that held his affections.

He is an old Gen 2 synth, damaged without any full repairs in sight. He wanted to believe her kindness extended to him in that way.That she could love a metal man… he doubted it. But that didn’t mean he loved her any less.

Piper:This sly reporter found so much to fill her papers with just by hanging out with Sole for a day. She was a walking story waiting to be told to the masses. Excitement, humor, romance, and it could tug on the ol’ heartstrings.

She knew it would be an easy week writing for Diamond City when she got to go out with Sole. She always wanted to go, to take on the commonwealth one mission at a time.

Not to say that she didn’t care about the people she wrote about. Piper thought that it was her compassion that allowed her to write better articles for Diamond City.

Sole was always a little embarrassed when she saw the papers or Piper ran a fresh print by Sole. It flattered her to hear the good things Piper wrote about her, even though now all Diamond City knew her name and she had a kind of celebrity status.

Sole always acted strange when Piper read the paper to her. She knew why and she just wanted to let Sole know people appreciated her.

She deserved the praise. Sole did so much for the people and Piper wanted to be the one to show her, prove to her, she is amazing. Her day was always better when Sole walked into Pulick Occurrences.

It never was enough for Sole to be kind, she wanted to care for them. When Sole was around she always managed to make everyone feel welcome. Approachable, humble - what wasn’t this woman capable of?

Nat eyed Piper when she watched Sole leave, a childish grin on her face.

“You like her.” Nat teased, dropping another paper onto the coffee table. That sly look the same one Piper would give to others.

Piper controlled herself, making sure she didn’t jump when Nat said that. “What? Yeah, she’s my friend.” She laughed, brushing it off.

Nat wasn’t done though. “You like like her.”

Piper felt her face slowly heating up, “She’s a good friend, she’s the protector of the commonwealth.”

Turning to walk up the stairs to her bed, Nat just nodded. “You’re not that good of a liar.” The girl disappeared upstairs, leaving a flustered Piper behind.

“Oh what do you know.” Piper huffed to herself, “She doesn’t, that’s what- no, I mean, she-” She sighed, unable and far too frustrated to form the retort she wanted. Not that it mattered, Nat wasn’t listening.

Is it that obvious? Piper bit her nail, anxious to know. Did Sole know too?

Preston:His love for Sole was the love of two brothers in arms.

Well, brother and sister in arms? He didn’t know what to call her anymore really. Aside from General of course. He always addressed her properly, though she insisted on a more casual approach.

He didn’t think he could do that though. It was all he used to keep himself in check around her.

While Preston did keep the Minutemen alive during their lowest time, it was Sole that restored even greater than it was before. Now the Minutemen were strong enough to train more people, patrol the roads between settlements, and positively change people’s lives.

He never wanted to be a General, he didn’t want that responsibility. He was better on the ground, better being up close. Preston knew exactly where he was best at and it’s where he wanted to be.

It might be thanks to the accumulative effort of all the Minutemen that made them strong, but he still looked up to her.

A woman from the past, over 200 years his senior which made him feel strange, and somehow she came into this world in a blaze. She started making the world a better place as soon as she was able to stand on her own.

She was impressive to say the least. A power to be reckoned with and she used that power to defend the good people trying to survive. No matter how big she got, she was always so down to earth.

Not a single Minuteman had not met her at some point. She welcomed them all with open arms, thanking them for joining their cause, making sure they all felt like they were making a difference.

Approval from the famous 111 meant something in the commonwealth. It give people pride for what they do and bolstered morale.

He loved knowing the Minutemen loved her. Their General was the example they all followed.

She offered so much to the world, yet all Preston really wanted was her. He wanted to be by her side, not for the prestige, but for the way he saw her back when they met.

During the early days when she fought for the Minutemen without really knowing anything about them. All she knew is Preston wanted to do good and she wanted to help.

She told him that she followed his example of a Minutemen and that’s why she  believes she managed this.

Preston had no idea how to respond so he just thanked her.

He really wanted to do something big, something to tell her how much he really wanted her. He thought it was his moment and he had no idea what to do with it. So it passed and he regretted it.

So he waited and planned for something new. He needed something special, just the two of them. He loved her and he was ready to take the chance that she might feel the same way.

[bredsticon-blog]

title: the alternative

part: one (saint or sinner)

desc: you have died. you weren't an extraordinary person when you were alive--you made a few little sins and a few little good deeds, but it's not enough to land you in heaven nor hell. so the reaper gives you two choices: be in limbo forever, or serve equal years in heaven and hell. well, you choose the latter...

tags: angel!nick & demon!zion love triangle (or not? wink), heaven and hell au (yes ik purgatory exists but it has different purposes for this series), ooc (on purpose, i swear), sfw (as in, no smut), gore, violence (i mean, you're in hell...), cussing, murder, mentions of: rape, abuse, addiction (alcohol, LSD, heroin, uhh everything else), mental issues (depression, suicide), and death in general. gender/sex neutral reader (as always) and humor to lighten the mood

word count: 2k

notes: it isn't nearly as scary as the tags make it seem, i promise. i spent a l o n g time on the promo art for this (which imma post LATER) so uhh please read :'( haha yes i WILL finish writing the fma!austin fic and make the part 2 for ¡quake! & ~the wave~ but my ass is still collecting gifs and cleaning up plot holes sksksk and on the 2.76% chance the boys read this: hi follow me im @/bredsticon on ig, i make quality content and be more active on tumblr please we love you

You don't remember dying.

You're dead, and you don't remember dying.

Perhaps, in another life, you once thought that death accompanied a special feeling: life flashing before your eyes, lights out, everything over before your last breath escapes your lungs. But this is... this is slow. So slow. You're still on earth. Floating.. somewhere. Nowhere else. You see the world, all of it. Stars twinkle in the mist. The world around you is gray and dark. You watch your home fall apart. Every crack and shake is in full detail, and, dimly, you watch the sprouting of vines and weeds in its place. The weeds brush heads as they cluster your old house, your old neighborhood, your old country, your old everything.

You're old.

Breathless doesn't begin to describe it. You don't have lungs. You don't have... you don't. You just don't. You are nowhere. You are nothing. You don't exist.

Someone waves inside of you.

What the—

"Hello, Soul One-Hundred Thirty-Three Billion, Seventy-Five Million and Sixty-Five. You're late."

An NYC accent? You're from—

"Now that's a mouthful. I'll just call you Rosebud. See, you were supposed to cross over..." A watch ticks inside your... your form? You? "...millennia ago. Five millennia, in fact."

The voice throws a powder on you. Something blooms inside you, and you fall to the ground.

You gasp—holy shit, you can gasp. You move your head around. Ohmygodohmygodohmygod, you have muscles, you have form, you can move. You exist.

The voice has a form, too. He looks like you: human. Flaming blue hair, khaki-colored skin with reddish-pink polka dots and marks. He wears modern clothes: a bright yellow vest and green pants. And glowing. He's like a painting. Human, kinda.

You gape at him. This doesn't exist. This can't exist. You thought you'd be nothing forever. But now you're something and that's something and the world around you is still murky but it's something and oh my God. Oh my fucking God. What happened to you? What happened to your home? Why aren't you dead?

The form smiles at you. "Be careful with mentioning the Master Creator so much. They're listening, y'know. They can tell when you're talking about Them."

He offers you a hand. Shaking, you take it. You wobble so hard you grab his shoulder, and he pats your wrist.

"Relax, Rosebud, we're gonna go up now. Take my hands." Gently, he takes your hand off his shoulder and interlocks your fingers together. You close your eyes as he pulls you close.

Once you open them, you're no longer on Earth.

You're in an office.

Vaguely relaxing piano music plays in the background. The walls gleam "eggshell white" (whatever that means), and copy-and-paste potted plants commiserate in corners, on shelves, and on top of desks. Rows and rows of cubicles line up in front of you, complete with ancient computers, loud clicking, and early morning groans of "I need more coffee, for fu- fun's sake!" A vending machine and a water cooler stand behind you, with banged-up tables interspersed between those.

Someone rises out of a cubicle. His skin is pale, but his hair is dark. "Reaper Honoret Jr.! Is that—oh my goodness, is that the stray? You did it! It took a few millennia, but you did it!"

Honoret Jr. grimaces. "My bad, Dad. The soul blended in so well, it took me a while... my readings showed complete neutrality. It's like there's no one there." The reaper looked back at you. "I only caught a flicker. Right now, I can't—"

His dad chuckles. "Not Dad. It's Reaper Honoret Sr. to you." He winks. "I'm kidding, y'know how they get around here."

He comes forward and wraps his arms around the boy, then unlatches. Without Honoret Jr's support, you fall to the ground, so you watch as he holds his son's shoulders. "Your bad? What do you mean? I'm proud of you. So, so proud. You're the only one who could even—actually, wait."

He turns to face the cubicles. "Reapers of Thanatos & Co., guess who just caught the stray!"

The clicking stops.

Someone coughs. "You're joking, right?"

"Absolutely not. In fact, it's behind me, right now."

Chairs scoot on scratchy carpet as the reapers of Thanatos & Co. nearly jump out of their cubicles to see you. Forty reapers dressed in some manner of business attire speed walk in your direction. One pushes Honoret Jr. out of the way—his dad has to catch him before he falls on his face.

When they see you, they stop. They start staring at the air around you. They sniff like blood hounds.

After a pause, a reaper with large eyebrows turns to another, eyes wide. "I think... I can't... I literally..."

The other nods. "Same here. Reaper Honoret Sr. isn't lying."

The crowd murmurs in agreement.

A reaper with short pink hair raises his hand. When no one calls on him, he puts it down and mutters something about being new. "Wait, if Reaper Honoret Sr. found the stray, shouldn't we tell the Grand Reaper about it first?"

Once more, the crowd murmurs in agreement.

The eyebrow reaper stares at you—no, not at you. Into you. Like you're not even there. "Before that, we need to know who found it. Reaper Honoret Sr., did you find it? We need someone to congratulate."

He grins. "Nope! My son did." He shook his boy's shoulders.

The reaper raises a brow, then gives the blue-haired reaper a look. "Oh. Well, uhm, congratulations."

The crowd weakly claps. Good job... mhm... congratulations, Junior... and then they disperse back into their leather spin chairs.

Honoret Jr. turns to you and makes a face. "Sorry about that. Office drama. Can't escape it, even in this world."

He doesn't look like a reaper to you. No black cloak, no creepy aura, no skeleton fingers. Kind, colorful, couldn't be a reaper. Nope. Impossible. None of this is.

"You're not believing a lot of things, I know. The first few days are the hardest." He gifts you with another smile. "You'll get there, I promise. I'm here to help.

"Name's Edwin, by the way. You've been calling me Honoret Jr. and that just gives me middle school flashbacks. No thanks."

You can't even make a proper facial expression to react to that. You can't formulate words—or even walk without Edwin holding your hand. He's reading your thoughts, at least. You're basically a vegetable.

He shrugs. "Give it a few hours, Rosebud. The vegetable'll wear off. Your body's just adjusting to this plane. No shame."

You can't speak, so you just think of the word: thanks. My name is—

"Oh, I know what your name is. I've been searching for you for five millennia. I'd be a horrible reaper if I didn't know."

He extends a hand. "Speaking of vegetable and horrible reaper, I bet you're hungry. You're also naked. Let's fix that."

-

Reapers need to eat, surprisingly. Edwin leads you through a myriad of hallways with the exact same paintings and potted plants (this is disgustingly easy to get lost in, you think. Edwin agrees) until you reach the break room. It takes you an hour.

No one's in there except you two. Edwin gave you some of his clothes (kept in another room), so you're wearing a red fit with a black vest and a lime green beanie. He tried to offer his matching ski mask, but you managed to mentally shout "No!" before he put it away. You don't mind wearing his stuff, but you wonder what that could imply. Do reapers...? Actually, you don't wanna think about that.

The break room curves up into a sparkling, plastic chandelier. The rest of the room accommodates a fridge plastered in posters, a microwave, and a dirty coffee maker paired with beige countertops. A pile of paper plates and utensils decorates the left countertop, while a sink occupies the right end. Island tables take up the rest of the center, leaving room for vending machines in the back.

Edwin scrunches his nose. "Who's bummy ass forgot to wash the coffee pot? Ew." He examines it, then starts washing the dishes.

He looks back at you. "You can go raid the fridge. Just don't touch the lunch boxes or uh—bento boxes, I think. Those are Reaper Porter's, and he will get very mad if you touch his bento. I did that once, so he threw a fork at me then said I messed with his feng shui."

Edwin mutters something about unseasoned chicken as he continues scrubbing coffee stains.

You stand up. Your walk is wobbly at best, and you feel like a pile of jello—you're weak in the knees, like jello. But you're getting there. Its better than before. At some point in your hour-long journey to the break room, poor Edwin had to carry you. You felt bad, but at least he's strong. Maybe it's a reaper thing.

You stumble to the fridge. Posters and dates and schedules cover the surface, but you brush past them to find what truly matters: the food.

Reaper office food tastes just as bland as human office food. How sad.

You find that your body works just like it used to. You're hungry, you can feel pain, and you're starting to move. It's like you never died. And now you're in a huge office full of slightly-glowy people who call themselves Reapers and also can't sense you, which is a concept you still don't understand. Or maybe you didn't die? Maybe someone stirred some LSD in your drink? And this is all... a major... acid... trip...

You blink, then pinch yourself. Nope. You're 'swell.

Edwin pulls out a chair. "Now that we're done with the basics, Rosebud, we need to get you registered. You're a bit of a weird case, but you're not too too special. Just uncommon."

He pauses. "Well, actually, you might be a little more special than that. Just a tad."

You give him a look. Something builds in your throat.

"What the fuck?"

He giggles. "Those are your first words on this plane? I—"

"No, seriously. What. The. Fuck." You sound like a cheese grater but you don't care. "I literally have no idea what's going on. I died, I think, then I watched mankind die too as the Earth turned into dandelions, then you went inside of me and threw some pixie dust to make me come back again, suddenly I'm in a 90s sitcom office and I'm naked which literally no one told me about until everyone else saw me as bare as the day I was born and—"

Edwin pats your hand. "All right, all right, let it out, let it out. I'll explain everything. It's just really long." He rubs the back of his neck. "And we're kinda on a time crunch here."

"A time crunch. When it took us an hour just to get a snack."

"Yes, a time crunch. We have about two more hours to get you registered before you become tied to this plane. Then you'll have to become a reaper, like me, and you don't wanna become a reaper." He bites deeply into his peanut butter and banana sandwich. "Shit's hard."

"I can't even—"

"Mhm." He says through a mouthful of peanut butter. "I'm rellay sorreh you're goineh frough thif. I geh how you feel. Eferyone dehs."

He swallows. "We all started out alive. No one's been here since the beginning. Except for some of the seraphim, I guess. But the rest of us? We just humans the Master Creator decided to gift. You're not alone in this. I went through the same bullshit as you. I get it."

You bow your head down. Your thoughts are too jumbled to feel actual anger. "Thanks, Edwin."

"You honestly deserve better, but no problem." He stands up and wipes his hands on a napkin. "Imma clean up after myself, so you can get a head start. We do only have two hours." He yanks you out of the chair. Still chewing, you watch as Edwin shoves you out the break room.

"Wait—hold up—wh—I don't know where I'm supposed to—"

He grins. "You will! Your senses will guide you."

"What— more vague shi—" and the door slams.

[krakenator]

Chapter 11 aka “Welcome to Chili’s”

SPOILERS are sprinkled around extremely liberally for The Property of Hate

Masterpost here

Oh damn alright that answers my earlier question of “what will cause RGB to make like a cuttlefish”. He can fiddle with his colors at any time, but he’ll fritz and settle on colors after power surges as well

And he DODGES the black button question. Look at that anxious cane fiddling!

White knob handles color, black knob brightness, he’s just shown that the white panel opens to adjust brightness/saturation/color… is the black button just plain off?

“I lose you I leave you” is such a damned lie lmao

Let’s see what kind of Stuff people trade here!

Moments manifest as clocks, har-har

I’m in love with the borzoi vender bc I love borzois they’re such ridiculously ethereal dogs

Don’t like your current eye? Trade it for a better eye!

or you dont care about eyes, just revenge-feelings

Kisses of varying flavors, all shaped like X’s

STOP RIGHT THERE crimincal scum. RGB stole a farewell kiss (HAR HAR). But seriously, does the Market have law enforcement for this kind of thing?

I’m sorry but my shit fandom brain see’s discussion about trading body parts and my mind immediately goes to Skulduggery “lost his original skull when sleeping and replaced it by winning another one in a poker game” Pleasant

Incidentally ALSO a story about a standoffish dapper non-human taking a young girl on Adventures

uh oh

Lmao he ends up dropping his cane in panic

I love the movement in this panel. RGB just scooping her up with one arm

Goodbye New Suit we barely knew ye

RGB’s able to fine tune his pallet extremely specifically for just 3 sliders

This might be my favorite interaction in the entire damn comic

CAREFUL RGB YOUR ATTACHMENT IS SHOWING

I love how RGB decided “you know what i like what that quick camouflage did for my trousers, I’m going to coordinate my upper half to match it”

Interesting visual and sound effect- we saw a character swap out heads earlier without that CRACK. Considering Assok’s had trouble twice now with static cling to RGB’s face, is this an electric spark of sorts?

I like the detail that Watcher only speaks in one word sentences

God but that cane is convenient. What I wouldn’t give to have possessions that are impossible to lose

I love RGB quietly, actually checking in with Assok after accidentally knocking them off Hero’s head

And now for something completely different!

WHOLESOME ASSOK HUG

RGB’s starting to poke her towards her epiphany about the Make Believe

As a someone who spent a long time being a short person that’s such short people talk RGB

Dude I skimmed over Dial’s dialogue this page last time because, really. Look at it. So lets actually read this sucker

Oh shit Dial actually mentions the Elastic Valley way before we get there ourselves

He’s got to what now. TOby is there on a JOB? Someone put him here on PURPOSE? I thought he just ended up there and was so surly to every fucking thing and everyone passing by was like “ok u can stay there rudepants”. What’s he on watch for?? Unless it’s far more punishment than it is useful assignment

Bad puns, go to jail

Oh shit does Watcher have another pair of eyes on his wings? Damn! For a guy with 4 eyes he sure is not very helpful at his job later on!!

Hooo does his boss make Dial nervous. Lookit that stutter and devolution to muttering

When Dial says TOby took his eye off things, is he referring to letting RGB+Hero pass by (how would he stop them)? Is it that the wind blew him over and blocked his vision (THAT IS LITERALLY NOT HIS FAULT)?

And what the hell has TOBy done to defy Hate previously? What does he have opinions that Hate/Dial would have him change his mind about?

See you space cowboy…

And because I can’t make up my mind on what to meme here: “mm whatcha saaay”

A thought on Dial’s design… his head says “ON AIR”. Later we know that Hate can listen in on him. D’you figure he ever makes himself “OFF AIR” other than when he sleeps?

Now this little here combined textbox gives me some thoughts…

I haven’t paid attention to the color of character text beyond Hero’s voice getting eroded by sand, but… boxes can be any color and shape, its not uncommon for characters to have separate fonts, but words themselves? Only ever black and white. Now this could be for the sake of no eyestrain against backgrounds, but... consider the dichotomy TPoH is building up over its story

white in this comic is associated with bad things quite often. Lies, [-----], Hate’s realm. The blinding, scorching, destructive light of the unmasked Sun. meanwhile, darkness hides the Market from danger, and nighttime is tied intrinsically with dreaming. in fact, we JUST had an entire chapter dedicated to framing the Dark as good, protective, and aligned with trees and water, other positive entities

For a minute I got all excited because Dial and the Butterfly both have white text, thinking “oh, my god. do all Hate-aligned characters have white text?” this gets jossed pretty hard by Julienne’s white text, as well as Cell and Tailor.

but while THINKING on that, I jumped back to Storytime in chapter 10 and check this out: the moment RGB starts his story, text is suddenly white. Most of it continues to be in white… except for these two sentences

AND CHECK THIS SHIT OUT: THE TEXT COLOR/SCENERY CHANGE COLOR TO THE FIVE COLORS OF RGB’S SCREEN. HOW DID I MISS THAT??

(flips table) WHAT DOES IT ALL MEEEEEEAN

… y’know, the only character to have a white bubble color for their speech is RGB, who speaks in black

He’s both. He’s NEUTRAL.

Considering my talent for creating OCs but chronic deficiency in building coherent and decisive stories for them, they’re all probably wandering this Market and world right now. at the very least most of them have spent a DAMN long time here before becoming realized (im so sorry guys im trying)

The ones that are complete as themselves but their stories are unstarted/uncertain? That’s like. most of them. whoops. maybe this will be the kick in the pants i need

But on a brighter note: Fosters Home for Unfinished OCs

BUT by the rules of this world, RGB doesn’t have a story… yet this is his story.

Assok’s newest position of travel is adorable and im dying

Y’know… Hero and RGB have very different ways of solving things. A little obvious, but- RGB’s solutions are always convoluted, require multiple steps, and are a little ridiculous. Or, he at least FRAMES them as complex. See: Click escape, train escape, entire scheme to find a Hero to right the world. Hero’s far more straightforward but her solutions are also more, like… sensible than RGB’s if that makes sense. If it was just RGB up on the burning heart his plan would have probably involved more "im very intelligent” and pizzaz, while Hero went for the comparatively simple “lets zipline” (versus RGB’s upcoming Click escape clusterfuck)

All of which to say, I got thinking on that with RGB being like “it’s a very complex topic I can’t possibly boil it down to anything smaller” and Hero describing what the Make Believe acts as in one word

So if this worlds objects come from the sea, the sea is connected to other worlds? And it was confirmed early on that ‘stuff’ and ‘thought’ are basically synonyms- these foreign objects can exist in the Make Believe because they’re infused with enough Stuff!

Hero and presumably all of the other Heroes came from outside the Make Believe… they are not unrealized characters, or they didn’t start out as such. To exist here like this, they must then be imbued with enough Stuff/Thought… if we specify Stuff as equivalent to creative thought… by jove! I’ve hit on (another) theory!

Haven’t all past Heroes been artists? Julienne is a dancer, Melody a musician, Dial works radio, Ticker is a craftsman, and Tailor works with textiles. TOby and Assok don’t have anything obvious, but if I was Hate, I’d turn puppeteers into motionless dolls and empty-voiced sock puppets.

oh yeah, and Click. betcha he was a toymaker

I wonder what kind of artist Hero would grow up to be? She clearly draws, we saw her work taped to her bedroom wall

Of note… RGB is also an artist. It looked like that alternate human-self we glimpse later was involved with TV production, or perhaps script writing.

Tfw your ex walks past and doesn’t even hesitate like wow Magnus be a stone cold bitch like that

also like how his speech tail loops around his neck like a noose upon seeing Maggie

ALSO, that conveniently timed mention of hands when giving examples of what makes Stuff valuable in the Market- the nostalgia and undertones of regret are strong in this one

(watches this character die) oh jesus Christ. (looks at list of decommissioned ocs) ... oops

So this is what it looks like when a character dies… what does it look like when one is realized

do you like puns? want some more quality RGB roasting? like clothes shopping? the next chapter is for you

[fantroll-purgatory]

@tuesdaney

Info!! (rip this got super long). also image uploader within this is being weird so image is coming as a separate submission. or maybe it’s in the post three times and i just can’t see it, in which case i am so sorry

We can fix every formatting problem behind the scenes. Shh, no one even needs to know anything went wrong. 

Alternian, AU since she eventually joins a session.

Age: 7 sweeps

Name: Januss Celera. Januss from Janus, in reference to both the Roman god of time and Janus particles (specifically particles which are half hydrophilic and half hydrophobic). Celera from Acceleration.

Janus is also a god of transitions and duality, so I think it makes sense for this switching-up thing you’ve given her. He is also associated a lot with travel and journey and so forth. It’s ALSO speculated that his name could’ve been derived from the Latin verb ‘to go’, which fits her speed theme. What I’m saying is Januss Celera is a great name.

Strife Specibus: vehicular manslaughterkind i don’t actually know. she’s not really one for combat, which is to say she’ll murder anyone clearly weaker than her no problem but if it looks like anything close to a fair fight she’s going to be a coward and run away. at a loss for something that fits

She has a really rough and tumble vibe. I think for a regular weapon you could give her maybe a tireironkind? Something that’s functionally related to her interests but that she can also grab and wail on someone with if she needs to. 

Or you could reference her excessive need to win by giving her trophykind. If someone beats her in a race, she can just grab the trophy they won and bash them with that. Seems fitting for her personality.

You could give her vehiclekind as a secondary weapon, though! Weaponize those cars, Januss.  

Fetch Modus: also not too sure. I like the idea of a modus where she has to be traveling at least a certain speed to get items out, so at walking pace she could only get out little things but if shes flooring it in some kinda vehicle she can take out whatever she wants

Velocity Modus sounds like a good idea. Gotta speed up to eject things. 

Or you could do like a Time Challenge Modus. When she wants to eject something from the modus, it’s split into ‘components’ that are scattered across an area and she has a time limit to collect them all. If she fails the time challenge, the item gets locked down for a time proportionate to how important the item is. She could use such a particularly annoying modus because she feels confident in her ability to Always Succeed.

Blood Color: ok hoooo boy here’s where we get to the Whole Idea behind Januss and its going to take a second of explaining my personal speculations on troll genetics and biology, so:

There’s a specific part of the troll genome that goes “hey! this troll is a seadweller” which triggers the development of gills and fins in a grub-to-be, and the violet blood. It’s actually present in the genes of every troll, but is only able to switch on in purplebloods, and only in specific circumstances. basically, all violetbloods are technically mutant purplebloods (and fuchsia blooded trolls are like. an even rarer “hyper mutation” of purplebloods but thats not relevant here) uh. I hope that makes sense? I like speculating how blood color works in trolls and seadwellers in particular are weird. Anyway,

Januss is a violetblood, or at least appears to be one when she’s a grub. She has a mutation in the protein responsible for “switching on” the seadweller gene, though, and it basically switches back off after 4 or so sweeps. As a result, her blood color has shifted from violet to purple and her fins and gills are stunted. On the surface she just looks like a violetblood with kinda small fins, on the inside her gills barely work and are getting worse, and she probably has a few other odd symptoms from her body suddenly changing its mind about blood color. (she’ll probably live to some weird age inbetween what’s expected of violet and purple, for example. if no one finds out and culls her.)

I like this explanation of her state a lot. Something like her having an enzyme/growth hormone that has a visible effect on the blood color and results in the development of particular features. And then her body just says Oops and stops producing that hormone and so her blood goes back to the basic state… It’s really interesting. I think it works, especially because there’s some speculation on the bridge between purples and violets anyways, considering the purple association with aquatic mammals. They’re Close to the seadweller without actually Being the seadweller and I think that provides some definitely reasonable room for mutation and weird halfway development. 

All of that is to say- your theory tracks well enough to justify the theme of your character.

Symbol and meaning: Aquaries is what she’s grown up under and goes by, but technically she’d be Capries, which is somewhat reflected in her horns. When she winds up playing Sgrub and eventually stops hiding her mutation, she makes a new (non canon) symbol for herself by taking Aquaries and making it fit the purpleblood sign language. (caus like, I doubt she’d automatically know “oh yes my actual sign is capries” but she does want to reflect her real blood color)

I like that a lot! Figuring out and working things out for herself is great. And not to spoil what we talk about during the land/title/moon section, but I do agree with these assignments. So I’ll be keeping this in mind when working w/ her design!

Trolltag: agileTraverse. caus she’s fast and can do some sick stunts and she knows it

Might I recommend supersonicAstrobatic[SA]? Just to REALLY push her speed theme and at least pay reference to the fact that she wants to race spaceships. Or astrobaticTerminality[AT] if you want to keep the same abbreviation. It keeps the spaceship reference. Terminality pays reference to the god Janus’ theme of End Points, meaning here the Extreme, The Most. Also a good reference to the fact that she’s ruthless and will, in fact, do a kill. She’s a terminal astrobatic.

Quirk: ^she encloses her words like this to resemble her symbol. she types fairly normally, no capitalization unLESS/SHE/GETS/EXCITED/OR/ANGRY/IN/WHICH/CASE/SHES/FAST/AND/LOUD/AND/EVERYONE/KNOWS/IT!!!!!!!!!!!!^

Not sure how she’d change that after changing her symbol, maybe by swapping the ^ for a u.

Honestly I think just keeping it around would be acceptable? It’s the way she’s talked for a lot of years, so you could make the argument that the habit is hard to break and just sticks around. It’s implied that it reflects a real manner of speaking, too, since Sollux’s changes upon blindness. So unless you think she would change some of her vocal mannerisms or would undergo some physical impact (like losing her front teeth, to return to the Sollux example), there’s no Real need to adjust her quirk. 

Special Abilities: nothing beyond standard highblood stuff, and the aforementioned mutation. It’s worth mentioning that she can’t do chucklevoodos though. I figure her seadweller upbringing keeps her distanced from the whole juggalo religion thing, even after she “shows her true colors”, as it were.

Makes sense, since she didn’t fall back into purpleblood until she hit, what, ~8 years old? I think you could probably make a case for her not having psychic abilities but still having just the subtle passive influence of chucklevoodoos. Because I think the implication is that it’s a natural ability meant to Keep Lowbloods In Check that is cultivated by the church for a specific purpose/aesthetic. 

What I’m saying is that you could give her some really weak chaotic auras that make her slightly more naturally intimidating.

Lusus: Sailfishmom! A large sailfish with some froggy qualities, like bug eyes and fins that are more like a tadpole’s tail. Sailfish caus they’re fast and frog caus they start in the water but do land stuff later in life. She has a pretty ok relationship with her lusus, who helped her through the rough patch that was “oh fuck im a mutant”.

Love the idea of this! Really clever. The transition of the tadpole combined with the speed of the sailfish fit her image very well! Do they breathe through their skin?

Personality/interests: Januss is constantly impatient and constantly moving. Part of this is just the way she is, part of it is her anxiety to grow up and leave the planet as soon as possible so she can claim governorship over some backwater colony where no one higher up than her can figure out her secret. her passion is vehicle racing, be it ships or cars or spaceships (well, she wants to race spaceships, anyway. when she’s actually off planet.) She has an enormous garage of assorted vehicles in her hive, which is a gargantuan decommissioned spacefighter carrier, half sunk near a sandbar as the dying wish of the former captain.

Sorry to interject. There’s just something very, very funny to me about the idea of a Carpenter Drone just placing a child in a half-sunken spaceship and being like Good Luck. It’s also a great hive location thematically, so good on ya.

She loves giving custom paintjobs and shady modifications to her rides, the latter giving her a nice edge in the less respectable races she participates in (which is all of them.) Her trophies and her killcount on the tracks are both formidable in number, but out of the drivers seat she tends to be a coward. She has few friends, and barely filled quadrants, managing to escape culling only by pulling some strings with her royal status. This isn’t because she’s antisocial, rather she’s terrified someone will figure out her secret. All of her friends are land dwellers because of this, since hanging out underwater for long would probably drown her.

I like the idea of her giving some really wild paintjobs to her rides. Violets are described as the eccentrics, so her reflecting just a little bit of that seadweller tendency could be fun. The shady modifications are also interesting. Does she purchase them on the black market? Have a supplier? Or does she fiddle with them herself? All of the above could be interesting. 

Like she could start off buying from a shady person and then move into tinkering with them herself, to… mixed results.

I like the idea of her being a coward, too- it makes sense! If there’s a fair fight on the horizon, she runs the risk of bleeding. And running the risk of bleeding is something she’d never want to do. 

I have to point out that she’s not really Currently at risk of being culled for being partnerless. At 7 sweeps, she’d be sitting comfortably at about 15. Though we don’t Really have confirmation of about when the Imperial Drones come knocking, it’s safe to assume it’d be closer to when the trolls are About To Leave Planet, since that’s when they’d be adults. Which  means she’s got a little over one sweep to sort her shit out or run. …Or pull some nobility strings, as you’ve mentioned. 

I feel like it’s worth noting at this point that Janus is heavily associated with Auspices. So giving her a more firm relationship in that regard might be a good idea just to draw the link. 

Despite her cowardice she has a definite ruthless streak even when off the track, it just tends to only be aimed at lowbloods who she’s sure she can take on. While racing she’s even more brutal, and her general cockiness and arrogance combine with this to make her a terrible sport. If you win against her you’re dead as soon as the race is over if she thinks she can take you.

I like this a lot. Especially because it shines a light on a very Purpleblood habit of hers. Purplebloods are said to take their work very seriously (even if their work isn’t often… conventional, by our standards) and to desire to be the Foremost in their field, plus they’re known for being very violent. 

Also I hope her underestimating lowbloods comes back to bite her in the ass.

Title: Something of time, for sure, since the whole theme I’m trying to run with Januss is well, literally running. Trying to get into her adult life and away from what she’s afraid of, trying to always be the fastest on the track, her mutation making her a seadweller for only a limited time, et cetera. I don’t have a concrete plot planned for her but you can bet her need to hurry everything will Absolutely Ruin her life bigtime at some point and she’ll have to dig her way out of that. That being said, I can’t decide what class fits her.

I agree with her time assignation so much. The valuing of action, the refusal of passivity even if it’s reckless, the Very strong struggle against fate, the focus on the destination, her restlessness, her ruthlessness… It all checks out! 

Now on to her class:

Prince of Time, Prince of Time, Prince of Time, Prince of Time-

Sorry, got excited about that one. I just think with her general ruthless nature and her impatience, prince of time is a Very fitting role for her. She’s someone very active and someone who seems very focused on her own goals. And this title suits that, but in the worst possible ways. 

Basically speaking, a Prince of Time is able to destroy time or destroy With time. 

Given her impatience and her desire to progress, I can easily see her just destroying segments of time. Deleting them. Poof. Trying to get to where she wants to be as fast as possible. Of course, this would fragment the universe and cause great harm. Skipping out on major segments and very important events could easily distort the timeline. Since inevitability is tied so strongly with the time aspect, Inevitability Itself could be destroyed, which could severely hurt the Alpha Timeline and splinter things to the point of incomprehensibility. Using her time travel in this way could really damage her life and like the lives of everyone across multiple different versions of reality. 

She could also destroy through time, like making things experience decay and destruction at a further rate, or bringing about their inevitable demise sooner than expected. 

Her inverse, Sylph of Space, would allow her to passively create Space. As she fragments and chews up timelines, more and more Boundless Space is able to exist. Each time she uses this power, she creates another timeline, more theoretical Room in which to operate. Which could lead to some grand ‘working with yourself from another dimension’ fun! 

The development needed for this title comes with this: She would have to undergo some major character development to stop from ruining everything. She would have to learn to reign herself in and get herself under control and learn to appreciate the moment before she Destroyed All. 

Land: Not sure? I like the idea of a water covered planet where she has to figure out how to lower the water level to properly traverse it, and even after figuring it out the water will only recede very slowly, making her wait. Sort of both a lesson in patience and an acceptance of her mutation? idk

I love this idea. The fact that it would seem like a mockery of her condition at first but it would allow her to slowly come to terms with it. And the teaching her to slow down and smell the roses. Maybe she could stumble upon mysteries and treasures, things she absolutely would’ve missed if she’d been able to rush through the planet. 

Dream Planet: Derse for sure.

Wow this is very long. I’ll send over the picture in another submission.

Here’s Januss! Left is living that highblood life, right is in session after she’s become comfortable letting that go. She wears the goggles during her races as her highblood self, and more or less all the time later, since she’s found that when she dosen’t have to keep up an elaborate lie around water, she likes it a lot better.

I’ll be honest there’s not much I had to edit for her. 

LEFT SIDE-

Horns and hair: I kept them the same. But let me tell you spriting that hair wasn’t easy! Very fun, though. 

Fins: I edited them to be slightly smaller than the traditional seadweller fins! 

Eyes: I wanted to make them nicely sharp and with some dark lines to make sure they looked defined and dangerous. I also had to give her some eyelashes because of troll rules. 

Mouth: I loved it so it gets to stick how it was. 

Clothes: I took John’s ectobiologist jacket and edited it so thoroughly I almost considered skipping on mentioning it, but that’d be rude. Either way, I liked most of the detail and really liked how it looks kind of like an admiral’s jacket. I decided to take the jacket and extend it down into the pants, though. For two reasons, really:

1. The original pants color looked too much like purpleblood and I thought it’d be antithetical to her trying to hide her blood condition to wear such a large amount of it on her clothes. 

2. Combining them together reminded me of racecar driver jumpers! 

Shoes: They’re just some pretty simple and straightforward boots.

RIGHT SIDE-

Horns, hair, fins, eyes: See above. 

Goggles: I liked them a lot, so I kept them around. I just took the outline of her shirt and created an overlay with it, and then put a screen for reflective light. 

Mouth: Purpleblood lipstick, like in your original art. 

Symbol: I couldn’t really see the detail of the symbol really well on your original drawing, so I tried to create what I could tell of it as best as I could. It looks a liiittle similar to Capripia, but that’s fine. I think the straight edge ends and the curled wings as well as the rounded diamond set it apart enough and I think it takes enough notes from her Aquaries symbol to be at least recognizable in context! 

Pants: Because she’s a purpleblood I didn’t want to leave her without some neat patterned flourish. So I added a checker pattern to one leg. Mostly because I’ve seen a lot of motorcycle racers with those kinds of patterns on their legs. And it makes her look edgy.

Boots: The same but edited to have more gold and purple. 

Thank you so much for sharing her, I absolutely loved her and loved working on her!

-CD