#Midnight Series Spoilers | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

atherix · 1 year

Note

YOU KNOW WHAT IN ORDER TO COPE WITH THE, FRANKLY, INSANE AMOUNT OF MEDIA CONSUMPTION I HAVE DONE TODAY, HERE I AM IN ALL MY GLORY – MAJOR MIDNIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD.

Having now read both chapters I am going to draw some strings because the PARALLELS BETWEEN GRIAN AT THE START OF CH 8, WHEN HE’S WAKING UP FROM HAVING FALLEN BELOW THE ALLEY, TO GRIAN DYING AND SEEING THE WATCHER-GOD ATTACHED TO HIS SOUL IM GOING TO GO INSANE??????????/ AM I GOING INSANE???????? I MIGHT ALREADY BE THERE. JOURNEY’S END BABY, IM REALLY PASSIONATE ABOUT LITERARY ANALYSIS NOW. But the fact that the Watcher is telling him it isn’t time for him to Awaken yet, and then to see him Awaken in the next chapter, and the fact that Grian has been back and back and back to that place but he’s never Awakened yet AUGH. I wonder if Scar Knows how close Grian came to potentially awakening when they first fell bc. I am going insane thinking about it. The fact that he Awakened through dying – was he actually almost dead and the Watcher-God put him back because it wasn’t his time and he doesn’t even realize because being put back returned some semblance of ‘not being dead’ to his personhood im.

And then the whole thing with Scott and Jimmy??? Okay listen. Listen. I have not a fucking CLUE how to tie them in yet unless Jimmy is a sign that the pantheon has had time to move on and then he became a watcher or something im. W H A T is going on with Scot though I have no fucking clue. No ideas. Surely they aren’t the god Grian just absorbed bc I take it they couldn’t live independently but w h a t.

AND THEN THE FUCKING PARALLELS BETWEEN HOW SCAR IS AND HOW MUMBO IS OH MY GOD. They’re both kneeling over him, they both think he’s fucking gone [Which. I think he was both times, tbh.] Clearly he wasn’t as Dead as he was later on because Scar isn’t nearly as torn up as Mumbo was and Scar strikes me as a man who would fucking Tear The Fuck Up. So. He was a Little Less Dead. 70% dead, is my guess. How Scar and Mumbo have both lost people, they both know the grief of losing someone, they both know the grief of seeing someone die in horrible ways, they they both thought they lost Grian in the same way I am chewing on my hair. THE PARALLELS. THE WAY REDSCAPE IS A REFLECTION OF EACH OTHER HOW AM I MEANT TO BE NORMAL ABOUT THEM IM.

Scar’s staff nooooooooooooooo I love his staff how could you do this to me. Augh.

Also the entire lore with the Watchers bringing the Avians underground to escape enslavement is FASCINATING especially given how Scar keeping pointing out that they went up from the tunnels not down, especially with how that mixes in with the fact that the Ancient City Icaria is Down im. Feeling normal. Feeling incredibly normal. The fact that its so bed even Grian knows not to go Down as shown with his conversation with Mumbo and Tubbo [which uh. You know. Frankly. Its probably a good thing they did hear down, tbh] and if our theory about Grian being Old are true then something happened likely right after the Watchers brought the Avians underground. UNLESS! UNLESS THAT ENTIRE STORY IS A LIE!

Stay with me chat bc I know Atherix isn’t gonna fucking answer this but – hear me out, what if the Avians are the Ancients from the Ancient City of Icaria and the Watchers drew them out in an attempt to stop the apocalypse by trapping the warden because Grian ALSO knows they shouldn’t bring the Sculk up which is seen in the next chapter. I am. Hmmm. Rotating.

Scar’s core continues to drive me nuts oh god this man really thought he was going to die the entire time and was okay with it as long as he got his family to safety even before they reached the ancient city I am feeling things I am going insane. HES COLD???? HES COLD AND HE DOESN’T HAVE HIS STAFF AND IM GOING INSANE

God and the fact that Grian is so sorry for getting them into this mess even though he deserves answers that he still didn’t really get and the fact that Scar and Mumbo reassure him throughout the entire fucking ordeal that there’s no way he could have known only for him to Know about the sculk, to Know they shouldn’t go down, and I wonder how much of what Grian didn’t know was simply repressed by his flight out of the Midnight alley.

I love the description of Mimic magic btw.

And then the whole Magic construct talk??? The wood giving way like glass??? Excuse me what is going on in the Alley my fucking brain is COMPLETELY blank on ideas holy shit.

AND THEN!!! THEN!!! THE SCULKY WATER??? THE WAY IT HURTS SCAR AND MAKES HIM REACT???????/ AND THE FACT THAT IT JUST CAUSES THEM TO BLINDLY FLY INTO THE ANCIENT CITY AND TRIGGER THE WARDEN I AM!!!!!!!!!!!!! AH!!!! EVERYTHING ABOUT THAT WAS ONE GIANT SCARIAN DISASTER!!!!

And then the WARDEN! The way this parallel’s Double Life makes me want to chew on my bones. The fact that Grian is the one that triggers the Warden. The fact that Scar cant do anything because its magic is counteracting with his own. The fact that the warden kills Grian to awaken his godhood. I am. ROTATING AT LIGHT SPEED, ATHERIX.

AND THEN THE NEXT CHAPTER. THE OPENING FIGHT WITH THE WARDEN. ‘They try to fight the warden’ YEAH. YEAH. TRY. MY GOD. MY GOD. You know its bad when you’re giving them multiple curse words a chapter tbh.

ALSO GRIAN MCCRAFT ‘They’re not supposed to be real’ THE WAY HIS KNOWLEDGE MIXES WITH MYTHOS I AM GIVING MORE AND MORE CREDENCE TO THE GRIAN IS OLD THEORY I AM. ROTATING. SPEED OF SOUND.

And the way he does the enchanted book is SO cool. Scar running off on his own to lure the warden ISNT but my god the way you made the enchantment work logically for him while all this is going on. The worldbuilding here is incredible.

WHAT IS GOING ON W THE TIME STUFF HERE. GRIAN THINKS ITS BEEN 5 YEARS. GRIAN KNOWS THE ENCHANTING BOOK IS THIRTY THOUSAND YEARS OLD. SCAR CLEARLY KNOWS SOMETHING FUNKY IS GOING ON TIME WISE. WHAT IS GOING ON

God I love Scar. He’s got his own brand of Chaos gremlin and by god he’s gonna use it [ignore the fact that he absolutely figured he was going to die anyway so he fucking decided to use it as his one shot to keep Grian safe only for Grian to die HORRIFICALLY in front of all of them my god.]

The way Grian can’t hear Scar as he uses his god powers for the first time but clearly has no fucking clue what hes doing and running on instinct and not properly awakened anyway my GOD could you imagine being Scar, standing there, Grian suddenly between you and a harbinger of the apocalypse, shooting it to protect you when you were sacrificing yourself to save him and then he fucking dies in front of you trying to protect you and you watch as he skull cracks open and dgdnklxhdgsf HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO BE NORMAL????????

‘What a sad way to die’ not to get existential but I hope I still have thought after I die because. Idk. The scariest thing about death to me is the ceasing of my entire being. AND GOD THE WAY GRIAN HAS TIME TO JUST. RUMINATE. ON HIS OWN DEATH. ABOUT HIS FAMILY. ABOUT HOW THEY’RE GOING TO DIE AND HE CAN DO NOTHING TO STOP IT. AUGH. And and and the WAY this parallels the scene from the last chapter where he was sort of dead but not really im. IM!!! In that ‘death’, grian was silent. Grian couldn’t feel. There was nothing. And here he can cry out, he can feel his soul and the way he can burn.

And then the Watcher and the fact that Grian cant really take it in and you have to wonder right if it feels anything about Grian killing it – WHICH FOR THE RECORD I don’t think that’s how grian got a watcher soul, I think he’s been a watcher secretly the entire time – or how it feels ABOUT grian being attached to it. If it sees him as a vessel or something more. As the other side of it’s own coin of existence. ‘every shadow and light needs its sun’ and the parallels here with the fae realm’s two suns and moons and scar and mumbo’s magic and his own existence in the midnight alley and then outside and THE LULLABY!!!! AHHHH. AND THE AGONY OF THE TRANSFORMATION BECAUSE ALL TRANSFORMATION IS A PAINFUL THING BUT SOMETIMES WE’RE READY FOR IT AND SOMETIMES WE ARENT AND GRIAN IS FINALLY READY FOR HIS AND asdkfslhfgf as you can see I am feeling normal on this evening.

AND THEN HE FINDS HIS BODY AND HIS FAMILY AND HE SEES MUMBO JUMBO, A VAMPIRE CRADLING HIS SECOND DEAD LOVER’S BLOODIED BODY IM SUPPOSED TO BE NORMAL ABOUT THIS??????? Mumbo sitting there begging and begging and begging for grian to wake up, knowing he never will, the fight in him only not gone because Scar and Tubbo are still in danger. Scar, who’s only will to keep living is that mumbo and tubbo are in danger, no longer carrying about how reckless he’s being, facing down this harbinger of death and destruction who just took his soulmate and ripped him from his arms.

THE FACT THAT THERES A SECOND FUCKING WARDEN BECAUSE THEY’VE MADE SO MUCH NOISE

Mumbo who has lost all self preservation instinct because he cant bury another lover and yet he has to and he cant even get Grian’s body out of the ancient city because theres a warden and they’re all going to die and suddenly Grian is LOOKING at him and gasping and breathing and alive and covered in blood and he kisses Mumbo just to confirm that yes, YES, what you’re seeing is real he’s really alive and then he makes Mumbo LET GO OF HIM because his transformation is still ongoing, still painful, and he cant bear to hurt Mumbo with Holy Power he knows is going to rip out of his body at any second and hes holding it back because itll hurt mumbo and then Mumbo leaves and Grian is just in AGONY ALONE AFTER COMING BACK TO LIFE I AM LIVID HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!!!!!

Dear readers, for the record, ATHERIX DROPPED THIS AND DIDN’T EVEN TELL ME IT WAS LIVE. SHE WAITED FOR MY FUCKING AO3 EMAIL TO CATCH UP LIKE 15/30 MINUTES LATER????????????? EXCUSE ME

Also the fact that they kissed while there was blood on grians lips and mumbo is a vampire is not lost on me and if this wasn’t such a serious scene I would be making wink wonk jokes

GOD THE WAY YOU DESCRIBE THE TRANSFORMATION IS BEAUTIFUL. HOW GRIANS BODY REFORMS ITSELF TO ENCAPSULATE THIS NEW SOUL THAT HAS CORRECTED ITSELF AND MADE HIM WHO HE IS NOW, BROUGHT HIM BACK TO PROTECT HIS MATES I AM FEELING SO FUCKING NORMAL RIGHT NOW. DOES ANYONE ELSE FEEL NORMAL ITS SO DARK INSIDE THIS ROOM

He told them to go and of course they don’t, but they send tubbo away and just. DKFASDF THE FACT THAT THEY STAYS EVEN THOUGH THE WARDENS ARE THERE AND WAITING, BECAUSE THEY KNEW IF THEY DIDN’T GRIAN WOULD TRY TO KILL THE WARDENS FOR HURTING THEM AND LIKELY DIE AGAIN OR SOME SHIT IM SO.

Im so happy they stuck around to pull grian back but also imagine being mumbo and scar and your boyfriend just Ascended to Godhood and you’re having to talk him down from fighting TWO harbingers of the Apocalypse after he just woke up from BEING DEAD when all of them are a fucking W R E C K im. God they such a MESSY polycule god bless em, the braincell is triangulating.

Also imagine being mumbo and shadowwalking a god to safety the fucking EGO BOOST????????/ I WOULD NEVER SHUT UP ABOUT IT TO BE HONEST

“oh thank the gods” tubbo you have no idea.

And then all the stuff where Grian clearly both Knows and Does Not Know things simultaneously I am staring. I am vibrating in my seat.

They way you describe his wings as liquefying back to normal is SO cool I really love that description this is incredible.

W H A T IS GOING ON W MR GOODTIMES ‘I don’t think they found that place grian’’that’s just what time does’ SIR I AM SHAKING YOU. AND HIS DEAD TIRED BANTER W MUMBO.

THE CUDDLE PILE IS WELL DESERVED AND FRANKLY I AM BURYING MYSELF IN MY STUFFED ANIMALS TONIGHT HOW DO YOU DO THIS SO CONSISTENTLY OH MY GOD I AM GNAWS ON MY CAGE BARS. Lol this is 2.2k

WELCOME WELCOME GLORY BE I LOVE TO SEE IT <3

Long post and SPOILERS everyone <3 (There will also be some Depictions of Injury in here so)

I love parallels. I also love bookends and rhyming history <3 Even in the cruelest of ways hehe I LOVE WHEN YOU ANALYSE MY LITERATURE HEHEHE sometimes you get something very right and all I can do is :) It's wonderful hehe- Mmmm all about the context innit. The context? I mean well. You know. All the reasons Why™ <3 Hehe all things I cannot answer on a public platform <3 Hmhmhmmm seems a bit like a Cycle™ perhaps...... you know. :) Time and time again....

These are things that I cannot reveal at all! Because they'll be revealed next chapter :D But look, Jimmy and Scott are my beloveds and I am holding them very gently, especially Jimmy. But you know- Scar told Grian early on that Boatem attracts a lot of magic types... :)

YEAH I'LL GO FERAL OVER IT I love parallels. Twice now Grian has woken up to one of his lovers crying over him because they thought he was dead. [Which at least one of those times I can say with finality he absolutely was :) ] Scar was crying when he thought Grian was dead but lemme tell ya, there is a difference between finding your boyfriend bruised up from a fall and finding your boyfriend with his head cracked open against the stone. Both absolutely terrible mind you but Scar can at least convince himself that Grian was just unconscious, Mumbo (who I will take this time to remind people studied medicine in one of his lives and was a doctor during the Mycelia War) 1000% KNEW Grian was dead even while begging him to wake up hehehehehjfhjhjgfdhjgfdk YOU CANNOT BE NORMAL ABOUT THEM I LOVE THEM SO MUCH I AM. SO. NOT NORMAL I WILL NOT EVEN CLAIM TO BE NORMAL HHJFSDJH

I'm sure Scar losing his staff won't have absolutely terrible ramifications in the future. You know, with his staff being charged with a hell of a lot of his excess magic and all. :)

Hehehehe. I have been WAITING for someone to point how the direction of the tunnels. A bit suspicious, isn't it... that the tunnels Grian's ancestors used to come to the Alley... lead directly to Icaria. Also strange, isn't it... that these "secret tunnels" his ancestors escaped to the Alley through... are connected to giant-ass bridges supported by Ancient Pillars... doesn't feel very "secret" to me, hm, I mean if you were trying to escape your oppressors I don't think you'd mark your tunnels with giant bridges and make them super accessible huh.... huh... Mmmm well who knows :) It could all be a lie. Everything could all be a lie. Hmmmmm-

Yep, you're right, I'm not answering any of that :)

Oh yeah, the moment Scar realizes his Core is short-circuiting he thinks he's absolutely dead lmaoo all that mattered to him was his family is safe I am so. SOFT for him I am-

... Grian will get answers in the next chapter. Just not the answers he was looking for :) Hehehe God, Scar and Mumbo reassuring him that he deserves these answers and no one could have known about this- I am so SOFT for them I just. I love them so much. But Grian definitely knows more than he realizes. I just. He is going to need so many hugs, lemme tell ya.

I created them and Mimics fascinate me. I wish to study them in a jar, and then I remember- I created them. They are already in a jar for me.

:) Hehe. You know, there's a lot of things 'like glass' in this story. Interesting. Wonder what they all have in common huh.

The fact that there is Sculk in the water and it forces Scar's magic to react and waste a lot of his magic, BUT ALSO KNOWING that if he hadn't landed in the water he just would'a fuckin died- mmm double edged swords are so fun haha <3 Also I absolutely think Sculk should be able to taint water just saying. So I have made it happen here. AND YEAH BLINDLY RUNNING INTO THE CITY. So a scary thought for you- the Warden could have easily emerged into the tunnel they were walking through, Grian could even hear it moving around them (bc I like to think the Warden waits beneath the surface and moves through the earth drawn to the shriekers hehe). If there had been a shrieker in the tunnel with enough Sculk around it, they could have ended up in a narrow tunnel with a Warden. BUT INSTEAD THEY CLIMB UP A TUNNEL-SHAFT INTO A WIDE OPEN CAVERN WITHOUT EVEN CHECKING WHAT MIGHT BE IN THE CAVERN. Mind you they would have still gone in because the cavern was notably Warden-free when they first climbed on in BUT THAT'S BESIDE THE POINT. Let me tell you this polycule has one braincell between them and their son has taken possession of it. Like a kid sneaking a quarter outta their parent's wallet hjfdsjkfd

ONCE MORE I LOVE A GOOD PARALLEL AND/OR REFERENCE. How could I resist the tragedy, the drama. Also the guilt later on. Also yes Scar felt SO HELPLESS this chapter- he's spent his entire life relying on magic, and here he is without it- and everything that can go wrong? Does. Like, "this mythological harbinger of death that was in my childhood lullaby that I sang to my own son is real AND IS ABOUT TO KILL US" wrong. AND YEAH. YEAH. I mean, how else does one safely become a god? When you die you remove the soul from the body... so during the merge, there's no body to risk tearing apart too soon :) And now, Scar- now you know why people die when they become gods. It's basically a requirement HJFSJKFSK

TRY being the major keyword there haha <3 AND YEAH. I don't care who you are- I don't give a damn who you are or how much you avoid cursing- faced down with the literal harbinger of the apocalypse that is believed to have felled TWO OF YOUR ANCESTRAL SOCIETIES, who have ENDED THE WORLD and forced generations of survivors to rebuild ONLY TO END IT AGAIN- yeah you're saying "fuck."

:) :) :)

YESSS I have always wondered how, realistically, an enchanted book would work. Lowkey weird you use an anvil for it, you'd think it'd be something a little more fantasy like the table itself is, but that's fine. I'm glad to see people enjoy how I have the enchanted books work hehehe <3 AND THANKS FOR THE WORLDBUILDING COMPLIMENT AAAAA I LOVE WORLD BUILDING <3 Scar running off to face a Warden. Not his brightest move but, honestly, if it gives Grian time to find a way to protect Mumbo and Tubbo.... yeah <3

Thirty thousand years huh :) Scar was a little taken aback by that number :) Hehehe WE WILL FIND OUT NEXT CHAPTER. FINALLY. <3

Scar is a chaos gremlin. We love him for it. He causes problems on purpose. In this case though- uh, yeah. LMAO. Grian and Scar desperately trying to protect and save each other. On the bright side- Scar (and Mumbo and Tubbo) didn't actually see Grian die? :) Though I'm sure they heard it when his body slammed to the ground and his skull cracked but ya know-

Oh gods yeah Grian was running on instinct adrenaline and anger, he would not have come out of this very well if Mumbo and Scar hadn't stayed to wait for him. (I say this as if Grian didn't LITERALLY FUCKING DIE but. Ya know. he got better so) YOU CANNOT BE NORMAL ABOUT THIS. Add to the fact that not only was Scar basically sacrificing himself to give Grian a chance to get away, SCAR ALREADY THINKS HE'S DEAD ANYWAY. Like Scar feels his magic sputtering and wasting itself because he can't regulate what it responds to right now and it's not regenerating, this man thinks he's gonna die any second now. He thinks Grian died trying to save a man who's basically already dead HJFJKSJKS-

My biggest fear about death is everyone around me and the space I'll leave behind which I have projected onto Scar ofc. So <3 I understand hjfdjkkfjd YEAH. YEAHHH GOD just wallow in his guilt. HIS FEAR- his family in danger, dying because of him... just jfhjdkjf. AND YESSS the parallel, I love parallel. I wonder what it means huh, that the first time he couldn't feel while the second time all he could do was cry-

I can comment nothing on the Watcher-soul or what it's thinking or feeling or if it even really feels anything at all :) Look. I was very delighted when I wrote that "Every shadow and every light needs its sun" I am a poetic bitch and also day and night, sun and moon, light and shadow are heavy themes that I have peppered throughout the story so. So yes. Also the irony of "grian" meaning sun, so uh yeah- YEAAHHHHH I didn't want to get too gruesome with the transformation but lemme tell ya it was the worst pain Grian has EVER felt <3 He literally felt his entire being rearrange to make space for everything his awakened soul brings <3 His skin turned to molten glass, even if just for a moment- look I am. FASCINATED by glasswork and how malleable molten glass is when I wanted the Watcher to have a shifting form I thought "oh like molten glass" and I was sold immediately, but god how fucking painful must that be??? hjfdsjkfdsjk IF YOU'RE NOT READY FOR IT YOU CAN'T ENDURE IT but Grian had a reason to endure, he had a purpose, he was gonna ENDURE-

NOPE YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE NORMAL ABOUT IT BECAUSE I ABSOLUTELY DID THAT ON PURPOSE. Mumbo has lost too many people this way hjkgfdjkk I am so. Him just begging because he can't see himself without Grian anymore, I am. He is. So. HJFSJKFJS <3<3<3 AND YEAH my gods the ONLY reason Scar didn't just give up right then is because Tubbo and Mumbo are there, they're ALIVE and Mumbo is with Grian and Scar has to try and fight to protect Mumbo, even if it costs his own life (he may have. Forgotten for a moment that, you know- Mumbo losing BOTH his mates would have. Absolutely destroyed any will he has to live, but. Ya know.) AND he needs to make sure Tubbo gets to safety, make sure Tubbo gets HOME and gets to LIVE and just HJFSKJFS god I can't even imagine being them. The absolute devastation and grief and rage they feel jkfdkkjfd-

THE FACT THAT MORE THAN ONE WARDEN CAN BE SUMMONED IS HORRIFYING IN GAME BUT DELIGHTFUL IN FIC. Honestly if the second one had come any sooner they'd have been even MORE fucked than they were.

GOD YEAH the absolute. The absolute ROLLERCOASTER this man has been through. He's in SHOCK afterwards, he doesn't even know how to comprehend what the fuck has happened today. This man needs therapy now. I mean he already did but especially now. (Also an aside but this moment just highlights how well he WON'T take Scar dying so) AND YES. The reassuring affectionate touches, just to let him know that he's alive and here- and the kiss absolutely had an ulterior purpose but when you awake from the dead in your lover's arms how do you NOT kiss them huh??? AND GOD YEAH, MUMBO who was just holding his lover's BODY in his arms, having to let him go and not even sure if he'll be okay once you leave- AND HEARING HIM START SCREAMING BUT KNOWING YOU CAN'T GO BACK BECAUSE YOU'VE REALIZED WHAT'S HAPPENING I-

I have a delightful habit of updating Midnight and then not telling Stitch, and then ~20 minutes later I get a message like "ATHERIX WHAT THE FUCK" it is absolutely hilarious sorry Stitch <3

Oh yes that was definitely purposeful. Funny that after the kiss Mumbo was able to use his shadows even with the Warden's shadows all around them huh :)

I LOVE ETHEREAL IMAGERY I'M JUST SAYING <3 I also love writing in opposites, I feel like it really captures the confusion of what is going on <3 HHEHEHEE

Of course they wouldn't just go <3 They send their child to safety but they gotta stay, they gotta make sure Grian gets out too!! They know he won't back down on his own, they remember what happened with Blondie. YEAH NEWLY AWAKENED WITH NO IDEA HOW TO USE HIS MAGIC, UP AGAINST CREATURES THAT HAVE ENDED THE WORLD MULTIPLE TIMES? THAT HAVE MILLENNIA UPON MILLENNIA OF EARTH AND SCULK BUILT UP UNDER THE GROUND WITH WHO-KNOWS-HOW-MANY WARDENS JUST WAITING TO BE SUMMONED TO THE SURFACE?? YEAH NO HE WOULDN'T STAND A CHANCE.

They are absolute disasters but they love each other and if they weren't all so Exhausted and Mentally and Emotionally Drained and In Serious Need of Cuddles and Sleep, they would not have hesitated to scold and lecture this newly-awakened god jkfdksjgjkf But also Scar's little "I'm tired. Can't we stop fighting?" Just. LIKE. MIDNIGHT!SCAR DOESN'T ASK FOR THINGS, NOT THINGS HE REALLY WANTS OR NEEDS. He doesn't offer up weakness or vulnerability, yet "I'm tired." He's tired. He doesn't want to fight anymore. He just wants to go home. I'm so hfdjkjkfgd

JKFHSKFSHJK LMAOOO HE PROBABLY DOESN'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT. Not until later anyway when the whole "Grian's a god now" thing sinks in JKFKSLS

If it hadn't been such a serious moment Grian 100% would have said "You're welcome" LMAO

:) Hehehe

I am a SUCKER for liquid imagery. ESPECIALLY if it's viscous or thick liquid, like magma or molten glass. Water is cool too but like. Mmm glass.

HE WILL GIVE US THE ANSWERS IN THE NEXT CHAPTER HEHE. But let's just say Scar, with an outside perspective and knowledge about magic and history, has Put Things Together that Grian has been too close to think about. Oh... it also doesn't help that Grian learned Standard within the last five years :)

ABSOLUTELY THEY DESERVE THE CUDDLE PILE AND FRANKLY SO DO WE. I am so happy I can consistently get you threatening me <3 It's glorious I love it <3 Thank you Stitch~~ Hehehe <3

Your analysis is longer than some of my chapters LMAO

#ask #Midnight Series #Midnight Series Spoilers #like majorly #LONG POST #VERY LONG POST #It is nearly 2 AM for me now #I will answer other asks tomorrow khfjkdskjfd

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quaranmine · 1 year

Text

the here and now

After dying in Limited Life, Joel wakes up in his bed on Empires. Except he isn't alone when he does.

Words: 2312; Joel and Jimmy centric.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

Joel wakes up thrashing, sitting straight up in his bed. It feels like breaking the surface after nearly drowning, lungs burning and filled with a desperation to live. He gasps for air, and finding it available in acceptable quantities, breathes it in greedily.

It’s okay. He’s okay. He’s awake now. He’s awake now? Why is he awake? Where is he?

His skin feels hot and clammy to the touch. His head is fuzzy and heavy. His rest was not restful. He feels like he has a fever that has just broken, or is about to break. Some sweat runs down the side of his face, and it’s warm.

It takes him a moment to get his bearings, but Joel is actually well-accustomed to this feeling. He just isn’t red anymore, that’s all. Joel has been red enough times and for long enough periods of time to be intimately familiar with the feeling. And everybody wakes up like this, in the end. There is always an end, and even when you don’t remember it, there is always a bed to wake up in afterwards.

Being dragged from red and dead back into the world of the living is like being yanked out of a bloody haze and splayed onto the ground. He’s still shaking.

Joel blinks and takes in his surroundings. The room is mostly dim, but there’s a dusky slice of light coming in from partially ajar window shutters. He can see little bits of dust hanging in the air, almost like little sparkles in the golden sunbeam.

He isn’t in the Bad Boys base. He’s not on top of the burned out and flooded mansion, or in his submarine, or alone and exposed on the rocks of spawn. Instead, he’s in a room he recognizes well, surrounded by massive pillars of regally carved quartz. The room is filled with marble and stone with intricate carved detail. It’s massively oversized too–fit for a god, and nothing less.

So. He’s home.

So. That was the end for him, after all.

He exhales slowly, letting his breathing steady out. The extra minute of thinking has graced him with a little more clarity. The desperation and madness he felt upon waking up–the desperation and madness of before, of ticking clocks and red names–is trickling away, slipping through his fingers like sand from an hourglass. He doesn’t feel the blood rushing in his ears anymore. He just feels tired.

Something catches Joel’s attention suddenly, though. He’s not actually alone in this room. There, leaned up against one of the walls and sitting on a marble windowsill is the sheriff himself.

Jimmy is here.

Joel’s first thought is that Jimmy looks small. Well, that’s a given. He is small. He is a small little toy-sized man. Jimmy’s feet are so far off the floor that Joel wonders how he even managed to climb up onto the windowsill in the first place. After all, Stratos is sized for a god.

But the thing about Jimmy is this: his presence is always large. When Jimmy enters a room, he is noticeable. He has bravado, and a healthy dose of unearned swagger, and certainly too much ego, but he nonetheless cannot be ignored. He’ll trip over his own shoelaces and then claim to be the most agile person on the server thirty seconds later, and his easy confidence makes you think he might actually believe that.

Sometimes, though, Jimmy fills a room with better things. He is often loud when he is agitated or indignant, but he is especially so when he is excited. His happy shouts liven up the atmosphere and his laughter fills a room. Jimmy is a presence unto himself, and somehow a magnetizing one. He’s easy to tease and somehow impossible to hate, even at his worst. Joel can never tell him that, though, or he’d be even more insufferable than he already is.

But today Jimmy seems quiet and small.

It looks like he might even be asleep. His head is tilted to the side, resting against the wall. Like he was trying to stay awake but drifted off.

Joel swings his feet around and over the side of the bed, standing up quietly. He takes a step forward, but the room is large, empty, and full of polished stone, so his footsteps are louder than anticipated. Jimmy stirs at the noise, and suddenly sits straight upright. He always did react to the slightest of sounds, even when you thought he was otherwise oblivious.

Jimmy startles upon seeing him. “Joel!” he yelps. “You’re–you’re here.”

“Hello, Sheriff,” Joel says. “Were you actually watching me sleep? That’s so weird.”

“No! I wasn’t watching you sleep!” Jimmy cries indignantly. The energy in his voice peaks at Joel’s jab, and all is familiar for a moment, before Jimmy suddenly gets somber again and his voice swings low once more. “I was…I was watching your bed, actually. You weren’t in it before.”

“That’s not any less weird,” Joel decides, but what he can’t admit is that he gets it. Joel was gone. He was in another server, another plane of existence. He was a different Joel. He wasn’t God Joel of Stratos over there. And then he died for good and when he respawned he woke up on his home server, just like Jimmy did. And…Jimmy knew that would happen.

It’s weird, but it’s no less weird than the way the Bad Boys slept in beds pushed up next to each other out under the stars, or the way they woke up in the mornings accidentally snuggled together.

What comfort did Jimmy take in Joel’s empty bed? Comfort in seeing every minute that he lived longer? What disappointment greeted him when he woke up to see Joel was back so soon?

Jimmy looks concerned and gives Joel a once-over. “Why are you here?” he asks. His voice is earnest, urgently pressing him to answer.

“Why aren’t you in Tumble Town?” Joel asks instead.

“No, you don’t get it, you don’t get what I’m saying,” he pushes, and stands up on the windowsill from his sitting position so he can look Joel in the eyes from across the room. “I’m asking you why you’re here.”

“I get it, Jim,” Joel says softly. “I got it the first time.”

“But you didn’t answer my question,” Jimmy demands. “Why are you here?”

“Why are you here?” Joel says. “Before everyone else?”

“You know why I’m here first,” Jimmy says bitterly. “I’m always here first. It was inescapable. But it wasn’t for you, you were supposed to live longer!”

“It didn’t have to be inescapable,” Joel whispers. “You could have lived.”

“I never live.”

“You could have,” Joel insists, and he crosses the room in a few long steps to look at Jimmy more closely. “I was going to sacrifice myself for you, you know. I was going to give you my time so that you wouldn’t be the first to die. It didn’t have to be like this.”

“But it did,” Jimmy says. He drags his eyes away from Joel’s. “And it was like this. Because it is always like this.”

“I was going to sacrifice myself for you,” Joel repeats, nearly at a whisper. “And you went and died anyway.”

“I didn’t–I didn’t ask you to do that,” Jimmy says.

“It didn’t bother you with Scott or Bdubs. You took their time happily. Why couldn’t it be me?”

“They aren’t the Bad Boys,” Jimmy says. “They aren’t you or Grian.”

“It should have been me because we’re the Bad Boys,” Joel says sharply. “That’s what we do, we look out for each other. I was going to give you time. God, I wish I gave you time. I shouldn’t have waited.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered,” Jimmy says miserably. “You couldn’t have saved me.”

“Ugh!” Joel throws up his hands. “You’re so–you’re so blimmin’ annoying! You’re impossible! Why do you keep acting like you wanted to die? Why do you keep arguing with me?”

“I didn’t want to die!” Jimmy cries. “I never do! But wanting to live isn’t enough in those games. You didn’t need to die instead of me, Joel. There was never a chance of winning if I was there, but I thought that maybe since I had gone…”

“Well, a fat lot of good that did me,” Joel snaps, gestures dramatically, “because as you can see, I’m dead anyway!"

“You were too reckless,” Jimmy says. “You were supposed to live.”

“Reckless? Coming from you?”

Jimmy flinches a little, and clenches and unclenches a fist. “I tried,” he says, words clipped.

“That’s what makes it worse, Jim.” Joel laughs, but it’s strangled. It’s cutting, and it sounds a lot more like the way God Joel of Stratos used to harass the Sheriff of Tumble Town, and not like a friend.

“I don’t need your pity and I didn’t need your time,” Jimmy snaps.

“It wasn’t out of pity, Jimmy,” Joel says. He runs a hand through his hair. “Maybe someone actually cares about ya a little, you know. For once.”

Jimmy doesn’t speak.

Joel shakes his head. “And I know you would have taken my time. Don’t pretend like you wouldn’t have. I know what you felt ‘cause I felt it too before I died. That panic just takes over and…yeah. You would have accepted my bloody time!”

Jimmy looks down. “I thought you and Grian would have lasted longer once you stopped having to worry about me.”

What Joel doesn’t say is that he was never going to have lasted without Jimmy. It was his plan from the start–play recklessly, lose a lot of time, and then donate the rest to Jim, thereby breaking the cycle and making Joel die first. He never planned to live a long time. Live fast and die young, yeah?

And without Jimmy, well–well Joel hardly remembers most of it, in truth. He went a little mad, maybe. He remembers Grian withdrawing a bit. He remembers bloodshed and TNT minecarts and the high adrenaline of battle. He remembers the desperation of the final minutes on the clock, how it felt like he was clawing for scraps that might let him hang on a few moments longer. And he remembers thinking that maybe he could have delayed this fate for Jimmy, just a little longer, if he’d only died earlier.

But for the life of him he doesn’t remember a single thing about his thought processes from then. There’s only Jimmy’s death, and then a haze of actions he can’t quite rationalize. Probably because none of them mattered at all anymore. He should have been dead by then, anyway. He was never supposed to watch any of the Bad Boys die before him.

“Jimmy,” Joel says quietly. “How long did you plan to wait on me?”

“The whole time, I guess,” Jimmy says. “I was hoping it would be a while.”

“That could have been more than a week. You were gonna watch an empty bed for days?”

“The longer the better,” Jimmy mutters. He’s embarrassed now, cheeks flushed pink and eyes averted from Joel’s. “Is Grian–because Empires isn’t his home server, so I can’t just check–”

“Grian was still alive,” Joel confirms. “At least he was when I died.”

He told me not to leave him alone. But Joel had left Grian alone, in spirit at least, from the moment Jimmy died. And Grian had known it, because he had already been making arrangements for a new alliance afterwards.

Joel wanted to feel betrayed about that, but all he felt was emptiness right now. He's so tired. He's too tired to care about it anymore.

“Do you think he has a chance?”

“He had a lot of time,” Joel says. “I think he’ll be fine.”

“He could win it for the Bad Boys,” Jimmy says.

“Since we couldn’t, you mean?”

Jimmy chuckles a little and ducks his head. “Well, I think expecting me to win for the Bad Boys was a little much.”

“Ugh,” Joel says. “I didn’t even want you to win, I just wanted you to not be out first.”

“I’m sorry.”

Joel rolls his eyes. “You’re fine.”

“You didn’t really do much better did you?” Jimmy says. “Like, I seriously thought it would take longer for you to get here.”

“You’re so rude, Timmy,” Joel says. He pauses for a moment to think. The name of the game is inevitability. Jimmy could have received more time, but he still would have died. Joel just wouldn’t have been around to see it. “There’s really no point though, is there?” he says after a moment. “To doing better, I mean. Dying just means we get to leave and come home faster.”

“It never seems like that though,” Jimmy says. “When you’re actually in the game, I mean. It feels like winning is everything.”

“So here’s to not winning, then.”

Joel raises an invisible glass. Jimmy returns the gesture.

“Here’s to not winning.”

Joel turns toward the door, takes one step, and then pivots back around to Jimmy once more. “Actually, uh, do you want to go to the tavern with me, the one in Sanctuary? El Caldero de Colores? We could get a real drink and maybe some food that isn’t bread for once.”

“Hey, what was wrong with bread?” Jimmy says indignantly. “Joel, get back here. Tell me what’s wrong with bread!”

Joel’s already halfway out the door, but he calls back over his shoulder. “Are you coming, or do you need help getting off that windowsill? Unfortunately, Stratos doesn’t make step stools, but I’m sure I could find something that works.”

“I hate you,” Jimmy calls back.

“We’re not in our hater arc anymore Jim, can’t you read the sign I made for Tumble Town? Or do your schools not teach reading out there?”

“Yeah, whatever,” Jimmy grumbles. “We’re best buds.”

#smallishbeans #jimmy solidarity #limited life smp #lilsmp #trafficblr #empires smp #empires s2 #limited life #solidaritygaming #quara fanfic #traffic series #this came to me at like midnight last night and now i present it to you 24 hours later at midnight once again:#limited life spoilers

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ender1821 · 6 months

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…something about how the lonely witch once up in her tower, shunned by all, is now accompanied by almost everyone in her home

c!Pearl finally got what she would’ve wanted back in Double Life

#pearlescentmoon #i have. so many thoughts just for the character progression of Pearl in the life series after session 2 #something something she’s finally left her tower :)#i must be able to articulate all these thoughts better but its almost midnight and my brain is not functioning #life series spoilers #traffic smp spoilers #secret life spoilers #trafficblr #mcyt

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oddishblossom · 1 year

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MIDNIGHT MASS

Riley Flynn & Death

#midnightmassedit #midnight mass #riley flynn #thehauntingsource #mikeflanaganuniverse #netflixedit #horroredit #midnight mass spoilers #my gifs!#mike flanagan #flashing tw #death tw #i almost added charred riley to this set #but i decided not to :)#maybe i’ll do one more set from this series and then work on hill house sets

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riptidelover · 4 months

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Taylor Swift made Labyrinth specifically about percabeth right???? Like there’s actually no chance she didn’t RIGHT???

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rel312 · 9 months

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I HAD NO IDEA SEASON 2 CAME OUT ALREADY SO NOW IM GOING TO SCREAM ABOUT IT

Episode 1:

CROWLEY WANTED TO TAKE AZIRAPHALE BACK TO THE PLACE THEY FIRST MET

CROWLEY PROTECTED AZIRAPHALE FIRST IM SCREAMING

(My brother actually came into my room to tell me to shut up)

Of course Aziraphale would just forgive 8 months rent

Lmao Gabriel’s just walking down the street ass naked

Gabriel just hugged Aziraphale I can’t

“James. Long for Jim, short for Gabriel”

Crowley knows Aziraphale so well, but poor guy he only calls him for 3 reasons

Poor Crowley is trying so hard not to freak out about the “naked man friend”

The conversation between Crowley and Jim I can’t

Maggie and Nina are trapped together!!

Michael and Uriel are fighting let’s gooo

Crowley just casually let the girls out lmao

THERES AN I WAS WRONG DANCE OH MY GOD

THEYRE PERFORMING A MIRACLE TOGETHER

Aaaaaand of course it goes immediately wrong

Episode 2:

Gabriel’s wig is atrocious

IS AZIRAPHALE GOING TO BE THE SUPREME ARCHANGEL NOW

A jukebox that turns every song into Everyday like the Bentley with Queen, hmmm….

Crowley looks like a doting partner bringing his husband a drink

“Get humans wet and staring into each other’s eyes, vavoom, sorted” sir… are you telling me that’s what did it for you???

Crowley’s so confounded that Jane Austen wrote books

THE VOICE OF GOD???

HE TURNED ALL THE GOATS INTO BIRDS

Crowley scaring the kids cause they were brats but not actually killing them aww

The little girl asking to be a blue lizard with her siblings she’s so cute

CROWLEY TAUGHT AZIRAPHALE TO EAT

I cannot believe Aziraphale was the first to talk about sides I love them

Crowley and Aziraphale working together for the first time to save the kids

Aziraphale looks so shaken to have lied poor baby

Crowley babe he’s begging for you to drive him

“Our car” you can’t take it that far lol

Poor Aziraphale really thought he was gonna fall he was about to cry

Crowley was so soft in that last scene

Episode 3:

Jim’s stuff is all labeled

Aziraphale looks like a proud father to Muriel

Crowley’s moving the plants to use the car

They both look like parents I love them

Crowley brought Aziraphale to a cemetery because he thought it would amuse him, that is date behavior

Crowley is about to kill Aziraphale for changing his car

NESSIE?!?!

“Operation: Lovebirds” Crowley is such a dork

Aziraphale just is not getting anything lol

Crowley… shrunk himself??? And then grew himself????

Crowley tempted her to be good I love him

I love the very closed sign

Demons can’t enter somewhere uninvited???

He’s so angry Aziraphale might be hurt

Episode 4:

BEEBOP

“His type”????

“I remember hearing that you and Crowley were an item” HOLY SHIT

HE CALLED CROWLEY HIS GOOD FRIEND AFTER THE CHURCH!!!

“This office has gone 13 5 0 days without anyone saying ‘THE ROAD TO HELL IS PAVED’”

Glad to see Aziraphale in his magic era

Crowley’s impression is hilarious

“Someone you can really trust” and his first thought is Crowley 🥹

Aziraphale has a gun and Crowley has never shot one

Crowley was shaking he was so scared and Aziraphale was so proud of his trick

Furfur not knowing how to pronounce Aziraphale lmao

Sleight of hand!

Look at them finding a middle ground in shades of grey!

Lmao Crowley would murder him if he knew Aziraphale didn’t put the brakes

Episode 5:

They’re talking about Doctor Who

Aziraphale’s giving books and Crowley’s playing with crystal balls, I love them

Aziraphale being bad at French is so funny to me

Nina grilling Crowley on his relationship with Aziraphale is everything

Crowley was confronted with his feelings and immediately went out to get a drink with Aziraphale

Crowley’s so mad go off king

The matchbox!

Aww look at Crowley denying he’s nice

The romantic music while Crowley looks at Aziraphale with the chandelier

Oh. My. GOD. Jim’s suit!

Lol that’s not what I was expecting when they said masks will be provided

AZIRAPHALE WANTS TO DANCE WITH CROWLEY

THEYRE DANCING!!!!!!

“Surrender the angle”

Gabriel’s coat!!

“T. O. S. T. E.”

“You’re a good lad” “not actually, either”

“Rescuing me makes him so happy” you can’t just say things like that and expect me to be normal about it

Episode 6:

Crowley’s just bouncing around in heaven

“I’m done with being scared” *flips them the bird*

Oh sweetie, you meant well but no

“Crowley’s emotional support angel” yes, yes that’s exactly what he is

Crowley’s little supportive punch to Muriel was so cute

AZIRAPHALES HALO?!?!

THE FLY

Gabriel x Beelzebub confirmed??

The fact that Gabriel and Beelzebub were able to sort this out in a few years while it’s taken Crowley and Aziraphale 6000 is insane

And the fact that Aziraphale grabbed Crowley’s arm when he realized that

Crowley’s so impressed with Aziraphale bringing everyone to order

Aziraphale’s face at Crowley talking about Alpha Centauri

Aziraphale looking at Crowley with so much love in his eyes is giving me life

THE METATRON?!?!

Aziraphale looking to Crowley for permission I can’t

Crowley knowing Aziraphale will come back and saying they need “a little us time” at the Ritz

Crowley getting antsy that Aziraphale’s not back yet

Nina taking inspiration from Crowley and calling Maggie angel my beloved

Crowley looks devastated that Aziraphale interrupted him

Aziraphale looks so incredibly happy at getting Crowley to be an angel again but there’s no way Crowley wants that

Crowley’s getting so emotional

“Just be an us” stooooopppppp

“I need you” I can’t take this!

Nightingales

THEY KISSED!!!!!!!!!

Aziraphale touched his lips after I’m dying

Aziraphale stop being so stupid and get him back

The- the second coming??

YOU CANNOT END IT HERE

SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP

Please tell me there will be a season 3 I can’t handle this

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