#Nocturne can probably fix her

[linka-from-captain-planet]

Sometimes, she fears the others will grow jealous, that I see her as a favourite—

Well, it’s true. I do.

#bg3 spoilers #I am once again thinking about Dark Justiciar!Shadowheart and Nocturne #but now there’s CANON baby!! #objectively bad but sexy outcomes are like catnip to me sorry #Nocturne can probably fix her #bg3 fanart #bg3 nocturne #shadowheart #shadowheart/nocturne

[prying-pandora666]

On Alucard and Maria

Are there actually fans advocating for Alucard to be written as Maria’s father figure in the new season of Nocturne? Like that would be a good thing and not infinitely creepier? I don’t think they’ve thought this through.

Alucard is the single most popular character in the franchise. He’s also probably the most shipped character. And yet he has only had one canon love interest in the decades since he’s existed. It’s Maria. And you’re telling me that you think that because he’s 300+ and she’s 17-18 when they started living together in the games, that it would be grooming. However, somehow him inserting himself into her life at age 16 when she’s just lost both her parents wouldn’t come off like grooming!?

Does this man look like he should be picking up random children!? He’s literally terrified of his own cursed blood. Maybe LISTEN TO HIM.

I’m convinced fandoms have forgotten what that word means. Grooming has specific features. It doesn’t just mean “older guy and younger girl.” A relationship with an age gap or an uneven power dynamic can be exploitative or abusive without being a case of grooming. Grooming specifically refers to the process of forming a relationship with a child with the intention of leveraging that relationship and trust to train and prepare (aka brainwash) your victim for the harmful activities the groomer wants to normalize. The relationship Alucard and Maria have in the games is in no way grooming. You know what would be grooming though?

Coming into a 16 year old’s life when she’s vulnerable, traumatized, and recently orphaned only to insinuate yourself as a new father figure. This is so highly inappropriate and a huge red flag. Consider what you’re actually asking for here. These characters do not exist in a a vacuum. They have a long history together as each other’s only canon love interests. You cannot fully extract them from the games, art, interviews, audio dramas, animations, and more where they’re depicted as a couple. There are decades of this precedent and you are asking Netflix to knowingly take the characters with an established romantic dynamic that the audience is already primed to see as romantic and instead portray their meeting as him trying to be her new daddy?

“Oh look! Alucard and his… daughter? Yikes.” This is an official advertisement btw.

THAT is grooming! Think about the optics of this! It would be abysmal! No it would NOT fix the problem of their age gap to make him act like a groomer and get in good with her as a dad. You just cannot completely extract them from the legacy of their relationship in the source materials. It will be incredibly creepy and textbook grooming if you get your way.

Is this really what you want to associate with an “adoptive father Alucard”? Because the art we create doesn’t exist in a vacuum. All the old content—official and fanmade—is still going to exist.

What is so objectionable about the original dynamic anyway? It’s a pretty fun subversion of the tired and problematic vampire trope of “vampire man stalks teen girl and coerces her into being his”. Instead in their original relationship, Maria is the one who pursues Alucard! It’s the young woman who takes initiative and is given the agency to go after what she wants. She courts and woos him. That’s part of the fun!

Yes, Alucard is 300+. He’s also a fictional creature that doesn’t actually exist IRL and stays eternally young. There are no actual people who will ever have his problem of staying 20 forever so it’s rather silly to say he can’t date any humans because of course he will have an age gap with any of them.

The only real problem I have seen people bring up is Maria’s age, but from what I can tell, the show’s already fixed this. Check it out.

In The Games

Rondo of Blood: Maria is 12. She and Alucard do not meet. Richter is a brother-figure and not romantic.

There is then a 5 year time skip.

Symphony of the Night: Maria is 17. She and Alucard meet to save Richter. At the end, Alucard says his goodbyes and intends to return to a life of solitude. Maria goes after him because she has developed feelings for him and doesn’t want him to suffer a life alone.

Maria is given agency to pursue what she wants and prove herself even against Alucard’s resistance and hesitance to let another person into his life.

They spend a year together before we get the audio drama.

Nocturne of Remembrance: Maria continues to try to get close to Alucard. They end up saving each other’s lives and in the end he finally confesses his romantic feelings for her. She is an adult and perfectly able to make her own choices. She chose him. He admits he returns her feelings.

How fandom can look at a story about a young woman subverting the trope and chasing the vampire to get what she wants—basically an anti-Bella Swan—and still find a way to disempower her just so they can pearl clutch? I couldn’t tell you.

So now let’s look at what the show did.

In The Show

Nocturne S1: Maria is 16. She’s been aged up from 12, probably to give her a more active and believable role. But this also means she’s within a normal age to start feeling attraction and expressing her wants. Within her society, she’s even considered of marriageable age. However we are spared the discomfort of our modern values clashing with her contemporaneous ones because Maria in this season isn’t interested in romance. She’s interested in revolution, equality, justice. They’ve portrayed her with so much love and strength. There is no indication they’d betray her by writing her as the child victim of a male suitor. In fact she only meets Alucard in the final few seconds of the season and the two do not even speak a single word to one another.

Now let’s remember the games had a five year time skip. The show only needs two years to get Maria to the adult age of 18, but assuming the follow through with the timeline and go for the full five?

Maria will be 21.

21.

Fan concept for adult Maria. Credit:@esp-art

Are you telling me a 21 year old woman is not old or mature enough to make her own decisions? How is this not a total infantilization of women? Do you think a 21 year old badass vampire hunter needs protection from the ace depressed dhampir boy who just wants to sleep and has in no way tried to pursue her until after she expressed consistent and persistent interest in him?

It is not “grooming” to meet someone when they were younger and then meet them again years later as an adult. That’s a thing that happens! In real life! Adults can still make decisions for themselves! It is only grooming if Alucard behaved in a way that would manipulate teen Maria and put her under his control and authority before she can consent. There is no indication that Alucard in the show is going to do this. And yet the fandom is basically demanding it by saying he should make her “his baby girl”?

And what of Maria’s feelings in all this? She just lost her mother and was betrayed by her father shortly after discovering he even existed. She has lived her whole life without a father. She is in no desperate need of a new one. And if she does need a family member, she already has one! Richter is 19 and is her trusted adoptive brother. Why wouldn’t she go to him over a total stranger she just met and who is half vampire - literally a predator creature that feeds on humans!?

Yeah, hi, Richter Belmont still exists. He and Maria consider each other family. Why would you want her relying on a strange man she just met as a “father figure” rather than her trusted and loving brother?

Have none of you even considered how Maria would feel if Alucard even tried to fill the paternal role? He’d have to force it on her through manipulation and coercion. No way she would want to view him that way. Especially considering she is 16 and likely to be as attracted to the sparkly 20 year old looking sculpted marble beauty as anyone else!

Don’t mind the beautiful eternally young man who looks made of pure porcelain and light. No teen girl has ever been attracted to this, right? No way it could be exploitative and creepy for him to present himself as her new daddy, giving himself authority and influence over her as his child to mold as he wishes, right? Oh yeah, this is MUCH better than Maria pursuing him of her own volition once she becomes an adult, right guys?

We are truly in the stupidest dark timeline.

Frankly, I don’t care if Netflix has them get together or not. They would work just fine as friends too. I just sure as hell hope they’ll ignore the fans clamoring for a creepy daddy/daughter dynamic. Dressing it up as “concern” won’t hide that for some it’s a fetish, and for others they’re just useful idiots who haven’t thought it through.

I implore you to think it through.

#castlevania #castlevania netflix #castlevania nocturne #alucard #maria renard

[vexing-imogen]

nocturne

Elsie sees to him last, at his insistence. Rajan has never been overly fond of doctors (with one notable exception), and whatever she had done in the tunnels below Greyslate has kept him from death's door for now.

"I'll be back," she says, once he's settled on the sofa, assurance and threat in one. He won't be weaseling his way out of this one.

He regards the crumbling ruin of his torso and thinks that is probably for the best.

Rajan settles in to wait for Elsie to return, knowing it may take a while, given the extent of Cosmo's injuries alone. He closes his eyes, tilts his head back, relaxes into the cushions of the sofa, and...does not sleep. It is not the pain in his chest that keeps him awake, rather the yawning ache of emptiness. Stillness and quiet where there is usually a low drone of activity.

It reminds him far too much of their his house that sits abandoned in Briar Green. The only difference being that he knows the swarm will eventually return.

Soft footsteps draw him out of thoughts that are spiraling into maudlin. "Raj?"

He cracks an eye open, takes a moment to focus through the kaleidoscoping fractals. Elsie stands in the doorway, her black bag in one hand, still covered in dirt and blood, her hair falling from its pins. Beautiful.

"Elsie." He gives her a half smile, sitting up straighter, wincing as the movement pulls, close to tearing.

She brings a stool over to sit in front of him, sets her bag on the sofa beside him. "How are you feeling?" she asks, tracing cool fingers over the scars above his eye. He leans into the touch for just a moment.

"I've been worse," he tells her. That gets him a raised eyebrow and an annoyed twist of her lips.

"Right, of course." He can see the muscle working in her jaw as she turns away from him. Her hands clench and unclench in her lap. "You promised that you wouldn't make this difficult."

He hadn't really, not in so many words, and certainly not with any degree of sincerity at the time. But he knows when to swallow his pride, and so he takes one of her hands in his, strokes his thumb gently over her knuckles, his touch lingering on the indent where a ring used to sit.

"What do you need from me, darling?"

Elsie turns back to him with a sigh, pulling her hand back. She steels herself before pulling open the tattered remains of his shirt and jacket, exposing the gaping wound on his chest.

"Tell me how I can help you," she pleads. "How do I-" Her hands flutter nervously for a second. "Is there anything I can do to fix...this?"

Whatever Rajan may have been expecting, nothing could have possibly prepared him for Elsie reaching her hand into his chest and stroking along the torn edges of the hive. All of the breath leaves his lungs on a gasp, and something hot races down his spine. He meets Elsie's wide eyes, and realizes belatedly that his hand is clamped, vice-like, around her wrist.

"I'll take that as a 'no'," she says breathlessly, withdrawing her hand.

"The swarm will return," he says after a moment, his extremities still tingling, "and they will take care of...internal repairs." And expansion, but she needn't worry about that. "The most you can do for me is close the wound."

"Okay." She nods, reaching for her bag, all business. "Lie back."

She works in silence for several minutes, cleaning the edges of torn skin, numbing the area as best she can, and starting to stitch him up. The sensation is uncomfortable, but never painful. He allows himself to relax into it; her hands delicate and precise, her gaze intent.

"I-I didn't realize-" She starts and stops tentatively. "How long has this been a part of you?"

He doesn't answer right away. "Since the night I lost my sister."

"Raj," she breathes. He has to look away from the pity in her eyes. "Why did you never tell me?"

He hums. "I suspect for the same reason you never told me about your illness," he says. She freezes, and he reaches up to tuck an errant curl behind her ear. "It was my burden to bear, Little Bird."

She is nearly finished before she speaks again, working on the last few stitches. "I never wanted to hurt you, Raj," she whispers, loose strands of her hair tickling his bare chest.

"Nor I, you," he says. "And, yet, here we are."

"Where do we go from here?" she asks, once he is stitched and bandaged, his shirt mostly back in place.

Rajan sighs. "To sleep, Elsie."

"Be serious."

"I am," he insists. "It's been a long day, we're both exhausted. Anything else can be left for the morning."

He watches her shoulders slump, the stubborn set of her jaw relax. "Fine." She finds a blanket for him and turns off the lamps. Then he watches as she frees the rest of her hair from the pins, removes her shoes, and curls up like a cat on the opposite side of the sofa.

"What are you doing?" he asks, incredulous.

Elsie huffs. "All of the guest rooms are occupied," she says, adding in a softer voice, "and I don't have the energy to climb the stairs to my room tonight."

He hums, can feel sleep finally coming to claim him. "Sleep well, Elsie," he murmurs, running his thumb over her ankle; once, twice. "May your dreams be free from shadows."

She pokes him in the hip with her toe. "And may the morning come swiftly."

***

Rajan wakes just a few hours later, as the sky is starting to lighten in the pre-dawn. There is a warm weight pressed against his side, and he finds that he and Elsie have migrated towards each other in the night. Her head is on his shoulder, her arm flung across his waist, and he barely has to move his head to be able to smell the traces of jasmine and honey on her skin.

She mumbles something unintelligible and snuggles closer. He inhales deep, catching the underlying scent of petrichor and bleed, closes his eyes again, allowing them both a moment of comfort before they have to face a new day and whatever lies ahead.

#critical role #candela obscura #circle of tide and bone #rajan savarimuthu #elsie roberts #rajan/elsie #beauty and the bees #critfic #cw: body horror

[alpaca-clouds]

Multiamory Month

I posted yesterday about considering to participate in @polyamships' Multiamory Months with BG3 ships. And after going about my ships in the Polyam-Shippings Discord Server, I thought I could post them here, too.

Also, @missmacfire was like: "Oh, there are so many good triads." But here is the thing: I rarely do triads. And instead tend to end up with bigger polycules. Right now this looks like this.

So, my one polycule is this one.

(Halsin?) x Kantei x Tav x Astarion x Themberchaud

See, here is the thing. Like, obviously I shipped Astarion and Tav from playing the game. But my Tav has a lot of OC friends, because his thing is that he has friends. (Look, he is kinda a Shonen protagonist. He meets a random person and they gonna be best friends.) And hence I invented also Kantei as part of his found family. She is Tav's ex-girlfriend and still best friend. You can read more about her in A Scandal in Neverwinter. But writing her and Tav it became clear fairly quickly that those two very much still have feelings for each other.

On the other side we have the entire thing that is gonna sound like a fucking random crack ship. But, um, yeah, I am also shipping Astarion with Themberchaud. Something that is very much random, I know. But I swear, that ship actually makes a lot of sense.

And... I also know that Kantei absolutely is at some point gonna start courting Halsin. Because she is gonna see him and is gonna be: "OMG, big elf! Hot!"

Oh, and Kantei and Astarion have a very cute Queer-Platonic relationship. (They love to annoy the living hell out of each other.)

The other polyship I am gonna use for the challenge is this one:

Wyll x Karlach x Shadowheart x Lae'zel x Nocturne

I feel like I do not need to explain this one as much. Wyll and Karlach are fairly obvious from the game itself, as are Karlach and Shadowheart. I mean, if you have those three in your party at once they banter so much. I actually do believe that they are the trio with the most banter out of all characters.

Putting Lae'zel in with Karlach and Shadowheart is also fairly popular, though I for now have Lae'zel in the phase of figuring herself and her sexuality out still, after having grown up in a cult and only slowly going through what amounts to deprogramming. Hence she is fooling around but not quite comfortable to attach herself romantically.

While I have Wyll, Karlach and Shadowheart out adventuring together (in my headcanon Karlach is fixed, because fuck canon in that regard), with Lae'zel travelling along from time to time, but also venturing out on her own.

And... again, Nocturne and Shadowheart is... I mean, it is pretty much there.

I am quite honest with you. There is a good chance that both polycules will at some point attach to each other in some way at some point. Probably over Tav and/or Kantei.

And, look, I know how it is with real life polycules. You just... collect people. xD

#polyamory #poly shipping #baldurs gate 3 #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #multiamory march #ot5 #astarion #wyll ravengard #karlach #shadowheart #bg3 nocturne #lae'zel #themberchaud #halsin #my tav #ocs

[kuzann]

I finally got the next chapter out! orz This took way too long and I'm so glad I can finally post it. Total word count of 14.7k.

Chapter 9: Fighting Spirit

Kara returns and challenges the protectors of Amity Park to a tournament. Chapter-Specific Triggers: Trauma flashback, Past medical abuse Relevant Characters: Danny, Valerie, Sam, Tucker, Vlad, Jack, Maddie, Jazz, Kara(OC), The Box Ghost, Wulf, Clockwork

Excerpt:

A familiar figure approached as Vlad reached the drinking hall.

“So, did you invite this one, Plasmius?” Danny asked, arms folded over his chest as he glared at Vlad.

“She’s an uninvited guest, which appears to be the norm of late,” Vlad replied, fixing Danny with a glare of his own. “I was about to speak with her and see if this can be settled quietly. Don’t get in my way.”

“Fine,” Danny said with a roll of his eyes.

The door to the main entrance was open when Vlad found it. He entered with Danny on his tail and flew above an enormous arena with tiers of tables set around it. At the far end of the hall was the largest seat of all, a throne of dark intricately-carved wood, and upon it sat Kara the Spirit of Battle. She was every bit as imposing as the pictures had been, muscular and with a proud aquiline nose.

Kara spotted them immediately. Her eyes were dusky-gold like the hunter’s moon with black sclera, and her irises had flashed briefly in the torchlight as if they were metallic. “The tournament does not start for at least an hour,” she said, in a voice befitting her strong physique. “So, why have you come here?”

“I’m here to see if we could work out a deal of some sort,” Vlad said as he came to a stop before her throne. “My citizens don’t appreciate being scared like this.”

“As if you actually care,” Danny said behind him.

“You are the leader of this community?” Kara asked, raising an eyebrow. “A ghost leading a human settlement? How strange.”

“Half-ghost,” Vlad corrected her. “They know me as a human.”

“Interesting,” Kara said, watching him keenly. “You needn’t worry about your citizens. Those in my care are safe, and those outside will enjoy the tournament from wherever they please.” She looked to Danny. “And why are you here, child?”

“I’m worried about the hostages,” Danny replied.

“Guests,” Kara corrected him.

“And I wanted to ask why you’re doing this,” Danny added.

“To measure the strength of this location’s protectors,” Kara replied. “You need only participate, then I will allow my guests to return home.”

“You should probably disqualify Vlad then,” Danny quipped as he jerked a thumb at Vlad. “He kind of endangers the city more than protecting it.”

“We beat Nocturne together, you brat!” Vlad snapped as he turned to Danny.

“And that’s against how many other times where you brought the problem here yourself?” Danny asked. “Undergrowth counts, by the way.”

“I didn’t even know he existed before he showed up!” Vlad snapped.

“You were still the reason he showed up at all!” Danny replied.

Kara watched the exchange with amusement. “So the leader of this place is also its greatest menace?” she asked.

“He is.”

“I am not!”

“So, menace—”

“I am not a menace!” Vlad cried as he turned to Kara again.

“—what did you intend to offer me that would be worth putting a stop to my tournament?”

Vlad paused to consider his options. He’d been ready to give her just about anything to avoid having to fight Maddie, but Kara didn’t seem like the sort who was interested in artifacts or favors. If she was only here to measure the strength of Amity Park’s protectors, however...

“I can prove that I’m strong enough to protect the city by myself,” Vlad said.

Danny burst into laughter behind him.

“Oh? All by yourself?” Kara asked, raising an eyebrow. “I will require you to back that up.”

“Gladly.”

Danny stopped laughing. “Uh, Vlad.”

“Very well. If you wish to prove yourself as the sole protector of this place then step into the arena.”

“This isn’t a good idea, Vlad!”

“Hush, Daniel. I told you not to get in my way, now watch and learn.” Vlad backed away from Kara’s throne and touched down in the arena, discreetly turning on the lightning-redirection device clipped to his belt.

Kara stood.

And was suddenly within melee range. A wave of wind flowed in front of her, pushed along by her sheer speed.

Vlad instinctively brought up a shield.

Kara’s leg made contact, her movements almost too fast for Vlad to properly follow.

The shield broke as he was thrown back and away, sparing him the worst of the kick.

His back made contact with the far end of the arena. The crash—or rather the tremendous noise that accompanied it—made his ears ring. Broken planks from the shattered wall rained down on him as he got to his knees. He’d been expecting lightning. He hadn’t been expecting raw speed.

Vlad’s body was a mass of pain as he got to his feet. Lightning-fast. Had the lightning depictions been metaphors for her incredible speed, then? Or could she do both?

Kara was upon him again, fist raised as she loomed over him.

#Danny Phantom #Danny Fenton #Vlad Masters #Vlad Plasmius #Jack Fenton #Maddie Fenton #Valerie Gray #Jazz Fenton #Sam Manson #Tucker Foley #Kara the Spirit of Battle(OC) #Danny Phantom Paradigm Shift AU #Kuzannfic

[tuzesdays]

Sorry I haven't really scanned your blog, so I'm guessing you've probably gotten asks like this a lot. But be patient with me while I ramble, 'Kay?

I found your artwork for the comic where YN turns off the lights so Moon could go after a rule breaker. It's hilarious, I love all of it and it's such a mood! I don't have kids or deal with kids, but just that comic makes so much sense! I love it, I think about it a couple times. I had to find out just the this evening just to get my fix of laughter from it... But I never realized the link till today!

Your writing for "Daycare Go Figure" is.. mine is drawing a blank on intellectual words I could give you, but to the term of the emoji chef's kiss 👌❤️ It is an absolute delight I have laughed so much in the first three chapters. It's, jokingly, almost sickeningly sweet but I adore all of it! It syncs so well with me:

• To be appalled at the lack of care that the daycare attendance have dealt with on their own.

• Wanting to bring them books or craft supplies, Just to make things easier or better for the daycare and the children. (I have a plethora of old kids books and crafting is a delight, So seeing YN bring those things in, was an absolute treat.)

• Clean the boys, yes! Because stars above with just about any daycare attendant story I've crossed, I always wonder how clean they are. I mean, Those bois are always surrounded by children who could get their hands sticky by just ✨existing ✨ Heck, babies are born with a grip, so it's not a surprise! But the care is still warranted and appreciated.

I can relate fearing getting too attached, and then inevitably in a short amount of time getting attached! It's just- you made YN so.. human. The amount of empathy I feel in relating to this human is astounding. Most of the creators who I've read daycare, attendance stories for do such a good job with all their YNs. Their wyoms could be cocky, nervous, doubting their own abilities. I may have only just finished chapter 3, but I relate to yours so strongly... Doesn't give a feeling of reassurance, but it's just some sort of... (Error: Failing to find the right words) It's a genuine connection, I could at least say that. And it feels so good! I love their openness, I love the communication, their doubts for their personality out shining to where they may be rejected by the people they are closest to can be related to so many people and I feel it in this story too.

Also relatable, as a nocturnal security guard, I do my damn this to stay on night shift. Seriously, I found the dread for the daylights from YN simply delightful. Satan laughing in the background while wanting to mutter curses to higher ups who just don't give a flip and say "Do it." Oooh, I taste the ire on my tongue. I'll applaud YN if they ever get used to that schedule, because that would make them stronger than me lol!

But the attachment you could get from genuinely connecting with someone, especially when you are kind of a recluse. It makes sense. Tabitha, It may hold a minor significance for the name, but it was still a name I connected with for reasons, that just sing this child. Cling to YN made me smile in delight. To call her a little shit in one breath but internally count them as yours/your kid. Wanting to help them, but also needing your own personal space just to breathe. Again, genuinely, relatable!

And Moon teaching more ASL to YN? Be still my hecking heart. It was precious, yet another scene I was kicking my legs and rolling around in my seat with just the lead up and how precious each scene is.. That has also happened to me repeatedly. You might as well just change the name of your story to daycare serotonin (/jk) There may be angst later, but I'm barely on chapter 4, But I just needed to shake you with how much I love your writing. Again, I'm not kernel so I should be in bed by now. At least an hour ago, but I don't want to stop reading 😭❤️ Even knowing I got stuff to do in 7 hours, I'm still contemplating it with the idea of "Who need sleep? Tehee 😋"

I got giddy seeing I had chapters ahead I could read. I'm sorry I didn't find your writing any sooner, but it's a delight to know that I don't have to stop for a while. I am devouring these like I've just got out of the great depression, or more specifically reading "Grapes of Wrath". If you don't know what grapes of wrath is, good, don't. I was in AP and I still couldn't get myself past chapter two... If I remember right, they spent four pages talking about a turtle crossing the street. Fuming Again, I don't recommend. But YOUR story, haha, I need a hard cover copy to add to my book collection.

You know BamSara or Naff? Easily up there ✨ Again, I haven't ran into the angst yet to find out how good you are at plunging something into my heart. Cause BOY so those creators know how to treat me apart! But this story is just as great to me, Thank you Thank you Thank you so much for creating it! I have no clue if you're still working on more chapters or if it ends at chapter 17. I'll definitely be finding out and shaking you again because your writing makes me get why people put on tennis or tags "devouring". I get it, stars above I get it.

Sorry for taking your ear off. Your comic page that brought me to this point is a delight. Your writing has brought me so much joy. I am positively dreading any angst to come! 😂 Thank you for what you've created, Please make sure to take care of yourself, know the effort you put into your work is greatly appreciated, and may creativity and inspiration stay by your side ❤️

okay for the record i'm only publishing this so i can keep it on my blog forever? forever maybe? i love? you wrote me an ESSAY!!! and no, i DONT actually get asks that often - seeing this much text in my ask box before reading anything was a little scary ngl - but you!!! grabs you!!! THANK YOU! okay okay i'm normal i'm gonna go paragraph by paragraph like a normal person.

I'm pretty sure that one silly comic is MOST of the reason Dayshift has managed to get as many readers as it has, and honestly, for that you can thank theohnocorral (who took a long break from tumblr but recently came back!) who was nice enough to talk to me while i built up confidence to actually start posting DCA art (i don't think it's been touched in a while, but Bug Love is my personal favorite of their fics for the AU concept alone). Seriously, I actually made a secondary comic just after paper-lilypie found it (who im NOT tagging bc i dont think i can take a Second Time) and set off a whole new rb chain that's STILL GOING, TO THIS DAY. Wild.

thank you thank you thank you i love writing it's one of the few things i'm absolutely 100% confident in and i'm so glad you like it!!! besides basic plotting, the majority of the joy i get out of writing Dayshift is seeing how close i can get to how real people work and think and live and breathe and i really, really like characterization. my one true love, i'm so glad it shines through.

speaking of: yeah, sunbite has a fair amount of issues, but i always liked stories where theoretically unlikable characters (the loners, chronic liars and manipulators, outcasts) get to have Real and Genuine Connections with other people. it's good for their growth! its good for readers sense of self and self-love! you don't have to be an amazing person all the time, you can just BE!

and Tabitha <3 kids are a delight. bright personalities in tiny little humans with NO mental filters to speak of. the kids were always going to be important here.

bro you CANNOT come in here and say things like i'm as good as Bamsara and Naff you CANNOT do that i'll cry rn

I'll look forward to your feedback on the rest of the chapters <3 have fun reading and thank you for coming to visit me

#tuz asks #dayshift go figure #i grab you i spin you around #fnaf

[canarymemories]

future lover

rating: general audiences

archive warning: no archive warnings apply

relationship: narukami arashi/sakuma ritsu

additional tags: fluff, pining, 3 am category five disaster pining to be exact, sharing a bed, literal sleeping together, pre-relationship

published: 2023-09-15

words: 1316

summary: sometimes the words i love you seem so ready to fall from his lips.

for naruritsu week day 6: napping/acceptance

here on ao3

as ritsu feels himself waking up, he pushes his face into his pillow, not wanting to be awake yet. he peeks an eye open after a minute or so to see that the room is still dark, faint moonlight outlining the curtains in front of the window. he quietly huffs. it’s been a while since his more nocturnal instincts made themselves known, waking him up in the dead of night and keeping him awake for no good reason.

he settles, pulling the blanket up over his shoulder when he hears a faint noise in front of him. it’s then that he remembers that he isn’t alone.

with mika out of the country to visit shu, ritsu had managed to convince arashi to stay the night with him. it’d taken some pouting and puppy dog eyes and him saying, “but nacchan, i’ll be so lonely without mikarin here,” for arashi to fondly roll her eyes and finally say yes. it’d taken a little more to convince her to share his bed once she came back, having gone down the hall briefly to her own dorm to run through her nighttime routine.

she gave in easily to that as well, most likely having expecting it all things considered.

ritsu latched onto her quickly once she sat on his bed, wrapping himself around her as they go back to watching the movie that had been on before she excused herself to her room. the last thing he remembers is the two of them laying down, arashi jokingly nagging at him as she said she didn’t want to be stuck sitting up with him passed out on her all night.

once laying down, he’d snuggled up to her back, half asleep, and slung an arm over her waist. arashi had paused for a second before leading his arm closer to her, leaving his hand by her chest. “good night, ritsu-chan,” she whispered.

ritsu hadn’t replied in anything more than an incoherent mumble, sliding close enough to press his forehead to her back to block out the light in the room. he must’ve fallen asleep not long after that.

seeing that she’s now facing him with enough distance between them that ritsu hadn’t noticed her at first, arashi must’ve wiggled her way out of his grasp at some point.

he can tell he won’t be able to go back to sleep anytime soon, so ritsu moves closer to her. arashi is peacefully asleep, a hand curled under her cheek that leaves her mouth slightly ajar in a way that doesn’t look very comfortable, but who is ritsu to judge? he’s fallen asleep in plenty of strange places in equally strange ways over the years.

her hair is tousled with sleep, falling across her forehead in a way that’s oddly captivating to him. though ritsu’s fingers twitch with the urge to fix it, to carefully brush the strands back behind her ear where they won’t stay, he leaves it be. it’s not that often that he gets to see the imperfect side of arashi, the side of herself that she seldom lets others see.

though the room is dim, he can make out the dusting of freckles across her cheekbone and up over the bridge of her nose. normally, they’re dutifully covered up by her makeup. would she let them show more if he told her they’re beautiful?

he’s told arashi that she’s pretty plenty of times among countless other words that mean the same, so he adds that compliment to a future list of things he’ll tell her when they’re awake.

arashi will probably huff and deny anything he throws her way when it comes to what she considers to be imperfections, which is a shame when he truly means every word of it. ritsu likes to think that one day, he’ll break through that wall she has up, get through to her in some way. maybe that day will be sooner rather than later seeings as he trusts him enough to be comfortable without makeup around him. it’s not the first time he’s seen her without it, cheeks littered with freckles and tiny acne scars, eyes not popping quite as much without the liner, and her lips without their eternal shine.

he treats each of those moments as if he’s been entrusted with some well kept secret that he’s sworn to keep until the day he dies, and treasures them all the same.

aside from that, arashi trusts him to sleep so soundly in front of him, vulnerable as she nuzzles into the pillow under her head. ritsu smiles as he watches her. he's fallen asleep in front of her countless times, on her just as many. he trusts her to watch over him, though there's hardly any danger he has to be protected from, and the way her fingers card through his hair as he dozes with his head in her lap serves as a reminder that she'll be there once he wakes.

ritsu wants to be that for her too: a loyal protector, a knight for his queen. arashi is far from a damsel in distress no matter how often she likes to play as one, but he wants to be there for her then. to be able to stand by her side for all the highs and lows, to hold her close and wipe her tears when she's sad, to hold her hand and look on when she shines brighter than any star in the sky is all he wants.

he wants to see all of arashi. ritsu has seen behind her mask before, mostly in fleeting moments, but he wants to be there for it all, for all the happy parts or the ugly parts or whatever she wants to give him. he'd willingly take it all.

sometimes the words i love you seem so ready to fall from his lips.

it would be easy to whisper them now in the quiet of his dorm, but that wouldn't be fair to arashi. ritsu wants to tell her when they're both awake so she can't laugh off his confession as some pleasant dreams of his bleeding into reality. he knows well enough the way arashi's cheeks flush a faint pink, the way the tips of her ears go red, the way she gets just a tiny bit bashful when their normal playful flirting turns more serious. he wonders what she'll look like when he tells her his feelings.

it'd be easy to whisper those words now, but ritsu needs her to know just how much he loves her, has loved her this entire time. and for that, he can wait — has waited — for the right moment so they can live their happily ever after together. until then, he'll stick by arashi's side, content as they are for the time being.

ritsu softly yawns, drowsiness starting to pull at his eyelids, making them wang to stick together as the familiar draw of sleep pulls him back under. blinking his eyes back open, he sees arashi once more. he can smell the faint remains of her usual perfume and something as small as that puts him at ease as if he hadn't already been.

a sleepy smile tugs at the corners of ritsu's mouth as he carefully places his arm around arashi's waist. not wanting to disturb her sleep, especially when she's been gracious enough to let him snooze in peace for years at this point, ritsu decides against pulling her in against him. he instead settles in with his head on the same pillow as hers.

his eyes close once more, no longer fighting the sleep for one final moment of admiring arashi. assured that she will still be there in the morning, ritsu drifts off for the second time that night with the thought that their right moment is one day closer floating around in his mind.

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

end notes: what is sleep if not an eight hour nap slkdgh sometimes self care is writing something so soft you have to look away from the screen for a minute

#my fics #naruritsu #arashi narukami #ritsu sakuma #naruritsuweek #3 am category five disaster pining fic my beloved dghk #the formatting looks so ugly on my phone rn so. sorry if it looks gross 😔 #ill fix it once im back on my laptop in a few days

[jungle-angel]

5 and 19!!!! Babies with the crew omg too cute

YAAAAAAAAASSSS MY GOD YAAAAS!!!! Ugh I can't pass this one up, I might have to use OC pairings for this since there's quite a few of the crew (lol)

Mirimar: 1932 hrs

Rooster

Rooster was suddenly and abruptly woken by the sound of crying in the hallway, the rushed sound of small feet following in its wake. Fuck me......he thought. Why's it always gotta be when it's hot.....?

Rooster rubbed the sticky grog from his eyes. Two days home from the mission and all he wanted was some fucking sleep. Bad enough that Rusty had a staff meeting with the other preschool teachers, leaving him home with the boys during one of the worst heatwaves San Diego had seen in years.

Rooster threw on a Hawaiian shirt over his shirtless form, his jeans heavy and sticking to his legs like flypaper as he stumbled into the hall to find Nicky a bawling mess.

"What happened little man?" Rooster asked, picking Nicky up and placing him on his hip.

"Petey hit me!" Nicky wailed.

Now Rooster was really going to get a headache. "Peter Thomas!" he bellowed.

Pete came running from his room barely a split second later, roused by the sound of his father's voice and a sheepish look on his face.

"What'd Mommy and I tell you about hitting your brother?"

"I didn't," Pete insisted.

"Don't lie to me bud," Rooster told him. "I know you. Now tell me the truth."

"Nicky stole my blankie."

Rooster bit his lower lip and tilted his head to the ceiling. Now he had really had enough. "Alright you two," he said. "Get your sandals on."

"Where are we goin Daddy?" Pete asked.

"Don't ask, just get your sandals on."

Rooster did his best to help get the boys feet into their sandals. Whoever said having three-year old twins would be easy, was clearly lying through their teeth.

Phoenix

"Gabriel William Rossington! I said get in bed!"

Gabe went running straight back to his bed, Natasha letting out an exasperated sigh. "Cole I swear this kid is nocturnal," she said.

"Why won't he sleep this time?" Cole asked on the other end of the phone.

"It's hot," Natasha told her husband. "They sent the kids home at nine this morning because of the heat, the ac is on but it's not doing jack shit to cool off in here."

"I'm coming home in two days," Cole told her. "I'll try and fix it when I get back."

"Please," Natasha groaned. "Even if you have to fake getting dysentery."

"I'll do what I can Babe," Cole assured her.

Natasha had been about to say something when she felt Gabe tugging at the leg of her board shorts. One look down at the black haired, brown eyed four-year old and an idea suddenly bloomed in the back of her brain.

"Babe?" Cole asked. "You still there?"

"Yeah," she answered. "Hey listen, I'm gonna let you go. I think I found a solution to the problem."

They both bade each other farewell as Natasha plugged her phone into the wall outlet in the kitchen. "Ok little man," she said. "You wanna go swimming with Mama?"

Gabe made a panting noise, doing his best imitation of Scooter, the family dog. "Yeah, yeah, yeah!!!" he blurted out.

"Go get your shark shirt."

Gabe darted off to his room, leaving his mother alone in the sweltering living room. "Thank you God," she groaned.

Bob

"Repeat that back to me again son......slowly," Joe Floyd said, his voice echoing from the speaker phone on Bob's phone.

"I tried running Auggie a cold bath to cool him down but a pipe burst and left three homes without water," Bob explained. "Mine included."

"You've gotta be shittin' me," Joe said in disbelief.

"And they still haven't gotten it fixed," Bob said as he adjusted three year old August, holding him in the crook of his arm against his hip. "But then again it's Navy housing."

"Hah!" Joe laughed. "Probably hasn't changed since I was a pilot during the Gulf Wars."

A pained cry escaped August's throat, the poor kid's cheeks a deep red and his skin alarmingly hot. "I know buddy, I know," Bob murmured, kissing his son's forehead. He heard Joe laugh a little bit on the other end.

"What?" Bob asked him. "What the hell's so funny?"

"You wouldn't remember," Joe told him. "But about eight months after you were born, I was stationed at Top Gun and we had a heatwave. I remember you howling your head off from how hot it was, so I picked you up out of your crib and went for a swim in the ocean with you."

Bob scrunched his eyebrows together, wondering exactly what his dad was getting at. "Dad are you giving me ideas?" he asked.

"No I'm trying to give you an air conditioner," Joe said sarcastically. "What the fuck do you think I'm trying to give you?"

Bob laughed as another pained cry escaped August's throat along with a cough. "Ok, I'll talk to you another day, Dad," Bob told him. "I gotta go."

"Call me in the morning and let me know how it goes," Joe said before hanging up.

Bob stuck his phone in the key dish on the table next to the sofa. "Alright little man," he said. "You're getting a sea bath tonight."

*********

The roar of the ocean was music to Rooster's ears as the boys followed him down into the sand, the sunset beginning to linger on the horizon. He picked one up in each arm, wading into the water and letting it soak them as they went a bit further towards the rocks. God this spot had alot of the gang's best memories, secret swims, first dates with the significant others, swimming during the wedding receptions.....God, the spot had even been where the kids were conceived.

Rooster clipped their small life jackets onto each of the boys, letting them swim just a bit further than they usually did, even letting them swim in the shallows without the vests. He leaned against one of the rocks, letting his legs float in the water while the boys stuck close by, spreading his arms across the rocks, until he caught sight of a pair of familiar faces.

"Phoenix!" he called out. "The hell you doing down here?"

"Gabey no sleepy," she replied, jokingly. "Make room, I'm coming in."

Gabe and the boys splashed around in the tidal pools while Aunt Natasha joined Rooster in the water. "Well, well," Phoenix remarked as Hangman and the girls sauntered through the sand. "Bagman's brood rides again."

"Ha ha, very funny Ma Bird," Hangman answered before turning his attention to Missy and Molly, the red-headed twin girls. "Alright my wild Indians, go play!!!"

Missy and Molly took off towards the tidepools before Hangman dropped the towels and his shirt close to Rooster's things. "Thank God we're near the ocean," he sighed. "Fuckin pipes still haven't been fixed."

"Oh you to?" Phoenix joked.

"Yeah," Hangman answered. "Baby On Board's got it bad too."

"Oh speak of the devil," chuckled Phoenix.

Down to the shore he came with August who held onto Bob's hand until Bob gave him a nudge to go and join his cousins. "So fucking hoooooootttt!!!" he groaned.

"Then take your shirt off!!!!" the others playfully joked.

Bob smiled and shook his head, pulling his shirt off with one hand, the others howling and laughing as Bob rushed into the water, letting out a long, obscene groan as he sank into the cool ocean. "Oh it feels so good," he sighed.

"Yaaas my friend, yaaas!!" Phoenix laughed. "We were wondering if you'd show up."

"Whatever can get Auggie to go to bed, I'll do it," Bob said lazily.

Soon the others began to arrive in quick succession. Payback looked exhausted, hardly concerned with how frizzy Geneva and Neveah's hair looked or how far ahead they were running to greet their cousins. Coyote wasn't very far behind, carrying Tiago while Carla and Paloma rushed for the other kids while a few steps behind was Fanboy with Isabella, the smallest of the kids, her pitch black hair tied behind her little head in a neat braid.

"Shit man," Payback groaned as he waded into the water with the others. "I love and hate nights like this."

"What happened?" Rooster asked.

"I broke two combs trying to do the girls' hair," Payback explained. "Aasha's gotta work late and the power went out."

A collective "Ew" rang throughout the group. "Well," Rooster said. "At least it's a good night for a swim."

"Now all we need is the Captain," Coyote laughed.

"You spoke too soon!" Hangman said loudly as a grin crawled across his face.

Maverick waved to the rest of the gang as Danny and Thomas barreled towards their cousins. "Didn't think you'd see me after training, did you?!" he greeted.

At last the circle was complete, the entire gang together, the cousins able to play and tire themselves out. As it began to grow dark, the heat still lingered, the kids running in and out of the water while their dads, or in Phoenix's case, mom, taught them to hold their breath underwater. Phoenix took a video of Bob with Auggie in his arms, practically dancing in the water, to send to Moira when she came home later that night. Despite all the heat, all the hell they had been through that day, a night swim was well worth it.

#top gun maverick #pete maverick mitchell #bradley rooster bradshaw #jake hangman seresin #natasha phoenix trace #robert bob floyd #reuben payback fitch #mickey fanboy garcia #javy coyote machado #top gun au

[ceph-the-ghost-writer]

OCs as Animals Tag

Rules: Choose any Oc/s and pick an animal that relates to them and why. You can also include images or drawings of your own but don't have to.

Tagged by @autumnalwalker!

Tagging @vacantgodling @jezifster @late-to-the-fandom @authoralexharvey @korblez @andromedaexists @blind-the-winds @magic-is-something-we-create @tragicbackstoryenjoyer

Here we go:

Isaac: Llama/Alpaca. Smart, quick learner, and can carry more than his fair share of weight through tough terrain. Usually gentle and calm, but when mishandled he'll kick, bite, spit, and refuse to move another inch (just ask Renato). Llamas are braver and more solitary than their alpaca relatives, but will live among other creatures and serve as their guardians. Isaac's curly hair could be compared to the luxurious fleece of an alpaca (again, ask Renato).

Dorian: Pangolin. Rightly described as one of the most endearing creatures on Earth; 110% deserves a global holiday. Also one of the most hunted by unscrupulous people. Curious, great at solving problems, has a good memory, nocturnal, and friendly. Favors defense over offense. No one is immune to the urge to rub their tummy. Never goes anywhere without the protection of a coat.

Renato: Transient Orca. Divided from his own kind not by genes or appearance but hunting habits. Beautiful and deadly as the sea he was born on. An apex predator infamous for playing with his prey before consuming it. But also intelligent, creative, charming, and social, capable of adapting and learning to cooperate with humans and other creatures.

Kinslayer: King Cobra. A devourer of other, lesser serpents, paralyzing them before consuming the victim whole. Swift and powerful, to trifle with Kinslayer is to tempt death. And yet...despite their fearsome reputation they would much prefer to be left in peace, often only striking after extreme provocation or in defense. Cobra venom has also led to breakthroughs in pain medication. On the spiritual side, Sheshnaag, the giant cobra, is said by some to carry the planets on his many heads, and to shade gods as they lounge on his body. To others, cobras symbolize rebirth/reincarnation and creation itself, their coils moving time forward as they stretch, then slowing it to a standstill as they curl up once more.

Elfy: Siamese Cat. Elegant, highly energetic, talkative, playful, loyal and affectionate describes Elfy precisely. (It's true Siamese cats aren't often born deaf despite their blue eyes, but ignore that--it's also definitely part of who she is.) Also loves attention and takes harsh words to heart. Often becomes deeply attached to someone she's decided is her human (see: Isaac).

Ben: Neighborhood Stray Mutt. Part Polish hound maybe, part big shepherd, part who-even-knows-what. A bit uncouth and can be a troublemaker, yet everyone greets him by name when they see him strolling along the streets. Very protective of his territory and his people. Will attack anyone out to harm those viciously. Wary of strangers, but once he gets to know someone, he's affectionate and surprisingly gentle at times. Knows the simple things are best in life: eating, sleeping in a big pile, sex, and the occasional fight (real or friendly--especially if it also leads to sex).

Tilda: Escaped Captive Wolf. Maybe a bit too on the nose, but if it ain't broke, why fix it? Tilda is a (were)wolf with no idea how to wolf properly. Abused and caged from birth, she's only just learning how to handle her instincts, not react with violence due to fear, and be part of the pack. Having Dorian and Ben at her side has gone a long way toward helping. Still hates direct eye contact and probably always will.

Oleander: Honey Badger. Honey Badger dgaf and neither does Ollie. Nocturnal, mostly solitary, tenacious, and has few predators due to her tough hide and ferocious nature. Of course, honey badgers have been known to work with humans and other creatures in the interest of a common goal. Just don't try to screw her out of her share if you want to keep your windpipe intact.

#oc animal tag #writblr tag game #dysthanasia #writing tag games

[vulturereyy]

5, 6, 30 and 44 for Chivalry verse Hegemol? For the character asks

Thank you for the ask !!!!!

5. Best personality trait

Hegemol's best personality trait... Is probably his patience and willingness to listen. Old knight has lived five lifetimes over at this point, and he's seen and been through a lot, but that doesn't mean that others have not. With his extended lifespan has come a far more relaxed sense of time, where he knows it's alright to sit and hear someone out. And with his age, he's learned that many times, the best option is simply to let someone actually experience their emotions than try and fix them instantly. He lets people be ugly, and gross sob on him, and throw things, and break things, and be angry with him if they need to be. He has all the time in the world to help fix the problem. Best to let the catharsis through first.

6. Worst personality trait

Hand in hand with above, Hegemol's extreme sense of protectiveness can get in the way of things. Especially when it comes to his squires. He can occasionally get so overprotective that he will pre-emptively try to protect them and do what he fully believes would be in their best interest. But sometimes, that turns out to be wrong. I guess to add on to above, he is also very, very genuine about admitting when he is wrong, and working with the person that he's wronged on their terms.

30. Sleeping habits

Lol. Lmao. What sleep? In all seriousness, poor Hegemol is never well rested, especially not while he served as a knight. He's late to bed in order to spend a precious few hours with his nocturnal husband, and very early to rise for his duties. Hegemol lives off of midday naps at any moment he can take them, partially because he seeks them, and partially because if he doesn't take them he will keel over. He has absolutely passed out on more than one occasion in the war room or otherwise. Hegemol overloads and overcommits himself on his duties, especially near the fall of Hallownest, as everyone else is also already doing so much. He would much prefer to make himself the sacrificial lamb than see his other knights weary with fatigue as he is on the inside. I actually answered an ask a while ago that details Lurien and Hegemol's schedules, if you're interested :> In current time of the fanfiction though, while he's in Mato's care? He loves to sleep. He doesn't quite have as much choice given how much he has to recover, but as long as he isn't plagued by nightmares (which is often)... He is so cozy in the nest Mato has made him, and he never wants to leave it.

44. Their happiest memory

This one is HARD! Chivalry Hegemol is an EXTREMELY sentimental sap of a man, it's very, very hard for him to choose just one. The first one to come to mind, however, would have been him and Lurien's 'wedding.' They had no ceremony of course, given the secretive nature of their relationship- but Hegemol spent months learning the Damselfly courtship dances and rituals in a way that he, a beetle, could perform them. He did this mostly alone, but with the occasional assistance of Aedmond, my Lurien's butler. On a night where the Pale King had left the palace on a diplomatic excursion, the two of them snuck into the emptied royal ballroom, and danced. This was their wedding. They could have no rings, or trinkets of each other, or audience - but this was their night, with Aedmond providing music through the stage piano as quietly as he possibly could. Hegemol definitely didn't tear up through most of it. The second memory that comes to mind would have been the knighting of his first squire, Sir Gytha. Gytha was a very troubled young beetle, and her journey to knighthood took almost twice as long as any other squire he's taken since. But she is where much of his patience and willingness to let others actually feel out their emotions comes from; she is the foundation. Hegemol himself didn't have that great of a time with his time as squire. In fact, his knight, Dame Ludovic, actually messed him up immensely in terms of self worth, self esteem, and sense of purpose. To Hegemol, Gytha's training was certainly his messiest -- but it also served to put his foot down and stamp it in Ludovic's face, that her legacy died with him. He refused to continue her cycle, and he and Gytha both are far better off for it. And yes, he also bawled under his mask at Gytha's knighting ceremony. He could barely deliver her oaths to her because he was trying not to be choked up.

#ask meme #thank you for the ask!!! #wcwtd

[mortumslab]

Remembering to be Human - Chapter 6

Next chapter! As always, feedback and comments are appreciated!

(tw: violence, suicidal ideation)

You startle to consciousness. No dreams. Odd. Your head hurts. Your vision is dazed. No. Not dazed. Missing. The Rat King informs you that you were knocked out. Someone must have snuck up on you while you beat Jake into submission. Jake. Nocturne. Hollow Ground. Panic. Where are you? Were you captured? Fear courses through you. Not again. Not again.

“Hey!” A voice cuts through your panic. Heart still ricocheting off your ribs, you extend your senses. There are three others with you in some sort of vehicle, based on the movement under you. Nocturne probably caught you in her eyesight before you went unconscious. Whoever hit you did a number on you, though. Probably a Ranger, as the other big hitter was under you.

The person who spoke seems to be an LDPD officer. His name is unimportant, but he’s worried about the four criminals he has in his armored vehicle. He doesn’t know the older woman, but the other two are highly suspected to be working for Hollow Ground. If the kingpin actually exists. He knows the last one very well. A new and very, very unknown villain. Heartbreak. He’s afraid of Heartbreak. Afraid of you.

“Officer.” Your voice modulator makes the word sound harrowing. “I assume you’re taking us to Ranger HQ.” Yes. He doesn’t say it, but he thinks it.

“Nocturne. Would you mind giving me my vision back?” You know she’s conscious and in front of you. They placed the three of them across from you. Apparently noting that there was a confrontation before they got there. Trouble in villainy paradise. 

“Go fuck yourself.” 

“Pleasant.” You subtly probe her mind. She’s not actively maintaining the effect, and you know from your research that it will end after a time. “Is Manalo alive?” You know he is, but you shouldn’t know that.

“Barely. Herald cold-clocked you before you could kill him.” So that’s who got you. It was a good hit. You wish it had killed you. Don’t.

“Good. He should face proper justice as well.” You say this without a hint of irony. You know you’re also outside the law. Unless the Rangers have betrayed you. Don’t think about that. They didn’t before, and they won’t now.

“You’re here too, you know.” Hollow Ground finally speaks. She sounds nervous, but she’s maintaining her composure well. 

“So I am. Should be good fun escaping.” Having beaten the Rangers before makes you a threat. To heroes and villains alike. Your confidence is warranted. Though you hope it won’t be necessary. You feel the fear spike in the LDPD officer. Good. They should be afraid. Unfettered by the chains of the police, your plans might truly come to fruition.

“Did you call the Rangers?” Nocturne sounds like she’s to your right. Jake must be unconscious next to the divider of the cabin. Incapacitating Hollow Ground’s right-hand man feels good. Really good. You were laughing. 

“Did you?” Nocturne asks again. You rouse yourself from your musings.

“Sorry, I was thinking about how good it felt to break Jake’s nose.” You smile, thankful your helmet is still on. Arya is not this confident. Heartbreak is. “And no, I did not. I want to joy of hospitalizing you, not Charge.” You try to put some venom in the last bit. It seems to work.

“Psychopath.” Nocturne mumbles. “You should have taken our deal. Or at least killed us when you didn’t.” 

“Killing you doesn’t fix anything. Wouldn’t be the first time Hollow Ground has died anyways, right?” You’re not supposed to know that, and you can sense a wave of anxiety shooting through the kingpin and her lover. 

“What do you mean?” Hollow Ground asks. She’s not a fighter. She relies far too heavily on her telepathy. Something the Farm tried to force you to do. You made this choice.

“Regardless, I’m a wanted man. It would be imprudent to get caught. Not to mention you saw Herald clock me. I was too busy brutalizing your man there.” You don’t answer her question. Heartbreak doesn’t follow rules. She doesn’t like rules. The rules put people like Hollow Ground in power. Like Mayor Alvarez. Like the LDPD. Rules are meant to be obliterated. Weak people answer Hollow Ground. You don’t.

“Well, are you going to leave us to them?” Hollow Ground seems anxious about being brought to Ranger HQ. Good.

“I don’t expect to leave you. I want to make sure you’re treated like the criminals you are. Not the monarch you pretend to be.” There is venom in your voice. Good. Get angry. “In fact, the moment I’m able to see and out of these manacles, I will help make sure no one can recognize your pretty face.”

“Good luck with that in the Ranger compound.” Hollow Ground sounds more confident now. What is her game? She was captured easily. Far easier than she should have been. Paranoia has gotten you this far. Someone like Hollow Ground would not allow you to stroll into her compound in your armor without a contingency plan. This isn’t good. You need to warn the Rangers.

You tell Rat King to send a message to Julia to tell her to be on the lookout. You don’t like how easily the kingpin lets herself be caught and captured. The Rat King chitters in your mind. You tell them it is okay to say you love her. Saps, the both of them. He chitters in your mind again. Julia is aware of the suspicious nature of the capture. They’re securing all prisoners and contraband. The kind you stole.

“Alright, freaks!” The LDPD officer gets out of the vehicle. His partner exits as well. You’re starting to get your vision back. You see the door to the vehicle open, and the officer goes for you first. You let him remove your ankle brace and let him lead you out of the armored van. Sure enough, you’re at Ranger HQ. The prisoner transport side. You never knew where the prisoners were kept here. 

You see other Ranger staff exit the building and begin to unrestrain the others. Where are they going to take you? Who else is being held here? You might be able to do some information gathering. You know Psychopathor was taken by the Directive, but taken where? He was always one to have good snippets of rumors. Mia Ochoa had interviewed him before. 

You’re led into the rear entrance of the building and to an open elevator labeled “Holding.” The elevator begins to descend, and you get a pang of fear. 

No, this isn’t the Farm. You will be okay. Julia will save you. This is going according to plan. 

You expect to be held here overnight and probably allowed to escape. You have yet to be stripped of your armor. You won’t let that happen. You’ll have to ask for forgiveness for any Ranger bones you break. No one will strip you again. No one. 

The elevator comes to a rest a few moments later. The holding chamber has around six cells, three on either side. There is an administrative desk before the first row. You’re pushed roughly into the first cell. You can tell there are two other minds here. One you don’t know. A low-level villain and… Psychopathor. You had no idea he was here. The villain is one of Los Diabolos’ most feared. Simply an unstoppable titan of mods, muscle, and madness. Though a regulated madness, according to his mind.

You will need to arrange a meeting. Maybe out of the suit. You need to be on alert for any plots by Hollow Ground. Except. Shit. You hear commotion through the communicator on the holding cell guard. It seems like the kingpin won’t be going quietly. 

A few minutes pass, and several people enter the holding room. Charge, Herald, a barely recognizable Jake Manalo, Nocturne, and… Argent. No one else. Charge looks vicious. From the minds of the others who had just entered, chaos broke out as two unknown boosts killed the LDPD transit officers and left with Hollow Ground, leaving her two lieutenants behind. Nocturne is not happy. Manalo is barely holding onto consciousness. Steel went to pursue the boosts, but you know he’s not going to catch them. You’ll still get your mark it seems. 

The other two are tossed into the cell across from you. You avoid eye contact with Nocturne. Not doing that again. Fuck. The uncomfortably familiar weighted blanket settles around your mind. Dampeners. With nothing to be done, you take a seat. You can’t penetrate the holding cells. In fact, you’re no longer able to sense anything past your cell. 

No. No. No. Not again. You will not be restrained. 

Charge and the other Rangers walk by. No one but Charge meets your eye. She gives you the faintest of smiles. Maybe you haven’t been betrayed. It feels like it. But you’re going to give her the benefit of the doubt. You still have your nanovores. Take the time now to get your information and then escape. Hopefully, the Rangers will make a half-hearted attempt to stop you. Or maybe they won’t. You don’t want to hurt them again. You hope you can contain your fear. If you lose it again. You might kill one of them. You know you will. You almost… you almost killed Julia. 

Calm.

Calm down. 

You’re Arya. 

Remember. Be. Human. 

Not Human. Re-Gene. 

Human. Human. 

Get out of your head.

You need to distract yourself. Might as well get some information while you’re here.

“Hey, Psychopathor… Kurt.” You use his first name. You know it might get a better response. 

“Hey, Heartbreak… No-name.” Ah. Good to see the midwesterner still has his humor. 

“They treating you okay down here?” 

“Well. The cells are reinforced. And my mods are disabled. But otherwise, I am alive.” He pauses. “Why do you care? Last I hear, you’re taking on villains more than heroes.” 

“I’m taking on those in power. The city runs on villainy. Can’t help they’re in my way.”

“Very well. I appreciate a driven person.”

“We need to talk. I hear the Directive did a number on you.” 

A growl. Sore spot. “Doubt the Rangers will let you.” Then he goes silent again.

The elevator sounds again. Charge appears at your cell. She looks serious. You hope this is an act. 

“You’re up first, Heartbreak.”

“Officer, I’m guilty; why don’t you use the restraints.” You try humor to mask your nervousness. Heartbreak is a flirt, after all.

Charge looks like she buffers for a moment. “We do not have time for games, villain.” 

“Oh, of course we do. You have half of Los Diabolos’ A-listers locked up in here. Who else is going to cause trouble?” Charge unlocks the door, takes out a pair of restraints, and closes them tightly over your armored wrists. 

That was a mistake. You don't even have time to acknowledge the panic attack before it overwhelms you. 

No. No. Restrained. 

Never again. Not going back. 

you won't. no. never.

Darkness. 

The Farm. You've escaped again. You're in Los Diabolos. 

The city looks the same. 

You're not the same. 

Broken. Dismissed. Forgotten. 

Ortega forgot about you. She never came for you.  She moved on. 

You're unwanted. Angry. You're so angry. 

You'll show them. You'll make them pay. 

#fallen hero #fallen hero retribution #fhr #sidestep

[linka-from-captain-planet]

Favoritism

(Dark Justiciar!Shadowheart still being the worst Sharran ever despite being Mother Superior and Shar’s Chosen and going on a 10 minute long, basically unprompted, gushing, unbecoming-of-her-status rant about how amazing Nocturne is and how she’s her favorite and the others can die mad about it… impeccably consistent character writing)

#Shadowheart #dark justiciar!shadowheart #bg3 nocturne #nocturne bg3 #shadowheart/nocturne #shadowheart x nocturne #bg3 fanart #objectively bad but sexy outcomes are like catnip to me sorry #nocturne can still probably fix her #problematic gal pals

[aidtale-of]

Aidtale: Origins-Chapter 1

“So, you came back. This makes it Route #569. Your perseverance is..admirable, I’ll admit. Though, I gotta ask,...why? Why do you like to return here so often, only to destroy the world again and again? Is this the curse of determination? Or do you really hate them that much? I’ve already tried       But you still continue   “

. . . 

“Skipping through my dialogue, hm? I guess I can’t blame you. After all,” a red soul is revealed, partly covered in black,” You’re here for this. It’s a little corrupted, but you’re used to it, aren’t you? Y’know, I tried fixing the world for you. So many times. It used to be so beautiful. Until you ruined it. Your DETERMINATION     It’s become so”

. . . 

“So impatient. Do you really expect something new to happen?”

 . . . 

“It doesn’t matter to me anymore. You’re the one in control. You are the future of humans and monsters. You are Determined.”

. . .

“Player. . .

It’s time to wake up.”

The same morning begins down in the Underground. Papyrus knocks on Sans’s door, calling to him.

“Sans? Sans, are you awake?”

No answer. Papyrus knocks until he’s sure Sans has woken.

“Sans!”

“What?” Sans grumbles, rolling over in bed, glancing at his clock and noting that it’s only 6 am.

“Sans, you have to get ready right now.”

“Why? It’s barely morning.”

“Because we have to be the first ones there. I heard from tv that some humans are nocturnal, so one probably fell at night. Plus, I’ve got some new puzzles I want to try out!”

Sans sits up in bed. “Alright, I’ll be out in a few.”

“Great!”

Footsteps recede from Sans’s door, followed by a door closing. Sans grabs his jacket, slips on his shoes then goes to head downstairs. He holds his foot out over the first stair, then teleports into the kitchen. He opens the fridge and pulls out a bottle of ketchup from his side, ignoring the sense of deja vu. Sans puts it in his pocket and goes to sit on his couch, taking a moment to feed his pet rock. Still tired, Sans settles further into the couch. Papyrus comes out of his room to see Sans already napping on the couch. He stands over him in a huff.

“Sans! You lazybones! Are you sleeping again?”

“Nah, just resting my eyes.”

Papyrus picks up Sans and places him on his feet. “Nice try, but I’m not falling for that one again. Have you eaten?”

“Yep.”

“Great! Let’s go!”

They leave their home. As Sans goes to lock the door, Papyrus pats his non-existent pockets.

“Oops! I forgot something!” Papyrus runs back into the house, leaving Sans outside to wait. He comes back out with a box of bones. “Ok, now we can go.”

They walk through Snowdin, saying hi to everyone as they go. They walk all the way through Snowdin forest to Sans’s station.

“Alrighty Sans, don’t forget to recalibrate your puzzles. We don’t need anything failing if the human arrives.”

“I’ll get right to it.”

Papyrus, satisfied, walks away with his box of bones. Once he’s far enough away, Sans sits at his post, pulling a hot dog from underneath. As he eats, he gets a notification on his phone. He looks, and sees that it’s a text from Alphys.

“Hey Sans, I need you to look at this.”

She then sends a photo accompanied by some text.

“I was checking on some things regarding our research, and all of this just appeared out of nowhere.”

The picture is one of her computer screen. There are diverting lines going all over the place.

“u already sent me this” Sans texts back.

“W-what? What are you talking about? This is the first time I’ve seen this. There’s no way that i’ve sent this before. Though, now that you mention it, it does seem familiar.”

“ah, its probably nothing. why do they stop like that though?”

“Uh, well, my theory is that there’s something powerful enough to simply stop time and restart everything.”

“kinda like flowey was doing?”

“. . . .Yes? But this looks wayyy different.” She sends a video accompanied by text. “Watch.”

The video shows Alphys scrolling through the timelines. Sans watches as the timelines start to lose variation, turning from varying lengths to the same, consistent, cut-off line, then disappearing entirely, leaving a number where a timeline should’ve gone. The count stops at 569, with the 569th one showing as in progress. 

Huh, that’s weird. Sans rewatches the video in curiosity.

“where are the other ones?”

“Idk. Like I said, i’ve never seen this before.”

“hmm. maybe you accidentally deleted it”

“Maybe… I’ll check. What are you up to rn?”

“working”

“:( ok good luck.”

Sans puts his phone away and leans back in his chair. He yawns, and the next thing he knows, he’s waking up to the sound of manic laughter from afar. Curious, Sans approaches the door and listens. He doesn’t hear anything, so he goes to knock, but the door starts to open. Sans looks around for a place to hide and teleports into the treeline. He peeks from behind a tree and sees a human. Smiling wider, Sans fixes a whoopee cushion onto this hand and follows them. The human stops at the gate. Sans walks right up to them, holding his hand out.

“Human.” The human plants their hand right into the cushion, sounding off a loud fart sound. 

“Heheh… the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. It’s…” Sans trails off as the human just walks away.

Gee, lady, you really know how to pick ‘em, huh?

He follows the human, then notices Papyrus coming down the path.

“Hey kid, if ya don’t wanna get caught, you can hide behind that lamp over there.”

The human just stares at him.

“Uh, ok, I guess you don’t have to.”

Papyrus approaches the two of them.

“Sans, have you found a human yet?”

“Yeah.”

“Really? Wowie! Guess that’s settled.” He walks away.

“That worked out, huh.”

The human continues to stare.

“Well, I’ll be straight-forward with you. My brother’d really like to see a human. So, y’know, it’d really help me out…if you kept pretending to be one.” 

Sans teleports away, somewhere further up the path. Pulling out his phone, he sends a text to Alphys.

“theres a human in snowdin”

A yell in the distance grabs Sans’s attention, but Alphys’s text draws it back.

“I know. I have cameras there. I took a look through my trashed files. There’s nothing there that’s recent. At least, nothing timeline related.”

“well, timelines don’t just disappear without reason, do they? So where could they’ve gone?”

“¯\_(ツ)_/¯”

Papyrus comes up to Sans.

“Are your puzzles recalculated and ready?”

Sans puts away his phone. “You mean ‘recalibrated’?”

“That’s what I said! We can’t have the human breezing through every puzzle. How will they find the time to appreciate them?”

“I wouldn’t worry too much about that.”

“You don’t worry much about anything anyways.”

“Yeah. It’s easier that way. But, in all seriousness, I think the human would definitely be stumped.”

Sans notices the human approaching, dust covering their hands. Papyrus doesn’t seem to notice the human at all.

“So Sans, when’s the human showing up? I want to look my sunday best. Or at least my tuesday pretty-good.”

“Don’t you only have one outfit?”

“Yeah, but I could style my hair!”

“Oh. Right. Good idea.” Sans points to the human. “Say, why don’t you look over there?”

They look back and forth between each other and the human, going so fast that they spin in circles. They stop, and Papyrus turns them around one more time, backs facing the human.

“Sans! Oh my god! I’m dizzy. What am I looking at?”

“Behold.”

They turn back. The human stares at the two of them, looking quite bored.

“Oh my god!” Papyrus turns to Sans. “Why are you telling me to look at a rock?”

“Hey, what’s that in front of  the   rock…?” Sans trails off as the human walks up to them as if they’re trying to get past. Papyrus looks again and is startled by how close the human has gotten. He stumbles backwards.

“Oh my god!!! A moving rock!”

“Uh, well, no. It’s not a rock.”

“Not a rock..?” Papyrus thinks for a moment. “Oh no!!! By process of elimination, that means it’s a human!!!” He readjusts his stance and clears his throat. “Human! Prepare yourself! For high jinks! For low jinks! DANGERS! PUZZLES! CAPERS! JAPERS! BEING CAPTURED!! AND OTHER SORTS OF FUN ACTIVITIES. Refreshments will be provided…IF YOU DARE!!! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!!!”Sans and the human watch as Papyrus walks away laughing. Sans turns to the human.

“..And you don’t even bat an eye, huh?”

He walks off in the same direction as Papyrus, stopping at the electricity maze his brother designed. As he walks around it, he takes out his phone and sends a quick text to Alphys.

“i think the human has something to do with this. keep an eye on those charts”

Alphys texts back, but before Sans could read it..

“Sans! What are you doing?” Startled by Papyrus’s loud voice, Sans fumbles his phone, almost dropping it in the snow. “Why are you on your phone?”

Sans’s phone dings a few more times. “Uh…inspiration?”

“Oh. Wow! What for? It’d better be for your puzzles.”

Sans puts his phone in his pocket. “Actually, it’s for my other job.”

“What, your hot dogs?”

“Exactly. Gotta learn different styles of ‘dog, y’know.”

“If only you put as much effort towards your actual job. Especially now, since there’s an actual human here! Instead, you waste time on your phone looking at god knows what and napping at your station!” 

“Is it wasteful if it’s still productive?”

“What’s productive about lazing around?”

“Hey, it’s not lazy. Just working effortlessly.”

“You’re so lazy!! You were napping all night!!”

“I think that’s called..sleeping.” Sans looks to the side, noticing the human standing there.

“Excuses, excuses.”

Papyrus follows Sans’s gaze and also sees the human. 

“Oh-ho! The human arrives!” He poses dramatically. “In order to stop you, my brother and I have created some puzzles! I think you will find this one…quite shocking!” The human approaches as Papyrus speaks.” For you see, this is…the..invisible…Uhhhhhhh…?”

The human stands in the middle of the maze, staring the skeletons down. Papyrus’s pose wavers.

“Hmmm…you must be having culture shock.” He rebuilds his stance. “You see, where I come from, it’s a loving tradition to suffer through horrible puzzles for no reason.”

 Papyrus wavers as the human approaches again. “So, uh, just walk back there, and…”

The human stands face to face with Papyrus. They’re close enough for Sans to notice their expression. Are they waiting for something to happen? He thinks. Papyrus sighs.

“Why couldn’t we get a human that likes puzzles?” He walks away, dejected. Sans turns to the human.

“It would make my brother happy if you played along.”

The human walks away, seemingly disappointed. Once they’re far enough away, Sans teleports to Papyrus who is sulking.

“Hey, you good?”

“..This is not how I thought this would go. I hoped that the human would at least try!”

Sans shrugs.”I dunno, maybe it’s like you said, culture shock. Maybe they’ve never seen a monster before.”

Papyrus’s face lights up. ”Of course! The human is so surprised to see someone so cool for the first time that they can’t even focus!”

“Exactly.” Sans points up the path. “Look, one of my puzzles is up ahead. We could try that on the human.”

“Yes! Great!” Papyrus runs off up the path, a newfound spring in his step. Sans watches him go as his phone dings again. His smile wavers as he reads the messages. 

“Omg. Omg. OMG! The human is..They’re killing everyone!”

There is also another video. It shows Alphys’s camera feed following the human as they dust monster after monster. The last bit of the video, Sans notices, has him and Papyrus in the background. Sans looks up and sees the human moving down the path up ahead. He puts his phone away with a sigh, then teleports ahead of them, behind Papyrus.

“Where did you come from,” Papyrus asks,  hearing the crunch of the snow behind him.

“Took a shortcut.”

Papyrus hears the human approaching and turns to them. “Human! I hope you’re ready for…” He stops, finally taking a good look at the “puzzle” before him. “Sans! Where’s the puzzle?!”

Sans points to the paper in the snow. “It’s right there. On the ground. Trust me. There’s no way they’ll skip this one…”

The human walks right past both the puzzle and the brothers.

“Sans!!! That did nothing!” Papyrus complains, pointing to the paper.

“Whoops, knew I should have put down junior jumble instead.”

“What? Junior Jumble?” Papyrus is surprised, but relieved. “Finally, something we can both agree on.” Papyrus walks down the path, waving to the human as he passes them. Sans stares at the human, watching their actions.

There’s no way they have that much determination.

The human reaches for something Sans can’t see, but he hears the sound of whatever they did. They appear satisfied with something. Sans teleports ahead on the path as the human walks away, but lands in the treeline. He thinks he’s close enough to Papyrus’s next puzzle, so he just walks. His phone dings again.

“Sans, what should we do??? The guards haven’t been able to stop them yet!”

Sans stops to think for a moment.

“best bet is to get the word out to everyone about the human”

“We should probably evacuate them.”

“oh yeah. good call. u do that”

“Ok. What are you going to do?”

Sans turns to the unsolved puzzle behind him. It’s one of Papyrus’s favorites.

“well, i know papyrus really wants to try to capture this kid, so im going to make sure everything goes well”

Sans hears the puzzle behind him get set off. Thinking the human is solving them, he takes a look. But nobody’s there. Approaching the puzzle, Sans can see that all of the buttons are depressed with vines. Oh, of course. Snow crunches nearby and Sans barely gets a glimpse of the human approaching before teleporting away to where Papyrus is. Though, Papyrus doesn’t seem to notice as he is fiddling with the machine meant to operate his next puzzle. 

“Whatcha doin’ bro?”

“Recalibrating, like you should’ve done.”

“Ok.”

“I’m just making sure that the puzzle operates as dastardly as possible. We can’t have the human skipping this one!”

“Uh..you sure you wanna keep trying with this whole “human” thing? They don’t seem to be interested.”

“Nonsense! We just haven’t found the right one for them! Though, they could just be tired, what with their weird shambling. However, this puzzle should wake them up! They may even find it quite shocking!” He boasts, before taking a second to think. “Wait, I already used that joke…” Papyrus looks up and sees the human standing before the puzzle. He stands.

“Hey! It’s the human!” The human doesn’t care and walks onto the puzzle as Papyrus continues. “You’re gonna love this puzzle. It was made by the great…” Papyrus’s posture collapses, “Are you serious?” He turns to Sans. “Sans! Help!!” He gestures towards the human. “They keep walking through my puzzles! They’re supposed to let me explain them. Then threaten and baffle them with dangerous japes!”

Sans shrugs, “Well, maybe they don’t like japes.”

“Everyone likes japes!”

“What about Undyne? Doesn’t she hate puzzles?”

“She hates puzzles, but she loves japes!”

“That makes sense.”

Papyrus turns to the human, “Human-” The human pushes past him, moving on down the path. Papyrus and Sans look at each other. Papyrus runs after the human, but Sans stays put. He watches as Papyrus catches up to the human, talks with them briefly about something, then hands them the instructions to the puzzle, walking off when the human takes them. Sans takes a moment to send a message to Alphys.

“hey, i think everyone’s favorite flower is helping the human”

There’s no response. Sans considers sending his next thought as a text.

“Nah, I don’t feel like typing all of that.” He hits the voice record button. “So, I’m working on a theory.” He walks as he talks.

“We know that humans have the capacity to possess determination, and that we have observed this power to have some control over time itself. That, and all of these timeline issues just started popping up today along with instances of deja vu. Call me crazy, but I think this human is the cause of all of these anomalies, or even is the anomaly themselves.” Sans reaches the bridge and sees Papyrus on the other side, reaching at something under the bridge. He stops for a moment. “Not entirely sure how they’ve got more determination than Flowey, but whatever they plan on doing, I’ll keep an eye socket out for.” With that, Sans sends the message and puts his phone away and crosses the bridge. As he does, he notices all of the traps and dangers. Papyrus noticed him noticing them.

“Do you think this is too little?”

“No, this should work. Though, why is there a dog? I don’t think they’re allergic.”

Papyrus grumbles. “It’s not part of the trap. I needed it out of the way because it won’t leave me alone!” The dog barks at him and Papyrus stands, stomping his foot and pointing a stern finger at the animal. “YOU CAN’T COME DOWN UNLESS YOU PROMISE TO STOP MESSING WITH MY ATTACKS!!!” The dog barks again. Sans walks up to his brother.

“I don’t think he understands you.”

“He understands enough to know what he’s doing!” Papyrus sees the human approaching and readies the trap. The human stops in the middle of the bridge. The perfect spot.

“Human! This is your final and most dangerous challenge! BEHOLD! THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR!” The trap lowers before the human. Papyrus holds the start button. “When I say the word, it will fully activate!!! Cannons will fire! Spikes will swing! Blades will slice! Each part will swing violently up and down! Only the tiniest chance of victory will remain!!! Are you ready!? Because! I! Am! About! To do it!” Papyrus’s finger hovers over the button. 

The human stares deadpan at him. Sans turns to Papyrus.

“Well? what’s the holdup?”

“Holdup? What holdup? I’m…I’m about to activate it now!”

The human continues to stare. Papyrus’s stance breaks down. Sans stares at the trap.

“That, uh, doesn’t look very activated.”

“Well…they’re probably going to walk through it. And it won’t be any fun at all.”

“Hmmm…so this human thing was a bust, huh?”

“Well, I mean, I’m excited to capture them so I’ll become a famous royal guardsman! But all the time I put into these puzzles, it’s kind of like throwing a birthday party…”

“Without traps and fire?”

“Exactly!! It’s pointless!!!” Papyrus sighs, “Maybe you were right to be lazy about puzzles.”

Sans looks at his brother, surprised. “Me? Right about something? Really?”

Papyrus thinks for a moment. “Yeah!! What am I saying! You’re still completely wrong!” His face is lit up. “I just have the wrong audience! Think about how much fun Undyne would have here! Flames, violence. It’s right up her alley!” He turns back to the human. “So I won’t waste this puzzle on you. I just have to appreciate the friend I already have!!!” The trap disappears. “Phew.” Papyrus strikes a pose. “A valuable life lesson!!!” He walks away laughing, the refound spring in his step. Sans watches him go as the human crosses the rest of the bridge. They stop and stare at Sans for a moment. Sans stares back.

“Hmmm…guess we didn’t need your help to have a good time after all.” He pauses for a moment, noting the increase in dust and their empty expression. “Say, I’ve been thinking. Seems like you’re gonna fight my brother pretty soon. Here’s some friendly advice. If you keep going the way you are now…” He pauses again, closing his eyes, then reopening them, his eyes turned to empty blackness. 

“You’re gonna have a bad time.”

Sans teleports away, leaving the human by the bridge alone. He goes into town and goes from house to house, making sure that everyone who is still evacuating can do so safely and out of view of the human. Once everyone is, Sans goes to his own home and throws some things into a bag, mostly Papyrus’s things as he doesn’t need much. Once ready, he slings the bag over his shoulder and walks to the end of Snowdin, hoping he got there before the human. But no one was there. Sans looked around, thinking that Papyrus was hiding somewhere nearby. Surprise attack, maybe? His foot sinks into something soft. Something unlike snow. Sans looks down at his foot and sees the powdery gray against the snow.

Dust. Papyrus’s dust.

Next---https://www.tumblr.com/ask-aidtale/723937991398162432/aidtale-origins-chapter-2?source=share

#ask aidtale #undertale au #undertale #writing #chrono

[writingathesisonthoseweirdcats]

LOG 3

A few days have past. I’ve explored the forest a bit more. Contrary to most wildcats I’ve studied until now, the ones from Whitehart Woods are not nocturnals.

Pine Starr, as I call him, spends almost all his nights at exactly the same coordonates, indicating a fixed den. As for the day, he rarely leaves his den’s immediate area, which either means that he has a lot of food struting around or that he is, in fact, a female who recently gave birth, and that her mate is bringing her the food while she takes care of the kittens. I’ve got to put a chip on the guy, to know about their vitals. I’d also like to know if Piney here is boy or girl, and if it’s a girl, what the kids look like.

Anyway I’ve mapped Whitehart Woods thanks to satellite, mainly. I’ve noticed a few places where it could be interesting to place more cams and did so. One is a big chunk of rocks on the shores of the Chell’s affluent. When I put my cam, I saw a bunch of blood stains, fresh blood, and I don’t know if one of the cats caught something big here, or if one of the cats has been caught here by something bigger, but whatever happened, there was a struggle.

I also put cams around the dirtroad going from Morgan Farm to Druid’s Hollow, all around the river because running water is bound to attract animals, one near a great sycamore that is famed for its height and age in the local guides, and asked people if I could put one in North Allerton’s amenity tip, because the rodent population there could attract cats, and they said they had already seen large groups of cats attacking large groups of rats there, so it was a good idea to monitor it. The union also told me they would be grateful if I could share the footage of the next occasion because they were fighting for better paid nightshifts because of that but management didn’t believe them when they talked about battles.

I’ve spared no expense, which is very risky, and doubly so since I don’t have that much money, but I hope it will work. I set them to only turn when there is movement, but with the number of critters in the area it will probably give me a lot of false alarms.

On the Pine subject, I saw the little guy again in the Starr garden, frolicking with Crystal and a few other pet cats from the neighbourhood, including a little bandit named Jack who stole underwear from me a few times. I’ve learned to keep my windows shut now. Anyway I put a better tracker on Pine, this time - btw he is male, I confirmed - and now I can monitor his vitals. It should not be visible from other wildcats he might approach. As for why his movements are so close to his den, I don’t know yet. I’ll try to approach him at night, when he sleeps, and see for myself.

#twolegs' pov #warrior cats #pinestar #sunning rocks

[kiroons-hyperfixtations]

3, 8, and 15 for both Fate and Calamity?

3. How do they laugh?

Fate’s got a loud laugh. It’s loud and infectious, the type that makes one happy when they hear it. She tends to not stop laughing until her chest hurts.

Calamity’s got a more quiet and gruff laugh. He tends to not laugh often, and tries to stop himself when he feels himself laugh. Though, if he does laugh it’s more a chuckle.

8. How often do they pull all nighters doing something they like?

Fate does so often. As a artist of the knitted craft she tends to get absorbed in her work and not noticed the time. It got worse however when she got her Mimikyu, Lucy. Being a ghost type Lucy tends to be nocturnal mainly, and Fate and Lucy like to knit together, it one of their ways of bonding. This means Lucy often will and has pulled Fate out of bed to knit together.

Calamity doesn’t really do it often. He had to work a lot and often came home too tired to do much else. When he does get the chance though he does take advantage and spends a lot of time doing things he likes, wether it be astronomy, spending time with Fate or even fixing up something.

15. Can they take care of plants? Do they have any?

Uhh probably? They did used to live in an area with a lot of plant life so they probably have some idea of how to take care of plants. That is to say Fate is much more likely to kill a plant lmao. They don’t really have any plants right now because *gestures vaguely at Rejvu’s story* unless you count Fate’s ghost owl bird as a plant.

#thanks for the ask! #the thems… #oc; fate #oc; calamity #pokemon rejuvenation oc #pokemon rejuvenation

[castelleve]

𝘒𝘕𝘖𝘞𝘐𝘕𝘎  𝘠𝘖𝘜𝘙  𝘗𝘈𝘙𝘛𝘕𝘌𝘙  𝘞𝘌𝘓𝘓  𝘊𝘈𝘕  𝘗𝘖𝘛𝘌𝘕𝘛𝘐𝘈𝘓𝘓𝘠  𝘔𝘈𝘒𝘌  𝘞𝘙𝘐𝘛𝘐𝘕𝘎  𝘛𝘖𝘎𝘌𝘛𝘏𝘌𝘙  𝘈  𝘓𝘖𝘛  𝘌𝘈𝘚𝘐𝘌𝘙.

REPOST DO NOT REBLOG !!

NAME :  Inc.

PRONOUNS :  she/her

PREFERENCE  OF  COMMUNICATION : tumblr IMs, tags in threads, i give discord to friends

NAME  OF  MUSE(s) :  OH GOD UHHH not including NPCs: Henri, Beau/Mortau, Damian, Krisha, Sylvester, Dalet, Sebastian, Gemini,  Serena, Onya, Claudia, Shang, Michael, Jessica, Grace, Ryan, Heth, Hei, Vav, Mika, Angelisa, Solomon, Dantes, Eung-Ju, Atari, Hayami, Helena, Hana, Elliot, Darva, Namalee, Afraa, Gabriel, Theo, Anastasiya, Nocturne, Adelaide, Juniper, Gideon, Enoch, Beatrix, Penny, Augusta, Baphomet, Touma, Ambrus, Kenichi, Maxwell, Lundy, Irusan, Foxglove,  Miguel, Officer Ishibashi, Roy, Germaine, Suki, Lucia, Dakota, Lucas, Jezebel.

EXPERIENCE  /  HOW  LONG  (  MONTHS  /  YEARS? ) : I have been writing for about 11 years now! 

BEST  EXPERIENCE :   OH GOD SO ig it kinda sucks cause this is actually fairly recent BUT the best RP experience I ever had was my plot with @batoushoujo, @cxnfectioniism and @desparialuna . It’s the first group plot I have ever been involved in. Ever. And it’s just,,, been a lot of fun. Even if one of us is off for like 8 months, when we get back on we can pick off right where we left off and it’s really nice. Another good one is meeting @ohfiendangelical and @piinetrees​ cause they’re really great people and have a very interesting shared world / over arching plot with their muses. I’m really glad to have met everyone I mentioned here.

RP  PET  PEEVES  /  DEALBREAKERS :  SEVERAL THINGS HONESTLY. 

People who don’t read my rules is a big pet peeve of mine. And I can tell when someone either hasn’t read them or just does not give a fuck about them. In addition, when someone doesn’t read my bios. I know a lot of my muse bios aren’t complete, which is why I have the blurbs there, but when I DO have the full one up I can tell when people don’t read them. Again, either they don’t read them or they like to casually glance over a few very important details, leading me to the next one:

I get a lot of people who want romance with Damian, when he’s (gray)aromantic. There is a reason he is plotting only when it comes to ships and the reason is 99 times out of 100, he isn’t gonna like your muse back. He’s going to be a toxic, shitty, emotionally neglectful and kind of abusive boyfriend. Hell, he’s not even that great of a friend. Similarly, people also want to ship with Enoch. He’s not aromantic, but he’s the same in the toxicity and he’s not even attempting to improve himself like Damian is. I’ve got, like, 60 other muses to interact and ship with, so it confuses me when people want the worst ones that I’d like to be more selective with. ‘i can fix him’ does not work with my muses - it just enables them.

When i reject a plot idea and people take it as a challenge. ‘No’ does not mean ‘convince me’. ‘No’ means, ‘I’m not interested’, ‘the muses we’re using aren’t compatible for this’, or ‘this is against my rules’. No is a complete sentence and I shouldn’t have to explain over and over again why I said it.

Lack of consequences. Now, this is just my prefered way to run my blog, nothing wrong with not wanting realism in your writing... but I do want it in mine. If your muse provokes one of mine, gaslights them, tries to hit them, etc. depending on the muse... I’m sorry, but yours is probably going to get their ass beat if it’s someone like Damian or Serena. Now, if it’s someone like, say, Lucas or Suki, they’ll probably be the one who ends up beaten up but I digress. Consequences is what drives a plot. It’s what makes interactions interesting. 

Trying to force interactions with incompatible muses. I’ve got 60, man, if one doesn’t work out, there is 59 more to pick from. Just let the interaction die and we can use a different combo.

Probably more but this is getting long

MUSE  PREFERENCES  FLUFF,    ANGST  OR  SMUT :   I find fluff kind of boring at times, and smut is not something I’m 100% comfortable with writing. I do like my angst, but too much can be draining. All in all, plot driven threads are my favorite. 

PLOTS  OR  MEMES :   A mix of both? I like to have an idea of where to go, but flexibility in how to get there. plus, memes are really fun to answer when I’m not in the mood for my drafts. 

LONG  OR  SHORT  REPLIES : It depends! Both? Neither?

BEST TIME TO WRITE :    When I should be sleeping ghfvghjf either RIGHT after waking up or when I’m tired as fuck at like 2 in the morning. One time I pulled an all nighter and i got like 20 drafts done. 

ARE  YOU  LIKE  YOUR  MUSE(S) :  Edit: wow I forgot this section omg. It just depends on the muse. Thry all have something in common with me, but I try to make them as different as I can as well.

TAGGED  BY  :   i stole it from @piinetrees haha​

TAGGING  : @yesfxckyxu @pvremichigan @ohfiendangelical @hhemeraa @smokes-and-bullets @batoushoujo @perennial-tenacity @wiildhearrted​ @nullificationofthevoid @stainedcarmine  @suizokukans @zhuangshii​ whoever else sees this and wants to steal it

#mun fax #I Have To Know; Digging Deep and Soon // Dash Games #i had to count all my muses for this and I have realized they're getting out of control!!!