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novelconcepts · 15 days

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Do you ever just lay awake at night, turning over in your head the stark difference in delivery between Hewson's Van saying--steadily, unshakably--"it's just something that's happening to you...happening to us" and Cypress' Taissa saying--imploringly, whiningly--"this was not just my dream, this was our dream"?

Do you ever just turn it over and over, how often Tai tried to scare Van away, and how it only made Van set her feet more firmly? How Taissa's first love was this person who saw a problem fall into Taissa's lap, a problem that was quite literally trapped inside Taissa's body, and decided unflinchingly: No, that's an us problem now? How she refused point-blank to walk away even with blood in her mouth, how she flatly informed Tai "I'm never gonna be scared of you", and promptly turned a moment of pain into a declaration of love? And how this would etch itself into Taissa for the rest of her life? How she'd take these things that worked with Van--with the person Van was, with the bond they shared--and try so hard to run through an identical script with Simone?

Except Simone is her own person. A completely different kind of person. A person who hasn't been offered any of the context, any of the realities going on inside Taissa. So: naturally she doesn't respond the way Van did at eighteen--and will go on to do all over again in her forties. Naturally, she hears our dream as the excuse it is, not as a plea for connection. Naturally, she is scared away when Taissa pushes, and shouts, and begs. Because there isn't blood in her mouth, not yet, but there will be. And they have a son to worry about. And she isn't eighteen and a special kind of immortal, a special kind of romanticized. She's a grown woman with responsibilities, with priorities, with an understanding that you can't fix someone just because you love them. And Tai can't just perform a revival of the play she and Van had memorized twenty-five years later with a whole new performer in the works, and expect it to shake out the same.

Of course it doesn't work. But look at Taissa trying it. Look at Taissa trying to reframe her first love through a new lens. Trying to recast it. Trying to play it through again. Van taught her love was sticking out the blood, shaking off the pain, making a you problem into an us problem. Does it ever just eat at you, how tragic it is, watching Taissa try to shape her marriage around a woman who isn't even wearing a ring?

#yellowjackets #yj meta #taivan #sorry i'm just fucking obsessed with cypress' delivery choice in that scene #it is the most immature we EVER hear tai sound #and it's not teenage taissa. it's adult wife-mother-almost senator tai flat out whining in desperation #it is SUCH a choice #and then after the S2 opener to hear van sound so adult offering a glimpse as to WHY tai would #so pleadingly seek turning a Tai Thing into an Us Thing #yeah. yeah of course she would. because van shared the worst of her #van shared it without allowing tai to dissaude her. van quite literally tethered herself to tai's problems #and tai learned: that is what love is #and tai thought: this is what love is #it's sharing. and giving up on sharing is surrendering the whole thing #and she's lying! is the thing! she's lying to simone and to herself #she's making excuses for doing what she wants to do even though she shouldn't be doing it #but the core of it is Team. the core of it is Us. the core of it is #'if you love me you will be on my side. for better or worse.'#because that's what van did. for better. and for so much worse.#which isn't true. isn't actually how love works. love is sometimes putting your foot down and saying 'nah dude that ain't it.'#love is communication. but that was never taivan's game and it isn't tai's now and so she's just trying old plays #and it is NOT a play that can ever work the same with simone in the leading role. nor should it.#but god everything about them makes me so sad because simone deserves better and taissa needs what she won't admit to #anyway. will be absolutely gnawing at the walls until S3.

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brookheimer · 1 year

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the one thing i feel pretty certain about for this episode is that america will not decide the election. a decision will be made, a president will be elected, but america will not be the deciding factor.

succession can’t mimic 2016 or 2020 point blank, that would be boring and have nothing to say. it can’t try to outdo trump because it’ll go too whacky and fall flat like veep’s last season (sorry conheads, no way he’s winning). but what it CAN do is illustrate the immensely corrupt, often arbitrary, and hugely influential nature of news media and conglomerations on political processes. i think probably jimenez will be in the lead, then atn/waystar does something to, i don’t know, discount votes or cast suspicion on jimenez or call the election for mencken early, and the tide will shift, even though the votes are already in. the votes don’t actually matter. the actual result doesn’t actually matter. that’s the power logan (and as an extension, billionaires and CEOs in general) hold. shiv says it herself to logan in s4e2: “just cause you say it’s true doesn’t make it true. everyone just fucking agrees with you and believes you, so it becomes true and then you can turn around and say like, 'oh, you see? see? i was right.'” but it doesn’t matter that logan’s “a human fucking gaslight,” everything he says comes true anyways. not because he was right, but because that’s how it works. he says things and then they happen, regardless of what the truth is or what should actually come to pass. that’s been one of the key throughlines since the very first episode of the entire show when, in response to kendall calling logan out of touch because times are changing and logan isn't changing with them, logan hisses that everyone always says you’re wrong until you do it and prove you were right: “you make your own reality.” you can't miss the bus if you're the one driving it. the election, the votes, the political process? none of that matters. it was always going to come down to the roys and their ilk (allies or enemies, just the top 1%) — that was the whole point of “what it takes” (the mencken episode) last season, after all.

i’ve seen lots of theories about what america will choose and how the candidates will respond and all that and i just don’t think that’s the show’s focus; i think the whole point is to demonstrate the lack of agency, the illusion of democracy. because, i mean, we’ve already seen the fall of democracy via fascist election and fascist election-denial, both in real life and in the countless (usually mid) satires created afterwards. it would be disappointing to see succession use the election to reiterate that same point of 'ohhh alt-right ahhhhh!!!' i don’t think it’ll be about ‘fascism’ at all — at least, not ‘trump-y’ fascism. it’ll be about fascism in the broader sense, the kind that doesn't sport a KKK hood (even when it keeps one tucked away in the attic). it's the fascism that every single roy (very much including shiv and kendall) aid and abet -- the fascism that so many succession fans don't seem to regard as fascism, despite it quite literally being the definition of fascism. trump wasn’t the entrance of fascism into our political process. he wasn’t the lone sign of the failing of american democracy. democracy in america has long been illusory, trump just made it more blatantly evident with his particular brand of hate-speech-ridden masculinist in-your-face fascism.

so i think that’s what this episode will hopefully focus on — america will not decide. corporations, news media, and the roys will. thus, the president will most likely become president not because the country supports his policies the most, but because he’s likely to agree to help block a business deal for a major media empire, and the other candidate is unlikely to. and this will likely come to pass due to said major media empire's interference and influence: they create their own reality. they say it, and everyone agrees with them and believes them, so it becomes true.

#WOOF okay here's my unnecessary ~thematic prediction~ for this episode #i have some more like random thoughts ab what'll happen but those r less thought out and more throwing shit at the wall etc #but i've been thinking a lot ab this ep n idk i just can't see any other way it could be done satisfyingly -- they can't just do 2016/2020 #again. the focus has to be elsewhere. i have some specifics thoughts on details but again those r kinda random n will be in another post #after bizarrely getting a lot of things right this szn i know a lot of people are looking to me to see what i'll say for this ep and let me #remind yall that I AM LITERALLY JUST GUESSING BASED ON MY UNDERSTANDING OF THE SHOW AND HOW NARRATIVES #TEND TO WORK PARTICULARLY IN SUCCESSION! if i am wrong which i very well might be please do not crucify me. i know literally #nothing more than anyone else i'm just a random english/gov major who likes speculating about media ! that said if i end up right again #somehow then yes i am a prophet i am jesse armstrong i have never been wrong about anything in my life. etc #watch this age so poorly tho.#LOL #also fwiw i dont think the Shock etc is going to come from the election results - maybe possibly from the way things happen (i could see a #line of miscommunication resulting in fucked up outcomes etc which i can get into in another post) or a roy sibs moment but i just #don't think there's any way the results themselves cld be surprising. it's jimenez or mencken. it's not gonna be connor guys.#succession #succession spoilers #except not really. just succession speculation more than anything else #long post #succession speculation #100

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reachexceedinggrasp · 2 days

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Danny 'I don't do weird' Pink frustrates me as a character, because I'm honestly not sure whether he was supposed to have an arc or not.

His primary role is as a foil for Clara's arc and, in aid of that, as a mirror to the Doctor. A solider with survivor's guilt and a man of action who can't stand by when people need help etc., in some ways he and the Doctor have a lot in common, but he's also a very grounded and circumspect personality versus the Doctor's being fantastical and adventurous. Danny isn't curious and doesn't want to pursue new things or experiences, instead he wants to be fully present with and grateful for what he already has. The Doctor is incorrigibly curious and always interested in new things.

Danny is someone who desires nothing more than an ordinary life, and looks for beauty and satisfaction in the normal things and people around him. He wants his world to be small and quiet, he values the mundane things others might take for granted. He's normal, patient, dependable, simple, honest, etc. His reaction to trauma hasn't been to disavow the things which lead him to that event, or to seek out stimulation to avoid thinking about it, it's to be thoughtful and cautious and somewhat rigid so he can always apply the mindset and skills he retained from before he was traumatised.

He's very firm and unbending in his worldview and in his self-image. He doesn't seem to ever reassess people once he's decided what he thinks of them. He's not unreasonable or unwilling to compromise, he is in fact maybe too reasonable, but he is implastic. He's extremely even-tempered except for around his identity as a soldier, which he's prickly about, but still pretty quick to let it go as long as he's not being deliberately antagonised.

So anyway Danny represents this other path, and this opposite response to the horror of war and making a catastrophic mistake, but he never learns, he never grows and he and Clara are never much on the same wavelength about anything. He's supposed to be stability, the things she 'should' want, the 'person she's supposed to like', the safe choice, the presentable life which Clara feels like she has to have. He's orderly and ordinary and that's what she wants from him. She has to control her image, her future, and her options.

And their simple relationship, once it exists, functions well as the contrast to her complicated and tumultuous relationship with the Doctor while the companion power dynamic is being dismantled and rebuilt so they can be emotional equals. But like, the set up is confusingly executed.

Listen- they have zero chemistry, they have nothing to talk about and have to resort to talking about work, every conversation goes instantly off the rails, they rub each other the wrong way, there is never any reason for them to keep reconciling and trying again to connect. Like. You are not hitting it off! and keep offending each other bc you're not compatible! Quit!!

Clara is forcing it, that makes complete sense with what she's going through, she's trying to take control of her life and her emotions, trying to prove to herself she's not pining for the Doctor and at the mercy of his whims for her life to be full and complete. She doesn't want to need him or to be dependant on him. She doesn't want to be the heartbroken sadsack whom he abandoned at Christmas or who will take whatever scraps he'll throw her. She wants to control his position in her life and control how she feels about him. Hence her assigning him a specific day and confining their adventures on her own terms. She's trying to keep the Doctor compartmentalised. Having an Appropriate Human Relationship means she's successfully put the Doctor in his box (lol) and neutralised the chaotic power of her feelings for him. I mean, obviously not, but that's what she tells herself.

But what is Danny doing? Why does he keep pursuing this when it's so clearly not a good match?

Again in Listen, and much more so The Caretaker, Danny illustrates that he does not know who Clara is, he's wildly wrong about her and what she's like, and he's very high handed about it as well. He's convinced that the Doctor is taking advantage of her, that the Doctor is domineering in their relationship, that she is not a person who wants to be put into challenging or dangerous positions, that the Doctor is pushing her to takes risks and become a leader where that's not her nature. None of this is true. Clara was always a decisive, assertive, strongly driven person who seeks out new experiences and naturally assumes a leadership role any time that's necessary; she relishes being challenged and facing the unknown. Her blow up with the Doctor wasn't about him 'pushing her too far', it was about him failing to support her when she needed him and condescending to her as a human rather than treating her with the intimacy and equity their bond and history together demands. It's personal and it's about their emotional relationship. It's not about making hard choices, it's about having to make hard choices without her partner being honest with and emotionally available to her.

Clara was always an adventurous person, willing to be spontaneous as long as it's on her terms, and excited by the prospect of authority and responsibility. The danger and challenge isn't an unfortunate side effect or a risk she has to take to see amazing sights, it's part of the appeal. She lied to Danny by omission when she said she went off in the box to 'see wonders', not just because the real reason is that she's in love with Doctor, but also because she doesn't just want to be a tourist. She wants to get involved and save people, she wants things to sometimes go pear shaped. She enjoys and craves that part of it too.

Danny is also wildly wrong about the Doctor, but this is understandable and would be fine except that he's never corrected? He never learns better? What's the point?

In Death in Heaven Danny goes out still wrong about the Doctor, still condemning him cruelly and unfairly while knowing nothing about him. He had a point with his original rant, there was actual insight there, but it's buried in assumptions and bitterness and then Danny keeps tripling down on the assumption. The one which doesn't understand that the very thing he's shitting on the Doctor for (being willing to lead and make hard choices which must be made in order to save people) is something the Doctor has in common with Clara. And always has. The Doctor didn't change her or push her into that, that's who she's always been.

What is the point of Danny calling him a blood-soaked general and mocking him, calling him an officer as a pejorative again, and again because the Doctor is trying to save the planet. Like, memory check, that's what Danny is mad about. The Doctor doing everything in his power to save literal billions of lives. Doing it for no reason, out of altruism. Doing it while always trying very hard not to fight or kill anyone.

I don't understand how we're meant to find Danny sympathetic in that moment, because he comes off like a complete dickhead. And it's all the more frustrating because in the intervening episodes Danny has been eminently reasonable. As I've discussed before, we're exhaustively shown that Danny is 100% okay with what Clara claims is going on, that he doesn't want to get in the way of her friendship with the Doctor, that if it really were only the relationship she's pretending it is, there would be no conflict. He's the one who encourages her to make up with him after Kill the Moon! He tells her to go on travelling and it's fine!

Even when he discovers she's been lying to him and cavorting with the Doctor behind his back (again despite him telling her it was fine!), he's calm and repeats for the millionth time that all he wants from her is honesty. The truth. Which is the one thing she can't give him because Clara knows their relationship is built on the lie. The truth is, as Moffatt said, that Danny never stood a chance. There is a conflict between the two relationships and she's always going to choose the Doctor.

And that does come out, she gives the whole speech to Danny, not knowing it's him, finally being honest. And he seems unsurprised by it, which makes sense because on some level he definitely always knew ('do you love him?' 'no' 'really sick of the lies'), but then nothing comes of it. Clara just soldiers on and he allows her to pretend. He goes off on the Doctor, but not in a way he actually deserves at all, and just sweeps her confession under the carpet. Letting her get away with it again. True to form, I guess! he always did. But shouldn't we make progress?

And it's like... I hate that he dies on that note. It feels like he dies in denial. I guess you could argue it contributes to his decision to not come back, but that feels like a disservice to the character. Saving the kid is important to Danny, it allows him to atone but he didn't need to change or grow to accomplish that and it doesn't provide closure to his actual role in the narrative, which was as Clara's foil. Clara is off the hook, free to go on lying to herself about their relationship. It's not addressed in Last Christmas, either, it's only hinted at.

#clara oswald #whouffaldi #dw #twelfth doctor #dw meta #I feel a constant need to remind people that the first thing Danny asks after Clara explains who the Doctor is #is 'do you love him?'#it's that transparent #and he asks already knowing the answer and immediately calling bullshit when she denies it #and apparently accepts this as not a threat to him on the basis of the Doctor being an untouchable alien incapable of loving her back #like as if she had a crush on a dragon or the Great Wall of China #I can't tell if that speaks to his lack of self worth or if it's just really patronising #I appreciate In the Forests of the Night so much for the scene where he finally realises he should be jealous #but then he's just Extremely Reasonable about it again #he has total faith in his idea of who Clara is- utter conviction #and it's completely misplaced #I feel owed the psychological fallout from this is all I'm saying #calling this meta is being very generous bc did I even say anything #but whatever it's a bunch of words I'll put it in the box with the other words #I've realised 95% of my whouffaldi meta is in tags on gifsets so

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mostlyanything19 · 7 months

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One fun fact about me is that I played the demo of The Beekeeper's Picnic by @beekeeperspicnic and it's brought me nearly to tears several times just out of pure like. sentimentality?? affection for these two men and this very specific little world they inhabit? my foolish heart that's been stuck on Sherlock Holmes for going on ten years now? idk man idk

#what i'm saying is i'm so happy people are making things like this game it is so sweet and i love it #moments include: holmes and watson's little conversations in baker street when you look at things.#just kinda being in baker street generally. and then imagining moving away and leaving this long long chapter of a life behind #holmes' little comments on stuff like the solar system in his attic #the moment when you realize holmes will go and watson will (for now) not follow #the echoing of other times they've been apart and all the reasons for it #watson coming back to england and coming straight to holmes' door - he's got a knack for this after all. the aftermaths of wars.#the moment when you re-enter the attic in sussex and see all the portraits on the wall and the light shining in and the bees and the /life/#and what's in the morocco case these days #and the sweet ending #gosh #other holmes #p #the beekeeper's picnic

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summertimemusician · 7 months

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Linktober Shadow Day 7

Gloom Hands

This goes out to the way I cackled hysterically once seeing these things in TOTK, well done Zelda Team. They're a terrifying concept and I really feel exploring that could be fun, even if this prompt gave me a headache and a half.

Bit late today because we've been pelted by way too many storms/lightning and writing on mobile with lightning shaking your house is generally a bad idea, so I spent most of the time writing this and the Linktober prompt by hand, then transcribing it back onto mobile as soon as I could touch eletronics without the major risk of being zapped and picking a god and praying that my internet wouldn't be too funky so I could get it out on time. Short one again though because I still need to finish the Linktober prompt so it should come out later today or fully tomorrow, sorry folks.

Anyway, as always can be read as romantic or platonic, also Sage is here both because of the prompt and because the mental image of Wild Reader and Sage trauma bonding over the extremely twisted nature Gloom/the Malice have compared to just dark magic in general in LoZ was too funny to resist, if Nintendo won't talk about the many variations of Dark Magic in LOZ and how it affects any who come in contact with it then lord darn it I guess I'll just have to do it myself (or as much as I can without breaking out the companion essay to the Realm of Darkness and Realm of Light essay which I'm already having trouble digging out).

TW:

Technically graphic descriptions of decay, gore and eldritch horror, and Reader just not having a good day in general, don't recommend reading I'd you're highly squeamish.

When you’ve first met Sage, as the Chain temporarily dubbed him, you and Wild didn’t miss the way he looked so, so haunted. Emotions warring like a storm as he looked Wild over in a mix of disbelief and the weariness of a wounded fox getting ready to bite just to escape, at the Chain with such longing ache that made one’s heart break, the way the first time he met Wolfie he didn’t hesitate to throw himself atop the canine and hug him so close like he was trying to melt into the fur, and looking at you like he didn’t know wether to cry, scream or to shut down before he buried it under the mask you knew your resident Champion could use when trying so desperately to keep it together, hands shaky as he signed in a way that set your teeth on edge and felt like you had taken a dozen of ice arrows to the back, urgent, 'It’s not safe. None of you should be here. You need to leave. Now.'

Needless to say it was alarming, even as you all knew just how ferociously untamed his and Wild’s Hyrule could be, with being overrun with so, so many types of divinity through each crack, root, drop and flesh of it’s beings. From Hylia’s cold calculating care, the Three Goddesses blood, tears and breath of life, to the Malice’s howling self sustaining fury, The Lost Woods ever overgrowing freedom and even the remnants of the Fierce Deity’s hunt in Satori’s and Malaniya's savage display of cyclic eternity, it wasn’t any surprised that apart from the Traveler’s Hyrule it was the most aggressive one with the smorgasbord of energy so thick it made even you choke on it everytime you stepped foot in it. Beautiful and free in an echo of it’s once untamed state in the age of myth even before Sky.

Over time, you and the Chain learned how to adapt to it. To listen to the warnings Wild gave about the Guardians and about the remains of Malice in his monsters, of how the moon had been forever tainted with it and how, until Sheikah tech was fully repurposed it would be best to avoid the castle all together it was difficult but manageable, and even if Sage’s reaction was alarming (and he seemed even more troubled once Wild passed onto him from Sky that, while he wasn’t to come with them yet due to how things were apparently ‘fated’ to happen, there was no way you all could leave quite yet, distantly sticking by Wild and Twilight when possible and checking on everyone’s health when not doing so), you’d though it would be much the same for his own, and in parts you were right as the Chain had taken to the new environment like fishes to water even if it took some adjustments.

Though you were quickly proven wrong, and you could have laughed at your past self’s naivety.

It was meant to be a quick run to clear a black blooded monster camp, and while decently challenging, it was over quickly between the Chain getting more apt at fighting the enemy, Sage’s addition as the man fought as ruthlessly and ferociously as Wild, switching between deadly marksmanship and feral combat on a dime and the absence of the unnaturally inteligent black scales lizalfos, you’d rest and be on your way quickly. Or so you all thought.

Twilight had been the first to smell it, the bubbling of dark but distinctively twisted magic, even more so than Zant’s brand of madness. Wild the one to spot it, the rot black and blood crimson building up at the edges of camp from his vantage point but it was Sage who had tensed, eyes snapping to the faint glow the Master Sword emmited just as the sky darkned before his frantic, alarmed howl swept over the Chain, the sheer desperate, protective panic making all of your boys still, because Sage never used his voice unless he absolutely had to, “IT'S NOT OVER! MOVE!”

It was all the warning any of you got before reality twisted, straining, and then finally screaming, the heavens staining with crimson as if gutted open, the eyes of a sin against nature itself cutting through your relief and infecting your veins with terror. It shakes you to the core, freezing with indecisive flight or fight as you spotted the tide. Heart in your throat as you tried to comprehend what you saw.

“WHAT THE-“, Legend cursed, looking ashen as his grip on his fire rod tightened. Really, all of your heroes look disturbed and you can’t blame them.

“Get to high ground if you want to live! We can’t fight these things.”, snapped Sage, much more composed, but no less frenzied.

None of you hesitate to listen.

(There were some unspoken rules, when in Wild’s Hyrule the first time around. If there is something the Champion, the most reckless of all Links, wasn’t willing to fight head on or said wasn’t worth it, the best course of action was to listen, specially if the group was vulnerable.)

The hands screech, the tide rolling over the land with an reality splitting clamoring, a sound so filled with fury and so, so twisted it made your Hylian’s ears friends bleed and you lift a hand to your head in pain as Wild pulled you along, Sage leading the charge for the nearest cliff face as Warrior’s threw Wind over his shoulders and Twilight didn’t hesitate before doing the same to Four, the frost from Legend and bomb arrows from Time and Sky barely doing nothing to slow it’s relentless charge, merely taking from it a distorted, pitched crescendoing belt of pure rage and the overlaying of many tortured souls screaming all at once, of Hyrule rejecting this existence from the world but wounded at being unable to vanquish it, the sound it makes as it spreads and drags itself across the ground with uncanny speed with it’s many, many arms like something in between sludge and smacking, wet, rotten flesh.

Sage switches between shooting arrows to helping the other Links up the cliff and shooting at it’s eyes with the strongest bow he has,making as many arrow fusions on the spot as he dares. The others quickly taking as many ranged weapons from their sides to do the same. You help Hyrule up the clifface, while Wild swipes Cryonis over the field, climbing up himself, being hauled to Sage’s side.

You are almost there when one of the hands latch onto your ankle, and you go down with a scream, Sage all but dropping the bow in his hand in favor to latching onto your hand with snarl. And

It.

Is.

Agony.

(It burns through you like your very atoms have been set on fire,bthe hands take the opportunity to sink into you, long long unnatural fingers sinking into your flesh in a unhurried blanket of darkness, the Demon King’s will is roaring, growling with abyssal rage, if it cannot rule Hyrule, it would kill everything in it instead. Gloom sinks into your cells, raptures the membranes and makes the skin slip, frantically invading, you taste rotten flesh on the back of your throat and the scent of wither and ash choke you as it sinks into your flesh, marrow, breaks down your bones bit by bit, cracking and infecting and breaking down your very essence with the fury of a dead deity which refused die, decay on an accelerated rate all over where the hands clutched like a vice as the Links trunfo pull you out or attack it and it is painful and it’s excruciatingly wretched and make it STOPCEASEITHURTS-)

A well aimed Skyward Strike severs the connection, the pain stops and you fall into Sage, breathing hard and unevenly, grasping at him like a lifeline, clawing and counting at Wild’s arm on your other side like a wounded animal, your taste blood on your throat from the screams that were ripped from it, Hyrule falling to his knees on your side as healing magic washes over you like a shroud, trying to get you to respond.

Reality howls along with you, before all is silent.

It barely took a second.

“... Just what were those things?”, rasps Sky, horrified, a sentiment echoed through the Chain, though you can’t focus on it, trying not to choke on your own blood and to pull yourself together, Wild’s hand unconsciously settling on your pulse, shaking, and Sage’s tense tone cuts through the air as he scans the area. Still tense, tone hoarse.

“... The reason why I wanted you to leave.”

Later, much, much later, before you all leave, you learn they are called Gloom Hands.

It’s unanimously agreed that all you hold loathing for those abominations, even long after you’re forced to leave Sage.

He whispers something to Wild on the way out, hugging him close, trembling. Your Champion nods, you can’t make out the words, but you make sure to hold him as close as you can before you go, indulge him in checking for your pulse even long after you’re healed.

You hope he’ll be safe, he hopes that the next time you all see each other again, it’ll be under better circumstances.

#linked universe x reader #linked universe wild x reader #linked universe sage x reader #Does Sage know more than he lets on? Absolutely. Will he ever talk about it? Probably not.#Up to interpretation what Sage told Wild because it's very intentional that no one but him hears it #Yes I threw the Chain right in the middle of his adventure just to cause future worry and trauma lol #Just saying. The Gloom Hands are as much a living being as they are an infection upon the living land that is Hyrule #None of the aspects of Hyrule like it and the people in it much less.#Due to the many faces of Dark Magic in LoZ not even people connected to it are down for it in this essay I will-#I have a lot of thoughts about it in my mind and headcanons to try and fill in the gaps but sadly the storm kept me from addressing it #Also shout out to the ask about my thoughts on it.#I apologize for the wall of text you shall receive once I'm actually well rested enough because 'tis a long one #but just thinking about it helped me dive into this prompt with all the vigor of a possessed victorian widow #after inheriting her husband's state #I have way too many thoughts about the nature of Hyrule and the lore and connections behind it's magic lol #summer writes linktober shadow 2023 #summer writes

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sylvia-forest · 1 year

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[CN] Upcoming Shaw's Karma

— — Let's go, it was agreed that you would be mine today.

— —I love you, I won't repeat it a second time if you didn't hear me clearly.

[Date blurb]

Is love a pleasant sweet word, or a candlelit dinner on Valentine's Day?

He who is the most "anti-romantic" in the world wants to tell you in his own way.

Love is the comfort and ease of being together, the scenery witnessed together on the skateboard.

It is the breath that is tainted with the same smell, and speaks of the unspoken firmness at every meeting.

— —“Despite catharsis, we have nothing to repress.”

—

#IGNORE MY INCOHERENT SCREAMING #WHY WAS I FREAKING ASLEEP?? I MISSED SUCH AN IMPORTANT OCCASION 😭😭#IK PG WAS GONNA DROP SOME MADNESS BUT THIS IS A WHOLE NEW MADNESS 🫠#I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING CUZ MY MIND IS GOING CRAZY AAAAA #FINALLY AN OFFICIAL SHAW KISS KARMA AFTER SO MANY YEARS 🥹#I CAN FINALLY DIE IN PEACE 😭😭#I'M GONNA FRAME THIS ON MY WALL AND LOOK AT IT EVERYDAY 🥹#mlqc spoilers #mlqc cn #mlqc shaw #mlqc ling xiao #mlqc translations #mr love queen's choice #mlqc #love and producer

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finexbright · 1 year

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i know some people say that he relies on fans too much but i don't think you'll say that if you see the genuine emotion on his face while talking about fans and the support he's received over the years and how much we've done for him. the sheer overwhelm and gratitude on his face as he spoke about how if it weren't for the fans and how much we boost him up, he wouldn't have moved from the sound of walls to the sound of faith in the future, which to be fair are miles apart and takes some artists years to move between genres. he's well aware of how the industry has betrayed him but he's truly reached a point where he does what he does for the people who love him and no one else and i'm so proud of him for that. i know in this industry radio play and awards and public promo matters, but to see him talk about us has made me realise that to him success means that his music was loved by his fans and everything else is just a bonus. he was sat there, a full few weeks after his album going number one, and he still couldn't believe it. he looked like he didn't know how else to say thank you, and like words were falling short for the amount of gratitude he wanted to express. being in the crowd last night made me realise just how much he values the artist-fan relationship he's built with us and he wants to keep working towards keeping this connection strong and tight knit and creating this community together 🫂🤍

#like. i know so many people complain about him not getting radio play #but being there last night made me realise that he's aware of it and he will shade it but at the end of the day #to him what matters is us loving his music and being so gassed for him and his career #he even said that this album and the sound was a culmination of what both he and us wanted #like. it was his way of sort of saying ''i know you wanted me to go punk and so i did and i'm glad you loved it''#and like when i say he's truly doing it for the fans i don't mean it in a fan service way i mean that he's doing what he loves #while also completely trusting that we'll love it and give it all the hype that it deserves #given how much the industry has sabotaged i know it would've been hard to move from walls to fitf and its sound #but he only did it because he knew we'd eat that up #and i'm so proud of him for making an album that he genuinely loves and is so pumped for performing #you could see it on his face last night that he too was thinking about how he was gonna miss tour and how excited he was #i honestly can't wait to see how fucking awesome tour will be 🤍#meant to post this last night after the q+a but my hands were freezing so you get it now

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lotus-pear · 2 years

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childhood comfort anime about plastic spinning tops from 2016 out here curing my art block🫶🏼

#just decided on whim to indulge in a 50 episode show about plastic tops just for the childhood nostalgia #hello beyburst fandom it's been five fucking years how many seasons are we at #i stopped watching after turbo🤡👌#anyway. can i just say i'm literally in love with all the charcater designs? like that shit slaps so hard #shu is so <3333 he has never had a bad outfit design #i personally love him in turbo bc he had the suit and the coat and he was growing his hair out and it was kinda fine😳#but yeah i just recently finished s1 and i'm starting on evolution soon #wakiya is still my favorite to date i love the snarky rich blond bitches #also valt and shu? otp 🫶#i forgot how much i hated lui like this bitch tried to gouge shu's eye out on national tv what a bastard how do ppl like him😭😭#carrot twig ass hoe #shu could flick you and you'd splat on the wall like a fly #anyway love the whole family dynamic that goes on in s1 which is why it's my favorite season:)#everyone's just a nice happy found family in japan #evolution was okay too ig but shu was missing the whole time and everyone left home so :/#idk s1 just hits different #beyblade burst #beyburst #beyblade burst shu #shu kurenai #beyblade fanart #beyblade fandom #lotus draws

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an-unraveling-unknown · 9 days

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You ever do something not thinking much of it, but after you do it you realize it was actually like a genius move?

This happened to me with my story: Started it off with a fairly standard conflict; someone wants what Tuon has. But afterward I was like "Oh shit, this is a prime opportunity to show his unyielding guardianship!" But not only that, I also realized that it did a great job at reflecting his flaws and sort of foreshadowing them to the reader

Oh man THATS SO GOOD!! It is so nifty when things work out like that, I hear you- long story relatively short, you betcha.

I had something like that with Aeonian, my Tav for Baldur's Gate 3. One of their quirks that I put down on paper early on was that the places were their muscles would be are rock hard - mainly because of the fact that they're cramming a monolithically sized form's worth of matter down into a humanoid body thats eight times smaller, hence putting a lot of strain on their body as a whole, but also à la a statue for a physical form.

"Statue for a physical form.... death and rebirth themes*......statue made of rock. wait."

Because I cannot escape my hyperfixations, geology was thrown back in my face in whence I was immediately reminded of the ROCK CYCLE:

-which can be pretty well-applied to the whole death and rebirth thing, not to mention a nifty little guideline as to how their character arc can go as well as Aeonian's place as a story in of themselves (long story, involves statues though) and their tendency to 'erode' themselves per se if it means getting where they need to be. Metamorphosis also links pretty cleanly here too, not only because of the metamorphic rock and its processes but because of parallels between Aeonian (embodiment of death [at sea]) and Thanatos, the greek personification of death, who is usually represented by way of butterflies.

I'm real bad at explaining things so I apologize if none of this made a lick of sense, I promise it's a lot clearer in my head and please feel free to ask for clarity on anything!! this is probably some of my favorite character work I've done so far

*dionysus+being the literal embodiment of death [at sea,] longer story

(Please talk more about Tuon he is SO cool and I talk too much, that's some really good character writing)

#oc lore #original character #baldurs gate tav #bg3 tav #bg3 #mind - Aeonian and their sister were originally created outside of Baldur's Gate for a separate project (hence the greek myth allusions)#and i kind of just plonked them in cos I didn't feel like creating a new character at the time #hence why this may seem wacko bonkers #oc #this stone theme I have going on also reflects how they act for a good while #Earlier on in the story #(at least in terms of their character in BG3)#they know they are here for one purpose;#get in #find missing sister (long story)#get out #As per detriment this also means that they're rather walled #and they only organized the adventuring party in the first place because the other three (Karlach Gale Astarion) have skills that they don'#thus actually finding their sister will go a whole lot smoother #all this to say they aren't here to make friends #but they do soften after a while (with much heat and pressure e.g combat and working together and bonding)#my oc stuff #they have so many issues man #their entire mantra basically amounts to 'if I'm not dead I'm fine' which is an idiot thing to follow when you're immortal #“I will keep moving forward as long as I breathe regardless of if there's enough of me left to move” -immortal fucking dipshit /lovingly

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mcdannowave · 1 year

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#h50 1x02 #h50 bloopers #alex o'loughlin #scott caan #hawaii five 0 #danny williams #steve mcgarrett #O'Caan #both their reactions are so cute #and it's S01 ep2 #so Alex been on set/island for not a long time. and already bonding nice w/ the crew #love that atmosphere on bloopers #(yes. there were the ''Two Alphas' colliding w/ Scotty & Al always saying. but despise any real bicker.They became real friends)#and i'm so fond os Scott calling Alex his friend. even if we don't get to see the off camera bc both so private #(thank Meaghan..for blessing us inside those walls🙏)#the 'let's-go-out-to-eat-together-cast' rly warms some hearts to know abt it #I rly rly hope that.In Alex whatever-next-project. when he does the 'mandatory' press junk.He talks abt Scotty.like scott did to him #better yet if is on a daily talk show instead a YT segment #anyway. love that Scott appreciates and didn't forget Alex(and Meaghan) after all those yrs together #mine

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veggiecorner · 6 months

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while Mineru's send off is a sweet way of ending totk, I think there should've been an ending similar to Skyward Sword - where Link finds Zelda overlooking Hyrule (or I guess Lookout Landing specifically), and she looks conflicted. Once she notices Link she thanks him again for everything and they sit around in their silence. Zelda then opens up about her time in the past, of how she saw Hyrule being established, the first royal family rule over the land, and the war that followed it. She realized that while the kingdom seemed strong and the people seemed happy, she decided that she doesn't want that for her current land now. She tells him that she now is secure in her decision to not make the same mistakes as her own father, or Rauru has done when ruling over the land. She just wants to help her people - but as equals. I think that would be a good way to show where the story will be in the future - and how Zelda (and Link cause lets be real that man is not leaving her especially after the dragon thing) will spend the rest of her life.

#zelda does not establish the monarchy #i say this to the wall #totk #i keep thinking how sad i was at the end of totk? it didn't necessarily itch...the itch i was looking for #then again neither did botw #bUT AT THE SAME TIME #Like...i was more satisfied in how zelda's character was tied in botw #than i was in totk #cause after totk i was like.....so........#is she a queen???? does she rebuild the kingdom #personally i think no because the fact that she said “together” or something at the end #but others read it as yes she reestablishes it #AND THE FUCKING INTERVIEW you know what i'm talking about #anyways #thats why i'm so!!1 ugh about the future of zelda games and how devs were like “we want players to build their own story”#NO!!! no then we're gonna have this mess and a lack of character building!!#zelda #AND ANOTHER THING i just straight up didn't care about Mineru enough to ...care about that ending

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factorialsotherfandoms · 7 months

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(Note before I start this one - while most of the everything is the same, this ficlet contains an AU backstory for Missa in which he wasn't always half-skeleton [whatever that means] and the act of becoming one causes both body horror symptoms of rotting and decaying and disintegrating flesh, which in turn causes fluctuating chronic pain. He understands the cause of this to be a curse laid upon his hometown for the accidental desecration of an old temple. The truth... If I play more in this au, maybe someday I'll reveal it.

(Mostly this is just I've been in horrific pain recently thanks to my own disabilities and the weather, so I wrote Missa being a very brave wet cat about it and getting a cuddle and some forehead kisses from Philza. Enjoy?)

Morning comes in a familiar shade of agony. Last time the rot had been this bad, Missa had been living with Roier. Now, however, he is married - governmentally enforced, platonically, for the sake of Chayanne - and he likes to think he and Philza are close. But... They are perhaps not as close as Missa would like them to be, and Philza - brave, strong Philza - seeing Missa destroyed by pain would surely lead to... Missa is not quite sure, but is sure it would be bad.

Certainly, if he had known it was going to be this bad, he would never have stayed the night.

But... If he can just get up, then he can make an excuse, and if he can make an excuse he can hobble back to Roier's house, and if he can get there he can collapse on the kitchen floor in a sobbing heap as his flesh disintegrates at a faster than usual rate and the pain consumes his consciousness.

Unfortunately, any form of getting up is proving impossible. Breakfast must be nearly ready, for there is a knock at their shared bedroom door, and Philza sticks his head around the door.

"Missa? You up yet?"

Missa tries to answer, he really does, but all that he can force from his lips is a desperate, quiet whimper.

Philza, beloved Philza, must hear it regardless; Missa's husband is quickly there, eyes searching as he stands at the foot of the bed.

"Missa?" He asks, more gently this time. "Is everything okay?"

Before Missa can even attempt formulating an answer, little Chayanne pokes his head around the side of the door. He waves a little sign of "good morning papa Missa!" over his head, and a plate of scrambled eggs in the other.

It is just morbid enough that Missa gives a small laugh, quickly turning into pained chokes as the movement shunts his chest.

Philza's face falls, and Chayanne begins to move in a panicked motion.

"Chayanne?" Philza says. "Can you get Tallulah and go see your tio Bad? Don't worry about your papa; I'll take care of him."

Even through the pained haze, Missa can see his little warrior's hesitance. Still, with a little encouragement - and Philza letting him help type the message to Bad that the children would be coming over - sweet little Chayanne settles enough to leave.

Once he does, Philza scoots onto the bed, sitting at Missa's side.

"I'm sorry," he says. "Can I get you anything?"

"I, ah," Missa takes a shape breath, pain rippling with speech and English even harder than usual. "Water?"

"Painkillers?" He asks.

Missa shakes his head; nothing will take the edge from this sort of pain, and he does not want to risk throwing up alongside the rest.

"Alright," Philza looks worried, but scoots back again. "Speak Spanish if its easier; I'll work it out."

Missa is not sure he can speak at all, but has no way to express that as his husband slips out again.

It is too hot and too cold and his very bones are on fire; in a slight haze of forgetfulness, he unties his mask, setting it aside in favour of the illusion of breath.

The motion exausts him; he falls back onto the pillows, landing hard.

The position is hurting his neck; Missa cannot quite find the energy to move.

---

Philza comes back a minute or two later, bucket of water and a drinking glass both in hand. At the door, however, he freezes a moment, before sprinting over to Missa's side.

"Missa?" He calls. "Missa? Fuck, that's - fuck you need milk and potions Missa, not just water. When did you get hit? We need - here I should have some in my backpack. Why didn't you say? We could have-"

Missa does not quite understand the panicked rambling, especially not in English, but he does comprehend the outstretched hand. It hovers as though afraid to touch him - afraid to hurt him - right beside his cheek.

He knows the touch will destroy him; break his heart, increase the pain, speed up the dissolving of his soft tissues. In the moment, however, he does not care - how long has it been since Missa knew such a gentle touch on his skin, let someone touch him without layers upon layers of enchanted protection between himself and them? His soul craves the contact, and Philza is there, panicked but offering, and Missa-

Missa is very, very weak.

In more ways than one.

With another whine he leans over, pressing his cheek to the outstretched hand. Almost immediately the thumb rubs gentle circles across his cheek bone, Philza taking a breath as he shifts from the panicked rambling to gentle cooing sounds.

Missa knows the second that Philza notices the dust shedding under the contact, that Missa's skin crumbles under even that gentle contact.

He tries to pull away, face horrified, but Missa chases the hand.

Catches it with one of his own, skeletal as they are.

Philza looks at the hand as though seeing it for the first time. Something must click, because he stops trying to pull away.

They stay like that for a few moments, Missa stealing what strength he can as he pants and whimpers from the pain.

It is only then that Missa remembers he took off his mask, and realises just what he looks like. There are patches of exposed muscle, some of visible bone, and some where skin mottled in grey and black whereever it has been exposed to the air. Last time he looked there had still been some healthy skin on his face, but it has been a long time since then.

"Your hands," Philza finally asks. "What did they- but they've been like this since we met?"

"/Curse/," Missa manages to stutter out. "/Not… Not from a wither, just withering. Rotting. Today is… bad./"

Philza takes a moment to translate, frowning at this information he didn't know. Still he swings himself to sit closer, reaching and taking Missa's other hand too.

It's a shame, Missa thinks, that his hands feel nothing any more.

"And there's no way to break it?"

Even the gods have failed to do that - Missa knows that Death has tried.

He shakes his head and watches as Philza hesitates, ready for a broken heart. It is not what he recieves, however; instead Philza drops one hand, only to cup his cheek once again.

Despite the curse, despite the dust, despite the crumbling, Philza keeps his hand there. It is so gentle, so kind, nothing at all what Missa deserves. He the action and the tenderness both… what can Missa do but sob?

"Am I hurting you?" Philza asks, as gentle as he can be even as he pulls the hand away.

Missa nods, then realises and shakes his head - yes, yes it hurts, but next to the agony of the day? He would take the comfort for a little more pain. Take what he never has to soothe what is always there.

The other hand slips of Missa's grasp, and he spends a moment terrified - until he sees Philza's now free hand reaching for the asked for water.

"Sit up or a straw?" He asks.

Missa wants to sit up, to drink under his own power, but he knows well how this goes. On days as bad as these, where the curse and his body fight so hard… he gives in, as he always does, and shakily raises two fingers.

"Alright king," Philza pulls his other hand away for a moment, grabbing a straw from a pocket, popping it in the glass, and positioning both that Missa can drink without moving. "I've got you."

The very idea of that brings tears to Missa's eyes again, the streaking trails taking a think layer of flesh with them as they go.

One of Philza's hands moves from the glass to Missa's hair, gently running over it.

"Shhh," he whispers. "We've got this. You're good, you're so good, just a little more then back to sleep?"

A little more? He hasn't had any of the water at all. Missa sobs a little at Philza's touch, before turning his head to drink. Swallowing sends spasms down his throat and tears into his eyes, but still he somehow finishes the glass.

When he finally finds the strength to open his eyes again, he finds Philza close. Holding tight to his hands. A panicked look in his eyes.

Ah. Never good.

Missa attempts to ask him what is wrong, to get up and help; all he manages is a whine and his husband gently pressing on his shoulder, nudging him back to the bed.

Oh, good, his shoulder is not yet dissolving too.

"Missa," Philza's voice is serious, stern almost. "Do you swear to me that you know what this is? And that you don't need a doctor?"

The question would be exhausting in Spanish; in English it takes Missa a long enough to work out that Philza is reaching for his communicator.

Somehow, Missa manages to slap his hand, drawing back attention, and nod.

Philza does not reply, but he pauses. After a moment he gives a huff through his nose - weirdly like a pig for a man made of a crow - before erasing whatever he had been typing, and putting the communicator away.

"Do you need anything else?" he asks instead.

Missa does not care; he shuts his eyes and turns his face back into the pillow, hoping for oblivion.

It earns him a small laugh. He does not expect any more but, after a moment, he feels the bed shift. An arm snakes under him, another over, and he is gently pulled into a warm chest.

And, as he slips into sleep, he feels the press of lips to the top of his head.

---

Wakefulness comes again blurry, tucked protectively under giant wings and held in a warm embrace. Fingers are gently pressed into his neck, and that is his first reminder of what is wrong.

"Philza?" he asks, sleep peeling off him.

"You feeling any better?" Philza sounds tired, but still fond; a hand runs over Missa's hair.

Missa hums agreement, begrudgingly pushing himself up, "time?"

"A bit before dawn," Philza answers. "You can go back to sleep."

His stomach makes its objection to that known; Philza laughs, even as he passes him some avacado toast and his mask.

Missa runs a hand over his face in an attempt to wake up, before taking the mask first. Only once it is securely on his face and he is certain the enchantments are soaking back into his flesh does he risk the food.

Philza, to his credit, manages to stay sitting on the bed. "Bad got Chayanne's tasks done, and Tallulah finished a few days ago. We can take it easy today, if you need it?"

"I'm okay," Missa promises. "It's, ah, calmed down now. I will do whatever you want."

Two of Philza's fingers tuck Missa's hair behind his ear, "I want to make sure you are okay."

The sincerity is a little much - faced with the choice between blushing or blushing and squealing, Missa settles on faceplanting into Philza's chest; objectively more embarassing, but nobody can see him there. It only helps so much when Philza gives a confused chuckle, but gently holds him anyway.

"… Can I ask what the fuck that was… Is? Or is that rude?"

"It's rude," Missa just about manages to mumble. "But, you can ask."

Philza still takes another moment to do it - just as Missa is beginning to wonder if he was supposed to answer, he speaks again. "What is that?"

"I'm not sure," Missa replies, trying to sound a little brighter. "My uncle broke into a ruined temple by mistake, and the curse was developing on him by nightfall. By the weekend everyone else was dead."

"Shit," Philza hugs him a little tighter, as though that would keep him together not make it progress faster. "How long-?"

"Err," Missa really isn't sure. "Ten or fifteen years ago?"

Another kiss is placed atop Missa's head. If it were not for the subject matter, Missa might be delighted by it. "Do you… know how you're alive? Not that I want you dead! Just… God-curses don't usually leave survivors…?"

Missa does, sort of, but he isn't quite sure how to phrase it. Rather than reply directly he wriggles one skeletal hand at his husband.

"Spanish?" Philza offers, one hand leaving Missa to grab the translator off the desk.

Missa nods, but gives him a moment to get it set up. He is not inclined to move, but it should be fine enough. "/Life laid the curse, but Death still had use for me./"

It takes Philza a bit of squinting, and grabbing an actual dictionary, to parse, but he gets there much faster than he did when they first met.

"Lady Death is looking out for you?" he asks

Missa unclenches one hand from Philza's shirt, wriggling the bones of his hand at him, "/how else would these work/?"

"Alright," contrary to most people, Philza relaxes at that confirmation. "Still fucking sucks. How about just a chill day about the wall, then? Chayanne's a bit worried after yesterday, so maybe he'll want to cook. We could walk down to the end of the wall and have a picnic?"

"/I'm fine,/" Missa says, even as he adjusts to press his face into Philza's shoulder. "/But, a picnic sounds good./"

"Alright. A picnic it is. If I turn off my tracker, maybe we'll even get to finish it in peace."

#qsmp fanfic #qsmp au #qsmp philza #qsmp missa #its... platonic-ish?#idk I tried to go for canon vibes and much like canon it doesn't feel as platonic as everyone says it is #between slashes is the Spanish as I'm not trying to translate it with no knowledge of spanish #and slashes is how I mark it up. tumblr makes formatting hard #Roier is safest friend because in this au they knew each other as teenagers #and he lived with Roier after he first got “cursed” already being friends with him and Roier in the city #sorry for the text wall at the top it happens

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