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captainkirkk · 7 months

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✩ WEEKLY FIC ROUND-UP ✩

All the fics I’ve read and really enjoyed in the past week-ish. Reminder: This list features any and all ratings and themes. Please look at tags and warnings on ao3 before reading.

Harry Potter

The Ordeal of Being Known by louisfake

When Auror Potter is anonymously cursed with silence by being forced to hide his own voice inside his mind, there's unfortunately only one person in the country with the qualifications to fix it: Certified and Licensed Healer Legilimens, Draco Malfoy, specialist in Mind Curses and Afflictions. It's obviously a terrible idea, a disaster waiting to happen, but Draco's never been able to back down from a challenge... especially from Potter.

Features fuzzy cartoon slippers, devious house elves, 90s music, and lots—LOTS—of memories. Ron is annoyingly hot, Hermione sees right through you, Harry is a powerful idiot, and Draco is a reclusive masochist that would buy an entire city if it would make a kid happy. (And Pansy is "5'2, I wanna dance with you, and I'm sophisticated fun.")

Super Mario Bros

Cooking Mama (Luigi)! by Little_RedHots_Riding_Hood

Luigi was having a perfectly peaceful stroll through the Toad Market - the sun was shining, he'd just found a lovely handmade blanket, and was on his way to the bakery before heading back to his and Mario's home.

Only... what was that sniffling noise from that dark, scary alleyway?

Of all the creatures he was expecting to find, the littlest prince of the Koopa Kingdom certainly wasn't it.

Star Wars

the tiger is out by elumish

Wolffe looks like he’s regretting having a second Jedi with them.

Cryp-Tim by PrinceJakeFireCake

"The cons of dating Tim Drake were innumerous. For one, he was almost impossible to photograph, and so none of Kon’s friends at school actually believed he existed. His family was scary, horrifying really, and all of them seemed to find joy in making Tim regret ever being born. And Tim had charmed Ma and Pa Kent so thoroughly, they had ditched their shovel talk to instead coo at him and offer him pie and compliment him for fixing their tractor, so Kon was at a disadvantage when it came to intimidating someone with his family.”

Kon and Tim date. It goes pretty well, all things considered.

Tim Has a Hero Worship-y Crush on Every Robin Ever by PrinceJakeFireCake

"Tim as an adult was bad enough, Tim with no filter as a child was too much to be around."

Cork Board Contingencies by PrinceJakeFireCake

If you don’t use a cork board to obsessively plan contingencies for every possible way a date with your best friend can go, how can you go on a date at all?

Excerpt: “Are you free next Saturday?” Tim asked, pretty sure that Kon’s jumble of words was agreement that he wanted to date Tim.

“Maybe!” Kon exclaimed.

“Cool,” Tim commented, taking another sip of his drugged grape soda (“Dammit, Tim,” he mentally told himself. “Do not give in! Buy new grape soda! Stop drinking the drugged grape soda! I’ve shotgunned another can of drugged grape soda, haven’t I? Dammit, that makes five!”) then saying, “That gives me just enough time to pass out for fifty-two hours and plan our first date."

Immunology by JustGettingBy

Hypothetically speaking. Could a hybrid creature become suddenly not viable? Like say it survives being an embryo, makes it through growing up, and then just one day… stops? the text from Kon reads.

Tim’s heart spikes up through his ribs. Kon. What’s happening?

(OR Kon gets the flu. It becomes Tim's problem.)

Change of Plans by PrinceJakeFireCake

"Who’s your friend, Tim?” the voice asked.

Jason hissed. This was his baby! Not his friend!

“Sorry, sorry,” the voice hastened to apologize. “I mean, who’s your parent, Tim?”

AKA, who has the time to be a murderous crime/drug lord when there are kittens to adopt

Motion Blur by sElkieNight60

At Damian's school art showcase, Bruce realizes he needs to help Tim reframe their relationship.

#my posts #weekly fic round up #dc recs #sw recs #hp recs #misc recs #fic recs #yes there is a bowuigi fic on here #but the found family is so good

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theresattrpgforthat · 9 months

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Hello! Do you have any recommendations for ttrpgs like Kentucky Route Zero?

THEME: Kentucky Route Zero

Hello, I looked up Kentucky Route Zero for the first time thanks to your ask and I understand why you’d want to find a game that replicates it to some degree. Let’s establish what elements of KRZ I’m focusing on when providing recommendations.

The game is modern, and feels transient in some way.

The game offers a subtle or unsubtle critique of capitalism.

The game allows for magical realism, in that odd things are accepted by the characters as fact, or disregarded entirely. This is used to draw attention to the strange and might even highlight abuses of power.

The game allows you to contribute to the lore, but characters still feel to some extent that their choices won’t take them where they want to go.

Now, the games I’ve got for you don’t necessarily have all of these elements written in, but I’m suggesting them as avenues that are more likely to point you in this direction.

Over the Edge, by Atlas Games.

During your stay with us, please remember that Liberty is Job One, Disarmament Means Peace, It's Polite to Speak English, and, of course, Paranormal Activity is perfectly legal.Thank you for your consent.

The Edge is the weirdest city in the world. Get into trouble. Question your place in the crazed multiverse. Transcend mortal limits. Join a cult. Fight a baboon. Along the way, you might find out who really controls humanity. Unless, of course, you've been working for Them all along.

Over the Edge describes itself as an alternate reality; there are otherworldly entities, large conspiracies, psychic powers, etc. Characters follow “Hollywood” reality: they exist at the culmination of plot-relevant world elements, interacting directly with the conspiracies existing underneath the surface. You are playing a typical protagonist. This means that while playing this game, you are likely to run into pulp-action territory, which might not be exactly what we’re going for here, but what I think this game might really do well is place you in a setting where things are just a little bit off from normal. One of the pieces of art in the Quickstart is of a lady walking her pet hyena: that tells me that we’re probably going to have hefty amounts of Magical Realism in this game.

Midnight Roads, for World of Darkness, by White Wolf.

The roads are lovely, dark and deep…

There are things in the world that no laws account for – things that bestow blessings no man remembers or curses for slights long past. But the things, they do not forget. They wait for the right hand to fall upon them, the right eyes to see their glory, the right heart to recognize their power.

World of Darkness is a long-standing horror roleplaying game originally published by White Wolf. Currently the system Midnight Roads is built for is actually obsolete - having been replaced by the newer Chronicles of Darkness - but the advice and guidance in Midnight Roads is still solid. It focuses on tying real-world fears to supernatural phenomena, and includes a number of example antagonists that make the blank stretches of open road across the United States feel alien and terrifying. Even if you don’t run a game in this system, I highly recommend checking out the supplement for inspiration.

Apocalypse Roadtrip, by Mynar Lenahan.

Apocalypse Roadtrip is a 34-page Forged In The Dark game for 2-5 players about normal people finding their way after the world has ended. Navigating their way past roaming Kaiju, military bombings, otherworldly cryptids, UFO fleets, and other survivors (friendly and not), the characters work hard to achieve their goals and, ultimately, make some changes in their world.

This game is great if you’re looking for that perpetual on-the-road feeling, for transient characters who don’t have a good place to call home. It’s less about the horrors of late-stage capitalism, and is more suited to stories that embrace oddness, especially in a settings where Kaiju, cryptids, and aliens all exist.

If you want to make the weirdness normalized, push the timeline forward from what is established in the book, to a point where all of these events have become old hat for folks - if the aliens and cryptids aren’t weird or strange, perhaps what is weird is how one specific Cryptid keeps entering the chicken coop and doesn’t seem to eat any of the chickens. Or perhaps the government has confiscated a piece of alien technology, but the business owner who found it isn’t acting the same anymore. Your characters will probably find themselves doing odd jobs as the move from one place to another - whether or not they uncover a larger story is probably up to you.

Absurdia, by Quinn Majeski.

Absurdia is an absurdist modern fantasy roleplaying game about the inane hilarity and understated horror of everyday life. Inspired by works of absurd humor, surreal horror, and literary nonsense like Welcome to Night Vale, Alice in Wonderland, Gravity Falls, and the Twilight Zone, Absurdia is an opportunity to indulge in the surreal and outlandish while subverting the absurdity of modern society.

This game takes place in a strange and surreal town of your own making. It's Powered by the Apocalypse, which means much of the direction of the story will unfold as you play, with staggered successes on anything that requires you to roll - this means that any given action is likely to give you a little bit of what you're looking for while also providing obstacles that you didn't expect. It's also well primed for a magical realist kind of atmosphere, since the abnormal and supernatural might be part of the everyday, such as it is for the residents of Night Vale. The designer, Quinn, is excellent at running games that always keep the play group on their toes, and I expect this game designed by them is much the same.

Liminal Horror (and supplements), by Goblin Archives

Liminal Horror brings adaptable modern horror to TTRPGs. It is a rules-lite, fail forward system that leverages creative problem solving in order to create memorable experiences at the table. Players act as 'investigators' navigating a modern world full of terrible and unknowable horrors.

I’m recommending Liminal Horror not just because it does an excellent job of building suspense and making your characters feel less-than-powerful, but also because it’s got a lot of modules and add-ons that help you customize your game. Swineheart Motel, by Kill Jester, is a cosmic horror adventure set in a roadside motel. Tunnels in White, by MeatCastle GameWare, places an old corporation front and centre as a suspicious entity disappearing locals. The Bloom, by Goblin Archives, is about a small town that is hiding something, and seems to be losing people at an alarming rate. You can also tweak the premise of the game if you want to make your characters indentured to their employer, or freelancers just trying to make ends meet.

If you want to see more Liminal Horror options, you can check out the Tales from The Void, a game jam for Liminal Horror modules!

Hopes & Dreams by Fari RPGS (René-Pier Deshaies).

Hopes & Dreams is a rules-lite tabletop role-playing game where you play as young adults who want to make a difference in a world that won’t let them. Government officials are corrupted, your leaders are broken, and the future looks bleak. Play in this original grunge industrial fantasy setting where you and your friends haven’t abandoned hope yet. You still have dreams of what life could be, and are willing to fight for it.

Hopes & Dreams has a lot of potential to give you a taste of Kentucky Route Zero, in the hopefulness present as a mechanic. Dreams & Nightmares are goals and tracks that hit off at a certain point and are guaranteed to shift the story in what might feel like moments that your character can’t control. Fill your Dream? The world changes for the better. Fill your Nightmare? The world changes for the worse. The original game is industrial fantasy but I can see you using the SRD to make a game that is cyberpunk, modern dystopia, or an alternative Kentucky where Consolidated Power is buying up your debt so that they can get free labour.

If you want to get a bit of a peek into the bones of Hopes & Dreams from the point of view of the designer, you can check out this review by Junk History, which includes an interview with René-Pier Deshaies.

#tabletop games #indie ttrpgs #dnd #game recommendations #asks #kentucky route zero #magical realism

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yunxi-11085 · 10 months

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"The star of the void" part 2 - the voice

part 1 - meeting

part 2 - the voice

˚ · .↝ words : 1709

˚ · . pairs ¡ hsr men & women x gn! reader

˚ · . sypnosis ¡ "you wake up in the world of honkai star rail. you heard unknown voices in your head.

but 3 familiar people come to save you.

“

₊˚ପ⊹ tw ¡¿ : memory loss?

·˚ ༘ tags // @kimura-uzuri @yaesflorist @ukiyo-ikigai @khalinda-ev

@ send me an ask if you want to be tagged in my stories!!

find the way to your own story

you will soon find the people, who ▇▇▇▇▇▇

you jolt up with a headache, a sting of pain striking you and you hold your head. gripping your hair as to alleviate the pain.

what is that voice? who was speaking to you?

the sound echoed in your ears before you finally stop hearing it.

"ugh.." you blink tears out as the pain finally goes away. where... where am I? you stand up abruptly, and then your head stung in pain again.

you stumble and hold onto the wall for support. as you attempt to stabilize your head, you take a good look of your unknown surroundings.

and huh?

isn't this the space station in hsr?

you can see through a window the central area where the doomsday beast in the game appears in. and... the antimatter legion?

confused, you stare for a few minutes before finally moving your legs. your walk was unstable as you leapt onto a nearby wall for support.

you hoped to find something to explain in this unfamiliar researching room. the large screens flash numerous codes as if it were hacked.

you walk over to a table with documents and look cautiously.

'[▇▇▇▇▇▇ number #57▒18

track rec▒rd : unknown

cryptic cryp▒c crypti▒ crypt▒▒▒ ▒▒ ▒]'

the rest of the paper were glitched out, as if paper had a code as well. strange, documents aren't usually written like this aren't they?

your hand reached out to flip the paper, but a blooming purple flashing light came out the moment your fingers glazed a tiny bit of the paper.

the purple lights started moving towards you and you back up, but that didn't stop them from getting closer until it touched you.

flash!

"urgh!"

you fall down and you feel something crawling in you, all the way into your chest area. you gasp and hold your chest, you groan in pain as the pain enveloped your body and you pass out.

'hurry. our time is almost up'

"-yy!! there's an unconscious person here too!" you hear a bright voice near you, but your eyes felt heavy.

"-rch, you go save them this time"

"w-haaaaa??? I told you i don't know how to do CPR!!!"

"well someone's life is at stake here, unless you want to carry a body all the way to asta"

“uwaaa?? fine…..”

you can’t help but think, that those voices sound oh so strikingly similar to those characters.

footsteps of three walked closer to you but you couldn't open your eyes somehow.

you felt warm hands touching your shoulder, and you blink. huh? pink haired, black haired, and... gray haired?

why do they look exactly like they are in the game? are they in cosplay?

"they're awake!" mar— the pink haired said.

"hey, what's your name?" Dan... heng? asked, but you were silent. still trying to comprehend and understand this situation.

"or do you not remember anything?" you flinch.

that's a good question. why can't you remember anything? you remember your name, but why does everything else feel washed out? like as if someone wiped them. only to let you remember your own name, and the... game?

"my name... is..." you said slowly, squinting your eyes and you attempt to remember.

what about your family? your friends?

why are you here? how did you get here?

weren't you just doing— what?

what were you doin—

a little touch on your shoulder snaps you out of your thoughts, you look back at the black haired man and notice their concerned eyes.

"hey, it's okay if you don't remember. don't push yourself." he said slowly. you nod and the pink haired girl helps you up.

"my name is march 7th! this guy over here is dan heng, and he is caelus!" march proudly says and you freeze in place.

it's as if you really entered the world of your favorite game.

you open your mouth but close it when you realize you didn't have any words to say. you nod while march holds you up by your arms.

sounds started coming from dan heng's watch, he looks at it and says "we have to get going now. it appears I have to leave to take care of other matters. so I'll be leaving them to you march."

"mhm okay! don't worry about it!" march exclaims, waving dan heng goodbye.

"since we might be seeing some antimatter legions around here... we must find you both a weapon!"

march picks up a baseball bat out of nowhere and hands it to caelus, who holds onto it like a confused dog.

"hmm... as for you, we might need to ask himeko about this"

you walk with the two before noticing a monster lurking and walking in the next room. the two noticed as well, they nodded before getting into battle.

you stand... watching them.

oh it was so different seeing them in real time instead of in game

you saw the movements caelus made, the sound of his jacket slapping each other when he hit the monster with the bat, and the sound of when he broke his fingers after the impact.

you nearly rush in before march covers for him and shields him. you think it's better if you wait til the battle is over and then go and help him.

march was cute. like no joke really cute. you would've said the game gave no justice to her but they give enough justice so you let it slide. her face was cheeky and her outfit just fit her style.

the battle was over it seems when you notice the last monster falling down, and you immediately rush over to caelus.

he winces in pain and you tell him, "don't move"

you don't know how to bandage someone up you also notice. you rip off a piece of your jacket and wrap it on his fingers. march leans down and helps you tie it up.

"don't move your hands too much.. your bones are broken" you say, holding his bandaged hand and you look up at him.

you didn't realize how close you were when you could look into his eyes— those golden pupils, it looked fascinating—

you were too close to—

you let go of his hand and scramble back, nearly falling over when you stand up abruptly.

"um... let's go" you say, turning around with a red face.

the two follow you behind. one looking at you both questionably, and the other... observing you.

you reach the center where there is an elevator and you know it is broken, you watch as caelus attempted to unlock the elevator to no avail.

"they must've locked it up because of the invasion... now what do we do?" march said

"hey, I'm back." a familiar voice appeared behind you, you turned around to see dan heng.

"it appears the elevator has been locked, I'm sure arlan had the solution to that." he said.

the trio and you hurry to where arlan was and he hands you the key. though he doesn't recognize you or caelus, the fact that he gave you the key means that he trusts you.

you didn't know what to do with that trust. maybe it was because you were with the astral express or your interaction with them seemed like you were their newest member.

you hold your breath and unlock the elevator with the key. it goes to the highest floor and stops.

monsters are awaiting your arrival it seems, and the three— starts rushing over like no tomorrow.

you can't help but feel your heart tighten at the sight. you just really love the trio. the thought of family brings warmth in you.

you meet himeko soon after and you think, she looks really, really pretty. she smiles at you fondly and welcomes both you and caelus to the astral express. you smile back.

and then, huge warning signs appear as the conversation with asta continued. you stood in place before being dragged by himeko.

and then they face off the doomsday beast. even if the game wasn't as intense, you couldnt help the feeling of dread when you see the <em>big</em> and terrifying monster.

but you were thankful they could dodge some of the attacks.

and then— the blast fires at march. you want to run but you freeze in sight. your legs were wobbly and you see caelus shielding her and taking the blow

when the stellaron within him went out of control. you— collapse.

something hot is building in your chest and it hurts, it hurts really bad. dan heng catches you right before you fall to the ground.

d' don't let it ▒▒ ▒▒ ▒▒!!!!

the voice comes back again, albeit a little hallower.

you hear some shouts and see a new figure appear in front of caelus. you close your eyes in relief.

end note ¡ let's get some caelus cake goin???! he's observing because he literally just woke up and didn't know what his heart beating reallly fast meant lol

sorry if you wanted to partake in the battle and help out! i'm still thinking about whether the reader will take the path of abundance/harmony because then there'll be wholesome interactions between Natasha, bailu, and luocha... but I also want reader to be a DPS or attack to get some rlly good interactions where the character scolds them and bandages them up.... next chapter and more motivation to think I guess!!

next chapter depends on how many times I open my writing app.... so maybe in a few days.

feel free to type your suggestions or ideas in my ask box or in the replies/comments! I'd be happy to read them!

crossposted on AO3 ¡ here

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angelvyxen · 2 years

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Do you believe the stuff with the igotnfts girl?

[Long post ahead + this will be a post & delete]

Let me preface this by saying, no hate to this girl. To me, she seems very young. More likely than not she’s some young fan girl that likes the attention.

Now, that girl is playing y’all like spades, and (some of) y’all are eating it this shit up. All of her posts proving that she’s the side chick, don’t prove anything.

1. The text messages are seedy for 2 reasons:

A. Melo types in all lowercase letters, apart from when he’s yelling. Look through his Instagram & Twitter, he has his phone set to disable uppercase because even his ‘i’’s don’t get corrected to capital I’s. So off rip, the texts don’t make sense because why would he specifically go out of his way to use proper capitalization when ‘speaking’ to her? Further than that, why would he send texts, especially informal ones, with proper capitalization when for years he’s only typed in all lowercase across all other platforms?

B. Everything is scratched out, potential dates included. If she wants recognition as the side chick so bad, why cross out things that could help you link yourself to him? If you’re in Charlotte, show that he texted you on dates where he was also in the city.

Also, I have a STRONG feeling those crossed out messages are her asking a friend to fake a text to her so she can screenshot it. It’s not hard to fake a text, hell you can even text YOURSELF and delete what you don’t need. That’s what I do when I need to make a text thread when writing a story. It’s not far fetched to ask someone “hey text me this real quick”

2. The infamous Twitter recognition doesn’t mean that he knows her. He said (I’m paraphrasing here because the tweet is since deleted) “You’re only following 6 people and I’m one of them, I thought we were supposed to be buddies.” He’s not confirming that he knows this girl in any way. If he had said ‘I thought we were supposed to be buddies’ and left it at that, then you can start to question, but the fact that he emphasized that he was one of the 6 people she followed should tell y’all enough to know he meant “You don’t like me but you’re watching my every move?” He just said it in a nice/goofy way. The only reason you all think it was in good faith is because he used laughing emojis.

If something along the lines of “I thought we were cool” was said, then that would confirm at the very least, that they’ve had some kind of conversation.

3. Her posting flowers doesn’t mean they’re from Melo. There was no card with a message that we could interpret to be him. Hell, those might not even be her flowers, for all we know they could be a picture of flowers she took at somebodies funeral and had saved up. Now, if Ana had posted the same flowers, then maybe, maybe you could speculate. But even then that’s not much to grasp onto because again, most flower bouquets aren’t hard to find. Unless it’s one of those extravagant ones.

4. Her posting a picture of the Charlotte, don’t mean she in Charlotte. And before you all say “But the reverse imagine search—” reverse image searches don’t find anything if you take a screenshot from someone else’s Snapchat or Instagram story, it’s not difficult to find Charlotte natives on IG and take a picture from their page or story and pass it off as your own…which is what I’m assuming she did.

I tested it out. I took a screenshot from someone else’s snap, slapped it in reverse image search and surprise, surprise,

Nothing 😱! And I did this with MULTIPLE.

Now even if that’s her picture and she is in Charlotte, from what I’ve gathered, she don’t know this man & she’s certainly not here for him. I believe she said that she was in the city (allegedly) anyways for her family members birthday, so if the pictures she posted are indeed hers, then that’s why she’s here.

Last things last, don’t believe anything until there is concrete proof. I could take a video in Melos garage this weekend, post it, and say some cryptic shit that’s more believable, and would be in the blogs by the next morning. So somebody posting a couple pictures don’t mean anything.

Unless somebody shows a video of them together, a FaceTime screenRECORDING, or a screenRECORDING of texts with a voice note from him, or some kind of solid evidence that it is him, then these folks are lying to y’all. Enjoy your weekend. 🫠

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swap-cult-au · 11 months

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I... sadly, it seems my sibling is reversed from your Speaker. Instead of getting healthier, their condition is falling.

They were so much more cheerful and full of life when we had first met, but with the stress of being constantly hunted, poor sleep, and Xx's habit of leaving behind questionable food, they've been doing worse.

And that's without counting everything that happened with Cryp-

-they cut themselves off, unable to say Cryptids name aloud. Even in a different world, they couldn't help but feel terrified that speaking their name would somehow summon them and the pain they caused-

(screaming for help, a dark God watching in amusement, hands dragging them, fear, desperation, betrayal)

(Trembling behind a barrier, a knife catching the light, their sibling in pain, their mothers worry)

-they felt unsettled by the memories, trying to ignore them-

-DPPA

“Ah, I see. Life in your world sounds… stressful.”

His eyes widen at the sudden stop.

“Crypt- hm?”

Dream pauses, not wanting any further conflict.

“You feel very uncomfortable. Would you like to sit down, perhaps?”

#inquiries to the light #dream sans #sc!dream #dppa #swap cult au

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bitcofun · 2 years

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Crypto financing company Celsius declares that KeyFi CEO Jason Stone cost the business 10s of countless dollars through theft and incompetence. Key Takeaways Celsius is striking KeyFi with a suit, arguing that the DeFi method company is accountable for Celsius losing 10s of countless dollars. According to Celsius, KeyFi was "incapable of releasing coins successfully" and took large amounts from the crypto loan provider. KeyFi declares that it was defrauded by Celsius, not the other method around. Celsius is implicating KeyFi of taking and mishandling funds throughout their previous collaboration." Many Tens of Millions" in Cryptocurrencies Celsius is counter-suing its previous partner. The having a hard time crypto financing business submitted a suit today versus decentralized financing (DeFi) technique company KeyFi and its CEO Jason Stone, declaring that KeyFi's "incompetence, deceit and conversion" was accountable for Celsius losing countless dollars throughout their previous collaboration. The fit comes a month after KeyFi implicated Celsius of defrauding it. Celsius specified in court files that KeyFi took 10s of countless dollars in cryptocurrencies from Celsius wallets, utilized Celsius funds to purchase numerous NFTs in addition to "various blockchain-related business," and washed the taken coins through personal privacy software application Tornado Cash. The crypto loan provider even more declared that, while Stone provided himself as a "leader" in DeFi instruments at the start of the 2 business' collaboration, he showed himself "incapable of releasing coins successfully" which led to extra losses of "lots of 10s of countless dollars" for the company. A legal agent for Stone reacted to the suit on Twitter by mentioning that "the settlement that KeyFi got (consisting of in the type of NFTs) was specifically licensed by Celsius's CEO Alexander Mashinsky" which the fit was "an effort to reword history and usage KeyFi and Mr. Stone as a scapegoat for [Celsius'] organizational incompetence." Once a leading crypto financing business, Celsius stopped briefly client fund withdrawals on June 13, pointing out "severe market conditions," and has ever since submitted for insolvency. Current reports claim Mashinsky presumably utilized client funds to trade numerous countless dollars worth of Bitcoin, overthrowing senior traders with years of experience and suffering a $50 million trading loss in January 2022 alone. Disclosure: At the time of composing, the author of this piece owned ETH and a number of other cryptocurrencies. The info on or accessed through this site is acquired from independent sources our company believe to be precise and trusted, however Decentral Media, Inc. makes no representation or service warranty regarding the timeliness, efficiency, or precision of any details on or accessed through this site. Decentral Media, Inc. is not a financial investment consultant. We do not provide tailored financial investment guidance or other monetary suggestions. The details on this site goes through alter without notification. Some or all of the info on this site might end up being out-of-date, or it might be or end up being insufficient or incorrect. We may, however are not obliged to, upgrade any out-of-date, insufficient, or unreliable info. You ought to never ever make a financial investment choice on an ICO, IEO, or other financial investment based upon the details on this site, and you need to never ever analyze or otherwise depend on any of the info on this site as financial investment suggestions. We highly suggest that you speak with a certified financial investment consultant or other certified monetary expert if you are looking for financial investment suggestions on an ICO, IEO, or other financial investment. We do decline settlement in any kind for examining or reporting on any ICO, IEO, cryptocurrency, currency, tokenized sales, securities, or products. See complete conditions Alex

Mashinsky Traded Celsius' Book Before Bankruptcy: FEET Celsius experienced extensively advertised insolvency problems as crypto rates crashed then declared Chapter 11 insolvency in July. Mashinsky Allegedly Traded Celsius Funds Alex Mashinsky stepped in on Celsius Network's ... News Jul. 14, 2022 Celsius revealed it had actually declared Chapter 11 insolvency early Wednesday. Several Celsius consumers have actually required to social networks to share their troubles following the update.Â Celsius Files for Chapter ... Celsius Faces Lawsuit From Former Partner KeyFi News Jul. 7, 2022 KeyFi head Jason Stone states his company handled $2 billion for Celsius. KeyFi Managed $2 Billion for Celsius Jason Stone, co-founder and CEO of KeyFi, states that Celsius defrauded it ... Read More

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noose-lion · 2 years

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I find it interesting that (at least in the anime) Dazai and Chuuya share similar mannerisms. Their fighting styles though very different, have certain movements that are incredibly similar. Not to mention that so much of their body language is shared between the two of them.

#my stuff #cryp speaks #i find stuff like this really interesting #bungou stray dogs #bungou gay dogs #soukoku #chuuya #bsd chuuya #dazai #bsd dazai #screaming into the void #and the void screams back

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nedsseveredhead2 · 4 years

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my radical idea is that therapy should be free, but especially therapy for children-teens, and that children should have access to therapists and counselors without parental permission. because a lot of the trauma in childhood comes from. the parents. shocking, i know

#cryp txt #there needs to be a more stable like... online source of therapy for children and adolescents in abusive homes #email based perhaps since they cant afford to speak aloud on like... skype

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5-falsehoods-phonated · 4 years

Note

Having writer friends and loving each other's work means that you get to scare each other with vague progress reports all the time and constantly using that 'I'm in danger' meme on each other.

XD it's so true though!! Between the cryptic answers and posts you keep making about JotS and the cryptic posts I could make even more about my wips I'm sure if we both didn't already have anxiety we definitely would now!

#false speaks #cryp wip #having writer friends who write angst while youre also writing angst is a recipe for danger and nervous chuckles #friend asks!!!

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nedsseveredhead · 3 years

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Every day, I fall a little more in love with humanity

#cryp txt #still salty about that person anoning my last blog trying to convince me that humans suck #nah collectively they dont #we are capabale of great good and great evil in equal measures that is our blessing and our curse #but theres so much little bits of beauty in the world if you look for it #the innate desire to see and be seen #the little habits people have #the skips in the their step #their speaking patterns #the unique quirks every person has...#the kindness we show... our desire to help things #i just. really really love humans

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its-miichan · 3 years

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TGCF criticisms

Spoilers and unpopular/critical opinions ahead! Beware! I tried to like this, I really did, but this novel really makes me frustrated. It clearly has so much potential, but so much of that potential was wasted on pandering romance and shallow caricatures of main characters. Overall 1.5-2 stars because it gets worse the more you think about it. CHARACTERS: 1. The main character, Xie Lian was wildly bland and boring. He is presented as the kindest, purest, most selfless person in the world, but really he was just a bland white lotus. With Xie Lian, his personality can be described in just a sentence or so, while the author's other two MC's (Wei Wuxian and Shen Qingqiu) are both charming, funny, and deep with their own motivations. Xie Lian just walks around in the story with no purpose and he says that he wants to help the common people, but he really hasn't done that! He's barely helped anyone at all, and those times he did help people are quickly followed by flirting with the ML and forgetting all about the people he was supposed to help. Honestly, in the past, Xie Lian was also the biggest jerk ever. He gave up his own friends and family's well being for his own sense of justice and was stubborn to a fault and refused to listen. What's worse is that none of these flaws are actually addressed, and the story just lets him roll with it and never actually calls him out on it. If you want to see all the reasons why he's a poorly written character, check out this reddit post: https://www. reddit. com/r/MXTX/comments/j2l9ye/why_xl_is_a_poorly_written_character_in_my_opinion/

2. The ML, Hua Cheng, is equally as bad. He is extremely shallow and such a static character, with his development in the present times being nonexistent and his development from the past to the present being wholly nonsensical. His personality is very cliche and his motivations and thoughts are left entirely up to the reader's imagination, which significantly reduces character depth. He could've been such a great character, a ghost king who rules over hell and is morally grey, but instead he is dumbed down to a Xie Lian fanboy. Everything about him not related to Xie Lian is thrown at us in a few paragraphs if at all, and what little motivation and thoughts about him we do get always fall flat. [Like apparently this guy saved him once, and he fell in love with him and became devoted to him for 800 years? Like people get saved all the time and we don't see them going 800 years and 3 deaths for a guy they've barely talked to] Also, he is wildly unlikable. Of course, this is purely subjective, but he is irritatingly smug and lords over literally everyone he meets. It doesn't help that he's an insufferable Mary Sue with an endless array of powers, intelligent as hell and knows literally everything, really good at painting, sculpting, woodworking, and on top of that the richest, most powerful, most handsome, and most charismatic man in the book. His biggest flaw is supposed to be his insecurity and inferiority complex, but that barely ever comes up and 90% of the time he is arrogant and smug. More information on why he's badly written here: https://www. reddit. com/r/MXTX/comments/iskkp5/why_hc_is_a_bad_character_in_my_opinion/

3. The side characters in my opinion are written far better, but obviously quite underdeveloped. They are all three dimensional and have their own thoughts, emotions, and feelings as well as a believable backstory, but so many of them are quickly offed to make way for the main couple, some of them not only not becoming better, but actually getting quite a whole lot worse. Qi Rong, who was supposed to be super strong demon that is one of the 4 great evils becomes a comedic relief gremlin who just shows up for some comedy and then leaves. Feng Xin and Mu Qing, the MC's childhood caretakers disappear for like 100 chapters after we're given their backstories and then once they reappear, they don't do anything either. Shi Qingxuan, who in my opinion is by far the best character in the book, has his arc left open with no ending at all, only to be forgotten about for 80+ chapters only to reappear completely the same with no character growth at all. All of this is because the main couple take up so much of the book, and the rest of the side characters and their character growth is sabotaged for the author's ego so that the main couple can look better and get more screen time.

4. I lost interest in the story pretty quickly due to the bland characters and their out of place romance and how unlikable they were. A lot of this novel was very surface level, and it's pretty on paper, but when you think about the characters a bit longer, the more bland and shallow they become.

PLOT: 1. The plot was... There was no plot. It was just a collection of monster of the day arcs that aimlessly meander about and then everything returns to the status quo once they return to Xie Lian's temple/home. Obviously books 4 and 5 were a lot more to my taste because the writing was a lot more concise and the pacing was less slow and pointless, as well as actually incorporating fantasy elements and shaking up the status quo. However, the other 3 books, especially books 1 and 2 had way too much fan service, pointless romance, and plot lines that don't go anywhere and don't contribute to the story.

2. The past plot line, or the flashbacks were pretty interesting, except for how b*tchy the MC was. Book 2 has a lot of important information and some action, but a lot of it was boring fluff that didn't really contribute to the story other than introducing the villain and showing how XL and HC met. The rest, we're literally told already and there's no new information. Book 4 was supposed to be suffering heavy, and I agree that the character development was alright, but it was too brooding and oppressive. In the end, I just stopped feeling bad for Xie Lian because of how bad the story was trying to make you feel for him. I was not invested in him, and although he was significantly more deep in this book than in the other 4, the bad logic is still there. [you wanna kill people but then someone gives you a bamboo hat and you're all sunshine and rainbows again?] The suffering is excessive in my opinion, and although it's supposed to provide contrast to the romance, it just feels done in poor taste. seriously, 20 chapters straight of suffering is not necessary, and the pacing and tone suffers because of this. The flashbacks really don't contribute too much to XL or HC's character development, but is just there to be angsty and cryp*rn.

3. The final battle was the most unbelievable thing I've ever read. All the gods got together and the first part seemed pretty epic as we got to see all the side characters finally showcase their powers.... Until the MC and ML show up. The MC and ML show up, and instantly the background extras—excuse me I mean side characters, go back into hibernation as the main couple show off how cool and powerful they are. And then we get to the final confrontation, which has our MC, ML, and MC's two friends face off against literally the most powerful being in the freaking universe. I thought it would be a tense fight scene with lots of close calls, but I was so disappointed. Instead the ML is so OP that he breaks the spells binding MC's powers, and MC becomes so overpowered and slams the big boss into the wall with the power of love while his two friends just stand there doing nothing.

4. A lot of what happens in the flashback is directly Xie Lian's fault, but the book never seems to register it? I won't go into detail on this point since it's already covered in the first Reddit thread, but basically because of XL's s*upidity and refusal to listen to anyone else, the people around him suffer.

WRITING: 1. The writing wasn't great. It was very choppy and as I said previously, very monotonous and monster-of-the-day. Yes there were great scenes which got to me, but most of it was really boring and descriptions and dialogue dragged on and on with no end, and with the bland MC, it wasn't even interesting such as the dialogue in MDZS was. Side arcs were introduced with no warning and ended with no warning, leaving the reader wondering "Why was that even there in the first place if it was just going to be forgotten about?"

2. The water demon/wind god arc. The opening and most of the middle of this arc was extremely good, the logic and mystery was written well, and Shi Qingxuan's (the wind god) antics were funny. But after the big reveal and the tense climax, the story just... stops. Like it's literally forgotten about. [The MC gets dragged out by his all powerful lover, they romance some more, and forget all about Shi Qingxuan who is literally left in the hands of the second or third most powerful demon ever who is also his mortal enemy]

3. The incessant flirting really got on my nerves. The tension and tone of the entire story got completely ruined because of the MC and ML flirting and the MC blushing and giggling while the ML teases him and everyone else is literally fighting for their lives. This felt very fan-service like, and it felt like the author stopped trying and just fed us dog food after an emotionally taxing arc so that she wouldn't have to close out the arc properly, completely destroying the tone. Speaking of the tone, the tone whiplash was just... wow. You're fed fluff and romance during or after a high tensity and highly emotional scene with no connection at all, and you're just supposed to accept it instead of wondering what's happening to the characters you actually care about.

4. Romance and side arcs quite disconnected from the story. Quite frankly, most of this book is just romance with the plot and characters put in second place because "lOOk hOw CuTe the COuPLe iS!" You could literally take out all the side arcs and the story would literally be no different. The romance overtakes the entire plot and becomes the main point of the story. With her other two books, the romance is like the icing on the cake. With this book, the icing overtakes the cake and becomes the cake.

5. Perhaps one of the biggest reasons I was uninterested through most of the book was due to the lack of tension and suspense. The flashbacks were better in the sense that Xie Lian was helpless and couldn't figure anything out, which was why he was just as likely to get hurt as anyone, making the stakes significantly higher. But in the present, with the existence of Hua Cheng, that tension is completely gone. This is because HC knows basically all there is to know, and what he doesn't know he can figure out in seconds. Additionally, he is super powerful to the point that anything that can harm XL can be one shot K.O'ed by him. At this point the conflict becomes trivial to the point where I'm just asking "why are we solving this mystery anyways when HC can just blast it into oblivion?"

6. The fact that HC does the bare minimum in arcs frustrates me. If you're going to include a character with powers that will basically deem any threat against them null, then actually use them at least! HC's apathy does not feel like a coherent part of his character, but an excuse for MXTX to drag out plot lines and make things unnecessarily long and winded. Additionally, his apathy is contradictory. On one hand, he is super overprotective of XL and wants to make sure he won't get hurt a single bit, but on the other hand, he has this advanced ideology of the 21st century that he believes XL is capable so won't constrain him as much. If anything, they should start out with HC as this overprotective follower and have a dysfunctional relationship, and end up with XL teaching HC that he is able to do things and doesn't mind doing them, and that HC can live a life outside of him as well. That would've introduced some narrative stakes and romantic tension, but no, MXTX just had to make these characters perfect in every way.

ROMANCE: 1. The logic is so flawed here. The reason that HC started loving XL is literally because Xie Lian saved him once as a child and therefore he will devote his entire life to XL, not caring about literally anything else. The reason that XL started loving HC is even more so. The thing is someone like say Shi Qingxuan has done every bit as much for XL as HC has, but we don't see XL fall in love with SQX, do we? HC literally listens to him talk and XL falls in love with him, and although it does make sense due to XL being lonely for 800 years, how low the bar is set really bothers me.

2. The constant blue-balling was annoying. At some point, the ignorant MC became annoying and self indulgent instead of cute, and having it be drawn out over nearly 200 chapters makes it even worse. The MC is supposed to be super intelligent, but he literally misses all of the super obvious hints the ML drops at him, which is so weird.

3. It felt like MXTX (the author) went overboard on the romance here. Like she tried way too hard to the point where it was obvious she wanted to make this "the most romantic CP ever". The aesthetics went so overboard with butterflies and flowers as romantic themes, thousands of lanterns, the red string of fate (which didn't even do anything in the actual story), poetry, etc.

4. The romance could almost be described as kind of creepy. Like the ML obsesses over the MC for 800 years, isolating himself from the world and not taking any side of the story besides MC's is supposed to be romantic, but it really isn't. The ML carves thousands of statues of the MC, which is sweet in a way, but also really, really creepy. To quote someone from NovelUpdates who put it 100x better than I could: " They don't feel like equal lovers, HC obviously worships XL to an unbelievably amazing degree while XL only knew he existed from only a while ago (Is this obsession? Stalker-ish? I know his stalker-ish tendencies are usually played for laughs, but realistically?) HC very very very rarely calls XL by his given name but with GeGe or CrownPrince, dude has a name you know. I know you feel lower than XL, but seriously man, the guy's your life partner. HC would destroy the world if XL said to. He'd probably try to talk to XL first, confirm things, but if at the end XL really does want it, HC would do it. He lives for XL, he has no other reason to do something aside for XL. No reason to say NO for himself. They're not equals in which one wanna do something bad, the other would stop him because they have their own convictions. You can't tell me one only lives for one person's sake, will do anything for that guy, and has no attachments in the world aside from that guy, is a healthy person. It may seem romantic, but when you actually think about it, it becomes uncomfortable."

5. The romance was really cheesy. There were some powerful moments, but it was mostly flirting and "he fell on top of me" or "he needs mouth to mouth". Most of it was just the ML flirting with the MC, which you may like if you like this kind of stuff, but I really didn't enjoy it. Overall, I was desperate to love this novel, but I couldn't because of the shallow characters, unlikable main pair, and the constant abandonment of great plot lines in favor of the shallow romance. It felt like MXTX was constantly trying to one-up MDZS in angst, drama, and romance, but at the same time it felt like she didn't know what to do with the characters and world, and therefore fed us fan service and took the easy way out. This review is purely subjective, and if you want to read this go ahead, but I'll be seeing myself out.

#tgcf criticism #tianguancifu #tgcf #mxtx critical #xie lan #hua cheng #ok but this kinda sucks

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coco-goat-milk · 2 years

Note

This is Filo. Going by she/her pronouns, she thinks names are funny and interesting and doesn't get why she should settle on one. Therefore, her name changes every few days, but she likes 'Filo' the most.

Works in the Funeral Parlor alongside Hu Tao and Zhongli, who is also her adoptive father. Everyone was really surprised to learn he had a daughter, especially since no one ever saw her before or heard anything off or about her. This started the rumor that she is his biological child from a relationship he must have had in the past. Both deny this and insist they are not related.

Which is true, for Filo is no human being. She is a cloud, like...an actual cloud! How she came to this human body, she doesn't even know herself. All she knows is that in one moment, she is up in the sky, being a cloud during a heavy storm, and in the next, she is a human next to Zhongli's house. Given that the storm was still raging, she broke in and climbed into his bed. Zhongli had half a heart-attack when he woke up next to her. But he was calmed down quickly, listening to Filo explaining herself. Given his being as an Archon, he believed her when she said she was a spirit of nature. The energy surrounding her was different from a humans, so he had no reason to not trust her. Knowing he couldn't just sent her out on the streets of Liyue, and feeling some sort of connection to her, he took her in as his daughter.

Filo is...Filo. That is all most people can say about her. Her face is either emotionless, or adorned with a serene, mysterious smile. She is always respectful and polite, speaking in a quiet, gentle tone. But her eyes stare through people, and she barely seems to blink. No one ever saw her eat or drink. Some claim they saw her walk into the ocean without floating, and resurfaces hours later. Other say they saw her fight against Adeptus Xiao, and not be out of breath from it. In most people's eyes, she is no human, but a puppet given life. She unnerves Hu Tao so much that the other girl never even thought about pranking Filo.

She tends to keep her emotions to herself, not showing them to the outside world. But she loves to learn, and is the most interested in nature and the stars. She has many notebooks filled with the information she gathered and learnt, one book filled for each plant, animal or constellation. Filling them is what's bringing her the second-most joy in Teyvat. The thing that brings her the most joy is spending quiet time with Zhongli, even if it is just cleaning up. As long as he is close by, she is happy.

Aww omg she sounds so adorable, i love her.

So shes a cloud, how cool. And in the picture there is a cryo vision, so i suppose she has a cryp vision. Is there a reason she got a cryo one and how did it happen.

She sounds vv mysterious, so i wonder what her true emotions are. Even Hu tao is unnerved by her.

What weapon does she use and what fighting style does she use. Please send more i love this

#i want to hear so much more so i can give you some brainrot as well about her #and and omg i got a new oc #prob my fav oc

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rueitae · 5 years

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Explosion

Ao3 link to my whumptober collection

~~~~~~

The sound of the blast rattled in her ears. Pidge could have sworn she had just been standing, yet now the prison cell door swims in her vision and is very much sideways.

Was her rescue party finally here?

The door slid open and a tall figure of purple coloring stood in the doorway. Pidge couldn’t help feel a tad disappointed, she’d have liked to see one of the other Paladins - specifically Lance - first rather than one of the Blade of Marmora.

She wasn’t picky though, not in this case. Perhaps it was for the better, every time Lance so much as collected her from a mission she felt like she was in a dollar store novel. An actual rescue would be like something out of fanfiction.

She groaned as the figure approached, still blurry. Her ears were still ringing from the explosion and her heavy fall.

Sharp claws dug painfully into her scalp and they pull. With her hair suddenly supporting all her weight, she screamed.

This wasn’t a rescue.

“You’re coming with me,” Commander Trepv snarled. “I am not losing my command because bunch of plucky children.”

Pidge’s heart dropped to her stomach. Trepv hadn’t done much to her - yet. Only a few bruises to show from the initial interrogation, but nothing broken.

Too fragile, he’d said. Too easy to kill.

It disgusted Pidge that he was right.

But now he was cornered by her friends and he would not hold back if it spared his life.

That terrified her.

Pidge gasped, sudden and swift movement distorting her vision just when it’d been recovering. Multicolored dots dance in front of her and the brighter lights of the hallway force Pidge to close her eyes.

Trepv had her over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes, his pauldrons digging into the non-armored parts of her Paladin uniform. His clawed hand held her ankles like a vice grip and her head bounced hard into his back due to his quickened pace. She couldn’t even brace herself, not with her hands cuffed behind her back.

Pidge thought she understood why her mother couldn’t do anything while she had a migraine.

Another explosion goes off nearby.

Then blessed quiet.

“Pidge!”

Warm hands caught her fall, the familiar texture of a very specific jacket encasing her. A well toned chest presses against her increasingly warming cheeks.

Was this death? Or had she finally lost it and was actually dreaming about Lance?

“I’m so glad you’re okay. You really scared m— us, you scared us.”

Pidge felt his throat inflicting on the top of her head, the vibrations so much nicer and calmer than the loud explosions.

Then her hair felt wet and she couldn’t stay silent any longer.

“Lance, stop salivating in my hair. It’s gross,” she groaned.

He allowed her to push away from him. She was in a cryp-pod suit and tears flowed freely down Lance’s face as they sat on the floor together.

“Oh,” she said, because her normally high functioning mind could think of nothing more thoughtful to say.

Lance sniffed loudly, dragging the snot back into his nose. “You were unresponsive. Big gash in the side of your head. It looked really bad.”

Pidge found a grin. What Lance said wasn’t funny, but maybe because it came from him it made her smile. “The cryo-pods are nifty,” she said. “Or I’m dead and my afterlife is trying to make me feel better about it.”

Lance’s jaw dropped. “Pidge, don’t talk like that, you’re freaking me out.”

Pidge shrugged. “I mean, I could see Green pulling something like this in the astral plane,” she blathered, unsure why she was feeling so loose-lipped all of a sudden. “She knows I have a crush on you, so of course she put you here to see me off.”

Lance doesn’t speak, his eyes wide. A noise akin to a balloon losing air was escaping from his mouth.

They are still close, close enough Lance had yet to let go of her completely. Close enough Pidge blushed at the mere proximity as she realizes,

“I’m not dead, am I?”

The Green Lion rumbled affectionately in her head in affirmation.

Pidge’s cheeks become inflamed as if fireworks have gone off inside them. “Oh quiznack.”

#plance #whumptober2019 #no.2 #explosion #vld pidge #voltron legendary defender #vld lance #rueitae #my writing #blood mention #manhandling #captured #disorientating vision

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sibillascribbles08 · 5 years

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Title for this one was “UH IDK SOME GAY STUFF” and it’s not wrong

In which Cryptor accidentally confesses his like, ten year crush

“What do you think, Cryptor?”

Cryptor thought a lot of things as he stared at Toby, through Toby. He’d been going on a tangent about this bar idea for a while, as if he wanted to settle here and run the place, which was already unlike him.

But Cryptor had known Toby for a long time, analyzing his behavior only got easier and easier. Toby mentioned that his father died, as if it wasn’t obvious by the fact he was carrying that red hat around. He quickly changed the subject, of course, ever pretending to be optimistic.

He’d been analyzing his behavior from that moment, so by this point he only had one conclusion.

“I think you need to leave.” Cryptor said.

Toby’s grin dropped. His eyes seemed lost, hurt even. Cryptor had to look away.

“Huh?” Toby stepped over. “What are you talking about?”

“You asked me what I think. I think you need to leave.” He had his arms crossed, already planning to stand his ground. The oncoming argument was inevitable.

Toby glared at him. “Don’t care to expand on that a little bit?”

“I know what you’re doing, Toby.” Cryptor met his gaze again. “You’re creating a bunch of distractions so you don’t have to deal with the fact you lost your father.”

“That’s not–”

“You never speak about staying here.”

“People can change their minds.”

“So soon after losing a loved one? Are you sure it’s not another impulsive decision?”

Toby’s eyes flashed. He pressed his lips together in a straight line. The stars on his arm flashed, the air shifting around them.

Cryptor didn’t flinch.

“You’re trying to tell me it’s not to fill some void that was created?”

“Shut-up.” Toby finally snapped and stepped even closer, rising up on his toes so they were at even height. “You have no goddamn idea what even happened.”

“Of course I don’t.” He still didn’t budge. “You didn’t tell me anything apart from a single sentence. Do you think I’m psychic? That I can pick it all up from nowhere? You haven’t spoken a word about what happened.”

“Because I don’t want to think about it right now.”

“You say as you continue to carry around his hat and talk about making a replica to the bar you grew up in.”

“Stop your stupid analysis.” Toby shoved him back. “As if you’d understand how any of this feels.”

“I can’t possibly understand unless you help me understand.”

“Well maybe I don’t want you to.” Toby shouted even louder. The ground under them shifted, part of the sidewalk cracking. “What gives you the right to shove into my business?”

“Because we’re friends, aren’t we?” He threw open his arms. “Is that not what friends are for? To help each other when something bad happens?”

“And how do you plan to do that? You wouldn’t know how it feels to lose a parent. You wouldn’t know how it feels to think you’ll never see them again. That you missed your last chance to speak to them. Why would an android know how that feels?”

Cryptor grit his teeth, not unaware that his fangs had unsheathed from his irritation. “As I said before, I wouldn’t unless you try to explain it.”

Toby scoffed and turned away. “Exactly, you wouldn’t, you don’t. I don’t even know why you’d bother trying.”

“Because I love you!” He shouted without thinking. “And I can’t stand seeing you do this to yourself. I can’t stand here and watch you try and bury all this when you know it isn’t a solution.”

Toby seemed shocked for a moment before his glare returned. “Then what do you suggest I do, huh Cryptor? You really want me to be honest about how this feels? Because I can’t guarantee I won’t put a crater in the ground.” His voice slipped. His hands were shaking before he clenched them into fists. “He’s dead. He’s gone. All while I was off having a stupid adventure somewhere else. I never got to say goodbye and now I may never get the chance.”

Cryptor frowned and straightened up, his fangs slipping back into his jaw. “What are you talking about? The departed realm exists.”

“Travelling there is too hard, too risky.” Toby lowered his voice to a mumble. “And I don’t know how it works. If I die… do I end up in the departed realm in that universe or this one.” He looked at his left arm. “And would I still have my powers then? Or would I be stuck here with my family in a completely different universe.”

Cryptor’s chest started to ache. He wasn’t sure what to say, or do. It seemed out of place to offer a physical gesture with the tension still lingering in the air. And Toby was right, Cryptor didn’t know how that felt. What sort of advice could he offer?

He sighed. “This still is not a solution.”

“Cryptor–”

“Burying it is not a solution. You’re right, maybe I can’t understand how it feels, but I can still listen. I can still try. I want to try.”

Toby didn’t argue with that. In fact he said nothing, glancing at the empty lot. Cryptor considered it a blessing they had this argument out where hardly anyone traversed.

He risked stepping closer again, studying his face. “You look tired.”

“Haven’t slept well.”

“Come on.” He risked reaching out, touching his shoulder. “You should get some rest.”

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

After talking, a nap, and then more talking, Cryptor wasn’t sure what else to do.

He’d do anything Toby asked, of course, but so far his friend hadn’t said anything after crying his eyes out for the third time. Ronin’s hat sat on Cryptor’s desk, a red contrast to the rest of the decor in the dark room.

Toby was curled up on one of the chairs, facing the back of it like he was trying to hide. Not like he fit in them properly anymore. It didn’t seem to stop him from trying.

Cryptor refused to leave the room, even with a couple things asking for his attention. He’d take care of it later. It wasn’t urgent.

“So, you’re in love with me?”

The question came out of nowhere. Cryptor had to pause for a few seconds to make sure his hearing wasn’t broken. He gaze snapped over to Toby who’d rolled over on the chair, face leaning against his hand.

“Wh–what?” Cryptor cursed himself for stuttering. “Where did you get that from?”

“I mean, I could have been misunderstanding but you literally shouted that you love me during that argument.”

“W-well we’re friends.” His systems were heating up.

“You’ve never said that before, Cryptor.”

“I meant to. Friends love each other, right?”

“Cryp.”

Ugh, the nickname. It felt like his wires were on the fritz. “I… perhaps, maybe, but it’s hardly important.”

Toby frowned before he got up from the chair. “What are you talking about? Yes it is.”

“No.” He finally regained control of his voice. “You don’t… I refuse to tie you down. I refuse to let my feelings for you make you feel like you’re stuck.”

Toby stared at him in shock for a moment, mouth hanging open. “Cryptor, what the hell?” That glare returned. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that you’re allowed to ask for things. That’s a thing you can do.”

Cryptor shook his head. “I don’t want you to feel obligated to this place just because of how I feel.”

“I don’t.” Toby stepped over him and reached out, grabbing him just below the shoulders. Cryptor didn’t shove him away. “You’re not trapping me. There’s nothing wrong with asking me to stay a little longer, or come back sooner. How many times do we have to go over this? I’m your friend. I want you to be happy too, not just spend your life thinking it’s your job to make everyone else happy.”

Cryptor avoided his gaze. Everything in his head still felt hazy.

“You should go.” He mumbled.

Toby’s grip tightened. “Cryptor, I swear–”

“You should go.” He repeated. “Because right now you’re dealing with something I can’t help with. And when you feel better, come back and… stay for a while.” His voice kept shifting on the last part. He wasn’t used to asking for things, much less something like this. Besides, just because Cryptor finally had to admit how he felt didn’t mean that Toby felt the same way.

Toby sighed, his grip going slack. “Fine, fine, you’re right. I should.” He seemed to be thinking, rolling his bottom lip back and forth. His gaze darted back up to Cryptor. “But um, first thing’s first.”

Cryptor raised an eyebrow. He didn’t get much chance to ask for clarification as Toby took a step forward and the space between them vanished. Cryptor almost wouldn’t have register to the kiss to the corner of his mouth if his heat sensors didn’t finally kick in.

Toby let go, taking a step back as he rubbed his neck. “Sorry.” He had that embarassed grin on his face. “Just uh, figured you’d been waiting a while for one of those.”

Cryptor might have agreed but everything in his system was having trouble processing. Random screens kept popping into his vision. His body was overheating.

Everything shut down for a moment. He must have collapsed because when he came to a few seconds later Toby was shaking him, shouting.

“Cryptor? Cryptor are you okay? I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I didn’t think that would happen.”

Cryptor swatted him back as everything realigned itself.

“It’s fine. I didn’t either.”

“Look if my kisses are super powered–”

“I didn’t think you would kiss me in the first place.” He clarified. “It caught me off guard.”

“Oh.” Toby said. “I… yeah I guess I should have warned you.”

“I didn’t…” He trailed off for a moment before his hands came up to cover his face. “I didn’t expect you to return my feelings.”

“Well, I was thinking for a while.” Toby prattled on like he did when he was nervous. “About what you shouted during the argument. If you meant in that way. I realized… you know, it was nice to hear it from you. And I thought maybe the reason for that was… ugh this is all sounding stupid.”

Cryptor laughed. It started as a low chuckled but turned into something louder, his hands still over his eyes.

When he settled down, Toby continued.

“Uh, how long have you liked me?”

“I couldn’t say. It was more of a gradual thing.”

“So I was right, a while. You just wouldn’t fess up.”

“Hush.”

“And you lecture me about burying stuff.”

“Hush.” Cryptor swatted at him again. Toby just laughed, still keeping an arm under Cryptor shoulders. “Do as I say, not as I do.”

“That’s crap and you know it.”

“Hush.” Cryptor fell back, staring at the ceiling. His systems were fully functional by this point, but he didn’t get up.

“Hey Cryptor?” Toby leaned into his field a vision.

“What?”

“Think I might smooch you again.”

He rolled his eyes, reaching up to hold Toby’s face as he pulled himself closer.

“Indecisive as always, aren’t we?”

“Well I didn’t want to decide if you didn’t say yes.”

“Always.” Cryptor lowered his voice as he let their foreheads press together. “My answer is always.”

#scribbly fics #ninjago #clone universe #yeah Toby's 29 during this #one day I'll hurt myself and write about him finding out Ronin's dead

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