#fatal error really got me thinking

[roadkill-creatures]

Stella Octangula

#oh no I’ve been listening to miracle musical again #fatal error really got me thinking #doctor i cant tell if im not me #geno sans #sans #fatal error #utmv #undertale au #tags to be added #idk how to tag the gore? here so just ask #body horror

[oswald-can-draw]

About your mlp infection au!! I love this one so much I'm so interested!! Maybe give us a rundown of a couple of the survivors and how equestrias chances are looking? How did the ponies infected by black magic change and mutate? Can spike or other species like dragons, griffins and zebras get infected since they dont have cutiemarks? Are foals who dont have cutiemarks yet immune until they get their cutiemark? How does that play in? Im so sorry if this is too many questions, I really love this au and I think its really cool!!! Its a really well thought out idea and I think its awesome!!! :D I hope you have a nice day! ❤️

Someone being an autistic beast about my work is the highest compliment, so never apologize for that!

But, boy howdy, have we got a lot of ground to cover!

Let’s take it step by step:

1. FOALS

Foals (or those without their cutie mark), are a very complex cog in this AU. On one hand, they don’t have their cutie mark, so they can’t be infected, as there is no magic to corrupt. Great!

The bad news? Getting one’s cutie mark is often an unplanned thing, which means any foal can become susceptible to the Meanie Mark Virus at any time. There are many ways to deal with this.

One common one is to wrap the foal’s flank with compression gauze. Half a desperate idea, and half a way to forget their child’s vulnerability (or to hide when they DO get a cutie mark). Somepony suggested that it could “keep back” a cutie mark, and the rest of the populace decided to go with it.

Another way is to just try and keep the foal from anything that interests them. This works to a point, but the stress from their friends and family on the brink of death every day, and now any sliver of joy that they can find in this hellscape is strictly forbidden. This can cause a once rare, but quickly becoming more common developmental condition known as “Muted Cutie”. This causes a cutie mark to appear, but it’s based off of an outside tension, such as familial pressure, cutie conditions, and lack of input. It’s like a magical wisdom tooth — keeping the actual cutie mark from developing and causing pain and stress to the pony.

The third option is a last resort: quietly “taking care” of foals that were of cutie mark age or freshly marked.

Having a foal of a certain age can bar you from going into certain populated areas, getting ample supplies, and even contact with other ponies.

Of course, this is EXTREMELY traumatizing for the foal. Feeling like they aren’t wanted and that they aren’t allowed even the smallest of joys can make life miserable.

2. OTHER SPECIES

* Zecora’s redesign is based off of the Karo tribe, a small tribe famous for body painting and self expression. Though I have done as much research as I can, there is still room for error. If there is something inaccurate, please let me know so I can fix the redesign accordingly.

Other species may not get the Meanie Mark illness, per se, but they do have reactions to parts of the evil clones that seep into the soil or the corpses of already infected ponies.

Griffins, for example, get something similar to food poisoning, with nausea, vomiting, and unseasonal molting. This is their body attempting to purge the toxins. Their flying also becomes affected, with severe bouts of vertigo and lost sense of direction. For the average, healthy griffin, this usually only lasts a week or so. However, if a griffin is elderly, injured, or any sort of health condition, this infection could be fatal. Fortunately, since griffins are so far from the Everfree Forest and spend so little time on the ground, this sickness is very rare, especially with certain security measures set in place.

Dragons are even luckier. Their stomachs are able to digest any trace of the infection, neutralizing it before it can cause any real damage. However, there is a phenomenon that has been unearthed due to dragons. The gems found near their volcano-filled home can actually be infused with the disease. The only sign of this having occurred is a slightly darker hue and a “rotten” taste, according to the dragons. A few dragons have been enlisted to dispose of infected material, as them consuming it is the only way it can be disposed of without putting more ponies at risk. Not many are up for the task.

Zebras, on the other hoof, have quite the reaction to infected material. While they aren’t infected with the true disease, the special, magical markings and body paint can give the bacteria something to feed on. This can cause weakness, confusion, gastrointestinal distress, rashes, burns, irritability, and even aggression. Zebras often have to be quarantined from the rest of their tribe in order to keep the disease from spreading and the victim from hurting anyone or anything. Removal of paint and markings can help, and are often reapplied after recovery, with additional markings showing their bravery, strength, and health. Unfortunately, some of them do not survive.

Any other living thing, including birds, mammals, plant life, and insects all have generally poor reactions upon exposure. Common themes in symptoms include weakness, vomiting, and confusion. Plants will turn away from the sun. Dogs will whine and curl into a ball. Birds will run into things and screech. Survival depends on the age, health, size, and care plan of a creature. Among them, usually about 73% survive.

Though no other species has the guaranteed death from the disease that ponies do, it can still cause some nasty, or even deadly, side effects.

3. BLACK MAGIC

Since the Meanie Mark Illness is already a form of black magic, just more widespread and deadly, the disease has horrendous effects on those who have already succumbed to dark magic.

Though it’s a rare instance, the phenomenon has been observed. Whether the black magic or the illness comes first, it always begins and ends the same way:

First, a pony becomes much, MUCH more powerful. Instead of gradually gaining this talent through the virus, their black magic reaches a feverish pitch. The pony begins to have uncontrollable displays of magic, usually of the destructive kind. Explosions, rays, death, and evil spells emanate from them without stopping. This has caused many hasty villains to try and catch the famous Meanie Mark Illness — with this power, they think, taking over the world would be easy.

Second, the two opposing powers battling for control inside the pony begin to destroy the victim from the inside. See, the reason why ponies become a husk-like corpse and turn to dust at the end of the Meanie Mark’s cycle is because of the Tree of Harmony’s magic fighting the dark magic of the virus, which ends up destroying the pony in the process. But with the black magic far overpowering the Tree of Harmony, the pony has a different problem — their body can’t handle such raw power.

The pony’s hair begins to fall out, their veins swell, their skin begins to blacken with gangrene as less and less blood goes to extremities. The pony ends up rotting from the inside out, black sludge oozing from their mouth and eyes, magic still pouring out of them. Their cutie mark, both subdued from the virus and given immense power from the black magic, sputters and shines and pulses.

Finally, a pony will die within a few days, their corpse zombified and rotting. However, those who do survive the ordeal have poor quality of life, as their joints, brains, and some of their organs hardly work anymore. They will live either as a wandering corpse or a patient for their friends and family to take care of until their demise in the near future.

In other words, this is a quicker but much more painful death!

4. CHANCES FOR EQUESTRIA?

This disease can be spread very easily, especially among unicorns. If an infected unicorn casts a spell on another pony, they too will catch Meanie Mark. Other than that, a pony either has to come in contact with infected soil/plant life, an animal that has eaten said infected material, or a corpse. This means that, though the illness will be slow to spread at first, it will pick up speed as time goes on.

With the emphasis on foals and the amount that are being killed for mercy or safety’s sake, repopulating is going to be difficult.

As for a cure…perhaps the dragons can help, since they are the only one’s completely immune? Or maybe they could at least offer hints about how to stop this horrible disease?

All this to say — there is a chance of survival. But is Equestria quick enough to find a cure? Or at least keep the disease at bay?

BONUS - SURVIVORS (NOT COMPLETE):

1. Spike: Being a dragon has its perks. But being surrounded by ponies does not.

2. Big Mac: The pony you would want in an apocalypse. Still mourning the infection of his sisters.

3. Discord: Could he even…get sick? Isn’t he part pony? But he doesn’t have a cutie mark…

4. Rainbow Dash: Cloudsdale is on lockdown, and isn’t allowing anypony in or out. But it’s like herding winged cats.

5. Winona: Aids Big Mac. Since eating an infected piece of flesh, she avoids the infected like the plague.

6. Sweetie Belle: Was staying with Scootaloo right before Rarity got infected. Apple Bloom would have come, but she didn’t feel well…

7. Scootaloo: Her inventions are invaluable. But her lack of a quick way to escape could be the death of her one day.

#mlp #mlp infection #mlp infection au #mlp infected au #my little pony infection au #mlp horror #horror #infection au #digital art #artists on tumblr #art #my art #digital artist #fanart

[imagine-you]

every lover's got a little dagger in their hand (2/?) [joel miller/reader]

Summary: You find Joel at Cumberland Farms in the midst of his quest to save the human race. "You had so many questions you wanted to ask Joel. Where did he get a kid from? Where was Tess? Was he on a job? If so, then why the kid? Did he feel anything when he looked at you?" Word Count: 3.9k Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who supported part one. This wouldn't have continued without y'all. Title from Love From the Other Side by Fall Out Boy.

part one

The trip to Lincoln was supposed to be relatively short compared to most of the trips you were used to taking. The painfully awkward silence made it feel like it was several days long and not the hour it took to trek out there.   

You kept shooting small glances at Joel, wondering if he was regretting his decision to let you tag along. Joel seemed to purposefully keep his eyes forward, not even bothering to acknowledge you. There was a set to his jaw as he walked, and you knew something must have happened, because he looked like he had something on his mind that he would rather forget.  

"So," Ellie started, falling back to walk at your side. "When'd you meet Joel? You don't look that old," she observed, looking you up and down.  

"We've got a few years between us," you admitted, shooting her an unimpressed look at her scoff. "What?" 

"It's more than that," she said, pulling her knife out of her jacket pocket. She started trying to flip it over and over in her hand, fumbling it every so often.  

"Yeah, well, I don't think a kid should be hearing about that," you pointed out. You knew you could keep the conversation PG enough to give Ellie the gist of your relationship with Joel, but not while Joel could overhear. What if he heard the love you still carried for him in your voice? What if he disagreed with you? What if he never thought you actually had a relationship and instead considered it a series of flings? What if he didn't think it was worth mentioning at all? You didn't want to find out the answer to any of those questions, so you decided to go the easy route and bow out.  

"Alright, well, I'm about to start eating my hair out of boredom," Ellie told you, briefly pointing her knife at you. "So, give me something here. Like you said that infected at Cumberland was put there by you. How'd you manage that?" 

You noticed Joel glance briefly at you, a quick there-and-gone-again look, as if he was also interested to know how you trapped an infected in the cellar.  

"Well," you started, aimlessly kicking at a rock. "It almost cost me my life," you reminded her, ignoring another brief look from Joel.     

--- 

You weren't sure how this job had gone so sideways so fast. It should have been a simple pick-up-and-trade, but you faced an obstacle at every turn. It was one of the first times you began to regret your choice of not having a designated partner for your runs. First, FEDRA blocked the road you would have taken, searching for something which you hoped wasn't you. Next, your contact failed to show up, which meant the whole run was a bust. Then, you had the bright idea that you were so close to Boston, you might as well visit Tess.  

Even you weren't really kidding yourself. Visiting Tess meant visiting Joel and that was really what you wanted after all the bullshit you had gone through. You wanted to drop by Cumberland Farms to stow away the goods you had meant to trade, so you wouldn't risk losing them if you were attacked or came across FEDRA.  

You were less than a mile out when you made a near-fatal error.  

 You saw one infected stumbling along in the woods. It wasn't far away from you, so you resolved to take care of it as quietly as you could. Your mistake was assuming it was alone. That one infected turned out to be five infected, and they all came running at you.  

You got off one shot, two, before you realized that you would simply have to run. You thought you could get to Cumberland and hold them off from there. You didn't count on the sixth infected to run at you from the side, tackling you into the dirt. You felt something scrape your side, your hand sliding over a sharp, jagged rock.  

The blood only made them more frenzied, eager to get to you. Your ankle felt like it was on fire, but you couldn't care. You had to run, escape, because if you became one of them, then you ultimately lost.  

You managed to take down the one that tackled you before pushing to your feet. You ignored the pain, counting on the adrenaline to carry you through. Every moment felt drawn out and weighted, but it was simply a passing second where you had to make the right choice or die.  

You didn't dare look over your shoulder as you ran. You kept your eyes forward, avoiding roots and debris that would trip you. You felt like there was a knife in your side, each breath in painful and sharp. Your ankle threatened to buckle under you and your hand was bleeding, stinging little zings of pain reminding you that you were wounded.  

You were trying not to panic, but you could feel desperation to survive clawing at you. This might be it, you couldn't help but think. This might be the last moment you were alive. The last moment you were truly human. You tried to push those thoughts aside and just focus on moving forward, ignoring the pain and fear fighting for your attention.  

You could just see Cumberland Farms up ahead when you started to finally allow yourself to think that you weren't going to make it. Five infected all on your trail while you hobbled along, injured and bleeding? No chance.  

You were going to have to do something crazy, you resolved. Something that might take you down with it, but at least you weren't going to leave this world infected with Cordyceps. That was all you really cared about at the moment.  

For a fleeting second, you thought of Joel and how much he would disapprove of your plan. Maybe he would mourn your death and maybe he would be glad to be rid of you. You didn't know. You had no clue. Which just about summed up your whole relationship with Joel. Confusing and uncertain and leaving you clueless.  

You only had a few seconds to enact your plan, knowing that if you slowed down at all, you would be swarmed by the infected. You rounded the back of Cumberland Farms, letting out a cry of pain when you stretched an arm back, grasping for the weapon you kept lodged in the side pocket of your bag. You finally wrapped your fingers around it, allowing yourself one moment of relief.   

You drew to a stop once you hit the back of the store, fumbling with the door for a moment before pushing inside. In a perfect world, you wouldn't need the weapon in your hand at all. You could get to the cellar and lock yourself in, regroup, and then deal with the infected once you weren't about to pass out from the pain.  

You got the cellar door open before it all fell to shit again.  

You assumed the infected would follow you around the building and through the back, but one of them surprised you, running in from the front. You had barely enough strength to push it away towards the back of the room before you brought the weapon in your hand up. You pulled the pin on the grenade and launched it into the group of infected at the back of the store, attempting to shield yourself from the oncoming blast.  

The grenade detonated quicker than you thought it would, taking care of the infected for you. You didn't count on being so close to it when it went off, though, and you were launched backwards, through the cellar door. You were weightless, floating, for one perfect moment before you hit the ground.  

You were sure you blacked out, because the next time you were aware, you were writhing on the ground, screaming. The pain in your side had doubled, tripled into a knot of agony. You glanced down, your hands covered in blood, to see a piece of a branch sticking out of your side. Had it been there the whole time? It must have been, but this was the first time you allowed yourself to notice. You were sure it was scraping along your gut, causing internal damage you wouldn't be able to fix stuck in the cellar of a gas station.  

Your hands traveled down to wrap around the branch in your side. You knew you shouldn't pull it out, but now that you knew it was there, you were painfully annoyed by its presence. You wanted it gone. Now. But you had a higher risk of dying if you simply yanked it out. If the shock didn't kill you, then the blood loss surely would.  

You heard the screech of an infected and prepared yourself for the worst. You weren't in any shape to fight one off, but the sharp sting of a bite never came. You cast your glance to the far side of the cellar, where part of the building had collapsed, rubble taking up the back half of the cellar. There was a face staring back at you, the rest of the body submerged beneath the debris. It shrieked at you again, uselessly trying to pull itself free, but stuck.  

"Fuck you," you snarled, pain making your vision swim as you shakily held a hand up, flipping it off.  

--- 

"Now, hold on," Joel said, halting your story. "What the hell were you thinking? Do you know how reckless that was?" 

You quirked an eyebrow at him before slowly raising your shirt to show the scar on your side. "Yeah," you drawled, smiling at him. "I think I do." 

Joel opened his mouth, no doubt ready to give you hell, but Ellie spoke first.  

"So, you were bleeding out, delirious from the pain, and what? You magically got better? Rubbed some dirt in it and walked away?" 

"No," you snorted, shaking your head. "There's more to the story than that." 

--- 

You lost track of time in the cellar. You knew you were bleeding. You knew you were in pain. You knew you were in danger. But you couldn't seem to make any of your limbs work. Once it started growing dark, you knew you had a hard choice ahead of you. Make yourself move or simply lie there and die.  

The sounds of the trapped infected had become background noise to you.  

"You can do this," you muttered, your hands clenched into fists to help you deal with the pain. "Just get the fuck up," you hissed, finally pushing yourself to your knees.  

It was a slow, torturous crawl to the trash can you had dropped into the cellar years before. You managed to roll it into the right place and slowly but surely pull yourself up onto it. The tricky part came when you had to straighten up, an excruciating ball of fire exploding in your side. You let out an agonized shriek to rival that of the infected before you forced your shaking hands to grab the edge of the floor above you.  

You didn't remember much of how you managed to actually get out of the cellar. It was a blur of pain and swearing and wondering if you should just let yourself fall back into the cellar and die.  

By the time you were stumbling out of Cumberland Farms, you knew you only had one option if you wanted to survive.  

You were sure you could easily be mistaken for an infected as you staggered down the road. You were covered in blood, your ankle dragging as you pushed yourself forward against your body's wishes. You forced down a scream of pain when you felt your foot roll over a rock, your ankle protesting the movement. There were black spots dancing at the edges of your vision, your field of view growing smaller and smaller the longer you walked. Your head felt dangerously weightless, as if it would simply float above your body and eventually become untethered and your breaths were getting shorter and shorter, barely coming at all.  

You didn't remember reaching your destination, but suddenly your hands were fumbling with a keypad and you were struggling to remember a string of numbers you could have sworn were ingrained in your memory. You didn't remember sitting on the ground and you didn't remember when it started raining. Your clothes were soaked, a mix of blood and water, making them cling to your skin in all the wrong places.  

"We've got one that somehow avoided the traps," you heard someone say, startling you out of your daze. 

You didn't know how you were suddenly looking up at the sky or why it was now daylight.  

"Help," you rasped, hoping you were discovered by a friend and not a raider.  

"Shit," Frank hissed, his voice coming closer. "It's Y/N. Let's get her inside." 

"Hold on. Stay on that side of the fence," Bill said, holding out a hand to stall Frank from coming any closer. "She could be infected." 

"It's Y/N," Frank tried to argue. "She needs our help." 

Bill pulled to a stop over you, staring down at you. You saw Bill pull out a virus checker before he crouched down, holding it near your neck.   

"Bill," Frank warned, apprehension in his tone.  

"Please," you managed to say, staring up at Bill. You didn't know if any of the infected had managed to bite you in your rush to escape. If you were infected, then you wanted them to put you down before you turned. You didn't want to risk Bill and Frank more than you already had just by coming here. "Please," you repeated, managing to nod up at Bill.  

He watched you for a moment before pressing the sensor to your neck. The sharp sting barely registered to you. It wasn't long before you heard Frank let out of a breath of relief. You saw the flash of green signaling you were in the clear before everything went black.  

You were aware of things in brief flashes of time. You woke up the first time, a pained cry leaving you as Frank and Bill attempted to get you into their house.  

"I know, I know," Frank tried to soothe you. "We've got you." 

You woke up the next time on a table, screaming in agony as Bill pulled the branch out of your side. You were vaguely aware of the push and pull of your skin being stitched together. You could hear Bill and Frank talking above you. Frank sounded so worried and you wanted to tell him it would all be okay, but you couldn't seem to get anything out.  

The first time you could actually make sense of what was going on, you realized you were on a bed.  

"You scared Frank," came a voice from your side.  

You glanced up, noticing Bill leaning against the wall of what you assumed was a spare bedroom, watching you. He had a gun in his hand, aimed at you, as if he didn't fully trust you wouldn't turn despite the all clear you got from the scanner.    

"I'm sorry," you got out, your throat dry and scratchy. "I don't even remember getting here." 

"You're lucky you didn't trigger one of my traps," he pointed out, finally lowering his gun. "You're lucky to be alive." 

"Yeah," you sighed, suddenly aware of the tight feeling at your side. You moved to touch your side, but Bill stopped you.  

"Don't," he warned, shaking his head. "You'll fuck up your stitches." 

You wanted to thank Bill for having your back. He had every right to leave you out there. You knew he'd let the whole world burn to protect Frank and you respected that even when it meant you'd burn too. You simply settled for meeting Bill's gaze, letting everything you wanted to convey show on your face.  

Bill simply dipped his head in a nod, his expression as stoic as ever, but his eyes conveying his understanding. In turn, you knew what he was telling you with just a look. His expression was stern, with just a hint of softness beneath it.  

You can't stay here. 

I have to protect Frank.  

I'm glad you're alive.  

"Once you're back up on your feet again--" 

"I'll be out of here," you finished for him. "I'm grateful," you told him, offering a small smile. Your eyes felt heavy and your breaths were coming out slow and measured. You could feel yourself beginning to fall asleep again. 

"I know," you heard Bill say before you drifted off.  

Two weeks later, you felt like you were on the edge of overstaying your welcome. Your wounds were healing nicely and you could walk without feeling like your ankle was going to snap. You knew it was time to leave. 

"You could stay," Frank offered, escorting you to the fence surrounding Lincoln.  

"I know," you said, grinning at Frank. "But you know me. Can't stay in one place too long. It's not me." 

"Y/N," Frank called, stalling you near the gate. "You know you're welcome here anytime. You don't have to wait until you're bleeding out to visit. Bill’s a grouch, and he’s got a funny way of showing it, but he likes you. He wouldn’t mind seeing you more often either." 

"Thanks," you told him, taking a step towards him. You held your arms out, waiting for Frank to step into your embrace. "I'll be back," you promised him. "Hopefully without the blood next time," you joked, pulling away from him. "Take care of yourself, alright? And the grouch too." 

Frank laughed, shaking his head. "You too. See you later, Y/N. Be careful out there." 

"I'll try," you promised, winking at him, before you exited through the gate. You started walking down the path, sparing a look for Frank at the gate. You raised your hand in a wave before you turned around, resolving to visit them the next time you had to do a job in the state.  

---  

"And I haven't been back since," you admitted with a frown.   

"Wow," Ellie breathed. "So, they saved your life and you couldn't even make the time to visit them? Remind me to let you bleed out next time." 

"Okay, smartass," you said, rolling your eyes. "It wasn't that easy, alright? Besides, I'm here now, right?" You pointed out, glancing at Joel, wondering if he got your meaning.  

Joel was focused on Lincoln, though. He carefully instructed Ellie around the traps Bill had built and approached the gate. He typed in the code, glancing around, waiting for Bill or Frank to appear at any moment. Surely, Bill already knew you were here.  

You followed Joel and Ellie through the gate and shut it behind you. You kept waiting for Bill or Frank to greet you, but you made it to their house without a sign from either one of them. A tendril of dread started to take root in your gut as you watched Joel easily push open the front door of their house. Bill always made sure it was locked if they were both inside. There was an eerie stillness that had settled over the town and you feared the worst.  

You immediately moved upstairs, searching for the couple, but you drew short just outside an upstairs bedroom by Joel's worried voice calling Bill's and Frank's names. You rushed downstairs to see he was trying to open their bedroom door, obviously locked to keep anyone out.  

"Uh, guys?" Ellie called, drawing you both to the dining room. She held a paper in her hands, reading over the words written on it. "This is for you," she said, glancing up at Joel. She tried to hand him the letter, but he refused with a shake of his head.  

"You read it," he prompted, moving to lean against the wall while he listened.  

You listened to Ellie read Bill's letter to Joel, keeping your eyes on him. You weren't sure if you were concerned about Joel or just trying to ignore your own feelings about Bill and Frank dying. It wasn't until Joel reached forward and snatched the letter away from Ellie, reading over something, before he shoved it at you.  

"Joel, you know--" 

"Just give me a moment," Joel interrupted Ellie, pushing past you to walk out of the room. You heard the door open and close and you were left alone with Ellie in the dining room.  

You glanced down at the letter, reading the words Joel and Ellie didn't dare read aloud.  

"I don't think he's over it yet," Ellie started, looking to you, cautious in case you didn't want to talk about it. Talk about Tess.  

"I didn't even realize she was gone," you admitted, trying to process three deaths all at once. The world grew smaller each day and you weren't sure what you would do when it finally disappeared.  

"I think he really loved her," Ellie observed, watching you.  

"It was hard not to love Tess," you conceded, trying to get your thoughts in order. There was pain and shock and grief and guilt. You couldn't even find it in you to be jealous that Joel was so torn up over Tess and so obviously in love with her, because you understood. She was there for him through everything. She was his constant and you knew that losing her had to have shaken his world.  

Your eyes caught on your name further down the letter.  

And Y/N, if this is you, Frank wants you to know that you're welcome to any of it. You can stay, put down roots if you want. Pick any house you want. You'll find everything you need in the bunker. But if you can't stay, take what you need. Don't go falling on anymore trees, because we're not here to keep you from bleeding out. Good luck, kid. 

A sob caught in your throat, the reality hitting you all at once.  

Frank and Bill were gone.  

Tess was gone.  

You only had Joel now and by association Ellie and Tommy.  

"I'll be right back," you told Ellie, hastily handing her the letter. You followed after Joel, finding him sitting on the lawn outside. "Hey," you whispered, approaching him, not wanting to startle him.  

He didn't look at you, but you saw his shoulders tense before relaxing just a bit. You moved to sit at his side, letting your knee brush against his leg.  

You sat there in silence with Joel for a few moments before you glanced over at him. "I'm sorry," you told him. "I know," you cut yourself off, knowing there weren't even words for what Tess was to Joel. "I know," you repeated, letting it stay there. Joel didn’t want to talk about it and you’d respect that, but you didn’t want him to feel alone. Not now and not ever.  

He didn’t have to be alone and you were starting to realize you didn’t quite need to be alone either. Frank and Bill had years together, loving each other and surviving together, because those experiences didn’t need to be mutually exclusive. You only wished that you had understood that sooner.  

Joel dipped his head in a nod before he finally looked at you. "I've got to go get Tommy out of some trouble in Wyoming and then I've got to get the kid somewhere. You're welcome to join us if you want in," he offered, the corners of his lips ticking up in a smirk. “Unless you’ve got a job you’d rather get to.” 

"No. No job,” you answered, not caring about anything else but Joel and whatever journey he needed to take. "I'm in.”  

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#joel miller #the last of us #tlou #joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #tlou imagine #the last of us imagine #joel miller imagine #elgaldith fic #my fic

[ironstrange1991]

The Man You Are

Pairing: Defender!Strange x Fem!Reader

+18 Smut (a lot) /Angst (just a bit)

Synopsis: After losing her father and husband, the reader must face a new kind of pain: coming face to face with the Sorcerer Supreme from another universe who also happens to be a variant of her deceased husband.

Word count: 5,614k

Warnings: MoM spoilers, Sexual content: oral (female receiving), masturbation (female and male receiving), P in V.

Writer's Note: English is not my first language so there may be grammatical errors. However, I hope it doesn't spoil your experience.

Do not copy, translate or post my fanfics anywhere

Defender Strange looked at you clearly puzzled. Wong helped him sit up and went out to fetch a bowl of warm water and cloths to clean Strange's leg wound.

Fighting a multiversal demon to stop him from killing you was almost fatal for Strange and you felt your heart heavy as you watched him writhe in pain while trying to maintain a facade of control of the situation.

“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause problems”  You said regretfully  “I didn't want you to get hurt for me.”

He sighed clearly in more pain than he wanted to show.

“The pain doesn't bother me that much, what really bothers me is that last night you were in my dream.”

Strange stared at you, waiting for an answer. He was identical to your Stephen and yet you knew he was a completely different person. That would be enough to drive anyone crazy.

“It wasn't a dream” You said  “I was in my universe when Wanda Maximoff attacked us and...”

He waited for you to finish, but you couldn't put into words what had happened.

“What was he to you?” Strange asked, his voice getting lower.

You looked around at the Sanctum’s hall. You were home. Everything  was identical to your home and you had to force yourself to remember that you never had been farther from home than you were now.

“We had just got married” You said feeling the tears starting to burn your eyes  “He was all I had after my father died.”

Strange glared at you and opened his mouth to respond, but Wong came back, standing in front of him and starting to clean his wound. He was trying to keep quiet, but you could see in his eyes how much that was hurting.

“It occurred to me miss that we don't know your name”  Wong said with the same calm as your Wong and you wished it was him. Your friend, your universe, your Doctor Strange.

“[Y/F/N]”

Wong nodded “I don't think we need to introduce ourselves”  He said smiling sympathetically. You nodded.

Wong used magic you didn't know to close Strange's wound after it was cleaned.

“I saw you and Strange fighting Wanda Maximoff last night. I've never seen Wanda so Strong.” Strange said looking at you suspiciously. “Tell me everything you know.”

“She's not Wanda anymore. She is using the Darkhold and has succumbed to it. Wanda Maximoff is now The Scarlet Witch.”

Wong was getting up and taking the bowl of water out of the room when he heard what you said and stopped staring at you like he had seen a ghost.

“The Scarlet Witch” He stared at Strange.

“The Scarlet Witch is a nexus being, there are laws that protect the cosmos from her existence” Strange explained  “That shouldn't be possible.”

Wong disappeared with the bowl with a wave of his hand and faced you “Does she have the Darkhold?”

You nodded.

“What she wanted from you?” Strange asked looking at you with the same blue eyes you used to got lost in every morning. The same deep blue eyes that stared at you lifelessly minutes before you'd darted through a multiversal portal to escape Wanda's well-aimed blow.

You clenched your hands into fists. She had taken everything from you and now she had even taken your universe from you.

“She wants my power”  You replied.

He frowned  “What power?”

“I can travel through the Multiverse.”

Wong's eyes widened “Do you physically travel throught the multiverse?”

Strange  was unimpressed. He saw when you came through the portal and saw the monster Wanda conjured to chase you. Fighting that demon was almost fatal to him.

“If  The Scarlet Witch get her hands in such power she will be able to enslave the entire multiverse.” Wong said.

Strange sighed putting his hand to his face “If she is in possession of the Darkhold and wants [Y/N]'s power, we already know what she's going to do next.”

You didn’t know. In fact, you thought you were safe in that universe, after all, she couldnt reach you there.

“Dreamwalking”  Wong said and the Sanctum lights flickered hauntely.

You had no idea what that was and Strange seeing your confused look began to explain.

“The Darkhold has a domination spell that is corrosive to the soul. It allows the sorcerer or witch in possession of the book to possess their other-universe self. The link with this variant is not permanent, but it is enough to cause irreparable damage to the invaded universe”.

“If she wants your power, miss, this time it will not be demons that she will send to get you. The Scarlet Witch will come for you.”  Wong said.

You felt your heart sink. Fear taking over you. It wasn't safe there. You were not safe there, no one was.

“I need to get out of here” You said getting up. You couldn't allow the witch to hurt another Doctor Strange. You would have to face her alone.

Strange got up and went to you  “You can't fight her alone.”

“No one can fight her. I saw what she did to my father and to my Stephen...”

He held your arms in an attempt to make you stop and listen.

“I won't let you walk out that door alone. Let's work this out together. I'm sorry about what happened to your Doctor Strange, but I, unlike him, can help you.”

You looked at him confused  “How?”

“The book of Vishanti.”

Now you were even more confused. You remembered Stephen talking about the book that until then had been believed to be a mith.

“Does the book of Vishanti exist?”

He nodded.

Wong sighed   “Unfortunately it's not that simple to get to him”.

Strange disagreed  “It helps when we have someone who can open portals across the multiverse.”

Once you guys seemed to havecome sort of a plan, you decided that you would stay at the Sanctum and accept Defender Stranger's help. You had no other choice, but standing there next to a variant of your husband was particularly painful.

Strange guided you to one of the Sanctum's guest rooms. It was full of relics and due to the amount of dust in the air, you thought that probably no one had been in there for a long time.

“I'm sorry, we don't usually receive visitors.”  He made a gesture with his hands, brushing the dust out of the air, and with another pompous gesture he removed the sheets from the bed and the pillowcases from the pillows. With one more gesture of his deft hands he took clean sheets and pillowcases from the wardrobe and laid them on the bed.  “That's better.”

You couldnt help but smile. That was exactly what your Stephen used to do every time you asked him to help clean up something. He never got his hands dirty, everything was done with magic.

“I'll leave you alone now”   He said slightly embarrassed with the way you must be looking at him . “I imagine you want to take a shower.”

You nodded.

“I'll ask them to bring you a change of clean clothes.”

Thank you, Doctor Strange.”

He nodded, closing the door.

The hot water from the bath helped to put the ideas in place and soon you were feeling less tired and more alert. The pain of the loss hit you hard for the first time as you realized that you would never see Stephen again.

When you got out of the shower, your eyes red and swollen from the tears, a change of clothes was waiting for you on the bed. Jeans, a t-shirt and sneakers. You had no idea where those clothes came from, but you didn't care enough to ask.

You wandered downstairs through the Sanctum and found Strange sitting at a table, lost in a pile of books. He had physical differences from your Stephen. His hair was long and tied in a ponytail. Instead of a goatee he had a full beard and his tunic was red and black. Still looking at him distracted while reading you couldn't help but see your Stephen and remember all the times you interrupted him while reading to make him pay some attention to you. The memory filled your eyes with tears and the sight of Defender Strange took your breath away.

\a  Wong said pulling you out of your daydream. He looked at where you were staring and disguised. “Dinner is ready. I imagine you're hungry.”

Now that he mentioned it, you realized that you haven't eaten for more than 24 hours and your stomach rumbled.  “Follow me, please.”

Wong took you to the kitchen and served your plate. The food was hot and smelled so good that you just devoured it.

“Isn't he having dinner?” You asked. Deep down you were disappointed.

“Strange likes to have dinner alone”   Wong explained  “Always after everyone has gone to sleep. Besides, I doubt anything can get him out of his reading right now.”

“What is he reading?”   You asked and then apologized  “I am sorry, it's none of my business.”

Wong pretended not to hear the second part of what you said. “The Sorcerer Supreme has a responsibility to the reality we live in. Strange looks for answers to the conflict we are facing.”

You couln't help but be surprised

“Stephen is the Sorcerer Supreme of this universe?”  Right after that you rephrased your question feeling your face heat up  “I mean, Doctor Strange is the Sorcerer Supreme of this universe?”

Wong nodded  “Wasn't your Doctor Strange Sorcerer Supreme?”

You shook your head silently.

“And who was it then? The Ancient One?”

You smile at the peculiar differences from one universe to another.

“In our universe Stephen was trained by the Ancient One. She was Celtic, mysterious, but extremely kind. She died a few years ago when Stephen was still learning to use his magic.”

You smile at Wong  “Answering your question, you are the Sorcerer Supreme of our universe, and you are my friend as well.”

Wong's lips curled into a rare smile  “So the dreams I have where I possess the Sorcerer Supreme's duties...”

You nodded as your eyes filled with tears   “You were probably having visions of our universe.”

He nodded   “I'm glad you fell into our universe, miss. We'll do everything in our power to keep you safe here.”

You nodded quickly wiping a tear that was falling down your face.

After dinner you went back to your room hoping to get some sleep and the physical and mental exhaustion was enough to knock you out for a few hours.

You woke up in the middle of the night instinctively groping your bed looking for Stephen and when your hand found only the empty space beside you, the memories hit and the tears were inevitable. You were alone now. Your father who had always been your strength had died trying to protect you and your husband, your Stephen had died the same way. Not letting Wanda take your powers was your obligation with the Multiverse and the countless number of lives that depended on it, but deep down in your heart you knew you had nothing left to live for.

Knowing you wouldn't be able to sleep again, you went downstairs to get some tea to calm your nerves, but found yourself standing at the foot of the stairs again when you noticed that Strange was still reading, now with the help of some candlelight.

You forced yourself to go to the kitchen and it didn't take you long to find what you needed to make some tea. When the kettle whistled and everything was ready, you placed two cups on a tray and crossed the dark hall to Strange.

He seemed surprised by your presence, but he thanked you when you offered him the cup. He sighed visibly tired and sipped his tea slowly.

“Sorry for the intrusion, I should have asked before.”

He shooked his head  “Don't worry. I needed a break.”

You nodded, sitting in the chair in front of the small table full of books.

“I was wondering... you said you lost your father fighting Wanda”  He said weighing his words  “May I ask you who was your father in your universe?”

You fell silent and then sighed trying to keep another wave of tears from hitting you.  “My father was Tony Stark.”

He widened his eyes, clearly surprised.

“Do you know Tony Stark? Does he exist in this universe?” You asked full of hope to see your father once again but Strange sighed visibly wistfully  

 “Tony Stark died a few years ago fighting Thanos.”

You went silent.

“How did you win the Infinity War in your universe? Did it not happen?”

“We didn't win. Thanos killed half the population of our universe. Stephen... he was one of the people who died.”

Strange looked increasingly confused.

“5 years later, my father found a way to go back in time and we managed to gather all the infinity stones before Thanos possessed them. With them we managed to bring everyone back. Without the stones, Thanos was killed by Stephen, Captain Marvel, and Wanda Maximoff.”

Strange nodded. “I'm sorry for your loss, I can’t even imagine how hard it must be for you.”

You nodded. It was extremely difficult to accept the death of the two men you loved most in your life, but it was particularly difficult to look at this Strange  and feel your heart beating in your chest completely confused by the man in front of you. How could you explain to your heart that this man wasn’t yours?

You didn't realize you were staring until his eyes met yours and you looked away making the situation even more obvious.

He closed the book he was reading and you could have sworn you saw a smile on the corner of his lips  “Wong is right, I won't find all the answers tonight.”

You nodded  “ You said you know where the book of Vishanti is. We need it, we should get it as soon as possible.”

Strange got up, taking the books from the table and putting them back on the bookshelves.  “You and I are physically exhausted from the fight we had with that damn demon. This must wait until tomorrow.”

You disagreed getting up   “It's already tomorrow, Stephen.”

He looked at you surprised and you felt your whole face blushing.

 “I'm sorry I... I shouldn't have speak like this to the Sorcerer Supreme. I apologize.”

He walked over to you and took your hand. The rough touch of his scarred hands, the tremor in them, everything about him was identical to your Stephen.

“I imagine it is difficult for you to see the difference between me and him.”

You nodded. Why deny something that was clear as day? Your heart was pounding so hard in your chest that you wondered if he could hear it beating. Your Stephen's death was too recent, and you missed him, there was no reason to hide it.

“Do you have someone?” The question scaped through your lips before you could help yourself and he shooked his head, narrowing the space between you even more.

“Things are rarely the same from one universe to another”  He explained   “But it's the similarities that confuse and fascinate us.”

You sighed and took a step back to get away from him, but he didn't let go of your hand. Instead he touched your face and you completely lost the self-control you were fighting to maintain and closed your eyes surrendering to the touch of his hand and the feelings you were trying to hold were unleashed.

“I miss him so much.”   You confessed opening your eyes already wet with tears and looking into Defender Strange's eyes. You could smell him as he got close enough for your chest to lightly brush his.

"Let me ease your pain"   He begged and you didn't object as he bent over you and kissed your lips softly. He pulled back measuring your reaction and a tear rolled down your eyes, he catched it with his thumb caressing your face and you held his hand in yours.

“You smell like him.”

He nodded  “It's because I'm him.”

You sighed throwing yourself into his arms and kissing him now as you kissed your Stephen, always a wet kiss, a big kiss, full of desire. If it was hard enough for your mind to see the difference between the two of them, imagine for your body that was used to that touch, that smell, and that kiss.

You felt your entire body tingle when he finally broke the kiss. It was scaring that just one kiss could put you in that state, but it was nothing new. Stephen was always excellent at making you completely desperate for him, sometimes it was a kiss, sometimes a whisper in the ear, sometimes just a look or a smile. Your body was familiar with that feeling and you knew where it would take the two of you unless you walked away at that moment and went back to your room, but you didn't want to walk away from him, you wanted him.

“Wong?”  You asked heavily breathing.

He shook his head  “He is at the Kamar Taj.”

You nodded pulling him back to your lips with a groan of surrender and he pulled you onto his lap holding you by your thighs as you wrapped your legs around his waist and your arms around his neck. His lips never parted as he walked back to the table and sat you up there. You could feel his bulge beneath his tunic playing between your legs and you instinctively moved your hips up to increase the friction on him. He bit his lower lip trying to contain a groan

 “ Are you sure you want to do this?”  He stared at you trying to maintain a last shred of self-control.  “I may be physically like him, but I'm not your Stephen.”

You stared at him touching his face. Those deep blue eyes looked at you with a mixture of desire and a seriousness that you didn't see in your Stephen, but even with the small differences, you knew that this was the only way to have him again, to feel him again and you couldn't give it up.

“I don't care”  You replied. Your voice was less than a whisper “I want you”

He sighed still hesitantly, his hands cupping your face to make you look straight in his eyes. “It's not me that you want. I can't do it until you tell me you're aware of this”

You nodded  “I know. I know you're not him, but I need it. I need you... please.”

Your eyes were burning with tears and you didn't have to ask again, he moaned softly surrendering and kissing you, his lips moving down your neck, leaving kisses there, gently biting your earlobe. The brush of his beard made your body tremble and again you moved your hips against his shaft.

Defender Strange was a lonely man and nothing similar to the Stephen Strange of your universe. He'd had a difficult relationship with Christine Palmer, but they'd never been able to make it work. He was doomed to many one-night stands that only made him feel more alone. He couldn't confess it, but he was used to dreaming about you and the life you had together in your universe. Without him noticing those little pieces from his other multiversal life had caused him to develop a platonic love for you and when you showed up in front of him he couldn't help but feel that it could only be fate bringing you together for some unknown reason. He knew that two people from different universes couldn't be together without causing permanent damage to reality, but at that moment he couldn't care less about reality or the multiverse. He had you in his arms, not in a dream, but for real and he wouldn't give that up for the world.

He reached for your shirt, pulling it up, taking it off and throwing it on the floor. His hands caressed the smooth skin of your back and unbuttoned your bra as well, taking it off and throwing it on the floor.

Automatically your arms covered your breasts shyly as the cool night air made your nipples hard. He took your hands gently and pulled them away from your body and smirked, satisfied at the sight. He gently touched your face and moved his hand down your neck, tracing the collarbone with his fingers and only then lightly caressing one of your nipples, putting the other one in his mouth slowly rubbing his tongue in circles and making you moan louder than you intended.

He looked back at you as if testing the water before diving in for good and finding no resistance from you, Strange brought his trembling hands to the buttons of your pants, struggling with them to get them open.

“I.. I need your help” He muttered.

You smiled shyly unbuttoning it and he took over pulling it down your legs and throwing it to the floor. You sighed in anticipation of what he would do next as he knelt on the floor and got right between your legs. He touched there over your panties and you felt your entire body tremble at his warm touch. He pulled your panties slightly to the side and gently slid a finger inside you. He hissed feeling how  wet you were. You moved your hips involuntarily and he smirked satisfied gently bringing his fingers to caress your bundle of nerves.

“Stephen...”   You whined.

He stared at you making sure it was exactly what you wanted and seeing nothing but a mute pleading in your eyes he dove between your legs, his tongue licking your slit slowly, sucking all of your dripping juices. He groaned while his tongue licked your clit in circles sending shivers through your entire body.

He putted  two fingers inside you, penetrating you gently while curling them to hit you sweet spot.

You couldn't hold back your moans anymore and you didn't even cared to do so, they echoed through the room sounding loud and pornographic. You gripped into his ponytail, your fingers tugging his long hair as your pleasure increased.

Your thighs trapped his head between your legs and he increased the intensity of his fingers, fingering you is such an intense pace while sucking your clit.

You felt how slowly the familiar tremor of an orgasm was growing deep in your belly and you weren't willing to fight it, on the contrary, you needed it.

Strange didn't stop or slow down, he knew you were close and he wanted you to have it, he wanted you to feel all the pleasure he could give you. He wanted you to feel good. He curled his fingers extrategically inside you to hit your g-spot with calculated precision and that was the trigger you needed to cum.

“Stephen...”   You hiccuped his name between obscene moans and unintelligible grunts.

He pulled away as you were coming down your high. His face was slightly red and wet from all your juices. His lips tasted like you as he pulled you into a passionate kiss. You were satisfied, but you were far from sated. You would only be satiated after having him inside you. He was still fully dressed in his beautiful black and red tunic. The ponytail now loose, a few strands falling through his forehead making him even prettier.

Your hands searched for his belt while you tried to get him out of those clothes unsuccessfully “Damn stupid clothes.”

He smirked at your irritation and with a gesture of his hand he unbuckled his belt and god rid of his tunic leaving only his pants on. You cound't help but be amazed at the differences between his body and your Stephen's body. While your Stephen had a smooth chest, Defender Strange had a thin coat of body hair on his chest and arms and old scars cutted into his skin at his navel, sides of his ribs and arms.

He seemed to notice you were looking and without realizing you were also tracing his scars with your fingers. You couldn't help it, those differences kept you aware that the man in front of you wasn't your husband and those scars made you wonder what adventures he'd had and where his fate had taken a different turn  from Stephen's.

“Are you okay?”  He asked bringing you back to the moment. You nodded, but couldn't respond.

“You don't have to do anything you don't want to”   He cooed caressing  your face  “I'm satisfied to have given you pleasure.”

You could see in his pants how hard it must have been to say that. He was hard and wanted you and yet he was willing to give up his own pleasure as long as you were okay. That was exactly how your Stephen was. He always putted your needs ahead of his.

He touched your lips with his thumb and you smiled shaking your head negatively  “I'm fine, just...”   You couldn’t finish, instead you pulled him to your lips, your hands running along his chest, slowly going down to his pants.

He kissed your neck again, this time sucking the area under your chin hard, his beard scratching your skin and a suppressed moan escaping his lips as you slipped your hand inside his pants, touching his erect and throbbing cock. , releasing him from inside his pants and stroking slowly but with a decided firmness.

He moaned louder now searching for your mouth and without detach from your lips he magically got rid of what was left of his clothes. You spread your legs wider so he could fit better between them. He putted two fingers back inside you and groaned in satisfaction as you kept your hand busy stroking the cock that throbbed at your touch.

"You're so wet," he said, his voice whispered and yet deep and seductive in your ear.  “I need to be inside you, can I?”

You nodded, your words slipping out the window of your mind. You were intoxicated by his presence. Your entire body was crying out for him, you wanted him inside you, he needed to possess you, that was right, that was exactly how it should be.

He took his fingers out of you, they dripped with all your slick. He stroked his length lubricating it with your slick and then positioned it at your entrance, slowly penetrating you. You moaned loudly as he slowly stretched your walls. It was a mixture of pleasure and the deep snag in your belly that you always felt when you had Stephen inside you. He was big, thick and filled you completely. The sensation never failed to please you.

“It's all right?”   He asked. He was clearly unsure of what he was doing. He knew this was all wrong, but he wanted you too much to stop now.

“Yes, please continue.”

And so he did. Stephen pulled back far enough then thrusted his cock all the way  back at you filling you completely. He did it again and again, his thrusts rocking at you in such an intense pace.

His face was lost in your hair, his low groans combined with his deep, rhythmic thrusts drove you crazy.

“Oh my god, Stephen...”

He searched for your lips, now barely able to contain the volume of his own moans. He didn't slow down, his thrusts got really rough and fast and you could feel your high building in your belly and you didn't fight it, you let it fill you and take you slowly. He seemed to realize that you were almost there and as if possible, he increased the intensity of his thrusts even more. The table you were sitting at was now slamming against the wall.

“Stephen I'm going to cum” Your hands grabbed his hair tugging it as your legs tightened around his waist.

“Cum for me”  He asked. His hair gave in to your fingers and fell loosely over his shoulders.  “Cum for me and tell me how much you wanted it, how much you needed it.”

You moaned loudly, surrendering to your high as he kept an unbelievable fast pace hitting the right spot inside you every time.

“Stephen.. Stephen...”   Your mind couldn't formulate anything but his name as you were falling from your high  “Stephen... I love you.”

He stared at you in surprise but continued fucking himself on you now seeking his own high. You were too cock drunk to notice what you had said, but it didn't go unnoticed by him and as he forced himself inside you, seeking his own orgasm he pulled you to his lips lying to himself, trying to deceive himself, pretending those words were said for him.

He groaned loudly as his cock spilled inside you painting your walls white. His load was hot and enough to drag you along with him in a new orgasm, surprising you with its intensity.

You were both sweaty and your entire body was shaking in his arms. Your body succumbing to weariness. You laid your head in his chest and he wrapped you in his arms as a wave of tears washed over you.

“I'm sorry”  You hiccuped. He stared at you silently, touching your face and wiping your tears with his thumb.

“Come here”  He said tugging you back into his arms and with a wave of his hand you were in his room. He carried you to the bed and let you cry in his arms. His hands holding your head against his chest.

“I'm sorry I...”  You tried to speak between your sobs  “I'm being ridiculous.”

“Don't worry about me.” He cooed.

When the crying finally stopped, you realized you were naked in his arms and your face turned completely red and hot. You walked away from him who was reluctant to let go of you. You allowed yourself to look at him. His hair fell loose over his shoulders, a few strands fell across his face, his deep blue eyes staring at you pondering what to do and what to say.

“I'm... I'm going back to my room.   I think I need my clothes.”

He smiled gently making a pompous gesture with his hands and a second later your clothes was on top of the bed. “You dont need to run away from me.”

You felt your face heating up. You didn't know what else was embarrassing you more if it was your desperate need to have him or the way you reacted after it was over.

“I used you”  You confessed.

“He smirked. I let myself be used. If you must know, I wouldn't mind you using me again.”

“Stephen...”   You stopped awkwardly and then corrected yourself  “Strange...”

He sighed  “[Y/N], I haven't been honest with you and I feel like I need to tell you the truth.”

You waited not understanding what he was talking about.

“I've been seeing you in my dreams for months. Always you with him.”

You felt your heart speed up.

“I had this theory that dreams were visions of our lives from other universes, but yesterday I had proof of that.”

“Why you didn’t tell me?” You asked confused.

“Because…”  He sighed heavily  “Because I would have to confess that I've been secretly in love with you all this time and it's a little embarrassing actually.”

“Strange…”

“I don’t really mind if you call me Stephen”  He smiled shyly  “I like it actually”

You nodded, but couldn't formulate what you wanted to say.

“I'm sorry for keeping it from you”  He said running his hands through his hair and putting it back in a ponytail.

“It's okay”  You said and deep down you really didn't care.

He touched your face “I won't object if you want to go back to your dusty room, but I would prefer you stay here with me at least for one night. So I can go on pretending I'm your Stephen.”

You stared at him in surprise, but relented when he touched your face and leaned in to kiss you. You should stop that, but nothing in the world would take you out of his arms to sleep alone in that cold bed in the guest room.

It didn't take long for his kiss to turn into something more and soon his hand was on your waist.

“I still want to make love with you”   He kissed your lips softly   “If you still want me.”

You sighed. You wanted it, but not like it was the first time. You didn't want to lie to yourself anymore. You touched his face, caressing the outline of his beard. Your hand went up to his hair, you liked his hair longer, specially the way he tied it. You thought it was sexy. You wanted to focus not on the similarities but in the differences. The man in front of you was not your husband, you wanted to accept it once and for all.

“I want to make love with you”  You said decidedly   “But this time without pretending.”

He looked at you in surprise.

“You are not my Stephen, but I could not be more pleased with the man you are, Defender Strange.”

He smiled and pulled you into a passionate kiss.

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

MASTERLIST

#defender strange #stephen strange #doctor strange #doctor strange x reader #defender strange x reader #marvel #marvel imagines #marvel fanfic #doctor strange fanfic #smut #doctor strange smut #in another universe fanfic #benedict cumberbatch #benedict cumberbatch fanfic

[annon-guy2]

Guilty Gear X BlazBlue: BlazBlue Reactions to Heavenly Potemkin Buster

Here's what I think the BlazBlue cast would say in response to Potemkin's Heavenly Potenkin Buster Super in a hypothetical Guilty Gear X BlazBlue Game.

Ragna The Bloodedge

● "SHITTTTTTTT!"

● "GYAHHHHHHH!"

● "God damn muscle head!"

Jin Kisaragi

● "How could this happen!?"

● "AHHHHHHHHH!"

● "I can't use Yukianasa!?"

Noel Vermillion

● "NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

● "Mother! Father!"

● "Please! Don't go through with THISSSSSSSSS!"

Rachel Alucard

● "How utterly barbaric of you!"

● "Remove your hands from me this instant, you savage!"

● "Gii! Nago! How dare you lead me into this!"

Taokaka

● "MEOOOOWWWWWWW!"

● "We're so high up, meow!"

● "Going up... and DOWWWWWNNNN!"

Iron Tager

● "You copied my Genesic Emerald Tager Buster!?"

● "Preparing for impact!"

● "For you to lift me up this high!?"

Litchi Faye-Ling

● "Where do you think you're grabbing!?"

● "Are you the reason my recnt patients have broken spines!?"

● "PLEASE NOOOOOOOO!"

Arakune

● "GYAHHHHHHHHHH!"

● "DANGER! DANGER! DANGERDANGERDANGER!!!"

● "Touching... the Azure Sky!"

Carl Clover

● "SISSSSSSSSSS!"

● "Put me dow...! NOT LIKE THISSSSSSSS!"

● "Sis! Get clear of the landing!"

Bang Shishigami

● "How could I make a simple mistake!?"

● "I can't break free!"

● "MASTERRRRRRRRR!"

Hakumen

● "I let my guard down!"

● "I got careless!"

● "Impossible!"

Nu-13

● "A fatal error."

● "Escape impossible."

● "Rag... na..."

Tsubaki Yayoi

● "Assulting an officer is a serious crime!"

● "We should be talking this OUTTTTTTTTT!"

● "N-no! Not like THISSSSSSSS!"

Hazama

● "H-Hey! Don't do this to MEEEEEEEEE!"

● "You wouldn't hurt a non-combatant, would you!?"

● "Yes... this will bring me a new sensation!"

Mu-12

● "I didn't anticipate this!"

● "Even the power of the Godslayer can't escape this!?"

● "I... I must endure this!"

Makoto Nanaya

● "I not a flying squirrel you know!"

● "HEY! Watch the tail!"

● "I wanted to fly, but not like this!"

Valkenhayn R. Hellsing

● "I've taken much worse than this!"

● "Tch! I must be losing my touch!"

● "Madam Rachel... please forgive my blunder!"

Platinum The Trinity

● Luna: "LET LUNA GO YOU PEDOOOOOO!"

● Sena: "Please let us go! This will break us!"

● Trinity: " P-please! Think of the children in this body!"

Relius Clover

● "Impressive strength! I must make a note of this!"

● "An oversight on my end!?"

● "To be crushed when there's so much more research to be done!?"

Izayoi

● "We should be on the same side!"

● "Jin! Noel! Makoto!"

● "You would impede my justice!?"

Amane Nishiki

● "This will dry out my makeup!"

● "Despite your size, you're quite elegant in the sky!"

● "Such strength and determination!"

Bullet

● "How can an enemy this size be capable of this!?"

● "DAMN YOUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

● "I'll pay you back for this! I swear it!"

Azrael

● "HAH! Bring it on!"

● "I MIGHT release a limiter afterward!"

● "Hmpf! This might be good for popping the crick in my back."

Kagura Mutsuki

● "Ugh! A dude's grabbing me of all things!"

● "Hope your grab's not as bad as the Red Devil's!"

● "Great... Hibiki's not gonna let me live this down..."

Yuuki Terumi

● "YOU MUCLE-HEAD BRICK SHIT HOUSEEEEEEEE!"

● "I'm gonna slice your arms off soon enough!"

● "Your helmet will make a good bucket for your servered head!"

Kokonoe

● "I can use this data to upgrade the Genesic Emerald Tager Buster for Tager later on."

● "Impressive rocket boosters! Zepp REALLY is something."

● "YES! This is what science is all about!"

Celica A. Mercury

● "Don't let go Minerva!"

● "You shouldn't toss or throw people mister!"

● "Don't worry Minerva, I'll heal you when we land!"

Lambda-11

● "Danger. Situation critical."

● "Escape not possible."

● "Ragna... help..."

Hibiki Kohaku

● "LORD KAGURAAAAAAAAA!"

● "I miscalculated!?"

● "How could raw strengh overcome tactical planning!?"

Naoto Kurogane

● "Aw man! This is gonna SUCKKKKKKKKK!"

● "Raquel! SAVE MEEEEEEEEE!"

● "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Nine The Phantom

● "I'll burn you for grabbing my legs!"

● "I'll take whatever you dish out!"

● "How dare you!?"

Izanami

● "Your attempts to kill me are futile."

● "Perhaps I should do this to you later on?"

● "Can you truly kill a Goddess of Death?"

Susano'o

● "YOU DARE TOUCH A GOD, YOU FILTH!?"

● "I'LL KILL YOU AS SOON AS WE LAND, MAGGOT!"

● "SUCH BLASPHEMY TOWARD A GOD WILL NOT STAND, YOU MONGREL!"

Es

● "I have made a mistake...!"

● "The damage will be severe...!"

● "Touya...!"

Mai Natsume

● "Nononononono! NOOOOOOOOOO!"

● "Ulp! I'm in for now!"

● "Please don't break my back!"

Jubei

● "Guess I got a tad careless this time!"

● "Alright, let's see what you got, ya youngster!"

● "Didn't think ya could outsmart me! Well done!

========================================================================

Hope you all enjoyed this!

#Guilty Gear X BlazBlue #Guilty Gear #BlazBlue #Potemkin #Video Game Idea

[unfortunatetheorist]

The Complete Works of Contradictory Logic in ASOUE: Volume I (Quote Debunk 10)

Part 6 - The Wide Window S1 E6

N.B. Mr Poe's stupid remark at 05:40 doesn't count - it's stupid, not contradictory.

This one, however, does:

06:15 - "...and now you're jumping to the conclusion that a villainous man who swore he'd stop at nothing until he got ahold of your parents' enormous fortune is involved in some plot to get ahold of your parents' enormous fortune." ¬ Mr Poe

I wonder how many more times Arthur Poe shall grace us with his sheer wisdom...

07:00 - "...disguises and grammatical errors - these are dire accusations, but they're easily investigated."

As if a grammatical error is so fatal! And if disguises were so dire, every actor on Earth would be jailed!

N.B. 47:38 is just a joke, not contradictory.

But then Olaf says:

47:45 - "But then I also had third thoughts, which are how empty my wallet and my heart are. I truly think that the Baudelaires can be an enormous, enormous fortune in my life."

Gotta love Handler.

48:15 -

Poe: "Klaus, we've been through this. There's absolutely nothing at this point that will convince me that this man is actually Count Olaf."

Also Poe, 39 seconds later: "Oh, come now, that won't work. Even a child can see that peg leg was false."; "Oh, come now, that won't work either. You tried to hide the tattoo with the peg leg."; "Oh, oh, come now, that won't work either again. Business cards don't prove anything - anyone can go to a print shop and have cards made up that say anything they like."; "Oh, come now, that won't work for the final time. Josephine left the children to Captain Sham, not Count Olaf. You are Count Olaf and not Captain Sham."

There really are no words for this guy...

~ Th3r3534rch1ngr4ph, Unfortunate Theorist/Snicketologist

#asoue #a series of unfortunate events #lemony snicket #snicketverse #vfd #asoue netflix #count olaf #mr poe #the complete works of contradictory logic #the wide window

[nouns-are-bad]

A recruit was talking badly about ghost unaware that not only was ghost himself present but so was Johnny. Johnny who has seen ghost be the most caring and supportive person he’s ever met. Johnny who knows ghost has gone through some shit and still came out alive. Johnny who cares deeply for Simon.

Johnny who will risk his military career to beat this recruit to a pulp.

Well it just so happens that sergeant Mactavish was on recruit training today. Perfect.

“Newbie! On me, this training will be a little rougher to build endurance. Everyone else pick your partners and start standard offense defense, then whoever wins goes up a group and so on so forth.”

The private thought he was all that being chosen for training with the sergeant. Everyone knew soap let you get wins if you showed potential. Key word: if. And talking shit about your superiors is not potential.

So for the first few rounds kicks and punches were thrown a little harsher. The recruit then made a fatal flaw.

“What’s wrong sergeant Mactavish? Are you afraid a little ol’ private like me is gonna beat your ass?”

See, up until that point soap had been only going slightly harder, it wasn’t noticeable but he hit spots that were open and easy. Now he was going to just deck the guy for his cockiness.

“Well then private, why don’t we stop pulling our punches then aye? If yer not scared of gettin yer ass handed to ye.”

“Oh your on sir.”

So they circled around each other for a few seconds, then the private lunged at soap. The private lead with his dominant hand, a small mistake on his part because soap grabbed it and twisted it, pulling the private into him and kicking his knees so he fell.

Soap quickly took this chance to get on top of the private and restrain him, easily overpowering him.

“Yield!”

Soap let go and got up.

“I want a rematch.”

Soap thinks this private is either really stupid or really determined. Johnny doesn’t care for either.

“Alright.”

So they circle again, this time instead of leading with a punch the private ran at soap, moved past him to get behind and tried kicking his knees. Soap knows better and caught the leg, yanking it and getting on top of the private to restrain him again.

“Yield!”

This went on for the entirety of training, the poor rookie never learned from his mistakes either. Even when soap felt bad and started pointing them out to him. At the end of training the rookie came up to him.

“Your usually never this hard on privates, what made me so different?!”

“Well for one, talking shit about yer superior lieutenant was a mistake on yer end, talking shit about ghost in front of me was also a fatal error, and not only that but the man himself was there to hear it all as well. Your fucked.”

The private palled at this news.

“Sor-sorry sir!”

Soap smiled and shook his head, walking away.

“So, new training techniques ey johnny?”

“Steamin Jesus L.t warn a guy!”

Ghost had saw the whole thing. Simon found it quite endearing.

#headcannons #mw2 #john soap mactavish #simon ghost riley #listen I know I wrote it like trash but everyone’s only ever talked about this happening and never writing it #I just wanted soapghost brain rot to be happy #also that private was put on night watch for a month

[whilomm]

these are claims from a different whistleblower than the one that was totally not murdered by boeing

(disclaimer, im not an expert and this article doesnt go into a ton of detail on the specific issues, so i could be a lil off, these are very much non-expert speculation rambles. anyone who understands better, feel free to correct me/add more deets).

if im reading it right these claims get into the way boeing has been outsourcing more and more manufacturing of parts to other companies, such as for the fuselage (the plane body as a whole, big tube u sit in). if those parts dont quite fit together right (and keep in mind the margins of error on these things can be VERY small in some cases, though im not sure exactly how much wiggle room they got here), that can lead to too much stress on certain parts.

like, for example, if one part of the fuselage is just baaaarely too big for the next part it connects to, it might all seem to fit together perfectly fine, but every time it takes off and lands or goes thru compression cycles (that is when they take off and land, going from low pressure-high pressure-low pressure), it just puts a BIT too much pressure on where they join. and over the years, that pressure just adds up until theres microscopic stress fractures, which become slightly larger stress fractures, until they get big enough that once a plane reaches a high enough altitude theres a midair disentegration, which is. exactly as bad as it sounds.

(sidenote: compression cycles can be more important for determining an airplanes lifespan than flight hours. the usual metaphor is bending a paperclip back and forth until it breaks, how many times can you bend it before metal fatigue sets in and it just snaps. holding it in a more bent position however will take a lot longer to snap it generally.)

now to be clear, every single plane has an intended service life, and its well known that planes can only take so many compression cycles before they start to get really hard to maintain without going kablooey. a plane may be rated for like, idk, 50k compression cycles (so, taking off and landing 50k times before its retired, because after that its no longer worth the maintenance vs just making a new plane). but if it turns out that plane has some flaw in its build that means itll develop fatal stress factures at only 20k cycles, well. thats bad. not sure exactly how the schedule on looking for stress factures looks like for maintenece crews (do they do it regularly for all planes on a set schedule? do they only do it occasionally for new planes, and start to ramp up checks as the plane gets older? dunno!) but well. generally speaking, a plane having a fatal flaw that gives it an explosive midlife crisis is Bad. i would hope theyd catch it! but i dont know enough about the deets of fuselage maintenence to know the specifics.

and OH YAY COMPOSITE MATERIALS. now, before anyone gets too freaked out thinking about the uh. submarine. use of composite materials is actually far more common on planes than on subs for a buncha reasons. one, planes just generally undergo a lot less in terms of pressure (that futurama joke, "this spaceship can handle between one and zero atmospheres", vs subs that have to deal with tens to potentially hundreds of atmospheres) but also because apparently, for complicated material engineering reasons, composite materials work much better under tension (high pressure INSIDE pushing OUT, like airplane) than under compression (high pressure OUTSIDE pushing IN, like submarine). heres a vid from someone who wrote their masters on composite materials under compression if you wanna hear from someone slightly smarter on the subject. im not gonna pretend like i understand the full deets, but "composites do OKAY with tension" is enough for me, go read the fancy scientific papers if you want more.

now, so that people do freak out at least a little bit: hm. dont like that they are using Way More Composite Than Usual on this plane. how much is the usual? idk, i assume composites are much more popular with low altitude small aircraft (bc well, weight and less pressure worries), dunno whats considered normal for high altitude longhaul crafts. but, apparently, the dreamliner is "more than usual". which, yeah cool, lighter weight airplanes use less fuel which is better for longhaul flights. is it. well tested enough though???

...anyway. im not an engineer, idk the full Deets, but well. havin lotsa fun hearing the engineers talk about how the parts of the giant metal skybirds dont fit together quite right and theyre using materials that fail more catastrophically than metal with less warning, experimentally, and we dont quiiiite have the data to know if. its a problem. thats really fun! LOVE hearing about how much theyre outsourcing parts, given how bad quality control of things as tiny as the titanium in some bolts or a little bit of the engine blades being not properly vacuum forged has lead to catastrophic failure in the past, and knowing how important sourcing of parts in airplanes is. all VERY yay!

#boeing #airplanes #aircraft #flight #boeing 787 #boeing 787 dreamliner #787 dreamliner #seriously the amount of incidents that were just like. 'oh this ONE SINGLE PART had a manufacturing defect' #u use bolts to small and the captain is sucked out of the windsheild (he lived tho dw) #the titanium in the engine blades has a small impurity and it Breaks causing uncontained engine failure and severes the hydraulics #oh a single part of this bit isnt lubed properly so it gets stuck and the plane ends up nosediving #but hearing that the FUSELAGE ITSELF may be improperly fitted is #What The Fuck #yeah no why just outsource your bolts when u can outsource the ENTIRE MAIN BODY #TO MULTIPLE COMPANIES #buzzy

[transpoettryinghisbest]

I want to talk about that one line that Godot says in Bridge to the Turnabout. Everyone knows which line I'm talking about, the "proof" that Godot is a sexist and a mysogenist and a terrible person.

Yes, what he said wasn't great. It's been debated that it was a translation error, or it was just him hating Franziska specifically, and not all women, I've seen these points made so many times, but I feel like we're missing the most obvious point. Even if Godot was fully in the wrong and he said something bad, context is important. We should for once see it from his perspective.

Godot has been trapped on that side of the bridge for at least a day, in near fatally cold conditions, trying to look after a child who isn't his. Just a few hours earlier he went through the trauma that was not only taking a life, but the life of his dead girlfriend's mother. And you can argue that that was his decision and a bad decision (and it was) but it's not a decision he ever wanted to make or wanted to have to make. He did what he could in that moment with that adrenaline to protect someone he cared about, and now he's feeling all of that without the ability to even talk to anyone about it. Couple that with the fact that he's injured, he got cut in the face, while probably still really hurts at the time he's talking to Phoenix and Franziska, and not to mention he doesn't know where Maya is. He risked all of this to save someone and he doesn't even know if it worked or was for the best.

Shortly after his lash out at Franziska, he starts ranting at Phoenix about Mia. Possibly because he's trying to project or distract himself from his guilt (which isn't great, but a normal thing for a human to do), but it could also be because his emotions are in such overdrive that he's thinking about everything bad that happened to him at once. Not only does he feel terrible about Misty and Maya, but it reminds him of how much he's still hurting from losing Mia.

Now put yourself in Godot's shoes. You've had a traumatic event happen to you not one day ago and are going through emotional and physical turmoil, and some random loud child (because she's the same age as Maya, he definitely sees Franziska as a child) starts yelling at you for something that in the grand scheme of everything doesn't matter. How would you react? Would you be super kind and understanding? No. You'd probably snap. And that's what Godot does.

This doesn't necessarily forgive him for the comment, and Franziska's initial feelings upon hearing it would be valid. But we can't treat this as a random isolated incident. Even Phoenix says that Godot seems really different. I quote: "There's something different about Godot today... I'm getting such a strong sense of... something from behind that mask of his. Is it anger? Or... Is it... sorrow?". Godot is upset and has no way of letting off steam without hurting anyone.

This was just a speculation that hit me, because I feel like we do it in real life a lot. It's easy to judge someone based on a comment or an action without looking into why they did it, but we have to try to work past that if we're to ever understand and connect with people.

#ace attorney #ace attorney godot #prosecutor godot #aa3 spoilers #aa3 #trials and tribulations spoilers #Ace attorney essay #Ace attorney rant #Idk how to tag this lol #tw murder mention

[karuvapatta]

ok. ok. here goes:

the reason why I want Izzy Hands to get a redemption arc / happy ending is because I think it would be good for both him *and* Ed. hear me out.

Izzy’s easy. He wants the peace, safety, and stability of their life under the Blackbeard flag; but he needs to learn to put Ed’s well-being ahead of his own self-interest. A fairly simple character arch.

Ed’s slightly more complicated.

Smarter people than me have already pointed out that Ed always adjusts his behaviour to fit the expectations of whoever he’s talking to. He has a conflicted relationship with his Blackbeard identity - tired of it, willing to abandon it, and yet fiercely protective of “the brand” and the way it is misinterpreted and exaggerated by others. His most prized possession - the piece of red silk - is a reminder of his own mother telling him he isn’t adequate, isn’t worthy of certain things. And when he tries to reach for these things, this other sort of life - he is constantly shot down. First by the captured captain, then the aristocrats at the party and then, finally, by Stede himself.

Ed’s post-breakup spiral seems to be going well enough - but why would he expect it to last? How long until the crew begin to mock him, until Izzy abandons him too? I don’t think it’s fair to say that Ed felt physically threatened by Izzy, but he certainly didn’t want to be rejected and abandoned again. So he built up this new persona, new mask to hide behind, finally letting go of his hopes of this other life he could have. Where he could be happy, and enjoy fine things.

My point is: Ed made that choice. He chose to jump off the slippery slope. I think it’s doing his character a disservice to pretend that he was forced into becoming the Kraken, or that he is descending into madness.

One could argue that Ed should just stop caring about what people think about him, and live his best life. Stede had no problem doing just that - he is told that he’s inadequate, too soft, not a proper pirate, but he doesn’t compromise his own identity in response. No, he stands his ground and creates his own brand of piracy, following his own values and beliefs. But Stede is validated for his choices! During the climactic trial, he finally gets what he never had - social acceptance. His crew (his chosen family) embraces his identity, even though it doesn’t conform to any norms, and it’s a beautiful moment.

...of course he then has to confront how his choices affect those around him, but that’s a different matter entirely...

So. If Stede got accepted, why shouldn’t Ed get the same? I am personally glad they didn’t run away to China together, and hope their story doesn’t end with them all alone, no matter how seemingly happy they may be. Ed deserves a chosen family too, and he deserves to believe that he won’t get abandoned/rejected by them eventually.

...he also needs to make amends for the atrocities he committed. But I digress.

The point is: Izzy is important to Ed. Aside from Stede, that’s who he’s closest to within the show. During episode 3? 4? they spend the whole time throwing out bids for attention, that somehow pass unnoticed. They both lash out against the other - Izzy throws a fit and threatens to resign, Ed fucks with him by withholding crucial information, dismissing his fears and showing off. “See? You should have trusted me.” But it’s not a triumphant moment for Ed, is it? He made a fatal mistake - and Izzy’s the one who points it out. It’s a really nice bit, because it shows how great they used to be when they were a team. It would be nice if they got to be that again.

If Izzy dies as his pathetic evil self, Ed will never get closure on that relationship. He won’t get acceptance from someone who is this important to him. He won’t get an apology until Izzy learns the error of his ways. And while you could argue that Ed shouldn’t need any of these things, well - he isn’t wrong to want them.

#izzy hands #edward teach #ofmd meta #blackhands #that's my point. it'd just be nice.

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

imagining an alternate eotd where when asked about her confusing gay crush under threat of daleks one neuron in yazs brain fired differently and instead of going with "i dont know what you mean" she said "yes". same but opposite energy of when the doctor asks if shes a bad date and yaz super boldly just says "no". same but opposite.

because like imagine youre dan. he probably already had a good guess about what the situation was but his assumption being wrong is not out of the realm of possibilities. the idea that they could have talked about is not out of the realm of possibilities! if youre dan! if you just got here. if you didnt see all of s12.

like just imagine that scene! yaz just baldfaced lying as a way to like, bounce the idea off of him plus double duty to affirm her own beliefs that like the doctor never would plus triple duty paralleling 11x4 for 13 to ensure dan is never gonna ask about this again.

and WE'D KNOW. WE'D FUCKING KNOW. it'd be such a doctor move.

"have you ever told her?" "told her what?" "how you feel about her" "...yes." "well what did she say?" "i think you can guess" yaz snaps because she thinks she can. she has guessed or assumed or sort of correctly inferred a while ago that like, nothing is going to happen here, theres no point in her saying anything because the doctor isnt interested. and dan is like "i find her kind of hard to judge actually" because he still wants to hear an actual answer from yaz but yaz just laughs and goes "tell me about it" and then shes saved by a dalek.

of course we still want dan forcing their hand but thats easy to arrange by instead of him going all battering ram with "she likes you" in the next scene he just has to mention it. and i dont really know how he'd mention it because im not really sure how this would look to him.

so particulars to be determined but he does mention it In Some Way and now theres the doctor in a situation yaz indirectly accidentally put her in where shes suddenly having a Lot to process and also shes gonna lie about :) shes gonna lie about it so hard :)

maybe dan's guess is that whatever the doctor said was less-than-definitive ie vague as fuck because hes known her for like a week and has already seen how good she is at explaining herself and also because of yazs bitter "tell me about it" so maybe what he says is like "you better not be stringing her along"

and the doctor, in her perfectly inscrutable grey area between true What The Fuck Are The Humans Talking About This Time and a carefully crafted mask of obliviousness, goes "string her along what"

"i just mean that you gotta make sure your intentions are clear because it's really not fair to keep her guessing, and hoping"

and the doctor says "i dont understand what youre saying dan" because she really doesnt <3

and dan can still say his canon line "i think that you do, but you pretend that you dont" and in this case hes wrong, but he still hits the mark, wrong calculation right answer because the doctor is still like Fuck.

because she does know, of course. she does know about yaz and shes knows about herself and she knows what shes avoiding. and she will still do the same thing in sea devils. and this weird little lie yaz told will probably never come out. the doctor and her talk, dan isnt there, never sees how New this all is. the doctor has no reason to find out what yaz said to dan.

but we know. we know!!! we get to see this whole comedy of errors play out and still somehow arrive at the same answer. we have to live with how clearly none of them correctly assume each other's understanding of the situation. it'd be frustrating as fuck and such a nice encapsulation of what thasmin has been since the beginning. these half-communications that bounce off each other kind of painfully like billiard balls.

they would never find out. sea devils and potd play out exactly as they did and nobody would ever know. except us. it's a portrait of their shared fatal flaw finally laid out for us in broad daylight at the exact moment they come together. and only we can see it.

#thasmin #rewrite notes #now that ive imagined it i like this more than canon fhkjghjkg #it adds something and takes nothing away #and also it doesnt give dan like. perfect insight #bc like. idk i just like it if their neuroses are like all so tangled up together that they cant really see it #but also theyre right? #like theyre not right but like. both 13 and yazs choices in their relationship make total sense!! #it's not like oh haha they cant talk to each other lesbian sheep syndrome it's #a fucking tragedy #the decisions theyve made the ways theyve responded to circumstances and each other make sense you can totally see the reasoning #you can see how they got here #like this accidental hole they dug #and it's BECAUSE of this shared flaw of Im Just Gonna Keep It All Right Here In My Chest And Then One Day I Die #anyway #not that dan just like. intuiting the situation and moving it along Necessarily implies all that #just that i like it more when he Cant actually intuit the entirety of whats going on here bc it's like 5 years of Complicated #in so many ways #so he still moves things along but his assumptions are wrong and he gets lied to by yaz just as hard! #you know! #bc yaz is the doctor and the doctor lies and hes his companion so. she lies to him

[jam-n-jay]

Ok I'm putting this out there purely because I want to have it recorded in case my batshit insane theory comes true

I think in Deltarune it's gonna be revealed that Entry 17 wasn't simply an entry but also a message being sent across worlds. Viewing it in the context of a message makes the ending line "what do you two think?" make a lot more sense because if it was addressing lab partners or something why the hell would he put that IN the log. But who would he be sending the message to?

What if it was Sans and Papyrus, while they were still in the world of Deltarune. HEAR ME OUT. There's a lot of potential evidence that could suggest Sans and Paps being from the world in Deltarune (if you haven't seen those theories just research it yourself there are tons of good videos/fan resources and stuff) and in addition there's ALSO some evidence that Papyrus actually knows more than he seems to know the surface, so it's not inconceivable that he would be in on a prospective trans-dimensional scientific collaboration. We already know Sans has some knowledge of space time semi-meta shit and there's of course the basement lab with the broken machine behind their home.

What if, through that machine or some other method, they corresponded with Gaster and told him about the Dark Fountains, which led him to the experiments he talks about in Entry 17. Perhaps the mechanics of determination just work differently across worlds, or maybe there were some other fatal errors. Regardless of what happened exactly, it caused Gaster to fall into a Dark Fountain, and he got scattered through space and time. That would explain why we see his influence primarily in the Dark World, and why when we are contacted by him at the start of Deltarune it's in the Depths that we see inside each Dark Fountain.

Why he is doing what he is doing, and what his exact goals and motivations are is beyond me but I honestly am fairly confident in this theory as crazy as it is and I really want to put it out there so just in case it ends up happening I can point to this and go "SEE SEE I WAS RIGHT I GOT IT I CALLED IT"

#deltarune #deltarune theories #wd gaster #gaster #utdr

[averagedialtowner]

I was once hyper fixated on underverse or whatever people call it now SO BAD and seeing Error as your profile picture. Wowza

Dont go into the hole it is BAD TIMES

I liked it so much when I was like 8 that I would only talk about it that's it "Oh hey mom I saw a really funny undertale comic like that!!!!" "Reminds me of Ink Sans" "Look at this remix I found!!!" "Look at this new au I found!!!!!" At some point people started tuning out what I said because they didn't want to hear about it anymore and honestly yeah I would too I don't blame them

But now everyone still thinks that I like it and I can't tell them that I cannot watch a single video with Ink in it without doing at least one quiet sad wheeze in pain

unfortunately I got dragged in

I was on vc for 4+ hours one day and I don't know how long the next watching underverse (and also the fatal error sans comic)

we are going to do it again

[theromaboo]

I'm reading another book by Emma Southon (A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), and while the humor is great and this book honestly is teaching me a lot, Emma Southon really really needs someone to fact-check everything before she publishes her books. There are many little errors, and some of them are embarrassing. Such as saying that "Augustus got ill in 23 CE."

Dang, poor guy. Even the fact he's dead doesn't stop him from getting ill.

He got ill in 23 BCE!! Oh my gosh.

This is so bad, I'm wondering if it's like a little weird computer error that deleted a single B on my e-book. I find it hard to imagine that after all the proofreading this book should've gone through, this error managed to slip through.

But then again, there are many examples of little but criminal mistakes in both this book and the Agrippina one I want to recommend Emma Southon's books to you guys because they're so funny but the little errors are driving me up the wall. Those errors also ruins all trust between me and the book. If the book makes such a silly mistake on such an easy thing, how can I trust it to not make an error on a complex thing?

But Emma Southon's books are just so readable and so fun to read, so I'm going to read them anyway, just carefully.

The way I'm talking about these books makes them sound really bad, but I do think that like 95% of the two books I've read so far are good and are good starting points. It's just the little errors that crawl under my skin.

#emma southon #a fatal thing happened on the way to the forum #ancient rome #agrippina: the most extraordinary woman of the roman world #historical inaccuracies

[m1lkt00th]

forgot to say but i LOVED THE RECENT UNDERVERSE EPISODE !!! i adore it. it was AWESOME.. i watched it so many times with my bbg Night and grhrghr i want to watch it with him again !! disjointed rambling/SPOILERS under the cut

first thing’s first i LOVED CLASSIC AND GENO !!! they were literally so sweet i wanted more of them tbh…

the ink and cross conversation was really nice. it’s really satisfying to see ink and cross interact and attempt to navigate their current relationship and circumstances. also cross having an existential crisis/questioning is so funny to me. this guy barely had time to really sit down and THINK about what he went though. constantly running or fighting

THE FATAL ERROR FIGHT SCENE WAS SO !!! GOOD !!! CROSS GETTING CAUGHT IN THE STRINGS HAD ME !!! YELLING !!! cross has a high as FUCK pain tolerance to be just be hyperventilating and not crying and pissing on the floor fr. also xgaster and gaster interactions… i want to see more tbh

xgaster killing cross (then reviving him bc this man cannot see peace even in death) was so. unexpected ? like it makes sense but that scene was BRUTAL damn. i know i clowned on cross’ tattered outfit before but now i kind of miss it

like i love the guy. he’s so dumb

and i really like ink’s GUILT. they feel bad for messing with cross and lying to him or whatever and just ??? ink development. i love ink. ‘YOU GOT A NEW OUTFIT !!’ HE GETS IT !!! THE EXCITEMENT ink is a fanboy istg

wish i could talk about everything about everything but holy shit. i plan on redrawing the screenshots in the future bc !!! wow. no idea how im going to pull off fatal error but we get there when we get there

i dont have much to say but i liked the episode and i especially enjoyed my live reaction (it was funny)

#tooth rambles #underverse #my thoughts #im SO normal

[middle-earth-mythopoeia]

Hello! I don't know if you've been asked this before, but what are your thoughts on Orodreth? Do you prefer him being the son of Finarfin or the son of Angrod? What do you think he was like as a ruler? Or as a father to Finduilas/Gil-Galad?

Hi! Thanks for the ask! :) Sorry it took me a while to get back to you!

I prefer Orodreth as the son of Angrod, since that was what Tolkien eventually settled on (even though it contradicts The Silmarillion). I just wish we had more details about his wife and his relationships with his children. So this is a really good ask!

The first thing that stands out to me about Orodreth is how much loss he experienced in a relatively short period of time. Angrod and Aegnor were killed in the Dagor Bragollach, and shortly afterward Sauron attacked Minas Tirith and Orodreth was forced to retreat to Nargothrond. (I assume that Eðellos lived with Angrod, so she most likely died in the Dagor Bragollach too. If so, then Orodreth lost both his parents at the same time.) At that point Finrod and Galadriel were his only surviving uncle and aunt (though she may have left Beleriand by this time). Then Finrod also gets killed by Sauron, leaving Orodreth to rule in his stead... Like many of the Noldor, he took on the burden of kingship while also dealing with personal grief.

In terms of how Orodreth was as a father, I think he would have been a loving parent who was very close to his children. I mostly base this on the fact that he lost so many members of his family, so I think he would have been very devoted to Gil-galad and Finduilas. In the version(s) of the story in The Lays of Beleriand, Orodreth is at first skeptical of Túrin when he comes to Nargothrond, but Finduilas speaks on his behalf and Orodreth listens to her, so he clearly valued her advice.

Also, if we assume that Gil-galad was Orodreth's son (which I do), he and Finduilas could have been with Orodreth at Minas Tirith. I don't know... it just lends a certain tragedy and weight to Gil-galad's eventual leading of the Last Alliance and his final stand against Sauron. Obviously all the Elves hated Sauron, but it's interesting to think that Gil-galad would have literally been driven from his home by Sauron when he was fairly young.

Orodreth's wife is never named and or even mentioned, which feels very conspicuous in The Lays of Beleriand because the story is more fully developed. Finduilas plays a large role; I have to assume that if Orodreth's wife had been alive she would have also played a role in the story. For this reason I have to assume that she is dead by that point in time. It would make sense, as terrible as it is to say, if she had been killed when Sauron took Minas Tirith.

One of Orodreth's best moments, I think, was when he expelled the Fëanorians from Nargothrond and didn't let his people kill them. Of course, what Celegorm and Curufin had done was terrible, and Orodreth had every reason to hate them, but I respect him for keeping the moral high ground and not letting his people become Kinslayers themselves. He should get more credit for his restraint. Given how much the Fëanorians took from him personally (they murdered his kin at Alqualondë, they made him and his family cross the Helcaraxë, they plotted to usurp Finrod and indirectly got him killed...) he showed remarkable restraint.

I think Orodreth was generally a wise ruler, the decision to listen to Túrin being the fatal exception to the rule. The fall of Nargothrond was utterly tragic, but I also can't really fault Orodreth for it, because everyone who met Túrin was ensnared in his curse somehow. Still, what's so awful about it is that the fall of Nargothrond led to the death of Finduilas. And of course, if the two of them were especially close, which I think they were, then that makes her death, which was caused by his worst error in judgement, that much more painful.

#asks #Orodreth #thank you for the ask :) I had fun answering it! #also I think it's interesting how there is a parallel between Orodreth and Turgon #Orodreth didn't listen to Ulmo's warning delivered by Gelmir and Arminas #and Turgon didn't listen to Ulmo's warning delivered by Tuor #they're both wrong to ignore the warning #but like I said I find it difficult to fault Orodreth for it #he was mired in Turin's curse by that point #my writing