#human resources was wild because it was the first time in a LONG time i'd written an M/F relationship

[omegamoo]

HI ive gained brajnrot from your oc from only the little bit ive heard of them. if youd be alright with it could you tell me iotas lore? /nf tho!! (also ive been drawing them based on art you reblogged a few days ago and ive been having a lot of fun :D they have such a cool design and aa) ((also also first ask from me hello hello wonderful mutual))

I GOT SO FAR THROUGH WRITING THIS ASK AND THEN TUMBLR DELETED IT. anyways hiiiiii beloved mutual welcome to my inbox! im literally so honored u got brainrot from my silly girly.... please feel free to share ur art if u feel so inclinced... i'd cry /pos

hope its okay im about to. infodump. im putting it under the cut. this is so long this is so much more than u asked for hopefully tgm doesn't kill me for explaining the plot. lol

alright. lets go again. iota is a part of a project called the whittled pantheon, which tells the story of eleven gods-ish and their experiences. its kinda broadly complicated and im only here to tell iota lore rn so if you want more general lore check the "whittled pantheon" tag link in my pinned!

okay so iota. pronouns she/it/moon although i largely default to she. oops. its the goddess of the wild - deepest darkest nights, moon and stars, the forests. uncivilized area. grass taller than ur head. wildflowers. u get the idea. she has a brother, agathodaemon, who's the god of the tamed (he's written by the lovely lovely tgm). iota is very introverted and prefers to spend most of her time in the woods with her conditionally immortal wolfpack. moon doesn't interact with humans and is. so very uncivilized please do not bring moon into the court room oh god

whittled pantheon itself as a story is split into essentially two parts - the old world, where the gods are born and spend the most time, and the new world, where the gods flee after the destruction of the old world. in the old world, iota's very reclusive. this is where you see it vibing with its pack and being a woods girly. she interacts mostly with agathodaemon, as well as statikos (god of beasts, written by tweewig) and palaemon (water god). she does interact with the other gods but like. infrequently. and never with humans.

so time goes on. agathodaemon builds a giant city on the coast and its destroying natural resources and iota goes okay this is no longer cool. she and palaemon get together and confront daemon and they're like hey buddy. stop. agathodaemon temporarily stops and then comes back, resulting in a massive falling out between daemon and iota. then, palaemon dies mysteriously, and his death starts the destruction of the world, starting with a flood that wipes out daemon's city. lol karma i guess.

the catalyst is what we've been calling the destruction of the world (the balance of the world is fucked up. water dries up, world shatters from inside out). the gods kinda collectively get together for once and go alright. oh shit. and Leave. but in the process they leave iota behind

iota now has to survive the literal destruction of her entire known world. moon is the only god left on the old world, and she's surrounded by humans who fundamentally make no sense to it and also need/want it to save them. but iota cannot save them because she is one god left alone. she tries, though. she meets lots of humans one of whom it becomes like. very good ambiguous 'besties' with. this is fortuna. she changes iota's entire perception of the world. but you know the world is dying and all of the humans die and iotas immortality is like. dripping down the drain and she cannot find a way back. but daemon comes to the rescue because even after everythign he loves her. the whole rescue bit has a whole Other set of worldbuilding lore and explanations that i will not get into here just know that its a thing. they make it back to the new world and start to Heal.

im not going to explain anything else because spoilers. but. i think all this is good to talk about. hopefully. or tgm will fucking kill me /j. but yeah. god. this was somuch more than you asked for.......... well enjoy anyways <3

#wp iota #whittled pantheon #THE IOTA MASTERPOST I FUCKING GUESS. wowowowowowowwo #asks #inthebrightwood #u absoleutlu do not have to read all of this #also freaking HI! i see u all the time in my notes ur like a blorbo in my head #cannot believe we've never properly interacted before #thanks for asking me to talk about my girly i love moon so much u dont even know #whittled pantheon explanations

[meltedcapsy]

What would the Collectors' Palisman be?

That's what I will be theorizing today!

Kitsune. In my opinion.

What do Foxes represent?

Foxes, generally, represent cunning, playfulness and resilience. They walk the fine line between the wilds and urban living, making the best of both environments. They are adaptable, clever and full of mischief.

One of the most common associations with foxes is their cleverness and resourcefulness. (as said from above) They are known for their ability to outsmart predators and humans alike, and have long been associated with trickery and deceit. (I will be talking about this part early on) This cunning nature has earned them a place in many cultures as a symbol of intelligence and shrewdness. In fact, the phrase "as sly as a fox" has become a popular expression to describe someone who is clever and quick-witted.

Most of these (not all) are personality traits of our Collector.

The Little Prince parallels

The Collector himself, is clearly inspired from "The Little Prince" a story about loneliness, friendship, sadness, and love. The prince is a small boy from a tiny planet (an asteroid to be precise), who travels the universe, planet-to-planet, seeking wisdom. On his journey, he discovered the unpredictable nature of adults. Which is funny because, that's what the Collector is doing right now. He's returning back to the stars, trying to grow by himself - whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. And also to potentially face his siblings again.

They also have a fox plushie under their bed, which can be seen in FtF referencing the Prince's best friend, the Fox. And the Fox to the Little Prince, is exactly what King is to the Collector.

Come and play with me," the little prince proposed. "I'm feeling so sad. " "I can't play with you," the fox said. "I'm not tamed. " "Ah! Excuse me," said the little prince. But upon reflection he added, "What does tamed mean? " "You're not from around here," the fox said. "What are you looking for? " "I'm looking for people," said the little prince. "What does tamed mean?" "People," said the fox, "have guns and they hunt. It's quite troublesome. And they also raise chickens. That's the only interesting thing about them. Are you looking for chickens? " "No," said the little prince, "I'm looking for friends. What does tamed mean?" "It's something that's been too often neglected. It means, to create ties..." "To create ties? " "That's right," the fox said. "For me you're only a little boy just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you have no need of me, either. For you I'm only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, we'll need each other. You'll be the only boy in the world for me. I'll be the only fox in the world for you..." "I'm beginning to understand," the little prince said.

"Please... tame me!" he said.

"I'd like to," the little prince replied, "but I haven't much time. I have friends to find and so many things to learn. " "The only things you learn are the things you tame," said the fox. "People haven't time to learn anything. They buy things ready-made in stores. But since there are no stores where you can buy friends, people no longer have friends. If you want a friend, tame me! " "What do I have to do?" asked the little prince.

"You have to be very patient," the fox answered. "First you'll sit down a little ways away from me, over there, in the grass. I'll watch you out of the corner of my eye, and you won't say anything. But day by day, you'll be able to sit a little closer..."

Language is the source of misunderstandings.

Foxes in Japanese Mythology

Kitsune are foxes that possess paranormal abilities that increase as they get older and wiser. (Which i am speculating is true for Collectors/Archivists) According to yōkai folklore, all foxes have the ability to shapeshift into human form. While some folktales speak of kitsune employing this ability to trick others—as foxes in folklore often do—other stories portray them as faithful guardians, friends, and lovers.

Kitsune have become closely associated with Inari, a Shinto kami or spirit, and serve as its messengers. This role has reinforced the fox's supernatural significance. The more tails a kitsune has—they may have as many as nine—the older, wiser, and more powerful it is. Because of their potential power and influence, some people make sacrifices to them as to a deity. (i.e the Titan Trappers in this case.)

Kitsune are believed to possess superior intelligence, long life, and magical powers. (Similar to Collectors' race) They are a type of yōkai. The word kitsune is sometimes translated as 'fox spirit', which is actually a broader folkloric category. This does not mean that kitsune are ghosts, nor that they are fundamentally different from regular foxes. Because the word spirit is used to reflect a state of knowledge or enlightenment, all long-lived foxes were believed to gain supernatural abilities.

Conversely foxes were often seen as "witch animals", especially during the Edo period (1603–1867), and were thought of as goblins who could not be trusted (similar to some badgers and cats). (And wouldn't you know it, Phillip was born in the early seventeenth century!)

The Two Types of Kitsune

The zenko (善狐, lit. 'good foxes') are benevolent, celestial foxes associated with Inari; they are sometimes simply called Inari foxes in English.

Evil behavior frequently attributed to kitsune is always the work of yako, not zenko. Whereas yako have no interest in advancement in kitsune society, zenko work hard to improve themselves and increase their social standing. Zenko may occasionally play tricks or pranks on people, but they do not seriously harm or kill humans. (At least for him, he didn't think that he was wiping them out of existence)

I'm bored! Is the Draining Spell ready yet? I wanna play and see everything go all… (Imitates screams)

Ooooh, you were maaaad! I thought you were gonna go all… (Imitates screams) …on that kid.

I want to be their friends. And besides, my powers don’t work on King.

You're not being very nice right now.

Aw, you act like I’m doing something bad, but I’m just having fun.

So? Toys break all the time? You just fix’em.

I get it now. You just need kindness and forgiveness, huh?

But I thought, I was doing the right thing.

Luz? Luz? You-hoo! You can come out now. Well, it’s okay. She just broke, so I’ll fix her.

I don’t want anyone to go away, I don’t want anyone else to go missing. I’m sorry for everything!

Leave them to me!

Come on, you can at least do this!

Collector doesn't necessarily want to kill people, like the rest of his siblings. He just wants to play and have fun.

Speaking of yako..

On the other hand, the yako (野狐, lit. 'field foxes', also called nogitsune) tend to be mischievous or even malicious.

Don't bother, beast. You can't run away anymore. It's. Over.

"Oh, let's play a game!", they said. "Let's play hide and seek! You go down there and see if the Titans wanna play!" So I played, and it was great! The baby Titans were the cutest, just like King! And they were all so welcoming! But the Archivists were scared of their power. So one by one, they disappeared, until there was one Titan left. And he thought I was the bad guy! He hid his egg from me and trapped me! But I showed all of them! Even when those trapper jerks started acting weird, even when Belos lied to me, I FOUND KING! I FOUND THE LAST TITAN, AND HE'S MY FRIEND NOW!"

His siblings tricked him into playing with the little titans so they could murder them. Sure, some had malicious intent or some were simply delusional or even both. But in the end, they're all pretty awful people just like yako.

His so called "friend" used him and intended to abandon him.

And now, his new pal that he just made - was lying to him this whole time and had a plan on imprisoning him. (from his perspective)

The closest people to him 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙞𝙢, everyone did.

I did say I was going to bring up the topic of how foxes are generally associated with trickery and deceit, especially in Japanese Mythology, wasn't I?

Instead of him lying to everyone, everyone lied to him, and instead of him being a complete liar - he's actually a pretty truthful little guy. Keen on friendship and most importantly honesty, you can trust him with anything. That's a major part of his character that is very often brought up in the show.

I just wanted a friend that wouldn't lie to me, or trick me. But everyone's the same. King lied. Belos lied. Even they lied.

Just free me already! You've proooomiiiised!

You need to have more faith in pinky swears.

But... but you said! You said you'd let me out! I hate it here!

You better not be fibbing. You pinky swore me.

Uh, excuse-a-what- now? B—But you said you'd use the Titan blood to help free me!

But you said we were friends! We pinky swore! You LIED! LIAR! LIAR, LIAR, LIAR, LIAR, LIAR, LIAR, LIAR! Oooohhh, liaaar!

WOOOOAAAAHHHH! You're a liar, liar, pants on fireeee!

Leave me alone. I don't associate with fibbers. 

Wait. You're not tricking me into doing your chores like Philip? Are you?

King! You promised you'd play with me! You pinky-swore!

Though, the possibility of him having a palisman is pretty low - if he does get one and it turns out to be a fox, it'll at least remind him that King truly is his friend and that nobody is lying, or tricking him anymore. He has friends now, true friends who he can turn to in times of support and it'll coincide with his wish of having honest sincere friendship as well.

#the owl house #toh #the collector #breakdown #ngl i just made this for fun lol #kitsune #fox #imagine his palismans' name is starfox #that would be so dang cute #the collector toh #toh the collector

[panicedgannet]

I'd have drawn A map if I knew how to get it onto the computer.

Today we will be making A world from the relative ground up. We will start it as A fantasy world because they are easier to build because you don’t have to think about the impact of high technology. Though we’ll be doing magic in this later. I feel like it has something to do with ghosts being in harmonious existence within A person. Maybe that’s why there are so few wizards or why they all have tragic backstories?

We’ll start with A moderately sized volcanic island. Like Iceland or Hawaii. But this one is colder than Hawaii. Now my favorite thing about volcanic islands. Is that they can just be any sort of shape. So we’ll draw A nice squiggly island. Not only is this fun it is condusive to how volcanic islands form in real life. They form usually in chains. So we have a chain of volcanoes which spewed out enough lava to touch each other’s cooled lava. Or land rather. The other ways are by tectonic plates ripping an island sized chunk off of a larger landmass. And when undersea tectonic plates push up against each other creating A mountain chain that eventually pierces the sea’s surface. Now keep in mind you can simply change the way that the world or tectonics in your world works to create some truly bizarre island shapes. Or just say that it’s the way that the gods made it. Like Tolkien’s Isle Of Numenor.

Since this island is made out of igneous rock I think I’ll use Cumberlandite. Which is slightly magnetic with A passable iron content. Enough to make tools out of anyway. With time rains from the stormy sea will erode these igneous rocks and flow them down into bogs and swamps. Allowing for our future people to have easy access to iron. In the mountainous valleys there will likely be hot springs of all manner while in the lowlands there would be at least a few geysers around some of the more active volcanoes.

Before we think about what sort of people would live here. We have to think about the environment of this island. Because in all cultures all around the world. It is the environment that shapes the people who live there. No matter how we try and distance ourselves with technology. Mind you that’s what modern humans tend to do. Thanks to capitalism, and other things. Either-way this island is mountainous, volcanic and surrounded by a cold sea. Now I’ve already talked about bogs. Though they generally appear in areas of poor soil nutrient due to heavy rainfall, and our island is volcanic. Ash from previous and even ancient eruptions would make this island A veritable smorgasbord of resources for plant life. Now on the rain heavy part of the island facing the sea would be where these bogs would lie. At least I think so. However the first plants that will colonize this island would be rock breakers and stone eaters like moss and lichen. Further beating up the mountain rocks, eventually creating soil and with that more plants will join. Tough grasses various species of wild leek, shrubs which bear fruit and onions. Various plants that can deal with heavy rain, cold, boom and bust soil quality such as the potato. Trees like cedar would thrive on the less rainy side of the island with decent precipitation and rich soil.

For the first animal on this island. Well I think We’ll do some variation of tubeworm. There are tubeworms that can get their energy from bacteria feeding on heat and methane. Bubbling up from volcanic hotspots. We’ll have some form of tubeworm we’ll call Whistling Stones. You’ll see why in A bit. Instead of pipe organ shaped ones these ones will be radial dome shaped. Better suited for the shallow quick moving mountain rivers and streams warmed by geysers or subterranean hotspots year long. They can grow to immense size but tend to expel built up steam in the form of A whistling sound before they explode and reach the end of their life cycle. Following the Whistling Stones up from the depths will be A number of small lobsters and various shellfish such as scallops, and urchins which will adapt to the steep slopes and kelp forests surrounding the island chain. But I digress that’s not the natural feature we’re supposed to be talking about. The first predating animal that can’t be dealt with by sheer armor status are birds. Sea-birds specifically. We’ll have some form of Ice Heron or Puffin attack small crustaceans, and an adapted bird with A beak that can drag out or rip out pieces of young Whistling Stone Worms out of their tubes. These birds are not smart enough to leave young Whistling Worms to grow their gill tubes back. For other animals we will use some various seabirds as well as small mammals which eat their eggs. Arboreal rats or squirrels as you probably know them. Will grow to A large size with nothing to eat them and the many shrubs which bear fruit and nuts to sustain them. We can talk about the food chain later when it comes into importance.

#worldbuilding #advice #example #island #volcanoes #speculative zoology

[yellowocaballero]

what r ur thoughts on tim..

Oh boy I should be working, but...

First listening, I was really frustrated with Tim (for the same reason I was frustrated with Basira). We know that Jon’s really, really going through it, that he’s doing his best, and it’s not strictly his fault that his best isn’t very good. Tim does not know this. Tim’s a hypocrite, rude, mean, and doesn’t really help anybody because he’s too wrapped up in his own pain. It’s all understandable, born from trauma, and really good and nuanced character work. He’s a good person in shit circumstances. Most TMA characters are like this - but most of them got the chance to move past and get better (Melanie, Jon, Daisy). Tim never did, so he kind of died a jerk. I didn’t have a good sense of him for a while, which is why he’s such a background character in BBC and MATDB. HR was almost frustrating to write, because Sasha cared a lot about Tim while I really didn’t. But as a result I was forced to actually find an approach to him. 

The way I interpret him in fic (which is not supposed to be exact with canon)is that he is the hero. Legitimately. He is the most heroic character in most of the stuff I write. This is most obvious in No Sin But Ignorance, but it crops up relentlessly in Human Relations and Space Cadet/Minesweeper. He is loyal, kind, dedicated, masculine, gregarious, selfless, attractive, and has a strong sense of morality and justice. Tim is a Good Guy (TM). 

Jon is a Bad Guy (TM). He is rude, intrusive, monstrous, prickly, and throws himself down the bad decisions tree hitting every branch on the way down. But, for some reason, every trait of Tim’s that makes him a good guy also makes him the antagonist, and every trait of Jon’s that makes him a bad guy makes him the protagonist. It’s Jon’s story, the bad guy, so his villain is the good guy, Tim. But it’s not that simple. Who’s really doing the right thing?

I find it really, really interesting to talk about how ‘good’ traits can be bad, and ‘bad’ traits can be good. BBC is the story of how one terrible person willingly destroyed the universe just to keep a few people safe. It was also about how one person gave up being selfless and decided to be selfish, and how that saved the world. All of Tim’s good traits, everything that made him the hero of a less interesting story, made him a terrible person in SC, made him the idiot who kicked off the terrible downer ending of HR, and that made him an incredibly confrontational yet loving and protective asshole who got in the way of our cute romcom in NSBI (In NSBI it is painfully obvious that Tim thinks of himself as the protagonist and Jon as the waify damsel in distress). Tim is incredibly masculine, and in HR that is the stupidest possible thing to be. In SC Tim thinks that, because he is a Good Guy (TM), that makes everything he do justified - even if some of the stuff he does is awful, he is a Good Person, so that makes it good. Good is a thing you are, not a thing you do. 

That’s why Tim is one of my favorite characters to write! He’s just so interesting and nuanced. He’s such a good antagonist - character wise, for the reasons mentioned above, and narrative wise for a lot of other much more boring reasons (he’s very active and tends to act while other characters are more passive and tend to react). I never like writing villains (actually, I find chessmaster/mastermind villains very boring, which is why I always gloss over Elias). I like writing people whose greatest enemies are themselves. I also like writing antagonists (different from villains!) who are convinced that they’re doing the right thing, who do the right thing because they’re a good person, and who are at heart loving, kind, good people, but who don’t have the full picture and whose trauma and fear gets in the way of doing the right thing. 

Thanks for the ask!

#human resources was wild because it was the first time in a LONG time i'd written an M/F relationship #and I forgot HOW COMPLETELY ROOTED IN GENDER DYNAMICS THEY GET #timsasha in HR didn't work for a lot of reasons but one of them is that Tim was being SUPER masc and sasha didnt want to play those games #imho tim is someone who is always always always afraid of losing the people he loves #in canon the worst happened and he lost everyone and thats why he went off the deep end #in everything else i write it makes him an overly protective Male #kind and good and comes from a good place! but it is so annoying #im probably just saying this because my childhood was a literal 1950s sitcom but #as a woman i write men very conscious of masculinity which i feel like a not of ppl who are not men do not do #its important to very many men and i think tim is one of those men #this is not inherently bad! it just causes tension #jon in nsbi took on a very feminine role due to Disability Issues TM and he was clearly extremely uncomfortable with it #my writing

[alphawolfanimates]

Omg I'm so sorry I didn't get to this sooner! Anyway, lets get this started!

I'm going to do the borrower!Dream headcanons first because the Karlnapity one will be a fic and not headcanons.

·Dream is smart when borrowing, but gets a little cocky

·His cockiness will be his downfall

·He studied the human's schedule so well, that he knew the exact minute he would head out to leave each day

·Or, at least, he thought he did

·One day he went out to borrow as usual, assuming the human was already gone, he decided not to check if his car was still there

·So that's when the human came into the kitchen, after waking up just minutes ago and sleeping through his alarm

·Let's just say, neither one of them expected to see the other

·The human, who's name is George, was panicking because 'wtf there's a tiny person in my house' and Dream was panicking because 'I THOUGHT I MEMORIZED HIS SCHEDULE BUT I GUESS I DIDN'T CAUSE HOLY CRAP I WAS JUST SEEN'

·George absentmindedly moved his hand toward Dream, and that took Dream out of the trance he had just been in and he booked it

·He didn't make it very far

·Now he was being held in the human's hands, not sure what to do because he never expected to get caught

·He started shaking, and now George finally realized how fucking terrified Dream must be

·He brought him out to the living room, set him on the coffee table, and apologized for grabbing him without his permission

·Dream was absolutely confused because he wasn't used to humans apologizing

·Soon, they both calmed down, introduced themselves to each other, and got to know each other

And that's all the borrower!Dream headcanons I have! Now let's do the Karlnapity fic :3

Quackity and Sapnap had lived together for about a month now, and they soon realized that their food was being stolen. Not a lot, just a couple crumbs at a time. So they believed it was a mouse. But it wasn't. Unbeknownst to them, a small borrower named Karl lived in their walls, taking food and resources when needed. He made little holes into the cabinets from the walls so he could go from his tunnel to the cabinets with ease. He memorized where everything was in the cabinets because they were always so dark so he couldn't really see where anything was when the doors were closed. So he wasn't exactly expecting to be caught in a mouse trap anytime soon.

He was just borrowing as normal when he decided he wanted something sweet. The humans had these things called "Oreos" that he really liked. So he climbed into the snack cabinet. The second he put his foot down, SNAP! His foot set off the mouse trap. He fell to the floor, in immense pain. He felt his blood drip down his foot. 'Ok, Karl, just breathe. It'll be ok. Just get your foot out before the human's reali-'

He didn't even get to finish the thought

"Hey Quackity, I think the mouse trap went off!" Sapnap called out. "Ok, go check it out, I don't feel like getting up." Quackity called back. "Fiiiiiine." Sapnap said. No no no no no NONONONO! Karl felt his tears fall down onto his hand. To say he was scared would be an understatement.

He saw light flow into the cabinet. Now he could clearly see what happened to his foot. It was bent in an odd way, blood still oozing out. It was definitely broken. He saw the package for Oreos move as Sapnap said "Now let's see what's been getting into our food." The Oreos were moved fully out of the way. They started at each other for a moment before Sapnap yelled "That's definitely not a mouse!" Quackity walked into the kitchen. "What do you mean it's not mous-" Quackity stood there before crouching down to get a better look at Karl.

"Holy shit. What is that?" He asked. Sapnap shrugged in response. Karl hated this. Not only was he extremely hurt, he was being stared at like an exotic animal. Sapnap reached his hand in to grab Karl, so Karl flinched in response. A sharp pain climbed up his leg. He screamed in pain, and the tears started to flow again. A wave of guilt hit Sapnap and Quackity. They didn't realize they were scaring him that bad, and that they probably should of helped Karl sooner. "I am so sorry! I need you to calm down, though. We won't be able to get you out of there when you're shaking like that." Karl didn't even know he was shaking. He managed to stop relatively quickly though.

He felt someone's fingers lightly curl around him. He was still scared, yes, but the human's hadn't done anything to intentionally harm him yet. He just let it happen. Sapnap set him down on the counter, his leg still stuck in the mouse trap. He felt his fingers tighten slightly. "Quackity, can you help me get this off him?" Quackity nodded and hurried over towards the counter. "Ok, I'm not gonna lie to you, this will hurt, but if we keep it on there it won't heal." Karl nodded to show he was listening. "We'll take it off on the count of three." "One.." Karl tensed up. "Two.." He squeezed his eyes shut. "Three!" The mouse trap was taken off his foot. Karl screamed in pain for a second time. Quackity and Sapnap winced, obviously feeling guilty for the pain he was put through.

Karl's hands shot up to his mouth as he started to cry. Sapnap ran to the bathroom to get the first aid kit, while Big Q stayed behind to make sure Karl was ok. "Hey, it's ok, calm down. Sapnap is getting the first aid kit to help your foot heal better. Breathe." Karl took long, shaky breaths while Quackity rubbed his back with his thumb. Sapnap got back with the first aid kit, took out some bandages, and cut them down to size. He lightly wrapped Karl's foot in them. Karl winced, but let him finish. Quackity was still rubbing his back to keep him calm.

After Sapnap finished wrapping his foot, he picked Karl up and brought him out to the living room, Quackity following close behind. He set Karl down on the coffee table while he and Quackity sat down on the floor next to it. They sat in silence for a little while before Quackity finally said something. "I guess we should introduce ourselves. I'm Quackity, and this is my boyfriend, Sapnap." Sapnap waved. "What's your name?" Karl hesitated before replying. "M-my name is K-karl." Quackity and Sapnap smiled softly. "It's nice to meet you, Karl." Sapnap said. Sapnap thought for a second before asking this next question, "How long have you lived here Karl?" Karl replied "About 4 and a half months, I think." Sapnap and Quackity stared in disbelief before Quackity exclaimed "You've lived here longer than we have!" Karl laughed a little and said "Yeah, and I wasn't expecting anyone to move in so soon." The three boys talked for a while after.

Sapnap sighed. "You probably won't be able to go back to borrowing anytime soon, so would you like to stay with us?" Karl looked at him, completely baffled. 'They're not forcing me? They're giving me a choice?' Karl thought for a second before smiling and saying "Yeah, I'd like that." Sapnap and Quackity grinned. "Hell yeah, new roomate!" Quackity yelled. Karl covered his ears. "Right, sorry." Quackity said apologetically. Oh god, Karl was in for a wild ride.

And that was the Karlnapity fic! I think it came out well. Anyway, hope these were acceptable for you, and sorry for not replying sooner.

#karlnapity #karl jacobs #sapnap #quackity #mcyt #mcyt g/t #tiny dream #georgenotfound #dnf #Alpha Writes #No Ideas #Karlnapity AU

[imperiuswrecked]

OK, here are two pairings and I'm deliberately leaving it open because you I don't want to stifle you, especially if you don't like the pairings or the idea. All I'd like to please see is each gentleman knowing that they can't pull shit with her because she WILL get in that ass!! AND that's one of the many reasons they love and respect her. Pairings: Namor and Ororo AND Dr Doom and Ororo (1)

Sorry this took so long, but I am clearing my inbox and finishing prompts. Thanks for sending one in! Part 2 will be up soon!

Short fic below the cut~

Storm at Sea - Namor/Ororo

The night is darkening round me,The wild winds coldly blow;But a tyrant spell has bound meAnd I cannot, cannot go. - Emily Bronte

Ororo takes a deep breath of the salty sea air as the small ship skimmed over the surface of the black water. Her view ahead was lit only by the moon that peeked out from behind darkening grey clouds. There was a storm coming, she could feel it in the air, could taste the energy on her tongue, could feel the air grow heavy on her skin, the wind hugs her as it moves her unbound pale hair in ripples. Standing on the deck in her nightgown, she should be asleep, but the calling of the storm woke her and she took over watch as Kitty went down for some rest. Kate. She should get used to calling her that but she couldn’t, in her heart she would always be her little Kitty Pryde. Ororo wraps her shawl around her tighter as she moves to stand at the bow of the ship. Waiting for that first crack of lightening against the black sky. She could call the up to start faster but she chooses not to, wanting to see Nature’s glory without manipulation.

“A fine evening for a Storm wouldn’t you say my Lady?”

She whips around to face the voice she hadn’t heard in ages. Namor sits on the railing of the ship with one leg dangling over the edge as the ship moves across a night sea. Water glistens on his exposed skin in the moonlight. He wears black armor and a dark unfathomable expression, she shivers slightly. There were times when Ororo would come across others who held such an otherworldly quality that she wondered if they were human. Many would feel the same about her but she never felt above others, only more connected to the world. Namor was different, there were times when he acted like any other man, arrogant and self assured in his own greatness. Yet there were moments, small fleeting glimpses of something much more other. It spoke of deep water and hands that clutched you as it drags you down into the dark. She crosses her arms and turns her back on him.

“A very fine evening Lord Namor. What brings you up from your domain?”

“All of this is my domain,” He spreads a hand at the ocean, “and as for why… is a chance to spend time in your company not enough?”

Oh he was well spoken, as kings often were, she knew what it was like to be wooed by royalty, and she knew what it was like to be threatened by them too. The waves grew choppy as the wind picked up so she puts her hands on the railing of ship to steady herself and her emotions lest she unleash a tempest.

“So it is my company you desire? Why do I get the feeling that there’s something else too?”

She could feel his presence and the sound of water dripping along the deck as he moved from his position to stand behind her, he was tall, not many men were taller than her. He moves to stand next to her, and she can finally see him again out of the corner of her eye. He had a very handsome profile. His eyes search the sea as if held the answer she asked for.

“How fairs things on Utopia?”

Her face tightens, “Your must be suffering another lapse in memory my Lord, we mutants have settled on Krakoa. Utopia is dead.”

“Different name, same situation.”

“It is not, this time we have far more resources than before. We are united once more.” She counters as her knuckles turn white from clenching the railing too hard. She doesn’t want those thoughts, the ones that came to her in quiet moments; when would the calamity that seemed to plague her life since she was small once again rear it’s head? She saw the look in Polaris’s eyes once when she first came to Krakoa and recognized it because it was the same one Ororo saw in her mirror and it spoke the same fear; When? When would the hammer fall? When would the mutants die on another island while she was unable to stop it?”

“You once spoke to me about how you thought an island could be the salvation of our kind and I foolishly let your words enter my heart and paid the price.”

“I had no hand in fate, no matter what men whisper about me. I control the weather, not the future.”

“Then you should at least plan for any possibility.” Sharp words that could cut a person lesser than her but she will not be cowed.

“I don’t like your tone Namor,” her eyes flash white as she turns to face him and he to her, both looking into each other eyes, “You come here for what? To tell me that we are all doomed? Are you a harbinger of Doom? Whatever it is you may be thinking of planning, I will have you know-” The air crackles with her power, “The mutants on Krakoa are under my protection.”

He watches her and she sees the unease in his eyes. She lets the power dissipate harmlessly into the air in a show of bright light just to drive home the point that she could have shot it straight through his heart if she so wished it, and he could have done nothing to stop her. Lightening illuminates his face and she can see that the sclera of his eyes are as black as his hair, a sharp contrast to her white eyes and hair. Thunder rumbles in the distance as the boat rocks harder.

Namor raised one of his perfectly arched brows at her power display and lowers his head to face her once more, there is a moment of heavy anticipation before that old Namor came forth, the one that was a bit more human and whom she had shared conversations with in the past, “I came to say; should you ever find yourself in deep waters then rest easy knowing you have a friend who can breath beneath the waves.”

Shocked at his sudden change and pledge of friendship, she blurts the first thing that pops into her head, “I can swim just fine on my own.”

He chuckles, “I pray you accept my apology for doubting your capabilities.” He reaches out and moves a piece of her hair behind her ear, fingers lingering for an instant before drawing back. She nods, and her gaze lingers on lips a moment before she shakes herself of the strange feeling that overcame her, and the warm blush to her cheeks.

“You would be welcome in Krakoa.”

“Is that you inviting me Ms. Munroe? Or Xavier?”

“Maybe you’ll have to come to the island to find out.”

“Maybe I will.” He easily moves, small wings flutter, to land on the railing above her as the rain begins to fall. He holds out his hand, “Or maybe you will leave the world behind and find safety in the sea my Lady.”

Suddenly it was so clear why he came, the same loneliness and need to be near people who might understand that was a feeling she was well acquainted with. Still she shakes her head as the water from the sky plasters her hair to her head, and gives him a sad smile.

“I fear no storms my Lord.”

He gives her a nod of respect and silently flips his body backward off the ship and back into the sea, as if he had never been there and the only indication of his presence was the rapid beating of her heart. Ororo turns her eyes to the storm ahead.

#Anonymous #namorororo #namor #ororo munroe #mim writes a thing #thanks for asking!

[childofsolace-write-ups]

Arc 01: REUNION

::THOMAS::

"What do you think sunlight feels like?"

I look up and see Nina coming through the right hand tunnel entrance, not even saying hello first. That usually means she was deep in thought on her way here again.

"I really don't remember." I tell her, setting down the book I'd been pretending to read.

It was something about the new things they expected to be able to do with machines. I didn't really have a reason to be fond of those stupid things. It's not exactly a picnic, depending on the machines for everyday living. It'd be awfully hard to breathe underground without them, for one thing. And—insert sarcastic tone here—how on earth would ordinary people survive without fucking reading lights. Seriously, with the number of issues that needs addressing, they give us extra lighting in bunkers, of all things?

Personally, I'd rather take my chances with whatever's up there on ground level. If Trey, Kytes, and the others survived...

That's kinda the thing, though. After all these years, I have no way of knowing if they DID survive or WHAT they survived as. The atmosphere was said to do awfully strange things to ordinary people. I miss my little brother, though. And I hope Trey was doing okay, too. He was my best friend growing up after all.

"Do you?"

Nina clicks on the kitchen lamp. It's pretty cramped up in our compartment bunker, so she'd probably do fine with the little reading light I'm using but she looks at it for a moment and sighed. "It's been too long," she says. "I wonder if they even still have sunlight up there. You know, considering all that's happened."

"Oh, they probably do."

I click off the reading light. No need to be careless with the energy we had. No matter how much they wanted us to believe the machines supplied boundless electricity. I couldn't, not with the reason they sent away Kytes and Trey with a whole bunch of other orphans being the worry for lack of resources. Not with Nina working there everyday. We depended on qualified individuals now for our energy supply. As in, people. Humans, to produce energy, if that makes sense as if they were hamsters running repeatedly in wheels for a Science project. It makes me feel queasy just thinking about it. I don't know how Nina can let them. She's a lot braver than I could be, that's for sure. Maybe a lot more reckless, too. Well, Trey was her brother.

He rubbed off on her...

Then again, I haven't even seen the guy the last eight years, so how would I know that? Nina was all I really had left in memory of him and my own brother. You died younger down here than you would when people lived above when it was still up there. Both Nina's parents are gone, mine died in a fire accident years before the radiation up there first hit. My Uncle, who made it possible for me and my brother to still live here whenever they had to send out orphans, died a year after I turned thirteen. Then, in one Release before I turned thirteen, my brother opted to take Nina's place instead because she's been sick that time and she wouldn't have lasted an hour up there even with Trey's help, who had just been ten then. But I never held it against Trey or resent Nina. We knew each other even before all this, Trey was my best friend just as long as Nina was Kytes's. And I would've done the same if it had been Trey.

Although, I laugh at the idea of Kytes staying down here with him. It might be him who had to watch over the damn lummox.

Now with Nina's parents gone and my Uncle passing away, I was old enough to stand as her guardian until she turned thirteen herself next week. Not that it mattered cause she won't be moving out and I'm not kicking her out either. But on the event I died after her birthday, she wouldn't have to be sent away. So now we shared a cramped compartment on a fairly low level, which was good. The lower you are, the farther you are from the dangers of Ground level.

Level 01 had some data gathering stations for researches and old residence cells. They were Orphanages every now and then, until those who weren't adopted were sent out anyway, the cells were used for residence bunkers to the Poor class.

Level 02 to 30 had the residence cells according to social status of the Middle-class. Point blunt.

Level 31 to 35 had the commerce centers, radio stations and whatever establishments that had existed back and is possible to continue down here. There are movie halls, too, but obviously no one makes movies anymore. We watched the films that was brought down here with us during the evacuation. Before I thought it was pretty cool, now I think of how stupid it is. Of all the other important things they could have brought down, they settled for movies. Anyway, those levels are what you can consider the central city, if you can call it that since there are hardly any Skyscrapers anymore. Not that they would've fit down here, anyway.

Level 35 to 49 have residence cells for Elites and Government officials, the Councillors and the Techs with their family, if any. Since Nina is a Machine tech, we are privileged to be in Level 35.

The better people, the Councillors, get Level 37 to 49 according to importance of Office.

I don't really know what Level 50 holds, which is the lowest of the low. But some rumors I heard assumes it's a laboratory of sorts. Still, while we have it good as much as we could down here, I wonder about life in the surface.

"What makes you think so?" Nina snaps me back to reality. That perceptive brown-eyed gaze on me, a startling sense of knowing. "For all we know, it's getting worse up there. There's no way of knowing."

I snort. "No one bothers to check. Even if they did, there's no report. For all we know," I mimick her tone. "everything's back to normal, like in the Disney movie with the Garbage Robot going to outer space. We'd never know it, down here. They think we've got everything but it's all stupid..."

"Thomas," she studies me for a moment. "Are you still planning to go up there?"

"Soon."

I say the same thing everyday, but when have I ever acted on my words? I'm caught in a cycle just like every other moron in this stupid Underground settlement. And I know I'm still afraid to see how much things changed up there even as I'm dying to know at the same time.

"I want to see my brother," I continue. "How he and Trey are doing... If they're still alive, that is."

"Do you think they're still alive?" Nina asks, as if we don't talk about this everyday. Like she expects a different answer or something. It's been years and she still asks. "Well, do you?"

I can't give it to her though, "I don't know, maybe." The first few times she cried. Now, she simply nods.

"When are we going?"

I sigh at her persistence. It's not like it was easy, we can't just walk straight to the guards by the exit of the city and say, Hey we're leaving this dump so later losers! Without being questioned.

"Whenever it seems like a good time."

Naturally, I say this every time she asks. I think she's starting to think that it will never be a good time. I've begun to wonder about that myself. Actually, I want to go and see my brother. I want to go and see Nina's brother. It's tough finding a friend like him. Only Trey's been able to break down the walls I built ever since mom and dad died. He made me play soccer, even when I was never into sports. We'd go wild in the service tunnels, I break a lady's vase and we're both in trouble. Him at the Orphanage and me with my Uncle. But those were the good old days. I want to get back living above the ground, breathing for myself, instead of relying on machines to help me do it and rotting away in a metal cave some thirty feet or so below it. But thinking about something and actually doing it are two different matters.

Nina tilts her head then surprises me a bit by breaking our odd little mantra. Instead of agreeing and starting lunch, she asks a new question. "Thomas, do you think we could leave before the week is up?"

I stare at her in wonder. "Well, sure thing!" I mock-enthuse, "Let me call the guys at the Radio station to reschedule my shift this week. Oh. And have someone replace me as Head Chef for the Wedding Catering next month."

"Thomas," Nina pouts. "I'm being serious."

I'm still surprised but now also curious. "Why the sudden eagerness?"

"I met this girl in work today. Her name was Lindsay Caghan. Do you know her?"

I shake my head. I've never heard the name. But then, that doesn't mean a thing. I use my name when Live on air during Radio broadcasts so there could be a bunch of people who know me without me returning the favor.

"Well, she knows you. She knows you work at the station three days a week and as a chef during the Weekends." Now that's something. I usually stay at the kitchen so no one would guess I'm a Chef but my co-workers. I don't even have lots of friends anymore to be told about to others. Nina sinks slowly into the couch beside me. It was also my bed since I've offered the real bed to her. "I didn't say a word, Thomas. I don't know how she knows, but she does. And that's not the half of it. She knows our desire to leave."

Well, I wouldn't really call it a desire. "So?" I raise a brow. "What can she do? It's not like they'd actually care if we left. They'd be glad for the extra space."

"She doesn't want to stop us, Thomas." Nina explains, halting my instinctive string of defensive cynical arguments. "Far from it actually."

"Then what does she want?"

"You won't like it."

Oh jeez, I had to laugh at that. "There's a lot of things I don't like," I remind her. "I don't like these metal cages they call homes, I don't like those machines that use people as energy sources. And I definitely don't like how they sent our brothers and a whole group of other orphans yearly to the surface as a solution to minimizing shortages and leaving them to deal with whatever dangers the surface has to offer." I threw my arm behind her, mostly to stretch than anything else. "Now tell me, what else am I adding to this very long list?"

"All right," Nina smiles a little. "Lindsay brought up the subject in private. And she had a request for you. There's someone she wants us to take up to the surface when we go."

I stare at her for a second, wondering if she was joking. The expression on her face tells me she's not. "No way, nope. No." I say. I haven't even fully decided whether I, myself, wanted to go. I'm not all for including others. Before long, we'd have a whole army with us. "I do not like that one bit."

Nina rolls her eyes. "I expected as much." She sighs. "I'm not certain who she wants to send with us, but she seemed fairly urgent about it." She tells me, a strange look on her face. She looks like that whenever she's truly serious about something. That can't be good for me. Then there will be no refusing her.

"Urgent how?"

"Well," She hesitates. "she seemed nervous. As if what she's planning is something that could get her in trouble. I think we should at least hear her out."

"Nina," I rub my forehead. "you don't think that the person she wants us to take is herself, do you? If she's run into some kind of trouble with the law..." I don't finish that. I'm not a huge fan of the Councillors, but even I'm not cynical enough to get on their bad side so boldly enough to break the law. "you know I'd rather this doesn't turn into an escape propaganda."

Nina shakes her head, looking thoughtful. "No, I think it's bigger than that. I don't think she's doing this for her own safety. I think she's risking her safety and it's making her scared. But she really seems desperate to have us agree."

"I don't know Nina, it doesn't seem like a very good idea, including others." I hope I can make her see where I'm coming from. She's a teenager now, and I know I am too, but I expect the moodiness of a teenage girl to be something too much to handle. And if I give her a no... Well, just because Nina's never thrown a tantrum doesn't mean she couldn't start now. "we could end up with a lot of company and not all of them welcome."

"I don't think so, Thomas. The way she acted, I think this is a private problem. It was like she didn't want anyone else to know. But she seems pretty concerned. If it's illegal, it's illegal in a good way." she looks at me with bright eyes. "Know what I mean?"

I sigh. No, I really don't but what I do know is that there was no talking her out of this. "You mean some kind of Noble act? Like a Holy crusade or..."

"No, but it'd be something humane. Or she wouldn't bother," Nina retorts. "I think we should listen to her. It's probably important."

I groan, holding my hands up in surrender. "All right," I exhale, giving in, because who can function in the face of that kind of persistence?

Women complicated things. Uncle would always say. And he's right.

Nina had already made up her mind and it's futile to get her to give up. She's Trey's sister all right. "Fine. We'll talk to her. Why don't you try and get her to tell you exactly what she wants from us? I'm not making any promises until I know what we're getting into."

"Thank you, Thomas." Nina gives me a soft smile, the kind that gets just about anyone to do whatever she wants. I'm a victim of that countless of times. "I have a feeling that this is the right thing to do."

But not necessarily the smartest, I think to myself. "Great."

Nina shrugs and smothers a yawn. She's tired. But then again, she's always tired now. Working with machines is a strain. I pretend not to see the dark circles under her eyes, but I think it's wearing on her. That's just one more reason to take her away from this place. I know she's strong enough to handle it but I don't want her to have to.

"Make sure you ask the right questions." I remind her. "I don't want this Lindy girl tricking us to agreeing to more than we want. Be careful."

"It's Lindsay." Nina corrects before smiling. "And I have a better idea than that, Thomas." she says. "how would you like it if I arranged it so that you could meet her?"

"... No."

We argue again, even though I know Nina will eventually get her way nevertheless.

#ChildOfSolace Original

[chasholidays]

Excited you're doing this again! I'd like to request Monty/Miller, board game night was supposed to be fun how did it end up like this

Raven is the first one to notice the problem with game night, but it really should have been Monty, because as soon as she lays it out, it’s both obvious and terrifying.

“Sure, you’re chill,” is how she explains it, “but one chill person can’t actually turn the entire tide of an evening.”

“I’m not the only chill person. We don’t have to calm everyone down, just–Clarke,” he says.

Raven snorts. “You wish it was just Clarke. But you’ve got Clarke and Bellamy, so, like, no matter how cool anyone else is, they’re going to fight to the death because they don’t know how to just make out.”

There is no counterargument to this; it is undeniable. “Yeah, so they can just play their own game.”

“You’ve also got Octavia, she’s competitive. And me.”

“You?”

“Sorry, I’m definitely competitive. I want to kick everyone’s ass. Jasper’s a bad loser, Miller’s a wild card, so that just leaves you and Lincoln to be normal humans who aren’t assholes. And that’s not enough to tip the scales.”

“Okay, but this isn’t my first rodeo,” says Monty. “I know how this works.”

“Uh huh.”

“Co-op games,” he says. “Collaboration. Stuff where we’re working together. Which is–”

“So naive,” says Raven. “So optimistic. You think we can’t fight over a cooperative game? We still have to agree on things. We can barely decide on where to order takeout. Cooperative games might be worse than competitive ones.”

It’s a valid point that Monty would prefer not to think about, but game night is in three hours and he needs a plan. “Fuck.”

“Nothing is safe,” Raven says. “There is no good-case scenario here. You’re on damage control. If there are survivors, you win, but I’m not optimistic.”

“And you’re not going to help.”

She pats his shoulder. “Game night is every person for themselves, Monty.”

“Thanks. Helpful. It’s going to be fine,” he adds, because he’s pretty sure that’s a thing. Saying things and hoping that will make them true. “We’ll have fun.”

“Uh huh. Sure we will.”

*

Monty had exactly one goal with game night: more time with Miller. Not that he doesn’t see Miller roughly twice a month, which is about as much as he sees anyone he doesn’t live or work with. But he doesn’t have a crush on any of his other friends, so he doesn’t consider it a problem. Monty doesn’t tend to need a lot of company; between Jasper and Raven as roommates, he’s mostly set for day-to-day interactions. But he would like a significant other, and he’d like it to be Miller. And without any other ideas to see more of him (aside from something truly drastic, like asking him on a date), he decided to have a board game night, and somehow everyone agreed, and now, he assumes, they are all going to die.

Maybe he shouldn’t date. Maybe he wasn’t made for that. This is a sign.

But it’s too late to change things now, so the only way forward is through. The best he can hope for is a game that does not result in bloodshed.

Me: Raven has pointed out there’s a 95% chance everyone is going to die at game night

Miller: She’s good at math, I’d trust herWho’s coming again?

Me: You, me, Raven, Jasper, Lincoln, Bellamy, Octavia, ClarkeI’m most worried about Bellamy and Clarke but Octavia is a wild card and Raven says she’s competitive tooSo likeWe need a non-fatal game

Miller: Can we just lock Bellamy and Clarke in a closet?Either they kill each other or hook up and either way the rest of us are safe

Me: I figured that would be a last resort

Miller: Well, it’s your funeralOkaySo, it’s eight people?

Me: Yeah

Miller: OkayWhat are you doing?

Me: Right now?

Miller: YeahStrategizing would be easier in person, if I can just come over

Me: OhSureIt’s as clean as it’s going to getCome by whenever

Miller: CoolOmw

*

Miller doesn’t even bother with greetings, just opens with, “So, I think we need two pods.”

“Two pods?” Monty echoes, feeling lost. Miller is shedding his coat and hat and he’s wearing a tight t-shirt and is in Monty’s apartment, which is a lot to deal with. It’s going to take him a minute to catch up.

“Yeah. Two games, four players each. I think we can’t have Bellamy and Clarke playing together. It’s not safe.”

“That’s probably true.”

“Bellamy and Octavia is risky too. Sibling rivalry. So that means Clarke and O in one pod and Bellamy and Raven in the other.”

“That checks out, yeah. You’ve thought about this a lot.”

“Dude, I’ve played board games with Bellamy and Octavia before. I know how this works.”

“Is it as bad as I think it is?”

“They regress like twenty years, yeah.”

“Okay, so—that’s a good start. Lincoln should be in Octavia’s pod, he’s good with her, and then—“

If he wants to be with Miller, Jasper would have to be their fourth, but he doesn’t really have any reason to suggest it. Everyone thinks of him and Jasper as a matched pair; it would be natural to put them together.

But Miller says, “I should go with Bellamy, I’m good with him too. So that leaves you and Jasper.”

“I’ll go with you guys, Clarke and Octavia sounds like a lot. Jasper can deal with that.”

Miller smirks. “Yeah, that sounds right. Okay, cool, that’s done.”

“Yeah, you came a long way for a pretty short conversation.”

“Not that long. And I figured I could hang out. You have any cool two-player games?”

“I can think of something. And we need to figure out what we’re playing tonight.”

“Yeah, I’m sure we can keep busy,” says Miller, and Monty knows it’s not supposed to sound like a come on, so he doesn’t take it as one.

“Definitely,” he says instead. “Let’s see what we’ve got.”

*

The plan does work, for the first round of games. Monty, Miller, Raven, and Octavia have a perfectly civil game of Tokaido, and the other table seems to do fine with Above and Below, and then Clarke says, “So, round two?” and Monty looks at Miller with some mild terror.

“Yeah!” says Octavia. “I want to play that witch game.”

“I love the witch game!” says Jasper, and Raven agrees, and suddenly the four of them are on one side with Broom Service and Monty is left with Miller, Bellamy, and Clarke.

Well, the other table might survive this, anyway. They might not all die.

“So, what are we playing?” asks Bellamy.

This is where Monty has some chance to get the whole thing back on track. He can pick a game that won’t involve much opportunity for Bellamy and Clarke to be in direct competition, one where they can’t fuck with each other. Something–

“This one looks cute,” says Clarke, and Monty winces.

“That one’s–”

“That looks fun,” Bellamy adds.

And it is. Underlings of Underwing is a fun, cute game that Clarke will probably enjoy. It has color theory and dragons and Monty really likes it.

It’s just that there’s all this resource management, and Bellamy and Clarke are going to be able to screw each other over, and they probably will, and while that seems to be foreplay for them, it’s incredibly stressful for everyone else who’s going to be interacting with them.

But Miller says, “Sure, I’m in,” which means Monty has no one on his side, and also that if he doesn’t play, he won’t have any reason to interact with Miller, so apparently this is how it’s going to be.

And it’s honestly not as bad as he thought it would be. Which, admittedly, says more about the power of his own imagination than anything, but still. He’s taking any victories he can get at this point. Bellamy and Clarke have developed an incoherent rivalry before the first turn is over, both more focused on attempting to screw the other one over than they are on actually winning, which is both a curse and a blessing.

Really, the biggest problem there is that Monty thinks he might win, and he’s not sure if they’ll let him live through the victory. He would be much happier coming in last.

As it turns out, though, Bellamy and Clarke have fun threatening to murder each other, and as soon as that game is over, they want to play another, and Monty thinks it might actually be okay, until Octavia literally flips the board on Broom Service.

“This is bullshit!”

Monty and Miller exchange a look, and Miller raises one shoulder, like he’s amazed they got this far.

“Don’t be a sore loser, O!” calls Bellamy, and she calls back, “Don’t be a fucking dickface, Bell!”

“Who needs another drink?” Monty asks, and every hand in the room, Blakes aside, goes up.

He nods. “Cool. That’s what I thought.”

*

“That was actually really fun,” is Miller’s final assessment.

“I think Lincoln has a black eye,” says Raven.

“He’s fine,” says Jasper. “That went really well!”

Miller looks dubious. “I said it was fun, not that it went well. Big difference.”

“Miller’s into trainwrecks,” says Raven.

“Who isn’t?”

Monty’s mostly excited that Miller hasn’t left yet. He had a stressful, bizarre, vaguely traumatizing evening, but now that it’s over and no one actually died, he can look at it with the benefit of hindsight and admit that while it wasn’t as good as he hoped it would be when he first imagined the night, he doesn’t think Lincoln actually got a black eye, and they didn’t play Monopoly, so no relationships were actually ruined forever, and everyone had some amount of fun.

And, again, Miller is still around. That’s the best part of the night.

Raven knows it too, because she yanks Jasper’s arm. “Come on, I want to show you this new video game.”

“You do?” asks Jasper, and then he catches on. “Oh, yeah, you do! What a great idea. Please show me all your video games.”

Monty rubs his face, but Miller just smiles. “Sounds like a good game.”

“Yeah, we got so many details about it.” It’s not hard to smile back, though. “Thanks for all your help. I think we got through that with as little bloodshed as was possible, with this group.”

“No problem.” He clears his throat. “Honestly, it was fun. I’ve been looking for an excuse to hang out with you.”

“Really? Because you don’t need one. Like, we could just hang out. But,” he adds, “in the interest of full disclosure, I did set up game night just so I’d have an excuse to hang out with you.”

“There have got to be safer ways for us to spend time together.”

Monty swallows hard. “Like a date, maybe?”

“A date sounds a lot easier, yeah,” says Miller, and leans in for a kiss.

So, overall, game night is a resounding success. 10/10, would recommend.

But maybe not more than once a month. Just to be safe.

#toast-the-unknowing