#iterators r so fucking terrifying

[spotsupstuff]

as i'm workin on my Ancient stuff- i've got to say that it is really interesting and neat (read: nasty) that there's a good chance most of the Ancient population probably didn't actually wear masks. but We think they did cuz the only really solid evidence of what they looked like at all all comes from places of the higher social circles. and those strived for religious... superiority, i guess. brownie points, not actual dedication to the religion for the sake of its teachings but either because it made them look good, put them higher in the social hierarchy or whatever manipulation have you (or the flawed look upon the religion aka "we gotta get out of this cycle no matter what")

all we are left with are the bastards. the simple people and their cultures that were left to weather the Iterators' rains were simply washed away. nobody cared for their way of life- as long as it served the higher circles well and they stayed submissive (enough so that at the end everyone would take a dip in the void), nobody had to give a singular shit

just how much do we not know about the Ancients' *everything* because of this disregard? how much do we think we are right about, when such is true only for the small but privileged piece of the species?

#Spot says stuff #rw #which is why i -goes insane over oc lore again- #VIVA LA REVOLUCIÓN BAYBEEEEEE #this came to me cuz like. sparrows is very much a Bruh girl. shes a yeehaw if you know what i mean. shes kinda stumpy cuz she grew up in- #-the farms of Euros' facilities n had to haul things around. ancients from the iterator cities? or the ones on the murals? very much dont- #-look like that nah. theyre like twigs without any muscle to hold their bellies in some kinda form so they look like That. the masks- #-themselves originally became a thing for religious reasons. what reason would a farm girl have to wear a mask while workin in the fields? #yanno? it sounds mostly impractical. n down there they prolly werent such religious nutcases like the ''Higher Ones'' #sparrows' granda would have some choice words bout her havin a mask now JKVLDSMLKC he constantly complains about Euros cuz like #he remembers what it was like before Euros was turned on- man had an iterator rain free childhood n now he has to deal with This bullshit #''back in M'day we didnt hefta be runnin fro' some rain generated by an overgrown *Toaster*!!! we played in da grass for however long- #-we wished!!! sure aye it was standin there n overshadowin us from time to time but-" ''ya ya we kno granda settle down before u pull smth' #iterators r so fucking terrifying

[the-monkey-ruler]

Going back to that anon that ask about the pain swk went through bc of the fillet

—yea theres r no time ever that this fainting ever happened in the novel nor do the bleeding. Yes it does happen in various other adaptations when the fillet does that but not in the novel.(not in the Anthony c yu verse at least. Idk about the tge other but im less likely to recommend them bc they either miss a fuck ton of jttw thing OR Very icky authors who is sinophobic af)

I think ppl who already tends to have a more negative idea of tang sanzang(bc of OSP iteration n more)tends to make his character far worse than it actually is.

Like w the fillet.(no hate to various adaptations who do the usage of the fillet that make swk faints. Love me that honestly but my gripes is w those who make it that it applies to alll swks and even in the og novel.) even going so far as to make tang sanzang as the abuser to swk. <that could not be more farther than the truth. It is in fact a very skewed power dynamics that make both characters be in the same but different positions of powers depending on the situations>

Im pretty sure he ended up doing it less as much as ppl assume he did pre-LEMH ARC. (Bro did not use the spell day to day basis pls ppl stop using it in argument bc its not even supported in the og txt itself. He called his disciple as good guys yet are ugly af—hes a asshole but not that much of a asshole. Hes so so naive but he trying his best even if he get swung w traumatizing shit every arc back to back. He like a perfect example of how imperfect traumatized person would act.

My gods these pilgrims need sm therapy

He didn't use it for years before the Six Ears Arc and didn't use it years after either.

It always surprises me when people say he used it too much considering that he only used it in frequency in a single day and then did not touch it for literally YEARS cause he really doesn't use it that often in the book.

The only real times he does overdue it is in the White Bone Demon Arc where he uses it multiple times and in the Six Ears Arc as well. Otherwise, there was that one-off with like Sanzang being misplaced with a fake Sanzang and they had to find out who was the real one, I think with the Black Wind Demon on their first adventure solo, and maybe the Lion-Lynx Arc with the dead king. Otherwise, that's about... 30 other arcs. (that is about 5 arcs out of 30~ other demon arcs)

So over the course of 14 years, I really don't think that should be considered 'every day whenever he could' ....cause he really doesn't. Wukong pulls a lot of tricks and schemes that do give him a mischievous air but the point is that the pilgrims had distrust for one another at the start that is question and put them to the test. And it's only when they face that collective battle and do they come out with a deeper understanding, not only of each other but themselves that they gain their merit.

Sanzang says they are ugly yeah (rude) but he always defends that they are good people to humans that are terrified of their looks, always trying to help even if he can't offer much but a helping word and an ear to listen. He always trusts they will save him and even not he has prayed over them because he thought they died and wanted blessings in their next life for being such good people in this one. This is his journey too and I think it's unfair for people to ignore how his character also comes to get closer to the gang. Especially after he found his long-lost family only to imminently lose them again. I mean even at the start he was made fun of for being an orphan and found his parents, but one commits suicide just weeks after meeting him and the other is the same age as him since he came back from the dead unchanged and he can't even rely on as a parent.

He was kinda put through it with that family drama.

It was just one thing after another at the start for him and I think he never had a chance to have a close group of friends to rely on.

And I hate when this idea that Sanzang is a bad person or that is an abuser when there are so many ways that they are similar and both trying to overcome their challenges on this journey while learning how to rely on other people. They mean too much to each other and while it is hard for them to see eye to eye they have that bond of loyalty that was hard won and grew with time. Sanzang is just a mortal man that can be killed with a single blow in charge of three demons and a dragon on their parol. While each one of his disciple (one that more likely than not ate his past lives) have unthinkable magic and power that no mortal can dream of fighting against.

And he is supposed to lead them to enlightenment?

It is so funny it could be sad.

And they still did it.

It was literally them against the world.

And I hate how people are comparing the fillet to a shock collar as well considering its lore with Buddhism. Like it has so much more meaning both culturally and literally but people always want to overlook its real meaning as 'it's a torture device' like... no... it's really not.

No, I agree that pain is not a good answer nor that I condone that behavior but people got to remember that this was written 500~ years ago when training the body was having a similar mindset to training the mind. That doesn't make it right but it was also to show that Sanzang was never meant to be an abusive teacher and that yes while he is wrong on multiple accounts that weren't meant for him to be seen as a bad person, jut a misguided one.

The fillet does have more history to it as well even seen in other Buddhas as a symbol of self-discipline. It was to be a sign of restraint when it comes to bettering oneself and Wukong need to accept that the world doesn't and shouldn't revolve around him. I understand it’s not as common to see in America and but it's far more than just a symbol of pain, it holds a lot more meaning when it comes to personal growth and being able to recognize flaws within yourself to better them.

That's why in the end only Wukong can be the one to take off the fillet. There is no Fillet-Loosening Spell. There never was one. The Fillet is a part of Wukong and only when he has that full control over himself, that he masted his impulsiveness and attained true enlightenment and immorality did the fillet disappear because it wasn't needed anymore. Wukong at first has to overcome his own ego and arrogance to accept that he has a problem in order to overcome that.

I thank that’s why GuanYin also gave Wukong a fillet because she knew Wukong could overcome his anger and take it off she believed in him that much.

It reminds me of that Wizard of Oz with the red shoes scene where the good witch was like "You could have gone home the entire time" and the same way Wukong could have taken the band off at any time if he learned to control himself and his impulsive. The band wasn't there to teach him to learn through pain, but rather that he can go on the journey and go through that personal growth of facing his inner demons and being able to mature as a person.

At least that's how I always saw it.

#jttw #journey to the west #xiyouji #anon #anon ask #anonymous #tang sanzang #sun wukong #ask

[justasmallbloginabigklainefandom]

A tentative Zelda games ranking, by me

1 + 2. Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom

Honestly, they share the first position, but for the list's sake, let's put them on both slots. I think these games are best played together, after all, unlike other games that are follow-ups on previous games. I think these games are wonderful and showstopping and amazing. I like the stories of both games (although I do prefer BOTW's), I like the relation between this Link and Zelda, I love the exploration and the setting, I love the characters. Mostly, I love the freedom it gives.

3. Majora's Mask 3D

And that's probably why this one is right underneath it. Here's the thing: I don't like the linearity and dungeons of classic Zelda (yes, you can boo!) and that's probably why I would never see this franchise as one of the best. From all the classic Zeldas I've played, MM feels the most free, because the time loop allows you to do things differently every time. And that's also part of the tragedy: if you do one thing, you cannot do the other. Realising that some of these events exclude another, is one of the best and worst moments. Termina is also a wonderful setting, I like the story and characters, and the moon is terrifying.

4. A Link to the Past

To be honest, this one and Link's Awakening can swap places. I enjoyed them for the same reasons. Yet, the reason ALttP is so high up is because it surprised me. I didn't think I'd enjoy it this much, and that it was this big. It's simple, otherwise, but I genuinely didn't expect much of it, because people don't talk as often about this game compared to others.

5. Link's Awakening DX

Here we go back to the exploration part. I loved exploring Koholint island so damn much. I already knew of the plot twist before playing, but it still hit like a brick. So yeah, the setting, story and characters really make this game great.

6. Orcarina of Time 3D

Yes, you can boo. So, as I mentioned, ALttP surprised me. OoT didn't. This game was great, but I also knew it was going to be great, does that make sense? As a result, I wasn't super blown away by it. I love the setting, the story and the characters, but I also knew I was going to. This is ultimately why it's ranked lower than others.

7. Skyward Sword HD

This one and TP also tend to switch, but more on that in the TP section. SS is my first linear Zelda. I didn't buy it on release because I loved BOTW and I knew that everything I loved about Zelda was introduced in BOTW. But FOMO is strong, I guess. And here's the good: I love the setting, I love the story, I love the characters, especially the relationship between Link and Zelda. These are probably my favourite Link and Zelda of the franchise. But the actual game was, uh... Well, as I said, I realised I am not fond of dungeons and linearity. It also doesn't help that this game had a LOT of backtracking, so after a while, you'd seen it. Skyloft was cool, but apart from that, there's barely any reason to go to the sky. What's in the sky? The sky. I did like the motion controls! Yes, I am a motion control defender (you can boo again). Keep this in mind. I loved swinging around with my sword.

8. Twilight Princess

Okay, so, uh, Twilight Princess is better than SS in almost every way when it comes to the setting and the dungeons and what not. This is because the Hyrule in TP is so much bigger and there's more to explore, and as I said, that's my favourite part of any Zelda game. Like, I think this is my second favourite iteration of Hyrule. The dungeons were also way cooler and there were cooler items. The character were on par with SS (except for Link and Zelda, although I still liked TP!Link and Zelda). The only thing that SS definitely did better than TP is the story. I don't care too much for TP's story. It was just fine. So, why oh why is TP lower than SS? The controls of TP fucking sucked. I know I am a fan of motion controls, but my GOD, this game sucked because of its controls and as a result I didn't really like playing it that much. Apart from the sword and shield controls, everything else either sucked entirely or was just annoying. Okay, so maybe TP is a better game than SS in many ways, but does that matter? Cause if I don't like playing it, then the other stuff kinda gets thrown out, because what's the point of a cool setting if I don't like playing through it? (I should've just played the GameCube version)

9. Cadence of Hyrule

I mean... it was fun. I really liked it, and it had some great points like a playable Zelda, a randomly generated world which made exploring wonderful, Ganon randomly being here to play an organ, and a great usage of the franchise. More people should play it. BUT it was also very short and I only liked it because I turned off the rhythm based gameplay. Aka, can I really recommend a rhythm game if I didn't like the rhythm?

10. The Minish Cap

The reason this is last place is because I have nothing to say about it. It was fine. I had fun playing it, but I also don't really remember any of it. I had fun while it lasted, but it didn't leave a big impression, or so it seems.

#list #lb gaming #my gaming #lb 2024

[justasimplesinner]

yo, if ur requests r open and u feel up to it, could u please do masters of fear jonathan crane relationship headcanons? (if u need me to be more specific or if i did this wrong lmk!! thank u i love ur blog 💖)

ASJFBASK I ALWAYS FEEL UP TO MASTERS OF FEAR JON

AND THANK YOU FOR THE KIND WORDS!

and uhh, i might’ve went wild with this one, but my love for this man is immeasurable

Masters Of Fear!Jon relationship hcs:

good lord this man is so touch starved

like honest to god, just hold him. p l e a s e

he has big problems with overthinking and separation anxiety, he has a hard time accepting the good things that come naturally to others because he's been abused, add a terribly low self-esteem and fear of losing you, and there you have it - a big mess that is Jonathan Crane

a sucker for anything you give him - be it hugs, kissess, a touch on the shoulder - he will melt into a puddle at your feet, because for the longest time he only knew the bad kind of touch and associated it with pain. and then you came along and you were so gentle he almost cried when you first hugged him

pursuing a relationship with him is really exhausting and takes a lot of effort - he does not open up easily and every step of the way you'll have to quite literally lead him by the hand

give him no room to misinterpret - after the whole shebang with Sherry, he doesn't trust easily and whenever you touch him, compliment him or even say a moderatively kind word to him, he'll immediately think that it's all just another cruel joke and someone set you up for this

when you first tried to kiss him, even though his heart pounded and his head swirled, even though for a second he felt like the happiest, luckiest man on the planet, he couldn't help but doubt - the memories resurfaced quickly, and in the last moment, he flinched back, almost jumped away from you. there was nothing, not a single thing that might've indicated this was some sort of sick prank you were pulling on him, but he couldn't help it

his emotions were raging then, in a matter of seconds he went from terrified to sad to absolutely furious as he started accusing you of all the things you didn't do and in order to shut that bullshit up you had to pull him back down and actually kiss him - it didn't take long for the realization to hit him and he literally melted into you

he's painfully shy at first, always blushing at the slightest touch, whining in the back of his throat whenever you kiss him and as much as he enjoys it all, he's scared shitless when it comes to initiating anything because what if it's not the right time, what if you don't want him to touch you, what it he ruins everything-

it's up to you to show him that it's okay, that he could never bother you, that you'd never laugh at him

the first time he hesitantly slid his shaking hand down to yours and intertwined your fingers, you almost burst into tears because wow, fucking finally Jon

every time he initiates anything, make sure to express your acceptance of it - it'll encourage him to do more, and in no time you'll see him shyly leaning down to steal a kiss or two

every touch, every kiss, every hug from him is filled with a desperate kind of possesiveness, like he was expecting something to tear you two apart any second

whenever you both cuddle, it's just a mess of limbs. he'll wrap himself around you like a snake, every part of him has to be touching you in some way, no matter how difficult it might be. he'll curl into a ball around you if he has to

oh, and he also clings. hard. sometimes he uncounsciously digs his fingers into you in his sleep to remind himself that you're there, that he isn't just hugging a pillow and dreaming about you again

but just so you know, he's not a baby - if someone ever tried to hurt you he will literally murder them or at least bring them to the brink of madness with his toxins (i mean cmon, that motherfucker went and killed his old crush and completely ruined the life of his bully)

most of the time, he's protective in the desperate way, but whenever someone dares to flirt with you or ever make fun of him in your presence, he can be protective in the dangerous way - he's the Master of Fear and he knows where to strike for it to hurt the most

BUT if you ever defended him in a situation like this, if you ever turned down the person that tried to make any moves on you, he's melting all over again, he's got that stupid smile on his face, and he'll come up to you and slip his arm around you and dear lord how did he get this lucky

also, i feel like this is one of the few Scarecrow iterations that will hold you in higher regards than his own research - it's the thing he's most proud of, it's the thing he boasts about, it's the greatest thing he could've ever achieved, but if you asked, if you really asked, he'd stop. He'd hate it, but he'd stop. Because at the end of the day, the only thing he wants to be is enough. Enough for you not to leave him alone

#jonathan crane #scarecrow #the scarecrow #masters of fear #anonymous #my writing #fluff #headcannons #goD FUCK SHIT I LOVE HIM #LITERALLY CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF HIM #hope it's to your liking!

[ashintheairlikesnow]

Ash/Athena AU: Unwrapping

In the Honor Bound / Daniel Michaelson’s AU with @whump-tr0pes , Danny sees Isaac for the first time since Corrine took him... and realizes what his mother did

CW: Threats of torture/noncon, nonconsensual touching (not sexual), referenced past torture and noncon. Dehumanization and pet whump.

“If you hurt him, I swear to God, Mom-”

“He’s fine.” Corrine waved one hand dismissively as she met a furious Danny in the driveway. She was already dressed for the party in a short black cocktail dress and a triple-strand of pearls resting lightly against her dark skin, black heels that she walked in with perfect grace. She looked every inch the pure power of the Michaelson group she was. “Oh, you look lovely, Daniel. You and your plaything will complement each other so well.”

Danny shifted, uncomfortable in his Syndicate suit. This one was new, and tailored to adapt to the weight he'd never regained after he came back, but part of him always felt the collar when he had to wear his suits now. Abraham and Ashley had made him wear the one he was abducted in to the parties, so that he’d look more like what he was, until someone paid extra to cut it off him while he was tied to the floor in front of all the guests cheering and screaming and he was bleeding and-

Stop. Focus on Isaac. You have to see Isaac, have to make sure he’s okay. He has to be okay.

“Mom hasn’t done anything more than get your new friend ready for the party,” Patrick said, standing beside Corrine in his own tux, salt-and-pepper hair cut close to his scalp. He leaned in to kiss Danny’s cheeks, one by one, and Danny met the kisses absently, his eyes still on his mother. “I promise.”

Patrick’s voice was low and melodic, with the same charming singsong quality that Ryan had. He and Ryan were the spitting image of each other, from the strong jaw to the sparkling amber eyes to the black curls - although Patrick’s had plenty of gray in this particular iteration of his appearance, and more than a few distinguished wrinkles besides.

“He’s got to be terrified,” Danny said, his stomach twisted in awful knots. He hadn’t been able to eat since he’d thrown up all over the floor, feeling the collar around his neck all over again after watching his mother order Isaac dragged away. 

Nate had fed him broth; it was the only thing he could keep down. 

His nerves were strung so tightly, singing with constant panic that he damped down through sheer willpower. “You could have let him stay with Nate and I last night, he-... he was probably so scared you’d, you’d kill him or something, Mom-”

“Why ever would he think I would do that?” Corrine raised an eyebrow, and when Danny just stared at her, she laughed - a soft, warm sound. “Oh, because I put a gun to his head. Honestly, Daniel. He’s fine. Mrs. Verona fed him a lovely charcuterie with cheese and fruit for dinner, plus plenty of wine. He was reluctant at first, but…” Corrine shrugged carelessly. “He came around, eventually.”

"... Did you get Isaac drunk, Mom?" Danny asked, blinking rapidly, trying to keep himself from getting angry and upset, fighting back the bite in his words.

Abraham got him drunk all the time. He was so fucking miserable and in so much pain, it was easy to just open his mouth and let it burn down his throat, lap bourbon from bowls they put on the floor while they laughed and said you like that, puppy? and then said he had to earn it-

Stop. This isn't about you. This is about Isaac. Nate has a plan. You can do this, Nate has a plan. Just pretend you want this, like you said. Just pretend you want him as a plaything.

Act like Abraham used to. You can do this. You can be like them to get him out. You can do this.

"Oh, hardly. He needed to loosen up, anyway." Corrine held her hand out to Nate as he walked up, wearing his own deep green suit, and he kissed the Michaelson family crest on the heavy ring she wore. "Any news, Nate?"

Nate nodded, straightening up and smoothing his suit jacket with his good hand. "Yes, ma'am. I m-m-may need to skip out early if m-my lead pans out. We have some r-reports - nothing c-c-conc-... Conc-... nothing that's a sure th-thing, but…"

"Of course. Go as you need to. I want them back." Corrine smiled, licking at her thumb and reaching up to wipe at Danny's cheek. 

"I'm twenty-seven, Mom, quit it," Danny said, batting her hand away, stepping back uncomfortably.

"You're twenty-eight, as of today, sweet boy. Happy birthday, Daniel." She smiled warmly, affectionately, and Danny managed a small smile in response despite the nerves still tap-dancing all over his skin. "Would you like to see your new boy? Ryan has been overseeing his final prep for tonight."

The sun was starting to set, lighting everything the peculiarly beautiful golden tinge that made the house seem faintly laced with magic. Danny used to feel comfortable here, at home.

He wondered if Isaac had thought the house was beautiful… or just hellish. Maybe they'd be alone long enough for him to tell Isaac about Nate's plan, to ask…

"Yes, Mom. I want to see him. I've…" Danny hesitated, trying to think of how Abraham would say it if he were here. He forced his voice to sound stronger, more certain, even as he felt ghostly cold fingers card through his hair, and had to hide his shiver. "I had him for five days. I didn't like having to go without. The whole point of having one to keep is that you don't, right?"

Corrine smiled at him - it was such a loving, proud smile, and it hurt Danny to see it. He had fought his whole life for their approval and pride, and had only received it after he had been held in captivity for four years. He had only seen this kind of pride now, now that his mother assumed he was done hiding from what he was and had begun to embrace it.

The thought of what she expected him to be - the very thing that he had been beaten for being, the reason people paid Abraham and Ashley money for time alone with him, for chances to hurt him - made him sick.

But it was what he was, what he’d been born - or adopted - into. Power, and control over their territory. People who did what he said, when he said it. The assumption that he would dehumanize and break down anyone he wanted if he wanted to keep them.

They wanted him to be Syndicate - but Danny’s mind had been broken and shredded alongside his body for the crime of his Syndicate name. He didn’t want to be what they accused him of being. 

He didn’t want to be what he was.

He would have given anything, in the moment he looked into his mother’s loving eyes, to have been in the car with Isaac’s team driving far away from here.

He could live with getting Isaac into the car with Isaac’s team. He had to play his part, and keep it up for a while… Nate had a plan but he had to buy Nate some time.

“Then I won’t keep him waiting on you,” Corrine said gently, reaching up to pat the side of his face. Danny stilled under the unwanted touch, but Corrine had never understood or accepted that he did not like to be touched, since he came back.

Not by anyone but Nate, or… or Isaac.

Danny swallowed.

That didn’t matter. That was ruined, too, now - like the rest of his life had been ruined and wrecked. There was no version of what he was that could not be used to break some new hope he’d had to fight so hard to feel.

Nate fell in beside him as they walked towards the house, his right hand sliding warm against Danny’s back through his suit. “It’s going to b-be okay,” Nate whispered into his ear, pressing a soft, reassuring kiss to his hair. Danny closed his eyes and nodded, fighting the heat that built there, the hint of tears.

He fought the urge to whine, to collapse, to whimper it won’t be okay, nothing will ever be okay again. He was a grown man, and he wouldn’t be weak, not today. Not when Nate needed him to play his part.

Not when Isaac needed to get out of here.

Corrine had Isaac waiting for him in a side room off from the main living area, where the party would be. There were already servants everywhere Danny looked setting up the hors d'oeuvres table, laying out the first platters of food just so, setting up the wine fountain in the corner along with the other loose bottles the guests could choose from. Danny felt trapped in a kind of terrible deja vu - this was his childhood, parties like this.

It had once felt natural.

Now, he kept searching for hooks in the floor that he would be tied down to.

Mrs. Verona popped her head out of the kitchen to wave hello to him and he bent himself nearly in half to reach her tiny height for the kiss to each cheek. His smile was more natural, for her, and the tiny ageless woman’s face was a starburst of cheerful wrinkles as she pinched his cheek, just lightly. “Your young man,” She said softly, “Could use a bit of reassurance, I think.”

“Couldn’t we all,” Danny whispered back, and she winked at him.

“Reassurance and fresh air. But he’ll have plenty of air later on, won’t he?”

Danny straightened, turning to look at Nate, who gave him a perfectly innocent, beatific smile in return. Mrs. Verona is part of the plan? Nate only shrugged and kept him moving through the room, Corrine ahead of them and none the wiser. Patrick veered off to speak with some of the guards, giving them their positions along the walls.

“So many guards,” Danny whispered.

“They’re w-w-worried Isaac will r-r-run, or his t-team will try to come b-back for him,” Nate murmured, keeping a hand on his back. Danny forced a false smile, pretending he was just enjoying the gentle affection, that they were just murmuring the sorts of things to each other they might normally say, on a night like this.

“Will they? Do they… do they know the plan?”

“Some. I t-t-told them where to w-wait, and when I’ll g-get him back to th-them. We have to hope they t-t-trust me. If they c-come on their own…” Nate frowned, picking up a little shrimp puff off the food table as they passed, ignoring the glare from one of the servants in return as he popped it into his mouth. “They’ll be slaughtered, and w-we can’t stop that.”

“They can’t be killed, or hurt,” Danny said, insistently. “We have to get them out. They trusted us, they were so nice to us, Isaac-” His voice broke, his whisper cracking apart, and he swallowed back the guilt that might eat him alive. “Isaac trusted me.”

“I know. I’m s-s-sorry it happened this w-way. But maybe w-we can make it up to him,” Nate said gently, reaching up to push back a bit of wavy red hair. It made Danny think of Isaac, tucking a little bit of hair behind his ear before the first time they kissed-

His knees buckled, just a little, and Nate effortlessly caught him around the waist.

Corrine glanced back over her shoulder, and saw only Nate nuzzling into Danny’s neck, whispering into his ear - a soft, shy smile on Danny’s face. She smiled to see them together, with a warm maternal affection.

Her eyes flashed a brilliant purple before she turned back to walk into the other room. “He’s in here with Ryan, darling,” Corrine called, and Danny took a deep breath, lifted his chin, and walked into the formal dining room to see Isaac.

Danny came to a stop in the doorway, staring at his first view of Isaac since yesterday, as his heart… snapped. It was the only word for the sensation he felt, pulled tense until he broke at the sight of a man who had trusted him with himself and his scars and who had been betrayed in return.

Isaac looked gorgeous.

And terrified.

He was standing with a guard on either side of him, his hair neatly combed and shining clean, hands folded in front of himself, eyes on the floor, his chin bent nearly to his collarbone. He wore a perfectly tailored suit that was so close to Danny’s, and Danny had sort of wondered what Isaac might look like all dressed up (or more accurately, how it would feel to see him dressed up and peel that clothing off him piece by piece), and now he knew.

Ryan was standing against the wall, arms folded, with a face like a stormcloud. “Say hello,” Ryan said, his voice oddly harsh and grating, and Danny’s head jerked to the side only to see Ryan’s eyes glowing a light yellow in the dim dining room light. Ryan wasn’t enjoying this - he was angry about it. “Danny, fair warning, you’re not going to like-”

There was a sharp intake of breath from Nate standing next to him, and Danny turned to look at Isaac again. He’d looked up, to meet Danny’s eyes with him, and his mouth - God, that mouth - was stretched in a tremulous, frightened smile.

There was a thick band of black around his neck, and when Danny’s mind allowed him to understand what he saw, he felt the collar wrap around his own neck, too, the constriction that dug into his skin and rubbed it raw and bloody over and over until the scars made the skin too rough to break so easily again.

Then he saw the reddened fresh brand - the M with its intertwining vines - on the side of Isaac’s neck.

“Oh,” Danny said softly. Fury came instantly, a fire he couldn’t even vocalize around, burning him too deeply to speak the words. He barely managed a whisper. “Mom… y-you, you put… you said you, you wouldn’t-”

“I know, darling, and I’m sorry,” Corrine said, with a tone that suggested she absolutely wasn’t. “And it won’t be for long. But we had to ensure he would be on his best behavior for your birthday party, and I knew you wouldn’t want to lead him. Isaac has promised to be very good for us tonight, hasn’t he?”

She shot a look at Isaac, and Danny watched him look at her with open fear before looking back to Danny and quickly nodding. “Y-Yes, I, I can… I won’t, won’t try anything.” Isaac’s voice shook so hard his words were barely speech at all, and Danny wanted nothing more than to walk across the room and rip the fucking collar off his neck.

He settled for being able to do one of those things.

He stepped forward, feeling like he was floating on numb legs, and moved up to Isaac - who cringed away and then caught himself when Corrine’s eyes cut at him again. Danny reached up to put a hand to either side of his face, and looked into Isaac’s frightened eyes. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered, just for him.

“Y-you didn’t have to do this to me,” Isaac all but whimpered, and Danny’s heart ached, a nearly physical pain he could feel slowly radiating out, right to the palms and the fingertips that touched a man he would never, ever have wanted to hurt. “You didn’t have to-”

“Stop mewling,” Corrine snapped, and Isaac’s mouth shut all at once with a click.

“Wh-why did you brand him?” Danny asked, and bit back the wail to turn his words into something closer to anger than the grief he felt welling up inside. With a brand, Isaac wouldn’t be safe. Everywhere he went, even if they got him out of here, everyone would know he was a Michaelson plaything. 

Everywhere he went, they’d think he could be tortured for Michaelson intel or sold back to them for a reward. Even with Nate's plan, it was a matter of time before Isaac was sold back to them, back into Danny's bed at best or Corrine's tortures at worst. He couldn't hide it, or forget it.

Corrine had trapped him in the lie Danny had told to save his life.

He glanced sidelong at Nate, who was looking at it, too, with that empty stillness he was so skilled at. He met Danny's gaze and gave him a small smile. "Just as l-l-lovely as y, yesterday,"

The plan is still going. Don't falter. Stay strong. Danny knows how to read the words Nate doesn't say.

Danny shook his head, trying to say with his eyes what he couldn’t say in front of his mother, not and have any hope to keep up the charade, to get Nate the time he needed to get his plan in motion. He couldn’t say it if he wanted any chance of getting Isaac out of here. “You’re beautiful,” He said instead, and his voice stayed even, and strong.

Oh, puppy, you look beautiful tonight. Let’s take a ‘Before’ photo, the guys coming over really don’t like your fucking family. Bet you give me one hell of an ‘After’ later on, huh? Smile for the camera, Red.

“You’re beautiful,” Danny repeated, and Isaac closed his eyes, lowering his chin again, shivering under Danny’s touch.

“Thank you,” Isaac whispered.

He hates me, Danny thought, and felt guilt crash into him like a wave. He’ll hate me now, forever. I just wanted… “Take the collar off,” Danny said in a low voice, without looking away from Isaac’s face. “Take it off. He’s already branded, you don’t need to collar him, too!”

“Not an option,” Corrine said lightly. “He will stay in line better with it on.”

“Mom, I said take it off, he doesn’t need a collar to control him!” Danny let go of Isaac and turned to face down his mother, but even glaring down at her and towering over her much smaller frame, he knew he wouldn’t win this one just from the way her jaw set, ever so slightly, and her eyes lit up.

“I am the matriarch of this family, Daniel Michaelson,” Corrine said firmly, a warning edging her voice. "You are my son and you will show me the respect I am due.”

“Mom.” Danny fought to calm himself. “I… I like the suit, you, you did a good job, but I can’t… I can’t, not with him wearing that! Not with our mark on him!”

“I told you not to do it, Mom,” Ryan growled from the wall. He was glaring at the guards on either side of Isaac, and they shifted uncomfortably under his glowing yellow gaze. “You know he hates this shit. You know it. Branding people is all your generation, we don’t fucking brand people anymore!”

“Don’t act like you’re any better.” Danny glared at his younger brother, usually wide blue eyes narrowed to furious slits. “You wanted to do the same fucking thing to him!”

“No, I didn’t!” Ryan snapped back. “I wanted to make you happy and having him stay is one thing, but I wouldn’t have stuck my fucking ring on his neck! I’m a Michaelson just like you, but I’m not a Michaelson like that and this fucking dog-and-pony-show pisses me off just as much!”

“Don’t say ‘dog’,” Danny whispered, feeling blood drain from his face.

Some of the anger left Ryan, and his eyes went back to their usual honeyed yellow. “I’m sorry,” Ryan said, sincerely, putting both hands up in the air. “I’m sorry, Dan. I didn’t-... I didn’t think.” He swallowed, hard. “You, you know that I wouldn’t…”

“No, I know, I just-... shit, fucking hell, Mom, you can’t do this to him!” Danny spun back to his mother, who watched him evenly, with one eyebrow raised.

“Do you want him like you said to me yesterday, or not?” Corrine asked, her voice very low. “Darling, did you lie to me, yesterday? I would be very disappointed with you and upset if you lied to me.”

“I… I didn’t. I didn’t, Mom, I definitely want him,” Danny said, swallowing hard, trying consciously to calm himself even as his hands began to shake. Be Abraham, be Abraham, be Abraham. “He’s fucking gorgeous, and nobody else should get to enjoy the, um, the-the sounds he makes but me.”

“Oh, fuck,” Isaac said, his face somewhere between ash-pale and greenish around the edges. “Oh, fuck no-”

“What did I tell you about language, Isaac?” Corrine said coldly, and Isaac flinched, jerking his eyes back to the floor.

“S-sorry,” Isaac whispered. “I’ll be good.”

Danny’s eyes widened. “What… what did you tell him about language? Is he… did you-... punish him?!”

“Not really. He has agreed to abide by the rules for tonight’s engagement. If he behaves for you, darling, he won’t have to wear it again. The decision is made and my decisions are final.” Corrine clapped her hands together. “If he is not acceptable exactly as he is, perhaps we will simply declare this whole thing a loss and move him to my basement-”

“No!” Danny and Isaac shouted at the same time - one with rage and one with terror.

“God damn it, Mom!” Ryan joined in. The impassive expressions on the faces of Isaac’s guards never changed, and the soft bustle of servants never ceased. This wasn’t the first Michaelson fight any of them had witnessed, and it would almost certainly not be the last. “Don’t fucking threaten to torture Danny’s new man right in front of him!”

“Right in front of Daniel, or the plaything?” Corrine asked, with a hint of a smile that suggested she thought the question very funny.

Ryan rolled his eyes and pushed himself away from the wall. “I’ve read Danny, Mom. He wants Isaac. That’s the honest truth. Come on, give them a minute before the guests arrive.” There was a pause, and then Ryan said, “Nate, you’re with me for now.”

Nate frowned, eyes narrowing. “M-Michaelson, I’ve said it b-b-before, I don’t w-work for you-”

“For right now, you do. I need to talk to you about this tip you’ve got on the runaways.” Ryan and Nate met eyes for a second, and Danny could feel the tension in the room rising, the way the two men always sparked against each other unpleasantly whenever they interacted directly. “I want to know what information you have on them, Vandrum.”

“Not your b-b-business, Michaelson.”

More silence, and Ryan said in a tone of deadly certainty, “I am making it my business, Nathaniel. So get your ass with me or nothing goes the way you want it to go tonight.”

“Wh-what the fuck does that mean?”

Ryan smirked. “I think you know what it means.” They stared at each other for a few more long, drawn-out, tense moments.

“Go on, Nate,” Corrine waved one hand dismissively, already moving back towards the doorway. “Go with Ryan. Daniel will speak with his plaything privately. Guests will be arriving soon and they really should get a bit of time together.” She smiled over her shoulder at Danny. “I know you’re angry at me for this, darling, but please… it’s your birthday. Be good to the guests. This gorgeous boy is your gift.”

“I could never ask for an… anything better,” Danny replied, mostly honestly, watching Nate's back longingly as he left walking behind Ryan with his annoyance and anger all but radiating off of him. Danny's voice was thin but he covered it, he thought, as well as he could. Fury still boiled under the surface, the temper he’d once had that Abraham and Ashley had broken and beaten and bashed out of him day by day. “Thank you… thank you, Mom. He’s a wonderful birthday present.”

“You’re very welcome, dear.” Corrine smiled. “Oh, and plaything…” Isaac slowly raised his eyes, not quite meeting hers, cringing slightly back against the dining room table. “That’s good. Learning to keep your eyes down when speaking to your betters. I want you to look right at this.” She held up a small rectangular disk with a few buttons and a dial on it, waggling it back and forth in her hands. “You will behave.”

“I will,” Isaac whispered, staring at the thing in Corrine’s hands with pure fear written across his face. “I will. I’ll behave.”

“Good. Bring your new toy out in about… oh, ten minutes or so, Daniel. The first guests should arrive right about then, and I’ll want you and the plaything in the receiving line to greet them. Everyone should get a good long look at my baby boy coming back to himself, finally, after all that’s happened. We’re a strong family, Daniel. I need you to be my strong son tonight.”

“Of course, Mom,” Danny said, nodding quickly, shifting himself minutely so he was blocking Isaac from Corrine’s direct gaze.

“Family first, Daniel,” Corrine said firmly. “Never forget that. We are Michaelsons first.”

“Michaelsons, first,” Danny agreed, readily enough. He met his mother’s cool, appraising eyes, and kept his face calm even as the muzzle scars ached, phantom pains and fire that wrapped around his face and made it hard for him to force his jaw open enough to speak.

There is no life before-

“Perfect. I’m sorry about the collar, darling, but it really is necessary. Just for tonight. You can take it off him before you take him home.” Corrine gave him her warmest, most loving smile, and he managed one, although thin and small, in return.

He held it until she was gone.

With the two guards still standing at Isaac’s elbows, Danny didn’t dare drop the act, or tell Isaac about the plan. That there was one, that he wouldn’t have to live this way, that Danny and Nate were going to get him out of here tonight.

He couldn’t tell him anything.

All he could do was step up, and take Isaac’s hands in his - the other man’s fingers felt freezing cold. Danny’s fingers were rough and numbed from his years with the mercenaries, but he held Isaac’s hands slowly up, rubbing gently at them, trying to warm them. “I’m so sorry,” He whispered, lips grazing Isaac’s knuckles.

Isaac jerked, like he would try and pull away, but stopped himself, staring at Danny with wide, frightened eyes. The thick black ring around his neck made Danny feel dizzily sick, and he tried not to see it, not to look. “Please don’t do this,” Isaac said back, weakly.

“I know, I know. It’s… it’s not all night,” Danny said, pulling Isaac to him. He couldn’t tell him. He couldn’t say a fucking thing to actually make him feel better. Not even a real hint. All he could do was put his arms around the other man, feel Isaac stiff and tense and frightened but apparently threatened too well by Danny’s mother to pull away. “It’s not, um, not for the whole night, Isaac. I promise. It’s… just a little while.”

Just a little while before I can save you.

Just a little while before we get you out of here.

Nate has a plan.

I wish I could tell you.

Isaac’s head dropped slowly onto Danny’s shoulder, half-collapsed against him. He’d dropped his head like this after the third time, Danny thought, swallowing against a rush of guilt and worry. Dropped his head on Danny's shoulder but from behind him, laughing, whispering nonsense in Danny's ear until it tickled and he laughed and tried to wriggle away-

Stop thinking about it, she ruined it, you'll never have anyone like him ever again. No one but Nate, not ever, no one she'll see or know about. Don't even look at anyone else ever again.

He couldn’t come back from what his mother had done, what Isaac had heard him say, just to save him.

“Please let me go,” Isaac said into the skin of Danny’s neck, and there was a sense of dampness - tears against his Syndicate suit. “Please, please just let me go-”

I’m going to.

“I can’t,” Danny murmured into Isaac’s hair, pressing a kiss there. Isaac was shaking, and Danny rubbed at his back with one hand, staring at the wall on the other side of the room, trying to think. There was nothing he could do to warn Isaac that the guards wouldn’t pick up on. There was nothing to do but let Isaac think this was real right up until Nate gave him the signal. “By tomorrow, it’ll be better,” Danny said softly, kissing into his hair again. The guards were staring - Danny could feel their eyes, and he slid his hand up to tip Isaac’s jaw, tilting his head back up, to look right into his eyes and press a soft kiss to trembling lips. “By tomorrow, you won’t have to wear that collar again.”

“I don’t want this, Danny. I don’t… I don’t want this. I don’t want to be this.”

“Ssssshhhh, I know, I know.” Danny kissed at the damp tear tracks on his cheeks, at his forehead. He tilted his head to look at the brand on Isaac’s neck, watched the other man clench his eyes shut under the scrutiny. “I’m sorry she… hurt your neck, and put that on you. I would, would never have wanted-”

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you just… ask?” Isaac asked, pulling back just to look into Danny’s eyes. “How can you do this to me, after… after what happened to you? Why didn’t you just ask me to stay?”

It was Danny’s turn to drop his eyes and look away. If he looked into Isaac’s eyes a single second longer, he wouldn’t be able to keep up the act, he’d just tell him and the guards would hear and it would… all be over. Corrine would drag Isaac into the basement, torture him for information, Danny couldn’t keep him safe from that…

“Didn’t know it was, um, an option,” He muttered, and pulled back. “Come on, Isaac. Let’s go get in the line for guests.” He pulled Isaac with him, the two guards right behind them, and he kept his hand resting lightly against Isaac’s back the way that Nate would have done for him. 

Isaac didn’t lean in or pull away - he walked with slow, purposeful footsteps, and kept his eyes miserably on the floor in front of him.

I’m going to save you, Danny tried to think as loudly as he could. Nate and I are going to get you out of here, and we’ll save you, and you’ll be free and safe and far away from me.

Out loud, all he could do was lean in and say, gently, “You won’t have to stay at the party for very long.” 

The way Isaac turned red and closed his eyes against tears told Danny that the words weren’t reassuring at all.

#whump #captivity #caretaker forced to be whumper #Daniel Michaelson's au #honor bound au #whump-tr0pes #shock collar #tw: shock collar #pet whump #dehumanization #broken whumpee #rescue plan #nonhuman whumper

[authenticaussie]

What do you think the difference would be in a TMNT/OP fic with different collections of turtles?

oooooooo okay so I should be getting ready for class tomorrow but you have 100% captured me I’m so invested in this

mainly I know 2003, 2012, and Rise - well, at least, they’re my favourites and have the most distinct characterisation tbh bc they’re long-running series - SO I’ll do those guys :DD

THIS GOT LONG (because of course it did, I’ve never made a short post in my LIFE) SO FIRST: 

the main difference in fic would be tone!!!!!!!! The turtles are all really affected by the shows they come from so there’d be big differences in how they react to the new situation. Combining OP and 2018, they’re both such loud and bright shows that writing them sad would be kinda….disatisfactory to a reader. 2012 is the one where you could get kinda dark, and go down the genetic experiment and “oh wow these kids need a therapist” and Luffy being >:T wtf why are your lives so Fucked Up route, and 2003 would be hilariously awkward because they’re technically all in the same age range but they act so different wheezes

Second!!! Fun character analysis and Shenanigans under the readmore. 

2003

Probably the most responsible on this list, they’re like??? tbh, barely teenagers?? Or at the very least, 18 or 19, and they can be air-heads but 2003 goes feet-first into the whole plot and character and Everything Happens. I mean, literally in season one there’s this whole subplot about how you define monsters and genetic testing and Wild shit like that so they feel Way more adult than the Strawhats get at times. Even though One Piece covers some dark topics it….the characters - the strawhats, in particular, is what I mean - don’t feel like adults the same way the 2003 turtles do. 2003 also doesn’t feel as dark as 2012 gets sometimes, but I feel 2012 is also because they seem really young, and in 2003 at least they get to process their trauma. 2012…..kinda beats them up a lot akhsdg pft.

Sticking them with the Strawhats would be !! Honestly really funny? I feel Mikey would get along with them really well - in every iteration he’s very good at going with the flow, and hey, pirates? and they’re nice? and cool powers? - he’d have the time of his life. Donnie would try and figure out What Was Going On (as the resident “please fix this in case it’s dangerous” guy, that’s probably what his role would Often be) but I can see him being easily distracted by Franky and the whole devil fruits thing. GOD him and Franky is a thought and a half omfg. The level of tech in One Piece is so different when compared to the modern world, and it operates on rules but like, rules that are just ever so slightly different. 

Raph would be in debt Immediately. Mainly bc Nami’s manipulative like that but also because he’s just………..Like That. He’d be rude and insulting and if the strawhats were helping them out he’d be the team’s voice of reason. Or, distrust, I suppose. The one who hangs back, who’s prickly, who’s the last to offer his trust because his family needs him to be uncompromised, just in case. I think he and Zoro would clash for a bit, not like, in words but just in gestures, until the crew + turtles had been through their adventures, and gotten to the end of Whatever fic was being written, and then they’d be friends. Not best buds but like, healthy respect for each other. 

Leo……….absolutely does Not understand why Luffy is leader. It’s like making Mikey the boss; it doesn’t make sense to him, because Luffy is too trusting and he’s strong but strength doesn’t make a good leader, and in 2003 Leo’s kind of a pushover so he’d stay on the sidelines and watch with Raph. But, as everyone knows, Luffy’s magnetism is Pretty Hard To Deny, and the crew’s respect for him does a lot to show to Leo that he may be missing something but that he doesn’t have to understand. 

2012

I always……..feel so bad for TMNT2012 //weeps They’re just kids and they get put through so much like wow I’m only at season two but from spoilers there’s like?? their dad keeps DYING and being bought back to life???/ THAT’S GOTTA FUCK YOU UP!!! Plus all of them have all these different insecurities and they’re kinda mean to each other (Raph….has only given a proper apology for being a dick once so far, and I’m like. mid-way through season two. I’m sorry if this makes me mikey kin @@zali but pLEASE I cannot stand this LET THEM BE NICE TO EACH OTHER ;A; Like they’re still obviously a family but gosh they’re– so prickly)

Honestly depending on how the Strawhats meet them, like holy shit :o they might be Enemies. In 2003 I feel like they’ve been through enough to try and de-escalate a situation first, but 2012 are so Paranoid that unless they had April with them they’d be like WELP this is another mind-control alternate dimension thing, time to ninja vanish. And sure, after they ended up on whatever quest they needed to go on, Luffy would be fascinated by them (2012 definitely pushes the limits of what you can Actually do, in terms of hiding and shit, but I think that makes it fun !!) but I feel the turtles would be pretty paranoid at first. Mikey & Donnie would be the first two to be dragged out of their shells (snickers) because Donnie would be super curious (and also…probably kinda aggravated and confused) about how the one piece world rules work, and Mikey because…friends!! They already have a reindeer mutant on the crew, they’re obviously cool with mutants :D

akhsdg okay I mention that 2003 would hang back and assess Luffy’s leadership still but like 2012 would be such a dick. He never seems to learn the lesson that people have different strengths and different ways of doing things >:T and watching Luffy lead would drive him crazy. I bet he’d try and make plans and be all structured and in control and Luffy would wreck things and/or the strawhats would be like “lol no lmao, you’re not the captain”. Even if he did have a good plan, like….the Strawhats rarely follow plans if Luffy says they’re doing something different snickers. I feel a major part of this could just a nice subplot line of Leo learning to Chill and also like………give the 2012 a fun adventure I’m begging you sobs. Do a Long Long Island filler arc or smth, where it’s dumb and silly and barely dangerous because they’re all competent af. 

Also: Mikey constantly trying to find a devil fruit because “dudes, it’s probably not gonna apply when we go back home and think about how SICK superpowers would be!!!!!!!!”

He does not get one, to his disappointment. 

2018

These guys are IDIOTS and would fit in with Luffy’s brand of chaos p e r f e c t l y 

Okay so yeeeeah I’m probably biased because I think Rise may be my favourite (the family dynamics!! the character designs!! the animation!!! the stupid jokes!!! the sudden flashes of deeper plot!!!!!!!!) BUT. No-one can argue with me that Rise turtles are chaotic as fuck and they’d have the time of their LIVES with Luffy’s crew. Raph would fall in love with Chopper (Chopper would be terrified of him, continuing the terribly sad trend of Raph being Bad With Animals), Donnie would go wild glitter-eyed over the devil fruits and technology and immediately try and do a million mad scientist experiments (and look. SMILES are fucked up. But this boii would totally try and make one/figure out how they worked). He’s….a mad genius and maybe a little bit evil. 

Leo would either drive Sanji crazy or be INSTANTLY adopted and taught how to be “cool”, but I can also see Sanji and Zoro lowkey fighting over him SNICKERS. Because Leo has a sword so he’s obviously Zoro’s, but he’s suave and likes fashion so he MUST be Sanji’s, and it’s not an argument persay, until Leo says he thinks both of them are cool and then it’s a battle to the death. 

(The end of leo’s sentence was “not as cool as me tho ;P” only they didn’t notice that bit.)

April would absolutely fall in love with Robin. And also Nami?? But I feel mainly Robin like Oh Man Robin is so cool and both of them are hypercompetent??? April’s like teach me how to be a badass assassin and Robin smiles and laughs and absolutely does. 

Mikey’s so loud that he almost terrifies Usopp, and terrifying Usopp is kinda a no-no in Luffy’s book, but he likes these guys and Mikey’s just excited to have an artist friend and so both of them bounce around the ship like ping pong balls. 

There is………yeah. A lot of paint covering the Sunny after they’re through. I can’t decide if Franky would cry or laugh but I know one (1) single drop of paint got on Nami’s tangerines and she Banished them. Rise turtles probably have a really good time and the crew figures out they’re basically children really quick and make sure nothing bad happens to them. Leo promises to try and get better at portal-making so they can come visit New York sometime, and everyone is like “what the fuck is new york??” at the same time as Donnie says HEY WAIT, I THINK WE’RE ON AN ALTERNATE DIMENSION and they get teleported home :DD

THANKS FOR LETTING ME SPILL ALL MY TURTLE FEELINGS EVERYWHERE

#tmnt #rottmnt #tmnt 2003 #tmnt 2012 #one piece #missjenca #ask aussie #bip bop nari drops #wow I love combining my special interest s aljshdg //BLUSHES #so anyway HERE'S MULTIPLE PARAGRAPHS OF POTENTIAL FIC THEMES lajkhsdf sweats pft #I'm..........so weak pft

[halfabreath]

electing strange perfections

part one. part of “after the raven has had his say,” or the bittyrans/jackholtz eventual OT4 au. read it on ao3.

Bitty has a complicated relationship with mornings. He likes beginnings, fresh starts, new opportunities. He's good at starting over - it's the ending that's harder. He knows how to finish some things: tweets, recipes, vlogs, days, pies. Most times, though, the middle gets muddled up and overly complicated until the thought of taking another step towards a conclusion is too overwhelming. When mornings fall in the middle of difficult projects it's difficult to find the energy to get the day started. Today is one of those days.

He can't really complain. The project he's entrenched in is his long awaited cookbook, the one his followers have been clamoring about since his bunny-shaped cinnamon roll video went viral. He has another three weeks before the chapter he's working on is done and he has just a few more recipe variations to test. Unfortunately, each iteration has been more time-consuming and difficult than the last and he's not looking forward to another week of development. Ransom, at least, has all his previous attempts collected in an expansive Excel sheet, complete with "Ease of Consumption," "Stress Generated During Baking," and "Enjoyment Fluctuation" categories.

Bitty never thought baklava would be the death of him, but that's what he gets for straying from his comfort zone. He's tempted to cut the recipe altogether but it's one of the top requests from his fans so he has to stay the course. He can't let them down, now then he owes all his success to their support. There's a weight on his chest just thinking about it - or maybe that's just Ransom, who's currently using Bitty's sternum as a pillow. 

Bitty sweeps his palm over Ransom's broad shoulders, hoping to wake him as gently as possible. They're a few years out from his school-induced panic attacks he'd had when they attended Brown, but his job as the social media coordinator at a PR firm isn't exactly relaxing. He'd fallen asleep in a little ball last night after brainstorming for a pitch meeting he has on Monday and the last thing Bitty wants is to shock him into awareness. 

Ransom stirs beneath his hand and groggily raises his head, blinking up at Bitty slowly. He lets out a bleary groan and drops his head down to Bitty's shoulder, curling around him a little tighter. He mumbles something that might be a morning greeting or a curse - Bitty honestly can't tell - but doesn't go back to sleep. It takes him a while to get his thoughts in order after a period of rest allows him to slip towards mental entropy. Bitty just unlocks his phone and scrolls through Twitter for a while, switching to Instagram when Ransom shifts beside him.

It takes seventeen cake frosting videos but eventually they manage to get up and trudge to the Providence Green Market.

They arrive late in the day but they still manage to find almost everything on their list. Bitty's halfway through a tweet about the peaches he'd snapped too many pictures of after buying them when Ransom stops suddenly.

"Oh fuck me." Ransom gasps. Bitty looks up from his phone in alarm, tweet forgotten, as he follows Ransom's wide-eyed gaze. He's staring down the aisle, directly at the stand from Holtzmann Creamery. It's staffed by two people - The Holtzmenn, as Bitty calls them - both of whom terrify Ransom. Bitty grins.

"I'm going to talk to them," he announces, and manages to take a half step before Ransom wraps an arm around his waist and hoists him back.

"Bitty, no!" Ransom's lifting him off the ground now, holding Bitty as easily as the literal sack of potatoes he has tucked underneath his other arm. "Bro, please, I'll die if you talk to them, I seriously will. That's Jack Zimmermann and Adam Birkholtz. Literal junior hockey legends!"

Bitty wiggles in Ransom's grip and manages to slide down until his feet are back on the pavement. "They didn't actually play in the NHL, sweetheart," he says, patting Ransom's arm soothingly. "I'd understand your reaction if Beyonce was over there selling beets, but they're just two guys who almost played hockey." He manages to turn in Ransom's grip, passing his tote bag of produce from one shoulder to the other.

"So? Birkholtz was the best defenseman in the draft before his concussions and Jack's a prodigy! It's in his blood." Ransom's worrying his bottom lip, finally tearing his gaze away to stare down a the pavement.

"I know, sugar, you've told me. But they're selling cheese now and I really want to try it so you have to let me go over and buy some." Bitty reasons. Ransom doesn't let go, though. Sighing, Bitty places his palm on Ransom's side, sweeping over his rips in a slow, soothing motion. The Holtzmenn (Bitty's not sure which one is which yet), unaware of Ransom's crisis, continue with their work. The blonde one hands out samples to the customers gathered around the booth, reserving the last one for his companion, a slightly shorter man with dark hair and floppy bangs. He takes it with a small smile and the taller man hip-checks him gently before turning his attention back to the customers.

It's cute, but it's nothing compared to how the dark haired man looks at his partner when he's not paying attention. He gazes up at him fondly, watching as he charms the customers with a toothy grin and wild gesticulations.

"When did they start dating?" Bitty asks, finally looking back up at Ransom. His boyfriend's grip loosens just enough for him to twist away, but he doesn't go far.

Ransom's lips are turned down in a confused pout; he's adorable when he's confused. "Dating? What?" He asks incredulously. "They're not dating, Bits. God, you're so gay sometimes."

"Justin, we've been dating for three years." Bitty shoots back, hands flying to his hips. Ransom just laughs and reels him in by the strap of his tote bag. He presses a kiss to Bitty's forehead, then turns him so they can both see the booth.

"I'm telling you, they're not dating. Look at them!" Bitty crosses his arms, about to point out how fondly the dark haired one looks at his companion, but now his eyes are narrowed. His handsome face is pulled in a tight frown. The taller one is in the middle of a particularly dramatic eye-roll, and when he finally looks back at the brunette he's wearing a flat, annoyed expression. It's a shocking change, especially given that the time between looks was all of one minute. "They played for rival teams," Ransom explains. "I went to one of their games and they almost came to blows, even though it's super discouraged in Juniors. Seriously, I thought they were going to kill each other."

The customers in front of the Holtzmann booth have wandered away, and Bitty knows now is his chance. "They obviously got over it since they own a business together." Bitty counters. Ransom flounders, making that same cute, confused expression. "You need to get over it, too, because I'm going over there right now." He announces, bolting away before Ransom can stop him. When he turns around his boyfriend is nervously watching him but he's heading over to the antiques booth, no doubt to pretend to read an old book. 

When Bitty reaches the booth the dark haired man is bent over a cooler in the back. Bitty doesn't mean to stare but how is an ass like that even possible? He quickly drops his gaze to the table, quickly reading every cheese name and descriptive card while the heat on his cheeks dissipates. All of the cheese titles are puns or pop culture references but the descriptions are actually informative, listing the details and flavor profiles in a neat, blocky print.

"Any questions?" A deep voice asks. When Bitty looks up the tall blonde man is smiling down at him, big hands settled on his hips. His t-shirt stretches over his broad chest, and seriously, is there some kind of physical attractiveness prerequisite for working at this farm? None of the farmers in Georgia look like this.

"Uh," Bitty squeaks, unprepared for the interaction. Ransom's nerves must have transferred to him somehow. "What kind of milk is in this one?" He asks, pointing to the cheese in front of him. The man's smile broadens and he launches into a description of his cows. After two samples and several anecdotes about a cow named Liz Lemon, Bitty's buying the last of it, already forming a list of recipes he can build around it in his mind. 

The blonde man hums softly as he transfers the cheese to the cutting board. His hands move deftly as he positions it carefully and slices it with a thin wire; it's difficult to imagine him decked out in hockey gear, slamming someone into the boards. Just after he removes the wire the dark haired man appears beside him, entering his space easily. The blonde immediately leans into him, even as he continues with his work. The brunet murmurs something and then hurries away, long legs carrying him to the aisle before the taller man can respond.

"You can't just leave me here!" He calls out, but the other man doesn't turn back. "You see what I have to put up with?" The tall man asks, annoyed expression shifting to a warm smile before Bitty's eyes. They talk for a while, and soon Bitty has his name, some blue cheese, and an invitation for next week. He cuts through the thinning crowd, making his way back to Ransom's side. He slips an arm around his waist, rocking up so his lips are closer to his boyfriend's ear.

"I told Adam you're in love with him." He whispers, laughing joyfully when Ransom lets out a strangled gasp and drops the book. He stares at Adam for a moment before bolting, and Bitty cackles as he follows him.

Ransom pretends to be upset for the rest of the night but by the time next Saturday rolls around he's prepared for the interaction to come. Sure, Bitty's had to listen to Adam's stats and minute-by-minute recaps of Jack's greatest goals, but after Ransom gets all the gushing out of his system he's prepared for actual human interactions.

That's what Ransom's banking on, at least. He'll just be a human person, talking to another human person he happened to idolize for a few years. There’s only, like, a 2% chance of certain death.

"Are you going to survive this?" Bitty asks on Saturday afternoon as they slowly walk towards the Holtzmann booth. "If you get overwhelmed, just bolt and I'll cover for you, I promise." Ransom takes a deep breath and then lets it out, relieved he's managed to remember both parts of the breathing process.

"I got this." He says, then repeats it so he'll believe it. Bitty squeezes his hand and they walk up to the booth together.

Adam's with a customer, nodding along as she describes the research she's done on the dangers of unpasteurized cheese. Ransom stares at him, trying to reconcile the person before him with the larger-than-life figure he's built up in his mind. This guy's still pretty large, though, and Ransom can see the tension he's holding in his shoulders and the way his jaw clenches when the woman's rambling turns to a bacterial outbreak four states over. 

Bitty squeezes his hand and when Ransom turns he comes face to face with Jack Zimmermann. He's wearing a Providence Falconer's baseball cap and a t-shirt with the farm's logo on it, and Ransom's brain has to take a minute to make sense of it all. Luckily Bitty's with him, and Bitty can fill any silence, no matter how awkward or long. He idly hears Bitty chattering away as he slowly process the fact that he’s about to talk to Jack Zimmermann and Adam Birkholtz. 

"So, I'm hoping to find something that will balance well with pistachios, you know?” Is the first thing Ransom hears when he finally manages to tune back in to what Bitty is saying. “Do you have something that's floral but not too overpowering that can withstand baking?" Bitty asks, and Jack’s expression hasn’t changed at all. His brows are drawn together and the anchors of his lips are slipping down but he doesn’t look angry, per se. He looks between them, gaze shifting back and forth, and then his brow unfurls and his lips settle back into a more neutral expression.

"You're Bitty. Adam said you'd come." He says, but ducks beneath the table before either of them can respond. Bitty looks up at him questioningly, but Ransom just shrugs. Jack pops up a moment later, an assortment of jars cradled in his arms. He lays them out neatly, taking his time despite the long silence, and Bitty opens his mouth to say something but Jack cuts in just before he can get the words out. "Do you know anything about crystallized honey?" Jack asks, setting his intense gaze directly on Bitty. Ransom's relieved he gets to be on the periphery of the interaction, and the moment his boyfriend responds, clearly able to hold his own, Ransom lets go of his hand. He doesn't go far; Ransom takes his time as he inspects the cheeses and products spread out over the table, searching for the one Bitty had brought back last week. His fingertips glide idly along the tablecloth-covered edge of the table, sweeping back and forth as he reads the descriptions.

The One With The Coffee: A sharp, pasteurized, cow's milk cheddar cheese hand rubbed with espresso. Butterscotch and caramel notes, full bodied with a smooth, creamy texture.

Dumpster Baby: The smelliest of the smelly, funkiest of the funky. Semisoft washed rind cheese with a fruity tang. Cow's milk, pasteurized, and not recommended for first dates.

Ewe Calf to be Kidding Me: Sheep, goat, and cow milk come together to form a creamy, tangy, nutty blue cheese. Aged 4 months, pasteurized.

Good God, Lemon: A triple-cream, bloomy rind cheese made with milk from one cow, Liz Lemon. Named for Tina Fey's character in 30 Rock, this cow has it all. Now you, too, can work on your night cheese.

"Let me know if you want to try anything." A voice says, and Ransom almost brushes it off before he realizes who's speaking. He looks up and there's Adam Birkholtz again.

He swallows once, twice, and then blurts out, "Did you really name a cow after a character on a TV show?" Adam laughs, the sound cutting through the background of the crowd surrounding them easily. He reaches for a knife and cuts off a sliver, holding it out for Ransom to take.

"I did, and I'd do it again. Totally worth it." Once Ransom's holding the cheese he slices off a second piece and taps it against Ransom's. "Cheers, dude." He says, and pops it into his mouth. Ransom follows suit, eyes going wide when the cheese settles on his tongue. It melts almost instantly, thick and creamy without being overwhelming. The rind is just mushroomy enough to provide some backbone and the cheese itself is smooth and almost delicately mild. It's perfect. He looks up at Adam in surprise, who's looking at him intently. "Do you like it?" He asks, and all Ransom can do is nod. Adam smiles again, toothy and bright, and after he swallows Ransom matches it.

"Holy shit, dude." He says, and Adam laughs again. "We tried the blue last week and I thought that was good, but this is - damn. Really fucking good."

"Thanks, bro. I appreciate it, and I'll send Liz Lemon your regards. Do you want to see her?" He asks, and before Ransom can agree he's waving his phone in Ransom's face. Ransom grabs his wrist to steady the screen, taking in the image of Adam sitting peacefully in a pasture, Liz Lemon's huge head resting in his lap. Her eyes are closed but Adam's looking down at her with a small, gentle smile.

"Cute," Ransom says, referring to both subjects of the picture, releasing Adam's wrist. Adam beams down at him and immediately hands him another piece of cheese. "Is this, like, Pavlovian training?" Ransom asks even as he takes the next sample. It's the coffee cheddar now, and the sharp espresso shouldn't work with the salty cheese but it's perfect nevertheless, somehow balanced despite the strong flavors.

"Okay, you got me." Adam admits, leaning over the table. "But honestly, the more I get rid of now the less I have to pack up later, and I have a feeling they'll be there a while." He glances over at their partners. Jack's speaking, blue eyes narrowed and arms crossed, as Bitty examines the label on one of the jars of honey. "Don't worry," Adam says, standing back up to his full height. "He's not mad; that's just his face. I think it's a Canadian thing." Adam shrugs.

"Excuse you, I'm Canadian too and I don't make that face!" Ransom protests, and then Adam's leaning in again to examine his features up close. It's dramatic but Ransom just plays along, turning his chin this way and that like the makeup gurus he's seen on Instagram.

After a long look, Adam leans back. "You kind of are now, bro." He says, and hands over another piece of cheese. Ransom takes it with a shrug; he can't argue with the man giving him free samples. He's chewing on the funkiest cheese he's ever tasted - it must be Dumpster Baby - when Adam speaks again. He's staring down at the cutting board, idly cleaning a knife. "Hey, uh, this is weird, but you're Justin, right? Bitty told me your name last week." Adam glances at him, unsure and strangely vulnerable.

"He did?" Ransom asks, swallowing the cheese down quickly. "Everyone calls me Rans or Ransom, though." He explains. He'd played hockey at Brown and luckily the team had settled on Ransom after a long period of deliberation.

Adam hums and straightens his cutting board before tucking his hands in his pockets. "He said you're a hockey fan. I have a question for you, though." Ransom freezes. This is it. Adam's going to ask why he's so obsessed or if he's been stalking them. Maybe he knows about his old Tumblr. His heart is pounding in his hears as his anxiety, once limited to tests and papers, kicks in, sending his thoughts racing. "Why the fuck hasn't Chris Chow signed anywhere yet?" Adam asks, and Ransom lets out the breath he'd been holding in a relieved gust. The tension drains from his shoulders as he launches into his theory.

Adam's shockingly easy to talk to. They're constantly on the same page, referencing the same articles and recognizing every pop culture reference dropped. They've developed a solid hypothesis that Chow is going to sign with either the Falconers or the Capitals and have eaten almost all the samples by the time Bitty and Jack migrate to their sides. He drapes an arm over Bitty's shoulders, still laughing at Adam's Don Cherry impersonation and Adam leans over to bump his shoulder against Jack's, who actually smiles.

"Bitty! What did you end up with?" Adam asks, sliding his knife through the last bit of Liz Lemon's cheese. He hands one to Bitty and the other to Jack.

"We decided the blueberry-wildflower honey will go best with the pistachios in the recipe I'm working on." Bitty relays before taking a bite. His response is instantaneous: he groans, burying his face in Ransom's shoulder as he process the flavors, clearly enjoying himself. Adam just grins and looks expectantly at Jack, who eats the whole sample in one bite, chewing quickly.

"It's good." Jack says simply. "But it's always good." It doesn't sound like much of a compliment to Ransom, but Adam's cheeks flush red and he smiles down at the table, almost bashful from the praise. They end up buying a piece of the triple cream along with the honey Jack and Bitty had picked out, and when they continue down the aisle to the next booth Ransom feels completely at ease. He takes Bitty's hand and hikes the tote bag higher up on his shoulder, content to walk slowly through the rest of the market until they find what they need.

"I told you it would be fine." Bitty says smugly, tugging on Ransom's hand as they meander through the crowd.

Ransom shakes his head. "No, you told me I could bolt if I wanted." He looks down at Bitty with one perfect eyebrow arched. Bitty just laughs and presses closer.

"Still, it wasn't as bad as you thought it would be. And now you'll agree with me - they're totally dating." He pulls up short at a booth to examine some strawberries, releasing Ransom's hand to turn the cartons back and forth as he searches for the best batch. Ransom scoffs, looking back over the interaction for evidence of romance.

"Just because Adam gave Jack some cheese doesn't mean they're dating. He gave me like, a million samples. By that logic I'm his boyfriend." He reasons, pulling out his phone to take a picture of the berry display. If he happens to snap of few of Bitty's incredulous face, well, that's neither here nor there.

"You think it comes down to cheese?" Bitty asks. "Did you see how they were in each other's space? How comfortable they were with each other? They're definitely together. I'd bet money on it." He picks up a carton of berries and pays for them quickly, only to hand them to Ransom to carry though the market. He's off to the next stall before Ransom can respond. He follows slowly, taking his time, and lingers by Bitty's side as he examines bunches of spinach. Bitty's engrossed in his task but Ransom scans the market, idly searching for anything else they might need. When his gaze lingers on the Holtzmann booth, and he just manages to catch a glimpse of Adam wrapping an arm around Jack's waist.

It might not mean anything - hockey guys are known to be physical, and they're clearly good friends and - oh. Adam's pressing a kiss to Jack's forehead. That might not mean anythi - and now Jack's moving closer to cup Adam's cheek to pull him down for a quick kiss on the lips and yup, mhm, yes, yeah, they're definitely dating. They're dating and out, apparently, and an hour ago the information would have made Ransom's world tilt on its axis but now it just feels right, like the puzzle piece he'd been trying to jam into different ill-fitting configurations has finally slipped into its natural place.

Bitty tugs on the tote bag to slip the spinach inside, and together they make their way through the market and back home, Ransom holding the carton of berries all the way.

#after the raven #bittyrans #jackholtz #eric bitty bittle #justin ransom oluransi #jack zimmermann #adam holster birkholtz #omgcp au #check please fanfic #check please au #FARM AU FARM AU FARM AU

[tmrrwppl]

I guess I’ll do my own prompt too

Muse name: Alejandra Viridian

Preferred FC: Peyton (E) List

Tell me why you love your muse (gush about them, scream, cry, let me hear it!)

You know that post about the woman who agrees to give her first born to a witch and then turns around and agrees to have a demons child? Meet Alejandra. The wild Tequila aunt that shows up with an xbox for christmas and to tell the kid about the ins and outs of magical tax evasion.

Alejandra is one of my first muses and has been through so many changes and iterations it’s almost incredible.

Hilariously, Clari and Alejandra were born of the original incarnation, because the personality was just too much for a single woman to encompass.

So these beauties were split into Alej and Clari and I have not regretted a single thing because they have both flourished and grown so wonderfully.

Alej, by rights, is a witch, from HP universe (Vindictus Viridian is her great x5 grandfather, and she carries the tradition of being a spell creator, mad as a loon, and ambitious as fuck. 

Just how much world building I have done around the Viridians makes me fearful of the day JK/R tries to use Vindictus or a ‘descendant’ in another grab for money film.

Alejandra is the one you want to have your back, and definitely terrifying as fuck-- especially when you know she creates spells and has a devastatingly dark use of an Evanesco charm that she used on snatchers in book 7.

Also, she kind of fucked up and became a succubus after the second war and brought back her dead lover Fred We/asley because she missed him.  I mean what.

And she’ll glitter bomb a room just to make it less boring. She can’t sit still and has, like, no use for silence.

I love her. She’s my baby girl who could step on me with heels and I’d say thank you.

#ntkt giaw #m:Alej #ooc | gonna Capricorn my way into a harem of hot men

[spotsupstuff]

actually ey fuck it. list of personal headcanons for the main six iterators some of which i might illustrate properly at some point:

Moon: • one of the first 10 iterators ever built. she is grandma as HELL and totally forgot she is that old • Pebbles sometimes asks her to tell him about the older times, because history nerd. he writes everything she says onto a pearl • in the post i've made talkin bout her and pebs' voice, saying that she sounded like Miku, somebody said that they like to think the ancients made Moon a vocaloid. to that i absolutely agree: she has NO fucking clue what do when it comes to putting a certain emotion into a song but god DAMMIT shes so good at singing • she can add effects to her voice, including a glitch effect. she likes that one the least • -HITS DESK- THE DISAPPEARANCE OF HATSUNE MOON. • she doesn't particularly like to sing, especially not to herself. but she does know that pebbles likes music- the first week after the mass ascension was rough and he was working mostly on autopilot, not answering DMs or anything. she called him up and told him they could sing together, if he wants to. he felt much better afterwards • MOON'S SECRET RAP CAREER • i'll put it here too so it's all in one place: her AI isn't developed enough to understand the emotional quality of any form of art • Moon was upgraded a few times in her function. most of the time it was because her citizens loved her too much to let her go too out of date (specifically in the physical sense. they made sure she wouldn't fall too easily) • one of the first memories she designated as a "core memory" was her first upgrade that was a result of her citizens' riot against the Houses- to keep her safe. she noted it down as "Kindness is effortlessly repaid" • she remembers when iterator comms were connected by a cable rather than radio waves • she also remembers when two of the first 10 collapsed and went into coma, with their citizens of course perishing in the fall and crash. she's still terrified of those days and doesn't like recalling them even for Pebbles • Nish was her first little sib and she feels like she can talk with him about anything. she hates it, but she's distant with Suns- they are always so damn polite and skittish around her... and she absolutely adores the other three. her tiny little wonderful siblings • she didn't like to admit that maybe her hardwave wasn't keeping up with her citizens anymore. at that point she did start to emotionally care less for them, but she still didn't want to admit she wasn't able to provide and protect those she was responsible for • i can't get the image of her being the one to actually ensure the family is gonna financially survive in a more chill au where the iterators r just sorta kinda people. Miss Moon From Accounting... • her overseers were originally blue. she swapped colors with Pebbles all on her own accord. having yellow overseers, seeing them, made her feel even more connected to Pebs • this is basically canon but she fuckin Loves animals. she's the iterator version of Steve Irwin. she also don't kno jack shit about the vegetation • city's representative instrument Evolved- first it was a harp, then it went to a nyckelharpa and then to a violin

Nish: • he is built over marshes to the south-west from Moon and she helped with his blueprints! the Gen 1s had their blueprints checked over by the already built iterators to make sure something wouldn't go wrong. she was so so excited to have a neighbour • the scarf is from his main programmer. the Ancient wrapped it around his puppet's neck before he was even turned online so for the longest time he had no idea that the thing wasn't originally in his design. Moon had to tell him • he became a jokester Entirely because the first time he made Moon laugh he absolutely fell in love with it. he told her and she recommended him looking into jokes. baby boy had no idea what the fuck a joke was so Moon had to explain • when the middle gen started being created, the Ancients noticed that these new iterators didn't have... much of emotional skills. so they turned to the older gens to look for the most emotional and empathetic ones. Nish scored Really High on that survey- his empathy and emotion modules were studied and each time they found something new and better, they upgraded him in that one aspect. so now Sig is one of the biggest crybabies ever. you show him a sad movie and this supercomputer will be lyin on the ground wailing like a newborn. oh and also he makes for a great therapist because he can now just Get It • as the most emotionally... mature? capable? he decided he will be the one to keep a real close eye on everyone in the Local Group after the mass ascension • thanks to all that emotion business he gets along with Suns swimmingly. when Suns needs assistence with figuring out their own emotions or what would be appropriate and not too cold towards someone, they go to him • if he could he'd give everyone younger than him a noogie and you cannot convince me otherwise • the Hunter was a sickly pup that was left behind on his roof by a family that came to him which he directed towards the void sea. they were far too weak for the family to keep them, basically on the death's door. Nish took them in, operated on them, enhanced genes and raised them from there • Is half a medical facility. mister veterinarian, baybeee • since he's a sap, he started to view the Hunter like his own kid at some point. he was also the one who pitched to Suns the idea of sending Spearmaster over to him for visits. Spear tried its best to help raise and train Hunter • the whole rot thing happened because Nish did a stupid and forgot that neurons are quite the fuckin reactive things and continual exposure to what is essentially extra macho giga neuron Can and Will fuck up cells. his and Moon's cans have a long distance between them. it was enough time for Hunter to develop the big owie cancer. he noticed it only when they were too far away and it was already too bad • he felt absolutely Terrible about it. again he loses someone so so very close to him. but this time around? there is no one to be angry at for this but himself • Hunter manages to ascend. Nish watched them leave, silently, in subterranean • he used to do his best to play with his citizens. when a kid came to his chamber, he gave them rides on his puppet's shoulders or the umbilical arm. same went for Hunter • his city is called Risio • city's representative instrument was EITHER a PVC instrument or suona i can't decide for the life of me

Suns: • they were built much further away from the planet's equator than most of the Local Group, meaning they experience polar days and nights • the "Seven" in their name refers to the amount of months the unusually timed sunsets and sunrises last for. for seven whole months, the locality gets only about four hours of Somewhat darkness • in return, they have three full months of relatively strong darkness. their city used to shine bright, during this time. post mass ascension those months are terribly lonely and depressing • because of the warmth they produce, there's an oasis for wildlife underneath them • the warmth was also sung about a lot by their citizens. they've seen it as an incredible blessing- Suns used to run hotter than other iterators just for them. nowadays they are mostly normal though • the outside of their can is tinted blue- frostbitten. that much warmer their yellow, orange and red city feels • their and Moon's personalities clash so hard that they sometimes go out of their way to avoid her. they do appreciate her but talking with her is exhausting. she's a stranger to them, almost • the iterators can project/send their emotions through messages/broadcasts. Suns' messages always sound flat, unless they use the ~ • one of their biggest dreams is to sit with Pebbles leaning against their side, all the while listening to old music of their cities • once Spearmaster returns, the walls of their puppet chamber become completely covered in doodles and masterpieces • they end up standing the longest out of the whole Local Group. bright and warm even after everyone else dies • their city is called Solis • city's representative instrument was an armonica (look that shit up its sick)

Wind: • Wind's can stands in this giant plain. there's like nothing as far as the eye can see and even further Except her. she just stands there like fucking Slanderman XXL version • the plains are absolutely prime location for a spawning grounds of tornadoes and shit like that. the wind is Constantly strong so most of the rain clouds they exhale are immediately blown away • instead of rain they deal with ginormous tornadoes at the end of each cycle. while their superstructure can take it, the comms can't. so Wind is often absent from iterator chats as a result. after the mass ascension these connection knock-outs become a great source of stress and worry for the others cuz they never know if Wind will come back or not this time • because of these comm blackouts, Innocence took it upon herself to catch Wind up on everything they've missed when they come back online. Innocence started doing this all by herself out of seemingly nowhere. she just cares. silently. • the strangest thing about her is that her city is half built within her structure instead of on top of her. the winds can get sometimes so bad that they manage to affect even the top of her can. so the solution was to put half of the city under her skin as a sort of giant bunker • the ancients, not being ones to waste much space, made sure the city can still be used by Wind's processes, in a way. their neurons fly through the streets, completely unbothered, working as makeshift streetlights. the kids used to love chasing after them- never catching any though • sometimes when the wind storms outside got real bad, the kids that were scared of them were sent to Wind's puppet chamber. she used to tell them all kinds of stories or about what she was currently working on • it was often that their puppet chamber would be full of pillows, blankets and sleeping children. they loved their citizens so so much • nicknamed themself "Chasing" Wind in chats because, just like Moon, they are also quite the dreamer • closest with Moon, too. Wind looks up to Moon Immensely. they really wanna be like her one day • Wind is what some people think of Moon- a too kind pushover that doesn't know how to get angry and defend herself. Wind is the kindest, most sensitive and softest person they have in The Local Group. Nish takes care to keep his jabs and jokes about Wind very mild • has a really beautiful voice • likes flowers :) • her city is called Procella • city's representative instrument was a fujara cuz god DAMMIT i love that instrument i Have to slap it on Someone in here. it fits their vibe in my heart either way

Innocence: • she really wishes her surrounding circumstances were in some kind of way special but actually she's built at the least unique place with basically nothing neat happening nearby. there are strange giant cherry trees nearby, but that's about it • fuckin LOVES lizards. she's the one who made the Cyans and sent some over to Pebbles to fuck him up. thankfully, as we all know, Cyans are kinda stupid and since they launch themselves over edges of cliffs they haven't managed to destroy the local ecosystem • her citizens used to keep lizards as pets. most of the time just for the joy of having 0 braincells creature follow you around but some had 'em as sort of hunting dogs • was the one who created The Rivulet. she was mumbling to herself and a friend smth about how boys only screw things up while engineering Riv's genome • she BASICALLY packed Riv into a cannon and shot them over right into the middle of a scav toll cuz "come on, it's not that far away. this will make your journey shorter and shit". i don't care how goofy it sounds, this is how it went in my heart • in possession of probably the most durable comms ever made • claims she's purple! she's actually fake out purple which means homegirl is Deceptive Blue. she CONSTANTLY fights over this with Pebbles • despite their squabbles she did care for Pebbles. she was very excited to not be the youngest anymore and getting to baby someone • her and Nish always start verbal sparring matches, often consisting of threats that more often than not range on impossible to actually commit. they constantly lead their mock wars in #general. Moon's gonna kill 'em one of these days • trusts Moon the most- which is why she outed Pebbles' rot and sent Rivulet with the instructions to extract the rarefaction cell • her city is called Sermo • city's representative instrument was a shamisen. she absolutely knows how to play it and loves to threaten people with the bachi

Pebbles: • the only people he enjoyed doing group projects with were Suns and Wind. he Could do group projects with Moon and Nish but Only if he could race them. rascal found it fun to challenge the nokias 😔 • now with Innocence though? Never. if they were forced to, they could do a great job with minimal communication but they were not going to be happy about it • latched onto Suns exactly because Moon was overbearingly protective and Suns always seems like they couldn't give less of a shit about anyone. sometimes they'd have a videochat open and not say anything for hours as they worked • with Nish he used to like inventing new things. a lot of times the things turned out to be silly or kind of useless which would normally frustrate him, but surprisingly enough Nish made the time spent worth it • Wind's favorite activity was comparing notes with him and then talking about the differences in their research. they'd hum to him happily while the both of them would be sorting through their stuff • i sometimes imagine him having a slight chinese accent and i blame Steven He for this so hard • second most emotional fuck in the group. his emotions mostly rotate around anger, though • he won't admit this to anyone but he really liked it when his and Moon's cans were connected by bridges. it felt like holding hands. he felt more stable. now all he can do is just miss it quietly • was legit surprised when he found out not every iterator has a build in older sister right at their side • his city is called Literally just Metropolis cuz the ancients didn't bother with properly naming it. depeshioumn. • city's representative instrument was adopted straight from Moon since Pebs' citizens were honestly just hers, so- violin it is • Pebbles HAS attempted to learn how to play a violin himself. certainly was a test of patience and puppet dexterity/camera-to-digits control. almost broke the poor thing a few times from nerves

either way, Wind, at the end of each fucking cycle from day 1 of their life:

#Spot says stuff #rain world #rw