#<- vaguely for family lore

[zeebreezin]

While suffering on my trip, I wrote out Shaw’s first (and to date, only) elaboration on what happened to the Red Court incident. Figure you guys should also get to see it :) Featuring @viric-dreams ‘s Robin Jones as the Second Person POV here.

He sits with his hands folded in his lap, drawn over himself. Long shadows are cast over his face, somewhat obscuring his expression. Shaw’s not a particularly large or imposing person, but at this moment he looks… small.

“It… isn’t an easy time for me to speak on.” His voice is quiet. If he was a different man, you’d almost say he was mumbling, but Shaw forces articulation into each and every word. “But if anyone deserves to know what happened there, in the Court… it’s you.”

Even in jest, he never brings up your responsibility for his capture by Red. Never once. It’s another silent line between the two of you. Shaw never mentions the rations he finds squirreled away. You never mention the Red Court, unless it’s for work. Before this, it never looked like a line that would be crossed.

“All my life, I’ve been guilty of… wanting, I suppose. Wanting better for my family, for my friends, for my people, and for myself. It might not sound like a crime to you, but...” The longer he speaks, the more sure that you are that Shaw’s never spoken of this event to anyone. This is, before it is anything else, a confession. “Wanting better has often been treated as one, in my experience.”

He smiles, dryly, as if reminded of a dark joke. “My wanting is what got my daughter killed, you know, Robin? If I hadn’t pushed her, she wouldn’t ever have been known in the Neath. She never would have…” Shaw turns away. He threatens, for a moment, to sink even deeper into himself and the hateful emotions clouding his gaze. Instead, he takes your hand. “…it is that wanting is my undoing. My terribly selfish desire for more. That was my undoing, in the red court.”

“I am happy with my place, on our side. I am. Even if I do not see eye to eye with some of our fellows on darker matters, I… I am happy with what I do. With what our work does for the world.” Shaw won’t meet your eyes. “But there, in the Red, I was offered a taste of what it could be like. That power, wielded only for me and mine. No pretences of revolution, of grand change, just my will. No need to bury myself, to hide what I want, as opposed to what is best for our goals. The temptation of my desire made manifest.”

Somewhere in the rambling, his voice has shifted - rhoticity lost, as he falls closer to his original cadence. Shaw’s expression is wild, haunted by something you cannot see, but he doesn’t dare stop speaking. “She said I was wasted there, for a cause I half believe in, trying to save the people I trust. I could have had everything- she called me a genius, one wasted trying to play the underdog. I was not imprisoned and tortured there, in that tower. What greeted to me wasn’t pain.” He swallows. “I wasn’t there as an enemy, not at first. Red… wanted me. I was offered the chance to change sides, on a bloody platter.”

Shaw pauses, for a moment. His breathing is shaky. “I did not take it. I told them nothing. I am- I am in no way compromised, in that sense.” He lists into your side, an unconscious need for contact. “But… the offer is open, still. I am more useful to Red active, with the temptation on my mind, than off the board. That might be the only reason I’m still… the offer is still open, Robin.”

You don’t ask if he’s considering it. You know the answer he’d give. You also know the truth.

[sea-buns]

All the buffs they've added to the cooking mods is hilarious to me. Like it's for sure super fun and exciting. But imagine the world cracking apart at the seams and from the moment you wake up you are immediately pounced on by "DAD! DAD! LOOK WHAT I CAN DO!" *places brick oven*

I just imagine Chayanne has been surrounding his dads' beds with various plates of food. Cuz you KNOW he's a stress cooker.

And Talullah's like "bro that's a loose popsicle on the floor Missa's gonna slip and die"

[transingthoseformers]

Nooo because I'm thinking about a scenario where a lot of bots aren't sure if the Thirteen Primes were real historical figures or solely religious/mythological figures... Including some researchers specializing in either/both fields. (I kept coming up with sci-fi words that ended up existing already so boom. Researchers.)

(I'm imagining it's Been A Bit and there's been many points in history where information/records were destroyed)

This entire idea is 100% for imagining the wild debates, various interpretations of the Thirteen Primes, and many many suggestions as to what Cybertron during the Age of Primes was like ("if the age of Primes was even a real age before the Age of Evolution" as some may suggest...)

:)

[azclii]

finding my older sister's old tumblr account from 6+ years ago is such a fever dream, i'm unlocking new lore. what do you mean you have the fiyero tigelaar username. what do you mean some guy you had just met tried to cheat on his girlfriend who at that point had just had a child with you. WHAT IS COCONUT TIME.

[ibetittering]

Fuck all of y'all in Florida how dare you misrepresent my liberal king that man loves women (not in that way) and he would not STAND for this smh

[itissadbutitsmy-artblog]

this is the deb family lore in my heart

hes desperately trying to keep them all straight in his mind but their name modifiers to cadebra are all just "aunt" or "uncle"

[wanderingmausoleum]

how it feels to not really care about miquella and have no strong opinions on the things about him that were revealed in the dlc

[therizino-ao3]

2023 Halloween Gift Exchange

My gift for @greenscreen-dress for @mcyt-halloween !

Summary: xB is invited back to his home server for a ceremony. Joe and Cleo come along to make things more bearable.

“Ohh, son of a…”

“What is it, man?” says Cub, sliding over to xB to see what he’s reading on his communicator.

“It’s just a family thing, kind of annoying though,” he scrolls through the message, taking in the details. Cub glances at it, but looks away as soon as he realises this isn’t something he’ll understand.

“What sort of family thing?” Gem asks, from across the Decked Out hallway, where she and Cleo are doing… something. xB doesn’t know what it is, but it involves wooden swords and their decks on the floor and an armour stand that he thinks is supposed to be Tango? They used a blue bath-towel instead of a robe.

“Guardian coming of age ritual, involving one of my cousins,” he sighs, flicking his tail back and forth, “The point is I’ll have to go back to my family’s server and meet everyone and it’s going to be a whole Thing.”

“I mean, xB, if you don’t want to do it, just don’t go? If you don’t like your biological family, you shouldn’t feel obligated to visit them,” Cleo says, messing with the Tango armour stand as they speak.

“I like some of my family. Not all of them are bad. But yeah it’s, mm,” he purses his lips together, thinking of what to say, “I do want to stay in contact, but as long as I do that, they’ll expect me to go to coming of age rituals. And it isn’t that bad on it’s own but some of them are just very… traditional. And judgemental. But, it isn’t the end of the world? It’s just… a Thing.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get that. The Vex sometimes can sometimes be, uh, very overbearing,” Cub says, from his spot, crammed into an indent in the wall.

 “Hm, yeah,” Cleo pauses, either pondering what she should say or whether she should stab the Tango armour stand, “Maybe, if you want, one of us could come with you? Just to make the whole thing more bearable. I wouldn’t mind. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guardian city in-person before.”

“Yeah, that actually sounds like a good idea,” Cleo’s presence is calming - in a no-nonsense, sarcastic way. The only time he’s ever brought someone with him to his home server was Keralis, ages ago on a holiday, which looking back on, was a horrible decision. Cleo, however, he thinks is far more mature than Keralis, and will only steal people’s possessions if necessary, “I mean, will you be free this Saturday afternoon?”

She smiles.

World hopping has developed a lot over the past century, which is nice. xB remembers when a trip across a galaxy would take a few weeks, but now, it’s only a few hours. It’s incredibly convenient since, in true hermit fashion, they always choose very distant planets for their worlds. His ship’s on autopilot and the estimated arrival time is two hours, fifteen minutes. He can chill. He watches the little map on the GUI, the ship zooming past various named star systems. His passengers, behind him, are also chilling. Passengers, plural, because Cleo wanted to drag Joe along too. Which, wasn’t the plan, but xB couldn’t say he was too surprised when Cleo and Joe both showed up to his ship. Like, you can’t get one without the other. They’re sold as a pair. He hears them arguing, something about the difference between a gravestone and a cenotaph. Cleo says they’ll break Joe’s legs. Joe starts talking faster, pleading for his life.

At the very least, xB’s home world is beautiful. As they approach it at last, it turns from a perfect blue circle to a painter’s dream – miles and miles of beaches and sea. There’s no considerable landmass on it greater than a few square miles, and all that’s on those are ship docks and tourism centres, everything else is in the water. He parks, opens the doors, and breathes in the salty sea air. It burns his nose, but in a refreshing and nostalgic way.

“We’re here! In case you haven’t noticed,” he says, but he knows they have, especially since Joe has spent the last twenty minutes trying to take pictures of the planet through the tiny windows.

“Oh wow,” Cleo steps out, “I will say, in terms of places to visit, this certainly isn’t the worst for looks.”

Joe steps out after, running out a bit further to take pictures of the sea. xB giggles, “Now the question is, will your opinion change when you meet the family.”

“Oh gods yeah, that’s gonna be, uh,” she laughs and shakes her head, “Well, we’ll be here for you, xB. And on that note, what is our story going to be?”

“Our story?”

“Yeah, like, why we’re here with you. Are we just saying we’re friends coming along because we wanted to visit?” Cleo pauses, before gasping, “Oh! I could pretend to be your annoying girlfriend! That would be fun.”

“Hey now, if you’re xB’s partner, what would that make me?”

“Oh Joe, you can be with xB too. I’m sure we can share him,” she ruffles Joe’s hair, “I mean, if you’re alright with that, xB.”

“No, no, that’s fine,” he’s laughing, “That does sound interesting.”

Whilst Cleo and Joe are arguing about the details of their very real relationship with xB, he is busy sorting out actually important things, like how Cleo and Joe are going to get to the monument. Every urban area has conduit-powered water, but for such a deep and lengthy swim, they’re still going to need equipment. He’s packed hour-lasting water breathing and resistance potions, to reduce any issues with suffocation and pressure; specialist helmets with goggles for seeing in dark environments, enchanted with aqua-infinity, and with built-in translation software so they can both understand and speak water-tongue; and flip-flops enchanted with depth strider for easy movement. It takes a further ten minutes for xB to get them to properly equip the stuff and acclimatise to breathing in the water. Then, they’re ready to go.

xB leads them down, following the currents to the monument. It’s mainly a smell thing, because the monument is the most populated thing in this area of the ocean, and you can definitely tell, but he also knows the way off by heart.

“Alright, just checking you can hear me alright?” he asks in water-tongue – a deep, chittering language that works solely for water – now they’re a decent bit down it’s worth checking Joe and Cleo actually know what’s going on.

Cleo gives a thumbs up, whilst Joe responds, “Loud and clear!” through the robotic voice from the helmet. It sounds a little crunchy. xB wonders if that’s it struggling to translate Joe’s accent.

They keep swimming down, until the monument leers in front of them. It’s far more impressive than the ones inhabited by regular guardians, with this one being twice the size with twice the colours and covered in flickering neon lights. He feels Joe and Cleo stop, presumably looking on in wonder. He supposes it’s pretty impressive if it’s your first time seeing one, but given he’s spent too many years living there, and has seen some five times more impressive in bigger cities, it’s just a regular building to him. They start swimming again, xB careful to keep the three of them in the “incoming” current. Small settlements and businesses rest on the seafloor below them, branching out around the monument, but most people will be living inside it.

They take the top entrance, xB telling the guards they’re here for tessC Crafted’s ceremony and the three of them are let in without trouble.

“The guards are more for display, than anything,” he says to Joe and Cleo once they’re inside the monument and alone in the winding corridors, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen them refuse anyone in, they just deter criminals by being there.”

“Right,” Cleo says, glancing around, “Good to know! I’ll just be staying right by you, so I don’t get lost, because this place is an absolute maze.”

“Yeah, I mean, yeah,” he laughs, “There’s no structure, you just learn where everything is by living here.”

“So where are we going now?” Joe asks.

“The main hall, it’s got like, a big platform in the centre and a bunch of seats,” he takes a sudden left turn, making Joe and Cleo quickly swerve after him, “You just kind of wander around and talk to people, and then everyone sits down, and the ceremony begins.”

“So, it’s like a wedding?” Cleo says, slight uncertainty in her voice.

“Um, I guess?” xB says, about to elaborate further, before the hallway opens up into a massive chamber. Several rows of flat seats wrap in a horseshoe shape around a long walkway, raised several metres above the seats nearest, leading into the back of the wall where there’s a door for the ceremony participants to emerge.

The noise is the most prominent thing, chittering bouncing off the walls and coming back in an incoherent blabble. He imagines Joe and Cleo won’t even be hearing this, it’s so indecipherable the software won’t bother to translate it. It’s no surprise it’s so loud, with hundreds of people in here. Technically, its only mandatory that the family of the person involved come, but everyone living nearby tends to, both as an act of community support and because free food is served throughout. Since xB is family, they’ll be right at the front on the bottom seats. He leads his friends down there, picking out a free-ish spot for them. With less people being at the bottom of the hall, it’s easier to hear things.

“Why, xB, you came,” a voice booms from behind him, belonging to none other than his biological mother. Great.

“Uh, hello. Joe, Cleo, this is my mother, beK Crafted,” he grabs his friends’ arms, making sure they’re here for this conversation, “And, mother,” he pauses for a second, wondering if he really wants to go this route, before remembering he has no fucks to give, “This is my girlfriend Cleo, and her partner Joe.”

“Oh, don’t be so humble, my Angel Pie xB! Joe is your boyfriend too!” for good measure, she even ruffles his hair as they say it, and it takes everything he has in him to not burst out laughing. She turns to his mother, holding out her hand, “Hi! I’m Cleo! I’ve heard so much about you!”

“Right,” his mother tentatively shakes Cleo’s hand, looking down on it like she might catch a disease. This is going far better than xB ever imagined.

“I – on the other hand – have heard nothing about you! xB has never mentioned you to me! This is a wonderful night to meet!” Joe says, grabbing his mother’s other hand to shake at the same time. He’s doing it far too fast, jerking her arm up and down.

His mother wrinkles her nose and steps back, flicking the hands off her, “Right. It’s good that you’re here and that you’ve-” she does nothing to hide the disappointment in her tone, “Brought some other people around. Make sure to introduce yourself to everybody, I’m sure your uncle rK would love to see you.”

His mother quickly swims away, to nearly the other side of the hall.

Cleo turns to him, “Was that a success?”

“Oh yeah, absolutely. Usually she goes on super long rants to me, or brings up about when I’ll be having grandkids, so it’s nice to have skipped all that.”

“Oh geez, are you sure you want to come to these things?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. I don’t take any of it to heart, it’s just annoying,” they both nod, but still look rather unconvinced.

They continue talking to xB’s other family members, in a way that has made this kind of thing far more enjoyable than it has been in a long time, with everyone reacting to Cleo’s ridiculous pet names with either obvious distress or approval, some even finding her charming, somehow. It’s nice to be able to catch up with his more reasonable family members, and anyone annoying Joe scares off with his passionate talks of eighteenth-century poetry. They have a good time.

The lights begin to dim and xB ushers Joe and Cleo to sit. Whilst the rest of the chamber grows dark, the walkway lights up and the door slides open. Stumbling and shambling, xB’s cousin emerges and makes the harrowing walk to the end of the platform. If he didn’t know better, he’d say she was sick: desaturated skin, tattered fins, and dead eyes. It’s obvious she’s just about to undergo metamorphosis though, with her juvenile external fins fluttering in the water.

She collapses as soon as she reaches the spot, body completely relaxing until she looks like a ragdoll. Some soft tearing sounds echo through the water.

“What’s going on?” Cleo whispers to him.

“She’s about to grow into her new body,” he says,” Just… watch.”

Cleo turns back to tessC, transfixed. At her back, a new, pale growth emerges from the ripped skin. It grows and grows, until it becomes evident it is, in fact, her back, and her arms and legs come with it too. She’s covered in spines and the tail that forces itself out of the body is far longer than it once was. Eventually, her head frees itself too, and there are no signs of the external fins anymore. She pushes herself onto her feet and makes a noise, somewhat like a growl, triumphant over her old body. Her limbs still look so wobbly and crooked and her tail hasn’t quite filled itself out yet, it’ll take a few hours for her new self to settle into shape.

“Oh wow,” Joe murmurs, “I didn’t know guardians did that.”

“Yeah, metamorphosis into adult form,” xB says, looking around for the elders, “I remember mine. It really hurt. They’ll just need to choose the sacrifice and then we should be done.”

“Hold on, sacrifice?” Cleo whips her head around.

“Yeah? After someone sheds their skin, another person is chosen for them to test their claws on. Like, they don’t die, most of the time, but it is pretty brutal.”

“That, feels like something you should have mentioned before coming here? Some guy just gets ripped to shreds every time this happens?”

“I- Oh yeah. It completely slipped my mind. Um, if it makes you feel better, you won’t get picked? They won’t have your name down, it’ll just be me. And in all my years, I’ve never been picked, it’s really unlikely.”

The elders, on a balcony looking over everything, read out from a piece of paper, “This year’s sacrifice shall be… xB Crafted!”

Joe hums, “Wow, way to jinx things!”

Cleo grabs his arm, “Yeah, no way am I letting you get hurt because of these idiots, come on!” she tugs him upward, kicking as much as she can.

xB doesn’t falter, the survivalist in him knowing he has to escape now if he wants a chance. He snatches Joe’s hand and starts swimming, thrashing his tail as hard as he can. He can feel the water ripple around him, others trying to catch up to them and catch them, you weren’t really supposed to try and escape, and all. He couldn’t bring his usual guns, being under the water and all, but he does have a rather nice harpoon gun, however, he doesn’t really want to attack his family members and former friends unless he has to. Cleo, on the other hand, managed to smuggle in her sword and doesn’t hold back swinging at people in her way. They escape the great hall, diving into the corridors, and xB takes special care to not let go of Joe or Cleo as he takes twisting routes to cover their tail. They zoom out a small, unguarded exit xB discovered himself many years ago, near the bottom of the monument. He doesn’t dare slow their pace, charging through the water, practically carrying a panting Joe and Cleo, until they reach the island they landed on.

“We’re out,” he says, flopping onto the surface, “Don’t bother to take your stuff off now, just hop in and I’ll take off. They’ll give up pursuit once we leave the surface.”

They both nod in response and xB hops inside, fiddling with the controls and inputting the co-ordinates of their Season 8 planet. Thankfully, they take off with no issues.

“xB,” Joe says as soon as he’s got his helmet off, “How are you feeling?”

“I’m… fine.”

“Really?” Joe tries to raise an eyebrow, but he can’t, so he just makes a weird face.

“Yeah, well, a little sad,” he admits, “I definitely won’t be able to return now. I mean, I know it’s probably for the best? But, like, there’s still that feeling that I’ve lost something, y’know?”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Joe isn’t following the correct safety protocols for space travel, instead opting to stand behind xB and rest his hand on his shoulder.

“Just remember that we’ll always be here for you, alright?” Cleo says and the thought does cheer him up, because they’re right. He’ll give himself a little time to grieve, but really, there isn’t anything those stuck-up guardian folk could’ve given him that his friends can’t. He probably had more fun today, because of Joe and Cleo, than he has had in every other family gathering combined. He hears Joe recount some lines from a classic and Cleo groans, and, well, maybe it isn’t beautiful blue planet with gorgeous underwater cities, but it still makes him pretty happy.

[fischerfrey]

hogwarts founders' era; the roots of the quinn family

aka barbie as the princess and the pauper starring some suspiciously familiar looking quinn family ancestors...

this is approximately 71% annie's fault, @potionboy3

[magic-magpie]

Thinking abt the Mishima household when Kazuya and Lee were growing up like imagine your father kills your mother then throws you off a cliff and you haul yourself back up and vow to kill him but you're too weak rn and you still live under his roof and are still his son and he trains you ruthlessly and you're thirteen and burning with hatred too big for your barely-teen body and then he adopts a boy close to your age and it's clear what he's doing this boy is only here to threaten your status as heir to the Zaibatsu this boy isn't even given the Mishima family name and your father (and you) call him by his surname because although he learns the fighting style and learns the business he'll never be Heihachi's blood son, and by all accounts you shouldn't hate him it's not his fault he was adopted but you do hate him and he quickly realises what kind of household he lives in now and he grows to hate you too but neither of you hate the other as much as you hate your father and so maybe sometimes you'll smoke together after having bloodied your knuckles from beating each other bruised in training because beneath the rivalry and resentment is someone who gets it, who knows what it's like living on these grounds, who you don't need to keep up false pretences for because the shadow looming over the two of you is the same

[wiklm]

hi guys omg i have ocs!!! i have more but these are the ones i’m the most mentally ill about

introducing finnick (white hair!! my oc), alf (black hair w/ purple streaks!! close friend’s oc ) and aadhira (purple hair!! my oc + finnicks niece!!) the close friend and i share joint custody of all three of them. they are my sillies and i adore them so i’m here is all of the art i’ve made of them in the last couple months that i deem worthy of tumblr.com

they go in order from most recent to oldest!!!

[valeriefauxnom]

Hey big fan. How tall do you think the androids in DL are?

Not gonna lie, it's always a bit shocking to hear one has made anything to earn a 'big fan', but thank you very much nonetheless!

As for your actual question, though, I think they're roughly about human height, judging by art? Of course I've gone over how art sometimes varied wildly in height, but as mentioned in that post if you have seen that, Dragalia did seem to try and keep a 'comparison heights' straight, at least. They might not have kept straight if Euden was 4'11 or 5'9 but he was shorter than Ranzal and Luca, etc.

And what we see in the wyrmprints, they seem consistently human in size:

(Well, these are both with sylvans, but sylvans are human in height as well, ears notwithstanding, so the point stands).

As funny as it might have been if every android was big or really tiny, I think it probably makes sense that, being created and wished for them to be 'humans' by Maestro, they resemble humanity as much as possible.

Now, just because Laxi, Mascula, and the androids from their era are human sized, others might not be.

They're a recreation of the older models in another case of Dragalia's humans trying to resurrect older tech, the same tech that made the dragons Very Displeased 1k years ago.

Now, Eireene and Finni, who unfortunately have among my personal least favorite designs in Dragalia, don't really give any indication either of being a wildly different size than Laxi or Mascula. Like this art here, where they are about the same size as Laxi and in a similar 'dwarfed by Ranzal' category most everyone falls into to varying degrees.

That doesn't mean there aren't standouts.

Anassa, for example, seems to carry a much bigger presence in her art. Being something of a commander and command center for the 1k year old model androids, it stands to reason she might have more weapons built in, more data processors, or other things in greater quantity. While we don't have a model or comparative art to truly say for certain that she is bigger, she certainly looks it.

(Does she even have legs??? Is she a roomba that would be foiled by anything over a 15° incline or a sudden height change, ex, stairs??? I mean yeah, doesn't she fly and drop down the one time, but even then, there's any number of environments that might make it awkward or impossible to use it to navigate a hazard.)

Ahem. Anyways, the point is that the general androids, be it Maestro's recreations or their elder Nier:Dragalia -er, Ex Machina, a part of the Humanoid Liberation Agency/the ones living in the sky, seem to be human sized. But there might be a few special model ones out there like Anassa who serve a unique and important purpose to justify the time, energy, and resources designing and creating them to fulfill their goal.

Now, admittedly, androids in Dragalia would be a weak point in my general knowledge since they never really quite struck a chord with me enough to inspire a fixation on them, but yeah, as far as I can tell, they're human-sized with perhaps some rare exceptions. The most I can say that might not be wholly normal is their apparent tendency towards a sort of gaunt build, which, to be fair, it's not exactly as if they can build muscle to change that.

Hopefully that answered your question satisfactorily!

[iloveyumi]

PokéFuyu

Fuyumi sighed, plopping the test she'd just finished grading onto one of the many piles that decorated her workspace. Her office was suffocated by the bundles of paper, having migrated from her desk to the floor to every inch of space as she worked. Feeling the sliminess of another few drops of sweat running down her back, Fuyumi ached for a chance to get out of this baking hot, humid space, as pretty as the stained glass windows behind her were.

May had only just begun, and with it were the students' final exams - and the endless calls from angry parents and desperate students. While she understood their frustration, Fuyumi was just one school teacher - even if she could do something about the PPOU law, she wouldn't - that was there for a good reason.

Everyone knew the history behind the Pokemon Protection, Ownership and Use law: Team Eternity, the destruction of Musutafu, the death of Decoma - the legendary lifecycle pokemon, all of it - did they just not think it was relevant anymore? That it didn't matter? The incident was ten years before Fuyumi was even born, but she - and everyone who'd spend their formative years in Musutafu - had the facts of the case hammered into her head religiously. It changed everything about our culture, about our understanding of the world. Learning about what happened, It changed Fuyumi on a personal level.

She was only seven, but the terror Fuyumi felt sitting in class, watching old news broadcasts of the world being frozen in time, the image of people's eyes, mouths, noses shrinking into nothing on their faces, the rip of fissures tearing open to facilitate the change, hearing the crack of bones in their legs and arms as they crumple like tissue paper, as the whole, fully grown, life-lived woman changed into a squirming, squealing, helpless baby. Clasping her clammy hands over her ears to listen to the ba-bum of her heart and instead hearing "TODOROKI PAY ATTENTION" wrench from the teacher's lips.

The horror as she realised her parents were actually there. They didn't see it through a screen, emotive but gone as soon as you asked to go to the toilet. They didn't hear it through classroom speakers, audible but confusing, tinny in a way that disrupted the snaps and screams. Her parents, her mother, her father, had to watch people mutate into something other, natural in an unnatural way, right in front of their eyes.

They had to see it, and know that at any point in time, that could be them.

She'd run home in tears and clasped tightly onto her Arcanine plushie, huddled in her bed, under the blankets, trying to will the wet plop of blood, the snap, crack of people's faces breaking away from her brain. (Touya had teased her, but she'd heard him throw up in the training room three minutes later.)

That was the first, and only, time they played the old broadcasts in school. How unlucky they were, to be the ones to see it.

Maybe those parents were the lucky ones, who weren't told the details, who had the information glossed over, who lost any context for the Pokemon Protection, Ownership and Use law. If they didn't get taught about the complex political background behind the laws and culture in Musutafu, then she… supposed she could give them the benefit of the doubt. After all, if she hadn't been taught, she wouldn't have looked into it either.

Musutafu is extremely different to other regions in how they handle Pokemon due to the law - the "Duty of Pokemon Care" License being needed to catch wild Pokemon is a kick in the ass for anyone outside of the region, who are all too used to being able to battle, weaken, and capture pokemon unrestricted.

For most people, that didn't change much - just meant taking another test the July they turned eighteen and waiting a few weeks for a shiny new card in the mail - in fact, most schools began incorporating it into their curriculum as soon as the law was passed - but for underage or trainer school students, like Fuyumi's, the process was a little different, including needing a reference from their teacher.

Fuyumi's class wasn't like most people, for the twenty-or-so twelve year olds that needed to capture pokemon as part of their future career, this test was extremely important - if you failed you had to wait two months to retake it, and then a year after that if you failed the retakes. That time could be better used challenging the gyms and getting one or two badges, or competing in a contest, or having your first show in Nimbasa City. By the time you finally got your license, all of your friends would already be well on their way, and you'd be left behind.

The final exams Fuyumi offered weren't part of the DoPC licensing exam, but part of an aptitude test she personally put together to assess how ready her students were - and with their results were her personal reference on whether they were fit to take the licensing exam. As such, Fuyumi's opinion was extremely important this year.

There were a few kids and parents that always tried to bribe her, bringing in cookies or cupcakes for the class, praising the shoes on her feet, or ratting our their fellow classmates to try to gather favour. It never worked. In fact, it did the opposite, leaving a disgusting slimy taste in her mouth like she'd swallowed Sluggoo slime. No matter how many times she gave the early year presentation about it, someone always tried, which pushed her, and a few other teachers, to make the aptitude test for their recommendations.

Because as much as Fuyumi hated admitting it, she wasn't perfectly impartial, and the bribes and cupcakes and ratting out did work on her, at least a little bit. As soon as she realised that, the creeping fear that she'd let one of her unprepared students through to take the license exam and would see their agast and heartbroken faces when they didn't make it…

This test was her way of giving all her students a fair and honest chance, one that would make sure they're prepared and would save them from the grief of trying and trying and failing because they weren't ready yet. If only some parents could understand this.

"Mismagius!" The cry from Fuyumi's partner pokemon caught her attention. Muma was hoovering just above ground - next to Ihai, her glacion - and sorting the dishevelled piles of marked tests into something resembling organised. God, she loved that pokemon - Muma had been such a big part of her life so far that Fuyumi had no idea what she'd do without her.

"Mis-mis~" Muma gestured at her office door, which Fuyumi now noticed was being knocked on.

"Miss Todoroki, are you there?" She knew that voice - the aunt and guardian to one of her more troubled students, Anastasia. She'd been having meetings with both her and her niece together about Anastasia's progress in class, to develop a progression plan and keep her on track. Today, they were finally going to see if the plan worked.

"Just a minute Miss Waterflower!" She called, hurriedly moving the paper piles out of the way as Muma cleared a path to the door. Her partner pokemon levitated Anastasia's aptitude test into Fuyumi's hands.

"Thank you so much, Muma." She blew a kiss as she opened the door, "Excuse the mess!"

[valleynix]

one of the main reasons i wanted to leave this fandom a while back was just the lack of any reading ability 😔 and it seems some of it has made it to my own fic, which i was very afraid of. but when i made lore videos or posts and i have people trying to claim it’s not canon despite literal canon evidence… some of y’all can simply keep your opinions to yourself and in your head!! it is possible!!

[wymgreenteam]

wip wfriday

i am incapable of consuming media without inserting my blorbos into it. this is the product of that. to preserve my dignity i will be staying silent on what i have binged three seasons of in the past two days that has brought this idea to life.

(~900 words under the cut, jack/nico, fantasy au? kind of? but not a lot of fantasy in this scene and by not a lot i mean there are only vague references to it)

“I am from the North,” Jack argues.

“You are not from my north,” Nico roars. “You know nothing of my people. You come and ask for help without knowing what you’re asking for.”

“Then tell me the price I must pay!” Jack steps forward. “Tell me this truth that you’ve been so afraid of saying since I brought my men up this mountain. I’m not green enough to think that you’ve been transparent.”

Nico’s expression fills with agony as he turns away, pacing. “The Brotherhood acts on a collective purpose. If one is brave or stupid enough to ask for our swords to be turned against their enemies, then they must give back to even the scales.”

Jack rolls his eyes, crossing his arms. “I know all of this. I’ve heard stories since I was a boy. Just tell me what’s required. Is it blood? Is it my blood? Why are you so—” Jack wants to accuse him of being evasive, but there’s a flash of fear in Nico’s eyes that makes Jack hesitate.

Nico stops, facing away. He bows his head. “The Brotherhood has rules, Jack,” he says. “If those within are bound to your cause, you must be bound to ours.”

Jack throws his hands up, irritation bubbling in his throat. “That’s it?”

“What—” Nico turns, confusion marring his handsome face. “What do you mean ‘that’s it?’ Do you not understand?”

“I understand perfectly well. I serve with the Brotherhood as the price. So be it. What I don’t understand is why you are so adamantly against me doing just that. Have I not proven myself thrice-over? Does the Commander of the Brotherhood not deem me worthy to be among his ranks?” Jack storms over, pushing at Nico’s shoulder, fingers inadvertently sinking into the soft furs on his cloak. Nico goes nowhere, sturdy as the mountain they reside in, his expression unreadable once more. “

“The Brotherhood has rules, Jack!” Nico repeats, more desperate this time.

“Then tell me!” Jack grits. “Let me decide what price is too steep to pay.”

Nico makes this frustrated noise and shakes his head. “I cannot— The Oath is sacred—”

“Do you see anyone here taking an oath? No? Good. Neither do I.” Jack walks away so he can stand at the edge of the council’s table, leaning against it and crossing his arms, expectant. He isn’t sure what he’d do if he remained close to Nico, and he doubts the consequences would be worth it. “Tell me what I’m getting myself into, and if I’ll have to run from this mountain with my people at dawn because I’m supposed to burn them all as an offering to your gods.” He takes a moment to calm himself down before adding, “Not as a son of the Valkyrie, not as a person of my House, but as the man whose life you’ve saved and the man who has saved your life in return. As an ally, as a friend, I’m asking for your honesty.”

Nico is quiet for a long moment, standing tall, the glint of the Commander’s brooch flickering gold in the torchlight. His hair falls over his forehead and his unkempt scruff covers the wound on his cheek, the angles of his face softened from their usual severity as he looks at Jack with those kind eyes. The wrinkles at the corners speak not of his age but of his humor, of his smile, of the dip in his cheek when Jack says something to make him laugh. He’s never bothered to ask, but he’s certain Nico can’t be much older than Jack himself. Perhaps born in the Dark Winter like Quinn, just before Jack’s birth coincided with the start of the Seven-Year Summer.

Jack’s seen him many ways in their shared time, but never has he seen Nico be conflicted like this. He’s always been a man who knows his path and his purpose, steady and strong in the decisions he makes, as a Commander should be. He looks to fight with himself now, opening and closing his mouth several times before he finally settles on the words he wishes to speak.

“The Brotherhood requires that you give yourself to us wholly. You may have no brothers but the ones who fight beside you. You may sire no children.”

“I don’t need to have children, if that’s the price—”

“You must renounce your family and your House. You cannot see them for the rest of your days.” Nico starts taking slow, measured paces forward as he speaks. “You no longer serve under your banner and you must discard your sigil. You’ll take up the Silver Eagle as your own, like you never knew any other.” He lands just in front of Jack, the tips of their boots nearly touching. Jack tilts his chin up to meet Nico’s eyes.

“Nico—”

“You can have no love, Jack,” he murmurs, reaching to cup Jack’s cheeks in his warm, calloused palms. “There can be no intersection of duty and love where you may be forced to choose a direction other than that of the Brotherhood. Duty must prevail. To our brothers, to our banner, to our purpose.”

Jack raises a brow. “Good thing I’m not your brother then.”

Nico kisses the smile right off of Jack’s face.

[vanillashusband]

it kinda surprises me that there's still hcs that cookie babies are made via other cookies/by the parents with a special oven (not sure if that was confirmed somewhere or i missed the lore) when in the middle of this new update cause it always felt like it was implied that cookies baking other living cookies was like. against the laws of nature hfhfggd essentially its like making a homunculus, and researching how to do it (like wl did) was pretty taboo so that hc never made sense to me! if it was canonical butter roll wouldn't be part of the cod if cookies/cookie babies were so easily made and him being a mad scientist trying to make the perfect cookie wouldn't make much sense, at least to me.

hfhgdhg I always had the hc of a more fairytale way cookies were made that included the sugar swan since she has the power to give life. a single cookie (or a couple) offer a small bit of their dough and some extra ingredients (optional) to a sugar lace stork and the stork takes it to be made by some magical means with help from the sugar swan (honestly there could be an entire team of celestial/magical cookies that oversee cookie babies hfhgfnbf) later coming back to the parents with a new baby cookie! and same gender cookie couples can have bio children too! <3