#<-just bc of it’s adjacent source

[nyandela-catalogue]

after a little over 2 and a half hours, i finally finished my portrait of the Actor. i opted to go for its stringless form, since that made the most sense for a general reference image.

i decided i’d post the versions with and without the wood grain:

[If you want it to move, be patient and earn its trust. It doesn’t have much to spare, so be very kind if you wish for it to let you into its little world.]

-Adam📹

p.s. my hands hurt so bad from working on this dawg, holy crap xD

[volfoss]

like i think it is baffling to me how ive only seen one person ever discussing the immense amount of racism in this book because this is like. shes been powering up her racism in her writing to blast out with this bullshit. like this is so fucking gross.

[aeide-thea]

Left: "Mars, the Bringer of War" (2003) by Toshiyuki Enoki, cropped to remove the artist's stamp. Right: "Head of a Lady in Medieval Costume" (1900) by Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scévola, antisemitic painter and pioneer of military camouflage, cropped and reversed.

[timdrakesstaff]

imagine confusing lore for a show bc u pull from multiple sources/iterations

it happened! just... not in this version..

[thatdiabolicalfeminist]

I've been messaging with a 17yo kid from Gaza, named Nader.

When I asked what he wanted people to know about his family's situation, he immediately answered "the bitter cold".

His other answer was about how incredibly expensive everything is in Gaza right now. Here's context: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/16/how-much-does-food-cost-in-gaza

Can you imagine being in this situation? Made homeless where the stores are no longer getting consistent deliveries and might be bombed, the government is barely operating cuz it keeps getting bombed, there's not even charity getting into your besieged area, and most people's jobs—including your big brother's—have been bombed beyond repair?

Where it's getting so cold and you CAN'T get warm because you're relying on strangers to help you get that coat or blanket, or bc you need the little money that trickles in to just survive??

And can you imagine living this way for OVER A YEAR as a normal teenager who has a little brother and a baby niece with malnutrition to stress about too?

I know people are tired of hearing about Gaza. It's upsetting that this genocide has continued so long with so few powerful people even trying to stop it. But we have a responsibility to our fellow humans, to help them survive persecution.

Nader is seventeen. None of this should be on his shoulders. Please help his family be safe so he can stop feeling like it's his job to make sure his family has what they need.

This campaign was verified as authentic by gazavetters (#4 on this spreadsheet), which I have seen Palestinians I trust cite as a trusted source.

Can you give up one treat this week to help Nader's family have the basics?

If you donate at least $10 and comment on this post with proof, I'll record a silly voice message for you or draw you a post it note doodle!

Please also consider following @abdalsalam1990, the tumblr account this family is using to try to raise funds, as a reminder to yourself to share the campaign or contribute in the future.

Tagging usernames off the top of my head in hopes you'll share this fundraiser; please message me if you don't want to be tagged in things like this, or if I didn't tag you but you DO want to be tagged in posts like this.

Edit edit: thank you @transmutationisms for teaching me how tagging works 😅 i've only been on this site 10 years lmao

@wizardarchetypes @herpsandbirds @brattylikestoeat @tearsofrefugees @milf--adjacent

@vampiricvenus @mostly-funnytwittertweets @sweatermuppet @mostlysignssomeportents @probablyasocialecologist

@timequangle @repotting @robertreich @antifainternational @dlxxv-vetted-donations

[contraryclock]

stupid ass Don Quixote ramblings

hi this is my first tumblr post but i really wanted a good place to put this

spoilers for all of current limbus company, including Murder on the warp Express, the Don Quixote book (( kinda )), and a musical (( i'll get there ))

please humor this deranged rant about a character i havent read the source book of

so basically ive had a theory since Don was even teased that she's less so based on book Don Quixote and moreso based on the Man of La Mancha musical which is. an insane thing to suggest but hear me out here (( ive since changed how i word my stance to the much more mild "it will most likely delve into the themes of both works and reference both" because suggesting they would discount the book entirely is TRUE insanity ))

her quote (( from teaser tweets that i cannot find anymore? they seem like they were deleted which sucks )) was "To reach the unreachable star!" or something which is notably not a quote from the original book ((as far as im aware at least?)), and suggests. a lot i think!

One of the most notable differences between Man of La Mancha and the original Don Quixote is their tone and attitude towards Quixote. In the original text, he's shown to be a fool who is ignorant to the vastly more interesting world around him, and prefers to instead sink deeper into his delusions of reality equating to chivalric literature. This makes sense as Don Quixote was written as a parody and mockery of the genre

La Mancha is, notably, much more forgiving on Quixote's character, showing that while still a fool, and his insanity often detrimental to those around him, he is still a good person at heart and that he truly wishes to pursue this justice he posits

I usually say it as "Don Quixote is about how reality is beautiful, and La Mancha is about how sometimes one should strive to make reality a little more fantastical" although i dont know if that. is the most accurate comparison. both Don Quixote and La Mancha have a lot of themes and stuff going on

one of the things that made me scream was learning about "Miguel" being written on don's LCB combat spritesheet instead of her listed name

which if you've seen or read a summary of la mancha is a huge alarm bell

In La Mancha, the whole thing is shown as a Play within a Play

Miguel de Cerventes is sent to prison, awaiting trial by the inquisition, and is tasked with defending himself in a mock trial with the other prisoners so they dont take his belongings. His defense is Don Quixote, Man of La Mancha! With the prisoners acting out the various roles he assigns them, and him acting as the leading man, Don Quixote himself!

that was most of the things that made me think "Oh, maybe it'll be La Mancha!" and then this happened

and i sort of lost my god damned mind

because like what if this is miguel... what if shes simultaneously playing out her life as don quixote as a her delusion, and as her dream, but also as a statement...

idk but this isnt JUST about Man of La Mancha bc i think this has a few implications for how don's canto is going to go

In both don quixote and la mancha, they send someone to cure quixote of his delusions

The final thing they try is setting up an act where a "Knight of Mirrors" duels with Quixote, which ends up working.

The Knight forces Quixote to see how he is perceived by others, to see the truth that he is no knight.

ignoring the stuff with vampires and mirrors for a second, i feel like this could be more mirror world shenanigans, where either the knight IS a mirror world don quixote, or is someone who will show her mirror worlds. Whatever that will imply!!! i dont know its exciting!!!!!

Her being absurdly old and powerful, plus bloodfiends having a whole familial adjacent hierarchy makes me think theres a LOT of bloodfiends out there that would want her back

I dunno!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

im insane!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!! i just wanted to get my thoughts out before her canto actually happened so i can say that i did indeed have an opinion on this

-limbus assets taken form Lunartique's asset google drive go look at it -text written by me and not proofread

ok thanks bye dont follow me byeee byeeeeee

[herringstrait]

Don't think words can convey how delighted I am whoever styled Nagumo for the festa merch made his outfit atrocious. Do you GET how amazing and in-character that is? It's like a dog doing whatever he wants bc he knows you'll love him for it anyway. The 2 clashing patterns on the shirt and the pants, the walmart bargain bin shoes, and the goodwill trench in mold green? Even his body language acting on hesitant and shy is more than I could dream of. (don't get me started on how he's drawing attention to the rings on his hands with his fingers). All that mess and people are still going to find him attractive. Teary eyed from just how *perfect* it all is. He has pretty privilege and everyone knows it (himself most of all).

Of course the kiddos and Pops look great, but it's the Order trio that drove home for me the fact the artist/stylist has to have red the source manga. The way they picked something formal for Osa that makes her chest look massive shows just enough skin for her to be slightly uncomfortable yet rock it (think JAA corporate gala). The way they even coordinated the silver in her hairclips and purse hardware with her partner's necklace. Shishiba's lax suaveness in his gangster-adjacent open collar shirt and black suit coat... the hairtie on his wrist... Never been so chuffed about a set of alternate styled outfits in my life. You can just tell when a stylist UNDERSTANDS a character's personality and vibe based on the outfit they put together, and here that understanding even extends to body language. Massive kudos to the brain behind it. They deserve a great packet of freshly steamed meat buns ˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

[woman-respecter]

Lately I've been noticing that a lot of people use chatgpt INSTEAD of google. And with DeepSeek being free!! it really makes me wonder if AI is gonna be a tool of mass propaganda instead of just mass disinformation and ignorance. I can't imagine AI videos won't be used when they get good enough to simulate YouTube shorts or TikToks people. This is looking grim and maybe this is just a worst case scenario but it looks headed that way to me. AI is probably a lot easier to skew towards a kind of political view than access to diverse websites. Especially since the people using AI dont check the very fake sources it gives them and just wont care to access other point of views or just the full story.

i hate ai i hate ai. i work with a lot of techbro adjacent people and they are always telling me to use ai and i feel so uncomfortable about it, i just straight up won’t use it bc it isn’t reliable. my biggest concen tho is ai porn, and ai video/images making court cases and the like imposssible

[polysucks]

I've seen a bunch of your indigenous headcanons for Starks and I love them so. Do you think of all First Men that way or particularly northern First Men/Starks? Also I'm going feral over your idea for a wild west AU!

HI I LOVE YOU.

I will talk forever about indigenous Starks and Northmen.

yeah. I’m that bitch. I am the #1 Indigenous Stark Truther* (unproven claim) and I will happily die on this hill.

I’m answering all of this on mobile like 15 mins before I have to be in class so I have none of my research in front of me and no sources, so yall feel free to jump in the comments and the reblogs to compound or (CONSTRUCTIVELY) Correct me :)

As we know, the First Men are all over the place. I mean it’s been, what, twelve thousand years since they came over from Essos on the Dornish Landbridge? (Sound familiar, fellow US Public Education System Victims?) and maybe six thousand years since the Andals migrated, with all the interbreeding and the thousands of years of generational melding, there’s bound to be traces First Men blood all over the planet by now. Just like all indigenous peoples irl! Imma have to write a whole thing about the Westerosi equivalent to the Columbian Exchange now is not the time—

So like personally, I see Native American coding in the Northmen. And all I know is of the American Indigenous perspective (and not even a whole lot bc I wasn’t raised in the tribe. I was removed from the tribe via my grandparents who are both Blackfoot-Salish out of the PNW and victims of modern colonization but that’s another story for another time. It’s just to preface that I am no expert in Native American culture, and only know what I personally know. I got some baller resources if you’re super interested tho)

In my personal humble onion. There would be a high concentration of First Men blood (god I really hate using the term ‘blood’ bc of blood quantum and lineage politics but for the sake of brevity imma just use it) in the Northmen. To me it’s giving PNW and Inuit who pressed north after the Columbian invasion because they had the means to survive in the harsh lands, where the whites. Simply didn’t. And knowing Peepaw is American, like, I see the parallels.

The First Men lived in close harmony with the land, practicing a nature-based religion—the worship of the Old Gods—centered around weirwood trees, sacred groves, and the guidance of “greenseers” and “skinchangers.” (We don’t use the W word around here but do you smell what I’m stepping in?) Their way of life was deeply tied to the land and vaguely resembles that of indigenous spiritual beliefs about animism and ancestral wisdom.

After however long years of battling with the Children of the Forest, the First Men reached the pact, agreeing to honor the children’s sacred forests and worship their gods. This mirrors real-world treaties between indigenous peoples and settlers, which were often later broken or disregarded (to put it nicely). the pact was chill for thousands of years (I think like I say I got no refs in front of me we die like Icarus), leading to the Age of Heroes, in which the First Men formed their own kingdoms, including the foundation of House Stark.

Bro that. Is so ancient American history coded. Same shit different font.

There’s a large population of indigenous peoples in reservation-adjacent areas cherry picked all over the US. I mean, we’re everywhere. Don’t ever let terminal narratives win. We out here babyyyyyy but to me it makes sense that the highest population of indigenous peoples of Westeros would be on the lands that are least likely to be gentrified (wrong word but imma stick w it) as in. The North. I can’t source any quotes rn specifically but how often is it mentioned that the north is the biggest and the “emptiest” in all their seven kingdoms?

So excellent question! Yeah I think all the Northmen are indigenous coded! You can’t convince me that Lyanna Mormont isn’t some badass fuckin thicc warrior goddess coded. And the Greatjon??? My mans leanin and rockin w a bear pelt. That man kills bears with his fists (just ask him) and I could go on forever about how The Boltons in all their violence and the rumors surrounding all that they’re capable of is so so so sooooo Comanche Ute and Sioux coded. They were so shat in by westward expansionists and rumored to be barbaric and cannibalistic and fuuuuuuucked up—simply bc they fought back against the people who were raping, pillaging, and stealing from them. But that’s pure speculation and personal hot take on my part, and wildly incorrect bc the boltons really do be flaying people. While the Ute, Comanche and Sioux did not. In fact. Flay anyone. (Unless they deserved it :) )

Tl;dr

Yeah man I think all the Northmen are native coded (w some Viking and Norse imagery thrown in there bc this is fantasy. It’s not that serious.) but the Starks heavily so due to the hard focus on the animism, their honor, connection to the land, spiritual beliefs, dedication to family, and the fockin’ wolves bro. Natives do be really into wolves. (Wolves are cool as fuck dude)

Also I got three chapters of my Wild West au already written and so much art I haven’t posted. when I unlearn shame and finally post it all it’s over for you bitches

[sophieinwonderland]

so i'm asking this bc i don't know who else to ask and you seem to be someone that educates others on these matters. i'm trying to learn more about endogenics and systems in general and i've been looking through a bunch of sources and generally it's been understandable (natural plurality has been around since the 80s and plurality isn't inherently disordered, etc).

however i just can't understand how you could have sentient entities (people) in your head that are separate from you and your own consciousness. a common rebuttal to this is that i (and other singlets) also have a person living in our head, but...i don't regard my internal monologue as a person. it's just my brain processing the world around me and churning out a mental response. i don't actually think there's a person in my head - my physical body is the person and my brain is in my head, if that makes sense? i believe that the thing that makes people "people" is that they have a body. so because plurals don't have multiple bodies, how could they actually be multiple people??

What defines a person is largely a philosophical question.

I would argue that a person is the identity. It's the memories and personality that makes someone up. I would refer to to John Locke's definition of a person as "a thinking intelligent Being, that has reason and reflection, and can consider it self as itself, the same thinking thing in different times and places."

To me, this is what a person is. This is distinct from the biological organism we refer to as a "human." A human who is brain dead, therefore, would no longer be a person. And neither would an unborn fetus.

If someone could download their consciousness to a computer, they would be still be a person. If another person downloaded their consciousness to the same computer, with divisions between their memories, they would still be two people.

The computer analogy oversimplifies a bit. But I hope it can illustrate the concept for you.

You've also probably experienced a form of pseudo-plurality through dreams.

When I discuss my essential features of a headmate...

The autonomy and perspective criteria appear to be fulfilled by dream characters. They lack memory and awareness of the world outside their dream, but they check the first two boxes at least.

You can't consciously control them, and they have their own perspectives and identities that are different from your own.

In my opinion, this is the most universal plural-adjacent experience.

If you want to imagine what being plural is like, it's sort of like that. Imagine if a dream character woke up with you and talked to you in your head. You couldn't see them except through your mind's eye, but you could hear their voice similar to how you hear your own inner monologue. And that voice can also hear your inner monologue and respond to it, making an inner dialogue between two autonomous agents in the same head. And sometimes, that other agent would be able to control the body the same way you do.

[fancifulplaguerat]

was re-reading your additions to that post about having played classic hd/daniil is bad discourse and since you mentioned it i’d like to ask what are your main issues with his p2 characterization? as someone who also hates it (so far, i am giving him the benefit of the doubt since his own route is not out yet. even as an npc he was so much better in p1 though.)

Tbh it’s mostly my subjective taste; I don’t think Daniil’s character is inherently “bad” in P2, but I am inevitably going to contrast it with PHD Daniil and. Well. Essentially I think Daniil is a caricature of himself in P2 and is less thematically interesting because of it.

Sorry this will be long bc I have many Thoughts and Opinions.

I immediately found P2 Daniil unnecessarily abrasive. Like “I was blessed with a naturally high intelligence,” Patho Classic Daniil would not fucking say that. Or at the very least that would be an inside thought. Plus how he discusses Rubin with Artemy: “Oh, I doubt it. I’m much more cautious than you. And attentive. And heedful. For example, I’ve managed to establish a friendly relationship with Rubin, your so-called friend.” This is just dripping with condescension in the very structure of it. He undermines Artemy’s ability and doubles-down on his presumed superiority, which he punctuates with further assertions that he knows better. Maybe it’s crazed behavior to consider the syntax, but seriously, ‘And attentive. And heedful.’ are more forceful because of the full-stops, like he either A) purposefully spoke in this staccato for emphasis, or B) couldn’t help himself from adding even more ways that his authority outweighs Artemy’s. He also rubs unnecessary salt in the wound by exemplifying his supposed authority via a connection with an individual Artemy has history with; like the ‘so-called friend’ is so dastardly for no reason.

And he KEEPS GOING.

“Allow me to sum up. Rubin told me he’s the only decent doctor in town, but you’re a competent surgeon! I need you alive, healthy, and quiet. Close at hand. Spare me any wild improvisations—I’ll be the one handling the situation. Medicum morbo adhibere. […] [Rubin’s] gone to carry out my orders! From now on, your Rubin does what I tell him to do. He entered my service of his own accord. I suggest that you do the same. It will help everyone.”

This makes me want to choke him the fuck out, he sounds so ungodly arrogant. ‘I need you quiet’? He is treating Artemy like a child at best, a tool at worst, and him suggesting that Artemy fall in line like Rubin grosses me tf out.

I know I’m preaching to the choir, but for the sake of tediously stating my opinion, compare this with some rough equivalents in HD.

First:

Bachelor: Master Rubin, who doesn’t trust me and is concealing something important, has an unusual source of infected tissue. […] You’re closer to him than I am, though; perhaps he’d be willing to share with you the information that he is concealing from me. > Rubin hates me. Bachelor: He absolutely doesn’t. Last time we talked, I described your feats in detail and proved that his suspicions were completely baseless. You’re his hero now, and he’s deeply ashamed of his tantrum.”

Daniil is being a little devious here, ostensibly trying to use Artemy/Rubin’s friendship (?) to get information he wants that Rubin won’t give him. But he acknowledges that Artemy is closer to Rubin and went to bat for him. I find this interesting because it raises questions about his character—what exactly was Daniil’s motivation to clear Artemy’s name? Was it just to this end, or did he personally care because his central character trait is justice? We also know that he hates lies above all else, and it was a lie (injustice) that Artemy committed patricide, so this action could reinforce the centrality of justice/truth to his character. What does the adjacent P2 exchange suggest? That Daniil has a superiority complex? That he is collaborative only in the sense that everyone he deems ‘useful’ should defer to his authority unquestioningly? What theme does it suggest/support in his character? Obviously, not every word a character utters has to have thematic significance, but I’m throwing it out there anyway.

To compare the second part:

“I heard a rumour of a man who is well-equipped to both dissect the dead and gut the living. […] I’m sure that whenever they find him, he will prove to be very helpful indeed. This is, after all, his line of occupation. He’s bound to do a better job than I ever could. As for me, I’ve had enough of that already.”

PHD Daniil recognizes Artemy’s utility like P2 Daniil, but doesn’t treat him like a tool. He outright acknowledges a deficiency in his own ability, though the final sentence expresses frustration which could arguably read as Daniil thinking he is above “that.” I still think (again. this is my arbitrary opinion not like. objective textual analysis) this reads more like snark than smug superiority. And to your NPC point, I think Daniil is at his lowest asshole capacity in the Haruspex Route, which is why the “Daniil is an ass in P2 because it’s Artemy’s perspective” falls flat to me. Not that that isn’t true—it very well could be, given Daniil’s characterization in The Marble Nest.

Also, I feel P2 Daniil aligns more with the Cold Selfish Academic archetype than PHD Daniil, who is pretty willing to work with others. He clearly cares about people, and his connections with them at that. Trust appears critical to him, and honestly he seems to trust people pretty quickly. He mentions “mutual trust” to Victor and Rubin, and then there’s his reaction to Aglaya’s betrayal; it still keeps me pacing my study that IN HIS OWN ROUTE Daniil’s central deciding factor for the Polyhedron’s fate is that Aglaya betrayed him and he is hurt/angry. He is lashing out because she hurt him—that’s the crux of Artemy’s argument in the Cathedral. Aglaya being a liar is also part of the rationale Daniil uses on Artemy in the Haruspex Route in the Polyhedron’s favor. So, his value of trust suggests that he cares about his relationships with others, and expects them to care back. He also generally establishes reciprocity, rather than trying to be the authority, as P2 Daniil.

Quick tangent: I think this apparent importance of trust connects to his central tenet of truth/justice. When an Herb Bride asks him “What makes you think [lies] have to be dark?” he can reply, “Because they replace the true state of affairs with a false one to profit from someone else’s suffering.” He sees lies as inherently malicious bc they involve a person’s suffering, *unjust* suffering at that.

PHD Daniil also often assumes responsibility for others’ safety (trigger-happy episodes aside, but I think those can be relegated to the Daniil Dankovsky Justice Complex), even those who aren’t his nearest&dearest like his Thanatica colleagues. There are two instances I can recall off the cuff where PHD Daniil changes his refusal to do something he considers “beneath” him—acting as Rubin’s ‘errand-boy’ and talking to Griff in the Haruspex Route—explicity because he is told his not doing those actions will result in someone’s harm/death. Likewise his replies to “Take care of [the Utopians], Bachelor. Let them live” are either: “I’ll do everything that’s in my power,” or “Huh, and let the others die, I suppose?” The second particularly suggests an intention to protect everyone possible. I’m not claiming P2 Daniil is a complete misanthrope, but his superior attitude departs from PHD Daniil in a way I personally dislike.

Part of the issue here is simply the difference between how PHD and P2 handle their themes. On that note. If Daniil is able to manipulate time, his character loses what I consider most poignant about him. For instance, his dialogues like “There is always hope,” “Hope lives forever,” are more impactful to me in his PHD characterization because it’s so entwined with PHD’s themes about futility/how endeavoring for the impossible is part of being human. Particularly since Daniil’s PHD victory functionally comes down to the achievement of people who are basically demigods (which nobody talks about but. that’s a whole separate post I might make one day). If Daniil has successfully broken the laws of nature, it just takes some of the resonant aspects out of his character for me.

[somerabbitholes]

i'd log in but i fully forgot my username and password since i left for college lol, but the first semester of college ended and i'm finally back home for my break. i'm doing a degree in history in a liberal arts university which has been my absolute dream since i was a child; everyone else in my class was an engineer/doctor aspirant and i was the labelled Humanities Child. so college was supposed to be The Dream for me and, in many ways, i have. HOWEVER, the issue is that i am now surrounded by The Humanities Child(ren) of every school, and now i have no personality? i also feel hopelessly out of place because im surrounded by people who seem to know sooo much more than me (i know this sounds like a very much grass is greener on the other side situation but i assure you i am hopelessly out of my depth here). i'm genuinely having a little bit of a crisis bc i used to be the child that Knew Things and Read, but now, so is everybody im surrounded by. i originally meant to send this ask to ask you for recs/resources on knowing more, but i'm not fully sure as to what exactly i need to know more of, so do you have any tips on how to inculcate a habit of learning more generally (subscribe to newspapers? listen to podcasts? but like, when, where, which ones, how do i find the right ones?). i desperately need to be the smart kid again, i don't know who i am without it lol

hello. i think you should be patient with yourself. college is disorienting because you go from being with people who didn't really choose to be in school and study what school makes them study to people who definitely chose the sciences or humanities or whatever. it's only logical that you feel out of depth, i know i did too. but trust me, however much it feels like people know more already, it's also that college is a leveller: you will be taught things, you will be taught how to think and much of what's coming in terms of academia is a fresh start for everyone.

i don't think the way out is to know everything and to always be up to date on everything under the sun. i also can't recommend what you should be reading or listening to, other than just standard news, which will then lead you to more finer material that's about the things you care about. the easiest way really is to be on the lookout for sources: your professors will tell you, ask your classmates if something they mention sounds interesting, find what you like in the library and so on.

also lastly, i don't think you're supposed to know who you are when you're in college. college exists for you to figure that out. don't worry about not knowing what your thing is (i'm 24 and i don't know what my thing is), but start small with things that are adjacent to either what you're studying or what you've conventionally liked. then you build on that and the next and so on.

hope this helps :)

[apiratefellinlovewithastar]

https://www.tumblr.com/darlingjunebug/728466035752271872?source=share

it's skull, skull is the third party who gets involved bc he's the only who has the emotional intelligence to notice the problem and the lack of self preservation to put himself in the line of fire

There are some pros and cons to being a civilian suddenly thrust into not only the cursed mafia world, but also the cursed mafia world.

Pros: he gets paid to do what he loves—to play out his stunts in a setting where he doesn’t have to hold back so as to not to raise civilian suspicions about his condition, while also getting all of the acclaim when his subordinates genuinely shower him with it.

(Was it a mindfuck when some clown just showed up in his living room trying to reclute him? Yes. Is it dangerous? Yes. But if there’s anything the great Skull-sama loves, it’s a good challenge!)

Cons: once in a while he has to spend time in the vicinity of some less-than-desirable individuals, who consider him—him!—to be the less-than-desirable individual. The nerve!

(He’s not factoring Kawahira’s little misadventure, specifically, into this; getting turned into a toddler isn’t any weirder than being able to regenerate his body and coming back to life in his books.

Now that they’re out of the woods and he can laugh about it, he can begrudgingly admit—in the safety of his mind—that Checker Face did it for a noble cause, despite going about it in a not-so-hot fashion. If Skull were a millennia old being, he would play Russian roulette with some douchebags and give them body dysmorphia just for shits and giggles.

Skull will, however, complain about the acquaintances it left him with, as much as he wants, for as long as they’re assholes—which is shaping up to be for a very, very long time.)

The delightful but ultimately exasperating shit show that are one Sawada Tsunayoshi and Reborn-senpai does not fall into either of those categories, but in a secret, third, second-option-adjacent thing: idiots in love who, despite being more in sync with each other’s emotions than anyone could ever wish to be with their partner’s, couldn’t be more out of touch with their feelings if they tried. (And Skull has seen some paradoxes in his time, okay?)

All of this is relevant because, ultimately, despairingly, he’s gonna have to intervene. Jesus fucking Christ.

None of Tsuna’s little Elements, let alone any of Skull’s former colleagues—or anyone else who could, for that matter—is gonna do jack shit about it. They’re all either too emotionally constipated themselves, too scared of Reborn to dare going against him, or too willing to let them ‘go at their own pace’ (as if that will ever lead anywhere!).

So. It all falls into his hands to do something about it.

Does Skull win anything by meddling? Not in the slightest. On the contrary—

“I do not get paid enough for this shit,” Skull groans. “I do not get paid at all for this shit.”

If anything, he’s risking death by Reborn-senpai!

But he owes it to Tsuna, because despite being obviously influenced by Reborn in more ways than anyone would like, he has never, not even once, been unkind to Skull. Even before the whole Representative Battles happened—and that’s a whole other debt he needs to repay.

Unlike anybody else who has ever interacted with both Skull and Reborn, Tsuna has never once lacked basic human decency. (Skull wishes he had lacked basic human decency; he wouldn’t feel so morally obligated to protect the kid’s heart then.)

Enma pats his back in comfort when Skull hides his face in the other’s shoulder. Earnestly, he says, “I think you’re doing something truly honorable, senpai,” because he’s seen those two and knows what Skull has to deal with; more so than Skull, actually, because while Skull can just fuck-off whenever they get unbearable, Enma lives here and still has to interact with them on a daily basis.

What the fuck.

Skull raises his head long enough to look at him. “How do you deal with it, Enma-kun?”

Like the true child soldier he is—and he’s not gonna open that can of worms at the moment; Jesus, why did he even have to think about it?! One emotional crisis at a time, please!—Enma stares off into space before solemnly saying, “I grew up with Adel and Julie,” like that answers anything.

It kinda does, funnily enough.

“Ne, ne, Enma-kun,” Skull wheedles, getting an idea.

But Enma shakes his head, smiling apologetically before he can even say anything else. “I can’t help you with this,” he says, soothing the sting of his betrayal by running gentle fingers through Skull’s nape. “I grew up with Adel and Julie,” he reiterates meaningfully.

It takes Skull a moment.

“That bitch,” he says with an offended gasp. “She told you not to get involved, didn’t she?!”

Enma tugs gently at a lock in reproach. “Be nice to my sister.”

Skull pouts. Enma’s eyes soften. The fond amusement in his expression makes Skull’s stomach flutter.

(Maybe he has indigestion or something? He’ll have to pick up some Otha’s Isan on his way back.)

“If it makes you feel better, I will cheer you on every step of the way, okay? So hang in there, senpai.”

That does make him feel better.

If nothing else, Skull will at least have a cute little kouhai to come back to and be comforted by when this inevitably blows up on his face.

“Well,” Skull says, revisiting his earlier thoughts. He leans into Enma’s touch, feeling rejuvenated. “If there’s anything the great Skull-sama loves, it’s a good challenge!”

[saintbleeding]

do you have any advice for writing image descriptions? I’ve been wanting to add some to my art but I don’t know how to go about it

hello anon!!! that’s a wonderful thing to want to do and im happy to offer whatever help i can :3

so because image descriptions are very much a community effort, that does also mean there isn’t really a style guide or anything, which can be freeing but also quite intimidating! here are some kinda off the top of my head suggestions:

If ur comfier putting the ID in alt text than the post body, that is still much MUCH better than no ID at all (and side note, if someone copy+pastes ur id into a reblog, it’s not a suggestion that you did anything wrong, they’re just trying to make them maximally accessible. while a lot of ppl who need IDs will use screenreaders and will prefer alt text, there are ppl whose preference is plain text in the body of the post (i personally fall into this category))

similarly, if you are struggling to write an ID/don’t have the energy/etc, i cannot recommend People’s Accessibility on discord highly enough. there are some wonderful folks in there who can give you pointers or even write IDs for you! likewise, i can’t speak on others’ behalf but i’ve gladly written IDs for ppl’s posts before they’ve put them up before, and i’m happy to do so, even if we havent interacted before! you can shoot me a DM with the image you need described and i’m glad to assist

more specifically:

it’s good practice to include the name of the fandom and the characters, assuming it’s fanart. altho it’s likely that fanart will stay broadly within a circle where people are familiar with the source material, there may be ppl who encounter the post and wouldn’t know this detail without it being laid out explicitly

you’re welcome to mention whichever details you like, especially if you are the artist, because you know what’s important to the image as a whole. it’s also perfectly acceptable not to get super detailed on things like clothing/hairstyles, especially if they aren’t relevant to what’s going on

a good rule of thumb is to ask yourself, if you didn’t have the image in front of you and just had the description, would it be a true representation of what the image looks like/portrays? would your mental image be accurate? that’s what you’re shooting for.

the best advice i can give is to just dive in and start, bc it gets a lot less intimidating once you’ve done a few, and it also gets easier the more you do it :3

also, i think trying to follow ppl who describe images helps a lot, because you will get more passive exposure to descriptions and what you think works/doesn’t, which can improve your own ID writing! on that note, highly recommend @princess-of-purple-prose/@pathos-logical (kay is a pillar of this and every community tbqh), @ryutarotakedown, @lucky-numberme, @fox-guardian, @squeeneyart, @hotdrinks, @samwise1548, and @rq-described (a breadth of interests represented here, but also if you’re asking me i presume you have at least a passing interest in audio drama and adjacent :3 )

thanks so much for asking and as i said i’m always happy to help however i can!!! happy describing, i believe in you!!!

[zai-doodles]

Hi would it be ok I asked more of your world building ? I’m very curious to see what you come up with ^^

it can be the council , kingdoms , anything ! Please ; I also like your idea of magic and how Levy and Droy are very close cause of magic tree !

Also hi Hope you’re doing ok !

hi ok im gonna put the magic system stuff here since i messed up the order of the asks dw abt it

Types

Innate

The most common type of mage

Almost all mages start out as innate mages

Stats

Versatility medium

Are more capable of learning other types of magic even if they are more inclined to oen type

Control high

Natural magic level high

Definition

Magic that comes naturally to a mage, typically needs lots of practice in order to be more powerful and requires a great deal of control inorder to channel without some sort of conduit

Anything can be a conduit for innate magic, it does not have to be a magically enhanced weapon

Its actually better if its not magically enhanced already because its easier to channel ur own magic thro it if theres not already a  preexisting charm on it

Different races can have an affinity for certain types of magic, seedlings w plant magic, mermaids w water/ charm magic etc etc

Innate mages are able to learn other types of magic however most find it easier to stick to what theyre good at, sometimes picking up adjacent magic types (ex, a water wizard could hypothetically learn ice magic or even poison depending on how they choose to use it)

Examples

Elemental magic

All of the elements have a school of magic that can be learned and expanded on, v avatar and black clover mixed together

Usually wilded by non humans  bc its just easier for them

The core elements are the most common of course but there are mages who have dedicated their lives to cultivating new and interesting forms of this

Example, u can be an earth mage but if u live in a desert u are probably only using sand, then someone else would introduce heat and make it glass magic etc etc (very black clover and atla like i said lol)

Maker magic

A subcategory of elemental magic, is not typically offensive in nature and used more for practicality such as construction

Takes an extremely high level of control and connection to ones element (a la gray, ur, lyon etc)

Script magic

Anything involving the actual study and mechanics of magic

Curse magic

Black magic/ banned magic, any type of script magic that is used to permanently attack or alter a persons magical core of sorts

This is why healing magic is extremely rare, since the practice of blessing or affecting someones magic with an outside source can easily go wrong and do more harm than good (allegedly lol)

Rune magic

Much older, script magic is basically a more general form of this

It does require much more research and learning so its not as common as general script magic

Cast times are typically longer but the result is a more sturdy spell that can stay up for longer periods of time without constant supervision from the caster

Requip

Anything involving pocket dimensions + storing magical items that can be summoned

Most requip mages consider themselves more as fighters who use a pocket dimension as storage basically, the weapons dont even have to be magical its more of a class than a magic type

This is why it is considered innate and not holder, because the act of requiping is not derived from the items

Holder

Second most common type of mage

Are typically mages born with low levels of natural magic or weren't taught how to cultivate their magic, leading them to lean on enchanted objects to perform spells

Sometimes they are just innate mages who use items to supplement their fighting style

Stats

Versatility high

Since the magic is stored in the object, these mages are capable of using multiple different ones or could even just learn a different type of magic if they wanted

Control low

Like a weapon, magical items take training to use, it is not uncommon for magical weapons to overwhelm mages and backfire since they never cultivated their own magical control 

Natural magic level low

Holders TYPICALLY use items to make up for a lack of training or natural skill for magic, humans are the most common 

Examples

Seal/ Glyphs

Any piece of paper or medium with spells embedded within the paper

Fr just the glyph system in the owl house

Card magic

A very specific form of glyph magic

Decks can be comprised of something resembling a tarot or a playing deck or a combination

There must always be a set number of cards in someones deck, if the deck was made with 52 cards in mind, there must always be 52 cards in order for the magic to be most effective

Trading cards is allowed or replacing them, its more about the box they come in

The case for cards is essentially the charging port, it reactivates any card placed inside but it must ALWAYS have the total deck in order to work

Pict magic

Using a magically enhanced brush, 

Any form of magical weapon wielder tho most mages who have a magical weapon use a different type of innate magic primarily

Patron

Least common, not to say they are rare but do hold a level of status in the magic world

Celestials and takeovers are the most common of this type

Stats kinda

Versatility low

Unable to learn more types of magic without extreme levels of training

Control medium

Requires a level of control in the case of takeover or lacimas but overall usually don't overwhelm the user without their explicit consent

This varies based on the power level of the patron

Natural magic level low

Since these mages outsource their power, they typically don't possess much natural mana themselves

Definition

A magic that can hypothetically learned by anyone no matter natural level of magic, however are typically hyper specific and change the magical make up of the user, making it nearly impossible for them to learn a different type of magic once its taken hold

Must involve drawing your magic from an outside source, typically a much more powerful magical creature however mortals have started using lacimas as substitutes for the more natural blessings

Living vs object sources

Lacimas are the most common form of imitating the effects of patron magic, they typically just skip the step of having to actually make a contract or agreement with a higher being by just distilling the magic of that creature into something they can either implant in themselves or consume

Because there is no bond to a conscious being controlling the magic flow, lacimas are extremely unstable as they are just concentrated magic in its purest form, causing it to usually rapidly change the users magical make up and often manifests as some kind of physical infection or transformation to force the host body to better accommodate the magic

Acnologia is the text book example of this, except he fully gave into the magical energy and lost his humanity in the process, leaving him as a soulless being that is purely a vessel for magical output

The transformations can result in chronic pain/ disabilities for the user or even death depending on the severity which is why it is not a common practice

Examples

Takeover magic 

Any form of magic that involved having to consume a living creature in order to gain their magical abilities

Results in being able to tap into that creatures soul and transform into them (pretty much the same as canon ngl).

Consume is vague on purpose, the extent of the transformation also depends on the amount or form of consumption

Slayer magic

Slayer magic is when a magically inclined/based creature gifts magic to a mortal

This use to be called blessing magic but during the war between dragons and dragon borns the name changed to slayer

The first instance of this is mavis gifting her charm to zeref, which he ironically used to accidentally wipie out all the fairies so-

Instead of a full transformation at once, slayer magic slowly changes the user over the course of years and can even have affects on the offspring of the user

Ie the dragon slayers starting out as normal humans at first but after like 3 generations are just full on dragon borns

If they hadnt been wiped out hypothetically they would have just become full on dragons

Celestial magic

TECHNICALLY just slayer magic but due to political and social conotations there is a separation

The main difference is that while slayers store the blessing inside their bodies, celestial mages store the blessing in a keyas a symbol for the bond

Its not holder magic tho bc the key itself isnt watch magical? They are specifically tied to one person

Oath magic

[stuckinmymind22]

After Ever (Chapter 6)

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pair: sylus (l&ds) x MC tags/tw: lots of dialogue from game, cannon adjacent ig, graphic violence, blood, swearing, slight ooc, not proof read (never is) word count: 5.5k song rec: better than revenge by taylor swift a/n: important to note that he is not himself here, they are in extreme circumstances and might behave a bit ooc, but given their circumstances it makes sense PSA driving tired can be just as dangerous as driving under the influence

important: i wanted to group my writing together so i decided to move this fic over to this account but i promise it's still me. if you want to follow this fic and updates but don't want to follow me bc im annoying (understandable) check out the tag #after ever fanfiction and if you follow me for one piece content you can just mute the tag or something idk

Her eyes fluttered open, a blinding light dominating her vision. She was restrained at her wrists and ankles, she couldn’t see them, but knew they were there. Muffled voices spoke among themselves above her in a language she didn’t quite understand. Her heart rate quickened and her breathing deepened, the expansion of her lungs cut short by another set of straps outlining her midsection, further locking her in place.

She was praying that the people would leave and leave her alone, but it seemed no god was listening that day. The shadow of a looming figure broke up the powerful light. Another figure passes what looks to be a scalpel over to the first one. That is when she realized what was happening.

She screamed, pleading with the doctors to let her be. She could feel the tears rolling down her face, snot pooling at her upper lip. A hand came descending down onto her face and she screamed. The hand wiped away the mucus and her tears, telling her it would all be okay. The voice was familiar and should be comforting, but it was only inspiring further panic.

She screamed until she couldn’t anymore. A sharp sting from the scalpel making its first cut was the last thing she felt before everything started to get hazy.

“Just go to sleep, child,” a voice said… 

…Grandma?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kore’s eyes snapped open as she jolted awake. The relief she felt at the ordeal being over was cut short when the figure of another doctor loomed over her. It suddenly hit her that she had no idea where she was or what had happened to her, hell, she had no way of knowing what time it was or how long she was out. Although she attempted to not let fear get the best of her, she was scared and disoriented, worried that she hadn’t truly escaped her nightmare.

“You’re awake,” the old man said before checking her vitals. She was connected to various machines – all of which, according to her limited knowledge, seemed to be outdated by decades. Seemingly content, the man began the task of disconnecting her from all of the equipment as well as the IV bags that hung by her side.

“Y-yes, I am,” she responded, her voice raw from lack of use. Her throat was bone dry, and a glass of water was thrusted into her hands, which she greedily gulped down.

Kore was trying hard to get a grip on reality.  Her body, starving for stimulus, amplified every one of her senses, the steady beat of the heart monitor pounded in her head. Her vision started to regain clarity as her eyes started to fully adjust to the light.

“Good, we thought you might be a goner,” a new voice said from somewhere in the room. Her eyes snapped to the source of the sound, but whoever it was was shrouded in shadows. Well, that’s promising, Kore remarked about her safety.

“It looks like her vitals have returned back to normal, she should be out of the woods now, but it is important that you keep an eye on her and contact me if her condition starts to deteriorate,” the doctor said to the other voice in the room before making a prompt exit.

The room around her was dark, old, and stuffy, it looks like it could be from a haunted house if you added more dust and cobwebs, she remarked. In spite of all of its flaws, the room looked to be in remarkable condition.The sheets that she lied in seemed to have once been of quality but have worn into rough cotton over time.

“There is some food next to you if you are hungry,” the same voice said. Kore turned to the bedside and saw a modest meal, her stomach growled at the mere sight of food. Weakly, she reached for it and started eating the now cold soup.

A voice, slightly different but eerily similar, spoke up, “We made sure that you always had a meal because we didn’t know when you would wake up. Sorry if anything is missing, someone got hungry while watching over you.”

“So you two,” Kore started with a mouthful of food, decorum be damned.

“You’re seeing things. I’m the only one here. There is no ‘two’.” the first voice said. By then, Kore’s eyes had adjusted well enough to see the two figures in the room, one far in the corner resting on a dresser and the other walking closer to her. Her eyes narrow as she glares at the young man.

“Oh really, then I suppose your brother here is just an illusion,” she said pointing at the other man.

“Wow! How did you know we were brothers?” the one in the corner asked as he hopped off the dresser.

“Your voices are similar,” she paused, continuing once the second man had reached the light, “Plus you look the same. Twins, I suppose.” For some reason both men seemed to be impressed with her figuring them out.

“Oh wow! What else do you know?” the one on the right said.

“Do it again!” the other twin cheered.

“No,” Kore said and their shoulders visibly sagged, to which she couldn’t help but chuckle at. “What I want to know is why you were watching me and how long I was out.”

“Aw, you’re no fun,” the same twin complained before the other elbowed him in the side.

“I’m sorry about him, I’m Kieran,” the one on the left said.

“And I’m Luke,” said the victim of the elbowing.

“To answer your question,” Kieran continued, “you were out for approximately three days, maybe four, I’m not sure, and we were watching you because our boss told us to.”

“When he wasn’t at your bedside like some lovesick puppy,” Luke giggled, earning him another elbow in his side. The twins seemed to have a silent conversation with each other that only they could understand.

“What I meant to say,” Luke said cautiously, eyeing Kieran for approval, “was that we should let our boss know that you are awake.”

“Before you do that I have a couple of questions,” Kore asked, the twins looked at each other and shrugged before she continued, “Where am I?”

“You’re in Onychinus’ base,” Luke answered.

“Why?” Kore further questioned.

“Because after you passed out our boss wanted to make sure that you were safe-” 

“Because you know the whereabouts of an aether core and no other reason,” Luke interrupted Kieran with an uncomfortable laugh. Kieran only glared at his brother.

“That answers my next question,” Kore said, finishing her food. “Now I only have one more question left, where is the bathroom?”

The twins guided her to the room’s en suite and informed her about extra clothes and toiletries in case she wanted to shower after so long. Relieved, she took them up on that offer, noisily locking the door behind her. It was only after she swept the bathroom for cameras, bugs, or other means of surveillance that she felt comfortable enough to do anything.

In the shower, she becomes lost in thought. She wasn’t quite sure how she was going to go about getting more information about the aether cores and she didn’t know how she felt being kept hostage in Onychinus’ base.

She knew she needed to get out, that she wasn’t safe, but when would she have a better opportunity to gather intel on the enemy than being confined in their walls? As the water cascaded down her body, a plan started to formulate in her head.

If she could escape long enough to learn the layout of the base and its surroundings then allow herself to be caught again, she could use that opportunity to become close with her captors and learn more information about aether cores. Ideally, she would also be able to take down the whole of Onychinus, or at least the people at the top, but that was a secondary motive. All of this hinged on the idea that they would go after her, but with the incentive of an aether core, it was a bet she was willing to make.

Knowing the quicker she can escape the better, Kore started to strategize. She quickly settled on a classic technique, which seemed like it would be full proof if she could acquire a weapon. Finishing her shower, she dries off and goes over to the countertop where the fresh set of clothes lay. 

She wasn’t sure if it was kind or if it was weird that somehow all the clothes were her size even down to the bra. One thing that she did find was her crossbody bag, she tore into the bag and was grateful that whoever put it there hadn’t been thoughtful enough to actually go through it because in it she found her “weapon.” Now all she needed was a reason for one of the twins to get close enough to her. Inspiration struck when she was struggling to get the bra hooks to line up. Quickly, she finished getting dressed, leaving her bra unhooked.

She grabbed the shirt and hid the laser pointer she found in it. Pretending to struggle with hooking her bra, Kore exited the bathroom. She was relieved to find that the twins were still in the room. This is going to work, just commit to it, she thought to herself.

“Excuse me,” Kore said bashfully, “I’m really struggling to get this hooked on right, could one of you help me please?”

Both twins were too stunned to speak. Oh shit, this isn’t going to work, this would’ve worked better if they were women, Kore thought, cursing herself for not coming up with a better plan.  

Kieran was the first to snap out of it, stuttering, “S-sure t-thing, miss.” 

Kieran approached Kore apprehensivly and she turned around so he could help. While he was struggling for his life trying to clasp a simple bra, Kore was pulling her “weapon” out of her shirt.

Quickly she turns around and points the object at his head, “Here’s what’s going to happen: you’re going to give me your weapons and let me walk out of here or else.”

“Or else what,” Kieran, the one she had hostage, spoke up - with genuine curiosity. Kore shot him an incredulous look and composed herself quickly.

“Have you heard of the Xt-7, the Hunters Association’s latest weapon?” she asked, pressing the small object further into Kieran’s neck. She didn’t wait for a response before she continued, “It’s a high-powered laser that can penetrate your skin and vaporize your blood.” It was that that caused Luke to kick his weapon over to her and Kieran dropped his weapon to the floor. “The good news is that it’s quick and painless. The bad news is that you’ll be losing a lot of blood from your neck, are you squeamish?”

“Did we say that you weren’t allowed to leave?” Luke asked, Kore hesitated, “You’re free to go at any time.”

“We were never holding you hostage,” Kieran said shakily, still believing the laser pointer to be a threat to his life.

“Oh…” Kore mumbled, lowering the laser pointer slightly, “I’m still taking your weapons, but then you’re free to go.” True to her word, she picked up the duo’s guns and lowered the pointer. She then fixed her bra herself, Kieran had tried but clearly he has never touched a bra in his life. Pulling on her shirt, she heads towards the door.

“People are looking for you, you know,” One of the twins starts, “People more dangerous than us.” Kore can’t help but scoff at his words.

“And even if you escape, you’ll only get lost in no-man’s-land,” the other twin adds. Despite their warnings, the twins willingly gave Kore directions out of the building.

“As a gift, why don’t you guys have this,” Kore said, handing over her “weapon.” Luke took it from her hand eagerly and Kore opened the door, he thanked her profusely for giving them a confidential weapon from the Hunter’s Association. Both of the twins were marveling at the small object and on her way out the door Kore said with a gleeful grin, “It’s a laser pointer.”

As soon as she left the room, Kieran was already informing their boss that she was awake.

“How far do you think she’ll get before he finds her? A hundred meters?” Luke said.

“I bet not even ten,” Kieran responded.

“I’ll say five, then.” 

Huh, it was really that easy, Kore thought to herself as she entered the hall, its former opulence on display. Trickles of daylight from other rooms was the only thing that illuminated the way. At least I know it’s daytime, she thought.

Opting to ignore the directions that she had been given, she roamed the halls making a mental map of the building. The guns she took off the twins in her waistband dug into her hip as she walked. She had yet to regain her strength, her muscles ached with every step she made. She took short breaks periodically, justifying it in her mind as creating a more detailed map of the mansion while she braced up against the wall. 

At one of these stops Kore’s mind started to wander to the last thing she remembered before she woke up in that bed. She couldn’t help but wonder if she had hallucinated parts of it, she couldn’t picture smoke having the power to lift a fully grown man into the air like that. Her speculation was cut short when she caught movement in her periphery.

With a caw a large crow flew over top her head, as if it was trying to get her attention. As usual, curiosity got the best of her and she followed the bird to see where it went. The bird navigated the halls with familiarity, taking her back to where she started and closer to where Luke and Kieran said the exit was. Just when she was catching up to the crow, it made a sharp right entering a room through the transom window.

She heard the end of a conversation as it stopped abruptly, another door opened and closed with the sound of fading footsteps. The door she stood in front of was ajar, she could have sworn it was closed earlier. She didn’t know what, but something was pulling her to the room, almost like she needed it to survive.

“Come in,” a deep voice said from inside, “I don’t bite.” The voice sounded familiar but she couldn’t quite place it. After a moment’s hesitation, Kore entered the room.

As soon as she stepped through the door she felt a force pulling at the hem of her shirt. Before she knew it the guns she had confiscated were pulled from her waistband and flew across the room in a cloud of smoke, ending in the hands of the only other person in the room.

“It’s not very nice to steal,” the man said, giving the guns to the crow perched on the back of his chair, who took them and flew out the same way it entered, “I would’ve thought the Hunter’s Association would have taught you that.” 

She figured out how she knew his voice, he was the one who killed the man who kidnapped her, and kidnapped her in turn. Kore was quite taken aback by the man in front of her, even in the dim light she could tell that he was gorgeous, snow white hair, crimson eyes. His chiseled features were accentuated by the dim lights casting shadows on his face. He sat upon what seemed to function as a throne with a haughty aura surrounding him. This must be him, this must be the leader of Onychinus, Kore thought to herself, This is Sylus. 

“You’re one to talk,” Kore scoffed back, still at the room’s edge. The man let out a dark chuckle. Suddenly, the same energy that pulled the weapons away from her was pulling her closer to him until she was standing a few feet in front of Sylus. She looked him in the eyes with every intention to chastise him for moving her like a ragdoll, but then she started to hear voices in her head.

Kill him… Devour him… He’s yours…

Using all her might, she broke eye contact with him and to her relief, the voices stopped. She made note to avoid looking him in the eyes at all costs, lest he get the upper hand. That idea didn’t last for long as the smoke forced her to look at him. This time the voices didn’t appear.

“Is this how you greet an old friend?” The question confused Kore, up until recently she had never seen him in her life. A wave of anger flashed through his expression before quickly being tampered down to the same uncaring aura he held before. 

“I take it that you don't remember anything,” Sylus said, something like hurt creeping into his voice. “I suppose it would be time wasted trying to tell you anything. All you need to know is that you and I, we’re the same. True kindred spirits.”

“We’re not the same. You’re a monster,” Kore spat out, “I should kill you where you stand.”

A dark laugh escaped the imposing man and he responded, “You’re lucky I don’t like picking on the weak, Kitten.”

“You killed my family, you bastard,” she screamed, storming up to his dumb chair. For a fraction of a second, Sylus’s eyes widened, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared, leaving Kore questioning what she had seen.

Reaching into his waistband he pulled out a gun. He made sure that the gun was loaded and the safety was off before he extended the handle out to her - much more relaxed than he should be. 

“Didn’t you want to take my life? Or do your words ring hollow?” Sylus asked her with a steady voice. She was shaking, unable to understand why he was so calm, casually offering for her to shoot him as if it was a benign activity. He patiently held the gun out for her, waiting for her to accept it. 

The voices from earlier started chanting in her head once more. Despite her conscious begging her not to, Kore reached out and grabbed the gun, grasping it firmly. She had had so many years of training that firearms were second nature to her at this point, without thinking she pointed the barrel at the center of his eyebrows.

“You think I won’t do it?”

“That’s better," he smiled. “I don’t think you have it in you,” he said, redirecting the gun so it was aiming at his heart. Kore hesitated again, her moral compass speaking louder than the weird voices inside her head.

“Why are you trembling? Has your resolve already begun to falter? You weren’t just bluffing, were you?” His even, condescending tone was really starting to piss her off.

“Do you need some help? Yes? No? Maybe So?” Sylus further patronizing her was the final straw. With a renewed sense of determination and without a second thought, Kore pulled the trigger.

It wasn’t as bloody as she had expected, aiming for the heart. Nonetheless, blood covered both of them as it shot out of his arteries. The recoil had sent them flying apart, Sylus slumped in his chair and Kore stumbled several steps back to the ground. Upon hearing his ragged, gurgly breath, Kore regretted her actions. Just because the man quite literally had asked to be shot didn’t make it right. He may be a heartless killer but it was the government's job to deliver justice, not hers. 

“Fuck,” Kore whispered. This time she screamed, “Fuck!”

She scrambled to her feet and ran to him as fast as she could. She applied pressure to his wound, desperately hoping it would stop his bleeding, while mumbling a line of creative curses. When the blood didn’t stop she resorted to pleading, “Don't die, you can’t die yet! I still need you! Shit.”

The man in front of her chuckled. Chuckled! She was trying to save his life, grappling with becoming a killer and he was laughing. 

“Are you worried about me?” Sylus managed to choke out. He was insane. Insane. 

“Are you crazy,” Kore whisper-shouted at the man, scared of drawing attention to the mess she had made. 

“You wanted to take my life. And now you have," he said. Suddenly, waves of black and red smoke converged around the wound, obscuring it from her sight. By the time they disappeared all that remained of the injury was the hole in his shirt and the blood on her hands.

 Kore had been quite literally stunned into silence, never having had seen - or even imagined - anything of the sorts before. He chuckled, yet again, at her reaction. 

“Have you already figured out how you’ll pay me back?” He said - almost playfully. As expected, he was met with silence. He pushed him off of her and that seemed to bring her back to reality.

“What do you mean?” Kore asked.

“I saved your life and you took mine, it seems like you owe me something in return, does it not?”

She followed his line of logic but didn’t want to give the criminal anything so she stayed silent. Sylus smiled, he knew what game she was playing. He let the two of them bask in silence until she broke.

“Just let me go,” she finally said.

“Oh, Kitten,” he sighed disappointedly, “Do you know how many people are out there looking for you after your little show at The Nest?”

“Better off out there than in here with you,” Kore bit back.

“Are you sure about that, Sweetheart?” he spoke with such condescending certainty that Kore’s resolve started to falter. Sylus patiently watched as her brain weighed her options. When her shoulder deflated in defeat he knew he had won.

“Fine, what do you want?” Kore said dejectedly. She watched as her dejected tone brought a smile to his face - the damn smirk made her want to go for his neck.

“Resonate with me.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Her resonance wasn’t working. No matter how much they had tried, Kore could not resonate with him. Although there had been a connection there, Sylus had felt it, it was muted as if there were a hundred brick walls blocking it. Now they were on their way to the only person who could fix it.

Riding his motorcycle typically would be enough to clear his head, but with Kore gripping onto him so tightly he couldn’t help but replay their interaction in his head. It was not how he had imagined it would be. Truth be told, it had upset him how she had looked at him with such unfamiliarity, it's not that he had expected her to remember everything but the blank stare she gave hurt.

There was also what she had said about her family, it was hard for him to believe that they were dead, although he couldn’t bring himself to feel any sympathy for Josephine, the news of Caleb’s death rattled him. He hadn’t bothered to correct her that it wasn’t him who did it, but she had been so hellbent he knew he would never be able to change her mind.

“Holy–! Are there no speed limits in the N109 Zone?” he heard Kore’s complaint, muffled by the wind, and chuckled a little to himself. To be honest, he had gone through that corner faster than he should have. He was already on edge, he hadn’t been sleeping well - or at all - since she got here. If he had half a mind he wouldn’t be driving, but these were special circumstances. He needed to get her fixed because, clearly, there is something wrong with her. 

With his reckless driving they get to the Workshop in no time. Even after he shut off the bike, Kore’s eyes were still pinned shut in fear. Sylus forced her arms off from around his waist and dismounted the motorcycle.

 “There’s no need to be dramatic. Now, get off,” he said to her. To his relief she didn’t protest and joined him as they walked to a large, abandoned looking building. Before Kore could reach for the door Sylus grabbed her arm, halting her in her tracks.

“If you want to stay out of trouble, behave yourself once we get inside, got it?” Sylus said, waiting for her nod before he opened the door.

“Go away, we’re closed,” a male voice said from deep in the building. Sylus chuckled at the insinuation and continued walking, dragging Kore along with him.

“I said we’re cl- Oh, Mr Sylus, welcome,” the man’s tone did a 180 when he realized who the intruder was. He had been busy working on a machine of some sort before they got there.

“You don’t normally do unannounced visits, what’s the occasion,” Jack asked. He seemed to notice Kore for the first time, after wiping his hands clean of grease he extended one out to her and said, “Hello, I’m Jack.”

 “No time for introductions. Something is wrong with her evol, fix her.” Sylus said gruffly before a dark smirk overtook his handsome face, “actually, I brought you a guinea pig. It is past time for the Evol Linkage Alteration Project to have a living test subject.”

Kore’s eyes widened, she was about to protest but when Sylus threw her a deadly glare she knew this was not a fight she was going to win. That didn’t stop her body from showing that now she was on high alert. Sylus nearly chuckled to himself when he noticed her scanning their surroundings for anything that could help her out of the situation.

“I'll see what I can do,” Jack nodded, walking over to an intimidating array of equipment, “I will have to run some tests first. Come over here, Miss.”

Sylus hoped that once whatever was wrong with her evol was fixed he could find out once and for all if she was the one he shared fragments of the same aether core with. He knew that typically aether cores, being as powerful as they were, were often split into multiple parts before being implanted. He was itching to know the truth, almost as much as he was itching for her not to hate him.

“What happened while I was away?” Sylus inquired in a calculated move.

While hooking Kore up to the machines, Jack said what Sylus already knew - what he wanted Kore to hear - that he wasn’t responsible for her family’s deaths. Jack, unknowingly, aided his case further by outright saying that he was the scapegoat for the attacks in Linkon. 

The entire time Jack spoke Sylus kept his eyes trained on Kore’s facial expressions, watching as they moved from uninterested to taken aback. He smiled lightly to himself, it seemed like it was working.

“Are you saying that someone else was behind the explosions?” Kore butted in. Her daring behavior was something that Sylus was still getting used to, but he couldn’t say that he didn’t enjoy it.

“Oh dear, you look upset.” Sylus said, trying to keep the gloating tone from his voice, “I didn’t know that you were the type to swallow a lie that makes you feel better instead of looking for the truth. Although, I suppose I should have expected that from a hunter.”

Kore opened her mouth, clearly ready to fire something back at him when Jack spoke, “I’m afraid that she isn’t a suitable recipient. Her Evol Linkage is normal, only its strength has been suppressed.”

The news that her evol was suppressed didn’t surprise Sylus in the slightest, he had been expecting that to be the case after the third time they couldn’t resonate. He was pretty sure that he knew the answer to his question but decided to ask anyway, “Did someone put in a suppressor?”

“Nothing that I could find,” Jack said, before breaking eye contact, “I don’t think it’s physical.”

“I can resonate with others just fine. I don’t know what they issue with you is,” Kore butted in, yet again. Sylus’s nostrils flared, she was getting on his nerves. Suddenly, an idea formed in his mind. 

“And that thing I asked you to alter… How’s that?” He questioned, hinting at the wanderer he had gotten his hands on. It was a risk he was willing to take, plus he would be right there if anything were to happen.

“Are you sure about this, Mr. Sylus,” Jack asked worriedly. Sylus nodded. Jack pressed some buttons and a door opened revealing a large wanderer.

Kore’s entire body showcased the shock and horror of seeing the subdued wanderer. He hadn’t come here with the intent of seeing how she fought, but it couldn’t hurt to see how she reacted to an opponent, especially when she was caught off guard.

Kore was still covered in his blood from when she had shot him. That won’t do, he thought to himself, the wanderer had been trained not to touch him and her covered in his blood would confuse the creature. With a simple wave of his hand, his evol cleansed her of the dried blood. 

“You said that it was only her strength that was suppressed, right?,” Sylus said, entirely too calm for the situation, “She just needs a little stimulation then.”

The wanderer was then let loose on Kore. Sylus watched her struggle - it was almost as if she was completely out of her element. He couldn’t help but wonder if this was a fluke or if someone on the UNICORNS team was really this incompetent at their job. Torn between being disappointed at her lackluster job and proud that the wanderer was really able to hold its own against an “elite” hunter.

It was quickly realized that she was not ready for this level of opponent, if the fight continued any longer she would be killed. Jack expressed his concern and Sylus had the wanderer called off, disappointed in the outcome of the experiment.

“It’s a shame your evol has deteriorated into its current state,” Sylus sighed. It used to be incredible, he thought

“What the actual fuck was that Sylus?” Kore was fuming, Jack winced at her words, he was far too close for her scream.

“Resonate with me,” Sylus said, grabbing her hand.

“No! Why would I resonate with you of all people,” Kore protested, wrenching her hand out from his.

“Just do what I tell you to for one second,” Sylus countered

“I will never listen to you

Much to Sylus’s disappointment, their connection was even weaker than it had been before.

“Run the tests again, fix her,” he instructed Jack, who looked like he was debating saying something, “What is it Jack?”

“There might be another reason why she can’t resonate,” Jack said looking uncomfortable, “...her evol is special. It utilizes the waves generated by the human brain’s magnetic field. It is possible that her brain’s magnetic field produces repulsive waves against you. That is likely why she can’t resonate with you?”

Sylus gave him a get-to-the-point glare and Jack fumbled with his hands, “To make a long story short… on a subconscious level, either she’s rejecting you, scared of you, or… disgusted by you. Even if she were to undergo alteration, you wouldn’t be able to resonate with her so long as she’s still hostile towards you.”

That felt like a punch to the gut to Sylus, even if she had forgotten him, he hoped that she wouldn’t hate him – and hate him so much that it prevented them from resonating. He was quick to suppress the emotion though, never letting the impartial mask slip.

“And Mr Sylus,” Jack said, snapping him back from thought, “if we were to go through with the alteration and it were to fail, she would be completely ruined. We need to address the root of the cause before we can go any further.

“By the way! I have an evol stabilizer in the storage cabinet. I can make her use it and we’ll see if that helps,” Jack said before pulling Kore away.

As soon as the pair left the room, Sylus’s phone began to ring. He picked it up and Luke was on the other end, “Mr Sylus, Sherman’s men attacked sooner than we anticipated.”

Sylus sighed. Great, another thing for him to have on his plate, he thought. He had Luke provide him with what information they had and it turned out that the attack was nearby. Sylus wasn’t originally intending on abandoning Kore at the worksop, but now he had no choice, he’d come back for her later.

Sylus instructed Mephisto to keep an eye on her before starting back up his bike and riding away. However, he wasn’t counting on her to find her way to the scene of the crime.

a/n: idk why i like writing sleep deprived characters, we gonna try and get them on a consistent sleep schedule soon (not really lol)