#(this is not the Plan i had for them btw. that's still in the works)

[talaok]

Christmas encounters

Summary: You invite Joel, Ellie, Din, and Grogu to your and your boyfriend's Javi Christmas party.

Warnings: Javi’s a bit jealous, but other than that, it's just chaotic writing

This is my gift to @lokischocolatefountain as a part of the @pedrostories Secret Santa event Merry Christmas Eve love!! I really hope you'll like this, I tried my very best i swear. It was such a cute idea btw, I really really loved it!! (also i hope you won't mind the joel and javi dinamic im a slut what can i say)

"c'mon Joel is just a few people I promise"

"You didn't tell me"

"I-" you stuttered "I didn't because otherwise you wouldn't have come!"

"Exactly"

he was giving you that stern dad look you'd see him direct toward Ellie countless times before

"c'mon" you smiled, looking at him and his kid "There's someone I want you to meet"

He raised his brow, not even remotely interested.

But Ellie, oh Ellie indeed was.

"Who?"

You smirked... your plan had worked perfectly.

"You'll have to find out inside"

"Joel c'mon put your big boy pants on and socialize for once"

A chuckle fled your mouth before you had time to cage it.

Joel shot a look Ellie's way, but every single one of you knew that he was gonna budge, he was nothing but a pushover when it came to her.

"an hour tops"

Ellie rolled her eyes as you let them in with a huge smile, even when Joel was shooting daggers at you.

"Stop pouting pretty boy, come meet my friend"

He sighed, before grumbling "If it's another one of your single girlfriends I'll save you some time, I'm not interested"

"I'm not setting you up Joel calm down, I've learned my lesson"

"Ellie" you called for her before she slipped through the people and you'd never find her again "Come here"

The new pair was greeted with hello and Merry Christmas by every person mingling in the entrance, and as you walked, the voices of the small crowd gathered in your living room slowly got louder until finally, you had arrived.

"there she is!" one of your friends yelled, making you smile

"Hi Joel!" Jenna almost jumped from the excitement when she saw the man.

She was one of the unfortunate women you'd set him up with... only she'd remained infatuated by him, while he on the other hand... not so much.

"Hi" he forced a smile in return as Ellie snorted.

But just as Jenna approached, you caught sight of the man you wanted to present your friends and made a beeline for him, hurriedly followed by the pair beside you.

"Din!"

He was sat on one of the chairs close to the fireplace, contemplating it deeply.

He turned at the sound of his name, his helmet reflecting the fire on its right side now.

"Hey" his modulated voice answered you, as his gaze, even if you couldn't actually tell for sure, took in the people next to you.

"These are the people I was telling you about" you smiled, pointing to the men on your left "This is Joel- and this is Ellie"

"Nice to meet you" he nodded

"nice to meet ya too... Din, right?" Joel repeated his name with uncertainty.

Yes, he was grateful it wasn't one of your girlfriends, but he still wasn't exactly expecting... this.

"yes, Din"

"Hey where is Gro-"

But just as you began pronouncing his name, you caught sight of one of the firey logs starting to magically lift from its place.

"Grogu!" Din's voice was immediately followed by the log falling back into place, as a very sorry green little guy appeared from behind his dad's armchair.

"It's ok" you smiled, your voice softening at the sight of him "don't worry about it Grogu"

"What the fuc-"

"Ellie" Joel immediately hushed the girl, who was urgently tagging at his sleeve, her eyes as wide as they would go

"What is- how- I-"

You chuckled, watching the kid stutter in amazement, her gaze trained on the little green guy who happened to be curiously watching her too.

"This is Grogu" Din spoke, "He's my- uhm... friend"

"you're friends with an alien!?"

"Ellie"

Joel's sigh was louder this time

"I guess" Din simply shrugged, seeming almost bored with the whole situation

"What!? Joel, are you seeing this!?"

But just as Joel was starting to respond, surely a lecture about being polite on the tip of his tongue, a voice sounded from behind you

"what's all the fuss? what did I miss?"

An arm wrapped around your back as you felt your boyfriend slide against your side, bringing you impossibly close to him.

"hi baby" you turned your head to look at him with a smile "Ellie and Joel just met Grogu"

"oh" he hummed, a grin splitting his lips "I see"

He took his time glancing away from you, only after getting a good look at your pretty painted lips.

"Joel" he finally said, nodding to the man

Javier had never liked Joel much, something to do with the alleged longing stares he'd direct your way far too often.

"Javier"

Joel in return, never liked him much either, you'd never figured out why.

"Hi Ellie" your boyfriend smiled now

"hi there" she took an eager step forward, as if she was presenting him with a business proposal "Changed your mind about letting me see your gun yet?"

Javi couldn't help but laugh as he shook his head "I'm afraid not"

And as Ellie went back to her place beside Joel's side to grumble with annoyance, Javier nestled his head right against your neck, leaving a quick kiss on the side of it

"you look stunning sweetheart"

You couldn't help but laugh

"And you're being ridiculous honey"

I mean it wasn't like Javier was one to be shy about showing affection for you in public, but you knew what he was doing- why he was doing it now- when Joel was right next to you

"What, I can't tell my girlfriend how beautiful she is?" his hot breath was fanning against your ear as he whispered into it "How amazing this dress looks on you?" he purred, his hand on your back slowly lowering "that I can't wait to see it on the bedroom floor ton-"

"and that's enough" you stopped him with a giggle "You're supposed to be entertaining our guests, not traumatizing them"

He shook his head with a grin, as you turned back to your guests

"So anyway, Din is a very interesting man, Joel, I think you'd get along very w-"

"Y/n!"

A shout sounded from the other side of the room. Your friend Sarah was waving her arms around to desperately get your attention

Oh god, what now?

"The bathroom!"

the bathroom? What about the bathroom?

"I'm sorry, let me just check real quick"

You excused yourself and rushed toward the commotion to find a freaked-out Sarah nervously biting her nails

"I swear I didn't do anything, I came in and there was already a pool of water there"

You frowned, opening the door to the bathroom to inspect it further.

Of course the fucking sink had to break right now

"fuck" you muttered

"It's alright maybe we can just... put a bucket under it" Sarah tried to lighten the mood

But right as she spoke those words, some valve turned or something and more water started dripping onto the floor.

"fuck me, I'll have to call a plumber"

But just then, a voice rumbled from behind you

"I'll fix it"

You turned, finding Joel right in front of you, his eyes moving from the pool of water gathering on the floor to you.

"By the time the plumber comes the whole apartment's gonna be flooded," He said simply, his voice deep and casual

"No Joel I don't want you to spend the whole night repairing the sink, you're supposed to be having fun" you immediately shook your head "I'll call a plumber"

"it's no problem darlin'" he spoke, a soft smile pulling at his lips

"but..."

He let out an amused sigh "I promise"

"Joel- you a hundred percent sure?"

"'m sure, don't worry 'bout it"

You looked at him, inspected every inch of his face to find even an ounce of uncertainty, and when you came up empty, you finally nodded.

"uhm, alright, thank you, really, I'll go look for the toolbox"

He nodded, watching you walk away, but finding an obstacle in his gaze's path.

"y'know... you're not the only one who can fix a sink" Javi grumbled, walking closer to lean on the bathroom's doorframe

"Yeah? then how come you ain't doin' it?" Joel's voice was calm, collected, but Javier saw right through it

Your boyfriend scoffed "'cause I've gotta help my girlfriend host the party"

Checkmate

"Right" Joel muttered

"Right"

Just then, when the tension in the air started getting thicker, you appeared with a big toolbox in hand

"here it is!"

Both the men's eyes followed you as you set it down next to the broken sink

"thank you darlin'" Joel smiled as you turned back to him.

"Are you kidding!? thank you, Joel, you're my savior"

There was a huge, thankful grin splitting your lips as you talked

"y'know she has a name right?" Javi interrupted whatever Joel was about to say

"babe" you shot him a look, mortified

"'m sorry, I'll stop if it makes you uncomfortable darlin'"

Jesus Christ he wasn't making anything easier for you

"it's fine Joel, Javi's just being dumb, don't mind him" you shook your head, as Javi continued watching Joel as if he'd offended him deeply.

"thank you again Joel, I owe you"

"'s nothing" he promised softly "go have fun"

And with that, you smiled at him again as you exited the bathroom, dragging your boyfriend with you.

"you're unbelievable" you muttered as soon as you were out of earshot

"And you're perfect" he murmured with that annoyingly sexy voice of his as he leaned in "Merry Christmas baby"

and just like that, his lips were on yours and all was forgotten.

__ __ __

"so what do you do?"

On the other side of the house, Ellie had made herself comfortable on the armchair right next to the one Din had been sitting on all night, and she had only one thing in mind: finding out all about the man before her.

"I'm a bounty hunter"

She tilted her head, taking in his words "So you kill people?" she realized "Joel does that too"

Din gave her no answer, silence spread between the two, and she couldn't help but realize that:

"he also doesn't talk a lot- I think you'd get along well"

Din simply glanced at her, before his gaze turned back to the fire.

If she could at least see his face this would all be much easier

"Do you ever take it off- the helmet I mean- don't you get hot?"

A sigh sounded from behind the beskar

"I do, when I'm alone"

"oh" Ellie hummed "Is it like a religious thing?"

This time the man turned to her fully, and although the girl couldn't see him, she was sure he was shooting her an annoyed glare, Just like Joel liked to do... they really would get along well

"no"

A single syllable... quite the loquacious guy he was.

"Where are you from?"

Not even a second had passed and she'd already spoken again, and it was then Mando decided to accept his fate and turn fully towards the much too nosy girl... it was Christmas after all

"It's complicated" he explained, watching the girl scrutinize his hidden face "but I guess you could say Concordia"

"Is that in Europe or something?" Ellie's brow was raised as she inquired confused- she'd never heard of such a place, but then again, she wouldn't exactly be able to put the US on a map either- fedra schools and everything.

"no"

alright then

"cool," she nodded, trying to remember what else she wanted to ask "How did you get here?"

"you ask a lot of questions"

"Joel says that too" she shrugged "What can I say, I'm a curious gal"

Behind the Mandalorian's mask, a small smile pulled at his lips.

"I came here with my ship"

She frowned then "You came here on a boat? What are you some kind of pirate?"

The man shook his head "No, my spaceship"

Ellie's eyes widened so much she must have won some kind of Guinness world record

"w-what?"

"I came here with my spaceship" Mando spoke again, calm as ever

"you're fucking with me" Ellie decided

He was joking- he had to be joking. He was probably just making fun of her.

"I'm not"

"yeah you are"

The man shook his head, sighing

"it's right outside, go look if you want"

She was out of the chair in a split second, quite literally running to the nearest window and elbowing anyone in her way while doing so.

And there it was- a whole ass fucking spaceship parked just in front of the house.

"Oh my fucking god- no fucking way, no fucking way dude" she was excitedly blabbing as she ran back to him

"can... can I see it inside? please, please Mr. Din- pleasepleaseplease"

her voice had gotten higher and she was just about to kneel before him and beg him like you would for mercy when he spoke.

He let out a loud, exasperated sigh "You've gotta ask your dad"

"I'll go ask him right now!" she grinned, excitement oozing from her every pore " and he's not my dad- although he sure likes to act like it"

__ __ __

Joel was in the bathroom, kneeling underneath the sink despite his back's protests.

He'd already figured out what was wrong, so it shouldn't have taken much longer... not that he was in any rush of getting back to the party anyway.

Suddenly, the bathroom door opened to his left, and while he was expecting to explain to yet another guest that the bathroom was off limits for a while, he found himself face-to-face with the green guy that man Din had introduced as his friend.

"Uhm- Hi there little guy"

Grogu made a small sound as he walked closer to the man.

"If ya need to use the bathroom I can get out"

Another weird little sound

"I'm sorry buddy I can't understand you"

He was right in front of him now, his big expressive eyes examining him curiously.

He looked like Mando

"ya need to pee?"

Either he was imagining it, or he was getting better at understanding the creature because this time Joel was pretty sure the sound he made was much similar to a no.

"ok..." Joel murmured perplexed "Do ya need something or can I get back to this?" he asked nodding to the sink.

God what a weird fucking conversation- Joel felt like he was in a fever dream.

Once again Grogu chirped something incomprehensible, but his gaze shifted for a moment to the sink, so Joel decided to take that as a yes, and went back to what he was doing.

He was able to ignore the presence beside him for a little while. He was sure that at some point, he would just go away, but minutes kept passing, and the little green guy was still right there.

He turned around then, and as he did, he noticed that Grogu’s eyes weren't only on him, but on what he was doing too.

"I can... show you what 'm doin' if ya want"

Grogu's eyes sparkled with excitement at the proposal, and Joel couldn't help but smile

"Alright then, come closer"

And just like that, he listened, excitedly stumbling closer until he had the whole view of the sink.

“Alright, so you see this pipe here?” Joel asked “This is the cause of all our problems- now the thing is that it’s connected to here” he continued, pointing to the pieces he was referring to “so we can’t fix this if we don’t fix this first”

The man turned around to see confusion written all over the kid, and another small smile split his lips.

“‘s alright, you’ll get the gist of it as we go”

And so he started back up, fixing and turning and switching as he explained each and every single passage to Grogu, who listened avidly- and who as it turns out, was also a very helpful hand.

He did it so casually too-

Joel was trying to reach for a wrench just out of his reach when it was suddenly floating his way.

“what the he-” he’d started before looking right beside him, to the focused green guy who was guiding the tool to him with a simple raised hand

“right” he nodded, trying not to freak out “Right you can do that- thank you”

And from then on, he became his little helper

Can you pass me this? 

can you pass me that?

can you turn this?

can you turn that?

He was going faster than ever with Grogu’s help, and he was even having fun explaining it all to him- it wasn’t often someone was this mesmerized by the process of fixing a sink.

Which is why in no time, he was done.

“there we go- good as new”

It really was- he’d done a hell of a good job with the little guy’s help, and just as he admired it, a voice he knew far too well sounded from the door.

“there you are, I’ve been looking for you!”

Jenna was a nice girl, but he just wasn’t interested.

He had no idea what he’d done to get her so into him, but every opportunity she got, she would corner the poor man and make it impossible for him to escape her.

“Goddamnit” he muttered beneath his breath, his gaze turning to the door “Hi Jenna”

“Hi Joel, you didn’t even come and say hi to me, that’s kind of rude you know- how would you feel if I-”

All of a sudden, the door had shut in her face.

And as protests sounded from the other side, Joel looked to his right to find Grogu lowering his arm while looking at him with what looked like a mischievous glinting in his eyes.

“did you just-?” Joel couldn’t help but laugh now, actually properly laugh “Oh you’re a menace ain’t you lil’ guy?”

His words were only proven even more right when said lil’ guy jumped with what looked like too much strength for such a small thing, right onto his lap.

Again, chuckles spilled from Joel’s lips as he took Grogu into his arms.

“thank you” he smiled “you just saved my ass kid”

As Grogu looked up at him with those big kind eyes and emitted another one of the weird incomprehensible sounds, Ellie’s voice suddenly sounded from the other side of the door.

“Joel open up!” she screamed “Din said I could go on his spaceship!”

He was up in an instant

“His what!?”

__  __  __

Who would have guessed that this is how the night would have ended?

Definitely not Joel

Him, Ellie, Din, and Grogu were in the Mandalorian's spaceship, and while the girl was just about losing her mind, touching and switching every single thing she encountered as Grogu showed her around, the two men were sitting back, watching their own two kids.

“thank you for… this” Joel spoke first

“It’s nothing” Mando promised, his eyes trained on Ellie now “She’s a good kid” he nodded, “she asks a lot of questions…”

“don’t I know it” Joel grumbled, making Mando chuckle

“but she funny- she’s great”

“yeah, she is… great”

It felt underwhelming to describe Ellie as great, but Joel decided this wasn’t the time to focus on semantics “So is Grogu- he helped me with the sink- he’s a good kid”

And so the two men returned to silence as their kids roamed around the spaceship as if searching for a treasure.

[rosieuv]

Project: Eden's Garden chapter 1 is so fucking good oh my god

btw spoilers here

go watch the official playthrough

Please.

Okay so ever since I saw the announcement trailer I was like "Diana's going to die first, I can feel it". It was something with her design, and her personality that screamed "early target". So when all that trial stuff was targeted towards her, I assumed it meant this was when she died: still chapter 1 but a bit later.

Now I think she's gonna die in chapter 2 from all that heroic monologuing. I also feel like Wenona's gonna play some kind of big role due to the way she acts. Possibly an antagonist? I'm not sure.

The actual contents of the chapter are long, with the official playthrough's being about 11 hours combined (and you bet I watched them the day they came out this weekend) yet the pacing still feels fine. A lot happens within both daily life, deadly life and the trial and I can in vision a timeline based on what happened on each day/part of day. The tournament thing was cool and how despite the murder not being in the new rooms, the fact that it would be impossible without it made it feel like it actually had a purpose, which I was a bit concerned about when the corpse was in the boiler room.

I wouldn't have guessed Wolfgang was the victim though but it makes so much sense. And Eva being the murderer. That was a whole bag of plot twists and they work very well. The rooms are cool, the concept of the whole locks thing is cool, basically everything is cool and Tozu is more interesting than Monokuma and he's definitely some drama kid that get rejected from the lead role and so some organisation thing that Wolfgang's father made (I swear he's going to be important in the future) and he was basically like "yeah just act all dramatic and stuff and scare the kiddies". Why Wolfgang is in this game though...idk. I feel like his father has to be important though, especially with the message on the back that for some reason took Damon so long to figure out when I figured it out very quickly: Wolfgang's father is an asshole and he is too. His animal is literally a sheep how the hell did he not realise this. I mean, the conversation with Tozu was cool as he doesn't appear often, but like, has Damon ever heard the phrase "Wolf in sheep's clothing?".

Okay here's my nitpicks:

some of the furniture models are a bit low poly which doesn't mesh well with the 2D sprites

3D textures are weird in places (Wolfgang's chair is the worst offender of this)

the line width is a bit thin in some of the new sprites and it bugs me because the artstyle typically has quite thick lines

this book is never shaded

the Damon thing I mentioned earlier

this bug in the trial where it fades out to show some kind of floor plan, and Damon is talking, but when the UI fades back in, for a split second it shows the mugshot of whoever was speaking before the fade thing (I can't find where this happens in the official playthrough but I swear it's real)

nobody realising the "thin bit of metal" was a hairpin until it was brought up as a lockpick in the trial like i realised that immediately

does Eva have a game console or a tablet? Pre-trial and at the start of the trial it was called a game console but towards the end when it was relevant, it was called a tablet? I can't find an image of it as the wiki doesn't have a gallery page for her (idk why) but I remember it looked like a DS from it's lid

there's only like 4 minigame section things in the trial: non stop debate, rebuttal showdown, the choosy one and the ending one. where's the letter one? i know there's more and i know this is probably so the programmers don't shoot themselves in the head, but still.

when did they have lunch during the last day? there was the tournament, the blackout, the investigation and then the trial and that was all about 5 hours going based on gameplay so if the investigation was at 9:45 ish and the trial ended 5 hours later, then it should be 2:45 and these poor people are starving! Well, idk about them all but Damon certainly didn't stop investigating to make lunch.

there's little inconsistencies with the art style/quality of the image in the CGs. The ending one with Diana sticks out the most to me: the lineart and shading look a little different. It's like a different artist from the rest drew it.

Okay more praise:

grace pulling the middle finger in her objection sprite

wenona

the music made by mark having a danganronpa motif in

the dummy thing in the execution

the whole scene where eva's true talent is revealed and her "oh shit" sprite

all the voice acting

the maths equipment in the execution

the thing with the calendars and the horses joke at the beginning

eva's free time events (it was shown in the playthrough)

the scenes with Tozu at the beginning of each day

the tree animation is sick

the thing with the footsteps

the thing with the blackout

everyone screaming one by one when they see the body

the beginning

the middle

the end

all those biblical references

Tumblr is going to have a field day with this game.

[solanasreality]

†⠀⠀ㅤֺ⠀ BUT SHE WON’T GO AWAY .

part 2???? whaaaat??? this is VERY long btw so hold your horses?? i’ve posted the rest of ao3 so if you wanna read the rest when it comes out i suggest you look there 😚

She hadn’t sleep—couldn’t sleep. There’s still shadows hitting the walls when Chaejin slowly decides to sit up, tired of pretending to be in a slumber that wouldn’t come naturally to her. Her head is pounding, again, and it takes effort just to breathe normally.

She stares at the cracks in the ceiling.

Chaejin’s night hadn’t been pleasant, nothing but. Her mind carefully running through doctrines of military battle, ways to rally the provinces, and a crumbling monarchy slipping through her hands like fine sand. She was slipping and failing and falling—just as she always did—but tonight had its way with her. Tonight, the thoughts were stirring in her brain, making the most out of her physical exhaustion like a marionette on frayed strings. It takes a minute to adjust to the darkness, sliding out of bed, Chaejin wrapped herself in a thin shawl and paced to the small desk where her pile of notes were arranged. She sits down without hesitation—rather indulgently through the scribbles of plans she couldn’t make out through her foggy mind.

Waterways. Bandits. Khemorian soldiers seeking refuge on their land—everything seemed like a mess she had no choice but to clean. The first issue, waterways. A famine was growing in the southern provinces and the waterways were apart of it. Drought has choked the rivers dry, and the irrigation systems, once maintained with care, had been abandoned in the chaos of war. Fields lay barren, cracked earth pleading for rain that would never come. Reports from villagers surrounding the southern-east told of desperation— one she could not fulfill due to the tedious tasks she had been assigned already, making a long list that was starting to drag across the floor.

Chaejin ran her fingers over the rough edge of parchment, her eyes skimming over the hastily written notes. She couldn’t afford to lose the south; it was the heart of Huoshi’s agricultural strength. Yet the problem was not as simple as sending aid. Bandits had begun preying on the supply routes and Khemorian soldiers who had defected were stirring unrest in the villages. They spoke of rebellion, a chance to overthrow the fractured government she was barely holding together.

Her lips tightened into a thin line as she pressed the quill to a blank page, her hand trembling with unadulterated exhaustion.

Waterways. She underlined the word with shaky precision. Her mind raced through the possibilities of salvation: rerouting what little water remained from the northern rivers, organizing a small militia to protect the southern supply lines, or offering a temporary truce to the bandits if they agreed to distribute stolen goods. But each solution seemed too fragile, the rivers couldn’t feed them all, there’s hardly a militia left, and the bandits were distrustful.

She leaned back in the chair, letting her gaze shift toward the small window in the corner of the room. The fairness hint of dawn painted the horizon in muted grays and blues. Chaejin shakes her head, brushing the moment aside as if the leap of quiet meant nothing, absurdly returning her focus to her work.

Her quill scratched harshly against the paper, and her jaw was tensed with focus, such concentration that made her look dazed. She wrote with such intensity, such single-minded focus, that she missed the soft shuffle of footsteps behind her. The faint click of porcelain was lost in a haze and so was the quiet creak of a lamp being adjusted until the warm was bathed in a warm, amber glow. There’s a buzzing in Chaejin’s ear. She was staring.

“Couldn’t sleep?” Xiao asks with the tiniest bit of curiosity as she skims over the notes, Chaejin reached for her wrist without hesitating, gripping tightly, and then lets it go after an embarrassing moment of realization. She blames it on the exhaustion, and prays she doesn’t notice the thoughts bouncing from one side of her head to the other.

“I’ll take that as a no.”

Xiao takes a seat next to her, clearly unwilling to leave. The smell of irving and rosemary floods her senses, and a long exhale is rushed from her lungs. Now, in the light, Chaejin can perfectly decode what it was that she scribbled, her brow furrows, and she gives an unruly sigh of frustration at the blot of ink that spread like a stain over her unfinished orders.

Taking another lean back, she says: “I was trying to fix our problem with the south.”

She awaits for an answer, before finally opening her eyes to see the younger lady pushing a tea cup with her index toward her direction. She takes it and recognizes the familiarity of her tongue being scorched by hot, uncooled tea. It brings her back to the moment in a cruel, twisted way. Typical Huo fashion. Xiao’s fingers dance along the wooden desk as she seems to, once again, skim through the blotches of unintelligible text. Just like her, her brows furrowed in confusion, her face scrunches up. She’s never looked anything like her siblings. “And you plan to do that with.. abstract art?”

“No,” she says with a gasp, moving her disheveled white strands from her face. “No.”

Chaejin’s utterly surprised to feel the biting of a laugh at this time of hour, especially, because of her.

Xiao shrugs, reaching over absentmindedly, as if to straighten something. Chaejin’s eyes flicker toward her movement, then she stands, seamlessly trying to straight the mess she’d made in her wake. This was how it usually went, Chaejin’s messes and Xiao’s patience, her destruction and Xiao’s—although, not explicitly as the flowers he grew—creation. There’s a sound of rustling before she turns to her, a ribbon wrestled into the small hole where she’s holding a dagger, and it reminds her of the one from earlier, the one she used to quiet his attempts at reconciliation. Chaejin wasted no hesitation to snatch it from her, undoing the knot, Xiao shoves something small into the pocket of her night gown, then returns to her seat as if nothing even happened.

“I saw your brother today,” she blurts out unwarranted, and it feels like a pin dropped. There’s a hint of pure curiosity in those big, brown eyes, just as there’s always been, but then there’s something unspoken, something that says Xiao’s holding herself back. It takes a moment too long for her to nod; it meant a lot that Chaejin even had the courage to bring it up in the first place. Not that she was unwilling when it came to this topic, but that somewhere, in the deep corners of her mind, she was fighting memories desperate to claw their way through her psyche, and in return, she was fighting Xiao herself. A shout here, a peer into something she had frightened herself out of seeing, despite the obligation she felt as if she had to know. Her body jolts with memory. She takes her own sip of the tea, seeing as though it had cooled down in her absence.

“You’ve seen him,” she repeats. “How is he?”

Desperate, Chaejin is holding back from saying. Pathetic. Cunning. Manipulative.

Her mind rushes back to their conversation, to the breeze, the stains left on her hands from the grass and his unceasing, unrelenting way of explaining himself that sounds a little too close to rambling. His eyes are what she remembers most, and what she assumes she will never have the displeasure of forgetting.

Independent.

“He’s been thinking,” she says instead, rising her head from the base of the table, not exactly contradicting what she’s thinking. Xiao’s rhythmic tapping comes to a halt, she turns to her with an expression she can only recall as drained.

“Thinking,” she rubs her eyes with a yawn, and Chaejin’s follows shortly after. The light was straining her eyesight as she took her notes and rolled it toward the end of the desk, hearing it fall into the garbage with a ‘Thunk!’

She does the same with the rest, half-heartedly cleaning and distracting the younger from taking anything else. Despite her efforts, she managed to snag something off of her desk, and Chaejin didn’t have the energy to retrieve whatever she did. The exhaustion was seeping into her bones, causing a shutter, but she refused to fall into a relentless stir of wake and quiet, so she simply nodded.

"Man of mystery,” Xiao adds after a quivery.

“And not in a charming way, either.”

She rolled her eyes. “You think he’s charming?” she asked, but her tone had made it sound more like an accusation.

Chaejin huffed, not bothering to answer. Not because what she said had some validity to it, but because it was stupid. This was stupid, and she knew better than to ask stupid questions, is what she tries to tell herself as Xiao starts to pick up smaller things she felt herself stepping on.

“What are you doing?” Chaejin snapped at her, but the tiredness in her voice peered through, so it had no bite.

“Helping.”

And so, they fell into a comfortable silence as they worked, rearranging the jars on her desk, compiling her notes into something worth reading, and even going as far as to move different sections of her room entirely. The younger had gone to the attic for a moment, finding things to personalize her room with, and when she returned, she had a collection of black candles, weirdly painted decorum of the gods and books filled with military strategy that she had already read a dozen times before. Her bed was closer to the window—per Xiao’s request—and she finds herself sitting next to the dark rug covered in distinct phrasing she couldn’t quite make out, even with her years of studying linguistics.

When they had finally came to a pause, the sun was peeking into the curtains, catching Xiao’s curls momentarily before it had peaked behind a cloud and casted the room, again, into a grim chill. Her attention was grasped elsewhere, again, as she fiddled in her pocket.

Chaejin wanted to ask what was so interesting, a tilt of her head and she hears something clicks. Then, she holds up something that’s stirring up music, or trying to. She flinches at the distorted sound, but once it starts, actually starts, it’s a dreamlike melody that shakes all the previous thoughts rummaging through her brain. Once Chaejin squints closer, she can see a ballerina spinning in the center, held together by a collection of things found in the secrecy of her top drawers. The gears turn in her brain, and before she can process Xiao’s toothy-grin (amongst other things), she runs off, leaving the cups of half-drunken tea on a tray for her to clean.

It didn’t take long for Chaejin to be summoned to a scheduled meeting, most likely to discuss the planning regarding the problems that kept her up all night. She pulled her black hood over her head, as if it would truly make a difference on her sluggish demeanor. On her way out, she wasn’t surprised to see Xiao’s slumber frame from the crack of the door. She slept rather peacefully, take away from the thrashes of discomfort that eluded her once her dream got too much. She could see, from the furrow on her eyebrows to the tear trails down her cheeks, that Chaejin would have no chance of waking her. She hadn’t realized she was tapping on the door panel, pondering methodologically, until Xiao rolled again, causing her to flee just as she had intruded the moment.

Walking around the streets of Huoshi still felt as familiar as ever. Long, dusty alleyways and empty markets greeted her until she felt as though she had fell into some sort of labyrinth, Then, she saw the pillars, the statue of a woman with one hand fallen, wild hair plaided neatly behind her, and a stare of elegance and brutality—and felt a sudden relief. With a slip through the metal doors, she straightened her posture, awaiting the treacherous discussion ahead.

“You’re saying you don’t have an idea?”

“Of course I have an idea.”

“Well, I have a better one. Get the empress in here,” said a young man by the name of Jian stationed in the corner of the room. He took a whiff of smoke, looking exasperated. “This is going nowhere.”

You’re looking at her, Chaejin wanted to say. “Give me something to work with before you give an opinion on how I run things. I’m the only person who has access to the south for a reason. Either one of you go down there, and you won’t make it alive.”

“I’ll take my chances,” he said with a grumble and another one—Rui—agreed. There’s a murmur around the room, quiet, inconsolable answering. Chaejin’s fingers tapped against the table, then they started scraping away at the wood.

“Things would be easier if we had one of the brothers here. Zhan seemed reliable, the other..” he smacks his teeth. “Not so much.”

“The other was a traitor,” she snaps, her fist slamming against the surface. The room fell silent, as many heads were shook at the sound. Nobody moves an inch.

This was how meetings usually were, especially recently. She’s the only one with insight, so, they follow behind. Today, things were getting personal, crossing territory she didn’t like.

You hear that? A presence fills her head, chilling and unwelcome. The breath is whipped from her lungs. Tsk, Tsk. They don’t deem you worthy.

That kind of territory.

“Look,” Chaejin says, straightening herself. She pulls down her hood for easier access to the air, even if it was harming her more than helping. “I’m the only one with access. Let’s see you try to solve all the nation’s problems without so much as an inch of complaining.”

But before anyone can answer, a voice perks up.

“She’s right.” She watches as Xiao steps into the light, lathered in gold and jewelry, looking youthful and compromised as ever. She takes in the faces surrounding the table, and feels Chaejin tense up slightly. “Honestly,” Xiao folds her arms. “It doesn’t seem as though any of you thought this through.”

“No, it looks like she hadn’t thought this through,” Rui scoffs. “And where were you?”

It takes everything in Chaejin to not lunge at him, especially, once a grimace crosses his freckled face. “She didn’t ask for your opinion,” Chaejin responds with gritted teeth.

His face bellows in surprise. “And you did? I mean, honestly, you should know, out of all of us, what it means to rally behind a lazy politician. Why don’t you give her a push sometimes? Or even better..” he leans forward, raising his gaze to hers. “A way out.”

Her blood runs cold. Chaejin couldn’t help the shrill bitterness in her voice. She’s reminded of a moment where a crossbow was in her hands, when the crack of a door, when the soft sound of life, stood between the complete reunification of this saddening excuse of a nation. “What did you just say?”

“We’re going to die,” someone shouts over the multitude of voices. Everyone snaps their head toward her, a smaller lady, with a scroll in hand and an index finger tapping along the quill in the other, was speaking. “We’re all going to die, and it’s all because we have a child as an empress.” The laugh from her voice is the crudest thing to fill the room. “Isn’t that stupid?—”

“—Ming—”

“—A child?” Xiao exclaims. Her eyes widen, but not in the same curious manner from earlier. “I’m the child? Me? Well, do tell, when was I the child? When my mother died at sea? When my brother died, burning like the embryo of a flame I can never touch again? Oh!” She shakes her head slowly, a laugh, sounding like the laugh of many before her, is forced out of her. “Maybe, it was when my brother, I’m sure you know the one. Betrayer of all, loyal to none, ring a bell? I’m sure it was when he left us—left me, to rot away in this hellhole. If anyone’s going to die, it’ll be me. With the rest of my dumb dead family whose prayers you call to in the middle of the night.”

She bumps into the table and Chaejin can see the rim of tears brimming around the crevice of her eyes. She can feel it, that sort of pain she knows well. Xiao’s face softens at the first fall of tears, then hardens as she turns on her heel and walks away, leaning the room in a more disastrous state than before.

“Xiao,” she calls, unable to hide the rattle in her voice as she tries to get the room together. There’s hardly any success to none. Silence flooded the room. Chaejin’s fingers danced across her face, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“I didn’t need her fucking life story,” said the woman, who was now sitting in her seat without a care in the world.

In a quick moment, Chaejin couldn’t help but glance at her. “I didn’t need yours, either.”

“Excuse me?—”

“Listen,” she says finally, her voice regaining her bite. “I’m going to the south wether you like it or not. I’m going to find out what’s going on down there, and when I get back, I’ll make sure to personally give you my flowers.” Chaejin’s words are laced with sarcasm until she finishes: “How’s that for a meeting?”

When she finally returns home, Xiao’s door is locked shut, and she doesn’t even attempt to open it. Instead, Chaejin starts packing a bag—a medical kit, general supplies to get her through the time period. Suddenly, a thought appears in her head. Random, but not completely irrational. Should she bring food?

That’s a little insensitive.

“I wasn’t asking you.”

She packs it anyway, just enough to keep her fed for the first few days. After that, there’d be only bargaining and trading from here on out. She fiddles with a gold coin on the surface of her desk, and packs a few of those as well. Chaejin falls on her bed, her thoughts finally succumbing to the present moment. She’s going to miss these sheets.

Her head is spinning, pounding, even, but even then, there’s a sigh of relief that leaves her like she’s just had a breath of fresh air, even if she was going into dangerous territory. It felt like home. She was going to be home.

Down there, in the south, there were people bleeding, starving and scared. Down there, there were people that didn’t know that she was once in their situation. They didn’t know what she’s consumed in her desperate times of need, and they shouldn’t have to. Because if they had to experience that, endure the crushing aftermath and guilt of consummating like that, even through the sheer will of wanting to stay alive, then she’s failed.

If Chaejin couldn’t even allow inner-peace, then tumbling down the decades of monstrosities couldn’t even exist in the painted watercolors of what she could’ve only imagined as their future. It was a dream, and she didn’t like dreaming. She only liked doing, turning something as impossibly unobtainable into something sculptured—set into stone.

The turn of a lock, the small creak of the door, and the only person who could help achieve that was standing in front of her. Xiao looked sullen, more composed than before, but her gaze held a significant loss of strength. She sat on the bed right beside her, and Chaejin suddenly found the strength to sit up then.

“Where are we going?” she asked, voice still strained as she motioned to the bag lying beside her. Chaejin throws it over her shoulder.

“We? You’re staying here.”

“Why? Is it because of earlier?”

Chaejin doesn’t bother to answer. That was a stupid question, and she knew that.

“I didn’t mean to—I just got—You understand, don’t you?”

She stops herself from taking another step. Chaejin turns around to look at her. “You’re the only one who can be here,” she says, as if that should’ve been obvious. “While I do this.”

“I can’t protect them like you can,” Xiao counters, another break in her voice. “You heard them, yes? And you still want me to stay.” Her head falls into her hands, tugging, pulling at her coils, only slightly, just to feel something. There’s tears staining her carpet. Something in Chaejin drops to the bare crevice of her toes.

She barges into Xiao’s room, luckily finding a bag already packed with supplies that seemed like enough, and she tossed it to her, turning on her heel without missing a beat. “Keep up,” she says simply. And she does.

⊹ 𖥔

†⠀⠀ㅤֺ⠀ I KNOW IT’S OVER (STILL I CLING) .

okay to be frank, i don’t know what this is but i wrote it so??? it’s nothing shifting related i just wanted to showcase my writing ☹️ probably won’t do this often unless…. you guys want more…. but YEAH enjoy my ocs & knowing about where my main dr comes from

“It was for you.”

Chaejin couldn’t help the sigh that came from her lips. It was involuntary, sure, but it was noticeable. It was as noticeable as the viciousness in his voice, as the tremble in his hand as the only thing that stood between him and a firecracker was her bloody fingers.

“It was all for you,” he says, again, like the first set of words didn’t find it’s way to break her trance yet. The spark was still going out, so close to taking the both of them, and something in her said it might. She looked at him, looked back at the detonator, and felt her resolve crack.

“What?”

Another dead bolt of silence for him to find his words. He’s still gripping tightly, and she would’ve winced had he not came to his senses and quickly blew out the bomb, breaking her from being under the influence, but before she had the opportunity to retaliate, he found another set of words to stun her into place.

“Our final moments,” Akuma says, ears ringing violently, tearing him from reminiscing a little too long. When she thought back to it, it takes a while to sort through the hazy memories to understand what he’s talking about, even if the proof was written in stitches on her body. It’s not the cries and screams of innocent civilians that draw attention, not the calculation of a planned ambush, or her watercolor visions of what today could’ve been. It’s the feeling of a ring damping her pocket, of a knife sliding in and out of her like she was nothing but delicate; the embrace of a hug that turned deadly and a promise gone awry. On both sides.

A slow blink later until she could find herself again. “Bullshit.”

He gives her a look, so golden and brown and one that breaks easily. He wants to say something like, I’d never lie to you. He wants to go back to normal.

But, they’ve never had the pleasure of knowing normalcy, have they? What they have cultivated before, tangled in sheets together with their limbs begging to become one, so able to read the other so effortlessly that it’s as if they never had that moment apart—was a lie. It was a bittersweet lie, but a lie, indeed. Decay swims through her fingers, up to her palm, turning the weapon into ash. She takes a seat in the grass, and he follows. It’s taking everything in him to not touch her, it’s obvious, and she doesn’t even have to look at him to know. Chaejin reaches into her pocket and pulls out a singular dagger, placing it between the space they shared.

“Talk,” she says. And he listens.

“I see you didn’t get my letters,” he says as a half-assed attempt at humor, and she doesn’t answer. Akuma has no idea where his mind is. For a while, he was revisiting the village that started all of this, the very same place they were sitting in. He’s tried not to think of this place, luckily, he doesn’t have to. He owed her an explanation, first. “The peace treaty,” he begins instead, and her head jerks toward him. A cold sweat trickles down his spine, sticking his chest-plate to him. Akuma hadn’t realized how much talking about this meant to him, until he felt the tug of something foreign leaving everytime she did. Until he realized he never wanted to be the villain in her story. “I had to give you up,” he says, voice low and strained. “I had to choose.. choose a side, and there was no room for you in that choice.”

To Akuma’s surprise, her expression goes a little wide before a shrug finds its way through her rigid posture, and something about the causality of it sends a shiver through him. A flash of an image penetrates him, one that hasn’t crossed his mind in ages. There she was—a pale-skinned little girl with weeping tears that wouldn’t stop coming no matter how many times he belittled or scorned her. She was so innocent, so painfully naïve, and so fucking needy for death that it makes him ill, but no matter how many times she begged, he never gave it to her. He couldn’t have her back. Anything but her. “I couldn’t take my chances,” he says, and for once, he breaks. His head falls into his hands.

“You still don’t think I can handle myself?”

“That’s not what I said.”

“That’s what you meant,” she spits, her hand coating around the dagger as if it was a form of protection. Chaejin goes quiet for a second, her nail scrapes the metal, cold and bare. Without missing a beat, she spoke again: “Khoi wanted me executed, so, you’d give up on me like that?”

“No, I—”

“Khoi’s been after me this entire time. How come the time that we’re close to the end, you want to pull some shit like that? Do you know what that meant to me? What you—” meant to me. Did he know what he meant to her? He turns toward her for a second, a cold stare and a million later, and he still couldn’t handle it. Why was it that it always had to resort to this? Bitter lashes and words they couldn’t take back? Conversations to avoid the real thing? Perhaps, it was embedded in something pretentious as nature—as blood, or could it been something they grew into, like an long-awaited growth spurt? Something in him wonders whether it had been stunted or not.

“The things you do hurt people,” Chaejin says, so silently that it sounded like a plea. “And you don’t get the opportunity to just make it up because you can. Because you can live. Because we all cannot. We all can’t wait on an apology that’ll take forever for you to give, just because you can’t understand what it means to give up when it’s your time.”

“And who decides that? When it’s my time?”

“I thought I would,” Chaejin’s hands start to hold her knees to her chest, possibly from stress and the pain the grass was causing after sitting in a straightforward position. “And I thought you did, too.”

Akuma doesn’t know what to say to that, so, he doesn’t say anything at all. Instead, they stay like that for a moment. Broken, without a purpose, or a hint of recollection to make everything okay again. A deep breath, then another, and he says something that has the possibility to make everything better or worse.

“I meant everything before that.”

She scoffed. A mean, brittle sound was scorned from her lips. “You really wanna lie to me again?”

“Would you like me to?”

There’s something almost remorseful about her expression before she lets out a simple, “No.” And his heart starts to beat faster than usual.

“No?”

“Just. Answer a question for me.”

He nudges her on, watching her eyebrows furrow as her thoughts came together to form one coherent sentence. For a second, it seemed as though she’d drop it, stand on her own two feet and walk away, but for once, she breaks. “Things would be so much different if I could kill you,” she says, and then comes to the terrible conclusion that that’s nowhere near a question. Chaejin taps the dagger against her arm, as if considering to slice it through, and then his hand touched her face.

“I couldn’t allow that.”

And that’s when something dawns on her as she looks up to observe his gentle gaze. That wasn’t the same person she adored just a year—maybe two ago. Chaejin recoiled from his touch as quickly as it came, body trembling with an intensity that felt inappropriate. Maybe, he realized he’s said the wrong thing, that it’s killing him just as much as it does for her, or maybe, his yearn for her—for death, is truly gone. Now, all that’s left is the shell of a man she’s had a hand in creating, as if he was sculpted by design, but with all the flaws she’s feared him having.

“I can’t allow that, but I can’t allow for you to go either.”

Chaejin meets his gaze at that, returning to her absent-minding fudging. Something lighter starts in her voice, and he’s drawn to it. Undoubtedly so. “You’re turning me in?”

“What? No,” he falls short, thoughts coming to an abrupt halt. “I want..” us to return to normal. You by my side. Us. Was us even the solution anymore?

“One moment with me and you’re switching sides.”

Chaejin was feeling a sense of something close to pride, perhaps, smugness. Her voice rang with arrogance. He hasn’t heard that in ages. But, it all seems to fade away with a sigh. “You need to make up your damn mind.”

He opened his mouth to speak, but she stood on her two feet and he followed. Like a lost puppy, he followed. A ring replaced the dagger in her hand, and although she might’ve flinched at first, she pressed it firmly in his chest. “I’m not waiting forever for you. She’s not waiting forever for you. I’ll kill you before it ever gets to that point.”

Akuma tried not to show his surprise, but it was written in the stars at this point. A question is on the tip of his tongue. When did you start caring for..? But he refrains from asking it, instead, he tucks the ring in his pocket.

“She’s an empress,” Chaejin answers for him. “She can’t be distracted.” There’s a bitterness in her statement, one he tries to refrain himself from ever truly hearing. It was for him, after all.

He nodded, succumbing to a silence as they part. This was also how it always went. There was no attempts to kill one another, no clever bickering or incoherent rants, just the grass leaving the footprints of where two people once stood, bound with some twisted intent. They were being selfish, and indulging in whatever they had lost, but being selfless didn’t appease the feeling that something could’ve gone differently. And so, with every choice that led them here—she left her mark, only for it to vanish long before he could hold onto it.

[starflungwaddledee]

Oooo starstruck dee has little stars at the bottom of her feet! Are they just aesthetic or would they make imprints into the ground? (like pawprints)

exactly like that! though she's not the only one...

edit: might need to add some additional dialogue to this to make it more clear, but a clarification in the interim; he knows about his own footprints. he's just surprised to see something similar already there when he knows he's only just landed. he lifts his own shoe to confirm that they're not identical (and also to reveal this to the viewer). seems his stoicism beat off the clarity in this one, sorry 😭

[robo-dino-puppy]

machine dreams

[tecceran]

@sekaitransparents 1 year anniversary bingo event!

ੈ✩ prompts: crossover + shuffle unit + best card set ‧₊˚

【 xenoblade 3 themed card edits 】

machina!nene + (half) high entia!toya

gormotti!airi + tantalese!honami

╰┈➤ free to use with credit!

* . °•★|•°∵ credit + my bingo card + my thoughts + no background versions under cut! ∵°•|☆•° . *

transparents by @/sekaitransparents of course!

‣ the person with the xenoblade 3 themed profile choosing to do a xenoblade 3 themed crossover? whaaaat?

‣ if you know nothing about xenoblade (which i assume is most people) this probably won’t make a ton of sense, but i nonetheless am going to explain my thoughts

‣ machina!nene is probably pretty obvious bc of the robonene connection. since she already has purple eyes i pulled colors from mwamba, and combined the metal plating + light details from him and lanz. had to do the silver/white hair

‣ i will admit high entia!toya was done partly just so i could make his headwings two different colors to match his hair. he did have a kinda bird-themed set tho, so i think it fits. plus the fancy rich classical musician just feels very high entia. tho being a half-blood high entia actually doesn’t feel fitting of toya’s father but by 3 you’re lucky to be a high entia with medium headwings and they were already a nightmare to figure out rendering at this size

‣ gormotti!airi was again kinda obvious. she’d want to be a cat girl. and i based her ears more on nia + her family so the trans metaphor theme continues. gormotti designs are actually wildly varied with how “animalistic” they are, and then you throw nia in, and without getting into spoilers, her ears are more back-facing than other gormotti so it’s just all over the place

‣ tantalese!honami was kinda just a vibes/for variety’s sake thing. i can’t recall rn if there are any distinctly tantalese (or urayan for that matter) characters in 3, but logistically there should be, so i decided it’s more fun this way.

‣ i happened to have a online music group (ie, nightcord-esq) swap unit with these four and 3/4 of them were featured in this card set (which as stand alone art is one of my favs) so i decided on these four! i could (and might) do more/all characters at some point (it would have to wait till my winter break, i’m so swamped with school rn 😓😓) since i already have plans for everyone (except VSs). i wanted each of the the units to have an even kevesi/agnian split, and it ended up working out that the first two and latter two characters in each pjsk group worked as an kevesi + agnian pair, so they could all be ouroboros pairs, too! (i wonder, would that make the VSs moebius?)

[bionicdogs]

the boober dude has his consult with the specialist first thing tomorrow morning to get an official diagnosis and schedule the surgery. it’s incredibly obvious that he has a torn ligament but they like to do their own exam and diagnostics, so. we had a camping trip scheduled for the first week of august and i already have off of work for that, so i’m hoping to schedule his surgery right before it since he won’t be able to go camping anyway.

[nancywheeeler]

current afterparty theory: someone in zoe's family tried to kill edgar with the devil's trumpet tea, but that isn't how he actually died.

[catboydan]

fiance got me a kindle for my birthday <3

[born-to-lose]

I want to strangle this DJ for playing Reckless Love at an 80s party (not 80s inspired or glam in general, whole ass actual 80s along with ZZ Top, Cinderella etc)

[readymades2002]

something difficult about writing/storytelling but only in short disconnected bursts is that writing anything longform is very difficult. there isn't as much time to practice long-term character development or subtlety (implying character instead of immediately clarifying) when its not really meant to go anywhere but a notes app. its a little frustrating...i'd love to do something more longform though. i've considered maybe just doing some short writing scenes in my various original universes a lot recently mostly because i just havent had time to draw anything fancy recently </3 maybe that would be something...

[nomaishuttle]

SIGH. SRY THOUGHT ABT MY IMAGINARY LIFE AS A MOTHER AGAIN. GD IF ONLY

[crows-of-buckets]

I need finals week to end right now I am so serious

[its-elvie-innit]

tumblrs not letting me reblogs smaragdine boyfriend post right now because it knows that if I do I will say some RANK shit

[annabawritersdreamsideblog]

Enna & Mair (Mae)?

They might work as a couple, I reckon.

Still keeping these two as an option though (if Mair ends up looking more the dad's side)

[ozlices]

another super insulting part of the watcher situation i haven't rly seen ppl addressing much

ryan deadass saying smth like "nobody else on youtube has made tv quality content"

like... i really feel like it's important to highlight that bc not only do they obviously have no respect for their audience, but that statement shows they have no respect for their peers in the industry, either.

not to mention it is a shining example of bleeding arrogance to such a high degree, you will straight up fucking lie bc you're truly convinced you're that special when you're anything but.

there's been NUMEROUS online creators who were recognized by entertainment industry workers BECAUSE they made tv quality content & even full stop blockbuster quality content.

bo burnham started on youtube & is now one of the most wellknown & loved standup comedians of our generation, with numerous netflix specials & even a movie he wrote & directed under his belt.

the try guys, fellow ex-buzzfeed employees, had their own tv specials on food network (based off their youtube shows, btw) & a documentary made about them as well

rosanna pansino has also been on numerous food network shows both as a host & a judge

quinta brunsun, another fellow ex-buzzfeed employee, went on to create her own whole ass sitcom that has been highly praised

matpat cameo'd in the fnaf movie because of his theories & multiple other fnaf creators had small cameos through the employee of the month board easter egg

markiplier made multiple high-quality shows on youtube & is now working on a highly anticipated movie (he was also planned to cameo in the fnaf movie but couldn't due to conflicting schedules with his own movie)

hot ones got their own tv gameshow due to their popularity & they are still one of the most wellknown, beloved & respected internet shows

many short films made on youtube went on to premiere at film festivals & even in theaters

the hit horror film "talk to me" was created by youtubers rackaracka

webseries of actual fucking tv shows have also existed for literal decades

the list goes on.

to seriously think that overproduced bullshit is all you need to make "tv quality content" is not only tone-deaf, but shows they do not even know what they're talking about. many tv shows & huge blockbuster movies are made with absolutely microscopic budgets & small teams, & they still get praised & awarded for the passion, dedication, & creativity that shined brightly under those restrictions.

the blair witch project is probably the most wellknown & highly praised example of this, but it is far from the Only example

it is a whole other slap in the face, again ESPECIALLY when puppet history is one of their most popular shows, to spit in the face of internet history. to see the success of their predecessors, even ppl they fucking worked with at buzzfeed, & deny them of all their success & efforts to get where they ended up.

no, y'all are not the first people to make "tv quality content" on the internet. FAR from it. because your crap isn't even genuine "tv quality".

but you are the first ones to ever disrespect not only your audience, but your own fucking industry & your peers on this level.

& you are the first & i sorely hope the only fuckwads dumb enough to pull a stunt this fucking stupid, out of touch & utterly tone deaf.