#2) you get no explanation or details. you just find out if he’s alive or dead no other context

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

so the thing is that nhthcth isn’t actually abandoned, it’s just enormously fucking long and i tend to take breaks from stories so i can bounce around on other ones. that being said, im feeling bored and vaguely self destructive so. two minute flash deal where ill confirm if gerry is alive or dead to anyone who dms me.

[rebeliz7]

We have to stop meeting like this

Natasha Romanoff x Doctor Reader 

Request: Can you do Natasha x non avenger/reader where reader is very possessive and protective over her wife “Listen pal. There are two things I need from you. Number 1 is get away from my wife and number 2 is stay the hell away from my wife.” Natasha finds her wife’s treats very amusing, considering she’s the black widow and can more than well take care of herself.

Word Count: 2255

…

You’re about to leave the hospital, your shift having just ended, when your phone rings. 

You see Steve’s name on the screen, and your heart stops for a second before you slide a trembling finger across the screen to answer. 

“You need to come in.” He says after murmuring a soft greeting, and you immediately become terrified. 

“Steve, is she - ”

“She’s okay.” He hurries to explain, probably realizing his mistake. “She’s fine, she’s a little beaten up, but she’s fine.”

“She’s alive.” You assure yourself, before taking a deep breath, and gathering your things. “Give me fifteen minutes.”

…

The moment you get to the Compound you know that Steve was more than vague in his explanation, because you walk into the most chaotic state you’ve ever seen the Avengers in. 

Thor is speaking loudly, his voice booming and making the windows shake lightly while Tony rubs his temples, trying to soothe a certain headache. Sam is nursing a bleeding arm on the couch, and he looks pissed as he raises his voice at Tony too. 

Steve, on the other hand, seems to be trying to keep everyone in check while Wanda and Carol sit on the nearest couch looking exhausted. No one notices you at first.

“Good evening, Doctor.” Scratch that, Friday notices you, and suddenly everyone else does too. They all fall silent the moment they see you, and when no one opens their mouth you rush down the hallway to the med-bay, terrified all over again. 

“Wait up.” Someone calls behind you.

“What the hell happened out there?” You ask over your shoulder, and you realize that everyone is coming with you. 

“You know we can’t tell you what happened.” Steve says calmly, and you turn around abruptly causing him to  stumble trying to catch himself before running into you.

You notice that his brow is bleeding from a small cut, and his suit has a tear on its chest, and he looks exhausted. 

“I don’t want the details of the mission, Steve. I meant what happened to my wife.” You clarify, and he looks to his left as he swallows, and then nods. 

“Bullet wound.” He says, and you close your eyes as you take a deep breath. Then you turn around, and resume walking.

You know how secretive Natasha’s work is, and you understand the risks. She’s an Avenger, and protecting the world is her job. Injuries are, at this point, just a professional hazard for her. 

Still, she’s your wife, and over the years you’ve only become more protective of her instead of more accustomed to the inevitability of these kinds of calls. 

“She should have waited.” You hear Tony say, as you round a corner. 

“Yeah, and you were a load of help.” Sam says sarcastically, and you begin to pay closer attention to their conversation. 

“More help than you, that’s for sure. Getting yourself shot the second you showed up.” Tony snarks back, getting angrier by the second.

“You put us all in danger by going for that computer, Stark.” Thor says, and the steel in his voice is terrifying to hear. “You are not a team player.”

“Newsflash, beach boy.” Tony starts, just as you reach the med-bay. “We need that computer if we want to put an end to this nightmare.”

“That’s enough.” Carol says, and even you straighten up at hearing her command. “Not now.”

The second you spot your wife you rush to her side, while simultaneously assessing the situation with a critical eye. Her waist is patched up, and you breathe a little easier when you realize that the bullet must have not hit anything vital. She’s being hydrated intravenously, and they’ve administered an antibiotic. Other than that, she just seems to be sleeping. 

You know she heals faster than a regular person, but you can’t help but feel as scared as you do every time that she comes home with a bruise, let alone a bullet wound. She’s not invincible, despite the world’s beliefs. 

You take a moment to look at her before you press your lips softly to her temple, and pull up the sheets to cover up to her chin. You pick up her chart next. 

The bullet went through and through just like you thought. They just had to patch her up, the wound was already healing when they brought her in. 

“She should have waited.” Tony says again, and you pick up on the fear lacing his tone. Natasha and Tony go way back, you know he’s her oldest friend among the Avengers, and he wouldn’t put her in danger deliberately.

So whatever’s happened, you rest easy at knowing that he had her back. He always does.  

“That’s enough, Stark.” Carol speaks again, her voice is steel  now, and it scares you slightly. “You can try to justify what happened out there all you want, but we all know the truth. We all heard what you said. We all know that it was you who gave Natasha the go-ahead. So stop. Nat is on this bed because of you. Own it.”

The silence that falls upon the room is deafening, and your confusion only increases the moment Natasha opens her eyes. 

“Jesus, Danvers! You’re being way too harsh.” Your wife rasps with humor in her tone. You know she’s okay, but that still doesn’t stop you from leaning down to kiss her lips the moment she’s done speaking. “Who called my wife?” She asks, her hand cupping your face as you comb her hair back with your fingers before kissing her again. 

“We gotta stop meeting like this.” You joke, and she scrunches up her nose. 

“You think you’re funny.” She says, her thumb caressing your cheek.

“Yeah, well. You married me.” You shrug, and she smiles up at you. 

However, your joy at having your wife in one piece is quickly snatched away when you can feel the rising tension among her team again. 

“We can talk about this later.” Steve says, as you sit down on the edge of the mattress, your wife’s hand in yours as you both turn your attention to her friends. 

“Of course.” Tony says, but you can hear the sarcasm in his voice, and so can everyone else. 

“Tony, come on. We’ll talk about it later.” Wanda insists, her hand on his forearm, but he’s quick to shake her hand off, and step closer to the bed, his eyes firmly locked on your wife. 

“You were an idiot!” He points a finger at Nat, and it’s your turn to frown. 

“Tony.” Sam, and Carol try to stop him but he continues to advance on your wife anyway. 

“What the hell are you talking about?” You wife asks as you slowly stand up. 

“That’s enough, Tony. Come on, man.” Steve intervenes, but Tony ignores him, his eyes still trained on your wife.

“Aren’t you supposed to be the master spy? The brains of this bunch, besides me?” He shouts, his anger sparking your own, and you find yourself pushing him back before he can take another step closer to Natasha. 

“Listen  here, pal.” You growl, as he stumbles back a couple of steps. “There are two things I need from you right now. One: Stop yelling at my wife, and Two: Stay the hell away from her. Got it?”

“Seriously?” He raises an eyebrow at you, and you step closer, daring him to try you. He may be Iron Man, and a dear friend, but you’re Natasha’s wife, and he’ll have to respect that. 

You glare until he takes a step back in response, still frowning. He looks at Nat over your shoulder, and you hear her snicker. 

“I’d listen to her, Tony.” She tells him, and you can hear the amusement in her voice. She’s not angry, or hurt, despite Tony’s frustrations. 

“Is anyone seeing this?” He asks, his index finger pointing at your chest, as he looks at everyone else in this room. 

“Come on, man.” Steve sighs again, and you catch Carol smirking, as Wanda rounds the bed to get closer to Natasha. 

When Tony looks at you again you can see the regret in his eyes as clear as day. You don’t know what happened out there, but you don’t blame him for your wife being on this bed. Natasha doesn’t take uncalculated risks, at least not since you two got married. Whatever decision she made during their mission was her own, you’re certain of that. 

“How about a shower, and a nap?” You tell him, your hand on his arm now, and he lets out a deep breath. He looks exhausted, and he’s a dear friend of yours too. You need him rested, and taken care of before he attempts to speak to Natasha again. “Come back later, we’ll be here all night.”

“Yeah.” He nods, and he leaves quickly, leaving you surrounded by equally exhausted superheros. 

“How do you do that?” Sam asks you, as Carol and Steve walk closer to the bed too. 

“Do what?” You ask him, feigning ignorance.

“You know what.” He says, and Carol is laughing when you turn around. 

“What’s so funny?” You wife asks her as you sit on the mattress, and begin running your fingers through her hair again. You smile to yourself as the Avengers gather around your wife’s bed. 

“Nothing, really.” Carol shakes her head, and your wife frowns, fixes Carol with a glare that only makes the Captain laugh harder as she turns around, and makes for the door. 

“Don’t say it.” Sam shakes his head, also amused and you’re tempted to laugh at the look on their faces but you limit yourself to watching the interaction. 

“What?!” Your wife insists. 

“Well, your wife is a lot scarier than you these days.” Carol shrugs, one foot in the hallway already, and Sam hides his laughter behind a very fake coughing fit. 

“And that’s funny why?” Your wife asks, and Steve shakes his head, finally smiling. 

“You’re the Black Widow.” Carol deadpans, and your wife glares harder. 

“It is kinda true.” Wanda says, nodding her head, and your wife huffs in disbelief this time. 

“Children, the bunch of you.” You call them, as you stand up again to put an end to their teasing. Natasha really does need to rest, as do all of them. “Go, take showers please. And eat something.” 

“Yes, ma’am.” Steve says with humor in his voice, and you roll your eyes as you practically push him out of the room.

When they’re gone, you close the door before taking off your jacket, and heels.

“What are you doing?” Your wife asks with a smile, even while she scoots over on the mattress, already making room for you. 

You get in bed with her, your arms wrapping around her middle as she presses her lips to your temple, and hugs you tight. 

“You need a shower too.” You tell her after a little while, and she pinches your arm as she laughs.

“Rude.” She says, but you’re quick to kiss her lips. 

“Babe, I love you. But you’re all sweaty and gross right now.” 

“I was shot!” She reminds you, and you hum in response. 

“No need to remind me.” 

“I’m sorry.” She apologizes. “I got distracted for just one second.”

“What happened?” You ask her.

“There was this really cute tabby-cat, and he was right in the middle of - ”

“Hold on.” You interrupt her, your hand in the air. “Please tell me that you didn’t get shot because of a cat, Natasha.”

The silence that you’re met with is answer enough, but she looks absolutely adorable as she grimaces, and pulls back a few inches from you. But that’s exactly who she is, isn’t it? She’s the kind of person that would get shot because she was trying to protect someone… or in this case a cat. 

“You really are scary.” She tells you, and you roll your eyes again. You know she likes cats but this is just ridiculous. 

“I swear!” You huff, and she hugs you closer, her lips pressing sweet kisses on your shoulder again. “Do they know why you got shot?”

“Wanda does.” She says with a smile. 

“That girl is always helping you when you’re reckless.”

“That’s why I love her.” Natasha smiles wider this time, and her wandering lips continue to press kisses along your neck, your jaw. 

“If you think you’re getting lucky while you’re lying on a bed after getting shot because you saved a cat, think again.” You tell her with a pointed look and she lets out a disappointed breath, a smile on her face as she presses one last kiss on the corner of your lips.

“You need to tell Tony that. He thinks you got shot because of him.” You tell her quietly.

“I know.” She sighs, and you can see how tired she feels. 

“Thanks for defending me.” She says after a few minutes of lying in silence. 

“Anytime.” You grin cheekily at her, and she presses one last kiss on your cheek before getting more comfortable. 

You both know that she doesn’t need you standing up for her. She could have handled Tony on her own, and she can take her teammates teasing. They all know how far to push after all. She is the Black Widow. 

But ‘Black Widow’, ‘ex-assassin’, ‘deadliest woman alive’ or not she’s still your wife, and the love of your life and you will always, always stand up for her. 

… 

[jeffrrandell]

Explanation for the connection I made lol 👇

I'm gonna at least slightly explain Tord and Gravy being roommates. I'm not going to lie to you guys, this was a joke made because when my friends and I were watching "Technical Foul" from 8 Crazy Nights we were like "that's like if Tord crashed at Gravys house tbh" and then it turned into "Tord somehow becomes Gravys roommate after he leaves Edds house, for like maybe 2-3 years. And it's almost like a Disney movie. Tords just happy he has a place to stay, and he knows Gravy is just soooooo nice but man is he annoying. So he's not mean to him, he just is autistic and only ever likes Edd anyway basically. But he warms up to em. Gravy works a ton of jobs, and Tord cleans up around the house. And an odd but actually important detail is Gravy smokes weed (because of all of these jobs), and Tord took interest in that. Getting high together kinda made it easier for his nerves to be calmed down, and it made it easier for him to realize "oh Gravy is just a guy". Of course afterwards, Gravy turns back to jumpy goofy Gravy, but Tord learned to appreciate the energy. Tord and Blonzie were already slight acquaintances, actually before Tord met Gravy. Somehow for whatever reason Tord ends up at the auto shop he works at, probably asked about a pile of spare parts that looked like junk and Blonzie said "take em". So they had that for a while. They're mechanically intelligent together. Plus Tord finds his stunts REALLY cool, as he loves destruction too. He'd love to invent little things for him to try out. They also both have "I'm gonna be silent now" autism. Anyway, he never in his life expected for Gravy to be like "meet my boyfriend" and "oh whataya know, it's the guy that calls me Tiny and gives me spare parts". Not sure if it makes sense for Tord to still be living with Gravy when he gets with Blonzie or not, but either way they'd make a really weird fun trio. Gravy definitely opened up Tords weird side for him. Because Tord is just so closeted around everyone, even Edd didn't know a few secrets about him (for probably crush related reasons, intimidation.) But with Gravy, it sorta didn't matter to him what he told him. He'd listen, and I mean it's sad but. Gravys a huge loser who's pushed around EVERYDAY, and for a bit Tords view on that was "well he has it worse than I do so he can't judge me"

But yeah, they're friends lol

In a WTFuture timeline, this was also a joke that turned out to be something that we all kinda liked. I believe in Tord clone theory btw! Basically one day, Not Tord shows up to Gravys house one day. Reminder that if this is a bad timeline, Blonzie is dead sorry. But yeah Gravy notices something is off about him. Very off. Like, somehow this Tord knows Gravy would call him "buddy" buuut.. Tord never called HIM "buddy". Blah blah blah somehow Gravy is in the Red Army. And I don't mean as a soldier, the last thing Tord wants is for him to die actually. As in any timeline, Gravy will work a million jobs. And that's exactly what he does. I'm talking coffee runs and goofy shit like that. Because to me, yeah Red Leader is "WOAAHH crazy leader man scary he's taking over the world" but it's EDDSWORLD, so he's also "aw man. My helmet stinky" "play just dance with me I'm bored" like y'know. Before this concept, I was like "yup. Gravy is the first to die in this timeline" and then it turned into "Tord wants to keep him alive because he'd be dead bored without him"

And I'm serious it's gets so goofy. To a point where THIS Tord also opens up to Gravy, crying about Edd and being like "I'LL JUST GET RID OF ALL THE COKE IN THE WORLD I CANT LOOK AT IT ANYMORE!!" and then he's like "😲💡" and then Gravy talks about his feelings too.

Potentially as well, since Gravy is trained in medical, he could also technically take care of wounded soldiers and almost act as a doctor but ONLY back at headquarters, he's not allowed to go anywhere he'd be in danger. Anyways. Yup. My sick and twisted mind.

[thewertsearch]

Ask Comp 13/05

@garnetduodecim asked: I always assumed jack spent the first 4 hours in the troll session, before destroying prospit, destroying Aradiabots, there were A LOT of them.

Maybe one of the Aradiabots got in a lucky shot, and was able to tag him with a weaker, non-God Tier variant of her freeze ability. That'd certainly at least delay him.

@morganwick asked: So, you were talking about Aradia "injuring" Vriska (post/704357246751113217) and comparing Vriska to a fairy godmother character (post/722100305374986240)?

@manorinthewoods asked: Serendipity Gospels is by Tamsyn Muir??? Really? Um, that's… hoo. That was one of the fanfics that I didn't end up liking. Might need to revisit that. Side note: 'Doc Scratch's School for Supernaturally Gifted Adolescents' feels more like something Locked Tomb-esque to me. So that's really… ah. ~LOSS (3/5/24)

I do wonder how similar the Gospels are to TLT's writing style.

Actually, can anyone confirm at what point the fic will be safe to read? I could just wait until I'm reading panels from after its publication date, but if I can check it out before, I will.

@abysswarlock asked: Ooh I’ve had this hypothesis for a while now but you just said something that made me lock in my guess that your classpect is Prince of Doom

The classpect wheel continues to turn!

I'm married to Doom for at least one of my 'sonas, but my Class is still up in the air, since we know even less about them than aspects.

@manorinthewoods asked: As a sort of Part 2 to that sylladex comment - how do you think the Sylladex works? Do you think that Homestuck will go into more detail about Sylladices, or do you think they'll fade into the background as different aspects of the magic system come to the fore? ~LOSS (24/4/24)

I think the latter is a lot more likely. Most aspects (lol) of Homestuck's magic system are there to serve the story first and foremost. As much as I'd love the comic to turn into a treatise on Sburb deeplore, it really doesn't feel like something Hussie would be interested in doing.

The story won't really suffer without, say, a detailed explanation of every facet of alchemy - I just really like speculating, because I'm all about shit like that.

@heliotropopause asked: What are your thoughts on Homestuck's translation convention(s)? As an example, take page 2251, line "Arrivederci, Megido.": Is she writing in something close enough to Earth English to scan as such to the reader, no translation necessary? Is Vriska saying a word in Troll Italian, which gets translated to Earth Italian? Is she expressing a sentiment in her usual language that's best translated as the word "arrivederci" as it's used in English? Has Doc Scratch secretly been translating all cross-species communication we've seen so far?

Vriska's arrivederci seems diegetic to me. If we inherited English from Alternia, it makes sense that some of our other languages might come from there too.

tl;dr: Troll Italy is real 🇮🇹

Anonymous asked: im not one to dip my toes into The Vriscourse but this one piece of analysis i really liked is that vriska is jealous of tavros, that hes had a much easier life compared to her and that hes allowed to be more of a wimp while she has to be the toughest fuck alive or else shell die

It's only one piece of the Vriska-Tavros puzzle, but it's an important one. She'll refuse to acknowledge it to the end, though, because the idea of being jealous of Tavros is disgusting to her.

@obscureaeguran asked: Are there any current theories of yours that you want to be wrong about?

Confident as I am in my Vriska death theory, I don't actually want to be right.

I really like Vriska's character, and I want to see her grow past the worldview that's preventing her from finding peace. I just don't think that's likely, given her current trajectory.

Anonymous asked: 'In what universe are 13-year-olds the people most qualified to make universes?' well per the beta version of homestuck (when hussie wanted to make the whole thing in flash before deciding against it) they were all going to be 10 instead, i think this is the much better option!

How young can we go, anyway?

AU where the Homestuck Babies aren't sent to Earth at all, and just start playing immediately.

@manorinthewoods asked: Have you played Deltarune? ~LOSS (9/4/24)

I have! I was actually replaying it on day one of the liveblog - hence the several references I made to it at the time. That feels forever ago, now.

@bladekindeyewear asked: Jade changed pretty drastically as a person after her dreamself died, if you think about it— demanding Feferi stop using her quirk in chat, standing up to the trolls for the first time, getting angry, to such an extent that Karkat was so surprised that it turned his opinion of her around completely in a single conversation. Even forcing a password system to keep talks linear instead of using cloud visions to do everything out of order. This doesn’t just feel to me like dream Jade being a “different individual”, it also feels like a metaphorical confrontation between her NEW self and her OLD self…

I think it's both.

Jade's been through a lot in the last couple of hours, and she really isn't the same girl who died on Prospit.

Being an oracle of Skaia's visions led to disaster. They showed her that John's Dream Self would awaken, leading her to believe she was finally going to meet him, but neglected to mention that she'd die the moment he opened his eyes - or that Prospit would die alongside her.

As a result, the new Jade seems to have made a decision to completely reject all prophetic information. She'll supply the minimum possible intel to her past self, and no more.

It's clear her Dream Self's death was a catalyst for a pretty dramatic shift in her worldview. She's angry - at the trolls, at herself, and at the world that betrayed her trust. She's tired of being jerked around, and her tumultuous emotions are making her rather testy. Basically, she's sick of all the bullshit, and she won't take it from anyone anymore.

Jadesprite has experienced the same catalyst, and has also come to mistrust the clouds, but for different reasons.

Jade rejects prophecies, in part, because she doesn't want to be deceived - but Jadesprite rejects them out of sheer hopelessness. She just doesn't care anymore.

They both have the same trauma, but they're dealing with it in very different ways - and at this point, I really do consider them to be different people.

And then on a metaphorical level, Jadesprite represents the 'silly', absent-minded childhood self that got Jade into this mess.

I think this taunt from Karkat hit very, very close to home for her, and I'm sure she associates the traits he described with her idyllic days on Prospit. It's part of why Dream Jade is such a perfect target for her fury.

@spyril4132 asked: i beg to differ on the entry item similarities only applying to prospit. iirc, rose shatters a bottle, and dave hatches an egg; both involve breaking open some sort of "shell", and neither are associated with a larger object, which could be seen as similar types of items. (while jade does break a piñata, she does so by shooting it, not by splitting it apart)

It's true that Rose and Dave's object's have some physical similarities, but John and Jade are both summoning the same tree, which feels like a much stronger connection.

Rose and Dave's entry cards also summoned auxiliary items, but they were different - a cabinet and bird, respectively. From where I'm sitting, the link between the two Prospit items does seem unique.

@skelekingfeddy asked: what herptiles would sally and sahlee have as their consorts? i feel like a monitor lizard would fit for one of them…maybe losas has like, turtle or tortoise consorts, what with their long-livedness and the wise sagely vibe and all.

I was thinking pretty much the same thing for Sahlee. Let's say they're Galápagos tortoises, because the Sage gives me Oogway vibes.

For Sally's Consorts, I'm going to get really funky and say they're a type of pterosaur.

@sparten4ever92 asked: The HS version of Megalovania is slept on way too much, the Vriska guitar adds so much to it that the UT version just doesn't have. @sanctferum asked: Finally, MeGaLoVania by Toby Fox (feat. Joren "Tensei" deBruin on guitar)! Would you say that Tavros had an…unpleasant chronological progression? (btw I do love the bit of Spider's Claw that plays during the Vriska segment, which is (obviously) unique to this Megalovania) also, the audiovisual style of homestuck flashes is just really cool imo @mimescantscream asked: You have no idea how long we've waited for the Megalovania

This version of Megalovania was a great choice for Aradia's finest hour - or at least, her finest hour so far.

It's moments like this which are why I decided to stop listening to the albums in advance. If I hadn't first heard Aradia's Megalovania in this flash, it wouldn't have hit the way it did.

@elkian asked: MEGALOVANIA TIME BAYBEEEE! Also, let's go back to that theory you had about Aradia getting more alive, because you NAILED it. @iris-in-the-dark-world asked: i am so excited to see aradia again and finally as herself :33<

She's fucking BACK, baby!

Seeing Aradia smiling for real after all this time is genuinely heartwarming - and with her time-stop attack, she's almost unkillable. It'd take some absolute nonsense to take Aradia out of the picture again, and I think she'll be sticking around for a long time. Hopefully forever.

@grippingtraverse asked: notice any similarities during megalovania between aradia vs. jack & sans vs. player? 0u0

The best I can come up with is that Aradia and Frisk are both time travelers whose signature color is red.

Or maybe Jack is the Frisk analogue, since he's the one wiping out all life in the session, and Aradia is the last foe he faces.

@captorations asked: please consider, with this new information about aradia, what it could mean for her literary descendant dulcie septimus. please also keep considering this as you continue and see more of aradia. i am very normal about both of these characters

Ooh, they do have similar vibes, don't they? They're both doomed, they're strongly associated with death, and they both have a cheerful side that comes out when you don't expect it to.

@duorogue asked: "You have to give Nepeta some credit. The literal first thing she did after this traumatic murder was log into Trollian and report on Jack’s activities." To be fair to her, when I have a bad nightmare the first thing I do is log onto discord

nepeta hopping on mic at 2am to complain about the hat man (the hat man is doc scratch)

@absinthe-and-alabaster asked: when the writ keeper was introduced as fifth exile you mentioned that it was a little fucked up how the king was the only prospitian that was preserved - i just wanted to remind you that no, he wasn't ! on page 1974 we see all the other prospitians that were exiled with the white queen on her ship (including ms paint!) WQ just left them to go wander the desert

I'd actually forgotten about that. So much happened during the Act 4 ending that it completely slipped my mind. I even missed Ms. Paint!

Anonymous asked: Hey, as you noticed, the Dave Coin Split is a plot hole. We've never seen the timeline split because of someone's choice before. Compare to John flying to the seventh gate, there weren't two timelines based on his choice, the timeline only changed because Dave came back from the original timeline and changed it. And of course, like you said in the tags, Terezi shouldn't have been able to communicate with Doomed Dave, including to tell him the result of the FL1P. Have you noticed any other plot holes or things that don't seem to make sense?

While I see what you're saying, it might not necessarily be a plot hole! Certainly the Dave Coin Timeline was created in a different manner to Davesprite's - but that might just mean there are multiple ways to split a timeline, or that there are certain requirements that must be fulfilled for a decision to spawn one.

Because of things like that, it's hard to tell whether something's actually a plot hole, or if it'll eventually make sense in light of later reveals.

This is particularly true for aspects of the plot involving time travel, like the one you just described. Like, remember before I learned about Doomed Timelines, when I thought Davesprite broke Homestuck's predestination rules?

Anonymous asked: You said "God Tiering is just another way to inhabit your Dream Self," so do you think the things that Dream Selves can do (such as Jade growing extra arms) can be done by God Tiers?

I never really thought about that!

I think it's definitely possible. God Tier bodies can fly the same way that Dream Selves can, so other powers might transfer, too. Maybe the only reason Vriska, Aradia and John aren't shapeshifters is because Jade hasn't taught them to how to dream up extra limbs.

She might be one of the only Dream Selves who've learned how to shapeshift this fluidly. Logging thousands of hours on Prospit has its perks!

[ondeemand]

Umbrella Academy Season 4 Review

I cannot understate how bad this season was, not just from a character writing angle, but from a world building one as well. Am I biased because Five is my favorite character and he, arguably, had the biggest character assassination this season? Maybe. But I'd still like to go over my analysis of the final season of Umbrella Academy despite the fact that I'm going to pretend it didn't happen.

Things that don't make sense with the logic they've established

Little to no explanation of the “upgrades” or changes in everyone’s powers. Only some got an actual upgrade (Allison, Klaus, Five, Viktor, and Lila), but Ben’s tentacles just changed positions with no explanation (likely so he didn’t have to wear that greenscreen torso setup), and Luther and Diego just stayed the same.

○ Why does Allison’s upgrade involve super strength and/or telekinesis? I could maybe see it working on people (a silent command for them to do physically impossible things like float), but why does her power make the lights flicker and furniture move? ○ Why does Lila have laser vision as her upgrade? Her power is to copy powers, no one here has laser eyes. If it’s meant to be an upgrade, why is her upgrade laser eyes of all things? You could have made it so she can use multiple powers at once instead. Not to mention that the laser vision played next to no important role in the entire show besides one attack in the final fight that Viktor could have done instead. ○ Luther mentioned in an episode that he’s been having problems with his powers? What problems? That was never shown and never elaborated on. Also, everyone has already mentioned this, but Luther getting his power back wouldn’t give him the ape DNA.

The show claims that Allison also lost her powers last season despite her not getting her Marigold taken out of her. This could have been a programming thing with Reginald’s universal reset, but it isn’t really established so we’re left to guess (or at least I am).

Why did the CIA hire an 18 year old (at most) looking boy and accept that his name is a number? Did they not question that he’s a Hargreeves and any relations he may have to Reginald? This could be explained that the CIA looked the other way because Five’s boss was a member of the Keepers and possibly knew he had something to do with the timeline being screwed up, but this isn’t ever confirmed.

I liked that Lila’s family was alive, but how? Why? How did they reconnect? Did Lila replace their daughter? Are everyone else’s parents alive? If so, why didn’t they go look for them (especially Klaus, who went out of his way to find his birth mother last season)? Are the other October 1st children alive in this universe? If so, why didn’t they look for Sloane, even if she’d have no memory of her time as a Sparrow? This plot point just creates so many questions that go unanswered.

Number inconsistency with the timeline (Five is 63 instead of 64 years old, saying they spent 5 years instead of 6, etc). The beginning of the show said it was a 6 year time-skip, but the end of the season said it was only about 5 1/2 years, which is likely what led to these inconsistencies. It’s a small detail, but all it would take to fix is to just say it was a 5 year time-skip from the start.

Ben on a subway train last season was seemingly not explained despite subway trains being a very important plot device this season. I get that they probably had to change the story because of Netflix canceling the show, but still.

What’s with the Jennifer portrait in Sparrow Ben’s room in season 3 if he’s never met her before? It was probably just meant to be a reference, but now it retroactively doesn’t make sense.

Why does Claire know that Klaus is immortal? Even if he told her, why would she believe him? They live in a world where they never had powers, and I don’t think anyone told her they got the powers back, let alone every detail of how Klaus’ work.

Five used the ability to go back in time in short bursts way back in season 2, why does he never use that power again? (The answer is that it was too convenient and could fix any plot point, but still)

No paradox psychosis symptoms in the deli full of Fives (because it’s in the subway? Unclear and unexplained).

Diego said that Lila hates bracelets and traded one that Diego got her, but she kept the one Diego made in the 1963 asylum and wore it for the rest of the season. It even made it to season 3 where Diego had kept it for most of the time, then returned it to Lila at the end. It’s such an important symbol of their relationship, but they just had to throw in a random reason that Diego would discover the affair that doesn’t even make logical sense.

Very small thing, but Viktor said he was going to pull out Ben’s Marigold but then they switched it to pulling out his/Jennifer’s Durango.

Klaus doesn’t have his Hello/Goodbye or cult tattoos but they do all have the umbrella tattoos? That doesn’t make sense.

Seeing all the kids being happy in the new timeline was nice, but I do have to point out that they wouldn’t exist if their parents didn’t, or it’d be incredibly unlikely that they’d turn out exactly the same and end up being all together.

Seeing Grace happy at the end was also really sweet, but it didn’t make logical sense because the real Grace is from Dallas in the 60s. She’d be old and/or dead by then, and if they showed her, why not also show Ray, Missy, and Harlan?

Things I just don't like about it

Where’s Ray? It was sad that he was so easily written out and delegated to just a few lines.

Klaus getting whored out is so uncomfortable. Thank god they cut away before it got too graphic, but it was still so bad.

Klaus overall was underutilized and given the short end of the stick this season. How it usually works is Five and Lila are the A Team, they have all the pieces put together and are making real progress. Everyone else is the B Team, they’re trying their best to solve the plot but sometimes make unnecessary moves because they don’t know everything. And then there’s Klaus on the C Team doing god knows what (and I love him for it). However, even if it’s silly, it always impacts the story in some sort of helpful way.

○ In season 1 he gets kidnapped and sent to Vietnam on his own side quest. The plot relevance is that now he learns more about Hazel and Cha Cha and learns how the briefcases work. This is also a somber character moment that forces him to mature through a traumatic event. More positively, it’s where he meets the love of his life that, in turn, has ties to season 2. ○ In season 2 he fucks off for 3 years to start a cult. This allows him time to really practice with his powers and has development for Ben, as well as getting him connections and experiences that help them later on. ○ In season 3, while the rest of the cast are dealing with the Sparrows, he and Five go on a road trip to Pennsylvania. This fun jaunt leads to the incredibly important revelation that their mothers died before they were born, and the discovery of the Kugelblitz. He later goes on another road trip side plot with Reginald where he actually trains his powers, which allows him to survive the Kugelblitz and reveal Reginald’s actions to everyone in the Hotel Oblivion. ○ In season 4, Klaus… gets kidnapped by a gang he owes money to and gets spiritually and physically whored out to people. He manages to escape by himself, is almost immediately found by the gang again, gets buried alive and left to die over and over again (incredibly similar trauma to the mausoleum that isn’t addressed), and is rescued by Allison and Claire. He gains nothing from this except for more trauma. It’s not plot relevant, he doesn’t learn anything or gain any new skills from it, and he doesn’t even get the money he dug up. It’s mind boggling how many plot irrelevant things got squeezed into the final season when the runtime was cut in half. I’d argue that maybe it would all be worth it if they included the cut scene where Klaus goes to an AA meeting.

Not the fault of the show, probably, but the captions weren’t always accurate.

Lila and Five romance which is gross both in-universe and between actors. Not to mention how allonormative it is that Five ��had to have a love story,” because the show was already a familial love story. I really don't believe Five and Lila would get together, but even if they did, they would both drop it the moment they got back to their family.

○ I believe that they would grow very close, especially when they’re the only people together. It’s like a diet apocalypse (I’ll get back to this point later), so it makes sense that they’d grow closer on top of the relationship they had based on their established similar backstories and traumas. ○ Five would NEVER give up on finding his family. It’s his main motivation, the very core of his character. Would he want to take a break after 6 ½ years on top of his 45 previous years being stuck? Absolutely, that’s entirely plausible, but he’d want to leave the second he found the journal. ○ Five loves his family, full stop. He’d NEVER hate Diego for his reaction to getting cheated on, and he’d never want to “fucking kill him.” Have we forgotten how a young Five tried to shake Diego’s corpse awake when he first got to the apocalypse? ○ On top of it all, he would never just abandon everyone like that and fuck off to another timeline, and especially not because he got dumped.

I wish the show focused more on how visiting the apocalypse and getting stuck on in the subway would dredge up old memories for Five. He had a whole PTSD attack in season 1 and freaked out hard. I know it’s been a few years for him, but seeing any kind of reaction besides mild concern would have been nice. Same with Klaus and getting buried alive. I didn’t even know that he was dying over and over until I watched the cut AA scene. Robert Sheehan has so much range and I wish they let him shine in that more serious moment on top of how well he does the comedic stuff.

I get that Random Fire Boy from the Phoenix Academy timeline was likely just another one of the October 1st kids, but why create a whole new guy for just that scene? Why not use one of the other established Umbrellas or Sparrows to shoot an attack that took 2 seconds of screen time?

The CGI was bad ngl. I thought it looked worse than usual last season, but this was. Not good.

The final fight with the big glob monster felt kind of disjointed and awkward, both with the pacing, visuals, and dialogue.

Incredibly sad that Ben (and Jennifer, but we didn’t get enough time to really bond with her) died so horrifically. He died scared and alone, never having fully connected with the Umbrellas who only ever saw him as a replacement for their own dead brother.

The fact that there wasn’t a dance sequence this season is really telling. Someone online proposed the idea that they should have danced as they waited to die, and I think that would have been great. The soundtrack did use another version of “I Think We’re Alone Now” for the final scene, but I think this part would have benefited more. Five and Lila would get to join in, and it’d be nice because they weren’t alone anymore. Even if they were going to die, they’d be together. It would have added more sweetness to a bittersweet ending.

The Diego fat jokes weren’t funny. Fatphobia isn’t funny. He also isn’t fat??? He’s really fucking muscular as shown by him going shirtless in the CIA fight (the Marvel dehydrate+flex method strikes again). Maybe he gained some weight since previous seasons but not to an unhealthy degree. He’s a suburban father of 3 who sits in a van all day to deliver packages, of course he’s not as active as he used to be when he was a crime fighting vigilante.

They also never name Diego and Lila’s third child despite them being so important to Lila and why she chooses her family over her affair. Grace as their first daughter is sweet (Diego was a mama’s boy to the end), then Coco is nice (Spanish name like Diego’s), and then there’s Coco’s unnamed twin. It would have been nice to give them a more traditionally Punjabi name to even it out, or show interesting character psychology for Lila if they were named after someone like The Handler or AJ.

No Pogo except in a flashback? The gang that held Klaus hostage were the Mothers of Agony, so I thought he would be there and maybe help Klaus escape. I guess if Reginald had his wife and never made the Umbrella Academy, he wouldn’t have done the experiments that made Pogo into what he is? That either adds to how awful Reginald is, or it’s just another plot hole.

That whole vomit scene. Bad and Not Funny.

Baby shark was funny at first but got old and cringe incredibly fast.

Things I DO like about it because I want to stay at least a little positive

(It’s not in the show but conceptually, with Allison’s new powers, she could tell someone to kill themselves and they just would which is a funny visual)

The family photo was cute, I love looking at everyone’s individual reactions.

The episode 4 flashback sequence was great.

○ Good casting for the young versions of characters. ○ I love that it showed how close Viktor and Ben were as kids. It’s always been a strong headcanon within the fandom but I don’t know if it’s ever been established on screen before (besides Ben’s sacrifice in season 2). ○ POGO!!!!! ○ Ben said fuck!!!!! ○ Holy SHIT very good reveal of Ben’s death. It was super shocking and unexpected, and the fact that it was a big mystery for so long and ended up being something so simple really added to the tragedy.

Allison throwing a plate at Reggie lmao.

Viktor standing up to Reginald!!! Let it out king!!! And I love that his outburst shows even more how close he and Ben used to be.

Diego and Luther’s dumbassery, I love them so much. The two halves of a whole idiot are BACK. They’re besties and I love it.

Diego learned Punjabi for Lila and her family!!!!! That’s so fucking sweet of him!!!!!!

The soundtrack, as always, was a banger.

Most of the fight scenes are great, either hilarious or incredibly violent or a mix of both.

Hargreeves being an abusive father but not a transphobic one lmao.

I still love the umbrella shapes at the beginning of every episode, and the final one being inverted was sick.

I wasn’t sure about Gene and Jean at first but I love them. Great casting choices, great performances, they felt very reminiscent of the weird and unique aesthetic of season 1 that I’ve been missing.

Diego calling Five “Cinco” was so cute. Too bad this horrible version of Five didn’t deserve it.

I do like how Viktor and Reginald were paired up together when they had the most strained relationship at the start of the show. It felt like a sign that Viktor was stronger now and had been able to recover enough to do so.

○ I understand where people are coming from that it feels too much like forgiving Reginald and absolving him of all his abuse. But also, this is the show that forgets about all the bad things a character has done between seasons, let alone between several. Viktor slashed open Allison’s throat? Water under the bridge. Luther locked Viktor in the same chamber that Reginald did and gave him a mental breakdown? Forgiven and forgotten. Allison’s sexual assault on Luther? To them it’s been 5–6 years so he’s had time to process it but still, never brought up again. I’m not excusing these writing choices, just establishing that it’s been a pattern. At the very least, this one felt like there was closure because Viktor actually got to stand up for himself and his siblings.

They finally wrapped up the plot thread of Five creating the commission, even if it was just delegated to a throwaway line. The fact that they addressed it at all was satisfying enough to me, especially in comparison to everything else.

It’s a blink-and-you’ll- miss-it moment, but Five protected Luther’s head from bullets when the van was getting shot at. So funny that he keeps trying to use his small body to protect the actual tank that is Luther.

○ It’s similar to the scene in season 2 where Five (prepubescent body) pushes Luther (bulletproof ape body) out of the way of falling bricks and gets crushed. Luther is canonically bulletproof (maybe not in the head?) and Five KNOWS this because he saw him get shot by a tank in 1963. ○ Thank god at least SOME part of his love for his family and protective instincts survived this season’s character assassination.

I like that the final scene of them all in a circle kind of mimics the ending of season 1 (even if I wish it was a dance sequence instead).

I liked that the ending showed other characters getting to have normal lives (The Swedes, Hazel and Agnes, Grace (even though that doesn’t make sense), The Handler, Dot and Herb, etc). If it had to end in a bitter way, I like that we got even this small comfort.

TLDR

Overall, while the season wasn’t entirely unbearable to watch, the small, momentary Pros are heavily outweighed by the Cons that either break the show’s logic, assassinate the characters, or are storytelling choices that leave longtime fans like myself dissatisfied.

3.65/10

[coraniaid]

I remember reading a good post on here a year or two -- which I'm afraid I've been unable to track down again -- which pointed out that the Buffy writers' retroactive creation of a central coordinating "Watcher's Council" in Season 3 makes the fact Kendra wasn't expecting to meet Buffy when she visited Sunnydale in Season 2 rather strange. Surely Giles would have been sending in reports about Buffy's vampire-slaying to the Council, and surely the Council would have passed these on to Kendra's Watcher when he became worried that something bad was about to happen in Sunnydale. The post suggested as an explanation the theory that, after Buffy died and Kendra was activated as a Slayer, the Council just assumed Giles was coping really badly with losing his Slayer and dismissed all of his follow-up reports about her out of hand as a sad delusional fantasy.

In the same spirit, I'd like to propose that the fact Faith clearly is expecting to meet Buffy when she arrives in Sunnydale in Season 3 suggests that, inverting the pattern above, Giles has been lying to the Council about Buffy all summer and pretending that she's still in town doing her duty as a Slayer (and that he isn't spending all his time flying around the country desperately trying to find her).

This gets a bit long, but bear with me.

Faith knows about Buffy and she's heard at least a few stories about her (she calls her "infamous" and asks: "so, B, did you really use a rocket launcher one time?"). Faith can only have heard about past Slayers from her Watcher, who must ultimately (indirectly) have heard any details about Buffy through Giles sending reports back to the Council.

But Faith isn't just aware of Buffy as some abstract former Slayer. She comes to Sunnydale looking for her ("you're ... uh, Buffy, right? [...] I figured this was my chance to meet [you]") and, I suspect, deliberately arranged her fight with a vampire at the Bronze to make this happen (in particular she only seems to start fighting back once she has an audience...). Why didn't she head to Jamacia in search of Kendra? Well, clearly her Watcher must have told her that Buffy Summers was alive and that it was Kendra's death, not Buffy's, that had led to her being called. (Clutching at straws, but if you go back and watch the episode, Faith does nod slightly when Cordelia talks about Kendra dying; maybe her Watcher told her a bit about Kendra too?)

But how could Faith's Watcher (or anybody else), knowing that Faith has just been called as a Slayer, be sure which of the two previously alive Slayers had just died? (The show later retcons that only Kendra's death would have called a new Slayer, and Buffy's wouldn't, but I don't believe the writers had decided this was the plan before the end of Season 5's The Gift. The Mayor doesn't seem to think this is how it works, for example, and there are some things the writers said at the time that seem to rule it out too. But even if that was always what would have happened, if two Slayers at a time is unprecedented, as the show suggests, how could the Council be sure?)

The simplest answer must be that somebody told them that Kendra died. "Somebody" being, of course, Giles. But when did he tell them? The earliest he could have done it was at the end of the Becoming two-parter (Kendra dies in part one, but Giles is a prisoner for most of the following episode and I doubt Angel was letting him mail postcards back to England).

But the end of Becoming is also the point where Buffy leaves town and goes into hiding for months. Any report that Giles sent the Council from this point should have mentioned this, surely? The Council have all sorts of resources that they could have used to find her. It didn't have to be just Giles himself haring off after every false lead. But apparently, it was.

So, I think Giles wrote to the Council after Kendra died to let Sam Zabuto know and (whether actively or through omission) just ... let them think Buffy was still in Sunnydale. And then when it was time to send his next report in, he just ... kept pretending Buffy was still in town. Once he failed to tell them she was gone, he could hardly admit that she'd actually vanished weeks ago, could he? The Council generally have a pretty hands-off management style, but I don't think they'd have kept paying him if they realized he didn't actually know where his Slayer was or what she was up to. They might have decided earlier than in canon that he wasn't up to the job and needed to be replaced. Or even that this technically made Buffy a "rogue Slayer" who was refusing to follow her Watcher's orders. I think it makes sense he wouldn't tell them.

Which is why, over the summer, Faith's Watcher was telling her stories about Buffy Summers, the Slayer with a rocket launcher, stories which made Faith think she was living and Slaying in Sunnydale. Even though, for most -- maybe all -- of the summer Faith spent with her first Watcher, Buffy wasn't in Sunnydale at all.

(The show's a little bit vague about how much time passes between the start of Dead Man's Party and Faith's arrival in Faith, Hope & Trick but I don't think it's credible that it was enough time for Giles to be reunited with Buffy, for him to tell the Council she was back (and them to believe him), for the Council to tell Faith's Watcher, for Faith's Watcher to tell her, for Kakistos to murder Faith's Watcher and for Faith to flee Boston and travel over 3000 miles to Sunnydale through whatever combination of hitchhiking, freighthopping and motor vehicle theft she's meant to have used to make it there (she can barely cover the costs of the cheapest motel in Sunnydale: I don't exactly think she could afford a cross-country flight). When Giles gets through to the Watcher's retreat in England, enough time has passed for them to have found out about and confirmed Faith's Watcher was dead, and that can't have been quick either: Faith wasn't exactly rushing to tell them.)

So, all in all, Faith is pretty lucky she arrived in Sunnydale when she did. A few days earlier, and she'd have missed Buffy entirely. Maybe eventually one of her attempts to stage a fight so she could look cool in front of another Slayer would lead her into meeting the Scoobies and Giles and figuring out what was going on, but maybe not. Maybe Kakistos would have caught up with her first.

And, even if it's not intended, I like the symmetry of Kendra not knowing Buffy would be in Sunnydale (because Giles truthfully told the Council she was and they didn't believe him), versus Faith going to Sunnydale specifically to meet Buffy not knowing she might not even be there (because this time the Council did believe Giles but this time he was lying to them).

[femalestyles]

stunt (h.s.)

masterlist

TW: none

wc: ~2.6k

-

9: canada

By the time I finally settled down, it was too late to find another hotel room. Harper insisted I stay with her for the night, and after the day I’d had, I didn’t have the energy to argue. My breakdown had drained whatever fight was left in me. She even offered to grab my stuff from Austin and I’s shared room, giving me my first moment of solitude since stepping into hers.

I utilized that time to call Shelley, keeping the explanation as brief as possible. There was no point in sugarcoating it—Austin cheated on me, no one outside the band knew, Macy would call her, and we’d figure it out from there. Shelley didn’t press for details. She didn’t mention how raw my voice sounded or offer any condolences. She knew I didn’t want pity, just discretion. With a promise to handle it, she let me return to my wallowing.

It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep, my entire being exhausted emotionally and physically.

When I woke the next morning and saw no whispers of it online, I knew Shelley had taken care of everything.

Of course, I could’ve gone scorched earth—taken a page from the Russians and burned it all down. But where would that have left me? Jobless, humiliated. Sure, Austin would’ve been, too, but that felt like letting him win. He’d already stolen enough from me. And besides, any irrational thoughts ceased to exist when I thought of Macy, how scared she had looked.

I stayed in bed, keeping my phone use to a minimum. The number above my messages icon had grown overnight, but I wasn’t about to start sorting through them. Do Not Disturb stayed on, and it wasn’t coming off today.

Harper had left bright and early to take care of some assistant duties before we flew to Toronto later today. I pretended to be asleep when she left, not ready to face her after last night. Once I was sure she was gone, I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling. The light above flickered, coated in a thick layer of dust. Maybe they’d clean it when they changed the bulb.

Shame ran deep into my core. I’d always prided myself on being in control, keeping my life in order. And yet, I’d let my feelings get in the way—let myself be swept up in the attention Austin showered on me when we first met. Even when he spent weeks chipping away at me, stealing little pieces like a thief in the night, I pretended not to notice. He set off every trip wire I’d spent years carefully laying, and still, I let him. Being blindsided stung, but it was the embarrassment that kept me holed up in bed all morning.

The morning bled into the afternoon while I grieved our relationship, the low hum of cable TV filling the silence. The grumbling of my stomach could only be ignored for so long before I mustered the energy to order room service. I opted for buttered noodles, something bland that wouldn’t taste as bad if it came back up. Eating felt like a chore, but I needed the calories if I planned on dragging myself to the tarmac later.

I braced myself before checking my phone. 3:07 p.m.

As expected, there was a flood of messages from Austin. I didn’t bother reading them before deleting the entire conversation. He’d send more anyway. Niall, Louis, and Zayn had also reached out, all some variation of Are you okay? Do you need anything? I ignored those too, eyes catching on a message from days ago—Harry’s last text, the one about my hand. Nothing since then.

A small sting, sharp and sudden.

It didn’t mean anything. We were sorta-kinda friends. He didn’t owe me anything.

I pushed the thought away, sighing as I skimmed Harper’s updates from the past few hours.

8:21a: ran out for errands, b back soon!!

11:37a: picking up food!! did u eat???

12:05p: helloooooo????

12:52p: ok fr are u alive

1:48p: ?????

2:57p: JULES

As if her ears were ringing, my phone rang in my hand. The goofy picture she had put in as her contact filled my screen, one of her sticking her tongue out with both middle fingers up. I answered the phone with a grunt, laying my arm over my eyes.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” she chirped, the sound of wind whipping through the speaker. “I was about to call in a welfare check.”

I rolled my eyes, hoping she could feel it through the phone. “You have the hotel key. You could just come in,” I deadpanned, fumbling for the remote to mute the TV.

The background noise quieted, and I could tell she had stepped inside somewhere. “Yeah, but what if I walked in and found your dead body? That would traumatize me for life. No thanks.”

I huffed out a laugh, putting her on speaker and tossing the phone onto the bed as I dragged myself up. Every muscle ached, my body screaming in protest. Maybe I could just disappear into a dark cave for the next few months.

“Haha. Very funny,” I mumbled.

A flicker of guilt passed through me, only intensifying when she asked, “Seriously, though. How are you feeling?”

I was about to answer when I heard the familiar sound of the door clicking open.

Harper strolled in, balancing her phone between her ear and shoulder, arms full of shopping bags in one hand and a coffee carrier in the other. I reached over to my phone to end our call, Harper’s bags hitting the ground with a thud.

She took one look at me—hair a mess, exhaustion written all over my face—and said nothing, just silently handed me a cup from the carrier. I accepted it with a quiet thanks, taking a slow sip. She didn’t push for an answer to her question, clearly taking my disheveled appearance as an answer.

My beautiful, wonderful, angel of a friend had brought me a caramel macchiato.

I moaned dramatically at the taste, the will to live returning to my body momentarily. Harper tucked her phone back into her purse, removing the other coffee cup before discarding the holder.

“I hate to interrupt this moment you’re having,” she paused, gesturing between me and the cup I was clinging to for dear life. “But, we have to be on the plane in less than an hour and you look…” she trailed off, offering me a sympathetic smile. I glared playfully in response, even if no part of me was feeling jokey.

“Well, you always look radiant,” she amended, grin widening. “But maybe a shower wouldn’t hurt.”

“Bite me,” I grunted.

She was right. I didn’t need to look in a mirror to know I looked scary right now.

With a scowl, I chugged the rest of my coffee and breezed past Harper. I didn’t risk a glance in the vanity as I started the shower, waiting for the water to heat up.

“We’re leaving in thirty!” She called out, just as I shut the door to the bathroom.

~

The ride to the tarmac was tortuous.

The boys had taken separate transport—probably at Harper’s insistence—which left just the two of us in the back of a black town car. I barely noticed. Most of my shower had been spent sitting on the tub floor, staring at the tile. I’d half-heartedly washed my hair, then scrubbed my skin raw, hard enough to take off a layer of skin. Preferably the layer of the pathetic girl I had become in the last 24 hours.

Harper had braided my damp hair into a loose French braid that now clung to the back of my black graphic tee, the fabric steadily soaking through. I wore black joggers and oversized sunglasses, hoping to disappear into them. My short burst of energy hadn’t stretched far enough to include makeup, so hiding would have to do.

Harper tried to fill the car ride with normal conversation, but it was difficult to talk with the huge elephant taking up the back of the car. She also tried her best to avoid any mention of Mirage in general, which was difficult since we spent all of our time either with the boys or doing something for them. Or being cheated on by them.

Harper tried to fill the silence with normal conversation, but there was nothing normal about this. The elephant in the car was too big, too heavy. She did her best to avoid any mention of Mirage at all, which was near impossible when we spent all of our time either with the boys or doing something for them. Or being cheated on by them.

“Did Louis say anything?” I finally asked, knowing she had seen him this morning. She had tried to dodge the question before, but there was no point now.

She sighed, shaking her head. “Just said he didn’t know anything.”

As we pulled up to the airport, I only nodded. I didn’t ask about the others. I wasn’t ready for the answer. If they’d known—if they’d kept it from me—what then? I had already decided I wasn’t quitting, so maybe ignorance was bliss in this case.

Wordlessly, we transferred to another vehicle to reach the jet. I pulled my green hoodie from my bag, yanking it over my head before handing my things off to be loaded. Without a word, Harper looped her arm through mine and steered us toward the stairs.

No turning back now.

She boarded first, pausing at the top of the stairs, waiting for me to follow. I trudged up behind her, my movements slow, deliberate. Five sets of eyes locked onto us the second I stepped inside.

Harper greeted them for both of us, not breaking stride as she headed toward the back. I kept my gaze fixed ahead, hoping my sunglasses were dark enough to hide whatever was written on my face. Holding my breath, I moved past them, determined to make it through untouched.

I almost made it.

This time, I did flinch when a hand grabbed my wrist, holding me in place with a tight grip. I turned to find the likely culprit staring up at me with a pathetic look.

“Jules-” Austin started. The others stiffened, sitting up straighter, ready to jump in if needed.

“Don’t.”

The ice in my own voice startled me. I ripped my arm away and kept walking, shoving down the nausea curling in my stomach.

I didn’t stop until I reached my seat beside Harper.

She looked like she wanted to say something, but after one glance at my face, she let it go.

I leaned my head against the window as the jet rumbled to life, waiting for sleep to take me under.

~

Toronto sucked. No offense, Canada.

Objectively, the city was beautiful—alive with fall, the skyline towering over streets bursting with culture. I had been excited when I first saw this stop on the tour schedule. It was supposed to be my first time out of the country, something I had once looked forward to.

Prior to leaving for tour, I had scrambled to get an expedited passport, receiving it with barely a week to spare. This trip was meant to be a milestone, a memory I’d cherish. Instead, I spent it barricaded in my hotel room.

At least I still had the privilege of a solo, comped hotel room. However, it was nowhere near as nice as the suite I had when I was with Austin.

Luxury—one more thing he had taken from me.

After the tense standoff on the plane, Austin hadn’t tried to approach me again. Smart choice. I rode to the hotel with the rest of the crew, practically sprinting to my room the moment I had my key.

Harper had invited me to dinner with the other team members, trying to nudge me toward new company now that I wouldn’t be spending all my free time with Austin. I appreciated the gesture, but the idea of sitting in a room full of curious eyes, dodging whispered speculations, made my skin crawl. Politely, I declined.

There were already rumors among the staff. No one knew exactly what had happened, but they had pieced together that Austin and I had broken up. Some were brazen enough to ask me outright, but Harper didn’t let them finish before she not-so-amiably told them to shove it.

I skipped soundcheck. Then the concert.

Austin’s barrage of texts slowed to a trickle, though they all read the same. Different forms of apologizing, desperate attempts to get me to talk. Interestingly, not once did he mention wanting to get back together. I took that as a sign.

I left his messages on read, hoping he’d take the hint.

Niall also texted me after noting my absence, though he had a different take on the situation.

One time. Just let me hit him once plz. I’ll make it count

I rolled my eyes, but giggled despite myself. I shot back something about the police and not bailing him out, only to receive an excessive amount of crying emojis in response.

Aside from him, the other boys had backed off. Harry still hadn’t reached out at all, though I had tempered my surprise.

I didn’t run into any of them on our day off, either, but that might have had something to do with me only leaving my room once to collect my takeout from the lobby.

~

Montreal was more of the same.

Any plans I had went out the window in favor of stuffing my face with overpriced, overfried foods.

Harper had resorted to outright begging me to step outside—just a short walk to the convenience store, a few minutes of fresh air. She claimed she was worried about my Vitamin D levels. I placated her with flimsy excuses. We were both lying.

Niall tried, too. He showed up at my hotel room, asking me in person to come to their show after I stopped answering his texts. He didn’t push, but the concern in his eyes was clear as I waved him off.

The last day, when I was supposed to be at the Notre-Dame Basilica, taking in a breathtaking light show, I watched ten straight episodes of Law and Order: SVU.

I lay curled up in bed, tracing the nearly healed cut on my hand. The wound had almost closed, a silent reminder that even as I hid away, time hadn’t stopped. Life was still moving—whether I was ready for it or not.

Through it all, I knew exactly what I was becoming. I had never been the girl who fell apart over a boy before. But the way I saw it, I wasn’t mourning Austin.

I was mourning my own ignorance.

In the week since our breakup, I’d had too much time to think. Too much time to pick apart every memory, every moment where I should have noticed the truth. When was the last time we were truly happy—free of my insecurities, free of his promiscuity? It was hard to remember.

The thing that kept me wrapped in bed all the time was the ignominy of being oblivious.

I had swallowed every lie he fed me, blissfully unaware of just how deep the deception ran. If he had been so bold, so careless with his infidelity, it must have been going on for a while.

The more I dwelled on it, the angrier I became.

I deserved to know exactly how blind I had been.

Even if the truth hurt.

That was why, on our first night in Pittsburgh, I went looking for answers.

-

taglist: @indierockgirrl @sassamanda77 @behindmygreyeyes

[sissy-the-siren]

Borderlands: Debt or Alive

"You seem to misunderstand who you're talking to," I growled. "We did this to save you. We're the good guys." "Funny," Fittzwiggins said, a cruel smile curling his lip. "I seem to remember one Handsome Jack saying much the same thing."

Things I was expecting from Borderlands: Debt or Alive--my girls, guns, and fun.

Things I got from Borderlands: Debt or Alive--my girls, guns, fun, Rhysha goodness, Fiona being Very Gay, existential crises, and class revolution.

A solid entry into the Borderlands universe, Anthony Burch doesn't disappoint, returning with the same wit and charm to his writing that made me fall in love with Borderlands 2. Fast-paced and action-packed, this isn't your standard novel and reads almost like a movie script, but it's so much fun, and, well, so MUCH FUN!!!

(If you haven't played Borderlands 2 and Tales from the Borderlands, this book might not make much sense or be enjoyable for you, just a head's up.)

After running and gunning for so long, when con artist sisters Fiona and Sasha finally get their Big Break, they find themselves wallowing in apathy, missing...what, they're not quite sure, but whatever it is, it's preventing them from enjoying their new life of luxury. It only takes Sasha's second death, Fiona's first death, Deathtrap's destruction (don't worry, he gets rebuilt!), Gaige's torture (twice), and an uprising against Eden-5's uber wealthy Elite for them to figure it out, but they get there!

I was hoping--PRAYING--for some Rhysha goodness, and Burch more than delivered; in-between bouts of dealing with her own mortality and the cold realization that nothing awaits her after death, Sasha examines her life, where she's at, what her future holds, and where Rhys slots into it all. I've compiled the following list of Rhysha moments:

Chapter 1 p. 13-14 - Taking place during the last battle with the Guardian, Sasha reflects over the events of Tales, with an emphasis on how she developed feelings for Rhys (and vice versa), largely due to how loyal he was to his friends and the lengths he'd go to protect them. p. 16 - Sasha's death scene, where Rhys is sobbing uncontrollably (described as "heartbreak" by Fiona) and Sasha thinks to herself that he's "[d]umb as a rock" but that he has a "big heart".

Chapter 2 p. 20 - Fiona wonders if she's going to be stuck in the Vault forever while Rhys is free to go and hit on her sister. p. 25 - Sasha's eyes light up with joy, something they haven't done since they were kids--and, Fiona adds in a footnote, since Rhys started flirting with her (she tries not to think about that though). p. 27 - Sasha wishes for a Vaultlander collectible from the Vault, something she learned about from Rhys. He told her about them when she "accidentally brushed my hand against Rhys's arm and he got so nervous he wouldn't stop talking about these things for twenty minutes." Fiona tells her that she can do better, to which Sasha tells her to stop being "such a mom" and that Rhys is "a nice guy".

Chapter 4 p. 39 - The sisters discuss the Vaultlander, Rhys, and whether or not Rhys has ever taken his Vaultlander figures out to play with them (he told Sasha that he hasn't because they're a "sound financial and artistic investment"; the sisters both think he has though).

Chapter 6 p. 50-51 - NOT Rhysha related, but just one--and the most significant--of the many sections that screamed "FIONA LOVES WOMEN!!!!" to me. There is no hetero explanation for the amount of detail with which Fiona observes Holloway. NONE. Chapter 9 p. 71 - Sasha says that meeting Rhys couldn't have been for nothing. Chapter 10 p. 79 - Sasha is able to get a debt cuff off of Fiona because Rhys taught her how to hack. This comes in handy several times throughout the book. Chapter 15 p. 111 - Fiona notes that Sasha ECHOchats with Rhys almost every day. Chapter 16 p. 114-116 - Half of this chapter is Sasha talking to Rhys. Both admit that they miss each other, even if they're in a weird are-we-or-aren't-we place. Sasha thinks that Rhys is a kind, handsome himbo with ambition. Rhys blushes while saying she means a lot to him and Sasha realizes that she likes him. Chapter 31 p. 220-226 - Soooo much happens in these pages! The first thing that comes up is that Sasha notices the beginning of Rhys's mustache and that he's altered his voice. The tone turns serious when Rhys asks if he can call her his girlfriend, to which Sasha apologizes and says that she's not ready for that until she knows that she can promise him with certainty the future that he deserves. Rhys understands and is willing to do whatever is necessary as long as she's happy, to which Sasha admits to herself that she can see them being more--eventually. Things take a MORE serious turn when Rhys asks her how she's doing and Sasha tells him the truth--the full truth, which isn't something she normally would do, but feels comfortable doing so with Rhys because she cares about him and actually wants to let him in to her life. Rhys helps the sisters get back on track and renews their fighting spirits. Chapter 32 p. 227 - Fiona once against questions why Sasha is crushing on Rhys when his brilliant idea to disguise the guns he sent to them is by writing "Not Guns" on the pallets. Sasha says that his heart is in the right place, to which Fiona responds, "[w]here his brain should be." p. 228 - Sasha quotes Rhys ("Mustaches are a facial accoutrement that convey trustworthiness, masculinity, and culture without ever needing to leave the cozy confines of one's upper lip."), much to Fiona's horror, and when his parroted words succeed in swaying the secbot to let the "mustache wax" (pallets of guns) through, Sasha gets an air of "see-Rhys-can-be-useful-who-looks-silly-now" about her. Chapter 34 p. 237-242 - Taking up the bulk of this chapter, Fiona and Sasha argue over Sasha and her inability to make up her mind when it comes to whether or not she wants to be in a relationship with Rhys. Fiona points out that they're not living out of a caravan anymore, not constantly on the run, and that Rhys is a "decently handsome idiot who worships the ground you walk on", going so far to admit that she--Fiona--even likes him. She encourages Sasha to make a decision one way or the other--it's only fair to the both of them. Chapter 36 p. 255 - Fiona hands Sasha a note that Rhys handwrote for her that he sent with the gun shipment. A "big, dumb smile" appears on Sasha's face. Epilogue p. 308-309 - Fiona sends a text-only ECHOcomm to Rhys. Fiona thanks Rhys for everything he's done for her, and for being good to Sasha (of course, she follows up by saying that if he's ever NOT good to her, she'll hunt him down and fill his brain with bullets). She reluctantly congratulates him on officially being Sasha's "long-distance boyfriend".

…and there you have it! RHYSHA GOODNESS IN THE YEAR 2024 THANK YOU ANTHONY BURCH!!!!!

Even without all that Rhysha goodness, Debt or Alive is a solid book and a wild ride with plenty of love, laughs, and anarchy. (Side note: The sisters' last name is Dillon? Dillon?????)

[infiglo]

Infiglo's FNAF AU Masterpost 😃

Making this in an attempt to be more organized with my AU and so that people can look at this before asking any questions I might have already answered before. It will include links to posts (explanations, references, important art), FAQ, and other details.

Brief Summary

My AU is basically just my interpretation of the FNAF story, with some changes from canon/what is largely agreed to be canon. (It does not always reflect what I actually think is canon.) I kind of think of it in 2 separate parts, one about the kids before and after they die, and another about Michael (and some other characters) after the murders, finding out what happens and dealing with the haunted animatronics of course. The first part is my main focus majority of the time, and usually follows Cassidy, Charlie, and Evan.

Important Posts

How Possession Works (About the Spirits & Agony Ghosts)

Golden Freddy Explanation

Relationship chart for the main + FNAF 4 kids (when all of them were alive)

2021 Cassidy and Evan Comic + Talking about why it's not longer accurate

Info about my Funtime animatronics

Designs/References

Humans:

Design reference for all the main kids

Cassidy's more detailed reference

Reference for Cassidy & Evan's agony ghosts merged together (Acid Van)

FNAF 4 kids designs & names (will get full body refs eventually)

Main 1985 Freddy's Employees (OCs)

WIP 1983 Michael Design

WIP Nightguard Mina design

Animatronics:

Baby and Ballora references (I'll replace it with a post of all the Funtimes when I finish them)

Nightmare and Nightmare Fredbear designs

All the versions of Chica together

As you can see, I don't currently have updated references for quite a few characters such as Michael, William, Henry, the FNAF 1 animatronics, etc. I am working on these and will have them eventually. I'll try to always keep this up to date with what I've posted.

FAQ

Are you planning on making a webcomic? - I gave a longer explanation about what I plant to do with my AU here, but the short answer is that I plan on making short comics about specific events/situations, but not one continuous comic telling the entire story.

How many games does your AU include?/Does your AU include Security Breach? - My AU only goes to UCN, so no it does not include Security Breach, Help Wanted, or Fazbear Frights if you believe those are canon. I will include some characters like Vanessa, Gregory, Cassie, Jake, and Andrew as background characters in my AU just for fun, but they are not really relevant to the story.

When did the kids die? - I'm still making sure I'm happy with the exact dates and death orders, but as of right now: Charlie dies in 1980, Elizabeth and Evan die in 1983, and the MCI is 1985.

What ages were the kids when they died? - I answered that here. Please note this is an updated version where I changed a few ages, and there might be an old inaccurate answer to this question up somewhere.

What are the FNAF 4 nightmares in the AU? - They are Evan and Cassidy's agony ghosts, or extensions of them since the only ones they themselves turn into are Nightmare Fredbear and Nightmare. Cassidy is helping Evan torment Michael because Evan agreed to help her with William. and she also thinks it's funny.

Is Andrew part of Golden Freddy in this AU? - No, I have a second, side AU where he is, but it has nothing to do with my main AU, where Andrew doesn't end up being killed.

Is Sammy in this AU? Yes, he is, and he's still Charlie's brother. I based him off of the spring bonnie kid from FNAF 4. He is also not super important though, because he moves away with his mother in 1983 after Evan dies.

What order do the events of the games happen? FNAF 4, FNAF 2, FNAF 1, Sister Location, UCN, FNAF 3, FNAF 6

Tags

I put everything relating to this au under the "main au" tag. Besides that I try to tag the names of the characters in the post, the game it relates to, and will tag "spirits" or "agony ghosts" for posts about either of those. When I make longer posts where I just explain things in detail I tag those "explanations".

I tag all the questions I respond to as "answered", although a lot of these aren't related specifically to my AU.

Other details I feel like I should mention

My FNAF 1 Nightguard is not Mike, it's actually Cassidy's cousin, Mina because I wanted them to have a bigger connection to the MCI. The events of FNAF 1 and Sister Location happen pretty close together, because Mina is at Freddy's and Michael is at Circus Baby's.

My version of the FNAF 4 Chica Bully (Raina) is Gabriel's older sister and is the nightguard that replaced Jeremy in FNAF 2, and she's also the Fnaf 3 nightguard.

Jeremy Fitzgerald is Susie's older brother. The two of them moved to Hurricane in 1983 (before Evan died).

The Toy animatronics are not possessed by seperate kids, although the MCI victims' agony might take control over them sometimes.

My Mrs. Afton is named Eleanora, or Nora for short.

Elizabeth and Michael were born in the UK so they do have British accents, but Evan was born in the US and doesn't really have one. (Nora is also American and was born in Hurricane.)

Charlie and her agony ghost self are much more connected than anyone else is with theirs, and her agony ghost acts a little more human because of this. They can also generally convey ideas to each other but cannot directly communicate. Usually if Charlie's agony ghost does something that doesn't relate to her goal of stopping William, it's because she's doing it for the real Charlie.

Time does not work the same for the spirits as it does in the real world.

Elizabeth is the only spirit who never has contact with any of the other spirits until right before she's set free.

The agony ghosts can change how people see other things, as extensions of themselves basically. This is how they make the animatronics eyes turn black, Charlie gives the puppet tears, and Elizbeth changes Baby's eye color. (What happens to William in UCN is different than this, since it's Cassidy's agony trapping him in one of his own memories and then changing it however she likes - so it all happens inside his head.)

................................................................................

I will try to update this regularly if I make anything new or change any details! Sometimes I post things on other social media but forget to post them on tumblr but I'll try to do better with that.

That being said, I also share stuff about my AU on Instagram and Twitter that might not necessarily get posted on here if it's not important enough for it's own post. I'm also just more active there, so feel free to follow those as well.

I also have a DeviantArt and Pinterest where I try to organize my FNAF art into categories, and it's also just easier to look through it all on there so I thought I'd link them.

[smutmylifeup]

It would fade part 3

Part 1. Part 2.

Rose had been cocooned in her bed in the penthouse for 3 days since the VIP party.

She felt fine physically but mentally she was beyond sick. She remembered nothing of that day.

Nothing, nada, nashi.

Not waking up that morning, not working her shift, not getting ready for the VIP party. That was terrifying, she lost a whole day.

Having to have it pieced together by what other people had told her was scary. Mostly from Soryu, he was the most straightforward and apparently spent far more time keeping an eye on her than she realised as he gave her step by step of her day. She had no recollection of any of it, like someone just hoovered that day out of her brain.

Most of the auctions sponsors had visited her multiple times over her isolation period. It was weird, they were all being sweet to her. She wanted to believe they cared about her in some twisted way but the dull ache in the pit of her stomach told her something was off with their behaviour. It felt like lovebombing, like they were trying to bury their own feelings of guilt.

She wasn't sure if that feeling would fade, that maybe it was just something that comes with being drugged; losing trust in humanity in some way.

By day 4, Rose needed a change of scenery. Being stuck in that room felt safe but she could also feel her sanity slipping. She was just losing herself over and over trying to remember details she just couldn't, trying to remember the man that gave her that drink. She was becoming obsessed on it and needed to stop before it consumed her.

"The guilt is eatin' me alive. I can't even look the kid in the eye."

Rose heard Mamoru's voice from the open door to the penthouse lounge as she walked the corridor towards it. She paused in mid-step. Not certain but sure he was talking about her.

"It's not like anything happened to her." She heard Ota respond but his voice sounded different less arrogant than usual.

"Come off it, Brat. You were at her bedside holdin' her hand cuz you feel guilty too." Mamoru spat back.

"She'll never forgive us if she finds out." She heard Baba join the conversation.

Before Rose was certain they were talking about her. She found herself stood in the penthouse lounge watching them for brief moment before she joined their conversation.

"Finds out what?" She asked. Her heart sinking, somehow already knowing that whatever they are talking about was related to what happened to her.

"Princess," Baba jumped up and walked towards her. "It's so good to see you up."

Rose took a step back and stared at him. No amount of flattery and pet names from him will distract her from finding out the answer to her question.

"Finds out what?" She repeated.

There was silence, she watched the men look at each other. They all seemed to sense that the jig was up and resigned to their fate.

"Well, Princess," Baba took his hat off and ran a hand through his hair. "We are so sorry for what you went through."

"Why are you sorry?" She asked, the way he said it seemed like it wasn't a simple thing someone says when they tell you a trauma they went through. More like it was their fault.

She watched Ota fiddle with his hands and Mamoru chew on his bottom lip then back to Baba who looked incredibly pale.

"We used you as bait." Baba said matter of factly. His face was blank but his eyes looked sad.

Rose felt her whole body go cold. The warmth she once felt particularly for Baba and Mamoru left immediately. Ota she wouldn't be surprised by, he was far more twisted than she believed these 2 to be.

What a terrible judge of character.

She needed no more explanation than that. She was there as ruse, to lure the cretins of those parties out so they couldn't taint the sanctity of their empire. That's the role she played.

"It was Eisuke's idea wasn't it?" Rose finally asked.

She knew the answer to that. He approved every plan they ever made, no matter how stupid or insignificant it was. But for some reason she needed to hear it.

"Yeah." Mamoru muttered, loud enough to be heard over the deafening silence.

Baba watched Rose, her eyes turned dark. Like they died in that instance.

He couldn't find any words to say to her as he watched her turn around and walk in the direction of the elevator. Apologies we're worthless, explaining was worthless, chasing after her was worthless, what they had done was unforgivable.

While they never would have allowed anything to happen to her, they completely destroyed any miniscule amount of trust she placed in them to protect her in the way she protected the auctions.

They were just as guilty as the man who spiked her drink. The plan didnt involve her actually ingesting the roofied drink, that was part of the reason Eisuke created the no drinking rule for Rose. But she was only there because she was a lone foreign woman, she was target for disgusting men for that alone. They all agreed on that and despite all being there, they were unable to keep it from happening.

Rose walked all the way back to her dorm room. She perched on her bed and began to laugh, hysterically. Clutching her stomach and falling back onto her bed. Finally, she had lost it. It only took 4 years.

It was strange, she should be angry, she should be sad but she just felt nothing. Almost like she was set free. That whatever spell she had been under while she had been owned by these men had been broken.

All she ever wanted was to be treated like a human being, to have the same compassion given to her as she gave to them. She had been part of the Auctions Sponsors circle for 4 years. She had grown to like them - well some of them. She cared about their wellbeing, hell she even wanted them to be happy, even if they didn't deserve it. But apparently that wasn't reciprocated. Especially from a man she gave herself to for 2 years, one who she cared about the most.

He wanted it to happen, planned for it to happen, to weed out the bad guys he catered to and get rid of.

It didn't really make sense, why she couldn't have known her role for their parties. She thought she was trustworthy in their eyes, but obviously she was wrong.

They put her life in danger because she was nothing more than a pawn in their shitty games. She needed to stop trying to explain it to herself. What they had done was awful and dangerous no matter what stupid reason they would give. And Eisuke could go fuck himself, she had wasted enough time sad, angry and missing him.

Hours passed as she stayed like that. The manic laughter had halted a few minutes after she had started and she just felt like an empty shell. Her stomach began to groan and she decided to get up. No real feelings towards wanting to eat other than needing it to stay alive, tho she wasnt entirely sure she cared either way right now, although pissing Eisuke off by dying in his hotel did sound tempting.

Fuck Eisuke's rules, she wanted food that didn't come from Tres Spades.

She slipped on a pair of jeans and threw a flannel shirt over her vest top, not even bothering about how she looked or represented the hotel - which was always top priority for anyone working at Tres Spades. It bears repeating, Fuck Eisuke's rules.

She wandered the streets of Tokyo, the bright lights and busy streets doing little to make her feel anything.

A little food truck caught her eye. It had no queue and that was appealing enough, She had no idea what it was selling but food is food.

She walked over, looked at the menu for a few seconds.

"If you want anything other than a sandwich, you'll wanna head somewhere else." The man in the foodtruck addressed Rose.

She looked up at him, he looked pissed off.

"Why have the menu then?" She asked, her tone as lifeless as she felt.

"I lost a bet." He grumbled, leaning back on what could only be a tiny stool in cramped foodtruck.

"Right." Rose responded, she cracked her finger as she stood there. Well food is food.

"Cheese sandwich then."

She looked at him, he glared back.

"Did you offer the choice of sandwich but not know how to make one?" She asked when he didn't make any movements.

He looked away and didn't say anything.

Rose thought about just walking away at this point.

"Can I at least pay to make my own? I don't really feel like wandering around to find somewhere to stand in a queue." She asked. She really couldn't, now she stopped walking she realised how exhausted she was. And that was partially because she hadn't eaten a proper meal in the last 4 days.

He shrugged his shoulders and reached across to open the door to the truck to allow her into his tiny, mobile kitchen.

"Pardon the intrusion," she bowed as she entered. Eyeing the array of ingredients on the side. "Want one making while I'm at it?"

"I'm more of a Pizza guy."

Rose nodded, got out a piece of bread. She saw a jar of red sauce labeled tomato in Kanji. She grabbed that, spooned on a generous amount until it covered one side from crust to crust. Then she grabbed a box that was labelled mozzarella, she cut four slices and placed them on top.

In the small portable grill it went. She gave it a few minutes, giving her time to make a simple cheese sandwich for herself.

Once the cheese on the bread in the grill melted and turned a light shade of brown on top, she got it out. Placing it on a paper plate, she offered it to the foodtruck owner.

"Here," she pushed the plate towards him. "Its not proper pizza but it's not far off."

She leant against the wall and took a bite of her sandwich. He looked from her to the pretend pizza slice then back to her before shrugging his shoulders and taking a bite.

"Not bad." he hummed covering his mouth while he spoke and chewed at the same time.

"My brother calls it 'poor man's pizza'." Rose said before taking another bite of her sandwich. "He'd make that at uni when he wanted pizza but was flat ass broke."

"Smart man." The man said, polishing off his poor man's pizza. "Fancy making another one?"

He tipped his head towards someone standing waiting to be served.

And that's how Rose turned into a food vendor for the night. After that first customer, a queue soon formed and she served at least 50 poor man's pizzas with multiple different topping options until they ran out of bread.

She sank onto footstall the food vendor once occupied.

"Not bad, at all." He said counting the money Rose had made him for the night.

"You're welcome," Rose let her shirt fall from her shoulders and closed her eyes. "Thats my charity work done for the year."

It was weird, she actually quite enjoyed the experience, enjoyed doing something that had nothing to do with the Auctions Sponsors or Tres Spades.

"I'm Minato, by the way." He sounded closer and Rose opened her eyes.

He was looking at her tattoos. She looked at him before pulling her shirt back over her arms. It was in that moment she realised what a terrifying position she was in right now and it was amplified by her recent experience.

She gulped and he seemed to realise that he was making her uncomfortable and took a step back.

"I'm Rose." She answered when he was a safer distance away. "What bet did you lose anyway?"

He sighed, put the money in his pocket.

"Let's just say my co-workers like to see me suffer because I'm top dog at work and I'm better looking than them."

Rose scoffed. And he scowled at her before smirking back at her.

"What about you? Why you wandering the streets like a lost Pommy?"

"Pommy?" She asked.

"Yeah, you look like a sad, lost pomeranian."

"Is that an insult?" She blinked.

"Not at all, Pomeranians are cute." He shrugged. "Wait, not that I'm saying you're cute. I dont wanna insult pomeranians like that."

"Let me guess, you're painfully single?" She joked.

"By choice." He confirmed.

Rose laughed, this guy was cocky. She kinda liked it though. He was funny with it and he was pretty handsome too which is always a nice bonus.

"Bantering aside, are you okay?" He asked. And Rose stared at him wide-eyed. "You really do seem like a sad, lost Pommy."

Rose chuckled trying to hide the emotions she was feeling after being asked if she was okay. She couldn't remember when someone asked her that out if genuine concern. Maybe his wasn't either but it felt like it. The nickname was kinda cute too.

"I'm from England. I'm tough as old boots, just been a long week." She lied, old boots weren't remotely tough, they were worn down, falling apart and needed to be thrown away.

A cough came from the window of the food truck and stood there was Inui and Samejima.

"Fuck." Rose muttered under her breath.

She nearly forgot what her life was for a moment there.

"Friends of yours?" Minato asked Rose tho, he was quite aware she wasn't pleased to see them. He watched the men who equally were watching him too.

She nodded and rose from the stool.

"Thanks for letting me play chef for a bit, it took my mind off things." Rose said as she squeezed past him to get to the door.

"Wait," He grabbed her shirt sleeve between his fingers careful not to touch her actual arm. "Let me pay you for helping out, I wouldn't have made a single yen without you."

"Then give me 10 yen and we'll call it even" she said turning so her sleeve slipped out of his fingers.

Minato searched his pocket for 10yen coin and dropped it into Rose's open hand once he found it.

"Dont forget to tell your coworkers you couldn't have done it without a sad, lost pomeranian." She said throwing up a wave behind her as she exited and walked straight by Inui and Samejima back towards Tres Spades like she was following a homing beacon. Maybe Eisuke implanted one in her, she wouldnt put it past him. He had access to her body for 2 years after all and Luke was in charge of her while she was out of it a few days ago and all the Auction Sponsors seem to do exactly what Eisuke wants them to do.

When she walked through the doors to the lobby of Tres Spades, she made eye contact with Kenzaki who made a bee-line towards her. He looked her up and down, like he considered chastising her for how she was making the hotel look.

But he bit his tongue.

"I have sorted you a new shift change for the next week." He handed her a piece of paper.

Rose looked over it. Realising that she was basically just on maid duty for the penthouse and the Auction Sponsors entirely, including the rooms they held meetings in with prospective business partners.

She clenched her jaw. Nodded at Kenzaki and walked back to her dorm.

Rose found herself laying on her back staring at the ceiling again. Over the last few years, maybe due to Stockholm syndrome, she forgot just how much control the auction sponsors, specifically Eisuke had over her life.

She never questioned the rules, she didn't know why. Maybe to keep herself alive? Maybe she needed the structure and discipline those rules provided? Maybe she didn't want drama? Who fucking knew.

All she knew is that she was always a prisoner. A pawn. Something to be used. Never anything more but certainly something less.

Rose rolled onto her side, opened her palm and moved the 10yen around it with her thumb. It was only a few hours but she really needed that time of normal, with a stranger. She wished she had thanked him better.

[nonuggetshere]

HELLO AGAIN i just scrolled through your faaf au tag for about 15 minutes straight and i would like to ask.

what the hell is going on there. pls explain

KDHDJDJD YEAH THATS A VALID REACTION

So the basic premise is that Pure Vessel (who is names Flower in this AU) is outed to not be hollow before the sealing

Some key points:

They're like 5 years older than Hornet, who also knew about them being alive and helped them sneak out so they could get a break

They have a secret relationship with two people, Petunia and Lummis, who Flower keeps in the dark about their true nature and the whole vessel project

The secret comes out around their 21st birthday, on the day they were supposed to be sealed. They panic during their knighting ceremony and grab the sword before running off. PK doesn't react well.

They tell their partners everything afterwards, and they react considerably better to this reveal

Their relationship with their parents was...alright but complicated, until the reveal. Afterwards, PK and WL pull away from them. Flower's relationship with them (and generally relationship dynamics exploration) is the main theme of this AU. PK cares about them and wants to keep them close and safe, but it hurts to keep them too close, so he makes them a regular guard at the palace.

They find Ghost and the two of them team up to kick Radiance's ass (she's alive and in Hallownest, just. Mortal now)

This ignoring and being treated like a servant eventually gets too much for Flower and it all comes to a head when they challenge their father to a duel that gets a little too violent and personal. They lose, and as he walks away they yell at him and beg him to just look at them when they're talking to him. He doesn't, which is just more salt in the wound.

Afterwards Flower leaves the palace and cuts contact with their parents for a few years. Obviously at this point the two realise they fucked up and try to apologise but it's way too late.

After some therapy and a few near death experiences that make Flower realise their parents care, they decide to give bending their relationship another go. They take their parents into the Abyss to show them what they went through, and also they sign up for family therapy.

Afterwards it focuses on them rebuilding their relationship and Flower's own little family they've built for themself

There's a bunch of other stuff but that's the most basic bare bones and quick explanation I could give so I'm not here 2+ hours, sorry if it makes little sense it's almost 7 am here LMAO

If you have any specific questions lmk 👍

I am writing a more comprehensible summary and a detailed timeline for the AU but it's gonna be long ways away before that's ready

[proofheavenexsists]

Chapter 2: Not in Kansas

I look around the room frantically, looking for cameras. “There’s no way I’m in the future. You're lying. Prove I’m in 2099.” I let out a scoff at his words. His face is serious as he talks calmly, afraid I’ll flip out. “Kid, look around. Have you ever seen this technology before? What about the view from outside? You ever seen those buildings before?” I hate how he’s talking down to me. "You have money to afford that type of technology. And, I haven't seen every city in New York, or 'Nueva York' so that doesn't mean anything." I feel anger rising, but I can't help it. This man has been nothing but mysterious and rude since I've met him. He breaks his gaze from my face and starts typing into his hologram. 

"What's your father's name? Or your mother's?" My eyebrows furrow in confusion before giving him my father's name. "Is there a reason or are you just scamming me?" He ignores my words and starts scanning through the men with my father's name. I go to his side as he searches for my father. My eyes widen in shock as I see my father for the first time in years. "Him. That man right there is my dad." I point at a familiar face and feel a sense of fondness and my heart tugs. It seems to be a government photo of him, like from a driver's license or library card. I feel the man's gaze on my face as I take in the information of my father on display. From his height, birthdate, family... death. I force my eyes to look at the information on display and turn towards the stranger. 

"How did you get all of this?" My eyes must reveal my need for an explanation as he sighs before replying. "I... have my ways. I had to convince you that you're in the future. I can't explain everything, but I can get you home."

 I feel relief flood through me at his words. "Tha-." My words get cut off as more pain floods through my body. Again, he catches me as I spasm through the pain. I grip his hand as my body glitches. He talks me through the pain as I even out my breathing and clutch his hand tightly. As my body comes back down, he stares at me intently. "I'm okay, I'm fine." My voice comes out breathier than I had hoped. He nods his hand and gets me on my feet. "Come with me." With my hand still in his he drags me back to the living room and towards an elevator. We wait for the elevator to come to us. 

"Where are we going?" I say looking up at him. He really is a tall man. "My research lab. We can stop your glitching and find out the reason you came here. Afterward, we'll make sure you stay in your dimension." I nod my head at his words. "What did you say your job is?" I say as we step in. He presses the 'L' button and leans against the wall. "I'm the leader of the Spider Society." He says with a cocked eyebrow. I blink up at him waiting for further explanation. "And you guys... research spiders?" Trying to fill in the blanks of his lack of explanation. He raises his eyebrows at my confusion and scratches the back of his neck. "Not quite... we... the Spider Society is a... Multiversal organization. We keep the multiverse stable." His words come out slowly as he figures out what to say. 

"The multiverse? Dimensions? I'm sorry, but I'm not following here. I go to school for musical theatre, not science or futuristic ideas. You're gonna have to be more detailed."

He lets out a chuckle at the mention of my major. I cock an eyebrow at him and dare him to make fun of me. He takes a deep breath and takes in my expression before nodding to himself. "Right. The multi-verse consists of infinite realities... alternate universes. Explains how you and I are alive at the same time, despite you being from the past." I nod along as he goes further. "As the leader of this society, it's my job to make sure these realities remain stable.My team and I monitor various anomalies or threats that could disrupt the peace. We correct any rifts or inconsistencies we find and send them back to their home. Like I plan with you... Let me guess, musical theatre doesn't make you research or reflect on these theories?" He takes in my dazed face as I take in this information. I don't feel embarrassed for not understanding, it's not my area of study. "Nah, I’ll learn about this stuff next semester. Part of the upcoming musical. I can sing and dance for you now if you'd like." His face stoic at my words.

The elevator dings and we walk into his lab. It's pretty bare except for a handful of desks and computers. I look around and notice how sparse of a lab it is. It wasn't until I looked up that I saw the true lab. A platform that seems to be floating in the middle of the room. "Why is your lab all the way up there? How do you get up there?" He looks at me with a raised eyebrow. "Do you always ask this many questions? I get up there using these." He gestures down to his wrist. I get closer trying to find the logic behind his reasoning. "Ohhhhhh, so like, do you move things with your mind? Is it part of future technology?" His eyes narrow at me as he levelly says, "No. They don't make me move things with my mind. They do this," he flexes his wrist and something shoots out. My eyes widen at the sudden action and look at what he shot out. A spider web seems to have stuck to the wall. "Huh, guess that explains the 'Spider' Society," I mutter under my breath. I turned back to him. "So how do we get up there?" His smile can be compared to a smirk as he steps forward. "Hold on." I don't have time to react before he grabs my waist. 

I squeak as I stumble into his chest. His arm holds me securely as he shoots us up towards the platform. I cling onto him for dear life as we rush through the air and my eyes are shut tight. It's a couple moments later that I realize I'm still holding onto him as we are on the platform. He's smirking down at me as I push out of his arms. I hide my flushed cheeks and look around his real lab. 

Multiple screens are suspended in the air televising multiple events. Numbers flash across one screen, while others show people, events... a child? My eyes settle on a little girl smiling with her father and I smile at the scene. "Is this you?" I softly smile and turn to him. His cold stare cuts through me. I fear I may have crossed the line as the air turns cold. I quickly murmured an apology and move on from the sight. I take one last peak at the image. He looks good with a smile.

He sighs and tells me to sit at his desk. I perch myself on it as he grabs a bracelet. "How does it work?" I offer him my wrist and he secures it for me. "I doubt you'd comprehend it all with your musical theatre knowledge." I go to scold him when I see a ball of red curls fall onto his shoulder. He freezes at the feeling and slowly turns to the source. He relaxes as the ball of curls coo at him. His face turns into a scowl and shouts, "Peter!"

"A baby!" I coo in excitement and awe. I go to pick her up off his shoulder and my heart bursts at the cuteness. Her wild curls cover her pretty freckles and dual-colored eyes. She giggles in my arms and I decide I'm ready to be a parent. "Who is this little doll? Can I keep her? Please?" I look up at Miguel with pleading eyes.

His face is still set in a scowl, but his eyes have softened. My pleading has for sure worked and I can take her home, I can feel it. He walks over to me and takes her from my hands. "You can't have her, she has a family. At least a mother when I'm through with her dad." He mumbles the last part. I whine at him and look up at him with puppy eyes. "Come on! We look just alike." That couldn't be farther from the truth. The only similarities we share are our red curly hair, and hers is natural. 

"Sorry about Mayday! Giving her those web shooters was a mistake on my end." I turn to look for the source of the unfamiliar voice. I walk to the edge of the platform and see a man approaching the platform. He swings his way up on the platform with ease. My head has a tingly sensation as I look at him. It quickly passes and I blame it on the high altitude. "Wanted to start her young, but toddlers are a handful." He says casually and grabs Mayday ... huh I still don't know his name. The father puts Mayday in a carrier on his chest and gives her a kiss. 

"Hey! I'm Peter Parker. Peter B. Parker to be more specific." He offers me his hand as I survey his outfit. He's wearing a red and blue suit with a pink, fuzzy robe and sweats. I shake his hand and introduce myself as I take in his strange appearance. They both seem to be wearing blue and red supersuits, which have similarities but are different. Maybe, that's what he meant by different realities and multiverses. The angry man is grumbling under his breath about installing child locks. "So are you a new recruit?" Peter asks me. "Oh! No, I actually kinda showed up at his place. We're trying to get me back home." I say as casually as I can despite the strangeness of it all. 

Surprisingly, Peter nods in understanding. "Trust me, been there done that. I can help you guys figure out why you came here." I smile in surprise and look at the angry man. He cocks his eyebrow before nodding while they discuss different possibilities for why I came here. I play with Mayday on my lap and ask questions here and there. 

"So why do you guys wear super suits? Is it your dress code?" I say while bouncing Mayday in my lap. Peter chuckles at my words. "We wear them 'cause we are superheroes. Spider-men to be exact." My eyebrows furrow in confusion. "Those guys exist? Not in my world. We don't have anything called a 'Spider-man.'"

Both men turn to me at my words. "You don't have a Spider-Man?" The angry man says with suspicion at my words. I shake my head. "No, I would know if we did. Would've heard about him on the news or in the paper. How does it work?" They both share a look before Peter speaks up. "It's not the same for everyone, but what usually happens is that a spider will bite someone and they develop powers. They use those powers for the greater good. 'With great power comes great responsibility.'" My face turns into a scowl as I hear the familiar words and think back to the woods. I scratch at my bug bite without thinking. The angry man's eyes follow my movement and his eyes widen. "Where did you get that bite?" His voice is tense and I'm not liking this scenario. "I got it before I showed up at your place. I was walking through the woods to my aunt and uncle's house before I got bit... by a bug. Too dark to see what kind." I don't know why I'm lying. It was clearly a spider. 

The men crowd around me as they have a secret conversation with their eyes. Finally, Peter speaks up. "This aunt and uncle... What are their names?" I look between them at the strange questioning. "... Benjamin and May Parker. Before you ask, it's a coincidence we have the same last name." I make a weak attempt at a joke as the angry man closes his eyes with an exhale. Peter cringes and comes up to comfort me. "I don't know how to say this gently, but you're one of us..." 

I blinked at him once, twice, and then burst out laughing. "Yeah, okay I'm a superhero. Right? That's what you expect me to believe? I would've known if I had powers by now. I've almost fainted twice since I've arrived. Doesn't sound very 'super' to me." The angry man scoffs at my dismissal, and my attention focuses back on him. "Is there something you would like to say? I'm all ears." The man walks forward and stands in front of me. "I'm gonna ask you questions and you're gonna respond. Deal? Let's hope someone else was bit in your dimension."

The angry man asks me questions regarding possible powers. “Are your senses heightened?” ‘'Yes, I'm a woman alone with two strangers. Of course my senses are heightened.' “Are you more agile than before?” 'I've always been agile, I'm a trained dancer.' During this interrogation, Peter was watching me closely. At one point he throws a pen at my face and I catch it with ease. "Watch it!" I shout at him as he gives the angry man a grin. The angry man exhales loudly and walks over to Peter. They're doing a shit job at whispering. I can pick up everything they're saying. "She's in denial." "I know, but there's always the wall test." They reach an agreement as Peter comes up to me. 

"Okay, we have no more questions, but we need you to do one last thing for us. You see that wall?" He points to the wall that's a couple yards from us. "You're gonna put your hands on it and just make a crawling motion. That's it." I throw my hands up in exasperation. I'm tired of being here and just want to go home. "Fine. After this, I'm done. I'm going home." My face is stern as I regard both men. Peter turns around and the angry one just nods his head. "And you're telling me your name." I point at the angry man as I walk over to the wall.

I let my frustration simmer and looked up at the wall. I don't even want to entertain this idea... whatever the idea is. "Is there a certain way to do it?" I look over my shoulder. Peter responds, "Close your eyes and breathe." I shrug my shoulders and take his words at face value. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I put my hands on the wall and started softly humming to myself. It's a song I play in the car all the time. Songs mean the world to me. It's part of the reason I majored in musical theatre. The idea of performing in front of a crowd of thousands sends shivers down my spine. Peter lets out a low whistle, and I open my eyes. Without thinking, I started climbing the wall, almost to the ceiling. I scream in surprise and feel myself fall. I'm hurling towards the ground and seeing my life flash before my eyes. It's a little sad. 

My eyes squeeze shut as I wait for the impact. The ground is softer than I had expected... and I'm still alive. I open my eyes and find the angry man holding me. My breathing is harsh as I come down from the rush. I take in the details and contours of his face as we stare intently at each other. Finally, he opens his mouth and speaks in a low murmur.

 "Miguel."

[emmetcounty]

TOP 5 CONSPIRACY THEORIES

That's a tough one these days, with so many big-tent conspiracies floating around in the public consciousness. I'll try to limit myself to specific conspiracies, though I'm gonna make one exception just cuz I find it so fascinating. I'll also try to avoid shit that's just reducible to blood libel, not only because that shit is fucking awful, but also because it's just lazy, there's no creativity or passion it's just antisemitic. Also note that I'm not an expert on conspiratorial thinking/conspiracy theories, nor am I an expert on any of these conspiracies. I'm not trying to be objective about these either, I have specific biases and I'm not gonna try to cull them here. So, with that out of the way, and in no particular order:

1.) A fun, and mostly harmless one is the genre of [Dead person] is still alive. It's so versatile that it still surprises me that it's been more or less self-restricted to musicians. I've heard Tupac, Michael Jackson, Elvis obviously. An unhoused dude I met, and maybe this isn't a conspiracy theory per say, was convinced that he was Kurt Cobain to the point of providing hyper specific details of Cobain's life that I had no means of confirming or denying. That day was odd. He said he wanted to just get out of the spotlight, which I think is understandable.

2.) Fucking Havana Syndrome, oh my god. Just a group of CIA agents working 16 hours a day, living exclusively on a diet of coffee and Mormonism suddenly getting earth shattering headaches, and proceeding then to accuse the cuban government of inventing infrared brain lasers. Fucking hysterical, I hope they all have aneurysms. In a similar vein is the whole thing of cops ODing on fentanyl through touch alone. To anyone skeptical of that, these cops are almost always just having panic attacks, and in fact do not have any fentanyl in their bodies.

3.) JFK didn't kill himself

4.) The dead Internet theory. This one is a fascinating study of how and why conspiracy theories happen. The idea is that the Internet is mostly bots, manipulating and being manipulated by algorithms that their creators neither understand or are able to control. And like. There are grains of truth here and there, spread throughout the misinformation. For instance, there's a legitimate market on youtube for bots to boost engagement and views. Does that market account for the lion share of views on the platform? Absolutely not, its impact is marginal at best. Another example the theorists love are the numerous bot posts on Twitter. Twitter has always had a bot problem to some degree! That doesn't mean Twitter is all bots tho! So why has the theory gained traction? Because the Internet's a fucking complicated entity, and your average joe is looking for easy answers. As it is with all conspiracies, simple lies are often more preferable than complex truths.

5.) MOASS. Now, here's that exception to the no big-tent rule. It's my personal favorite conspiracy theory, but it requires a bit of explanation. For those of you who haven't heard of this one, Dan Olsen has a really good video on it, but for those who don't have two and a half hours, I'll try my best to sum it up: remember the whole GameStop thing where its stocks went up a bunch out of nowhere, and a bunch of redditors made a fuss about democratizing finance capital, then the whole movement sorta disappeared shortly thereafter? MOASS (an acronym meaning "the mother of all short squeezes") is a belief by the bag holders who missed the big wave of that movement. The idea is that the first wave in January of 2021 was merely the prelude to an apocalyptic financial crash which will be ushered in by "apes" (as the redditors call themselves) coming to own more shares of video game retailer GameStop than actually exist. They also believed (or in some cases still believe) that GameStop is gonna merge with the now defunct Bed Bath and Beyond. The reason I find this one so fascinating is not because of the deluge of incomprehensible nonsense that apes typically spew, nor is it the wild confidence that the movement inspires, but rather that it's so utterly disconnected from reality that it works as a very useful example of Mark Fisher's conception of capitalist realism. Like, these people have chosen to imagine an apocalypse so profoundly convoluted, that even trying explaining its structure can cause psychic damage, and they do this instead of think about their material reality for like. 30 seconds. Idk, it has a special place in my heart.

Honorable mention to COINTELPRO, because even though it was a real thing that really happened, and even though you can easily find sources outlining its extent, intentions, goals, and accomplishments, when you try to explain it to any normal person, you sound fucking insane. I know from experience 😔

[apoptoses]

I somehow managed to put off reading the final chapter of Blood Sanation for over 24 hours as I was in deep denial about it coming to an end and wasn't ready to let go, but I finally did it and I can confidently say I'm at peace 🥹 HEALED. The in depth reunion fic we all needed and deserved. Loved how you even explained Daniel's absence from the last trilogy as them being like "that's a wrap on Lestat airing our dirty laundy" lmao BEEN saying that for ages. It's truly so them to be like "we gave you The Devil's Minion and that's all people really need to know about us, now gtfo and let us live" (affectionately, because it's Lestat). And Lestat would of course respect their wishes and just let his readers know they somehow got back together and lived HEA, bless him.

Also LOVED the apartment, the mess they made, them just sitting around doing things they love together and having people over, the implement 🤤 Such an unexpectedly hot scene in a chapter full of heartwarming goodness. The fact that you gave them the opportunity (and the place) to be just two people in love figuring their shit out and finding their way back to each other is just-- 🥹 they (and you) have my whole heart. the fandom owes you fr fr, you're a gift xoxo DA 🫡❤️

ahhh dungeon anon, you're gonna make me cry!!

I'm glad you like the explanation for why they're not featured together in detail in the later books. The PL triology drives me crazy with how there's such a good group of core characters but these new people are constantly focused on instead, and logically i know it's because anne got bored with her toys and wanted new ones. But it's just a lot more fun to imagine that they wanted written out, that Daniel didn't want his living relatives to get curious about whether he's still alive. And goddamn those tell all books have caused enough hurt already, so I like to pretend the new characters are just Lestat focusing on new people to keep his old friends from getting hurt feelings again.

And I just love their ending myself- it's like Devil's Minion Round 2, but better because Daniel isn't stressing over his mortality and nobody is hungover and cranky and in the mood to fight haha I think they'll get up to a lot of trouble there and that's all I want for them, the honeymoon period they never really got to have when Daniel was first turned.

I'm so happy you liked all of it 🥹 Follow ups will definitely happen once my brain is back fully online (it's been a long spring jfc) but until then I'll be posting some other little scenes I've been playing with, and maybe a few deleted scenes too ♥

[iviarellereads]

Nona the Ninth, Chapter 25

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For detail on The Locked Tomb coverage and the index, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(Slashed Gideon Nav icon)(1) In which we get to know someone familiar, again, but from the outside.

Pyrrha's gun goes ker-klunk again, and Kiriona turns to see her and greets her with "Long time no drown."

“Ninth?” said Crown, sounding almost nervous. Pyrrha ignored her, and said: “He brought you back. He’s made a revenant out of you.” “Yope,” said the corpse prince.(2)

Pyrrha is disbelieving. There shouldn't have been enough left, even for John, and then he only brings her back… like this? As a corpse?(3)

Kiriona interrupts to tell Pal to put away the syringe, before she breaks Babs's arm, but he says she's still holding him in place. She asks if he's going to stick her with it and run, but he asks if she knows how syringes work.

Crown comes back to interrupt again with her minor existential crisis about "the Ninth" being alive-ish. The corpse lets go of Pal, then sits up, and gets herself standing with surprising ease.

What shocked Nona was not that the corpse moved. It was the way in which she moved. Nona was so distracted that she couldn’t stop watching. She had never seen anyone move like that before.(4) “Nope, and nope,” she said. “I’m Prince Kiriona Gaia(5) the First, Her Divine Highness, First Lieutenant of the Cohort, Emperor’s Life Guards, non-auxiliary—honorary title but who cares—heir to the Emperor Divine, first of the Tower Princes. And I’m mega dead.” “John, you mad bastard,” said Pyrrha softly. She hadn’t taken either hand off her gun.

Kiriona runs through the list of those present with snarky comments like "Mumfucker Prime". Pal asks how long she's been awake, and Kiriona says, the whole time.(6) She's been playing possum,(7) very cleverly.

Nona was indignant enough at Prince Kiriona Gaia’s whole demeanour, but this last piece of self-congratulation was too much to bear. “I knew it!” she burst out. “You didn’t fool me—I saw you looking at me, back in the other room! You know, when I—” “Yes, congratulations,” said the Prince sarcastically. “No, babycakes, I didn’t fool you. Who is this literal goddamn infant? Can someone give her like a rusk(8) or something and shut her up?”

Nona opens her mouth to say "the worst thing she had ever said", but Pal gives her a pleading look, and says this isn't making sense. He asks Kiriona why Ianthe hid her away. Kiriona says Ianthe shut her off so she wouldn't screw up the Sixth House retrieval mission, and was very angry Kiriona stowed away on the mission at all.

Kiriona blows a raspberry, presumably at the thought of Ianthe, but Pal takes from her explanation that she rode through the River. Pyrrha says that's not possible, not with a soul attached to her.

The corpse prince tilted her head to one side, like a curious bird. “You haven’t been in the River lately, have you?” she said. “What’s that meant to mean?” “Guess you’ll find out at some point,” said the Prince. “Anyway. You’re going to the Ninth House, right? I want in.”

Cam asks why, and Kiriona says, why not? Nostalgia, maybe. Pal says if she's been awake the whole time, she knows what they're doing, and why isn't she trying to stop them, for the Emperor? Kiriona smiles, hungrily, and not nicely. She asks if Pal wants to fight her. Pal says no and stops Cam from advancing to do just that. He says he considers her a friend, which makes Nona angry that someone as good as Pal could be friends with someone as bad as Kiriona.(9) Pal asks what Kiriona wants out of this.

Kiriona considers the question, then says she doesn't care or want much of anything anymore, she just wants to be where things are happening.

“She’s lying,” said Nona instantly. With all the white noise coming from the corpse prince, she couldn’t tell exactly where the lie was, but it was buried deep around her smile.

Kiriona tells Nona to shut her stolen mouth, Cam tells Kiriona to watch it, and Nona's heart flutters at Cam's defence of her. Pal asks again, and Kiriona says what does it matter, she just wants to go back. Nona can't detect a lie in this, so shrugs at the others. Crown says they'll need her for their work anyway.

At this, Kiriona invites them to all come at her, and try to draw blood. She even offers her arm, when Cam twitches with eagerness to do just that. Cam steps forward deliberately and presses the syringe to Kiriona's skin, where the needle snaps in half. Cam stumbles, Kiriona reaches to steady her, then realizes what she's doing and shoves Cam away, to land in Pal's arms.

The Prince stared at them. Her eyes weren’t like Nona’s at all now: they were hard and dead and bright, like something that had been dug up. “My father has made my body’s bones denser than titanium plex,” said the Crown Prince coldly. “My father has made my skin turn away bullets. I am the perfect sword hand and the final expression of the art of the Nine Houses. Don’t you get it? I am the Emperor’s construct.” Pyrrha said— “Shame he didn’t get some spackle for your extra holes, right?” “Those are my speed holes. They help me go fast,”(10) said Kiriona quickly.

Cam asks what would have happened if she'd gotten the sample. Kiriona says her blood burns to ash instantly outside her body, unless it's sustained with thalergy. Pal gives her an odd look, and she says she knows, like, five necromancy facts now.

This comment makes Pal look like he's been slapped, but he shakes it off and says the BOE would cuff Kiriona "in about sixteen different places" if they knew she was up and abouts, and asks how she feels about that.

Kiriona turned her body to look at them. Nona couldn’t quite believe that they couldn’t all see it; but they weren’t watching, goggle-eyed, they hadn’t even seemed to notice. It was in Kiriona’s every movement—the bright, swift flexions of her arms, and the way she swung her legs, big and brash, and the weirdly easy, light grace with which she moved her dead body. Nona had never seen anyone so sad in her whole short life. It made her nearly afraid to die.(11) “Nobody locks me up anywhere,” said Kiriona.

=====

(1) Gideon, or Kiriona if you prefer, isn't quite herself anymore. And, this book in particular makes me feel real weird about what to call characters. Since she calls herself Kiriona Gaia here, until or unless she does otherwise, I'm going to stick with that in the notes, the same way I've been referring to Crown instead of Corona mostly, but leave Gideon Nav in the tags for consistency. I'm still of two minds on how to refer to the Lyctors and their cavs, given we can guess John changed their names for his own… convenience? amusement? But either way, Kiriona asks for her friends to use a name, even if she says it's okay if they still call her the other one, and I'm gonna respect her choice here where it makes sense to. (2) I read this as an affirmative (he brought her back) and a negative (that she's a revenant). It's entirely likely I'm incorrect, though. (3) This also contributes to my theory about Kiriona's displacement, from the previous chapter. I don't think John had anything to do with bringing her back, except on the genetic inheritance level. Even if she says something here that contradicts it, who's to say she's not either telling what she was told, or protecting him… or herself. (And, he may not have done the deed, but he would absolutely gladly take credit for it if the details are muddy in her memory.) (4) Move like what, exactly, Nona? What does her body language tell you? (I need to know!) (5) Kiriona is how the Maori language would interpret "Gideon" with the vowels and consonants native to it. (Think along the lines of that Hawaiian Christmas song, Mele Kalikimaka. Similar origin, as both Pacific Islands, but a different evolution since they split.) Also, side note, remember in GtN when Gideon said "I fealt the Emperor with every bone in my body." The SCREAM I let out on my first read when I hit this part. Also, Gaia, the feminine form of John's Gaius, even though that name was adopted later in his life, in his reign. (6) The whole time she's been on this planet… or the whole time she was gone? (7) Play possum - pretend to be asleep, unconscious, or dead when threatened. (8) A rusk is a small twice-baked piece of bread or cake, used in some places as a teether for babies. (9) Why does Nona think Kiriona is bad? Is it the lying? The anger, maybe. Put yourself in Kiriona's shoes, though: you've been stuck in a gilded cage, finally manage to sneak out on a nice dangerous mission to get the blood flowing in your actual corpse body again, you play dead for days out of boredom, and then THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE walks in your bedroom door and kisses you… then reveals she's an infant soul in your love's body and has no idea how much it meant to you or why. Anyone would be angry! (10) Twofold reference. Number one, The Simpsons 6x15, with regard to bulletholes in a car. It's maybe not exactly a meme because trying to search for it without knowing the specific reference to add keywords is a pain in the absolute ass, but it IS a reference. Second, in GtN, "They would have given her an interesting array of new airholes for speed." The setup and the callback. Bonus: I highlight a lot of quotes in my ebooks, and this one got not just a highlight, but a comment: oh fuck off lmao (11) Kiriona is the saddest girl Nona's ever seen... why would that make Nona afraid to die?

[my-reality-my-rules]

Ok, can you tell me details of tour warring state shift? I ask this becauae Ibwanrnto shift for that. How is Madara and Izuna like? And The insides and family dynamics of the Uchihas? Maybe Hashirama and Mito If you interacted with them? And any other curiosity of that time period?

[thanks for this ask!]

alright, disclaimer first: my warring states DR might not exactly be the best thing to freely talk about, especially with what's currently happening on other platforms regarding shifting.

there's a lot of things regarding this era in general that would be looked down upon—and i won't be making excuses for not scripting them out, because i wanted the full experience of shifting to naruto. i just wanted to put that out there.

so, with that out of the way, let's talk about my DR itself.

[you can also find a few more detailed explanations in a google doc i keep; some of my other shenanigans are written there].

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(1) MADARA AND IZUNA

i have to admit that, while I'm generally fine with Madara, i have some mixed thoughts on Izuna. overall, they're both not bad as family. i would go so far as to say that the elder is one of my closest friends, surpassed only by Hikaku. he's kind, and very indulgent with my whims. Madara likes to look out for everyone even when they don't want nor need it, is a bit obsessed with taking his duties seriously, and likely suffers from some form of burnout. thinking of him does make a bit sad, though. Tajima's still alive, and the man's been grilling him on finding a bride. problem is, HashiMada was a thing in my DR :'DDD and I'm currently the guinea pig having to deal with Madara's sulking fits. i am, frankly, honoured to be someone he trusted with that secret, but i am not equipped to deal with romance. as for Izuna? call me any day—i am down and ready to throw hands. I'm kidding (not really). where Madara's the prime elder brother material many people would probably want, Izuna's that babied brat of a cousin who spells trouble just because he can. he's not a bad person—i don't hate him. chances are, I'd actually team up with him for both stupid arguments and serious fights if it suited me. but it doesn't make him less of a nuisance to deal with. Izuna gets very sexist and classist from time to time, and...well, xenophobic (i don't even know if that's the right word, but you get what i mean). he's also very pushy and arrogant.

- - -

(2) MITO AND HASHIRAMA

to be honest, i have more experience dealing with Tobirama more than either Hashirama or Mito. hell, even my interactions with Tōka are more significant compared to the couple. for the most part, my contacts with the elder brother happen only because of my (pseudo?) acquaintanceship with the younger. Tobirama and I often use the same routes when travelling between smaller villages, especially on solo missions and in neutral spaces. here's the thing: while I've met and talked with Hashirama in passing, all of those times happened only during times I've scripted, but not shifted for. these are events where we're required to interact with each other. think of: the daimyō's clan rep summons, battlefield warfare, semi-joint missions, and the like. he's very open and friendly, and almost always willing to compromise—there's no doubt about that. but I'm also very wary of him. listen, he's a nice person, but I'll just be honest and say this: i don't trust him, not the slightest bit. my opinion on Mito isn't any more different. it's not that i dislike her, but neither do i actively like her. it's a neutral feeling, i suppose. I've seen her more than I do Hashirama [ok wait short break—by every god that exists, she's actually really fucking gorgeous]—but, like Hashirama, i don't know her enough to formulate any substantial thoughts about her. just that she's associated with the senju, and her clan is allied with them, so that makes her a threat by nature. i won't lie—the time I've spent with the uchiha has influenced me by a large margin. it's not going away anytime soon. and even then, a part of me already acknowledged that both aren't people i want to fully deal with. with tobirama, it's easier, because we have this mutual regard for one another. i interact with the man from time to time, and we're at least familiar. his family is a different story.

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(3) OTHER CURIOSITIES

hmm...there's actually a lot of things I'm interested in, in my DR. i suppose by 'curiosities', you meant some kind of non-canon aspect of it? I'm trying to keep this entry short, so I'll just list two things here. I'll just add more details to the DR journal later on. well, there's this group called the Soldiers in White. i wouldn't go so far as to call them vigilantes, although they skid near that boundary. they're an organisation made of clan defectors; and, as far as I'm aware, their main objective is to promote the intermingling of the average clan members with 'common blood', and it's done in an act of science. they're a pretty radical group in my DR, so they're catching a lot of controversy. there's also the bi-annual clan rep summons, announced at the daimyō's convenience. there's no set date for it. it's basically this nationwide (and by that i mean only Fire Country) gathering for all clans, and it's done so His Royal Highness gets an update on what's been going on with his vassals. i don't attend the actual bureaucratic meetings, but there's an open festival available for three days straight. it's a fun event, and I've gone to it twice while shifting.

- - -

that's it, so far.

most of what I've written down about my Naruto DR is actually in the journal itself, so, if you're interested, just check that out. i listed some more intricate details there; like my schedule, or how I met my cousins for the first time (aka the canon characters), mission anecdotes, clan dynamics, and the like.

also, yeah, i definitely recommend shifting for the founders! i haven't seen much others going there, just the usual konoha 12. it'd be nice to chat about it with someone :DDD