#ALSO GOD YEAH THE OBSERVATORY …

[lanternlightss]

The King (isat) and Decarabian (genshin impact) being friends. The king and deca being friends. the. the them. do you see my vision

They need to work together to create a deranged plan where they trap everyone within a certain radius to “protect” them. They need to be absolutely unhinged with “I want to help you. I promise I am doing what’s best” <- lying (firmly believes they are telling the truth) (that is not the truth)

dictator buddies. the theory that deca’s tower resembles an observatory. Blinding explosions. their enemies being scrunkly little nonbinaries with daggers, cloaks and bloodlust. Soooo normal about those two. <- needs to draw them together but doesn’t know what design to use for decarabian 😔

i see it. im seeing it. i am reaching out and shaking the table I SEE IT AND !!!!!!!!!!!!!

god if they teamed up with the strategies they already have, everyone would be so screwed over. you can’t get out, not without the high chance of being frozen in time. you can’t get in, unless you’re able to manipulate the winds to not tear you apart. you’re stuck. you’re stuck and there’s little you can do about it. pray and hope someone comes and helps you. (in the same vein, if the old mond crew and the isat crew teamed up ??? holy SHIT it would be a sight to see. like amos and odile and bonnie in the background, covering everyone’s back ? rhw, gunnhildr, isabeau and mirabelle making sure no one gets through ? bard and siffrin at the forefront ??? double trouble. double trouble WITH the buffs and if wispti is able to buff everyone as well. like godbless 🙏)

though i wonder if decarabian would convince the king to only freeze certain people in time, not everything. we need the people to be able to do what… they need to do, on a day to day basis, right. eating is one of those. they should get to eat. okay? these guys over here however, who are threatening our ways—

it would be so fun to see them together too especially if decarabian is. within human height? like 6-7 feet tall, compared to the king’s. up to the ceiling height. does the king crouch even further down to talk to decarabian. does deca not care.

[aw-bean-s]

My friend came back from uni for a bit so we had lunch and she's been struggling a bit w body image and I was trying to be a supportive friend without telling her how many crisis I've had over her being hot

[deadsetobsessions]

“Tim. Timmy. Ancients, kid, what are you doing?!”

Danny Phantom smacked away the instinctual terror of seeing an eight year old dangling out of a third story window.

“I gotta go take pictures of Batman and Robin! They’re out tonight!”

Danny thought that his barely healed vivisection wound might bust open from the sheer stress.

“Setting aside how you even know the patrol schedule of honest to god vigilantes, why’d you choose the window? The house is literally empty, just walk out the front door, for Ancient’s sake.”

Tim paused, a motion Danny was overwhelmingly thankful for, and blinked sheepishly.

“Um… for the aesthetic?”

Danny allowed the silence to settle between them before dropping his head into his waiting hands. Tim panicked.

“You- you can’t stop me!”

And yeah, Danny really can’t. In the months he’s been mooching off of the Drakes (not that they’ll notice), Danny’s learned that Tim Drake is nothing but relentless in the pursuit of whatever he sets his mind on. Whether thet might be putting hot chocolate in his cereal (which Danny doesn’t actually mind) or, apparently, stalking a pair of vigilantes.

He wanted to hack into the library cameras? Danny had to hover just to make sure the kid didn’t get caught after arguing for an hour about it.

He walked out of that argument with a loss, yes, but he also let Tim know that Danny cared about him. Danny also walked out of that argument with a new hatred for Janet and Jack Drake and his mind (just as diabolical as Tim’s) whirring with plans to haunt them.

Tim is never ever introducing his new little brother to Tucker. Ever.

“Okay. I don’t want to see you take unnecessary risks, but I’m also aware that I can’t really stop you. So. I’ll go with you.”

Maybe this is like… Tim’s obsession? When he put it that way, Danny lost the fight to prevent this tiny kid from what clearly is the only joy in his poor life.

“But…!” Tim’s eyes darted to Danny’s chest, the vivisection scars still fresh in his mind.

“They’re healed.” Danny pulled his dumbass little brother off the window sill, core settling as Tim follows willingly. “I’ll make us invisible and fly with you behind Batman and Robin so you can get even better shots. You can’t make any noise, though. That camera got a shutter sound, right?”

“Yeah!” Tim’s face brightened and Danny melted. He shoved a bottle of the (incredibly stinky but helpful in a pinch) ecto contaminated tap water into a backpack, along with some snacks and a blanket for when Tim gets cold. Danny’ll be fine, he’s got a Space Core. The cold his kind of his thing.

“Cool. We’ll stay out of earshot. If things starts to get too dicey, we’re heading home, okay?”

“Okay!” The look Tim shot him is full of trust and adoration and it makes Danny’s human heart squeeze painfully. “C’mon! I don’t want to be late!”

“We need to talk about your stalking tendencies later,” Danny said fondly.

“I’m not stalking them! I’m observing them!”

“Uh-huh,” Danny drawled, picking Tim up and making them intangible and invisible. “They’re not a bird observatory and also, even the birds in the observatory knows they’re being watched. Batman and Robin clearly doesn’t.”

Danny felt more than saw Tim’s pout.

He laughs as they fly just below the Gotham-brand of toxic smog. He waves to the City’s Spirit as Tim cranes his head around to catch sight of Batman and Robin.

“There!”

Danny obliged. With Danny’s flight, Tim got much better- much closer- photos than he would have originally.

Danny hung back as the pair of vigilantes swooped down to take care of a mugging.

“Wanna mess with them?” He grinned down at his little brother, canines glinting.

Tim looked up at him, admiration and mischievousness in his gaze. “Yes.”

Gotham parted her clouds in response to their glee.

——

Dick Grayson, AKA Robin, finally understood why criminals are so creeped out by him.

Other than the whole flippy child kicking grown people’s asses and winning thing, obviously (that, and Batman loomed menacingly behind him everytime a criminal even looked at Robin wrong).

Batman had picked up on it first, but the for entirety of their patrol, they kept hearing eerie little giggles and laughter. Haunting them. Never distracting. But persistent. And so creepy. He got goosebumps.

“B, I wanna go home.”

“Hm.” That’s a resounding yes if Dick’s ever heard one.

Maybe Alfred can chase away the giggles and chuckles.

Robin shudders and follows the Bat home.

——

Danny lowered the temperature as he held Tim up near Batman’s cowl so his brother could giggle menacingly. He knew for a fact that any recording device would get completely cram led by the sheer output of ambient ectoplasm he’s emitting. Plus, it freaked Robin out and raised the hairs on the back of the vigilantes’ heads. He tones it down when he noticed Tim rubbing his hands together.

He let out a quiet laugh, enjoying the flight with his brother in his arm and the light of the stars (thanks, Gotham) at his back.

——

Danny: oh, this kid’s got an Obsession, gotta let him do it safely, he’s a liminal from all that tap water

Danny: *forgets Tim isn’t a ghost nor is he from Amity and is therefore extremely breakable*

——

Danny and Tim: doing crime is a good bonding activity

Batman and Robin, who wants to say no it isn’t but they’re literally a pair of illegal vigilantes:

——

Dick as Robin: *cackles*

Tim, learning habits from stalking them: *giggles*

Gotham Criminals: *fear*

[prettypei]

hii i enjoy your writing! may i request fluff drabbles for gojo, choso, yuta, noritoshi (kamo from the kyoto school) and hajime (aka kashimo the turquoise haired pikachu) please? like he's in an established relationship with reader and they're out on a cute date, being domestic and behaving like an old married couple. some ideas: ikea, grocery shopping, aquarium, art gallery, science museum/observatory etc

bonus if there are sweet romantic moments~ i'm fine with either fem or gender neutral reader, thank you i hope you'll consider my request! i just need something comforting to read bc shibuya arc has started in the anime while the manga is kinda at a tensed climax rn and i feel stressed lmao

plot: cute dates/domestic couple thingys with them!; fluff

reader: gn! Reader

characters: gojo, yuuta, choso, kashimo, kamo

warnings: yuutas kinda mean in this (but in a yuuta way)

(a/n): first req!!!!!! Hi hello anon I hope u like it 💪💪💪 gojo’s bento is very stereotypical Japanese LOL…KAMO IS SRSLY UNDERRATED!!!! Erm I also have like zero knowledge of flowers so sorry if it’s inaccurate, KAMOS IS SUPER CHEESY ENDING GBHBHJHHJHJH

✰CHOSO

Choso loves art. But he doesn’t only love art, he also loves you. So when you suggested to take him to the art museum for a date, he was overjoyed by the thought. But… he was embarrassed that you would see his drawings of you, so he hid it discreetly in his bag when you went to the museum. Yes, he paints you. Sketches you, even. But he’s way too shy to admit it, because god, he could never capture the way your eyes glinted or the way your smile stood out or the expression of pure bliss when he kissed you… he tries to avoid drawing you, but he can’t. You’re in every thought of his. And now, he’s trying to hide his notebook from you. He’s hugging it close to his chest, hiding it under his book bag as he mimicked the painting in front of him. It was a simple one, really…but it looked like it was missing something. He thought for a minute and his brain clicked. It was missing you. You would fit perfectly into it, since your eye color would stand out splendidly. He just finished drawing your face before… “whatcha doing?” He stumbles and knocks over his collection of colored pencils over the bench he was sitting on. “Nothing.” “Are you drawing something? Can I see it?” You ask excitedly. And honestly, could he ever say no to you? He mumbled a bit as he gave the book to you and started picking up the colored pencils, and you were surprised to see your own face staring back at you. “Is-is this me?” You smile. You flip through the book, and you noticed how your face was on almost every page. Choso looks up with a flustered face. “I-well-kinda? Yeah?” You drop down to the floor and hug him. “You’re so cute.” You mumble with a grin on your face. If he had known this would’ve made you like this he would’ve shown you this ages ago.

✰YUUTA

You and yuuta were at the grocery store, the second time this week, because food was running out again, since yuuta always insists on "buying just enough for both of us so we don't waste any food". If you didn't lie, you thought he quite enjoyed your silly little trips to the groceries. Even though the walk was short, you and yuuta often point out interesting things that cross your path. Last week you saw a dog wearing a fur coat, and just yesterday yuuta heard a construction worker whistle out the tune to "From the start" by Laufey. It's those simple things that quickly become inside jokes for the both of you. Upon arriving at the store, you usually follow yuuta as he shops for suitable groceries for today's lunch and dinner. But...after going shopping with him 3 times when you were dating, you noticed yuuta had a habit of looking at food labels. For a really long time. As yuuta examines the ingredients for the canned pineapples (why would you even need to do that? It's literally just pineapples!) you whine about how he's taking so long that you've started getting wrinkles. He then proceeds to give you a chuckle and a "wait a minute, love." and continue to read the can's contents. "(name)." He calls out your name in the most serious tone you've ever heard him in. "what?" He reaches into the cart and takes out a can of "grilled takoyaki balls: freshly made" and gives you a disgusted look. You shrug sheepishly.

✰GOJO

"(NAME)!!! (NAMEEEE)!!!" A tic almost forms at your forehead when you hear that sound, and, lo and behold, it is your husband once again embarrassing you in front of your co-workers. You walk over to him while crossing your arms. "What are you doing?" You hiss as the women (and men) all around you give you jealous looks. "Can't I surprise my darlin' at work once in a while?" He grins while holding up a bento box. Your eyes soften as you look at the homemade bento. Yeah, it probably tastes like shit cuz Gojo really can't cook, but...it's nice to see him put in an effort once in a while. "I wanna see your reaction when you eat it." He says stubbornly as he pulls your hand into the office building. "Oh boy." You think when Gojo shrugs off the security guard and waves to everyone as he waltzes into the lunch break room like he owns the place. He pulls a chair down for you and sits down in another one. "Open it, open it!" He smiles. You roll your eyes with a chuckle, and you're expecting to see some unidentified gunk, but to your surprise, it's a cute bento with sausages shaped like squid, egg rolls tucked in nicely next to the fried rice, and meat balls on a stick. “I made it four times, did you like it? And, well, I may or may have not made our kitchen a mess but it’s worth-“ You shut him up with a kiss.

✰KAMO

“Kamo, love?” “Yes, dear?” “Look at how gorgeous these Daffodils are!” You pick up a potted plant of them as Kamo miles at you. Going on dates to flower shops had become a routine for you and Kamo, since you both would do it weekly. “Yes, darling, they are beautiful. Not as beautiful as you though.” “Shut up.” You scoff as you roll your eyes and shove him playfully. Kamo has a wide knowledge about flowers, knowing what each of them symbolize and what they represent. Before dating Kamo, you would’ve never known that red, white and pink carnations had different meanings, or that white Hyacinths stood for loveliness. Most of the time on these dates you would stroll through each aisles, pointing out flowers or plants that you thought were cute. Kamo would then proceed to tell you the meaning. On the surface, it may seem like a repetitive action, but with Kamo, everything feels new and interesting. He may tell you a story about what this plant reminds him of, or about how this flower wilts to your beauty. At the end of every date (usually the shopkeeper has to kick you both out) Kamo buys you a bouquet of flowers, each symbolizing something about your relationship with one another. Even though sometimes the flowers wilt and you have to throw them away, he knows that his love for you never will.

✰KASHIMO

"Kashi! You look just like it!" Kashimo hums as he opens one eye to see you holding up a cat. You both are at a cat cafe, since you really do love cats and, well, Kashimo doesn't mind cats, really. But when he met you (a certified-cat-lover) his love for them had grown. Now, whenever he sees a stray cat on the street, he takes a picture and shows it to you. "Do I? Its hair's not green." He points out. "Well, it doesn't have to be! You and him both give off the same vibes! I just saw him standing on top of the bookshelf, thought it looked lonely." "You think I'm lonely?" He teases, getting down from his seat to sit on the floor with you. “Nah. You’re never lonely with me.” You grin. “Say hi to it!” “Hello.” He says with a deadpan face. “You have to be friendly with it!” “Hello.” He smiles an obviously forced grin. “😐” “I love you.” “Okay.” “C’mon, baby don’t be like that.” He smirks as he scoots in closer with you. You roll your eyes as you start playing with the cat. Kashimo’s eyes narrow as he snatch’s the cat away from your arms. “Hey!” “If you keep on playing with it more than me, I’m gonna think you were wishing you were dating it.” He ruffles its hair as he lets it go. “You’re so mean. It’s cute! Unlike you.” “Who exactly is the mean one?” You giggle and poke his cheek. “I’m joking, joking. I love you.” There’s a moment of silence as he takes in the words. “Well, I love you more. If this is a competition, I’m definitely gonna win.”

[the0retically]

The Suckening: The Unseen One #5:

I wrote down all of my thoughts while listening to the episode and a lot of quotes that I just love, Wild episode y’all my god, spoilers below!

- “He did a very respectable one point of damage then DIED” CHARLIE PLEASE

- Emizel come back please

- “I’m walking at a soccer mom speed” ARTHUR??

- WHY IS EDWARD TWILIGHT OK

- DEACON! “That is deacon, that is my boy right there” me too shilo

- Oh god combat right out of the gate with Deacon

- Oh my god none of them are safe, they’re all going to die

- “You’re such a wieners boy” “I GAVE YOU WIENERS, BOY!”

- ……Arthur?? You ok?

- “Deacon you’re friends are already dead” SHILO PLEASE

- I love how they stop fighting just because Shilo asks them to

- Deacon and Arthur are now just flirting, goodness

- I LOVE GREFGORE!!!! He’s insane, why was he climbing on the top of the building????? He just attacked Deacon

- HE ROLLED 6 SUCCESSES WHAT????? GREFGORE PLEASE

- DID HE JUST KILL DEACON????

- GREFGORE I LOVE YOU

- ok deacon’s ok oh my god

- GREFORE PLEASE!! He’s batshit, he’s amazing, just fully elbowed Deacon down into the ground and beat him into unconsciousness

- EMIZEL!!!!!!!!!!! HE OPENS HIS EYES!!!!!!!! LETS GO!!!!!!!!

- Oh? Pepper is here! In this creepy blood space!

- BUT HES AWAKE!! HES OUT OF THE RUIN!! Butt naked?? BUT PEPPER GOT HIM!!

- THEO!! OH MY GOD??? He can’t drink soda so now he’s just an alcoholic????

- God as someone who’s named Theo it will never not fuck with me whenever they refer to Soda as Theo

- “There’s water” “Shut Up about Water man”

- Oh god the castle burnt down

- “I guess it’s big since it’s on Fox News” “yeah you see it switch over and a news anchor go: ‘Now back to racism’” BASED CHARLIE SLIMECICLE SO FUCKING BASED—“Change the channel to Family Guy now” HAHA WHY ARE THEY SO GOOD AT THE VOICES?? Bizly, Grizzly PLEASE

- The boys are going insane this episode oh my god

- The image of Deacon and Arthur both opening the door to the “sex motel” is so funny

- The twins!! They’re bonding but also not at all

- Oh :( “emizel…I thought you were dead” shilo :(

- Shilo is losing it, he’s Angry boy

- “Are you really my brother?” :(

- “Grefgore we’re going to go sulk in the closet”

- “I thought you were going to protect me?”

- Oh more Arthur lore!!!!

- THE GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY??

- Ooooh the unseen one, interesting

- “And you’re looking good, you’re looking real good” DEACON?? YOU FIRST TRIED TO KILL HIM NOW YOU’RE JUST FLIRTING-I swear at some point deacon’s gonna take Arthur out to the woods and ya know

- “It’s cool, I shot you” “yeah she’ll be hearing about it” SHILO?? MY GOD

- Shilo if anything bad happens to you I’m gonna sob

- Goodness there’s so much to unpack from the conversation between Arthur and Deacon when the boys decide to go with Arthur and that they feel safer with him

- Like Arthur is so scared and tells them that he is not reliable and he won’t be able to keep them safe but they both are just comfortable with him and the fact that he’s been trying this entire time is what matters more

- I love their dynamic so much

- Arthur immediately trying to not let the boys see the threesome is so funny and wholesome??

- “Greg Fore” “that is weird my prince” GREFGORE!

- “How can we expedite the scene?” “….we’re going into a new scene right now” BIZLY PLEASE THE SCENE ENDED WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY BOY?

- “Is this a brothers thing? Are we doing a brothers thing?” “I think we are” I LOVE THEM

- “I love you very much” “I love you too my prince” I LOVE THEM

- WHY ARE THEY JUST DOING FAMILY GUY VOICES

- I do love that emizel is trying to help shilo out when he’s crying and he’s just comforting him :( I love the brothers so much

- Oh no-is she dead?? Charlie that’s horrible, Shilo can talk about it now so she cannot be ok

- Arthur what is your deal?

- Charlie why do you love to make mothers who try their hardest but ultimately come up short it breaks me

- “The only way life has meaning is because there’s death at the end of it” Arthur :(

- He feels betrayed and is in an anguished frenzy :(

- “I look at him and Arthur just sees himself” PLEASE THEY BREAK ME

- “I’m kicking dumpsters” ok—WAIT

- WHAT?? EMIZEL??? HE JUST GOT A STAKE THROUGH HIS HEART OH MY GOD EMIZEL DUDE??

- GREFGORE STOP CLIMBING ONTO ROOFS PLEASE IM CRYING WITH LAUGHTER

- “You look a little less sad today, good for you” :(( Arthur is getting happier

- STOP BULLYING THEO!!!!!! LEAVE HIM BE!! He’s just so sad now :((

- Shilo and Grefgore make me so happy :((

- “Is this how you felt when you put Felipe in the plot?” CHARLIE

- “Roll to see if he goes into rehab or if he gets worse” JUST LET HIM GET BETTER

- Arthur hears his name?? In the room with the Unseen??

- Oh god yeah here’s the horror, thank you Slimecicle time to be Scared

- This walk down the corridor is so scary, the fact that Emizel heard Theo yell out to him SO FREAKY so well done!!

- CHARLIE STOP MAKING THEM HEAR THE VOICES OF WHO THEY CARE ABOUT

- “You were always the best of us, weren’t you shilo?” Charlie loves that line doesn’t he

- God Grizz why did Arthur open his eyes and NOW BIZLY AND CONDI HAVE TO LEAVE??

- “I open my eyes” “are you serious? I thought that’d be harder” CHILLS

- oh god he has to get them to open their eyes too, what is up with Grizz having to be against the boys in Charlie’s campaigns

- “Emizel I will lose no more family today, don’t listen to him” IM CRYING

- CONDI WHY AHHAHA

- The continuous bit of Grefgore just scaling the ceilings and walls is so funny

- This encounter with The Unseen is So Cool I love this

- I love this so much, the shifting voices and asking for knowledge to keep is just so Well Done, I adore this, Charlie this is epic

- AMAZING SESSION OH MY GOD LOVED IT, new favorite episode of this campaign it was amazing

[isat-script-project]

(for the record, i'm sploon-fic-fan i'm just more comfortable sending on anon) can you list some events that end in time rewinding? also note if they can happen on the previously-mentioned-in-other-asks theoretical susroute+friendquest loop? i need it for a fic idea i was thinking about. also do you know any notable dead end rooms?

I don't have a list myself, but isatwiki does! More complete than anything I could put together, I think. There's also one talk from Loop at the tail end of ACT 4 that delves into it.

things that could happen on a sus + friendquest loop.... gotta admit i'm drawing from my own personal design of siffrin's worst loop ever because i kicked off my 100% playthrough act4 with a motherfucker

SOO. IN A SUS RUN + FRIENDQUESTS LOOP....

you can do memory of sadness / tutorial, ghost event... i think that's it?

cant do bad touch because that means you can't do isaquest, can't do bonnie's sidequest cuz friendquests, cant do loop hangout cuz sus run needs loopquest progress, yeah, so, just those two!

if you want to pile other mean shit into one loop, though, you still got options! You can do the change god event in the same loop, you can get the dagger and argue with loop and still do isaquest after (you could even show them the coin beforehand so they and siffrin argue EVEN MORE in one single loop!)

This could also be the first time in act4 that you do the friendquests, so you get a front row seat to siffrin's mental breakdowns, you could make this the first time you beat the king in act4, and i'm just gonna assume that You Are Loved is the situation for the ending here?

Notable dead end rooms i of course have to shout out first and foremost my friend the floor 3 writing room with my dearest belovedest Orange Poem. the other heavy hitter is the floor 3 observatory which has all the nice star and island shit in it, and the dead end room on floor 2 was uhh. the infirmary. the infirmary has grape juice in it? and the earring you can equip on isabeau. and the hallway in front of it (but behind the tears) has a dog that everyone can pet!

there's only 3 dead end rooms though so that's actually all of them. i'm biased my favorite is the writing room because it's a 100% prologue callback. also you start the memory of promise sidequest there if you want siffrin to have flashbacks to that!

Always happy to help fanfic writers be evil 👍

[beneathsilverstars]

MY ENTIRE ISAT LIVEBLOG

COPY PASTED FROM TWITTER LET'S GO!!!

oh my god i love isabeau

the correct reaction to an incredibly mediocre pun:

when i talked to odile i said i was gonna make isabeau sleep on the floor but that is NOT true

i was about to say i love all the sparkly stars aesthetic but... the game is literally named after them.... i shoulda known

omg isabeau what were you about to confess 😳👉👈

rock paper scissors is being explained to me in such painstaking depth... but the dialogue is cute, so it's ok

wtf i looped back to the town specifically in order to ask the cook about the openphrase for the one door but there's no option to ask!!

it was the shopkeeper 🤦🏼

so curious about siffrin's touch thing... it makes sense other people might be more conscious of a subconscious reaction to touch than he is, but he's so avoidant of the train of thought, i feel like it must be something a bit less.. subtle...?

damn... tryna give mirabelle the fan mail for the second time.... yikes :( so sorry mira........ is that what happened to the island to the north...? something about it got so retconned that it makes people sick to focus on the exact change?

oh.. siffrin's major memory problems.....

this game is sooo good

siffrin seems upset in the observatory.. at first i thought they were just getting tired/grouchy, but the game sure is named after stars... maybe stars had to do with their past trauma..??

i'm starting to wonder if this isn't their first set of loops and the bone-deep burden of all that (along with the practicalities of your memories constantly not matching reality) is why they forget words and shit....

went and looked at the castle again this loop bc i felt bad that sif never gets to sit down...

king asked if sif remembers REMEMBERS WHAT??? i just knowww after i terribly lose this fight im gonna have to go back through the whole game unlocking new rooms that like unlock my memories or smth

"not when i still can't say it" ofc the king is from the northern island... sif is obviously from there too, and that's why he can't remember most of his past... so that's the thing they both don't remember?

defeated him but like. there's still so many locked doors. i bet like sif is gonna go to sleep and they wake up from the nap like WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M STILL IN THE LOOP?? WE WON?? but they didn't win correctly yet, they didn't actually solve everything that needs solved...

head handmaiden ma'am 😳

is odile's research genealogy??

i thought the reference to "colors" being an esoteric/irrelevant topic was a one-off gag about the art style, but it's plot relevant?? fuck yeah

what if odile is trying to figure out the northern island..??

OHHHHHH

BWAHHH the bonnie quest 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

first time redoing the mira quest.... siffrin!!! be brave!!!!! not only is your new idea good, even if it was bad you could just say oops oh well and switch the script back next loop!!!!!

is siffrin gonna have to learn how to be brave and normal in order to break the loop jdhshdjf (normal here meaning "not a loop-brained convomaxxer")

i hope siffrin can just ask the baker's daughter directly for the book this time hdhdjfj i don't really think the whole goose chase is necessary for the emotional convo.....

oh thank god

ugh i can't wait till sif tells his friends about the loop. is that gonna be sif's quest

HANG OUT QUEST!! YES!!!

hm.. is loop the deity of the northern island..? if stars and astronomy are like their whole thing....

INTERRUPTED AGAIN!!!!!!! AGHHGH!!!!! i know isa can't actually confess till the very end bc it would suck having to go through more loops knowing he likes you but he hasn't actually told you / if you go through a loop post-confession surely that would change quite a bit of dialogue

but AHHHHHH!!!!

oh my god siffrin is going beast mode on the tutorial sadness?? i had to choose "attack" bc it seemed the most different and thus interesting but also omg... there goes the warm friendship glow 😭😭

but ofc that glow would die a horrible sudden death anyway the moment siffrin is confronted with the fact that he is back on that damn loop grind :(

poor thing 😭😭😭😭😭😭

INSTANT REPLAY??????????

the loop power is getting stronger.. u~u;;

I KNEW IT WOULD EVENTUALLY GET WEIRD THAT SIF'S SUCH A HIGH LEVEL... just a couple loops ago i was like damn when is everyone else gonna notice that sif has like multiple crafts that they didn't yesterday

also i noticed a loop or so ago that their battle portrait is frowning and.. i don't think it always was.....?

oh my god the memory of sadness is kinda fucked up but. so useful jdhshfj im tired of avoiding them in the hallway,,

ok but also how do my teammates not notice that they have new equipment, and sometimes a new craft..... in the case of like a hair bow that's easy to gloss over but how does isabeau not go "wtf i'm dealing paper damage?" ??

the problem w telling your friends you're in a time loop is it must be such a fucking relief. and then you loop again

aw, sif.. tell them about the universe...

lol how funny would it be if i died to the rock this time

oops... i'm doing a big check-everything run, but i absolutely didn't do all the village stuff bc i was too excited to help isa... oh well,

i did idly connect that the "weird sadnesses" smell like sugar same as the king's time magic which makes, but i finally just actually thought about it and realized they're also star shaped....

siffrin having this time loop power... is it anything at all like mirabelle's time-resistance power, blessed upon her by the high priestess? did siffrin escape from their fucked up time island, sent out with the power to eventually save it?

odile is sooo close to figuring it out... she just said "verRrRy interesting"

BWAHH new post-level-2 convos!! so cute!!!!! love bonnie's new siffrin-patting routine..... and odile has it SO figured out, when is she gonna say something!!!

siffrin was afraid that he smells like timecraft? bc of looping or bc of repressed reasons.... probably bc of looping,

time for siffy's daily bathroom stall breakdown!!

they even went in happy this time and still managed to psych themself all the way out hdgshsjf

GHOST SIF??? GHOST SIF ON THE WAY TO THE KEYKNIFE??????

BWAHHH ODILE RUFFLING SIF'S HAIR!!! I WAS WAITING AND WAITING FOR MORE PEOPLE TO PICK UP ON IT BEING OK TO TOUCH THEM!!!

"in this moment, you are loved" god it is going to be so hard waking up next loop 😭

HAIR BRUSHING!!! THIS IS SO PEAK

i'm worried that the king's "isn't this the best moment of your lives" rhetoric is going to slowly gain appeal as sif goes through more and more loops... like. they crafted the perfect loop with their found family. they *can't* change it any more, make it any better. ...

EHAT DO U MEAN "NVM" ISA!!!!!! oh my god i can't believe you won't confess until siffrin is like more emotionally centered and open and ready to handle that kind of thing... why r u sooo considerate -_- ur killin them isa

oh my god why is it even worse why is the end of the loop even worse this time oh my GOD sif is gonna be inconsolable I'M inconsolable not isabeau reaching out im sobbing on da couch

ngl i kinda hope this time siffrin is just defeated and doesn't banter about shit and everyone is worried as fuck. sorry sif i just think it would be interesting. that flash of him slaughtering the tutorial sadness was so sick. esp the unique auto-rewind. more of that shit

they did the first convo w mira fine.. nvm i guess.... if that never happens that's gonna be my first fanfiction

another ghost siffrin... after i looped to unlocked floor one to look for articles....... :o

not beau saying "normally i'd be worried about this, but sif doesn't seem worried at all!" when i'm about to touch the tear specifically in order to die...

did the king used to hang out in the observatory... did he write that word (the country's name?) on the papers, and wear out the spot on the globe....... he did find a new home here in vougarde such that he's decided that he can't lose this one too, at all, ever...

i got to loop 30 and i was surprised bc i figured i was at like 25 tops. and now im at 37? i don't think it's been 7 loops since then...???

i've started dreaming about the tick of a clock.. i'm kinda worried i've started wracking up too many loops... i did just zip back and forth across the house a half dozen times checking various items and dead ends....

AHH AUTO REWIND FROM KING ASKING WHERE SIF IS FROM???? followed by "you do not answer" which. implies that wasn't the case before the rewind.?? maybe more like "you do not think about it" l o l oh sif 😭😭😭

i was about to complain that it won't let me zone out of the dying-and-bonnie-running scene but um. different this time. thank you for not letting me zone out,

YEAH IT'S LOOP 40 NOW!! this is right after loop 37 (with a small auto-rewind between)

😭😭😭😭😭😭 isabeau pleeeeease:

hanging out with loop and - we saw the kings first attack?? but how would the rest of the party even get that far without sif?? they'd die to the first rock trap????

oh good sif noticed too. "who was the king attacking".... did a siffrin remnant help the party, has he looped so many times that he can be in multiple places at once???

was the king kmsing??? who tf would he be attackinggg

does the loop end when siffrin loses hope?? but no, then the very first time they defeat the boss they wouldn't have looped... but no, if the handmaiden is just talking shit unrelated to the looping then that coulda still made sif think the loop was fucked, which fucked the loop?

it's kinda heavy how many times you have to k your s in this game... esp when you don't actually have to but it's, like, more convenient than 5-30 extra minutes of running around

siffrin tripping so they don't seem so creepily overpowered is SO sad 😭

fsr it's sadder than going through the motions of a conversation, or tripping bc you tripped last time... it's a whole new lie to offset a whole new problem...

oh yeah my other loop theory was that it ends when siffrin gets too reminded of the northern island..? the memory of the future or whatever the fuck from the big attack idk

siffrin rewinded after his friends saw the ghost.... kinda matches my "when he loses hope" theory. when he feels alone? when he's utterly lost with no clue what to do next..? (lol sif restarting every loop just bc he doesn't have plans for what to do after winning)

NOOO I WAS SO EXCITED TO NOT HAVE TO GO GET THE KNIFEKEY EVERY TIME BUT I DO HAVE TO... BOOOOO...... where's the consistency, loop!!!

i can use a memory to equip it for the boss fight but idc as much about that.... i just wanted to be able to check out the dead end rooms more often instead of having to use the crest to get the knifekey every time....

memory of ghosts, no effect??

oh, the vision of the future happens on the first attack always.. not when the king kills you always...

having the knifekey for the fight kinda isn't worth it.. siffrin only has one measly paper attack anyway, so i usually have them on potions and items duty.... gotta keep mira brothed up so she can cast the super duper shield every single turn

"it's fine. she isn't real to you right now either" god siffrin is gonna be so fucked up when they get out. siffrin is gonna have "everyone else is an NPC" brain

finished doing all four quests together for the second time, and sif's commentary at the end is reeally hitting my "eventually sif will understand the king's pov of wanting to freeze one perfect moment forever instead of going forward to inevitably worse shit" theory :(

"you've noticed you're starting to forget whole loops" AHA...... i'm so curious tho what was sif doing in those skipped loops. ig presumably it'd be whatever they did in the next loop that they actually remember? sticking to the plan several times in a row till it sticks,

does loop remember the skipped loops??

hm. whenever the loop ends early Not due to death (the little auto-reverses) maybe sif just.. forgot everything after that moment? till the normal king attack moment ....? or whatever death they find?

i wonder if the headache of not being able to say/read/think about the northern island is caused by many tiny loops, sending you back to the moment before you said/read/thought it, happening however many times it takes for the rapid time travel to make you so sick you just don't

i teach kid's music classes, and sometimes i'll practice one or two dozen verse variations, then i get to actual class and when i actually do that song i can't remember which variations i've already done? and it gets worse with each class i teach from that lesson plan. so dw siffrin i get it,

ok but wtf is up with the head handmaiden. what's she got to do with this. she's obviously more involved than she seems, she knows Something about the end. and imo it's sus that she was able to bless mirabelle to be impervious to the curse, how's she able to do that.

assuming that the king used to live in the house (spending lots of time in the observatory), euphrasie would've gotten to know him... perhaps seen the beginnings of him getting fucked up powerful...? thought she could handle it on her own but she couldn't?

are the mini auto-loops a meta "reload from last save"? i think it's the same quick rewind sound as actually reloading... i don't do it super often bc why not just loop back and keep my silly little mistake in, but i've done it 2 or maybe 3 times....

this game does such a good job starting in medias res. level 45!! i'm past 70 now. i feel like there's a definite chance i'll hit 90 which means siffrin will have done as much fighting in these loops as they did with their friends through months of travel and adventure.

choosing all the emo answers to the loop convo about how using your dagger would be faster than finding a tear to kill you. sorry frin not my fault you are depressed as fuck

LOOP GOT POSSESSED IN ORDER TO ALLOW ME TO K MY S MANUALLY??????? ??????? damn i had something actually important to talk about this loop too

I HATE PICKING CONVERSATION CHOICES WITH LOOOOOP I WANT TO SEE THE OUTCOME OF BOTH OPTIONS IM SO SPOILED!!!!

AHHHH FRIN FIGURED OUT THAT IT's THEIR COJNTRY! THEY TALKED ABt JT! THEY TRIED TO SAY IT!! BWAHHHHHHHH that was so fucking sadddd oh my godddddddd sif's poor clueless friends trying to stop whatever the fuck was happenin 😭😭

is the king's 9999 attack just saying the country's name, lol

wish craft . . .

oh my god oh my god he's gonna torture my friends to death in front of me oh my god holy shit oh my god oh no oh no oh no oh no

say the name siffrin!!! think the name!!!!!!! it'll fuck you up bad enough that you loop!

oh... sif is repeating their wish over and over..... like when they carve

well. finally a loop where sif wakes up freaking out so bad that their script with mirabelle gets way way off track. lol. just like i wanted. haha. shit

I CAN READ THE ISLAND BOOKS NOW???????? damn worth it fr sorry bonbon

i forget if i mentioned that i was thinking about how siffrin doesn't rly have much to look forward to, like his friends are about to disband...?

i was chatting w ari about it lol when she helped me defeat the king earlier, she was very concerned about how sif didn't have a home to return to, all his friends were talking about going back to their homes but where would sif go, isn't that sad

speaking of ari. very four year old raised by lesbians quote: "i like isabeau's name but i don't like his gender..."

siffrin dont get emo about how they don't hug you that first evening you literally already know why, they think you don't like it

damn. forgot about the rock

i had been thinking that the way the island was erased must be similar to the way the loops work, but couldn't fathom how time manip could erase a whole island. the magic being more general makes more sense. did someone wish away color as well....

i love magic systems where belief in a thing makes it more real but jeez this is scary

i was pretty on track with guessing that non-death loops happen when siffrin loses hope. it's whenever he goes oh fuck oh god i wish that hadn't happened

gotta say. i'm getting soo sick of running around unlocking doors so that i can go down a tear dead end for the nth time. plssss let me loop to "some doors unlocked; tear crest not used" 😭

i'm also starting to get low on loop-forward sparkles...

oh wow. siffrin had a really bad dream this tear-touch loop-back. i really can't ever use the dagger he would get plagued by the horrors. not that he isn't already, but,

i love to draw characters with horrifiedly blank expressions and very very tired eyes i can't wait to draw siffrin. lol

this game was made in a lab for me

every time i accidentally get into a fight with a sadness i'm like "siffrin is so fucked up at this point he should be able to just glare at them and scare them the fuck off" and then i remember that i literally currently have that mode equipped, me and the sadness just dodged in the same direction

can i at least get a memory that lets me one-hit KO the sadness crests- wait holy shit i just opened my craft menu and i literally have a new scissor craft called (just attack) when tf did i get that

.... was siffron's island erased specifically because they got gud at wish craft, and that's a power that the world shouldn't be able to harness...?

OH FUCK THE "remembering the name" STAR WAS SO SYMBOLICALLY STRIKING THAT I DIDN'T RVEN REALIZE THAT IT WAS ACTUAL COLOR...

nooo.. no one even reacted to being poked in the gardening room squeeze? right when sif needs it the most? let's make this set of the loops the worst set ever 🤗

what the Fuck is up with croissants though

i can't believe loop got siffrin to admit to themself that beau was planning to confess and siffrin is just using it to beat themself up. "poor isabeau, he probably can't help having a crush on shitty ol me".

i wish i could give siff a good loop but doing the missions makes them sad now 😭

wow. earlier i was like "what if the king is actually siffrin, weird-magic-shenanigans style". bc sif does have some similar thought patterns. but i was like no that's silly. but now this sad diary is talking abt making another self to talk to????

i also wondered if loop is some kinda shade of siffy??

i am writing this tweet while i let siffrin look through the big window in the observatory for a while. as a treat :(

OH THANK GOD.. ISABEAU IS TELLING SIF A NEW JOKE...: that's a much better treat 😭😭😭😭

oh no nvm their second thought was "i'll need to remember to laugh next time"

why don't siff's friends react anymore when he pokes them in the gardening room. it doesn't make sense.....

finally.. my "sif is quiet and moody and everyone notices" loop.......

sif has been super hungry in the commentary lately... more than normal i think... all those wish loops taking a lot of fuel?

have ppl not been reacting to sif's pokes bc they don't want to bother him when he's already obviously having a rough day...

i liked when they sat on the floor after bumping into the table. so real

finally got that death talk with bonnie.... i wonder when i'll get talk #2 with the other characters... odile has been quite sus of me for ages when's she gonna come out with ittt

ISABEAU PUSHING SIFFRIN AWAY.... probably bc siffrin was being very... sudden and depressed and desperate about it...?

did the daydreaming one's sister move to the northern island or something...

THE LIST IN EUPHRASIE's OFFICE!! it's who wished to save vougarde, and who wished for something else!!

bwuh. thinking about the strength behind the wish "i wish i hadn't fucking done that" when you reach out to someone and they push you away

loop confirmed/unified my theories about why siffrin loops back without death sometimes heheh... the specific wording of "something that feels like the world is ending" or whatever also seems in line with my theory that siffrin is scared of leaving their friends tomorrow

they've got croissant trauma. they've got banana trauma. a cheap continental breakfast is siffrin's worst nightmare

poetic that euphrasie finally heard and replied to me on loop 99. waking up on the big double O more hopeless than ever! ☺️

gotta say it so funny that siffrin is forcing themself to try to get everyone's skills in order to beat the king faster when i beat him easily in probably less than half a dozen rounds last time. forgot to even equip the keyknife! these half-assed quests are taking longer than that...

fucked up house??????

i keep accidentally walking right back out of the door i walked into, lol. this is fun though!

also. ghost ✨???

oh.. the ghost ✨ figure i saw was siffrin, with a black hat..?

maybe.. this is the universe's way of granting both wishes...... vougarde is saved, but stuck in time forever. looping the same day of salvation.

i had wondered what would happen if (once?) siffrin totally lost hope, sure that there was no chance of ever, ever getting out. bc when they lose hope they restart. so they'd just. restart immediately. constant loop. with no chance to do anything to regain that hope.

ghost sif time :3c

mal du pays means homesickness...

SIFFRIN TRIPPED AND IZA CAUGHT HIM.. they're touching !

i've been playing at work but i have to stop and actually do some work now.... ty for taking good naps today baby :')

i can't believe mirabelle and siffrin are canonically moirails now

BUT... BUT WHY DOES SIFFRIN HATE CROISSANTS???

also i saw something on a map i was using about a starry hat?? i never got a new hat...

i also never managed to find the book with the tree on the cover again, now that i could read it...

i'm gonna have to find a full 100%ed playthrough to watch on youtube 🫡

---

reading through ISAT socmed... the first time i saw one of the in-world swears in the game i was like "lol stormlight archive vibes" so it's very funny that one of the first posts i see is "my world building advice is to learn from brandon sanderson" i was sooo right. so true

---

makes no sense to me that mirabelle asked siffrin to not spoil her on their convo topics... not spoil on where the convos *went* sure, but how does she not want to know the basic facts that siffrin now knows about her 😭 so wild

if one of my friends was in a time loop i would be like. please sit down and summarize everything we ever talked about so i can be caught up. but thats just me

---

found some youtube video compilations of missable dialogue/events we are so back

AGHH why does this person not show the full cutscenes 😭😭😭 pls i don't want to have to do a whole ass entire top to bottom loop w like 20 object interactions...... maybe i'll just do it at work tomorrow while the baby naps 😩

at least it was pretty easy getting the initial croissant scene ☺️ but i am NOT redoing the entire last two acts to get the related final loop scene or whatever it is -_-

yayy that one's big enough that i found a video of it ☺️ i do wish i'd been able to do it in game myself instead, but. not redoing half the blinding game rn

---

i Am doing a full loop to get the odile thing though... and in doing so i realized apparently i didn't go through the friend quests manually enough times, sif just had a bit of a mental breakdown abt odile's. which does lead up to the last-loop breakdown better!

NOOO I WAS 3/4 OF THE WAY THRU THIS LOOP TO GET A CERTAIN SCENE AND i was on autopilot and meant to use a crest on the tears but i didn't have the crest yet so selecting "yes" meant touching them and dying fuck meee

i hadn't saved at each floor bc i didn't want to touch my save files w this new offshoot canon...

i'm not actually quite sure what info gets carried over from the previous loop when you loop back to the same floor instead of the beginning or forwards? i'm just gonna try and do floor 3 again and see if it works....

either relooping level 3 messed it up or i wasn't able to get enough suspicion points bc the plantain chips didn't make me sick. gonna go slip on the banana five times and try again

---

... i just used the dagger for the second time and now i'm stuck on a plain black screen and i legitimately can't tell if the game is broken or if the game is making me sit and wait for sif to bleed out

ok it's definitely a bug. wow this is so poignant it really does feel like i fucked around and found out

this is so funny i can open my pockets but i can't use the dagger or call loop.

---

I DID IT I GOT THE SCENE!! it was good i'm glad i saw it. wish i hadn't fucked up and had to do it all twice but i DID IT

[fateinthestars]

COMPLETED: The Star Crossed Myth Mansion in Sims 3

Okay I think I'm finally done with this (it's far from perfect (I hate doing roofs manually) but I hope you can all still have some fun with it, and thanks one final time to @star-crossed-mid 's blueprint post for putting this idea in my head). I tried to avoid using the store-bought content I have as much as possible, but there may be a few chairs you'll have to replace. I have all the expansion packs except showtime iirc.

If something looks different from the screenshots under the cut and you want to know what specific item should be there, please ask - I can go check which ep it is in on whether it is one of the few store bought items.

Hopefully this all makes sense. ^^;;

DOWNLOAD LINK

Tour and comparisons between the Sims 3 House and the Mansion in game under the cut. (So loads of images in this post)

And if you're asking will I also make the Gods to go with the house? The answer is I hope so! ^^;;

The Outside of The Mansion

Apogies for the hash I've made of the roof - doesn't help that the roof has to be all one colour so Hue's area has this weird grey dome. Hopefully it's mostly okay? (I tried to fix the left part of the roof so that it was one triangle at the front like the others but it looks like the only way I could have done that was to shift Hue's room back some more and... yeah sorry ^^;; )

Ground (First) Floor

Living Room/Parlour

Stairway/Halls

Leon's Room

The Reflecting Pool Room

(I've just noticed the wallpaper isn't on all of this, just use the copy tool ^^;; )

The Baths

First (Second) Floor

Stairway/Halls

Scorpio's Room

Ichthys' Room

Ikky's room probably has the most creative liberties because... how do you do that in the Sims? Hopefully the fish and wall lights still give off the same vibe! (Also remembered to do the floor this time)

Krioff's Room

Partheno's Room

Tauxolouve's Room

Second (Third) Floor

Stairway/Halls

Dui's Room

Zyglavis' Room

Kitchen

I've only seen the kitchen mentioned in some of the special stories and no picture so far. If it comes up I'll change it but I seem to recall Teo saying 'is that that weird room with all the gadgets?' so I'm taking it it is at least an advanced Kitchen.

Toilet

No idea whether there is actually one of not - presumably so if there is a kitchen none of them use. But yeah just basics here so you can play a game of the sims properly if you wish.

Third (Fourth) Floor

Stairs/Halls

The spiral staircase leading up to the observatory or whatever you want to call where Hue's room is was more a space thing, but I also kinda like that idea for some reason.

Aigonorus' Room

I said it before but please ignore water you can see on this overhead view, it's from Hue's room upstairs. It's not visible on the flat. Also yes I found some cushions in the decor section since last posting this, that's better!

Teorus' Room

I thought I'd paid attention to the visible lighting in rooms but apparently I didn't see the candleabra's on the wall here ^^;;

Karno's Room

Dining Room

The dining room is meant to have a fireplace but without extending the house back further I couldn't get it to fit without it getting in the way of the chairs. Hopefully it still looks close enough.

Balcony

I couldn't see any way to do the canopy and getting room for the balcony was awkward. I hope this is a good enough ^^;;

Fourth (Fifth) Floor/Observatory/Huedhaut's Room

[chanis-banani]

hello hello! I really like the fluff campaign you are doing currently, it makes me feel like a proud friend :) I was wondering if you could maybe write a fluff about hiking with jiung <33

I'll write anything for you ~~~ Just know that you gave me an excellent concept to bully you with 👀 (though I could probably do that with any concept, let's be real)

warning: reader has a fear of heights

word count: ±700

I'm sorry the collage got a bit ugly, but what's important is that it gets the point across

Hiking with Jiung was a huge mistake.

It started off just fine: you and Jiung took a nice, relaxing walk through a wooded area. The weather was great, birds were chirping, the atmosphere was nice. Both of you took your time to admire the magnificent nature around you.

But then disaster struck. Jiung told you that he "knew a spot", and that spot was all the way at the top of a dead volcano.

Considering your fear of heights, your first instinct told you to run. But he kept telling you over and over again how beautiful it was and how much fun it would be to hike up the mountain. His enthusiasm made him so cute that he managed to convince you eventually.

So now you were hiking up this stupid mountain while the hot sunlight was beating down on you. Jiung was so excited that he was walking ahead of you, stopping every now and then to inspect a little plant or critter more closely. He only paid attention to you when he had something to tell you about some insect he found.

As you progressed higher up the mountain, you could feel that shaky feeling in your legs. You made sure to stay as close as possible to the rocky walls on your left, so you were far away from the edge on your right. Even though it wasn't steep at all, the height was enough to make your heart beat like crazy.

"Jiung... are we almost there yet?" you said a little desperately. Jiung was at least 10 meters ahead of you, but he quickly turned around when he heard your voice. "Yeah, it won't be much longer now. Why?" He went over to you with a slightly concerned look on his face. "It's so high," you replied hesitantly.

"O my God, I'm so sorry! I didn't think of that!" he called out, referring to your fear of heights. "Are you alright? The path is pretty wide, so you don't have to be close to the edge. Here, take my hand." He gave you a reassuring look as he took your hand in his. "I'll walk on the right side so I will be between you and the edge. Then rather than looking down, you can just look at me instead."

Your heart was still racing when you clung to Jiung, but now it wasn't just due to fear. He continued to hold you tightly as you continued towards the top of the mountain and he made sure to stay between you and the edge. To distract you from the height, he told you a whole story about the migration patterns of the monarch butterfly, which made you feel little butterflies in your stomach.

"I think we're just in time," Jiung said when you finally reached the top of the mountain. "Just go as far as you feel comfortable with," he told you as he guided you past the observatory, towards the edge.

The two of you sat down in the grass together and finally you understood why Jiung wanted to bring you here. As the sun began to set, a beautiful golden light lit up the village at the bottom of the mountain. Even though it was very high, you felt less anxious now that you could sit and it also helped that Jiung was still tightly holding your hand.

A gentle breeze blew through your hair and the air smelled deliciously of grass and flowers. When you looked at Jiung, the golden light cast a peachy glow on his face. In that moment you just knew that you would never forget how beautiful he looked there.

With a feeling of fulfillment, you closed your eyes and rested your head on Jiung's shoulder, soaking up the last bit of sunlight for that day. In return, he gave your hand a little squeeze and rested his head against yours.

"It's pretty, right?" he asked you softly.

"Very pretty..."

"That's why you had to see it. It suits you."

[gabriellerudessa]

Compass (Norm Maclean x OC) - Part XXX

“Hey.” She stopped beside him, hand on his back and shoulder, and kissed his temple. “Oh, Andrea is walking you through their map of the Mojave. Good.”

“Yes. She also showed me a local map and I noted down the best path from here to the ranch.”

He would ask later if everything was fine. If they had time. His Pip-Boy’s clock indicated it was already nine p.m. God the time had flown and there was so much he hadn’t told her and he needed to before they went separate paths.

For some hours he thought he had more time.

AO3 | Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX | Part X | Part XI | Part XII | Part XIII | Part XIV | Part XV | Part XVI | Part XVII | Part XVIII | Part XIX | Part XX | Part XXI (Smut) | Part XXII | Part XXIII | Part XXIV | Part XXV | Part XXVI (Smut) | Part XXVII | Part XXVIII | Part XXIX | Part XXXI | Part XXXII | Part XXXIII |

PLAYLIST ON YOUTUBE

Word Count: 6.007

Warnings: Feelings. Lots of feelings

XXX

Ed unhooked his own oil lamp from his belt as they got out, lightening it up as they moved towards the garden. Berta let out another pitiful sound of hunger as Ed put the lamp on the ground, close to the fence.

“Hey, Berta.” Marigold smiled at the Brahmin and approached, offering the palm of her hand for both heads to smell, scratching behind one ear.

Focusing on the animal and its antics searching for food and pets, instead of on the just gained knowledge that Lucy was going to the Mojave and all of its implications, otherwise she would crumble.

Ed opened one bag by the fence, taking out cut pieces of maize and offering one to each head at intervals, both in silence as they took care of Berta.

“You’re in love.” Ed suddenly said and Marigold winced.

“That obvious?”

“You’re my sister. You’re using the lipstick I gave you. You were never in love before. And I’m pretty sure he can be categorized as hobbit-sized and you and Mika were always talking about hobbits since you read The Lord of the Rings. So yeah. Very obvious.”

Marigold remained in silence, slowly moving around the Brahmin, mindlessly taking out the bugs and parasites trying to hitch a ride on Berta, squashing them, ignoring the burning of unshed tears.

“Mari-Mari-”

“What do you want me to say, Ed?” she cut him, quietly.

“You haven’t told him, have you?”

The sound of Berta chewing loud in the night, she stopped and looked at Ed. It was hard to say what face Ed was making, with the oil lamp behind him, and she guessed it was clear to him how her eyes looked.

Fuck. She was tired of having to keep herself from crying.

“Why would I? He’s going after his sister.”

“Have you tried to convince him to go to the ranch?”

“No and it would be hypocritical if I did.”

“Marigold-”

“Don’t you ‘Marigold’ me. Would you try and keep Willow from going back to her tribe if they were in trouble? Would you try and talk Andrea down to helping her flock if they needed? Would they talk you down from coming home if there was trouble?”

Ed remained in silence for long minutes, just the sound of Berta chewing. She still couldn’t see his face.

“So there’s more than just finding his sister. Do you know what?”

“Yeah and I’m not telling you. Those are his secrets to tell, not mine.” Marigold couldn’t see what expression he did, but Ed nodded.

“Thought about going with him?”

Marigold laughed, and it tasted of despair.

“I have to return to the ranch, Ed. I have responsibilities.” The word tasted like ash on her tongue, like it never had before.

A beat of silence and she went back to cleaning Berta, a loud sigh echoing in the night.

“So you kept him from one of your traps. What then?”

Marigold sighed. Why was Ed insisting on it?

“Took him home, Regina told Ma about the shot out and that a Vaultie girl was in it. We had things to sell to Ma June, so we both went. He asked about the Vaultie, Ma June told she sent her towards the Observatory and about the attack on it, and that’s it. We both started towards here.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake… You’re an idiot, Mari-Mari.”

She looked again at him, a self-deprecating smile in her face. Not her usual expression, but fitting.

“Tell me something new, Ed.”

“He met Ma. And I’ll pay you fifty caps if you tell me that she didn’t scheme in some way for you two to travel together, at least.”

“Well-” She couldn’t even finish trying to defend herself that yes, he was absolutely right, Ma had schemed, but still-

“I fucking knew it. How much you bet that Ma is already telling everyone she has a new son-in-law? Fuck, the twins are probably calling him uncle too.”

“That’s a little too much-”

“How Ma talks about Giselle?”

Giselle, caravan guard that Mika was making moon-eyes at and Ma was determined to have the two married by next year and yes absolutely called daughter-in-law when she wasn’t close.

“Motherfucker.” She blinked at the night air. “I hate when you’re right.”

“I’m your brother, I’ll always be right when you’re being an idiot.” She could feel her unimpressed face as she heard him chuckle, and if Berta wasn’t in the middle she would’ve tried to kick him. It always shut up his chuckles fast.

“All righty, all righty. Ma schemed. So what? It doesn’t void the rest.”

“Mari-Mari, sweet bane of my existence…” Sweet bane of my existence. That was how she knew they were good and it was all just worry from his side. “You appear without him, being in love, Ma will kick you out and say you can only come back if he’s with you.”

“She wouldn’t.”

“How do you think I finally talked with Andrea and Willow after chickening out four fucking times?”

Marigold blinked, snickered, and started laughing, leaning her back on Berta.

“Four times?!”

“Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want, that’s your future if you don’t grow your… I don’t know, your ovaries.” He said, but she could hear him chuckling.

She laughed harder.

“Oh my God, Ed, that was awful.”

“I know.” There was the sound of steps and his hand touched her shoulder and she made herself stop laughing so she could look at him. The light hit him just enough that she could see his small, fond smile. “You really should talk with him. And go together, if he won’t come with you now, the Mojave is dangerous.”

“My responsibilities-”

He knocked on her forehead with a knuckle, lightly, grinning.

“Earth to Mari-Mari. Think, dumbass. Catarina and Sarah are at the ranch by now, if everything is fine. Ma won’t let me or Willow or Andrea even think of travelling farther than the Observatory until the kid is at least three years old, you remember how she was with the twins and Lily and Moth.” She blinked, mouth opening, but he kept talking. “Between the five of us, I think we can share your responsibilities easily while you’re away for God knows how long.”

Marigold blinked again, and the burn of tears started to spill out without her consent. She pressed closed fists against her eyes, tight enough to make weird stars and lines burst behind her eyelids.

Fuck.

Fuck.

How… She was so. Fucking. Stupid. Right in front of her. Right in front of her.

The sound of steps again, and Ed was pulling her into a hug, not trying to make her lower her hands, leaning his head against her cheek, hands stroking her upper back.

“You’re right, I’m an idiot.” She managed to mumble, the wet feeling against her skin uncomfortable.

Fuck, Norm had really turned her into a crier. Not even on her period she was like that.

“Nah… You weren’t expecting us earlier. And you’re really bad at thinking about yourself first.”

“What?”

“It’s the fucking truth, Mari-Mari. You always put the family and the ranch first, a lot of times instead of you.” He sighed, hands stopping but hug tighter. “Try and think about yourself a bit? Please?”

“… I’ll try…” Marigold managed, voice small, feeling a teenage again and crying on Catarina’s lap over some stupid thing she couldn’t remember the following day.

“That’s the Mari-Mari sweet bane of my existence I know and love.”

She chuckled, tears slowing, swallowing away the tightness in her throat.

“… What if he doesn’t return my feelings?”

“You can cry on my shoulder, as long as we don’t tell Willow. We don’t want some Root-Curse on poor Norm.”

Marigold chuckled again, slowly lowering her hands, the faint light of the oil lamp hurting her eyes, and tapped his shoulder. Ed let go a moment later, and she tried to clean the trail of tears away.

“And… Really, Mari-Mari. I saw how he looks at you, how he relaxed with you close. The man is an idiot if he’s not at least considering it.”

“… And you still acted like that?” She raised an eyebrow and managed a weak grin, and Ed just shrugged.

“He’s clearly determined to go after his sister…” She noticed him biting his lip. “I didn’t intend to mention any Vaultie.” Marigold frowned.

“But Willow didn’t catch this and talked about it.” He nodded and she crossed her arms. “You were really willing to keep this a secret? You don’t even know why exactly he’s searching his sister.”

“But if he didn’t know, he could go to the ranch. And then you wouldn’t be brokenhearted.”

Fucking fuckty fuck it all. Ed sometimes was too protective.

“I’m glad Willow mentioned it then, because he really needs to talk with his sister.” She sighed and rubbed her face.

“Is it really so important that you were willing to just let him go?”

“I can’t dictate his priorities, the same way he didn’t try to dictate mine.”

“What do you mean?”

“We talked about this, about going separate ways and my duties in the ranch, Ed. He knew nothing of the Wasteland when we did, and not even once Norm tried to beg me to stay and go with him no matter where his sister may be. Fuck, there were moments where we were investigating clues about her and he clearly said that it wasn’t my responsibility to go with him, no matter the danger.”

Ed opened and closed his mouth, and something in him looked chastened. Good.

“… Does he know what Black Widow means?”

“Are you trying to find a reason to be annoyed with him?” She raised an eyebrow and Ed shrugged.

“You know each other for less than a month and he’s already taking you away for God knows how long, I want to be sure he won’t be a dipshit to you.”

For fuck’s sake.

“I can deal with dipshits myself. But yeah, he knows, had to talk about it after the Nip-Nip’s disaster. And before you ask, he was a fucking sweetheart about it all, Ed my dearly detested.” She pulled her annoying nickname for him just to make sure he knew she wasn’t pissed at him – not too much, at least – and uncrossed her arms.

In retrospect, she should’ve noticed her heart was in trouble that night. Not that she would’ve done anything different, but oh well…

“You promise he wasn’t weird or whatever, Mari-Mari?”

“He hugged me. He was angered on behalf of me and how some assumed I enjoy it. He was sorry it was something I needed to do to see my family again. How do you categorize it?”

Ed pressed his lips in a line for one moment then sighed, small smile in place, shaking his head and turning to the bag with Berta’s food.

“All right, I’ll take your word. But punch him if he gets weird.” She rolled her eyes and resisted the temptation to kick him. “C’mon, after this I better make sure I give your birthday present before you leave.” He closed the bag and raised his oil lamp, grinning.

“There’s still five months, Ed.”

“But I don’t know when you’ll come back and I really think you’ll like this.” He started walking, and Marigold just scratched Berta one last time before following.

---------

The maps were old, the edges fraying, but still full of notes and marks, latitudes and longitudes remarked along the years. The first, he immediately noticed, was of the region they were in, previously Los Angeles, nowadays “the Boneyard”, accordingly to Andrea. She started pointing the road Long 15, how to reach it from their location, and the safe settlements and inns along it; the road was dotted with them, which was a relief, considering how empty the Boneyard was.

Swallowing, he made himself ask the best path towards the Bear ranch; no way would he take too long to reach it once back.

As he added the important landmarks’ coordinates in his Pip-Boy’s map and watched Andrea’s explanation, three things became clear: first, the Agency was more to the west than Marigold though and they hadn’t needed to circle so much; second, Marigold and he had done one of the worst paths possible and they were lucky to have arrived at all; and third, he was pretty sure he found the coordinates from the Bounty paper, to the east of the Agency. He bet it was close to those God-forsaken bear traps.

Andrea thankfully was gracious in not mentioning how bad the path was as he mentioned the places they had passed through, just context and information to some of them, and dutifully marking the coordinates for Vault 4 in her map.

“This is one of the biggest places you’ll cross. Not a settlement, a city. I don’t know how many inhabitants now, but it’s in the thousands. The Hub. There’s a lot there and it’s easy to get lost. I don’t recommend spending too much time in it, unless you have evidence that your sister is in it. Keep to the Long 15 and, if you need to sleep in it, go for the Salty Men, it’s in the road and we know the owners, Gustav and Nicholas. They’re trustful, drop our name and you won’t have trouble with them.”

Not a relief anymore about the settlements. Thousands of people? And not blown up like Shady Sands? He was so fucked.

Before she started on the other map, she pointed where they had met Lucy and The Ghoul, a narrow and short pass in some close mountains around the Boneyard.

“It’s around one week and a half since we met them, but we travelled slow, with a Brahmin full of cargo and a pregnant woman. We needed to go slower and then circle the mountain to reach here, using a longer but more stable path.” Andrea traced the path they had done first, then the one he and Marigold had used. “With this one here, you’ll reach the place in three, four days. The last inn we stayed in the Long 15 had a radio and there was talk of radstorm in some parts of it, so there’s also the possibility of it delaying them. They may also have stopped in The Hub for supplies, it would be dumb of them to not do it with such an old ghoul. It won’t be easy, but alone you’re able to travel light and keep a faster pace than a caravan. If you’re lucky, you must be able to reach your sister at the Mountain Pass into the Mojave, maybe before… Supposing they kept to the Long 15. I recommend you ask at any settlement you pass, just to be sure.”

Her reassurance about how they, Ed, Willow and Andrea, were slower, made him sigh in relief. Not impossible, Norm. Not impossible.

The second map, the Mojave Wasteland, was messier in a way, and Andrea had a lot to tell about it. She started with safe settlements and places with NCR; she warned he best tread carefully in them, since they would probably have heard about the Observatory when he reached them.

Then Andrea talked about places he better stay away. The ones that stuck to him were everything east of the Hoover Dam, where one could find fragmented groups of legionnaires, not as unified as when under Caesar, but still dangerous. Norm needed some seconds to remember what Marigold had taught about the Legion, and he immediately got Andrea’s warning. West of New Vegas, where one still could find pockets of Fiends, which Andrea explained was a dangerous gang that had started to branch off towards the Boneyard but still remained mostly in the Mojave. And finally a place southeast called “Searchlight”, bathed in radiation because of the Legion some decades earlier.

“If you end up on the Mojave and need to cross or pass close by to any of these places, try to find a native of the Mojave to guide you.” Norm nodded, eyebrows frowning and finishing inputting another coordinate.

“What are these… I don’t know, sun with planets?” there was one of those markings at the Boneyard, and four in the Mojave, one close to Searchlight.

“That’s an Atom. And those are places where I was able to start the Church of Atom. Most of the members have a marking like this or similar interpretations.” She pointed the tattoo around her eye. “If you need to talk with one, drop a ‘Confessor Andrea Bear told me about the Church’ and they should treat you fairly.”

He blinked, looked at the map’s marking and again at her and the tattoo.

“So… You really worship the atom, as in one of the smaller parts of matter?”

Andrea smiled and shrugged.

“That’s a way to put it. It’s more related to the concept of Atom’s Division, and Atom as the force and divinity behind the creation of multiple universes through it. Radiation is the manifestation of his Light upon the world. If you really want to know, I can preach in details all about it.” Andrea raised an eyebrow and grinned.

What.

“I… Think I’m okay with that definition.” He squinted at the map. “You said you started it…”

“In the Mojave and the Boneyard, yes. I brought it from the east coast with my parents a little more than a decade ago.”

He opened his mouth to ask – “east coast? Is it even possible to still do this travel?” –, but the metal door opened and Ed and Marigold came inside, and while both seemed relaxed and smiling and she pushed his shoulder in a move he recognized as “sibling annoyance”, Norm still noticed that she had cried, eyes just red and bloated enough to warn him about it.

“Hey.” She stopped beside him, hand on his back and shoulder, and kissed his temple. “Oh, Andrea is walking you through their map of the Mojave. Good.”

“Yes. She also showed me a local map and I noted down the best path from here to the ranch.”

He would ask later if everything was fine. If they had time. His Pip-Boy’s clock indicated it was already nine p.m. God the time had flown and there was so much he hadn’t told her and he needed to before they went separate paths.

For some hours he thought he had more time.

“You’re going to the ranch, Norm? When?” He heard Ed’s voice, a brief look showing the man was messing with his own bags.

“After I find my sister and solve everything. I promised to Marigold… Unless that’s a problem?”

“No, no… Mari-Mari, come here.” Ed called, something in his voice sounding like amusement, already walking towards the other room.

Marigold squeezed Norm’s shoulder with a smile and went, and he looked back at the map. Andrea tapped a place in the north of it with a finger, the old name “Las Vegas” crossed out, “New Vegas” written under it.

“Finally, New Vegas. I don’t think you’ll reach it, but if you do, your best bet is to make friends with the Kings and the Followers of the Apocalypse in Freeside, they can easily get you up to speed on local events and help you out. The Kings may ask something in exchange, but the Followers won’t, it’s their whole thing.”

“And the Strip was dark when we were returning, remember, pumpkin?”

Willow came up the stairs, carrying Marigold’s books, and Thaddeus came behind, pouting, in jeans and flannel checked shirt, and carrying a giant pile of clothes.

“Yeah, but it must’ve been just some problem on the power distribution.” Andrea shrugged, folding the maps and nodding for Thaddeus to put the clothes above it. He did so with a huff and Norm raised an eyebrow towards him, pointing at the fabric. Thaddeus just shrugged.

“I hope so, there’s a lot of people there. Mari-Mari, you found all of these books?!” Willow let them on the counter and turned back to the clothes.

---------

“Yeah, in a place we had to take shelter from a radstorm last week!” Marigold called at hearing Willow’s voice, immobile with arms extended as Ed made last adjustments to his birthday gift to her.

Some kind of formal shirt, the type of thing she only ever heard about, deep crimson with delicate silver buttons, the fabric soft, hugging her body in a way that no clothes of her did, the collar high but leaving her neck exposed.

“Oh, they’re earlier in the season, Atom must be pleased! And you’re very advanced in the third book!”

Willow called back as Marigold looked at the long sleeves, their fabric sheer, red and billowing along her limbs, and Ed made sure the buttons in the wrists were firm. It was effectively one of the prettiest things she now owned and she didn’t understood how Ed always found these types of things or where he expected her to use… But she also hadn’t known much about where to use the lipstick and there she was, using it every day, leaving marks on Norm and clearly getting his attention.

Better not to admit that aloud, Ed would become insufferable.

But she was curious to see how it would go with the red skirt she had found.

 “I’ve been reading aloud for her.” She heard Norm’s voice, and Ed stopped, looking at her with a grin and raised eyebrows.

“You’re worried about nothing, sweet bane of my existence.” He whispered and she aimed a kick at his shin.

Ed sidestepped and kept on making sure the shirt fit her, that annoying grin still in place.

“Sweetheart…” Andrea’s voice, loud enough to reach her.

“What, pumpkin?” Willow sing-sang and there was a sighing sound. Marigold could just imagine what face Willow had made at Norm’s admission about reading.

“Don’t.”

“Spoilsport.” There was no heat behind Willow’s voice.

---------

In the end Willow had sorted the clothes for Thaddeus – which she had already metaphorically wrestled into “you’re coming with us” logic, which explained his pouting –, for Norm, arguing that the Mojave sun was merciless and he needed both spares and lighter layers to protect his skin, and for Marigold, because “I can’t believe you have been using the same things the last weeks, that’s not healthy, Mari-Mari”.

A brief discussion about sleeping arrangements resulted in Willow and Ed sharing the double bed in the cave, Andrea in the lower bunk bed, a disgruntled Thaddeus in the upper one, and he and Marigold in the sofas.

Thaddeus was faking sleep and Willow had already retired, saying “her feet were grumbling about the day”, while Ed talked in low tones with Andrea in the kitchen. Marigold threw her blanket in one of the sofas – one with clear view to the arched door, he noticed – and turned to him.

“Hey, Norm-boy. Can… Can we talk?” She whispered, head nodding towards the metal door, hunting rifle slung over one shoulder, oil lamp in one hand, already lit.

Damn it. Damn it. That was it, and he wasn’t ready.

He dry-swallowed and nodded, trying to not let the slight burning of tears in his eyes bother him. He followed her and unlocked the door, feeling Ed and Andrea’s eyes on them.

They let the door slightly open and sat in the sand under the porch, sides pressing against each other, oil lamp in front of them, and Norm let himself watch the night sky and its multitude of stars, dry-swallowing again, not knowing how exactly to start, wondering if the stars would watch his heart break.

---------

She breathed deeply, watching his face upturned towards the night sky, noticing how his eye glimmered, a rock in her stomach at noticing it was because of unshed tears. Marigold swallowed and forced her hand to move despite her fears, holding his. She felt herself relax a bit with how he intertwined their fingers immediately, tightly.

“Are you okay, Marigold?” He asked before she could finish gathering her courage. “Earlier, it seemed as if you had cried…”

Oh. She squeezed his hand, and he looked at her, eyebrows frowning.

“I am, Norm-boy, thanks. Was just… Talking with Ed and things got intense.” Norm kept looking at her, nodding briefly. “This is… About what we talked, actually.”

It was his time to squeeze her hand, and if anything she risked saying he seemed more troubled than before.

“What… What did you talk about?”

That was it, Marigold. Just say it and try and grab your happiness.

“I… I can come with you towards the Mojave, if you’ll welcome me. Help you find Lucy and everything else.” Keep him alive, keep him close.

Norm’s frown melted and he blinked, and she easily recognized his shock and surprise.

“But… The ranch, your family…”

“That’s what I was talking with Ed. They will definitely need to stay home for the kid’s first years, Ma wouldn’t let them leave. And with Catarina and Sarah… There’s enough people to cover my duties.” She stroked his hand with her thumb, throat tight.

“If… If you’re sure… Then yes. I would like that.” A small smile pulled up the corners of his lips, and her heart stuttered at the way his eyes glimmered, something in them making her think of pure, unfiltered joy.

“I am. And…”

She swallowed, the other words she wanted and needed to say seeming stuck, her heart so fast it seemed it was going to get out through her mouth. Fuck Marigold, you’re plenty talkative with sex, grow your fucking balls. Or ovaries. Whatever the fuck you need to fucking talk, for fuck’s sake.

Norm leaned his head to the side, still watching her, still that smile, the warm light of the oil lamp giving his eyes a soft look as he waited her to keep going; they didn’t look watery anymore.

Marigold opened her mouth… And the fucking words wouldn’t come out, fear clogging her throat.

Fuck it.

She leaned down and kissed him, hard, something in it feeling like despair, and her free hand reached out to cup his face, thumb stroking his cheek. Norm leaned up, answering in a slower, soothing kiss, and she felt the moment he pulled slightly at her braid.

“… And I love you, Norm.” She mumbled the words against his lips, eyes tightly closed, ignoring and cursing how once the fuck again they burned with tears, even as she felt him freeze.

---------

“And I love you, Norm”.

It was so much better hearing it in person instead of in a dream, his heart beating not only fast, but hard, his ribcage seeming to shake under its strength.

Norm swallowed his shock, letting out a trembling breath. He wasn’t all alone in his feelings. He didn’t need to wait until he was back and in the ranch to discover if they had a chance. Thank God. Thank God.

“…I love you too, Marigold.”

He said, pulling tighter her braid, leaning harder into the kiss and licking her lower lip. She opened her mouth against his, their tongues meeting, the kiss slow and gentle and tender, in a way that hadn’t been before. A slight salty taste got mixed and he retreated.

Norm frowned and let go of her hair to instead cup her face, thumb cleaning the tears. The warm light threw her face in harsh shadows and lights, but still her eyes glimmered.

“Marigold?”

“… I’m not dreaming, am I?”

She whispered, voice fragile, and he swallowed, stroking her cheek, the look in her eyes a familiar one, just like when he had treated her normally after her explanation about the Black Widow thing, how she had said “Better stay casual” with a shrug. It was painful to see it again after how she had just declared herself.

All that, love, a relationship, even if they weren’t detailing it all yet, things she had crossed off from her life, never believing she would find someone with the needed courage and respect for her.

A bunch of idiots, letting her escape between their fingers – oh, now he was getting her indignation at how no woman from the Vault had tried to change his single status.

“This is real, Marigold.” He pecked her lips. “I love you.”

He kissed her again, and again, and again, whispering the words in between each kiss, the pecks becoming harder, longer, nipping on her lips. He wanted to imprint his feelings on her, reach out inside her chest and wrap it around her heart, so she wouldn’t ever have that doubt again.

She started returning the kisses, lips moving in a slightly desperate way, and he coaxed tranquility and calm from her, her grip on his hand painful. More wetness reached his hand, salt mixed in. He kept his eyes closed.

“I’m not going anywhere, Beautiful.” He mumbled against her lips, changing his angle a bit, and she laughed, short, but laughed, the sound beautiful as it echoed in the night air, her lips smiling against his, and he felt her arm against his relax.

“You have been waiting to use that, haven’t you?”

“A bit.” He grinned into her next kiss, her hand moving and playing with the hair in his nape. “… When did you know?” He asked, nose sliding softly against hers, her thumb stroking his hairline.

“When you read for me, that first night. Enjoying The Lord of the Rings was never… So effortless.” Marigold kissed him, slow and sweet, and his heart fluttered.

 “Damn.” It escaped and he chuckled, warmth rising through his neck. “You know the funny thing, Marigold?”

“What?”

“I was never much for reading…” And oh, how he could see Lucy giving him crap about it the moment she discovered… “But I wanted to help you. And then I just wanted you to keep looking at me like you did that night.”

“How I was looking, Norm-boy?”

“With the most focus anyone has ever looked at me, actually seeing me, Norm, not the Overseer’s son or whatever.” He swallowed. “As if I had hung the stars and moon in the sky.”

Norm sighed into her, licking her lip, pulling her into another open mouthed kiss, languid and slow. His hand moved to her nape, feeling her heartbeat in her neck against his hand, as fast as his own.

---------

Marigold retreated and managed to scrounge a grin, pulling slightly on his hair.

“How could I not look at you? Handsome, smart, cute, respectful…”

“Small and not too talkative and easy to disregard…” He chuckled against her, thumb stroking her skin, the teasing clear, and she chuckled too.

“That seems like a bonus. I won’t have to fight too much to keep people from trying to steal you.” She retorted the teasing right back and he actually laughed.

“Believe me, I only have eyes for you, Beautiful.” He was grinning against her. Her heartbeat stuttered at the words, and Marigold retreated enough to open her eyes and look at him.

Norm had the gall to try and look innocent.

“Do you intend to use all of my lines back on me?”

“Well, I was told you’re one of the best at teasing and flirting…” He grinned, pulling her back down, pecking her lips as she resisted the will to chuckle.

“Well, you got that righty.” She pecked his lips back, sighing, the softness of his hair on her fingers grounding. “… And you, Norm-boy? When did you know?”

A moment of silence, Norm just breathing, lips sliding against hers.

“The morning after we first kissed… Just…” A sweet kiss. “We were cuddling and even while asleep… You pulled me closer. Trusting, despite… Everything.”

Marigold opened her eyes again, watching him, his eyes soft and moving across her face, a small smile in his lips, the thumb stroking her skin, and she squeezed his hand. Norm returned it immediately. Not a single moment his eyes dropped down.

 “… You look at me as if I’m just human and still precious.”

She spoke after what seemed an eternity, and his eyes were watery as he pressed a sweet kiss to her lips.

“… I know how human you are and I’m terrified for your life.” She noticed his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. “I… I was half relieved when your brother arrived, because it meant you would travel back with company and through a safer path.”

Oh fuck. Oh fuck.

She kissed him hard and fast.

“Well, we’re even on that because I’m also terrified for your life.” Another kiss, his grip on her hand painful. “I’m fucking relieved I’m going together with you.”

“Oh.” He managed before she was kissing him again. It was almost as if he was shocked she was also worried about him.

---------

He loved her too.

He loved her too.

Her brain couldn’t stop repeating the words, the moment, how he had looked at her after the shock – soft, gentle – and soothed her fears and everything else after.

Fuck, she had really reverted into a lovesick teenager.

Not that there was any other possible reaction after all that.

After that, there was no way they were sleeping separated, and sure, it wasn’t the most comfortable, her blanket folded under her neck as a pillow and his covering them, a good portion of her legs dangling above the armrest… But Norm was sleeping soundly with most of his body above her, arm and leg slung over her while she hugged him with one arm, his deep breaths against her neck a comfort she hoped to never lose.

Her other arm reached up out so her fingers could slide against his hair, her eyes to the dark ceiling. Sleep seemed far away from her, even with the sounds around: Norm’s steady breath, the ex-Brotherhood deep and loud snores…

Andrea’s too deliberate breathing.

“I know you’re awake, Dea.” The fake sleep breathing turned into a chuckle as Marigold whispered. “You and Ed were snooping behind the door, weren’t you?”

“He was worried.” Of course he was. “And I was curious.”

Marigold shook her head slightly.

“Curiosity sated?”

A low hum.

“Yes. He surprised me.”

“I didn’t know it was possible to surprise you.” It was her turn to chuckle.

“When you needed reassurance… He gave it, in a way that show he understands you. And his admission at not enjoying reading, but still doing it for you…” there was a brief pause and another low chuckle. “I’m happy for you, Mari-Mari. The two of you see each other and fit together. Now try to sleep.”

“On it, Dea.” Marigold turned her head and it was enough to feel his hair tickling her nose.

She breathed him in, and focused on the sandy smell.

He loved her too.

---------

Something awoke him and he blearily opened his eyes. Thaddeus, desperately lightening an oil lamp and walking towards the kitchen with a gait that he easily recognized as “someone desperately needing to relief themselves”, the sound of the door opening echoing one moment later.

Marigold still breathed deeply under him, her arm tight around him, and he smiled, burrowing deeper into it with a happy sigh, finding her shoulder and kissing it lightly.

They loved each other.

Norm hadn’t dreamt of this being a possibility in the Vault, finding someone he actually loved and that loved him back, hadn’t even tried. When he reached the surface, if seemed even less possible, even less of a worry. But it had happened, and he didn’t regret it.

What it would mean for them in the long run – dating, how he would fit with her family, how Lucy would fit and react, everything –, he still didn’t know, but he could tell he was enthusiastic to discover it all, as long as it was beside Marigold.

Hu.

Take that, Vault Council, he managed to think before slipping back into sleep.

[teecupangel]

(5:36pm) read your response to DC/AC John thing and now I'm imagining Desmond at least once doing a finger gun in the way of an enemy and that enemy just immediately bursting into a pillar of fire. Also I wonder if his bleeds of his ancestors will try and make sense of some of the things they encounter while around John

Desmond just being awkward and trying to defuse the situation which consists of four hostiles ready to bite through John’s neck and drag Desmond to their lair/headquarters/home/Desmond-wasn’t-really-paying-attention-because-those-are-sharp-claws-holy-wow by making a bad joke and doing the finger gun thing.

Instead, it summons a pillar of white light that destroys part of the ceiling and burns the one Desmond pointed his finger guns to so bad all that remained was freaking ash.

Everyone is dead silent for a few seconds before chaos finally erupted.

It took a few months before Desmond realized that he can summon the pillar of sunlight and death by thinking “yeah, this dude has to die” and not actually needing the finger gun movements.

As for how his Bleeds will react to the strangeness of the DC ‘verse:

Altaïr is the most skeptical of them all. He believes that anything that is unexplained needs only to be studied. He’ll believe in demons, magic and all the superhero/mythical/alien bs of the DC universe but he will also believe that everything has logical reasoning behind all this mythical/superhero/extra-terrestrial bs. Altaïr’s reasoning is what propels Desmond to always conclude: Isu Bullshit.

Ezio is kinda more on the fence. Superhero and aliens? That’s weird but, yeah, he’s on board with Isu bullshit. Demons??? Curses??? Oooohhh boy. His religious upbringing is making him go “tread carefully, Desmond, this is some demonic shit.” He’s not going to say bad shit about the Judeo-Christian God or about demons because Mama Auditore will not hear that kind of blasphemy in this house, thank you.

Ratonhnhaké:ton is the opposite. Sorta. Anything superhero-related and magic-related, he’ll mostly think of them as something related to the spirits. He believes magic is real too. But he will also agree that some kind of Isu fuckery is involved because the only times he did encounter magic in his time, it was related to the Isus. However, he will also be the most respectful of everyone’s beliefs and is the usual one to caution Desmond to rein in his words when he gets caught up in Altaïr’s analyze-and-debunk spirals.

Haytham… Haytham is like Altaïr-lite. More often than not, he’s on the side of “the Precursors were an advanced race that could push the future to their liking, this is not beyond the realms of their capabilities” but he also grew up listening to the wonderful strange stories his father used to tell him about the sea. He knows his father embellished many of them but it sunk into his psyche and he is more open to the possibilities of something to be more ‘fantasy-esque’ than ‘sci-fi-esque’ compared to Altaïr.

BONUS: Edward believes in all of these. Pirates are a superstitious lot and this is the kind of shit that he would eat up. Doesn’t matter if he had been an Assassin for years by the time Desmond got his Bleed of him and he could find a logical explanation behind the Observatory, you don’t mess with all that juju. (This, of course, embarrasses Haytham)

[afpwestcoast]

The Observatory North Park, San Diego, 12/9/23

Though we were in a different city the setup for this show was very similar to last night in LA: large, ornate theater with a barricade keeping people back from the stage. But this was no impediment to the band torching through a stellar set.

Amanda calls me Tom the Critic because after shows I have a tendency to skip over the OMYGOD THAT WAS AWESOME part and pick nits over minor issues. It’s a character flaw; I’m working on it.

After this show I took Amanda’s face in my hand, looked her in the eye, and said, “Amanda, you know I love you, but I am about to tell you something that you probably thought you’d never hear me say.”

“Oh god,” she replied, bracing for the worst. “What is it?”

I leaned in close and whispered, “Perfect show. No notes.”

“AWWWW!” she said as she melted into my arms for a big hug.

And it really was a truly stupendous show, but even so it came close to being overshadowed by the after party.

Amanda’s sister Alyson (of forced wedding / gross cake fame) was in town for a hematology conference, and her “book doula” Jamy Ian Swiss lives in San Diego, so they were both there.

I convinced them - and Amanda’s brilliant long-time sound guy Dave - to join us for drinks at Part Time Lover, a nearby combination bar and vinyl record store. As we headed out I snuck up behind Amanda and said, “I think I just convinced your sister to come out drinking.” She said, “Yeah, that tracks.”

The place was jammed with a boisterous young crowd when we arrived, but we closed the place down and there hardly was anyone left by 2am.

I got to learn about Alyson’s efforts to cure cancer with targeted drugs and Dave’s work training the next generation of sound engineers. That was lovely, but Jamy stole the show. Or rather, put one on.

Knowing him primarily from his work with Amanda on her book, I thought the magic was a bit of a side hustle. When I asked, “Are you any good?” his look said, ‘I will tolerate that because you are buying me drinks,’ but his mouth said, “I am much better than good.” And then he pulled out a deck of cards and proved it.

I had never actually seen close magic up close, like literally standing next to the magician. Let me tell you, it is quite an experience. You know it’s a trick, you know he’s doing something, but you cannot see anything, which makes you start questioning your sanity. He really is much better than good.

After we closed the bar Dave and Alyson bailed but Jamy soldiered on and we went to an all-night diner where the spirited (pardon the pun) conversation continued until we finally parted ways around 4am. This was one for the annals.

Annotated Set List:

Good Day

Sex Changes

Gravity

Backstabber

My Alcoholic Friends

Shores of California

Delilah (featuring Veronica Swift) Welcome to the Internet (Bo Burnham cover)

Another lengthy intro before launching into a set of new songs, although this didn’t feel like the angsty delay tactic of the previous night but just bringing the audience up to speed on what was about to happen. Mister God

By way of introduction to the next song Amanda said that the friend who was the first person she sent it to when it was finished was in the audience.

“A really dear friend of mine is in the audience tonight … his name is Jamy Ian Swiss and he’s a man of many talents, among them: he’s an incredible professional magician. But he also helped me write a book called “The Art of Asking,” which was kind of a magic trick itself. Over the course of working on this book together he got to know me very very very well.”

And I thought, ‘Oh yeah I need to party with this guy.’

Houdini

Believe it or not, as Amanda was telling the background story of the next song, there was another medical emergency that necessitated bringing up the house lights, same as the previous night in LA. Once again the staff was on it and the band and the crowd were very respectful.

Afterwards Brian said, “It is actually really amazingly rad to have venue after venue’s staff come up to us after shows and go, ‘Your crowd is really awesome; they’re really good people!’”

Whakenewha Amsterdam (Jacques Brel cover)

Another Christmas

Boyfriend in a Coma

The Runner

The Nail (Amanda on synthesizer)

Coin-Operated Boy

“We don’t take for granted that we’ve been a band for 23 years now and without a record out since fucking 2008 and like a thousand people still came to see us play. That does not necessarily have to happen when you’re a band. And so we want to thank every single one of you for just like loving us and believing in us.”

Merch commercial

Astronaut (A Brief History of Nearly Nothing) (Amanda Palmer cover)

War Pigs (Black Sabbath cover)

—

Girl Anachronism

Photo Gallery:

The scene of the crime.

Ready to Rock! (photo by Deanna Aliano)

The Dresden Dolls!

Delilah

Amanda is WAY up on the balcony for Amsterdam

The many faces of Brian Viglione

Merry Christmas motherfuckers

Technicolor Dolls

Beautiful shot of Brian by Deanna Aliano

Big finish!

[k4txlulzz]

have a mysme mc yume self insert oc in mind and i named him ესაია/esias to match the whole biblical symbolism thing with luciel ^^ (luciel--"light of god", esias-"god is salvation" or "salvation/help from god") . this ties into their character because esias deeply cares about saeyoung and is extremely devoted, he is willing to protect and shield him always and she is generally this kind of person, hence the name meaning of esias ! :)

she is genderqueer so they use all pronouns and are very androgynous ... because there is a severe lack of non-binary or male mcs in the fandom

i am going to draw him and post a cute art of her and saeyoung but all yall need to know is that : im planning to make him seven's personal knight in shining armor, basically xd they are also extremely similar to him and have gone through similar mental struggles, which is one of the reasons hes so devoted. on the other hand, esias is too infatuated at times, and gets kind of scary if her beloved is hurt

sidenote: they own a traditional georgian/kartuli dagger collection! (they are georgian/kartveli like me ofc) his dad taught them how to use these and ADDITIONALLY because of secret lore reasons esias is extremely skilled at combat ; esias is also a major space fan !!! they adore space and her grandfather is a scientist who works in a space observatory that he often visits; (there is also a...special lore connection between him and celestial objects wink wink nudge nudge ;))

maybe they are more than just a mere human? saeyoung notices that there is something ... off about esias ^^;;; almost as if at moments he is possessed by a higher, divine power ? anyways esias is actually a badass exorcist who slays shadow beings that prey on people's sorrows and much more but YEAH thats weird lore dump but this ties into my personal oc lore in general so yada yada its a looong story

[twilightknight17]

P3R while I was gone, part 3: The False Prince and the Rainbow Disco Party

Life is good in the aftermath of the final shadow. Yesterday was a terrible battle, but I must still go to school today, etc. And after school, it’s time to celebrate!

We’re all so glad to be done with this nonsense. Even Mitsuru’s dad is here, to officially disband SEES at midnight.

I forgot Ken has never met him. XD

The only people missing are Aigis and Ikutsuki; he took her back to the lab to check up on a few things. Junpei really wants a group picture, and since they still aren’t back, we’re just going to have to take another one later.

He asks one of Kirijo-san’s guys to take the picture for us. It goes great. XDDDD

It’s getting later and later, and I like to think that Mitsuru’s dad enjoyed spending time with us. We had a good time. We ate so much sushi! And now it’s time to count down to midnight.

...well, fuck. X’D

Yeah, there was no way that was the final boss. Ikutsuki and Aigis still aren’t back, and Mitsuru’s dad is furious, because this was supposed to be the end of things. We get Fuuka to search for Ikutsuki, and she locates both him and Aigis at the entrance to Tartarus.

Ikutsuki has removed her free will to make her obedient to him. But aside from that, SEES wants to know what the fuck is going on, because ridding the world of shadows and the Dark Hour was our entire purpose, and it’s still here.

Apparently the end will come and free the world from despair! The only salvation lies in ruin!

Right. Sure. Why is everyone always trying to free the world from despair in the wrong way?

Well, that’s a bit arrogant, huh? Somehow I don’t think that getting us to kill the shadows makes you the prince. I think you’ve misinterpreted something, since the note we found in Monad said that the Prince of Salvation would be “born” after gathering all the shadows.

You, sir, already exist. Regrettably.

Ikutsuki gets Aigis to capture all of us and drag us up to what would be the school’s observatory in normal time. God only knows how you find a specific room in Tartarus when it’s constantly changing, plus, like… did the shadows not bother you and Aigis while you hauled seven people and a dog up the tower?

Not to mention, how long were we out, because how long did it take to do this?

Oh, yeah, Mitsuru’s dad came after us and wants to know what the hell is going on. Ikutsuki is very chill about mass human sacrifice of teenagers and children.

Mitsuru’s dad is NOT down with this, because he does not want the world to end, and he ends up getting away from Aigis to take a shot at Ikutsuki.

Ikutsuki gets gut shot and screams at Aigis to kill the rest of us.

Mitsuru’s dad collapses.

And Aigis looks at all of her friends, and shoots out the chains to free us.

Ikutsuki wants to know why we’re even bothering to search for a reason to live in this “broken world”. No one really has an answer for him, especially not Mitsuru, who is busy trying to save her dad. And failing.

You really weren’t.

Ikutsuki stumbles back and falls from the edge of the observatory platform, so we’ve lost all the adults who knew what was going on in one fell swoop.

It’s just us now.

But I must still go to school today?

Ah. Yeah.

Mitsuru doesn’t have any other family to deal with arrangements or the company, so… Yeah.

None of us are really okay. But there’s not much we can do at the moment. But Fuuka did dig into Ikutsuki’s computer files. He doctored that video of Yukari’s dad to make it sound like we needed to destroy the shadows, but Fuuka found the original.

This leads to Yukari’s second awakening, changing Io into Isis to symbolize her newfound resolve. That’s five teammates so far! Mitsuru, Aigis, Koromaru, and I are left. And I don’t think Koromaru gets a second awakening.

My schedule returns to normal, and I’m wandering around as usual.

I will find my Fortune! Even if it won’t be official. ^_^

Igor also wants to talk to me, but other than opening up some more special fusions, he just wants me to remember that I have to take responsibility for my actions.

Honestly, my guy, I still don’t know what fate I chose?

Or maybe it’s the fate I’m going to choose, in which case, there’s only one choice.

On the social link front, Kenji has come to a decision!

Well, I don’t know what the fuck is going to happen with you from here, but uh, good luck I guess?

Hey, who’s that over there?

Oh. Oh… Okay, yeah, you’ve just been an idiot this whole time. She was talking to her fiance.

But… I dunno, I feel like at some point she should have noticed how Kenji was acting around her and shut that down a lot harder.

Chin up, Kenji. I guess. I’m gonna go ask my weird blue cousin what she wants to do tonight.

Huh. Ken has one of those! We can talk about how the ending of season 2 was such a disappointment for the shippers.

(Also, is that a Sailor Moon reference?)

LIZ. OMG.

Okaaaaaaaay, what is everyone else up to?

...too real, sir. I’m going home.

…...not sure how to tell you, Mamoru, but I do not take the sport seriously.

ANYWAY. I guess after Featherman tonight we should head back into Tartarus. It’s the only lead we have, and there has to be a top up there somewhere. Besides, I’m gonna be busy tomorrow, so let’s go now and see what’s up with the next area. We were at a border floor before.

...wait.

Do you hear that?

It sounds like… eurodance Caramelldansen remix.

Getting closer.

I love Harabah. Oh my gosh. This is fantastic. It’s hard to see the shadows roaming the floors, but I don’t even care, this is incredible. It’s SO different from all the other blocks and it’s amazing. I’m gonna have so much fun here.

I also finally fused Decarabia, so I got a new fusion spell!

I love Star Forneus, too. <3

Tomorrow is Monday and we will go back to school and all will be right with the world because it’s November 9th and I have reasons to Scream. :D

[jassisass]

Spider Bites

chapter 2

follow my twitter for updates, same @ as here

check ao3 for chapter notes xx

also i noticed the italics don’t paste on here but it takes too long to fix it so if you prefer italics for emphasis and such the ao3 version has those 😊

A few weeks have passed since your initial fight, but you and Miguel have been at each other’s throats. You can hardly be in the same room as him without one of you starting a fight. Well, you’re the one staring most of the fights but it’s only because he keeps making digs at you. Most of the time, they’re just regular arguments with him threatening to kick you off the team again and again. Sometimes they end up being physical. He never really hurts you, but every time he makes it clear that he’s the one in charge and it usually always ends with you being pinned to the wall or floor. Sometimes you put up a fight, but most of the time you don’t bother. Physically, he’s way stronger than you ever could be, and you part of you likes being overpowered because there aren’t many people who can. After almost every fight, you make some excuse to find a secluded enough place to relieve your pent up emotions, but it never quite satisfies you. You’ve almost gotten caught a few times.

Though he tries to restrain himself, you have a way of pressing Miguel’s buttons in a way nobody else can. Stopping just shy of his breaking point. For a second, you wonder if this has anything to do with your pheromones… if your emotions are affecting him as well. Could that be what’s causing you two to fight all the time? Your lack of control? Are you making him lose control with the scent radiating off of you whenever he’s around?

Even right now, you can smell it. Sweet and musky, embarrassingly strong. It’s been getting worse, especially with all the fighting. It’s just the two of you there in an abandoned observatory. You, Miguel and a few other spiders had taken out an alternate Lizard. You lingered back until everyone else left, and now there isn’t anyone to shield you from his wrath. You’re on your stomach. Miguel is holding your forearms against your back with one hand and your head is pressed into the ground by the other. He wants to make it clear that he’s the one in charge, yet you keep pushing back against his authority.

“What did I tell you about following my orders?” Miguel hisses through his mask. Even though you’d removed yours before you started fighting, his remains on.

He’s referring to the fact that you didn’t stay paired up with one of the Peters that came with you. It’s not your fault though, because that Peter pisses you off and not in the hot way Miguel does.

“We took the guy out, didn’t we?” you say. “Aren’t we supposed to be adaptable?”

“It doesn’t matter!” he says. “You could’ve fucked everything up!”

So, maybe it isn’t just that Peter annoys you, because he does. You fucked it up on purpose, but it was a calculated move. One that wouldn’t have caused any issues, but Miguel doesn’t know that.

“It doesn’t matter! It was fine!”

“God, you’re impossible to work with,” he’s beginning to loosen his grip on your arms.

“You keep assigning us missions together when you literally have hundreds of other options,” you say. “You like working with me.”

Miguel seethes because you’re right. He has consistently been picking you on the majority of the missions he goes on.

“Aww, did I hit a nerve?” you taunt. “I bet you’re enjoying this too.”

Miguel starts to chuckle softly, and his mask comes off. You catch a glimpse of his shiny white fangs. He leans in close, and you can feel his breath on your skin.

“Oh my god,” you close your eyes, a shiver going down your spine when his breath “Oh my god. Is he gonna do it?”

“Look at me.”

You look back at him.

“If I have to put you in your place again there are going to be consequences.”

“Oh yeah?” you say, your voice shaking slightly. “Like what? You’ll bite me?”

Miguel adjusts the position of your arms in a way that hurts, and you make a noise that sounds a bit too much like a moan.

“Sounds like you’re the one who’s enjoying this.”

You hesitate for a fraction of a second. “And what if I do?”

Miguel is caught off guard by your answer, and he doesn’t respond, so you keep talking.

“We always fight like this and you always threaten to kick me off, but you haven’t.”

Miguel growls. “You’re so fucking aggravating.”

“Yeah? So are you.”

For a second there’s just the sound of him breathing. Inhaling in your sweet scent. You can hear his breathing grow slightly heavier, and you wonder if the effects of your pheromones are increasing. You’ve been in close proximity with him before but never this close for this long. You have no idea how it’s going to affect him, or how long it’ll take. You notice he’s sweating slightly.

He groans softly, and you swallow.

“Why does this keep happening?” He lets you go and stands up. You doubt he wants you to try and answer.

You roll over onto your back and stand up. When you look at him, for just a moment his mask slips. He doesn’t look angry anymore. He looks exhausted. Guilt pangs in your chest as he turns his back to you.

“Miguel—”

“No, just—just go. Please.”

You don’t know what to say to him anyway, so you leave and check out the city. This one is pretty average, except much greener than your city. Lots of trees and plants growing everywhere. The Spider who lives there is nice too. You swing around the city, and eventually you find yourself at the top of a building once again. You take off your mask and take a deep breath. The air smells faintly of flowers.

“I need to stop doing this,” you think. It can’t be good for either of you, or for the fate of the spider-verse. Miguel hates that name, but you think it’s better than the ‘poly-arachnid whatever’ bullshit he came up with.

You close your eyes and lay down. Now that there’s nothing to distract you, the urge for release makes itself known. You do your best to ignore it this time. The Spider-man from this city could pop up at any time. You’re not a stranger to risks but you have a limit. Part of you wants to go back home but you decide there’s no point. Plus you’re pretty sure you’ve been overdoing it with the masturbation lately, and it’s gotten to the point where it doesn’t really feel good anymore. You take deep breaths, focusing on the scent of the flowers, and after a while your arousal is finally suppressed, at least for the most part.

The same can’t be said for Miguel. He’s currently battling his mixed emotions towards you. One one hand, you always find some way to him constantly, but on the other hand he can’t get enough of you. He’ll never admit to it, but he loves having to put you in your place. People rarely challenge him, except for Hobie, but Hobie… he’s different. He doesn’t care enough to fight, because he’s only there for Gwen. You though, you have a way of riling him up. It’s like the longer he’s around you, the more intense it gets.

Annoyance and anger aren’t the only thing he feels when he’s around you. He didn’t notice this the first time, but he finds himself feeling oddly aroused after or even during your fights. He’s not sure how he feels about that. It means you’re a distraction, but you’re a distraction he can’t get enough of.

Of course, you don’t know that. As far as you’re concerned, he hates you but you’re too valuable to let go. Even if he doesn’t hate you, or if you were to exist in a world where he even has feelings for you, it would never work. You’re deadly. You can’t risk a relationship with anyone. It would just hurt too much, not being able to kiss, hardly being able to touch. You’ve tried many times to synthesize some sort of antidote or something that can neutralize your poison, even just temporarily, but nothing ever works. You’ve been experimenting on roaches, and you’ve probably sent a mountain’s worth to their demise. It’s so bad that you get too scared to shake someone’s hand on a hot day, or pay for something with cash because being exposed to your sweat could be the end of their life. Normal people are just too delicate.

You can’t help but think that it’s a shitty power to have. It’s not even something you can use in combat, at least not intentionally, and it’s not like you want to kill everyone you fight either. You’d rather not have any unnecessary deaths on your hands. That’s another reason you need to stop fighting with Miguel. Sure, you both have your suits on when you touch, but you never know what could happen. If he dies because of you… everything would be fucked.

You’d be fucked.

The realization hits you and you open your eyes and stare up at the sky. You need to stop. You really need to stop, for the greater good.

“For the greater good,” You tell yourself. “Just shut the hell up and follow your orders.”

You can’t have everything fall apart because you can’t control yourself. Just imagine, you being the one who caused the multiverse to crumble because of your own desires. Not being around Miguel is a small price to pay for saving everyone you can.

After taking one last deep breath, you decide it’s finally time to return to the Spider-hub. You type the location in your watch and step through the portal.

Every time you come to the Spider-hub, you’re always a little awestruck. For so long, you’d felt so alone as a superhero. A lot of the spidermen were lucky enough to have their best friend. The one who knows. Their guy in the chair they can confide in, even if they fully don’t understand the stresses of fighting villains. You aren’t so lucky to have that, so once you found out that you in fact aren't alone at all, and that there’s actually thousands of you out is a huge comfort to you. Even though you still have your secrets. All of you do.

Another reason you like walking around in the Spider-hub is that you know there’s not a high chance of you running into Miguel. He’s almost always spending his time alone, and even if he does decide to get off his platform the place is so huge that the chances of you actually seeing him is close to none. You decide to stop by the cafeteria for something to eat.

Everyone you walk past who knows you greets you cheerfully, which brightens your spirits. It’s funny, you’re all vastly different, but you all have this understanding. You all get it. Even if you’re complete strangers, you all understand each other on a level that nobody else can. You don’t have to worry about hiding your face. Hell, there’s even a therapist you can actually be honest with.

You sit down at one of the tables in the cafeteria with your snack. As you’re about to take a bite, you sense someone approaching you from behind. You turn to see a tall black man wearing a black and white suit. He has locs that have been put into braids with blonde streaks in them. He’s a spider-man you’ve seen around before, and you’d actually gone on a mission with him recently.

“Hey, Arachne, right?” he says.

“Yeah… Spiderman?”

He laughs. “Wayne.”

You tell him your name. “You can sit if you want.”

He sits down across from you. You’re not gonna lie to yourself, he’s kinda fine, but you can’t get into another entanglement. You don’t know if you can. You’re pretty emotionally invested in Miguel at this point.

“So y'know that move you did when we were on that mission the other day?” he asks. “The one where you tied that guy up?”

“Yeah,” you say. You’re proud of yourself for coming up with that move, but you doubt you’re the only one who’s done it. You all have your own styles of fighting but there’s a lot of overlap since you all virtually have the same powers.

“How’d you come up with that?”

“I guess I was inspired by how spiders wrap up their pray in their webs,” you say. “It took a lot of practice to get it right, and I can’t really use it on anyone who’s a lot bigger than me, or it’s too hard to spin them around. Oh! I also had to develop a new web formula so the strands would split for faster coverage. It took me months to finally figure it out.”

“You don’t got a science guy?”

“Nah, it’s just me.”

He’s about to say something but his watch beeps. He glances down at it. Probably another anomaly.

“Damn, I gotta go but we should hang out sometime. If you want to.”

“Yeah, sure,” you nod. “Just let me know when you’re free.”

He nods and salutes you before falling backwards through the portal he just opened. You wonder if he wants to hang out as a friend or on a date. You decide to ask him whenever he gets back to you.

Once you finish your food, you wander around the Spider-hub for a bit, having little conversations with various spiders before deciding to go to train. You’re not out of practice by any means, but it never hurts to work on your skills. After sparring with a few people, you leave the to sit on the outer wall of the building. Miguel’s city is straight out of the future, similarly to the city you’d gone to when fighting the undersea Doc Ock, except instead of neon nightlife vibes, it looks more utopian. It’s almost funny that a man like Miguel lives there, though with all the tech they have he probably deals with crazy villains.

Them and the ones from hundreds of other universes. You’ve really put him through a lot. Jessica hasn’t talked to you about it recently, you two rarely see each other, but you can almost feel the disappointed look she’d give you if she knew. Maybe she does know, and doesn’t want to deal with it along with being Spider Woman and a pregnancy. You can’t believe she even goes on missions with a baby on the way.

Eventually, your own watch goes off. It’s a message from Wayne, asking if you’re busy. You text him back that you’re not and he sends you the coordinates to his universe. You open a portal below you and do a backflip off the building, diving straight in.

When you make it through to the other side, you shoot a web out to a building, swing in a long arc up and around and cling to the side. Wayne lands right beside you. The night air is cool and refreshing.

“So you want a quick tour?”

“Sure.”

“Let’s see if you can keep up,” you can’t see his face but by the sound of his voice he’s smiling.

Wayne’s city looks remarkably like yours, and at first you don’t notice any differences. A few advertisements you’ve never seen before, but besides that the layout of the city is actually familiar to you. Keeping up with Wayne is easy, and you’re having a lot of fun following him through the city. This job and Miguel have been stressing you out. As you weave between cars and trucks and swing around the city, you feel almost elated. Wayne brings you to a skyscraper where he stops.

“This is where I usually hang out,” he says. “When I’m not… being spiderman.”

You nod and take off your mask. “I have a spot kinda like this back home.”

“Yeah?” He takes off his mask too. “What’s your city like?”

“Almost exactly like this one. Like the layout and everything. Maybe some different street names and some buildings are in different places but besides that it’s pretty much the same place.”

Wayne nods. “You go back often?”

“Not really. I mean, yeah to check on things but I only go home when I’m off duty. I don’t really like hanging around my apartment ifI can’t just relax… even though I have shit to deal with pretty much every day.”

“I get that.”

You both sit in silence for a moment. It’s nice talking to someone who comes from a similar city as you, and it’s nice being somewhere that feels familiar.

“So, is this supposed to be a date or..?” you ask.

“Nah, nah,” he says. “Just hanging out. I should’ve said that earlier, my bad.”

“No it’s fine, I just wanted to make sure.”

“I feel like I don’t have time for all that romantic stuff. At least not right now.”

“Yeah,” you say. “Me too. I feel like I barely have time for myself.”

“Is that why you and Miguel are always fighting?”

You make a face, slightly embarrassed. “Yeah… that’s part of it I guess.”

“I can’t blame you man, he’s an asshole. You got balls the way you talk to him though.”

“Honestly I don’t know how I haven’t gotten kicked off yet.”

“You’re a good fighter,” he says, giving a gentle punch on the shoulder. “We need people like you.”

“Thanks.”

You smile. You haven’t had time to hang out with your friends back home lately, so it’s nice spending time with someone. You two end up talking for a while before both your watches go off.

Emergency backup needed: Earth-17778

“Where you headed?” you ask.

He shows you his watch. Earth-17778. You show him your watch with the same number. You both pull

your masks on and portal to the other dimension.

When you make it in, you lean off the side of the building and scan the area for any threats. It’s close to sunrise, judging by the color of the sky. Your spider sense tells you to get out of the way so you drop down and something bursts through the wall where you were resting moments before. A flash of red blue and glowing purple broke through the brick wall of the next building. You cringe. No wonder this spider needs backup—they’re getting their ass beat.

“Oh shit,” Wayne says.

You’re about to follow after them, when a second figure comes out through the hole in the building in a blur. That small glipse tells you enough. You’re dealing with two Prowlers.

“I’ll go through if you go up top,” he says.

You nod and thwip webs out of both your wrists and launch yourself over top of the buildings. Both the Prowlers are fast, but it’s easy to follow their path of destruction. You and Wayne finally catch up, and you see one Prowler, a man, holding back the arms of Spiderman, a classic red and blue Peter, while the second Prowler, a woman, is walking towards them with her claws out. You’ve never seen two villains working together like this before.

“Yo!” Wayne calls out.

Both Prowlers look up, eyes narrow, and you feel a chill go down your spine. Something about the Prowler makes you feel uneasy, and now you have to deal with two of them. They look at each other so you decide to make your move.

“I got left,” you tell Wayne, going after the female Prowler.

When you reach her, she grabs you by the arm and slams you into the rubble covered ground. She’s strong. Strong enough so you’re concerned about how this fight is going to end.

“So you from around here?” you ask, starting to sit up.

“Shut up,” she growls in her distorted voice. “I’m going to destroy you.”

She goes to punch you in the head, and you roll out of the way, standing in the same fluid movement. The Prowler fights with her claws out, and you narrowly miss getting your throat sliced open more than a few times. She tears through every web you shoot at her, so you decide to create some distance. When you’re in the air, you realize that Wayne and the other Prowler are long gone. Spiderman is on the ground, but he’s alive.

You make it to the top of a building and you jump backwards off of it, diving with your back towards the ground. The Prowler launches herself after you, but she glitches, giving you the opportunity to shoot a sticky mass of webs onto her face with one hand and use the other to anchor yourself back to the building so you can swing back around in an arc and slam her into the ground from above, pinning her by her wrists. She struggles hard, but you manage to hold her arms together and tie them up with webs, making sure she can’t slice through them. Once she’s restrained, you tie her up fully and send her to the go home machine.

Once she’s gone, you check on Spiderman.

“You good man?” you ask, holding out a hand to help him up.

“Yeah… I’m good,” he says, taking your hand and standing. “I wasn’t sure if I was gonna make it though.”

He looks like he’s about to pass out.

“You should probably get yourself checked out man,” you say. “We can handle the rest.”

He nods and opens up a portal and leaves you to call Wayne on your watch. “You good bro?”

“Yeah, I’m good. Cops should be on their way. Is the other guy okay?”

“He’s fine. He had to go to the infirmary but I think he’ll be fine.”

“Aight, I’m coming over.”

Wayne swings between two buildings on your right and lands next to you.

“You send the other Prowler to the go home machine?” he asks.

“Yeah. She literally almost killed me though. If she wasn’t glitching so much I would’ve gotten fucked up.”

“Shit,” he says.

He holds out his fist. You give him a fist bump and you go your separate ways. He has time off, while you’re still on duty but technically free to go wherever you want. You decide to go back to your own universe to make sure everything’s in order.

As you patrol the city, you realize you’re in a good mood, which hasn’t happened in awhile. You made a connection today. A new friend.

[cosmcther]

// For the favorite detail meme: I’m going to second what Brawl and Henri already mentioned earlier, about how I really like how Rosalina isn’t necessarily perfect. She has flaws, she can underestimate others, but she can also learn and grow from her mistakes! I love that, and it just makes me want to see how she’ll continue to evolve. But I think my favorite detail is just… how perfectly you capture her personality as this loving mother figure. I adore how nurturing she is to the Lumas, it’s always very sweet to see. (And Rosalina having that patience of a saint is, of course, also very funny, especially when she’s paired up with a muse who arguably doesn’t deserve that patience. Rosalina, I’m so sorry for everything my Louie muse put you through. Olimar too, actually, he was probably at fault for more than a few gray hairs,) 

But, speaking of motherly muses! Would Rosalina want to adopt a few, because I’ve got Miis with some terrible creators, and –

Thoughts and Onions? || Prompt

     oops this one is a little late sorry reina.

     But yeah, I really appreciate it, genuinely. I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I honestly do hold the acknowledgment of her flaws to be very important. No one as powerful as her should be perfect. But despite the fact that she isn't, that doesn't mean she's a horrible person, either. Not by any means. And that's just as important. For every fault, there should be ten moments that show her heart and soul, and I'm glad that that's going recognized.

     It reminds me of Superman. He's supposed to be the perfect individual, but folks got bored of that archetype for a while. So Superman was turned into this uncaring god figure who did as he pleased without the care of the common folk. When it's like... n... nah I still like Superman as a really good guy, I just think he shouldn't be so one-note. It's always the worst when a character tries to be multi-layered and developed, only for their faults to be overblown and now they're suddenly painted as the bad guy because they made mistakes. Y'know, as humans often do.

     All of that is to say... Rosalina is an extremely caring individual. She's space mom! I remember this headcanon I made on the spot for some thread way back that... the Comet Observatory is intentionally modeled like a needle because it's supposed to be a beacon. And that, in lore, this means that the Comet Observatory is basically an unofficial space hospital that anyone can go to whenever they see it. You see its architect and any space-faring character would go "oh! thank goodness! salvation!". It'd be like seeing a water cooler while crawling through the desert.

     That's the kind of imagery that I really love for Rosalina. That she's this open door for you to come toward as you please whenever you need her. She's not always around and she can appear as a quite distant figure for a multitude of reasons, but she'll always be there when you need her most.

     ...So with that said, I'll take the adoption papers for those weird Mii things Jae won't stop screaming about. Gimme the lore document, I'll speed-read that shit and have a starter out for each one of the little goblins in no time flat.