#Almost. Briefly Mentioned.

[mohntilyet]

veilguard spoilers regarding a josie romance. but can we talk about the letter josie sends to a romanced inquisitor because. i’m sorry. fucking losing my mind at the fact that the inquisitor and josephine are close enough friends with the guy the inquisitor duels in her romance to be invited to meet his third child. implying they’ve been invited to the other two. at a baby shower and getting introduced as the one who dueled the baby’s father because he was trying to steal your girl. antivan romances insane.

NO LITERALLLYYYYY. AND HE’S AN IN LAW. ITS TOO FUNNY. i cannot imagine how they met and how yvette probably was like “teehee…. the man that my sister spurned…. has fallen in love with ME!” and the best/worst part is that ortranto really has. i like to think of them running around with each other and secretly meeting as though their families actually hate each other (they really don’t lol) . the ortrantos would probably be delighted to have their son actually marry a montilyet like they wanted, even better that they’re actually in love and it’s not arranged!

i have this image of josie going like “you can’t marry him. is this a joke, because it’s not funny. i almost embarrassed him! the only reason the ortrantos do not hate us is because he is a very kind man who saw that i was in love with the inquisitor! ….yes i suppose a very kind man like that could love you…….. yes of course i want you to be happy…… yvette gabrielle montilyet, i fear you are not hearing what i’m saying— DON’T SAY YOU ARE ALREADY AN ORTRANTO. DID YOU ELOPE? ah okay. don’t do that. i said don’t do that. yvette come back and listen to me” etc etc

of course i must believe that there was a big scene caused (once again) by a montilyet and ortranto that ends with lord ortranto making a speech where the publicly declares his love for yvette in front of all of antiva city to see and hear. so there’s no backing out from this one. in my mind there’s a rehash of the big “BECAUSE I LOVE HER!” (ortranto, desperate but genuine), “you do?” (completely aghast josie who has somehow missed the fact her sister has been giggling even more than usual), plus an “OF COURSE HE DOES!” (a thrilled yvette) that reminds josie so fondly of her own love story that she's immediately relaxed (and suddenly accepting) about this whole thing <3

[sunnibits]

just remembered men’s chest hair exists. peace and love on planet earth.

[day-night-darlix]

I HAVE A THOUGHT ABOUT AVENTURINE AND TOPAZ

I believe they are besties so strongly. I will now explain why:

firstly, given the canon evidence I'm like, 95% sure that aventurine is by age the youngest stoneheart. in my hc I think he's around 27 and topaz is around 30 I believe that topaz reminds aventurine of his sister a bit and that's why he initially wanted to spend time with her. conversely topaz sees him like a hopeless younger brother and wants to keep him safe from other people and himself. they are besties your honor

[neonhellscape]

new rt everyone shes a freak whos pretty sure shes been been given the role of rogue trader as an act of divine intervention to eventually replace the godemperor and bring new glory to the imperium which she thinks is dull and stagnant. dont worry about why she keeps marazhai caged in her trophy room like he's bait its not important and completely irrelevant to the fact ive joke nicknamed her simon thresh. has anyone noticed a lot of slaaneshi demons during warp jumps lately

[wewerebornsextuplets]

IT'S DONE IT'S DONE IT'S DONE

in google docs since this ended up being almost 4.5k words and i knew that would be HORRIBLE to read on tumblr. if you see the typo in my gmail address don't worry about it i made this account when i was 10

i hope you guys like what I've been cooking... may be a bit ooc but i tried to stay as canon compliant as possible or at least explain myself and my rationale where i could so i hope it's not too jarring

[the-vivi-section]

dude in all of the mainline aa games after aa1 edgeworth literally just DIPS, shows up at the last case, rinse n repeat (with the exception of aa4 because yk. phoenix was disbarred.)

[kipperlillyforpresident]

kipperlilly otome isekai au?? 👁️👁️👁️

Thank you so much for enabling me to talk about this more, anon!! I've briefly talked about this AU before, but a Lot has developed in the AU since then.

(art by @godza & s7dn37 on artfight. . I will be interspersing this post with my art of her for enrichment. WHEN I WAS EDITING THIS POST IN MY DRAFTS i had all of the images like. placed alongside one another and the formatting was so nice. but tumblr has fucked it up and for that i apologize.)

For those who aren't familiar with the genre, an otome isekai is a story where the protagonist is transported into the world of a romance novel/otome game. This setting is almost always a vague medieval fantasy with nobility, political intrigue, and a poorly explained magic system. And romance, of course.

Elevator pitch on why I think this sort of story is good for Kipperlilly: I fundamentally don't think she can 'win' in the world of Spyre. She has correctly identified that the world has protagonists and that she is not one of them, and I can't really imagine a 'happy ending' for her where the Goddess who infected her with rage is now being worshipped as a uwu sapphic icon and where all of the systems that failed her remains in place.

Getting isekai'd into another world lets her play by a new set of rules - and this time it's not the 'rule of funny'. She can strategize and politically outmaneuver her opponents in this world.

I also think this would force her to do some self-reflection on her previous life in Spyre, and make her realize the things she took for granted.

(art by eimmii & kryspykreme on artfight)

Also, I made up a love interest for her. I'm trying to unlearn my deep bashfulness about introducing OC x canon stuff but I like him a lot. Her name is Jae-shin and she's the number one wifeguy.

More details on the specific circumstances of her isekai life + more art under the cut...!

After Dying As A Background Villain, I Woke Up As The Main Character!

When Kipperlilly Copperkettle dies in a rage ritual, she expects she'll be sent straight to Hell. Instead, she wakes up in the body of Lilliana Argent - the main character of a romance fantasy novel! A romance fantasy novel… which she never read. With only her wits and the vague memories of what Oisin told her about the plot, will she be able to survive in this new world?

This post is already long enough, so I'll only elaborate on this if there's interest in the topic - but for those familiar with the genre, my use of the world "villain" over "villainess" was intentional here! The villainess is an archetype pretty central to OI, but I think Kipperlilly didn't meet the qualifications for that in FHJY.

So. Kipperlilly thinks she's in Hell at first. Duh. Where else would she be? It's not what she thought Hell would look like, but... this is just some sort of test. They're calling her 'Lilliana', but... that's just humans making fun of her name like they always do. Certainly not the worst thing she's been called recently.

(art by @ladybugboots )

But then they start talking about 'Duke Argent' coming by, and she realizes with horror what's happening. It's that damn romance novel Oisin had been reading.

The one he read because it reminded him of Adaine Abernant. Fuck her entire life.

Copy-pasting from her artfight bio, here's the basic rundown:

Lilliana Argent was the main character in a novel called "For My Uncertain Future."

This novel was read by Oisin Hakinvar - a friend of Kipperlilly Copperkettle - exclusively because the character of Lilliana reminded him of his crush. Because of this, he talked to her about the novel and the parallels between the two women. Kipperlilly, who fucking hated Oisin's crush, did not pay very close attention to these rambles. Oops...!

The second daughter of the Argent family. Her parents were cold and cruel aristocrats and her older sister much the same - leading to her having a rather unloving and turbulent childhood.

Despite this, she grew up to be a very self-possessed young woman. The kind of girl who would choose kindness, even when it was hard. She was also a bit sassy, but in that Disney princess sort of way where it's kind of toothless.

Her family was about to confirm her engagement to Marquess Benjamin Shimmerstream, who she had been informally promised to since her childhood. However, right before this engagement was to be finalized, she had a very public Revelation from the Goddess at her 16th birthday party. Due to this vision, she was whisked away to study as an oracle at a magic school in the capitol, and she was never officially engaged.

Don't worry too much about the magic and religion and worldbuilding of all this - it's all very undefined and vague, in classic Otome Isekai fashion.

While studying at this magic school, she has an academic rivalry with Earl Oliver Varhall.

Shortly after she turns 18, she graduates from the magic school, and must now figure out what she'll be be doing with her life.

This is the point in the story in which one Kipperlilly Copperkettle gets transmigrated into her body!

(art by febblepebble and pantacatt on artfight)

In the original novel, Lilliana is involved in a love triangle with Benjamin and Oliver, as well as having to deal with prophecies and other magical nonsense. But in this version of events...

Once she's isekai'd into this nonsense, she very quickly decides to go by the nickname of Lilly. It luckily fits with the name of Lilliana, and it allows her to keep some connection to her original identity.

Lilly - despite being in Lilliana's body - does not have magic oracle powers. Her soul is doomed not to be special, after all. So she has to steal information from government officials and do some dramatic cold-reading BS in order to keep up the illusion of having oracle powers. It's fun! It leads to Antics.

In her original life, she was a halfling - meaning she was 3'4". She's now 5'3". It takes her a while to get used to this new body, and leads to many scenes where she's clumsy in a way that seems to be very romance-coded. Like, she's stumbling into the Original Love Interests arms. And she has to stop herself from yelling about how angry this makes her that she can't move like she used to in this stupid tall body. She does not care about this romance. She cares that she looks like an IDIOT.

Eventually, she gets used to the new body, but she's never quite as dexterous as she used to be. She'll never fully be at peace with this, but she's moved on the best she can.

She feels... complicated about this whole situation. She's lost her chance at ever having revenge against her enemies: her death has lead to their vindication. She won't ever get to humiliate them. She won't ever show them that - just for once - the world doesn't always have to revolve around them and what they think is right. She won't ever make them pay

those familiar with FHJY and what this means in less vague terms: views expressed by lilly are not always in line with views of the creator. we do not endorse everything she says. her worldview is twisted and limited and that's what makes her interesting. she was literally right about some things tho.

On the other hand... this is a world where she can actually win. In her previous life, she was trying to run a political intrigue campaign in a world which operated on rule of funny. She literally could never win, because the narrative wouldn't have any space for that. But here...? Things operate on a logic which she can exploit. Things actually make sense.

So, over time, she manages to find enjoyment in this world. She'll never be happy about the way things ended in her original life... but she can't change that. So she's making the most of this life she has. She is going to tea parties and banquets and balls and she is absolutely WINNING at the information game. She becomes a force to be reckoned with in the political sphere, and is able to rely less upon her ""oracle visions"" and more upon her mere reputation.

Also, I mentioned a love interest...! Enter Jae-shin Kim.

(art by meee)

Third child of a minor Baron. Even at a young age, he was exceptionally bright and studious.

At 8 years old, he was sent to serve as an advisor for Marquess Benjamin Shimmerstream, a boy around his own age.

At this point in his life, his role as an advisor was basically just him being a Legally Mandated Friend to the well-meaning but idiotic Benjamin. As he grows older, his role involves more clerical work, political maneuvering, and general strategic advice.

Benjamin is wildly in love with Duchess Lilliana Argent - a girl who he is informally engaged to. Lilliana, for her part, doesn't really care for him romantically, but does consider him to be a dear friend. She doesn't get to go out much, so she treasures any interaction she's allowed to have with the outside world.

As Benjamin's advisor, it's up to Jae-shin to... well... actually remember shit about Lilliana. Benjamin is in love with her, yes, but he's also an idiot and a bit self-absorbed, and can fail to take into account other people's desires. So it's up to Jae-shin to remind him that the Duchess despises lemon tarts and she enjoys fantasy novels and so on and so forth.

In the original novel, the fact that Jae-shin has to handle all of this stuff is played up for comedy. Standard hypercompetent secretary/maid/butler/etc trope. Benjamin abandons his duties to go on a date with Lilliana and Jae-shin has to redo his entire schedule. He's a fan favorite background character, but he's never going to be anything more then that.

When she's 14 she has the "I'm probably genderfluid but I have a job so idrc about that rn" realization.  She just... never really thinks it's something she could explore or pursue any further. So she decides to leave it at "somedays I'm a girl, but I don't really need to tell anybody that".

When Lilliana - now going by the nickname of "Lilly" - returns from her schooling, there's... a lot different about her. And most people don't seem bothered by that. She spent 2 years away from home! She's gotten oracle powers now! Of course she's changed!

Jae-shin... is not so convinced. Because sure, a lot of her changes can be explained away as a natural progression of personality. But there are so many little inconsistencies. She happily eats lemon tarts and she reads mystery novels and she's clumsier and she's tougher and she's -

She's just not Lilliana Argent.

He doesn't hate her. In fact, he finds Lilly to be a far more interesting person then Lilliana. But it is odd.

Lilly offers him a position as an advisor to the Argent Duchy, seeing that his talents are wasted in his current position. And Jae-shin decides to accept the position. But not without first asking who, exactly, his employer is.

She scoffs. "Myself, of course."

"My lady, I fear you misunderstand. I am asking who you are. For I am certain that you are not Lilliana Argent."

Reluctantly, she explains her situation to him. He promises complete discretion in this matter, and happily joins her as an advisor.

she was a faithful advisor to benjamin for all these years and made the one selfish decision to follow lilly, knowing how much it'd hurt him. augh.

He's also a huge asset in her 'scamming people into thinking she has oracle powers' schemes.

He falls in love with her extremely quickly. His entire character was constructed to be a Wifeguy (and occasional wifegirl), after all. He keeps this matter to himself, feeling that the best thing he can do with this love is devote himself to her without any expectations of reciprocation.

He loves a great deal of things about her, but her ruthlessness is his favorite trait ^-^ he can be a bit ruthless himself, and adores that efficiency and clarity of purpose.

In one of the occasions in which Lilly confides to Jae-shin about her past life, she mentions that she was deeply in love with her best friend Lucy. "she's bisexual i didn't know that dot jpeg", and they talk a bit about how gender and sexuality were viewed in her home world.

After this conversation, Jae-shin decides to tell Lilly about her being genderfluid. Lilly responds to this with support and by ordering numerous fancy dresses for Jae-shin. Jae-shin isn't actually a huge fan of dresses, but it's the thought that counts...!

After 3 years of working together, Lilly starts to fall head over heels for him. It's a he fell first, she fell harder sort of deal.

now he happily supports his cool and sometimes unethical wife ^_^

(art by rhymes, Glacıer and vivizsect on artfight).

if you made it this far: wow! thank you for listening to me yap.

Anyway this is what it's been like inside of my brain for the past few months. So whenever I see a bad post about KLCK or I'm reminded of the fact she was sentenced to eternal damnation because "she asked for it", I'm like wow that's wild. Thank goodness Lilly and Jae-shin and chilling happily tho.

[wanderingmind867]

I think it was only recently I learned Plastic Man could be used for body horror purposes. And christ, i think i want to forget that. Imagining it may be too much for me, seeing as i'm incredibly easily frightened. But then again, Man-Thing counts as body horror, but Ted Sallis/Man-Thing is oddly cute and doesn't really scare me. But I don't want to see any modern art adaptations on these themes. Because i don't need nightmares for months because i saw a character suffering horrible nightmarish conditions. So i want to pretend i never learned about the plastic man - body horror connection. I want to think of plastic man as a fun comic relief style character. I don't want to think of the dark stuff.

Funnily enough, I can draw comparisons to The Thing on the Fantastic Four. The fact that Ben Grimm is stuck in a rocky body he never wanted feels like it could be exploited for horror in the same way Plastic Man could be. But my bigger question (as someone who's easily scared and hates horror): why would you do this? Why would you take these fun characters and ruin them with horror and gore influences? Why?

[elipri]

This is extremely fucking funny because thats the founder of LAION Christoph Schuhmann and guess who got hit with the first lawsuit in Germany regarding AI regulations

Take a wild guess

I was one of the many people from the public who attended the court case and let me tell yall they're COOKED LMAOOO

(the hyperlink is in German, it's a summary of Kneschke's lawyer)

[aetherose]

Layla's Transcendence

Punishing: Gray Raven Chapter 12 spoilers

Pain.

Unending, searing pain that overwhelmed her sensors, but for fear of suffering M.I.N.D. deviation and falling to the Virus sooner, she did not dare turn off her pain receptors.

Is this what all Corrupted go through in the process of losing themselves to the Virus? Or was it her persistence to live what made it all the worse for her? Or perhaps, this was just the result of her wounds.

It wasn't the first time she'd experienced infection from the Punishing Virus. As a human, it was the reason she had been dying, and had to be taken by Babylonia to become a Construct to save her life. Yet, that felt tame in comparison to now.

Likely because she was becoming Corrupted, and she knew it. That's why she had fled to the edge of Kowloong now. She was afraid of the possibility of becoming a Corrupted, but she was even more terrified of hurting her friends. Liv, Lee, the Commandant...Lucia, if she still lives.

(No, she has to survive. She has to. She will. Right...?)

How ridiculous is that? She wants to protect her friends from herself, but she doesn't dare step near any of the other squads to beg them to end her life. Because she's scared of death. But becoming a Corrupted is a worse fate than death, isn't it?

Yet, here she was, inching her way forward through sheer will to survive, even knowing her time was limited.

It's so stupid. She's always been stupid, though. She's a foolish girl who's killed, maimed, stolen, and more to survive, in spite of knowing how little right she really has.

And now because she's afraid of death, she is trying to fight off Corruption rather than ask for a quicker, much better end to her misery that'd guarantee she'd hurt no one.

Death is a fate she deserves, she knows it, yet she runs from it. Perhaps becoming a Corrupted is a more fitting end, all things considered, however.

It doesn't matter now. She's so far from the main scene of the ongoing fight in Kowloong she doubts there's a soul around now to end her even if she wanted it. And she's not sure she has enough time left to inch her way back to find someone.

Her fate is sealed, but she still persists.

She keeps limping forward. It's a wonder she can even walk, frankly, even if just barely in her current state. Her legs suffered the most when she found herself assaulted by Corrupted. Clawing all over her, leaving her now with faint electric sparks occasionally flickering from the now-visible machinery beneath the synthetic skin due to her wounds.

But her whole body is a wreck, not just her legs. Crimson vital fluid covers her all over, leaking from her wounds and seeping into her clothes, and she leaves a faint trail of vital fluid in her wake. Her sword was missing half its blade now, but she still clung to it for dear life. She knows if anything attacked her right now, she'd likely stand no chance, and yet here she was, gripping onto it.

It was the sword she'd been using for years now. A sword she'd taken so many lives with. Corrupted, humans, Mechanoids, and Constructs alike. None were spared, all were executed by Babylonia's orders, or were felled for her own survival.

The utter guilt she'd felt for it had threatened to drown her on numerous occasions. And in her dying state, it slithered back from where it always lingered in the back of her mind to the forefront.

Guilt. They say that's the emotion one must have if one wishes to redeem themself for their sins. But with how many sins she carries with her every second of every hour of every day of her now eternal life as a Construct, can you say she is redeemable?

Every life was an individual. No matter how many times she says she's sorry and no matter why she took that life, she still took it. It doesn't matter if she had to for survival, or under orders, or for war, or whatever else. She took so many lives, and ruined many others.

She is not the only one who suffers in this world. So many others suffer like her. She's seen it with her own eyes so many times. She is just another soul crushed under the ever-turning wheel that continues beyond her to crush thousands more as the apocalypse rages on.

('Isn't it detestable? The way that humans brought this onto themselves, and continue to hurt their own kind because of it?')

Layla freezes as she hears that voice in her M.I.N.D. She at first looks around her, to try to find a person nearby who spoke, but she knows, in truth, there is no one at all nearby on the edge of this ancient, deserted city.

Is she hearing things now? Is this also what Corrupted go through?

('No, only a handful even get to hear this voice.') It states simply, seemingly a little amused at her confusion. ('Your will to persist is admirable, you see. But you cling to things as pointless as compassion. You find a way to feel sympathy for so many around you, and then beat yourself up about what you have to do to live.')

'Because they've suffered just like I have. Because they don't deserve what I do to them. I'm...an awful person.' She answers within her M.I.N.D. to the voice, and it seems to click its tongue.

('Oh, how very cute. But you know deep down they don't deserve it. Humans aren't beings to sympathize with. They're the ones who put you into this position in the first place out of their own senseless hatred. Don't you remember your mother?')

Layla's mother...she remembers her very well. Complicated emotions fill Layla as she finds herself leaning against a nearby wall, as memories filled her M.I.N.D.

('Don't you remember how much you tried to earn her love? The way she always looked at you, a small child, with contempt every time? All because of reasons you couldn't, and still don't fully understand. And not even just her, but your whole family looked at you the same way.')

She remembers it like it was yesterday. Each day before she was 11 years old, she would always go up to her mother and try to talk to her through pen and paper, ever since she learned to write. Each time, her mother would only briefly glance at it, before telling her to leave her alone. Sometimes she hit her if Layla persisted further.

Layla's relatives only humored her presence to ask her to do things for them, before shooing her away. Or worse, they too looked at her with hatred and refused to let her near them.

Even her younger cousins avoided her because of their parents' warnings. She held onto hope for so long, in spite of how painful it was. How lonely it was.

But in the end, she soon snapped, and burned her estate and family to the ground when she was 11, out of a childish wish for the pain to just end.

('Do you regret it?') The voice asked as the memory came to mind, and she hesitates to answer. The voice speaks before she can think of any response.

('Don't regret it. They deserved it, Layla. They deserved it. Humans are all the same. All because they thought you a defective child, they never gave you love or kindness, and used you for their own ends. You should hate them.') Yet why doesn't she? Why doesn't she fully hate them?

...That's right. Because some part of her still wonders if there's something truly that twisted and ugly in her, that made them not love her. Maybe she was defective in a way she couldn't understand.

('You aren't. No, perhaps the defective ones are in fact humans themselves. Think about it. Look back on all your memories after that fire you caused. How many times have you had to suck up to those with power to live? How many other times have you begged for food or shelter and been denied? How many times have you had to fight off those who tried to steal your supplies? How many times have you been used and been betrayed by those who did accept your request for help?')

Layla grits her teeth at the voice's words. 'But I was just as bad.'

('They were the ones who hurt you first.')

'But that doesn't make me any better.'

('You just wanted to survive.')

'So did they.'

('But how can you be sure they were truly people just as hurt by the world as you are? And even then...why should you care? Humans only worsen this world. They are a pestilence. They hurt you. They've hurt each other. All for power, or even pettiness, spite...and you know they treat Constructs even worse. Former humans who became machines to help save the world, treated as nothing more than tools...like yourself. And even they are not all pure-hearted, for they came from humans, even if they are now machines.') Layla goes silent, and the voice merely continues on.

('You could change this world, if only you accept the truth, and discard that compassion of yours. You could make a world that would accept you, you who they used, betrayed, and threw out like trash. Embrace your hatred, and turn it into the strength to destroy and remake this world.')

For a moment, for just a small moment, Layla thinks about it. Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful, to embrace her anger and hate, to destroy and remake this world that hurt her so badly? To make a world that'd accept her, a better world for everyone, without the lying, hypocritical humans that only hurt this world worse within it?

It'd be so easy to let go. It'd be so, so easy, to take that step and let herself fall into the depths of enmity. Some part of her wants to. The hurt, resentful child that burned down her home and family in her perhaps would accept it. That child remains in her heart, and now wants her to accept this voice's offer.

But then, more memories comes to her M.I.N.D.

Several years ago, when Layla was still in training after becoming a Construct, she'd already become an outcast amongst Babylonia. She struggled to speak in spite of now having a functioning voice module (even now she struggles, and prefers sign language and handwriting). She was the weird mute girl; an easy target for harassment.

Other Construct trainees would take advantage of the fact she struggled to talk back and ganged up, saying cruel words, one day, escalated to become physical, because no one was looking, and she couldn't cry out for help.

Layla had cowered in the corner and braced herself for what was about to come, but instead, heard the sounds of her tormentors themselves crying out in pain. And before she knew it, they were all on the ground, groaning and moaning in agony.

A woman with red eyes and black hair stood over them, gaze piercing as the Constructs looked up at her. They soon fled, and the woman reached out her hand and helped Layla up, confirmed she was alright, and then simply walked off.

It was the first time anyone had bothered to help Layla, without asking anything in return. Let alone, Layla quickly realized the one who helped her was Lucia, the Captain of Gray Raven, an elite squad highly admired by many. Why would someone like that help Layla and then ask for nothing in return? Layla went up to ask her later, and all she had to say on the matter was simply...

"What would I need from you?"

It left Layla dumbfounded. Lucia even knew her name beforehand, and before either of them knew it, they ended up becoming fast friends. Best friends, in fact. And for Layla, Lucia was her very first friend. Layla would later be assigned to Purifying Force, and became one of Nikola's personal practical attack dogs, but despite her displeasure at her position, how she resented Babylonia, she found Lucia made it all so much more bearable.

And then Gray Raven was wiped out, and Lucia Recalled, sustaining memory loss in the process. And for a time, Layla was bereaved. Because she knew the Lucia in front of her...wasn't just Lucia with memory loss.

No, she had a feeling...she was a whole other Lucia in the first place. Not like she could confirm anything; Babylonia made it difficult even for Purifying Force to get their hands on such classified files.

Regardless, Layla still mourned the Lucia she lost, whether it was a whole other one, or the old self of the current one. But then she was moved to the new Gray Raven, and found herself growing close to Lucia again.

And then this battle in Kowloong began, and it turned out Layla was right, and that...Alpha of the Ascendants was the original Lucia. But how? Why would she become this? She was so...different now, and she hated the other Lucia so much too, for being a clone.

But...she was still Lucia, too.

Both of them were. Both of them were kind to her. And in Babylonia, thanks to them, she started to open herself more to others. She made several friends. She can't simply ignore the good people she's met. She resents this world, and a level of misanthropy still exists in her.

But she cannot simply accept this voice's proposal, that asked her to embrace a hatred of all humans, of this whole world, and tear it all down to remake it anew, when this world wasn't black and white in such a way. There was bad...a lot of bad...but then, there was also...so much good.

Like Lucia. Like Alpha. Like Liv. Like Lee. Like Commandant.

She found her knees were about to give out as she came to this conclusion, and the pain she'd started growing able to ignore seemed to suddenly increase now, but she still persisted, as she responded to the voice in her M.I.N.D.

'...I will have to reject your offer. This world...is a flawed place, yes. But...I can't just ignore how many good people I've met here.'

The voice seemed slightly taken aback by her answer...and then started to become hostile. ('If you don't accept my offer, you will cease to be yourself, and become a Corrupted.')

'...But if I accept your offer, I will have to tear asunder this whole world. You...just want to make me a puppet of destruction. You just want to use me...like all the others, don't you?'

('No, I'm offering you the chance to make a world where no one is used again. I'm offering you power. To save your life.')

'...I know manipulation when I hear it. I can't believe I almost accepted your offer...'

('You'll regret this choice as you lose all sense of who you are and become a mindless monster.')

'...I'd rather that than to become a real monster. Real monsters aren't the mindless ones...it's the ones who have minds and still do what they do with no remorse, no restraint, without necessity...'

The voice doesn't respond. Layla is alone within her own M.I.N.D. again. She finds her knees at last give out, and she collapses onto the ground, broken sword falling from her hand as warnings fill her ears.

The Punishing Virus Corruption she's suffering is at critical levels. Soon, she won't be herself anymore. It's a practical miracle she's survived this long through sheer force of will.

Countless thoughts race through her mind. Some part of her does regret rejecting the voice's offer. But at the same time, another part of her doesn't.

Maybe it's arrogance leading her to think she has even a chance of success at this, but she won't just give up and accept her fate. No...she can't die here. Lucia...Alpha...she wants to reunite with them both. She wants to make sure Lucia is alright. And she wants to understand why Alpha became this way.

Layla begins to crawl forward without any thought. Where is she going? She's not sure. No, she's not really trying to reach any destination. Even as her body screams at her in pain, she does this anyways, as an act of defiance against her fate.

She won't turn into a Corrupted. She will survive. She crawls, and crawls, and crawls. She doesn't make it very far with each little push forward. But she keeps crawling.

Warning sounds blare even more at the immensity of the Viral Corruption she's facing, but she pays it no mind. She simply keeps crawling.

She won't die.

She won't become a Corrupted.

She'll see Lucia again.

She'll see Alpha again.

She'll see Liv again.

She'll see Lee again.

She'll see the Commandant again.

She'll live.

By god, she'll live.

And everything goes dark.

"...Layla?"

A familiar voice calls out.

"...Lu...cia?"

No...was that Lucia? Or was it...

She doesn't get the time to finish that thought.

Her body completely shuts down.

Later, in Babylonia...

"We can't find any trace of her. I'm sorry. At this point, it's safe to assume...she's probably dead." Celica hands the sword with a half broken blade to Lucia, the rest of Gray Raven behind her with grieved expressions, all whilst marking down on a casualty report...

'Layla Ceridwen - MIA, assumed KIA in the Battle of Kowloong.'

Afterward, in the Ascendants' base...

"...by all accounts, she shouldn't be alive. But she still lives, by the skin of her teeth...she isn't connected to the Ascension Network either...but she's still..."

A soft voice fills her ears, though it's hard to hear. But she makes out those words, in spite of how awful she feels. She can't move, at first. But after a few moments, she slowly can sit up, prompting the soft voice to gasp.

"...Sis, come and see. She's awake at last."

When she opens her eyes, she sees a dreamlike girl, who appeared just like a dazzling white light...

And a woman in red beside her, rugged and enigmatic looking.

"...Alpha?"

[sealovinq]

there's an i.dv player in my class........ 🧍🏻‍♀️

[kylermalloy]

When I was in high school I used to perform gospel songs at church with one of my best friends. She sang, and I played accompaniment and sang backup. We were actually really close! Then I went to college and we suddenly weren’t anymore—she’d stopped talking to me so she could date this grown man she liked, who I hated.

So when I came home from college that summer, I stopped singing songs with her and started performing at church on my own. The first one I sang was about how people change for the worst slowly, over time. Anyway that’s MY silver springs

[smallest-turtle]

Every time Artoirel goes out to battle Emmanellain is terrified.

Edmont was the youngest of three.

[mariocki]

Fat Man on a Beach (HTV, 1974)

"I'm going to read some more poems now. Erm. It may be that if you want to go and have a cup of tea, this would be a good time. I know that's what you masses are like. The mention of poetry and off you go."

[hidefdoritos]

experiencing shrimp emotions again

[lickoutyourbrains]

@ my local movie theater I really want to support you but you’ve really got have movies available for more than a week so I can have the chance and go and fucking see it before you decide to pull it completely.