#Been to a place where they didn't actually have set months y'know

[kedreeva]

Okay so, I don't think I've spoken of the saga here yet but! Gather round. I shall tell you a long story about the bird I just acquired and why she is VERY IMPORTANT.

At the beginning of last fall, I started looking into quail genetics a little more, because I got tired of not being able to sex my Celadon quail by their feathers. Originally I thought I could kill 2 birds (ok maybe more) with 1 stone and order nice jumbo wild type (which MANY places advertised as wild type jumbo) hatching eggs, and this would help me put some size on the Celadons (jumbo) while also making them feather sexable (wild type). Perfect!

But then I come to find out that pretty much all jumbo lines are jumbo BROWNS, as in they all have the sex linked brown (SLB) gene. So, I was a little confused and a LOT annoyed because I wanted to work specifically with the wild type color/pattern. No mutations just straight, plain wild type.

And EVERYWHERE I looked - major production hatcheries, private breeders through websites, Facebook groups, local swaps, craigslist, e v e r y w h e r e -

People ONLY had SLB.

This spring I came across a video showing about the differences between SLB and wild type and I figured if the person who made it can tell, maybe she will have some. So I looked her up (not in a stalker way, her farm name was stamped on the video and took me to the website), and what luck! She was in Michigan! Upper Michigan, so still a hike, but not California, y'know?

So I shot her an email and explained that I was looking for WT and that her site said she bred them and that people could do local pickup. She responded yeah she's totally got a bunch! And I said great, I'm also in Michigan, albeit far away, but I don't mind driving 7+ hours each way, because I really need actual, trusted WT for sure birds for my celadon project, can I come pick them up?

Cue the most frankly bizarre email chain in my short life. As soon as I mentioned that I was going to drive, or perhaps that I had a genetics plan in place, she got super sketchy and started saying how she hadn't really paid as close attention to SLB vs. WT, that it mattered less than she thought it would when she started, that I shouldn't focus on that either, and also that "fawn celadon is practically unheard of" in the hobby and "you should focus on a clean Tibetan because it's hard to find without roux in it) implying that I should concentrate on those things instead. And concluded by telling me if I really want WT, to contact this other person (why happens to be someone I can't stand). It all sounded VERY much like she didn't have wild type males, after all, and had thought I didn't know the difference so it wouldn't actually matter. But, it does. It actually matters a lot to me.

So I messaged back to say, well, I don't want to do any of those things, I specifically want to work with this set of genetics and you said you have them so I shouldn't have to go to anyone else??

And then she went radio silent for a week. I kind of figured I'd called a bluff, and that she was one of dozens of people I'd contacted who'd said they had WT only to find out they had SLB. I get that it's difficult to see the difference, but this particular person was the president of the American Coturnix Breeders Association or whatever (found out it's actually just a club formed by her and her friends a year ago, so not as impressive as it sounds, considering they don't actually DO anything- no putting on shows, no newsletters, no certifications, no public breeder directory, no finished SOP, nada), so I kind of expected she should know what she's talking about, if anyone does.

Eventually, after a week, she responded that she had been judging at a county fair, but she had a few heterozygous males (WT het roux, which is fine) and she could set a hatch for me for more if I wanted to come at the end of the month, but she's in WI now, not MI. I said sure, since where she was in WI was actually closer than where she'd been in the UP, and we arranged date/time.

The day of, my neighbor friend, Jude, comes with me for company/keeping me awake through the 15 hours driving round trip. It's a pleasant enough drive. We arrived at a cutesy little house on the edge of town that looks like anyone's house in a neighborhood, with a spacious lawn. The person meets us and takes me around the side of the house to a 6x6x1.5 or so chicken tractor, where she's got some male coturnix. She pulls the available males for me to look through and... fam, they ALL looked SLB, to me.

Now, she swore to me up and down that they couldn't be anything except WT het for roux, because of the way she is breeding them. But I've put these birds next to my SLB males and if I didn't have my males banded, I would not ever have told the difference between them. I still picked up 4 of them, because I will give it a go- worst case, I can produce plain Roux hens/plain Roux males for use in breeding later, best case they do actually produce WT hens and they just LOOK SLB and I have to figure out what the differences are. I don't want to leave without seeing her hens, which she has told me are all WT (which is why the males HAVE to be het for it), and she takes me back. Now the hens, the hens are easy to see the difference. White bellies first of all, but the chest feathers are also wildly different! The shafts are white, the dot around the shaft is dark, ringed in red, ringed in white. On an SLB, the shafts aren't white, it's just a black dot surrounded in a red feather, and the belly is all red/buff/cream, not white.

This is what an SLB hen looks like:

So I take a nice long look to memorize the color, and thank her for showing me and meeting, and we head back home.

I do fecals when I get home because all of the males are VERY thin, no meat on them at all, and since she said she'd been feeding Purina (garbage for fowl feeds), I figured that was why, but no- HUGE coccidia loads in all of them. So I treated them and got them on a better feed. They immediately began putting on meat, and they're find now.

The rest of this summer, I have spent going to local bird swaps and inspecting all of the quail I could find, hoping to find one (1) actual wild-type phenotype bird. Hundreds and hundreds of birds, I have pawed through them all, being super obnoxious to the owners I'm sure, holding and inspecting males. I found ONE suspected WT male (and this is a HUGE "suspected," he could very well be SLB with low red expression). I compared him when I got home and I'm doubting myself still, so I don't know if I will ever actually pair him with the SLB hens or if I'll just wait til I have a roux set.

Regardless, it's been a dry season for getting what I want. It's been a dry YEAR. Yesterday was another swap and more hundreds of quail and me pawing through all of them.

Until.

My eyes landed upon.... her.

If you've only lived in an area that has american crows and not ravens, you find yourself wondering if crows are ravens. You see a big crow and you think wow! maybe that is a raven! It could be a crow, but it's seems bigger so maybe it's a raven. But, if you take a trip to a place with ravens, and you see one for the first time, you realize that there is no question, when you see a raven. When you see a raven in person, there's no question and not only is there no question, you wonder how you could ever have thought a crow was a raven. It's laughable, while looking at the raven.

That's how finding this bird felt. I'd been picking up every SLB hen and going maybe this is actually WT? It could be SLB but maybe it's WT? But the second I laid eyes on her in the middle of a pack of SLB with some mixed colors, I knew I was looking at WT hen, and I can't imagine how I ever thought maybe an SLB hen was WT.

Here's a better photo of her chest and belly (she's beat UP from her previous home, the back of her head and most of her rump are plucked clean from males). You can see the white shafts and the white belly.

And some other pics of her, showing the grey-brown on her side and back- VERY different than the SLB hens

I can't express how stoked I am about this bird. This is the first time after a LOT of effort and time, that I have felt confident I am holding the bird I want.

She's also the indicator that I have a LOT of work ahead of me.

My end goal is to have birds that look like her, weigh 12-14oz, and lay large, blue eggs. I have birds that lay large, blue eggs, I have birds that weigh 12-14oz live weigh, and now I have at least 1 bird that looks like her, which means I can make more that look like her. The first step is cleaning the color mutations out of the celadon line without losing the celadon eggs. This is going to be a bit of a nightmare, BUT, I have a friend helping me out with getting a few celadons that are either WT or SLB (I'm guessing SLB all things considered) to start the work with. I will work over the winter to get a few more actual WT birds here, and to start crossing out the celadons with the SLB jumbos to clean out the other feather color mutations. Once I'm down to just SLB and celadon for mutations, I can clean the SLB out with the WT and roux lines.

This project will likely take me a good 2 years, maybe 3, to complete and then test breed to ensure I haven't lost the celadon gene and I don't have any hidden recessives lingering about. But just having the fucking materials to do it all on hand now is a huge step forward from where I was when I decided to start the project.

[writingsbychlo]

"I was trapped in the wardrobe while they had sex. I accidently waited so long that it was just weird to leave until they were finished." please, this could be really funny 😂

AYE YO. I WAS CLEARING OUT MY DRAFTS AND LOOK WHAT I FOUND BURIED? I totally forgot about this, I think I never posted because I never proofread it, and I still haven’t, but now I just don’t care. enjoy whatever mess this is because I remember writing it on my phone!

psa to all. this is not prompts reopening, this is just me having a clearout of my asks/drafts! don't send me more!

When Azriel walked in, you became acutely aware of it before you could actually see him. You always just knew when he was nearby, the tingle on the back of your neck that travelled down your spine, the flutter in your chest, the way your thoughts seemed to scatter away temporarily. As your thoughts moved to him, you lost your place on the page, the story fading away.

Glancing up and waiting for him to appear, you were more than shocked that the usual stoic mask he wore was entirely absent, and instead, a look of horror and distress painted onto his features. He stared blankly into the room, shoulders slumped and eyes positively haunted.

"Az... sweetie, you okay?" He swallowed, throat bobbing, and his eyes finally moved from the fire to you on the couch before it. You closed your book after marking the page, setting it aside as he just stared. "You wanna' talk about whatever it is?"

"I... I was pranking Cassian." He paused, turning to face you a little more, and with a few quick steps, he shuffled across the room to perch on the arm of the large chair opposite you. "Y'know, to get back at him for replacing all my holsters with hot pink ones last month."

"I remember." It took everything you had not to giggle at the memory, it had been a full day before Azriel had found where Cassian had hidden the rest. A full day of watching your friend parade around strapped up in too-small hot-pink leather, tight around all those black-clad muscles and golden skin. It may have been a prank on Azriel but it was a treat for you.

"Well, I was in his closet. Cutting all his training shirts into crop tops." He shifted, eyes flickering away from your own as heat rose to his cheeks, wings drooping even further down as he practically hunched in on himself. It was so unlike him, and you were invested. "But.. Cass came back early. I had to stay in the closet and hide. He wasn't alone. Nesta was with him. They.."

"Started bangin'?"

Azriel cringed, looking as though he was traumatised by it. "It went on for so long. I heard their bodies make sounds I never want to hear again. I heard Cassian say things I never wanted to hear my brother say. I witnessed things that will leave me sleepless for-" You hid your giggle behind your book, squeezing your eyes shut and his words snapped off at your laughter. "It's not funny!"

"Why didn't you just, y'know, do your little shadow-winnow thingy out of there?"

"Oh, gee, I wish I thought of that!" He rolled his eyes at you, but the way he was resisting a smile flicking at the edges of his lips made you grin even wider. "Oh, wait, I did! Cassian obviously knew I was gonna' get him back, he must've figured it would involve some kind of magic or spell, because he warded his room. I went in on foot, I had to leave on foot. I was trapped!"

"Oh, Gods.." You were cracking up again, and he whined -whined! - like a petulant child, only furthering your amusement.

"I'm so glad you're finding joy in my misery. I'll never be the same."

"Oh, poor Azzy." You put on a pout, despite your chest still shaking a little with laughter. "C'mere, you want me to hug it better?"

You held your arms out to him, wiggling your fingers dramatically, and he huffed. The same indignant sound he always made, and you waited for him to slip on his I'm-so-manly mask, and tell you he didn't need a hug. Instead, he moved forwards, one knee on the edge of the couch beside your calves, plucking the book that lay abandoned on your chest and discarding it, before replacing it with his head as he collapsed down against you.

You sucked in a sharp breath, holding it as you felt him get comfortable, knowing that underneath his cheek was your racing heart, that there was no doubt he could feel it going crazy. His arms circled your waist, settling his body between your thighs until he was letting out a heavy sigh. Clearly comfortable now, his body melted into your own as your arms wrapped lightly around him, one hand smoothing up and down his spine between his wings slowly.

Your other hand twitched, neglected and feeling useless, drawn to touching him as he finally caved into whatever line you two had been dancing for over a year now. If he could let his walls down, you could too. Running your fingers once, experimentally, through his hair, he hummed happily under his breath at the feeling, tipping his head up fractionally into your touch to silently request more.

You weren't sure how long passed, how long it took you to finally calm the racing of your heart, the spinning of your mind.

It could have been hours or even days that you lay there, running your fingers through his hair, dragging your fingers over the muscle between his wings in soothing patterns.

"I've always thought you have such nice tits."

"What- I- Azriel!"

“I’m just saying! I’ve been lay on them for like twenty minutes now!” He chuckled but didn’t shift off of you, even though you were sure the flush from your face was travelling down to your chest, under his cheek. “This is nice. I don’t feel so stressed anymore. I should lay on your tits more often.”

“Hey!” You have a sharp tug to his hair, a punishment for the teasing lilt to his voice, and he groaned, lifting his head as your fingers started smoothing through the locks again.

There was a playful look on his face, something dangerous in eyes, not at all what your expected for your little act, and your breath hitched. “Don’t start something you can’t finish.”

His eyes flickered down to your lips as he stared, your breath hitching. You and Azriel had been flirting, dancing around this thing for so long now you could barely remember when it started, and you were waiting for him. Waiting for him to make the first move, to be ready for more. You’d always been his, everyone knew it too, it was just waiting on him to make the move.

He shifted a little closer, until his lips were brushing yours, a teasing drag, testing the waters. Your fingers smoothed through his hair, a gentle caress until you were no longer gripping, fingers smoothing lightly over the back of his head instead.

“Az…”

Your whisper was silenced, his lips crashing down into yours as that final thread of resistance snapped. It snapped so wonderfully, so cataclysmically, one hand smoothing up your body until leaving you entirely, pressing into the couch by your shoulder to hold himself up. The kiss was intoxicating, your head spinning with every slow drag of his lips against your own, every soft pant of your name he let out, every swipe of his tongue.

Your nails scratched against his scalp, a shaky moan too, when he sucked tour lower lip gently, pulling away only to take ragged, gasping breaths. With foreheads pressed together and your eyes still closed, you could practically feel his smile, his nose nudging yours.

“Let’s never stop doin’ that, okay?”

“I think I could agree to that.” You whispered back, hand slipping down to his face, thumb running between, across his lips softly. His eyes finally opened, pulling back enough to sparkle at you lovingly, brows raising a little at the mischievous look you were sure was on your face. “I think, you need a little revenge on Cass and Nes.”

“Oh, yeah?” He dipped down, unable to help himself from stealing a few further kisses from your lips, despite your giggling and smiling. “How am I gonna’ do that?”

“We.” You hitched a leg up, locking it at his waist, his wings flaring and eyes darkening a little as you pushed his hips down into your own. Every little bit of your bodies was touching, the evidence of his arousal clearly grinding into your now, and his other hand flew back to from your thigh. “Dinner time soon, and guess who has to walk right through this living room to get to the dining room. I say we give them a little show of our own.”

His wings spread a little further, shielding you from the outside world entirely. “Only I get to see you fall apart, baby, but I want you to wake them up with your screams.”

[brineoffire]

Uuuuuuh hi, hi howdy! I've been super possessed by the need to see more male centered fics with the poly!141 soooo here's a bit. I honestly haven't played the games, but I've been looking into the lore because I'm so hyper fixed on the 141 rn. Bare with me, I haven't posted fics here before and definitely never written army anything. Please please please lemme know if you like it even a lil and I'll type up some more.

Fic notes!

So I saw someone talking about a reader who's in it for the money and I liked that idea- tweaked it a little but the basic jist? Mc loves vidio games so much they went to school for it, can't pay, joins the military to pay it all off. I'm writing this chapter ambiguous on gender so far, but I'm writing with a trans!masc reader here because fuck. I can't find much so better make it myself.

-Edit I forgot to put the title here rip

The Right Price

You can't help but stop to think about how you needed to stop biting off more then you can chew. It's been a few months since your recruiter told you all about the joys, wonder, and honor that comes with serving. You where in the second she told you about the pay. Too many student loans, too much microwave ramen, the list went on, but fuck it yeah? You where the one that said that in the first place when you signed up for your courses. The basics, programming, coding, digital design a bit of physiology because of personal interest. You where over the top when it came to studies. Didn't bother you none when you couldn't have a social life. If you weren't busy studying you where quite literally inhaling any game you could get your hands on. But now when you had to fork over the bill money? You started singing another tune.

So here you are. On the training grounds with the rest of the folks recruited at the same time as you.Your sargent was barking out orders for you all to start your runs one by one, but some smart ass was holding up the line. You actually agreed with half the shit he barked back at the your troop leader, but damn it, you didn't want the consequences.

"That's it! You wanna run your mouth? You can all run double to catch up with Marco's mouth! Now!" He yelled white fisted. The remaining lot of your groan and grumble, starting the run together now at double time to hopefully finish before lunch call. Seven miles was what you had all gotten used to. Seven miles of uneven terrain, hurdles and dives, inclines and ramps now lengthened to fourteen.

"Oh fuck off Marco!" One of the recruit remarks, smacking said recuit behind the head before taking off on a spint. Several others join in on mocking the guy before bolting trying to get it over with. You shake your head as you catch up to him and clap him on the shoulder.

"They'll chill out later man just gotta grit and bare it more y'know?" Marco yanks was shoulder away from you, giving you a nasty glare before taking off too. You raise your brow at that, curious to what set him off before shrugging, taking the course at your normal pace with a hand full of the others. Better late then fatiged. The little spat dosn't bother you anyway. You'll all be split into your first teams in less then a week. You doubt he'd even be grouped with you anyways.

Oh how wrong you where. How very. Very. Wrong. It was actually laughable at this point, because you where either grouped together because your Sargent knew you got under Marco's skin for some reason or because fate wanted to see the drama unfold. You took that as a personal challenge either way. Snapping back snarky retorts anytime Marco decided to fuck around, until one day he had you cornered with a handful of others, in your face yelling about how "your kind" didn't belong in the military let alone the states. You let him finish his rant. Something, something, something, God damned, something, something, blight all the good christians, something, something, belong in the kitchen like a proper bitch.

Oh. Okay. There it was. You laugh in your head. No. Outloud. You flip the positions, getting uncomfortably close to the fuckers so they back off some and spout of some tibits you learned in your phycology classes about the brain being easy to manipulate. Quiet anger radiating from your low tone, keeping it quiet to force them to listen harder. You throw in some extra bs about how you could probably "turn" the lot of them given enough time. That them speaking more shit would be an agreement for him to test his theory. They back off after that, but report you all at once for "harassment". There being no evidence for anything you're transfered to one of the other split groups. Half made up of people you didn't enlist with. Mabey this crop would yeild better results yeah?

Nah. You jinxed it. You know you did. Oh well. This time it's just one guy though. And all it takes is a bit of reverse phycology to have the guy questioning his own damn identity so bad he's sent to the on duty therapist. You're transfered out this time by a different woman. Laswell. She heard out your full story of your transfers and unlike your last transfer she gave you a garentee that she'd make sure to find a good fit for you. You shrug and thank her. No matter what you had to tough it out anyways, you needed that pay check after all. Had no where else to go.

It goes sour when you head with her to a base near Wales. You where supposed to go talk to her about setting up here overseas for a while. Something about spreading out more newbies anyways. You really don't understand half of it so you just agree and you're off to training on this base. As long as you're here you're expected to keep up with basics and the routine set by the Sargents and that's fine by you, whatever to pass the time at this point. They run a drill with half the team ment to run a faux attack on half the base and the rest made to counter. You're getting prepared to counter the fake attack when alarm bells are ringing. That's definitely a little over the top. Usually they just yell over the loudspeakers and... You kinda blink a few times before you realize your group of rookies is being pressed to the armory. It's not a fucking drill at this point. This is NOT what you came here for but, oh fuck here you go! You've played too many games for sure. Mabey it's time to cut back. Because you're immediately focused. Immediately setting up the scene in your head to get you in a headspace where it's all a game. It helps you focus and damn you really need help with that right now.

There's active rounds being fired a ways away from the base as you all are suited with gear and munitions. You've trained for this but damn if you ever thought you'd ACTUALLY use any of that shit. You always imagined it was for show, like how you never use any of the fucking math they taught you anywhere.

You're moving on a sort of autopilot, moving out to a defensive manuver outside, staying under cover like you're told until your unit arrives halfway out, between the fighting and the base. It's impossible to see much past a thick smoke blanketing half the scene but you all move out, groups of three fanning out for any injuries and more importantly, any hostiles. You and your group are about to get to your second vantage point when you catch something they don't, you call out a group of several hostiles over what looks like a member of the base before realizing there's radio static.

Fuck it. Risking your life might score you some bonus merit, some extra cash somewhere along the line, you don't know. You're just trying to rationalize why the hell you bolt for the man, keeping low, keeping quiet until your almost upon them all. You get close enough to make out the British insignia on the man's arm. You've definitely seen him on the base before, and now here he is, no weapon in sight, surrounded by four hostiles. You slow your approach and aim carefully, making sure to get the kill shot on one of them, the spray of bullets catching another in the arm gives you enough time to aim for one of the other ones. You've definitely played too many vidio games but you're damn sure that's what kept you from being shot on your first unofficial day of active duty. You roll. Fucking barrel roll on the ground, with enough force to get you away from the spray of bullets from the last uninjured hostile as you stop yourself and make the shot on him. Dumb luck is what you chalk it up to as the fourth guy falls, letting you finish off the second man as he scrambles to retrieve his weapon.

"Up! Up! UP!" You yell to the man on the ground. You don't notice the look of utter confusion from the guy as you rush to help him to his feet. You've gotta get him back to base or at least the rest of the team and out of harms way. So you sprint as fast as you can as soon as the man's up, keeping to your side as you keep an eye out for anyone else hostile or otherwise. You try your radio again, but nothing you backtrack enough to find the spot you last saw your little team and find them under fire, one covering a wound on the others arm, panicking. You're quick to take over, playing out the scene in the same mind set you started out with. Mission in mind. Quest line to follow. You snap the other guy out of it enough to instruct him on how to stop the bleeding properly and grab the injured mans weapon from him, shoving it into the man's hands and directing him to cover you. Again, your oblivious to the look of pure confusion from the man and your uninjured teammate as you work to bandage up your fellow recruit.

You all make it out in one peice, the base being cleared of the small force that attempted to overtake the base. What you don't learn, and no one bothers to tell you. Is that the man you "saved", Captain John Price, has been talking with Laswell. Not so much talking with her as TO her. Your in it for money? Perfect you'd definitely agree to join the 141 with the pay difference.

"John you can't fucking do that. This kid is green. Way too fucking green! They weren't even supposed to be pulled into active duty! They should have been benched with the newer recuits, not out with their seniors!"

Price laughs and shakes his head. "No. This one's got potential and I wana see how far it'll take em." He was impressed by how some rookie was able to show enough guts to help him when the odds looked bad. He had everything under control, but damn if your actions weren't something interesting. Rolling out of line of fire and still keeping a steady aim? That's quite the task, he boasts for you. Hell, you didn't even think twice about Price's rank or authority, your focused was on recovery and living while taking out the hostiles. As much as Laswell regrets to say there's not much reason to deny Price. His eye for talent really was spot on. What could go wrong in all actuality? She trusted Price, and hasn't let her down yet.

"Fine. But I'm keeping a close eye on this set up."

Price grins as he looks down at your small folder, thanking her and flipping through the pages again. Tomorrow you'd be flying out with him to your new base. Joining the 141 as a tech specialist.

[warsamongthestars]

Okay, now its not just my grievances, but legit "what the fuck are you on about" and "What the fuck are you doing" with the TBB Writing.

( Sadly, I was Xpecting something like this. )

S3 - Howzer said something about Crosshair killing some of his squad. On screen, we all saw the episode, they were arrested. We saw no execution. I'll get to why this is an issue.

S3 - Where the fuck did you get AZI again? Did you kill Cid off screen? Wouldn't that call for a, umn, Fucking episode?

S3 - Crosshair is told of Tech's death... Off Screen. Y'know, the death of your batchmate, the closest you have to Brother-Squadmate-Best Friend Foreveries, is kinda of a big fucking deal. y'know? Big enough that, by showing the death of that Squadmate, you generally want to show the IMPACT of an IMPORTANT CHARACTER'S DEATH to the AUDIENCE. But no. There really wasn't, was there. Maybe a line here or two, but is that the kind of impact you want to the important character? 2 Lines?

Don't get me started on the "Blame the VIctim' shit. I'll get there.

S2 - Echo randomly Leaves... and then Randomly appears. So, an Important Character Leaves... Out of the blue. Y'know, if your important main character is going elsewhere, you generally want Set Up. If I can point out how Butterfree from the Old Pokemon Anime, had the saddest Epsiodes in existence--simply because he Left. But then I see Echo's and I'm going "Where the fuck did this come from", there's a Problem. And then he randomly appears again like... Why did you even leave if you were going to Come Back. Where the fuck are the conversations here, that actually walk the audience through the Character's thought processes?

S2 - Crosshair was apparently on the Platform or a Month. ... HOW? Seriously, How, that thing would sink without a ship, we saw it rise up for a ship. Kamino is infamously, in lore, for 2 decades now, Stormy as Shit. And who picked him up. Did he fucking teleport back to the Empire? Wouldn't that call for an Episode so that we can see what the fuck is going on?

S1 - Crosshair's Chip So a Tweet from Xitter, is apparently more important than placing what you want in your fucking story. And more, You show that this Chip was Enhanced, repeatedly, it GREW IN HIS BRAIN THIS WAS ON EPISODE 1, and suddenly, NOPE not there not effects no idea what you're talking about. THAT CHIP IS A BRAIN TUMOR, FOOL. So instead all those evil actions, caused yb the chip that was GROWN IN HIS BRAIN BY AT LEAST 3 SIZES, apparently were just CROSSHAIR ALL ALONG--WHAT BRAIN TUMOR. Do you see where I'm calling Victim Blaming.

S1 - Omega is Older! Cool. Where is this going to be relevant. why would we need to know? Its been over a season now, why is this fucking important. She met Emerie in late S2! Emerie is a clone now, how come she didn't know about that. Clearly this wasn't fucking important.

S1 - At no point did they talk about their missing batchmate. SO YOU'RE JUST SILENT ABOUT YOUR BATCHMATE, YOUR SUPER IMPORTANT CHARACTER YOU LITERALLY GREW UP WITH, WHO HAD YEARS WITH YOU, AND YOU'RE JUST NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT IT. If its not on Screen in front of the Audience, it Didn't Fucking Happen.

S1 - Episode 1 Now for the Meat. The start of all this shit. Overwhelming amount of "Guest star" characters, Guest start being "any other famous Star Wars character that isn't the Main Characters". An introduction to a kid character, one that is a Super Duper early 2000s Fanfic.net Totally Original Character Donut Steel. Who's... there to take importance away from the other characters. Repeatedly teasing the Chip, but no confrontation of Crosshair. Repeated shooting at Children, and no confrontation of Crosshair--arguably more important th an the above. That is definitely a What the Fuck Man, and it happened din the first Five minutes and nobody did jack shit. No trust or conversations between characters who are "Batch-mates"--implied in Star Wars to be the closest thing to family, and given the battlefield nature, would have to communicate behind closed doors or they might Die on Mission... No Communication has been had in 3 fucking years--expect to make Hunter or Omega right in every situation. A lot of talking, not a lot of doing or showing.

This episode only works, if you are not here for the Bad Batch. Because the writers have not done anything to the Bad Batch but cause problems that weren't needed, solutions that don't matter, because the problems are unneeded. They do not allow the BBs to Talk To Each Other (If its not on screen where the audience can see it, it didn't happen). Clear character derailment for a Fanfic.Net OC. And S3 shows evidence of AI writing. Conversations without context, shallow (if not insulting) character development in the face of Very Important Topics (Such as Family Member Death and Tumors / Drugging / Cult Manipulation), events that don't make sense in the telling.

( They have the animation budget to show things, and then they don't. They have the money to craft this, and they're not. )

S2 showed the same issue.

Unfortunately, we did see this coming since the Writing Strikes.

( Addendum, post-posting edit--sorry, I had to take these steps just in case, cos rage blinds me. )

So now, Clarification without all the swearing and general fan-rage.

They would see the victim blame himself and be blamed by the story, than take the steps to examine the problem They Clearly Showed, and instead decided to ignore the problem that Caused all this... And it is Victim blaming, because other characters have experienced the same problem, but are totally forgiven because its "not their fault".

THey would rather have characters walk in and out at random, diminishing if not removing the impact those characters have. Nothing Echo does now is of importance because they're barely showing it, and not dedicating time to Echo to build either his new posiion or his leaving--and they barely dedicated character time to Echo, by leaving him as the "bitch side character". The same goes with Tech, Tech's death has no impact anymore because they are ignoring it, maybe dedicating 1 or 2 lines and maybe a small moment of drama, but ultimately the impact is gone because they are not dedicating any real focus to it.

They would rather tell you what "actually happened"... when on review, what they just said didn't happen at all. If you do not show the audience what is in your story, then your story is literally hearsay. And in this day of AI writing, this context defiance has to be caught.

There are writing problems here that wouldn't have happened with a dedicating writing team. And there are more dedicated writers in the fandom, than there is in the Multbillion Dollar Publishing Corporation...

... and that is a Problem, because if you're being paid to do this and have a team, shouldn't this be seamless?

[matrixxsystem]

Terrapin Soup Part 10

Fuck.

Fuck fuck fuckshitfuck- "Leo! What happened to your arms?!" No no no nononono- "I-I.. I uhm..." Raph didn't even give a second glance to the floor pizza as he stepped over the boxes and reached out to Leo, who instinctively took a step back to avoid his touch. Raphael's expression only looked more worried when he wasn't able to reach him. Usagi glanced between the two and decided not to try and interfere and make things worse on either of them, "Raph this isn't the time c-can we just talk about this later.."  "Later?? Leo you're seriously hurt! Is this why you've been wearing those compression sleeves? I- I thought we weren't keeping secrets anymore- How long have you had these? Who did this to you?"

No more secrets? Now that set him off after just learning Donnie had more then enough secrets to last a few life times that was being held from him. "No more secrets?? Oh spare me the bullshit, I know you know damn well what Donnie's been doing without telling me! You never told me, none of you told me! And I know you also knew about the trackers Donnie put on us all cause of-fucking-course you wouldn't trust me to go out on my own if there wasn't some mystic way to know exactly where I was so you can drag me back! I can't believe I was stupid enough to think any of you actually trusted me! You never did, did you? To think you ever had any��faith in me.. So yeah, I've been keeping things from you. But y'know what? This is my personal biz, you don't have the right to that, none of you do. None of you have the right to my private thoughts and conversations without my permission!! You can't just spy on me for fucking years and act like that's normal!" "Leo language, please.. I-I know you're upset but you.. You gotta understand why dad asked Dee to make them in the first place-" "Dad's in on it too?? God is everyone but me in the loop? Some fucking brothers you are-!" "It was so long ago when he made them we were all just kids- Besides you're never here anymore Leo! When would we have the time to fill you in on something that doesn't even matter that much-" "It matters to me!!" Leo was raising his voice to the point even Usagi was getting a little worried.. He didn't know how to help, clearly Leo's privacy was something he held above all else, and with good reason. He knew deep down Leo was just scared. Scared that if his brothers stumbled on any information about his habits that they'd shun him if not something worse. "Don't you fucking get it?? I've been hiding this for years, because I knew you'd never understand. None of you would! And I was right because you turn around and do this shit! I can't believe you guys would spy on me and violate my privacy and trust like that-" "Years..? Leo... W-What do you mean years?" Leo walked up to Raph, taking the few steps closer with a much colder expression then anyone in the room had even seen on him before. He held his arms up putting them in his brothers face, his arms were covered in marks, scar tissue over shredded skin making dents and bumps from his wrists to his shoulders. There was no clear pattern but from the depth of the old versus the newer it was clear they'd been getting deeper. "Get a good look brother. It's been one year, eight months, and twelve days since the last time I hurt myself. So no, you don't understand. I've been hiding it because I knew you'd throw yourself a pity party and find some way to blame yourself for it, so I just.. Didn't tell you. There was no way I could explain this to you, to any of you.. I told you no one is who they say they are. We all have shit, so you can stop pretending to have some moral high ground over me like I'm some stupid child who doesn't know left from right and who'd never hurt a fly. That kid you see me as is long gone." Raph looked over all the marks, unable to properly analyze anything with his mind racing, when did this start then? How long had it been going on exactly? Why hadn't he noticed sooner.. He couldn't helped- When did Leo say that? Why was he so upset, didn't he know about Donnie's trackers? It was one of his greatest inventions that stopped them from getting sick by alerting them of the early signs.. Why was Leo mad at that..? That new wound.. What were those stiches from? Did he get hurt fighting tonight.. Did Usagi patch him up? That was nice of him- Since when did he know how to do that? What happened to Leo.. He was never like this before. 

"Leo I.. ...I'm sorry, I didn't know you felt like this. I-I'd never hurt you on purpose, or do anything that I knew could hurt you.. You know that right? Raph would never keep things from you if it wasn't important or if he didn't know you didn't know.. I-I'm glad you told me about some of it now though, and.. Well... You're right about me not understanding, I might if you talked to me more- But I haven't told you everything about me either s-so I don't expect everything to come out at once. But we're brothers, you know that no matter what it won't change that. Whatever you're going through.. Or were going though? I wanna help, I don't know what I can do but I don't want you to feel like you can't talk to me.. And I don't wanna feel like I can't talk to you." "...What if I killed someone..?" Raph froze, taken aback by the sudden question, one he never really thought he'd hear Leo of all people ask, especially in this sort of conversation. "I- Leo I'm tynna be serious-" "Answer the question. If I killed someone I thought deserved it, what would you do? Would you still say you love me? Would you honestly be able to look at me the same?" "..Well- Of course! Leo people do lots of messed up things because of good intentions. And sometimes the answers aren't always clear, the paths we take aren't always steady. But everything we do shapes who we are, and if we go down different paths, I might be worried for you.. Or try to get you to go another way since I don't think killing is right ever but.. But that's not for me to decide in the end. You do what you think is right, and when you need us we'll be there. I mean there's a few things that I wouldn't be able to forgive, but we love you Leo, every part of you. Even if you went a little too far, I know you aren't a bad person.. That weird feeling Raph gets around people he doesn't trust yet, I never once felt that towards you."

Well that was surprisingly heartfelt..

Leo took a step back, glancing to Usagi was a more apologetic look, mentally cursing himself for loosing his cool in front of him like that. Leo grabbed the tracker off the trey stuffing it into the pouch on his hip and gently grabbed Usagi's hand with his other. "As nice as that would be, I can't say I believe you. But I'm glad we talked... I'll.. Seriously stop hiding so much if you all do the same. But if any of you fuck with me again like this, you will never see me again. And that's a promise. Just talk to me next time, if he asked to chip me I would have said yes." Leo walked passed Raph into the doorway leading Usagi with him. "We'll be in my room, you can text me if its important but other then that no one else is allowed to bother us. I.. I need a minute." He said before heading out, leaving Raph alone with his sad pile of floor pizza and the unconscious cannibal...

-_-_-_-

One Leo and Usagi we're back in his room he plopped himself down on the bed letting his head fall into with hands with a low grumble. Usagi stood there for a moment before sitting beside him, gently rubbing the back of his shell with a hand, "Are you alright Leo..?" "Mmn... I'm sorry you had to see that. I feel bad for snapping at him.." "Ironic isn't it." Leo perked up, unsure what irony there was to any of this. "I thought Raphael was the snapping turtle." Leo deadpanned looking up at Usagi, that was the best worst joke he's ever heard.. Usagi was fucking perfect- He let out a little snort leaning into him, "Booo, that was a six out of ten, at best." Usagi rolled his eyes pulling Leo closer, "Can't be worse then your paper jokes-" Leo gasped dramatically pulling back, "Excuse you! My jokes are hilarious!" He gently pushed Usagi back a bit, watching in amusement as he let himself fall back, pulling Leo down with him so they were laying together, "Hilariously bad maybe~" "My paper jokes aren't just bad, they're.. Tear-able" Usagi snorted pushing Leo's face away gently, "Booooo! Now that was a three out of ten- How dare you try to bring those jokes back."

"Wat can I say, I love recycling~" Leo chuckled a bit, so thankful Usagi was able to lighten the mood so easily.. He didn't deserve such an amazing boyfriend.. Usagi laid there for a moment, letting them calm back down before turning onto his side, pulling Leo back in. "Are you alright.. Really alright?" Leo nodded, leaning into his hands, "Yeah.. I think so. Much better now actually. I should really think of what I'm gonna say to Dee later.." "You can cross that bridge when you get there. Let's relax for a bit first, why don't you script it with me. Pretend I'm him, what would you say..?" "..Sagi c'mon.." "I'm serious love" He took a deep breath and changed to a more stern expression, and started speaking with a funny voice. Clearly a bad impression of how Donatello sounded. "Why are you mad I did dope science hm? I've only been tracking everything down to your last BM" Leo fake gagged and shook his head in disapprovement. He sighed and took a breath seeing that Usagi wasn't going to stop till he did. "Fine.. Dee. I'm not mad that you made the tech, or for using it correctly. In fact I know how useful it could be, and I'm sure it's com in handy many times. But even you should understand how it can be bad when its the person chipped is unaware? How it violates their privacy how it could be misused? I'm more upset that you didn't tell me, and even actively kept it from me.. Even though you never shut up about your tech- But it's more then just being rude and inconsiderate it's... It's like if you were chipped as a child, unaware until years later, and suddenly felt like the people you were supposed to be close to were actually spying on you behind your back.. Saying who knows what, watching you in your most vulnerable moments, listening in on private conversations that you'd never want another soul to hear because of its importance.  Like.. Like everyone was in on some joke that you could never grasp because no one would explain it to you. That shit hurts, and I know you know how that feels.. So I just don't know why someone as smart as you didn't think about how I might feel about it.."

Usagi was quiet for a few moments, trying to think of what to say back. He couldn't just brush that off but he sadly wasn't able to give anything close to what Donnie might say cause he didn't know. Usagi instead nodded a little, resting forehead against Leo's, "That's a very good way of wording it. I think he will be understanding.." Leo smiled a little, "Of course, if he's not we could always eat em-" Leo snorted pushing Usagi back again trying not to laugh, "I can't believe you just said that, my own boyfriend, going after my brother- I call treason!" "I'm joking I'm joking. Besides, he's so lanky, no meat on him at all, he wouldn't be my first pick." "No? Who would it be then? Wait- No, lemme guess. Raph? He's huge! He could feed a village, they'd survive winter off him alone haha" "Actually I would probably pick the orange one. Michelangelo right? He's always eating sweets and very soft. He might not give the most but he'd taste the best.. Well.. Aside from you of course~ But that's a different scenario." Leo rolled his eyes Pulling Usagi back into his arms, "I'm gonna ignore that, but speaking of food.. Do you think any of those pizza survived..?"  "I'm not sure, no one seemed to concerned with them in the moment.. Would you like to get something else instead? It's always better to do talking and stressful things after you've had a good meal." Leo nodded a little, wondering what they could get around here.. He perked up after a moment, "There is a place I haven't been to in a while actually, there's this little shop in China Town topside that has this really good soup-" "..Soup? Oh! You mean the place you used to frequent before we started hanging out right? I was a bit curious if it was really good enough that you'd go back so often." Leo sat up and stretched his arms, "It's not yokai but it's pretty damn good. We do have to wear a disguise though.."  "Not to worry, I have a cloaking pin. We can let you borrow Hyo's for the night if that'd make things easier, just don't tell him I let you wear it." Leo watched as Usagi sat up with him and reached into his pocket pulling out two metallic looking pins, both shaped the same, gold squares with some sort of curved engraving with a line through it. "Oh wow, I've never worn one before, April's girlfriend has one that was her grandmothers or something." He took the other one handed to him and watched as Usagi put his on as he got off the bed. Leo did the same fastening the pin as he stood up. "So uh.. How do I look?"

Usagi stood there with his mouth hanging open as he looked over his boyfriend, his warm umber toned skin with discolored patches where his markings had been.. The one brown eye and one blue to match his signature color..  And he had hair now too so that was new, dark shoulder length locs with a few in the front bleached blonde that framed his face nicely.. Fuck he was pretty...

"Y-You look.. Uh" He cleared his throat and smiled a bit grabbing one of the hanging masks in his room, "You look handsome, may I do something?" He asked, gesturing to the mask. Leo nodded and stepped closer, letting Usagi's hands cup his face, it felt a bit odd since he was used to his hands having fur on them, but it was still nice. He looked of Usagi now that he had the change, he looked albino.. He leaned in a little closer to get a better look, even his eyelashes were white.. And his eyes were a reddish, pinkish color. Fuck he was cute.. "You look good too, it's a little weird to see you with ears on the side of your head though haha.."  "I could say the same to you." "Touché. Oh- Hey where'd that scar come from..? Right here-" He lifted his hand gently running a finger over the discolored mark running from his jawline up to the side of his nose. "It looks pretty old.." Usagi nodded, "It is, I was pretty young when it happened, I thought I was ready to go on missions, I was impulsive and undisciplined. Instead of Hyo coming to my rescue I had to find my own way out, it was an important lesson about why he didn't want me to go yet. He was right to say I wasn't ready. I'd never questioned his calls since." Leo nodded a little and moved his hand back down still resting against his cheek. "Hm.. It's kinda weird I've never seen it before, considering how often I'm this close to your face. Do you have any other scars? I'm kinda curious now.." Usagi blushed a bit, another thing he'd rarely seen from him since his fur covered it. "I might, but they aren't in places that are easy to show right now. Maybe after we eat, when we get into our pajamas it'll be easier." "O-Oh.. You don't have to, I wont pry if it's somewhere embarrassing! I was just wondering, but yeah, we should go eat." He reached over grabbing one of his swords, "We can portal there but since we have these pins do you care if we walk home? I never really got to see the town from the ground.." Usagi chuckled and took Leo's free hand, "I don't mind at all, I'd love to see the city with you~" Leo took the tracker from his pouch and set it on his bed, hidden under the pillow before opening the portal, leaving his swords as he and Usagi walked through, leaving without a word to the others and headed back to Chinatown. They stepped through ending up in the ally Leo used to go through the most often, he knew the way by heart at this point and led Usagi through the small crowds of people towards the dimly lit stall. Still unoccupied by any other customers, which he found strange, but he never questioned it before so why start now. Once he sat down he was greeted by the familiar face of the shops owner and only cook. "What'll it be boys?" He asked with his usual cheery smile. Leo took the menu pointing to his choice and holding up two fingers, which took him a moment to do since he wasn't used to having five fingers. "Oh! It's you isn't it? The guy who used to come here every month or so right? It's good to see you kid, you look good! Not that I saw much of you before haha! Is this a friend of yours? Bringin me some extra business yea? Well I 'ppreciate it, I'll get those bowls for ya in a second. I'm almost done making a fresh batch, you get to try the new recipe, I added a few things, lemme know what you think alright?" Leo nodded and looked back to Usagi, still unable to really believe his boyfriend could be that cute as a human.. Gay panic wasn't even close to describing the wave of flustered anxiety he felt when he met Usagi's eyes... He was down bad for him, no doubt about it..

Part 11 Part 1

TS Master Post

[prismatica-the-strange]

Bite Me | It's Not Your Fault, Love

Warnings: Show typical violence and gore, blood, angst, death (More or less)

After being cured and striking out on her own, Cori is dragged back into the world of the undead, and a stray bullet changes everything.

Song: Kiss It Better by He Is We

Word Count: 2.4k

She doesn't know how it happened or who did it. But a few weeks ago she woke up on Ravi and Moajor's couch and she was alive, not undead, actually alive.

After a brief period of not knowing who she was finally able to get her own place. And a few weeks later, she was out getting coffee, relishing the ability to taste it again.

Then, on the way home, she was grabbed by someone she hadn't seen, a pinch in the neck and everything went black.

When she wakes up, she has no clue where she is and she's shackled to the wall across from her friend Don E, who she's seen look better.

It's been nearly 24 hours, whatever brain he was has started wearing off, and he finally seems to recognize her.

"Hey, D?" The chains binding her to the wall clink when she wraps her arms around her legs.

"What C?" He growls.

"No matter how this turns out, I hope you know we're friends," She smiles at him, "And I'm okay with whatever happens."

She's been put there as bait while the rednecks outside their cell starve him.

"I uh," he groans, "I appreciate that."

"Ehh," He shrugs the best he can, "The moment Blaine finds out what happened and figures out where you are, he'll come in all guuuns blazing to get you."

"Yeah, I'm not so sure," She mutters, "We didn't break things off in good terms, and I didn't exactly leave any room for interpretation the last time I spoke to him."

"Yeah, I know, but he's so hung up on you that won't matter."

The next few hours are uneventful, she's already realized Ravi is just as much kidnapped as they are.

Don E tugs at the straps securing him to the pipe, looking much more zombie-esque.

"Fuck," He groans, "I don't wanna kill you Cori."

He sounds so pained.

"Good, cause I don't want you to kill me," She says jokingly, trying to lighten the mood even a little.

"H-hey, before I go total Romero," He swallows hard, "I... I want you to know I'm sorry for bailing when Blaine... y'know?

She nods.

"Our friendship means more to me than and I want you to know that."

"You wanna grab some drinks once this is over?" She chuckles.

"Yeah... yeah that sounds fun."

There's less chat after that as his vocabulary dwindles to mostly grunting and growling.

Cori hums to herself to keep herself calm. She doesn't want to think about the fact that she only just became human again and that one of her best friends is going to kill her because of it.

She wishes she had done things differently, done more for herself. Set better boundaries with Blaine earlier in their relationship and not let him get away with so much.

She wishes she'd gone to her grandmother's birthday three months ago, that she had smoothed things over with her mom.

She wishes she had fewer regrets.

She wishes she could tell Blaine she still loved him despite everything. That, yes, even now, knowing exactly where it's lead her, she would do it all over again just to know he knows he's loved.

It won't be much longer. She can see Don E starting to go feral.

Their captors start getting excited, having something planned for the near milestone 100,000 viewers.

"Get up you damn drunk! Let's go light up a zombie and watch 'im go coocoo for cocoa puffs!" They hear Harley yell.

"Well D," She tries to stop her lip from trembling as the guys in the other room countdown with the viewers, "It was great knowing you."

Ravi tries to stop them. He blocks the doorway and begs them not to not be stupid, but it doesn't work.

Cori backs up against the wall when Don E yells out taunts, too lost at this point to realize it's a bad idea.

She wants to go home. Wants to curl up in bed and have her biggest problem be how much she misses her ex, not this.

Ravi falls to the floor in front of her when Harley pistol whips him.

"They're killing machines you dumn sumbitch!" He yells, leading the others into the makeshift cage.

She stands up, back still against the wall.

"Please don't do this," She says, but he ignores her.

"Those things killed our brother, they'll kill us all," He nods to Beau, "Do it."

Before her can turn back to Don E, Cori wraps one of her chains around Harley's neck, pulling it tight.

"What the hell are you-"

He shouts when she kicks the back of his knee, knocking making him drop.

"I'd put those guns down if I were you," She warns, when they all aim at her, "I have no problem killing your little ring leader here."

She pulls them tighter and Harley starts to choke, grabbing at the metal links crushing his windpipe.

She pushes his body forward with her knee, adding pressure.

"Let Don E and I go, and I'll consider only adding a little extra brain damage."

Harley's face starts turning blue.

"Fuck you," Beau lunges at them, jamming the cattle prod into her side.

Her body seizes, chain slipping from her hold and Harley falls to the floor coughing.

Cori collapses behind him trying to force her body to inhale.

Don E is struggling harder now, starved and now pissed that they hurt her.

"Little bitch deserves to have her brain eaten," He scowls, voice strained, "Get on with it."

Don E screams when he's electrocuted, pulling against his binds.

They almost don't notice the bangs at the door over the sound of him and the clanging pipes.

When one of the guys goes to investigate, the glass window shatters and an arm reaches in, grabs his collar, and slams him against the door, knocking him out.

From there, all hell breaks loose.

Someone drops a smoke grenade through the skylight before they come crashing down behind it.

Her vision is blurred from the pain and smoke, but even in full rage mode she knows that voice. She gets to her feet and presses herself against the wall so she doesn't get stepped on.

There are gunshots, shouts, and more breaking glass.

Blaine grabs Harley's leg and he panic fires half his clip.

Liv comes rushing in before the one with the shot gun gets her in the back and she collapses.

The last three shots of Harley's clip go off, two of them hitting Blaine in the chest and stomach, making him fall back against the wall next to her.

Harley runs out of the cage, locking it shut behind him and flipping a switch.

Blaine isn't far behind him, moving to tear down the chain link but he shouts as soon as he touches it, electricity arcing trough him.

"I got something for you, boy. One in the head," Harley grins, watching him growl. He raises his gun and pulls the trigger, faces falling when it only clicks.

Blaine just grins back at him until he hears Cori's voice.

"Blaine?" She's quiet. He swears she almost sounds scared. Of him? No. She's never been scared of him before.

He turns to look at her and the rage drains from him, being immediately replaced with horror.

Her hand is pressed to her stomach, blood seeping from between her fingers and soaking into her pale yellow sweater.

She huffs out a small breath and her back slides down the wall.

"Heyheyheyheyhey," He rushes over to her, pulling her gently into his arms and lowering them both to the ground, "It's okay."

"I've got you," He says, tucking her hair behind her ear, "I'll make it better."

She shakes her head, catching his wrist when he goes to scratch her, "No."

"Cori," He looks at her, fear and confusion filling his eyes.

"I-I don't want to be that again."

He stares at her like she's insane, "It'll save your life!"

"I don't want to be a zombie again," She argues, "You didn't give me a choice last time. So respect it now."

Blaine's quiet for a moment but nods, pressing his hand on hers over the wound. She moans in pain when the added pressure causes pain to ripple through her.

There's more gunshots outside.

"Okay... okay. You'll be okay," He leans in and presses his lips to her forehead, "Everything's gonna be okay."

His hand is already drenched in her blood, fingers slipping between hers.

"I'm scared," She sniffles.

"Hey now," He pulls back to look at her, taking note of the tears in her eyes, "You're going to be fine, I promise. You don't need to cry."

"Come'ere," He holds her tighter, "I'll kiss it better, yeah? Kiss away the pain and make it all better."

He kisses her head, burying his nose in her hair and tries to hide his own terror from her.

He doesn't want to lose her, doesn't want to watch her die in his arms, unable to do anything to stop it.

"I love you."

The murmur of plan making behind him falls silent.

He can't stop his own tears and shaking breath, "Don't say goodbye. Please just- You're gonna be fine."

Her breathing begins to shallow and his grip tightens.

"Stay with me," He begs, voice cracking.

"Always," She promises.

Her body relaxes against him and he freezes, his blood running cold.

"Cori?"

The room is too quiet. The only noise being the slow, periodic beat of his heart and the sound of his breath picking up.

"Coriander wake up," He shakes her slightly, "Sweetheart please."

He pulls away, hands moving to cup her face. Her eyes are open but unfocused.

"Baby look at me," Blood streaks across her cheek, "Coriander look at me! Look at me baby, please!"

"Blaine-"

"Baby, wake up!"

Liv puts her hand on his shoulder, but he shrugs her off.

"Cori, sweetheart, please, please wake up," He runs his fingers through her hair and it sticks to the red on his hand, "Baby I-... I can't lose you."

"Blaine, she's-"

"No! She promised," He shouts. His thumb strokes her cheek, "Stay with me. Cori, stay with me. Baby, you promised... You promised."

A terrifyingly empty feeling washes over him as the quiet settles in. She's dead.

The thought of never hearing her voice again, never seeing her smile, it make him sick.

"No..."

He can't do that. He won't do that. He needs her. Her hands in his hair, her breath on his skin.

Before anyone realizes what he's doing he runs his nail across Cori's cheek, breaking the skin.

He waits with bated breath as the others berate him for going against her wishes.

Please wake up. Please wake up. Please wake up.

She suddenly inhales, eyelids fluttering, and he lets out a shuttering sob.

He pulls her into a vice-like hug, his face against her neck while he cries and hiccups against her skin.

"Blaine?"

He squeezes his eyes shut at the sound of her voice. It worked.

She's confused for a moment, looking around at everyone as they stare at her with wide, wet eyes. Then it dawns at her.

"I told you, I didn't want to be a-"

"I couldn't," His voice is muffled because he refuses to move, "I'm sorry, couldn't let you die."

She pushes his chest, angry tears forming in her eyes, "My life isn't something you get to just play with!"

"I love you too much to live without you."

Her anger turns to shock at his words.

"I know I never said it. I never..." He leans back, hands still on her shoulders when he sighs. His face is tear-streaked, "I never told you I loved you. But I do. I love you. I love you so much it hurts."

"So no actually, I'm not sorry," He says, "Because even if you hate me for the rest of your life, at least you're alive to do it. And that's enough for me."

"I don't hate you," She admits and he lets out a tearful laugh.

"Good," He smiles when she falls back into his arms, "Because I was totally bluffing, it would destroy me if you did."

The others go back to trying to find a way out while he holds her.

Minutes later there's a barrage of footsteps and the door bursts open. In floods a troop of Fillmore Graves soldiers with big guns.

Blaine's eyes turn red when they point them at them, pulling Cori closer.

Everything calms down when they realize one of the soldiers is Major and he helps clear thing up.

Blaine refuses to let her leave his side, terrified that if he takes his eyes or hands off her for even a minute he'll lose her again.

His hand is wrapped tightly around hers as they listen to Chase Graves give a rundown of what happened while she was... Well, dying.

He's given her his jacket, because not only is it a chilly night, but she's freezing after the amount of blood she lost.

When he finishes he looks over at them, "And who are you?"

"I'm the guy that just saved a zombie from getting tortured and killing a kidnapped human on the internet."

"Kidnapped human?"

"Former human," Cori explains, "Coriander Moes. This is Blaine."

"Blaine McDonough, owner and proprietor of The Scratching Post."

They talk for a bit, then Blaine leads her back inside to check on Don E.

"Hey, you guys want in on this?" Don E asks, referring to the cracked skull he's eating out of when he sees them.

"Yes!"

Blaine chuckles when she pulls him over. He sits on the floor next to the body, leaning up against the step, and pats his leg.

The adjust and she eventually settles between his legs, one of his arms hooked loosely around her neck.

He can't stop staring at her, even with her mouth and fingers coated in the blood of some crazy hick as she messily eats his brain, she's the most beautiful tonight that he's ever seen.

He leans in to kiss her temple, soaking in her warmth.

"Don't scare me like that again, yeah?" He asks in a loving whisper, "You're everything to me, Cor. You're my everything."

[rayclubs]

Nobody asked for this but I'm rating TMA fear entities by how scary they are.

The Eye

This bitch should be afraid of me

I set my 0.5L bear head shaped glass mug of discount bootleg pepsi on the table and say "Watch This" and the ceaseless wanker never recovers

0/10 turn your gaze upon. My peanits

The Web

Kind of a MILF and they do intimidate me if I'm being honest

Spiders are pretty disturbing ever since I wrote that story about a gigantic man-eating species with blades for legs, but then there's Jolene who lives on my window and catches the bugs that are Far Worse so I don't even know

4/10 for honest effort, you go girl

The Dark

Scary in the sense that I will stab me goddamn toe

So fun fact, when I was a kid my parents brought home a wooden crate full of pears and set it on the floor near the kitchen doorframe and I ran by at full speed and whacked my pinky toe against it full force, it was bleeding like fuck but for whatever genius reason my parents didn't move the crate so next day I ran the exact same trajectory and didn't have a nail on my pinky toe for six months. But that was in broad daylight so

2/10 get torched idiot

The Vast

I could never be afraid of something so, so sexy

I guess I have an instinctive moderate fear of heights? I did fall off a tree once, and I am prone to window-jumping attempts, but it's not like I can't climb a ladder or anything. The ocean though? The open space? Tell me more

3/10 we on purposed kiss

The Buried

I would DIE in the buried

Petition to rename Too Close I Cannot Breathe to Get The Fuck Away From Me

7/10 can you tell I'm familiar with the crushing weight of poverty

The Flesh

Too funny to be scary

Yeah blood, yeah meat, I'm made of it babygirl don't even worry. I bet you only hate Viscera because your ribs are weird. Not me. Could never be me. My rib is beautiful and pristine, my bone marrow is delish, and my garden is FLOURISHING.

2/10 for the fear of actually going to the gym

The Hunt

It's Gonna Getcha

Kind of boring? Neighborhood stray dogs are scary but at some point you just say "fuck it" and walk the shortcut anyway. We don't have wolves or bears here where I live, it's pretty chill.

2/10 vampires aren't even that sexy (sorry)

The Corruption

I do NOT. Fuck with The Corruption. I DO NOT. Fucking hell.

Bone-chilling, terrifying, absolute bullshit whore of a fear, I HATE her, I hate her SO MUCH, watch me run out of my house screaming upon encountering one motherfucking bitch of a worm, I'm calling extermination services so quick you won't even have the time to say "Filth", FUCK The Corruption

10/10 aaa a a aa a a

The Stranger

Who

I don't know what "uncanny valley" means. I've read the definition but I do not understand the concept. Plastic people don't make any sense to me. "Things that aren't what they should be" does not make sense to me. I Might have identity issues

0/10 fucking clowns

The Slaughter

Soldier TF2

Respectfully and conceptually frightening but not on any personal level. Don't like thinking about it because there's a war just over the border right now, but also everyday things still need done y'know?

5/10

The Spiral

Hawt

Another thing that is conceptually scary but I would just deal with it in a producthve manner because I'm autism powers. Also I get lost even in normal, non-distorted places, so I'm what you may call experienced

4/10 mickey

The Lonely

MY GORGEOUS WIFE

I think about The Lonely at least once a day, I want to go there forever. Will you go to The Lonely with me? Will you? Will you?

0/10 she makes me so happy I want to cry

The Desolation

Yeah fire doesn't do it for me

Can't be scared of losing your home if you don't have a home in the first place

3/10 I'm scared of mean women

The Extinction

Been there done that

More hopeful than scary. Made in Heaven that shit aye

1/10 who gives a shits

The End

Ah well

I mean, I could die tomorrow and I wouldn't care. Cause I'd be dead. Cheers for the living but I'm different.

2/10 the scariest part is all the tentacles

[that-darn-clown]

alright, au time.

so. here's what happens Canonically in the Rewrite:

Cassidy gets bitten and end up talking to his Dead Besties in his coma

he promises everyone, before waking up, that he'll help free everyone and bring his father to justice.

Next Two Months Go On As Normal, And William Attempts To Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss His Way Out Of His Son Hating Him.

Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss-ing Doesn't Work; Cass Is Still Pissed

William strangles Cass in his sleep.

Cass, now dead, is unable to help with freeing his besties; decides to pass the responsibility to Mike (who doesn't know about this until the events of SL in the Rewrite)

but...here's the au:

before William can start strangling his youngest son...Michael walks in.

now, Mike has been incredibly paranoid ever since Cass got hurt; he's practically been a worried mess the whole two months, practically following Cass wherever he went to make sure this kid was okay. in this timeline, Mike went to go check on his sleeping brother, found William in there and was like "Oh hey Dad, you checking in on Cass too? :D"

and that woke Cassidy up out of the deep sleep he was in.

Cass took one look at his dad just kinda being there and had the understandable reaction of "...Oh fuck, was he about to kill me?"

because here's the thing:

William had almost never checked on him in the middle of the night before this. it was usually just Michael who checked on him.

after this, Cass' behavior just seemed to get weirder to the rest of his family. he'd place heavy (or heavyish) furniture in front of his door. when William caught onto that, he started hanging bells from his doorknob and giving Mike a specific knocking pattern to do. some nights, he doesn't even take the risk. he just goes to sleep in Mike's room.

so yeah, things are...tense in the house now.

Alex chills out eventually, and he and Cass get to a point where they can be in the same room without the tension being fucking noticeable. exchanges like this still happen though:

Alex: Christ Cass, why are you such a fucking weirdo?

Cassidy, not missing a beat: I dunno Alex, why did you almost kill me at my birthday party?

Alex: 😦 OKAY DAMN CHILL THE FUCK OUT-

unfortunately, Cass and Will are tense around each other all the time now. and dear god, it's so thick i'm surprised anyone in this household can breathe.

NONBINARY CASS LET'S GO!!!

so 1987 rolls around. William kills more kids. Cass finds out. things are even more tense.

but now Cass is old enough to like. actually do things now.

William asks Michael to work one night after Jeremy gets promoted? Cassidy asks if they could help Mike out that night. they're basically the main reason Mike didn't die that night.

they also got to see their friends again, so :D

process repeats for Fnaf 1, basically.

and then we get to William's death.

he decides to drag Cassidy, now pretty much grown up, to "help him" with some things. he pretty much just tells Cass to stay in the backstage area and "check things" back there.

and then Cass hears a lot of metal clanging and screeching.

they're not stupid. they know what that's about.

and they are pissed.

when William gets cornered in that room, Cassidy seems to, surprisingly, "help" him. hey, you tricked those kids when you got into the suit, right? why not hide in there and trick them again? hm, now that i think about it you should back up a little bit. no particular reason, just so they aren't too close to you, y'know?

and the next thing William knows, he's standing under a place where the roof is leaking, and the springlocks set off.

so yeah, Cass is still the one that basically killed their dad.

Mike asks them about it, but they just kinda go "Yeah, no clue where he's at, Mikey. I'm sure he's fine, though ^-^"

that's all the things i have full ideas for atm but!! au where shit's still bad, but Cass is still alive and doing shit 👍

Yippee my sweet boi is alive!!! Also Cass and Mike setting up ways to know that it's Mike checking on cass and not will... my heart 🥺

Also I need to draw william wearing a crop top that says gaslight gatekeep girl boss.

(And henry wearing a shirt that says gaslight and has a gas can and a box of matches on it)

[heyits-asher]

😍 + uly!

There aren't a great many people that Ash finds he loves. He can make friends with more than most, but he can count on one hand those he extends his greatest care to. He never thought one of those fingers would be taken once he made it to California.

Los Angeles was a concrete maze of tourism and Hollywood lights that outshone the derelicts and everything grimy underneath. Ash has no fond memories of that city. Aurora Bay is better with that - not having thinly veiled lies to make it seem better than it is. It has the beach, a cozier vibe that isn't overwhelming, but the biggest pillar to his adjustment of beach town vibe had been none other than Ulysses Flynn.

It wasn't hard for Ash to fall into step beside him, to find a place there where he was welcomed and home. He didn't realize it until about two months in, hanging out on Uly's balcony, with the tobacco burning his throat and a heady buzz from shitty PBR tilting the world ever so slightly. They were teetering close to four in the morning. It was easy to lose track of time, he even said so.

"Y'know. When I'm around you, I don't worry or care about anything. Like, look - it's three forty three in the morning!" Ash holds his phone up where, through the crack that stretches corner to corner, the time reads. He pulls it back and extends his other arm out to ash the end of his cigarette. "It's cool, yeah? I'm not so busy overthinking things because it feels easy. You make things feel easy."

Does it make sense?

Ash takes another drag of his cigarette, letting it hang from his mouth so he can divide his attention between that and his phone. "You're easy to be around. I don't know if you know it, but I love it."

Uly quickly became someone Asher would consider family, because family has each other's backs, and Uly has proved that time and time again.

"Yo, dude. I think that guy was about to shit his pants!"

It was around October, when the chill started taking hold late in the evenings, fleeing the Reef after a near-altercation, and Asher was delivering a slap to Uly's shoulder.

A set of sticky fingers and a plucked wallet nearly ended with a fist to Asher's face. "He took one look at you and - psh, knew better. But y'know..." Ash waved up the wallet in one hand and the pack of American Spirits. "I might've double dipped." Oops.

But that was the thing. It didn't matter that this started because Asher had some morality issues. Technically, he did wrong, but Uly was there at his side. Some 'what if' questions over time told Ash that there wasn't much he could do that would change that. "Thanks for that. You're honestly probably the most loyal fucker I know."

Possibly, to a fault, but that is neither here nor there if you ask Ash.

There was a certain gratitude and fondness when he said to him, "It's, uh... thanks, man. For always being like my ride or die." Tried and true, always faithful, and his confidant.

Coming around closer to the New Year, he had felt like there was a lifetime between them, all packed into nine months. The night of his birthday, back in the Reef. He couldn't have been happier at that point. Gillian on one side, Uly on the other. He had his whole world there that night, plus many more. It didn't matter that he lost first round in the pool tournament.

"Thanks for coming." Of course he would. After the first few beers had started to soften the edges of his vision, it was already all too late from the amount of shots he'd had with them that Asher made a huge miscalculation in how much he actually consumed.

He let himself stumble outside, soppy and drunk, to get a touch of fresh air. "I didn't think i'd still be here, in this town, by the way. That's all you." He grins, and it reaches his eyes. "I didn't know Gillian was here before we met, or for even like a few months after, and I was close to hopping on a bus to find my feet somewhere else. But I stayed when we became friends. I stayed because I didn't want to leave here if it met leaving you."

The anchor that had kept Asher from floating too far off, his inevitable wandering brought to an end. He felt he had found his place here with someone he met only by chance. One 9-1-1 call for attempted theft would've ended all of that.

"Thanks for making this place home." And that was probably the thing that Asher loved most. Uly made him a home.

@ulyflynn

[creatress-corruption]

"Y'know, I used to slightly fear you."

At the sound of the ex-admin's voice, the man of legends head perks up from where he'd been intently staring Winslow down.

"Oh, and you're not anymore?" Herobrine asks, completely at ease and not even acknowledging his ridiculous look; both men wearing cat hoodies at Cassie's request.

Romeo gave him a blank stare. "No."

The glitch gave a huff, "Eh, I suppose you have nothing to fear either way, not being an Admin anymore and all..."

"You didn't hurt me all those centuries ago, though, back when I was an Admin."

The being pokes a finger into the cat's tummy, making him purr, "Had no reasons to, since you clearly weren't going to attack me. Which does remind me- how come you didn't?"

Romeo sorts through a box of things to distract himself a little, "I dunno," he shrugs, "Just... didn't want to?"

"Uh-huh, and completely ignore all those tales and stories and warnings? Huh, never met an Admin who did that..."

He let's out a sigh, "Yes, well, you hadn't done anything before that first time, and... well..."

Hero raises an eyebrow, and Romeo looks away, heat rising to his cheeks in embarrassment.

"Back then, I wasn't... in a good place. It was a mix of curiosity and..." He can't get the words out.

"You didn't care if I hurt you or not, did you?"

He stays silent, which is answer enough.

"Hm, well, guess that's answer enough, no need to dig up old memories for lil ol' me." Hero gives him a cheeky grin, sinking his hand into the calico cats fur. Romeo stares for a moment, lost in memory, when the door opens and Cassie walks in, Aiden behind her.

"Just put those boxes there- careful with that one! Oof," she wipes her brow, setting a shulker down. She gives the two (much) older men a look, "Well? When we agreed to live together, I assumed you'd actually put some work in, now chop-chop!" She gave a ragged sigh, "Jeez, why do you two have so much stuff?! It's ridiculous!"

Romeo gives a fond chuckle, ruffling her hair, and begins to unpack some stuff. Hero watches for a moment longer, eyes shining bright.

He thought about it, really did. But Romeo had come a long way, had even had that breakdown he joked about having all those months ago; the redhead was kind of past that sudden realisation about Terminal. Herobrine... didn't want to ruin the mood. Saying anything would also mean telling Xara, and- and Romeo told him he couldn't do that, sharing his suspicions (which were true) about the Terminal and Fred and everything.

So Herobrine keeps his mouth shut and helps them, giving the large happy kitty one final pet between the ears.

He'd tell Romeo later, when he wasn't still half-broken over what he realised. Right now... right now really wasn't a good time to tell him another Admin had been chosen.

-----

The words really flowed outta me here! Anyway it's been forever since I've posted anything so I decided to do this. It has some of my headcanons sprinkled in. I wanna do some Herobrine/Admin/Terminal headcanon-story stuff but I'm still figuring out how to put it into words

(Also, if anyone wants to ask me about my headcanons, go ahead! I know I'd love to ask people about theirs)

[ofluminance-a]

emma's au post.. y'know: i am sure those of you reading thing understand what happens to emma, so i'm not going to reiterate for spoilers sake. however, please note that everything under the cut will contain spoilers !!

i hated that emma died. and because it was in the past, that it was a final death. i understand why kisaki did it. i also understand how her death was necessary to further the plot ( like baji ;__; ) but! i also think, she could have lived, even in canon. ( baji too but he's not my muse. )

all the backstory of emma doing karate and watching her brothers grow up so big and strong: it's the one thing she always wanted to be. strong. she wanted to be like her big brothers so so badly. so much so, it's often why she's always around them.

she's never had too many girl friends. in fact, hina is probably of the few. while she does love fashion, and all things girly-- emma, as a young girl. also loved karate. she also loved sparring with her brothers and would always sit close and watch shinichiro work on his bikes for the shop. nothing mattered to emma more than spending time with her family, because.. she finally had one.

at first she felt as though she didn't quite fit in. she was a hesitant and a lot of times, a shy young girl. but with her brothers offerings of a smile and a few words of encouragement, emma would always come around, and perk right up. she didn't know the meaning of family until walking into her brother's home, and to this day, she's actually happy for her unfortunate circumstances, and prefers being with mikey.

as for the bat incident in au settings: emma did get hit by the bat. badly. but she didn't die. she held on until mikey could get her to the hospital and survived through surgery and was placed into an induced coma for months to reduce the swelling to her cranium. it took her a very long time to recover, and there are moments in the aftermath where emma still suffers the trauma of what happened: migraines, headaches, eye strain in the sun, etc.

she also will never look at a bat the same way again.

because of what happened to her, when she does fully recover, she's also changed her mindset on the way she chooses to live her life. no more running in fear, and being useless on the sidelines. she finds herself with karate again, and puts a lot of her strength back into her body from her training with it. next time, she doesn't want have to be protected: emma sano will protect herself.

** obviously, i still have some reading to catch up on. it's been a few years since i've read / watched tr so as i refresh myself, this above is all subject to change! but as of june 2023, i am running with these thoughts on her.

[dirtyoldmanhole]

chapter twenty six, part one of three because this is detailed af.

...

ugh. my heart, man.

as much as i've been ironically joking about (waves hand) most everything, this is legitimately going to hurt. the first playthrough was more about figuring out wtf happened. this one? this one i'm going to feel every line. cuz here's the thing.

it'd be one thing if gunter had your typical villain arc and having fun with this chapter all the way through, god knows i appreciate somebody who can go ham in an entertaining way.

here though?

this is his second worst day of his life. only second because the first was.... bad.

not to be all gross ass feels on the literal hornyblog but. you spend four months writing a literal 100k word fanfiction with this guy in your head, you're going to get attached to some degree, y'know?

...

all right.

last time we left off, we fought possessed!sumeragi, and there was a genuinely touching death scene between the hoshidan kids.

(it's a pity the nohrian ones never really have that same emotional catharsis/closure that the hoshidan ones, either with garon or their own nameless mothers. gunter's really the only nohrian parent (figure?) around, and that's more with corrin specifically.

ugh fuck, you know what I just realized? remember that "you can't stop believing in everyone?" line he lowkey threw back at her in last chapter. this one:

gunter's going into this confrontation genuinely thinking this is the betrayal that will break her. that's one of the reasons why he's so bitter.

he's thinking to himself 'no you won't, not with me :) ~' all sardonically. and holding that little poisonous resentment close to his chest with the fucking closet of all the others. again, anankos is less possessing him like a puppet and more about tweaking all of his most uncharitable resentments and bumping the intensity of those up.

and the man has. a fuck ton. of resentments.

anyway, everyone's all huddled by the next set of doors, saying the vallite king is behind them. (big ol' red flag by nintendo that it's somebody other than anankos, b/c why would the title suddenly change?)

they charge in to find the throne room (complete with stark throne) very empty.

then surprise attack fireballs, enter left.

(actually that's interesting, anankos obviously juiced gunter up enough that he can unleash some pretty potent magic divine shit. normally gunter has zero magic to save his life.)

fireballs target everyone but corrin and azura.

(clever, clever sir. )

(really, you almost had them all fooled. in another world you could have wiped them out remarkably easily.)

also: note the emphasis on the royalty. you can practically hear anankos leaning down hard on his resentment of royalty to hear that menace of satisfaction.

ohhhhh holy shit

guess what i also just realized. the shots where corrin/gunter are there? ANANKOS' MASK IS LITERALLY IN BETWEEN (in the background).

holy FUCK that is some brilliant as hell cinematography. anankos ""literally"""" being his mask / the malignant presence blocking their communication/trust/etc. jesus, whoever did these shots needs a raise.

gunter gives it all he's got.

bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.

interesting .... that was your idea all along, wasn't it, encouraged by anankos? "lure the royals in the one place and kill them all"

(it's all projection, all the way down in this conversation.)

heh i didn't actually realize i'd be so bang on the mark there, actually, with the last post. (I had forgotten the specific details of this conversation).

...

man, I just feel for corrin here so bad.

like (waves hand) ship stuff aside, at minimum this is the one guy she's trusted for the longest sustained time as a background parental figure. corrin really has not had a single fucking authority figure other than him present. like, at all. who (a) could, and (b) gave a shit enough about her to mentor her with the basic stuff.

this betrayal really does blindside her.

okay, the scarlet stuff is not as interesting, imo, to his characterization to him really harping in on the vallite royalty part.

part of it is that's his cover story, right.

but remember that "interesting" line from him when shit all the sudden went sideways, when corrin found out she's vallite royalty?

lord, you can practically hear anankos piledrive on his hatred when that revelation all but slapped him in the face. beforehand he was somewhat likely to give corrin a chance, but after that...

and i really do think he always hated corrin, to an alarmingly large degree.

(love's closer to hate than apathy, as the line goes.

and i think that was nowhere more accurate than with their bond.)

....

goddamn i can hear the vitrol in these lines.

"I wasn't sure now" yeah, corrin was really lowkey suspecting him when he pointed the finger at azura the last chapter. she's learning.

a little too late, maybe, but she's learning.

all right, i ran out of the image maximum and this is a decent stopping point for a breather, onwards to part two.

[doueverwonder]

👀

okay so I MAY have talked about this one before I don't remember BUT

AusHun human au, they live in Vienna at the beginning of the story Erzsébet is a kindergarten teacher, Roderich owns a tailor shop; they have four kids Liesl, Ludwig, Edith, and Franz.

The family is going through a tough time, the shop isn't doing well and Erzsébet's teaching salary can't cover everything, Liesl is about to graduate and is infatuated with the idea of taking over the family business, refusing to believe that it's going under. Ludwig got expelled from school for reasons I haven't decided yet. Edith is on the verge of getting kicked out bc she's a firecracker of a child who likes getting in fights and talking back to her teachers. Franz is really little and hasn't purposefully done anything, but he kinda set the story off by... being born? like they had only planned on two kids, and lived comfortably with two kids. They had Edith and were still okay, she was kind of a surprise but it was alright.

Then when Franz was born is was legitimate panic, the store had already been going down hill, and it was very much "one more person in this family and we will be barely scraping by"; they figure it out. Somehow. But by the time Franz is two there is no more figuring it out, or scraping by.

Roderich sold the shop without telling Erzsébet. Didn't tell anyone for that matter, packed everything up, handed over the keys to the storefront two days later. By that point in time it was just costing them money, better of selling it than trying to revive the business. She was reasonably mad at him, because you don't make those decisions without consulting your spouse first.

As if this all isn't enough I have more set up conflict; Roderich is Jewish, Erzsébet is Catholic. Both of their families are unfortunately not okay with that, and when they got married anyway both got disowned. Through an aunt or distant cousin that Erzí still talks to sometimes, it got back to Erzsébet's family that they were struggling financially. and in an asshole move her family came to her and said "If you divorce him, you can bring the kids and come live with us" She obviously laughed in their faces, called them idiots and quit contact with anyone she was still talking to.

Roderich's family's opinion was a little more complicated; bc Roderich's family had been nudging him in the direction of a certain girl since he was a teenager bc y'know helicopter parents who have to determine who is worthy of their son. He actually dating her, for three years, they ended up engaged. Four months into being engaged he met Erzsébet, a month later he called off the wedding. And like, where it gets complicated on Roderich's side is he could have been happy, he could have made it work with his former fiancee. But when he met Erzí he realized he could have a marriage where he didn't have to 'make it work'. His family was more mad at him for breaking off an engagement, the fact that Erzsébet wasn't Jewish was really just a cherry on top in the situation.

ANYWAY This does however open the gate for someone else to make an offer; Erzsébet's parents had divorced when she was very young like four years old. Her mother had disowned her when she married Roderich, and her father wasn't extremely present. They spoke once or twice every few weeks, he sent her birthday cards, he had seen plenty of pictures of his grandkids, but they weren't part of each others lives. He hears through snippets of things she says, and the grapevine that they're struggling, and says "Why don't you come live with me in Budapest?" she confirms he's serious (and has the room for six extra people) and then promises to talk to Roderich about it.

Long story short, they move to Budapest right before the new school year starts. I know that's all just backstory but the rest of the fic is kinda boring and not completely thought out yet. Liesl is out of school and figuring out being an adult in an entire new place than where she grew up, Ludwig is getting some stereotypical Coming Of Age lessons, Edith probably gets one of those 'troubled kid finds an outlet and is actually really good at it' arcs, Franz just chills and becomes his grandpas favorite. Roderich reopens his shop, Erzsébet gets to reconnect with her father (some very sappy scenes to follow). It's just a... the world was falling apart but we got through it and everything okay now.

[iturbide]

Sorry you don't mind me asking a few 5, 9, 11, 18, and 23 from the video game ask.

Thank you.

I don't mind at all! 💖

Game(s) coming out that you’re looking forward to

You know at one point in time I would have said Final Fantasy XVI, but everything I've heard for months about it has been a never-ending trash fire so now I'm mostly looking forward to it to see how bad it is.

I'm kind of interested in the new Prince of Persia game that they just announced, though? That could be interesting -- it's the first Prince of Persia they've put out in more than a decade at this point, since the Sands of Time Remake has been mired in development hell, and while I'm forever bitter they didn't continue the story from 2008, this one looks very stylish and could be worth looking into.

Also: Hades II.

A game you played completely blind with no prior knowledge of and enjoyed/loved

For recent games, I might actually have to go with God of War 2018 and God of War: Ragnarok again for this one, because it's very hard to go into games blind anymore. It used to be the norm, but spoilers are everywhere at this point: I knew the time travel twist of Awakening years before I played it, and the same is true of Breath of the Wild since I was so late to the party there. But God of War isn't a franchise I followed, so I knew nothing about the 2018 installment before I picked it up, and was blown away by what they did with it -- then I started Ragnarok on Release Day and blazed through it as fast as I could. I had no idea what was coming, and it was a glorious experience.

For older games, though...I'm going to say Assassin's Creed III, in part because of the tutorial chapters and how that reveal five hours in that you've been playing as a Templar sets up the core ethos of the game so well: that the Assassins and the Templars aren't as different as they claim to be. No heroes, only flawed and complicated human beings doing what they feel is right to try and make a better world, and how they don't always succeed despite their best intentions.

Do you prefer ‘blank slate’ main characters you make yourself or otherwise project onto, or characters with a set personality and backstory?

I think it really depends on the game. Some stories really benefit from having a character with a set personality and backstory because it informs how they interact within the setting: Kratos with his history in Greece and his war against the pantheon is ideally suited for the story of God of War 2018, because those experiences guide how he interacts with his son -- and growing out of that mold, learning to be more open with Atreus and be better than the man he used to be is part of the game's emotional core. That wouldn't work with a blank slate character, because they won't necessarily have that baggage to work through that makes the story so impactful.

By contrast, there are games where a blank slate protagonist is a great choice. Games with dialogue options are a great place to explore this because they let the player project themselves or their vision of the character into the world better than set scenes would otherwise allow. My understanding is that Dragon Age does this well, but I haven't played that one, so I have to fall back on Elder Scrolls and my boy The Worst Dragonborn who keeps forgetting about the main questline because he'd rather read every book in the Whiterun Library and get suckered into helping every little old lady that needs to cross the street rather than. Y'know. Figure out what the deal is with the dragons. Very fun having so many options for what to do and who to join, lots of great character-building potential.

A game location you really like

There are so many places in games that I really love. Honestly one of my oldest favorites is probably the first Assassin's Creed, specifically Jerusalem: the golden glow of that city, especially compared to the cold and dreary grey of Acre, was just glorious, and I loved the view of the Dome of the Rock.

Honorable mention to basically all of Wind Waker, though. I love the sailing in that game, the water has so much character in that game (the stormy seas, the way you'll rise and fall with the waves, the texture changes between little white wave caps and still dappled waters). I've never had as much fun sailing in another game, and I was hooked on the Assassin's Creed: Black Flag sea shanties -- sailing in that game was just a chore that the shanties made more bearable.

A “Wow” moment of awe

All of Journey? So much of journey. That sand slide passage, silhouetted against the setting sun against a sea of shining gold...and the ascendance at the end, too, from the top of the mountain up above the clouds (something that's even more glorious with a companion).

Also: end of Okami, with Issun spreading his paintings and restoring mankind's belief in the gods to give Ammy the power to defeat Yami. I have my issues with the ending of Okami and the sudden tonal shift from Japanese folklore to high-tech aliens, but that particular scene hits perfectly even now. I inevitably tear up at that part.

🎮 Video Game Asks 🎮

[thecryptidprincess]

I got hella scammed.

This is a long ass thread so strap in, folks.

So, two weeks ago I was looking for apartments on every website possible to find a place to live in New Hampshire (so I could be closer to my boyfriend and find a better job and, y'know, eventually get a car so it would be easier to find a place to live together and all that jazz) so I found this neato little place on Craigslist. It was within my budget so I reached out to the person who posted it and they seemed legit. We have multiple email threads going back and forth discussing the apartment, and I was like cool I'm in. I signed the lease (it was an extremely legit looking lease), sent payments for rent and security via PayPal, and renter's insurance, and was supposed to go see the place yesterday on Sunday and get my keys and I thought I was all set.

Well, this is where the realization comes in. The person wasn't getting back to me after Friday, wasn't telling me what time to go view the apartment, so on a whim and a gut feeling I went over to where the apartment was. It was nice, but then a nice man came out of the building and was talking to me about why I was there. I told him why, but I didn't realize I gave the wrong street number when I was talking to him. He went to walk his dog and I checked the lease again and realized that man I was just talking to came out of the unit of the building I was supposed to be viewing. I'm feeling a lot of things at this moment. The man comes back and I tell him what I've discovered. Turns out, this guy I'm talking to is the ACTUAL LANDLORD of the building and he lives in that unit on the property. I'm upset. I'm almost on the verge of tears and he talks to me about what I should do. He's nice enough to give me a ride to the police department and I report the fraud. I'm crying in the police department, of course, but I have all the PayPal information as well as a Chime Bank account number with a name attached plus email on email on email of correspondence I've had with this supposed "manager" of the property. The police are now investigating the crime since the amount of money I sent makes this not a misdemeanor, but a fucking felony.

I get back on the train to get back home, and I'm feeling like I got hit by a truck. I lost my job, barely was working, I have more credit card debt because I can't even pay my credit card off and I have late medical bills, and now I'm scammed out of so much money that my dad helped with because he wants me out of my current apartment due to the abhorrent conditions and amount of rent I pay.

I went to the bank this morning to tell them of the fraud, HOWEVER, due to the way the payments were made there is limits to what the fraud department can do to get the money back.

I feel so lost. I feel so unmotivated. I've been kicked so many times while down these past month I can't even see a dim light at the end of the tunnel. I can't afford food. I can't afford to pay my bills. I've hit the lowest point of my life, and I don't know how to keep going. I'm feeling so many different emotions. Sadness, anger, shame, guilt, just...everything. I just wanted one thing to work out, and at this point, I don't know how to make things work anymore. It's been a shit time.

[baby-charlie-blog]

Well...

The other day I rediscovered and cracked the login info to this ancient account. The idea of posting another update to my whopping 31 definitely-now-defunct followers is too funny to pass up. Only about uhhh... 8 years give or take since my last post.

I actually sent the link to my current boyfriend, joking how all these posts feel like they were made 10 personalities ago. Maybe not completely, I do appreciate having a lot of it here still. Some stuff didn't make the cut on my main blog (where I have a much more well-maintained archive of the past 8 years of Charlie's life)- little thoughts, feelings and time stamped milestones are nice to look back on, albeit a short lived blogging project!

I'll just hit the highlights Sparknotes style:

🩵 Charlie is now 8 years old, almost 9. Today was his last day of 2nd grade! He likes video games, science and math are his favorite subjects in school (barring extracurriculars, where he really likes music), and he takes piano lessons on the weekends!

🩵 His dad and I did not end up buying a house. I mentioned "looking at houses in the area" in at least one of the last few posts here. In fact, I was quite delulu at 19 years old to be honest (27 this month). Extremely wishful thinking, we were never on track to buy a house. We split up shortly after my last updates, around when Charlie was 1. We had ups and downs but ultimately split amicably, and share time with him now. For that reason, I intend not to touch the bio or layout of this blog, for the archival purpose it serves. However, we are both very much in new, happy relationships and Charlie has 2 younger brothers at dad's house.

🩵 As a result of the split, we ended up staying with my parents in the following years. In 2017 we got the opportunity to move out with a platonic roommate and her child the same age as Charlie. That was honestly a fantastic arrangement, until it abruptly wasn't and we went separate ways in 2019. Back to my parents house, where we stayed put for the next couple of years riding out the Covid times and getting back on my feet financially.

🩵 Just this past year, December of 2022 we got the opportunity to move into our own place, just us! It's been stressful, challenging, sometimes lonely, but wonderful. At one of my previous jobs, I met a coworker who had a daughter Charlie's age and another just a couple years younger. We got close to them and went over to their house a lot, she was also a single mom who split time with her ex. Every Friday, they set up camp in the living room and had movie and pizza night, just the three girls. Ever since witnessing that, I knew I wanted to give Charlie the same- I wanted to have a place that was "our own," where we could make fun rituals as a little 2 person family, and he'd always know our place is his place first. Not us and a roommate, not boyfriends who are in and out. Just us. That if we add to our family someday, he would never feel alienated- because first it was us, and I would always do everything in my power to give him somewhere safe and stable. Our own place was a very important step to me for a long time.

All's to say, the economy is in shambles- and rent is through the roof. I don't know what the best move will be when our lease cycle ends in September. I would do just about anything to stay in our little place another lease cycle, but barring a big change in my income- the best move is undeniably looking like going back with my parents for one more year to knock out debts that have accrued and get my savings back up, in order to seriously pursue owning when we make our next move. I think about it and weigh the options daily at this point, time will tell.

🩵 I dropped out of whatever classes I was enrolled in when I was active here. My grades slipped at the time (I was raising a baby, y'know), and as a contingency to stay at my parents house they wanted me to pursue cosmetology school. So I did, I spent a year getting licensed and did hair for about 3 more years post graduation. I didn't like it very much by the third quarter of the program, but I did what I had to do because it was the only option I had. While doing hair I put myself back in community college online. When I just couldn't take the hours and financial stressors of hairstyling anymore, I made the move to childcare. I worked as a preschool teacher for 2 years- I loved it, I was able to take Charlie with me and get a heavy discount on his childcare while I worked. I was in it all through the peak of the Covid era which was a very fever-dreamlike experience to reminisce on now. A livable income was unfortunately just not there either, and I made two short-sighted & short-lived jumps to being 1) Bank Rep in person and 2) Insurance Customer Service Rep at home. They paid better, but the work was just awful. Ultimately, I switched gears both in school and in my career to marketing. I’ll be done with my B.S. in Spring of 2024, and already work full-time in a Marketing department for a small company. I love what I do now. I definitely see this being the field that I stick with long term, even if I do change companies from where I currently am to chase a higher salary.

Whew... That's the condensed version of events of the past 8 years, believe it or not.

It's been a whirlwind of enormous highs and lows for me, personally. I've gained and lost people, individuals, groups, friendships, relationships, grades, jobs, money, credit scores- the only constant in this life is my love for Charlie. The days are exhausting and can be very grueling but at the same time in the blink of an eye we're driving home from the last day of 2nd grade, and he's more aptly called a "tweenager" than the "baby" who was the initial subject of this blog. It's bittersweet- to see him grow up so fast, but adoring how he grows through each new phase into the intelligent and caring little boy he is.

I'd like to say I'll post more in the future, but I wouldn't want to make false promises to my 31 adoring fans for the next year or 8. Maybe, just maybe, someday in the future I'll take up my hobby for mommy blogging again, who knows what's to come.

Here is a picture of my dude this morning before school. The whole last week of school was spirit week, and today the final theme was "tropical." I think he was born to play the part of a middle-aged Floridian guy who just wants to kick back, personally.