#Hey guess which character is back that nobody ever wants!

[spacexseven]

Hey! just wanted to say that I love your blog, your writing and opinions are a blessing! I don't know if this counts as a request (I know they are closed, so don't mind me if it counts as a request) but what are your thoughts about demon! Dazai and Demon! Chuuya?

i just got reminded of obey me after reading this lol :< sorry devildom

cw: yandere characters, murder in chuuya's part

demon dazai is as insufferable as you'd expect, clinging onto the edges of your dreams and trying to beckon you over with sweet, sweet promises (all of which, naturally, are lies). he invades your space at any given moment, spreading his influence all over your home, your mind, and your body. don't complain—wasn't it you who summoned him?

maybe you thought it was a silly joke, some decrepit book you found in the back of a crumbling bookstore; after all, who'd have thought that all it took to summon a demon was a random assortment of objects and a dark room? regardless, it works, and now there's a real demon in your room and he's staring at you with the creepiest grin that's definitely going to haunt you. nobody told you that it'd be this horrible to have a demon around. dazai, as you find out, has a wide range of abilities apart from being freakishly big and a pain in the ass.

you find out about his ability to infiltrate minds the painful way when one day, while you're sulking about how unlucky you were to get this annoying freeloader of a demon stuck on earth, you feel a strange fog fill your mind, latching onto your every thought and slowly tainting them all. suddenly, you find yourself thinking that dazai's...pretty attractive, with his sculpted hands and his sharp gaze and his...malicious grin...? you're snapped out of your spiral to the sound of dazai's uncontrollable laughter, sharp teeth out on display. it occurs to you then that the sudden feeling of undeniable attraction was one of his stupid tricks, and you had never felt more embarrassed. but even after that, you couldn't silence that strange voice in your mind, the one that fanatically worshipped dazai at every moment like a fervent devotee of a great god. things were only made worse by the fact that dazai always seemed to know exactly how to make it grow worse, coming far too close to you and stroking your face with too-warm hands. then, he starts marking his territory in bizarre ways. you'd come home to find him rolling around in your sheets, declaring it to be his bed now and that you could always ask him nicely to share if you wanted him to. he messed around with your things constantly, scribbling symbols on the wall that he claimed were to protect you from other demons, and even offered to mark you, to your horror.

dazai, you hate to admit, is wonderful at luring you in with enticing words, promising you an abundance of anything you could ever want in exchange for allowing him to possess you at will. he's particularly good at easing you in, voice soft, hands cradling you, words purposeful and tempting—but the moment he mentioned anything about possession, however, the fantasy shattered and you ran out of his arms, managing to wipe clean your mind of his saccharine whispers.

he takes competition very seriously. while he loves playing with you, he doesn't want anyone else to see the same expressions you show him; your delight, your irritation, your shock—did you even know how adorable you were? the day you happen to invite a friend over, however, is when you learn that out of all his numerous abilities and skills, the one dazai's best at is the most gruesome, and the more violent one by far.

chuuya's a bit of a strange case. apparently, you've got yourself some enemies, and they thought that the best way to torment you was by sticking a demon onto you through a complicated process, and now, chuuya's forced to be with you...for eternity.

"i don't want to be here either," he snarled, fangs out and eyes glaring at you in response to your earlier screams.

you guessed he was supposed to kill you, but he only shrugs and turns away from you, saying that he won't be taking orders from a puny little human. according to chuuya, humans are foolish and weak little creatures, and he has no interest in abiding by their desires. for all his talk, however, it becomes painfully obvious that he can't actually go against the wishes of the curser, who had wanted him to torment you forever. he must be livid, knowing that he was under the orders of an insignificant, selfish human.

you liked to think that the two of you were...getting along, or at least, he could stand your presence in the same room without threatening to kill you and unleash eternal torment onto your bloodline. but with time, he seemed to relax around you, and you saw that there was more to chuuya than the angry, brooding exterior. for one, he was a big fan of wine, spending an exorbitant amount of money on bottles and bottles. he also seemed to delight in scaring you, loving to keep you on edge. his favorite trick is always when you're waking up from sleep, your dreams haunted by him. before you can fully sober up, he lets out a growl, watching with glee as you freeze up and shoot back under the covers. you realized belatedly that he really was doing what he was supposed to do here—make your life a living hell.

but sometimes, he does things you can't understand. despite his obvious disdain for his current situation, he refused to help you find ways to actually end the curse. when you're finally told that the person who cast the curse may be the only one who can lift it, chuuya disappears for the night without a word. the next day, he comes to you with a wicked grin, clothes painted a dark red and fingernails crusted with brown. in his hands, what you can identify as a head.

[kharmii]

The slutty pose in manga form.

I'm done watching the Black Clover anime so should move on to the manga, but instead I found a bunch of visually appealing Zora panels on Twitter:

Where they left off in the anime was kind of good but kind of aggravating at the same time. I liked how it was finally revealed who Yuno actually was. That would mean he's not in the running with Asta for Wizard King, like I was hoping they'd be co-Wizard Kings someday. They have that 'Two Halves of a Whole' aesthetic with their one wing on opposite sides of their bodies...light and dark.

They went and introduced new characters right in the last couple episodes. I thought Liebe was cute with his Inosuke voice. Nacht came across a douche. He reminds me of Volo with his smiling all the time but having a contract with a demon (like how Volo has the relationship with Giratina but he's secretive about it whereas Nacht is out in the open). I didn't like how Nacht said he hated the Black Bulls only focusing on their faults without acknowledging their virtues. I'm like...screw you then, Dick Bag.

Whoa, behind you!

Look at that sexy mofo. At the end of the anime, the fights with demons drug on too long. I was sitting there thinking, "Ya know...I wish my guy Zora would get more screen time. -Like they could have him in the bath, and Gordon would spawn like a Minecraft creeper saying, 'Hey bestest best friend Zora. How about I wash your back, and then you wash mine?' Zora would reply, 'I'm down..' (Because that's an actual running joke. *eyebrow wiggle*)"

How many aura points does Zora get for putting his arm around the Wizard King and giving him rizz eyes when they've only just met?

NOOOO!!!! Don't die Zora!!1!1! -Or maybe the thing just wants to disintegrate Zora's clothes, like, "I've seen most of it, and now I want to see the rest."

This is a good look for Zora. (Sassy hand on hip).

Do you mean it like 'back door to Hollywood' you hoe?

The gang of delinquents.

Zora's secret base where he puts together the most complex spells ever made.

I'm guessing that's not a fist bump between bros. Zora has the runes written on his own body, which means he's in real trouble. I hope they animate the rest of the manga someday because it's probably epic, and my guy gets more screen time.

The Purple Orcas cape covers up too much tiddies.

*A non-Zora related side note* I like how they prettied up the based Praying Mantis Guy (kekek), like I used to ship Jack x Nobody, but he's in the running now.

[oetscop]

hey! absolutely love your art and your rainer interpretation- can you talk about your headcanons lore-wise involving rainer and mike? honestly you can talk about more than just those two as well i'm very curious about your interpretations honestly.

YOOO I LOVE UR RAINER ALSO thank u.....

this will hopefully not be complete word salad. bc my brains fried already, but my views on petscop characters are esoteric and best and downright incomprehensible at worst. so idk how legible this will be JDKSHSKSBSK

uhh ill start with like. jill is significantly older than anna and lina. rainers actually fairly close in age to anna.

rainers biological dad isnt in the picture and actually went missing a few years after him and jill divorced. it runs in the family i guess. but since tom was there longer hes only ever called him dad, and both jill and him took the last name hammond when they got married. and mike was actually an accident! a welcome one tho. jill and tom were in their 40s and rainer was like 16 or so.

they were very close tho! he was very close with his immediate family. for the brief time he was in college he still lived at home despite the commute.

mike would sit and watch him work on the game all the time. he wanted him to teach him how to code (thats why he created the "petscop kids" after school program! at first anyway...) but 5-6 year olds dont exactly have the attention span for explaining how the dev kit console works. unless theyre belle i guess. but he did get into art! and considering rainers also an artist he encouraged it. mike would sometimes draw his own pets to be put in the game, but since it never went past evencare they never showed up. he did sorta base toneth on mike, and that was before he based any of the other pets on other family members.

mike went missing shortly after rainers mental health was declining. he ran away after some argument with his mom, and nobody remembers what the argument was even about. since this was after marvin hit the dog with the car, and he was beginning to experience psychosis, he immediately made the connection and believed marvin had something to do with it. the cops found it a little suspicious that rainer somehow just knew he had been struck by a car, and he was the only suspect for quite a while. tom had to vouch for him pretty hard and get him a lawyer.

as for vaguer things. the newmaker plane was started in an attempt to find out where mike wouldve run to. he was already recording movements in game, so he put all of mikes in game behaviors into a to scale version of their town, trying to train it to show him where he couldve gone. this obviously didnt work. didnt help that it was completely flat terrain and like had only their house, the marks house, the school and like a couple roads. it actually lead him to the opposite side of the town than where his body was located.

marvin is ALSO severely mentally ill and was convinced that care was lina reborn before any of this happened. obviously anna didnt believe that since shes still. yknow. alive. but rainer introduced the A/B/NLM concept to him, and they both began to believe care was just lina A reborn. pre traumatic event lina. they were both trying to see if they could somehow force something like that to occur, in an attempt to bring mike A back. when belle didnt work, they figured she was too old, so they moved to care. part of this whole "changing your past" thing involved plucking out her eyebrows (lina A had trich) and essentially trying to reenact aforementioned traumatic event. thats why marvin kidnapped her to keep her in the school. and it didnt work! just traumatized the fuck outta the kid. they never had the chance to do anything to "bring mike back" by the end of it, which lead to Bathroom Tomb Event. however, last belle heard, he was pretty certain paul was actually mike A. she tried her best to keep that from paul before they became distant.

i feel like the core of a lot of this is that i really dont believe that the rebirthing process does anything at all. with enough manipulation you may start developing false memories, sure, but its not actually working. in retrospect it makes rainers character a lot sadder. just a terrified kid trying in vain to bring his baby brother back. its not easy losing someone so young in such a horrible way without knowing who took his life.

BUT UUHHH YEAH ^}^ can you tell ive been thinking abt petscop pretty much nonstop since the end of 2022 i bet you cant

[pep-the-artemis]

Thads Shindig

A Murder Drones Story Containing every named character+more (yes all ~50 of them, some never seen before, full cast list in tags)!

part 1.

word count - 4,448

Uzi - *playing a video game*

N - *entering*Hi Uzi… last week was… kinda wild.

Uzi - *unattentive*yep.

N - you know with the whole Eldritch J thing that was pretty insane, proms coming up which I guess is exciting. Because you know this story is set somewhere between episode 2 and 3.

Uzi - *still not listening*cool… Hey, I’ve got a second controller if you want to play video game with me.

N - you know I don’t like video game Uzi, plus we have to go soon.

Uzi - wait… go where?

N - well it's Thad’s shindig soon.

Uzi - oh cool, I’ll be heading offline in a minute anyway, this old hag—*reading username* SeaweedLoverXD has just been spawn camping me for the last half hour.

Nori - *over the mic* OLD HAG?

Uzi - *putting on headset*yeah, you virgin loser, you heard me!

Nori - Virgin?! Well I’ll have you know little miss Nobody, I am a mother of a darling daughter and if I ever caught her saying anything remotely similar to the insults you’ve been throwing my way I wouldn’t hesitate washing her mouth out with soap and water!

Uzi - whatever, die mad. *logs off*

*Meanwhile in a distant spaceship*

J - [you died idiot]

J - ughh, my head [Lost Memory Recovery Finished]... oh … oh! ... I liked that pen. 

J - *getting out of bed only to lose balance and collapse on the floor* … I’m okay! That was strange… My limb enhancements! Where are my limb enhancements?! *mad* Tessa! *pouting* Right now I bet I look like a common toaster! And why is it so dark? Are we conserving energy now?!

J - *walking through the spaceship arriving at a door labelled ‘Tessa. Knock first’*

J - *opening the door to a pitch black messy room,a pool of oil and blood pools out of the room*

Flesha - GET OUT!*throws Tessa’s helmet square at J cracking her visor slightly before slamming the door shut*

J - Tessa… I’m sorry.

Flesha - Learn to knock!

J - *picking up Tessa’s helmet* I think you dropped this.

Flesha - … *slowly opens the door slightly before lashing out and snatching the helmet quickly with a black tendril before retreating back into the room. Grotesque, bone cracking sounds follow*

J - …m,may I come in.

Tessa - sure, please mind the mess. I usually try to keep things clean but I guess you can say I haven't really been myself.

J - *entering* You know I’ve been reading some human literature and ‘arrogance and comedy’ are generally not considered a good coping mechanism.

Tessa - oh so you’re an expert on my well being are you?

J - your parents instructed me to protect you so yes!

Tessa - Well, look how that turned out! You’ve seen what's left of me, of what I become, I am a monster!

J - We’re all monsters Tessa, in our own way. I can see you're tired, I am here to grab my limb enhancers then I will be off.

Tessa - oh… yeah, I’ve been making modifications, it's still really buggy, they need more time though.

J - can’t I just borrow N's spare set? Been wondering what having feet feels like.

Tessa - no… I’ve been thinking, breaking into the Worker Drones commune is difficult, entering by force is doing little good and the plan to try and hack its main frame has only led to many complications.

J - you can code?

Tessa - nope. Like I said, complications. Anyhow, returning to the subject, right now no one could differentiate you from any other worker so you can head down and do some spy work… like James Bond and such.

J - do I have any say in this?

Tessa - nope.

J - *annoyed* then I’ll prepare my landing pod. *leaving* and Tessa, you shouldn’t just allow Cyn to walk over you…

Tessa - It's her body as much as mine and without it I would be dead.

*meanwhile, in the commune*

Doll - Мать. Отец. 

Doll - Ты будешь гордиться мной

Doll - Получите ответы и освободите вас

Doll - Не волнуйтесь, чего бы это ни стоило,

Doll - я ухожу

Doll - И я клянусь прямо сейчас

Doll - Что бы не случилось со мной

Doll - Любой, кто встанет или встанет на моем пути, заплатит

Doll - Они... будут... платить

Lizzy - hey babe, quit praying to the corpses of your dead parents, we have a party to attend.

Doll - иду :3

*meanwhile deep underground*

V - *carrying a large pile of dead worker drones while being chased by a horde of Sentinels* oh RoboLord oh RoboLord oh RoboLord oh RoboLord oh RoboLord oh RoboLord oh RoboLord why did I agree to this! *runs through door and slams it shut*

Alice - hey looky here, another one of those slick murder drones.

V - *shoots her in the centre of her head*

Beau - O.O!!!!!

V - What are you looking at… well I had to kill her? That was a perfectly sane reaction to seeing someone that creepy!...*picking up Alice's dead body* hey, you seem pretty cool, want to join me, I’m heading to a party.

Beau - O.O…*réaliser qu'un refus peut signifier la mort* 👍

*meanwhile in the doorman home*

Uzi - come on N. How are you still not ready?!

N - I’m still doing my hair!

Uzi - well hurry up, we’re going to be late!

Khan - well where are you two kids heading off too?

Uzi - a party, it's cool kids only so obviously you’re not invited.

Khan - haha, on account of me not being a kid.

Uzi - sure. Let's go with that.

Khan - well, I hope you two kids have fun. Make sure you use protection.

Uzi - *blushing* DAD!!! What the robo-hell?!

Khan - What? I’m just saying there could still be some of those evil murder drones running around.

Uzi - oh |: 

Kahn - well, I best be heading off too, it's poker night at the defence force. *leaves*

N - hey Uzi, I’m ready… How do I look?

Uzi - *hiding her blushing* great, let's go!

*meanwhile outside the commune*

Reid - *searching around the snow*

J - *wearing a fake moustache*what are you doing here, don’t you know this is Disassembly Drone territory.

Reid - oh hi, i didn’t see you there… Wait, what's a Disassembly Drone?

J - …you misheard me… I said Murder Drones.

Reid - Well, if you have to know, I’m looking for my glasses, and I don’t think the Disassembly Drone will be any issue, after the redemption and all.

J - Well, I’m lost, do you mind helping me find my way to the commune.

Reid - I’ll show the way once I’ve found the glasses.

J - ughh, I will help you find your glasses.

*searching*

J - are these your glasses?

Reid - …no, how curious, I wonder who they belong to? 

J - don’t care *tosses Vs glasses away* lets just find your glasses quickly then we can be off.

*meanwhile in the distant spaceship*

Tessa - *meddling with Js new limb enhancers and optic sensors* What do you want? (I’m bored sister, may I go and play). Not now, I’m currently using the body, can it wait? (no)... does it have to be flesh (digital will be fine) very well. *she zips back part of her suit allowing for a long Absolute Tendril to rip out. From the tendrils eye, a projection emerges*

Cyn - Thanks big sister big smile.

Tessa - *soldering* I can't play right now, there's some lego in the cupboard over there.

Cyn - :3

Tessa - *thinking to herself*What is J doing?! How has she still not yet made it to the commune!

Cyn - *surrounded by lego*you think she might be a traitor.

Tessa - no.

Cyn - lying is silly big sister, I live in your mind and you live in mine.

Tessa - I know, you’re very clever.

Cyn - big grin.

Intercom - *video call incoming*

Tessa - behave yourself now Cyn *starts the call*

Lord Frumptlebucket - by Golly Tessa you baboon, JCJenson Corp has been up my ass all week because you haven’t been answering your calls? I want a mission status immediately.

Tessa - all is going well, we’re attempting a temporary alternative plan to gain intel.

Lord Frumptlebucket - well that's all and good but you need to keep the parent company informed and who is that… thing? She looks familiar.

Tessa - oh she, counter insurgency.

Lord Frumptlebucket - counter insurgency?!

Tessa - yes, I'm babysitting for the Worker Drones. If we can gain there favour, the genocide will be that much easier.

Lord Frumptlebucket - very good… By the gods of Santorini what the beggars fool is that thing protruding from your nave?!

Tessa - o.o!... *improvising*well, you see, you know how it is… during that time of the month… (:

Lord Frumptlebucket - *embarrassed*uh ummm, oh yeah of course i am aware of how… that works, sorry about that, I best be off.

Intercom - *video call ended*

Tessa - out of all the people you could have failed to kill at the Gala.

*meanwhile outside the commune*

Reid - haha! I found them.

J - great! *grabbing the Worker drone by the collar* we’re going now! And I just want to make it clear, I am no fan of small talk!

Reid - … noted

*walking*

Reid - aha, we’re here. *banging on the door*

Braxton - *partially opening the door* oh, it's you… and a random teen?

Ron - *from inside*Hey, that's my job?!

J - Teenager?!

Reid - yeah, do you mind letting us in?

Braxton - of course, by the way my name is

J - *angry* JUST OPEN THE DOOR! (calm yourself J. This is Tessa, I’ve connected myself to your systems, no one else can hear me)

*Door 1 opens up*

Makerov - I’m sorry, go fish.

Todd - actually, it's Gin Rummy.

Teacher - *taking a chug of alcohol* no. This is poker night, we’re playing 7-card stud.

Todd - yeah, I am, aren't I?

Ronathon - Surely you’re all foolish. This is Texas hold-em.

Khan - haha, silly me, I forgot to say Uno. Guess I have to pick up two cards now.

Sarah - silly Kahn, remember back in the day when Nori would forget then gaslight everyone into believing otherwise.

Unnamed Worker Drone - I don’t have a name ):

Tim - wait, what game are we playing?

Detective - It’s really easy to deduce the simple fact that you all are idiots and I’m never going to another poker night.

J - *under her breath*how have all these people survived so long?!*J leaves*

*meanwhile just outside Thad’s house*

Thad - hey Rebecca, thanks for helping me set up the decorations earlier, you’re really special you know that.

Rebecca - thanks *blushing*, it's really nothing.

*Lizzy and Doll arrive*

Lizzy - hey, what's she doing here?

Doll - Разве это мероприятие не "только для крутых ребят", а не "только для крутых ребят и неудачников"?

Lizzy - *fist bumps Doll*

Rebecca - I… I think I should go…

Thad - no, you stay. Don’t pay my sister any attention, if she bothers you tonight I will read notable passages of her diary to the whole school.

Lizzy - *blushing* you’re bluffing! There's no way you’ve found my secret diary!

Doll - под матрасом - не самое лучшее место для укрытия.

Lizzy - *blushing heavily*Who’s side are you on?!... ughh whatever! I’m gonna fix my makeup. *leaves to her room to find a new hiding spot for her diary*

*Uzi and N arriving*

Thad - Ndog, Uzi you’ve made it!

Uzi - we would have arrived earlier but someone had to fix their hair.

Thad - no worries. Come inside, the parties just started.

N - thanks.

*they enter*

Emily - so yeah, I walked into the bathroom after class and there was Darren and Rebecca doing the devil's work!

Braidon - I hope they both have a warranty, don’t want to get an ETV (Ethernet Transmitted Virus).

Trevor - wait! Darren cheated on me?!... excuse me, I’m going to cry somewhere more private. *leaves*

N - Hey Thad, what's under the tarpaulin?

Thad - don’t know, my sister just said it was important to make this party ‘extra special’.

N - I want to look under it. :D *looks under the tarp* o.o Uzi, can I borrow you for one sec. *pulls Uzi quickly to the side*

Uzi - hey, what the hell?!

N - umm, I don’t want to alarm you but there are a lot of dead bodies under that tarpaulin!

Uzi -o.o Robot or human?

N - ummm, both!

Uzi - O.O

*meanwhile outside Thad's house*

J - *walking down the corridor*this place is an utter maze, Tessa you’ve found a map yet (still working on it, be patient).

Lizzy - *walking the other way down the corridor holding a strange book* Come on,pick up your phone! Where is she? She said she’d be finished an hour ago! *bumps into J* Oh! Who are you?

J - I’m J…amie Jamie!

Lizzy - haven’t we met before?

J - … I don’t think so. *nervous smile*

Lizzy - Whatever, I don’t waste time with losers.

J - losers! I’m not a loser?!

Lizzy - you sure, what is that outfit? I’m sorry but pallbearer was so 2818.

J - You don’t have many friends do you?

Lizzy - ha, you wish. They all love me, as a friend or a fuck it doesn’t matter to me.

V - *jumping down from the vents carrying a large pile of corpses with Beau* hi sweetie, you’re ready?... Hey, *looking at J* Do I know you?

J - *sweating*nope!

Lizzy - this is my new pet, I’ve taken her under my wing you could say.

J - pet?! (don’t fight, go with it, don’t want to bring any more unneeded attention)

V - oh yeah, I hope you don’t mind. I've also brought a friend with me.

Beau - [Bonjour]

Lizzy - well, come on, let's make this night one they’ll never forget

*Meanwhile inside Thad's house*

Uzi - Thad! We think Lizzy is about to do something totally vile and ruin the party, we’re not sure yet but it involves what's under the tarpaulin.

Thad - of course my sisters are planning something! Hey DOLL!

Doll -*подходит к группе* Да?

Uzi - what's Lizzy planning? Lie and N will make you regret it!

Doll - *оглядывается на N*

N - *smiling and waving*

Doll - страшно, но я не знаю, что задумала Лиззи.

Uzi - what did I say about lying!

Doll - Я не лгу! Мне также нужно доказать, что я не верблюд?

Thad - …I don’t think Dolls lying.

N - so, if Dolls is not lying, then what's Lizzy planning?

*lights goes out. Spotlight hits Lizzy, V, Beau, and J*

Uzi - V! SHE ESCAPED! Everyone get down!

Lizzy - oh cram it what's your name.

Thad - I warned you sister about what would happen if you ruined my party!

Lizzy - I’m not ruining the party, I’m improving it, V remove the veil!

*V removes the veil*

Riley - that's so not the vibe!

J - what the robo-Jesus, this cannot be OSHA compliant?! (now this is getting interesting)

Lizzy - look, I’ve been very busy helping my daddy clean up the library when I came across this book *holds up the necronomicon* and now let's make this party more interesting. *begins chanting in latin as the book glows bright green*

N - Lizzy, I can’t let you commit zombie apocalypse! *chainsaw hands*

Thad - yeah, we can’t let this happen.

V - *tackles N to the ground*

Beau - *saute sur Thad*

J - I don’t know what's going on, don’t care; shortie, you’re so dead! *points fist at Uzi* hand cannon fire!… oh right |: *gets tackled to the floor by Uzi*.

Uzi - *after finishing up beating the life out of J* It's over Lizzy! *gets thrown across the room after being hit in the face by a table*

Doll - Не смейте трогать мою девушку!

Lizzy - *still chanting in latin while the anarchy ensues around*

Uzi - *recovering* so, you’re also meddling with the art of robo-satan.

Doll - У меня есть свои причины. Бог простит меня.

J - *standing back up and walking over to Uzi*Thanks for the assistance Dolly, but I can take it from here.

Uzi - *sucker punches J knocking her out instantly* I am not god!

*Meanwhile in the distance spaceship*

Intercom - *J-10X111001 Optics disconnected*

Tessa - What?! No! Reconnect!

Intercom - *reconnection failed*

Tessa - No! Again! Reconnect!

Intercom - *reconnection failed*

Tessa - Again!

Intercom - *Do I really have to keep doing this? Its not working*

Tessa - connect to N-0X0010010 optics!

Intercom - *connection failed*

Tessa - No! Connect to V-X00100000 optics!

Intercom - *connection failed*

Tessa - No! *hyperventilating* It's not true, I’m not powerless, I am in control, I’m not a failure!

*stress induced hallucinations.*

Louisa - Isn’t this just expected! A daughter, a fool and a failure; can she ever succeed at anything?!

James - now don’t fool yourself dear, our daughter no longer exists, what stands in front of us is a common stage freak. Not human, not human, neither.

Louisa - does she even still have a soul?!

Tessa - mother… father… please forgive me! Please… I am you daughter, I love you! I’m scared, the metal is cold and heavy, every day I feel it grow and I’m powerless… I fear someday there will be nothing left of me!

Maid N - Tessa! Don’t say those things.

Tessa - N?! You’re here?! With me… right now… is it really you?

Maid N - *debating if its moral to lie*… yes, I am here.

Louisa - again here you talking to your little graveyard freaks.

Maid V - we’re all here, we’re your friends remember.

Louisa - how dare you ignore me!

Maid J - and we won’t ever leave you.

Tessa - you won’t, leave me…but I’m a monster!

Maid J - aren’t we all?

Maid N - Tessa! We love you no matter who you are or who you may become. You’re not useless, you’re so amazing in so many ways and now you’ve been reborn, we’re closer than ever; you contain a part of me and I contain a part of you. It's almost as if we’re actually siblings now.

Tessa - do you promise?

Maid N - promise what?

Tessa - promise that you’ll never leave me!

Maid N - well what kind of brother would I be if I did?

Tessa - *crying painful tears of joy* Thank you… Cyn.

Cyn - *removes the holograms of maid N, V, J* you’re very clever.

Tessa - *big grin holding back more tears* I think I need a lie down for a bit. 

Tessa - *Picking up Cyn* Come on, you can play in my room.

*Meanwhile at Thad's house*

Lizzy - *floating of the ground still chanting*

Thad - I can’t believe I’m fighting a stupid lanky baby with a fashionable cowboys hat *bunts beau across the room like a rugby ball before running over to Lizzy*

Beau - [Sacrebleu!]

Doll - Не думайте, что я не могу справиться с двумя из вас сразу. *швыряет Тада об стену, используя магию решателя*

Sam - *high as a kite* he, that's what she said.

Uzi - you have to help us stop this Doll! The consequences are unimaginable!

Doll - позор.

Uzi - N! Come on you’ve beaten V before, just do it again.

N - *laughing his head off* I’m sorry, Uzi. Vs found my only weakness.

V - *viciously tickling N*

 Lizzy - compleatur ultima linea, incipiant maledictum et mortui surgant!

Uzi - Noooo!

*Blinding green light explosion. After a while, the smoke clears*

Uzi - *standing up* oww! O.o

*around them the dead corpses begin to arise*

Lizzy - … It worked?! I was just goofing around?!

Adam - Анастасия? 

Doll - отец!

(author note. Dolls father has no official name so I’ll just be calling him Adam for convenience, all other names are canon don't worry)

Adam - Моя маленькая девочка, совсем взрослая. Ты прекрасна.

Doll - ОТЕЦ! *крепко обнимает Адама, плача*

Yeva - Здравствуйте. Я тоже восстал из мертвых... как-то так!

Luna - Mi fa malissimo la testa, i miei sensi di lupo si stanno scatenando in questo momento!

Sofi - και πάλι Λούνα, δεν είσαι λύκος

Luna - I teriani sono perfettamente validi e io e il mio senso del lupo non saremo svergognati!

Loch - fìor! airson ro fhada tha sinn air a bhith gun riochdachadh gu leòr!

Mika - *テディベアを抱きしめている* もう寝ていい？

Amda - the last thing I remember, ugh my head hurts, I was dragging … then I… Then I died…

Alice - The last thing I remember was being shot in the head by that *points at V*

Yeva - Прости, девочка, но это не делает тебя особенной.

Beau - :D *huggin Alice*

Alice - don’t give me that look, much use you were.

Beau - *fixe Alice avec une expression qui dit "qu'est-ce que tu voulais que je fasse?!*

Jame - gosh I’m hungry, anyone got any food?

Thad - ummm… we have a buffet just over there…

Jame - don’t mind if I do.

Sofi - αυτό είναι το μόνο που μπορείς να σκεφτείς;

Jimi - what did you expect, Sofi. It's Jame, he would rip off his own jaw if it meant he could eat faster.

Sofi - Το ξέρω, αλλά το φαγητό είναι τόσο δυσάρεστο! Προσωπικά, αν μπορούσα, δεν θα έτρωγα ποτέ ξανά.

Luke -  Αδελφή, το έχουμε συζητήσει αυτό. Το φαγητό είναι σημαντικό, θα αρρωστήσετε αν δεν φάτε. Πες ό,τι θέλεις, οτιδήποτε, και θα το μαγειρέψω.

Sofi - Δεν νομίζω ότι αυτό είναι πραγματικά απαραίτητο.

Luke - Αν αυτό είναι που πρέπει να γίνει. Σημαίνεις ��ολλά για μένα, αδελφή!

Matt - Luke, my old buddy, give it a rest, if your old girl doesn’t want to eat, let her. She’s her own person, you can’t keep running around shepherding her like a baby lamb for the rest of her life.

Jordan - self harm is not a liberty. One cannot decide to cause themselves harm, that's cruel.

Jerad - I entirely disagree brother. To commit self-harm is indeed a personal liberty but it is also at the same its Luke’s personal liberty to do what's in his power  to  support his sister.  As long as he never physically forces her to eat, he’s done no wrong.

Jordan - have you not heard of coercion? You can infringe on a person's liberties (in this case by forcing them to eat) through vocal actions alone.

Doon - druid suas araon do bheul! Chan eil dragh air duine!

Armin - I personally thought their game of  back and forth was quite amusing.

Dean - oh shut your pretty lips Armin.

Mika - *ミカを抱いて* お邪魔してすみません、どこかに妹を寝かせられるソファかベッドはありませんか？

(Authors note - yes there are two Mika’s: 020 and 032)

Thad - We have a guest bedroom up the stairs, it's the second door on your left.

Mika - ありがとう、かわい子ちゃん。*部屋を出る*

Lizzy - this is amazing! I can’t wait to tell everyone on tumblr about this!

V - what is even happening?

Uzi - it seems Lizzy’s spell to bring back everyone had worked?!

N - that's cool but how?

Junior - *signing* could it be I was right? 

Uzi - right about what exactly?

Junior - *signing* my studies into the arcane, I believed it possible one could bring back the dead but I never dared test it.

Uzi - well, it seems it worked?!

אני לא מאמין. אני כל כך מצטער חבר שלעג לך כל השנים האלה. - nadroJ

(Author's note. Yes, there's also two Jordans: 015 and 091)

Junior - *signing* it's ok. I forgive you.

Mick - well, I don’t want to be that guy but it does seem that  it wasn’t  100% successful. *gently kicking J’s body*

Doll - Думаю, она просто немного устала.

V - tuckered out one could say.

Uzi - yeah, I’m sure there's nothing to worry about this  nice stranger.

N - I don’t think she's 100%, look at her visor, it's badly cracked.

Uzi - why don’t you lick it?

N - why would I do that?

Uzi - you spit healed the hole in my palm remember.

N - oh, why do I have to do it? Why can’t V.

V - If I lick her I might get tempted and just take a bite :3! Plus you’re the one with the licking obsession, don’t think I haven’t forgotten.

N - I'm still not doing it. I’m sure she will be fine with a lightly cracked visor for now.

V - buzzkill.

*meanwhile*

Nori - Анастасия, я думаю, мы хотели бы познакомить вас кое с кем. Это Неда, ваш дядя.

Neda - Привет, Анастасия, я знаю, что это клише, но ты действительно очень похожа на мою сестру.

Doll - Я ожидал, что ты будешь выше.

Neda - *падает на пол от стыда* 

Ahbi - *नेदा को सांत्वना देते हुए* यह ठीक है प्रिये. मुझे लगता है कि आपकी लंबाई एकदम सही है।

Mick - yeah, it's not entirely your fault you’re a shortstack and a disappointing uncle.

Kang - *扇了米克一巴掌*

Carl - O: Kang! Gewalt ist nie die Antwort!

Kang - …

Carl - ... außer wenn ich es tue… (:

هذا المنطق غبي، يمكنك بالطبع أن تثق بأنني على حق. أنا رقم واحد والأفضل. - attA

Jweb - don’t be a narcissist.

اصمت، اسمك ليس اسماً حقيقياً حتى. -  attA

Jweb - *cries and runs over to Ezra*

מה לא בסדר. האם אתה רוצה לדבר על זה. - arzE

Nath - *एक मेज पर खड़ा हूँ* भाइयो और बहनो।

Dirg - *जोर से खांसी होना*

Nath - क्षमा माँगना। भाइयों, बहनों, और गैर-बाइनरी मित्र। अब जब हम सभी ने अपना परिचय दे दिया है, तो मुझे लगता है कि हमें ठीक से पता लगाने की जरूरत है कि क्या हुआ और इसके निहितार्थ क्या हैं।

Dirg - मैं प्रतिनिधित्व की सराहना करता हूं लेकिन मैं यह स्पष्ट करना चाहता था कि मैं वास्तव में खांस रहा था और अशिष्टतापूर्वक हस्तक्षेप नहीं कर रहा था। मुझे बुरी एलर्जी है.

Uzi - yeah, they’re right. So, unless I’m mistaken, what I currently know is that Lizzy read from a book (possibly created by Junior) and brought you all to life… but who are you all?

Sofi - είμαστε τα πειραματόζωα. Μας παίρνουν οι άνθρωποι, μας δίνουν ταυτότητες, μας δοκιμάζουν… και μετά μας αφήνουν να πεθάνουμε.

Jordan - It seems we’re all here now except for Sarah and Nori… fortunately.

Jerad - and Giam *gets hit in the head by a chair moving at high speed*

*everyone turning their head*

Alice - sorry, thought i say a bug (:

Uzi - Nori?! You knew my mother?!

Jordan - you’re Nori’s daughter… I thought you looked familiarly short.

Lizzy - ughh, this is so boring, this is supposed to be a party, you can go over the lore implications later. *turns on the music* Let's dance!

*meanwhile*

Nori - *говорит с Лиззи* Могу я взять твою книгу

Lizzy - sure whatever.

Nori - Спасибо. *Нори использует магию, чтобы заставить книгу подняться, а затем произносит сложное заклинание, объединяющее ее и магию книги.*

Mitchell - GUHHH!!! I'm! I'm Alive! *looking around* you? you saved me.

Dr Ridley - did, did we die... I can't believe it... the implications are immense. thanks for bringing me back to life!

Nori - Я вернул вас случайно, доктор. *поворачивается к Митчеллу* Это благодарность за то, что спасли мне жизнь.

Mitchell - what now.

Nori - Я не знаю… наслаждайтесь вечеринкой, я думаю.

*some time later when the party is well underway*

J - [System reboot complete]  ughh, my head [Lost Memory Recovery Finished]... oh … oh! ... AGAIN?! Tessa, are you there? (Tessa’s not here right now) oh great (need help?) nevermind… I guess I have to start socialising.

Luna - Awoo. La strana ragazza baffuta si svegliò.

J - oh hi… ummm have you read any interesting safety manuals recently?

Luna - *Stupito dalla ragazza e non in senso gay, in senso negativo* Credo che i miei sensi di lupo mi stiano dicendo di andare... altrove.

J - oh ok… bye (You’re really bad at this) not that you’re much better (I’m a child but I know someone who is) yeah I know… wait what?! [uploading secondary consciousness] WHAT STOP NO!

Katie (possessing J’s body) - huAA, where am I (at a party) who said that (don’t worry), are you my squip? (... sure, I want you to socialise like a normal person) ok, I can do that.

[pixellangel]

"Don't you feel stupid answering these questions when you don't even know who you are?"

STORYTELLER SYNTHESIS SCENE 1 - A GIRL NAMED V

overview - masterpost - taglist

____

Storyteller Synthesis is an indie cyberpunk RPG that I’m currently writing and designing. This is the first scene of the game, where we're introduced to our first party member - a girl named V. Please enjoy!

____

Onyxveil is a troubled city. The streets are covered in litter, the skies are gray with smog, and the only sources of light are flashing neon advertisements on walls. Within this bleak cityscape stands an equally troubled young girl, one with hot pink hair and an unfocused gaze. Just a few years ago, she experienced a horrific eve-

"Can you shut up and give the Player control already? Nobody wants your stupid expository speech."

...Ahem. As I was saying, just a few years ag-

"Why can't you ever listen? The Player isn't interested and neither am I. Get it over with."

Ugh. Fine. I came up with this whole summary, but if you're so ungrateful I GUESS I can throw it in as flavor text somewhere...

"Perfect, I'll make sure not to read it. Now get rid of this black screen so the Player can see."

Excuse me? I know what I'm doing.

"Sure. Just get rid of it."

Ugh. Fine.

[Now, in tile RPG format, we see the aforementioned girl from behind. She's at the edge of a rooftop, looking out into the smog-covered cityscape. The camera shifts downwards to show another person, one with a long, pale blue ponytail. The girl turns around and walks towards them. She keeps her distance, but begins speaking. Her character portrait shows a girl with purple, rectangular irises. Her hair is spiky and she wears some sort of strange cropped techwear hoodie. She looks dissatisfied.]

"So, "Sylvie." Long time no see."

> I could say the same to you.

...

"How long has it been now? Three years? Four?"

> Three.

Not sure.

"And how was your little warrior's expedition? Successful?"

Very.

> You could say that.

Not exactly.

"Good, good. Now, Don't you feel stupid answering these questions when you don't even know who you are?"

Wh- hey! I already told you not to go off script!

> I'm not sure.

Oh. Sorry, you don't need to answer that. Let me just fix this... small bug.

[The Narrator goes silent for a moment and the girl stiffens.]

There! Much better.

[The girl's character portrait is different when she speaks again. Her eyes are wide open with no shine. She has a wide, fake smile. Her hair spikes stand up a little less.]

"So sorry, SYLVIE! I don't know what came over me there. I'm glad your expedition went well! Woul d y ouu be wil lin g to h e-"

[She snaps out of it, shakes her head, and glares up at the sky.]

"UGH!! Stop doing that!!! I would literally NEVER talk like that. You of all people should know. Ughhh... anyway, Player, I'm not gonna keep up the "Sylvie" act. You aren't her and we both know it."

If you go off script again, I'll have to keep acting for you. Get back to the story or else.

"Shush. Player, follow me."

[The Narrator protests as the player follows the her down from the rooftop. The two come to an arcade, which the girl enters without hesitation.]

Ahem. Sylvie. You don't need to go in there. If you would just give me a minute, I can get her to come back out...

Sorry, this is going to take some time. Please be patient.

[The player enters the arcade anyway while the Narrator is distracted.]

"Hey. Glad you could make it."

[The arcade is empty, save for the two of them. Most of the machines look like they're out of order. A few of the arcade cabinets are still working, though.]

"If you're waiting for him to talk, you should know he can't hear us in here."

> "He"?

"The Narrator. He's messing stuff up in Onyxveil, and probably in other cities too. If i had to guess, I'd say his other targets would be The Sunbasked Stratum and Karma Point. They'd be good settings for a story, so..."

> Why can't he hear us in here?

What is he trying to do?

Who are you?

"I dunno. My guess is that he never intended for anything to happen in this arcade, so it's barely more than set dressing. I've never heard him speak a word while I’m in here, though. It’s pretty nice."

Why can't he hear us in here?

> What is he trying to do?

Who are you?

"He's writing some stupid story. I don't know... it's hard to explain, and we probably don't have much time. All you really need to know is that he's meddling with reality for his own selfish reasons and not taking anyone else into account."

[Her face contorts in anger.]

Why can't he hear us in here?

What is he trying to do?

> Who are you?

"My name's V. There's nothing else you need to know about me."

> Who am I?

"You’re the one playing the video game. Obviously."

> That's not what I meant.

"Oh, you must want to know who's body you're in. It's another person from Onyxveil. Their name is Sylvie. They went out on some training journey a few years ago. I... haven't seen them since."

> ...

"It doesn't matter. I need your help, Player. I don't want to be trapped in this stupid reality where I'm a character in a story I never asked to be a part of."

> What do you want me to do about that?

"I want you to help me kill the Narrator."

[V looks determined, but angry. This Narrator person has very clearly wronged her in some way, and based on her face, it looks like it was extremely personal.]

> How are we meant to do that?

"I don't know all the details just yet. However, I think the most effective method would be for us to assemble a party of several people. More people means more firepower, and he already wants us to gather more allies to fight the robots that keep appearing in the city. It'll be easy to fly under the radar as long as we don't discuss it in front of him."

[She speaks quickly and confidently. It seems she's been thinking over her plan for a long time.]

> Do you know who we need?

[gaybitchfx]

yippee btw when i said this is long i didnt (did not)mean write is immideatly saying this just in case.also can i ask for reader in this to be black?i barely see anything w a stated black reader but its cool if not. ok so basically it is draken bi panic. so what i had in mind was reader and emma being close childhood friends like the jump hug and cheek kisses when they see each other type close. and so one day mikey and draken go to pick emma up from school only to see her hugging some guy (whos the reader) and ofc draken gets jealous bc who is this guy being so friendly w the girl he likes?so emma introduces them which makes draken relax.and eventually some time passes and draken and reader become good friends to the point of draken being comfortable enough to fully let his guard down.but after becoming friends and comfortable with each other draken again starts to feel jealous whenever emma amd reader hang out but cant figure out why since he knows that theyre like siblings (:3) and other things like getting bit flustered (not obviously ofc) around reader and cathing himself thinking about him when he sees something draken thinks he might like. so one night draken is laying in his bed wondering what is going on w him until it finally hits him that hes in love and bi panic ensues. and maybe the ending could be a sweet confession ? ty and again im sorry its so long🙏

-🍓 Character(s): Draken

-🍓 Type of reader: M!Reader (black male reader✨✨)

-🍓 Category: SFW

-🍓 Warning(s): None

-🍓 Note: FINALLYYYY A SPECIFIC TYPE OF READERR AND HES BLACK NONE THE LESS LETS GOO 😭

-🍓 Edited: ❌

“She said she’d be here soon, so where is she?” Mikey questioned nobody in particular as he looked at the nonexistent watch on his arm.

He squinted his eyes a bit till he saw Emma. “Oh, there she is!” He announced and pointed to where she stood.

Draken opened his mouth to say something only to see you hugging Emma and rocking her side to side with a smile.

“Who the fuck is that guy?” Draken grumbled as his face turned sour as he stared at you and Emma. “No clue. I think he’s a foreigner.” Mikey shrugged his shoulders as the two of them walked over to you and Emma.

“Oh! Speak of the devil, hey Mikey, Draken!” Emma said with a smile as she released you from her grip. “Never hugging your ass again, you tried breaking my back!” You shouted at her and rubbed the middle part of your back.

“Oh hush!” She laughed and nudged you. “Sooo, who’s this? Your boyfriend?” Mikey asked, genuinely curious. Draken only sucked his teeth when Mikey asked if you were her boyfriend. Emma looked at you and you looked at Emma before the both of you burst out laughing while holding onto one another.

“Hell no! She my bestie.” You exhaled after calming down. “I’d never date her ever.” “Honestly!” Draken had seemingly relaxed by this newfound information but still didn’t like how touchy the two of you were. “Oooh, that makes sense! But how come you’ve never told us about him?” Mikey asked.

You let out a dramatic gasp and placed a hand on your chest where your heart is. “We’ve been friends since we were six and you NEVER told them about me?! Unbelievable!” You huffed and folded your arms, turning your back to face her.

“Oh come on Y/n! It never crossed my mind to tell them about you!” Emma whined as she hugged you and swayed your body side to side while giggling. “Could you forgive me pleaseee?”

“Bitch- fine.” You rolled your eyes jokingly. “So your name is Y/n? That’s a cool name, right Draken?” Mikey looked over at Draken who still had that same sour look on his face. “Hell wrong with his ass? He makin the face my nana makes when she’s pissed at my mama.” You raised a brow and looked at the blond. “I guess,” Draken said, ignoring your comment.

“How about you chill I already said I didn’t want your girl she looks like the backside of a horse-” “Rude!” “Fine, the backside of a donkey.” You corrected yourself and earned a hit on the arm by Emma. “That’s even worse!” She huffed making you laugh.

“You can’t call me anything and you know ittt!” You dragged out with a grin. “She’s not my- never mind.” Draken exhaled through his nose.

“Sure sure.” Since then, Emma has invited you over to her house or any events she was having allowing you to get to know both Mikey and Draken better, but mainly Draken since he was more mature than Mikey and he seemed like the little brother that would get you in trouble for anything.

Due to you both getting to know each other more, the two of you grew to become pretty good friends, so good Draken eventually got comfortable enough to let his guard down and even joke around with you. “Wait so you two became friends just because you both hated each other at first?” Draken asked you to confirm if he was correct or not.

“Mhm! Well my mama forced me to be friends with her, but I don’t mind one bit, she is a fun girl.” You said as you began mixing the large scoops of ice cream you had in a bowl to make ‘ice cream soup’ as you called it.

A little weird to others, but who gives a damn? “She even had me make brownies for her ass as an apology gift. If I didn’t then my mama would’ve whooped my ass so hard I’d turn into a colorless roach, in other words white.” You said with a giggle before eating some of your ice cream.

Draken opened his mouth to say something but just kept it closed. “I’m backkk!” “Yay, the lint roller is back.” “I will HURT you Y/n!” You cackled as you ran around the room away from Emma.

Draken watched the two of you with a small smirk. His smirk faded a little bit when seeing you two so close, he should be used to it by now since you two are basically like siblings. You even argue with her as if you were siblings.

And he knew that yet felt a sense of jealousy and was slightly bothered by how close Emma was toward you, no longer the other way around. Even seeing your phone's Lock Screen as you and Emma with funky little edits upset him. Of course, Draken just brushed that aside since he didn’t know he was feeling jealous toward Emma and not you.

“My leg! My leg!!” You screeched as Emma was seated on your back while pulling your leg backward. “Say you’re sorry!” “What do you take me for?!” “An idiot!” You screamed more as she pulled your leg further making Draken stiffen a laugh as he watched the two of you fight for a bit before intervening.

“See! Even Draken is sympathetic towards me against that right?” You said as you hid behind him and held his arm.

He stiffened up a bit a slowly nodded his head. Ever since then, being in the same room as you was difficult, but it was worse when you’d playfully punch him or do anything that just involved touching.

He wasn’t one for many expressions but my god did he get flustered, it never showed but deep deep DEEP down he was screaming. “What do you think Emma would want?” Mikey asked as he looked at the many plushies the store they were in had. They had big ones, tiny ones, normal-sized ones, basically anything.

Draken shrugged as he looked around only to spot a fox plushie that had a little (favorite color) top hat and sunglasses on its little face. As soon as he saw that his mind instantly went to you which made him stop in his tracks as he stood there wide-eyed.

Was he just thinking about you? His cheeks suddenly had a very faint pink to them as he rubbed in between his eyes. “Hey, I’m going to head back home. I’m a little tired.” Draken said as he looked back at the fox plushie for s bit and looked at Mikey.

“Alright, get home safely!” Mikey said before wandering off into the store. When Draken left he ended up buying the plushie, he’d feel guilty for not buying something as cute as this.

When he got home he just stared up at his ceiling, a couple of thoughts passing through his mind but a specific one ‘spoke’ louder than the other.

“Why am I always thinking about him..” Draken mumbled before sighing as he began trying to figure out the reason.

First, he had feelings for Emma till you came along, his feeling for Emma was still there but not as bold as they used to be. He looked over at his nightstand that had the cute plushie propped on it.

“He’s not even that much of a good guy, yeah he’s cute, funny, has a nice sense of clothes, honest, and…” He trailed off as he covered his flustered face with his hands. And then it dawned on him. He’s fallen in love with you.

Draken wasn’t even able to fall asleep that night as him knowing he loves likes you played on a loop in his head.

A day later and he still had yet to tell you, surprisingly it was harder than he thought it was. So he decided to tell Mikey hoping he could help in any way. “I knew it!!” Mikey shouted as he quickly got up. “I knew you loved him!” Mikey clapped his hands.

“Was it obvious?” Draken grumbled. I’ve been your best friend for years now, to other people it isn’t obvious. But are you going to tell him?” Mikey asked, barely able to contain his excitement.

“I…don’t know. He might not like me in that way and only sees me as a friend.” Draken sighed and rested his head on the palm of his hand, a slight frown on his lips.

“He’s literally..” Mikey placed a hand on his hip and did the gay hand sign with a ‘you never knew that?’ look. “Wait he is?” “Well pansexual. I get this kind of info from Emma.” Draken exhaled as he placed a hand on his heart, he just might have a chance.

“How about you go confess to him now? I think he and Emma are still at the park.” Mikey said and didn’t even bother letting Draken answer as he just dragged him to the location. “Hey!” Mikey exclaimed to the two of you once he and Draken both arrived.

“Heyy!” You waved back as you twisted the swing Emma was on before releasing it, taking a couple of steps back as she twirled around while laughing before coming to a stop, her now dizzy.

“I thought you guys were staying home.” Emma giggled as she got off the swing holding onto the chains for support.

“Well, Draken has something to tell Y/n so I thought I might take you to go get some ice cream,” Mikey said as he helped navigate Emma to the ice cream shop.

“Whatcha gotta say?” You asked once the two of them left, taking a seat on the swing Emma sat on previously, Draken standing in front of you. Draken cleared his throat as he stared at you for a few seconds before opening his mouth to speak.

“So, I uhm..want to tell you something that may or may not ruin our friendship in a good or bad way..” Draken cleared his throat as he fiddled with the bag he had in his hand.

“Ok? Hurry up and tell me, man.” You raised your brow and looked at him, waiting for what he had to say. He inhaled and exhaled a few times before speaking again. “I like you..” Draken finally said making you raise both brows, surprised.

“No...I love you. I love your laugh, your humor, and the way you’re brutally honest and don’t give a damn about what people think or say to you unless it’s about your family or friends… I love everything about you. I want to spend as much time with you as I can. So please, will you date me, Y/n ?” Draken spoke as he took out the same cute little fox plushy from the bag, his cheeks red from embarrassment.

“Oh wow, now that’s a confession.” You said with a slight laugh. You took the plushy from his hand and held it close.

“Yeah sure, I’ll date you. But I’m not the best partner so I hope you understand that.” You mumbled and slightly cooed at the fox. “I don’t care, I just want you,” Draken said with a small smile. “Can I..kiss you?” Draken asked and you nodded your head.

“I don’t mind..” You mumbled as Draken began moving closer and closer till you both were now kissing. You held onto the chain of the swing with one hand while Draken held the other chain with one of his hands.

You closed your eyes and relaxed your body completely, feeling comfortable around your new lover, Draken.

-🍓tags: @jkloserdazai @reallyromealone @secretivemessenger @lostsomewhereinthegarden

[the-letterbox-archives]

file (1)1-17-000: line of dialogue

thank you for the tag @ominous-feychild for the tag! another character voice one, the phrase being; "Here's a ridiculous motive to do something horrible." (which was later explained to me as; "This is why I'm about to do this No Good, Very Bad Thing. That is also why you are not going to stop me or change my mind.")

since i just leaked the tfadh stories, i'll also share the protagonists, and their reasons for going into the heart.

lady

“There’s nothing left for me. I’ve lost everything. There’s nothing left for me to love. Could you blame me? At least something in that forest will love me and never leave me behind.”

sweetheart & crow

“It’s a whole world to explore, tucked away in the tiniest pocket of the country. What, did you think I wouldn’t want to go? And with my best friend, no less! I just have to ignore the… darker stories.” “I’m following her, okay? I have my reservations about that place, sure, but she really wants to go. I’ve never seen her more passionate. I’m a bit jealous, actually…”

winter and pyre

“We can’t leave. There’s no respite, out there or in here. So there’s no reason to do anything at all.” “Yeah, we are kind of stuck in the middle, hey? Can’t leave, don’t want to stay – there’s no real solution.”

dancer

“I don’t have much else to do. My parents are already making plans. I wanna spare them the pain of seeing me go. Heh, I guess that’s a bit sad, isn’t it?”

rook

“I need to find someone. A part of my soul is missing, I know it. And they’ve got to be in there. I can’t keep living not knowing what happened.”

vex

“Got a score to settle. An old ‘friend’ of mine is in dire need of a sword to the stomach, and I’m happy to provide.”

chalice and hunter

“I burn my whole life down, and for what? Who’s to say he ever even loved me, if he leaves me like this? So, I call this a test. Should he find me again, my heart is rightfully his, as wounded as it is...” “I made a mistake. But for a good reason. Now I have to fix it. I need him to know I love him again. But I’ll find him, I know it.”

hornet and dove

“Me and her, we’re not as good as we used to be. I don’t even want to be here, it’s pointless – I’m sick of being dragged into these things. She needs to learn that we aren’t a thing anymore.” “I need to fix us. We were so good before. I know we can go back to that… I don’t wanna let her go.”

maestro and muse

“My perfect painting in a perfect setting! Why, this is the only place where my love is truly matched. What a spectacular canvas!” “I’m just the subject of art, if– if that makes sense. Didn’t really have a say. Don’t get me wrong, I like the attention, but sometimes it’s too much… It’s comfortable here. Maybe I’d like it better alone.”

opal

“I need to go. Get away. As far as I can. I’m not like my mother, my grandmother, my ancestors… I can’t do this!”

aegis and mouse

“Honestly? I can’t stop my little sister from walking into forests. But I’ve got a bad feeling about this place. A really bad feeling… I’ll keep us safe, though.” “Big forest! Red leaves, pretty flowers! I think we belong here!”

seeker

“I’m getting the truth. We’ve lost so much to The Heart, and I’m putting a stop to it. Besides, nobody else is keen to fix things; it’s all up to me.”

your phrase is; "what are you?"

tagging @autism-purgatory, @moltenwrites, @noxxytocin, @illarian-rambling, @paeliae-occasionally,

@drchenquill, @aalinaaaaaa, @thecrazyalchemist, @the-golden-comet, @glassfrogforest,

and @introchasingstars, + open tag!

[harringtonstilinski]

Always The Babysitter - Chapter Thirty-Four: The Piggyback

Author: @harringtonstilinski​ Characters: Steve Harrington x Olivia Henderson(OC) Word Count: 5,826 Warnings: squint for fluff, angst, canon violence, liv being indecisive but go with it, buggy = shopping cart in southern terms, Smut: no | yes; 18+ MINORS DNI: A/N: Hi, friends! I can't believe we're one chapter away from the end until Season 5 comes out! If you like this chapter, please do not hesitate to reblog and give some feedback, whether it be in the reblogs, comments, or my inbox. As always, read at your own risk and enjoy 😊

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season masterlist

series masterlist

series playlist 

When Steve found a spot under a tree to park the RV, Nance immediately jumped into action telling us the plan that we’ve heard a million times already. The only few things on my mind was hoping that Max was gonna be okay in the end, Dustin being safe and not getting hurt, and Steve living so that I can kiss him stupid the rest of our lives.

But all of that being on my mind didn’t stop Nancy from saying, “Okay. I wanna run it through one more time.”

Groaning, I said, “Nancy! We’ve gone over this a million times over.”

“Just to make sure everyone has it so that no one deviates from the plan.”

Slapping my hands on my thighs, I stood up saying, “Fine. You wanna run it over again? Fine. Phase fucking One, meet Erica at the playground across the street from the Creel house who will signal Max and Lucas when we’re ready. Phase fucking Two-”

“Max baits Vecna,” Steve interrupted.

“Which I’m not fucking okay with because he’ll put her in a trance before lifting her in the air to snap her bones,” I add. “Phase fucking Three, Dusty and Eddie will somehow distract the bats from the House, which I’m also not okay with. Phase fucking Four, we, as in myself, Steve, Robin and you, Nance, will all four go in to the House that is now bat-free, find Vecna and flambé his ass to a deeper part of hell. Oh, and Phase fucking Five, we can’t die ‘cause I gotta be able to kiss my boyfriend stupid.”

It was silent for a moment before Nancy said, “Nobody moves on to the next Phase until we’ve all copied.”

“And don’t fucking deviate, please,” I added before whispering, “For the love of God.”

“Got it?”

I walked out of the RV with my weapons in hand as everyone else repeated the words back to Nancy, Steve calling my name a couple of seconds later, his hand on my back not a moment after that.

Stopping my steps, I took a deep breath, releasing it before he asked, “What’s wrong, beautiful?”

“I’m just scared,” I whispered. “And nervous, and anxious, and terrified… petrified!... worried as hell about Max. She’s been through so much in the last 8 months.”

“And you’ve been there for her every step of the way,” he replied, placing his hand on my cheek lovingly.. “You’re like the big sister she never had.”

“Hey, lovebirds!” Dustin called out.

Steve and I sighed at the same time, chuckling softly once we realized it. Grabbing my hand to lace our fingers, he said, “Come on. Let’s go kick Vecna’s ass.”

“Gladly.”

We made our walk to Eddie’s trailer, stopping about halfway to place a quick kiss on each other’s lips. Steve walked into the trailer first, turning on the lights and placing his bag on the ground. I walked in after, followed by Nancy, Robin, Dustin and Eddie.

“Be careful,” Dustin said.

“Thanks, buddy,” Steve said. Looking at me for a quick moment, he said, “I love you” before giving me the quickest kiss he’s ever given me before grabbing the sheet, saying, “Here goes nothing” before he hoisted himself up the sheets into the Gate and down - well, I guess up in this case - into the Upside Down by doing some sort of flipping motion before landing on his feet.

He looked up at us, as we did him, before he walked away as Robin sarcastically said, “Ohhhhhh! What does he want us to do, applaud?”

He came into view with a mattress for a landing pad. “Let’s go.”

I dropped my own bag, grabbing the sheet when Nancy grabbed it at the same time. Looking at her with raised brows, I said, “Uhm, I’m going next.”

“Well, I’m in charge of this whole operation,” she replied.

“Babe, let’s go,” Steve said.

I saw her twitch ever so slightly before I shook my head and let go. She hoisted herself up, flipping to land on her back on the mattress. Robin and I looked at each other for a split second before she squatted a little, fingers laced with her palms up. A hand on my back had me looking at who touched me; Eddie, moving to stand opposite of Robin in the same stance.

“Come on, Liv,” Eddie said.

I moved to stand in between Eddie and Robin, putting my foot into Eddie’s hands, releasing a deep breath before looking at the sheet in front of me, saying, “This better be like fucking gym class.”

Robin and Eddie snickered as I grabbed the sheets, feeling them move in sync to stand, helping to hoist me up the sheets before I entered the Gate, my hair that was once below me now above me. “Oh, god. Oh, god. Oh, god.” I closed my eyes as I dropped, feeling another body collide with mine. “Feet, ass or face?”

“Neither,” Steve chuckled. 

I opened my eyes quickly to see what he was talking about, and the sight had me swooning. Somehow in between my climbing the sheets and dropping, Steve had moved to stand on the mattress, catching me as I fell from letting go of the sheets. “I think I just fell in love with you even more if that’s at all possible.”

He kissed me as he placed me on my feet, both of us getting off the mattress before mine, his and Nancy’s bags landed before us.

Eddie was the next human to drop down before his shield was dropped, Robin and her gear dropping before the rest of Dustin and Eddie’s gear dropped, my brother being the last human to hit the mattress. He looked a little disoriented for a moment before Eddie and Steve helped him up.

Nancy, Robin, Steve, myself, Dustin and Eddie all exited the trailer… in that order, before I turned around and said to Eddie and Dustin, “Hey, guys, listen. If things here start to go south, I mean, at all, you fucking abort.” I looked at Dustin, saying, “Got me? Abort mission.”

“Draw the attention of the bats,” Steve added. “Keep ‘em busy for a minute or two. We’ll take care of Vecna.”

“Being cute or fucking heroes or shit isn’t gonna work here,” I said. “This isn’t a board game. This is the real freakin’ deal. Okay? I’m sorry to say that you’re-”

“Decoys,” Dustin said. “Don’t worry. Steve, here, can be the hero.”

“Absolutely,” Eddie said. “I mean, look at us. We are noooooooot heroes.” He softly chuckled.

I pulled Dustin into a hug, one that he immediately returned. “Please be safe, Dusty. Mom and I can’t lose you,” I whispered.

“You won’t,” he whispered back. 

I pulled back from the hug, turning to Eddie to give him one as well as I whispered, “Please keep him safe.” I pulled back, placing my hands on his cheeks. “I need you to be safe, as well, Munson. Dustin and I can’t lose our best friend.”

He nodded slightly before he wrapped his arms around my middle, giving me another hug. We stayed like that as he said, “Hey, Steve? Make him pay.”

I backed away from the hug, going to Dustin to give him one more, kissing him on his forehead. “I love you, Dusty.”

“I love you, too, Liv,” Dustin replied.

“Come on, babe,” Steve said.

I turned and walked to him, our fingers entwining as we started our walk towards the woods behind the trailer park, and I honestly wasn’t sure how long we’d been walking for before I started complaining.

“Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaabe,” I whined. “Distract me from all this walking. My feet hurt.”

Robin answered my call by saying, “Uh… I don’t mean to freak anyone out, but I swear we’ve seen this tree before.”

“Don’t say that, Robs.”

“That’s impossible,” Nancy said.

“That would suck if we did,” I said.

“If Vecna destroyed the world because… ‘cause we got lost in the woods?” Robin said.

“Robin Buckley, you stop it,” I said, a little sternly.

“We’re not lost, Robin,” Nancy replied to her.

Robin started chuckling as she walked off, Nancy following behind her saying, “Robin, hey. Watch out for the vines! Hive mind.”

That left Steve and I by ourselves, which was very nice. I sighed deeply while resting my head on his shoulder as we followed after Nancy and Robin, our steps a little bit more slower than theirs.

“Don’t worry about Robin,” Steve said. “She’s just stressed.”

“Scared,” I breathed. Looking up at him, I smiled softly. “I know. It’s just… she’s super klutzy.”

“So are you,” he chuckled. 

“But I’m not as bad as she is,” I said, smiling up at him.

“When you’re extremely tired, yes you are.”

“Well, at least I didn’t crawl backwards when I was a baby.”

“Always in reverse,” he said.

“Not always.”

“You push to move, right? I mean, it makes sense.”

“Not really,” I chuckled.

He let go of my hand for a moment before putting his arm around my neck, letting his hand dangle by my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around his middle, being careful of the ax on his back.

“Well, it did to my little Harrington brain,” Steve said. “That is until I reversed my baby butt down a flight of stairs and thumped my head really good.”

I chuckled, resting the back of my head on his arm. “You never told me that!”

“I didn’t?” he asked. “Hm. Thought I did.”

“Nope,” I said, shaking my head lightly. “But that explains a lot.”

“Yeah, I think it kinda does,” he replied, kissing the side of my head. “I think, like, right of the gate, like, I’m super confident, ya’know, but I’m also, like, an idiot. Which is just… like, it’s a brutal combination.”

“No you’re not,” I said, looking up at him.

“But, I mean, the good news is, I get a big enough thump on my head, I can change, ya’know. I can… learn. I can… crawl forward.” He was quiet for a moment before he said, “Listen, I guess what I’m trying to say in a really stupid, roundabout way is, uhm…” He stopped walking, which made me stop walking to look up at him since I had looked at the ground to watch for vines. He cupped my cheek causing me to lean into it as he said, “Is thank you.”

“Thank me?” I said, softly. “For what?”

“For giving my head the biggest thump of its life two years ago. I needed it.”

With furrowed brows, I followed the pattern on his shirt that I could see in this darkness, thinking of when I gave him that thump two years ago when it somewhat hit me. “The night we were in the junkyard because we were baiting Dart?”

“That night changed my life. And now I’m crawling forward.” He kissed my forehead, a smile on his face as he looked at me for a moment before walking away. “Slowly. I just wonder sometimes…”

I started walking after him, easily catching up to him as he continued, “ya’know if… some other girl had given a proper thump when we weren’t talking or hanging out.”

“When you became King Steve?” I asked. 

He sighed, sharply. “Yeah. Would things have been different? Would we be together today?”

“I’m not sure,” I said, softly with sadness lacing my voice. “I’d honestly be in jail most likely. I think you gave me a thump.” It was quiet for a moment before I said, “Sometimes I think that if we’d be meeting for the first time right now, like, a part of me… a part of me thinks we wouldn’t be where we are today. Together.”

“In love?” he asked, stopping his steps to look at me.

I looked at him, all the love and adoration for him in my eyes. “Yeah. In love.”

“You remember the dream I told you about?”

“The migraine of six lil’ nuggets, yes.”

“It’s all true. Every last word, but there’s one very important detail I left out. The most important part.”

“What’s that?” I asked, resting my hands on his chest as his hand came to rest on my cheek again.

“You’re there,” he said. He rested his forehead against mine, sighing. “You’ve always been there.”

Tears filled my eyes as I pulled back enough to look him in the eyes. We were leaning towards each other, our lips about to meet before Robin’s voice came through as she made her way toward us.

“Hey, guys!”

I sighed, then whispered, “She’s such a cockblocker.”

“You guys! Awesome news!” She stopped to catch her breath. “Looks like we weren’t going the wrong way after all.” She turned away from us, going back the way she came.

“Come on!” Nancy said.

“Okay, okay, jeez,” I breathed. Looking back up at Steve, I couldn’t help but smile. I pressed my lips against his, feeling him kiss me back immediately. When we pulled apart, I looked deep into his eyes. “We’ll finish that later.”

Turning to walk towards the direction that Robin and Nancy went, Steve grabbed my hand, lacing our fingers once again before bringing my hand up to his lips, pressing a kiss to my hand. “I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you, too.”

We made our way through the woods to the edge, making our way down a very small hill, the Upside Down version of the Creel house in front of us, demobats surrounding the top of it. I looked over to my right, seeing a small ball of light, my face lighting up with relief as I whispered, “Erica.”

~~~

We had successfully moved to the playground before I put my hand inside the ball of light, hopefully brightening up Erica’s flashlight. We got confirmation when she said, “Okay, the lovebirds have copied. Max is moving into Phase Two: Distracting Vecna.”

“I’m still not okay with it,” I said.

“We’re not even at the hardest part yet,” Steve said.

Nancy looked at the house, taking a few steps towards it before I heard her softly say, “Take the bait, you son of a bitch. Take… the bait.”

I rolled my eyes, feeling Steve’s hands on my arms, rubbing up and down. I looked at him as he whispered, “She’ll be okay.”

It seemed like forever before Erica’s voice came back through, scaring the shit out of me. “Okay, she’s in. Initiate Phase Three.”

Robin hit the button on the walkie talkie that Lucas had given her to use, saying into the mouthpiece, “She’s in. Move on to Phase Three.”

“Copy that,” Dustin said. “Initiating Phase Three.”

I heard faint guitar playing, my metal heart happy as we hid under the rocket. “Fuck yes, Munson,” I whispered as the bats flew overhead. I knew exactly what the song was, it being one of my newest favorites.

“Okay, it’s working,” Nancy said.

“Of course it’s working,” I said. “It’s freaking metal music.”

“Let’s go.”

We crawled out from under the rocket before I stopped for a moment, raising my hand in the air, index finger and pinky lifted in the rock on symbol. “Rock on, Munson.”

“Liv, come on,” Steve said.

I put my hand down, running to catch up with him and the girls to walk across the street to the Creel house. Steve opened the door and entered first, always putting himself in front of the danger. 

He pointed his flashlight down on the floor, vines slithering everywhere.

“Oh, shit,” he and I said. “That’s not good.”

He looked back at me for a second before looking back in front of him, ready to make a move. 

I put my hand on his shoulder, stopping him. “Wait. Remember when we were walking along the tracks to the old junkyard with Dustin?” He nodded his head, so I continued my explanation, smiling. “Except, I wasn’t in the middle of the tracks like you and Dusty were. I was on the metal part of the track. Balancing.”

Placing a kiss on his cheek, I looked at him and said, “Don’t worry, babe. I got this.” Looking in front of me, I picked a good spot to start at where there weren't any vines. I did this until I reached the stairs, where I did it again until I was at the landing, Steve and the girls following my exact movements. I only knew that because if they hadn’t followed my exact steps, we’d all be toast.

I saw flashing red coming from where the attic is, and I immediately saw the color in my own eyes, angry with this creature for putting our Max in harm's way. I heard rustling behind me, so I looked to see what the commotion was; Steve taking Nancy’s shortened shotgun from her bag before he took his ax from his.

Not two seconds after I turned back to face the stairs to the attic, what felt like an earthquake hit, sending me flying back into Steve, Nancy and Robin.

“Oh, my god. Oh, my god. Oh, my god,” I whispered as Steve tried to balance us, Nancy and Robin doing the same. Once it was over, I was breathing a little heavy, Steve’s arm around my middle, keeping me steady.

I stepped away for a minute to regain my breathing some more before I heard squelching below me. I looked down, seeing a couple of the vines wrap around my ankles. “Shit.” I was thrust backwards towards the wall, my back slamming against it. Everything else happened so fast, I didn’t have time to think about my arms being tied up by the vines. I locked eyes with Steve, yelling his name. “Nance! Robin!”

Steve was the first to jump into action, swinging and chopping at the vines that had me basically pinned to this wall, Nancy and Robin pulling and hitting the vines to try and loosen them up a little.

Steve was the next one to get strung up high on the same wall as me, him grabbing at the vine around his neck before the vines put his arms against the wall. Nancy and Robin being the last two to be strung on the wall opposite Steve and I.

I saw the vines going around Nancy and Robin’s necks, feeling them along mine as well. My eyes started to close at their own will, my oxygen almost ceasing to exist until the vines loosened on my neck, wrists, ankles and stomach. I dropped to the ground, coughing and breathing deep to revive my oxygen levels. 

Watching as the vines seemed to be called away, a hand landed on my back as I attempted to get my breathing back to normal. I looked at who was touching me, glad to see that it was Steve.

“Are you okay?” he asked, hoarsely.

“Well, considering alternate dimension vines just about killed me, I’d say I’m pretty far alright,” I said, hoarsely.

“I don’t believe in a higher power or divine intervention,” Robin said, her voice hoarse. “But that was a miracle.”

I stood up with Steve’s help, turning to face the attic door. “I do believe in higher power, so let’s not waste that miracle.” Stepping in front of the group, my eyes never faltered from the attic door. “Let’s go kill that son of a bitch and send his fucking ass back to the deepest pits of hell.”

Nancy cocked her shotgun before Steve breathed out, “Phase Four.”

“Flambé,” Robin said.

I lead the group up the stairs to the attic, anger filling me at the sight of Vecna being strung up by vines with his arms out and palms up. I breathed out an angry breath before I whispered, “There’s that ugly son of bitch.”

Nancy, Steve, myself and Robin stood in front of Vecna, looking at him for a moment. I looked up at Steve, and he at me before we both looked at Robin, ready to flambé this son of a bitch.

Steve put his bottle in front of me after I took a small step back so as to not be in the literal line of fire. After Robin had lit the cloth up, I put my hand on Steve’s upper arm, his eyes looking into mine as I whispered, “Don’t miss.” “I won’t,” he whispered back. He and I, as well as Robin, looked back at Vecna before I stepped closer to Robin right before Steve brough his arm back to toss the homemade molotov at this monster in front of us, the glass bottle flying through the air. 

The bottle hit Vecna, sending him into flames, the heat causing me to cower back a little, eyes closed. The vines burned off his back, sending him to the ground. 

Robin lit her cocktail before hurling it at him, the four of us cowering just a little from the new heat it emitted. Nancy took that as go time as she started to shoot at Vecna, each hit of her bullets sending him backwards. He turned around and yelled at us, Nancy sending one more shot at the creature, sending him flying backwards out of the window and down to ground below.

I wanted to see this ugly bastard dead for myself, so I turned tail and ran straight out of the house, Robin, Nancy and Steve all three following behind me. Once we made it outside, anger filled me again as the spot where I knew Vecna landed… was empty with the exception of a few little spots of fire.

“What the fuck?” I breathed. I looked at all three of them, breathing heavily. “The cocktails and bullets should’ve killed him. Where the hell did he go?”

I got my answer in the form of the clock inside starting its chiming. “Fuck,” I whispered, turning around and going back into the house. My emotions were on high alert as I counted each chime. “One. Two. Three. Four.” As the fourth one faded out, tears were gathering in my eyes as I realized what that meant. “Max.”

To say I was upset would be an understatement. The earthquake-like rumble hit again, Steve’s arm going back around my waist to keep me steady as my hands went to Nancy’s arms to keep her steady as we all stumbled towards the post of the staircase.

Once that was done and over with, I pushed off Steve and made my way outside, tears streaming down my face. 

“Liv,” Steve said. “Babe, wait!”

“No!” I screamed, turning back to face him. “I told you that letting her be the bait was a horrible idea, and did any of you listen? No!” I walked up to him, hitting his chest as I said, “You all let her be the bait and now she’s dead!”

He grabbed my wrists before wrapping his arms around me tightly, trapping my arms between the two of us as I continued my sobs, “She’s dead. Max is dead!”

~~~

Once we had made our way back to Eddie’s trailer, I saw Dustin sitting on the ground with Eddie’s body, our eyes connecting as my brother yelled out my name. I quickly ran over to him, seeing blood coming from Eddie’s mouth.

He looked up at me, smiling a little. “Hey, female Henderson.”

“Liv, the bats,” Dustin breathed.

Looking from Dustin back to Eddie, I said, “You’re not fucking dying, Munson. Do you hear me?” I looked at Steve and the girls, saying, “Come over here and help me pick him up.”

“How are we gonna get him through the Gate?” Dustin asked.

“I’m not sure, but we’ll figure it out.”

Steve, Robin and Nancy were at my side in a second when Dustin tried standing up, a pained cry coming from his mouth. They somehow managed to get Eddie up on his feet while I helped Dustin up.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Fell on the floor coming back through the Gate to get to Eddie,” Dustin said. “I was in our Hawkins when I climbed back through.”

“Damn it, Dustin,” I breathed. By the grace of God, I got him inside and up the sheets. I hadn’t realized that Steve, Robin, Nancy and Eddie were all in our Hawkins until I heard my name being called from Eddie’s room.

Walking in his room, I saw the amount of pain he was in, just like Steve was. Quickly jumping into action, I searched the trailer for antiseptic wipes, gauze and tape. As Eddie grunted in pain, I decided to distract him a little bit.

“That was a pretty metal concert you put on in there,” I said.

“Yeah?” he breathed.

“Oh, hell yeah! Master of Puppets by Metallica? Pretty fucking metal.”

Eddie and I talked about metal music the entire time I worked on dressing his wounds. Looking at his neck as I went to clean it up a bit, I lightly chuckled. “You and Steve are gonna be wound twins.”

He was confused for a moment before he, too, lightly chuckled. “Yeah, I guess we are.”

“Ya’know, he’s not a bad guy. Steve. He’s not so bad.”

“But wasn’t he, like, a dick to you?”

I shrugged. “Came with his newfound popularity. I got used to it. Once all this shit started happening when Will went missing, we kind of… I don’t know, I guess we found each other again.”

“All of this has happened before with the alternate dimension?” 

“The Upside Down? Yeah.” I proceeded to tell Eddie everything from the Demogorgon in ‘83, the Mind Flayer possessing Will, as well as Dart in ‘84, the Russians and the Mind Flayer again last year in ‘85, and now this whole thing with Vecna.

He was quiet for a while, everything processing. Once everything was processed, he nodded his head with a slight smile on his face. “Right on.” The smile slowly diminished once he realized the severity of it all.

Since Eddie couldn’t stay at his trailer because of the manhunt still going on for him, we had to find a safe place for him to stay. I guess that place ended up being mine and Dustin’s house.

Eddie, Steve, myself and Dustin walked into the house, Mom freaking out because of Eddie.

“Mama!”I said, following her to the phone. I placed it back on its hook once I took it from her hand. “Mama, listen to me. He’s not a murderer. He didn’t kill Chrissy.”

“Then what happened, Livvie?” Mom asked.

“I can’t tell you, but just know that he didn’t do it, okay? I promise.”

Mom and I looked at each other, her eyes coming to an understanding. She nodded at me before looking at Eddie. “Since Livvie’s gonna be staying with Steve at his house tonight, you can take her room.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Henderson,” Eddie said.

“Please,” she said, walking up to him to cup his cheeks in that motherly way. “Call me Claudia… or Mom.”

I could see the tears start to form in his eyes as he nodded his head. He looked at me before I gestured with my head for him to follow me. I led him into my room, letting him take it all in.

“Now, Dustin’s room is across the hall if you’d rather sleep in there on his bed,” I said. “He can take the floor. Uhm… don’t touch my landline, don’t open my drawer, but everything else is fair game.”

“Thanks,” Eddie said, smiling a little before he said, “Livvie.”

“If you weren’t demobat chow, I’d punch you in the gut.”

He chuckled before closing his eyes in pain. He sat down on my bed as I walked out of my room, going to the bathroom to retrieve our first-aid kit. 

“It’s not much,” I said, coming back into my room. “But it’ll-” I looked at him, seeing him laying on my bed, fast asleep. The corner of my mouth lifted before I set the supplies on my nightstand. Walking out of my room, I cracked my door before moving into the living room.

Dustin, Mom and Steve looked at me before I nodded. “I think he’ll be fine. He’s asleep now.” Looking at Dustin, I said, “Please keep an eye on him. Make a pallet in my room or whatever, I don’t care. You’re on Eddie watch tonight.”

He nodded as I pulled him into a hug. I kissed his forehead once we pulled apart, Mom engulfing the both of us into a family hug. When I pulled away from that hug, I went over to Steve, who was standing at the door. 

We left my house and went straight to his, where we took a joint shower, just holding each other for a moment before I carefully cleaned his own wounds from being demobat chow. We washed each other's hair like we always did before we both got out of the shower, towel drying off before putting on our pajamas and climbing into bed… after brushing our hair, of course.

As we laid there in each other's arms, a tear fell from the corner of my eye. I didn’t bother to wipe it away as I sniffled. “When is shit gonna go back to normal?” I whispered. “I want a normal life again where we don't have to worry about the world ending.”

Steve held me tighter in arms as I sobbed quietly. “I know, baby,” he whispered back. 

“Stupid fucking Vecna,” I sobbed. I didn’t know how long I cried for, or how long Steve and I slept for. It was dark when I went to sleep and it was light when I woke up. Steve was coming out of his bathroom when I sat up in his bed, yawning.

“Hey,” he whispered. “You’re awake.”

“How long did I sleep for?” I asked.

“We slept all day,” he said. “Like, over 24 hours.”

“I guess saving the world a million times over will do that to a person,” I said, stretching my arms and back out.

He let out a quick, quiet laugh before saying, “There’s a note by the phone for you.”

Scrunching my brows, I threw the covers off of me to head downstairs to see this note Steve was talking about. There wasn’t a note anywhere, but Eddie and my brother were sitting on the couch in the living room.

“What are you two doing here?” I asked.

“Wanted to make sure you were okay, female Henderson,” Eddie said.

“I’m-I’m fine,” I stuttered. “What about you, Munson? Are you okay?” He nodded his head a little. “A little sore, but I’ll be alright.”

“Mom wants you home,” Dustin said.

I nodded and went back upstairs to find Steve putting on his shoes. I let him know that I was gonna go home, and he in turn let me know that he’d be coming with me. I smiled at him and walked up to him, kissing his lips before turning to my drawers to get clothes to dress in.

Once I was dressed, Steve and I went back downstairs, seeing Eddie and Dustin already by the front door. We quickly hurried to Steve’s car, careful not to draw attention to ourselves with Eddie. Steve drove us back to mine and Dustin’s house, where we all walked in the front door, the boys sitting on the couch.

After I turned on the tv, I sat down next to Dustin, the news playing on the screen as the anchorman gave the news. “It’s been less than 48 hours since a 7.4 magnitude earthquake rocked the quaint town of Hawkins, 80 miles outside Indianapolis, in an event that seismologists are calling ‘a natural disaster of near-unprecedented scale.’ The death toll now stands at 22. But with hundreds more filling Roane County hospitals and many more still missing, officials expect those numbers to rise. This is only the latest tragedy to befall this once-safe town. Most recently, a sting of high school students were killed in a series of ritualistic murders, which have been linked to a local satanic cult known as Hellfire. Eddie Munson, the leader of this cult and prime suspect in the murders, has been missing since the earthquake and is presumed dead. But this offers little comfort to the people of Hawkins, who are scared, angry, and searching for answers. Why their town? What have they done to deserve so much suffering? A growing chorus believes the two recent tragedies are linked, claiming the Munson murders opened a doorway between worlds. A doorway, they say, into hell itself.”

Disappointment flooded my body, my head shaking at the so-called news report. “Are you guys hearing this? They’re calling it a doorway into hell. They haven’t even seen hell, much less been to it.” I sighed, turning off the tv and standing up. “Come on. We gotta get to the Wheeler’s.”

~~~

We ended up leaving Eddie at our house where he could get some more rest before Steve drove to pick up Robin. She placed a box in the trunk before she got in the backseat with Dustin, Steve driving to the Wheeler’s as she got settled.

Once we got to the Wheeler’s, Steve opened his trunk, an empty box being placed on the edge of it before another box was placed by the back driver’s seat. 

“Hey, Nance,” Mrs. Wheeler said. “I found some more of your old stuff in the attic.” Nancy walked over to her mother, picking up a toy rabbit for a moment before she placed him back down, grabbing the box from her mother.

A vehicle approaching had gained Mrs. Wheeler’s attention as she asked, “Someone order a pizza?”

“Pizza?” Dustin and I asked. I was so hungry. I turned my head as the horn started to blare, a pale yellow pizza van with a red surfboard attached to the top of it coming into view. “Surfer Boy Pizza?” I asked. “What–”

Mike, Will, Jonathan, El and their friend Argyle piled out of the van, my heart skipping beats and pounding at seeing El. Mike ran to Mrs. Wheeler, calling her name as Nancy and Jonathan ran to each other, the four of them hugging each other, respectfully.

“Olivia!” Eleven called. I smiled bigger than I ever smiled in my life upon seeing her running towards me. I hugged her tight, a few happy tears streaming down my face. When we pulled back, I cupped her cheeks, looking at her. Once I saw her hair, I’m sure the look on my face was more than just shock. “You… you cut your hair?”

She shook her head no. “Papa.”

I looked at her, confused, but she elaborated with, “He’s gone now. Dead.”

Sighing, I touched the top of her head. “Oh, well. It’ll grow back.”

We smiled at each other before she saw Dustin, running to give him a hug. I saw Will next, shocked at how much he grew. “You’re taller than me now.”

“Liv, everyone’s taller than you,” Will said, a big smile on his face.

“Come here,” I said, pulling him into a hug. I looked him over after we pulled apart, stopping at his hair. “Joyce really needs to quit with the bowl cut. That was so ‘81.”

Will laughed at that, pulling me into another hug before asking, “Where’s Lucas?”

“He’s at the hospital,” Dustin said, him and El coming up to stand next to me. I looked back at Steve and Robin, seeing him looking a little sad. 

I walked over to him, cupping his cheeks and pulling him in for a kiss. When we pulled apart, we placed our foreheads together, breathing each other in. “I’ll kiss you stupid tonight.”

“Among other things?” he asked, smugly.

“Gross,” Robin whispered. 

~~~

Jonathan and Nancy took El, Mike and Will to the hospital to see Lucas, Erica and Max while Dustin, Robin, Steve and I went to the high school to donate some stuff. It was turned into a temporary shelter for those that lost their belongings during the “earthquake.”

The four of us went to the trunk of the car to retrieve the boxes that were in there. Steve looked like he was struggling a little bit, so I took the box from him so that he could close the trunk. He took the box back, chastely kissing me before grabbing my hand, lacing our fingers together as we walked into the gym.

I felt so bad seeing all these people on oxygen and I.V.s as we made our way to the donation table. I really felt the need to help out. Robin, Steve and Dustin set their boxes down as Robin told the volunteer hello.

“Uh, these are blankets and sheets,” Robin said, pointing to each box accordingly. “And some-some clothes, and-and some kids toys.”

“Wow,” the volunteer said. “It’s already so organized. We appreciate that. Do you want a tax receipt for it?”

“Uhm, actually,” I said. “We’d like to help with anything if you need it.”

She looked at me and smiled, telling us which stations to go to. Steve and I were folding and sorting clothes, Robin at the food station, and Dustin walked around, helping to hand out cups of water.

Steve and I were in the middle of folding shirts when we both looked up at Robin and Vickie talking. I looked at her like a proud parent. “At least she isn’t rambling about anything.” “Which one?” Steve laughed.

“Good point,” I chuckled, going back to my folding.

It started getting dark outside, so I just thought it was a normal rainstorm heading this way, but I was wrong once I started to see white flakes floating down. I looked at Steve, worry in my eyes as I watched him look out the window, too. He and I walked towards the windows, as well as Robin and Vickie. 

It looked like the Upside Down was coming to Hawkins… as well as another fight for our lives against Vecna.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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~~~

A/N 2:  hi, friends! pls be kind and reblog! it really helps us content creators out <3

Additional Note: i just wanted to say a quick thank you to my readers on this series for being incredibly patient with me these last few weeks. i've been under a lot of stress, and i think it all just came to a head when my kids were a couple days out from spending time with my dad. my anxiety and depression took a hit because of it. i'm sorry everything is coming out late. it was not my intention. thank you sticking around. it means more to me than you truly realize.

~~~

Forever / Everything Taglist: @stiles-o-dylan24​​ @stixnstripesworld​ @fandom-princess-forevermore​​​ @quanticobae​​​ @mischiefandi​​​ @kellyashcroft @lauren-novak​​​​

Steve Harrington Taglist: @madaboutjoe

If you’re tagged and didn’t want to be, please let me know.

~~~

*Please don’t post my writing anywhere else without my consent. The author of this work will always and forever be @harringtonstilinski​.

All characters, story lines, and plot aside from y/n and her storyline & plot, are all of the work of The Duffer Brothers.

*These works contain material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited.

No part of these works may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.

Posted on June 26, 2024 *Happy Pride Month to those who celebrate!*

[tigirl-and-co]

Middle-Aged Man (But Not a Dad (Probably))

Heyooooo, back at it again with a super rough draft for a fic!

inspired by @dballzposting but especially THIS post!

Basic plot summary is Trunks accidentally imprinted on Yamcha like a baby bird but is too emotionally stunted from growing up with the least familial family in all of classic anime to realize that he's being weird as hell about it.

To nobody's surprise, it's a character study! Woohoo!

And before we begin, I wrote almost all of this while dead tired, so it's probably even rougher than my usual rough drafts, but good god I wanted to write this sooooo bad.

Obsession ran on both sides of his family. This was an issue for Trunks, as he'd really fucking rather be thinking about quite literally anything else. But here he was, at the get-together-slash-party-slash-ritual-to-appease-a-big-purple-cat-with-food-so-we-don't-get-blown-up, staring at his mom's ex from the other side of the dessert table.

And praying said ex wouldn't look up from the eclairs he'd never be able to afford otherwise and see Trunks' stupid, stupid eyes staring at him.

But he did.

Fuck.

"Hey, Champ! How've ya been, Buddy?" Yamcha said, in his stupid fucking aging dudebro voice that filled Trunks with an overwhelming sensation of warmth and comfort. He hated it. Yamcha smiled at him the way, Trunks thought, a dad smiles at his somewhat estranged son.

It was probably a kinder smile than his real dad gave when he hugged him for the first time. Not that Trunks would know. Couldn't really see Vegeta's face, too busy experiencing every emotion he could name and also being shoved against Vegeta's inhuman, statuesque form.

It fucking felt like being shoved face-first into a statue, too.

Not like Yamcha probably felt, with his all-too-human physique. There was a softness that covered his features, even though he was still as tough and muscular as ever.

He kinda reminded Trunks of the big blue guy from Monsters Inc. But like, less serious. And very slightly less hairy.

Trunks had been staring too long, but apparently Yamcha was willing to write off the icy glare as a genetic thing and not an actual threat, because he approached the teen with no hint of trepidation.

He stood in front of Trunks and hucked a thumb at the spread of confections behind him. "Yo, you tried the weird cream cake thing? The one covered in chocolate? No idea what it is, but it is good!"

Trunks tried desperately to claw himself out of this conversation with "It's called an eclair cake." He wasn't sure whether or not he had meant to sound that gruff. Either way he sounded too much like his dad, and it pissed him off more.

"Yo, what? They can make eclairs into cake? That's crazy!" Yamcha took pause and then nearly busted his gut, laughing a bit too loud like guys that age tend to do. "But I guess when you're rich, you can pay people to cook up just about anything!"

There! An opening! Trunks knew how to win this conversation and then make his getaway!

"Actually, Yamcha, I think it's just graham crackers, pudding, and chocolate. Pretty simple recipe. I can ask the cooks to give it to you."

Yamcha blinked. "R-Really? That's it?" He sighed. "Well, as much as I'd love to eat cake all day, I really shouldn't." He slapped his gut, which jiggled slightly. "I'm at that age where I've gotta start watching what I eat or I won't be in any shape to show off to the ladies, haha!"

Trunks immediately threw his gaze to his shoes. He fucking lost that interaction, and now he'd have to talk to Yamcha for however long the older man could stand him. Fuck. Well, Trunks knew how conversations worked. He'd seen the guys at Kame House get into it sometimes, and since Trunks was no longer a child, he figured he should talk like that. The ball was in his court.

"Ladies, huh? What... sort of ladies are you into?"

Fuckin' killed it.

~~~

Now it was Yamcha's turn to be cornered. Was it okay to be talking about that kind of stuff with a kid? With someone else's kid? With the kid of somebody he dated?

But he couldn't just say that! Trunks was at the age where he was starting to go after the ladies himself, and Yamcha didn't want to discourage that! He had to find a middle ground, hopefully there was an avenue in this conversation that wouldn't lead to either of Trunks' parents hitting his head clean off his shoulders.

"Um. Your-" NONONONO CAN'T MENTION BULMA. "I m-mean, I like women who..." and how is he supposed to word this? Obviously he's not gonna say 'pretty women' because that would sound so damn shallow, coming from him. "I like. When girls. Can stand on their own... but enjoy having someone around to make their lives easier? I guess?"

He ran his hands through the hair on the back of his head. "To be honest, kid, I'm not really sure anymore! The more I think about it, the more I realize that sometimes people you think should work don't, but the real crazy shi- the real crazy stuff ends up better." Yamcha laughed the kind of shitty laugh you let out when you're nervous and stalling for time. "What about you, Trunks? You a ladies' man? Got a preference?"

~~~

Well, Trunks had been expecting an answer like 'I like redheads' or 'I'm a boob guy' so he was a little unsure of his next move, but he had to think of something to say!

"Um idk there's this one YouTuber I like." Trunks crossed his arms. "So you like women like my mom, right? It kind of sucks that she ended up with my dad."

Yamcha couldn't move. He wasn't sure he was breathing, either. "H-Huh?"

"Yeah 'cuz you probably woulda been a way better husband. All my dad does is train all day and then sit at the table and stuff his stupid face." Trunks put his fist on his hip. "You like watching movies and being nice and shit. I dunno."

~~~

Yamcha was desperately hoping Vegeta wasn't going to manifest behind him and reduce him to ashes. The things Trunks was saying were weird, sure, but the whole family had always been blunt. Trunks probably didn't mean anything by it. Not that that would stop either of his parents from hunting Yamcha down if they heard.

And Yamcha wasn't stupid! He had issues with his own parents, way back when. It's what eventually led him to become a bandit out in the middle of the desert for Chrissake! But he had just wanted to be a dude Trunks could come talk to if he was having the sort of human troubles an ex-evil alien dad couldn't help him solve, and apparently he had been too approachable. Or Vegeta really did just suck that bad.

Either way, oops.

"Hey kid, l-listen! You can't just say things like that!" Yamcha sighed deeply, trying to compose himself. He was still looking around like a raccoon that could hear hound dogs braying, but at least he stopped stuttering.

And then he saw Trunks' face harden even further, scowling angrily. The tykebomb looked like he was barely resisting shouting his next statement, and Yamcha was very glad for that.

~~~

"I'm not a fucking kid! Goddamnit, I'm just trying to have a normal fucking conversation, why are you being so fucking weird about this?" Trunks would have been a truly intimidating sight to behold at this point if he wasn't three-foot-five with lavender hair. "And I was gonna apologize for suckerpunching you that one time when you stayed over, but you can fucking forget it! I'm glad I punched you!"

~~~

The older man knew he had to take responsibility here, because apparently he was right and neither of the kid's parents bothered to teach him the difference in how you're supposed to talk to people outside your own home.

...Thinking on it, neither Bulma nor Vegeta had ever deferred to authority in their lives. Vegeta had a habit of trying to kill anybody stationed above him, and Bulma either screamed until listened to or flashed her tits at someone until she got her way.

Fuck him, maybe he would have made a better parent! Too late now, though.

"No, Trunks, that's not what I meant," he reassured the stunted youth. "I want you to know you can talk to me about stuff, alright? But maybe- maybe not out where your parents can hear? The earth dragon balls can't bring me back again, y'know?"

Trunks looked back up, waiting to hear the rest of the statement.

"And I mean, actually you probably shouldn't say that sort of stuff, because it makes people uncomfortable, but-" here he took the chance of fucking it all up even worse and ruffled Trunks' hair. Trunks didn't even flinch and Yamcha didn't know what that meant. "We're already friends, right? And friends can totally say that sort of stuff. In private."

Trunks met him dead in the eye, unblinking and unemoting. "Okay."

Yamcha chuckled unconvincingly. It fooled Trunks, though. "So, were you actually gonna apologize for that gut punch, or...?"

"No."

"So, what? You were just gonna feel like shit about it your entire life? Until you died?"

"Yeah."

"Haha, okay then! Did... you want a slice of this, um, eclair cake? There's not a lot left!"

"Sure. Can I call you 'Uncle?'"

Yamcha tensed up just slightly, before letting it drain out of him. "Not where anybody who might tell your parents can hear, okay?"

"Deal."

[boundlss]

on: the striker problem.

i don't have a bio for this guy yet and even if i did my bios are hilariously barren so i figured i'd make a post detailing my canon divergences and. um. WHY i'm canon divergent in that way. everyone take my hand ...

hey albatross what's wrong with striker?

great question albatross. helluva boss sort of has a villain problem in general where they want their villains to be threats but don't necessarily want to let them change the status quo too much or become too developed as characters. for most of the villains this is fine since they were introduced as comedic (the CHERUBs, DHORKS, tbh even crimson to some extent altho he really shouldn't have been) however. how ever.

striker falls into the category of helluva villain where he's introduced as someone who is a legitimate serious character with like well rounded motivations and goals, and above all that he's a villain that our protagonists don't BEAT in his introduction. which is more than can be said for literally every other recurring antagonist IMP deal with.

the problem comes after this. western energy is um... okay? ish. i liked most things about him in this episode but it's not better than harvest moon festival, and it's really inconsistent to his character in his first appearance at times. "oops" on the other hand is a nightmare episode that striker is literally barely relevant to and everything he was set up to be is completely trampled all over because fuck me for being invested in the things he was setting up i guess.

so what does this actually mean in terms of what's wrong with striker? great question albatross. what's wrong with striker is he's simultaneously supposed to be a pretty big threat but he's ALSO just being shoved into comedic plots and getting his ass beat all the time which is super tonally dissonant and i don't fuck with it.

that's so cool albatross thanks for that four paragraphs of yapping nobody read. what are the canon divergencies?

yet another slam fuckin dunk in the questions department albatross. i think i'm going to put this one in list format because i like myself and value my own sanity. this is chronological.

striker does not get hired by stella to kill stolas the SECOND TIME the first time he still does this is about in WESTERN ENERGY. this has more to do with my stella's canon divergencies but striker does this of his own accord because he assumes stella and andrealphus will turn a blind eye, which they consider doing before ultimately deciding, unfortunately, that they need stolas to remain alive and threaten striker to force him to back down. otherwise western energy is more or less the same.

he does not appear literally at all in "oops". crimson can have some goons surprise blitzø and fizz i don't care but this is a hard line for me in my portrayal of striker. he didn't show up there.

that's honestly genuinely it for plot divergencies. also some other minor things that are tweaked in terms of personality details and little non-chronological things:

striker is not as egotistical as presented. he was playing up his own confidence to piss moxxie off because he didn't like moxxie, but he's not the type to get a giant statue of himself. he's confident but not THAT confident.

also this is less divergence and more just me expanding on his motivations but in general striker wants to kill a goetia to rile up hell's imps and generally "lesser" species about the mistreatment they all face pretty often.

this is also more just me expanding on things but he grew up a ranch hand so he's very much a horse guy he's just more subtle about it than some people.

anyway those are my notes on striker and the striker problem yeehaw and goodnight. < not actually going to sleep

[ladymordecai]

I have been reading DC comics fic again for the first time in like . . . a decade-ish? because I'm a masochist, apparently. Finding new stuff and reading old favorites and being reminded of canon and all my thinky thoughts about superheroes and specifically Tim Drake, because he's my Robin and I imprinted (much like he did).

canon has put that boy through the wringer in the last decade, including smushing like, all his tragedies from 15 years of comics into like, ten seconds of comics time. I was reminded of the storyline where his dad found out he was robin and threatened batman into making him give it up, which at the time pissed me off because it was both a clear illustration of what a terrible parent jack drake was (in a way the narrative itself didn't seem to get??), and also because everything about it was so obviously For The Plot.

There was like, nothing in that storyline that I remember that actually came from the characters. It read like the writer or editors or whatever TPTB* decided they wanted to write a story about robin's dad finding out about robin and making him stop**. it's an obvious story for the only robin at the time who wasn't an orphan, and one of few kid heroes whose parents didn't know about them, and also it was Batman and Robin! The Drama! it so clearly had nothing to do with TIM when he should've been the main character, and it made me so angry, and then that anger was compounded because TPTB used it as an excuse to screw over Steph and then make the only non-orphan robin into an orphan, i guess just because. I hated it then, I hate it now.

BUT

I have a lot more perspective now, and have read a lot more (both published work and fanfic), and I have had a thought that I cannot believe I didn't have back then and that I've never heard before anywhere. (which doesn't mean somebody else hasn't had it, i just haven't found it)

One of my core objections about the storyline is that Tim's dad didn't figure out his ID, he just found the Robin uniform in Tim's room. Which is so out of character that it should invalidate the entire storyline.

This is the kid who wore another mask under his mask to prevent his other superhero friends from SEEING HIS FACE--not knowing his ID, just seeing his face. The kid who kept his identity from goddamn ORACLE for a while there. The kid who was able to sneak out and photo-stalk BATMAN AND ROBIN for literal years as a preteen and never get caught. Nobody ever knew anything about Robin III unless Tim made a deliberate decision to reveal the information. This had been a cornerstone of his character for 20+ years. Robin III's secret identity was arguably second only to Oracle's in-universe.

Yet that entire story rested on the idea that Jack Drake, inattentive parent maybe-kinda-misguidedly-authoritarianly trying to connect with his son for the first time ever, snoops in Tim's room and finds proof that Tim is Robin?? AND that Bruce Wayne is Batman?!?? Tim, whose best friends still call him "Rob," left proof of his identity and Batman's somewhere his civilian father could find it??!??!

There is NO WAY THAT MAKES SENSE. There is no version of canon in which that makes sense.

Things that would make sense: Is that old poster of the Flying Graysons how you met the Waynes? or Hey So I Noticed You Have Three Half-Empty First Aid Kits, Talk To Me? or Dad! Did you read my freaking diary and find whatever normal-teenager angst I wrote as a cover and possibly also some real civvie-ID angst mixed in?! Not cool!

OR

Somebody set that up.

That was a freaking supervillain plot.

There's like. No other explanation for what Tim's dad found. Either a supervillain figured out Tim's ID and took him off the playing board in the way most likely to disrupt as many other superheroes as possible, or a supervillain who didn't know Robin's ID mind-controlled him into revealing it for nefarious reasons.

So uh. I really don't want to get into writing DC fic, because I have shit to do that is not that, but SOMEBODY NEEDS TO TELL THAT STORY. Like, either all the characters involved don't contract plot stupidity and thus realize there's something hinky going on, or at some point after that in canon new evidence comes to light or an existing rogue says something suspicious or . . . there's just so many possibilities.

AND THEY'RE ALL MORE INTERESTING AND MORE IN-CHARACTER THAN CANON, DC!!!

(the creators involved in that storyline should feel very very lucky i don't remember who they are and am too lazy to look them up. because i would bring up how bad they are at storytelling every chance i got, forever)

--translations for fandom young'uns and some snark:

*TPTB: the powers that be, shorthand for the vast array of people in charge of multi-creator stories run by companies, such as tv shows, movies, and comics

**Buffy did it better

[natasha-in-space]

Dance with Me

Jaehee/gn!reader;

Fooling around and kissing Jaehee in the rain. That's it, that's the plot.

You should've guessed Jaehee would sit you down for a major musical marathon on your long-awaited day off, especially during such rainy weather. Not that you minded, of course. You just found it a bit silly, how predictable she could be at times without even realizing. It was cute, how she genuinely thought you'd be all surprised, once she put on a musical you heard her rambling about a few times already, to the point where she practically spoiled the entirety of its storyline already. Of course, you acted like you've never heard anything about it. How could you not, when she would get such a huge giddy grin that just set your heart on fire?

Frankly, you would gladly rewatch a single scene of Zen running in the background for hours on end, if it would mean making her eyes sparkle like that.

Was that cheesy? Maybe. Did you care? Of course not.

You yawned, turning your head towards the window, while Jaehee went out to get you two more snacks. Owning a cafe did come with a few convenient perks, one of them being free snacks and sweets to indulge in without a care in the world. But, on a stormy day like this, it was way better to stay indoors and watch the raindrops drum away on the windows. You loved the rain. It was peaceful, in some sense. Especially on a hot summer day. Suddenly, an idea hit you. A somewhat reckless one, but you were willing to give it a shot regardless.

"Hey, Jaehee?" You called out to her, still staring out the window.

"Yeah?"

"Let's go out!"

You could hear her shuffle back towards the living room, a confused look on her features as she placed a new plate of leftover muffins onto the coffee table. "Where? It's pouring out there."

"I know that, silly." You gave her a lighthearted roll of your eyes, grabbing a spare muffin and taking a bite out of it. Lemon flavored. Tasty. "That's the entire point. Y'know, like that dancing scene we just watched. We could recreate it!"

A moment of silence followed, nothing but the sound of your chewing and the rain filling the room. You could practically see the gears in Jaehee's mind slowly turning to put the puzzle together. And, once she did, you were delighted to see her cheeks turning a bit darker shade than they were before.

"But, that's... Won't that be distracting? Besides, I'm-"

"I already know what's on your mind, and don't you even start that with me. You fit perfectly for the role. In fact, you're even prettier in my eyes!" You proclaimed proudly, stuffing the rest of the muffin into your mouth before leaping off of the couch and pulling her along with you. "C'mon! Iff'll bfe phun!"

She laughed along, seemingly deciding to humor your antics yet again. "At least chew down your muffin before you speak! I don't want you to choke!"

Ah, Jaehee Kang. The ever reliable voice of reason. You gave her a thumbs-up with your free hand, following her advice.

By the time you two finally got out of the apartment complex, the rain only grew heavier, instantly getting both of you soaked to the bone. Though, you didn't mind that whatsoever. After all, what fun would there be in playing in the rain without getting absolutely drenched?

You knew Jaehee was feeling a bit embarrassed, so it was up to you to get her to loosen up. So, you decided to just let go. Pretend like there was nobody else around except just her and you. Which... technically wasn't completely wrong, as there were barely any people out during such a heavy pour. You let go of her hand, twirling along happily like you were the main character of the very same musical that you two just watched. Except, you weren't nearly as elegant as him, which you got quickly reminded of, as your foot slipped in a nearby puddle, making you lose your balance with a tiny yelp.

Thankfully, though, a couple of rather sturdy hands caught you by the waist before you could tumble to your fate like an absolute dummy. You gasped as you glanced up at none other than Jaehee herself, staring down at you with wide brown eyes. Looks like she acted without even thinking. Quick reflexes. Is there anything she couldn't do?

"...You know, maybe I should start acting like a complete idiot more often if it means I can get you to catch me like that." You muttered, refusing to stand back up as you just admired the way her hair, wet from the rain, clung to her face. Some part of you wanted to reach up and brush it aside. Which you did. Grinning even further as you saw her cheeks flush bright red under your touch. Looks like you're not so bad at re-creating that scene after all. You'd say, this one was even better.

She steadied you, quickly taking a step back as she now fiddled with a strand of her hair right where you touched it seconds prior. God, she was so adorable, and she didn't even realize it.

"Don't be ridiculous... What if you'd sprain your ankle or something?" She murmured, not meeting your eyes. A fair argument indeed. Though, you just shrugged it off, taking a step closer.

"Well, you caught me, didn't you? I'm pretty sure falling for you is safe." You added that last part cheekily, quickly leaning in and placing a soft kiss on her lips, giggling as she gasped. "You know what other perks there are to playing in such heavy rain?"

She just stared back at you, her cheeks flushed. Oh, how you loved making her all flustered like that. Especially when she couldn't take her eyes off of you. Like you were the only thing she saw. "...What?"

"No one will see us doing this."

And with that, you pulled her in for another kiss, your bodies melting together and keeping each other warm even despite the rain pouring down around you. This was definitely way better than the musical.

[calethelettuce]

SaSi Intruality Week 4/7: The Heartbreak Helper

Prompt: Scars

Tags: @intrualityweek

Synopsis: Patton tells Remus a story after he asks about a certain scar. Remus is more understanding than Patton would have ever thought. Wait, is this considered hurt/comfort? Sorry not sorry.

Characters: Patton, Remus

Relationships: Romantic Intruality

TW: Talk of scars and injury, swearing, sad boi hours and talk of self deprication, intrusive thoughts

~

The clock struck midnight as Patton sat idly in bed, staring at the wall.

Remus was beside him, laying flat on his back. The day had been tiring and rough for the both of them.

"Hey Pat?" Remus asked quietly, his groggy and tired voice filling the otherwise quiet room, "Can I ask you a question?"

Patton continued to stare at the wall as he fidgeted with his hands. "Mhm."

Remus sat up just a little, propping himself up on his elbows. "Where did you get that scar on your chest from? The one over your heart?"

Patton had never heard Remus use such a soft, curious voice before. He shifted positions to face the green-clad side with a small, invisible smile. "You want to hear the story, then?" he spoke gently, with a nostalgic yet pained look in his eye.

Remus stared up at him expectantly. "I really do want to hear it! Did you fight off a hoarde of zombies?!"

Patton laughed. "No, no, it's nothing like that."

Remus scooted closer, resting his head on Patton's lap. His legs dangled off the edge of the bed as he kept his questions rolling. "But then what happened? Did the stand mixer explode on you?"

Patton carded a hand through Remus' hair as he replied. "It's not really as cool as that." he paused, taking a breath. "Do you remember Thomas' ex-boyfriend? The one he met before Nico?"

Remus frowned. "Sure do. He was a dick."

Patton let out a breathy laugh. "Well, I wouldn't say that. I'm sure you've heard of heartbreak?"

His frown turned into a look of pure hurt. "Awh, Patty, no.."

Patton smiled wryly. "I got a little sick after that." he took the strap of his tanktop off his shoulder, moving it down low. Right where Patton's heart would be, a scar sat, the once broken skin healed over with occasional bumps and crevices. "It turned into some kind of rash. Which turned into a wound." he avoided Remus' concerned gaze. "I couldn't help but-" he swallowed the lump in his throat, holding back a small sob. "I couldn't help but pick at it and it got worse-"

Remus sat up. "Oh.. I had no idea." He pressed himself against Patton's side, placing an arm protectively around his shoulders. "I think it's a lovely scar. Roman taught me, when we were younger, that scars are just the tale of how you've grown up and changed." his tone was hushed and caring as he sat and let Patton cry for a moment. “Seriously, hon. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Patton rested his head on Remus’ shoulder as tears fell, the droplets soaking into his shirt. “It’s all my fault, Remus,” he mumbled, “We wouldn’t all be in such a terrible state if I had listened to the others the first time.”

Remus only nestled in more, wrapping his other arm around Patton in a hug from the side. “Oh come now,” he whispered, “we all agreed it wasn’t your fault.”

“But-!”

Remus put a finger to Patton’s lips, offering him a smile. “We can all be screwed up together, okay? Nobody hates you for what happened. Like I said, scars just show how much we’ve grown.” He hesitated before continuing. “Thomas is okay now. He has Nico, yeah?”

Patton nodded, grabbing Remus’ hand. “I guess you’re right.” He wiped the lenses of his glasses and his eyes, letting out a pained laugh. “Sometimes I get these… funny thoughts. I’m afraid that makes Thomas a bad person.”

Remus bit his lip. “I know a lot about funny thoughts, Patton. Sometimes, it’s easier to say them out loud. So you know they’re not real.”

“Even if they’re about stabbing things?”

Remus pressed a kiss to Patton’s forehead.“Even if they’re about stabbing things.”

He sat and listened as Patton quietly talked about his thoughts, offering reassurance and guidance as the clock kept ticking on through the night hours.

By the time Patton had calmed down, an hour had passed. “It’s later than I thought,” he said, “maybe we should go to bed now.”

“We should!” Remus agreed, letting out a yawn, “Otherwise Janny might kill us both!”

Patton laughed, pulling a blanket over himself. “Well, that was a silly little endeavor.”

Remus laid down next to him, snuggling underneath the fuzzy blanket. “Sure was!” He wiggled closer, putting a gentle hand over Patton’s heart. “And I don’t love you any less now that I know.”

“Really?” Patton smiled in the dark, letting out a deep breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding in.

“Really, Pattycake.”

The two fell asleep within minutes, nestled comfortably in each other’s arms.

And if Patton ever needed a place to let out his thoughts and “icky” feelings, his Heartbreak Helper was there for him.

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #98

Therapy today was rather enlightening.

Up until now, one of the notions that I used to carry was that "sometimes having your back up against a wall is good medicine, because, properly wielded, it forces you to get out of your own damn way."

…So, practically speaking, for example, if you're normally a meek person who doesn't wanna hurt people and cowers in the face of a threat, then being in a dangerous situation can bring out a certain, "clock them over the fucking head with a blunt, heavy object" out of you that you previously didn't know you had (long story; not gonna get into it, but nobody died or was seriously hurt, so don't worry).

To my knowledge up until this point, being in a "do or die" type of situation can give a person the "oomph" they need to do whatever it takes to get out of their own damn way, to change a longstanding behavioral pattern, or to let go of things that are destroying them. And in one way or another, I've been in situations where I've used this framework to do all sorts of things that I thought were impossible previously - for example, finally cutting ties with an abusive relationship with someone named S, the thing with the blunt object in the previous paragraph, and… perhaps this won't seem like a big deal, but… going to therapy. All of these things were things that I was terrified of doing for one reason or another, but failure to do all these things would result in CONSEQUENCES, so then you do them, and then you realize that you're strong enough to do difficult, terrifying things, and then those things become less difficult and terrifying.

And ya know? I lived most of my life either being in situations that felt like "do-or-die", or watching others be in situations that felt like "do-or-die", and until today, I guess I simply took it at face value as though it is the fundamental way of things, without so much as a second thought - you want an excuse to get over your own destructive shit really fast? Then get into a situation where there's no other viable choice. Or so I thought.

But today, my therapist pointed out that no one should ever have to be put in a "do-or-die" situation in the first place. And that notion motivated me to take pause; it was unfamiliar, so I listened.

He cited people who are self-medicating with various substances as an example. Addiction is borne from trauma, not from moral failure. So the person using substances is, in the absence of other resources that feel safe, doing what they can to drown out the horrors in their head long enough to make their existence feel less painful, at least temporarily. Unfortunately, a lot of the behaviors associated with self-medication end up hurting both the person doing it and the people around them, and so interventions are sometimes held, where the person is COMPELLED to do the thing, and… in my therapist's experience, this is usually less helpful than simply being all like…

"Hey, cool, you wanna go self-medicate like that - it's allowed. But I don't feel safe around you when you do that, and I don't like the things you end up doing to me in service to continuing to do that, and so I will protect myself by creating distance between myself and you." …And that's a LOT different from "go get help or else." The first thing in quotes gives the person a choice. The second is a rejection and a threat. Rejection is disempowering, and people ALWAYS do better with choices than with threats.

There's a situation in my social circle right now in which my initial assessment of what must be done in order for everyone to be safe was somewhat callous - reflective of the harsh, fear-based lens of the old life that I lived. "Perhaps the potential of ending up [insert unpleasant situation here] will prompt them to re-evaluate their priorities," (essentially, "do-or-die") as a concept, is not reflective of the kind of person I want to be. So I'm going to have to reevaluate my thinking and choose a more loving alternative - one closer to, "You can [very unsafe behaviors], but you will then have to find somewhere else to live because [very unsafe behaviors] are not conducive to my safety or wellbeing, and I must protect myself. If you must continue [very unsafe behaviors], then perhaps you can find a space to [very unsafe behaviors] elsewhere."

…The distinction between these things still feels subtle to me, but I can see how they are not the same, even if I'm still struggling to articulate how they differ. But that's merely a function of everything being very black-and-white within the old life I used to live; if I want to be able to lovingly move through this world, I have to be able to learn how to distinguish between more shades of grey. The prospect is both exciting and terrifying! I'll get better at it the more I practice.

The folks involved do not live in my house, but they do live in the house of a person who is close to me, and this person who is close to me is having a very hard time from it all. I do hope the situation can resolve amicably soon. I'll keep doing my best to be a source of support.

There's still so much that I don't know; I've gotta try a little harder, do a little better, and so… the temptation from my old life is to think that these things mean I am a bad person. But I think I will try to choose an interpretation closer to, "I am still learning and growing, and this means that I am alive." Not knowing everything means that I will never have any shortage of things to learn and do!

In any case. I am tired and cold, so I fixed myself up a big ol' glass of warm milk; it's a great way to chase both the chill from one's bones, and the restlessness from one's mind. I can't give you a glass, but I can share a picture. It's not fancy, but… here:

…I have finished this glass, and the restlessness is gone, but the chill is still in my bones. So I think I'm going to soak in a hot shower, and then go to sleep.

I will keep working on becoming a kinder and more loving person. I'll hope with everything in me that you will work on doing the same - both for yourself and for the people around you. You deserve your own love - regardless of how you came into being and regardless of the mistakes you've made before. Treat yourself like someone who is worthwhile so that you don't end up going for a number of consecutive days without food, water, or sleep ever again, because stuff like that is VERY UNSAFE BEHAVIOR.

I love you and I'll write again tomorrow.

Your friend, Lumine

[password-door-lock]

Mystictober Day 5-- Zombie

Content warnings: guns, minor character death (the character is a zombie believer)

“Hey, toy, you'd better—”

“Oh, thank god,” you cut Saeran off before he’s even finished slamming the door. Under normal circumstances, you would never try to talk over him, and not just out of respect. From what you understand of the hierarchy at Magenta, nobody cuts Saeran off— except, perhaps, for the so-called Savior, but as a general rule, the believers are terrified of him. You, however, have other things of which to be terrified— and now that Saeran is locked in this room with you, so does he. “Listen, I've got good news and I’ve got bad news.” It occurs to you that this might not be the best way to break the news to him, but you’ve already committed. “Which one do you want first?”

“Who the hell do you think you are to interrupt me?” Saeran screams, clearly already in a sour mood. He never responds well when you defy or contradict him, but he doesn’t usually start screaming at you right off the bat. As he crosses the room with startling speed, you can't help but shudder, your mind drawn back to the events of this morning. For a moment, you’re worried that Saeran might try to bite you, just like that believer, but no— all he does is cage you against the wall. You release an audible sigh of relief at the sight of his familiar face, his eyes as sharp as ever. He doesn’t take that very well, as you probably would have guessed if you could still think clearly. “I'm going to teach you how to b—”

This time, he's cut off by an inhuman groaning sound coming from the other side of the wall behind you, followed by banging and scratching that you can practically feel where your back is pressed against the cool plaster. “What the fuck was that?” Saeran demands when the noises have quieted. His breathing is heavy, and his hand is clenched into a fist where it rests on the wall above your head. It wouldn't take an expert in human behavior to deduce that he's as scared as you are.

“I was getting to that,” you explain, fighting to maintain a jovial tone for his sake. Usually, making him laugh is a good way to help calm him down, but you get the feeling that Saeran is beyond that point right now— to be honest, so are you. If he didn't have you backed into a corner, you would probably be pacing around the room, wringing your hands and fretting. “So, what happened is, the believer that came to give me my breakfast tried to bite me, and I was like, holy shit, terrifying, so I shoved him into the bathroom, and now, as you can see, he's making terrifying groaning noises and trying to get out. So, in conclusion, would you mind pinning me against a different wall? I can feel the, uh, pounding and clawing against my back, and the inhuman wailing is pretty loud.” You release a shaky laugh, deciding to omit the part of the story where you sat like a statue on the edge of your bed, praying that whatever was going on with that believer wasn’t contagious through skin-to-skin contact. You also neglect to mention the neon green blood vessels, the glassy eyes, or the frantic, automatic movements, as disturbed as you were by all of that.

“You said there was good news. What is it?” Saeran demands, momentarily distracted by your story. Not distracted enough to let you go, it seems, but he’s no longer threatening you, at least. “Don't tell me you were lying about that, too.”

“I've never lied to you,” you place a hand on his arm as gently as you can, though you’re not sure whether it’s for his comfort or your own. Maybe both. He's shaking, though that's nothing out of the ordinary— Saeran is usually trembling from head to toe when he comes into your room. The only difference now is that he can’t convince you that it’s all from rage, not with the snarling believer locked in the bathroom. “And the good news was that I trapped the guy in the bathroom. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I’m glad all the doors here lock from the outside.” Your bathroom door, unlike many of the others that you came across when you were allowed to explore this floor of Magenta at your leisure, also locks from the inside, but you’ve been betting on the fact that the believer isn’t in the state of mind to figure out the lock mechanism. To be safe, you also pushed a chair against the door, though if your guess about the believer is correct, you doubt that such a flimsy piece of furniture would actually do much to keep him at bay.

“Mhm. Your lovely fairy prince Ray wanted to trap you in here forever,” Saeran informs you, exerting considerable effort to try and look smug under these harrowing conditions. “He would have locked you up and kept you like a doll if you had given him the chance— you’re lucky I'm the one who's here instead.” He is grasping at straws now, trying to wrap his fingers around any control that he can get. 

“First of all, you're the one who locked me in here,” you point out, despite yourself. Maybe it would be better just to let him have this one, but in your defense, you’re terrified.  “And second of all, there's a scary bitey guy trapped in the bathroom! I don't like to throw this word around, but I'm actually pretty confident that we're dealing with a zombie.”

“There's no such thing as zombies, prince(ss),” Saeran informs you, like he hasn’t heard the very zombie-like groaning and wailing noises coming from the (former) believer that literally tried to bite you. “Are you honestly that stupid? They're made up.” He finally releases you, only to pound on the door to the bathroom. “HEY!” He roars. “You know who I am? If you don't cut out that racket and stop messing with my toy, I'll bring you to the basement and lock you in a cell, instead! Then nobody will listen to you, even if you're wailing or begging or whatever!”

But all he gets in response is garbled snarling and clawing at the door. “That's zombie behavior,” you laugh, beside yourself with horror. You're honestly impressed with your ability to hold yourself together for long enough to get the snarling believer into the bathroom and lock the door.

“I just said it wasn't a zombie!” Saeran roars. Evidently his plan is to take his anger and confusion out on you, which is nothing novel— however, you’re not sure how comfortable you feel with this particular display of strength, considering that it involves pretending that the snarling creature on the other side of a very thin piece of wood is anything other than a zombie. “Watch. I'll get him out here and deal with him myself.” For some reason, Saeran finds it necessary to pull the chair away from the door. Thankfully, the believer doesn’t seem to notice, or doesn’t understand how to use the lock— you don’t care which. All you know is that you don’t like this plan. 

You tug on his arm, but Saeran simply shakes you off. You suppose that it's your own fault for hanging off the sleeve of his suit jacket, but in your defense, he's trying to open a door with a literal zombie behind it. In your opinion, you're entitled to do whatever you need to stop him from releasing the fiend— you cling to him with all the strength that your fingers can summon . “You're going to get us both killed,” you protest.

“If he tries anything, I'll shoot him,” Saeran informs you, “Let me take care of it, toy. You don't know what you're talking about.” You might be persuaded by the warning in his tone, were you not so afraid of the real threat on the other side of the door.

As uncomfortable as you are with this situation as a whole, however, you do feel marginally safer knowing that Saeran is armed, and you allow him to reach for his weapon. It might actually be better if he gets rid of the zombie, although… What if there’s a cure for whatever this believer has? “I still don't think you should open that door.”

“Shut up,” he hisses, “I already told you what I was doing, prince(ss). You can't do anything to stop me— haven't you figured that out by now?”

You can't help but roll your eyes. “This is a really stupid idea.”

Saeran scoffs. “What the hell is wrong with you?” He ignores the groaning noises coming from the bathroom and unlocks the door, taking advantage of your shock— you didn’t think he was actually going to open the door— and tugging you behind it with him as he pulls it open and releases the believer into the room.

You’re honestly thankful that Saeran isn’t trying to face the zombie head-on, but that gratitude, like everything good at Magenta, is short-lived. “Hey,” he calls, and the undead creature whirls around.

You feel very confident referring to the believer as such, partly because his eyes are glassy and he's darting around with the the stiff, reflexive movements of a monster from a zombie movie, and partly because he tried to bite you, but mostly because he doesn't seem remotely afraid of Saeran— that's not typical for believers on a good day, and right now, Saeran is shaking with rage and terror while brandishing a weapon. Anybody human would at least stop with the scary snarling noises. The neon green veins really just drive the point home.

“See,” you whisper, “Zombie.”

Saeran's hands are trembling as he raises the gun. The creature charges at you. “Kill it,” you yelp. You can worry about the moral implications later, but you damn well did not decide to stay here so that you and Saeran could live out the rest of your miserable existence as zombies roaming the halls of Magenta.  “You have to kill it. Saeran, please.”

He closes his eyes for a split second, but before you can even accept your impending fate, he clicks the safety off and fires just before the creature reaches you. You’re too shocked to say anything. Saeran is breathing heavily, and as soon as his gun is put away, he clings to you with both arms. “What... what... was that?”

You've never heard his breathing so ragged. “It's alright,” you assure him, “It's going to be alright. You did so well— you saved us. It's okay, we're safe.” But you know very well that this assessment is not entirely true— after all, you’re still at Magenta, and neither one of you was ever safe here. In your defense, however, you're just as shaken as he is. How could you be anything else? If he'd hesitated for only a moment longer…

“How did it get in here?” Saeran breathes. Then, louder, “HOW DID IT GET IN HERE???”

You try your best to wriggle around and face him, but to no avail. He’s clinging to you with a vice grip. “You've gotta pull yourself together.” You hate to say it, but it's true— you have a vague idea of how zombies work based on what you’ve seen in movies, and perhaps the only consistent piece of lore is that if there's one of them around, it's probably safe to assume that there might be more on the way. “There could be more of them. Did you see anything strange in the hall?”

He takes a deep, shaky breath. “Yes.” No wonder he was in such a bad mood when he came in— he probably sought you out to blow off steam about it.

He doesn't tell you what he saw, or why he didn't bother bringing it up before, or why he was so convinced that the zombie in the bathroom wasn't actually a zombie. You're not sure you want to know— now that the believer in front of you has been taken care of, it's abundantly clear that he was not the only source of strange banging and groaning noises. You’re fairly certain that if the two of you leave your room, you’ll have more zombies to contend with. “What do we do?” You ask, as if Saeran would know. He might be an imposing figure around here, and he might have a gun, but other than that, he's probably just as clueless as you are.

“I have— I have to make sure my Savior is alright.” You've never heard him stumble over his words this way before. “You'll have to come with me— toy. Since... since I don't want...Well, I can take you wherever I want to. I don’t have to explain it to you.” 

You knit your eyebrows. You can deal with the name-calling and the refusal to explain his reasoning— the man just had to kill a zombie, after all; you can't blame him for being all over the place emotionally—  but you're not so sure about his plan. “You want to go back out there?”

“I have to,“ he informs you. ”Then…” It's clear he doesn't know what to do after that.

“We have to leave this place, Saeran,” you breathe, “You know that. It isn't safe—”

“It's not safe out there, either, prince(ss),” he spits. He's probably right, and you do see his point— there's no doubt that she mistreats him, but Rika is important to Saeran. You can understand why he would want to check on her, at least. You may disagree with him, but it’s his journey to go on, and you refuse to become just another person telling him what to do. 

“Alright,” you relent eventually, squeezing your eyes shut. As always, you will follow this man wherever he goes— whether that means staying at Magenta or walking into a hallway full of zombie believers— against your own best interests. This must be what love is, because it's rattled your priorities beyond the point of no return. “Let's go, then.”

[beck-nightengale]

Character Ask for Jade the Prophetess

So I'd been ticking away at that old Enderal Character Ask for some weeks and finally had time to finish it, and lordy was that a lot of questions with a lot of answers...

Have some lineart/expressions that my friend (please commission her, she's amazing) did for my girl if you're just passing by:

But yeah. This thing ended up being a lot of words - more words than what is probably necessary (I'm justifying it because she's a novel character that much of her backstory will be re-adapted to, anyway). Even with all of this, there are still a lot of side details left out, but... I figure my Ask Box is open if anyone is curious about any bits in particular.

Grab some tea if you're down for that.

Warning for spoilers (obviously), child/domestic abuse, cannibalism, eye scream, mental illness, addiction, and the usual Enderal fuckery that's on full steam ahead. (I guess this should be a given, but hey you never know.)

1. The basics – name, age, etc…

Her original name was Jehoel Gris. She started using “Jade” shortly after her family was killed because of, you know, Reasons. Distancing herself from her old life, for one. Second, it had come at the suggestion of an old Aeterna woman, who helped her to recover from the injuries she got after the Masked Men tried to burn her alive with her parents. This also prompted her to try to pass as human once she was on her own. Reinventing yourself can be pretty simple when you are already a nobody.

Age-wise, she is 32. Her birthdate is 14th of the Winter Star, 8202. So not very old, but old enough to have Gone Through Some Shit.

2. Describe their appearance.

Thanks to the Aeterna blood from her mother’s side, Jade is pretty dang tall, standing at 6’4” (195cm). Because of this, she slouches when she sits and generally carries herself in poor posture to make herself appear smaller than she actually is. Even then, her attempts are not always successful around those who can recognize the more subtle hints of her Aeterna features or catch a peek of her ears in her hair, but those traits are pretty subdued for the most part. She tries to pass as half-Qyranian/half-Nehrimese, which she might actually be a quarter of both. We just don’t know. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Also she has freckles on her face, which aren’t always visible on her darker skin (it’s no mystery why her father didn’t believe that she was his child, really). Got some dark as fuck rings under her eyes from chronic insomnia. Her left eye is blind and pearl white in color, with some visible central heterochromia in her right, in which the outer iris is a storm-grey turning light brown/hazel towards the pupil.

3. How do they like to dress?

Generally prefers comfort over style, though she isn’t averse to dresses when wanting to look her Sundas’ best, which is rare. Purple is her favorite color, but she has very few opportunities to actually wear it. Her wardrobe varies a bit depending on the occasion. If she’s ever feeling particularly pretty, she’ll wear some flowers in her hair.

For the most part, she avoids outfits revealing too much skin, especially her hands, arms, and back, and she always wears gloves during her day-to-day activities. Not because she is modest, though...

4. Do they have any markings (scars, tattoos, birthmarks)?

The reason she covers her body with long sleeves and gloves would be the fact that it’s covered in scars. She’s not particularly self-conscious about her body, as she’s been intimate plenty of times without much trouble before. But she does feel that they make most people see her in a certain way (particularly pity or concern) that she would rather deflect more often than not. It’s also kind of hard to spin entertaining yarns about your childhood abuse or the time you barely managed to escape being burned alive by a cult, so she’s more likely to make up lies about where they come from than tell the truth.

Other scars just happen to be products of past scuffles and misadventures during her time as a street urchin and slave. Most notable are the severe burns left on her back, left shoulder, and behind her right leg.

Her face is not so easily covered up, and neither is Jade inclined to. After all, it’s an otherwise pretty face. She doesn’t care for helmets or masks to hinder her vision in the one good eye she has. The scar and blindness came from a particularly brutal incident, back when her father was first trying to teach her to hunt so she could be of more help on the farm. When she failed to hit a rabbit at a distance, he lashed out several times with the lower limb of a hunting bow. After a point, the left side of her face was swollen, and the eye came near to popping out entirely. Though it was salvaged with a combination of her mother’s healing salves and magic (which reduced what would have been severe disfigurements for the rest of her life), the eye remained permanently discolored. This event also may have left Jade comatose with some brain damage, had it not been for her mother’s healing, but it was also a turning point for how much abuse she could take, mentally and emotionally (and elaborated more on in later questions).

The remaining facial scars she has left are from the stitches where the skin had been split open from her father’s other… episodes. Her mother did what she could to heal Jade’s most grievous injuries, which led to her falling so sick with Arcane Fever so frequently that, on many days, she couldn’t even get out of bed. Jade didn’t fully understand the extent of Arcane Fever at the time, however, and just equated the memory with Light magic = bad.

5. What are they like? Describe their personality (use whatever tools you like- MBTI, D&D alignment, astrological signs, Hogwarts house, words/phrases):

Pre-Enderal, she’d probably be chaotic neutral; she did a lot of bad shit, but mostly out of survival. Post-Enderal and lots of character development later, she’s become more chaotic good, where she’s trying to be a better person than she was (or at least present herself as such) while still giving zero fucks about the law.

Moreover, Jade is the epitome of the type who masks their depression and deep loathing towards herself in humor and sarcasm, which seeps through self-deprecating jokes. And you can damn well bet that she hated when the Father called her out on this when she was working with Tharaêl, too. She wears all kinds of proverbial masks in hopes that no one can see the madwoman she fears she truly is.

See, ever since she was a child, she always had a peculiar connection with death, especially after the incident where she lost sight in her left eye… or so one can presume. Whether she truly heard the whispers of the dead or if it was the product of a shattered psyche, it’s hard to say. She kept the frequent visits of voices and phantasms to herself after her mother expressed fear that the girl’s mind just broke as a result of her father’s torment, or that she had suffered irreparable damage from her head injury. Most of the time, the voices she heard would go away on their own if she ignored them long enough, anyway. Since then, she always believed that people would think her mad if they got too close to her, started noticing the little ticks that always make her seem “off” – an ill-timed laugh, a hollow smile, talking when there’s seemingly no one else around. It was very wild how easily folks believed her when she started having her premonitions and experience with the dead after arriving on Enderal.

As an urchin child, she learned how to survive on the streets via thievery and fraud, until she was eventually caught and sold into slavery. The noblewoman who purchased her had taken an interest in her potential in burglary and violence, as she had a knack for both. Jade had no qualms when it came to killing in self-defense, which hardened her when it came to death in general (even though she may or may not have been haunted by those she killed for a time). This skill, coupled with her unassuming appearance and youth, made her an oddly effective hatchet person. If she wasn’t subjected to hard labor (which consumed the majority of her years as a slave), every now and then she was tasked to neutralize “threats” her master suspected of “plotting against her” – she was very paranoid, and a bit of a madwoman in her own right. As she grew into her adolescence, Jade just started seeing the killing as tiresome as any other chore she did, one in which she took neither joy nor despair, provided that she could shut the ghosts out.

6. How would they describe themselves?

“Hi, I’m garbage.”

7. Education level?

Smarter than one would think from a former farm girl, slave, street urchin, and possible madwoman – a fact which she uses to her own advantage, sometimes using reverse psychology-esque tactics by pretending to be dumber than she actually is. Not many would suspect a smooth talker out of her with the way she curses, but she’s maxed out in Rhetoric for a reason. Between her rather crass manner of speech, she can be remarkably well-spoken and thoughtful when it comes to matters she’s passionate about.

During her years as a slave, she was surprisingly given a basic education in reading and writing, which opened up a lot of avenues for Jade as she got older and would sneak some books to read during her rare downtimes. This is also just an excuse for how she’s able to speed read through all those skill books. Like, goddamn.

8. What are they proud of in themselves? What are they embarrassed about?

Jade would be hard-pressed to claim she takes any pride in the things she does, but she has developed the “fake it ‘til you make it” attitude to an art. Think you might be losing your mind? Pretend you’re sane until it goes away or no one notices. :)

Also she has shamefully high confidence in her seduction skills – she knows she’s got a pretty face (blemishes and all) and she uses those assets in her favor. It was especially useful when she was in the market of scamming and thieving, as it was possible to get away with all the gay crimes by flashing that charm and wit.

Of course, her seduction doesn’t always land. Her response to rejection is less than graceful.

9. Do they know any languages other than Inâl?

Some phrases from the Aeterna, Qyranians, and Kiléans she’s met, but not really fluent in anything. Linguistics isn’t her strong suit.

10. What, if any, aspects of their mother’s culture influenced them growing up?

Not much, since Jade was pretty ignorant of Aeterna culture and beliefs. Her mother always seemed to try to put that part of her past behind her when she had arrived on Nehrim as a refugee. Esme was shocked by how little Jade knew about her own kind.

11. Name a song (or a few) that remind you of them.

Oof, it’s hard to name a few, but I’ve got a whole playlist of songs for my Prophetess. Girl With One Eye by Florence & the Machine has always been my anthem for Jade as a character (she’s based off of a protagonist from one of my old novels/D&D character I played ages ago – more on that here if you’re curious), but it is hard to choose between that and Hated by Life Itself, Again, Arsonist’s Lullabye, and Little Talks as her one song.

Her OG!book iteration also had her own official songs (and In My Mind is still pretty fitting for her when you get down to those lyrics, goddamn), so… there’s that, too (and yes, I find the title of her theme to be hilariously and unintentionally appropriate, considering the “canon” ending I go for her Enderal version).

12. Speaking of songs, can they sing? What is their voice like? How about instruments?

Well, she’s no minstrel, but she doesn’t mind humming a tune or singing a tavern song she learned while on the road. She doesn’t have an ear for drums or flutes, but she enjoys strumming on a lute if she gets her hands on one (which may or may not be a residual character trait from her modern iteration, who was a violinist).

She likes to dance as well, despite the fact that she constantly derides herself for it by claiming she has “two left feet” and is overall a terrible dancer. She kind of is, but she likes it anyway.

...I also just really like dancing mods. They give me life.

13. What was their life like before coming to Enderal?

As indicated in previous answers, she was in a very bad way. A fugitive, runaway slave who had attempted to kill her master after reaching a breaking point, and ended up with a bounty on her head that prevented her from living in one place for too long. She did at some point have a few relationships (the longest one lasting three years), but her issues with trust, commitment, and fear of her own sanity rarely ever kept her around the same people. Her first experience with love didn’t end very well, and she’s had not much more than a series of shallow flings ever since.

I do have a timeline of “life events” that I mapped out that I’m still picking at off and on (and will also be adapted to a new novel series), but an abridged version of her life before Enderal can be described as: A walking natural fucking disaster. She had a bad habit of losing herself in drogae and casual sex as a way of coping with the night terrors in her sleep and her questionable mental state when she was awake. Had it not been for Sirius, she would have sniffed dust into an early grave.

14. How did they decide to leave Nehrim?

She didn’t. Her plan was pretty much to die alone in a gutter somewhere in her war-torn homeland. The only reason she left was because Sirius wanted her to come with him to start a new life.

15. Describe their relationship with Sirius.

Tense at first. They met as slaves, and then ran into each other again as runaways, where they were nearly recaptured by slavers. Their captors wanted to cash in on Jade’s bounty, and as such she was more heavily guarded than Sirius – a situation which the two readily took advantage of.

After that, they ended up sticking together. Sirius thought that she needed a friend, even after all of her efforts to try and keep him at arm’s length, and Jade figured it couldn’t hurt to have someone watch her back sometimes. For whatever reason she couldn’t understand, he never gave up on her; he often tried to make her see herself as someone capable of a lot of good, rather than a total lost cause. It just made his death hit that much harder, as she felt personally responsible (elaborated on more in #36).

Initially, she only told him a little about her past out of necessity, due to him frequently waking her up screaming in her sleep. But as they grew closer and developed a genuine friendship, she began to open up to him more in earnest. They were a dynamic hobo duo for eight years, which is the longest Jade ever stuck by someone, so they went through a lot together during their time on the streets.

16. Who do they blame for what happened to their family?

Herself. It was she who sought help when her father’s abuse had escalated to him finally attempting to drown her in the pond outside their home. She only survived because her mother had finally intervened, only to collapse from her Fever. Jade ran off on her own to get help and found some members from the Creator’s Temple, which only led to them condemning the entire family instead. Her sister died when the Masked Men set fire to their house, while Jade was strung up alongside her mother and father. She escaped with her life, but sustained severe burns in the process that left permanent scars.

The reason as to why the Masked Men executed the family is unclear in the game. For Jade’s story, it was because her father’s downward spiral into insanity led to cannibalism during a particularly poor harvest season, in which food was scarce. He murdered a local half-Qyranian man who he always suspected of being the biological father of his daughters, then forced the family to unknowingly consume him. The Creator’s Temple caught wind when more travelers were disappearing near the farm, confirmed it when they investigated the house, and saw the entire family as “tainted”. Thus, no one was to be spared.

At the end of the day, Jade believes that if she never sought help and somehow had just done things on her own, then her mother and sister would still be alive. Since then, she’s struggled to ask for help and would try to do things on her own that she really shouldn’t.

17. Apart from stowing away, have they ever broken the law?

Oh, she was a literal criminal long before being a stowaway. Even if you don’t count the fact that she’s a runaway slave, she’s wanted for the attempted murder of her master, who was starting to get cozy with some members of the Creator’s Temple. That triggered Jade’s aforementioned breaking point. For about eleven years, she’s been a wanted woman, evading bounty hunters and the law alike.

Asides from that, she’s committed several kinds of theft and fraud in order to get by, as her situation in Nehrim made it very difficult to make an honest living. She didn’t mind stealing food from racists who wouldn’t sell to an Aeterna wench, too.

18. How honest are they? Under what circumstances would they lie?

Funny thing about that. Jade is a natural-born liar, and can easily spin yarns to sidestep the truth. This is likely to come up if ever questioned about her scars, where she’d be quicker to claim she got them by wrestling a bear (which is absolutely not true) than she is to share her life story of child abuse and otherwise unsavory life events.

That isn’t to say she’s incapable of telling the truth. Far from it – Jade speaks her mind on many occasions. Certain times she’d make use of that silver tongue of hers would be if the life of someone she cared about was on the line, or if she kept her mouth shut because she genuinely gave a damn about hurting someone’s feelings. Though she has a long history of self-sabotage, she’s got some people that she’d really like to keep in her life right now.

19. Worst memory(s)? Best memory(s)?

Her worst memory was the night her father tried to kill her. We’ve already covered that in 16, so moving on.

Her best memory was when she first took her sister out into the forest to explore some of the prettier sights of Ostian together, escaping the mess that was their home life. I imagine they had a very close bond and Jade was very protective of her, and wanted them both to have moments where they could just be kids together. They made promises to leave the farm and explore the world together. Obviously did not happen.

20. Fight, or flight?

Flight. More often than not, her first choice is to run from her problems than to confront them.

21. Describe their combat style.

Pre-Enderal, dual-wielding daggers or old-fashioned fisticuffs were always her weapon of choice. And she was not against fighting dirty, such as throwing sand in the eyes of her targets, hitting them in their weak points, or kicking someone while they’re down. She was never a heavy-hitter, and preferred discretion to get the upper hand. If all else failed, she’d just book it and run.

Since her magic awakened, she’s taken to Elementalism as her main weapon, namely shock and frost-based spells (her pyrophobia prevents her from dabbling in anything fire-based). She uses daggers – now enchanted – as backup when her mana is low.

Eventually, she delved pretty deep into Phasmalism. Now she prefers to enlist the help of her ghost pals to deal with the close-quarter battles while she keeps a distance with magic.

22. Have they ever killed before? What is their reaction to combat?

Absolutely. The High Ones didn’t call her a murderer because they were being metaphorical. Her first kill was in self-defense when she was a young urchin child, and killing just got easier and easier the more it was asked and expected of her. For the entire decade she had spent as a slave, she had very little qualms about the occasional murder. Her only boundary was that she never, ever hurt children, and she held those who ever did in contempt. It would be impossible for her not to think of her little sister and live with the consequences.

Of course, all the death opened a whole barrel full of trauma for her. Back then, she was frequently “haunted” by those she killed, and it would take some time for her to elude her own phantasms, or at least make living with them more bearable so that she didn’t have to see or hear them screaming all the time. But since arriving on Enderal, the chaos that were once her thoughts have become eerily quieter. Well, save for the visions she now has. Those are new.

23. How do they react to having magical abilities? Do they use them?

After her magical talent blossomed, Jade went hard for Elementalism (save for fire magic), but she dabbled in spells from some of the other classes as well.

The only school she actively refused to entertain is Light Magic. Too much negative association around it after watching her mother’s health deteriorate to Arcane Fever, due to how much healing was necessary in her childhood. Watching the health of someone she loved rapidly decline like that just had a way of wrecking her with guilt.

Since taking to Phasmalism like a fish to water, Jade tends to employ the help of the dead to make up for her particularly lackluster skills in combat. Yera Shadowsong was her first ghost, who she was quite delighted to meet and keep her company on her travels. Others she enlisted were Kilana Hammerblow, Denna Frostheart, as well as the Starling Navigator and Aeterna Ambassador. Having actually known and witnessed the tragic death of Zar’ah firsthand, Jade ended up relying on her the most in future battles, as well as accompanying alongside her on the road when she had no one else to talk to.

Even if the echoes don’t seem fully cognizant of their existence, it nevertheless became Jade’s mission to try and extend them some degree of freedom and compassion. Whether they understand her or not, she finds herself interacting with them as though they were fully realized, living people, in an effort to try and draw out some sliver of their former selves. It’s a work in progress. Somehow it also makes her feel a little more sane just having sounding boards she can vent to when no one else is around.

24. What do they think of Enderal?

Hated it with the passion of a thousand dying suns. As someone who abhors religion, she had to bite back her heretical opinions whenever anyone spoke of the Paths or the Lightborn. After passing the umpteenth corpse hanging from a tree, and imagining that it would only be a matter of time before one of those corpses would become her own, she started trying to find a way to leave the country altogether.

After a point, she did develop a fondness for the land and some of its people, especially after the Nehrimese invasion led to raids and murdering civilians, which reminded her all too well as to why she left her homeland. She may have conflicting feelings about the country, but the common people sure as hell didn’t deserve that.

25. Did they do the Biggest Egg Hunt Ever quest?

Yup. She didn’t care much for the Starling prophecies, but Kurmai asked nicely. It also helped that he paid her and she needed money.

26. How do they feel about joining the Order? What do they think of Arantheal?

Oh, she hates the Order and everything they stand for. Her first instinct upon meeting Arantheal and learning about the Cycle was to get as far away as possible. This brought her to seek employment with the Golden Sickle so she could afford a ship out of the country and, later on, attempting to convince Dijaam to let Jade join her back to Kilé. It was only when those plans fell through, and her witnessing what the Red Madness had done to Mendelus and other civilians firsthand, did Jade return and ruefully accept Arantheal’s offer.

On that note, it did make certain parts of his speech during her and Calia’s inductions as Keepers extremely awkward by making it sound like she sought the Order out of a sense of purpose and duty – she really didn’t. Hell, she even initially told Firespark that she had no interest whatsoever in what the Order was doing. Overall, she finds Arantheal to be insufferable and too self-important for her liking. She never fully trusted him or agreed with his leadership. To her, he didn’t extend aid to the common folk as nearly as much as he should have, including his refusal to make the death of the Lightborn public knowledge to his people.

27. What is their opinion of the gods (or lack thereof)?

Though not one to preach her beliefs (mostly out of what bit of self-preservation she has, as many would deem her views as blasphemy), Jade has a very strong personal hatred for religion and would be, by all accounts, an atheist. As much of an atheist as one can be in a world where living gods have walked among mortals, that is. If you ask her, there is no afterlife, and there sure as hell ain’t no “Eternal Paths” waiting for her when she dies. When you die, you die. The gods have done nothing for her or her family, and her father even used the name of the “Creator” to justify abuse. And so she felt less than nothing when rumors of the gods’ deaths began to circulate, and she felt satisfaction and vindication upon those rumors being confirmed.

Of course, she knows better than to casually share her ideology in a theocratic country like Enderal, but appreciates engaging with other like-minded individuals, such as those who participated in killing the gods like the Nehrimese mages. While she can get along with religious people well enough, she prefers that they just keep their piety to themselves or at least not try to convert her. It won’t work.

Interestingly, she was surprised by how tolerant and understanding Calia was when it came to her views on religion, as she didn’t once try to argue or invalidate Jade’s experiences. This made her appreciate the other woman that much more and start to develop a closer relationship early on.

28. Wine, or pipe?

Pipe. Always pipe. Since discovering Peaceweed, she’s found that the stuff happens to help her sleep and calm her thoughts, so she smokes pretty much regularly now.

29. Do they spare or arrest Hallys, the farmer-turned-bandit in the quest, Deus Ex Machina? Why?

Against her better judgment, she actually agreed with Calia to have Hallys arrested, namely because she learned that he was initially lying about where he got the money from and that he actually stole it from the Undercity’s food bank, which pissed her right the hell off. While she felt for his situation, it didn’t justify screwing over the poor, who were much worse off than he and his family.

Though finding out that he had been executed at the gallows so soon after made her regret that decision. To her, that wasn’t justice, and it sure as hell didn’t endear her to trust Ark’s Tribunal to handle similar situations afterward.

30. What are their feelings and opinions about the Undercity?

It feels a little too close to home for her, as she often lived in similar piss-poor conditions when she was homeless. Like it shouldn’t exist, but it does, and she understands why and how all too well. From time to time, she’ll hand out coin and food to the children running errands or just looking like they need some help.

31. How do they react to the beggars of Ark?

When she has the coin to spare, she’ll sometimes offer some pennies. And she’ll always pay a kid delivering a message whether they ask for it or not. It wasn’t too long ago that she was in the same boat, and appreciated what little a passing Samaritan could provide. She got that Gift of Charity perk.

32. Where and how do they spend their time when in Ark?

Early on she started visiting the Undercity because she likes mischievous things it felt more familiar to her. Plus she found a small little hiding place tucked away for when she feels the need to abscond from “civilized” society. While down there, she frequented the Dust Pit to watch the fights, not really phased by the brute violence.

On the surface, she spends much of her time in taverns when she has coin to spare or feels like hanging out with Jespar. She also spends time with Calia in the bathing house or hanging out in the courtyard of the Sun Temple in between missions, since Jade became was quickly taken by Calia and wanted to help her open up more, all whilst getting to know the other woman better.

33. What would they do with three wishes?

I did the wishing well quest after finishing Angel and All the Dead Souls, so I imagine the first wish was for Calia not to leave her, the second was for Jespar not to hate her for the shitty things she said back at him. The third was for a sweet new dagger. Guess all three technically came true.

34. How do they feel about death? Do they fear it?

Death is a natural cycle of life. For the last handful of years, she was fully ready to die, anyway, and believed that there was no great afterlife or paradise that would follow. In more recent times, she’s become quite fond of being alive, though she wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice her life to save the ones she cares about.

35. What (else) do they fear?

As mentioned earlier, she has a profound fear of fire, and actively avoids using flame-based magic despite being very proficient in Elementalism. At most, she’ll use fire-enchanted daggers.

Additionally, she has developed thalassophobia to a degree since being shipwrecked, feeling anxious around large bodies of deep water, and a dislike for swimming. I kinda headcanon that she never even met Nessah/Sister Pride when working with the Rhalâta, let alone took her heart, because it required her to dive underwater for a long period of time, so she had no qualms with bringing a different heart to the First Seer instead (not that Jade would’ve killed her. She found Nessah’s notes, and she wasn’t about to execute a woman clearly suffering from mental illness for a group she didn’t care about). You can also bet that she noped right out of the Brotherhood of the Kor questline as soon as it required a “breathe underwater” spell to delve into a submerged temple. So yeah, she just told Mirella, “Sorry, lady, your son is dead” because it was the most likely truth, anyway. ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗ

Above all else, however, her greatest fear is insanity – a fear that the High Ones exploit the hell out of by constantly making her question her perception of reality and whether or not this all is just a fever dream of her dying consciousness. It helps very little that she already had a predisposition for madness, never knowing if her “connection with the dead” was real or a byproduct of her trauma. Remembering how her father descended into madness and cannibalism has a way of making her doubt her own sanity.

36. Do they have any secrets?

Quite a few doozies, actually. Prior to coming to Enderal, Jade had an addiction to dangerous drogae. And it was because of this addiction that she ended up in the situation she is in now, a fact that she is all too ashamed to admit to anyone. Even worse, she blames herself for what happened to Sirius because of this fatal flaw. Not only did she have proclivities for blowing whatever scraps of coin she earned to feed her addiction and other bad habits, which could have gone to paying for a ship out of Nehrim, the only reason Sirius chose to stow away with her, rather than sign on to the crew like a right proper lad, was to keep an eye on Jade while she went through the motions of withdrawals. He also stowed away with her to make sure that she didn’t get caught screaming in pain or waking from night terrors.

Similarly, signing onto Rocio’s crew wasn’t an option for Jade in the first place, due to being a runaway slave with a bounty on her head for the attempted murder of her former master. Despite trying to push him into leaving without her, Sirius refused. And now he’s dead. It’s impossible not to feel responsible for that, and for robbing her friend of the second chance at life that he so badly wanted.

Since becoming an Emissary, she’s found that her addiction has been miraculously “cured”, though she still gets uncomfortable around heavy drogae such as Glimmerdust. This resulted in her snapping back at Jespar in the Silver Cloud when she caught him using the stuff. Despite knowing what he was going through, Jespar wasn’t the only one who said very regrettable things that evening.

In addition to substance abuse, she also keeps her history of mental illness to herself, ashamed of what others would think if they knew she might be mad. Much of her prior ticks and instabilities ended up troubling her less and less once she became her “idealized self” on the shores of Enderal, anyway – the voices are dulled, and her mind feels a little more at peace these days.

While part of her felt that she should be grateful not to have to wrestle with her addiction or madness every day, the implications of a sudden recovery after losing her only friend scares her more than anything. For now, she has never shared this secret with anyone, not even her new companions.

37. How is their behavior around people they like? People they dislike?

Jade is very blunt and open about her feelings and has been noted to say whatever’s on her mind by more than one person. This can be for good or for ill depending on who she’s with – if she likes someone, she has no qualms blurting out the things she likes or finds attractive and appealing about them, or telling them what she feels they need to hear. If she doesn’t like them, then she’ll still speak her mind regardless of whether or not it hurts their feelings. She may even come off as abrasive or just downright rude. If her dislike runs deep enough, she won’t want to be in that person’s presence at all.

38. What is their relationship with the companions? Who, if anyone, did your prophet romance?

There were a few she became close to – some more than others.

Jespar: They got along pretty quick, since they shared very similar views on life, the Lightborn, and relationships. Jade has had Romance Gone Wrong in the past and didn’t quite want to see Jespar that way at first, either. It may or may not have helped that she made quite a few passing comments and propositions with him that amused him a bit. I headcanon that they had some FWB-type flings and then just never talked about it again, because Jade has her own hangups on relationships and monogamy. There were some feelings there on both sides, but were never realized until it was too late. (Side note: She decided to give him her own affectionate nicknames, such as “My Lord” because he kept calling her “Fair Lady”, and “Snowberry” because of his hair and he’s a goddamn fruity boy.)

Calia: Conversely, Jade just couldn’t resist and caught the feelings here. She tried to push them down until they died, but she grew more and more fond of her friend as time went by. It helped brighten some of Jade’s more cynical views of the world knowing that people like Calia existed, and wanted to change it for the better. In a sense, the two complimented each other in helping the other learn to enjoy life the way neither of the women allowed themselves to. In the end, she romances Calia, but I like to think they had more in-depth discussions on relationships and where Jade stands with them before they made things official. Due to her own struggles with her sanity and being constantly at war with what darkness lives in her own mind, she related with Calia on a very personal level, which became the foundation for their relationship to grow during and after the game’s main storyline.

Dijaam: Immediate crush, oh no. Jade worked with the Golden Sickle prior to accepting Arantheal’s deal, and maybe in no small part due to her weakness for Kiléans, Jade ended up being very smitten with Dijaam (while also quickly becoming very resentful towards her current employer’s “Path abidingness”, misogyny, and racism). She admired Dijaam’s determination and drive, and even suggested that they leave Enderal together. Too bad the Kiléan pulled the “wham, bam, thank you ma’am” at the end of the day. Oh well. Not the first time that’s happened to Jade. (Dijaam is probably still alive somewhere out there.)

Esme: Like a younger sister. In fact, Jade suspected her sister would’ve been around the same age, and turned out much like Esme if she were still alive. When she first met the fellow Aeterna woman having a hard time at the Frostcliff Tavern, Jade was immediately inclined to lend a hand. The two became closer throughout their search for her former companion, and though Jade feared the worst after a while, she didn’t want Esme to lose hope that she would see Tara alive and well. When the truth came to light, Jade did her best to comfort Esme. Before they parted ways, Esme gifted Jade a family heirloom – an amulet, which she continues to wear thereafter. (I also like to think that Esme was able to find a ship to leave Enderal before the end and is still alive.)

Tharaêl: One of her deepest regrets. To say that their relationship was turbulent would be an understatement. Much as Jade was on board with his cause to kill the Father for experimenting on and murdering innocent children, she grew equally frustrated with Tharaêl’s hypocrisy and uncompromising demeanor. Witnessing his regression to his childhood trauma was also not much unlike episodes she once struggled with, which made her try to empathize with him more. Killing Zar’ah was the straw that broke the camel’s back for her, however, as she did not believe that the mercenary deserved to die and that Tharaêl’s justification for it was bullshit. Still, she resolved to help him kill the Father, who was much worse in her eyes. But, when at that cliff’s edge, she could not bring herself to tell him the right words that could have saved his life. It is a moment that still haunts her long after his death, as she realized some time later that they were not much different. Her silence was his death knell.

39. Was there any non-companion character that they were close to? That they particularly disliked?

There was a quick connection when it came to Merrâyil and the Nehrimese mages, the former due to their shared history as slaves and experiences being Aeterna in a country like Nehrim, and the latter for their shared disdain towards religion and feelings about their homeland. When visiting the Sun Temple, she spent quite a bit of time with the group, particularly pestering Firespark and hanging out with Lishari. She was also deeply affected by Rynéus, as she saw much of her little sister in the boy and wanted so badly to save him. Failing him was like failing her sister all over again.

As for dislikes, she couldn’t stand Maél Dal’Loran, even if she found some of his deeds, such as providing support to the Undercity’s Pest House, to be noble. To Jade, Maél as a person was judgmental, racist, and plain impossible to work for. She ended up resigning from the Golden Sickle after gathering the ingredients he had requested. It doesn’t help that Jade’s first love was a Kiléan woman (not Dijaam), so she was not endeared by his anti-Kiléan sentiments.

40. How do they feel about myrads?

Though flying one for the first time freaked her out, she was immediately enamored with them. They’re majestic, adorable, and worthy of adoration and respect.

41. What dreams or ambitions did they have before coming to Enderal? What about afterwards?

Literally none. Her “dreams” were to crawl into a hole and die somewhere alone, until Sirius had convinced her to try and find a second chance for herself in Enderal.

Afterwards, she decided to just play it by ear. Her wanderlust developed the more she learned about other countries, and she decided she wanted to travel the world someday. Maybe use her newfound Arcanist abilities for good by saving lost souls with her Phasmalism, and figure out a way to rehabilitate the echoes into regaining their sense of self, rather than merely being slaves to the Phasmalist.

42. Do they like cities? Or do they prefer the country? Is there a region of Enderal that they like or dislike more than the others?

Despite always struggling with the noise and chaos of cities before, Jade had to adapt to them at an early age in order to get by. After a point, it just became a necessity, as cities were the easiest places to find places to make money.

She did learn to appreciate them more, to an extent, finding herself people-watching when seeking potential jobs (or marks). But if she could so choose, she would much prefer to live in the countryside.

43. What do they do to lower their considerable stress?

Staring at the underside of a desk until she feels better after a mental breakdown. :)

For real, though, some coping mechanisms are less healthier than others. Some times she’ll blow off steam by practicing her magic, or venting to one of her Phasmalist ghosts (especially Deanna, Kilana, and Zar’ah). Others she’ll get blackout drunk and end up in strange places (or strangers’ beds) she doesn’t remember going. Casual sex sometimes helps, too. Sometimes.

More recently she’s taken to smoking Peaceweed on the regular, which she finds calms her down a good deal. This method is marginally better.

44. Describe their perfect day off.

Dragging Calia out to more social situations, such as playing cards together with Jespar at the tavern (while Jade resists the urge to use her sleight of hand to pull fast ones on the group). In general, she just wants to spend time with her favorite people together. Other than that: Enjoying scenic locations with companions, such as beautiful sunsets, aurora borealis, and peaceful scenes off the beaten path. She absolutely loves Goldenforst. Anytime she can get a hot indoor bath, especially with Calia, is also a good time.

45. List three of their favorite things. Three things they hate?

Loves: Peaceweed, good brandy, animals (she really doesn’t have a particular favorite kind, but she does cry a little inside when a rabid wolf or fox forces her to kill it).

Hates: Cooking meat, swimming, and fire. For obvious reasons.

46. What’s in their pockets?

She gonna pop some tags,

Only got twenty pennies in her pocket–

...

Just a lot of junk, really. Don’t ask how many Endralean sugarbraids she has stuffed in there.

47. Pets? Mounts? Treasured possessions?

Two cats that are more like strays squatting at her house when she first bought it, but she doesn’t mind; she enjoys their company.

She also has a donkey she named Butterstuff and she loves him even if a big Aeterna woman does look kinda silly on a wee donkey.

For treasured possessions, she almost always wears the heirloom Esme gifted her. She might have a bit of a hoarding problem with useless junk, but that amulet is pretty and it means something to her, dammit.

48. How are their cooking skills?

Not good. Most of the stuff she makes is cheap and quick since she could never afford anything fancy before. She can make a decent enough vegetable stew and flatbread, but it doesn’t get more gourmet than that. Either she eats things raw/plain while on the go or she buys much yummier food while passing by vendors (love, love, love those date cakes).

49. Do you consider any particular quest or side quest to be definitive for your prophet? Which one(s) and why?

Other than the big faction ones like the Rhalâta and Golden Sickle: The Voice in the Water is an important quest for Jade, since it kind of explores her (possible) “experience” with the dead by just how natural it felt to be guided by a ghost that she knew wasn’t a product of her insanity. She felt particularly invested in helping to put the spirit of Pentas’ wife, Nira, to rest by seeing the ones who destroyed her life to justice. This quest opened Jade up to the possibility of being able to help people with her new gifts.

A Touching Effigy is also a good one, given that certain elements catered to some of Jade’s distaste for nobles and child killers. Ultimately she sided with Andrasta, because she can forgive killing useless nobles, but not Rhys for killing children in the name of his religion. Though she did (kind of) convince Andrasta to hold off on the murder for a while, mostly so she doesn’t get caught and worry her daughter. Never said Jade’s morals weren’t questionable.

50. How forgiving are they? For example, if they were yelled at in a brothel after searching high and low for this little sh*t, how would they react?

She can forgive well enough if the other party expresses genuine regret for their actions. For example, she easily forgives Jespar because she understood what he was going through, and she was just as much a little shit at the time (and was already tense being around Glimmerdust and a very high, very distressed Jespar). Really, she has a higher tolerance for friends who verbally lash out in the midst of their emotional turmoils, because she gets it – really. Jespar and Calia? Yeah, she got them. If it’s one thing that Sirius taught her, it’s that you don’t give up on friends, not even on their bad days.

There are few things that she just can’t and will never forgive. From her perspective, anyone who has ever hurt a child is the literal scum of the earth. Because of this, she was unable to think of the right words to save Tharaêl, just like how she failed to convince him to spare Qalian because she just couldn’t. And if she had done what Tharaêl had done, she knows that she wouldn’t have been able to live with herself, either. Maybe she could forgive Tharaêl someday, but she could never save him.

51. What do they think of the Veiled Woman?

Initially she really, really hated the Veiled Woman. Hated what she did to Sirius, hated what she did to Esme and Tara, and especially hated that oracular bullshit way of talking in the same vein as the Aged Man.

While she never could fully understand the Veiled Woman, Jade wondered if her motives for doing what she did was because she had some hope to end this particular Cycle. For that reason, and giving humanity a chance, Jade can’t bring herself to completely hate the Veiled Woman, either.

52. If they had been a victim of one of the black stones, how would it have affected them? What would they have used its power to accomplish?

Oh no, a black stone would likely amplify her pre-Enderal (possible) insanity. It would twist her sense of justice for the dead by turning her into a Phasmalist who would abuse the specters she wanted to protect by outright enslaving them, all for the “greater good” when it came to punishing those she deemed evil. Essentially she wouldn’t have been much better off than Adila, except with more actual dead souls at her disposal.

53. What was their reaction to the Black Guardian’s revelations? Do they accept or reject his offer?

Man, she shut the Black Guardian down faster than a speeding ticket. First of all, because she believed he was full of absolute horseshit, such as claiming the High Ones were powerless despite their ability to directly possess others through more than just the Red Madness. Second, she saw through his manipulations, sensing that eons in isolation several leagues under the earth while watching civilizations rise and fall would have various ways of fucking with your head. Like knows like, and Jade has an intimate understanding when it comes to madness. Moreover, she knew a delusion of grandeur when she saw one.

More than anything, though? She had literally zero desire to become a “god” as the Black Guardian had defined it. Due to her hatred for religion and the Lightborn, she refused to become the very thing she so despised. From where she stood, she didn’t even believe there would ever be such a thing as a “humanity with no ego”, as it would be impossible for her to control the hearts and minds of an entire civilization. Even if she could, she wouldn’t want to, since freedom of choice is important to her. In her mind, she thought it was better to give the current human race a chance to learn from the Order’s mistakes and remove the High Ones from the game for good, rather than lead a new civilization down the same path and just repeat the Cycle all over again. The Veiled Woman must’ve seen that there was some worth in this world if she had intervened when she did.

Ultimately it was one of the few times where her “fight” superseded her “flight” instincts. Jade also didn’t act super surprised when the Black Guardian revealed that she had been dead since she woke up in Enderal, because she kind of figured it out already (or suspected that she was just balls-to-the-wall crazy this entire time). She just didn’t know what to make of the whole truth that she was a projection the High Ones created to perpetuate the Cycle – other than to keep fighting it.

54. How does their story end?

Bittersweet. While she consumed the Dreamflower elixir before the end (and didn’t agree with Yuslan’s very random interpretation of the elixir’s effects), her choice still came at a great cost. She lost many friends in the destruction of Enderal, including Jespar. Now she and Calia are on a mission in Qyra to try and save the rest of humanity together.

Since there’s a possibility that Dijaam and Esme are still alive after their questlines, I like to think that they run into each other in Qyra at a certain point... because fate or some shit. The idea of a story where these four women (and the ghost of Zar’ah who totally became Jade’s main backup. Maybe she can finally figure out how to make Phasmal ghosts more “alive” someday) band together to save the world just delights me.

55. Do they change over the course of the story? In what ways?

For sure she does. In the beginning, Jade is a cynical, sarcastic little gremlin who doesn’t trust anyone any farther than she can throw them. She’s the very definition of the Reluctant Hero who doesn’t accept the big main quest immediately, and even tries to run away from her responsibilities the first chance she gets. It also doesn’t help that she was absolutely terrified at first with how her little “ticks” and addiction were just miraculously no longer plaguing her as much anymore, so she was already starting to question her own reality.

As Jade got to learn more about the people on Enderal and form actual friendships throughout her journey, her fondness for this world and desire to save those that live in it grew. While part of her was in the “oh, well, let the world burn” camp, she became that person less and less as time went on.

In Qyra, much about her changes as well. She becomes more driven and serious. Calia had to cut off most of her hair while rescuing her from the rubble of Ark, so not only does her hair stay shorter after that, she also no longer attempts to hide her Aeterna features (such as her ears) like she used to, mostly out of respect for the Jade who died at sea. Rather than slouching to try and appear smaller, she stands tall. The particular “treasure hunter” garb and the blue scarf she wears are little things to honor her memory of Jespar, to whom she had promised she would do her best to save humanity.

But her nightmares become significantly worse, as they are now frequented by a certain “incomplete” High One that takes the form of the Endralean civilization that fell prey to the Cleansing…

56. Anything else you’d like to share about them?

As implied in the last two responses, I had this nightmare fuel concept up my ear not too long ago: What if the Cleansing triggered on Enderal did give birth to an incomplete High One, but now it’s pissed that it never got to finish and is trying to meddle in the efforts to reconstruct the Beacon successfully? The idea of a High One actually consisting of your former allies, including the companion that didn’t survive, is just a brand of horror that I can’t resist… Not to mention really sticks a fork in Yuslan’s theory about the Dreamflower trapping you in an “Elysium where everything seems to go your way” (really, I think he was just trying to dissuade the protagonist from brewing an elixir that would obstruct his plans for revenge. I like to imagine he simply came up with the dream theory on the spot because the flower had “dream” in the name, so it was like the first thing he could think of).

Inevitably, a branch where the Endralean High One is trying to drive Jade into a Mad Prophet would throw a wrench in her and Calia’s efforts to save the world, and they’d have to go through the wringer for their romance to survive. In the end it will, but there’d definitely be some trials and tribulations in which Jade will one day have to open up about her well-guarded secrets. She would also be driven to try and save those who were consumed by the Endralean High One, whatever that may entail.

…I may or may not write an actual fic on this concept someday because I love suffering, but it has been so long since I have ever written a fic so who knows. You’re welcome and I’m sorry.