#I Too Am A Lake Effect Kid

[warmilikeit]

Yandere Batfam x Camp half-blood (Neglected reader)

DC x Pjo

I got this idea from another Tumblr post and I'm pretty new so, ion know how to tag and stuff, pls tell me

______________

"So... My mom just disappeared?" A little 6 year old (Name) asks Alfred about her mom

Alfred turned back like he was reminiscing "The Gala was for three nights, the first night she mesmerized all, the second night she befriended everyone, the third night she slept with your father"

.....

"then she disappeared, then you were dropped on our little doorstep! We were skeptical at first then we DNA tested you, you're Bruce's kid so you are the Wayne Manor's baby! And you and your Daddy are one big happy family"

That was lie. That a big lie

You know Alfred was just trying to make you feel better

It wasn't working.

________________________

You feel like shit, they look so fucking happy, for years and years have passed, your 12 now for God sake

Every year a new family photo was taken and as the years pass more and more people are added to the photos

And the phrase "the more the merrier was always said to you" like they were trying to drill it into your head, but it seemed like every year, you were being pushed farther and farther back into the photos till you're barely noticeable

It sucks at home and it sucks at school, at home at least you only had Damian to worry about, he would torture and bully you, remind you of how unloved and unwanted you were here, but at school?

It was everyone.

It doesn't help how you're unable to focus that much either, always getting called by teachers when you're not paying attention, and then them ridiculing you

Also, with the fact that your entire family are vigilantes except you.

Except you, you tried, and you were good at it, the problem was, why did it seem like a lot of villains were after you

So you were stuck at the manor

"hello" a woman inside the Manor spoke

This shocked you, she looked too old to be another kid adopted by that... But you can't be too sure

"new kid?" You asked

She seemed taken aback, but then it was like a veil was lifted and she transformed into this ew

Wtf did she just turn into?

Suddenly she had this donkey leg and snake tongue and fire for hair, her eyes slit and she hissed at you

Then she attacked

"OH WHAT THE FUCK"

With no weapon and no Alfred in hand, you ran

She ran after you and lit the hallways on fire in the process

You ran fast and far, to the outskirts of the mansion and straight into the garden, now when you thought your day could not get ANYMORE weirder, a voice calls out in the bushes

"I knew it! I knew you were a half-blood!I wasn't sure, but now I am!" You turn around and see a full ass tree transform into a beautiful lady

You're sure that Gotham Prep once talked about the side effects of drugs, and even if you haven't taken any drugs, you feel the side effects

"don't be scared, I'm a nymph! Me and my friends will help you run away from the empousa!" She grabbed me and threw me in the lake

A hand grabs you and pulls you further underwater, as much as you struggled, the hand kept pulling you and pulling you till your deep and then changed direction

Like you guys were heading somewhere, it felt like days, the hands alternating, first hands were blue and the lady whom the hands belonged too sounded worried, second hands were green, the lady was surprised

Third hand was light bluish purple, she expressed concern and kept pulling

The last hand was of human skin tone, pulling you up to shore

"Sir Chiron! There's a camper! The Naiads bought her here! Sir Chiron!"

He turns to look at you a bit worried, he looked from 13-14

He said "My name is Percy Jackson, and yours?"

_________________

Empousa: haha an unsuspecting demigod!

(Name) thinking that Bruce adopted another one: new kid?

Empousa: :o

_______________

Who do y'all think (Name)'s mom is?

Also the lack of Batfam dialogue is meant to represent their neglectful behavior, too bad their not gonna have a kid to return to

[thekidsarentalright]

‼️ Attention Fob Fan Reading This ‼️

A few weeks ago, I posted the fourth annual fob census asking you all to answer a bunch of evil questions regarding fall out boy, and after getting 1.3k (!!!!!) responses, the results are finally in (below the 'keep reading'). I wanted to quickly say thank you to everybody who participated in this, it's so fun to do every year and it makes me so happy to see so many others enjoy it too!! Without further adieu, here are the results:

Disclaimers: Quickly I just wanted to warn that this is a long post- it's worth reading, the results are very interesting! But it's also a lot to get through, be prepared for that! Secondly, tumblr loves to destroy image quality- click on the image to see it better!

Question 1:

For the first question, you were simply asked what era you became a fan. The top 3 results were, as shown: 1. Save Rock And Roll Era (345 Responses) 2. American Beauty/American Psycho Era (268 Responses) 3. During The Hiatus (132 Responses) Not much to say about this one, every year the results are very similar. Most interesting is that over 100 people have become a fan in the last year!

Question 2:

The second question asked you for your favorite era, and the results were, as shown: 1. So Much (For) Stardust Era (550 Responses) 2. Infinity On High Era (191 Responses) 3. Save Rock And Roll Era (170 Responses) The impact of the newest era is clearly seen in this question! Some could say it's recency bias, only time will tell, but regardless smfs era absolutely dominates as peoples favorite!

Question 3:

Question three asked what your favorite album was, and this was one where I was incredibly interested to see if so much (for) stardust shook things up that much... And as shown in the top responses, it did not! 1. Folie A Deux (550 Responses) 2. Infinity On High (270 Responses) 3. From Under The Cork Tree (153 Responses) Last year, the order of the results was exactly the same. As I believe it has been every year... Folie is unbeatable

Question 4:

The next question asked for you to objectively say which fob album is the best, to see if the responses between favorite and best differed, and as you can see, they did: 1. So Much (For) Stardust (457 Responses) 2. Folie A Deux (389 Responses) 3. Infinity On High (297 Responses) It's so interesting to me to see that so many people believe stardust to be fob's best album, but even then do not consider it to be their favorite.

Question 5:

Now that we've gotten the favorite/best albums out of the way, it's time for least favorite/worst, with these being your least favorite fob albums: 1. Take This To Your Grave (375 Responses) 2. American Beauty/American Psycho (371 Responses) 3. Mania (308 Responses) Most interesting about these results, to me, are how much the top three responses sweep in comparison to the rest. While for the last two questions, the results were more spread, these are much more unanimous.

Question 6:

Question six asked for the objective worst fob album, and you responded as so: 1. Take This To Your Grave (517 Responses) 2. Mania (347 Responses) 3. American Beauty/American Psycho (328 Responses) All I have to add here is that the responses are even More unanimous... Tttyg sweep ig! fdjsnf

Question 7:

Going away from albums, the next question asked for your favorite EP, and you all responded as such: 1. Lake Effect Kid (404 Responses) 2. My Heart Will Always Be The B-Side To My Tongue (374 Responses) 3. Pax AM Days (337 Responses) Last year, lake effect kid was second and my heart was first- always very interesting to see how things shift, even slightly!

Question 8:

The next question had you saying your favorite album cover art, and you all decided these are the best covers: 1. Infinity On High (664 Responses) 2. Folie A Deux (195 Responses) 3. From Under The Cork Tree (176 Responses) I was very interesting to see where smfs would land, with it falling in the bottom half, not disrupting the top three at all. However, folie moved up a spot, swapping with futct. Ioh reigns supreme though!

Question 9:

These results came out identical to last year, but here are the top first fob songs you all heard: 1. Sugar, We're Goin' Down (347 Responses) 2. My Songs Know (171 Responses) 3. Dance, Dance (134 Responses) 4. Thnks Fr Th Mmrs (132 Responses) 5. Centuries (91 Responses)

Question 10:

Question 10 asked for your favorite fob song, a very subjective question that garnered many different responses, these came out on top: 1. Headfirst Slide (105 Responses) 2. Disloyal Order (73 Responses) 3. Hum Hallelujah (69 Responses)(nice) 4. Ginasfs (65 Responses) 5. 27 (55 Responses) I have many thoughts about these results and don't want to ramble too much, but will say, most interesting: This is the first time disloyal order isn't first for this question. A big change, I think!

Question 11:

We know now your subjective fav songs, but what about objective best? You all said: 1. So Much (For) Stardust (244 Responses) 2. Headfirst Slide (136 Responses) 3. Love From The Other Side (83 Responses) 4. What A Catch, Donnie (70 Responses) 5. Hum Hallelujah = Disloyal Order (66 Responses) Once again, lots of thoughts! We have our first tie, both smfs the song and album sweeping, and disloyal order once again Not topping the list! Huge changes!

Question 12:

This question is always the one i get the most excited about each year. It's also the one that gets the most varied responses, but these came out in the top: 1. Sunshine Riptide (56 Responses) 2. "From Now On We Are Enemies" (49 Responses) 3. You're Crashing, But You're No Wave (47 Responses) 4. Rat A Tat (40 Responses) 5. It's Not A Side Effect = Heaven's Gate This question changed a lot from last year, with sunshine riptide moving up three spots, and rat a tat, it's not a side effect, and heaven's gate showing up when they didn't before!

Question 13:

With underrated songs come overrated ones, and you all said these were the most overrated: 1. Centuries (330 Responses) 2. Sugar, We're Goin' Down (96 Responses) 3. My Songs Know (87 Responses) 4. Bang The Doldrums (67 Responses) 5. Immortals (62 Responses) Most of note- Bang the doldrums is here, when it simultaneously was voted pretty highly as a favorite song!

Question 14:

This was the first time I asked the question of what your favorite fob cover is, and you all decided these are the best three: 1. Love Will Tear Us Apart (297 Responses) 2. Beat It (278 Responses) 3. I Wanna Dance With Somebody (224)

Question 15:

Asking which song has the best lyrics is another one of my favorites to see, and this year you all said: 1. Hum Hallelujah (172 Responses) 2. So Much (For) Stardust (75 Responses) 3. You're Crashing, But You're No Wave (72 Responses) 4. Ginasfs (70 Responses) 5. Disloyal Order (67 Responses) It's not surprise these results are very similar to best song, and it's very deserved! These songs are on top every year, save for smfs being newly one of their best written songs!

Question 16:

This question asked how many times you've seen fob live, and the results are as shown: 1. 1-3 Times (780 Responses) 2. Haven't Seem Them Live Yet (353 Responses) 3. 4-6 Times (138 Responses) 4. 7-9 Times (42 Responses) 5. 10+ Times (37 Responses) Last year, a majority of people said they hadn't seen them live, so it makes me really happy to see now, a majority has! And i hope those that haven't get to soon!

Question 17:

Continuing with the tour theme, specific to this year, I asked what your favorite medley song was, and you all said: 1. Spotlight (New Regrets) (272 Responses) 2. I've Got A Dark Alley (165 Responses) 3. What A Catch, Donnie (146 Responses) 4. WAMS (133 Responses) 5. Get Busy Living (117 Responses) Seeing spotlight sweep made me happy, as it genuinely was the craziest moment. All of these were crazy, and so special- seeing each medley song get so much love just shows it <3

Question 18:

Now continuing with tourdust questions, I asked for your fav 8 ball song, here were your top 5: 1. Pavlove (372 Responses) 2. Ginasfs (184 Responses) 3. Bang The Doldrums (144 Responses) 4. "From Now On We Are Enemies" (80 Responses) 5. 27 (69 Responses) Similarly to before, each of these was so crazy and special, it's great to see they all got love. Pavlove swept massively, tho, as deserved i think

Question 19:

I think it goes without saying that each band member is loved and very important, but we all have our #1 babygirl, and here's who you all said was yours: 1. Patrick (676 Responses) 2. Pete (402 Responses) 3. Joe (160 Responses) 4. Andy (112 Responses) All i have to say is... kill that thing patrick <3

Question 20:

Our next miscellaneous question asks for your fav music video, and this year you all said these were your favorites: 1. A Little Less Sixteen Candles (275 Responses) 2. Dance, Dance (109 Responses) 3. Hold Me Like A Grudge (89 Responses) 4. America's Suitehearts = Miss Missing You (74 Responses) 5. I Don't Care (67 Responses) I was curious to see if a stardust mv would make it in, and was glad to see grudge did! Otherwise, very similar results to last year. Old favs die hard i suppose <3

Question 21:

Here, I asked for your favorite band that isn't fob but is related/adjacent to fob, and you all said: 1. My Chemical Romance (576 Responses) 2. Paramore (302 Responses) 3. I Don't Know How But They Found Me (88 Responses) 4. Cobra Starship = Green Day (75 Responses) 5. Gym Class Heroes (58 Responses) Not much changed from last year, other than green day getting more love, which is interesting to see! (Also, wanted to note that i did forget to include panic!... however less than 10 people wrote them in as an 'other', so results were not affected by that oversight!)

Question 22:

These last questions are all this or that style ones, with our first pairing being disloyal order and hum hallelujah: 1. Disloyal Order (762 Responses) 2. Hum Hallelujah (588 Responses) Interestingly, last year this match-up was a solid tie. Clearly, opinions have changed to make disloyal order sweep!

Question 23:

Our second this or that pit snitches and talkers vs you're crashing: 1. You're Crashing (808 Responses) 2. Snitches And Talkers (542 Responses) These were the top two underrated songs last year, so it's interesting to see which one is truly preferred!

Question 24:

Our last this or that, and last question, put centuries and my songs head to head: 1. My Songs Know (977 Responses) 2. Centuries (373 Responses) All the commentary I will provide is saying: is centuries even overrated anymore with it getting destroyed like this.... fkjdsnfks

And with that, the 2024 fob census comes to a close! If you've read this far or, really, participated at all in this in any way, I want to say thank you again! and that I hope you had fun with it, and that these results were interesting to look through! Also, will throw out there, I worked very hard on this and would appreciate a rb if you read all the way through it! <3 If you have any questions about any data or questions, want to see more in depth results or commentary or analysis from me, feel free to shoot me an ask/dm! See you next year for year 5! :-3

[bloominglegumes]

judging earthspark s3

contains spoilers!!!

(my own opinion + not that serious :))

not in order bc i sketch-wrote these down while watching first but guys im so im so .head in hands

-15 pts for the character development, relationships, ideas, etc set up in s1 that were thrown out in s2 and s3. war trauma, immigrant experience, ghost aftermath, individuality, healing process, autobot guilt, byebye. so much character assassination still happening

+1 for following through i guess

+1 shockwave 'all are dead' comic cover reference and having him react to it

+5 every appearance of frenzy and laserbeak. theyre professional hecklers i love them

-1 bc of how the art direction was already established having 2d handdrawn effects but obv their animation has been toned down, there are quite a few instances of 3d smoke made to look like 2d shading which is not necessarily bad on its own but doesnt feel like it fits here

+1 rage virus had nice potential for bringing simmering resentments to surface,, wish the show delved deeper into the characters thoughts + fallout

-1 megatron's va sounds like he was given direction to hold back somehow on his delivery ?? idk it just feels like forced gentleness compared to earlier performance like his lines don't fit him

-2 animation lacking feeling of weight, movements are stiff, unnatural esp for huge guys made of metal. how in the world did twitch push megatron over

-2 fight choreo is more generic and plain,, characters tend to fight in similar ways when they wouldnt, considering different sizes, abilities, personalities etc,, everyone is just tossing each other around

-2 teasing us with breakbee and then actually setting it on fire and then killing bumblebee's personality too and while we're here thrash and mo as well

+1 escape room ep overall was kinda fun. i like the idea of leaning into twitchs big sister role but like u dont have to water down the others when highlighting one character?? the maltos are kids, but theyre not like.stupid

+1 optimus pushing megatron down to protect him and megs glancing down where optimus' hand is on him. someone in story room is pushing megop

+1 prowl being a skilled Hater on entrance

+1 "organics" (derogatory)

-1 optimus tells prowl that the war is over in defence of megatron but literally theyre fighting decepticons again two seconds later so make up your mind earthspark

-5 what are the autobots and decepticons even fighting for at this point? let's shoot them into space so we don't have to worry about that conflict anymore except megatron but he's our friend so don't think about that trust us this is earthspark our show was formed on the basis of being the aftermath of the war hasbro im going to kill you

+1 constructicon mention

+3 prowl being huggable and pickuppable (+1 optimus, +1 elita, +1 arcee)

+1 "terran thrash" "terran nightshade" "stygi-terran" "clan malto" can't tell me thats not objectively cute

+5 blaster feature

+2 megop being deeply embarrassing about robby's weird girlfriend

+5 dramatic megop fight. intense music, personal arguments, falling through the ice sinking to the bottom of the lake together, if i'm going down you're coming with me etc i love it

-1 grimmy not having a single speaking line?? am i tripping

+1 thrash throwing the hat perfectly onto prowls antler tip

-2 duller lighting and colours overall </3 my guy was seriously looking grey in ep 6..,.

+1 "romantic entanglements have hobbled many a soldier. ask optimus." thank u es writers

+1 "there are no implications. there are only facts." banger

+1 multiple pronouns used for the shapeshifting quintesson i just thought it was fun

-1 thrash's character being largely reduced to That One Kid

-1 might just be me but the whole plot with the fake girlfriend was just weird as hell ?? what purpose does it have in robby's character development,,,

-1 dot and alex being less compelling as caring responsible parents. like they're still nice,, but the way they've been written just feels less careful

-1 that movie and confession scene sorry i know it was on purpose but i could not handle the secondhand embarrassment

+1 mole-bots tbh i thought they were going to pull scraplets but they were fun

-4 starscream neglect. where is the justice. nothing but a silhouette all season and then finally all he does is go crazy and get pulled back to jail??wtf

+1 quintesson ship entrance

-1 generic character body language/performance

+1 weird al yankovic going so hard

+1 saving civilians

-2 quintus powers being suddenly able to save the day when they need it because plot

-2 how the chaos terrans are not written

-1 environments are sometimes not that fitting for the action taking place there?? like for the final fight i know theyd need a lot of space for the titan but seriously just a green grassy field and blue sky come on?? give us some artistry,..,.

-1 slightly weird voice effects for quintesson characters but that might just be me

+1 sharkticon pit plucked right out of g1 movie i love it

+1 mo being so polite "mr optimus" "ms elita" "mr prowl sir" sweetheart

+5 what the fuck do you mean "i appreciate you, megatron"

+1 hard confirmation prowl is a hugger

+1 epic titan fusion

+1 prowl being nice. dialogue with bee in that scene felt kind of in your face but it was cute

-1 arresting starscream. girlie was probably starving in there

+1 "little bird"

+1 i'm just happy to have an animated prowl having so much relevance to the main story again.tfa prowl i miss u every day

-2 tarantulas never being seen nor heard from ever again. he had an awesome design, fantastic voice acting, super well written just for hasbro to be cowards

-1 again for just dropping pretty big story points from season 1 for unclear reasons. like i said,, current state of earthspark works fine as a kid's show alone but after how mature and well-handled season 1 was it feels like watching the tv spinoff series to the actual thing. sorry but like zero integrity to the shows basis and values and what the original writing had set up for the world and the characters

[colonelpancakes]

Watching The Dragon Prince Season Six Part Nine: Stardust! The time has come to see if Rayla will make it out of this season with the most parents. I hope so

Under the cut as per the usual!

Hey, the quote from the beginning of episode one! I wonder if we’ll find out more about him and that other Startouch elf given that he’s quoting them now.

Ohhh. Okay. I was entirely convinced that the quasar diamond was another fake. Whoops

Oh, Claudia, honey… 🥺

Skafjlk Something about Aaravos just suddenly showing up next to Claudia so that he can shush her is so funny to me. I think it might be Terry’s face.

HUH? EXCUSE ME??? That was not something I expected. Aaravos has a kid?? Hello?

Darling!!! Oh, honey. She looks so sweet!!! I love her already.

I am also already feeling immense dread because Aaravos is talking about her in the past tense and she isn’t here in present day. “Had a daughter” oh god. Something bad is going to happen to the baby isn’t it. I am not ready.

Sweethearttttt. Oh my god, the way that you can hear the love in Aaravos’s voice as he talks about her… It’s not an emotion don't think I could have pictured on him before this episode but it's so tangible, the voice acting in this episode is incredible. This episode is going to murder me isn’t it.

Also, I like how the terms he's using to describe her could also easily apply to Claudia whom he's trying to get to empathize with him. To connect her own love for her father to his love for his daughter.

Okay, this might be me reading into it but. The way his daughter's hands are held in this picture looks a lot like the way I flap my hands when I stim. Is Aaravos’s daughter maybe neurodivergent? Either way, I love her already, she’s so sweet.

Give Aaravos’s VA an award. The RANGE this man has, spanning from threatening to playful to right here where it’s so soft and sad and full of love for his daughter.

Also, the adoraburrs!!! Look at her!!!

…I am remembering vividly that response from the writers when someone asked if the Startouch child in the intro was a younger Aaravos and they responded that the child was Leola. Oh no. And again, the fact that Aaravos is talking about Leola only in the past tense… I am not ready for this episode oh no. NOTHING HAS EVEN HAPPENED YET AND I’M ABOUT TO CRY.

Also, the animators always do such an amazing job with Aaravos’s expressions. I just. Oh…

Callum, buddy, I don't think you're helping.

Oh, Rayla, honey… I might be wrong but I think that’s the first time Rayla has actually verbally acknowledged Runaan and Ethari as her parents. I know she’s called them her family before but I don’t think she’s called them her parents.

“Those coins will guide you. Each coin contains a fragment of a soul. On the other side, the rest of the soul longs to be whole again, for it cannot pass into death incomplete.”

I like the clarification of what the coins actually do to a person and why they’re worse than death. Because they don’t allow the spirit to achieve peace by passing on or allow them to continue their life, they trap them in between life and death. I also really like that they’re bringing back the stuff from Through the Moon.

Callum… I love them so much oh my gosh. He’s so nervous for her…

They're so sweet, I love them!!!

Ough and the fact that, to get her family back, Rayla has to dive into the lake despite her fear of the water.

OHH NOO I am getting Through the Moon flashbacks, Runaan??? Buddy?? I wonder if it’s a side effect of being in the coin? Are Rayla’s bio parents gonna be like that too?

While the corruption obviously isn’t great, I must say, I like the curly hair on Runaan.

RUNAAN. NO. No killing Rayla. Bad Runaan.

Rayla, honey...

Petition to give Rayla a break.

Oh, they’re dancing. Interesting. Maybe it's some kind of trance that Rayla needs to break them out of? Like there's a different challenge for each soul that she needs to overcome? I don't know, something definitely feels off.

Ohh… The way Claudia looks up at him, she's so enraptured in the story.

Baby!!! Baby girl!!

OH??? It looks like each side unlocks a different arcanum and a different version of the book, intriguing…

I wonder if there’s something particularly special written in the book or if it’s just a tome of knowledge of the arcanums. Rayla did originally think the cube was a piece from a children’s game, maybe in a way, she was right.

SKjafslkjf. Leolaaa. I love mustache Aaravos so much. And it’s so humanizing seeing such a different side of him. To have a moment where he’s not some all-knowing mysterious arch-mage but just a father with a young daughter who likes to poke fun at him sometimes.

Oh no!! Kiddo!

Aaravos being so gentle with the little kid…

Ohh Aaravos definitely knows whoever took Leola and by the look of it, he does not like them very much.

Also, I’m curious who the golden dragon was, that’s an interesting detail.

Continued in reblogs!

[thechillsquid]

Blind Eyes Au- Demon Stuff

Okay, so like, I am hyped cause folk wanna hear more of this shit so here we go!

So in a sense the summer precedes in an adjacent manner to canon, but ya know, Fidds and Bill hang out around the shack most the time as well otherwise they’re at the bunker which Fidds has been using as a sorta base of operations so him and Stan don’t gotta drag some shit in and outta the shack that would possibly attract unwanted attention

Fidds adjusts easily to the kids being around and certainly knows how to handle them better than Stan does, and the kids like him well enough cause he’s kinda a lunatic but less in a blunt criminal manner (I mean sure the kids come around to Stan and become mini criminals by the end of the summer, but they did discuss whether or not to dip out the window and report Stan to the FBI when they first got there soooo)

And admittedly, while Fidds has a much closer relationship to Tate in this au, just cause he’s got his head on right and kinda realizes yeeeesssh I did kinda sorta make a robot to go on a rampage after the divorce and that’s probably not healthy at all—

Certainly Fidds and his ex-wife did some talking behind the scenes, and while it’s unlikely he’d gain custody officially, cause you know, giant death robots, Tate probably started visiting in his later teen years and eventually settled down in Gravity Falls later on after moving about for a bit

Which speaking of Tate, techncially speaking Bill is his kinda sorta step-father? They don’t talk like at all but they got a mutual respect thing going on and probably just like sit and fish sometimes, which leads to Bill rambling about random bullshit while Tates just nodding along, and that’s kinda that

So you know what, yeah if Bill’s not around the shack, not with Fidds or Stan, he’s probably at the lake just hanging out with his ‘stepson’ which is oddly kinda weirdly wholesome now that I think about it?

Like Bill really changes in the 30 year timespan working on the portal and I’m not sure whether or not to just jump about that timeline to showcase how exactly that builds or whether to make Blind Eyes a multi-chapter, multi-work based thing

Meh, either way Bill certainly has chilled out in the sense of malicious chaos, though the guys still a complete and utter freak; dude really got treated like just another person and it made him realize how much he actually kinda liked that rather than straight up worship/fear and he kinda actually started hanging out with his henchmanics when not on earth (aka when things get a bit much and he’s gotta unwind or when he gets really fucking bored) and actually becomes friends with the group

Its kinda weird the snowball effect of that, like all these weirdos in the nightmare realm are used to instability and running amok and then their boss comes back and instead of the usual unhinged rants and low key threats of killing any of them if they step out of line, he very slowly but surely just starts… actually hanging out and talking with them? And its kinda weird? But they’ve all just been burning themselves out and it’s like, huh, this isn’t… that bad? Like yes, they’re still a bunch of intergalatical criminals but how long can you stand always having to go go go?

Like just that sounds tiring, and well, Bill was the first one to realize how fucking tired he was of it, like it takes a couple fucking decades for him to even say nice things to Stan or Fidds openly, but he gets there and it’s weird but it’s not too shabby

So like when the kids show up for that summer? Bill has no clue what to do with them, he’s glad they’re aren’t like babies and can actually move around and think, but he also doesn’t know how to act around them

He’s gotten used to the shack and the shack has used to him and now when he walks in there’s two tiny Pines there and the one kid reminds him of Ford and sure he’s figured awhile back that he really hurt that guy but it’s not like he can find the guy cause he’s been just running about the multiverse and—

Then he just has to walk away and take a breather. He hates emotions, has gotten used to expressing them, but now the kids remind him how much is actually at stake now. Goes became somewhat of a background thought and Bill realizes fiercely that he’s done what he always does when things go wrong, pushes it to the back of his mind and try to forget

This playing house with Fidds and Stan has been occupying his thoughts and keeping his mind away from Ford and all That. So yeah, he avoids the kids for a bit when they first arrive until Stan corners the weirdo and tell him to fucking buck up or stay in the bunker cause so help him he wants these kids to feel welcome and Bill slinking around like a nervous Hide-Behind isn’t helping

As time goes on he starts helping the kids out with their mysteries (aka I’m something with bigger teeth than the fuckers out here and if something tries anything it’ll be the last thing they do) and eventually he gets comfortable hanging around the shack

Progress keeps on with the portal and sure he suspects the kids might know he’s not exactly human but that’s fine because for now they seem to trust that he won’t hurt anyone (that he cares about at least; Gideon finds himself getting chased by a terrifyingly large wolf with glowing yellow eyes when starts trying to flirt with Mabel until Stan gets onto Bill about taking away his fun. If anyone’s going to torment the little weirdo it’ll be Stan)

And then Gideon summons Bill, the kids start having suspicions, and the triangle fuck avoids them again for the next few weeks until the kids track him down and demand answers

He gives the most watered down, vague answers, but for once it’s not all lies so that’s got to count for something

The portal opening throws a whole new shift to things and that in itself forces the bastard to think and think hard about what he really wants now after the one goal he’s been working towards for so long has been completed

He probably tries to drink his problems away and ends up crawling through one of the shack windows to raid the kitchen, him and Ford probably end up staring at each other and Bill almost gets shot trying to drunk ramble apologies

Its a total trainwreck

[hischierdevils]

Always Remember | N.H.

note: epilogue to the forget series

summary: let’s see what’s in store for Nico and y/n

warning: fluff

wc: 1.1K

“Do you think I'm crazy?” Nico asks his older brother, Luca as they skate around the small rink they used to frequent as kids. “It’s only been a year.”

“I think you’re crazy for her.” Luca nods as they both stop by the bench to get a drink of water. “Mama’s excited.” 

“I know.” Nico laughs. “She’s almost told y/n three different times since we got here.” He thinks back to the night the two of you arrived. You were both jet lagged and all he had wanted to do was say hello to his parents before making your way into the bedroom. You had greeted his parents warmly and sat down to talk with them even though you wanted to go to bed yourself. He loved how well you fit in with his family. 

“You’ve had the ring for months now.” Luca picks at the tape job on his stick as he talks to Nico. “Why are you waiting until tomorrow?”

Nico bites his lip. He’s always told his brother everything, but the fact that tomorrow is the one year anniversary of the two of you saying ‘I love you’ for the first time seems too personal. “It’s special to us.” He responds diplomatically. 

The next morning, he wakes up with you laying practically on top of him. Your head is resting on his right pec, your arm loosely around his waist and your right leg is thrown over both of his, effectively giving him morning wood. He kisses the top of your head and watches you sleep for a few moments.

Sensing he’s awake, you start to stir, popping one eye open to look at him. “Hi.” You mumble before closing your eye and snuggling back into his chest. 

He puts his arms around you to hold you tightly. “Hi, my love.” He chuckles and kisses your head again. “Good morning.” 

“Five more minutes.” You plead as he runs a hand up and down your side, getting dangerously close to tickling territory. 

“Ich will, dass du meine Frau wirst. Heirate mich?” He says it quickly, knowing that your German is a lot better than it was a year ago. 

You pick your head up and stare at him. “You want me to do what?” 

“We need to get up so we can go.” He takes the opportunity to press his lips against yours before sliding out from underneath you. 

You flop back down on the bed and wrap the blankets tighter around yourself. “Nico, the lake will be there tomorrow. Can’t we stay in bed and cuddle?” You pout at him and he has to look away from you before he gives in. There’s nothing he loves more than holding you, especially when you’re in a cuddly mood like this. But he’s got plans for you today.

“C’mon, baby.” He grabs your hand and gives it a tug. “I want to go today.”

“You should've thought about that last night when you were fucking me.” You huff. “I don’t think I can walk right now.” 

He can’t help the satisfied smirk that appears on his face as he thinks back to last night and all the sounds you made. “You screaming my name didn’t exactly seem like you wanted me to stop.” He laughs. 

You sit up quickly, your face beat red. “I didn’t scream, did I? Oh, god, what if your parents heard us?” You cover your face with your hands. “I can’t leave this room ever again.” 

“Y/n, they sleep on the other side of the house. They probably didn't hear anything.” You don’t look convinced so he adds, “If we hurry up we can leave before they get up.” 

He bites his lip to keep in a laugh as you spring off the bed and run for the shower. He joins you, helping you wash your hair and your back before kissing every mark he left on your body last night. “I thought you were eager to go?” You question as he keeps you in the shower much longer than you need to be.

“I am.” You both get out and get ready. He slips the ring box into his pocket while you’re getting dressed and then sits on the end of the bed to wait for you.

The nerves he’s expecting never come. Instead, he’s filled with a sense of contentment and calmness as he drives the two of you to Lake Lucerne. 

“I have something to ask you.” You say once the two of you have been in the car for a while. You look a little nervous as you play with your fingers. 

Nico’s had a smile on his face since he woke up and he can’t seem to get rid of it even as he waits for you to continue. “What is it?” 

“I want to get my IUD removed.” You bite your lip as you look at him. 

Nico furrows his brows, wondering where the question is. “Okay. It’s your choice, baby. It’s your body.” He’s gotten used to having sex without a condom but it’s not a big deal if he has to wear one again. 

“No…I want-” You tug on your hair as you try to verbalize what you want. Nico reaches over and squeezes your thigh. “I’m ready to try for a baby.”

Nico almost slams on the breaks as he pulls into the parking area. “You’re sure?” 

“Yes.” You nod. “If you are. I have to schedule the removal and I probably won't get pregnant right away…” 

Nico’s leaving over the center console and kissing you as soon as the car is in park. “Yes.” He kisses you over and over until you’re both out of breath. “Yes I want to have babies with you. Are you sure you’re ready” 

You nod and take his hands in yours. “Yeah, you asking me to marry you this morning really solidified my decision.” 

Nico’s face goes slack as he processes what you just said. “You understood me?” 

“I’ve been practicing my wedding vows in my German lessons for months.” You tell him. “Did you think I wouldn’t recognize the word wife?” 

“I love you.” He smiles and kisses you, too in love with you to be sad that his plan is ruined. “Do you want to see the ring?” 

“Yes.” You clap your hands together excitedly as he pulls the ring box out of his pocket and opens it for you. 

“It’s perfect.” You beam as he places it on your finger. 

“This isn’t what I planned.” He tells you once you’re both out of the car. He holds you close to his side as you both walk toward the lake.

“That’s okay.” You smile up at your fiance. “I’m always going to remember this day.”

[dark-elf-writes]

Takeshi was always drawn towards rivers and lakes. Always drawn towards freshwater and the depths below. Sure the ocean is also appealing, but he prefers the lakes and rivers because their depths, whilst deep, are still knowable. There's an end and a beginning after all. (Zora have returned to the sea and live in the depths, but at heart they and their descendants will always yearn for the fresh waters of the land.)

Ryohei and Kyoko always dealt with the heat far better than most. They could stay in hot springs or saunas for hours without becoming exhausted and barely able to move, and they never experienced heat stroke in their life. (Gorons might reside within volcanos and in caves now, but those they see as brothers tend to pick up on their heat resistance after a couple of generations. A heat resistance that will always follow them, for they are Gorons in all but blood.)

Hibari always felt more at home the higher up he is. The cold barely bothers him, and as much as he stays in Namimori, he will always take a week to himself to climb the highest of mountains, all to see how small the world looks. (The Rito now reside on the Sky Islands, but their land locked descendants still yearn to fly.)

Haru, Nagi and Mukuro always feel more at home in forests and deep woods than anything else. It's a shame that Nagi and Mukuro barely have the chance to go to said locations though. Meanwhile, Haru has a dear friend in the woods. One guarding a particular sword. (Those taken in by Kokiri will always retain the effects. They will always favor nature, and this will affect their descendants. And Skull Kid is grateful to have a friend.)

Hana's maternal family was always female predominant. Her mother even makes jokes about their basically being zero males in her bloodline and her mother's mother's bloodlines. (The Gerudo genes are, very strong.)

Hayato, despite disliking it, was always offered help and assistance by people with white hair. They also offered him shelter, but understood when he was too wary to take up the offer. For the Sheikah know how deep paranoia can affect their descendants.

I am foaming at the mouth like yes yes this is perfect yes

Also this throws a hilarious light on Hibari bonding with Hibird. One that Link (who has never been afraid of Hibari and is the only one who can stand against him in a fight before flames were even known) once he starts to Remember things he’s never seen never lets Hibari forget.

[respectthepetty]

GMMTV 2024 Part 1 - Hot Tops

I did this last year, so I guess I'll do it this year too even though I'm salty like the Great Lakes in Utah about not getting JoongDunk, release dates for the remaining 2023 shows, nor Midnight Museum 2. Even though I have questions like if High School Fremeny is gonna be queer and why GMMTV is determined to make Earth seem old (Ossan's Love, really?!), there was a lot that I liked about this lineup like . . .

#1 - ON SALE Peaceful Property

I don't know if this show is a BL or not or what its name is, but I don't care. I'm gonna watch the hell out of it regardless. After enjoying New in The Warp Effect act wild, then Tay in Midnight Museum (thug tears!) be unhinged, I'm excited to see them play to those strengths in the Thai edition of one of my favorite shows, Los Espookys, because we have the rich kid who needs the help of the poor ghost hunters. It looks like a funny (and heartwarming) take on los espookys, so I'll be scared, but it has color coding which makes it a HOT TOP for me. - For the Heart

#2 - Wandee Goodday

Great was queer in Manner of Death. It was canon to me, so I followed him to Catch Me Baby where he clearly wasn't queer, but NetJames as the support were, so it was a win. So I'll be damn sure to follow this fine man on this wild adventure with Inn where he is playing an actual queer. Like he knows "he is queer and is already having casual sex with a guy" queer. It also features THOR, DRAKE and POND, while being directed by GOLF with the possibility of color coding, so who am I to argue with perfection. - For the Kinks

#3 - My Golden Blood

I don't like vampires, but I love camp, and nothing gets campier than this pilot trailer even if was unintentional. I laughed so many times during it that I'm going to treat this as a comedy whether it is or not. It had Neo and Mond while also saving some space for potential "older" vampires to show up (Papang anyone?). Fluke Gawin continues to take one for the team, yet stays winning, so thank this babygirl for his service, while Joss serves body. Amen. - For the Laughs

#4 - The Trainee

Everyone looks miserable in corporate America Thailand, which is realistic because it is soul-sucking and never-ending, but OffGun are getting to play adults AGAIN, and like I wrote last year - They are Kelly Clarkson. Even at their worst, they are better than every one else, performance-wise, and they have View, Piploy, and Sea with his beautiful side profile as supports. Because it is an office BL, I'm already rooting for it, and it features Gun crying which is only rivaled by Khaotung tearing up, meaning it's marvelous. - For the Adults

#5 - Kidnap

Both Ohms are in it with Title and a newbie, but I'm only showing up 42% for them and 58% for PAPANG! That's it! That's the reason. - For the PAPANG!

Honorable Mention - Pluto

It's really shitty of me to put a picture of the bully, played by THOR (again!), as the image for this when it is a GL, but the entire reason it isn't even ranked is because . . .

WHAT WAS IT ABOUT?!

There are twins? One gets in a car accident with her husband right after the wedding or on the way to the wedding? The other twins takes her place to figure out what happened? But falls back in love with her bestie? Or were they already in love? Or did the chick actually love the other twin? Make it make sense, Mary! All I truly understood was Thor & Baseball Bat. Everything else was confetti. - For the ???

Everything Else

As usual, I'm showing up for everything queer, so even if I'm not looking forward to them I'll watch them.

But Ossans' Love . . . really, GMMTV? *eye roll for making me sit through it again in another language*

[darkvioletcloud]

Louisa is real, guys!! Look, she's been there since the beginning!

Just kidding, I came up with her skills and backstory, all below the cut.

Trigger warnings for brief descriptions of violence, abuse, suicide and depression, all that stuff. Nothing we haven't seen in Fear & Hunger, though I am a bit afraid I may have gone too far in certain places. I apologize if anything comes across as insensitive or offensive.

Skills:

Keen Eye (Passive)

Louisa has a higher chance of finding better items when scavenging, and sometimes finds an extra item.

Disable and Run (30 Mind)

A punch to the torso of humanoid enemies initiates an automatic run from battle while also doing a decent amount of damage. When back on the overworld, the enemy in question will be stunned for an extended period of time, allowing the party to start an escape.

Maternal Embrace (35 Mind)

Sometimes a hug and a shoulder to cry on is what someone needs. Hug a party member in the overworld to restore their mind and heal certain status effects. Reduces Louisa’s mind due to having to process and worry about the issues the hug recipient tells her about.

Home Cooking (Passive)

Unlocks recipes for Mind and Body-restoring food Louisa learned from her Vatican-born Nonna. Nothing is as calming and healing as a home cooked meal!

Focaccia Bread

Biscotti

Mushroom Risotto

Passionate Guard (25 Mind)

Take the hit meant for another party member. You take less damage, but the mental strain and anxiety from this attack will wear down on you.

Not sure how balanced these would be, and I didn't think of what the stats for the Home Cooking foods would be. It's just an idea!

(The following sections would be in a scenario where all contestants are playable, as it references having Tanaka as a party member, just a heads-up! Please also heed the trigger warnings.)

Initial Interaction and Recruitment

Louisa can be found at the train at first and doesn’t seem too upset about the train not working, despite saying she was meant to meet up with her parents at the Prehevil downtown station. She says it’s fine and that she’ll manage, and not to worry about her. She’s fine on her own. She’ll give the player some biscotti and wish them well.

If you return to the lake on the evening of the first day, Louisa will be standing on the shore and a cutscene will initiate. The player will ask if Louisa is having trouble finding her way downtown, and she says she’s right where she needs to be. She takes a gun out and the player can either attack her right away or ask what she’s doing. Attacking her initiates a battle where she won’t fight back, instead each of her turns will prompt dialogue of her saying that she’s going to be with her son very soon, and asks for you to make it quick. Looting her will give you her belt, a photograph of her with a man and a teenager, and another helping of biscotti.

If the player talks to her instead, she holds the gun and says she came to Prehevil to die. She wanted to die by the lakeside where she used to sit and read as a child. She laments about how she couldn’t protect her son from her husband and is as bad as he is, letting Leon be hurt, and how she was destined to be a terrible mother.

The player can talk her down and take the gun away from her. This can prompt another opportunity to kill her, or to recruit her. The player can give her a hug and, depending on the character, can comfort her in different ways.

If the player doesn’t prevent her from committing suicide, she’ll shoot herself in the head from under the chin and collapse. She can be looted for her belt, biscotti, and the photograph. Daan’s medical diagnosis will comment on how her breathing isn’t the typical agonal breathing. Not sawing off her head will lead to her body disappearing by the next morning, only reappearing in the chapel of the third day.

Moonscorching

Entering the chapel on the third day shows Louisa collapsed on the floor. Half of her face has been blown apart and by her side is a fallen cherub’s body, which she pets on occasion during the cutscene. Louisa will talk about how her first child was a little girl, saying “She was so quiet”, with the implication being she delivered a stillbirth. She says how she killed her daughter. She doesn’t know how, but it was her fault, it was all her fault. She rambles on about how she’s the reason Leon died and how she killed him by letting him leave to go to war.

Despite dialogue being initiated, nothing can stop Louisa from Moonscorching. She cries about how happiness always slips through her fingers right when she grasps it, and Alll-mer has forsaken her despite her faith. She asks you if she’s suffered enough, if she can finally be at peace. She’ll turn into Compassion, and each line of dialogue states how she already feels like she’s happy, as she can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s finally over, and she’s honored that someone is helping her for once.

As A Party Member

If interacting with a certain bookshelf in the bookstore, Louisa can pick up a book and say she had her eye on that particular one for a while. If Tanaka is in the party, he’ll ask her what it’s about, and she’ll stumble on her words and say it’s a romance about a Bohemian girl that gets caught up with a warrior from Edo and that it’s just a silly book for ladies. Tanaka presses further and it’s let slip that the book contains quite a bit of erotica.

In response to O’saa’s comment about escapism, Louisa will say that he’s right and mumble about how that’s the reason she didn’t go on to do anything in her life. If she didn’t indulge so much in fantasy, she could’ve done something with her life and go on to pursue higher education. If Abella is in the party, she’ll say there’s nothing wrong with indulgence, and how escapism doesn’t stop a person from learning. She’ll also say it’s never too late for Louisa to pursue her passions.

If Tanaka and Marcoh are at the train and practicing boxing, Louisa will be watching. If interacted with, she talks about how she’d like to join them and learn some self defense, but she’s too nervous to ask.

An interaction with Marcoh would prompt them to discuss food together, with him saying that a lot of the recipes she knows are Vatican in origin. She enthusiastically admits she’s half Vatican on her father’s side, and she learned a lot of her recipes from her Nonna.

If both Louisa and Henryk are saved and Louisa isn’t recruited, and neither are moved to PRHVL Bop, she’ll be found helping him prepare food outside the train.

As A Playable Character

Marina will call Louisa “the snoring lady” when she first wakes up, and Louisa can apologize and say she hopes she wasn’t too loud.

When entering the train again after the initial outside interaction, Louisa can converse with Caligura in a unique encounter, where the flavor text states that he puts Louisa on edge. His frown and posture are all too familiar to her, and if he’s pestered too much and leaves, Louisa will instantly feel relieved. If interacting with Marina right after, the player can tell her that Louisa is afraid of Caligura.

Character History

The soothing sound of the railtracks... You are not used to such a peaceful and tranquil atmosphere.

You can't help but let your mind wander. You reminisce about what has led you to this point in life…

You were born in Prehevil with the Soul of the Enduring, raised under an Alll-mer roof and went to an all-girls school. There was always a rift between you and the others. You were the weird girl, always the odd one left out. While the others braided each other’s hair and chatted amongst each other, you sat by your lonesome and devoured books.

A target had been painted on your back at some point. One of the girls had spread a rumor about you, and your isolation grew. As you walked home one day, you were stopped by a boy a year older than you, a boyfriend of one of the girls who looked down upon you.

One thing led to another, and the boy initiated a fight. A cowardly move, a bigger boy attacking a girl like you, yet you had to defend yourself somehow…

Hit him and run

You ended up socking him in the chest. Wherever you punched him, it must have messed him up.

The boy collapsed on the ground with the wind knocked out of him. While he wheezed and caught his breath, you ran off back home.

(Gain Disable and Run.)

Fight back

Though his fist cracked against your face, you spat your blood back at him and fought back.

It was a tough fight, and by all accounts, you lost, judging by all the bruises.

However, you gained a reputation that day - you weren’t afraid to get your hands dirty.

Not to mention, you figured out you were pretty good at throwing a punch or two.

(Gain Bare-Fisted Proficiency)

Your mother was reasonably upset as you came home with your school uniform all torn up and your face covered in blood. As she bandaged you up, your father praised you for standing up for yourself.

The fight made you a social pariah. You graduated the private school friendless and alone, but with the reputation of being not someone to mess with. You bulked up a bit and gained weight, both in fat and in muscle. Everyone called you ugly, and you believed it.

Your parents took you to Vatican City the summer before you entered high school, to celebrate your achievements. After all, that’s where your father was from. You met your grandparents for the first time. They lived in a cute area near the local bookstore.

Your parents were going out one day for a date between the two of them, leaving you to either entertain yourself, or to stay with your Nonna, who wanted your help with making dinner.

Go to the bookstore

Staying home would be like staying with strangers. Who knew if your grandparents even liked you? Would they find you to be an unlikable freak as well?

You went to the bookstore and spent the day peeking through fiction and nonfiction alike. You wrapped yourself up in a book of poetry, and ended up purchasing that, alongside a book on Alll-mer with an interesting cover.

(Gain New Poems of Love and Torment and Skin Bible - Alll-mer)

Cook with Nonna

You decide to cook with your grandmother. Though you were never much of a chef before, you caught on quite easily, and passion sparked within you.

The two of you spent the day preparing freshly-baked cookies, homemade bread, and a risotto for dinner, complete with mushrooms picked out of the garden.

As you sat at the dinner table with your parents, you told them how much you enjoyed cooking, and asked if you could help with dinner more often.

(Gain skill Home Cooking and book Recipes of the 15th Century Vol. 1)

You slipped back into isolation in high school. The first half was full of more bullying, now made worse due to the school being co-ed. More often than not, you came home bruised and bloodied.

You skipped class a lot and spent time hanging around coffee shops and stores, always with a novel in hand. On some days, you’d read by the lake, your favorite place. You neglected your schoolwork in favor of staying safe, and in that meantime, you got through quite a number of books.

One day when you were 15, a young man caught your eye. Tall, dark-haired, with a charming grin and dressed up so nicely. He smiled at you and approached you at the coffee shop, asking you what you were reading.

The man swept you up in a heart-fluttering haze. He bought you a drink and chatted with you. For the first time, you found a friend.

You skipped school more often to see him. You two would hide in the park to kiss and fool around. He’d curl your hair around his finger and say how beautiful you were. He promised that when you graduated, he would marry you right away.

And you did. When you were 18 and he was 24, the two of you married at a small chapel, surrounded by your families and his friends. He said you could live your life however you wanted. You wanted nothing more than to live happily with him. And so, you settled into the life of a housewife.

You moved away from Prehevil to start a new life. The two of you tried building your family right away. It was hard, but a few years in, you found yourself expecting. It was truly a blessing from Alll-mer.

You couldn’t wait to welcome the new addition to your family. Really, you could do without the nausea, the lightheadedness, anemia…

She arrived early. She was like a doll in your arms. Completely still. She never had a chance to take a breath.

You blamed yourself.

You fell into a depression. Your husband was caring and concerned, as he always was. The two of you tried again. Maybe this was a test from Alll-mer, to see if you truly cared about your family. And of course you did!

Finally, the two of you were blessed with a child. You named him Leon. You cried over even the littlest sounds he would make. Your family was complete.

Leon was all smiles as he grew. The boy radiated positivity and happiness. You were there to see every milestone of his.

Your husband was delighted at first, but as the years went on, something changed within him. He didn’t smile at you as he did before. His temper shortened. You tried to satisfy him as best you could, but you weren’t trying hard enough.

Leon knew something was wrong, and you knew that he knew, yet you still put on a false smile and told him mama and papa were okay.

As Leon grew, he became the exact opposite as how you grew up. He was studious, friendly, and outgoing. He stayed out late with friends and came home with stories of what he learned in school, and how fascinated the subjects were.

You knew why he stayed out, though. If he was home, he risked being struck by your husband. If you intervened, you would be hurt as well. With Leon out of the house, you took the brunt of the abuse.

One evening, as you were cleaning and your husband was reading the paper, Leon came home giggling and hazy-eyed. He had been out partying with his friends. He stumbled into the living room, right in front of your husband. Your husband shot out of his seat and grabbed Leon by the collar, shaking him and spitting at him. At one point, Leon was struck in the head with your husband’s pistol, splitting the skin open.

You knew that once he was done with Leon, your husband would turn on you next. It was your fault Leon was like this, after all.

Slip away while your husband isn’t looking

You left the room and locked yourself in the bathroom as you heard your baby boy cry out in pain from your husband’s actions.

You prayed to Alll-mer to grant mercy to Leon, yet you ask for no forgiveness for yourself. You’re a coward, after all.

Soon, all went quiet, save for the occasional hiccups and sobs from Leon.

(Gain Escape Plan)

Defend your son

You put yourself in between your husband and Leon. With tears in your eyes, you chastised the man you once loved, a man who had been gone for so long and was never to return.

Leon watched as your husband struck you and slammed you against the wall.

You felt no pain. You didn’t care if you broke your nose or lost a tooth, just as long as Leon was safe. Besides, you were used to this. It had been a while, but this wasn’t anything you weren’t familiar with.

(Gain Passionate Guard)

Your life was never the same after that incident. Your husband was a monster in the home. Leon didn’t come home on some nights. Your eyes glazed over as you tried escaping into the books you once loved, but the words would fall on tear-filled eyes.

Leon left home one day, enlisted in the army to defend against the Bremen Empire. The day he left, you gave him a hug and a kiss and sent him on his way with fresh focaccia and biscotti. He smiled back at you, with that loving, silly smile that he had back when he was young and innocent. For a moment, everything felt okay.

Leon never came home.

It was just you and your husband. Leon’s funeral ended with your husband screeching at you about how it was your fault the two of you didn’t have kids anymore. You didn’t process his words.

Finally, there came a day when you had enough. As you bandaged up a cut on your arm, you made a plan. A train to Prehevil left your town in the middle of the night. You would pack your bags in secret and leave. Make your way to your hometown and find peace there. Nothing left to live for anyway. You were not going to live a life suffering at the hands of a monster.

You were going to live with your parents again, yes, that was the excuse. Maybe you could see them once more…

You packed a change of clothes and a photo of your family, your last memory of Leon, smiling brightly at the camera.

There was still space left in your bag once you finished. What would go in it?

Stock up on medicine (Gain 2x Blue Vials and 2x Cloth Fragments)

Find something to read (Gain Alchemillia Vol. 1)

Find some extra cash (Gain Lucky Coin x1 and Shillings x10)

Your plan was to slip out in the night as your husband fell asleep. You steeled yourself and slipped out of bed.

Your husband hadn’t fallen asleep. He sat up and asked what you were doing.

You may have slowly failed school, but you weren’t stupid. You had his gun, smuggled under your pillow while he was showering.

You felt sick as you pointed the gun at him and told your husband you were done with him. He was not the man you fell for, and you were not the naive little girl that he once thought you were.

With a final goodbye, you left, and caught the train right before it left the station.

If you were going to go out, it was going to be on your own terms. As you rested your head against the window, you thought about the lake, your special little place. It would be a nice, relaxing spot, yes, to spend your final moments…

B Ending

How funny, you came to Prehevil to die, and yet you ended up being the only one to leave. The light at the end of the tunnel remained forever just out of grasp, and you still remained crawling towards it.

You couldn’t bear to live after everything you had done. You, sinful and stained, attempted once more to commit the unspeakable.

The gods laugh at you. Your attempt failed and you were hospitalized for months. Half of your face was mangled and scarred, your hands lost some motor function, and you began your long journey of recovery and rehabilitation. No matter how hard it would be, you would push yourself through it. The technology that helped save you fascinated you the entire way through.

The regrets of your past haunted you. You realized you never blossomed, remaining in a cocoon sewn shut by the life imposed by your husband and your lack of ambition.

You went back to school. A woman at your age, learning with children that your son should have been in the ranks of. If he couldn’t bloom, then you would, in his place.

You found your passion for science and emerging technologies. Not just passion, but skill and intuition. You used that passion to fuel yourself through this education, tutoring your fellow students and helping the next generation, while also doing for yourself what you should have done long ago.

[ricks-fallen-angel]

Snowfall used to be such a big part of my town’s winter culture. We used to open the back door and need to use a yard stick to measure the wall of the snow built up against it, there were yearly reminders on how to tell when the lake was frozen enough to skate on, the possibility of a white Christmas was about 50/50, we’d have frequent delayed openings from school because 6 inches of snow wasn’t enough to stop the day, though just as often we’d have an emergency shortened day because the storm would pick up so suddenly that they had to send us home before it got too bad, a major town fundraiser was selling T-shirts at the school that had snowflakes and said “we’re going home early”, it was a frequent prank to run to the window and shout “it’s snowing!” when the snow hadn’t started yet but we’d all look every time because it was not a matter of if it would snow that day but when it would snow, when I was a kid my dad taught me to shovel every 60 minutes in a storm he would always say “anyone who questions why you shovel an inch every hour instead of waiting for the storm to end has never had to shovel 3ft of snow”, just as you’d thought the snow might melt away another snowfall would hit

I was born in the 90s and these days my town gets maybe one or two real snowfalls a year, sure we get dusting in between, but nothing like the snow we used to get. I was always so focused on the big picture effects of climate change, I was and am so scared of the large scale global consequences, but I had never stopped to think about what it meant on a personal level, the cultural changes it would bring with it. There’s worse effects of climate change out there, and there’s worse effects of a lack of snow (like droughts, environmental impacts…), but sometimes I need a moment to just mourn the cultural loss. One day I’ll raise my kids in this town, but it won’t really be the same place if they’re up on that mountain without any snow

[inkheartedwanderer]

hold the sun || r.b.

robin x fem!reader (obvs!)

content:  fluff! a lil bit insecure robin (blink and you’ll miss it) and that’s all i believe. happy pride everyone! i’m a bit late, but i want guys to know this is a safe place for you. i see you, i hear you and i love you. 

this one didn’t turn out exactly how i wanted it to, but hope i made robin some justice, she’s my favourite girl and i want to start writing for her too.

word count: 1.1k

In the quiet of a particularly hot summer afternoon, the only things you can hear are the water of the lake softly kissing the shore a few feet ahead of you, the shrill singing of cicadas, and Robin's low, mindless humming.

The sunlight paints swirls on the back of your closed eyelids, it makes the skin on your cheeks tingle, and you know you’re probably going to get sunburnt, but you can’t be bothered to get up, walk all the way back to the car and try to find your yellow hat.

You don’t want to move. Robin’s leg is casually thrown over yours as the girl lies by your side on the blanket, and you would feel embarrassed about how fast your heart is racing if your brain didn’t feel so mushy right now. 

You’re not even sure she’s doing it on purpose. Shielding your face from the sun with your arm, you open one eye, nose scrunched up, and sneak a peek at Robin. 

She looks lovely in her navy blue swimsuit, the one she bought the day you two decided to go shopping after work.

Her hair, still damp from your swim at the lake after lunch, shines like gold in the daylight and sticks to her bare shoulder and back creating patterns you feel the sudden urge to trace with your finger. You don’t. Instead, you settle for looking at her as discreetly as you can. 

Freckled nose and long lashes, a slight tan from all the afternoons you've spent just like this one, far away enough from Hawkins, in your secret spot by Lake Jordan. Remnants of her mascara smudged around her eyes. Fingernails painted red.

She’s drawing something on her sketchpad, her strokes short and certain, lips pursed in concentration; absentmindedly singing a The Cure tune under her breath.

It’s funny, you think. 

A few weeks ago you didn’t even know her name, didn’t even know she existed. She was just another number in Hawkins High’s demographics, and you were just one of the unfortunate few who would spend two endless, sticky-hot summer months working a shitty part-time job instead of going on holiday. 

At The Palace Arcade, no less.

It smells like old candy and stale popcorn, chlorine and sunscreen. The carpet is old and tacky and it has stains that won’t go away. Kids go in droves to find respite from the burning midday heat and scream and scream until you get a headache.

You don’t make enough money, that’s for sure. But having met Robin one cloudy day while you were both on your respective lunch breaks makes it well worth it.

“You’re staring.”

Caught.

You blush furiously and look away, your so face hot from the sun and the embarrassment that you don’t dare to make eye contact. “Am not.”

“Are too.” She puts her pencil and sketchbook away and chuckles under her breath. “It’s fine, I get it, I would stare at myself too.”

She’s bluffing, and you both know it -she can be as insecure as any teenage girl in this day and age, but her boldness has caught you by surprise. You stammer. “Yeah… Whatever, Buckley.”

Robin’s amused smile turns soft when she notices the red on your cheeks. She leans forward and the fleeting feathery feeling of her lips on the corner of yours only makes your heartbeat pick up.

It’s curious, the effect she has on you still, even after so many nights spent together stargazing, so many afternoons at the Lake, so many stolen kisses in the water, and in your car, and behind the building where you both work, when it’s dark and empty.

You blame the butterflies in your chest for the way turn you turn your head and chase after her mouth, one hand reaching out to rest on the crook of her neck and pull her closer to you. She tastes sweet, like the watermelon ice pops you had after lunch and her vanilla chapstick; and the tips of her hair, lightened by the sun, tickle your face.

Robin sighs a happy sigh and rests her head on your shoulder. 

The silence that follows it’s comfortable, easy. Things are easy with Robin. Her breath is warm where it touches your skin, and you’re almost certain you’re breathing in synch. Your hand finds hers blindly, knuckles brushing against each other, 

“I don’t mind you staring.” She says, at last, her voice barely a whisper.

You humph. “I wasn-”

“It makes me feel pretty.” If her boldness was surprising, the badly-hidden shyness in her voice is downright shocking.

You twist your head to look at her, bewildered. Her face is hidden between your arm and the blanket, which surely can’t be comfortable and which makes you pout. Your free hand finds her chin and you softly pull to make her look at you.

“Aw, Robs. But you are pretty.”

It’s her turn to blush. “Am I?”

“Yeah. Beautiful, I’d say.”

“Shut up.” You giggle when she does, snort when she hits you, jokingly, on your shoulder.

You and Robin lean forward at the same time, both eager to close the gap between you again. She kisses you firmly, like she has something to prove. You kiss her back hoping you can prove to her how much this, her means to you.

Breathless when you finally pull away, you lie down again, a dopey smile making its way across your face. Robin smirks and goes back to her sketchbook. 

“Can I see?” You ask, the side of your face pressed against the soft fabric of the blanket, one eye squinted to shield it, once again, from the light.

“Hmm?” The girl hums, lost in thought and concentration.

“The picture.”

“Oh.” Robin shows you. Your own face greets you, laughing, eyes half closed. It’s a rough sketch and you don’t think your haircut is exactly like that, but it’s obviously you and you look so happy and so beautiful. “Wow, Robs. It’s great.”

She brushes her hair away from her face -you swear it shines on its own, a golden crown, a halo, and then she kisses your nose. “It’s not great.”

You smile. “It’s perfect.”

                                                           🌷 🌷 🌷

a/n: this definitely didn’t take me 2 weeks to write and i’m definitely not having the worst block rn :( i hope it’s not to bad. 

likes, reblogs, comments, anything is welcome!

[thnksfrthmmrs]

lake effect kid ep is like track 1: when this song is on i am from chicago even if i’m not from chicago track 2: i may not be from chicago but that city gave me my favorite band that saved my life in many ways and this song is so moving that i kinda feel like i owe chicago everything too track 3: this should’ve been on mania without a chicago mention so the chicago mention seems super obsessive because mania is super obsessive and woah calm down there buddy chicago isn’t going anywhere

[whatsaudreythinkingabout]

i fucking hate being a hypochondriac. there are so many things i used to love to do as a kid or wanted to do in the future that now i’m terrified to do bc i learned there’s a risk (even a small one) that i’ll contract an incurable illness that i didn’t know about before & didn’t realize i contracted until it’s too late & the disease has already spread too far into my brain and I’ll die a slow, painful death because of a seemingly innocuous decision i made. used to love petting the stray cats that hung around my old apartment, now i’m scared i’ll get rabies without realizing it (not just from a bite or scratch; even from the minute possibility of contracting it through their fur if their infected saliva came into contact with it while they were grooming themselves). used to love swimming in the lake bc my (ex-)stepdad would take us there on the weekend, now i’m scared i’ll catch the brain-eating amoeba if even the smallest drop of freshwater goes up my nose. always wanted to learn how to make garlic confit bc it looks so delicious, now i’m too scared to bc any garlic-in-oil dish (if stored improperly) carries with it the risk of botulism & i don’t wanna take any chances. this is not exaggeration or sarcasm. i genuinely live in fear of these possibilities occurring every day.

and those are just (at least what i call) the big three; that’s not even mentioning things like heart attacks (one time i had my dorm call the paramedics for what turned out to be acid reflux, another time i went straight to the health center bc my arm was sore), strokes (every once in a while i smile in the mirror to make sure my face isn’t drooping on one side), cancer (ESPECIALLY skin & breast cancer; the scariest thing is that it comes in so many forms and can affect literally anyone, anytime, anywhere, in any part of the body), covid (which i’ve already had 3 times & fear the effects it could have on my brain), etc. i can’t even pop the pimples around my nose anymore (despite my absolutely debilitating dermatillomania; unstoppable force vs immovable object) bc apparently that area of your face is called the “triangle of death” bc there’s so many blood vessels there & if you pop it then it could cause an infection that spreads straight to the brain and (you guessed it!) kills you.

and part of me wants to reassure myself that it’s all in my head and that most afflictions like these are incredibly rare (at least the big three, the other ones are more common), but the other part of me knows that even if they are rare they aren’t to be fucked with and fears the 0.01% chance that it COULD happen and will happen the minute i let my guard down. and what of the girl who cried wolf? what if i keep worrying about it happening so much every time i think it could happen and every time it turns out to be nothing, and then the one time i second-guess myself thinking “it was nothing the last 50 times, why would it be anything now?” it ends up being something? or worse, what if i try to express this to someone else and they don’t believe me because i freaked out about it so many times already and every time it turned out to be nothing but this time it turns out to be something? i know very well the warning signs and that i should always go to the doctor if i suspect i might have contracted something life-threatening (ESPECIALLY one of the big three), i would NEVER downplay the severity of something as serious as one of these, but how do i know when something is truly serious enough to warrant a visit? am i just gaslighting myself? am i overthinking it, or am i right to be afraid? how do i know when it’s the right time to be afraid? how do i stop living in fear? do i even want to stop living in fear knowing what i know now, knowing that i was so much more reckless than i thought when i was younger and have only survived this long through sheer dumb luck? why must life be so cruel that even the smallest actions carry with them the smallest chance of an excruciating death? why can’t i have shit in detroit?

[wooglebear]

I'm Not You: A story about perspective

Why I made the fic

This was my first fanfic for the tetocu fandom (unless you count the ones I started on Wattpad/Quotev that I never finished and eventually abandoned).

And I am PROUD of it! The above is a trailer I made for season 3 in this universe. In hindsight, there are some things I probably should have done differently, but it's okay. Nobody is perfect.

@n4talia-chaparro told me it's a good fic, and I believe them XP. I posted all this exclusively onto ao3. So this is a summary of the AU! Spoilers start here.

The Butterfly Effect

The change that kicks off I'm Not You is small. Melvin chooses to spare Melvinborg, and he goes to season 3. He tries to convince George and Harold that this is a bad idea, but they don't listen, and he is dragged to camp.

Chapter 1

George and Harold arrive at the same camp, but their hopes and dreams are cut short when Mr. Krupp (who is the camp director) splits the camp into Camp Lake Summer Camp (George) and Lake Summer Camp Camp (Harold) to afford an $80,000 LeisureMyLand inflatable private island. He puts a fence in between George and Harold, as he hopes to turn the boys against each other. When George and Harold make a comic without each other, war begins. Both camps create the Balloonatic and Camplifire, but when their advances go wrong, it's time for Captain Underpants!

Unbeknownst to them, Melvinborg is onto the boys (I didn't put it in the fic)

At the end of the chapter, Mr. Krupp puts a brick wall between them, revealing that Melvin informed him about their trick, which still makes Harold and George stay at separate camps whether they like it or not. And Melvinborg compares the situation to Trump's wall.

Chapter 2

This chapter had, if I recall correctly, the best line I ever wrote:

Onto the chapter: Sick of Krupp's wall, Melvinborg ends up starting a food fight, and he gets into trouble with Krupp. As a result, Krupp puts Melvin and Melvinborg on different nature walks. Not too surprisingly, Melvinborg is very pissed at Krupp afterwards.

Little does Melvinborg know that George and Harold made a possum smart, which was part of the plan to put them in the same camp. But when Ragely J. Snarlingtooth (the possum) turns against them and turns the children at camp into servants, which Melvinborg is unsurprisingly confused by, it's time for Captain Underpants and three more extra smart animals (a raccoon, snake, and water buffalo), who make the Advancimals (a show introduced in The Preposterous Pulverizing of the Pestering Poopacabra)!

Chapter 3

Mr. Krupp doesn’t want his photo shoot with the Federation of United National Camps (The F.U.N.C.) to be ruined, so he sends the noisy kids — and the Melvins — climbing up a snowy mountain to get them out of his hair (and motivating them with a Mystery Box most of the kids think has junk inside, but Melvin thinks it has Doopity the Dancing Dolphin, Melvinborg thinks it has a university degree of all things and Jessica thinks it has another Sophie). When they encounter a long-lost explorer that inexplicably turns into a rumored abominable snowman called Altitooth, Captain Underpants comes to town! Also, the Melvins suffer an avalanche.

This chapter had one of the best fourth wall jokes in the fic:

Chapter 4

As you can clearly see in chapter 2, this chapter was where Krupp started to mess with the Melvins as revenge for what happened in season 2. He started by putting shock collars on them. The episode mostly plays the same way as canon, but Captain Underpants punches Melvinborg.

Chapter 5

After Melvin and Melvinborg get covered in algae, Melvinborg creates a dream catcher. But of course, Melvin takes them all to the dream dimension.

Since Melvinborg was holding onto the dream catcher, he discovers he has some extent of control over the dream dimension of George and Harold. They proceed to have fun. Save for Melvin, who doesn't give a shit about this dimension and wants out. And Melvinborg internally hates the place. This was @n4talia-chaparro's second favorite line btw:

So, Melvin and Melvinborg trick Harold into making his worst nightmare, Melvinathan. Melvinborg, rather stupidly, attacks, only to be eaten and nearly killed by Melvinathan. And then the kids ditch him and Melvin.

Since Melvinborg is still here, he gets them both out.

Chapter 6

Melvinborg meets Gavin, his rich version. He's not happy. Another episode that's mostly the same as canon. Not much here.

Chapter 7

This episode goes mostly the same way as canon, but just with the Melvins there.

It was rather inconsistent how Melvin didn't have a role in this episode, so I changed it.

Anyways, in this episode, Melvinborg gets brainwashed. He says it reminds him of the Sinister Splotch, and he's unaware through the rest of the chapter. You know, this scene:

Eventually, he gets unbrainwashed, and the Melvins get shot with paintballs.

Chapter 8

This chapter was so intense to write.

Melvinborg died in this one. He did come back, and he got turned into stone and shattered, but still…

This episode is mostly the same, but Melvinborg is present. And yes, he does get "bored stiff". This chapter is important though.

Chapter 9

Another episode that goes mostly the same way as canon.

Melvinborg's story is a recap of the Harmful Horrors of the Harrowing Hiveschool. You know, the episode where this happens:

Anyways, Melvin and Melvin-Borg suffer a near death experience in this chapter, but Krupp saves them. And then Melvin gets caged, and Melvinborg gets experimented on.

And then Melvinborg gets chased by a skunk.

Chapter 10

This episode is basically the canon episode 10, but I added Melvinborg.

His part of the story features a balant self -insert called "Devin", and it's drawn in 8 bit style.

This also had @n4talia-chaparro's favorite line.

Chapter 11-13

Grouping the chapters together, because the wiki says that season 3 has a three part finale in all but name.

These three chapters also play out the same as canon.

Melvinborg becomes part of the MISFARTS, given the rather snappy nickname of College Melvin, and gets a pure black baseball cap on. This slight wardrobe change is permanent.

Melvinborg discovers a new talent, and even stands up to his past self with a reason you suck speech. However, he's still a villain, and the fic ends with him wanting to get revenge against George and Harold for making him a student.

Wrap up

Writing this AU was a blast.

I don't plan on making a fic for this universe's season 4, but I wrote an outline on how it would go. And I'm not planning on making a fanfic for this universe's anything else after TETOCU season 3….

BTW, my least favorite chapter is chapter 4 (technically chapter 3 if you don't count the prologue).

[stardustloki]

When you already have 536 kids, what's one more?

“Where would I be without your wisdom?” Bail asked.

“Still wondering where to hide the chancellor’s body,” Breha answered, before standing abruptly, leaving him wheezing in the dressing room, absentmindedly wondering if his wife was trying to kill him too.

-

The Chancellor is dead (but Bail had nothing to do with that, he swears!) and the Organas have found themselves the proud parents of Commander Fox and 535 other members of the former coruscant guard. What could go wrong?

Read it on ao3 here.

Or below the cut...

Bail Organa smoothed down his cloak and turned to his wife as she put the finishing touches to her outfit, pressing her hairpins into place.

He opened his mouth to speak, before catching her eye in the mirror.

“If you’re going to ask me if I’m going to be alright one more time ,” she warned.

He sighed, before bending down and pressing a tender kiss to her temple.

“Bail,” she said softly. “Like I told you, I’m fine. I’m not about to have a breakdown over meeting Padme's two newborns.” She took his hand and rubbed her thumb along his knuckles, smiling ruefully. “I have always wanted a baby of my own, like I know you have, but I’m not 32 anymore, I’ve accepted my infertility, I’ve accepted that the stringent adoption laws are there for a reason, that I can’t just decide to bypass them because I’m Queen. Besides,” her voice took on a more teasing tone, “I have five sons just out there, and many more scattered across the galaxy. When would I have time for a baby?”

Bail found himself smiling softly, heart filled with relief and affection, and he drew his wife’s hand to his lips, kissing it gently.

“Where would I be without your wisdom?” he asked.

“Still wondering where to hide the chancellor’s body,” she answered, before standing abruptly, leaving Bail wheezing in the dressing room, absentmindedly wondering if his wife was trying to kill him.

Once he’d managed to get his breathing under control, he followed her out into the corridor, where he found her admiring how smart Fox, Thire, Tree, Jare and Infra looked in their freshly polished armour.

“But ma’a- Mom ,” Thire was complaining, though the exasperation in his tone was surely for effect. “We always keep our armour in good condition!”

“Am I not allowed to compliment….”

Fox, the only one to acknowledge his entrance, rolled his eyes at him and grinned, his smile scrunching up the scar across his cheek, almost hiding it from view. Then he graced Bail with the most terrible salute he could imagine from a man literally bred to join the army. “Reporting for baby-meeting duty, sir!”

Bail found himself grinning fondly back, thinking about how far his once uptight and anxious kid had come, and pulled him into a hug, resting their foreheads together in a way that Fox had told him was traditional in mandalorian culture, and was now traditional amongst the clones too. His son melted into the hug willingly, something that never failed to fill him with joy and relief, considering that not so long ago, the only people who could touch Fox without him having to suppress a flinch were his fellow corries, and sometimes he hadn’t even been able to manage it then.

“Excited?” he asked once they’d parted.

Fox nodded, his over-long curls (definitely not regulation) bobbing as he did so. “Rex says Naboo’s beautiful, and I’m looking forward to seeing him, and the tubies.”

Bail wondered if he should remind him that most people at the naming ceremony gathering would be referring to the twins as ‘newborn babies’. He decided against it.

-

Fox was right, Naboo was particularly gorgeous this time of year, and as they walked through the fields from where their ship had been directed to land, towards the lake house where the event was due to be held, Bail couldn’t help but feel calm and content. The smell of the colourful spring flowers filled his nostrils, the sound of hundreds of busy insects reminded him of the here-and-now.

As they walked, Tree told them all excitedly about the different plants that he could see around them, almost too fast to understand, monologue flicking from topic to topic as he spotted something new. Bail could have cried with happiness for him. Tree, one of the younger members of the guard, had named himself with the dream of seeing the vast array of plant-life the galaxy had to offer. Instead, he had been stationed on the durasteel jungle known as Coruscant. Now, thankfully, he had a job in the horticultural gardens of the alderaanian palace, as well as being invited on training missions with the Agri-Corps. He was glad that his kid was now able to experience many moments like this, and could show off the knowledge that he’d gained.

Under the sunlight, his sons’ armour gleamed, and Bail couldn’t help but admire how smart they looked - how right his wife had been to compliment them. They looked impeccable in the Phase 3 design, merging the best parts of mandalorian and clone armour, decorated with intricate personalised designs the corries would never have dared used in the days of the former republic. 

Despite the range of colours used in their designs, you could almost always tell who had served in the coruscant guard by their armour - although they’d taken some time to become comfortable with the idea of being visibly individual, nowadays their armour was usually the most artistic and unusual, strewn with patterns and symbols from different cultures, especially (Bail was somewhat-selfishly pleased to see) those inspired by Alderaanian art and tradition.

As they walked up the steps to the entrance he looked down towards the lake to see a young man and woman gleefully jumping around, shrieking with an infectious joy and splashing each other with water. At the edge of the lake sat a man in a hoverchair, smiling as he conversed with C-3P0.

Sabé greeted them at the entrance, kissing Bail and Breha on both cheeks, before offering her arm to each of the clones and gripping each of theirs tightly. After they made their way inside, Fox and the others made a beeline for Rex, stood in the corner next to a beaming Ahsoka, already watched by an attentive group of the 212th.

“So,” Bail could just about hear him saying over the chatter of the other guests. “You may think you can hold a tubie like this-” Ahsoka passed him a plastoid toy doll and Rex proceeded to hold it upside down by its ankle, before moving on into several other positions that would definitely cause permanent damage to a newborn. “It is not a small cadet!” Bail could now hear Rex quite clearly. “It does not want to be wrestled or thrown onto soft surfaces! It is a tubie near the start of its growth cycle. You handle it as you would handle a frag grenade, and you always, always , support its neck, like this.” He then settled the doll into his arms in a way that showed Bail that Rex had spent quite a lot of time helping with the newborns. “What do you always support?”

“Its neck, sir!” the clones chorused.

“It’s good to see you here,” said a voice from behind him, and Bail turned away from the demonstration to find Anakin Skywalker behind him, cradling a sleeping newborn, wrapped in a soft blanket.

The baby was tiny, perfect in a way that Bail knew he would never find the words to describe, and all at once he found himself hit with a strange sort of loss. Oh. Maybe he should have been worrying about himself, not Breha.

“You too,” Bail managed to reply in a normal tone of voice, still continuing to look down at the newborn.

“You can hold her, if you’d like,” he was told, and with far more confidence than a new father should have had in Bail’s opinion, he suddenly found the baby placed into his arms, as if for some reason Anakin knew without a doubt that Bail wouldn’t drop her. Bail did not share the same faith, but stared down at the precious bundle, shaking slightly as the baby seemed to curl inwards, towards his chest.

“She can sense she’s safe with you,” Anakin said seriously.

“Excuse me?”

He glanced up towards the retired Jedi, and was surprised to see a nervous expression upon his face. “I’ve been having visions.”

“Right,” Bail said. That didn’t sound good. He’d heard from Padme about how Anakin would have nightmares about bad things to come.

“I saw the future, in another universe, one where I- where Padme-” he cut himself off, and Bail couldn’t help but feel for him as he watched him try to fight back grief. “In the universe where Palpatine won,” and Anakin spat the name, betrayal still clearly hot on his tongue. “The universe in which you didn’t kill him-”

“That has never been proven,” Bail interrupted.

“Sure,” Anakin replied, completely ignoring him. “In that universe, you and Breha took in our daughter, and you raised her as your own. You loved her, and there was never any doubt that you were her parents.”

He didn’t know what to say - what in the galaxy were you meant to say to something like this? - and instead opted to continue staring blankly at Anakin’s intent expression.

“So Padme and I have talked, and we’ve agreed that you and Breha can be co-parents if you’d like.”

Bail found himself choking on thin air as he looked frantically between Anakin and the baby cradled in his arms. Surely, Anakin couldn’t be in his right mind? And yet, there was something that whispered to him that this idea was the right one, the strangest feeling of deja-vu.

“You can feel that’s what the force wants for her, can’t you?” 

Despite himself, Bail found himself nodding. “Her name’s Leia,” he said, and then wondered why he’d said it, wincing at appearing so presumptuous.

“Yeah it is,” Anakin agreed, sounding thrilled. “Leia, after the mighty Krayt dragon. I’m glad you can sense it too. Only, maybe don’t go telling people until after the naming ceremony, it’s meant to bring bad luck.”

Once again, he found himself nodding in a numb agreement as he stared down at the sleeping girl. “Leia,” he whispered. It meant 'beloved' in Alderaanian, and he couldn’t help but think that it fit her perfectly.

“Why are you okay with this?” Bail asked, frowning back up at Anakin. Of course, he’d matured a lot recently, especially after the chancellor had disappeared in mysterious circumstances, and had the revelation that he was going to be a father, but he’d always felt that the young man had a selfish streak - how could he bear to share such a gift?

Anakin was quiet for a few moments. “I guess it’s just growing up on Tatooine,” he shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck. “Families are rarely traditional, or even blood relatives. They’re who you choose. Maybe, there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to share her, but, the Force is telling me this is the right decision, and I can’t help thinking how incredible it is that she’s going to be loved and cared for by so many people. Force, Rex has said almost the entire 501st want to be the children’s uncles. And, I just think, how lucky are they? How many people get a family like this?”

They stood there, silently, for a few moments, as the noise of the gathering continued around them, and Bail allowed himself to process what Anakin had said, to believe it was true.

He was just wondering about how they’d explain this to Breha, to everyone else, hell if this set up even had a chance of working, when abruptly, a horrible thought hit him.

“What happened to her brother?” he hardly dared ask the question, but knew he needed to. Why had they only had Leia, and not both of the children?

“He grew up with Beru and Owen on Tatooine,” Anakin replied, and Bail found himself sighing in relief. “They always referred to themselves as his aunt and uncle in my visions, and they’ve let us know they feel a little young to be parents, so they’re just gonna be his aunt and uncle again, and we’re gonna make sure he gets to visit them as much as possible.” He paused, before adding, “After we’ve defeated the Hutts, of course.”

“Of course,” Bail echoed.

“Well, I can’t let you be the only one in the family to decimate a political body!”

He rolled his eyes, but didn’t bother protesting his innocence again. He supposed it only really mattered that no one had ever found enough evidence to prosecute him, and that the proof of the chancellor manipulating both sides had been too irrefutable for most people to want someone to face trial for his suspected murder.

-

Explaining the idea to Breha went less smoothly, as the Force seemed to think it had done enough interfering for the day, but Padme had been speaking to her while Anakin had spoken to Bail, and gradually her bewilderment seemed to lesson, and her confidence grew, until she hesitantly agreed to the co-parenting idea, and (after Padme had asked them both), to be another Aunt and Uncle to Luke. Bail watched in hope and relief as she smiled down at baby Leia in her arms.

Next, they needed to speak to their current kids, and so Breha beckoned Fox over to join them, figuring that he was probably the best one to start with.

“She’s my sister?” Fox asked cautiously, after he’d understood the situation (and after Bail and Breha had both made it very, very clear that neither he nor his brothers were going to be replaced).

“If you’d like her to be,” Padme said.

Bail watched him stare in awe at the bundle in his arms, held very carefully and according to Rex’s earlier advice. Fox brought his head down very slowly to brush Leia’s in a gentle keldabe, before he looked up, tears forming at the edges of his eyes.

“Yes please,” he whispered.

-

The naming ceremony was beautiful, a mixture of Nabooian, Tatooinian and (as Bail would never have expected a mere hour earlier) Alderaanian and Clone customs.

Before it had begun, Padme and Anakin explained their decision to involve Bail and Breha in the upbringing of their daughter (and, by extension, their son). The announcement had still felt strange to Bail’s ears, and those attending were understandably perplexed. The situation, perhaps, was saved by Mace Windu, who yelled that it was the Will of the Force (and then had to swiftly leave due to a shatterpoint migraine - whatever one of those was).

Anakin and his family from Tatooine (Owen’s and Beru’s hair still damp from the lake) led the Tatooinian blessings, in a language that Bail was surprised to find himself unfamiliar with. He did learn, however, when Anakin translated the final part into basic, that Leia’s brother’s name was Luke, and he was named for the hope that he brought. Then, a Nabooian priest, with Padme and her family, as well as the surprising addition of JarJar (who was not allowed to hold neither Luke nor Leia), began the second part. The next part was improvised by Bail, Breha, Fox, Thire, Tree, Jare and Infra, as they hastily pulled together something based on Alderanian and Corrie customs.

Later, Bail would remember feeling overjoyed but confused, and slightly embarrassed (though everyone who’d watched would assure him that it was beautiful).

After the ceremony was over, Obi Wan Kenobi stood, staring accusingly at Anakin and Padme. “Now,” he said. “Given that you didn’t bother to invite any of us to the wedding, I don’t suppose you would mind renewing your vows?”

All in all, it was a very good day.

-

That evening, as sunset turned to dusk, and Luke and Leia were safely bundled up in a portable cradle, everyone gathered around the lake, chatting and laughing.

“What happens now?” Fox asked from his place on the sand beside him.

“We live,” Bail told him.

[bardic-tales]

I noticed you mentioned something happened two years ago. If it’s not prying too much, would you be comfortable sharing what happened?

Hi, Nonny. I hope you are having a good day. I'm going to put this under a read more since it does talk about death.

I want to take some time to thank @prehistoric-creatures for supporting me at the time.

Two years ago, my family lost a cousin in a fatal car crash. She was only 17 at the time on Halloween. This hit my family -- and my daughter -- especially hard. Two years later, my daughter cannot even hear the name of our cousin. She refuses to take a test to get her driver's license. The outcome of the trial wasn't closure or justice at all. Basically the prosecutor said that 'this was a good kid and he made a mistake'. That mistake took away our cousin. Things in my family has never been the same.

Then, we lost my emotional support cat that following June. Not a year had pass and Loki became really sick. He ended up being diagnosis with cancer and was gone a month later. Loki was one of those special animals. I was devastated. That grief combined with losing the cousin earlier just made everything feel like it was imploding around me.

This was when I started to take a long break from Tumblr. I wasn't in the right headspace to participate in Writeblr. All my original stories had a taint to them. I still can't work on them without crying and feeling grief. That's when I decided to devote all my attention to my passion project: Fantasy Worlds Collide.

Almost a year ago, my husband lost his aunt to Covid. This was on last Thanksgiving. It hurt, but I didn't cry. At the time, I was fatigued? I guess shell-shocked? I don't know. All I know is I was numb. The following week, I got a call from my mom. My grandfather, the man who raised me and was like a dad to me, was in the hospital. We knew for a while that he was going downhill, but it didn't prepare me. We lost him last Jan.

I remember crying once when I found out. My husband took off from work that day and we made plans to go to the funeral. It was snowing really bad, so we couldn't go. I live about 4 hours away from where I grew up. We get Lake Effect snow. My grandmother begged me not to go, and I listened to her. After all, it was about her comfort. We didn't attend the funeral. And I feel - Honestly, I don't know how I feel about that, Nonny. I ended up celebrating his life instead by having some of his favorite foods and watching his favorite movies.

The next month, because I was away from Tumblr for so long, I decided to come back and check in with the friends I made on here. I wasn't ready to be back completely. But I found out that one of my closest friends on here passed away while I was gone. I still feel lots of guilt about that, but I know she wouldn't want me to feel that way. That is why I started the Creator's Club: to give back.

As of now, I can't touch any original work that I was working on during the time when all of that happened. I want to continue to work on my passion project. I am in a better place mentally, but there are still times when I go to some really dark places, such as my husband and I were talking and I suddenly started to cry about a month ago.

However, I am the strong one in the family. Everyone is looking at me, so I did a lot of journaling to get to the place where I am. The pain will never go away. I don't think it does when you have five deaths that happened over the span of two years. I just have to keep going one step at a time.