#I assume in case I’m not as late to this game as most others

[slicksquid]

why is she upside down 😭😭

[arowyn-m]

Why Viktor Could Die in S2

“They won’t kill a champion because—“ okay just pause for a second and humor me. I’ve made a lot of arguments in the past about why every Arcane character is fair game but that’s not what I’m arguing here—I’m arguing from a narrative standpoint.

Viktor’s my favorite character in Arcane, but I believe him dying in the series finale is the most likely conclusion to his arc. Here’s why:

Viktor’s whole arc is about life and death as a concept—what really constitutes “living”? (Posed by the scenes with Rio) Why is a human life inherently valuable? (Posed by capitalizing on his aggressive need to leave a legacy) Which is more important—a person’s effect on the world around them or their effect on their loved ones? (Viktor realizing too late that Sky valued him not just for his output but for who he is)

There’s also a ton of foreshadowing to Viktor’s demise coming about by a fault in his technology or by the careless way he relates technology to human life (usually himself but not always), and it’s often disguised as humor (the “of course not” scene) or hidden behind false foreshadowing for death by illness (basically everything to do with the Hexcore in eps 5 and 6)

I’ve theorized about it on here before, but I believe at the end of the series the Hexcore will be destroyed (probably by Jayce, specifically to call back to the promise he made to Viktor), effectively ending the threat of the Void overtaking Piltover. Viktor will be so connected to the Hexcore by the finale that destroying it will kill him. He reaches his Glorious Evolution, yes, but it destroys him in the end.

And yeah there is merit to the “how can you live with yourself” kind of approach to ending a character’s story, but that conclusion has the strongest impact if the character’s arc is about learning to live with your mistakes. Most of the character arcs in this show pose that question, but Viktor’s arc really doesn’t?

As far as we can tell with Viktor so far, there’s very little grappling with that concept up until his last 5 or so minutes of screentime, and even then it’s more of a blip that resolves itself (“In pursuit of great, we failed to do good. We have to make it right.”) If Viktor’s story is about defining the respective values of “life” and “humanity” then the most bittersweet ending to his story would be by letting him die after briefly coming back to his humanity.

At the same time, in Ep 5 of BtR Alex Yee says this when talking through writing the script for S2:

“It’s, like, die or accept some things being imperfect. That would be the way that they could go back to humanity.”

So if we assume he’s talking about Viktor covertly here (he very well could be talking about some other character, but yk “going back to humanity” is a very Viktor-coded issue) we could also speculate that they may try to end Viktor’s arc with him accepting the Glorious Evolution just…doesn’t work. I hope that’s not the case because that kind of kills his whole shtick but anything’s possible lol.

To round off this thought by comparison—there’s no chance Jinx dies by the series finale because her whole character arc will inevitably move from “Am I Powder or am I Jinx?” to “Okay, I’m Jinx. How do I live in that identity with the knowledge of my past mistakes?” Her dying at the end of the series would be an unsatisfying conclusion to that question. Same thing with Vi. Vi’s arc was about trying to “fix” things. She just wanted things to go back to the way they were, and they just can’t. Her arc is probably going to be centered around her grappling with grief over losing Powder AGAIN and learning to accept things will never go back to how they were before. Caitlyn’s arc is going to be her exacting revenge and maybe living with regret and bitterness. None of those character arcs logically conclude with “and though they found the answer to their life’s question, they died.”

Viktor’s probably will.

Also here’s a link to a longer more in-depth theory I had a while ago—kind of a adjacent to this thought (for some reason it won’t work as an embedded link) https://www.tumblr.com/arowyn-m/755893249865039872/jayceviktorhexcore-situation-in-s2?source=share

[drdemonprince]

I remember a while back you did a fun ask game where people sent in kinks and you rated how good an investment they are and it keeps popping into my mind because of how chill you were about kinks that even kinky people tend to view really negatively in the sense of ethics. I was wondering if you had any advice on how to *feel* chill in terms of my own kink ethics. I intellectually believe that fantasies can’t be immoral and that kink with other adults is moral as long as there is consent (and appropriate risk awareness).

But I am still pretty triggered on the topic when it comes up. Eg, earlier a friend told me they are cutting someone they love off for being friends with someone who “sexualizes trauma”. And yeah, that is definitely where some of my darker kinks come from—though not all. They’re entitled to that opinion and action of course! But hearing all the things they said against this person triggered me, making me feel like I’m dangerous and that it is wrong of me to interact with them going forward even though this isn’t a topic I would discuss with them anyway. Until writing this I hadn’t even considered if they are still a person I *want* to interact with given this. Though I’m sort of unclear on whether it is actually wrong of me to interact with them still.

I am working with my therapist on this. And I know it will take some time to work through. I was just wondering if you had any words of wisdom on the topic.

My thoughts are that if I had a friend who cut people off for having problematic (or in this case, just like, unsettling?) kinks, I would not feel safe around that friend. It would seem to me that they were judgemental, moralizing, and had a completely different viewpoint on how the world operated than I did, and that sooner or later they would demonize me for things I thought, fantasized about, felt, and so on. I might have sympathy if the person was a trauma survivor early in their recovery, as it's quite common for people to think in very dogmatic, black-and-white ways about morality in order to protect themselves and to be highly reactive to perceived threat. But their feelings of safety are their own business to guard over, and mine are mine, and I just wouldn't be able to get along very intimately with someone like that. I'd have to give them a wide berth until they started to get over it, if they got over it.

Recently, a friend of mine was completely ostracized from their local queer community simply for writing a piece that touched on a taboo fantasy -- a taboo fantasy they had concocted as a way to cope with some really gnarly early childhood abuse. They lost performance gigs and friends, had hate campaigns erected against them, had mobs of people threatening all their remaining friends and colleages, all based on a rumor about a piece that they never even got to perform anywhere because someone had heard it was about a taboo subject and even the IDEA of what it might be made them uncomfortable, and so they assumed my friend was condoning abuse when they were literally just describing what had already happened to them and how they found healing from it. Shit like this sucks, and it comes down most heavily against queer people, especially trans femmes, and I've seen the fear mongering ruin enough lives that I try to steer really clear of it.

My life has been so blessed by inclusion of people with really intense, taboo, stigmatized kinks into my life. I was afraid to even breathe a word of my hypnosis fetish to anybody until I was in my late 20s, because I thought it was so freakish and evil. and now I routinely talk with people about really animalistic feral fantasies, harkness rule violating monsterfucking, rape play, necro fantasies, abdl, age regression, incest roleplaying, blood, eating bodily fluids, and everything else that freaks people out but harms no living being. Even when it's not my stuff, even when it's something I might personally find a little squicky to actually be in the room with, it makes me feel seen, safe, and free to express the depths within me. I think surrounding yourself with more people like that or just consuming their stories can help a lot. And trying to find some mental distance from the people who do fear monger and get triggered. They have their reasons for feeling as they do. But that doesn't mean we have to align with their values or actions.

[snowy-equinox]

Spirit Boards are Just Another Divination Method

It feels like spirit boards often get ‘othered’ in the world of divination. People label them as either innately dangerous and to be treated with caution, or as an ineffectual toy that shouldn’t be taken seriously. What could be someone’s favorite form of divination is shoved aside for more ‘traditional’ methods like cartomancy or scrying. In truth, they’re not any different from more popular divination methods, and it’s time we embrace them as another tool in the diviner’s arsenal. 

Spirit Boards Started as a Game

‘Spirit board’ is a broad term for any board that is used for spirit communication. They often have “yes”, “no”, the alphabet, and numbers engraved or printed on their surface; a planchette or pendulum is used to mark the spirit’s response by moving to the appropriate symbol. The most popular spirit board is the Ouija board, which was first made by Hasbro in the late 1800’s. 

Many will point to its origin as a game to say that it’s just a toy, it can’t actually be used for spirit communication. However, the makers of Ouija were inspired by reports of Spiritualists in Ohio using ‘talking boards’ to contact the dead; while Ouija specifically was invented as a game, it is based off a real divinatory system. 

I also want to point out that many divinatory systems we use today started as games. Tarot cards started as a style of playing card, yet I don’t see anyone doubting their ability to communicate with spirits. If being manufactured specifically as a game or toy interferes with an object’s spiritual abilities, why can we use modern playing cards or dice to divine when we don’t have access to tarot? 

Why Are Spirit Boards Dangerous? 

I’m sincerely asking. You can use tarot in the exact same way as a spirit board, yet tarot blogs are not drowning in disclaimers and warnings. I’ve never once been told I have to say goodbye to end a session, and I’ve researched tarot, oracle decks, runes, scrying, and pendulums.

Many will say that spirit boards can open portals. Why does a spirit board open portals, when tarot, which can also be used to communicate with spirits, doesn’t? Most likely, this was just made up by horror movies so the use of spirit boards can be the inciting incident for the plot.

Why do we assume Ouija boards only work when there’s an entity on the other side? We often think of tarot, runes, and pendulums as housing their own benevolent spirit, so it should follow that spirit boards can do the same. Now, some people believe that divination tools don’t have their own spirit, and are simply blank objects manipulated by external entities. In that case, why would spirit boards be more dangerous to use? Shouldn’t every divination tool carry a risk of attracting malevolent entities? You might say that’s why people will recommend putting up protections before a divination session; that would mean we could put up protections before using a spirit board and we’d be just as safe, so there’s no reason to fearmonger about them specifically. 

The aura of danger spirit boards possess is purely from their horror movie reputation; they’ve been portrayed as dangerous because they’re a horror movie darling and that has become everyone’s first impression. 

Many times now, I’ve pushed back on someone’s fear of Ouija boards. I ask the same questions I asked above, and I get mixed results. Many can’t answer those questions, proving my point. I don’t think you can give an actual reason to why spirit boards are dangerous or ineffectual, simply because they aren’t. Once you peel back the horror movie persona, they are just another tool, to be used or misused. 

Sources:

The Ouija Board Can't Connect Us to Paranormal Forces

The Dark History Behind Ouija Boards

[yagami-raito-kun]

L's Birthday Puzzlehunt: The Solutions

Hello, @lawlightzine puzzlehunters! As most of you are probably already aware, I was the author of Light's puzzles and messages this past week. If you arrived late to the game and want to try the puzzles for yourself, I've left the forms open. Otherwise, you can find the explanations and keywords to all of Light's puzzles below the cut.

First off, though, I want to give a huge shoutout to Mimi, who not only had the original "let's use Google forms to do an online cupsleeve event" idea that turned into this puzzlehunt, made all the graphics of Light's messages, and wrote L's final message, but also recorded L's lines for the closing video. None of this would have happened without him!

And now, the answers:

Day One: Light's Playlist

L, You’ve probably noticed I moved out of HQ for the time being. Don’t overreact; I’m not up to anything illegal. It’s just hard to plan surprises for the world’s second greatest mind while living under the same roof. I know you’ve been bored lately, so for your birthday, I’m offering you a case. Each day between now and Halloween, I’ll send you a new puzzle to solve. If you can figure out all the keywords, I’ll tell you where to find me. If not, I guess you’ll be spending your birthday alone. (Not for the first time, I’m sure.) Your first clue is in this playlist I made of songs that remind me of us. Give it a listen and tell me what you think. See you in a week. Light

Light's playlist puzzle was actually a joint effort by several mods and contributors; I gave everybody in the zine Discord the intended solution, and then we all brainstormed songs that both reminded us of Lawlight and fit that solution. I included a Youtube playlist option so that people who don't have Spotify could enjoy the bonus Lawlight playlist as a companion to the zine, but the solution to the puzzle is much more obvious if you open the Spotify version:

The first letter of each song title spells out the message "L, do you know? The password is HANDCUFFS."

Day Two: The Anagrams

L, Today’s keyword means everything to me, but in another context, it means absolutely nothing. Knowing you, you can probably figure it out from that riddle alone. But just in case, I’ve given you some clues to unscramble that should help you see what I mean. Good work solving yesterday’s keyword, even if you did end up asking for help. I don’t mind; if anything, it’s flattering. Just don’t bring them along to the final surprise, all right? I intend on paying for everything, but my bank account has limits. Light

The trick to this puzzle is that the anagrams weren't necessary to solve it; the real puzzle was Light's riddle at the start of the message. The anagrams were just there to hint at which "other context" Light was talking about. When unscrambled, the words were:

CHIP

FAULT

VOLLEY(*)

SERVICE

BASELINE

ADVANTAGE

CHALLENGER

What all these words have in common is that they're all tennis terms. Thus, the keyword was the term that means a score of nothing in tennis: LOVE. (*)In retrospect, this one was a bad word choice, since the word "LOVELY" is also spelled with those same letters. Luckily, since the people who unscrambled it as "LOVELY" thought that the fact it wasn't a tennis word was a hint that they should convert it to a tennis word (and thus input the keyword "LOVE"), it still worked. But that was just a lucky accident...which, ironically, may make this screw-up the most in-character thing I did all week. Light Yagami is the king of capitalizing on lucky accidents, after all.

Day Three: The Clock Puzzle

L, I said I would always make time for you, didn’t I? I originally planned to use photos of my watch for this puzzle, but given our history, I was afraid you might take that as a threat.  I have to admit, it’s a bit boring here without you. I don’t know how you’ve stayed a hermit for so long. The payoff will be worth it, though…assuming you can figure this keyword out in time. But your interest in catching me has never flagged before, so I doubt you’ll give up so easily now. Light

Fun fact: I really did originally plan to use the replica of Light's watch I have for cosplay to stage this puzzle, but I couldn't figure out how to wind it to different times. Light may be a genius, but sadly, I'm not.

The key hint to this puzzle was the word "flagged." Flag semaphore is a method of signaling messages from a distance using two handheld flags, which are held at various angles (which look very similar to the hands of a clock) to indicate letters. Starting from the top clock and working around clockwise, the clock faces in the puzzle spelled out the keyword APPLES:

Day Four: The Crossword

L, Sure, I’m not the first person to use a crossword to get your attention, but “unoriginal” is far from the worst thing you’ve ever called me. Besides, my crossword is far more clever. I doubt you’ll ever admit that to me out loud, but you don’t have to. I’ve always been able to see more about you than you think. Give your new team my regards. Light

Here is the completely filled-in crossword, with the keyword (SHINIGAMI EYES) highlighted:

For this puzzle, I started with the central cross (SHINIGAMIEYES and BIRTHDAYCAKES) and worked my way out from there. I really tried to include CONVICTION somewhere, but I wasn't able to make it work, so I worked it into one of the clues instead (EXONEREE, "A person without conviction?"). I also tried to work in as many Lawlight/Death Note specific clues as I could, to really sell this as a personal puzzle Light was giving to L:

Watari's favorite public broadcaster: BBC

You, in Misa's opinion: DOXY

The Scottish term for how you often talk: DRANTING(*)

Next in line?: NEAR

A unique or extraordinary individual (in general, not me specifically): ONER

Ryuzaki and Asahi, for example: ALIAS

Your favorite part of Halloween: BIRTHDAYCAKES

Fate, in your homeland: WYRD

Connected, like we used to be: CHAINED

(*) Per Merriam-Webster, dranting means "speak[ing] in a tiresome, whining drawl." It's affectionate teasing. Probably.

Day Five: The Chess Puzzles

L, It occurred to me while I was planning this case that I would have to miss our weekly chess game, but I hope today’s clues can serve as the next best thing. I promise I’ll challenge you to a proper makeup game the moment I get back, but for now—win or lose—this is it.  All the puzzles are mate in one…and white to move, of course. As a lesser player once told me, he who strikes first wins. Light

(Yes, the inclusion of "win or lose, this is it" was a deliberate reference to the song "Stalemate" from Death Note: The Musical. It's a chess puzzle. I couldn't resist.)

This puzzle was pretty straightforward: figure out which square a White piece needs to move to in order to checkmate Black, then check what letter that square was assigned on the blank board. Here are the winning moves for all eight puzzles:

Qd8 = T

Nb3 = H

Qh5 = E

Bf6 = B

Nc2 = E

Ne7 = L

Ra1 = L

g4 = S

Putting those letters in order results in the keyword: THE BELLS.

Day Six: The Killer Sudoku

L, Once I learned that English-speakers call samunamupure “killer sudoku,” I knew should make one for you. I didn’t choose the nickname (and I never liked it), but without Kira, we would probably never have met. Which would have been a shame for both of us, I think…though especially for you. You’re welcome. The colored sections are what count toward the keyword. I’m sure you don’t need me to spell it out any more than that. Light

The fully solved Kira sudoku:

As Light's message hinted, the trick to finding the keyword was to add up the totals in each of the colored sections and convert them into letters:

Red = J, the 10th letter of the alphabet

Orange = U, the 21st letter of the alphabet

Yellow = S, the 19th letter of the alphabet

Green = T, the 20th letter of the alphabet

Blue = I, the 9th letter of the alphabet

Indigo = C, the 3rd letter of the alphabet

Purple = E, the 5th letter of the alphabet

Putting those letters in their rainbow color order results in the keyword: JUSTICE.

Day Seven: Light's Cipher Message

L, I’m sure that by now you’re all but boiling over with curiosity about what I have planned for you tomorrow, but I won’t give that secret away just yet. I will, however, tell you something else you need to know…if you can find the keyword to crack the encryption I put on the message. Your team of helpers will need to be especially bright to figure this one out, and even you may even have to shift your perspective for once. Remember this: the key to your happiness will be the key to your success. See you tomorrow. I miss you. Light

The use of "shift" in Light's message was a hint that the puzzle was a Vigenere cipher, which works by shifting the letters of the message by different amounts based on an encryption keyword. In plaintext English, the puzzle reads:

WE WON'T SEE ANY SAKURA BLOSSOMS THIS TIME OF YEAR, BUT IT SHOULD BE A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE ALL THE SAME. MEET ME AT THE CAFE NEAR TO-OH UNIVERSITY AT NOON. ONCE YOU GET THERE, I'LL TELL YOU THE REST.

Putting the cipher text into an online cipher tool like dcode would allow someone to brute-force the solution. However, just like in the anagrams puzzle, the answer to this one could also be deduced purely from the clues in Light's message to L. What is both "bright" and "the key to [L's] happiness?"

LIGHT, of course.

[bimbos-are-angels]

Scream for me? pt. 2

AN: Hey guys! Back with the part 2, thank you all for your continued support! If you enjoy, consider reblogging please!

Pt. 1 Here: https://www.tumblr.com/bimbos-are-angels/758029823922880512/scream-for-me?source=share

CW: Dead Dove, Obvs MDNI, Kidnapping, Mentions of toxic behavior, Kidnapping, P in V, BJ, Unprotected Sex.

With labored breaths, you walked backward towards the stairs to make a quick escape. 

“Darling- Don’t run away from me now… That’s just not polite” Your intruder slowly muttered, words getting muffled behind his white mask. 

“Get the fuck away from me you freak” You spat back. 

In a flash, he had you knocked to the floor, and stood above you. He had such a proud stance it was difficult for you not to feel scared. 

“You’re smart-” He knelt. “- A clever girl like you has to be rewarded for figuring out my little game.”

After having the wind knocked out of you and coughing for a bit, you finally were able to get on your knees to look up at him.

“Who the hell are you? What the hell is going on?” 

“Shh- You’ll find out soon enough.”

He grabbed you by your hair, and then yanked you to your feet. Feeling a cold object hit your lower back, you had to listen to his every request and command. “Walk” You quickly scurried to match this intruder's speed. He opened the door to his car, and pushed you into the passenger's side. The man got into the driver's side, turned on the car, and drove away in a flurry. After an hour of driving, you had fallen asleep because of how late it was. However, you woke up quickly to the sound of a car door slamming shut, and the man opening yours to guide you into a small cabin. Unaware of your surroundings, you shook with fear and intrigue. 

“Do you recognize me?” 

“You’ve got a mask on dumbass.” You snarkily replied. You heard a muffled chuckle. Taking his mask off, you did recognize him. You had worked with this guy. 

Dan… Danny.

He was a quiet guy, kept to himself. You would be lying if you didn’t have a small work crush on him. He was so dedicated to his work. You would find yourself staring at him as he rolled up his sleeves and wrote with such devotion. The way he would push back the hair in his face as he intently stared at his work. The one time you two worked on a case together, he brought you coffee every morning. You wish you had gotten to know him better, but you assumed that he was the type to care more about his work than any woman he would be with. 

“Danny… Right?” 

You finally saw his face, and you were met with a small smile that crept from his lips. He slowly trudged up to where you were standing and cupped your face with his large hands. 

“Nice job. I wouldn’t expect any less from you, you still have that smart brain and witty mouth I love.” You felt your face get hot. 

“I’m sorry it had to come down to this my darling- I couldn’t get you out of my head and I wanted to see you work your sweet little head off one last time.” Every word he said to you trickled out of his mouth like honey. It felt real and genuine. He kissed you and you felt yourself kissing him back. Moaning when his hands traveled down to your hips and ass, he groaned and moved down to kiss your neck and collarbones. Danny stopped for a second to see your reaction- and he nearly lost it when he saw your slack face and seductive eyes staring up back at him. Pushing you down to your knees and unbuckling his belt, he groaned

“Suck me off."

You were shocked by his dick, it was...huge. You struggled to fit his whole length into your mouth, but you slowly were mesmerized by the fluid motion of sucking him off. He began to twitch and grab your hair with one hand to 'comfort you' and he covered his mouth with the other hand. When he finished, he was a whimpering mess. You took off your pants, thinking that if he was going to use you, you wanted to finish what he had started. Sitting in his lap, you slowly took in his length. As you bottomed out, you let out the most gorgeous moan that he had ever heard. He needed you... he had killed for you... and he would do everything in his power to keep you in his life forever. Fucking into him- you rocked your hips up and down in an erratic motion. When your hips started to hurt, he took over and began to pump into you over and over. Before he came, he looked into your eyes- your bloodshot and tired eyes. Gripping your ass, he finished inside and then collapsed beside you. The exhaustion had finally taken you as you fell asleep next to him. He made a promise that night, that he would always protect you... even from a distance ♡

[schrijverr]

You Must Be the Husband

Divergence from chapter 15, where Maddie knows Eddie is married to Buck when she arrives at the 118. However, she didn’t get the memo that she shouldn’t acknowledge that at work, so blows it in front of everyone when Buck introduces her to the team.

On AO3.

Ships: Buddie (pre-slash), Madney (pre-slash)

Warnings: implied domestic violence, implied internalized homophobia, mistaken homophobia

~~~

Chimney can take a lot, but watching Buck play firetruck simulator is its own special brand of painful. Seriously, how someone can be that bad at a game is truly miraculous, so Chimney has to let him know by insulting him with his most creative ones. It’s a hobby.

Then a voice calls out a greeting from below and Chimney nearly gets headbutted on the nose with how fast Buck looks up. He would make a comment about it, but he’s distracted by the voice saying: “I’m his sister, Maddie,” which explains why Buck is already at the banister.

In an awed voice that sounds fragile-y close to disbelieving, Buck says: “Maddie?”

Immediately Chimney shares a look with Hen. A sister? Buck had been a bit of a closed book about his parents and they assumed it was a sore spot and hadn’t pushed too much. When it came to family, they all knew not to be too nosy, but a whole sister? This is intriguing.

Hen nods and together they move towards the banister to see for themselves. Eddie is already fitting in well, having gone to see what’s up a beat before he and Hen even could.

When he peers over Eddie’s shoulder, Chimney’s breath is taken away. Down below is one of the most beautiful women he’s ever seen, lighting up the room with her smile. “Oh my god, Evan.”

Evan.

Wow, Chimney doesn’t think he’s ever heard anyone refer to Buck as Evan. He remembers Buck telling them the name shift happened due to the academy having too many Evans. Either his sister is exempt from calling him Buck, didn’t get the memo or hasn’t talked to Buck in over a year.

Whatever the case, Buck doesn’t seem to care, running for the pole and sliding down as he says: “What-What are are you doing here? Oh my god!”

Buck sweeps her up into a big hug, lifting her from the ground and making her giggle. The noise is so angelic that Chimney doesn’t care how long she hasn’t talked to Buck or what her answer is to why she’s here, as long as she stays.

Then he has a minor crisis, because Maddie is a beauty and Chimney is kind of blown away by it, but watching Maddie and Buck check each other over after they lean back from their hug, makes him realize that Maddie is indeed Buck’s sibling. Suddenly they look very similar and Chimney doesn’t know if he’s going to be able to look Buck in the eye after this.

Luckily, Buck snaps him out of his crisis by asking: “You got this address form the cards? So you did get them?”

Intrigued they await Maddie’s response. They’re trying to figure out why they have never heard him mention a sister before and they’re all nosy enough to want to know more now that the opportunity presents itself.

Maddie grimaces apologetically, but she sounds pretty casual when she replies: “I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch much lately.”

Maybe they just drifted apart and they finally have time for each other again, maybe it’s not that bad. But, going off Buck’s look that might also not be true, which is confirmed when he scoffs: “Years, Maddie. I haven’t heard from you in years.”

Chimney looks at Hen, who is already giving him a look back. Whatever Buckley family drama they have going on, it’s juicy. And goes deep.

When Maddie speaks again, something feels wrong in Chim’s chest. Her voice sounds off, horribly empty like no one should sound, especially compared with how she sounded before. “Yeah, I know. And it’s not what I wanted.”

Buck must have more information, because he takes the reply without getting angry at how dismissive it could sound. Instead, he sounds apprehensive, though also hopeful, as he asks: “Where’s Doug?”

“Don’t know, don’t care,” Maddie responds, sounding like before again. Happy and proud.

“You left him? Finally!” Buck exclaims excitedly.

“Uh-huh,” Maddie nods pridefully with a big grin on her face.

Dread, meanwhile, fills Chimney’s stomach, shared with those around him. They’ve all worked in this line of work for long enough to piece together who Doug is and why Buck would be excited about her leaving him.

This feeling only grows as Buck softly asks: “Do mom and dad know?” and Maddie answers: “No one knows. And please don’t tell them if they call. I don’t want anyone to know that I’m here.”

The answer only makes the situation more grim and if Chimney knows these people – and he likes to think he does, even Eddie though he’s new – then they’re all in agreement; the 118 will welcome Maddie with open arms and keep her safe.

Bobby communicates that to Buck when he catches his eyes as he aims for casual when responding to Maddie. “Kind of sounds like you’re hiding out.”

“No,” Maddie assures him, deflecting, “more like laying low.”

At this point, they’ve reached the top of the stairs and Chimney quickly moves to fake a conversation with Hen, all of them pretending they hadn’t been eavesdropping and are being interrupted in what they were doing to greet Maddie.

“Hi, everyone, I’m sorry, I don’t know if I know your names, but I’m Maddie. I’m Evan’s older sister,” she greets with a soft smile and Chimney wonders how someone so beautiful and sweet could be related to Buck.

“These are my coworkers,” Buck quickly steps in, gesturing to all of them as he goes. “This is Bobby, our Captain. This is Chimney and Hen, they’re badass paramedics.” Chimney is grateful for that introduction, because his smile and wave combo probably looks a little stupid. “And this is Eddie.”

However, because life is cruel and the world bleak, Maddie’s eyes light up when Eddie is introduced and she steps towards him first to shake his hand, bypassing everyone else. The Universe hates him and- “You must be the husband.” Wait, what?

A record scratch can almost be heard as everyone processes the sentence.

Eddie is moving to shake her hand, but freezes halfway through the movement, eyes growing wide. Maddie frowns as she takes his limp hand in her own to shake. Before anything else can be said, Buck snaps back into motion, with an awfully fake and awkward chuckle. “Huh, what are you talking about, Maddie?”

Now, Maddie is looking at him with a frown and Buck looks to be having some sort of fit with the way he keeps widening his eyes and moving his eyebrows as if to convey some message. If any of them had bought what he just said – which none of them had, mind you – then they definitely wouldn’t anymore now. Even Eddie, who is definitely involved in this somehow, seems unimpressed with the lie.

Maddie is even more confused than them, her frown deepening. “What? Eddie. Eddie Diaz? That’s your husband, right? I swore you mentioned in your last card that he was a firefighter too.”

“You’re married?” Hen shrieks, breaking out of her stupor first.

With Hen out of her stupor, Chimney follows. “And to him?” Eddie seems a little offended at that.

“Noooo,” Buck says, another failed lie.

“Evan, what’s happening?” Maddie asks, starting to get concerned.

Hen also frowns in concern, saying: “You know we wouldn’t be homophobic, right? We don’t care that you’re gay.”

“I’m not gay,” Eddie scowls, becoming a part of the conversation for the first time.

Buck winces and the others only get more confused. Chimney checks: “So, you’re not Buck’s secret sudden husband, who shares your exact name and occupation?”

Eddie blushes and looks away, before muttering: “No, I am. I’m just not gay.”

“Being bi or pan also isn’t a problem,” Hen says gently.

“I know that, I’m not that either. I’m straight,” Eddie explodes.

Everyone takes a step back at the intensity and Eddie hunches in on himself uncomfortably. Chimney doesn’t know what to think of it and after seeing Hen’s look, he’s a little suspicious of the outburst. But Buck comes to Eddie’s defense. “What Eddie means, is that it’s just a friends thing.”

“You two got married… as friends?” Bobby asks, clearly still trying to keep up with the conversation and trying to figure out what exactly is happening.

“Yes! Yes,” Buck snaps his finger pointing at Bobby. “That. Exactly that. Married as friends.”

“Since when do you two even know each other? You met two months ago,” Chimney says, also confused and trying to figure out what is happening.

“You didn’t tell your coworkers you guys were married?” Maddie exclaims, hands on her hips as she turns to Buck. “Or that you know each other? How did you explain Chris?”

“Who the fuck is Chris?” Hen asks, usually not one to swear, but probably as fed up with the confusion and new reveals as the rest of them.

At that, Maddie seems to explode more, exclaiming: “You didn’t tell them about your kid?”

“Uh, no, it- it didn’t really come up,” Buck stutters, then half muffled he adds: “Purposefully or whatever.”

“What?” Maddie shrieks with a fury that has Chimney realizing many things about himself and feeling a little hot under the collar.

“I said, it didn’t really come up on purpose, Maddie,” Buck yells back, seeming to suddenly snap. “You haven’t been there for years and there were times when I needed you and you weren’t there. I was alone, raising a kid by myself in a town that hated me and the only two people in my corner were halfway across the world and not talking to me. Or do you not remember those cards? You can’t just waltz back in and immediately start judging everything I’ve done for myself.”

If Eddie’s outburst hadn’t been a shock, Buck’s certainly is. Not only does Buck rarely yell, he never gets angry like this, even Eddie seems to need a second.

They’re also trying to process the reveal of a kid, who appears to be Buck’s? Who he’d been raising alone, before Eddie? No, Eddie might have already been there, but halfway across the world. Two people, he mentioned two people. Must be while Eddie was on a tour, but that was already a while ago from what they understood. How long have they known each other?

Eddie snaps out of his stupor first, stepping closer to Buck and placing his hand on the juncture of his neck and shoulder. Now that they know there is something – the details are still muddled – between them, Chimney suddenly notices how familiar the gesture is. How familiar they both are with each other, as Buck leans into it for a second, before pulling himself back together.

Maddie looks to be near tears and Buck is more gentle when he speaks again. “I know, you couldn’t just come and that you would have. I didn’t mean that, I don’t blame you for that. You just threw me off for a bit there. I’m sorry.”

“Oh, Evan, I’m sorry too,” Maddie cries, pulling Buck into a hug. “I know you hate people yelling at you, I shouldn’t have done it. You threw me off too.”

“I can imagine that,” Buck chuckles into the hug, squeezing her once, before letting her go again.

Tentatively, Bobby steps in, directing the conversation into a direction that will get the rest of them the answers they need. Gently he says: “Why don’t we all take a moment. I was about to make lunch, we can sit down and chat, clear everything up.”

Buck and Eddie share a look that clearly shows both are apprehensive about that idea, but the 118 is all curious and Maddie seems to be excited at the prospect of hanging out more with the people her brother had told her all about in his cards, so their fate is sealed.

Once they’re all seated, Hen starts off, asking Buck and Eddie: “So, how long have you guys known each other? Since it’s definitely not two months.”

“Uh, it’s about-” Buck is quiet as he counts for a moment “-three years now? Yeah, three years.”

“And the married thing?” Chimney asks nosily.

“Two years.” It’s Eddie that answers, curtly and doesn’t invite further questions.

However, the 118 has never cared about hostile tones when it comes to nosing about and Buck is a terrible liar, so they turn to him. With Chimney saying: “So, Chris. Is he your kid? Where’s his mom?”

“Uh,” Buck looks awkwardly at Eddie for a moment, then answers: “I mean, legally, he’s mine, and like emotionally.”

They all whip their heads around to Eddie, who is sinking down in his chair, looking like he wants to be anywhere but here. The crossing of his arms makes it clear that he isn’t going to answer any questions they might ask him about it. Naturally, this means they look back to Buck.

Buck looks similar to a deer in headlights and Chimney feels a little bad. However, in the past few minutes they had to process so much new information about him, that he needs this information. He has to have all his ducks in a row, so he can square this new Buck away.

Seriously, in the span of like fifteen minutes, he’s gone from frat boy with a bad relationship with his parents, to having a sister, to having a husband – a husband that is Eddie – to having a kid, to not having a husband, technically, to not having a kid, technically.

“Biologically, he’s Eddie’s and his mom is not in the picture. It’s why we got married, so Eddie could re-deploy while I looked after Chris,” Buck answers quickly and in one breath, before very obviously deflecting: “Anyway, Maddie. I haven’t seen you in forever and this is your first time in LA. Gonna see the sights, hang around for a little bit?”

Despite it being a deflection, he sounds heartbreakingly hopeful and Chimney hopes for Buck’s sake (and his own maybe) that Maddie won’t decline. However, she isn’t meeting any of their eyes as she says: “I’m just passing through.”

“Is it because you don’t have a place to stay?” Buck asks, sending a look to Eddie, who wordlessly picks up on the question, nodding his consent. “Because you can always stay with me and Eddie. You can have my room, I can take the couch or share with Eddie. Right, man?”

“Uh, yeah, yes, of course,” Eddie says. They all saw him nod earlier, so the hesitation has to do with Buck suggesting they share.

Chimney doesn’t know how to feel about it. Eddie never came across as homophobic towards Hen and he must be at least somewhat okay with being perceived as gay, since he married Buck. You need some sort of security in yourself for that, right? But he isn’t acting like it today.

“I’m not going to kick you out of your own bed, Evan,” Maddie tells him, slightly scolding.

“It’s totally fine, I promise,” Buck practically pleads with how desperate he is to keep her in his life, it’s a little sad to watch. “I won’t be out of a bed. Me and Eddie shared a bed before, back in Texas. And Chris would love you. Come on, Mads, you don’t wanna meet your nephew? He’d be thrilled to have an extra tía. His other two are back in Texas.” Maddie hesitates for a moment, and Buck pulls out the puppy dog eyes no one is immune to. “Please, Maddie.”

“If it’s really no intrusion,” she finally gives in, looking at Eddie for confirmation, while next to him Buck lights up like a Christmas tree.

Eddie’s defensiveness and hesitation falls away for a moment as he assures her. “Of course it’s not a problem, Maddie. You’re always welcome in our home.”

“Then maybe I can stay for a little while,” Maddie says, accepting the offer finally.

With that out of the way, Hen decides it’s okay to butt in again and be nosy. “So, you two bought a house together?”

“Yeah, a three bedroom,” Buck answers excitedly. “It was truly an upgrade from our old place. We lucked out, cause the sellers needed it gone. They’ve moved to Europe to be with their grandkids, raised their own children in that house. They had a soft spot for Chris and the man was an army vet himself, so Eddie’s service probably connected with him.”

Chimney is pretty sure Buck has no clue how married he sounds, just being his excitable self. Looking over at Maddie and Hen, they seem to realize the same thing. Even Bobby, who is working on lunch (listening in, because he’s a sneaky bastard, who knows conversations can be different when people forget the Captain is there) has a pained look for Buck on his face. The only person that seems completely oblivious, is Eddie.

Eddie just snorts: “I’m pretty sure, Mrs. Pitchard was just charmed by you. Remember when we came to pick up the keys and she wouldn’t stop squeezing your cheek?”

“Oh shut up,” Buck blushes, though a part of him looks very pleased.

Without his permission, Chimney looks over to Hen to share a look with her. She, naturally, is already sharing a look right back.

When he looks back over to Eddie and Buck again, he catches Maddie’s eyes. For a second, he thinks he’s blown any chance with her by being obviously gossip-y about her baby brother, but then she grins at him and hides a giggle. Chimney’s heart explodes, oh yeah, he so has an in.

Hen, however, is not busy with flirting with Buck’s sister, so she remains on target. “Still, a house together, that’s a huge financial commitment. Why don’t you two rent?”

“Everyone knows buying is better when you can,” Buck says with an air that says he came from an upper middle class family.

“You have that kind of money?” Chimney can’t help but ask, sounding a little surprised. Their firefighter salary isn’t the greatest, though it’s not bad, and before now, neither him nor Eddie had given off the impression of having a lot of money.

“Uh, no, not really,” Buck admits sheepishly. “Eddie got lucky that the house was his in the divorce and we got lucky with the sellers. But we have a pretty big mortgage. It’ll take a while to pay off, especially with all the other childcare costs.”

Maddie sends him a weird look and asks: “What happened to the money mom and dad gave you. Don’t tell me you managed to blow through it all, before even meeting Eddie.”

“No, of course not,” Buck defends himself, looking slightly upset that she’d think that. “That money was for college and I didn’t go to college, remember?”

“They made you give it back?” Maddie exclaims.

“Yeah,” Buck shrugs, like it’s not a big deal. “I didn’t miss it. I worked a lot of different jobs, that was kind of fun. And my lack of money caused me to get stranded in El Paso. Without it, I never would have met Chris, the best Diaz there is.”

Still, despite his blasé attitude, it’s clearly a sore spot. However, before Maddie can press more, Eddie steps in, deflecting: “Hey, shouldn’t I be your favorite Diaz?”

“Tsk, come to me with dinosaur facts and maybe – just maybe – you can begin to compete,” Buck huffs playfully.

That sets Eddie off again and any conversation they had is completely derailed as the two of them bicker- well, they bicker like a married couple. It makes the defensive Eddie from earlier seem even more out of place.

Bobby serves lunch to everyone, cutting the argument off as he takes a seat. “Maddie, I’d love to get to know you better, but first, I do have to ask your brother, why he and Eddie pretended not to know each other.”

“Of course, we’ll meet more properly later,” Maddie smiles. “I’m also a little curious about that, since I seem to have missed that card.”

With so much new information thrown at them, they had all but forgotten about that detail. However, now that Bobby reminded them again, they’re all curious, looking at Buck and Eddie for answers.

Again, Buck takes the lead in explaining, while Eddie pretends that he is anywhere else but here.

“We thought it wasn’t necessary to file fraternization paperwork and stuff, because we’re not actually together, but then it felt weird to pull a good friend out of nowhere that I had never mentioned. Plus, we kind of thought you’d retreat the offer, if you knew we were married, and then we wouldn’t get to work together, so we decided to lie.” He has the decency to look sheepish. “Maybe not our brightest moment.”

All of them blink for few times at the explanation, trying to comprehend that thought process. Chimney thinks Buck’s description was pretty apt: not their brightest moment indeed.

Bobby is the first to speak again, clearing his throat. “Yes, I probably would have retracted the offer,” he confirms. “But you two can work well in the field. I can probably get something worked out.” He pauses for a moment, then adds: “Though, I don’t know if the paperwork for this situation exists.”

Maddie snorts into her hand, chuckling: “Evan, you always find yourself in trouble, don’t you? Still a little rule breaker.” More people laugh at that.

“Shut up,” Buck blushes.

“Nah-uh, I need to hear more about this,” Hen chimes in eagerly.

“Maddie, don’t,” Buck warns.

But Maddie doesn’t listen, lighting up as she tells them embarrassing stories about Buck’s childhood. In spite of his embarrassment, Buck doesn’t seem to mind fully, taking the ribbing with grace and a cheerful look on his face to see Maddie shine the way she does.

Chimney, for one, can’t find it within himself to disagree. Maddie looks stunning when she’s happy and he loves getting to know her better too. In fact, he doesn’t even care about the Eddie and Buck married reveal when she’s here talking instead.

Mentally, he’s already parsing through how weird it would be to be an uncle to Buck and Eddie’s kid. Maybe, he can teach this Chris to be better at firetruck simulator than his dad is.

~~

A/N:

I’m sorry, but ‘straight’ Eddie will always be hilarious to me. Every time I write one of these AUAUs, I am chuckling to myself whenever I write the words ‘Eddie’ and ‘straight’ in the same sentence. It’s just too good. Like, I know you’re a homo, sir, don’t try to hide xp

(don't worry Hen and Chimney will clock the truth in minutes and team up with Maddie to play matchmaker, bc she has to live with their tomfoolery)

[mk-writes-stuff]

21 and 15 for the pride ask game!

Okay! I already answered 15 here, but here’s 21!

(From this ask game)

So 21 is a free ramble card so I’m going to tell you about the single most baller queer OC I’ve ever created (she’s honestly probably the most baller OC I’ve created period, but this is a pride ask game so I felt like I should specify).

Meet Marchioness Jacqueline Marie Solange Adelaide Rembrandt:

Jacqueline is a noblewoman from a country called Victoire. Opinions on whether she’s a perfectly lively noblewoman or a scheming manipulator vary wildly.

Jacqueline is the third daughter of the second son of the Rembrandt family, who went overseas for several years to study. She returned to Victoire to comfort her grieving uncle when his only son, the late Jean-Pierre Valere Leon Rembrandt, died in a tragic airship accident. She and her uncle became very close during this time, and he chose to will his fortune and title to her. Some say she killed her cousin to take his fortune, but most people believe her incapable of this.

Okay, you got me. None of that is true. That’s just what the other nobles think of her.

Jacqueline, in actuality, was born Jean-Pierre Valere Leon Rembrandt and realized as a teenager that she was actually a woman. Her solution to this was to fake her own death, travel overseas, learn alchemy, DIY her own transition, and convince her cousins to help her gaslight the entirety of Victoire into thinking she’d been one of their siblings all along. Her father, who was also in on this, proceeded to will his fortune and title to her, because it was supposed to be hers anyway.

She also picked up a ton of alchemy knowledge and carries around a bunch of rings with magical substances like truth serum in case she needs to defend herself. She can also swordfight, although she doesn’t do it often because that’s not considered proper for noblewomen.

Believe it or not, Jacqueline is actually an antagonist, although I must stress that she’s not a villain and is in fact completely justified. The only reason she ends up being an antagonist is that the protagonists meet her when one protagonist impersonates Jean-Pierre Rembrandt and she logically assumes he’s trying to steal her fortune. He isn’t - he just doesn’t want to admit he’s been lying to his polycule about his origins for the past ten years - but Jacqueline is understandably a little concerned and very pissed off.

Also, again believe it or not, this character is from a fanfiction. I will be genuinely stunned if any of you can guess what fandom she’s supposed to be linked to :)

Anyway I hope you like her, she’s one of my favourite creations. Thanks for the ask, and happy pride!

[taylorrepdetective]

I dn how reliable the jet tracking people are but they seem to think for the past few weeks she has gone to KC Monday and left Wednesday, so with him for a day or 2 each week.

I don’t track her jet, but occasionally her jet’s location makes it onto my timeline. Particularly last year when that account just unabashedly posted its location in real time. That ended after the Super Bowl, so I have not seen it as much. But she appears enough in nyc for me to know she has openly been spending time there instead. However, people (and I) believe she isn’t always in the location of her jet, so people still thought she was in kc sometimes, and not with her jet sometimes. It allows people to play house for them. But in this case he just went ahead and said she’s not in KC. On his birthday. So this solidified for me that this is what they want people to believe.

So I had thought for most of this year that they were signaling “she’s just waiting for her tour to end so they can spend all their time together in KC where she feels at home and comfortable away from the big city she made herself comfortable in, then uncomfortable in, the last 10 years” story. But instead she’s doing the exact same thing she was doing a year ago. Which made sense then, if you are the type of person who tries to make sense of her love life (as opposed to getting her engaged after 2 months of dating,) since they’d only been dating a few months. But now, she is not moving the relationship along. Instead she’s slow walking it. Which surprises me and makes me rethink what’s next.

In the spring, I guessed that they’d cool down the engagement talk for a while, because they would want to save that for the season, to increase interest in their second year. String things along. And they did, with a couple of reliable sources saying there are no plans for an engagement soon. She did this with joe too. But after 4-5 years, it started to become increasingly unbelievable they weren’t engaged, so she stopped denying it and everyone assumed they secretly were engaged. And then she used that lack of engagement as the breakup narrative. So that first part could be what she’s doing here. Or not, and things will pick up again. I can see a few options here.

As always, I’m guessing they’ll spend time together this week during his bye week, then she’ll be back on tour, then that ends just in time for her birthday and everyone likes to make up stories of engagements at Christmas, and the late season stretch, then playoffs in Jan-Feb.

Or it will end in the next 6 weeks and everyone will say this was a sign.

Or, a number of other options. As always, I don’t know, I just interpret what I see.

As far as me misguessing, I think I fell into the trap of listening to Tayvis fantasies instead of just what she was signaling herself. Which, I should know better. First of all, it would be a mistake for her to make anyone think she’s tired of tour. She also signaled she is busy working on new music. And since he’s so busy during game weeks, her being busy instead of sitting at home cleaning his KC mansion is a much better look. Thankfully. I also think the new music reveal is strategic so she can have happy in love songs on TS 12, while she is publicly happily in love. Much like she made sure to be seen in the studio many times while with Matty so everyone could place the timing of the getting back together with the one who got away, love of her life narrative she went with for parts of TTPD. So this new music reveal opens up a certain idea of striking while the iron is hot, which could indicate the iron might not be hot that much longer. So that’s interesting.

Anyway, here we are at year 2. Let the games begin again. Again.

[ari-a1357]

I was bored so I did this for vanlock lol

In summary, these two are polar opposites in most areas, so they complement each other quite well IMO. If you wanna see more of my brainrot, read my vanlock fic on AO3 :D

For explanations + extra headcanons, keep reading (MAJOR SPOILERS FOR DGS2):

Barok being 4 inches/9 cm taller makes me think that he has to be the big spoon by default, at least most of the time. That’s also why I thought he was slightly more likely to lend his clothes to Herlock. Also Herlock likes to steal Barok’s cape and pretend to be a vampire.

Herlock canonically calls Barok, “Mr. Reaper” in the games. I don’t know if that counts as a pet name, but it’s the perfect mixture of playful and insulting which I think encapsulates their dynamic pretty well.

One thing some people might not realize is that the original depiction of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle is canonically queer. Yeah, it’s explicitly stated that Sherlock isn’t into women so none of that queerbaiting shit with Johnlock (looking at you Moffat) which is pretty progressive for the late 1800s. Many people speculate Sherlock to be aroace, and since I’m aroace, I like to believe Herlock Sholmes is also on the spectrum.

Obviously, the previous point ties into the horny levels. In my mind, Herlock constantly craves affection, both emotional and physical, but that doesn’t always translate to desiring sexual intimacy. It shifts frequently, much like his moods. Hence, the aceflux orientation. Barok’s horny level is more straightforward, which is the only straight thing about him lmao.

Barok gives off the vibe of a deeply repressed homosexual man with religious trauma, you can’t change my mind. That played a factor into some of my decisions with the sliders, especially his little relationship experience and dislike of PDA.

They’re from Victorian era London there are no cars lmao

I think it is canon that Herlock sucks at cooking or at least it’s heavily implied by the fact that his ten year old daughter does all the cooking. But he’s gotta be somewhat better than Barok who was raised in nobility and has likely never touched a stove in his life.

Barok isn’t scared of bugs (he’s been through much scarier things) but he also doesn’t like squashing them because it gets his expensive shoes dirty. Herlock screams about bugs not because he’s scared of them, but because he gets excited and wants to use them for his inventions.

I think some people might assume Barok is more overprotective since that’s what his character archetype typically falls under, but I’d argue that Herlock is far more overprotective, even to a fault. I mean, he kept so many secrets for ten whole years just to protect his daughter from the pain of knowing her biological father was a mass murderer. Also, he went all the way to Asia to prevent Kazuma from getting assassinated even though he’d never met the man. I rest my case.

The awkwardness level could be changed honestly. While Barok is an introvert, he’s also a highly skilled prosecutor so he is good at public speaking. On the other hand, he is probably terrible at socializing beyond polite conversations with coworkers since he likely doesn’t have friends other than Albert. Meanwhile, Herlock does and says a lot of awkward things, but he isn’t embarrassed about it in the slightest.

[damagedintellect]

Trafalgar Law x reader

💌 Fake it till you make it: Chapter 12  💌  

Summary:  To avoid an arranged marriage set up by Doflamingo, Law needs to bring home a girlfriend during the Christmas break and you just so happen to be a theatre major in the same dorm at One Piece University. What could possibly go wrong?  

Tropes: College AU, Fake Dating, Idiots in love

💌 Word count: 4,487 💌 <= Previous Chapter | Next Chapter =>

Sanji took a long drag of his cigarette as he approached the manor. He didn’t want to be here. When he left the first time he promised himself that he would never come back and true to his word he hasn’t. Until today, it was the only way to get in contact with his “family” and even though Pudding personally handed him his invitation he wanted to do this for the rest of his nakama. It was the safest way to get everyone on the guestlist without raising suspicion. Even if only his sister agrees it would be better than nothing, otherwise he would be solely responsible for Luffy and he didn’t want that to be on him. Heaven knows what kind of a plan he has in his head, or lack thereof, especially since the only thing that he’s been repeating like a mantra is “I’m going to kick Mingo’s ass” and that wasn’t going to go over well with the media. The gates opened for Sanji’s arrival and he crossed his fingers that this would be an easy twenty minutes tops, in and out adventure. Ideally he’d like to finish convincing his siblings before his father caught word of his presence at the estate. Although just in case he prepared a back up plan, but he really didn’t want to use it.

As he passed through the courtyard he could already hear his siblings' colorful banter. They were always so lively. Taking another drag he then delicately extinguished the end before pocketing the rest. He observed from a far for a moment seeing if he could spot his sister around. Reiju’s company was always decent but she was always off doing who knows what. Luckily she seemed to be enjoying a book on the sidelines of whatever sport his brothers were partaking in. He slipped past his brothers easily as they seemed too involved with keeping the soccer ball in the air to notice him. Once he was right beside his sister she put the book down.

“You’re looking well Sanji. I’m surprised to see you here.” Reiju got a good look at him. She hadn’t seen him in over a decade. Sanji shifted where he stood “I wanted to ask a favor concerning the wedding coming up.”

Reiju smiled “Interesting, I assume you were accidentally invited then? You could have just let it be. I don’t think anyone would have even noticed-"

Sanji politely cut her off "No, I want to go. I was going to ask if you were already using your plus one." His sister's eyes widened at this. She would have thought for sure that he wouldn’t want to represent the Vinsmoke name in public. This was enough to grasp the attention of his brothers.

Yonji was the first to comment, whistling for emphasis “Wow, looks like the runt finally shot up.” The other sauntered up as he tried to compare his height. Despite Yonji being the youngest he was always the most competitive out of the bunch. Sanji only rolled his eyes waiting for Reiju to answer before he had to entertain his other siblings but it was kind of too late for that as the other two made their way over. Great.

“I thought you weren’t going to show your face around here again?” Niji voiced while still juggling the ball with his foot. Ichiji remained uninterested but since Sanji’s presence stopped their game. He figured he would at least see why his younger brother decided to turn up out of the blue. Sanji huffed, pulling out the cigarette again. He really thought he could make it a few minutes talking to his sister before he felt the need for the cancer stick but his brothers had that kind of effect on him. If he’s learned anything from his upbringing, asserting dominance was the only way to get through to them. Instead of explaining the situation he made his demands, “For the wedding I want everyone’s plus one invite.”

Ichiji’s face stayed uninterested but decided to ask anyways “What’s in it for us?” Sanji took a long drag feeling a little sick when adding “I have two lovely ladies that won’t be able to accompany me.” He left it at that for now, the blonde already felt gross using Nami and Robin as bargaining chips he would apologize to them afterwards. He knows they both could hold their own but the objectification of his friends doesn’t sit right with him but he couldn’t think of another way to get them on board.

Reiju smirked, slowly trying to piece together what Sanji was thinking by coming here and asking such a request. “You could have mine, it would be interesting to meet some of Sanji’s friends. I wonder what they’re like.” Seeing Reiju take the offer made Ichiji raise an eyebrow. Ichiji wasn’t going to bring anyone with him anyways so he didn’t really care one way or the other. It was rare for Sanji to exude such confidence. Ichiji decides it would be more entertaining if he let whatever the blonde had in mind happen. He turns to walk away before spouting “Do what you want.” giving a half wave before making his way into the manor. Upon hearing that Niji considers it “Hrm, I guess it depends if she’s well read. I have to keep in mind the media’s presence.”

Yonji looked shocked but also chipped in “You guys can have the boring bookworms I want the hottie! You’re still friends with the redhead right?”

Sanji grimaces remembering that Yonji actually met Nami once. “Yes, I’m still friends with Nami and Robin enjoys history and classic literature.” Sanji stated very flatly, maybe he should have gone with plan B instead. The only reason he didn’t was because he didn’t want to speak with his father. The two boys seemed satisfied with those answers and went right back to their game, leaving Reiju to motion for Sanji to sit.

“So what’s this all about. It must be important if you came all the way to the lion's den. This is more than just wanting your friends to attend the event isn’t it?”

Sanji took one last drag of his cigarette before stomping it out on the pavement and putting the trash on the table beside them. “Am I still that easy to read?”

She hummed mulling it over “More like big sister intuition. There’s not many reasons you would confront your past like this, not after what happened.” Sanji rubbed his hands together “It started out being for (Y/N)-chan but spending so much time with Pudding-chan and getting to know the real Pudding it just doesn’t sit right with me.” He clenched his fist “She should be able to have a choice in the matter, to marry for love rather than status.” Growing up under the Vinsmoke name he remembers not having a choice especially growing up being forced to be a child actor. It only got worse when his mother passed and his father started blatantly ignoring child labor laws. Unlike Sanji who made the choice to leave, Pudding felt threatened to stay.

“Reminds me so much of mom.” Reiju pointed out. “Hopelessly romantic, but that’s just like you. Never change that” She looked up, giving Sanji a wary expression. He didn’t have to turn around to know what that meant.

“I’d like to speak with you in private.”

It was the order Sanji was trying to avoid but he knows that if he were to ignore the impatient man it would be worse. He stood up and followed the man to his office in silence. Giving his sister a reassuring smile before disappearing into the estate. On their way the cook couldn’t help but notice the familiar dents in the wall. Battle scars from a different time when his brothers would push him around for not cooperating on set or refusing to show up for shoots wasting everyone else’s time. He knows now how immature that was but he didn’t know any better. He didn’t exactly have the greatest role models.

Standing outside the office after the fact was strange. Waiting for his father to round his desk was even weirder and the silence that followed was stifling. The elder didn’t sit. He stood facing an old family portrait that has since been covered in one corner where Sanji’s mother once was.

“Ichiji tells me you’re going to attend the wedding, after years of refusing the Vinsmoke name?” Judge doesn’t turn around, just waits for an answer or maybe an explanation. Sanji rolls his eyes “I am and I’ve come up with a proposition that unfortunately would please you as well as help out a dear friend.” He doesn’t have to look to know that the other is smiling; he can hear it in his voice “I’m listening?”

“I know your numbers haven’t been the same since Smile corp. pulled out of the deal, but what if I told you I had a way to stop the wedding and turn Big Mom against them instead.”

Judge finally turned around to meet his son eye to eye. “I would tell you, you’re finally thinking like a Vinsmoke.” He sat down gesturing for Sanji to do the same “ I’ve been meaning to deal with Doflamingo for a while now. Depending on what you have in mind you’d have my full support.” Reluctantly plan B was going to work better than expected.

—

Since that night with Law you were anxious yet relieved that it had settled a few things in your head. Contrary to popular belief Law did have a very good reason for putting on a front and being an asshat. He still loves you an ungodly amount and will make it up to you no matter what happens at the wedding. Doflamingo had been pulling all the strings the entire time. Where you stand with Pudding was a mystery but you don’t resent her, especially after watching her interact with her family but on the other hand you feel like you are forgetting something fairly obvious.

You have been the busiest you think you’ve ever been in your life. You’ve pretty much been attached to your phone making phone call after phone call to triple check everything was set for the wedding. The flowers, cake, entertainment and whatever else was detailed in her wedding binder were all under your jurisdiction, for some reason. You would think that with the power her family had someone else could have taken these responsibilities from you. Especially since this wasn’t any normal wedding. Currently you were glued to Pudding’s side in one of her family's vacation homes that was a scenic retreat and close to the venue. You’ve kept contact with the others to a minimum and you're not sure what the plan even is. You’re getting nervous. Sure you haven’t reached out and you felt partially responsible for coming up with a real plan, but you would think that someone could have contacted you at some point but no one did and now it’s the day before the reckoning and you're kicking up dirt. The most you could remember was that the Vinsmoke family has a beachfront villa near Big mom’s.

Tonight was the rehearsal dinner and it was pretty much just for everyone involved in the ceremony to figure out how to enter, where to stand, and lastly where to go after the fact. You flipped through the binder again trying to check over a fourth time that you hadn’t forgotten anything when there was a knock at the door.

“Come in.”

You looked up from the book to see Pudding looking at you feeling overwhelmed. “Sorry I didn’t mean to bother you but my family keeps arriving and I don’t want to greet them.” You blink at her a few times “You want to talk about it, or just need a spot to hide.”

Pudding was perplexed. “Why would I want to talk about it with you?”

You shrugged “I don’t know, just thought I’d ask. I don’t have much to do until tonight when I inevitably blow a gasket,” you flipped back through the binder to the page with her family on it, gesturing to the book “That and I’ve been curious as to why some of these faces are crossed off.” Pudding was caught off guard. She slowly sat in the chair across from you. Over time you’ve both accepted that you have a strange relationship. Where you are not quite friends but you couldn’t exactly say you were enemies either and you knew for a fact you weren’t rivals, especially when Pudding doesn’t even like Law at all. Pudding has pretty much treated you like shit so she still doesn’t understand the reason you keep being nice to her. It’s not like you have to, it’s just not in your nature. It takes too much effort trying to navigate this weird set of circumstances. Why waste your energy?

“You just want information to use against me for revenge.” she spat childishly.

You snorted “I can think of hundreds ways I could have gotten revenge or embarrassed you by now,” it’s technically true you had thought about it but now knowing that your assumption was correct, that Doflamingo has been watching your every move, it gives you more of a reason not to act on the ideas. “So spill I have to interact with your family too ya know.”

She stared back at you wide eyed before looking away “I mean,” Pudding started off wondering if she should actually tell you or just make up a lie. It’s not like she owes you the truth. “I have a big family, there were bound to be people I didn’t get along with.”

There was something about the way she said it that told you that it wasn’t entirely true but it wasn’t entirely false either, you didn’t try to pry. It was already more of an answer than you thought she would give you “Yeah, I get’cha. I might be an only child but I’m only so so on my extended family. It’s like fool me once, I kill you.” She grinned at your dumb joke grabbing for the binder on the table. “There was one sister that I really wanted to invite but I was told not to.” She flipped through the pages until it landed on one where the picture was crossed off in red instead of black “Lola was my favorite sister. I used to follow her around all the time and she was always really nice to me. Despite our age difference she didn’t treat me like some of our other sisters.” Pudding smiled fondly remembering.

“I used to idolize her because she was the only one of my siblings that wasn’t afraid of standing up to our mother.” Pudding could vividly remember the day Lola told her mom that she didn’t want to be a patisserie. It was also the reason that she decided to take up the mantle instead. For the sake of the sister she loved.

“So what happened?” you were actually invested since you’ve never heard Pudding talk highly about anyone other than Sanji.

“She,” Pudding paused as the joy in her voice faded out, “didn’t want to marry who mama set up for her.” she articulated the rest with a frown as her fate started to sink in. You could see the gears turning in her head as she sullenly looked at her feet. It seems she’s come to the same conclusion as you. You wanted to reach out but you didn’t know how to comfort her. There was probably nothing that you could say that would make her feel better about the situation she was in.

She has gone her whole life being told what to do and how to act similarly to Law with Doflamingo but at least Law has Corazon. Had Corazon. A sour taste fills your mouth as it finally dawns on you that everyone’s parents are just playing with their children like little dolls and it makes you sick to your stomach. An image from your past flicks to the forefront of your mind of a time when your parents were around. It was the moment you decided that you wanted to be an actor because the one thing you wanted more in life was to make everyone you meet feel moved in some way shape or form but simply put, you just wanted to make people smile. For all the days that you didn’t feel good enough.

Both you and Pudding were on the verge of tears. For different reasons but god you felt pathetic about it. You need to stop inserting yourself into other people’s business because at this point you just keep digging yourself a bigger hole.

Hole.

Oh no, you were afraid you forgot something. Snatching the binder off the table startled Pudding as you agonized over the small detail you missed. There had been a hole in the binder where before and after pictures of the wedding were supposed to go. Today would be the last day to take them. A lightbulb went off in your head as you looked out the window. You still had a few hours before the rehearsal. You needed to make another phone call, you had a vision.

“Pudding, get the girls ready and meet me at the beach in an hour,” you stood confident as you sent out a text to the boys to do the same. “We forgot to take photos at the beach!”

She looked up at you stupefied. “Of all the times I thought to myself “What does Law even see in you” I think I finally understand.” You tilted your head to the side “Huh?”

She giggled at you, waving her hand in front of her face to mask the fact that her eyes were watering. “Nevermind, I’ll let everyone know.” As Pudding left the room she smiled bittersweetly. You were such a genuine person it hurts sometimes. One day she would be deserving of your friendship.

—

Sanji was relieved when he got your call. Having his friends meet his family had been a nightmare. Luffy had almost immediately threatened his father upon arrival and if it hadn’t been for Zoro he’s sure that Luffy would have run at him by now. His sister gets along too well with all of his friends in an almost unsettling kind of way and Yonji has not stopped trying to flirt with Nami despite her clear lack of interest. So the moment you gave him an out with the prospect of taking pictures of Pudding he grabbed Luffy and bolted. Not wanting to think about the repercussions of leaving Zoro, Nami and Robin with his siblings.

As Sanji approached everyone on the beach he held up his camera “Hear you guys needed a photographer!”

You and the girls were already in formation waiting for the boys to make their way down. You wanted to take a series of pictures, just the girls, just the guys, then everyone together and lastly one of Pudding and Law. It would be bizarre if they didn’t have a couples shot and you could sense Doffy staring at you from somewhere in the distance but you couldn’t pinpoint where. When you turned around to greet your friends you stumbled a bit at Luffy’s usual running jump hug.

Luffy snickered before whispering “Don’t worry we have a plan, it’s all taken care of.” Your eyes widened not truly knowing what he meant by that but you didn’t have time to ask nor was this the place. That’s when the boys and Law made their way over to you and Law got tackled by Luffy as well.

Sanji had started dabbling in photography around high school after Nami and Chopper made comments that he should make a food blog. He hadn’t taken many pictures of people but the same rules of composition should still apply. It didn’t take long since everyone was waiting around anyway. Although when it was Pudding and Law’s turn, it just didn’t look right.

Sanji was getting annoyed at Law’s detached, almost clinical expressions. “At least hold her shoulder or her hand or something and would it kill you to smile.” Sure he understood the situation but everyone else was playing along just fine. Law only rolled his eyes putting his hand on Pudding’s shoulder. “Like this?”

“No, no absolutely not. You look like a cardboard cut out.” Sanji handed you the camera as he marched over to demonstrate “Move.” The blonde shooed the surgeon away so he could delicately pull Pudding towards him with a loving look on his face. Needless to say, you snapped a picture of it. Law rolled his eyes following exactly to the letter how the cook held Pudding. You gave him a wink right before Sanji took the picture just to mess with him. The face he made was priceless. The best part was he couldn’t say shit.

After that Sanji and Luffy left as everyone else made their way to the venue for the long awaited rehearsal. For once all you had was to sit back and be told what to do and where to go which was a load off of your shoulders. If you didn’t have to be up early to meet with the hairstylists and the florist you would have had a drink. You’ve definitely earned one. The night shockingly went well. There were a few little comments from Linlin and Doffy. Nothing serious, more placement things above anything else, but other than that the two seemed satisfied with the endeavor. You watched as Pudding finally relaxed at dinner and took that as you cue to finally breathe easy. The hard part was almost over now you just had to trust that Luffy and co. had everything else figured out. Which was daunting and probably would keep you up for at least another hour or so. You tossed and turned trying to get comfortable. This might be a problem if you can’t get to sleep at a reasonable hour.

—

Across the way Pudding was also having a similar dilemma. No matter how she laid down she couldn’t get comfy. She added more pillows, blankets, even stuffed animals but it didn’t lull her to sleep and it didn’t ease her mind about tomorrow either. It was a big day. Dare she say the most important day of her life. Not that marriage was the most important event for a lady but this would be the most important social event for the Charlotte family business and she didn’t want to ruin their reputation. After all this isn’t really about her and maybe that’s why she’s bothered?

Pudding got up from the bed opening the curtains on her window to view the moon. Maybe she needed to clear her head before she made such an important decision. Without anymore stalling she put on her night slippers and slipped outside through her balcony. When she got to the sands edge she took off her slippers leaving them by the stairs and casually strolled along the beach as if the sand against her feet would give her the courage or answers she was looking for. The soft sound of the waves crashing distracted her enough to where she didn’t hear the footsteps closing in, not until a familiar shadow joined hers did she turn around in a panic.

“I didn’t mean to startle you! I just saw you out here and thought a walk on the beach didn’t sound that bad.” Sanji looked away sheepishly fixing his hair to give his fidgeting fingers something to do. She lightly pushed his arm rubbing her face. “As if you could scare anyone with that dopey smile of yours.” They laughed and walked along the water's edge enjoying each other’s company. Talking about whatever came to mind at the hour.

Once Pudding deemed that they were far enough away from the villa she let the water run over her toes. Letting the icy water and cool breeze cover her skin. Right now she feels free even if she’s never known true freedom. “When you left your family, were you nervous?”

“Are you nervous?”

They both stared at the moon. Pudding hummed “Not really, I know what’s expected of me.” She was already walking a fine line and despite everything she would be willing to cross it. “I’ve already made my choice.”

—

You were finally about to drift to sleep when you thought you heard a soft knock at your door and being as paranoid as possible you bolted upright. You swear if it’s nothing and was just the wind or something you’re going to scream. You opened the door slowly to be met with Doflamingo. A chill ran down your spine as you straightened out. “Doffy? Is there something I could help you with?” You wondered aloud. To be honest you were half expecting it to be Law or Pudding. His expression was hard to read and he didn’t speak immediately which was rather unnerving but you had to stand your ground. This was a test both of your will and of your patience.

“I didn’t get the opportunity earlier to thank you for everything you’ve done for the occasion. I’m sure if Corazon were here he’d have showered you in praise. I’d like to show my gratitude somehow.”

The level of unease was insurmountable but you tried to stay calm offering a frank “Well I am Pudding’s maid of honor. There’s really no need to thank me for doing my job.” Your heart was pounding in your chess as he approached resting a hand on the small of your back to lead you out of the room and down the hall. The door behind you closed with a soft click. You didn’t dare look back, you kept looking forward and playing along with whatever game the blonde was getting at.

“Nonsense, it’s the least I could do. I know how much work goes into lavish social occasions. I do have to say you’ve exceeded my expectations.”

“H-have I now? You cursed yourself for stuttering but you were terrified.

Doflamingo opened the door to his room and motioned for you to go inside first. “You have,” he dipped down to whisper in your ear “Not many people manage to successfully pull off a heist underneath my surveillance.”

You turned around sharply to see Doflamingo holding up a picture taken from the bachelor party. It was during your set as you were about to spin on the pole. The blood drained from your face.

He knows.

Thoughtlessly you took a step back into the room and were grabbed from behind. A damp cloth muffled your panic before it all faded to black.

___

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[8bitsupervillain]

Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 8 Matsuribayashi pt. 30

Let’s leave Irie for a minute shall we? I think we’ve had enough of that guy for now.

One, two, three, four

I know we haven’t seen the gaming club hardly at all this chapter, but I promise you they are coming. They’re coming, and they have the writer on their side.

Rude. Although, thinking about it I’m kind of with Ooishi in regards to these two. What does Takano actually see in Tomitake? Is it just a purely physical thing? I think it dives into what she sees in him later on in the chapter, but I don’t remember off hand. I don’t think they’re sleeping together yet, and I don’t think we see very much of the courtship between these two, but she likes him well enough I guess, and vice versa.

Maybe it’s just a personal thing, but even with what he gets up to later I really can’t bring myself to say Jirou Tomitake is cool. He’s just such a dork, always has been. From his humble beginnings in Onikakushi all the way to when he does stuff towards the end of Matsuribayashi I just think he’s a dorky man.

Come on Tomitake, I don’t think it could be any more obvious short of her just coming out and saying that she’d hurt you if you mess with her research.

The following text was spread across three screens, but I decided to just type it out, in an effort to be more economical with what screenshots and fragments are done in which part.

She said… “If you create problems for my research…” I wonder what she wanted to say after that…

I can’t help thinking she wanted to say something terrifyingly merciless.

I kept my promise with her and we never talked about the issue again after that.

I suppose it makes sense to assume that she uses this as partial justification for injecting him with H173 in the other chapters.

A roll of a one

I know it’s kind of late to say this, but I don’t particularly care for the dice metaphor that keeps getting trotted out. I don’t know what could’ve been used in its place, but there’s just something about the constant dice comments that makes me roll my eyes somewhat. It’s not annoying necessarily, but I just kind of go “yes yes, get on with it.” when it comes up later on.

Man, when it rains it pours huh? Just as a heads up, the next two or three fragments will be a protracted session of just dumping on Takano. In case you don’t care about her or her seeming fall from grace.

On the one hand it’s kind of commendable that Takano wants her loved ones to live on forever as a result of her research into Hinamizawa Syndrome. But on the other I kind of feel that there’s slightly less than noble intentions on her part. This is entirely a fiction of my own creation, but it just strikes me that she wants to bring in the names of Hifumi, and Koizumi to potentially deflect from any future criticism of her handling of the research you know? I know her name would be on whatever paperwork future generations would read, but I just kind of get the feeling that this is a “we all rise, and fall together” type of arrangement. Again though, this is kind of just a very small feeling I had while reading this, and most assuredly isn’t the case.

Another thing I can’t help but wonder is if what Tomitake is saying is all just an act, and he’s fully aware of whats going on behind the scenes. During the injection scene in Minagoroshi Tomitake mentions “that faction” making it clear that he’s not in with the Koizumi faction or the mysterious traitor group Takano’s with after this. So I just wonder if he’s in fact fully aware that other factions are planning on shutting down Takano’s research and is just trying to ease her into the idea that it might happen? I also wonder if he’s really in favor of shutting the research down, but he just can’t say that to her since they’re together.

Based on a short conversation I had with @felixcloud6288 I am aware that this fragment, and the two or three after this are meant to take place closer to June 1983. Even at the time I was vaguely aware that I am most certainly playing these fragments out of chronological order.

Regardless, I was quite surprised when it was revealed that the government plans on shutting down their research. Given the way Minagoroshi ended I assumed they were fully supportive of all of the research, even though they were probably unaware of the ritualistic killing of Rika.

Also I lied, there’s a little tiny bit of Irie here.

[lowpolynpixelated]

Let's talk about handhelds!

Specifically the Steam Deck and what (at least I think) is a decent part of its success as a handheld in today’s rather stagnant landscape as far as competition and innovation goes in the gaming space. For those who don’t know, the Steam Deck is a device first released in February 2022 by game development/publishing company Valve. Valve is mostly known nowadays for being the owners and operators of Steam, the largest and most widely used online marketplace for PC gaming, but rose to fame in the late 90s for their smash hit game Half-Life as well as its sequels and expansions. During the mid-late 2010s Valve had taken a pretty big step back from game development and focussed more on running steam and supporting some of their games (Dota 2, Artifact, Team Fortress 2 just to name a few) though the support varied from game to game. But that aside, let's get into it! PART 1: The Steam Machines

During this time Valve had ALSO begun to dip their proverbial toes into the waters of gaming hardware in the form of both the “Steam Machines” as well as the “Steam Controller”. So what were the Steam Machines? Why are they important to this article about the Steam Deck and other modern handhelds? Well everything has to start somewhere, and I’m of the opinion that the Steam Deck accomplishes the original mission of the Steam Machines better than they ever did, but I’m getting ahead of myself. First announced on September 23rd, 2013, the Steam Machines were touted as a new pillar of console gaming. The aim was to provide a console-like user experience on a device with the horsepower and game variety of your average gaming PC. Runnin on a Linux based operating system called “SteamOS” valve wanted the the consoles to be an open source experience in the living room to compete with the likes of Microsoft’s Xbox consoles. So what went wrong? Well let's start with the big one: variety. I first want to preface this part with: I am looking at these pieces of hardware through the lens of someone with little technical knowledge, the average consumer if you will. I myself have a decent bit of tech know-how, but I wasn't always like that, and I’ve certainly been poor enough my whole life that knowing the biggest and best PC stuff on the market didn’t really mean I could afford it. So, why was variety a bad thing? To your usual console gamer, consistency is key. It's usually assumed by whoever is getting whatever Xbox or PlayStation what-have-you that the box you’re paying money for will play the games you put in it. And to that credit, this is usually the case! Back in the day if you bought a PS2 or a Wii, bought a game for either and slotted it in, your game box would play it no problem. This isn’t always the case for PCs however. PC games vary way more wildly when it comes to the sorts of specifications the game is made to run on, or even what hardware the PC has that can be considered reasonable for said game. The fact of the matter is that PCs are modular, which means optimal configurations and what is considered “a baseline” are changing far more frequently than in the console landscape. The Steam Machines still wanted to offer some of this variety, but in the end it backfired more than anything. 

Steam Machine models ranged in price anywhere from $400 to $2000 in 2015 money when they finally released (November 10th, 2015) depending on the parts they used. And the difference between a $400 model and a $2000 model could mean not being able to play a good chunk of games on the market at the time. To your average console fan, this was perhaps too much choice when it came to finding which box to get to play all the shiny PC games they were being told they’d be able to play. Now this isn’t a matter of being disingenuous, more of an oversight. Valve wasn’t specifically trying to just target average consumers, but they did end up somewhat alienating those who didn’t have the technical know-how to figure out what model best suited the games they wanted to play. What reason would I have to buy a Steam Machine for $650 that might play all the games I want when I could just wait until November 15th, 2013 when the PS4 launched for $400 and would play all the games that came out for it? It was a perfect storm of releasing a brand new (and honestly decent) idea into an already pretty stagnant and established market and not being able to sell to people who weren’t already buying gaming computers. Steam Machines were decently popular with the PC gaming crowd. Being able to buy a pre-assembled computer with decent parts is appealing to a pretty decent chunk of people who primarily play on PC. Maybe you don’t know much about building computers and have always bought pre-built, maybe you like the specs of one of the Steam Machines and don’t mind the price tag too much. This big issue with all this though, was that almost no one was buying the Steam Machines to be a Steam Machine. To quote an article by Tyler Wilde for PC Gamer back in 2018, “Nobody was buying it with SteamOS,” Digital Storm marketing manager Rajeev Kuruppu tells me over the phone. The manufacturer had already been building the Eclipse—which is still available with Windows—when Valve pitched SteamOS, and added a Steam Machine build mid-project. That version has since been axed, and Digital Storm no longer has an active relationship with Valve. 

“I think over time as the demand from customers wasn’t there we basically had no reason to speak with Valve,” says Kuruppu. Digital Storm is still open to working with Valve, so long as its customers want what Valve is putting out. Right now, they don’t.” - Rajeev Kuruppu in a 2018 phone interview with PC Gamer Executive Editor Tyler Wilde for his article “What happened to Steam Machines?” (link in sources section)

This highlights the issue beautifully. SteamOS just couldn’t make the waves Valve wanted it to with the PC manufacturers they partnered with, leading to people simply not buying the pre-built machines as what they were intended to be. So what happens now? Well, after the failure of both the Steam Machines and the Steam Controller (a topic for a different time), Valve wouldn’t try again in the hardware space until 2019 with their admittedly very impressive VR gear, the Valve Index. With the Index making positive waves in the burgeoning VR space, Valve would then go on to release another successful piece of hardware. The real topic if this article, the Steam Deck. 

Part 2: The Steam Deck (part 1: Launch)

Revealed on July 15th, 2021, the Steam Deck was Valve's answer to their failed hardware attempt of the past. A handheld computer with a brand new version of SteamOS capable of playing most of your favourite PC games with a set of specs that only changed depending on internal storage (and eventually small differences in battery life.) So what changed between the times that the Steam Machine and Steam Deck released? Well, the PC and console markets (at least at the time of writing this article, 12/21/2023) are a bit more stable in how new and better parts are being pushed. Make no mistake, the PC community’s search for new and more powerful machines will always be a constant, but it's at the very least a little easier to keep up with right now. On top of that, the Nintendo Switch made MASSIVE waves in the console landscape being a near instant success story of merging handheld and home console markets into one harmonious group. Handhelds were all the rage, with many companies throwing in their lot with the mobile console idea such as the LYRA for playing classic games, and Google’s STADIA (which hilariously imploded shortly after launching to poor reception). Valve’s new device was right at home in the new invigorated market of gaming-on-the-go, a boom of innovative and experimental handhelds to rival the Gameboy’s release all the way back in 1989 (but more on that later.) The Steam Deck launched to a generally positive reception. Lots of PC gamers were more than happy to add the device to their repertoire of ways to play their favourite games, with higher ups in the gaming space like Tim Sweeny of Epic Games and Phil Spencer of Microsoft calling it “An amazing move by Valve!” (- Quoted from a PC Gamer article by Andy Chalk written in 2021 titled “Tim Sweeney: Steam Deck is 'an amazing move by Valve”, link in sources section) The things the Steam Deck was offering on launch were more in line with what some key parts of the overall gaming space wanted at the time, and so the device was more positively received by people already in those spaces. Now let’s talk about what I said before about consoles being able to play their games off the bat and why the Steam Deck stood out despite being essentially a handheld PC. The Steam Deck stripped away the modularity that the Steam Machines boasted by having a set table of Specs to offer across all 3 of its launch models, with the price and model really only determining how much storage you got. At launch the Steam Deck models on offer were the following:

-$400 for 64gb of internal eMMC storage(embedded multi media card, think a thumb drive) (and a bonus carrying case!) -$530 for 256gb of internal SSD storage (SSD or Solid State Drive being a decent bit faster than eMMC but also more pricey) (exclusive steam profile goodies and a bonus carrying case still! wow!)

-$650 for 512gb of internal SSD storage AND a more premium anti-glare etched glass screen (along with the profile goodies, a steam virtual keyboard theme and the bonus carrying case! wowsers!!!)

These models were more on-par with consoles of the time. Maybe not as powerful, but comparatively so in performance and price in such a way that the Steam Deck was a genuinely appealing offer to not only someone who already knew their stuff about PC gaming, but someone who played on PC and maybe didn’t know too much but wanted a good mobile option other than a laptop. Now those are both still parts of the same niche, PC gamers, and we’re here to talk about your average console Jane, as it were. And we will! But first let’s compare Valve’s previous attempt with the Steam Machines to their modern success. One of the most powerful (at the time) Steam Machines on offer was the Alienware Machine. Alienware is a popular manufacturer of gaming PCs and laptops for those not in-the-know. Here’s what anywhere from $550-$900 could get you in 2014:

Alienware Steam Machine basic specifications:

Processor

Haswell Intel Based CPU

RAM

4GB - 8GB

GPU

Nvidia GPUX

HDD

500GB - 2 TB

(specifications sourced from IGN’s “Steam Machine Guide” from 2014, link in sources section) Now at the time these were decently impressive specs, but I would like to point out both the price tag and the fact that some of these parts vary! If you don’t know, the GPU (graphics processing unit) being listed as “Nvidia GPUX” could be any one of SEVERAL parts which would most likely change your price point wildly. In fact, everything on this list is a variable component! Having anywhere between 4gb-8gb of RAM, what size HDD you have, and what CPU you put in, could end up boosting you all the way to that $900 point mentioned above. As stated before, this wasn’t going to win over anyone who was already going to pay $500 less for a PS4 that could just play PS4 games with no research on components needed. Let’s compare these general specs to those of the Steam Deck, which haven’t changed much since its launch in 2022. No matter what model you pick (aside from the storage and screen in the case of the 512gb model) here’s what you get in a Steam Deck:

Steam Deck basic specifications:

APU

6 nm AMD APU

CPU: Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-3.5GHz (up to 448 GFlops FP32)

GPU: 8 RDNA 2 CUs, 1.6GHz (1.6 TFlops FP32)

APU power: 4-15W

RAM

16 GB LPDDR5 on-board RAM (6400 MT/s quad 32-bit channels) Storage Steam Deck 64GB eMMC

Steam Deck 256GB NVMe SSD

Steam Deck 512GB NVMe SSD

(specs sourced from the Valve official website for the Steam Deck, link in sources section)

Granted there’s almost 10 years of technology between these specs and those of the Alienware, the point here is consistency. All 3 models of the Steam Deck use the exact same internal components for things like GPU, CPU, RAM, and almost everything else! To someone looking for something with more oomph than the Switch and maybe even wanting to get into PC gaming alongside it, it’s a pretty good deal! And it’s only gotten MORE appealing with more recent developments in the Steam Deck’s models and pricing, but we’ll talk about that after a short jaunt through gaming history.

Part 3: Handheld market factor history and why I think the Steam Deck is a pretty cool example of them (intermission from the Steam Deck)

As I said we’re gonna take a short break to talk about what I would consider the core of this article. You may have noticed me using terms like “handheld boom” and “market”. I’m gonna throw out some more of those so bare with me, but we’re gonna talk about the Gameboy. What’s so special about the Gameboy? Lots of people know it for being the most popular handheld console of the 4th generation beating out the likes of the Atari Lynx and more importantly, the Sega Game Gear. Why is that important? We’ll get there in a second I promise. The bigger question is “why was the gameboy successful?” to which the answer is usually “brand recognition”. Which isn’t incorrect in its own right, but is only one piece of a larger whole. The Gameboy entered a market that was predominantly occupied by two things, home consoles and arcade games. Handheld games DID exist, but not in the cartridge based console form the Gameboy popularized. This “wild west” era of console development was the second resurgence of video games after a market crash from 1983 to 1985. Spearheaded by the 3rd generation consisting of heavy hitters like the NES and Sega Master System, it gave way to an era of constant development and innovation attempts. The Gameboy specifically hit a couple of key factors when it comes to your average person. No remember, this was during a time when large portions of people still didn’t really understand what a video game was, and a lot of them were even marketed as toys to help them sell. The Gameboy’s success lies in a few points that went a long way towards selling it specifically to people without a ton of video game experience. These were: price point, and usability. 

Let’s get into it! First off: price point! In 1989 the Gameboy launched with an introductory price of $90 in the US. Compare this to the Sega Game Gear releasing the following year for $150, and the Atari Lynx at $180. Retailing for HALF the price of a (at the time) big name competitor is kind of a big deal! Price point ties directly into something like accessibility for something being sold as a product, and needless to say paying less than $100 for something with Nintendo’s (again at the time) pedigree behind it put the Gameboy in the hands of a LOT of people. Next off: Usability! What does this mean? Well, this one is a bit rocky. To put it bluntly: the Gameboy was incredibly underpowered for its generation. (A Nintendo console underpowered? Never!) Why was this a good thing? From the perspective of someone trying to get the most “bang for their buck” so to speak, the Gameboy’s underwhelming specs gave it a bit of an edge. How you may ask? Battery life and cost! Let’s get the bad out of the way first by directly comparing the Gameboy and the Sega Game Gear. The old SGG was rocking not only a full colour backlit display in 1990, but also had a good bit more horsepower as far as its specifications go. Able to run full colour games at nearly 60fps on a handheld in the 90s is nothing to sneeze at! But the cost of that is 6 whole AA batteries that would die out in anywhere between 3-5 hours depending on the games you play. The Gameboy in comparison, had a simple dot matrix display that only showed in black and white. (or various shades of off-green if you’ve ever seen one in person.) 

The Gameboy as well couldn’t handle beefier games, with notable examples like Mario Land 2: The six golden coins having a good amount of slowdown due to its large chunky sprites and level assets. So its battery life must’ve been something special then? Compared to the Game Gear, absolutely. Clocking in at 15+ hours of battery life on just 4 of the same AAs the Game Gear uses, the Gameboy’s game time and price were unbeatable. 

This is why I think it's important to look at more than just a piece of hardware’s specifications when it comes to measuring success. And I can hear you. “Clair, why are we talking about the Gameboy and how it sold a bajillion units because it was more affordable and had Tetris on it? How does this relate to the Steam Deck?” Well my dear reader, let’s finally answer that and talk about the new Handheld Boom.

Part 4: The Steam Deck (part 2: OLED and new pricing)

So here we are! The year is 2023, the Nintendo Switch is 6 years old, the Steam Deck has been selling decently well, and I need to wrap this whole thing up. In November 2023, Valve announced the Steam Deck was getting some pricing adjustments, as well as a brand new model that included better battery life and a slightly larger OLED screen for better picture quality. The Introduction of the new OLED model not only introduced 2 new tiers of Steam Decks to choose from (the new OLED 512gb model for $550 and the OLED 1tb model for $650), but also locked in ONE of the previous Steam Deck LCD models as the only LCD model available, for a price cut! If you go back and look at the old pricing, the 256gb LCD model used to cost $530. Due to the OLED models knocking out the lower tier LCD models entirely, the price has now been locked at just $400. Why does this matter? Well, just like with the Gameboy, you’re making some sacrifices for the lower cost. The higher tier OLED models have nicer screens and better batteries, but also cost a good bit more. Just as well, the Steam Deck is in NO way one of the beefiest PC gaming devices on the market. 

In recent years more and more PC handhelds have been coming out to try and cash in on what the Steam Deck has set up. My personal favourite example is the ROG Ally, and AMD powered handheld that for all intents and purposes, outpaces the Steam Deck in raw power. So why aren’t people flocking to the Ally? Well the basic model clocks in at around $600, and can be upgraded with a better processor for another $100. Looking at just the basic models for both, the Steam Deck wins out on being just the right amount of a powerhouse it needs to be for just over half the price of the Ally. This matters because that’s going to appeal to different parts of the market and landscape as a whole. 

I hold the opinion that the Steam Deck serves as an EXCELLENT initial entry point into PC gaming for someone who has only ever played on console. It offers that console experience the Steam Machines tried so hard to at a price point that most people interested in game consoles are paying nowadays anyway. A PS5 cost $500, and a PS4 (the console the deck is most likely to be on par with) launched for $400. I find it a much easier sell to get someone who wants to get into PC to play with friends, or have a Switch-like experience for games not available on it, than trying to tell them the $700 one gets more FPS and has a better processor. It all comes down to those factors of price point and usability. It's been so interesting to see the Steam Deck rise into popularity in so many corners of the internet that I hang around in. I haven’t even talked about how emulating on the Steam Deck is one of the most seamless and easy to set up processes I’ve ever seen! With arguably the best LCD model option now locked at the introductory price for most modern game consoles, it’s so neat to see what could genuinely be considered a truly NEW game console enter the fray. And a handheld at that! Part 5: I am just one woman (conclusion and thanks)

Hey there! If you read through all this garbled nonsense I’d like to extend a small thank you. I also want to take a second to say that I’m not presenting any of this as objective facts. Yes I have listed facts in this article, but as the title of this section says, I am just one woman. These are my overly excited thoughts on a phenomenon I’ve observed in my own time and wanted to share with anyone who would read it. Thanks a ton for reading! I’ll be back with more ramblings at some point, but for now let's part with this: The Steam Deck is an awesome piece of tech that I feel really shakes up the gaming space. I’m not sponsored by anyone, I’ve only been paid in the satisfaction of writing. If you’re someone who doesn’t dabble much in PC gaming, and are planning to buy a new console, maybe give the Steam Deck a try! I definitely plan on getting one after watching some stuff on the EmuDeck frontend for emulation and being thoroughly impressed. That’s all for now, see ya around! -Clair (FembotY2K) (sources below the cut!)

[itsahotminuteinbetween]

okk so for my boys being from 1940s, anything related to music I have down but I have NO IDEA how life operated back then and since you mentioned it I haven't been the same since please talk to me all you want abt the '40s

imma be honest, most of my knowledge on the 40s is either about the war or the precursor to the war, so probably not the most helpful of info-remember to do your own research for extra information!

with that, some quick bullet points cuz I can’t sort thoughts concisely:

Okay so to get into the 40s we gotta go at least 10 years before that cuz that’s also important: the Great Depression hits in 1929-not just in America, but the rest of the world as well-the US supposedly suffers the worst (aside from Germany, which was in debt from the first world war and their crippled economy as a result of the treaty of Versailles). I’m assuming your story takes place in the US?-otherwise I’d probably have to do some digging to find you some facts. But yea, with the stock market crash in the 20’s, tons of people were placed out of jobs, banks closed, people started living out on the streets. Government started creating random corporations to give people jobs after 1932-FDR’s presidency.

Fun fact, the radio was around at this point, so if you wanna listen to tunes, there’s your ticket. TV was a thing, but it became more popular in the mid 40s because it was used to showcase propaganda-televised entertainment became a thing in the 50s.

Anyways, some laws were passed and stuff to give people jobs-not all of them would be considered important for you, I think, cuz most of them were environmental or economical-the Workers Progress Administration was a thing though, and it hired artists and actors and others for their talent, if that’s of any importance.

Corporations weren’t faring much better either, especially the entertainment industry. The 20s were their peak years, with film being introduced and festivals or carnivals brought in cities-but with the crash of the market and extreme poverty, not too many people wanted to spend money on amusement over food. So a lot of those industries lost money and laid off a lot of people before either shutting down or being extremely poor.

Nother fun fact-ovens and stoves existed at this time, similar to how they are today-just in case one of your guys needs to make their human pal some food on their possibly outdated technology. Telephones were also available to the public by the 20s, the landlines.

Games like Monopoly (kinda ironic that it was made during the Depression), Scrabble, Sorry, and the Game of Life (originally made in 1860) were popular at the time-plus actual sports. Yes, kick the can was a thing around this time, you can make that reference.

If you want literature, I'm told island adventure stories were pretty popular for kids at the time (you'd have to double check that one, though, cuz I'm not too sure)-Superman and other heroes were a thing in the late 30's early 40s-Donald Duck comic strips were early 30s. Comedies and dramas/romances were popular in both literature and theatre (Charlie Chaplin was pretty funny), though they had this trope of things magically working in their favor until sometime in the 20s (you're gonna need to check that one cuz again, this isn't really my strong suit).

The Depression really only evened out with the start of the war-the US needed to militarize and stock up on their artillery, which meant a ton of job openings in that department, and other ones related-car companies (yea cars were a thing-you'd have to check how accessible they are though, that's not really my strong suit in history-only thing I remember is Ford releasing a model in the 20s) started building tanks, film productions started making propaganda videos (donald duck was a common character in Disney's anti-nazi propaganda for some reason), toy companies sold toy soldiers and guns to kids to convince them to support the war effort. Propaganda had advanced after ww1, which meant bigger, more eye-catching headlines in the media and clever usage of poster layouts and formatting to persuade people. The US stayed neutral up until 1941, though it did provide resources for the Allies who were fighting Germany.

That's basically all I have about the 40s-again, most of it is about the war and the economy, so not sure how much that would help. Maybe FazCo went bankrupt during the Depression and prompted your carnival to shut down?-I can see it trying to start more locations in the MidWest or something (the Plex is in Utah, if I remember correctly, though I don't know how important that is to your plotline) and scrapped it after the Depression and the War? I dunno, take your story in whichever direction you'd like, it'd be interesting any way you make it! Thanks for the opportunity to ramble, by the way-I hardly ever get to talk history or philosophy on here, so it's pretty refreshing! Hope this helped, thanks for droppin by!

[avionvadion]

I read the newest chapter and I was glad you handled the separation scene a bit better than the game (because I'm not gonna lie, but the reason for running off in game felt really stupid), but at the same time I was going "IRENE, NO. Don't. Just stay and talk out your feelings and concerns, DAMMIT." I was taught assuming you know what others think about you is so unhealthy and that it's okay to ask, so when I see people have my old bad mental habits, I go "That's BAD. STOP THAT. JUST TALK."

Kaname/Michiru: “UwU I’m such a horrible person I don’t deserve to be awound them anymore! How could I feel jeawous of their friendship or have FEEWINGS for someone who clearly likes someone else? I mustn’t come between them! I MUST run away!”

Irene: “I have an extreme fear of abandonment that’s been mentioned in various chapters, particularly the most latest ones, and is strongly part of why it’s so hard to choose between eras, and the friends I trusted and cared about didn’t realize Anastasia had taken my place until it was too late. Worst fear feels like it’s being realized. Yeah no I can’t do this. I’m out!“

I love Secret of the Cursed Mask but I always laugh at the running away bit. It’s so silly. But the Kururugi kid in the game is also like 15 so… I dunno. Teenage drama?

Irene is just stressed. She knows she’s probably overreacting, but after Mahoro tried to mess with her using her feelings for Sesshomaru and was then pretty much ordered to just stand back and let Sango/Inuyasha handle the demon, told she’s not allowed to help, and made to feel utterly useless/like a burden, it was really just the cherry on top of all the bad things she was already feeling.

She needs some alone time to sort things out. 🤣 But it’ll only take about one or two chapters. Most likely one??? Unless it gets too big of a chapter, in which case two. It’ll go by pretty quick.

But hey! We get some Kikyo screen time! :3

[shitouttabuck]

wrote a line about ranking taylor swift songs by dangerous romantic lyrical anecdotes about driving and i found my own list and i’m right so i’m saying it: least to most perilous lyrics about being in a car with taylor swift

19. this is a big world, that was a small town / there in my rear-view mirror disappearing now, white horse (excellent employment of basic skills, great spatial awareness, proper driving etiquette is being followed, she knows objects in the mirror ARE closer than they appear)

18. “i rent a place on cornelia street” / i say casually in the car, cornelia street (normal, she’s not talking to the driver but she is confirming her address. always good to know where you’re dropping someone off so they can whack that into the gps)

17. remember when i pulled up and said “get in the car” / and then cancelled my plans just in case you’d call, august (pretty romantic but also admitting to being kind of a loser. it’s summer, go joyriding with your friends, babe. no one’s in harm’s way i guess, she pulls over AND announces her arrival, very thoughtful)

16. i complained the whole way there / the car ride back and up the stairs, marjorie (not a risk to anyone’s physical wellbeing, but would you really want to be stuck on a long drive while she complains the whole time. i would not)

15. you’re on your very first date and he’s got a car, fifteen (general discomfort about getting into a car with a high schooler behind the wheel idk)

14. kissing in my car again / stopped at a streetlight, betty (mostly safe, car is parked on an illuminated part of the road)

13. it’s two am in your car / windows down, you pass my street, i wish you would (a little late to be out, but we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and hope they are making sensible vehicular choices even while doing some light stalking)

12. i want to drive away with you / i want your complications too, paper rings (acknowledging that they have some stuff going on—it’s not clear if this impacts their automobile operating capabilities)

11. i’m drunk in the back of the car / and i cried like a baby coming home from the bar, cruel summer (at first glance, this seems fine. she is in the backseat. but if i was a cab driver and had a beautiful woman weeping copiously in my backseat, i would not be giving the road in front of me 100% of my attention i promise you that)

10. the road not taken looks real good now / and it always leads to you in my hometown, ’tis the damn season (she does not know where she is driving even if she knows where she’ll end up. googlemaps cannot help her on this journey)

9. we could follow the sparks, i’ll drive / “so where we gonna go?” i whisper in the dark / “where we gonna go?” i think he knows, i think he knows (‘sparks’ do not a good map make. she’s driving in the dark but we must assume she’s following the rules of the road. unfortunately, she’s relying on him for directions, and it is uncertain if he knows where they’re headed. we can expect navigation issues at the very least)

8. so baby, drive slow / till we run out of road // in this passenger seat / you put your eyes on me, fearless (they are PLANNING on driving till the road simply. ends. where are they. sounds dodgy. u-turns definitely involved. also, implied that the driver is looking at her while driving? eyes on the road buddy)

7. every little bump in the road i tried to swerve, breathe (sometimes avoiding the pothole is worse than the pothole……)

6. got a one-hand feel on the steering wheel / the other on my heart, our song (if you’re driving stick this is a dangerous game my friend!)

5. you come and pick me up / no headlights, style (no headlights at night???? AND presumably about one harry styles, notoriously bad driver at the best of times????? license REVOKED)

4. you almost ran the red ’cause you were looking over at me, all too well (a traffic crime was very nearly committed, we have this written confession. romantic as hell tho bro you can keep your license)

3. you were driving the getaway car / we were flying, but we’d never get far, getaway car (a crime has FOR SURE been committed. they are probably driving over the speed limit. other descriptions of her experience in this car include the words “crying” and “dying”. does not seem like a good or stable time is being had)

2. pulled the car off the road to the lookout / could’ve followed my fears all the way down, this is me trying (she fully threatens to drive off the fucking cliff what more is there to say)

1. nothing safe is worth the drive, treacherous (look. some people might be wondering why this is the most hazardous of these lyrics. but you must understand, she is getting in the car with the SINGULAR INTENTION of being unsafe, no matter what that looks like. unhinged and beautiful. i’m buckling myself into the passenger seat)