#I came up with a naming system for dimensions

[h-didanart]

Me: oh boy, finally some free time! I can finally work on the stuff I have to work in! I could add more ideas to Family Weekend Camping 4 or maybe work more on Empty Gaze, I know people would appreciate it, ooh, I know! I could fully write that really important chapter for Moon and Sun Show! What’s more, I have two major Bloodmoon drawings to do, a gift for a mutual, a yearly redraw for pride month, and the Virus!Jack story. So much to work through, I’m sure I can pick one of these to complete!

Brain: Bloodmoon Chaos House

Me: …

Me: …

Me: >:/

Bloodmoon chaos house, a place where I store my AU Bloodmoons at apparently. There’s the three pairs I usually draw, the two canon interpretations, and a handful of the ones I talked about in that ‘how many bloodmoons do you have’ ask.

Important designs:

To the left, Ruby and Vermillion (previously Scarlet but I changed their name), the amnesiac Bloodmoon without bloodlust. To the right, The Sturgeon Moon and The Harvest Moon— they probably have other names but they refuse to be called anything else— the magical Bloodmoon.

Left and middle, currently unnamed, the fantasy world Bloodmoon version 1 and 2. To the right, Bloody, Scythe, Harvest, and Rabies, the Bloodmoon from the ocean au.

Now you get doodles (and included are the actor//youtuber au twins who I didn’t make a reference for)

I blame @achickennamedcheese for this

You made me think about them

How dare you

(I’m being silly, you’re fine, I had a lot of fun with these)

[goddamnitmahtin]

dc x dp idea 3

Ok ok ok I don’t know if anyone has done this before. But like mad scientist x attachment ghost au. BUT it’s reverse. So instead of Danny being the dead one in this situation, it’s Tim. I don’t know how Tim would have died but it’s when he’s in his late 20s and Danny is a mechanical engineer at WE, his haunt.

Now in this AU Danny is still a halfa and he even became ghost king. But this isn’t the universe he came from and here? He’s nothing more than a very tired engineer with some meta abilities (floating, eyes glowing, just enough of his ice powers to be able to make sure his whiskey is always on the rocks). But the thing about being ghost king? It makes you immortal. Even when you’re taking a vacation in another universe.

Upon finding out the ghost king starts working at his haunt, Tim finds himself a new obsession. Danny. He can’t get enough of this nerdy guy and the amount of things he could learn from the ghost king himself? Tim is foaming at the mouth! Ugh he just HAD to be everywhere this man went! Tim was even considering making himself an attachment ghost just so he could follow him around outside of work (like Danny ever actually left).

So imagine if you will.

Danny being the only one who can see Tim as he pokes and prods him all day everyday while he works.

“If your the ghost king why are you in this dimension working for WE?”

“Ooh what does space look like?”

“Could I ethically haunt your computer?”

“What’s your favorite color?”

“Tell me Danny, does every ghost see the cosmos in your eyes or is it just me?”

“What are you working on anyways?”

“Did you know when I was alive, I used to fight crime?”

“Hey Danny, how old are you for real? I know you aren’t actually 27 since you’ve claimed to be 27 for the past 9 years you’ve worked here and you don’t age. Is that a Ghost King thing?”

“Did you know that Gotham used to be chock full of super villains? Most of them are retired now but back in the day? WOW was it a lot of fun to punch that clown in the nose.”

“Hey Danny, how much ectoplasm would it take to make me corporeal? I don’t wanna be, I just think it’s a cool experiment.”

“Did you know that when I was alive, some fucker took my spleen and kept it in a jar for funsies?”

“My brother Jason died twice you know. Was he like, one of your subjects after the first time or did he get a free pass?”

“What’s your favorite food?”

“Have you ever been to Batburger? Is Batburger still a thing?”

“I used to be the CEO of this place, did you know that?”

“Hey Danny! Do I get cool ghost powers too if I marry you?”

“What are the Infinite Realms like? Is it cool?”

“Hey Danny, I went through your company file and I was wondering why you changed your last name to Nightingale? Is that an artistic choice?”

One day, Danny just snaps and has a full on argument with what all his coworkers on the night shift think is pure air, “WHAT WERE YOU, A STALKER WHEN YOU WERE ALIVE?!”

Tim smiles a toothy grin, “YES! AWWWW DANNY YOU DO LISTEN WHEN I TALK! Oh by the way, if you don’t fix that gear, the system is gonna blow.”

Danny does end up fixing it in time but still.

Anywho…. Tim slowly grows on Danny and after Danny has to leave the dimension because he’s gone too long without aging and his boss is getting suspicious, he decides, fuck it. He might as well take his ghost with him. Maybe he will get powers if he married him. Only one way for find out right?

[lets-try-some-writing]

i love it when people apply the whole “humans are space orcs” idea to transformer humans.

jack, miko and raf just doing regular, average day things that make the bots both extremely worried and unsettled gives me so much brainrot.

I got you here. I love this kind of lore/reaction ask.

Each of the children have a particular habit that bothers the team more than anything else. Can it be explained? Not really. All humans do the things they do. But for the bots, it is strange and out of sorts all the same.

Miko always carries around a bottle of sparkling water. She adores the stuff. The team, despite knowing it is not what the name implies, are still horrified with her drinking habits. Not to mention, they can't help but wonder where all the liquid goes. She drinks up to three whole bottles of water a day. In her own words "Hydrate or die." That in it of itself is concerning since the team, while well aware that humans need water, do not know how much they need exactly. The team are down right terrified of her ability to down water like a dry sponge. How can such a small fleshy even consume that much? They aren't entirely sure. Not only that, but if she drinks that much, then are Jack and Rafael getting enough? They can't be.

Not only does Miko down water like a bone dry houseplant, she also drinks just about anything else too. The team have seen her chug sodas which contain Primus knows how many strange chemicals and compounds. They've observed her willingly drink things that no other would on bets, including food that has been blended and watered down just because Jack wanted to see if it was possible for her to down hotdog cafeteria milk cheeto apple slurry.

Yes the team are terrified of humans and their ability to put anything inside themselves and walk it off. But more than any other, they fear Miko. Who knows what she's consumed.

All the kids do it, but Jack is the most notable since when he needs to go to the restroom, he makes it loud and clear mainly so that someone knows to keep an eye on Miko. The team are aware that organics have a need to manually handle removing waste since their systems are rather inefficient, however there is a certain level of mysteriousness surrounding the restrooms. The bots don't want to watch or even know HOW the humans get rid of waste, but they do know that THINGS happen in the restroom that seem to either be painful, emotional, refreshing, or aggravating. No one can really be sure what reaction will follow those who enter the space. Sometimes Jack or one of the other kids will go in there seemingly to just be alone.

It is a strange and almost sacred location where strange happenings occur. Miko went in once with bloody clothes and emerged with a fresh set before Ratchet could figure out what was wrong in the first place. Jack went in once and came out an hour later looking like he'd gone to war after he convinced Arcee to let him stop and get takeout the night before. Rafael took his charger and computer in there and hogged the space for a while to get away from the others once. The team does not know what happens in there, but it is mildly concerning since it either repairs or breaks a person.

Bulkhead theorizes that its a pocket dimension like the shadow zone. Ratchet refuses to think about it. Optimus will say nothing about whatever he knows. Arcee and Bee assume its a safe haven or sorts and Wheeljack is almost certain they keep weapons in there. Ultra Magnus and Smokescreen both agree that the restroom is simply a quiet space where a human can deal with personal issues in peace.

No bot is willing to try and confirm anything since humans flip out at any attempts to view the supposedly sacred ground.

Rafael is generally pretty good about flying under the radar most of the time, but he has a habit that has caught the team's attention. Humans have been noted doing what they can to clean themselves on their own. Its rather ineffective to clean one's own venting openings with digits considering the sheer amount of germs involved, but it is not out of the question to do so when a cleaning cloth is not available. Rafael occasionally and quietly trying to clean his nose is not what bothers the team.

No what horrifies them is the goop that he pulls out after his attempt at cleaning. What Ratchet has studied states that the goop is referred to by a number names, but is commonly called snot. Its the natural germ catcher humans have, but it still unsettles the team whenever Rafael quietly blows a few or when one of the others grabs a tissue and makes a rather disgusting sound as they try to clear their airways.

The goop reminds the team of any number of horrible things. But the sheer amount of GROSS within a small amount of the stuff has left the team all gagging whenever they find the stuff around base. Rafael is usually good about being clean, but sometimes he gets lazy and will use his chair to hide his cleaning attempts. Bumblebee has almost purged a few times seeing the marks on the chair from where Rafael may or may not have wiped his fingers.

Is he twelve? Yes. Is he fully mature? No. That much is evident just by looking at his chair.

[loolilyumm]

WAITER! Can I please order a plate of Margot lore? /pos

YES OF COURSE, COMING RIGHT UP!!

INTRODUCING…MARGOT! She is a sleepy girl. She’s worked too many salmon run shifts. She mains the tri-stringer!

She’s quiet and introverted and doesn’t really care what others think of her. She also never had a lot of friends. This leads to her being a little blunt and off putting….but she’s working on it!!!

She started working salmon run shifts around splatoon 2 when she was only 14 years old. She lied about her age and Grizz didn’t really care. She started working at Grizzco for 2 reasons:

1: she wanted to make some money for herself. She lived in foster care / jumped around foster homes and orphanages most of her life and wanted to save up enough money so she could buy her own apartment and live by herself.

2: She is absolutely FASCINATED by salmonids. She can’t get enough of learning about them. And fighting them. It’s a chaotic fascination.

She does so much salmon run and doesn’t sleep enough or take very good care of herself. But she’s making good money and improving her skills and learning a lot about salmonids. She even found a little buddy that seems to really like her! She named him Socks.

She also made a friend named Millie who works salmon run shifts with her! (She’s the inkling pictured with Margot in the first image!) She’s a little clingy and weird, but..Margot likes her. She’d never admit it! (Millie belongs to the amazing @paninipanem)

She turned 17 during splatoon 3, and got recruited by Cuttlefish while walking home after a Grizzco shift. She thought he was kind of weird but went along with whatever he wanted. She may not care what others think, but she does have morals.

And then they FREAKING FELL DOWN A HOLE INTO ALTERNA AND WENT MISSING FOR MONTHS. Oops. Thanks cuttlefish.

Alterna was really confusing and…exciting for Margot. She didn’t want to show it, but she was super happy to form such deep relationships with Callie, Marie, and Reese (Captain 3.) Although the four of them were hopelessly lost in a scary place, they made it really fun.

She began to come out of her shell and feel comfortable around them. When she was in the foster care system, she never stayed with any families for very long, so she never opened up to anyone or made any friends. She didn’t even have bullies because they didn’t know she existed. She was invisible her whole life.

The NSS made her feel seen. She became emotionally attached to them. She’d never admit it, but she totally did! They treated her like a little sister.

But all things considered…Alterna was pretty terrifying. She had some close calls with the fuzzy ink. And when the final boss fight happened and she got LAUNCHED INTO SPACE? WTTFF????

The fact that MR. GRIZZ - HER BOSS. ENDED UP BEING THE VILLAIN. Her whole world got turned upside down.

She managed to beat him with the help of the NSS and even Octavio. She was injured on both her legs where fuzzy ink had struck her on the spaceship. When they returned to the surface, she wasn’t sure what to do. She was injured, she wasn’t ready to go back to grizzco, and her Foster family seemed to have forgotten about her.

Callie and Marie seemed to realize this and took her in. YAY!

Fast forward a few months…everyone is recovered and happy and the NSS is currently working to rescue octolings and keep salmonids from coming too close to Inkopolis!

And two of the old agents came back after being MIA for months. They were in the weird hell dimension. Whatever that’s about. (Side order)

Margot is back at Grizzco. She couldn’t leave her friend Millie hanging! (Millie was so worried those months that Margot was in Alterna. She stuck missing posters all around the place and could barely complete a single Grizzco shift without her amazing partner!)

But yeah! That’s the basic gist of it. I feel like Margot has a lot more I could say about her (lore and personality wise) but I’ll save that for another time!

Thank you SUPER MUCH for reading! I love my little guys and I hope you do too :D

[whitlocklibrary]

The Stormcloud~

𓉸ྀི ✩₊˚.☪︎ ⁺₊✧

🃜 pairing : Caius × Female! Winx Fairy! Reader

🃜 fandom: twilight × reader , Winx Club x reader

🃜 summary: (Takes place during BD Pt 2) Reader is the adopted sister of Bella, but she has a secret as well. She’s not human, she’s a fairy. Charlie adopted her after Renee left with Bella, and as she got older she found out that she was a fairy. She spends most of her time at Alfea, but still manages to come see Charlie. Charlie knows of the supernatural world since Reader is a fairy, but he pretends to stay in the dark for all other supernatural creatures minus the fairies. And now her adopted sister is reaching out for help. (no use of y/n) (i left the fairy outfit up to you so you can imagine it however you want)

🃜 Word Count:4.1k

𓉸ྀི ✩₊˚.☪︎ ⁺₊✧

𓉸ྀི ✩₊˚.☪︎ ⁺₊✧

When Bella moved to Forks she was surprised to not see her sister there. Well adopted, after Renee took her and left Forks, her father was heartbroken. He slowly worked his way up and became chief of police. And on one of his usual patrols he found a young child wandering out of the woods. The child was covered in dirt and her hair stuck up like she was struck by lightning. He quickly pulled his car over and bundled the child up in his jacket before putting them in the car. He had brought the child to the hospital,and stayed there for a few days as the child recovered. The only thing that the child could remember is her name, and her age. No one came forward to claim the child, and Charlie didn’t want to send her into the foster system so he adopted her.

Renee and Bella leaving left a hole in his heart, but it was slowly healing with the help of your presence. You grew up in the town of Forks and everyone loved you. You were the towns local sweetheart, and you were kind to everyone. And when Bella came to visit you made sure to make her feel comfortable. You grew close with her even though you were a little older than her. And when she stopped coming for the summer you were going with Charlie to California. As you got older you would notice weird things happening. When storms were coming, you were drawn to them. When they would come in you would be on one of the cliffs letting the wind blow through your hair. And when you would touch metal you would feel a small zap.

And then one day everything fell in place. Yo had been on the cliffs, your legs dangling over it as a storm brewed. As you watched the clouds move across the sky a bright light flashed beside you. You turned your head and beside you was a man, a beautiful man. He was tall with long orange hair and pointed ears. He introduced himself as Professor Palladium, a teacher from Alfea the College for Faires. At first you had laughed at how ridiculous it sounded until he showed you the proof. And then you were whisked away to Alfea after saying goodbye to Charlie. You were still home for the visits with Bella but she didn’t know the truth. It stayed between you and Charlie,who now new about the supernatural world on earth. You knew how dangerous it was from him to know the truths of other supernaturals so you both agreed for him to play dumb.

Since you were in the magical dimension with your friends, known as the Winx, you missed everything that happened with Bella. You weren’t there when James attacked her, when the Cullen’s left, her trip to Italy or the Newborn army. Even though you weren’t there Charlie still kept you updated on everything that you missed. And when you found out about Bella being drug into the supernatural world, you were pissed to say the least.

You were celebrating the defeat of the Dark Wizard Valtor when you received the call from Earth. Charlie had visited the Cullen’s after Bella’s honeymoon,and he found a newly turned Bella. He still pretended to not know anything as he saw his other daughter and was introduced to his granddaughter. He called to tell you everything that he found out, and not long after that call you received one from Bella. She was asking you to come home to visit her,and of course you couldn’t say no. What you didn’t know however was the predicament that the Cullen’s and Bella had gotten themselves into. And that leads us to where we are now. In a snowy clearing two groups of vampires are seen. On one side with the wolves were the Cullens and on the other side dressed in black cloaks were the Volturi.

"Aro, let us discuss things as we used to do.

In a civilized manner." Carlisle stepped forward and spoke surely and clearly.

"Fair words, Carlisle." Aro said. "But a little out of place, given the battalion you've assembled against us."

"I can promise you, that was never my intent." Carlisle said. Everyone watched Aro peek around him at Renesmee. Bella glared at him and held her closely.

"No laws have been broken."

"We see the child." Caius stated firmly. "Do not treat us as fool's."

"She is not an immortal!" Carlisle shouted.

"These witnesses can attest to that. Or you can look." He gestured back to Renesmee with his hand. "See the flush of human blood in her cheeks."

"Artifice!" Caius shouted back.

"I will collect every facet of the truth." Aro held up a hand to silence them. "But from someone more central to the story. Edward, as the child clings to your newborn mate, I assume you are involved." He held out a hand and walked a few steps forward.

Edward gave Bella a look and then walked forward towards the Volturi member's.

Aro took Edwards's hand in his own, cupping it, reading his mind. Aro's face went through a series of emotions, before he dropped his hand and looked over at Renesmee and Bella again.

"I'd like to meet her." He said intrigued.

Edward hesitantly turned around and gave them a look, telling them to come forward. Bella grabbed Renesmee’s hand and began walking forward with Jacob by their side. After a few steps she stops and turns back to where Emmett stood with Rosalie. Without a word being said he starts walking with them to where Aro stood with Edward.

"Ah." Aro said as we all arrived. The smile on his face was big. "Young Bella." He elongated her name.

"Immortality becomes you." Aro listened to the sound of Renesmee’s beating heart, and laughed his high pitched sound.

"I hear her strange heart."

Renesmee looked up at Bella and she nodded. Reassuring her it was okay. Aro bent down slightly looking at her. Renesmee slowly walked away from Bella toward's him ready to show him everything, just as she'd done so many times before. Jacob let out a low growl.

Edward and Bella tensed, standing together.

Emmett stood ready to stop anyone in who had any idea's on harming her.

Aro's hand, went out toward's Renesmee, but she stayed serious and looked up at him ignoring his hand.

"Hello, Aro." Her sweet voice came out soft and serious.

Renesmee slowly moved her hand toward's Aro's face, confusing him for a moment, until she touched his cheek. His face showed complete amusement.

"Magnifico." Aro said softly. His face once full of wonder and curiosity, turned sullen and he backed away from her. Bella quickly stepped forward and pulled Renesmee back toward's her.

"Half mortal, half immortal. Conceived and carried by this newborn, while she was still human." He gestured back to me, speaking every word slowly.

"Impossible!" Caius scoffed. Jacob began snarling as Aro whipped his head around toward him. Edward, quickly ushering them all back toward's the family behind them.

"Do you think they fooled me, brother?"

Jacob snarled once before walking back with them. Which the Volturi found amusing. Caius never stopped gazing at Aro and called out behind him.

"Bring the informer forward." The guard brought Irina forward and everyone moved closer with them. She gave a sorrowful glance to her sister's.

"Is that the child you saw?" Caius asked, pointing a finger at them as they reached the rest of them family.

Irina looked at the small family before looking at the ground.

"I-I'm not sure."

"Jane." Caius called out to her, for her to use her gift's.

"She's changed." Irina said quickly. "This child is bigger." Her voice filled with emotion.

"Then your allegation's were false." Caius stated.

"The Cullen's are innocent. I take full responsibility for my mistake." Irina looked over to her sister's, Tanya and Kate, mouthing to them that she was sorry.

One of the guard member's, lit up a flame.

Everyone stood still watching as the following event's unfolded before them.

"Caius, no!" Edward shouted, realizing whatever it was before them all.

Felix, stepped forward and swiftly, took Irina's head from her body. Caius grabbing the flame and bringing it down on her body.

"Irina!" Tanya and Kate screamed for their sister. The two blonde's ran forward screaming in agony at them.

Many member's of the group attempted to grab them. Bella grabbed Renesmee and placed her on Jacob's back, putting the backpack she packed on her. Emmett dashed after Tanya and Eleazar tried to get Kate, only to be zapped away. Garrett came up behind her and wrapped his arm's around her tightly. She was shocking him with everything she had.

"Blind them." Emmett said to Zafrina.

Both Kate and Tanya immediately stopped struggling as hard, given that they couldn't see.

"Give me my sight back." Tanya shook with anger.

"Tanya, this is what they want. If you attack now, we'll die" Edward walked over and spoke softly to her.

As they try to calm the two sisters down, a clap of thunder is heard and a rain shower pours over Irina’s burning body. The rain successfully puts the fire out before Irina can turn to ash. Everyone stands absolutely still as this unfold in front of them. The sisters now being able to see, can see their sisters body that was still intact other than a few burns on the ground.

“Now that just wouldn’t do.” You say as you walk out of the woods line, your boots crunching on the snow.

Bella breathes your name out in horror.

“I swear Bells I can’t leave you alone for five minutes. I leave for school and you manage to bone a vampire and make a little hybrid.” You say as you shake your head in mock disappointment.

“Who is that?”

“Why is there a human here?”

Murmurs are heard across the clearing as you reach where Bella is standing.

“Now where is my niece that Dad told me all about.” You say before spotting Renesmee on top of Jacob.

“Ah there she is. She has your eyes Bells, but I believe we’ll have time for introductions later. Now I believe I have a body to retrieve.” You say as you turn and begin walking toward the Volturi.

“Wait. You can’t-“ Bella says trying to stop you.

“Bells trust me I can handle myself.” You say before continuing on your path. Your eyes trail over the line of menacing vampires. You knew very little about the Volturi, but you were able to figure out who was in charge. They all had matching red eyes, but that was the only matching feature. Your eyes trailed over the leaders, the first one was a tall man with long brown hair. His face looked like he was full of sorrow, and could turn to dust at any moment. The next one was an average height man with long black hair, and a sinister smile. And finally the last one was a blonde man that stood with a menacing look, but that look changed when your eyes met. Something felt like everything suddenly clicked into place.Caius’s piercing gaze locked onto yours, his usual icy demeanor faltering as something unspoken passed between you. His jaw tightened, his expression a storm of resistance and disbelief, but his eyes betrayed him, beneath the veneer of control, they burned with recognition.

You mentally shook yourself, wanting to stay focused on the task at hand.

“So it seems you have brought another human into the midst Carlisle.” The man with the black hair says as you slowly get closer. You let out a snort at his words as you stop a few feet away from them.

“A human you say. Well sorry you big disco ball, but I’m not human.” You say as you lean down and begin to pull Irina’s body towards you.

“How dare you-“ Alec says as black mist begins to leave his hands, but he stops when Aro raises his hand. You continue to pull Irina’s body making sure to grab her arms and head.

“Not a human you say. That makes things interesting then.” Aro says with a sinister smile and begins to step closer to you but is stopped by Marcus. Aro turns to his brother who was holding his hand out towards him. Aro quickly grabbed his hand like it was made of gold. As the two were distracted you motioned for the sisters of Irina to come and get her body. They sped over and took the body from you both giving you appreciative smiles. You give them a small nod as they move back to the other coven’s beginning to put their sister back together.

Aro's voice broke through the suffocating silence, that filled the clearing.

“The soulmate string,” he whispered, the words so soft they should have vanished into the air, yet they echoed like a bell tolling in the distance. He let’s go of Marcus’ hand and they turn to where you stood, not far from them. Your gaze followed theirs, drawn by something primal and magnetic, until you saw it, a shimmering thread of light, delicate yet unyielding, stretching from your chest to Caius. The string pulsed with a rhythm that mirrored your own heartbeat, radiating an ancient energy that defied comprehension. Gasps rippled through the clearing as Marcus’s gift allowed everyone to glimpse it, just for a moment, a bond that transcended centuries, lifetimes, and even the laws of their immortal existence. The thread shimmered like starlight, golden and iridescent, before it faded from view, leaving only the weight of its presence behind.

The clearing stayed tense between the groups,and with you right in the middle. Carlisle took a few steps forward looking at Aro.

"Aro, you see there's no law broken here."

Carlisle stated, ready to have everyone go

home.

"Agreed." Aro gave a slight smile. He licked his lips and tilted his head.

"But does it then follow that there is no danger?" He took a few steps forward. "For the first time in our history, humans pose a threat to our kind.Their modern technology has given birth to weapons that could destroy us." He looked back to the Cullen’s curiously.

"Maintaining our secret has never been more imperative." His words as he nodded caused most of the guard member's to smirk, making everyone all frown. "In such perilous times, only the known is safe.Only the known is tolerable, and we know nothing of what this child will become. Can we live with such uncertainty? Spare ourselves a fight today, only to die tomorrow."

You take a few steps back closer to where your sister stood, your body tense and prepared to fight. Edward perked up after a second looking to the woods next to them, gaining everyone’s attention. Out from the forest walked Alice and Jasper, side by side.

"Alice." Edward said quietly.

"Alice." Aro gasped in excitement.

Alice walked by giving Bella a knowing look, and giving you a small nod in greeting.

But they didn't stop to stand with the covens.

They walked straight over to the Volturi side. Met quickly by Demetri, stopping them from going any further.

"My dear, dear Alice, we're so glad to see you here, after all." Aro said happily.

"I have evidence that the child won't be a risk to our kind." Alice stated, trying to push through the guard members holding her back.

"Let me show you." She held out her hand as she spoke kindly.

"Brother." Caius said unsure. Aro motioned for her to be let through. Alice pushed away the guard members and walked over toward's Aro. Demetri slapped Jasper face as he tried to fight to go with her. Aro grapped Alice's hand quickly, being pulled into whatever her vision was, and he looked almost frightened. Everyone stood in their places, untouched as Aro slowly removed his hand from Alice's.

A terrified look crossed his face as he glanced around at all the people before him. Edward smirked, knowing Aro was terrified of Bella.

"Now you know." Alice growled. "That's your future. Unless you decide on another course."

"We cannot alter our course. The child still poses a grave threat." Caius stepped forward talking lowly to Aro.

"But what if you were sure she could remained concealed from the human world?"

Edward called out to them. "Could we leave in peace?"

"Of course. But that cannot be known."

Caius called back to him with a scowl.

"Actually it can." Edward said softly with a smile. Alice walked away from Aro smiling. Two figures emerged from the forest, which Alice and Jasper had come from. It was a younger man and woman. They walked all the way up to Alice and stood by her.

"I've been searching for witnesses of my own among the Ticuna tribes of Brazil. " Alice spoke softly.

"We have enough witnesses." Caius spat.

"Let him speak, brother.” Aro hushed him.

"I am half human, half vampire. Like the child."

The man named Nahuel said.

"A vampire seduced my mother, who died giving birth to me. My aunt, Huilen, raised me as her own. I made her immortal."

"How old are you?" Bella stepped forward calling out curiously.

"150 years." He looked back at Bella and smiled.

"At what age did you reach maturity?" Aro asked.

"I became full-grown seven year's after my birth. I have not changed since then." Nahuel replied Bella looked back up at Renesmee , reaching out and holding her hand. She smiled down at Bella, still on Jacob's back.

"And your diet?"

"Blood, human food. I can survive on either."

"These children are much like us." Marcus said amazed.

"Regardless, the Cullen's have been consorting with werewolves, our natural enemies." Caius stated. Aro turned and placed a hand on his shoulder, shaking his head.

Knowing what he had seen in Alice's vision, was not a chance Aro was willing to take.

Though, he had much more knowledge than before.

"Dear ones, there is no danger here. We will not fight, today." Aro said looking at the Volturi group. The outer part of the group beginning to retreat into the forest. As the the Upper and Elite guard begin to follow.

"We have them on the run. Now is the time to attack." Vladimir said walking up to Carlisle.

"Not today." He smiled happily at them.

"You're all fools! The Volturi might leaving. But they will never forgive what happened here." Stephan yelled. Everyone ignores them and you begin to walk towards your sister, wanting to officially meet your niece. The rest of the Volturi turn to leave when it happens. Vladimir and Stefan both speed towards you. Knowing that if they take you out then Caius will retaliate. Edward catches their thoughts and turns to you.

“Vladimir! Stefan! Don’t.” He yells, but they ignore him. They continue speeding towards you, but no one here knows what you are, well except for Alice and Aro who saw you in the vision. Vladimir reaches you first and his hand goes around your throat in a tight grip. Bella let’s go of Edward and speeds over to where Stefan was getting ready to join his partner. She grabs him by the back of his neck and slams into the ground, cracking as the vampires body comes in contact. The commotion behind them cause the retreating Volturi to halt and turn. Then suddenly and animalistic snarl is heard through the clearing, and everyone turns to the source. Caius. The vampire king stood there with fury etched onto his face as he sees his mate being held by her throat. He begins to take a step forward, but is stopped by Aro’s hand on his shoulder. He whips his head to his brother with a snarl. How dare Aro stop him from protecting his mate.

“Brother don’t. Just watch. Your mate will handle it.” Aro says calmly already knowing of your capabilities. Caius lets out on angry huff but turns to where you are. His hands clench tightly by his sides as he sees Vladimir’s grip on your throat.

“I suggest you let me go.” You say calmly your (e/c) clashing with red.

“Or what? You’re just a pathetic little human.” Vladimir says with a sneer as he grip begins to tighten. He expects you to cower in fear but you do the opposite and laugh. Dark thunder clouds begin to form in the sky strikes of lightning beginning to hit the ground surrounding the both of you.

“For the last time. I AM NOT A HUMAN. NOW ENCHANTIX.” You yell. A bright light surrounds you as you transform into your fairy form. Your regular clothes change in your fairy outfit that was a mix of black,blues,and silver. Your wings sprout out of your back, a combination of blue and silver. The storm clouds circle above the clearing as the air around you grows static. All of the vampires in the clearing look at you with awe and a little fear.

“You vampires really think you’re the most powerful supernatural creature. You think it all revolves around you.” As you speak you reach up with your hand,grabbing Vladimir’s arm, and fill him lightning. You could channel lightning into your body like Kate was able to.

“But here’s the thing. You really aren’t, I just fought a very powerful Dark Wizard before my sister called me. All creatures have weaknesses, and for you vampires its your cockiness. You believe yourselves to be invincible.” Vladimir’s hand falls from your throat as the lightning continues to pour into his body. His knees buckling causing him to kneel in front of you. You look towards Bella and you share a look with her. You tilt your head towards the Volturi as you grip Vladimir by the back of his neck. She nods as she realizes your idea, and the both of you begin to drag the Romanians to where the Volturi stand. As you both get closer Demetri and Felix break formation as soon as Aro nods. They meet you in the middle and each one grabs a Romanian holding them in front of the leaders.

You turn to Bella with a smile and bring her in for a hug.

“Go back to Edward Bells. You guys deserve to be happy. I’ll handle everything here.” You whisper into her ear as her arms come up to carefully hug you being mindful of your wings and her strength.

“Are you sure sis. They might hurt you.” She says her voice dripping with concern. You pull back with a smile and glance behind you to where Caius stood, his eyes glued to your form.

“I’ll be okay Bells now go be happy. And tell Wolf boy if he does anything to my niece I will drown him with rain.” You say, and Bella laughs with a smile.

“Keep in touch with me sis. I love you.” She says before speeding back to her family. Edward sends you a nod and a smile before the Cullens retreat with their allies. You send a nod back before your wings lift you off the ground and you fly to where the Romanians are kneeling in front of the kings.

“You know you guys never really had a chance with defeating them.” You say you circle above them.

“Its kinda sad that you had to wait for someone else to challenge them.” You were taunting them and they knew it as they both let out snarls.

“Now Now Cara Mia no need to rub salt in their wounds.” Aro says as he takes a step forward and you turn towards him.

“Hmph no one ever let’s me have any fun.” You say with a pout as you flutter above them.

“No need to pout la mia tempesta.” Caius says as he also takes a step forward. Your heart skipping a beat at the sound of voice, and seeing his smirk you knew he heard it. He walks closer to where you’re fluttering above the ground.

“Why don’t you come closer and help me rip their heads off their pathetic bodies.” You fly closer to the ground hovering above him before landing. He holds his hand out for you to take and you do.

[home-sweet-hive]

ALTERNATE HUMANITY A Field Guide to "Humanity Removal Therapy"

Part 1: Introductions

This is a complimentary series to this system's other Animal HRT series; Black Arms HRT

This story is NOT written by the system's host, Aikshlin (🌹). To keep with the mystery of the story itself, the author of this story has chosen to simply go by "Penpal" (🖋) for the time being.

WARNING: This story currently contains Swearing, Mild Mentions of Death, Implied Reincarnation, and a perhaps Untrustworthy Narrator

[The Beginning (You are here!)] [Next]

Somewhere within a city left a mystery to most, there lives a peculiar scientist by the name of Doctor Theodore H. Erian, who is known by a select group of individuals for providing an experimental treatment to anyone across the dimensional planes willing to take it. ‘Animal HRT’, they call it, though it is more professionally understood as ‘Humanity Removal Therapy’; a medical miracle designed to change someone into a completely different species.

Despite its colloquial name, this treatment is not limited to just animals, nor is it limited to species commonly considered as ‘real’. Creatures of fantasy, creatures of folklore, and even creatures from modern fictional media have been achieved from this incredible treatment.

With a power so great, it was only a matter of time until that power, that medicine, fell into the wrong hands. Some would argue that Doctor Erian’s hands were already the wrong hands. Others would point to other doctors not affiliated with Doctor Erian, giving out “back alley treatments” as Erian himself would call them. 

But there are a select few that say that the true danger lies within the patients themselves.

After all, despite Doctor Erian’s claims that he asks each patient to spend at least 48 months as their desired species, it has been found that it is scarily easy for these patients to just lie and get what they want at a moment’s notice.

The city where Doctor Erian works, only known as ‘Hyper City’, is said to be a crossroads between dimensions. A place that anyone from any reality can access if they have knowledge of it, and a place where theoretically one could travel to any reality from as well. With such widespread access to this strange location, it was only a matter of time before someone with questionable motives came across its existence.

And with it, the existence of ‘Humanity Removal Therapy’ as well.

Somewhere within the computer of Doctor Erian, there exists a copy of a set of journal entries. And elsewhere on that same computer, there exists an email sent to him by a concerned citizen of “who-knows-what” planet of the “who-knows-where” dimension (his words) – several, in fact. 

Doctor Erian was dismissive of the message at first, regarding it as either something already addressed or simply an attempt at ‘trolling’. 

But once he saw the entries included in the email, he saw the situation unfolding just under his nose to be quite the troubling one.

And perhaps you will too.

---

January 8th, 2025

Today was a short day at the station, or at least it was for me. A sudden and rather heavy snowstorm is supposed to hit the area tonight (??? Yeah of course it's sudden how the hell are we getting snow???), so all attention is given to our meteorologist for today’s broadcast. 

Not that I’m complaining, of course. The less labour I have to endure, the better.

But either way, this leaves me with a lot of free time on my hands. Originally I was going to make use of that time by heading down to the entertainment department to see how A████’s work was coming along, but as I got up and started to head over to his desk, I noticed that they were, in fact, already here within my area, talking to another member of the news crew as the two of them sipped on bottles of water from the work cooler.

“... Can’t seriously be real,” I recall having picked up on the tail end of a sentence from A████, spoken in disbelief.

“I went there! It’s real!” The other guy insisted. I had inferred from those words that they must have been talking about a location of some kind.

“Well then explain to me why I’ve never seen this ‘Hyper City’ on a map anywhere,” A████ had inquired of his peer. 

“Oh yeah, that. I think a local told me that it’s a sort of realm between dimensions? So you can get there from wherever, so long as it’s your intention to get there!” The other guy tried to explain himself, but it only seemed to make A████ even more skeptical.

“Yeah, you’re making this shit up,” It scoffed, ready to take off elsewhere.

But before he could, I inserted myself into the conversation. I couldn’t help it, I was horribly curious. Something had beckoned me to get to know as much as I could on this strange topic the two were speaking of.

But what else is new?

A████ was pretty happy to see me, usually is, so he was more than happy to give me the details. Though, part of me suspected that part of it was A████ being forced to do the ‘honors’, since the other guy seemed to be a starstruck newbie and/or low level that completely froze at the sight of me. 

According to A████, he and the new guy were talking about some fantastical town called “Hyper City” that can access any and every dimension and world and that is filled with humanoid animal beings. Yeah, can’t blame A████, that is pretty out there. 

But I have seen stranger, experienced stranger. Despite our closeness, A████’s pretty new to what we do here as well. Kiddo’s still on their first life and everything. So while I can’t blame it for not believing the story, I also don’t agree with it. 

Without even thinking about it, an order for the two of them to go out to this ‘Hyper City’ and retrieve a souvenir from there slipped out from my lips. I only realized I had said it when A████ questioned if we should run that plan past the Big Bear first.

Whether I had just forgotten to think before I spoke or if it was something deeper than that I never really cared to look into, to be honest. Makes no difference to me.

But yeah, I should probably get to writing that email to D████. I still have a lot left to get done before I go about kicking another bucket, you know?

> What’s this about you dying now? It is much too early for that.

Oh, hey babe! Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. Just a little joke, LOL.

> Good. Make sure it stays that way.

Sigh. Only you would threaten me to not die. <3

By the way, why are you in my notes?

> Nearly 35 years, and you’re only asking that now? You really are a dumbass.

“Why”, not “how”. Who’s the dumbass now?

> You never hesitate to make use of your special privileges, do you? 

> But to answer your question, I must remind you that you have a meeting with S████ and Doctor K████ at eight o’clock.

Oh shit that’s right! Thanks hun.

Now I really should get to that email, huh-?

> Yes.

Remind me to update this document with the results of the little chase I’ve sent A████ and that other guy on.

> As if you even need to ask me. Your “inspiration” will surely beat me to the chase. 100%.

Love you too. 

---

January 9th, 2025

The storm came just as strongly as predicted, leaving us with a couple inches of snow  on the ground. 

I honestly couldn't believe it. Snow? This far south? I'll be honest, when I wrote that part down yesterday I thought it was some sort of joke. But the current way the world's been going has left the weather all sorts of fucked up.

Despite the nearly once in a lifetime experience going on outside, I had stuck to my usual morning routine of getting ready to go to work. Sure, it may be unusually cold out today, but I always wear at least two layers of clothes anyways. 

But apparently I was taken off of the work schedule for today regardless. 

On record they wrote that it was because I live too far out from the station, and they didn't want me driving across town. But honestly, I just think they're pampering me. 

I can't tell if that thought makes me feel flattered or insulted.

And A████ laughing about it when I called him earlier didn't help me decide, either. Yeah, of course this is typical for his hometown back in New York, but we certainly aren't up there, are we?

But either way, that means that instead of going to work and getting to report about the first snowfall I've ever gotten to see, I'm relegated to just writing a follow-up to what I was talking about yesterday.

I did actually get an email back from Mr D████, like pretty much right after I sent him my message! I know, pretty surprising, right? The old man usually takes like a week to respond to any emails sent to him at the earliest.

But apparently he had already heard about this ‘Hyper City’ place. Didn't know about the weird dimension part of it though, only knew it as a place S████ had told him and everyone else about wanting to take a vacation to. 

Suffice to say, that was a pretty interesting bit of information to have with me during that meeting with her and E████ K████.

Speaking of, here's an excerpt from that meeting, recounted to the best of my ability. Why? S████ brings up something pretty interesting about Hyper City, I think. Also, because I was told to.

–

“Oh, just so you know, I'm gonna be going on a bit of a vacation next week. So don't count on me being available during that time, okay~?” 

“I'm aware.”

“Wait, what??” 

“Care to explain how, L████?”

“Heh, sure!”

“But first, what if I told you that I also know where it is you plan to go?” 

“That'd be…”

“That'd be so cool!!” 

“S████, you're planning a vacation to Hyper City, right?” 

“Yeah!! How'd you know?” 

“Well, you see, it seems you're not the only one around here who knows of that strange place.”

–

I then proceeded to explain to S████ the conversation I had inserted myself into yesterday.

It was her response to this explanation of mine that had truly captured my attention.

–

“Well I definitely hope it's real!! I'm traveling out there in the hopes of getting my hands on some Cat HRT!” 

“... Cat HRT? Like… Hormones for… cats???”

“Not quite! Apparently, it's HRT that’s supposed to turn you into a cat!”

“And before you ask how I'm gonna still do my duties while being a cat – you can apparently stop before a certain point and you'll stay an anthropomorphic animal rather than going full feral! The ‘crossroads’, I think it was called?” 

“... I'm putting you into the souvenir venture group as well. If it's alright with E████, I'd like for you to join A████ and B████ in their expedition, and for your souvenir to be that ‘Cat HRT’ you so desire.”

“Well who would I be to defy that decree?”

“Can do!!”

–

And after that, we moved on to other topics of discussion.

But you can see why what she said interested me, right?

> Once more, you are not beating the ‘catboy’ allegations.

THE CAT PART IS NOT WHY I'M INTRIGUED, YOU CALCULATOR.

> Surely.

> Allow me to predict what you are about to type; It is the general idea of transforming the human body into something it was ‘not supposed to be’, yes?

Pretty much, yeah.

Turning into a cat is cool and all, but I think this technology could go to a much more important use if we got a hold of it, wouldn't you agree?

> Certainly.

I think I need to put these notes - starting with yesterday's - into a document of their own. I have a feeling that this may grow into a story of its own at some point.

So I'm going to do that now.

---

January 18th, 2025

After giving out today’s report, I was called to the break room to have a bit of a chat. That much isn’t too unusual, happens to me a lot. What can I say, people wanna hear what I have to say!

What was unusual was that it was E████ of all people who had requested my presence.

When we met up just outside the break room, I had asked them what they were doing here – why they were not back at their lab like usual.

To that they had just a simple response. 

–

“Whenever there’s something I need to tell you, or anyone else that works here at the station, I usually send S████ out to deliver the message for me. But since now S████ has something she must say to you, but is… scared to, I figured I’d play fair and do the honors for kit.”

–

I understood their words quite well, but I was a bit surprised to hear that S████ would be scared to tell me something. 

I had a feeling it had something to do with the ‘Cat HRT’ thing, but she does know that I wouldn’t be mad at her if things fell through just this once… right?

Well, if not, then I should set the record straight and make it clear that she’s okay – that’s what I figured at the time.

So I asked E████ outright if S████ had failed to obtain the ‘Cat HRT’.

She had.

Apparently, the doctor that gives that stuff out over in Hyper City is a strict one, making the people who come to him to jump through so many hoops just to start treatment that it makes us look like a free-for-all. The current supporting claim for this is that ‘Animal HRT’ is still experimental, so it’s ‘best practice’ to limit the amount of people who can have it.

What a load of bullshit, whatever happened to unleashing a substance into a small town to roam free so you can see what happens?

> Hah.

<33

But anyways, once I had that explanation from E████, I made my way inside the break room where S████, as well as A████ and B████, were waiting for me.

A████ stood at the front of the group, confidently holding his souvenir – a branded pen from the Hyper City Municipal Zoo.

B████ stood just off to the side of A████, looking a bit less confident in my presence. In his hands he held a printed photograph of himself, A████ and S████ in the streets of Hyper City. 

Clever boy, that one.

And then there was poor S████, cowering behind the other two as she refused to look me in the eyes. Within their shaking hands, I could just barely make out a snow globe, containing within it a miniature model of the city – one that lined up very well with what B████’s photo depicted.

After looking at each of the souvenirs, I handed them all back to their respective owners and thanked them on a job well done. 

A████ and B████ looked delighted to have my approval, but S████ was instead confused. She asked me why I wasn’t upset at her. 

After all, it had not done as I asked. They did bring a souvenir, yes, but it was not the one I instructed kit to get.

I informed her that I was very much aware of the fact that they had indeed tried to get a hold of a ‘Cat HRT’ prescription, but the plans fell through. And so I had said to her;

–

“Why would I be mad at you for trying?”

–

That did seem to make her feel better, though not entirely. So I went for another swing;

–

“And besides, you’ll have some to show off in about 48 months right? That’s a pretty short amount of time in the grand scheme of what we’re promised.”

–

But that one was unfortunately a miss.

As it turns out, S████ was not in fact just put on the waiting list for getting her desired ‘Animal HRT’. 

She had been outright rejected.

She had explained - tearfully - that no real reason had been given to it, just some vague bullshitting about a “sketchy result in a background check”.

I remember seeing red then, and I still do now as I write this down.

I knew right then and there that I would have to face this doctor himself. Doctor Erian is his name, apparently.

But whoever he is, I’m going to make him fess up to the real reason he denied S████ treatment. 

> May I accompany you?

You? Asking to do something? That’s new.

But yeah. I was already planning on it.

> Of course you were, gayass.

BITCH???

So mean to me, for no reason at all. </3

But anyways.

My memory of what happened next begins to become a bit fuzzy at this point, but I know I took off from the break room and wordlessly made my way to Mr. D████’s office. I knew I’d need to get another bit of approval to go to Hyper City myself. That certainty was the only thing in my mind at the time outside of the all-consuming rage I had felt.

Once I entered his office, however, that one driving thought had faded. I had gotten where I needed to in order to get what I wanted, so all that was left was my anger. 

It’s at that point where my memory cuts out completely for a bit.

We pick back up some time later, with me still sitting in the office, and Mr. D████ walking in on me being there.

Understandably, he asked what I was doing in there – which snapped me out of my daze.

I had been seated in a chair placed right in front of his desk, gripping on a teddy bear that had been placed on his desk, ████, I think his name is, with such force that it could probably kill if the guy was still human. 

After recollecting myself, I had managed to explain what had happened with S████, and gave out my request to go to Hyper City on my own to confront Doctor Erian. 

I was approved for February 9th. “Don’t kill the guy”, I was told.

No promises.

–

The following is an email correspondence between Doctor Theodore H. Erian and Doctor Mirai Fortune.

To: Dr. Mirai Fortune

From: Dr. Theodore H. Erian

Subject: Follow Up on “Notes on Animal HRT”

Good afternoon Doctor Fortune. 

Or whatever time of day it is for you where you are. 

I have finally gotten around to reading through the PDF file you sent to me, and I must say, first and foremost, that I apologize for brushing off both our face-to-face meeting in my office some months ago and your first few emails as baseless fear mongering. It seems I have no reason to regret turning Miss Holmes away after all.

That is, I assume the person described as seeking Cat HRT in these notes is her, right?

I ask because while I am not sure if you are aware of this, parts of the file are redacted. Specifically, all names mentioned in the text aside from my own. 

I personally find this quite troubling, as I believe that having as much information on this group of people is priority here, especially when it seems that the writer of the notes, who I only know currently as “L” due to the redactions, threatens to harm me.

Dr. T. H. Erian

To: Doctor Theodore H. Erian

From: Doctor Mirai Fortune

Subject: PDF Error

Hello, Doctor Erian.

The redaction on some parts of the PDF I sent you is not intended, and the fact that it is there is something that deeply troubles me. I apologize for whatever confusion it may have caused. I really thought my assistant had successfully decrypted the encryption put on the document.

You see, Doctor Erian, the people that we are dealing with are very committed to their secrecy. 

But the two of us will continue to work on this matter, and will send you the decrypted files as soon as we can.

Thank you for informing me of this matter.

And by the way, yes. The apparent “S” mentioned in the files is Serena Holmes. I appreciate you taking my advice to refuse her treatment.

I understand you may see it as cruel to deny a patient on such grounds, but I promise you that she is not nearly as innocent as she seems.

None of these people are.

Again, thank you for working with us to ensure the safety and sanctity of humanity across the dimensions.

Mirai 

To: Doctor Mirai Fortune

From: Doctor Theodore H. Erian

Subject: Response To: “PDF Error”

Good morning Doctor Fortune,

I understand that the redactions were made in error, but can I at the very least have the name of the person who wrote these notes? Again, it seems that they intend to hurt me, and I would like to have the necessary information to keep them out of my office. 

By the way, shortly after you left that picture of Miss Holmes at my desk, I tried asking a friend of mine that is more familiar with other dimensions and supernatural things about that symbol that was on the back of the photo. Unfortunately, the two of us got a bit… distracted talking about something else that was going on at the time, so I was not able to get an answer from her. 

Could you tell me what it is? Thank you in advance.

Dr. T. H. Erian

To: Doctor Theodore H. Erian

From: Doctor Mirai Fortune

Subject: Names and Symbols

Hello Doctor Erian.

The symbol on the back of the photo is the emblem of the organization Serena is a part of. Refuse service to all that wear it.

You will find that the name of these note’s author will be easy to find. Fortunately, it seems the title of the document itself was successfully decrypted by my assistant in the copy you have. 

What is the name of this “friend” you speak of? Is she an assistant of yours? 

Mirai

To: Doctor Mirai Fortune

From: Doctor Theodore H. Erian

Subject: Assistant

Good evening, Doctor Fortune,

The name of my friend is Iris – she calls herself “Iris the Dark Witch”. I suppose you could call her an “assistant” in a sense, as she is the one I worked with to develop Animal HRT (Humanity Removal Therapy), in the first place. 

I’ll forward her this email chain to see if I can get her opinion on all this. 

Aside from that, I must admit I am not fond of your vagueness when it comes to the author’s name. Again, I ask, what is their name?

Dr. T. H. Erian

To: Doctor Theodore H. Erian

From: Doctor Mirai Fortune

Subject: [N/A]

Hello Doctor Erian.

If it does not come to you now, then it will when he shows up in your office.

I trust you to act accordingly.

If he asks to have you view anything on his computer, refuse immediately.

Mirai 

[misteria247]

Been thinking more on this au and I'm gonna put my thoughts here till I can post them to Tumblr later. Also heads up there's murder and death please proceed with caution.

Okay backstories.

Pacifica's backstory as I stated last night was she was abandoned by her biological parents and was taken in by Fidds and Abbey. Thus this began her path towards her current position in crime.

For Fidds his backstory is he was actually an assassin at one point in his lifetime. The path that set him on this was the tragic murder of his wife and son. Due to his intellect making him climb up in the world, rival investors had hired ironically enough assassins to hit his family. Hoping that the grief would cripple him.

They were wrong.

Instead he set his sights on them, furious and grief stricken and when the police failed to do their job he took it upon himself to track them down and quite literally made them disappear off the face of the Earth. Kicking starting his career in crimes. He'd meet Bill on one of his assassin assessments and reluctantly joined him. He's the first member that joined.

For Abigale it was because she'd snapped. She's a brilliant inventor and chemist, and Abigale wanted to do something to change the world. However her father was against this, instead setting her up for marriage to a complete stranger. It was the constant complaints and ridicule and disregard for her that made her snap. Abigale would end up setting her family home aflame with the man who was her father inside. After that she was a drifter, committing theft and arson for money and never being caught. It was because of this skill Bill had sought her out and recruited her.

Bill's backstory is.....more romantically tragic.

Bill first came to Earth to essentially explore the dimension. Bored but curious for something interesting. He'd find that interest in a man named Stanford Pines. Stanford was a young detective in training back then, brilliant and surprising and Bill unknowingly fell in love with him. And because of this Bill wanted to combine his realm with Ford's. It didn't end well.

The portal that Bill had persuaded Ford into helping build had been incomplete, and as a result Bill was actually injured in the fallout. Both emotionally when they were screaming and fighting one another from the betrayal and heartbreak, but also physically. Bill was left with a horrifying scar. A crack in his body. And to top it off he was stranded on Earth. Unable to return home and with limited powers to boot. The effects of using them too much actually hurting him. It was this that forced Bill to wander, angry and betrayed by Ford and it's during this that he decided to start his group. Using the knowledge on the justice system Ford had taught him to his advantage. Basically him acquiring the others was just him seeing that they too were betrayed by the world as well as incredibly skilled to help his crime ring begin.

[yunarim]

╰┈➤ summary : you and your reliable partner grim are the most famous interdimensional travelers under the Official Isekai Association. you're used to traveling into psychological thrillers and horrors. however, this time something goes wrong, and you suddenly turn into the protagonist of… an otome game?!

— characters : jade leech, leona kingscholar | kalim al-asim, azul ashengrotto | lilia vanrouge, idia shroud

⌞tags⌝ : gn reader, fluff at times, occasional angst, typical manhwas tropes, mention of a typical isekai manhwa death by truck hit... yeah, you go from the first route to the last (from jade to idia), hence the parts are connected — w.c. : 4.6k+

⌞notes⌝ : i've been reading too much isekai mangas/manhwas lately and here we go lmao. also forgive me for not writing for so long, i've been experiencing a huge burnout ;; i originally intended to write for dorm leaders but then gave it a second thought and came up with another plan hhhhhh i hope i'll manage to finish other chapters on time but pls be patient with me, i'm preoccupied with too much work lately 😭😭

You sigh and stretch out your hand, looking at it while lying on the bed, and wonder, how in the dimension did you manage to land in an otome game realm. You heard your colleagues complaining how annoying those can be, not to mention many of you forgot about romantic relationships long long ago—when you probably got hit by a truck in your original world?—and to think you somehow appeared in a world which didn’t belong to your department. 

Your specialization was horror and psychological thriller stories, and even if you possess no magic (which is strange, given after transmigrating for so many times, you don’t remember getting magic abilities at least for once, but whatever), you’ve got an excellent, strategic mastermind. And if something dangerous happens, you have your partner and friend, Grim.

“It’s been a while since we’ve isekaed into a high school setting,” you say to yourself, system windows appearing before your eyes. 

“Main goal: TO GET A HAPPY ENDING WITH *name*!!”

Ah really…

You set a reminder and throw a quick glance at already fallen asleep Grim before going to sleep yourself. If you can’t escape the world until you complete it, then so be it.

“Event: TO BECOME A SCHOOL COUNCIL PRESIDENT: success!!”

One mention of a school student council you’ve encountered in many worlds (though possessing not really sweet memories of dealing with many psychological intrigues and schemes), and the local headmaster named Crowley happened to be fairly overjoyed and excited to proclaim you as a council’s president, much to everyone’s indifference chagrin. 

You were quite surprised to realize that the school that large didn’t invent such a common structure. On the second note, it was easy for you to operate and deal with information provided through leading the council. Much to your chagrin this time, you needed to pick a route to escape this world.

It was an otome game. You couldn’t care less at first, assuming you and Grim landed in another horror, however a fantasy atmosphere lingering everywhere made you two slightly confused. And the conclusion was made right after you saw heart-shaped indicators above six people’s heads. 

“Do you remember what our colleagues told us about otome games?..” You asked Grim, sitting in the auditorium that Crowley assigned as the Council’s room. 

“Nah,” Grim yawned. “Not my field.”

“As if it’s mine,” you frowned. “What, not even MC’s words? She ended up transmigrating into a closed apartament and had only 11 days to get an ending…”

“Come to think of it, we have 11 days till the festival.”

You raised your head, turning to the voice’s source, and slightly parted your lips. 

“Jade,” you said, standing up. “Good afternoon.”

Jade Leech, to be more precise. You’ve scanned through his profile when you first interacted with him two weeks ago when you ended up transmigrating here in Twisted Wonderland. As expected of a fantasy world, he wasn’t a normal human being, but belonged to merfolk. You don’t remember having much experience with them, and maybe picking him as your first route wasn’t exactly your best choice.

“Good luck on surviving the event,” Grim said, jumping off the chair he was sitting on, and headed to the exit.

“Ah,” Jade’s feigned surprise made you blink at him questionably. “How unfortunate, you’re supposed to help us with the preparations, Grim-san.”

You saw a system window popping up above your head as a reminder of not forgetting your main goal, and sighed.

“Not this kind of event he meant…” You mumbled, knowing exactly well that Jade heard you. 

“How about we discuss the budget, Yuu-san?” Leech took a seat beside you, to which you nodded. 

Appointed as a council’s treasurer, Jade actually managed his sources with an outstanding performance. Since you had no experience in entering otome realms, it was quite hard for you to predict what was going to happen next. Your fellow transmigrators you barely saw in the interdimensional space used to exchange their thoughts on their journeys before traveling to the next world, and somehow you, who witnessed a ton of horror stories, possessed psyche of a solidity, while otome novels and games travelers happened to be constantly overworked and heavily damaged in terms of their minds.

You never asked why. They’ve mentioned the necessity to go through an endless amount of routes and paths, to make people fall in love with them, and then leave them behind in their worlds. You also heard the system was erasing their memories, so they would live happily after experiencing love and joy of being loved, but the system never really cared about the travelers themselves. 

The department you were assigned to provided you with a psychotherapists’ help if needed after coming back to the office, so you would heal after experiencing terrible things and emotional drainings, but your and Grim’s emotional state has never reached the point of damaged position. 

Some of your colleagues even stated that you were emotionless and—

“Yuu-san?” you found Jade leaning closer to you, his face showing slight hints of a false worry made of politeness. “Is everything alright?”

“Yes, I am sorry. Let’s continue.”

“I’ll be honest with you,” Leech stood up and came to the bar counter of the Mostro Lounge you’ve been occupying for the council discussions regarding the upcoming festival. 

“You don’t seem like the type to be honest with people,” you let the conclusion slip of your tongue before meeting his gaze you couldn’t decipher. 

“Then would you like to consider this an observation? A remark of sorts.”

“Alright then.”

“Sometimes it’s quite peculiar how you’re so composed and calm for a magicless person who got here in a school of magic,” a majestic coffee aroma filled the room. “Not to mention we’re fairly… uncommon individuals here.”

“You seem quite normal to me,” you answer emotionlessly, closing your eyes. “But you can say my opinion of what ‘normal’ is may differ from others. Yours, too.”

“Then I would be really willing to know how exactly.”

His voice suddenly appeared really close to your ear, but you didn't even raise an eyebrow, accepting a coffee cup from his elegant hands and looked at him.

Normally you wouldn’t want to have people interfering in your business, but a heart-shaped vitreous icon with a pink liquid in it made you widen your eyes in surprise. 

There was no liquid in it before. 

Now that you think about it, yes, your colleagues said there were indicators showing your progress, and apparently you really made it further, somehow managing to get Jade interested in you more than he was. 

“You’ve seemed to be spacing out a lot lately, Yuu-san.”

“Now that the festival is almost here, I guess I’m slightly nervous.”

“You don’t seem to be the type to get nervous so easily.”

You suddenly chuckle with a light grin on your face at his reversed pun and sip a coffee he brewed.

“It’s brilliant,” you compliment his work, staring straight at his mismatched eyes and seeing something in there. “May I ask you to brew this exclusively for me when the festival comes? In order to celebrate our successful and thoughtful work.”

“It would be my greatest pleasure.”

You had no idea about how romance works, but you did know you needed to get on Jade’s route as quickly as you could and come back to the office immediately. You wanted to get the detailed information about how you ended up transmigrating into an otome game, so now, sitting in the library and reading mycology books, you hoped to find something useful.

“Aha!” You exclaimed, summoning your transmigrator’s interface and taking a screenshot of a book page containing a mushroom’s drawing. “This is it!”

A mushroom which could be served as a component of a firework supplement, making it iridescent in rainbow colors right in the sky, which also was overflowing when put in soil. You found yourself smiling at the thought of Jade’s reaction, and headed to the mountain near the school.

Unfortunately, you’ve spent all the transmigrator currency you’ve earned during the previous isekai on preparations to the festival, thus you couldn’t afford any equipment for climbing. Well, even if something happens, you still have the system to save your progress, so you could reload and try again. Thinking about the demerits you could get for being not careful and damaging your body made you cringe, though.

You've reached the mountain, and a deep dark forest loomed before your eyes, a cold and moistened fog made you shiver in displeasure. How unfortunate that such a beautiful colorful mushroom grew in such an obscure place.

You made your way further, checking the map with the system tools, and took one more step to darkness. A small iridescent light on the ground made you rash towards it, and you grabbed the mushroom you were looking for.

“Here you are!” You smiled, grabbing more of them, but…

A sudden feeling of ground slipping under your feet made you scream in horror and turn off all the system signs, alerting you about the danger you’ve encountered. 

Who knew there was a cliff?! 

You tried to grab onto the branches of the occasionally falling trees to slow down your uncontrolled flight, but they were more likely to do more harm than good. You somehow felt someone’s gaze on you, but there was no time to think it thoroughly. You were ready to collapse on the damp ground, but a sudden prehensile grip prevented your fall, and you opened your eyes in a daze.

“Are you alright?!”

You could promise a genuine—this time—worry slid over Jade’s confused face, but he quickly tried to regain his composure. You took a look at his grip and wondered if he’s going to let you go, but at your gaze he instead tightened it, holding you even closer.

“What were you thinking, going to the forest unequipped…”

“Don’t worry,” you’ve tried reassuring him, but receiving only a frown. “I would have survived.”

“Falling from this height?” He asked, his voice raising slightly. 

“”... I believe you’re not the type to worry about others,” you mumble.

“What made you think I was worried?” He chuckled, still not letting you go. “Would have been troublesome if you died on the school grounds.” 

“No,” you answered with a suspicious calmness you’d better hide. “You’re worried. Your pupils tremble.” 

“... Let this be at least in theory,” he sighed. “But what made you come here?”

“Oh,” you sigh and finally unclench your scratched fists and hand over only one mushroom you’ve managed to preserve. “Here. I wanted to give you this mushroom. It’s iridescent and can be used for— Huh?”

Jade chuckled, looking into the sky which suddenly shone pretty bright with glimmering stars, and sighed heavily, finally letting you go of his grip, but holding your shoulders nevertheless, obviously scared of you falling. 

“So you did this for me.”

“Yes, I did, but what… Ah.”

You looked up at his head where the heart icon was, seeing the liquid feeling almost to the top, and gasped. 

So he was genuinely worried.

“It seems you’ve realized something,” he said, fixing a strand of your hair and smiling rather wearily. “I’ve never thought you’re the type to risk your life for getting gifts, Yuu-san. Especially for me, given how actually twisted I am.”

You found yourself giggling softly at his remark.

“I’m the twisted type myself. I believe.”

When the festival came, you thought you wouldn't be able to see Jade due to how busy you two were.

He was busy with calculations, and also constantly disappeared in the kitchen due to the insufficient number of workers, but somehow everything went smoothly.

You were greeting the guests by showing them the area and were up all day long actually dreaming of laying down, while Grim helped with the special effects on stage spraying his blue flames along with the rest of the guys.

Finally, it was time for the fireworks show, and you, making sure everything was under control and the visitors were enjoying the show, went to the roof of the school, dreaming of relaxing on the bench alone.

Being in an otome was tiring you out more than you thought it would, and you laughed at how you presumed you would just allure the love interests and get back home. 

You grew to genuinely like Jade maybe not as a love interest, but maybe even someone closer than a character of another world. 

“Resting here all alone?” 

A familiar voice was heard, but you didn’t dare to look, continuing keeping your gaze fixed on the night sky, knowing exactly well who came.

“Ashengrotto has finally freed you from the kitchen?”

“You could say so, even though Leona-san asked for an extra meat dish I’ve created yesterday…”

“Is that so…” You smiled as Jade sat right next to you, lying on the bench. “The fireworks show is going to start soon, right?”

“Not just soon,” he chuckled. “Right now.”

There were loud bangs just after a thin thread of light pierced the night sky and burst into a bouquet of multicolored lights that shimmered in rainbow colors right under the stars, and you released a smile from your lips, surprised at your sincere joy.

“It’s beautiful.”

Jade silently watched the show with you and then bent over your face, covering the view of a clear night sky when the show was over. An unfamiliar expression on his face made you blink in surprise. 

“It is beautiful, indeed.”

“Somehow I feel you’re not talking about fireworks?..” You questioned, chuckling, and gasped the second after.

The heart icon was fully filled, a bright pink light radiating from it and covering Jade’s cheeks with a slight pink hue. Or wasn’t it an icon?..

“You know, Yuu-san,” Jade smiled. “You were right when you said I’m not the honest type, but right at this moment, let me tell you something.”

“I’m all ears.”

“Thank you for your beautiful gift,” he said. “I’ll treasure it. And also… you.”

You couldn’t bring yourself to say something, stretching your hand and touching his cheek, cold because of a night breeze and maybe just because he was always naturally like that, and dared to cover his eyes with your hand. 

“Thank you for appearing in my life. I’ll treasure you too.”

And with that his soft chuckle dissolved in a bright light and system notifications, congratulating you with getting a happy ending.

Happy ending, starting again in your room with a piercing pain in your heart.

“Ah…” You said, seeing Grim sleep peacefully next to you. “So that is why they said otome games are hard to escape.”

Shit, you thought, waking up the next morning. 

You came to the conclusion that it wasn’t really necessary for you to fall in love with the love interest (it was enough just to open up to him?), and weren’t sure if Jade really grew to like you. 

But you definitely came to a realization that it was painful to see him in the hall, talking to his brother and noticing you, nodding in a greeting way with a familiar feigned politeness, a glimpse of warmth, which appeared in your previous walkthrough, was no longer lingering underneath his eyes. 

You found yourself wanting to taste a coffee he brewed for you exclusively, but he was no longer here by your side, his profile image became gray, and a ‘COMPLETED’ line appeared in capital letters in the system interface. 

Was that it? All the feelings both of you developed turned into a finished story without any chance for rereading it? Otome games were unfair. But transmigrating still was your main job you couldn’t decline, and even in thrillers and horrors you used to enter so often there were people who you genuinely liked and treasured.

Still, you knew that once the story ended, you got back into the office and traveled to another world, then another, and another, and… There was no point in developing feelings anymore.

You chuckled to yourself when Jade passed through you, and raised your head, meeting someone else’s intense gaze.

Leona Kingscholar. The system made a melodious sound, letting you know about your next ‘target’. You quickly checked his profile, appearing right before standing in front of you Leona, and wondered, what type of a character he would be. 

Slightly older than his classmates, and he also belonged to royalty, how very interesting. You closed the system interface with a snap of fingers and greeted your next… target.

“Good morning. May I help you… Eh?”

Leona approached you, his face suddenly extremely close to yours, and sniffed your neck, then clavicles and stared at your eyes, allowing you to notice how beautifully the emeralds of his were shining.

“What a strange smell.”

“Excuse me, I took a shower in the morning.”

“Not that,” Leona sighed, a heart above his head being absolutely empty and transparent. “The smell, not of magic, but similar. Also like that fish guy.”

“Fish guy?..”

He was probably speaking about Jade, but how in the world did he manage to sniff that?! Your eyes widened in shock for a brief moment. 

“If you’re talking about Ja… Leech, then maybe it’s because hu just was there.”

“Whatever,” Leona shrugged, sniffing you once more, to which you attempted to distant yourself. “There’s also a dirt smell. And also raining, alcohol, hospital… A blood? What the hell, herbivore?”

Now this wasn’t funny at all. The last world you’ve transmigrated into was centered around a story about doctors, crimes and, well, the usual horror stuff you had to deal with, and how did Leona manage to casually sniff it on you like that?

Naturally, you wanted to get rid of any suspicions and shrug it off, but you also needed to get him on your side and find a way to reach a happy ending with him. A slight fearful thought of collecting people’s hearts like some sort of a hobby slid through your mind, making you nauseous, but you swallowed the feeling and forced a cheeky smile.

“Care to figure it out?”

Leona looked at you with an unreadable emotion and made his way to the exit, leaving you all confused.

“It’s not my business, herbivore. But do something about this smell, it’s disgusting, Savanaclaw students are really sensitive to the smell this strong.”

“As if I can just wash it away…” You mumbled to yourself, following Leona’s distancing figure with your gaze and parting your lips in a surprise way when noticing a little amount of pink liquid in the heart above his head.

So you did pique his interest, after all.

The progress with Leona’s route was incredibly slow and strange. You took the sequence the system suggested automatically, providing you with calculations regarding the difficulty on each walkthrough, and at first you blinked questionably at Leona’s one, seeing only 40%, since now you’ve been feeling all 100%. 

He wasn’t hard to find — the botanical garden was his second alma mater, and yet when his words he said to you the first day of his route lingered in your mind, ‘It’s not my business’ line repeating in your head like an annoying pop song, you almost thought that it really was not his problem at all, as if he totally didn’t care.

You almost convinced yourself, but small steps you took towards him also helped you in discovering concealed aspects of his character.

At first you visited the botanical garden just out of a habit you’ve managed to form in other isekais, and ended up finding Leona there without fail every time. At first you were silent, observing him and his unwavering composure—you thought of that as indifference—but not so long after you took the first attempt to start a casual conversation.

“Leona,” you once said, seeing him sleeping under the tree and knowing he heard you talking. “Do I still, uhm, reek?..”

“I sense the strong smell of that fish guy.” 

How in the world did Jade’s lingering scent still remain on you?

“And also that bat.”

“Bat?” You asked, wondering who he meant. 

“Lilia Vanrouge.”

You knitted your brows together at his reply. You saw Vanrouge only once, right before Leona came into the garden one day, and briefly talked to him. Lilia was also listed among your potential ‘love interests’, but a 100% difficulty level was confusing to you, and the one talk you had did really confirm that he’s going to be a tough character to deal with. To make him fall in love with?..

“I see… I wonder how it works for you beastmen, your sense of smell.”

“Like a second skin,” Leona opened one eye and glanced your way. “I don’t get how you humans live with such a short range of smell.”

“I think that’s only about you,” you suddenly said, meeting Leona’s gaze. “No one from Savanaclaw other than you mentioned what I smell like.” 

A short pause stretched between you two, but somehow you didn’t find it unpleasant, more like relaxing and thoughtful. Kingscholar chuckled, tapping on the spot beside him with his tail and attracting your attention.

“Yes?”

“Come here.”

You did as he said, wondering what was that about, and ended up being held in his arms. He sniffed you once again, but with more care and politeness than he did the first time, while you couldn’t tear away your fixated gaze on his bright focused eyes.

“Those strange scents are still on you. What kind of life did you live before getting here, herbivore…”

“And you said it’s not your business, huh,” you grinned and gasped the second after he suddenly laid on your lap. “Hey!”

“It’s still not my business though.” He answered, closing his eyes and resting comfortably. “But don’t get near other Savanaclaws. It’s really a disgusting smell.”

“Which is why you’re on my lap, am I being correct?” You chuckled. “Still, I don’t think others have the audacity to come near me. Or such a strong sense of smell like you do. You’re impressive, Leona.”

For a moment you thought he stopped breathing, but then heard a bitter laugh coming from his lips.

“One day you’ll take your words back.”

Till today you really wondered what he meant by that, seeing no particular reason to actually question his skills. Even despite his poor attendance and self-deprecating lines, he really was an amazing, outstandingly clever person you really did want to get to know more.

And today an occasion came up, when you visited the botanical garden again, now it was more out of a habit, and found Leona with the first-year students you didn’t know, challenging him in chess. 

“Good afternoon everyone,” you greeted them, hearing excited ‘hello’ from other students and receiving a light nod from Leona. “What are you doing?”

“Miserably failing to win Kingscholar-senpai in a chess match,” one of the students answered. “No one has succeeded yet…”

“Check and mate,” Leona announced, when the first year he played cried out of indignation. 

“How are you so talented in chess, Kingscholar-senpai!!..”

“Hmph,” Leona chuckled, but you somehow knew somewhere underneath his ever-so-mighty persona he was genuinely happy to receive those compliments. “Right, herbivore. Come play with me while I’m in the mood.”

You tilted your head, thinking beforehand. You couldn’t remember the last time you played, but possessing a naturally inquisitive and quick-witted mind due to your job, you nodded, taking a seat in front of him.

The match was silent, and if at first you heard first years hitched breaths, during the second hour passing of the match, even those students left, leaving a silence lingering between you two. 

“I really admire you, Leona,” you dared to break the silence, seeing Leona’s hand holding a chess piece stop for a second. 

“Flattery will take you to nowhere,” he replied, performing an en passant of your pawn, to which you pouted. “Huh, you can be cute sometimes.”

“And you can be sweet, I see,” you flirted back. “But… I’m sorry. Checkmate, Leona.”

Two knights endgame, huh. 

Leona was staring at the chess board for a fairly concerning amount of time before bursting into laughs. 

“W-what’s wrong?..”

“Remember I said you’ll take your words back?” He raised his gaze to meet yours. “Take it now. Tell me I’m not impressive anymore now that you’ve outsmarted me.”

You raised an eyebrow at him, feeling annoyed.

“What are you saying.”

“I can’t believe it, huh,” he laughed again. “You, a magicless human, out of people… Hah! What a ridiculously clever herbivore you are. It pisses me off.”

“You know what? Shut up.”

You grabbed his shirt, seeing his absolutely unimpressed expression, and clenched your fists with even more force than you thought you would, and pressed your forehead to his, chess pieces scattering around the table. 

“Even when you have no one to believe in your abilities, even you yourself doubt them…” You took a deep breath. “I myself will be that one person who will believe in you AND believe you.”

You heard a splash, realizing it was the liquid in the heart above his head filling half of it, and then a genuine laughter came from Leona’s chest.

“You’re insane, herbivore.”

You really were insane, indeed. 

To the point you couldn’t even take a quick look at Leona in the past week due to him being anywhere but near you, which annoyed you for sure. You had a whole month planned for you two to spend together in case his route appeared too difficult to reach an ending, so many things to witness, but instead…

Instead you managed to meet Jade thrice or even more, then stumble upon Lilia ‘ku-fu-fu’-ing at you cheerfully and mysteriously, and all those were driving you crazy slowly. You wanted to have a chat with Jade who portrayed no such interest you used to witness in his route, much to your dismay, but you also wanted to finally find Leona and genuinely get to know him more.

“Oh, Yuu-san.”

You were resting at the school yard, students walking here and there, chatting and playing, and you saw Jade approaching you, nodding to him.

“Good afternoon.”

“Oya, isn’t it Yuu?”

… Jade and Lilia. And no signs of Leona or whatsoever. You blinked at them, trying to conceal your honest feelings, and listened to them talking.

“It’s rare to see you all alone,” Jade noticed. 

“Indeed, you could be often seen in Leona’s company. Did you two have a quarrel?”

“We…” Despite how much you wanted to protest, you weren’t sure anymore. 

“We have not.”

A sudden warmth spreading in your chest and a heart pounding faster than it was made you turn to Leona, who appeared behind your back, and you smiled at him.

“Herbivore,” he called you, shoving his nose into the crook of your neck and making you giggle. “One week of me being busy, and you already have such a strong scent of those two. How come?”

“Look who’s talking.”

“My my, do you have a problem with us?” Lilia obviously tried to tease Leona, but the last one suddenly fell silent.

“Leona?..”

“Yeah, I have one.”

His arms enveloping you made you yelp softly, and an unfamiliar burning on your cheeks made you bite your lips and stare at Leona’s cheeky expression.

“I liked it more when you had an aroma of garden’s flowers on you more. And also…”

A kiss he pressed on your lips was bright, passionate, also confusing to everyone else, and very much awaited by you. 

“That way I don’t need to worry anymore. Care for another game of chess, herbivore?”

You smiled at him, wanting to reply instantly, but the heart icon above filled to its max, and splashing beats of bright light covered your watering eyes. 

“Yes, let’s play one more time, Leona!..”

You… 

You really were growing to hate otome games to your very heart.

© yunarim 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝. 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭, 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲, 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐲, 𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧.

[boots-with-the-fur-club]

Chapter 3 of No Fun in Fungus!

@daboyau

@theawesomeninja-xd

@nights-flying-fox

@phoebepheebsphibs

Leo chokes and wheezes on the yellow cloud that infiltrates his lungs. There’s a dull ache in his plastron. It could be from his old injuries, but he was well aware of a possible other cause for the sensation.

Asthma.

Leo would experience most attacks after getting upper respiratory infections, which he had a lot when he was younger.

It was nothing compared to what Donnie went through though.

His immune system sucked and the cold sewer with polluted water did not help his case in the slightest.

More infections meant he needed an inhaler more times than Leo did.

He never asked Splinter how he got one that first time, but he always remembers the bloody bandage around his hand.

He also remembers the birthday he asked for his supply packs.

Dad sewed it together for him.

The contents of the pack changed a lot over the years, but there were three things that never did.

A pack of dinosaur bandaids for Mikey.

Raph’s epi pen.

Their inhaler.

Despite it being years since Donnie’s last attack, that inhaler was never going to missing.

Leo takes it out immediately. Donnie was right next to him before those things came, he couldn’t be far.

“Wretched little pest….”

The voice chills him down to his core.

It’s typically believed that there are several fs when it comes to reacting to fear.

The two most well known are fight or flight.

However, there’s also freeze and fawn.

Fawn would be when Mikey tells Raph he’s the best oldest brother in the world as he hides a broken teddy bear mug behind his back.

Freeze is when you spend an entire flight in an escape pod having a panic attack and can’t even move when you get back because you just left your brother to die.

How ironic is it that someone who can never stop talking can’t say a word when he’s truly terrified?

The face man, curled up in a ball like a pathetic-

Leo covers his ears.

Where were those thoughts coming from?

Were they even thoughts?

It sounded like someone was saying it directly to him.

He feels the immediate need to curl up, not move and hope that it makes it all go away.

Seeing the glowing red eye through the thick particles in the air only makes that feeling worse.

What is happening? How could he be here?

The clanging of metal on the ground in front of him seems to give him an a answer.

He doesn’t want to look at the item in front of him.

The ninpo created weapon he left in the prison dimension.

It should have stayed there, because if it’s here, then it let him come here too.

The laughter he hears nearly makes his heart stop.

“You thought you could escape me?”

Leo can’t stop the fearful tears pricking at his eyes, quietly mumbling no repeatedly.

“You allowed me to come back. As thanks, I’ll kill you last.”

Leo hates how the words he wants to say die in his throat.

“You can watch as I slaughter your siblings, as you took away mine!”

He can hear the sounds of metallic footsteps coming towards him.

Leo can almost see his life flashing before his eyes. It makes him wonder how this response to fear came about.

Why wasn’t he like Donnie who made those escape pods?

Why didn’t he use his skills like Mikey?

Why didn’t he fight like-…….

Raph.

That’s it.

If something truly scary was happening, it was Raph who protected him.

He could freeze up and Raph would be there to shield him from literally anything that would come his way.

Even if it was something impossible like giant freaking aliens with razor sharp tentacles.

Even if he hadn’t given him a good reason to want to protect him that day.

He was right next to him too before the spores came out.

Where was he now?

Leo wanted his big brother.

He screams out his name in fear as the mech that carries the main Kraang finally stands in front of him.

Just like that, Raph appears too.

Leo realizes he’s brought him right into danger and tries to warm him.

Raph kneels down and smiles at him widely.

“What’s the matter, Leo? Raph’s here, it’ll be okay.”

“D-Don’t you see him?”

“Everything is fine, Leo. I promise.”

Leo relaxes for a split second until blood splashes on his face.

Raph had been impaled where he almost had been before.

Leo’s throat begins to hurt, is he screaming again?

He can’t tell.

His face goes to the floor, body curling around himself and the inhaler still in his grip somehow.

The screaming from him is in fact happening, others could hear it even if he couldn’t.

Especially the real Raph.

After the spores had been sprayed and he couldn’t see his brothers, he thought he heard them further away.

He had no clue that the hallucinations could be auditory as well.

After rushing to where they might have been, the sounds got worse.

Donnie, Mikey, Leo, all begging for his help.

No matter where he went he couldn’t reach them.

“Guys! Where are you!?”

“Casey.”

Raph whips his head around.

“Leo?“ He swears he can hear Leo again.

“Listen to me. When I get to the other side, you close that door.”

Raph feels his stomach drop, bringing up his arm to confirm what the hallucinations are making him see and hear.

On his wrist is the device he couldn’t bring himself to wear ever again.

The one that let him hear Leo making a decision he never should have made.

The one that let him hear what that monster was doing to him.

He starts rushing back to the direction he previously left, hoping his brothers hadn’t moved.

The rushing becomes more urgent when he hears Leo scream his name.

He’s moving so fast he nearly trips over his own feet several times.

When he finally sees Leo, everything in front of him turns into a hell scape.

Leo is in front of him, bloodied, bruised, cracks on his plastron and shell, and looking absolutely terrified.

The Krang mech is standing over him.

Raph can’t be sure at all that this how it was in the prison dimension, maybe this was accurate or maybe it’s just how he imagined it was.

Just like he never mentioned what he saw, Leo always redirected what it was like in those moments before Mikey was able to save him.

All he knew is what he and everyone else heard.

Raph knows this is all fake, something to mess with his head.

That doesn’t make his guilt go away in the slightest.

He wasn’t there to stop him, protect him.

When Splinter made Leo leader Raph wasn’t upset or mad because he got replaced, he seriously could not care less who led who in terms of responsibility.

He was worried that it meant Leo would take the brunt of the hits, be the shield when that was supposed to be what Raph does.

Raph is huge, that’s obvious.

None of his brothers can ever tell how small they are to him. Not just in size, but….how can you forget that you used to hug them close because they were scared of the dark?

They run out of your arms and when that’s when you realize that there’s so many things way scarier than the dark.

You want to scoop them back up so they don’t run too far to keep close.

Leo had managed to go so far away.

The Krang mech hits Leo across the face, splattering blood on the floor.

He hears Leo scream bloody murderer, screams he wished never would come from any member of his family.

Raph feels something snap in his brain that is usually reserved just for his savage modes.

He powers up, creating a larger version of himself to clap its arms together. This forces the spores in the air to disburse and clears the area.

He then stares down the fake Krang and stomps it.

The hallucination loses its hold. When he lifts the foot back up there’s just the pole that Donnie gave Leo under it.

Leo flinches, slowly but shakily lifting up his head.

“N-No….not again….please….” He nearly whispers.

Raph reaches out to see if he was real.

Leo tears up heavily.

Raph can see the utter terror on his face.

“Let him go. Stop….stop doing this. He doesn’t deserve it! Why can’t you leave him alone….!?” Leo shouts hoarsely, his throat already rough.

Raph quickly stops with his other form, but

Leo suddenly stands up and grabs at his arms before he can say anything.

“Get off him! How dare you use his body for this!? Again!? Haven’t you done enough to him!? To me!?”

“Listen to me, it’s not real! Those spores are making us hallucinate.”

Leo’s eyes widen.

“It’s….fake….? I….I didn’t bring him back here? You’re….you’re not….?”

“I’m the real deal, I promise.”

Leo feels the adrenaline that kept him standing give out along with his legs.

Ralph keeps him steady, moving to pick him up.

“N-No….just….let me use your arm, please.”

“You’re not in good shape Leo…..I heard you screaming.”

Leo breathes shakily.

“I want to know I can still make myself move.”

Raph isn’t entirely sure he gets it, but there was no way he was going to deny him what he seemed to need because of that.

He nods and puts Leo’s arm around his own since his shoulder would be too up high to help.

“We need to find Donnie and Mikey.”

“Maybe you can explain everything as we walk….I am so lost right now.”

“Not anymore, Leo.”

Leo smiles faintly.

“I’m going to let that corny thing pass since I think we could both use that right now.”

Raph smiles back and walks with him.

When the spores had first erupted around them, Donnie felt his hand get grabbed.

He knew who it was by the texture of the hand right away.

Of course the size is another indicator, but Donnie focused a lot on how things feel.

Raph’s hand is rougher than everyone else’s, both because he often uses his fists and the fact he lifts weights which causes calluses.

Leo’s hand is the softest because of his use of gloves during their fights, and the incredibly long list of skin care products he owns.

Mikey’s hand usually has something else on it, chalk dust, or finger paint, or, one time, peanut butter, which made Donnie gag.

That’s the hand that pulled him away.

They moved fairly fast.

“Ugh, this smells like when we found that cheese dad was hoarding so it could age. Be careful Mikey, we could start hallucinating at any moment.” Donnie warns.

“Maybe if you could do more than spend your time on dumb inventions we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

Donnie rips his hand out of his grip.

“You’re not-!….Am I trying to say something to a hallucination? Great, now I’m a cliché.”

Saying that other part out loud was also pointless, he knows.

He was basically talking to himself right now.

Those stupid invasive mushrooms were trying to turn baseless thoughts into tangible visions.

What he doesn’t understand is how and why it happened this way.

If it followed the pattern of what Mikey and Raph saw, he would see something he’s supposedly scared of relating to the Krang.

However, feeling and hearing shouldn’t have been part of it.

Had it been that case, what he did to help Raph wouldn’t have worked.

Was it the amount of spores? Was there a certain set of rules he wasn’t aware of?

He missed some variable, this is exactly why he hates when he’s missing data.

Donnie turns around to try to get back to where he was taken from.

“I can’t believe you chose those jerks over me.”

He’s taken aback by the new voice but tries to remind himself that it means nothing.

“It’s always about what you want. She makes fun of me and you join up with her just for a jacket? Do I really man less to you than a jacket…..?”

“That is not how I feel! She knows that!”

“Maybe…..maybe Donnie thinks we’re too dumb to be his brothers. He wishes we were like him.”

What? Mikey again?

“Are you kidding? I bet he wishes he was an only child. Donnie never cares about what we’re doing, he just waits to talk about what he’s doing.”

No, Raph wouldn’t say that!

He turns, only to see Leo right in front of him.

“Stop it! I know you’re not real!”

“Thanks for the advice, Donnie.”

“I didn’t give you any!”

“Sure you did. Back when Ghost Bear showed up. “Leo, sacrifice yourself? Buy us some time?” Does that ring any bells?”

Donnie freezes.

“I-It was a joke.”

“How about when I was supposed to protect you because I sell the least amount of toys?”

“Obviously another joke!”

“No, Donnie. It pushed me to do what had to be done. I’ll do it as many times as I need to.”

Donnie grits his teeth.

“No! You won’t! I’ll stop you!”

“Stop me? How? With another gift disguised as a way to tell me you hate me?”

“It was a real gift! I thought it would help!”

The shock collar suddenly appears on Leo.

“It’s a real pain in the neck, Dontron.”

It shocks him, making him writhe and scream in pain.

Donnie can’t help but scream as well.

[cr33pz-mck3nna]

I'm rewriting Glitchtale with no prior knowledge of it(and it's good?)

Mmm okayyyyy guess it's time to explain my actions and why you shouldn't burn me at the fucking stake-(and why you may just wind up being able to say "I hate Glitchtale except this AU in particular"....atleast I hope-)

So to explain, man I shouldn't even call this a Glitchtale rewrite, because I'll be honest...I know absolutely nothing about Glitchtale except Pink bitch and how her potential was WASTED!!! I don't even know her name! So I pretty much took pinkie pie over here and the Glitchtale name and said FUCK YOU to every other aspect of Glitchtale. Be aware harsh criticism is unwanted, the tags "DLDR" and "DLDI" are there for a reason, if you're a bitch you and your comment are getting blocked and deleted as to not offend anyone or sway their opinions on my AU due to your UNWANTED HARSH OPINIONS. And now, if I have your attention, without further ado..

Your story starts at the end of their story. Another genocide route and this time Sans is loosing. Frisk prepared themself for the final blow and Sans for his demise before the child suddenly stopped. Frisk, closed-eyed small child Frisk, suddenly opened their eyes and Sans felt pure dread for the first time in his life. That's not Frisk.

Staring back into the inky void that are his eyes was a pair of glowing pink eyes, doesn't sound normal ik but even less normal when you clarify that they were COMPLETELY PINK!!! Not even a shred of another color is those strange eyes... And suddenly they smirk at him, a smirk that slowly turns into a wicked grin as they raise their left hand, the reset button appearing for a second before a finger snaps and-

!!!FATAL ERROR!!!

System restart

....

MOD DETECTED!!

Starting....

Glitchtale Prime(REWRITE AU!!!)

Glitchtale Prime REWRITE AU or simply Glitchtale Prime or GPR follows a young woman, a dimension hopper as it seems, and a glitch in the system, Elizabeth Beverley, whom no one not even Sans himself knows who she is, what she is or where she came from. And a strange entity called "The Dreamer", or as Liz refers to them, VOID.

By the actions of Liz taking control of Frisk as you just saw and resetting a new AU was born, one where Frisk does not exist at all and Liz is instead the main character. In this AU Liz is a strange human, seemingly connected to the Ink and Error Sanses, who is possessed(?) by a virus-like entity of the sorts which is VOID and the two are accompanied in their travels by none other than Flowey who got his shit wrecked and now kisses ass bcs he's low-key terrified of Liz.

Liz's relationship with VOID is inspired alot by Cynessa(Murder Drones) while Liz's relationship with Flowey is inspired by the relationship between The Traveller and Paimon(Genshin Impact).

GPR takes place further into the Undertale timeline then most other AUs as Liz, having taken the place of Frisk, waited until she was a strong enough adult before falling down a fucking hole-

GPR is a prequel of sorts to a bigger project of mine, one that may very well never happen due to the sheer size, something I like to call Underverse Prime and so if anything comes of GPR just be aware that parts of Liz's backstory may change or not make sense until the story of her relative is told in UVPrime Act 1.

If you enjoyed this then please consider supporting as it will take much motivation for anything to come about this. And if you do like it let me know if I should start a separate blog for Undertale and specifically my AUs. Also one final note, considering GPR and UVPrime, proshippers can fuck off but shippers are very welcome, I'm quite curious to see what comes from any fanbase that may come from GPR or UVPrime!

Happy new year my lovely little gremlins! -Creepz

[thenomadclan]

I would like to start a challenge to my Godzilla/Kaiju loving fans!

I’d like to start something of a trend similar to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. My challenge is for others to create Kaiju-Sona for the coming release of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Movie!

I’ll go first, introducing Nomad Gojira! (Drawn up by good friend @black-suns-rim )

Nomad Gojira’s Lore:

In the emptiness of space, there was nothing but the stars and planets the filled the black void. That was till an partials of pollen belonging to a certain planet Kaiju streaked through the black abyss, shedding the partials and cells belonging to many creatures in their battle. Pollen particle cloud split into two separate clouds, one being sent into a nearby black hole while the other was orbiting the sun within the Milky Way. Eventually the cells in the pollen began to form, clumping piece by piece into a hard like rock. This egg creature would eventually “devour” and take the energy, the radiation and power of the sun till the star exploded, the rock would shot through cold space from the shockwave of the exploding sun. The the rock creature crystallized and was sent into another dimension via worm hole.

The crystal mass was sent flying through endless space till it entered a very familiar solar system, scorching past planet after planet till it reached the orbit of Earth. It was a fireball that nobody predicted as it screamed through the sky and crashed into the ocean, but it was so hot it burned through the ocean floor and went straight to the Hollow Earth. The crystals that incased the meter from space began to melt until all that was left was the rock, it was in the form of an egg. Soon it was found by a member of the Gojira species, a Kaiju named “Black Momba” ( @black-suns-rim OC) possibly one of the last of Titanus Gojiras (besides Godzilla himself) to walk the Earth. Black Momba has been around for a really long time, but she had laid dormant for most of her time living to save energy. Momba would usually only be awake for 2 reasons; eating and/or having children. She has had bad luck with raising young due to the other Kaijus in the Hollow Earth, so after a while, she had stoped trying.

Upon finding the rock egg, she could smell the familiarities of her kind on it but also others. The Titanus Gojira growled and was about to destroy the egg till it moved, the egg was hatching and glowing red. The outline of the creature inside had her curious, for once the egg finally hatched a dark red Gojira like creature bursted through letting out its first screech. Black Momba was…interested as she investigated further by taking in the scent and licking the hatchling clean. The child Gojira took its first steps on its wobbly legs, opening its eyes and setting its blurry vision on its surroundings till it came into focus.

The Child Gojira looked up at the monstrously huge Black Momba, giving gator like chirps which was met with growls and barks from the older Gojira. It lowered herself to the Gojira Child’s face, to which the red baby lizard gave its best bark and snarl as it butted heads with Black Momba’s snout. To say it was amusing would have been a understatement, so Black Momba would adopt the tiny Gojira (not like it would have changed anything since it followed her everywhere), she mothered and took care of the Gojira Child the best ways she could. However she only gave it tuff love, not out of hate or issue but to prepare the Child Gojira for the world it inhabits, where the strong feed on the weak.

The humans that surveyed in the Hollow Earth (Monarch) discovered the two Gojira, part of them felt fearful that there are now 3 walking City destroyers. However if they were similar to Godzilla, being a protector, then there’s a chance for humanity to survive the constant raids from outside forces. Monarch were highly interested in the red child Gojira, going so far to name it “Nomad” on the account of it roaming all over the Hollow Earth without Black Momba anywhere in sight. Nomad handled himself well against the monsters in his environment, from insects to mammals, but it was the crystals that formed where the dorsal fins were meant to be which interest Monarch as they formed in and around Nomad and Black Momba’s territory, crystals of various sizes were found forming like a castle.

Monarchs Scientists have discovered that due to the crystals on Nomad and around his den, they cause an electrical field disturbance that immediately shut down drones or cameras. Even when in fights, Nomad has a protective shield burrier to protect him from elemental attacks, not to even mention his electrical beam he shoots from his mouth. Almost like a surgical laser it cuts through flesh like butter, while having telepathic like powers using them in combat or to show off his intelligence by stacking rocks for unknown reasons. When Nomad is hit with elements such as electricity (he got struck by lightning once) it almost was as if it was a power up, becoming his own conductor while having regenerative abilities to rival Godzilla when injured.

One feature the scientists saw in action was Nomads crystallized spear tail, using it to catch / stab / or even kill his prey. Though not entirely built for Melee combat, it doesn’t stop the growing tank from doing so. His main form of attack is range and setting up crystals to disorient enemies and power himself up further. Just not too long ago, Nomad faced his first life threatening creature in the form of a swarm of blood thirsty bugs. They would drain Nomads energy almost to depletion, that was if it wasn’t for his crystals and quick thinking, sending out a shockwave of extreme energy equivalent to the sun.

Nomad destroyed almost the Hollow Earths forest, but the bugs were all gone, exploded from the over absorption of energy. Nomad would slowly form a crown on its head with every victory he won. Though Nomad never met Godzilla, Monarch would like to keep it that way for now having the two avoid each other. Nomad could be classified as a alpha Titan if grown properly and carefully, as Nomad grew older we no longer see him with Black Momba as often, if not alittle to not at all. She has completely gone off the radar as Nomad explores the Hollow Earth but not going anywhere near human settlements but did further expand his territory.

After 20 Years of silence later and absolute no activity from Nomad Gojira or Black Momba Gojira, Nomad would appear from the uncharted parts of the Hollow Earth (the central point of all Monsters to rest or live), brandishing a whole new appearance. The most noticeable features being his size shot down any predictions the scientists placed bets on, Nomad would stand a healthy height of 400 ft tall and judging from the weight plate that was built and hidden, he weighs a whopping 99,721 tons. Nomad Gojira just shyly beats Gojira that was know from the incident in Washington, America with Ghidorah by weight and height.

Nomad Gojira also supports a brand new attitude, while still keeping to himself or avoiding Monarch but when threatened or challenged, Nomad Gojira would gladly accept the challenge from other Kaijus once challenged. Nomad Gojira scarily has the brutality of the Godzilla we know, but also has the calmness or self awareness of what he’s doing and what could go wrong if the battle rages for too long. His many feats go from him clearing a infested cave of Rat Kaijus creatures that overwhelmed and almost ate him alive, to wrestling and fighting a Muto Prime. He brandished many scars from hard fought victories, with a whole new arsenal then a regular Gojira Kaiju.

Half of Monarch Scientist that studied Nomad Gojira in the Hollow Earth would chase him down and try to leave trackers, but Nomad seems all too smart for normal Kaiju tricks. Nomads Gojira grew new ability that evolved his electrical field around him having human machines being affected as if it was hit with a EMP. While studying the Kaiju the moment that many tried to avoid finally happened, Godzilla finally ran into Nomad. Naturally with the amount of battle scars and the scent of blood of other Kaijus on Nomad, Godzilla treated Nomad like a Alpha Titan who never submitted under his rule. This Godzilla Challenged Nomad, and in turn like text book behavior Nomad Accepted.

Immediately, the Hollow Earth shook from the battle, Godzilla swiping while Nomad Bashed his Crystal shoulders into Godzilla. The battle caused the scientists to retreat and seek refuge within Kongs Cave, but afar Godzilla and Nomad were going feral. The battle raged with both going into their primal like instincts, Godzilla and Nomad seemed evenly matched (but that could be due to them being the same species).

However with everything Godzilla threw, Nomad had a counter or defense. Nomad dragged, slammed, stabbed and tore into Godzilla till the old Gojira noticed a flaw. The crystals Nomad summoned, Godzilla then used Nomads own body to tackle and cause the crystals around them to crumble, Nomad slowly began losing his power. With what little energy Nomad had left, he used his spear like tail to stab into Godzillas stomach and pump his venom.

While Nomad thought he had won and tried to pull away, Godzilla quickly grabbed on and pulled Nomad towards him, yanking his tail to the point it came off causing Nomad to roar in pain. Nomad looked up to receive a headbutt and bite on the face, despite slashing and stabbing his Crystal shoulder into Godzilla. Nomad saw as Godzillas Stomach was healing but not from his healing factor, but from the venom, it was radioactive and causing Godzilla to heat up.

Nomad could take the heat, the force however that came with it, the nuclear pulse shattered Nomads crystals in the ground that powered him and the ones on his body. Sending Nomad into a large mountain, as he struggled to get up and heal his tail, looking through his one good eye that wasn’t scared on his face. Godzilla powered up a red atomic breath, he slightly missed from Nomad desperately summoning one more crystal to stab Godzilla in the foot, having Godzilla miss Nomad and hit the mountain on the ceiling of the hollow Earth. Causing most of the mountain and ceiling to fall and crush Nomad Gojira in rubble, burying him.

Godzilla would walk away the victorious….

Or so he thought, from under the grave like rubble. Once Godzilla left of course, it began to rumble and shake. However instead of anything coming up, underneath, a creature took what was there. A creature of pale white skin and pink like stripes took Nomad into a tunnel system of her design. Having him rest in her nest as she took care of him similar to how Mothra shared a symbiotic relationship with Godzilla, so did this creature. Though small, it did its best to heal the hurt Gojira and lit up the room with Nomads crystals she collected over the years as a warming source. To which even now with them, it was better to have the source of the heat keep the reptilian Kaiju warm. Nomad only groaned in pain as his G-Cells began to reconstruct and heal his gaping wounds or at least what could be healed. Nomad nuzzles closed to the creature he couldn’t yet see, but it was a familiar feeling one that he felt he knew. Though he couldn’t place it, he’d have to figure it out once he awakens from this coma like slumber. (OC by my girl @wolfsnowphoenix )

Monarch’s scientists managed to use the tunnels of the creature and encase them both in a hibernation like state, like they did with King Ghidorah and Lava Rodan. Until they need Nomad for possible help, they’ll release him since he proved himself of holding his own against Godzilla. Till then, Nomad would remain hidden and locked away with only a select few…the project of locked up Kaijus would be known as “Monarch: Pandoras Box.”

To Be Continued…

[evelhak]

I’m curious about a few: Propinquity, Anem and Bitchberg (a great name, lol)

Well, you've already read about Bitchberg by now from the previous ask. :D

Lol, I actually winced a little when I saw you asked about "Propinquity" since it's the current working title of my Akashi centric fic, and I know you don't find him that interesting. It's still just a bunch of "notes" (=bits of monologue and dialogue that come to me and I have to write down so I won't forget). I haven't actively started this fic yet, since I can't really write multiple projects at the same time. I will probably have to finish another shorter fic after The Luminous Things, before I get to this one.

I know the opening lines, though:

Winning is like breathing. Sometimes I wake up, gasping for air, but my lungs seem to have fallen into a partial state of paralysis.

Or something fairly close to that. The idea has been in my head for a long time, because I really enjoy digging up ignored dimensions that kind of naturally follow from whatever is going on in canon.

There is of course one thing in this fic that could interest you: The main love interest is an OC. :) You know some things about Azumi already. Here's a snippet that will probably serve as her introduction in the fic:

I absolutely pretended to be the empress of this micro-utopia, growing up. Not because it was mine to conquer, or control. Because it was mine to know. To pick apart. Explore, taste, and merge with. A little pocket of wonder in this huge city, a bubble with its own rules. That's what I came to realise pretty soon, anyway. About the world. How different, how illogical and ultimately unsatisfying it was, compared to my shrine, my home, my own ecosystem, my island of undisturbed ground. It frustrates me that the rest of the world doesn't know how to do it. Live and let live. Give and take. Circle of life. A system that works. Because I was born into it. An heir to it. Happiness.

Micro-utopias are a huge element in my whole fic series as it progresses, and there are several kinds of them, Azumi's home life being its own example. Utopia is generally something I'm really interested to write about, especially because a lot of people claim you can't write interesting utopia without making it dystopia in the end, and I very much disagree with that, as people are always imperfect, so you don't need to add any intentionally awful circumstances for a story to have conflict, if you're writing believable people. For me, the key to what makes the most out of utopia is to centre it around whose utopia it is and why. This got slightly off topic, these are just themes I really like exploring and since my fics are my playground, I definitely use them for exploration of things I might want to write later in a more polished form in my original fiction.

The working title "Propinquity" came while I was writing a chapter in The Luminous Things where Kagami ends up lost in Kyoto (it's complicated) and spends the night in Azumi's place, where he has many enlightening conversations with Akashi. (Azumi and Akashi are already together in my main fic timeline, their own fic will cover how they got together, among other things.)

Here's a snippet from the chapter also titled "Propinquity", which I haven't yet posted anywhere, so things might still change a little, but for now, Akashi muses something like this in it:

"[Propinquity] is the central theme of this shrine. Things develop, and change, and prosper in propinquity. It rings true, doesn’t it? Right things, wrong things… so it really matters what you surround yourself with. It’s not enough to know and think. You have to see, and taste, and touch… A plant wouldn’t grow from the understanding that it needs water, if it never got it. It would still die from poison, no matter how informed it was. Azumi knew all of this, so bone deep. That’s why she was disappointed with the world. That’s why she retreated back to her paradise. I think that’s what caught my attention at first. How she had a physical place to go to when she needed to get away."

I probably would not have developed any need to write a story about Akashi's love life on my own. (Well, it's not all there is to it, but it is a how-they-get-together type of story). It was the influence of my ex, who's a big Akashi fan, and as I have probably said before, Azumi was originally her OC that we worked on together a lot. Eventually I grew attached to Akashi and Azumi together, and now I have my own version of the story.

I don't think I actually read any Akashi x OC fics myself, but my ex read them and complained about them, usually, and I picked up on two pretty common patterns, which I didn't want to do: I didn't want the OC to be 1) poor, or 2) have a similar family dynamic and childhood trauma as Akashi. This is because I wasn't interested in dealing with the power imbalance that tends to come with very different socioeconomic standing, and I also didn't want to write a relationship where people get stuck in validating each other's trauma, and it takes them a long time to grow beyond that phase because their relationship is centred around how similar their experiences are. I wanted to hit that sweet spot which I like the most, a relationship that centres around growth, having enough common ground, and being inspired by things about the other that you've never experienced before, or even believed really exists in the world. The kind of relationship that makes you feel that you want to fill your own gaps, and a key factor in that is the proximity, or, propinquity to a person you can rely on, because they don't have the same weaknesses as you. I just really love writing about people who are good influences to each other.

A lot of this fic will also be about dissociation and trauma. Yay.

Anem, then, is another original novel I've started multiple times without being completely satisfied. The premise is pretty classic religious cult + good girl/bad girl dynamic, or at least would seem like that in the beginning.

Here's how I seem to have described it on my website at some point:

Dina is a good girl. She picks up flowers every morning, to put on the altar of her family’s home. She’s chaste, she’s beautiful. She fears God. Semira is a “Wild One”, she rarely goes to church, she speaks out of turn. She could be beautiful, if her hair wasn’t so short. Dina doesn’t think it’s her job to save Semira. After all, if the Fathers don’t know how to help the girl, how could she? But Dina keeps ending up spending time with Semira anyway, and the more she does, the stronger the big black swirling something grows in her stomach. There’s clearly something very wrong about Semira. And there’s something wrong about the woods surrounding their isolated village. Dina knows she’s supposed to stay away, but Semira keeps going into the woods.

It has a lot bigger world and anything but clear-cut themes and dynamics, even though it may seem like that in the beginning... and it's one of those early projects that are sort of everything, because you're not good at narrowing it down yet. It's like a dystopian supernatural medieval fantasy horror philosophical cult story I wrote just to barf out everything I was thinking in my early years of studying theology. It's certainly a cult story, but is the cult the big bad or the world around it? It's certainly a queer story, but is it a love story or a hate story? It's certainly trying to say something, but what? No one knows, not even me. It's a big mess.

I'm also starting to feel like I'm dealing with every element and theme I have in this story, in some other story too, and coincidentally someone from my writing group actually just got a book published this year that has a strikingly similar setting and themes, (we both wrote them without knowing about each other) and even though it shouldn't, it does kind of add to my confusion to what to do with this story. I do still want to write it at some point, but it's a big question mark that sort of just pops up from below the surface every time I'm not actively thinking or writing about another project.

Some angsty pictures of Dina, also drawn in my early university years (Oh Lord how obvious my Arina Tanemura influences still were in the way I draw):

Yeah... at least they are accurately dramatic to the story.

Thanks for the ask. I hope there was something entertaining. <3

For anyone curious, here's the WIP list.

[nokk0]

Ok this was supposed to be released like... Three months ago but... Ok, not gonna lie, i was lazy again

Anyway

Pythie Frederica is a cunning and clever woman from the Magic Faction. She is someone who can easily manipulate the people around her and is behind most of the incidents in her own Faction. At some point, Pythie ended up being arrested by Snow White after discovered her crimes. She dislikes the GSA current system and wants to find a "Hero" to reform it. Frederica will not hesitate to get rid of anyone who stands in her way or her goals. Regardless of whether she achieves victory or defeat, she’s a special one who can find joy in either. She is also quite fond of Snow White and thinks she is cute. Pythie vows to continue to nurture Snow White, as Frederica believed that she was the ideal "Hero" she was looking for

Frederica likes looking at elegantly dressed people because she believes her own outfit isn't elegant enough. Pythie's name is based after Pythia, an Oracle of Delphi in Greek mythology. Frederica can look into her crystal ball, and see the person that she want but for that she needs somethin' related to that person. She uses hair most of the time. In this state, the target cannot perceive her. Although she can only see one person at a time, it is possible for her to switch channels by wrapping different strands of hair around multiple fingers. Her magic does not work on the deceased

Putting her hand or body into the crystal ball allows her to interfere with the surroundings of her target. It is also possible to send objects from her side to the target, or in reverse. There is no restriction in the size of the object being sent, but Pythie has to be able to hold the object that she is transporting. Such implication works regardless of the distance between the subject and Pythie, or the dimension the subject is in. It is also noted that if the person she is reflecting dies, the crystal ball will turn black. She also can see the true nature of things through her Crystal ball. Her magical ability allows her to see the potential in other people, as well as being able to see their future, such as when she was able to foresee the death of one of her apprentices before it even happened

When Frederica uses her magic to the maximum during fights, enemy attacks will never be able to hit her

weaknesses:

★ Frederica cannot hear the words from the person she is looking through her Crystal ball. Due to this, she tries to observe her target to understand the situation and act accordingly

★ She loves hair very much and is obsessed with it, even valuing it more than food

Other facts:

★ After surviving the murderous game, Pythie Frederica becomes Snow White's mentor. Frederica believes that Snow White was the "Hero" she was looking for and helps her become stronger. She used to watch her from behind the scenes

★ Pythie was the one who came up with Snow White's nickname "The White Hunter" due to the hunter-type look in her eyes the first time they fought

★ Her current state is unknown

Original artwork by Maruino!!

[starscribes]

StarScribes Introduction

About Me

Star (she/her)

Married

Middle School Teacher

I have a lot of responsibilities and don't get much time to myself but when I do I spend that time watching TV, writing, reading, playing D&D, playing video games (the Sims 4), and spending casual time with my family

US located

I used to be @houndsofcorduff but then I disappeared and started a simblr blog and now it's time to get on writeblr again

Writing

Mostly fantasy of varying levels, although I have dabbled in science fiction (I like to watch sci-fi more than write it - that's where my name came from actually, the Stargate franchise)

My favorite author is Brandon Sanderson

No, I don't think I'll ever publish anything, just scribe vibing

I love worldbuilding, magic system building, monster building, etc

Warning: I rarely finish anything I start

Blog

Ask game, tag game, ask, etc friendly

Reblogging stuff I like about writing

Posting snippets of my own writing

Participating in Nanowrimo (buddy me: stargatetribe)

Main/Simblr: @starandsims

Thanks for visiting and learning about me!

WIPs under the cut

Current WIP

Crescent Unbound - A stand-alone fantasy novel following Astrid Vale, a girl left orphaned by the last battle between good and evil. 20 years later she awakens an artifact with great power, it whispers of the return of evil. She must return it to the Chosen One so that it can be used to banish evil once again, but the quest is not as easy as it may seem.

Main Series: The Destiny Chronicles

Overall Synopsis: A generational series that follows a variety of supernatural beings: The Devlins (monster hunters); Seers (see the future), Sandmen (travel/control dreams), Mages (control a variety of magics), Cruth (control elements), and hybrids. Follows certain individuals chosen by Destiny to stop a great evil, and involves a lot of crossover until the end when everyone meets up for the big bad battle.

Book One: Retrospection - 1976 Earth - Russell Walker is a 16-year-old Seer dating Alexis Devlin a 16-year-old monster hunter. When she reveals his identity as a Seer and subsequently explains he's being hunted by a Seer-eating monster, they run away together - unfortunately not to fall in love but rather to save his life.

Book Two: Otherworld - 2007 Otherworld - Maxine Devlin was born into a family of monster hunters, but after 17 years she still hasn’t been allowed to fulfill that role. She has read every journal her ancestors have written and knows everything there is to know about monsters…or so she thinks. After her uncle and cousin go missing, she takes it upon herself to investigate and find them. Very quickly she finds herself in over her head as she travels to a dimension called Otherworld, where she discovers there is much more to magic than she once assumed.

Book Three: Shades of Night - 2010 Shadow - Sebastian Devlin has been to other dimensions before - technically just the one other than the one he was born in. That doesn't make it any easier though when he's dragged through a portal by the monster he's hunting. On his own this time, he'll have to find a way home, if that's even possible. Before he can do that though, he'll have to solve this new dimensions monster problem.

Book Four: Lost in Atlantis - 2011 Atlantis - The Devlin family is back together on a special mission to search the dimension of Atlantis for a particularly dangerous monster - the one that's been hunting Sebastian. The dimension of Atlantis has been abandoned for centuries, but almost immediately they find a single survivor, an impossible face from the past.

Book Five: Vengeance at the Door - 2013 Earth - Sebastian Devlin the monster hunter has become the hunted, chased across multiple states and dimensions by a horrifying visage either of his imagination or reality. Now in Boston, he's just trying to live off the radar of any monster or creature. As the patients at the mental hospital where he works begin to see the same visages he's been seeing, does he run again? Or get himself slaughtered?

Book Six: Heartwood - 2015 Shadow - Janina Heartwood is a good little sister, she picks food off of her brother's plate, puts leaves in his hair, sticks up for him, and trusts him to the edge of the world. After a mysterious man reveals that her brother, Jake, is adopted and descended from a line of monster hunters called the Devlins, she follows him to another dimension to protect him. Now she, Jake, and her boyfriend, Ethan, find themselves trying to destroy an evil entity known as the Sluagh. Janina fights shapeshifters, gremlins, pirates, and more to protect her brother, but will it be enough?

Book Seven: Bring Me a Dream - 2015 Earth - Reynolds McNeil is a Sandman slowly turning into a Nightmare just trying to live out his final few months keeping his friends out of trouble and protecting his little sister from his scary world. Instead, he gets kidnapped and taken to an underground fight ring for augmented humans like himself.

Book Eight: Dream Treader - 2016 Unnamed Dimension - Rescued at the last second by their thought-to-be dead brother, Reynolds and Louie discover there's a lot more to their strange powers than they thought. Things continue to get complicated as they are hunted by a different kind of enemy determined to rid the world of Destiny's chosen - them and their friends.

Book Nine: Moonlight Dreams - 2017 multiple dimensions - Still on the run but now without their leader, Reynolds and his friends try to learn everything they can about why they're being hunted. In the process they rescue their leader, who now must accept that it's time to start the endgame and bring together all of Destiny's chosen before they're hunted down.

Book Ten: Among Infinities - 2017 Isfyd - Carson has lived his entire life in the middle of a Civil War, and most of that was on the wrong side. Although he's on the right side now there are few who believe he's anything other than a spy. When Carson discovers there is a real spy out there he must discover the spy's identity before he's found guilty himself.

Book Eleven: Diplopia - 2018 Isfyd - Carson, now a prisoner of his mother and in the process of resisting her brainwashing, discovers this isn't the first time she's brainwashed him or erased his memories. Exploring his memories and his old home reveals answers and more questions.

Book Twelve: Splintered Crown - 2019 Earth- Freshly rescued, Carson and his friends flee to Earth to find the one thing that can stop his mother and her army - a girl with no idea who she is or how to use her powers, and absolutely no interest in joining their rebellion.

Book Thirteen: Destiny - 2020 Earth - Earth is invaded by soldiers from Isfyd, it will take all of Destiny's chosen to defeat the great evil they've been waiting for. The Devlins, the McNeils, the Moons, and Carson and his friends are the only chance this dimension has. It's looking increasingly like it won't be enough.

Other WIPs

Hounds of Corduff - 1800s Isfyd - A four-book series following the three Cruth apprentices of Corduff as they battle with and against each other in the middle of propaganda and other lies forcing them each further away from the truth.

The Elder Mage - 1976 - 2015 Various dimensions - a series of short stories following Denham Moon, who some would call Earth's most powerful mage. He's been entrusted with bringing together Destiny's chosen at the appropriate time, but he's mostly just procrastinating since he's pretty sure he won't make it through that appropriate time.

Old Gods - a 9-book series following Em'het, a curious and multi-talented boy with great magics who fights the gods to save his family, but after several years of doing the same thing over and over again he wonders if there's a point to any of it if the gods he faces just keep getting stronger and smarter.

Prince of Fireflies - a TV series that follows teenage twins Charlie and Riley as they attempt to keep their younger brother Liam out of trouble with his mysterious light powers. They're mostly unsuccessful.

The Peculiar Adventures of Michael Mallory - an unnumbered book series that follows 9-year-old Michael Mallory after he sneaks aboard his older brother's spaceship. While in the process of trying to return Michael, Nicholas Mallory and his crew are attacked and forced to hyperjump without their navigation machines online. Now they're lost in space, who knows how far from home, and somehow raising a 9-year-old.

The Disappearing Place - just one book - 12-year-old Martin Ramsey has a bad habit of disappearing, blinking in and out of existence seemingly at random. His brother Bartholomew tries to help but ends up making things worse when he starts disappearing too. In a wacky time-traveling dilemma the brothers have to figure out what is happening and why to try and get back home, while continually randomly jumping in and out of time and space.

[goat-guy-tm]

Welcome to ANOTHER "Goat tries to write something small about void's rewrite but it turns into something terrifyingly long for no reason" post.

This is basically a fic talking about Kul'Zak (Modzilla) and Irene (Aphma)'s relationship, I am still gonna do the mini fic series going into MORE detail, but this thing....yeah

The divine are messy to say the least in my rewrite, but one of the messiest is Kul'Zak, which I will give small pre-needed context; in my rewrite world Kul'Zak does not (technically) have a decendent or reincarnation because Kul'Zak is still alive, he is actually Professor Modzilla from MMW/VP.

He was just a dimension hopping guy trying to have some fun only to hop into the Overworld (what I call the MCD dimension as it has no set canon name) during what is going to be one of the most turbulent times in their history for the next eon.

One day, some hunters from Scaleswind rush back into town, stating they had found an injured man in the woods, screaming and withering on the ground. They said he looked burnt, and badly. As if his body had been chared.

Being one of the sisters best versed in healing magicks, Irene had demanded they show her this man. It happened to be none other than Monty, but, at the time Irene was none the wiser to the man's name.

She had slammed healing spell after healing spell into the man, but none of them seemed to work, only seeming to for a small time alleviate the man's suffering.

At first, Monty had been, albeit weakly, fighting back the hunters and Irene, but for only a moment. Until he realized what the woman was trying to do. He couldn't stay fully still, but he tried to let her help him, the pain was just so much though.

He knew his face was badly burned, he couldn't open his left eye at all, it could be burned shut.

They had carried him back to the town, Irene scolding the men everytime Monty would groan or whine in pain.

He was placed in a room in the temple Irene was a sister to, mainly so Irene could try and look over him and help him heal.

Covering the burns didn't seem to help either. When wrapping a guaze over them, the bandaging stayed for a moment, before they burned and sizzled away into a purple mist of kinds.

Even though many of the other sisters told her they would be willing to take care of him every so often, as they did commonly take turns tending to the injured that resided in the temple, Irene had denined it, becoming somewhat fixated on figuring out who this man was and what was happening to him.

Monty had been in and out of consiousness for a few days, feverish and skittish anytime Irene tried to communicate to him.

Quite quickly it became obvious that there was a language barrier. Irene tried to make some kind of system, a series of taps for different things and needs Monty would have.

For a while, the sisters of the temple only refered to him as "The Stranger", which Irene didn't like. Everytime she had tried to ask the man his name, he would only look at her confused, which she put to his state of sickness and confusion.

So, Irene came up with a name for him. At least for the others to refer to him as, until she could get his real name out of him.

Now, she would not admit it to anyone else but Monty some time later, but naming him Kul'Zak was not entirely original from her mind. At the time, a romance novel had been getting quite popular, and one of the love intrests, Irene's personal favorite, was named Kul'Zak.

So when asked what his name was, Irene had rushed out that it was Kul'Zak. She was embarassed about it, and of course a few of the sisters she was closer with teased her over it, saying how convient his name was the same as her favorite fictional man.

After a few months, Kul'Zak had finally become more, aware. He had started to slowly piece some words together, out right asking Irene for water, in Ru'aunian, one day. Of course not fully asking, more so just saying "water" in a questioning tone. Irene had been admitingly very excited the first time he did, full on cheering.

She had been spending most her time with Kul'Zak, tending to the burn or more so researching it. Whether it be feeling how hot it was, as it seemed to generate it's own heat nearly 24/7, ot seeing what healing spells would affect it, if at all.

Thankfully, the burn was only on his face, and well a bit of his hand. It was more scattered on his hand, but he still seemed to express a discomfort with it, seething and pulling his hand away if she held it too hard or for too long.

After some time, they had sat down together and Irene tried to teach him Ru'aunian. He was picking it up quickly, but it was still a treck, especially because there was no way for Irene to figure out what his own language was.

When he was able to hold a conversation with her, she was estatic. She would take him outside the temple, walk around Scales Wind, and they would just, talk.

With this, she would learn his name was actually Monty, and when she asked if he'd loke her to tell others, he told her that it was fine. Kul'Zak fit their culture better, and with his status as a other-realmer, he'd rather not cause a rukus of any kind.

Their talks were about anything. Kul'Zak's life as a dimension explorer, Irene's life as a sister of their temple. Anything and everything.

She had asked him when he would be going back to his own dimension, and Kul'Zak only seethed, and said he couldn't go back, at least not for a while. The burns he was suffering from meant he shouldn't, not until he was finally healed. That coming here had put him in danger, and he was lucky he was still alive.

Void burns, is what he called them. One day, he had sat Irene down and went through the books he had held in his bag, that now Irene could finally understand with him translating to her.

Apparently, void burns were something anyone could suffer from, if they dimension hopped in an unsafe manner. And dimension exploring was still considered unsafe, but, he had wanted to do something big. To be one of the special members of his community to find a new dimension.

Irene had gotten him books upon books, journals, theological texts, mythology and folk lore, and even blank journals for him to write in. She loved watching him read, taking notes and writing what he called official dimensional writings.

Not many Irene believers knew of her life before her stint as a hero, hell 90% of books barley ever mentioned her life as a sisster of a now forfotten temple for a god no long known in Ru'aun. Because of this, people also never saw the relationship between Irene and Kul'Zak.

After some years, the two became much closer, Irene only really leaving Scales Wind after a time to accompany Kul'Zak on his adventure of exploring the realm.

The two had been deeply in love, yet according to the texts written of them years later, they were barley even more than just fellow Divine.

When she had decided to finally lay to rest, she entrusted half her relic to Kul'Zak, asking him to shatter it and spread it across the realms, to take her with him on those realm discovery adventures he had told her all about.

Modzilla was never truly a religous man. Ironic for a man that was basically a god. His adoration for Aphmau made him sick. She wasn't Irene, he felt like it would be overstepping to put himself in her life. Even though it's what Irene had asked of him.

He knew Irene, in her later years, had regretted acending to what they had become. He wanted Aphmau to be as normal as she could be.

When she put herself into his life though, even when he thought he had ran far enough away, he didn't know what to do. Especially when Tommy started to adore her, to see her as a mother.

Modzilla was, embarassed and ashamed of how much he had cried that night. He was admitingly cold to her at first. Only 'tolerating' her for Tommy's sake.

She became his lab partner, exploring dimensions for him when he was too sick or weak feeling to. Or tired. She paid attention to his health, so meticulously. It made him want to hurl. He kept telling himself she's not Irene, don't associate her with her.

After all nighters he would wake up with blankets over his shoulders, cups of hot coffee set out for him, even breakfast or lunch on a good day.

One morning, he woke up to a very special breakfast. A dish he had learned of his first few years in Ru'aun, that Irene had adored. Aphmau had told him she found it in one of those cook books, and that it was so well cared for so she assumed he liked it.

He wanted to cry over it, but he had just sighed and asked Aphmau to leave, that they weren't doing any tests today. A few hours later that day, Tommy had come to Aphmau's house and said his father had locked himself in his study and wouldn't be coming out, so he wanted to sleep at her's for the night.

On his bad days, Modzilla would lock himself in his study for, days, maybe even weeks depending how much of a spiral he would go down, where he would read and reread all the journals he had wrote decades ago.

During one of these spirals, he had left his study to go for a walk of sorts, and during that, Aphmau had snuck into his study and went through said journals strewn across the room.

She had been slack jawed at the whole journals full of passages of love, the descriptions of a woman named Irene. The name seemed to strike something in her in a way she couldn't explain.

Some of the pages had drawings of this woman instead of writing. She was, beautiful. Aphmau toom a moment, looking at this woman, till she realized she looked like her. Albeit a little different. Her hair was longer, she wore a hair covering that was longer than the more tied up one Aphmau wore, her clothing in most of the drawings was flowey and white.

Aphmau recalled pictures Modzilla had shared of Polly, she had a similar head covering and flowy clothing, but Polly was white and had blond hair. Irene, as she could see, had tanned skin and black hair. Plus, there were no photos of her, just drawings, some messily colored with dyes and patterned with stamped in flowers.

The journals were so well cared for. More so than the other books and texts Modzilla had in his library section. Aphmau started to feel, bad for looking at this without his permission.

When she intended to leave, she turned and was startled by Modzilla standing in the doorway, eyes locked on the journal she had in her hands. She didn't plan on taking it with her, she just hadn't put it down yet.

Modzilla looked, tired and sick, plus uncomfortable with the new information that Aphmau had been reading his journals.

The conversation was, like walking on eggshells. She asked about Irene, who the woman was, that if Modzilla was so infactuated by her, why was he married to Polly, a woman who seemed so close to this Irene figure.

Modzilla had shakily explained that him and Polly weren't married for love. They were very good friends, but it was common for his kind to not marry for love most the time. He told her about Irene. How happy they were together before their time as divine, explaining to her how Irene had asked to be reincarnated outside the realm she was born of, how Aphmau was one of those.

Then, he broke down. He sobbed and apologized to her, that he wanted her to go her whole life without knowing about it. That he thought that's what Irene would have wanted; to live a life of normalcy, save for the dimension exploring.

She knew now why Monty had become so choked up and emotional when she would try and take care of him when he was sick or tired. That she was unknowingly reminding him of the first times he ever met the woman he would come to love for the rest of his immortal life.

Aphmau wasn't all that young herself, she was already over 100 years old, but, most the time she chose not to disclose that to others. She herself had been overly puzzled by her lack of memories of a childhood, now knowing she never had one in the first place, but then even more confused by her not aging, and living so long already. She knew now why. Monty was obviously still older than her, and she would not be stopping the teasing of him for it.

She came to enjoy the dimension exploring just a little bit more. Sometimes she would find herself talking to no one, as if she was talking to 'Irene', even though she technically was Irene. Unbeknownst to her, she was one of the few Aphmau's to accept the idea so easily and fully. Knowing that she was living a life a her from before craved made her more happy for what Irene had done to give it to her.

Her and Monty's relationship had changed after what she learned. They seemed to flow better now, Monty having put down the wall he had built so long ago, at least a little bit.

When they had finally found Monty's home realm again, Aphmau had cheered for him, so excited he could finally go home. He was happy too, but bitter sweet about it. They hugged, and Aphmau gave him a kiss, which had stunned Monty in his place, face burning red and stuttering.

Aphmau promised to keep Tommy safe, and told Monty that he had to find a way to visit sometime.

Monty left Tommy in the care of Aphmau. He knew she would take care of him better than he ever could.

If fate wasn't so cruel, they could have a redo, but Monty knew that that was a pipe dream.

The void still called, it hungered, and Monty, Kul'Zak, Modzilla, whoever he was, he was going to do everything in his power to keep that thing at bay, to keep the realms safe, and if it meant being burned by it time and time again, he knew he had at least someone he would go to that would be his boulder to rest with. Just like she had all those eons ago.

[is-the-battlemech-cool-or-not]

SAVANNAH - REVELATION

[Argo internal monitoring system - record created 16.04.3025 - record last accessed 21.05.3060 - record accessed by: Precentor Omicron (PX) VI Liška]

[Record Location - MechBay Chief Tech Office - assigned to Y. Virtanen]

[sound of hatch opening]

Savannah Caruso [SC]: You called for me, Yang?

Yang Virtanen [YV]: Uh - yeah, boss, come on in. And close the hatch, wouldya?

[sound of hatch opening fully and closing, followed by locking sound]

SC: Okay, Yang, you were pretty hush-hush. Keting xox? [trans. “Lang Belta”: “What’s up?”]

YV: It, uh, it’s about the new guys, boss.

SC: Our weird’uns? 

YV: Uh, well, Melissa and her little clique, yeah. I know when we hired ‘em, them said, “don’t ask questions-”

SC: But you’ve been asking anyway.

YV: Uh - yeah. No, not asking questions, but investigating. I just didn’t buy their story. At first just about their ‘Mechs. I mean there’s lots of Belters out there that, well, uh. Go like you. Go furry.

SC: Yeah, pretty common. Okay, so you didn’t buy their story. You don’t think those new ‘Mechs are old SLDF prototypes?

YV: No, ma’am, I don’t. And I can prove that - and a lot more.

SC: That so?

[sound of chair being pulled into position - followed by pause - 2 seconds]

SC: Okay. Go.

YV: All right, so the first thing that got me weirded out was the connectors. For the cables.

SC: [unidentifiable sound - pos. expression of interest]

YV: That and how clean everything is in those ‘Mechs - not clean, like, not dusty, but how… how uniform it all was. It’s all standardized. I don’t need to tell you what that means.

SC: Either these were newly built ‘Mechs and never saw action…

YV: … or wherever they came from has functional, fully standardized ‘Mech factories. Which… they have to be factory-built. They’re just not… messy enough for prototypes.

SC: Could be late stage prototypes? Near-production?

YV: See, I thought that too. But we’ve got two of those … [sound of snapping fingers, repeated 3 times]... “Catamarauders” out there -

SC: [interrupting; sound of snorted laugh]

YV: Well, I gotta call ‘em something, boss, and Melissa and her little menagerie aren’t naming names. Anyway, if those were prototypes, even late stage, I’d expect to find some kind of difference, even tiny ones.

SC: Well, the weapons load -

YV: [interrupting] I mean at the functional component level, boss. The screws, the connectors, the O-ring seals. They’re all identical, boss, even with connecting different weapons in.

SC: Okay. Serial numbers?

YV: Scrubbed. Completely. Lasered, sanded, dremeled off. Everything-

SC: [simultaneous] Hmm.

YV: - but all the locations of the serial numbers are identical. Part to part.

SC: Okay. Okay. So they’re not prototypes. So… Keting to showxa? [trans. “Lang Belta”: “What are you saying?”]

YV: What I’m saying is that those are production ‘Mechs. And they’re not SLDF. Not all of them.

SC: Okay. Elaborate.

YV: Obviously the Lancelot, Mongoose, and that Phoenix Hawk LAM are SLDF designs. Those are in the Argo’s databanks and we know them. But the others, we don’t know, right? Well, I’m certain the other ‘Mechs are based on Star League tech. I checked. The connectors and screws and such in the new ‘Mechs - dimension-wise, they’re perfect matches for SL-Standard components, but improved. Made out of some new material compounds and seemingly a little beefed up to allow for repeated swaps in and out -

SC: [interrupting] Like the weapons.

YV: Like the weapons, but at a smaller scale. Everything seems geared towards making refits easy. Like they’re expecting to do them often. And the old Star League had a couple designs that had modular weapon setups, but this is a lot more comprehensive. Plus the weapons themselves. What they’re calling a “small laser”? Boss, that thing pumps out as much energy as a medium laser, and range wise I’m seeing a 25% increase over a normal small. It does generate more heat, but that gets into discussing those compact double heat sinks they’ve got… all the weapons are like that. Same or reduced weight and space, better range, and for the energy weapons, better energy output. They’re just better, and I can’t explain it without what might seem like some logical leaps.

[silence - 3 seconds]

SC: So you’re saying that someone has a factory out there churning out ‘Mechs with components matching Star League standards, and with weapons that are lighter, less bulky and hit harder than standard designs.

YV: Yeah, and those new weapons, well, Melissa and her little group - the way they speak about our weapons? Those better weapons aren’t prototypes or sidegrades, boss. Wherever they come from, those are standard-issue.

SC: Okay, that’s… [exhale] Pashang mi, Yang. [trans. “Lang Belta’: “Fuck me, Yang.”] I’m beginning to get an idea of where you might be going here... [pause, ½ second] They were all really chuffed to get to ride on the Argo, weren’t they?

YV: They were, boss. They were. But, I’ve got more.

SC: Go go. [trans. “Lang Belta”: “Go on.”]

YV: I was born on Bryant, not all that far from Combine space. Spacers come through, we’d hear tales. I once heard a rumor about something that happened during the First Succession War. Mysterious raiders come out of the coreward Periphery. No communication. They attack four Combine worlds - Svelvik, Trondheim, Jarret, and Richmond. They have advanced tech, seemingly modified Star League kit. One of these raiders died on Richmond - driving a pristine Lancelot.

SC: [chair shifting]

YV: Yeah, a little like the one out there. This MechWarrior killed himself to avoid capture when his ‘Mech was disabled. Some kind of suicide pill, I heard. Anyway, the ‘Mech had two insignia on it - a white Terran wolverine with blood-covered fangs, and an insignia of a landmass with “331st” on it. And get this. The raiders ‘Mechs were painted in regular army colors - regular Star League army colors. Y’know, that one shade of green - and they used SLDF tactics in battle. Had advanced full body cooling suits, slimmer, more advanced than Inner Sphere standard. Not as advanced as what we have here on the Argo, but still.

SC: Sounds like the suits our new friends had when they joined us. When was this?

YV: 2825. Two hundred years ago exactly. I cross referenced those logo descriptions with the Argo’s computer library, boss. No dice on the wolverine logo, but the other one… belonged to the SLDF 331st Royal BattleMech Division. Minnesota Division.

[silence - 1.5 seconds]

SC: The 331st didn’t go Blue Star or ELH… did they.

YV: No, ma’am. All records stop when Kerensky left.

[silence - 2 seconds]

YV: Yeah. Still not done though.

SC: [nonplussed] Oh good.

YV: Y’know how the Argo, she has that funny little habit of sneaky copying the jump logs on JumpShips we dock with?

SC: I do. We get shit for it, but Doc Murad hasn’t figured out a fix yet?

YV: Yeah, well, it turns out that applies to DropShips too, when they dock with us. Including the one that Melissa and her group docked on way back when they joined up. I had Sumire pull up the records. They used the same DropShip for quite a while.

SC: And where did it come from?

YV: First record on the DropShip’s string is at Richmond, and the JumpShip made at least one jump rimward from the coreward Periphery before that.

[silence - 4 seconds]

YV: But I don’t think they’re this Minnesota group, boss. None of them had that logo anywhere on their ‘Mechs.

SC: They didn’t have ANY insignia, as I recall.

YV: Yeah. But that’s not the kicker, boss. I know who they came from, or at least, a 99% guess. When I was doing maintenance last week on Remus’ “Catamarauder”, I accidently tripped a memory dump. There were hidden files. Including the neural config file. You know how none of them have given us their last names?

SC: [hesitantly] I do…

YV: [pause, audible swallow] Makes sense they didn’t scrub it, it’s a key file, and one that you can’t just modify without root access, except by changing the neurohelmet sync, and even then it doesn’t... [shaking exhale] Well, on Remus’ ‘Mech… and probably all of them… well, their ‘Mechs have their names, listed right there in the neural config files. Remus’ last name… is Kerensky.

[silence - 2 seconds]

SC: … fffffuuuuuck.