#I have a full AU I've been working on too and still can't figure out what to do with

[badasgirlfriend]

Stolen Hoodie | Bada Lee Social Media AU

T/W: this chapter contains themes of abuse and violence, so if you are uncomfortable with these topics, please don't read it.

pairings: bada lee x shin nari

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a/n: sorry for the short chapter my uni isn't letting me breath😩

taglist { @itstrashjustrash , @maiden-mars , @tikitsune , @yumtooki , @jesuschrist2006 , @senjuslashes , @sparksinsirius , @asweetcollide , @italiekim , @stella222 , @mikachacha , @deadgirlwalking3 , @yunjinified , @itsbokutosjuicyass , @kaaylvst , @manooffline , @aloneinacity , @rubywonu , @pansies-garden , @tswisal1 }

With a deep exhale, Bada found herself staring in the direction of her girlfriend, who was seated opposite her at the table. Nari was deeply focused on the task in front of her, wearing headphones to block out the world.

Bada felt her heart skip a beat. This girl - this amazing girl - was her girlfriend. And yet, it still felt unreal. Though they hadn't discussed it, or necessarily asked each other out, they both knew they were a couple. Their relationship had already been very partner-like, even before any labels came into play.

She carefully stepped into the classroom, trying her best to make as little noise as possible. When she was close to Nari, she suddenly leaned in and touched her lips to Nari's cheek.

As Nari's eyes widened at the feeling of hands on her shoulder, she quickly turned around, only to be face-to-face with the girl she liked. Her expression changed rapidly from fear to relief, her eyes softening.

She was here, at university, not home.

It was safe here. No one would hurt her.

She took a deep breath, and her expression began to change as reality set in and the tension drained from her body.

Seeing Nari's expression, Bada's smile faltered, but she quickly regained her poise and said cheerfully, "It's just me, don't worry."

"Yeah, sorry," Nari said sheepishly, smiling at Bada. "I'm just...not used to people sneaking up on me."

Bada nodded and turned to face Nari, her concern rising as she noticed the bruise starting to form around her wrist.

"Nari, I've told you so many times, you can come to my apartment," she said, her voice gentle but firm. "You can always come and live with me we can share-"

Nari shook her head, avoiding Bada's gaze. "No, it's alright," she insisted, but her words lacked confidence.

"It's not alright at all," Bada repeated firmly, "Nari, I'm worried about you."

Bada felt her frustration growing with each passing moment. She understood the difficult situation that Nari was going through at home, and it was awful.

However, her attempts to help were being rejected by Nari's hesitance to open up. Trying her best to remain calm, Bada found her patience slowly wearing thin.

Her desire to help her girlfriend was overwhelming, and she hoped and prayed that Nari would eventually come to her and share her troubles - at least then, Bada would be able to offer some much needed comfort.

"Leave it, Bada," Nari said, turning briefly from her work to look at Bada with irritation, her tone dismissive and adamant.

But Bada simply would not be deterred.

"I'm not leaving it," she said stubbornly. "Nari, you need help."

With her eyes pleadingly fixed on Bada, Nari begged desperately.

"Please, I can't leave Hana alone."

But Bada wouldn't have any of it. She took Nari's hands, holding them gently.

"You can take her too," Bada said, her tone full of genuine concern. "I don't care. We can figure it out. But you can't stay there by yourself."

Nari let out a breath of admiration as she took in her girlfriend's charming appearance. With her large glasses adding to the overall loveliness, her style was casual but cute as she wore an oversized T-shirt. She wanted desperately to accept Bada's offer, but to her, leaving Hana behind would be unthinkable.

She'd rather die than allow her little sister to suffer at the hands of that asshole.

"Im fine Bada really" She was really grateful for Bada's support, but her struggle was one that Nari felt she must fight alone.

Bada sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and nodding in understanding. She well knew Nari's stubbornness, and wouldn't push her too hard about the situation. She knew that Nari didn't like being pressured, and this time she let it go.

But sooner or later, they'd have to have the talk again, and Bada wouldn't give up so easily this time.

Bada's gaze fell on Nari's desk, her eyes glancing over the empty Red Bull cans and coffee cups strewn across the surface.

Taking her bag, she took out two sandwiches and set them down in front of Nari with a soft shrug.

"Don't even try," she said with a firm smile, "You need to eat. And I'm not taking no for an answer."

Nari's words prompted a small smile on Bada's face.

"You sound like my grandma, but I'm not hungry," she replied with a playful tilt of her head. "I have work."

Bada's glare was unmistakable, and she huffed, "You know our project isn't due for months, you don't need to overwork yourself."

"Okay, and?" Nari shrugged, remaining persistent even when Bada rolled her eyes.

"Making the designs and sewing takes way too long, and I want it to be perfect."

Bada let out a soft groan in response, shaking her head gently. This girl will never learn, she thought, amused. She leaned in and grabbed her ruler making the shorter girl whine

"Bada no give it to me" Nari tried to grab it but it was a fail, Bada smirked at her attempts

"Eat first"

"I'm not hungry, I swear" Nari objected, though with little conviction.

Bada wasn't buying it, and continued to press the issue, "I know you haven't had a proper meal all day...."

Bada wasn't buying it, and continued to press the issue.

"I know you haven't had a proper meal all day," she repeated with firmness, but Nari hadn't been listening. Instead, her eyes were drawn down to Bada's beautiful face, then slowly to her lips.

Nari leaned in, ready to give her girlfriend a quick kiss in the hopes that it would silence her for a while.

But as she leaned back to break away from the kiss, Bada refused, she grabbed her chin, pulling Nari back in for another tender moment, their lips meeting once again in a flurry of passion.

Nari felt her heart racing as her body tingled with heat as Bada's soft, passionate lips pressed firmly against her own.

She held her girlfriend's face, her hands tenderly caressing her cheeks, as Bada leaned forward and pressed her back against the wall.

In this moment, with her head spinning from the thrill of their kiss and their bodies together, she could think of nothing else but her

Nari bit her lip and Bada groaned, closing her eyes as they pulled apart yet remained close to each other.

"Stop distracting me," Bada said with a gentle frown. "Your amazing kiss doesn't negate the fact that you still need to eat."

"Damn it," Nari groaned, "I was so hoping it would make you forget, but I knew that was a long shot."

Bada chuckled softly as she ruffled the shorter girl's hair.

"I'll need more kisses for tha-"

Nari cut Bada off with another tender kiss, her lips pressing softly to the other girl's face and keeping her from continuing her sentence.

A mischievous grin spread across Bada's lips, and she couldn't help teasing her girlfriend further by pulling back and then leaning in and drawing Nari into another kiss.

The cycle repeated itself several times, with Bada teasing and Nari responding with a kiss, their lips connecting again and again, their embrace growing more intense and passionate with each passing moment.

After much pleading from Bada, Nari finally relented and ate, allowing their meal to be enjoyed in peace.

As the duo began eating and talking with laughter filling the air, Aeri watched from outside class smirking. With her phone cradled in her hands, she began walking away, her smirk

In her mind, Nari reflected that half of her day had gone well so far, especially due to Bada's presence.

Yet, as is often the case, her joy was tempered as the moment turned sour in an instant when she heard a loud crash as soon as she stepped into her house.

Racing to the living room, her vision grew red as the sight of her sister sobbing filled her with anguish, her emotions taking control and causing her heart to hurt from her younger sibling's pain.

"What the hell did you do to her?" Nari asked with genuine fury, moving towards her broken sister and ignoring any potential damage from the broken plate on the floor.

"She's a useless child!" her father yelled with a slurred voice "I asked her to make me food and all she fucking brought me was a piece of bread"

"She's only six, you bastard," Nari yelled back, her words punctuated by her father's drunken slurring.

"She's not even old enough to properly take care of herself, let alone make you a full meal."

"Don't you raise your voice at me, you little bitch," her father said forcefully, pointing his finger at Nari.

Nari knew that her words might anger the man before her, and the possibility of repercussions crossed her mind.

Yet, she found herself unable to care, and she stood her ground, her expression firm

"Go to your room," Nari whispered to her sister, attempting to comfort the young girl as she was still sobbing.

Hana shook her head, firmly refusing to comply with her sister's request.

"Hana, I said go."

Nari looked at her little sister, gently pushing her away and away "Please"

She knew that things would only get worse, so she didn't want Hana to see the ugliness of the situation.

Hana's eyes were filled with knowledge beyond her years, even as she was still so young.

Her heart was broken at the thought of leaving Nari all alone to face her father's wrath, but she knew that she had to go.

Without another word, her footsteps echoed off the stairs as she raced away, rushing into the sanctuary of her room.

Hana closed her door and buried her face in her pillow, her heart in knots as she tried to muffle the sound of her soft, frightened tears, as she listened to her fathers yells

"You'll never lay a hand on her ever again," Nari yelled, her anger taking over and making her voice boom like thunder.

"Im her father"

"I don't care" Nari continued, shaking her head

"I don't care," Nari said, trying her best to hold back her tears "A good father cares for and protects their children, he doesn't hurt and punish them"

She knew she shouldn't show her vulnerability in front of him, and she tried to stand strong while speaking her mind even as her emotions bubbled to the surface.

Her father paced around the room in agitation, his anger causing him to throw an empty beer can at the wall.

Nari flinched, her heart pounding at her father's anger

"You're a coward," Nari repeated, her words cutting into her father's pride in a way that nothing else could have.

She felt his hand sting her face the sensation of that slap was not new to her, as if her whole life had been leading up to that moment, but she continued to stand her ground and refused to cry

"No food for you and that little monster for a week," her father said, grabbing her face tightly.

Nari closed her eyes and braced herself for another slap, but it never came.

Instead, her father released his grip on her face, grabbing her bag and searching through it for money

Upon finding it, her father extracted her hard-earned funds from her wallet and threw her wallet back at her face

When she heard the front door close, Nari broke down, as tears spilled over her cheeks.

The weight of the world had seemed to be resting on her shoulders, and now that she was alone, she allowed herself to feel the full force of all the pain and sadness she had tried so hard to suppress.

[diazsdimples]

Several Sentence Sunday

So Wednesday's poll overwhelming voted for Single Dads AU as my next wip to focus on, and I've managed to write a few thousand words on that since then! I also did a couple of thousand for Frostpunk AU too, so we're gonna be tag teaming those two I guess 💀 I love both these fics so much and can't bear to leave them alone so I'll be working on/ sharing bits of both over the next few weeks 💙

Here's a snippet from Single Dads, right before we introduce an important character! It's not great atm but it's gonna be reworked when I can string together a sentence askdjhsa

“Lily!” Buck exclaims, sprinting across the driveway and up the steps before he knows what he’s doing. “What happened?” “She fell through the door,” Carrie supplies helpfully. Buck kneels next to his youngest and gingerly helps Lily up off the floor, pulling her into his lap where he proceeds to check her over. She’s holding her arm loosely and tears stream down her face as she hiccups miserably, which Buck figures is likely more due to shock than anything else. “The door was unlocked, Daddy!” Lily whimpers as she tucks herself further into his chest. “Fell on my arm.” Buck takes her arm gently in his hands, feeling up and down the length for any deformities or crepitus. She winces slightly as he prods at the delicate bones of her wrist, but there’s no swelling and she seems to be able to move it fine. Not broken, then. “Dad, why’s the door unlocked?” Carrie asks, voicing the very question he’d been thinking. There’s no way he forgot to lock it this morning, it’s a part of his many-step routine to get him and the girls out the door on time for work. Unlocking the door always comes after closing it, and before the full-body pat down to make sure he hasn’t forgotten his phone, wallet, or car keys. It’s routine. “I don’t know, honey,” Buck replies as he stands up, lifting Lily onto his hip as he does so. Lily lets out a shuddering sigh as her tears slow, and rests her head on his shoulder, her thumb making its way into her mouth. “Stay behind me, okay?” Buck takes an apprehensive step inside. The house is seemingly empty, every little knick knack and toy still exactly where it was left this morning. Lily’s sparkly shoes are still kicked in the middle of the hall, the door to the girls’ bedroom is still only slightly ajar, and none of the drawers in the cabinet in the front hall have been opened. Buck leans and places Lily on the ground, beckoning Carrie close to him so he can circle an arm around her too. “Go into your room, shut the door, and sit on Lily’s bed please. I’m going to have a look around and I’ll come get you in a minute, okay?”

Been tagged through the week by many people, thank you for bearing with me as I navigate my new schedule.

Tagging @theotherbuckley @hippolotamus @watchyourbuck @disasterbuckdiaz @puppyboybuckley @bucksbackwardcap @fortheloveofbuddie @spotsandsocks @aroeddiediaz @daffi-990 @jesuisici33 @tizniz @steadfastsaturnsrings @wikiangela @buckbuckgoose @exhuastedpigeon @cal-daisies-and-briars @wildlife4life @slightlyobsessedwitheverything @evanbegins @alliaskisthepossibilityoflove @rainbow-nerdss @elvensorceress @epicbuddieficrecs @smilingbuckley @actuallyitsellie @spagheddiediaz

[tortillasconsal]

Day 1. Cold Breakfast

Ssssssuuuuper late, but I didn't miss it so it counts

My first idea was EJ eating some fresh organs from a cold dead body, but I figured it was too predictable so I switched it up to Tim and Brian eating some cold Hot Pockets 👍

I like it bc I have an excuse to babble about these two in my AU

Disclaimer: I want to keep most of the MH lore intact, but I can't promise I'll be very exact on the events that happen since I don't know much about the series other than what I learn from YouTube video essays.

So here, they're not Slenderman's proxies but they have an interesting relationship with him, especially Tim. From what I understand Tim has cought Slenderman's attention since he was very young and has been following him close for a very long time, I like to interpret this as Slenderman becoming fixiated on him and growing desesperate to have him as one of his most loyal followers.

Hoodie survives de events of MH and joins Tim on his journey to I-don't-know-where. They now engage in a never ending roadtrip trying to escape from The Operater and his Proxies (and also hiding from the cops). And while they're at it they do their best to investigate about this damn demon and see how they can escape him for good.

They don't have any meaningful relationships with the rest of the characters, they actually don't know anybody else besides their chasers. At most they would know about certain killers from around the country, but that's it. Not even other supernatural entities like LJ or Slender's brothers.

All they know so far is that they have no one else to rely on but each other.

So we're starting rocky with this piece. I had lots of crisis working on this because I haven't done anything this finished in a very- very long time. I wouldn't call it the greatest piece I've made but I'm still proud of it, like I said- it's been a while since I have done a full piece with shadows and lights and backgrounds and everything, so it's nice to see that I could do it in a day.

I might have to tone the effort down for the rest of the month so I don't burn out too soon. I'm so excited to see what I do tomorrow!!!

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

The fact that nobody has thought of a fastfood au where Spider is this neglected teenager working at McDonald's so that he can save up to like move out and get away from Qauritch (he's so desperate to get out that college isn't even on his radar atm) and Neteyam is this popular boy at their school who's is a year younger than him and comes in to McDonald's with his little sister frequently and Spider doesn't think he even knows his name but one day on their way out Neteyam turns to him and says "have a good day Spider" or some shit like that and the romance only grows from there with Neteyam figuring out his problems and trying to help him/get him into a good collage and I mean honestly people the fic just writes itself.

UGH I LOVE IT, I am simply shocked no one has written me personally a nocorro fic yet. A nice long one with all the pain and drama we've been describing but I want the COMFORT TOO PLEASE.

But anyways, you've brought up something I've been mulling over for a while now for one of my headcanon posts. Part of Neteyam's pressure and expectations come from him being the next Olo'eyktan. I can't figure out how to translate this into a modern au. Most of the time it'd be easy to make him the heir to a big company or the son of a politician in a weird Young Royals way, but clown couple Jake and Neytiri Sully simply do NOT have the vibes for that, nor does it fit their characters. I've thought about maybe Neytiri's family running a large non-profit that Neteyam is somewhat expected to take over, or perhaps something like the free clinic in my other au.

Either way, the reason I bring it up is because I love the idea of them both having similar but fundamentally different problems to bond over. This is what I mean, bear with me:

-Spider works at McDonalds to save money like you said. He's barely got any friends because he just moved there from another one of his dads deployments, and he's so busy picking up every possible shift he can that he can. He needs the money. He opens before school and closes most nights.

-Neteyam picks up Tuk from ballet practice at night on Wednesday's, because it is his parents Date Night. He gets his sister McDonalds one night because he stayed up way too late studying for an exam last night and he's far too tired to cook. The drive through is manned by the prettiest boy ever.

-By the third Wednesday Tuk is suspicious, but he keeps buying her McDonalds as a bribe to keep her mouth SHUT about it. At least, she keeps her mouth shut to the family. She won't stop talking to him about it. It's always "Neteyam, did you see McDonalds Guy today? I think he goes to your school, he has to. Neteyam, if we go to McDonalds tomorrow will he be there too? Does he only work Wednesdays?" She's like his inner thoughts because he wants to know all those things too.

-I mean, it's only a matter of time before Tuk opens her big fat mouth TO Spider. She rattles off personal questions like she's the goddamn census, and Neteyam wants to die.

-But, he learns quickly that Spider is a military brat and he wants nothing more than not to be in the military. It sparks something for Neteyam, because he wants nothing more than to be like his parents, and do what they do and do it just as well. It's the same sort of long shadow, just a different tactic for getting out from under it.

-Tuk is sick the next Wednesday mysteriously, but Neteyam is still craving McDonalds.

-It becomes a regular thing, but not on Wednesdays. Wednesdays he starts sometimes bringing Tuk home for a regular adult meal. But Thursday's he spends at McDonalds, and he brings Spider real food in Tupperware containers marked with the name Sully like Spider has other Tupperware to mix it up with.

-Somehow it becomes almost every night. Doing his homework in a booth, Spider joining him when he's free, sliding in and out. Neteyam's full attention on him every time he has a free second.

-One night Neteyam invites him over. Neteyam stayed until closing time and suddenly can't bear the thought of Spider going home, to no one if he's lucky and his dad if he isn't. Spider refuses and after that they don't speak for a couple days, silence in the booth. No one says anything but Neteyam still shows and brings Tupperware, and Spider still slides in to join him when he has a free moment.

-Eventually Spider agrees, and Neteyam is forced to show up at close to nine pm with a stranger that he has never mentioned but Tuk is DELIGHTED to see.

-Jake and Neytiri are confused but can recognize a tired, fairly neglected kid when they see one so they offer up the basement couch with no fanfare at all.

-Neteyam is slightly peeved because he was going to have Spider share his bed, it's a king it's plenty big enough, but Neytiri wasn't born yesterday lol. Even Jake is like nah nah, you've been gay since we watched the first Percy Jackson movie kid. Go have a sleepover with Tsireya or something.

-I think Jake Sully has a fairly excellent gaydar, honed from time in the military. You gotta know which guys to fuck. @dinas-bracelet this is the bi Jake Sully agenda.

This is a bonus because this is already FAR too long:

-Neteyam gets increasingly exasperated because no matter how many nights Spider is there or how long into their relationship it gets, Spider downright refuses to move from the basement couch. He will cling to it like a cat if Neteyam tries to move him. He goes boneless and becomes a dead weight.

-Finally Neteyam just sleeps down there one night. This concept has clearly never occured to Spider, who upon realizing there is no moving Neteyam (he can go boneless too, damnit), lays there stiff as a board mummy-wrapped in blankets to keep Neteyam's hands off of him. When he falls asleep though, Neteyam gets in there. Spider is unconsciously tactile, and basically spoons him the entire night.

-The next morning Neytiri walks into the basement to check that Spider is awake for work, turns around and goes back to the top of the stairs, and then walks down again really loudly to alert them to her presence.

[collabwithmyself]

ourgh it's been so long since i've written something on my own. yeehaw pikmin au time

Hitoshi Hidaka awakens with lungs full of smoke, limbs full of pain, and ears full of alarm bells.

He tries to crack open his eyes and instantly regrets it- slapping a hand over them as flashing red warning lights pierce directly through them and into his brain. His agonized groan trails off into a cough partway through.

Not a great way to wake up, he thinks.

He needs to figure out where he is and what's going on. He's slumped forward over a hard surface, misshapen objects digging into his torso through his clothes.

Dashboard. Right. He was flying. Which means... he probably crashed. That would explain the smoke and alarms.

He attempts a second time to open his eyes, squinting through the haze and light and the film of his own tears. The acrid air stings. He needs his helmet.

He forces himself to his feet, only for his legs to nearly buckle underneath him as his entire body protests the movement. His hands scrabble at the dashboard he was slung over moments ago, seeking support for his knocking knees. He's not strong enough to keep himself upright, and goes crashing to the floor with an unpleasant jolt.

The alarm continues to flash and shriek. The smoke refuses to dissipate. Safe in the knowledge he's at least alone, Hitoshi allows himself one frustrated, childish whine.

He fumbles for the seat to try and pull himself up again. His hand only meets a metal pole and dangling wires. Ejected- without him. Some safety measures.

Still, it's enough support to put him on his hands and knees. He cracks his eyes open a third time, just long enough to figure out where his locker is. At least that's in one piece. He shuffles towards it like a dog, cringing to himself at the sheer lack of dignity.

The suit's tough to put on at the best of times. He's always hated zippers. But in these current conditions, it's nearly impossible to fit into, fabric chafing at his sore limbs and refusing to let him squirm into it properly. He considers just giving up and letting himself choke. It's a damn miracle he manages to get his helmet and pack on.

But it's rewarding. Cool, fresh air fills his helmet, and he takes grateful gulps of it, swearing to himself once more never to take breathing for granted.

He's alive, guaranteed for the next short while. He'd better assess the full extent of the damage, both to himself and his ship, once he can actually get up.

He's not sure how long he lays there, cringing as the alarms continue to beep at him even through his helmet. His ears folding down can only do so much. Eventually it's too much to bear, so he attempts a third time to stand.

He manages to keep his feet under him this time, with fresh air in his lungs and a moment to rest. But his knees and back, poor at even the best of times, twinge with every step. He's forced to stand as he examines the console, and regards the ejected seat with newfound disappointment as he does.

It takes a moment to remember how to turn off the alarm. Blissful silence fills the cockpit after he presses the button, and it's all he can do not to slump in relief.

But it's not silent, it turns out. Even with ringing ears, he can make out the hiss and creak of damaged machinery all around him. He shouldn't stay in here. Once he runs diagnostics, he needs to get out.

He can't help but feel a pang of regret. Ten years he's flown this ship, and he's gone and totaled it over...

...he can't actually remember what he did. Just that he was on a delivery run, and...

He can worry about that later. Trembling hands work the dashboard, clumsy through gloves and pain. He squints as the cracked display lights up.

"Okay, girl," he breathes. "Let's see what I did to you."

The computer renders for a moment as it runs diagnostics.

MAIN ENGINE - MISSING

Hito blinks.

"Wh... missing?"

Missing is very, very different from damaged. How is he meant to repair the engine if he doesn't have anything to repair--?

POSITRON GENERATOR - MISSING

Okay. It's- it's fine. He'll just find the parts, they can't have fallen far--

FUEL DYNAMO - MISSING

#1 IONIUM JET - MISSING

#2 IONIUM JET - MISSING

It's only a few--

ZIRCONIUM MOTOR - MISSING

SHOCK ABSORBER - MISSING

CHRONOS REACTOR - MISSING

Maybe he can call for help--

INTERSTELLAR RADIO - MISSING

ANALOG COMPUTER - MISSING

GEIGER COUNTER - MISSING

Just wait it out until he's found--

ANTI DIOXIN FILTER - MISSING

RADIATION CANOPY - MISSING

GUARD SATELLITE - MISSING

As the list grows and grows, Hito's breathing picks up. His heart pounds in his chest. He's stranded somewhere unfamiliar, with his ship in pieces and only so much battery in his filter pack. It doesn't matter that he survived the crash with minimal injuries- he's going to die here, isn't he?

DANDELION RESIN - MISSING

Something cold reaches into his chest and pulls.

He thinks, the ship kept track of that?

Then he doesn't think anything at all for a while.

[martyrmystik]

I think Tumblr needs to know about my dumbass Poppy Playtime AU I literally JUST made today so uhm... Here's the AU I've been hyperfixating on-

More information under the cut!

This is the first half of the Smiling Critters references (I loved making their designs omg)

Basically to summarize why they are a significant part in this AU:

This is an AU where the Smiling Critters survive, using anything and everything they can to continue to do so. It's a small resistance group (hence the AU name, "RESISTANCE") trying to fight against The Prototype! They still have their dynamics and everything else but they have more freedom to express themselves (hence, the clothes and accessories. And how Kickin' Chicken is wearing two bandana's because yes, he is extra.) AFTER the events of The Hour of Joy. By that time they were like what? 1st-2nd graders considering the experiments that were done? Now they are more like teenagers in this AU since I still follow the plot-line of the actual Poppy Playtime story taking place 10 years later-.

As for how the group works, everybody has their own little role and is in charge of something, they aren't made useless as it is a group based off of teamwork and friendship (despite the casualties.) Here's some of the roles they fall into:

(IF I SEE ANYBODY SEXUALIZE THESE CHARACTERS ISTG. THATS ICKY AND GROSS and I will make sure you get smited by lightning, because even if these guys are aged up THEY ARE STILL MINORS!!!)

Kickin Chicken: The vice president if you will, the leaders right hand man. (Because Dogday is the leader.) He's kind of full of himself but the confidence and pep talks help the team keep motivated, even if he is a bit self-centered

Bobby Bearhug: Assistant to Kickin Chicken (although they have a rivalry.) and also the medic. Is also the one who helps Dogday with anything considering in this AU he still has half of him torn off. (More on Dogday in his own section sometime later)

Hoppy Hopscotch: Basically explores the facility in any area at any time to gather new information on ways to try and get out (all of them are actively looking to escape btw!)

Craftycorn: Maps out stuff (maps, plans, other things) using her drawing abilities, although she also acts as the therapist friend because her art is soothing to others.

Bubba Bubbaphant: THE LITERAL. EMBODIMENT. OF. THE NERD EMOJI. He is a actual know-it-all which can come in handy but that makes him seem like a dick sometimes because of his knowledge.

Picky Piggy: I don't really have anything important to add to her, since I want to keep some of her lore a secret [might be revealed through the ask page I just set up for the AU on my page] HOWEVER she is the chef of the group and is literally the only one that can cook, if anybody else tried they'd all get food poisoning LMAO.

Here's some extra things in this AU that won't go in my other posts about this AU (maybe):

(So take notes if you want.)

- Catnap is redeemed, but it takes a VERY long time for him to get out of "old habits" as I'm going to word it. (Without spoiling too much of what I have planned.)

- I don't know what to plan for The Prototype yet but I'm talking with a couple of my mutuals on discord so maybe I'll figure it out eventually

- Dogday can normally stand and do other things because of the belts he has, however he can't put them on for too long (for like at max, more than 4 hours a day.) because they will wear into the plush, and he needs to put the belts on tight or they will come loose. He only uses such method when the group goes to hunt for food or similar activities, otherwise, he just uses a wheelchair when in the groups safe environment (the Playhouse!)

- This is going to be a shock to some people, but there is NO player character in this AU, not only is this a what if the Smiling Critters survived, but it's also a what if the player character never returned to Playtime Co.! This does come with some issues, like on how the asks are going to work, but trust me, I got everything taken care of when it comes to that!

- There also isn't really any shipping in this AU at all, I'm focusing on the story/friendship dynamics more than that, so if somehow you were looking for Dogday X Catnap this is, unfortunately not the place for that.

- This AU also has the personal interpretation of Dogday being part of the experiments some of the orphanage kids faced, as I don't really vibe with the idea that Dogday might be a Playtime Co. worker??? I don't know, I'm sticking with my idea for now but I will be keeping a close eye on canon if anything confirms or denies it, and I may adjust the AU accordingly if that's the case.

- Future posts may or may not contain other Poppy Playtime characters but the main focus is the Smiling Critters and The Prototype.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

References of Dogday and Catnap are already done but I may wait a bit on Tumblr to see how well this AU is being received :)

(I spent 6 hours on all references in total 😭😭😭)

[twisted-wonderland-shenanigans]

Hello! I've been kinda stalling sending this for absolutely no reason, but I'm gonna do it today because it's going to rot in my brain if I don't. Actually, maybe you've done this ask before? Idk, my brain is all scrambled up rn but I'm gonna ask this anyway cause why not

What would happen if Yuu got their period in the Kaiju!AU? How would the Kaiju react?

I can imagine Grim and Crowley freaking out, trying to figure out what's wrong with Yuu. And all the while, Yuu's like, "What are you guys doing? Hey, stop bombarding me! Personal space! What- why are you guys sniffing me!?" And since Yuu doesn't understand what they're saying, they can't answer them on why they smell like blood. Or it the scenario could work with any other of the Kaiju's, too

Wait, how would Yuu even get menstrual products anyway? Do they get them from Sam?? How would they even get those type of products from Sam??? Maybe he get some of them from that wreck of a lab from the beginning somehow? Idk, but I thought it'd be a fun idea

Yeah, this is all I have rn since my brain is cranked all the way up on slow mode today. I hope you have a good day and goodbye! (Oh, and this can be a gender neutral thing with Yuu just being AFAB)

WARNING: Menstrual cycle discussion under read more! Will be using they/them pronouns since gender neutral/AFAB was requested.

Oh goodness, being in the Kaiju AU is going to be a little more difficult for Yuu whether they’re female or AFAB. 😂 Between staying in Crewel’s den or at Crowley’s nest, it’s tricky to get the supplies that they need or communicate to the Kaiju that this stuff they’ve piled up is necessary. Given that Grim does understand what Yuu is saying though, he is able to help at least get that point across…when it suits him anyway (if Yuu makes even more of a fuss than usual, he’ll translate for the others).

I’ll go ahead and explain that—at first—Yuu had to get a bit creative with their monthly cycle once it actually hit. I’d imagine that their body might temporarily shut down that function due to the stress of their new environment, being surrounded by giant monsters that could literally level mountains with a swipe, and the near constant sense of impending doom—even if they’re safe with the guardian trio. This is good for Yuu as it gives them time to finally venture out of the den with Grim to explore the other facilities as it would take a while before they can get back to the original lab.

Luckily for Yuu, the closest facility—although abandoned—was still in good condition and had most of the supplies that they’ll need. In fact, this is where they found the music player that Grim thought was a chew toy! So imagine the sheer excitement and relief Yuu would have the moment they found not one, not two, but a whole crate full of pads, tampons, period cups, and even extra unopened packages of underwear!

You might be wondering why there was so much. Well, because there are female researchers on the teams and the island is not exactly in the most convenient of places, which means that getting supply drops are far and few. Especially when you have creatures that aren’t the Kaiju who can and will attempt to attack any vehicle that comes near the island. I’ll get a bit more detail on the island’s setup and whatnot, but that’s a bit of context on how Yuu is essentially set when it comes to non-perishable items that could be used for a comfortable existence on the island of behemoths!

Sam may have found a few crates of other supplies that had been washed up, but it’s not like he knows what they’re used for unless he observed the humans using the tools out in the field. Even so, Sam will know when Yuu needs something and will make sure to have them available on his next visit. How else did he know to bring a bed when Yuu wanted something comfortable to sleep on?

Now, as for how the Kaiju would react when Yuu finally starts their cycle. If you were expecting Crowley to be freaking out over Yuu’s health like he did in the Twisted Monsterland AU, you’d be mistaken. He does get flustered, but more like a “my tiny human is too young to mate!!!” sort of way while Crewel just sighs at his theatrics. They would be concerned to notice if Yuu’s cycle causes them a lot of pain and discomfort, but luckily the facilities have plenty of painkillers and antibiotics that are available—all that’s required is MIRA to access the appropriate amount needed to get Yuu through their current cycle!

Surprisingly, Grim becomes more protective over Yuu whenever they’re around the other Kaiju. Whenever he notices that they’re uncomfortable (whether they just took painkillers or they’re exhausted or some other feeling they get during this time), he will pick them up or curl around them to purr up a storm and hiss at whoever comes near too fast.

He’s swatted at the first years more than once. 😆

The other Kaiju boys would be confused as to what’s happening. Sure, they know about cycles on an instinctive level (and they understand what it means), they’re just more confused as to the frequency. Do humans not have specific mating seasons? Eventually it does get to the point where they know to be less rowdy when it’s that time of the month, either bringing Yuu their favorite treats or snacks that they managed to get (and once it became clear that one particular fruit tasted exactly like chocolate pudding to Yuu, it became a staple) or taking naps with them. Yuu is going to be one very comfortable human once they figure out a good rhythm to manage things!

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, but there's more than one way to survive in the wild, and with MIRA at Yuu's side, their chances of survival were better than they were before! UvU Also fun fact, there really is a fruit that tastes like chocolate pudding! 0v0

[unlocked-doors-verse]

Origins: Character Headcanons + Lore Thoughts

Good timezone!

So, here's some added development to the AU! Of course, Mystery Kids is still happening but again, I have a lot of prompts to get through

For starters, the readers are not immediately introduced to all of the characters at once; this will be split in about 4-5 one-shots (certain characters will meet the others beforehand and then do a big meet toward the end- that is all i'm going to say for now). Part 1 is actively being worked on - ft. a cross between Danny Phantom and Miraculous Ladybug, but for now- I plan on focusing with character headcanons and some additional lore elements everyone can be privy too!

On one hand, we have Danny Phantom and Miraculous Ladybug where we have Danny Fenton, Adrien Agreste, and Marinette Dupain-Cheng - and their initial first meeting during Secret Origins

Danny Phantom / Miraculous Ladybug Headcanons

~ Out of the trio, Danny is the oldest; Adrien and Marinette are the youngest (there's a year of difference between them and Danny) [author's cut: I based this on when the respective shows came out. Danny Phantom aired in the early 2000's with Miraculous Ladybug getting released sometime in 2014/2015]

~ This isn't spoilers per se, but there's going to be a case of mistaken identity when Danny meets Adrien and Mari for the first time. The rest is spoilers, and I will leave you to try and figure it out! The only thing I'm going to say is that ghosts aren't a common thing in Paris-

~ This is set in an ambiguous timeline- the only thing I will say for certain is that Phantom Planet has yet to happen. A lot of the current canon for Miraculous Ladybug has been completely disregarded- partially because I never got past... I'd say season five? (and what I've heard about the newer seasons sounds like entering the Twilight Zone-)

~ Danny is auDHD because it just makes sense- (he has dual special interests on space and inventions; not to mention his ghostly obsession)

~ Adrien and Mari are definitely some breed of neurodivergent (autistic! Adrien, at least and I thought Mari is ADHD or something- this is canon now you can't tell me I'm wrong /lh)

~ Danny and his family end up in Paris, France during the summer due to reasons

~ so far, no identity reveals beyond the obvious have happened. For Danny, it only applies to Sam and Tucker; in Miraculous Ladybug, Mari isn't willing to share her identity with Adrien (this is done on purpose as this is still early into the character introductions)

~ this is no way a spoiler, but Adrien and Danny are so going to bond over puns and jokes- (and other reasons but shhh)

~ unresolved traumas? oh, absolutely- like on one hand, you have Danny who has definitely been going through the burner with protecting his own identity not from his enemies but his parents; Mari definitely has a savior complex and is so set on saving everyone, she barely puts herself first- and Adrien, my sweet summer child- how do I explain what this kid is going through when it comes to Gabriel fucking Agreste? (author's cut: Gabriel is not a good parent lol- I'm not doing a full meta-analysis on him but he doesn't really have Adrien's best interests at heart)

~ Adrien does try to see the best in everyone, but he is wearing down from certain things- i am not going to sugarcoat things, because this is going to a different level of mature and Adrien does try and cover how he feels

Lore Thoughts + Elements

~ As mentioned before, ghosts are not a common thing within Paris. Danny would be an outlier in the equation because this isn't something the citizens have seen before, and it might take some time for them to adjust further into the first arc of the SQ AU

~ If this somehow isn't obvious, Akuma attacks do not occur inside Amity Park (as for one thing, Hawk Moth has never once stepped foot inside the city and for another- ghosts and Kwamis do not mix, it's just not possible)

~ however, citizens from Amity Park can be Akumatized should they leave or if, say, somehow- they were brought into the city but for now, do what you will with this information. Good luck

~ (implied plot elements) "In the purple smoke lies what you hold most dear; to undo what has been done, break the cycle and rewind the masked's design". (author's cut: i'm sure you can figure this one out, but honestly there is so much more coming, so keep an eye out!)

~ Secret Origins Lore / Teen Heroes AU (the name is still subject to change): as mentioned before, there will be about 4-5 one-shots before the main story releases- this may have a little bit of major plot arcs so read at your own discretion - due to the overlapping themes within the four fandoms, there are multiple sectors throughout the world that are specifically for the current growing number of teen superheroes (author's cut: the Dragon Council, for instance- among others, take with this what you will. of course there's more to come)

~ since this is only the first in the Secret Origins background- character introductions are fairly limited; and honestly, I was going to use one of the specials to push forth the lore but ultimately, I scrapped that version (but I could rewrite the version of events that could have happened: especially since I had tied it back to the New York special-) though the alternate version aside, going back to the introductions- the point is for the sectors to slowly become part of... well, let's just say that certain alliances within this piece are going to be only one part of what's to come-

(Author's Cut: As of right now, this project continues to remain a Work in Progress and of course, I'm trying to limit myself with the spoilers- currently the early stages of the Miraculous Ladybug x Danny Phantom fanfic are being worked on, and I am considering writing a small snippet of it! Without spoilers, of course!

You’re going to see a lot more for this and the Unlocked Doors AU soon. These poor kids are definitely going to through it.)

~ Mod Danny

[seyaryminamoto]

Fic-to-Art #25: A decade-long journey with Sokka and Azula

Yep. I can't believe it's been a full decade either, but here we are. Ten years later and it feels like it was yesterday, almost.

On this month on Patreon, I figured I'd just make a larger sort of tribute to my long journey as a fic writer. I've had ups and downs, big moments and small, but ultimately, that I've had the chance to be here for as many years as I have is certainly a privilege, and one I don't take for granted.

I've met lots of great people because of my participation in this fandom, particularly in the Sokkla community. I've honestly made some of the best friends I've ever known through the past ten years. I've graduated from university, I've grown in many ways as a person, artist and writer, something that kid right out of high school would have never imagined possible when she first set out on this journey with zero clue of how far it would take her, and how important this would be for her in the years to follow.

After all this time, it feels like the red string of fate from The Reason has woven itself through all my stories afterwards, resulting in a very curious relationship between all these stories and the one that started it all. I mean, technically it was OoPB that started everything X'D but The Reason is by far the flagship of that particular setting. I haven't even revisited those stories in forever, but I really am glad that I did it for this particular purpose.

Alright then, if you would like the specifics regarding which story is being referenced (in case you don't know), keep reading!

The Reason, the source of the red string that then spills down into the rest of the artworks!

Gladiator Part 1, the handshake that started it all.

It Had To Be You, their unintentional first date!

Gladiator Part 2... this is honestly just a general thematic Sokkla make-out session, which as we know they were very likely to do throughout Part 2 x'D

The Love Advisor, reading a book together for the first time.

The White Lotus International Games, their rejoicing after they rushed their finals to watch each other winning at their competitions.

Matching Heartbeats... I picked the Yakuza AU as a reference to this one because people really missed it this year. But DAMN did those tattoos kick my ass to kingdom come, most difficult part of this entire mini project x'D

Underneath Starlit Skies, I picked the final scene of the Happy Family prompt because I couldn't decide on a better scene from any of the other prompts that year hahaha.

Leap of Faith, here I chose my personal favorite story from this year, Toph matchmaking Sokka and Azula, with Sokka in his councilman outfit and Azula in her ambassador attire.

Gladiator Part 3... spoilersssssss!

Alas, it was crazy to work on a project like this one on relatively short notice and pull it off regardless. I did know I wanted to do something like this, should the chance arise, and it kinda did? So I'm really glad I could finish it, maybe not exactly on time (two days late actually), but still within this month, haha.

I really hope you guys enjoy this massive piece, thank you to everyone who has been supporting me for the last decade, whether those who have been here all along, those who have only come by my work recently, as well as those who come and go. That my stories have touched anyone's lives is a miracle to me, and one I won't ever stop cherishing.

Thank you for ten years of Sokka and Azula <3

(... and as ever, feel free to join my Patreon too if you would like to do so...)

[foliejpg]

oh yippie more asks:D

i have a lot :3

🍓🌵🥑🥤🌻🧃🧸🪐🍬🦷❄️🌿🏜️🍦🌸🎨🧩

you dont have to answer all of them but here you gooo

oh hell yes this is gonna be so fun <3

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction? 

i don't remember specifically how, but i know i first interacted with shipping on youtube in like 2007-08 back when you could comment on people's profiles and message other users, so i think i must have commented on some like.. pokeshipping amv and just struck up a convo before i followed some friends i made to ff.net and deviantart, and started writing on ff.net lol

🌵 ⇢ share the link to a playlist you love

so i don't use spotify, i'm an apple music girlie and i really only listen to my own playlist i made that is composed of all of my top 100 songs of the year going back to 2015 LMAO

🥑 ⇢ you accidentally killed somebody, which mutual(s) do you text for help?

@actuallyalaska she got me

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love

every writer i tagged yesterday!! all of whom take part of the @bandomthememonths go read all these great fics by these awesome writers<333

🌻 ⇢ tag someone you appreciate but don't talk to on a regular basis

@judasisgayriot your gifs are a godsend and i always love getting a comment from them <3

🧃 ⇢ share some personal lore you never posted about before

my name is short for guinevere lol

🧸 ⇢ what's the fastest way to become your mutual?

so i'm sort of picky abt my dash lol i try to stick to foblr so if you post mostly fob then i'll prob follow! i do a good scroll through to get the vibe, but if they post a lot of non fob stuff, i usually skip bc its just not for me but no hard feelings ever<3

🪐 ⇢ name three good things going on in your life right now

well i just bought a new (refurbished) computer for the first time in a few years, so that's exciting! i've recently started making embroidery patches and that's been a lot of fun lol idk i've just been having a good time<3 i'm doing a lot of home renovation projects so i'm excited to have a brand new kitchen soon lmao

🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

not a fandom character but as far as bandom goes, i don't really care for mcr and maybe that just has everything to do with that i'm really not familiar with lore/band mbrs etc., but danger days is the only mcr album i really connected with especially when i was 16-17 and its still one of my favorite albums, but i'm good on their other albums lol

🦷 ⇢ share some personal wisdom or a life hack you swear on

just be kind<3 ik that's super cheesy but i think its easy to forget that other ppl have feelings too and maybe just being nice to someone will make their day. also don't ever pay full price for anything if you can avoid it. generic brands are just as good as name brands

❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?

i have.. no idea honestly lmao

🌿 ⇢ give some advice on writer's block and low creativity

listen when i figure it out, i'll let you know lol when i'm stuck i eat an edible and stare at the wall until something comes to me

🏜️ ⇢ what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?

ANY AND ALL!!!! especially when they tell me a specific part they liked - even if its just a line makes my heart go bu-bump<3

🍦 ⇢ name three good things about a character you hate

genuinely i can't think of a character i hate, i really don't watch anything but like. seinfeld and its always sunny in philadelphia lmfao

🌸 ⇢ do you have any pets? if you do, post some pictures of them

this is my cat bear<3 she's ten years old and sleeps in a drawer in my desk while i work

🎨 ⇢ link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it

here and here and here and this nsfw fanart from my bubbline au these are all my absolute favorites <3

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

i answered this here but its super long so<3

[duck-in-a-thrift-store]

Room/character closeup #2 (going in order from most to least popular based on the poll)

~Eddie & Steve's room~

Edit bc I accidentally posted this before I meant to: spoilers ahead for my full house au, as can be expected

Did you notice the pattern on the rug bc it's important to me that you notice the pattern on the rug I spent a good bit of time searching for this one specific rug guys I'm serious about this. Is it incredibly dark humor? Yes. But it is humor nonetheless

Anyway

One of my first priorities/things I took into consideration when working on this room was that I didn't want it to be too bright or have any sort of potentially eyestrain-y patterns. Steve has suffered repeated head trauma and I wanted his room to be a safe space where he doesn't have to worry about triggering a migraine or fucking with his vision or getting dizzy just from his surroundings. Hence why they have a darker, more subdued palette than most of the other rooms (which I guess you don't know yet since this is only the second one I've shown you but just trust me on this)

Beyond that, I admittedly had a pretty difficult time trying to figure out what I could do that I felt like both Steve and Eddie would vibe with decor-wise while still being a cohesive theme

Didn't want it to lean too far either way into metalhead freak or preppy golden boy territory, and besides I do think Steve's whole aesthetic isn't entirely his own and is at least partly influenced by the expectations placed on him, so I tried to go for a fairly neutral sort of vibe here

For some reason I settled on some blue jean lookin ass wallpaper, a rug patterned with the our-dimension-version of the critters that very nearly took their lives, and a few choice items to put on the walls

First off, the ship painting

This was sort of an unexpected last minute addition, partially bc I thought it looked nice with the rest of the room and partially as a character reflection

I wholeheartedly believe that Eddie Munson would fucking love anything pirate related, he probably was a pirate for Halloween at least once growing up, and he just thinks sailing ships are super cool. Plus the painting just felt like it would appeal to a fantasy nerd lol (it reminded me of the chronicles of Narnia actually but that's not really important)

And as for Steve, at least in this au but I know I'm not the only one who thinks so, he really likes water. Being in it, on it, around it- he likes swimming (refer back to his noted complicated feelings about the pool from my basement post), he likes the beach, he likes the ocean, and he likes sailing. He hasn't been many times but I'd totally buy the Harringtons having been on a yacht or some shit at one point or another. This character note may or may not be related to both his job at scoops ahoy* and him being on the swim team in high school, which is one of those things that at this point I honestly don't know if it was at all canon or if it's just one of those headcanons that become so popular in fandom that it feels that way, and at this point I can't be bothered to fact check it

*I think either he had a prior interest in sailing-related stuff and that was part of what initially drew him to that job specifically, or that working there sparked an interest which only grew with time, like maybe some of the silly slogans and terms used in ice cream flavors and maybe even the uniform stirred his curiosity/memories of going out on the water with his folks during the summers before they decided he was old enough to be left home alone for weeks at a time, and he started looking into actual sailing and found out he really liked it. (He can't stand the uniforms now though bc they trigger traumatic flashbacks, for both him and Robin)

Next, the bass/electric guitar on the wall, which I feel is pretty self explanatory honestly. It's Eddie's (although he does offer to teach Steve how to play- haven't decided yet whether Steve takes him up on that)

And then there's the horses (photo? painting?)

This is where the whole "horse girl eddie munson" thing came from; the whole idea was initially born of me trying to decide what I could put on their wall, liking this poster and asking myself if Steve and Eddie struck me as people who were into horses. As it turns out the answer was "hell yeah" and it spiraled into an entire fic idea of its own, which can be found here. As for this au, the background of them both having a "horse girl" phase/being into the idea of cowboys is still a thing, but obviously it doesn't progress the same way as that did (steddie cowboys my beloved but these particular multiverse variants are stuck playing house with their traumatized found family and slowly realizing that they actually enjoy co-parenting >:3 and this way everyone gets to stay together)

Also, speaking of the steddie cowboys thing this inspired, Eddie is trans in the full house au but Steve is a cis man (unlike in the other au). However Steve does have some gender moments here and there, like the kids "jokingly" calling him mom and him lowkey vibing with it (oh no I'm already doubting my ability to stick to the Steve being cis plan- bigender Steve agenda where did you come from??)

But yeah basically both of them are secretly horse nerds lol and that's something they discover while they're arguing over how to decorate (aka when they agree on this poster) and end up bonding over

And now for a note about their placement in the house (specifically who they share a floor with)

I've already explained that/why I wanted them on the same floor as Dustin Lucas & Erica, although I don't think I mentioned that Lucas and Steve are really close in this au* and it goes without saying that Dustin is super close with both of them

*it just feels right to me; also Steve was the only one of his friends to come watch his basketball game and Steve did chew Eddie out about that whole situation at some point but by now everyone is pretty much on good terms

Sometimes when any of the kids- but especially any of those three- have bad nightmares or can't sleep, they bunker down in Eddie & Steve's room,* the door of which is always open (metaphorically that is, but once they start dating... well let's just say the kids better knock or they're going to have yet another reason to be scarred for life lmao)

*some may think they're too old for stuff like this but I say- fuck that. A major theme of this au is acknowledgement of how these guys have had a large portion of their childhood stolen from them and the people around them are working to help them get it back, to let them just be kids and to make them feel safer than they have in a long time, so they're allowed to be "childish" and that's going to play a part in many of the events and details of this au. The same goes for the older guys too btw; like with this example specifically if Robin or Steve is the one waking up from a nightmare they find the other and both crash on the couch together for the night. You're never too old to seek comfort from your loved ones

[shifuto]

when I had this idea, a lot more came out and I figured I should write so I don't forget 😆

did not intend to make their relationship even more convoluted but here we are, that's the gist of it:

Yuma is still in love with Astral and Ryoga (although it happened later for the latter) but fell for III after he came onto him Astral is still in love with Yuma but came to love Ryoga after some unforeseen events. He has no desire to pursue anything with Yuma anymore III is in love with Yuma and knows he loves him and the other 2 too. He took advantage of Astral's departure to make his advances on Yuma Ryoga is still in love with Yuma and came to love Astral as he processed his (their) heartbreak. He doesn't want Yuma anymore either Yuma is full of regrets (for letting Astral go and for not noticing Ryoga's feelings). III feels guilt for ''causing'' most these issues for them all. Astral was aware his decision to go away would affect his bond with Yuma but it was something he had to do to acquire his personhood. Ryoga is bothered by the fact that he can't control his feelings, because he did not wish for a hopeless love (he would never be able to "compete" against Astral or III, in order to capture Yuma's heart)

I really like the idea of them actually still being in love even though they do not end up together (and eventually have that shift into something more platonic or familial, instead of romantic)

I also like the idea that III felt like the cataclysm that caused all that tragedy - when it was actually Astral (if we go that route and "blame" someone), by deciding to stay in Astral World and away from Yuma and the others

it takes them all a while to actually feel happy in their respective relationships, due to the shadow of rejection, heartbreak, guilt and more

of course, I could take the polyamory route but it doesn't have a place in this post-series (future AU) headcanon of mine, so I don't go there

with that said..

perhaps, I'd consider Astral the major cataclysm here after all, and the one who changes the most from all 4 (really hard to navigate considering I want to stick to the canon as much as possible so there's always the fear he'll be too out-of-character and become unrecognizable.......but I guess I've been doing a good work at keeping him as himself in essence)

he and Yuma did not become "Zexal" completely in the end. Yuma was his full "human" self already, while Astral was still stuck with being a "weapon". I like to believe that his changes were more than psychological ones, and that he did end up capable of becoming his own person, much like Yuma

one could argue that Astral was always his own person, or a person at all, while I think he was treated mostly like a tool by Astral World and Yuma alike (albeit not explicitly, obvious). His constitution and alien-like appearance and mannerisms didn't really help, did they?

I flirted with the idea of Ryoga being the agent of that huge change, but ultimately decided that it would be something for Astral to experience on his own - think "rite of passage," for example

why it happened, how it happened I'm still figuring it out but what really matters is that, once acquiring his "personhood", Astral changes. It's nothing too separated from who he is but it's definitely very different (much like manga Astral feels like a completely different character while still being.... Astral)

so.. this changed Astral most probably outgrew Yuma, and that feels like a sufficient enough explanation as to why they do not end up together. With that crack in their bond, they grow apart as romantic love is not anymore possible, thus leaving space for III and Ryoga

...

will likely go back to this again and again while this headcanon takes form. I look forward to see where this will go!

also leaving these here so I can refer back to them (and also these to some degree)

[masterqwertster]

🏴‍☠️ because Bells hells looked like they enjoyed their little pirate visit

Prompt I was kind of hoping someone would ask for pirates because I've been having thoughts about a "pirates" AU since I did the hint of one as part of Ashton's alternate dreams in this prompt. So here's the intro to:

🏴‍☠️High Seas Hells AU

Bells Hells has a boat and good luck getting them off of it.

The Ship:

Called The Hellion

Not a particularly outstanding boat at first glance, but quite serviceable

Special features include: the Captain's Cabin being converted into a terrarium (yes that's actual soil and rocks coating the floor that the plants are growing in), cozy macabre decor, far too much carved detailing all over the ship, scorch marks in unusual places, and a suspiciously large amount of knitted blankets for use

Most commonly runs shipments or people travelling in or into the Shattered Teeth. But is easy enough to convince to make port in Tal'Dorei or Marquet. Issylra and Wildemount are much harder sells

The Crew:

Imogen is the captain. Mostly because she's the best at being the group Face. Though knocking down other ships' masts with Lightning Bolt definitely helps too

Orym is the First Mate and Look Out. A calm head to take command when/where Imogen can't and that small god Perception put to work

Ashton is the Navigator. Titan blood is useful for communicating with eidolons and getting them to help out by commanding wave and wind. Being Ka'Mort's heir grants even greater boons in the Shattered Teeth, like being able to sense the islands' locations

Laudna is the Bosun. She loves a project, and keeping the ship in ship shape makes her happy

Chetney is the Carpenter. No brainer there. He does add detailing around the ship when he gets bored

FCG is a Ship Medic and sometimes Chef. They want to be a therapist, but they're still sorting themself out and learning from Jirana whenever The Hellion stops by Slival

Dorian is the back-up Navigator and bard. He's still figuring out how to get the eidolons to listen to him consistently (it works best when he's confident and not an anxious mess) and doesn't have the supernatural edge Ashton possesses, but he can get the job done

FRIDA is the Sharpshooter. As the only one to use a gun (or really any kind of ranged weapon regularly), it had to go to them

Dianna is the Chef and a Ship Medic. She's ship momma. And they make extra money selling her knitting at ports

Prism is the Ship Wizard. They didn't mean to acquire Prism, but she's very happy to stay aboard and actually get to use magic to help out. And steal books and magic scrolls when they get to port

Milo is the Gunnery Chief. Kinda. Mostly they just get to tinker where the cannons go since The Hellion is so full of magic users it basically doesn't need defense cannons. Not that Milo isn't kind of interested in making magic defense cannons

Story Bits:

Ashton never meant to go to sea. Jianna sold his debt/him off pretty quickly to a ship captain out of the Menagerie Coast area who believed that a genasi's connection to the elements would act as a good luck charm for their ship against the wind and seas. Wouldn't you know they got the one genasi where that is actually true, and absolutely false. Eidolons are eager to answer the call of Titan's blood, but considering how distressed Ashton is being earth at sea, they're not being helpful. Not until the captain gets mean about it to Ashton, forcing him to learn to actually command the eidolons or be tossed overboard

FCG is brought aboard Mean Captain's ship as loot. They find the idea of an automaton (sort of) trying to be a person novel and funny. Ashton sees a fellow prisoner trapped aboard and takes him under their wing

Imogen and Laudna still meet in Gelvaan and leave it together. But they head down to the cost this time, and book passage on a ship instead of going over land.

Guess which ship

Imogen and Laudna find out about Ashton and Fresh Cut Grass's horrible situations and end up staging a mutiny.

...Which turns into more of a massacre of most of Mean Captain's crew. Two witches on a mission and one very angry Titan blood unleashed is a lot to contend with. Especially when the little robit is keeping their health up

The ship ends up under new ownership and in need of a new crew because like hell are they trusting the survivors of the old one.

Enter the rest of Bells Hells. And Milo once they sail back/to an Oderean Wilds port and depart for a quick collection trip to Jrusar

Dianna and FRIDA are acquired later when they happen to make port at the same beach town that Chetney had his fling with her at while she's bringing FRIDA there just to see the place

Prism was sent to do a survey for the Cobalt Soul at the Emon docks and ended up accidentally stowed away on The Hellion when they had to make a fast getaway. She thinks it's one of the better decisions she's made in her life

I think the fun/interesting way for the crew of The Hellion to get involved in Moon Shit is that Liliana needs to hire a ship quick for Potion of Possibility smuggling and ends up hiring The Hellion. Where she finds her daughter is the captain.

So ensues a voyage of Liliana trying to convince her daughter to go back home to Gelvaan where she'll be safe, Imogen being pissed that her mom shows up now and isn't listening to her or respecting that she's a grown-ass woman, and everyone else offering to kill Liliana the moment Imogen says 'go'

[marinerainbow]

Hey! So while I was reading your Popshine/JessicaxRoger Switcheroo AU I was listening to that Steven Universe Song- Its Over Isn't It (And just a precurser- i havent seen this show i just like the song and am just taking context clues from it). And I've been stewing on it since, and can't stop thinking about a Shiny x Poppy x Psycho love triangle with this plot! Lots of angst ahead, I warn you 😅

Like, imagine both Psycho and Shiny are in love with Poppy and she cares deeply for the both of them too. Shiny can make a joke of this, playfully argue with Psycho any time he's around and bother him as much as she can- because she doesnt think she'll actually lose Pops to him but his presence does annoy her. Her heart is, inevitably, broken when in the end Poppy chooses him.

I was fine with the men-

Who come into her life now and again.

I was fine, cuz I knew,

That they didn't really matter until you.

I was fine when you came, and we fought like it was all some silly game.

Over her- who she's choose-

After all those years, I never thought I'd lose.

Poppy and Psycho then have the twins, and Shiny fades into the background (as much as she can, I mean. Poppy still loves her and wants to be friends of course)- until Poppy dies. I'm not sure how, considering she is a toon of course, but it was definitely tragic.

Now Shiny has to help Psycho take care of the twins because he can't do it alone (She certainly knows it), and she needs to keep the last bit of Poppy left over, safe.

Of course you're welcome to ignore this if you want! Just thought I should tell you since it's about your OC's 😅

AWSTTHJOLNJTESDU7JHTEDF ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME CRY!?!? WELL YOU SUCCEEDED-

Ok ok ok. Before I get into my response to this, I've got some headcannons for this little AU. So. Poppy is dead. Psycho is not only mourning the sudden loss of his wife, but he's also a father now. He's got two kids he has to figure out how to raise through the depression. This would be hard on anybody. But on someone as mentally unstable as Psycho?? Holy. Shit. He's gonna need a lot of help. Shiny knows this, and although she and Psycho aren't friends thanks to their little love rivalry (I like to imagine she and Psycho could get along on their own. Maybe not be best friends, but it's Shiny's whole damn job description to get along with everyone she meets. If they didn't love the same woman, she could have made an acquaintance with Psycho work), she steps in whenever she can. Being more than just the Godmother Poppy asked her to be for the kids; at this point, the twins are practically her own, too. And she's the closest they have to a mother figure in their lives.

In fact, I think in this storyline, Shiny would have offered to take Psycho's position in the Toon Patrol. Those kids need a parent who won't get pulled away because of a new job. Or could easily be killed on said job either. And Psycho needs to be able to focus on his children full time now that it's just the three of them. Sure, if he does die too, the twins will be under her care, but Shiny isn't going to deprive them of the father they need now. Not to mention that this is around the 60's-70's; burlesque clubs aren't very popular now. Not as much as they were in her time anyway. Shiny needs a new job. And hey, she already had one foot in the criminal life with her moonshine business. Why not kill two birds with one stone? (Sometimes Psycho does have to get called for a job that only he can do, though he is still mostly a stay at home dad.)

So to the twins in this storyline, Shiny is not just their cool aunt. She's involved in so much of their lives. Going to school functions with Psycho to support all three of them, celebrating holidays all the time with them, and just generally making sure he doesn't screw up as a dad. She and Psycho here don't necassarily like each other, but she's short of moving in with them from becoming a complete member of their household. It's partially due to her legal status as a godmother, and she herself has grown an attachment to Poppy's children. And it hurts her so much more because this is the family of the woman she loved, and the other man.

Because she's trying her best to be the stability this family needs, Shiny never got to really mourn Poppy's death and, as such, hasn't been able to truly move on. She feels like she can't truly talk about her position about this to anyone since she has to be strong for the kids. But eventually, bottled emotions have to come out one way or another. Why not let them come out in song?

Also, after our convo, I'm making widower gardener Psycho canon in this AU :)

Warnings for: past character death, angst, plenty of cursing, a lot of crying. Also emotional singing (I don't care if it may come out as cringy- if I can't animatic Shiny singing this song, then I'm gonna write it!)

~

January 2, 1973

"Goodnight, Shiny."

"G'night, you little rascals. Don't forget to bite the bed bugs back for me!"

The two children giggled, Percival letting out a "That's gross!" around his laughter, before their father gently nose nudged them both towards the hallway. The twins gave him and their godmother one final hug before making their way to the back of the house to do as they were silently told how they could behave so well despite being raised by two hooligans, Shiny had no clue. It must be Poppy's influence. Usually Psycho didn't pay much mind to bedtimes, though it was late on an already long day. They all needed rest...

The grin on Shiny's face finally fell, only after Psycho glanced briefly towards her- telling the old dancer in his own way to go home now, before following his children. Now it was just her alone standing in the seemingly empty living room. It had been a long day for them all. Especially for the kids...

'Another birthday come and gone...'

visiting the grave of a woman that they didn't even know, but were supposed to. That would be scary and thought-provoking for anybody. No matter how old or young they were. Who knew what kind of shit was going through Penny and Percy's heads whenever they saw their mothers name on a tombstone?

But at least, they had as good of a support system they could get. All Penny and Percy needed to worry about now was what story their father would tell them tonight, and how many sheep they'd have to count to fall asleep. But they were getting older, too. And someday, they would lose the innocence that came with childhood...

Shiny's fists clenched, and an ugly frown tugged at her lips, choosing to glare at the floorboards as if they somehow spoke ill about her. Every year, this day was so damn hard for her. At least on the twins' birthday, she could distract herself with Penny and Percy's happy demeanor and what the day is supposed to be about. But on Poppy's birthday, all anybody could think of was how their friend was no longer with them to celebrate with.

The weasel woman growled a little before silently storming towards the front door, trying so hard to ignore the pain in her heart. She had to leave and go home anyway, but she also needed some fresh air. It was the only thing that could help her now- or at least that was what she could hope.

The former dancer's paw hovered over the doorknob in hesitation when she heard the familiar pitter patter of rain drops hitting the roof. Before she even stepped outside, 'Of course. Of course, it's going to be raining tonight.' If she were religious, she would have taken this as a sign that even the universe was sorrowful on this day. didn't bother with thoughts like that. They brought no reassurance or comfort to her despite so many people telling her it would.

Shiny just barely managed to not slam the door behind her before sinking down onto the porch steps. The night air was chilly, causing the rain to feel ice cold on her skin, not that Shiny cared at the moment. And the lamp across the street had gone out again. Shiny hadn't bothered turning on the porch light; it would just draw more attention towards her. More so than a wrech sitting on someone else's porch in the rain in the middle of the neighborhood would. At least the people around here knew to mind their own business.

That was one of the things Poppy liked about this place when they went house hunting; it was a valuable perk for anybody married to unlawful citizens. The perk for Shiny was that her house was just a few blocks away, and she could have visited Poppy and the kids more often...

"Fuck!" She roughly rubbed her eyes, trying desperately to get rid of the now familiar stinging before the floodgates started. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck. Why? Why? Why did it have to be so damn hard just to think of that woman's name? To think about a future that would never be reality now? She knew why, but why!?

Shiny sucked in a long, overdue breath and heaved it out before slumping over in defeat. Her elbows were resting on her knees, but they hardly supported her it felt like, as she hung her head. If she closed her eyes, she knew that Poppy's grave would be all that she'd see, so Shiny settled for just staring into the wet, muddy ground. Her voice was so soft, so fragile, she would have wondered if she actually said anything if she wasn't focusing on other things, "Why did it have to be you?"

God. So much had changed over the years. It was hard to believe they all had come this far. How much they all had changed. Sure, Smartass still had his gang, and the rest of the boys were still in it. But everything was different. And it wasn't just Psycho becoming a father and widower. She was different...

So much had changed. Nothing was the same. Or ever will be again... She couldn't even remember the last time she sang. Singing and dancing used to be one of Shiny's favorite forms of expression; it had been more than just a way to make money to her. But there wasn't a need for it now. She worked in the night under a very different career now. What point was there in singing anymore?

Shiny ran a paw through her hair it had grown longer over the years. She simply hadn't bothered to cut it anymore. She couldn't see the point in it nowadays before tilting her head to the left to look at the poppies lining the house. She was careful, despite her broiling emotions and shaky paw, when she reached towards the one closest to her and grazed her fingers over the petals. It was actually Percy's idea to plant the poppy flowers, 'so mom can be home' he had said. Just more proof that the little kit thought about things a lot more than kids his age should. Of course, planting your mothers namesake to try to keep her close wasn't how it worked, but who would care? Certainly not his father. Or her.

'You always loved my singing.' The thought wormed its way into Shiny's head before she could stop it. But now that it was there, she just... Couldn't fathom the energy to force it away. Not while she was out here alone, on her sweethearts birthday, with the cold rain and breeze as her band for the night, 'And I loved to sing for you... I'd give anything to sing for you again...'

But Poppy wasn't there to hear her sing anymore. It was no longer the same. Shiny had always thought that she sang for herself, which was partially true. But she found out the hard way too that she also needed someone to offer her voice to- something to sing about. But what?

...

"I was fine... With the men... Who would come into her life now and again..." It had been years since she had found it in herself to sing anything. Let alone whatever was on her mind. She somehow already knew what she was going to sing about before the words even left her lips, but right now, she couldn't care less, "I was fine... Cause I knew, that they didn't really matter... Until you." Her eyes narrowed into a spiteful glare, as she thought about that damn weasel inside the house now. She wanted to think of him as a homewrecker in all honesty. Though how could she when Poppy had never loved her the she had hoped she would?

A shaky breath, to try to calm her raging nerves. It was futile, but it was either try or just go all out and bat shit crazy in the rain. Shiny focused back on the flower, thinking back to all the stupid things Psycho and Shiny used to do to compete, "I was fine. When you came, and we fought like it was all some silly game... Over her."

Another crack in her voice. Another breath, "Who'd she choose..."

Shutting her eyes tightly, Shiny managed to tear her gaze away from the flower bed and lift her chin towards the cloudy night sky. Though it wasn't in pride, "After all those years, I never thought I'd lose..."

"It's over, isn't it?" It was, wasn't it? "Isn't it?" Now that she was never coming back, "Isn't it over?" After leaving behind so much, "You won. And she chose you. And she loved you. And she's gone..."

Only one thought crossed her mind as a droplet that wasn't from the current weather slipped down her cheek; if their silly little game was over now... "It's over, isn't it? Why can't I move on?"

~

Penelope felt restless, sitting upright in her bed and watching the rain pattering against her window intently, rather than laying down and trying to sleep. She always loved the rain. As long as she could remember. She especially loved it when it was a heavy downpour.

Though she was scared that mom's poppies would get ruined. Thankfully, dad was already on it, and had left real quick to make sure the garden had shelter for the night, "Percy?"

She didn't look her brothers way, but she could still hear the sleepy muddle in his voice. She didn't know how he was able to hunker diwn to bed so quickly, "Yeah?"

"Do you think mom liked the rain too?" Dad and unkle Wheezy had mentioned that their mother wasn't too fond of thunder a few times, but thunder and lightning were different... Maybe she had something in common with mom.

Finally tearing her gaze away from the window, Penelope looked over to the other side of the room, where Percival, in his own bed, was. The little weasel rubbed his eyes and blinked them into focus before he shrugged, "Maybe... Dad likes the rain, and they did a lot together. So she probably did."

"Yeah. That's right..."

Penny nodded, though Percival noticed how she looked to be frowning. He sighed, knowing exactly what she was thinking. It was something they both thought about, especially on days like this. How everyone they knew got to know their mother... Except each other.

Wordlessly, the kit crawled out of his bed and walked over to his sisters side of the room. He did hop on the bed with her, but he did reach over to hug her, which she returned silently. Neither of them spoke a word. They were young, but they still knew each other best.

"... I'm gonna get a glass of water." Penny decided after a moment, pulling away from the sibling embrace and sliding off of her bed easily. Percy decided to follow her. It sounded like they could use a drink- as their unkle Smarty would say.

The trip to the kitchen was relatively short. It wasn't even too bad when they had to get creative to reach the glasses in the cupboard; usually, dad got the cups down for them, but he wasn't around. So Penny just climbed onto the counter like she had seen dad do sometimes and passed down her brother the cups. They had done this trick a lot, much to their family's detriment.

Percival could only hear the rain pouring down onto the roof. Though he was reminded that he wasn't the twin that inherited their mothers hearing when Penelopes ears twitched and tilted towards a direction. He followed confusedly after her when she started walking towards the front door, "What is it?"

The rabbit child's ears were pointed toward the door, before her bright blue eyes widened, and she hopped onto the couch closest to the front window. Percy followed suit, searching for whatever it was that she heard. When he saw the familiar figure sitting on the porch, his eyebrows shot up to his forehead, "Shiny?"

"She was supposed to go home, right?"

The two shared a look. Silently asking the other the same question; listen? Or go back to bed?

...

In that secret language only siblings could understand, the two agree to creep back towards the front door and crack it open. Just a tad; not enough for Shiny to hear them, buy enough for them to listen to what she was saying.

Or rather, singing, "Shiny can sing??"

"Shh!"

Lucky for the twins, the rain was loud enough in Shiny's ears to block out any other sound. Honestly it was a wonder she hadn't gone deaf from countless night in the past dancing along loud bands... Her heart ache might have had a hand in her lack of focus now, too.

The weasel gritted her teeth and tugged at some hair strands- which was getting wetter by the minute. Including her clothes and fur. But she just couldn't give a damn now. Besides, it allowed her to pretend that the tears streaming down her cheeks were just raindrops, "Who am I now in this world without her!? Petty and dull with the nerve to doubt her..."

Poppy was always naive; she always wanted and hoped for the best in this wretched world. But that didn't mean she was dumb. Poppy had faced her own suffering in her life, and she always looked out for the people around her, no matter how awful they truly were. The way she treated her criminal friends, how she treated her, was proof of that. Shiny knew that she could always trust the rabbit because of it. And that was what made Poppy stand out to her out of everyone in her life, and what she had loved the most about her.

But nowadays... She still loved Poppy, and she loved the twins. But sometimes, Shiny wondered what would have happened if she had tried to discourage Poppy from more of the choices she had made. Would it have been worth being more controlling if it meant Poppy would be alive now?

The singer shook her head at that, knowing in her heart that that kind of thinking was wrong. Besides, it's not like it would change anything, so what was the point? "What does it matter? It's already done. Now I've got to be there for her kin..."

From the front door, Penny and Perry couldn't believe their ears, and even shared a look. As if they had to verify with the other that what they were hearing was really real. Their aunt had always told them that she and their mother were close, but she never said anything about this. She never looked this sorrowful talking about their mom. She was always so cheery and strong; had she been hiding this from them all along? "Percy...?"

Their shared thoughts stopped in their tracks when Percy noticed Shiny standing up from the porch, and quickly gestured to his sister. The kits ducked behind the door, just in case she had planned on going back inside, or was about to glance behind her. They stayed there, holding their breaths, until they heard their godmother's voice again. Louder, almost yelling, and more strained this time. Like she was cracking under the weight of what she said next, "It's over, isn't it!? Isn't it!? Isn't it over!?"

They both flinched from their hiding spots, feeling the pain that Shiny carried through her voice. They slowly peeked back outside once they deemed it safe, and could see Shiny now stood up from the porch and off the steps, standing fully in the pouring rain now. It was hard to see with how dark it was, but it looked like she was trembling even. All Penny and Percy could do was continue to listen. It was all they knew what to do now.

The weasel felt like she was going to crack under the weight of all her pent-up emotions. Her breath huffing out all shaky and fists clenched so tight by her sides. She felt so weak right now, on her own, but all she wanted was to scream and shout and punch a pillow. Or better yet, a wall. Her vision felt blurry, and not just because of the tears in her eyes, and she wasn't even thinking about all of the painful memories like before. Right now, even though it felt so hard to do, all she could do was take in one long breath, and scream into the sky with all the heartbreak that she had pushed down all these years, "You won, and she chose you! And she loved you! Now she's gone!"

...

That's it. There was no turning back now. She couldn't take it back now. Or fault the ears of anyone who may have been listening. Blinking away raindrops and tears, as if that final scream had taken her voice, all Shiny could manage now was a soft, pained tune, "It's over, isn't it? Why can't I move on...?"

Quiet sobs escaped her lips as her head fell, now staring at the muddy ground. Her shoulders shook with her crying, but that didn't stop her from wrapping her arms around herself, trying to find some way to find warmth and comfort now, "It's over, isn't it? Why can't I move on?"

Letting out everything she had locked away didn't help in the slightest; all it left was cold emptiness. At least, that's what it felt like now. At least no one was here to see her like this...

"Shiny?"

Her eyes grew wide, and a gasp escaped her before she whipped back around towards the doorway. Seeing the two she had hoped would never see this side of her was bad enough, but seeing the utter confusion and worry on the twins' faces, worry they shouldn't have to feel for her, made her heart sink even further than it had. How much did they hear? "O-Oh! Hey, guys... Shouldn't you be asleep...?"

Usually, the kids would have some witty excuse, or at least what they thought was clever, and act innocent. It would make Shiny laugh every time before she called them out on their mischief and sent them back on the right path- doing whatever it was they were supposed to be doing. But now? Stepping fully outside and onto the porch in their pajamas, Penny and Percy didn't answer her. At least not with words. Though the many questions that they didn't ask- or didn't even know where to start- were clear as day in their wide, sad eyes.

They heard it all. Or at least enough. Enough where she couldn't make up a lie to distract them. Not that that would have stopped them. They were persistent little kits.

And now, because she couldn't keep a damn lid on herself, wasn't strong enough to keep it together, Shiny had no choice but to reveal the complete truth, "... I... Kids, I..."

But where does one even start?

~

I really wanted to add Psycho's reaction as well. But I couldn't figure out how to write it in while making it flow with the story. I'm kinda afraid that adding the twins in this already jumbled the flow of the drabble a bit- but I haven't written them yet, and wanted to try 😅

He is in the backyard, so I don't know if he could even hear her sorrow... Though maybe he came back inside last minute?

But anyways! I hope you like this answer, and I apologize for taking so long XD let me know what you think! ^^

[captainsjack]

📓 describe a fic any fic. mayhaps something mi??

hngngg ok ok this is so hard to just pick one, but the one i'm currently most thinking about (and have written a total of 0%) is my fake death au!

so basically, it takes place around the same time as fallout, sort of in place of it. and benji and ethan have been dating for a while (idk how long maybe a year or two). it's all ethan pov btw. and one day benji goes to the grocery store and ethan's at home cooking dinner and he's waiting for benji to come back. but then he gets a call from the hospital saying benji's been in a crash and he needs to come down there. except when ethan gets there they tell him benji was pronounced dead on the scene and there wasn't anything they could do.

so like ethan goes back home to this cold, half-cooked dinner and is completely numb. he isolates himself and lays in bed and just. barely exists for a few days before luther & brandt come over looking for him and benji bc they haven't been at work for a while. and they find ethan in bed, barely moving, and eventually he tells them that benji died. ("where's benji?" "the crematorium. i'm supposed to pick him up on tuesday.")

(i forgot to mention that after these first few days, ethan takes a ring from benji's laptop case and puts it on. benji was going to propose to him. he hadn't yet, and he didn't know ethan knew he was going to, but ethan had figured it out weeks ago and was forcing himself to wait for benji to actually propose and not just say yes the moment he figured it out. only now, benji will never get the chance. and so ethan puts on the ring in an attempt to tell benji yes, yes of course he wants to marry him, it's the only thing he's ever wanted, even though benji isn't there to hear him say yes).

then basically like yeah. it's just about ethan going through the stages of grief (i was thinking maybe a chapter per stage??). luther, brandt, & ilsa plan the funeral and take care of ethan because he's not himself. ethan refuses to write the eulogy and luther has to beg him to because this is benji, and it shouldn't come from anyone else. eventually ethan agrees, but he isn't actually able to write anything other than 'benji' at the top of the paper and nothing else. there's the funeral. ethan speaks last. he gets up to the podium and stares at the almost blank sheet of paper. he looks out at the crowd for a few moments, and then just walks away. he leaves. drives for days, weeks, out to california. stops in random safe houses and lives there sometimes. he ditches his phone and all communication. goes through the anger and bargaining stages until he gets to california. gets an apartment there. sends all his stuff over from dc but can't unpack any of it because it's all benji's too. so he lives in this empty apartment full of boxes and can't even sleep in the bed because it's the bed he shared with benji. he slips into this deep deep depression, and it's not until like 6 months later that he actually speaks to another human being because luther shows up at his door one night. ("i've already lost one friend. i didn't think i was going to lose two.")

and so luther stays. for months. ethan's not receptive at first, but luther takes care of him and gets him into therapy, and, slowly, ethan gets better. he feels sort of alive again. luther eventually moves out and into his own apartment a few blocks away from ethan. on the one year anniversary of benji's death, ethan visits his grave for the first time. (he and luther fly back to dc for a visit. ethan sees ilsa and brandt for the first time in a year too).

then ethan finally reaches acceptance and has to learn how to live his life without benji. about two years in, ethan goes back to the imf, but stays located in california. he still can't go back to dc for more than a few days because each place there holds too many memories of benji. luther retired when benji died, and he still lives in california with ethan. ilsa and brandt visit them frequently. ethan visits benji each anniversary of his passing. he still wears the ring.

then it's almost four years since benji died. ethan's called on a mission. they're tracking down the last group of the apostles. when ethan infiltrates their base, he comes face to face with none other than benji. (i have this really cool scene in my head where the apostles attack ethan and hold him captive for a hot sec and tell benji to kill him and get rid of him. and ethan thinks he's gonna do it but then six shots fire and all the apostles drop dead and it's just him and benji left standing there. benji had saved him and ethan doesn't know why. then ethan comes at him and attacks him and yells at him to take of the mask ("take it off." "take what off?" "your mask. take it off right now. and if you ever use that face again, i swear i will kill you."). and benji has to convince ethan that it's really him, he's here, alive, and not someone else wearing benji as a mask. ethan only believes him when he slices benji's cheek with a knife and he bleeds, pure and true, with no layer of mask against his skin.)

then ethan's so overwhelmed that benji's here and alive and there's still a mission to focus on and he doesn't even know how to process this. benji tells him they need to go, because there's more of them downstairs, and so ethan and benji take care of the rest of the apostles and then the mission's over and benji comes back with ethan and his team.

and this is already so long djfkjjd i didn't mean to go into so much detail, but basically then ethan has to reach acceptance all over again, has to accept the fact that the past four years of his life weren't even real and he had to go through all of that for nothing. (benji tells him it wasn't for nothing, because it kept ethan alive. the apostles had kidnapped him and told him that if he didn't come work with them, that ethan would die, and benji tried to think of any way to get out of it but couldn't. so he had followed their instructions and faked his death and become a part of their group. ethan was safe and that's all that had mattered) (“leaving you was the hardest thing i have ever had to do. but i would do it again in a heartbeat, knowing it saved your life.” “it didn’t.”)

so then benji moves to california with ethan and they relearn how to be a part of each other's lives and work though everything that went down the past four years, and it takes a lot of work, but eventually, they're happy and together (and finally get married) (and also they retire).

-

ask me about my wips!

[amtrak12]

Recently, I realized grief is my primary theme in my Lucifer fics and ideas. More than the theme even, grief is the entire plot of a one-shot I'm editing and the sequel to my current epic WIP. But I'm firmly in my mid-thirties now, so I figured that's just where my head is at in recent years. You go through cycles in life and I'm simply in my 'grief era' as some might say.

Except that's not actually true. I am successfully writing complete stories centered around grief right now, yes, but I've actually been trying to write about grief for a full decade.

Not in my Doctor Who fics, though grief is embedded in the plots.

Not in my Ghostbusters fics either. Those were written out of a mix of spite and love and explore… well I don't really know what they explored. shrug

No, my focus on grief got started back around 2014 (or 2013??) with a Bering and Wells AU that (honest to Jo) was inspired by an innocent Casper gifset @itcameuponamidnightqueer reblogged. I spent YEARS trying to write that AU. I had a ton of worldbuilding and plot elements, but I just could never find the story. There was a clear beginning (er mostly clear) but no obvious middle or end. The concept was just too big and amorphous for me to wrangle at the time. But damn if there isn't something still haunting in it.

When I remembered this, it made me want to put all the story elements together in one place again. Now, I certainly talked about this AU idea before on Tumblr. You can dig back into my 2014-2015 archives, possibly even 2013, and find messy rambles about it. And I haven't actively worked on the idea since Ghostbusters 2016 was released so some of the details are fuzzy now. But in case anyone can spot the story this was trying to be or if anyone's simply curious, here's what I had for this Bering and Wells ghost AU:

Like I said it was a Casper gifset that sparked the inspiration. Specifically, the 'Can I keep you' scene if I remember correctly. With it being late 2013, I was obviously utterly drowning in WH13/B&W feels, and we were all writing and brainstorming full-fledged alternate settings AUs. So of course, my immediate thought was 'ghost Bering and Wells AU' -- except I thought 'what if Myka's the ghost?' Because HG is the obvious candidate, being the historical figure, but I wanted to put a twist on it and then got really obsessed with the idea of ghost!Myka… and it all spiraled from there.

I decided on a modern setting, 2014, and then went college aged -- possibly because I was only a few years removed from my own college years at the time, but also Myka's relationship with her father/family as a whole ended up playing a huge factor in the world-building so that could've influenced the ages. I don't even know where to begin here because again, I never had a real plot, so let's just dive in I guess.

Helena Wells, age 20, an engineering (? of sorts?) student who Caturanga took on as an intern for his work. Now, Caturanga is effectively studying ghosts, though he dresses it up in fancier terms. I can't remember what his research goals were, but identification and communication were certainly the first two steps.

Usually when I age HG down, I make Christina a baby sister who she either lost or is estranged from to keep that aspect of her backstory. This time I decided to center her grief on her father who I made up for this story as also someone sciencey and someone Helena really admired and was close to. But he died in a car accident a few years ago (technically he might have been hit by a car while crossing the street but I can't confirm that). So Helena is interested in Caturanga's research because she would love to at least talk to her father again and refuses to believe he's fully gone. Resurrecting him is not currently her goal, though could easily come up given later events.

Caturanga isn't looking for the flashy haunted locations. He's looking for the mundane and preferably newer ghosts because they would be closer to the living and thus easier to talk to. He hears about a house in Colorado Springs in the US that can't keep a resident longer than two years so he chooses to study it. He and Helena rent it with plans on staying for a year.

Obviously this is Myka's childhood home and she is the ghost haunting the house. So what happened to Myka?

It's 1994 and Myka Bering is 19 years old. Her father still owns a bookstore, though they live in a separate house rather than an apartment above it. She still has her sister Tracy who I believe I made 15, so four years younger. Myka had been enrolled in college at the University of Colorado - Denver, but when she decided to switch majors from pre-med to pre-law at the end of her freshman year, her father complained about her indecisiveness and wasting money and pulled her out of school. He said, she could return to college when she had saved up enough money to pay for it herself.

Myka was gutted because she wanted to finish her degree so badly. She also hated leaving the friends she had made and tried to visit them as much as possible once school started back up that fall. One night when she drove up to visit her friends and boyfriend (Sam, of course), she lingered too long and arrived back home after curfew. Her father locked her out of the house as punishment, leaving her to sleep in the car in the garage where she left the overhead light on. There was an electrical fire that night. Myka didn't wake up in time to get out and she died.

Okay here's one of the rabbit holes I got super distracted by while trying to plot this out: Tracy's reaction. Because this whole thing is supposed to be a Bering and Wells AU, so clearly Helena and Myka are the main characters, right? But the more I obsessed over this story, the more prominent Tracy's role became. This was a tale of two sisters, dual POVs, each grappling with their rough childhoods in different ways. Except, there's also still the plot of Helena finding Myka, befriending her, and ultimately resurrecting her (more on this later), so how the hell were these things supposed to be balanced and woven into one coherent plot?? It was beyond my skill level. :S

In my head, Tracy had managed to skate under their dad's strict thumb throughout her childhood, largely because she just didn't care what her dad said and always opted to do her own thing. Myka did care what their father thought and tried to follow the rules which made the times when she didn't seem like more of an offense. Oldest child syndrome was also definitely at play where the youngest just gets away with more. So when Myka got pulled out of school, Tracy was less sympathetic and more 'you brought that on yourself.' I mean, it's not like Myka even needed to admit she changed majors. Colleges don't send report cards to your parents. She could've kept her mouth shut and stayed in school.

Tracy 1000% blamed their dad for Myka's death though. The electrical fire was an accident and no one was to blame, but he locked the door and didn't let Myka sleep inside that night. Therefore it's his fault. Myka was right about him this entire time. He's not just an annoying or strict dad, he's abusive. (Something Myka never said and will later disagree with though her own feelings towards their dad are certainly complicated.) Tracy's grief becomes anger and even hatred and builds until she emancipates herself from her parents and leaves home at 16. She spirals for a while (partying, reckless sex) before pulling herself out and finding some help to deal with her grief. She puts herself through school and becomes a social worker. By 2014, she's married and has two very young kids, one of which I'm 99% certain I named Micah after his aunt that he never got to meet. Tracy periodically takes them to visit Myka's grave, and did I write one of those visits in my multiple drafts? Yes, yes I did.

Making her a social worker both seemed fitting for her arc in this setting and is a helpful connection to ghosts when a certain little 10-12 year old (can't remember the exact age I made Claudia but it might have skewed towards 10) continually gets flagged in foster care because she insists she's talking to her brother's ghost.

On that note, let's jump back to the actual ghost plot. So in this universe, ghosts exist as amorphous blobs that can't be seen or touched by the living. At best, you can talk to them. Claudia can talk easily with Joshua because he's only been dead for a few years and immediately began following his little sister around. He's never been isolated. Other ghosts often are. It can take up to a couple of years for a ghost to become aware of their surroundings and new existence and if their loved ones are no longer in the same place, they might forget about their previous life.

This is what happened to Myka. Her family left the house immediately after the fire. Her room was empty when she regained awareness after her death and so her memories slipped away. After twenty-years of isolation, Myka doesn't remember ever having a physical body and doesn't even remember her name.

But she reads still. She remembers books and has stolen many from whoever was currently living in the house. She stashes them all away in the closet of her old bedroom and when these stashes are found and thrown out/reclaimed, she just starts again. Sometimes she only had one book to read over and over and over again. Other times, she had many. The reports of moved/missing books is what flagged this house as haunted.

Now, I said the living couldn't touch ghosts and that's because ghosts can't really interact with objects. It involves remembering being alive and corporeal well enough to remember what touching something like a doorknob feels like. Most ghosts can't do this without a lot of interaction with living people to jog their memories. Myka being able to touch books (only books but still) is rare and a huge discovery.

Helena finds Myka first. (Well, she finds the open book on the floor with pages moving on their own.) Communication is slow because Myka isn't used to speaking, so Helena has to figure out who this ghost is on her own with some good old fashioned cross-checking property records against obituaries. It's a bit of a gut punch to learn the quiet, book-obsessed ghost is a girl around her age.

(By book-obsessed, I don't mean just reading them. Ghost!Myka is very, very territorial and protective of her books because they're the only things she's owned since she's died.)

Helena and Caturanga's research involves a lot of equipment to try and sense a ghost. They manage to fine-tune a scanner to see the invisible ghost. This is when they learn ghosts are really just blobs and not a full-fledged body like the stories. Though, over the course of their tests, they do see Myka form pseudo-hands to carry and read her books which brings up all kinds of new questions for them to pursue.

I remember Myka never went through walls either. She could pass right through solid objects and would whenever a door was unexpectedly closed on her. But it always pinged her mind as Wrong so she would skirt under doors and around objects to get around the house. She never left the house -- though again, experiments with Helena later prove she can leave. It's a mental block. This is her house, even if she can't remember living there.

Helena works hard to get to know Myka and slowly befriends her as Myka re-learns how to talk to someone. The more she talks, the more Helena asks her questions, the more her memories return. Some of them return easily. The more painful ones, she fights and tries to forget again. She never looks out the kitchen door at the side of the house where the garage once stood. She doesn't want to talk about it.

Eventually, as Myka's learning how to grasp other objects and open doors herself and Helena's getting more and more attached to her (and feeling more and more outraged that Myka died so young), we hit a tipping point where Helena tries to take Myka's hand. Or more accurately, she asks Myka to try and take her hand since she still can't see Myka. The time Myka finally manages to touch her is when she suddenly returns with a physical body, alive once again. Apparently, a living person touching a ghost leads to resurrection.

This is where I got lost down another big rabbit hole. I was absolutely obsessed with Myka's struggles to adapt back to the world of the living. Think about it, right. She's existed without physical sensations for twenty years. Now suddenly, she has a body again. Everything's too loud, too bright, too much. Clothes hurt. Having to use energy to walk, hurts. Food???? A sensory nightmare. And when I was brainstorming this and noodling around with google, I learned about sensory processing disorder and OH MY GOD did that just send me deeper into the rabbit hole. I was so, so distracted by this topic and wanted to spend forever exploring Myka's initial months alive again. Do you understand why I could never find the plot? I was way too lost in the details to find the tent poles of this story.

Once Myka has learned to take care of herself again and has some coping mechanisms in place to help with the constant 'too much' struggle of being alive, her first desire is to return to college. Not see her family. It's been twenty years and that's still too much to tackle. But she'd been desperate to return to college when she died so that's the first thing she wants to do now that she's been resurrected.

This is when Pete and Mrs Frederick come into the picture -- though technically Mrs Frederick has been in play the whole time. Let's start with her. See, I thought a warehouse equivalent organization that was fully aware of ghosts and trying to help them would be handy for this story. But I was convinced at the time that a government funded agency didn't make much sense. Every secret organization in TV shows and movies are always government funded -- but the US government hates funding anything that isn't corporations or the military.

… So why wouldn't the secret organization actually be disguised as a for profit company instead? Insert Mrs Frederick as CEO of a long-running and ever-evolving company that currently brags about being at the cutting edge of smart home devices and appliances. Except the smart home technology serves a secondary purpose of finding new ways to communicate with incorporeal ghosts who are slowly being lost to time. The company (I'm sure I had a name for it but I can't remember it anymore) gains its funding through product sales and government tax cuts/hand outs to pursue its true goal of locating these lost ghosts and reconnecting them back to their loved ones or at least reconnecting them with community. They want to re-socialize them, help them find purpose and meaning. No one knows how to help ghosts move on or if they even should move on, though if ghost decides to try, they certainly don't stop them. They also had never found a way to resurrect a ghost. Some ghosts had asked if it was possible, so the company is researching it. But they're researching in laboratory settings and with Myka's resurrection, it becomes clear that there needs to be a personal connection between the ghost and living person to successfully resurrect them. (Hence, Claudia and Joshua being the second ones to successfully manage a resurrection.)

I'm losing steam and this wasn't super thought out in detailed back in the day anyway -- but Mrs Frederick helps Myka enroll in college in Colorado Springs and her living expenses are all funded by Mrs Frederick's company. Caturanga's research was also being funded by Mrs. Frederick, though Helena wasn't fully aware of how big this operation was until after Myka's resurrection.

Myka meets Pete at college and they become fast friends. Mostly because Pete's too chatty to care about Myka's silences and easy-going enough to roll with her quirks and continued struggles with being alive. At some point, he finds out she had died and been resurrected, but I don't remember if I ever fleshed out that reveal.

I did flesh out the sister reunion. In my head, Tracy would get pulled into the ghost aspect because Claudia is one of her cases. But she wouldn't learn about Myka until Myka decides she's ready to see her. That takes about a year (or even longer) and happens after Myka's started attending college. Tracy is shocked to learn her sister is alive again, obviously, but also happy. Myka is happy to reunite with her too but also feels awkward because Tracy is all grown up with kids and she's still 19 (well now 20). Sometimes, it seemed like their reunion should be the end point. But then there's also still so much story to explore after their reunion too. Their father has died by 2014. Warren died of a heart attack several years earlier. Tracy has no regrets over never reconciling with him. Myka does regret that he died before she came back to life. They have different opinions and feelings about their shared childhood and it creates friction between them. Their mother is still alive though, and I played through Myka reuniting with her too. That's awkward in a different way than reuniting with Tracy. The 20 year time gap still plays a role of course, but mostly it's sits strangely with Myka because her mother keeps telling her how much her father regretted that night and how much he missed her and wished he could apologize. And while Myka doesn't blame him for her death like Tracy does, there's a lot of other hurt she does still blame him for and hearing that he's sorry from Mom instead of getting to talk to him herself -- it doesn't solve anything. It doesn't make anything better.

Not to add it like an after thought, but Sam has died too. He still grew up to join the Secret Service and was still killed on duty. It hits Myka hard when she finds out. She hates that he died too soon too. It's not fair.

And… I think… that's everything I ever came up with for this AU concept? I spent most of my time on Helena and Myka pre-resurrection, Myka immediately after the resurrection, and Tracy always. I had a pretty fleshed out world and a ton of pieces that could count as plot -- but I never had the throughline that turned it into a proper narrative.

If you see the narrative in this mixed soup or if you see something in here that inspires you -- please! By all means, run with it and write your own fic for it! Do not feel like you need to ask my permission, because I guarantee you, I will never turn this into a real story. But it was nice to revisit and maybe you can still get some enjoyment out of what is here. :)