#I know this is spoilers but you cannot buy this game anymore

[floweryred]

Does anyone remember in Minecraft Story Mode S1 E6 where there were a bunch of Minecraft YouTubers in a murder mystery? And (Spoiler alert) CaptainSparkelz died no matter what you did? And it was DanTDM that accidentally killed him? And your choices could kill LDShadowlady or the aforementioned DanTDM? And Stampylongnose was the one who stole the item that started the whole situation? And StacyPlays was there but she did nothing? And there was one random non-YouTuber character who was obviously the murderer bc she was the only non-YouTuber who survived past the scene you met him?

I loved that so much, I used to bully Stampy and kill Lizzie almost every time because they were my favorite YouTubers and I was a weird kid. R.I.P Minecraft Story Mode, I can’t believe you can’t be purchased any more.

(PS: Season 2 sucked fat balls)

[moonlit-imagines]

Headcanons for being Johnny Lawrence’s daughter

Johnny Lawrence x daughter!reader

warnings: alcohol, underage drinking, classic johnny sexism <3

a/n: WHAT! ME write a fic thats not gn, i know. im shocked too but its just bc i feel johnny is so gender-stereotypey that doing this gn wouldn’t work very well but very open to a son!r or nb!r if anyone is interested (bc seriously. johnny cannot help but bring up genders). also i just want to say that a lot of this (not all!) honestly reminds me of or are actual things that have happened w my dad bc johnny is literally my dad if my dad was like 8 years older i think also i wrote this all in one sitting ALSO NO COBRA KAI SEASON 6 SPOILERS

prompt:

GIRL DAD!

you always kinda just gravitated toward living with your dad

“y/n, i’m so proud of you. i never have to worry about you. you can take care of yourself. robby on the other hand, i worry about him. i think girls are just more self sufficient” -johnny, a little drunk

“thanks dad” -you, also a little drunk (hes a “cool dad”)

he was the type of parent that “prefers that if you’re gonna do something stupid at least do it while he’s around” aka underage drinking

whenever he stays out late you fall asleep in his bed. and lock him out

“y/n! open the door!” -johnny, banging on the door

“no! your bed is more comfortable” -you

he thought it was sweet honestly but he did want to sleep in his bed

sort of like a lesson not to come home late all drunk and gross

he was VERY against letting you drive his car

“dad, i need my license!” -you

“no woman is getting behind the wheel of my firebird” -johnny

“why do you have to make it about women? i’ll fight you” -you

“you’ll lose that fight” -johnny

“oh, so you’d fight a teenage girl? wow, real classy, dad” -you

“no, but i’d fight my teenage daughter. i brought you into this world and i’ll take you out” -johnny

you honestly had a great sense of humor with johnny, but you’d check him if he said anything too messed up

“dad, it’s not the 80’s anymore, you can’t say that” -you

“dont tell me what i can and cant say! the 80’s were awesome, i wish it was the 80’s again” -johnny

“so i’ve heard” -you

he helped you with your homework as a kid until like, 2nd grade when multiplication and division got involved

he did teach you karate growing up! but mostly the basics, for self defense purposes

“hey, never let any guy try to impress you with his karate skills. he’s probably a douche” -johnny, pausing “i sure was”

late night movie marathons (70s/80s classics for sure)

he took care of you during your first hangover (high school parties, ya know)

“didn’t i teach you better than to mix liquors” -johnny

“ugghhhh” -you

yes, you have heard about daniel larusso. enough said LMAO

robby and you had a kind of sweet but distant relationship

occasional check-in texts

robby: are you doing okay with dad? he’s actually buying food and shit?

you: yeah! he’s fine right now, how’s mom? new stepdad yet? is he rich?

robby: mom’s not going anywhere she’d find a rich guy, but keep dreaming

you wear a lot of your dad’s old t-shirts. usually band tee’s

oh and he made sure you got into the “right music”

he used to drive you around in the firebird when you were a SMALL CHILD (front seat, no car seat!) and blast his old cassettes

for YEARS he’d pull the “who is this” “what song is this” game with the reasoning:

“if you wear a band shirt and some asshole asks you to name three songs, i want you to name ten” -johnny

listen. you were still “daddy’s girl” or whatever used to be a cute little saying and is now ruined but whatever

“dad, can i have twenty bucks?” -you

“for what” -johnny

“for fun. pleaseeee” -you

*johnny pulls out his wallet and gives you $40*

could he afford it? no. can he say no? also no.

the absolute fear he felt when you got your first period

“it’s fine, i can call mom” -you

“no, it’s not fine! i’ve had girlfriends before, i got this. stay here, i’ll be back” -johnny

he went to the store and bought the most random assortment of period products and pain meds and snacks and a heating pad

A for effort

when the diaz family moved in across from you guys, miguel took one look at you and johnny said:

“stay away from my daughter”

when the karate fuss got started you tried to keep your distance but sooner or later you joined the dojo and proved to your dad just how “badass” you could be

“take notes everyone, y/n’s gonna be the next all valley champ!” -johnny

taglist: @ravenmoore14 // @retvenkos // @sweetheartlizzie07 // @an4aaa // @summersimmerus // @xoxobabydolls // @sapphireplums // @petersgroupie // @ravenhood2792 // @evilcr0ne // @thedarkqueenofavalon // @elenavampire21 // @elemental-of-magic //

[heartsforhavik]

yandere kung lao I’m begginf,,,,

self aware! yandere kung lao x reader pt.1

warnings: mk1 story mode spoilers, obsessiveness, gender neutral reader, ooc kung lao, self aware kung lao

summary: kung lao is aware he is in a video game, and he just loves you so much. he just wishes he didn’t have to be behind a screen.

a/n: anon im so sorry it took me a bit to get to this, anyways i decided to mix it up and make kung lao self aware bc i thought my yandere hcs were getting too repetitive and i am also a diehard SAGAU fan. (also sorry for my mini break, finals week is crazy man.)

part 2

- kung lao *hated* being stuck behind a screen. behind a stupid wall. away from you.

- you were just a regular mortal kombat fan. when mortal kombat 1 was announced, you were just so excited to get your hands on the game.

- you watched playthroughs before you could buy the game, and you were so happy when you found out that you could play as kung lao in the first chapter of story mode.

- when you got your hands on the game, you noticed that every time he had a funny one-liner in the story mode, he would look at the camera and wink. that’s weird… he didn’t do that in the playthroughs you watched… but oh well, it’s probably nothing.

- in the final battle you even chose to play as kung lao out of all the fighters. he was surprisingly easy to use, and his moves seemed to hit even harder than usual and the fights would be over in a blink of an eye. maybe he was buffed just for the fights?

- and when you finished the story mode and checked out all the skins and rewards you got, you noticed that you somehow had all of kung lao’s stuff unlocked. all of his palettes, skins, brutalities, etc. everything. you owned all of it. even the ones that weren’t out yet.

- you thought it was just a glitch, so you shut your device down and restarted it. but when you opened it again, his stuff was still there.

- and it got even weirder. when you tried to practice, the game only let you use kung lao. for some reason, you couldn’t use any other fighter. you couldn’t even use any kameo other than kung lao.

- he was still your favorite character and all, but that was weird. you tried to exit out of the game and restart it again, but it wouldn’t shut down. the game stayed on. it was frozen on kung lao. and he seemed to just stare at you. as if he knew you were there.

- you were starting to get creeped out, so you completely powered off your device and decided to leave it disconnected overnight.

- but over that little period of time, even though it was only a few hours to you, it felt like an eternity for kung lao.

- he felt hurt. a bit betrayed, even. did you not like him anymore? was he not enough for you? he gave you everything he could. he did everything he could to show his love for you, since he cannot communicate any other way.

- without you playing the game, he felt nothing. he couldn’t feel your warmth. it was nothing but a cold, dark space. he needed you. he needed you to always be with him. even if he couldn’t communicate with you, he’d figure something out.

- that’s why he was changing the coding of the game. he had to always be on your screen, or at least give you hints that he was self aware. he wouldn’t know what to do with himself if you weren’t looking at him. if you weren’t using him all the time.

- what do you mean you want to main johnny cage? or raiden? or even syzoth? what do they have that kung lao doesn’t?

- you liked the powerful fighters? no worries, he can just nerf everyone else and completely manipulate the coding of the game so he has the best damage.

- you thought the other fighters were more attractive than him? he’ll change the game so their designs were ruined and less pleasing to your eye.

- he would mend himself to your liking. he just needed you to use him. please make him feel important and useful. make him feel worthy of being your main. your favorite.

- if anyone became your favorite instead of him, he would go ballistic. he would rethink his entire existence. he’s so strong, and funny, and easy to use. so why would you choose anyone else? what’s wrong with him? is he not enough for you?

- if kung lao found out you wanted to start using a different fighter, he would erase them from the game. they would be nowhere to be found. their image in the game would be warped into a bunch of blurry pixels.

- if he has to erase the entire kast of fighters, he will. he needs your love. he needs your attention. if he isn’t your favorite, then what is the point of his existence in the game?

- kung lao needs you. and you need him too. why can’t you see that? he’s done everything he could to gain your approval. he was already so great, but he changed himself for you. accept him. please.

- the last thing he would resort to is bringing you in the game with him. what better way to stay by your side, than force you into the world of mortal kombat?

- at first, he didn’t exactly like the thought of taking away your freedom, but the more he thought about it the more he craved your company. why stay behind your screen when he can just bring you with him? now, you don’t have to turn your device on and off! he’s not going anywhere. and you aren’t either.

[chao-thicc-hcs]

Hi there I really love your work and I was wondering if you could make a head cannon with hanma, manjiro/mikey and sanzu about "if their little sister was sexually harassed or touched inappropriately", not for any weird reasons I just really want comfort✌️😎 ( this is like my first time requesting anything so if it doesn't immediately notify when you respond could you maybe tag me? )

thank you!

a/n: my love goes out to everyone who's experienced such horrible things, including you, anon. ♡ i hope you're all feeling better and i am incredibly sorry, you never deserve it, nobody does.♡ love you all.♡

also, for further notice, i cannot tag you if you're anonymous, because i don't know your username. but your request was sent, thank you for the kind words!

featuring: bonten!sanzu, mikey; toman!sanzu, mikey; hanma shuji

warning(s): mentions of se!ual assault, death, bl00d, bone breaking, drug usage, weapons in general, torture

If their little sister got harassed

Hanma↷

The fucker that did this to her has signed a death contract

You know that shit is gonna go bad when he loses his grin

Will ask her to give him all possible details of the fucker, where she saw him, when it happened, how they looked

He's going to be with her the whole entire time, accompany her everywhere she goes, glaring at anyone who keeps their gaze on her for longer than 2 seconds

If she doesn't feel well, he will understand that, and won't force her to go outside if she refuses to. But he will always be in the same room as her, comforting her with pats and snacks

He's not good with words at all, and will comfort her by watching shows, playing games, or just buying her food

If she has the power to go out, Hanma will spoil her with gifts

Takes her to her favorite bakery and eats sweets with her, trying to make her forget about the encounter

Gives piggy back rides, deffo

For shits and giggles, he will tease her about their childhood memories and probably will chase her around a field, or play hide and seek with her

Always makes sure to check up on her, though, and walks with her to and after school

Definitely gets Kisaki involved and both devise a plan to hunt the bastard down and kill them

Spoiler - it's successful.

Hanma makes sure their death is slow and painful, torturing them first

Kisaki is filming everything

They touched you? Both their arms are now broken

They did something more? Their genitals are cut

If she has a strong stomach, Hanma won't hesitate to show her the video

Even after months and years, he will still interrogate every single new friend his sister makes, especially if it's a guy

toman!Mikey↷

He will cry

No, really, he deffo will cry with her

Buys tons of dorayaki and taiyaki to eat with her and bawl their eyes out together

Has a big blanket wrapped around them and asks Emma to make them lots of ramen to eat together

He will bring her with him at all times, and even when he cannot be around, he will tell either Draken or Takemichi to look after her

Follows you like a dog, he's way too afraid to let you out alone anymore

Emma will also comfort you with him, taking you shopping, making you cook with her and etc.

Mikey will be goofier so he makes you laugh, or he will do stupid shit that will make your life flash before your eyes, just so you forget about all that for a while

Always tries to talk to her and develop very deep topics (without any sexual ones) so she can relax around him and talk in peace

Asks for in depth narration of how her day went, listens to all the new gossip from school or just in general

Goes to the arcade with her. A huge try-hard that wins all the games and gets her plushies, competes with her on who will eat more taiyaki (he always wins but lets her win instead)

However, deep inside, under all this happiness, Mikey will be boiling with rage and is desperately trying to find the person who did this to her

He wants to deal with them alone, and he does so

Manages to get some information from her beforehand, and he makes sure the bastard never touches another human being again

Mikey ambushes him, and beats him to a pulp, carrying the blood of the assaulter with pride

bonten!Mikey↷

Oh lord

He will be furious, and it will be prominent even under his blank expression.

Goes insane, trashing and walking around the entire building like a maniac searching for their stash (after she's left, he doesn't want her to see him like this)

Asks her to tell him everything, absolutely

Immediately orders Kokonoi to take her out shopping, buy her all the shit she lays her eyes upon, and lets her order everyone around for the time being

If not, he doesn't leave the room without her, always supervises her and stays near her

Not good with words , but somehow tries making his presence more.. comforting around her

Doesn't act too harshly in front of her, so to not scare her

Pats her head and tells her "It's not your fault" "I'll make sure this never happens to you again."

Teaches her self defense, and buys her all sorts of pepper sprays, knives (he'd never let her use a gun or katana in her life) and etc.

Still asks his subordinates to keep an eye out on her when she has to go out (he cannot go out for obvious reasons)

Doesn't sleep until he finds who did this to her

Makes sure their death is gruesome and slow, and uses all torture methods bonten has to offer

toman!Sanzu↷

Doesn't say anything, nor has a hasty reaction

Would take her to a bakery, order cheesecake and listen to her vent about it

Listens attentively, and doesn't dare to interrupt

Abides by her wishes the entire day, buys her food, carries her on his back, does everything she asks him to

Another one who isn't good with words. But his love languge will be cleaning her room and taking over her chores, placing a packet of snacks on her desk, every time

Tells her teachers not to bother her too much until she's feeling better

Hugs her, but for no longer than 5 seconds

For the sake of her wellbeing, Sanzu lets her do his hair, his skin care, pluck his eyebrows, and even try on new make up

Watches her from the shadows, all the time. She doesn't notice him at all, but he's there, ready to act when needed

If she manages to give him information on how the person looked, Sanzu will hunt them down with Muto

Muto will beat them to a pulp, and Sanzu will cut off their fingers one by one

bonten!Sanzu↷

Man's furious

Doesn't even fucking wait, demands to find the fucker right now on the spot

He cannot sit straight knowing that the person hasn't been dealt with

Makes her choose how the bastard is dealt with. She wants him to get killed? Good. Drugged to death? Done. Tortured to the point of complete insanity and desperation? Hell yeah.

If she doesn't want to watch nor stay around, Sanzu will keep the bastard in a basement, torturing them every day.

As for comfort, he's not much different from his younger self.

Will probably ask her to do drugs with him but Ran and Rindou will punch him

Brings her random stray animals for her to pet and play with

Long, long night walks around the city, talking about random shit that makes her forget about everything

Lets her style his hair, again

Books trips to whenever, asking Koko to help with the money, of course. Most of the time it is outside Japan

Makes sure the memories are unforgettable (most of the time it's him doing crazy shit like starting random fights, tripping over, doing hand stands on children's playgrounds)

Enjoys playing their favorite music and dance with her

Gives her in depth lessons of how to use weapons, and would even lend her his katana (but will always supervise her)

©chao-thicc-hcs; reblogs are deeply appreciated, i always read your tags

[moralleets]

taking a lil break (a really really smol one)

so, from now till perhaps beggining-mid July i won't be able to release any new cc, because i literally have no time at all to make it

today is my prom, then we're going to camp w/ my friends and on 6-7 i'll be in Glasgow for a comic con! (im cosplaying Alastor btw!!!) and obviously i won't be able to use my laptop yadda yadda yadda you got that, im a busy man lol

because of all that mentioned above i will also not charge my patrons for July (obviously)

the last thing i wanted to let you know is that somewhen in August i will buy a PC (finally, cause my laptop literally cannot handle that shit anymore) which means that creating cc will take less time!!! (as i won't spend 100hours each time i need to check my cc in the game)

no spoilers for Angel Dust stuff today (sowwy, making him is a legit pain in the ass) but BUT

some Vees in process huh

ACTUALLY Valentino's hat is ALSO SUCH A PAIN IN THE ASS but that's a story for another time

enjoy your life folks and, well, uhm, be patient 💗 i promise to come back as soon as i can

[errantgoat]

I've concluded the True Aeon playthrough. I'm satisfied. My thoughts and feelings will contain spoilers!

True Aeon…is really fun! It allowed me to act out some of my lawful stupid fantasies…you just have to be okay with the fact that you'll end up being the asshole for some people. The amount of power you feel your character possesses on this path is immense!

The only gripe I might have is with the characterization of the Aeon as a concept. It definitely shines as the keeper of Cosmic Order, you can feel in your bones that what has happened to Sarkoris shouldn't have happened at all. The barrier between Planes being broken is a Crime and demons rummaging and killing because of that is also a Crime. Every small step you take to remedy that imbalance brings a great amount of satisfaction and a feeling of 'right'. And it's not only the Worldwound, the need to punish cosmic Crimes extends further…A mortal trying to prolong their own life beyond their given lifespan is a Crime, and so is mixing the essence of the Abyss into a divine creature. It's all instinctual, the world was created a certain way, and anything breaking that balance has to be corrected. Simple.

The game wants you to treat judging and punishing mundane criminals as evenly important as all the above, which I didn't buy. At all. It would've been fine as the 'Aeon training wheels' for act III, anything beyond that feels unnecessary. If things stayed in the Cosmic Order/Order of Creation lane the path would've felt more thematically cohesive. At least that's my opinion.

THAT SAID

My favourite things that I got to do on True Aeon path:

Dispelling Jerribeth's influence over the tribe like it was nothing!

Disgruntled Xantir Vang when you restore his original body.

Redeeming Staunton Vhane and him being there in Iz to protect the Sword of Valor if you go after Galfrey.

Saving Terendelev!??!

Dispelling the fucking youth potions from Galfrey omg.

(Also I thought sending every civilian away from Drezen in Act V because they're some sort of thief/liar/ etc was stupid but also funny as hell.)

Being a void.

NOT TO MENTION THE ENDING. OH THE CHERRY ON TOP. (Super spoilers ahead) At Threshold, I was expecting the same formula I got both on Legend and Angel Path. Go deeper into the Worldwound, fight Areelu, the same scene with Suture sneaking up on you, scene in front of the Wound, choice, the end. NOPE, instead you go into the past, into the Threshold that looks brand new (a few corridors of it anyways, but still.) Right before everything happened. And there you fight Areelu - who conveniently knows who you are, but I will ignore this - and defeat her. AND THEN. You cannot exist anymore. There will be no Worldwound and no infusing mortals and demons with mythic powers. You are a paradox, and you just committed a cosmic crime, you used your powers to punish a mortal who hasn't done anything wrong yet. And so you dissolve into the darkness of the void, the only grace being the choice of leaving your companions with a memory of you. And with the ultimate sacrifice the Commander writes the grandest coffee-shop AU of all time. The World without the Worldwound.

All the ending slides you get are from the perspective of the Crusades never taking place. Kenabres is an insignificant town/village you can barely place on the map. Irabeth and Anevia never met. Seelah is a Paladin but never left the South. Lann and Wendu aren't mongrels. Without demonic influence I think Woljif wouldn't be a tiefling either. He's still very Woljif tho. Daeran grew up with all his family alive and is a respected diplomat (I think this is my favourite AU bit.) Etc, etc. Good thing I didn't recruit Arue because I'm sure the fact she'd still be a soul-sucking succubus would break my heart. True Aeon ending made me emotional. I won't lie. It peaked, it cannot get more amazing than this. :'D

[nonadjacent]

live reacting to ii3 e13 bc i haven't done one of these in a while

i genuinely forgot ii is releasing a new episode today good thing i pushed through with my sleep deprivation

inanimate insanity season 3 episode 13 spoilers

cw // silver spoon slander haha, caps, swearing

THEYRE A BUTTERFLY NOW OMGOLLY

non-binary solidarity real

flip that that that that that that that dwijibeo dwijibeo

oh lord what are they up to now...

intro jamming time to wake myself up i am going to pass out soon enough

SEVEN? OH MY GOD IM NOT PATYING ATTENTION

oh lord i am already having a bad feeling yin yang may get eliintated this episode

YOU WANT ZOME. MILK, WITH. THOSE COOKIEDS. FUCKL.

oh lord. isnt. one of them lactose or um. gluten intolerant.

see i am still. mad at silver spoon. bastard

i am so sleep deprived im so sorry

cabby yes

silver shut up already i m not in a good mood tonight

oh hm i remember this course so deja vu

wally

WALLY

OG GHOS

OH GOD.

MAYBE I SHOULD SHUT UP. WHYD I THINK WALLY.

cabbyang alliance please oh lord

they are holding my sanity in place

the nickloonbot siblings are cool but you two are holding my sanity ocmpletey

side. view. yinyang.

oh lord

I'M SORRY YY THROWING SAND OH MY GOD

AUDIBLE WHEEZE

grappling hook obby ii (real)_

WAIT.

WAIT.

NICKEL.

I.

aib and ii episode 1 moment

wait why are they on ice

OH MY GOD I REALLY NEED TO SLEEP

SILVER.

HUH.,

WHAT IS GOINFG.

NOOOO. YIN YANG.

OH MY GOD.

I AM GOING TO CRY TONIGHT I CAN ALREADY SENSE IT.

STOP.

I AM ACTUALLY GOING TO CRY

SHUT SUP

SHUT UP.

STOP BRINGING UP BASEBALL. OH MY GOD,

i follow the bickel ceo on my personal tiktok they are so cool side tangent

STAND UP FOR YOURSELF NICKEL YES.

wait did he die

i got. a fucking. tang fruit juice ad. after he got squised.

OH.

cabby officially did the bee roblox game face

god i'm so going to sleep after this

did yall know i beat my 40 lines record at tetrio today i got 40 lines in 1:55 that's awesome for me

OH?.

OH GOD. ACTUALLY.

WHO CAN I TRUST ANYMORE.

IF. BOT OR BALLOON GET. BOOTED. I AM GOING TO EXPLODE.

OH. MY GOD.

I AM NOT DOING THIS TODAY.

DEAR GOD.

I NEED A SECOND.

I PAUSED THE VIDEO. THIS IS NOT HAPPENING.

MY PEOPLE-PLEASING, CONFLICT-HATING, MEDIATOR PERSONALITY CANNOT STAND THEM HAVING INFIGHTS WITH EACH OTHER.

i'm not gonna be a good psychologist, aren't I haha

I AM SO SCARED RIGHT NOW.

OH LORS.

I. ACTGUALLY PHYSICALLY CANNOT HIT THE PLAY BUTTON. NOT BECAUSE MY PC IS BROKEN, I JUST DON'T EWANT TO.

WHOA.

I AM SENSING CANDLE IS OUT JUST RIGHT NOW BUT LET'S SEE.

I.

AM

GENUINELY. SHOCKED.

I MEAN NONE OF MY FAVES GET ELIMINATED TODAY. BUT. WOW.

BALLOWOONW I LOVE YOU

nickloon divorce era

i am

i have a pit in my stomach right now actually

they're really making us never forget aboutclover baptising nickel with luck aren't they

OH?

OH I DID NOT CONNECT THAT ACTUALLY?

welp now nickel's no longer invincible

candle. i am sad you're gone but can i be honest it's kinda well-deserved.

I AM. SO USING THAT YANG THING. ON MY FRIENDS.

I'M RECORDING THATG AFTER THIS OH MY GOD

why is he smiling like a frog

you know when i thought ii

OH MYT FOASD SILVER SLPIN

WHOA. I AM SORRY FOR SLANDERING YOU TODAY THAT "ADAMATION" WAS SAD.

you know when i thought ii3 would be a funny haha season as a break from the depressing ii2? yeah, no. consider me wrong teehee

adam i do not have the money nor time... to buy my loml's plush...

[kob131]

"I want to save all the people suffering in this broken world. And I know who is to blame: The Creator for making the world this way. So let's make a world where no one is doomed to suffer. Where all people's dreams can come true."

And- This is what I've been building up to.

Spoiler Alert:

The endings of Canon of Vengeances basically boil down to 'Law: Work to create a utopia where no one will suffer and everyone can achieve their dreams/Chaos: Burn everything to the ground because the whole thing is broken.' I was going to save this for when the endings actually concluded but...I've actually seen the endings before this. I already know how they'll play out. I didn't know every step so I was waiting to get full context before making a judgement.

But considering I'm in the second to last dungeon with very little game remaining. I feel pretty confident right now.

I hate this. I hate this choice of endings. For one, it presumes that the world is so utterly broken that we have to change it radically in order to fix it. I don't buy that. Yeah, Sahori's bullies sucked. Believe me, I know. I was bullied as severely as Sahori for a year in middle school and I'm still dealing with the consequences. But that's it for how the world is supposedly 'broken'. Meanwhile, we have examples like Nuwa comforting and giving Yakumo a reason to keep living; Khonsu finding love with Miyazu and giving his own life to help her; the Fairy Village sheltering innocent humans despite the target it paints on their backs; Tsukuyomi and later Aogami growing to love humans and how their souls shone so brightly. So many examples that prove that even if the world is flawed: it isn't broken and doesn't need change.

'But what about Yoko being sealed away?' Just make a decree that you can't hold off the natural cycle. Assuming that would even happen since Lucifer will step in and try to ensure things continue.

'But what about the cruelty of Sahori's bullies and Miyazu's situation? Is it so wrong to ensure they don't have to suffer?'

Well, that's the thing. Human beings are defined by how we react to our pain. People suffering loss which makes them work to make the lives of others better. People losing limbs and friends to war and so work to ensure peace. People seeing the suffering of another and, through empathy and understanding, reach out to give them comfort. Hell, this game has examples themselves through Atsuta becoming a better person through the stress of almost losing Miyazu and working to protect her. Dazai becoming more self assured because he doesn't want to be uncertain anymore. And Yakumo becoming humbled and kinder through losing Nuwa and trying to honor her memory. Even more- I'm motivated to be consistent and principled because I've suffered from people failing to be that way for me.

From our suffering and pain, growth and virtue is forged. In a world like Tao or Yoko's worlds- their ideal words wouldn't have suffering or pain. Thus there would be no virtue or growth.

All of this is assuming that their ideal worlds would work out. In CoC, all the endings had their own issues and problems. Neutral had the encroaching demons and the threat of losing the throne. Law had the loss of freedom for those who would strive under it. Chaos had the never ending conflict posed by the myraid gods. Even True Neutral implied the Nahobino might not be fully happy and that his efforts could be in vain since the cyclical nature might be inseperable from the world.

In CoV, we're just to assume everything will just work out fine! In Tao's world, they'll just guide and have people achieve their dreams! I mean, I guess they could address how striving to achieve something usually requires the sacrifice of something as well as the chance at failure and thus some kind of suffering to give the accomplishment meaning. Or that people might have conflicting dreams and thus cannot accomplish it without denying someone else their dream. Or how Yoko thinks tearing everything down would lead to being able to build a more equal system...even though inequality is born through things like individuality and free will. Which would necessitate either oppressing people so they can't act on those things or removing them altogether.

But hey, don't worry! It'll all work out! ... Even though this exact same idea got both the original Strange Journey's Netural ending and IV's Neutral/Apocolaypse's Bond Endings in trouble even though they did more to set up their endings...

And this would be fine if the game actually pointed out the flaws in their ideas and gave a possible third option that would be more grounded but also take even more effort with explicit chance of failure. One could even call it a...'Neutral' option.

But nope! None of that.

I get the point that Vengeance is making a story about a broken system and asking you if you would make use of it still or burn it down. But unlike with CoC's endings which all acknowledge some issue with their endings- CoV doesn't do that. It's so idealistic in its presentation that even FGO and fucking Persona 5 had more nuanced takes. Hell, Pokemon SV's DLC had more nuance with showing Kieran's fall from constantly losing to the MC and how a real person would react to losing all the time to someone. And nuance is a core part of SMT's identity. But this story throws that out the window.

Yay...

[miekasa]

do you have any cute (or h-word) bf headcanons for the Aot boys mie?

Of course I do, I have an ever-expanding list of headcanons for all of them, from how they react to you sitting in the backseat when they pick you up, down to whether or not they would rip your bandages off after your get a shot (spoiler: Eren, Porco, and Levi fucking would)

EREN sfw

He really likes holding hands, though it’s more of a calming habit for him. Holding hands keeps him grounded, and acts as an anchor for his anxiety; so he’ll grab and/or fidget with yours periodically.

He’ll steal your skincare if he’s over at your place, but honestly he just starts… copying it lmfao. Like, he’ll take notice of your face wash when he’s over he’s like “Oh, this is nice” and then a week later, he buys a bottle for himself. Then he buys your toner, and your moisturizer, and you stay over at his place and gotta do a double take bc he’s got damn near the same of everything at this point.

He doesn’t know if he believes that classical music actually helps him to concentrate, but he does know that he’s grown to like it, so it’s become his studying music of choice. He’s got favorite composers and everything.

He’d be upset if you didn’t steal his hoodies. That’s what they’re there for. He’ll make you steal them if he has to.

He hates standing in line. For anything. If he likes a restaurant that gets super busy at lunch, he’ll order ahead for pickup (and he feels special skipping the line). At amusement parks, he pays for the fast passes. If it’s shopping, then he’d rather just do it online.

On that note, he sucks at returning things that don’t fit/he doesn’t like when he shops online, so he honestly just keeps them, or gives them to his friends—it’s much easier than going through the hassle of printing a return label, according to him.

nsfw

He likes the idea of recording you guys during sex, but he’s honestly a little too nervous to do it—nervous about being recorded himself, and about it potentially getting out somewhere.

Likes it when you look him in the eyes when you cum. In fact, he somewhat demands it.

Similarly, he’s always watching you during sex. Mostly your face, for indications of how he’s making you feel and when you’re close to your orgasm (which is why he’s got a thing for you looking at him).

He used to hate masturbating, until he tried masturbating to the idea of you, and now he fucking loves that. He takes his time with it too—if he’s gonna jack off, he’s gonna make a moment of it: sit on his bed, turn the lights off, make sure he’s all alone and can go for as long as he wants.

Threesomes are fine with him, and he doesn’t even have to be the sole one in charge, depending on who’s joining you.

ARMIN sfw

He air-dries the majority of his clothes because he doesn’t want his sweaters and knitwear to shrink. Also, he likes the smell of his fabric softener permeating the room while the clothes dry.

On a similar note, he’s got sensitive skin—not to the point where a shirt less than 75% cotton irritates him; but he is conscious of fabrics and products he uses. Because of this, he takes extra care with his laundry, his pillowcases and bedsheets are satin as are the majority of his pajama shirts, and he never ever walks around without house slippers or he’ll irritate the bottom of his feet.

He’s scared of bugs, but he doesn’t like to kill them either. Honestly, he just kinda hopes spiders and stuff will crawl away without him intervening 😭😭

He likes board games, and has a thing for The Game of Life. He cannot play chess, even though most people would guess that he could, and he’s begun to practice by playing online versions against computers to learn.

He knows everyone’s gossip because everyone comes to him to gossip. And if he’s the therapist friend, then you’re the person who receives the summary of all the tea from him at the end of the week. And man can this boy throw a bitch fest when he’s in the right mood.

nsfw

He’s got a bit of an oral fixation, so he really likes having your mouth occupied; with his fingers, with your panties, with his dick—he’s not really picky.

Likes sex with the lights on. Claims it’s because he wants to “see all of you” (it’s really because he’s nervous he’ll fuck something up if he can’t see properly 😭😭)

He really likes making out. Like, a lot. Though it’s not something that happens often—so he builds up a lot of frustrating thinking about it, and it all comes crashing down, and ends up with you guys damn near dry humping each other on the couch for two hours.

That’s something that applies to him generally, too—he tends to let himself get very frustrated and worked up, whether he means to or not. He also thinks about sex quite frequently, and it only fuels his frustration; so when he snaps, he snaps hard.

He’d let you choke him back if you asked. Just ask nicely.

JEAN sfw

Loves studying in cafés and adores when you study with him; peeps up at you periodically when you sit across from him. He always pays for your drink, but sometimes you guys share, and he likes making a game out of reaching for the cup at the same time as you.

He’s very chivalrous, but he hates when you call him out for it, or make any kind of deal of it. He knows it’s chivalry, but he also knows it’s the bare minimum, plus he’s easily embarrassed—especially in public.

Loves having his hair played with, absolutely adores it. If you’re just holding his face, or resting your hand on his cheek, he’ll move himself further into your touch to maneuver your palm closer to his hair.

He really really really likes back hugs—giving and receiving them. If he’s standing behind you, he’ll most likely reach for a hug at some point (sometimes he won’t let go and you’ve gotta waddle with him on you). His ears get red when you give him a back hug but he always uses a hand to rest over your arms to tell you that he doesn’t want you to let go.

He can play the piano, but he doesn’t tell a soul about it. The only reason you found out it through his mom. He’s got stage fright, so he gave up on performing, but he’s really talented, and can almost play any song by ear.

nsfw

He loves the feeling of your hands on him, particularly if you’ve got long nails. Please scrape your nails against his back, or even just dig them into his biceps while he’s fucking you, it’ll drive him insane.

Along with liking having his hair played with, he adores having it pulled on—the attention and desperation in your actions goes straight to his ego and his dick.

One of his biggest fantasies is getting a lap dance from you. He’d never ever fucking say it out loud or dream of asking for it, but the idea of you stripping in front of him, down to lingerie he’d picked out for you, and teasing him until he can’t take it anymore and jumps you is something he thinks about… far more often than he should.

If you’re wearing his clothes (especially one of his t-shirts to bed, or around his apartment), he’s gonna fuck you in it. Jean has a lot of self control, but that’s one thing that’ll make him snap in an instant. And if you wear his shirt or hoodie out, he’s fucking you when you get home, it’s as simple as that.

CONNIE sfw

He studies with children’s shows playing the background. He doesn’t remember how he discovered that his method works for him, all he knows is that something about Paw Patrol makes for excellent background noise for writing his research papers.

He’s quite touchy with PDA, but if you guys are in a crowd then forget about it—because Connie might forget about you. He’s definitely left you at the grocery store before.

He eats cereal for breakfast every morning, and he’s kind of got a collection of them in his kitchen. He claims there are upscale cereals that he doesn’t just let anybody eat or even touch; so, if he offers you a midnight snack consisting of a bowl of his favorite (and very rare) cereal, then be honored.

He almost always pays with cash, but he hates change. If he gets back coins, he either tells the cashier to keep them, puts them in a tip jar if there’s one in sight, or just pours them into your coat pocket. He understands that its money, but he’ll be damned if he’s just got a sack full of nickels clanging around in his bag.

nsfw

He claims he doesn’t have a thing for exhibitionism, but with the way he’s down to fuck damn near anywhere, he might be a bold faced liar. Changing rooms, music festivals, airport bathrooms, the little corner of the multilevel parking lot that he’s oh-so-certain is in the blindspot of the security cameras... there are so few things off-limits with him.

Car sex on his bucket list… just not in his car lmfao (because trust and believe that’s something that already happens pretty regularly). Maybe his real kink is vandalism and destruction of property.

He is not above begging you to sit on his face. He will get on his knees and pant like a fucking dog for you to do it, he’s so serious. He’ll do it laying down, he’ll do it with you standing up/against a wall, he’ll do it on the couch. Break his neck please he’s fucking asking for it.

He doesn’t mind sharing and he definitely doesn’t mind watching. Honestly, he’d egg you on to kiss someone else at a party, or go as far as to seduce you into seducing someone else just so he can watch it go down.

PORCO sfw

He sends you iMessage games but only the ones he’s good at because he doesn’t like to lose. But also, if he is losing, he doesn’t want you to be supportive about it and tell him “it’s okay uwu” lmfao he wants to either cream you, or have you kick his ass; competition is the name of the game, don’t be soft on him.

He’s a morning person, and he likes going on runs or even just early-morning walks when the weather is nice. He will wake you up occasionally to join him—and if you’re a homebody, you will be joining him. He won’t be responsible for watching you decompose on the couch.

Very picky about his pizza. It’s not a calorie or grease or health thing—he just really fucking likes pizza, and he won’t excuse a bad slice.

Always pulls you closer to him in a crowd or when a group of people are walking by. He doesn’t have to, but he likes to. Tease him about it and he’ll push you right back tho, probably into a shrub if there’s one near by.

nsfw

He’s such a “No, no—answer the call” kind of mf; a sadist, if you will. He lives for torturing and embarrassing you, and that applies to sex, too.

Loves the way his hands look on you, particularly splaying his hand over your stomach when he’s fucking you. Likes the heat of your body against his, when he positions himself just right to feel the outline of his dick against you, and squeezing the sides of your tummy when he gets lost in it.

Loves blowjobs, and loves to cum on you or over your face. His favorite thing tho is pulling away just before he’s about to orgasm, and jacking himself off with your tongue sticking out, ready to swallow.

Okay with threesomes, too; but he wouldn’t like to do much to or with the third person. It’s okay if they touch you—maybe even fuck you, depending on who it is—but he’s not there to get them off.

LEVI

sfw

When he cooks dinner, he always makes sure to make enough for you to have leftovers to take with you for lunch the following day. Especially if it’s a dish you’ve been wanting or try, or specifically asked him to cook.

He’s got a specific tote bag he brings with him to the grocery store/farmer’s market, and separate one for when he’s running other light errands.

He hates soda, not even just because it’s not the healthiest thing to drink—he just doesn’t like the feel of carbonated drinks; the only exception being when they’re mixed with liquor, but even then, it’s not his preference.

After a while, he just starts lying and says you’re married at places where it benefits you both, or to curb a longer conversation about the status of your relationship to people who are inquiring. He thinks it’s fucking weird that marriage is what shuts people up, but if it works, it works; less people prying in your guys’ business.

He likes giving you forehead kisses, and if you do it back, he’ll learn that he doesn’t mind receiving them either.

He’s such a sucker for you rubbing your thumb against the back of his hand when you guys hold hands. He might not act like he notices, but he always does; and somewhat craves little touches like that the longer you guys are together.

nsfw

He would never admit it to anyone, but birthday sex is up there for his favorite kind of sex. He never cared much about his birthday… until he realized he could get that as a gift. He knows it’s not different, but he likes it, nonetheless; one the few times he doesn’t mind having all the attention on him.

King of aftercare, though some of his methods usually lead to another round—in which he teases you for cancelling out his work, when you know he was just as willing and eager.

He likes edging himself and overstimulating you; and with his self-control, that makes for a pretty dangerous combination.

He’s strong and he knows how to use it to his advantage: maneuvering you with a single arm, holding both your wrists above your head with one hand, pushing your head down into the sheets when he’s fucking you from behind.

Sex is one of the few times Levi doesn’t mind making a mess—and in fact, he likes it messy; watching you drip onto the sheets, making you spit on his dick and fucking your face until you drool. He always goes on about how sloppy you are, how you can’t keep anything clean, but he fucking loves it.

[bcdrawsandwrites]

Fandom: Psychonauts

Rating: K+

Genre: Gen?? Sickfic?? mild H/C??? you got me, man

Characters: Caligosto Loboto, Boyd Cooper, Gloria Von Gouton, Fred Bonaparte, Crispin Whytehead, Sheegor

Warnings: Vomit, blood, depictions of sickness... (SPOILERS: implied torture + amputation)

Description: Loboto is having a very bad night. The inmates are not helping.

Beta Readers: @jaywings​ and Rocket

Notes: This fic is based on a theory that comes from a few figments in Loboto’s mental world in the demo footage of Psychonauts 2. ...also I wrote this while sick with a fever, edited it while still sick, and illustrated the cover while recovering from said sickness. have fun

—~~~—

He did not remember arriving back at the tower.

Partially because he wasn't even back in the tower, instead standing on the frosty shoreline, the chilly waves lapping at his boot heels.

Loboto stared dumbly out at the cliffside for a long moment before frustration simmered beneath his fogged mind. Yes! Of course, they wouldn't send him back to his lab. No! He could do with a good climb, especially on a frigid night like this! His chest heaved with quiet, dazed laughter before he took a gasp of cold air that grated against his sore throat.

The wind, though not harsh, cut through every part of him that wasn't covered by his shower cap or lab coat like a fine knife, as cold as it was painful. It grazed his shoulder, and his vision went white as his mechanical eyes flashed. But even with the blasted optics glitching, he could still see. His imagination ran wild with absurd visions of ridiculous things that had never happened.

On top of that, the slice of pain brought with it a violent realization that it was not the only pain he was in. The numb shock he’d been in gave way to an agony that tore through him, ripping up and down his side, nearly bringing him to his knees. No, no, no, that pain could not be real, just like the horrific visions of red and yellow that flashed through his mind. It was all a trick—all a stupid trick from his malfunctioning eyes and his brain. Pah!

He found himself clawing at his shower cap, occasionally stopping to smack his mechanical eyes a few times until they flickered back into focus, the desolate beach snapping back into view. "Enough of this!" he growled hoarsely at the sand beneath him. "That little army man will be back any day now, and we can't keep him waiting."

With a grunt, Loboto marched forward and heaved himself up onto the first narrow ledge, already finding his body shuddering with the effort and his mind struggling to push back the imaginary waves of pain. "Ridiculous!" he blurted into the rock he leaned against for balance. "A child can climb a mountain ten times this height!" And it wasn't like he'd never done it, either. Muscle memory helped him get from one step to the other, but keeping his balance was harder than normal, especially as his mind repeatedly dipped back into brain fog.

His eyes flickered in a blink when he found himself on the ladder, his boot slipping on the frosty wood and one hand losing its grip. Realizing he was about to fall, he flung his weight back against the ladder, biting down on the nearest rung to keep himself in place. A frantic giggle worked its way through his clenched teeth—ah, teeth! Useful for so many things! They would never let him down.

If you let us down one more time—

Ripping himself away from the rung and leaving rough teeth-marks behind, he let out a snarl and heaved himself the rest of the way up the ladder and onto the ledge. He sat on his knees for the moment, his mechanical eyes pulling back as he tried to make sense of the gate that seemed to be spinning around him. No, not just the gate—the entire cliffside spun beneath him like some wild carnival ride. He couldn't remember it doing that before, but the absurdity of it made him laugh, the action tearing through his sore throat. Yet he continued to laugh until his stomach lurched and a cascade of vomit silenced him.

He managed to scoot himself away, spitting and coughing as the world slowly came to a halt. At the same time, a figure that had been sleeping against the opposite wall snapped alert with a panicked gasp.

"Ah—ah!" Boyd stammered, scrambling to his feet and whipping his head around until he spotted Loboto on the ground. "Who are you working for?"

"That fool Oleander," Loboto grumbled under his breath, his eyes swiveling to glare at him.

Boyd's eyes blinked separately before recognition dawned upon him. "Y-yes! Of course!" Fumbling with his keys, he got to work unlocking the gate. "It's said he knows the milkman..."

Gritting his teeth, Loboto shakily began to push himself back upright. A large hand suddenly clapped against his shoulder, and he gave a yell as he was heaved to his feet. Without turning to look, he struck at the one who'd grabbed him. "Tricky terrible traitors try to trap—"

"AH—no, I am no traitor, I am the guard!" Boyd cried, stumbling back and holding up his hands as Loboto found his balance.

The two stared at each other for a tense moment, Loboto's eyes glowing harshly as Boyd trembled beneath his gaze. He couldn't help feeling a twinge of satisfaction at seeing his subordinate cower.

"Th... the milk is not ready yet!" Boyd said, wincing away as he eyed the doctor's clenched fist.

Loboto stared.

"I'm lactose intolerant."

Boyd glanced at something on the ground. "I-I noticed."

With a growl, Loboto finally marched past the guard, who frantically closed the gate behind him.

Now that that mess was over, he could finally get back up to his lab and get back to—

He paused.

"SHEEGOR!"

His voice boomed through the empty grounds. It was empty of people, now empty of crows, and empty of elevators.

When his assistant did not spontaneously appear, he clenched his fist until his knuckles turned white beneath his glove. "Yes! Wonderful!" he proclaimed to no one as he stamped toward the withered garden with a harsh laugh. "I can scale this dilapidated tower myself then. Fine night for some exercise!"

He knew his way through his asylum, of course, so it wouldn't be overly difficult, but he would have much preferred the express elevator so he could get back to work immediately. But as it was, he ducked through the entrance to the greenhouse, fighting to keep steady as the action made his head spin, his back ache (no it didn’t, he was fine), and his shower cap to catch against the branches overhead. Turning his optics up, he pressed a hand down into the cap, pulling it away from the plants. He'd hoped to avoid the woman who occupied this corner of the asylum, but as he straightened his back, he bumped into one of the flowerpots, knocking it to the ground with a dull clunk.

"My, you need to buy seats in advance if you want to come to my shows!" Gloria said, turning to him with a patient, hazy smile. "No need to be harassing the paying customers."

"What do they pay you in? Leaves? Seeds?" Loboto asked, the frantic giggle that followed clashing with his strained smile.

Gloria ignored the comment, glancing him over and waving him off. "Please see yourself out. I'm not an usher, but since they seem to be ignoring their duties, I'll have to tell you you cannot bring food or drink into the theater."

Swiveling his optics in an approximation of an eye roll, Loboto turned away to head out the other side of the greenhouse. "I don't have any."

"Not anymore, but anyone can see that wine you've sloshed onto your nice suit."

Loboto froze.

"It's a wonder it didn't get onto the carpet—"

The next thing he knew, he was staring down at an entire line of flower pots that lay in pieces on the floor of the greenhouse.

"Oh!" Gloria cried. "I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure the ushers will attend to this ruffian, and the play can resume..."

He left her to continue rambling to her imaginary audience as he tried to rid the imaginary nonsense (visions, pain, glowing yellow eyes) from his mind. "Fickle fumbling females feeling faint for fading flowers..." he mumbled as he stepped into the lower floor of the asylum. It brought its usual sights and sounds of one of the former orderlies dozing over a makeshift game board (with stolen game pieces, he noted), the artist in the room overhead scraping old brushes furiously against a canvas, and finally Crispin standing dutifully in front of the asylum's only other elevator.

"Crispin!" Loboto said, and the man turned to face somewhere slightly to his left. "Let me up, will you?"

"Of course, Doctor Loboto." Crispin turned toward the elevator controls, only to pause, his dull eyes squinting as he turned back. "Wait..."

"Wait for what?" Loboto threw out his arm in a wide gesture. "Do you want to hear that army man ranting at us again? Or perhaps you find it funny! Though it is, isn't it? Shouting about sneezing powder and tanks! HAH!"

While he'd been talking, Crispin had been leaning forward, eyeing him up and down. He frowned. "You're not Doctor Loboto," he said at length.

"WHAT?!"

Behind him, Fred sprang to his feet. "Sacré bleu! We have fallen asleep on ze battlefield!"

Ignoring the man and his terrible French accent, Loboto stepped closer to Crispin, finding himself trembling—in rage or in suppressed laughter or something else, he wasn't sure. "Of course I'm Doctor Loboto! I was, last I checked. Highly trained and professional!"

"Yes, well," Crispin began, leaning back and raising a brow, "the real Doctor Loboto does not wear an actual straitjacket. It's merely a strappy jacket fashioned from one."

"This is my jacket, you milky-eyed moron!" Loboto cried, tugging on the front of his coat in demonstration. "It doesn't have my arms tied up!" He lunged toward Crispin to grab him by the collar, but stumbled as the world spun once more. He struggled to keep his stomach from flipping again.

"Well, that's because you're wearing it poorly. But you are certainly not Doctor Loboto. I can tell. You don't have the right jacket, or the right complexion." He tipped his head. "The real Doctor Loboto is blue, not sickly gray. As you can see, you can't fool me. Now go back to wherever you came from and—"

"He has returned from ze war!" Fred blurted behind him. He blinked, then shook his head, hunching in on himself. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, we really shouldn't—" He straightened again. "Yes, shut up! We are in ze presence of a great war hero!"

Crispin rolled his eyes. "What are you going on about now, Fred?"

"Do you not see? He bears ze blood of his enemies upon his robes, and ze scars of victory—"

Loboto whirled on him faster than he could think, managing a swift kick to Fred's shin.

With a yelp, the man crashed to the ground, curling up on himself and whining. "Ohhh... can we just postpone the battle until morning?" He twitched. "NON! Ze enemy never sleeps, so neither shall we!"

"Well, Fred's down for the count again," Cripsin remarked. "So if you're done, kindly step away from my elevator and off the nearest cliff, thanks."

Loboto wanted nothing more than to knock Crispin to the ground and find a few bad teeth to remove, but his vision was blurring and flickering, and he found it hard to think.

"No, really, we can't fight in the dark, and the enemy can't either, can they?" "Rrrrrghhh, I suppose you are right, for once. We shall camp here for now, but come sunrise, we fight!"

A weak laugh made its way past his lips as he stared down at the former orderly settling on the cobblestone. Yes, that crazy man had a point. There was no point in fighting tonight—he'd get his work done in the morning. And that work would have to include getting back into his lab in the first place.

After a brief moment, he snatched an item from the floor before stumbling back through the greenhouse and toward the entrance.

A nice night for sleeping under the stars, he supposed.

---~~~---

Judging by how bright the world was by the time his mechanical eyes flickered back on, the sun was starting to rise. But he couldn't tell for sure when there was a large metal cage blocking his view, with something else within—

"He said he would be back by nightfall, but he hasn't come!" a high pitched voice cried as a familiar form stepped out of the elevator, her back to him. "Oh Mr. Pokeylope, do you think he's gone for good this time?"

The corner of Loboto's mouth twitched.

"Oops!" She clapped an oven mitt over her mouth. "I'm glad he's not around to hear me say that," she said as she began to turn. "If he was, he'd be—EEK!"

Sheegor jumped back at the sight of Loboto laying sprawled out at the foot of the fountain, having slept (or passed out) there the remainder of the night. He clutched his worn teddy close to his chest and stared her in the eyes.

"Oh—I—I—!" Sheegor held her pet turtle close to herself. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry Doctor Loboto, I didn't mean any of that, I—"

"Yes, well it's a nice morning, isn't it?" Loboto grumbled, tucking the teddy bear under his arm so he could push himself to his feet. His entire body ached (from sleeping on the ground, not from anything else). "A nice morning to get some work done after you left me stranded here all night!" He took a threatening—but wobbling—step forward, fist clenched.

Oddly, Sheegor didn't seem as intimidated as usual. Her mouth gaped, and her eyes darted between his face and his right side.

"What are you looking at?"

"Y... you..." A trembling mitt was covering her open mouth. "D-Doctor! What happened to you?!"

His eyes flickered. "I slept out here with a rock for a pillow."

"N-no, it's—it's—!" Her whole body was shaking now, but not, he sensed, in fear of him. It should have made him angry, but exhaustion pulled at him instead, making his frame droop.

"Yes? Well, spit it out."

Sheegor held out one hand, pointed toward his right side. "Y-your arm!"

Loboto's optics slowly angled down to his right. For the first time he noticed the enormous, darkened bloodstains on his jacket, and a torn, empty sleeve hanging limply at his side.

"Oh," he said dully, feeling himself wobble as the pain finally worked its way to the forefront of his mind. "How did that happen?"

At once the world tipped to the side, and Sheegor caught him, straining to keep him from fully collapsing to the ground.

Wordlessly she helped him into the elevator, letting him lean onto her while he bit back the urge to scream. He wanted to protest, to berate her for touching him, but everything felt distant, even the upper floor of the asylum as they rapidly ascended toward it. And anyway, once they reached the top, anything he would have said was held back by his rolling stomach ejecting whatever bile still occupied it.

As he gagged, he could hear Sheegor whispering to the turtle in her mitts: "I know, I know, but I-I can't leave him like that—th-the asylum wouldn't... w-we were supposed to..."

"Just... get back to work... Sheegor," he managed to slur around the acrid taste in his mouth. Bitter bile breaks brittle bones of the mouth.

Sheegor looked from him to her turtle a few times, her mouth wobbling, and carefully eased his arm over her hunched back again. Instead of leading him to his lab, however, she led him down into the asylum, into the usual room he slept in: a mostly-intact bedroom with a mattress and blankets over a broken bed frame shoved into one corner, a chair and a desk with papers scattered across it, and a meticulously crafted and framed (and official) DDS license on the wall.

After easing him down into the bed, Sheegor stepped back, looking away. "Um... I-if you want, Doctor, I can clean that robe..."

His initial thought was that the blood stains made a wonderful addition to his ensemble, but glancing down at them again caused his brain to supply him with more awful, made-up nonsense. No, he wouldn't have that any longer.

With some amount of struggling he managed to get the thing off, unceremoniously tossing it in Sheegor's general direction. She managed to catch it and quickly scurried out. "I'll get this back to you as soon as I can Doctor bye!" she squeaked before the door slammed behind her, leaving Loboto sitting in the empty room.

Everything felt surreal, being in familiar surroundings after spending an entire night on freezing cobblestone. The sight when his gaze turned downward, however, was less familiar: there was new stitching across his chest, and on his right shoulder where his arm had been. It was cleanly done—they hadn't wanted him too much worse for wear, since he still had a job to do for—

Oleander. He had a job to do for Oleander right now. The sneezing powder, yes. His mind drifted over the things they'd discussed in their last meeting.

They'd both figured out a way for it to be made, more or less. The remaining issue was how to properly dispense the stuff. Oleander had suggested keeping it in a bag, but that was easily-spilled, and it may lose potency if pre-ground. But what was he supposed to do? He didn't have a grinder with him on-hand at all times—

A shock of brilliance bolted through him, and he stumbled to his desk with renewed energy. He grabbed a well-chewed pencil and began to write, his non-dominant hand shaking badly as he forced it into motions it was not used to.

But that was fine. It wouldn't have that job for long.

A manic giggle bubbled out of his throat as he worked out the notes and rough sketches, detailing a jointed pepper grinder with claws and a strap to secure it to his now-unoccupied side.

This loss of a limb, baffling as it was, was exactly what he needed.

[algumaideia]

An analysis of Octavian

This post was actually going to be an explanation of why I think Octavian is an antagonist, but not a villain. But it ended up being an analysis of his character. 

SPOILERS

And as always feel free to disagree with me, just be respectful. 

Sorry, because it wasn’t well-written, I’m incapable of writing good texts. 

Backstory

I think it is important to say that since we don’t have any information about his backstory most of the thing said in this part of the review are what I think is his backstory. It is a mix of the facts stated in the books, the way Octavian acts and my interpretations. Besides the things I’ll make clear that were said in the books, the rest is not canon. And you don’t need to agree with me that this was his backstory.

His family is one of the richest of New Rome- In the books he also seems to act without fearing the consequences while taking the privilege/money of his family as garented. Octavian acts like someone that is seeking attention. It is so weird how he just do whatever he wants without fearing consequences when his family is right there in New Rome. For that to happen I think or his family neglects him or they are those kind of people who think the children can do no wrong and are all my baby didn’t do that. But I think that if they were the latter, they would be more present in Octavian’s life, but they are never there. 

He is an augere and feels very proud about it. I don’t think there is too much to add about it besides that I think he likes to be an augere because it makes him important and necessary.

No one likes him and this isn’t something new. In Son of Neptune, Hazel says half of the camp hates Octavian and most of his friends are bought. So, Octavian is a lonely child. And he is aware of this. He is a bad person, people dislike him for a reason. But it seems people have been disliking him for some years and he is a child. According to his wiki he was 10 years old when he came to Camp Jupiter for the first time, and he spent his tweens and teens years in a place where people did not like him. I don’t think this was a good place to grow up.

He is really smart and manipulative. I think that those traits are a little inconsistent. Because in the beginning of the SoN Percy says how Octavian is really good at manipulating people with words, but then in the ending of the book and in MoA everyone is shutting Octavian up. Isn’t he this kind of master of words, how he isn’t answering people back? 

We also know he’s been at camp jupiter for quite sometime. I’ll talk about it in another part of the post.

He is anemic and mentally ill. I’ll talk about those things in the Camp Jupiter, Treatment and Ableism parts. 

Other thing that I would like to say is that this post is not an attempt to ignore the bad things Octavian did and pretend he is not a bad person. It is just me trying to understand his better and show why in my opinion the fandom hasn’t treated him fairly.

Camp Jupiter

Camp Jupiter sucks and it does for a lot of reasons. Some of them being the fact they have a city full of adults and most of them were demigods trained in the camp, which means they have trained adults but instead tweens and teens are the ones who fights. Hazel said that if Percy dishonored the legion they both would be executed. Hazel also says that sometimes people die in the war games. There is also the fact that people are dying all the time in missions/wars. The Camp Jupiter also expects perfect behavior for its demigods, to them all know the rules and to do not commit mistakes and I don’t have adhd but this doesn’t seem to be a good place to people that has the disorder. There is too much preassure to do not do any wrong, apperently no emotional support and the punishments seems to be crazy. It’s not a healthy place to a chldren grow up.

Other point is how they value physical strenght, hand to hand combats and offensive approache more than a lot of things. Frank said how he wasn’t treated well because he was an archer, and this was seem as cowardice. Octavian is anemic, he doesn’t have physical strenght or energy to be able to fight. The only way to be respected in Jupiter's camp is to be a good fighter, and he cannot be that because of his illness. As I said Octavian is someone that is often seeking attention and validation by his peers, and I think that this is why being an augere is something so important to him. He cannot make himself important in the traditional way and by being an augere he is necessary to the camp. People cannot just dismiss him. He buys friends, he manipulates people, he becomes a centurion, he is always dominating the senate. He makes himself impossible to be neglected. 

Yes, Octavian is power-hungry. Yes, he is bad. But a lot of things he did during Heroes of Olympus was just Roman things (he was also mentally ill and his mental health was getting worse in each book). When Hazel says that Octavian will kill Percy if the greeks atack New Rome, but in the next sentence she says that Romans take oaths very seriously. However it is all written like it is Octavian being a horrible person. But it is not. The Romans are very harsh with their punishments, they seem to be violent, physical. When Octavian says the Romans should fight the greeks, he is just acting like a Roman, like someone who was raised in a enviroment that encouraged violence responses.

Treatment

Octavian wasn’t treated nicely by the narrative and other characters. I mean, this guy was the centurion of the first cohort and an augere. But no one seem to respect him. No one enters the legion without him saying yes (I know it is acording to what he sees) but he is treated like he isn’t important. He is the one that is responsable of saying what the gods wants, but no one seems to have problems mocking him. I mean fi he decides to give you a wrong information about what a god want you are dead. 

Hazel said how “obsessed” with the sibylline books Octavian and it was framed as him being irrational and dumb. But in the end he was right, if the legion listened to him Ella would have been save way sooner. But no, it is just Octavian being  “obsessed”.

Percy acts like Octavian doesn’t have any prophecy powers, but he saw the lighting in the Jupiter Temple. Then when Octavian is mad because there are three preators he acts like he is overreacting, and Jason and Reyna do nothing. And this is weird because it was made very clear that rules are very important to Camp Jupiter. 

When he decides to attack Camp Jupiter he is always villified and not seem as a mentally ill boy that has been getting worse doing the Roman thing. 

He is always dismissed, mocked, villified, ignored.

And the fact Luke was treated with sympathy, but Octavian not. Luke, who tried to kill Percy, a childre, a lot of times. Luke, who used Annabeth feelings and emotional attachment to manipulate her. Luke, who was 19-22 years old and groomed Silena, who was 14-18 years old. Luke, who poisoned Talia’s tree. Luke, who had no regards for Grover, the satyr that saved him. Luke was treated with sympathy. But not Octavian. Not the mentally ill child who was losing the touch with reality during the series. Not the guy who was just doing what he was raised to do. 

I mean, I don’t even like Octavian and I cannot stand it.

Gwen

Guys, Octavian did a lot of bad things but killing Gwen wasn’t one of those thing. It is so no sense for a lot of reasons. 

As we talked before he is anemic and he is also smart. This intelligent man, that is full aware of his physical limits, thought it would be a good idea to get in the midle of a chaotic fight? I don’t think so.

Some pages before that Percy hit Octavian and he fell like a straw man (according to the text, the first time I read it I thought he fainted). 

Octavian always makes things because of a purpose, he isn’t just being mean because. He does bad things because his actions will give him something. Killing Gwen wouldn’t help him with anything.

Frank for some reason decided to look to Octavian during that mess and that doesn’t make any sense. He is in the camp for a month at this time the guy should’ve already known that Octavian doesn’t battle, he only commands. He saw Percy fighting for a couple of seconds during the war game and was already able to say how he fought.

Octavian was without his knive, but just minutes before he fainted, he could have lost it when he fell.

Frank said that Octavian seemed interested and not worried. But this is not enough to blame the guy, this is not enough to assume anything execpt that maybe Octavian has low empath. 

Greeks

Octavian was a roman. To the romans the greeks didn’t exist anymore, and they were the enemy. 

So, a random greek shows up, spends some days at the camp, becomes preator, and two of your most important gods appear and give a lot of attention to this greek. This is really suspicious. This greek also says that the romans should work with the greeks so they can defeat Gaea. And why you should trust this dude? He doesn’t show respect for the Roman culture. Then this huge war ship appears and this suspect greek guy says that they all come peace and the romans should not attack. Obviously you don’t believe it, and what happens they attack! As the good roman you are, your answer is to attack the greeks back. 

The romans answers things with violence. This is why Reyna asked if Annabeth was a roman after the judo flip. This is why Hazel said she and Percy would be executed if he did a mistake during his period of probatio. Octavian was being roman. He was trying to protect and revenge his Camp against a long time enemy. 

Not saying everything he did about it was logical, but this is because of his upbringing and his mental health. 

Goals

I think it is really interisting the fact that Octavian main goal was to be a hero, not more powerful. Apollo didin’t say Octavian would become preator, he said Octavian would save New Rome. 

I mean, since Octavian wanted to be preator and then became the pontifex maximum, so the logical think it would be to him wants more power. But no he wants to be a hero. A hero is someone that is respected, admired, liked and even loved. All the thing Octavian isn't. Don't get me wrong, Octavian is a bad person, there is a reason people dislike him. But he is also a lonely child that is hated by most of the camp.

Ableism

Octavian is often described as crazy, mad, insane. In his first appearence Percy said Octavian had madness in the eyes, and this was the way of the narrative warning us he was one of the bad guys. He is obviusly mentally ill, his mental health is obviusly getting worse, but everyone ignores it. Everyone ignores it, execpt when they are describing how insane his laugh is, how crazy he looks, how intense his gaze is. Everyone ignores it, until they need to remind us he is one of the antagonists. 

Ending

The ending was terrible. 

Octavian was obiously having a psychotic break, he was stumbling, laughing “in an insane” way, and he didn’t realize his jewelry was in fire. And then what happens? Michael Kahale, the person he most trusted, his problaby only friends appeared, saw the situation and did nothing.

Octavian didn’t kill himself. He didn’t know his clothes were tied in the onager. It wasn’t a sacrifice. It was an aciddent. 

Nico stopped Will Solace who was trying to warn it because some “deaths are inevitable”. Nico, also a mentally ill character saw Octavian in the vulnerable state he was and did nothing to help him. And when Nico was seeing Octavian lunch himself to the sky he thought that this was a relief. No one was sad, no one thought this was a tragedy, no one cared. Octavian was dead and that was a relief. 

The guy was so desperate to be the hero and no one even cared about his death. It is horrible.

Another sorry for the weird tense of the text.

If you want to read this is my post about Octavian and Azula and how their mental illness were treated differently.

Best regards,

Me. 

Ps. We need to start talking how the way Bryce was written was ableist.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Letter 27: 🐙 The Little Octopus who could 🐙

A letter arrives in the mail. The golden paper shimmers slightly in the light, boasting fluid cursive beneath a lilac banner littered with sea stars, shells, and peals. The Octavinelle emblem rests squarely in the center of the header.

A few coupons come with the letter, each exclaiming of meal deals at the Mostro Lounge. Buy one, get one 50% off! Free appetizer with any purchase of an entree! 10% off your total bill! (There was, of course, also a paragraph of fine print on each coupon detailing their terms and conditions.)

***Spoilers for chapters 3, 4, 5, and the Happy Beans Day event!***

Dear Prefect-san,

I hope that you are well. Surely you and Grim-san are not still living off of canned tuna? I would certainly hope not, but... With what meager allowance that the headmaster gives you, I doubt you have much money to allocate to the nonessentials.

In my infinite generosity, I have gone out of my way to afford you the opportunity to sample the Mostro Lounge’s wares. Please do pay us a visit when you are able; we would love to have your patronage. Ah, and please rest assured that there are no strings attached. Think of it as proof of moving forward from the past.

I will not go into detail regarding my childhood, but needless to say, I was not satisfied with my lot in life. I made an investment in myself and changed who I was, hoping to erase that one weak, pathetic “me” from the world. Deep down, I knew—I knew that no matter how many contracts I made, no matter how many prizes I accumulated, I would always cling to that past “me”. My beginning.

My kindness was a shallow one. It existed to reel in fools who desire a quick and easy fix to their problems. 25 people, 225 people, 225,000 people. The number mattered not. I could collect all the contracts in Twisted Wonderland, and perhaps still not be satisfied. I always wanted more and more, wanting to bury the memory of the “me” I once was, to prove my worth. I didn’t care who or what I had to take advantage of to climb higher and higher. My ambitions ate me alive.

But when that inky cloud of despair lifted, I saw the light piercing through the water. I felt a warm embrace from both sides. Jade and Floyd welcoming me back with snarky smiles. Why? I had lost everything, and yet I was not discarded. I had shown weakness, and yet I was forgiven. I was accepted. The good and the bad, the past and the present.

... Those were dirty tricks you pulled, employing those Savanaclaw brutes to lend you their assistance. Still, I suppose I cannot be dissatisfied with this conclusion. It was thanks to your combined efforts that I saw the light once more. If anything, I must applaud your craftiness. I’ve certainly underestimated you.

Since then, you’ve made my days a bit more lively. Floyd and Jade cause their fair share of trouble, but it is you that as brought some interesting things to the table. Crashing into Octavinelle during winter break, and urging us to assist with a matter in Scarabia... I certainly did not expect that. However, the incident did allow me to understand my dear classmate Jamil-san a bit more—and now Kalim-san is indebted to us, fufu. I have you to thank for that.

You’ve continued to entertain me outside of those tense incidents as well. Who could ever forget your friends’ VDC performance, or your pitiful attempt to defeat the Beast Team during Beans Day? So close to victory, and yet so far.

I came to Night Raven College to further my ambitions in magic and entrepreneurship. And yet, I also find myself having fun these days. Perhaps... this is what was missing from my childhood, what the past “me” never had: community.

Both in business and in life... walking alone is a difficult path. I doubt the Mostro Lounge can function as smoothly as it does without the work of my staff. And... I doubt I would be as successful as I am without the support of my most trusted business partners, Jade and Floyd. No. Maybe... maybe it would be more fitting to say that I consider them to be my confidants. My... friends.

Moving forward, I still plan to expand the operations of the Mostro Lounge (though admittedly this time without claiming Ramshackle dorm in a contract) . It will not be a venture I take on alone—because I am not alone, not anymore. And the past “me” that I once shunned, the bitter, sad octopus that couldn’t swim at the same speed as his classmates... I will take his hand and wipe away his tears, carrying him with me into the future.

That vulnerable “me” is not my weakness—it is my impetus for change.

Prefect-san, you have my sincere gratitude for helping me along to that conclusion. That is why I am willing to hear out your troubles, should you need it. Of course, there will always be a price to pay—but for you, perhaps I can arrange a small discount.

I hope to have your business at the Mostro Lounge.

At your service,

🐙 Azul Ashengrotto 🐙

Octavinelle Dorm Leader

Mostro Lounge Owner and Manager

Board Game Club Member

Second Year NRC Student

P.S. Please purge any memories you may have of my child self or me crying immediately.

P.P.S. Please do NOT mention the contents of this letter to Jade or Floyd. I know they will tease me mercilessly once they catch wind of this.

[brawltogethernow]

So, I don't think I've ever asked you this... what IS the whole point of the Spider-Sense? It really seems like something that only exists for writers to ignore or work around when they want to inject Legit Tension into a story.

I’ve thought about this power so much, but never with an eye to defend its right to exist, so I needed to think about this. The results could be more concise.

Ironically, given the question, I have to say its main purpose is to ramp up tension. But it’s also a highly variable multitool that a skilled creative team can use for...pretty much anything. It does everything the writer wants it to, while for its wielder always falls just short of doing enough.

I went looking through my photos for a really generic, classic-looking example to use as an image to head this topic, but then I ran into the time Peter absolutely did not reimburse this man for his stolen McDonald’s, so have that instead.

A Scare Chord, But You Can Draw It

That one post that says the spider-sense is just super-anxiety isn’t, like, wrong. It’s a very anxious, dramatic storytelling tool originally designed for a very anxious, dramatic protagonist. I find it speaks to the overall tone of the franchise that some characters are functionally psychics, but with a psychic ability that only points out problems.

Spidey sense pinging? There’s danger, be stressed! Broken? Now the lead won’t even KNOW when there’s a problem, scary! Single character is immune to it? That’s an invisible knife in the dark oh my god what the fuck what the fU--

Like its counterpart in garden variety anxiety, the only time the spider-sense reduces tension is in the middle of a crisis. But in the wish fulfillmenty way that you want in an adventure story to justify exaggerated action sequences, the same way enhanced strength or durability does. Also like those, it would theoretically make someone much safer to have it, but it exists in the story to let your character navigate into and weather more dangerous situations.

For its basic role in a story, a danger sense is a snappy way to rile up both the reader and the protagonist that doesn’t offer much information beyond that it’s time to sit smart because shit is about to go down.

Spidey comic canon is all over the board in quality and genre, and it started needing to subvert its formulas before the creators got a handle on what those formulas even were, and basically no one has read anything approaching most of it at this point, so for consistent examples of a really bare bones use of this power in storytelling, I’d point to the property that’s done the best job yet of boiling down the mechanics of Spider-Man to their absolute most basic essentials for adaptation to a compelling monster of the week TV series.

Or as you probably know it, Danny Phantom. DON’T BOO, I’M RIGHT.

DP is Spider-Man with about 2/3 of the serial numbers filed off and no death (ironically), and Danny’s ghost sense is the most proof in the formula example of what the spidey sense is for: It’s a big sign held up for the viewer that says, “Something is wrong! Pay attention!” Effectively a visual scare chord. It’s about That Drama. And it works, which won it a consistent place in the show’s formula. We’re talking several times an episode here.

So why does it work?

It’s a little counterintuitive, but it’s strong storytelling to tell your audience that something bad is going to happen before it does. A vague, punchy spoiler transforms the ignorant calm before a conflict into a tense moment of anticipation. ...And it makes sure people don’t fail to absorb the beginning of said conflict because they weren’t prepared to shift gears when the scene did. Shock is a valuable tool, too, but treating it like a staple is how you burn out your audience instead of keeping them engaged. Not to go after an easy target, but you need to know how to manage your audience’s alarm if you don’t want to end up like Game of Thrones.

The limits of the spider-sense also keep you on your toes when handled by a smart writer. It tells Peter (everyone’s is a little different, so I’m going to cite the og) about threats to his person, but it doesn’t elaborate with any details when it’s not already obvious why, what kind, and from what. And it doesn’t warn him about anything else-- Which is a pretty critical gap when you zoom out and look at his hero career’s successes and failures and conclude that it’s definitely why he’s lived as long as he has acting the way he does, but was useless as he failed to save a string of people he’d have much rather had live on than him.

(Any long-running superhero mythos has these incidents, but with Peter they’re important to the core themes.)

And since this power is by plot for plot (or because it’s roughly agreed it only really blares about threats that check at least two boxes of being major, immediate, or physical), it always kicks in enough to register when the danger is bearing down...when it’s too late to actually do anything about it if “anything” is a more complex action than “dodge”.

Really? Not until the elevator doors started to open?

That Distinctive, Crunchy Spider Flavor

The spider-sense and its little pen squiggles go hand in hand with wallcrawling (and its unique and instantly identifiable associated body language) to make the Spider-Person powerset enduringly iconic and elevate characters with it from being generic mid-level super-bricks. Visually, but also in how it shapes the story.

I said it can share a narrative role with super strength. But when you end a fight and go home, super strength continues to make your character feel powerful, probably safer than they’d be otherwise, maybe dangerous.

The spider-sense just keeps blaring, “Something’s wrong! Something’s wrong! God, why aren’t you doing something about this!?”

Pretty morose thing to live with, for a safety net! Kind of a double edged sword you have there! Could be constantly being hyperattuned to problems would prime you for a negative outlook on life. Kind of seems like a power that would make it impossible for a moral person to take a day off, leading them into a beleaguered and resentful yet dutiful attitude about the whole superhero gig! Might build up to some of the core traits of this mythos, maybe! Might lead to a lot of fifteen minute retirement stories, or something. Might even be a built in ‘great responsibility’ alarm that gets you a main character who as a rule is not going to stop fighting until he physically cannot fight anymore.

Certainly not apropos of anything, just throwing this short lived barely-a-joke tagline up for fun.

One of my personal favorite things about stories with superpowers is keeping in mind how they cause the people who have them to act in unusual ways outside of fights, so when you tell me that these people have an entire extra sense that tells them when the gas in their house is leaking through a barely useful hot/cold warning system that never turns off, I’m like, eyes emojis, popcorn out, notebook open, listening intently, spectacles on, the whole deal.

It also contributes to Peter Parker’s personality in a way I really enjoy: It allows him to act like an irrational maniac. When you know exactly when a situation becomes dangerous and how much, normal levels of caution go out the window and absolutely nothing you do makes sense from an exterior standpoint anymore. That’s the good shit. I would like to see more exploration of how the non-Parker characters experiencing the world in this incredibly altered way bounce in response.

It’s also one of many tools in this franchise hauling the reader into relating more closely with the main character. The backbone of classic Spidey is probably being in on secrets only Peter and the reader know which completely reframe how one views the situation on the page. It’s just a big irony mine for the whole first decade. A convenient way to inform the reader and the lead that something is bad news that’s not perceivable to any other characters is youth-with-a-big-exciting-secret catnip.

Another point for tension, there, in that being aware of danger is not synonymous with being able to act on it. If there’s no visible reason for you to be acting strange, well...you’re just going to have to sit tight and sweat, aren’t you? Some gratuitous head wiggles never hurt when setting up that type of conflict.

Have I mentioned that they look cool? Simultaneously punchy and distinctive, with a respectable amount of leeway for artists to get creative with and still coming up with something easily recognizable? And pretty easy to intuit the meaning of even without the long-winded explanations common in the days when people wrote comics with the intent that someone could come in cold on any random issue and follow along okay, I think, although the mechanic has been deeply ingrained in popular culture for so long that I can’t really say for sure.

It was also useful back in the day when no artists drew the eyes on the Spider-Man mask as emoting and were conveying the lead’s expressions entirely through body language and panel composition. If you wiggle enough squiggles, you don’t need eyebrows.

Take This Handwave and Never Ask Me a Logistical Question Again

This ability patches plot holes faster than people can pick them open AND it can act as an excuse to get any plot rolling you can think of if paired with one meddling protagonist who doesn’t know how to mind their own business. Buy it now for only $19.99 (in four installments; that’s four installments of $19.99).

Why can a teenager win a six on one fight against other superhumans? Well, the spider-sense is the ultimate edge in combat, duh.

Why can Peter websling? Why doesn’t everyone websling? Well, the spider-sense is keeping him from eating flagpole when he violently flings himself across New York in a way neither man nor spider was ever meant to move.

How are we supposed to get him involved with the plot this week???? Well, that crate FELT dangerous, so he’s going to investigate it. Oh, dip, it was full of guns and radioactive snakes! Probably shouldn’t have opened that!

Yeah, okay, but why isn’t it fixing everything, then? Isn’t it supposed to be why Peter has never accidentally unmasked in front of somebody? ('Nother entry for this section, take a shot.) That’s crazy sensitive! How does he still have any problems!? Is everything bad that’s ever happened to characters with this powerset bad writing!? --Listen, I think as people with uncanny senses that can tell us whether we are in danger with accuracy that varies from incredible to approximate (I am talking about the five senses that most people have), we should all know better than to underestimate our ability to tune them out or interpret them wrong and fuck ourselves up anyway. I honestly find this part completely realistic.

*SLAPS ROOF OF SPIDER-SENSE* YOU CAN FIT SO MANY STORIES IN THIS THING

The spider-sense is a clean branch into...whatever. There is the exact right balance of structure and wishy-washiness to build off of. A sample selection of whatevers that have been built:

It’s sci-fi and spy gadgets when Peter builds technology that can interface with it.

It’s quasi-mystical when Kaine and Annie-May get stronger versions of it that give them literal psychic visions, or when you want to get mythological and start talking about all the spider-characters being part of a grand web of fate.

Kaine loses his and it becomes symbolic of a future newly unbound by constraints, entangled thematically with the improved physical health he picked up at the same time -- a loss presented as a gain.

Peter loses his and almost dies 782 times in one afternoon because that didn’t make the people he provoked when he had it stop trying to kill him, and also because he isn’t about to start “””taking the subway’’””’ “‘’“”to work”””’’” like some kind of loser who doesn’t get a heads up when he’s about to hit a pigeon at 50mph.

Peter’s starts tuning into his wife’s anxiety and it’s a tool in a relationship study.

It starts pinging whenever Peter’s near his boss who’s secretly been replaced by a shapeshifter and he IGNORES IT because his boss is enough of an asshole that that doesn’t strike him as weird; now it’s a comedy/irony tool.

Into the Spider-Verse made it this beautiful poetic thing connecting all the spider-heroes in the multiverse and stacked up a story on it about instant connection, loss, and incredibly unlikely strangers becoming a found family. It was also aesthetic as FUCK. Remember the scene where Miles just hears barely intelligible whispering that’s all lines people say later in the film and then his own voice very clearly says “look out” and then the room explodes?? Fuck!!!!

Venom becomes immune to it after hitchhiking to Earth in Peter’s bone juice and it makes him a unique threat while telling a more-homoerotic-than-I-assume-was-originally-intended story about violation and how close relationships can be dangerous when they go sour.

It doesn’t work on people you trust for maximum soap opera energy. Love the innate tragedy of this feature coming up.

IN CONCLUSION I don’t have much patience for writers who don’t take advantage of it, never mind feel they need to write around it.

[jaggedwolf]

air support, we need you (or: tscosi 2x09)

some bomb dropping, ofc, spoilers below duh

same game, top three things i had feelings ‘bout in reverse order

3. time skip time! Everyone could use a bit of a breather, even if it can’t live up to Arkady’s goat farm dreams

I thought all the planet assignments made sense, even if the completionist in me wanted it to differ more from the split that had already happened this season

ok ok the shipper in me was 50-50 but we’ll address that later

2. my man park!! is back!!! 

Showing up with an anti-aircraft missile launcher as a wedding gift. I kept joking that Park would keep up his finale trend of showing up as a surprise being cool (as cool as Park can be anw), and thought it wouldn’t happen till it did!

and him also quietly saying the defector wasn’t Shelly....Park...are you going to talk about this...

narrowly avoided extended crew singing for the third time, will he keep up this success rate?

I would take a mini-episode that just followed Park in the second half of the season (Park: I am an independent man who needs no crew)

1. Arkady attacking Krejjh because she thinks they’re an enemy, AND then McCabe pulling a gun on her to make sure she didn’t run away. Bro. Bro, that shit was a direct hit to the id. Do I even have words for how good that was

Knowing what was about to happen as soon as Arkady said “You” in that tone of voice, ugh

Krejjh saying Arkady instead of First Mate Patel in desperation, and then brushing it off with a :D after

But god, McCabe. They’ve been so compelling this season, and yeah, maybe they’re approaching everything like a nail with the hammer they’ve got that shoots bullets, but the point is, it fuckin works 

Arkady buys the threat (the promise of her crew’s safety?) more than she buys Krejjh’s reassurances 

(though reading the transcript, Krejjh specifically telling Arkady “Science Officer Liu will never forgive you”, not “forgive us”, is excellent too)

“the only authority figures yet to disappoint me” / “I’m not an authority figure” / “you don’t get to decide that” is just like. embedded in my mind. just McCabe going no, you don’t get to run verbally either.

Do you ever think about how Arkady and McCabe had like, different kinds of fucked up childhoods compared to the rest of the crew. Like obviously McCabe ending up an agent so young and the stuff about their family suggests a pretty secure background, but it feels like the IGR and Dwarnian war starting when they were 12 gives them a kind of cynicism that meshes well with Arkady’s, in a way that’s distinct from how Arkady and Violet’s morbidness mesh, or Arkady and Sana’s pragmatism

ok more character feels under the cut

don’t scandalize the grandparents

A married man! 

Impressed he made it through the season with no baddies wrecking his oxygen

Always ready to point out that Arkady is actually as much of a nerd as he is

AKA I didn’t realize it was a Mozart reference till he said so. Arkady defies the jock-nerd chart

okay who of Arkady or Krejjh is gonna tell him about MMA fight outside, or did they do a whole team debrief. For Arkady’s sake I’m hoping not the latter, though I guess everyone else would like an explanation for McCabe’s gun-pointing??

likes solving problems without guns, would prefer solving them by FLYING SPACESHIPS 

Krejjh watches McCabe’s gun strategy work on Arkady and goes “do you folks really live like this?? why???”

I do love that their first thought on what to do next is to run a bunch of supplies around, probably between human populations that are going to be a wary at seeing a dwarnian show up. (Eat it, Eejjhgreb)

Kinda wonder if their feelings about getting choked out by their buddy are in fact more complicated than “it’s chill dude, please don’t do something stupid”

The cutest vow

who needs to calm down your crewmates with annoying words when you can just point a gun at them

Seriously where is the human-dwarnian war AU where it lasts longer or happens later where McCabe is the baby sniper posted to Arkady’s unit and they squabble a bunch (and perhaps kiss? When I wrote my third ever ficlet for this fandom never did I anticipate actually being interested in that)

what % of their Mirzakhani choice was thinking “what if Arkady tries to run from the goat farm and no one’s around to point a gun at her” jk jk

Their exclusion of Park from authority figures that didn’t disappoint them is fascinating. Is it that he left hoping for Shelly when it probably wasn’t her, or that he isn’t an authority figure anymore, a combination there of?

Or worst of all, is it that when he didn’t kill Krejjh back in 1x10, that really was a disappointment, no matter how much it might’ve been mixed with relief, and you can’t undo that moment?

What if they and Park talked. But I don’t think Park is going to goat planet, so that seems unlikely.

Their apology to Sana for heightened Martineau security! And Sana reiterating the profound gratefulness bit, gah

mostly read other people’s words and yet sparked consideration of two different OT3s, her power.

you know what, everyone deciding Sana is the best person to read words makes complete sense

There was one specific moment this episode that sent my mind into a tizzy about V/A/S, and it was Arkady going FINE GO ASK THE CAPTAIN THEN at how firm Violet was that Tripathi would be the one driving her, not Arkady.

I need you to understand that my V/A/S OT3 opinions are such that my shipping feels were more set off by that than Sana and Violet telling Arkady they were proud of her for choosing goat planet or whatever, like I don’t even know what dynamic was so captured by that argument, rip at Arkady having to be systems apart from them again

Though ofc my heart was buoyed by Sana’s earnest “Kady, you do more than that”, I want these two to go do a job together again, I miss that

To shift gears, I cannot believe “Lenny” started out as Sana being absolutely furious at the people threatening her crew and has ended up a teasing in-joke between her and Park, my Sana/Park shipping feels were very content. (When does Sana learn that Park didn’t get to hear the long list of fake crimes the Rumor crew specifically confessed to Lenny? This must be fixed. Tell him about the diamonds!)

Campbell said “Park, let me show you where we’ve been sleeping.” and my brain went. Wait. This is actually a good OT3?? Park is already unnerved by Sana’s earnest captaining, he should get unnerved by Campbell’s default magnanimity, please consider this

this is also where I point out that all these major characters have very convenient names for indicating ships solely via letters. V/A! B/K! S/P/C! This may solve my ot3 tagging problem...

get off that cotton candy boat, vi

Haha I loved that line from Doc Robinson she’s so no-nonsense, love Violet agreeing to work with her

Doc also said menders and I thought about this post again and also the team split and ahhh

But no, I very much liked Violet gently crushing Arkady’s goat farm dreams, and the two of them awkwardly discussing the very awkward stage things are at while still getting a feel for how the other operates

These nerds are trying and I’m still fond of them

at some point I was gonna make fun of Vi for not being able to drive before realising 1. she probably didn’t want to deprive the others of a vehicle 2. that would be incredibly hypocritical of me

wait does the igr have excellent public transport when they aren’t bombing it i take back every bad thing i’ve said abou-

*ahem* same question about the MMA fight debrief I had for Brian, it would be so funny if the situation was so rushed that like, Arkady+McCabe explain to Brian on the farm and Krejjh has to tackle everyone else

tick, tock, walking bomb, when it stops, nobody knows

arkady is so whumpable, and this show knows it

Redundant, but love how terrified of herself she is after hurting Krejjh and how strangely reassured she is by McCabe’s gun antics. And how she doesn’t like thinking of herself as an authority figure on the ship even though she literally is as First Mate

is ready to monologue about all major life events and the crew frickin knows it

is trying to help herself and stuff, still grumbling about it. in worse shape this season than last - probably all the constant discussion of the inevitable war just kept building stuff up and she kept ignoring it because haha who wants to deal with this prickly mess of a person haha

did i mention she’s the best

hope she gets her full goat farm dream one day, even if it’s not on actual goat farm

[jaeminzie]

[ 2:14 am ]

↳ lee haechan x gender neutral!reader

genre: suggestive ; slight crack idk lmao

word count: ~1000

a/n: super late but i’m thinking abt hyuck so here u go ! this was longer than expected but i rlly like it hehe ( spoiler alert: they just bicker and makeout aka my two fav hobbies ! )

your best friend let out what seemed like the hundredth sigh of the night. turning your head toward the body sprawled on your bedroom floor, you were met with the face of a distressed donghyuck. rolling your eyes at him since you knew the reason of his sorrow — earlier, you had interrupted his game which led him to lose. you put your attention back to your phone and continued to ignore his presence.

it was hard to pretend he wasn’t there when he would be sighing and whining every other millisecond, occasionally kicking his feet like the little child he is. you didn’t mind his antics since you’ve gotten used to them until you felt the plushie that he was previously hugging hit your head abruptly. “could you have a bit of sympathy?” your best friend yelled, now sitting up from the cold floor looking as if he had gone through a midlife crisis.

your mouth was shaped like the letter ‘o’ with fists clenched, ready to throw hands at the boy. once hyuck saw the fury in your eyes, he flinched and grabbed another stuffed animal from your bed to protect his body. taking a few deep breaths, you chose to spare his life cause otherwise, you would no longer have a personal chauffeur who occasionally buys you food when he feels kind enough.

you scoffed, “it’s not like you would’ve won anyways. you’re the one slipping.”

he let out the most dramatic gasped. honestly at this point, you couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. “are you saying that i’m a bad gamer?” he slapped his palm to his chest and clenched his fist, crumpling the fabric of his shirt.

“please, you lose every game you play. it’s inevitable.” nibbling your lip, you tried to hold your laughter when hyuck looked even more offended than before.

“just cause i’m the only friend that you have doesn’t mean you have to make my life miserable!” he pleaded, scanning his eyes all over your figure that was laid delicately on your soft comforter. his lips turned upward when he noticed that you were trying so hard not to smile. he loves seeing you like this. it’s the main reason why he always annoy you so he can see your flushed cheeks and teeth biting your pink bottom lip since he knows you can never take him seriously when he’s being like this.

there was a long pause, you tried to take in what he said and make sense of it but you seriously couldn’t. “that literally doesn’t make any sense. you’re just pulling shit out of your ass now, hyuck, i know you’re better than that.”

ignoring your words, “i know i’m irresistible, and such a considerate and loving man but i can’t always give that, y’know?” he pulled on his hair and now you can tell that he was playing games with you.

you really cannot stand him anymore —laughing out loud mockingly at your best friend, “since you have better things to do because you definitely don’t have me as your only friend, why don’t you go ahead and leave my goddamn hou-“

his obnoxiously loud groaning interrupted you, “ugh! it’s like you wanna kiss me so bad, just do it pussy!” rolling his eyes dramatically then making eye contact with your wide opened eyes. “soooo” he tilted his head sassily, waiting for a response.

you gulped and replaced your surprised expression to a poker face. “i’m not going down there. you come to me.” you pointed at him then back at yourself. hyuck couldn’t tell from seeing your serious expression but your heart was pounding like crazy. you weren’t sure what was happening and how it happened but you definitely are not complaining.

hyuck bit his lip briefly before flashing his smile. “so dominant, i like it.” you wanted to bite back at him but you were too caught up with anticipatingly watching him get up from the floor and hurriedly walk to your bed, you switched your position and sat on your bottom with your legs crossed. hyuck made himself comfortable by resting his lower back down on the bed with his elbows holding himself up and his right leg was bent while the other laid straight. your best friend looked up at you with doe eyes, waiting for you to make a move. “i’m waitinggg.” he whistled softly and his eyes wandered around to mock you.

it hurt to roll your eyes again because that’s all you’ve been doing since he’s step foot into your home this evening. being fully done with his antics, you badly needed him to shut up and so very badly needed to feel his heart-shaped lips on yours. with your right hand, you squished his cheeks, roughly turning his head and smashed both of your lips together a bit too harshly —causing hyuck to groan into the kiss.

without stopping the synchronized movements of your lips, hyuck sat up straight and pulled your body on top on his. his hands rested on your waist while yours were comfortable in his hair, tugging and gripping his long soft strands whenever hyuck bit your bottom lip. he then bit your lip harder causing you to take a sharp breath, but he soothed it by swiping his plushy tongue on the area. your hands dragged down to his chest and gripped on his shirt tightly, making him chuckle. “relax, babe, i’m not going anywhere.” he whispered against your lips with a smirk, unleashing your butterflies.

“shut up and kiss me.” you tried to pull him back into the kiss but he dodged it and went for your bare neck instead. you let out a deep breath when he sucked onto the neglected skin. he continued to leave bite marks along your collarbones then licked all the way up to your jaw, sucking just underneath it when he reached the area.

thinking you should also give him some attention, you pulled his hair back so there was enough room for you to nibble on his neck as well. the room was soon filled with his whines and sighs as you kept kissing his moles and tracing various shapes with your tongue on his goosebump-covered skin. you made a line of kisses that led up to his sore lips, gently kissing them. his arms wrapped around your waist and yours made their way around his neck, pulling each other impossibly close.

the kissing had turned delicate as opposed to earlier, as if you both were trying not to cause each other to shatter like you were pieces of glass. turning your heads side to side slowly, to deepen the slow but passionate kiss. hyuck kept releasing his beautiful noises into your mouth which you gladly took in.

the two of you continued to take each other in with much fervor until your energies had died down and lips were too bruised to move further. though, hyuck still tried to steal a few more kisses when you began to pull away hesitantly since you yourself did not want to stop. your bodies stayed put, foreheads resting on top of one anothers. your faces were so near each other’s that you could feel his breath fan your hair and you’re sure that he can feel the same. there was a period of silence while both of you tried to catch your breaths and collect your thoughts before making eye contact once again then breaking into shy smiles. shy now huh? you thought.

“i don’t know what just happened but we should do that more often,” you breathed out.

pecking your nose, he replied, “agreed.”

hyuck pushed your hair aside to get a better glimpse of your face underneath the moonlight that shined through your opened window. his eyes wandered your features and you can see them glimmering as he did so. it almost makes you want to never let him go from your embrace. your smile widened at the thought of holding your bestest friend in your arms ‘til sunrise. and maybe you will do just that.

[parmelde]

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday NWarrior! 

I was so happy to write a little TOL fanfic for your birthday! Thank you for sharing your lovely comics and being an awesome person!  

If you haven’t read Temperature of Love go and do that!  It’s so gay and wonderful.  Fic is under the cut. General spoilers for the comic as a whole.  

Summary: Tamara’s birthday is coming up and the boys need to find her a present.  They break some rules, meet someone awesome, and know that they have the best friends in the world!  

“Hey boys,” Inga said, coming over and sitting down next to Brian and Demian at the lunch table.

“Hi Inga!” they chorused.  

“So Tamara’s birthday is coming up and I want to do something really special for her.  I need your help though.” Inga told them.

“Of course!” Demian said, grinning.

“What do you need us to do?” Brian asked.  

Inga grinned and told them of her plan. The boys were on board and couldn’t wait to celebrate Tamara’s birthday.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“Okay, I’m not saying we should panic, I’m just saying Tamara’s birthday is coming up and we have no gift for her.” Demian said as they cuddled in bed that night after Inga talked to them.

“Maybe we can make her something?” Brian suggested.

“Except I’m horrible at making things, you know this.” Demian reminded him.

“I could make something from both of us?” Brian suggested again.

“Thank you for the offer honey, but I really feel like I need to get her something as well. Not just piggy back off of you and Igna.  I mean she’s one of my best friends and always helping me out.  I just want to do something for her for once that will make her happy.” Demian explained with a sigh.

“We’ll think of something!” Brian said.  “What does Tamara like?”

“Inga,” Demian laughed.  

“What about those cat shirts she always wears?” Brian suggested.  “You could get her one of those?”

“How though? We’re here at the academy.  The shirts are out in the world at the mall.” Demian hung his head in defeat.  

“Too bad we don’t have teleportation like Tamara, we could just sneak out and buy one and then come back.” Brian agreed.

“We might not have teleportation, but we can still sneak out.” Demian said, lifting his head and waving his phone that was lit up with a call from his mom.  Brian looked at him in confusion, but before he could ask Demian had answered the phone. “Hi mom!  I’m good. Brian and I are just hanging out. Actually, I have a favor to ask.”

********

“I cannot believe that you had your mom break us out of the academy!” Brian whispered as they snuck through the halls.  

“Shhh.” Demian said, bringing a finger in front of his lips to remind Brian they needed to be quiet as they were sneaking out of the academy.  Demian looked around the corner, the coast was clear. He hurried to a back door that he knew wasn’t locked and alarmed.  He quietly opened it and then slid outside, Brian close behind him. He made sure to leave the door partly opened so they could sneak back in.  There was a black car waiting across the street from them.  They quickly ran across the street and slid into the back seat of the car.  

“Hi mom!” Demian said as the car smoothly pulled away from the curb and down the street.  

“Hi boys! How are you doing?” Demian’s mom asked, grinning at them in the rearview mirror.  

“My heart is racing!” Brian admitted, holding tight to Demian’s hand.  

“Don’t worry Brian, we won’t get caught.” Demian reassured him, wrapping an arm around Brian. His heart was indeed racing. Demian usually enjoyed when Brian’s heart raced, at night when they were in bed, but not in this situation.  

“It will be okay Brian.” Demian’s mom said from the front seat.  “Breaking out of the academy is partly a tradition.  All though not as much of one anymore as it used to be.  My girlfriends could tell you stories of the things they got up to!” 

Brian took a steadying breath and snuggled more into Demian’s side.  It would be fine. Demian would be with him the whole time so his power would be fine. He was much better at it now.  Especially since he and Demian had talked and worked things out.  

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

By the time they got to the mall Brian’s heart had stopped racing at least a little bit.  Of course now they were going to be at the mall with a bunch of people, strangers.  Brian hadn’t been out in the “real world” in months now.  He took a deep breath as Demian’s mom parked the car and they got out and walked into the mall.  

“All right, let’s meet at the food court in an hour, sound good?” Demian’s mom asked. The boys nodded and waved goodbye as she went to do some shopping of her own.  

Brian smiled as Demian took his hand and led him to the tshirt store. They walked around looking at all the funny tshirts that were on the walls. There were a few that were okay, but none that really fit Tamara.  Sighing, they left not buying anything just yet.  

“I think there is another store on the other side of the mall that has some of the comics and things Tamara likes.” Demian said crossing over to look at the mall map.  “I just don’t remember what it’s called.”

“I don’t think the map will help us much then.” Brian said, titing his head to read the writing.  

“No, but I wanted to see where the bookstore was.  They have comics sometimes too.” Demian pointed to the map.  

“All right, then that’s where we should go!” Brian agreed.

They headed off in the direction of the bookstore weaving their way in between people and kiosk shops.  

“Brian look!” Demian said, coming to a sudden stop causing Brian to bump into him a little bit. Brian wrapped an arm around Demian and looked to where he was pointing. There was a kiosk with shirts and posters and an airbrush artist. They were painting a family that was sitting and posing. 

“Oh, do you want to get a painting?” Brian asked.

“No, well I mean at some point it would be fun, but look at the characters they have on some of the posters. That’s Tamara’s favorite game!” Demian walked over to the poster in question.  

“Oh you’re right!  That would be the perfect present!” Brian agreed. 

“I don’t remember these characters though, they look different.” Demian frowned in puzzlement.  

“That’s because they’re not from the game.” The artist said, coming over to talk to them. They had finished the family portrait. “I draw people in that style as though they were characters in the game.”  The artist explained.  

“Can you draw based on a picture, or do you need the people to be here in person?” Demian asked.

“A picture is fine.” the artist replied.  

Demian pulled out his phone and scrolled through his photos.  “This one?” he asked showing the artist the picture.  

“Oh, for sure, that is adorable! I’m NWarrior, they/them pronouns.” the artist introduced themselves.  

“I’m Demian, he/him, and this is my boyfriend Brian, he/him pronouns as well.”

“Nice to meet you boys!” NWarrior said.  “I have to say, Brian, I love your mascara.” 

“Oh! Thank you!” Brian blushed a little bit and Demian gave him a big smile and squeezed his hand.  

“Yes, he looks very good in mascara.” Demian gave Brian a small kiss on the cheek.

“Stop! You’re making me blush!” Brian gently pushed him away.  

“Oh my gosh, you two are just too adorable!” NWarrior grinned at them.  “So, who do you want me to draw?”

“This is our best friend, Tamara.” Demian said, showing them the picture again.  “It’s Tamara’s birthday coming up and she is always helping us and getting things for us and thinking of fun things for us to do. So we want to get her a present that she will love and thank her for all that she does as our friend.” Demain explained. 

“This is one of her favorite game series, so a picture of her as a character in that game will be the perfect gift!” Brian said.

“I love that! Do you want to watch me paint it?  If not, you can send the reference picture to my phone and pick up the painting in a few hours.” NWarrior offered.  

“That sounds good, we were also hoping to go to the bookstore and maybe get her a few comics too.” Demian said, opening his phone to get NWarrior’s number and send them the picture.  

They quickly exchanged numbers and made sure NWarrior had some good pictures for reference and then waved goodbye to continue on the way to the bookstore.  

They wandered through the shelves of books, looking for themselves as well as Tamara and Inga.  They were able to find some good books and checked out. 

“We need to go meet mom at the food court.” Demian said, checking the time.  

“Oh that’s good, because I’m hungry!” Brian laughed.

They made their way to the food court and found Demian’s mom. They got food and told his mom about the present they were getting Tamara and showed her some of the comics they had gotten as well. “This is all so sweet!  You boys are going to make Tamara’s day!” Demian’s mom said, smiling at them.

“We might even be better than Inga’s gift!” Demian joked.

“I don’t know, Inga’s got a pretty good one too.” Brian reminded him.  

“Well, I’m sure Tamara will appreciate and love all of them!” Demian’s mom said.  

“Oh, my phone!” Demian said as he felt it vibrate in his pocket. He took it out and looked at the message on the screen.  “Oh! NWarrior’s finished the painting!” 

“Let’s go pick it up!” Brian jumped up in excitement.  

The three quickly cleaned off their table and headed back across the mall to NWarrior’s kiosk.  

The boys waved and practically ran over to the kiosk once it was in sight.  NWarrior grinned at them.  “I’m glad you are so excited! Ready?” the boys nodded.  NWarrior turned around the poster they had painted.  The squeals and yells of excitement from the boys caused a few heads to turn.  

“It’s perfect!” They said. 

“I’m so glad that you like it!” NWarrior handed it over to Brian while Demian got his wallet out to pay.  

“We love it and Tamara will love it too.” Brian said.

“Yea, our screams will be nothing compared to hers.” Demian grinned, giving NWarrior a large tip for the wonderful painting.  

“Oh my, you all are so kind and generous.” NWarrior said as they received the payment and tip.  “I actually have a little something extra here for you two.” NWarrior handed over a small painting of Brian and Demian in a heart shape. “I had some extra time and you two were just too adorable to not draw!”  

Brian and Demian once again squealed and cheered very loudly.  “Can I give you a hug?” Demian asked. 

“Yes, please can we hug you?” Brian asked.

“Yes!” NWarrior replied and all three of them wrapped their arms around each other.  

“Okay, you are our artist from now on.  Anytime we want art done, we’re going to ask you.  Okay?” Demian asked.

“Repeat customers are a dream!” NWarrior replied.  

“Well we have your number so we will be in touch.” Demian waved his phone in the air. “Thank you so so much for all of your wonderful lovely work! You are truly amazing!”

Brian nodded in agreement.  “Yes, thank you for being so awesome!”

They said goodbye and made their way back to the car with Demian’s mom.  The whole car ride back they were both practically vibrating with excitement.  “I’m texting Inga to make sure she’s still distracting Tamara so we can sneak back in and hide the presents.” Demian said.

“Good idea, we also should probably try to calm down some.  I feel like I’m going to just blurt out everything the moment I see Tamara.” Brian said, trying to take a deep breath.  

Demian’s mom pulled over to the side of the road and parked the car.  They gave her quick hugs and thanked her for taking them to the mall and then quickly snuck back in through the door they had left propped open. They managed to not run into anyone and make it back to their room safe. They hid the presents and then collapsed onto the bed.  

“All of a sudden I’m exhausted.” Brian said, cuddling next to Demian.  

“Sneaking out and hiding things is tiring!” Demian agreed, yawning.  

In the next minute both of them were asleep.  

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“Happy Birthday To You!” Demian, Brian, and Inga finished singing.  

Tamara grinned. “Thank you!” She took a deep breath and blew out the candles. Tamara got the first slice of cake and then Inga gave the boys each a piece before getting one for herself.  They all enjoyed the cake and ice cream.  

“All right, present time!” Demian said as they finished their last bites.  

“Yay! Presents!” Tamara clapped her hands in excitement.  

“Open these first.” Brian said, handing her a rectangular package.  

Tamara did so eagerly and grinned as she saw the comics.  “Ohhh!  These are the new series!  How did you get these?”

“We may have gone on a little adventure.” Demian winked at her.  

“Ohh! I want to hear that story!” Tamara exclaimed.

“There’s not much to tell, and we’re not as good as you and Inga at telling stories.” Brian shrugged. 

“Open this one next.” Demian said, handing over another rectangular package, this one a lot thinner.  

Tamara opened it and stared for a moment in silence to fully comprehend the picture, and then she screamed.  “OH MY GOD! AHHH!! OH MY GOD IT’S ME! AS A CHARACTER FROM MY FAVORITE GAME!  OH MY GOD! I’M A CAT!!!! A CAT FROM MY FAVORITE GAME! AHHHH OH MY GOD!!!” She continued to scream a combination of words and incoherent noises for the next five minutes before she finally calmed down enough to listen to Brian and Demian tell of how they snuck out of the mall and met a great artist and had them draw her for her birthday.  

“You are always doing so much for us, getting us things, taking us places, coming up with ideas of things for us to do, we wanted to let you know how much we love and appreciate you.” Demian explained.

“Yes, you are truly a wonderful friend Tamara and we wanted you to have a great birthday!” Brian added.

“Oh you guys!” Tamara said and pulled both of them into a hug.  Inga came around from behind and lifted them all up.  “I have the best friends in the world!” Tamara declared.  

Inga put them down and they let go of each other. Tamara’s smile was from ear to ear.  “Seriously, I love this so much.  I can’t wait to hang it up in my room!”  

“We also have the artists number so if we want other art we can ask them for future paintings. They’re very talented and nice and even drew an extra little picture of us.” Demian told Tamara.  

“Oh! Yay! I can’t wait to have them do another picture of Inga and I!” Tamara turned to find her girlfriend and got a second surprise of the day.  

Inga was standing in a field of flowers in a flowing robe.  “Holy buckets! How did you get all the flowers inside?!” Tamara asked. “Oh my god my girlfriend is so hot!” she said, somewhat quieter.  Tamara quickly made her way over to Inga.  

“Happy birthday my darling!” Inga said as she gave Tamara a hug and a kiss.  “You know my family runs a flower shop, so it just took a little work to have them set up a field of flowers for us to enjoy. You are always so kind and take us to so many wonderful places. I wanted to take you someplace this time.” 

“I know I said it before but I’ll say it again, best friends and girlfriends ever!” Tamara yelled and then kissed Inga.  

“And that’s our cue to leave!” Demian said heading towards the door with Brian.  

“Happy Birthday Tamara!” They said as they waved goodbye to the two kissing girls.

“Well, that was a very nice party and I’m glad Tamara was happy.” Demian said as they went back down the hall to their room.  

Brian nodded.  “It was worth it to see her face and reactions, I’m so glad we could make her feel happy and appreciated.” 

“We do have good friends, don’t we?” Demian said as they snuggled into bed.

“The best.” Brian agreed, giving him a kiss and smiling.  

They were great friends and he was so happy to have them in his life.

Fin

I hope you liked it! Thank you again for all of your lovely art and comics!  <3