#I totally get why he wanted to return and tbh been there done that with my own father

[jellybeansconghosts]

I hate the idea that Dabi would be abusive because of endeavor (won’t deny him being toxic because I feel like that sort of upbringing would fuck you up, and while at 16, or maybe it was a reflection he gained while older, he knew Endeavor beating Shoto is bad, idk chat I feel like it was less abt ‘I can understand abuse is bad now even tho moments ago I was happy to run back to the abuser’ and more ‘he fucking replaced me’. Tho I might misremember that scene)

BUT, riddle me this, Batman, Dabi purposely seeking out abusive relationships because that’s all that he really knows and something soft doesn’t feel right to him, the conditional love that he was given as a child that was later taken back the only love that feels real because he cannot fathom someone loving him as is, especially not with him being a ‘defect’ in his mind due to not being the child that Endeavor wanted, obviously someone has to want something from him in return and so that’s the sort of partners he had..

Inserts sum abt an X reader who’s different because they’re a normal person who isn’t in it for sum transactional but lets not get ahead of ourselves how does chat feel abt the general idea first??

[honeypiehotchner]

The Gambit (Hotch x Fem!Reader) -- part seventeen

I should clarify that when I said this fic will be "another 30ish chapters" I meant 30ish in total!!! So sorry omg we don't have 30 MORE to go, that would be crazy even for me tbh, I think we've just got about 15ish more from this point on. Okay carry on 🫶🏻

Warnings: stalking, panic attack, lots of emotions and angst, hotch clocking you left and right lol, police being useless (yes that's a warning), idk if this situation would be handled this way just go w it ok, are they...flirting?

As the team digs into your life, you feel like you never have a single moment alone.

If it weren’t for the fact that you really don’t want to be alone right now, then you would be pissed. Instead, you’re grateful, and you’re relieved to have so many wonderful people to lean on.

And then there’s Hotch.

It’s not that you can’t lean on him. It’s that he never exactly gets close enough for you to, because getting close only means bickering, and the two of you hardly speak these days. It’s been just over a week since you confessed to the team, a week since Hotch told you if there’s anything he can do to help, a week since he apologized — again.

One week of the girls coming over for dinner and a movie, one week of dinner at Rossi’s house, one week of drinks at a bar after work. You’re no closer to any answers than you were last week, but you don’t mind. 

You had no idea letting your secret out would feel so relieving. It’s not at all what you were expecting.

You can’t and won’t relax by any means; you won’t be able to do that until you actually catch this unsub and figure out what his problem is.

The team can only be at your side for so much, though, so it isn’t long before the first night comes where everyone has things to get done. Meaning, you go home alone.

It wouldn’t have felt so weird if you hadn’t gotten used to someone coming with you. Tonight a strange dread settles in the pit of your stomach as you pull into the parking lot of your apartment.

“It’s fine,” you give yourself a little pep talk as you grab your purse. “You’ve come home alone so many times before. This is literally fine.”

And it is fine. Until it’s not.

Until you get to your door and see an envelope stuck in the small space between your door and the doorframe. Until you glance at the writing on the outside of it and recognize it immediately. Until you see the word.

The hallway seems to grow longer as the walls lean closer. Everything shifts, tips onto its side.

Your purse drops to the floor, the sound echoing in the hallway as your mind races to think. Think. What are you supposed to do?

You don’t know why. You don’t know what comes over you. You blame it on your shaking hands. But when you pull out your phone, you call Hotch.

He answers on the second ring, his usual tired, almost absentminded greeting, “Hotchner.”

“Aaron,” your voice is barely a whisper. You stare at the envelope until it almost doesn’t look like it exists here on this plane. “Aaron, I���”

“What happened?” He’s aware now, alert. “Where are you?”

“My apartment, I—”

“Are you hurt?”

You shake your head, realizing too late that he can’t see you.

“I’m coming to you,” he says, leaving no room in his tone for any protesting on your end. You hear sirens. He was already driving. 

But you don’t protest. You don’t even want to. “Okay.” Your mind slowly kicks into gear. “I need to hang up, I need to call the police—”

“What happened?” Aaron asks again. Then says, “Do you want me to call them?”

You shake your head slowly, starting to look around you at the empty hall. “No, no I can—”

“Give me one second.” 

You don’t have it in you to argue. You hear him put you on hold, and it feels like hours pass before his voice returns, though you know it’s barely been two minutes.

“Police are on their way,” he says. “Are you inside?”

“I’m outside my door, I—” Your eyes land on the envelope again, the handwriting. “I can’t go in.”

“Why?”

“There’s a note,” every word that passes through your lips feels foreign and sounds wrong on your tongue. “It’s in my door.”

“Don’t touch it,” he says firmly.

“I wasn’t going to.” If you were feeling better, it would’ve held more heat to it.

“I know,” he exhales. “Do you have your gun on you?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay,” he sounds relieved, but you don’t know why. You’re in no state to shoot anything right now. You don’t know that you could even get the safety off if you tried, that’s how bad your hands are shaking. “Just stay where you are, I’m two minutes away.”

Two minutes? Already? “Don’t hang up.” You don’t know why you say it.

“I won’t,” he answers easily, not at all bothered by it. “Not until I see you.”

“Okay.”

“Can you tell me five things you can see?”

“Aaron, I’m really not in the mood—”

“Humor me.”

You sigh. The panic is starting to melt away, so this really isn’t necessary, but still you humor him. “The note. My door. My shoes. My doormat. My neighbor’s plant that they really need to water.”

He chuckles, the sound barely there. “Four things you can touch?”

“My gun,” you start, placing your hand over the weapon just for the sake of knowing it’s there. “My shirt. The wall. My hair.”

“Three things you can hear?”

“Your breathing,” you say without hesitation. He shuts his car door. “My voice. The light down the hall buzzes constantly, they should really fix it.”

“Two things you can smell?” he continues. You hear the tap of his footsteps before you hear him in the stairwell. 

“My neighbor’s cooking. The cleaner Lucia uses when she comes by.”

Aaron’s voice echoes on the phone and into the hall when he finally finds you. “One thing you can taste?”

“I wish I could taste my neighbor Alex’s cooking,” you joke, trying to lighten the mood as much as you can as Aaron approaches you, phones still pressed to your ears. You hang up first. “Thanks.”

He tucks his phone away with an almost imperceptible nod, jaw set and eyebrows furrowed.

Is he…bothered about the fact that you called him?

You study him with narrowed eyes as he looks at the note, craning his neck as he examines it closely.

You pick your purse up off the floor, rummaging around in it. “You can go,” you say as you look for some gum, “if you have other things you need to be doing.”

“I don’t,” he says.

You find the gum and pop one into your mouth, letting the minty taste settle over you and calm your shot-to-hell nervous system. “You could at least try to look like you aren’t annoyed about being here.”

“I’m not annoyed that you called me,” he says, voice calm. So calm that it’s actually starting to annoy you. “Why do you think I’m upset that you called?”

“Why are you turning this around on me?” you counter. You nod your head at the note, changing subjects. “See anything odd? Other than the handwriting being the same, and it’s got Gambit on it.”

“No,” Hotch shakes his head. “We’ll have to take a closer look at it.” He pauses, eyes studying you in a way you don’t like. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Hotch,” you huff, crossing your arms. “As fine as one can be when they come home to a note in their door from their stalker, apparently.”

You shift under his gaze. He won’t stop looking at you and you’re five seconds away from yelling at him to cut it out.

You don’t get the chance, though, before two police officers are coming up the stairs. And then they start asking Hotch all the questions.

“It’s her apartment,” he says flatly, directing them toward you. “I’m just the one who called.”

“Got it, so you’re the husband?” one officer asks.

“No,” you both say almost instantly, equally as deadpan. 

“Like I said on the phone,” Hotch continues, tone bordering on vicious, “we’re federal agents. This is her apartment—”

“If you’re federal agents, what do you need us for?” the other officer gives Hotch a dumbfounded, almost exasperated look.

Hotch stares at both of them tiredly. “Would you like to speak to the front desk and check the cameras?” He words it as a question, but it is not one.

“We can’t do that without—”

The glare Hotch levels at them is downright lethal.

“Alright,” the officer immediately corrects himself. “I’ll go check the cameras.” He nudges his partner. “Get that note in an evidence bag so it can be checked for prints.”

“We’ll have it sent to be checked at Quantico,” Hotch says firmly. “It will be faster and we need to check the federal database.”

The officer sighs. “Just do what he says.”

As the officers leave to speak to the front desk and retrieve the evidence kit, Hotch takes out his phone.

“What are you doing now?” you mutter.

“You can’t stay here.”

That sends you reeling all over again. “What?”

“You’re not staying here,” he repeats.

“Hotch, this is my apartment.”

“I know that,” he says without looking up. “But you aren’t staying here, not when the unsub clearly knows where you live. He walked right up to your door.”

“Good. Let him try to do it when I am home, see how that works out for him.”

“No,” Hotch says firmly, looking up from his phone. “That’s putting your life at risk unnecessarily.”

“You can’t kick me out of my apartment, Hotch.”

“I’m not,” he hisses. “But you need to stay somewhere more secure.”

“So? Where exactly are you proposing? Because no way in hell am I staying with y—”

“I’m texting Dave,” Hotch interrupts, clearly sensing where you were going with that train of thought. “He’s in a gated community, and he has the best security system on the market in his house. You’ll be safe there.”

“But—”

“I’m not arguing about this, I’m sorry,” Hotch says. “I won’t let you stay here while this unsub is out there.”

As much as you hate to admit it, he’s right. Clarity comes and you realize it. You don’t have any security system in your apartment, just your two deadbolts, and the occasional bar that you prop under the door handle on your particularly paranoid nights. The apartment complex isn’t even that secure; anyone can walk up the stairs. You’re an easy target if you stay here, and that’s exactly what the unsub wanted to show you by putting the note in your door. He wanted you to see how close he can get, to see how much closer he could get the next time.

You begin to wonder if the unsub has walked right up to your door many times before this, just left no trace, so you never knew. How long has he known that you live here?

“I’m at least packing some things,” you say, almost out of nowhere.

Hotch slowly looks up from his phone. “Yeah…yeah, of course.”

You nod once, effectively ending that conversation. He’s clearly shocked you saw reason and aren’t protesting anymore, but you’ll be dead before you ever admit that he’s right about something to his face.

The officer returns to retrieve the note and promises to send it off to Quantico. Hotch says he’ll call ahead to let them know to expect it at the lab.

The partner that went to look at the cameras returns with a shrug. “There’s nothing out of the ordinary.”

Hotch stares a hole through the guy, his jaw ticking. “Fine. Thank you.”

“Do you want me to report—”

“Just go,” you reply tiredly, ready for this to be over. “It’s fine.”

The officer leaves you with his card, but you know you won’t be using it. You shove it into your purse all the same with a huff.

“I’ll have Garcia look into the footage,” Hotch says as you both step into your apartment. 

You nod absently, tossing your purse down on the counter when it hits you.

Hotch. Is in your apartment. He’s never been over to your place before — because why would you invite him? — and now he’s here. Standing in the entryway. 

It seems to hit him right when it hits you because he freezes as soon as he shuts the door. His eyes flick up to yours.

You give him a tired stare. “You could at least try not to look like I’m holding you hostage.”

He straightens up, tries and fails to soften the tension around his eyes and shoulders. “I’ll wait here.”

You almost let him.

But because you’re not a monster, and because you don’t know how long you’ll take with packing, you gesture into the living room. “I have a perfectly good couch. I’ll be insulted if you decide to stand the whole time.”

The corner of his lips barely tug upward. “Alright. Thank you.”

“I’ll try not to take too long,” you say as you head for your room. “I’ll just throw some things together.”

“Take your time,” he says, his voice following you before he turns and heads for the couch.

You check your bedroom window just in case, finding it still securely locked. Your closet is empty. So is the bathroom. Which means the unsub truly must’ve walked up to your door, tucked the note, and left.

Sure, he’s playing a game, but why is he taking so long? Why drag this out?

Again and again, you come back to the same question: who the fuck is this guy?

You try to focus on what you can control right now, which is packing your things. You pull your smaller suitcase out and throw it onto your bed, looking to your closet.

You blink once before the tears come.

You can’t even say that they happen for no reason, or that they come out of nowhere, because with everything happening in your life — and everything that has happened in your past — you have more than enough reason. You should expect this. How you don’t break down at every stroke of the hour is a wonder even to you some days.

Instead, it happens like this, somewhat randomly and quietly. Although this has to be a first, crying silently because your boss is in your living room, waiting for you to get your shit together.

You bury your face in your hands, allowing yourself this wallowing for just a single moment. It’s longer than you can afford, and much shorter than you need to feel better, but it’s all you can do.

The moment passes and you have to pick yourself up. You wipe the tears from your cheeks and get to work throwing clothes into your suitcase. You know this feeling well. The need to flee. Acting on it. Packing your things at a moment’s notice is no strange thing to you.

It doesn’t make it any easier.

You take one look at yourself in the mirror before you head back out with your suitcase.

“Ready?” you ask, rolling right past Hotch on the couch and grabbing your purse.

You hear him stand and walk over, feeling his eyes all over you. You guess this is the first time he’s seeing you out of work clothes and in leisure wear, but you don’t care.

“Were you crying?”

Your eyes betray you even as you look at the ceiling, trying to blink more tears away. “I’m fine.”

“You’re clearly not.”

“Aaron,” you say, voice small. Pleading. You look over at him and shake your head. Please. Not right now.

He nods, reaching for your suitcase. 

“I can get it,” you say, moving to stop him.

“Please,” he says, voice almost just as small as yours. “Let me.”

You back off. You aren’t sure why. But you decide to let him take your suitcase.

“You’ll need to leave your car here for now,” he says. “If he’s watching, we need him to think you’re still living here.”

“Oh, but the suitcase won’t make him think anything?” you deadpan, always eager to poke holes in Hotch’s logic when you can.

“It’s small,” Hotch shrugs, lifting it up. “And you’ll be leaving with me.”

Oh. Right. You see what he’s implying now.

“I’ll try not to look like I want to kill you, then.”

You can see Hotch’s smirk this time. “Don’t hurt yourself.”

[harmonicakai]

As Long As You Care

Part 1 of the "Somebody Else" series

Pairing: Soobin x Reader, Yeonjun x Reader

Summary: From the moment he first met you, Soobin has had the biggest crush on you. The only thing standing in his way is his college roommate, Yeonjun, who you’ve been in love with ever since you were little.

Tropes: love triangle, unrequited love, fake dating, frat boy!yeonjun, nerd!soobin, roommates, college AU, childhood best friends

Word Count: 2.4k

Warnings: drinking, sexual tension (mdni!), curse words, yj is an asshole

A/N: TBH I feel like this is one of my weakest works so far, but I really like the concept and already have the whole thing planned out, so I will try and see completing it through <3

“If you could see that I'm the one who understands you Been here all along, So why can't you see? You belong with me" ���You Belong With Me, Taylor Swift

“If you have a crush on Y/N, then go for it,” Yeonjun laughs, surprised that Soobin would even bother to get his permission, as if he wants your hand in marriage or something.

“Really? You don’t mind?” Soobin blinks back, unsure of whether or not his roommate is being serious. You’ve been friends with Yeonjun since you were little kids, so Soobin figured that running the idea of asking you out by him was surely the right thing to do.

“If you’re worried about whether me and her are more than friends, don’t be. If we were going to start dating, we would’ve when we were in high school. God knows it would’ve made our moms happy.”

“Would you help me then? You know her better than I do,” Soobin continues, eager for tips on how to properly woo you. “Do you know her favorite kind of flowers?”

“Can’t say I do,” Yeonjun shrugs. “Listen, Soob, Y/N is a hopeless romantic. And she’s never even had a boyfriend before. I’m sure whatever you come up with will exceed any and all of her expectations.”

Yeonjun’s excuses for why the moment doesn’t need to be special are precisely why Soobin wants to take so much care in planning things. It would be your first date, first boyfriend, first everything.

Well, except for your first kiss, which Yeonjun had graciously stolen back in middle school, years before he had even introduced you to Soobin. Both of you have asserted that it was only once, and simply for you to get it over with before a school dance in the hopes that your real crush would make a move.

Soobin would be lying to say he doesn’t get jealous of the two of you. Plus, Yeonjun is totally wrong. From what others have said, you’re extremely picky when it comes to guys.

“So, when are you going to ask her?” Yeonjun says, snapping Soobin out of his trance. “She’ll be here any minute if you wanna do it then.”

“She’s coming over now?” Soobin asks, his palms feeling infinitely more sweaty. He hasn’t had any time to do his hair or choose a good outfit, let alone run to the store and pick up any of the little presents he had planned on getting for you.

“We’re going to get breakfast. Some new café she’s been dying to try,” Yeonjun replies, his mouth full of a croissant. Soobin rolls his eyes. If the two of you are about to go out to eat, why the hell is he stuffing his face right now?

Soobin checks his watch. If he leaves now, he’ll surely make it back before the two of you return. “Can you make sure that you guys come here when you’re done?”

“I can make no promises,” Yeonjun sighs, staring at his reflection in the hallway mirror. He throws on a pair of sunglasses, his phone ringing to signal that he’s gotten a text, most likely from you. “Y/N is going to meet me outside. It’s now or never, dude.”

Soobin glances out the window and spots you standing in the courtyard, wearing a floral sundress that hugs you in all the right places. The sunlight shines down on your hair, leaving a glow that makes you look absolutely angelic. He swallows hard.

You’ve made yourself comfortable on a bench just outside, your feet propped up on the arm rest. 

“It looks like she’s been waiting a while,” Soobin observes.

“Yeah, I know,” Yeonjun says nonchalantly. 

“Shouldn’t you hurry up, then?”

“Why are you asking so many questions?” Yeonjun scoffs. “Since you’re so concerned, I’ve got a date after this, okay? Well, if you can even call it that. Point is, I need to look good, and that takes time.”

“I guess I’ll just ask her another day, then,” Soobin sighs in defeat, backing away from the window. He knows better than to push Yeonjun. “Listen, will you do me a favor?”

“Depends on what it is.” Yeonjun is still admiring himself, now unbuttoning even more of his shirt. He might as well go topless at this point, Soobin thinks to himself.

“Could you maybe mention me and see how Y/N reacts?” Soobin asks, adjusting his glasses.

“I will for 30,000 won,” Yeonjun deadpans, not even bothering to look Soobin’s way.

“Are you joking?” 

“No. I don’t care if you guys date, but I certainly won’t be making it easy for you. She’s my friend. If you become her boyfriend and start taking her out, that’s less time she’ll be spending with me.” Sometimes, most of the time, Soobin really hates his roommate.

“You suck,” Soobin says, reaching into his wallet and handing over a few bills. “Here.”

“Pleasure doing business,” Yeonjun grins, pocketing the cash. A knock at the door startles both of them. “Why don’t you get that?”

Soobin heads for the door, knowing you’re on the other side of it. He mentally prepares himself, smoothing his hair into place and checking his breath.

When the door swings open, you’re surprised to see Yeonjun’s roommate staring at you.

“Uh, hi,” you greet him. Soobin holds his breath. You’re even more beautiful up close. “Is Yeonjun ready to go? I’ve been waiting downstairs, for like, ten minutes.”

“I don’t think so,” Soobin says, stepping aside to let you into the dorm’s common room. “You’re welcome to wait, though.”

“Thanks,” you reply, stepping in and spotting your best friend fussing with his hair. “Hi Junie!”

“Hi, Y/N,” Yeonjun smiles. He pulls you into a tight hug. “Sorry to keep you waiting. I didn’t see your texts. I just need a few more minutes, okay?”

Soobin knows his roommate is lying, but he’s not going to be the one to tell you that.

“Oh, yeah, of course,” you say, making yourself comfortable on the couch. You turn your attention to Soobin, who you don’t really know much about. “How’s your morning going, Soobin?”

“It’s good. Great, actually! A little busy, but I like having things to do, you know?”

“Yeah, I get that. What are you up to?”

“Mostly running errands. Then later I have to take some photos of today’s soccer game for the school newspaper, go to jazz band practice, and study for my econ midterm,” he rambles.

“Wow. That’s… a lot.” Your eyes widen, wondering how he manages to juggle that kind of schedule. Sure, you care about extracurriculars too, but never enough to risk burning yourself out.

“Soobin is a real nerd, Y/N. If you ever need a tutor for anything, he’s your guy,” Yeonjun calls from the bathroom.

“Ooh, okay. How are you at multivariable calculus?” you inquire. It’s the class you’ve been struggling with the most this semester.

“Math is unfortunately the one thing I’m bad at,” Soobin admits. He opens his mouth to keep talking, but Yeonjun’s finally returned, at last ready to go. 

Soobin watches as Yeonjun’s hand finds yours, pulling you up off the couch before finding its way around your waist. “Let’s head out, babe.”

“Yay! Okay, well, bye, Soobin!” You wave, being pulled along. “I’ll see you around, I guess.”

Yeonjun drags you out the front door before Soobin can even say goodbye, the sweet scent of your perfume lingering in the air behind you.

Soobin waits a few minutes to make sure the two of you won’t be stopping back in before he faceplants onto the couch, letting out a long sigh. At this point, he isn’t sure if he’ll ever have the chance to tell you how he really feels with your “best” friend standing in the way.

—————-

Soobin’s heart nearly beats out of his chest the second he lays his eyes on you. You’re wearing the same sundress from earlier today, but this time without the slouchy cardigan draped over your shoulders, and your hair is thrown into a perfectly messy updo. To top it all off, you’ve got glitter dusted along your neck and collarbone, making you shimmer under the glow of the frat’s neon lights.

He wants nothing more than to lean down and kiss it all off of you. The only issue is that you’re surrounded by a ton of other partygoers who probably all want to do the same.

You’re the only reason he even bothered to come to this party and he might not even get the chance to talk to you. He may not have been of any help this morning, but at least Yeonjun was decent enough to text Soobin and let him know the two of you would be here tonight.

“Soob! I didn’t think you’d actually come!” Yeonjun’s voice startles him as he claps his roommate on the shoulders from behind, his hands still wet from swimming in the pool. Soobin jerks back, nearly spilling the contents of his red solo cup.

“She looks hot, doesn’t she?” Yeonjun continues, glancing past him to see you twirling your hair as you gently let another guy know he has no chance with you. Soobin hates it when he talks about you this way, even if it’s true. “Did you tell her you’re in love with her yet?”

“We haven’t even talked,” Soobin says, his voice barely reaching above the music’s blast. He stares down at his white sneakers, sticky from the spilled drinks and god knows what else is lining the frat’s linoleum floors. “Did you do what I asked you to, by the way?”

“Shit, sorry, man. I totally forgot. But you know what? Maybe we can change your luck,” Yeonjun smiles, feeling a bit sorry for his lovesick roommate. “Me and a few other people are gonna start a game of spin the bottle in the next room if you want to try and kiss her.”

It’s the opportunity of a lifetime. Except when you spin the bottle and it glides past him, landing instead on Yeonjun, Soobin’s heart plummets into his stomach.

You lean past him with a shy smile on your face, wrapping your arms around your best friend’s neck as he pulls you into the steamiest kiss Soobin has ever seen. It’s enough to make him wonder if maybe the two of you have done this more than just once.

Despite being over in seconds, it feels like hours to Soobin. To make matters worse, when you pull away, your lips wet with Yeonjun’s saliva, you wave at him with the most gorgeous smile in the world.

“Sorry, man,” Yeonjun whispers to Soobin, running a hand through his hair, messed up from where your fingers were just laced through it. “Maybe next round.”

If Soobin could fight, he would’ve certainly thrown a punch straight into his roommate’s jaw. But even though he towers over him by a few good inches, he knows that he’d be out like a light and wake up with a black eye that’ll truly never let him forget about this moment.

When it’s finally his turn, it lands on a girl just a few spots over from you and he does his best not to look disappointed. She’s pretty, for sure, but she’s not you. Soobin plants a quick kiss on her lips and the crowd groans.

“More!” an unfamiliar voice chants. The rest of the players join in, although all Soobin can pinpoint is the sound of you nearby, egging him on to make out with another girl.

He relents, enough alcohol in his system to finally let loose, pulling the girl into a fast, sloppy kiss. The crowd shifts to whooping and hollering, and he sees you giggling with one of your girl friends out of the corner of his eye.

It isn’t until the two of you watch as Yeonjun gropes that same friend seconds after the bottle lands on her that Soobin notices a shift in your mood. Your once everlasting smile has been replaced with a blank stare that unmistakably signals heartbreak.

Soobin would know. He was making the same face just a few minutes ago.

Eventually, the game fizzles out and everybody disperses back into the frat’s crowd, still going strong despite being hours in.

After wandering around the party for a while, Soobin spots you at the keg, frustratedly pouring yourself another beer. From the way you’re stumbling, he knows it’s probably not a good idea for you to actually drink it.

“Hey, wait,” he intervenes, grabbing the plastic cup out of your hand. “Y/N. Maybe you should slow down.”

“Fuck off,” you scoff before turning to see who’s interrupted your binge. Your cheeks heat up at the sight of Soobin, Yeonjun’s roommate. He usually never comes to these things and has only ever been really, really nice to you. “Soobin. I am so, so sorry. I’m just going through it right now.”

“I can see that. Do you want to get some fresh air?”

“Yes, please.” He loops his arm around yours and guides you outside, making sure that you don’t trip on any uneven steps or loose cans. 

If it were Yeonjun, he’d carry you bridal style, letting you nuzzle your head into his shoulder until you reached your dorm room.

“You can have some of mine,” Soobin says, handing over his drink as you steady yourself against the porch’s railing. “It’s just Sprite.”

You nod and gulp the entire cup of soda down, the bubbles tickling your dry throat.

“You’re jealous, aren’t you?” Soobin continues, catching you off guard. You turn to stare at him, eyes wide before you fix your expression to something more nonchalant.

“No, I’m not.” He looks back at you with a frown, letting you know that he’s seen just enough tonight to not believe any of what you’re saying. Soobin doesn’t seem like the kind of person you’d want to lie to, anyway.

“Fine, maybe just a little bit,” you admit, crossing your arms in defeat. “I mean, in general, how are girls like me supposed to compete with girls like her?”

“Lots of guys would kill to be with a girl like you. She’s just more… straightforward.” You can tell he can’t actually come up with a better explanation for why his roommate isn’t into you.

“I kissed him the way I’ve been wanting to for years now. I don’t know how much more straightforward I can get. You know, last week, I asked if there was anything going on between the two of them and he told me she wasn’t his type?”

“Who isn’t Yeonjun’s type?” Soobin laughs awkwardly, regret immediately settling on his face as he realizes he probably shouldn’t have said that. He’s right and you know it, though.

“Please tell me they aren’t making out right now,” you change the subject, hoping and praying that the answer is no.

Soobin glances over his shoulder back into the party to see Yeonjun and your friend entangled, his hands gripping her hips as she grinds into him. “He’s… certainly doing something to her.”

“Wow. Okay, that’s all I needed to hear.” You walk past Soobin to stare at Yeonjun and your friend all over each other. It’s a horrifying scene, but for some reason, you can’t tear your eyes away. “You know, I’d hate to see how he is with a girl he’s actually into. Men really suck sometimes.”

“Y/N, look at me,” Soobin says, his voice the steadiest its been all night.

“Huh?” you ask in confusion. Soobin turns you back around, his hand reaching up to brush a strand of hair from your face. It trembles against your cheek as he leans in close to you.

“We can get back at him,” he whispers, both of your heart rates rising by the second. His breath is hot against your ear. “If you want to.”

You can’t believe the words that have just come out of his mouth. Choi Soobin, Yeonjun’s sweet roommate who has only ever spoken to you in the most polite and platonic way, is offering to help you make your best friend jealous.

Your silence makes him backtrack, the panic in his voice evident. He really has no clue what’s gotten into him. “I’m sorry, Y/N. I was just joking! I didn’t actually mean—”

“Let’s do it,” you say, cutting him off. Before he can protest, you’re pulling him back into the frat house and onto the middle of the dance floor, right next to Yeonjun.

Soobin can barely believe this is happening right now, and if his arms weren’t wrapped around your waist, he’d pinch himself.

Usually, you keep to yourself at parties, kindly entertaining men’s advances, but never giving them the satisfaction of dancing with you. Tonight, you’re breaking all of your own self-imposed rules with the guy you least expected to.

“Kiss me,” you say into his ear, loud enough to fight the music’s volume, but quiet enough for Yeonjun not to hear. Soobin looks at you with sheer panic on his face and you know immediately that he’s incapable of making the first move.

At least that’s what you think before he crashes his lips onto yours. Despite watching him awkwardly make out with someone else earlier, he’s surprisingly good at kissing. There’s a hunger to the way he grabs your waist and pulls you closer that makes you smile into him.

As you feel his soft hair beneath your fingertips, you almost forget why you’re kissing him in the first place. When you finally separate, you turn to see Yeonjun staring at the two of you, a sly grin on his face that makes you question if you’ve made the right decision.

—————-

“That was so humiliating,” you groan, trudging down the sidewalk. Soobin trails you like a puppy dog. “He was happy for us. So much for making him jealous. You know, maybe we should just call this whole thing off now.”

“No!” Soobin panics. “I, uh, I have an idea.”

“Which is?” you say, stopping to look at him. You can tell by the way he stares blankly at you that he doesn’t actually have an answer.

“Well… if we keep this up, then Yeonjun will see how great of a girlfriend you are and he’ll want you for himself! Really, we’ve just gotta give it more time.”

Your head aches, but Soobin does make a little bit of sense. “Fine, okay. How long are you willing to put up with me for?”

Soobin knows he can’t say forever. “Why don’t we try until the end of the semester? If he doesn’t confess his love to you by then, then we’ll stage a break up.”

“Sounds like a deal,” you say, reaching out your hand to shake. Soobin hesitates. “I don’t have cooties, you know. Besides, your tongue was kind of just down my throat back there.”

“Right, sorry,” Soobin says, taking your hand into his. It’s much bigger than you expected, nearly covering yours in its entirety. “Deal.”

“Come on,” you say, continuing your trek back to your dorm. “Let’s go.”

“My room is the other way,” he attempts to remind you. You don’t even bother to look back at him, wanting to get out of the cold and into your bed.

“We’re going to mine. Yeonjun is never going to believe we’re together if he catches you in your own bed tonight.” 

—————-

Taglist: @orangesodafoam @deezbutz28 @ur-mother-realnotclickbait @iyeeeverydee @internet-folks @darlingz99 @foxyjun @stardustmooncakes @giaalorine @beomgyubabybear @niningtori @goquokka @csbenthusiast @moarmyjkhk @lizdevorak @sooberryworld @lonelybutterflytae @midnight-mochii @theresawtf @nowadays56 @jjklvr9 @baekberrie @philijack @soobnuuy

P.S.: Please shoot me an ask or a reply if you’d like to be added to (or removed from) the taglist! Also, I struggle to keep up with different lists for individual members, but if you really don't want to be tagged on all of my works, just let me know and I will do my best to keep things separate <3

[theonceandfuturequeenoftarts]

20 Questions (for fanfic writers)

Thank you for the tags, @cindle-writes and @izharmilgram! I'm procrastinating on other responsibilities, so let's have some fun~

Tagging @i-dream-of-libraries, @chaos-bear, @floatingdandelionseeds, @pitzer, @riverxsong-ao3, @tommarvoloriddlesdiary, @thefangirlibrarian, @hikarimeroperiddle and @blackseatwenty (no pressure, only if you want to! ♡♡♡) and anyone else who wants to talk about their fics -- consider this your tag! ♡

how many works do you have on ao3? 47

what's your total ao3 word count? 226,795

what fandoms do you write for? Harry Potter, Yuri!!! On Ice

top five fics by kudos: A long, hard road; Gone bananas; thrown into the nest; refuge from the miseries of life; unfailingly ingenious at having a good time (surprised the cat!Harry fics are so high tbh) Edit: I can't read... (:‚‹」∠) Top five fics by kudos are as follows: Gone bananas; A long, hard road; thrown into the nest; refuge from the miseries of life; and Coriander (not a big change, but it does explain why the cat!Harry sequel was so high...)

do you respond to comments? uhh... occasionally. Social anxiety kicks my ass and so I put my energy into writing fic instead. I love every single comment I get and reread them any time I need a pick-me-up, but I am a bad author who doesn't reply...

what is the fic your wrote with the angstiest ending? hmm... probably pyrrhic victory, but Capsized is also a contender

what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? considering I write mostly fluff and crack, this is a surprisingly difficult question to answer... I'm gonna go with either if you like it, then... or thrown into the nest. Or maybe don't blame the stork? (Some lovely reader out there is shouting at their screen, "Flaky, you goof, it's obviously ____!!" and they're correct.)

do you get hate on fics? Nope, not really! Some readers express that they wish I'd done certain things differently, and a couple have said I ended a fic badly, but I don't think I've received anything I'd consider hateful.

do you write smut? uhhhh... sometimes. When it's the best way to tell the story I have in my head, then I'll write smut. But it's still a bit uncomfortable to do. I'd like to think I'm getting better at it?

craziest crossover? I'm not sure I've actually written anything that could really be considered a crossover, but A real voyage of discovery is kind of a mash-up of Harry Potter characters in a Star Trek-y world? And it has alien!mort, and I think he's nifty.

have you ever had a fic stolen? A couple of my fics have appeared on Wattpad without my permission, but other than that, no.

have you ever had a fic translated? Yep, a few! (ㅅ´ ˘ `)

have you ever co-written a fic before? Not yet -- I don't really know how it'd work, and I'm afraid to try (¬_¬") Intensely private about my writing before it's ready to post unless you're Jenny. But! I'm counting the Telephone and the Corpse (coming soon) because they're collaborative (in a way) and have been such a major part of my fandom experience!

all-time favorite ship? tomarrymort~ (honourable mentions to sefikura, madohomu, and viktuuri)

what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Fingers crossed I'm not breaking anyone's heart with this, but probably Let's Talk About Sex, Baby. I have some more written for it, but it's been a while since I've returned to it and other projects interest me more. I have every intention of finishing my WIPs, but... there are only so many hours in a day and my energy is, sadly, finite (´•︵•`)

what are your writing strengths? whimsical finger guns! Poignant fluff? Emotions. silliness, and dialogue, probably.

what are your writing weaknesses? Worldbuilding, continuous narratives (as opposed to short scenes without much context), plot-heavy narratives, description, writing the main characters in true opposition to each other, fleshing ideas out rather than keeping it (overly) brief... I'm sure I'll think of a bunch of other things as soon as I post this.

thoughts on dialogue in another language? I'd like to! I speak French reasonably well, and I'm lucky enough to have some fandom friends who speak other languages, so I'm sure I could beg their assistance.

favorite fic you've written? Hhhhhhh, why must I choose? I'll go with naïve melody, because it still gives me the warm fuzzies. I'm just so proud of the tone, and I really like how that Voldemort comes across.

[numberonetacostan]

polycule anon is back i have more thoughts (just gonna use ✨ as a sort of tag so you know it’s me lmao)

i have more hcs:

- more tacomic centered but i could totally see mic fidgeting via doing taco’s hair in tiny little braids. not only bc it’s cute but also bc i think taco really likes having her hair played with for some reason. just thinking about them watching a movie together with taco leaning against mic while mic braids and unbraids her hair to keep her hands busy

- i love the nest hc that i’ve seen on this blog as well and i think it’d be 10x more fun with the polycule. girl is stealing all of their clothes and there’s nothing they can do to stop her. she is such a little thief

- again related to a hc mentioned on this blog: taco hoarding stuff. she totally steals random little trinkets from everyone in the polycule (provided they’re not important to them bc she would never upset them like that) and stashes it away in one of her little hiding spots that nobody else can fit in. sometimes just to mess with them she’ll return it to the exact same spot she found it in days or weeks later. mepad is 100% sure it’s her but just lets her keep doing it since it’s not harming anyone

- just. all the little passing touches between them all. hand holding, little kisses when they’re saying hello or goodbye, etc. i personally think taco is really sensitive to touch bc it’s just been so long, so she reacts a lot better to random light touches than sudden hugs or smth. in turn she’d probably act the same with everyone else since it’s what she’s comfortable with. so just. constant little passing touches whenever they see each other

- i love the wingman idea you mentioned so much. i think it’d be extra funny if mepad was completely aware that taco liked him but knew she needed to take her time sorting it out and all. he’d probably wait for her to come to him unless it becomes increasingly obvious that she won’t and he has to do something or she’s just going to be constantly trying to awkwardly flirt with him but never going any further

- give me taco and toilet bonding over the fact that they both messed up so much but still have people that care about them and want to help them. they are genuinely so similar to each other it drives me insane

- mepad is so sweet with all of them even before they get together. he’s always willing to help comfort any of them and is the first to offer up encouragement or kind words. i think he’d also be the first to say how proud he is of them when they do something they’ve struggled with in the past (ex. mic standing up for herself, she’s def gotten better about it but i’m sure she still struggles at times; taco actually communicating properly and being more open about her emotions; i don’t have a example for toilet tbh i tried coming up with one and just couldn’t)

- related to the above, mepad definitely has to help mediate when taco and mic have issues in their relationship. they both tend to fall back into their own patterns which is not healthy and only really causes problems. he notices them start to avoid each other a bit and sits them both down to talk out what happened and why they’re both upset. it helps when he knows enough about taco to figure out what she may have done even if she won’t say it

Hi Sparkle!!!!!!!!!^^ happy to have you back, and thank you for submitting more of the polycule of all time!!!!!!! XD

Awwwww hewjjwhw!!!! I imagine that after all the time in the woods, Taco is really really happy to be able to have clean hair again!!!!!! So getting it played with like this would make her so happy!!! No more oily, matted hair, only soft happy braidable hair!!!!! And Mic would love love to touch it!!!!!!^^

LITTLE THIEF!!!!!!!!!!^^ yay!!!! I'm so glad you like my hc!!!!!! :D omg she would steal clothes from all of them and just!! Revel in how safe and warm she feels with something of theirs surrounding her!!!!! Mepad's stuff would be so massive compared to her it's so cute <3 <3

Omg little thief part 2!!!!!!!! She can take little knick-knacks of theirs and keep them in her shell too!!!!!!! Just something little from each of them so she always has her partners with her, in a way. Mepad would find it very cute <3!!!!!

YES YES YES!!!!! She would be so sensitive to touch after the homeless era!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They would be so sweet and patient with her, letting her take the lead in a case-by-case basis. Some days Taco maybe want to snuggle for hours, and some she doesn't want to be touched at all!!! And that's perfectly okay and they never touch her without knowing she'll be okay with it!!!!!^^

OMGA Mepad knows and is totally chill and just gonna let her figure things out for herself and even though he reciprocates he wants to give her that space aaaaaaaaaa I love Mepad so much. I also think he would be a better wingman than Mic, but only because he's subtle about it. Mic is not.

TOICO PARALLELS DID SOMEONE SAY TOICO PARALLELS BOTH WHO HAVE MADE SO MANY MISTAKES AND ARE CONSTANTLY TRYING TO MAKE UP FOR THEM AND DO WELL. WHO HAD MEPAD AS THE ONE PERSON WILLING TO BELIEVE THEY WERE MORE THAN THOSE MISTAKES??? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I am #1 toico supporter in any dynamic they can be platonic romantic anywhere in between and i love them

OUGH AUGH GAH MEPAD BEING THE SUPPORTIVE KING HE IS. HE IS SO SO PROUD OF ALL OF THEM. *gently taps mepad because I would NEVER slap him* this bad boy can fit so much love inside him. Guh I'm so sorry most of this is just me gushing over what you've said rather than giving an actual response.

Oh yeah he would absolutely be the mediator for them. He's an excellent mediator anyways, and for Taco and Mic he'd have such a solid understand of both of them he'd really be able to help them work it out. Toilet tried once when Mepad was taking a well-deserved Me-day and. Well nothing actually got resolved but it did dissolve into chaos that left them all laughing so hard that Taco and Mic forgot what they were upset about. Thank you, Toilet <3.

[aballadforbarbatos]

fanfic

fairly long i guess. i’m going through a bit of a mephisto brainrot right now tbh; took a long break from obey me and came back to see 1500 AP. immediately spent all that to get a mephisto icon when the card was at level 10

was it worth it? hmm.

you have no goddamn idea what prompted you to do this

YES you applied human logic and it turned out to be right but maybe you should just stop doing that. stop thinking

mephistopheles had been a bit too mean for your liking. that’s what kicked this whole thing off to start with

maybe he didn’t mean it. maybe he did. anyway it ruined your whole day

satan had noticed your mood change and suggested something nice, which was:

“why not read something nice and fluffy?”

and then the idea had stuck itself in your head and just not let go

you do a quick search on doogle, and to your delight, the demons have not let you down!

searching up “mephistopheles x reader” returned thousands of results, and while you knew there’d be a lot of ooc writing, the idea of mephisto being not mean to you was enough to make you excited :D

you want to open up a fic right there and then, but something makes you stop. the brothers would get awfully suspicious if they saw you all blushy and giggly and pink…

you leave it for lights out where you can get all blushy and giggly and pink in secret.

you see mepisto the next day and excitedly wave hello at him. he looks at you strangely. good enough!

and then it kind of becomes an addiction. you can’t read anything else and your textbooks are a struggle when you’re thinking about all the fake mephisto romances you could be reading instead

satan asks you to review a book he found and you have to turn him down saying that you’re reading a book that’s vaguely related to horses but he wouldn’t like it because the narrator sounds like lucifer

you’re lying of course, but he doesn’t know that

and then one day, when the fanfics aren’t hitting the spot, a new idea comes to you. what if you wrote your OWN mephisto x reader fic?!

you totally brush over the fact that you actually know mephisto irl and sometimes even have conversations with him. if you just stick to the ooc template that everyone else uses it’s like a totally different person

so you jump on the devildom version of ao3 and start posting. you do this for many, many months and nobody in your circle finds out, but BOY does that fic get popular

you end up skipping a chapter because of an event and then promise to release it on wednesday, but then wednesday rolls around and you still haven’t done it AND THERE’S A STUDENT COUNCIL MEETING

the clock is ticking away and you have stuff to do, like it’s also your turn to cook dinner and you’re failing your classes, so you kind of have to go home like right now? you stick your hand up

“what’s up, MC?”

“can i go home? i really have to write this chapter.”

everyone perks up except for lucifer who’s ready to tell you off for not messing around. too bad he’s drowned out by literally everyone else

“wow! you’re writing a story?! what is it about?!”

no wonder you chose “nothinky” as your username for this fic cause you don’t think about the answer and how these demons that are crushing on you fairly obviously will react

“oh yeah it’s about me dating mephistopheles”

silence.

lucifer looks like he’s bitten into a lemon, which is kind of funny but you’ve just thought of a great line to put in your fic so you scribble that down instead

“mephistopheles. like the mephistopheles WE know or,”

“i didn’t know mephistopheles was a common name in the devildom. yeah it’s the mephisto we know?? oh, but i did write him based on the template that others used, so it’s really just a totally different person”

“wdym others.”

“well i did devour like hundreds of mephisto romance stories before this you know…”

“MC what the fuck.”

you keep going because basically you don’t know when to stop and if you keep going they might let you out earlier

“yeah i’m coming up to the part where he proposes but i was gonna ask one of you guys about that since i don’t know if it’s different down here. AND i need someone to read the story with me because even though he was supposed to be based on this template i feel like it’s a lot closer to the actual mephisto, and that would be a problem because i’m really starting to fall for this mephistopheles-not-mephistopheles”

that’s not a joke. sometimes you think about how crazy it is that you got here. as you’re explaining things about the story you don’t notice that everyone’s eyes have shifted from you to above you.

“i can teach you about how nobles propose, MC.”

you freeze up and feel your face burst into flames. you can’t even turn around and say “great!”

but if you had turned around, just by coincidence, just a few moments earlier, you would’ve seen him there, slack-jawed and eyes wide. a sight completely unbefitting of a noble.

how nice that you’ve made the first move for him.

and you said that you needed someone to read your story, didn’t you? perhaps he can show you how much better the real thing is.

[garthofshayeris]

What’s your opinion on Garth possibly being Orms son?

I think it’d be interesting if Garth’s mom had an affair with Orm and they had a doomed love story where it could never work out. And it could make for interesting drama where Orm isn’t sure if he wants to drop the bomb on Garth or if he’s sure he’s really his.

There could also be an instance of Orm trying to get Garth to leave aquaman and join him.

Like...in the current comics? You mean Greg of Atlantis™? I think that guy is just some dude who got a scholarship from the king...

Obviously, it wouldn't work with preboot canon, considering Orm is either half- or fully-human depending on that continuity. And Garth being the son of Thar, a sorcerer and brother of Slizzath, is kinda his whole thing. Garth's magic is passed on from his father's side (not that magic can ONLY be from a father, but in the case of Garth that just is his canon) I don't think inserting Orm into the storyline of Garth that I like would do anything for the story tbh. I really love Garth's backstory involving Slizzath and Thar, I think it's very meaningful and complete.

THAT SAID I feel like you mean, if DC re-wrote everything, would I like a brand new version of Garth who is related to Orm. I guess my answer is...not really? We already have Jackson as the son of Manta (something that I feel is underwhelming, it's a cool concept that they never really do anything interesting with it) and it would be weird if that happened twice, you know? Since Garth would not have been raised by Orm and Orm in the current comics is arguably not really that evil, it wouldn't have the same punch as preboot "your dad was murdered by his people because he want homicidal and crazy"/"your dad's brother went homicidal and crazy and he died protecting the world from him". If this is about how animated DC stuff gives Orm purple eyes for some reason, I think that might just be something they do to make me angry, specifically /j

All that to say, I don't think it would add anything very meaningful to the current story dynamics. Saying Greg is related to Orm has the exact same punch as when they say every 5 years that Garth was totally raised by Arthur it just never came up and we never see it happen and he's never invited to any family events.

HOWEVER, the New 52 could have actually VERY easily made Garth Orm's son when they fucking BROUGHT HIM UP EARLY ON AND THEN DIDN'T FOLLOW THAT FUCKING STORY THREAD THROUGH I HATE YOU DC COMICS I HATE YOU I HATE YOU. They could have had Orm defending Garth from people who want to kill him, knowing DAMN WELL he fucked Berra and that kid might be his. Then after Orm is sent to Land Jail they could have killed off Berra and saddled Arthur with a young child that Orm was for some reason really defensive of but nobody knew why. And then they do the Atlanna story, blah blah blah... anyway fuck you dc comics

I actually think I posted about this years ago, but what they SHOULD have done with the Throne of Atlantis storyline is have Orm escape and return to Atlantis and start a group of outcast/terrorists that included (child) Garth and returned years later with a very powerful "child solider" because THAT would actually be a fun callback to Garth's preboot vibe but ALSO do what they try to do with Jackson. They're always like "omg is Jackson like his father, the evil Black Manta?!" but like.......Jackson was not raised by Manta, and being evil is not genetically passed down so it's lacking a little punch...anyway, this would be more like Damian, Cass, etc where there is an element of unlearning behaviors. Arthur would have to be like, this is a child and children are not evil, my brother is not evil, we need to help them.

I'm not saying it couldn't work, but I do think it would work better in a complete overhaul of the entire franchise. And I already posted my ideal overhaul of the entire franchise (dc pls hire me)

anyway it's a shame Garth hasn't been seen in DC comics since his death in Blackest Night (2009).

[loveislandthegame]

thoughts on today's volume! this was certainly an experience. 🙂 for real tho, we've definitely reached the point of the season where everything starts flying off the rails

i'm putting my clown costume on & continuing my natasha route, she told MC that her and stefan are just friends (i was getting mixed signals in this volume tbh, but if stef/natasha are actually romantic if you're off their routes , i'm just gonna assume it's glitches or FB being too lazy to branch rather than her being dishonest)

unfortunately for those who thought uma being a returning islander was going to be a fake-out , hamish brought her ass back in a friendship couple (granted he would've been dumped if he didn't twist, but he seriously couldn't have picked anyone else ? 😭)

then we play whatever this challenge was, i was mentally checking out . i hyped all the guys up except finn. it really bothers me that he keeps flirting with MC no matter how many times i've pied him off, it's giving suresh

i also thought that uma was going to be dumped due to her lack of a redesign ... perhaps fixing her weirdly long broken arm & "5 seconds away from pissing herself" pose is asking too much of FB, but they could've at least given her a new hair & outfits 😭 it wouldn't fix her personality but jeez (slightly off topic but i think uma's face is gorgeous, FB did her so dirty in so many different ways)

i picked all the chill options with her. side note, i'm so bored with these rivals that just go after whoever you're coupled up with . i'd be much more invested if the drama was like: stefan trying to have a proper relationship with natasha, hamish trying to win her back, or even uma wanting to pursue her

speaking of the drama, chen randomly decides that he's somehow more compatible with somebody he's known for a grand total of two days than the person he's been madly in love with for this entire season ... really bad paraphrasing here but my jaw was on the ground when he was like "uma is actually interested in melbourne and did research about it, you shouldn't move to my home city because of me, what if you hate it🥺." mind you, my MC is also australian

FB keeps reusing this "LI and MC fighting because they had a disagreement over the most miniscule bullshit" plot point and i don't understand why . later on he apologises but it's just so...ugh . Overbearing i guess ? idk how to describe it but i think i'm done with him

my tinfoil hat theory is that FB is trying to ruin everybody's route to make finn look good by comparison, and that's just not happening for me luv, but i will say that it made me appreciate hamish more . he's a hot mess but his scenes with MC are very sweet (love a friends to lovers moment)

at least the chen drama gave me the strength to go to the hideaway with natasha without feeling guilty (that damn hyperempathy lmao)

of course we get The Box™ again, but this time there's sexy...crossword ? 😭 (like i've said before, i don't care about these scenes so i can test out whatever FB adds without being like "damnnn that was a waste of time")

it's definitely better than dice, it's not some super spicy thing, just (at least with natasha, idk if it can change) neck kisses before the option of going all the way/bits/cuddling . sexy crossword is a deeply unserious concept but i would go with it if you're tired of the other options

next up is movie night, my MC is a hoe (mainly in the sense that anybody on a wlw route can't officially be with their LI until the final recoupling, but i'm also on hamish's route now) but i didn't do anything in casa, so i wonder what her clip will be. my prediction is that it'll end up being something that can apply to all players e.g. the PDA awards drama

(can't wait for everyone to clutch their pearls over MC turning down finn for the one millionth time 😍)

[golbrocklovely]

idk if you’ve seen but kong pham just uploaded a podcast with snc

it was filmed months ago though i’m pretty sure because it seems like it was before colby did chemo?

anyway around 37 minutes in colby talks about how he had a break down and just cried about everything last year and it shocked me i can’t lie… i hope it made him feel better though

yeah it was filmed back in april right before colby went thru chemo. i was a bit confused as to why sam never mentioned kat and him breaking up, and now it makes sense since they didn't announce they broke up until may (even tho they had broken up back in march) lol

and yes, it was really shocking to hear about colby breaking down, but also at the same time…. it makes total sense. a lot of us on here have been saying for a long time that last year was a really rough time for colby. the later half of the year was just a shit storm for so many reasons towards him, he himself even said he wasn't feeling his best at the time, and it makes so much sense that he would have had a break down finally after years of holding everything in.

i might be making a controversial opinion here, but everyone hear me out before you jump down my throat: while snc both get hate for extremely dumb things, colby is the one that takes it the hardest, and also gets it the worse. sam, at the very least, seems like he doesn't let it bother him. i think bc so many ppl give him love and support, he's able to push the negativity away. but colby, whether he'll ever admit to it or not, can't do that - even with all the love he gets. he doesn't let things go as much as sam does.

and it makes total sense to me. colby wants everyone to like him. and i get that. i was the same way for a very long time. it's hard when someone starts to hate you for whatever reason. you want to prove them wrong, and you'll do anything to be in their good graces again, only to realize… did you ever even care that much in the first place. opinions affect colby on a deeper level bc he wants to be seen as a good person. and he is. but when you have other ppl shitting on you, for example, for tweeting out about international women's day or that your facial hair is ugly or literally judging you for every girl you put yourself near, and it's CONSTANT…. you're eventually gonna snap. tbh, i'm surprised colby hasn't completely removed himself from twitter and insta altogether just bc of the hate those sites have given him for the past couple years.

2020-21 were the worst times to be a fan, so i can ONLY IMAGINE how terrible it was for colby, who was getting the brute force of it. i remember the disgusting death threat he got. he left twitter for like over a week, and then never returned to that site the same. that's why the balcony tweets stopped. and then when he lost his journal, one of the only ways he's ever been able to express himself deeply, ppl cheered about it in the replies. and some of those ppl were fans of ppl he was friends with.

sam gets hate, sure. i won't deny that ever. but colby… it is truly unlike anything i've ever seen in all my years of being online. and i swear the ppl that send him mean shit, it's like they know it hurts him and revel in it. he gets called out for every fuck up, even if sam has done the same, bc ppl know he'll actually feel guilty and apologize for it. they want to see him break, i truly believe that.

[bloody-wonder]

top 5 villains in fiction? Or alternatively, top 5 antagonists, totally up to you.

thank youuuuu :)

lol so i'm very obnoxious about what kind of character does or does not constitute a villain/an antagonist so these are like top 5 that passed that rigorous selection process

graham reid malett aka gabriel (the lymond chronicles). so my problem with villanous characters is that i'm a contrary bitch and when authors want me to really hate someone i usually end up either not caring either way or actively rooting for them lmao. but with gabriel dunnett managed to create someone truly terrifying and compelling at the same time. he's sort of a variation on lymond himself in the sense that he's what other characters think lymond should be - he's a version of lymond that conforms. or seems to conform, to put it more accurately, but that's the horror of it all - being a good man vs. seeming like one, and who's to say what's more important in the grand scheme of things? so the depiction of how any reasonably talented sociopath can charm his way to power and none will be the wiser is very realistic and scary but also - his villain monologues? outstanding. his gaslighting game? virtuoso. the homoerotic tension with the hero? off the charts. yet to be dethroned as my favorite villain of all time.

azula (avatar: the last airbender). i just like how cool and competent and dramatic she is and tbh the gaang were able to beat her only bc she conveniently got a bad case of mommy issues at the end. the last agni kai lives in my mind rent free - truly one of the greatest moments of cinema history.

milady de winter (the three musketeers, especially the 1978 adaptation). i knoooow she's the problematic femme fatale trope or whatever but i don't care. she's the blueprint. she has that sad backstory of being used and abused by men but i don't even particularly care about that either. she's an evil spy ladyboss i connected with on a neurological level when i was 11 and i have loved seeing her winning battles and losing wars again and again ever since.

lord voldemort (harry potter). tbh just a classic nostalgic "i want dominion over everything" kind of villain who at the same time represents evil and insidious real world ideologies that we like to think we defeated once and for all until they rise again - and in a very ironic fashion too, given by whomst this particular villain has been authored. i like voldemort's iconography and origin story but i also like how at the end of the day he remains a "flat" sort of villain with none of that boohoo nonsense. like, seriously, sometimes one needs less snivelling and more "there is no good and evil, there is only power and those too weak to seek it". i like the trope of having to collect a number of macguffins and do things in a very specific way in order to defeat him - and it does feel satisfying to see the characters finally accomplish it.

shen jiu (the scum villain's self-saving system). lol unlike in the case of milady i do care about shen jiu's backstory insofar as it means he has done nothing wrong ever in his life but he's on this list bc he's the titular scum villain and the book itself is about interrogating the roles people play in each other's lives and how those can be reframed if we change the perspective of the narrative. shen jiu is the villain bc luo binghe is the protag - the book tells us so on the meta level. but then as shen yuan learns more about shen jiu - and especially when we read the extra stories from shen jiu's pov - "villain" does not apply anymore as per my very specific criteria lol. in this regard shen jiu is also notable for asking one of the realest questions: while trying to get him to reconcile with liu qingge yue qingyuan says something like "do him a kindness and he'll return it tenfold" - to which shen jiu replies "ah but that's the thing - why should i be the one to be kind first?". bc if you think about it "why should i be the one to break the cycle of violence?" is one of the fundamental villain questions.

[halohamilton]

Hi, can you post your reading on Harry? Have you done any on Louis as well lately? Do you feel that their energy a bit lighter than last year or is it still heavy? Ty!

hi! sorry this took long but I checked it on their energies:

Harry:

I used the wild animal spirit deck. I love using this for an every check and highly suggest it because it's such an interesting deck. If you google the pdf book you'll see the meanings of each animal.

I'd gotten the octopus, shark and frog for him, all represented by water. He's really in his feels lately. The octopus represents intelligence and yearning, but someone who lacks boundaries or healthy ones. The frog represents cleansing and healing that's necessary to take place, talks about "rejuvenation" and how "frogs" are overworked and undernourished so it's vital for self-care. There seems to be a need to release a lot for him. Finally, the shark was very interesting because in the book it talks about something big lurking under the surface that needs to be exposed, when someone is hesitant to be honest or totally themselves or say what they want.

He really is in a desperate need to release a lot of negative energy he's holding onto and it seems to stem a lot from lack of self-care and overworking (I've been saying for ages he seems to be the type to use work as a distraction).

For zodiac cards I got Scorpio and capricorn.

Scorpio is a very intense energy. It's 8th house energy, which is all about transformation. It forces you to look within, look at things that push you out of your comfort zone and forces you to deal with them. Capricorn coming after isn't surprising because he is going through a saturn return (also explains everything else here tbh) and capricorn is ruled by saturn. And Capricorn is all about success and ambition and doing whatever it takes to get to the top but I found the phrase "avoid heartless ambition" come up more than once(?) so again I just got the vibe that maybe he's overworking himself a bit.

Finally his tarot cards:

the King of pentacles, ace of swords, 10 of wands.

King of pentacles is all about getting the bag. Someone who's very career focused and focused on success. It did come out in reverse which is worth a note because that can represent a workaholic and someone who isn't stable otherwise.

The ace of swords represents truth, clarity, a breakthrough. Part of me wonders if he realizes he might be overworking or that he needs a break which is why he likely is going to disappear for a bit? though part of me thinks he's still going to be doing something but time will tell.

the 10 of wands is carrying a lot on your shoulders and that seems to be something consistent throughout everything I've read so far. This man needs to unload and take off the burdens. he has too much on his plate.

In conclusion I think he's starting to feel a little lost right now. I think he realizes he might have some unhealthy coping mechanisms and I think he also realizes one of them is overworking. But all of this is honestly due to his saturn return. it's all necessary for him to go through and I genuinely hope he takes a break from everything for a bit. He needs it.

Louis:

For the animal spirit deck I got the Buffalo, the spider and the stingray. Beautiful energies honestly. I think he's in a bit of a better place than Harry but again it's unsurprising because of Harry's saturn return, he's going to go through things that aren't so great internally. Whereas Louis has just finished his.

The Buffalo is described as "grounded yet heavenly, practical yet spiritual" which is so beautiful. Gentle eyes that are fearless is what is described in the book. it just talks about trusting the road ahead and knowing youre going to be okay no matter what.

The spider... with him as well, it's work work work. But spider importantly represents rewards through hard work, remaining enthusiastic and trusting the process, being "process-oriented" rather than "results-oriented" which i think is a great way to look at things.

The stingray is talking about growing confidence, developing your sense of self, balancing your chakras. It's suuucchh a pivotal point in personal growth. Making decisions about leaving the "old" behind and taking in the "new"

For his zodiac cards I got Aries and Neptune.

Aries is ruled by Mars which is all about desire, passion, actions. It's ambitious and chases after what it wants. It's all about taking charge, taking risks, taking control.

Neptune is so interesting. It's all about psychic experiences and imagination. It's a wonderful planet, I think here it's just about balance in what's real and what's not. Because neptune is very much an illusion planet so, a need to keep himself grounded which I think he's doing well already tbh.

For his tarot cards:

I got the ace of pentacles, the world with the 3 of swords, page of swords and the sun as well. looks like there was a lot of energy lol.

The ace of pentacles is a new opportunity, especially regarding money/career. It's also fruits of your labour, or manifestations coming to fruition.

The world and the 3 of swords came out together which is also significant. The 3 of swords is about pain and heartbreak and the world represents accomplishment and endings of cycles and closure. putting the two and two together honestly the energy is wonderful. I think he's healing from a lot and making great progress.

The page of swords with the sun... page of swords is all about an idea, communication, gestures, creativity and the sun is the ultimate happy card. Like it just means joy.

Overall is energy is just so wonderful and he seems to be very happy. I'm hoping it continues.

[twdmusicboxmystery]

not sure if you are aware but amc plus is not doing early release of any of the daryl dixon episodes. My initial thoughts are, is this because they do not want anything spoiled, that they want everyone to see the same episodes released at the same time. If beth returns I do believe there will be mixed reviews from the GA, the same with the hate that TD got especially in the beginning.

Another thought, Glenn's fake out death. On the Talking Dead right after the episode where he is revealed alive, one of the writers- can't remember which one said something along the line that the reason they did the fake out death for Glenn was to test the waters on fake out deaths. TDers always believed this was about beth. That they planned to revealed her alive. Imo bringing back Madison and Troy are examples of seeing how the GA feels about bringing back "dead" characters. As far as I have read, the GA wasn't mad about them returning.

I have always wondered if the backlash about bethyl was why they didn't bring her back sooner. In the beginning the writers played with her age too much. At the farm she was a teenager. Hershel makes the comment about this, when talking about her and Jimmy. At the prison she is raising a baby yet she tells Axel she's 16 or 17 I can't remember, then daryl refers to her as a dumb college b. Yet EK was in her 30s and you could tell. For example other young characters like lyda, Enrid or Carl seem young on the show, they felt like teens. Beth never did. She should have been aged in the beginning the same as tara or rosita. Everyone argument about bethyl was age. Still is if you follow reddit. After all these years beth would not be in that teenage category. Possibly meaning the GA would be more open to the idea.

Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it?

I think they messed up from a PR standpoint when it comes to not showing the episodes to those who pay for the app early. Personally, I don't really care when the episodes drop. I'm watching them either way. But they've released them early for all the shows for so long now that if they were going to change it, they should have done a very big, very obvious announcement about that, and they didn't. People were expecting to be able to watch it yesterday, and that's not happening. So, now they're doing a lot of damage control. Not good.

As for the rest, you make good points about them wanting everyone to watch the episodes together. I seriously doubt it's about episode 1. So much of that episode--practically all of it, tbh--has been spoiled already in one way or another, that it wouldn't matter if they showed that episode early.

But it's probably not about the first few episodes at all. Maybe they're just setting a precedent so that everyone watches the last episode together. And if that's the case, it does suggest something huge happening in that episode. Let's hope so!

I really enjoyed reading what you said about tptb testing the waters for the fakeout. I'd forgotten that about Glenn's death. And I agree that no one seems particularly angry about Troy's or Madison's return. Which means tptb have done their job, getting the GA used to this sort of thing so there will be less of a backlash. There will always be detractors, of course. And Troy and Madison aren't a big part of the shipping wars, as Beth is, so there's that. But still, all great points.

And yes, I totally agree that no one will be able to say anything about Beth's age anymore. She told Axel she was 17, and that was only a year or two into the apocalypse. I read in one of the review articles that the Daryl spinoff goes out of its way to tell the audience we are now 12 years into the apocalypse. There must be some reason they are being so specific about that. So, without a doubt, Beth would be close to 30 now.

And just like that, arguments about her age are gone. ;D Anyway, thanks for your thoughts. I guess we'll have lots to talk about on Sunday. 😊 Xoxo! 🍁🍂💓

[starcrossedjedis]

in the most polite way possible i would like to say that i am in love with Sun already 😭 her story sounds so cool and her x Shanks/Sanji have that delicious angst i love. would there be any facts about Sun you’d be okay with sharing plss??

Aaaaaaaah!!! Thank you!!! 😭❤️

(You don't have to be polite at all tbh I aim for feral, yelling and frothing at the mouth 😆)

And oh my beloved "love triangle" where two points are in love, just not with each other and the third one doesn’t even know he's in there 😅🥰

(I do feel so bad for Sanji though, he is my sunshine baby boy who could definitely have been the endgame in a world where the bitch in charge wasn't such a whore for Peter Gadiot 🤣)

Also I am harassing so many ppl with my Sun Brainrot at this point, that I am not even sure what about her I have already shared and what not 😂

Soooooo...

- she barely remembers her life before she was thirteen years old and the last six months, before Shanks and crew find her alone on a boat drifting somewhere in the East Blue, are missing completely

- she probably only sees Shanks a total of six, maybe seven times (?) before he leaves for good to search for the One Piece (because he only ever comes to Windmill Village when it suits him and the crew in terms of pause and provision)

- but he is her first ever real and true and firm memory and when they first meet heis kind and funny and 23 yo with pretty eyes and a soft smile and this is what makes him such an important figure in her life and that feels a lot like love for a girl her age (and hurts just like love to lose it)

- after he loses his arm, Shanks savely returns Luffy to the village, but then goes into shock. Sun refuses to leave his side for two days (this will be recounted in flashbacks after Zoro gets injured in the duel)

- she actually misses the whole duel drama because she spends the night with Sanji - it leads to (another) big fight with Nami

- she technically has no interest whatsoever to help Nami, she just comes with so that Luffy - whom she is very protective over - doesn't get himself killed, but she's basically like "fine, we'll get her back on your crew, but when that's done, so am I"

- she's not done, ofc

- she can't barrel pledge a dream, because dreaming was sth she didn't allow herself to do, but she vows to eventually find one

- she will eventually find the whole truth about her past, including why her memories are so fuzzy, what happened during the missing six months and who forced her to eat the (Mythical Zoan) Sairen Sairen No Mi

- we will also eventually learn her full name

- I have two possible ideas of how I could see her meeting Shanks again

- the first is not that canon compliant (because it would require the whole crew to be together, his promise to Luffy be damned cause I cannot wait until the smol bean is king of the pirates for them to reunite and finally get their shit together!!!1!)

- the second would be set during and after Marinefold (😭), so definitely more canon compliant (it comes with a lot of delicious drama and is probably the "sexier", more adult one, but she would be alone/ without the straw hats for an extended period of time)

This reply is getting out of hand, but PLEASE feel free to drop any and all questions you want answered/ things you wanna know in my DMs because rn I live and breathe to talk about Sun (and Shanks) 🙈❤️

[hot-girls-corner]

hurts so much that it's funny. - 15th August, 2023

good morning. i skipped two days of writing to be precise. why?

it's because too much was going on. 13th aug was fine

yesterday there was earthquake of around 5.2. the whole building got down, especially the ones living the upper part of the building cuz we wouldn't have much time to survive.

that was number 1 reason.

secondly, mom found out that i text people on messenger and also saw me sent out some pictures.

to be precise some VERY DECENT pictures, like just my face. and the chat history? FULLY DECENT DAMN NICE chat history. still i got like a "ultimate warning" from my parents and they also made me deactivate my acc and block the guys b4 doing that. i felt super bad for them. cuz

i'm ahanaf's only bff and he has no one else to talk about everything so openly… we were also planning to research on the scholarships and go together… i couldn't even tell him that my parents are making me do this… but i had to cutoff everything… he was inspired by me, he was one of the people who truly cared for me, and i was one of them for him. he's now gonna think i left him like his other friends too :(

on the other hand, tousif is also an introvert + he is a totally broken guy. domestic violence, no real friends, people stepping over him, what not? that guy found his safe place with me, i took care of him while he was depressed and got him out of it. i helped him continue his friendship with others. when no one was there to support him, i was there… he was very grateful to me, he also wanted me to share my pain, but i never did except once cuz i don't wanna hurt him. he didn't like it when i didn't share my pain. he sometimes wouldn't even believe that i was not in pain cuz he knows i'm too good at acting and hiding emotions. so blocking him and breaking contact like that is gonna go too harsh on him as i won't be returning for a few months now. and even when i do, i won't be able to talk to any boy or enter any group. only girls, that even of my own school… poor him… he's gonna think i ghosted him too :(

truly as a psychopath, it's not like i feel any pain to leave them, or any remorse after my parents' lecture. cuz according to them, i did so many "wrong" things, just by talking and sending the most decent pictures possible. but i know that's not the case, and the only thing is i shouldn't have sent pictures as he's not in my school. that's it. so no, i don't feel any regret.

also i didn't have to leave ANYTHING tbh. i think dad understands that, according to him (i think) i was ABOUT TO get on the wrong track but they came in just at the right time to stop me lol. that's why i don't think he thinks that i've done any other shit.

but let's talk about mom now 💀☕

she's thinking i've done some huge ass cyber crime by just talking to boys and i'm the most evil spoiled kid to ever exist and i haven't fixed myself after that incident. and that my whole life is gonna be ruined and blah blah blah what not 💀☕

like WHA- bro even my lil brother who is probably the most annoying kid on the planet in my opinion ALSO KNOWS THAT I AM FUCKING NICE NOW. i'm also the fav of two teachers and liked by other teachers (except that nurjahan shit, she's got personal problems with me cuz of my beauty 💅)

look. my life is ABSOLUTELY FINE. i just need to become a topper again. that's what's left. nothing else 🤷‍♀️

i have a job, i am pretty, i am popular, i am liked and on top of all, i'm charming and i am the CHARMER.

now if i become a topper again, then my life will be almost back on track. then my goal would be to be one of the toppers in Dhaka BOARD. although i know they won't be satisfied anyways but idc anymore. i'll just do what i'm satisfied with.

and i am definitely NOT satisfied with the results i've been getting, like bro wtf is this?

i can't just FAIL. i was THE topper once. now i've lost my ranking since class 9.

i have to make history now to be THE SENSATION.

EVERYONE will see me achieving EVERYTHING in life. i'll have a nice job, a good income, a great life, the best life partner 💅

like i'll show u guys what i'm worth bitches. anyone who underestimated me is gonna REGRET.

tomorrow is my exam, so if i didn't write all this and didn't vent out, i would be fucking hyperventilating starting from now till the day i get exam results 💀

now it feels lighter, at least i know my thoughts are expressed, maybe not to someone, but to a diary. to just write how i feel. because i have no one to talk to now. but that doesn't make me sad cuz i'm an introvert 🗿🗿🗿

i should start studying now, i got a ton to study. it's bengali exam anyways.

bai bai ^_^

---

i've been overhydrating for like 2 year now, and i think now the symptoms are finally noticeable to me and is actually affecting me, according to my weight i'm only supposed to drink a liter everyday, where i drink a MINIMUM of 4 liters. this has been happening for like 2 years now and the symptoms were so light i never even noticed, nowadays i drink even more than 6 liters i think and i'm totally having headaches, high blood pressure and everything. now i really need to survive this or this is gonna end up VERY serious. my head is kinda spinning even when i'm writing this…

---

it's been like 6 hours and i still feel the same… so light-headed, dizzy and tired… tomorrow is my exam… is this really what had to happen today??? i haven't even started studying 😭😭😭

if i don't recover today, my exam will NOT go as planned and i can't get good marks 😭💔

please Allah do something… i actually feel really bad for not being able to study the day before exam…

let me start working… i have no other choice… i can't just lay around all day and night… but i need to recover fast too… i DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO

---

ok so it's 8 pm now and i'm totally fine, full of energy (thanks to ben and skz)

now i can finish my work happily and study!

---

i suddenly feel so empty, as if there's a void in me that just sucked everything.

tomorrow is my first model test, so i should be very nervous. but i am not. i should be studying. but i am not. i should be stressed. but i am not. i should be focusing. but i am not.

i'm procrastinating, and i know it's bad and will make me end up like before, but for some reason i still can't start… only 30 minutes left till 12 am and i got no shit done.

uhhhhhh what do i do now?

meh lemme just fresh up and speedrun the readings…

---

bad night

[faunastanza]

Shizukan's Test pt. 2

(part 1)

Prob says a memory was removed. She wonders why common would be connected to a CUT gesture. If you remember way back when, Mr. 5 had a knife that he could use to remove people from the story so, parallels.

The scene goes back to Beleth and the others at the convention. Shizukan looks irritated.

>Criticism is being presented. Accept / Deny?

Beleth starts talking as the prompt is accepted. They sarcastically say that dr. curse was totally asking for it except she wasn't, so Shizukan shouldn't have done that. Shizukan sulks about this, and Beleth says that dr. curse tricked her because she's stupid and still isn't considering Jupet. I'm done with Jupet tbh. I never cared for them in the first place and they felt inescapable back in the day. Their return is not one I'm enjoying.

Beleth commiserates with Shizukan, saying that they understand wanting to beat dr. curse up, but they didn't do it. Shizukan throws some threads around, and Beleth yells at her for acting on Beleth's feeling and blaming Beleth for it.

can someone push my eye back in

Beleth says that it wasn't just Jupet Shizukan wasn't considering again but someone else (not Beleth). They then ask if Shizukan thinks violence is funny and a joke, which is directly from Glip themselves as seen in Circlet of the Sun. Beleth's always been a mouthpiece of Glip's though. Beleth goes on to say that Shizukan got upset that Myandery thought she'd hurt Dead Air, but then she still does this? That's what this comic needs, high school drama and gossip.

"After you choke someone again?", Beleth says, and asks if Shizukan remembers. dr. curse abruptly gets up and says that if Shizukan thinks violence is okay, then control Stolas and make him kill himself right now or die. Again, this is about Sila in reality.

>dr. curse is probing "Beleth"; please list found KEYs in 5 turns or less, and no earlier than 3 hours from the time this message was posted. >Asynchronous.

We cut to that guy with the manhole hands, the Principal whose the most powerful angel ever ever, talking to someone named Gregoria, which creeps Prob out. Principal asks what the shortest route is to Hellside or to Althar. We then cut again to Mel the beecat and some weird spindly thing called Tempo.

i'm your fairy what-mother

This thing has some vague Andre-ish elements but honestly I'm not sure what it is or where it came from. Tempo says a problem is being deconstructed, saying that if you do not move perfectly, someone will die. Prob looks back at her terminal for prompts.

>dr. curse proposes HORTH 14TH to Shizukan. >Shizukan agrees. >Shizukan has until the end of HORTH 14th to work out a solution to the following: -Jupet dies. -Shizukan switches from KEY-20 to KEY-17. -an Entity is thrust from "Beleth". -"I HOPE HE DIES" -[Unknown] >dr. curse is counting the time. >Please state a gift to Shizukan and why in 5 turns or less.

Prob expresses disbelief that "the first race" takes place in only a single day. She wonders how Shizukan will tie this all together into one solution. She says this is when the timer started. She looks for the gift for Shizukan and finds that it involves the Prism.

The scene shifts AGAIN and we get a weird looking Shizukan saying she's going exploring and wondering "Do I exist without you?" with 1-7 near her. She thinks about wishes, it says, and she remembers the stars.

big star related? who knows

We get another prompt window.

>Shizukan is selecting participants. >Define participants in five turns or less. >Shizukan has traced the Chordincepts thread back to the first event. >Each event has been accounted for.

Prob expresses doubt at this. We get a shot of dr. curse looking up at Shizukan, Beleth, and one of those croissant headed Sample robots.

you came to the wrong neighborhood

Notably it's Beleth with the flower in their eye from Broken Toy. Prob speculates that the wishes are remembering Andre, then gets very excited. She taps on her terminal and a voice comes from down the hallway.

We then cut to the Art Pyramid outside the painting class where some pointy thing is sticking out the ceiling. Dude's name is String-Along and has a whole bunch of cables and strings over the ceiling. Endless parade of new pointless characters. String-Along says they got a packet of data that's very small but clearly indicates that something is wrong. They ask why someone is probing this and why they want to CUT.

String-Along looks into several potential outputs, gets annoyed, and pings several pieces of an angel on the Art Pyramid. The first one refuses to connect and gives back a map and a picture of Mel, who's marking out the path of bees. Someone pushes Mel to the ground, prompting them to wonder "why me? why now?"

>Shizukan is attempting to validate Mel's memory. Accept / Deny?

String-Along still seems confused and irritated by all this. The prompt is accepted and String-Along gets a whole bunch of ideas over the connection.

We get into black and white scribble territory as Mel recounts this encounter with Razca I think, although it's hard to make out with the scribbles.

we're playing twister

She says she's not scared of her, but is scared of what she's feeling and starts dissociating, as everyone does. She then says she lied and that she wasn't scared of her, but that doesn't mean she wasn't scared of herself. Razca says she likes Mel to her disbelief and she's freaked out by how this turns her on. She wants to have sex with her but freaks out about it and refuses to accept the thought. Razca says she wants her in her and Mel asks "in her heart?" like that Star Wars meme.

Mel does it but feels conflicted and is scared this might hurt their relationship or she'll disappoint her. She struggles with her feelings and says she feels disgusting, and she doesn't know why Razca wants to be with her subsequently. Razca says that this is often a couple activity in Zweitruity- Zwei. A couple activity in Zwei, like dating. Mel apologizes saying she didn't realize this.

Razca, awkwardly, says that sharing your thoughts and feelings is very intimate and she thought it'd be nice to do. Mel says something hurts but she doesn't know what, then says that sharing, touching, and liking things all hurt. Mel says she doesn't feel like she was meant to share things, just watch others, and that she doesn't know how to be this. Razca squeezes her and Mel says she's okay with Razca and not with herself, and being with her like this makes her very aware of herself.

all these scribbles here

So this means Razca "coiled" with both Mel and Stolas? Razca really gets around. Mel continues having her self-loathing crisis about how awful she is and how much all this hurts because she can't trust herself. She agonizes over her feelings some more and then we cut abruptly to Shizukan and Myandery. Did Razca and Mel RP out this whole weird sex scene in the discord? Awkward.

Shizukan and Myandery are watching something on a compact, and Myandery asks her if she likes it. Myandery pulls out a sheet of words and points at "like". Myandery thanks her and says that it's feeling emotional and liked her letter too, and that it felt like art to it.

Shizukan gives Myandery her word sheet. Myandery is touched by the gesture. Myandery says it got Shizukan a gift of some red ribbons since it reminds it of a dream it had about Shizukan and that the ribbons conduct spirit magic. Also because the ribbons would help Shizukan not be detectable as an angel.

you will be so kawaii

Shizukan, touched and teary, takes the ribbons. Myandery asks if she ever had gifts before, and she points to "for" and "see". Myandery guesses that means she only had presents to look at, but she shakes her head, and Myandery says it'll get more sheets for her. Myandery says its overjoyed in her company in a very similarly detached way as Deca did a while back, which makes me wonder if its another Pengo character. Myandery asks how she's feeling, and she points at happy.

We cut to Storgo (wherever that is) in Undertown where Shizukan is sitting with a needle and a tied up dr. curse in the background. The prompt window comes up again.

>Describe dr. curses's moves in 5 turns or less.

Shizukan looks over at dr. curse.

>What are the consequences of stabbing dr. curse? Describe in one turn only.

Shizukan goes over to her and holds the needle over her while dr. curse doesn't move. She doesn't seem to have any injuries though.

>Shizukan remembers the feeling of stabbing dr. curse. >There is a connection to Archibishop Razca in this memory.

Razca again! We get a shot of dr. curse saying a redacted paragraph with "There is a communication issue..." in the prompt box. We then get a shot of Jupet either tied up or under a blanket, it's hard to tell. "They pretend to be asleep, but it stops nothing" the narration says.

that better not be a double x

This is based off an incident in Glip's childhood with their dad, although from their account of it it did stop him. I don't think detail is necessary here. Sylvan doing something bad to Jupet has been alluded to before in suspicious terms, but it was never really confirmed to be sexual abuse. It still isn't but the implication/parallels here to sexual abuse is very clear.

Shizukan picks up dr. curse who just sort of dangles from their hand. They then put dr. curse under their... skirt? I'm not sure how to describe it, while redacted text leaves "Shizukan imitates living?"

There's then a shot of black and white Shizukan looking confused while dr. curse just lies there all dead-like.

are we back to vore again

We get a shot of Shizu, the original one, talking to Xenon, that sibling of Neon's with the giant headlamp. She says that if Sylvan ever did to Jupet what he did to her, then she'd kill him herself. Xenon asks how serious she is, saying that he's on a list of names to be exiled from Dewclaw, and that if she gets involved in trouble again, they'll start banning her in places. This is also based on a conversation Glip had with their mom about their dad. Again, I don't think any more detail is necessary here.

haven't seen shizu in a while

Shizu angrily says that if Xenon isn't going to help, then she should pretend that Shizu just said nothing. Some kind of creature looks aghast at this. I don't know who they are.

?????

We get a shot of Shizu saying a bunch of redacted paragraphs, great, and she finishes with "okay?". Xenon asks if that's a threat, and if she's threatening her. Shizu said it didn't sound like a threat to her, it sounded like a question. We cut to what might be the Principal and who might be Gaap saying "when is play allowed?". We then get a whole bunch off the prompt window.

>dr. curse has obtained removed KEY-20 moves. >Processing. >dr. curse is searching for removal options. >dr. curse is attempting a removal of Stolas. >dr. curse is attempting a removal of Andrealphus. >dr. curse has failed to remove Stolas. >dr. curse is searching for removal options. >dr. curse has found a point of entry. >dr. curse is currently observing points of connection between Shizukan and Myandery. >dr. curse is searching for removal options. >dr. curse is attempting to disconnect Shizukan and Myandery. >dr. curse is attempting to disconnect Shizukan and Myandery from TALwire. >dr. curse is connecting to River.

We get a shot of River with an infodump. If this is River talking then they sound a lot more sedate than they have before.

river flung himself in front of your monitor

TALwire apparently talked about how KEY-20 can truncate information when they think it won't be noticed. River says that this is what [] does and so do lots of other people who hurt him, and that's what he's playing against in his game, and he felt it here, with you, where [] gave lots of information on []'s feelings and reasoning and you zoomed in "to the paint" having caused an issue. Gaap apparently viewed [] as an issue without explaining why to River and others or considering their feelings. He feels like something bad and harmful is going to happen if you truncate here.

We get a shot of adult Stolas and River walking. Stolas asks what River wants to do, and he says that he wants to go see Mesund in the cells and ask it not to kill Roda, whoever that is. Stolas asks if River doesn't want Roda killed, and River's response is redacted. Stolas asks why River feels like he has to do anything at all, and River's response is redacted. Stolas asks what River is imparting if they're acting out of a sense of obligation, and if that's what care is. River's response is, again, redacted.

Stolas asks if River thinks that if he doesn't talk to the angel now, something bad will happen later. River's answer takes up half the screen but it's all redacted. What's the point!

charlie brown teacher noises

River goes down to talk to Mesund who looks like some kind of weird monster now. Didn't Mesund turn into Phesund in the Art Pyramid...? What is going on? Anyway, River asks if Mesund has the intent to kill, which puzzles Mesund.

just a big jumble of parts

We go back to the prompt window again.

>dr. curse has failed to disconnect Shizukan and Myandery. >dr. curse is swapping Shizukan's KEY-20 for KEY-38. >dr. curse is attempting to remove Shizukan's KEY-24. >dr. curse is attempting to disconnect Shizukan and Shizu. >dr. curse cuts Myandery and Shizukan's connection.

We get a shot of Shizukan's head sort of melting while Beleth looks confused and horrified.

is that euphobia's head again We then get a whole bunch more text as dr. curse continues trying to hack the mainframe. I'm just going to post it as an image.

i'm in

It's mostly a bunch of impenetrable jargon again. Shizukan refuses to connect, then tries to connect to Stolas to store data in him (presumably). dr. curse's cut has erased Myandery from Shizukan's memory (referring to them as "node subgraphs") and now Shizukan can't use Myandery to traverse connections. Apparently there is a KEY-38 infection in Shizukan and Myandery's connection.

Looking closer at it, the infection is a composite and allowed Shizukan to travel to Myandery via the VOID in Stolas... I think. VOID used to traverse in Stolas gets converted to CLEAR structures. dr. curse looks into the nature [] and gets nothing. Shizukan's new mouth head vomits black stuff on the floor. Can't go a VN without vomiting! She seems to have Andre's wand.

>dr. curse observes the following about ENTITY SHIZUKAN attempting to connect to ENTITY STOLAS: -Connection is routed through KEY-38. -Connection is limited to information that carries a high probability (greater than the estimate of 90%) of degrading upon observing. >dr. curse observes the following about the nature of traversing connections that are not recognized: CODE 322 and CODE 413 received.

We go back to Storgo Undertown where Shizukan is holding what appears to be dr. curse's dead body.

>Shizukan has found a backdoor through the Bibliotechnician. >KEY-13 is validated. >Shizukan has obtained a move from Arcus.

That weird looking kiwiface from the World Egg comes back, saying that in the Clearing Tree, their word is the only word that matters.

what IS kiwiface

An eye on a stalk comes down that looks a bit like MALwire, saying that they wanted to let a desire of yours influence the world, but if you aren't ready for it that's okay. There's a real throwback as we get a mention of MALwire again, saying they've connected to Rule 7 of the Mask of the World: If something happens to me, something happens to you.

The shot of Shizukan holding dr. curse gets weird and turns into the version with the head mouth that was vomiting a bit ago.

>Shizukan is applying KEY-38 to dr. curse. >Shizukan is swapping KEY-20 for KEY-38 in dr. curse.

All this key swapping, a real key party am I right? Anyway, weird headface Shizukan says mine as she presses dr. curse into herself, starting to absorb her. We get a sudden cut to Stolas and River and shockingly, River seems to have his hat off.

probably the inevitable conclusion

River says he wishes he could get away from Stolas without getting hurt for it, saying Stolas would put him in his halo or lock him in the dungeon like with Shizukan and Mesund, respectively. Stolas says he wouldn't do that and he'd just put River back in his hand. Stolas here appears to be a full dragon adult like when he was with TALwire, so things aren't really going well for anyone here.

We get another shot of Shizukan eating dr. curse which definitely seems fetishistic. Goop and eating show up a lot in this comic and the scenes go on for a suspiciously long time.

those pigtails, weren't those on the skin shizukan shed before when she lost her collar?

Shizukan keeps on eating dr. curse and getting fat for a while before Beleth eventually screams at wtf are you doing at her. How long were they just sitting there watching before saying something? Shizukan gurgles something, being occupied with vore. Beleth says that Shizukan has no idea how that'll affect her, and says they wish Shizukan cared about anyone or anything at all while she looks ashamed. It's kind of funny on her weird goop form.

me sowwy

Back to String-Along, it says the connection is cut. "Just when it was getting good and just when I almost got it!" they say. I hear you buddy. String-Along starts looking around through the Art Pyramid, finds TAL and runs her coordinates through a KEY. It succeeds and manages to trace a path into TALwire and Stolas, and starts to retrieve the Chordincepts data from TALwire. That's the key! it crows.

We then get a whole ton of unattributed text of people (Chordincepts) talking. They're mostly gossiping about angels and how they're not trustworthy and should all be killed, worrying about spies, and speculating about whether or not Razca is a sympathizer or even an angel herself. As String-Along listens it says it gets maps of their soul signatures and KEYs.

After a while, it comes across another vulnerability of TALwire's. Before we can find out what we get more gossip. They point out the weird popped out eye of Beleth's speculating if that means they fell or got parasitized or something. There's more gossip about the angel menace and who's consorting with angels and such, with one person saying that they were selling angels on the black market.

it's a very opinionated infection

String-Along says it's there too, "organizing key concepts", and that this is all a lot to route. The voices continue gossiping, worrying about Stolas being corrupted and how he needs to get out of there and Arcus spies. The conversation turns to Teslic Yard, with someone saying it's filled with Arcus plants, sending out fake news that Dewclaw is better. Another says they've been suspicious about Teslic Yard for a while, saying that Rooibos had broadcasted about it months ago before communications went down. The broadcast was apparently about how Teslic Yard housed an angel that killed a kid. After giving the broadcast, Rooibos disappeared.

Talk continues about how angels must die, and then someone says it's a conspiracy by Arcusian spies to spread misinformation, and the real culprit behind all of this is the Witches Guild. Witches seem to get a lot more sympathy than angels as people are skeptical. Someone says they saw Razca with a Teslic Yard vehicle in Flower, which was mentioned by Myandery earlier, which makes people even more skeptical of her loyalties. Someone says she's nothing like her father. Talk continues about how evil and sneaky angels are. Some of them wonder if this is the end of the world.

Mention is made of Baphomet's attempts to destroy the source of angels to no avail. Someone tries to change the subject by mentioning a book about a foxbat they liked, although they say the series falls off later on. This is surely a reference to something but I'll be damned if I know what. Paranoia and anxiety ramp up, with someone saying the run a support group for people scared of angels in Althar and invites them to join. Then CONNECTION CUT.

String-Along says it finally pinches the Chordincepts and strangles the signal. ENOUGH OF THAT and it gets to work on its test. THE END. Good luck figuring out what any of that was about.

[phoenixyfriend]

Fake Sith TCW Trio

I have another fucked up time-travel AU! Who’s surprised? (Nobody.)

So like. Have you guys read that one fic where Luke and his students go back in time and pretend to be Sith Lords and are super hammy about it? (Sith Lord Swell by AMournfulHowlInTheNight)

This AU has contributions by @atagotiak, @the-lunar-system, @purronronner, @gelpenss, @creepingthroughthistidalwave, and @thisarenotarealblog.

I want TCW trio (plus Rex and Cody) to go back to several years pre-TPM and, since the Council DEFINITELY won't believe them about the Sith being back... they'll force the issue.

Anakin is weirdly excited about things and building up their backstory.

Anakin: Okay so I can definitely be a Maul type, with the unhinged ranting and manic laughter, Obi-Wan can be the whole Refined Rich Guy type like Dooku, where you can't even tell he's evil until he starts talking about getting out the eyeball scoops, maybe toss in a bit of mad science stuff? Ahsoka could play up like Ventress OR, oh oh, she can be the Light Side Child we need to PROTECT who's publicly begging us to return to the Light after our big dramatic Falls where we murdered like eighty people to save her, and-- Obi-Wan: Why are you never this enthusiastic about actual undercover missions. Ahsoka: Did you just have all this ready to go, or...? Anakin: WE COULD GET YELLOW CONTACT LENSES FOR ME.

Obi-Wan: How's my evil laugh?

Anakin going “Okay.. so if any of us need to murder someone to sell the bit it should be me, I think I could handle it the best. Why? No reason.”

Obi-Wan: I'm not sure a complete Fall could come from protecting Ahsoka, really-- Anakin: No, no, it could.

Obi-Wan: Surely you’d hold back because you realize neither of us want that for you. Anakin: Uh. Sure. Definitely.

Obi-Wan points out that none of them can channel the dark side to Prove they're Sith and Anakin just goes "Okay, give me like two seconds to stew in my negativity and--right, you can stop staring in horror, please."

Anakin rambles on that they can TOTALLY make the galaxy a better place while playing at being Sith! He's got a whole LIST of slave empires to "take over" and disassemble!

Anakin has a whole excited spiel about how EVIL soldiers and assistants are minions, in this case partly because Cody and Rex are too good at what they do to be mooks. Cody could pull off evil minion very well. Facial scar? Looks good in black? Quietly competent and sarcastic?

He also pushes for Obi-Wan to lounge in a fancy throne with a glass of wine while Anakin stalks the shadows and Ahsoka hangs out on the window ledge. The disaster lineage is dramatic, okay, Anakin’s just leaning into it, he’d appreciate it if everyone stopped looking at him like that.

Qui-Gon, surprisingly, ends up a skeptic about all of this. Everyone is freaking out about the Sith and he’s like “y’know I’m not even sure they’re darksiders.”

Some Jedi, possibly Qui-Gon for his conspiracy board, gets in a real risky situation and one of the Fake Sith saves them, but also panics and kinda drops character for a bit.

Jedi: You saved me! Why’d you do that? Anakin: I uh... just wanted the pleasure of killing you myself?

"You saved me. Why?" "Mmmm. Jedi." [walks away]

Qui-Gon: [trying to figure out what is up with these people semi-competently (from his perspective) pretending to be Sith] Dooku: [trying to protect Qui-Gon from Sith influence]

The gang is the most successful at pretending to be Sith to Dooku. Sure, they’re not gonna punish him for something he hasn’t done, but it’s not hard to act menacing and angry around him.

(They really do have so much fun irritating the heck out of Dooku. He hasn’t Fallen yet, but they want to keep an eye out.)

At some point, future Obi-Wan definitely drops that little tidbit of "What, you didn't think the Banites were the only Sith running around did you? You... didn't even know about the Banites. How... disappointing."

They REGULARLY use Ahsoka as an excuse to be marginally less terrible. They claim that if Ahsoka pouts, they stop. ‘Soka also uses them as an excuse for why she’s a lil feral. (To be fair, that one is accurate. She was already a lil feral before but it’s not like they did anything to stop it.) Ahsoka gets her "breaking into people's offices" jollies by bugging Nute Gunray's office.

The Jedi keep trying to Rescue Ahsoka.

Rex and Cody end up in real beskar, there's a whole Thing with Mandalore and Jango and Satine.

Obi-Wan is CONSISTENTLY worried about Anakin Falling for real, which... hey, at least he knows to be worried about Anakin Falling. Step up from canon, really.

Anakin is WAY too into killing the Hutts but like. It does... technically sell the bit.

Obi-Wan: Sure, I’m not sad that they’re dead, especially because we’re not connected to the Republic, so we don’t need to worry about starting a war and all that. But. Anakin is disturbingly cheerful about this. Rex: Wasn't he a Hutt slave? Obi-Wan: Well yes, but-- Rex: I'd kill Nala Se if I could get away with it.

Cody and Rex are very supportive of Anakin's murderous intentions.

Obi-Wan does understand anger, even killing someone in anger. Like Maul (the first time at least) and D’nar and a few others. All the same, like... y’know. The level of bloodthirst from the others is a little off-putting.

At one point, Anakin accidentally addresses young Obi-Wan by name, despite never having met before, and to cover it up, he... panic-flirts. He panics, and so he flirts, with young Obi-Wan.

(He will later blame this on old Obi-Wan, because he had to pick up the habit of flirting with the enemy from somewhere.)

Anakin vaguely implies that he's a wee bit obsessed with young Obi, and that the padawan should "get used to being the target of a dark-sider's interests," because he’s scrambling for Ominous Shit and, well, future Obi-Wan was pretty frequently a fixation point for darksiders, right?

The second he gets out, he just starts screaming into a bucket while Rex pats him on the back.

For the next however many terrible months, possibly years, he has to keep up the act while having an ongoing meltdown about how That's My Dad As A Twenty-Something.

(It doesn't help that young Obi-Wan reflexively flirted back.)

Old Obi-Wan, meanwhile, is just very "you dug this hole yourself, padawan."

There is an argument at the beginning about Obi-Wan’s outfit. If he’s gonna be a Sith, he can’t just go around in beige, but he’s like “I like this and it’s comfy.” Sure, he’s changed clothes for undercover stuff, but that’s always been temporary, y’know? He likes his beige.

We have a number of options.

My first instinct? Beige linen three piece suit, like a southern lawyer. "Now I may just be a simple Outer Rim force adept--"

And, of course, you can TOTALLY make the beige sinister: he’s impersonating a Jedi! Jedi impersonation would also explain why nobody has a red saber.

“Sure is good that the Jedi don’t seem to realize most of the galaxy doesn’t know red sabers are different and bad.” “Shhhh, stop poking holes in our story where a Jedi might overhear.”

Like.... if you do enough doublethink, it works! How would a Sith hide? In plain sight. Also, it’s a GREAT way (if they were actually assholes) to try to slander the Jedi name.

(Anakin and Ahsoka still think he could stand to put a little more effort in. Add a splash of color, for pity's sake!)

Though tbh part of me is like “What if Old Obi wore, like... a split skirt suit...” Victorian womenswear inspired because he misses his robes, but he has to look Professional, and like he's MOCKING Jedi instead of BEING one, so he wears a vintage-y split skirt thing over his leggings. Ends up looking a lot like what Ventress had for a while, but Beige. I also keep wanting to put him regency menswear.

Anyway. Obi-Wan’s wardrobe aside...

Anakin builds up his Tatoo accent again. It helps him with the (mostly true) "slavery helped me fall" backstory.

Either Cody or Rex offhandedly mentions being made to serve them (the Fake Sith) and now the Jedi are somewhat concerned about brainwashing. Are these Mandos the victims here?

“No like. Literally made for this. In a lab.” This is even more horrifying. So...

On the one hand good! The Jedi should be scared about Sith! On the other hand... it makes the Jedi more determined to stop them, specifically. They keep on getting in the way, just, all the time, and they’re not investigating the actual Sith problem, which is decidedly not great since the Team doesn’t actually know who’s a real Sith right now, except Maul, and who even knows where that guy is.

Obi-Wan, at some point: Do you think we've succeeded at this ruse... a little TOO well? Anakin: I don't follow. Obi-Wan, gesturing at the truly obnoxious amount of wealth they've collected, including "trophies" of their kills: Really? Because I'm a little worried! Anakin, planning out a battle to take on Nar Shadda: ...I'm not.

"How many people do we realistically we need to take over Hutt Space? Apparently... five."

(Mostly because Anakin is ridiculously op.)

ANAKIN AND YOUNG OBI GET KIDNAPPED BY PIRATES TOGETHER. It's tradition.

Anakin: Okay, so, I need to get really angry about something to pass as a Sith... time to think about my WIFE and how I'll NEVER SEE HER AGAIN.

Since Anakin’s life never goes as planned... this does not work. Instead of getting properly angry, he makes himself sad. There are tears. There is wailing. There’s a distraught rant or two. Young Obi ends up awkwardly trying to comfort him.

“Oh no, this… Sith?? Is crying on me. What do I do???”

Later on, when the Council wants intel: "So... one of the Sith cried on me about his wife. I think she's dead? He wasn't very clear about it but it, uh... it sounded like it might have contributed to his Fall. Also the relationship was a little unhealthy? He basically worshiped the ground she walked on and kept ranting about how he would have given her the galaxy on a platinum platter of she'd only asked, but that might be new and inspired by the Dark."

One of the random Jedi is REALLY good at detecting the truth Through The Force, and asks Anakin how he Fell...

Anakin just. Tells the Tuskens story.

They don't get pinged as lying, but oh boy does old Obi have a LOT of questions for Anakin once they're in private.

There are other things happening to help sell the ruse. Some of them are necessary! Some of them are... not.

Obi-Wan: What's the best way to show we're rich and kind of evil, but like... classy about it? Anakin, immediately: I sit on the floor next to the throne, leaning against it, and you call me pet names while stroking my hair, and then when you need something killed I get to do it for you and then I go back to the floor and you thank me for the directed violence, and then you go back to Negotiations with criminals while I’m sitting there covered in blood. Obi-Wan: ...is there something you want to TELL us, or...?

"You're all going to get a glimpse of something normally kept hidden about me." "Anakin, you don't have to do that." "No, I'm gonna."

(Anakin has decided hes going to peel his kink tomato to sell this ruse, and the others are slightly uncomfortable with that.)

Anakin: Okay, I cannot keep flirting with you. Young Obi: Wait, what? But that's the best part of any time we run into you! Anakin: You look WAY too much like my Master did when I met him. Obi: O...kay? If someone looked like my master when HE was young, I'd-- Anakin: My Sith Master half-raised me. He's basically my dad. Obi: ... Anakin: What's that look for? Obi: I mean, you spend a lot of time lounging at his feet, and, like, given how much you hate slavery, I... kind of assumed it was a kink thing? Anakin, brightly: Oh no, I just have a LOT of trauma. And neuroses. Snips says they’re neuroses.

Young Obi is a little upset because he was actually getting REALLY into Flirting With The Enemy and was hoping it would go somewhere. He mopes to Qui-Gon about it. Qui-Gon isn't sure whether to be proud about Obi breaking rules, or worried over Obi-Wan falling for a Fake Sith.

(As Tia put it: "You enjoy making young Obi-Wan have a completely unrequited crush on Anakin, don’t you?")

Fortunately, one of those attractive Young Mando boys very kindly helped him tape up his ribs this one time, and has thus caught his eye...

I feel like having Cody date Young Obi would court an entirely different kind of (internet) drama because clone ages, but whatever.

Also please imagine an element of "so I'm dating the genetic identical of my boss... who's dating the man I'm a genetic identical of..."

(It's probably not actually Jangobi but man would that be funny and also stupid.)

Somehow Young Obi figures out that the "Sith Master" is a future him before he realizes that they're not actually dark. In his defense, Anakin was pretty convincing. Especially with the wife rant. It makes HIM more obsessed with Anakin, in a reversal of the implied earlier dynamic, which is all kinds of weird. Less romantic but like. Still weird.

"Future Me Scares Me" with Extra stupid. "Future Me Annoys Me." "Future Me acts like grandmaster Dooku, but more sass." "Future Me raised a really hot evil guy that refuses to bang Present Me." "Future Me might be a Sith, but I'm getting more and more convinced he's just fucking with us all." "Future Me is really rocking that beard, and I can't BELIEVE we figured out a way around the babyface."

"I’m kinda concerned about the whole evil thing, but I’m also glad that I know I’ll stay hot as I get older."

Quinlan approves of the priorities.

Also a lot of interactions with older Obi are very Anakin: [does/says something deeply unhinged] Obi-Wan: So, do you want to…. Talk about that? Maybe? Anakin: What’s there to talk about?? I’m fine, everything’s fine! Anyways how about those plans for tracking down Maul?

Anakin later, like way after the ruse is lifted, just blankly tells everyone that he did Fall, once, and Older Obi made him get therapy about it after the truth came out between the two of them a few months into the Fake Sith thing.

Where'd they find a therapist? I'm sure there's one SOMEWHERE around. Denon and Herdessa are close enough, and they've done enough "your criminal empire now belongs to me" that they can pay well. They make sure to find one that takes confidentiality real seriously.

It's all very "we need some more time to unpack all that."

Therapy helps get Anakin to figure out Sheev’s whole deal. They don't necessarily figure out he’s a Sith from it, but they figure out he’s sketchy and they need to look into that more. Obi-Wan probably already thought he was sketchy, but the whole active gaslighting campaign was a little surprising. They realize that he kinda benefited a lot from a lot of Sith plots and they still probably don’t think he’s a Sith but Obi-Wan is definitely starting to think he’s working with one.

"Okay, we're already bugging Gunray, should we bug Palpatine just to be safe?"

They get away with a lot of slicing because Anakin is a technical genius from twenty years in the future.

The reasons they're so good at Taking Over Hutt Space: 1. They know parts of the future. 2. They have superpowers and FAR less reason to not use them, now that their actions aren't going to reflect on the Republic. 3. They have Cody and Rex, who are two of the greatest military minds in the galaxy, and know EXACTLY how to wage a war that covers a solid third of the galaxy, starting from a position of relative weakness. 4. Anakin's charisma is scary high, and his knowledge of slave culture means they gain a lot of trust from the people they free, and they just... keep acquiring volunteers for the army they didn't plan to have. Obi-Wan doesn't know what to do. He thinks they might have started a cult?

In his defense, Dooku sort of started a cult, and Komari got kidnapped by a cult, brainwashed into joining it properly, and then took it over as head figure of said cult. It's practically tradition!

Comics Vader is the central figure of like three different cults, it was really just inevitable.

Anakin: Aw, don't worry master, it's not a cult, it's a revolution! Ahsoka: They're worshiping him, though. Anakin: ...it's still a revolution! Just... with some misunderstandings.

Also, if they got wind of people trying to keep people from being able to leave and other culty stuff like that, they’d probably put a stop to it pretty damn quick.

Names! Time for names. As per usual, it's easiest to keep track of Obi-Wan's alternate Older Self by just calling him Ben.

Darth Ben.

Ahsoka: You should be Darth Boring. Obi-Wan: I can still make you run laps, you know.

Anakin: The Force is telling me to call myself Darth Vader. Obi-Wan: ...why? Anakin: I dunno, but it sounds cool, I'll run with it.

Someone: Ben has all the answers; we shouldn’t question him, ever. Ben: One time I lost a planet, and a five-year-old found it for me.

More options: Going with the "evil word with the prefix 'in' chopped off" that we get with Sidious and Vader: Darth Surrectus (as in insurrection) Just random Latin words: Darth Temporus (time) Darth Commenticius (fake)

Anyway, back to Nonsense:

Maul goes after young Obi early, because the Fake Sith are really invested in this one random Padawan (Sidious is saying he might be a cousin of the false Sith Master? They do look similar enough) so someone needs to investigate. Naturally, Anakin shows up with some wild screeching to fight Maul, and when someone questions why he got involved it gets very "Kenobi is MINE!" and like. Okay. So.

Anakin means it in a very Sith "to toy with" and "to torture" way, or the ‘my chosen opponent!’ way, just the same kind of Obsession as Maul had with Obi-Wan in the original timeline. Unfortunately, Anakin’s a weird-ass person who flirts with Young Obi against his own better judgement, so there's some awkward "Like... your boyfriend?" from young Obi. Anakin just screeches in SOME emotion that nobody wants to interpret, and couldn't even if they wanted to, and starts whacking away at Maul again.

(Anakin hasn't explained the "you look exactly like my dad, sorry, it's just too weird" thing yet, and he is HAVING MANY REGRETS.)

There's definitely at least one instance where a person asks Anakin if he's planning on dating That One Jedi Twink, or at least banging out the tension. At that point in time, Anakin doesn't actually know who the fuck they're talking about, because "Obi-Wan + Twink = Does Not Compute" for dear, dense Ani, and instead he just ends up ranting about how he is LOYAL TO THE MEMORY OF HIS LATE WIFE, how DARE anyone so much as INSINUATE that he would TARNISH HER PERFECT MEMORY and UNWAVERING KINDNESS and WHOLESOME BEING, and the person who asked doesn't end up lightsabered but they do end up with a LOT to tell whoever they're reporting to.

Young Obi-Wan definitely hears Anakin mutter the phrase “something to discuss with my therapist later” a few times, and he’s a little bewildered because darksiders definitely don’t seem like the type of people to go to therapy. They’re the type of people to need therapy, sure, but not the type to go to therapy.

I think it would be very fun for Young Obi to continue sighing over Anakin (who's pretending to be fine with it and even flirting back because he's in too deep to stop and hasn't worked up the courage to explain the elephant in the room) while Anakin is covered in grease and infodumping while having a slightly manic hyperfocus on engine repairs while the two of them Somehow got stranded together in the middle of bumfuck nowhere (it's Plagueis's doing, he finds the interactions between THESE two in particular to be the most informative regarding the fake Sith).

Anakin, at some point while stranded with young Obi-Wan, and having actually started unpacking some stuff in therapy, though he’s def still got a ways to go: I’m pretty sure Ben cares about me. He acts like he cares, like he’ll do stuff like put extra blankets in my quarters in the spaceship because I get cold real easily or track down those droid parts I need for a project and he always has my back in a fight but y’know it’d be nice to hear him say he loves me once in a while. Especially because we kinda had a rough start and idk I don’t think he wanted me around at first.

And uh. Obi-Wan definitely relates to that a bit too much, y’know?

I want to say that Young Obi ends up mentioning All That to one of the clones or Ahsoka later, because they seem probably invested in Anakin's well-being, even if Ben is, well, a Sith, so Obi-Wan's a little worried the man's affection really is fake, but at least Ahsoka...

(Ironic, given what Anakin's actual eventual Sith would-be-Master was like.)

Young Obi mentions Anakin’s most recent rant to Ahsoka, and she just goes "Wait, is that why Skyguy likes to sit by the throne and get called pet names?" "Uh... I don't... know... but it sounds like all of you have a LOT to unpack there, Miss Apprentice."

Later on: "Master Kenobi, you need to tell Skyguy you love him 'cause apparently he's been having a lot of emotions about you not telling him you care and he's been talking to mini-you about it whenever they get stuck together and--"

Young Obi-Wan is just constantly the "Now we don't have time to unpack all of that" John Mulaney gif. Anakin in particular is a mess, and young Obi-Wan slowly goes from "I want to date that" to "I want to study that" about him.

Obi-Wan gets stuck somewhere with Ben, tries to small talk, gets on the topic of Vader, and spills the drama. He gets an awkward “Thank you for bringing that to my attention.”

It’s followed by a fairly frustrated “I try, but Anakin refuses to communicate his needs to me, and it feels like I’m always falling short.”

At least one member of the group is in therapy, probably all of them, but they’re still using young Obi as a sounding board for all this stuff. On the bright side, this is probably good for impressing the importance of good communication on Obi-Wan.

Good for Obi-Wan! And... whatever Padawan he eventually has.

As for baby Anakin, who is approximately age four, I want to go with "Anakin decides to be his own uncle, and Shmi just rolls with it because fuck it, she’s not a slave anymore, and a Fake Sith is a solid defense against anyone trying to re-enslave them."

[This is a backstory I've had them use before (see here and here).]

Seeing Big Ani and Little Ani in the same space might be what finally pings the "oh shit, that's future me" thing for Obi-Wan... you know, if he’s ever allowed close enough to see Little Ani in the first place.

Little Ani stays with the fake-Sith and is sorta jointly trained by all of them, and young Obi-Wan teaches little 'Soka at the Temple. Ani and 'Soka still end up friends somehow, but it is fairly different.

Every time little Ani addresses Old Obi as "Dad," it's just like ten kinds of awkward. The one time someone tried to explain that Ben wasn't his new dad, Shmi glared them down. She is of the opinion that, all the gods be damned, Ani deserves to refer to the most mature man in his life, who raised another him in another timeline already, as a father.

Ani doesn't NEED a father, Shmi herself is more than enough, but he does deserve to have this if he wants it.

An alternative conclusion to the time travel is uh. So the Mandalorians are genetically identical (give or take a hair gene) and really resemble Jango Fett, though whether anyone notices that is up in the air. Then the three ‘Sith’ (two fake Sith and their morality chain tag-along) have three younger, identical copies show up….

It could be really weird cloning shenanigans. Now, it makes no sense that they’d make clones, and stagger their production like that, and leave them as babies on various planets for Jedi to find. IDK what reasons Obi-Wan would come up with for that, but it’s a fun little detour before he gets to time travel.

There's a really painful moment (for the audience, who know about canon Vader) where someone tries to convince Ahsoka to leave the Sith and she's just like "no way, they'd never hurt me!” Then she clarifies that “someone has to keep them from doing stupid Sith shit whenever they get bored, you know?"

A bunch of Jedi probably think she’s delusional, but the few that have seen her get into trouble that is legitimately too much for her, which isn't often, have then seen Anakin show up like the devil himself to save her, and it's like. Oh. This is why she isn't scared of them hurting her.

We’ve discussed how Anakin does get concerningly in character with the fake Sith thing. However, Anakin and Ahsoka are, just once in a while, surprised by how Ben gets sometimes when playing the bad guy.

After all, he stabbed a dude with a fork and threatened to eat him during his time as Hardeen…

He has the same dramatic streak as all the rest of the lineage. He can be vindictive and creepy and scary as fuck.

HOWEVER:

Obi-Wan: I know I'm supposed to be playing at evil right now, but how do we feel about me making that evil a little... fruity? Ahsoka: Fruity, master? Anakin, who knows where this is going: [buries face in hands] Obi-Wan: You know, the... [limp wrist] Ahsoka: ... Obi-Wan: I mean, I'm already bisexual and well-groomed, I can play it up.

What’s the point of being evil if you can’t be flamboyant?

Anyway, I had to put in a lot of thought for what to do with Rex and Cody, because there's a solid place for them in terms of strategy, but it doesn't do much to give them independent narrative arcs, and 'young Obi-Wan has a crush' isn't much of an arc, you know?

So, basic info first: Cody, Rex, and Anakin all hold the rank of General in this AU because, like... who else is gonna. Ahsoka remains a commander because everyone declares her Baby, and also to keep up the "I'm a morality chain" ruse.

Cody maintains a very stern and unyielding public persona, but the second they're behind closed doors, he's roughhousing with his little brother.

Rex has some fun pretending to be a sadist whenever he and Anakin have to team up, because hamming it up as an evil bastard in front of Jedi is actually really fun... but usually, he's a competent fucking professional.

Because here's the thing: someone has to be.

They both kind of hate the army they've gotten, because these people don't even have proper trigger discipline, let alone any actual discipline.

This army? Tragic. They hate it. Give them the clones.

They have to be drill sergeants for months before they have anything worth sending onto the field.

I think that might be how/when they end up reaching out to Jango. Like, the first inroad is absolutely "we're your clones from the future and you were a Shit Dad so you owe us," but then they actually talk him around into letting the Fake Sith hire him. He brings along all the Mandalorians he can get to answer his calls, and on suggestion from Those Mando Twins, joins the army Ben doesn't even want.

Darth Boring doesn't want an army! Unfortunately, Cody thinks that's stupid as hell, and is overruling Ben so they can actually work on this 'cleaning up the galaxy of slavery' thing with actual resources.

Cody and Rex are super competent, and it shows in their horrified disdain for the state of their troops.

Rex: Fucking natborns. Anyone who isn't in the know: What's a natborn? Rex: [leaves without answering] People: WHAT'S A NATBORN???

(I'm assuming that the word smush is harder to parse in Basic.)

I think young Obi-Wan's new crush on Cody should also be unrequited. Cody's just like... bemused. Very "Okay, then, that sure is an Affection you've decided on."

Cody and Anakin both: Sorry, it’d just be too weird. Obi-Wan: Why would it be too weird? Cody and Anakin: Reasons.

Rex has to deal with the "whyyyyy" from both his brother and his (former?) General.

Young Obi-Wan just likes cute boys that fight good! Is that so wrong???

Ahsoka: So since we're not officially Jedi anymore-- Obi-Wan: We're still Je-- Ahsoka: Can we date? Can I date now? I want to date someone before we go back to the Code. It's a classic life experience for most teenage girls, and I want to Have That Experience before we're back at the Temple. Obi-Wan: You're not... you can date, Ahsoka, that's not actually banned by the Code. I mean, you'd have to keep it casual, but-- Ahsoka: I CAN DATE!!!

(Great priorities, Ahsoka.)

An idea I'm toying with is that one of the clones ends up Legally Engaged to Satine for political reasons, and young Obi-Wan is just like ???? because not only can he not date the hot boys, but one of said hot boys has become Mr. Steal Yo Girl.

Young Obi-Wan is suffering, and Quinlan is the worst friend ever because Quinlan is laughing at him.

There is obviously the question of

"How would Satine ever end up agreeing to that, given what their public personas are like and all that? She puts duty ahead of personal feelings but all indications are that it’s a terrible decision both ways." (as stated by Tia)

Which, yes, I forgot to actually say that I was imagining Jango had declared "those twins" his heirs after telling people they were his younger* cousins. Because reasons.

* Jango is about 27 when they land in the past, and I’m going to say the accelerated aging ended after hitting physically twenty because no, I don’t want to deal with that. As far as anyone knows, Cody and Rex are about five years younger than Jango. They’re less than year apart, which isn’t very visible, and most people assume they’re identical twins (except Rex’s hair), and that Cody just looks slightly older because of the scar.

Darth Boring had convinced Satine that the way to keeping Mandalore peaceful was to work with Jango (because Darth Boring, which is not his actual title but it is what Ahsoka insists on calling him in private, has a vested interest in keeping Mandalore and all interested parties calm), and he... maybe accidentally set up a political marriage between her and one of the clones.

It wasn't on purpose! Satine never married in his timeline, okay, he didn't expect her to ever get married here, either! He didn't even suggest it! This just happened!

(I want to say that Cody would be more competent at having a political marriage? But IDK.)

Do I do the Satine thing? It has potential, but also it's a bit of a cop-out. Do I have Cody be a diplomatic representative for their pseudo-Sith empire? He could be, but I think he'd hate it. Do I have Rex date one the Chaos Entities (Anakin or Ahsoka), or is that too repetitive with my other works? THERE'S JUST TOO MUCH GOING ON.

Part of me wants Quinlan to get a crush on Cody, and the crush gets bigger specifically in response to the fact that Cody refuses to take him seriously and/or just doesn't give him the time of day.

Based on their one interaction in TCW, they probably let get along ok. Cody maybe likes him back, buuuuuuut internally he's just a little "you were tolerable at almost-forty; early twenties you is obnoxious."

Just imagine the absolutely puppyish attempts at gaining approval and Impressing The Hot Mando General. Quinlan keeps having vague daydreams of seducing someone to the side of the Light. He really leans into the bodice ripper fantasies of saving someone evil with the power of love! (And also the power of really good sex.)

Bant looks at Quin and Obi and wants to throw them both into the nearest pond because they're idiots, but on this topic they are the same flavor of idiot. She considers calling up Reeft and Garen to help her knock some sense into them.

Quinlan: Can I volunteer to go undercover to the Sith? The Council: No. Quinlan: ...what if I-- The Council: No.

Tholme tries to get Qui-Gon to commiserate over their Padawans getting obsessed with Hot Sith Boys, but Qui-Gon just finds the whole thing funny. He knows from the chats he has with Ben that Anakin feels so completely, utterly, incredibly awkward about all of this.

(Ben continues to hold to "Anakin brought this on himself.")

(Ben also “kidnaps” Qui-Gon a lot.)

Also, hey, at least Quinlan isn’t actually into hot Sith boys! He’s into hot Sith minions which is... probably a step up. At least Cody’s not a Sith himself!

It's a step in some direction but Tholme has no idea which one.

(Quinlan sees Cody in dress uniform once and just keeps the mental image for Ages. It’s in his dreams. Sometimes said dreams overflow to Tholme via Force Mind Magic and Quinlan wakes up to someone smacking his face with a pillow.)

Arguably, Quin's also a lot more romantic about his crush than Obi-Wan is, in this case. Quinlan: I want to save him... Obi-Wan: Hey, hey, cute boy. Look at me. Let’s bang.

Cody: There are currently two future Jedi generals having some form of absurd romantic fixation in my direction. I don't know how to feel about this. Rex: Bed them. Cody: ...I'm not saying that's not eventually an option, but one of them is the younger Kenobi, and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that. Rex: Pat him on the head like a tooka and then bed his friend, it'll be funny.

I think the Quinlan thing and also general exasperation of leading an absolutely useless army can function pretty solidly as the basis for Cody, but I have another idea for Rex now.

Komari is currently brainwashed in a cult, yes? So.

I keep bouncing around back and forth on what to do with Rex, but part of me suddenly really likes the idea of, after Team Fake Sith finds and dissolves the cult (as one does), and takes Komari into custody (because she's dangerous and deeply unwell), Rex kind of ends up her touchstone to being a decent person. He’s not a morality chain, and it’s not really a redeemed-through-love thing, just This Is A Solid Dude who doesn't pity her or thinks she's irredeemable (however you choose to define such a thing), but actually relates to the kind of conditions living like that can involve, and just kind of...

I don’t know. I think Rex's arc in this AU could be very heavily grounded in something to the effect of "You're not the worst darksider I've met. You're not the only person who was in a cult. You're not even the only former Jedi I know that's committed awful, horrible crimes. My question is just this: What are you going to do moving forward?"

Later Anakin: Wait, who do we know that was in a cult? Rex: What did you think Kamino was?

(Rex isn't as chill as he'd like her to think, but he's trying, and she's fairly reliant on the Force to understand emotions, and is currently in nullifying cuffs, so he can bluff.)

Komari needs someone solid and dependable to rely on for at least conversation, and I think Rex needs to feel needed.

I’m not sure if it’d be romance or friendship, but I think there's a solid basis to work with, potentially.

Per Tia:

One thing about Rex and shipping is like. If you want to do Rexwalker again that's fine, but if you're worried about repetitiveness but still want to like. Ship him in a non-political-convenience way. Rexsoka here actually would be different than your other stuff.

I'm trying to figure out if I can make it work because Ahsoka thematically fits very much into a little sister shaped hole here? She feels younger than in other works, despite not actually being younger than she is in, say, Commander Buir. In those other fics, she has some time alone to function and prove herself independently of Anakin and Obi-Wan.

I usually pluck Ahsoka out at sixteen if I'm pulling her from TCW, so she's got most of her competence but hasn't gotten quite all the trauma yet. Commander Buir, in particular, also has baby-shaped Anakin for contrast.

That said, I can see a decent source of narrative conflict in her wanting to experiment with romance and all that, and Anakin trying to tell her she's too young.

A year into this whole time-travel mess, she wants to give the dating thing a shot, and it spirals into "You were only two years older than me when you got married!"

I think I could build a plot out of Ahsoka wanting to do these things, and Anakin as an audience insert not quite processing that she's old enough to make these decisions. If she's choosing to date Rex, whose age works out as being close to hers when one takes into account Kamino fuckery, and whom she trusts absolutely, it’s arguably extra weird for Anakin to be upset with it.

"Senator Amidala was five years older than you, and you married her when you were nineteen and had only really known her for a week! I can go on a date with a guy we both know is one of the most trustworthy people alive if I want, Skyguy!"

I can definitely see Ahsoka getting annoyed with Anakin being overbearing and controlling at some point before that unrelated to romance, too. It’s not exactly a new fault of his.

My god, just imagine someone snidely asking Anakin "where's your little shadow?" and Anakin, being Himself and also a Fake Sith, has an emotional breakdown about how Ahsoka yelled at him for micromanaging her and not trusting her to make her own decisions in life and so she got herself a multi-month solo mission from Ben that Anakin isn't allowed to know any details about, and--

It's another one of those "oh, you have PROBLEMS problems with your mental health" incidents for the Jedi to add to the file, because Anakin having emotionally charged rants about his issues at seemingly terrible times is how they get a lot of information.

Some of the rants are planned.

Many of them, actually.

They want the Jedi to know these things.

Just, well. Anakin.

He really is a little Like That.

On that note, I'm low-key imagining that Anakin gets put on mood stabilizers by the therapist in this context, and he's doing good! He's handling his issues! He's--been captured with Obi-Wan the Younger again and his medication was confiscated.

Anakin is... not great. He's a little out of practice managing his unmedicated self, and when adding withdrawal symptoms onto that... poor Anakin.

(Poor Obi-Wan.)

I think it would be best if Anakin makes a bunch of ominous blustery comments at their captors about how they won't like what's coming to them if they take his belongings (AKA the fanny pack that has his backup pills), and then Obi-Wan just gets to watch Anakin get more and more erratic, because like. Yes, Anakin is using the Force to compensate, but unfortunately he's mostly cut off, and the stress of the situation is pushing him away from depression and into the beginnings of a manic episode.

Anakin is aware of his issues to the point where he's mostly managing, and he keeps asking Obi-Wan "would it make sense for me to [slightly deranged, very impulsive action]," and Obi-Wan realizes he's being the morality sounding board for the Hot Sith because ??? reasons?????

Eventually, Anakin does flop back in bed and dramatically throws his arm over his eyes, and says he needs his meds back, he's absolutely going to lose it, and Obi-Wan tentatively asks what kind of medication. There are levels to worry about. Mild allergy medication is one thing, but heart medication that needs to be taken every four hours is another, you know? He wants to know how much panic is appropriate.

Anakin lets him know that it's Psychiatric In Nature. Obi-Wan suddenly realizes that he really, really, really doesn't want to know what a properly erratic, unmedicated Anakin is like.

(An unmedicated Anakin really isn't nearly as bad as Obi-Wan fears. Anakin's been dealing with this for a while, and knows what his issues are and some of how to deal with them. He'd need to be running on no sleep and higher levels of stress, or to have been drugged with something meant to increase his aggression, to really lose his shit and do something worthy of Vader. RotS levels of stress and sleep deprivation is required to pull RotS levels of manic paranoid delusion.)

Tia asked:

How long does it take the Jedi in general to catch on to how like. They have opportunities. But these Sith never seem to harm any Jedi. And it’s not just like, the past timeline parts of the disaster lineage. They probably get opportunities to hurt other Jedi. Ones that are less skilled at saber work. And more importantly ones that they don’t seem weirdly interested in."

I'm not sure, really. The Jedi don't spend as much time in the Outer Rim as they could, and that's where the Team operates, so actually running into them by accident is unlikely for anyone other than Shadows.

Fortunately, it's really easy to toy with Shadows with the excuse of "I want to see how long it takes before you Fall with us."

I do want like... okay. Here’s the mental image:

Qui-Gon calls them out on being Fake Sith pretty quickly, so Ben just sort of eyes him, dramatically, and orders out "Leave us" to all non-team people. The threat of torture is implied but not stated. He gestures with wine to keep in character. He definitely makes sure Young Obi-Wan is ushered out, so it's just five time travelers, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Ahsoka's immortal force birb.

"...so, what's the reason for the farce, Obi-Wan?" "How in all the hells did you figure it out so quickly?"

(Qui-Gon cheated a bit. He could feel the broken training bond that was never properly severed due to Traumatic Death Of A Master on Ben's end)

Ben didn't realize he'd feel it! Young Obi-Wan can't feel his older self or a training bond with Anakin or Ahsoka, so why could Qui-Gon?

IDK if there would be anything on the level of crying and hugging it out, but I think it would be very funny if, every time young Obi and Anakin are getting captured by pirates or something, Ben and Qui-Gon are just having a nice afternoon tea and checking their watches to see if their respective walking bundles of neuroses are done with their adventure yet.

The Council is So Done, because Qui-Gon continues to insist that they're Not That Bad, but every time anyone other than Qui-Gon brings up the friendship, Ben laughs and makes a comment about how absolutely gullible Master Jinn is.

Obi-Wan is skeptical of his own experiences with Anakin, at least, if only because he's skeptical about Anakin's everything.

"I don't know if Vader is telling me the truth. I don't know if he's telling himself the truth. I don't think he's a great source of information even when he thinks he's being honest."

Anakin could tell Obi-Wan the full and complete truth, and Obi-Wan would worriedly put a hand to his forehead and start doing tests for hallucinations and paranoid delusions. In his defense, this is a very reasonable assumption to make with an individual like Anakin. It's just also not accurate, this time. I don’t know if Anakin hallucinates in canon without a weird inciting incident like Force Nonsense or getting drugged by the enemy, but paranoid delusion is pretty much all of RotS.

"I’m your time-traveling padawan who’s pretending to be a Sith to catch some other Sith who’re going to start a galactic civil war and those Mandalorians you like are from a clone army based on a template of Jango Fett made to serve the Jedi (because that’s totally something he’d sign up for), and one of the Sith is your grandmaster but he doesn’t seem to have fallen yet, it’s probably fine," is hard to believe.

Honestly, even if he seemed stable before saying that, which he doesn’t, it’s all real far fetched. There's a lot going on and Obi-Wan wouldn't even begin to believe it without evidence.

I've had it in my head that he and Bant and Quinlan have been gossiping about the mess for months if not years about these idiots, and at one point it became common knowledge that Ben was a Kenobi, and Bant convinced them (since the two were among the most likely in the entire Order to encounter the Fake Sith) to get a DNA sample, probably hair or blood since that's easiest so they can figure out HOW these two are related, if they are, and then there's a whole big thing.

Bant: No, no, this must be contaminated, it's coming up as Obi-Wan! Are you sure you didn't accidentally grab some of your own hairs? I know it's a little long for most of your hair, but the braid-- Quinlan: Wait, they keep claiming stuff about cloning, right? Maybe someone's a clone? Check for artificial telomeres! Bant: ...okay, so, there aren't any artificial telomeres, but the ones from apparently-Ben are... a lot shorter... um... I don't know what to do with this. It's like I have two samples from the same person, twenty years apart. Quinlan: Obi-Wan, what's that face? Why are you-- Obi-Wan: Vader told me he was a time-traveler. I thought it was the fever talking, but...

That’s how he finds out that Ben is future-him before finding out about how he’s not evil!

"Master Jinn... I think... I think the Sith controlling the Outer Rim is me from the future." "Oh, you finally figured it out?" "I AM HAVING A CRISIS HERE."

Obi-Wan, after a few hours of dazed realization, runs screaming to Quinlan and Bant like 'GUYS GUYS THIS EXPLAINS WHY VADER KEPT SAYING IT WAS WEIRD AND THAT I LOOK LIKE HIS MASTER AND THAT IT WOULD BE LIKE DATING HIS DAD.'

You know, the important stuff.

I think Qui-Gon tells him that Ben isn't evil because, like, That Sure Is A Crisis Obi-Wan's Having. He could hold off for shits and giggles, sure, but Obi-Wan’s on the edge of something Really Concerning, mentally. Best help calm him down on at least one or two things.

Obi-Wan’s maybe still a little skeptical until he confronts them over it. Because their Sith act was real good and also like. Maybe Qui-Gon just wants to believe the best of his Padawan, y’know?

Quinlan runs into Ben before Obi-Wan does, after this whole mess, and gets to observe as money changes hands and people act like sore winners about bets made for When Does Obi-Wan Figure It Out.

Anakin was saying 'soon' because he really didn't think the fever-fueled rant would be discounted as easily as it was.

Cody was of the opinion that it would take at least a few more years since they're actually pretty damn good at this whole schtick.

Quinlan: Wow, he's... going to be really disappointed that you have such a low opinion of his intelligence. Cody, gesturing at Ben: Experience. Darth Ben: ಠ_ಠ

Cody just rattles off some of the Extremely Stupid Shit that Ben's done in their time working together.

Rex cheerily offers up "You didn't even realize General Skywalker was married, sir! And they weren't subtle!" "I knew they were together, I just didn--" "Everyone knew they were together, sir. Everyone."

(Rex had the lowest opinion of their deductive capabilities. He claims it would have taken until Baby Ahsoka showed up at the Jedi Temple.)

-Once Obi-Wan accepts that they're decent people after all- Obi-Wan: Wow, Anakin, you're real good at acting unhinged! Anakin: Haha. Yeah. Thanks?