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umbran6 · 3 years ago

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The Argument Against Caleo

Spoilers up to Blood of Olympus and beyond. Beware! (Or not, the book series has been out for a few years, get over it). I wrote this after seeing a user wondering why people didn’t like Caleo, or in some cases, hated it. Here, I want to explain the answer as much as possible while doling out my own points.

One of the main grievances I have as a fan of Leo Valdez would be the ship Caleo, or Leo x Calypso. It’s a complicated ship, to say the least, with multiple issues that make me question why people like the ship. And I admit it, they initially had some chemistry, but there’s multiple issues that Uncle Rick produced through making such a relationship that makes it extremely open to criticism, criticism which I will explain through this post.

One of my main points against them is that the ship was created on a very limited time scale. Although we aren’t given an exact date to date of when Leo and Calypso met to when they fell in love, we can safely estimate it to be a week at best. Such a limited amount of time from going through the multiple stages of a relationship already stresses the limits of the suspension of disbelief.

A counterexample would be Percabeth, or Percy x Annabeth. Throughout the series, we aren’t introduced to them being romantically involved until the Titan’s Curse, which was two years after they met. Specifically, this is brought up by Aphrodite, the goddess of love herself. Admittedly, Percy and Annabeth were twelve years old when they first met, when romance was definitely out of the picture, especially with a quest to get the Master Bolt.

However, from there we get to see multiple examples of their character depth, ranging from their respective fatal flaws to their ambitions, hopes and dreams, and their friendship. We get to see the slow build up of their chemistry, which was a really good writing move on Uncle Rick’s part. These characters took their sweet time to get to where they wanted to go, and despite the false romantic lead of Rachel, they still got together.

On the other hand, we don’t see enough of this between Leo and Calypso — we only see one book where they interacted with each other in The House of Hades, and that was only for a handful of chapters. While they are definitely older so they can jump straight to romance (some may say too old, but I’ll get to that) its still a pretty huge gap to jump through without making it stick. This makes it hard to root for a ship when it is built on a rather faulty foundation from the ‘they just met’ to ‘they get together’, especially when they don’t have a lot of events to show their chemistry.

Which brings me to Ogygia, which has raised a few red flags for me when looking at it from a retrospective point of view. Now, we know what the main issue of the island is that the hero who landed on said island can’t leave until Calypso falls in love with them. And we’ve seen this with Percy during the Battle of the Labyrinth, where he lands in the island and Calypso falls in love with him while tending to his wounds from, you know, being erupted from freaking Mt. St. Helens. Needless to say, this falling in love with each other montage happened quickly to the point of suspicion, which sets up the complication that Calypso and Leo might have fallen in love due to magical intervention.

And hear me out, because although this might be a pretty big pill to swallow, we have evidence for this through Percy. It only takes one chapter for Calypso and Percy to meet, and the next he’s willing to consider leaving Camp Half-Blood and Annabeth behind to live on the island when Hephaestus gives him the choice to leave Ogygia or stay. We don’t even get an explanation on why Percy considered giving it all up just so he can be with her. All we know is, girl meets boy, now they want to live on an isolated island forever. It’s especially absurd considering Percy’s hamartia (fatal flaw) is freaking loyalty to those he loves. Needless to say, It’s a huge YIKES, especially when we apply it to Leo and Calypso.

It also raises the possibility that the romantic relationship between them is doomed to failure. And if you guys want to fight me on this, let’s look at Jason and Piper, a couple whose relationship started with a similar foundation. Piper had romantic memories implanted into her brain by Hera through the use of the Mist, while Jason was reduced to a Tabula Rasa (a blank slate for those who lack culture) by said goddess. They broke up before the Trials of Apollo because it was clear that when the dust settled, Piper had been aware that their romance was a lie and that their intentions to stay together was a mix of delusion and pressure from freaking Aphrodite. Leo and Calypso get together under what is arguably a very similar set of conditions if Ogygia’s magic had any influence on their relationship, and that this magic could wear off if given enough time.

Third, and here’s a pretty big one for me, would be Calypso’s character, mainly because there are a lot of unfortunate implications attached to it. In The Blood of Olympus, she was turned into the divine equivalent of Princess Peach, with Leo being her Mario (except he saves her with a badass metal dragon). Its extremely unnecessary to make a character, especially as one such as Calypso, get turned into the typical reward of a B-Class action movie. It’s insulting and puts her up as a trophy, a narrative that is definitely not ok by any means necessary.

In another direction, Calypso is also really, really worrying when things don’t go get her way. First, let’s look at The Odyssey, the first myth she pops up. Calypso had imprisoned Odysseus for ten years on her island until Hermes said to let him go, and although it gives them plenty of time to fall in love, it also raises the implications of stockholm syndrome. Then we’ve got the fact that Calypso cursed Annabeth out of spite, implicitly saying that she wished the daughter of Athena would suffer the same isolation that she did, which came to reality when Percy and Annabeth met the Arai in Tartarus. And Annabeth wasn’t even aware that she was still in Ogygia, much less intentionally intervened in the matter. When Percy left Ogygia, rather than be angry at Percy, Calypso cursed Annabeth out of all people to suffer the same loneliness and misery she went through. That’s some Hera at her worst levels of spite.

Through such evidence we can see that Calypso is extremely wrathful towards those who break her heart even though they don’t want to. It certainly implies that Calypso isn’t in a good state of mind, and could easily repeat said actions if provoked. We could almost compare it to Medea and the original Jason, but at least in that case, Medea has every right to be pissed off at Jason and take her revenge. Calypso’s curse and how she handles things certainly implies a level of immaturity that would end in disaster if they broke up.

One issue that, I’ll admit is more from my personal point of view is that the ship took a lot of Leo’s character and threw it in the garbage in Blood of Olympus. Though we see him do a lot of stuff behind the scenes, the fact that its all for the goal of reaching Calypso just reduced him to someone who is more focused on love than, you know, fighting the evil goddess that was responsible for killing his mom and getting sweet sweet revenge. While the revenge plot can be cliched sometimes, it can be played well, while romance and the typical ‘always save the girl’ trope is just overdone. If Leo had been allowed to, you know, be more focused on other things rather than Calypso, we could have seen a lot more variety in his character.

For example as one of the possible character arcs he could’ve gone through, Leo has always been alone among the couples, often being isolated. Heck, Nemesis herself stated that he would always be the seventh wheel, and that he would never find a place among his brethren. Though some fellow tumblr users have taken this in multiple ways, either saying that he should learn to be happy by himself or that he is socially isolated in the Argo II because of these romantic relationships (I prefer a mix of both). Uncle Rick just giving him a girlfriend seems like taking the easy way out of solving such an issue and abandoning what could’ve been a rather interesting character arc. The relationship isn’t a bad thing if we remove some of the unfortunate implications, but it is a bad way to end what is a complex and realistic problem for a character and in some cases maybe possible in real life.

One more minor but still yikes worthy point is that there’s a huge age gap between them. We’re not talking about the ‘Hazel is 15 and Frank is 17 and in one year that’ll be a problem because then Hazel will be jailbait’ age gap. And even then, we can argue that Hazel is older since she is chronologically ninety-one years old. No, Calypso is older by millennia in terms of mindset and body due to the perks of being a goddess, while Leo is sixteen.

God-to-Mortal relationships are already complicated, even with emotionally and socially well-functioning adults. The fact that Leo is underage, inexperienced with romance (despite his flirting, Calypso was his first kiss), and has been through a freaking ton of trauma in his youth, does not make this okay. At best, they’re both mutually interested in each other but may have different expectations when it comes to a relationship. At worst, Calypso is taking advantage of a boy just so she can get out of Ogygia and possibly dumping him later on like the wrapping of a candy bar. Even though Calypso lost her immortality during The Trials of Apollo, that doesn’t even compensate for the immense age gap alongside Leo’s guilt at the possibility that he might’ve been responsible for her losing said immortality.

Oh, and about Leo... I’m a fan of him, but I can admit that he is in a bad spot both mentally and emotionally throughout the series. He’s lost his mom due to a mix of his own powers and Gaea’s trickery, and never had the chance to fully process that event and come to terms with it. The foster home system alongside his own trauma has forced him to hide his emotions through a façade of happiness and jokes when it’s quite clear to me he needs a therapist, stat. He's also run away from several foster homes, implying this means he was and still is being affected by the event. His mask is still on during The Blood of Olympus considering he hid a lot of things from Piper and Jason.

Speaking about them, not helping this matter is the fact that he’s rather isolated in terms of friendships since Jason and Piper, his supposed best friends are more interested in locking lip rather than, you know, actually hanging out with each other. He doesn’t have good friendships with the rest of the Seven, and the closest ones he does have is with Hazel and Frank. And even then they start off in the wrong spot since Frank is very insecure about possibly losing Hazel to him during Mark of Athena while Hazel in the meantime, is also dealing with the fact that he is the descendant of her possible boyfriend Sammy Valdez.

This could indirectly have made him desperate for affection since he has nobody else to confide in during the rest of the series, which is a bad mental state to be in when one lands on Ogygia, the island that we’ve seen could possibly force two people to fall in love with each other. A romantic relationship is not something that he needs or something that will help him in the future. He needs more than that, and having him in one that could end in disaster is the last thing he needs.

And that does not make him a bad person, much less a bad character. While some who are similarly emotionally and socially isolated may turn to violence or creepy behavior on those they want affection from, Leo does not do that to the other characters. It just means that he as a character needs more time to recover and develop before we go giving him romantic relationships, much less one with Calypso.

That’s not to say that they don’t have some things in common. Both are starved for love and affection, with Calypso being constantly rejected by heroes while Leo was rejected by foster homes and his own family. It’s a trait that they have in common, but it shouldn’t be the only thing that they have in common, especially since it is laced with a trauma that is clear they haven’t had help processing. They need to develop more as characters and as friends before they should be paired together.

So… yeah. The Caleo relationship is, in my eyes, doomed to failure, or at least heavily flawed after taking the above points into account. Uncle Rick, as if seemingly aware of these criticisms, has put the relationship in a rocky place by The Tower of Nero, giving them the possibility of overcoming the above criticisms and their own flaws, or giving fanfic writers an out and pairing Leo with another character or have him single, but happy. Either way, in my opinion Caleo is a bad ship when it comes to how it was created, alongside the flaws and unfortunate implications it has.

While I can see some of the chemistry the ship has, you can’t just use a couple of moments where they get along as evidence that they belong together, especially with the above reasons. That’s like using a band-aid to cover a bullet hole without removing the bullet, stopping the bleeding, and preventing infection. If both characters and their relationship had been given more time to develop, I would understand how they would get together.

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scripturiends · 4 years ago

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anchor up to me, love

Read on ao3

Summary: Prosecutor Jin forces an unexpected confession out of Joonhwi during Yeseul's trial.

Rating: T

Word count: 1226

Notes: I can’t tell you how many times I’ve received the same request over the course of two weeks. It seems like a lot of people really want a proper courtroom confession scene, so this is my best interpretation of it right now. I say ‘right now’ because ideally, I’d set aside a schedule to write this well, but given the inevitable time constraints in my life thanks to uni, I feel inclined to tell you all that as soon as I woke up, I wrote this on my Notes app in bed for one hour because that was all the free time I had. The idea came to me in a dream, so it just felt right to jot it all down at that very moment.

As usual, this fic is unedited so all mistakes are mine. Hope you enjoy!

"Who is it?" the prosecutor urged.

Han Joonhwi knows that Jin Hyeong-u would never let him off the hook if he didn't answer. That if the man on the opposing side of the courtroom didn't ask now, he'd just ask again later. So as much as he hated it, he’s stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Prosecutor Jin is cunning, Joonhwi will give him that. And after all that the law student has done to rile up this supposed well-meaning law enforcer in the past, it was pretty much inevitable. The man has him right where he wants him.

Joonhwi swallowed his pride. One deep breath, and then, "Kang Sol."

From the audience, he could see his long-haired brunette friend perk up, stealing a very long and very obvious glance at their black-haired classmate with the bob.

Of course she thinks it's B, Joonhwi thought. Always the selfless Kang Sol A. He made a mental note to make fun of her for it later, but not until —

"Which one?"

The dreaded follow-up question.

"There are two Kang Sols in your study group," the prosecutor started. "Yes or no?"

Joonhwi resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Yes."

"So which one is it? A or B?"

Prosecutor Jin's eyes were unyielding on Joonhwi's, so he knew this was a challenge. If he were doing this on his own, he'd be quick to respond. But after that mishap with Seungjae, he's learnt his lesson: never run your mouth mindlessly. That's how Prosecutor Jin gets you. That's how he wins.

Breaking eye contact first, Joonhwi looks towards the platform. "Judge, I don't see how this is relevant."

And before they could even say a word, Jin was already quick to retaliate. "When the defendant was hospitalized, you called on a friend to assist you with obtaining photographic evidence to prove that Ms. Jeon wasn't trying to flee. That friend was Kang Sol – A, was it?"

Turning to the jury, he continued, "Depending on his answer, we might have to call on Ms. Kang to the stand to verify her relationship with Mr. Han, and depending on her answer, she could either be acquitted, or be a secondary accomplice for attempted murder."

The jurors nod while Jin wraps up his explanation. “But if it were Kang Sol B... that might be enough to clear the suspicion."

Joonhwi mentally cursed. He was running out of cards to play, and Prosecutor Jin's little nod towards his direction, mouth smeared with a bragging smirk, was not helping.

The judge pulled his mic close to him. "Witness, please answer."

Think carefully, Han Joonhwi.

He could feel the entire audience's eyes on him — which usually doesn't scare him, but right now he feels boxed in. Cornered. The smallest he has ever felt, and not because it was his own life on the line, but because he fears dragging the person he loves into this mess.

It's funny how a simple letter can make or break this case. A or B. Fact or fiction, true or false. Love or not.

If he told the truth, he'd be setting himself up for failure. But if he lied, he'd be committing perjury.

Prosecutor Jin is good. He's managed to slip into the cracks of Joonhwi's personal life and possibly ruin any chances he has at a lovelife. Needless to say, as a 28-year-old man who is still single to this day, his self-esteem has taken a hit.

But there's no way Joonhwi is letting that happen. This is a trust fall exercise between him and the person he cares for. If she cared for him back, even just a little bit, he'd have nothing to worry about. He could just protect her the moment he gets called in again.

Now is not the time to falter. If she feels the same, he'll know when she testifies.

On the plus side, her parent is here so it's like killing two birds with one stone.

Joonhwi straightens his back, and with a wave of confidence he leans into the mic, finally answering, "I'm in love with Kang Sol A, your honor."

—

Joonhwi sat at the very back of the courtroom, ridden with anxiety.

With Sol A being called in as a witness last minute, he couldn't catch her at the right moment to apologize for what he did. For publicizing a confession, for making her go to the stand a second time, for everything.

This must be the end of our friendship, seems to be the only thought in his mind. And that's the thought that scares him the most. Not going to jail, but the thought of possibly losing Sol A in the process.

He watches her take her oath, demeanor blank unlike the first time she was there. Joonhwi's fear was taking over — was she annoyed? Was she mad? He couldn't tell. Her face normally said it all, but right now he can't read her whatsoever.

All of Prosecutor Jin's questions flew over his head, especially the ones about the night of Ko Yeongchang's accident. All, except for one.

"Han Joonhwi's feelings for you..." Prosecutor Jin trailed off. “Do you reciprocate?”

Sol A scoffs. "You tell me, big shot. You're the one who forced a confession out of him and made me go up here."

Joonhwi's lips twitched into a small smile. She's defending him.

"Just answer yes or n—"

"I wanted to protect Yeseul so badly,” she began, "that when she fainted, I was dead set on following her to the hospital no matter what. But when Joonhwi said I shouldn't, I didn't even question it. I trust him that much."

Silence enveloped the courtroom, but Sol A didn't even pause one bit. "Don't misinterpret my actions. I care about Yeseul, but I care about Joonhwi more."

And Joonhwi knew that wasn't true, that Sol A definitely loves Yeseul more, but that was enough to solidify their narrative to the jurors.

—

Despite the empty seats in front, Joonhwi spotted Sol A walking towards him with her head down. She didn't even look him in the eye as she sat next to him, their shoulders barely touching until she cleared her throat and inched closer.

Joonhwi did a double-take when he saw that her ears and her cheeks were red, but he chose to ignore it for now.

"Sorry for making you lie on the stand," Joonhwi apologizes.

Fiddling with her nails, she mumbles, "I wasn't lying."

Then, she added, "Unless you were."

He scoffs half-heartedly. Until now she's still doubting his sincerity. "I would never commit perjury. Not when I'm still trying to impress you."

Sol A scoffs in return, covering her face in her right hand, embarrassed. Like she couldn't believe this was happening. She lightly bumped his shoulder with her own. "I'm impressed."

Joonhwi may not have completely overturned the case in Yeseul's favor yet, but he was extremely lucky to have at least outsmarted Prosecutor Jin in the process. More than that, he was lucky to have the quick-witted girl right next to him. To have not just her trust, but also her heart was enough luck for more than a lifetime.

Joonhwi was right.

This was a trust fall exercise, but instead of him catching Sol A, turns out he was the one who fell instead.

Thank God she caught him.

Send me your thoughts here!

#jtbc law school #law school #kang sol a #han joon hwi #solhwi #joonsola #kim bum #ryu hye young #kang sol a x han joon hwi #fics #mine #jtbc #jtbc kdrama #korean drama #otp: why couldn't you be here sooner

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dontcallmecarrie · 3 years ago

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Hey, I vicariously live in my imagination to escape from the reality.

So, I have been wondering about the Rogues reaction to Tony defeating thanos, the IronSmaug, taking over the world etc...

Have a go at it, if you are interested.

It's also fine if you dont.

thanks, I really, really needed the distraction. it's been. an interesting week. not in a good way.

tbh, the whole 'what does Team Cap think about this mess?' thing in TWiFFON is...something I had originally been torn about, and everything that's been happening ever since means I keep finding myself going "do I have the energy to tackle this? lol no".

For some context, because you probably know my stance on this sort of thing but I prefer redundancy just to make sure we're on the same page: once upon a time, I honestly, genuinely did like the Avengers. All of them, and yes, that included Wanda [...for less than an hour, but still].

Back when I still had faith in the writers, I was constantly going "...okay, so when are these guys going to stop acting so OOC? Where tf are they planning on taking these character arcs?" and just being disappointed at each turn— but I stuck around because I liked the potential. Steve "what do you mean punching fascists isn't cool anymore?" Rogers, Natasha "my past is a tire fire and I'll just leave it at that" Romanov, Clint "where's Loki? Let me at him!" Barton and the rest of the group had their good points, and I gave myself a headache trying to figure out wtf was their thought process when the time came for them to do their thing in TWiFFON.

It wasn't fun, I only did it because it was absolutely necessary... and I still ended up receiving complaints.

Look: for me, character bashing is exhausting. I have enough going down in my life that I don't have any interest in writing it, and over the past few years I've seen more than one of the fandoms I follow/lurk in become salt mines that have me going "...okay, if you hate it so much, why are you even here?"

When I write, I try my best to emphasize the 'actions have consequences' thing I learned long before I hit puberty; but that doesn't mean I'm up for anything beyond that. Again, I used to like these characters, so seeing the levels of suffering canon— and some writers— put them through just has me stepping back for a moment.

But TWiFFON attracted a lot of people who were pretty far out there in terms of what they wanted, some of whom got very very pissy when it wasn't the story I wanted to write, which is...probably like 99% of the reason I'm still burned out on that AU. Apart from the recent personal life bs that means I am Not Up To Dealing With any hypothetical rando that shows up in my inbox, because normally I could not care less about what people think but my energy levels are. Um. Not great atm. Not sure I wouldn't bite anyone's head off if they wanted to start something right now, tbh, or just ragequit writing for a while because I have way better things to do with my time than deal with random internet assholes.

...apologies for the tangent, but now you know why that situation is one I'm normally kinda reluctant on tackling.

As for what I'd originally headcanoned:

Back before things hit the fan, I'd originally planned to have some little interlude snippets of what Team Cap's been dealing with. Mostly, it would've forced them to acknowledge that for all none of them liked or trusted Tony, he was basically just the personification of what the rest of the world thought of them.

Nobody respects them, anymore, or trusts them; Clint'd be in very hot water and sleeping on the couch for a while, and Hank Pym would never let Scott hear the end of his involvement in this whole thing because Hank hates the Stark name and the English language cannot concisely articulate just how pissed off he was that he had to publicly thank Tony.

Team Cap overall would also start to fall apart at the seams as more and more stuff came out and ey, turns out the leader they'd trusted and broken international laws for had lied to them.

By omission, sure, but honestly— do you think that'd go down well? The "oh yeah, I've known my brainwashed friend killed his parents since DC but I am not going to tell him unless I'm forced to" thing?

I don't know about you, but I for one highly doubt Sam Wilson would be okay with that. Or Clint, for that matter, and the list goes on because the more time passes, the more stuff keeps coming out of the woodwork and for the first time in years, they're forced to deal with it.

One of the things I planned to include in the sidefic can basically be summed up as "the curious case of Bucky Barnes": that is to say, what'd happen after he's taken into custody, and poke lightly at the clusterfuck we're unpacking here. Tony, feeling bad for losing control in the bunker, would basically go "shit I fucked up but I also never want to see him again but he's an even bigger mess than I am, that's a whole lot to unpack so you know what? I'm just throwing out the suitcase entirely here, have all the resources for support and help and if I ever see you again, it'll be too soon".

...to sum up, it's messy af. SI Legal would feature heavily because his particular case means he needs a team of lawyers, what with the 'former POW who's trying to recover from All The Trauma' thing, and the 'so I literally was just trying to buy some damn groceries when you guys dragged me into this', and Tony basically went "hey, so if anyone wants to help him, uh, I kinda have some interest in this one. Fair warning, dude probably killed Kennedy while mind-controlled, with our luck".

And along the way, there'd also be some of that one subplot I'd cut due to pacing issues: specifically, the one dealing with prosthetics.

Remember how Miriam Sharpe said her son would never walk again? Yeah, we'd be revisiting that: her family'd get a letter or something inviting them for clinical trials, and meet Rhodey in passing as he's using his own leg braces to get around because he's still healing. Bucky would get a few design offers for a free replacement for his arm, and it'd probably end up being a collab with Wakanda because T'Challa feels bad for his role in that mess as well.

So Team Cap would be seeing this, seeing how everyone's acting and reacting, and the way one of their own is getting all the help and support Stark Industries has to offer and realizing that yeah, they messed up. Big time.

...depending on my salt levels and how close we're sticking to canon, I was thinking this'd go one of two ways.

Either they'd double down and just go "ugh, Tony is a supervillain and we can't do anything about it!" while TWiFFON marches on and then later go "...you mean he did it by accident?!", or...

Well, canon's proven character development and continuity isn't really in their writers' vocabulary. So my original idea of 'they're forced to deal with the reality of the situation, acknowledge they messed up and slowly move on with their lives' would've been very unrealistic.

Again, most of this is intentionally vague, I had not been keen to tackle that mess in TWiFFON in the first place and the way things exploded on me means I really, really don't have the energy to do so now. Not when there's far better things I could do with my time, like mess around with AUs where people actually get along, or knit, or— well, the list goes on.

#The War is Far From Over Now #From the Other Side [A Terror To Behold]#thinking aloud #I got an ask!#Naught replies #replies #behind the scenes

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hermitcraftheadcanons · 3 years ago

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Hermitopia AU Conclusion

The last ask has been answered, the masterposts are complete, and (although art, writing, and Discord discussion are still accepted and encouraged) it is finally time to officially wrap up the Hermitopia AU! Because this was such a massive event - and no small thing to moderate - there will be a pause in blog activity for a day or so before the inbox will open for regular headcanons again. I apologize in advance for the wait!

In the mean time, I would just like to say: I am so, so thankful to everyone who participated in the AU. Your ideas and your creativity have made this blog a better place, whether you sent in one headcanon or dozens, and I am constantly in awe of the energy and enthusiasm of this community. Thank you, all of you, for making this universe we’ve created as vast and as interesting as it turned out to be.

Below are a collection of my own ideas, for those of you who like a satisfying (but still not entirely closed-ended) ending. These events take place as many days, months, or years into the future as you need them to make your own ideas work, and none of them are set in stone. You can take all of them, some of them, or none of them as truth if you want to...but either way, it has been an honour to build on a project like this one alongside you all.

And with that...the Hermitopia AU concludes! Finished, or barely begun, like so many good projects are. Have a great day everyone, and happy headcanoning!

- Mod Shade

"People of Hermitopia."

The man on the screen shifts, running a nervous hand across his bald head and squaring his shoulders. The broadcast quality is unstable, but it's more than enough for every citizen in the city to recognize who's speaking.

"This is your Concorp Branch Director, Cub. As I'm sure you are aware, I am the head of Project VEX in this city. You all know the VEX initiative as groundbreaking, life-saving, a shining success and a step towards a new era for humanity...and some of you may even see me as a hero for creating it.”

He closes his eyes, a brief look of pained remorse crossing his face. For a moment, he looks utterly defeated, almost small in the face of his impromptu audience of thousands...but finally, he fixes the camera with a steady gaze once more and begins the great unravelling.

“Maybe it was all those things, in the beginning. Maybe *I* was, once. But today, after far too long, I have some confessions to make...."

- For years, Cub had been desperately scrambling to hold the tatters of his life’s work together. Project VEX had started so well, and he had poured so much of himself into it, that when the failed experiments and rebellions became more and more frequent he was unable to accept a change of course. He covered up the project’s failings to maintain funding and public image, but mostly to maintain his own image to himself - that he was still the hero he’d set out to be and create at the project’s start. However, his denial was wearing on him heavily, and eventually he had a breakdown and decided to go public rather than keep drowning the city in lies.

- This breakdown was prompted by xB, who after his own moral breakthrough, confronted Cub and urged him to stop withholding knowledge and truth. xB also informed Cub of his own unknown truth - that the unintended power of his presence was the thing that was keeping the experiments successful when Cub was around. This was the final straw in breaking through Cub’s denial

- Along with Cub’s broadcasted speech, files were released to the media containing proof against most if not all of Concorp’s falsehoods. Many names were cleared of crimes that had been pinned on them, including Beef, Impulse, Doc, Cleo, and the majority of the other Unrestrained and Unaffiliated former VEX trainees that the company had tried to cast away

- Understandably, it took a very long time for the chaos to die down and all that information to be processed by society and the justice system. It may be years before the community can see some of their heroes in the proper light again, but at least they are now free to begin rebuilding their reputation without being labeled as villains and traitors.

- Those who actually did commit villainous acts are given a fair trial, with consideration for their motives and the new Concorp information as extra evidence

- The VEX program is withdrawn by Cub’s superiors and put under a strict review. It is reborn after a massive restructuring, with a new director, new limitations on what experiments can and cannot be attempted, and a greatly extended screening and training program to reduce the chances of graduates becoming villains. The new project will produce far fewer heroes with much subtler powers at first...but if that is the cost for the safety and stability of the city, then most people would agree that it is a small price to pay.

- Cub is not permitted to work on the new Project VEX in a management role, ever again. It’s a harsh blow for him, to have to watch his dream from the sidelines...but he knows he gave up the right to guide it when he abused the control that it gave him. At least his superiors allowed him something to do while he awaits trial: he is present (although guarded) at every new VEX trainee’s first experiment, lending his power to increase their chances of success.

- Mayor Scar resigned willingly. Nobody had enough evidence to accuse him of anything, and he didn’t plan on giving them a reason to look by trying to stay in office. Instead he chose to make his exit from both Concorp and government matters complete, at last. Or so he thinks. Who knows? Maybe he’ll learn what most of the people he’s helped to manipulate have already found out: that connections and old grudges don’t easily lose their grip.

- Scar is replaced by TFC, voted in by almost unanimous community support and funded by donations from all the people he’s saved over the years

- The greater Convex company offers a choice to the survivors of the old program: Come to work under their new, more honorable system, or take a generously large settlement and be free to build new lives

- Team ZIT declines the job offer, pooling their payment and using it to buy a shiny new base together for their independent hero venture. There are still a handful of real villains to fight, after all, and there are bound to be more once people start successfully copying Concorp technology. Now that Impulse is back at their side, they wouldn’t give up their roles saving the community for anything - but they’re done with being used by some guy behind a desk. From now on, justice and bravery will be their only guides!

- ...justice, bravery, and TFC, that is. He isn’t their boss by any means, but the more experienced hero does drop by often between his mayoral duties to make sure the youngsters stay out of trouble and in one piece.

- The nHo, according to all official records, took their settlements and split up, leaving Hermitopia far behind. However, Team ZIT suspects that the vigilante life hasn’t left them so easily. They’d be the last ones to report the odd sighting of a whipping vine or a distant masked figure, though - unregulated as they are, the nHo’s shady methods for a good cause prove useful from time to time. (And their base has really good tea. Okay, maybe it’s a little bit more than “the occasional sighting”...)

- Ren settles back into his meadow cabin, but after that massive release of info and a long, LONG period of processing, he now has Iskall, Stress, and Cleo as regular visitors. Every morning he wakes up and forgets for a moment that it’s real, that they’re really alive and with him again...but they are, and he is happier than he ever thought he would be again.

- Jevin and Mumbo visit the cabin occasionally. It took a while for Mumbo to get his memory back, but he now remembers all of his friendship with Iskall and Grian, and they come together for fun and shenanigans regularly with the rest of the cabin crew.

- Grian still spends his time looking for his clones, but honestly, he doesn’t mind. The adventure always did hold more meaning than the conclusion for him, and now, he has friends to help out!

- False disappears into thin air to wait out the fallout of Concorp’s information release. She snags herself a quiet job and a small apartment on the outskirts of town, fully intending to return to her mercenary work just as soon as the dust has settled...next week, maybe. Or the week after that. Or maybe, once the garden has been fully planted. She’s really enjoying having time for stuff like that now...but she’ll get back to work, really, she will! Soon.

- Joe and Cleo tearfully reunite through xB, and Joe becomes another frequent visitor to the cabin. Cleo also visits Joe’s base in the time exclusion zone, but she really prefers the cabin. Time skips are disorienting, and they make her want to sneeze.

- Keralis and Void come to an agreement. Xisuma isn’t entirely clear on what that agreement is - something to do with an allowance of cookies from Biffa’s bakery in exchange for not killing anyone - but he’s more than happy to be less sore and tired all the time.

Hermitopia is making progress. Real progress, this time - not just the breaking of humanity’s limitations, but breaking them with true heroic care, with the good of everyone in mind. There are some hurts that will never fully heal, mistakes that can be learned from but not undone, and yet...now there is a path, a way forward. It won’t be easy, but a kind and gentle future waits for them, welcome and well deserved. They will figure it out, together.

And together, they will step forward, into the new world that each of them has helped to create.

#hermitopia au #announcement #sort of #I know this is long; and not all of it is my best work; but I hope you'll find some of it worthy of canon #or at least inspiring to your own personal version of events #both hermitopia masterposts will be added to the masterpost of AUs in the normal pinned post #you'll still be able to access them #most importantly; I hope this event was fun for all of you #that's all there is to it; really. that's the point. :)#again; thank you

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shes-ghostface · 4 years ago

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Hello again, some time ago I asked what it would be like if Brahms, Jason and Harry Wander were in Dead by Daylight with their beloved s/o... And I would like to ask for a continuation if it is not too complicated for you to do of course!

Like, what would be the reaction of the killers and survivors of your choice when discovering the "secret" relationship between the boys and their s/o? Will anyone want to interfere in the relationship?

{ For example: flirting with s/o to provoke the boys, or trying to save her from this relationship thinking that they are being forced to stay with them... }

Brahms Heelshire

A lot of the survivors weren’t particularly bothered by discovering your relationship with Brahms, but Élodie was concerned for your welfare. She always checked you over when you came back to the survivors campfire after spending time with him, she would constantly ask if he had hurt you or made you do things you didn’t want to. To which you always told her the relationship between you and Brahms was dual sided, you both wanted it as much as the other and he never forced you to do anything, other than when he got bratty and held you tightly against him if you tried to move when he wasn’t done snuggling with you. But no matter how many times you tried to reassure Elodie, she just wouldn’t let it go. All of her prying and concerns came to a stop once you were in a trial with her and Brahms though.

You were working on the generator inside the killer shack, unaware Brahms was hastily approaching. “Come here.” Was all you heard, his voice vibrating through your whole body, causing you to shudder. You looked over your shoulder to see Brahms standing in the doorway, he stepped closer to you as you got up from the generator, taking your hands in his. You were too engrossed in Brahms sweet talking about your outfit to notice Elodie watching through the shack window, “Oh, seems we have company.” Brahms stated with a tone of annoyance. You turned to see Elodie, she seemed nervous. She had her hands in front of her, clasped together, slightly shaking. “She’s okay, she just likes to check up on me is all. She’s a good friend.” You told Brahms, hoping to sway his attention from Elodie. His gaze didn’t move off of her, “So she’s the one who has been asking all the questions?” He seethed. You knew this tone and you knew it wasn’t good. All Brahms could think about was how much time you spent with Elodie when you weren’t with him, and Brahms didn’t like that. He wants you all to himself, you’re his and she needs to realise he’s not going anywhere and she will NOT take you from him. His breathing became heavy and his shoulders tensed up, you went to put your hand to his chest but before you could calm him down he lunged towards Elodie, charging around the corner of the shack, you attempted to follow closely but he was too fast. She didn’t have a chance to get away, he lunged his right arm towards her, grabbing her by the throat, lifting her up with ease. “She’s mine. You and no one or nothing else is going to change that.” He bellowed, causing you to stop in your tracks, it was the loudest you had ever heard Brahms speak. Elodie tried to respond, but Brahms had his grip so tightly around her throat all you could hear was her voice fading with each attempt at a word. “Brahms she’s got the message! Put her down, please!” You begged him, he looked at you, still holding Elodie up by her throat. He didn’t like to see you upset, but when Brahms wants something he gets it, and he wanted her to understand you are his. All you heard was a loud snap, Elodie’s life faded from her eyes as her head slumped to the side. He had broken her neck, he stared for a moment and let out a light chuckle, throwing her body to the ground. He turned towards you, “She had to learn to mind her business.” He stated as he neared you. You knew what Brahms was like but that didn’t mean every time you seen him kill someone it didn’t shock you. All you could do was look up at him, you were speechless. He wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you into him, “Mine.” He whispered into your ear, you couldn’t help but melt into him. Every time he does this you lose yourself in him, his scent, his touch, everything about him overtakes your mind.

The exit gates powered up, bringing you back to reality. You sighed, slowly leaving his arms. “Time to go, I’ll come see you once I’m done at the survivor campfire okay?” You told him, to which he nodded and walked away. As you made your way out, Brahms was getting himself irritated again. He knew you would be speaking to Elodie and he hated knowing your attention was on someone else aside from him.

Back at the campfire you seen Elodie already sat down on one of the wooden logs, she had her back to you and was talking to Zarina. As you neared the two, Zarina looked over Elodie’s shoulder and gave you a concerned look. She patted Elodie on the shoulder and left, causing Elodie to turn and see you approaching. “Elodie, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know he would get as angry as he did, I know you’re only trying to take care of me and make sure I’m okay. Brahms doesn’t understand that, he gets jealous easy. You’re such a good friend and I don’t want to lose you.” You said as you lowered yourself onto the log to sit with her. She just looked at you and did a small laugh, “Don’t be silly, I don’t blame you. I know what the killers are like here, we need to stick together. If we don’t have each other in here we have nothing.” She said with a smile. You couldn’t contain your grin, you were relieved your friendship with her wasn’t damaged. You both gave each other a tight hug, but behind one of the trees in the shadows, Brahms was watching. His fists clenched, he got the message. She hadn’t learned her lesson.

Jason Voorhees

You and Jason had been dating for a while now, a lot of the other survivors respected it and didn’t bother you too much about it. They just asked how you both were doing now and again to make sure you were okay. The only two that didn’t respect it though, were David and Nea. They both had a crush on you for a while, even before you started dating Jason they would both flirt with you and you would do harmless flirting back. You stopped once you and Jason were a thing though, out of respect for Jason and of course for David and Nea’s safety. That didn’t stop them from flirting with you, though. They would often compete against each other on who got your attention the most and who helped you more in trials, it was harmless really, but once they found out about you and Jason, both of their jealousy set in. Nea kept trying to persuade you to leave him and tell you he wasn’t safe to be around, and David would always brag about how much better he could treat you and how he would take care of you. You paid no mind to it because you were smitten with Jason, he was the sweetest guy. So big and strong, but so gentle and delicate with you.

It didn’t take long for Jason to notice the two of them trying to get close to you and get your attention in trials. It bothered him a lot, he could feel the anger bubbling inside him every time he seen one of their hands touch you or hear one of their flirty remarks. You always reassured him that they’re just friends and nothing more, he is really insecure after all. He hasn’t had many positive relationships in his life, just you and his mother. So he worries you will leave him for one of the two, the reassuring worked for a while, but one trial was the last straw for Jason. He couldn’t hold the anger any longer.

The trial was on Macmillan Estate, you were teamed with Nea, Meg and David. You were on top of one of the muddy, stone mounds trying to scope out anyone nearby. You only seen Nea in the distance, urban evading. The killer must be near her, you weren’t aware of who it was yet. You hoped it was Jason of course, he always let’s you live. A large, rough hand placed itself on your shoulder, causing you to turn abruptly. It was David, “Alright love? Gave you a bit of a startle did I?” He jested, smirking down at you. “Yeah, you got me.” You replied with a smile, you both headed through the dense fog towards the generator outside of the mine. You hadn’t seen the killer yet but Meg had just been hooked on the opposite end of the estate you and David were. As you both knelt down to start on the generator, you turned to David and asked “Have you seen who the killer is yet?” To which he shook his head, “No, and hopefully I don’t see them anytime soon.” He replied. You let out a slight chuckle, watching the sparks illuminate David’s face. He was attractive of course, big and strong. Very masculine features, if you hadn’t met Jason then maybe you would have ended up with David. But to you, no one and nothing compared to Jason.

The generator was 75% completed, you didn’t even hear Nea approach due to the ear rattling pistons rapidly moving up and down. “Hey doll face.” Nea said as she got on the leftover space of the generator. You looked at her, “Hey Nea, who is th-“ David interrupted abruptly, “Think you’ll find she’s my doll mate. Not yours, so sod off yeah?” He teased. “I think you should ask her that, because I don’t see no evidence of her being yours at all.” Nea snarled back at him. They both looked at you, awaiting a response. To which you shook your head and laughed, “Let’s just get the generator done, we can have petty arguments later.” They stared at you for a moment, then back at each other with a glare that could kill. The whole time the two were arguing over you, Jason was watching through one of the mines windows. He heard everything and he felt his anger boiling over with each word they spoke. How dare either of them attempt to claim you as theirs, you are his. No one else’s.

The generator soon roared to life, you were all still unaware Jason was watching, so you headed towards the next generator. Nea and David managed to walk either side of you, sandwiching you between them. David put his arm around your shoulders, pulling you closer into him. “We make an alright team me and you, don’t need the rest of these muppets.” He said with a smirk, looking down at you eagerly awaiting your response. Nea butted in before you could respond, grabbing your wrist, lightly tugging you towards her. “David, you wouldn’t even survive half the trials if it wasn’t for the rest of us you idiot, and she knows this. Don’t you doll?” You were so tired of them having petty arguments over nothing, you let out a sigh. “You know, you two are such idio-“ before you could finish your sentence, you felt Nea’s hand leave your wrist and David’s arm leave your shoulders. They were dragged back, you span around to find out what the hell was going on. You couldn’t believe what you saw, it was Jason. He had them both held up, one in each hand. He threw Nea to the floor, you heard a crack, followed by Nea’s scream. She grabbed her leg frantically, you could see her shin bone trying to rip through the flesh as it broke in two. You ran to her side to try calm her down but David’s aggressive words got your attention instead, “PUT ME DOWN YOU FUCKIN ARSEHOLE!” Jason wasn’t phased by his words, his grip only got stronger. It was crazy to see how Jason could keep a hold of possibly the strongest survivor in the realm with such ease with just one hand, all whilst he was struggling to get out of his grasp. David was a big guy but compared to Jason he looked just like the average person. It put into perspective just how big Jason was.

David’s insults soon came to an end, Jason had threw him to the ground, the sound of his boot colliding with David’s skull was stomach churning. You couldn’t help but watch in horror, David’s head disappeared into the soil due to Jason’s brute force. Nea was still on the ground riving around in agony, trying to ease the pain of her broken leg. You turned to face her, as did Jason. You went to run to her side but Jason got to her first, he towered over her broken form, breathing heavily due to using such force on David’s skull. His arm swung, impaling her chest with his machete. The life drained from her eyes as Jason pulled his weapon from her flesh, he turned to you. You didn’t even have the words, you knew Jason didn’t like the two of them due to their flirting, but this? You never thought he would go this far. You sometimes forgot he was a ruthless killer because of how gentle he is with you. He made his way over to you, stopping inches in front of your form. He was looking down at you, eager for your eyes to meet his. He wanted to know you were okay, he hated you seeing anything like that. It was bad enough thinking about you in trials with the other killers having to experience such horror. It was worse that he himself had done it all in front of you, he wanted to savour your innocence as much as he could in this realm. He placed his large, cold hand lightly on your shoulder. You looked up at him, he stared for a moment without doing anything, until his hand reached up to tap his mask. You knew he only did that when he wanted kisses, and he knew if you kissed him all was forgiven. You could never resist Jason, he was a sweetheart, so of course you planted kisses all over his mask. He wrapped his arms around your waist and yanked you up into a suffocating hug, Jason never spoke but his actions always told you enough. You soaked in the comfort and joy you received from Jason as much as you could, because you knew going back to the campfire wouldn’t be a joyous occasion. Facing David and Nea after what had happened was going to be quite daunting.

Harry Warden

None of the survivors really got involved with you and Harry, if they even tried they knew Harry would make their lives hell. The only ones in the realm that disagreed with the two of you were Amanda and Evan. Evan only cared because he was best friends with Harry, so you spent some time alongside the two of them. So this made Evan fond of you and he hated not being able to kill you in trials due to being too soft on you, and of course he didn’t want to make Harry mad by sacrificing you. He valued Harry’s friendship and he knew what Harry’s temper was like. He didn’t want to get on the wrong side of him.

Amanda seemed to always have a slight crush on Harry, she never told anyone about it but you could always tell when you seen the way she acted around him at the killers camp. She would always ask how his trials went, compliment his killing skills and would often ask if he wanted to help her build her reverse bear traps. Of course Harry wasn’t a man of many words, he only spoke when he felt he needed to. So a lot of the time she was met with silence, she seen Harry talking to you sometimes which of course made her jealous. You hadn’t told Harry about it yet, but Amanda always tunnelled you and made sure you died first in trials. She had been making your life hell for a few weeks now, it was starting to really affect you mentally and physically, so you decided it was time to tell Harry.

You walked towards Harry’s cabin on the outskirts of the killers camp, thankfully no one was around to take advantage of your already injured self from the last trial. Amanda had mori’d you, so your forearm was still slightly punctured and oozing some blood, making you slightly dizzy. You hadn’t been to see Harry after trials for a long time, especially the ones with Amanda. You knew how angry and upset he would get seeing you this badly hurt. You approached Harry’s door, taking a deep breath. You knew he wouldn’t take this information well, he thought the world of you and if he knew someone was going out of their way to deliberately hurt you and make you suffer, it would tear him apart.

Harry’s door flung open just as you were about to knock, you looked up at him, his shoulders were heaving up and down. He was already mad, did he already know? Had somebody else told him? “Your arm. Who?” Was all you heard, rattling through his gas mask. “Uh, that’s why I came to see you actually.. I haven’t been coming to seen you after certain trials because of how injured I am after them. I know you hate seeing me hurt, so I-“ “I said, who?” He interrupted, causing you to take a step back. You looked up at him, his gaze fixed on you, burning into you, “It’s uh, it’s Amanda... she makes sure I suffer every single trial I have with her just because we are dating. I know she’s jealous, I’ve seen the way she acts around you Harry. It’s been going on for a while now, I just didn’t want to tell y-“ he stepped forward, looming over you. “How long?” His voice was deeper now, almost like a growl. “Around a month. I didn’t want to tell you because I know how mad you get when it comes to me being hurt.” You said nervously, you knew an outburst was coming. He didn’t say anything, you only noticed his breathing getting heavier and his fists starting to clench. “Harry, it’s okay. I just want you to talk to her to try get her to maybe cut me some slack.” He didn’t respond, he went back inside briefly, then barged out with his pickaxe gripped securely in his gloved hand. He lightly pushed you out of the way and stormed towards the rest of the killers cabins. You were jogging behind him just trying to keep up, but Harry was very fast, especially when he was angry. You saw Evan step out of his cabin and watch as Harry charged forward, he then started to walk down the steps of his cabin as you neared. “Not now Evan, I think Harry’s going to start something off.” You said slightly out of breath, Evan grabbed your arm, which caused you to jerk back. “Evan, let GO!” You struggled, but his grip was far too tight. “It isn’t safe, Harry won’t want you getting hurt.” He told you, his tone stern. “I don’t care, I don’t want Harry getting hurt. Let me go.” You said, instantly getting nervous after noticing the attitude you just gave him. He was your friend in a way, but he wasn’t Harry, so you may not get away with speaking to him in such a way. He didn’t say anything, he just started to walk forward, your arm still in his grasp. He was walking you forward, keeping you close to him so you couldn’t go anywhere other than where he wanted you to go.

The air grew colder the deeper you went into the killers camp, the only warmth was from Evan’s hand gripped around the top of your right arm. It began getting even darker, you could see a slight glow in the distance. As you neared the glow, you could hear faint shouting, you looked up at Evan as he picked up his pace. He knew something was going down, “Evan, what’s happening?” You asked, he didn’t say anything. He let out a sigh and broke into a jog, you could barely keep up with him but his grip on you wouldn’t loosen, causing you to trip over your own feet now and again. The shouting was really loud now, you noticed the glow was just the lights coming out of the three cabins that were near one another in this area. You recognised Harry’s voice instantly, “You ever touch her again, I’ll kill you myself.” He sounded furious, the last four words of his sentence sounded more like a promise. You came around the corner and seen Harry and Amanda facing each other, almost like a standoff. “We cannot die in here you fool, if that was the case I’d have killed your precious bitch long ago.” Amanda said with a smirk, she knew what this would cause. You saw Harry’s grip tighten around his pickaxe, his leather gloves slightly squeaking against the wooden handle. Amanda’s knife slithered down from her wrist, this wasn’t going to end well. Amanda swung first, which made you gasp, you couldn’t stand seeing Harry get hurt. You tried to run at her to distract her from Harry, but Evan’s grip wouldn’t allow it. “Evan please, he needs my help!” You pleaded, to which Evan let out a laugh, “Harry never needs help, he can handle himself.” You heard a twig snap right next to you, you turned quickly to see Amanda edging closer to you. “Here she is, the cause of it all. What I would do to end you for good.” She seethed, lifting her arm to swing her knife down at you. You flinched, putting your free arm over your face, preparing for the cold steel slicing through your flesh. Instead you were met with a loud clunk, Amanda’s knife had collided with Harry’s pickaxe, Harry had lunged forward to block her swing. He took advantage of Amanda being stunned by the collision, kicking her stomach, causing her to fall back. She looked up at Harry, “Come on Harry, we’ve been friends before you even met her. You’re going to choose some weak girl over me?” She said, anger and pain behind her words. Harry stood for a moment, looking back at you, you were wide eyed, still struggling against Evan’s grip trying to get to him. He turned back to look down at Amanda, “Yes.” He said, as he lifted his pickaxe and swung down, the point of it piercing Amanda’s skull. He yanked it out, then swung again, and again, until Amanda’s skull and brains were basically pulp. You knew nobody died in the realm, but it still didn’t make you feel any better about seeing someone’s life fade away, even if their death was only for a few minutes.

Harry turned to you, his shoulders and chest heaving. “She shouldn’t bother you now.” He said with a sigh, he dropped his pickaxe, lifting both of his arms and opening them wide motioning you to come to him. Evan’s grip loosened and you ran to Harry, you would expect him to fall over from the force you collided into him with, but it didn’t even budge Harry. You buried your head into his chest and slithered your arms around him, he pulled you into him as tightly as he could, causing you to lose some breath but you didn’t care. The safest you ever feel is in Harry’s arms. You looked up at him, his blacked out glass frames returning your gaze. You leant up and planted a kiss on his gas mask, causing his body to release all the tension he had. He looked at you for a few seconds before unclipping the bottom of his gas mask. His slightly plump lips in a smirk, he leaned down and pressed them against yours. His kisses always made you weak, you felt your body ease up in every sense of the word, causing you to let out a content sigh.

(I’m so sorry it took so long! University has been hectic, but I hope this is what you wanted and you like it!) 🤍

#slasher x female reader #dead by daylight #brahms heelshire #jason voorhees #Harry warden

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asscandles · 4 years ago

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Hey thanks for clarifying before now can I have some friendship(maybe secret crush)headcanons for Fuyuhiko, Peko, and Toko with a friend(reader) thats llike your generic dumbass but they are just like a soft dumbass, they are just too cute to get mad at no matter how stupid they are. So basically a giant cuddly dumbass that just radiate baby energy. Like they(reader)just run up to them saying they want to show them something cool and its just a pretty rock but they look so happy. gender neutral.

ᴛʜɪꜱ ɪꜱ ᴋɪɴᴅ ᴏꜰ ʟᴏɴɢ, ꜱᴏ ɪ ᴅᴇᴄɪᴅᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴘᴜᴛ ɪᴛ ᴜɴᴅᴇʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴜᴛ. ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴡᴀꜱ ᴀ ʟᴏᴛ ᴏꜰ ꜰᴜɴ ᴛᴏ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇ, ꜱᴏ ɪ ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ ʜᴏᴘᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴇɴᴊᴏʏ ɪᴛ! ʙᴜᴛ, ɪꜰ ɪᴛ ɪꜱɴ’ᴛ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛᴇᴅ, ɪ’ᴍ ꜱᴏʀʀʏ!

ɪ ᴀʟꜱᴏ ꜰɪɴɪꜱʜᴇᴅ ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴀᴛ 3:26 ᴀᴍ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛᴡᴏ ᴡᴇᴇᴋꜱ ʟᴀᴛᴇ, ɪ’ᴍ ᴀʟꜱᴏ ꜱᴏʀʀʏ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴛʜɪꜱ ꜱᴋᴀʟꜰꜰᴅᴊᴋꜰᴀʟ

ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢꜱ: ʟᴀɴɢᴜᴀɢᴇ

Peko Pekoyama

“I--What are you doing?”

You stand on the counter, arms extended straight out at your sides. You continue staring ahead with an expressionless face. “I see no god up here… other than me!”

Peko sighs, and you immediately look down at her with round eyes. “Oh, but you’ll always be my queen, Peko! I want you by my side forever!”

Since Peko is always wielding/cleaning her sword, you carry around pastel-colored bandaids and a small first-aid kit in your backpack.

You’re usually by her side, so your absence is always noticed quickly, if not immediately.

You once fell asleep somewhere you shouldn’t have, leaving Peko to ravage the island, searching every nook and cranny until she finally found you curled up in a corner of the airport. All she could do was sigh and crack a tiny, relieved smile. She transfers her sword to her hands before easing you onto her back. Her heart swells when you mumble something and wrap your arms around her neck. All the way back to your cottage, she chides you quietly.

“It’s not safe to be so vulnerable out here. If you’re going to fall asleep out here, do it while I’m with you. Then, you can sleep as soundly as you want.”

M A T C H I N G B R A C E L E T S

You excitedly gave Peko a card to celebrate the anniversary of your friendship. Peko snorted upon seeing that all of the drawings inside were either stick figures or poorly colored. But you just looked so happy… she couldn’t even bring herself to tease you about it.

You both refuse to speak of this, but one night, Peko woke up to the flickering of a faint light and feverish whispering. She had switched into attack mode in a fraction of a second, only to stop dead in her tracks. You had been standing in the middle of the room, doing the renegade by the light of your phone. You froze upon her reaction. Both of you sat there, staring at each other for a solid twelve seconds. You then proceeded to finish the dance, looking her dead in the eye. Peko may have be tired, but she’d be damned if she let you do it alone. So, she does it while standing on her bed, but clearly lacking energy and motivation.

Ambushing Peko with affection is not uncommon for you. It happens rather often, you clinging to her waist and pleading with her, “Hey, tell me that story again! You know, the one where Fuyuhiko was being held captive and you swooped in with your sword and saved the day!”

When you found out that Peko loved fluffy things, you were ecstatic. You bundled her into your cottage immediately, showing off a small collection of stuffed animals that you had managed to cram into your backpack before your arrival at the island.

Peko selects a white cat plushie as her favorite. From that point on, it is your child. No arguments.

You tend to get lost, so Peko sarcastically suggested tying a balloon to your wrist so that you would be easier to find. But, you totally caught her off guard when your eyes began to sparkle and you shouted, “Can I pick the color?” When she doesn’t answer immediately, you grab her hands and hold them close to your own chest endearingly. “Pretty please? With marshmallows and cookie crumble and whipped cream and sprinkles on top?” Peko obliges. When the balloon is finally secured around your wrist, you are absolutely fascinated by it.

You often fawn over Peko’s skills; but when you do, you use interjections and sound effects because you aren’t able to convey your excitement with just words.

Okay, but she’s actually worried about you lmao

��You have… a lot of mosquito bites. What happened?”

“What? They’re not bites! They were giving me kisses, silly!”

You’ve tried multiple times to surprise her with tickle attacks, but they never work. The only time it went according to plan, you managed to get your hands on her for exactly 0.7 seconds before she turned the tables on you.

Platonic dates? Platonic dates.

You’ve 100% made her flower crowns whose petals match the color of her eyes.

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu

“So… I saw some sour candy in the supermarket. If you lend me the money, I’ll give you half of the rocks I found.” :)

“Considering the fact that you get an adrenaline rush from successfully flipping a pancake, a single piece would kill you immediately.”

Everyone who discovers you two are friends is immediately suspicious. When I say suspicious, I mean, “(Reader), whatever blackmail he’s holding over your head, you don’t have to be scared. We can take care of this together.”

But after witnessing a few of your interactions, they learn of one irrefutable fact.

The embodiment of rage and vulgarity bottled up in human skin does indeed have a weakness.

And that weakness is you.

It didn’t take long for Fuyuhiko to become aware of your appreciation for stickers and your tender heart. That being said, when you’re upset, he won’t object too severely when you request to smooth stickers all over him. He would prefer to keep this interaction private, but if someone does happen to catch him with giraffe stickers on his cheeks and rainbows on his jacket, then he’s going to wear them proudly, goddamnit.

And if anyone has anything rude to say about it, then I hope they can speak sign language, because all they’ll be seeing is hands.

You’re aware of his insecurities, and you can understand why he feels the way that he does. But that’s where you come in. You always seem to approach him at the right moments.

By now, you’ve figured out that he doesn’t always need words to reassure him. It’s enough if you’re just there, ready with open arms and a glass of water. Fuyuhiko doesn’t cry often. But when he does, he ends up dehydrated more often than not.

Let’s be honest. After Fuyuhiko lost his eye, his depth perception was most likely shit. You were always at his side, one hand on his arm as you gently guided him from room to room. You watched over him.

Accidentally knocking over a drink? You were ready to wipe it up. Searching for something he lost? You were there, helping him look. Tripping or bumping into things? You were there with a first aid kit to patch him up.

You try to match his level of sass, but you’re highkey too nervous to swear and you usually stutter the last word of whatever witty comeback you manage to come up with. Fuyuhiko secretly thinks it’s adorable, and he doesn’t want you to lose that part of yourself. That’s why he always defends you when it comes to verbal beatdowns.

You once drew a face on an egg, and when Fuyuhiko questioned you about it, the only thing you could offer was a deadpan “our son.”

“What the hell--that’s an egg.”

“No! His name is Linguini and he’s our child!”

Fuyuhiko is exhausted bro.

You’ve approached him countless times, eyes glowing with awe and insisting that you need to show him something really cool. It’s usually just a rock or a piece of glass, though. He always has the urge to poke fun at you for it, but it fizzles away when he sees how utterly bewitched you are with your find.

One time, he had walked into the room to see you standing on the arms of an office swivel chair, knees bent and arms extended as you fought to maintain your balance. You seemed to be fairly steady.

Still, that didn’t prevent him from nearly falling into cardiac arrest on the spot.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

It had startled you, and the chair rolled out from underneath you. Fuyuhiko rushed to catch you. You both tumbled to the floor in a knot of limbs, lying there in varying degrees of pain. You were laughing. Fuyuhiko was absolutely most fucking not.

“Thanks for breaking my fall!” You had chirped, gesturing to the arm lodged under the small of your back to protect it.

“You little--” Fuyuhiko’s voice had been strained, but his tight-lipped grimace dissolved into a sigh at the sight of your smile. He disentangled himself from you and pressed the pad of his index finger into your forehead. Your lips formed a small “o” shape, your eyes crossing to try to keep track of his finger. “You need to be more careful from now on. I won’t always be here to catch you.”

“But, you’ll still patch me up afterward, right?” You poked his forehead back.

He huffed and pulled away from you. “To the best of my ability. But don’t push it.”

Toko Fukawa

Initially, the only reason that Toko set aside her natural distrust and suspicion of people in order to befriend you was because she thought that you were simply too innocent and simple-minded to ever think badly of a friend.

She thought that having such a sweetheart glued to her side would disperse her dubious reputation and make her seem less suspicious during class trials.

Yep… That’s the only reason she keeps you around...

Not because of the way her heart feels all fuzzy when you embrace her… Or because of how your eyes sparkle whenever she offers to let you read one of her new works… Or because of how relaxed she feels when you weave her hair into intricate braids…

Not at all…

Hahahashutuphahaha…

She often scolds you for being such a pushover when people disrespect you, but she means well. You insist that it doesn’t bother you, but she’s an expert on human emotion. She is a writer, after all. She knows that it haunts your thoughts for a while afterward, and she hates seeing you like that.

You’ve noticed that Toko bites her nails when she’s stressed, so you’ve decided to combat her habit by applying nail polish to her nails. That way, you figure, the taste of the nail polish will deter her from tearing at them with her teeth. She also has the option of picking off the nail polish, which is probably less harmful than chewing on them.

You also kinda sorta... believe that video game cheat codes work in real life, so you’re often moving around and jumping, shouting the combinations as you go.

“Right! Right! Left! Up! Left! Down! Right! X! Y! Now, confess your sins!” You command during a class trial, pointing vaguely toward the accused. Toko just quietly shushes you, dark circles rimming her eyes as she pats your head.

You’ve adopted the habit of narrating the things you do, like whispering “wiggle, wiggle, wiggle” when sliding your feet into your shoes and “shimmy, shimmy, shimmy” when slipping your charm bracelet past your hand onto your wrist. Coincidentally, Toko has also subconsciously started doing the same thing, and she cannot think of anything more irritating.

She once jokingly told you to stop being so dependent on her. You promptly flushed scarlet and snatched the box she had been carrying out of her hands, insisting that you were more than capable of taking it to storage yourself. You had marched indignantly out of the room and headed left, only for Toko to call out, “Uh, storage is the other way.”

You reappeared a moment later, now stomping in the opposite direction. “I knew that!” You huffed.

You’re aware of Genocide Jack, but you aren’t afraid. You whole-heartedly trust that your friendship is enough to outmatch Genocide Jack’s bloodlust, as naive as it may be. Your only response to Toko’s confession of having a split personality is to gift her a cherry-flavored lip balm with a bright smile. At first, Toko is confused. You explain that whenever Genocide Jack makes an appearance, their tongue is always lolling out of their mouth. You’re concerned that their lips will get dried out, and you want to do your best to prevent it.

Did Toko’s heart just burst? Maybe.

Toko shares her romance novels with you, but only the ones without sexual interactions. She believes that you’re far too pure for those. Plus, she would really not rather answer your questions about anything of that nature.

Toko is determined to preserve your purity. She’s very protective whenever someone shows the slightest bit of sexual or romantic interest in you, and has even referred to you as her baby before.

Whenever Toko gets insecure or anxious and covers her face with her hands, you gently remove them from her face with a soft giggle of “Peekaboo!” Toko doesn’t fight you as you carefully pull her into your arms and rest her head against your chest. In fact, she finds herself surprisingly close to tears when you inquire, “Hey, you want to hear a lullaby? I can’t remember who sang it to me first, but it always helps me calm down. So, I want to share it with you!”

There will be times when Toko is too busy writing stories to pay you any attention. But no matter! After a moment of consideration, you have an idea. You gather blankets and pillows and settle onto the floor beside Toko’s seat. Your arms loop themselves around her leg, and your head finds its way onto her thigh. It isn’t long before you doze off, Toko watching you in silent shock, face rosy with bashfulness and eyes wide.

Toko is very adamant about covering up her legs due to both the tally marks scored across her skin and the quote-on-quote “sturdiness” of her thighs. You, however, have an entirely different outlook. You reason, “the bigger your thighs, the more snacks you can hide under them!”

#danganronpa #danganronpa headcanons #danganronpa imagines #danganronpa scenarios #toko fukawa #danganronpa toko #trigger happy havoc #danganronpa fuyuhiko #danganronpa fukawa #danganronpa peko #peko pekoyama #toko fuwaka #fuyuhiko x reader #fuyuhiko headcanons #fuyuhiko kuzuryu x reader

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rocking-space-dragon · 4 years ago

Text

Burning Flags, Burning Bridges

So...I may have been inspired by chatting with friends and decided to write a short fundy-centric fic centering around what Philza said to him after the house arrest. Will I write more like this in future? Probably! Will it probably be angsty? Most likely! I hope you enjoy!

I’m gonna put the first page in this and the rest under a read-more so I don’t clog up timelines!

2313 Words/10k Characters Characters Involved : Fundy, Ghostbur, Philza.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

It was a cold, wet day In Lmanburg; the rain came down heavily, thick sheets that crashed down onto the wooden floors of the city and the deep pools of water beneath and around the city proper; creating a drumming, echoing ambience that seemed to isolate the two of them as they stood; the Fox, soaked through with hat and coat, damp fur and wetter clothes; though for all of the cold that the weather bestowed, it couldn’t compare to the ice that seemed to have bloomed in his chest.

The words cut through Fundy like a knife as his gaze met that of the figure standing in the doorway, one hand resting on the frame. A steel monitor was wrapped around one ankle, and they both knew that if he took another step forward it'd go off and he'd be in trouble. Philza was the one who was trapped, so why was it that Fundy felt like he couldn't move, trapped in the cold embrace of the man in the doorway, a gaze leagues apart from the warmth behind his eyes that he remembered from their days fishing and hanging out. That cold seemed to spread from his chest until it wrapped around his bones, keeping him locked in place.

The words brought back bad memories; often said in joke or incredulities by his friends, he’d only heard this kind of inflection once before – after his appearance in Pogtopia. He still remembered it vividly; the way Wilbur had cast his eyes towards him, looking down at him with contempt, with pain written across his face and spitting the words towards him, accusatory and harsh. He’d explained himself then and Wilbur’s face had softened, a laugh breaking across his features as he turned excitedly back towards Tommy and Quackity, but the eyes that met his whenever Wilbur turned back towards him were as cold as ever. It was those same eyes that were fixed on Fundy now; like father, like son. The kind of gaze that made him feel small, made him feel weak, no matter how many weapons hung by his side or how much armour he had in his inventory.

He swallowed for a moment, before forcing a smile across his face, gesturing towards Philza once more "W-Well, I figured that we could hang out! I know you're stuck at home because of the…” He gestured vaguely towards the bracelet before continuing “so maybe we could... Play some board games, or you could show me some of the old photos you have of Wilbur and Tommy, or we could work on the basement or-!"

"No."

The word felt like a punch to the gut and Fundy's voice died in his throat, his lips going dry as he opened his mouth to talk, going to say something before Philza's voice cut into him once more, stealing the voice from his throat "How dare you. You broke into my home and demanded that I give up my oldest and most trusted friend, then when I told you I wouldn’t, you threatened me, ransacked my house, imprisoned me in my own home and then mocked me. You stood outside of my home, mocking me, before running off with the Compass that Techno trusted me with, to hunt him down.” Philza’s grip tightened on the doorframe and Fundy could swear that he could hear the wood beginning to crack beneath the grip of the man; the cold in his eyes was gone now, replaced with a fire that crackled in his throat and lit every word that he spat towards the fox. “And then- AND THEN. You drag him from his home, where he’d been living in peaceful retirement, under the pretence of a trial, only to try and execute him in front of me, when I couldn’t do anything but watch.” Fundy could feel his fur standing on end, even as damp as it was, but he couldn’t move an inch away from the man who’d locked him in place much like they’d trapped Techno days before. All he could do was stand there as Phil continued. “Allow me to be very clear with you, Fundy. If Techno had died in that cage, none of you would have lived to regret it.” His wings flare up behind him, obscuring the light coming from the house behind him before folding behind his back once more as he turns around, glancing back towards the rain-drenched fox standing out on the wooden platform “The last thing I want to do is kill another son of mine, but It seems like this city hasn’t given me a choice.” He turns, back facing him, pulling his hat down low “Because you’re already dead to me.”

The sound of the door slamming shut echoed out around the city, leaving Fundy alone, clutching at his jacket, gaze turned down towards the ground, eyes squeezed shut and teeth clenched tightly as the rain helped to mask the fresh dampness on his face. After a moment, he turns, walking away from the house, every step echoing out on the wooden floor; it was only after he was far enough away from the house that he broke into a sprint, running along the wooden path leading away from the city, then away from the path itself, kicking up damp leaves behind him as he goes sprinting into the woods until his legs give out and he collapses back against a tree, pulling his knees to his chest and curling up into a ball. Once more, his mind turns back to the man who’d just slammed a door in his face; his grandfather, who’d been so kind and gentle with him; who’d taught him how to fish, who’d taken him in when he lost his home, who’d been there when nobody else was – and what had he done? He’d done the same thing he always did – he went along with the orders of someone in power and ended up pushing away his family because of it. Before it was Wilbur and Schlatt – pushing away his father and burning down the flag under Schlatt’s orders, and now it was Philza – following Tubbo’s orders and burning the bridge he had with his grandfather too. If there was one thing he was good at it was lighting fires, but those same flames, he found, always came back to turn the things he cared about to ash.

“Oh, hello Fundy! Are you alright?” He’s jolted out of his thoughts by the sound of a voice, echoing and faint – he knows who it belongs to even before he raises his eyes to meet the empty, white eyes of the ghost hovering in front of him, a smile on his face as he tilts his head to the side and floats down into a sitting position beside Fundy, looking out at the rain still coming down in sheets as he sighs “I was coming to see L’manburg, but the rain started coming down before I could get there, so I had to run to this forest so I didn’t melt! What’re you doing here?” He turns to the fox, but Fundy turns away from the figure who used to be his father, staying silent as Ghostbur’s smile turns into a frown and he floats around till he’s in front of the Fox once more, lightly hovering in the air “Oh no! You seem upset, Fundy – here, have some blue, it’ll help suck away the sadness!” he smiles, rummaging about in his pocket and throwing some of that strange blue ectoplasm out towards Fundy, who let it land in his lap.

There’s a pause for a moment as ghostbur floats, looking around nervously before Fundy sighs, taking the blue and looking at it, letting it stain his paws before clenching his fists around it and throwing it into the forest, causing the spectre to gasp “Oh no! If you do that, it won’t-“

“Forget it!” Fundy snapped, catching the ghost off-guard, who seemed to recoil for a second from the outburst; he watches as Fundy uncurls, letting the back of his head hit the tree and looking up into the branches of the tree, drops of rain making their way through to drip down onto his face. He sighs heavily, closing his eyes before lowering his head once more to meet that empty gaze “Of course, you would show up now.” He laughs, sharp and devoid of humour, hitting the tree lightly “Wilbur was never around when I needed him, and yet, and yet YOU somehow seem to ALWAYS know when to show up!” the laughing continues, as Fundy’s voice cracks and breaks until he’s sobbing audibly, face buried in his arms so he can’t see the ghost reaching out towards him for a moment before pulling back. “Why? Why can’t I stop fucking up like this? It feels like everyone I try and get close to, I end up either pushing away or losing entirely! All I ever wanted to do was…” His voice drops, turning and looking up at the ghost with tears running down his face and drawing in a shaky breath “All I ever wanted to do was make him proud, y’know? I wanted to hear him say, just once, that he was proud of me.”

So engrossed is Fundy in his own sorrow that he doesn’t notice the effect that his words have on Ghostbur; how every mention of Wilbur makes him flinch and recoil somewhat, and how the mention of wanting to make him proud causes the ghost to bring a hand to the wound in his chest, slowly trailing over it as he looks away and Fundy squeezes his eyes shut to try and stop the tears running down his face.

So deep is the fox in his bittersweet grief, that he doesn’t realise that he’s been pulled into Ghostbur’s lap until it’s already happened, his hat removed and set to the side as the spectral figure rests his chin between the fox’s ears, atop his head, arms wrapped around him and brought together in front of him; it’s a moment before he speaks, looking out into the woods “Alivebur…sounds like he was a terrible father. Everything that I’ve heard of him sounds like he was a terrible person, so I can’t imagine he was a good dad, either. But…if that’s the case, why do I have good memories as your dad?” the question hangs in the air, and he continues “Does that mean I wasn’t always an awful dad?”

The only sound that follows is the impact of rain coming down on the leaves and the rustling of the wind rushing through the forest, before Fundy breaks the silence “…You didn’t used to be bad. I still have…good memories, of growing up with you, in L’manburg, it’s just…things went wrong somewhere along the way” he turns his gaze up, looking at the dark grey sky above through the leaves “Sometime – I wonder, y’know? How things could be if you were still around. If Tubbo wasn’t president, if Tommy wasn’t exiled. If you- if Alivebur…had been here when I needed him most instead of just leaving me to deal with everything by myself.” Wilbur rubs his arm sheepishly, looking up too “I…don’t know. People didn’t seem to like Alivebur much, but…everyone still followed him. It seems like all people have to talk about is how much he ruined everything, but If he was really that bad…how come I have good memories at all?” When there’s no answer the spectral figure sighs, running a paw through Fundy’s fur absentmindedly, a slow, steady brush, a gesture that brings them both immediately back to a simpler time – a time when the two of them could sit in the forests surrounding Lmanburg, before they were destroyed, looking out over their home, just a father and his son. Ghostbur wasn’t sure when Fundy fell asleep, he just knew that the next time he looked down, he saw his – Alivebur’s – son, laying against his chest, eyes closed and breathing steadily. A smile crosses faintly across his face as he gazes down at the sleeping fox, brushing through his fur again gently “My little champion…you’ve been so brave, and so strong…” He shifts, looking down at his faintly see-through hands and then at the fox still resting against him, rummaging about in his pocket for something he’d stolen from Philza; a single golden Idol, emerald eyes set into it’s face that seemed to be looking back at him. It felt cold to the touch, even for him, as he tossed it from hand to hand slowly, thinking. It seemed, to him, that as much as everyone liked Ghostbur… …People Needed Alivebur. People needed Wilbur. Tommy needed a brother. Philza needed a son, L’manburg needed a president, and Fundy…Fundy needed a dad.

As he slept, Fundy dreamed. He dreamed of years back, wandering through the forest with Wilbur, walking around L’manburg together, that warm, friendly voice calling him ‘His little champion’ as he stands, side by side in uniform with his father. He dreams of the revolution, of fighting together – of growing up and into the clothes that he wore today; before those dreams turn sour, and he can hear the laughing bleating in his ears from the long-dead tyrant, snapping awake with a gasp. A soft bleat fills his ears as he wakes up, glancing up to see the fluffy blue wool of friend surrounding him, being happily used as a makeshift pillow as they munch casually on some grass. Ghostbur is nowhere to be seen, the sun shining down faintly as the fox rests in the grass underneath the tree.

In his lap rests a damp, well-worn, entirely solid black beanie, slowly drying in the warmth of the midday sun.

#mcyt #fundy #dreamsmp #dream smp #wilbursoot #wilbur soot #philza minecraft #friend sheep #tubbo #tommyinnit #technoblade #ghostbur #dream smp fanfiction #dream smp fic #angst

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noonmutter · 3 years ago

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Revelation pt. 3

Daily Writing Challenge 2021 Day 18: Precognition/Collapse

Flecks of gold plumed up and curled into ashy powder in his wake as Terry's exposed flesh went up like kindling. The fine dust was caught up by a draft that he couldn't feel and disappeared into the ether. Immolation felt surprisingly peaceful, once the initial, horrifying agony had reached critical mass and he simply stopped processing it. This felt rather more...floaty?...than shock, even.

With monumental effort, he raised his right hand, and was surprised to find a hand still there. Not his hand, obviously--his hands didn't glow like this. It was almost like trying to see the shape of the sun: staring at it longer made it both easier and harder to pick out the edges and boundaries of his fingers, and even more so to tell if they were moving. It occurred to him after a moment that his hand was also much too big. He could probably crush his own skull with this meathook.

Do you hear me now, outspoken child?

His mind was trying very hard to ...not shut down, shutting down was too abrupt, and still a function. His brain was simply trying to stop. It was tired; he was tired. And more and more of his body was going all... glowy. The sensation was oddly comfortable, like slipping into warm bathwater after a long day, a stark contrast to the searing nightmare that had happened moments ago. It was impossible to speak, and thinking was another herculean trial.

...e...on...ar?

He was immediately awash in warmth and the inexplicable scent of a summer breeze that would have brought homesick tears to his eyes if he'd had the ability. There was also the intense urge to climb a tree that wasn't there. That one was familiar enough that he let out another weak huff of a laugh, at once relieved and resigned. Finally, something that wasn't out to kill him.

No, my ally. I am most certainly not here to kill you.

It was impossible to be certain, with the mass of Revendreth immense in his vision and badly blurred, but Terry thought he'd stopped falling. Or drifting. Or whatever the right word was. Everything was either grey or black and, immeasurably far up above him (and just below his chin), gleaming gold.

Why..?

You called for me. I came.

I called? ... I did... yes. So long ago. Where... Terry couldn't quite muster up the strength to be furious, only heaving the question like a great mental sigh. Where were you?

Your enemies are...very dedicated to keeping you to themselves. I heard only that plea, and tiny remnants of others. I could not see, and could barely hear. I am sorry for the way I found you. It is never my wish to cause pain.

He could feel himself squint. ...the elementals? That was you?

Yes. It was the only way to bring you into my sight.

There was a pregnant silence where he would have been laughing if he could. When he actually did hear himself bark aloud, he startled himself. The exhaustion was still there, but some of the rawness... he felt a little less like a fragment of himself. And as he had that thought, he noticed that he could feel pain again. As much as he would have preferred not to, he knew that that was an improvement, not a punishment.

What are you doing?

To Terry's puzzlement, there was another pause, a feeling that the Lifebinder was hesitating. I had intended to save you. But I realize... this was not our agreement.

Terry closed his eyes, now that he knew he could and it would matter. It was nice to actually see darkness, instead of seeing nothing or not being able to change his view at all.

You are so tired, child. She sounded very much like his mother in that moment, and he found comfort in that without fighting it, for a change.

I am. ...Will I get to see them again?

No. But that is not your fault.

Instantly, his eyes flew open. What does that mean?

You have gone where you were likely destined to go, as you were. But had you gone there the proper way--at the end of your part in the cycle--you would not have ended up there.

Before he had a chance to get cross and tell her to stop talking in circles and riddles at him, Terry felt himself shifting around, rolling over until he was no longer looking at the rocky underside of Revendreth. Instead, he faced a gaping, awful hole like a collapsing star that would consume entire galaxies, and the warmth in his body suddenly disappeared. The longer he stared, the easier it was to make out the constant flow of countless little specks disappearing into the gaping gullet. Raw dread filled him when he figured out what the specks were.

The balance is undone. You, as they did, would have ended up in this consuming pit called the Maw.

What?!

Forgive me, child. There is chaos in the fabric of all things. I could not see.

His heart sank to the same depths as the day he'd woken up in Darnassus and learned that not only had his parents died, his country had too. At the same time, his jaw clenched, and he was warmed again by his own boiling blood. Maybe he might have deserved whatever the Maw was, but his parents sure as shit didn't.

But I see now. And I return to the bargain we made.

Terry was turned over again, and he couldn't decide whether it was better or worse to look away from the hole in the universe. At least he felt less hollow inside this way. A new wash of exhaustion rolled over him, and he closed his eyes once more. When did it end? Was there always going to be something worse waiting in the wings?

I have already borrowed your strength, and it served me well. I have returned it thus. But... it seems to me that I must offer you the choice, before I lend my own.

...How do you mean?

You are tired, and it seems to me, deservedly so. I can end your suffering, and usher you to the fate you would have properly earned if you so wish. Revendreth would likely have been your proper destination. This time, you would encounter it as a soul, rather than a man.

He frowned a little. And the alternative?

I can finish what I already started, burn away the twisted shell that contains your essence, and build it anew. You would return as a living man to Revendreth, and from there, seek a remedy for this sickness on the cosmos. There will be great suffering in this endeavor, as all battles create. You might not return to your mate or offspring for a very long time. You might not return at all, and die, and be condemned to the Maw regardless.

You are a terrible salesman.

You demanded honesty. She was being cheeky. He appreciated that. I now ask you to place your trust in me, and accept the mantle of champion.

Either way, he wasn't going to see Dwyn or his children again. Not for a while, if at all. He'd already thought it impossible a dozen times over, all the way back in the desert on Azeroth. It was hard to hold out hope in the face of that; harder still to do it after that, and being stolen away to what turned out not to be Hell, but Purgatory. He'd clung to determination, to stubbornness, instead; he could accept those in place of hope. He would see them again because he swore that he would, not because things had to turn out okay somehow.

And his parents were down there, somewhere, too. Was that going to happen to the rest of his family? To Leon? To Vember? Alynore? Ansul? Pin? Jia?

What good was his oath if he didn't try everything to follow it, even blind, mad, dangerous faith?

What did he have left to lose?

If ever there was a worthy price for his free will... this was it.

All right. I guess I'm storming Hell.

( @daily-writing-challenge )

#my writing #and so arrives terry #eonar #aw shiz #dwc

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sou-ver-2-0 · 4 years ago

Note

What do you think it’d be like if Shin became Sara’s mentor instead of Keiji?

Fun times! No rules! Chaos! Lies, lies, lies! Are you tired of being nice? Don’t you just want to go BONKERS?! (Shin is too repressed say “apeshit” in his “Join Me!” speech.)

That’s actually what I’ve envisioned for an AU in which Kugie survives her First Trial and decides to team up with Shin. Kugie and Shin get to be like Jessie and James from Pokemon and Kanna is their little Meowth. Basically, the most lovable antagonists ever. Shin acts like an evil puppet master of the two girls but he’s really a softie. Kugie punches him in the nose if he ever says a single mean thing to Kanna. In spite of their bickering, they care about each other deep down because this is My Self-Indulgent AU. They both sound like doomsday prophets when they try to warn the others of the dangers posed by Miss Sara and Mr. Policeman. They tap dance across the stage, bouncing off each other, pretending to be the Keymaster and the Sacrifice as part of some convoluted scheme that’s just crazy enough to work! Until everything backfires and it all comes crashing down and they both die in a blaze of glory, because oh my god we need to save Kanna!!

You didn’t ask about that AU, but I’m seizing the opportunity to mention it, haha.

It’s honestly hard for me to imagine Shin teaming up with Sara so long as he’s wearing the “Sou” persona. I say this as someone who loves their fleeting moments of teamwork and thinks that they could be good friends. The moments where they’re working together are the happiest moments in the game for me! I don’t want to say it’s impossible, just…very difficult…

It’s easier for me to imagine Shin and Sara teaming up in the simulations! I’m assuming that Shin had his normal personality during those test runs. Even with all the unknowns about those simulations, I frequently imagine Shin and Sara becoming friends in them! Because, why not. I want to be friends with my favorite character, and I want him to be himself.

If Shin were simply himself in a Death Game, with no pretenses, then here are some ideas for what a friendship between him and Sara could look like.

I think that Shin would admire Sara from the start, saying she is “steadfast and strong” just like he does in canon. He still asks to partner with her to search, but his interest in her is more genuine. Shin is attracted to vulnerable people like himself. I think that Shin would appreciate that Sara seems confident without being intimidating, unlike the scarier adults in the group.

For her part, Sara would still find Shin kind, timid, and pitiable, just like she does in canon. If we’re developing a friendship between them, she’ll get more opportunities to either tease him or gently support him. (I know we all assume they’ll bicker, but I’m writing this AU with his timid personality in mind! So he probably needs time to become confident first. They can get to that point eventually!)

What is Shin’s strategy even like in a Death Game where he’s not pretending to be Sou? I don’t think he has much of one, beyond “use my miscellaneous talents to help the group escape” and “protect the weak.” In my mind, Shin is…not as “useful” an ally as Keiji is in YTTD. In canon, Keiji helps Sara become an indispensable leader of the group. Shin isn’t that presumptive. He’s clever and he has good insight, but I don’t think he’ll try to seize power like that.

If I can be presumptive about my fave, I think what Shin brings to the table as a “mentor” is good priorities. He’s a deeply emotional, empathetic person. He wants to protect the vulnerable. If Sara is looking up to him as a kind of “helpful big brother” figure, he could inspire her to feel the same way.

Shin Tsukimi died in every single simulation. Sara had to watch those deaths time and time again. I imagine she could be very protective of him. But her efforts never helped him live, no matter how “strong” as she was.

Shin’s most valuable asset as a friend in this Death Game may actually be giving Sara the courage to face death herself. She died 84.5% of the time. If Shin can face death with bravery, knowing that he could help save someone weaker, then that could inspire Sara to do the same.

Am I being too heartfelt? Too naïve? Maybe! I’m someone who chose to kill my favorite character at the end of the Second Main Game, because it was more unbearable for me to let him down than it was to lose him. I genuinely love the Emotion Route, even as the Logic Route is shaping up to be the “interesting” one. I love the cathartic bond that forms between Shin and Emotion Sara. I want to see that bond develop into a closer friendship. A friendship between two “vulnerable, weak” young people who are braver than they realize, and they inspire each other to do what’s right instead of what’s easy.

Thank you for asking me about Shin and Sara. I love them dearly.

#yttd #your turn to die #kimi ga shine #your turn to die spoilers #sou hiyori #sara chidouin #shin tsukimi #kugie kizuchi #sou and sara #sou and kugie #asks #meta #mine #wow look at me getting all worked up emotionally about shin and sara again

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quillandink333 · 4 years ago

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Scarlet Carnations ~ Part V

BotW Link X Zelda ~ Detective AU

Rating: T

Word Count: 1.9k

WARNINGS: death, murder, loss, trauma, blood and gore, terrorism, organized crime, self-harm

Summary: Inspector Zelda Hyrule, assisted by the faithful Constable Link Fyori, is infamous for cracking the most confounding of cases in a town dominated by crime. Her latest assignment is to solve the murder of her own godmother, Impa Sheikah, the late CEO of Sheikah Tech. Incorporated, while staying under the radar of the dreaded Yiga organization.

Part I • Part II • Part III • Part IV • Part V • Part VI • Part VII • Epilogue • Masterlist

“‘Justice is Dead’: Inspector Hyrule Loses her Badge for Lying in Sheikah Murder Trial”

This headline, alongside a photograph capturing the catastrophe that had been Link’s trial, was what had made the front page of the Times not long after it had all transpired. And it wasn’t the only one of its kind. Far from it. It seemed every publishing firm in town had released an article covering my epic blunder in court.

My name wasn’t unfamiliar to the masses either. As the daughter of the last pre-Yiga mayor to stand in office, anyone who read the paper regularly knew who I was. Until now, I’d been known all across town as the prodigy detective dedicated to keeping the streets free of crime, but now, all those people would look upon my face and see nothing but a filthy, lowlife perjurer.

I could live with my name being ground into the dirt by the media. What made me truly bitter beyond words was that the few individuals whom I’d once trusted and looked up to would now think the same of me.

I’d tried reaching out to Prosecutor Sigatur countless times in the hopes that she could in some way continue the investigation in my stead, but every time I called, she would never pick up. She probably saw this case as closed now anyway. I had managed to get a hold of Auntie Purah, but all she’d been willing to say to me was that she needed time to think before hanging up. As for Paya, I couldn’t even bring myself to try to contact her.

It wasn’t something I took pride in. Clearly the best thing for me to do would be to apologize to them all for my actions, most of all to Paya after all the needless grief I’d caused her. But I simply couldn’t do it. Just the idea of it felt wrong. No words that I could possibly say to them would be of any use in bettering the circumstances. I couldn’t bring Auntie Impa back. I couldn’t undo what I’d done. I couldn’t do anything. There wasn’t a single thing I was good for other than making a mockery of myself and disappointing those who’d once dared to put their faith in me. Nothing at all.

And now, to put a cherry atop the sundae of darkness and misery that my life had come to, the one person who mattered most to me, the one I’d dedicated myself to protecting, was gone, forever. Just when we’d finally found each other again. There was still so much I’d wanted to ask him, and even more that I’d wanted to say, but...

What I wouldn’t have given just to be by his side at that moment. What we did didn’t matter. Even if he and I were simply in the same room together, I’d feel more at ease. But who was I to wish for such things? I was the one who had failed him. I should’ve just testified that I’d been the one behind everything. I should’ve been the one on death row right then. Not him.

I thought recalling a happier time would perhaps help to restore me to my rational self, before it was too late, but in the end, it only proved to pour more salt in the wound.

“Alright, I’ll see you around.” Both Paya’s and my own ears perked up at the familiar, jovial voice down the hallway. “Great time catching up with you!” No sooner than we’d heard those words did Link come striding out of one of the classrooms on the left.

“Uhh...!” I turned toward Paya, who was suddenly as red as a raspberry. “I j-just remembered I had something to ask one of my teachers about!”

Just then, Link’s eyes landed on the two of us. Paya gave him a wave and a sheepish smile, both worth no more than half a second.

“You two have fun!”

Then she started to turn on her heel.

My outstretched arm just barely missed the strap of her school bag. “No, wait!”

“Bye!”

I gave a disgruntled snarl as she made her hasty retreat. She was far enough now that if I tried calling out to her, I’d only be drawing attention to myself.

“Everything alright, Zelda?”

“Link!” The boy in question was right there, just a foot’s distance or so behind me. “Oh, yes. Quite. Paya’s just...”

“She seemed busy.”

“Yes, yes,” I grumbled. Busy putting me on the spot, more like. As always. “Who was that you were talking to just now?”

“Oh, you must mean Sidon!” he exclaimed. “He and I knew each other in elementary school. He just transferred here last week, or so I’m told. What a small world we live in!”

He spoke animatedly, gesturing with his whole body as he told me tales of the mischief he and his childhood friends used to get up to. Though he himself had only been enrolled here since the start of that year, it seemed he already knew everyone on campus. Even the members of faculty were fond of him.

“So I heard you got in touch with my father again the other day,” he said as we rounded the corner of the building’s exterior on the way to our usual lunch spot.

“Oh, yes, I did!” He took a seat next to me on the concrete bench in front of the greenhouse.

“How’d that go?” he asked, then tore a massive bite out of his sandwich.

I winced in a mixture of worry and amazement. “Well, he didn’t really have much to contribute to my case, but I appreciate his hearing me out all the same.”

“Ah’m thure you ‘o.” He swallowed his mouthful of food before continuing, to my relief. “But he doesn’t take time out of his busy schedule to talk to just anyone, you know.”

“Oh, certainly. If it weren’t for Urbosa, I’m sure he wouldn’t even give me the time of day.”

Then a teasing grin lit up his face. “Aren’t you forgetting about someone?”

“Oh! Of course. My apologies,” I bowed, swivelling in his direction. “You’ve been a great help as well, Link. Thank you.”

A faint crease formed between his brows. “Come on now, I was only joking.” He gave my shoulder a light shove, nearly making me drop my lunch tray. “You should try being less prim and proper all the time. No one’s counting on you for anything, are they?”

“No, I suppose not.” No one amongst the living, anyway. Besides, he already had me eating lunch outside the cafeteria. How much more improper did he expect me to be? “I think it’s just the way I’ve been brought up.”

He gave a slow nod. “That’s understandable.” No doubt he could imagine how strict the CEO of Sheikah Tech. could be with her daughters sometimes. “Still, if you want my advice, try lightening up now and then. Trust me, you’ll be loads happier that way.”

My heart swelled at his kind words. If it were anyone else, I probably would have dismissed them as just another naïve optimist. “You think so?”

He shook his head, correcting me with, “I know so.”

I’d bumped his knee with my own when I’d turned to face him a short while earlier. It was then that I finally took notice of our sustained bodily contact, which in turn made me notice how little distance there really was between where he and I were now sitting.

He must’ve realized this as well. While I was still in a flustered rut about what to do, he caught me off guard and scooted even closer, until our thighs were just a hair’s breadth away from touching. I, of course, was a gawking, red-faced mess at this point, but he didn’t seem to mind. He simply kept looking at me with that disarmingly sweet smile of his.

Never in my life had I met someone more determined to keep smiling in spite of all the world’s cruelties than he was. It wasn’t ignorance; his father was none other than the district’s chief detective. He was simply, genuinely, fearless.

“Hey, so...” His mannerism had shifted out of nowhere from confident to slightly less confident. “Will you be coming back here for the horticulture club meet this afternoon? I just remembered you mentioning that the other day, and if you are going, it’d give me a reason to go.”

A rush of giddiness took hold of me, causing my heart to thrum wildly within my ribcage. “Really?”

“Oh, wait. Did I just—” He laughed into his palm, then groaned. “Did I say, ‘a reason,’ just now?” I nodded, perplexed. “I meant, ‘more reason.’ That’s what I meant to say, obviously, because I was already thinking about going before you mentioned it.”

He seemed to be telling that more to himself than to me. I did my best to reciprocate his forced chuckle. “Alright.”

“Yep...”

The bell rang in the distance, signalling five minutes until the start of class.

“Oh, dear. I’d better be off.” In a rush, I stood up and gathered my things. “My next class is on the other side of campus. Bye for now, Link!”

“Wait, Zelda!” I halted. “So...are you going?”

I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my lips. “That’s what I had planned for today, yes.”

“Oh, spiffing!” His crow’s feet appeared adorably at the corners of his eyes, making my own smile grow. “I’ll see you then!”

By the time the memory had reached the end of its reel, there was a knife situated in the trembling grasp of my hand. Though the cuts were already a great deal in number, I’d barely even felt them until now. Now they stung like venom. In truth, it was most likely a result of the tears that had begun to fall upon the marred surface of my inner forearm. With this realization, my silent tears were only magnified into sobs of insurmountable extremity. The blade in my grip clattered mercilessly onto the desk. I was never going to see him again, was I?

As the salt of my tears mixed together with the little puddles of red that had formed, I caught myself staring blankly at the ball key sitting on the far end of my desk: the one Link had found at the scene of my godmother’s killing and had kept secret until the day before his conviction, when he’d entrusted it to me. Its dim, tangerine glow was just another painful reminder of how hopeless this situation really was.

Of course, being the spectacular mess of a person that I had become, I’d made the oh-so-wise decision to cut myself at the place where I carried out my chemistry experiments. With grandiosity, I oafishly spilled an entire beaker’s worth of fluid just as I’d finished wiping away the blood.

But just as I was about to go and fetch the mop, something happened that I never could’ve expected.

In the darkness of my apartment, the area on my desk where there had once been blood was glowing a strikingly brilliant blue.

I picked up the beaker that I’d knocked over. It bore the handwritten label, “5-Amino-2,3-dihydrophthalazine-1,4-dione.” Scanning the desk’s surface, something else caught my eye—something that could potentially be the “key” that I’d been searching for since the moment I’d discovered my dear godmother’s dead body.

The orange glow of the ball key, which had just so happened to find itself square in the middle of the splash zone, was being obscured by spots of blue light.

#my writing #fanfic #botw #zelink #botw zelink #zelink botw #link x zelda #zelda x link #botw link x zelda #botw zelda x link #zelink fanfic #zelink fic #zelink ff #zelda pov #detective au

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themadauthorshatter · 4 years ago

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This is probably going to be the last part for my AWWP touch up. I'll try to keep it quick and consistent.

So, where we left off, Tedros just got thrown in the dungeon, and the schools are ready for war.

This time, though, Chaddick gets put in Tedros's old position, guarding the Storian, only now he's looking for it. And Tristan, but the boys are more concerned about the pen.

How coincidental that when Filip joins, he joins Chaddick on this job.

While on this search, either Chaddick or Filip(who is Sophie, but I'm still calling him Filip because I hate School Year!Sophie.) find old drafts of that letter Tedros wrote for Agatha, saying how he was sorry for casting the spell, how he didn't see Aric's manipulation sooner, and that no matter who or what she chose, he'd understand. He didn't get why his mother left his father, but he will get why Agatha wants to stay in Gavaldon with her friend.

He ends most of these letters with, 'Regardless of what you do, who you love, or where you are, I'll always love you. I'll never forget how good of a friend you've been to me or how you saw me for more than a prince waiting to be king. Thank you for everything. I hope you find you're Ever After, one way or another.'

I'm going with Chaddick finding these letters first and taking a few before Filip finds the rest.

Chaddick hides them and tries to tell the boys what's up with Aric and hiw Tedros is being wrongly punished, but they don't listen because, in their eyes, Aric has been nothing but helpful and an honset to goodness saint.

Back with Agatha, she gets Tedros's REAL letter and learns Evelyn's plan, and realizes that she wants to write Sophie back into a witch, so either her own Evil destroys her or so another student can kill her, and earse the boys out of existence, all but ONE, so it's just her and Rafal; she'd see the other boys as weak and unworthy compared to him, and she's convinced she can bear him stronger boys, if he'll have her, which he will, in her mind.

Agatha is appalled by this and realizes that Sophie and Tedros are in serious trouble, and they need to be saved NOW.

She replies with her own letter, sending it via arrow, before running to report to Dovey and Lesso.

Back with Tedros, he goes through the same treatment as before, but Aric is more of an ass to him, feigning sympathy, mocking him by asking if he wishes Agatha was there to save him, and even saying that no one will believe him now, after everything.

Tedros has a Margaery Tyrell moment by throwing some food and water at Aric and calls him a, "vicious bastard."

Aric punches and kicks him for this, rubbing salt on the wound by calling him pathetic and saying how he'll die alone the way he deserves, just like Sophie.

"I'm nothing like her."

"Keep telling yourself that." With that, Aric leaves.

Aric leaves and Tedros tries to keep his composure, even though Aric's words are too deep to stomach.

We get the scenes with Tedros and Filip that sort of kick off a small rivalry.

As in everyone favors Filip and hates on Tedros.

Speaking of the boy, he now spends his nights shackled to the wall by his wrists to he can't try to attack Aric or anyone else.

Aric eats in front of him and talks about Filip to essentially rub salt in the wound.

One night, though, CHADDICK is the one to interrogate Tedros.

Aric puts up some resistance, but leaves to help Filip look for the Storian when Manley snaps at him.

The two friends talk, and Chaddick gives Tedros an apple before revealing he found a lot of old drafts of the letter he sent Agatha.

Tedros admits he wrote them, but is saddened that Agatha probably didn't get the one he sent.

"Wouldn't say that, if I were you, mate."

Chaddick shows Tedros Agatha's letter and reads it to him; he can't really hold stuff while locked up.

It reads that she's sorry for not believing him when they met up and that she should've made sure they were really alone. She also writes that she came to a very sickening revelation: she saw Tedros and Aric and saw herself and Sophie, one being pulled around and controlled by the other. She tells him that she will look for a way to send Sophie back to Gavaldon or have her stay in the School for Good while she and Tedros stay in Camelot. If it's not too late, she'll help him find a way to end this war between boys and girls.

She also stipulates that she can write to Sophie amd her mother.

And that she can bring Reaper with her so Tedros can get a feel for a cat's love; it was a conversation they had on one of their nightly meet ups, where Tedros admitted he'd never owned a cat because they just freaked him out.

Chaddick doesn't get the sentiment, but it makes Tedros cry because it was funny and because he'd like for that to happen, and the idea fills him with joy.

HOW COINCIDENTAL FILIP FINDS A VERY SIMILAR DRAFT OF THE LETTER.

Sophie, Sophie, Filip, who cares anymore, feels absolutely gutted by this because there might be a real chance she'll lose her friend.

It doesn't help that after saving Tedros from hetting tortured by Aric, Tedros admits that Agtha is a good friend for looking out for Sophie, given everything she's done to the both of them.

He then breaks down and admits that he was stupid because Aric and Sophie are so alike on that they trick and hurt others and he should've seen it sooner.

He then thanks Filip for being good to him, even if most of the other boys left him alone.

The Trial occurs, Tristan dies, and Filip is revealed to be Sophie.

Tedros has another mini breakdown because he trusted the person that almost made him lose his true love, but Agatha calms him down and they kiss just as the boys and girls charge at each other.

We get the ending like before and Tedros and Agatha are sent to Gavaldon.

I hope ypu guys enjoyed these touch ups, I had a really good time seeing how I could make these scenarios a little better to read.

I'm getting a little bittersweet saying goodbye to this phase, but thanks for stickim3g around to read these, really. Thank you all so much!

#school for good and evil #tedros of camelot #agatha of woods beyond #sophie of woods beyond #tagatha #sge tedros #sge agatha #sge aric #touch up #thank you all so much

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havenoffandoms · 4 years ago

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Eskel/Lambert You’re My Shelter

Based on Kashimalin’s 50 Types of Kisses prompt list.

Prompt: “Wet kisses after finding refuge from the rain.”

Pairing: Eskel/Lambert

Read on AO3.

“Smells like rain,” Eskel remarks conversationally from where he’s lying on the grassy bank of the lake, his hands folded behind his head for support and ankles crossed, “we should probably start headin’ back to the keep soon.”

“Soon,” Lambert agrees absent-mindedly as he flips onto his side to gaze at his lover, “just five more minutes. I’m really enjoying the view.”

Eskel cracks one eye open, a lopsided smirk tugging at his scarred lips as he glances at Lambert from the side, and for a second Lambert feels like the luckiest man on the Continent to have someone as gorgeous as Eskel in his life. These stolen moments they enjoy in the autumn, when the cold hasn’t had a chance to settle in completely in Morhen valley, act like a soothing balm for Lambert’s broken soul.

“Flatterer. You don’t need to compliment me to get into my bed, y’know? All you have to do ‘s ask.”

Lambert heaves a dramatically long-suffering sigh.

“Eskel, Eskel… of all people, I thought you would appreciate a cheesy pick-up line.”

A warm chuckle rumbles deep in Eskel’s chest as he, too, flips onto his side so he and Lambert are facing each other properly. The roguishly handsome smirk, coupled with the soft eyes shimmering with adoration, are enough to take Lambert’s breath away. Nothing compares to the intimacy of these moments, Lambert thinks, when he and Eskel just lie there enjoying each other’s presence and revelling in the fact that they’re both here, alive and well, and in the company of the person they care most about in the entire world.

A rumble of thunder breaks the soft moment, and when Lambert looks up at the sky, he notices the dark menacing clouds rolling over the valley. He has two minds to not move - what’s a little rain and thunder gonna do? - but when Eskel shifts into a seated position and reaches for his boots, Lambert realises that he’s not being given a choice in the matter. He doesn’t realise he’s pouting until Eskel nudges his ribs with his elbow, and leans into his space to nibble at Lambert’s earlobe.

“Don’t worry, lil wolf. I’ll still take care of ya when we get back to the keep.”

“That’s so far away,” Lambert whines, dragging out the vowels petulantly, “I want you now, Kel…”

“I’ll make it worth the wait,” Eskel adds with a wink, before rising to his feet in a frankly cruel move, and whistling Scorpion over to him. Lambert rolls his eyes in resignation, but mimics Eskel’s actions. His own gelding is young and not nearly as well-behaved as Eskel’s stallion, but that’s what Lambert likes about Milo. He’s wild and temperamental, just like his owner. Lambert and Milo understand each other on an emotional level, and they’ve learned to tolerate each other’s mood swings over the past couple of months.

“You and I both know that the second we step into that godsforsaken castle, Vesemir will assign chores for us to do,” Lambert grouses as he pulls himself into Milo’s saddle, gently clapping the gelding’s neck in greeting, “which means that I won’t get to touch you until after dinner, provided the old man and Geralt didn’t kill the mood.”

“If tha’ happens, I'm sure I’ll be able to reignite that fire,” Eskel casts a cocksure grin over his shoulder, before mounting his own stallion. Scorpion huffs a soft complaint when Eskel’s weight lands in the saddle. “I’ve got a couple o’ tricks up my sleeve.”

Lambert snorts in response, ignoring the flush creeping up in his cheeks and neck.

“Alright, don’t blow your own trumpet too hard,” Lambert snides back, though there’s no heat to his voice, “might end up dying from asphyxiation.”

“Hmm. Can’t let that happen. Who else would set ya straight if not me, lil wolf?”

Lambert bites back a snort at the comment, because what Eskel is suggesting implies that he’s the one in charge when they’re sharing a bed. More often than not, the opposite is true, but Lambert decides to let the comment slide for now. They both spurt on their horses just as the rain starts pouring down from the sky. The thunder spooks Lambert’s horse into almost rearing up, and were it not for Lambert’s quick reflexes which allow him to cast Axii right on time, Milo would’ve thrown Lambert out of his saddle.

“We need to find shelter,” Lambert has to shout so Eskel is able to hear him over the roaring of the thunder, “the horses are losing it!”

“Your horse is losing it!” Eskel roars in return, “I can see a cave entrance over there. Let’s go!”

They reach the cave despite the deluvian rain making it difficult for either of them to see, despite their enhanced senses. Milo is still under the influence of Axii, luckily, or the gelding might have actually bolted and gotten lost in the forest. By contrast, Scorpion is the picture of peaceful serenity, the fucking show-off. Figures that golden boy Eskel doesn’t settle for anything less than the golden boy of horses. Milo and Scorpion fit inside the cave, and almost instantly, Milo seeks the warmth and comfort of Eskel’s war horse. Lambert rolls his eyes fondly at his mount, but before he can work on untacking Milo, he feels two strong arms wrap around his waist and pull him flush against a broad chest.

“Looks like we’ll be stuck here for a while,” Eskel breathes huskily in Lambert’s ear, “need to find a way to fill the time, hm?”

Lambert turns around in the embrace and tilts his head to the side. There’s not much of a height difference between them, but if they want to split hairs, Eskel is perhaps several inches taller than Lambert. Eskel meets Lambert’s gaze again, and that fondly enamoured look is back, making Lambert’s heart flutter in his chest. Eskel is soaked, water trickling down his face and getting lost in the ridges of his scars.

“Are ya gonna kiss me, or?” Eskel asks breathlessly, his hands securely framing Lambert’s hips. Lambert’s lips quirk into a smirk at the thinly veiled demand, and while he’s really tempted to deny Eskel his kiss and tease him a little more, Lambert can’t deny that he wants to taste his lover’s lips.

So that’s exactly what he does.

Eskel’s lips are wet, like Lambert’s, which admittedly doesn’t make for the best kiss, but it’s chaste and sweet, and soothing on Lambert’s soul. Eskel responds eagerly, his lips moving gently against Lambert’s. Before Eskel has a chance to deepen the kiss, however, Lambert feels his lover take a deep inhale and let out an impressive sneeze that resonates against the bare walls of the cave, spooking the horses in the process.

“Great,” Lambert grouses, scrunching his nose up in disgust, “thanks for that. Sneezing in my face, you dickhead.”

“It’s not like I meant for it to happen,” Eskel retorts, his tone turning defensive, “was an accident.”

“You’re a fucking witcher, Eskel! We don’t fucking sneeze!”

“We’re not statues, Lambert! Our nostrils can get irritated, too. Geralt was allergic to pollen before the trials, he still sneezes when he’s too close to a field in the summer.”

Lambert snorts in response to that revelation, even though he tries hard not to, but the thought of the famous White Wolf having a sneezing fit while trying to fight off a royal griffin is just too good not to laugh at. Lambert puffs his cheeks, trapping his laughter before it has a chance to tumble past his lips. Eskel levels him with a look, though Lambert notices the way scarred lips twitch into a half-smirk.

“Stop that! It’s not funny,” Eskel chastises, biting back his own snort.

“Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong, my dear Eskel. Let me tell you exactly why this is fucking hilar-”

Lambert doesn’t get a chance to finish his sentence before scarred lips cover his mouth once again, catching him off guard as Eskel kisses him breathless. Lambert melts under the ministrations, and soon enough, all thoughts of Geralt and his strange bodily reactions to pollen leave his mind as Lambert focuses wholeheartedly on the feeling of Eskel’s lips against his.

The rain is still pouring outside, but there’s no place Lambert would rather be than in this cave, wrapped up in Eskel’s strong and warm arms.

#the witcher #eskel #the witcher eskel #eskel the witcher #lambert #the witcher lambert #lambert the witcher #lambskel #lambert x eskel #eskel x lambert #fluff #havenwrites #kiss prompts

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absynthe--minded · 4 years ago

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How differently do you see elves and humans in eqrly tolkien handling trauma and neurodivergent situations that in the third age when the two races have more time to compare like healer notes and stuff?

oh! oh I like this question.

(disclaimer: everything here is based on my own headcanons. Tolkien clearly depicted mental illness in his works, though it’s more present in LotR than in the Silm, but he didn’t ever diagnose his characters and didn’t go into detail examining their mental states from an academic or analytical perspective except to defend Frodo for breaking under Sauron’s influence)

the first thing I want to say is that I pretty strongly headcanon all of the eldar regardless of ethnic group (and all dwarves, and all hobbits, but they’re not really the focus of this ask) as neurodivergent compared to the average human population. neurodivergence exists in humans too! there are autistic and ADHD humans because we’ve always existed in humanity. but the average human is (sadly) neurotypical, and if you use diagnostic standards meant to find out which humans are ND and turn them on elves, the answer you get is “all elves are ND”. some elves (Maitimo comes to mind in my headcanons) are ND-by-elvish-standards, and learning disabilities and cognitive disabilities also exist in elvish neurology? but there are differences in how these traits manifest.

Elves in the First Age really don’t know much about psychology but it’s not for lack of trying. Even in our world, psychology is a very new science, and a lot is being discovered about it pretty regularly that requires constant updates and development of knowledge. They see trauma as something that causes a mental wound, and that mental wound can be as impactful and lasting as a physical wound, but they’re not really sure how to address chronic illness. Míriel’s postpartum depression was the first real example of their “mental wound” model failing - she not only didn’t get better over time, she didn’t seem to want to. That being said, her death was also a catalyst for elven healers to try and learn from their society’s mistakes, and by the time of Maitimo’s recovery in Mithrim (in BH) you have Endanáro and Amdis saying that he needs to devote time and energy to healing his mind and accepting that he’s not okay. It’s well-meaning, but awkward, and very new.

Elves also struggle for the first five generations or so with the concept of emotional maturity. I’ve mentioned before that Finwë fails as a parent because he and others of his generation based childrearing on what they observed in animals, where there’s support and intimacy and duties assumed by the parent until physical maturity - he didn’t think that Fëanáro might have needed emotional support or that his responsibilities included forming a psychologically healthy space, because he was never a child, and had nothing to draw on personally, and the children who were born in Cuiviénen and on the Great Journey are very different psychologically from his son and so can’t provide much of an opinion on his parenting techniques.

Humans, on the other hand - they start in the same place, but they pick up on things a lot faster, if only because they’ve got generational turnover happening fast compared to the elves. There are a lot more children, since humans don’t have the level of control over their lives that elves do and unplanned pregnancy is a pretty normal occurrence, and they mature pretty quickly and then have kids of their own. Trial and error and passing on knowledge the same way elves do (communally, from one person to another) means it’s pretty easy to get information about basically anything once you’ve got a couple centuries under your belt as a people group.

The thing about neurodiversity is that it’s not really something that was a problem historically in the same way it’s a problem now. If you’ve got a kid who doesn’t talk much but who’s really good at making baskets and never gets tired of it, or a kid who loves to talk and tell stories but who loses track of time and can’t keep a good count on weaving, or who absorbs information about the natural world like a sponge but can’t navigate a social function to save their life? you can use that, in a society that’s not ours! you need craftspeople, and storytellers and historians, and healers and hunters - find a thing this kid can do well and thrives on, and let them loose. (Also, ND people with different circadian rhythms can keep watch more easily or keep different schedules to attend to the animals.) I actually think ND elves had a harder time than ND humans, originally, because elvish society was more formalized more quickly - it’s easier to find out you don’t fit into a box if there’s a box in the first place. (by “harder time” I mean that there was uh. one? one case? of “I’m the head of this family you will have the life I say you have you will be good at what I want you to be good at and you will not question me or defy me.” this was not the norm for elvish society but that kind of thing didn’t really have the opportunity to exist for First Age Atani.)

But time passes, the world changes, and with those changes comes shifts in... well, everything. By the Third Age, elvish healers and Mannish healers have gotten very good at figuring out trauma, though their situations have actually reversed in many ways. Elves are now more or less nonexistent as a settled-agriculture civilization, with Mirkwood and Lothlórien being the only real exceptions (and Lórien is on its way out) while Men have formal, structured, settled civilization. As a result I think you see a lot more trouble in the more formal Mannish societies with neurodivergence, but a lot less potential for trouble in elvendom.

As to notes, though - yeah, actually, I think there would be a lot of time to do comparisons! Most of that scholarship is probably in Rivendell - I think there might have been the beginnings of a psychological-study group in the Gwaith in Ost-in-Edhil, especially because of all the races working together and the chances for comparisons? And their writings probably escaped in bits and pieces, as well as some of the scholars; Elrond would have collected everything he could. Unfortunately, Sauron really killed the spirit of cooperation and interspecies friendliness that existed in Eregion, so I’m not sure how much of that would survive into the Third Age proper. Interested scholars would have to travel to Rivendell, perhaps to interview the surviving scientists, and maybe take some of their findings back to Minas Tirith or Dol Amroth or Lothlórien, perhaps with copies of some of the writing. (How seriously this scholarship is taken is a different matter)

If I were to offer a basic overview of what the average academic might find - I think an elvish scholar from the Third Age would be surprised at how much Mannish civilizations have changed, and they’d be impressed by the breadth and depth of trauma writing from places like Minas Tirith where there’s always a war on somewhere. Meanwhile mannish scholars from Arnor or Gondor would be surprised at the fact that elves write about and study trauma at all - they’d probably learn about Míriel and Fëanáro in history classes and assume that elves just don’t have trauma psychology, only to find out that several thousand years’ worth of academic study has lent a few results. I’m not sure if either side has much to offer the other except when it comes to the intersection of trauma and neurodivergence - ND humans are a lot like “normal” elves, after all, and elvish techniques for addressing and treating PTSD and other related trauma disorders might be more helpful than human techniques. But what humans have works for them, more or less? They’re a lot less rigid and structured and ableist as a society than humans in our world are, even at their most formal. (Plenty of individual humans are still super ableist or rigid or unfair! it’s just not a social norm, and it’s not an institutionalized axis of oppression.)

#replies #anon replies #absynthe's meta #tolken #this is a Long Post guys

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cakers-2000 · 4 years ago

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Hi!! So your writing is GOD TIER and I had an idea for a Panta gremlin request! It's based off the song Let me down slowly by Alec Benjamin, where the reader finds out what Kokichi's plan is and is upset that he never planned to tell her, but she realizes that there's nothing she can do to stop him, so uh ANGST, LOTS OF ANGST. Specifically "If you want to go then I'll be so lonely, if you're leaving baby let me down slowly" (😭) Only if you want to though! Tysm!!

Oh my gosh thank you so much!!! I’m glad you enjoy my writing 🥺❤️

I made some slight alterations and I really hope you don’t mind! I absolutely loved this idea!

Though my heart hurts now 😭

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~Please Don’t Leave Me~ (Kokichi X Reader)

Word count: 1.5k

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Kokichi was never easy to read. Even after your relationship with him started to truly blossom your ability to read the boy never really grew. You wanted to believe that over time he would open up to you. You wanted to believe that over time he would begin to truly trust you. But unfortunately as time grew and the more class trials you faced together the further he seemed to be distancing himself from you.

You didn’t want to confront him about it. It wasn’t as if he wasn’t showing you any type of affection at all. He seemed to be just as playful and mischievous as ever but after your third class trial something seemed… off about him.

And then, the fourth trial came around, and he truly changed.

You never knew what was going on. His trust in you shrunk, he seemed to be distancing himself from you. You hardly ever saw him anymore, he always seemed to be hiding from you.

To put things plainly, you missed him. You were frustrated and confused. Why had he essentially abandoned you? You were supposed to love and care for each other, what the hell was going on?

Oftentimes you would find yourself walking around the school in somewhat of a daze, hoping that you would run into him in the hopes of being able to confront him. The only people you were able to find though were your fellow comrades, there was never any sign of Kokichi.

Before long your frustration grew into rage and you had had enough.

You waited until that night when everyone was to be asleep in their rooms and stormed up the stairs leading to his own. You knocked, trying your best to be gentle and bite back the anger burning inside you. You didn’t want to be angry at him, you were sure he had his reasons, you just wanted answers.

At first you didn’t think he was going to answer, perhaps he wasn’t even in his room at all. You contemplated leaving, this was a fruitless adventure. He had been going out of his way to stay away from you so why would he allow you into his room. Perhaps he despised you.

A sigh escaped your lips before you turned on your heels. Fine. If he didn’t want to see you then you’d leave.

But before you could take a single step forward the door behind you creaked open, followed shortly by a playful and teasing voice. “What are you doing here so late at night (Y/N)? Nothing naughty I hope~”

Even without looking at him you could tell that a mischievous smile had curled its way onto his lips. You resisted the urge to smile just at his teasing, you were always a sucker for his cute charms. But you had to stay strong. You were here on serious business and he needed to know you weren’t playing around. How else would you get your point across?

You turned back around to face him and crossed your arms over your chest. His head slightly tilted to the side to show his confusion as you didn’t so much as acknowledge his teasing. It was an underwhelming reaction to be sure.

“What’s the matter (Y/N)-chan?”

“We need to talk.”

The confused look fell off of his face and was instead replaced with an oddly serious expression. He stepped aside to allow you access to his room and you gladly accepted, this wasn’t a discussion you wanted to have within earshot of anyone else anyways.

You slowly but surely made your way towards the bed in the center of his room. He had already sat down on the soft sheets, awaiting your arrival. You sunk yourself down to sit beside him but he moved himself so that he was instead sitting criss cross in front of you. “What’s up (Y/N)?”

Now that he was sitting in front of you, you had no clue what to say to him. You had never been any good at dealing with confrontation.

“Kokichi… I…”

He seemed to catch on quick at your struggle and reached for your hand. He grasped it in his own, intertwining your fingers with his own. His hand was warm and his presence reassured you. You didn’t know what was happening with him as of late but you loved him and he needed to know that.

“Kokichi. What have you been doing lately?”

“What do you mean?”

“What do you think I mean Koki? You’ve been actively ignoring me for weeks, I haven’t even been able to see you once. Something’s going on and I want… no. I need you to tell me.”

“(Y/N).” It honestly always startled you when he became serious. It was so out of character for him. “There’s nothing going on! I’m fine! I promise!” And just like that the serious expression he held turned into that of a bright smile.

Normally that’s all it would’ve taken for him to get you out of his hair, but you wouldn’t believe that.

“Stop lying to me goddammit! I’m worried about you!” He froze at your sudden shout. He opened his mouth to speak to you but couldn’t get a word out due to his shock. He really didn’t know what to say to you. “Don’t you trust me!? I-I thought you loved me, we’re supposed to care for each other, we’re supposed to be honest with each other… Just… why.”

You were trying so hard to hold back your tears. Your voice was so shaky and your hands shook due to your frustration and anger. His eyes refused to look at you, instead staring at the bed. Hearing his silence only made you angrier, truly cementing the fact that he didn’t care about you but the second you opened your mouth to speak but he finally interrupted the silence.

“That’s not it at all.”

“Then what is it!?”

He couldn’t sit still anymore. He quickly jumped off of the bed and paced in front of the bed as he spoke to you. “I’m ending this killing game (Y/N). I-I have a plan. I’m going to get you and everyone else out of here.”

“W-What’s the plan?... Wait… Me and everyone else? What about you Kokichi?”

He stopped pacing, completely frozen. He was speaking so fast he honestly hadn’t expected you to catch that part. “Well that’s the thing… I’ve gotta… you know…”

“Kokichi no!”

You caught on extremely fast. You already knew where he was going with this. There was no way you were going to let him do this. “You can’t just throw away your life like that!”

“What other choice do we have (Y/N)?”

“You survive and escape with us!”

“You don’t understand.”

“You can’t just leave me!” There were so many emotions swirling around in your head. You couldn’t lose him. You wanted to scream, you wanted to cry. You were so angry and sad and frustrated. How could he think this was the right option? “I thought you loved me Kokichi!”

“W-What?” He seemed genuinely shocked at your outburst and turned to face you. There was hurt in his eyes, you could clearly see it. “You really think I don’t love you? I’m doing this so that you can escape. Can’t you see, I’m doing it because I do love you.”

Everything he was saying was so unlike him, you weren’t sure what to believe. All you knew was that you didn’t want him wasting his life like this. “Kokichi you don’t even know if your plan will work do you? You could be wasting your life in vain.”

“That’s just a risk I have to take.”

“Damnit Kokichi why won’t you just understand! I don’t want you to do this! I don’t want you to leave me! I’ll be alone! Alone and scared.”

A sigh escaped him, he had figured a reaction like this would happen. It wasn’t as if he wanted to leave you either, but he had to do this. His arms slowly opened and without him even saying a word you lunged into his arms. He engulfed you in a tight hug, slightly rocking the both of you as you finally let your tears escape you.

Though your voice was muffled as you spoke into the crook of his neck he could hear you muttering to him in between your sobs. A small and quiet, almost meek, “Please don’t leave me.”

Kokichi didn’t want to cry. He wouldn’t cry… but then what was the warm liquid slowly escaping down his cheek? He tried his hardest to hold them back but the more sobs that escaped you and the more he felt your body shake in his grip the harder it became for him to contain his own emotions. He couldn’t stop them. The tears slowly fell down his cheeks and he attempted to bury his face in your hair, his hands moving to play with the ends in his fingers as he spoke in between his own cries.

“I’m sorry (Y/N). I’m so sorry.”

#kokichi ouma #kokichi #danganronpa kokichi #kokichi x reader #kokichi scenario #danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #danganronpa killing harmony #danganronpa x reader #danganronpa scenarios

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