#IM FINDING A NEW FAMILY

[hinamie]

spiraling

[frostgnawdraws]

failure and futility

for day 2 of campfire fest! prompt: third eye (and i guess could also count for explosion, or a lack thereof lol) @outerwilds-events

[luxaofhesperides]

For the ghostlights drabbles: “Say my name” with a favor being called in?

Duke had saved Phantom years ago, back when he was just out of high school and working to take down a branch of the government that was kidnapping and experimenting on people, targeting magic users and metas. Phantom had been working on his own to take them down, and they met in the middle, trashing a lab and freeing as many people as they could.

They had managed to shoot his back, knocking him down and making him bleed a glowing green. Phantom couldn’t move, protecting two kids with his body, and Duke couldn’t reach them in time before they were taken away by another swarm of agents. 

He was able to go after them in time, free Phantom and the kids, and evacuated the victims before Phantom rained hell down on the facility.

At the end, standing in the background as they watched paramedics treat the victims and take them towards the nearest hospitals, Phantom had turned towards him and thanked him.

Or rather, he thanked the Signal and offered him a bracelet with a rounded orb of ice, glowing faintly in the dark. If you ever need me, he had said, Hold this, and call me name.

Phantom vanished once the last of the victims were transported to a safer location, and Duke hadn’t seen him since.

He’s kept up with news about Phantom as best he can, but from what he could tell, Phantom is based primarily in Amity Park, Illinois, and the town is fiercely protective of their hero. News rarely leaks out of there, and with them running on their own servers and independent internet, it was nearly impossible to get in from the outside. 

Phantom remained a curious and distant figure in Duke’s life. He holds onto the bracelet still, guarding it carefully and sometimes running his fingers over the ice that never melts.

But he doesn’t call in that favor. He’s never to.

At least, not until now.

Sucking in a breath, Duke prepares himself and holds the orb of ice in the palm of his hand. He’s in civies, unable to hide his identity for this, and closes his eyes. “Phantom,” he says.

For a moment, nothing happens. Duke blinks his eyes open and frowns, mind already forming new plans to contact Phantom. Then the ice goes bitingly cold, almost painful, and the temperature in the room drops dramatically. The ice lifts up from his hand, floating in the air, then cracks open.

White-blue light spills out of it, growing brighter as it seems to swallow up the room entirely. Duke hurries to back up, an arm thrown up to protect his eyes. His breath mists out before him and he shivers as the sound of ice cracking fills the room.

And then, just as suddenly as it started, the light disappears and the cold fades away like a bad dream. 

Slowly, Duke lowers his arm and looks up at Phantom, floating in the middle of his living room with a crown made of ice, engulfed in blue fire, hovers above his head. He looks older, more regal, holding his head high. 

He regards Duke carefully for a minute, then tilts his head and says, “Signal?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Man, I’m so glad you came.”

“You… need help with something? You’re calling in your favor now, right?”

Duke nods. He understands Phantom’s confusion; being in the hero business means that favors like these tend to be used only during the most hopeless of times, when the world is close to ending, when the chances of getting out of a situation alive is close to impossible. It’s exactly the kind of thing Duke was expecting to call Phantom in for.

Not the kid sleeping on his couch.

“You’re a ghost, yeah?”

Phantom blinks at him. “Ghost king, now. Why?”

“Well…” Duke rubs the back of his neck, nervously. “I didn’t really know who else to call, and I can’t do this on my own since I’m not a ghost. But this kid got attached to me and won’t leave, so now I’m taking care of her and I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“I don’t know why you think I have any experience with kids but—”

“She’s a ghost.”

Phantom stops short. “Ah. I see.” He floats down until his feet touch the floor, and then he’s standing like any other person. “Where…?”

Duke looks past Phantom’s shoulder, and Phantom turns to follow his gaze. Chelsea, the ghost girl, looks to be around nine years old and is fast asleep on the couch, curled up under Duke’s softest blanket.

“Signal,” Phantom says quietly, “What, exactly, is the favor you need from me?”

“You can say no,” Duke starts. “I get that this is a lot. But I need help raising her. And since you’re a ghost, I figured you could help me learn about the ghostly side of things. You don’t have to raise her with me or anything! Just… I would appreciate any help you’re willing to give me.”

Phantom doesn’t say no. He doesn’t say anything. He just stares down at Chelsea, an unreadable expression on his face. 

On the couch. Chelsea shifts in her sleep, brows furrowing as she makes a choked noise in the back of her throat.

Moving on autopilot after so many nights of this routine, Duke kneels next to the couch, fishing one of her hands from beneath the blanket. He gives it a few reassuring squeezes, keeping it a slow rhythm to pull her gently from her nightmare. She settles down in just a minute, brow smoothing out as she continues to sleep. 

The silence grows and Duke is all too aware that his heart is the only one beating. 

He doesn’t hear Phantom move. Doesn’t realize he’s right next to him until he sees Phantom’s hand reach out towards Chelsea. When Duke looks, Phantom is sitting on the floor next to Duke, looking at Chelsea with something soft and devastated in his eyes. His hand hovers about her head for a long moment, then slowly lowers to rest on her head. 

The touch looks gently, barely putting any pressure on her head, but it’s enough to make Chelsea’s eyes snap open, suddenly wide awake. She stares at Phantom with wide eyes, then sits up and looks between him and Duke.

“Who are you?” she asks in a small voice that makes Duke want to stand against the world to keep her safe. 

Phantom smiles. It’s casual and charming and makes him look like anyone else, as if he’s not a powerful king from a realm unreachable to humans. “Hi there,” he says, “I’m Danny. I’m a ghost like you. Signal called me and asked me to meet you.”

The Ghost King is good with kids. Who would have thought?

Chelsea looks at him for confirmation and only relaxes when he nods. “I’m Chelsea. What do you mean ghost? I’m not dead.”

Both he and Phantom tense, carefully keeping their expressions neutral. She hasn’t told him much at all, just that her parents were gone and forgot her and she got hurt, so she wanted to stay with ‘Mr. Signal’ because he’s a hero and heroes keep people safe and he was the only one who was Black like her. Duke hadn’t had the heart to say no, and began searching for her family, only to find that her parents had fled the state, and likely the country, after killing their only child through neglect and a dangerous environment. 

It was then that he realized that her powers were not because she was a meta, but because she was ghost.

It still hurts to realize how young she is, how much of her life had been stolen from her in an instant. Duke hadn’t been brave enough to broach the topic with her, instead choosing to let her grow comfortable in his presence, get them both settled into a routine now that he was her primary guardian. 

“I know it sounds scary,” Phantom says, “And you may not want to believe me, but it’s true. I’m sorry that you died so young, but that just means you get to hang out with me and other ghosts from now on!”

Chelsea crosses her arms over her chest and glares at him. “I am not dead,” she says.

“Cici, I’m sorry to say this, but you are,” Duke cuts in. “That’s why I called… Danny. You have new powers as a ghost, and he can help you get used to them.”

“I’m not dead!” she says again.

“Kid,” Phantom begins, but Chelsea shakes her head hard and hops off the couch.

“I’m not lying! Watch, I’ll prove it to you!” She closes her eyes and scrunches up her nose, concentrating. Her hands curl into tight fists by her sides, and the glow around her grows dim. Two faint, stuttering rings of light appear around her waist. They flicker and wobble in the air, as if weak and uncertain of their own existence, then split apart, one moving up towards her head while the other falls to her feet.

Beside him, Phantom sucks in a sharp breath, but Duke can’t turn to see what’s wrong when he’s trying to take in the sight of Chelsea suddenly full of vibrant color, looking more solid that he’s ever seen her, very much alive.

“See?” she says proudly, lifting her arms and doing a spin to show off her right she was. “I told you I’m not dead!”

“No, you’re not,” Phantom agrees, sounding shell-shocked. When Duke is finally able to look away from Chelsea to check on him, he looks awed. There’s the smallest smile on his face, just the slightest upturn of his lips, but it makes him look softer.

Duke turns his attention back to Chelsea before he can be caught staring. “Cici, can you come here for a second?”

She goes before he’s finished speaking, crossing the space between them in a single jump, then grins up at him. Her hair is a bit of a mess, the two buns he managed to get her hair into falling askew. He makes a note to visit the old aunties in the Narrows later to ask them to teach him how to do hair. For now, he holds out a hand and Chelsea drops an arm into it.

It seems to good to be true, having her be alive, but her pulse is steady and strong when he presses his thumb against the inside of her wrist. 

“Well,” he says, leaning back and letting go of her arm. “You certainly proved us wrong.”

Chelsea doesn’t have much time to look smug before PHantom quietly says, “You’re like me.”

“What?”

“You’re like me,” he tells Chelsea. “A halfa.”

She tilts her head to one side. “What’s that?”

“Someone who is half human and half ghost. Both dead and alive.”

Duke blinks, taking in the words, then turns to face Phantom so quickly he’s worried he might give himself whiplash. Halfa, he said. Like me, he said. 

And sure enough, two rings of light, bright and strong, appear around Phantom’s waist before splitting in half, moving over his entire body. 

Gone is the Ghost King, all powerful and adorned in dark clothing with a crown of ice above his head. In his place is a guy who looks to be Duke’s age, eyes a deep blue and his black hair messy, feet set solidly on the floor. He looks completely normal, completely human, and no longer an impossibility.

“You still up for learning how to use all your new powers?” Phantom asks.

Chelsea grins. “Yeah!” And then, with a quick flick of her eyes going from Phantom to Duke that he almost misses, very innocently asks, “Are you going to stay with us then?”

“I… don’t know?” Phantom looks to Duke for an answer.

Already, Duke can see this going two ways. The correct way forward, the normal one, has Phantom popping in every so often, taking Chelsea out for a few hours to work on training her and her powers. It’s easy and routine and they can keep their boundaries uncrossed and be professional. 

The other path is what Duke wants most that he shouldn’t impose onto the literal Ghost King. He could have Phantom living with them while he’s on Earth and out of Amity Park, having a place at the table, a section in the closet for his own clothes, a quietly domestic night together while Chelsea sleeps where they can get to know each other more, get to know each other outside of news reports and texts on a screen.

“You can stay with us if you want,” Duke offers, casually, “It might keep my apartment safe from her powers acting up on their own again.”

“Are you sure? I could always just fly in on the weekends or something.”

“I’d appreciate having you around. So you can help Cici.”

“If you don’t mind,” Phantom says, looking away. Like this, fully alive with a beating heart, it’s easy to see the blush steal away across his cheeks. 

“I don’t.”

“I don’t either!” Chelsea pops in, looking far too gleeful by their awkward conversation.

Duke can’t help but laugh, feeling lighter than he had in ages. The relief of knowing that Chelsea is alive, for the most part at least, eases the guilt of thinking he had been too late to save her, that there was no chance she could have made it out and had a future, makes him feel weak. All the exhaustion of the past few weeks hits him all at once and he wants nothing more than to collapse in bed and sleep for twelve hours.

“Alright, squirt,” he says, reaching out to pat her head. “It’s late. We can talk more in the morning, so go to bed. In your actual bed this time, not on the couch.”

Chelsea stands up taller, ready to argue, but Duke gives her a Look™ and she quickly shuts her mouth, nods, and drags her feet back to her room (the former guestroom he can never give any of the other Waynes ever again, once they find out about her). 

Sighing, Duke collapses onto the couch once he hears the door shut behind her. Phantom joins him after a few seconds, sitting tentatively on the edge of the couch. The cushion moves beneath his weight, another reminder of how solid and alive he is right not.

Duke wants to touch him, to reach out and feel for himself his pulse, the warmth of his body, his chest lifting with each breath. 

He doesn’t move. He stays where he is, hands carefully still, and tries to think past the dizzying thoughts of she’s still alive, I’m not too late, he’s still here, he’s alive.

“Rough week?” Phantom asks, voice purposefully light.

“Something like that.”

“You should get some sleep too.”

“I don’t think I can. Not after everything. My mind’s too loud right now.”

Phantom shifts closer to him, hesitant in a way that Duke has never seen before in him, and asks, “Want me to stay with you until you mind quiets down some?”

“Yeah. I’d like that. Thanks, Phantom.”

“You know, if I’m going to be around so often as Chelsea’s halfa mentor, then you might as well call me Danny.”

Truth be told, Duke didn’t think that was his real name. He’s glad to know it’s not. 

“Then call me Duke.”

“...Are you sure? You could still hide your identity from me.”

“Nah, I trust you. A name for a name, yeah?”

Danny smiles. “Duke,” he says, testing out the name, and it’s never sounded better than when it falls from Danny’s mouth.

“Danny,” Duke returns. He belatedly realizes that they’ve leaned towards each other, drawn together like gravity, stuck in each other’s orbit. It feels natural. It feels like this is where they’re meant to be.

Maybe he should be more cautious. They’ve only meant once before, after all. But he’s read all he could on Phantom and has seen how Amity Park loves him. He’s stressed and exhausted and trying to figure out how to look after a half-ghost child that’s already been dealt a bad hand in life. He should be keeping Phantom at a distance, watching over him carefully to ensure he isn’t a threat to Chelsea.

But Duke saw how he acted with Chelsea, so gentle and understanding and kind. That’s all he needed to see.

He may not know much about Danny, but he knows this: he is trustworthy.

Enough to entrust his identity to him.

Enough to entrust Chelsea to him.

It’s more than a favor; it’s a promise to walk this road together. 

There’s no one he’d rather do this with. 

“Thanks,” he says again, “For all of this. I know it’s a lot.”

Danny shrugs. “I don’t mind. Really. It’s nice to know there’s another halfa out there, no matter how she came to be one. Makes things feel less lonely.”

“Will you tell me more about halfas?”

“Later. Once you get some proper rest. We’ve got time, haven’t we?”

“We do,” Duke agrees, affection settling warm in his chest. “We’ve got plenty of time.”

Learning how to control her new powers won’t be easy for Chelsea. Learning how to take care of her won’t be easy. Learning how to do things together, as Duke and Danny rather than the Signal and Phantom, won’t be easy. But Duke knows with a certainty he feels in his bones that they’re going to be fine.

So long as they’ve got each other, they’ll be fine.

[seventeendeer]

I finished playing Sonic Rush Adventure for myself for the first time today, and in the spirit of appreciating old 00's Sonic games and their crazy lore, I'd like to share a theory about Blaze's confused origins and where her story might have been headed if her and Silver's storyline hadn't been scrapped. come with me on this archeological dig through the bizarre multi-game storytelling of Sonic games of yesteryear ✨✨

Blaze the Cat was first introduced in Sonic Rush in 2005, where she was a princess from a parallel dimension called the Sol Dimension. her kingdom was called the Sol Empire, and she guarded a set of seven magical gems similar to the Chaos Emeralds called the Sol Emeralds.

however, only a year later, Blaze was reintroduced in Sonic '06 as a seemingly normal girl from the distant future, who had spent her life fighting a losing battle against Iblis, the embodiment of the power and wrath of the shattered sun god Solaris, which had devastated the world. this version of Blaze didn't seem to have any memories of the Sonic Rush storyline, aside from a sort of wistful reaction when someone mentions Sonic.

at the end of her storyline in Sonic '06, Blaze absorbs Iblis into her soul, then seals herself and Iblis away "to another dimension" to give the destroyed future a chance at bouncing back. as she does so, her color scheme briefly changes ... to resemble that of her super form from Sonic Rush, Burning Blaze (and it's not just the lighting either, look at how the cuffs on her clothes turn from white to hot pink)

in Rush, Blaze was only able to become Burning Blaze when she was in possession of all seven Sol Emeralds, and infused them with positive emotion. in '06, she does not have the emeralds, but she does have a bonding moment with her bestie, Silver, seconds before transforming.

in '06, the Sol Emeralds are never mentioned, neither is the Sol Dimension, or the Sol Empire, or the fact that Blaze is a princess.

Solaris, aside from being a sun god, is also depicted as existing outside of time and space; when its complete form is fought at the end of the game, it has to be defeated in the past, present and future all at once in order to subdue it. Blaze sealing away Iblis in the future was not enough to prevent it from merging with its other half to become Solaris again at another point in time.

so here's my pet theory: if the games had ever returned to Blaze's story, it would eventually have been revealed that the Sol Emeralds - and potentially the entiretiy of Rush-Blaze's homeworld - are what became of Iblis' power after it and Blaze were sealed away in the other dimension. being a fragment of a god that exists eternally across time, it could have brought an entirely new world and timeline into being when transported to the other dimension. Solaris is already loaded with references to real-world religions, a parallel world+timeline coming into being as a result of a god somehow coming to harm would fit right in (I'm personally thinking of Earth being formed from the corpse of Ymir in Norse mythology, but lots of others exist as well that I'm less familiar with).

this is supported by multiple details across Sonic '06, Sonic Rush, Rush's direct sequel, Sonic Rush Adventure, as well as the Sonic Rivals games also released in 2006 and 2007, including:

- Iblis, in its powered-up form, is depicted as a lava monster, and when we go to visit the Sol Dimension in Rush Adventure, the story primarily takes place on a chain of islands with volcanic activity.

- in Rush, when the Sol Emeralds are stolen from the Sol Dimension and taken to the main story's dimension, the parallel worlds begin to merge, as if the Sol Emeralds are pulling the Sol Dimension with them. the Chaos Emeralds do not cause the same problem when they're in the Sol Dimension in Rush Adventure, suggesting the Sol Emeralds and Sol Dimension have a special link. it is also mentioned that the Sol Dimension is dependent on the Sol Emeralds to remain stable, which is also not the case with the Chaos Emeralds and the main dimension.

- the Sol and Chaos Emeralds are stated to be "like north and south on a magnet" in relation to each other; they are uniquely connected, and they seem to link the parallel dimensions together. in a scrapped line from the script of Sonic '06, Solaris is called "a bridge to other worlds", which could allude to this connection as well. two Chaos Emeralds were also present when Blaze transported Iblis to the other dimension, and all seven Chaos Emeralds were used to defeat Solaris, either of which could have created some kind of bond there.

- in Rush Adventure, an incredibly powerful magical force is locked away deep within a magma-filled cavern underground called the Power of the Stars, which upholds the energy field that separates and stabilized the multiverse. given the name and the visuals of the location, this could be another remnant of Iblis'/Solaris' power. the key to unlocking this power is a magical scepter; notably, Iblis' other half, which it must merge with to become Solaris, was sealed inside a different scepter, creating some thematic overlap.

- in the final story of Sonic '06, every character is brought together for the final battle against a newly reborn Solaris ... with the sole exception of Blaze, who has not been seen since she sealed that one version of Iblis away in the future. this suggests that wherever Blaze went was somehow beyond reach at this point, even when factoring in time travel and dimensions fracturing. so although Solaris is erased from existence in the final story, seemingly across all of time and space, it is possible that that one part of it remained with Blaze, tucked away in the Sol Dimension, which remains untouched by the events of the final story somehow.

- the Blaze we meet in Sonic '06 seems to have nerves of steel, but the Blaze we know from Rush and onward is notably uncomfortable around water and in the cold, which could be because she still has a stowaway lava monster in her soul (with her being a cat and a natural fire elemental herself perhaps being intentionally misleading). more notably, she has a phobia of heights - and if she has any subconscious memories of the old timeline, being high up off the ground would be the last thing she remembered before her old life was taken away from her:

- the version of Blaze we know from the Rush games is said to be descended from a royal family who have run the Sol Empire and protected both the Sol Emeralds and the key to the Power of the Stars for generations. this is a 1-to-1 parallel to the way Solaris once entrusted itself in its passive form as a small flame to the royal family of Soleanna in the main dimension for generations, before it was fragmented and its wrath was provoked. Princess Blaze containing Iblis within her soul is also a direct parallel to Princess Elise of Soleanna doing the same before her. either Iblis "remembered" being cared for by a royal family and willed an entirely new empire into being for Blaze to be the princess of in order to have powerful people around to protect it, or I guess Solaris is just a diehard monarchist even when half-dead

- after '06, Silver is next seen in Sonic Rivals, where he is trying to prevent a different dimension-hopping lava monster from destroying the future, the Ifrit. aside from their names sounding similar, the Ifrit and Iblis look nearly the same. maybe the Ifrit is a part of Iblis that "chipped off" Blaze's soul when she was traveling through the multiverse, which took up residence in its own little pocket dimension?

- the Rush and Rivals games also give us Eggman Nega, a character who is at first said to be a counterpart of sorts to Doctor Eggman from the Sol Dimension, only to later be revealed to actually be his descendant from the future. this could have been foreshadowing Blaze's character ending up on a similar path, albeit unknowingly.

- this is more of a narrative detail/thematic overlap than an in-universe hint, but after their lives were rewritten and their memories of their time together were lost, both Blaze and Silver are portrayed as friendless and maladjusted. Blaze was bullied growing up in the Sol Dimension, and Silver is stated to always have been alone in the new version of the future. both characters bond with other members of the cast and learn to trust again in Rush and Rivals 2, respectively. this may have been laying the groundwork for an emotional reunion between the two later down the line, where they realize that even though they couldn't remember each other, they were never really alone.

I'm willing to bet there are more hints hidden around if you dig for them, and if I think of any more connections, I'll add them in a reblog.

it's well-known at this point that a spinoff game starring Silver was planned to release sometime after '06, the Rush games and the Rivals games, but critical backlash and financial problems after '06 bombed caused Sega to change direction for the franchise, and Silver's game never manifested. I'm willing to bet Silver's game would have addressed the questions around Blaze's character. apparently, according to interviews, an answer to the mystery does exist internally at Sega ... maybe now that there is renewed interesting in spotlighting the franchise's supporting cast again in the new 20's, it'll come up again sometime. Shadow Generations was a huge success, and it picked up story threads left hanging from that same era of games, so you never know !!!

[lilywave]

”i’m your favorite perk” shoot me dead why don’t you

[clumsypuppy]

Why are ppl scared to call it what it is and say we’re still going thru covid on top of seasonal illness. Like. That’s pretty important right. I was watching the news and they were like oh yeah we have an unprecedented number of flu cases “as well as other sicknesses” without actually saying Covid. No announcement abt vaccinations or masking or anything. Also if I hear someone joking abt “war flashbacks” for mentioning covid I fucking hate u

[aquatic-potato]

I have finally found you. you took the username I wanted. you are now my mortal enemy

(/j lol)

I accept the mantle. We will have matching jackets made and duel every third Tuesday. Till death do us part.

[madbard]

“Ford is irredeemably self-centered” this, “Ford’s a bad person” that, etc…

Alright. Tell me then.

What was he supposed to do?!?!

Be a better brother? Ford loved Stan! When they were children, Ford took care of his brother as best he could. But Ford was also a kid in a bad situation, and there were limits to what he could do. Not to mention that Stan relied so heavily on Ford that it honestly wasn’t healthy for either of them. Stan couldn’t stand by himself and he wasn’t trying. They were both struggling; maybe pin that on the parents instead of the kids.

Not be angry at Stan for messing with his experiment? Of course Ford was angry! This was his dream college; in that moment he thought his entire future was crumbling. I assure you, if my sibling had ruined my chances of getting into my dream school I would have been more than a little upset, and I’m sure the same goes for most of the people reading this. Of course, Ford did hold onto that anger for considerably longer than was justified, but in this case I would argue that Ford less “held a grudge for 10 years out of spite” and more “never got the chance to make things right with his brother and held onto that anger because it was better than the nauseating guilt over that final argument, the uncertainty at times that his brother was even alive.” (Which is not to say that Ford isn’t spiteful. Our man has plenty of spite. But him being spiteful is not the only thing going on here.) Which brings us to our next point.

Stop Stan from being kicked out? How?! That household does not appear to have been a safe place for either of the brothers. Should Ford have gotten himself kicked out too? Should he have known exactly what to say to talk his father down - the man who just violently threw his twin out of the house? Ford didn’t kick Stan out. He just wasn’t able to stop it from happening, and that’s not something any teen should be blamed for.

Behave himself when reuniting with Stan at the culmination of the worst period of his life thus far? There’s stress. And then there’s being dangerously sleep-deprived and at the mercy of a horrifying demon that betrayed you, leaving you alone in a shack in the woods with no one to call for help except your estranged brother, who’s complaining about a mullet, of all things. Yeah, I’m not going to say Ford’s behavior was anything other than atrocious here. But really. How well would you handle that?

Thanked his brother? Stan could have destroyed the universe; it makes sense that Ford’s upset! He’s also had literally decades to stew in the terror and fury he experienced in those last moments before falling through the portal (something which almost certainly would not have happened if it weren’t for Stan). Again, Ford’s not acting like the world’s best brother here, but it’s understandable.

Ford’s not perfect. He can be arrogant, spiteful, and bitter. He makes serious mistakes (often due to his own hubris) that put himself, his loved ones, and sometimes the entire universe in grave peril. Ford is, in fact, deeply flawed. That’s part of what makes him a fun character! It’s also what makes him a well-written and believable character. Yes, Ford acts like a jerk. He does so quite often.

Ford also spends nearly the entire narrative bouncing from one deeply toxic situation to another, desperately trying to survive and make life better for himself and his family and watching as his brother makes mistake after mistake - sometimes making choices with severe, negative consequences on Ford’s own life.

Ford is doing the best he can. He’d not a bad person. He tries to be good. He tries to do the right thing.

He just fails sometimes.

Don’t we all?

[puretopia]

🦇🦇

[jils-things]

happy mothers day to my first and best momma concept ever designed 💚💚

[fauvester]

Okay I really need to know if there is a historical connection to Charles Sumner and Adele Cutts??? The art is so cute!

nooooo there genuinely isn’t.. they were probably in the same room together at some point, but I don’t think there’s any record of them crossing paths. Way back when I got really sad reading about sumner’s divorce and as the dedicated (???) douglas girlie I was I couldn’t help but notice that there was ANOTHER beautiful war nurse widow with young children in senator sumners orbit at around the time he met alice hooper, and she would have been a MUCH better match in terms of temperament, in my humble opinion.

sure adèle wasn’t an intellectual, to put it lightly, and it sounds likes that was one of the things sumner liked about alice, but by all accounts she was a gracious, good-natured political wife who doted on her husband and tried to get him to take breaks and take care of himself. And that’s what sumner NEEDED!

[bitter-hibiscus]

Often think about the fact that for UTRH/Lost Days to work, there would need to have been a period of at least a year of not a single person visiting Jason's grave. Since, you know, he clawed out of it and the coffin was only changed after Talia found him, a year later

[ratinthebins]

*glances at my 32 unposted yet finished chapters*

me: this is fine

[kittykalliarts]

Manifesting 5-star Mortefi when we get to the New Federation 😤

Imma ramble my nonsense in the tags because lord help me

[lunarblossomyuehua]

I finally understand why I have such a love hate for the isekai genre... I see its potential as a medium to explore a main characters flaws and force them to adapt and grow in a perilous and unkown world. Everything you once knew before can either help you or severely hurt you because you simply do not have a frame of reference for navigating this new world. and that can be fucking scary. give me a character who is terrified and has to learn to adapt through this hardship and maybe no one knows or understands what an otherworlder is... therefore their otherness is a threat and can get them in trouble with locals who dont know what their dealing with you know???

but no, isekai is simply a glorified and masked wish fufilment harem simulator for most authors who use the trope... so much lost potential. Like we COULD have such intriguing stories centered around the unkown vs known, and the fear of everything inbetween and how you and others navigate it but nooo lets just give the otherworlder godlike powers and a harem to make up for them being a bullied loner in their previous life. sigh.