#It's also not that long if I recall correct. I would die to see a sequel. It's as a standalone really amazing but I won’t say no to more

[zoekrystall]

Playing the remaster and I swear as soon as my memory of this amazing game is refreshed (and energy/brain allows me to focus) will I make a moodboard. Ghost trick is so so good please play it and don't look anything up. I still regret only playing it at the end of 2020 and not picking it up when I saw it years ago in stores. The style is also so so beautiful I'm in love with the sprites and the artstyle since I first saw it I love stylized games sm. The story!!! Which I can't say anything abt bc the less you know the better but trust me. If you won’t get into it for me then do it for missile. Who can say no to that adorable pomerania. You don't want to make that sweet dog sad now do you?

[adoregojo]

mikage's 5 steps guide! - nagi.s

i missed writing for nagi... my loverboy.. also this writing style is so fun??? wth??? i need to write like this again. i can barely keep one eye open so if there's any typo, ignore pls pls.

warnings: some cussing ig?

nagi was never that charming.

'charming' couldn't even stand being a word in his dictionary to be honest, nagi truly had zero sense of romance within him. he was an actual brick-walled person when it came to these things, or anything of strong-emotions in particular, there was no thoughts behind those void eyes of his but a circle of: sleep, eat, go to work, eat again, play games, sleep, and repeat.

even back to his high school years, not once he recalls talking to a girl, let alone getting a girlfriend, that was something beyond out of his character. maybe there was a girl that confessed to him, he remembered on valentines day he got a letter saying that he should go to the school's roof. and he ended up leaving the poor girl hanging on the air till the sky was clean orange because he genuinely 'forgot', nagi then earned the title 'heartbreaker' for a year straight, he let it be since it was much of a hassle to keep on correcting them. not like his reputation was any better before.

so you could say that nagi wasn't that much of a company to have around, on the other hand was his friend, reo who was basically the opposite of nagi, if anything he was prince charming himself. those social skills were enough to befriend anyone on sight, he got the looks, money and attention was surrounding him 24/7.

and even if reo gather the earth power to try and motivate nagi would go down hill, every time he tried setting him on a date it's either gonna end up horrible or nagi using the excuse to go to the bathroom and vanish to the nowhere. what an asshole.

at some point, reo accept the fact that maybe he's friend will in fact die alone.

and things switched around when you came to the picture.

first it wasn't that hard to notice you, your desk was glued to him after all. it was weird when you would greet him every morning and wish him a good night when you left, no one ever did that to him before, he tends to ignore and ends up being ignored. it was nice, a little reminder that somone was seeing him, acknowledging him.

slowly, the walls between you two was falling apart with each introduction. when you would pat him from his little naps for lunch time, or when it was leaving time, then he would stare at your back until your figure disappeared with a last wave, staring at the door for a little too long, perhaps wishing for you to walk back in.. who said that?

it was getting worse, or better, not the best at analysing his feelings. but nagi found himself looking out for a glimpse of you around the office, he has no shame to admit that the world suddenly felt gloomy without your presence beside him.

maybe he raised his head a little too fast when you walked in, maybe not. but he mostly did.

then you would ramble about how your shitty neighbour refused to clean after his pets filth and you two had a screaming match for a while before realising you were late. the was the worst way to start a monday morning, so you closed your eyes shut, rubbed your forehead for a peace of mind. then you opened your eyes, a piece of your favourite snaked would magically appear on your table.

for some reason your eyes traveled to the white painted head, he was looking at the other side, avoiding your questionable gaze hoovering over him.

Mondays aren't so bad after all, you thought.

perhaps he did place it there, who knows. —but nagi just really didn't like seeing you glum.

possibly, did he grew fond of you? he doesn't know. all he knew that lunch box you handed him the next day is a blessed gift within his palms. too good for him, you were too good for him.

you were the prove that the sky itself favoured him above anyone.

and when nagi wanted to ask you out, he only had one person to guide him to your heart.

so the very mysterious person behind the scene (reo) had a astounding idea that if someone like nagi; mister, game-addiction-freak. that on every step he'll get points! 100-90 if he did well, 80-70 not bad, 60-40 could've been worse.. 40-20 definitely could've been better... 20-0 yikes....

so with that, nagi was sent on a personal mission to win you over and soothe you with his nonexistent charm.

STEP ONE: be straightforward! it's not good to keep on dancing on someone's mindset with hints, it may cause a lot of confusion feelings and misunderstandings! only ask under a certain circumstances, a suitable place where were you two sit alone so they could have they're attention on you only. SIDE NOTE: try to make a good welcoming conversation to ease up the tension first then ask!

so nagi did just that, maybe a little too well.

he couldn't even eat his own lunch and just kept on rubbing his sweaty hands against each other's, staring back forth —he just noticed how many unfamiliar faces were there? did he really only seeyou?一 he was extra quiet which made you ask him multiple times if he was okay, he would just hum in response. what a smooth talker.

"nagi, you haven't even touched your food. are you actually okay?" you questioned, concerned. after taking a brief sip of your juice, but nagi just shook his head in conform, you raised a brow, a little in disbelief that he would think an obvious lie would go through you just like that. there was something off. the tension upon you two was twisting.

the words were on the tip of his tongue, yet they felt un-removed. all this stressing over four words were a pain, and a heavy burden he needed to reales before he lose his breathing track.

and the moment you took a bite and chewing on it, he just had to drop the bomb carelessly.

"go out with me."

so nagi didn't try and sooth the air, nor start a decent conversation. and when he gathered the earth courage to speak up, it wasn't even a question, that was a whole ass demand.

although, it worked. but it definitely could've gone better than you choking on your own food that you swore you witnessed death himself laughing his ass off at you.

what a great timing.

after you saw the heavens gates open for you and life flashing through your eyes, weirdly enough, you accepted.

huh, maybe he didn't mess up everything like he thought (he in fact did).

20 points!

STEP TWO: dress nice and compliment their outfit! dressing well means that you take the date seriously, complimenting them to foster a better sense of comfort and confidence, and they'll compliment you back! extra points if you made them all blushy and giddy!

nagi really wasn't the best at this.

instead of dressing 'nicely', all he wore was a big white hoodie and pants. didn't put much effort to his hair and just went off. it wasn't his problem that picking an estimated outfit was such a hassle. it's good at least it is something that covers him, right?

it all went downhill when you showed up, listen. he always thought you looked fit and nice in your suit work, and now he definitely wasn't ready to see you in regular, uniform out of work place. you just looked... so good, even great, stunning and beautiful, you name it.

nagi barely breath out a greeting, his eyes too busy scanning you from head to toe over and over, he couldn't take his gaze out of your sight even when you were on your way to the table. and he almost stumbled over twice for that, the first was nearly his face planting on the floor, and the second time he almost knocked out a whole plate of drinks. you just somehow managed to muddle over half of senses with your looks alone, maybe he should've considered writing his last letter.

"nagi.. you're staring too much."

the of yours dragged him out of his thoughts line. he saw as you held a sheepish— extra points?—expression, it was either from his heart-eyes eating you alive, or the date itself was bringing you to the nervous state, or both?

nagi cleared his throat, slightly cringing at himself for staring a little too hard. he was absolutely not doing reo's steps justice.

"sorry. you just, look really pretty." if not the prettiest of all, but again, nagi has eyes for you only to pay a mind to others around him.

your breath halts at that, you don't know what to say for a second, nagi himself was complementing you? and the fact that he said as it was a matter of a fact was such an out character thing. but at the same time a an amiable change. and it was for you only.

"thank you, I appreciate that." you say as you kept on twirling your fingers over your hair, you felt like a lovesick teenager. "I think you look very nice as well." you add, almost like a whisper, he still managed to catch it.

nagi let out a scoff, not even a smile forming on his features for that. "it's just hoodie, really."

"i still like it, it's very like you. I'm happy seeing that you can be yourself around me."

he flinch a bit at that, he really wasn't ready for this- it takes a strong-soulful soldier to handle this. and he really, really wanted to be gods strongest warrior just for you. so he gets a grip on himself and mumble a thanks.

you smile sweetly at that, and nagi may really be not the strongest soldier under your spell.

50 points!

STEP THREE: make a conversation! show interest in their personal life and listen to every ramble they have, try to also throw side comments there and here to support them and blow away any negative feelings of the talk being one-sided. also try and talk about your own life to make it easier for them to talk all night. SIDE NOTE: try and joke around to bloom a friendly tune. extra points if you made them laugh!

third time's a charm, right?

however, since nagi was uncommonly unfond of others babbling. in fact he found it annoying and it was hard keeping his eyes evenly open. but then when it comes to you, he found your feathery tune to be airy, he grew ease to it pitch.

so he handed over all his senses of hearing to you on one knee, and let you speak freely. switching between different topics form nowhere, and like the world- his world- itself was turning for you only, his eyes and soul was for you to talk and he'll rot into a shallow void to your lovely enunciate to play on a broken radio repeating.

maybe he should tell you to stop, because your non-touched food was getting cold, and maybe he should tell that to himself that too because he didn't even realize his plate was even there.

it felt like he had drifted from the original plan, instead the tables were turned and he was the one being swoon by you..

not that he minded honestly. but ending the night with you being the one who filled the space was enough to create a makeshift reo berating him, nevertheless, nagi really, really wanted you to like him back. to consider the idea of another date with him.

plus, he also liked your laugh, he really did. didn't the guide say something about making you laugh? even tried telling a joke that you actually chuckled at, something that was unneeded to say that his book was empty, he had to search on google "funny jokes" for gods sakes, how hopeless can he possibly get?

"why couldn't the sunflower ride it bike?" nagi utter flatly, "why" you slope your head to the side. "because it lost it petals." the joke was old, dusty, forsaken. and the urge to recoil the second it left his mouth was understandable. but somehow you still pushed out a laugh at it, you don't know if it was an amusingly one, or because that nonchalant face was clearly begging you to laugh. with that monochromatic tone and all made it even funnier.

that bloomed the smallest amount of exhilaration within his rib cage. it was lovely, and what was made the giddiness to flourish inside his belly was the fact that he was the reason for it. it felt priceless. a sight to a crave in his midst. completely bizarrely about all of this, nagi let's you take over him. to consume him, his heart, his breath and soul were yours to claim.

at least he did something good that night?

70 points!

STEP FOUR: walk them back home! it's quite a simple act but very affected and gentlemanly, make sure to make them feel save and guarded! hidden notes: try to hold their hand!

after paying the price, you and nagi take your leave. with also nagi's off attitude with him opening the doors for you and let you walk first. although, who were to complain about such a treatment? you'll take it

but weirdly enough, nagi was a bit on the edge. like he had a n amount of ants in his pants, couldn't look at your direction, barely spoke out a response, or anything in general. and 一was he holding his breath???一

wait, was nagi actually.... nervous?

you glanced at him, shoulders stiffened, hands moving too much and fast, mouth was dry and agape, half dizzy 一when he isn't?一

now that you did not expect.

it was even ten times worse than him in the cafeteria earlier, it felt like nagi was about to confess to you his cruelest crime. the tenseness was mixed with the deep-seated tenderness, nevertheless, it was a bittersweet taste. and it kept on going until you two stood together by your home.

"i had fun tonight, nagi." you spoke first.

he finally flinched out of his own world, he sees you rubbing your arm, the gesture was sketchy, almost as if you were waiting for him to say something, anything.

but nagi's mind was blank, blow out an air in his ear and it will run out of the other, empty head. yet his mind was roaming, that need to say something clung up to him again. too many thoughts he cannot process.

but all nagi did know was he wanted you to stay a little longer.

"that's.. good?" he should have stayed quiet, what kind of answer is that.

you nodded awkwardly in agreement, breathing out an 'yeah..' he felt a bit guilty at making you feel uncomfortable, the fact of him being unfaithful may have crossed your mind, and nagi didn't like it. but you always managed to make feel weird, he always felt too warm when you would get close to him, words were lost when he would look at your eyes, and now this..

but despite everything, he felt like himself when he was with you the most..

every game had it secret move, and his was that he need to let himself be.

"can we do this again? i also had a good night." a part of nagi wanted to add that it was one of the best nights he ever had, yet it was too cheesy, cringe.

"yes!" you replied, too fast. you sounded so desperate! you palmed your mouth, embarrassment remains on your face as you cleared your throat. "i mean.. yes, we can do this again."

nagi had to physically bent down his head, he was gonna set you on fire alive with his eyes, if he may say, you looked cute when flustered. and his heart wouldn't stop beating so infuriated, almost bursting out raw of chest.

nagi for some reason, stretched out his arms. it was bold and he knew it, he just did it and hoped for you to handle it. "um.. can i?" he sees you halting at your place. eyes ogling around but his own.

you walk up all jittery to him until there's barely any inches left between the two of you, you kept your eyes glued to your feet as if it was the most interesting thing in this moment, but it's also like you were asking him if it was okay, unsureness. so he pushes your head gently forward to rest on his stiffen chest. an arm runs around your back to force you as close as possible to him.

you shrivel when nagi's nose would be buried deep unto your hair locks. your scent would draw him at slacken, his whole body bending against yours that you felt like he wanted to crawl under your skin desperately, searching for the seeds of endless love you endowed to him.

you didn't know if you were somehow intoxicated, but you swore that you felt a pair of soft lips pressing against your skull, god, you felt like melting and soon to become a paste sliding down between his fingers. you gently pushed yourself back, and perhaps you imagined nagi's whining for you to not let go. it's like you were gonna fly away once he unwrapped you free. the second you meet his face, a pout expression on his lips, and you couldn't help yourself from cupping his cheeks, squeezing them slightly. a smile made it way to your face as his eyebrows grew frowned.

nagi's hands were on yours, pulling them down from his face, but not too far. unabashedly keeping his eyes locked with yours, he was holding you tight and close, basically hostage. the bug-stomach is back at again but more fiercely than ever.

80 points!

FINAL STEP: kiss.

the dull hue travels down on your lips. boldly, he doesn't look away for what felt like eternity, if anything it seems like they grew heavy the second you parted them slightly to say something that sticked on your tongue.

"can i kiss you?"

was he trying to kill you?

you don't respond, instead you made a move to give him a quick peck on his cheek. backing off faster than ever. nagi stood still, rooting in his place, completely bamboozled. his mind stopped working and his eyes were drifting off in different directions.一is it normal that he felt like melting to the ground?一

"im so sorry, nagi- i just got really nervous and-"

"seishiro."

"eh?"

"seishiro, call me seishiro." he finally found a piece of mind to say. he didn't know if it came out as a command, but he sincerely wanted you to call him by his name. he'd die a happy man then.

"well.. goodnight, seishiro. can't wait for our next date," you said, weaving before your door. nagi barely being able to wave back, his mind was still half empty. you just made him see the light of the stars and left with with the sweetest, loveliest smile for him to think about for the next couple of weeks.

maybe he stood there for a little longer than he should have, his face was on fire, his heart on race track. antithesis of the nonchalant face he had, he made a move to rub the spot you pressed your soft lips against. and the first thing that came to his mind that it was definitely worth it.

and by now, he absolutely forgot about the points and the game itself. oh well, at least half of it worked. he just did it in his own version, which apparently was charming to you. nagi thinks if being charm to you, than he can come over anything.

limitless points! you have made your own path to the heart!

[vaperarmand]

Initial hopeful DM anon here. Sorry it took me this long, I tried picturing Daniel's turning and my mind just got stuck in the moment when the penthouse door closes after Louis and Daniel realizes that he's alone in a closed space with the vampire who tortured him for 6 days and who must be furious with him now and Louis's threat is likely useless cause Armand is way powerful to be killed. And suddenly the flashbacks flood Daniel's brain again and his heart is pounding and he can feel the stare of Armand's eyes on his back - khm yeah, anyway.

I really like your interpretation of Armands spite and I also like the other anon's idea that he'd punish himself this way. I'd be happy with either honestly, they both make sense in their own way. Here's my 5 cents.

Old Daniel is different from his younger self. He might be the same desperate and needy person deep inside (and I'd love to see that portrayed by Eric), but the Daniel we've seen so far in Dubai wouldn't beg for the dark gift the way he did in the books. He doesn't remember past DM, so he'd also be too afraid of Armand to demand it. There's also an issue of trust - i don't think modern day Daniel would trust Armand enough to let himslef be drained. Armand definitely wouldn't force it upon him.

Which means in the show it was Armand who offered the dark gift to Daniel. I think this wouldn't be a departure from the books, because there (correct me if I'm wrong) Armand didn't just agree to Daniel's constant pleas, he decided it was finally time, because he couldn't risk Daniel dying.

Now, walk with me. Armand is aware Daniel's life is in danger because of 1) the great conversion in combination with the book (which Daniel is definitely going to publish) and 2)Parkinsons in combination with covid.

Past DM definetly happened and however it ended I'm sure it was painful. The past two weeks have also been living hell because Armand remembers, but Daniel doesn't. And now Armand is left alone with himself, he just lost both Louis and Lestat, he has no coven, Daniel is all he's got. Daniel, who's about to leave too and then he could die at any moment and Armand wouldn't even be able to protect him. Then he'd be truly alone.

Now imagine if Armand, being torn apart both by Daniel's betrayal and by the fact that Daniel doesn't even recignize it as betrayal, terrified of Daniel's possible death, had to ask Daniel to trust him and let Armand turn him because this is the only way to esure Daniel's safety.

And then Daniel would be both too scared and too snarky to trust him. So Armand would be the one to beg. He would have to tell Daniel about past DM, maybe give back the memories, knowing Daniel will despise him for taking it all away, but at least it would mean he could protect Daniel even if he'd hate Armand for eternity.

I LOOOVE THIS. well i mean for starters i love the idea that armand would have to beg. like that the frantic desperate energy he uses to talk to louis sort of continues as he gets daniel to stay and talk to him and accept the gift. honestly would be so fun to see daniel come around to it too, going from warily intrigued to nervously accepting.

i also love it in the way that it recalls armand as coven leader which is something i don't see a lot and something i myself have a sort of difficult time extracting to put into his character! him doing it out of love and protection is so awesome. he's like by the way you are my firstborn AND my coven now. no take backsies

[ae-neon]

Regarding the sex pet introduction. I remember reading this post from The Lady Of Bloodshed and it was an ask about Feyre standing in the Spring Court VS Night Court. I think it was an old post, please forgive me if I recall it wrong. Please correct me if i got it wrong.

But yes, it also disturb me the fact Rhys introduce her as a whore VS Tamlin introduce her as the "next SC lady". I remember Tamlin set the party and everyone was joyous, respectful to Feyre. Mind you, Tamlin introduce Feyre to his close circle, his childhood friends and we know this friends has influence in SC political structure and dynamic. Tamlin trusted her and I would say he respect her and want the SC to respect her too (Credit to Tamlin from Acotar 1).

But rhys? Suddenly out of nowhere he bring a whore to the Hewn City event/party? No introduction, no proper gathering, no introducing Feyre who is who in HC. Suddenly, Feyre a whore.

If you see this from HC people POV, wont they be disgusted with Rhys and especially Feyre? "The HL kidnapp a Spring Court bride and made her a whore in our court" and of course HC people hated Feyre. Their position os vulnerable because of their HL kidnapped another HL bride. This is emphasize by Cressida when they visit Summer Court.

I get Feyre will be clueless of this but Rhys? It was as if he wanted to isolate Feyre and control Feyre narrative of other. All other court they visited or have history is bad IF rhys think they are bad. Spring Court,? Bad history and suddenly Feyre destroy the court. Summer Court? Rhys somehow dont like them and lie to them and have Feyre stole the book. Autumn? Yeah, they got beef in the HL meeting and Feyre accidentally burn the Lady Autmn hands and then proceed to bully,make fun Lucien and his band.

Urghh I hate the whole thing Rhys introduce him as a sex pet. Feyre was a mortal that got through the trial and can be seen as hero to Prythian but now she is a whore, kidnapped bride from SC and your man dont even do a public marriage with you. It really make me itch thinking Rhys did not do a proper wedding with Feyre. He is a HL, establishing a proper ceremony with his wife is important. It legitimaze Feyre position and guarantee safety of his future heir from being ostracize in the succession line. It would be silly for a 500 years old male not knowing of this.

While all this thing of wedding, confirming Feyre position is not done by Rhys. Tamlin at least acknowledge this thing and were ready to handed it to Feyre.

Yeah yeah, I get Feyre dont want to this docile pretty pretty Wife. But the narrative of her position can be set up and change later after she got married (Though it dont happen because tamlin got paranoid). The least was, she will be wed to Tamlin and recognize as Lady of SC. Any attempt to hurt her is seen as hurting SC overall and challenging Tamlin as HL. Now, Feyre introduce as whore in Night Court. No one would careless if she die why? No paper work, no ceremony,no legitimazation frkm the HL himself.

Thats all, thanks coming to my Ted talk. I shall go lunch and back to Email Factory

Hello Email Factory anon

it's morning for me, I already typed a long reply to this, but Tumblr is fighting me, so I had to get out of bed and fetch my laptop.

(keep in mind i have not read SF and likely never will)

For many fans, Feyre's status of High Lady isn't something they question. Acotar Elon Musk aka Riceball said it is, so it is.

For some antis, they question the validity of it. the argument being: The HL title is not something the current High Lord can pass or share with whoever he chooses, HL is chosen by the land. there is no evidence, lore wise, that supports Riceball being able to make Feyre HL.

my personal theory is that Feyre could actually be HL of ANY or ALL courts due to her having a part of their magic. my evidence being that she was able to bypass the security of that temple in Summer because the magic recognised her as Tarquin. i think Feyre essentially has a skeleton key to every court.

and i think Rice knew that.

i think he recognised not only the threat, but the potential there and not just isolate her, as you pointed out, but fool her too. by having a private ceremony in which he makes her think it was him who granted her the status of HL.

I also think, to varying degrees of intention, he then went on to undermine her authority in each section of his court

The title of Cursebreaker, which should have been the key to his diplomatic strategy in MAF and WAR, was instead replaced

in Velaris:

Feyre could have easily secured lots of love and respect from her actions as the Saviour of the Rainbow. But fast-forward and post war all she has done is a little bit of philanthropy, have sex in the sky, build a 5th house and paint.

Im not sure what she could do for Velaris but what we do get is more about herself and the ic than the people

in Illyria:

Lets start with the fact that because the only Illyrians Feyre knows personally are Rice, Casserole and Adzuki Bean - she should have a more positive or at least optimistic view of Illyrians. but she wastes no time in absorbing and identifying with their racism. and sjm's racist narrative is not going to confront Feyre even when Illyrians only actions on paper are fighting and dying in the war against Hybern.

the books and it's fans will cite the fgm-like cultural practices but not confront that Rice and Co. have done nothing to actually stop or punish it, and admit to needing Illyrian's as fodder - something that is only possible when the society is kept at the brink of anarchy and war, necessitating the continued brutalization of its women and children

Feyre should have gotten the Valkyrie plot. yea, it's a white saviour trope but she is the official ruler of these people so the least she can do is help them, immerse herself in their culture (instead of just wearing their skins willy nilly) and maybe even adopted some kids idk

in the Hewn City:

first we need to set straight that the HC - not Velaris, a secret city - is the offical capital of the Night Court and the seat of it's HL. the people who live in it are the nobility. in a world of eugenics and lesser classes like acotar, this matters

we have already seen that the HL title can skip a royal line and fall to not directly in the line of succession, regardless of gender. (in Summer, the title skipped not just Princess Cresseida but also Prince Varian, to pass to their cousin, Tarquin)

we have also seen that age, even within the direct line of succession, is not a determining factor. (With Tamlin it skipped his older brothers and with Lucien, though we know he is not Beron's son, his older brothers legitimately believed him to be next in line)

given all of this, it is entirely possible that someone from the HC might be next in line. and yet Rice makes no attempt to truly bridge the gap between his Court of Dreams and Court of Nightmares. he introduces the person he knows is his mate to them as a pet.

Again, she's not just a stolen bride of spring but THEE CURSEBREAKER, she could have shown her off like a trophy or a token of his power if he really wanted to tie her power directly to his but no, he introduces her like a thing he owns, a thing that is beneath him.

it doesn't matter that later he says she is HL or that he puts a throne besides his, the narrative is already set: she is what she is, because he said so

a better idea would have been to throw a ball with her as the guest of honour, for her to stop Riceball from tormenting his subjects - would he listen to her? probably not so nvm

in contrast, Tamlin - who given his personality and attitude towards being HL in book1 - might not have wanted a grand ceremony but understood it would be good for his diplomacy and his court

he wanted to publicly marry Feyre - someone who was not his mate - tying them together in front of his court so they could all acknowledge their bond both personally and politically

he wanted her to be recognised and respected as the Lady of Spring even if he didnt think she could be High Lady of Spring

ignoring the similar situations of control and abuse Feyre faces in both - doesn't matter if she decides she likes Rice's, it's still control and abuse

it's kind of undeniable that Rice went about things in a way that is at best stupid and at worst manipulative

sjm tries to walk many lines between politics and love stories but she not every good at either so it just turns into a mess

though i will say: Rice would at least be interesting if he was doing all of this on purpose but so far sjm seems too in love with him to let him be intentionally heinous towards his love interest

[tamurilofrivendell]

Sleeping Beauty | Chapter 11

Previous Chapters [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10] Read on AO3 [x]

Pairing: Thranduil/Fem. Reader Summary: A Sleeping Beauty inspired tale with Thranduil the Elvenking, and a female elf living in Mirkwood under the care of Radagast, who is actually the ‘lost’ daughter of the late High King Gil-Galad. Taglist: @hufflepuff1700​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @jinlizz-dragondrama​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @firelightinferno​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @bubbleyukismile @coopsgirl​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @achromaticerebus​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @sleepyamygdala​​​​​​​​​​​​​   @smalltownbigheart​​​​​​​​​​​​ @qmabailor​​​​​​​​​​​ @genderfluid-anime-goth​​​ a/n: I’ve been a little behind on this one and I’m sorry!! My hyperfixation on another fic (and struggling to try and force myself to edit two first drafts of original novels) has made me blind to everything else which was obviously unintended when I started this, but I still have the outline in my drafts and I will finish it don’t worry.

The forest was quiet as Thranduil and his elk travelled beneath the trees. He was furious. No, he was absolutely livid. Who did Radagast think he was? Stupid wizards, always meddling. Thranduil knew deep down that Radagast did not intend to cause him true pain but, once more, his mind was seriously fixated upon that day in Lindon. The day he had witnessed the princess and the two queens die. However, his fury also stemmed from something else, something that neither had said but was very much present in his mind.

“-help her as your father would have wanted - as your mother would have wanted.”

Thranduil knew very well how his parents would want him to help her, particularly his mother. They would wish him to give the princess sanctuary and aid, which he knew was the correct thing to do and he would do it, but they would also wish him to honour the terms of the marriage they had arranged between the two. To strengthen the bonds between the Noldor and Sindar even further, which had really been one of the only things the two queens had ever wanted.

Thranduil would not, of course, force the princess into anything but... he knew without even having to ask that Radagast was already thinking it and that he could be crafty in getting his way, perhaps he was feeding the princess the story right this moment. Thranduil knew, too, how such a thing could work in everyone’s favour and he knew that it would honour the memory of all four of their parents, and perhaps help this girl who had been secreted away for well over 3,000 years without any titles, her name practically lost to history.

However, the source of his anger was not directed at the poor princess herself, not at the idea of marrying a complete stranger, but at what such an alliance would take from him.

You.

He recalled his thoughts of how he had never taken a queen, when the Enchantress revealed to Radagast her ire at his father’s apparent sin against her by not allowing her to marry his son. He recalled how his mind had conjured up the image of you, singing in the glade while picking berries, and he realised now why the thoughts had come to him - because he had quite obviously developed some sort of feelings towards you.

Thranduil came then to the clearing where he often met you, sliding from the back of his elk with a sigh as he looked around and realised that you weren’t here as he had hoped you would be. He stepped to the side and sat down upon a fallen log, leaning forward with his hands clasped, sitting for a time just staring down at the forest floor.

“You look gloomy.”

Thranduil quickly lifted his head at the sound of your voice, looking up just in time to see you stepping into the clearing. He smiled. “It has been a very long week...”

“Ah, so that’s why you haven’t come to see me.” You trilled, moving to sit next to him. You didn’t mean it in a bad way, you were not hurt by it or anything, but something in you had missed him greatly. You had become quite charmed by him and enjoyed the times you could spend in his company.

Thranduil chuckled. “I do apologise, my lady.” Running a kingdom was busy, he thought ruefully, though he still did not say it. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t just tell you. Truthfully, he didn’t know what you must think of him, but he knew for sure you did not know he was the Elvenking. Perhaps you thought him a guard.

A soft laugh escaped your lips and you shook your head. “You don’t need to be sorry. I have perhaps become too used to your company.”

Since that first day Thranduil had come across you here, singing with the animals, he had probably come a lot more than he would normally otherwise have walked the forest. Something had just continued to pull him to you, and he had been drawn to this clearing of yours a number of times as the weeks had passed you both by. Then it had seemed only natural, it had become routine. He only wished he had not had the stress of the Enchantress and the past clouding the meetings, though he supposed now perhaps he should stop coming... the thought saddened him.

“Besides.” You continued, shooting him an amused glance. “We’ll always have our dreams.”

Thranduil laughed then, the first one since Radagast came to his halls and told him all about his last meeting with the Enchantress. He was pleased you remembered, truthfully, his silly little joke from before. Once upon a dream.

“Yes.” He chuckled, reaching out to take hold of your hand. “So we shall!”

As he took your hand, you were both suddenly struck by a most peculiar feeling that went jolting through the both of you. It felt like a real, tangible thing, a bolt of lightning. You quickly snatched your hand back in surprise and Thranduil frowned down at his own in confusion. “Did you...?”

You nodded, glancing up at him curiously. “What was that?”

“I do not know.” Thranduil muttered, pulling his hand back as he considered. It could not be... could it? He lifted his gaze and found your eyes on him. He smiled softly. “Lothíriel, I... I have come to greatly enjoy your company over these last weeks, and I...”

Here he trailed off and you wanted to push him to continue but all speech seemed to have been taken from you somehow. The clearing was silent for a long few moments then, the birds in the trees above poking their curious beaks down through the leaves to hear the king’s confession.

“I find you absolutely enchanting.” He admitted, looking back up at you. “From the very first day I saw you, I think I just... knew.” It seemed unfathomable to say such a thing, but a lot of elves had felt that way through history. Why, his own father had looked once upon his mother and instantly loved her as if he simply always had. It was as if their souls had known each other before they even met... and Thranduil suddenly came to the realisation that if he married Gil-Galad’s daughter then he would forever regret leaving you in this forest. He would always think of you, he wouldn’t be able to move on. That would not be fair to her, or to you, or to himself.

“Knew... what?” You asked, your voice barely above a whisper, as you blinked back at him. You did not have much experience with others, or feelings like you were beginning to have, other than Thranduil... but you did not need to, really, as it seemed to sort of be a kind of instinctual thing.

Thranduil reached out to take your hand again, brushing his thumb gently over your palm. You shivered slightly and he lifted his gaze, meeting your eyes. “That I... that I am meant to love you.”

You could only stare at him in shock as the words passed his lips. “You... truly?!”

Thranduil nodded. “Truly.”

You were at a loss for what to say, not because you did not feel joyous or warm from the words he spoke, but simply because you were just no good at this. He did not seem to mind, almost as if he read what you were thinking in your eyes.

“Would you allow me the honour of courting you, my lady?” He ventured next.

You blinked at him, thinking that you should pinch yourself because it simply did not feel real. What could this interesting, worldly warrior possibly see in you?! Some random elleth who barely had any social skills the day he met her. You cast your mind over the time since then - every smile and lingering look - and you nodded, practically beaming at him. “Yes! I... I would like that very much.”

His smile grew slightly and you watched as he stood from the fallen log and extended an arm towards you.

“Dance with me.” He said suddenly, taking hold of your hands and pulling you to your feet.

You laughed and let yourself be pulled, and there in the clearing where you first met, you and he danced beneath the swaying blossom trees while the animals watched on.

That evening, you returned to the cottage with the brightest smile on your face. Your cheeks were rosy red and a blackbird was sitting atop your hair as you burst into the little house, causing Radagast to jump in the air and turn around very abruptly from his place at the counter. You were humming as you walked towards him and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“Good evening!” You smiled brightly as the blackbird jumped from your head down to the table. “Do you need any help?”

“What’s got you in such high spirits?” Radagast wondered. Why, you were practically floating!

A gleeful giggle escaped you as you reached for him, taking hold of his hands and pulling him into a little waltz across the kitchen floor. His steps were clumsy in contrast to your smooth ones but he couldn’t help but chuckle anyway, glad to see you happy... and safe. He had allowed you into the forest, though not without much back and forth in his own mind. However, he knew that soon you would be in Thranduil’s halls and would not have the same freedoms to visit your favourite places in this forest. Not until the Enchantress was gone.

You were humming as you danced with him and then you pulled back, smiling brightly at him as he watched you with curious eyes. “Oh, you’ll never guess!” You said, still a little nervous of his reaction but you knew that now was the time to tell him. “Wait until you meet him!”

“Him?” Radagast’s smile began to fade a little as he tilted his head at you. “What do you mean? Who? You have met some stranger?”

You shook your head, spinning on the spot once and then coming to a stop as you looked back the wizard. “Oh, no! No, he’s not a stranger. I mean... not anymore.” You clasped your hands together, truly hoping that Radagast would come to understand. “I have met him many times now, in the clearing. I should have told you, I’m sorry, but he is honourable. I swear. He wishes to court me, uncle! I promise, you do not have to worry! He’s coming tomorrow night, you can meet him and-”

Radagast, however, looked stricken. “Oh, my dear child...” He said sadly. “Oh, no... no. That can never be.”

You paused, your smile falling away, replaced by a soft frown. “What do you mean? Why not?”

“Well, you... you are already betrothed, my dear.” He said quickly. “From birth. To... to the Elvenking.”

“What?!” You could not understand his words because they quite simply made no sense. “No... h-how can I marry a king? I would have to be...”

“A princess.” Radagast said simply, watching the confusion on your face grow tenfold. “You are a princess.” He continued. “And I am sorry for keeping the truth from you but it was necessary. Please... listen to me.”

Radagast’s brow set into a deep frown as he looked back at you, the crestfallen look on your face, the hurt swimming in your eyes. Still, you didn’t run away and shut yourself in your room like you wished to. You stayed standing firmly before him as you waited for him to continue, to give you some explanation, willing him to make this all make sense.

Radagast sighed, his heart heavy with sorrow, for he knew that the time had now come to tell you everything.

[lostonehero]

Ok fuck cannon for both series mech tma au

Also mech Martin as a treat

"W-wait." Jonny stopped holding up his hand before Nastya could set the dimension hop.

"The great Jonny d'Ville stuttering? Never thought I would see the day." Nastya rolls her eyes. "What's wrong? You want to get Martin, right?"

"I..." Jonny sighs and looks at Tim and then back to the rest of the crew and eventually Nastya. He fishes out a pair of glasses from his pocket.

"Smarts Jonny." Ivy raised her brow.

Jonny sighs and crosses his arms. "Tim and I have other versions of ourselves in that universe."

"So?" Raphaella quirks her brow. "Extra parts to experiment with."

"Not exactly." Jonny takes a breath. "Any universe or reality doesn't like copies and to remedy that well... we won't be able to stay here." He starts to motion his hands as his tail starts to lash back and forth. "The reality has a way to correct this, and that is to physically fuse myself with my alter, and the same will happen to Tim. I literally have no idea what that will even do."

Brian tilts his head. "So what you're saying that that there is a chance you'll both dissapear?"

"Not exactly, but kind of." Jonny shrugs, removing his glasses. "Eh, it's whatever just wanted to warn you fucks. Tim and I agreed to go through it. We all were already fucked around with the promise of actual death and waking up before, and who knows Martin's world goes through a literal apocalypse so that will be fun."

Tim nods. "We both have bets going on about how it works. I also get to go to a less advanced version of where I'm from. I really want to see what's that like. Also, I saved Bertie, and he got a long life, so I'm honestly fine with a true death."

Raphaella looks at both of them. "If both of you truly die, can I do an autopsy of your bodies to see what came over?"

"Why the fuck not? I don't give a shit I'll be dead." Jonny hums and raises a brow at Ashes. "What?"

"You'll be human." Ashes motions vaguely to his obvious status as not human.

"Huh." Jonny scratches his stubble. "I'll miss my tail if I remember any of it."

Tim snickers. "I'll be fine."

Ivy smirks. "What if your alternate has short hair?" She pauses. "Also, I want earth books."

"I have a new fear." Tim sighs.

Nastya pauses. "Are you sure?"

TS smiles. "I Think They Already Agreed. Bring Me Back A Earth Cat."

"You heard them let's fucking go." Jonny reached out and grabs Tim's hand. "I ain't living for the rest of time without Blackwood."

"Neither I am." Tim nods. "All speed ahead."

Nastya sighs. "This is a terrible idea, but if both of you still remain, I suppose stopping the apocalypse would please Aurora..... oh hmmmm." She puts the ship full throttle, and in an instant, Jonny and Tim vanish.

......

Martin woke up on his back, which honestly is the weirdest way he could wake up second to the alarm on his... he knew the word for the thing, but he couldn't recall it. He barely fumbled to turn off that obnoxious noise. What was a much more pressing manner was the fact his body was wrong, well correct but that was wrong. He can't recall when he had normal legs and feet... he could, but he would much rather forget the time before the good doctor got her hands on him. He was abnormal for a mechanism since his mechanism was organic in nature his lower half was that of a spider. Of course, he didn't hate it he wanted something different after that.

Ok, at the time, he thought himself a monster and tried to kill himself a multitude of times. He grew out of it. Obviously, it would have been a bleak eternity otherwise. He had a vague feeling of where he was, but the word peaches and worms came to mind. He kind of knew what that meant, but he was more so annoyed that this afterlife was basically before he became a mech. He had to figure out what he was doing.

Maybe if he went too... uh oh right the Magnus Institute, that's when he worked a normal job on earth. This was earth he hoped it wasn't in his head that this was some elaborate death dream because that would be a first. He should try to recall more of this if he is ever going to get through this weird afterlife. He hoped it was an afterlife because if not it meant that he wasn't dead, and he didn't want to do that without Jonny and Gunpowder Tim, and of course, the rest of the crew.

He got showered after figuring out the old-fashioned shower and got dressed in familiar clothes he didn't want to remember. He knew he had to remember, but he really didn't want to. He knew how this world worked. Public transport was easy, and soon, he arrived at the very institute that set everything in motion. What's that saying like a hover bike? Or a bicycle? He will remember what to do and go through the motions.

"You're late." A pretentious pompous voice sneered at Martin.

Martin paused, staring at the man studying him, and he reminded him of Jonny, and a name spilled from his lips. "Jon?"

"Did you hit your head on your way here? Of course I'm Jon." The short man shoved a stack of papers in his arms. "Get through these and try not to fall behind."

Martin frowns and takes the stack of statements. He knew they were statements. Some real some fake, and he had an unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach that this wasn't the afterlife. He sat at his desk and stared at a computer, which he didn't recall the password for, and just started to read. He couldn't think about who he saw by him.

"Geez Marto, you ok?" That was Tim, not gunpowder, but Stoker. He was rubbing his eyes, but it was still him.

Martin knew the moment he saw her not corrupted by a thing that wore her skin poorly he might add he knew he wasn't in the afterlife and his death was a fucking lie. He wanted his final death with the rest of them. Did they also wake up before they became? Before the doctor got a hold of them? He takes a breath and sighs. "I'm fine." He forced himself to say. He noticed Tim was bleeding around his eyes. He chose to get up and wet some napkins to help.

"Tim, you really should see a doctor for that." Sasha frowns.

"I'm fine it's probably from my contacts. I'll wear my glasses, and the problem should clear up." Tim gives finger guns as his eyes water.

Martin sighs. "Tim, you're crying."

"Not emotionally." Tim snickers at his joke. "I'm fine. I probably just need rest and to get new contacts." His eyes stop watering after a moment, but it doesn't stop him from rubbing them like they ached.

Martin wasn't convinced, but he knew better than to push it normally got him shot or someone crying in his arms. He knew that didn't matter here. This place wasn't.... he wasn't home. "I'll make some tea for everyone."

"Thank you, Martin." Tim smiles as he rubs his eyes.

"Amazing as always." Sasha smiles.

Martin nodded and distracted himself with making tea. It didn't last long enough as he gave out the tea. He stepped into Jon's office, and he raised a brow at the scene he walked into. Jon was sitting on his knees in a chair not built for that position. "I made you some tea."

Jon nods, rubbing at his chest. "Right."

Martin paused and decided to push his luck. "Why are you sitting like that?"

Jon scowls and takes his mug of tea, and takes a sip. "My lower back aches, and it is worse if I sit normally. My painkillers haven't kicked in."

"Ah, alright, just be careful, alright." Martin smiles, hoping he was acting enough like he did before.

.....

Tim groans as he stares at the bottle of eye drops the doctor gave him. It did literally nothing. His eyes ached and burned, and no matter what he did, the pain wouldn't go away. It's been two weeks, and it's only gotten worse, and he hasn't been able to do anything to relieve it.

He used the heels of his hand and pressed them into his eyes for any sort of relief that wouldn't come. Doctors couldn't find anything wrong and called him basically crazy because there was nothing wrong with his eyes. He knew something was wrong. He knew something was happening.

Tim was desperate. If the eye pain wasn't enough, he was starting to have weird dreams of a man with mechanical eyes. They would talk, and Gunpowder, the other guy picked that name. Don't ask him why it suited him. The memories... no dreams, he keeps having to correct himself. The dreams Gunpowder tells him are his memories, and he apologizes for them all the time. At one point, these memories became his own, but the only thing it did was make Gunpowder more solid in his mind.

Tim liked Gunpowder he was kind and a bit odd, but he didn't feel alone. He hasn't felt seen or known since his brother. Fuck he really missed Danny.

"You have his memories."

Tim nearly fell backward. That was Gunpowder, but he was awake if the pain was anything to say about that. His eyes scanned the small bathroom, searching for the source of the voice, but he didn't see anything. Maybe he was hearing things. The statements were probably getting to him.

Tim sighs and shuts the lights off, and heads to the couch. He just needed to sleep, that's all. Sleep came quickly these days, and he woke up not in Gunpowder's memories but to a futuristic bedroom. He knew this place from some more steamy memories from Gunpowder. Speaking of him, he was lounging in the bed holding a bottle that no longer had labels.

Gunpowder flicked his mechanical eyes to glance at Tim. His long hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and a pair of goggles was around his neck. He held up the bottle. "Shit doesn't do much in here but wants some?"

Tim shook his head as he approached and sat on the edge of the bed. "Did you say something?"

"When you started to spiral? Yeah." Gunpowder sits up, putting the bottle aside. "I'm not as well versed in this theoretical nonesense as Jonny is, but I think it's almost complete." He reached his hand out, and Tim allowed him to grab it. "Soon we'll be together awake and asleep, probably when my eyes finally form. Again, sorry about the pain."

"I don't think I'm able to believe you." Tim had that sinking feeling of dread that he knew Gunpowder was right. "Why?"

"We wanted to save our third to complete us." Gunpowder pulls his hand away. "Eternity isn't great when you're missing someone that helps complete you. We were also promised an apocalypse, and that did sound fun."

"Love is a good reason." Tim wanted to reach out again but refrained. "So would you be able to take over like a ghost?"

Gunpowder laughs. "I ain't no ghost, but maybe again, Jonny knows more about this bullshit than I do."

Tim nods and gets up approaching the door.

"Are you sure?"

"If what you say is true, I might as well know more about you." Tim opened the door and vanished into memories that weren't his own.

Gunpowder picked the bottle up again and sighed. "I wonder if Jonny is having a good time."

.....

Jon felt even worse, he however did not go to the doctor even at Martin insistent, he was acting odd more so than normal, and it made his work even worse. He stripped off his shirt and pants, then finally his binder and groans. The red spot on his lower back right on his tailbone he could pass off as bug bite, now ballooned into a throbbing red mass that was completely solid to the touch.

He really wanted to keep ignoring it, but he felt something move under his skin, and it scared him half to death. Every part of him felt wrong, to his privates they were extra sensitive more so then when he started T to his ears that were bright red and painful, to his head that he can feel growing bumps on his head. The worst of it was his chest, his heart was constantly beating erratically, and he could swear he heard a ticking like a metronome in his chest. Everything was wrong, and yet he just crawled into his bed.

No to Jon, the worst part were these dreams that were nothing but fiction, and this Jonny character was a idiot, a violent obnoxious idiot. Jonny talked to him. He purposely argued with him and teased him. That ass was crude and didn't have a fucking care in the world the complete opposite of himself. He was some vile creature that probably spawned from the statements he read.

Jon bit down on his pillow, he moved wrong, and his sensitive privates sent nerves and sparks through his body. He was asexual he shouldn't have these desires, and he shouldn't be thinking about his coworkers in this matter. Why the fuck was Martin a spider creature it scared him but also thrilled him and he hated these thoughts. Tim was mostly the same, but his hair was long, and his eyes were machines. He blamed Jonny for all of this. But he wasn't real his mind just wanted someone to blame.

That obnoxious crazed laughter rang in Jon's ears. He groaned, spitting out his pillow. "Leave me alone, you annoying hallucination." That only earned him harder laughter. He gave a frustrated yell into his pillow. He refused to listen to the just jerk off from Jonny and grabbed sleeping pills from his draw, and hoped for a dreamless sleep, which he knew was futile. He kept seeing memories that weren't his of some nonesense syfy fan wet dream. Jonny wasn't real, and what he saw wasn't real either.

.......

Sasha moved closer to Tim. "Eyes still bothering you?" She motions to his the dark sunglasses you couldn't see his eyes through.

Tim nods. "Yeah, doctors aren't helping. They feel like they're going to pop." He sighs. "Do you know what's up with boss man?"

Sasha shrugs. "I was going to ask about Martin. He seems more lost than normal, and he seems less jumpy but even more depressed? I don't know he keeps avoiding me every time I try to press."

"I can talk to him if you talk to Jon about his attitude. I watched him yell at Martin first 10 minutes, and Martin just took it with a smile like he didn't care." Tim frowns, rubbing his eyes his vision was getting blurry, and he could feel something wet drip down from his face.

"Eye drops first, you're crying again, and it's not clear." Sasha hands him a tissue. "I'll go talk to Jon."

"You're the best, Sasha." Tim smiles and rushes off to the bathroom. He barely makes it inside when his vision goes dark. He can only whimper in shock as fresh pain blooms where his eyes should be. A wet substance drips down his cheeks, and he barely registers hands on his shoulder, guiding him to sit on the ground.

Soft hands carefully remove the black glasses and a soft curse on his lips from a voice Tim knows, but he can't focus or see who said that. He could feel a wet cloth wipe whatever was on his face.

"Tim, you gotta breathe." That was Gunpowder. He sounded so clear, like he was right next to him. "I know it hurts, but you have to let the machines build themselves. It's actually really neat to watch."

The soft hands were done cleaning his face as he let out a sigh at the loss of touch. And a flash of light burned, and then he heard a soft click like that of a camera and a softer moving of machines like a soft roll. His vision came back way too fast, and suddenly, it was too perfect, and he saw too much. He saw a familiar sweater connected to a man leaning over him. "M-martin?" Of course it was Martin his hands were soft... he didn't know why he thought of them like a cat's paw.

"Blackwood!" Gunpowder gasps.

Martin takes the spoiled hand towel and puts it in his back pocket. "Tim, can you focus on me?"

The soft whirl of machines and Tim was looking at Martin. "What happened?" He could see the hand towel and had a few theories on what the stains were.

Martin smiles softly, and Tim feels calmer.

"Feels safe into the den of the spider." Gunpowder hums. "Do you mind if I just uh..."

Tim barely registered what happened until he was in the spot where Gunpowder was. He saw his body move without him, and he just watched unable to process until it clicked what had happened. "Oh." He watches Martin tilt his head as Gunpowder looks up at him, then he feels a stinging pain as Martin hits them.

Gunpowder holds his cheek and looks to Tim, realizing they both felt it.

Martin takes a breath. "You didn't heed any of my warnings."

Gunpowder smiles staring up at Martin.

Martin falters, and he moves and sits down next to him on the bathroom floor. "Is...?"

"Yeah, Tim's here." Gunpowder hums. "Don't think he made the connection yet."

"That is a given." Martin pulls his knees up. "I haven't.... yaknow, and I'm worried when I do..."

"You won't be able to hide." Gunpowder nods and reaches out to Martin. "Aha, he made the connection."

Martin smiles softly, interlocking his fingers with Tim. "Yeah, a lot of shit happened. Welcome to the madness of it."

"Oh, we're well past madness and circled back round to sanity." Gunpowder chuckles, taking the glasses back. "Talk later?"

Martin nods and watches Tim return to his body. "Are you ok?"

Tim blinks. Well, he thinks he blinks, but he's pretty sure he doesn't have eyelids anymore. "I uh... I think so." He paused. "So where's the spider parts? Don't tell me my shared memories and adult fantasies are a lie."

Martin chuckles. "Oh, you're both horrible. Ask Gunpowder, you ass." He gets up and holds out his hand. "Come on, we have to get back to work before Jon throws another fit."

Tim nods, getting up with Martin's help. "Seriously though, where are the spider bits?"

"I don't actually know, and I don't want to test dying to see if they come back." Martin sighs.

"Ah, fair enough." Tim continues to hold Martin's hand. "I uh...you know what happens..."

Martin frowns. "Tim, for me, it's been well over a few thousand years. My memory isn't perfect. I remember what my mind thinks are the important bits, but I've really tried to forget this happened. The ending isn't a good one." He sighs. "We can talk after work, in the tunnels."

"Tunnels?" Tim raised his brow following Martin, never unlocking their hands.

......

Martin pulled Tim back as emts rushed out with a stretcher. "Who got hurt?"

Sasha rushed over. "I went to check on Jon, and he... he was bleeding, and he was barely breathing. I called the ambulance, and they rushed him to the hospital."

Tim frowns. "Is he ok?"

"I don't know." Sasha gives a soft gasp as Martin pulls her into a hug.

"Hey, you did the right thing. Jon will be fine." Martin smiles softly. "We can visit him after our shift. I'm sure he wouldn't mind visitors."

Sasha hugs him back. "You're right. You're right. He probably knew something was wrong and refused to see a doctor."

Tim sighs. "That does sound like Jon." He paused for a moment. "I, uh yeah, back to work."

Sasha nods, wiping her eyes and pulling away from Martin. "I'm sure he'll appreciate a cleaner archive when he gets back."

Martin nods. "Of course, that sounds great." He grabs Tim's arm. "Tim and I can grab some boxies and start moving things around."

"Oh, that's great." Sasha smiles, watching them leave.

.....

"Why did you grab me?" Tim raised his brow.

"So I think I know what happened to Jon." Martin frowns.

Tim paused, and his demeanor changed, and he sags his shoulders. "Oh, this is not going to be good."

"No, it's not." Martin sighs. "Fuck everything has changed now."

"So, did we do it?" Gunpowder raised his brow.

Martin snickers. "Yeah, not even close. We both know that gods won't take this lying down even if it's Jonny."

"Eh, worth a shot." Gunpowder shrugs. "Blackwood has told me enough to know what Jon ends up as I'll explain later."

.....

Elias adjusts his tie and smiles, looking over his archivist. The unfortunate nature of the Flesh and Stranger working together does have this outcome. Of course, he can pull all the strings needed to have this little incident swept under the rug and tied in a neat bow. He smiles softly, watching him wake up. "Are you alright, Jonathan? You've given us all quite the scare." He stops seeing a scowl that isn't Jon's normal one on his lips.

Jonny's mouth felt like it was full of cotton, and his head was fuzzy, and Jon's nagging didn't exactly help him either. His gaze moved up to the man in a suit. He looked like a prick, an obnoxious wealthy prick. Jon was yelling at him that's his boss and don't fuck this up. Of course he wouldn't fuck this up he knew how to act proper and can copy Jon's boring ass. If he could just focus.

"Jonathan, are you alright? You may have hit your head on the way down. You're on some painkillers." Elias smiles, leaning over him.

Jonny furrows his brows. He hated painkillers and always took the fun out of pain and violence. "...fuzzy..." He managed to mumble. His tolerance to painkillers was null and void due to his affection for actual pain. Couldn't he just get Jon's tolerance and not just the fun new parts to explore. He scowls again at the man above his bed, he wanted to rip that smile off his face.

Elias chuckles softly. "Painkillers will do that, and you're not even on that heavy of a dose. I'm sure your coworkers will be visiting you soon. Hopefully, you'll feel better by then."

Jonny grits his teeth. He had a few choice words for that pompous ass.

"You can't kill him." Jon looked drowsy floating next to him.

At least Jonny wasn't the only one suffering in this cushioned hell. He huffs and turns his head.

Jon chuckles. "Don't be mad. You've got control." He was very out of it. He felt the same effects Jonny was. "What's.... what is uh...." He blinks, unable to form a coherent thought.

Jonny huffs and can't fight the feeling of sleep overtaking him.

......

"So Gunpowder Tim cut a bloody path...." Jonny stops, noticing that his head finally felt clear enough and reciting old ballads of his friends wasn't needed. He looked down at Jon, who was staring at him. He floated down to lay next to Jon. "What's with that look? I already explained our situation to you at nauseum."

Jon scowls, looking away. He then makes a vague motion, unable to explain why he suddenly felt wrong.

Jonny raised his brow. "You've got my dick. Ain't you special."

Jon scoffs, but his face is turning red because he feels that is true. "No..." He huffs.

Jonny paused, watching Jon get frustrated. He didn't feel like sharing in that. He learned early in that they shared emotions, and he had to get used to feeling things that weren't his own. It was honestly worse than Nastya, making him feel Aurora emotions. "I can tell you."

Jon felt himself be pushed out from his body as Jonny took control. He scowls but sighs, watching and feeling Jonny's own emotions. "So? What's wrong with m- us?"

Jonny scowls. "They cut off my fucking tail! It's a fucking bitch to grow that back." He raised his ands and feels around his forehead. "Good, they didn't cut them too short. Actually, I like them short, so this isn't an issue... I'm narrating for you Jon be grateful."

Jon raised his brow. "You can't hear my thoughts?"

"Can you hear mine?" Jonny spits back.

"Fair point." Jon sighs. "Are we ok?"

"Fuck if I know. Everything is new, raw, and sensitive. My dicks never been this fucked before." Jonny growls as he is forced back out by Jon.

"D-Dont do that." Jon pulls the blanket over his body.

Jonny shrugs, not understanding Jon. "Whatever, we just have to adjust." He pauses for a moment, pointing at Jon. "This is earth, right?"

"Yes?" Jon raised his brow.

"Tim and Blackwood always referred to me as a cowboy. What's a cow? I don't think I've ever seen an earth cow."

Jon blinks. "But you have parts like a bull."

"Wait, I thought it was called cows." Jonny returned a confused look.

Jon shakes his head. "Alien, right, you're an alien. You don't know human er earth animals. Cows don't have sharp teeth like you, but uh, bulls are basically male cows, but cows are the general term used."

"Can I see what they look like?" Jonny floated to lay next to Jon.

"Yeah, when I get my phone." Jon paused. "Are you upset I wasn't born a man?"

"Why would I care? You've got my dick now, and I have a new hole to play with. This is a win for me." Jonny shrugs and raised his brow feeling relief pour from Jon.

"Thank you." Jon says quietly.

"Ok?" Jonny shrugs floating to look around the hospital room.

......

Sasha slams on the breaks. "Tim what the fuck."

Tim's eyes clicked and whirled. He was told only he could hear this by Gunpowder. Well, both can hear since they share a body. He reaches for his glasses and realizes he took them off because his ears were bothering him. He could feel the look from Gunpowder and Martin on him. "It's a long story."

Sasha rocketed to a spot to park, and she twisted her body to the back seat. "Tim explain now!"

Martin bites his lip and blurts out. "It's my fault. I'm supposed to be dead, both me and Gunpowder. Promised an end to eternity, and it was a farce and I'm back here like this, and I really tried to forget about this part of my life. I mean for fucks sake you die and get replaced Sasha and none of us notice for a year because of how it worked. Tim dies in an explosion, destroying the circus, and that isn't to mention the fucked up paranoia from Jon and extreme levels of fucked up creatures that I mean now I can look back at and laugh but you can't you're mortal. I mean, these are fear gods, so I mean they will get to you eventually."

Gunpowder grabs Martin's hand. "Martin, that's enough. The only reason Jonny knew about my past was because he was playing soldier and was with me. You don't have to..." He stops as Martin waves him off.

"No, it's fine. Tim and Sasha deserve to know." Martin sighs. "I'll tell you what I can remember it has been a few thousand years since I've been through this."

.....

Sasha swallows. "I believe you."

Martin blinks. "Why?"

"I've had a bad feeling, and I knew Gertrude didn't just go missing." Sasha then points to Tim. "Also look at his fucking eyes Martin that's pretty good evidence."

Gunpowder nods.

Martin gives a nervous smile. "I'm sorry I've gotten used to things over the years. I like Tim's eyes."

"Yeah, yeah, don't boast his ego." Sasha puts her seat belt back on. "So keep your glasses on Tim. We're going to visit Jon if the same thing happened to him like you."

"It's equally as possible. Jon worked himself into a delusional state and just hurt himself." Martin shrugs.

Tim blinks back in control. "That's really dark."

"No, no, Martin has a point." Sasha starts the car again. "Remember that incident in research."

"I tried to forget, but I see your point." Tim sighs, putting his glasses back on.

Martin sighs. "Hopefully that isn't the case."

.....

Jon shifted uncomfortably as he sat up. Jonny wasn't lying. The tail thing was incredibly uncomfortable and annoying. He stared at the hospital food in front of him and was told he couldn't leave till tomorrow. He hated hospital food, and he hated hospitals.

"Stop pouting." Jonny rolls his eyes. "I can feel your emotions and pouting won't get you nowhere."

"Oh, then what can I do? Please enlighten me." Jon scowls taking a bite of his peas.

"For one, actually eat. How the fuck are you in such shit condition? Do you even know what fun is?" Jonny shook his head. "You can't do shit without meat on your bones, and you look half starved. You're a fucking disaster."

Jon continues to scowl, not saying a word.

The door opens to his room.

"Blackwood!" Jonny floats through him, trying to tackle him. "Fuck."

Martin smiles softly as Tim and Sasha follow behind him. "We wanted to make sure you're ok."

"You gave me a scare, Jon." Sasha crosses her arms. "You need to learn how to take a break, or at least see a doctor."

Tim was odd wearing sunglasses that completely hid his eyes, but he knew Tim was having trouble with his eyes. "You look awful."

Jon can't help but give a soft smile. "Just wasn't paying attention and hit my head." He motions to the bandages around his head and ears.

"Don't lie to Blackwood. That man can see through any lie you spit." Jonny crosses his arms. "Besides, I bet you control of my choosing that Gunpowder is in your Tim."

Jon ignores him. "Ah you didn't have to bring me anything."

Martin smiles softly as he pulls out a chocolate slice of cake. "It's just some chocolate cake. I mean, you don't have to have it..." He stops as Jon's demeanor changes in an instant as he pushes his food aside.

Jon was forced out and watched Jonny make grabby hands.

"Give it here, Blackwood." Jonny huffs. "Don't you fucking tempt me."

Martin's expression changed, and Jon could feel a shiver down his back. "You and your sweet tooth." He tisks, placing the slice down.

Jonny grabs the container. "Fuck you." He huffs and has enough decency to use a fork. "Your fucking lucky I have to fix this body or I would end you."

Jon watches Tim snicker. "You lost height!" His snickers turn to giggles.

"Piss off." Jonny scoffs.

Sasha raised her brow. "How did you know the cake would work?"

"d'Ville only has one craving he can't quit, and it ain't cigarettes." Gunpowder smirks, taking off his glasses, revealing his mechanical eyes.

Jonny scowls. "Oh fuck you. I don't deny myself pleasures like you."

"I have manners you lack." Tim spits back.

Martin chuckles and has a glint in his eyes and a sinister smile that again Jon can't tear his eyes from. "Now, both of you, that's enough." He moves closer and leans over Jonny. "How about you behave and finish all of your food, and maybe I'll convince the doctors to let you leave early?"

Jon can feel the tug, no the crashing wave of desire, and just pure love spill from Jonny, and if they had his tail, it would be wagging like a dog.

Jonny, for his part, nods eagerly. "It would be faster if you fed me." He purrs back.

Martin steps back. "Don't push your luck. I'm mad at you."

In a split second, that emotion was gone, replaced with annoyance. Jon had to shake his head from the whiplash.

"We agreed!" Jonny huffs stuffing his face with food. "It's not like you were there with your bleeding heart. You weren't there, I woke up after that bar in that... look, I'm not having this conversation."

Jon could feel a bubble of an emotion, one that he knew should leave unspoken. He remains quiet watching Martin.

Martin gaze didn't break, let alone change. He crosses his arms. "Did you do the same?"

Jonny swallows his final bite. "I can't say I wanted to change it, so I didn't."

Martin's gaze seems to finally soften. "Good, he didn't deserve forgiveness." He reached out and pat Jonny's shoulder. "That's my cowboy." He pauses. "What's with the frown?"

"They cut off my tail." Jonny sounded honest and small.

Jon was taken aback.

"I never said humanity was a kind species." Martin brushes a stray piece of hair out of Jonny's face. "It will grow back."

"Not the point." Jonny sighs. "How's your former mortal." His gaze shifted to Tim.

"Probably better than yours with the adjustment." Gunpowder slides his glasses back on. "You look like shit."

"Not my fault." Jonny mutters.

"Never said it was." Gunpowder muses. "Maybe you shouldn't have asked Martin for his story."

Martin rolls his eyes. "Just because you're bitter doesn't mean you get to drag me into this argument again." He walks by Sasha, grabbing her arm. "Would you like to hear more while they complain?"

Sasha nods. "Sure, why not." She follows Martin out of the room as he shuts the door behind him.

Gunpowder frowns. "Don't give me that look. I already got an earful from him, and to be fair, he warned both of us to wait. Now, why do you think this didn't happen the first time?"

"Aren't you just full of dumb questions." Jonny adjusts his glasses. "They were already dead and gone by the time we crossed the first time. This place was fine. I dunno Blackwood said it's been. I dunno fifty years since it ended and started again." He raised his brow at something Tim couldn't see. "You do know what apocalypse means, right? Right well that happened, and you died before I came here the first time."

Gunpowder waves his hand. "Jonny, stop, we both know what happened in the end. They don't know the full truth yet, neither of them."

Jonny frowns and stares at Tim. "How long do you think it will take till being the good guy gets old?"

"Who knows? We've never tried it." Gunpowder shrugs. "You should hold off on being honest about this world, as much as I know you like your stories and songs. Unless you want to deal with Jon."

Jonny waves him off. "Whatever, it doesn't matter now he'll learn as I will annoyingly to see his memories. Just let me figure this out, and as much as I hate to see you two on good terms compared to my situation. Just wait."

For what, Jon had no idea, but this Gunpodwer did, who nodded.

"Seriously though, figure something out with this Jon. You seriously look worse than when we were starving, as a competition." Gunpowder sighs. "Blackwood..." He looks through the door. "Yeah, he already convinced the doctors and nurses to let you go, and they are on their way. Enjoy your new home, alone." He smirks as he leaves.

Jon was flung back into his body, feeling Jonny fuming, but the other man was uncharacteristic silent. He had to think this over and what this actually meant. So he died the first time, but when and how? Before or after the apocalypse?

.......

He wasn't truly alone, not anymore. Jon sunk into his bed and opened his phone. "How did Martin even convince them to let me leave?"

"He's got a way of trapping people making them do what he wants." Jonny hums. "Now, show me a picture of a cow."

Jon wanted to press, but he quickly learned pleasing Jonny was the best way to get answers. He pulled up a picture of a cow and a bull and held it up.

Jonny was quiet studying the creatures he saw. He broke into a wide grin. "They look cute, don't they. Good cows."

Jon hums and sighs. "You said Martin told you what happens to this world. What happens? Why did he become one of you? What are you guys?"

Jonny frowns. "I rather not feel your stupid emotions." He scratches behind his ear. "You won't let this go. However, Blackwood warned me you were insistent, so I might as well spin you a tale." Suddenly, a harmonica appeared in his hands. "A tragic fate of star-crossed lovers doomed by forces beyond their control, and a man turned to a monster that was left in the ruins."

Jon listened to the haunting story on a soft melody. He learned how his coworkers, no his friends, died. How he roamed the wastelands the fears as the apocalypse he caused reigned, how Martin stayed by his side even though he caused this by being tricked. The story ended in a sharp blade.

Jonny stopped. "And you were no more as the pancoption crumbled the archive now, just a man taking his final breath. An ending driven by a man afraid of death and so willing to please a god who didn't care for him as nothing more than a tool. Blackwood crushed but was not dead. A familiar doctor just happened to be passing by the rubble. She wanted to try something new, just not machines anymore, something animalistic, something new. And so Blackwood became a monster a first of his kind." He stretches. "Immortality such a boring goal, isn't it? You would think you would want something more interesting."

Jon was speechless he couldn't string together thoughts.

Jonny frowns, feeling the rush of emotions. "Look..." He swallows and feels tears drip down his face. He was frustrated that he couldn't stop this. He hated emotions, and he hated being honest to himself, but Jon still viewed himself as mortal, and he won't be raw without his partners. He floated down beside Jon and let him cry. He couldn't stop it. The rush of emotions overwhelmed him.

Jon finally spoke. "How do I stop it?"

"Fuck if I know. I wasn't here. I heard the story from Blackwood." Jonny was purposely looking away from him. "You have to ask him, but we promised to play the good guys this time around, or well, until it gets boring."

"We're going to stop this." Jon tried to muster confidence he didn't have.

Jonny just sighs. "Go to bed. Watch some of my memories. If you don't start trying to fix your body, I will do it by force."

Jon pulls his blanket up and frowns. He falls into an unsteady sleep.

......

Elias raised his brow, watching his archivist return to work. "Jonathan, I did tell you to take time to rest after yesterday." He had a smile and a silver tongue.

Jonny scoffs. "He's worse sober."

Jon smiles nervously. "I'm fine, Elias." He adjusts his hat covering his new sensitive ears. His tail had already started to grow back, and Jonny said it's a side effect of immortality, which Jon didn't believe in. It's supposed to be much longer than a cow's tail and semi prehensile. He wanted to test it but knew better than to try anything in public.

Elias frowns. "Now, Jon, I don't need you working yourself sick again." He knew the effects of the stranger and the flesh it probably hasn't hit the man yet, and he didn't want him breaking down having him explain the truth.

Jon frowns. "I'm fine, Elias. I know how to take care of myself. I'm going to get back to work."

Elias frowns, crossing his arms and watching Jon rush off to the archives . He raises his brow, and seeing the start of a tail, he is informed that it is cut off. It shouldn't be growing back this fast. He had a few connections to pull to get more information. He had no desire to pick another archivist nor start again.

......

"We should kill him." Jonny floats next to Jon, his tail lazily flicking behind him.

"Elias is my boss. I'm not going to kill him." Jon scowls as he hears Tim snickers. "Tim, that's enough."

Tim hums, Jon can see his hair is curling and is getting lighter than the black he has. "I don't think so, bossman. We think it's quite hilarious Jonny's on a leash."

Jon was pushed out as Jonny took control. "Oh go fuck yourself you fucking cunt." Jonny stomps off to Jon's office making it a point to slam the door.

Martin snickers from the entrance and refrains from explaining Elias can see them. Oh, that would be hilarious. Does he know Jon and Jonny are sharing a body, or does he think that the fears changed Jon? Either way, things have changed, and he wants to see Elias... no Jonah squirm with the unpredictability. Martin will force him to realize immortality is not worth it, and death is a gift. He silently walks to his desk and takes a seat.

"Enjoying the show?" Tim smirks. "We are."

"Oh, I'm enjoying something else." Martin smiles back.

"Already knitting a web, I see." Gunpowder nods. "I always enjoy the finished project."

Martin taps his fingers against his desk. "You know I think it's not a Web I rather not get mixed up with that particular fear I think I can recall the avatar is kind of a right bitch."

"Really? You have to explain the fear thing better because some of them just sound fun or fun to kill." Gunpowder smirks.

"Later, and Sasha already made a list." Martin points to Sasha sipping her coffee.

"You two share a body. Did you not pay attention when Tim was reading it?" Sasha raised her brow.

Tim huffs. "I couldn't figure out how to turn off the Xray vision on these damn eyes until like an hour before I slept." He had a slight blush on his cheeks. "Then the damn things wouldn't stop focusing on objects miles away."

Gunpowder took back control. "To be fair, I still have trouble controlling them. Human biology and mechanical parts tend to fight until they get into a rhythm. Also, I have like a million years of experience, and Tim does not."

Sasha frowns. "That sounds actually awful. Does Jonny have these problems?"

Gunpowder shrugs. "He never complains, and if he dislikes something, he's quite vocal. I think he uses the ticking as a metronome."

Martin nods. "As boney as he is, he's very nice to sleep too. The ticking is quite soothing." He sighs. "Granted, I won't be able to enjoy any of that for a long while, I reckon."

"Shit, I remembered that this isn't a desert planet." Gunpowder pauses. "Jonnys going to be a little bitch."

"Why?" Sasha raised her brow.

"Jonny's originally from a mostly desert planet, so his tail ears and horns were basically made to keep him cool. Even the nights were hot, so he doesn't exactly have any defenses against the cold, and he makes his complaints known as Gunpowder said." Martin hums. "Although he loves the snow and rain."

"We never said the man made sense." Gunpowder shrugs, letting Tim back in control.

Sasha tilts her head. "What was the planet like that you're from?"

"Gunpowder is from the earth of a different dimension." Tim taps his pen against his desk and adjusts his glasses. "He did however blow up the moon."

"Now you're just fucking with me." Sasha rolls her eyes and heads back to her desk.

Martin chuckles. "Don't feel bad about it. In this time, we've barely had any people on the moon."

"See, I told you!" Tim huffs. "He wouldn't listen to me or the facts I provided."

"Tim, you have to understand where we're coming from. We lived on a spaceship." Martin hums heading to his desk to start working.

Tim sighs. "Still annoying."

.....

Martin stares at the bloody fingernails in the sink. He knew his luck was running out. His body wasn't going to wait till his first death. He could feel how tight his skin felt and how it was hard to walk to breathe. He wasn't scared to become what he was supposed to be, but it would make this so much harder. He flexed his hand, seeing the black claw nails start to poke through his flesh. He doesn't truly care he made peace ages ago with what the doctor made him.

Elias watched Martin with a curious gaze. He can feel the Beholder use his eyes to watch intently. He had a feeling in his gut something changed something twisted in the mere fabric of reality. He hasn't even checked on Jon since he arrived this morning, and the Beholder agreed that something more interesting was happening. Martin was unassuming and predictable, but this was new, and he wanted to know why. He wasn't an avatar, and that also fueled his curiosity. How is he changing without one of the fears?

Martin rubbed his eyes and sighed. He had time, and he had time to prepare. He wanted Jonny. He just wanted that soft ticking, Gunpowder could soothe his anxieties, but Jonny was a comfort. Sure, the man was brash rude and a devil, but he was his, and that was enough. Gunpowder wouldn't touch him till Tim was fully on board with him, and Martin respected that. Hell he was fucking happy with that. Jonny, however, was a mystery, Jon was tighter lipped, and he knew how long it took for Jon to even understand his emotions, let alone actually relie on others.

Martin gathered his fingernails from the sink and threw them out with a sigh. Maybe he could go to artifact storage to slow things. Well, that has just a likely chance to kill him. He doesn't care. Maybe he could convince Gunpowder and Tim to head to the tunnels properly. He finished washing his hands, not even flinching at the exposed nerves.

Elias's gaze intensified as he watched Tim enter the bathroom. More importantly, he removed his sunglasses, revealing new eyes. When did he get surgery? More importantly, how can he still see? He shut his eyes, and he was seeing from Tim's eyes.

Tim scratched his chin. "Martin, you alright?"

Elias saw a man in the mirror that wasn't Tim.

Martin sighs. "I'm fine." He stretches. "Just a bit achey, what about you?"

"I'm fine." Tim crosses his arms. "Ok, maybe not entirely fine, but I'm getting used to it."

The man in the mirror that wasn't Tim spoke and Elias could hear him.

"I know my scars aren't pretty, and I'm sorry." The not Tim sighs.

Tim shook his head. "Dude, I said it's fine." He turns back to Martin. "I'm more peeved about the hair than I am about the scars, and I still haven't agreed to grow it out."

Not Tim huffs.

Martin chuckles. "The two colors look good together, and if you don't grow it out, what else am I supposed to grab?"

Tim swallows, and Elias sees him in the mirror, and he figured it out that this not Tim was in control.

"Oh, don't tease the man. He doesn't understand the fun a simple act can do. Let alone one with those..." Not Tim stops staring at Martin's hand. "When?"

Martin huffs. "Gunpowder, it's fine. You know how you can't hide what the good doctor does to you. I'm fine. I just feel a bit stiff and uncomfortable, but it will pass."

Not Tim or Gunpowder, ridiculous name if you asked Elias. He smiles softly.

"Fuck the waiting, from what I've seen its going to be brutal and he shouldn't be alone..." Tim was speaking out loud now. "He shouldn't have to go through this by him....self... ah, you ass."

Martin raised his brow with a soft smile. "I appreciate the offer, Tim, but you're not exactly desensitized enough for my liking."

Tim huffs. "Then Gunpowder will watch and be out. You don't deserve to be alone through this. I know you have an issue with that, I uh well, Gunpowder knows, and I saw the memory."

"Fine, if you insist." Martin paused, and Elias shivers with that look. "I've shared things with Gunpowder in secret. I don't want you to share with anyone." He grabs Tim's shirt. "Understand?"

Tim swallows and nods.

Martin smiles again as his features soften. "Good, I'll come by your flat tonight."

Tim watches Martin leave with a shudder. Elias doesn't leave yet.

"I warned you about being caught in Blackwood's web. You're not close enough with him to get comfortable." Gunpowder clicks his tongue. "He's not the man you knew, so please don't underestimate him. I would rather not die before Jonny does. We've got a bet going on."

Tim swallows and slides the dark sunglasses back on, and Elias is shocked to see his vision didn't change in the slightest. "He's still a good person."

"That's... well, none of us are good." Gunpowder responds dryly. "It comes with the territory."

Tim didn't like that answer, but he remained quiet as Elias came back to himself. He had a lot to think about.

......

"At least you know how to tell a story." Jonny responds with a bored tone. "These statements still suck, I still suggest we burn the entire place down."

Jon scowls. "No." He stretches and pulls out the used tape. "Can you think of anything that doesn't involve violence.... or sex." He gives a glare.

"Now you're just plain boring." Jonny raised his brow. "Being serious all the time must be fucking exhausting."

Jon sputters. "Just because I'm not some guy who thinks he's immortal and some sex pest doesn't mean anything."

"I don't care what you think of me." Jonny stares directly at Jon. "We are stuck together for the rest of time, and whatever comes after."

Jon scowls. "I won't devolve to be on your level."

Jonny rolls his eyes. "I don't care."

Jon huffs and leaves his office.

"Jon, you ok?" Sasha smiles softly.

Jon stops and sighs. "I'm fine, just getting used to an unfortunate roommate."

"That's one way to call it." Tim mutters.

"You two should try getting along." Sasha hums. "You'll be stuck together forever, I guess. I think it would suck if you two were stuck together fighting for all of that."

Jon scowls. "Oh, he's a right ass only cares about violence and sex. He's nothing but a pest, and I abhor the fact that I have to share my own body with him."

"Oh piss off." Jonny huffs.

Gunpowder sighs. "His attitude comes with his age. He is the oldest of us besides the doctor, but we don't know about her, though, really." He kicks his feet up. "Jonny, I know you're listening. You should be cautious he's going to see memories that you've forgotten. Funny how the mind works even if we forget they still exist in there, just waiting for a trigger to pull them free."

Jon expected Jonny to kick him out and take control, but he felt fear grip his heart that no longer beat. He swallows the dread that wasn't his and doesn't look at Jonny. "I will keep that in mind for when I sleep."

The conversation dies as Jon leaves as the day has ended, and he doesn't want to linger.

.......

The rusty hinges creaked on the old shack the teen called a home. He made sure he tipped off his shoes before entering, and he saw his father passed out in a drunken stupor. He carefully made his way to the small kitchen connected to the living room. If you would call it, that and stumbled upon a note.

"Jonny boy, I've left to clean up after your father. He pissed off some old doctor at the edge of town. I've left old Bessie for you to make sure she's in better condition when I get back, boy. Now, if I don't come back, I know you won't end up like your father. You're too smart for that. Use your ears to find a target to shoot. We both know your eyes aren't the best use that good hearing of yours. Don't file your horns too short boy they grow for a reason, and I love you forever and always."

Wrapped in leather by the note was a familair old looking revolver, the name Bessie was carved crudely into the handle. The weight would become familair in the teen's hands. He took the note scowled at his father and then headed off to hunt for dinner since that lazy piece of shit won't do anything but gamble.

Jon woke up with a start. He could feel a rush of emotions that weren't his. "I..."

"Don't say a fucking word." Jonny scowls. "Don't go telling nobody about that."

Jon nodded he paused, squinting at the clock that glowed, showing it was 3am. He sighs. "I don't remember my mother, or my father, with died at different times, but I was too young to remember them. My grandmother raised me, bitter she had to raise another child. Never told me that directly, however."

Jonny braces himself and grits his teeth. "I don't remember what my mom looks like either."

"Then we have that in common. Maybe the next dream will be my memory, and you can pick apart that." Jon sighs and curls under his blanket.

Jonny nods. "Just go back to sleep."

......

Martin grits his teeth and groans in pure agony. He could barely register the hand going through his red curls. His legs hurt, and he couldn't move them. His skin felt like it was on fire, and he didn't particularly like burning to death. He was stripped down to his birthday suit, and it didn't help with the fact that he was in pure agony.

Gunpowder continues to run his hands through Martin's hair. "It's alright, you're ok. It will be over soon."

"Just fucking kill me." Martin groans.

"We both know that won't help." Gunpowder sighs. "Would you like to hear my story?"

Martin takes a deep breath. "Please distract me."

Gunpowder nods and begins to narrate his origins.

....

An obnoxious alarm pulled Tim from sleep on the floor. He was laying in something wet and the smell of iron... no blood filled his nose, which caused him to panic and flail completely awake. His eyes lock onto a large spider, half then blood, then flesh and bone. Gunpowder takes over before he can throw up.

"Yikes, I thought the shared emotions wouldn't be this strong. Man, you are super depressed." Gunpowder gets up, smearing the blood off from his body. "You're going to need a stronger stomach." He looked over Martin, who was out cold. "See, he's breathing.... please stop screaming. " he covers his mouth, feeling his stomach sour from the sheer fear and disgust from Tim. He swallows the bile rising in his throat, turns away from the scene, and heads to the bathroom.

Gunpowder barely makes it to the toilet to empty the contents of his stomach. He continues to dry heave for a moment before turning to face Tim. "Are you done?"

Tim was pale, and he finally caught his breath. He was still radiating fear and disgust, but he was stable enough to talk. "Is he still alive?"

Gunpowder wipes his mouth. "Of course he is. What part of we can't die, don't you understand?" He frowns, pulling back his frustration. "Sorry you can't control how you react yet. I didn't realize how much I would share when we feel strong emotions." He sits on his knees and sighs. "I'll clean up, just try not to get sick again, please."

Tim nods and shudders. "I.... I'm not desensitized to this stuff. I'm sorry."

Gunpowder gets up, feeling the soft twists of sadness and self-doubt. "Tim, it's not a bad thing, means you're still human. Don't be too hard on yourself." He pulls out some cleaning supplies from the bathroom cabinet. "Tell me about Danny."

Tim frowns and nods slightly. "He was my younger brother...."

.....

Martin wakes up to someone touching his hand. He furrows his brow, pulling his hand back, and skitters up to be his full height, staring down at Tim. He hissed and then blushed, finally realizing that Tim was, in fact, there, and he wasn't a threat. He covers his face and groans, playing out his legs to be shorter. "I didn't mean to hiss at you."

Tim looked over to Gunpowder giggling, and he felt a laugh bubble in his own throat, and wow, no wonder he got frustrated. He didn't exactly know how he felt about feeling someone else's emotions. He gave a soft smile and reached out again to hold Martin's hand. "Your hands are really like a cat's paw."

Martin smiles and lets Tim take his hand. "Spiders have padded limbs and toe beans if you actually look at them."

"That's actually really cute." Tim blushes slightly. "Oh shit how are we going to get to work?"

Martin shrugs. "Might as well scare Elias first."

"Really?" Tim snickers. "What is he scared of spiders?"

"No, he's scared of what they represent." Martin hums. "We're going to be late, and I need a shirt."

"Right, you brought a spare one, right?" Tim paused and rushed over to a bag Martin brought. "Also, you're going to have to talk to my neighbors because of all the stuff we threw out, and they probably think I'm a serial killer."

Martin snickers. "I think I'll scare them into silence."

"Man, I've seen too much of Gunpowder, and Jonny and you having fun together to remember that I'm supposed to be scared of you because you're a spider centaur." Tim tosses over a sweater.

"I suppose I don't find myself scary either. Honestly, the fear left pretty quickly once I realized how my new body worked." Martin smiles. "This will be obnoxious getting to work. I don't mind walking. You live much closer than I do, but being stared at isn't ideal."

"Maybe a blanket?" Tim stops and covers his face. "That wouldn't work."

Martin chuckles. "I appreciate the concept idea, but Jonny tried that once."

"Wait really?" Tim raised his brow.

"Yeah, ended up in a bar fight." Martin snickers. "Although it was fucking hilarious."

"Huh." Tim crosses his arms. "Just bite the bullet and head out?"

"After you." Martin hums and smiles.

.....

Elias blinks, and the scene doesn't change. What confounds him the most is the fact that this has nothing to do with the web. The Beholder is taking it all in, and he can feel actual confusion from his patron. He clears his throat and approaches. "Martin, I don't believe it's near Halloween unless you've got an event planned."

Martin hums impressed at how well Elias can mask his true emotions. "I don't think a costume would be strong enough to carry someone on." He motions to Tim who waves.

"He insisted that he carry me." Tim smiles.

"Well, yes, but I hope I don't cause you too much trouble." Martin smiles. "Why the surprise this is your institute, and shouldn't you expect the supernatural?" He has a smirk as he walks past a stunned Elias.

Elias doesn't have a response to that. His mind was completely blank, and the Beholder was eerily silent.

Tim was snickering. "Double boss man seems quite stunned."

Martin chuckles. "Oh, this is quite fun."

That thought came crashing down with a terrified scream and wide eyed stares.

Martin felt exposed, and he couldn't remember the last time he felt bad about his body until this moment. He knows Tim can feel him tense. "I..."

"Jon, seriously?" Tim huffs sliding off Martin's back. "It's not his fault he's like this."

Jon was trying really hard to keep his panic and fear in check, and he felt a growing bubble of white hot rage directed at him and feeling it. The feedback loop was really confusing. "I uh..." He was forced out by Jonny.

"Fuck off." Jonny took back control his tail was lashing and puffed out at the end. His ears were pinned back, and the hair on top of his head was puffing out. "Seriously fuck off I don't judge you for who you carnally desire. Blackwood is mine, and you have absolutely no right." He goes o continue his rant, but a tooth falls out. He blinks as confusion fills his features, and he crouched down to poke it.

Martin opens his mouth and closes it. "You know I remember now what he was missing, the teeth."

"The teeth." Gunpowder repeats with a nod.

"I'm sorry Martin, are you ok?" Sasha vaguely motions.

"I mean, it was painful, but it doesn't hurt now." Martin pauses. "I have to figure out how to use my desk."

Tim is getting back control, pulling his eyes away from Jonny, now messing with his teeth. "I mean, you can get rid of the chair and move from there."

"That could work." Martin hums and looks over to Jonny. "Are you ok?"

Jonny holds a handful of his teeth. "What do you think?" He scowls. "Well fuck you too. No, I'm mad at you. That's a stupid fucking question, I don't care about spiders let alone being scared of them."

Three pairs of eyes watch the one sided argument.

.....

A fog seemed to roll into Elias's office out of nowhere, and a tall, muscular man in a captains attire steps inside. The man stops and stares at Elias, who had his head down on his desk. "Elias?"

Elias groans. "Peter."

"Shouldn't you be enjoying your new archivist floundering?" Peter raised his brow.

Elias takes a breath. "Peter, I have called every avatar I ever had contact with to ask if they knew what was going on with my archivist and his assistants. I have no leads, and the Beholder is clueless."

Peter opens his mouth then shuts it with a click.

"Do you have any idea what's happening? Because I don't have a singlaur clue." Elias throws his hands up. "One of the archivist assistants is a half spider centaur, and he's not even aligned with the web. The other has mechanical eyes that still work as eyes. That technology doesn't exist, and the Flesh doesn't bother with machines."

Peter reaches out. "I think you need a vacation."

Elias slams his hands against his desk. "Peter, I'm serious!" He gets up and grabs Peter's arm, and drags him to the archives.

Peter stared stunned.

[originalaccountname]

i loved your post about dazai's relationship with chuuya vs oda. regarding this section:

"But Chuuya also serves as Dazai's wake up call (cue Dead Apple soundtrack) and keeps him from slipping too far. Yes Chuuya punched Dazai square in the face, but it was because Dazai was seeing an ally's death as an opportunity for him instead of a death. And it worked! Because Dazai then got into action not 2 days later to start on ending the conflict that had already been ongoing for over 2 months!"

i was always under the impression that Dazai didn't really care about reaching executive status (pretty sure i read it in canon somewhere, just can't remember where, but correct me if i’m wrong), & my assumption was that, even in that interaction with Chuuya, he was already setting his plan into motion (planting the microscope reference, maybe trying to get Chuuya out of the way so Dazai could confront/get captured by Shibusawa? etc).

plus, Dazai brought up letting mori plan things, & i don’t think mori would let Dazai just do nothing to help end the feud. he gives pretty free reign as long as if benefits/doesn’t have negative effects on the PM. i read that punching situation as Dazai lying about not caring & letting everyone die, but i’d love if you could expand on your thoughts!!

ps: thank you so much for your bsd analyses & meta... i consider you one of the best sources for accurate, unbiased, factual, canon compliant literary analysis of bsd & i appreciate your insight & research so much :)

🥺 that is both flattering and a reminder for me to always fact check myself hdsgfsj

First, plugging the complete Dragon's Head prologue by Asagiri again for everyone to read.

This is interesting and not an angle I really thought to look at it from!

I don't think Mori was actively planning to end the feud because they say the PM didn't suffer many losses in Fifteen and the SB epilogue specifies they mostly kept away from the fighting:

According to the prologue's timeline, there are 9 days between Dazai meeting Oda in a slight panic after a close encounter with Shibusawa (day 61) and Chuuya punching him for his comment (day 70). It's two days later (day 72) that Dazai confronts Shibusawa and vanishes. Chuuya finds Dazai and unleashes Corruption 15 days later (day 87).

What I would have said happened is that Dazai did not consider the conflict his problem for the most part, though he was aware of the recent developments. Then, the newly released Shibusawa got the Colonel, and his attempt at a joke about Chuuya and his' ongoing rivalry while telling Chuuya about the Colonel landed him a punch in the face. Chuuya was actually mad at him (rare) and announced he'll be doing something about the conflict, even without Dazai. Two days later, Dazai has a whole operation ready to go.

In this scenario, Dazai just dropped the microscope joke for fun and later used it because Chuuya would be able to recall their last conversation and find the tracking device and understand what he had to do. Chuuya's punch was a wake up call to recenter his priorities, because Dazai does care about people, but grew too detached in this case and had to be brought back.

Now, the scenario you're suggesting I understand like this: Dazai passively keeps track of the events of the conflict to be ready just in case. Then, they release Shibusawa into the fray, things go from bad to worse, and the Colonel is a casualty. Dazai starts planning to stop this guy before he becomes an even bigger threat, and antagonizes Chuuya as part of said planning. He shows Chuuya the Colonel's death to put him up to pace, and the open seat comment was to purposefully make Chuuya mad and push him away.

This second option could also give a new meaning to Dazai anxiously going to Oda, when Oda inadvertently met Shibusawa days earlier, either because Dazai was already neck-deep in planning, or as one of the moments he realized everyone he knew could be the next victim:

It would also make Dazai a bit less random here:

Maybe the real scenario is somewhere between the two. Maybe Dazai really was trying to make Chuuya react like usual by making him realize one of them would probably be granted the title shortly, but it was too much too soon. Maybe telling Chuuya about the Colonel's death was also his way of warning him that everyone was at risk out there.

We don't know when the Colonel died, but it had been 9 days since his scare with Oda, so perhaps Oda being so close to this threat made him really conscious of the danger. Maybe the short jokes with the microscope really was Dazai setting the scene for when he would soon confront (and probably lose to) Shibusawa, as he had had enough time to plan his next move by then.

There's also Ango we need to plug somewhere in there, with his records of the deceased PM members during the conflict, and Dazai who was accompanying Oda on cleanup duty for said deceased members. He had seen the dead, he had seen someone record them as people (and decided to befriend him). Dazai said he joined the PM to witness death, and he was basically neck-deep in it, perhaps it made the idea of seeing his close ones in their position too real, especially once Shibusawa showed up.

I think there's plenty of room for interpretation in all this information actually, if you bother to try to make the pieces fit. Asagiri is always going on about how ~mysterious~ Dazai is when he's not that complicated, come on, but there are times like this where the nebulous character motivations make that ~mystery~ shine because there could easily be more than one answer, depending on the reader.

[professoruber]

Marceline and the Founders

Quick thought I've been thinking of recently (since I've been getting back into Adventure Time as of late due to Fionna & Cake) but I wonder if the humans of the Island ever discovered Marceline's connection to the Founders and what the consequences of that might be.

Marceline knew the founders as actual people rather than the deity-like figures which Island propaganda appeared to portray them as. So her insight could very much go against some very fundamental tenants of official Island history.

Of course, the very fact that the humans of the Islands have returned to Ooo could indicate they no longer take "Founder's Truth" to be the gospel in regards to running their society. Or perhaps they tried to rationalise it.

I have seen some discussion on reddit before regarding how aware the Islands are of Marceline's existence. Personally I feel she likely has a limited by important place the "mythos' of the Founders. The fact she was turned into a vampire and so parted ways with the Founders before they actually founded Founder's Island probably meant she's not as prominent as other Founders like Two Bread Tom who would've taken a much larger leadership roll in early settlement of the Island.

However, while her time with the Founders may have been relatively short (Jo, aka the girl with the bunny hat, didn't physically grow up much between the time Marceline first met her and when she fought the Vampire King), she did still appear to have grown quite close to them. And I do feel they likely would have honoured her sacrifice in fighting the Vampire King so they could escape the mainland.

I do think that others are correct though that her half-demon nature is likely unknown by modern humans, both due to details being lost in time and also because a friendly non-human (well non-complete-human) would go against the propaganda of "everything outside the Islands is out to get Humanity so we can't leave" stuff. Personally I have also had the thought she could be considered the predecessor to the Guardian, since that was basically her role in their group. Although for the purpose of propaganda, her effectiveness as a guardian may also have been played done and/or her sacrifice got the most focus.

So perhaps the humans of the islands just recall "Founder Marceline" as someone who sacrificed her life for the other Founders, a haunting example of why humanity must never leave the safety of the islands or stray from the Founder's Truth...

Of course, given the aforementioned deity-like status of the Founders, that does make me kinda curious of how the Islanders would react to learning that one of the Founders is still around. Certainly wouldn't be the only time Marceline's gets canonised by a saint by folks she helped saved....

Could also definitely be interesting to see what Marceline's on reaction might be to learning of the ultimate fate of that band of survivors she once was a part of, and also how she went down in history.

Perhaps the humans of the Islands might try seeking our Marceline for wisdom and leadership if they knew, given the importance of the "Founder's Truth" as being treated as infallible for so long, old habits die hard after all. Maybe might lead to a dynamic akin to this...

In all seriousness though; someone like Marceline, who they can trust more or less, probably would be beneficial in helping humans re-establish themselves in Ooo after being absent for so long.

[blobofcolour]

Finally finished watching Mysterious Lotus Casebook.

It's a good wuxia drama in itself and as someone who has read the novel, the drama also managed to bring out the spirit of the novel who is the man himself Li Lian Hua and his long goodbye to jianghu. Because he once shone so brightly and proudly, it was incomprehensible to those that love and hate him that he would be content with not having it all, even to the point of death.

I really feel for LLH because those around him - from friends to enemies! - insist on seeing him as Li Xiang Yi and continues to put their expectations of LXY on him. LLH keeps repeating himself over and over, but ultimately it seemed that only Zhan Yunfei truly understood and accepted Li Lian Hua.

有些人弃剑如遗 有些人终身不负 人的信念终是有不同的

LLH's tragedy is not in his death, but in those around him refusing to understand that we have different paths in life and choosing one over the other at different points in your life is perfectly fine.

If ZYF represented acceptance of LLH's choices, then Fang Duo Bing is the ultimate manifestation of rejection of LLH's wishes. I was SO frustrated with him throughout the drama arggg. While I can't recall how FDB was exactly like in the novel, he was definitely not like the drama and I have no idea what possessed the scriptwriter to turn him into this sulky, needy young girlfriend to LLH. Couldn't they have just gone for the master/student dynamic minus the neediness? I want to tear my hair out every time FDB professes to be LLH's 知己 zhi ji … hold up, I don't think you know the meaning of the words you are saying. Student yes, friend maybe, but zhi ji you are most definitely not. I find FDB constantly demanding LLH behave a certain way because a) FDB determines it's the 'correct' way b) LLH should reciprocate the friendship the way FDB wants.

Heck, even FDB's mom has a better understanding of LLH as evidenced by what she told him before LLH left for the palace. I mean, I get it, FDB is much younger and sees the world in a black and white manner. But still, even to the last freaking episode after everything that he has seen LLH gone through, he was like noooo, you stay here, I will find the antidote, I will cure you blah blah blah. Sure it's human nature to want your loved ones to not-die, but if FDB had even bothered really to hear LLH out and try to accept LLH's choices, I would have been less annoyed with him.

Like what kind of reasoning is this??? 拜托不要再情勒！ Why does LLH owe FDB or anyone for that matter to stay alive? Look, LLH is not actively looking to off himself but he has made peace with himself/his impending demise over the last 10 years. The world wouldn't let go of LXY and let LLH have his peace.

[tobiasdrake]

Alright, now that the fourth crime scene is out of the way, we can look into the others. While I'm not sold on the "correct" answer to that one, it does make me feel more confident in my answers for the other three.

I've been having second thoughts about the other crime scenes because I can see how they probably worked but it feels like the physics wouldn't work out.

First crime scene, killer climbed nails as steps to reach a vent. Feels like the nails wouldn't be able to support a human's weight like that, but maybe they could. Using metal spokes for a climbing is a thing, after all.

The string pulley trick with the second one also feels like... I'm not sure if the physics would work there?

And then the third, assuming it worked the way I thought... Like, if you propped the painting up against the window, you could put the key on the nail and then hammer it through that thin slot. But you'd be more likely to knock the painting over without embedding the nail in the doll.

But the rope ladder trick runs on whole-ass cartoon physics, so if that's the case, then there's nothing wrong with any of these.

You can't hear her extremely snide tone of voice, but Shinigami is so needlessly catty. Halara may be my prime suspect for this case but there's no reason to be snotty about it. Why are you such a bitch, Shinigami?

...he says while trying to quietly pretend he hasn't said, like, half of the things he's said about Halara. I distinctly recall calling Halara a corporate shill multiple times, which is going to be supremely embarrassing if they're actually innocent.

...why am I such a bitch?

In any case, on to the main piece of evidence that proves a clergy member had to have been the killer.

So long as there's no shenanigans at play here, this would exonerate both Worshipper and Halara, leaving only Priest, Servant, and Nun as possible suspects. Or a conspiracy of all three and Worshipper, if each killing was performed by a different person.

Alright, on to the first locked room. Climbed the nails under the vent to reach it and escape. Easy.

Easy as pie. On to the--

Ominous! That's definitely going to come up in the future, not necessarily in this case. I wonder who has to die for us to leave the hard way?

Crime scene #2! Left through the door and locked it, then used a pulley mechanism wrapped around the doll's eyes and victim's neck to pull the key into the room through the slitted vent above the door.

Okay, so I was off. The string was used to prop up the body but not to bring the key into the room. The much simpler explanation of just chucking the key through the vent is how it landed under the body. That makes more sense.

And they're specifying that it's a fishing line, specifically. Which feels like it's probably important to the culprit's true identity, but also feels like information handed to us by the Labyrinth directly with no discernable means within the metaphysical rules for us to have acquired that information.

That just leaves the art gallery. The painting was propped up against the small window with the doll already nailed in by the head, upside-down to confuse the case by creating false assumptions about direction.

The nail with the key was then pounded in through the thin slit of a window, knocking over the painting in the process.

Simple enough. Though it still feels to me like this case is wrong. Too many details break from the Nail Man's M.O., especially the way the victim was murdered.

Alright, so the important takeaway from this scene is....

The important takeaway is that there is nothing of value for us to find here regarding the Nail Man's identity because this one wasn't the same killer as the other three. This is a falsified crime. Thought so.

[claire-starsword]

The Guardiana Magic School Run - Part 12

We begin Chapter 4 with more cryptid sightings.

And now some more promotion whining. Khris is up for promotion now, however, like Lowe, I can delay her until level 16 to get Heal 3 faster, at the expense of delaying Heal 4 until level 21 promoted. I already said I prefer doing that.

But Khris has another thing to consider, which is Aura. She learns Aura 1 at level 20, which means I could get it earlier by delaying her promotion even more, however that super delays both the aforementioned Heal 4 and Aura 2, which is all the way at level 28. I'm okay with that because I doubt I'd be getting to that level anyway

My actual worry is that she doesn't get to that level quickly enough and misses promotion only weapons. So while the initial plan is to promote her at 20, I might change my mind if I decide I need her attack more.

Whining done, let's explore my favorite town of Pao. We find a Long Sword, which Max still can equip despite being unpromoted, so I'll just carry on with him like this I guess. I could buy the Mermanbuster from the deals now and promote Max, but he's being super busted for now so let's maybe save money, I don't remember what things we might want to buy later on.

There are no new deals. The regular Weapon Shop offers us the Power Lance, which is stronger than the Power Spear, but weaker than the Elf Slayer so it doesn't matter for us. And then there's the Paralyzer… which is already a Vicar-only weapon. Uh oh. I forgot about this. Maybe this means the healers are already behind in attack but, I again don't think I want to risk them attacking in the next battle. Actually I'm very afraid of the next battle, I'm expecting it to end to current deathless streak.

To put some more pressure in, this shop will leave before the battle, so I have to make a decision now. I'm sticking to my plan of delaying the priests' promotion then, but I might reevaluate depending on how things go.

And that's it. The Pao train has moved on and so must we. We get to say hi to Kokichi and Vankar but can't even sell their weapons for profit right now.

The Raging Drum is an anti-artillery axe. We don't have axe users in this playthrough so that means nothing to us.

Anri is right. Look at all those enemies. They don't advance at once, they come in waves, but still gather faster than you'd expect, especially with us having only eight characters to attack. The terrain is also completely plain and wide, so it's hard to protect the squishy characters. If you don't recall, six out of my eight characters are squishy. There's a reason I expect to die.

We're also at a ridiculous distance from then so there's not much to do for now. I do wonder if I can try sticking a bit to the north or south and approach one side of his army first. I never tried before because I don't really think when playing Shining Force casually.

Okay so I goofed up and picked to go north, but there's barely any space to move around them here, there's more space to the south but i don't think i have the time to correct course when the wave of knights is coming behind them. I'm also unsure if these guys can be baited at all, since they're lining up in a pretty formation.

More importantly, remember when I said it sucks to not be able to see enemy stats before attacking them once? This battle is why. One of the lizardmen, the middle one i think, has the heat axe equipped, and deals way more damage. I would love to wipe that one first, but that means throwing myself in the very middle of their formation.

This battle sucks man I have no clue what to do here.

The lizardmen indeed do not advance easily, and the pegasus knights are basically already here. I wonder if they advance easily due to their movement, or if they'll stop somewhere as well. I'm honestly so clueless as to how to approach them that i might as well observe a little.

hell

The Silver Knights are also already coming and I have definitely messed up at this point.

Somehow I've managed to bait only a few enemies, but the lizardmen are dealing 2 damage each (without the heat axe!!), and baby, I'm deeply missing when that number was always 1.

and this is just horrifying

But if I'm horrified, Max is PISSED OFF about it. Please keep this energy man.

Tao gets in the range of enemies doing this but Gong will be able to cover her before any of them move. Will he survive? That's the question.

All I can say is that no one will survive her. Sadly this thing is 8 MP so she has like, three uses of it. Definitely won't be able to save them for Elliot, I have no clue how I'm gonna deal with Elliot actually, I don't trust anyone escept Max to approach him, I'm starting to think I REALLY should have bought the mermanbuster.

Okay it does seem like I hit a sweet spot in this field by accident. Max and Gong defeat the remaining lizardman, and only a Silver Knight advances, and they're weaker than everything else here. A Dark Priest also comes to heal Max's counterattack on the knight, and I sure would love to wipe these guys out before they heal something stronger. I'll also save Tao's MP for stronger enemies.

Max defeats the priest, Gong attacks the Silver Knight, but I'm too scared to advance anyone else! And I was right, because the Heat Axe guy finally comes:

If they did a second attack, we would have been toast.

There has to be a smarter way to do this fight but man, I don't know it.

At least Tao gets to solve the problem.

As seen by another patented Arthur Level Up, everyone gathers to defeat the previous wave of enemies, even though Anri is at reach of enemies now and I hate it, thankfully they are obsessed with Max as usual.

Now that the Super Heat Lizard is gone, the pegasus knights are by far the bigger threat (28 attack against 22 and 20 from the lizardmen and silver knights). Unfortunately there's two of them while Tao only has one more Blaze 3, but I'll use anyway, I suspect Elliot is resistant to magic. Most bosses are.

I legit don't know what I'm gonna do about Elliot :')

Next turn. We're alive! Somehow! Even though I risked Anri in front of the Silver Knight and Arthur did The Exact amount of damage to finish them off, nothing more, nothing less. The final enemies refuse to advance, so I finally have some attempt at positioning.

And by that I mean let's just send Max as usual.

After two turns in which Max and the knights decide to be the spiciest lads and trade a bunch of counters and double attacks, we wipe out everyone at the center. Hurray. Now I cannot avoid dealing with Elliot any longer.

I'm hoping to bait the enemies without Elliot, bosses don't move much.

I cannot complain, enemies are obedient in this game.

Also, check out this sweet attack boost from Gong!

Will he advance if I do this? I considered doing it with Max before the classic issue of "oh no what if I lose the whole battle" popped up, so yeah, sorry Gong as usual.

He survives with more than half HP!

He counters!

Alright this should mean Max also survives, so screw strategy, throw everything in this man.

I'm worried about counters though, bosses do A LOT of that in this game, so let's start with Supernova.

It might also be doing more damage.

So yeah, it turns out he only has 10% magic res, so saving Tao could have been useful, but things still work out despite Arthur missing a hit. Anri even gets the kill, which is exp she needs.

And then we get something even better. Narsha. Who you don't get to see because I hit image limit, my bad.

And I just realized our team members don't end there. There's Domingo!

We're ridiculously close to have a full team, we're at 9/12 characters.

My power is also dangerously close to going out rn, so I'm saving for today.

___

Note: the above was played a few weeks ago. The power indeed went out in the next minutes due to a storm, but thankfully it was all fine on our side.

I do need to add something now that the threat of power outage isn't dangling over me, though. This has been a way easier challenge than i initially expected, which is kinda nice as it means i've learned to play the game better, but also kinda boring for a challenge run. And I don't see this changing for now, the next battles in Chapter 4 and 5 tend to be easy for me even on casual play, with a difficulty spike only in Chapter 6.

I've even been feeling a bit unmotivated to continue because of that, so I might make simpler posts for those battles compared to how I've done things so far. Obviously that'll change if something exciting does happen, but I figured I'd give a heads up for this possibility.

Losses: 0 Deaths: 2. Somehow.

[titanicfreija]

(In)humanity

"You claim to feel pain."

"I do feel pain."

"You also have said numerous times that you don't mind being shot."

"I said I don't think much of it. I'm still gonna try not to. If I could get shot and just feel the pain without taking any physical damage, I would still try to not get shot. It sucks. I just... Don't let getting shot stop me, don't let the idea of it keep me out of places, so on and on. My shields and armor are strong, so it takes a few blasts to get through, most of the time I'm only gonna take some bruises and a little heat. There's this gap between running away and Sunny patching me up and my shields returning, that's when... Oof. Nothing left between me and a lead slug-- can I swear?"

"You may."

"Stop encouraging her!"

"I think to annoy our mutual friend, I may even challenge you to add as much vulgarity as possible."

"Light, noooooo..."

"I would fall real short of expectations, I just say fuck a lot."

"A pity. You will learn."

~

"Hope so! I was talking about getting shot directly-- Fuck that. It's like lava if lava used my hammers! You can feel it ripple through everything! And I'm still too tough to die right, so they have to do it twice, maybe hit my head properly. I hate that shit!"

"The damage to your body as your shields break is different, somehow?"

"It's like being beaten eighty percent of the way to death, and then the last twenty is gone pretty fast? Not that being beaten to death is great or anything, but the alternative is getting shot or burned."

"Have you ever considered attempting long term survival?"

".... Can I make a joke?"

"Please."

"I told you before, I've been alive for a whole week straight."

"Ha!"

"We've joked about it, but it's only jokes. I would get bored. Sunny would, too. Even if we quit fighting, I'd go do stuff that got me killed."

"Hmph! For instance?"

"She's crushed herself with falling debris because she moved the wrong support on multiple occasions."

"That. We've already decided we would try and clean up Earth and lay some global networking, and maybe mark off radiation zones, so on."

"Remind me to tell you why I love that idea later."

"Has there ever been an injury or death traumatic enough to stop you?"

"Probably... Delay. Never stop. Not yet."

"Your voice bears a distinct waver. Is Sunny threatening again?"

"Yes."

"Do not interfere."

"She keeps trying to lie when she feels her humanity being challenged."

"Oh? I wondered why someone practically unstoppable would claim otherwise."

"I... Have no idea what that even means. What?"

"I'll explain later. Stop giving the answers you think you're supposed to give."

"... 'kay. No, I haven't been so wounded that it got me to stop for more than a regroup. I have given up before, but I came back after I found a new weapon or armor piece or mod kit or whatever."

"Are there any particular injuries you can recall?"

"Ummm... You'll have to be more specific, it's all kinda flashes but nothing special."

"Are there sensations associated with healing?"

"It's usually--wait, by Sunny or just Light in general? I can heal with mine."

"Can you?"

".... You know, I was just fine telling you about dying on the field but for some reason, talking about my Light feels awkward?"

"Hm."

"Uh... So, I can heal myself because... Solar energy is generative, and the energy can be used to hasten growth."

"What are you quoting?"

"My roommate. He called Arc traveling and Void destructive, too. Parallels to subatomic shit. He loves these theories."

"Is he correct?"

"I couldn't tell you. It comes naturally. He has to overthink everything. My fire is warm to me and burns the shit out of everything else. I like my fire's heal, but it doesn't relieve pain like Sunny's. It's... warm."

"That's the only word she ever uses."

"I see."

".... I am really really trying here to come up with a way to do the analogy thing... Like my heart's on fire in the best way. Warm like your sleeping bag if you fold it right, like a hot bath on aches. I can feel stuff growing back, kinda, but more like the fire is filling in the gaps until the meat can come back."

"I see."

"Sunny's heals are cool. Ice compress, wading in cold water when it's hot, letting cool air under the blanket. It's. Dry....? Like a med hall?"

"Have you ever been in a medical ward?"

"Not for me, but they smell like nothing and it feels like anything I cut there wouldn't bleed."

"This is inaccurate, but I take what I imagine to be your meaning."

"Yeah. But so, it feels more like it's being cleaned and repaired. Numbed, stabilized, cleaned, and restored is what it feels like."

"Interesting. Do you have a preference?"

"...."

"Don't lie."

".... I wasn't gonna..."

"Stop lying, too."

"... The fire...."

"Why?"

"Dunno. It's warm."

"Hmph!"

~~

Hard Questions

New Angle

Honest

Radio Chat

Scripted Questions

Battlefield

Fear

Enlightening

More like Interrogation

(In)humanity <-

Underlying

Ghost Affection

[romanovsonelastdance]

Hi may I be clarrified, why people think Ileana of Romania wanted to marry alexei of russia because didn't she rejected the Prince of Asturias in 1929 who is also a hemophiliac when he asked for her hand? So don't you think she would have rejected Alexei of russia if he had lived to ask for hers too? And is there a source about alexei asking for her to wait for him? Because it seems unbelievable like wasn't he 10 or What??!

It's been a popular anecdote on the internet for at least 10-15 years, but I've never seen an English language source for it.

However! A few weeks ago a Romanian History Anon sent me the following information:

We started out as good playmates, my brother and him were quite close when we were younger, it was a fond memory for my brother but he recall little like me, and when it was time to go, he said something to me, in a way that I think was just a part of his jokes, "Someday I will come back and marry you." I remembered how it sounded, and now that I know English, I'm wondering if this is what he truly said to me because that is how I remembered the words. With only these few recollections of him, I cannot affirm that those words are correct, but one thing that I can confirm is that he has been whisked away from his life by the cruel murder they did, my playmate was long gone.

Book: Prințesa Ileana: O privire din viața ei

Romanian History Anon also said the book seems to be only available in Romanian, was published probably in the 1930s. So, unsurprisingly, I haven't been able to track it down here in the United States (and I couldn't read it if I did!).

And, yeah. He was 10, she was about 5. If he did say something along these lines, it can't have been serious. It sounds like it was just something funny/cute a kid said. Extrapolating that to them actually falling in love and getting married someday is . . . a stretch.

Fine for historical fiction! It's more believable when you can point to something to base it on. But the idea that he was 'in love' with her or whatever or she with him is obviously far-fetched.

The hemophilia is an interesting angle. I believe her mother, Queen Marie, mentioned in her memoirs that she was apprehensive about the Carol/Olga idea because of the chance of hemophilia. And that's just worrying about Olga being a carrier, which is merely an 'if.' Alexei is not an 'if,' he was a hemophiliac. All his daughters would be carriers, although his sons would be healthy. And any girl marrying him would know he probably would die young. It's a lot to ask. Ileana was a kind-hearted girl so she might have been able to see past all that and support him in sickness and in health if she loved him, but it was by no means certain because, again, she was 5 and he was 10 the only time they ever met.

[windalchemist001]

Wondertober 2024 - day 29: king if the party

Ocs: to many than I want to name

So close but I almost made it

Heartslabyul

Mauz took his cup and took a sip, it was the last unbrithday party of the year, and next year he'll be a second year, and it would also be the last year the current housewarden would in charge so, she was going to announce who will be taking over for the role.

Setting the cup down he glanced around it needed to be a bit sweeter so either he was going to need a cake to make up for it or he needed to get something to sweeten it. As he moved to grab a hold of some honey cookie the sound of the housewarden drawing everyone attention made him pause and turn to the far end of the table where the throne like chair was at, taking the cookie he sat it on his plate but didn't eat as he listened.

"Greating everyone, as we all know this is the last unbrithday party of the year, but it is also a celebration for today is not just a unbrithday party, for it is also the day that I, Cora Whiterose will choose my successor!" She paused for a moment as she waited for the whispers to die down before continuing.

"Now I have thought long and hard and talked with my vice warden as well as several other thrid years about this very important discussion and have all agreed for the perfect choice out of the several candidates who looked promising." The upperclassmen stood up and removed her crown. Which caused many people to whisper among themselves.

And even mauz wonder who could be the person since he could guess who was on that list but even he truly didn't know who could be picked. What was even more surprising was when the housewarden seemed to be walking down the table seeming to know where she was going.

"I hope that you understand while it saddens me to leave this role, but next year I will be much to busy with my internship to be able to run this poroud dorm that has been under the rule of in my opinion the best of the sevens queen of hearts." Her tone was a bit smug

And while knew such a statement could have caused issues outside of the dorm, he knew a lot of people had a pertcaler liking to one of the seven and always thought them better than the others, personally he always wonder how it would be if all of them were actually been in a room, would they be able to get along and help spread the good they held or would it be like how their own school tends to act.

Mauz watched as the housewarden continued to give her speech before she started to get closer to where he sat and his mind quickly tried recall who was on this side of the table who could be on the list of next in line.

But when housewarden cora disappeared behind him and he had to turn in his seat to full see he noted she had stop moving and he realized who it was.

"Housewarden may I get up? After all I feel it would be more polite to kneel before you." It is over the top yes, but given their housewarden it would be up her ally. And he was confirmed correct when she laughed and step a bit away.

"But of courses, you are making it very clear i have chosen the correct person for this task indeed."

Glad he was correct he moved out of his chair and kneeled at the current housewarden's feet and he waited.

"Now all who are here, again I Cora Whiterose, have dub Mauz Bell the next Heartslabyul housewarden! And for the next three months he shall slowly take over my role and by the start of the next school year will be your housewarden!!!"

Mauz tried to keep the frown off his face since it meant he couldn't go home to see his grandparents or hand out with his non magical friends, but this was a rather important role, just wish he had been notified before hand. But than again a month before school ends for the year is enough to at least get his ducks in a role.

When he felt the crown placed on his head, mauz looked up to his housewarden. "I thank you so much for the opportunity and I hope to prove everyone most important you correct with your faith in me."

Mauz knew complamenting the housewarden would be good as she petted him like a small child. "Thats good to hear, now raise yoi hear high for you are the king of this part and the next ruler of Heartslabyul!"

Nodding he did as told and stood up. "Again I thank you, and I bring glory to our dorm and the queen of hearts name."

Savanaclaw

Rama felt the adrenaline still running though his veins, and maybe a mix of the foreign magic seeming to calm down under his skin. Not that anyone around him knew that.

What he didn't realize was the pure anger those in his dorm would have at him beating the now previous housewarden, honestly he was starting to worry that this had been a mistake and not even the headmage was able to calm the rest of his dorm down.

And when Rama tried to get them in order they threw insults at him and refused to believe he was in charge. Honestly he wasn't sure how he would be able to handle this. At least intill a loud roar that knocked down everyone near by and made everyone including himself have to shield his ears to try and muffle the sound.

And once it died down he hadnt expected or maybe he should have as imani walked out from wherever she had been hiding at, and reached the now previous housewarden her hand carefully grabing hold of the stuff he had been clenching so hard too.

"We both know you lost, clinging to something you no longer own, will just bring shame to yourself, and as a citizen of sunset savnna, you should understand that your actions will bring about shame and disappointment to all who see your actions."

"Princess, i-" the previous housewarden was cut off by imani using her heard to gently ruffle his hair.

"Not here, I know you keep asking for me to take the role since I got here but due me the favor and follow the rules you've lost ans thus you must hand over the reins to the one who beat you, but worry not you're not the only one who made a bet and lost, so maybe I'll ask for advice when I need it." Imani smiled kindly at the male who blinked and came to realize what was said before nodding and let go of the staff for imani to take.

Once she held the staff she turn to the crowed of her fellow students who hadn't rose their voice over whispers and murmurs. And with a deep breath she projected her voice loud enough for all to hear (helps that her signature spell let's her do so)

"We are savanaclaw! The dorm that is under the king of beast name! Do you think your actions would be looked apon fondly? Rama howl first year has defeat our housewarden in a housewarden duel! Meaning that Rama howl is the new savanaclaw leader! And we would be fools to spit in the face of said rules and insult the king of beast! After all you think the other dorms will not find out about this?"

The crowds seemed to hesitate and after a bit imani continued. "You think the other dorms will let what we did slid? No! We will hear it from everyone and than they would speak about it online and so forth! If we wish to keep order of the dorm and not insult the king of beast with our own foolish pride than we should follow the tirdetions and let things go as they should." Imani held up the staff. "Rama howl is our housewarden! Let us celebrate not a lost but the passing of the torch! So long live the king! Long live the king! Long live the king"

The crowed had begun repeating after imani part way though the second repeat but once she stop they continued to do so as she stop getting the crowed on her side before turning back to walk over to Rama and holding out the staf in her hands. Once Rama took the from her he watched as imani went back to the crowed and introduced herself as his vice warden and that the two of them will make sure that the years under their charge will be ones to remember.

Octavinelle

Mona hummed as she cut into her meal, the party was rather simple. Everyone had been gathered thr house warden gave a speech and than everyone was told she would be the housewarden as a first year and what not.

And to act as an inmation of sorts she turn to her true form grabing hold of diffrent glasses and telling everyone she hopes they all can enjoy the time under her care, and to act as a more scar tactic ulrik slam hard into the glass behind them at full speed causing the glass to crack and rather badly showing everyone his full size in his true form the twins also appeared from the sides standing at full height as a human the chuckled and when it looked like someone was going to go against her the people saw just how bad her boys can get.

Chuckling Mona return to her human form and with a final slam water begin rushing in screams filled the room as everyone begin to panic but with a wave of her hand the water stop pouring in (she wouldn't admit but it was straining on her and the twins and ulrik were also helping but being sudele about it so it would appear she was doing it alone. Ulrik how had came in as a mer let everyone see him turn into his human form before walking over to Mona.

Mona smiled and with a wave of her hand the glass was fixed and the only evidence that something happened was the standing water in the room. "So I do hope you all understand, that I'm a kind soul, but it would be best not to cross me, for even the benevolent nature of the sea witch must have had her limits, so I would rather you all not test mine."

Looking around the room knowing they would behave at least for a bit she had hoped she than with out worry sat down in a chair that hadn't been there before and Clemens bought forth food for her to eat and dani got her a glass of something bubblely (a glass of white sparkling grape juice) which leads her to now a simple party where she was eatting her food and thus the new housewarden, and if she had to say anything she did put on a good show.

Scarabia

Chaim was napping in the pool after swimming for some time, or rather he was napping in the float that for him was on the small side, though he also knew for those who didn't have the wealth he had it would be extremely large. Given that his floaty was big enough for him to sleep in and fix another dozen or so people in it not that he had enough people to fill it... ok he did but their will be complications trying to mend his two worlds and honestly he didn't trust a good lot of them so yeah complications.

Though as he was lightly snoozing he heard his phone go off and moved to stand up and grab his phone from one of the pockets and answer noting it was his mother.

"Mom? Is everything ok?" He felt him self worry as he heard sounds in the background.

"/everything is fine, though I am going to need you to cancel any plans you have tonight as well as tomorrow. And do get out of the pool and get dress because we have much work to do." His mother's voice was rushed as he could tell something was happening.

"Alright, ill be there as soon as I can." Hanging up chaim went to the entrance to his floaty and dived into the pool so he could make his way back to the edge of the pool as he could before jumping out and grabing a towel he dry himself off and rather than run though the house made his way up the walls and into his room where Irfan who had been sleeping seem to wake up.

Runing to the bathroom he took a quick shower dried and dressed before racing to his mother's room only to be forced to stop by a large crowed of people running about, glancing around he was about to jump on the railing only to be stop by a hand on his shoulder. Confused he turn around and noticed a familiar face. "Rotem?"

"I figured you would come this way, but your mother told me to tell you to head tomthe dinner hall since master kailim is throwing a party." Rotem sighed deeply

Which let chaim know a few things since parties weren't new and normally his mother allowed him to ditch them unless they were important and given he was needed in the dinner hall meant he was the main star and honestly he didn't like that, none the less he nodded and went to said room.

The party seemed to already be starting as people were coming in and everything was also still being set up signs that this was unpormted and his father was laughing and seeming to be celebrating while his mother was showing her in public face. And he quickly made his way over to her ingoring his father's antics to sit by his mother who once closer she let the mask slip to lightly show she was here for him before it returned.

So chaim found himself sitting for a few moments before his mother clear her throat. "My dear husband." Those words like always seems to be like some trigger word that always made his father freeze and turn to his mother giving her his full attention.

"You have yet to address the guest of honor, nor inform him of why this party is being held, since you have asked me not to say anything I have not, but in which case you should inform him of the news you wish to tell him." His mother tone was one of business and he knew it had to be serious.

Honestly he didn't want to admit it but he was hopeful his dad would want to spend time with him, though he doubt that would be what the case it is.

His dad seemed to nod at his mothers words and pulled something from his pocket. "Guess what! You got an invite!" His father held out the letter and chiam frowned as he moved to take siad later and looked it over trying to figure out what could be inside it with out opening it though from his side eye he noticed his mother holding put a letter opener and he took a moment to take the opener and cute the letter open.

Returning the opener to his mother, chiam than pulled the paper out and read it. He blinked and than open another paper out. And read that, he glanced over to his father who seemed to be waiting for him to responded.

Glancing to his mother who reached over to gently pat his shoulder, and his stomch knoted and looking to where he knew his retainer was the elder teen reached into his own coat pocket and gave him a letter that hadn't finished been written and again the knot grew worse. And he nodded and handed back the letter.

his thorat felt tight, and looked at his mother again. Thinking back on the fact that people were running around in his mother's area meant she was making plans and that meant things were happening. And yet He wanted to run and yet he knew given the setting he couldn't so he have a weak nod. "I... I will accept the invite."

His father seemed happy and begin running about celebrating that he would not only be going to night raven collage but be housewarden. Everyone else seem to be happy and running about and he could feel his mother's hand on his arm and he turn before getting a soft hug from her. And chaim found himself hugging her back wanting to cry, not in joy but in sorrow because he did not want to leave his home, because it felt like he was being thrown away, as foolish and dumb as that might be and what would happen to his mother here all alone? The thought made him want to cry.

"Chaim, my sweet child, all will be alright, go make friends and live a bit more like a child and not as a person with responsibility, I will be alirght though don't be to lose you are still going to a somewhat in charge, but a lot less than you normal deal with." The worse were soft and no one would have heard it but him but the words confused him a bit but his thoughts were intrupted by his father coming near and he realized that his father smelt a bit of booze and wrap an arm around him stated he will be like the sulten and chaim felt himself drag around again wishing this party would end, because this is a king title he didn't want.

Pomefiore

Henry was hearing noises he could tell he was at some sort of dinner party he can't quiet remember anything he jadnt been allowed to get his phone for sometime and the voices were speaking and the fog was loud but he kept walking.

Someone was speaking to him and he nodded and followed them before talking with them, he can't remember he never does though. He blinked and again what was going on changed. The voices continued to whisper about joining them and he ingored them and he walked and found himself looking at boxes walking over he sense something abouts the boxes. And open one.

Though opening it the hazy cleared a tad bit. This was his stuff his, and it was not so much his stuff had magic to clear the haze but when ever he was reminded of his beloved it seemed that the fog that try to drag him into its depths seemed to leave him if only for short moment.

He could hear the person asking if all his stuff was there and Henry turn to the person and while he didn't know who they were he inform them he would need to look though everything and thanked him. The other said that they would have a party for him later tonight to celebrate him becoming their new housewarden. The guy seemed to want to say something for a bit before holding pit a paper and asking for his signature.

Sighing Henry nodded and moved to sign the paper and than waited for him to leave and took a moment to close the door and turn to take a picture of the room he would need to make a somewhat better copy but first and most important he was going to speak to his beloved while unpacking his stuff. Seems he became a king with out his queen

Ignihyde

Meri was happy eatting her food her hair was currently in an updo her mother has decided to put it in and her dad's hair was currently in some braid she had done on him, since they had a chain of doing hair ealier. Thanks to puppy dog eyes from both her and her mother.

And honestly everything for meri was perfect, though as she ate she heard a phone go off and from he ring tone she knew it was her father's and looked to her mother who pulled the phone out (she took ahold of all phones during dinner time) and checked it before answering it.

Meri watched as her mom listened and hummed before nodding though she decided to speak. "Is it the same as the others? ....... fine, Bring it here, and do remember to knock, I will be upset if I wake up in the morning and it hasn't arrived or its on the floor" and with that she hung up.

"Pavlina? Can I ha-" her father shut his mouth when her mom looked at him and looked at his food.

Meri giggled knowing her dad just got scolded. "So whats being bought here?"

Her looked over to her and sighed deeply. "Its a leter from night raven collage."

Both firey blue hair members of the family blinked. Her father was the first to speak. "Its not some extroverted thing like a reunion?"

"No, your reunion letters look diffrent so what it is most likely an invitation letter given that night raven become co-ed quite a bit ago, their is only one reason for an it to be here." Meri blinked as her mother looked at her.

A moment of confusion before it clicked. "Nope! I'm not going! I want to stay in my room and what of my babies here?"

"Yeah! Meri shouldn't leave! Those people would try and hurt her, she's safer here." Her father was quick to respond after her though he frowned. "Wait when did night raven become co-ed?"

"Well since I'm the one who reads your physical mail, I've been getting newsletters letters about the school, and also since I know you didn't want to go to school reunions I've been telling them no, but my guess is they want meri to go this year since she will be of age to join."

"But its not like I'm going." Meri didn't want to go.

"Oh no, you're going. After all you need to make more friends, like real friends in the physical plain and not online."

"But mo~m i don't wanna~" meri groaned really not liking the idea of going to deal with people."

"No buts! Trust me its good to see other people i mean you might have fun, plus that school has been known to be high in blot so you could do some studying on it."

Idia slammed the table. "And that's the perfect reason, for not to go! Its to dangerous! She could get hurt!"

Pavlina sighed. "Dear, clam down. We will keep an eye on her as best as we can but let me ask you do you think with out the experience you gain at night raven you would have gone to the conversation where we meet?"

Meri waited for her dad to say something but he sighed and mumbled as he poked at his food.

"Correct, I just want to make sure meri gets to meet people around her own age even for a little bit so she can grow as a person, or do you want her to marry someone your age and or older?"

Both meri and idia made a face at such an outrageous claim.

"See a gross thought, so our daughter will go to night raven and interact with people her own age for a short while and maybe she find something to do besides hang out here and race the charet around the bubble."

The table went quiet for a while before meri decided to ask something. "Hey dad?"

Idia looked up from his food. "Yeah?"

"How much do you think it will cost to be made a housewarden?"

Idia open his mouth to respond only to be quickly cut off by Pavlina. "You are not paying for that!"

"But isn't that the only way to have my own room?"

Pavlina groaned and so begin the argument of why meri can't do that but much to Pavlina best effort her husband and daughter will in fact spend money to make her housewarden.

Diasomnia

Brigitte felt a bit awkward as her friends popped some hand poppers and their was a cake given to her by the first year she helped.

"Congratulations on joining the housewarden warden club!" Now the three founders of the blastcycle are all housewardens!" Meri patted her on her shoulder. It had only been a month into their second year and she some how ended up doing a housewarden battle when the previous housewarden had gone after a girl from another dorm and she stepped in and welp now she was in charge of her dorm.

While still awkward, she couldn't help but feel a bit happy to at least be on the same standing as her friends and hey maybe now that she was a housewarden,.maybe her and rotem can talk more since he was a vise warden. Or so she hoped no mater what she can only be hopeful.

[bossbutch]

Umineko Chapter 7 (front half)

i know i said i'd write a post about erika don't @ me

i knew Willard and Lion were coming because they're in the fighting game but i didn't know anything about them. so far Chiru has been less "answers" and more "here's new characters with new perspectives" will's Introduction is he says he's anti-erika, the detective that cares about love. so will he succeed where she failed? he's kinda boring but he moves the story along i suppose. i don't believe for a second that Lion existed in Reality. i guess they're "what if natsuhi didn't kill that kid" [edit: :)] they're fun but i'd like to see them interact with battler and the cousins. like is the family Cool with a nonbinary successor? kinzo and krauss are not exactly progressive. then again if beato the younger is canon trans that would make kinzo a trans-positive misogynist If bernie works for aurora does she work for "the author"? (as a force within the story) she has been Instigating Everything so far in the back half. did she always work for her or is that a post-ange development battler wouldn't approve of us "digging in the guts" of beato's game, it's less of a like, tcrf development post mortem and more like if a magic show showed how they did the trick at the end. but in Modern Era magic tricks are not really secret and it's more about the skill- there's folks who di a trick while explaining how it works, or with the secret compartments fully visible, and it's still impressive

~extended kinzo flashback sequence~ i'm reading an LP so i don't hear the voice acting, wonder if young kinzo has battler's VA. they comment that the voice is similar "...Lion. There is nothing so long and faint as a life you do not live for yourself. And yet, it slides on by in the blink of an eye. Do not forget this." "Living means having your own will. You probably were dead during that time." "Precisely. I wanted to live. No, I wanted to die. How can a puppet die?" "...By cutting... the strings." "Correct. That would be death and it would also be life, since it would mean being free." no escape from existentialism beato the elder was italian?! mama mia! lol at kinzo talking about the Bravery of the italian fascists the gold is gonna be on this sub [edit: :)] i had heard the end chapters of umineko were a little contentious and some people didn't like the explanations but once i saw the italian submarine every Kinzo Mystery fell into place BICE????? i've been using "beato" to refer to every beatrice but it's only properly beato the younger. bice... of course it gets all Dramatic when there's only two japanese soldiers and bice left, the guy who was shooting on sight suddenly wants to talk a lot

~now maria flashback~ lol maria is the messiah. also lol at maria's beato being like "real witches wash their hands and face every day" so if beato daughter of bice died with rosa where does Beato 3 come in. even if she didn't die on the rocks she would be older when she met maria so is it a different beato? though it's maria so she'd see all beatrices as Beato, it's not evidence of anything. i don't think she's a fully imaginary friend because imaginary beato would be able to make rainbows and wouldn't give her New information willard refers to maria's beato as "beato the elder" which has been my name for bice were there previously moments where someone suddenly acts OOC to represent the game master moving a piece? i don't recall any in part 1, was battler's beato mostly Above That will reaching into the story and telling his blorbos he's proud of them is surely wish fulfillment to Some subset of readers

WE CALLED THE GOLDEN WITCH AT 2 AM **SHE ACTUALLY RESPONDED?!?**

jessica goes into the vip room and sees a beatrice fumo on the side table i'm gonna assume will's seating arrangement mystery is just a sign of lion being poorly pasted in so if baby is rejected then maria's beato is born, that must mean the baby doesn't die. i think i said i would be mad if that was true because of how it was presented initially but whatever. maybe i said that about beato 2 (rosa's beato) dying on the spikes so if lion (loved baby) is trans i'd think that implies beato 3 (kanon probably?) is trans too? god i hope bryn picks this back up she called it so early. willard all "are you a boy or a girl" he's not very tactful. but it is magic 1987. well is yoshiya ftm, or mtf boymoding with the kanon identity, or genderfluid depending on role or what. i guess it'll be straightened out from them directly eventually but of course they wouldn't use any modern terminology ~yasu flashback~ it's cute they don't come out and say she's yoshiya despite how obvious it is. i'm gonna use the names and pronouns for yoshia's multiple presentations that they use At The Time for clarity. some trans folks are ok describing it like that, some aren't, but it's how you do the plurals and the genderfluids and there hasn't been anything Definitive said the stakes are not Just the stakes but also girls who went to furniture school with yasu. or their faces are based on them. or they're "playing" them in the Aurora Theater. ultimately doesn't matter but it's fun they do some Slight of Hand with shannon here. either she's rooming with yasu at the school and then Not rooming with her at the mansion OR she's yasu's tulpa. or alter. i wasn't too prudent in my rereading when i last considered the possibility of them sharing a body (to solve the number of people on rokkenjima)

i guess if you weren't paying ANY attention you'd be fooled by kanon speaking separately from yasu but it's a little insulting for 07 to try it on me :P oh hi gaap. story kinda forgot about you for a bit. so gaap is a beato and one of two older beatos for beato 3. gaap beato is not unlike the non-chick beato fragment (i forget if she had a title) [this is where the halfway point of the chapter is but i read a little more because my shift at work wasn't done]

awww kumasawa using magic to teach yasu "you'll lose shit less if you tie it to you or put it where it belongs" is very cute. she's all "this is a spiderweb charm to ward off beatrice" and "mr. knife is happier in his home" and. i don't remember how old yasu is in this scene but she's young it's definitely appropriate. kumasawa rules. she's definitely part of Maria's Beatrice. and she's who got yasu into mystery books! gaap talks about Golden Age mystery novels and that figuring it out before the end means you "win". so idk if i've "won" because it's not like there's a single culprit and crime in umineko, "figuring it out" and "before the end" are both on sliding scales. i figured out who beato is, basically what magic and love are, but i didn't figure out the epitath (which i think requires outside knowledge and japanese wordplay, so i'm not too upset about it), and my record for figuring out the closed rooms is pretty bad. i haven't solved if shannon is a beato tulpa/alter yet but it's certainly looking that way. there's still a full chapter and a half left, what is left to even happen? i guess it'll take a lot of words to wrap it all up from battler's perspective. and there's the little quiz (?) in ch8

[torahtantra]

11. Parsha Vayigash, "The Penetrator." From Genesis 44:18 - 47:27.

Vayi= to sharpen

Gash= to penetrate

Judah Speaks

18 Then Judah [praise] went up to him and said, “Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself. 19 My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father, or a brother?’ 

20 And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father [Israel], an old man, and a young brother [Benji], the child of his old age. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother's children, and his father loves him.’ 

21 Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’ 22 We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ 

23 Then you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again.’

Correct: The Right Hand of Benjamin, Righteousness, cannot leave Israel or Israel Dies. And without Righteousness, God will hide His Face and provide us with nothing.

This is during a long famine but Joseph and the gang are trying to buy food and resources to the people who expect short and long-term views of the situation. Joseph agrees to give Praise and Righteousness reins over the situation and off they went.

Recall money is time, food is intelligence, and it is okay to buy extra of both and have really good extra sex with someone if the opportunity arises; this makes everyone in town happy!

Look at all the good things that happened after Joseph, who was sold to the Pharaoh and prostituted to his wife? What a return on investment!

Now they are back at it again, trying to use their youngest brother's beauty and eloquence to broker a deal with a kind of faceless man:

24 “When we went back to your servant my father [Joseph], we told him the words of my lord. 

25 And when our father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food,’ 26 we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother goes with us, then we will go down. For we cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ 

27 Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. 28 One left me, and I said, “Surely he has been torn to pieces,” and I have never seen him since. 29 If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs in evil to Sheol [place of decomposition].’

30 “Now therefore, as soon as I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy's life, 31 as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. 

32 For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’ 

33 Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. 34 For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”

-> One must be able to see one's face reflected in the surface of one's past deeds if the future is be free of blame. At some point, the man's life is not bound to the boy's. In the Torah it is always the other way around.

Joseph Provides for His Brothers and Family.

45 Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 

2 And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. 3 And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.

4 So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 

7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 

8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9 Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry. 

10 You shall dwell in the land of Goshen ("to see the future reflected in bronze"), and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 

11 There I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty.’ 

12 And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin "son of my old age" see, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. 

13 You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.” 

14 Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. After that his brothers talked with him.

16 When the report was heard in Pharaoh's house, “Joseph's brothers have come,” it pleased Pharaoh and his servants. 17 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan, 18 and take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.’ 

19 And you, Joseph, are commanded to say, ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. 20 Have no concern for[a] your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”

->The Temple of Speech is becoming praiseworthy, [Judah] it is growing up. It's master has yielded his Confederate ideals to those of union and welcomes the future, AKA the Cup which contains Joseph's brothers, the 12 sons of Israel.

21 The sons of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the command of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the journey. 22 To each and all of them he gave a change of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels[b] of silver and five changes of clothes. 

23 To his father he sent as follows: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and provision for his father on the journey. 24 Then he sent his brothers away, and as they departed, he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way.”

-> Ten Commandments and their promises positively loaded on the Donks. 300 Shekels = 300 day or ten month roman calendar, the Five Changes of Clothes= Five ranges a number of subjects, all pertain to practice over the week and the year.

25 So they went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob. 26 And they told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” And his heart became numb, for he did not believe them. 

27 But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. 28 And Israel said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

-> Interplay between Jacob and Israel again; why can't he pick one? When he laments or pines, he is Jacob, the "follower". When he wakes up, he is Israel. One fathers the Skills, the other is ready for the nursing home.

Joseph Brings His Family to Egypt

46 So Israel took his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba "Seven Wells" , and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac "Laughter". 

2 And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” 3 Then he said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. 4 I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph's hand shall close your eyes.”

-> it makes sense Prosperity would be the wages of overcoming history, one that followed and followed the patterns from before.

5 Then Jacob set out from Beersheba. The sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him. 

6 They also took their livestock and their goods, which they had gained in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring with him, 

7 his sons, and his sons' sons with him, his daughters, and his sons' daughters. All his offspring he brought with him into Egypt.

-> Ham, the wall of fire has been breached and the Skills go to Egypt to cure it of distress.

8 Now these are the names of the descendants of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons. Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, 9 and the sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

 10 The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. 11 The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 12 The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan); and the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. 13 The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Yob, and Shimron. 14 The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. 15 These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, together with his daughter Dinah; altogether his sons and his daughters numbered thirty-three.

16 The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli. 17 The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, with Serah their sister. And the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel.

 18 These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and these she bore to Jacob—sixteen persons.

19 The sons of Rachel, Jacob's wife: Joseph and Benjamin. 20 And to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera the priest of On, bore to him. 

21 And the sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard. 22 These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob—fourteen persons in all.

23 The son[c] of Dan: Hushim. 

24 The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. 25 These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob—seven persons in all.

26 All the persons belonging to Jacob who came into Egypt, who were his own descendants, not including Jacob's sons' wives, were sixty-six persons in all. 

27 And the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two. All the persons of the house of Jacob who came into Egypt were seventy.

=

Mankind overcomes misery by following well trained leaders with penises who procreate with men who cluster together as grapes in a vineyard which they tend.

Men of diligence, who have excellent reputations, who are founded in God, who turn right only, are praiseworthy, establish [Godly authority] and draw out all that decomposes a place.

Those of unity gather men together who are beloved not bitter. They praise the aroused city of wild asses and make them feel vigor, peace, and break through to the dawn, to Canaan. The wildness dies there in the Land of Purple.

The friends of the friendly who are not anti-social, bound by the red thread, the oath, return to the Dwelling of Honor with splendor and prosperity and free it from fear and other protruding attributes, to this leads the Ultimate Upgrade, the abode of the Leading Cow, the place of superior judgement.

Thus Fortune covers the stranger, the sleeping one and transforms him into one who is awake, turns the wild ass into the Golden Vision of God, of Happiness. Around him who always turns right all are equal.

The Calamity Princess who is partnered with a Godly King, and a sorry whore who follows happiness and fortune become pure and follow the rest.

The pure little ewe who meets the follower at the Well yields Prosperity and Righteousness. They are the reasons distress ends and fruitfulness takes place in the Temple of the Sun in the company of the Priest of the Sun and the God of the Sun, the Golden Pillar.

Righteousness, the destroyer of the old fire, (recall Parsha Vayeshlach is the fire of distress) and the pilgrimage to pleasant brotherhood is created by free speech right out of the head into the mouth.

Good judgement moves others to struggle with those who are divisive, pitting the righteous vs, the unrighteous as divided by God, and creates one garden of perfection, made of pure and bashful ewes.

All this went from Canaan the Place of Purple to cure the woes of the rest of the world called Egypt, the Place of the Ancient Misery.

Jacob and Joseph Reunited

28 He had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to show the way before him in Goshen, and they came into the land of Goshen. 

29 Then Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen. He presented himself to him and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. 30 Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive.” 

31 Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father's household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 32 And the men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock, and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have.’ 

33 When Pharaoh calls you and says, ‘What is your occupation?’ 34 you shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers,’ in order that you may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.”

-> the Egyptian abhorred the farming of animals for meat because they relied on their animal companions for clothes and textiles.

In addition, Joseph told the Jews to reassure Pharaoh they were not raising an army, nor would they if they confederated with the Nation of Egypt in commonwealth so the ordinance against meat stood firm on both sides.

And it worked.

Jacob's Family Settles in Goshen

47 So Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan. They are now in the land of Goshen.” 

2 And from among his brothers he took five men and presented them to Pharaoh. 

3 Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, as our fathers were.” 

4 They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants' flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. And now, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.” 

5 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. 6 The land of Egypt is before you. Settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land. Let them settle in the land of Goshen, and if you know any able men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.”

7 Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and stood him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8 And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the days of the years of your life?” 

9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning.” 

10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh. 

11 Then Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses ["son of the Sun"], as Pharaoh had commanded. 

12 And Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father's household with food, according to the number of their dependents.

Joseph and the Famine

13 Now there was no food in all the land, for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished by reason of the famine. 

14 And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, in exchange for the grain that they bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house. 

15 And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? For our money is gone.” 

16 And Joseph answered, “Give your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock, if your money is gone.” 17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the herds, and the donkeys. He supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year. 

18 And when that year was ended, they came to him the following year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent. The herds of livestock are my lord's. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land. 

19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh. And give us seed that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.”

20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for all the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was severe on them. The land became Pharaoh's. 21 As for the people, he made servants of them[d] from one end of Egypt to the other.

22 Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and lived on the allowance that Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their land.

23 Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have this day bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. 

24 And at the harvests you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and as food for yourselves and your households, and as food for your little ones.” 

25 And they said, “You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh.” 26 So Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; the land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh's. (=separation of Church and State).

27 Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly.

MOST authorities in the discipline of International Affairs and World Government would say these former verses contain the ideal approach to the complex and eminent problems of humanity:

An entirely rational being with ultimate authority must take possession of the affairs of humanity and mete its resources contingent upon its ability to cooperate and invest in its own equity.

The people of the Commonwealth of Egypt, under Joseph's leadership saved the world from drought and famine via a steady supply of innovative economics and thus made it through when things got dicey.

Joseph was brilliant. He maintained strategic near and far term goals that encompassed the civilized world, entailed secular government and did not resort to war or conquest to guarantee his people would survive.

Because of his brilliance, the brat in the fancy jacket became an Emperor- he was given and wielded absolute authority- even the Pharaoh bowed to him. But not just because- he was through and through Rekhem, a member of a continuing line of Jewish Founders. We need Founders and Foundation once again because our democracies are failing, as usual to realize the full potential of civilization. We think democracy can save us but this has never been the case, and will not likely prove itself.

Democracy means a representative sample of the people have approximately equal opportunity to voice their opinions through legislation. When the people are delusional, like ours, nothing but delusional government can result.

Empire ensures that someone who cares keeps the welfare and quality of the people unquestionably and undeniably in line of sight. 

the end goal is not utopia but an ever increasing Bourgeoisie, a class of people that live exceptionally well, dictated by the whims of Empire, which supersede bureaucracy in the care of the Constituent. 

Empires are best translated into Commonwealths, where leadership is aggregated first around human interests: Sovereignty through Human Rights, and free commerce between free people. 

Nations and organizations who lack an understanding of the human condition and do not legislate it into full bloom do not earn the right to Sovereignty and must never be allowed to possess it. Sovereignty is derived from a cosmopolitan lifestyle and this can be made real through policy if the attitude is right. 

 And the proper attitude towards civilization is what the Torah is all about.

And thus endeth Parsha Vayigash, "the Penetrator," numbered 11 of 54 contained in the Holy Torah.