#OR and hear me out here devs we COULD maybe just possibly add a picture of his first wife?? crazy thought

[sleepy-crypt1d]

i'm gonna be autistic about borderlands for a sec, everyone stay with me okay

i do not understand why the borderlands games try to make moxxi so important to jack, i dont get it, genuinely it doesn't make sense

so, spoilers for BL2, the pre-sequel, tales from the borderlands, and BL3 moxxi's heist- the general info you need is that jack and moxxi canonically dated for a period of time between the first game and TPS, how long this was we arent sure but we can make a guess that at the VERY most it was less then six months of them being together

we can piece this together by the vague timeline of TPS happening about a year or less after the first game

(this is estimated by the fact that Athena said she worked with jack five years ago, meaning TPS happened five years ago by the time the second game takes place and five years is also the amount of time that's passed between the first and the second game so- TPS took place in a very short few month period after the first game)

now we know that they couldn't have been together for long because moxxi was together with BOTH mordecai AND jack during this only a few month period of time between games- this is confirmed in a line of dialogue from BL2 where mordecai says moxxi left him for jack at the end of BL1 but then in TPS moxxi and jack are already broken up, which means they could have only been together for a few months for the timeline of five years to make sense! at the VERY most they were together for like, three months or even just a few weeks. all that matters is that it was not very long

in BL2 there's also a line about jack destroying moxxi's fighting dome because he thought she cheated on him, which is a thing he does AS handsome jack not as the normal dude jack he was when they broke up, the reason for which is still unknown but we know it was Vaguely Messy which is like whatever, sure, that sorta makes sense for him to do but what DOESN'T is the games trying to convince you that jack is in love with her.

okay you still following? cool

in TPS jack is visibly uncomfortable around moxxi and doesn't like working with her, even going as far as asking her to stop calling him 'sugar' a request she just, ignores and continues doing anyway, also during TPS is when jack gets together with nisha, his canon girlfriend he's had through the five years between BL1 and BL2. jack is INSANELY in love with nisha, we see this in the after credits art of both TPS and BL2 same with the way he talks to her/about her in TPS and in outside game material where he literally stutters when talking about her AND in the way he proudly displays her hat in his office in TFTBL alongside his most prized possessions.

he LOVES his woman with his entire heart, he gave her a whole town to prove it!! nisha is his everything outside of hyperion so, tell me, PLEASE why BL3 tried to tell us that jack was still in love with moxxi? because i do not get it at all

what im talking about here is 1. in moxxi's heist timothy is in love with moxxi, this is made canon in TPS where he fumbles through trying to flirt with her and in the heist dlc this is brought up again and timothy has a line about how jack asked moxxi on a date during his reign as handsome jack and sent timothy to go as him because he was busy but like, why would he do that? we know that jack is insane about nisha why would he then?? ask his ex that he visibly hates on a date??? and then 2. they added a fucking painting of her in his office in the casino.

i do not even know where to begin on how much i hate that detail

when you get to jack's office in the casino there are two paintings you find, one is of angel- makes sense, is his daughter who he loves even if he is really bad at it, it's the same as him having the picture of her in his office on helios, he loves his daughter, a painting of her being here is in line with everything else!! plus it's really pretty and i like it

then across from that is a painting of moxxi, which makes no fucking sense!!! why isn't it nisha!! it SHOULD be nisha!! the woman he is CURRENTLY TOGETHER WITH AND MADLY IN LOVE WITH????

i have DETESTED this detail since i first played the dlc, as much i love moxxi's heist and credit it as my favorite borderlands dlc the whole 'moxxi is jack's true love' thing makes me so confused?? they dated for MAYBE three months between BL1 and TPS and then he got into a five year long committed relationship that is never properly explored in the games and then the devs have the gall to say they wish they had done more with nisha like!!! good news you still could have!! but you didn't

anyways, i apologize for this, it has just been bothering me for months and i had to get it out and see if anyone else had noticed this and was bothered by it?? because it makes me go a little insane every time i think about it

then again maybe the character writing in BL3 is just bad

[thedistantstorm]

This series will officially be called ‘The Fledgling Diaries’ and will be tagged as such(and cross-posted to AO3). If you’re looking for the part where Dev & Marc meet Suraya, look here. If you’re looking for the nugget of hurt comfort that follows soon after that, click here. I’m trying to make sure everything is tagged in a way that people can find them if they want to read more. All of the parts should be stand-alone, though they will read better together.

This part’s about Suraya’s first altercation in school and touches on the definition of family.

School is mostly boring. But, they sometimes go on fun trips to places like a farm - where they learn about animals - and to a museum - which is mostly boring, but there were some pretty pictures she told Marc about and he was proud of her for knowing about color composition. Her teacher is nice enough. Doesn't ask her to read in front of the class like she does with the others when they don't pay attention.

The teacher does yell at her sometimes, but only when she doesn't do homework or give Devrim and Marc the notes she writes them once a week. She doesn't like it when her teacher says things like 'Suraya needs to focus more on history class. Please make sure you are helping her study.’ Dev and Marc sat with her every night and talked about school, what she learned, what she didn't understand. She just blanked when she saw the tests in front of her. She didn't like being put on the spot. It made her hands all clammy and her heartbeat race in her chest.

One thing about the classroom she does like, though, is when they're given art projects. It's not often - first graders are bigger and older and more concerned with serious topics like math(which she understands way better than history) - but every time she makes something and brings it home, Dev and Marc hang it up on the kitchen refrigerator and make sure to show anyone that comes by. It's… nice.

She's been living with them for a few months now. They're very good to her, always trying to make sure she's comfortable and happy. They don't make her wear pink or play with dolls - though they offered to play dolls with her if she'd wanted to - and let her take her time getting used to being around new people. So, today, her teacher is having the class draw a picture of their family and write five whole sentences about them, to present to the class later. It's long, but Suraya is good at reading and writing, too. Marc and Dev tell her that being literate is important, and they know lots of things. They help her practice her writing and make sure she uses proper grammar when she does her homework.

It's only when she's about halfway done with the picture she's drawing - her, Marc, and Devrim, at the park, where they go every Saturday morning before going out to breakfast - that the teacher comes by. She compliments Suraya's color choice for Devrim's eyes, which makes Suraya roll hers once the woman walks away but she makes sure not to let anyone see.  One of her classmates over to her table a little after that, looking to borrow a brown crayon. He frowns at Suraya's picture, even after she hands him the color he'd asked for.

“Your picture's all wrong,” The boy says. “A family has a mommy and a daddy.”

“I don't have a mom,” Suraya says, and turns her head back to her paper.

“You can't have two dads!”

“Says who?”

“Says me!”

“Well,” Suraya says, not looking at him, “You're wrong.”

Suraya squints at the page. There's not a lot of gray in Dev's hair, but it's not all black, either. She reaches for the silver crayon around the same time the little boy snatches her work out from in front of her and runs back over to his table, with his friends.

“Look! Either her mom has a beard or she's got two dads!”

“Give it back.” Suraya marches over to them. “Now!” She demands.

“She drew two dads.” The boy continues, crumpling up her picture between his fists. “What a stupid fam-”

He doesn't get the word out, because Suraya's fist connects with his cheek and the surprise of it all sends him careening to the floor. “DON'T TALK ABOUT MY FAMILY!” She screeches as the boy holds his face and bursts into tears.

The teacher rushes over and pulls them both from the room. Suraya's entire body is shaking with rage. When the teacher tells her to apologize for hitting the boy, she refuses. They tell her that leaves them no choice: they're calling her parents.

The teacher has to physically separate the two of them when the boy smirks and sticks his tongue out at her.

-/

Marc and Devrim leave work as soon as they possibly can. There's never been a problem before. Now, they're received a call that Suraya has been suspended for a week. They can't believe it. She’s a first-grader. What could she have done to warrant such an extreme response?

Devrim is still dressed in his gray militia fatigues, he'd had drills today. Thankfully, his superiors were understanding enough to let him go. Marc, however, demanded a half-day, told his supervisor to shove it - she had an adult child, certainly she remembered when they were young - and left. Devrim had Marc's left wrist in a vice grip to prevent him from running to the office where they'd said Suraya would be waiting to see them and the principal.

She sits on a bench in the hall, in plain sight of the main office secretary just inside the doorway next to the bench. Her feet kick anxiously, not able to reach the floor from where she sits. Beside her is the pale blue backpack she lugs back and forth each day. She looks furious and anxious in equal parts.

“What is the meaning of this, Suraya?” Dev does not release Marc's wrist until he crouches in front of the bench.

Of course, at that moment, a woman walks around them and into the office. The mother is clearly distraught, saying that she's here to pick up her son, that he was attacked. Dev looks to Suraya with a raised brow and she shrugs before ducking her head.

“We would like to hear it from you,” Marc tells her, and his words have an edge to them that makes it sound less optional and more required that she share exactly how she's gotten into this situation. Her eyes widen at his tone. Devrim stands back.

“Ah. Misters Kay. We’ll bring you and Suraya into the office in just a moment,” A stout woman says, very clearly the school’s principal. Both men nod before she tends to the boy’s mother, who is demanding an explanation with a very concerned ring to her voice.

“It was an art project,” Suraya says, when their gazes both fall back on her. “He - a boy in my class told me what I drew was stupid.”

“Suraya-”

“So I punched him.”

“Suraya Hawthorne!” Devrim’s tone is non-negotiable. “That is unacceptable behavior.”

She sighs. “I’m sorry.”

“You will apologize to that young man, and his mother, for their trouble,” Marc adds, now understanding the situation with the other woman. “And we will not be taking you for breakfast this weekend.”

Daring a glance up at them and not liking the dual-disappointed faces they’re looking at her with, she drops her gaze down to the chipped tile floor and chooses to remain silent. She swings her legs a little more listlessly than usual. It’s a long while before the Principal emerges and calls them in.

Suraya is asked to sit between her parents, the boy and his mother on the other side of the room. The principal is looking down at something on her desk. The boy’s mother looks uncomfortable.

“I never enjoy these conversations,” The principal says. “However, on occasion, I find myself having to meet with parents when children behave poorly.” She looks to Suraya. Then to Marc and Devrim. “What your daughter did is unacceptable.”

“We agree,” Devrim says, a hard edge to his voice. He looks down at Suraya. She looks up at him in something akin to surprise and maybe a little fear. “Suraya would like to apologize for her deplorable behavior.”

“I’m sorry,” Suraya says. “I shouldn’t’a hit you,” She cranes her head around Devrim, looking over at her classmate in her best rendition of a heartfelt apology. Marc and Dev wouldn’t go for anything less than her best attempt. “Hitting is wrong.”

“No,” The boy agrees, with a haughty tone. He has the clear beginnings of a black eye. “You shouldn't have.”

Suraya’s fingers curl into fists, and Marc puts one hand over hers, shaking his head with that same disappointed look from outside, in the hallway. She exhales and grips the edge of the seat of her chair as tightly as she can.

The boy’s mother coughs, pointedly. The boy deflates. “I’m sorry I was mean to you about your picture.”

Suraya nods, but does not say another word.

The principal delegates the boy’s punishment, three days of after-school chores. Due to the violent nature of Suraya’s behavior, she will still be suspended from school for a week. The principal gestures to her desk as she speaks to Suraya. “Your teacher taped your project back together,” She says. “Would you like to-”

A dark mop of black hair shakes in the negative. Her eyes stay trained on the ground.

“What exactly did he say to her?” Marc asks. Clearly, it devastated her, whatever it was.

“Nothing,” The boy says.

“I think you should tell Suraya’s parents,” His mother says, a note of finality in her tone. “Or I will.”

“I said her family was stupid,” He whispers. Devrim and Marc look at each other, and then the principal who nods.

“You said,” Suraya grits out, finding her resolve, “That a family couldn’t have two dads.” She gestures to either side of her. “Here they are.”

“I don’t have one, but you get two?” The boy yells at her. “That’s not fair!”

“I didn’t have anyone before! Nobody wanted me!” She bellows back, and then, as if realizing what she’s just said, looks to Devrim, eyes welling up with angry, overwhelmed tears. “I wanna go home now. Please,” She begs him.

The sniper has her in a firm embrace before she really goes to pieces, and the principal nods and gestures to the door. The boy’s mother looks at Devrim, incredibly apologetic. “I’m sorry,” She says. “Your daughter, did she-”

“We’ve had her for a few months now,” Marc says. “She’s still adjusting.”

“I’ll be having a discussion with my boy on being respectful,” The mother says in reply.

Devrim gives her a curt nod. “We will discuss with Suraya how to properly handle disagreements. Without violent discourse.” He looks to the principal, rising with her in his arms. “I trust we’re finished here?”

“I- yes.” The woman rises from behind her desk and gives Marc the project, folded in half, taped together and smoothed out, but crinkled. Devrim does not speak as he steps around his husband, Suraya's arms locked around his neck, her face pressed into the collar of his fatigues. Both men knew something would eventually trigger this, they'd read enough on the subject when planning to adopt. Didn’t mean it would be less heartbreaking.

Marc picks up her little bag, slings it over his shoulder and excuses himself, unfolding the project as he does so. This is my family, it says, printed at the top of the page. And beneath it, a typical child's drawing - two long-legged adults and one short child with messy black hair, feeding birds in the park. Under that, are wide, heavily lined bars, ones that are so big her rather advanced script is tucked into the bottom third of the allotted space.

Marc and Dev are my family, it says. We go to the park and have fun. When I am sick they take care of me. I am happy they picked me. We love each other.

“Give her here,” He tells Dev, a second later, when his eyes make everything on the page blur. Dev's eyes narrow, but he complies despite Suraya's reluctance.

“Easy,” Dev says when she whines and squirms. “Marc wants a cuddle.” She releases Dev with her arms and leans right for Marc to prop her on his hip.

She isn't crying as much, but her head falls on his shoulder in a quiet, tired out haze, her face blotchy and tear-soaked, eyes out of focus. “I've got you,” He tells her. “Let's go home, yeah? I think it's a pizza and pajama night.” Her reply is a blank nod, and Marc can feel how limp she is in his arms. If she's still awake when they make it home, he'll be surprised.

“Marc.” The tone of Devrim's voice insists that his husband cannot possibly be serious. Rewarding her now, despite her distress, wasn’t good parenting.

He shrugs, using the hand not supporting her weight to flap the paper in front of the other man. “Read this.”

Devrim coughs uncomfortably after reading it the first time. “Oh, alright,” he grumbles, similarly defeated. Marc watches him reread it several more while they walk home. Suraya is snoring baby-fine snores into Marc's chest when he leans over and presses a kiss to her cheek. When he lifts his coldwater eyes up, it's into Marc's dark, intense gaze.

“I ever tell you how absolutely beautiful it is, watching you being a father?” He asks, before stealing a chaste kiss.

The laugh is quiet and warm and comes from somewhere deep in Dev's chest. “My dear Marc,” He intones, his hand sliding down Marc's back to wrap around his hip, keeping them side by side as they continue home. One cohesive unit, the three of them. “I was just thinking the same thing about you.”

[y-yorle]

Back from Fanfest!

Gosh...

That was an awesome time! I got to see Samurai unveiled live and it was exactly what I wanted: a melee dps with katana! How awesome it was to see Yoshi-P reveal himself in the Samurai cosplay huh? I was like 30 meters away from him max when he did! The guy you hear screaming so much in all vids no doubt is me, lol! Then the reveal we’re going to Othard came as an incredible surprise as well as the new housing district Shirogane! We’ll definitely try to move the WoL mansion there I’m sure!

It was amazing being able to spend time with my lovely Saya again as well. ♥ We had a hotelroom right next to the convention grounds, so we could stay as long as we wanted and sleep in as far as possible. We had so much fun together in the weekend and met up with plenty of people from Lich she all seemed to know, lol. ^^ 

The event itself was incredibly well organized. An interesting stage event switched back to back with time for mini-games and other things on the grounds perfectly. One hour walking and doing stuff, one hour stage event, etc. It also helped everything was basically in one giant hall, so you could even catch stage events if you were in the line for something else. They even hung up a big screen in the merchandise room, so you wouldn’t miss out entirely if you were in line there. And then the concerts.... they were incredible! Especially the live reveal of Rise was amazing! When they did that “time freeze” in their performance we all went wild! SOOOOOO-NIC BOOOM!!! *freezes*. Susan Colloway in Oblivion was great too see and hear too! :D

It was great seeing the devs so up close too! Too bad I constantly kept missing out on Koji-Fox though, wanted him to sign my lorebook. None the less, it really made the dev-team feel really human now. I guess this was again emphasized for me when Yoshi-P apologized deeply for the Diadem delay, which was scheduled originally to come out next week, due to a last minute bug they found. It’s been delayed by roughly one to two weeks. So patch 3.55a has a bit less content, though I’m looking forward to seeing the last step of the anima in it.

All in all, I’m glad I took the step to go to the fanfest, it has been an incredibly experience and one I’ll never forget. It definitely set the bar for future events for me in terms of sweeping up the crowd and things to to and such! Here’s to the next European fanfest, maybe in two years time! I’ll definitely want to be there!

ps. I’ll add some pics later. Too lazy to go through my phone now, lol. I didn’t take many pictures anyway, would much rather actually spend more time actually doing and seeing things. Maybe I’m old-fashioned like that, but I just didn’t want to live the event through a lens/screen now that I was physically there. xP