#Sorry the list is probably incomprehensable

[pushing500]

Sorry if this has been asked before, or if you've already shown it, but could you share your mod list?

I sure can! However, due to my technological ineptness and inability to figure out how to export a proper fancy crisp mod list, this list has been hand-typed with my own brief and probably unhelpful descriptions of what each mod does (if I can remember or comprehend it, that is).

There are about 180 mods, give or take, so it's a long list. I'll pop it under here for anybody who wants to check them out:

This is in the current load order

Harmony (a framework one I think)

Vanilla Backgrounds Expanded (this is just cool for loading screens etc.)

HugsLib (I think this is also framework one)

JecsTools (I think this is also framework one)

Vanilla Expanded Framework (I'm near-certain this is a framework one, based on the name)

A Dog Said… Animal Prosthetics (animal bionics wooo)

LBE’s A Dog Said Easy Patcher (to add bionic compatibility with all the modded animals woooo)

Better ModMismatch Window (for if I do ever feel the need to mess with the modlist)

RT Fuse (I don’t like the zzzzt events)

[GMT] Trading Spot (to stop stupid traders walking in my house)

[NL] Facial Animation - WIP (they make funny faces :3) 

Let’s Have a Cat! (I like cats)

Humanoid Alien Races (Aliens are cool)

Tree People (Continued) (because non-human colonists are awesome)

[ATW] House Decor (for aesthetic purposes)

Little Green Men - Legacy (Aliens are cool)

Vanilla Backstories Expanded (adds new and fun backstories for colonists)

Vanilla Animals Expanded (I insist on having a huge selection of pets)

Vanilla Animals Expanded - Royal Animals (more pets heehee)

More Persona Traits (this is why Xanxalbur the persona zeushammer is so cool)

Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Dryads (more gauranlen tree stuff)

Vanilla Base Generation Expanded (makes enemy bases on caravan trips more fun)

Vanilla Achievements Expanded (sometimes it gives me a serotonin)

Vanilla Races Expanded - Custom Icons (good for xenotypes and biotech stuff)

Dubs Bad Hygiene (bathrooms cool)

Hospitality (easy to make friends with other factions if you run a hotel)

Android Tiers Reforged (heehoo robots cool)

[AP] Lovin’ Reworked (Irwin and Connie are both AWFUL in bed, if you were curious 😳)

Vanilla Races Expanded - Phytokin (magic tree people very fun)

Vanilla Races Expanded - Saurid (dinosaur people wooooo!)

Vanilla Fishing Expanded (a good way to keep Wookshys distracted)

ReGrowth: Core (I don’t remember what this does but the thumbnail is cool and I assume it’s a framework mod)

Vanilla Plants Expanded (more farm stuff hooray!)

Vanilla Textures Expanded - [NL] Facial Animation (why my colonists have such cute lil’ faces)

Vanilla Plants Expanded - More Plants (even MORE farm stuff!!)

Vanilla Persona Weapons Expanded (more skins for persona weapons- another reason Xanxalbur the persona zeushammer is so awesome)

Vanilla Nutrient Paste Expanded (mmmmm yummy goo)

More Descriptive Words and Names (adds more descriptive words and names)

Ebbbs (horrible eldritch goo creatures my beloved)

Floordrawings (adds more floordrawings for kids to draw)

Horse Breeds - Skin Variations (horses very fun!!)

Vanilla Hair Retextured (helps vanilla hair look a bit nicer)

Trait and Backstory Icons (gives traits and backstories cute lil’ icons next to ‘em)

Geological Landforms (cool new map gens)

Biome Transitions (if your map tile is next to a different biome they can mix together at the edges)

Cactacae (Continued) (because non-human colonists are awesome)

NamesGalore (adds new names for people and stuff)

NamesGaloreLatin (adds new names for people and stuff but in Latin this time) 

Character Editor (I wanted to start with at least one animakin colonist)

Vanilla Animals Expanded - Caves (I have a pet cave bear now called Witch)

Strong Bridge (makes bridges strong)

Roo’s Dreadlock Hairstyles (Irwin’s hair is from this one)

[SBV] Recreational Drum Use (I like drums and so would my colonists if they had them)

River’s Tribal Shoes (don’t want to get prickles in your feet)

Romance on The Rim (they have to get their daily smooches or they’ll be sad)

Pawn Name Variety (I like them to have lots of different name options)

Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Architect (adds new building stuff)

Camera+ (for taking better screenshots)

Vanilla Cooking Expanded (expands the cooking)

Vanilla Psycasts Expanded (expands the psycasts)

Biomes! Core (the framework for more biomes mods)

Biomes! Islands (in case I wanted to reenact the movie Castaway)

Alpha Animals (even more pets!)

Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Memes and Structures (lots of cool ideology stuff)

Simple Sidearms (every colonist needs MANY WEAPONS)

Doors Expanded (adds new doors)

A Rimworld of Magic (I don’t use this heaps in the current game but it is very cool)

Anima Gear (I could make stuff out of anima grass if I felt like doing the research for it)

Sexuality Traits (every pawn has a specific sexuality, instead of defaulting to 'straight' unless explicitly stated otherwise)

Vanilla Outposts Expanded (I could go make outpost camps if I wanted)

CM Color Coded Mood Bar (helpful for spotting incoming mental breaks)

Avoid Friendly Fire (you think they would be smart enough to know not to walk in front of the guns but noooo)

Vanilla Brewing Expanded (alcohol woo)

Vanilla Brewing Expanded - Coffees and Teas (coffee and tea woo)

Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Power (adds new power sources)

Vanilla Factions Expanded - Mechanoids (scary robots)

Vanilla Weapons Expanded (can never have too many weapons)

Vanilla Factions Expanded - Medieval (more factions to make friends with)

Giddy Up! Core (framework for riding animals)

Giddy Up! Battle Mounts (ride animals into battle)

Giddy Up! Ride and Roll (ride animals around doing daily tasks)

Giddy Up! Caravans (ride animals on caravan trips)

Megafauna (biiiiiig pets!!)

Vanilla Plants Expanded - Succulents (for making the colony look pretty)

Biomes! Prehistoric (dinosaurs :3)

Vanilla Genetics Expanded (I don’t use this a lot but re-reading the description makes me think I should because it looks like a lot of fun)

Vanilla Genetics Expanded - More Lab Stuff (presumably adds “more lab stuff” to the aforementioned mod)

Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Security (more defense stuff)

[FSF] Complex Jobs (Legacy Version) (splits jobs into smaller subsections)

Snap Out! (slap pawns out of their mental breaks)

Wall Light (wall light my beloved)

Standalone Hot Spring (geothermal power boring and ugly, hot spring FAR better use of steam geysers)

Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Splits and Schisms (the one that meant Wookshys could start his stupid sub-cult)

Allow Tool (easier to forbid and unforbid items)

Minify Everything (sometimes picking up whole sections of brick wall is okay)

Replace Stuff (so I can build stone walls on top of wood walls without un-freezing the freezer, etc.)

Mod Manager (I have lots of mods to manage)

Interaction Bubbles (to see what mean stuff Irwin is saying to his friends each day)

Polyamory Beds (Vanilla Edition) (tempted to use this in all my guest rooms)

Haul to Stack (so they don’t clutter the freezer with individual piles of food instead of one big pile)

Pick Up and Haul (pawns can carry more than one thing at a time)

While You’re Up / PUAH+ (pawns will carry stuff while they’re on their way to and fro)

Giddy Up! Add On: Saddles (saddles don’t do anything they just look nice)

Roo’s Royalty Hairstyles (fancy hair)

Roo’s Accessory Hairstyles (Wendy’s hair was from this mod R.I.P.)

Rainbow’s Hair Mod (I like lots of options)

ResearchPal - Forked (I’ve always played with this mod and it’s hard to adjust without it)

Tilled Soil (it’s not cheating it’s just farming)

VGP Garden Resources (it’s a lovely day on the Rimworld and you are growing uranium in your garden)

More Faction Interaction (Continued) (I wanna be friends with EVERYONE!!)

Rim of Madness - Bones (skulls for the skull throne and all that jazz)

Anthro Race (because non-human colonists are awesome)

Alpha Mythology (adds mythological creatures to the Rimworld)

Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Laser (adds laser weapons)

Vanilla Factions Expanded - Pirates (love me some pirates)

Alpha Biomes (can never have enough biomes)

All The “Vanilla Storytellers Expanded” mods, but I have literally never used them due to my firm standing as a Randy Random purist

Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Relics and Artifacts (adds new relics and artifacts for your ideology)

Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Icons and Symbols (easier to customise your ideology)

Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Heavy (adds heavy weapons)

Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Non-Lethal (for when you REALLY wanna recruit someone)

Erin’s Cottage Collection (everything looks so cozy ❤️)

Euglena Framework (idk mate)

Euglena Expanded - Implant (idk mate)

Vanilla Factions Expanded - Empire (adds more Empire stuff)

ReGrowth: Tropical (adds new tropical plants and stuff I think)

Vanilla Furniture Expanded (the core bit)

Vanilla Textures Expanded - Variations (I don’t want everything looking so uniform! There’s like twelve different people building the chairs; they’re gonna look different)

Vanilla Fishing Expanded - Xtra Fish (more fish to distract Wookshys)

Vanilla Textures Expanded (makes stuff look sharper and crisper)

Euglena Expanded - Euglena Xenotype (tree people go brrrr)

Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Props and Decor (more props and decor)

Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Quickdraw (adds quickdraw weapons)

Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Coilguns (adds coilguns)

Vanilla Factions Expanded - Settlers (like cowboys and stuff I think)

Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Frontier (weapons for cowboys and stuff)

Vanilla Expanded - Ideology Patches (for patching things up to Ideology I guess)

Vanilla Expanded - Royalty Patches (for patching things up to Royalty I guess)

Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Spacer (cool spaceship style furniture)

Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Medical (my hospital is VERY cool)

Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Tribal (adds more tribal weapons)

Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Makeshift (adds makeshift weapons)

Vanilla Cooking Expanded - Sushi (if my colonists weren’t mostly vegetarian we could make sushi with all the fish Wookshys catches)

Vanilla Animals Expanded - Endangered (gonna start a conservation project)

Vanilla Cooking Expanded - Stews (I don’t know I had this one installed. Are vegetarian stews a thing? Probably not)

Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Art (I’m something of an artist myself)

Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Farming (for farm furniture I guess)

Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Production (makes for very nice workshops)

Vanilla Apparel Expanded - Accessories (adds fun utility items)

Vanilla Social Interactions Expanded (new social interactions for fun and interesting storytelling)

Vanilla Factions Expanded - Insectoids (bugs. ew.)

Vanilla Factions Expanded - Vikings (adds vikings)

Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Grenades (adds more grenades)

Vanilla Traits Expanded (I love hoarding traits)

Vanilla Events Expanded (more events)

Vanilla Apparell Expanded (more clothes)

Erin’s Cat Overhaul (I like cats)

Vanilla Armour Expanded (adds more armour)

Erin’s Hairstyles - Redux (There’s never enough hairstyle variety)

Rimsenal - Hair Pack (more hairstyles lmao)

Vanilla Hair Expanded (more hair)

Gradient Hair (so your colonists can have frosted tips I guess)

Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Hats and Rags (adds new ideology clothes)

Tabula Rasa (idk mate)

What’s That Mod? (tells you what mod stuff is from. VERY USEFUL)

LightsOut (pawns turn lights off when not using them)

RPG Style Inventory Revamped (better inventory layout)

RPG Traits+ (more traits haha)

Sand Castles (colonists can build sandcastles for recreation if there happens to be sand around)

Bundle of Traits (give me ALL THE TRAITS)

More Religious Origins (more ideology stuff)

Optimisation: Meats C# Edition (all meat is just “raw meat” unless it’s specifically “human meat” or “insect meat”, so it can all be stacked together easily)

Prisoners Don’t Have Keys (they gotta bash their way out if they want to escape)

Rational Romance 2 (Continued) (more romance-y stuff)

More Ideological Words (just makes random generation a bit easier and more interesting)

Roo’s Glasses Hairstyles (Debby’s hair is from this one)

Tau Armory (my favourite WH40k faction)

Somewhere in here is also the "Toddlers" mod for when Baby Kaznove comes along, but I added it after I'd typed up the whole list, and now I don't know where it fits in. Sorry about that!)

[achilleanwizard]

I was tagged by @punkranger (Thank you!!! 😊) And I’m going to tag @gelvaan @sataari @mutantenfisch @deviant3lover @averagejermafan @demianwas and @aelyosos (Feel free to ignore this if you’ve already done it, or just don’t feel like filling it out for your OC(s)!! I’ve just noticed you guys talking about your ocs, and I’d love to hear more about them!)

BASICS

Full Name: Alexander Valente

Gender: Male?? Look, we’ve got more important things to worry about right now, okay?

Sexuality: Biromantic Bisexual

Pronouns: As of right now? Just he/him. He’s pretty comfy with she/her too though. It’s flattering that people think he might be a girl

OTHERS

Family: He never had anyone he considered family; Just very good friends. If asked about it, then he’d say something along the lines of “Do you think I would take the boost drug, with a notoriously very low survival rate, in order to get superhero powers if I had any family I wanted to talk about?”

Birthplace: ???, Nevada, USA

Job: A consultant. Who is he advising and what is he giving them advice about? Mind your business

Phobias: Spiders. Heights. Especially looking out of windows from a very tall height. Admitting he has feelings for a certain someone(s). Abandonment. Probably a whole bucketful more, but those are the main ones.

Guilty Pleasures: Sugar in all it’s various forms (even if he needs the energy to function/for his telepathy) Taking the time to read and appreciate art when not working. Painting his nails (but only when possessing the Puppet’s body) Taking time off work. Buying three entire floors of a luxury skyscraper to house his villain base/office, Renting the most luxurious top floor penthouse (That would make Mayor Osborn (from spider-man) weep tears of envy) he could afford for a home that he barely resides in, Pleasures of the flesh (it’s like a catholic priest up in here) Honestly, it would be easier to list things he isn’t guilty about. (Killing. He’s not guilty about those he’s killed, even if he should be.)

Hobbies: Playing piano. Scheming. Beating up Daniel behind a Wendy’s parking lot Training Daniel. Kissing Daniel too. Starting fights that he can’t possibly hope to win/finish

MORALS

Morality Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Sins: Desire / Despair / Envy / Fear / Hunger / Pride / Rage / Sloth (so almost all of them…)

Virtues: Charity / Chastity / Diligence / Humility / Justice / Kindness / Patience

THIS OR THAT

introvert/extrovert organized/disorganized close minded/open-minded calm/anxious disagreeable/agreeable cautious/reckless patient/impatient outspoken/reserved leader/follower empathetic/unempathic optimistic/pessimistic traditional/modern hard-working/lazy

RELATIONSHIPS

Otp: It’s cruel that you’re making me choose between Herald and Ortega. But gun to my head…. Chargestep. There’s nothing quite like old lost loves.

Ot3: I forget the ‘official’ name for it but, Herald/Sidestep/Ortega (Flychargestep? Chargeflystep?)

Acceptable Ships: Alexander flirts with everyone possible, so. Argentstep. Steelstep. Mortumstep? <- Is that the right name? Anyway, he’ll smooch just about anyone.

Brotp: I have to admit, I’ve been thinking about different Sidestep interactions from time to time. I think he’d be good buddies with some, and have a, uh, very *interesting* dynamic with others. Not naming any specific Sidesteps to 1. Avoid any favoritism and 2. Not humiliate myself even further. He’s annoying though, and he revels in that, so it might only be a good time for him. Oh, also Anathema and Sidestep. Best bros for life (or death)

Notp: Oh, this one’s tough. Shroud/Sidestep if that’s even a thing. It’s on sight for him with her. He don’t trust random Regenes like that. (Unless it’s a multiple Sidesteps AU) HG/Sidestep too cause… yeah. If you know you know. Icky. Blaze/Sidestep, because I like teasing my friends(?) (acquaintances?) 😉

[countingnothings]

elsevier ending support for mendeley desktop is the final straw that drags me kicking and screaming to zotero, where things are just different enough that i hate them intuitively!! like yes zotero is objectively better for, like, ethical reasons, but i have been using mendeley for over fifteen years. i do not want to change, and, moreover, while i believe in their beliefs i have never met an open-source bro who was anything less than completely insufferable - and the open-source bros on zotero's help forums are somehow even worse.

[shizunitis]

No, ur absolutely so right about Bingcest. Preach louder because like. It’s just so fun. Any reason why they would be doing it is so fun. Is Bingge fucking Bingmei to show him how he needs to fuck Shizun? Is it a domination thing? What crazy kinks would Bingmei learn from Bingge? How would he try and incorporate them with Shizun? So many questions. I want Bingge to bite Bingmei’s lips when they kiss.

anon i love you and am willing to go through the abyss for you empty-handed and with my hands tied. will give you my firstborn. thank you for letting me talk about this please never leave me

now that the bingmei rp is over, and keeping in mind that i am forever sleep deprived, in a vaguely bingge mood, and also very sorry for what that means for any passersby, here’s my answer. horniness and thoughts (hopefully coherent enough) under the cut

though i find the shizun sandwich version of bingcest to be extremely tasty and a great apperitif, i feel like the pure bingge-bingmei storylines my brain throws at me every now and then are so fucking good (read: hhNnNg) on their own.

a non-exhaustive list of some ideas i didn’t ever think too deeply about but like for reasons:

what if bingge is bingmei’s shizun.

what if bingmei gets stranded in pidw.

what if bingge accompanies bingmei in the abyss.

what if instead of only having bingge and bingmei, we also throw in oo!lbh into the mix and make this the worst throuple to have ever existed.

what if the system fucks up and there’s two binghe’s from the very beginning, twins or clones or whatever, and they brave the world on their own so as not to strain the washerwoman’s already precarious situation further than they did the first time around.

what if bingmei wishes very, very hard for a father during his disciplehood, and the system plops bingge into his world when shen yuan is mia.

what if bingge goes out and tries to find the svsss world again but ends up in oo!pidw.

what if bingge and bingmei live to the ends of their lives and meet after the universe is wiped as cosmic beings and they have incomprehensible sex to soothe the pain.

what if bingmei suspects bingge came back to steal shizun during the monthly wifeplots, and just jumps the gun and goes after the fucker directly.

what if modern au.

what if modern au where they’re separated at birth.

what if actual lab clones of each other!

et cetera (many more examples. none of which i can think of right now and if i’m being honest? half of these i thought up on the fly, so i was lying. fibbing. other words. never ever assume i know what i’m talking about)

in any and all these situations shen qingqiu and/or shen yuan could and perhaps should be integrated, but for my purposes he can take a moment to breathe. i’ll return him his husbands shortly.

back to the point: i love every iteration of bingcest.

bingge and bingmei being very alpha vs. alpha about fucking and literally fighting for dominance. bingmei being horrible at kissing and bingge getting annoyed with the teeth thing and showing him how to actually bite someone (stealing your desires as they perfectly align with mine, anon) and then finding out that what bingge would consider lowly and ignoble (is that how you use the word? probably not), bingmei blushes and whines for so prettily.

exchanging blood and it fails to do anything but induce arousal in the other and then using that as a way to torment each other.

i want the snapping teeth and the clawing and the violence. the almost-tangible, suffocating hatred and frustration. them choking on their leashes tied together without their knowledge. choking on them where the’re tied to opposite ends of the bed as they try to get to the other. and so forth

but soft bingcest works beautifully too. don’t know how they’d end up in that situation but i’m picturing it and it’s very nice.

bingge’s vanity and desire to be perfect projected onto his own self staring back at him, bingmei’s bratty disobedience challenging bingge’s desire to subjugate and conquer and take, all of this culminating in the two of them understanding their differences but also loathing them in a way. why is he different, he’s me, why can’t he understand, why isn’t he doing what i would, why does he hate me, the likes

oh!! bingmei should yell that at bingge actually. or growl it while he pins bingge down to get him to listen to him. and bingge should want to say, “are you stupid?” but holds back because now isn’t the time. where did the brat even get that idea from? he’s done everything he could to make him stronger, to make him realise that the world is a shit, cruel place and they only have each other in the end, and yeah it’s a shit hand to be dealt, but is it? is it really?

hm. don’t really know where that thought ends up but i’m pretty sure it ends up with both of them fucking unbearably tenderly (by their standards) in a forest somewhere.

anyway.

i don’t mean to exclude shizun because. i wouldn’t fucking dare? but bingcest is. it’s dear to me. i’m a bingcest purist if you’d like, but bingcestqiu/yuan is second on the list. third is mobingcumplane/moshangbingqiu but that’s another thing altogether

(i have no actual clue if there’s ship names for these already. surely there are?)

BUT. adding shizun into the mix is wonderful. i’ve rec’ed it before but through the eye of a needle is SUCH a good fic PLEASE give it a read it’s my favourite fic ever ever in the history of ever

i love the idea of shizun trying to tame these two idiots and failing miserably. i also love the idea of him succeeding. i want bingmei making bingge drink some ‘respect shizun’ juice and i want bingge to give bingmei some much needed ‘fuck shizun’ lessons. i want shizun to direct their every movement while he casually drinks his tea and pretends like he’s not foaming at the mouth seeing the two protagonists being “forced” to go at each other like they’re passionate, devoted lovers.

just.

bingcest…

there’s so much i want from bingcest. i want the guilt, and the confusion, and the rage! i want the angst! the territorial spats, the dick measuring contests (literal and metaphorical). the comfort! the. idk man they should be allowed to be horrible to each other, it’s not like they can die.

(holy shit what if one of them dies. fuck i’m exhausted but please. kill one of them and make the other revive him. somehow. maybe we can make regret of chunshan reality but it’s bingcest, if you understand)

but mainly i want the two pretty idiots humping each other’s thighs like teenagers. making bingge crawl for bingmei is also a very fun thought that would make him (plural) react in a very entertaining way. getting bingmei to power bottom is chef’s kiss when bingge’s on the other end. teaching bingge about the beauty of surrendering to his own self, which he does not trust with anything but also understands more than he’d like or wants to acknowledge is also neat. they would get up to degeneracies that i can’t speak of. i’m shy and also inarticulate about them

oooh also lebingcest. exactly the same as before but it’s better. because lesbian yaoi

[darlingwriter]

hi! i made this new sideblog because i want to branch out and try writing fic on tumblr (as opposed to ao3), seperate from my normal stuff. anywayyy, hey, hi, hello. you can call me vi. i have no clue what i'm doing.

some faq/get to know me nonsense under the cut:

what kind of fic do you write? i mean, honestly, i write all sorts of things; original work, poetry, tragic longfics, passionate essays about gender equality, extensive lists, notes app ramblings, etc etc. but specifically i want to try out writing reader insert fic stuff on this blog, because it's a style that just really intrigues me for some reason, especially as it's not very prevalent in the general literary world.

what sort of reader insert fic? literally most kinds hahaa. fluffy romantic cutesy shit, platonic goofing around, hurt/comfort, angst, the list goes on and on.

do/will you write smut? yeah, sure. i'm not interested in writing super hardcore kink stuff or anything, because 1) i just don't wanna and 2) i'm really not super educated in that area, but generally, yeah, i'll write smut.

will you take requests/asks/prompts? omg omg yes please i'd be so honoured. obviously i can't promise to write something for every ask i get, but please please please feel free to reach out!

what fandom/characters do you write for? currently experiencing a call of duty hyperfixation at the moment for reasons incomprehensible even to myself, so, right now, probably just going to be sticking to that. i have so so many fandoms, but i don't want to stretch myself (or this blogs target audience) too thin. but i might branch out later, who knows?

you fool! you absolute jester! you've forgotten to include a vital piece of information on this list!!! aaa, my bad, please reach out to me via ask or dm, and let me know! i'm like, perpetually sleepy and forgetful at the moment so it's more than likely i forgot to add something important to this. i am sorry in advance, it's my fault for quitting caffeine.

what anon signatures have already been claimed? 🧃 / 🐧

[still-july]

just finished the sunshine court and.

goddamn.

incomprehensive list of Things i thought while reading (spoilers ahead):

-cat and laila my beloveds

-seriously oh my god they're such a couple of all time

-jeremy backstory <3

-multiple perspectives? was not expecting that but also i am not complaining

-jeremy i love you but please don't ever say hecka instead of hella. EVER AGAIN.

-cat rides a motorcycle. honestly so iconic of her

-JEAN

-seriously he's so. Traumatized

-i don't even know what to say

-he's just constantly on the brink of a breakdown and i feel bad for him but also i never want it to stop

-jeremy is trying so hard it's kinda cute

-neil!!

-eating your dinner out of a takeaway box as the FBI interrogate you is such a Neil move for real

-the SASS

-fuck greyson

-also poor lucas i kinda feel bad for him but also not

-the Trojans are so interesting

-damn it's so fascinating to see the fallout in the other Ravens after riko is dead and tetsuji resigns

-i was looking forward to seeing how Jean reacted to the news about riko and damn. nora did not disappoint

-i may be in love with everything about this book

-anyways it's fucking late and i need to wake up early so

-this is probably incoherent but idc

-but you should go read it now!! and the rest of aftg while you're at it

-i can already tell i'm gonna be obsessed with it for a while sorry to anyone who follows me

[angrycloudloud]

Percy Jackson spoilers episode 8

I'm not joking, i commented everything.

(i'm putting the episode in pause to write everything... So i don't have to do 10000 posts about this episode, so if you are reading this, hold your horses because this is going to be a long post (probably) not edited, from a person watching this in Europe starting to watch this at 3:11 am... And English is not my first language, so...sorry before hand)

LUKE!!! LUKE TALKING?! REALLY?! LIKE... COME ON!!! Don't do this to me... Not me vibing with the foreshadowing just in the begining of the episode.

THOSE WHO WENT ALL "WUAHHH WHERE'S THE TRAING LESSON FROM LUKE?" HERE IT IS!!! YOU REALLY THOUGHT THEY WON'T SHOW IT BEFORE MAKING PERCY FIGHT A GOD?! (I mean, they could have...but come on!... That would have being insane and would have make Percy to op and this works perfectly to remind us the "bond" between Percy and Luke at camp, just before what readers knew It was going to happen)

Oh~ i love the Ares doesn't take well that others think he can't have a single original thought... But i LOVE more that he literally decided to go with the "say hi to your mommy for me" like... Ares my man, god of war, sir... You fucked up so badly with just that... That kid is going to make Hephaestus and his chain-net over you and Aphrodite look like a fun story after Percy "son of Sally" Jackson finish humilliate you.

Aaaaand we got golden Blood + enemy for Life (Where's the curse, sir? Where's the "your sword will fail you when you most need it"?)

Uh! Pretty helmet~ I said it before, and i repeat myself, Hades has good taste in art.

I like the "the last war on olympus caused wwii" and not like the book, i like It better this way, like "everything is the gods fault" because It is. (I'm sure Luke will comment this at some point)

Also, Annabeth clueless because she wasn't there... I'm like, yeah, it's the one of the trio that could catch up just by context, she IS the wise girl after all.

THE NECKLACE WITH HER FATHER'S RING!!! OMG!!!! ANNABETH, DARLING, DEAR... I LOVE THIS, SO MUCH.

(Leah is Annabeth, look at her!!! If someone says something bad about her acting just because their racism... i hope Apollo write their names in the plague list or the bad music for the rest of their lifes one... I hope there's a list for that)

Grover: e-mail? Maybe?

Percy: *nah, it's time those gods know what they are dealing with* what's the Glory on that?

(Walter, dear boy, your face in that moment...perfect Percy moment just there)

OH MY GODS!!! I NEED A TOUR IN THAT OLYMPUS!!! but again...WHY THE FUCKING ARCHES?!?!?!

Okay... Hold on! HOLD ON!!! THEY DID A THING HERE I THINK COULD EXPLAIN THE FUCKING ARCHES...THE ARCHERS MIGHT NOT GIVE ME NIGHTMARES.

(Look behind, there are temples with easter asian architecture and i spot a building that reminds me a bit of Santa Sofia or Saint Peter of the Vatican... So... Maybe they are implying that not only the greek gods are chilling there in olympus? That could be interesting.)

Luke, i'm seeing you...

WoW!! Wooooo!!! Not the Annabeth IS terrify of spiders coming now and from him, Luke himself, just to say "hey! Demigods are small but if the gods thinks you are scary they'll kill you" GODS they are MAKING Luke soooo much justice, like, he needs to be like this if they didn't portrait him like this "big brother figure" it would be incomprehensible that so many Demigods will follow him. He IS a leader. He IS reliable.

Seriously, i'm in LOVE with all that Big city vibe of the olympus... Like... I Understand why Annabeth wants to be architect after seeing all that. (Disney, you better give us something good in the 5th season, and i have high hopes for the laberinth after seeing this)

I'm so sad about the death of Zeus actor... I'm liking a lot how he is acting Zeus, like a fucking CEO know-it-all Who thinks Percy is wasting his time saying things he already know but doesn't want to believe yet. "I will not be weaken by my brothers" darling, Zeus, that's the youngest brother part of you speaking. Shut the fuck up and listen to the kid.

Percy speaks facts.

Oh!!! Daddy Ken, i mean, Poseidon is here, protecting his kid~. (Better solution than turning him into a tree, actually showing up, heh!)

BEG YOUR FUCKING PARDON!? IM ALREADY EMOTIONAL BECAUSE MY OTHER FICTIONAL FATHER FIGURE IN MY OTHER SILLY SHOW MIGHT DIE THIS FRYDAY... WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU MADE POSEIDON SAY "I SURRENDER" TWICE!!! TO FUCKING ZEUS!!! TO PROTECT PERCY?! I FUCKING LOVE THE SHOW.

Hermes IS the FUCKING snitch of the olympus.

Poseidon : "Who knows about father?"

Zeus: "Ares, Hades, you, i... And fucking Hermes so..."

Both: "everyone, then..."

He really asked Mr. Impertinent if he is obedient?! Hahahaha... Poseidon, dear beach daddy, sir... He is yours and Sally's, what makes you think he'll be obedient?!

"Ares IS a moron" sooooo ... Percy speaks facts because he speaks his father language then. Sorry, this is funnier than i thought It would be. Poseidon being an affectionate father for like 3 seconds before the daddy issues kicked in and push his son away with magic...

THIS. This here with the victorius Hero looking at the defeated who even "dead" had safe his life. Because the mention of Thalia's death was enough for Zeus to spare Percy's life... She had save Percy by being dead and make her father feel guilty for that. Also, he left camp making jokes about the tree and Thalia's death, and look how serious and respectful he looks now. Admiring that tree, Thalia, and all what she means to the demigods... (Maybe i'm reading too much into It, but i liked this frames too much)

Did i spot a pair of twins?! I need the second season NOW and i'm not even half way of the last episode of the first one...

SECOND HUG OF ANNABETH TO PERCY!!! AND HE IS SMILING!!! BOY I WANT TO HUG THEM BOTH... MY BABYS...

Oh~ they are going to do this "Clarise IS guilty but we couldn't risk a war here" to the end so the show watchers don't see It coming. Okay... I like how they are doing this.

Luke and Percy alone in the forest while Annabeth watches Clarise... Yeah... This is it.

I like the lights changing colors because of the fireworks but just giving more dramatic contrast to all the scene. Oh~ Luke's face... My gods!! (These kids are making me insane with how good actors they are!!!)

Luke trying to recruit Percy because he sees himself reflected in Percy, with their mothers suffering because of the gods. "This wasn't to betray you Percy. My enemies are the gods." SEE!!! RIGHT THERE!!! THAT'S A BOY ABOUT TO REBEL AGAINST HIS FATHER, TRYING TO RECRUIT HIS FRIENDS BECAUSE HE IS RIGHT BUT USING THE WORSE WAYS POSSIBLE TO DO THINGS!!!

I said it before, and i'm saying It again... I LOVE THE SHOW.

BACKBITER!!!!! OH MY GODS!!! THAT SWORD IS...HAVE YOU ALL SEE THAT!!! IT FUCKING CUT ANYTHING.

"WE is the word Zeus fear most." And again, as i said above, he is so RIGHT and so wrong at the same time. Luke speech is a 10/10

Percy's reaction. PERCY'S REACTION!!! first to Luke's speech. And then when he wounded Luke with his own sword, he INMEDIATELY apologize to him. "Sorry, i didn't mean to..." Because he knows Luke is being manipulated by Cronos, he still sees him as a friend. And that's why he is scared, also because Luke cut him back, but because his friend is choosing to betray him.

WOOOO!!! ANNABETH?! WOOOOO... LUKE'S FACE!!! ANNABETH'S FACE!!! MY GODS!!! THOSE KIDS!!!

Chiron: "Cronos is persuasive"

Percy: "i'm a seaweed brain, stubborn as fuck... I'll be fine..."

I love Dionysus. Like...

Dionysus: "wait, wait, wait... Peter Johnson, why is everyone calling you Percy?"

Percy: "i'm Percy Jackson, that's my name"

Dionysus: "are you sure? You don't look like a Percy to me, Peter"

A seaweed brain, has being delivered and i'm vibing, living, happy...

ANNABETH IS GOING TO DISNEYWORLD AND PERCY SMILING MADE HER WORRY SHE WILL BE IN TROUBLE THERE!!! SHE IS SO ADORABLE!!! I'LL PROTECT THAT CHILD WITH MY LIFE, I SWEAR TO ALL THE GODS!!!

Grover!!! GROVER TELLING PERCY HE IS GOING TO SEARCH FOR PAN IN THE SEA!!! AND PERCY ACTING LIKE A NEPO BABY!!! LOVED IT!!!

Baby coming back to the beach House... Sally!!!!!!!!!!

Nooooooooooo... Fucking Cronos!!!!

Sally: *all worried* "another nightmare?"

Persassy: "grampa"

Sally: *i swear i saw her roll her eyes* "don't call him that"

I LIKE THE END OF GABE!!!! FUCK YOU GABE!!! Sally is divorcing him, change the locks and his first question to his lawyer is if he knows how to pick a lock... Fuck you, Gabe~

He turning himself into a statue because he opened a box for Percy (wich IS illegal) and after he called the head of Medusa gross... Poetic justice.

(i'm ending to watch this and write this at 5:22... My brain isn't braining anymore. So... Tomorrow i'll post a separated part about the thrones of the gods and maybe trying to put my degree in good use and picking all the art references i could and make a post about them)

[brunossan]

Reading through what others are saying about Pokémadhouse stuff as someone who knows way too much about all aspects of the pokemon world is such a painful experience. The Syir stuff is especially frustrating because not only is C!Lily giving an abuse victim Back to Their Abuser, but I don't buy the fact that a Gardevoir would be too powerful to stop. I know it's her fav and all, but she glazes up their strength to an absurd degree. When I first read that, off the top of my head I thought of several ways to take down Syir. Like using Destiny Bond or a pokemon that would resist their moves like a Mawile or Metagross. Plus those two I listed could mega evolve so they could counter Syir if they somehow mega-evolved.

I don't know any specific excuse Lily said other than "Syir's too strong" but I guarantee that there's a counter. Her ability is Trace? Send in a slaking. She puts up barriers? Get a pokemon with Infiltrator. She somehow out speeds and instantly one-shots all pokemon regardless of stats? Focus stash. Also I know gen 9 wasn't out, but a full team involving a Tinkaton and Kingambit would absolutely crush Syir, unless you know Lily keeps giving her plot armor, all to justify giving an Abuse Victim Back To Her Abuser.

And you know that if any show she hated pulled this storyline off, the exact same way, just w/ different characters, she'd be slamming it about "coddling abusers" and similar language.

Sorry for ranting, it's just something that's bothered me for a while after reading that. And if anyone doesn't know anything about Pokemon this is probably incomprehensible😅. What was even the point of the Syir stuff anyway? Like why'd she make such an OP Super Strong Gardevoir that no one can defeat? I know it's to show "G if she gave in" but like, ok, but that doesn't explain why she's so OP?

Its fine to rant, i feel the same way

If i am not wrong, there's something about Syir not following the normal pokemon rules, like instead of focusing her attack on the pokemon she would straight up attack the trainer. There's also the fact that in Pokemadhouse Gardevoirs have these "Original Attacks that were stolen from Warcraft". For example, Syir attack is called Psycho Blast, which was also on the wiki of Pokemadhouse, that was literally a Nuke Attack full of Psych Power. And Lily dont know how to keep the history linear, because the abilities of Syir changed between Trace, Synchronize or Pixilate, wich would frustrate even more those who wanted to stop her.

Syir is one of the worst characters i have ever found on a webcomic lore, and im still grateful for Lily decanonizing her in a possible rewrite.

But i would still trust in both Scizor, Sableye, Hypno and Slaking taking her

A fight like that would be awesome ngl

[missr3n3]

(swap writer here and with the list!)

Basic list of changes in the Swap au, without too much spoilers

Madeline swaps with Joshua in being the Secret Cael Antichrist (but she suffers a different type of torture)

Joshua swaps with Madeline in being the Antichrist's ex-partner (but he has added content)

Isaac swaps with Leah in being the one created RDP (as an alternative way of escapism from his parents aside from drugs)

The Wells parents swap with Marilyn and Joe in being the important couple brutally murdered by Luce

Andrew swaps with Jessie in being the in hiding ex-officer that is still around Nox

Jessie swaps with Andrew in being the one who's cornered by Luce (but she ends up paraplegic instead of dead)

No massive change to Zeke other than that he's working with Andrew and Joshua instead (very sorry lol)

Leah swaps with Rachel in being the one who's murdered by a Bestian Devil in the woods (threw herself in front of her sister)

Rachel swaps with Leah in being the surviving Milton sibling (she probably has a scar or two from the attack though)

Amir swaps with Leah in being the older and more rational friend to Maddie, Joshua and Isaac

Amir swaps in a minor way with Sam and Jessie by not moving away after one of the Milton sisters is killed

Rachel swaps in a minor way with Joshua by having something happen to her eyes (she has to really force the mental link between her and her sister when she's [spoilers])

Jessie swaps in a minor way with Amir and Sam by moving away with Amir's mom's help to New York after retiring following her diagnosis (she probably had one therapy cat before Sunny)

Sam swaps with Delilah in secretly being a Cael (his parents moved from California before he was born and one of them was killed by the Devil threats)

Delilah swaps with Sam in being the roommate of a secret Cael (her family came from Diane, moved to Nox and her parents and her later moved to Hemera)

Cassandra swaps with Elijah in being the one to contact a Demonic Entity and who contacts RDP (she does this willingly only wanting to help her friend to stop drowning in work to make money)

Elijah swaps with Cassie in being the friend who's taking a break and is worried about the supernatural activity (he's still a Youtuber but he's on a small hiatus to try and recover his health)

Please say if I missed anyone or any other basic info that would be valuable to know!

gonna put my thoughts in an ordered list bc otherwise this response is gonna b incomprehensible lol

god no wonder joshua struggles with his mental health so bad if the only adults in his life are joe and zeke 💀

super interested in what's going on with the postmortem bond between rachel n leah 👀

sam would look fucking terrifying as a cael he's so huge @_@

im having a lot of interesting thoughts w/ cassandra taking over elijah's spot in the story and i can share none of them without spoilers 😔 its a vry cool choice tho!

i think the only character not covered is michael, but it also seems like the supernatural entities (him + luce + cairyx) are being kept ✨mysterious✨ on purpose, so dont worry about sharing if what's going on with him is spoilers!

[st-just]

I love you going in depth and hearing your opinion on plot points, so I'm forced to annoy you with this... What's your opinion on Maricica's end? I feel like it was just SO fae, Guilherme giving her her victory, the Hunt retreating... Only to reveal that they actually never stop hunting and using her past mistakes, too small for consideration or remembering, to bite her in the ass.

(Also hopefully a foreshadowing for Charles' fate?)

so a) that's incredibly flattering, thank you!, b) sorry this took literally a month to answer lol.

So, on the one hand, I did feel like the first half of things with the reveal of overthrowing the whole court system and bringing Faerie to earth came a bit out of nowhere? Three million words probably leaves enough room to set up some foreshadowing here :P

But generally no yes, it was a great poetically fucked up ending. Absolutely perfectly Fae (and generally otherverse) use of forgotten unkindnesses and tiny mistake to doom someone and make it Just and Righteous (in an utterly amoral sense, of course). Not sure if it's technically capital-k Karma or just the sort of pre-Seal underlying patterns of the universe that the Seal codified and made legible, but either way it really seemed to fit.

Also I'm just a sucker for nearly-but-not-actually incomprehensible gambit and scheme pileups. The Fae are so great.

And glad Gilkey got out alright, honestly. Though sad we had to finish crossing off a name of Lucy's potential father figure list.

I'd comment on Charles' and formatting but I actually need to go catch up on the last chapter. So, will comment on that in 10k words or whatever it is.

[airi-p4]

The weekend Project - Ch 2

Chapter 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4 | Ch 5 | Ch 6 | Ch 7  __________________________________________

Summary

At school, Marinette has no friends in her class other than Alya. With the idea of making students interact more and out of their usual groups of friends, Ms. Bustier assigns her students to a school project that requires spending a weekend with another student of her choice. What Marinette didn't know was how this project with her partner Juleka was going to change her life.

__________________________________

AO3

__________________________________

Chapter 2: First weekend at the Dupain-Cheng’s

By the first day of the project, Marinette was nervous. Juleka came by on Friday evening to her family's bakery, with a bag with some clothes and other personal belongings. It was awkward between them: they had never talked before, and whenever Marinette tried to start a conversation, Juleka didn't answer or mumbled something too low and incomprehensible. They finished their homework first at Marinette's suggestion. Silence reignited the whole time and the awkwardness only ended later, when Marinette's parents called them to eat dinner.

Marinette's parents weren't successful either in making the taller girl talk much, but at least she answered a few questions. Marinette's mother noticed she was a bit of a picky eater, and was touched by how she worked hard to eat despite her apparent dislike for some of the dishes. She offered to cook her something different and Juleka finally accepted after insisting for a while.

Things didn't get much better after dinner. They decided to watch a movie together, with the whole family, but Juleka didn't seem very interested in it either.

They went to sleep fairly early.

Probably, the best part of the day had been when Marinette complimented Juleka's pajamas and she let her dry and brush and braid her long hair. "It's so long and beautiful!" Marinette was happy to see Juleka blush and smile a little at her words.

Maybe, it wasn't that bad. And she had something to add to that list now! Tomorrow was going to be another day…

…Or so she thought, but communication with Juleka didn't improve much during the weekend. They helped Marinette's parents at the bakery during the morning. Marinette had been with her mom by the counter, but Juleka had been too shy and preferred to stay behind, helping her dad instead. The picnic they went to in the afternoon didn't go especially well, either. Juleka had been glued to her phone and, seeing how it was impossible to keep a conversation with her, Marinette had focused on drawing instead. Juleka was beautiful, though. She made a great model. Another good point to add to the list.

The last day, Marinette tried to be more assertive.

"Hey, Juleka! Wanna play video games? Watch a movie? Go to the park? Shopping?"

Juleka only shrugged and mumbled something the baker's daughter still couldn't understand. "Whatever you want," she had said.

Defeated, Marinette resigned.

She knew Juleka wasn't a bad girl, but how could she work on that project if they couldn't communicate? If she wasn't willing to open up and talk to her despite trying…?

She must have said it out loud because Juleka mumbled something that sounded like an "I'm sorry." But that could have been her imagination.

Sabine Cheng saved the day by offering to do some yoga classes and tea, and when Tom Dupain started a video games tournament. Marinette could almost swear there was a tiny smile on Juleka's lips the moment her father danced celebrating his victory.

And the first weekend ended. Just like that. Without anything relevant to add to the school project.

_________

"Hey, Marinette! How did it go with Juleka?" Alya asked, linking her arm to her best friend's, on the next day.

"It was impossible, Alya…" Marinette sighed. "Juleka is too quiet and wouldn't even speak for the whole weekend. This project is going to be a disaster for me! And I still have to spend the next weekend at her house! I have no idea of what's going to happen. I don't know what to do anymore! I'm so unlucky!" She leaned on her best friend's shoulder.

"You're going to be okay, you'll see." Her best friend patted her back. "You're Marinette! You don't give up easily and always find a solution to any problem!"

"I'm not so sure about it… as things are going this time…" She shrugged. "How about you Alya? How are things going with Sabrina?"

"Oh, girl! You're not going to believe it but it's actually cool! Her dad's stories as a policeman are unbelievable! I think I'm going to make a post on my blog about them. It's going better than I expected!"

"Good for you…" Marinette groaned.

"Oh, c'mon, girl! Cheer up!" Alya elbowed her, but she still faced down. "Hey Marinette," Alya continued, with a smile. "Did you know Juleka lives on a boat moored by the Seine?"  

"...what?"

[prairiesongserial]

epilogue 20

“-problem,” a voice crackled over Ezra’s earpiece, too distorted to tell who was speaking.

“Sorry,” Ezra said. He looked up from the sheet of paper he’d been scribbling on, despite the fact that the speaker wasn’t actually in the room with him. “Say again?”

“We have a problem,” the voice reported, and promptly dissolved into static. 

Enis’s new radio system might have been wireless and hands-free, but it still wasn’t perfect. People who were too far out of range became incomprehensible, it had been a challenge getting everyone tuned into the same frequency, and getting too close to someone else with an earpiece sometimes caused jarring feedback to screech over the line. But it was something, at least, to keep everyone coordinated.

“It better be a fucking good one,” Ezra said, hoping for a reply from someone who could actually brief him on the problem.

“What better be a fucking good one?” Enis asked. His voice was much clearer than the other person who’d spoken; he was probably still puttering around with the sound system in the back of the sanctuary, which put him much closer to where Ezra sat in a folding chair near the front doors.

Ezra sighed. “The problem we apparently have.”

“Oh,” Enis said. “Yeah. Iris is here.”

“What?” another staticky voice yelped over the radio, taking the words out of Ezra’s mouth.

“Hamlin just told me,” Enis said. His don’t look at me shrug was almost audible.

“Well,” Ezra began, then shut his mouth and took a long pause to figure out what he’d actually meant to say next. 

Iris being here, in Manhattan, was not a good problem in any sense of the word. It made a certain amount of sense, considering this was her ex-husband’s funeral, but she’d deliberately been left off the invite list for a number of reasons. First and foremost, she was Hemisphere’s chief intelligence officer, and Johannes had died in the midst of a firefight with Hemisphere. There was no way she’d come to pay her respects. She’d come to snoop. Second, Manhattan wasn’t Hemisphere territory. The people under Hamlin didn’t make a habit of playing nice with outsiders.

“Can we kick her out?” Ezra asked, finally. He already knew what the answer would be, but he still wanted to ask. Turning Iris away at the door sounded like a great restorative for the headache that had been slowly building to a crescendo in his temples all morning.

Enis hummed. It sounded disapproving.

“Look, I know,” Ezra said. “But can we?”

“She’s basically family,” Enis said. “She’s kind of entitled to be here.”

“Well, we are family, and we’re in mourning,” Ezra said. “I feel like I’m entitled to be a bitch.”

“Ezra…”

Ezra groaned, and reached up to loosen his tie, not for the first time today. He couldn’t remember having an occasion to wear it since he’d been a teenager, and it felt like it was strangling him.

“I hate you for making me deal with this,” he muttered at the coffin that sat on a long table in front of the bimah.

“Sorry?” Enis squeaked out, sounding attacked.

“Not you,” Ezra said. “The schmuck in the casket.”

“Oh.”

Ezra heaved a sigh, and stood. “Alright, I’ll go talk to her.”

“Did you finish your eulogy?” Enis asked.

“Mostly.” Ezra re-folded the offending piece of paper and tucked it into an inner pocket of his jacket. “Just…keep working. I’ll handle Iris.”

Enis didn’t respond, which Ezra could only hope meant that he’d turned off his earpiece and gone back to work. Fair enough.

*

Ezra stepped out into the synagogue’s lobby, and coughed. The smell of the floral arrangements was almost overpowering. Hamlin had handled the decor, and his design sensibility didn’t lend itself well to funerals. Flowers spilled out of urns and covered every spare surface the lobby had to offer, cloaking the cold, neutral tones of the room in bursts of red, purple, and blue.

Unfortunately, Ezra and Enis had been forced to agree that it was what Johannes would have wanted. Probably. He hadn’t left a will for them to go off of; classic Johannes, assuming he wouldn’t meet an early and horrible death before getting the chance to write his will.

Iris wasn’t mingling with the various circus members and Manhattanites in the lobby. Ezra passed through the crowd, eventually finding her outside, standing just under the awning on the front steps of the synagogue, smoking a cigarette. She was wearing a long-sleeved black dress that Ezra halfway recognized as something she’d owned when she had still been with the circus. Next to her, looking vaguely uncomfortable, was a young woman in an ill-fitting suit. Likely an interpreter.

“Hi, Iris,” Ezra signed curtly. He hadn’t kept himself as sharp at sign language as Johannes had, but he could still hold his own in a conversation, provided Iris went slow enough for him to keep up. “What are you doing here?”

Iris smiled cryptically at him, and flicked her cigarette to the ground to snuff it out under her heel, freeing both of her hands.

“Attending the funeral,” she replied.

The young woman at Iris’s elbow opened her mouth briefly, then closed it. She seemed to realize her services weren’t needed in this particular conversation.

“Not spying?” Ezra asked.

Iris offered him a thinner smile this time. “Of course not.”

“So you drove up here uninvited because you’re sad? I don’t buy that.”

“I didn’t hate him, you know.” Iris’s expression flattened abruptly, like she’d slammed a door in Ezra’s face. “I can grieve for him the same as you.”

Ezra snorted. “If he’d died any other way, I don’t think you’d be here.”

“Believe me, or don’t,” Iris signed, then shrugged, every bit as curt as Ezra had been to her. “You never liked me. That’s your problem.”

“What do you want?” Ezra snapped–then repeated himself in sign, well aware that Iris could have read his lips but still wanting to do her the courtesy.

Iris gave him a hard, assessing stare before replying, “To see him and pay my respects.”

Ezra pursed his lips, and found himself at a loss for how to sign his reply. He turned to address the interpreter.

“There’s no viewing,” he said. “It’s closed casket. There wasn’t, uh–” Ezra sucked in a breath, trying to dredge up the right words. “There wasn’t enough of him to show.”

The interpreter frowned deeply as she reached that part of the sentence. So did Iris.

“Who found the body?” she signed back at him.

“Enis and some others drove back through to see what they could save, once Lady’s people were gone,” Ezra said, signing the main ideas as he spoke. “They found him then.”

Iris nodded thoughtfully, then asked, “Is Judith here?”

“She drove down with me.”

“I’d like to talk to her.” She shot Ezra a glance that dared him to try and stop her again.

Ezra sensed that he wasn’t going to make any further headway in this conversation. Through the door, he could hear the sound of everyone filtering from the lobby into the main sanctuary. He needed to already be inside greeting them, and every minute he stood out here arguing with Iris was another minute he was shirking that responsibility.

“Fine,” he signed at Iris, and turned away. 

It was rude of him–if she had anything else to say, she’d have to do it through the interpreter. But he had no real desire to keep going. Let Iris fish for whatever information she’d come here to find; at worst she’d get scraps of what she was looking for, and at best she’d look nosy and inappropriate for poking around at a funeral. Not Ezra’s problem. Besides, he had a eulogy to get ready for.

“Iris is coming in,” he said over his earpiece, and ignored the slew of dismayed reactions that followed. “Someone make sure her and Mame don’t come to blows.”

*

Ezra had volunteered to give the first eulogy because Judith hadn’t wanted to and he didn’t trust Hamlin to do it. He’d spent the better part of two days working on it, only to scrap the entire thing the night before the funeral.

It was hard to figure out what to say about Johannes when he was the reason Johannes had died in the first place. Ezra was sure that half of the people in the room knew it, too–Judith, Hamlin, and Enis certainly did, not to mention the rest of the circus. It didn’t matter that he’d ridden to the rescue in Maine with the Bellamys in tow. He was still the one who’d told Lady to make a show of force, who’d kept trying to collect the bounties for Hemisphere long after Johannes had decided against it. If he hadn’t dug in his heels so hard, a lot of people would still be alive.

Ezra blinked the thought away, reaching up to gather his hair in a ponytail at the back of his neck. He’d been barely present throughout the ceremony, only cognizant enough to accept hugs and condolences. Standing between Judith and the coffin had made his mouth dry up with the sudden panic that anything he could say now would ring insincere. That he didn’t deserve to be here, being treated so gently. 

He still felt that way now, standing at the microphone, looking out at the seated mourners. Iris had gotten a seat in the front row somehow. She sat with her hands folded in her lap, staring up at him intensely. Maybe concentrating so she could read his lips, or just watching his body language. Behind her sat a row of circus members, some still with bandaged wounds from the shootout. Ezra lowered his eyes to the piece of paper in his hands.

“Let’s hear it,” someone muttered over the earpiece, nearly making him jump. He’d forgotten to turn it off.

He reached up to do it now, palming the earpiece and disguising the motion as tucking a lock of hair behind one ear. Ezra squeezed it tightly in one hand, flicked his eyes upwards towards the other mourners one more time, and swallowed.

“I met my brother Johannes when I was eight years old,” he began, “and I owe a lot of my life to him.”

20.29 || 21.1

[moinsbienquekaworu]

Salut my beloved!

Une petite question pour toi: as-tu une liste de recommandations de snarry fic en français?

(Et aussi: comment dit-on "my beloved" en français? J'aimerais les bons mots utiliser, et je ne pense pas google translate est 100% correct lol)

(Et aussi aussi: oui j'ai pris un cours de français, mais that was several years ago, alors pendant je t'écris le message me tout seul, j'utilise beaucoup google translate!) (If that counts!) (Et seulement je appris le vouvoiement alors j'écris V Formal lol merci de me trouver mignon 🥺)

MON AMOUR MON BIEN-AIMÉ!!! I went and found the fics I used to like back in Ye Olden Days of me reading fic in french <3 sorted by order of which one I remembered first, except my forever faves are at the top of the list because I love favouritism. Most of the links are to FFnet unfortunately, if I found the fic on AO3 I linked to that but french Snarry mostly seemed/seems to be on FFnet.

I'll say it juust in case but some of those I still consider masterpieces and some of those I think weren't very well written in retrospect. That means possible grammar/spelling mistakes and dubious plot/characterisation choices, but it doesn't mean I don't think the fics aren't worth reading ever at all. Sure most of them I cringe at if I reread them but they were important to me. There might be obscure slang or incomprehensible language mistakes though, sorry for that Tomas.

@zeawesomebirdie it posted before I finished the list so here's a tag to make sure you see it haha

• Le Sang des Innocents by Tabourette (280k, 48 chapters)

Le sang, ce liquide carmin qui maintient en vie mais qui peut aussi causer la mort. Une chose si banale mais pourtant chargée de pouvoir. Il nous relit les uns aux autres, nous enchaîne, fait basculer des vies, bouleverse des destins.

-> The summary is incredibly obscure and I love it. It's half a vampire!Severus/blood source!Harry (in french fanfic they're usually called chalices but I don't think there's an equivalent in english) and half a Remus/Draco, which you really get used to actually. It's the one I've been meaning to translate for years. It's absolutely incredible. If you don't like vampires at least give this one a few chapters. The first half is relationship establishing and halfway through the 'real' plot comes bursting in and it's great. Unforgettable, all time fave. AND this one I know doesn't have typos or mistakes.

• Puppy by Mandy Mandala7338 (174k, 15 chapters)

Après la guerre, le Survivant se sent de plus en plus seul et incompris. Sa vie lui échappe, il ne contrôle plus rien, surtout pas ses sentiments. Pourtant, des gens s'inquiètent pour lui et un homme va décider de l'aider. Il fera découvrir à Harry des facettes inconnues de sa vie, ce qui, à sa surprise, va lui plaire plus que prévu. Slash M/M. BDSM

-> Blueprint for who I am as a person and I'm not joking. This fic did 14yo me's BDSM education (I know shhh I know) it helped me with my adolescent feelings and it never left my heart. When I saw the summary for Pacify I went 'hey that sounds like Puppy I should give it a shot!' because yeah the premise is similar, though it isn't executed the same at all. If you are also fascinated by stories about kink written by people who know what they're talking about this is probably the best you'll find in terms of french Snarry. Good grammar as well!

• SAS, Son Altesse Sérénissime by Nanola Meylhann (195k, 28 chapters)

Depuis plusieurs siècles, la famille Rogue règne sur Poudlard, une principauté prospère. Pour le prince, tout va être chamboulé lors de sa montée sur le trône et un secret millénaire va être déterré, mettant en péril les croyances du r��gent, ses choix et ses décisions.

-> The worldbuilding is kind of insane honestly. Does it make a lot of sense no did I love it yeah. Here Severus is the prince of an imaginary principality and Harry is his ancestral curse-mandated soulmate who had a shit life and starts the fic as a prostitute. The writing is good but Harry doesn't speak very formal french in it so it might be hard to understand in parts.

• La guerre des contrats by Rose_British (70k, 20/?)

Albus a abusé de son pouvoir pour fiancer Harry à Ginny. Il n'avait juste pas prévu l'existence d'un autre contrat…

-> This isn't a "learnt to love your forced spouse" arranged marriage fic, it's a "kick Dumbledore's ass as a power couple" fic. Lots of contracts and legal stuff and grey!powerful!Harry and going to Gringotts, you know how it is. This used to fascinate me. On hiatus but I really hope the author comes back to it if they can!

• Une Histoire de la soumission by Mayunaise (95k, 13 chapters)

"C'est grâce à ce livre que j'ai enfin compris ta relation avec Snape. Tu devrais rester à l'écart de lui. Il est dangereux", dit Hermione. "Mais Snape est mort !", cria Harry. "Justement." Comment Harry, à cause d'un mystérieux grimoire intitulé Une Histoire de la Soumission, développe une obsession folle et désespérée pour feu Severus Snape. 8e année - HPSS - COMPLETE

-> This is a gem this is an anomaly I read it once years ago haven't touched it since and have only vague memories of it but I KNOW I'm right. Its vibes are intense and unforgettable. There's some kind of weird stuff in the flashbacks Harry lives through when he's into the book, fair warning.

• Cloîtré and Les âges sombres by sioban parker (36k & 12 chapters, 38k & 10 chapters)

COMPLETE. En 5e année, Harry réalise avec stupeur que, dans une vie antérieure, il était novice dans une abbaye. Et que Snape était près de lui… UA médiéval et monacal. HPSS !

Suite de Cloîtré. Pour l'inquisition, le maintien de l'ordre social et religieux est l'objectif premier. Malheur à ceux qui s'écartent du rang. HPSS médiéval. COMPLETE

-> I won't lie my memories of those two are extremely vague but the summary sounds dope haha. Also I dowloaded them and I do believe I thought highly of them so yeah? For sure medieval Snarry in an abbey is a choice but I love authors who try weird stuff and Severus does have medieval monk vibes in a way.

• Mardi Gras and Le Carnaval by Archimede (14k, 61k & 4 chapters)

OS. Durant toute la journée, Severus avait dû supporter ses incapables d'élèves ainsi qu'une rébellion de Gryffondor. Aussi, quand Neville l'avait invité à dîner chez lui le soir, il n'aurait jamais cru que la soirée soit aussi mouvementée… ou pas.

Suite de "Mardi Gras". Depuis la soirée de la chandeleur, Severus est sur le qui-vive. Draco et Neville veulent se marier et Harry lui en fait voir de toutes les couleurs. Mais ce n'est pas tout ! Il doit aussi se rendre au carnaval du petit Teddy et subir un repas avec les Weasley… Mais qui a dit que Severus Snape, Serpentard de son état, se laisserait faire ?

-> Vague memories of these but they're fun memories! I love when they do things with other people <3

• La vie d'un calice by kelokelo (235k, 42 chapters)

Harry calice d'un Rogue vampire ? Vous n'y croyez pas ? Et pourtant…

-> Okay this one I had to include because it meant a lot to me and I was obsessed with it but also it's um. Well. It's not very well written. It has grammar mistakes and weird characterisation and some truly deranged turns of phrase and bad plotlines. But it was part of my french Snarry experience and leaving it behind because it's kind of bad would feel mean to me. Probably not good if you're not sure of your grasp of french though. Also you can see the use of the term "calice", chalice again, which, well, I had a vampire phase, what do you want.

• Héritage by emeraldcryst (188k, 23/?)

Un héritage ça plait toujours non? Quand on ne s'appelle pas Harry Potter peut être…

-> I was really into vampires but I also loved creature inheritance fics lol. Another one that's not up to my current standard but that I remember fondly, if very vaguely. It's up to you if you want to read kinda bad Veela Harry :')

• Extermination by Crapounette (105k, 10 chapters)

Dolorès Ombrage a lancé une campagne d'extermination des nuisibles nocturnes. Premières victimes : Remus et Tonks ainsi que le vampire Severus Rogue. Ayant tenté de venger Remus, Harry Potter est jeté à Azkaban où il retrouve le vampire. HP/SS Vamp/calice.

-> ALSO a fic that is kind of not very good in retrospect but that I still love. It aged extremely badly with the way JKR has been behaving because it's a story where Umbridge tries to genocide all the impure creatures like werewolves and vampires and puts them into camps before Harry and Severus save the day. Yeah. Listen when I was 14 this rocked my world! If you're allergic to exaggerated stuff (like Umbridge suddenly having enough power to put people into camps in like 2 months) and uke/seme-like dynamics you probably won't like this one but it's close to my heart. If you want to read the sex scenes (they're not that good but why not) the site she was posting the full versions on went down so eh. There's screencaps saved to the web archive but I don't have the URL. What I do have is homemade epubs with the full text, so you can hit me up if you want those I guess? (anyone btw. You're the only person possibly interested but if someone else wanted to I'd send them the epub as well)

• Joyeux Noël, Professeur !, Bonne Année, Professeur ! and Joyeuses Pâques, Professeur ! also by Crapounette

-> the series is about celebrating holidays but I'm just giving you those because they're also a little not good but at least they're short, I figure that's good if you want to start somewhere.

• Dégrisment by Agathe Laplante (27k, 7 chapters)

Harry Potter se réveille dans une cellule de dégrisement sans aucun souvenir de sa fin de soirée de la veille. Et il aurait, de loin, préféré ne jamais retrouver la mémoire.

-> The plot goes by a little fast but 1) perfumer Severus and 2) I love when people address the consequences of Harry's childhood & adolescence, even if they rush it a little.

• Les Jolis Pitits Dessins by Lychee (18k, 5 chapters)

SLASH SSHP Qui n'a jamais griffoné de dessins cochons sur ses brouillons de devoirs, mmh? Harry n'échappe pas à la règle. Sauf qu'il s'agit d'un devoir de Potions et qu'il rend le brouillon sans s'en rendre compte… Terminé

-> One of my first Snarrys I think! The "pitits" in the title is just a cutesy way of saying petits.

Then I have a few translations that could interest you, since if you have a doubt the english original text is right there. The english texts are all on my reclist that i've been planning for a good year so I don't want to be too detailed in my opinions since that would just be repetition when I finally post it, but I'll still talk about them because I cannot be brief about fanfic I like.

• French translation by Nyfna of Cambiare Podentes: Invocare by JordanGrant (212k, 33/50)

Une nouvelle prophétie fait son apparition, elle promet la mort pour Harry Potter et l'esclavage du monde sorcier, à moins qu'Harry lui-même ne consente à devenir l'esclave sexuel - de façon irrévocable et pour la vie - de Severus Rogue.

(A new prophecy comes to light, one that promises death for Harry Potter and enslavement for the wizarding world, unless Harry himself consents to being sexually enslaved--irrevocably and for life--to Severus Snape.)

-> I think it would be funny if on your path to learning french you used the same fic as me but the languages were swapped. Also the fic is great obviously. Changed my life and such

• French translation by Hesymi of Emancipation by BadGirlgoesworse (151k, 43 chapters)

Qu'est-ce que les gens dépendants sont censés faire lorsque ceux en qui ils avaient mis toute leur confiance les trahissent ? C'est simple, il suffit de trouver un moyen de devenir maître de leur destin.

(What are dependents left to do when betrayed by those they trusted most, but to find a way to become masters in their own right. Set after Department of Mysteries fiasco in Order of the Phoenix.)

-> very uh. Powerful!grey!Harry? Also mostly bottom Severus, if that interests you. The characterisation is Something and there's some bashing but y'know how it is, read it when I was young and I'm fond of it, etc etc. I also find it funny how the french translation has like 20k more words, truly we talk too much.

• Courtiser Harry Potter, french translation by Devil Pops LRDM of The Courtship of Harry Potter by Diana Williams

HPSS Selon une tradition millénaire, un sorcier peut demander la protection d'un mentor plus âgé. Le nouveau professeur de DCFM cherche à séduire Harry Potter, forçant ainsi Severus à entrer en compétition pour conquérir le cœur du jeune homme. /COMPLETE

(Another teacher's interest in Harry Potter forces a reluctant Snape to compete for the young man affections.)

-> Snarry classic, won't get into details, etc etc, it's great honestly. If you like mentor/apprentice vibes this is not exactly that though (because Severus is well-adjusted enough to realise that's a bit weird to have that power over a 17yo. Thank you Severus for having morals)

• Sans Voix & L'ombre de l'autre par Bliblou, translations of Speechless by thesewarmstars and The Shadow of the Other by atypicalsnowman (29k & 9 chapters, 34k & 6 chapters in french)

-> Bliblou seems to have deleted their account at some point, but I have epubs if you're interested? The original fics are dope, if you decide you want to try and read them in french as well hit me up.

And as a bonus for you, here is one singular Tomarrymort I found in the pile, and a Drarry recommendation, juuust in case, because I used to be into Drarry before Snarry swept me off my feet.

• La loi de l'Amour by Rose_British (128k, 33 chapters)

Pour garder son contrôle sur Harry, Dumbledore prévoit de le marier de force et fait instaurer une loi de mariage pour camoufler ses traces. Sauf que tout ne se passe pas comme prévu…

-> Like La guerre des contrats, it's Dumbledore bashing, but this time Harry is with Tom. It's not arranged marriage either because he's already dating Voldemort and then he's arranged-married to Tom Riddle, which is pretty funny. What turned me off the first time is the Severus/Ginny, but I think I might give it another shot honestly.

• Nothing else matters by Rose Malefoy (346k, 39 chapters)

Deux hommes, deux continents. Une vie faite de relations éphémères, sans contrainte et sans engagement, dans laquelle ils n'étaient pas censés se retrouver. Et surtout, ils n'étaient pas censés s'aimer. Si proches peu importe la distance, ça ne pourrait être plus près du cœur, croyons éternellement en ce que nous sommes. Et rien d'autre n'a d'importance . HPDM/DMHP - EXPLICITE.

-> Now I know I know, that's a huge ass novel to present you with when you didn't even ask for Drarry. No offense if you don't want to touch it, that would be fair, but this fic also is really cool. I'm giving you this one because it's the most memorable of the author's works for me, but she's also written a few OS that aren't as big, so if you want 'shorter' quality works and you're fine with the ship I recommend looking at her profile.

AND THIS CONCLUDES IT! Thanks for asking, this was a blast from the past. I mean look at all these summaries that say don't like don't read.... incredible. The Snarry reclist will hopefully be coming this summer but it's going to be a MONSTER. Absolutely huge. So. Hope there's something readable for you in there, otherwise there should be some good short stuff on FFnet or AO3 (or I can rec you actual books that aren't thousands of words long lol)

[oscartwofoxtrot]

[kicks down the door like the kool-aid man]: hi oscar talk to me about your favorite scene that you’ve written?

Sorry this took so long to answer, I was, apparently, writing an entire thesis. You Have Been Warned.

Oh my god uhhh. My favourite scene…okay, if I had to go with one, it’d probably be the scene from The Valiant Never Taste of Death I unofficially refer to as ‘Everybody’s dying bitch, let’s get you some peanut butter’. This comes about a quarter of the way through the second (proper) chapter, Requiem (NB: if we’re going by AO3 numbers then it’s Chapter 3, since there’s a Prologue chapter as well, but I don’t tend to count that numerically), and it’s the bit where Nate gently bullies Brad into sitting down and having a snack. And then uno reverse-cards him into talking about his childhood trauma. [Slaps scene] This bad boy can fit so many emotions in it!

For those unfamiliar with Halo 4 (which in all likelihood is most if not all of you), you should know that for the most part, I tend to hew fairly closely to the story and plot structure of the game when writing Valiant. But linear first person shooters don’t offer the characters a lot of opportunities to sit down and talk about their feelings, so this scene is an oscartwofoxtrot original! Sure, the action scenes can be fun, but there’s nothing I love more than getting to write Brad and Nate in their quiet moments, and I crowbarred this one in here to really dig into that Deep Halo Lore and hopefully use it to get at some of the complexities of their dynamic in this AU.

Speaking of complexities, you ask me anything at all about Valiant and I am not so much going to unpack the suitcase as start pulling hat stands and potted plants out of it Mary Poppins-style, so…this shit’s gonna need an itemised list.

1. Nate: [Basically refuses to acknowledge his own mortality, but you better believe he makes sure Brad remembers to eat and take a break every once in a while]. Also, Brad displaying just how whipped he really is. They may not have the same relationship dynamic as canon, but Brad pretty much lets Nate tell him what to do most of the time. tbh I think he likes it.

2. We get another hint at the circumstances surrounding Nate’s capture by the Gravemind. I alluded to this event in the prologue but have thus far avoided going into too much detail about it, so you’d better believe it’s a Surprise Tool That Will Help Us Later. One of the biggest challenges of writing an AU based on the fourth game in a series is finding the Goldilocks Zone of exposition – too much and you lose the current plot thread as well as the attention of literally everyone reading; not enough and the whole thing is virtually incomprehensible to normal people who don’t spend all their time on Halopedia. Trying to get that balance right is, shall we say, an ongoing struggle.

That said, I have been having way too much fun throwing out passing references to stuff like this – and this particular occurrence is a Big Deal in the world of Brad and Nate, because I think it may be the only time they’d been apart for more than like 24 hours since they started working together. (The backstory of their first meeting is a whole other essay in its own right, so I’ll just slap a sticker on this that says ‘Ask Me About My Canon Timeline In The Very Unlikely Event That You Are Interested’). Nate had become such a permanent fixture in Brad’s life, I doubt Brad understood what it would even feel like to miss him until he was gone.

And now that Nate’s life is in danger again, Brad has a very clear understanding of the stakes involved. Almost losing him the first time…it wasn’t The Moment of Realisation (more on that later), but it certainly did crystallise some deeper level of awareness on just how important Nate is to him. Of course, last time, the problem was one of distance – Brad was light-years away and couldn’t immediately get back to Nate, but there was a fortress to storm and a dragon to slay so he could save him. This time, Brad is right there, and he can see Nate suffering, and there is absolutely nothing he can do about it.

3. Couldn’t resist throwing in a version of the Peanut Butter MRE Temper Tantrum lol. I am at heart a giant sap and I do love writing them joking around and just being incredibly fond of each other. Because there’s no officer-enlisted divide here, it gives them more room to develop the casual familiarity and vaguely flirtatious banter we see hints of in the show. The spectre of Nate’s Rampancy does cast a pall over the whole thing, but it wouldn’t be Generation Kill without some serious mood whiplash. Speaking of which…

4. Hello and welcome to my impromptu TED Talk on the Insane Fucking Lore behind the SPARTAN-II program! (On all levels except physical I am this Brian David Gilbert Unraveled video). That’s right: the Spartan-IIs were kidnapped from their families at the age of six and, to avoid suspicion, replaced by clones implanted with their memories who would die within months due to congenital health issues caused by the cloning process. And as Nate points out, the UNSC didn’t even have the justification of the Covenant War, because that hadn’t started yet! They did this shit because various colony worlds wanted independence from the United Earth Government – but that would negatively affect the economy, so apparently the only two options available were ‘bloody civil war costing billions of human lives’ or ‘covert military operations to quash nascent insurrectionist uprisings, carried out by fucking child soldiers who we put through brutal training and experimental bio-augmentations that killed or permanently maimed like half of them’.

So, uh. That’s fucked! And what’s wild is that even though this has been a feature of the expanded universe since the beginning, it’s something that’s barely ever touched on in the games. Nate only knows about it because he went snooping for Brad’s unredacted file not long after they met for the first time (based on Cortana doing the same in the Halo prequel novel The Fall of Reach). For what it’s worth, Brad’s stated mindset is pretty typical of how the Spartans themselves feel about the whole thing: it’s been normalised for them because it’s the only life they know.

Nate, meanwhile, is understandably horrified, and it’s clear they both recognise the parallels between their experiences – the UNSC took away Nate’s autonomy too, by the very act of his creation. In between the Gravemind and the Rampancy, it’s something he’s been increasingly struggling with: that he was brought into being as a fully-formed person to serve a specific purpose, with the knowledge that he’d only have an operational lifespan of seven years before his systems started to decay irreparably. I can’t put it better than the Gravemind did (courtesy of the Halo short story Human Weakness by Karen Traviss): “Your creators made you separate. They placed a barrier between you and the beings that you would be encouraged to protect, a wall you could never breach. They even gave you a human to centre your existence upon, a human to care about, yet never considered how you might feel at never being able to simply touch him. Or how he might feel about outliving you.”

Damn are you guys seeing this shit? This is fucking crazy! Anyway I’m Rod Serling

5. Rule number one of Valiant: Brad does not know that he’s in love with Nate. Ya boi is pining without even realising that he’s pining. This isn’t a reflection of how I most commonly interpret canon – I look at show!Brad and I’m like ‘yeah, there’s a guy who’s 100% self-aware that he’s simping for his platoon commander’ – but in this AU, the Spartans’ lack of normal human socialisation has left him without any practical life experience of things like romance, so he’s just not quite able to put a name to those feelings. Yet, anyway.

As for Nate? I’ve been writing under the assumption that he is aware of his own feelings, but isn’t totally sure of Brad’s. I reckon he probably has a good enough read on Brad to at least suspect that Brad might reciprocate if made aware of the situation, but without any way to be certain, Nate’s unlikely to bring it up. Even I’m not fully decided on when Nate’s Moment of Realisation was. I do have a few ideas, but it’s not a detail that’s ever specifically relevant to the fic, so feel free to speculate.

In conclusion: …idk man, it’s been a year since I wrote this and I don’t completely hate it yet so. that’s probably a good sign, right? sorry for rambling it will happen again

[apex-academy]

Chapter 6: The Decay of Our Lives (#4)

Guess we’re still starting with Itsurou’s file. It doesn’t feel like there’s anything missing when I flip through it, but these things aren’t exactly uniform, so I don’t know how I could tell. Check if all his published books are listed, maybe, but it’s not like I know them all, anyway.

“Could check it against his study hall if I wanted to.”

Seems like overkill right now, but if I don’t find anything else to do...

The demographics information is a bunch of average junk, and some points about his health. Nothing anybody has to worry about now.

“...” Onto the next one.

“Kaichi...”

Why am I doing this again? I... Maybe I can come back to him. When it’s a little less raw.

“Or will that happen anytime soon?”

Probably not. Still... Don’t want to push myself more than I have to.

That’s what Kaichi would want, too, right?

Already checked my own file earlier, so I skip to Kanagi’s. Sports, sports, and more sports. Don’t know what I expected.

“Looking at this, you’d think she’s just the all-around Super High School Level Athlete...”

But I guess the only achievements that really fit the school criteria are in volleyball. Plenty of other articles and stats in here, though. Including a good handful of male sports leagues? Under a number of pseudonyms...

Whatever works for her, I guess.

Nothing here draws my suspicion, at least. If anything, I doubt she’d have the time to plan something like this while she’s out there cross-training for fifty sports.

Maybe that’s just me being optimistic, but... It’s something, at least.

I wrangle her file back into place and slide that drawer shut. So, down to the next row, or back up to Aki?

“.................”

I slide the top drawer open and walk my fingers down the tabs. Unlabeled folder of blank forms, Aidan, then...

There’s not a lot of heft to it, per se, but it presses into my hands harder than it should.

“...”

I open it up.

Not a lot in the way of demographics—at least, nothing that stands out. Seems she started helping out at the local courthouse pretty young, but otherwise...

“Wonder if that was before or after she switched her style around.”

Not that it matters now. Or ever would have, probably, but...

“................”

Past that’s a bunch of meaningless charts about words per minute, but I scan them point by point anyway. I’ll... be stuck in this one a while, I think. Might as well focus on numbers instead of everything else around them. Who’s responsible for them in the first place.

A lot of the file is completely incomprehensible to me. Not redacted like Aidan’s, just written in... I don’t know. The kind of marks her stenograph makes, I guess.

Made.

“...”

Well. I guess it could still make them. As far as I know, it outlasted her just fine.

“.................................”

My throat’s trying to close up now, so I flip through the pages faster. Really nothing of note here. She had skills, she did her best, she deserved to be here. Just not... here.

“...............”

I might need a few rounds of pool.

Silently, I place Aki’s file back behind Aidan’s and lock up again. Drift down two floors, unlock my own room.

...

I play a while. Who knows how long. Our loved ones are safe now, supposedly. No reason for time to matter much anymore.

But I have to get going again eventually.

“.....”

Out to the empty hall, but the moment I get to the stairs, a wave of fatigue hits. I’ll just use the elevator. A farther walk along an empty hall, but. Don’t have to worry about paying attention to every footfall this way.

I hit the elevator call button and don’t have to wait long before it's here. Bell rings, doors open, I walk in—and immediately trip over a wheelchair.

“Whoa, whoa!”

It’s easier to place the voice than place my feet flat on the floor again.

“Sorry! You okay?”

Aidan adjusts his glasses. No idea if I just about smacked them off or if he only wants to fidget with something.

“Er, yes, thank you. You?”

“Fine...”

The elevator doors shut, but we don’t start moving. I frown and look over the numbered buttons. Nothing lit.

“I figured you'd be on this floor.”

“Ah. Yeah.” That predictable, am I? “Did you need something?”

“Oh, just to see you smile.”

“....”

“Hmm... Close enough. It’ll do.”

“...Okay, seriously.”

“What, that can’t be a serious mission?”

I turn to push the first floor button, just because chatting in a stationary elevator is weird. It rumbles back to life, and the moment of weightlessness makes me a little dizzy.

“If you’d prefer some elaboration, I’m attempting to gauge the group’s interest in a movie night.”

“Mm. Depends on the movie.”

“I was certainly leaning towards comedy.”

I mean. Beats a Saw marathon.

“But isn’t the auditorium closed at night?” After all, that was Tamiko’s excuse to shoo everyone out of her crime scene.

“......”

“There’s more than one place to watch a movie, don’t you worry.”

“Fair enough.”

“So... yeah. Can’t say I’m super invested, but I’d come to a movie night, sure.”

“Good to know! Thank you.”

The elevator stops with a low rattle, and I automatically step through the doors before looking back. Aidan hasn’t even put his hand on the wheel.

“Didn’t think to ask what floor you wanted.”

“That’s all right...”

“.......”

“Er, the first floor is fine, rather. Thank you.”

I nod, but neither of us moves. Not sure how much he can right now.

“Is it just me, or do you look even more drained than before?”

“.....”

“Considering that’s very highly a matter of opinion, I don’t think I could weigh in meaningfully.”

“...”

“Can I help you to wherever you’re headed now?”

“..................”

“You may wheel me to my dorm room... if you really want to.”

I nod.

It takes a little maneuvering with the doors trying to close on us, but eventually I push him along. Hope going back to his room means he’s going to rest. Not sure how much I can hope for that, but...

I go ahead and unlock his door while I’m at it, though he still beats me to the handle. He winces a bit from gripping it.

“No glass traps here, I hope?”

It takes him a second to catch up.

“Oh goodness no. That would be entirely unnecessary.”

I nudge the door open.

“Thank you...”

“I’ll... see you around, then?”

“Don’t have much of a choice.”

“That’s certainly one way to put it, I suppose.”

“Until then.”

He smiles, but it’s already sliding off his face before he’s turned away. He wheels himself in and pushes the door closed with a soft click. 

I half expect him to faint and collapse immediately afterward, but there aren’t any unceremonious thuds, at least.

If there were, would I go in? Do I trust myself enough to walk in on that sort of scene again and not take advantage of it?

“..........” 

Don’t need to worry about that now. Let’s just get back to... whatever I was planning to do down here. I don’t know. Grab some tea or something and take it from there, I guess. Can’t help anybody if I don’t take care of myself.

And at least getting something to drink is easy. The rest...

We’ll see.

[BACK] [NEXT]

[mayonaisalsprays-menagerie]

Furby Introduction Post!

I have a lot of critters, furby and non furby. This post is just for furbies. I’ll be updating this list whenever a new addition is added! (there will also be small bits of lore that may or may not be fully explained at some point. sorry.)

Poptart Pietoss the Third

Kind and funny, but also a bit of a gossip…

He/they

Poptart was born into the world by a very confused wizard trying to cast a spell on himself. Instead of longifying himself, Candy summoned a long furby. The chaos that ensued afterward could make a great comedy routine…

Candy Cornelius Cornwell

Accidental dad. Twice.

He/him

The oldest furby of them all, Candy was the first furby I ever owned. One day, he got a glimpse at the arcane power that long furbies hold, and ever since he’s been obsessed with becoming long himself! But teaching yourself is hard, and sometimes you mess up a spell and create two entirely new beings from magic. It happens.

Neoncity Nightlife Nebula

Says she’s from space. Looks like he’s from space. He’s from space. Simple.

Any pronouns

Neoncity Nightlife Nebula (or just Nebby) was the second furby brought to this world by Candy. They don’t seem to mind. It loves trying new things, especially new foods.

Brimstone

Probably a bad influence, but fun to be around!

He/it

Brimstone may look tough. Don’t fall for it. It’s all a ruse. He is in fact, incredibly uncool, and he knows it. He’s not ashamed of it though, and it enjoys being as cringe and free as it likes! That’s not why he’s a bad influence though. Brimstone is a bad influence because of a warlock pact. It’s probably fine though…

The Covenant (Honk, Shoo, and Mimimimi individually)

This is why you don’t let incomprehensible beings have any physical form. Even little ones!

They/them

Honk, Shoo, and Mimimimi are three very small long furbies in one wound together form. Not to point fingers… but they may have been brought into this world by another monochrome furby. One always tells the truth, one always tells lies, and the other tells you what you’re ready to hear. Who’s wisdom will you listen too?

Fiasco

In a world of both magic and science, sometimes it’s best not to choose. And instead make horrible green goo.

He/it

Fiasco (formerly known as W(x)F) is what happens when you mix the whims of human science with the  ancient magic of furbies. Aka, you hit a lab rat with a furbyfication beam. The result is one very smart little guy who ends up studying you instead of you studying him. Hope you like drinking weird liquids!

Sly and Sneak

Though they be little, they are fierce.

Both he/him

Sly and Sneak are a package deal. Wherever one goes, the other will always follow. Because they are boyfriends who love each other. Sly and Sneak are much smaller then basically every other furby, but they don’t seem to mind. Much. I heard they found work with a scientist as lab assistants recently! Good for them.

Trix

Not a love demon, he just really likes Valentine’s Day.

(He/they)

Trix is what I’d call a miniature long furby. Is he long? Yeah, longer then most furbies. But most furbies are pretty short, so 1ft isn’t that big. They’re a spirit (some may use the word demon instead) formed by intense feelings of jealousy. They seem to be looking for the source of it…