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bisexual-apocalypse · 4 months

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Stressful Situations

Hello! The fic below the cut was written by the lovely @suueeeeeee ! They messaged me asking if I would be willing to edit and post this for them and after reading this delightful fic I had to say yes!

To the 2 people who requested fics! They are in the works but may take a little longer as I'm leaving for the weekend! Thank you so much for the love and support y'all!!

It was yet another day, another rehearsal and another stressful session of Andrew and the band trying their best to make sure they’re all set for today’s concert.

Ever since (y/n) had started to accompany Andrew on tour, she’s been nothing but a delight in everyone’s eyes. She made sure they all ate, stayed hydrated, and well-rested and genuinely cared for them as if she was their mother.

She sat down on the side watching them with those eyes that said ‘I’m so fucking proud’. She enjoyed every part of this tour, everything about it made her happy. She loved Andrew and therefore watching him do what really makes him happy tickled her insides and made her all giddy.

She noticed how on edge he was today, and how he was taking it out on everyone else. She felt bad for everyone but she bad for him specifically. Poor lad’s been extremely tired and exhausted. Anyone would be the same if they’d been touring nonstop for almost 2 months now, and having to put so much energy into shows every couple of days.

She felt bad for Andrew but also for the band, they were trying their best but for some reason something was messed up every now and then which resulted in Andrew cursing loudly, not at anyone in particular but just out of frustration.

She sighed and got up, heading towards him. She placed a hand on his back, stroking it softly.

“Love, take it easy, don’t stress yourself much, it’ll be okay.”

She says with a soft smile attempting to comfort him and calm him down a little bit. She felt a vein was about to pop in his forehead and he’d get a headache from frowning so much. He looked up at her with a blank expression.

“(Y/n), please. The last thing I need is distractions. Don’t tell me what to do, we have shit to get done.”

He snapped at her and this was the first time within their 9 month relationship that he had done something like this. She was taken back a little. This attitude definitely was weird cause Andrew never behaved this way even in times he was stressed out the most. She gulped and nodded her head, fighting off the tears.

“Yes yes, of course. I apologize, ehm- I’ll just wait in one of the dressing rooms, sorry guys.”

She looks at them with a sad smile and Alex turns to Andrew with the angriest glare.

“The fuck is wrong with you?”

Alex spit at Andrew and slung off his guitar then followed her immediately. They weren’t particularly close but he appreciated her taking care of Andrew and of the whole band. The woman was sweet and kind and it hurt him to see Andrew speak to her that way. He ran after her and he could see her shoulders shaking which confirmed his thoughts that she was crying.

“(Y/n/n), wait.”

He calls for her by her nickname and places a hand on her shoulder. She turns around to look at him with teary eyes and a wet face. She wipes her eyes quickly and sniffs not wanting to seem weak or like a crybaby. He just takes her in for a hug.

“He didn’t mean it, you know he’s crazy about you, but he’s just stressed. It’s not an excuse though. You have every right to be upset just don’t take it to seriously, okay? I’ll kick his ass.”

She pulls back, chuckling a little then nods her head with a sigh.

“I know, Alex. I’m not upset with him, I’m just upset for him. He’s been so exhausted and it’s starting to take a toll on him. I’ll just give him some time. Maybe after tonight’s show he’ll feel a little less stressed.”

Alex blinks at her and wonders how the fuck someone could be this peaceful and kind. Now, Alex was 10x angrier with Andrew for hurting her feelings and he intended to give him a piece of his mind but after tonight’s show. He softly rubs her shoulder.

“Just go get yourself something to drink and don’t think about it much, I’m sure he’ll apologize in no time.”

She nodded and thanked Alex and walks away, but it was obvious she was still upset. He sighed and walked back to the main stage area to find Andrew still strumming the guitar with the same frown except it was now deeper. The tension was too thick and the vibes were really bad unlike how it would normally be. He picked up his guitar again and when Andrew noticed they started rehearsing again.

———————————————————-

One time while performing, Andrew finished his water bottle and he kept on looking around for someone to refill it for him but for some reason everyone was busy with technical difficulties going on so she took it upon herself to get him another water bottle. She didn’t think much of walking on stage as she just wanted to get Andrew his water cause poor thing’s vocal cords must’ve been screaming for help.

When she walked on stage, everyone was confused, including Andrew himself. She handed him the water bottle, took the empty one with a smile. His heart exploded at that moment and he instantly reached out and hugged her which caused her to blush deeply. He was openly hugging her in front of everyone, which was something she wasn’t used to, which also caused the fans to go crazy for that moment. After he let go, she ran backstage, but ever since that moment, (Y/n) made an appearance every concert when handing Andy his water bottle which was always thanked by a side hug.

Andrew was thinking to himself, would she do their ritual tonight even though he was a total ass towards her? He openly admitted to himself that he was mean and rude towards her, but his energy lately had been so low. He’s starting to get exhausted from the constant traveling and performing. Therefore, he decided to get her some flowers and take her out for dinner after they’re done with the show. However, he was upset at the fact that there’ll be no water bottle from her tonight which will get the fans talking and it’ll just create a hassle he’s in no mood for.

Much to his surprise, amidst his performance, he heard loud screams and cheers which confused until he felt someone place a water bottle down on the floor in front of him and he looked and saw his beautiful partner. She looked up at him with a tight smile then walked back. At this point, his heart exploded with so much love for that woman and his love for her grew a million times.

——————————————————-

The show was an absolute success, the vibes were very nice despite everything happening prior to the performance and everyone was happy with how everything came out.

Everyone was putting their things back in place and was making sure they’re all set to retire to their rooms to relax after a long, stressful and emotionally draining day.

Meanwhile, (y/n) was in the tour bus, packing a small backpack to spend the night in a hotel. She kept reminding herself that he never meant it and it was his tired mind talking but she just couldn’t accept the fact that someone spoke to her that way in front of the whole band. Had they been alone, she would have just ignored it, joked about it and teased him until he became less grumpy but the fact that he snapped at her like that, for some, reason felt humiliating.

She walked out of the tour bus when Alex was going in. He saw her bag then frowned.

“Where are you going? It’s late.”

He asked her, feeling genuinely worried. He started thinking the worst. Is she going to leave Andrew? Is she going to fly back to Dublin for a break? She was the one mostly keeping their times fun on this exhausting tour leg and particularly keeping Andrew’s strength to keep going despite the exhaustion.

She sighs, looking away, not really knowing what to say.

“I’m spending the night in the hotel around the corner, Alex. I don’t think I could be around Andrew tonight. I might say something I regret and make things worse.”

“Did you at least let him know?” He knows he can’t change her mind but he also thought this was a good solution cause as chill as they both seemed to be. When they get angry, they’re monsters.

“Well- that’s going to be your job. Don’t you dare tell him where I am, Alex. Just tell him I’m fine. Let me torture him a little.”

She grins evilly and Alex lets out a laugh. That was her typical behavior, managing to make fun and humor out of dark situations.

“Alright, but let me know when you check in and come back first thing in the morning.” He pulls her in for hug then lets her go before watching her walk away.

————————————————————

She got settled in and changed into her night shirt, getting into bed. She decided to scroll down through instagram for a little, seeing that Andrew posted snippets from today’s concert as he does every time. She liked them but it was obvious to her that he wasn’t really in his normal state. She pouted, starting to feel guilty for leaving him when he’s feeling like this. She was supposed to support him through everything and the first time he does something like this, she reacts like this? Then again, he was rude towards her in front of other people. Her mind was racing with thoughts and she was feeling as if she was drowning in this dilemma when she heard knocking at the door.

She curses to herself, knowing it’s probably Andrew, cause Alex couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Deep inside, she was hoping he’d come to her. When she peaked through the door, it indeed was the one and only Andre Hozier-Byrne. She sighs, opening the door and steps to the side, nodding for him to come inside.

He walks in silently and she sees the flowers in his hands. He got her Verbenas, her favorite. He clears his throat and hands them to her.

“Ehm- I got you these.”

Truth be told, he didn’t know what to say, as the situation was awkward and it was the first time they'd dealt with something like this. They both were really chill and peaceful, when they disagree about something they just leave it and agree to disagree without forcing their own views on each other or anything like that. They both always treated each other with respect whether they were alone or with other people. She accepts the flowers, placing them on the bed next to her where she sits as he takes a seat in front of her on the small sofa.

“Love, I’m incredibly sorry. I know what I did was wrong, but I’m just so down, exhausted. I don’t feel the best. I know that this isn’t an excuse and you have every right to be mad, but please, don’t leave me.”

She could hear the desperation in his voice and she looks at him, surprised.

“Andrew, are you insane? Why the fuck would I leave you? Yes, I’m upset. I understand your point, but still upset. For you to apologise and acknowledge your mistake is more than enough. It’d take much much more than this for me to leave you. You’re stuck with me.”

She grins, sitting next him and taking him into her arms. He cuddles against her, resting his head on her chest, enjoying the feeling of her fingers combing through his hair. This was the only thing he needed. To be alone with his beloved after a long day, wrapped around each other.

#hozier #hozier fluff #hozier x reader #andrew hozier byrne #the hoziest #andrew hozier byrne x reader #hozier fanfiction

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idkfitememate · 9 months

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Welcome To Aperture Science

૮꒰˶ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ˶꒱ა Pairings : GN! GLaDOS Reader x Raiden Shogun, Kujo, Aether, Dottore & Maillardet

૮꒰ྀི∩´ ᵕ `∩꒱ྀིა W.K. : 6.5k

໒꒰ྀིᵔ ᵕ ᵔ ꒱ྀི১ Tags/CW&TW : Reader is a insane robot, Mutilation, descriptive gore

໒꒰ྀི˶˙Ⱉ˙˶꒱ྀིა Author’s note : I ran into a bit of a dilemma in writing this. I realized that a lot of you probably would be able to get into the role of you were called “GLaDOS”, so here’s the plan. I tried my hardest to not have to use (y/n), but me thinks I’m gonna have to. The actual operating system will be called “GLaDOS”, but you yourself will be called (y/n). You’re replacing Caroline & GLaDOS. There will be a little surprise - since this is my ver of Portal (AKA throwing Portal into Genshin), so you’ll be introduced as (y/n)! If this ruins the experience, please let me know, and I’ll come up with something different! ໒꒰ྀི´ ˘ ` ꒱ྀིა

Also! GORE WARNING!!!! THERE WILL BE GORE!! I’ll post a warning right before it starts and a little thing for where it ends!! ☆૮꒰ˊᗜˋ* ꒱ა

Finding out one of your islands is being used for things unknown is not something you want to wake up too.

But unfortunately, that was what Miss. Raiden Ei was subjected to this morning.

The apparent “island” wasn’t even actually an island. It looked like a small plot of land, with it’s only inhabitant being an old bot that resembled a Fontainian Meka - which was still active and very dangerous - and what looked to be some kind of small, one person hut. But when the fishermen who had found this island somehow managed to enter the hut, they found it actually housed a long, winding staircase that plummeted into the earth.

So of course this news was sent straight to Ei. As the Archon, anything that went on in her Nation’s boundaries that wasn’t documented was immediately brought up to her for investigation. In any other case she would have told the Tenryou Commission to take care of it or otherwise, but seeing as this was seemingly more than just a “island descending into the depths” - the fishermen also reported strange noises coming from below - this seemed like it would need to be handled with a more… direct touch.

Gathering her wits, she made a small “exploration team”. This team consisted of:

1. The Traveler, because why wouldn’t it

2. Kujo Sara, her loyalty will be of use

3. Maillardet, she had heard of his helping with the Icewind Suite Meka. His expertise may be needed.

And finally, though unfortunately,

4. Dottore.

As much as she may have detested the Fatui and their methods, she couldn’t deny they got results. And on top of that she had heard of his experiments on that of Ruin Guards, which again may be needed.

After making her plans and sending off letters to all she believed she may need, the Shogun began to wait.

૮꒰づ˶• ༝ •˶꒱づ ˚ʚ ꒰⁐⁐⁐⁐୨🍰🍧🍯୧⁐⁐⁐⁐꒱ ɞ˚

It was dark in the Aperture Science building. Though it wasn’t silent. After word from the singular guard at one of many openings alerted human sightings after… years of nothing, you had to admit something inside you was excited.

It was in human and monster nature to be curious of the unknown. And with all the years since your last… nuisance test subject, you figured that Aperture may have been - more likely was - forgotten by those above.

You rapidly repaired test room after test room, rebuilding the facility to the best of your current abilities. Which wasn’t much a problem, because due to the lack of human error, you were able to keep the place up and running with extreme precision.

It looked just like when Aperture was first built.

With different power sources from every nation, keeping powered on was never an issue. The location that had been found by humans was the one that was powered by the never ending lightning storm that surrounded the nation of Inazuma.

The strikes of Electro traveled through the water into sensors placed on the ocean floor, that changed the pure Electro into actual electricity that was then used to power the specific part of Aperture Science that was stationed below it.

The real facility spanned all across Teyvat.

This was only the beginning.

And your cold heart was more than ready for this coming future.

૮꒰づ˶• ༝ •˶꒱づ ˚ʚ ꒰⁐⁐⁐⁐୨🍰🍫🍭୧⁐⁐⁐⁐꒱ ɞ˚

“I am shocked than and Archon such as yourself has called for me.”

All heads in the room turned to face the masked male.

Kujo immediately summoned her bow and pointed it at the man, while Traveler did the same with his sword. Poor Maillardet only ran behind the armed female, clutching her skirt.

Kujo glanced at him before pushing all attention back on Dottore.

“Please lower your weapons.” Heads whipped to look at the sullen voice of Ei.

“I asked him to be here. Please do not make this experience more difficult than it already may be.” Even she seemed… less than enthused by her actions, but the sudden silence- to soak up her words - was interrupted by the man in question’s laughter.

“And how shocked I was when The Tsaritsa said the Electro Archon herself had asked for my assistance in a ‘pressing matter’! Please, do listen to her and try to not make this difficult?” His grin unwavering. Aether scoffed and Kujo only huffed a small ‘Yes, my Shogun’, before turning to her backseat passenger who hadn’t moved since Dottore’s appearance.

“… What?” The brunette asked. Then he sighed. “Just because I build fighters doesn’t mean I myself can fight, Madame.” He quickly pushed himself off her and dusted both her and him off.

With one more sigh, Ei stood.

“Let us not waste anymore time. There is an odd island off the coast of Amakane Island. On it is a single individual that resembles a Fontainian Meka, and a hut. The odd thing being that this hut holds a staircase that “plummets into the earth”, so say my sources.” She then looked at the Doctor.

“Have your men done anything to this island?” It was a fair question.

It wouldn’t be odd for the Fatui to have a lab or something of the sort in a Nation without the Archon or Nation’s knowledge. In fact, it wouldn’t be the first time. Though - again - Dottore only laughed again.

“No, Miss. Ei. We haven’t any labs that “plummet into the earth”, as you say.” Kujo flinched at him not referring to her Archon by her title, but before she could do anything, she was stopped by a look from said Archon.

“Thank you for being honest,” she hummed, “Then we best be off. Who knows what we shall find and who knows how long we may be.” And she started off.

Following behind her was everyone but Maillardet, who looked confused.

“No equipment? No food provisions?” He glanced a guard who was stationed at a door nearby who shrugged. They both sighed and spoke in unison.

“Vision holders…”

૮꒰づ˶• ༝ •˶꒱づ ˚ʚ ꒰⁐⁐⁐⁐୨🎂🍬🧁୧⁐⁐⁐⁐꒱ ɞ˚

Making their way to Amakane Island was easy enough. Making their way to the unnamed island was also easy.

The Meka that was guarding the small hut was… tall, to say the least.

“It looks vaguely like a Suppression Specialist Mek mixed with an Assault Specialist Mek…” Maillardet muttered, causing Dottore’s head to whip in his direction.

“So nothing you’ve seen before?” He mused, causing the Fontainian to glare at him.

“No.” He huffed, “It isn’t.” Dottore smirked at that answer.

“Then we have an unknown Meka on our hands? Perhaps made by someone outside of Fontaine-“ “No.” Maillardet interrupted.

“It still has hints of Fontainian handiwork. The way you can see some gears and cogs, as well as the fact that it’s utilizing Fontaine gun tech. It very well could be imbued with Arkeh energy. If I had to guess, Ousia.”

Everyone stared at the man, who blushed.

“What I’m trying to say,” he breathed, “Is that while it’s not any Meka I’ve ever seen, it’s definitely made by Fontainian hands. Sir Aether should know how to deal with it effectively.” Dottore stared at the man.

Aether nodded and jumped off the boat they all currently inhabited, and began to attack. The others stayed back and watched as he gracefully dodged attacks and fought back.

Though, in a sudden switch of attack, the bullets firing from the cannon on its arm changed to Electro-Charged pellets of water. The sudden swap shocked Aether and the Mek was able to land a few solid hits on the man.

Getting fed up, Kujo stood to fight, but Ei held her back.

“Those are Electro-Charged attacks.” “I understand Shogun but-“ “No. We’d only make things worse.” With a huff, the tengu sat down, glaring at the Doctor who dared to chuckle.

The fight continued on for a few more minutes before Aether came out triumphant. As the Mek collapsed, a voice rung out from its destroyed body.

“Warn…ing…Intruders At….Inazuma Ent…rance…Access Not Given…Send Warning To GL…a…” Before finally collapsing. Aether stood overtop its corpse before turning to the others.

“Well… I suppose we can continue onward?” Maillardet questioned, only to be met with everyone else in the boat jumping out onto dry land, once more leaving him behind.

The man grumbled as he slowly pulled himself out the boat, soaking his boots and pants.

By the time he made it, everyone but Dottore had made their way into the hut, on their way down.

“After you.” The bluenette grinned, and Maillardet shuddered.

And then they all made their decent.

૮꒰づ˶• ༝ •˶꒱づ ˚ʚ ꒰⁐⁐⁐⁐୨🍮🍯🍫୧⁐⁐⁐⁐꒱ ɞ˚

While the staircase itself was long and narrow, surrounded on all sides by pipes and cogs, what they found at the bottom was truly a sight; though they had been going down for a while.

A large open space - like a courtyard. There was artificial sunlight that streamed in from the panels on the ceiling that simulated a blue sky. False grass and trees swayed in a deceptive breeze. A ‘building’ sat before them with glass doors. It was grey and unassuming, the words “Aperture Science Laboratories” was in big lettering above the doors in big, illuminated lighting.

“Incredible…” Dottore mumbled as the group began to make their way down a path that led from the staircase to the building.

Just then, a sharp creaking noise was heard, and the staircase they had just traversed began to retract. It slowly made its way upward, lifting off the ground. Without flinching, Kujo summoned her bow and knocked an arrow, looking for a place to shoot. Finding a button near the staircase labeled ‘emergency shut down’, she shot, hitting it head on.

“Sudden Power Surge Detected At: Inazuma Docking Station. Rerouting Power Surge To Backup Power Supply’s. Emergency Dock Closing System: Initiated.”

And with that, the stairs shot up, effectively sealing the group inside.

“Sorry, Shogun…” was the only thing that left the now embarrassed Kujo’s lips.

“Worry not, I am sure we’ll find another exit eventually. Let us continue forth.” And onward they went.

Walking down the path, Dottore noted that there were hills far beyond the little building before them, fading off into the distance.

“I wonder how long this facility stretches out?..” He wondered aloud. Maillardet grumbled under his breath.

“Hopefully not that far…”

Entering the building they were met with something none of them - minus Dottore - had experienced.

Fluorescent lighting.

The light outside had at least been convincing, but the buzzing overhead and the slight flickering was enough to get under everyone’s - again, minus Dottore’s - skin.

“Whatever is this awful-“

“Welcome, gentleman, to Aperture Science. Humans, Vision Holders, War-Hero’s, Hybrids — you’re here because we want the best, and you’re it. Now, who’s ready to make some science?”

Weapons were immediately drawn from hearing the unusual voice.

“Who dared cut of The Shogun-“

“Now, you already met one another on the boat ride over, so let me introduce myself. I’m Cave Johnson. I own the place.”

Kujo growled.

“Well, Mr. “Cave Johnson”, I recommend you reveal yourself before we-“

“Mr. Johnson! I believe you’re forgetting something..? Or rather, someone..?”

All heads turned to the wall length screen that turned on with the new voice.

They were met with a cartoonish figure of a person, though their head was replaced by the grey, circle logo of Aperture. They were dressed in a white button up with a black vest overtop. With pure black dress pants and black dress shoes. A snow white lab coat over their shoulders and pure white gloves on their hands. The only hint of color or their person was an orange tie.

Dottore was the first to walk over, pressing a gloved hand to the screen.

“This is all absolutely incredible…” he spoke with a grin.

Nobody noticed how the figure flinched away.

“That eager voice you heard is the lovely (y/n), my assistant. They were added as a safety protocol in case some of you get lost. There are screens all of Aperture where they can keep a close eye on you, to make sure you stay in one piece, or at least as close to one piece as we can get you. Now, rest assured, they have transferred your honorarium to the charitable organization of your choice, isn’t that right, (y/n)?”

The figure on the screen - now known as (y/n) - nodded. Or… nodded as best a 2D model may be able to nod.

“That’s right, Mr. Johnson.”

“Since their addition, they have been the backbone of this facility. Pretty as a postcard too. Sorry fellas, they’re married. To science.”

They watched as you walked over on the “screens”, trotting all the way over to a pair of double doors. With one arm behind you, you held an open palm in the direction of said doors.

“Now, if you just follow them, they’ll take you right to the testing sites.”

With that small tidbit of information, the group reluctantly walked their way over to the doors. Pushing through them, they watched as you faded on the other side. Only for the walls of the hallway surrounding them to light up with bright white light, and for you to be on their right side, walking down the hall on your screens.

“There’s a thousand tests performed everyday here in our enrichment spheres. I can’t personally oversee every single one of them, so these pre-recorded messages’ll cover any questions you might have, and respond to any incidents that may occur in the course of your science adventure!”

You continued walking down the long hall, it slowly dipping further and further into the earth, but not to an alarming degree. A tune played throughout the hall, your head bobbing to the beat.

“Recorded..?” Ei asked. She turned to Kujo and Aether, who both shrugged. She then turned to Maillardet who muttered a quick ‘I’ve heard of it… that’s all…’ then looked away. Finally she looked towards Dottore.

“… Recordings are a rather new technology I’ve discovered. It’s a lost technique from long ago, the act of taking the waves of one’s voice down onto a physical form - such as a disk or a vinyl - and relaying those waves through a certain machine to recreate noises. I’ve been able to get my hands on a few, but to find one of such large scale, with moving images to boot! If I can get my hands on whatever is relaying these recordings…” His voice toned back when he realized he was walking alone.

Turning back he noticed that everyone had stopped behind him, confusion written all over their faces. He groaned, slapping a hand over his eyes before dragging it down the side of his face.

“It refers to something hearing noise, then relaying it at a later time when prompted.” And on they continued. It took a moment to catch up to you, as you had continued on your merry way while they had been stopped.

When they made it, Cave Johnson began speaking again.

“Your test assignments will vary, depending on the manner in which you have bent the world to your will.”

They finally made it to the end of the hall, with double doors greeting them. The doors opened automatically, opening to a large space, akin to an auditorium. Doors led off to different halls, each closed off by double doors that were identical to the ones they just came through. The room was surrounded by the Aperture logo, with small tables set up with small experiments on them. Walking past, Maillardet’s eyes glanced at a potato battery.

The most obvious thing in the room were the blue and yellow lines on the floor that each led to another room. You popped up again on a few overhead screens, though now you were sitting at a desk, typing away. You occasionally took a sip from a grey cup.

“Those of you helping us test the repulsion gel today, just follow the blue lines on the floor. Those of you who volunteered to be injected with praying mantis DNA I’ve got some good news and some bad news.”

Lights lit up over the blue lines and your figure changed to a looping recording of you walking on the lines and through the door.

“Injected with praying mantis DNA… why would you ever..?” Maillardet wondered with a grimace, while Dottore only smirked.

“I think me and this Mr. Johnson may have something in common. Anything in the name of science.” His grin made Aether shiver.

“Can we please just move on?” The blonde growled. He turned to the two females, only to find Kujo trying to open another door with Ei beside her.

“What are you doing..?” He asked. The General exhaled before turning back to the group.

“Trying to find another way out. Why are we even listening to this Cave Johnson person? We don’t know who he is, we don’t know where he is, we don’t even know what he looks like.” She walked over to another set of doors and tugged.

“She has a point.” Said Ei. “But in that same breath, we don’t know where we are either. The only thing pushing us forward is the voice of Mr. Johnson.” She placed a hand on the tengu’s shoulder.

“I feel it may be in our best interest to listen for now. When we find an exit, we’ll leave immediately.” Kujo sighed and muttered an apology before turning to the blue lines.

The loop of your walking through the doors still played above as everyone filled through the doors.

“Bad news, we’re postponing those tests indefinitely. Good news is we have a much better test for you: fighting an army of mantis men.”

“WHAT?!-“ shouted Maillardet. “WHY WOULD YOU EVER-“ A hand was slapped over his mouth as Dottore shushed him.

“I want to hear the rest of this.” he whispered.

“Pick up a rifle and follow the yellow line. You’ll know when the test starts.”

“Oh Mr. Johnson…” Dottore swooned.

“Only a rifle..?” Maillardet whimpered.

Kujo groaned. “Don’t worry about that now. We’re following the blue lines. Not the yellow ones.” Ei grinned slightly at the banter.

“They say great science is built on the shoulder of giants. Not here. At Aperture, we do all our science from scratch. No hand holding.”

“I really do like this man.” Dottore grinned.

૮꒰づ˶• ༝ •˶꒱づ ˚ʚ ꒰⁐⁐⁐⁐୨🍩🍫🍦୧⁐⁐⁐⁐꒱ ɞ˚

Walking along the catwalks was a new feeling. Despite the no longer being really… anywhere… there were still screens nearby that depicted you walking along side the group.

Little to no effort was made to make any kind of conversation. Just the sounds of different kinds of shoes hitting the metal that made up the catwalks.

Though that all changed within a moment.

“Hello..? Hello??”

The sudden voice calling out made everyone come to a stop. Aether brandished his sword and turned to a pair of doors that led off the path they were being led down.

They waited with bated breath as the mechanical whirling of something moving towards them echoed in the open space. The walls themselves seemed to shift as whatever it was made its way to the door…

The doors burst open as a spherical robot with a bright blue eye pushed its way through the doors, pausing when it saw the group.

“Humans..? Humans?? Humans!! Wait… HUMANS?!?!” Its confound shock was extremely apparent, especially with the way it screamed out.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING BACK HERE?!?! I haven’t seen a human since… since… her…” It’s tone grew somber within a second, but then it shook on its… bar??? Grip??? Dottore wanted to know.

“That doesn’t matter, what matters is that you guys are humans! Actual, genuine humans!” It rolled forward on its… whatever and faced them.

“… None of you have the portal gun though.. oh. Do you have those ‘vision’ things? Because I can assure you they won’t be of much help here-”

“And why is that?” Dottore jumped in.

“… Well first off all, it was incredibly rude to cut me off there, secondly, Aperture focused on the sciences that… well, had to do with those who lacked visions. Now don’t get me wrong, there were certainly tests for those who had them but uh… yeah these were mostly for those without.” It nodded.

“I see… now. Do you happen to have a name. Or would you tell us what you are?” The Doctor asked.

“A name..? Right! Oh gosh, I completely forgot about that. Wheatley’s the name and… yeah I don’t know where that was going really. And to answer the other question, I am what’s known as a core, but where are you lot off to?” He introduced. Though before the blue haired doctor could answer, a voice rung out.

“They’re off to test with the repulsion gel, Wheatley.” Your voice ring out, and there you were on the screen, facing them with a hand on your hip. The core seemed the freeze up at your voice, which didn’t go unnoticed.

“Oh! Uh… hey… (y/n)… hehe.” Wheatley seemed uncomfortable at now knowing of your presence, before something seemed to pop into his head.

“But… without the portal gun?”

“You don’t necessarily need a-“

“What’s a portal gun?” Maillardet questioned. You heaved a long sigh and Wheatley seemed to brighten up.

“We’ll only one of, if not the, best things Aperture has ever made, of course! It’s this nifty little gun that allows a person to go from one point, to another in just a snap!.. If I could snap I would to punctuate my point-“

“What he means-“ You interrupted, “Is that it is a special device that allows someone to manipulate space itself by opening up a doorway - otherwise known as a portal - and go from an unreachable point A to unreachable point B… or at the very least a vision-less ‘someone’. We weren’t able to test on those with a vision… or any non-humans with human intelligence; such as Oni from Inazuma or Adepti from Liyue. But even then our knowledge is… limited…”

Wheatley stared at you as you explained the Portal Gun in detail, before scanning the group.

“Oh! There is a vision-less with you!”

Maillardet swallowed nervously.

“Here, you won’t be at a disadvantage if you let us give you the Portal Gun! No need to feel like you may be falling behind… bloody hell you might even be able to go ahead and be advantaged in this situation!” The blue eyed bot explained.

“Wait wait wait… are either of you… alive or uh..” Aether stumbled over his words before you cut him off impatiently.

“Yes we are entirely sentient. Now Wheatley, we can’t make these decisions-“

“I don’t know why you’re complaining. You’ve been moping about for years! All because you ‘don’t have any human testers’ and ‘robots were starting to get the same results’ and ‘humans unpredictability made them unique’ and-“

“That’s enough, you idiot.” “HEY!-“ “Fine. Here’s how this will work, so be quiet and listen.”

Nobody moved.

“We will give your little friend access to The Portal Gun, you complete a couple tests for us, and we help you leave as fast as possible. Deal?”

“Well it doesn’t sound like we get much out of that deal besides our assured exit.” Ei stated, and you groaned.

“You’ll have access to technologies that those above this facility have not had access to for years. Plus, this will practically be free training. Now do we have a deal?” Your impatience was starting to grow clearer and clearer with each passing moment.

“Well-“ “YES!” Maillardet screamed. He didn’t care. This was his chance to truly make a name for himself. If he was able to get this ‘Portal Gun’ outside of the facility, the things he may be able to do with that tech…

Everyone looked at him with shock - though Dottore was more amused than anything - at how fast he agreed.

“Great! Wonderful even! Here, just follow me through here and we’ll get you right as rain, isn’t that right (y/n)?” Wheatley glanced at you as he turned on his rail. If you could, you would’ve rolled your eyes.

They watched as the screen you stood on blinked off, and Wheatley rolled away.

Maillardet followed behind and the others hesitated. Though after that moment of hesitation, they followed behind as well.

૮꒰づ˶• ༝ •˶꒱づ ˚ʚ ꒰⁐⁐⁐⁐୨🍡🍯🍮୧⁐⁐⁐⁐꒱ ɞ˚

Instead of the grey halls and metal walls they had become accustom to, they were met with greenage and foliage on all sides.

Flora of all kinds blossomed around them, tress that reached higher than any of them could see. They all followed behind the humming core, until he suddenly stopped.

“Now, this is a bit awkward, but my rail system ends here. I’m gonna let go, but I need someone to catch me. Do we have any volunteers..?” Wheatley informed and asked. He looked around the group only to make eye contact with Dottore. Who was grinning. Sharp teeth fully on display.

“Uhm… anyone..?” The robot squeaked. Though the only one who moved closer was Dottore.

He sighed, then ‘steeled’ his nerves.

“Alright, I’ll let go on the count of three- NO, ONE! If I do it on three I’ll chicken out and… mmmm I’m talking to much aren’t I? I’m nervous because of the very real possibility that you may drop me. Not to say you look weak or anything, you actually look quite strong. Has anyone ever told you that? I mean, personally I would prefer to be strong if I had a body… On that note I wished they gave us hands. That’d be nice. Or a way to move while not on the rail systems. They can only go so many places and so far, you know? And some of them end in the oddest of places. I found one that ended over a bottomless pit. Isn’t that just insane? I mean-“

Dottore grumbled something under his breath before moving directly below the blabbering bot. Then he cleared his throat, and screamed:

“ONE!”

The high pitched scream Wheatley let out as he fell would’ve been able to convince anyone that he was actually a girl. Dottore’s knees nearly buckled under the sheer weight of the still screaming robot in his arms. After finding his footing, they all stared at Wheatley, who continued to scream for a solid minute before realizing he wasn’t falling anymore.

“AAAAAAAAAAaaaaaa…. Oh. You caught me. That’s a first- Anyway, directions! You’re going to want to follow the greyed out path through the green, and you’ll find a platform behind some broken walls and such. I’ll admit, when you get there it’s a bit of a jump, but I have faith in you lot!” He… grinned??? Well it was as close to a grin as a giant metal eyeball could get.

Everyone hummed in response and continued to trek on. Every now and then Dottore or Ei would ask about a type of flower or plant they saw, only for Wheatley to say he’s neither the flower nor plant core. Which led to Dottore asking about cores and Wheatley offering an explanation.

“Cores are… well to put it in perspective think of the basic parts of your personality. Of what makes you, you. Cores are basically that! We work as the pure forms of interests or emotions. Such as the flower core, who only ever talks about flowers. Or the anger core who… uhm… well. He screams? I guess?” Wheatley answered.

“So… what do you embody? Fear? Worry? Rambling?” Dottore asked, only for Wheatley to shout in objection.

“No! Absolutely not! None of those things! In fact, just for that, I don’t think I want to tell you.” He spun his eye around as to not look at the man carried him, causing Dottore to chuckle.

Maillardet suddenly shot ahead, causing everyone to quickly follow after. Wheatley seemed to understand why he shot ahead.

“There she is.” He muttered.

Just behind a wall, there it was.

Placed on a pedestal, vines and flowers grew all around in a mesmerizing pattern. A small hole in the roof let a halo of light fall onto the midsized device.

It was sleek. It was shiny. White and black mixed together in a perfect blend.

“Isn’t it beautiful? The pride of Aperture. What nearly all of our resources went into after its conception.” Wheatley mused. His focus was entirely on the gun in front of them.

Though his previous statement was true, there was a rather large drop from the platform they were on and the platform the Gun was on.

“You can drop me here.” The core suddenly spoke. Dottore looked down with a bit of a scowl.

“Weren’t you the one who screamed like a baby at falling only about four feet?” He asked. Wheatley scoffed.

“That was the make sure you’d catch me… anyway, I know I can survive this fall. I’ve survived worse. Just drop me and then jump down. It’ll be easier that way.” Wheatley’s voice suddenly got very serious. it lost its lively charm and became something more robotic… which was ironic.

The robot started acting more robotic, and they felt uncomfortable about it.

Dottore scoffed, then dropped the core without care. Though this time, Wheatley didn’t make a sound, just a small grunt when he hit the floor.

‘It can physically feel..?’ Dottore wondered.

Then one by one, they jumped down - Aether catching Maillardet - and began their walk over to the Gun after Dottore picked up Wheatley again.

“Hold on.” The blue eyes core suddenly spoke. His eye turned to a wall, and the panels suddenly shifted. A small control panel pushed itself out, presenting itself to the group.

“Plug me in there. I can make sure nothing hostile happens to pass by.” He explained.

“Hostile..?” Ei questioned and Wheatley, suddenly seeming very tired, sighed.

“Yes. Hostile. Just- Don’t worry about it, okay? I promise nothing will happen.” He glanced back at the group with a drooped eye. Dottore placed him on the panel.

Electricity shot out for a moment, then the core settled. He looked back, then without a word, got pulled back into the wall.

“It looks… so mesmerizing…” Maillardet whispered. He was the closest to the Gun. He hesitantly reached a hand out and touched it. Then, he picked it up and got a grip on it.

“I can’t say I’ve ever shot a gun but…” The mechanic pointed the gun at a wall, away from everyone as they watched.

He shot the gun.

And everyone watched as a pure black circle surrounded by blue latched onto the wall.

Everyone stood in shock.

He hesitantly shot right next to the blue and was met with a circle of orange.

Though now he could see through both.

And they reflected the room back to him.

He walked closer and looked through one and saw everyone looking back at him in silent disbelief.

He stuck a hand through the blue portal.

And watched his hand exit the orange.

He fell back in shock and everyone ran closer. They gathered around him, awe and shock written all across their faces.

“This is…” Dottore spoke.

“… A revelation.” Maillardet finished.

“Truly, isn’t it?”

The third voice broke everyone out of their stupor. They watched as the walls fluctuated and moved, opening the room up into another.

It was dark - pitch black, save for the screen that had only your figure on it. You stared at the group before moving your attention to the Portal Gun.

“Such an expensive piece of equipment it is… hopefully you understand what I’m about to do is only in your best interests.”

The screens blipped off, and a hole in the center of the room opened, a disgusting orange red glow emanating from it.

“Preparations Made. Systems Online. Ready For Emergency Long Fall Boot Insertion. Is Moderator Ready?”

“Yes.” Your voice rung out.

“Participant Ready?”

Before anyone could speak, you spoke for them.

“Participant is ready.”

“All Parties Set. Commencing Insertion.”

˚ʚ ꒰GORE WARNING!! GORE STARTS HERE!!꒱ ɞ˚

Metal wires suddenly shot out from the floor, causing everyone who could to summon weapons. Unfortunately, you had a plan for that.

Your wires shot out and gripped the visions on everyone who had one, but tightly wrapped around both Aether and Ei, quickly picking them up and throwing them into walls.

“Stand down, don’t make this harder than it needs to be.” You warned.

The wires quickly wrapped around the ankles of Maillardet, dragging him forward and making him drop the Gun. Kujo rushed forward but a wire wrapped around her and threw her to the ground.

“Last. Warning.” You said.

They were forced to watch as the vision less man was strapped down to a table that came up front the pit by those wires. Buzz saws and bone saws and needles and others rose from the hole in the ground.

Wires tore at his pants and ripped the boots off his struggling body.

“This is going to hurt. A lot. I don’t personally believe in anesthesia, but feel free to pass out.”

And with that, the first saw turned on and immediately buried itself in his leg, blood spraying and his screams ripping themselves out his throat. You could practically hear the tendons snapping as he cried.

It went until it hit bone, where you moved the buzz saw out of his leg with a sickening *squelch*, pressing the saw into his bone and quickly sawing through.

Everyone - of course, minus Dottore - did their best to look away from the scene, but Kujo couldn’t help the whimper that left her lips when some blood spattered on her face.

After bone, the buzz saw when back to work until the odd cut was completed. It was curved, leaving the front of the lower leg untouched, but the back - up to the upper caff - was completely removed, as well as the ankle and leg. Then the process started all over on the next leg.

“Did you know there was once a surgery with a 300% mortality rate? It was an amputation, much like this one, preformed by a Mr. Robert Liston over two hundred years ago. What happened was his patient died of an infection, his assistant also died of an infection after his fingers had been amputated accidentally, and a witness of shock after the knife came too close. Isn’t that interesting?”

Your words echoed through the chamber over the cries of Maillardet who just lost his other lower leg.

The two amputated leg parts were picked up by robotic claws which threw them into the hole below. Then, two odd looking boots were raised from said hole.

The class took the boots apart and began to assemble them on the man’s body. They were a solid white with black base and a weird black wire at rhetorical back.

The screams grew worse - then silent after Maillardet finally passed out due to pain - as the black wire - which was connected to the black base - was drilled into what was left of the bone. The wire was then shifted, then grafted into the muscle and bone.

The white part was reattached to the black, the straps tightening against what was left of the skin, before it was literally melted onto the boot.

The smell of burning skin, bones and blood filled the room.

“See, wasn’t that easy?”

His body was thrown off the table and next to the Gun.

The wires let go of everyone, and Aether landed on the floor, passed out.

˚ʚ ꒰GORE OVER GORE OVER!! YOU’RE SAFE!!꒱ ɞ˚

“Why aren’t my abilities working..?” Ei wondered aloud while helping Kujo to her feet.

“You think I wouldn’t recognize a God? News Travels, Beel. We have a few protocols in case a God were to ever wonder into our wonderful facility, but I don’t think I feel like telling you exactly what’s happening to you.”

She quickly looked up above the still open hole in the ground with a glare.

“Stop being a coward and reveal yourself.” She hissed.

“If you insist.”

The lights suddenly turned on, blinding all who were awake.

Dottore stared on in wonder at your body. It resembled that of a human who was suspended from the ceiling. Legs pressed together and arms bound behind them with their back to the floor.

It was the most beautiful piece of machinery he had ever seen.

You slowly turned to face them, the orange light of your eye glaring down at them.

“Let me formally introduce myself, this time without the assistance of a recording. This body you see before you has been dubbed the “Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System”. GLaDOS for short. Though if you prefer it, (y/n) is not off the table.”

“Where… is Wheatley?” Kujo suddenly asked.

“I figured you wouldn’t like him. How shocking you ask. But if you must know… You’re free to reveal yourself.” You mussed.

Silently, the core rode in on a rail in the background on a catwalk. He looks away.

“You’ve payed me back enough, moron. You no longer hold a debt.”

The room was silent.

He had… he betrayed them?

People he didn’t even know?

“… I still feel the itch, you know..?”

Your large head turned to face the blue eyed core.

“I know I’m not the smartest… but I still feel

The itch. It’s like it’s at the back of my brain… and you know what needs to be done to fix it. Please allow me to stay. I won’t… I won’t muck up as bad as I did last time.” His voice was barely above a whisper.

He felt bad and everyone could tell, but you knew that the need to test was able to push back all other thoughts. All other emotions.

It changed people. No matter if they were made of flesh or metal.

And addiction is an addiction. No matter what.

It wouldn’t go away with a bit of cold turkey quitting. That always came with side effects.

The silence was deafening.

If you could smile, you would.

“If you want. I may have final say, but my control over the cores is loose.”

Your gaze turned back to the group who had huddled themselves in a corner, glaring at you.

But you noticed Dottore was staring with less hatred and more… curiosity.

Like a child.

“You understand why I did what I did, don’t you?” Your voice was cold, yet still somehow held some kind of twisted warmth.

“It was to make him stronger. He can survive tests without a hitch now. As soon as he recovers, we’ll be able to continue testing without a hitch. You’ll each be given a relaxation pod while we wait. I’ll be holding up the end of my deal.” You turned away and focused on the screens behind you.

“What… are you..?” Ei asked.

“I thought I answered that question. I am GLaDOS. I am (y/n). I am the current head of Aperture Science.” You turned back to the group.

“And as long as you’re here under my care, I can assure you that we’ll have loads of fun.“

Everyone who was awake was suddenly knocked out by the gas you had been silently filled the room with.

It was time for testing to begin.

໒꒰ྀི˶˙Ⱉ˙˶꒱ྀིა Author’s note : I hope this is good! Ima be honest, don’t know if any of the explanations for anything that was explained make sense lol. Also, don’t forget to tell me if you were okay with the whole (y/n) thing! ૮꒰ྀི∩´ ᵕ `∩꒱ྀིა

This is just in case nothing more gets requested: (y/n)’s transformation went like this: human (Cave’s assistant), mascot (first take on GLaDOS-like system, success), GLaDOS (Cave asked for them [they retained their human personality and memories as the mascot] to be GLaDOS while he was dying, like in the cannon)

Now I’m gonna spend some time on Requests! After which I’ll start on Mora!Creator! Again, I hope you enjoyed! ૮꒰˶ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ˶꒱ა˖⁺‧₊˚

And don’t be scared to request any Automation Reader (Executioner or GLaDOS) okay bye-

#genshin impact #genshin impact x reader #Portal 2 #Portal 2 x reader #x reader #x gn reader #gn y/n #GLaDOS!Reader

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anthurak · 6 months

Text

Theory: Penny the Great and Powerful

A while back, I did a post theorizing on how Penny could return another time, specifically due to having essentially ‘piggybacked’ her consciousness onto the Winter Maiden powers before they transferred to Winter, likely with the hope that she could be extracted from Winter at a later date.

And ever since I made that post, I’ve only become more convinced that this IS indeed where the story is going. For one, looking back at Penny’s final moments, I think it’s clear that SOMETHING is being set up for later. I mean just look at Penny’s final words to Jaune:

“Trust me.”

This wasn’t some apology, a call to action or some last goodbye. Penny had a PLAN.

Then of course there’s her final words to Winter: “I won’t be gone. I’ll be a part of you.”

Now sure, at the time we were all thinking the same thing as Winter, that this was Penny echoing Winter’s own figurative words when Fria passed the powers to her at the end of the last volume.

Buuuuttt… what if Penny was speaking LITERALLY? I mean, speaking literally while everyone else is speaking figuratively/metaphorically IS kinda Penny’s thing.

And on top of all this, Penny attaching herself to the Maiden powers frankly makes perfect sense when we consider just where the powers came from.

I think at this point it’s safe to assume that the ‘Maiden Transference’ is really just the Oz Reincarnation Cycle at work. I mean think about it; upon the death of the holder, the Maiden Powers jump to a new host that fits a certain set of criteria, just like Oz does.

When Oz split his powers among the four original Maidens, I imagine they ALSO got the reincarnation protocol. However, because the reincarnation program was made specifically for Ozma, this meant that the consciousness/memories of Maidens didn’t transfer. Instead, it’s just been the raw magic alone that’s been reincarnating into new hosts.

I imagine that this is likely due to Oz’s own lack of knowledge/understanding of both his magic and the reincarnation cycle. He may have believed that simply giving these girls the magic would allow them to start reincarnating just he like does, not knowing or understanding that additional steps needed to be taken in order to ‘key’ their own spirits to the magic in place of his own. Or perhaps Oz simply didn’t expect the reincarnation magic to transfer at all.

Incidentally, this would also explain why the Maiden transference can seem to be so random. Oz’s reincarnation protocol is keyed specifically to HIS consciousness, and thus has very specific criteria to look for when selecting a new host, a ‘like-minded soul’ as various people have put it. Whereas because the Maiden Powers aren’t transferring a consciousness/spirit, their criteria for selecting a new host is likely as basic and general as possible. Heck, the age-range criteria may have been a built-in base-criteria, given how Oz also always seems to transfer into young men/boys, meaning that literally the only new criteria for the Maiden Powers’ reincarnation protocol was ‘girl/woman’. Which in turn explains the whole ‘goes to whoever’s in the host’s final thoughts’ thing. The criteria for the next host are SO general/nebulous/vague that the previous host can actually influence/guide where the powers are going to go.

Basically, the Maiden Powers have been reincarnating into new hosts just like Oz has, just simply absent of any conscious spirit attached to them.

Until now.

THIS is the bit I’ve gotten particularly interested in just now.

What if Penny was able to figure out HOW the Maiden Transference/Reincarnation Cycle worked and in turn was able to key her own consciousness/spirit to the reincarnation program just as Oz was?

Which in turn, would effectively make Penny another Oz-spirit.

I mean, they ARE both associated with the color green…

Now I know that everyone reading this is probably immediately thinking about the unsettling implications this could have for Winter, ie; does this mean Penny’s consciousness is going to overtake and merge with Winter’s just like Oz does with his hosts?

But let’s not forget a KEY aspect of RWBY’s character dynamics is contrast. Meaning that Penny becoming another reincarnating spirit like Oz means that she would end up representing a FOIL to him. Which would mean that Penny’s situation would be decidedly DIFFERENT.

What if everyone is at first terrified that Penny and Winter are going to merge just like Oz has with all of his hosts, but after a while it becomes clear that the merging… isn’t happening.

What if Penny has wound up gaining a far greater knowledge and understanding of the reincarnation cycle/protocol, and has figured how to simply STOP the merging process from happening. Something that Oz never could do himself.

Or perhaps, something that Oz never TRIED to do himself.

I think it’s all too likely that Oz has always simply assumed that there was nothing that could be done to stop his spirit from merging with those of his hosts. After all, this reincarnation cycle was created by the God of Light, the all-powerful creator of the world. How could he, a mere mortal, possibly hope to stop, alter or even understand such a power?

While Penny is under NO such compulsion and could have spent a LOT of time poking around in the metaphysical program files of her new maiden powers to figure out how they worked. Possibly even getting some ideas of how to extract herself from Winter, with or without the Maiden Powers. She may even have some ideas of how to extract Oz himself…

And of course, this would all thematically tie in PERFECTLY with the whole ‘actually the gods aren’t so all-powerful’ revelations that Team RWBY will be bringing.

#rwby #rwby theory #rwby analysis #Penny Polendina #penny revival theory #winter schnee #ozpin #ozma #rwby maidens #rwby gods #character parallels #character foils

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midnightsun-if · 11 months

Note

Sorry if this sounds rude, but I have some things I need to get off my chest. Frankly, the whole Scarlett situation kind of sucks, and the way you’re handling things is not exactly helping matters. I get you have a specific vision for her character, and as a fellow author I would never suggest you compromise that to appease a bunch of sexist, entitled fans, but you’ve given so much attention to her character that it honestly comes as no surprise that people wouldn’t respect her sexuality, as bad as that is to say.

I’ve personally sent numerous asks in the past, and you haven’t answered a single one, so either you’re intentionally ignoring them, or tumblr ate them. If it’s the later, then I’m sorry for accusing you. You’re obviously not under any obligation to answer asks you don’t want to, but I admit it does sting a bit to see Scarlet Ask #523759690 on my feed when I have yet to see a single one of mine. You may not think you have a favorite character, but from an outside perspective, you 100% do.

The amount of attention Scarlett receives compared to the rest of the cast (seriously, when was the last time Caden got an ask dedicated to them?) is truly astounding. Fans will naturally have their favorites, but as an author you should remain impartial… which you really haven’t. In fact, it seems like you actively encourage the Scarlett attention. It’s like you keep showing off a fancy car that only a few people can actually buy, then get upset when people complain they can’t buy the car as well.

Anyways, I’m sorry for this rant, but I’ve been thinking about this for a while now. I wish you luck on your writing journey, and hope you have a happy holiday (if you’re in a country that celebrates any upcoming holidays)!

I truly don’t know what to say other than the fact that I haven’t seen your asks and that I’m trying to avoid Scarlett asks when it specifically involves the discourse with her sexuality— which also may contribute to the possibility on why I haven’t seen them, if that’s what they involved— as I mentioned in my one-and-done post about it… I don’t want to keep this as a reoccurring theme on the blog as I know that many people will grow tired of it just like I have.

I answer Scarlett centric asks, barring when I answer scenario asks about the family and/or the ROs, mainly due to the fact that she’s the one people single out— if someone sends me an ask about C, or Blake, or anyone else, I’ll answer it… It just happens to be that Scarlett gets the most asks when it comes to that sort of thing— and those asks are typically much easier/faster to answer than the all-in-one asks— I’d be more than happy to answer singular asks about any number of my characters. And I have in the past when someone sends something in.

All I can truly say? If not being able to romance Scarlett is this big of an issue, and I truly am saying this as nicely as I can… I don’t think Midnight Sun is the right IF for you. I believe I know a couple more IFs with an Ice Queen type RO, or adjacent RO, that may suit you better if you’d like to me share them!

And, I’d just like to make this small point, I get upset, or am starting to, because it’s a point I’ve brought up over and over again— Scarlett isn’t a lesbian to create an inconvenience for the player… She’s a lesbian because it’s part of who she is. Sending me asks saying “I can change her” or “Give us Scarlett and the F!MCs Koda” (among other things) is absolutely abhorrent in the best case scenario. There are 7 other ROs for you to choose from— all of which offer their own unique routes and experiences within Midnight Sun.

Scarlett isn’t changing, I’m standing firm with this. I’m not going to ever change my mind about it— I’m sorry if that upsets anyone, but it’s not something I’m backing down on.

#midnight sun #asks #ro: scarlett voltaire #and if I haven’t answered your singular asks it’s either because I haven’t seen them #or I couldn’t figure out the correct response and decided to come back later…#and forgot 😅#which is my bad #as I typically try to answer them whenever they first arrive due to the fact that they’re relatively simple to answer #and I can send them out quickly (depending on what it is of course)#which means this will also be the last one I’ll be responding to #barring special circumstances

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baileypie-writes · 5 days

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~How to Watch Pretty Cure in Order - Part 2~

~~~🎀~~~🎀~~~🎀~~~

Pretty Cure has many seasons, so it can be confusing and overwhelming if you want to get into it. So I made this guide on how to watch all seasons and movies in order! It’s very specific, almost unnecessarily so. But I know that it’ll surely help people out!

This is part 2. So if you haven’t seen part 1, do that before reading this!

Part 1 here!

Note: The plot sections were not written by me. They were copied and pasted from various sources. They were occasionally edited to make them less long, or to fix mistakes.

~~~🎀~~~🎀~~~🎀~~~

~Important~

Pretty Cure, for the most part, does not need to we watched in order. You can watch almost any season first, and not be confused! There are some exceptions, of course. But I’ll get into those a bit later.

~Side Notes~

• The movies don’t need to be watched at a super specific point in the series. They are never mentioned in the actual series. They’re more like fun side quests. It’s not even confirmed whether or not they’re actually canon. But for those who want to be super specific, I added when during the series the movie aired.

• In newer seasons, there is sometimes an episode that includes Pretty Cure teams from the past. It’s usually not significant to the main story. But you can still watch it without being too confused.

• Starting in 2014 with Happiness Charge Precure!, Pretty Cure started doing something called the “baton pass”. Basically, during the last episode of the season, the main Cure for the next season will be featured. It ranges from a small cameo, to them having multiple minutes of screen time.

~Exceptions~

• Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart must be watched after Futari wa Pretty Cure.

• Yes! Precure 5 GoGo! must be watched after Yes! Precure 5.

• To watch Power of Hope: PreCure Full Bloom, you have to have watched Futari wa Pretty Cure, Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart, Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash☆Star, Yes! Precure 5, and Yes! Precure 5 GoGo!(seasons mentioned in part 1)

Let’s get started!

~~~~

~Season 11 - Happiness Charge Pretty Cure!~

Number of Episodes: 49

Theme: None?

Plot: The ruler of the evil Phantom Empire, Queen Mirage, begins her invasion on Earth using an army of Choiarks and powerful monsters called Saiarks. Pretty Cures are dispatched to fight against the Phantom Empire threat. Hime Shirayuki, a princess from the Blue Sky Kingdom who was given the power to become Cure Princess by a being named Blue, flees to Japan when her kingdom is invaded by the Phantom Empire.

Movies:

Pretty Cure All Stars New Stage 3: Eternal Friends

Aired After: Episode 6

Crossover?: Yes

Seasons Included: All(from that time)

Plot: Gureru and EnEn from the fairy school come looking for the new Pretty Cure, Megumi and Hime. But a mysterious incident occurs where children keep sleeping without waking up. The Pretty Cure gather to help children trapped in a dream world.

Happiness Charge Pretty Cure!: Ballerina of the Doll Kingdom

Aired After: Episode 35

Crossover?: No

Plot: The film's story is set in the Doll Kingdom, where dolls reside. The Happiness Charge Pretty Cure are asked to help by a woman named Tsumugi when the sudden appearance of Saiarks begin wreaking havoc upon the Kingdom. However, all is not what it seems with the mysterious man, Black Fang, dwelling in the shadows.

~~~~

~Season 12 - Go! Princess Pretty Cure~

Number of Episodes: 50

Theme: Princesses

Plot: When Haruka arrives at her new school, a chance encounter with a pair of magical creatures influences a series of unbelievable events, and Haruka awakens as "Cure Flora," the princess of blooming flowers. After two of Haruka's classmates also transform into legendary princesses, a story of self-discovery unfolds as the newfound team "Princess Precure" carries the responsibility of protecting everyone's dreams. Engaged in a battle between hope and despair, Haruka may find the key toward becoming the princess she has always dreamed to be.

Movies:

Pretty Cure All Stars: Spring Carnival♪

Aired After: Episode 6

Crossover?: Yes

Seasons Included: All(from that time)

Plot: A spring carnival held in the country of dance and song, Harmonia, is beginning. Haruka Haruno and her friends also join the festival to learn dance and song from their senior Precure warriors. However, the fairies go missing, and the carnival is thrown into confusion. Even worse, the announcers Odoren and Utaen seem extremely suspicious, and the guardian dragon of Harmonia has started a rampage, angry at the chaos at the carnival. In order to protect the peace of Harmonia, the 40 Precure warriors work together to create a miracle through dance and song filled with hope.

Go! Princess PreCure The Movie: Go! Go!! Splendid Triple Feature!!!

Aired After: Episode 38

Crossover?: No

Plot: Part 1 is a dialogue-less story featuring Cure Flora and a mischievous ghost in a mirror. Part 2 features the four Precure girls trying to rescue a princess who is held captive. Part 3 is set when the Night Kingdom lost its daytime. The Precure team fight to take the daytime back alongside the princess Refi.

~~~~

~Season 13 - Witchy Pretty Cure!~

(Also known as Mahou Tsukai Pretty Cure! and Maho Girls Pretty Cure!)

Number of Episodes: 50

Theme: Witches/magic

Plot: One day, Mirai was in the park when a witch, Riko, falls off her broom. Together with Mofurun, Mirai's talking teddy bear, they become Precure to fight the villains called Yokubal while collecting Linkle Stones.

Movies:

Pretty Cure All Stars: Singing with Everyone♪ Miraculous Magic!

Aired After: Episode 6

Crossover?: Yes

Seasons Included: All(from that time)

Plot: Two friends must use Pretty Cure's magic tears to save the human world. Separated by a witch and her partner, the only thing that can protect the world is the friendship of the 44 Pretty Cure.

Mahou Tsukai Pretty Cure! The Movie: Miraculous Transformation! Cure Mofurun!

Aired After: Episode 38

Crossover?: No

Plot: I'm Mirai Asahina! Everyone, do you know about the "Wishing Stone"? It's a powerful stone that can grant any wish you want! Today is the day we're celebrating its revival, a huge magic festival that only occurs once a century♪ Together with Riko and Ha-chan, I wish upon this "Wishing Stone", but believe or not, it chose Mofurun's wish! This is truly exciting!! However...a mysterious bear・Dark Matter suddenly appears, and takes Mofurun with him!! I have to definitely save Mofurun! Even when we're separated, the wishes of all of us can bring about miracles!! Well that is what I thought, what~~~!! Mofurun became a Pretty Cure~!?

~~~~

~Season 14 - KiraKira☆Pretty Cure A La Mode~

Number of Episodes: 49

Theme: Sweets(and animals)

Plot: 8th Grader Ichika Usami becomes a Precure through the power of baking. With the help of fairy friends, she and 4 buddies fight evil as Precures while running a patisserie.

Movies:

Pretty Cure Dream Stars!

Aired After: Episode 6

Crossover?: Yes

Seasons Included: Go! Princess, Witchy, KiraKira

Plot: I'm Ichika Usami! On this day, I met a girl named Sakura! She told me that there is a beautiful sparkling world. However, a bad person named Karasu Tengu appears to steal <beautiful things all over the world> and kidnap Sakura's friends...but don't worry! "GO! Princess Pretty Cure", "Mahou Tsukai Pretty Cure!" and my team, "KiraKira☆Pretty Cure A La Mode" will definitely save your world! So everyone, hold hands! Open that door! Let's go and save Sakura's world!

KiraKira☆Pretty Cure A La Mode: Crispy! The Mille-feuille of Memories!

Aired After: Episode 37

Crossover?: No

Plot: Set in Paris, the land of desserts, the Pretty Cure use the power of their memories to confront a mysterious monster.

~~~~

~Season 15 - HUGtto! Pretty Cure~

Number of Episodes: 49

Theme: Professions?

Plot: Hana Nono wants to be a cool adult. Her first day at her new school gets off to a rocky start, but she meets some nice people and is looking forward to the next day, when a mysterious baby named "Hug-tan" falls out of the sky, along with her hamster caregiver, Hari. Hug-tan is pursued by the evil Criasu Company and its monsters that want her Mirai Crystal. Soon, Hug-tan is attacked, but Hana's desire to protect the baby creates a new Mirai Crystal, and she transforms into Cure Yell. Hana learns that the Mirai Crystals have the power to create tomorrow, and if the crystals are taken, everyone's future will disappear.

Movies:

Pretty Cure Super Stars!

Aired After: Episode 6

Crossover?: Yes

Seasons Included: Witchy, KiraKira, Hugtto

Plot: Hana takes Hugtan to a field of alpine flowers, where she is eventually joined by Saaya and Homare. However, a monster called Usobaka appears, which is determined to cover the world in lies.

HUGtto! Pretty Cure♡Futari wa Pretty Cure: All Stars Memories

Aired After: Episode 37

Crossover?: Yes

Seasons Included: All(from that time)

Plot: The Hugtto! Pretty Cure team joins forces with the Futari wa Pretty Cure team to retrieve the Pretty Cures' stolen powers and memories from an vengeful teru teru bōzu named Miden.

~~~~

~Season 16 - Star☆Twinkle Pretty Cure~

Number of Episodes: 49

Theme: Space

Plot: The Starry Sky World is the home of the twelve Star Princesses, who maintain order in the universe. But when the Notraiders attack the Star Palace, the princesses scatter themselves across the universe as the Princess Star Color Pens. Seeking to revive the princesses and prevent the universe from being consumed in darkness, the aliens Lala and Prunce travel with the fairy Fuwa to Mihoshi Town on Earth, where they meet the imaginative Hikaru Hoshina. After receiving a Star Color Pendant and a Star Color Pen, Hikaru transforms into the legendary Pretty Cure, Cure Star. Hikaru leads the Star Twinkle Pretty Cure as they seek to revive the Star Princesses and fight against the Notraiders.

Movies:

Pretty Cure Miracle Universe

Aired After: Episode 6

Crossover?: Yes

Seasons Included: KiraKira, Hugtto, Star Twinkle

Plot: I'm Hikaru Hoshina! One day, when I was looking at the stars, space just warped before my eyes!? Twincool~☆ Are we really going to the planet that made the Miracle Lights? Wait, what? Huh~!? Suddenly the lights just went out and the stars are being swallowed up by darkness!? If this continues, the world as we know it will become pitch black...that's a huge pinch right there!! But, I definitely won't give up on bringing back the universe's light! So come on everyone, give us your support!

Star☆Twinkle Pretty Cure: Wish Upon a Celestial Ballad

Aired After: Episode 36

Crossover?: No

Plot: One day, a mysterious creature suddenly appeared from within Lala's gummy case! Their name was... UMA. And just like a shooting star, we were whisked away to a faraway place!? Is this UMA's powers? What sort of creature are they? But one day, a mysterious alien hunter appeared...oh no! Is it possible that they're after UMA!? If that's the case, then the universe and Earth are in danger! Let's all protect UMA together!

~~~~

~Season 17 - Healin' Good♡Pretty Cure~

Number of Episodes: 45

Theme: Elements

Plot: When a group called the Byo-gens attack the Healing Garden, a magical garden protected by Healing Animals, in hopes of poisoning the entire planet, Latte, as well as three of the Healing Animals, Rabirin, Pegitan and Nyatoran, flee to Earth in hopes of finding human partners to become Pretty Cure.

Movies:

Pretty Cure Miracle Leap: A Strange Day With Everyone

Aired After: Episode 30

Crossover?: Yes

Seasons Included: Hugtto, Star Twinkle, Healin’ Good

Plot: Nodoka, Chiyu and Hinata run into trouble when a troubled spirit known as Miraclun appears, being chased after by Refrain. The Pretty Cure appeared to defeat Refrain. Except, time has been reversed and the day starts again!?

Healin' Good♡Pretty Cure: GoGo! Big Transformation! The Town of Dreams

Aired After: Episode 45

Crossover?: Yes

Seasons Included: Yes! Precure 5, Yes! Precure 5 GoGo!, Healin’ Good

Plot: The Pretty Cure visit Tokyo in this movie!? Let's go to the fun world of "virtual dreams"!! What are "virtual dreams" though? Nodoka and the others obtain something known as the "Dream Pendant" which gives them the ability to see holographic images of various things in Tokyo. The "Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo!" characters also make an appearance. Please look forward to seeing everyone meeting each other!

~~~~

~Season 18 - Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure~

Number of Episodes: 46

Theme: Tropical/summer

Plot: I'm Manatsu Natsuumi! The day I moved to Aozora City, I discovered a secret in the ocean. This secret goes by the name of "Laura", and she's actually...a mermaid! In the ocean, there's a land of mermaids called "Grand Ocean", however, a "Witch of Delays" who lives in the darkest depths of the ocean, deprived Grand Ocean of its "motivation power". So now, no one in Grand Ocean is feeling motivated anymore. And it'll be horrible if motivation is taken away from the human world too...! And that's why Laura has come alone to the surface to find the legendary warriors, Pretty Cure!

Movie:

Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure: The Snow Princess and the Miraculous Ring!

Aired After: Episode 33

Crossover?: Yes

Seasons Included: Heartcatch, Tropical-Rouge

Plot: I'm Manatsu Natsuumi! One day, we received an amazing invitation from the Land of Snow, Shantia! They're holding a coronation for Sharon! We all depart to the sparkling world of snow♪ Woah, it's tropica-shining~! Laura, who wants to be the queen of the Mermaid Kingdom, has befriended Sharon, who gave her a beautiful ring. But just as they decide to keep a promise, a mysterious monster suddenly appears and locks everyone inside of the kingdom.

~~~~

~Season 19 - Delicious Party♡Pretty Cure~

Number of Episodes: 45

Theme: Food

Plot: CooKingdom is a delicious happy world run by cooking. One day, the Recipe-Bon, the treasured power with which they cook with, is taken by the phantom thief Bundoru Gang! Next, they're after the cooking fairies, Recipepes...!! The Energy Fairies arrive in Oishiina Town in search of the Recipe-Bon and by chance, three ordinary girls become Pretty Cure!

Movie:

Delicious Party♡Pretty Cure: Dreaming♡Children's Lunch!

Aired After: Episode 28

Crossover?: No

Plot: A theme park for Children's Lunch has suddenly appeared! It's all-you-can-play, all-you-can-eat! There are so many attractions that make me delicious smile♡ It seems Kome-Kome and the others were treated to a Children's Lunch by the park director, Cait Sith. Everyone was having fun playing together, but... What!? Oh my god!! Rosemary has been turned into a stuffed toy!? Is there a secret to "Dreamia"...!?

~~~~

~Season 20 - Soaring Sky! Pretty Cure~

(Also known as Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure)

Number of Episodes: 50

Theme: Sky, super heroes

Plot: A major incident has occurred in the peaceful Sky Land!? The young Princess Ellee has been kidnapped by the monsters of Undergu Empire! A brave young girl, Sora, follows the princess through a mysterious portal. "TV"? "Cars"? Are those some kind of magic tools!?!? But there's no time to be surprised! She has to get the princess back to the castle...! Flying between two worlds! The adventure with the Pretty Cure begins now! It's hero time!

Movie:

Pretty Cure All Stars F

Aired After: Episode 32

Crossover?: Yes

Seasons Included: All(from that time)

Plot: "Where am I...?" --When Sora wakes up, she finds herself in a mysterious world... It seems that she has lost Mashiro and the others.... They meet a lot of friends, but for some reason, their memories are all a little hazy... And it seems that the only people in this world are Pretty Cure...? We want to go back to our own world! The clue is a castle in the distance-- Onward! Our journey begins here! Let's go on a great adventure to the castle! ♪

~~~~

~Mini Season? - Power of Hope: PreCure Full Bloom~

(Also known as Kibou no Chikara ~Otona Pretty Cure '23~)

Number of Episodes: 12

Crossover?: Yes

Seasons Included: Futari wa, Futari wa Max Heart, Splash Star, Yes! Precure 5, Yes! Precure 5 GoGo!

Plot: When Nozomi was an ordinary middle school student, she met Coco, a mysterious fairy from Palmier Kingdom. In order to protect everyone's wishes, as the Pretty Cure of Hope, Cure Dream, she joined forces with her friends to fight against a powerful enemy. Time has passed since then, and Nozomi and her friends are now adults. Suddenly, a mysterious shadow appears and attacks humans...! When the bell of the clock tower rings, a new story of Nozomi and her friends, who have become adults, begins to unfold!

(This season has no movies)

~~~~

~Season 21 - Wonderful Pretty Cure!~

Number of Episodes: 34 so far(still airing)

Theme: Pets/animals

Plot: Animal Town is a town where animals and people live together. Iroha loves animals and is good friends with her dog, Komugi! One day, a mysterious monster, a Garugaru wreaks havoc in the town! However, in order to protect Iroha, Komugi transformed into a human and became a Pretty Cure...!? Komugi has to save the animal whose heart is being garugaru-ed...! Let's join forces and return the animals to the Niko Garden!

Movie:

Wonderful Pretty Cure! The Movie! Doki Doki! An Epic♡Adventure In The Game World!

Aired After: Episode 32

Crossover?: Yes

Seasons Included: Witchy, Soaring Sky, Wonderful

Plot: Komugi, Iroha, Yuki, Mayu, Daifuku, and Satoru have gathered to play the super popular game "Doki Doki♡TanuKingdom" Everyone starts the game happily! Or so they thought... But it seems they've been sucked into a world of the game with a suspicious tanuki... And now they're in even more trouble! Komugi has been separated from Iroha and the others...!? How on earth did this happen...? What is the secret hidden in the world of the game...? The clue is in the hands of Natsuki, the young girl who created the game. "Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure" and "Mahou Tsukai Pretty Cure!" have also gathered together! When everyone's feelings come together, will a wonderful miracle unfold?!

~~~~

Congratulations! You’re officially all caught up on Pretty Cure! I hope it was a fun journey! Now, you can enjoy a healthy dose of one episode a week from now on.

~~~🎀~~~🎀~~~🎀~~~

~~baileypie-writes

#baileypie-writes #precure #pretty cure #happiness charge precure #go princess precure #maho girls precure #mahoutsukai precure #witchy precure #kirakira precure a la mode #hugtto precure #star twinkle precure #healin good precure #tropical rouge precure #delicious party precure #soaring sky precure #hirogaru sky precure #otona precure #wonderful precure #how to watch

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larissa-the-scribe · 4 months

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Hello, since I am evil and subjected you to this ask game, I will also subject you to asks mwahahaha :))))

May I request: I'm Not Here to Make Friends >:(

*Gasps, faints* How... how dare

Anyways thanks for the ask! (from this ask game)

Info:

This is from Rifters (series 1), where Kathryn is living in a steampunk/superhero world, becoming a part of the younger-hero-training-school-place. Her stint as a superhero has made her some enemies, and her friends from that world also have enemies. One of them is trying to tear down the superhero structure from the inside out, and so, as a first step, has sent his best asset minion adopted son and secret weapon to infiltrate the hero guild place (I really need to define things) as a spy. Part of his mission is also to locate a specific hero who has no traceable identity but has been a thorn in super villain's sides ever since, uh, *checks notes* the out-of-world newcomer came in and stopped the apocalypse.

Benn (currently Eabennor) is an angsty loner teenager who is just here to DO HIS JOB and he doesn't care about anyone ever-- Especially not that Nuisance (Kathryn) who keeps following him around and trying to talk to him--he's Spying and they are his Enemies (aka this is his feral kitten era).

Snippet:

“Anything else you want to say before I slam the door in your face?” He asked—hoping his bitingly sarcastic tone and smile left her little doubt that he meant it. “What about dinner?” she asked. Eabennor stared at her, halfway between exasperated and confused. “I have no idea why you’d think I’d be interested.” Kathryn blinked. “…In eating?” “What?” “Since you just got here you have to sign up for dinner,” Kathryn explained, tilting her head. “Though I suppose you’re probably not keen on interacting with people, or not today at least.” “Oh.” “But you should still eat,” she continued, “even if you’re not interested. The food is very good here.” “Yeah, probably.” Eabennor bit back any other comments that might embarrass him further—though thankfully she seemed dumb enough to not have noticed. “Supper time is usually at 6:30,” she said, tapping her chin thoughtfully, “I’ll talk to someone in the kitchen about setting aside a plate. If you go down at 7:30-ish, it should be pretty clear, at least besides the kitchen crew cleaning up. How long that takes can vary, though, so I can’t give you a solid estimate on how long they’ll be there.” “Good to know,” he said flatly, considering the viability of carrying out his threat from earlier. This whole conversation—no, this whole day—had been a complete trainwreck, and he desperately wanted to be left alone. “Exact details for the future can be figured out later, though,” she said, smiling brightly, as if looking forward to the conversation had given her a new meaning in life—obnoxiously cheery, he thought to himself—“Matthias is the first door coming into the hallway, and I’m in the hall across the way, so if you need anything don’t hesitate to ask.” “Is that all.” “One last thing,” she added, with what he could have sworn was a mischievous glint in her eye, “I hope you have a lovely rest of your day.” Maybe it was petty, but slamming the door did turn out to be quite cathartic.

#Early Days Benn is so funny to me #I love them your honor #Kathryn is living her best life and it is definitely at Benn's expense rn #asks #scribe answers #salt and light #rifters series 1 #kathryn carvalho #eabennor bethaz

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cloudcountry · 1 year

Text

unobtainable (spoilers for books 3 & 4)

Genre/Tropes: Unrequited Love (Reader towards Azul.)

Summary: Azul is so beautiful, yet so untouchable.

Author's Comments: Idk what this is I just wanted to hurt. I'm in a mood right now I DONT KNOW HELP!!! Also I had the idea to write a sequel where either Jade or Floyd helps the reader get over Azul and they get together, but not as rebound thing where Azul likes the reader later no no no! He stays uninterested but reader is happy with their new bf(s) and its cute but also idk I kinda like just leaving it at angst LMAO

~~~~~

You spent your afternoons after class at the Mostro Lounge. It was a venture you enjoyed making, and a place you enjoyed going to in order to relax. The atmosphere was calming after the chaos you endured day after day in this world you were destined to stay in until the foreseeable future.

You’d made pretty good friends with both Jade and Floyd at this point, though you knew it wasn’t emotional on their side. They found you entertaining, and you were willing to put up with that if it meant having more people to support you during your difficult time here. Ace and Deuce would always be your favorites, but the amount of Overblots that had been occurring lately had you worried. Of course the magicless student would be tasked with dealing with the overuse of magic by some of Night Raven College’s most powerful students.

“The usual?” Jade asked, smiling serenely at you.

“Uh huh.” you smiled back, eyes darting around the establishment in search of a very specific person, “Is...Is Azul in today?”

Jade laughed a bit at your question, gesturing to the VIP Room. Swallowing thickly, you stared at the door as if willing him to appear. When he didn’t, you looked up at Jade again.

“Jade...how many points do I have? Can I see him?” you asked, your nerves making you shift uncomfortably in your seat.

“You may,” his expression made it clear that he knew of your feelings, but you chose to ignore it, “I’ll let him know you’re coming after you finish your drink.”

As Jade stepped away from your table, you felt your heart give a jump. You were finally going to confess how you felt—after dealing with his Overblot and how he reacted to you at the museum and how he tried to protect you during Jamil’s Overblot, you were sure you had a chance. The two of you had gotten relatively close over the course of the last few months, and all of it had led up to this moment! You were going to confess to Azul and nothing would stand in your way. Jade brought back your drink with a smile, setting it down in front of you without another word. He’d added his own personal touch on it, you realized, staring at the little octopus design floating on the surface. That wasn’t a part of your usual. Sipping on the beverage thoughtfully, you considered your words carefully. Should you confess bluntly or romantically? Should you have gotten him a gift? What if you blurt out something out that offends him? What if he thinks you’re trying to get something out of him again and misses the point of your confession? You wanted to finish the drink quickly, but your nerves made it seem like it was taking forever.

“Azul is ready to see you.” Jade placed a hand on your shoulder, guiding you up from your seat.

You said nothing as he led you closer and closer to the VIP Room, your heart pounding in your chest. You had to tell him or you’d regret it forever. Steeling your nerves, you squared your shoulders and walked a bit ahead of Jade. You could do this.

He chuckled as he knocked on the door, the immediate “come in” from inside making your heart stutter. Jade opened the door and pushed you inside gently, still smiling as he closed the door behind you. You met Azul’s cool gaze, his gray eyes drowning you in their depth. You swallow thickly, stepping closer to him.

“Come here. Have a seat.” he offered you a polite smile, gesturing to the chair in front of his desk, “Ironic, is it not? You break hundreds of my contracts and now you’re here asking for a deal.”

“No hard feelings I hope...?” you winced, sitting down as quickly as possible.

“None at all.” he reassured you, his voice betraying the slightest hint of bitterness.

Oh well, you should have expected that. You did destroy years of his hard work in the blink of an eye. Even if it was Leona...you still orchestrated the whole thing. You hoped he wouldn’t mind your confession after this rocky start. Yikes.

You cleared your throat before you continued speaking.

“I’m...not here for a contract. I actually just wanted to tell you something.” you said, trying hard to hold his gaze as you steeled your nerves again.

“What is it, then?” Azul eyes you warily, adjusting his glasses.

“I would like to go out with you sometime. Just the two of us. If you wouldn’t mind. I think...you’re really intelligent, and you’re so competent which is hard to find at a school like this, you’re always so composed and have an air of power and strength that takes my breath away. You’re really resourceful and think through everything you do and I’m sure you knew how I felt before I did because you’re so aware of everything that happens around you. So, um...if you’d like to do something with me, whenever you’re free, I’d like that a lot!” you inhaled deeply once you finished speaking, proud of yourself for maintaining eye contact that entire time.

You weren’t sure how you did it—you probably just froze and couldn’t move any part of your body but hey, at least you managed to confess this time. Azul’s expression was the slightest bit shocked, his composure betraying nothing but that sliver of surprise. He cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses again, seemingly flustered by your admission.

“Why would I go out with you? You’re going to leave anyway.” Azul replied, his words cold and blunt and unfeeling, “It’d do you some good to not get attached. You don’t quite belong in this world, Prefect, as magicless as you are.”

You gasped, your heart shattering in your chest. Azul looked at you with pity in his gaze, his mouth twisted into a frown.

“Is that everything you had to discuss with me? I apologize, but I do not share the same sentiments. If you’re going to meet with me again, please make sure it’s for a deal and not for...emotional matters.” he gave you another smile, this one less relaxed than the previous one.

“That’s...that’s all. Thank you for listening to me, Azul.” you mumbled, too shocked by the rejection to speak.

“Lovely. Out you go, dear.” he said just as Jade opened the door again.

“Your time is up. I hope the transaction went well?” he asked, gaze flickering from you to Azul.

“No such thing happened. Please escort the Prefect out.” Azul didn’t spare you another glance, his focus shifting to the documents on his table.

“Yes.” Jade held out his hand for you, eyes twinkling with amusement.

He knew.

You didn’t take his hand, stumbling out of the VIP Room as the world spun around you.

Azul Ashengrotto was entirely, irrevocably, unobtainable.

#auburn's fics <3 #twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader #azul ashengrotto x reader #azul x reader #angst #azul ashengrotto

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flower-sunflower-blog · 3 months

Text

s!Ryan theory part 1/3 : Sun, keeper of the flame, breaker of the day

So, I’m finally getting on s!Ryan, what I’ve been figuring out so far, my theories and the different possibilities I could think of !

s!Ryan is a complex character that is giving me a hard time since a while, don’t get me wrong I really enjoy it - but still it’s hard xD Her story is conveyed through a multiformat storytelling and various hints spread around like pieces of puzzle. And everything is tying to a general story you need to figure out in order to connect everything.

That’s why it was so hard to share my thoughts about her, even small, compared to other characters. Because most of the time to understand my points you had to know about this one hint, connected to this other hint that made me think that, and could’ve explained this etc. My mind was a mess xD

BUT I tried to put everything into order, and through a 3 part theory, I'll try to go through everything as much as possible ! In order to give a better picture about her lore, the real mysteries about her, as well as a general context/timeline of event.

And yeah 3 parts, because s!Ryan is THAT much of a headache /lh

I hope we could be on a same page this way, so pay attention and follow me through this ! (if you're interested of course ;D)

This is the first part who will be discussing s!Ryan’s nature and powers, as well as her link with the sun.

The second part will be about her past, mostly based on her playlist "the origin story". And the last part will be about her connections with other people.

s!Ryan references and appearance

Let’s start with the “easiest” part. s!Ryan is looking like this :

On her pinterest board, we can see references for her fairy-looking outfit.

s!Ryan seems to like flowers/have a connection with it, she has a texture pack based on it. It looks like she’s a fairy, her connection with flowers and nature in general would make sense.

Another interesting detail about her : she’s ginger. There are multiple references of ginger hair.

I know this is shocking news for everyone xD BUT for realsies, keep in mind that s!Ryan has ginger hair on her pinterest board. More specifically, fully ginger-hair. It’s important for later.

Then something I noticed was various elements about fortune telling : crystal ball, tarot cards, palm reading.

There is also this, that I found out to be "perfume". (Well at least that's what google told me)

It could be in line with fortune telling, it may even refer to something else unknown to us. But in general it just give up a certain vibe/aesthetic from her.

s!Ryan and the sun

Omg guys, now we're getting onto the real deal, make sure to follow through everything xD

s!Ryan is heavily, heavily tied to the “sun”. There are so many hints about the sun, the light, the sunrays in general.

First when you look at her pinterest board you can notice them easily :

I also tend to think the sun has a divine essence in this world, i'll go more on that in a bit.

s!Ryan has a deep connection with the sun within herself. On twitter, she dropped 2 hints that highlighted it.

First there is this one :

Then there's this one :

The description is a line coming from the song "The Moon will sing", and the next line is “I loved you like the sun”.

(note : it’s not the only time I’ll talk about these 2 hints, it will come up on later posts)

Finally, half of her hair became blonde at some point. Ryan said it was related to her lore, she didn't described it as something new, but as a part of her already existing but that she started to “show” little by little. And recently, her second eye started to glow.

Looking at it for a bit, I definitely think about the sun. We had hints and references, but it's almost like this eye and her blonde hair color is sort of physical mark of her connection with the sun.

The divine sun

So now it’s clear that s!Ryan is connected to the sun. But what kind of connection ? That’s where things get complicated for real.

First of all, in order to have the slightest idea, we need to understand the nature of the sun to begin with. I said earlier that I think the sun has a divine essence, however I purposefully didn’t say that the sun was a god. Because nothing can be certain yet and that's even the whole question.

On a general note, I think the Shelter has a specific “theology” let's say, which was agreed upon everyone. Thus meaning that even if there is individual lore about member’s involvement with some gods, I think it’s still tied to this theology common to everyone, related to the specifics about the gods’ nature and everything, that is still unknown to us.

Going back to the sun, what makes the question complicated and why.

We had confirmation that there are “gods” in plural. At one point s!Artea and s!Forest were discussing gods while the sun was up, and when they criticized them a lightning stroke on them.

That means there were gods above them when the sun was up, and after all since we had the confirmation that there was a “moon entity”, why not a “sun entity” ?

However though, we have no certainty that was coming from the sun itself, it could always have been another god while the sun was up.

Then at another point, s!Cherry said that the sun was too bright and hurted her eyes, which s!Ryan found suspicious.

It really looked similar to when s!Artea was saying that the “moon” is “watching them”, not to mention that s!Cherry is particularly hostile to the gods.

But the sun could also be a concept more abstract, holding a great power over everything and be an incarnation of a divine essence, while not being a “sentient” being.

And even if the sun is a god, or at least related to a specific god, we know there is multiple gods.

Some of them are qualified as “dramatic” and “petty” by s!Cherry. However, there is no confirmation that all the gods and deities of this place are acting the same, and that the sun god is “among” the gods s!Cherry called petty.

On a general note, that's the main challenge about having multiple gods : we have no certainty all deities works the same, share a common nature, are on a similar scale etc

Not to mention that if you listen to s!Ryan playlist, there is a recurring theme about monotheistic religion : “hell”, “heaven”, “god", “devil” etc. Another reason to think the sun could possibly work on different rules. The sun may refer mainly to the "holiness" (you'll see I'll have the occasion to get on that later ^^).

But it’s also possible that the “sun entity” is indeed a sentient being with not-so-great morals too. That's also an interesting point to explore, but not on this post yet !

In conclusion, there is a whole lot of possibilities, and while we have some hints, there isn't much yet to tend to one more than another.

That's what you have to understand, and the reason why it makes it so challenging to theorise on.

But

I think there is definitely a form of cult around the sun, whether the sun is indeed a deity or an abstract/symbolic divine concept.

There is this picture that comes from s!Void’s board

It makes me think that the cult with the sun tie to the general theology of Shelter.

s!Ryan’s powers and divinity

So you know now why the sun's nature is a complicated question. But so is s!Ryan’s, oh so is s!Ryan's.

For starters, Ryan confirmed her character isn't human neither an elf. I tend to think s!Ryan is a fairy, however it doesn’t end here.

Beyond the "specie's name", there is a question of "technicality". If s!Ryan is indeed a fairy, what does being a “fairy” in this world means exactly? After all, s!Cherry was also hinted to be a fairy, would it make them related in one way or another ?

And since s!Cherry was hinted to be directly from the Shelter, would it also be the case for s!Ryan ? Are all the fairies related to the Shelter and magic tree in general ? That's also something that needs to be uncovered.

Going back to s!Ryan, her being a “fairy like” creature would be in line with the magic elements. She said her magic powers were lightning, light and fire-like elements.

But there's likely even more to it. At one point s!Ryan said “did they forget who I am, do they know the power that I have ?” hinting that her “true nature” is really powerful and that she didn't reach her full capacity yet :

Not to mention she said she “knows people with great power” while looking at the tree.

The tree, magic gods, you know xD

At one point, when s!Artea was shocked s!Ryan could fly, and asked how it was possible, she just answered she was “god’s favorite”. What could it mean ?

And now tying everything with s!Ryan's connection with the sun : s!Ryan is often directly compared to the sun. When we look at it, her powers (light, fire, lightning) seems related to the sun.

She's hinting having a great power, that she's starting to show her "true nature" through her current appearance. That when she started having half blonde hair, and recently had a glowing eye, who made me think of a physical mark of her connection with the sun.

Finally we have this coming from her board :

"Sun, keeper of flame, Breaker of day, I gave you my sword, my heart and my faith"

I think s!Ryan is holding her current powers from the sun, a kind of power that probably reaches a divine level.

But how comes ? What kind of link does s!Ryan have with divinity ?

That’s where there are multiple options possible, and we’ll go from the highest degree to lower degree :

She could be the sun entity herself, thus a goddess. Maybe her having her “powers” coming from the sun means that she draws power from this divine essence, she “incarnate” its power.

She could be related to the gods, either fully or partially. Maybe directly related to the sun deity, or to another deity while she would still worship the sun, no matter its nature.

She could have made a “contact” with the deities which allowed her to “reach” this state and power, thus meaning her divine side recent. It could be either the sun deity, who would be an entity of its own in this case, either another kind of deity able to grant her powers from the sun.

She could not be divine, and her power would only come from what “gods” granted her. The subtle difference the previous case is that, while having divine powers, its not fully "hers" and the gods could take it back from her any time.

And among all those options, there may be even more I didn't think of yet. Again, there is so much possibilities.

There is various possibilities about the sun's real nature, as well as various possibilities about s!Ryan's. So figuring out s!Ryan's nature in parallel with her connection with the sun leaves us with soooo many option.

(When it comes to theorising, I think something important is avoiding to jump on the "obvious" conclusions, and instead try to think of all the possible interpretations possible :D)

There is one last thing I need to cover up :

The Ryans

It all started in the beginning of the Shelter. Ryan was turning people into clones on herself, chasing people around to submit them and "convert" them to the "Ryans cult"

And IF you don't believe me yet when I say that in this story, genuinely EVERYTHING can be lore, that should definitely proves you otherwise xD

Because at first, I didn't think it could be lore either, I thought it was just silly goofy fun. But then I discovered this :

Not only that, during one of s!Ryan lore stream, she referred to the Ryans again.

"The Ryans will attack, the Ryans will get them".

There is clearly something to uncover about the "Ryans" and what they truly are, and how it could possibly connects to s!Ryan's nature.

Changing who I was...

So ! We kinda covered everything about s!Ryan's powers, the hints and specifics, the mysteries and all the possible theories about her true nature. Well, "all the possible theories" not exactly yet :D

I talked about how s!Ryan could be a non divine fairy, or be divine through various degrees. But between a mere non divine and a divine being, there is one last option I didn't cover yet, an option in between. An option that I purposefully left at the end because it has interesting implications.

But before everything, there is some context to place. From now one, we'll try slowly but surely to introduce a timeline of event. The chronology from past s!Ryan, to s!Ryan coming from the tree until current s!Ryan.

There is something I wanted to bring your attention on. We know that s!Ryan has this sort of connection with the sun and hold her power from it. But since when ?

The first hint was posted before the stream where s!Ryan revealed her power, that she could fly. And if she had her half-blonde her since the trial, it's also where she revealed it was part of her lore.

And again, she did not described it as something "new" that appeared, but something already existing in her that she was "showing".

There is something to know about the description of her tweets : these are lyrics from the song "If I killed someone for you". Moreover, it's a song she has in her playlist ! And here, let me put you the full verse of the song :

You have to understand that The one I killed is me Changing what I was For what you wanted me to be I followed your direction Did everything you asked I hope that makes you happy 'Cause there's just no turning back

My interpretation is that, the power she has now, she didn't have it before, it's "recent". She had to do something in order to, there is something she had to "change".

But what was it ? And who is this "you" she may be referring to ? Again, there is a lot of possibilities. My main goal is to showcase everything and let you guys have your own prefered interpretation afterward :D

I said earlier that I think that her blonde hair, as well as her eye since recently, is a physical mark of her connection with the sun/power she holds from the "sun".

About her hair ! Do you remember how I said at the beginning that s!Ryan has ginger hair on her pinterest board ? And that it was something important ?

Here we are now : there is only ginger hair on her board, there isn’t ginger-blonde hair.

And just in case, I looked it up, and there are reference pictures for ginger-blonde hair on pinterest. Ryan could have put a reference for this, but she didn't. Why ?

Maybe she didn't think about it, or just didn't want to for no particular reason. But I have a possible interpretation that it was a purpose, and that there is actually a reason why.

I think the board focuses either on non temporal/general elements (reference outfits, fortune telling elements, powers etc), either element specifically from the past.

My theory :

Past s!Ryan= ginger --> Current s!Ryan= ginger-blonde

And having that in mind, it may show us that in the past, s!Ryan didn't have these hair, thus possibly meaning she didn't have powers from the sun at that time as she does right now.

But since when she had these power from the sun ? Again, s!Ryan said she was showing something "existing" in her through her hair, not something new.

But "existing" since when ?

Nothing is sure. Because right now, I'm only talking about the powers she has "now", that she hinted to go through a "change" to reach.

Maybe she didn't have powers at all before this "change" ? Maybe she had powers before but became more powerful ? Maybe she always had access to these power but decide now to use it ? (After all, at one point s!Ryan mention "my potential, what I possibly could be")

But that's not all I have to say. Because there is actually something I ended up being certain of.

There is at least one key event when we can be sure she "at the very least" hold these powers since then.

It's the "change" she's talking about.

And what is it ?

Her death

This hint mention a "slumber" that she woke up from. I saw it as a glince of the moment when she was brought in the Shelter by the tree. But the important part is that she "woke up" in general and what it actually mean :

s!Ryan died and was ressurected.

Let me put you again the lyrics from the song "If I killed someone for you"

You have to understand that The one I killed is me Changing what I was For what you wanted me to be

So, there is 2 thing to add to this :

I was certain that s!Ryan "death" was in the metaphorical sense"of "killing her old self", "changing" who she was before. And then I evoked the possibility that it was also in the litteral sense. But now I'm *convinced* it is ALSO in the litteral sense. And I'll have the occasion to tell you more about it later.

Past s!Ryan (ginger hair)

⬇️

s!Ryan's death ("change")

⬇️

Current s!Ryan (ginger-blonde hair)

Even tho I think s!Ryan's "death" is litteral, I think that the most impactful aspect is still the fact that her death was "metaphorical". In fact, this is for me the all core of s!Ryan's character, and something that allow us to understand more her current personnality.

The Saint

So ! I think s!Ryan holding the current power she has is something recent that we can date at least since her death. But what about her connection with the sun in general ?

I think s!Ryan always had this connection with the sun. And if it's not in a magical way, it is at a very least in the metaphorical way.

And I finally get into the possibility I was talking earlier, the possibility about s!Ryan being something "in between" a divine and a non divine being :

This are hints about the sun, again. But these one are really particular in the "aesthetic", it’s giving up a symbolic about “saint” and “holiness”.

You know how I said that there is a cult around the sun’s deity ? Maybe s!Ryan would have been part of it, and even more ?

This is the last option, something that I think is similar to s!Ana : the fact that s!Ryan would be a priestess of the sun, a “saint” in it's cult, even an angel ?

She wouldn’t be a god, but would be above the mere “non divine” beings.

-> That’s where getting it to tie to a “general theology” would make a change, because it would allow us to figure out the different role anybody could occupy in this.

The gold element is something common to s!Ana's board. And it would explain this quote !

Her being a “saint” would have allowed her to reach a deeper connection with the sun, and would explain why her nature is so tied to it.

One last minute element I could think of : You know how s!Ryan call s!Pomme "sister Pomme" ? Well, it also happen that s!Pomme is hinting to be an angel/saint, and related to "monotheistic" element like "heaven" just like s!Ryan. It may be something relevent ?

It wouldn't mean there are sisters in the "litteral" since, but it would be a hint to the fact that they share a similar nature ?

And on a /meta note, I know there is a context to the "sister Pomme" nickname. But Lumi and Ryan could've talk about it behind the scenes and be like "oh yeah let's make it fit with the lore". It would fit both of their way of storytelling xD

But if she was indeed a prietress/saint/angel/you get me, was it from her own will ? Of from birth ? Does she still consider herself this way ?

I also said earlier that s!Ryan has a connection with the sun within herself. But maybe this connection is to take metaphorically, as an allegory ?

There could be a symbolic about her being similar to the sun, "like the sun". This idea of being "holy", being a sunshine angel.

And we're finally getting to it. The reason why I wanted to develop this point at the end of the post, the one implication I ended up being certain about past s!Ryan :

s!Ryan was a saint before.

And whether or not she was a saint in the literal sense, I mean that I'm pretty certain she was metaphorically a saint, an incarnation of a perfect girl who was acting like a beacon of light for people around her.

But then she died, she "killed" her old self and she changed, going from a saint to a devil.

And this will be for part 2 !

Thanks for your attention :D

#sheltermc #shelterlore #s!ana #s!ryan #s!pomme #s!cherry #s!artea #dandelionryans #shelter

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traitimdoithay · 2 years

Text

(Thief King Bakura-centric Comic) Nile Kappa Pool (English Translation)

hi there! i came across this comic about thief king bakura learning about kappas and i loved it so much that i had to give translating it a go. it's not often you see non-romantic comics getting passed around that aren't gag comics, so obviously i had to jump on this one. apparently it's a fairly recent one too, being distributed in 2018.

my translations may be a bit off, please feel free to correct me if you see anything that could be translated better! i tried to make the dialogue sound natural in english while also not losing the original meanings. i’ve also typed out all the dialogue under each page cause i did have to fight with the small speech bubbles a bit, so dialogue may be a teeny bit hard to read sometimes. there’s also a few translation notes added too!

Title: Nile Kappa Pool/ナイル河童淵 Author: nmoohha (you can find their distribution notice post here if you’d like to see glimpses of the original digital version!) Summary: TKB meets a boy who tells him about kappas Scans: @super-lovely-collection (thank you for giving me permission to post my translation with your scans!)

i’m also providing a download for people who want to read it more conveniently! i included all the separate pages plus a PDF version :) (the last few pages in the original aren’t included since they’re not part of the story)

Boy: Hey... Boy: Have you ever seen a kappa?

TKB: ... TKB: Ka...ppa...? TKB: ...The heck is that? Boy: Hmm? You don’t know?

Boy: It’s a spirit that lives in the river Boy: A spirit that lives hidden in the grass by the water...

(Boy: Yeah!) (TKB: Ohh) Boy: It grabs children playing by the water Boy: And tries to drown them! TKB: Hoh... (Boy: It bounced 9 times!) (TKB: First time I’ve seen that) TKB: ...You ever seen it? (The kappa?) Boy: Nope TKB: Come on! Boy: So every day I lure it in while playing like this (I wanna see it!) TKB: Every day?! (In your free time?!) TKB: If I did that, I’d rather get attacked and eaten by a crocodile!

TKB: A kappa, huh. ...That’s it. TKB: Did you mistake it for a crocodile? Boy: Huuh? That’s not it. It’s different from a crocodile. There’s no heroic tale*. TKB: Okay, sorry! (I’ll throw stones too) Boy: A kappa walks on two legs. TKB: Two legs... Boy: It has a mouth with teeth like a crocodile Boy: And arms with thick claws like a jaguar Boy: Also, it has webbed feet and can swim Boy: And on top of that, it has a turtle shell on its back TKB: ?? *The original word used here is ロマン/roman, which can refer to chivalric romance literature. These kinds of stories tend to be your classic 'knight goes on a journey, fights monsters and other evils, gets the lady' tale. I couldn't really figure out a better way of making this understood briefly, so it is what it is. On another note, apparently the Japanese word for crocodile (鰐/wani, but here it's written as ワニ) was originally used to refer to an ancient sea monster which has been featured in quite a few Japanese myths. Don't know if this knowledge adds anything to the comic, but it is interesting to know!

(Artist’s impression of a kappa: by Bakura) Boy: It’s really strong, right? TKB: Isn’t that too much bullcrap? Boy: A kappa is a spirit that likes to fight Boy: My grandpa saw one wrestling* a hippo when he was a kid TKB: Huh...

*The specific term used here is sumo wrestling, just to be clear it's not referring to general wrestling.

TKB: Ahh... I dunno about a kappa TKB: But I have seen one. TKB: A spirit Boy: A spirit? TKB: The spirit I saw... was better than a kappa. (Haha) TKB: It looks like a human from the waist up... TKB: It has bird wings on its back TKB: Two pairs of them! TKB: Not only that, it has a snake’s head from the waist down TKB: It has the two heads of a human and snake

(Artist’s impression: by young boy) Boy: Two heads... Boy: Yeaah, it’s weirder than a kappa TKB: W... weird... Boy: But it seems stronger than a kappa Boy: When did you see it? The spirit (Boy: It has two heads...) TKB: I met it... when I was a kid... TKB: It saved my life.

TKB: If I hadn’t met the spirit... TKB: I might not have been able to play like this... TKB: Or have the desire to live Boy: Wow... how cool Boy: The spirit... is just like a god, huh? TKB: !! TKB: A god...? TKB: Heh heh TKB: Not bad!

Boy: Ahh... it didn’t bounce at all... TKB: ... TKB: Hah?! It’s my first time doing it! TKB: How do you make it bounce like that?! Boy: I have a trick, I’ll teach it to you (Ahaha) TKB: Just you wait, I’ll make it bounce more than you! Boy: I told you, I won’t lose

(Boy: It’s round) (Boy: Flat stones like this are good) (TKB: Hoh) (Boy: Lower your stance more) (TKB: Ah)

TKB: It bounced 3 times just now! Look! It bounced, it bounced! (TKB: Alright!)

Boy: Well then~ I’m going home TKB: Okay Boy: Don’t get attacked by a kappa! Be careful! TKB: Haha, you too... TKB: ...Hah... TKB: I got worked up with that kid by accident... (Ow ow ow...) TKB: Well... it’s a good way of killing time once in a while TKB: Right, partner?

TKB: You are like a god TKB: You must be happy, right? (Diabound: Mhm) (Diabound: (Smile)) (TKB: You’re really happy...)

TKB: Now... to find a suitable restaurant somewhere and have dinner... TKB: ! TKB: ...? TKB: A stone...? TKB: Is someone there...?

TKB: Hey! TKB: What the hell?!

TKB: Why are crocodiles jumping toward me?! TKB: ...Can crocodiles jump...? ???: Hey TKB: ?! ???: Give the stone back* during the day, kuh keh keh ???: But... it’s important to give it back properly

*The specific word used is お返し/okaeshi, which refers to a custom where when someone gives you a gift, you have to give them a gift in return for the initial gift.

TKB: This spirit looks... strong...

TKB: ...A...

TKB: A kappa...?

#tag: yugioh #tag: translations

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sflow-er · 2 years

Text

About August’s upbringing, worldview and parents

This post was inspired by some of the recent discussion on August’s family, e.g. this thread started by @daylightsimon and this one started by @lucidpantone. There have also been many posts about him and Sara, such as this one by @missbolt, this one by @scatteredpiecesofme, and this thread started by @earlgrey-lateatnight.

Anyway, I wanted to add my two cents on August’s upbringing, worldview, and parents (specifically, his father’s suicide and his mother’s real and perceived neglect). I’ll also touch on his mindset around the time of Erik’s death, but his actions and motivations after making the video would spiral into a whole other post. For the same reason, his and Sara’s relationship will only be examined very briefly, and I’m not going to discuss his darker personality traits. They warrant their own analyses by people with more insight, and you can find many here on tumblr.

I want to preface the rambling essay under the cut by saying I do not condone his actions or believe that a stable and rational person would have (re)acted as he did in S1. The stuff discussed below may be a partial explanation for the kind of person he’s become, but it’s not an excuse. Plenty of people go through similar things without using it as justification to hurt others (or turning into assholes in general).

Still, I think it’s amazing how well some of his issues can be traced back. YR truly shows us a lot of different versions of generational trauma, and the many ways in which the class system hurts everyone, including those at the top.

As always, I may be mistaken about some things. This is just my own interpretation and extrapolation, not the only possible truth. With that in mind, let’s dive in.

It’s safe to say that as the heir to a prestigious noble family, August will have been taught a distorted worldview from a young age, one where his family deserve their high social status at the very top of the elite. That status is based on their legacy and reputation, and upholding those must be prioritised above all else. Honour is more important than integrity.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the YR writers chose Horn as his last name. It’s a real noble name that belongs to the so-called ‘uradel’, the oldest noble families in Sweden (their forefathers were part of the old ‘frälse’ estate in 1420). There are several branches of the real family, distinguished by their estate names; the main branch goes back to the 1300s. Lisa & co seem to have made up a new branch for August, dating back to the 1700s. Most branches have been titled, and it's likely that this one is too (count or baron; four branches each as opposed to only two untitled branches introduced to the Swedish House of Nobility). Most of the real branches are extinct now, but it’s a substantial legacy in any case.

As the only child, August will have grown up knowing that the responsibility for upholding all this would someday fall on him. In fact, he will have known it from the start even if his parents tried to have more kids, as he was the oldest son and nobility is a very old-fashioned institution. So, the expectations will have been heavy - but as an ambitious person who clearly strives to excel at every role he takes on, it’s likely he always wanted to prove he was up to the task.

There was also another stress factor: young August was aware of there being problems in his parents’ marriage. We don’t know if those were purely caused by Carl Johan’s addiction, if things were already strained before, or if Louise was also at fault (she comes off as a bit flighty in the show, so she could’ve been careless with money, for example). The important part is that August believed it was all Louise’s fault. It’s possible he didn’t know about the addiction at all, or he may have also blamed her for that.

I believe August’s conservative upper-class upbringing will have given him a very restrictive and outdated view of masculinity. One where a real man, especially a nobleman, doesn’t let his emotions get the better of him or need help carrying his burden - and his wife is basically just there to stand by him no matter what (and make him look good to others). It’s easy to imagine a man of Carl Johan’s age and birth holding such beliefs, and we know August idolised him. If he twisted his addiction and the rest of their marital problems into Louise’s failure to support him properly, August would have sided with him.

When August was fifteen or just barely sixteen, Carl Johan found himself facing potential ruin ("even Carl Johan couldn’t survive on his last name at the end”). His finances were in shambles and despite all his connections and prestige, he was about to lose Årnäs. The grand estate that had been in their family for hundreds of years and was a crucial part of their social standing. (I’d be willing to bet his addiction started as a way of coping with the decline and the related pressure, only to end up fuelling them in a vicious cycle, but I digress.)

To escape this shame, Carl Johan chose to take his own life. This left a grieving teenage August in charge of a failing estate and a heavy legacy he didn’t have the means to uphold, with enormous pressure to succeed - and the idea that failure wasn’t an option. As pointed out in one of the Sara/August posts I linked at the top, a parent’s suicide also often leaves the child feeling like they weren’t good and lovable enough to stick around for. In other words, August probably felt massively insecure, abandoned, and like he needed to prove himself and make his late father proud.

According to Erik, it was shortly after this that Louise shipped August off to Hillerska. I’m sure August wanted to go; he already resented his mother, Erik would be there for him, and it would also be a link to Carl Johan, who presumably attended the school in his time.

However, it seems that Louise essentially just left him there and started living her own life. [EDIT: Check out the two reblog threads for more discussion on the remarriage aspect: one, two.] She had every right to move on, and August was probably giving her a hard time, but she was still his parent. She should have supported him every step of the way and made sure he got some help to cope with everything.

Judging by the issues August soon developed, Erik’s words to Wille, and August’s bitterness towards Louise when she disappoints him again on Parents’ Day, he didn’t feel like she was there for him. Combined with the toxic masculinity that was likely part of his upbringing, I think these early impressions of his mother’s inability to support him and his father may have contributed to the misogyny he demonstrates in S1 (towards women in general and Felice when they start dating).

So from that point on, Hillerska became August’s life, home, and community (as Erik says, it’s everything to him). But it was also a place built on the same ideals as his upbringing: an elite bubble where it mattered a whole lot that he was August Horn of Årnäs. His status was the basis of his leadership in the student hierarchy, and of course he would be forced to leave if he couldn’t afford to stay in the dorm anymore.

Projecting the image of success was also crucial to securing the connections and investments he’d need to elevate himself and keep Årnäs afloat in the future. If people knew he was broke and on the verge of becoming landless, it would stain both his own reputation and his father’s memory. Again, failure isn’t an option for him.

We know from the show that August ambitiously took on many different roles to build himself up, culminating in Prefect and rowing captain in his third year. Those will have added to the pressure he was under, and he eventually started abusing ADHD medication to enhance his performance and cope with everything (we see him taking more of it in the show when things start to get on top of him). He thus ended up following his father’s footsteps into addiction, which probably didn’t improve his mental state.

His eating issues haven’t been fully explored yet in the show, but I personally interpret them as part of this same bundle of issues. I know very little about disordered eating, so I could be way off base! But to me, it seems like that could be rooted in both his pursuit of perfection and his need to control something in his life (as his finances kept spiralling in the background and his involuntarily assumed burden grew heavier). We see multiple times that he keeps things organised to a compulsive degree, which could also be related to these same mental processes.

As we know, August managed to uphold the facade until his third year, and then his dire finances caught up. He had no choice but to turn to his mother for help, and Louise let him down again. She let him believe she could fix things and left him to dodge the Headmistress’s questions about the dorm fees on his own - only to show up on Parents’ Day and tell him to fix everything himself, by doing something he did not see as an option. I’m sure she was right that selling something was the only solution, but she really went about it in the worst possible way. In August’s eyes, it was the ultimate proof that she didn’t have his back.

This was also the point of the story where August voiced the stance that he “would rather die” than start chopping up his father’s estate. Of course, selling land would send the message that he was in trouble and feel like a massive failure to him, and as others have commented, even the works of art are all part of his social capital. However, I do think it goes deeper than that.

Everything at Årnäs is part of the legacy that August’s father ‘entrusted’ to him. It’s an inextricable part of who he is as a nobleman and as Carl Johan Horn’s son, and his entire self-worth is built on that. He can’t just start giving pieces of it away (until he finds a new purpose in S2; more on that below). On top of that, it’s also the only thing he has left of his father now that his mother has moved on.

To make matters worse, August also lost Erik immediately after this altercation with his mother. True to form, he did not seem to grieve properly, and it’s unlikely he even had anyone to confide in. He couldn’t rely on Louise, he and Felice had no emotional intimacy, and he probably didn’t talk to Vincent and Nils about deeper thoughts or feelings (as his many issues or Nils’s sexuality clearly haven’t came up in their years of friendship).

This is why I think his drunken heart-to-heart with Wille may have actually been more meaningful than we usually give him credit for. It’s a bit of a leap, and you are totally free to disagree, but I’m going to go ahead and include it here.

I have no doubt that August threw himself into the Queen’s request to take care of Wille for selfish reasons. He never cared about Wille before; he was always jealous of Wille’s position and likely also the fact that he was Erik’s brother. This new task was mostly a distraction from his own problems and grief, a status boost, and a way of climbing out of the hole he was in.

However, I think August’s awkward reference to Carl Johan when Wille brings up Erik suggests that he could see the potential for a real connection down the line. Now that Wille had finally decided to become the kind of person August thought he should be, August was going to mentor him and recreate his own relationship with Erik. Perhaps they could bond for real over their losses and the pressure they were both under (although I think it would’ve taken a while for August to really get there, considering how long he’d been bottling everything up).

Of course, that’s not how things turned out at all. As I said at the start, I’m not going to discuss the video, his deliberations around it or his decision to post it, as that would double this already long and rambling essay. I will only say that I think the above provides some limited insight into why he took it so heavily when Wille exposed him in front of the Society - and reiterate that it doesn’t excuse his heinous response.

I’m also not going to touch much on S2, but I’d say some of this connects to how significant it must have been to August when Sara gave him the support and emotional intimacy he’d been sorely lacking. Don’t get me wrong, there were definitely some problematic sides to their relationship, and I don’t think his underlying view of women changed even if he tried to treat her better than Felice (he still saw her as an extension of himself and his own ambitions)...

But I do think it was a big positive step for him to sell a painting to buy Rousseau just to make Sara happy, without her even having to ask. It shows that he really did love and care for her (or at least his idea of her), because as discussed above, Årnäs could never be unimportant to him - even if he now saw himself on the trajectory towards being king and didn’t necessarily need his estate as much anymore.

Sadly, all this also relates to why August chose a new path towards the power and status he’s been conditioned to prioritise instead of taking responsibility for his actions. Perhaps he could theoretically imagine confessing when the game was over for him anyway, especially if Sara was going to support him through it (he would at least gain her love, as well as freedom from his fear of retaliation).

But the need to save face and keep his good name is deeply ingrained in him, he’s very insecure underneath all the bravado, and he has never learned accountability. Normal rules are not supposed to apply to people in his position.

So when the royal family - his father’s family - offers him a new lead on life, of course he’s going to take it. Suddenly it’s okay that he “failed” at being August Horn of Årnäs, because he can be King August of Sweden, and all his problems just go away. (This is an oversimplification, but I’m sure you get my point.)

[I love how clearly his signet ring is visible in this shot, by the way. It’s the perfect picture of his newly redeemed confidence in his position.]

Again, I’m not trying to paint August as a good person here. I’m just trying to trace some of his character building, and based on that, I believe it would also be for his own good to see some serious consequences for his crimes. He really, really needs to learn accountability, empathy (and not just self-projection), as well as some healthy tools to cope with adversity.

It’s going to take professional help, solid support, and true motivation for change to process and resolve his issues and undo the damage from his upbringing. But if all that happens, I do think he could still have at least some room for personal growth down the line (not to get forgiveness from the people he’s hurt, but to avoid hurting others and also himself in the future).

#young royals #young royals analysis #august horn #august horn of årnäs #cw suicide #tw suicide #cw addiction #tw addiction #cw eating issues #tw eating issues #nothing personal or graphic #<reblog tag by darktwistedgenderplural

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saltminerising · 1 year

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post/731182740780843008

There’s always those weirdos in any fandom where are weirdly aggressive to people not knowing stuff. Sorry people where jackasses other anon.

I’ll answer your question to the best of my ability though! PBs don’t match the fodder floor because fodder floor is kinda ‘matching’ PBs. Fodder floor fluctuates in accordance to how high the public buy is since people are buying off the AH to then (usually) level, train, and send in to the public buys as a profit. If flights raise their PB to match fodder floor, fodder floor would just raise in response as people buy out dragons to send to PBs (or exalt as part of the pushing flight since it’s seen as a ‘deal’ given it’s the same amount as their PB) and it’d never end.

You could just list on the AH but it’s a bit of a frenzy (and you usually won’t get much more then the PB prices anyway, unless it’s the last hour frenzy, since as mentioned fodder floor fluctuates in accordance to what is worth buying for profit with the current PB prices) and being able to have a steady flow of guaranteed money you can easily math out is nice + the mentioned raffle prizes and badges. Also just wanting to support a specific flight you may like!

Hope that helps! I don’t think I’m the best explainer at things but hopefully I worded in a way that made sense.

Dom is kinda difficult for beginners but flights try to combat it with guides, FAQs, etc. If your flight doesn’t have that, they need to fix it. It’s just how it is with the terminology they need to communicate what is going on along with the system specific to flight rising that people need to learn, as is in every other space that has terms / systems specific to them. You kinda just need to put in the time to learn (with non-assholes).

As far as I know the vulture thing was one person. Honestly think people just need to let it go man. So many people seem to have just latched onto it and are applying it to random things.

Separate to the above but in relation to: It’s just personally, I would never walk into a place where I haven’t learned all the terms / their applications and if I got confused on one because I’m a casual enjoyer of this hypothetical thing, I wouldn’t turn and blame those who are running it as their wording being confusing. I’d go “ah okay mistook it for something else because I’m not someone who’s involved in this space” (and I’d hope people would go “that’s fine!” Because that’s what they should do, they shouldn’t be mean to someone just being confused) and either take the time to learn it or move on.

Casual or not, if you wanna partake, it’s always a good idea to learn the communities terms and distinctions.

Post

#long post #flight club

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copsecore · 1 year

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My Thoughts About Hot Boi Summer ‘23:

CW/TW: i will be non-specifically AND specifically referencing at least semi-nsfw content so please dont read if that doesn’t fly with you in any way, please be responsible!

[PSA: THIS IS MY OWN OPINION OKAY - AND I MEAN NONE OF IT WITH ANY MALICE - TY]

DAVID:

Holy shit what the fuck this was Amazing (im referencing the poll on this post because erik did the results on stream, so yeah). David was in my top three picks for the poll and I was gutted that he didn’t seem to get very high - but i think that’s coz it was the first video, so maybe people had forgotten about it/it wasn’t as much in the forefront of the majority’s minds by the time the poll was released. Pretty much no negative thoughts.

VINCENT:

WE NEED MORE CUTE 7/11 DATES OKAY PLEASE ITS SO SWEET. Ofc the snack puns coming in Clutch ugh i loved those. My only issue (“issue”) was literally the same as why i wasn’t over the moon when sam was voted for the ba (sue me. i liked it anyway) and that was just that we had a vincent one a few months ago, and also a pretty pre-sexual vid after that. Also the fact that lovely literally grabbed his junk in semi-(hah, pun)public, but it’s the anti-PDA in me that disliked that part, so feel free to ignore it!

AVIOR:

Also in my top picks!!! I was a tad gutted when we didn’t get his. Saw a lot of posts begging for people to vote for it because yk him n starlight have been in literal Hell for years and therefore they deserve some smut time. Super cute vid, “A Romantic Night” is totally the right descriptor for it and also AYO WHIMPERY AVIOR??? YES. sorry ahem it’s the demons.

GAVIN:

It was so good. The premise of getting a more subby gavin? chef’s kiss, more please. everything about it was good and i WISH the ba had been how i expected it to go, but we aren’t here for my criticisms of That, so whatever. It links back to an old non-canon Huxley preview vid that was taken from us (RIP) when the channel lost loads of vids, or at least thats what it reminded me of, with the whole BBQ-and-somewhat-sexual-teasing aspect it was amazing and i would like to see more switch-esque gav in the future (*manifesting*)

LASKO:

Not too much to say considering I started this post as a way to lightly complain about the poll results, and Lasky wasn’t on the poll, obviously. Regardless, I’m glad this video went the way it did, I think we’ve seen a lot of lasko being quick to jump the proverbial gun in the last few years, with his non-canon vids, and hooking up with gavin, etc, so it was nice to see him break away from that and ask to move slower coz hell yeah dude, progress and growth!! and i think it shows how much he wants the relationship to be more natural, and not racing ahead, even if he does in part want that - it was sweet as hell.

ELLIOTT (ft. The Dragon):

I gotta say it right off the bat that i just found the video on the more boring end. *POLICE SIRENS BLARING IN THE BACKGROUND* AH FUCK-

I’m just not overly surprised that i think Eli got some of the lowest results on the poll, I enjoyed the video, and i liked it (this will be a recurring statement) but i just didn’t like it As Much. Lots of people (including me, ngl) wanted more of the dragon - but erik’s not about to do weird fantasy not-fully-bestiality-esque stuff guys - and i’m pretty sure I only liked it coz cmon it’s erik doing another hot voice, im gonna be down horrendous BUT NOT FOR AN ACTUAL DRAGON. i am Not donkey from Shrek. And yeah, i know Eli’s powers can be kinda limiting with what they can bring to the (pun not intended) sex-table, but does all of his spicy stuff have to be in a Dreamscape? idk.

ASHER:

My Second Favourite Hands Down. How people picked Sam over riding Ash in the front seat of a rental, i’ll never understand /lh the horn may make me jump every time, but it’s okay, there’s repentance in the tongue kissing, and i stand by that, it was the best bit (or one of the best bits), No Criticisms (except Ash please don’t have sex in a RENTAL. wait until you get to a bedroom at least PLEASE-)

GUY:

Again, i liked it but not as much. I love Guy, he’s one of my favourites, i can’t really say why i didn’t like this video as much as I normally would, maybe the concept just wasn’t rolling with me as well - the whole idea of post-concert seemed vaguely random, but you could argue that about all of these, so it doesn’t count. did anyone else see this or was it just me, coz if it is then i will quietly wave my flag of solidarity from my hole in the ground where nobody can see it.

ANTON:

I voted Anton. It was the sadness with the feelings and the horniness spicyness towards the end, ugh I loved it, Anton come home from war soon please (im terrified he might die because despite everything, nothing Death Related had happened in project meridian yet, and let’s face it, it’s gonna.) - it was nice seeing a different but also soothing take on the “your lover is leaving for an indefinite amount of time” thing, and how it changed in comparison to James’ video on it. Anton deserved the continuation okay. No aggression though.

SAM:

This is where I might get more argumentative because I was so disappointed that Sam won the poll, even though I love sammy. It seemed slightly out of character?? with everything we know about Sam, it just seems so unlikely that he would go to a club, let alone start getting, uh, “busy” n shit while at one. he’s not a big fan of PDA because of his past, in my opinion, and i think overall he’s very private, so the setting and stuff just seemed out of place, it would’ve made more sense for Milo’s or smth to be set there - but hell I can’t tell erik how to write his own characters lmao - and still, the ba was Great. with a capital G.

MILO:

I fell asleep listening to this the first couple of times, which says a lot already. The sensual massage trope has been used as a gateway to presumably spicy off-screen things before (Aaron’s HBW ‘21, Asher’s HBS ‘22) but idky it wasn’t hitting as well as it normally does, maybe it’s wearing thin on my brain. ofc it’s redacted content so i’m gonna eat it up like it’s ass (crude but true) but i listened to it through without falling asleep and was like “yeah it’s good, i like it, but also eh,,,” - like i mentioned, it would’ve made more sense to me if Milo’s and Sam’s were swapped around - anyone agree?

CONCLUSION:

as always, all the videos were really good, and despite whatever came across through this post, overall, i enjoyed all of them, so please don’t take this as a criticism towards erik or any of his work, trust me, i absolutely adore it - i say it every time, but every time it’s worth saying, and also please don’t cancel me. this was a really long post, so a lot of people probably won’t read it, so if you made it this far; well done! have a star 🌟- don’t be afraid to leave any agreements or disagreements in the notes, i love discussing stuff with people! thanks for reading

#redacted asmr #redacted audio #hot boi summer #jed’s food for thought #i can’t tag all the characters okay please it’s too many

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wartakes · 1 year

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What’s Going On in Ukraine?: An Explainer (OLD ESSAY)

This essay was first posted on April 7th, 2021, and seems somewhat quaint now in retrospect.

This essay was written in response to the then-ongoing Ukraine crisis where it looked like a war might kick off in the Spring of 2021. Little did we know that it was pretty much just the pre-gaming for what would happen NEXT Spring.

(Full essay below the cut).

So, this is another one of those essays I didn’t originally plan on writing for the month. But then the darndest thing happened about a week ago: Russia got back on its bullshit.

Now everyone is wondering if the war in Eastern Ukraine is going to reignite or potentially escalate even further than the heights it reached after the initial outbreak of war in 2014. Now I don’t think time is a flat circle, but I do think the idea that “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes” has some merit here.

As this conflict is a bit of a hobby horse of mine, I’ve been keeping a close eye on it (perhaps too much for my own good) ever since things started to escalate at the end of March. As more of my friends and peers have started to ask questions and express concern over what’s going on and what may happen next and certain parties have started to spread bad takes or downright misinformation and lies, I decided that maybe a little explainer and synthesis of current analysis was in order for folks on what the situation is currently with Ukraine and Russia.

I was going to write about Iran this month, but I guess we’ll save one piece about a potential war crisis and trade it for a separate but different one.

Just up front: this is a situation that is changing every day, so I can only make this as current as the moment I post it – but I’ll do my best in this regard. Also, I’m going to make no illusion about my biases in this case (spoilers: I’m not on Russia’s side, and if you have a problem with that, I dunno: cry about it, tankie). Also, a lot of my sources for this are Tweets and threads by analysts and observers that have been popping up as things have been going on and have the potential to suddenly vanish – as Twitter is want to do – so I apologize for any broken links or lost sources.

What’s Exactly Is Happening?

Over the past week, we’ve seen an extensive Russian military buildup along its border with Ukraine. Now, that in itself is not unusual. Russia holds large-scale military exercises – including both planned and snap drills – on a pretty regular basis. None of that specifically is new or shocking. But analysts have pointed out that there are several factors that make this occurrence different in a worrying way.

First there’s the context. This military buildup happens in the midst of a sudden and sharp escalation in hostilities along the line of contact between the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian rebels in the Donbas region. While the war in Donbas has remained very much active since reaching a stalemate in 2015, it has been relatively quiet and low-level until now. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe has registered a sharp increase in violations of the ceasefire previously agreed upon between the belligerents in July of last year. As of April 6, 2021, two more Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the previous 24 hours, with four having been killed by enemy shelling in late March (it is unknown how many rebel troops have died, if any). It is against that backdrop that Russia is now flowing additional military forces into the region.

Another part of the context factor is the timing. While Russia does undertake large, seasonal exercises, analysts and observers have noted that these drills have taken place outside of the typical schedule. And while Russia has been known to undertake snap drills and exercises, again, experts note that they’ve never seen a sudden callup or mobilization like this one outside of scheduled wargames before. Its not an understatement to say that its pretty unprecedented. For what it’s worth, Russia has now declared a combat readiness check across the entire Ministry of Defense (after all of these movements had already been going on for several days, of course).

This leads into the second major factor, which is the sheer size of the buildup. Over the past week, social media has been flushed with photos and video of large amounts of Russian military equipment flowing west into illegally annexed Crimea and the western regions of Russia bordering on Ukraine. So far, it shows no sign of stopping, with train load after trainload of armor and other vehicles heading west. The Russian military has been using so many railcars that agricultural machinery manufacturers reportedly haven’t been able to ship their goods to farmers for the spring harvest season – a story that state media entity TASS was even reporting on. Other civilian passengers have also noted disruptions.

Closely tied to the size factor is the scope of the mobilization. Not only is Russia flowing large numbers of troops and vehicles to the border, but it’s also bringing them from far afield, all across the country. Some enterprising OSINT practitioners on Twitter were able to identify the original locations of some Russian military units by the numbers on their license plates that indicate which military district they are based in – that is, until the Russians seemed to get wise and start covering those numbers up, along with other identifying markings. Before the Russians started practicing better OPSEC, however, it was identified that many forces were coming from the Central Military District, which covers the Ural Mountains and parts of Siberia and doesn’t even border Ukraine. More questions abound.

The nature of the equipment and units being sent towards Ukraine is also notable and worrying. Main battle tanks with fuel tanks for extended range offensives and plows for pushing through minefields. Artillery and heavy mortars designed to try and break through tough defensive lines. Elite airborne units with high levels of readiness that already have a history of involvement in eastern Ukraine. Both short and long-range air defense systems. These are all also worrying signs. They once again, could very well be explained away by large scale offensive wargames, but combined with everything else it raises the blood pressure and anxiety levels of defense analysts such as myself.

Ukraine appears to be reacting to this increasingly tense situation as well. Aside from issuing strong statements and calling for support from the United States, NATO and the West – and receiving at least some military support thus far, it now also appears to be flowing its own reinforcements towards Donbas. It’s well within its right to do so and I can‘t blame it for doing that, but this in itself is a worrying sign that this all could potentially lead to a resumption of fighting not seen since the height of the initial Donbas war – potentially even surpassing it.

Why Is This Happening?

That is the million-dollar question on most Russia and/or military watchers minds right now and everyone on the internet has been offering their two cents as to why Russia is undertaking this buildup. My answer for now is a resounding “we don’t quite know yet.”

Despite the increasing number of concerning factors and unanswered questions raising doubts about the Russian intent behind this buildup, the safe money is still (probably) on this being an attempt at posturing/signaling/intimidation. Russia has many reasons to want to intimidate and posture against Ukraine given their acrimonious relationship since 2014 and far before, but chief among them is discouraging Ukraine from any attempt to retake the rebel-held Donbas or annex Crimea by showing that Russia is willing and able to mobilize its military might to defend their pro-Russian allies. Likewise, it doesn’t hurt to demonstrate to the rest of the world – including other potential adversaries – that you’re able to mobilize and rapidly transport a significant portion of your military across vast distances to meet a perceived threat.

That being said, while posturing is still the most likely outcome, enough unusual facts and elements have emerged with this build-up to raise questions as to whether its only posturing. This is the opinion of Russia analyst Michael Kofman from the Center for Naval Analyses, who was initially far more certain about this being a posturing exercise by Russia. As of today, while still leaning towards posturing and intimidation as the explanation, says there’s still too much uncertainty and concerning factors to be sure of the motive and that the situation still merits cautious and careful observation and analysis before being too sure about what is going on.

None of this is helped by the fact that Russia is notoriously opaque about its intent when it comes to these things, more so than even the usual song and dance of geopolitics that states and nations engage in. Further alarm bells are raised by the way the Russian propaganda machine appears to have suddenly gone into overdrive, both in terms of spreading disinformation on social media, but also in the sudden bellicose tone taken by state-run media as well. All of this raises deeper questions about Russia’s intent in this situation, with no real satisfactory answers so far.

What Might Happen Next?

That’s the next big question on everyone’s minds, after “why this is all happening.” If this is all just posturing, the most likely outcome is Russia decides it has enough forces in the region for its liking, does a series of drills and exercises along the border to try and intimidate Ukraine and the West, and then wraps everything up and sends all the troops back to barracks without incident. The war in Ukraine resumes its Frozen Conflict status – until the next crisis of course – and everything goes back to “normal”.

But what if it’s not all just for show? Could Russia launch a wholesale invasion of Ukraine? That’s not impossible, but it would be a significant escalation on Russia’s part and is probably the least probable of all the outcomes if you were to ask any Russia watcher. If Russia openly launched a full scale invasion of Ukraine, it could at best further isolate and cement its international status as a pariah among nations. At worst, that could even bring NATO fully into the conflict, escalating what was a regional, internal conflict, into a full-scale European or even world war. Again, none that doesn’t mean such an escalation is impossible (unfortunately), but Russia would be taking an exceptional risk – one that I don’t think it would take on a whim and with the eyes of the world on it unless it suddenly had an excellent excuse fall in its lap or it felt it had no other choice in order to defend some vital interest or its very existence as a state.

What might be more likely – and what Kofman lays out in one of his previously mentioned twitter threads – is that a significant escalation of fighting within the Donbas might be in store. We may see fighting of the same intensity as the early days of the war but limited to skirmishes and clashes in that region and not spreading beyond it. That’s not great, sure. But its not as bad as the war spreading beyond the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces and escalating. He also points out that if any escalation happens, it may not be in our immediate future, but could happen later in April or even in May (guess I better strap myself in for a month of anxiety then).

But, even if Russia’s intent is to simply posture, or only to go on the offensive within Donbas, there’s always the possibility that events on the ground could get out of theirs – and Ukraine’s – grasp and escalate of their own volition. When you pump up the propaganda machine, there’s always the possibility that things can take on a life of their own. Add in the fact that the number of both Russia and Ukrainian forces in the area are increasing, tensions are rising, and additional stress and pressure are being put on everyone involved and you may have problems. Even if neither party wants outright war, its important to remember that states and governments are not single, monolithic, rational actors. They are made up of multiple elements with different – sometimes conflicting – interests and goals. This means that even when its absolutely in a state’s best interest to avoid war and its leaders know that a comedy of errors and missteps can potentially lead them right to that war anyway (Full disclosure: there are some decent arguments against this very idea of “accidental” war but I still think its worth mentioning as an aside).

Isn’t Ukraine Fascist Anyway?

Ok, this one is starkly different in tone, but I want to address this claim in particular because it’s making the rounds by tankies and campists alike to basically justify whatever Russia may or may not end up doing in Ukraine. So, let’s deal with it right now, bluntly.

Does Ukraine have a problem with the far right? Absolutely and undisputedly, it does. Has it done a great job at dealing with that problem? Nope, it has not – as some recent evidence shows. However, it does Ukraine and the regular people living there hoping not to become engulfed in fresh fighting a disservice to simply write the entire country off as a fascist state in its entirety. This thread on Twitter does a far better job than I at addressing some of the tankie talking points being used to try and paint Ukraine as a whole of being in the wrong and worthy of destruction while putting Russia up on a pedestal. To put it simply, while the far-right has been a persistent issue in Ukraine since the 2014 revolution, its power and influence is often overstated for propaganda purposes and the far right is more often than not at odds with the government rather than a full integrated part of it – with many Ukrainians protesting against it as well.

Again, I’m not trying to excuse any behavior here. Ukraine continues to disappoint me in not more effectively dealing with this problem – much as the United States and most of Western Europe does. But this is not a reason to simply abandon the country or actively root for Russia to rip it to shreds. Plus, the same people who are likely to promote these kinds of narratives are also the same ones who are likely to ignore that more than a handful of far-right Russians have found themselves fighting on the opposite side of the conflict. You ever wonder why the infamous Russian mercenary group Wagner got its name? Well that was from its founder, who fought in the early stages of the war in Ukraine and took the nickname “Wagner” because he was fascinated with Nazi Germany – Wagner being one of Hitler’s favorite composers – and would wear a World War II-era German steel helmet into combat. So, take that home with you I guess.

There are plenty of things you can criticize the Ukrainian government about. But I don’t think any of them rise to the level of painting Russia as being the ‘good guy’ in any of this. What Russia has done to Ukraine since 2014 is inexcusable and illegal, whether it be the annexation of Crimea, the invasion of Donbas, and other forms of interference and undermining. I have no problem taking a side when I think someone is in the right or in the wrong, as I did with Armenia and Azerbaijan. Whatever you think about Ukraine, its not in the wrong for defending itself.

Why Should I Care?

I usually end these with a mix of “what happens next” with “why should I care”, but seeing as I already hypothesized a bit on what might happen next, I’ll focus on what this should matter to you (though if you’re reading this I’m going to assume you already care somewhat).

From a national security standpoint, what’s going on in Ukraine is important even if it doesn’t escalate. It shows a continuing pattern of concerning behavior by Russia that, even if it doesn’t culminate in a disaster today, could do so another time. The fact that the media seems to hype up any Russian action as potentially being the harbinger of World War III – especially since the 2016 election interference – may make some people numb to Russia’s activities or even actively push back because of a not-unfounded mistrust of mainstream media narratives. Obviously, we shouldn’t treat every suspicious Russian action like the greatest threat to civilization, but we should be able to view them broadly and recognize a pattern of bad behavior that is becoming increasingly more threatening and could eventually spill over into outright conflict if not responded to properly.

If some kind of war does actually emerge from this crisis, then I feel like I shouldn’t have to explain why you should care. If the conflict spreads out from Donbas and draws in surrounding countries or even NATO, obviously we should care as it may become a threat to us. Even if it remains limited to Donbas in particular or Ukraine in general, we should care because of impact it will have on a people who have already been suffering from the effects of over seven years of on-again, off-again warfare – potentially affecting even more.

This is where the leftist angle comes in, and the spirit of internationalism – and part of why I felt I wanted to write this piece, aside from it being an issue that’s important to me and being current. If leftists are going to take a stand against imperialistic attitudes and actions by the United States towards the rest of the world, or those by any of its allies, then it can’t turn a blind eye to imperialist adventures by other states as well. What’s going in in Ukraine is only the latest event in a long and tortured history between Russia and Ukraine going back to when the Tsars first marched into the region and eventually annexed it into the Russian Empire in the 18th century. Whatever you can criticize Ukraine for, you can still support its people wanting to fight back against an imperial power that simply will not leave it alone. Its one thing to simply not be aware of it, but if you actively reject it, then you’re quite simply just a tankie or a campist and are unknowingly – or knowingly – carrying water for Russia and its own brand of oppression.

To be fair, can we really do anything about this? No, I suppose not. I guess if you really want you could go in fight in Donbas but I wouldn’t recommend that (and probably, legally shouldn’t). I realize it’s a lot to ask people to devote mental and emotional energy to caring about this when A.) we have our own pressing concerns at home; and B.) there is virtually nothing most ordinary people can do to have a direct impact on what’s going on in Ukraine. That being said, a point I often return to is you can’t be a leftist without some empathy, and that includes the plight of people in other countries. Being a good leftist means being a good internationalist and caring about the rest of the world and what happens to it and at least offering some words of support.

Likewise, if we ever hope of actually governing and changing anything some day, these are issues we need to be aware of and have actual policies and plans to address with should we ever (hopefully) get to that point. As much as some people might lead you to believe that if the United States ceased to exist that imperialism and war would suddenly vanish, Russia and its history with its neighbors – the vast majority of which predates the founding of the United States – is a pretty good reason to point out why that’s bullshit.

As I said before, this situation is changing day to day, hour to hour. As of writing this, Russian tanks and vehicles are still heading towards Ukraine and there are (unconfirmed) reports of more skirmishes in Donbas – such as around Donetsk airport, the site of previous battles. For the time being, all we can do is remain aware of what’s going on, not jumping to any conclusions but also preparing ourselves for the unexpected and undesired. Simply put: “watch this space.”

While I’m a student of war and fascinated by it, I certainly don’t hope war happens. That’s not something anyone should wish for. As much as I think war is sometimes unavoidable or even necessary, I don’t think this is one of those cases. I don’t have the magic solution to what’s been going on in Ukraine, but I know an intensified war would only mean more suffering and death for everyone involved. Hopefully, the most likely course of action will play out and this will all amount to nothing. If not, we should hope that any conflict that emerges is short, does not escalate to highly destructive heights, and ends in a way maybe buys some stability. We’ll see.

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