#and I think the A and the B probably did do time travel in extended universe

[mnemonicpneumaticknife]

I imagine temporal investigations has a sign up that says "number of ships named Enterprise we are allowed to acknowledge the existence of" and the number goes up every once in a while.

i like to think lucsley’s indignant look here is: “dude we had to take two whole semesters in temporal investigations academy on Jonathan Archer; how could you forget this?”

in a cosmology of star trek sort of way, i take temporal agents bickering about a sixth enterprise unknown to the viewer as the origin point of star trek enterprise.

[makemeimmortalwithahug]

How Could You Think, Darling, I'd Scare So Easily?

Painland Week Day 2 - Myths/Legends

Charles/Edwin - post-canon

y'all remember how I said a few days ago that day 2 for @painlandweek was almost finished? Yeah,, when I went to bed two nights ago, this fic had 500 words. When I woke up again, I thought, hey, just write another 500 words and get back to it to flesh it out sometime later. Yeah, I finished this at 3am and it turned out to be *checks word count* almost 4000 words! Whoops?

Word count: 3726

ao3 link will be added

Title is from Hozier's "Francesca"

TW: body horror (Charles changing forms)

summary:

Hell has made them stronger together, Edwin is sure of that. It has, however, also made Charles anxious to leave Edwin alone for longer periods of time. When Charles doesn't return home for hours and neither Crystal nor Edwin know where he might be, everything leads to a familiar witch who wants to find out how strong the bond between the two ghosts really is when tested.

It had been exactly two months, three weeks and five days since they escaped Hell, found and lost enough to last another lifetime or two and realised the possibility of relative peace existed for them in the form of a trans-dimensional being who had never learnt what “tranquillity” even meant. Edwin agreed that most times, there was too much paperwork to be done to even try to achieve some peace of mind. 

For the most part, though, it was just an excuse. In reality, Edwin struggled with the idea that he could stop running now. After decades of looking over his shoulder, it took an immense amount of effort to direct his gaze at what’s in front of him.

Looking ahead now, all Edwin could see was the empty office, dust dancing over the furniture. The boxing gloves lay forgotten on a table near the entrance door and the football Charles always played with inside despite how much Edwin complained haphazardly rolled under the couch. Everything was still and that was only the beginning of the long list Edwin formulated in his mind of Things That Were Wrong.

Exhibit B: Charles was nowhere to be found. Which, while not particularly sitting right with Edwin, was not an unusual occurrence these days. Charles spent a lot of time with Crystal, helping her get used to her new flat or just keeping her company, watching movies. Crystal always made sure to extend her invitation to Edwin as well and he agreed every once in a while, sitting next to Charles on Crystal’s small but cosy couch, thighs touching. He also enjoyed his time spent with Crystal. She had grown on him and he was quite glad to call her his friend. Edwin lent her the detective novels he loved and in return he listened to what she called “podcasts” about psychology. 

But even so, he knew that the needling to “come over to hers with me, yeah, mate? The movie’s s'posed to be aces” was solely Charles’ doing because he did not like letting him out of his sight ever since Hell. This resulted in Charles excessively checking in on him via mirror every few hours, which most times was met by Edwin with a fondly annoyed eye roll. Edwin was quick to give in when confronted with Charles’ pleading eyes. It was not like he was any different in that regard. Spending time with them was no hardship whatsoever and Edwin had to admit that he found it quite sweet how Charles would look after him.

Which brought him to exhibit C: Charles had been gone for more than five hours and had not checked in on Edwin once in this time. Which had Edwin more worried than was probably warranted. Charles would be just fine, he was sure. He would just take a quick trip to Crystal’s and then he could calmly get back to his work for the Night Nurse. 

Edwin stood up and put the files under their paperweight. Mirror travel had been one of the most fascinating aspects of being a ghost. It required to be precise and focused while not putting any strain on his energy. It took just a fraction of a second until he found himself standing in the middle of Crystal’s living room.

“Holy fuck!” The resounding thump alerted Edwin to their psychic who was clutching her shoulder that she probably hit against the door frame she was currently leaning against, mouth twisted in pain and eyes wide with shock and irritation. “Edwin! How many times do we have to have this conversation until it sticks?”

“Yes, yes, no sudden mirror jumping into your room. I know.” Edwin pursed his lips, looking around. Better get to the point quickly.  “Is Charles here?”

“No, he isn’t. I don’t know where loverboy is, why?”

“He is not home either, has he said anything?”

Crystal flopped down on her couch. “Well, he said he wanted to come ‘round today to help me fix the sink but he didn’t show.” Reaching onto the coffee table for her phone, she checked the time. “Yeah, Charles said he’d be here around two.”

Edwin felt his stomach lurch in anxiety. It was half past five. A chilled silence filled the room as they looked at each other in question.

“Let me grab my jacket.”

“Doesn’t seem any different, right?” 

The agency lay completely untouched, nothing out of the ordinary. Normally, this would ease Edwin’s nerves, seeing as it was his sanctuary, his safe space along with Charles. Now, though, this also meant that there were no clues as to where Charles had gone. 

“Quite,” he agreed. Walking in circles around their desk, he eventually walked up to the window and peered outside. “Maybe there is something outside, he didn’t leave through the mirror.” 

They made their way downstairs, Crystal barely holding onto the railing to not slip on the steps in her hurry while Edwin simply opted to let himself fall through the floor to get to the entrance door as soon as possible. The night creeped in steadily, the shadows growing longer, twisting at their ankles. Their office was located a little off the beaten path, but not too far. When they first started flat-hunting, they were conscious that they had to balance on an incredibly fine line of finding a place just secluded enough to not bear the brunt of the daily London tourism but also don’t attract anyone who might be searching for lost places to scout out. 

This resulted in a beautiful view from their window but dark alleyways that led to seemingly nowhere, cobblestones streets with missing stones and cracks in them. The walls towered over them here, making it harder to distinguish the darkening sky from the roofs and edges. Their living neighbour had hung their bed sheets on the washing lines on the balcony and whenever Edwin blinked and tried to bring his eyes back into focus, they reminded him of David the Demon when they first exorcised him. 

It was dark, dirty and daunting. Nothing looked to be amiss. Except, of course, for the backpack that was sloped against the gutter. Edwin snatched it up and true enough: Charles’ bag of tricks. The straps showed various scratches and the top was stained. Decidedly not a condition Charles would leave his most prized possession in. Crystal was aware of this as well and carefully reached out to read it.

The few seconds that passed while Crystal’s eyes turned white and she stared into the distance were the most agitating of his existence.

Crystal gasped, letting the bag fall to the floor again, supporting herself on her knees. Edwin crouched next to her with his hands fluttering around her, not exactly knowing what he was supposed to do to help her. 

Resurfacing, she stood up again, shooting Edwin a small grateful smile that quickly blinked away again.

“Esther’s back,” she announced and tucked her jacket tighter around her. “She ambushed him here and took him.”

And Edwin’s world broke into pieces, shattering from the sky onto the puddle-ridden street and breaking the moonshine.

He didn’t say anything at first, every word vanished from his mind.

“I might know where they are, though. Or, I can find out.”

“How?” His voice sounded rough - harsh, but Crystal didn’t get angry. She knew that this was not borne of anger but sheer gripping despair.

“She had a business card on her and when Charles tried to defend himself, he caught a glimpse.”

This, more than anything, gave Edwin the determination needed to hoist the backpack onto his shoulder.

“Let us not waste any time, then. Do you think this internet you have might be of help?”

“For sure, Edwin,” she answered, petting his shoulder.

If Edwin hadn’t been out of his mind worrying about Charles, leaving him with sparsely any mental capacities to think about anything else, then he could have admitted that Coupeville, Washington was a tranquil but charming little town. With its little art stores and cafes, it gave a delightfully unassuming appearance.

Edwin hated every moment. For the sake of not leaving Crystal alone - he tried to silence the voice in his head that whispered you couldn’t take care of Charles either -, he had suffered through another flight, a ferry and multiple train rides. 

Crystal huffed as she dragged her suitcase up the stairs.

“She couldn’t have been less creative, huh? Relocating one ferry-ride away.” Which was true. Port Townsend could be reached in less than an hour. 

Personally, he could not care less whether she called this town or the bloody Empire State Building her home. All he cared about was getting Charles back as soon as possible.

They quickly checked into a hotel to get rid of the suitcase. Insisting that she had slept enough while travelling, they immediately headed to the address that Crystal had found out using the business card - a brewery. 

It must have been well visited only a few weeks ago, the dust had not properly set yet. But the lights were out and the doors were barricaded. Quickly nodding at Edwin, Crystal got on the way to find a window she could climb through while Edwin seized the opportunity to phase through the doors. Darkness enveloped him and he could not hear a single sound. 

He slowly made his way across the reception area, trying to get a feeling for how big the building really was and where Esther might have been hiding in here. If there was actually any connection to Charles’ disappearance and this place, anyway. But Edwin couldn’t stop and think about this very real possibility. 

Focusing on his surroundings, he noticed suspicious lines behind a grandfather clock on his left. And sure enough, upon examining them up close, there was a small door hidden behind it. Anxious excitement coursed through his body and he waited impatiently for Crystal’s arrival. 

“Searched for the entrance for celebrities, did you?”

“Shut it. Let’s move this clock.”

Despite taking a few tries, at last they found themselves faced with the entirety of the door. The handle was made out of iron, but Edwin didn’t hesitate to grab it despite the pain and the indignant screech Crystal let sound. 

“Are you out of your fucking mind? You might still need that hand.”

“Irrelevant and inaccurate, I won’t lose it by touching iron for a few seconds, do not be silly. And regardless, Charles does matter more right now.” He tried to hide the red swelling on his palm but he was not ignorant enough to think that Crystal actually hadn’t noticed.

“A plan is needed. I would suggest you wait here, in case Esther is not here and tries to surprise us.” 

“Alright.” Crystal nodded. “Don’t do anything stupid, yeah? Charles wouldn’t forgive anyone if you got hurt.”

Least of all himself went unsaid but they both heard it all the same. 

Edwin inclined his head, opened the door and went inside.

The room unfolding in front of him was surprisingly spacious but shockingly empty except for the enormous carpet. Sliding onto his knees, he felt the cloth and without a doubt: laced with magic. It was easy enough to counter the spell that acted as both a means to soundproof and seal without a lock whatever lay underneath it. 

Moving it aside, he was faced with a basement and without a second thought, jumped down.

Like a moth to a flame, Edwin’s eyes immediately found Charles in the completely dark room. 

“Charles,” he breathed, the name echoing off the walls like a prayer. 

Charles was slumped against the far wall, hands in cuffs mounted next to head which was lolling unoriented. When he finally looked up, Edwin was met with a disbelieving smile. But before Edwin could reciprocate, a look of blinding terror coloured Charles’ face pale.

“Edwin!” he hissed, pulling at his cuffs which brought tears to his eyes in pain. “Please, please leave, Edwin, she’s after you.” 

Edwin didn’t even think about leaving without Charles. All it took was the span of a blink and Edwin fell to his knees beside him, trying to find magical leeway for him to put the cuffs out of action, but to his dismay he realised that Esther had reinforced her strategy, not just opting for simple iron but also a curse. 

“What? What do you mean by that?” he asked, only half listening as he mentally flipped through all the knowledge he had on this kind of magic.

“She,” Charles began, coughing, “She said she was impressed that we escaped last time. She wants to get rid of me first and see how much it’d raise your pain level to drain you again. Put a curse on me too, in case you showed up.”

That got Edwin’s attention. “What?! Do you feel alright? What kind of curse?” 

“Eh.” Charles’ head lolled to the side again, as if he was losing consciousness. “She wants to try sacrificing me and if you tried to rescue me, I’d turn in all kinds of horrible beasts. Wouldn’t want to hold onto me then, she said. Wants to see how far you’d go.” 

“Charles, Charles!” Edwin held him by the shoulders, careful not to jostle him. “I’d go anywhere for you, do you understand? A curse is not going to stop me.”

But Charles was barely there anymore, teetering on the edge of oblivion. “S’ planned for t’morrow. I won’t blame you for letting go, mate, you were scared for so long, don’t need any more of that, yeah?” And then he fell into something close to sleep but what most likely resembled unquiet rest.

There was nothing he could do against the cuffs, not with no grasp on what exact kind of magic he was dealing with and no idea how much time he had left until Esther would show up.

Edwin put a hand to Charles’ cheek. “Don’t worry, I’ll hold onto you, Charles, stay strong.”

With one last glance to his love, he began climbing back out of the basement.

Upon reading up on locations with magical and sacrificial history in Washington, Edwin concluded that their best chance was a secluded part of coastline, the stony beach along with the clear view of the sky providing the perfect atmosphere. 

Edwin and Crystal were hiding in the underwood, watching Esther where she was standing near the shore, when suddenly, something moved right in front of them. 

Crystal gasped. “Did- did the path just move?”

Quickly, he shushed her. “No, there is no path,” he whispered, “there is only the beach. That is a snake.”

True enough: a black snake slithered up to the ritual circle Esther had set up. This snake was even bigger than the one in Esther’s house in Port Townsend and tied to its back, there was Charles.

“Okay,” he said softly, “wish me luck.”

Consolingly, Crystal put her hand on his shoulder. “You don’t need luck. Go get him. I’ll deal with Esther.”

They stood up and sneaked closer. From a safe distance, Crystal started tapping into her powers. Edwin trusted her, therefore he turned to Charles straight away. 

Edwin had also found a remedy for the cuffs’ curse, which made it easy to pull him off, hugging him close and making it just far enough away to give Crystal the opportunity to handle the snake.

Tightening his arms around Charles, who was panting against his neck, it didn’t take long until he could feel Charles’ body morph. 

When Charles told him that he’d turn into various beasts, Edwin had thought about what he had been afraid of when he was still alive. After seventy years in Hell, any scary children’s story he had heard lost its appeal. When he was ten, his neighbour’s children had told him a story about Spring-heeled Jack who’d haunt the streets of London but also other areas of Britain. They told him about his terrifying looks with his claws, jumping at passersby to scratch them and then back into the night. 

Thinking back now, though, Edwin would gladly face a hundred variations of Spring-heeled Jack all alone if it meant that Charles would be safe and sound in their office come next morning.

“I’ve got you, Charles,” he mumbled. He didn’t respond and as Edwin looked up at him, he came face-to-face with a doll version of Charles, his eyes unseeing and mouth twisted in a numb smile, a hollow feeling to his body. Edwin could see his own face reflected in Charles’ eyes, unease boiling slowly under his skin. Where Charles’ hold on him had been strong and desperate only moments ago, now it was stiff and felt like porcelain. Edwin’s fear of dolls was real and tangible but he was far more scared of letting Charles go and shattering him on the stones.

He pressed Charles closer to him.

He stayed in this form for a while until Edwin felt a shift again. This time, Charles resembled the demon that had dragged Edwin to Hell. He was a familiar sight albeit an unpleasant one, so Edwin just put his forehead to Charles’ shoulder and waited it out, the haze around them slowly dissipating.

Next was the thing one of his demons had traded him to. He maintained that it was worse than a demon, for the simple reason that there were characteristics one could apply to a demon, it was possible to create a definition and know what to expect when one encountered a demon. This thing, however, was less a physical form and more a foreboding. The feeling deep in the bones that something horrible was imminent and no matter how hard one would try to work against it, failure was predestined. A looming presence - a threat. There was a voice in the back of the mind, whispering knowingly about every mistake he ever made and it was all your fault, right? Niko dying, Charles getting hurt, Crystal being dragged along to all of this, having been in Hell? But you don’t need me to tell you that, you already think so.

It was a sick trick and his only enemy in this was his own mind. But Edwin had grown, he had realised that thinking something didn’t have to reflect reality. And while he did blame himself for all these things from time to time, it was a passing sorrow. None of the people involved in these thoughts would want him to condemn himself and after his second time in Hell, Edwin had understood that he needed to show himself self-respect as well. Hell was an error Edwin had had no control over.

He did, however, have control over not letting Charles fear that he would be afraid enough to leave him. Because he was quite sure that underneath these appearances, Charles was conscious of what was happening and scared out of his mind.

“Don’t worry,” he whispered. “It’s alright.”

The fourth form was the spider-doll-demon. Its many arms were gripping Edwin’s back, the dolls’ heads pressing into his chest and neck. Edwin tried to slow his breathing. He spent more than seventy years running away from this demon and being so close to it was associated with blinding pain, being torn apart over and over again. 

Maybe now was the time to finally stop running and face his fear head-on. And so he looked straight at it, staring lovingly beneath its surface where he knew Charles was.

One second to the other, the demon was gone. There was no other figure, but Edwin still felt Charles’ presence and he tensed up at once, realising what this particular fear resembled: Charles was invisible, gone from his sight. No means for him to see him again, the only thing left for him to do was anxiously grip where Charles’ shoulders were supposed to be and not let Charles jerk away if he saw the horror on Edwin’s face. This was the only shape that compelled Edwin to screw his eyes shut. 

Time passed until he felt Charles change one more time. This was the only one not tailored specifically to one of Edwin’s fears and it showed him that he had been right in assuming where Esther had drawn her inspiration for this act from.

Charles resembled a burning coal, the heat licking at Edwin’s skin. He embraced him tightly, stood up with him and dragged him into the water. Below the surface, he could see Charles turning back into himself, his bright eyes the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. Nothing had ever felt as right as holding Charles in his arms.

Bubbles appeared in front of Charles’ mouth even though he didn't need to breathe and Edwin erupted spontaneously into laughter at the ridiculous sight of Charles trying to speak underwater. Despite being in the water, he felt himself get teary-eyed. He didn’t even try to fool himself into thinking that they would not both be sobbing messes as soon as they resurfaced. But for now all he needed to do was drink in Charles’ smile.

Back on the shore, Crystal was busy brushing off her jeans.

“Boys!” she yelled as soon as she saw them, running towards them and pulling them both into a hug at the same time. “Esther’s gone, let’s hope for good.”

“Yeah,” Charles whispered, putting one arm around Edwin’s hips. 

Crystal pulled back, smiling knowingly but in a comforting way. “So glad you’re both alright. I’ll go check to make sure no one here accidently saw me fighting a huge snake and a witch. Meet me at the hotel, yeah?” With that, she walked back in the direction of the trees. 

Charles turned to Edwin, smiling shyly. “So, you kept holding me,” he stated.

“Nothing has ever been easier, Charles.” He put his hands on Charles’ shoulders again. They fit so well there.

They hugged once more.

“You know,” Edwin mused, playing with Charles’ hair, “it was like Tam Lin.”

“Mhh?” Charles mumbled, he sounded tired. “What’s that?”

“A legendary Scottish ballad. Not letting your love go, no matter what.”

“Oh.” Charles’ eyes were wide. “Does that one end in tragedy too?”

Edwin smiled. “No, it ends precisely like this.” And Charles’ smile was brilliant as he leaned in and kissed Edwin.

[nordleuchten]

I saw a post the other day that listed a number of facts about La Fayette and while I am more than just a bit skeptical with regards to some of these “facts”, I also hate to correct other people in such a manner. Anyway, there was one remark (well, actually two) that made me think in particular.

First, let us all say it together - La Fayette did not come to America disguised as a woman.

With that out of the way – Slavery. Just like in that post, La Fayette is often praised for his stance against slavery and for raising the topic with prominent slaveholders like Washington and Jefferson. And all that is true. La Fayette was against slavery, he spoke up for enslaved individuals, most notably James Armistead Lafayette, and spoke against the institution of slavery in general. He also let actions follow his words. Now, were all of his actions crowned with success – no. Where his ideas and approaches always the best ways to handle the problem – no. But he took an almost lifelong stance at a time when many people were content with saying nothing or even outright profiting from slavery.

Now, here is a point that brings the complexity and that many of these “have some random facts about La Fayette he was so great” posts not quite capture – and to be fair, that is also not what they are aiming for.

Slavery and the participation in the system were for La Fayette not necessarily deal brakers.

What do I mean by that? La Fayette owned land in Louisiana and was one day approached by John Gravier, who owned land nearby and wanted to buy some of La Fayette’s land. He offered La Fayette to pay either in “real” money or in enslaved people. La Fayette was frankly disgusted by the second proposal – and he wrote so in a letter to James Madison, a slaveholder and someone who, most likely, I am not an expert on Madison, also sold and bought enslaved people and maybe even used them as “barging chips” in some form of financial transaction. La Fayette urged Washington to join him in his plantation project because he was keenly aware of the mojo Washington’s participation could have. Washington refused and La Fayette did not seem to hold too many grudges. Was he disappointed? Probably, even likely – but he still looked up to Washington. I do not want to fire up this puppy-love narrative, but the fact remains, that La Fayette, until the end of his life, remembered Washington very fondly, praised, him, considered him a friend, mentor and even father-figure. He certainly was aware of the problem with Washington being a slaveholder, otherwise La Fayette would not have stirred up the topics that he did – but it was in the end no deal breaker for him. Same thing with people like Jefferson, Monroe or Madison. Jefferson is particular interesting since La Fayette wrote Jefferson many letters where he broached this topic. From the way these letters are phrased I often wonder if a) La Fayette thought Jefferson his friend and as such was determined to tell him everything on his mind, regardless of Jefferson’s own opinion on the matter, b) La Fayette believed Jefferson when the latter wrote that he actually was also against slavery, or c) La Fayette knew that he could write about everything and Jefferson could not protest without retracting his own statements.

Anyway, La Fayette could criticize slavery, quite harshly even, he could call enslavers criminals, he could spend a lot of time and money and effort to take actions and proof to the world that it could be done – but he could also call Washington the “patriarch of liberty”, praise Jefferson and assure both of them of his deep and everlasting affection. It also did not stop him from staying at plantations like Mount Vernon or Monticello. While he always travelled with a number of servants who were in his employ, free, and well paid, it is impossible to stay at a place like Mount Vernon, especially for an extended period of time, and not, in some shape or for, profit from the labour of the enslaved workers there. We do not know what La Fayette thought about that, if it maybe even reinforce his views. We do know that he raised the subject of slavery and abolition when he met Jefferson and Washington in person – but when it came to his friends, it was not a deal breaker for him. He definitly used his friendships to be an influence on Washington, Jefferson and the likes and we can not look into his head to see what his motives or thoughts were in regards to this topic. Human relations are often a web of complex emotions.

I do not want to downplay what he did, but we should also not forget that his engagement was not perfect, he was not perfect – and with that I thank you all for listening to my little rant. :-)

[universe-prime]

At long last it's finally DONE😩

For anyone who's been following my old Fugitoid doodles, you'd probably notice that the design has been quite inconsistent between each drawing, so I finally made myself solidify just HOW I wanted my Rise iteration to look. It's kinda funny tbh because I originally started this entire journey thinking "man I like Fugitoid, it's a shame that it's only used as a plot device or exposition machine" to essentially building up an entire new backstory and lore as if this were my own child LOL

Anyway, here are some of my doodle notes and concepts for this lad, as well as other notes to expand even more!!

○ this version of Fugitoid doesn't possess any weapons, except for the tazer-like attachment that their hand can turn into. This is mostly for self-defense and as a last ditch effort because(for obvious reasons) they aren't physically very strong

○ speaking of self-defense, although they don't/can't fight, the Fugitoid is INCREDIBLY bendy and agile to the point that you gotta question if there's even any solid mechanisms in there at all. They can extend and shorten their limbs to an unknown length, all in an effort to be as hard to grab or hit as possible

○ along with these mechanisms, there are so many other attachments and configurations that the Professor is capable of!! What I've drawn is merely a fraction of what they can do, and the stuff I've thought of is about 80% practical and 20% just comedic effect. For instance, the built in skates and extending eye-microscope is totally a daily use thing, but I imagine if it was on the show, there would be gags where a button would be pressed and it'd have a toaster oven in its chest or a full knitting set stored away. My reasoning is mostly that A) the Fugitoid has had a lot of time with this body and wants to be prepared for any situation and B) I just think it's funny°☆

○ on the topic of being in this body, this Fugitoid is WAY older than they might seem. I can't accurately say if they're older than other iterations, simply because I'm not sure if an exact age or time was ever given for those bots, but I can say that the Professor has been dealing with this for many, many, many years. Too many to even count on one hand. It can't stay in one place for long or else it'd risk being found out, but its travels span across many different plants across many different galaxies, all with their own sense of time and distance. Not to mention the time dilation that goes on in travel like that, but needless to say...this bot is incredibly old LOL

○ for those that are curious, "my" Professor goes by any pronouns! They/he/she/it, it doesn't really care at this point. Maybe in its early life it did, but by now, there's bigger things to worry about

○ for any of those also wondering about how this Fugitoid looked before this whole...robot body situation well..👀 I plan on making a separate post for that, but for now just know that they won't look humanoid in the slightest. It always irked me a little seeing the Professor "alive" and he's just...a human or some pointy-eared guy because!! Come on!!! This is an alien! Let it look freaky!!! Where is the spice!! The flavor!?

○ Lastly(and this is mostly just notes on the design) but I added more teal/green to the look cause I liked the color and thought it was such a shame that the only use of it on the Fugitoid was in the face. I just thought it'd be nice to use it more to kinda break up the monotonous white and grey of their usual body

[invisibleraven]

Going with B F V for peterpatterlina

b = bed; what’s the sleeping situation like? are there regular sleeping arrangements - does anyone like to sleep alone?

I've often posited that Luke has a pretty tumultuous relationship with sleep, often staying up late, losing track of time writing, and survives a lot on naps. But he lets Julie and Reggie pull him to bed more often than not, because he can shut his brain off and enjoy cuddles, even if he doesn't sleep as much as they do.

I also think they have a system over who gets to be in the middle, because otherwise there's a fight about it, but they will cede their turn if one of them feels vulnerable/in need of comfort. The only time they sleep apart is if one of them is really sick and doesn't want the other two to get it, but they never sleep as well as they do together.

Also once they have kids they get the biggest bed they can find because five people do not fit comfortably.

f = fights; are arguments something that happen often? what are they over, and how are they resolved?

I mean, fights happen, they just do. Probably never big ones, but sometimes people lose their tempers or take out their frustrations when they shouldn't.

I'd say that they fight over Luke needing to prioritize their relationship over music, over Reggie maybe taking a joke or something too far, over Julie being done with certain shit and misunderstanding a situation.

I'd say they all try to take their time to sulk, to calm down and then come back and talk it out. Luke is not allowed to apologize in song. They might get perspective from others to come back and rationalize their reactions. I can also see them going to counseling-not because of a fight, but because any relationship, let alone one between three people takes a lot of work, and they want to keep it working, so the outside perspective of a professional keeps things healthy.

v = vacations; how do holidays go? are they big exotic trips, or the occasional staycation?

I think once they get famous they do go on a few big trips, seeing some landmarks that they've always wanted to tick off their lists. I can see Julie wanting the boys to visit Puerto Rico with her, meet her extended family, see where her mom grew up.

I bet Reggie wants to see Dollywood, and Graceland. Luke wants to visit Seattle to see where grunge was born, and to check out the music scene there. Once they have kids they go to Disney more than once.

They do private beaches a lot-away from fans and publicity, give them time to recharge, to regroup, to enjoy family time without people coming up for a picture or an autograph. They might do a staycation every so often, play the tourist in LA with the standard famous person disguise of a ballcap and sunglasses.

I also totally see Reggie wanting to rent an RV to travel America before the kids get too old, show them MeeMaw's farm. It goes okay for a few states before they are all kind of over it-but they stick it out to say they did it, and then vow to never again do the family road trip thing-too much time on tour buses should have warned them really.

[dragonholler]

Field Notes II

I have been slogging through marshlands for the last three days, and I still have a week of travel before I reach Marquet. This is what I get for deciding to take the back road instead of taking the lane like a normal traveler. I was so excited about the nature and the mud and the funny trees that grow out in the wetlands, I completely forgot about the nhipids.

Generally speaking, I don't mind bugs. I'm out traveling a good chunk of the time, and you don't pick a career that requires sleeping rough if you have a severe aversion to things with more than two legs.

But the nhipids, Dys alive! I swear, if I find one more of these little bastards in my boot I am going to launch the damn thing into the nearest bog. Not even intentionally, it will just happen the second my heel connects with all those teeth. Frankly, it's a feat of restraint and patience on my part that I haven't squished one already.

But that's the thing with nhipids. They're colony creatures- you squish one, you make an enemy of them all. Which is incredibly inconvenient when they're the size of a button and composed mostly of teeth. I spent fully half a bell coaxing one out of the sleeve of my jacket yesterday morning. Miserable.

When I get back to civilization I am buying a puff net and billing it to Al, that'll do it. I don't care if I have to drape it over me like one of those shrouds those buckwild courtiers use to hide their faces while they eat endangered birds, if it will keep these things out of my hair while I sleep it will be worth it.

On the positive side, I lost whatever tail the shitwizard put on me about a half-league out of Hamitsdown. Wuss. I'm not surprised. Darnas doesn't seem the type to work long-distance, and honestly I don't think anyone working for him is paid highly enough to get knee deep in. . . whatever I've been kicking through these days.

As mucky and bug-filled as it may be, I'll still arrive at Marquet's farm in plenty of time to do some real kicking around for a few days. Get the lay of the land, maybe try some mushrooms. Provided they are a) safe for consumption and b) he doesn't see me eat anything that usually ain't. I've never had a blue tri-cap, I wonder what one of those would do to me. The red ones just make my eyesight go double for like an hour.

I haven't decided what I want to focus on for this interview. I'm interested in Marquet's whole mushroom raising thing, for sure, but where am I going with it, you know? Probably what he's growing and why it would be worth poking at, maybe something in there about his farm hands, how he got started, how his goals for long-term, etcetera. I will think on this as I hike- we're uphill and sticky today.

Dysthet, I hope Al never sees this. He hates my "unedited shitstack". Or, as I like to call it, my notebook.

Okay, so, as I sit here huddled in my insufficiently warm packnest (I had to add on padding to stop shivering- haven't pulled that trick in a bell or two) at ass-o'clock in the morning, once again attempting to will a hot beverage to appear in my hand (still can't light fires with mind, still trying), I have been struck with the uncomfortable knowledge that I. . . don't actually like how close to Desire's tower I am going to have to pass today.

It's not as bad as it could have been- she's closer to the main road than she is to this swamp by a couple of leagues, but I still hate it.

I did the calculations, and I should, theoretically, be out of her range by an acceptable margin. This is, or course, entirely dependent on her being in her tower while I pass (it's gonna take me at least the entire afternoon and a chunk of the evening), and banking on her not having extended her field too dramatically. Which, to be honest, would be a waste of energy, but that doesn't mean she wouldn't do it. She could easily give herself a boost by attaching some intention to one of her beasties, and if one of them gets close enough I'll. . . well, I might still be fine.

It's not like she'd recognize me, physically anyway. But I don't know how much of me Murdoch gave her, what she might of done with it, how attuned she is, or how interested their whole crew still is in me, or if they still have Sana on my ass about it- there are a lot of things I don't know, and I can feel myself spiraling about it. 

But this is why I travel light. I'll put on some muscle and start hauling ass, maybe I can get by before dusk falls.

One million cenz for me! We dropped down the last rise of the mountain and around Desire's wood in record time, and we’re nearly back into the marshes. I might even be abl-

.

.

.

Okay, I definitely jumped the lede on that one. I just spent a disgustingly sweat-inducing three bells stuck up this tree while one of Desire's hounds took a nap not eight yards below me. The poor thing was half-baked and already rotting, she must have been running it hard for ages already. It was breathing so heavily, it must have lost half its ability to scent- it didn't so much as glance up my tree, which was a relief, sure, but doesn't speak well of Desire's care and keeping habits. Not that they were ever that good. I could have gone the rest of my life without being reminded of that smell.

It should be far enough gone now. I'm going to put a few more leagues behind me before I stop for the night, I think.

While this little jaunt may have been a closer call than I am comfortable with, the important part is that we're through it. Which I will continue to tell myself until I stop sweating.

I'm right around the ridge from Marquet's border, and I've spent long enough slogging through swamps and keeping off any path, trail, or otherwise way-marking route that I'm confident I'd have lost anything that might have been following me, just in case. It's poor form to bring trouble to interview subjects, and I'm not planning on starting today.

Afterwards I won't need to be anywhere with any hurry, so I think I'll take the long way back to Hamitsdown. Any distance I can keep between me and one of Murdoch's, the better.

EC

[scalpho]

HUNTING DOGS BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF EACH OTHER: THE ULTIMATE POST

jouno and tecchou frequently bicker (or, rather, jouno frequently complains) over who is the strongest hunting dog - and the few altercations we DO see between the hunting dogs are a) barely altercations (tecchou stabbing jouno's foot, jouno and tecchou almost dueling before being stopped) or b) against fukuchi with ame no gozen.

so, i was thinking - if the hunting dogs fought each other, who would win?

i decided to go with 1v1 match-ups for the sake of simplicity - here's every possible 1v1 hunting dog match-up and what i think the outcome would be if they fought. with swords (NOT magic overpowered time-travelling swords - looking at you, fukuchi) and abilities. let's go

TACHIHARA vs JOUNO

tachihara's at an immediate disadvantage since jouno has the full enhancement surgery, and tachihara doesn't. and, surgeries aside, i think jouno's ability would give him the edge over tachihara, considering how much tachihara struggled against tanizaki (light snow holding some similarities to priceless tears) during the cannibalism arc. so, overall, i think this one would go to jouno.

TACHIHARA vs TECCHOU

tecchou's main strength is his sword . And we see what tachihara did to fukuchi. metal's kinda useless against tachihara! without ame no gozen, fukuchi would have gotten his ass handed to him - since tecchou doesn't have ame no gozen, tachihara probably has the upper hand here. The only issue is that, if tecchou got close enough, he could probably kick tachihara's ass without a sword - but i'd still give it to tachihara.

TACHIHARA vs TERUKO

teruko doesn't even need her sword. she'd jump onto him like a rabid animal, turn him into a 5 year old, and tear him to pieces. and he doesn't have the surgical enhancements to defend himself from it. teruko has this in the bag.

JOUNO vs TECCHOU

i think they'd find themselves at a stalemate for a while due to priceless tears. jouno could quite easily use his ability to dodge tecchou's sword, but, at the same time, he can't really win by constantly dodging. he'd probably have to materialise fully and actually Fight tecchou, and i think if it came down to that, tecchou would win. much to jouno's annoyance.

JOUNO vs TERUKO

as soon as teruko makes contact with jouno, she can use her ability to make him extremely old or young and that's practically an instant win. however, jouno has the perfect ability for dodging contact. but he can't dodge forever, so i think teruko would eventually win. one of them is bound lose their patience somewhere along the line, and as soon as jouno's a singular mass instead of a bunch of separated particles, teruko's probably got it in the bag. it'd take a damn long time though

TECCHOU vs TERUKO

i think it'd be a close call. tecchou's called the strongest swordsman for a reason, AND he has the advantage of being able to fight from a distance due to his ability. his sword can extend, but teruko's arm cannot, as far as i'm aware. if he slipped up and gave her an opening, she'd take it, but provided that he's strategic enough to consistently keep his distance? this one probably goes to tecchou.

fukuchi has already fought 2/4 of his subordinates, but here are some guesses for fukuchi fight outcomes WITHOUT ame no gozen!

FUKUCHI vs TACHIHARA

in the canon fukuchi vs tachihara, tachihara had that shit in the bag. he was SO close to defeating fukuchi, and the only reason he didn't win was ame no gozen. without it? tachihara's got this.

FUKUCHI vs JOUNO

jouno's goal in 93 was to escape the room, not to fight fukuchi, so it's not a great gauge for what would happen in a proper battle. the one hit he did land on fukuchi can be credited to jouno having the element of surprise. if they actually fought, i think fukuchi would win. similarly with jouno vs tecchou, fukuchi seems to hold the greater fighting prowess (his ability amplifies his already insane hunting dog strength), and jouno can't dodge forever.

FUKUCHI vs TERUKO

fukuchi is strong, but i'm unsure that would still help him out if teruko turns him into a toddler. so. teruko.

FUKUCHI vs TECCHOU

i... actually have no idea. both of their main strengths are sword fighting, but we've never really seen fukuchi using a sword other than ame no gozen. on that note, we've never seen either of them in an actual swordfight - just them using their swords against people who are armed with a different kind of weapon, or not armed at all. so it's hard to gauge. tecchou's supposedly the strongest swordsman of the hunting dogs, but fukuchi's ability amplifies the strength of his weapon anyways, so they're probably somewhat evenly matched. i really do not know. maybe tecchou, since he's not burdened with The Guilt, or a bad back. who knows

[yr-obedt-cicero]

so i'm pretty sure you said that historically, hamilton most likely didn't have any sort of accent, and if he did he probably would've lost it at some point, but, would the same go if he existed in modern times? sorry if this is a completely ridiculous question.

Really depends, I think this is more personally based than something that can be researched. As someone who's never been to the Carribean, nor have ever had an accent change over time, I can only give a minimal answer at best. A number of European powers - not just England - colonized the Caribbean and West Indies. The various islands were also settled by various groups of people from various regions and with various cultural backgrounds. Because of their colonization, other islands have a stronger Spanish or French influence. It's also worth noting that many Caribbean and West Indian countries were colonized for centuries, with colonizers frequently imposing their own language and culture on indigenous populations. Furthermore, the islands' populations were frequently made up of people of various ethnicities, including enslaved Africans and indigenous peoples. All of these factors aided in the development of distinct accents and dialects throughout the Caribbean and West Indies. Especially due to the fact that the West Indies was often used as a international trading system for the slave trade, some islands have more African influence in their speech patterns. The accent is not as apparent as somebody from Europe traveling to America, but it does have it's own regional dialects and slang.

Having said that, many people agree with research that claims accents become permanent around the age of twelve. Accents can change over time, and adults can develop a subtle accent after living in a foreign country for an extended period of time. Psychologist John B. Arden wrote that; “The more you talk to people who don't share your accent, the greater is the chance that your accent will fade. For example, both my parents grew up in the Greater Boston area. A few years after I was born, my family moved west. My parents gradually lost their Boston accents as they spoke with people who had moved west from all over the country or who had grown up there.” [x]

So, if we follow this base of logic, in 1773 Hamilton officially made it to the Colonies—And depending on what birthday year you side with (1755 or 1757), Hamilton was either eighteen or sixteen at the time. This would have given enough time for any accent to surely be imprinted, but it is likely by his twenties the accent will have faded some with time. Especially if the shame of coming from the Islands is still prevalent in this modernization, Hamilton likely would have tried to give himself as much of an American accent as he could. But again, it all really depends on what you're planning for this whole hypothetical situation, did it still take Hamilton eighteen-sixteen years to get to America? Would he still face the prejudice he did like back in the 18th century to try and mask his accent? The accent could also be reappearing in some cases even after having assimilated it, like saying certain words with a drawl (This does happen to me a bit, where I struggle to say words without rolling my R's, even when it's unnecessary to do so).

But again, I can't really say with very little experience on the matter. I can only really read other's experiences and try to draw a conclusion from there.

[bloodelves88]

I Think I Don't Like Gaming Anymore

25 years. It's been approximately 25 years since I've started playing video games as a hobby. The games that left a memorable impression on me as a child or teenager were games like Red Alert 1, Doom, Starcraft, GTA: Vice City & San Andreas, Warcraft 3, Runescape, Little Fighter 2, Worms, Dragon Age, Mass Effect Trilogy, Assassin's Creed 1 and 2, Shattered Galaxy, Rakion, and probably a lot more that isn't surfacing to the top of my head right now.

I spent so much time playing these games. I didn't even play some of these games "properly" - I don't think I ever completed GTA: Vice City. All I ever did was muck around, blowing things up, and causing chaos. But somehow, I could spend hours doing it.

In Rakion (a PvP game), I spent hundreds of hours playing from level 1 to 10. I did that because players were matchmaked into three different level brackets. 1 to 10, 11 to 30, and 31+. Rakion was a free to play game with a cash shop, and pay to win reared its ugly head beyond level 10. So what I did was to always delete my character once it hit level 11, and just repeated everything within level 1 to 10. I had fun.

These days? I get bored and tired after an hour or two.

I started playing The Last of Us Part 1 a few days ago, and I'm already using a trainer to make things easier (i.e. cheat). I can't die, I have infinite ammo, and everything dies in one shot. But why, why am I doing such a thing?

Well, I've started to notice a particular set of feelings that arise within me whenever I play a video game nowadays. These feelings can be things like:

This is a chore

What a pain in the ass

This was only fun in the first hour of the game

This was only fun the first time I did it

What a waste of time

I just want to rush through it so that I can experience the story and complete the game

Crafting, gathering, ammo management, stealth, underwater areas, dark areas, it's all a chore to me nowadays.

Maybe an argument can be made that such mechanics aren't particularly fun to begin with, so my feelings might be understandable.

But what if these feelings extend to core gameplay mechanics?

Shooters - Shooting enemies from behind cover. Running from point A to point B. Getting headshots.

RTS - Collecting resources to build your base. Training up an army. Exploring the map.

MMOs - Travelling great distances. Earning gold. Doing dungeons and raids repeatedly to farm gear and rewards. Dealing with people. Doing dailies.

Core gameplay mechanics might not be a "chore", but they tend to drift towards "this is only fun in the first hour of the game".

I do have some guesses as to why I'm getting these feelings.

There's been no new core gameplay within video games for the past 5 years that have been really solid. I've tried Rollerdrome but it got old after a while. I haven't tried Hi-Fi Rush.

There's really nothing new, man. Every single game is just made up of the same few mechanics, wrapped up in a different skin. Fantasy, sci-fi, anime style. No matter how epic, cool, or amazing it looks, deep down it's just the same old thing all over again.

Games tend to do a very poor job to keep things fresh throughout the whole game. Once you've played a few hours of it, then you've experienced all the game has to offer gameplay wise.

I've been a story motivated gamer for quite a long time, and it's possible that what I've been seeking out are good stories and good experiences. Video games were just the vessel I used to obtain these.

It's also possible that all I wanted was a sense of progression, and the methods weren't important. This is probably why I enjoy mobile gacha games with auto-play functionality nowadays. You get to progress, but you don't need to actively grind. It basically removes the problems of it being a chore, a pain in the ass, and a waste of time. Yet it allows me to progress and experience the story (Honkai: Star Rail is so far, the best game in 2023 for me).

The video game industry, especially in the AAA space, is producing a lot of junk lately. I mean, check out this wall of shame: https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/13sjzft/we_would_like_to_apologize_please/

And even if the game isn't junk, it's filled with season passes and pay to win junk, still has to be bought before playing, and has none of the upsides of gacha games I mentioned above.

Everything is liked nowadays. My previous blog post: https://bloodelves88.tumblr.com/post/702607969068662784/everything-is-liked-nowadays

I'm just losing patience, growing old, getting tired, etc.?

I do still enjoy some new games though, but I'm not sure why. They don't seem to be that different, but I still enjoyed them from start to end. The Yakuza series, Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West, The Final Fantasy VII Remake, and Final Fantasy XIV are examples of new games I enjoyed.

All in all, I'm still not sure what to make of these feelings I have. I think I want to set video games aside and play less of it, but it's not easy to just do that for a 25 year old hobby. I doubt I'll ever drop video games from my life completely, but to stop keeping up with video game news, to stop exploring and trying out most of the new games that come out every year - it's going to be a strange feeling. Old habits die hard.

[thedragonagelesbian]

General 3, 5, and 7; Story 11; Romance 2, 6, and 11

wahhhhhhhhhhh im crying thank you for sending so many questions.......

companion tav asks

General

3. Does your Tav have any comments or advice when you recruit other companions?

On Astarion: These are frightening times for us all, I can understand why Astarion leapt to threats first. With time, hopefully we'll all feel comfortable and safe around one another.

On Gale: You know, I asked Gale to explain that portal thingy he got stuck in. I didn't understand a word of it, but he has such a soothing voice, it was nice to listen to him talk for an hour.

On Wyll: (with a slight swoon animation) What a charming man, that Wyll, I don't know if I've ever met someone so selfless and caring...

On Halsin: Halsin is to travel with us? Wonderful! It gets a little lonely in the wee hours before trancing...

On Shadowheart: Shadowheart will be immensely helpful in the days to come, I'm sure of it, and what a delightful presence too.

On Lae'zel: Lae'zel's dedication is admirable, such intensity... I trust her and her people to help rid us of these parasites.

And there's some extended dialogue for Karlach :)

Narrator: Cyrus appears distracted, bouncing on the balls of his feet and staring off at some distant point in the camp. His attention seems to be fixated on Karlach. Cyrus: Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't... Did you, um, did you need something? PC: Looking at someone? Cyrus: Hm? Ah, yes, I- I suppose I was, I was just thinking... Ten years is such a terribly long time to be alone... [Insight Check DC 10: Success] Narrator: His hand skirts to his side. [if PC has slept with Cyrus] You recall noticing an extensive burn scar there the last time the two of you were intimate. Cyrus, muttering to himself: I could probably take it, for a few seconds at least, long enough to hold her hand or... something. She deserves something.

5. Are there any instances where your Tav can permanently leave the party, depending on player character actions?

The big one is siding with Minthara and attacking the grove (short of, perhaps, an astronomically high deception check to convince him that this is for the best, actually).

I also think Cyrus' personal quest can end with him sacrificing himself and, you know, leaving the party by dying. And even if he lives, depending on the other choices in that quest, Cyrus will gladly volunteer himself to be the one who becomes a mindflayer at the end of Act 3.

7. Do they have their own personal quest that spans the course of the game?  Can it take different branching paths depending on the choices the Player Character makes?

Yes! Beyond the potential evil corruption arc, his quest would revolve around his oath, his inclinations toward martyrdom, and how that warps his self-perception. The main decision points for the PC would involve either reinforcing his view of himself as a tool for protecting others or helping him to see beyond his impulses to sacrifice himself.

Story

11. What do they say if the PC tries to force them to go up on stage with Dribbles the Clown?

"You know, I remember enjoying this more with the other orphans... I think I'll pass."

Romance

2. Does your Tav need to be flirted with to start the romance, or will they approach the PC themselves if approval is high enough?

Cyrus is a bi slut and will absolutely approach the PC first, he doesn't even need all that high approval, times are stressful and he wants to be helpful and useful and make them happy-- in whatever physically intimate way the PC is comfortable with.

If that means sex, there's a DC 20 Insight check to realize that Cyrus is solely preoccupied with the PC's wants and desires rather than his own. So early on in the relationship, he brushes this off really quickly, but depending on how his personal quest goes, you CAN eventually service top him (which as we all know is the gold standard for physical relationships with Cyrus).

A romantic relationship will require higher approval and can be initiated by the PC at the tiefling party, but it isn't necessary. You can stay FWBs with him and still pursue other romances (contingent on other companions being comfortable with that, of course).

6. How do they react to the player character breaking up with them, or choosing another character over them?

Cyrus is quite courteous during the break up, wanting to support the PC's happiness and the happiness of the other character involved (probably even saying something along the lines of them needing/being deserving of the PC's affection more than him). But there's also an insight check to reveal that he's a lot more hurt than he's letting on and is trying to repress it for the PC's sake.

11. What are Tav’s plans for the future?  Do they propose to the PC, or is marriage not something they’re interested in?

In the world in which the game has the post-final fight party of my dreams, a cutscene begins with Cyrus, very clearly absolutely wasted, trying to (platonically) propose to another companion character who is humoring him until you can intercede. Talking to him, Cyrus glumly explains that he's worried about the party splitting up after this, as this is the first real family he's had in a century, and so maybe if he marries everyone, he'll be able to keep them together-- but so far, no one's acquiesced.

You can tease him by suggesting that you know someone who would probably agree. Cyrus Does Not Get It until you get down on one knee and propose to him, and the euphoria on his face as he realizes that you are acting on and manifesting something he wants is unparalleled.

There's a fade to black as he picks you up, swings you around, and tries to serenade you.

[blues824]

Just found your blog and I love it! Keep up the good work! As for my request may I have a mc that is Barbatos child but he or the others don't know, so when they see mc in their demon form resembling the same as their father they think it's Barbatos but its actually mc (also some mc serving as a butler/maid to someone just like how Barbatos serves Diavolo)

Why, thank you! You didn’t specify who exactly was reacting to mc, so I put it to the brothers. You can request again if you want a Part 2 with the Dateables :)

It was a peaceful day at the House of Lamentation. Too peaceful. Nonetheless, each brother was enjoying the quiet. They were each doing their own thing at different parts of the house.

It was days like these that people take for granted, but not them. They were making sure to make use of every spare quiet moment.

Until there was a crash in the living room. Each brother rushed and ran to find out what caused the noise when they each found… Barbatos? In his demon form? They looked at each other confused, thinking it was a prank set up by one of the others.

“(Brother’s name), I need your help.” You said

Lucifer

“Barbatos? What are you doing here? I don’t recall having any plans with you today.” He said.

“I’m not Barbatos. That’s my father. I’m from the future and I need help getting back.” You responded. “The young mistress needs me.” 

“Young mistress?”

“King Diavolo’s daughter, sir.”

“If she’s anything like her father, then she does need you… We better go get Barbatos. You two seem to have similar powers.” He held out his hand to you.

“Thank you, sir.” You accepted his hand and started walking next to him.

“‘Lucifer’ is fine. No need for formalities. I am close with… your father.” It felt foreign to refer to Barbatos that way, but it was probably your norm.

“Ok, Lucifer. We must hurry, though. Me and Lady Dahlia were in the middle of filling out paperwork that was rather urgent.”

Mammon

“Why the hell is Barbatos here? I thought we didn’t have any plans!” He faced Lucifer.

“Hello, Mammon. I’m not Barbatos, I’m his child. I think I messed up when traveling back and now I’m temporarily stuck here.”

“Barbatos has a kid?!” He was now very freaked out. 

“Not yet. I’m from the future.” You said with a smile.

“Y-You act just like him! You look just like him!”

“Mammon, I’m giving you the task of escorting them to the Castle. If I find out something happens to them, you will be punished accordingly.” Lucifer stated.

“FINE! Follow me, kid.” Mammon rolled his eyes and started walking outside of the house.

“Thank you, Mammon. We must be on our way. I need to get back as soon as possible.”

After a few minutes of silence, he turns to you and asks, “So what am I like in the future?”

Leviathan

“B-Barbatos? What are you doing here?” Leviathan asked.

“Not Barbatos. I’m his child from the future, Y/N. At your service, for the moment.” You did a polite bow.

“This reminds me of that anime-” He started

“Levi, nobody cares. You should probably get ‘em to Barbatos so that he can deal with ‘em.” Mammon told him.

“When did I get roped into this?!” Levi asked.

“Leviathan, you know that anime that hasn’t had a second season? Well, it will in about 5,000 years.” You said.

“Really?! Let’s go and you can tell me more!” He exclaimed in joy.

Satan

“You look exactly like Lord Diavolo’s butler. Who are you?”

“I’m Y/N. I’m Barbatos’ child from the future, and I need help getting back.”

“You can travel through time?” Satan asked.

“Yes, but it takes a lot of energy out of me. I have the same powers as my father.”

“I’ll take you to the Castle. It sounds like we need him once again.” He sighed. Then he extended a hand towards you.

“Why, thank you, Satan. I will be sure to thank you in the future.”

“Please refrain from telling me anything. I’d like to experience the future on my own… and it could also mess up the timeline.”

“You are right.” You accepted his hand and you both started walking towards the Castle.

Asmodeus

“Oh, dear! Are you alright, Barbatos?” Asmo asked, concerned for the butler that just appeared.

“Hm? Oh, I’m not Barbatos. I’m Y/N, Barbatos is my father. I serve Lady Dahlia, daughter of King Diavolo and crowned princess of the Devildom.”

“Your father? Lady Diavolo? Daughter?!” The one collective brain cell the brothers shared was racing a mile a minute. How was this possible?

“I’m guessing that I messed up when traveling through time and now I’m stuck in the past, which is your present.”

“Asmo, I think it would be a good idea to take Y/N to Barbatos. He might be able to help her get back to her time.” Satan turned to his younger brother.

“Ok! I can show them what the Devildom looks like right now and ask them about what it’s like in the future!” Asmo took your hand in his and started leading you out of the house.

“Spoiler alert: It’s much different than how it is now.” You told him.

Beelzebub

“Barbatos? Did you bring treats for us?!” Beelzebub asked, hope filling his eyes.

“Not Barbatos. I’m Y/N, his child, pleasure to meet you. And I unfortunately didn’t bring any treats. I need help getting back to the future.” You explained.

“So, you’re from the future?” Beel asked, getting kind of confused.

“Yes. It seems something went wrong when jumping through time, and now I’m unable to get back. Could one of you lead me to the castle so I can talk to my father?”

“I will go with you. Could we stop for food on the way, though?” Beel asked.

“Sure! You could show me what the Devildom is like now!” You said. This was the only time you’d let yourself break your calm composure and get excited.

Belphegor

“What in the actual f- is going on here?” Belphie asked. He thought it was a hallucination that was standing before him, but his brothers looked just as shocked as he was.

“Hello, there. I apologize for causing such a ruckus, but it seems like my jump through time went incorrectly. Could one of you be so kind as to direct me in the way of the Castle? I must find my father to help me.” You explained.

“Your father?” He was too tired to process this.

“Barbatos. His power might be able to help me to get back to the future.” You responded.

“Barbatos has a kid?!”

“Not yet. Not for about 5000 more years.”

“I guess I’ll go with you. Let’s go, before their jaws fall off of their faces.” Belphie sighed.

[lou-struck]

Beach Day

Kenma Kozume x reader

~Kenma isn't really a beach person, but he is willing to do anything for you.

This little drabble is a part of my “I Want to Getaway Event” Check it out if you want to!

The sand is hot on your bare feet as you walk along the shoreline. Lemonades in hand.

You pass colorful beach towels and umbrellas from other beachgoers on your way back to the shady spot your little group has procured.

Kuroo has been trying to get you and Kenma to come down to the beach since late spring, but Kenma isn't really an outdoorsy guy.

He prefers to spend his days off playing video games in the air-conditioned walls of his apartment. But once you got on board with the Roosterhead’s plan, he knew he had to do his duty as a Partner and accompany you to the sandy hellscape that is the beach.

You make it back to your spot only to find everyone but Kenma gone from the shade, no doubt enjoying the water off in the distance. Kenma is seated under the shade of a large palm tree, his eyes are glued to the game in his hands. upon seeing you he smiles and moves over so you can join him in his cooler spot.

"Where did the others run off to Ken Ken?" you ask your boyfriend thankful for the bit of alone time you get to spend together.

"Beach Volleyball," he says simply. pointing down to the courts not too far away from where you are sitting.

"And you didn't want to play?" you tease knowing the answer already.

"Not at all, the sand is too hot and it gets everywhere. Playing in a gym is one thing but playing volleyball on the beach sounds like a nightmare," he mumbles clutching his Switch a bit tighter.

Soothingly you place your hand atop of his and give it a light squeeze, "Don't worry Ken Ken, We can stay here and relax for as long as we want."

"You're the best y/n," he says with a smile returning his eyes to the screen as you allow yourself to relax in his presence.

~

The sun has shifted in the sky too much for your liking. You feel it slipping through the weaknesses of your shady spot and uncomfortably shining in your face.

"It’s too bright out here,” Kenma says, squinting in the sunlight. "I can barely see the screen."

"Maybe you could put it down for a bit?" you say handing him one of your cups of lemonade with a sweet smile. "I promise that your village will still be there in a few hours."

"Okay," he says, taking a sip of his still cold lemonade. "It would probably overheat anyways."

As he puts the console back into its travel case you feel like you just won the lottery. Your heart flutters and you give him a huge smile. Leaning back in his seat

“Are you happy?” he asks playfully, nudging you in the chair. This isn't the best decision as you are barely on the seat as it is. Your arms begin to flail as you try to keep your balance but your efforts are in vain as you fall from the chair and land on your bottom on the soft sand below.

In his defense, Kenma did try to catch you, but the way you were falling made it difficult for him to steady you. You look down at yourself and the crushed paper cups of lemonade sinking into the sand as laughter threatens to spill out from his closed mouth as you try to wipe the layer of sand that now coats your skin.

“I’m sorry,” he says, at last, the remnants of a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “I didn't realize how small the chair was.”

“It’s fine,” you say looking down at your still sandy lower half “I think I'm gonna try and get some of this sand off in the water, it may feel nice.”

“I’ll go with you,'' he says, rising from his seat and extending his hand for you to take as you walk down to the water.

Once there, you wade in till all the sand is removed by the water. The two of you enjoy the coolness of the water. finding shells and interesting rocks that get washed up in the current.

It feels like heaven until you look back at your spot, it is once again shrouded in the shade.

"It looks like you could play your game again," you say, looking at your boyfriend.

"Nah," he shrugs, "It will still be there when I get back. I'd rather spend time with you here anyways."

[stealforreal]

Future kids - Todoroki Shoto I

Todoroki meets his children from the future. Part 2 is up now you can find it on my tumblr masters list. Or click [here]

Todoroki Shoto x F! Reader

Warnings: none

Todoroki was understandably confused. One moment he was eating his cold soba in peace and quiet, the next a little girl came barreling into him. Clinging onto his pant leg for dear life, tears streaming down her chubby cheeks. Todoroki tensed, even if he was coming out of his shell, dealing with a little child while not having complete control over his flames terrified him. What if he ended up hurting her, when he wanted to help? He refused to be like his father. hurting small children.

A small tug on his leg brought him out of his thoughts, and back to the reality that a young girl probably no older than 6 was clinging to him. He could feel his pants getting wetter by the minute, drenched in the redheaded little princess’ tears. Kneeling down to her height, he put a hand on her head and pattet it gently. It was the only form of comfort he could think of would be appropriate. “ Hey snowflake, where's your parents?” Todoroki asked the little girl, making her look up at the stranger whom she was clinging to. A small gasp escaped her lips, as she began to sob harder and cling to him even more if that was even possible. “ I-Im so so sorry daddy *sniff* I can’t find Ren” Todoroki stiffened. Daddy? He wasn’t a dad, not yet anyways. But that didn’t matter when he was comforting a young girl, so he would play along for the time being. Besides he felt drawn to the little snowflake, maybe it was the fact that she was comfortable enough to seek comfort from him. Maybe it was the fact that she looked like him, with beautiful heterochromia eyes, one classic Todoroki cerulean blue and one e/c.

“ Take a deep breath, little snowflake. Can you tell me what year it is?” His usual monotone tone, took on a softer note talking to the girl. He was kneeling at her height, rubbing small circles on her small back, while she clung to his shirt, sobbing in his chest. She looked up at him with her big mismatched doe eyes brimming with tears “ Its 20xx” okay weird that is 15 years in the future, Shoto wasn’t stupid this was probably the work of a quirk. He then proceeded to ask her if she was indeed hit by a quirk.

She told him that apparently her and her twin brother Ren, were playing with some of their friends at a park. But when they were playing tag one of their friends got their quirk, and the twins got separated. When Reina, as she told him her name was, woke up and couldn’t find her twin brother Ren she began to panic. Then she began looking for him, but then she recognized the dual colored hair and ran to him.

In between her telling the story and sniffling quitely, Shoto had picked her up. While she was calming down in his arms, he began making his way back to the campus grounds. Mr.Aizawa would hopefully know what to do, and maybe they would find Ren on the way. It broke his heart to hear her sniffle, his little snowflake crying was heart wrenching. Even if she technically wasn’t born yet, she was still his little snowflake and he would protect her no matter the cost. He was so possessive of his little girl already and he had only met her 1 hour ago, he promised himself then and there that he would be a better father than Endeavor ever was.

Her sniffles and sobs stopped, and her trembling figure relaxed in his hold. He could feel the little one's gaze on him, and he turned his head to her tilting his head a bit to ask what was wrong. “ Why do you look so young, daddy? '' She asked with the little innocent voice of an angel, he couldn’t help but let out a chuckle at her question. “ Well my little snowflake, right now I’m 16 and you haven’t exactly been born yet. I’m guessing your friend's quirk is something along the lines of time travel” he patiently explained to her, she nodded her head along as if she understood him. And if she inherited his intelligence, she just might have understood what he just told her completely.

The walk back to the dorms were filled with idle chatter, Shoto asking Reina about his future and how he was as a father. To which she exclaimed with a bright toothless smile ‘Daddys the best daddy in the whole world’ and he was so relieved that he wasn’t a horrible father like his own was to him. He ended up stopping for a minute so Shoto could pepper her with small soft kisses all over her cute slightly chubby cheeks. Her squeals of excitement warmed his heart, and a soft smile made its way on his face.

To onlookers they looked like a cute set of siblings, and small aw’s and so cute were heard in the background. But inside their little bubble, nothing could burst Shoto’s happiness at knowing he wouldn’t repeat his fathers mistakes. The long walk back to the dorms felt a lot shorter with his little snowflake talking his ear off. It was adorable really, she stumbled over a few words every once and awhile. She told him all about her and Ren’s adventures, how they accidentally froze their teacher when Ren got his quirk, and how he had to come and free the teacher.

Shoto was inexplicably happy that Ren got his quirk from his mothers side. But one thing caught his attention was the mention of their mother. He realized that Reina not once had mentioned her name, and as much as Shoto would hate to admit it he was beyond curious as to who he would ultimately spend his life with. A big part of him hoped that it was you, since he had finally found out what the fuzzy feeling he had around you was. Yep Todoroki Shoto was utterly and completely enamored by you, your personality was sweet and you would do anything for family and friends. Alongside Midoriya you were his best friend, and he was in love with you.

The closer to the dorms the two Todorokis came, the more his curiosity nagged him to ask his daughter who her mother was. When he could see the height alliance building a little longer down the road, his curiosity won. “ Snowflake, you never told me your mom's name. '' Reina brightened when he asked about his future wife, a big tell that his little girl adored her mother as much as she adored her father. '' Silly daddy, mom's name is Todoroki y/n of course, ``she said giggling. A bright smile adorned his handsome features as Todoroki stepped into the dorm's living room with Reina still in his arms with her head on his shoulder.

Class 1-A consecutively looked towards the door when it opened. They were trying to calm down the child that was crying on their sofa, who also happened to look suspiciously like their dual haired classmate. The young boy had dual colored hair and cerulean blue eyes, his hair was half white and half y/h/c. The child was obviously confused and scared, and had only stopped wailing when Kaminari short circuited. But alas he was still sobbing and the class was almost out of ideas. He had been asking about his parents, and calling for a person named Reina.

There in the door stood a smiling Todoroki, holy damn was the world ending. But what also caught their attention was the little redhead in his arms hugging him, the little girl's voice reached them and their jaws dropped. “ Daddy, is this the place you and mommy met?” It was such an innocent question, but 1-A was in a frenzy, so much so that they didn’t notice the little boy springing up from the couch and dashing toward Todoroki and the girl. They only came back to earth when a small happy “Daddy” was heard.

Todoroki was about to answer Reina’s question, when he heard the little cry “Daddy”. He turned his head towards the sound and so did Reina, she began bouncing in Shoto’s arms. “ Ren '' She shouted, making Shoto bend down and extend his arm that wasn’t holding Reina. Ren launched himself into Shoto’s chest, and Reina began hugging her twin brother as much as she could in their fathers embrace. “ Don’t worry my little snowflake, daddy’s got you” He whispered softly, calming Ren immediately. The rest of the class stood gobsmacked, daddy?

“Now my little snowflakes, let's go find Mr. Aizawa, so you can go home” Shoto’s arms were full, his little boy on one arm and his little girl on his other arm. How is he supposed to open the door? “ Midoriya, would you come with me to open the door?” Shoto’s tone was monotone as always, but slightly softer in the presence of his children. Midoriya simply nodded dumbfounded, nobody said a word. What were they supposed to say, with all the daddy claims, and seeing the children in the arms of their classmate confirmed it. They looked like the spitting image of the dreamy heterochromia boy, but with some tweaks. There were the y/h/c and the girls one e/c eye, that obviously must’ve come from their mothers side.

On the way to the teacher dormitories, the twins talked excitedly with each other, while Shoto explained the situation to Midoriya. Midoriya felt like he had seen the features on the twins that certainly didn’t come from Todoroki’s side, but with how much they looked like their father it was nearly mission impossible.

Coincidentally on her way to Mr. Aizawa as well, you spotted the tuft of green hair and tufts of red and white hair. Hm, must be on their way to Mr.Aizawa as well you thought. Jogging up to them, you poked Midoriya’s shoulder. Even if you were in class 1-B, you had a pretty good friendship with the cute green haired cinnamon roll. Your quirks were similar in a sense, since yours was a boost of strength as well. Not nearly as strong as Midoriya’s, but still. That is why you were training partners, and through him you had met his friend circle. It wasn’t an unusual sight to see Midoriya and Todoroki together.

But when they turned to you, you were left flabbergasted by the two cuties in Todoroki’s arms. Before the boys could react, Ren began squirming chanting ‘mommy’. Shoto sat him and Reina down, because she too began squirming once they caught sight of you. The two children that were previously in Todoroki’s arms, now tackled you in a hug. “Daddy look, we found mommy” they said in unison. Two children around 6 years old launching at you, could make even the best of them fall on their butts. Which was exactly what happened, they were squeezing you as tight as their small forms would allow.

Choosing to ignore the small ‘mommy and daddy’ comment, you carefully scooped them up in your arms. The look that Shoto gave you was enough to go along with this little charade, he looked at the three of you like you were his entire world. His eyes were shining with happiness, and his lips quirked up in a small smile. Lightly bouncing the ecstatic but sleepy children in your arms, you turned your attention to the two males before you. “ You wouldn’t happen to need Mr.Aizawa as well, would you?” You raised a knowing eyebrow. The two boys nodded, and you began walking again towards the teachers dormitory. You sent Todoroki a small pointed glare, silently commanding him to explain the situation.

The walk to the teachers lounge felt shorter than usual, since your attention was occupied. Todoroki explained his theory that a quirk sent the twins to the past, and that the two of you were their parents. As crazy as that sounded it made so much sense, and looking at the children you would lie if you said you didn’t see the resemblance. Midoriya explained how Ren was crying before Todoroki arrived, and how confused they were when they heard the little boy yelling ‘daddy’. Ren was probably the most scared, since he didn’t recognize anyone in his panicked state. Besides, most of the students probably look a lot different in the future, so it's kind of a miracle that the twins recognized you. Shoto will always be pretty easy to recognize, with his distinct hair, eyes and the showstopping scar. It complimented the handsome teen next to you so well, no wonder he was one of UAs top heartthrobs. Stopping for a second, you just realize something. If the twins in your arms are you and Todoroki's, then that means that you ended up scoring the half-n-half quirk user. Nothing could wipe the shiteating grin that made its way on your face, eliciting concerned and curious glances from the males beside you.

Mr.Aizawa had his fair share of strange situations. He had been teaching at UA for some time, and student’s quirks weren’t always a walk in the park. Never had he ended up in a situation quite like this though, he had to rub his eyes twice to make sure it was real. In front of him were 2 out of Class-1A’s trouble makers and one of his favorite students from Class-1B, they had two small children with them. Easily recognized as twins, and they looked like the half - n- half troublemakers children.

This was going to be a long night.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

There's this sort of trope I've noticed in a lot of Twilight fanfiction where the Cullens do not return as quickly as they did in canon during New Moon and somehow inexplicably run into Bella years later, when she's in her early-to-mid twenties and I was wondering how you think this would go? In my head the Cullens would skedaddle the second they got a whiff of Bella, but suspending disbelief there I always have a hard time buying it whenever older Bella ends up back together with Edward.

I think it depends on the Cullen in question, or, if it’s all the Cullens together.

The Yoko Ono Effect

To be honest, if the Cullens had stayed away in New Moon, I don’t think they would have made it as a singular unit to five-ten years down the road. The cracks were already to show even a few months in.

This isn’t to say Bella is responsible for the collapse of the Cullens, I believe they’re doomed anyway, but she serves as a catalyst.

After leaving Forks in New Moon the Cullens immediately begin drifting apart.

Edward is despondent and depressed, within a few weeks leaves the coven, and travels down the continent until he reaches Rio where he stays for months. Note, Edward knew by the time he hit Rio that he had long since lost Victoria’s trail (for the record, he lost her in Mexico) but I think it’s very telling he does not return to the coven.

I don’t think Edward was ever coming back.

This puts a significant strain on Emse, as Edward is far and away her favorite child, and she’s noted as being anxious and severely unhappy with Edward’s disappearance. In time, I believe this would lead to the collapse of Esme and Carlisle’s dumpster fire marriage (which at this point only survives on denial and miscommunication).

Alice and Jasper leave the group to both a) get out of dodge b) investigate Alice’s past. While they do later return things are... awkward.

Rosalie desperately tries to keep the family together, tells Edward the bad news to a) be the only one with the balls to tell him and b) hopefully get him to come back to the family. This, obviously, doesn’t work.

I think without Bella’s suicide attempt the coven would have broken apart probably within the year. Rosalie desperately would have tried to keep them together, but Esme would crack and go to be with Edward, Carlisle would let her go, Alice and Jasper would probably keep their heads down and go on extended honeymoons, and eventually they all realize there’s just nothing to go back to. 

They go their separate ways.

The Cullens Are Still Cullening

But lets pretend that things work out.

Edward gets tired of being depressed in Rio and comes back to... be depressed with the family. To be honest, I don’t think he’d get over this. Edward was severely depressed before Bella.

He was very contemptuous not only of his own family but of humanity in general. Yes, he has this very strange idolation of humanity but he also views them as inherently beneath him and lesser. High school is his purgatory where he listens to the mundane thoughts of mundane mayfly humans.

He outright despises Jasper and Rosalie and even Carlisle, who he adores, he often views as something of a fool in great need of Edward’s personal protection.

Edward has lost all passion in life, even in his hobbies like music, and is slowly but surely spiraling down into a place where he can never recover. His obsession with Bella, while far from a good thing, brings light back into his life.

This is an Edward who gave that all up and willingly returns back to what he used to be. And I think that would destroy something in him. Frankly, I think it’d leave him in an even worse place than canon.

So, if the Cullens run into a now adult Bella...

Well, it’d be a clusterfuck.

Edward will be very conflicted as he tried to leave for Bella’s own good but now she’s done exactly what he wanted. She grew up and got over him, Edward presumably means nothing to her now.

Worse, there is now such a gap between them. Edward is physically much younger than she is now, he poses as a high school student while she’s an adult. Bella’s fears were warranted, she’s too old for him now, and in many ways has outgrown him.

If Bella’s in any sort of relationship with anyone, I think Edward would flip his lid, and murder her significant other. As he often fantasized murdering Mike as well as her nameless future husband. If she’s single...

I think with enough time, distance, and therapy Bella would be able to make significant strides towards a healthier mindset. She’d get over her depression and in turn over Edward. She might be angry at him for a while but in time would likely decide that he had left her for what were immature but noble reasons.

What they had was nice, but the relationship was never going to last. Even when she was a teenager, she knew this, which was why she so desperately wanted to be a vampire.

She likely might talk to him to find closure, but I imagine a more mature Bella realizes they know nothing about each other. She’s had so much time in her life now without him and he’s so different from what she remembered, younger. There’s no way to start a relationship, more, Edward himself realized it was never going to work.

I imagine Edward doesn’t take this well either. For all that Edward says he wants certain things, really, he does an impressive job making sure Bella never ran from him. Bella legitimately not being interested in him would destroy him and... likely lead to him devouring Bella eventually.

After all, Alice had predicted that Edward would not be able to stay away and that, ultimately, there are only two futures for Bella: death or vampire.

Edward Comes Back Alone

Alice had predicted that Edward would not be able to keep his distance from Bella. He tries twice. Once, in Twilight, when Alice first announces that Edward is in love with Bella and she will become a vampire. The second time is New Moon.

The first, he cracks in a week. It just doesn’t work out and Edward has a minature crisis over it and tells himself it’s fine because he has to protect her from spiders therefore he has to be in her life AND THIS IS FINE.

The second, he notes that he’s dangerously close to cracking and Alice predicted he couldn’t do it. He makes it six months, but does confess to Bella he often considered finding her again and watching her life from the shadows in Rio.

So, I highly doubt that Edward would make it to five or ten years or that he’d make it with the Cullens. He probably comes back alone by the time Bella’s senior year starts, and intends to watch her from the shadows.

Now, given the plot of Twilight, he realizes that nothing’s working out. Bella’s not free from the supernatural, as her best friend/potential new love interest is a werewolf who might maul her any second now. She’s being hunted by Victoria and everything’s spiralling out of control.

So, Edward probably gives up the charade fast and comes back to get Jake out of the picture and be very upset with Bella for ruining his plan. Bella’s just glad Edward is back. Given Edward probably calls the entire family back, who likely have nothing to say to this nonsense, things proceed pretty much as in canon.

Jasper Runs Across Bella

Considering the last time he saw her, Jasper would run like the hounds of hell are on his heels. This is a world in which he never sees much of Bella after the birthday incident and, as a result, is still mired in guilt. He can’t imagine Bella’s reaction upon seeing him in the wild nor does he want to.

Rosalie Runs Across Bella

Rosalie likely makes no contact. She probably views Bella with bitterness, sees her as the reason for the collapse of her family, and never understood Bella’s appeal in the first place. However, for all Rosalie’s bitterness, she wouldn’t take it out on Bella mostly because there’s nothing to say.

She’d just choose to be distantly happy for Bella that she got to live her human life and glad she adjusted well.

Emmett Runs Across Bella

Emmett and Bella don’t actually know each other that well, Emmett certainly has no personal connection with her. He wouldn’t make contact because it’d be awkward and would piss off Rose.

Alice Runs Across Bella

Alice doesn’t agree with Edward, but she’s also proving a point to him and ultimately values Edward far more than she does Bella. She’ll abide by his rules and not speak to Bella. Also, she sees that if she tries, there’s no way the conversation goes well as Alice would have to explain why she never answered any emails.

Best to avoid that.

Esme Runs Across Bella

Esme values Edward over everything, and while she perhaps thinks that Bella could fix Edward’s desperate unhappiness I think she’d acknowledge that Edward also doesn’t want to see her. She’d snoop from afar but ultimately, I don’t think she’d make contact.

If she did, it’d be with the sole purpose of matchmaking the adult Bella with Edward, which would lead to disaster.

Carlisle Runs Across Bella

Carlisle I think actually would talk to her, to offer up some explanation of what happened and how they got where they are. He and Bella would likely talk about vampires, the Cullen way of life, etc. and ultimately go their separate ways.

He’d try to give closure if she wants it but nothing more than that.

Though if he thinks Bella doesn’t want to talk/see him or any Cullen, he’d likely also make himself scarce.

Some Thoughts On Fanfiction

But that’s not why people are writing these types of stories, and, really while I can give my depressing takes on Twilight I think it’s fair to note that people write these fics for significantly different reasons.

[tobiogf]

i keep thinking about mean/dom matsukawa issei... just him fucking around with you and being playful and touchy but it just feels really mean

𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

once the coach had clarified the instructions for that day’s lesson, he disappeared into the locker room to retrieve some files and equipment. you jogged over to the bleachers and bent down to choose a heart rate monitor. you’d always hated how old and worn out they looked, knowing they’d been on several other sweaty students before it reached you. you tapped your chin, searching for one that made you the least sick when suddenly you felt a weight right behind you.

“oh fuckkk,” said a voice you immediately recognized as issei, feeling the light touch of his hips against yours for a moment. “that’s right, baby . . . just like that . . . uhhh . . .” you’d straightened up as soon you heard the exaggerated moans leaving his lips and yanked your elbow behind you, shoving him in the chest before whirling around to see his smirking sheepish face, a hand rubbing the sore place on his chest.

behind him stood his friends; iwaizumi was doubled over with laughter, hanamaki was hiding his face, and oikawa was shaking his head with a suppressed chuckle.

“real funny, issei,” you said, glancing up at him with your lips set in a thin line. “fake humping, what are we, middle-schoolers?”

“you probably wished i had no pants on me,” he responded cheekily, watching as you clipped your heart rate monitor onto your wrist. his lips curled into a grin as the numbers quickly increased and you felt yourself blushing. “ahh, yes you did . . .”

“shut up!” you snapped, biting the inside of your lip before jogging away. it was quite embarrassing to have his friends watch but you had to admit, the sounds of issei moaning right beside your ear had sent shivers all throughout your body.

          ***

“whatchu doing?” issei asked, approaching your desk and standing directly in front of you to playfully block your view. you glanced up at him, bored.

“well, i’m trying to finish this assignment before the teacher returns...” you told him, tapping your pen on your paper. “what are you doing? fooling around before the teacher comes back, i suppose?”

issei grinned lazily before producing his vape pen from his pocket and taking a long drag. “just so no one sees,” he whispered to you, smoke leaving his lips in small white plumes. the fruity scent entered blissfully entered your nostrils and you reached your hand out.

“please?” you asked, curling your bottom lip in a pout and issei narrowed his eyes at you before extending the hand that was holding the vape. you smiled and moved to grab it from him.

“mm mm,” said issei with a shake of his head. “open your mouth.” doubtful, but unsurprised, you leaned your head forward and parted your mouth, allowing issei to slide the tip of his vape between your lips. inhaling deeply, you fluttered your eyes up to look at issei, whose own eyes had gone all wistful and glazed.

he removed the vape from your mouth, allowing you to breathe before his fingers raked through the top of your hair and pushed your head back, making you look at him.

“so naughty,” he said before the teacher returned and he was walking back to his desk.

          ***

“hey, y/n,” said issei, slinking up to you after the last class of the day as you were packing up your possessions. “you know how we have to make a database for our cs class?” you nodded your head. “well, could you do that for me?”

“make your whole database?” you asked with a raised brow, digging into your desk to make sure you weren’t forgetting anything.

issei shook his head. “no, just create some table relationships for me.”

“isn’t this your favorite class, though?”

“it issss,” issei said with a quiet groan and set his hands down on the surface of your desk. “i’d do it myself but i told the guys’ i’d go out with them tonight . . . learning it all is gonna take too long and since you’re done with yours . . .”

you sighed, your fingers tightening around the strap of your bag as you heavily contemplated swinging it over your shoulder and walking out. the reason you’d finished your assignments early was so you could have some time for yourself. but you felt bad, and issei wasn’t a bad guy. besides, he was pretty cute . . .

“we can stay after school and do it, right here, right now . . . i’ll stay with you,” issei continued, putting more effort into convincing you to help him than he’d ever put in anything else in his life. “and i’ll pay you fifty bucks for it.”

as soon as money became involved, you knew you’d been convinced. “alright, i’ll help.”

issei grinned. “that’s sexy of you. let me get my laptop.”

so that’s pretty much how you ended up practically doing issei’s work for him that afternoon. you both stood at the long desk at the back of the class, your laptops open. issei was mostly occupied with his phone, and you, tired of getting him to pay attention, decided to do it on your own.

“issei, if i’m gonna be creating your table relationships, the least you could do is watch and learn,” you breathed out, exasperated, your eyes still fixed on issei’s laptop screen. issei dropped his phone onto the table and shuffled to stand beside you.

“i am watching,” he said and a moment later, he was lowering his face into the crook of your neck. you felt your heart speed up as you vowed to remain composed, barely blinking as you continued working.

“issei, don’t waste time,” you said, feeling slightly breathless.

“i’m not,” he whined, lips grazing your sensitive skin before standing behind you, body pressed to yours and two hands on your hips as he continued kissing and nibbling your neck. issei was always very touchy with you and it wasn’t something that you minded -- it never made you feel uncomfortable, in fact it was fun . . . and sometimes made your heart flutter sickeningly.

like right now as issei nosed down the back of your shirt and crouched down so he was sitting on his knees, using his large hands to push your skirt up and causing a yelp to leave your lips at the feeling of his soft, yet cold mouth on your inner thigh.

“w-what are you doing, issei?” you gasped out, one hand instantly reaching down to clutch at his hair for support. issei groaned slightly at your actions, the vibrations propelling a swarm of goosebumps to travel up your body.

“getting my money’s worth,” he whispered, his breath ghosting over the already damp cloth of your underwear. you gulped, feeling your back arch instinctively at issei’s low chuckle. “stay still, y/n . . .”

almost fifteen minutes later, your legs were trembling, eyes watery, and cheeks flushed as you tried to catch your breath. you were hunched over the desk, hair in your eyes, as issei tugged his head out from beneath your skirt. he’d licked up your thighs to clean them and was now wiping his chin, his tongue swiping over his lips. you kept your head hung, exhausted from the pleasure, knees jelly-like, but your disoriented mind was coming back into focus and somehow, when issei stood up and wrapped his arms around your body to pull you against him, you had never felt the distance so intensely.

“thank you for letting me do that,” he whispered in your ear, planting a kiss on your jaw before unlooping his arms from around you and shutting the screen of his laptop. your eyes moved slowly, watching him shove it into his bag and throw it over his shoulder. “never mind this assignment,” said issei and then fished into his wallet, producing several bills and tossing them at your face. you flinched, blinking an eye as the paper came into contact with it.

“b-bye,” you murmured dumbly as issei was walking out of the classroom. he paused and gave you a confused sort of smile before shutting the door behind him.

not sure what format this is in and not sure if i’d do this format again but... here it is i guess haha

[feanorianethicsdepartment]

time travel aus, amirite? since we’ve all decided to start talking about our ideas, i thought i’d throw my hat into the ring. i’ve actually had this idea for a while, i just wasn’t sure what to do with it because i barely have the patience for one-shots, let alone the continuous plotted longfic this would need

it’s not my idea, of course, i’m incapable of original thought. it’s based off this can-i-really-call-it-a-genre-if-it’s-two-fics-with-the-same-premise where some combination of maedhros, maglor, elros, and elrond land in the blessed realm before - even the unchaining, in my take, when the ambarussa are still children and the world is blissful. it’s more specifically my take on this fic, which takes elrond and elros from very early in their captivity and maedhros from just before the silmaril theft and maglor from several centuries into the second age. i just plugged my own characterisations into it, and, uh. the specific setup this not-genre uses is that maitimo and makalaurë *~mysteriously disappear,~* throwing their extended family into chaos, blah blah blah, and then a few decades later -

well. with my characterisations, we have a nightmare hellbeast who’s burned up everything he used to be in singular pursuit of an unreachable goal and has carved his very self into a weapon, a completely drained beaten-up husk barely cognisant of reality past the screaming in his mind who’s so utterly broken it’s debatable if he even counts as an elda, and two extremely young extremely traumatised children in a completely unfamiliar land- and skyscape whose only adult they can maybe-kind-of trust is currently bleeding from the eyes and shrieking wordless notes of utter despair

yeah, this au’s Fun. elrond and elros have maybe eight words of quenya between them, most of which are obscene, maedhros will act completely normal until he suddenly stabs himself in the arm because can’t this stupid hallucination end already, he has a character arc to tank, and maglor seems completely unaware he’s not still on the beach having the same cyclic arguments with the ghosts of the people he failed. the elves of valinor aren’t completely unprepared to deal with this, at least not the ones who remember cuiviénen, but it’s still a massive shock to see two of the children they came to the land of the gods to protect twisted and scarred like the worst victims of the dark. especially since noone can figure out why

so yeah. i have trouble finishing oneshot collections, so i doubt i’ll ever write this out in full, but i do have a lot of Scenes. fëanáro staring in utter horror at the oath, whispering ‘i made this.’ elros and elrond’s somewhat hole-filled explanation of their backstory devolving into a sindarin argument, and when the family asks tyelkormo what they’re talking about he freezes before saying ‘they’re arguing about whether maitimo killed their mother.’ the moment maglor finally managed to get through what happened after they got the silmarils to maedhros, who immediately switches from off-the-cuff self-harm to well-planned suicide attempts. the five-minute period the family hellspawn’s working theory was ‘they’re maitimo and makalaurë from an alternate universe where we’re evil’ (‘is there an evil version of me??? does he eat kids???????’ - tyelko) finwë going full bulldoze taniquetil in the background. fun times, might write some snippets in the future

but i like to think through the mechanics of this kind of time travel story too much, so i started wondering where maitimo and makalaurë, yanno, went. i quickly came to the conclusion that they probably swapped places with their evil future selves, giving me three time travel aus for the price of one! technically four but (a) i’m not sure if or with who the twins would swap and (b) if they did their alternate selves are probably having a really bad time and i don’t particularly want to think about it. the stories maitimo and makalaurë are in... they’re not necessarily any happier, but they are a lot more wtftastic

maitimo falls asleep under the light of the trees, on a relaxing retreat from the demands of court life and family-induced disasters. he wakes up in a world that’s almost completely dark, surrounded by plants he’s never seen before and wearing clothing designed for a much warmer climate, the scent of death in the air. now permanently separated from all his old problems, maitimo rapidly acquires several exciting new ones, including but not limited to:

everyone he ever loved being dead or worse

the lone possible exception, his last surviving little brother, being an almost unrecognisable blood-drenched kinslayer who hates everything in the universe especially himself

said blood-drenched kinslayer almost immediately imprinting on him like a grouchy murderous duckling

his future self having apparently wanted to kill even more people, why

getting dogpiled by like thirty dudes in full armour the instant they showed up at the army of the west’s camp to surrender

getting soul-scanned by eönw two minutes later. not fun

arafinwë pulling him into an enormous hug and then bursting into tears

the subsequent explanation as to just what happened to him and his brothers, which somehow got worse after he’d already thought they’d hit rock bottom like four separate times

proceeding to lose a staring contest with findaráto

the way everyone in camp looks at him like he’s an incredibly dangerous wild animal that might bite at any time

how if half of what arafinwë said is true he can’t even blame them, fuck, fuck

the twin half-elven(?????????????) princes he and his brother apparently kidnapped and held hostage for years, inflicting unimaginable cruelties as far as anyone knows

his first meeting with the kids happening when elrond broke into where they were holding maglor to scream at him in very loud very fast very angry sindarin for like half an hour

maglor just staring at him, eyes wide, ears pinned back, the whole time, and then trying to maul the first guard who mocked him for it

getting saddled with kinslayer containment duties in the aftermath of that whole incident

elrond punching him in the collarbone when he tried to apologise, shouting ‘you weren’t there, don’t you dare try to tell me what it was like’

elros’ visible half second of pure terror after the blow hit home

elros then using recognisable techniques from maitimo’s debate team circuit during a speech to the edain

like, clearly some shit did happen, but it’s obviously not what the local leadership’s afraid of

this sour-faced scar-covered warrior slipping out of the shadows in an unpopulated part of camp, kneeling before him, intoning ‘the swords of the host remain at your disposal my lord’ and then immediately vanishing

he didn’t recognise them until after they’d left but they were definitely one of his philosophy club friends, what even

just generally having woken up in a future a thousand times worse than his darkest nightmares

his natural instinct is to try and fix things, but how?? what’s even left to fix????

maglor sometimes goes into these unhinged desperate spiralling rambles directed at the older brother who exists in his head rather than the one in front of his eyes. whatever’s left of maitimo’s biggest little brother is clearly in so much pain

all the things he’s trying extremely hard not to think about because if he slows down enough to he’s pretty sure he’ll collapse

all the people he’s never met who hate him for pretty understandable reasons and whose social structure he now has to learn to have any hope of making it out of All This

the edain’s collective insistence on calling him pasthros

curufinwë isn’t even a hundred how does he have a kid

makalaurë, on the other hand, wakes up on a beach beneath a giant glowing orb. finding himself in a land so much barer than what he knows, among people whose souls don’t even work like his, his initial working theory is he’s been abducted by aliens