#and no i don't have art for the guardians just yet

[the-ninja-legacy-whip]

not sure how much of a loaded lore question this is but how cosmically important/powerful are the 4 main guardians, genesis, the great devourer, wojira, the preeminent and first bourne are in your universe are they god like beings that embody concepts like the fsm and and the overlord or are they just semi immortal magic creatures also sorta unrelated but do you have art of the guardians

Firstbourne/Alpha: Is actually the "mother" of the FSM, and is just a semi-immortal magic creature, but can be perceived as something of a god in the First Realm. Possesses the Essence of Creation and all four Elements, but cannot combine them into the Green Element. While she couldn't wrap her head around the concept of Balance at the time, she still helped her "son" flee the realm after she realized how miserable he was, and always believed he would return in some form.

The Omega: Is actually the "father" of the FSM, and is also just a semi-immortal magic creature, but can be perceived as something of a god in the First Realm. Wielder of the Essence of Destruction and user of Dark Magic (which, as we know via Garmadon and Mystake, enhances inherent Oni traits). When his "son" fled the Realm, he sent the three Oni Warlords to hunt after him, though Mystake found him first, long after he had turned the Realm of the Endless Sea into Ninjago. Having her heart changed by him and seeing the light of maintaining balance, she in turn killed the other two warlords and left the evidence of the Oni's presence in the realm sealed in a temple within Primeval's Eye.

The FSM: Only inherited the Essences of Creation/Destruction from his "parents", which came together as the Essence of Neutralization (or, the Golden Power), giving him to ability to Master Build/Break. Forced to flee from his home realm due to ensuing war over his powers, the FSM had to learn to harness the Elements from other sources, that being the Guardians found within other realms. From there, and after settling in Ninjago, he experimented with the Core Elements, discovering the Derivative Elements and causing the Green Element to manifest within him as well. Only seen a equivalent to a god as he truly has/had no equal, until...

The Overlord: Was manifested directly by the cosmos to balance out the FSM's otherwise peerless existence. Not exactly a "god" either, but is absolutely on par with the FSM himself, although he has the fatal flaw of only being able to exist when a wielder of the Green Element/Golden Essence does. When the FSM realized this, despite his and Genesis' attempts to seal the Overlord away for good two thousand-some years ago, he wound up giving up his life, in an attempt to cut his Element from the compass and thus prevent the Overlord from ever threatening his realm again. This almost worked, except his grandson was eventually born with the perfect genetic makeup to wield the Element/Essence for himself anyway...leading to the Overlord stirring again to beckon to Garmadon amongst other things. The Overlord's initial motivations are to wipe out the wielder of the Green Element/Golden Essence, even at the expense of himself, but after being defeated by Lloyd (and company) twice, he shifts his goals into erasing the Balance itself so he can extinguish Lloyd yet continue to persist for himself.

The Four Main Guardians: As the FSM ran off to establish a new home where he could live in peace, he came across four wielders of the Core Elements that weren't Dragons—Ruamoko, Eirlys, Tawhiri, and Vulcanell (also semi-immortal but very magic creatures). He befriended them all during his temporary stay in their home realms, and came to master the Four Core Elements, which he then went onto channel into the Four Golden Weapons when he forged them at the Golden Peaks. But when the Overlord reared his ugly head in Ninjago, the FSM summoned his old friends to his aid in the resulting battle, and with their four elements combined as one...

Dragon Genesis / The Great Devourer: ...the four Guardians manifested a Guardian of the Green Element, and one for its opposite of Golden Essence. The golden-eyed, green serpent became known as a snake to eventually be called The Great Devourer, while the green-eyed, golden serpent became known as a dragon called Genesis, who became the FSM's personal dragon. Together, the Devourer helped the FSM split Ninjago in two with destructive force despite her small size, while Genesis kept the Overlord trapped on the sinking half of the island, creating an opportunity for the FSM to seal the Overlord away (although Genesis sealed themself too in the process). The Devourer, after the battle, became the sole Guardian of Central, up until she bit the Master of Destruction, in which her venom reacted badly to Garmadon's Oni traits, while Garmadon's essence invoked a restless and destructive appetite within her that could never be satiated, especially without her other half to keep her in check.

As for what's up with Genesis now, well, that's a pretty big spoiler :P (And I know I said that Genesis came from the First Realm in the Compass post but I lied aka changed stuff around. It's been a while since I wrote that post snksnksnk)

Wojira: Long before Time Had a Name, and long before Ninjago was even a thought, the Storm Spirit Wojira soared through the waves and the winds of the Realm of the Endless Sea. Though she was the sole Guardian of what little lands there were (known as the Aquatic Archipelago in today's times), she did less "guarding" and more "causing chaos" creating turbulent turmoil for the denizens that did live there. With the Realm of the Endless Sea being the FSM's last stop during his quest through the realms, he worked with Nyad to quell the beast's reign, and then went on to forge the Golden Weapons at the Golden Peaks and from there create the island of Ninjago to live upon. And, it was witnessing a Master of Water in action that gave the FSM the realization that there were more elements than just the Core Four, pushing him to begin his experiments to begin with. Wojira, meanwhile, has been left in her deep sleep for all this time, but legends lost to time tell that she will return to reclaim all that was once hers...

The Preeminent: ngl she's a little bit complicated since at two separate points she is a realm and also persists within one, BUT eldritch horror is a suitable title for her so we're going with that for now call me back after Season 4

[kakusu-shipping]

I feel like some of you guys aren't properly seeing the Zygarde-Sensei vision. So I drew it out for you.

[weirdmageddon]

i love these tags this person is so right

actually, can you imagine if dave was raised by B1 roxy?

i wanna get into this actually

(ok i had to spend a few hours rewriting this because IT DIDNT FUCKING SAVE AFTER FIVE HOURS OF WRITING WHEN MY COMPUTER UPDATED WHILE I WAS AFK so it would mean a lot to show this post some appreciation. i LOVEEE hearing what other people have to say)

even though these things mom does are presented in an extravagant, kitsch, jokey way, her intentions always came from a place of sincerity. she is simply Funnie

but rose reads too far into it and assumes things that aren't there, that her mother is passive-aggressively feigning interest in rose's interests simply because the things she does are so extra. "why do all of this if not to mock me"

im telling you right now if dave lived in this household he wouldn't assume antagonism, he'd go,

don’t forget who LITERALLY patented tangible jpeg artifacts as their post-scratch adult self and scattered shitty scummed up statue of liberties all over the planet. theres no way some of that overboard artful shit wasnt post-ironic / circling back around to genuine funny sincerity

dave's natural state is funny sincerity like roxy. he's had the natural capacity for this type of humor from the start and this is the direction he goes towards when he grows out of his brother's shadow by the end of the comic. dave and roxy share an earnest “so bad its good” type of humor

(lots more under the cut; the length of this meta analysis just got unwieldly with all the pictures and whatnot)

despite the alcoholism, roxy is a supportive mother. she's not the ideal guardian but hells of a lot more supportive of her kid than bro is. if she knew dave's interests she would totally indulge in them with some over the top silly goofy haha shit as a genuine gesture simply because she loves him

rose isn't too keen on it though. but she is more similar to dirk in her natural state of thinking of overthinking shit and assuming the worst, like the tags said

and yes dave got the sweet cuddly yet sometimes backhanded ouppy gene from roxy, probably even moreso lol

roxy's even said rose "sounds like girl dirk"

side tangent here, but this is something i wanna talk about.

i dont think bro should ever be in custody of children ever but if theres anyone who would be up to the task it's rose probably. i know she'd be able to keep up with him. not only does she have a defined personality (dave is more malleable and absorbs his environment like a sponge), if anyone can pick apart B1 dirk's batshit brain and probably be right on the money it's her. lil cal has been pumping patriarchal nonsense into bro's head and rose would be able to bring the fucking facts to the table without losing her own and being a living example of a badass little girl. i also don't think bro would try to force masculine roles onto rose like he did with dave, seeing as she is a girl, so she would actually have more of a leg up and get some passes that dave was never afforded. and rose wouldn't stand idly and accept any bullshit; she is no doormat. and i think this would earn bro's respect

but anyway, from this, couldn't we conclude roxy "sounds like girl dave"?

yeah okay. we havent even gotten into their penchant for funny typos or misspeaks, deliberate or otherwise

so, dave's environment

the sentiment "god you hope you can be as good as your bro at this some day" might have been genuine at the time when he idolized bro but of course he's not able to express that in any sort of sincere fashion because he's in dirk's fucking household. and this level 10 irony shit isnt doing dave any favors

his role models were the Internet and a vague idea of what Bro was like. So he built up his facade based on irony–not the literary definition of irony, as Rose might be quick to point out, but a popular concept of irony based on the idea that things that didn’t make sense actually made sense in some roundabout way. As a master of irony, Dave probably reasoned, he could see in a way other people couldn’t why a world that was scary and didn’t make sense really did make sense, and could therefore convince those people that he was superior to them. And he would wield his knowledge to maintain the appearance of superiority by calling everything ironic and pretending he didn’t care about things that didn’t make sense, and he would use walls of vaguely rhyming words to keep everyone at arm’s length so they wouldn’t discover his insecurities (source)

roxy's style is the embodiment of post-irony. being raised by mom lalonde would be like being raised by joel vinesauce ok

what can i say ….. (getting meta about this actually, hussie got these jpeg wizard wallpapers from a spyware website. link takes some time to load because internet archive)

rose is quick to read post-irony as actually being a joke/insincere, which in bro's case would be true. but i believe dave's natural instinct, outside of the influence of bro, is to read post-irony as genuine, which is exactly how mom serves it. we see this as early as act 3 from him; he understands her motives better than rose does herself:

and in act 6 intermission 2 i think it's pretty clear

but the thing is, it's always genuine from her. dave wouldn't have to second guess it because he's not one to naturally second guess someone's sincerity; that was learned due to his bro being virtually unassailable

there two types of ironies at play here:

seems like a joke, is actually genuine (roxy)

doesnt seem like a joke, is actually a joke (dirk)

you can make the argument that the second is is more psychologically destructive because it makes you question the reality of what is genuine sentiment and what isn't. dave never knew what was genuine and what was irony so he just sort of existed in this sincerity-ironic limbo and always did the opposite of what he genuinely felt on principle even if it always did originate from a genuine place.

"it just a joke bro i was just being ironic i dont actually x" is so much more trust-breaking and psychologically damaging than "wait are you being serious" / "i am being so fucking fr rn davy gravy" / "ok thats actually pretty fucking awesome. giant ass wizard statue" / "RIGHT"

how much about dave would change do you think? his character arc would be completely different for one thing, i think he'd have it good aside from mom's alcohol issues. he'd be left with the sweet and funny parts of him that we see at the end of the comic. the fake coolguy stuff is out, but this remains. this is dave in his element and we see it as early as act 1

he'd probably have no shades growing up in the lalonde residence* either cause those were given to him by bro straight out of the crater as an extension of his own cool image. and john gave dave ben stiller’s aviators for his 13th birthday to replace them so he could “spread his wings”

dave said he was wearing them for the ironies but i kind of doubt it. maybe post-irony but there was some reacharound to it being genuine because dave never put those pointy anime shades on his face again.

*though... it’s kind of hard to imagine him without his shades at all? B2 dave still got stiller’s shades from stiller himself so maybe getting them is a universal constant. i can imagine mom getting him them as a birthday gift cause shes pretty wealthy and probably could buy it out in an auction. but also itd be cool if john still gave him it as a gift

dave is actually a lot more genuine and easy to read than he lets on even when grappling with his upbringing with B1 dirk (again, see this post). this can be seen all throughout he comic but a good example is the evolution of thoughts about his interest in the preserved dead things in his room:

if B1 roxy was dave's guardian he probably WOULD have pursued paleontology because she wouldve indulged him in it and probably find it cool and worthwhile to pursue, instead of allowing dave to flounder under ironic detachment, being poisoned by irony to the point of gaslighting himself into believing he doesnt actually believe he thinks this shit is cool. even if it was indulged in this such a way; a superficially kitsch and ironic appearing presentation, it comes from a genuine place and inspires genuine interest. just read the comments.

basically, i think if B1 roxy raised dave, their relationship would have a surface level appearance of being bizarre or over-the-top but they’d have an unsaid mutual understanding that it’s completely in earnest and just build on each other's funny and absurd gestures of affection. rather than seeing it as one-upping each other, it'd more like collaboration of some silly bullshit that you take a step back and look at full and just say, "fucking incredible"

speaking of paleontology, mom had the proto-ectobiology lab. maybe they'd be able to use the equipment to appearify paradox ghost imprints of the dead shit to create paradox clones of things from the cambrian era??? sounds like a fun mother son bonding activity. and theyd actually put the sciencey shit in the household to use

oh god i know exactly the kinds of music shed listen too also growing up as a teen in the 80s. she on that (post)-punk/art rock/new wave/new romantic mtv stuff. XTC shit fr. this is a B-52S HOUSEHOLD. maybe the associates for the campy melodramatic flair. so he gets to keep the record on his shirt cause he is an enjoyer of the shit in her vinyl collection. dave would still gravitate towards musical expression and music itself but of more variety outside of just rap, with an 80s-90s, even 70s flavor due to mom’s influence. see this for perhaps a glimpse. ​she probably visited new york city a lot for business trips and because the music scene was cool as hell around that time, imports came straight from jfk airport, she probably got in on that a bit and have remnants in the form of vinyls and cassettes. in this way she could be distributing void to dave (influencing him with forgotten / presently irrelevant music). now he can REALLY rave about bands none of his friends have heard of. “hey davy grvay watcha listenin to” (he holds up vinyl cover) “omg snakefinger”

btw dave lalonde would look like this to me

[mirrorcatcreditcard]

Take I haven't seen in the fandom yet:

Luka doesn't want to be freed.

"Now, MirrorCatCreditcard," you may say, "that's nonsense. Any human would want freedom from that system."

If you're thinking I'm gonna convince you that Luka doesn't know he wants freedom yet, you're wrong. I'm here to talk about indoctrination/conditioning, grooming/emotional manipulation, my own experience with those topics, and how all of the above connects with Luka as a character. If a deep dive like this is too much for you, please tap out for your own sake.

Luka's life was planned before he even existed. There has never ever been an alternative option. There is no life for Luka as anything but what Herperu chose. Everything in his life has been planned to have him be the perfect pet human idol. That is what he must be.

Fandom, I don't think most of you actually understand this and have dissected what this means (shout-out to the Luka stans who are getting there/have guessed similar things). These words we know have alternatives and are not set in stone are Luka's "gravity makes rain fall to the earth" and "water makes things wet." They are facts so deeply ingrained within him that even if shown the contrary he remarks that the person showing them is just disillusioned.

Take his commentary on Mizi and Hyun-A in the art book. He looks down on Mizi for not being able to control any of her emotions. How does he talk about Hyun-A? He has her at 70% affection yet shows a patronizing attitude—she's the one in denial at reality.

Now, how did we get here? How is a human so "delusional" and set in the control?

He's been conditioned.

Some of you don't know what I mean by this from experience and/or research, and count yourself fortunate that you don't. I pray you never experience such things firsthand. Don't worry about ignorance. Familiar or not, I will explain.

When you are surrounded by only one truth and reality, that is the way you interpret life. If a parent tells a child "the moon goes to sleep during the day," until the child learns otherwise, that's what they believe. Now take that child-like belief and add some toxic environments to the mix. With time, any other kid would learn that the earth rotates from their peers or adults around them. But if the creatures around them all say and believe the same thing "the moon goes to sleep during the day," then that is what the child continues to believe. Years of that same thing being the only truth make that false knowledge into a fact in the person's head, and everything that supports that fact is taken as truth or on the right path to truth.

"This is kinda silly though," you guys are no doubt murmuring, "All of this is a hypothetical. Give us something that makes sense or that someone could actually see happen in our society."

I'll give you my own experience then. My parents taught me that God is real. My parents taught me that I will be damned I do not follow the commandments of the scriptures. I didn't need to worry though. As long as I was obedient to the God who loved me and wanted what was best, I would be saved despite being born an awful sinful human. I was homeschooled, only interacted with people of similar beliefs, and taught that people too different from me in ideology or with radical beliefs against my own were trying to harm me and my family. I believed the people who raised me because why would people who love me lie to me? My task was simple. I needed to obey God and love everyone, especially them. Love meant giving up my entire being and living only as servant and sacrifice. After all, being selfless to the utmost was the greatest form of love.

Let's go back to Luka. His guardian, Herperu, when questioned about any surprises while training Luka, stated not only that he was the one who endured the "tough moments" but also that "(Luka) owes his success to me, and naturally, he should be grateful." This sentiment is echoed by Luka in his interview (shown on Patreon). My god, it's giving parents with disabled kids who brag on social media about how much trouble their kid is and how much they do for them. Sickening. This shows exactly what environment Luka has lived in though.

When you are manipulated into having something as your reality, everything else is fiction and delusion.

Let's review what exactly is Luka's reality.

Heperu is the one suffering if Luka has any difficulties being obedient.

Gratitude is what Herperu is owed because he goes through so much trouble to make Luka a star.

Love/care is shown by owning another's autonomy.

Emotions and bodily reactions exist, sure, but someone should be able to control them; and if they can't, someone should control those reactions for them.

Segyein are superior and the good ones for dealing with humans. Humans must be disciplined and shaped to how an segyein wants it to act to be considered deserving of this goodness.

(Luka)'s perfection is defined by his guardian.

Luka's life is directly connected to being the perfect performer. His guardian praises his abilities with the statement that no other pet human will ever be as perfect as him yet leaves an underlying threat saying that it will be no good if a pet is not trained properly. This has probably been mentally (if not physically) beaten into Luka's mind: his greatness doesn't stop him from being able to be disposed of. The human instinct to want to live has been explained to him as Heperu's wish for him to live and that has been further distorted as a duty to live for the stage he has been placed on.

Luka believes fully that there is a debt in play here. In his interview, he mentions repaying love. He thinks the relationship between fan and idol is completely normal, encouraged, and healthy. Performance is the most important thing. Being where he is is a privilege.

There's a chain here:

Heperu indoctrinated Luka into believing what he says is all true.

The guardian manipulated him easily to do what he wanted with his body and mind.

The years have been spent constantly conditioning Luka to be the god who encapsulated fantasies for the audience.

He is continually being groomed to exist for the entertainment and enjoyment of segyein.

Circle back to my first point of this post. Luka does not want to be freed. He doesn't know what freedom actually is. He sees freedom as either foolish denials of reality (and doesn't consider that actual freedom) or as controlling the song and stage when he performs (something he learned from Hyuna). He cannot want something he cannot understand. He cannot want freedom in the sense the fandom keeps speaking about.

It's funny. From the moment Luka was revealed to be hated by the fandom, I wanted to know why. Instead of digging and finding horrific deeds, I instead found a character who portrayed my own traumas and experiences. I instantly attached and delved deeply into learning about this thirty year old singer. Why does he express himself in a certain way? Where do we first see mention of him? Who does he have emotions towards? How was he trained? What makes Luka himself? I have past essays/replies to other's theories if you're interested, but in this one I got personal and didn't sugarcoat the facts. If the fandom can't handle deep thought, we shouldn't be discussing this incredibly profound and depth-filled web series.

As always, thank you for your time, and I hope my thoughts allowed you to open your mind to new things. Mostly, I hope you enjoyed them 🫶

[cartoonsinthemorning]

I LOVE YOUR STANCEST ART RAAAAHH what’s your top five best stancest fanfic recs?

Thank you so much!!! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧💕💕💕 I'm not the best person to ask this to lmao, since 1) I'm a slow reader, I don't have much time to read, and I probably yet have to find some gems and 2) I read and tend to fall in love with unfinished works, that I know many people avoid like the plague. That said, I won't do a top 5 because I don't think any of these are better than the others, but I'll recommend some of my fave Stancest fics so far. I hope you'll enjoy! ❤ "bad moon on the rise" by calciseptine. If you like teenstans and Ford being down bad for his clueless bro, this is for you.

🧡 "The Guardian" by cellard00rs. Stanford travels back in time to check on Stan during his drifter years. I did some trad sketches of this fanfics, I gotta ink them digitally one of these days. 💛 "Brand New", unfortunately by Anonymous. I won't tell you anything, it's best to go into this one blind- I'll just say it got my favorite brand of fucked-up, opportunistic, dark Ford.

💚 "Learning Commons" by Frondere. AU with so much going on, so many elements to keep you hooked...There's many chapters too, so if you're into something rich and lengthy to read, this is ideal! 💙 "Tough as Nails" by sixerstanley. If you enjoy intense, deep exploration of the Stans' feelings, thoughts and relationship, you'll love this one! There's so much tension, and then tenderness, it's such a great read.

💜 "stay (it doesn't have to hurt)" again by calciseptine. Okay, this one doesn't actually get to any Stancest, as it stops at chapter one, but is SO GOOD. Especially if, like me, you love drifter Stan, you should read it. It's just that good.

🖤 "The Pull Of You" by an orphaned account, sadly. The way they're written as teenagers here is so authentic and natural. The intimacy, the tension, the desire, the daily rituals.... Pretty great read, but get ready for the heartbreak at the end.

[amymbona]

Being involved with Tashi, Patrick and Art - headcanons

It was really difficult to put this together without revealing my deepest secrets and ideas, just in case I finally write a full fanfiction one day 😔 Also... Is my Patrick bias showing?

At first, you are nothing but an ordinary girl at Stanford, having no involvement with tennis whatsoever. You find your way towards the sport though, or rather the people playing it, as you're a kind soul who offers tutoring lessons and writes articles in the school newspaper.

The first person to notice you is Art - the social butterfly himself - as the two of you share some classes, and he recognizes you on the court one day. You surprise him, though, by slipping right past him and running straight towards Tashi.

The moment she first sees you, all thoughts about tennis and school and Patrick evaporate from her brain. Suddenly, her mind is full of you. You're hers and she's yours.

It's such an unbelievable thing for Tashi to do, become almost obsessed with somebody, to the extent that she counts days until the new number of the newspaper comes out and she can read the interview you did with her. Even Art notices and he finds it quite silly, considering the odd dynamic that Tashi and Patrick's relationship has. And it's no secret he has a crush on both of you.

Pretty soon, you become Tashi and Art's thing - their friend that they both desire, while desiring other people as well - they make sure you're sitting at the bleachers for every match and show off in front of you. And you adore them deeply, finding them to be the best tennis players at Stanford.

They introduce you to Patrick, someone so similar and yet entirely different to them. The guy scoops you up like a tsunami, offers you your first ever cigarette and treats you as if you two have grown up together. Whatever Art and Tashi like, he likes as well.

The four of you finally get closer over multiple shared cans of beer - something nostalgic, a deja vu for the three that they don't tell you about - and all three of them ask to kiss you. You let them, of course.

Somehow, all three of them want you, need you so badly, all while still wanting one another. You become some sort of a glue which keeps them together - even though they were functioning almost perfectly before you showed up - and none of them notice the showing cracks which you failed to glue up.

Some time passes, you become Tashi's best of friends, her safe space and the only person she's willing to display her vulnerability in front of. The effect you have on her is unreal, she's genuinely at her best, healthy, taking care of herself, and all of that just because of you.

Patrick visits more often as well. Both him and Tashi seem to fight for your attention, so it's natural neither of them really minds, considering they are almost actively trying to cheat on each other with you. But you love both of them, plus Art, too equally and too much to nice any different in their behaviour. If anything, you're just happy that you found yourself in such a lovely group of friends.

You're with Art, both of you waiting for Patrick, when Tashi's injury happens. You clutches your hand like you're her guardian angel in the infirmary, begging you not to leave her, just don't leave her alone. When Patrick runs in, trying to talk to Tashi, you're lost, completely. And when Art kicks his best friend out - for reasons totally unknown to you - you're baffled. What is going on? Eager to get an answer, you run after Patrick, abandoning Tashi.

After that, crumbles into pieces. Patrick wouldn't talk to you, suddenly seeing Art and Tashi's influence in yourself and he can't stand that, because you were their first. And even if you choose to go after him, he knows he can't have you. Nor can he have Tashi and Art.

Tashi is devastated, she feels hurt and betrayed, even though you have visited multiple times at the hospital and brought her fruit and fresh clothes. Art spends most of his time by her side, and somehow, he's excused from school to provide her much needed support. She doesn't want you there.

Few months later, Tashi has completely erased you from her life - almost unwillingly, and despite your attempts to reach out and offer her your support - and leaves Stanford after some time. So the only one of the three who you remain in contact with is Art. His presence feels like a ghost's, he only reveals that he hasn't talked to Patrick once since that day and that Tashi is healing. Physically. But it's clear that mentally, she is completely devastated.

You graduate from Stanford by yourself, leaving everything behind the gates of the school, and get employed in an editorial office. It proves to be difficult to completely forget about the boys, since they are both very much active and have pursued tennis. And just to your luck, you've been promoted to a sports journalist.

Due to your profession, you're one of the first people in the world to discover that Tashi Duncan has married Art Donaldson and she's now his coach. It's like a punch in the gut when you are the one to interview the player at the US open in 2012 - many years after the whole Stanford drama.

He answers all your questions, his voice as soft as you remember it, and he tells you how pretty you look after you turn off the voice recording. You only thank him simply, and leave the place as quickly as possible, slipping right past Tashi without sparing her a glance.

About a year later, you run into Patrick - it's the most random of encounters - but the two of you just bump into each other at some random match where he's playing. And you learn that he is completely miserable, having slipped down from the peak of his career and still playing mainly to keep himself living at a decent level. He tells you he hasn't spoken to Art nor Tashi in years.

Few words in, few tears later the two of you end up drunk - completely fucking wasted, actually - and move it to the closest hotel room. Another night follows and then Patrick invites you for an actual date. That day, you discover a completely new person, a Patrick you never knew could actually exist under all that bravado.

One reckless decision follows another and you accept the silver ring that Patrick slips on your finger. The proposal is fairly romantic but simple and spontaneous at the same time, a pretty sunset in the background to make it look like a fairytale.

As Patrick's fiancée and later a wife - and as a journalist as well - you accompany Patrick to some matches. Yes, he has managed to crawl a bit higher again, having found much needed motivation in your presence and kindness. Just like you used to be an angel to Tashi, now you're one to him. Speaking of Tashi, it's inevitable, meeting her and her husband again.

It appears like a shot from a movie - hand in hand with Patrick, you stand in front of Tashi, who's hair is now a lot shorter, and not so cheery looking Art. All four of you are pretty unsure who to look at first. Luckily, Art is not here to play, but the two have been offered tickets to promote the Donaldson brand. You know the business, make a public appearance every now and then so the world knows they're still relevant.

While you hop away for a quick bathroom break in between the matches, unfortunately, Tashi is there as well. She pulls you into an empty stall and says that both her and Art miss you deeply. She doesn't say a word about Patrick. And she mentions her daughter - Lily - you know about the girl, her baby photos were all over Twitter. Then she kisses you and leaves.

Your and Patrick's relationship is odd, to say at least. It's not like he doesn't love you - god forbid that he feels anything other than deep affection towards you! - but there are just certain gaps. Despite finding nothing but unconditional support from you, Patrick is still unable to open up fully, to accept the loss of his two past loves, even though he has you now.

It's hard to talk about family life when the two of you are at it, and while you wish for a baby so deeply, Patrick can't really give that to you. And that pains him. Because Patrick wants nothing more than for you to be happy in life, but he is too afraid of having such a responsibility over somebody else. He can hardly take care or himself, how would he possibly take care of a baby?

And that's the reason why the two of you eventually divorce towards the end of the year 2017, because you needed something Patrick could never give you. And you wanted it, wanted it more than him. However, you never find another partner to conceive with, you can't bring yourself to fall for somebody else, not after the loss of Art, Tashi and Patrick.

Two years later, you're invited as one of the journalist to the challenger match in New York, completely unaware of the things that are about to happen. When you're getting all set in the hotel, a pretty lady named Helen, who's taking care of your check-in waves at somebody behind you. And that somebody, shows to be Patrick. You run away.

And just around the corner, you collide with Tashi. Ever so gorgeous, she offers you one of her smiles, a tired, appreciative one. There is no mention of the kiss exchanged few years ago. The only thing she says is that Art would love to see you. You tell her you still have the same phone number.

In the evening, as you're getting ready to go to bed, he messages you, asking to see you. A bit late for him, as you know he always used to go to bed early, insisting to live a healthy life. You know you really shouldn't, considering the three shouldn't be allowed a way into your life, but you let him come to your hotel room.

There, he crumbles in your arms wordlessly and lets you stroke his hair. You can sense there's something hidden behind his silence, something he'd like to speak about, but is too ashamed to say out loud. Later, he tells you he's retiring at the end of the season. While the two of you lay there in the dark, you stay unaware of Tashi's current meeting with Patrick. Art, he knows damn well.

The following day, everything is at the stake. You are at the stake, but you don't even know that. Stood on the very opposite of Tashi, where she is sat at the bleachers, staring at you through her sunglasses like the picture of guilt and repentance, as stiff as you don't know her.

You keep your eyes on all three of them, failing to note a single detail, to snap a single picture. Nothing. You only only stand there, glued to your spot behind the umpire's chair, watching Patrick and Art battle on the court. It's clear they're fighting for much more than a simple victory.

Art is doing his best but it's clear he's nowhere near as good as Patrick, and he seems to have almost resignated too, while Patrick remains smug and confident. Although his smirk falls every so often especially at those moments when he locks eyes with you. Then, he looks almost remorseful.

At one moment, Patrick takes a while to serve, rolling the green ball between his fingers and then holding it over the empty triangle of his racket. When he fires, Art doesn't budge at all. In front of you, Tashi is awkwardly fidgeting in her seat, her expression hard to read. Now, she seems to be avoiding your gaze.

The match turns into something harsher, fueled by something that's hard to describe, with both of the boys playing like their lives are on the line. Both of them keep gazing at Tashi, while she's trying to escape their eyes. It's messy, it's weird and you don't like it a bit. But then, all three of them turn to look at you. You're still there, watching them play. You haven't left. You never left.

The balls keeps flying left to right, grunts filling your ears, until the boys get so close to the net that it concerns you. At one final moment, the boys collide, hugging over the net separating the two of them like two good friends who haven't seen each other in years. Tashi jumps up, cheering, and you do as well, applauding them with a smile.

[meanbossart]

ASK COMPILATION: LORE, CHARACTERIZATION, AND THE ONE IN WHICH I RUIN A BUNCH OF PEOPLE'S FUN

As usual, this is far from all of the asks in my inbox but I'm trying to catch up 😩thank you everyone for your patience!

For the record, if your ask isn't being answered, that most likely means one of three things:

I am saving it as a possible art prompt.

I sincerely don't have a very interesting or good reply for it yet!

It's a question I have been asked multiple times/the answer is in my pinned post.

Glad you like them!!

As much as I don't limit what I draw to canonical events, vampirism is so antithetical to DU drow's character journey that I couldn't really envision it, to be honest, but who knows! Maybe I'll cook up some Ascended Astarion scenario someday that is kind of a role-reversal of the Bhaalist DU Drow AU I have going on in tandem to the story.

I'll be honest, this is one of the rare times where I'm really not sure which aspect of DU drow's weirdness this is in reference to. Do you know something I don't? 😅

His masochism is very... Classic, I guess? He's in it for the pain and for the emotional connection, and the process of being pierced wouldn't cut it whatsoever, it's too subtle. The body modifications he has are an incidental result of it, but they were never really the goal.

Also having stuff dangling off his face or body would just irritate him, he specifically only does rings because all other types of jewellery get in the way too much. Pre-tadpole Bhaalist drow obviously wore them by the ton, but only as a symbol of status and because he had a permanent new-money complex🤷 so yeah not a piercing-type of character at all, sorry!

He's smooth from the eyelashes-down and profoundly weirded out by body hair LOL

I don't personally think that whatever Astarion had for a home before would bear my resemblance to it after 200 years - having probably gone through several owners, remodeled, if not completely lost to the destruction of the end-game. I do HC that he used to visit it whenever he could as an enthralled spawn to read his mail, but he stopped after his father passed.

THANK YOU, I THINK? I can't say that isn't a passionate description at least!

I'm honestly surprised that this comes up as often as it does LOL but it's just an stylistic choice on my end!

The latter - for sure. He figured that them dying at each other's hands at the end was a given and took that assumption entirely for granted (and I'm sure daydreamed about it often while Gortash went on and on about political strategy during their dinner meetings.)

;))) way ahead of you and by "way ahead" I mean "eventually and whenever I can figure out when to do it alongside the other 30 ideas I am currently juggling" (but I really do want to make a little comic out of it!)

He used them! Not immediately, but he grew to trust the guardian after some initial suspicion and happily gobbled up those squirmy little things alongside Astarion. Because I made his character on a whim and without any planned backstory, I didn't really put any thought into his Guardian's appearance either, so she's just a human woman with a Joan of Arc look going on who's of no significance to him or his past.

But DU drow did trust her, again not immediately but eventually. It was honestly a big kick in the gut to him when the Emperor revealed himself and it definitely set their relationship up to fail from the get-go.

This is also why he didn't ascend to the next stage of Ilithid power, he just stomped the thing dead right on the spot LOL

LMAO I think Gortash is too proud to chase a tail he can't catch like that

He was probably very overwhelmed by the sudden realization that OH, THIS IS ALL HAPPENING BECAUSE OF ME which naturally didn't come across whatsoever to anyone present since he immediately bottled it up and tucked it away out of sight. However, as the story progressed and DU drow helped his friends get out of their respective pickles he was probably able to justify it to himself as it having been for the greater good - since it led to Astarion being freed from his master and Shadowheart to defying the Sharrans.

As for all of the rest of the ensued destruction and death that resulted from it? Well you can't make an omelette without cracking some eggs, or whatever is the wizard version of that saying. He has essentially turned the entire situation into a net-positive in his mind and sleeps great at night because of it.

[spdrvyn]

the soft candle glow, the music so slow (short drabble) — soft and slow mornings with (mafia) miguel after he comes home from an exhausting night of work. gift for @lauraolar14, check out her art for him omg

the coffee machine whirs with life as it sputters short bursts of espresso into your cup, miguel must have put new beans in because the aroma feels different. a milkier version of your usual wake up call with a savoury twist on your tongue, but you're in the mood for something sweet this morning.

you stand on your tip toes, but the edges of your fingers aren't able to reach the jar of sugar that's sitting on the top shelf when it's normally two levels lower. quite frankly, you don't want to walk to a completely different room just to get a stool just to get sugar.

thankfully, you don't have to. not anymore when miguel's hardened torso through cotton fabric warms your backside, his arm brushes against yours as he effortlessly grabs the ceramic from the top shelf while placing a kiss to the crown of your head.

"where have you been?" you gasp softly, he doesn't answer at first. scooping up two spoonfuls of sugar and pouring them into your cup, like he's apologizing. you notice the bruises and split skin on his knuckles, but he speaks first.

"negotations took longer than i thought they would," miguel rasped, his voice sounded like wheels against gravel, as if he'd been screaming the whole night. "i told them to handle it, but you know how incompetent they can get."

he interrupts you again when he doesn't let you run your thumbs over his wounds, but he slips his hands under the hem of your tank top to caress your bare hips. his breath is staggering, his arms are bordering on trembling, as he mutters small apologies against the fat of your cheek.

your touch, however, parallels that of a feather when you bring your own hand up to cup his face. unfortunately, where you're able to feel a scar that's yet to form later, miguel doesn't even hiss or flinch even though you're quite sure you scraped your nails against his open wound.

it's so gentle. you're so gentle. he could almost cry, because everyday is a losing battle convincing himself that he deserves this life with you that contrasts what he does to others, for others everyday.

"how about some coffee and antiseptic for those cuts, hm?"

so he settles on keeping his tears in, for now. you sit him down on the armchair of your living room, you set his americano on the small table next to him with so much care no matter how simple of a gesture it is. even when you're pouring medicine, burning, raging, medicine into his open skin, he doesn't shy away or groan from the pain. he keeps his gaze locked on you, because he's quite confident that god sent him a guardian angel.

so he settles on finally crying when you're wrapping bandages around his knuckles. quiet, but wracked sobs flood his being. his persistent, stubborn, and stupid being. you lean forward, smoothing his hair over on his forehead to leave kisses, and it feels like flowers bloom in your wake.

who needs Therapy when i have Tumblr. one of those Ts is clearly more superior than the other

[purple-babygirl]

fallen

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x guardian angel!f!reader

Word count: 1,395

Summary: Steve thought Bucky falling out of that freight train was partially his fault. What if there was another unseen side to the story?

Warnings: angst, crying, mentions of violence including being captured by the war enemy, torture, blood, angel wings snapping, imprisonment, cryo freezing, suffering and nightmares.

A/N: i don't know what i'm doing. I'm sad. i don't even know how I'm gonna continue this story. i have nothing prepared for it. again, I'm just sad. i love you tho.

~

Guardian angels, beings as old as time. They exist and protect without getting bored or fed up. They are there even if people have created too many wars until they have stopped believing in them and in gods altogether.

She was the same, and although she wouldn’t know, she was a piece of art. Lilac hair and eyes, skin softer than silk and a voice so sweet it could melt mountains.

She had no name or age. She had a number. Angel number 11 was who she was. She had no family or friends.

But she had a human.

He was assigned to her and she was made for him. Her only purpose as a creature of the light was to look out for him and keep him safe.

What she wasn’t supposed to do though, was fall in love with him.

Unlike her, he had a name. He was James Buchanan Barnes. This handsome, brave, young man who got enlisted and was about to go fight for his country. He was so kind, so charming and so so far away.

She was very worried, her angelic heart only ever knowing these feelings for him, yet confident in her powers. She would never let anything bad happen to James, or Bucky as he liked to be called.

War or not, she had his back. He could walk through fire and she would get him out of there unharmed.

A

Sadly, all of her planning was burnt to ashes when her ‘superiors’ found out about her latent feelings for the human she was assigned to guard since birth.

It has never happened before. Or at least that was what they had said.

It was all the same with each and every one of them. They get assigned to a baby human, be it male or female, they look after the human all their life until they no longer have one and then they move on to another human.

No angel has ever broken the rules, let alone to this extent.

Why did she think she was going to get away with this? Why did she think she was any different? Who did she think she was trying to carelessly cross the clear boundaries?

The night they were sure she had those forbidden feelings for a lesser being, she was chained and temporarily deprived of her powers, and Bucky was captured by the enemy.

They left her alone to wallow in the dark and cry in worry about her beloved, wishing she was strong enough to get out of her shackles and go be with him in this time of war; in his time of need.

When they kept her there for days to give her a chance to have a ‘change of heart’, Bucky was experimented on and tortured by Hydra.

And when she begged, swearing on all things holy that she was past her silly feelings for him and was ready to go back to serving her part and her part alone, Steve had found Bucky and brought him back with him.

She saw the bruises on his face, the dried blood down his ears and she cried and cried until her eyes were out of diamonds.

She blamed herself for being sloppy with her feelings. She had to be careful if she wanted to stay by Bucky’s side. She had to step on her heart and suppress her emotions if she wanted to keep protecting the man she was in love with.

The way she was unknowingly being monitored, however, ruined everything for her and ended her life as she once knew it forever.

Bucky was being the good friend that he was, going with Steve to fight again, looking more courageous and more handsome than any human ever has.

She was so proud of him and her smile wasn’t missable.

They noticed the focus on her face as she made sure the rope Bucky used to descend on the back of the train held up. They noticed her angel heart and how its beats accelerated with every bullet she dodged for him.

They noticed and they had to stop it.

“You lied,” they said, coming prepared with stronger chains to lock her in.

“He needs me. Please let me be with him,” she begged instead of  finding a way to defend herself.

They didn’t care, hands already on her wings and others on her neck.

“It’s over. He’s on his own from now on and it’s your fault.”

They were punishing Bucky for her mistake. He was going to get hurt and it was all because of her stupidity.

“Please, no!”

They didn’t hear her pleas or her cries, or pity her heart-wrenching screams as they snapped both of her wings off her back at once.

The second she fell to her knees, bloodied and broken, Bucky fell off the train, her last sight of him being him trying to reach for Steve’s hand and failing.

“You’re gonna be in there for at least 80 years, better try to forget because when you’re out, he might be gone.” They advised with little sympathy as they threw her inside the dark cave-like cell.

If this was heaven, what was hell supposed to be like? She can’t be feeling her heart get crushed over and over like that in the one place that was supposed to be void of such bitter feelings, could she?

She cried and cried, day and night. The bright lilac of her pupils turning dim and dull.

Has she just caused Bucky’s death? Did she just kill the one man she was created to protect? The one man that had gotten her heart to beat?

Screaming until she couldn’t breathe, she mourned the man she has known and loved all her life.

Nothing mattered anymore. Not her wings or her imprisonment. Nothing made sense without Bucky. Her life didn’t make sense without Bucky’s.

They let him die. They let her watch him die. Her heart ached with the memory for nights on end even though she could still feel their bond as if Bucky was still there. It was weaker, but it was present.

She became quieter as the years passed, no longer singing or screaming or even talking. The heavens didn’t miss her though, but James sure did. They had too many of her kind, but James only had her. Such thoughts would attack her every night year after year until she would cry herself to exhaustion every night, eventually losing sense of time.

20 years later, she started having nightmares. Terrible, horrendous dreams of her long-missed beloved hurting others.

Her once gentlemanly, well-mannered, kind man was now ending lives in cold blood in her nightmares.

James looked different. His hair was longer, his face grimmer, his eyes darker and his left arm shinier. His warm gaze was replaced by a dead one she never knew.

Had she not known him with her heart before her eyes, she might have not recognized him.

She knew it was her James. She could feel him. She could never forget him even if she wanted to.

Their bond felt strained, weighed down and suffocated. She had no idea what that meant. She thought she was turning crazy, her mind conjuring up an evil version of James to make her fear him or hatr him or leave her memories of him behind for good.

But she would never. Let her turn crazy, she was still going to be in love with James until her last breath no matter what.

Another 50 years and her nightmares have been recurring visions that she was used to, and even waited for.

Any glimpse of James was welcome even if he was acting nothing like the James she had known and loved.

The hardest visions where the ones where she saw him get hurt, his pained screams pulling her heart out and shattering it.

It all felt so real and that made her hate it all more.

It took her a while but she eventually figured out that James was still alive. She didn’t understand how he didn’t age until the cryo-chamber visions came on. Her heart ached for him, bled and sobbed inside her chest for the man who was suffering because she couldn’t be there to protect him; because she let both herself and him fall.

~

Tag list:

@harrysthiccthighss @tinystudentfirepurse @lavendercitizen @tumblin-theworldaway @pretty-pop-princess-hs @lilymurphy03 @idontwannagomrstarkk @glxwingrxse @littlelioncub43 @mathletemadison @canned-rootbear @pandaxnienke @loveisallyouneed1125 @floral-recs @littlemoonkiller @hallecarey1 @vespasianphantom @vicmc624 @winters1917 @ionlyeverwantedtobeyourequal @blkmystery @millercontracting @trappedwriter @am-3-thyst @obsessedwithquinn @sydnielauryn @alittlerayof-pitchblack @olipiaa @peterparkersgirl-blog @buckybarnessweetheart @thealyrs @colorfulbluebirdpainter @stuckysgirl27 @ihavetwoholesforareason @princess-bee0 @pastel-noah168 @steeph-aniie @buckitostan @onthr-dream @123iloveyou456 @ciaqui @lindasweetie @justherefortheficandsmut @xxdiaqiaoxx @morgthemagpie @wintrsoldrluvr @goldylions @serendipitouslife90 @sebastians-love @leelee1234love @tiedyedghoulette @saint-marvel @helenaellie @onceithough @raynelbabe @a-very-fictional-girl @justabeluga @lindababe69 @sapphirebarnes

[moodymisty]

I mean you got anything sweet for Blood Angels...

Though my brain keeps jumping to Flesh Tearers but I feel like that's just me trying to get myself to write for Flesh Tearers (and Lamenters)

(Rambling idea below)

I mean lets be honest Blood Angels are ultimate predators for humans... being so handsome I mean Sanguinius was often called ethereal and other worldly with his beauty. So of course his sons are handsome and all so well bred for the arts... easy to lure in many humans to just listen to their prose or see their paintings.

Just don't show up during your period because suddenly a lot of the poetry is about blood or blood adjacent... they can't seem to find the right red paint... and why do so many of them look at you like they are dying of thirst?

[ 𝕸𝖔𝖔𝖉𝖞𝕸𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖞'𝖘 𝕸𝖆𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙 | 𝕬𝖔3 ]

Author’s note: Do I have something for Blood Angels- BOY DO I! Enjoy! I didn't exactly do your idea but I've had this plot in my head for weeks and wanted to use it and you're ask was the only one that let me /sob Not my best work by far, but I hope you enjoy.

Relationships: Unnamed Blood Angel/Fem!Reader

Warnings: NSFW, Oral, Period blood kink/menstrual kink that type of stuff, Is this too weird? maybe I dunno you guys all seem like freaks so hopefully this will go over well? If not I can just return to my dungeon

"Why are we going this way?"

This is a long way around, though some of the Red Tear's maintenance areas. He doesn't answer you however, and with disgruntlement you let the question lie as you return to more civilized parts of the Red Tear.

This whole interaction has been odd, since he had picked you up to escort you back from your duties. Normally he doesn’t act like this; He's stoic and lacks a good bit of emotion yes, but you almost feel as if now he’s taking you to your execution.

"I thought you were missing,"

You had jokingly said, walking closer to him. This planet had been pleasant enough after the Blood Angels brought it under the Imperium, but you're quite eager to return to Terra. Or at least the Red Tear.

He ignored your little comment and stepped closer, but you noticed his face change when he got close enough to touch you. His body became more rigid, and you furrowed your brow as you looked up at him.

"Are you ok?" You say as he clears his throat and nods stiffly. "Yes. We should return to the Red Tear. Our work here is done."

You look up at him again try and get any sort of hint as to how he's feeling, but he only has that same, stiff expression; Though slightly more irritated than usual.

You round yet another corner to see a group of freshly armored Blood Angels leaving one of the armoring rooms. They all perk up at the sight of you, staring at you like something fierce. You get more than a bit uncomfortable under their gaze, until your supposed guardian grabs your arm and swiftly pulls you down the hall past them. He glares at them to keep their distance, and you grab at his gauntlet to try and relieve some of the pressure. You're arm is in pain from how tight he's pulling you along, until you stop in front of a room he opens.

It's not your own, so you presume it's his. He shoves you inside.

"Stay here."

As a diplomat you technically reside outside the command structure of the Blood Angels, but no one in their right mind would disobey an astartes. Especially one that is looking at you with such fire in his eyes. He turns to leave, but your sudden question makes him turn towards you again.

"What is all this? Why are you-" He grabs you tight at the shoulder, and you gasp in pain as the force of it pins you to the wall.

"Why do you smell like blood?"

You pull at his hand and grimace in pain, and at his oddly specific question.

"What? It's just normal, It's that time of the-" He lightly shakes your shoulder and despite speaking relatively quiet, his voice still hits you in the chest with out seething it sounds.

"Every one of my brothers on this ship can smell you. You're lucky I got to you before one of them did."

Even if they did, why does he speak of it like something would happen? Like he avoided it for a reason? He's talking as if you would be in danger if they found you, for something seemingly so simple.

“What would happen if they did?”

You quietly question, watching the expression on his face instantly change. He looks conflicted, like he’s nearly lost in thought. For awhile you think you may not even get an answer from him, until you finally see his lips shift.

“I, assume you’ve heard mutterings of a curse in your time here.”

You have vaguely- even he had cursed it once. At the time you'd assumed it some sort of unfamiliar swear or perhaps just an odd phase adopted by Blood Angels, and so you'd paid it little mind other than the initial confusion. When you hesitantly nod, he continues.

“The curse is real. It has changed our legion. And,” You figure he’s about to speak a secret he shouldn’t to someone like you, so you stay quiet.

“It makes the smell of blood, tempting.” He continues. “It sates a hunger only we Blood Angels possess, and keeps us from going raving mad.”

He quiets, and you feels his gauntlets shift on your shoulders. He changes the subject to something adjacent; You assume he probably feels guilt for confessing a chapter secret to you.

“You’re not hurt?” He says confusedly. You aren’t particularly surprised he knows little about such things, though explaining it to him in this state would take far too long and be far too unfruitful.

“No. I'm fine.” He hums. You think you hear him mumble about hearing such a thing from somewhere, a woman's illness, and the comment would make you laugh if he wasn't looming down on you so intensely.

“Very well.” He shifts his jaw a bit, the scars along it shifting. He seems to have run out of things to say, though it also seems like he can't pull himself away from you. His throat and jaw are tightly wound, like he's holding something back.

“You want some… Don’t you?”

He seems surprised oddly enough; Perhaps by your bluntness and stupidity. Many legions would not take kindly to you assuming things about them, but Blood Angels are remarkably kinder. He is remarkably kinder.

“I," He grimaces. "I would owe you a great deal. Our superiors look at those with the Red Thirst as little more than a danger.”

The Blood Angels have been nothing but kind to you, in their own way. To even just be on the Red Tear is a safety and security you couldn’t repay.

It helps that it's him; You haven't ventured far around the Blood Angels ship alone, and you shamefully feel yourself beginning to get attached. If this curse can be sated by something so seemingly menial to you, then you have no reason to refuse.

“Ok.”

You move to take off your pants hands shaking just barely in nervousness, as he drops to his knee with one heavy thud. The sound startles you, just as your pants fall to the floor.

Once they’re off, and just your underwear remains, you hesitate for a moment. His stare is so intense, and you don't know how to describe it other than hungry. Given what he's told you, it makes perfect sense.

After what feels like and eternity of you being frozen, you finally manage to regain enough control to peel your underwear away. He viscerally reacts to the presumably iron filled scent, and the sight of blood against your now bare skin.

You see the way the knot in his throat bobs just above the black skinsuit beneath his armor.

With a speed that has you almost letting out a scream he grips your hips pulls them forward enough that the angle feels precarious, but he has a solid enough grip that leaves no chance of you falling. He throws your right leg over his shoulder next to open your thighs, your foot pressing against the front of his jetpack.

He hesitates for a moment, and you look away from the sheer intensity of his expression before you feel his hot breath on your skin.

You feel the moment he finally takes a taste and you can barely hold in a whimper, it coming out a tiny squeak as you feel the way his hands shift and tighten against your hips. Any hesitation he had is gone near instantly, as he presses his mouth against your cunt.

His armored hands grip at your hips with a strength that makes you ache and fear bruises, easily keeping your legs spread with minimal effort as his tongue laps at your folds. You can see the blood smear across his face, though he pays no mind. He acts as if this is the first meal he's had in ages, or the last he'll ever have.

But while perhaps your pleasure might not be at the forefront of his mind in his quite literal bloodlust, the way his tongue slips between your folds and teases you still makes shivers go up your spine. Your hands grip his hair and attempt to steady yourself, as his strength pushes you around. It's impossible to stop the way your hips push forward trying to get closer to him, gasping as he briefly brushes around your clit.

Suddenly however he pulls himself away, mouth stained much the same as your cunt and upper thighs are. You can see his eyes are glassy his throat bobs.

"I should stop."

He mumbles something to himself about loosing himself further to the Thirst, as if he's treading a line between sating his hunger or falling victim to it. You, perhaps stupidly, encourage him to do the exact opposite.

"No, no just, just a bit more,"

You breathlessly whisper and attempt to pull him closer. He silently resists for a moment, before the knot in his throat bobs and he returns his mouth to between your legs. You can't stop the loud moan you let out into the barren room, damning the consequences of anyone hearing you.

You're so close to that peak you only need a bit more, and the way his teeth scrape against your skin and nose presses against your clit gets you there. Your hands tighter in his hair and you inhale, trying not to cry out. But even after you start to come down he continues, his mouth overstimulating so many little nerves you feel on the edge of tears. Your face is hot as your fingers grip at his armor, desperately whining for him to simultaneously stop, and never stop.

He pulls away again, and gently emoves your leg from his shoulder to let you stand and wobbly attempt to yourself. Your knees feel weak and so many of your muscles are sore, even though he was exceedingly gentle with you.

Realizing his face is a mess, he uses the fabric of his cape to wipe it; How fortuitous the fabric is red.

"You should still keep clear of my brothers until this, passes. You never know how close one of them is to loosing themselves and hurting you." You'll heed the warning. If they're anything more than what gusto he already displayed, you wouldn't be surprised angels more lost to the thirst would be dangerous to you. He displayed a remarkable degree of restraint, you could tell.

Though, a curious part of your mind wonders what he'd be like if he hadn't.

"Do you at least feel better? I don't know how the Thirst works but," He nods.

"Yes. It is nice to not have my head so clouded. I... Thank you."

You smile, before accidentally letting more words tumble out of your lips that you should've allowed. It seems his presence always seems to makes you accidentally forget how to not act a fool.

"Always happy to help." He takes your phase at face value, though you suppose you wouldn't refuse him if he asked again. It wasn't as if this ended badly for you.

"You are kind, offering yourself to a Blood Angel. Not many would."

Beyond their sophisticated veneer they are still dangerous predators more than capable of killing you with the slightest motion, you understand why any few who learn about their supposed defect would fear them.

Maybe something is clouding your judgement, but you don't fear him; At least not yet.

Adjusting your clothing you watch as he rises to his full height, his cape flowing behind him. You grip your own fingers nervously and look around.

"But, would you mind bringing my back to my own quarters? I'll admit I have no idea where on the ship you brought me, and I'm still a bit woozy." He offers a gentle but stoic smile.

"Of course."

[shygirl4991]

Summary: When the crew start to worry about SMG4 mental health, they come up with an idea to get themself into the guardians mind. What they didn't expect was splitting the man in half, now they must get the two to fuse or lose SMG4 forever. 

Art all done by @b-r-i-n-g-x do not repost! (1 out 3) Next

Tags: Secret Crush, Love Confessions, First Kiss, Split Au, Depression, Emotional hurt/comfort, Friendship, Enemies to friends to lovers Bringx came up with her own version of splits and i love the idea so much i had to write it! Working with Bringx to capture her splits correctly i bring you all a alt universe of the splits!

Chapter 1 Talk to me SMG4 rubs his eyes as he looks at the time, it was nine in the morning meaning he yet again stayed up all night editing. Slowly he gets up heading to the bathroom to splash water on his face, once he feels more awake he practices his smile before heading out of the room. He knew without a cup of coffee he would lose the small energy he acquired, he fixes himself up and leaves the castle to bump into Meggy. She takes a step back surprised “OH! SMG4 I came over to check on you, I have been trying to call you but you never picked up.” Four frowns as he rubs the back of his neck “Ah sorry about that Meggy, you know me and editing I was so into it i must not have heard the phone,”  she frowns looking at him.

Four getting nervous starts to walk around her “I was about to get some coffee to finish my video, want to join?” She shakes her head giving him a concerned look, once he sees her rejection he runs off to the cafe. SMG3 groaned, annoyed to see his ex rival walking. SMG4 smiles brightly and waves as he reaches the counter “One Titanium black please!”  SMG3 nods as he turns to make the coffee, he pauses before he repeats the order “Titanium black?” He turns to look at SMG4, the man didn't notice he was being watched and drops his smile showing his exhaustion. On closer expectation the man had bags under his eyes, he looked as if he had gone several days without sleep. Three frowns walking up to Four “I don't think you need this coffee dude, i think you need sleep you look like shit.” Four rolled his eyes letting out a small chuckle “I’m fine just didn't sleep last night!” Three crossed his arms “You always order a morning brown, you do know that Titanium black is one of our strongest coffee here?” 

Four starts to play with his sleeve “Is it wrong to want to try something with more kick? I have this video to work on, you know how I can be i will sleep when i'm done.”  He smiles at his partner only to get a blank expression from him, then Three walks away from the counter to start pushing four into the back room. Surprised, Four stomps his foot down to make it hard to move him “DUDE I SAID IM FINE!” SMG3 growls as he shoves Four “YOU NEED SLEEP DUMBASS!”

Meggy hearing screaming at the cafe starts to run over, she bursts through the door only to see a sight she was all too familiar with. Four and Three were slap fighting each other making the ex inkling sigh “What are you two doing?” The pair stop fighting and turn to the voice. Four relaxed seeing Meggy, taking this as his chance he speed walks away from Three.  Meggy watches as Four walks past her and leaves the cafe, she turns to Three still waiting for an explanation. He groans and waves his arms “I didn't do anything wrong, have you seen how much of a mess he looks? He needs to sleep and to touch some grass!”

Meggy stays silent thinking, she turns and sees Four talking with Tari and Mario with a bright smile.  “He did seem off when I bump into him, I wanted to check on him because he was ignoring my calls.” Three lets out a sigh as he walks up to her, the pair watch Four laughing at something Mario did “Squid we need to figure out what's going on with him,” she looks up at Three surprised “Aw SMG3 didn't think you worry so much about him!” 

Three blushes as he looks away from her “I don't care about him! I uh…I just need him back to normal so he can owe me something!”  Meggy giggles as she opens the front door of the cafe “Lets talk with Tari and Mario, maybe we can come up with some ideas to help Four!” With the two in agreement they step outside and walk up to the group, Four seeing Three’s glare made him frown “I need to finish my video, talk later you guys!” he waves at the two and runs into the castle. Mario rubs his chin as he stares at the castle, Tari frowns holding her arm “Mario…do you get the feeling something is wrong?” Three claps getting everyone to look at him “It seems we all have noticed something strange is going on with SMG4, now what do we do about it?” Tari smiles at him “Maybe we can make him feel comfortable with us, then ask him what's wrong!”  Meggy smile’s at Tari as Three rolls his eyes “Great idea, if he wasn't a dumbass I'm sure that would work. But that idiot thinks he can carry everything on his shoulders, that's why we are here!” Meggy glares at Three “You could say it nicer, Tari is just trying to help! It’s not like we can go into his head!” 

Mario’s eyes cross as he remembers something “Mario got something!” The crew turn to look at the avatar, Three sighed unsure to trust the word of his idiotic avatar. Mario smiles at them “When SMG4 went coo coo crazy over SMGs, Mario took this powder from E Gadd to go into his head!” The group stare wide eyed at Mario, in a flash Three grabs the plumber shaking him “SHOULD HAVE SAID SO SOONER!” Meggy runs up pulling Mario away from the guardian, Tari looks at the crew before turning to stare at the castle. “Oh I don't know guys…wouldn't it be breaking boundaries if we do this?” she looks down unsure if using the powder would be a good idea. Three crosses his arms taking a deep breath before walking over to Tari “Listen, I get that you don't want to upset Four. But look at him, Four needs help and if we ignore this…well I think you remember what happened to the old castle.”  Tari looks up at Three, thinking over his words she takes a deep breath and nods “I get it, lets help SMG4!” 

With everyone in agreement the crew take a trip to their old friend, as they get closer to the lab the group was feeling nervous. Mario stops walking when a familiar smell catches his attention, following his nose the plumber sprints towards the lab. “WAIT RED!” Meggy shouts as she runs after him to catch up, Three pinches the bridge of his nose doing his best to not lose his cool. Tari smiles at Three and gently pats his back “It’s okay Three, look we are here!” She looks around in awe, Three smiles softly at Tari before looking at the lab determined to find what they need to help SMG4. Mario smashes down the door, making two creatures in the lab scream. Meggy steps in the lab staring at two lizards standing in the middle of the lab “Who are you two? Where is the professor?!” she gets herself in position ready to fight, a frill lizard panics, shaking his partner “What do we do?!” his partner smiles adjusting his glasses. The green lizard steps forward showing off his lab coat “My name is Eden and this is my brother Edgar, we are E Gadd's…assistants..yes.”  She squints at them before she is pushed aside by Mario, following his nose he licks his lips seeing a plate of spaghetti in the room.  Edgar smiles “Oh interested in my lun-” his eyes go wide as the plate is swallowed by Mario, Edgar glares at the plumber only to get a small smack from his older brother “We must not get caught on what we are up to, behave yourself Edgar.” 

Three and Tari walk in looking around confused, Three stomps up to the pair glaring at them “I don't know who you two are and I don't care, we are here looking for something to help us look into someone's mind.” The brother’s exchange a look before Eden gives a nervous smile “Excuse us one moment,” he pulls his brother away from the crew as they walk to a bag. Edgar looks at Eden nervously “What are we going to do, we aren't scientists!”  Eden covers the young lizard's mouth “shh we just need to look at the collection of items we are using to stock our shelves, we find one that works with them and send them off.” Edgar nods as he digs into the bag, Eden joins in as they start pulling random experiments out. “Blueprint for the Smart-Boi 2000…nah,” Eden throws the blueprint aside as his brother takes out a laptop. He starts clicking around in the folders to find something “Hm code to terminate clones…oh hey look i think i found something!” Hearing this Eden peeks over Edgar's shoulder seeing a list, following where the younger sibling was pointed was the name of an experiment still in testing.  Eden nods, going into the bag hoping it was one of the items they were planning to steal, he jumps in victory as he pulls out a strange looking gun.  He notices a sticky note and pulls it off “Mind splitter just point and shoot to see a person's inner secrets, yes perfect!” 

The brothers walk back to the crew with bright smiles, they then reveal the gun confusing the group “Oi Mario! didn't you say it was a powder?”  the plumber stares blankly at Three before shrugging and going back into the fridge for more spaghetti. Three groans and stares at it “How do we know that is what we are looking for?” Eden rips off the sticky note before pointing it to his brother, Edgar jumps back in shock “Wait what are you doing?!” Eden pats his brother's head “Showing how this works, trust me your my brother i would never zap you if i didn't think it was safe!” with that he fires the gun. Meggy sprints in front of Three glaring at the smoke that surrounds Edgar, Tari gasps as she points at the spot “Guys look!” Three and Meggy gasp at the sight of two Edgars, the other one was colored blue and started to cry. Edgar frowns, reaching out to the other him, they make eye contact and hug each other crying. Eden could only watch confused at what was going on, he then turns and waves at what's going on “Ah yes exactly how it works, the person must face their inner problems!”  Eden could feel himself panic as he watches Edgar hugging his other self “You're so right other me, if only our father could see our creative minds!”  After that a bright light surrounded them fusing together, Eden blinks seeing only one Edgar again. The young lizard smiles, “Wow, I feel better after that!” Eden gives the crew a nervous laugh hoping the crew would take the item and leave. 

Eden walks over and hands the gun to Three, he stares at the item in his hand for a moment his expression changes from anger to concern.  Edgar waves at them “We have lots of work to do, hope this helps your friend!” Meggy thanks the brothers as she walks over to Mario dragging him away from the fridge. As they walk to the showgrounds, Three couldn't stop staring at the mind splitter. Tari notices and gives a small smile to Three “We don't have to do this, we could always help Four some other way!” Three sighs putting the gun away in his hat “If it would be that easy we wouldn't have come all this way Tari.” He walks ahead thinking over how they would go at the plan, they needed to get Four to lower his guard. As they arrive at the castle they notice SMG4 standing outside with a camera, his expression telling Three everything.  He walks over to Four “Are you seriously still making videos!? Didn't you say you were going to sleep when you're done!” Meggy and Tari stand next to Three giving Four a concerned look. Four smiles at them “Don't worry i took a power nap, now i'm ready to work again!” Tari  holds her arm shyly speaking up “Maybe you shouldn't push yourself,”  SMG4 chuckles and he sets up the camera. SMG3 rage was building as he saw the disregard Four had for his own health, he reached for his hat while the others talked to Four about getting rest. Meggy sighs “Sleep helps you focus better, wouldn't you want to make your videos sh-”  before she can finish her sentence Four gets shot with a laser as a cloud of smoke surrounds him. 

Meggy turned and glared at Three “What did you do!? That wasn't the plan!”  Suddenly applause and cheers could be heard around the showgrounds, Meggy looked around confused as Mario pointed at the smoke “MEME BOY!”  SMG3 walks forward nervously. A chuckle is heard as someone walks out of the fog “THANK YOU EVERYONE! Now hold your cheers yes it is I your favorite youtuber Mr Four!” everyone’s stares in shock at the light blue Four that walked out of the smoke while Three groans “Yeah we aren't calling you that.” 

The Four in front of them fix his sunglasses and he walks up to Three “pleasure to finally meet you,” kisses Three cheek causing the man to blush.  He glares at the loud Four going to each crew member giving them a kiss on the cheek, he couldn't stand the ego on this Four. “YOU CAN'T JUST KISS SOMEONE LIKE THAT…baka,”  the Four chuckles wrapping his arm around Three “Come now, this is what everyone in the internet business do! Catch up darling before you fall behind the trends!” As the smoke cleared up Three noticed dark blue from the corner of his eye, turning he saw another Four awkwardly looking around. Three pulled away from the bright Four to go to the darker one, as he approaches the dark colored Four takes a step back making Three stop walking. Seeing the man in front of him nervous he takes a deep breath “Hey,are you a part of Four to?” the man nods holding his laptop close. Looking around, Three goes pale when realization hits him “Where’s SMG4?”  

The bright Four chuckles “What do you mean we both are right here!” Meggy shakes her head “No, the mind splitter is supposed to have Four deal with his inner self…Three?” SMG3 looks at the gun then at the two Fours in shock, quickly Three shoves the bright Four into the darker one. He waited for them to fuse together, instead the darker Four landed on the floor with the bright one on top of him “HEY WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA!” The audience starts to boo, making Meggy jump up in surprise.  Three drops the gun shaking his head “NO! Those lizards did it so easy…what…did I erase SMG4?” Meggy and Tari cover their mouths in shock, while Mario rubs his chin staring at the two Four’s getting up from the floor. “No SMG3 we just made two of them!” The plumber gives the guardian a goofy smile, Three hated to admit it but Mario wasn't wrong. Looking at the gun holding back his anxiety the best he could he turns to the Fours “There might be a way to bring Four back, until then we need to name you two.”  Tari claps her hand as she points to the bright Four “We can call you Director Four, since you act like those fancy ones that make movies!” 

Director Four brushes off the dust from his overalls and gives a thumbs up “Sure you can call me that, though i prefer Mr Four!” Meggy walks over next to Three picking up the Mind splitter “What about the dark blue one?” The moment he heard them talk about him, the darker color Four looked away.  Three looked the man up and down, reading the man's body language gave Three the name.  “Fretful Four, from his body language alone we can tell this must be the anxiety and more distress side of Four.” Hearing this, Meggy points to Director Four “And him?” Three glares “Ego.” Director Four smiles as he picks up the camera “Well while you guys have your fun naming things, I have content to make!” Three pinches the bridge of his nose as he turns to Director Four, he then notices Fretful was missing. He looks around in a panic, only to see the castle doors shut. He relaxes for a moment knowing that Fretful was safe in the castle, he turns to Director Four and sees Meggy in front of him.  Director Four frowns seeing her getting in his way, SMG3 joins Meggy crossing his arms “We did this to get answers, what's wrong with Four?” Director Four lets out a chuckle as he starts playing with the camera in his hand, Three grabs Director Four by the straps of his overalls pulling him close. 

Director Four smiles brightly “Why focus on the bad darling, when we have meme content to make!” he pulls himself away from Three to dash off excitedly to make content. Three clenches his fits, the crew walk up to Three concern over the guardian “SMG3?” Mario calls out gently, placing his hand on the man's shoulder. Three relaxes as he looks at the three of them, he wondered if this was what it was like having friends. He looked at the path Director Four took then at the castle, he made this mess and the only way to fix it is to go back to the labs. “I’m going back to the lab and giving those lizards a piece of my mind! Tari, you go into the castle and watch Fretful and Meggy handle Director Four.” He turns to Mario without needing to say anything, the plumber starts following Three back to the lab. 

Once the boys are gone the girls begin their mission, Tari walks into the castle to see a dim light in SMG4 room. She walks to it and softly knocks “Sorry to bother you but we wanted to check on you, um you left so suddenly is something wrong?” She smiles at the door hoping to hear the man's voice, instead she hears typing with no reply from the man inside. She frowns, thinking for a moment she takes out her phone looking up a meme. She finds a silly duck meme and starts to play it “Look Four! I found this super cool meme, check it out!” She holds the phone to the door hoping the man would open it, slowly she drops her arms seeing its not working. She looks at her phone and lets out a sigh “Oh please hurry back Three.” SMG3 burst through the lab doors, his eyes going wide seeing the lab has been robbed. “No…NO!” He runs around looking for the lizards they met. Panic sets in as he starts throwing objects around, Mario runs around in a panic dodging them. Three drops to his knees shaking as realization hits him, they were tricked and it was all his fault. Mario peeks from his hiding spot to see Three on the floor “We…were tricked…I let these fuckers trick us, I really am pathetic arent I?”

Three’s eyes start to water as he slams his fist on the floor “SMG4 IS GONE BECAUSE OF ME!” Mario gets out of his hiding place to hug SMG3. Three attempts to shake the plumber off only for Mario to tighten his grip, Three breaks down crying as the avatar comforts him “SMG3 you did nothing wrong Mario believes we can get SMG4 back.” After a few moments Three wipes his tears and notices something on the floor, slowly Mario loosens his grip to see what Three was doing. Three picks up the sticky note on the floor and reads it “Mind splitter just points and shoots to see a person's inner secrets. Warning experimental, depending on mental state can cause the subject to split into multiple personas, in case of multiple personas make sure all personas get along in order to fuse together.” Three jumps up at this in excitement, Mario smiles seeing his friend has seemed to cheer up. To the plumber’s surprise Three pulls him into a hug before being pushed away, Three blushes as he looks at the sticky note “For once your right Mario, we can get SMG4 back. But first we need to learn why he has been so off, if Director Four wont give us answers then maybe we asked the wrong Four.” 

Three and Mario make their way back to the castle, SMG3 knew he needed to find a way to get the two sides to get along. Letting out a sigh they finally made it back to the showgrounds, with new found motivation Three knew what must be done “Mario go find Meggy, i'm going to help Tari with Fretful.” SMG3 walks up to the castle taking a deep breath as he walks in, there he sees Tari sitting on the floor crying. She looks up and runs towards Three “SMG3 he won't come out, I even showed him memes to see if it would help!” She shows her phone to him, on the phone was videos of ducks doing a silly dance. He passes the crying Tari and smacks the door “OI WE WANT TO HELP STOP BEING STUBBORN YOU DUMBASS!” Tari gasped hearing how aggressive Three was going at the man in the room. She walks up to him “Maybe we can lure him out with other things Four likes!” 

Tari runs off leaving Three alone with Fretful, he sighs sliding down the door. He lightly taps the door “I gave you a name you know…I thought Fretful would match you,” he sighs, taking out his phone and looking at his wallpaper. It was a group photo, in the center was both him and Four with their arms around each other. “I don't know why you locked yourself away but we need your help, the real you isn't okay and…i just want to help him.” SMG3 sighs hugging himself, he puts his phone away holding back his frustration at everything going on. In the room Fretful was focused on the door, slowly he closed the laptop as he took in Three's words. “Please let us help him..I know i dont always show it but I do care, you're my best friend after all…my only best friend. I hate seeing you suffer alone, I see you Four…i really do.”  Three gets up from the floor about ready to walk away when the door opens, he turns surprised to see Fretful. The man does a small wave making SMG3 smile as he walks in, Fretful closes the door and locks it. Three waits as the man takes a seat at the computer desk, after a few moments of silence Fretful takes out a notepad and starts to write in it. He rips the paper and hands it over, Three takes it and smiles softly at the words ‘I like the name Fretful thank you.’ SMG3 slips the note into his pocket “I’m glad you do, now Fretful please whats wrong?” The man looks away, opening his mouth to close it, Three sighs rubbing his arm. He had to take it slow, he had to remind himself that rushing the man in front of him wont help.

Three takes a seat on the bed, Fretful turns around in the chair staring at him curiously. SMG3 leans back thinking before he leans forward gently grabbing Fretful’s face, the moment their eyes meet the man blushes and looks off to the side. “Fretful…I see you,” the man quickly looks at Three avoiding eye contact.  “I can see you're in pain…I just want to help,” Three whispers as he gently rubs Fretful’s cheek with his thumb to comfort him. Fretful’s eyes go wide before he lets out a shaky breath “That's all I wanted,” his voice was low like a whisper surprising Three. 

Fretful slowly pulls away from SMG3 giving him a small smile “Thank you,” he walks over grabbing his laptop. Hugging it he turns and gets close to Three in order to make sure the guardian can hear him “Are we bad?” The question surprised SMG3 making him get up the bed surprised “What?! Of course not, how can you be bad? You're so kind to children, you do all you can to help your friends. How can you think you're bad?” Fretful looks down, frowning, it brought comfort hearing Three’s voice though the next words that left his mouth stung “I almost killed everyone.” Three shakes his head slowly grabbing Fretful hand, the warmth of their meme connection buzzing with the contact. “You were under that TV’s control, you would never hurt us on purpose! Has this been what's haunting you? After our battle with Mr Puzzles, have you been scared that you're going to hurt us?” Fretful sighs and nods “I get nightmares of everyone dead,” Three slowly walks up to the man and hugs him. Fretful’s eyes water as he drops the laptop on the bed and hold Three close, it was starting to click what has been bothering SMG4. The events of Peach’s castle haven't left the man’s head, everything that happens he blames himself. He believes he is the villain that will lose everyone with his choices, he could feel anger grow towards that television man as he holds Fretful. 

He let down Four not being there for him, he won't fail the man again. As they pull from the hug SMG3 makes a promise to himself, he will stay by his partner's side no matter what. The best way to start, he needed to get Fretful to be heard by his counterpart. Hopefully Meggy and Mario aren't having any trouble with Director, Fretful grabs his laptop and points to the door. With a nod the pair leave the room ready to fix things and move forward together. 

[what-have-i-unleashed]

dark crink ahead

(cw: unhealthy relationship, manipulation)

so in underverse ink meets cross after timeline x ended, and xtale has been rendered into a white void. i think since ink has fear of emptiness, he wouldn't stay in xtale for too long. instead, in this scenario, he brings cross with him to explore the wonders of the multiverse, teaches cross about the in-and-outs of it, and helps cross to manage his newfound abilities after merging with xchara.

of course, ink is still keeping that promise with his old friend xgaster, but having a new friend wouldn't hurt, right? and ink revels in cross' attention and adoration - he's just so easily enamored with everything the multiverse has to offer. ink can't help getting closer with cross, eventually showing cross his art. cross doesn't understand the importance of this gesture, but he still greatly appreciates it and showers ink's creations with fascination. cross asks ink to teach him how to draw and ink eagerly complies. they just have a great time honestly.

that is, until the honeymoon ends. ink eventually tells cross that he can't help him restore xtale. he's the guardian of creation. he himself cannot create a universe - that is the duty of the creators themselves. hearing this is like the wake-up call to cross. he has forgotten what he has to do all along, his responsibilities. xchara is so vindicated - he knows that nothing about ink can be trusted after all. cross has fallen for the biggest trick in the world. is the time with ink so wonderful that cross is prepared to abandon his empty universe, abandon his friends and family? will he choose ink over them?

... but what if he can have both? he can have ink, and he can find ways to restore his universe? ink wouldn't listen, but cross/xchara can make him listen. they have a power that they haven't experimented on a live being yet - the hack knife. and eventually, ink becomes the first test subject for it. and it's easy, because it's just like a betrayal kill, something that cross is not unfamiliar with, no matter how terrible it makes him feel. but this is for the greater good after all, and ink is too much of a valuable ally (... or something even more) to lose.

and that's how cross and xchara find out about xgaster's plan. imagine how mad they are. but it's fine, really. with ink under their control, they don't have to worry about that old coot anymore. xchara wants vengeance, but cross wants to keep ink. i imagine they don't know about ink's immortality yet, so xchara agrees that ink will be under cross' care. cross is a little bit irate that xchara treats ink like a misbehaved pet, and they argue a lot about it. ink is just so small (he's canonically 3ft8 what), he's vulnerable and cross has to protect him, especially from that damned destroyer who keeps interfering with their plans.

now imagine if cross and xchara meet nightmare and killer. the things killer would comment about how nightmare and cross are so similar with their "pets" and all.

[shakingparadigm]

Hiiii!!! I’m relatively new to ALNST (as in I watched it all in one go in one night and cried) and I was wondering if you have any opinions or information about this,

What do you think about Till and Sua’s relationship? Do you think they’d share anything in common? Do you think they’d like each other? I’d like to think there’s at least one thing they share in common that’s led to be on good terms.

Sorry this is a bit long, thank you!

First of all, thank you anon. I've had thoughts on this for a while! Thanks for giving me a chance to talk about it!

Till and Sua don't often interact in canon, so it's pretty easy to assume that Sua would hate Till's guts because of his crush on Mizi (especially since that art of Mizi playing with Till includes Sua looking jealous on the side, sulking in the next page).

But something to note about the characters in ALNST is that they're actually quite respectful of each other despite the crush conflict (further seen by Ivan and Mizi being very friendly despite Ivan knowing Till loves Mizi). Everyone in the garden knew Till had a crush on Mizi, the goodbye notes state that it was very obvious.

Yet despite that one instance of Sua pouting at Mizi and Till together, Sua is never shown to dislike Till. In fact, she seems to be more conflicted with Ivan instead. In the few official arts we have of them together, they seem pretty neutral.

(Sua's collar is green, showing she's comfortable/doesn't mind Till. Till's collar is orange most likely because he's a little nervous/awkward.)

In the official Anakt Kit goodbye letters, Till and Sua write messages to each other. They're short and seem more of a polite gesture than an actual goodbye between friends, but nothenless it shows that they're pretty amicable. Till writes that Sua has a nice voice and that he hopes she gets a high score in Alien Stage, while Sua tells him to take care and that she'll see him there.

I think that Sua and Till actually have the potential to be pretty good friends, strangely enough.

As for similarities, there are quite a few!

The most significant similarity I see between Till and Sua is that they're both deeply sensitive. Due to this, they've developed different defense mechanisms in order to protect their feelings.

Till is actually known to be timid, rather closed off and "cold" to others. In an early stream, he's even stated to be the most timid character of the cast. He only reveals his energetic and fiery side when he's putting his full passion into something like performing his music, when he's provoked, or whenever Mizi is involved (she makes him "strong", the creators say). Of course this standoffish and aggressive behavior is a front for his softer, more vulnerable feelings. He was heavily mistreated as a child, which led him to become distrustful of most people. This plus other factors regarding his rebellious nature and more eccentric personality result in him being a "friendless idiot". Of course, once people get to know him they'll find that Till is actually quite the sweetheart, albeit a bit awkward.

Sua is quite similar in this way. The creators describe her as soft-hearted, which is why she tears up so quickly in the IvanSua comic and the aforementioned art of Till and Mizi playing together.

Sua, just like Till, seems to be mistreated by her alien guardian. Although to a less violent extent than Guardian Urak, Sua's parent is seen to aggressively handle her without care, grabbing her by the head and shoving her forward. She's also placed in uncomfortable clothing and neglected without consideration for her own feelings. It may be due to this cold and lonely upbringing that Sua learned to hide her emotions as a coping mechanism.

It's been said that getting to know more about Sua is very difficult, as she's closed off and only ever opens up to Mizi. She seems cold on the surface, but the truth is she is hiding her sensitivity so that she won't get hurt. Sua is also very timid in nature, seen in how she only writes in the corners of people's yearbook pages with small font, putting in extra effort to not take up too much space.

But just like Till, Sua has her bolder side. Occasionally she's known to say very blunt and suprising things that other people would not expect of her, and she feels very deeply for the people she cares about. Sua may be the more cool and collected half of MiziSua, but we must not forget that she was tender-hearted to the point where she could not imagine living a life without Mizi in it, thus her sacrifice.

Both Sua and Till's original colors are white, and both are the only characters in the main cast who have ear piercings/earrings. They're both prone to tears and play the role of "god" in their respective relationships.

Something I really like about the ALNST offrec/actor AU is that among all the characters, Till and Sua were chosen to be the seniors!! I found it really cute! Sua, who is the most petite and smallest of the cast + Till, who in canon is the youngest in age. These two are actually the experienced seniors of the actor AU! It's so fun to me lol

Anyways, sorry for all of this, maybe it was a bit much, haha. Till and Sua are my two favorites, and I've always seen similarities between the two of them. I think there's similarities across several of the characters in ALNST, actually, which I hope to talk about in the future!

Thank you for the ask!!

[cielwritings]

HCs for Ciel as an older brother? Maybe a bit of r!Ciel added in please? :3

! Older Brother Ciel !

weheheheheh... i cant wait to see rciel in the anime if they continue making seasons. which im sure they will.

R!Ciel is named Riel.

You were born mere days before the tragedy regarding the Phantomhive name. You and your two older brothers were the only ones to have survived.

Unlike your brothers, you weren't sold off. You were far too young. Instead, you were left in the cold by some building. Fortunately, on one of her daily walks, Elizabeth had spotted you. She swiftly brought you back home.

The month had passed, Ciel returned home without his brother. You didn't know this. You were a month old, after all.

Months turn to years, you're now three. You had no prior knowledge regarding your other older brother.. until the brother you grew up with, Ciel, was abolished of his title from Riel's return.

You needed a guardian always. Riel tried convincing you to stay with him as the manor was far safer. You denied, and stayed with Ciel and Sebastian. Sebastian is, and has been, Ciel's guardian... so what's the difference?

Sebastian takes his orders literal. He was ordered to prioritize Ciel's life over anyone else's. He and Ciel got into fights more frequently whenever Sebastian protected him over you. So, you never left Ciel's side, even if you wanted to. You were almost always glued to him in some way.

Either you'd be on his lap, he'd be holding you, you'd be forced to hold his hand, whatever it may be. If Sebastian picked him up, you're being picked up too. If he's being changed, you will turn around and face the other way in the same room. Baths are no different. Ciel will always be in the room, eyes averted. If anything were to happen while you were bathed, he'd be swatting Sebastian away to scoop you up into a towel. Even if it hasn't happened yet, Ciel already thought about this stuff.

At some point, it became enough for you. You loved Ciel very much, you loved being by him, but this isn't clinginess anymore.. what can this be classified as?

You'd be coloring with him one day. Somehow, your art was far better than his. Then, it was bed time. The night prior, you were graduated from sleeping on your own with Ciel nearby, to sleeping with Ciel. Thanks, robbers.

Ciel was not a happy boy. You weren't either. You couldn't even cuddle your plushie properly, as you'd be facing his chest. Why? Because if you get shot, your organs wouldn't be facing the window. That's how much Ciel cares.

While cuddled up in his arms, you spoke. "I wanna sleep on my own."

Ciel understood, but not in the way you'd imagine. "I know, change is hard."

"No.. I want my own room."

That, he didn't understand. He looked at you like you were just playing and acting silly. He ruffled your hair with a faint smile. "You can't. You're with me." "I don't want to."

Ouch.

If anyone else had told him something as offensive as that, he'd get pissy. For some reason, this just hurt!

"..You have no choice. Riel took all of my money, silly." "Oh.." "Do you want to live with Riel?"

You were put on the spot, freezing up. You hesitated, but shook your head no. Not because you wanted to live with Riel, but rather because you just.. wanted some sort of privacy.

"Good," Ciel smiled, nose buried in your hair. "Just get some rest."

The moment Ciel fell asleep, Sebastian entered and replaced you with a pillow and allowed you some free time. He'd tuck you into bed with Ciel the moment you fell asleep. Ciel never noticed this happening throughout the days.

Your relationship with Ciel was complicated, sure, but you loved him. He loves you too, if that wasn't obvious enough.

[mi---amor]

I JUST DON'T CUT IT WITH THE CHERUBIM

... p sure being the 'ruler of the Astral Plane' means you're kiiinda like Hades? or the Grim Reaper? at the very least a divine guardian of dead souls and their magic?

idk i have a million headcanons for this guy and all of them have either probably been said already and i haven't seen them yet or just don't make sense even within the purposeful vagueness of the game so i don't wanna like. infodump too much ;w; most of my art isn't set as anything anyways cause it feels restricting so it can be interpreted in a few different ways.

thought it would be funny at least if Saltbanana gets saddled with all these godly responsibilities and restrictions either because the Wondertart spell(?) neglected to indicate some very important details or all that magic in general has to come at a huge price

idk i just wanted to share one of my own takes on an All Powerful Fartbaker concept i guess ! might tweak some things later

... may or may not have another one brewing that's much darker and based on some songs I've been listening to autistically lol

[signanothername]

Hello. How are you?

I've recently been following you, and I really love your art and I love how informative you are. You honestly such a joy to see and listen to.

As a question, what is your opinion on Dream? I don't know if you already answered this or not. But I was wondering.

And, I saw how long that Killer question was, (I read it all), so you don't have to answer this either. You can use a few sentences if you want. But it's totally your choice.

Yeah, that's all. Drink water, eat food, surround yourself with people that love you for who you are, and I love you (PLATONICALLY) <3

Hi!! I’m doing well! Thank you <3333

And awww!! Glad i bring you joy! :D

And thanks for the reminders!! Appreciate them so much! Hope you’re doing great, Love you too! /p

And omg fave little guy no.3 time for another ramble hcchchhc

I actually absolutely ADORE Dream, he’s kind, honest, hard working, and very big hearted

Dream tries his best to be nothing but a joy to those around him, he strives to make everyone happy, and not just cause he’s a guardian of positivity, it’s just how he is as a person, he loves making people happy, to be the sunshine in their lives, even if people are thankless or completely unaware of how much effort he puts into making them happy

His unconditional love for Nightmare and the way he cares so much about him above anything and anyone else, the way it reflects on his actions and how Nightmare’s corruption never changes how much he loves his brother?? Crying i can’t why is this boi so so precious

Yet Dream makes really sad, i mean, he himself endured abuse from the villagers, but instead of relentlessly bullying him, they were taking advantage of his kindness and naivety as a child, he spread himself too thin for them, yet not a single one stopped to think that he is a child, people never truly cared for Dream as much as they cared about the golden apples and the apple incident is an obvious example of that

And i feel like this is one of the reasons he’s an absolute people pleaser, he was conditioned to believe he has to put the happiness of others before his own at such a young age, that it’s somehow his job to make people happy even if it makes him feel bad, and while Dream’s job is obviously to help people, it was never his job to put their happiness before his, but what’s a clueless child to do y’know?

And that’s something i like to believe he never truly grew out of until he expended his energy completely after centuries, even then, Dream still feels guilty when he puts his foot down and tells someone to stop something or when he isn’t willing to help them, the guilt still eats away at him but it’s something i believe he’ll learn to quell, that it’s not his fault, or his job to destroy himself for the sake of what others want

There’s also the fact Dream has to fight his brother, the one he loves the most, it obviously hurts Dream’s heart immensely, he likes to believe his brother is still there deep down, and while he’s half right, time and corruption changed Nightmare, which Dream learns to adapt to, that just like Nightmare changed he has to change himself if he wanted to catch up, it doesn’t change the fact Dream’s heart is beyond broken for losing his brother

The fact Dream had to endure 500 years of being trapped as a statue, the last thing he saw was his brother’s crazed look and countless dead bodies all killed by his own brother, the fact he was willing to talk to Nightmare regardless and the fact it never changed how much he loves Nightmare even when his brother’s actions horrified him, Dream obviously realizes that they were both only children who endured so much and who both experienced a very traumatic event

The thing is, Dream and Nightmare are twins, and unlike none twin siblings, twins tend to be a lot closer and they act as two halves of the same whole, and I feel like half of Dream just feels so empty, the half his brother used to fill, Dream feels so alone in the world, cause nobody holds the same burden he does, yet what does Dream do? Smile, hold his head high, and face the challenges of every dreaded day head on, he doesn’t falter or break even under the immense pressure of his job, his corrupted brother, and everyone’s expectations of him

That doesn’t mean Dream is happy or has a fulfilling life, far from it, he’s broken, and just like Nightmare, he has an inner child in dire need to heal, but he doesn’t let life, his burden, his past or dreaded future dictate how he views today, he survives day by day and is still willing to put on a genuine smile regardless

If that isn’t bravery, idk what is