#another one that's just rp logs sorry

[millenniumdueled]

The End of the World, Again: part 2

Yugi

The group emerges from the rift to find themselves in the crumbled remains of an ancient, tiered city, long forgotten. Before them stands a massive door to the uppermost level, from where that great pillar of teal light seems to be projected.

"that must be where dartz is..." Yugi speculates, craning his neck as he follows the light upwards.

Seto

"No time like the present, then."

Seto opens the door to fated destiny's destruction, nothing but confidence and irritation.

Yugi

Yugi nods in agreement and makes his way to the large door. It leads the Duelists to an open courtyard, stone pathways leading to a central domed structure over a shallow pool. The pillar of line eminates from the top of the dome, and a crystalline statue of a familiar foe sits below.

"Careful, Partner..." his Other Half warns as Yugi approaches the crystal statue.

He steps up onto the platform of the domed structure, glancing over his shoulder at the others, and around the courtyard. But as he reaches out to touch the statue, suddenly the crystal falls apart to nothing more than dust on the wind. Yugi's eyes widen, and Dartz's laugh echoes around them again

Seto

Upon hearing the laughter that grates on his nerves and his ears, Seto readies his Duel Disk to play monsters for the fight. He takes a defiant step forward, knees bent slightly for poise.

"Dartz! Where are you, snake food?! Show yourself!"

Yugi

"I'm with my god now. Don't worry, Seto. You'll join us soon enough," echoes Dartz's voice from the dome overhead. As his words finish, that bright pillar of light splits into four, each arcing in a different direction over the side of the island and plunging deep into the ocean far, far below.

Joey

It's a good thing he's focusing on the task at hand. The emptied soul squares were creepy, the portal was weird, this empty city is creepy as hell, and the life-sized glass Dartz that just disintegrated for no reason? You guessed it, creepy!! The disembodied voice is not helping, though at least Joey only jumps a little when all that light goes shooting outwards again. He heads to the edge of the domed area to try to look over, see where it went.

His jaw drops as a massive green serpent winds and twists its way out of the ocean, into the sky, flying towards them. It's big enough to coil around the entire floating city. "Holy-! That thing could pick its teeth with any of the Egyptian God monsters! That's the Great Leviathan!?" Well. He knew this wasn't going to be easy. But damn.

"...Is it just me or does he have a pimple?"

Yugi

At Joey's comment, the Other Yugi squints at the enormous snake that looms over the Duelists. He gasps when he realizes.

"That pimple is Dartz!"

The Leviathan roars in response.

The Pharaoh wastes no time, immediately drawing and summoning the first three monsters in his deck: Dark Magician, Summoned Skull, and... Kuriboh. As the monsters appear, as flesh and blood rather than projections of light, the Other Yugi pulls one more card, and the dragon Timaeus joins them.

Joey

"Eugh!?"

Joey follows Yugi's lead, summoning Flame Swordsman, Jinzo, and, of course, Red-Eyes Black Dragon. He's liking these battles that don't stick strictly to the rules. To top it off, he's got Hermos next in his deck, and he wastes no time bringing him out as well. "ALRIGHT!! We got this!"

Seto

Seto bares his teeth at the monstrous creature, pulling from his Extra Deck to summon Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, Gadget Soldier, and Vorse Raider, who has been loyal to him through this entire ordeal- and, finally, Critias. Seto feels the monsters all share a smiliar dedication to their Duelists, and to the world those Duelists live in; they have to give this battle their all.

Dartz looks down at the humans and their Duel Monsters and gives his heartiest, cruelest laugh yet, mocking them. "HAHAHAHAHAHA! Is this all the Chosen Duelists have to muster?!"

"Shut it, hood ornament! Prepare to get blasted into next week!"

Yugi

Once all three legendary dragons are summoned, the Other Yugi feels a pull in his heart that tells him to draw another card. And so he does. He immediately slides Legend of Heart into place in his DuelDisk, and the three dragons regain their human, knight forms.

He stares that enormous snake down with all his rage as he calls on all of their monsters to attack as one. A bright, white light encompasses the battlefield, leaving the Duelists temporarily blinded by the united front.

But when the spots clear from his vision, the Other Yugi gasps.

The great Leviathan still stands, seemingly unaffected by the all powerful attack.

Dartz laughs again. Though his torso and head look so small protruding from the massive monster's face, his guffawing still echoes.

The Pharaoh grits his teeth, plants a foot in the ground below him. He draws another card and plays Multiply. Outside of the rules of Duel Monsters, he uses the spell card to amplify the knight Timaeus's attack. Once again, a great burst of light errupts.

And once again, the serpent stands as the lights fade. Completely unharmed by the mighty affront.

Seto

Seto shields his eyes from the massive onslaught's discharge of light, having no time to marvel at the Knights who came from the Dragons. He supposes it makes sense, in a way... but he did prefer their dragon forms to these humanoid Knights. Joey seems far more surprised, at least, until they're all blinded again by Timaeus's follow-up attack.

Which, still, does nothing.

"Oh, is that it? Your magnificent mosquito bite?" Dartz giggles, which somehow stings more than evil laughter. "Then I suppose it's my turn!"

The great snake rears up, gathering negative light into its huge maw...

Yugi

As the Leviathan draws energy for its attack, the Other Yugi thinks quickly. He pulls another card, and holds it into the air as he calls for Timaeus. The knight absorbs the powerful defense of Big Shield Gardna into his sword, projecting a barrier of light that shields the Duelists.

But the other monsters aren't so lucky.

When the Leviathan's attack fades and the Full Barrier Shield finally disappears into a cloud of glitter, the Duelists stand with only their Knights left to protect them.

As the snake stares them down, those iridescent auroras begin to glow overhead once more. The great beast raises its head, pausing to investigate the colorful lights.

Glowing bubbles seem to emerge from the aurora, and the Other Yugi gapss as he recognizes a voice coming from one. The Dark Magician Girl, who he had met the night he freed Timaeus, calls out to her fellow monsters to unite against the serpent. One after another, dozens of those bubbles of light crash into the snake.

"Help from the other side--!!" the Pharaoh gasps as he realizes.

Seto

Seto stares for a moment where the Duel Monsters are hitting the Leviathan, watching for any damage that may occur... but it's not enough. He turns back to the other two Duelists. "Hey- Yugi, Idiot, we should take this opportunity to regroup, while he's still surprised enough not to attack us again!"

Which leads to Seto summoning his XYZ Dragon Cannon, Blade Knight, and Kaiser Seahorse. They're less than his best monsters, but with Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon in the graveyard... it's what he has available.

Yugi

The Other Yugi nods in determined agreement with his rival. He tosses him a quick smirk, but in a fraction of a second, his focus is returned to the great beast.

The futility of the monsters' attack won't shake his confidence. He summons forth three new monsters, Black Luster Soldier, Buster Blader, and Valkyrion the Magna Warrior. A stark upgrade from his last pulls.

Joey

"Don't call me idiot, jackass." There's no heat to the little jab, though, as Joey summons a new lineup. Gearfried, Rocket Warrior, and Gilford the Lightning. "I got your back, Hermos! All you hit him at once! Ain't no way it can stand up to us plus the help of those monsters up there!"

Yugi

Once each Duelist has summoned their next wave of monsters, the Other Yugi orders them to attack. Their monsters leap at the Great Leviathan as one, giving their all as they slash, stab, and blast into the snake's throat.

The massive beast roars, throws its head back, but it shows no signs of damage still. Blade-like spines shoot from its hide, piercing the monsters that hack and slash hopelessly against its thick scales.

Enraged but unharmed, the divine serpent turns its venomous gaze to the legendary knights.

Seto

The Legendary Knights are fearless in the face of this immense God-creature, but, unfortunately for their Duelists, they are but Duel Monsters, nothing more.

Even with all the bolstering in their decks, these Knights cannot withstand a blow from such a monster. They, too, are destroyed.

Dartz then sends tendrils of darkness toward the Chosen Duelists, effortlessly entangling them and pulling them toward his God's obsidian skin. "Don't you see? Even your Legendary Knights have failed you, Chosen Duelists; resistance is futile. All will be consumed by the great Leviathan, and it will drown the world in the darkness of humanity's hearts! Take a moment, now, while you can: hear them inside its belly!"

Joey

Joey watches their monsters get skewered with a wince. "Okay... Maybe we need a plan B." Well they still have their Knights!

And. Now they don't.

"No!! Shit, nothin's workin' on this thing!" he cries out as they get snatched up. He still tries to fight, even aiming a punch at the tendril that grabs him. "Bring it on, you freaky mutant! Ain't no god has kept me down yet, you ain't about to break that streak!!" But then he freezes. Looks around. "...Mai? Valon? Rex??" He looks back up at the Leviathan. Where the voices are coming from. "...I hear you. I HEAR YOU!! I AIN'T GIVIN' UP ON YOU, WE'LL GET YOU OUTTA THERE!!!"

Somehow.

(( as always!!!!! thank you x10000 to @redeyesandchilifries and @blueeyesking !!!!! ))

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for telling someone that roleplays are a two-way street and refusing to re-engage with them?

Occasionally, if I'm in the mood to write but I don't really know what, I'll browse ship tags on Omegle. Its become synonymous for roleplays, and I've found its (typically) pretty fun.

As with every social thing, there's the odd... Less than pleasant experience. Last night was one such experience. I connected to someone on a ship tag, they sent a prompt, and it was actually a pretty interesting one, so I responded.

It was an AU prompt, but I generally kept my characterisation as close to the character's canon as I could, while still matching it to roughly what someone's personality in that profession and location would be.

(E.g; if the character was a proper old-country style cowboy, or a socially awkward secretary, ect.)

It became very clear, very fast, that the other person had very, very specific ideas about the roleplay, what happens, what my character was supposed to say/do, ect. To the point where (as I later told them) they should've just written fanfic so they had complete control.

Near enough every time I responded, they'd "correct" it or argue against it both in character and in brackets as themselves. For example if I noted something about the background or story of my character, theirs would immediately say "no that's not what happened" or they'd say [hey actually can you change that, it doesn't fit/I don't like it/its not what I envisioned].

After about fifteen minutes of this I got incredibly vexed and decided I was done. I don't mind a roleplay having certain goals/main points/guidelines, but they were literally trying to control every tiny aspect of what I did. So I sent them this:

[I'm sorry, the RP sounded interesting in the prompt you sent, but its rapidly becoming clear you don't actually want a roleplay, you want to be the sole one dictating everything that happens. Honestly I think its best you turn this idea into a fanfic and not a roleplay. It kills off any enjoyment of the roleplay when I have you contradicting every tiny detail I include or dictating what I'm allowed to do or say. I'm not going to sit there waiting for you to approve of everything I intend to say. Thank you for your time, but good night.]

I disconnected, and decided I'd spend another fifteen minutes browsing the tag before I did something else. Well apparently, the other person decided they were going to spend fifteen minutes stalking the tag trying to find me again, spamming every connection with messages ranging from extreme insults and threats to demands I 'speak up again, bitch, I wanna talk' and so forth. After connecting to them for the tenth time, I sent:

[I'm not going to re-engage with you. I said what I did, and frankly, it was a valid statement. If you can't handle the fact that roleplaying means a 50/50 creative allowance with someone else, and that you can't micro-manage or bulldoze every single detail, then you shouldn't roleplay. Frankly, knowing how vile you can be from simple criticism, I'm glad I disconnected. Take a breather and re-evaluate yourself. I'd be embarrassed.]

Well. This morning I logged onto Tumblr and after some browsing, I actually came across them again. Here. By means of a post where they included screenshots of everything and are even going so far as threatening to stalk Tumblr and AO3 to 'match up the writing' so they can find me and presumably say their piece or whatever.

I talked to a friend about it, and surprisingly, they think I'm an asshole. Not for what I said in the first place, but for not re-approaching the other person (through DMs) so they'll stop filling the ship's tag with negative stuff. (They've made 3 posts about it all so far.)

I don't want to do that because it means opening up my private social media to this obviously unhinged individual. I know I can expect to be spammed, sent hate mail, have them try to track down my other socials, ect. I could make an alt account for it, but honestly that's effort I don't see the point in making. If they can't let this go, its not my problem.

AITA? Should I make an alt account just to let them get it out of their system? I don't know how to proceed with this.

What are these acronyms?

[coffelovereco]

‿︵‿. ݁˖ . ݁ ☕︎ . ݁˖ . ݁‿︵‿

. . . Ah, the fresh smell of warm coffee fills the office you walk into. A bitter but gentle scent, alongside it gives in a gentle cozy feeling to the prosecutors feeling you just walked into. The sight of coffee set by the table just comfirmed the welcoming scent. but.. the coffee wasn't the reason you got into the prosecutors office, was it?

The gentle ambience was broken by a familiar figure standing in front of the desk, grabbing a mug filled with coffee as he shook his head, glaring at you through his visor that showed the famous red strips. He raised an eyebrow, he hadn't been warned someone was comming up to his office, but despite that, he just seemed to smirk his confusion up.

“ Ah, What a suprise to see someone here. Would you want a cup of coffee? Don't mind the other 2 they dont bite either. ”

It seemed like he meant no harm. His eyes then fell on the other 2 people there alongside him. Another prosecutor and... Is that a detective alongside the 2 of them? Perhaps it is. The other prosecutor seemed rather skeptical to speak. But the detective seemed to just stick his tongue out towards you.

[ End of beginning of the intro post. Prooced to the rest? ]

[ooc: Hello!! This is my first rp/ask blog! This also has my ocs so take note of the canon and noncannon that will be included.and i’m sorry if i act a bit ooc when doing the only cc here heheh- Also, This isnt only an Ask Blog, its also a rp blog! Similar go a hand of other ask & rp blogs! ]

About...

... Godot ☕︎ᝰ.ᐟ

𐔌 Goes by He/Him

𐔌 Main timeline is a Post-Prison Godot, so some stuff is diferent from his pre prison arc.

𐔌 Still the same coffee lover.

𐔌 You can ask anytime to speak to either Pre Prison Godot and Diego Armando, just do specify, cause or else main timeline godot will be used!

𐔌 Headcanons will be worked on at some point!

... Kimi Walker ᡣ𐭩ᝰ.ᐟ

𐔌 He/Them Pronouns

𐔌 He doesnt hold onto any specific timeline at all!

𐔌 Orange juice lover<3

𐔌 They have alot of mystery past that is in need to be discovered! But who knows when this silly guy will ever even open up..?

𐔌 Main love interest is Kristoph Gavin. He’s completely head over heels for Kristoph for some reason and he doesnt elaborate on it at all.

𐔌 i’ll make most likely a post with more about then at some point, i promise..! For now, he’s an extremily silly gentle soul that loves helping others and meeting people!

... Asher ☂︎ᝰ.ᐟ

𐔌 He/Him Pronouns

𐔌 his main timeline is the one after AJ. Although he has a version of himself back in PW, and a debut/younger version of himself aswell. You may make questions to those, just do specify to which one you asking when making him questions, or else main timeline will be used.

𐔌 theres an AU i’m working on where he takes over Miles’ role after Miles was murdered right after turnabout goodbyes before he left to go away. The AU's name is “SoulBond”. It’ll be better explained in a post in mods main acc.

𐔌 you may choose between which Au you wanna question, again just do specify which AU you’d like to speak with.

𐔌 He prefers Tea over Coffee but drinks coffee with godot in the office.

About the mod !!

𐔌 My main is @aa-ash3r !!

𐔌 You may call me by any of the following: Ash3r, Ash or Kimi. (I’m not oicky about any of the names!)

𐔌 He/Them/It pronouns !!

𐔌 only NSFW i allow in this blog is towards the characters & Ocs, and it cant be too much NSFW as it may make me uncomfortable and i wont answer it at all.

𐔌 Any & All Interactions with any character despite fandoms are always welcome! Its genuine fun!

𐔌 Please specify to who you are making your questions towards, this includes basicly any specific timeline or AU you might see going around this blog

𐔌 i also run @thegoofyactor !! :D

—·— End of the Log. —·—

[oonajaeadira]

20 questions for fic writers

Thank you for the tag, @insomniamamma. For the record, I think you write beautiful smut. I appreciate it for its realness and connection.

How many works do you have on ao3? Aw man, you made me log into my AO3 account? I haven't been around there recently because I feel bad about leaving some messages unanswered. Tumbletown is my main fic home and I haven't really had the time to post here, much less on AO3. (Answer the question Adira.) It says I have 19. I don't post there until they're here and sometimes don't crosspost. Mainly I've been posting over there only if I have a complete series, although sorry LMR readers both there AND here.

2. What's your total ao3 word count? 260,317. Seeing as how not even half of my fic is up over there, I cringe to think of what my actual wordcount is.

3. What fandoms do you write for? Pedro Pascal. Which is an umbrella for the actual fandoms contained therein.

4. Top 5 fics by kudos According to AO3? Losing My Religion, A Girl Walks Into a Bookshop, A Rare Treat, The Sweets Series, Eyes Closed, Comm Open. According to Tumblr: Good. Things. Take. Time. (this one's a Tumble exclusive, dunno if I'll ever AO3 that one), Losing My Religion, Dulces Suenos, The Sweets Series, A Girl Walks Into a Bookshop.

5. Do you respond to comments? I do. Every one. I know I'm behind on some and I'm sorry about that. I let that bother me enough that it's getting in the way of my writing and I shouldn't do that.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I don't like to leave angst hanging and only use it as a trampoline for a happy ending, but I guess the closest thing I have would be A Kiss Before Dying and in Death We Combine. Even if it ends in "death," at least they get to be together.

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? All of them? LOL. Of the multi-chapters I've actually finished, probably A Girl Walks Into a Bookshop.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Only in passing. There were the mean girls that were kind of being catty over on a few other blogs about GTTT when it blew up much to my surprise (yes, of course I saw all of that, mean girls gonna mean). I remember some comment about not trivializing massage therapists just because I have a shitty back.... and all I could think was, hey. First of all, I can tell you didn't even read it, you're just mad about it blowing up. Not my fault. Next. Don't talk about my back. You wouldn't like being injured and having people talk smack about a piece of your body that gives you pain beyond comprehension, y'bigot. Also not my fault. Once I realized they were just mean girls meaning, I let it roll off and got my own satisfaction by writing a pretty bomb series based on some of their prompt lists that I never would have seen if I hadn't been clued into the smack. Turn that hate into something great!

9. Do you write smut? I do. Not exclusively and it's never the main dish of the story. If it does show up, it's usually the result of a long period of longing and/or feelings exchange.

10. Craziest crossover? I'm not a crossover gal. Every once in a while I'll write an easter egg into another fic (there are several in GTTT), but nothing heavy duty. There was the time The Mandalorian got something of a cameo in a Sweet's fic tho....

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Oh gods, I hope not. That would suck. I hate blocking people.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? YES! But not in the way you might think! @katareyoudrilling did an amazing job translating the first chapter of Good. Things. Take. Time. into a sexytime roleplay script!!!! I'M STILL SQUEEING ABOUT IT.

13. Have you co-written a fic before? In a way. For a while when RP accounts were in full swing, I was falling very much in love with the adventure I was creating with @morally-gray-prospector. That account was so amazing, run by one of the smartest writers I've ever known here, but they were TOO good and poured themselves generously into their responses, which got them quite a following...and they burned themselves out! While my story with Ezra didn't have an ending, I never expected it to. I meant it when I said it to the writer: I'm just so happy to have an adventure with Ezra and every minute working on it was a joy that I will love forever. I'm glad they had fun too and didn't keep pushing themselves when it was no longer sustainable. <3

All time favorite ship? It's Din and Little Bird. Now that I know how that story is going to soft-end, they're my favorite couple of all time.

What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will Oh, I'll finish them all. Right now, Branded is in the most danger of lingering, since I have to figure some stuff out with them. But if I could solve the puzzle of Losing My Religion, then I have no doubt that I'm eventually going to get on with that one too.

What are your writing strengths? I don't know what my strengths are, but I like the magic of showing without showing. I like pacing. I enjoy trying to get the characters' voices right and make the dialog real.

What are your writing weaknesses? I am slow. And I make a show of "not following the rules" as if I'm some kind of rebel, but really, I'm just bad at following rules!!!!

Thoughts on dialogue in another language I try to avoid it for the most part because I usually mess it up pretty badly. I generally don't write Din in Mando'a because I haven't really heard him speak it in the series and he seems to always default to Basic even if he understands it spoken to him, so I can't shake the feeling that it's out of character. But Little Bird is a Mandalorophile, so she'd definitely know it and use it. I do sometimes pull in Spanish for Sweets, but it's usually because it's two characters who actually would speak it when Sunday's not around, and even then I try to make sure it's basic enough for folks to follow. The one time I tried to put Italian in I messed it up pretty good, but a beautiful reader helped correct it for me and I'm so so so grateful. <3

First fandom you wrote for I know I have a Doctor Who piece in a notebook somewhere hidden away. And I most likely have a slew of Ranma pieces from my college days. Were there any before that? Possibly.

Favorite fic you've written I have too many. I write really slow, so if it's actually made it to Tumbles, that means I loved it enough to manifest it. Some of them I love because of the fandom, some because of the relationship, some because of the world building, some because of the interaction, and most because of the good time I had writing it. Right now I'm seeing people reading Losing My Religion, and I've had reason to dip into some of those chapters and re-read a little and it's reminded me how much I love writing for the Star Wars universe, how much confidence I have in it. That was the first fic I really wrote, and I put so much of myself into it... so if I choose a favorite, I'll point there first even if it's not really finished yet.

.

tagging: @blueeyesatnight @ezrasbirdie @missredherring @leslie-lyman @prolix-yuy

[littledemon-lilith]

To whom it may concern:

Tumblr terminated my rp account [@eddiefknmunson] 🙄

I logged on today & it was toast. I’ll make another one, but just wanted everyone who interacts with Eds to know.

Relevant 🏷️: @joeschains @reanimated-alice @chrissycunningham1986 @yearwalker96 @somethingvicked @eddiesprincess86 @hellfiremunsonn @chrissymjstan @sireddiethebanished @moonchildquinn @mvnsoneddie86 @banisheddie-thefr34k-munson (sorry if I missed anyone- I’m big sad)

[sillybruja]

keep reading if you wanna know about the craziest liar and well known spn roleplayer I've met on tumblr

I will never forget being on tumblr from 2011 - 2015 and being in the supernatural role playing community. It was both one of the best, and worst experiences of my entire life. I role played as Dean Winchester (and actually my page is still up, and I might start up again) and had a fairly large following.

during 2011, the SPN rp community just started growing so I, among a few of my mun friends, were like the "It girls and guys". It's so insane to think about it now, 10+ years later. There were people out there who did not roleplay that would follow me, and reblog my threads just because they appreciated by writing ^.^ it was so sweet. Back to my memory lol.

Anyways, I made friends with a rper on here who ran a Castiel account. We very obviously shipped Dean & Cas, and so did a lot of people. People even shipped us xD we had a ship name and everything. This person became my best friend in real time.

I really really thought I knew this person. He told me everything, every part of his life, every heart break from some dumb guy, every accident he's ever made, etc. I saw him as not only a best friend but a brother.

around 2013, my life took a turn -- things got more serious for me, and I fell off from roleplaying for a bit, and we lost contact. I remember he just eventually stopped responding to my messages. This wasn't okay for me because before he ghosted me, he told me he was really sick. I was always worried that the last text I sent him was the last I'd ever hear from him.

Eventually he did respond to me, and I remember him saying, "I'm fine, I might just be gone for a while. It's not your fault" and that was that. Mind you, I was 10+ years younger, and I really felt devastated.

Several months later, I logged back onto my roleplaying account. I remember being spammed with asks and messages about him. One of our mutuals sent me a message saying he had passed away a month prior. She showed me the go fund me that was started for him to cover his funeral expenses. My heart was shattered.

The next year was spent of thinking about him almost every day. I felt so sorry that things ended the way they did, and that he was gone. I honestly felt grief that entire year.

In 2015, I get this intuitive 'nudge' to check my tumblr again. This time when I log in, I see appreciation posts about him, and all of those feelings come back. I remember trying to get back into rping in honor of him, and I remember coming across an account that seemed awfully familiar.

This was another castiel account, almost identical in text, aesthetic, vocabulary, even same psds. I just knew it was him. I can't tell you how, I just did. I remember thinking I was crazy and that this was grief... but, unfortunately, I was right.

Eventually, I gathered the nerve to reach out to this account. I cannot remember the name they gave me. But I talked to them, and I sort of played detective lol.

I deeply knew it was him and felt like it was so wrong that he lied about everything, had everyone upset, and took HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS from people who donated for his funeral.

One day, I was just tired of being nice. I approached him about it all. Of course he denied it. I badgered him about it though, and I even told him that what he is doing is illegal, and that he owes it to people who are mourning a very much alive person.

I didn't stop until he came forward.

He said, "I'm sorry, I had to do this to be with my boyfriend" and my jaw was on the freaking floor.

I told him to come forward, or I will have to do something about this.

Of course, he did not. Instead, he deleted his account. I tried to make a claim against him, but it was never looked into.

I will never forget that.

and if he's still out there, I hope he actually understands the weight of his actions. and I hope justice gets served.

[twotiime2]

Reality Adjustment, Pt. 2

[[ Discord RP log to follow. The content has been edited for ease of reading on Tumblr.

tws for: existentialism, authoritarian deprogramming, heavy themes of unreality and being unable to trust your own senses, a nightmare sequence involving body horror with sexual themes and blatant propaganda/thought control, intent toward child harm (like hardcore), mentions of pregnancy, guns.

if you come across it and i haven't warned you, please let me know so that i can add it to the list. ]]

Simon awoke with a yawn, causing his ears to pop. His seat, a very well cushioned, tufted leather chair whose wooden legs were secured to a carpeted floor with bolts, trembled and shook lightly. All around him was the quiet rumble of a loud but distant engine. Other seats, like his own, sat in pairs up and down the length of the mahogany wood cabin with its round window ports through which sunlight poured in. Between each seat in each pairing was a finely made antique oval side table with a small shaded lamp and two velvet-lined indentations to hold cups. There was even a bronze handled drawer in the front of each table, accessible from either chair. These pairs of fine antique seating were separated by a wide walkway, whose carpeting was only slightly darker in color than the rest. The entire floor had a fine checkered pattern of burgundy and dark grey.

There was no one else in the room, though, with him. Only the oddly out of place finery, and sunlight through the little circular windows on either side of the forty foot wide room, some hundred and fifty feet in length. Overhead, the wooden ceiling arched slightly, with a single rail of cherrywood running the length of the room directly overhead of the darker carpet path that ran between the seats and their tables. From this, every twenty feet, hung very small chandeliers of elegant design and their crystals being of many hues, swaying gently as they dangled from black chains and casting everything in soft rainbows that were largely lost in the daylight but when the sun caught one of them - a shard of vibrant color danced briefly across some part of the room. The trembling of the place kept the tinkling sounds of the crystals in a constant white noise that was a beautiful as it was calming.

- - - -

Simon's first thought upon waking here was, Train? That would explain the slight rumble, the nice seating, but he had never been on a train this fancy or that dared to have some goddamn chandeliers in it while it rumbled and chugged along. He checked himself over, already having moved from confusion to slight irritation; why had he gone from nearly murdering a kitten to waking up somewhere completely different, without any idea how he had passed out or where he had been deposited? This wasn't another different Consensus, already, was it?

He grumbled to himself about "Goddamn bullshit reality-hopping, why can't I just stay somewhere," while he got up to complete his personal once-over.

- - - -

He was dressed in crushed velvet, leather, and satin finery, all of it in Victorian gentleman's fashions of the highest caliber - complete with a top hat and a dainty chain which held his folded spectacles with their rounded lenses, one tinted red and the other blue. His entire outfit was a mismatched series of black and white patterns which managed somehow to never have the same color touching itself anywhere across the entire affair.

The most adorable feminine voice came from a little ways behind him as he stood to check himself over.

"You shouldn't use such bad language. Maybe you're not staying anywhere because you can't decide who you want to be."

- - - -

He whipped around, caught at an awkward angle and ready to throw the top hat to the chair, to see the girl who spoke- oh. She matched her voice, and him, nicely. Her admonishment of his language brought out a reflexive, "Uh- sorry, I didn't think anybody else was here…"

Her words made him frown, though. "What to do you mean by that? I know who I am; it's everyone else who wants me to be- to act how they want."

- - - -

She came and sat in one of the chairs nearby, maid's dress kept primly in place, despite how short it was, by her laying her hands gently in her lap. She regarded him with sympathy through eyes mismatched. "Then… who are you? My name is Castor. Miss Simone Castor. I'm one of the cleaning staff here aboard the Gemini."

- - - -

He sat back down in his chair and took off his hat, setting it in his lap so that his hands could fiddle with the brim and texture of its fabric. "…Simon Castor. Whether that's who this reality expects or not."

Being faced with a maid-girl version of himself that he thought was cute was… uncomfortable, at best. Simon tried not to look at her too much. "What's the Gemini? I was just at home- some alt-me's home, that he probably got on his Union salary- and kinda conflicted about how to deal with a fairy that looked like a kitten. In my- in our?- colors."

All his displeasure at waking up somewhere new and strange had evaporated as soon as he realized this one was a far more personal-to-him space, possibly not even real in the sense of consensual reality's… reality. This wasn't some random new place; this was somewhere that had a strong connection to him.

- - - -

Her eyes practically shone with stars as she fangirled her answer to his question. "The Gemini is the most beautiful and wondrous of all the airships, anywhere in the Imagi Nations. It's become my home, and even though I'm just a maid, I've never been happier. I meet interesting people from all over the Nations, and I get to listen to their stories and their dreams, and be there for them when they have problems, and it's… it's just the best!"

She tilted her head quizzically at the rest of what he said. "Alt you's home? I suppose I'm happy for Alt You being part of a Union, sometimes the workforce can be hard to live in. But I'm sorry they took your home? I've never seen a fairy. Or a cat. I have a stuffed bunny, but… I haven't seen a real one of those either."

Her eyes took him in more carefully.

"You seem very sad. And frustrated. But… and I know it's none of my business, but… if you know who you are… why does it matter where you wake up? Won't you still be you?"

- - - -

That… was not a reality he was even remotely familiar with. He sort of wished he could share the visual of the kitten with her, just so that she would have that experience and knowledge, but he knew he had no way of doing so, which was also just slightly frustrating.

"…I'd explain the nuances of what I said, but, I don't wanna bum you out with the details of my usual reality…" He didn't want to dull this girl-him's sparkle, what she had of it and how she comported herself. He was kind of sad that he hadn't cultivated that sort of naïve kindness, actually, which fit into her observation of him pretty accurately.

"…Every reality I end up in, if I want a chance to be me, I've gotta fit the mold… the Union- the Technocratic Union- I was recruited by them 'cause I'm- I was- talented with computers, and had connections to a group of people they couldn't track down. And anybody who's in the Union has some serious rules to follow, or else they get brainwashed into compliance, or they just get killed for being a threat to the stability of reality, the way most people know it. If I don't fit their rules, it gets way worse for me, if I'm a member of the Union in the particular reality I wake up in. Which I have been, the last couple times."

And he just explained why everything sucked for him anyway. Of course. He couldn't help himself. "…Sorry if that, uh, upsets you, Simone."

The Imagi Nations. Was he in his own head, or was this another reality entirely? Simon was finding he couldn't trust himself to know, anymore. Maybe he was just going for-real nuts.

- - - -

She listened, obviously not understanding everything he said, but Doing Her Best™️.

"So… is following all of these rules a big part of… being you? Is that why you do it? You said you know who you are… and that the only way to get to be you is to join others and follow their rules."

She looked down at her hands in her lap. "I can understand that. I always wanted to fly in an airship, but… I was never good with the machinery and the smoke and the grease and the coal and stuff. I'm good with maps, though, and I understand how all of it works! I've read many, many books on aviation and ballooning and mechanical theory… but…"

She gave a little shrug. "I'm just not a mechanic, is all. So, I found other ways to be helpful aboard ships, and now…"

She looked around, beaming with excitement. "Now I get to sail the skies in the Gemini."

- - - -

He frowned down at the hat in his lap. "…No, I… I don't like following those rules, a lot. Having structure in my life is nice, and all, but mostly I just kind of like all the cool technology the Union has. I don't want to fight monsters in the field, I'd much rather be part of the division that makes all the field operatives' cool toys." He swallowed. "Not that being in the field and fighting monsters and protecting reality doesn't feel good, you know? It's important, I know it is, I nearly got killed by a monster, myself, before all this weirdness started happening- I don't want anybody else to have to go through that. And I feel like being with the Union and following their rules and stuff is a better way to do that than trying to work with people who don't have all the Union's resources, much less by myself."

Finally, Simon looked at the sweet, kind, bright-eyed Simone, with a sort of pleading to his expression. "I guess… I guess we've both settled, rather than doing what we really want. I'm sure you could figure out a better way to operate an airship like this; it doesn't have to use the stuff you're not good with, not necessarily. Where I'm from, we also had steam-powered engines- and eventually we figured out how to produce energy in even cleaner ways, and package it up so that it could power things without having to be generated constantly. If we're anything alike in more than looks, Simone, I'm sure you could figure something like that out. You could absolutely be the pilot, not just a maid." He looked down at his hat again. "…If you wanted to. I know that can seem like- like a lot of work and responsibility, and this might be preferable to maybe messing something up and crashing the ship of your dreams."

Simon went quiet, considering his own sentiments. Much like this girl, he was good at solving other people's problems, but had a hard time translating his advice into his own actions.

"…I know I'm scared of failing, on my own. The structure of the Union is… safe, I guess, 'cause they know what they're doing and if I mess up, it's not a huge deal- someone can pick up my slack. If I were trying to do all this myself, if I wanted to do it alone, it'd be so much harder to figure out the hows and the conditions and everything. 'Cause I'm not a monster-hunter by nature, I'm just a geek with a brain that works well with computer logic. And I don't know what to do with that on my own, when I know all this other stuff is way more important. I need some kind of direction or else I get paralyzed by indecision, I guess."

He sighed, heavily.

"…I dunno. Sorry. That was a lot."

- - - -

"It doesn't sound like you need direction," she offered, kindly. "It sounds like you have a direction… you just need the… resources?… of those other people. Or, maybe some of your own!"

She smiled. "Maybe if you had your own workshop to build in, and parts and stuff to make things with, I bet you could do just as good as those other people! Better even, without their rules telling you what not to do!"

She beamed at him. "You could build your dreamship, sir! I'm sure of it!"

- - - -

Simon considered this quietly for a moment, staring down at that hat he woke up in. When he had seen the R&D Division of the Agency and what they were working on, he had been inspired- he wanted to help innovate on their ideas so very badly, to take their work and notch it up and make it function exactly how they wanted. That was what he always did when he had the chance- he took something that existed, and he wanted to make it better. With those skills, he had always broken things down by tearing into their base code and exploiting flaws, making viruses other people needed or wanted, between projects where he tested the limits of what a virus could do to the code it was built on. He was always trying to find or make better parts for his computer, so that it could do more than top-of-the-line, expensive hardware big companies peddled to consumers (apparently at the whim of the Union, based on what they thought the consensus could "handle" being added to their reality without it breaking down entirely)…

"…Maybe. I'd have to work within the rules until I had built up my resources… but the big thing is, I know what the Union can do- I don't wanna be on their shitlist. People who do things too fast and break their rules, who break away from them, they get hunted down because they're dangerous to how the world wants to work. Or… how they make sure it works? Rogue elements are likely to break the illusion of reality for people who don't know monsters exist, and then the monsters… they could do whatever they wanted. It'd be chaos. I don't want to be considered someone who would do that."

- - - -

She offered a sad, understanding nod. "I know how it feels to have to stay in your place, when nobody wants you to be yourself. You said I could be a captain? But… girls aren't allowed to be pilots. Or mechanics. I suppose… I could cut my hair very short, and… um…"

She blushed, looking away. "… I could bind… my chest…"

She swallowed uncomfortably. "Maybe if I did all of that and wore men's clothes, nobody would know it was really me! I know they say that women aren't all untrustworthy, but I… I guess enough of them are, that… society just doesn't want us doing important things on our own. I mean, what if we messed it up? Or what if we changed something important? I don't like it… but… the Nations' leaders have been in charge of how things are, since forever. They must know what they're doing, right? What's best for everyone?"

She looked thoughtful. "But… I suppose if I cut my hair very very short and hid my chest, to fit in… tried to talk with a deep voice maybe? If I put enough dirt and grease on my face and hide my hands in work gloves, maybe nobody will notice that I don't fit in, and I can do what I really want to do. Do you think?"

- - - -

Simon frowned at her.

"…I think you could do your utmost and change how people see women, here. Be unabashedly a girl and do what you wanna do, how you're gonna do it, and don't let anybody tell you they know better. If you change something important, maybe it wasn't that important- or maybe it was outdated and needed to be changed- but regardless, generally speaking, if people who have had power for their whole lives are in charge of how everyone else lives, they're not going to make the best decisions for everyone 'cause they don't have everyone's perspective. They only know what they know. "

His eyes went far away, imagining the men in Congress he had seen on TV while with his dads and how they argued, twisted the rules to their own ends, and kept anyone who didn't agree with them, down.

Simon supposed that might apply to the Union, too, even if something in his head railed against that idea and made his stomach do flips.

"What do men know about being a woman, anyway? Like, really know, not just what male doctors have studied about the objective, physical facts of women, and what they think they know about how girls's brains work. Being men, they don't know shit. So you should try and challenge those old, wrong beliefs, if you feel up to it- 'cause you deserve better, and so does every other girl, and nobody is gonna realize that, if things stay the same way they've always been."

Do "normal" people in the Consensus deserve better than a safe, stable reality?

Is that really what they're living in, if the monsters are just hiding, but still doing horrible things within the confines of the rules of reality anyway? Twisting the system so that they can get away with their crimes? Are people entitled to knowing how the world works?

It would… it would drive some people insane. It would prove some insane people to actually be entirely sane. It would have consequences he couldn't possibly account for.

Was the Union doing the right thing? Or holding the world back?

The lessons about the world the Union had imparted on him from hours of conditioning railed against the idea that the Consensus could handle their own safety, if they just knew what they were up against- but everything he knew from what little time he had as a Hunter, what Madison had proven to him, and all of his allies, was that humanity could find a way to fight anything. They had a will, and the tools to do something with it, even if some of them died in the process… some people weren't ready, but that was true of any war, wasn't it? Any change? It would be resisted until it couldn't be, and then they had to make of it what they could.

There may have been a war for how reality should be, that he had never paused long enough to think about, being fought for as long as monsters had existed.

And did the Union really have the right to decide their version of reality was the most correct one? Were they really the shepherds that humanity didn't know they needed? Or were they keeping their domesticated, normal human stock, in the dark on purpose, so that they could control the rest of reality for themselves and never really be challenged about that?

What side was he on?

Simon's mind was conflicted, and he was starting to get a stellar headache. He pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers and breathed, trying to halt his thoughts for a moment.

- - - -

Simone listened, seemingly struck and a little uncomfortable with the notions that he was imparting to her. After his long silence, she said, very softly - as if almost whispering to no one - "I'm only one girl. I can't change anything."

- - - -

Her soft uncertainties brought Simon back to the moment, despite his nagging headache, and with it his conviction brought from years of stories of one man, one hero, changing things because they had been empowered to do so. Because they had a responsibility to do what they could, with the power they had.

His fist very gently knocked against his forehead a few times, then came to rest on it.

"Yeah, that's true," He started, just as softly, "But- you- even if you're the first, you won't be the only one. You won't be the last. If you can achieve something you want this desperately, despite everything against you- you'll be an inspiration to everyone who comes after you, you know?" Simon put his hand down, eyes still closed against the pain in his head, but grew calmer in feeling as he spoke. "That's how heroes happen. One person decides something needs to change, so they do their best to make that happen- and yeah, it's hard, and yeah, it hurts, often- but making the path for others to follow is hard, and there are gonna be things you'll have to fight so that they don't have to. You don't think you're the person to do it; nobody who changes things thinks they're the one person who can make it happen. But nobody else is gonna step up unless someone does first. And if you want it bad enough… well, then that someone's gonna be you, isn't it?"

Simon opened his mismatched eyes to look in their feminine mirror, sympathetic but understanding of his own conviction in this principle.

- - - -

"I… I just want to be a pilot. I don't know if the world has to change for that… it'd be nice if the world were better, but… I don't want my life to be pain and hurt, to make my dream easier for someone else to get to be happy. Do I really have to do all that? Can't I just… fly? Or… or, I guess, stay a maid? It's not what I want, but at least I'm in the sky, and on a beautiful airship. I don't like cleaning, or always having to wear a maid's uniform, or do everything the custodians ask of me, or any of that stuff… but… I'm in the ship, aren't I? Does it matter if I can't fly?"

She shut her eyes and held herself. "It feels like it matters… but I'm not a revolutionary. I'm just an airship enthusiast with some self taught skill at maps and navigation and how the bridge works. My dream isn't to change the world… it's to fly."

She looked at him, lost in a whirlwind of unfamiliar thoughts.

"What do I do, to make my dream come true, even though I'm a girl?"

- - - -

Simon considered her discomfort for a long moment. It reflected in him; if anyone else were trying to tell him all of this, he would have been uncomfortable and lost on where to start, too. But he felt like he had a solid enough grip on the rules that he could work with, in, or around them, for his goals. They weren't much- he just wanted to make cool things that could help people, and keep people safe- but they were perfectly achievable if he planned right.

"I don't know how things work here. How does someone usually become a pilot? Forget about the prerequisite of being a boy, I mean, what are the steps for it?"

- - - -

She sniffled and looked up at him, confused. "A boy? No, no, boys can't be pilots, either."

She then stood, trying to wipe away the tears that had begun to form in her eyes and straightening her uniform as best as she could and stood up straight, before offering a curtsy. "Captain."

A fluffy, fat, persian cat that was black on one side and white on the other, wearing a monocle and a tiny top hat, then strode leisurely down the aisle to where they'd been talking and offered a single "Mew."

Simone nodded urgently, "Right away, sir!", and hurried away to an old-style tap-phone with a cone for speaking and another for listening, hung from the box by a cable. She picked up the listening cone and tapped the bar three times, before saying into the cone mounted to the box, "Captain Whiskers requests minced tuna to be served for dinner, with a milk saucer and yumyum paste."

- - - -

Simon had to do a double-take. This just went from reasonable to completely ridiculous.

- - - -

Captain Whiskers bid his passenger farewell with a nod and then turned, tail held high and anus proudly displayed as he sauntered back toward the bridge.

- - - -

Simon muttered quietly to himself, "What the fuck."

Once Simone was off of the phone/loudspeaker system, he addressed her again, jabbing his thumb back toward the cat-captain. "OK, nowhere did you imply this society was run by cats."

- - - -

Simone hurried over to him and hugged him tightly.

"Thank you for your help." She licked his nose.

"Thank you." She licked his lips.

"Thank you." She licked his jaw.

"Thank you." She licked his nose again.

He awoke to the frantic licks of the tiny white and black kitten with the mismatched eyes, as it stood with its rear paws on his upper chest and front paws on his cheeks.

- - - -

Simon startled and nearly threw the kitten off of him- but after just a handful of milliseconds, did not, in fact, chuck the little fuzzbutt across the room, instead reaching up to pull him off of his face after scrunching his nose up at the cat-breath and licking. "Augh, okay, okay, little guy, I'm awake," he muttered, settling the kitten onto his chest instead. "Did I pass out…?"

He cast his eyes about his immediate vicinity, trying to get his bearings again.

- - - -

Instead of answering, the kitten circled the spot he'd laid it on, on his chest, before pricking at Simon's undershirt with its tiny claws to make sure this was acceptable place to lay by happy-paws'ing the shit out of it before settling into a kittyball.

The room was dark and Simon was again in his underwear and an undershirt. It was much the same as he remembered it from waking up here last time… except with a kitten on him, and this time there was no sunlight coming through the curtains.

- - - -

Simon did his best to reach for his glasses, remembering they should have been on the nightstand next to the crystal-clock, while also calling out for his maid.

"…Otome? Hello?"

The kitten's purrs of contentment were genuinely pretty comforting, despite his earlier moral crisis over its life. He pet it with his other hand.

- - - -

His glasses were right where they should have been. Otome, however, did not respond.

- - - -

That brought a frown to his face. He gently held the kitten to his chest as he sat up, then stood from the bed, moving to the doorway that lead into the living room so that he could turn on the lights for the bedroom. What had happened? Why had he passed out? Given the time (02:22, nice), it was likely Otome was asleep… he should let her know he was awake, and figure out what happened. Or maybe go back to sleep and wait til she woke up on her own… he didn't know her schedule, after all.

After the lights were on, he turned the VDAS in his glasses on, fixing his gaze on the little kitty again. Was it still acting up?

[[ OOC REPETITION WARNING ]]

- - - -

His glasses seemed to be just… glasses.

When he flicked the lights on, every action figure and stature was featureless, faceless, white, and without discernible emblems or clothing. Like pose dolls, each one was a unisex nothing. His framed art and metal posters were all white as well, with grey writing on them.

The computer was on, its screen black and scrolling the same message over and over again, line after line, in barely visible off-black text.

DO NOT QUESTION

EVERYTHING IS FINE

YOU ARE SPECIAL

DIET AND EXERCISE

WORK IS IMPORTANT

OBEY AUTHORITY

DIFFERENT IS DANGEROUS

MONEY MATTERS

LEADERS LISTEN

DISRUPTION IS CHAOS

INNOVATION IS RISK

BODY IMAGE MATTERS

SCIENCE IS THE LAW

SLEEP BUT DO NOT DREAM

EVERYONE IS WATCHING YOU

LIFE IS TOO SHORT

EVERYONE HAS THEIR PLACE

BE WHAT IS EXPECTED OF YOU

CHANGE IS DIFFICULT

PUBLIC PERCEPTION MATTERS

TECHNOLOGY IS NECESSARY AND COMPUTERS ARE THE CORNERSTONE OF ALL GOOD THINGS IN THE FUTURE

Even the screen of his phone was doing it, though the message was different.

STAY INFORMED KEEP READING ALWAYS CHECK SOURCES

There… was nothing in his room that was how he remembered it. Even his mismatched socks, laying next to the bed beside his shoes, were only 'mismatched' by a fraction of a color… not even enough to call it a different hue.

[[ REPETITION ENDS ]]

- - - -

Oh, Jesus Christ. Simon held the kitten close, squeezed his eyes shut, and made his way out of the room, trying to get some respite from the sudden onslaught of subliminals coming from all of the media in that room. He looked down at the kitten again. Was it real, at least? Could he bury his face in soft fur and feel it purring and have some kind of anchor to sanity?

They both walked the dark hall into the room where he had met Loane, Simon fully expecting more of… that, from his room, in this room's various displays of media, and dreading it. None of this had been so blatant before.

- - - -

The kitten remained as it had always(?) been… fuzzy, soft, tiny, black and white, with one blue eye and one red eye. Upon closer inspection, however, he'd been wrong about its sex.

The hallway and rooms beyond were too dark to see, but he did hear Otome's voice, sleepily, coming from somewhere ahead and to the right.

"Sir? You're awake?"

- - - -

Simon held the kitten close as he approached Otome, keeping her softness against his hands and her warmth against his chest. "Yeah, I am. What happened? Did I pass out again?"

- - - -

"Again? You've-- I mean, Sir's been asleep for days. Ever since the accident at Sir's office. How is Sir feeling? When did we get a cat?"

- - - -

Oh, shit, Otome could see the cat! Reality had turned slightly to the left, it seemed. "Oh. I… thought I remembered waking up the day after, when Loane came to check on me. Sorry it's so late, I just, uh, I thought you'd wanna know I was up."

He waited in the intersection of the living room and the hall leading to Otome's room, for her to come out and be seen. "I dunno about the cat- but she's kinda perfect, right?"

- - - -

"I don't know… I mean… isn't she a little… different?"

- - - -

Simon scritched the kitten behind the ears. "She's my favorite colors. I'll take the 'different' as a win, on this one."

- - - -

"But… different is dangerous. Why don't we get a normal cat? We can put that one up for adoption. I'm sure some defective family will want it."

- - - -

Simon's lip curled, and he stepped back a couple of feet, trying to draw Otome closer. "…Different is good, Otome- you're different, I'm different, every person is unique, and that uniqueness is like, essential to the human experience. Are you okay?"

He had a feeling she was going to be some blank-faced propoganda-doll, too.

- - - -

"I'm fine, Sir. Could you help me down?"

He heard the faintest, familiar feminine voice from all around him, but from so far away.

"Wake up!"

- - - -

He tried to see past the darkness of the hall and actually see Otome. "Down?"

He never woke up by his own volition, he had no idea how to start now. Even if this was definitely not a good… whatever this was. Dream? Version of this reality? He couldn't tell anymore.

- - - -

"Please, Sir? I can't serve you like this."

[[ OOC WARNING FOR THE SEXUAL BODY HORROR SCENE ]]

"Simon, you've got to wake up!"

"They're inside your dreams!"

"Fight it! Wake up! Please!"

The lights around him came on, as every bulb in the house lit all at once. Everything was white, save for the cat in his hands - still as he remembered it. At the end of the hall, hanging by a series of thin chains, was a life-sized and seemingly alive woman-shaped sex doll with its only feature being a hole where its mouth should have been. Tiny hooks studded its nipples, outer labia, and its nostrils, keeping all of these places open and perky looking. Larger hooks impaled the collarbones and pelvis, to keep it upright. Its body was obviously extremely lifelike, but was still a blend of silicone and flesh, artificial in the light but real in the dark. From the blowjob-hole came Otome's voice.

"Does Sir want something to help him sleep?"

- - - -

Like something out of Hellraiser. Simon was not expecting that drastic of a nightmare-vision, and he clutched the cat close to him, shuddering and closing his eyes to try and shut out that visual- but it was too late; it already overwrote his idea of Otome and all of her strangeness.

He backed up into the hall again blindly. Out loud, to nobody, he frantically whispered, "I don't know how to wake up! This is really fucked up!!!"

He needed some clothes. He needed to get out of here. Simon definitely wished he were anywhere but in this house of horrors.

[[ SCENE TRANSITION TO MENTIONS OF PREGNANCY, CHILD HARM, MORE REPETITION AND THEMES OF HUMAN SUPREMACY/IMPLIED GENOCIDAL IDEAS, PLUS MENTION OF NAZIS ]]

- - - -

Simon fell backwards over a box, barely caught on his way down by a firm hand on his back and his arm. He was wearing his normal clothes - casual clothes from before, not the suits he'd gotten used to - and he was standing in Al's Army Surplus, having tripped over an ammo box that was tall and thin and metal and olive green… and probably from Vietnam or something. Connor shook her head at him disapprovingly. "Watch where you're going, or you're going to end up dead."

She turned her attention back to the portly old redneck behind the counter.

"Seven of them. We're going to need rounds fitted for nine mil and standard twelve gauge. Preferably something silver on the outside and incendiary on the inside. Not poppers, though… we don't want any collateral damage to nearby civvies."

The cat was gone and, judging by the light through the windows and the big analog clock on the wall, it was around 3 in the afternoon.

- - - -

Simon's eyes widened in shock as Connor caught him, Madison, the woman he'd only met through their mutual recruitment by the Agency all that time ago. He took her help to stand, shaky, and looked around as if he had no idea how he had gotten here (because he didn't, of course). "I… Connor? What'2 going on?"

Was QDiv trying to fix their mistake? Was he just traveling through his memories as his mind shattered into a million pieces, as he was physically kept in a looney bin or something? He couldn't recall ever being with Connor on a Hunt, much less against werewolves… He had to play along for a second, just to get his bearings. Again.

- - - -

"Well, I got holla' point oughtta do th' job fine. Ain't nothin' speshul 'bout 'em, 'cept theys' gonna make a real bad mess'a things when they hit. I c'n fill 'em up full'a fire juice, f'swhatcha wanna do."

She nodded, ever resolute. "Do it. We'll take six magazines for the nines and thirty two shells."

She slapped down a trio of hundred dollar bills, though the faces on them were … was that a nazi soldier's portrait on american money?

"How long?", she asked.

"Few hours. Prolly less'n three."

Connor nodded and gestured with her head for Simon to follow her out. Outside, was a civilian humvee covered in Hunter symbols… he knew they were Hunter symbols… but he couldn't read any of them.

"Once we get the rounds we need, we can head out. We know where they'll be and we know when. We just have to be there to make it happen," she said while climbing in on the driver's side.

- - - -

Simon frowned at her as he followed her out.

"I- No, Madii2on," he nearly tripped over her name, tongue getting in the way of his words again after years of not having to worry about that, "What the fuck are we doiing here? Wa2 that Natzii2 on your money? What??"

This was not a reality he was familiar with, either, even if it had all the trappings of his oldlife.

- - - -

"What do you care who's on the money? It all spends the same, now get in. We have a job to do."

- - - -

"Becau2e the natiion ii2n't run by fuckiing Nazii2, Madii2on!" He was being a little petulant, but he definitely also was not getting into that fucking humvee. "II don't know what fuckiing job you iintend two be doiing, either! What the fuck ii2 going on?!"

[[ DIRECT CHILD HARM AND HUMAN SUPREMACY REFERENCES ]]

- - - -

"Seven werewolves are laid up in Wintram Central's OB wing. They went in as a group, all pregnant and about to deliver. We're going to go down and keep an eye on them, check out the fathers to see if any of them are lycan. If they are, we wait until we have the rounds. But, if they're all human, we flash some badges, get them outside and pop them, real quiet. I already have a tarp down in the trunk. That way they can't pass on the gene to anyone else. When we have the munitions we need, we go in there and clear out the maternity ward. Mothers and cubs, one two, just like that. Seven mass murderers and however many they would have birthed, all in under ten minutes. Now get in the fucking jeep, Gemini, we've got work to do!"

- - - -

"What the fuck!" He backed up from Connor. "Werewolve2 about two giive biirth- you're planning two ju2t, ju2t off them?! No fuckiing way! II'm not gonna murder a bunch of mom2 and theiir brand-new kiid2 ju2t 'cau2e they deciided two exii2t!"

Simon kept backing up, away from both not-Connor and Al's storefront, along the sidewalk. "Nope. No way. You'd never murder kiid2, Madii2on, II know that. Fuck thii2."

Maybe if he wanted it hard enough he could go back to the cat-flown airship and get away from this mess.

- - - -

Madison angrily climbed out of the humvee, words burning themselves into her skin like brands, fresh and hot and sizzling and smoking as her skin reddened and dug into her flesh without her notice. She drew her sidearm as she approached and leveled it at his head as the words came close enough to be readable.

A mew from nearby drew his attention as she began yelling at him like a drill instructor, "Get in this truck and help me kill the enemies of Man or so I will put you down, as a traitor to your own people! You think you know what's best!? YOU!? I've killed thousands in this war for peace and I will kill thousands more to win it!"

DEATH TO THE ENEMY

BULLETS ARE THE VESSELS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

WRATH IS A VIRTUE

THE UNCLEAN DESERVE TO DIE

EARTH BELONGS TO HUMANITY

NO ONE DEFIES THE MESSENGERS

MARTYRS AND MURDERERS AND VICTIMS WE ARE ALL THE SAME IN THEIR EYES

The mew was louder this time, coming from the corner of the building. It was his tiny kitten.

"You can do this!"

- - - -

Simon socked Not-Connor in the face, putting all his force behind the left-hook.

"NO!"

- - - -

Her jaw was as hard as steel. He not only heard but felt every single bone in his hand, from his knuckles - down his fingers - and down to halfway along his palm, shatter inside his hand.

She gripped his shirt and lifted him from his feet, growling in his face.

"You pathetic traitor. I knew you didn't have the balls for this life. You never did! You were a spineless, worthless shit stain when I found you and you're even more disgusting now. Slithering around, licking the heel of every Technocracy shoe that passes by and is close enough to stick to, like the pus slime that you are."

She threw him backward, landing hard against the wall to Al's.

"All so you could pretend to be somebody, with their toys and gadgets, instead of the nobody you were when that monster nearly got your sorry ass the first day on the job."

She pulled back the hammer on her handgun.

"I've passed bowel movements with more drive than you've had since the day we met."

- - - -

Simon's heart dropped like a rock, racing like a rabbit having a heart-attack, chilling his bones even over the aching fire in his dominant hand. He held it against himself, tears welling up from the pain and fear, but faced Not-Connor (a manifestation of the Messengers?) despite it all. The iron feeling of her jaw reminded him of the ItX Terminators they had worked with, but her words only spewed fire and hate, opinions and feelings even the most advanced HIT Mark couldn't possibly have had.

She drew her gun on him on the floor. He swallowed the fear in his throat. Turned out, he couldn't banish nightmares like these by hitting them really hard, even if their spouted hatred welled up all of his own like bile at the back of his throat.

That's what she embodied. That self-hatred, that feeling he always had of kicking himself when he was down and going lower, saying these things to himself like they were true.

But this wasn't true. This wasn't even real.

None of it lined up with what he knew, and that meant anything could happen.

Simon did his best to pull himself off of the floor, trying to ignore the aches in his body where it had believed it impacted the wall and concrete. He set his jaw.

"Gue22 there'2 no rea2oniing wiith you, then."

- - - -

The first bullet tore through his left shoulder, sending white hot lances of pain through his entire left side, even as his felt his clavicle break inward and his shoulder blade break outward, with the shuddering thunder of kinetic force ripples that shot through him in waves that took only microseconds to make their way through him and back.

He couldn't hear anything but the silence of a deafening tone, stronger in one ear than the other. Then the burning sting came, of exposed tissue, and a feeling like something had spilled on him. He didn't need to look to know he was bleeding. Probably badly.

Her mouth kept moving as she no doubt gloated over how feeble and inferior he was. It was a kind of tragedy, really, that even when deafened, he still knew exactly what she was probably saying.

"▄█▀ █ █▚▞▌ ⬤ █▚▌ ◣▌ ⬤ ▐▄█ █▬█ ▅▀▅ ▀▄▀ █☰ ▀█▀ ⬤ ▀▄▀▄▀ ▅▀▅ ▐◀ █☰ ▐▄█ ▐◣ ! ▐◣ █▄ █☰ ▅▀▅ ▄█▀ █☰ ! "

- - - -

Despite everything, Simone's voice, distorted as it was, chimed over his deafness from the gunshot. You have to wake up! Please!

He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to focus on her voice through the pain, to make it clearer. He had to shut this stupid, brutal dream out, and focus on that one constant.

END SCENE

[silvertws]

Mh yes, I could have been obsessed over I don't know... mythology, dinosaurs, maybe some more known media like Percy Jackson.

But no.

I got obsessed, over Minecraft steves.

You've read that right.

FUCKING MINECRAFT STEVES.

CURSE YOU YOUTUBE FOR YOU PAGE.

I could have been watching maybe good quality Rps.

But no.

One video, and I was already hooked.

Goddamn it.

You know how many different series I've watched up until now?

Let me show you.

First video was episode 118 of "The Legends of the Balancers" back when it just came out, then I kept watching from there and after I finished that I decided to watch it from the start.

And you may think "surely 100+ episodes of a Minecraft Steve saga satisfied their needs" right...?

WRONG.

I.kept.going.

Bedrock Rising, Ruined Reality, Steve Saga (no, not Sabre's one, I tried that one but uh... I couldn't bring myself to enjoy it, I do love his newest series tho!), Ore Quest prime, A dark soul, Crimson Life Origins, and AT LEAST another one that I can't remember the name of- ToT it even was a log one I'm pretty sure. AHHHHHH

Oh and yes.

This all happened in less than a month.

I have a problem.

But it's fine :}

THIS IS MAKING ME WANT TO MAKE A FANON OC- WHY- WHY DO I EVEN HAVE A STORYLINE IN MIND- WHY AM I LIKE THIS.

AND. I STILL DON'T KNOW HOW TO DRAW THEM MFS-

LIKE WHAT.

like sure, I have head canons, I have made some sketches, BUT HOW.

Like, take FUCKING TIME STEVE-

IS IT A MASK? IS IT A FLOATING CLOCK HEAD? IS IT A CLOCK FUSED WITH HIS FACE?

I don't know.

It just exist.

oh and let's talk about THE FACT THAT THEY ALL WEAR THE SAME FUCKING SHIT-

MY MANS, I AM HORRIBLE AT DESIGNING OUTFITS, GIVE ME SOMETHING TO WORK WITH PLEASE.

I am going insane.

I am now attached to all of these characters.

Yes.

All of them.

I cannot help myself.

I have low standards I know, I'm well aware-

Anyway.

Someone should really make a Bingo for those series like:

"Naive AF mc, Darkness Go brr, Fought a God, Got mind controlled, has multiple people in their head, is in the WRONG DIMENSION, uses a crystal of some sort, L i g h t, music is loud AF and I cannot hear what you're saying, puberty hit during the series so the voice just changed, Sabre (which, I can exuse cuz yk, it's Sabre), got created by an all powerful being, is supposedly very powerful but somehow loses pretty often ngl (sorry <3), amnesia..." and so.much.more.

Which isn't bad, cause they're all unique in their own way <3

I mostly find that funny :3 they are all based off the same thing after all, so it makes sense.

I swear I am a responsible and serious adult.

I just uh... Like funky stuff ig-

Don't come at me please :'}

I feel like you can see my road trip to madness here.

Don't worry, this happens everytime I hyperfixate on anything.

Well, anything that I can't really talk about with any of my friends because they don't know and I don't want to bother them because if I start talking about the lore...

I won't stop.

You will have to stop me, knock me out or something.

I know my friend will read this, so *hi* :}

[confessionsofa-roleplayer]

Okay, I need advice.

I won't lie, I'm super confused by a partner right now. I had to do a tough thing and cut off a ship with them for my own sake. I felt the characters just didn't mesh the longer things went on and that we wanted two different things from shipping them.

I kept feeling like I needed to tone my muse down and push things into a genere I just don't usually write. Plus, the mun is clingy af. While we were first shipping, I couldn't log on anywhere we had each other as friends without a msg/request to rp. That also didn't help with me wanting to write the ship, along with the chemistry thing... And now, the other day when they didn't get a reply immediately, they followed me from another account.

Anyway, I politely cut things off between the two muses. (I didn't say the above. Tho I did have to be a little blunt. The mun was NOT GETTING IT when I tried to be super gentle.) And, after I spoke to them (and it FINALY clicked) I got ONE msg back that was vauge.

I wasn't rude, and they haven't blocked or unfollowed me. In fact, they keep liking things from BOTH accounts! And haven't said anything else. But, they also haven't said anything else? What do I do? Just block? Soft block? Or is that too drastic?

Am I over reacting for being SUPER weirded out?

I'm sorry, Anon, but I think I'm having trouble understanding the issue. The partner that you stopped shipping with doesn't seem to be doing anything wrong based on what you've written above. What exactly are they doing right now that's weirding you out? It's not unnatural to keep interacting with someone you're not currently writing with. Maybe they still like your posts/having you on their dash? And if you didn't tell them you weren't EVER interested in writing with them again, maybe they hope you'll change your mind? Or that you'll be willing to write something platonic with them instead? I don't really see anything that would warrant a soft or a hardblock. But everyone runs their blogs differently, so maybe that's why I'm confused?

To expand - I do understand why you stopped shipping with them. Your reasons make sense to me. But now that you've stopped the ship it sounds like they're handling things very well, and still trying to be supportive of you and your blog, so I guess I don't understand what it is that's making you feel 'SUPER weirded out.' I'm very sorry.

Maybe some of our followers who've been in similar situations can help you more than I can?

~ Mod MJ ~

[corruptedsilence]

if you're moving to another big, what happens to this one?

It dies

I'll keep it around, I don't really like deleting blogs tbh but I wont be logging onto this one anymore and will just be found at the new blog.

@giftedfangs

I'll still be continuing to RP and interact, but I'm divorcing myself from a lot of big parts of the canon after some revelations that I do not agree with and honestly would have changed my perspective on the series A LOT MORE if I had known them from the beginning.

TBH The only reason im even bothering to keep missi as a muse is because ive poured so much into her over the years and while it breaks my heart to know this is how the series is going im just. not. going to follow the canon anymore and write my own stuff going on.

making a new blog is, to me, a better way to really establish this divorce from the canon and not associate with ti as muc has this blog was since i tried to eb canon-compliment here.

I'm sorry i cant be more direct with things but if news comes up ill link it publicly if it's ever addressed publicly.

[shinobi98]

I've tried a couple of AI chats and they're OK, they're not the best. Some stuff the characters say is so wildly OOC that takes the immersion away immediately.

However, I think chat AIs and fanficitions scratch two different itches. You read fanfics when you want to read a story, see what other people think of your blorbo, see your blorbo interact with other character and adapt to new situations - all things you need a real person to write.

When I interact with chat AIs I mostly want amusing content to consume quickly and kinda mindlessly, the way you might put on a song in the background or do sudoku on the train. And yes part of the experience is also asking the AI a silly question that a real person would absolutely know how to answer in character and getting the most OOC (and sometimes wild) answer you can think of. I asked one bot to tell me something about themselves and it told me umprompted about a secret child it had with another character and the heartbreak at not being able to be together and it was so OOC on all levels that it was just funny (none of that even remotely happened in canon).It was meme-y in a way a real person could never write.

But more to the point, reading fanfics is passive. You log in, read what other have written for you and that's it. Writing with a chat AI is interactive, you can steer the conversation in the direction that you want it it to go. If you're in the mood for doing something and not consuming something, you won't be reading a fanfic. If you don't have an AI, you may boot up a game, or get writing yourself, or draw your blorbo, but it's very different than reading, or watching TV, or listening to music.

The closest thing there is to using a chat AI is roleplaying in my opinion (although, there are many differences). But it's not like you have access to a RP buddy 24/7, or even a friend you can share blorbo thoughts with. Maybe they are busy, maybe you just don't know anyone and the best you can do is scream into the emptiness that is your blorbo's tag on tumblr, sometimes your fandom/blorbo is so obscure that there is no content for it even if you look.

Sorry for the rant but I've seen chat AIs slander a lot lately but personally I think they work perfectly for what they were intended for, they were never meant to be a substitute for fanfics to begin with. Many people conflate the outrage towards Ai art with this but they are very different issues.

i see a convo w a character ai and i keep scrolling

[wyrmguardsecrets]

The state of guard RP is... Kind of abysmal, lmao. There's some ones who make it really fun, but they're few and far inbetween. Most of guard RP is just "you're arrested, now you go to jail. No visitors or jailbreaks allowed and you can't write your character for x amount of hours kbye <3" which. Is not. Fun. I'm sorry. It's just not. It's not creative, it's not interesting, and you're forcing another writer to log off and use a different toon. (Well, that writer can ignore those rules, obviously. But you understand what I'm getting at. There's nothing to play off of after, and writing should be collaborative!) I genuinely don't see what the point is of that system, other than to live out a powerplay fantasy where the villains always lose or else they get blocked for 'godmodding'.

Villains work better in a closed environment anyway, imo. My villainous toons act normal in the public eye to upkeep their image, but those who want an antagonist can just message me for it - that way all the guard junk gets avoided because there's consent and communication all around.

.

[1-monopoly]

Another One Leaves

I had an RP partner leave the discord rp server we had set up sometime within the last 2 days.  This was after a month and some change of them not posting any new replies to the ongoing scene we had and despite how they kept writing on Tumblr about how they were looking for new RP partners. It's not a big deal really overall because RP partners disappear all the time. This is one of the reasons why I hate plotting because I'll spend  40 minutes plotting with someone just for them to say they have to get going and then I'll never see them log on again. I had talked to the RP partner about ghosting in the RP world and they had written "i'm very pro-communication even if it's awkward. like i'd rather know if i do something wrong/not vibey, so that i can either do something about it or at least chat it out - so my brain just treats the people i write with the same way 95% of the time that whole "treat others how you want to be treated" got hella jammed into my head when i was a kid and just has not left since lol" It helped put my mind at ease. And to a point of their good character they did at least talk to me about a few things. Now I'm just going to post the last interaction we had. matty-1-monopoly — 01/09/2023 6:40 AM Wanted to reach out and make sure the scenes were still ongoing. littlemisssunshine — 01/09/2023 2:46 PM i don’t think so. i tried but there was just too much godmodding for me and it didn’t really feel like i had appropriate control over how my characters acted or reacted. it was off to a great start and while i respect your own preferences entirely plots and writing were a little too forward focused on your muses for me to stay super invested 🖤 matty-1-monopoly — 01/09/2023 5:21 PM Damn, I'm sorry about that. I was wondering about the last thing you said with noncon because I thought you were going to take the scenes in that direction but wasn't sure if you meant that I was doing that.

Can I ask for the example where you felt like I was godmodding your characters? littlemisssunshine — 01/11/2023 4:41 PM For sure, but it would just be me sending your last replies. I feel like you basically wrote my characters actions and reactions to a lot of things, and it made it difficult to reply because it was like I could only have them respond to what you already did with them. and writing nearly all of the side stories for presley, it just seemed like an unnecessary thing to do for someone else’s character matty-1-monopoly — 01/11/2023 5:05 PM Could your characters have said ‘that’s not true’ or ‘that’s not how it happened’

Idk how you feel about unreliable narration or characters misremembering things but I reread my last 2 posts and although there are references to things, they’re pretty vague. This is why I asked for examples because all I saw in my last 2 posts were “The Cleopatra costume, Black Widow or Wonder Woman costume, even naughty nurse or teacher.” And “Presley had just given him too much material to know what he should be doing. Matching the experience of some guys she'd been with in college, he really was paying attention when she told him about her excursions.” It all seems bland enough to me and fitting within the possible past actions of the established characters unless you really feel that Linnea doesn’t dress up for Halloween or you wanted to retcon Presley telling stories to her brother which I thought of as one of the reasons for his depravity. If you feel the character said something wrong then correct them with your character or talk to me directly ooc and ask me to rewrite it. matty-1-monopoly — 01/11/2023 5:21 PM I do know a few posts back in Linnea I had written what Matt was thinking and hoping for, which character mental exposition is pretty cringe but I couldn’t think of a better way to write it.

Like an example of what I think you’re constructively criticizing to me would be if character A said “I heard you fly planes.” Character B can say “I don’t.” Or “I do.” Or “I don’t fly planes, I hang glide.” Or “yeah I fly fighter jets.” Or “no that’s my friend.” Or “I don’t fly planes, I fly helicopters.”

The things I write are not definitive, like there is a huge level of ambiguity and wiggle room intentionally woven in.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At some point they had left the server. I don't know  when but they did. It could've been after their last message or after reading mine or just ignoring mine and leaving the server. I sent a follow up message to them directly.

matty-1-monopoly — Today at 10:30 PM Saw you left the server with both of your accounts. Apologies you felt like you couldn't talk through the issues with me.

[jonathan-byerss]

I'm sorry but the whole situation that my friend @nancywheeler86 (edit: NOT my friend, my bad, she wasn't happy I friendzoned her lmao) is going through is just really pissing me off and I'm not going to stay quiet about it.

To that anon that keep sending messages to her (and perhaps to other rp accounts), you claim to "have a life" and that you're "not sad enough" to follow us/have a rp blog...right? Then why are you wasting your time sending hate to someone who's just trying to have fun (and sending asks anonymously, how brave of you!)? If you hate rp accounts so much you can either 1) block us to avoid seeing what we post or 2) just fuck off and stay away from our blogs and keep liking/reblogging content that you do enjoy. It's really not that difficult.

You have no idea what's going on behind the screen. People could be dealing with the loss of a loved one, they could be struggling with their mental health, they could be under so much stress...and when they log into their rp account expecting to interact with people and feel like they're helping someone else or just making someone's day better (to try to escape from their shitty lives at least for a few miutes), they have to deal with people like you hating on them. You're ruining what's supposed to be a safe and happy place for me and everyone else that has a rp account.

I hope everyone takes a second to think about the consequences of their actions and learn to respect another human being. If you can't be nice and all you can do is spread hate whenever you go, you really need to work on yourself. This is not okay. We all deserve respect. If rp is not your thing STAY AWAY FROM OUR BLOGS, if you hate the way someone is running a rp account MAKE YOURSELF ONE AN RUN IT HOWEVER YOU WANT IT, if you dislike a certain rp account LEAVE THEIR BLOG.

And I know people like you a little too well. You want to keep sending as much asks as you can to try and push us away. You want to bully us until we're practically forced to delete our accounts. That's exactly what you want, because people like you just love putting others down. You love being a bully and ruin everything and everyone. Well, watch us continue our blogs and, most importantly, continue to annoy you😘

RESPECT BOUNDARIES, BE KIND, THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK.

[haldenlith]

I finished it. It's been a while since I've done a background on something, even a simple one. I'm fairly happy with it.

Anyway, the first official meeting of Riato (and Sophia, not pictured). Sophia stabbed him in their unofficial meeting before being knocked out and kidnapped. Riato had a himbo moment and assumed Sophia was ransomable without actually checking.

The intro scene under cut from our RP logs.

(Also, Riato assumes Sophia is a woman, when he is, in fact, a man.)

"Ah, the fair, fiesty maiden awakens! Good evening, m'lady. We still have some whiskey left, if you'd like some. Mirena should be done cooking, soon, if you're hungry." Heather Sophia blinks slowly for a moment. This … is not what he's expecting.

It also helps make people look more like one than two, so there's a bit of a pause before he speaks, "…I'd rather medicine for a concussion than food. You have quite a hard head. And no, whiskey doesn't count." Stopping that potential comment before it even starts. Priority #1 being … priority #1. Then talk later.

Riato chuckles. "I get that a lot." He makes a motion and a small elf hops up to amble off to get Heather some meds. It doesn't take them too long. "Sorry, I didn't think about that. The other offers still stand, by the way." The small elf who ends up bringing him the medicine actually gets a small smile and a "Thank you." Sophia can be polite, clearly. He's quick to take it - dry swallowing pills if he has to. He doesn't respond to the first part of what Ria says - it would involve an eyeroll and that sounds like a bad idea to him right now - but he does respond to second part.

"I may be hungry later. Have you any water?"

"I'd hope so. As much as we may try, you don't survive long on just booze." Heather'd soon find that same little elf offering her water. "Do you have a name? Or did I headbutt that out of you?"

That same little elf gets another 'thank you' as he takes it and sips on it. He arches a brow. "Your head is hard, but not that hard. Yes, I have a name - as you do, I imagine."

Riato smirks a bit and stands with a small wince. With that, he offers a flourish of a bow. "Captain Riato of The Dream Runner, m'lady."

[doodledrawsthings]

Her Aim Was Getting Better

(Ahit ““““““Coffee Shop AU”““““““ rp log)

This is part of an RP between @displacedentities and myself detailing the meet-up between Luka and Vanessa, when she spikes his coffee with the curse. We did this a while back to get a feel for the characters and how that scene would go down, and they nailed it with how they wrote Vanessa. So I asked them if I could post it. Some of the stuff here was written before we had other things established, so some things like Hatties’s age and how long ago they split might be inconsistent with other posts I’ve made, but Enjoy!

(also forgive me for the way i write my parts, I’m not as practiced at writing rip)

(MysticDoodles) Despite the warm paper cup in her hands, Vanessa couldn't deny the chill in her bones. It had yet to go away since that day in court, biting at her skin and hovering just at the base of her brain stem. It always seemed to grow colder whenever she thought about how she got here... the things she'd said. What she almost did to that poor briefcase jockey in the courthouse.

But it didn't matter, anymore. If anything, her mom was happy she lost that case. Losing her husband and... child had stripped away all excuses she had not to throw herself into her work, and her mother was happy. 

Vanessa was not happy. 

In fact, she was seething. 

Luka took everything from her, that day. Her love, her place in their home. His adorable smile, his laugh... they weren't hers anymore. He only gave them to that- little gremlin. The parasite that took his love away from her, her precious nickname given to their daughter. 

Nobody got to be Luka's princess except Vanessa herself. Never again.

She lost the custody battle and her efforts to take Luka's obsession away from him, but she was going to make sure he lost so much more.

Vanessa waited in the autumn breeze, her fingers clenching and unclenching around the coffee cup. Chestnut-infused Columbian. His favorite. A sister cup sat opposite the table, waiting for him. If he was brave enough to show his face. .

(DeusExMakena)  He could see her from his car as he pulled into the parking space, sitting at a table by the large window at the front of the coffee shop. How long had it been now? Around five years, right? Hattie was barely a year old when they split.

He used to get so excited about meeting her, being in her presence, making her smile... and now the very thought of just getting out of his car and making eye contact with her left a pit in his stomach. As much as he'd loved this woman in the past, the way she treated their newborn daughter.... he had to stop thinking about it. Starting this meeting out in an angry mood wouldn't be a good idea.

With a sigh he finally willed himself to leave the vehicle, and just as he looked up their eyes met. The pit in his stomach deepened as he walked up to the cafe doors.

(MysticDoodles) The ice crept up her neck again. Vanessa forced it down, and put up a smile. No reason to start this off as cold as the ice in her veins. 

 Luka can see from her attire that she's doing rather well- financially, anyway. A thick coat against the autumn chill- or maybe from her heart, so closed off- and a scarf stuffed into her bookbag. Her mother must have improved her stipend, now that they split. What a beastly woman. It's pointless to ponder what-ifs at this point, but maybe if Vanessa's mother had been someone else... no. No point.

 With one hand, she gestures to the chair opposite her. Empty and waiting. "Hello, Luka. I got your favorite. You're doing well?" 

 ...the tenor isn't as friendly as it sounds, and feels more plastic than her smile appears.

(DeusExMakena) He hesitates, looking around the venue at the other tennants before wordlessly taking the seat across from her, mostly staring at the coffee cup in front of him.

Why is he having such a hard time looking at her?

"I'm... fine," he manages to force out as he takes the cup in both hands. Come on, man just get this over with and you can go home. "So uh, what brings you here?"

He wishes he could kick himself in the face for how out of place he feels, right now. What do you even say to someone you haven't seen in years, when the last time you saw them had been after an intense battle over the custody rights of the child you fought so hard to protect?

At least the warmth of the cup in his hands provides him with some reassurance.

(MysticDoodles) Something in Vanessa's smile twitches, but it's gone before he can really tell what it was.

"Oh- I just wanted to chat, catch up on old times, you know? I'm guessing the bar exam went well?"

...

Awkward silence, as Vanessa turns her smile away. She lifts her own coffee cup to her lips and takes a long drink, looking at the pavement.When she sets it down, there's a brief moment where her fingertips looked blue. It soon fades back into perfectly trimmed nails.

"...you know why I called you here, Luka. Don't make me lie to you." Her voice grows quiet, though pensive or frustrated is difficult to parse. "You were always better at lying, anyway."

(DeusExMakena) He squints slightly at that last remark and has to do enrything in his power to hold his tongue.

"I dont, actually. With the way things ended the last time we saw eachother, I was almost sure that would be it." he says, probably with a bit more venom in his tone than he should have used, but he was here for less than 10 minutes, now, and he could already feel his patience waning.

"But if you're really just here to reconnect, you'll have to forgive me" he takes a moment to swirl the cup in front of him before lifting it towards his mouth "I'm not very good at small-talk."

Chestnut-infused Columbean bean. Cream and Sugar. So nice to know that she never forgot.

(MysticDoodles) Vanessa smiles as he takes a drink. It's gone by the time he removes the cup again.

"...sorry," she says. Her stony expression shifts into a frown. This wasn't how she expected this conversation to go- but really, she had been expecting nothing, so no pain or gain thus far. "I'm not being very polite, am I? I guess I just- missed you, Luka. It's very different, going back to my mother's apartment after-... well. Being with you."

...

Another quiet sip. Vanessa runs her finger on the plastic cap.

"...do you miss the nights after we studied, when we'd just sit on the couch together and watch garbage movies?"

Before Harriet came along, she didn't say aloud.

(DeusExMakena) Of course he did, he loved her. And as much as he'd love to revisit those moments, to relive the sense of elation he felt when he got her to laugh over awkward acting and nonsensical writing... He just couldn't forgive her for what she did.

He sighs, opting to indulge in her to see where she's going with this.

"Yeah," He takes another sip, looking back down at the table "Sometimes I still wonder why that had to stop."

(MysticDoodles) There's no way he misses the way her fingers tighten on the paper coffee cup. Especially since it's accompanied by an audible pop of paper crumpling in a half inch, and liquid sloshing within.

"They did stop, Luka."

How could he be so blind?

"They stopped when you stopped spending them with me. You spent all your time with our daughter, and not with the loving wife who gave her to you. Don't you see how unfair that is? I deserved your time, too."

Vanessa sighs, her words almost chastising. It reminded of the times she shifted into 'disappointed mother' mode around Harriet. Their one year old, at the time, who didn't understand consequences for things like dropping a toy in the sink. She even had the nerve to sound hurt as she speaks those words.

(DeusExMakena) He is absolutely apalled.

"I-" he doesnt know why he cant find the words to respond. His eyes wide and his eyebrows furrow as he glares directly at her. He shouldnt be surprised by this, really, he saw this coming. Five years, and some things will just never change.

Luka pinches the bridge of his nose, he MARRIED this woman.

"I'm sorry, are we- are we really doing this again?" He sets his coffee cup on the table with a little more force than he wanted to, "You do realize you're getting jealous over a literal one-year old that we both agreed that we wanted to have. I'm her father, I'm sorry, again, for doing my job and raising our child."

(MysticDoodles) Vanessa's long-suffering expression hardens back into stone, pouting out her lip as once more, Luka shows no signs of budging on his stance. How very lawyerlike of him. To the bitter end, he would fight for his side of the case against the opposition. She wished they didn't have to be on opposite sides, anymore, yet here she was for the second time.

"Is it so wrong that I wanted to spend more time with my husband? All toddlers need to learn to share, anyway." Vanessa shrugs, as if this were no big deal. "You never spent evenings with me, anymore, Luka. Every night that you came back from graduate classes and networking with firms, you would go right to her. The honeyed words for me didn't come until dinner, if they came at all. And don't talk to me like I wasn't a good mother- I kept her out of trouble during the day, whenever I was out of rotation."

...

"How is my little Harriet doing? It's been so long since you've squirreled her away."

(DeusExMakena) No. No, no, no, he's not doing this again

"You..." He tries to hold his tongue, but peck, he doesnt want to deal with this right now. He feels his hands ball into fists "No. I'm sorry, no, you don't get to ask how my daughter is doing. You had every opportunity to join us, no one was stopping you from being happy but yourself! You wanna talk about sharing? Then why are you throwing a fit over a over a child spending time with her father?"

 ...

"She wanted a relationship with you, you know. It's... really hard having to explain to a five-year-old that she doesnt get to see her mother because she was too immature to realize 'oh hey! I could hang out with both my daughter AND my husband at the same time!'" He says that last bit in a mocking tone as he picks up his coffee and goes in for another sip, glaring straight at his ex-wife with pure exasperation.

(MysticDoodles) There he goes again. His daughter.

This time, Vanessa doesn't look away as she returns the glare. The medical graduate holds unflinching eye contact as she lifts her own cup and downs half the contents. Trying to make a statement, maybe? She always did have issues with competition.

"...so where does that leave us, then? You drink the coffee I got you, and walk away? Are you really so set on burning this bridge, Luka? Things can go back to the way they were, if you really want it that way. My stipend will get us through the rest of exams, and then we can live a good life together - high paying jobs, a comfortable apartment, as many dates and trashy movie nights as we want. Doesn't that sound wonderful?"

...she didn't say a word about five-year-old Harriet.

(DeusExMakena) Luka takes a moment to stare at her, eyes half-lidded and tired.

He picks up the cup and downs the rest of his coffee, before placing it back on the table and standing up from his seat, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Allow me to light the match for you."

With that, he turns towards the door, ready to leave. Why would he feel bad about burning a bridge that leads nowhere?

(MysticDoodles) Luka can hear the squeal of the metal chair legs as Vanessa stands abruptly from her seat. There's no click of heels on riverstone, but he knows she's got her fists clenched at her sides, watching him. She always did that when she was angry. Maybe this time she'd have some ice on her wrists, now that her abilities were public. She'd put less effort into hiding it after the court case, anyway.

"YOU'RE MAKING A MISTAKE!" Vanessa yells after him as he continues, stride unbroken. "You'll regret this! You won that case, but you'll always be my prince, and I'll always be your princess!"

But legally, she couldn't touch him, now. Luka and Harriet were no longer family. He knew that, and she knew he did.

...

Oh well.

The door closes with a crnk-ling of the bell, and the background noise of the cafe starts to fade back into her awareness. Or lack thereof. Everyone nearby was staring, not that she cared.

Stiffening her upper lip, Vanessa grabs her bag and loops it back over one shoulder. She pats the side, removing the scarf off the copy of 'Ancient Botanicals & You' she'd found at the antique bookshop, and tying the garment back around her neck. With one hand she picks up Luka's cup, and looks inside.

Empty.

A smile traces her lips as she takes it along with her own, and tosses them both into the trash can.

Now all she had to do was wait and see.