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tyrantisterror · 1 month ago

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At Sea Without a Map Post-Script

After two months of so, my little writing experiment At Sea Without a Map has come to an end. And because I'm vain, I not only felt compelled to share it, but to talk about it in depth after the fact, so here we are. This is going to be long, though, so I'm not only going to break it into sections, but put it all under the cut for the sake of your dashboard. So go ahead and dive into the depths of the Sea of Monsters with me one more time!

Part 1: Never Stop Blowing Up

The writing process of Wizard School Mysteries Book 3 was really strained - not because of the book itself, mind you. When I was actually able to work on it, Book 3 came together really well - I think it required the least substantial rewrites of any my novels thus far. It's just that real life was kind of beating the shit out of me while I was trying to get it done - or maybe the better metaphor was that it was just slowly but steadily draining me of energy all the time. I'm honestly surprised I got the book out in roughly the same amount of time as the first two - by the way life had been treating me, it should have taken longer.

But when I got done with it I was accutely aware of how tired I was. I still had the creative drive, but fuck I needed something simple as a palette cleanser - something easy, and more importantly, something that was allowed to be bad. I needed something creative to do that was surplus to requirements and fully within its rights to suck ass so long as I had fun making it.

Around this time, I decided to rewatch Dimension 20's Never Stop Blowing Up. Brief explanation of what that is: Dimension 20 is an actual play show, i.e. a recording of people playing D&D and other TTRPGs. I'd say its reputation is built on the contrast of its main DM, Brennan Lee Mulligan, who makes these meticulously crafted campaign plans, and his chaotic band of improv comedian players who promptly derail those plans spectacularly. Like, a good deal of the show's humor comes from Emily Ashford or Ally Beardsly doing something so off-the-wall that it shatters whatever the scene was going to be and creates a far more absurd and zany spectacle in its place. Which is why Never Stop Blowing Up is pretty notable, because it's the one campaign where Brennan himself is the agent of chaos, fully unleashing his own brand of madness that the players struggle to keep up with. And fuck does he seem to have fun with it.

Of course, all of the analysis above is purely from the outside looking in - it's likely that a lot of the "chaos" is played up for the audience. But still... there is something to the idea of a person who's been working on meticulously structured stories letting loose and just doing something extremely stupid.

So I decided to give myself a Never Stop Blowing Up moment - a short story that would be simple by design, with no standards to live up to or goal beyond "have fun telling a silly little story." I then came up with a few key criteria:

It can't be set in the Midgaheim/ATOM universe. I don't want the burden of figuring out where this story would fit among others.

It's gotta be a romance. People who've read my books might have picked up on the fact that I like to write about people falling in love, for the same reason I like to write about fire-breathing reptiles and friendly monsters (i.e. I use writing to indulge in things I'll never experience in real life). I've only used romance as subplots in my fiction before, and tend to feel a bit guilty if I focus on it too long - like I'm being self indulgent. Well, this is all about self indulgence, so the romance should be front and center.

It's gotta be SIMPLE, episodic even. Not complex plotting required.

I almost chose my xenomorph romance for this, but I had developed its outline to the point where it would be too complex to fit. I then considered a sort of superhero story that could be pitched as "what if Bringing Up Baby but Katherine Hepburn's character is a Harley Quinn-esque supervillain and Cary Grant's character gets turned into some sort of horrifying genetic mutant in the first ten minutes." That one hit a weird roadblock when I got to the character brainstorming phase (the first phase of any writing project I do) - I was trying to figure out what the mad scientist who turns out Cary Grant-figure into a mutant would be named, came up with the name "Dr. Skullfuck," immediately realized that having a character named "Dr. Skullfuck" is a Mark Millar-ass writing move that I could not allow myself to do, but then couldn't stop thinking of the name "Dr. Skullfuck" and giggling, which just brought all thinking to a grinding halt on that project.

(I'll still probably do it someday, though - just, you know, without Dr. Skullfuck)

Inspiration struck again, though. I'd been getting into Epic: The Musical, a musical retelling of The Odyssey, and it put me in the mood for a sea monster story. But, more than that, it got me thinking about one particular archetype from sea monster stories - but that brings us to the next part of this Post Script...

Part 2: It Was Always About Calibani

Ok, so, one of the big changes Epic: The Musical made involved Odysseus's encounter with the sirens, and before you read more of my rambling, I'd like you to watch two animatics for the two songs in question here:

youtube

A summary: one of the sirens takes the form of Odysseus's wife to try and tempt him into getting in the water, Odysseus tricks her into giving him directions, captures her and the rest of her kind, and proceeds to have his men slaughter them horribly. In the OG story the sirens don't die - nor does their song involve imitating a man's wife, for that matter, it's just a really pretty song.

This is done for an important narrative purpose - Epic: The Musical is focused on analyzing the moral ambiguity of Odysseus, and how it is constantly challenged by the impossible choices he is forced to make in his attempt to get home. At this point in the musical, Odysseus has decided to stop trying to be a compassionate man, shirking all mercy in favor of utter ruthless pursuit of his goals. These two songs are meant to be unsettling as hell - this is the beginning of a series of heartless choices by both Odysseus and his men that will culminate in the mutiny and complete annihilation of Odysseus's crew, as well as Odysseus himself being so hopelessly stranded that nothing short of divine intervention will save him.

I bring this up because when I first heard these two songs - specifically while watching these two animatics - it, like... it devastated me. I was so horrified and sad, so shaken by it. And part of it was for the reasons outlined above, but admittedly that wasn't the gut reaction I had. No, my immediate reaction was, and I quoute my own broken brain verbatim here: "You can't kill the sirens! They're not for killing, they're for loving!"

...now, those of you who know me are probably not surprised by this very stupid sentiment coming from me. One of my more popular posts is just me talking about how down bad I would be for various folkloric monsters whose whole shtick is "looks like a pretty lady but Watch Out." But as a person filled with immense self loathing and doubt, my brain immediately looked at that very stupid sentiment I expressed and said, "Wait, no, that's fucking dumb, I'm fucking dumb. The sirens are remorseless murderers. These sirens in particular preyed upon a man's love for his wife, who he has not seen in twelve years, to convince him to let them kill him. They are, by all standards of morality, Very Fucking Evil, and if they were not women you would not feel bad about them getting killed."

And as my brain argued with itself over this topic, I got to thinking about the various monstrous/othered sea women of The Odyssey - not just the sirens, but the witch Circe, the nymph Calypso, the monsters Scylla and Charybdis. And I thought about the others of their kind in other myths and folktales - selkies, mermaids, etc.

There's an archetype of sea monster that focuses entirely on one specific anxiety sailors are prone to, namely the fact that (for a good deal of human history) being on a boat meant spending a lot of time away from women. The horror of this monster is how it uses that desire for female company to tempt people into danger - like a mirage, it leads you to expose yourself to danger in pursuit of an illusory comfort.

But, unlike real world mirages, these monstrous sea women DO exist in their stories. More than that, they're often, like, sad and lonely. Their narrative purpose is just to be a temptation, but that doesn't change the fact that they do have lives of their own in these worlds. And, softie that I am, I can't help feeling sad for them, especially the ones who actually seem to want the same companionship the sailors they tempt want. Sailors don't stay with their Circes, they don't marry their Calypsos. The sirens live on a barren rock, alone, Scylla is left to wallow in misery at her monstrous form, and the selkie always has to leave for fear of being trapped by a person who won't love her on her terms.

I realized I had my hook for this simple, easy, silly little sea monster romance story: I was going to give a sea woman the happy ending she'd never get from anyone else.

Sailor may be the protagonist, but make no mistake: At Sea Without a Map was always, always, ALWAYS about Calibani.

The goal with Calibani was simple: I was going to set up a fairly standard Monstrous Sea Woman, but where other stories would let her be in one episode of the travel narrative and move on, this one would stick around. She'd be an unambiguous predator of human beings - an open and admitted maneater - but she would have no true malice to her. She, like all predators, eats what she can get to survive, and it just so happens that she's adapted to eat humans. And the story would pose the same question to the reader that my brain posed to me during Different Beast: is there any way you could make a siren-style sea monster sympathetic? Can you make a normal person who doesn't have my particular brain rot look at a maneating siren and think, "You're not supposed to kill her, you're supposed to love her!"

One of the few unavoidable plot points of At Sea Without a Map was that Calibani and Sailor's relationship would become romantic. What kind of romance it was could have varied substantially - it could have been one-sided, it could have been toxic, it could have been far more tragic OR far more comedic. But it was always, always going to be a romance of some sort - the goal of this experiment was to make you, the reader, love Calibani. All else was icing on the cake.

I decided to base Calibani's personality on Miranda from The Tempest - i.e. a sweet girl who is both wordly and naive, who understands the strange setting of our "lost at sea" story far better than the audience viewpoint character does, but views the mundane world of the audience viewpoint character with wonder and naiveté. In fact I almost named her Miranda outright... except I already had a character in the setting I chose for this story who had that name, and as an allusion to the same Shakespearean character no less. So I settled on naming her after Miranda's adoptive sibling (of sorts), Caliban - more fitting in some ways, as Caliban is a fish-human hybrid who is arguable more native to the magic island in The Tempest than Miranda herself.

(Calibani isn't the only Tempest name homage, either - her mother, Sycorax, takes her name directly from Caliban's unseen but oft-spoken of witch mother. Dr. Antonia Warefore takes her first name from Antonio, one of the human villains in The Tempest who hopes to use being lost at sea as a way to perform a coup. And the mothman Iriel takes her name from Ariel, the wind spirit in The Tempest who aids the wizard Prospero in controlling the magic island. If Sailor has a "real" name, it's probably either Ferdinand or Miranda, the two lovers who manage to blend civilization and the wilderness together with their romance.)

Visually, I wanted Calibani to not be any common archetype of sea monster woman, but rather something that evokes the popular images while still being her own thing. She's not a mermaid or a siren or a selkie - she's basically "what if a sea serpent was also a girl." In-universe, she's chubby because she, like all marine megafauna, needs blubber to survive. Out-of-universe, she's chubby because I've found that routinely drawing cute chubby girls is good for my mental health.

Part 3: CYOA

Now, while we live in a post-Muncher society where shame and cringe are emotions only the cowardly should experience, I am nonetheless Very Catholic about expressing my own feelings of, like, liking girls and shit. I cannot help feeling guilty when publicly expressing adoration of women without, like, an excuse - it's gotta be a joke or something, you know? I can't be genuine about it, or else Jesus will beat me with a cane for disrespecting women with my lecherous gaze.

But luckily I've cultivated a loyal audience of fellow monsterfuckers, which meant I had an excuse lined up: if I made this a choose your own adventure type deal, a story with audience participation, then you all would be my accomplices. And Jesus can't cane all of us! He doesn't have enough hands! I found a loophole bigger than his stigmata!

Plus I love collaborative story-telling - there's a thrill in not having total control of where the narrative is going. As Brennan Lee Mulligan must know, there's a joy in having to deal with the chaos thrown your way by letting others grab the figurative ball, even if just for a moment.

Part 4: Offbeat Melody

Since I did not want to set this story in Midgaheim, I decided to steer myself away from a vaguely medieval setting altogether. But I also didn't want to limit myself with the need for "realism" that putting it in a normal sea would require, and making a new setting whole cloth would start pushing this project into "not easy" territory.

Luckily, I had a setting lying around that I hadn't played with in a while, which just so happened to have a location that was PERFECT for the sort of Never Stop Blowing Up style madness I was aiming for. For a few years I ran a Monster of the Week TTRPG campaign called Offbeat Melody, and one of its core setting elements was taking the goblin universe hypothesis in paranormal science (yeah it's a real hypothesis) to an illogical extreme. We had specifically seen glimpses of the Sea of Monsters in Offbeat Melody, i.e. the parallel universe where monsters like Nessie, Ogopogo, Champ, and the like all hail from. Well, why not have a whole story set there? It's literally a universe devoted solely to creating sea monsters - what better place to strand our modern Odysseus?

Offbeat Melody was always sort of a Never Stop Blowing Up project, or at least NSBU adjacent. Some of my most unhinged story-telling moments are in that campaign - you could make a supercut of just the "commercial breaks" in the various sessions and it'd basically be an I Think You Should Leave episode. Taking one obscure corner of its multiversal world and exploring it in detail was perfect for this project.

Part 5: Monster by Monster

With our main romance as sorted out as could be for a CYOA story, it was time to figure out the "episodes" of this sea voyage. I settled on there being ten to roughly align with The Odyssey - just in terms of number, mind you, not in a one-to-one comparison. The first was, obviously, Calibani herself, which left nine more slots for me to fill with monsters. Let's go through them together in brief:

Tree Storks - any lost at sea story eventually has to get its protagonist into an island at some point, but this immediately begs the question, "Why don't they just stay on the island where it's safe?" The answer to that question has to be, "it's not safe there, actually." The Odyssey does this quickly and cleverly with a one two punch: the first island seems safe until you realize the food on it brainwashes you into forgetting everything except your desire to eat it, and the second island is full of delicious sheep but also giants who will eat you just as easily as they eat the sheep. When other islands show up in the story later, you immediately regard them with suspicion, because you don't know HOW they're going to be fucked up, but they definitely will be. My goal with the second episode was to establish the same sort of danger - that land is NOT safe, that islands WILL be fucked up and dangerous in ways you might not expect.

I also wanted to establish that this is not just a sea of monsters, but a very WEIRD sea of WEIRD monsters. It couldn't be any old monster on this island - it had to be one that was unique, unexpected, and maybe just a bit silly while still being menacing.

I've always felt that there's a lot of un-mined horror potential in storks, cranes, and herons - any bird with a long neck and spear-like beak it uses to stab smaller creatures from above. Just imagine yourself in a frog's place in the world - tiny, going about your business, when suddenly something shoots down at you from above and impales you before you even feel the shadow fall over your face. Or perhaps you did see the shadow - some of these birds spread their wings to create shade specifically to attract fish, and then spear the poor little bastards.

Well, what do people often look to islands for when out at sea? Shade - the shade of a palm tree. And palm fronds kinda resemble feathers, don't they? Wouldn't it be both ludicrous and terrifying is there was a stork big enough to mimic a palm tree - and wouldn't that be a DEVIOUS trap for a sun-drenched sailor to fall for? So the Tree Storks were born.

The Globster - I made a list of sea monster archetypes in the early planning for this project, and one I wanted to include was a kraken, i.e. some sort of tentacled sea beast. But I didn't want to do JUST a big squid or octopus, or even a riff on them. I wanted to take the idea of "big sea monster with lots of tentacles" into a stranger direction.

Since the Sea of Monsters is explicitly the home universe of lake and sea monster cryptids, I thought it might be fun if ASWaM's kraken equivalent was a globster - just a big ball of rotten meat. I love drawing monstrous faces, so I decided it'd just be, like, MADE of hideous rotten faces, all melting and congealing together, with its tentacles doubling as the tongues of its many mouths. A perfectly wretched image that, like the Tree Storks, would do well to establish how Fucked things could get in this setting. Plus similar monsters had appeared in Offbeat Melody, which would make for a fun sense of familiarity for the, like, five or so readers of mine who had listened to that campaign before.

Captain Peter & the Dolphin - Another thing I did in the early planning stages of this project was make a list of the different sea voyage stories I know and love, the most contentious of which is The Life of Pi. That's a story that I love on a literal level but kind of hate on a figurative level - its whole theme/message is that doubt is the worst thing you can have, that if you don't commit to believing something with zealous conviction you are a coward. As a person who thinks doubt is valid, that "I don't know" is sometimes the ONLY truly valid answer to a question, I have issues with that message.

But I can't help loving the beautifully ludicrous idea of a non-anthropomorphic tiger sailing the ocean on a big Odyssey of its own. Like, if that story didn't actively hate me for being agnostic, it would be one of my favorites.

So I decided to, you know, just steal the idea of a tiger Odysseus. The tiger in The Life of Pi is named Richard Parker. Richard Parker also happens to be the name of Peter Parker's dad. Hence we get Captain Peter - the figurative son of Richard Parker, if you will. And to ratchet up the absurdity of a tiger Odysseus, I made him a pirate and the sole sailor of his voyage. Somehow, this tiger has manned a boat on his own.

Captain Peter was intended to be the hero of another story - a sign for the readers that it IS possible for a stranded person (or, in this case, tiger) to survive out here. To that end, he had to rescue our heroes from another threat, but not one that would be interesting enough to take the focus off of the tiger pirate. Originally I planned for that threat to just be a big shark, but I ended up liking my shark design too much to put it in a role that small, so I quickly designed a nasty dolphin for the role instead. I think that worked out well, honestly.

Dr. Neptune - Episodes 5 and 6 were the mid-point of this journey, so I wanted the two monsters of those to escalate things significantly. I figured episode 5 was probably a good place to FINALLY give some meaningful exposition on what was going on, and there are a lot of stories about mad scientists doing weird shit on islands in my big list of sea voyage stories I love. So we get Dr. Neptune, a classical brain-in-a-jar mad scientist who's affable enough to give more-or-less accurate exposition but loony enough to be a problem. This also felt like a good spot to remind the reader that Calibani is not just a girl with a tail but rather a Sea Monster herself, and one that we'd been making stronger by allying with.

With his human-but-not-quite nature and cyclops eye, Dr. Neptune could sort of be seen as the Polyphemus of this story, couldn't he?

The Crocodisle - One of the sea monster archetypes on my list was "the island that's actually a sleeping monster," of which there are many in mythology and folklore. My favorite is the Jasconius from the voyage of St. Brendan, mainly because it's more or less benign and actually comes back to help St. Brendan and his crew at the end of the story. I always love when I can find an old story with a friendly monster in it.

When thinking of my own spin on the island monster concept, I remembered the only Magic the Gathering card I had as a kid, which I still have and love to this day: The Sandbar Crocodile. This card already inspired Crocogon's color scheme in The Atomic time of Monsters, but I felt I could go to that well again one more time, and so made a crocodile that wasn't just a sandbar, but a whole damn island to itself. And, like Jasconius, it turns out he's pretty chill.

I did not think of the pun name "Crocodisle" until I was actually writing the chapter in question.

The Femdom Mermaids - These three were a late addition to the roster. When I had Calibani bring up mermaids early in the story, I realized as soon as I wrote her rant about them that we'd HAVE to meet some later on in the story.

The readers had significantly shaped Calibani and Sailor's romance by this point, and I decided that it could be useful to have a chapter that was devoted to showing definitively how these two were good for each other. I thought the mermaids could provide a good contrast: have them act out a seemingly more benign take on the monstrous sea women trope (they abduct our hero to protect and care for them!) only for it to quickly feel MORE deranged than Calibani's comparatively simple desire just to eat him.

The spirit of Calibani's rant about mermaids was taken from weird* girls I knew in high school complaining about cheerleaders, so I wanted the mermaids to look like the sea monster equivalent of popular kids to Calibani's chubby weird girl. Two of them got the names of famous beauties - Helyne = Helen of Troy, Clio = Cleopatra.

(*when I say "weird" I mean it in a complimentary and affectionate sense)

Bob, meanwhile, kinda... rebelled, I guess? Before I had names for them, I listed "bob" by her as just, like, a descriptor for her hair cut, but then I liked it as her name, and once she was named Bob she became more than just a mean popular girl. She was a weirdo too, the little punching bag of the two mean popular girls who did their dirty work and smiled through their abuse because hey, at least they included her. It gave the trio an easily defined dynamic, helped make two of the three more visibly nasty, and gave us comic relief in an arc that could very well have gotten too uncomfortable otherwise.

And I guess it worked - readers REALLY loved Bob, and were very vocal about it, and I realized mid-arc that I had accidentally made her too likable to just leave in this arc. So Bob got to be rescued from her awful friend group thanks to readers like YOU.

Lord Ironteeth - yeah, this was the shark that was too cool to be a minor threat. When I drew his noggin, I realized he would need a chapter of his own, one with gravitas. I decided he'd specifically be the threshold guardian -once we beat him, we'd know for sure how to get home, even if there were a few more threats in store.

Spindle Inc and Sycorax - when I was a kid I used to have this recurring nightmare about being on some sort of underwater sea station that had this huge sea serpent trapped inside it. I'd look at the sea serpent from a window within the station and see it coiling in its tank, only for it to look at me with fury. In that glance I would suddenly realize two things with absolute clarity: first, it was going to break free and kill everyone, and second, we deserved that destruction for what we had done to it. The terror of the dream was less that the sea serpent was going to break free, and more the guilt of knowing that all the mayhem that was about to unfold was our fault to begin with.

I thought that would be fun to homage with the penultimate chapter of this story. OBVIOUSLY the sea serpent was Calibani's mom, obviously the trauma of its capture was why Calibani grew into a predator that specializes in hunting humans, obviously we would have to free the sea serpent despite that running counter to Sailor's goal of getting home. Easy, easy, easy plot point to include.

Spindle, Inc. is the primary antagonistic force in Offbeat Melody, so they easily slotted into the role of the arrogant humans who captured this monster for nefarious and selfish motives. They could tie a lot of other plot threads together too - Dr. Neptune was a scientist who worked for them as a contractor only to get screwed over (i.e. they stranded him in the Sea of Monsters, expecting him to die, and then used his research to make their own base of operations in it), we'd learn of him through a spindle briefcase left behind by some unfortunate rogue agent who got eaten by the Globster while he was trying to escape, hell they could even be one of the possible origins of Sailor themself (more on that later). Very useful villains, Spindle.

The Abyssal Mother - I knew the last sea monster would need a lot of punch to it. I briefly considered just a big whale - the Moby Dick to Spindle's corporate Ahab - but it felt underwhelming after all that came before. So I went for arguably the most dramatic possible sea monster, a full on Cthulhu-style elder god. If you're a frequent follower of this blog, you might know I have particularly high standards for Eldritch Abominations, so I realized this was going to be a pretty big challenge for me to live up to, and decided to keep the cthulhu in question reserved to the last few entries as a result - the less it appears, the less it has to live up to.

I realized I had a good angle when my experiments with the Cthulhu "squid for a head" concept ended up having a face framed in shadow - you know, the same visual that our protagonist has in most appearances. That provided some very juicy parallels between the two that made this final monster feel particularly noteworthy to me, ones that I'll leave you to ponder, since they tie into...

Part 6: Themes

I did not set out to have a theme in this story. I just wanted to make a sailor and a sea monster kiss. That was my only goal.

But I really don't begin with theme in ANY of my writing. I figure out topics I want to address, but for all my novels I feel like the themes didn't start coming together until about halfway through the first draft, when enough of the elements of the story had been set down and interacted with each other enough for me to realize what I was saying with them. A huge part of my second and third drafts for my novels have focused on making the themes of my stories more concrete and unified.

Well, ASWaM is very much a first draft of a story, but it's a simple enough story that I think the theme found itself pretty well despite lacking subsequent drafts to refine it.

ASWaM is about doubt and direction. It's about being adrift in a world that is in many ways hostile by nature, about not feeling like you're where you're supposed to be or even WHO you're supposed to be, and about setting off aimlessly in the hope that maybe you'll find your way to that mythical land of "what my life is supposed to be."

When I began the story, Sailor had amnesia and wore clothes that obscured their identity as a way to make it easier for anyone to step into Sailor's role. Sailor had to feel like You, the Reader, and so we don't know their name, their gender, their eye color, their hair color, even their skin color (note that their hands are always wearing gloves, and their face is always in shadow).

But it also meant Sailor is, well, undefined, at least at the start of the story. Sailor doesn't know who they are, what they are, how they came to be. Sailor feels distinctly that they should be Something Else, should be Somewhere Else, should be Someone Else, should not be who/what/where they are. Sailor is plagued by doubt, by a need to go in a different direction, by a need to be other than they are.

This initially contrasts with Calibani, who begins the story very confident that she is doing exactly what she was designed to be doing and acting exactly like she should be. As they interact, they begin to shift each other in opposite directions - Calibani questions her existence and nature, sometimes to a self destructive degree, and Sailor begins to find something about who and where they are that they like. They find a healthy middle ground together - doubtful enough to want to be better people, but with love for themselves that allows them to not feel the need to up-heave their lives entirely.

I knew at the start that I would build an expectation for there to be some answer to the question of who Sailor is and where they came from, because those are the questions that begin the whole narrative. I brainstormed a number of answers to those questions, but once I got a few chapters into writing the story and saw this theme of doubt developing, I realized I couldn't answer them. From a thematic standpoint, the doubt HAD to remain. So I gave hints to possible answers, bits of evidence to support the possibility of them being true, but never planted a smoking gun that answered it for sure.

Sailor can't know the answer because NONE of us know the answer. Outside of blind Life of Pi style faith, you cannot know for sure that you are living the life you're supposed to live. All you can do is figure out whether you're happy with the life you've got, or if you need a change. Sailor will never know who they are supposed to be, but they did learn who they are, and they love that person now.

For those curious, the possible Sailor origins are:

Occam's Razor: they're exactly what Dr. Neptune theorized, i.e. a human who got stranded in the Bermuda Triangle (or the Devil's Triangle or any other number of paranormal triangles) and fell into the Sea of Monsters. The trauma of that experience gave them amnesia. It's just brain damage and bad luck.

A Spindle Experiment: Dr. Warefore mentions that Spindle has been trying to find a way to make a human who can evolve like the denizens of the Sea of Monsters. Sailor may well be an attempt to do just that, perhaps one they wrote off as a failure and abandoned (they do that a lot)

A Deep One: Sailor is the offspring of one of the denizens of the Sea of Monsters (most likely the Abyssal Mother herself) who has somehow been tricked into believing they are human, to the point where they seem to be human to everyone else, even other monsters. Maybe a human summoned a sea monster to breed with on earth, and Sailor ended up being subconsciously drawn back to the Sea by their blood. Maybe Sailor never actually lived on earth at all, but was only made to THINK they had as part of the transformation into a human.

The Platonic Ideal of a Sailor: the Sea of Monsters is full of archetypal concepts, and arguably a sailor trying to find their way home is just as archetypal as any sea serpent, mermaid, or kraken. Our only proof that humans aren't native to the Sea of Monsters is Dr. Neptune, and he's not as reliable an expert as he claims to be.

This theme of doubt and direction also made the compass more important to the narrative than a simply mechanic for audience participation - a compass, after all, gives direction, and the feeling that Sailor is not where they're supposed to be, that they need to head in a different direction, is ultimately the catalyst of the plot. The compass is, in many ways, the antagonist of the story - the force that keeps Sailor from accepting themself. I realized this a little after I started making the different directions have personalities - initially they just represented broad concepts (North = follow conventional wisdom ala the North Star, South = preserve your short-term self interest at all costs, East = act with curiosity and be willing to take calculated risks, and West = throw caution to the wind and do anything that seems novel and exciting), but over time they became little characters themselves.

Since it was our thematic antagonist, I decided to pepper in some ideas about what the compass might be in-universe - and, in a move that would no doubt frustrate the compass, we also don't know for sure which of those is "correct." Is the compass a poltergeist, some amalgamation of dead sailors who try to steer other lost souls home? Is it a malign entity that leeches off of those desperate enough to seek its aid, living through them while pretending to aid them? Is it a device Spindle made to lure sailors to their clutches, OR to guide their experiments in human/monster hybrids? Was it a cursed item that forced a sea monster to assume a human shape? Who can say - the compass sure can't, it can only tell you a direction to go in.

Part 7: Q&A

Since this was an interactive story, I felt it was only fitting to add one last interactive element to this post-script write up, and some of your happily obliged me by sending in questions.

When I noticed how fast readers were falling for Calibani, I figured there was a good chance we'd end up staying in the Sea of Monsters. By chapter 7, I figured it was more or less a given, and by the end of the Lord Ironteeth encounter I was almost 100% sure Sailor would remain at sea. There was always a chance, though - while a look at the polls shows that the audience got more and more on the same page towards the end, there were always dissenting voices, and the desire to get an answer to the question of Who Sailor Was remained strong, as a number of people kept trying to find angles where they could get that AND stay with Calibani.

I was surprised early on by how easily the audience fell in love with Calibani, to the point where I made a few posts commenting on it. I mean, I shouldn't have been - as I said earlier, I have cultivated an audience of fellow monsterfuckers on here, and I know at least a few of them saw my bait and knew they could get me to be freaky in a way we found mutually agreeable (thank you all again for helping me escape being caned by Jesus for being horny).

Like, we REPEATEDLY ignored developing the plot in the Tree Storks chapter for several days just to spend more time with Calibani - something that I enjoyed immensely (this whole thing was an excuse for me to write and draw a cute chubby sea monster girl as much as possible aftter all) but also knew as a storyteller was not what most would consider a good story call. I like how it turned out, but it defied conventional narrative wisdom, you know? I was surprised.

On the other side of the coin, I was also surprised by how the audience NEVER chose an option that was humorously disastrous. I gave plenty of them, and, like, generally in collaborative storytelling there will be at least one moment where your collaborators decide to do the really, REALLY stupid thing that makes everything spiral out of control really quickly. I figured at least once the audience would choose the troll response, but no, you guys worked hard to keep Sailor and Calibani alive. You refused to let them hurt each other, refused to let them throw themselves into danger, refused to imperil them for your own chuckles. It was very sweet and unexpected.

I say "you refused" but to be fair it's not like NO ONE voted for the troll options - they generally got a handful of votes, just one that was beaten by a landslide of more reasonable options. Hopefully those of you who voted for the troll options enjoyed Bob throwing you a bone by disintegrating Dr. Warefore - that was my consolation prize to you.

Yes. I knew at the beginning that there would be two endings for this story: either Sailor leaves the Sea and goes home, or Sailor stays there forever. Or, you know, Sailor dies as a result of you guys choosing several stupid options in a row, but as stated above you guys avoided those scenarios pretty decisively.

Had Sailor gone home, the following would have occurred: first, they would forget everything that happened in the Sea of Monsters. Second, they would wake up in a hospital, having been found in the Atlantic Ocean by a human-recovery charity run by... oh, isn't that funny, some tech company named Spindle Inc! Spindle would foot the medical bills and even offer Sailor a job, but Sailor would decline because even now they're still not sure what Spindle even does. Sailor would go back to their life and find it familiar and utterly mundane, but not particularly happy. Their father died when they were 18, their mother was never in the picture, they have no siblings. They worked an office job and were sort of a nonentity - that position has long since been filled, but Sailor gets a new job and lives out much the same life: simple, mundane, dreary. Every now and then they get a pang of desire to leave, to go to sea, but they push it out of mind. They never even see the ocean again as long as they live.

Sailor would have gotten the normal life they thought they were supposed to have, the normal memories and name and identity, the mundane life of a normal person. And they just had to trade everything they found in the Sea of Monsters to get it. A question is answered, a direction is followed, but is it the right answer, the right direction?

Well, I think doubt would have remained.

I had a very vague idea for there to be some sort of man-eating giant in, like, a crystal castle. He got cut to make way for the mermaids.

I wanted to fit in a big whale and a giant crustacean, but there wasn't room or an interesting angle for me to want to make room for them. Saved for a possible sequel, I suppose.

I also wanted to have a scene with, like, DOZENS of sea monsters, including some of the ones from Offbeat Melody, but the goal of "this should be EASY you dumbass" made me kill that idea pretty quick.

Thank you!

The primary inspirations were:

The Odyssey and Epic: the Musical

The voyage of St. Brendan

The many "weird shit happens on an island" movies in Toho's filmography, i.e. Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, Son of Godzilla, Yog Monster of the Deep, Matango, etc.

The Island of Dr. Moreau

The Boy and the Heron

Ponyo (specifically Ponyo's parents - I wanted Sailor to have the same desperate energy as that wizard who fucks the giant sea goddess)

The Life of Pi

Slay the Princess (perhaps most obvious in the use of second person narration, multiple voices in the protagonist's head, and falling in love with a creature that has tried to kill you at least once)

I'm going to use this to springboard to a related point in a second, but first a genuine yet humorous answer: Yes, absolutely yes, I am enough of a big romantic sap that I would give everything about my life away to be with a person who loves me and explore a world of monsters in a heartbeat. Hell, I would have jumped in the water the minute Calibani asked and died with her fangs in my neck and a smile on my face. I am dumb this way. Do not follow my example.

On that related point, though... Most stories like this, I daresay ALL stories like this that I know of, end with the hero abandoning the fantasy world in favor of reality, never to return. And that seems like the proper choice and lesson on the surface - we don't want to tell audiences to give up their real life in favor of a fantasy, after all. That's encouraging escapism, and that's not healthy!

But, like... textually speaking, the fantastical world IS real to the characters in these stories. And it's often not really an escape - was Sailor's life devoid of conflict and suffering in the Sea of Monsters? Fuck no! It's just that they figured out how to deal with that conflict and suffering - they built skills and a support system, they adapted, they learned how to overcome what was there.

I think it can be argued that sometimes the return to a "normal" world is, in itself, an escape - the idea that your life can spiral into chaos but that's ok, you can just reset everything and go back to The Way It Was and Should Be is just as unrealistic and unhealthy an idea as You Should Escape to A Better World. Sometimes your plans for your life fall apart, sometimes you're thrown into a place you never intended to go, sometimes you have to learn skills you never anticipated needing and ally with people you never thought you'd befriend to deal with problems you never dreamed you'd have to overcome. And sometimes it's ok to look at your derailed life, your Not Where You Should Be life, and say, "Well, I've learned how to live here... maybe I can stay."

Especially if there's a cute chubby sea monster girl who loves you.

Bob was never supposed to appear past chapter 7, but about halfway through that chapter I realized the audience and I myself would be heartbroken if we didn't rescue her. Definitely for the best - she provided some well-needed comic relief in the final chapters.

This is gonna sound snarky, but, yeah - there were 58 choices with four options a piece, and we only chose one of the four. While some of the options would have similar results, almost none would have had identical outcomes. And some would have been VERY different.

Like, to go back to the beginning: when Calibani attacked, we could either throw a net on her, harpoon her, try to drive around her, or hide below deck. We picked the net, but for the other three options:

Harpooning would result in us hitting her in the thigh, causing her enough pain that she collapses on our deck and we, horrified at the violence we committed, just sort of push on. Calibani would be wounded for at least the next chapter, perhaps longer, and significantly weaker (and probably harboring a great deal of hidden resentment while also being genuinely scared of Sailor). She would be vulnerable during the stork attack, forcing Sailor to take a more active role in that chapter.

Trying to steer around her would result in us essentially fighting her with our boat, resulting in the boat capsizing and Calibani getting tangled up in it. We'd wake up alone on Stork Island and have to travel in search of our boat, alone and vulnerable among man-eating trees. We'd run into Calibani again, also beached and in trouble, end up recruiting her to help us get our boat out of the sand.

Hiding below deck would end in a sea storm that leaves us inside our boat as it's beached on Stork Island. We'd fend off the storks alone, and run into Calibani once we get our boat out to sea, as she got away more or less unscathed.

All of these would have majorly changed the trajectory of our relationship with Calibani and our identity as Sailor, despite seeming to have the same component parts on the surface. Now account for how similarly slight changes in the other options could have gone, and we could have had a very different story indeed.

Part 8: Our Girl

I just think she's neat!

#At Sea Without a Map

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wutheringmights · 10 months ago

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After I finished reading The Epic of Gilgamesh today, I entered a fugue state where I sat down and read the entirety of Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce.

On the record, I have had a lifelong love and adoration for Pierce's Tortall books. I first read the Song of the Lioness quartet when I was 11, and they rewrote my brain. I love them so much. I reread them and the other Tortall books on a semi-frequent schedule.

It's been a while since I reread any of the Alanna books, if only because my sister took our shared copies when she moved out. I've been meaning to buy my own set for a long while now but haven't been able to justify the purchase. The other week, I just so happened to find the first two volumes at my local indie bookstore. I bought them immediately, as well as ordered the third and fourth book. (And discovered that the store owner knows me by name-- when I went to pick up my order, she saw me and said, Hi Frankie! I got your books over here.) (I may be spending too much money there.)

So I have been in a bit of an emotional rut these past few weeks. Work sucks. Life stinks. The temptation to run off to Tortall and curl up in the fantasy story that captivated me as a kid has never been stronger.

Ergo, I ran off to read the first book as soon as I could.

If you're looking for any critique of this book, series, or Tortall in general, I will never give it. Sure, it's problematic and dated, and in many ways imperfect, but someone else can list out all of its issues. They're all perfect to me.

Anyway, the book. I should say something about this book in particular.

One thing I appreciate about Pierce's writing is how she handles school settings in fantasy. Learning and training is so mundane. All of her heroines have to work hard and put in extra hours of study in order to improve, much less keep up with their peers. It's so normal that it circles around to being weirdly refreshing.

Also, there is still no other fantasy author who handles period talk and birth control the way Pierce does. We make fun of the trope of fantasy birth control nowadays, but I rarely see it presented as it is here: as a part of normal puberty lessons and given long before sex is in the girl's radar. And even today with the glut of YA fantasy stories out there, I still have yet to see menstruation be portrayed as frequently or as bluntly as Pierce writes it.

There was a period of time publishers really tried to push the Tortall books as straight YA, which doesn't work for that reason alone. You gotta market them to middle schoolers. They're the ones just starting puberty talks, and getting scenes like this is so good for their brains.

Moving on: I fucking love these characters. Alanna was an icon of brash, temperamental heroines that have shaped my taste to this day. I love how even in the first book, Jon is kinda shitty. I adore George Cooper. Talk about a taste maker the way this man sets a standard.

I just can't be coherent when it comes to any Tortall books. I have no thoughts. Head empty. I am going to binge the rest of this series as quickly as I can before my library book comes in. Then normal book content will resume.

Before I go, I need to talk about the book covers.

Growing up, my sister and I had these covers:

Which, god. I love them. The black is striking. The art is incredible. Alanna looks so good. They were the perfect pocket-size too. I was going to buy the same edition for my copies, but instead I got the 40th anniversary reprints:

Not bad at all! These books have had some seriously bad covers, and these look great! Very anime, which will appeal to the 11 year olds who need to have their socks rocked by this series.

But, man. I really miss those black covers. One day I will splurge and buy a second set of them just so that I can stare at the art.

#having a not normal time on tumblr dot come right now #alanna my beloved #if you were a deity i would worship you #me rambling #me reading #bookish #books and reading #books #bookblr #Alanna: the first adventure #the song of the lioness #tortall #tamora pierce

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jamiebluewind · 8 months ago

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Eclipse the kitten update

(please don't glitch tumblr it's the tenth time I've tried!!!)

Welp! Winter's boy has a respiratory infection. It was causing him to wheeze so to the vet we went! Luckily it wasn't a diaphram issue (which had us worried because of his umbilical hernia). His hernia also came up normal on his x-rays.

(X-rays left out because might bother people, but I can send them on request)

He's on meds several times a day and taking them like a champ, but had to be put in a pen with limited free playtime (because nothing will stop Mr Indestructible from running around the house with all the grace of a car with no breaks). We DID get a reply after just a week from a really nice person who was going to give us one (shocked us let me tell ya because it was BIG dog sized). Unfortunately, they left it outside for us to pick up and someone else just... took it. Right out of their yard. And since all we had was a small cat carrier to keep him in (which was kinda cruel for more than a day or two tops), we ordered a cat playpen that we got for a decent price. We kept looking until it got here, but no luck. Still! It's a nice playpen and we have it set up so he doesn't have to jump if he doesn't want to (plus more vertical to enjoy later on). Sarah's mom also let us borrow her water fountain!

We went to a new vet as ours was booked up (and he had already been wheezing a day). Everyone basically fell in love with him instantly. He left with a little toy from the tech, they gave Winter a jar of honey (one of the people in the office has bees and they wanted to give her something for caring about a kitten that most wouldn't have despite him having a treatable condition), and they've been checking in on how he is recovering (very well since I first typed this actually). He's basically got an entire vet office wrapped around his little paw.

Also, the non-profit we're taking him to for his surgery had a cancelation and his got moved up to the 12th! Counting down the days yall.

Because I gotta kinda mention it, this hit us where it hurts. Between the vet visit and testing, the pen, and the estimated cost for the surgery and followup, it's gonna cost us more than $2k (as long as nothing ELSE goes wrong). We're lucky that we're all super careful with our money, but there's only so much we can save up with three people below the poverty line. Still worth it though. I mean, look at this doofus

He is so stubborn that we can't leave scratch posts upright because he keeps doing THIS! XD

I'm linking Winter's paypal, but I 1000% understand if you can't help out. Still, a reblog and a word or three mean a LOT to all of us so if you got a minute, I'd love some new post additions to show Winter.

(Truth be told, the only reason all the updates are posted on my tumblr is because I'm the longest winded out of the three of us and I take like 5 billion pictures. XD )

Speaking of, there WOULD be a bonus pic of him and his sister (Melanite, aka Miel) playing under my chair as my cat (Danny) looks on from a safe place, but tumblr kept glitching when I added it.

Edit: surgery update

#cats #kitten #eclipse the kitten #umbilical hernia #respiratory infection #sick pets #pet illness #pet surgery mention #vet bill #finances #pet expenses #vet #tumblr glitch

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perfectlypreservedpie · 8 months ago

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MacCready Fanfiction Recs (Fallout 4)

hey everybody, nobody asked for this but in the midst of writing fallout fanfic I was feeling a special kind of love for my favorite fo4 fanfics and wanted to recommend them in case you hadn't read 'em. Because they are VERY GOOD and writing fanfic is hard, so you gotta give props to those who sweat for your comfort fics.

I'm gonna recommend my top three finished fanfics, and then two more bonus fics that are being updated rn. As a clarifier, these are all Maccready fallout 4 fics. so. keep that in mind.

im tagging the authors and also anybody who wants to join and share their favorites too!

3. THE FATHER(S) AND THE SON(S) on ao3 by @sirmanmister

I'm going to preface this rec by saying this: there is Fanon MacCready. There is canon MacCready. And then there is ascended!whatBethesdawishesitWAS MacCready, which exists solely in this fanfiction. The characterization of Mac is so well written. He is snarky, he is vulnerable. He desperately wants to grow up but doesn't know how. He has the most sick character arc in this story!!!

It's not a romance but instead a coming of age story where the sole survivor becomes a de-facto parent to Mac. The heart of the story is about how to raise a child while you're still trying to grow up yourself. The apocalypse setting lends itself well because the Wasteland is a place where NOTHING is beautiful, but the way that M!Sosu and MacCready care for their sons is beautiful. Which makes it special and worth fighting for.

As a fun fact, I read The Road by Cormac McCarthy for class a week after finishing this fic and I was thinking about this fic the whole time because the themes of fatherhood during an apocalypse hit a lot of the same beats. Maybe my professor would kick me in the teeth by comparing fic to McCarthy, but @sirmanmister YOU ARE MY CORMAC MCCARTHY <3

2. WORKING CLASS HERO on ao3 by @bluegrasskitty

This is the kind of fic you take with you to toilet, to work, in-between classes. It will suck you in. AND THERE'S A SEQUEL TOO YOU GUYS‼️

The sole survivor in this story is the model for the Nuka Cola girl. You know the hot lady in the spacesuit? SHE HAS A BACKSTORY. AND YALL IT MADE ME WEEP. During some point of the story, I sort of stopped rooting for MacCready to be the narrator and just wanted Nora Cabot to take the reins. When I tell you I think of this oc every two to three business weeks. She's an incredible leading lady. I can't look at Nuka Girl posters in the game without thinking of Nora Cabot, my beloved.

the sequel IS SO FIRE. It's the best reimagining of 'what happened after the institute blew up' that I've ever read. im gnawing at the bars of my enclosure actually.

A VERY GOOD PLOT TWIST I CANNOT MENTION TO NEW READERS BUT IF YOU'VE READ IT YOU'LL UNDERSTAND. AND IF YOU UNDERSTAND DM ME I HAVE TO TALK TO SOMEBODY ABOUT IT. HHh.

The amount of world building that @bluegrasskitty puts into this story is insane. They ARE Beth Esda.

As a fun fact, I didn't know that radchickens were canon in fallout. I thought it was a plot device made up by this author to excuse the ability to make cake in this book, but radchickens ARE real. When I was playing Far Harbor last year, I found radchickens and thought that @bluegrasskitty manifested them into existence because they had that kind of power.

that being said, I still think this author has that kind of power.

1. Atom Bomb Baby on ao3 by @starlightwrites

I think you dropped something....my jaw.

fellas. fellas. this is my comfort fic. You ever had a comfort fic? Something you come back to at least once a year to reread to feel something? the fiction equivalent of chicken noodle soup? this is what Atom Bomb Baby is to me. this is peak literature actually. if I ever figure out book binding, im doing this one first.

Plot wise, it's a retelling of Fallout 4's main story through the perspective of MacCready. But (and im wheezing as I say this) it's also so much more THAN THAT.

this fic author understands that MacCready is not a womanizer but is in fact a touch starved loser. and they are CORRECT.

MacCready spends the entire fic like 'uuuhhhh I dunno about this one, boss!'

ITS BEST FRIENDS TO LOVERS RAHHHHHH

it also has a nostalgia feel to me too, because reading it gives me the same feeling as what it was like to play the game for the first time, years ago. maybe it's because I've read it so many times over the years, but reading it feels so satisfying.

The author spends 10 chapters at the end solely dedicated to an epilogue. I wish more stories did this. They go through the wringer in this story, and it's so deeply satisfying to see how cleanly everything gets wrapped up. MacCready and the Lola work really well together as a couple, so it's awesome to see how they work together after the battle is done.

6 out of 5 stars.

BONUS FICS !! aka fics that are still updating! I squeal with joy when I get an ao3 email about these: 1. Best Laid Plans on ao3 by @druidgroves - Georgia Tate is an incredible character and sole survivor! She was a teacher prewar, so it's really fun to get her perspective on the world. She cares a lot about education and libraries and I find her really relatable and endearing. It's a cool thing for a character in an apocalypse to care about! It also makes for fun tension with Mac, who's written as a pragmatic survivor. A great take on familiar characters and their dynamics. - And It's a great slow burn! I'm really enjoying reading it. 2. Long Time Running on ao3 by @twosides--samecoin - If you've ever thought that Med-Tek was too convenient an option for Duncan's cure, this fic was written with you in mind. - RJ goes to Canada and im obsessed with it. - If you're interested in fallout lore, specifically the bit where the U.S annexed Canada and wished that there was more info about that, I would highly recommend this fic. Twosides--samecoin put in THE WORK. The world building they do to explain Canada's side of the Great War is so fun!!! its genuinely such a thrill to read!

I'm tagging the authors who I mentioned, if you all have favorite fics (fallout or otherwise, I'd love to hear em!) Thank you for making good art!

#fanfic recs #fallout 4 #fallout fanfiction #rj maccready #MacCready #maccready x sole survivor #the father(s) and the son(s)#working class hero #atom bomb baby #best laid plans #long time running #thank you for making good art!!

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pyjamaart · 10 months ago

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Breaking Bot (read more for some rambling about mega man fully charged)

Mega Man Fully Charged has been on my mind again lately, which made me realize that there's literally a robot named Chemistryman who worked as a chemistry teacher. Not using him as a Walter White stand-in would be a criminal offense.

I'll have to admit I started getting back into Fully Charged again after seeing some asshole on twitter complain about the character design for the hundredth time. I just can't stand that kind of negativity. I swear to god, Fully Charged is like the Sonic Boom of the Mega Man franchise. Personally, I really enjoy the FC designs. I've probably said this before, but I feel like the redesigns give some of the more forgettable robot masters way more character. Like, do I care for Classic Drillman from Mega Man 4? I mean, yeah, I do, but I wouldn't care as much if it wasn't for his Fully Charged incarnation.

I also really enjoy most of the original robot masters. I already talked plenty about Blastowoman and why I love her so much, but I want to talk about the others this time.

Take for example Chemistryman. Comparisons to Walter White out of the way, I feel like his character was a really fun idea. God knows I had teachers who put me to sleep back in the day. For me, it wasn't chemistry though, it was my economics teacher. I always compared her to a story teller at a Christmas market who would read children stories out of her big fairy tale book. Only that in reality, it was stuff like the minimization/maximization principle. Most of my notes for that class were incomprehensible chicken scratch, because I just couldn't keep my eyes open. In the end, I slept through like half her classes, lol. But I gotta say that I still always got a B or higher in the end. Somehow. I thank god every day that I never have to step foot in a school again.

I really wish Chemistryman got a little more time to shine though. Two episodes is just way too little. I would gladly take three more episodes with him over those gross Gutsman episodes. I know I love talking about wasted potential with this show, but I wish there was an episode that focused on Chemistryman outside of the school setting. I get that his whole character is "boring, bitter teacher", but I'd really like to see what he gets up to when he's not trying to force children to listen to his chemistry lectures. Like having Aki try to talk him into going into retirement for good. And then he tries to find hobbies for him so that he doesn't bore himself to death. I can see him getting into building model ships or something like that, lol.

Now that I'm already writing up a storm again, I might as well talk about some other headcanons I have about the FC bots. Since Woodman was in sleep mode for 30 years after the war ended (I don't know where I got that number from. I rewatched his debut episode, but the exact number doesn't appear anywhere. Oh well, let's just pretend this is canon, even if it isn't.) we got kind of a Shadow the Hedgehog type situation on our hands. All of his friends and family got to live their lives in this new, peaceful world of harmony between robots and humans, while Woodman spent 30 years powered down in a bush or something. Completely forgotten about. Like, why didn't they go look for him after the war ended? I don't think Aki and Suna wandered that far into the forest for their school assignment. If you really think about Woodmans back story for a moment, you realize how fucked up it actually is.

Now my explanation for this goes into heavy heavy headcanon territory. When Suna calls the principal about Woodman, he warns her that Woodman is dangerous and to get away from him immediately. Now why would he say that? The principal also calls him "ruthless" in that same explanation. What I think happened back then was that Woodman actually planned to assassinate the human armies leader. (Possibly Sgt. Night?) The leader of the robots caught wind of his plan and put him into sleep mode himself, since he and Dr. Light were on the brink of finding a way to end the war peacefully. In my mind, this leader is the FC version of Swordman. Don't ask me why, he was just the first guy I thought of. And then it just stuck.

I know this makes Woodmans back story even more fucked up, but I just love putting my favorite blorbos through hardship. Don't even ask me about my headcanons for Drillman. They'd actually put me in prison.

Now all this culminates after Woodman is reactivated by Suna and Aki. Finding himself alienated from all his former friends and comrades (Maybe the other Mega Man 2 robot masters?), what was he supposed to do? He couldn't spend the rest of his life isolated (and homeless) in the forest, could he? And this is where season 2 could have delivered. But I'm done whining about that. If Capcom doesn't deliver, I gotta write my own season 2. Simple as that.

Anyway, getting back to Chemistryman, since he's pretty old, I imagine that he was already working as a teacher when Woodman was still around. Maybe he even was his teacher at some point.

And since I love having my favorite characters interact, I also thought of a scenario where Drillman wanders into the forest out of frustration over his miserable life, only to meet Woodman by coincidence. In the end, Woodman helps him work through his daddy issues and his body dysmorphia, while Drillman helps Woodman reintegrate and manage this (for him) completely new world of peace. Another great headcanon of mine is that Chemistryman is actually Acidmans father. Just because I think it would be funny. And as Fully Charged has confirmed: robots in that universe do indeed have parents. (Flashback to the time I drew Dr. Light beating the shit out of Drillman's father)

Speaking of Drillman.... For being one of my favorite Mega Man characters of all time, I haven't drawn him nearly enough. That will probably be my next project.

This might also be a great time to tell you that I've never watched Breaking Bad before, lol. Everything I know about it comes from RTGame's Stardew Valley playthrough and the RTVS Half Life parody.

Sorry for all the yapping. But if I don't talk about robots at least once a day, I might die. This is a serious condition.

#megaman #mega man #mega man fully charged #acidman #acid man #chemistry man #chemistryman #im just gonna add my essays under the read more from now on hehe #the funny crossover you never know you needed #i am very normal about the fully charged bots #should i also tag woodman and drillman? eeeh no

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romanoffsbish · 2 years ago

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Paper Rings

Elizabeth Olsen x Fem!Reader

…and Broken Promises

—•~~~~~~•~~~~~~•~~~~~~•~~~~~~•—

The moon is high, like your friends were the night that we first met. Went home and tried to stalk you on the internet, now I've read all of the books beside your bed... The wine is cold like the shoulder that I gave you in the street. Cat and mouse for a month or two or three now I wake up in the night and watch you breathe.

—•~~~~~~•~~~~~~•~~~~~~•~~~~~~•—

Lizzie groaned when the beeping in her mind didn't subside, it only increased in volume, breaking her from the dreams she was having. More so the vivid memories of your whirlwind romance on replay for her, to only be followed up by hopeful imagery her mind's manifesting.

From the early days where she met you at a party thrown by Scarlett Johansson—Marvel's resident party girl, there had been so much going on that night, it'd been an event thrown to bridge the gap for the incoming cast, such as herself, Aaron Taylor, and you—Y/N Y/L/N.

Elizabeth had been a huge fan of yours after she saw you too loved the indie film genre. Your movies were her guilty pleasure, so she had been a little bummed out to find you'd never even heard of her until a week prior. Awkward was an understatement for the both of you, she was gushing to you over the film you just finished shooting, and you were too enamored by her beauty to really engage.

That night you'd looked her up, falling down a rabbit hole of all things Elizabeth Olsen, she was stunning, and her acting was next level. Everything was going well too, until you stumbled into an article about her boyfriend. Your laptop was slammed closed as soon as your silly hopes were crushed, it was only a new crush, but the way she flirted with you all night long had left you feeling a bit hurt after.

So you went to set the following month with an urge to ignore her, and for the first few weeks you managed to do it well. Then at a craft table after a particularly long day she found a way to corner you, her eyes were sad when they found yours, and it was clear to you that it was your doing. So, in the name of professionalism you agreed to eat with her in her trailer, because maybe you had misinterpreted her intentions at the party, but once she leaned in to kiss you it was clear you were right, and you folded.

Lizzie frowned when you resorted to yelling obscenities afterwards, but once she caught the word boyfriend in the mix she was quick to scream it was a tabloid falsehood; she was single, and only wanted to not be if it was you who was going to ask her out. She was smooth, you took the alluring bait, and the rest is a long, sorted and disgustingly sappy history.

—•~~~~~~•~~~~~~•~~~~~~•~~~~~~•—

Kiss you once 'cause I know you had a long night. (Oh!) Kiss you twice 'cause it's gonna be alright. Three times 'cause you waited your whole life. (One, two, one two three four!)

—•~~~~~~•~~~~~~•~~~~~~•~~~~~~•—

"Baby...," your groans of displeasure took Lizzie back to the present moment, she reached over to turn the alarm off, then she rolled onto her side so she could pull you into her warmth., "Thank you baby.," she chuckled softly at your sweet words uttered with the grumpy tone.

Elizabeth allowed you to snuggle into her for a few minutes, but it wasn't long before the next alarm was going off besides your head., "No..."

"Unfortunately, yes my love.," she giggled, her body shifted to turn it off, then with gentle precision she shifted you onto your back so that she could hover over you with a smile., "We've gotta get to set soon honey.," she placed a wet kiss to your cheek, her eyes sparked with joy when she could feel as the muscle twitched beneath her lips as you did your best to fight off a smile., "Come now, we'll save time by showering together.," she winked, then sauntered off before you could stop her.

She squealed however when you jumped up, and pressed her into the bathroom doorway in a matter of seconds., "Not so fast little Olsen.," she glared at you but you only smirked back., "What's my morning time rule, hm?," a silly smile overtook her face as she thought it over.

"Nothing comes before snuggles and kisses.," she repeated the words you've prompted her with for many years now., "Not even Marvel.," you tapped her nose softly., "Exactly.," then in an exaggerated manner you pouted your lips.

She huffed just as dramatically as you as she leaned in to capture your lips in a kiss, it was soft, and slow, just the way you loved it most. Getting to feel her close is all you’ll ever need, which is why you whine every time it’s brought to an end., “Baby, we have to get going, I’m not being late and facing Kevin’s stare once again.”

No amount of sulking or pouting brought her back to you so you reluctantly got in the shower to get cleaned up. A permanent scowl was on your face, and Lizzie made it her mission to bring your smile back, so as you were climbing out she jumped into your slippery arms and pecked your lips repeatedly until you smiled.

“Get dressed, and meet me downstairs in ten.,” and with a final kiss she was leaving you to get herself ready without the distraction (you).

“Are you ready to go love?,” she looked over to you from the front door with the keys in hand., “I’m right behind you baby, I’m just getting our coffees, and lunches.,” you came around the corner with two satchels and tin thermoses. The dirty blonde allowed you through, then locked the door behind you before climbing into the drivers seat and taking off in a rush.

—•~~~~~~•~~~~~~•~~~~~~•~~~~~~•—

I want to drive away with you

I want your complications too

I want your dreary Mondays

Wrap your arms around me, baby

—•~~~~~~•~~~~~~•~~~~~~•~~~~~~•—

“Marvel making us work on a Monday is a war crime.,” you grumbled from beside the far less grumpy woman., “Love, it’s just another day.”

Elizabeth snorted when you loudly huffed and shifted to face the window instead of her, her hand was quick to reach across the divider and gently settle into yours to rest on your thigh. The action was simple, but the way in which this woman cares for you so tenderly on the regular is anything but, she’s just so patient, incredibly kind and lest we forget beautiful.

She was everything you never knew you needed until you finally had her, and there was no way in hell you were ever letting her go now.

Truth be told you were ecstatic for today’s events. While Paul B and the crew over at WandaVision keep Lizzie busy you’ll actually be on another set. Lizzie believes you’ll be on the set of Loki, as that’s normally the case, but the production is actually paused for your sake.

Scarlett, Robert, and all the rest of the original gang will be there as well, setting up what you call the “After Elizabeth says yes party,” and you’ll be there to help them until lunch time when you plan to walk Lizzie down memory lane, and then you’ll drop down on one knee and ask her to be your blushing bride.

After sharing a smattering of kisses you finally parted ways with the promise of a 12pm lunch. That gave you exactly three hours to make sure everything was up to snuff, you weren’t really worried because you gave the reigns to Scar, and she’d yet to disappoint you with parties.

“Well if it isn’t the lady of the hour!,” Downey yanked you into a sweaty embrace and you wretched dramatically., “Unhand me you filthy cretin.,” you swiftly moved into the arms of the others, each one wishing you well until you landed in the arms of Johansson, who’s smirk was nothing if not teasing., “Tell me Y/L/N, how do you plan to ruin the proposal?”

“I’ll have you know my plan is foolproof.,” you groaned and the blonde chuckled., “And yet, I see you still finding a way to muss it all up.,” she reached forward to tussle your hair, and you squealed while jumping away., “Don’t mess up the look Johansson!”

“Oh jeez, please say you’re joking, this is how you plan to propose?,” she scoffs., “In a pair of sweats, and with your hair lazily combed out?”

“Lizzie loves my messy hair and sweats.,” she shook her head., “You’re hopeless, but worry not, I am here to save the day—trust in me, and you’ll be engaged in no time.,” she winked, and you deadpanned., “The Black Widow helping with my proposal… Something about that doesn’t seem very promising.,” she cackled, and pulled your reluctant form alongside her.

Even with your protests you allowed the woman to guide you to her emergency supply of suits, and after a few tries you settled on the sheer white top, with the deep green suit set.

“Good luck Y/L/N.,” she slapped your shoulder, then sent you off with a genuine hug.

A chorus of well wishes followed you out the steel doors, along with a smattering of nerves that had settled deep in your stomach.

“Woah, am I going to get to see you in this on the big screen?,” you smiled shyly, and Lizzie pulled you into her embrace swiftly, her lips pressed to yours just as fast., “I missed you.”

“I missed you too baby.,” you wrapped your arms around her, hugging her properly., “Now, are you ready for a trip down memory lane?,” her brows furrowed, but the nervous look in your eye told her not to tease you just yet.

Lizzie had no clue whatsoever where you were taking her, but when you ended up in her old trailer she smiled at you knowingly., “Our first kiss?,” you nod, then pull her to the couch, and began to unpack your premade lunches. The two of you ate in a comfortable silence, the only thing on your mind was the next destination, and her mind was curious, but she chose to trust the process instead of questioning it.

Once you walked her passed a few sets, talking about the scenes that strengthened your bond, you eventually stopped by the pond in the lot. This was the spot that you asked her to be your girlfriend after a few months of talking, and now it’s where you were falling to your knee.

“Aww, love, this is where you—.,” she turned around with a reminiscent smile that fell into an expression of shock at the sight of you.

"Elizabeth Olsen, I have loved you for as long as I've known you. The immediate infatuation blossomed into the purest of loves I've ever experienced. I never want to be without this—without us, so please do me the greatest honor of my life and say that you'll marry me."

The starlet was in hysterics when you opened the velvet box, the ring was perfect, but it was really your nervous smile that sealed the deal. As if you had anything to worry about after half a decade together, she thought it was adorable, and that didn’t really help your nerves much as she admired you in lieu of answering.

“Baby?,” you began to gnaw on your lower lip, and a wave of guilt passed right through her., “Of course I’ll marry you baby.,” she stepped forward, her hand linking with your free one., “There’s no reason to doubt that, my love for you is unwavering, so please, slip it on baby.”

You wasted no time pulling the jewelry from the velvet box, you smiled up at your now fiancée, then just as you went to slip the ring on her finger it all went to shit. Your fingers were slippery, and so the ring fell from your grasp, and before you could recollect it a seagull swooped in and stole the jewelry.

“Oh my god.,” Lizzie gasps, watching as you were now chasing a seagull around the parking lot, all of your friends giving their spots of hiding away as most keeled over at the sight.

“Please tell me you’re getting this.,” Lizzie asks Scarlett as she sneakily approaches from the side., “Every last second of it, don’t worry.”

The good friends watched as you scaled a trailer in an attempt to catch the bird, it was almost taunting you by having not flown away, but as soon as you nearly had it in your grasp it did just that, taking your ring off into the sky, and leaving you in a bit of a soured mood.

Your lip trembled as you approached your lover in defeat., “I’m sorry, this was supposed to be perfect, and I messed it up.,” she shook her head, immediately throwing her arms over your shoulders, and sighing in relief when yours wrapped securely around her waist.

“I like shiny things.,” you frowned at her words, the reminder of the loss was too soon., “But I'd marry you with paper rings.,” you raised your brows in obvious question, and she smiled., “Uh huh, that's right.,” her soft lips pecked yours., “Darling, you’re the one I want.”

You melted into her, the genuine glint in her viridescent eyes enough to settle your feelings of inadequacy here., “I love you honey.,” she pressed another kiss to your lips., “Nothing is messed up, because in the end I don’t need a ring to know I want to be your wife, all I need is you, safely in my arms; your love is enough.”

“I love you too baby, now let’s go party!,” she giggled behind you as you pulled her into the room that Scarlett, and the boys put together.

—•~~~~~~•~~~~~~•~~~~~~•~~~~~~•—

I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this.

—

Darling, you're the one I want: in paper rings, in picture frames, in dirty dreams.

Oh, you're the one I want

—•~~~~~~•~~~~~~•~~~~~~•~~~~~~•—

“That was so embarrassing.,” you whined, your fiancée giggled as she cuddled up to your side., “What part?,” she couldn’t help but tease you.

“The seagull!,” you shrieked as if it was obvious, and so she chose to leave the drunk karaoke out of the conversation for now., “Oh, yeah, that’s going to be hilarious for interview season.,” your eyes widened., “Oh my god…”

“It’ll be okay my love.,” she kissed your cheek before nuzzling her face into your neck., “The story will be one we tell our kids one day, and they’ll laugh at you the same way we all did.”

“You’re the actual worst.,” you tried to shimmy away from her giggling form, but she held you too tight, and really your efforts were weak from the start., “Yeah, maybe I am, but there’s no turning back now, you’re my bride to be.”

“Lucky for you I don’t want to.,” you rolled onto your side and softly pulled her closer., “I can’t wait to be an Olsen.,” she beamed at the name drop, then she placed an excited kiss to your lips, “Don’t forget the many babies!”

“Oh yeah, how could I? Can’t wait to have mini you’s running all around this big old place.”

“Tiny you’s too!,” she yawned., “I want it all.,” her snores were the next thing you heard, and after a few minutes of just silently watching her breathe you slowly began to slip away too., “I want it all and more with you, goodnight love.”

———

2,622 Words

💕Kaitlyn 💍

#elizabeth olsen imagine #elizabeth x you #elizabeth x y/n #elizabeth x reader #elizabeth x fem!reader #elizabeth olsen x female reader #elizabeth olsen x reader #elizabeth olsen x y/n #elizabeth olsen x you #elizabeth olsen #elizabeth olsen fluff #wanda maximoff x reader

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kittyball23 · 1 year ago

Text

A Broppy Wedding (a Trolls fanfic)

Summary: Two movies, two specials, and two shows later, the time has come for two Trolls to come together in the way that only true love can make happen 💙

A/N: What better way to celebrate Broppy Day than to write out the Broppy wedding!💕 I've been wanting to write this for a little while now, but finally made myself go through with it after it was requested by adapotatathegoat_27 on Wattpad. Hopefully you'll enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!😄

__________________________________________

“Is this really necessary?”

Branch’s question was answered with a hearty laugh from his brother John Dory. “Oh, Branch, of course it is! How else are you gonna look fly for your wedding, hmm?”

“It’s not ‘looking fly’ that’s bothering me,” Branch replied. “It’s the fact that I can get dressed on my own!” Branch groaned as John Dory completely disregarded his words and kept tugging the blue Troll’s pants up from behind him, trying to get the rims fully over his hips. And, given that John Dory was their band’s ‘leader’ (a title that had been self-appointed by JD himself), their other brothers had taken his cue and were doing their part in assisting their youngest bro to get ready. Spruce was touching up a very nice-looking, iridescent vest for him, double and triple-checking to make sure that there were no nicks or flaws with it at all. Clay was shaking up some cans of hairspray, his eyes set on Branch’s crop of rich blue hair. Floyd was sifting around some cabinets, seeming to be looking for something in particular, though none of the other brothers knew what exactly.

Branch appreciated the help, but he had to roll his eyes a little bit at it too. “Guys, you do know that just because I was called ‘Baby Branch’ doesn’t actually mean that I still am a baby.”

“In our eyes you will be!” John Dory chirped in reply, finally getting Branch’s pants in place. He stepped back a sec, eyeing his work, and then wolf-whistled. “Hoo-boy! The rump’s looking on point, bro!” Suddenly, before he could help himself (and before Branch could utter a “Don’t you even think about it!”) John Dory had stooped down and given him a firm, playful smack on the rear.

“OW!” the blue Troll cried, rubbing the affected area with his hands and shooting his giggling oldest brother an annoyed glance. “I hate it when you do that…”

“Well, whether you hate it or not, JD’s got a point,” Spruce chimed in with a sly look on his face. “Nothing to be ashamed of if your girl’s gonna like it.”

“WHOA, now, easy going down that train of thought!” Branch exclaimed, blushing heavily.

“Pfft,” his purple-haired brother scoffed. “You know I’m right, dude.”

“Yeah, Branch!” Clay piped up. “And once she sees your abs, she’s totally gonna faint!”

“I don’t have abs,” Branch said,confused, and then narrowing his eyes at the lime-green Troll.

“Sure you do,” Clay protested, pointing at his chest. “Right there! Look! It’s a little bit, but they’re still there.”

Branch still felt a blush burning in his cheeks. Would Poppy appreciate it if he really did have them? The tantalizing thought of having her run her fingers down his chest, outlining the possible muscles that were there made him dare to take a peek and see if Clay was right. But before his eyes could even process anything upon looking down, Clay’s hand shot out and chucked him under the chin.

“Oh! Made ya look!”

As Branch heard his lime-green-haired brother laughing, he felt silly for falling for the oldest trick in the prankster’s book. But Branch couldn’t be sour - this was the happiest day of his life, and so he laughed along with Clay… at least, until the Troll began to crazily spray his hairspray bottles at Branch’s head.

“Easy, bro, what the heck!” Branch sputtered between coughs. “What’s the deal?”

“Gotta look spiffy!” Clay reasoned. He went to spray again, but Branch shoved his hands away.

“Whoa, whoa, uh-uh. Too much, dude. Just because you spray yours a lot doesn’t mean I want mine the same way.”

“I don’t spray mine a lot,” Clay said, but instantly proved himself wrong when he took the sprays and spritzed them into his wild hair instead.

Spruce waved his hand and was coughing. “Dude, Branch is right - spray overload! Why so extra?” But then he paused and realized. “Ohhhh, wait a minute, I see what this is about.” He grinned at Clay, who was suddenly starting to look nervous. “You’re trying to impress your girl! Viva, am I right?”

“What?” Clay said, playing dumb. “Naw, you’re wrong. I’m, uh… I’m just trying to look good for the wedding, obviously.”

“Mmm-hmm. All I can say is, you better get ready to pucker too, sucker,” Spruce riffed, cracking up at Clay’s paled reaction to that.

“All right, all right, but enough about you,” Spruce said when he’d calmed down (which was more than could be said about the nearly-fainted Clay). “This is about Branch, remember? Now, let’s get him all set up!” He carefully grabbed the vest for Branch and began to bring it over to his little brother, but had to stop in his tracks when he found that his other little brother had beat him.

Floyd, who was as quiet as he was emo, must have slipped in while Spruce was embarrassing Clay. He stood before Branch, holding his blue brother’s jaw in place and coming at him with something in his other hand.

“What the - ? Floyd, what are you doing?” Spruce asked, very confused.

“Oh, just a little touch-up for his face,” the magenta-haired Troll assured, then got back to work.

But that wasn’t so easy with Branch backing away and looking suspicious. “Um, what exactly are you doing?” Then his gaze focused in on the object that Floyd was holding and he recoiled. “Is that lipstick??”

“Don’t be silly, Branch,” Floyd said. “It’s glitter. Cherry-flavored!”

Floyd came at him again, but Branch backed himself away even more.

“No… sorry, Floyd. I’m not putting that on.”

“Oh! Well, if you don’t like cherry, I’ve got other flavors too. Blueberry, grape, strawberry, pineapple - “ Floyd rambled, until he was stopped by Spruce.

“What I think Branch means is that he doesn’t need any enhancers, if you catch my drift,” the purple-haired Troll said, nudging Floyd.

John Dory nodded to that. “I know that’s right. His girl went to town with him the day he proposed, no balm required!” JD shouted, making Branch dazed at the memory of how he and Poppy had kissed… and kissed and kissed and kissed after she’d agreed to become his wife!

Floyd looked pensive, but then he nodded. "Well, alright. You're looking great so far, Branch." Then, he leaned over and gave his little brother a quick hug. And Branch, having not been one to ever turn down a hug from the magenta-haired Troll, hugged back.

"Aw, how cute," Clay teased, but soon found himself being hauled over to the pair by JD, with Spruce being tugged on the teal Troll's other arm. Suddenly, all five Trolls found themselves enveloped in a great big group hug.

“Whoa, whoa,” Branch said, as he found himself being squeezed on all sides with no escape. “It’s not Hug Time!” To showcase, he lifted up his left arm with the silent Hug-Time watch.

“Yeah, but we just thought you could use one,” John Dory replied with a grin. The hug continued for another second, and then the boys released each other, getting back to the prep right away.

Spruce was able to grab Branch’s vest again and came around to start putting it on him, slipping his brother’s arms through the holes while Branch just let him (seeing that it was no use continuing to put up the argument that he could dress himself).

“All right!” the purple-haired Troll said when he was finished adjusting it. “Now, go on.”

Branch was confused. "What?"

“You know," Clay said, helping out. “Flex your drip!" He tried emphasizing by making a record scratch noise.

Branch wanted to shake his head. They wanted him to model the vest? He shrugged. Whatever. He made a simple turn so he could see all sides of it, but the purple-haired Troll wasn’t satisfied.

“Come on, Bitty B, you can do better than that!”

Branch grumbled a little, but then got an idea. Feeling a little playful, he made a dramatic turn, flashed a charming smile, and opened up the vest a little to show off his chest (a chest that, as Branch was able to sneak a peek and notice, did in fact have a slight hint of abs!). It was a move that Spruce had done in his youth as a teen, and he of course instantly recognized it and beamed.

“Now we’re talking!” he cried, and high-fived Branch.

JD, however, was looking a little skeptical. He cocked his head to the side, and tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Hmmm… maybe we should’ve gone with the glitter diaper instead…” he said to the others.

Branch’s eyes grew huge at that. “You had a glitter diaper designed?!” he exclaimed. Then he shook his head adamantly. “Aw, no. No, no, no, no, NO. N-O. Absolutely not, you are NOT making me go out there wearing that!” He had already suffered an embarrassing performance wearing a diaper that was far too small for him when they were singing to try and save Floyd. He would NOT undergo that again!

John Dory laughed, along with the rest of the brothers.

“Bro, we’re playing with you,” Clay said, still giggling, “you’re not gonna do that, come on!”

Branch let out a sigh of relief. “Oh… thank goodness!”

__________________________________________

Meanwhile, it was not that much of a different story happening in the bride’s room.

Poppy had been singing to herself all morning, her mind in bliss, and her body buzzing with joy. Not too long ago, she’d been a mere bridesmaid - but now, she was the bride herself!

And as a bride, there was plenty to do to get herself prepared to look her most magnificent. Luckily, Poppy was in good hands. She had lots of great help in the form of her friends. Satin and Chenille, of course, had been the ones to create her dress as they had for every wedding that occurred in Pop Village. Poppy didn’t know how they managed to do it - each dress was always so unique, it impressed her! The Pop Queen’s variation consisted of a beautiful creamy color, laced and frilled at just the right places, with an elegant silky train that ran far behind her.

In putting it on, she found that it suited her perfectly, and Poppy had to stop herself from jumping around in happiness so that she wouldn't wrinkle it up. In the present moment, the fashionista twins were helping her apply a few light touches of glittery makeup on her face. Smidge and Legsly were grabbing the jewelry, and at Poppy's hair was her sister Viva, poufing it up and adding colorful extensions.

"EEEEE!" she squealed at the girls. "Poppy is gonna look soooooo FANTAST-AMAZING!!"

"Tell me about it," Satin said, leaning back to check on the eyeshadow application. "Branch is gonna - "

"DIE!" her sister Chenille finished.

Satin looked at her, shocked. "I was gonna say faint, but geez!"

Poppy blushed. "Oh, I mean, I don't know... you really think he'll like it that much? I'm just me..." She shrugged, her cheeks red.

"Uhhh, YEAH we're sure! He'll be over the moon! No - scratch that - he'll be over the galaxy!" Viva exclaimed. "And if you don't believe us, take a look for yourself!" She ushered Poppy over to a standing mirror, and the Pop Queen had to gasp. She really did look stunning, with her deep fuchsia hair piled upon her head in a ponytailed bun of sorts, and the jaw-dropping gown, and her face dolled with just enough makeup to not be over the top but to be soft and appealing. It was a work of art in itself. She glanced over at the girls. How did they do it?

Viva put her hands over her heart. "Oh, Poppy, you're so lucky to have someone who loves you so, SO much!"

Poppy giggled. "Thanks," she said, then looked at her sister slyly, "but don't sell yourself short, either."

Viva paused. "Huh?"

"Don't 'huh' me, you know what I'm talking about," the Pop Queen said, smirking now. "And he just so happens to be my fiance's brother."

"Wh-what? No, uh, Clay? He, um... he's..." Viva stammered, but eventually just gave up, her cheeks growing warm. "He kinda does like me, huh?" she asked, twirling a strand of her golden hair between her fingers.

"Oh, come on, anybody with two eyes can see that," Smidge replied, her voice gruff but a little smile tugging at the corner of her lips. She and Leglsy came over to Poppy and began to put on a couple of adornments on her - including a necklace, some bracelets, and pearl earrings - to finalize the look.

"Aww, Poppy, I think I'm gonna cry!" Legsly said, wiping away a tear.

"Already?" Poppy asked in awe.

"Already," the familiar voice of her friend Bridget answered. The Bergen was just outside the dressing room, due to it being too small for her to fit inside, but she was still able to get a clear view of the bride in all her elegance. "Don't you remember how many times I cried even before my wedding with Grizzy started?" She laughed, and so did the other girls.

"I guess you were a little bit of a mess," Poppy admitted.

"A little? Tell the truth, girl, I was a LOT of a mess," Bridget giggled, "but, I managed to pull through it. And so will you, Poppy." She leaned down and presented her finger, which Poppy came over and high-fived.

The Pop Queen took one last look at herself in the mirror, and let out a breath she’d been holding. This was it. She clutched onto a bouquet of her favorite pink flowers and nodded her head once, resolutely.

"All right," she said, smiling widely. "Let's get this wedding started!"

__________________________________________

It was a dream come true.

Poppy felt like she was floating on air, as though she was having an out-of-body experience. This felt so unreal. But it was real. The fantasy in her mind of what her wedding day would be like had continued to change throughout the years. At first, she’d envisioned just her friends of the Snack Pack being there - Guy Diamond, Smidge, Satin, Chenille, Legally, Biggie, and Cooper. Then she’d envisioned Bridget, Gristle, and the Bergen Town residents also being there. Then the Trolls of the Troll Kingdom. And now, the actual day of it, all of them were there plus her sister and BroZone! Poppy didn’t know how she hadn’t fainted already from the shock of it all!

Branch, awaiting patiently at the altar, had to stop himself from rocking back and forth on his heels. He was incredibly nervous. He felt like he was going to barf. And pass out. And pee his pants all at once. But one quick peek over at Floyd, and he remembered his brother’s words, right before they’d exited the dressing room. They were simple, and straight to the point.

Don’t worry about it. You’re gonna do great. Everybody who came here is only here to support you guys. This is the happiest day of your life. Don’t stress it, and don’t overthink it, okay?

Branch took a deep breath and released it. Okay, he answered in his head.

Finally, the moment had come.

Bells chimed in a melodic fashion, and all the hushed, excited whispering that had arisen in the awaiting audience of Trolls and Bergens went quiet, replaced by silent, beaming smiles.

Tiny Diamond, appropriately re-titled as the Flower Man, once again made his round down the aisle, flinging the petals and pretending that he was on a catwalk with the way he paused to pose a couple of times.

And then came Poppy, arm in arm with her father, Peppy.

Branch’s heartbeat quickened, the palpitation in his chest so intense he swore he could feel it reverberating throughout his entire body. It felt like the moment was lasting forever, with the way that time was crawling to an incredibly slow pace as she was guided down the aisle, sweetly strutting. It gave Branch enough time to remember everything that had happened between them, both good and bad. When they first met. When he’d rejected her invitations and she’d try to become his friend. When they’d gone on their journey to Bergen Town, and had their first real hug. When he’d apologized to her for her for his past behaviors in his gray years. When they’d sang and danced together everyday in Pop Village. When they’d gone on their journey across the Troll Kingdoms during Barb’s World Tour. When they’d argued, and then made up. When he’d confessed his love to her, and she’d confessed right back. When they’d gotten ready for Bridget and Gristle’s wedding. When they’d gone on their wild journey to save Floyd and retrieve the brothers. When he’d proposed to her, and she’d accepted…

Before Branch knew it, Poppy was right in front of him. She hugged her father, who looked between her and Branch with nothing but pride. Peppy then went off to seat himself among the other guests. Unbeknownst to Branch, the same memories were flitting through Poppy's mind, and she could barely contain herself with the smile that spread across her face. It was an infectious one, and he had to smile back at her, his nerves going away.

His gaze was so fixed on the beautiful Pop Queen that he hardly realized that there was anybody else up there at the altar, until he heard a throat clearing. He turned to look, and was surprised to find that Cloud Guy was the officiate!

“You!” Branch exclaimed. “I thought Mr. Dinkles was going to wed us!”

“The little guy’s license expired,” the cloud explained. “But mine’s still good to go!” Cloud Guy flashed the card at him, and Branch rolled his eyes. Well, I guess as long as he can make Poppy my wife, he supposed.

Without further ado, Poppy and Branch faced each other, cheeks warm and eyes bright.

“Friends, from all over the Troll Kingdoms and even beyond it, I think we all know why we’re gathered here today…” Cloud Guy said out loud, “but in case you don’t, we are here to celebrate in a lovely matrimonial event the marriage of my two bestest buds in the whole world. This awesome-sauce girl, Queen Poppy” - he paused, making finger-guns at her and allowing the folks in the audience to cheer - “and this guy, Dumpy Diapers!”

Branch heard a few snickers, and he frowned a little, glaring at Cloud Guy. The cloud stifled a chuckle, but quickly made to correct himself.

“Hehehe, just kidding - this here’s my friend, Branch!” he announced, and then the crowd cheered. “Seriously though,” Cloud Guy said in a whisper, “I think you woulda killed it in the glitter diaper.”

“No way!” Branch grumbled, but then had to chuckle a little bit at the thought of anybody getting married in a diaper.

Noting his good mood, Cloud Guy continued, turning to Poppy first. “Sooo… Do you, Queen Poppy, take Branch to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?” Cloud Guy recited the words quite skillfully at her, surprising Branch. Perhaps Cloud Guy wasn’t such a bad choice as officiate.

Poppy, however, wasn’t as surprised. She had already had full confidence that their friend would be able to help them on their big day. And now that she was asked the question, her breath hitched. Did she want to take Branch as her husband? How was that even a question when she knew in her head that there was only one possible answer that it could be, an answer that she wanted to SCREAM out over and over until she was out of breath and her throat was hoarse, because that’s just how excited she was!

Somehow, she reeled herself in, took a deep breath, and managed to speak calmly.

“I do.”

She smiled, her eyes hooding as the effects of love began to overtake her for the Troll she’d just accepted to be hers.

Branch swallowed when Cloud Guy turned to him with a gleam in his eye. “And do you, Branch, take Poppy to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?”

The question repeated in Branch’s head, the details playing like a movie reel of what this meant and what was to come.

Do you, Branch, take Poppy to be your lawfully wedded wife…

He imagined waking up everyday seeing her gorgeous face, being by her side, telling her how much he loved her, and she telling him how much she loved him…

… to have and to hold…

He imagined having her in his arms, hugging her, kissing her, taking her to heights she didn’t know existed, and him neither for that matter…

… in sickness and in health…

He would be there for her in her lowest points, supporting her, making sure that she had everything she needed and that she was satisfied…

… until death do you part?

The effects of time would come onto them eventually with their aging, but it would never extinguish the love that burned inside of him for her.

“I do.”

Branch smiled at her, and he could tell that there was no longer any trace of that “it would be WEIRD if we got married” feeling left inside of her.

Cloud Guy nodded his head and proceeded. “Well then, by the power that’s invested in me, I now pronounce you to be…”

Everybody leaned forward in their seats, eager, anticipatory, nearly shaking from excitement as they waited for the next words that would come out of the cloud's mouth.

"... HUSBAND AND WIFE!!!"

Poppy felt fireworks explode within her. Branch felt like he could fly. The audience began to clap vigorously in unison. Cloud Guy had barely started to say "You may kiss the bride" (only managing to get "You may k - " out) before Poppy had already leapt at Branch and had her lips locked firmly on his, hands gripping him possessively around the back of his neck. Branch kissed her back, not wasting a second to deepen the connection and pull her impossibly close against him. His arm wrapped around her waist, the other around her back, the two of them smiling and swooning into each other, lost to the world and lost only in each other (they were married for crying out loud!).

Though, the world was still very much around them. And it had been thrown into a frenzy of celebration!

The Snack Pack, the Bergens, Viva, Peppy, Branch's brothers, and all of the guests who'd come from all over the Troll kingdoms brought the noise on with a symphony of claps and whistles and cheers.

"My sister's MARRIED!!!" Viva screamed, bouncing around all over the place.

"My daughter's married!" Peppy shouted next to her, bopping in a celebratory jig.

"Man, Bitty B's all grown up!" John Dory exclaimed with a huge grin. "WOOO!"

"He's a married man now," Spruce cried out, incredibly proud of his brother.

"Congratulations, BRO!" Clay yelled out to Branch, pumping his fists into the air.

Floyd was also incredibly pleased with the turnout, but was expressing it in an entirely different way from his brothers. "I'm SO happy for him," he whimpered, teary-eyed. "I'm just so, so, SO happy!" He broke off, sobbing in an uncontrolled manner. The magenta-haired Troll couldn't help himself. The way he remembered Branch, he was that same little Trolling who had confided in Floyd for reassurance and guidance upon performing, and in other matters when they were young. The same little Trolling who had an endearing baby voice to match his cute face, and sang so adoringly onstage in his diaper and white shades. Branch was no longer little - he had an adult voice, an adult maturity, and was able to do adult things like, as had happened now, get married! It was no wonder the tears had started for Floyd and refused to stop.

Just like Poppy and Branch, who, in a replica of what had happened when he proposed, couldn't stop with the smooches. Definitely not, not with what had just happened. Not with knowing that they were husband and wife, best friends, and lovers, all rolled into one.

And that they would be together, with their family and friends, forever!

__________________________________________

A/N: I know Branch would also be going through coronation, but I wanted to focus more on the wedding aspect of it. Once again, Happy Broppy Day everyone! 😘

#trolls #trolls 3 #trolls band together #broppy #branch trolls #poppy trolls #brozone #john dory #spruce trolls #clay trolls #floyd trolls #viva trolls #king peppy #cloud guy #dreamworks #fanfiction #kittyball writes #gib me their wedding dreamworks #100+

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tobiasdrake · 11 months ago

Text

Well, as long as we're rafting the temporal streams, might as well head back to Dormont. Got some errands to run in the past.

I'm like 98% sure you're trying to flirt with me but you're too nervous to actually go through with it. Would you please just finally ask me out so I can rock your evening?

Look, be glad I was tasteful enough not to go for the other pun.

My guy, what could possibly compel you to think I'm not comfortable with basic human conta--

...you know what, that's fair. I guess I do go out of my way to minimize any and all possible exposure of physical features, don't I?

Anyways, go on and get out of here while I chat with my Lemonfriend.

Oh, I've always liked you. I'm just also creeped out by you. Two things can be true.

...huh. If I can die here in Dormont, then... that does make things easier. I was planning on throwing myself on a Tear once we got into the House since you said I can loop forward as well as back, but dying here in town would save me some time.

Oh shit yes. I'd love the ability to call you and chat about what I'm seeing while the rest of the crew looks at me like I've lost my goddamn mind.

Especially since the ultra-secret fourth sign is making a phone shape out of your fingers and then talking on it. That's hilarious.

This.

This is it.

This is the key to killing myself in Dormont.

...

I should probably wait until I've finished up here.

ISA

I didn't realize you come up here after we're done. I don't have anything else to talk about but it's great seeing you up here.

Didn't accomplish as much here as I expected to. But at least we can take another crack at that desk drawer.

Okay between this and the rock switch, I no longer have any confidence in my own ability to do my job. It's distressing that each setback thus far has been the fault of a bad d20 roll on the primary reason that I'm with this party.

Ha! Rock trap for the Rock key. I get it.

Really? They're frozen in time right now but I am looking for a book. You think they might have set it out for me in advance? That would be awfully nice of them.

Oh shit. There was a person in town who sometimes thinks they have a sister but can't recall where they moved to. That shit got super weird. This has to be related.

No idea how it's related to our current mission. But. It's gotta be related.

Always trust in the puns. The puns are life. The puns are the secret of the universe. Those who do not heed their wisdom face the ultimate punishment.

So the Rock Key was in a room guarded by a huge rock and the Paper Key is in the library. I am. Kind of. Terrified. Of where the inevitable Scissors Key will be found.

And one Star Crest. Well. *heavy sigh* Shit.

Gonna have to temporally save-scum this one.

Can't argue with that. Isa's my brofriend-maybe-more so his vote automatically weighs more than anyone else in this--

................

Fuck.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck

Okay. It's okay. We can work this out mathematically.

Isa, as previously noted, is worth a million points because he's a precious slab of adorableness who flirts with me in the cutest ways imaginable and I'm super feeling it.

Mira, meanwhile, is worth half a million points because she's also awesome and cool and she's our wonderful team leader and I adore her.

Bonnie is worth infinity points because they are a child whose hopes and dreams we are responsible for and I don't want to let them down.

However, Odile is worth zero points because she's mean to me and sometimes makes me want to cry. I still haven't forgotten that crack, Odile. Even though you have because it was in another time loop.

If we add them together, then Team Beauty is worth a million and a half points, but Team Age is worth infinity points.

However my sign is Scissors, and the shape of Scissors forms a multiplication symbol, not a plus symbol. Which means that Team Beauty is actually worth 500,000,000,000 points while Team Age is worth 0 points.

Thus, the objective and entirely unbiased answer is that Team Beauty wins.

I'm sorry, Bonnie! But math never lies. We must go south. It is our destiny to go south.

I know you will. It is my destiny to have a future filled with spuds. I accept my fate, but I do not apologize.

#in stars and time #drake plays in stars and time

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kalixora · 2 years ago

Text

Man's best friend

Soap x reader

Reader has three military-trained dogs, each with a distinctive set of skills.

Note: I've never played any of the games, so please excuse any inaccuracies. Due to the use of Google Translate, any languages displayed may potentially be incorrect.

(PICTURE NOT MINE)

“DAMN IT YOU MUTT GIVE IT BACK!” Running down the hallway, Soap shouted.

Price raised his brow as he glanced around the corner. He then saw a dog, and not just any dog. It was your dog. Price chuckles before whistling, attracting the dog's attention.

“There’s a good pup, what’s all the fuss about MacTavish?”

Soap huffed pointing at the dog, “Fucker stole my book.”

“That so?”

“Captain you can clearly see it in its mouth.”

Price nodded, “This it has a name you know.”

Soap scoffed, “How the hell am I supposed to know which damn mutt this is?”

“You need to start showing your team mate some respect, after all this ol’ girl knows your name quite well lieutenant,” Squatting down to the dogs' level and giving them soft pats, Price advised. "You've had your fun, Ravage, but you have to return Soap's belongings; we don't want to have to tell your mother now do we?"

Ravage whines a bit then drops the book at Price's feet, Price brags the book and hands it back to Soap. "There ya go mate."

"Thanks boss-" After again shaking his head, Soap said, "You best pray none of your drool got on any of my pages lass." He says to Ravage. After leaving, Soap returns to his room, where he shuddered at the slobber on his fingertips and opens the book to examine the pages.

Thankfully, none of the pages were tampered with. His most recent drawing, which was of you, was on his most current page. It wasn't finished yet, and there were a few smudges, but they might be fixable. Huffing, Soap grabbed his pencil and sat back at his desk.

He started drawing again, this time spacing out, remembering all of your facial expressions and features, from the way you grinned at him and the others after a successful mission to when your dogs mastered a new trick.

When you were originally introduced to the team, you were a little out of it, and you didn't have your dogs then, so he initially thought it was strange that you had three dogs instead of one like most other soldiers. It took them three days to reach to base, and you were overjoyed.

You even went brazen with Ghost while you two were comparing dogs, showing off your them off.

Ravage was the youngest of the three, and she was the fastest and had the finest sniffer of the three. Laserbeak was the middle child, but not much older than Ravage. Laserbeak was the most daring of the three, and you took him on more missions because he could deal the most damage. Finally, Howlback, his personal favorite. Howlback was the oldest and most playful; he was perfect for overnight excursions since he could sleep all day and be awake all night. Because to this, he has saved Soap numerous times.

He wondered what you would have been like without them, if you were still in your bubble. When you were with your dogs, you smiled more; they never failed to make you happy. He had to admit that he occasionally envied them and questioned whether he could accomplish the same. It seemed as if they were also members because of the way you interacted with them, took care of them, and watched out for them.

He adored your smile the first time he saw it, the day you smiled like that at him. It was your finest self-portrait.

He hummed, putting up his book for a better look, it was beautiful, you were exquisite.

Soap strenched a little then decided to head to the mess hall and get something to eat. He walked out his door stopping dead in his tracks, there was Ravage.

Again.

"What do ya want now?" Soap asked raising his brow.

Ravage whined then laid down looking up at sound in doing so. Soap tilted his head in confusion, did she want to use the bathroom?

"What gotta take a shit?"

"Did you just ask Ravage if she had to take a shit?" Gaz said as he and Ghost rounded the corner. "I don't know what she wants," Soap remarked.

"She's probably asking for company," Gaz speculated.

"Why don't you take her?" Soap inquired.

"I would, but I can't get sent out on another mission," Gaz grinned.

Soap turned to face Ghost, who simply shrugged. "You'll be fine Johnny, suck it up."

"After all, dogs are a man's best friend," Gaz added as him and Ghose walked away.

"Okay, tell you what, I'm gonna grab something to eat and you can sit there and watch how does that sound eh?" Soap sighed, shaking his head.

Ravage barked, sat up, whirled around in a circle, and barked at him again. "What the fuck is it?" Soap quipped, crossing his arms.

Ravage charged forward and yanked the bottom of Soap's pants, causing Soap to yell as Ravage let go and raced away. Soap after her, and she ran directly into the Captain's office. Soap stormed in, huffing.

Ravage sat next to Price as he smoked his cigar, gently petting her head and complimenting her before turning to look at Soap. "What the hell, Captain?"

Price grinned, "I told her to get your daydreaming arse in here, now, your getting sent out to help Soundwave, something came up."

"Is she alright?"

"I don't know, Laswell can't reach her, she's gone dark from what I understand," Price added.

Soap nodded, "Ay, so what about the mutt?"

"She's going with you."

"The fuck..."

“Ravage is the best luck you’ll have at findin’ Soundwave. Take her and go. Understand.”

Soap nods, “Yes sir.”

. . .

“I don’t doubt your skills dog but I know that we both care about Y/N a lot, so let’s do this and find her,” Soap said as the came off the plane. Ravage barked butting her head against Soap’s leg.

(Ngl Idk if I'm gonna finish this and I don't wanna delete it)

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thegamingcatmom · 5 months ago

Note

Hello <3 Listen I've started playing re8 and i've had my first encounter with the Dimitrescu family and I am here wondering why the hell didn't I play this sooner so I could obsess over this even sooner, but oh well. So I know you're cooking up a story where they meet the Denalis and I was like walking through the castle and my mind started asking questions. So ofc I imagine you don't wanna give away details of your story because then you wouldn't be able to tease us with lil spoilers and where's the fun in that, right? ;P So instead lemme write down what came to my mind and ask your opinion on that, let's dive into my delulu-land vision XD Tbh is nothing like super elaborated bc you know just rnadom throughts that came to mind so bear with me bc it probably makes 0 sense ok? SO it made me think like in a more kind of "modern" set up, where the Denalis are already vegetarians, they've lived a veeery long life, yk kind of like things are in the Twilight movies/books. In my mind it was like for X reason they were moving from Denali to another place to live, be because the Volturi, bc they had been exposed and therefore they need to gtfo before shit hits the fan (I blame the drones if that's the reason tho) IDK it could be literally any reason, it is unimportant. They somehow end up finding the castle, they meet this vampires who are like super different from them (In my mind I think is cool they can eat human food and sleep and shit eve n though perhaps they don't need it so I'd probs keep that for all vamps in any possible story but that's out of the question XD) and they ofc live very differently from them, the castle ofc doesn't mantain itself, so they have ppl working there for them and they probs dispose of them as soon as they stop being useful, they drink human blood, they make a game out of their hunts and seem to enjoy the pain they inflict before actually drinking the blood. Meanwhile the Denalis started drinking animal blood to stop killing the humans they slept with (With other reasons in the mix too but in the end it was to rpeserve human life) and they've lived away from humans, living in secret and all that shit, like is two complete different worlds they live in. Now all that to make this questions: Say Lady D offered them a place to stay in the castle for reasons unknown bc I hadn't actually thought about it tbh, I don't think she'd mind if they kept their boring vegetarian lifestyle, but they have a choice now to keep it or instead go back to human blood, which honestly seems more tasty and the better option, do you think they'd take it? Would they agree and stay in the castle? Would they leave? Idk f there would be any consequences if they decide to leave though, and in case of staying what about the coven itself? I mean Tanya's the leader, but it matters little I think her title in the castle bc I am not sure if Lady D gives a duck about it honestly, it's her castle after all(?) And final question I promise: How do you think they would adapt to this "new life" in the case they accept Lady D's offer of staying? You think someone might have more of a hard time with it? Will they talk/argue about it among themselves? Consider their options? I have a feeling that Tanya would not take any offer without speaking first to her coven, they are family after all and whatever they do will affect all of them, so yeah. Also this probably makes no sense as I stated before, it was a bunch of random thoughts that I poorly put together so yk don't feel like you gotta answer to all that nonsense XD And I still have not finished the game, just barely started it so idk, perhaps I'm missing some important lore, or something is inadequate, anyway thanks for reading my delulu-bible and for recommending me to go play the game <3 <3 Have a nice day :D

...Oh?

We´re simping for both camps now?

I love how, after having only just reached their section (apparently), this is the result. As in: The Dimis got their sickles hooked in you alright, LMAO.

Can´t say I´m surprised. *cough cough*

Like-

(Simping starts in 3...2...1...)

This was ALL of us when the game was only just coming out and Lady D was revealed in the Maiden Demo. It was madness, lemme tell you. The memes, the art, the fics my god-

The fics were smt else. And they just kept coming. They still do. Lady D destroyed the internet like no other video game character before. People kept dying in game just so they could stick around Castle Dimitrescu for a bit longer (preferably forever).

Like, this was the majority of ppl playing the game:

Lady D: *begins stalking you*

Ethan (you): *heart-eyes*

Lady D: *stalks closer*

Ethan (you): *heart-eyes*

Lady D: *unsheathes her claws*

Ethan (you): *dreamy smile*

Lady D: *takes one giant swipe at you that nearly beheads you*

Ethan (you), barely alive: "...F-Fancy stepping on me too?"

It was truly a time to be alive.

(You should check out some reactions to Lady D on Youtube, especially Markiplier. 💀)

I mean, LISTEN-

I dunno what Capcom was trying to accomplish with The Dimitrescus (they knew exactly what they were doing), but being stalked and hunted down by feral goth ladies and their equally as feral Momma because they thirst for your blood (and hopefully mayhaps other things) is pretty much a dream come true for most ppl. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Capcom, were you even trying? Honestly.

Okay anyhow-

I love your thoughts on this. Especially because it´s a lot more serious than what I originally came up with, lmao. Like, this thing I got cooking rn is pretty much a total crack fic (for now). Yknow, stuff like portals and time travel and whatnot seems entirely possible there, but I haven��t reached that part yet (the explaining part), so it´s still rather unclear how they got to the castle.

Like, it never occured to me that the Denalis might just find the "real" village in Romania (which is where the game is set). But now that I´m reading your thoughts on it, this seems pretty plausible to me. Defo something I can see happening. With that said:

Lemme start by giving some canon info (which hopefully won´t spoil anything for you):

the Dimis aren´t actual vampires

they are what they are because of a parasite aka The Cadou

they need to sustain themselves on human flesh and blood because of it (for survival & to maintain their powers)

Lady D will grow to the point she mutates out of control if she doesn´t (I´ve read that somewhere)

the Daughters are made entirely of flies

those flies will die if exposed to the cold (yet another thing that´s entirely different from Twilight vampires, who can only be fully destroyed through fire)

Lady D has no such "weakness"

the pain they inflict upon their victims is not necessary for feeding

they just enjoy being cruel

they turn their staff into wine at some point

or use them for experiments ("Moroaicǎ")

With all of that said: I totally agree that it´s a clash of two entirely different worlds. But that´s what makes it so interesting.

I also kinda HC that The Dimis see vampires as some kind of role models? In a way? Like, they clearly enjoy this lifestyle (a bit too much), so I feel like meeting some actual vampires - the real deal - would be like meeting a popstar or smt. At least to the daughters. (Dani would swoon.)

Lady D would be a lot more skeptical about it ofc, but there´s no way she would be able to hide her curiosity. I mean, how many beings pose an actual threat to them? Not that many. Which means Lady D would be quite hostile at first. She got her daughters to think of as well, after all. There would be the usual threats of "slice you to ribbons" and such, until she realizes-

There are no ribbons. And there won´t be. Because her claws are actually kinda useless against them.

As are the flies the daughters are made of. There´s no piercing that skin.

That´s never happened before.

That´s when it dawns on them that whatever they´re up against isn´t entirely human. The fact they (the Denalis) lack a heartbeat or the usual warmth is kinda telling as well.

In fact, the Daughters don´t enjoy being near them at all. They´re so cold!

But, you see-

The Daughters might keep their distance (for now).

But Lady D is more than intrigued at this point.

Listen, that woman is a sucker for power. That´s why she´s got the hots for Mother Miranda (MM), after all.

Well that, and because MM is fine af, obv.

(I don´t blame you, Alci.)

Anyway-

If she saw the Denalis wielding their vampiric powers and, yknow, posing an actual challenge for her in terms of brute strength because it´s not every day she meets someone who´s actually able to lift her- (can you imagine?)

Ofc she´s gonna want to get to the bottom of it all. Because she´s also a bit of a nerd, you see. Just like Momma. (They both fine af.) She´s gonna want to study them, write down every little detail in that notebook of hers.

Kate´s power is gonna fill page upon page as Lady D goes completely mad scribbling it all down like-

With that said:

Yes, I defo think Lady D would demand invite them to stay. She´s nothing if not a gracious hostess to those she deems worthy.

As for the Denalis-

Tanya would never make decisions without discussing it with her coven first. Not those that could be life-altering, at least. They'd only stay if everyone agreed to it. And, even then, I'm not sure it would be a permanent stay. I mean-

It's difficult.

I'd say it depends "which" Denalis we're talking. If we take the more deranged ones from my story (The Sisters) then I can defo see them agreeing to a permanent stay in the castle. Human life means next to nothing to them, aside from being their food source ofc. And while they might not agree with everything that's happening in the castle (some of the things going down in the cellar are...tough, even for them), they'd never judge the Dimis for their lifestyle, seeing how they're far from being saints themselves. One as corrupted as the other, I´d say.

If we take the veggie/modern Denalis, on the other hand-

I mean, the sisters killed ppl before. Loads of them probs. Therefore, the Dimis sustaining themselves on human blood and flesh isn't as appalling to them as it would be to your usual human. But it's how they do it (torturing their victims and basically getting the most out of it before they deliver the final blow) that makes them feel...conflicted. Most of their kind (as in: actual vampires) usually don´t draw it out longer than necessary. Mainly because they´ll succumb to their bloodlust almost immediately, sucking their victim dry in a matter of seconds. That (thankfully) doesn´t leave much room for any kind of torture.

With that said-

It´s still difficult, lmao.

I feel like our modern Denalis would defo be intrigued by the Dimitrescus. Then they´d be appalled. Then Lady D comes in with all that charm of hers, laying it on real thick yknow, basically downplaying the things that are happening in that castle full of blood and death. Then the daughters come in with their buzzing personalities. Then the Denalis would be intrigued again. And so on-

And before you know it, years have passed.

That´s the only way I can see our modern Denalis stay in that castle over an extended time period. Cause time works just differently for vampires, yknow. Years are like seconds to them. All one and the same. Doesn´t really matter. Not when you got eternity anyway.

Now, that was pretty much me rambling and fangirling without any kind of order, lol. So lemme try and give some more direct answers:

Would the Denalis switch to human blood during that time?

I think that´s entirely possible. That castle is pretty much filled with human blood - it´s everywhere: In the cellar, in the kitchen, in the storage rooms, in the wine glasses, etc. It lurks around every corner, constantly putting our sisters to the test. It´s like waving a piece (more like a bar) of chocolate in front of someone who´s been living on dry toast. Resisting becomes almost impossible under such conditions.

And the Dimis know that.

Am I suggesting that Lady D and her unruly daughters might try and seduce the Denalis back to human blood by deliberately leaving it out in the open, ripe for the taking?

Why yes, yes I am. That´s totally something the Dimis would do in order to gain numbers (and other things).

Would there be any consequences if the Denalis decided to leave?

As I said before, the Denalis pose an actual threat/challenge to Lady D. Neither her nor her daughters could do much to stop them from leaving, if they decided to do so. Doesn´t mean they wouldn´t try though. Lady D is a narcissist and rejection isn´t something she handles well. Her daughters share that sentiment.

"So you don´t love me?!"

Yup. That´s totally smt Dani would say in that situation. The poor baby.

Anyhow-

The Dimis would probs try to stop them because rolling over just isn´t in their nature. But I´d like to think one of the following things would happen then:

A) The Denalis use their vampiric charm to convince the Dimis to let them go without a fight.

B) Lady D puts a stop to things herself once she realizes the only ones to get hurt during this would be her daughters and herself. (She´d never admit that openly ofc.)

To sum it up:

Even if there were consequences, it´s highly unlikely the Denalis would be affected by them.

Would the Denalis adapt well to their new life? Would they struggle at all?

I think my fangirling pretty much answered that, lmao.

Unhinged Denalis: No problem with adapting. (More like they cba as long as they get their fill.)

Normal (modern) Denalis: Depends on the Dimis´ efforts I´d say. There´d defo be times of struggle and self-doubt. But then there´d also be times of "yknow what, why tf not". It´s a constant back and forth and it really depends on how well the Dimitrescus play their cards.

As for who might struggle the most:

Lemme start by saying Kate would struggle the least. I mean, the struggle would still be there, but she´s never been one to back down from a challenge. She´s also not one to shy away from the unknown - on the contrary: Out of the three of them, Kate is probs the one most likely to go "only one way to find out", YKNOW?? No risk, no fun, and all that. That´s why Cass and her get along so well. Whenever the two of them are together, the whole castle holds its breath.

Tanya would probs feel quite torn because, above all else, she has a duty to fulfill: ensuring the best possible outcome for her coven. So there´d be this constant nagging, telling her that all of this is kinda wrong and that, just mayhaps, it´d be better to haul ass. But then there´s time where she´s actually enjoying herself when she´s having "wine" with Bela, giving each other some advice on how to best handle their younger sibllings and such. That nagging fades for a while then. Until it´s back. But so is Bela. And that nagging fades again. And so on.

Irina would spend most of her time with Dani probs, gushing about finding true love and such. She sees a lot of herself in the youngest Dimitrescu daughter, albeit a lot more...unhinged, lol. They get each other, as crazy as it sounds. It also really helps taking her mind off things, makes her forget what´s going on in that castle. For a while, at least. Until the doubts start creeping back in. Dani notices though, she always does. And she´s always there to manipulate cheer her bestest friend up.

I hope I´ve managed to cover everything. Tbh, that was just me rambling most of the time, hoping it all would make sense along the way, lmao.

...Come to think of it, that´s pretty much my writing style. 💀

Thanks a lot for your ask! I really, really enjoyed that mashup. 🥰💋

Have a great day as well! ❤️

#tumblr asks #twilight #the twilight saga #the denalis #denali coven #tanya denali #kate denali #irina denali #resident evil village #resident evil 8 #house dimitrescu #the dimitrescus #lady dimitrescu #alcina dimitrescu #bela dimitrescu #cassandra dimitrescu #daniela dimitrescu

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