#because he needs that safety net. even when it’s never really protected him much.

[barklikeagod]

i think fundamentally benson doesn’t really want to hurt anyone it’s just the way he reacts to trauma like he seeks to have that control even while completely out of it but i think francis… is someone who maybe enjoys violence and the power it gives him when he otherwise feels so powerless. i don’t think he’s remorseful at all…

[secriden]

you know, it's just hit me just how alone Sky was before Prapai came into his life . when sky falls sick and Rain can't take care of him, he calls Prapai. it may make some sense that he doesn't call Sky's dad because perhaps his dad is too far away (wherever Lopburi is), but what about his uncle? aunt? cousins? this is a bit of an assumption based on my own experience, but in Southeast Asian culture its pretty rare to NOT have some wider circle of relatives that you're fairly close to. i'm not as close to my cousins who live very far away but i still know i can call on them if i need anything, even the ones i only saw once a year growing up.

in the series, Sky explains that he lived with his uncle and but then was given a house (to live in alone?) near his school. and then it seems like all contact with that family was cut off. why? did he not get along with his cousins/aunt? did his uncle never check in on him again? how'd he get so isolated? (i wonder if this uncle was on his mom's side, maybe, that could explain the estragement.)

no wonder Gun was able to so thoroughly sink his claws into Sky. he had no one to protect him, no one to see the warning signs, and no one to run to even when he was desperate. it tells us how strong Sky is because he saved himself the first time, but it also breaks my heart because he has to learn to be so self-sufficient that he never tells even Rain, Sig and Por (his closest friends at uni) about anything on his plate.

he's internalised the idea that his problems are his own and he can never, ever rely on anyone else.

and then Prapai comes along and doesn't allow him to not rely on him. its exactly what Sky needs. Prapai winds up becoming more family to Sky than his own because he takes him into his family (I love the focus in the Special Ep on how much Prapai's family adores Sky). Prapai gives him not just love and safety in their relationship, but a wider social safety net: people he can rely on even if Prapai isn't there (his family, Namtan, an additional connection to Payu beyond Rain), something that he's not had since he was a teenager. that's SO important, especially in a cultural context that is far more collectivist then individualistic and where your family really are the people you usually can count on to have your back when push comes to shove. Prapai gives back everything that was ripped away from Sky - love, trust, family, safety, and belonging. <3

[rollinouttahere-writes]

Lucky Break Yandere Masterpost

It's finally done!

I will be updating/editing this as I go along, but here is the full list of yanderes in Lucky Break so far

Platonic Yanderes

Monkey D. Luffy

Type of yandere

Clingy - Luffy is attached at the hip to his whole crew, naturally that applies to Lucky. He needs to involve Lucky in everything he does and gets irritable if anything/anyone interferes with their quality time.

Protective - Again, applies to his whole crew. Lucky is his nakama and no one messes with his nakama. He would go to bat for her if someone so much as hip checked her, he absolutely won’t tolerate anyone trying to actually hurt her.

Description 

It doesn’t take much for Luffy to become attached. Between Lucky’s mysterious background and him feeling a little bad about hitting her head, he was considering her a friend before a full day could even pass. He is desperate to uncover the mystery of where she came from and who she was before they met. At least, he was for like a week, then it seemed like he just kinda moved on and forgot about it. His crew has to remind him about his initial claim to assist Lucky in regaining her memories, but he tends to be dismissive of the subject. Partially because he’s simply never been one to care that much about a person’s history, but also because he’s scared that Lucky is going to want to go back to wherever she came from. When him and Lucky eventually do have a heart to heart about her past and she tells him that she never wants to go back, he’s ecstatic. From that day forth he never thinks about it again, she is a permanent resident on his crew as far as he’s concerned.

Roronoa Zoro

Type of yandere

Protective - Their first meeting involved him trying to clean and patch up her head wound, and it influenced the rest of their relationship. No matter how strong she becomes, he will always see her as this poor, frail thing that needs to be protected.

Manipulative - This goes hand in hand with his protective tendencies. He makes little comments here and there about how dangerous everything is, makes her injuries out to be worse than they really are, and emphasizes how quickly things could go wrong for her if he- the Straw Hats weren’t there to protect her.

Description

At first, he was just caring for her because it was obvious that Luffy wasn’t equipped to do so, but all of the skin-to-skin contact he had with Lucky when he was taking care of her head wound lead to him being the first person to truly be affected by her amulet. From day one he wanted to be her safety net, she obviously needs him to protect her. To an extent, he understands that the more people she has to protect her the better, but he can’t help but feel a little bitter every time someone else saves her. Likewise, he isn’t particularly enthusiastic about Lucky being able to take care of herself. Sure, it’s technically a good thing, but it should be him. He’ll go so far as distracting her when she tries to train by either encouraging her to nap with him or getting her to drink enough that it simply wouldn’t be safe for her to be swinging her weapon around.

Nami

Type of yandere

Possessive - Lucky is one of the few people she can call a friend, and while she considers all of the Straw Hats her friends, it just feels different with Lucky. She’s not just a friend, she’s her friend, and she doesn’t want anyone taking Lucky away from her.

Clingy - Nami constantly wants to do things together with Lucky. From shopping trips where she can make her more in debt to quietly existing in the same room together while she works on sea charts.

Description

Nami doesn’t become a yandere for Lucky until after Arlong Park, but she gets hit hard when it finally happens. Her and Lucky become best friends overnight and the switch is startling to say the least. Nami went from keeping her at arms’ length to pushing their beds up against each other in their shared room and helping herself to Lucky’s belongings whenever she wants (Lucky is allowed to borrow her stuff too). Despite Lucky not objecting to Nami’s behavior, Nami still feels paranoid that she may one day want to leave. One of her many safeguards against this is to get her indebted as quickly as possible. They go on a little shopping spree at Loguetown, and it’s not until afterwards that Nami mentions her interest rate and how she expects to be paid back. Except here’s the thing: she doesn’t. She never wants Lucky to be able to repay her because the debt gives her a sense of control. The whole thing is played off as lighthearted so as to not scare Lucky, but it’s not. Nami is very serious about keeping Lucky by her side forever.

Usopp

Type of yandere

Manipulative - He really takes a page out of Zoro’s book and does his best to make Lucky too scared to want to so much as be out of their sight. While Lucky may shrug off a lot of his fear mongering about how scary the world is, he is able to get around this by saying that he spotted one of her other yanderes. That trick always works.

Clingy - After he gets past the initial intimidation he felt towards her, he gets real clingy real fast. He loves to be on the receiving end of attention in general, but attention from Lucky just hits different. He tries extra hard to make her laugh and be awed by his stories.

Description

The other Straw Hats tease him for ever being afraid of Lucky at one point, and yeah, he gets a little embarrassed about it, too. They go on to become such good friends that it’s hard to believe there was ever a time that they weren’t. With Lucky being one of the weaker members of the crew- and everyone being over protective of her- she tends to hang back with Usopp, giving them plenty of time to bond. He can pick up on a dip in her mood from the slightest hints and will force himself into her space to try and fix it. This can range from bursting into her room to tell her some jokes/stories, to dragging her into whatever game he’s playing with the others, to simply getting her to sit with him while he works on some contraption. He won’t take no for an answer. Seeing Lucky upset or hurt makes him feel extremely anxious, and he wants to be the one to fix it.

Sanji

Type of yandere

Obsessive - Sanji is prone to obsessing over any woman that walks his way, but while with others he tends to only fawn over them, he full on obsesses over Lucky. He needs to know all of her likes and dislikes, dietary preferences and restrictions, what gifts she likes best, everything.

Worshiper - Lucky is placed on a pedestal above the rest of the world in Sanji's eyes. She can do no wrong and someone implying otherwise would greatly upset him.

Protective - Like the obsessive point, he is naturally protective over all women, but it becomes extreme in Lucky’s case. He becomes irrationally upset if someone speaks to her in a tone he doesn’t like, someone trying to hurt her is an unforgivable crime. He takes immense joy in kicking her suitors to a pulp when the opportunity presents itself.

Clingy - This man needs her approval as much as he needs oxygen. Every word of praise out of her mouth lengthens his lifespan, he’s sure of it. He tends to hover around her so as to capitalize on every opportunity there is to get attention from her.

Description

From their first encounter, he was protective of Lucky. The massive head injury that was still in the process of healing had him fussing over her, this poor lady clearly needs help from him since her crewmates are failing to protect her. Sanji does flirt with Lucky, but it isn’t particularly serious, it’s just how he is. After he’s officially a part of the crew, he has a very obvious favoritism towards her. She’s the first person he checks on in a crisis, she’s constantly being given snacks and drinks, and he always sings her praise. Sanji is brutal towards anyone who threatens or shows too much interest, and if Lucky is hurt or uncomfortable he is unforgiving to the offender. Like Zoro, he wants to be Lucky’s knight in shining armor and gets huffy if her savior is someone else, though he takes it slightly better than Zoro.

Tony Tony Chopper

Type of yandere

Clingy - Chopper thinks that Lucky is very cool and follows her around like a duckling after first joining. Like Nami, he isn’t used to having friends and wants to spend as much time as possible with this one. He wants her attention on him and is prone to getting jealous if she fawns over someone else.

Description

While Chopper was apprehensive of Lucky at first thanks to her smelling “off” to him, he comes around to her quickly. She’s one of the saner Straw Hats, so her more mellow nature makes her easier to approach. He’ll run to her for protection every time Luffy chases after him. Which doesn’t work because he will just tackle both of them now. Chopper very much abuses his cute privilege once he’s on the crew to get more attention than he may have previously gotten. He’s about as desperate for her praise as Sanji is, and is always showing off whatever new medicine he makes. In a dangerous situation he prefers to just run away from it with Lucky in tow, but he will square up if he needs to. Overall a mild yandere. 

Nico Robin

Type of yandere

Obsessive - Robin did research on all of the Straw Hats prior to joining, and the complete lack of information she could find on Lucky piqued her interest immediately and led to her focusing on learning every little thing she could about her. This desire didn’t go away after Robin joined the crew, if anything the opportunity to ask Lucky questions directly added fire to the behavior. 

Protective - Thanks to how much Robin has suffered in her life, she is extremely wary of other people and tends to assume ill intent until proven otherwise. She assumes that everyone trying to get their hands on Lucky will hurt her if given the chance and is merciless in disposing of these threats.

Description

Robin has been stalking Lucky since Little Garden, following her closely in hopes of gleaning any information on her. She’s great at staying hidden, so Lucky never sees her or finds out about it. Robin is constantly asking questions and snooping through Lucky’s belongings in the beginning, but it dies down after Lucky reveals the truth to where she came from. She’s definitely curious about her world, but only mildly. The mystery finally being solved does nothing to end the obsession. Knowing Lucky’s past was part one, getting to know who Lucky is personally is the next level. Robin makes Sanji look like he doesn’t know shit about Lucky, she has a journal that is basically a Lucky Handbook (she could make BANK selling copies of it). During outings, Robin will try to sneak off with Lucky for some one on one time.

Franky

Type of yandere

Protective - Franky is like an overprotective older brother. Yeah, he’s an annoying handful most of the time, but he comes in clutch when needed. And when he probably didn’t need to. Franky is only looking out for Lucky’s best interest, it’s just debatable what exactly that means to him.

Delusional - There is no point trying to deny this man anything. He sees and hears only what he wants to, and makes excuses for what can’t be ignored.

Description 

Franky was trying to recruit Lucky into his family since their first encounter in Water 7. She’s so roughed up, yet she’s still running around the city to look for her friend? Brave! Inspiring! *guitar riff* He’ll help! Hey, why are you running away?! Despite the whole Usopp situation, Franky and Lucky learn to get along quickly. She can’t find it in her to stay mad about it with how fun and sincere his personality is. Franky will refer to himself as her big brother, and Lucky not caring enough to object only encourages him. He honestly sometimes forgets that they aren’t actually siblings and reels back in shock if someone points it out. With Lucky not being particularly strong, he goes out of his way to make her little self-defense gadgets. Nothing too powerful- that’s what he’s for- but good enough to buy her some time.

Nefertari Vivi

Type of yandere

Clingy - To say that Vivi is stressed out when she joins forces with the Straw Hats is an understatement. She is desperate to have some comfort and support and Lucky is very good at giving that. Vivi tends to gravitate towards her whenever she gets the chance and feels a pang of jealousy when she focuses on someone else.

Description

Vivi hasn't been able to act her own age in years, she's downright ashamed of herself if she ever behaves like a teenager should. Lucky sees her for who she really is. A teen with the weight of an entire nation on her shoulders and does her best to try and ease her mind. Vivi needs this so bad that the kindness makes her latch onto Lucky very quickly. She needs the comfort that her presence provides and seeks her approval.

Portgas D. Ace

Type of yandere

Clingy - When Ace decides to let someone in, he won’t let them leave. Sorry, not sorry, he’s with you for life now! He clings to Lucky especially because he can see a bit of himself in her, mainly the loneliness that seems to hang over her despite being allegedly an amnesiac. 

Protective - He protects his own, that applies to Lucky. It doesn’t take much provocation to get him to attack someone for bothering her.

Description

These two are thick as thieves damn near off the bat, they click instantly. Ace’s fondness only grows when they get separated from the rest of the group and have a chance to hang out one on one. He is one of the few people who questions her amnesia. Sure, he can bet she forgot some stuff after hitting her head that hard, but there are little tells she has that indicate to him that she may remember more than she lets on. He doesn’t pry because he of all people can understand wanting to get away from one’s past, but he has his suspicions. When he sees how cagey she gets at the mention of family, it all comes together for him. Her family must be awful! Good thing he has a solution! He is very persistent in getting her to join the Whitebeard Pirates, believing that it will be perfect for her. She’ll get to have a big happy family, including having him as her brother.

Rob Lucci

Type of yandere

Sadistic - He lives for the thrill of the hunt. The high that he gets from chasing down Lucky is unmatched, so he’ll let her go every time so that he can do it again and again.

Description

I hesitate to even call this relationship platonic because that implies there is some level of fondness. There isn’t. Lucci’s interest in Lucky begins and ends with hunting and terrorizing her. The amulet is not to blame for his obsession, he's just like this naturally.

Kalifa

Type of yandere

Delusional - Kalifa wants to believe that they’re the best of friends, and literally nothing can convince her otherwise. The mental gymnastics she does are off the charts.

Description

Kalifa has never had a real friend. She’s had coworkers at best, nothing more. Spending time with Lucky feels so refreshing, she’s so nice to her and doesn’t appear to care about what she can get out of Kalifa. They’re just talking like… friends? Is this what it’s like? She’s convinced that they’re best friends, despite all of the evidence to the contrary. Friends disagree sometimes, that’s all that her protests are. A mild disagreement that they will laugh about later. 

Romantic Yanderes

Buggy the Clown

Theme song - Never Ever Getting Rid of Me from Waitress 

Type of yandere

Delusional - He will die thinking that Lucky used to be a part of his crew before he made the biggest fumble in history and “scared her away”, and nothing that his actual crew says will convince him otherwise.

Possessive - Buggy is very materialistic. He wants things that are only his and that applies to Lucky. 

Description

The way that Lucky stood her ground and firmly told him what to do was an awakening for him. Despite him acting like he’s this scary, merciless man, he’s whipped for Lucky. On the off chance he tries to boss her around, all she has to do is give him a dirty look and he’s back pedaling at the speed of light. He genuinely believes that what she said about joining his crew the night before their confrontation was true, and he thinks the only reason she left is because she felt insulted by his doubt. There is a steady stream of gifts (stolen treasure) and flowers being sent her way as an apology for his egregious behavior.

Smoker

Theme song - Life Eternal by Ghost

Type of yandere

Obsessive - He can’t get her out of his mind, no matter how hard he tries to not dwell on her so much. Once he’s accepted it, he indulges himself by collecting every little piece of information he can find on her.

Manipulative - This guy knows what he’s doing. If he doesn’t play his cards perfectly, he could lose his chance to have Lucky be with him willingly. He will do or say whatever he needs to in order to keep Lucky in the dark.

Description

He’s well aware that his feelings towards Lucky are wrong and would disturb anyone who learned about it, so he’s careful to never let anyone see this side. After their first encounter in Loguetown, before he even knew she was a pirate, he found her to be somewhat endearing, but these mild feelings spiraled out of control as they continued to run into each other as he hunted down the Straw Hats. At first he was content with the glimpses he got of her when they crossed paths, but then he wanted to see her more so he started taking pictures when no one was looking. Then he started following her around undercover, which led to him swiping any personal items of hers he thought she wouldn’t notice missing. He’ll always need more.

Kaku

Theme songs - Hopelessly Devoted to You by Olivia Newton-John 

This Is A Life by Son Lux, Mitski, and David Byrne

Type of yandere

Delusional - In his mind, Lucky is this poor, unfortunate victim of circumstance that needs to be saved. All of her resistance is interpreted as being the result of her not knowing what’s good for her.

Protective - Kaku would sacrifice himself to save Lucky with zero hesitation. Ideally, it won’t come to that, but he is prepared to do so. Fortunately for him, it hasn’t come to this yet so he settles for beating/killing anyone that threatens her well being.

Description

At first, Kaku felt pity for Lucky. He saw her as a battered captive of some pirates, and while he did offer to help her, he was willing to let her make her own choices when she insisted she was fine. As he spent more time with her, he found himself entertaining thoughts he hadn’t given much mind to in years. Visions of a normal life where he isn’t an assassin and can live happily with someone he loves. He tries to bury these feelings down because he knows it’s a bad idea, but his resolve crumbles when he sees Lucky at Enies Lobby. Why shouldn’t he have a life he actually enjoys? Why can’t he just quietly slip away with the love of his life so they can be together? He decides then and there to run away from everything with her. She’ll understand.

Paulie

Theme song - Call Me Little Sunshine by Ghost

Type of yandere

Protective - The first word that comes to mind when he meets Lucky is ‘frail’, and he never fully sees her another way. She needs someone to protect her from all of the dangerous men of the world, and he decides that will be him.

Possessive - He doesn’t like other people ogling Lucky. If he had it his way, he would be the only other person she ever saw.

Description

Due to Lucky being so injured when they arrived at Water 7, she was dressed pretty conservatively because she didn’t want people staring at her. Her being so covered up made Paulie act more civil than he usually would. Rather than accusing her of trying to seduce him, he just had a normal conversation with her while kinda fussing at her to take it easy with how banged up she was. It was pleasant, and he found her to be charming. But… if he found her charming then so would other people. Other people might have ill intentions for her, but he doesn’t. He just wants to keep her safe! And maybe a couple of other things that he’s in denial about, but that’s beside the point! 

Iceburg

Theme song - Curses by The Crane Wives

Type of yandere

Possessive - What started as a respect for her integrity rapidly grows out of hand. It’s hard to find people like that. He wants to keep her for himself.

Protective - He understands better than most how dangerous the world can be for someone who is being targeted by the World Government. After he sees her bounty poster he feels the need more than ever to keep her away from the public eye and with him.

Description

No one is more surprised about him becoming a yandere for Lucky than Lucky is. After getting into a pretty intense argument after his attempted assassination, she assumed he would hate her, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. She had nothing to gain and everything to lose from defending Robin, but that didn’t stop her from yelling at him and he can admire that. He hadn’t been affected enough by the amulet to stop her from leaving, but he did make her an offer to be his new assistant. Once he catches wind of Paulie’s interest for her, he encourages it because distance has made the heart grow fonder and he needs to have her back in Water 7. He refuses to take on a new assistant because he's obsessed with having her in that position. He'll complain to her in a letter that he can't find anyone for the job and try to convince her to help him out "temporarily". As he's writing this, he throws a stack of fifty applications into his fireplace.

Eustass Kid

Theme song - Halo by Soil

Type of Yandere

Obsessive - Before they ever meet he is obsessed with who the owner of the backpack with all of the mysterious objects is. He is hellbent on finding her and stops at nothing to track her down once he sees her bounty poster that confirms she is alive. After they meet and the mystery is solved, the obsessive part dies down a lot and shifts into the next point.

Possessive - Lucky is his. He considers him finding her backpack as something of a sign. Lucky is going to be with him and he doesn’t care if she’s happy about it except he definitely does he's full of shit.

Description

When he finds a backpack with some strange technology in it that he can’t figure out, he becomes obsessed. Luckily for him, among the items was a wallet with an ID that he assumes must be of the person who owns this stuff. The elation he feels when he finally tracks her down is like a drug. Having her explain what the things he found were satisfies him a little bit, but not completely. He finds her to be interesting and wants to pick apart her mind and learn everything he can, so why should he let her leave? Because he said he would? Ha! He’s a pirate, it’s her dumb fault for trusting him! He’s determined to keep her on board the Victoria Punk, and he’s willing to hurt her if he thinks that will work. It’s not his first choice, and he wouldn’t be happy that it came to that, but he is willing to go that far and tells her as much. Somehow he is surprised that Lucky is afraid of him

Trafalgar Law (this is brief, I’m still ironing their relationship out)

Theme song - Darkness At The Heart Of My Love by Ghost

Type of Yandere

Protective - It’s a cruel, unforgiving world out there, and he doesn’t think Lucky is strong enough to survive it on her own. She should be grateful that he’s going out of his way to protect her.

Description

They initially bond because she is one of the sanest people among the Straw Hats, so if he has to deal with them he will gravitate towards her. The world is already dangerous enough, but seeing how unhinged her crewmates are stresses him out and makes him think she is one insane stunt away from her untimely demise. He’s good at masking his obsession towards her as simply being concern for her well being.

Bartolomeo

Theme song - IDOL by YOASOBI

Type of yandere

Obsessive - He doesn’t need Robin’s handbook on Lucky because he already made one himself. He knows everything and no one knows how he got most of that information.

Worshiper - This man worships the ground she walks on. She's a divine being that he is lucky to be able to occasionally breathe the same air as.

Protective - If Lucky is in danger when he’s around, she isn’t going to be anymore. He’s quick to use his devil fruit to keep her safe and won’t hesitate to eliminate anyone that was bothering her.

Description

It’s only natural that the #1 Straw Hat fanboy would get a little crush on at least one of them, and by little crush I mean full on obsession. Despite how blatant he is about it, Lucky doesn’t realize that he’s yandere for her because he’s like this towards ALL of the Straw Hats. He's just like that. They get along very well much to the chagrin of anyone else that’s interested in Lucky.

Donquixote Doflamingo

Theme song - RUNRUNRUN by Dutch Melrose

Type of yandere

Possessive - He doesn’t even fully see Lucky as a person, she’s a thing that he wants to own. That being said, she’ll be a well-maintained thing, but she shouldn’t expect to have any of the freedoms a person should have.

Description

Haki doesn’t work on Lucky since she is an anomaly that isn’t supposed to be there, and that’s what catches his attention. He’s intrigued and wants to know more. Then he finds out that she’s close with Law and that’s all the more reason to take her into his custody. He wants to keep her around for his own amusement and will do so by any means necessary, and he has no qualms about seriously injuring her to do that. Lucky's amulet has no effect on him, he's a natural yandere for her. This makes him extra dangerous since there was never any basis of love, just a possessive obsession.

[julianalvarez9]

RIGHT WHERE YOU LEFT ME / MASON MOUNT

PAIRING: Mason Mount x Chilwell!Reader

SUMMARY: What hurts more than the man that you love leaving your childhood club, is having been told from the start that being involved with him was a bad idea.

WARNINGS: mason is kinda a dick in this? maybe not intentionally but...... not really Emotionally Responsible. also, Ben all the way in protective mode.

WORD COUNT: 1.1k

Are you free today? Need to talk to you about something xx

The message from Mason, earlier on the day, had made you think about this moment an endless amount of times.

In your mind, there's no other result that him asking you to be his, finally, after months of anticipation. You've been trying not to think about it, though, to avoid any disappointments in case it was just another day, but you can't really ignore the feeling in your gut: you're nervous like you've never been with him.

You figure it might be because this is your first public appearance alone together; that is, without your brother, Ben, or without any of the guys from the Chelsea team, to make it seem like this isn't what it, definitely, is: a date.

In reality, you could have figured what he wanted to tell you from the start. Even before the meeting, there had been multiple clues; like the endless flow of rumors floating around his neck -that he had, definitely, told you to ignore before-, or the public setting to have this conversation, or the chaste kiss he planted on your forehead before sitting in front of you. Not on your side.

Maybe you would have noticed all of it if you hadn't been so caught up in it. In him.

So, when the news finally exits his lips, and it turns out to be something completely different from what you had expected, you're left dumbfounded.

"I'm signing for Manchester United, Y/N. I'm leaving Chelsea this summer".

What?

Maybe you had interpreted it all wrong. From the message, to the hidden glances and forbidden touches shared between you two during all these months, away from all prying eyes, but especially, your brother's. Could it be? Or had he intended, all along, to be so cruel from the start?

Ben had never been enthusiastic with the idea of you two together, and you always assumed that it was out of protectiveness, of fulfilling the role of older brother. But maybe he knew something you didn't.

Your face must have been showing the myriad of emotions you were feeling at the moment, because Mason is quick to launch forward and take your hands in his, like he always did to comfort you. "Hey, you okay?".

As if you hadn't been showered with a cold water bucket just now. As if he hadn't thrown you into the void, without a safety net to catch you when you inevitably reach the ground.

"Yeah, yeah," you nod, enthusiastically, painting the widest smile you could muster at the moment. "'M happy for you, Mase, really happy. Just remembered I have somewhere to be right now, uhm, with Ben. I have to go".

Mason would never have let you paid, like he never did before today, but he's so confused about your sudden reaction that he isn't quick enough to stop you from throwing a couple of pounds in the table to cover your tab.

Getting out of the coffee shops feels like a blur.

Your fingers work quicker than you knew they could, dialing the contact in a second, while you rushed down the sidewalk, brushing past strangers who gave you dirty looks for pushing them out of the way. You mumbled apologies left and right, but honestly, the only thing you could see through your tearful eyes is your phone, and how the display changes when your brother, after a couple of seconds, picks up.

"He's leaving".

You don't bother with greetings or introductions. But hearing Ben sigh leads you to believe he already knows who you're referring to, even if you hadn't muttered his name. "Where are you? I'll come pick you up".

The words splutter out of your lips before you can stop them. Maybe you're saying too much, more than he needs, or wants, to know, but you're only trying to come to terms with what Mason had so carelessly announced not even ten minutes before. "I thought we were gonna talk about, I don't know, us," you bitterly laugh, and the term now feels foreign.

Angrily swiping under your eyes to stop the teardrops from falling, you continue speaking. "But no, he sits there, with his always so perfectly styled hair, and his beautiful smile," you hear on the other side of the line how Ben's car keys fall to the floor, and in other occasions, it would have been funny to you -picturing him nervous at merely hinting you find one of his best mates handsome, but now you're too angry to care. "All to tell me he's going to fucking Man United".

The line is silent for a couple of seconds while you keep on rushing past people. You don't really know where you're going, but you're crossing streets and turning in corners like your body knows where it's going without needing directions from your brain.

The words came out bitter from your tongue, almost laced with venom. As if he didn't wish to be wrong, just to see you happy. As if being right was Ben's fault. "Go on. Tell me you told me, warned me, that this would happen. I deserve it".

He's gripping the steering wheel hard, turning his knuckles white to avoid exteriorizing how angry he is at Mason for hurting his little sister. He'd probably make him hear all about it the next time they saw each other, be damned if it was in a public or private setting. Still, the words he's speaking to you through the line are tender. "I could never".

Your legs stop in the all too familiar park. Ironically, it's the same one Mason and you had came so many times before: whether it be for a small picnic, to take Summer on a playdate or to take Ben's dog for a walk.

The realisation only made you cry more, and as if on cue, your brother's arms wrap around your trembling figure. "It's alright, Y/N," Ben whispers, quietly, in your hair, "you're gonna be okay, yeah? I'll make sure of it".

The tears that blur your vision and soak Ben's shirt doesn't let you see another call from Mason; it going straight to voicemail after being denied an answer for so long. But Ben sees it, and a million thoughts cross his mind. One thing is certain, though: he can't afford losing you to Mason, and letting you go to Manchester is not on the cards.

"I'll take you home, yeah?" your older brother asks, knowing that his home would be untouched territory to his old mate. You can only nod in agreement, strength being drained from your body after crying for what feels like a hundred hours, as your mourn what could've been.

Ben knows that, even if he's only trying to protect you, and do what he feels it's right, he can't keep you far away from Mason forever: but this is, for sure, a way.

[super-secret-clown-corner]

hey did anyone ask for a heavily biased list of s3 worldbuilding headcannons and how i think some of the lifesteal guys interact with each other? no? too bad i was force fed half of this by my brain while trying to go to sleep

cut for length bc it's long sorry not sorry

clownpierce

of course i have to start with clown he is like a bug to me and i'm putting him under a microscope

he is a BEAST. a CREATURE even.

aka he's from the void but no one except ash knows that

the deranged discord thoughts at 2 am said clown is from the void bc everywhere he goes he brings death. he kills. it’s what he does. he kills and he’s fuckin great at it. do you hear me. do you understand.

covered from head to toe in clothing to hide the fact he's from the void. there's a constant slight chill that surrounds him and it's only really noticeable when someone's almost touching him

he never lets anyone get that close anyway besides the occasional handshake or smth bc yeah anyone would be uncomfortable if someone was standing inches away from you. he plays off the cold hands with a poor blood circulation excuse if anyone asks

if he did show skin, his silhouette would be like a black hole where it's completely pitch black, and depending on the angle, he either appears 2d or 3d (very disorienting and unnerving)

this guy does not have a single stable relationship to fall back on. he allies with people for power and not for comradery, and it is So Hard for him to tear down the dozens of walls he keeps up around him because he often finds that when he does, he gets betrayed and left in the dust (mob anon from lifesteal headcannons i am thinking so hard about your submission)

plus it's hard for him to know whether or not this person is allying with him because he's The Deadliest Assassin Blah Blah Blah and they want that safety net/protection or if they genuinely want to ally with him

it takes him a long time to fully trust branzy, and even then he doesn't open up to him about his personal stuff

the mask stays On. Constantly. doesn't matter how much he trusts someone he will never willingly show his face

he and red have a friendly rivalry with the heart economy side of lifesteal, they're both competing for the title of strongest/holder of most hearts or smth like that

ashswag

dude used to be a normal guy way way way way before lifesteal events n stuff but then he fell into the void and came back Wrong

basically instead of dying instantly, he survived for a little bit longer than usual, broke through reality, and saw that everything is just a simulation and everyone is just code, including himself

that fucked him up bad physically and mentally, and his left side is all glitched and void-like now (chronic pain coded)

dude is technically immortal but he never really tested losing all of his hearts yet

he knows that clown is from the void because he knows what the void feels like and is hypertuned to it, and to him, clown RADIATES it like a space heater. he can't stand too close to him and has to have at least one person's width between them. he hasn't confronted clown about it though because he knows when to keep his mouth shut

being close to the void for him hurts in an ocular migraine type way, but he typically pushes through it when he's down at bedrock level or in the end

he doesn't make stable relationships with people because he doesn't really see the point in them

nihilism 100

whatever side he aligns with is usually the one causing the most chaos

branzycraft

evil little meow meow

let him be angry. let him have rage.

he is Just Some Guy (aka normal ass human) but he is so smart

not a fighter but he is a builder and a damn good one at that

need a trap that is sure to kill? branzy

very good at getting the fuck out of situations that would've killed him if he didn't immediately dip when he did

based on vibes alone, early s3 branzy would so be friends with subz and vitalasy (which i think actually happens so i win)

i need branzy to be envious of clown's fighting skill and heart count before he starts warming up to him. please where is the slow burn.

falls out with subz and vitalasy when he starts allying with clown and co, and especially when he tricks vitalasy into the funhouse

during the cleansing when the dirties and team chaos are relatively working together, vitalasy tries to reconcile and pull branzy away from team chaos, but branzy's lost in the power sauce

he and rek are Just Some Guy buddies who exchange near-death experience stories (i need more branzy and rek friendship please please please please please p)

i am ace beaming your clownzy mwahahaha

leowook

strap in boys because have you considered the tension between clown and leo after mob falls (once again mob anon from lifesteal headcannons i am thinking so hard about your submission)

they were tight. they were bros. they were homies. leo was the only person clown felt like he could confide in during mob. and then leo turned coats. i'm SO NORMAL.

clown has NOT forgiven him

super duper a cyborg. he's a tnt minecart pvper he had to have blown off his limbs at some point /silly

but yeah his limbs are mechanical, along with one of his eyes. can't really see it though bc he constantly wears a mask, long sleeves, pants, and gloves. i'll probably default to his left eye if i ever draw leowook face

he and red feel like they would be friends based on vibes

still works/allies with zam after mob in an attempt to go back to what he lost

slaps roof of leowook this bad boy can fit so much mob angst inside of it

princezam

certified Thing. don't know what, he just is

has loony toons vibes. to me.

so annoyingly positive in the eyes of the others, they all want to punch him at least once

hero complex 100

dude just manages to rizz his way into teams

zam is smart. he knows what he's doing.

ok actual serious hcs bro has the most worldbuilding in his explanation tbh

in my head, lifesteal is this independent port city-state that was originally run by everyone and acted as a free, international trade center. zam is the crown prince of the neighboring territory surrounding the city, and when mob started gaining serious power, he charmed his way into working with them.

the deal he struck with mob is that if he wanted to join, lifesteal wouldn't be a part of zam's kingdom and all of his actions in mob were separate from his actions as the prince. it worked out relatively well for both of them: mob got a powerful ally with good political/funding power, and zam got to play hero and get involved with lifesteal politics

when mob fell, he initially respected their previous agreement where he wouldn't play prince in lifesteal, but when heart economics grew too unbalanced in his eyes, he decided to annex the city and then start the cleansing

nobody enjoyed zam annexing the territory, and especially not when his first order of business was to have everyone over ten hearts withdraw and bank them to evenly distribute to people with less than ten hearts

gonna pause here for now bc i feel like if i tried listing another character, it wouldn't have the same heart behind it as these guys do. if anyone does wanna see another silly that i didn't get to here, feel free to shoot me an ask or smth idm :]

fuck cringe i am having a blast i love worldbuilding

[skyloftian-nutcase]

What do Imprisoning War Link and Zeldas kids look like??

Does Sonia look like totk Sonia?? Or like, when they're babies or toddlers do they also get face paints since they're royal babies??

Which kids take after which parents? Do they all have blonde/white hair or do some have brown like Zelda?

fjioajfklsajfieowa ahhhh ok hi Anon yes I have so much info about their kids :D

Sonia, their eldest, does in fact look a fair amount like her totk counterpart. :) She’s got her dad’s tanner complexion and blonde hair, but it’s darkened a bit by her mother’s brown and she has her mother’s curls. She has blue eyes (Link’s like “how… I have red and you have green???” But Zelda’s dad and Link’s mom both had blue eyes and I’m pretending red eyes are a dominant trait, and green eyes are actually more dominant than blue, so HA. They were both carriers of blue eyes, Link just doesn’t know genetics 😤). Her hair is NOT as long as her totk counterpart because that poor woman’s neck had to be HURTING. She keeps it like mid-back length and styles it simply.

As for her personality, Sonia’s got her dad’s placating, people pleasing nature paired with her mom’s sense of justice, more outgoing nature, and concern for her people, and both her parents’ sense of duty. She’s been groomed to be queen since she was like 5, she’s the perfect Responsible Eldest Child and also tried to play peacemaker between her parents when she was younger and their relationship was not so great. As a result she’s a bit more burnt out when she’s older, and while she is a great princess and eventually great queen, she emotionally tires easily as she gets older. Her relationship with her parents is mixed, she loves them both dearly but also sometimes keeps them at arm’s length to protect herself. She’s closer to her dad emotionally, but bonds well with her mom over duties and stressors.

Orik, the middle child and only boy, also has his mother’s curls and his father’s blonde hair, though he’s a dirty blonde and it eventually darkens to light brown as he gets older. He also has blue eyes! He usually keeps it half up and half down like his dad, and as he gets older it gets messed up a lot and he becomes the heartthrob of Castle Town because it looks very akin to Aragorn’s or the Witcher’s hairstyle.

This boy is the problem child of the group when he first hits adolescence, he’s definitely a daddy’s boy and was NOT thrilled when Missa, the youngest, came along and took his dad (from his perspective). He’s never been particularly close to Zelda because Link kept him from her after what Link saw her doing to Sonia (the couple had a bit of a fall out when Zelda decided to train Sonia for the throne at such a young age - from Zelda’s POV she’s protecting Sonia by teaching her, unlike herself who was stuck teaching herself and had to come of age in a war and deal with nobles trying to take her power away afterward. From Link’s POV, Sonia’s being exposed to danger and having her innocence ripped away from her too soon… so he keeps Orik away from Zelda). Orik’s far more shy than his sister and feels out of place as the boy in the family when mom clearly shows favoritism to his sisters and it’s a matriarchal society. He doesn’t know what he’s supposed to be doing and his safety net, his dad, is now playing favorites (in his mind) to Missa. But he and Link bond over martial stuff, and while Orik is NOT automatically hardwired to be like “duty before all,” he understands the need for it when Link opens up to him about his own life choices. They’re really close ❤️ Orik also inherited his dad’s recklessness and regularly gives Link heart attacks. As he gets older he finds his purpose in being a leader in the military and often likes to go on quests and adventures to help the kingdom and get a thrill. His dad is very much a role model to him, even though Orik has his own opinions about arranged marriages and maybe bending over a little too much for others.

Missa, the baby, was born seven years after Orik and nine after Sonia. She’s kind of the reconciliatory kid between Link and Zelda. She’s the baby who finally got mom’s brown hair and lighter complexion, but her hair is straight like her dad’s. She also got dad’s red eyes.

Missa is a bundle of love, ray of sunshine, and very used to getting lots of attention - she’s born far after her older siblings, in a time where Link and Zelda are actively trying to fix their relationship, so she’s the child who got to enjoy both parents the most. It can definitely make her bratty but she also just genuinely has mom’s confidence with dad’s sensitivity and sweetness. Oh, and she’s a chaos gremlin, once she and Orik start getting along they’re unstoppable.

The kids do, in fact, wear skin paint! Although when they’re little it’s only on their face. They’ll eventually get skin pain on their arms and legs like their parents but that’ll be when they’re adults. Sonia, being the heir, has a marking of the Triforce on her forehead. Her mother has the symbol of Hyrule painted on her forehead. Traditionally the girls covered their hair until they were of age, but Zelda viewed it as a form of hiding them away because she felt caged and every little detail that makes her feel like that she will get rid of. Also, for fashion, Link ensures armor is incorporated into all their clothes to keep the kids safe - hence why royals in the future wore a mix of gowns and armor. The earrings are something that builds up over time - when they’re little they get one piercing and have one set of earrings, and they get more as they grow until they have four earrings on each ear like their parents.

This was probably way more info than you wanted but I’ve had lore on these kids for ages, so :D Anyway, here’s a sketch I did of them a few months ago

[cc-tinslebee]

I haven’t seen anyone talk about this, but what exactly is Samantha Carpenter’s deal??

She sees visions of Billy goading her, enabling her to kill people, and we can infer that she’s been having them long before the events of Scream 5.

And everyone’s explanation is that being a killer is “in her blood.” But it can’t be that simple. There are naturally psychological reasons that can make a lineage of killers, but I just don’t see that being true for her?

Billy killed as a righteous act, to punish Maureen for ruining his family. The Woodsboro killings a year later happened, presumably as a continual punishment for Maureen: destroy her family like she destroyed his. But Billy enjoyed killing. Both he and Stu revelled in taking lives away, that much seems evident. “It was like he was making a movie.”

Nancy Loomis killed to punish Sidney for taking away her son. Randy insults her son, and she sees red and kills him; it’s an act of rage. Nancy’s reason for killing isn’t “psychotic,” it’s delusional. It comes from a place of not only a mother’s hurt, but one where she places blame on Sidney and Maureen for everything: not her murderous son, not her cheating husband. Sid and Maureen.

Sidney’s entire maternal side of the family is filled with a similar story. Roman, killing to punish Sidney because Maureen chose the life of her choosing over the son she didn’t want to have. Jill, killing to have even a small amount of Sidney’s fame.

Sidney and Sam both have killed to protect themselves and others, but Sidney has always killed out of necessity. A kill that will get her out of this nightmare as soon as possible.

Every kill Sam has done is a choice to mutilate instead of getting it over with like Sidney or Tara. She did it to Richie and now, his family.

Horror — especially slasher — gets muddled when you think about how psychology actually works instead of throwing around words like “psycho” like they all mean the same thing.

I think whenever Sam kills, she finds a comfort in the fact that her father is Billy Loomis. She can use it as an excuse, a safety net. It’s okay that she feels enjoyment in butchering the people she’s killed because her biological father was a serial killer, and it’s not indicative of who she is. She can blame him for it.

But the hallucinations. It’s not Billy Loomis. His face is always off. How would she know his voice? It’s not him. And it’s not some “killer instinct” she passed onto her. There is something psychologically different about Sam than there was Billy or his mom.

And holy shit I really need to know what it is, because this “she’s like this because her dead father who she never met killed people” is getting on my nerves.

[astorytotellyourfriends]

"I can't let you back on the road in that fire hazard," Eddie says, huffing with laughter. "If there was a mechanic's code, I'd be breaking it." A giggle slips out of Chrissy's mouth before she can stop it. "Is it really that bad?" "Yep," Eddie replies, nodding his head as he sucks his teeth. "It's really that bad." "Well…" Chrissy feels a little thrill of confidence flow through her as she smiles at him, "...then I guess we're even after all."

happy one year anniversary to chapter 1 of if we don't leave this town, we might never make it out 🍾

i loved writing this fic so much and i miss this little universe i created all the time, so i thought what better way to honor the anniversary than to give you guys a little peek at what life's like for Eddie and Chrissy a few months after the last chapter ends. i hope you enjoy 💛

when we begin again

The roar of an engine and the crunch of gravel outside of the garage doesn’t startle Chrissy like it used to. She’s long grown used to all the ambient noise that she hears on a daily basis from Eddie’s garage, even with the door to the office closed. There’s only so much sound that the simple wood can muffle, but it’s okay. Chrissy doesn’t feel the constant need to look over her shoulder anymore.

Sure, sometimes when she and Eddie are out somewhere she’ll get that tingly feeling on the back of her neck that makes her anxiety rise and she can’t help but fear that someone is watching her, but Eddie’s always there to keep her grounded. To protect her.

He makes her feel safe in a way she never thought possible. And yeah, sometimes she wonders if maybe she relies on him a little too much, but it’s only been a few months. She’s still healing, emotionally speaking anyway, and someday she’ll really learn to stand on her own two feet.

Still, having a safety net isn’t such a bad thing.

The door to the office creaks open - Eddie refuses to grease the hinges because it always announces his (and anyone else’s) presence so there’s never a worry of someone sneaking up on Chrissy when she has her back turned - and Chrissy looks over her shoulder to find Eddie rocking back and forth on his heels, fighting a large smile.

“What?” she asks with a laugh, staring at him curiously as she slowly gets up from the desk.

“I have a surprise for you.”

Chrissy tilts her head, feeling excited but nervous as to what this surprise could be. If it was another mixtape, he would’ve just waltzed right into the office and plunked it into the stereo already. It can’t be a meal, given that it’s the middle of the afternoon, but Chrissy can’t seem to come up with another idea of what he could possibly be surprising her with.

“What is it?”

Eddie extends his hand, his palm wiped clean of the streaks of grease that continue from the wrist up, and Chrissy doesn’t even think to hesitate before she takes it.

He leads her out of the office and through the garage, to the bay at the far end that she could’ve sworn was empty this morning after Mrs. Henderson came to pick up her Buick the day before. Whatever car is sitting in its place is much smaller than that, but Chrissy can’t tell what it is because it’s covered by a tarp.

“Stand right… here,” Eddie says as he gently guides Chrissy to stand right at what she assumes is the front end of the car, “and close your eyes.”

“Eddie…”

“Just for a little while,” he promises with a soft kiss to her cheek. “Five seconds - maybe ten. Please?”

Chrissy lets out a little breath and presses her lips together to hold back a smile, dutifully raising her hands to cover her eyes a moment later.

“That’s my girl,” Eddie murmurs, drawing a giggle out of her that she couldn’t have stopped if she tried.

As she listens to Eddie pulling back the tarp she imagines what he must look like; she has no doubt in her mind that whenever she opens her eyes the tarp will be all bunched up and shoved off to the side, making her wonder why he even bothered with it in the first place.

“Okay!” Eddie’s grin bleeds through his voice and Chrissy’s own mouth curls into a smile as she hears his footsteps come closer to her. He puts one hand on her elbow before he steps behind her, pressing his chest up against her back and all but enveloping her as he puts his mouth to her ear. “Open your eyes.”

She pulls her hands away from her face as Eddie’s hands settle on her waist, and while her first instinct is to turn around and look at him, as soon as her eyes focus on the car in front of her, she can’t look away.

“I… Eddie…” she lets out a surprised laugh, “what is this?”

“It’s a car,” he answers with a chuckle. “A 1973 Volkswagen Super Beetle, to be exact.”

“I know that,” Chrissy mumbles, pushing her elbow back against his ribs - not enough to hurt, but enough to show her annoyance at his snark.

“Okay, Miss Smarty-Pants,” he teases as he leans in to press another kiss to her cheek. Chrissy turns her head to catch his mouth, moaning ever so softly as he kisses her back.

“Whose car is it?” she asks when he pulls away.

“Yours.”

Chrissy’s jaw drops. Eddie slips out from behind her and walks back over to the car, his excitement growing more and more pronounced as he starts to ramble.

“I got a real good deal on it because it needs some work, but it runs and it’s a hell of a lot better than that hunk of junk you rode in on—”

Chrissy shakes her head a little; he’s never going to let her Gremlin go.

“—but since you’ve been saying you wanna learn more about cars, I thought why not get one that won’t fall apart and, y’know, it can be our weekend project, or whatever.”

“Eddie…”

He looks up at her, his smile faltering for the first time.

“Do… do you not like it?”

“No, it’s not—”

“Is it the color? We can totally change it, that’s not an issue—”

“Eddie,” Chrissy pleads as she rushes forward, throwing her arms around his neck and pushing up on her tiptoes to hold him tight. “I love it.”

“Yeah?” Eddie lets out a relieved breath and wraps his arms around her in return, laughing when he speaks. “You do?”

“Yes,” she says as she rocks her feet back down to the garage floor. “You shouldn’t have, though. How much—”

Eddie cuts her off with a kiss, chuckling into her mouth when she tries to wriggle away.

“Don’t worry about it, sweetheart.”

“But—”

“I told you, I got a good deal!”

She frowns at him, but it doesn’t last long when he presses his forehead against hers and nudges her nose with his own.

“I wanted to do this for you,” he murmurs. “I want you to have a car that’s yours. That’ll get you where you need to go if you ever…”

Chrissy’s breath stutters as Eddie’s grip on her waist suddenly tightens. He goes stiff against her for a few seconds before he forces himself to relax, and she quickly brings their lips together.

She knows what this is. He’s giving her an escape route. This is his way of saying if you ever feel like you need to leave, I want you to be able to. He loves her enough to know that she deserves to feel like she isn’t trapped.

“I love you,” she whispers breathlessly as she clings to him, pressing her body against his as much as she can; if she could wrap herself around him any more, she would.

“Love you,” he says, lightning-quick in return. “Love you so much, Chrissy I—”

“I know.” She runs her fingers through his hair and kisses him again. “Thank you.”

Eddie fully relaxes against her but neither of them pull away from the other. Chrissy tucks her face against his shoulder and he does the same into the crook of her neck, and they just stand there for a while in each other’s embrace.

She doesn’t want to leave - she can’t imagine ever wanting to run away from Eddie like she did before - but knowing she’ll have the means to do so with his blessing? That means more to her than words could ever say.

[dangermousie]

I too conduct professional discussions in the tub. But seriously, they are SO aware of each other.

I love her for never beating around the bush.

He tries deflection.

When it doesn't work (because she goes it's my pic so my business), he reverts to denial:

Too bad for him, she knows her man and he can say whatever he wants, between the pic and the thing Boss Dong told her about his comments, she knows the truth.

She is so emotionally brave! But honestly, she has to be. As arrogant as he can be about his work skills, with his issues, he will never take first step emotionally, not when it matters this much.

I love that it takes him the longest time to answer and she does not hurry him and when he does, it's not even an answer at all, is it?

The way she won't let him hide aaaaa!

She is AMAZINGGGGGGG!!!

Clearly he loves her madly and wants her madly and longs for her madly, but with all his issues and personality, she is gonna need to knock on this door for longer.

What does this even mean, dude, other than that you are terrified? You have no idea how much you are revealing with your nonanswers.

If he were Pinocchio, that nose would pierce the center of the earth... I mean, look at his very pose.

(Also, he was finally able to say he forgot as an affirmative statement and not a question - took him all this time to be able to squeeze it out. Oh, young man, give up, you are hopeless.)

And then he literally flees...

Hate to tell you, Li Xun, you have failed your objectives. She's on the scent and you will never ever shake her. Ahahaha

I mean, much as I am lovingly amused that he's the emotionally fragile princess she protects and chases, it honestly makes so much sense with their personalities and issues (she grew up secure in her place and in being loved and in safety net and justice, he's had none of these) and also completely makes sense in light of their social positions (after finding how depressed she was he may have opened in himself a possibility of being together with her because he can bring her happiness and she needs it, but there is a difference between realizing that there may be a possibility and actually chasing her - due to their difference in status and all that, he really cannot allow himself to knowingly chase her in good conscience. He can only be with her if she chases him because that chasing demonstrates to him that she really needs and wants him enough that it may be a worthwhile thing for her and not a bad thing to be with him despite his drawbacks.)

[all-pacas]

I know Cameron needed a trigger to act on her feelings for Chase. Do you think jealousy could've worked? Say he never does the Tuesday thing, gets close to another girl, and is falling for her. She's about to lose this safety net that she had for three years. Is it enough to make Cameron panic?

Honestly, I think the opposite would happen.

Cameron kind of has a martyr complex. She likes fixing people, helping the broken and sad, but she also likes being the one doing the fixing. It isn't enough to diagnose a girl with lung cancer, she has to be there for her. Her husband "had no one" to mourn him, so Cameron had to marry him. I don't think she enjoys suffering or didn't love her husband, but there's a part of her that does kind of… keep doing this to herself. She keeps setting herself up for pain, whether as penance or intentionally or out of some slightly twisted view of morality, that people should be hurt and mourn and suffer and dammit, if no one else is going to do it!

At the same time, it's also kind of a defensive/protection thing. Foreman and eventually Chase both call her out on this with her first marriage: yes, she loved him, but she knew going in it was going to end. She loved him and grieved, but she never had to deal with the long term: the sacrifices you made were at the height of your love for him, Foreman says in S3: Chase mocks her in S6 with the idea that if he'd been dying, she would have been happier. Cameron likes having an escape route, she likes being in control. In S5, she finds out Chase wants to propose and panics and ends up subconsciously pushing him to dump her: I don't think she did want to break up with him (and she quickly begs for him to take her back), but she did, as House points out, kind of force him to do so. Because that's easier. It's an escape, and it's not her fault if he does it. It's scary to not know when things end. She holds herself back. She prepares for the end from the beginning. Even the ridiculousness of the sperm plot comes down to this: Cameron isn't really planning to have a dead man's baby, but she is afraid that something will happen to her and Chase, and feels like she needs a backup plan. She and House talk about it in Both Sides Now:

CAMERON: It’s not wrong to prepare for bad things to happen even if you don’t expect them to. I don’t expect my condo to burn down, but I have fire insurance. HOUSE: If your condo rules don’t let you buy insurance, would you go homeless?

To which Cameron decides — and tells a confused Chase — that she doesn't want to be homeless. She decides to destroy the sperm, or, in other words, to try and put her trust in this and not in her escape route.

So going all the way back to the S3 jealousy idea: Ehh, maybe…? The thing is, if Chase had met a new love interest at that time, I think Cameron might have been relieved. It's a sign! She was right to deny her feelings, because look at what happened: he found someone else, there was never a future for the two of them, once again denying herself what she wants was the smart and rational decision. I think she probably would be a bit jealous — we see that the second she meets Stacy she's all over that, trying to figure out what Stacy is like, what she and House were like, and how Cameron compares — but I don't think she'd be jealous enough to do anything, because Cameron was already denying her feelings and denying Chase, and this would just prove her right. And now she gets to be miserable and tell herself she did the right thing rejecting him, and that's where Cameron thrives.

I think there probably are some specific circumstances that would push Cameron into acting on her feelings — Chase getting fired and her realizing she might not ever see him again, as an example. And as much as the it's Tuesday thing was never gonna win Cameron over, it did serve a purpose — showing Chase hadn't moved on or given up either. Had he in any real way seemed to have moved on, I think that would have been the end of it. Very right place/right time. Or, to quote @eliotquillon, swap out "right" and "wrong" however you'd like.

[askatriangleandastar]

What're your thoughts on the new Spooky Month episode?

(Doodle to match your icon, also because this one has me by the NECK) Thoughts in particular for as much as I can below

OOOOOOOOUGGHH DETER AND HIS MOM. FUCK, THE H U G S BIT HURTS MY HEART EVERY TIME IT IS VISCERALLY EFFECTIVE PELO YOU MONSTER ❤️

Moloch is so threatening I GASPED as we finally got to see him achieve Leg Rights and dud he ever put them to WORK running like that all over town!!

Gregor was incredible and competent and despite being opposing to the norm of how the kids go about things, a net positive for the town. His entrapment/death/conversion to what the cult put him through in the ending is an endangerment to the safety of everyone. That he really did care and want to protect the kids was sweet, and while harsh his reality check to Lila was something she's had coming.

I WAS RIGHT ABOUT SO MANY THINGS GOING INTO THIS I WAS SO EXCITED!!!!! Not beating the witch allegations in the slightest and still with so many questions and wonder.

I love how much we learn and yet how much there is to learn. Connections that are only half-given and have to be speculated and discovered with the ARG and background inferences. I still need to go over the frames and take in all the background characters. I don't know how far into November this is set but it's not long enough for Lila.

Getting the feeling that the Theives Duo were hired to go through the house yet settle on the attic, to nab THE DAD'S STUFF given its all strewn about the house after they get whooped, and then the New Grounds Ending confirms it had me shaking. Had me wondering if that's what BOB was sent to do initially in the very first epsiode, but when Lila ran into him he was gonna get a snack. That the cult members backed off at mentioning the spider and the Candy Dealer notes them as having been lucky + the picture revealled of it having been the Dad's (plus Pelo mentioning it has eaten people before) is making thoughts mimic a windows 98 trying to run the Sims.

The Gregor and Moloch ship those working on the show go for and snuck reference to in the show. The "and they've never been married but they are SO divorced" vibes of their interaction here, how Moloch called him by name and would have only ever lied in the past due to Gregor not having Moloch's in kind [the devil a deciever to any word said] hooooo I don't go there but it's next door and it looks fun!

The foreshadowing with the drawings done with Dexter and it's accuracy + Pelo drawing Moloch possessing a lot of characters + also doing so with Eyes + the Other Drawing = F E A R AND EXCITEMENT!!!!!!!

THE EYES IN THE BUCKET STILL LOOK LIKE DEXTER'S AND ARE ACTIVELY MOVING (especially in the Ending Spider Scene) HE IS STILL THERE AND TRAPPED AND AAAAAAAAAA!AAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

The Ooga Booga Jumpscare was fascinating and done super duper well!!!! Wanna make a whole breakdown about why and how it worked better than any other so far. There are some layers and misdirection and it's built up really well! Plus what looks like a version of her on Jaune's TV foreshadowing what's gonna happen like it did before with Bob.

It makes me wonder if there's more parallels to Moloch based in the line "I can be ANYWHERE now!" After scaring the Audience. I have a theory that a part of his possession tactic is Fear. To enter someone's body who isn't willing they need to fear him and he can only get one such victim at a time (hence why only Roy and not the whole Hatzgang at once vs Skid and Pump at the same time with no difficulty as they let him in). It's why he Stalks and Stares (Patty, Ignacio) and consistently when we get to be around for when he goes for it, he *roars*. Not bite and claw but roars. He's put off and doesn't enter those that have no fear of him (Gregor, Rick, Ignacio) and I think it's because he CAN'T. It's why even when at his weakest he roared at Gregor. To break the chant, the concentration, to make the wounded and bleeding enemy falter and fear and let him in with that response of weakness. It fails, of course, but hoooo with anyone less devoted I don't think it would have.

BRICK TO THE HEAD. THE COWARDS. THEY GOTTA AMBUSH THIS OLD GUY EVEN WHEN HE'S ALREADY LIMPING TO STAND A CHANCE THATS HILARIOUS.

The way Pump was distracted from opening up and being vulnerable with his sister and kept happy by the toy and the lie, while Skid has no such escape as his own heart to heart is burdened further by the sobs of his mom in a home that is no longer in any illusion safe with a shattered door and evidence of earlier break-in everywhere. These 2 have been diverging in small ways in their outlook on things for awhile now, but this episode's ending and scenes about parents, about knowing more and less than each other (The way Skid didn't know about Moloch not running but Pump did and how Skid started to ask what he meant, how Skid still associates all Happy Fellas as Stabby while Pump could see it was Dexter-specific because he could **see** through to what Dexter WAS according to the notes... if Gregor hadn't interrupted there may have been Words. Going forward, it feels like they're going to again.)

IGNACIO AND THE ILLEGAL GUN OF COMEDIC CONTRAST

I cannot stress enough how much Kevin feels like he's being pushed further and further towards a total breakdown and that he NEEDS a coworker to help like Radford [AAAAAAAAAAA THEATRE MAN RETURNS I WAS SO EXCITED TO SEE HIM HE PLAYS OFF KEVIN SO SO WELL AAAAA] It's not an if so much as a When with the way his vision is Scribblifying so much (a treat for the eyes tho) and while he CAN cool off if nothing goes immediately wrong its just gonna keep going wrong.

Roy is having problems and given his parents and vibe of his family plus his contact to Skid and Pump, guessing it's likely tied to how it's status quo isn't sitting well and the need for escape with friends. Parents who are present yet Not in how it matters and how they're needed by the child. So glad he's willing to open up at all (the contrast from the second episode is staggering) but like Kevin it feels like he's building up to a bigger breakdown.

It is for Susie's safety and well being that she never met Moloch and yet she might well have been a huge fan given her enjoyment of demons! Have to wonder how she'd react to seeing the ashen form of Moloch in the attic if she ever went digging for what's been going on herself.

Ignacio may be any number of things and the picture with the dad is making me run in circles around the room I am seething with th3 need to shake him even though he'd shoot me point blank. Speaking of, the fact that he was carrying it on his person with taking out the trash and how he used it genuinely made me think that if Skid and Pump bothered him one more time he was going to pop 'em where they stood the same way he was so unbothered and at the ready I was wheezing XD

Why does the portrait have a diamond why does it have only ONE diamond why is it like that despite looking like it's the one for the old mansion we glimpsed in the second epsiode what the hell is with the mannequin and SHY DOES IT HAVE A FACE IN THE HELL CREDITS CARD

The oath Gregor uses portraying a Lord yet not a Father yet maintaining The Son, as well as a Sacred Sky, has me going no-clip on my chair. I am Not Normal about this and I cannot pretend to be I need the implications of this world's religions being impacted with Eyes having been ever-present STAT and the horror of the cult not being to a different God but the same as Gregor's, simply met by a bridge of heresy to meet mortals with the divine while still of flesh and bone and claim of Death....

I thought Evermore was bribing the hobos to blow up the church but now... now it feels more likely to be either Bob's place (seeing his corpse wheeled in the soundtrack video + that Patty was about to cut into him again when the kids interrupted+ Evermore asking for a specific body to be moved) OR the Mansion (not being invited into any cult and wanting John to shut up about it so he gets an unofficial, literal backalley deal going for some nobodies with no credibility to do the work for him). Evermore is the kind of vain who'd spill that he was in an exclusive group to brag and is also wonderfully insufferable with his blatant ego; the idea that he ISN'T part of the cult and his not knowing and terrible mayor strats only benifit the cult so they don't bother with the risk of somone in power knowing about them and his denial that somone as important as him would EVER be excluded if there WAS one which must mean there ISN'T just has such a good punchline and I hope it's true I really do.

THEY SHARE A VA, IS THE MASCOT GUY THE SAME CHARACTER AS THE BOB COSPLAYER CAUSE HIS BAD LUCK AND MISFORTUNE FEEL SIMILAR! Also the happy fella furthest left moves its eyes after the kids so uh. So uh they might've been on the money to destroy them cause looks like one is already possessed by Something and it also gives greater legitimacy to the internment of the one in The Candy Tube of Shame at Kevin's workplace gosh they're STILL BEING SOLD if they become A Problem beyond Dexter and that's when we get to meet Robert's little sister who has one....

The way Pelo has explained how Moloch got stuck and how the possession works means we KNOW Patty was tethered to her body and unable to do anything except watch as Moloch used her to kill (any by the mess and lack of remains) eat Michelle (mom's name in description cast list) to regain some power and begin to sate the prolonged hunger Moloch has been trapped in. It's how he was able to perfectly mimic her and Dexter. It's why her lower half is coated with so much blood it may as well be dyed the color. It's no wonder she's adamant to have a gun! Glad to see evidence of her still actively working with John and Jack on the mystery in the ARG images too.

That doctor, Mort, I don't know who he was talking with but while he's sus as hell I'm not so sure he was taking the call we see Ignacio make. There isn't a reason to be informing him about the priest, even if bother WERE in the cult- going straight to the mourge and opening with asking if the body had been moved feels like it was a micromanage from Evermore to be sure that what he asked for is happening in a timely way. Have to wonder if he's going to take Patty's place now with having a distinct full name and reoccurance in the episode as he does for 3 scenes.

Gosh I love the soundtrack I've been looping the playlist for it while writing all this, again, not well, so so many thoughts. This isn't even all of them but it's past 1 am I have been typing for over an hour gonna pause it at the realization that something DID curse the Candy Corner for the holy water to have worked as well as the fact that the red head kid, Lucky was super cursed for what we now know as LEGIT HOLY WATER to have had such an effect on him. It wasn't boiled it was in that pot to get as many of the kids crowding as possible, as we see the bottles only effectively splash a single person. A friend mentioned Gregor may not even directly see Lucky given the behavior towards the child is abnormal and as we see here he IS normal towards children, even with costumes he sees as mockery of the lord, so ignoring him crumpled on the ground and the siezing on the doorstep are strange outliers. ALSO LEARING ABoUT GREGOR'S FULL NAME AND THE MEANING AND THE RELEVANCE OF THE ANGEL WINGS IN THE CREDITS AAAAAAAAAAAA!! So much thought and care went into this, I love this series so much, thank you for asking my thoughts on it! ^^))

[captainschaos]

It's always been Etho and Skizz.

When the seventh session begins, the two stand together, and without speaking they know they are each revisiting their matching sides of corresponding memories. The clock ticks as always, growing and louder and more sinister with the crimson hue of their names. They're running out of time. But they've been here before.

The Red Army runs over the fields, banners flying, shields held high. Skizz and Etho are beside each other, two soldiers, two brothers. In that time they could be how they truly were. The reaper, not just ferrying dead for duty, but able to look his fellows in the eye, to stand on even ground and be in the middle of it all. The fae, empowered to both place his traps, his trickery and watchful eye repaying each slight he'd been paid through the games, along with the fun of the chase. They smile at each other as they run with the Army. Always watching each other's backs. Always together.

This session, they're on the hunt. Etho especially, even though Skizz's clock ticks louder than his. Etho doesn't like to let it show, but he's far more bothered by it than the reaper. Skizz is used to being so near to death. Etho envies it, in many ways, but he just feels trapped when he doesn't have a safety net between him and the end of his run in the games. But if nothing else, even when his hunt fails, Skizz keeps coming back. If nothing else, Skizz can be a soften the blow.

It's always been Skizz and Etho.

They stand together in the Hero's Hideout, arms crossed, meeting each other's eyes across the room as Tango and Bdubs scream at each other in the middle. Even separated by the quarrel, they're together. Because that's a truth that supersedes so much, a truth that can be relied on. When Skizz turns red, even when he threatens what remains of Team BEST, Etho knows he'd never really hurt them. It feels temporary, if nothing else. They were red before, they'll reunite on red again.

Which made it feel like a stab to the gut when Skizz died before Etho ever got there.

This session, Skizz has a duty to finish. He wants to hunt, and he does, when he can, but the kindness he can give will always be more important to him than the blood he can spill. After it, when he's delivered the words the others deserve, he stands alone on his tower and looks over the server. Maybe he did it. He made a safe place, one of warmth and protection and maybe, just maybe, some sort of hope. He's always envied the guardian angels. But maybe he's managed to do what they do in his own right.

Now it's down to Etho.

He'd had to get used to it in Double Life. He's had to get used to it in Third Life and Last Life too, but only at the end, only when chaos had broken loose and he was too busy fighting to save his skin to sink into it. But in Double Life, Skizz was never there to begin with. But still, it was different. The alliances were picked for them, unless you were Cleo and Scott, so he didn't need to worry about it as much. But still, every moment Skizz wasn't there, it felt like something was missing. Etho felt exposed, vulnerable and unshielded without the reaper's wings at his back. Maybe that's why he'd been so willing to partake in Joel's fury, to hunt wildly and recklessly. Without his guardian angel, there was no being safe, was there?

Now it's down to Etho.

The group is waiting for him when he gets to Windsor, and he just has to look at Skizz to know. His eyes are a deep, darkening, fading crimson, and his proud wings hang almost limp behind him. His sharp halo is so faint it's barely visible, and Etho knows. But he refuses to believe it at first, can't help but be shocked as Skizz starts to take off his armor, hand Etho anything he thinks the fae might want, and put the ax in Etho's hands.

As the seventh session rapidly approaches its end, Etho and Skizz are standing in the same memories. All the time they've spent together here, the shared hunts, the fight against the clock. Their time in Last Life, trying to make the server a better place, trying to be heroes. And their time in Third Life. Fighting under the same banner, in the same army. Under the same king, who Etho knows Skizz is thinking about as he bows his head and bares his neck.

You're a stand-up guy, Etho tells Skizz. You're better than me. You're kind, you're strong, you're good. Just like the guardian angels you've always wanted to be. I love everything about you, Etho tells Skizz. I'm going to miss you. I've loved every moment with you. I love you. I just wish you were better at this game, Etho tells Skizz. I wish you were more like me. I wish you could win, I wish your kindness weren't a weakness, here. I wish you'd be playing with me longer.

And then he swings.

And even his faeish ears don't hear Skizz's response through the stifled tears.

Now... it's just Etho. And the clock keeps ticking, even as Skizz's last moments flow into Etho's timepiece.

Guess he'll have to get used to it again.

[There will be one of these for each week! This is 7/?]

First // Previous // Next (when updated)

[oh-my-damn]

You know what, I read through all your post yesterday and today and I want to thank you for shining a light on this problematic behavior. I also want to thank you for allowing me to see his relationship with Jenny from a different perspective.

Jenny like Alba was agreeable in the beginning. I mean she ended her marriage so she could be with Chris. It was all puppy love and dream seventh grade boyfriend at the start. She enjoys being around him and his circle. She loves that she include in everything from Vegas to Disney. I’m her mind she got the quarterback at the price of altering her personality to fit his.

Eventually all puppy love fades and that’s where couples struggle. She begins to question his fuckboy behavior. Why he feels the need to constantly party, go to strip clubs, but the majority of their time together is spent at his house doing what he wants spewing his pseudo intellectual bullshit.

He really fooled Jenny too. She was in a vulnerable time in her life after ending her marriage. It looks like he love bombed her by showing up to her premiere, confer shows and book reading. Spending time with her support system was easy because it’s a few suburbs over so he really doesn’t need to put much effort in.

She starts causing too much trouble and becoming less agreeable so he ends it. He goes back to his fuckboy ways and now Jenny is stuck with the realization that she left her husband for this douche. They talk about each other in interviews, looked awkward AF at the premiere and that’s that.

Until late summer/early fall when the realization hits Chris that he doesn’t need to pick up women and have a FWB rotation with ATL women if he just apologizes. I’m sure he hit her with the it’ll be different this time, I promise to change speech and she fell for it. Nothing changes. It’s just the same shit different day. They continue their relationship because their both in ATL working so it’s easy and convenient. Then they both wrap and the curtains lift up and she realizes she got duped again.

Once a fuckboy always a fuckboy. Chris strikes me as the guy who expects his meat and potatoes on the table when he gets home. I partially blame his upbringing because that’s how he was raised. He had a stay at home mom who did everything for her family and I think he wants the same for himself. If he’s going after an independent woman it’s strictly for the purposes of stripping her independence away from her because I think he gets a big thrill from it. It’s clear he likes being in control. Being in control gives him power over you and your life. If he’s the sole breadwinner then you have to depend on him and can’t really leave. He boxes them in without them even realizing it.

THIS. I COULD NOT HAVE SAID IT BETTER MYSELF.

And the end part !!

I actually mused over this not too long ago bc as you may or may not know, I started writing a book (before all of this) about Chris in a secret relationship and it is still ongoing and when this came out it really spun me for a loop and I couldn't write it for a long time.

Anyway, in it, she's a lawyer, so not in the industry, and they keep it quiet to protect her.

But I had this written down before the articles came out and stuff in my drafts, its an interaction with them that is SO REAL to me bc this is legit what everyone should remember when in a relationship (I know I'm more aware of this due to law school but its an important lesson)

I'm so sorry this is long but I didn't know how to cut it down without losing the point of it, so I'm gonna put it under a cut.

I don't think many of my readers realized how important a conversation like this in a relationship where one partner makes a hell of a lot more money than the other. It's easy to get swept up and give in to it, but then what happens when its over? You're alone, standing there, having given up on your dreams, your safety net, for what? A boyfriend?

Any lawyer knows to never do this because we've seen the cases but I can tell you that it happens way more often than it should.

Anyway, here it is, read if you want, my point is that I agree with everything you said so much !!!!

This is the excerpt from the stranger with the money/work dynamic talk:

"Fuck work," he grumbles sleepily, his voice deep and groggy, "Stay." 

I let out a small laugh, pushing my back into his chest as he wraps a long leg over my hip to press into me more insistently. 

"I can't," I reply with a smile, finding one of his hands and entwining our fingers, "I need to work." 

"Why?" He half whines, huffing against my neck, "Work is no fun, stay here with me. I promise to give you a good time." 

I chuckle, "Well, I need work for money. And you know, that's without mentioning that entire 'I want to achieve my dreams' thing." 

"I have money," Chris murmurs against my neck, "Take some of mine." 

I snort out a laugh, shaking my head in response, "I don't want your money, I want my own money." 

Chris huffs jokingly, his warm breath tickling the back of my neck, "Are you saying my money's no good?"

"Mhmm," I giggle, "That's exactly what I'm saying." 

"How dare you," Chris grumbles, his arms releasing their hold for only a moment before he turns me onto my back. He leans on his forearm to hover over me, a teasing glint in his cerulean blues, "What's wrong with my money?"

I grin as I look up at him, reaching up to card my fingers through his mussed up morning hair, "I didn't earn your money. I earned mine." 

"So?" He questions, leaning down to nudge my nose with his own, "If I wanted to share my money with you, it would technically become yours." 

"Yeah, but that's not how it works," I chuckle, my hand trailing down the side of his face to stroke his beard, "I wouldn't feel comfortable spending money that wasn't my own." 

That makes his brows furrow. He tilts his head, blue eyes gazing over my face before he asks, "You don't think you'd.. ever, feel comfortable with that?"

I mirror his curious look, letting my fingers trail over his cheek, "What do you mean?" 

"Weeelllll...." he drags out the word, maneuvering around until he can place his beefy body between my legs. His upper body hovers over mine, leaning on his forearms, as I let my fingers run through his soft locks. 

"What if," he continues, a mischievous glint in his eyes, "For example, hypothetically, we were married. Would you still feel weird about it?"

I let out a surprised chuckle, tilting my head as I look up at him. My fingers card through his hair as I shake my head, "No, if we were married it would be different." 

"Why's that?" he muses, leaning into my touch with a soft smile on his face. 

"Because then we'd be married," I reply with a smile, "Being married is a whole different type of security. I wouldn't have to worry about becoming reliant on you, or your money, or your lifestyle, and risk that you'd be able to pull the rug out from under me suddenly."

His brows furrow, and I quickly add, "Not that I think you would! Of course not, I just mean logistically, like, rationally, as a lawyer, we know the pitfalls in these types of situations. Becoming reliant on your boyfriend is never a good idea." 

[sage-nebula]

it really bums me out that after all the years of being "unbreakable bond" that frontiers split sonic and tails up ☹️ i guess they werent so unbreakable after all

Uhh, no offense, but I think you and I played two different games, because that's not what happened at all. I'm putting the rest of this under a cut, though, since it's all spoilers.

At the culmination of Tails' arc in Frontiers, yes, he decides that he needs to "go it alone" for a while and have some solo adventures so that he can build confidence in himself (by proving that he's capable of doing things even without the safety net of Sonic to fall back on), and gain some independence. And Sonic agrees to this, partly because it's against Sonic's nature to deny anyone their freedom, but also because he knows that if he said he wasn't okay with it, that Tails would see it as Sonic not actually believing any of what he said before about how capable and brave and strong Tails is. No matter what Sonic said about why he was hesitant to let Tails go, Tails would only hear "I was saying what I said before to make you feel better, but I didn't mean it, you're not capable of doing anything on your own and you need me to protect you always." And not only is that not true at all, but Sonic could never crush Tails' feelings like that. No matter how much he's going to miss having Tails by his side (and he will miss him; he looked so sad when he said "it's going to take some getting used to"), he supports Tails 100%, and believes in him. Now Tails just needs to learn to believe in himself the way that Sonic believes in him.

But none of this means that their bond is broken and I really don't see how anyone could get that from what happened. If anything, it's the opposite; Sonic shelved his own feelings of how much he's going to miss Tails in order to encourage and support Tails in what he's doing. Tails specifically says, twice, that he fully intends on coming back once he gains his confidence and independence ("I want you to see the hero I become" and "You won't even recognize me the next time we see each other!"). Sonic calls him "partner" in order to emphasize how he sees Tails as his equal (not a sidekick), but that doesn't change the fact that they are still brothers borne of love and not genetics (as Sage says immediately following Sonic's agreement to let Tails go off on his own). You don't need to remain right by someone's side to have your bond with them be in tact. Bonds are about feeling, not distance. If anything, this decision for Tails to go his own way while Sonic is supporting him shows that their bond is stronger than ever; no matter how far apart they are, that will never change.

(This is also something that was touched upon in Amy's story, too; she also plans to go off on her own, which will take her away from Sonic, but he says that he'll always be waiting to hear about her adventures. While he doesn't say that to Tails, that's because it didn't need to be said. Sonic will always be a home for Tails to come back to, and vice versa. There's no doubt there, they both know it.)

So I don't know if you somehow just got a mangled copy of Frontiers or if this was a troll / bait ask, but either way it's really off the mark, lmao. Sonic & Tails are still the unbreakable bond of the series. Nothing will ever change that.

[floosies]

" run around just so i dont have to think about thinking. the silent sense of content that everyone gets just disappears soon as the sun sets."

he had the same routine every morning. even on his days off he had a routine. since the first demagorgon he's needed it. he's relied on it heavily. when his parents were home it was easier to forget about the nightmares and worries.

but it never lasted, because to them he was a well behaved boy who needed independence to grow into a responsible man. so after a couple of months at home they'd pack up and head out again. another month or so alone.

it was worse without robin. he would wake up screaming for someone to help him, to save him only to be met with the silence from the empty house. its why he avoided being alone like the plague, why he didnt mind if dustin wanted to have sleepovers or constantly ask for rides to the arcade.

sure he hated scoops ahoy but it meant he wouldnt be left alone with his thoughts. he saw the way dustin and robin enjoyed silence, like a prize after a long day. he wished he could feel the same, but when he sat alone in the silence his mind wandered to every possible way he could have prevented things, questioning if he was really alive, wondering why robin stuck around, if dustin would realize he wasnt worth idolizing.

they didnt know, he didnt want them to know the way his mind had changed so much since the first attack. he just wanted to protect them.

it worsened when he started working at family video. then he really wouldnt let up, every moment was planned, robin was constantly around him, and he went to sleep with the tv on high. on bad nights he even went to bed with his walkman blasting music from the headphones as loud as he could get it. sleep was never the same after everything. they all had that problem, they all knew they felt safer near each other but they also knew it was better to try not to depend on each other too much.

steve's condition, his new dilemma had become so engrained in his every day he slowly started to view it as normal.

(im not leaving it at that. he deserves some love and peace, so keep reading please ♥)

when she got to know him, really know him, she picked up on how he hated ending the day, how he would try and make people stay longer. she had nowhere really to be and would often find herself being the last person at his place.

they'd critize a celebrity on a late night show or the news stories they'd watch on the local news station. he'd bring up random facts that robin or dustin told him.

slowly she would start to stay over. they'd fall asleep with arms entangled tightly. she'd unintentionally end up meeting his parents on a few occassions, but they didnt mind, their minds were elsewhere, never really with their son. but her mind was always with him. she felt for him, she liked him, maybe even more.

it was gradual, but she came to ask him about it, about the nightmares and fears he had. he admitted to feeling selfish for not denying her staying over all the time or constantly calling her. she was robin's friend first, but she made it clear it made her happy to know he saw her as his safety net.

robin had mentioned he'd been through a lot and she was just glad he thought of her as a person he could trust. but by the time they'd had this conversation everyone else had already been miles ahead and knew they shared something more than friendship.

he moved out of his parents home a month or so after and moved in with her. the apartment wasnt big but it felt safe. her home felt like his home, it was welcoming, it was as warm as her. she was his peace, the one he had found hard to come by. he held her just as tightly as he had the first night they slept beside each other, he loved her. she loved him, and the silence in the night was easier, lighter, and sometimes filled with whispers against lips.

[helldustedstories]

There's something to the way Blitzo reacts when Stolas tells him that he'd wanted to keep in touch, the way he says that he never thought he could that makes Stolas wonder if he had wanted to keep in touch, too. He briefly wonders how his life would have been different if he'd been able to lean on his friend, even if his own father likely wouldn't have let them meet up in person again. What would it have been like, not to be so alone, other than Stella and Andrealphus, who could barely disguise their hatred of him when they were in the same room?

Would he have stayed with his family longer? Or would he have left sooner? Stolas honestly doesn't know…, but the thought of leaving sooner, of being without Octavia….; while he's sad he missed out on time with his friend, she's the one good thing that came out of his family. And he's going to do everything he can to protect that, to see that she has a better life than he ever did.

When Blitzo teases him, calling him a nerd, Stolas can practically hear the affection in his voice, something that he is not used to. He lets out a little laugh himself and offers Blitzo a one-shouldered half-shrug, so he doesn't disturb Octavia. "Guilty as charged," he says. "I learned most of what I know from books," he admits, a thoughtful expression on his face. He….really hadn't had the opportunity to experience much in his life before now. In fact, he's fairly certain that the last time he left the estate for a reason that didn't relate to the family was the birthday where he'd first met Blitzo.

He smiles over at Blitzo when he sees the way he's looking at Octavia. Stolas knew that look well; he'd worn it just about every time he'd held his daughter.

"I'll let you hold her the next time she's awake," he promises. And there's something about the thought of Blitzo holding Octavia, seeing him with her that sets Stolas' heart racing. He tries to shove the feeling down, to ignore it, but he cannot deny how much that thought had affected him, even momentarily.

For a moment, though, he's not sure what to tell Blitzo about why he left. Because he's right; it is major. He's beginning to realize that he never would have done it, if it had just been him. Most people would think he was insane, to leave a life of royalty. How could running away from all that privilege be any way to give his daughter a better life?

"I couldn't let her grow up like I did," is what he ends up saying, his voice soft. "I….couldn't let my father get his claws into her, only to treat her the way he did me." There's more behind those words, but…, it was the truth. He might not be able to give her the world, but at least he could give her the opportunity to make her own choices.

But he'd managed to get away, and he had taken Octavia with him. And now they're here, sitting with his only friend, trying to reconnect in any way he can.

He offers Blitzo another smile when he says he couldn't pay him, to make sure he still wants to help. "I don't need anything," he says, "I just….really wanted to see you again. And making myself useful seemed like a good way to do that." When he'd first offered, anyway. Now that he knows it's a safety net, he wants to do everything he can to help make sure it's as tight as it should be.

Stolas watches Blitzo as he works, observing every moment, every placement of his hands, and tries to replicate it. He may not have a photographic memory, but he does have a good memory, and he doesn't do too badly for his first try.

"How's this?" he asks, glancing over at Blitzo hopefully. He wanted to do a good job, wanted to impress his friend, to show him that he was worth his time, and maybe he'd want to see him again.

Okay, so - Stolas remembers him. Blitzo ... has no idea what the fuck to do with that. On paper, it shouldn't be that big of a deal - running into a childhood friend after a long time apart is far from unheard of. But it just - feels big in a way Blitzo has no words for. Is it Stolas' station? Is it the fact that everything since the incident feels loaded? Is it the freakin' baby ?

Is it just the fact that Blitzo had never really been ... remembered ? At least, not like that. He'd always counted that as a blessing; over the last year, he's kept an even tighter watch on Fizz as his star only grows - accident be damned - and his fans grow thirstier and more vicious by the day. Fuck, he's had to keep a better eye on Barbie too, running harder interference with Cash so Fizz can fix her increasingly decreasing costumes.

But this doesn't feel invasive - far from it, Blitzo feels himself sitting a little straighter, his mood lightening, and even the lingering pain from his work all afternoon and his little test seems to be ebbing away.

❝ - You did ? ❞ Something about that warms him from the inside out, and Blitzo can't help the amazed, satisfied little grin that hits his lips. ❝ Damn, I never even thought I could, you bein' royalty and all. ❞ There's a bit of an unspoken question lingering there - because Blitzo doesn't see any servants or guards or whatever else it is that princes require - but then, he really doesn't know enough to question it at all.

As Stolas settles himself - on the ground - Blitzo can't help but chuckle when he sees him react to the bait but not rise to it. Ah, well, it's always worth a shot. ❝ Yeah, yeah, can't take the nerd out of the guy, right? ❞ There's an airy affection in his voice, and now that Stolas is closer and he can see the tiny little baby owl strapped to his chest, Blitzo starts to melt.

❝ ... Octavia, huh. She's so ... little. ❞ Was Barbie ever that little? It seems impossible - Octavia is just a little bundle of sleeping feathers, small enough fit snugly against Stolas' chest in her carrier. He doesn't realize that he's been staring - filled with the same warmth that had always come when he'd curled up around Barbie after a rough day, waiting until she feel asleep to risk napping himself - until Stolas' words catch up with him and he startles upright.

❝ You left ? That's, like, fuckin' major, isn't it? ❞ All Blitzo can remember of Stolas' family is his father - the big owl-ish demon guy, the one who'd bought him from Cash and didn't think twice about slapping his kid in front of strangers. - Huh, well. Yeah, he can't say he doesn't understand. - Fuck, if he could pluck up Fizz and Barbie and run -

It doesn't bear thinking about. Instead, he turns his attention back to the netting, his face a little flushed for some satanforsaken reason. ❝ Oh, yeah, uh - you sure you want to help? I can't, like, pay you - I mean, I may be able to scrounge something up? Or nick you food or something shiny for Octavia. ❞ He glances down at his work, then slowly starts wrapping the connecting knots. ❝ It's actually more weaving than tying - it's about fifteen feet between the high wire and the net, so you want it to be able to catch someone's body weight evenly. ❞