#because pre fire i used to be attached to all of them i think but that one especially

[cherry-pop-soda]

trying not to be sad abt my mom taking that old stuffed animal from me and keeping it for herself especially considering that she took it multiple years ago but at the same time. due to the aforementioned house fire and me losing most of my things as a result i think i never really learned to place importance on objects quite as much as most people seem to which would explain why i didn’t try very hard to stop her from taking it at the time. but also. that little bear was one of a very small handful of my things that survived the house fire and didn’t get thrown into storage to be lost forever or forgotten to time and my mom took it. and i’m kind of really upset about that and i guess it’s only now catching up to me

[dontmixpaintinyourcoffee]

I came in making some REAL confident statements about the Lodger designs and these guys are just proving me so wrong lmao. I still love them though

I still stand by some of my points about the goggles and gloves? In that it makes the Lodgers uniquely science-y. I also still think that the various states of protective wear tells you something about how each of the Lodgers works. But I don't think it's as important as I had previously thought. Still, in the interest of overanalyzing for fun and because this is just how my brain works, on with the show! I have to remind myself that I'm doing this for fun and because I love this comic and art, not because I'm any sort of expert in design philosophy. Which to be clear, I am extremely not. I'm just a massive nerd. I'm overthinking this

Having gotten farther into the cast, I'm noticing three rough categories that you can put the Lodgers into:

Goggles/Gloves. At least partially geared up for their work.

Aprons! They maybe don't have any specialized equipment on them at the moment, but they do have some coverage.

None of the above! Helsby, Bryson, Flowers, and Luckett apply here. Helsby and Bryson make sense, their work doesn't happen within the Society itself, so they don't need to have any of their gear on them, if it's attached to their person at all. Bryson also has the consideration of being a parody of a pre-existing person, and you don't really want to change up the iconic look too much at risk of losing the joke. Luckett is kind of the same way I think, in that he's a homeopathic scientist. Literally the point is to use as little as possible. Though he should probably invest in some fireproof duds. Not entirely sure about an in-universe reason for Flowers, I think just putting in more detail would've made her feel overstuffed and busy. Sometimes you just gotta go with what looks best on the page!

I keep giving the female Lodgers really fun dynamic poses and then remembering that I have to cover it with their massive skirts lmao

I don't think Luckett is as irresponsible as him flicking fire into who-knows-where implies but I thought the pose was cute, alright? Also the thumbs up is definitely in response to someone asking what he was doing. He did not hear the question, his ears are still ringing. This will continue for at least the next 15 minutes.

Between the umbrella and the rosy cheeks and the candy I feel like Doddle is what would happen if Mary Poppins took over for Willy Wonka. Step 1 is implementing a billion child safety measures and making this madhouse OSHA compliant. But like, in a fun way

[pfffsfic]

okay. okay this is not a serious theory but every time I think about it I come up with new "evidence" for it. basically the gist of it is TAWOG'S SHAPE PEOPLE ARE EUCLYDIANS. maybe refugees? "but didn't everyone in eucyldia die?" ignore that. just pretend they skipped town before the fire or something, this is not airtight. it's not even close. it's basically a joke treated seriously. i know the shows are not in the same universe but

hear me out.

Part 1: At face value.

point numnber one: these guys are 2D. the gumball universe has 3D people and 2D people, and the Shape People are 2D, or drawn as opposed to modeled.

point number two: physical traits! other than the obvious 'they are shapes', some or all of the Shape People:

Lack visible mouths (mind you, these Shape People's mouths appear when they speak). Bill also lacks a visible mouth but very occasionally gets one (one page of the Book of Bill, a polaroid in the Weirdmageddon intro).

Can have one eye. the rectangle in the top image is a one-eyed shape person, but there's also this familiar-looking yellow one-eyed triangle Shape Person (who pre-dates Bill's first proper appearance, by the way):

They have noodle arms. little noodle arms

this one is hard to explain but the positions of their arms aren't fixed. this applies to all/most Gumball characters but not to all gravity falls characters. how do I explain this uhh

look at how one of his arms is attached to his bottom plane and one is attached to his side plane. sometimes both of them hang down at the bottom and sometimes both are on the sides. POINT IS-

look at that!

in the rightmost image above you can also see a tiny sliver of a 3D edge like Bill has.

Each Shape Person is also a single color.

Part two: Culture.

note: this one only really applies to the three shapeople i've been using as examples this whole post- Ed the triangle, and his black pentagon and rectangle friends? family members?

I know there are other shapes who look less like them and whom these things don't apply to, but we can blame that on interbreeding with Elmoreans/cultural assimilation or something. okay, let me begin.

point number three: Ed's group is implied to not be from Elmore. when we first see him he's mistaking a bus stop for another shape person:

he also-

point four: the Shapeople language includes one spoken(?) system with colorful squares representing it. on the TBOB website the words of Euclydians are written in colorful square substitution cipher. there are also other shapes for the shapeople, mind you.

back to point 3: not from Elmore. The next time Ed's group appears, they're framed like tourists and ARE HAVING TROUBLE MAKING SENSE OF A 3D (well, i guess 2d but in the other way) MAP.

Gumball tries and fails to talk to them in their language, and ends up making a cultural faux pas. and in Ed's final scene there's an interesting line...

my people? He could be talking about his species, but the existence of a culture implies to me that this line refers more to a homeland. in other words the shape people are from the same place, which we sort of knew because they speak the same language. also has bill ever been seen giving a thumbs up or down? i'm pretty sure he hasn't but maybe I'm wrong, someone correct me here.

point number five: grasping at even more straws.

Despite their origin, the one known named shape person's name is Ed, which falls into the same cultural sphere as Bill.

We know that Ed's type of shapeople are physically capable of speaking English because the black rectangle does so at one point.

one of the symbols in the shapeople language is a skull. we see that Bill's mind has a bill skeleton with a skull that also fits the humanoid-ish template.

final point that does not help the theory but is still weird: Bill's baby photo seems to have a live-action background?? and so does the image of teen/preteen bill? look at these. i'm not implying that elmore IS euclydia somehow, that makes very little sense to me as of writing (though i guess it was destroyed and now Bill has a fear of TV static, which, like, maybe I could phenagle a theory here if I really tried but it seems like even more of a reach than this existing theory.) I dunno, maybe Euclydians would have wanted another 'realistic' dimension to flee to.

(we also see this squishy rosy-cheeked shaperson baby at one point, make of it what you will).

[iayos]

𝐆 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐅𝐘

jjk characters and where they stand on the megan-nicki beef

jjk cast

cw : all the bullshit the meg-nicki beef entails ( look it up if you don’t know the backstory !!! )

a / n : crawled back just to yap… gulp also happy black history month i love black people 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾



yuji itadori - team meg

NUMBER ONE MEG DICK RIDERRRRRR !!! loves her down… not much to say. i feel like he was never a barb either, prolly only liked a few songs. doesn’t really arguing online cause he’s scared of getting doxxed but argues in person.

nobara kugisaki - team meg

now, not even gonna start lying and say i feel like nobara never liked nicki. norb was def a barb, but she was also a meg fan too ! immediately dropped nicki when she found out her husband was a pedo though. IMMEDIATELY clowned big foot when it came out ( pirated it ). also argues with people online SHE DON’T GAF !!! twitter warrior !!! teams up with yuji to argue in person too.

megumi fushiguro - could not give two shits

i cannot see megumi listening to rap i’m sorry. yuji will play hiss and gumi will go “it’s good 😐” NIGGA !!! anyways, i feel like he wouldn’t like nicki cause duh pedo shit, but he just wouldn’t care about meg ? he’d feel bad when people bring up her mom though.

maki zenin - team meg

did you think she’d fuck with nicki ? FAWK no. never was a barb, always loved meg though. og meg fan too !!! doesn’t argue about it cause she’ll deadass just say “well one has a pedo husband so…”

yuta okkotsu - confused but siding towards meg

also doesn’t listen to rap, he learned everything from maki ( she sent him voice messages explaining it ). similar to megumi where he doesn’t really care but i feel like he’d like hiss as a song. immediately got the megan’s law reference and was GAGGED. anyways, he’s start to feel bad when people talk shit about meg but again he’s just kinda confused and he also isn’t a twitter user.

toge inumaki - team meg but was reluctant at first

chronically online ass mf. prolly listened to hiss as soon as it came out with itakugi. also was a barb pre all of this, however he dropped her. unlike nobara though, it took him a lil bit off time to drop her; it wasn’t instant for him. it was mainly cause he had been a barb for YEARSSSSS and has attachment issues. definitely argues with people online though he has 85 burner accs. streams hiss in his sleep like with the sound off.

satoru gojo - team meg

he’s the hot girl she talks about in girls in the hood actually. again, was a barb but wasn’t as hardcore as inumaki and nobara. also chronically online unfortunately and used to argue with people but once megumi made fun of him for it ( and told him about doxxing ), he stopped. too grown to be doing all this anyway.

suguru geto - i think he has bigger problems ( team meg )

like… deadass. this nigga has bigger fish to fry he don’t care 😭😭😭 mimiko and nanako made him listen to hiss and he liked it so that’s when he started to care but man… he got more stuff to worry about ! like, the girls update him on stuff so he doesn’t like nicki but he don’t be having time to keep up with it, you know ? gets 50% of updates from the girls and 50% from shoko and gojo.

shoko ieiri - team meg

didn’t gaf at first ( also has bigger things to worry about ) started getting most of her info from yuji and nobara and was HOOKED ! was fully tuned in, listened to it while doing surgery, like she was tuned in ! doesn’t argue on twitter, she isn’t insane, but does debate people about it in real life. keyword is debate, not arguing ( yuji and nobara shade ).

bonus :

ryomen sukuna - team nicki

let me explain, it’s only to spite yuji / megumi. we know how this nigga acts, he wants to torment them. doesn’t actually care and actually sorta sides with meg cause hiss is fire but because he’s annoying he’s team nicki.

listen to hiss or you stink !!!

[yanderes-galore]

How would a xenomorph queen be as a yandere?

Didn't even make it on the list because I wanted to do this so fast, sorry.

Yandere! Xenomorph Queen Concept

Pairing: Animal/Pet-like

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Stalking, Kidnapping, Murder, Possessive behavior, Isolation, Punishment, Drooling, Scenting, Forced relationship (?)

Well, to get a Queen to like you... you had to know the Xenomorph before she matured.

Before she was fed royal jelly to become a Praetorian, soon a Queen, she came across you.

Like a typical Xenomorph drone with their darling, the drone followed you everywhere.

To the point she felt the need to start nesting, forcing affection upon you before fleeing.

You would have known the Xenomorph for months as her life cycle matures fast.

You were still attempting to get used to her and her strange affection before she... stopped coming-

You weren't worried for her in the slightest, relieved actually.

Now you didn't have a beast coming up to you to chitter, coo, and drool at you....

You were at peace.

Meanwhile, your Xenomorph was simply gourging herself on royal jelly to mature.

She'd be a good Queen for you!

It's her duty for you and the hive.

By the time she emerges from her coccoon as a Praetorian, the pre-Queen wants to look for you again.

She misses you.

Maturing is so difficult when she isn't comforted by you and your reluctant care.

Her Queen, who she soon will not answer to, tells her to be patient.

She must be a fully mature Queen before she can successfully take her human.

Listening to her "mother", she sets out to create her very own nest.

She has drones create the nest she'll reside in... resin coating walls of a cave she picked out with you in mind.

Once set, she spends more time maturing with royal jelly... before emerging as an adult Queen, pumping eggs to make drones of her own.

Drones for her and you.

This will be your family.

By the time you overcome your fear of the Xenomorph you met, you're abducted by drones.

Knocked out, you're dragged deep into the depths of the hive.

The Queen hisses in approval when you are set in her arms, drool covering you in the scent of the hive.

Her children will not attack you... as they are yours too.

Her scent is all over you.

Having a Queen so attached to you will be impossible to escape from.

Most of the time she'll keep you in her arms, sitting on her egg sac and cooing.

She is capable of leaving the egg sac, although then she can't lay more eggs until it regrows.

She wants to have more children for the both of you, though....

She'll let you go sometimes, but you're never allowed far.

Facehuggers tend to activate by motion triggers, although due to "being part of the hive", you're fine.

She adores you, often scooping you up with her tail to trill at you.

She seems to always know where you are, she has eyes everywhere.

Drones constantly watch over you, chittering at you with respect as you walk around the nest.

Try to leave, however, and they'll tattle....

They'll screech and drag you back to their mother.

Said Queen is upset at you for trying to leave the family she created for you.

Why are you trying to leave?

She spent months away from you!

To a Xenomorph, that's a long time.

She created everything for you.

The hive, the eggs, the drones...

Your children.

Would you really just abandon them?

No... her human needs discipline.

Her drones would resin you to the wall of her nesting area.

You're stuck there, forced to accept the food they find for you while the Queen continues to lay more eggs.

She thinks with some more learning you'll be a good parent to them.

A Queen removing her egg sac from herself is painful, but if she has to, she'll leave it for you.

This is usually if you're taken from her by force.

A firing squad tries to take you?

She's fighting for this hive.

You try to warn them about the Queen's temper, yet...

They're overwhelmed by the drones and a newly detached Queen, snarling with rage.

They'll pay.

They'll pay for trying to destroy this family.

Once the squad died, trampled by the bug-like beasts, the Queen scoops you up.

Nuzzling you with her foreign mouth, she tries to comfort you.

Why else would you be crying?

That squad clearly scared you!

You're not scared of her... can't be!

She's family.

She's taking care of you like you did with her.

Isn't this what you humans do?

She wants to understand your way of love.

It's impossible, but she's determined.

She'll do whatever she can to make you feel like family...

Even if you're hurt in the process, she can't even understand your pain.

[rdng1230]

what movies would tommy make them watch for movie night? in your correct opinion <3

GAH I WAS LITERALLY BUSY READING YOUR FIC. the "Tommy was Buck's first crush as a kid and now here he is" one, Not even joking I've already sent it to people on three different continents. I owe you my life.

Anywho!!!! God I am so hyper specific about how I pick out movies depending on the day/vibe/etc and I feel like Tommy would be similar (but he'd be about 10000% more chill about it than me, I am a goddamn tyrant) Hmmmmmm ok Here's a very random assortment of movies I think he'd suggest and the attached circumstances that would lead him to suggest it.

Just in general, I think Mr. "The world started the day I was born" is going to still have a giant list of pre 90's films he's not gotten to yet and Tommy makes it his goddamn mission in life to show Evan what he's been missing. I tried to avoid the movies that Buck would've probably already gotten to like The Princess Bride, Wizard of Oz, The Godfather, the Breakfast Club, etc. I wanted ones that would be like the number 4 on the top 3 must watch list of whatever category.

I already wrote a scene in my fic of this but Tommy loves Moonstruck and they watch it after a nice night in with Italian food from Tommy's Nonna.

Chim is downright offended when he finds out Buck and Tommy watched Lethal Weapon without him, but ummm.... it was probably better he wasn't there.

Ok picture this, its a hot day, maybe a little cloudy. Tommy and Buck are in the mood for something sappy. Buck keeps telling Tommy they have got to start knocking some things off the 'Audrey Hepburn' list, but neither of them are feeling very '50's. Buck's wrist is busted from an overly risky move at work and Tommy gets an evil glint in his eye. They end up watching Always (Which is about pilots during wild fire season, the main pilot pulls something too risky and dies, and he ends up in the afterlife where his ghost mentor is played by Audrey Hepburn) the whole time Buck's getting teary and he keeps saying "Oh I hate you" to Tommy as sad moments in the movie happen. He squeezes Tommy's hand, a silent promise that he'll be more careful (and that Tommy better be careful at work too because he'd kill him again if ghost Tommy behaved the way the ghost protagonist did in the movie.) Smoke Gets In Your Eyes gets put on their wedding playlist.

I can't remember if I wrote this down somewhere or if I just thought about it a lot but Buck really takes to the Nick and Nora movies from the 30's and Buck is so endeared by Tommy's phoney transatlantic accent. it become's a running joke with them and the first time Buck responds with his own equally dorky accent Tommy has to physically bite down from saying I love you because its way too soon and he doesn't want to freak him out.

This is cheating a little because this movies only like 10 years old but They find out they both love the Secret Life of Walter Mitty. It's one of the movies that inspired Buck to go out and become something, and he watched it a lot, particularly during his cowboy era. Tommy loves it because its a movie about being brave enough to let yourself grow. Buck makes a lot of "Major Tom" jokes afterwards.

Buck loves Sleepless in Seattle (one of the one's he had knocked off the classics list), but he's never seen An Affair to Remember because the clips in Sleepless always made it look way sadder than it actually was. Tommy's like "Ok it is sad at some parts but just trust me" Tommy realizes he's created a monster with Buck's Cary Grant crush.

Oh also Tommy loves the Holiday as well as Love Actually and they make it a double feature every year in mid December (although Tommy does put it on year round) as a side note, I also watch Love Actually way too much and eventually I will write a fic defending that movie and going into angsty details about the soundtrack using Tommy to voice all of my thoughts, apologies in advance.

[beigetiger]

ALRIGHTY, I’VE DONE IT, THE MOST SELF-INDULGENT POST EVER

Here is what I think various realms might have been like in the Kingdom of Sky pre-fall, this will be a VERY long post and I might have to do some of it in reblogs. Some of what I say will be based off what I see in the game and other stuff will just be ✨vibes✨, so feel free to share if you have any thoughts.

And with that, on with the headcanons!

➡️ Isle of Dawn:

- The Two Ember’s trailer shows that the environment of Isle used to look a lot like Prairie, so I reckon they may have served similar purposes that I will elaborate on later.

- Was probably mainly comprised of villages and had a pretty small population, was overall pretty quiet.

- Isle seems to have had many different religious groups there who did various things.

- The Prophecy people seemed to celebrate the four elements and a value attached to each of those elements, as well as keeping track of what was happening on the wall, which we can unlock by doing Prophecy quests.

- Passage folks seemed to give animal masks to its more mature members, perhaps associating different traits with different animals and then assigning kids that animals based on what talents they express.

- While the Isle of Dawn wasn’t always a desert, I do think it had transformed into one by the time the kingdom fell.

- Near the end of the kingdom when everything has turned into a desert, people would hand off their kids to various religions because the groups had more resources to take care of the kids than the families. After all, not all of those Passage kids seemed super enthusiastic to be there…

➡️ Daylight Prairie:

- This area (and this also goes for Isle) probably had a lot of farms and mainly engaged in farming and keeping light creatures, as we see many spirits whose job seems to be watching over a type of creature (e.g. the Butterfly Whisperer). They also seemed to like free-roaming creatures.

- Farming light creatures means they probably produced a lot of light involved in creating darkstone.

- Aside from beast keepers, they probably had people whose job it was to construct things like boats that could carry people around, because there is a lot of clouds and a lot of open air in Prairie.

- They probably mainly lived in caves that were formed in the rock, perhaps carving out a few areas as well. After all, there are many caves in Prairie that seemed to serve some use, and some of the caves actually look pretty cozy.

- They were also probably a pretty big vacation destination, so they set aside areas like Sanctuary Islands (and maybe Prairie Peaks) specifically for that purpose.

- They probably had something like bridges between the various floating islands so skyfolk without wings could access it.

- The Flight Guide was apparently a former apprentice of the Prairie Elder Ayin, so it was possible that they helped train new beast keepers, since they seem to have an affinity for butterflies.

➡️ Hidden Forest:

- People tended to either live in giant, hollowed out trees or treehouses. Either way, trees were involved.

- Rain made life much more difficult, which meant that everybody was probably pretty hard workers, and more “no-nonsense” than other realms.

- They made more basic, non-darkstone fueled inventions such as various kinds of chairs, torches, and other stuff. Maybe they helped invent shared spaces.

- Kids spent a lot of time grouper together in little daycare groups depending on their age, and caretaker duty rotated between adults. Is there a single source for this in-game? No, but I choose to believe it anyway.

- At first they mostly consumed light from candles and occasionally birds (they had hunters), but as birds started to become fewer in number due to over hunting and dark plants started growing in, people switched to consuming that instead.

- These giants eggs in a nest imply that something laid them, perhaps some species of creature that went extinct, in which case the eggs would be fossilized.

- Fire was probably pretty important due to the wet conditions, and people preferred to stay cozy indoors when they weren’t working.

- Elder Teth oversaw more major projects, and while they were highly intimidating, you’d be damned if they overworked their workers.

- They had darkstone mines that were constantly in use, and these caves were prone to flooding as the end of the kingdom drew near, which resulted in several deaths.

- The shrooms that grew on trees were at first just used as a place to hang out and replenish light, but as the light creatures grew rarer, people started to scrape light out of those as well.

- Wind Paths had people who lived there as a full-time job who were supposed to make sure everyone going through the Wind Paths got where they needed to go and didn’t get lost or injured.

- They had mochi, but it was more of a treat than a main part of their diet.

➡️ Valley of Triumph:

- The Valley Twins totally have no identity issues. Nope. Never. Being a person whose identity is dependent on there being another person with them totally was not damaging at all.

- Valley prioritized the arts and produced a lot of athletes, artists, and musicians.

- The skyfolk usually took after their elders and were very playful and fun-loving.

- Majority of the population lived in the Village of Dreams, because those who didn’t had houses facing sheer, rocky cliffs.

- The kids spent a lot of time wandering around in groups having fun and doing what counted as enriching activities that made them skilled as adults. The adults encouraged this, and probably half the games played in the kingdom originated from Valley.

- Later on in the lifespan on the kingdom, a decent chunk of the Wasteland soldiers probably came from Valley because Wasteland didn’t have enough of a reproducing population to keep up with the mortality rates.

- The Valley Elders were basically everybody’s secondary parent figures and they absolutely loved interacting with their subjects. The twins regularly held big, realm-wide competitions that tested athletic and artistic ability.

- The graves in the waiting rooms for the races are the graves of various champions of those races throughout the years.

- That one grave in the Village Theatre is from when someone died and was buried, perhaps after Eden had blown up and so the others could only bury them and then run to escape the chaos.

- The big floaty things in the citadel are decorative art pieces because someone figured out how to do it and the twins loved it so much they stuck it there.

- The bird statue in front of the citadel was a protest from a citizen near the end of the kingdom who was warning against the overhunting of animals.

- The Valley people caged and killed wild mantas for their light that could be transformed into darkstone. Aurora was sent from Megabird to stop this behaviour, but sadly failed.

- When the first person died from a krill attack, both elders were INSANELY guilty and it still haunts them today.

- Slope race was run by Sah, flying race was run by Mek. This is one of those headcanons were I say it purely off of vibes.

- The Valley Twin’s masks are Priestess Sahmek’s mask split into two. I could unironically make an entire post about these two alone buuuut I’m gonna refrain from doing it here.

➡️ Golden Wasteland (this is a LONG one, buckle up):

- It was originally a very technologically advanced realm, it had a lot of inventors and worked a lot with darkstone. Their affinity for darkstone means that the corruption hit them first and hit them hardest.

- As I said, they originally had many inventors and people who worked on the pipes. But as the corruption and darkness started creeping in, more and more people became soldiers until there were pretty much only soldiers left.

- The Elder Room where you talk to Tsadi used to be different, and it was a room built exactly like Elder Teth’s room. I also want to make a post analyzing this. But basically, room used to be different but they were forced to change it because the corruption was threatening to take over that area.

- They used to have a population of whales who were over hunted and are now extinct.

- Late in the kingdom’s lifespan, child soldiers were used when necessary, but only teenagers. They also brought in people from Triumph because it was easier to train people who had been working out their entire lives.

- Those big pipes around the fortresses were used for transporting something but as of now I don’t know what it would be.

- Everyone slept in barracks and children had a designated mass caretaker, which did not rotate duties like in Forest.

- Resh was worshipped and looked up to a lot more in the Golden Wasteland than other places (which is why they had so many big statues of him) and Elder Tsadi was totally under Resh’s thumb. Some soldiers disliked this but didn’t speak up out of fear of punishment.

- The crashed boat in the crab fields was the Sky equivalent of the Titanic and had all sorts of people on board. The ship was taken out by the krill that now patrols it and many people died. One of the soldiers that survived made a small mass grave for as many of the bodies as they could bury.

- The spirits from Season of Remembrance were originally Wasteland spirits that eventually fled to Vault (that or their spirits were transported there after their deaths for preservation purposes).

- The Forgotten Ark was similar to the crab fields crash but happened a while before and was eventually transformed into a space for spell merchants.

- The spell merchants tended to be from the Golden Wasteland but could move throughout realms, and they sold things to assist with everyday life for the various groups of people.

- There was a small community of merchants who lived full-time on the Forgotten Ark and worked together to collect supplies and sell their wares. The giant pot on one end of the ship was where they concocted the spells.

➡️ Treasure Reef (getting its own section because I have things to say):

- Treasure Reef was originally a colony from the Golden Wasteland to mine darkstone.

- A lot of the now-underwater structures in the reef look like they were created to be walked around in normally, so perhaps the water levels used to be much lower but went up over time, forcing the colony upwards.

- As the water level rose and it became harder to mine darkstone effectively, they would resort to simply swimming down and collecting whatever they could.

- They were deemed hardcore by the other realms (and the rest of Wasteland) due to their diet. Most areas were used to living off of candles and occasionally light creatures, while these people were cracking open clams and catching fish like nobody’s business.

- They probably had a lot of storms, and were one of the first areas in Wasteland to start experiencing krill attacks, which is why the King Krill is located there.

- This means they had an entire protocol if a krill was spotted, which involved moving any children somewhere safe (because the krill would target them) and grabbing a weapon.

- They were all very strong swimmers and spent much of their lives in the water, and swimming was a very standard way of getting around.

- The blue eel/water dragon was very rare and considered a symbol of good luck.

- They also might have been storers of information similar to what can be found in Vault. That or that was their way of containing darkstone.

- They may have lived in caves carved out underneath the water to save space on land.

- Eventually, the krill attacked the colony as a giant group and killed many people, including the Abyss spirits we see today. Those who survived fled to join Wasteland.

➡️ Vault of Knowledge:

- It doesn’t exist naturally, it was built in a part of the void and is constructed entirely of rock and darkstone.

- The people who lives there were keepers of memories and information, and were regularly recording memories that summarized whatever big events were happening at that time.

- Any kids that lived in the Vault were also in charge of keeping the memories safe and organized, so many of them were quiet, under socialized and had never seen the sun.

- Great, wise philosophers and thinkers were the most likely to be transformed into spirits instead of memories. Some of the graves of these thinkers are kept behind the four-player door on the Vault’s first floor.

- The elevator was always moving up and down and people were always jumping on and off it, and it was certain people’s jobs to literally stand there charging the elevator each time for hours at a time.

- Certain, more important or delicate areas had designated keepers instead of being upkept by the general population.

- Speaking of population, the Vault had the smallest one in all the realms.

- People slept in the Remembrance area mainly, but also sometimes would curl up in a corner of the Vault and nap there instead. The conditions were not amazing and there weren’t enough bedrolls for everyone to sleep at once, but that was ok because Vault had no proper night/day cycle, and so there was always a group of people who were working and a group of people who were resting.

- The Nine-Coloured Deer area is a kingdom distinct from the Kingdom of Sky that Vault discovered and created a connective area to so they could keep in touch.

- The Little Prince area is more of a metaphorical dreamland than an actual place and it isn’t fully real. A group of people once did something very bad and were essentially damned to hell there, which is why they are chained up. What they did is up for debate, but these guys were very unaware of what was happening in Vault once they were locked up and are currently unaware that the Kingdom of Sky has fallen. They might never find out.

- Cosmic mantas are actually manta spirits that were brought to the Vault.

➡️ Eye of Eden:

- It had the biggest population in all the realms.

- The people there were friendly, albeit a tad vain.

- They also had pipes similar to those in Golden Wasteland, presumably serving a similar purpose.

- Resh didn’t created the corruption on purpose, and he was violently ignorant of it’s existence even as it was actively harming his own people. He only realized how badly he fucked up in his last few moments of life.

➡️ More general stuff:

- The Hopeful Steward tried to travel throughout the realms warning people of the corruption, but wasn’t listened to due to being a child and instead left to create a little village of their own. At first it was just them, but as the corruption started pushing people out of their homes, more and more people joined the village. It had most of the remaining population of Sky right before the crystal blew up and released the corruption.

- The four mannequins from the Season of Revival are what remains of four kids who were friends of the Hopeful Steward and tried to help them raise awareness about the corruption, but were sadly killed by a krill. This only fuelled the Steward’s determination.

- There used to be caravans pulled by mantas that would travel throughout the realms, and people jumping on the back of them to be carried around was quite common.

- The spirits all used to have names more resembling the Elder’s names, but none of the kids know what those names are. The names we refer to them by (cackling cannoneer, stretching lamplighter, etc) are what the skykids dubbed them.

And that is it, although maybe I’ll add to it later. Sorry again for making this so long, I’ve been slowly constructing this in my head for months and wanted somewhere to put my ideas down. I would’ve added more images, but I can only put ten so that’s gonna have to do it. Thank you for coming to my ted-talk.

[nyaagolor]

YEAHHHHHH JULINEMS RIGHTS!!! Do you have any headcanons for them? They’re my absolute fav

Making hcs for ships involving the protagonists is kinda tough because they're a blank slate so this is me kinda just. Making up a personality for Juliana I hope that's ok!

I think it wasn't actually Juliana's battle prowess that made Nemona so clingy, it was more the combination of Juliana being new / not having any preconceptions about Nemona + Juliana being so open

Nemona is very, VERY used to people having ideas about her before she meets them, so Juliana was the first time Nemona had a friendship that wasn't an uphill battle and she went totally overboard with it

Honestly I just think they get along like a house on fire. Both are so friendly and enthusiastic that there wasn't even like a slow buildup or anything they just locked eyes and immediately became besties

Neither of them could tell you when they started to develop more romantic feelings, but it was around the League that they both realized what was up and put a name to it

In my little timeline, the Nemona battle is the climax of the pre-The-Way-Home story, so Penny and Arven are there to cheer them on. I'm sappy, so I think the girls kiss. The real winner of the battle is Love

They're practically attached at the hip. It's not that they can't or won't do things alone, but their similar schedules and interests and desire for friends and physical touch means they're super compatible and hang out all the time. They live by the buddy system, but their other friends are a little more reserved

They like to train and exercise together! However, they're not really ones for traditional dates, and are "the more the merrier" type ppl. They'd rather have a big picnic than a candlelit dinner and invite all their friends to their "romantic getaways" which mostly involve running up mountains and seeing how far off a cliff they can jump on Koraidon

Despite their love of hanging out together they're not really a PDA couple, so for a LONG time all the teachers thought they were just really good friends. And they are! But they also kiss sometimes

Honestly my entire view of their relationship is just two really high energy friends but Also they kiss sometimes

[questforgalas]

An Unexpected Enemy

This is literally a silly little dribble I wrote after this silly thought I posted wouldn't leave my mind. Just some early day fun with the Batch and brothers being brothers. Crosshair can't take corners. Someone give Hunter an aspirin. They haven't even left Kamino and he needs it already.

WC: 576

Characters: The Bad Batch pre Echo

Tags: Just brotherly fun, they swear

Tay's Masterlist

Read on AO3

“Alright lads, this isn’t any different than the simulator. We’ve done this a thou-“

“Oof!”

“We’ve done this a thousand times before. We’ll go in qui-“

Bang “Agh!”

“Go in quick and quiet. Wrecker, you’ll remain on the Marauder for back up. Shouldn’t be necessary with Crosshair’s eyes on us, but we’ll com-“

Scrape. Bang. “Agh! Fucking wall.”

“Crosshair!” Hunter whipped around to his silver-haired brother causing the other three batchers to halt their march to the hangar. “That thing doesn’t even stick out that far. Just, walk 2 inches more away from the wall!”

Earlier this morning, the sniper was as smug as a pirate on pay day when he was outfitted with his custom sniper perch protruding from his left pauldron.

“Nobody else in the galaxy has an attachment like this. The clankers might as well consider the war lost now,” he crowed, not even noticing his brothers receiving their custom armor before setting out on their first ever mission. This was before Crosshair met an enemy none of them ever anticipated – wall corners.

“I am! You try walking around with a rod poking out from you!” Crosshair shot back.

“Well, just walk on the outside of the group. Tech, go inside.”

“Negative. We tried that formation when leaving the fitting. I am certain my shoulder will be bruised from the amount of times Crosshair’s perch ran into me,” Tech, nose in his datapad, countered.

“Don’t be dramatic. Your shoulder is literally covered in armor,” Crosshair defended, toothpick stabbing at Tech. Pausing his perusing, Tech’s narrowed glare at the sniper was the only response he’d give.

“I got an idea! Why don’t I just carry him to the Marauder?” Wrecker chimed in, moving to take Crosshair under his arm. This earned him a swift punch in the shoulder from the sniper who backed away, poised to strike. As this usually went, Wrecker was only egged on by Crosshair thinking he could take him and advanced on their silver-haired brother as laughter filled the air around them.

Not wanting to be called to the prime minister’s office again this week, moments before their first mission, Hunter stepped in before a brawl broke out in the middle of the hallway.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wrecker, stand down! We’ve gone over this – you can’t antagonize Crosshair for amusement.” Relief passed as he saw Wrecker back off, but not before giving one more fake-out jolt at Crosshair. The sniper was ready to lunge, but Hunter caught him by the waist. “And Crosshair, just because you have eyesight that apparently doesn’t account for depth perception doesn’t mean you have to bite our heads off.”

That earned him a sharp punch in the stomach, but when he felt Crosshair relax, he released him, grumbling and all.

“Alright then. Crosshair, when we come to the corners, just take them wide. You’ll get the hang of it soon. Now, let’s get a move on before we’re late for our first mission.”

The four batchers fell in line once again as Hunter continued where he left off in his strategy briefing. Many corners later, they were coming up to the hangar. Their ship, the Marauder, ready and waiting for them. The excitement was palpable in the air as they reached the gangplank. As they made their way up, Hunter went on with his final orders.

“Alright, Tech, get the ship fired up. We’re out of – “ Scuff, bang, bang. “Oh, for fuck’s sake Crosshair!”

[yharnam-is-a-fuck]

I love the way Hunter weapons evolve throughout the history of Bloodborne. It starts with Gehrman basically inventing his own. It's a bit sloppy but he wields it incredibly well. Then his apprentice has her Rakuyo from Cainhurst, also pretty sleek and takes skill to wield. The Beast Cutter is needlessly brutal and powerful, and gets refined into the Threaded Cane overtime. And the Beasthunter Saif was so broken in PvP they made everyone use Saw Cleavers instead.

And then the pre-Powder Kegs arrive, probably drunk or on fire or both and just scream GIANT EXPLODING HAMMER and never have a single good idea for the rest of history. Rifle Spear is literally just a "hey can i borrow your homework" of the reiterpallasch, the Whirlygig Saw is just funny, and the Stake Driver is wildly impracticle.

The Church weapons are all a bit boring, but it makes sense why. Ludwigs Holy Blade (not Ludwigs Moonlight sword, just the one that mimics it) and the Kirkhammer are basically the same idea but with a different attachment. And while the swords arnt exactly the same ingame, its pretty easy to assume that the Church was mass producing them. They also did their own "can I borrow your homework" with the Church Pick. The Logarius' Wheels are actually pretty interesting. They're also incredibly insane and weird, but I don't think they actually became Trick weapons until the Vileblood Massacre, where they were imbued with cursed spirits.

Some weapons are just totally unique and random. The Beast Claw, Tonitrus, Amygdalan Arm, Simon's Bowblade, and the Bloodletter don't have that clear of a point of origin besides some person (aka Izzy and Archibald) inventing it, or this unique NPC just having it because... they just do.

[pimpedoutgreenears]

I haven’t actively stayed up to date with My Hero since, like, volume 19, but hearing that it’s coming to an end has me thinking about fic ideas that I never ended up writing. And I know I technically still could write them (fandom doesn’t end when the source material does!), but I also know that I probably won’t, especially ones that would involve probably rewriting how canon ended.

But that said, I still wanted to talk about my favorite bkdk fic that I’ll never write.

So, the start has a villain whose quirk is sending people into alternate dimensions. Deku and Bakugo end up fighting her and getting sent to an alternate dimension. The time period is kind of up for interpretation, but it’s obviously pre-final showdown but after Bakugo’s apology.

At first, things seem mostly the same, but they quickly find out there are a bunch of major differences which stem from one difference from their universe: AU!Izuku has his dad’s quirk.

He can breathe fire and is super powerful with it. He and AU!Bakugo are also dating and attached at the hip. They’re constantly pushing each other and talking about being the ultimate hero duo.

Seeing it is super hard for Deku, who is basically lamenting about how easy things could have been,

Meanwhile, Bakugo can’t stand these versions of them, and he keeps getting more and more pissed that Izuku seems to envy them because he doesn’t think they’re good people.

When they first meet their alternate selves, they’re kind of working together to get sent back home, but they’re also keeping a low profile. They realize that AU!Izuku never got OFA, so they want to keep that a secret. That said, they also find out that AFO has already been defeated by Mirio and some other heroes.

It’s a hard thing to take because Deku starts thinking about how him getting OFA ended up with an ongoing conflict.

However, they find out other things. For example, Ida got killed when he went after Stain.

In this universe, Deku never made friends with Ida and had a different internship, so he was never able to pitch in. He and Todoroki never becoming friends also led to him choosing a different agency to intern at.

As they explore more, they realize that their alternate selves aren’t friends with anyone in class. They both kind of have Bakugo’s old attitude that they’re the best and no one else can reach them. Even though AU!Izuku sometimes says things that are reminiscent of things our Deku would say, it’s obvious that he’s very different.

They end up having to fight their alternate selves for reasons (I never locked down why), and they’re losing badly. To protect the secret of OFA, Izuku pretended he inherited his mom’s quirk by only using float, so it’s the only thing he’s using.

The alternate versions of themselves fight together flawlessly. AU!Izuku uses his quirk to keep AU!Bakugo sweating, and they have obviously practiced fighting together.

Bakugo sees Izuku starting to give up and finally loses it and just starts screaming at him. He’s asking, “Is that who you want to be? Do you really wish we were them?” He then starts yelling at alternative them. He asks AU!Izuku, “Do you even realize that he doesn’t love you? He hasn’t learned how yet! If you got hurt or lost your quirk, he wouldn’t even be able to look at you! He’s too busy having his head shoved up his ass!” Then he turns on AU!Bakugo and really loses it. “You’re so full of yourself! The world doesn’t revolve around you! You aren’t the best hero yet! Hell, the way you are now, you never will be! You’re a spoiled brat who’s never learned any humility! You don’t even understand why heroes are important! All you care about is your own ego! You’ll never be worth anything until you learn to see the value in others!”

He then turns back to Izuku, almost whispering, “Have you even paid attention to their news? The crime rate is up. There are new threats every day. They got the villain, but they didn’t stop the problem.”

Izuku realizes what he means. They have a chance to do better. Their war might be taking longer, but they have a chance to end it better.

They have a chance to be better versions of themselves.

They manage to defeat their alternate versions just in time to get sent back home.

After they’re back and did their report of what happened they’re able to talk.

Izuku tells him that he’s glad they aren’t like those two. Kacchan saw what he didn’t. He was jealous of how easy their relationship was, but he hadn’t really thought about what they’d gained from all the strain.

Bakugo apologizes to him as well. He says he’s sorry that no matter what universe he’s in, he makes life worse for Izuki (bullying in theirs, and making AU!Izuku an egomaniac).

Izuki tells him it doesn’t change that he loves him no matter what universe they’re in.

Bakugo tells him he shouldn’t, but Izuku says there’s nothing he can do to make him stop and he should know that by now. He then tells Kacchan that instead of fighting him about it, he should just keep bettering himself. If he doesn’t think Izuku should love him now, then become someone that he should.

Kacchan doesn’t think he deserves Izuku’s love, but he had already planned on spending the rest of his life atoning for how he treated Izuku, so they’re at least on the same page there.

It ends with Izuku telling Bakugo to let him know when he’s ready to actually receive his love, it’ll be waiting for him when he is. Until then, they can just keep pushing each other to be better.

Bakugo doesn’t know if he’ll ever be ready, but he’ll never stop trying.

So, they end knowing each other’s feelings and understanding each other better. They also have the possibility of a future together.

So, yeah, that's my favorite mha fic that I never wrote. If something like it already exists, please feel free to link me to it!

[mysticlongan]

♡◆"The Violet Shadows"◆♡

{A W.I.P. Lychee Dragon Cookie x Shadow Milk Cookie fanfiction} ~ Chapter 1: "The visit that marked the end, from the beginning."

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/53949385

Context: Pre-Shadow Milk becoming evil

[I am SO SORRY for the delay in posting this on Tumblr]

On a silent night, where the rustling of leaves in the cold wind were the only symphony to be heard, and even the skim milk river seemed to be silent (perhaps knowing the events to come)... A Cookie, with contemplative eyes, like a pool of misery, sat alone. One eye was a blue as deep as a clear sky, and his right eye was a lovely cyan you might've seen on glow-in-the-dark crystals. One such cavern held crystals like these, teeming with bats with eyes that glowed a similar color, though not nearly as magnificent as Shadow Milk Cookie's. He was sitting alone, just on the grass and rocks right outside of a violet cavern, with a blue satchel over his shoulder. He gazed at the brooch attached to it, a gemstone resembling the Light of Knowledge he carried. Lost in his own thoughts tinted with heavy grief, he slowly made his way into the cave, casting a spell. His staff illuminated the darkness, but the creatures lurking paid him no mind. He had been here many times before, in the Violet Dragon's abode.

These visits had been unbeknownst to the witches, who considered the 5 dragons a flaw. They did not forsee the Earthbread to create them as pillars of the cycle of life. The witches never considered that the life on Earthbread, nothing more than a little pantry to pick from, would develop systems of magic or principles. The dragon eggs appeared, and when they hatched, new magic flooded Earthbread. Longan's birth brought light magic, Lotus's birth brought water magic, Pitaya's birth brought fire magic, and Ananas's birth brought earth magic. The witches did not think much of it at first, the landscape becoming all-the-more tastier, but they soon became angered by the fact they could not control the dragons or their powers. When the last dragon, Lychee Dragon, hatched, dark magic flooded the Earthbread- a very sour contrast to the other magicks. The shadows had always been there, where the light didn't reach, but nothing lurked in them. In the Land of the Witches, they were just empty, unlike fire, water, earth, and light, which held intrinsic magic. Nothing more than a substance, but not a force. Never a source of magic that they knew of, until the birth of Lychee. This unpredictable new source of magic had the witches fuming because they could not use it, as unique to Earthbread as it was. The closest they held was Dark Moon Magic, from the dark side of the moon- though it has a misleading name, as it is only lunar magic with an opposite magnetic force from the light side.

As a retaliation against their Earthbread creating the 5 five dragons (and later, the elementals), the witches decided to bake the 5 Great Cookies. The 5 Great Cookies, who's virtues were pure, were intended to take the place of the Dragons as the sovereigns of Earthbread (with heavy supervision from the witches). Shadow Milk Cookie knew exactly what the witches thought of the dragons, and so he never spoke to them. There was absolutely no reason to, even if it wasn't forbidden. He was much more focused on his studies, studies of all kinds! He focused on bringing civilization to the Cookies, learning new spells, inventing new spells, and learning how to accomplish new tasks for the witches. He was happy enough to help the Cookies, to please his creators, and to wield his blessings, but he never understood one very strange thing to him- his ingredients. He was told that he had been made from shadows because the witches thought that "baking the absence of light into a Cookie would cancel itself out and create light, something, something, about the opposite happening with some Moonlight Cookie and her hair"... but in the Cookie world, the absence of light itself was a force as strong as the light. A magical, strong force. It was not the absence of light, nor could it become light, yet it could glow. A glow that Shadow Milk so-loved. He would never say it, nor admit it to himself, even permit himself to think of it, as the witches forbid the 5 Great Cookies from practicing dark magic... but he was a night owl. He would sit in the shade, where flowers, enchanted, naturally, with this same foreign energy would glow, and that was when he was happiest. When he wielded the warm magic of the Light, only the shadows growing in depth would make this same, soft feeling spread throughout his soul. He never understood his ingredients because he couldn't fathom being made out of something he was not allowed to like, but it didn't matter. He had things to do!

On the day he met Lychee, they caught him by surprise. It was a long time ago, and the witches were out in their own world, on some sort of trip. It happened often, and those were the days Shadow Milk felt the emptiest, for he was left alone with his thoughts. He'd chosen to explore Beast-Yeast, having finished a given list of tasks much earlier than the other 4 Great Cookies, who insisted they did not need his help (they all agreed he usually seemed overworked). He wandered, and he wandered, until he sensed a large amount of that unknown force he so-adored gathered somewhere. Despite this love, fear coursed through his dough as he made his way through thick, lush sections of a forest, some of it melting away into awe when he spotted Lychee. They were in their Dragon Cookie form, inspecting a blue flower with an eye on it. By this point, both Lychee and Shadow Milk had been adults for quite some time. Despite all of those years of research about the dragons, this was the first time he had been in front of one. He had only ever learned about their dragon forms. Not that they could change into Cookies. He felt a light, happy feeling, for Lychee radiated with dark magic, just like him, but he told himself this happiness came solely from the thrill of exploration. He had fear and joy mixing inside of him, and he decided the fear was about approaching them. They were seemingly a completely regular (albeit, strange-looking) Cookie that just so-happened to be connected to dark magic, just like spicy Cookies and fire magic. It was somewhat true, because he didn't dare leave the cover of the leaves, instead freezing in place until Lychee finally spoke to him (because a light blue Cookie isn't very hard to see in green leaves).

They said to him, "Come forth, won't you?" In a voice as sweet as honey.

Shadow Milk stepped towards them, and they giggled, spotting the nervous look on his face, which they took for flustered.

"It's always the same way with you Cookies! You can't help but do what I say!" They looked at Shadow Milk and then back at the flower they held repeatedly.

Shadow Milk looked at them with an expression of confusion, and they raised an eyebrow- usually, Cookies wouldn't react to their statements like that.

"Hello, what is your name?" was the only thing that Shadow Milk asked them, not really thinking about why they said that. Maybe if he was, he would have comprehended that he should be running away or preparing for battle as soon as they said something like that, but he was a little lost in their eyes.

Attempting to ignore the fact he didn't seem all that under their control ("Cookies usually drop to their knees and start worshipping the floor by now"), they bat their eyes. "My name? Does it really matter? Just keep looking into my eyes!" They smirked, perhaps a bit sheepishly.

"They're so beautiful, the way they glow..." He was mesmerized. The glow didn't look like regular light, but energy. Energy that gave off light, yet not light itself? He never really learned about the properties of dark magic.

Shadow Milk had gotten closer to Lychee by this point, studying them, and so they continued trying to hypnotize him. "I like you, blue Cookie", they said. "You look like this flower. You'll come with me, won't you?" They said, with an innocent smile, offering him the flower.

"This is for me?" Shadow Milk questioned, seeing Lychee nod. He took the flower, said "thank you", and then asked Lychee:

"You want me to come with you? Where are you going? And- your name-"

Staring furiously into Shadow Milk's bespectacled eyes, they realized he wasn't falling under their spell at all. "Why aren't my powers working, agh! You're just a Cookie, so-" They made a frustrated noise. "Stop asking me questions, just come with me!" Lychee grabbed Shadow Milk by the hand and flew away, so quickly, at a height low enough for Shadow Milk to run with them.

Running along, dropping the flower, and out of breath from the exhaustion of wandering for so long, he spoke fast and out of order. "No, no, please, tell me, where are your name? I mean, what's your name-"

Losing their temper, they snapped at him, flying faster, still stringing him along, but looking back at him. "Why do you care so much about my name!? I am the Violet Dragon, and that's all you need to know, stup-"

He stopped their motion, tugging their hand as soon as they were about to crash into a tree. They scoffed, and he inspected their features very closely, gasping. "You are... The Violet Dragon? The one the witches..."

They grinned at Shadow Milk's immediate dread. "OHHHH, now I get it, you're one of those five Cookies then, aren't you? The special ones? You-" Their eyes glowed brighter, and they seemed as if they were thinking, their former expression of cheekiness wiped clean off. "But you're made of darkness? You didn't look like it when I saw y-"

Shadow Milk's eyes widened as he interrupted, flinching, since he knew it was rude. "Darkness, no, no, I'm not made of-"

Lychee was ecstatic, "You're like me! You're made almost entirely out of darkness- I can sens-"

He spoke loudly over them as to not have to hear them any longer. He feared what they might say, thinking of the witches' warnings. "No, no, I'm not! I am Shadow Milk Cookie, the Cookie of Knowledge!" He anxiously sped up his talking, "I'm not made out of darkness, because I'm made of... the absence of light from the realm of the Witches- It's- It's completely different! I'm made of regular shadows, and sweet milk, and I'm nothing like you!" He let go of Lychee's hand, defensively, and held his staff as if he was about to cast a spell. He panted, having run out of air and beginning to regret the last part of what he said.

Looking at Shadow Milk's staff, unimpressedly, and simply moving it down, Lychee- snarkily, but calmly enough, began. "Well, then, 'Shadow Milk Cookie'. You're the Cookie of Knowledge, and you didn't know that you're not made of 'the absence of light' anymore?" They proudly smirked, but only for a moment, placing their hand on the side of Shadow Milk's face, brushing his hair away, and staring deeply into his eyes, just like he did theirs.

"You're lying. I am an envoy of the witches, from the land of the Witches. I'm. Not. Made. Of the same thing as you!" He placed his free hand on Lychee's, the one that was holding him, yet found that he hesitated to break away from the touch. They felt as warm to him as the nights where he'd lie in the grass outside, when the moonlight was scarce and shadow covered the land. A droplet of sweat ran down his face as he felt- no, he knew things were about to fall apart for him.

Despite knowing it wasn't their magic doing this to Shadow Milk, they knew they had some effect on him. "Look at you, poor, sweet little Cookie. Those witches must have lied to you... and you believed their little tricks? Tell me, if you were a Cookie of the Witches, would you find my eyes as beautiful as you do? Are they the loveliest you've ever seen?"

"No." he lied, with a stutter.

"You're a very deceitful Cookie." They smiled, wider and wider as they saw the look on his face. With Lychee holding him, and telling him such a thing when he was already being reminded of the fondest memories he held, his face flushed. It was a complete overload for him- a strange experience.

"Aw, look, you're blushing! So cute." Lychee eyed Shadow Milk up and down, and as they did, the slits in Shadow Milk's eyes shrunk in horror.

"May the witches guide me through-"

Lychee became frustrated. "Don't you dare pray near me! Do you really think you and I aren't the same!? I'll show you something that'll change your mind on what you think you know, you pathetic Cookie!" They took their hand off of Shadow Milk's face, grabbing his hair and tugging it in the direction they wanted to go. He yelped, and they let go immediately. Out of the corner of their eyes, they saw Shadow Milk's staff gleam and snatched it out of his hands, flying off with it.

"Come back, wait!" Shadow Milk raced after them, but they were impossibly fast. Thinking quickly at a close enough distance, he grabbed onto the base of his bag and made a throwing motion without letting go of it, the straps lassoing Lychee's left horn. He pulled.

"What- Oh, you stupid Cookie!" They came to a complete stop. "Fine, I'll show you right her-" Their eyes suddenly widened in surprise as Shadow Milk yoinked his staff right out of Lychee's hands and placed the straps of his bag back over his shoulder. They clenched their dough nubs into "fists" and growled. "Don't you dare ignore me, you're nothing but a Cookie, a COOKIE!" Their eyes flashed a bright violet and they quickly (but gently) tugged on Shadow Milk's long, blue and white hair again. It rippled, almost as if enchanted, and then the effect scattered, resembling a dust storm. It revealed a firm veil of dark magical energy where his hair had been. He screamed, just as he did last time, but only from the sight as the blue lines on this black energy opened. Shadow Milk's heart sank as he realized he was being stared at.

"What have you done!?" He yelled, shaking at the sight of the dark matter and thinking to himself that this was the point of no return. He could barely hold his staff from the way he trembled as the eyes gazed at him.

Lychee had let go of his hair immediately and admired it. "Oh, did the witches not tell you that your hair- well, some of it- looks like this? You REALLY thought that little enchantment over it was your real-"

"CHANGE IT BACK." He looked back and forth sporadically from his hands, his hair, and Lychee. The eyes on his hair seemed to be melting, and the matter seemed to drip away (though it was only an illusion). The sight only tripled his horror.

"Calm down. Actually, just look down." Lychee said, beginning to regret their meeting. "The eyes look like that because they're controlled by your emotional state. They're not reaal. Stop focusing on them and THEN look back."

Shadow Milk stared at Lychee quietly, collecting himself, and sure enough, the eyes on his hair stabilized. Even then, he slipped back into his state of panic. "Change my hair back, please! That kind of magic could never come from me."

Yet he wondered. His hair radiated the exact way that Lychee's eyes did. "Oh, I'll never bother you again..." He rubbed the eyes on his face and said the sentence so guiltily. When he opened his eyes again, they were glazed with tears that had yet to fall.

"Don't tell me you-" They stopped themself, changing their snarky tone of voice to a more sincere one... but still, annoyed. "Oh, you're no fun, don't cry, don't cry, ugh, I promise I'll fix it, but you realize what I just showed you, right? Right? You're smart, aren't you?" They came down from hovering, instead standing on the ground, even if they were short compared to Shadow Milk (and most cookies).

"I know it's not true, but, please, tell me you turned my hair into-" his voice broke, "this." He looked at them, sitting down on his knees. "Tell me I'm not this way, that I'm not made of the same shadows that make you up..." He raised a hand to his eyes, even though he knew Lychee saw the droplets.

"So, you want me to lie to you, even though you know we're the same? Don't you like the darkness? You said I had pretty eyes, so what kind of energy do you think they glow from?" They took one of his hands and decided to sit down too.

He pulled his hand back, slowly. "I'm not allowed-"

"But you like it." They took his hand back. "I'll re-enchant your hair, but, are you sure that you hate it?"

"The witches would never let me have my hair like this... Violet Dragon." He looked back at his hair, then at Lychee again, noticing it swung nicely as he moved his head.

"I didn't ask you about what the witches think!" They put an emphasis on 'witches', saying the word like it tasted bad. "I asked you if you like your hair. And... My name is Lychee Dragon Cookie." They grabbed half of Shadow Milk's hair because of the way it was naturally split and gently moved it into Shadow Milk's view.

He whispered, "It reminds me of your eyes", and Lychee immediately knew what he meant.

Their eyes then sparkled with energy once more. "Close your eyes, the two on your face. Just do it." Shadow Milk obliged, and they re-enchanted his hair. It looked like regular cream again, just like the chunks of his hair that actually were like that. They then tapped Shadow Milk's shoulder, and he opened his eyes, seeing that the shadowy, glowy, magical eye having energy that was his hair, was now back to looking like frosting.

"You- you fixed it!" Shadow Milk smiled as Lychee let go of his hair, though he winced. He noticed just how abnormally his hair moved compared to other Cookies, no doubt a result of the enchantment. It didn't bounce like how Eternal Sugar or Burning Spice's hair bounced, nor did it sweep like theirs did. It was always a little strange, and now...

"There you go, milk boy. Are you going to do what you said and never talk to me ever again, now?" Lychee bat their eyes at Shadow Milk.

He looked at them and- and he didn't know.

"Fine, fine, what if I show you something else? You're hard to please." Lychee playfully rolled their eyes and waited eagerly for what Shadow Milk would say.

"Well, the witches-"

"Won't be back for a week!" Lychee interrupted. "So, you have all the time in the world, come on, I'll tell you how I know- I'll show you!"

"If... you're not about to show me something dangerous..." He watched Lychee stand up and begin walking, and he followed, though, reluctantly...

Lychee looked back at him as they walked and smiled. "Everything's a little dangerous, Shadow Milk Cookie. Now, what if I pick you up and just take you to where we're going to go?"

Shadow Milk looked at them worriedly, "Aren't you... kind of small, for that? Walking is fine."

"Alright, then..." Lychee sighed and walked forwards slowly, with Shadow Milk following them at a normal pace. Eventually, Shadow Milk ended up in front of them, and stopped in confusion. He looked behind him, and found nobody to be there. Looking forward again, Lychee sweep-kicked his legs and caught him, carrying him bridal-style. He yelped and they leaned their face to his. "Do you still think I can't carry you? Hahaha!" Shadow Milk shook his head gently and carefully used Lychee's shoulders to let himself down, despite the fact he could've just jumped. "What's the headshake mean, Shadow Milk Cookie?", they said, now walking in front of Shadow Milk in the right direction.

"It means... You're really strong, Lychee Dragon Cookie..."

"I know." They replied, still in front of Shadow Milk and never looking back at him.

He breathed a sigh of relief, knowing they didn't see him blush.

~~~

disclaimer since I was asked by someone.... no, shadow milk isn't bald. lychee didn't make him bald😭😭😭 his hair is enchanted to look like regular frosting/cream hair, but not all of his hair is like that. part of his hair is the dark shadowy energy thing that it is in his canon sprites 😭😭😭 please let me know if this is a widespread misconception 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

ALSO let me know if I should continue coloring in the pronoun words and any important words like I did here!!! i thought it might be nice but it may be annoying for some!! sorry for any mistakes. he/him for shadow milk, they/them for lychee

[branwendaughterofllyr]

That’s such a good point about always asking ‘why?’/ ‘what for?’ when it comes to a theory’s narrative relevance — what it would mean for the story, what point would it make etc. It’s why I could never get my head around people being so dead set on a T4rg restoration as a positive endgame when we have all this legitimate reasoning for their downfall pre-AGOT, why they are distrusted, why their ideology is deeply suspect, and so on. It’s counterintuitive to me that the narrative would essentially return full circle to that regime, a T4rg on the throne, when they’ve been presented to us in such a specific, abusive and uncomfortable way. It devalues that pre-AGOT story, IMO. Bcoz it’s not enough to be ‘not like other T4rgs’ for me, the active association is too damning, too telling of what someone’s interests really are. But it’s like you said, people get deeply attached to one obviously biased pov and so disregard the wider, layered narrative that GRRM is trying to create through multiple povs that prompt us to question those who seek out power and if they can ever be truly justified in what they do to attain and/or maintain it.

It drives me wild that so many people don't ask "then what was the fucking point?" when talking about the ending of ASOIAF. The Targaryens had like two-three good rulers, all of whom ended up making some really horrible choices in the end that nearly burned the whole continent to the ground (This IS a Jaehaerys I hateblog). It's crazy to me that so many people that Fire&Blood is positive for the Targaryen Restoration when it's basically just a full length book's worth of "look at these bitches! Who put them in charge?" (the dragons). And then have Dany basically go "yes, fire and blood is a valid way to rule, my ancestors did nothing wrong" makes me highly skeptical of her chances.

And the PoV for trap for Dany is amazing, because as of ADWD, none of the enemies she has gone up against have been sympathetic (I mean, I think MMD is, but a lot of people don't) or even povs. Which lets her fans sit there and say "no, look, the people's she's up against are clearly terrible and she's the hero in this scenario." Which is going to shift drastically when she goes up against the Starks, who have no reason to love her and vice versa. How can Dany declaring that Starks and Lannisters are both the usurper’s dogs and therefore equally evil and her enemy not make everyone sit up and take notice. Yes, Dany going “Eddard Stark and his heart of ice are responsible for my family’s downfall” is absolutely going to win over Jon “I just want Ned Stark to be proud of me” Snow and Arya “I will cut anyone who says shit about my parents” Stark. I foresee no future conflict there!

The theories about the three heads of dragon having such traction make me laugh, when the choices Dany presented with are “fire and blood” and the literal and metaphoric planting of trees. She has to chain up her dragons because they are inherently at odds with creating a better future, but she chooses the path her family has walked again and again to the detriment of everyone else. Dany’s refusal to learn from her family’s mistakes and arrogance, is what dooms her to meet the same fate as the rest of them. The idea that “if I look back, I am lost” is her madness mantra makes so much sense, since if she looks back at the path of destruction she and all the other Targaryens have left in their wake, she might falter and reconsider, so she plows ahead straight to her doom, is ugh, such good writing.

(And it works as a foil to the Starks, who are so haunted by their pasts and the past of their families, they can never untangle themselves from it, even when they try to disappear into another identity)

So what does it actually mean for the narrative, if Dany didn’t actually live in Braavos? Does it change where she’s headed at all? What point would it serve if Tyrion is a secret Targaryen? What point does it serve if anyone is a secret Targaryen? Does it change the fact that the Targaryens burn themselves to the ground based on a flimsy prophecy one of them was arrogant enough to to believe, and no one checked the deteriorating madness of their head? That the Targaryens have set themselves over literally everyone else, to the point that they would rather practice incest than marry those beneath them? And the heroine of would-be Targaryen restoration doesn’t question any of this, and just says that it’ll be different this time! Because she has the magic nukes again!

And it’s brilliant because it really is all about “the hero of the other side”! Of course everyone likes to think that they are the hero, and it’s easy to fall into believing the same when you spend so much time in a character’s head. It is much harder to try and bring together all these different PoVs to try and figure out the broader narrative. And because Dany is so seperated from the rest of the characters, is easy to dismiss all the problems she has in coming to Westeros because none of the other characters really know her, and it’ll be different once she’s there, because she’s different, when it’s been set up that pretty much every POV character has a reason to keep a Targaryen with dragons at arms length and in reality, Dany has nothing to challenge those reasons.

It’s great writing, but it clearly has and still does go over some people’s heads, which is comepletely fair because ASOIAF is, in fact, a LOT. But it so often comes from the same people who dedicate immense amounts of time and energy to the series, and that’s when it becomes funny

[fandomfluffandfuck]

Romeo & Juliet by Peter McPoland is SO evanstan you don’t understand

its literally all I think about when I hear that song

"Someday, down the road, I hope to be your Romeo I'll climb the wires to your landline While you're crying on the telephone And you're sitting, feet dangling Cheeks so rosy red and saying "Baby, I was so upset, I thought you'd never set me free" "Hello?" I'd say, "Oh, I love you" to my Juliet If you only knew, I'd kill for you, I am for you I am just who you need me to be Let's get down, and let's grow old This fire escape is getting cold I love that dress, I love the rest Of all that you've got going on One day when the lines have all been read and memorized I hope you mean it when you say that I am yours and you are mine Singing down here, on my knees I'm begging, "Won't you marry me?" I love that dress, I love the rest So Julie make me go, go on But how do you know? Is it just something hits you? Yes (look, just do a bit for me) No (no, I don't, I don't mean it, I don't mean it) I mean just the words Um (no, my babe, it's done so many times) Oh for goodness sake Alright do another bit, any bit Um... Oh God I have nothing to fucking sing"

Aw!

That's so fucking cute, like I know how Romeo and Juliet ends so it's not cute there, but, like, the song is really sweet. Also, I love the part about memorizing and reading lines for them <3 that and the mention of fire escapes because fire escapes will ever be attached to pre-war stucky for me, so, in a song about evanstan, it seems like it connects their origin back to those days when they were first cast together. Sweethearts

Thanks for sharing!!

You have a very wholesome song that makes you think of evanstan, but you know what songs make me think about them the most? Rumors by Jake Miller and Strange Love by Halsey. Both of them are much less wholesome songs 💀💀

For some reason, I can only link the live version? Idk, listen to the normal one, haha, I enjoy that recording much more

Rumors feels self-explanatory, like, that's just easy to picture--what if the tabloids caught wind of evanstan? Shit would go insane.

Strange Love is less obvious and more about the fact that I've been meaning to, for literal years, write an evanstan fic using that song. But-! It's still so coded for them: the fucking in the bathroom reads like quickies, the fame of it all, everyone wanting to know, the lyric "you walk like you're a god" makes me think of Chris and his insane strut and "I made you weak" for Sebastian, the saying your name, the keeping it a secret but letting everyone see it, etc.

Yeah 😮‍💨😮‍💨

Thanks again!

[traumacatholic]

May I have a prayer or two? For safety and to be protected from deceivers. I'm staying in a hotel away from family for a few days and I'm trying to help a friend out but I'm worried that they may try to take advantage of me but I don't want to abandon or push them away.

Of course, may God bless and protect you. I have attached some prayers under the readmore that you might find beneficial.

Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Saint Patrick's Breastplate Prayer

The full prayer can be found here: https://parish.rcdow.org.uk/greenford/wp-content/uploads/sites/127/2020/03/St-Patricks-Breastplate.pdf

But I often see it shortened to this part, so it comes down to personal preference how much of the prayer you want to say

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me

A Prayer in Time of Attack

O Lord, our God, pre-existing before all ages and remaining forever; who are as great in compassion as you are in uncontainable power; who because of your ineffable mercy bowed the heavens, came down on earth and became man for the salvation of sinners; who put on and immortalized our nature and ascended with it to the place from which you descended; hear from heaven and become merciful to all those who cry out to you with a broken heart. You, O Master of all, lend you ear and hear us. We know your undefeatable love for your creation and your inexhaustible goodness. Hence, we throw ourselves into the ocean of your compassions and entreat you: turn not your face from us nor cast us away from your countenance neither hand us over to those who are so furiously attacking us. Look upon us with your compassionate eye. Show us how to rise above both the visible and invisible enemies. Place in us a power from on high; encompass us with your almighty right hand; keep us under the protection of your wings; fortify us with love for one another and grant us unshakable peace. But before all and above all, instill in us your fear and your love that your holy name may also be glorified in us. Upon you alone we look, on you alone we have placed our hopes, and to you we send up the glory, together with your Father, who is without beginning, and the life-creating Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Prayer to the Holy Cross

Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered; and let those who hate Him flee from His presence. As smoke vanishes, let them vanish; and as wax melts from the presence of fire, so let demons perish from the presence of those who love God and who sign themselves with the sign of the Cross and say in gladness: Hail, most precious and life-giving Cross of the Lord, for Thou drivest away the demons by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ crucified on thee, Who went down to hades and trampled on the power of the devil, and gave us thee, his venerable Cross, for driving away all enemies. O most precious and life-giving Cross of the Lord, help me, with our Holy Lady, the Virgin Mother of God, and with all the Saints throughout the ages. Amen.

Prayer Before Sleep

Beneath your compassion we seek refuge, Theotokos. Do not overlook our prayers, but deliver us from danger, only pure and blessed one. My hope is the Father; my refuge, the Son; my protection, the Holy Spirit. Holy Trinity, glory to you. I place all my hope in you, Mother of God. Keep me under your protection. Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy and save us. Amen.

Under the protection of your wings I shall be covered and fall asleep, for in you only, Lord, does my hope lie. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my soul and my body. Do bless me, do have mercy on me, and grant me eternal life. Amen.

Protection Prayer

Jesus, I will arise. Jesus, do thou accompany me. Jesus, do thou lock my heart into thine and let my body and my soul be commended unto thee. The Lord is crucified. May God guard and protect my senses so that misfortunes may not overcome me. In the name of God, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Prayer Against Every Evil

Spirit of our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Most Holy Trinity, Immaculate Virgin Mary, angels, archangels, and saints of heaven, descend upon me. Please purify me, Lord, mold me, fill me with yourself, use me. Banish all the forces of evil from me, destroy them, defeat them, so that I can be healthy and do good deeds. Banish from me all spells, witchcraft, black magic, evil spells, ties, curses, and the evil eye; diabolic infestations, oppressions, possessions; all that is evil and sinful, jealousy, deceitfulness, envy; physical, psychological, moral, spiritual and diabolical ailments. Burn all these evils in hell, that they may never again touch me or any other creature in the entire world. I command and bid all the powers who assault me—by the power of God all-powerful, in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior. Through the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary–to leave me forever, and to be consigned into the everlasting hell where they will be bound by Saint Michael the archangel, Saint Gabriel, Saint Raphael, our guardian angels, and where they will be crushed under the heel of the Immaculate Virgin Mary.

Prayer to Your Guardian Angel

O Holy Angel, who stand by my wretched soul and my passionate life: do not abandon me, a sinner, neither depart from me because of my lack of self-control. Leave no room for the evil demon to gain control of me through the violence of this mortal body. Strengthen my weak and feeble hand, and instruct me in the path of salvation. O holy Angel of God, the guardian and protector of my wretched soul and body: forgive all the sorrows I have caused you, every day of my life. If I have sinned in this past night, protect me during this day. Keep me from every adverse temptation, that I may not anger God by any sin. Pray to the Lord for me, that He may establish me in His fear and make me, His servant, worthy of His goodness. Amen.

[moodymisty]

Heyo hun! Just wanted to drop in and say that I am in love with your Darksiders Strife writing! Gah I just love him so much and it makes me so sad there is so little about him, please m’lord may I have more grool.

I would love to see how Strife met reader to begin with or even how they built up such a connection. Maybe even have it where they share a sense of humor and his siblings just groan saying that “It’s frightening how similar you two are” or even have strife save reader from a demon who attempted to use them as a way to draw out the horseman.

Anyways enough rambling! Love your work hun and I hope to see more about our boy Strife ❤️❤️❤️

Author's note: Ok I decided to combine your ideas with another I had tossing around in my washing machine of a mind. Your prompt was the perfect opportunity because I felt like they worked together. I hope you enjoy!

Relationships: Strife/Fem!Reader

Warnings: Pre-relationship crushes/pining, Some verrrrryy light implications of overprotective Death or Death maybe even having a crush on reader but you'd have to get a microscope to see that, Firing Strife's gun, Fluff

Strife remembers the first day you met; Like it's one of the pioneering moments in his long, long life.

He knew of your importance to Death. The two of you get along, which is saying a lot considering the attitude of the eldest Horsemen. He couldn't even count on one hand the amount of beings that he could say that about. Strife would hesitate to even count himself among them.

When you'd gotten captured by demons, it was Death who tore his tongue from between his teeth and asked Fury, War, and Strife for assistance in the matter.

Strife had seen you sitting on the ground; A wounded leg that isn't deadly but enough to cause you trouble is visible, and he holstered one pistol to make helping you up easier. Your smaller hand wrapped around the sharp edges of his gauntlet, and you looked up at him and smiled.

"Thank you Strife."

The horsemen of eternal unrest remembers that sentence vividly. As the moment you'd said his name, he was falling. But for a long while, he never did a thing about it.

You didn't seem to realize, but Death lingered around you at the back like a ghost. Constantly vigilant. He would never let him near you.

He wouldn’t; If he was Death. No one knows better than him what type of person Strife used to be. Cutthroats like him don't get to play around with fragile things like you. Even taking you on rides with Mayhem earns him an earful from the Reaper, who insists that he was too lax. That you’d end up getting hurt.

Death eventually acquiesced on it ever so slightly largely because you and him were quickly becoming attached at the hip, but Strife can still very much tell that the Reaper isn't fond of him being around you.

Well, fuck that. He's never been that good of a listener anyways.

"Hold on tight, I ain't gonna be the one telling Death you broke your nose."

Strife's much larger hand wraps around your own, which both hold onto Mercy's grip like a vice. His hand only forces them tighter, making extra sure that there's no chance the pistol can whip back into your face. Even with all this preparation however, you still have a hint of trepidation that the pistol is going to be too strong for you. It's overly large and looks almost hilarious in hands not meant for it, but you look down the iron sight with a fierce determination anyways.

It makes your nose wrinkle in this specific way Strife thinks is absolutely adorable, but he keeps the thought to himself. He thinks plenty of things about you are cute, this was just one of many.

"And just, pull the trigger?"

You know how a gun works, but given this is some magical Nephilim weapon, you just want to make sure that there isn't some sort of crazy, obscure thing you need to do so it doesn't blow up in your face. Better safe than sorry; And missing a finger.

"Yep." Strife pops the p and watches your index finger slowly pull back on the trigger, more and more before the forest that was peacefully quiet suddenly erupts with a frighteningly loud-

BANG!

He's fired these guns in your vicinity before, but it seems like when you're the one actually doing it, it's so much louder; As the sheer power of it has you doing a back step. The loud crack makes you nearly jump, before you begin to smile and laugh. The tree you were mildly aiming for is clipped on the side, splitting the bark and sending woodchips flying. Now smoke billows from the end of the gun's barrel, which you point downwards as you look up towards Strife.

"Holy shit, this thing's strong."

When you go to shoot it again you feel a cold gauntlet on your shoulder blades keeping you straight, as you fire shot after shot until your arms hurt from being so tense and shaken about. Strife stands right at your side the entire time, enjoying the way you laugh at the sheer shock and awe, and fun of it.

"And what exactly are the two of you up to this time?"

Death's voice cuts through the air like a knife, and Strife straightens up to look him in the eye. The Reaper's arms are crossed tight across his chest, and Harvester slung on his back in it's singular scythe form. He takes one glance towards the tree you've been shooting at and raises his eyebrows, before also noticing the way you're gripping a Nephilim weapon with all your strength. To think Strife had given it to you so casually.

"Just playing around. No need to get all pissy about it."

You can feel the way the air quickly fills with static between the two of them, glancing towards Death before you look back to Strife and hold Mercy out to him. You quietly request he do something with it so you won't shoot yourself in the foot.

"I want to try something." Strife takes the pistol from you and does what you ask, though there's a curious look to his eyes as he hands it right back to you.

It's sated quickly, as what you do is you do is attempt to spin it by the trigger guard, trying to replicate all the flourish you remember seeing in old western movies. When you manage to get a few successful rotations out of it, it's impossible not to smile and do a little congratulatory hop.

Death rolls his eyes.

"It's frightening how similar the two of you are."

Strife glances towards Death for a moment, and silently wishes for nothing more than for the Reaper to leave. Even if just for a minute more. Death's sentence gives you the exact opposite reaction however, as you step closer to Strife and look up at him.

"Partners in crime, right?" Your face and smile are expectant, happy, as your eyes dart over his mask. Strife claps a hand on the crook between your shoulder and neck and tugs you closer to him in a half-hug.

"Yeah! Partners." He doesn't miss the way Death visibly bristles the moment the word 'partners' leaves his lips. When he shifts from leaning on a hip to standing fully upright in preparation to walk away, Death nods towards you but speaks at Strife.

"Don't get her into anymore trouble than you already have." The gunslinger scoffs and rolls his eyes, shooing Death off with one gauntlet. Once the reaper is out of view you turn to Strife, raising your eyebrows. Mercy is in your hands pointed at the ground.

"The two of you really need to learn how to get along better."

If they were still mixing like oil and water after how many hundreds of years, Strife doubts they'll ever really get along. You being in the middle and a large point of contention doesn't help matters, even if you're totally unaware of that fact.

"I don't think that's gonna happen, princess."

He changes the conversation before you have the chance to entrench yourself more into it.

"Wanna give it another shot?" Pointing towards the tree you'd shot at previously he returns his hand to your shoulders, and breathes a sigh of relief when you become distracted again by attempting to play with weapons you really shouldn't be playing with in the first place.

He's got you all to himself for another moment, and he just wants to enjoy it.